A 200 MHz Bandwidth, 4096 Spectral Channels, 3 W Power Consumption, Digital Auto-Correlation Spectrometer Chip for Spaceborne Microwave Radiometers

NASA?s program for Exploration of the Solar System requires high-resolution microwave spectrometers for the analysis of chemical composition and physical properties of solar system atmospheres. The anticipated results of the proposed R/R&D effort (Phase I and II), if the project is successful, are to demonstrate experimentally the first digital auto-correlation spectrometer on a single chip for spaceborne microwave radiometers with the following important characteristics: (a) a bandwidth of 200 MHz, (b) 4096 spectral channels for high-resolution spectroscopy, (c) less than 3 W power consumption, (d) a mass of less that 800 grams, and (e) a space-qualifiable design and fabrication technology. The innovative approach proposed for achieving these significant objectives consists of a synergistic combination of the following: (a) a unique parallel architecture that will reduce the operating clock frequency, relative to a single-stream architecture, by a factor of 2 and consequently will lower significantly the power consumption, (b) novel differential analog and digital circuits that will improve robustness while operating in the presence of total dose natural radiation found in the space environment, and (c) an advanced 0.13 um CMOS fabrication process available from IBM for manufacturing high-performance, low-power, reliable, and robust (total dose radiation and latch-up resistant) space-qualifiable chips.