RADIATION HARDENED LATCH
First Claim
1. A radiation hardened latch, comprising:
- a first inverter having an output;
a second inverter having an output;
a radiation hardened inverter having an output, a first input coupled with the first inverter output, and a second input coupled with the second inverter output;
a third inverter having an input coupled with the radiation hardened inverter output and an output coupled with the first inverter output; and
a fourth inverter having an input coupled with the radiation hardened inverter output and an output coupled with the second inverter output.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radiation hardened latch is presented. The radiation hardened latch uses two redundant inverter paths to duplicate an input signal. The duplicated inverter paths are coupled with a radiation hardened inverter that will only produce an inverted signal if both input signals have equivalent voltage levels. The radiation hardened inverter and its output signal produce a radiation hardened node that drives either one of the duplicated inverter paths back to an appropriate voltage level in the event of an SET. Because, the radiation hardened node and duplicated inverter paths are isolated, the latch may be optimized for factors such as signal speed and driving strength. These factors may be optimized without affecting radiation hardness. The radiation hardened latch may also be used to build more complex circuits such as a flip-flop.
27 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A radiation hardened latch, comprising:
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a first inverter having an output;
a second inverter having an output;
a radiation hardened inverter having an output, a first input coupled with the first inverter output, and a second input coupled with the second inverter output;
a third inverter having an input coupled with the radiation hardened inverter output and an output coupled with the first inverter output; and
a fourth inverter having an input coupled with the radiation hardened inverter output and an output coupled with the second inverter output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A radiation hardened latch, comprising:
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a first pair of inverters comprising a first inverter and a second inverter having interconnected outputs, wherein the first inverter has an enable input coupled with an inverted enable input of the second inverter and the second inverter has an enable input coupled with an inverted enable input of the first inverter;
a second pair of inverters comprising a third inverter and a fourth inverter having interconnected outputs, wherein the third inverter has an enable input coupled with an inverted enable input of the fourth inverter and the fourth inverter has an enable input coupled with an inverted enable input of third inverter; and
a radiation hardened inverter having an output, an input coupled with interconnected outputs of the first pair of inverters, and enable and inverted enable inputs coupled with the interconnected outputs of the second pair of inverters. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of operating a radiation hardened latch, the method comprising:
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inputting a latch input into first and second inverters;
enabling the first and second inverters at a periodic interval;
inputting an output of the first inverter into a first input of a radiation hardened inverter and inputting an output of the second inverter into a second input of the radiation hardened inverter, whereby a radiation hardened node is maintained at an output of the radiation hardened inverter;
outputting the radiation hardened node into third and fourth inverters;
enabling the third and fourth inverters at an inverse periodic interval;
combining an output of the third inverter to the output of the first inverter at a first output node;
combining an output of the fourth inverter with the output of the second inverter at a second output node; and
in the event of an SET, maintaining a voltage level at the first and second output nodes by the radiation hardened node. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification