American Made Advocacy: Success in Washington Requires Patience, Persistence, and Sustained Focus
The Government Circuit: News on Defense Electronics, Europe, and Sustainability
Defense Speak Interpreted: SWaPing Nanosatellites for Defense Systems
Spirit Electronics Adds Zero-Error Systems to Provide Ultra-High Reliability Protection from Radiation in Space Applications
October 25, 2024 | Spirit ElectronicsEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Spirit Electronics announces franchised distribution for Zero-Error Systems (ZES) to support ultra-high reliability semiconductors and ICs operating in challenging radiation environments. ZES’s proprietary solutions include radiation-hardened by design (RHBD) library cells; latchup detection and protection (LDAP) in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts; and power management redundancy solutions as die, packaged ICs, or licensed IP and design services.
“ZES is providing critical mission assurance through an innovative approach,” explains Spirit CEO Marti McCurdy. “Spirit’s commercial space customers often turn to COTS for lower-cost and readily available ICs and semiconductors, but those components lack radiation resiliency. ZES is a low-cost method to integrate radiation protection and guarantee mission performance from low-Earth orbit all the way out to deep space.”
Zero-Error Systems reliability covers a full range of space applications including satellites in various levels of Earth orbits, launch vehicles, lunar missions, and deep space missions. ZES technology has flown on several legacy flights in space, and the ZES team has more than 30 years of industry experience in ultra-high reliability power semiconductor design. The company originates in Singapore and operates an office in Vienna, Virginia. Spirit is the first U.S.-based distributor for ZES, opening an avenue for made-in-the-USA rad-hard semiconductor solutions.
Spirit is uniquely positioned to offer ZES RHBD and LDAP paired with Spirit’s foundry services, ASIC programs, and assembly services. Spirit supports each step of the IC supply chain from foundry to chip packaging, reliability testing, and assembly. ZES RHBD library cells achieve ultra-low soft-error performance with low power operations, low delay, and small area to increase processing and system reliability. RHBD can be integrated into standard front-end and back-end design flows in any foundry process. The ZES LDAP technology detects and protects COTS ICs from single event latchup (SEL). The LDAP technology is able to detect SEL at onset and has a rapid response time immune to aging and total ionizing dose (TID).
“Radiation protection is your insurance policy for your space mission, and our space customers must decide what level of insurance they need for success. ZES allows us to customize that coverage by applying rad-hard protections to critical components or extending it to all COTS components. For commercial space, this approach preserves low-cost agile design and production while maximizing reliability,” concludes McCurdy.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Are Our Stackup Rules No Longer Valid?
12/19/2024 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+Are the stackup rules we used to follow no longer valid? It depends on what you’re designing. Electrical rules change depending on your circuit. Fabrication rules change depending on which fabricator you’re working with. Today, we just have more options, and sometimes, cost is a bigger rule than anything else. If you search online for information about layer stackups, trace widths, and hole sizes in PCBs, you’ll find a variety of resources.
RTX's Pratt & Whitney and WZL2 Sign Letter of Intent for F100 Sustainment Work in Poland
11/27/2024 | RTXPratt & Whitney, an RTX business, signed a letter of intent with Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze Nr. 2 S.A., also known as WZL2, to explore expanded maintenance repair and overhaul capabilities for increased Polish Air Force needs.
RTX's Pratt & Whitney and WZL2 Sign Letter of Intent for F100 Sustainment Work in Poland
11/21/2024 | RTXPratt & Whitney, an RTX business, signed a letter of intent with Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze Nr. 2 S.A., also known as WZL2, to explore expanded maintenance repair and overhaul capabilities for increased Polish Air Force needs.
BOOK EXCERPT: The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... DFM Essentials, Chapter 2
11/14/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamThe guidelines offered in this book are based on both ASC recommendations and IPC standards with the understanding that some may require adjustment based on the material set, fabricator processes, and other design constraints. This chapter discusses panelization, placing PCBs on manufacturing panels, highlighting features like coupons, borders, and scoring to maximize material utilization and reduce costs, and detailing preferred panel sizes and modifications.
Real Time with… SMTA Guadalajara 2024: Viscom's Approach to Automation
10/02/2024 | Real Time with... SMTA GuadalajaraNolan Johnson speaks with Juan Briceno, Vice President of Sales for Viscom, about the current state of the Mexican electronics market. Briceno reports that while the automotive and contract manufacturing sectors in Mexico remain strong, the industry as a whole is preparing for more purchases in late 2024 and early 2025. Briceno emphasizes the growing need for automated solutions and AI technologies to address the challenge of finding qualified personnel in the Americas.