Recovery-Signal-Based Low-Cost Quadruple-Node-Upset-Tolerant and Self-Recoverable Latch Design for Aerospace Applications

Node upsets in memory, which are caused by radiation in space-integrated circuits, pose significant challenges, often leading to data corruption and system failures. To mitigate these issues, traditional methods such as error correction codes and redundancy are commonly employed. However, they can increase complexity and power consumption. This paper presents an innovative low-cost latch designed with self-recovery characteristics to address node upsets using a dedicated recovery signal. The proposed recovery-signal-based quadruple-node-upset (QNU)-tolerant and self-recoverable latch (RS-QTRL) provides robust protection against multiple node upsets induced by harsh space radiation environments, particularly in aerospace computing applications. The QNU tolerance and recoverability of the proposed latch have been verified through HSPICE post-layout simulations using 28-nm model parameters. Compared to existing fully-QNU-recoverable latches, the proposed latch achieves 30.66% and 14.88% lower delay, 68.44% and 10.51% lower power consumption, and 33.37% and 17.78% smaller area.