Rad-Hard Reconfigurable Bi-Directional Level Shifter (ReBiLS) for NASA Space Applications in the Flexfet ™ 0.18 µm SOI CMOS Technology

There are different chip I/O voltages available for space system designer use ranging from 0.5 V to 5.0 V. Rad-hard re- configurable bi-directional level shifters (ReBiLS) provide NASA spacecraft designers with a solution to interface various voltage level chips with each other. ReBiLS can integrate existing space systems with ultra-low power (ULP) chips. The ReBiLS design translates 0.5 V logic bi-directionally to 1.2 V, 1.8 V, and 2.5 V at frequencies up to 500 MHz. The radiation tolerant capability of the ReBiLS design is derived from the Flexfet™ technology which has demonstrated total ionizing does (TID) tolerance in excess of 1Mrad. Control of the bottom gate voltages allows re- configuration to tradeoff power consumption and operating speed. ReBiLS designs that support voltage translation to 3.3 V and 5.0 V can be achieved with process and circuit modification. American Semiconductor is working in close collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Center for Ad- vanced Microelectronics and Biomolecular Research (CAMBR).