Prototype Design of a Magnetometer Frontend-ASIC for Spaceborne Applications

Sensors that are used in satellites need to be power efficient and lightweight, but currently most spaceborne magnetometers are built using multiple integrated circuits. It is therefore beneficial to combine the required functionality on a single chip. This work describes the prototype design of a high resolution magnetometer front-end ASIC for spaceborne applications. Because of the harsh environment, special design techniques are required to achieve a robust design. The design of the system and methods to achieve radiation hardness are presented. In contrast to existing solutions the resolution of the performance limiting DAC was increased to 20 bit. Furthermore the design of the system monitoring unit is shown.