Rad-hard 1Mbit EEPROM nonvolatile memory qualification completed by Northrop Grumman
NewsMarch 25, 2015
LINTHICUM, Md. Northrop Grumman engineers completed qualification testing of the company's W28C0108 1Mbit electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) semiconductor device for radiation-hardened (rad-hard) space applications.
The semiconductor device's features include latch-up immune operation in a space environment, less than 250 nanosecond READ access time, greater than 10,000 endurance cycles, 300 krad (Si) total ionizing dose, and Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) pin-compatibility in the center 32 pins. The device is a 1Mbit, 128K x 8 bit complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) EEPROM, based on the company's existing 256 kB EEPROM part (W28C256) and operates across the full military temperature range.
Results show that memory retention at 125 degrees C will last for more than 200 years, which company officials ay is well beyond today's state of the art for nonvolatile memory chips. The device was built at Northrop Grumman's Advanced Technology Laboratories and was designed with the in cooperation of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.
The semiconductor underwent dynamic life testing at 150 degrees C for 1,000 hours and heavy ion latch-up and other testing.
Rad-hard EEPROMs are used for holding critical mission data for long periods of time without excessive shielding, rewrite circuits or climate controls.
Northrop Grumman officials are currently taking orders for this product. A copy of the part qualification data package is available upon request via the Northrop Grumman website.
