Single Event Effects Test Results for Advanced Field Programmable Gate Arrays

Reconfigurable field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) from Altera and Actel and an FPGA-based quick-turn application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) from Altera were subjected to single-event testing using heavy ions. Both Altera devices (Stratix II and HardCopy II) exhibited a low latchup threshold (below an LET of 3 MeV-cm²/mg) and thus are not recommended for applications in the space radiation environment. The flash-based Actel ProASIC Plus device did not exhibit latchup to an effective LET of 75 MeV-cm²/mg at room temperature. In addition, these tests did not show flash cell charge loss (upset) or retention damage. Upset characterization of the design-level flip-flops yielded an LET threshold below 10 MeV-cm²/mg and a high LET cross section of about 1times10^-6 cm²/bit for storing ones and about 1times10^-7 cm²/bit for storing zeros. Thus, the ProASIC device may be suitable for critical flight applications with appropriate triple modular redundancy mitigation techniques