Differential Charge Cancellation (DCC) Layout as an RHBD Technique for Bulk CMOS Differential Circuit Design

Author

Blaine, R.W. ; Atkinson, N.M. ; Kauppila, J.S. ; Armstrong, S.E. ; Hooten, N.C. ; Warner, Jeffrey H. ; Holman, W.T. ; Massengill, Lloyd W.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN, USA

Volume

59

Issue

6

fYear

2012

Firstpage

2867

Lastpage

2871

Abstract

A novel RHBD technique utilizing charge sharing to mitigate single-event voltage transients in differential circuits is demonstrated experimentally. Differential charge cancellation (DCC) layout leverages the inherent common-mode rejection of differential circuits to mitigate voltage transients induced by ion strikes. A simple layout variation transforms normally single-ended error signals into common-mode signals that are mitigated by the differential signal path. This layout change maintains the matching achieved via a standard common-centroid layout but incurs negligible area penalty.

Keywords

CMOS analogue integrated circuits; integrated circuit design; mixed analogue-digital integrated circuits; operational amplifiers; DCC layout; RHBD technique; angled strikes; bulk CMOS differential circuit design; charge sharing; common-mode signals; differential charge cancellation layout change; differential signal path; hardening technique; inherent common-mode rejection; ion strikes; laser energy wide range; magnitude order reduction; negligible area penalty; op amps; sensitive area; simple layout variation transforms; single-ended error signals; single-event voltage transient mitigation; smaller device geometries; standard common-centroid layout; CMOS technology; Circuit synthesis; Layout; Operational amplifiers; Transient analysis; Transistors; Charge sharing; DCC; RHBD; differential design; operational amplifier; single-event effects;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2012.2222441

Filename

6361429