ICs & Semiconductors

Radiation-hardened (rad-hard) components by STMicroelectronics help low earth orbit (LEO) satellites expand communication and earth observation services. ST said it is simplifying the design and volume production of the new generation of reliable small, inexpensive satellites to deliver services like earth observation and broadband internet from LEOs.

The new series of rad-hard power analogue and logic ICs are supplied in inexpensive plastic packages. The initial nine devices have been released and include a data converter, a voltage regulator, an LVDS transceiver, a line driver, and five logic gates that are used throughout systems like power generation and distribution, on-board computers, telemetry star trackers, and transceivers. 

The nine parts are the LEO3910 2A adjustable low-dropout voltage regulator, the LEOAD128 eight-channel, 1Mssample per second 12-bit ADC, the LEOLVDSRD 400Mbits per second LVDS driver-receiver, LEOAC00 quad two-input NAND gate, LEOAC14 hex inverter with Schmitt-trigger input, LEOA244 octal bus buffer with tri-state outputs, LEOAC74 dual D-type flip-flop, LEOAC08 quad two-input AND gate and LEOAC32 quad two inputs OR gates. 

The LEO rad-hard plastic parts are ready to use in ‘New Space’ applications, with optimised qualification and production flows and economies of scale. They require no additional qualification or up-screening from their users, and therefore eliminate significant cost and risk, ST confirmed.

The series ensures a radiation hardness match to the LEO mission profile, with a total ionisation dose immunity up to 50krad(Si), high immunity to total non ionising dose and single event latch-up (SEL) immunity up to 62.5MeV.cm²/mg. The parts are assembled on the same production line used for ST’s AEC-Q100 automotive-qualified ICs.

The parts outgassing is characterised to ensure it stays within the commonly accepted limits of New Space. External terminations’ finishing ensures the absence of whiskers in space, while being compatible with both leaded (Pb) and pure tin mounting processes as well as REACH-compliant.

ST said it continue to grow the series adding more functions in the coming months to further expand designers’ choices.

http://www.st.com

Renesas has announced that its RZ/Five family now includes general purpose microprocessor units (MPUs) built around a 64-bit RISC-V CPU core. The company selected the Andes AX45MP, based on the RISC-V CPU instruction set architecture (ISA). 

According to Hiroto Nitta, senior vice president and head of SoC business in the IoT and Infrastructure business unit at Renesas, the introduction of the RZ/Five MPUs and accompanying ecosystem support, shows Renesas “taking the lead in providing RISC-V solutions ahead of the market”.

The RZ/Five is the first general-purpose MPU available to be built around a 64-bit RISC-V core from Andes,” confirmed Frankwell Lin, chairman and CEO at Andes Technology. “Andes has collaborated with Renesas first on the 32-bit RISC-V core and now on the 64-bit AX45MP, and I anticipate that this development will lead to the early adoption of customers’ devices in the global market built with Andes’ advanced RISC-V processor families,” he said.

There is increased demand for IoT endpoint devices, such as gateways for solar inverters or home security systems, to collect sensor data and connect to servers or to the cloud. In response, RZ/Five is optimised to provide the performance and peripheral functions required of IoT endpoint devices. Its maximum operating frequency is 1.0GHz. Peripheral functions include support for multiple interfaces, such as two Gigabit Ethernet channels, two USB 2.0 channels and two CAN channels, as well as dual ADC modules. Support is also provided for connecting external DDR memory with error checking and correction (ECC) and security functions.

The peripheral functions and package of RZ/Five are compatible with those of the Arm core–based RZ/G2UL. The RZ/Five also comes in a smaller, compact package. An RZ SMARC evaluation board kit will be offered with a module board conforming to the SMARC 2.1 standard, equivalent to the currently available environment for the RZ/G Series. This kit allows switching and evaluating between an RZ/Five CPU module and an RZ/G2UL CPU module, enabling easy evaluation and shortening product development cycles.

Renesas offers Linux support via a Verified Linux Package (VLP) with industrial-grade Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) Linux. This offers long term maintenance support for more than 10 years and is designed to make the RZ/Five series appealing for corporate infrastructure and industrial applications that require a high level of reliability and extended service life. It also allows users to dramatically reduce future Linux maintenance costs, said Renesas.

Samples of the RZ/Five MPUs are available starting today, and mass production is scheduled to begin in July 2022. 

https://www.renesas.com