Infineon aims SRAM at space

Infineon has announced its next-generation 144Mbit QDR-II+ (quad data rate II+) SRAM certified to QML-V.

QML-V (DLA qualified manufacturers list class V) is the highest quality and reliability standard certification for aerospace-grade ICs., said the company. “This rad-hard QDR-II+ SRAM is a unique high-speed external cache memory, ideal for radar, on-board data processing and networking applications in space.”

It is pitching the SRAM against DRAM in, for example, on-system satellite image processing, claiming that DRAM has higher latency and memory bank restrictions.

Operation is at up to 250MHz, delivering up to 36Gbit/s throughput in a 165-ball CCGA (ceramic column grid array) package.

It is available in x18 or x36 bus-widths, and with on-die-termination in a two or four word burst mode.

Radiation hardening is for up to 200 krad(Si), and th ememory is said to be latch-up immune.

Originally developed as an industrial networking memory, the new memory is “used as a baseline design for rad-hard memory employing RadStop technology, Infineon’s proprietary design and process hardening techniques that enable a higher level of radiation performance while delivering the throughput demanded by space-bound applications,” said Infineon.

Previous generations have been used in space programs including NASA’s synthetic aperture radar ‘Surface Water and Ocean Topography’ (SWOT) research mission.