Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array with a Triple Modular Redundancy

Space systems require radiation-hardened devices with high soft-error tolerance and high total-ionizing-dose tolerance. An optically reconfigurable gate array (ORGA) with over 400 Mrad total-ionizing-dose has been developed. The total-ionizing-dose tolerance of the ORGA is 400 times higher than currently available radiation-hardened devices. Moreover, the ORGAs can support high-speed scrubbing of configuration memory so that soft errors on configuration memory can be ignored during operations. However, soft-errors that arise on the programmable gate array side must be removed. Therefore, this paper presents a new ORGA VLSI with a triple modular redundancy gate array structure that can completely remove soft-errors on its programmable gate array.