MALTA, N.Y. - BAE Systems has received $16 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding from the Department of Defense (DoD) to demonstrate and qualify its RH45 radiation-hardened 45-nanometer (nm) technology and reestablish the company's RH45 ASIC Storefront.
The investment, provided through the DoD's Warfighting Investments, Resourcing, and Execution directorate, will support production of RH45 technology using GlobalFoundries' 45-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process at the company's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Malta, N.Y.
RH45 is a radiation-hardened ASIC platform that provides space-system developers with a library of qualified building blocks and ASIC design and manufacturing methods. The platform is compatible with industry-standard design tools and is intended to enable customers to develop application-specific integrated circuits for space applications.
Maintaining a qualified manufacturing path is important for radiation-hardened electronics because moving to a different semiconductor process can require significant redesign and hardware requalification. The DPA investment is intended to strengthen the domestic supply chain for radiation-hardened microelectronics while providing continuity for programs using the RH45 technology.
BAE Systems has used RH45 technology for more than a decade. The company is incorporating the technology into space single-board computers (SBCs), including its Endura SBC, which combines processor cores, hardware-accelerated input/output, and security features for space applications.
The RH45 platform supports military, civil, and commercial space applications including communications, planetary exploration, Earth observation, weather, surveillance, and national-security missions.
BAE Systems' Space Systems organization in Manassas, Va., is developing the RH45 ASIC technology. The facility is a DoD Category 1A Microelectronics Trusted Source and provides semiconductor design, aggregation, brokerage, packaging and assembly, and testing capabilities.
BAE Systems' Joe Dziezynski, Space Systems product line director, said the RH45 ASIC library gives customers flexibility to target specific functions while meeting radiation-hardening requirements.
The effort also builds on BAE Systems' relationship with GlobalFoundries, which provides the domestic 45-nm SOI manufacturing technology used for RH45.
