A Radiation-Hardened Analog-to-Digital Converter for Outer Planetary Missions

IC technologies and design techniques that enable digital and mixed-signal circuit elements capable of providing key functions in the combined cold-temperature and radiation environments are central to meeting outer planetary mission requirements. The science of any lander mission is dependent on a reliable digital interface to the phenomenological world; from sensitive science instrumentation to RF communication to landing systems. At the heart of these mission requirements are analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for interpreting low-level and noisy analog signals to provide digitized data for processing. Precision ADCs are ubiquitous at all levels of spaceflight but are especially critical to science missions. They also provide an ideal technology demonstration vehicle given the challenging mixed-signal performance requirements.

Dynamic signal range and signal-to-noise ratio are two particularly challenging performance specifications related to the type of ADC signal capture and processing necessary for the Europa mission. Applications such as mass spectrometry often require better than one part per million in precision, yet maintain a very large dynamic range. High sensitivity and throughput are also essential. All of these specifications must be maintained in a very hostile radiation environment at very low operating temperatures.

We propose the development of a radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) ADC with a sampling rate of 5 to 10 GS/s (gigasamples per second) and a resolution of 14 bits. ENOB (effective number of bits) should be at least 11 bits, with a power dissipation of less than 1W and radiation hardness to 5 Mrad(Si) of total ionizing dose (TID) without shielding. This high-performance ADC will be developed by exploiting a state-of-the-art fabrication technology combined with radiation-hardened-by-design mitigation techniques, and applying them to a proven design.

Vanderbilt University has extensive experience with the candidate IC processes for this project. Vanderbilt will evaluate various technologies for combined cold temperature and TID (to 5 MRad(Si)) environments using combined experimental and device simulation techniques. These results will be used to down-select to the most promising technology suitable for implementing the proposed circuit demonstration vehicle.

Alphacore has an extensive radiation-tolerant ADC portfolio containing approximately 20 IP blocks, ranging from 3 MS/s to 20 GS/s. The resolutions range from 6 bits (20GS/s) to 20 bits (3MS/s). These cores will provide excellent starting points for the proposed design. For this project, Vanderbilt will support Alphacore design activities with RHBD techniques and radiation modeling infrastructure. Alphacore will extend the current state of the art to a single-chip solution to reduce overall power consumption while maintaining precision, dynamic range, and radiation resilience.

The Space Science and Engineering Division of Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) has extensive experience in flight development of avionics and instrumentation for NASA planetary, astrophysics, and heliospheric missions. SWRI will provide feedback and support for the program and any testing of prototype components that might be required.

While a proof-of-concept ADC instantiation will be delivered, the knowledge and techniques that result from its development will be application agnostic, mission agnostic, and will support migration to new integrated circuit technology nodes as they become available. This proposed ADC, or variants thereof, will find potential applications in instrumentation, navigation, and communication for the Europa mission, and for future NASA missions to the outer planets.

Summary of tasks (36 months total): (1) Requirements definition (2) Technology down-select and modeling (3) RHBD in selected technology (4) Design, layout, fabrication (5) ADC electrical test (6) Space environment test (7) Final report

Developing Instrument or spacecraft technology to improve measurements for future planetary science missions

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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