Non volatile memory for FPGA booting in space

This paper proposes a new non-volatile memory (NVM) architecture that would increase the radiation hardness of standard design. The memory allows storing the configuration bit-stream for on-satellites FPGAs reducing the necessity of information exchange with ground control to recover the system. A 1Mbit non-volatile memory prototype has been fabricated using a standard 180nm CMOS process using a Tower Semiconductors proprietary S-Flash cell.