A Novel Radiation-Hardened, Speed and Power Optimized Nonvolatile Latch for Aerospace Applications

Abstract

As process nodes shrink to deep nanometer scales, the heightened sensitivity of digital circuits to radiation and the dramatic rise in leakage power have become pressing concerns. Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) possesses intrinsic radiation resistance and nonvolatility and can be integrated with CMOS processes. Therefore, designing MTJ-based radiation-hardened nonvolatile storage elements is a promising solution to address these issues. In this brief, we propose a novel MTJ-based radiation-hardened, speed and power optimized nonvolatile (RH-SPO) latch and compares it with existing designs to evaluate its performance. Using a 28 nm CMOS process, simulation results confirm that the proposed RH-SPO latch offers moderate radiation resistance and high robustness performance with backup and restore operations. Additionally, compared to state-of-the-art design, named M-8C, it can save up to 50% in area overhead, reduce transmission-restore power consumption and restore time by 98% and 75%, respectively.