NEC testing highly radiation-hardened semiconductor chip in space:

NEC testing highly radiation-hardened semiconductor chip in space:

Tokyo, January 18, 2019 – NEC has developed a highly radiation-hardened (radiation-resistant) semiconductor chip, the “NanoBridge-FPGA (NB-FPGA)*1,”

it aims to demonstrate the operational reliability of the chip in space.

This chip was developed utilizing results from a project*2 coordinated by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

On January 18, 2019, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the “RAPid Innovative payload demonstration Satelite-1 (RAPIS-1),”

equipped with NEC’s newly developed NB-FPGA, on the fourth Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-4) under JAXA’s innovative satellite technology demonstration program.

JAXA and NEC are now starting joint collection and evaluation of basic data on the NB-FPGA, including error rate measurement, in a space environment where radiation is very high.

In addition, the reliable operation of image data compression is also being verified.

NEC

https://www.nec.com/en/press/201901/global_20190118_01.html