The impact of radiation hardened by design (RHBD) techniques on the performance of readout integrated circuits in radiation environments

The tolerance of a hybrid array (HA) to total ionizing dose (TID) radiation continues to be a major performance consideration for space based imaging systems. In an effort to improve TID performance, HA manufacturers have begun to utilize circuit design techniques to enhance the TID tolerance of readout integrated circuits (ROICs). This paper will report on the radiometric and TID radiation characterizations of a HA that utilizes radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) techniques. This paper will not describe the design techniques used. Instead, characterization data are presented that demonstrate a HA TID tolerance of over 25 units of total ionizing dose (UTID). This result is compared with the performance of devices with ROICs processed at commercial foundries that do not make use of RHBD techniques. The HA described in this paper represents a state-of-the-art device; the ROIC was designed to be low noise, high gain, and radiation tolerant. While design techniques were utilized to enhance its TID hardness, no special fabrication processes were used.