Following the tremendous success of worldwide Space Forum events held over the last five years in the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and India, Microsemi once again put together an exceptional interactive experience, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to the space industry. This event included various topics related to Microsemi's space-flight FPGAs, high reliability power discrete and hybrid components for space, and included interactive roundtable and Q&A sessions.
The following archived content is available in the agenda and presentations tabs:
The Microsemi Space Forum is an ideal technology event for component engineers, design engineers, system-level architects, R&D engineers and other space industry professionals interested in the latest space-related solutions, system performance, reliability, packaging, radiation, and new digital and analog components for space applications.
Microsemi: Propelling Space Innovation for More than Half a Century Microsemi has played an important role in hundreds of space initiatives over the past 55 years and in a wide variety of space programs globally. With one of the industry™s most comprehensive portfolios of space products, Microsemi provides radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant solutions ranging from diodes, transistors, MOSFETs and power converters, to FPGAs, ASICs, custom semiconductor packaging, and integrated power distribution systems. We are committed to supporting our products throughout the lifetime of our customer programs.
Jim Aralis has served as chief technology officer and vice president of R&D for Microsemi since January 2007. He has more than 30 years experience in developing customer analog device and process technologies, analog and mixed-signal ICs and systems, and CAD systems. Jim played a key role in transitioning Microsemi to a virtually fabless model. Supporting multiple process technologies including high voltage and high power BCD/CMOS; high power high integration CMOS, GaAs, SiGe, IPD, RF MOOS SOI, GaN and SiC; and several high-density packaging technologies, Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in math, applied science and physics, as well as a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from UCLA. He holds nine patents for circuit and system design.
This presentation introduces the scope of Microsemi's approach to the space power system market. Microsemi is evolving its product offerings from discrete components to full up power systems in response to customer demand and in accordance to our corporate strategic plan. Microsemi's unique combination of power discretes, ASICs & standard ICs, mixed signal, digital and system. Engineered products offer value solutions at all levels of space system design.
Patrick Franks is the director of engineering for Microsemi's Power Management Group in La Mirada, California. Mr. Franks has 31 years of electronics design and development experience overall, including 25 years specialized in power electronics. His work has included sonar system designs for the British Royal Navy, mine-hunting sonar development, power supply design, and directing the Military Engineering group in COTS module and custom power product development at Martek Power. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electronics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and a Masters in business administration from Chapman University, CA.
Microsemi Power products overview will showcase our power discrete, hybrid and assembly technologies for radiation hardened space application including product updates and roadmap. The session will provide the attendee with a working knowledge of the principal areas of power product focus and capabilities to satisfy power management needs.
Jim Larrauri is the director of business development for Microsemi's High Reliability Group (HRG). Mr. Larrauri has 25 years of high reliability applications engineering, sales and power product marketing experience including 16 years specializing in power electronics. He served in the United States Marine Corps within the Cryptologic Signals Intelligence field. In 2009 Mr. Larrauri joined Microsemi Corporation as director of business development providing product marketing development for a portfolio of radiation-hardened standard products. By 2011 Mr. Larrauri engaged as power products marketing for corporate, and specialty consulting for hybrid project developments.
This session will cover an update to the legacy SG product line including the new radiation-hardened versions of our SGR product line. We will also look at the new product development roadmap focusing on system level solutions – the space system manager – for satellites. And finally an overview of AMSG-HiREL's custom ASIC solutions for space customers.
Bertrand Irissou is the director of marketing for the High Reliability Group at Microsemi. He came to Microsemi with the acquisition of ASIC Advantage in 2011 where he had been a founding member. Irissou had held various positions working with mixed signal custom solutions specifically focused on military, space, automotive and industrial customers. He earned a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from University of California at Berkeley.
With over 55 years of presence in space, Microsemi has the experience, the resources and the determination to deliver radiation hard solutions corresponding to the threat level of every application. The presentation covers the specifics of all products from discrete semiconductors to mixed-signal ASICs and a discussion on radiation mitigation techniques based on process selection including large bandgap materials like SiC & GaN, design techniques, and extensive testing.
Pierre Irissou is the chief engineer for the High Reliability Group at Microsemi. He came to Microsemi with the acquisition of ASIC Advantage in 2011 where he had been a founding member. More than 45 years experience in the semi-conductor industry working in a variety of industries. He earned a License in science and mathematics from the University of Poitiers in Poitiers, France, an Engineering degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering from the University of Poitiers in Poitiers, France and a Master of Science in metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This session will focus on hi-reliability packaging using flex circuit materials as an integral part of micro-electronic discrete packages. A satellite solar diode and GaN transistor examples are described. Performance characteristics and advantages are discussed.
Tracy Autry has over 15 years of experience in the design and development of high reliability semiconductor packages for the aerospace market. In his current role he is responsible for new package development in support of new product opportunities. Recent activities have been concentrated on high temperature operation for wide bandgap semiconductors. He holds a Bachelor's degree in ceramic engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.
In spacecraft applications, sensors and command interfaces are encountered that are incompatible for direct interfacing to an FPGA. These interfaces require signal conditioning that has traditionally been implemented with discrete semiconductors and simple single function ICs that meet the cold sparing, fault isolation and radiation tolerance of the space environment. Using suitable IC processes, a higher level of device integration can be enabled to implement these spacecraft interfaces. The programmability of the FPGA can be exploited to configure these analog and power functions increasing their versatility.
Bruce Ferguson is chief engineer for AMSG at Microsemi. He has recently architected power management ASICs , battery chargers, LED drivers and light sensors. He holds a number of patents in these areas. His most recent experience is in high reliability for spacecraft motor drivers and for telemetry products. Prior to Microsemi, Ferguson designed sonar and radar display and signal conversion components at Hughes Aircraft Co. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a Masters in business administration from University of California at Irvine.
Digital systems are evolving to demand lower bias voltages and higher operating current levels. Traditional centralized power solutions require downstream Point of Load regulators to meet more stringent static and dynamic regulation requirements. This presentation showcases Microsemi's product plan to address these requirements and discusses various related application issues.
J.J.Wang worked as a physicist at ARACOR for 6 years, doing material analysis and electrical characterization for various government funded projects. Research subjects included radiation effects on semiconductors, radiation detectors, and SOI electrical and material characterizations. Wang joined Microsemi SoC Products Group in 1995 and has been involved in all radiation related projects and products. He has presented and published more than 30 times on the subject of radiation effects on semiconductor microelectronics in various conferences and journals. Dr.Wang earned a Doctorate in material science and engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1989.
This presentation will cover topics related to calculating power required by the RTAX-S FPGA1. We will also show how to select appropriate radiation-tolerant regulators that can supply the required power to meet all unique FPGA power requirements using either radiation-tolerant linear-regulators or radiation-tolerant switching regulators. And lastly we talk about selecting an appropriate radiation-tolerant power supply to handle the power requirements.
Hans Schmitz is an area technical manager for Microsemi Corporation. He has been a field application engineer supporting SOC(System-On-a-Chip), Field-Programmable-Gate-Array(FPGA)'s and Microprocessors at Military/Aerospace and Commercial customers for 18 years. Prior to his current role, Schmitz worked designing FPGA's into various Microsemi products.
This paper presents results & evaluations of potential performance improvements from the incorporation of GaN technology into power supplies
Al Ortega is a marketing manager for Microsemi's High Reliability Group, including RadHard products. He has 30 years of experience in a variety of positions that include power supply design, product engineering, power semiconductor applications and 10 years in HiRel semiconductor product development. Ortega holds a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University.
The current Microsemi SoC Products Group portfolio of spaceflight FPGAs will be reviewed in detail, covering architecture, features, benefits, radiation and reliability. Recent developments in qualification and processing flows will be discussed. The presentation also provides updates on the newer spaceflight parts—RTAX™-DSP, providing embedded high speed digital signal processing capabilities and RT ProASIC®3, providing reprogrammability with immunity to radiation-induced configuration upsets.
Minh Nguyen joined Actel, now Microsemi in 2006 as an applications engineer. In this role she provided technical support and created application notes to support various space customers before taking on her current role. Nguyen holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in electrical engineering from University of California, Berkeley.
In this presentation we will preview our next generation FPGA family for space applications. Device resources, radiation performance targets and the product introduction timeline will be covered in detail.
Ken O'Neill joined Actel, now Microsemi, in 1990 as a product marketing engineer and served the company in a variety of product marketing positions before taking on his current role. Prior to joining, O'Neill was a design engineer with Hewlett-Packard, and prior to that a design engineer for Racal-Comsec Ltd. He holds a Bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Reading, England.
Total ionizing dose and long-term data retention are well-known reliability issues in flash memory devices. These two adverse effects are usually treated separately. Recently, questions on their combined effects in flash-based FPGAs initiated investigations by radiation researchers. To alleviate concern of the combined effects of TID and long-term operation on configuration retention in flash-based FPGAs, post-TID devices have been tested for long-term retention with temperature and bias as parameters. The results are presented here.
J.J.Wang worked as a physicist at ARACOR for 6 years, doing material analysis and electrical characterization for various government funded projects. Research subjects included radiation effects on semiconductors, radiation detectors, and SOI electrical and material characterizations. Wang joined Microsemi SoC Products Group in 1995 and has been involved in all radiation related projects and products. He has presented and published more than 30 times on the subject of radiation effects on semiconductor microelectronics in various conferences and journals. Dr.Wang earned a Doctorate in material science and engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1989.
Building on the successful introduction of CCGA (ceramic column grid array in A1 wire bond) for Space Application, Microsemi is working to introduce Flip Chip CCGA for the next generation RT devices for Space. The presentation will cover package construction for both non-hermetic and hermetic, qualification plans. Input from attendees on their requirements for high pin count packages (especially for Flip Chip ceramic CCGA) for mission critical space application would be welcome. Also our Hi-Reliability packaging roadmap will be presented.
Raymond Kuang joined Actel, now Microsemi in 1997 and brings 17 years of experience in the semiconductor industry to Microsemi. For the past 12 years, he has focused on Microsemi's FPGA packaging technology. Prior to joining Actel/Microsemi, Kuang was employed at LSI Logic in the assembly manufacturing division. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Davis.
As demand increases for smaller spacecraft and higher electronic content, more emphasis is needed on signal integrity and simulation. Low noise and low cross talk design also is more important as silicon geometries shrink and low voltage circuits are being utilized. The presentation will focus on the increased needs for simulation, signal integrity, power integrity, and how this affects microelectronic packaging.
Michael Flatley has been with Microsemi since 2008 and serves as a manager of product applications, working closely with the company's engineering and sales teams to create new products in military, aerospace and information assurance technology markets. He has worked in the microelectronics industry for the last 15 years and has extensive experience working with distribution and manufacturers' representatives. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in materials engineering and a Masters of Engineering in quality and reliability from Arizona State University.
This session will cover solutions for a selected set of the most commonly asked questions. The information is applicable to the AX and RTAX-S focusing on RTAX-S Power-On Reset (POR) and Global Reset signals (GCLR/GPRE).
J.J.Wang worked as a physicist at ARACOR for 6 years, doing material analysis and electrical characterization for various government funded projects. Research subjects included radiation effects on semiconductors, radiation detectors, and SOI electrical and material characterizations. Wang joined Microsemi SoC Products Group in 1995 and has been involved in all radiation related projects and products. He has presented and published more than 30 times on the subject of radiation effects on semiconductor microelectronics in various conferences and journals. Dr.Wang earned a Doctorate in material science and engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1989.
This presentation will cover topics related to calculating power required by the RTAX-S FPGA1. We will also show how to select appropriate radiation-tolerant regulators that can supply the required power to meet all unique FPGA power requirements using either radiation-tolerant linear-regulators or radiation-tolerant switching regulators. And lastly we talk about selecting an appropriate radiation-tolerant power supply to handle the power requirements.
Hans Schmitz is an area technical manager for Microsemi Corporation. He has been a field application engineer supporting SOC(System-On-a-Chip), Field-Programmable-Gate-Array(FPGA)'s and Microprocessors at Military/Aerospace and Commercial customers for 18 years. Prior to his current role, Schmitz worked designing FPGA's into various Microsemi products.
Digital systems are evolving to demand lower bias voltages and higher operating current levels. Traditional centralized power solutions require downstream Point of Load regulators to meet more stringent static and dynamic regulation requirements. This presentation showcases Microsemi's product plan to address these requirements and discusses various related application issues.
J.J.Wang worked as a physicist at ARACOR for 6 years, doing material analysis and electrical characterization for various government funded projects. Research subjects included radiation effects on semiconductors, radiation detectors, and SOI electrical and material characterizations. Wang joined Microsemi SoC Products Group in 1995 and has been involved in all radiation related projects and products. He has presented and published more than 30 times on the subject of radiation effects on semiconductor microelectronics in various conferences and journals. Dr.Wang earned a Doctorate in material science and engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1989.
In spacecraft applications, sensors and command interfaces are encountered that are incompatible for direct interfacing to an FPGA. These interfaces require signal conditioning that has traditionally been implemented with discrete semiconductors and simple single function ICs that meet the cold sparing, fault isolation and radiation tolerance of the space environment. Using suitable IC processes, a higher level of device integration can be enabled to implement these spacecraft interfaces. The programmability of the FPGA can be exploited to configure these analog and power functions increasing their versatility.
Bruce Ferguson is chief engineer for AMSG at Microsemi. He has recently architected power management ASICs , battery chargers, LED drivers and light sensors. He holds a number of patents in these areas. His most recent experience is in high reliability for spacecraft motor drivers and for telemetry products. Prior to Microsemi, Ferguson designed sonar and radar display and signal conversion components at Hughes Aircraft Co. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a Masters in business administration from University of California at Irvine.
This session will present all the different types of qualification tests that are performed on the Space FPGAs. These reliability tests are performed on programmed FPGAs using designs that maximize utilization of the device features. A list of programming software that are qualified using the above designs and reliability experiments will be presented.
Solomon Wolday has held several product engineering positions at Actel, now Microsemi prior to taking on the role of senior staff product engineer. He was a member of the Military and Aerospace Product Engineering Group prior to joining the SoC Group and is responsible for the 0.25 µm and 0.15 µm antifuse product families. Wolday holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada.
As demand increases for smaller spacecraft and higher electronic content, more emphasis is needed on signal integrity and simulation. Low noise and low cross talk design also is more important as silicon geometries shrink and low voltage circuits are being utilized. The presentation will focus on the increased needs for simulation, signal integrity, power integrity, and how this affects microelectronic packaging.
Michael Flatley has been with Microsemi since 2008 and serves as a manager of product applications, working closely with the company's engineering and sales teams to create new products in military, aerospace and information assurance technology markets. He has worked in the microelectronics industry for the last 15 years and has extensive experience working with distribution and manufacturers' representatives. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in materials engineering and a Masters of Engineering in quality and reliability from Arizona State University.
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| GEN B Space From 2012 - CTO Aralis FINAL |
| Space and Missile Systems Center - Luncheon Keynote |