Microchip Serial 64Mb SuperFlash Memory Extends Options for Designing Space Systems

Designers of spaceflight-qualified systems have a need to reduce development time, cost and risk in their systems.

Microchip Technology Inc. proposed the concept of starting with Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) devices and then replacing them with space-qualified, Radiation-Tolerant (RT) equivalent parts. The company extended its family of COTS-based, RT SuperFlash devices for these applications and is bringing the Microchip memory technology’s 50krad (kilorad) Total Ionizing Dose (TID) tolerance to a 64Mb serial quad I/O NOR flash memory device for use in harsh aerospace and defense system environments.

“The SST26LF064RT SuperFlash device brings the best TID performance on the market to a 64-Mbit serial quad I/O memory solution that works alongside any SRAM-based FPGA in diverse space applications,” said Bob Vampola, associate VP, aerospace and defense. “It is ideal for systems used in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space constellations and other harsh radiation environments where companion flash memory is required for storing the critical software code or bitstream that drives the complete system.”

The company’s SuperFlash NOR flash memory products use a proprietary split-gate cell architecture to improve performance, data retention and reliability as compared to conventional stacked-gate flash. They eliminate the complexity of power management switching to achieve their industry-high TID even while the flash is still biased and operating in systems such as satellite on-board computers and different types of controllers for motors, sensors, solar panels and power distribution. Proven in industrial applications, the firm’s RT SuperFlash technology has been offered as a parallel-interface solution with its 64Mb SST38LF6401RT device that is now space-qualified and available in-flight models. With this product, designers now also have a serial quad I/O 64Mbit memory option.

An application note explains how to use the serial 64Mb SuperFlash device with SST26LF064RT RT flash reference evaluation board and space-qualified SRAM-based FPGAs. Like the company’s parallel SuperFlash memory, the serial SuperFlash memory option can also be used as configuration memory with an FPGA and other firm’s solutions such as the Arm Cortex-M7- based SAMRH707 radiation-hardened (rad-hard) microcontroller (MCU). It can also be used with the RT PolarFire FPGA to support in-flight system reconfiguration.

Availability
Ceramic samples for RT SST26LF064RT SuperFlash memory product are available for sale.

Additionally, the SST38LF6401RT (parallel) ceramic and plastic qualified flight models are available for sale. The devices are complemented by the RT FPGA (RTG4 and RT PolarFire), rad-hard microprocessor (MPU) SAMRH71 and rad-hard MCU SAMRH707.