High performance memory with radiation immunity

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes using Correlated Electron RAM (CeRAM) based nonvolatile memory for systems requiring ionizing radiation immunity. Modern semiconductor devices are the heart of avionics, information processing, sensing, and space-based systems. The bedrock critical component of each of these systems is the data storage technology which contains the firmware (operating code) and data (acquired information) of the system in use. This memory technology will ideally be robust during operation – for example, in the guidance system of a missile – and during storage, for example recording GPS coordinates for later retrieval. In both these examples data integrity is critical. A chip whose stored data has been made invalid by its environment (i.e. high radiation exposure) is rendered useless. CeRAM is theoretically radiation hard during either write, read, or storage. This is because both a critical potential and current must be established across and through the bit simultaneously to induce upset and ionizing radiation cannot induce simultaneous voltage and current within a semiconductor. We have already proven CeRAM’s potential for commercial markets, given dimensional scaling, speed, and power realized in hardware prototypes; in addition, we have demonstrated reliable storage and operation at temperatures exceeding any other NVM but also down to extreme cryogenic temperatures.  This unparalleled temperature window comes from the unique electron orbital switching mechanism, a mechanism which predicts immunity to ionizing radiation. In this proposal we will verify the immunity to ionizing radiation that is strongly predicted by the theory of operation of electron orbital switching mechanism.