Nonvolatile runtime-reconfigurable FPGA secured through MRAM-based periodic refresh

A need expressed in the industry in terms of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is the radiation hardness. This paper presents a new FPGA architecture designed to meet this requirement, using a hybrid CMOS/Magnetic process that offers specific features such as non-volatility and intrinsic radiation hardness, commonly named MRAM process for Magnetic Random Access Memory process. The main idea is to use DRAM memory (Dynamic Random Access Memory) for the configuration and to use MRAM that stores the configuration to refresh the DRAM. This technique, known as scrubbing technique, enables reloading the configuration of the FPGA periodically avoiding the accumulation of errors. Therefore, the FPGA is intrinsically hardened to radiation with a low area overhead. Moreover, the power consumption is reduced and a dynamic reconfiguration is easily possible by programming the MRAM devices. Results extracted from the 2-input LUT (Look-Up Table) silicon demonstrator that has been designed, fabricated and tested are really encouraging.