A Highly Robust and Low-Cost Multiple Node Upset Resilient Fast Latch for Radiation Applications

As the size of semiconductor process continues to shrink and deep space exploration continues to advance, the design of multiple-node-upset (MNU)-resilient latches has become indispensable for radiation hardening by design (RHBD). The C-element (CE) and the clock-gated C-element (CG-CE) are the basic elements for most conventional MNU resilient latches. However, most MNU-resilient latches improve the anti-radiation ability with the redundant nodes or redundant CE and CG-CE, causing a large area overhead. Some other MNU-resilient latches have less area overhead but have less anti-radiation ability. To overcome this problem, this paper proposes a corresponding MNU resilient latch design named (HLDRF). The proposed design consists of a generation module and a feedback module. The generation module transfers the generation nodes voltage to the feedback module, while the feedback module feeds the feedback nodes voltage back to the generation nodes through the pull-up/pull-down paths of the CE. This bidirectional interaction forms a closed-loop feedback circuit, ensuring the strong anti-radiation ability. While the proposed latch can fix errors quickly through feedback loops and without causing the propagation of faulty logic. The proposed latch achieves an optimal balance between area overhead and radiation hardness, offering superior comprehensive performance for deep space exploration. Furthermore, the proposed latch exhibits a lower sensitivity to process, supply voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations compared to similar latches.