A Self-Recoverable Nonvolatile Magnetic Latch with High-Speed SEU-Tolerant Backup Module
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: With the continuous scaling of transistor technologies, single event upset (SEU) induced by space radiation particles has become a critical reliability challenge for aerospace digital circuits. This paper proposes a radiation-hardened self-recoverable nonvolatile (NV) latch, termed the SRHS-STBM latch, which integrates magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with CMOS circuitry. To achieve complete recovery from SEUs, the proposed latch employs four cross-coupled dual-input standard C-elements (DSCs) forming a robust feedback structure. In addition, a novel SEU-tolerant backup module is developed to address a key limitation of prior NV latches, where backup operations are vulnerable to radiation-induced data corruption. The proposed module ensures reliable backup operation while significantly improving backup speed. Using a physics-based STT-MTJ compact model and a commercial 40 nm CMOS design kit for simulations, the proposed SRHSSTBM latch achieves a D-Q delay of 60.85 ps, a restore delay of 43.60 ps, and a static power consumption as low as 0.16 μW. Monte Carlo simulations further reveal that, even in the worst case with a deposited charge of Qinj= 2 pC, the backup delay is only 3.73 ns and the internal nodes can fully recover from SEUs.
Institution: Beihang University
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7224955656