A high performance radiation-hard field programmable analog array

While interest, availability and use of FPAAs have grown, FPAAs still have not achieved the same success as FPGAs in the digital domain. This results from several factors, including the lack of CAD tools, small circuit density, small bandwidth and layout dependent noise figures. These factors are all related to each other, making the design of a high performance FPAA a multi-dimensional problem. A critical reason behind these difficulties is the non-ideal programming technology, which contributes a large portion of parasitics into the sensitive analog system. This paper presents a high performance, radiation hard Laser Field Programmable Analog Array (LFPAA) using LaserLink MakeLink™ technology. Because of its extremely low resistance, negligible parasitic capacitance and full compatibility with commercial CMOS process, MakeLink™ can fully reduce these FPAA design concerns and offer a breakthrough capability in analog array performance. The proposed LFPAA consists of a 4 x 4 array of Configurable Analog Blocks (CABs) surrounded by abundant interconnect resources. There are 16 PAD groups around the chip, and 8 tracks per X/Y channel. Each CAB has 4 input and 4 output pins with internal circuit operating in fully differential mode. With appropriate programming, the LFPAA can provide an accurate, low-cost and rapid-prototyping analog ASIC solution.