Not all radiation-hardened memory is space-grade. This is why NHanced Semiconductors has chosen Avalanche Technology’s magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) for its FPGA targeting satellite and defense applications.
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In an interview with EE Times, Bob Patti, president of NHanced, said the company selected Avalanche’s MRAM after other evaluated options failed to meet the requirements of its hard FPGA system-in-package integration, including dependable standby capability and high-confidence operational performance. “We need something which is hardened,” he said.
Avalanche’s criteria for truly “space-grade” memory includes the ability to withstand radiation without disruption, retain data for the life of a mission, endure unlimited writes, and commit data instantly.
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All of NHanced’s current devices are FPGA-related, Patti said, with many of them containing embedded MRAM while targeting military and aerospace segments. “We’re building devices which are meant for hardened environments.”
He said ReRAM devices lack the required density and cannot handle extreme temperatures, while flash offers density but not radiation hardening. MRAM, by contrast, meets those requirements while having unlimited read-write capability, Patti said. “Many of the other technologies just aren’t there.”
Avalanche has advanced its MRAM, he said, with parts now available in the hundreds of megabits. “Gigabits are immediately on the horizon.”
Patti said NHanced is getting orders for orbital applications that require gigabit densities, and the only option is flash. For a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite that’s going to be operating for only a few years, using flash with redundancy is sufficient. “But it isn’t a great solution,” he said.
MRAM is a better candidate for applications involving long-term radiation exposure, in which systems must operate without interruption or repair for years or even decades, Patti said.
Avalanche’s MRAM exceeds NHanced’s requirements, he said. “They are in the same range as some of the harder FPGA devices that are off-the-shelf.”
NHanced aims to develop a class of components for government and military customers by taking a device that is inherently rad-hard and putting it in a wrapper to increase its radiation hardening, Patti said. This is a more cost-effective alternative than developing an expensive, purpose-built part that will be used only in small quantities over the course of its lifetime.
Avalanche’s focus on space-ready MRAM reflects a significant pivot for the company, Danny Sabour, VP of marketing and business development at Avalanche, told EE Times.
When he joined the company in 2019, the focus was building a high-density MRAM that could compete with DRAM. “It’s very complicated to go after the DRAM market.”
Keeping pace with SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron Technology would require a different cost structure, Sabour said, as well as having a foundry service on tap to build products.
Avalanche chose to build a basic memory tile with a parallel interface and took its main portfolio to UMC. It has since introduced an FPGA version and a serial interface version. A DDR interface is forthcoming, Sabour said. “The outcome is you want to integrate your memory into a processor, whether it’s a processor or an FPGA, and treat them the same way.”
Avalanche is now at the stage of integrating in the package—the 2.5D stage of integration—he said. “NHanced is one of a number of companies that are doing this with us.”
Sabour said the company’s target market include the likes of Boeing and Lockheed—“primes” focused on space-bound communications security in which high reliability is paramount. He said that Avalanche has positioned itself to replicate its 2.5D recipe for different customers in the space segment.
Making space-grade memory involves more than just ensuring it is rad-hard. It must also be reliable in the space environment, accounting for factors such as extremely low temperatures.
Sabour said it took three years for Avalanche to perfect sending a piece of silicon up so it can sit in radiation below room temperature. “We have 3× the amount of memory that you would use on ground in space for error correction and for logic just to make sure it doesn’t fail. It’s not just a regular part.”
The emphasis on space isn’t just a pivot away from the DRAM market but also a shift from the industrial segment, which was Avalanche’s focus four years ago, Sabour said. As a private company, it went quiet as it redirected its energies toward addressing the distributed and LEO satellite market. “We were not a stealth-mode company, but we’re privately owned, and there was no need to publicize,” he said.
Integrating its MRAM is the next level for what is a boutique memory, Sabour said. “We are not shipping billions. We are shipping tens of thousands of units into space.”
That’s a step up from shipping hundreds of units, Jim Handy, principal with Objective Analysis, said. Avalanche has positioned itself as the space-class MRAM firm, he said, and while it probably sells very few chips, the prices are likely “breathtaking.”
Space-bound memory requires the utmost reliability because you can’t just send a service representative up to space to fix something that broke, Handy said, which is why it’s a low-volume, premium-priced technology.
He said space can accommodate high costs, and the market is growing compared with the days when one of the few customers was NASA, which purchased “tens” of chips.
Handy said a company like Avalanche, which has decided to focus on space for its MRAM, already has the process flows in place when a customer comes calling. A company with a broader focus might be less interested, as it’s trying to run as much volume as possible. “These space things are a massive distraction whenever they happen,” he said.
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