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-cm(2)/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-cm(2)/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-cm(2)/mg and a high LET cross section of about 1x10(-6) cm(2)/bit for storing ones and about 1x10(-7) cm(2)/bit for storing zeros. Thus, the ProASIC device may be suitable for critical flight applications with appropriate triple modular redundancy mitigation techniques.