Services – MAGICS

Custom ASIC Development
––”To boldly go where no electronics has gone before!”

MAGICS is specialized in designing radiation-hardened ICs for space and nuclear applications, that are tolerant to single-event and total-ionizing-dose effects. MAGICS addresses customers’ demands by offering ASIC solutions, customized IC design services or IP licensing. The company also has easy access to various kinds of irradiation facilities, e.g., x-ray, cobalt-60, two-photon absorption laser, heavy ion, and proton.

At present, the MAGICS’ rad-hard technology is qualified under extreme radiation conditions and well received by our customers. From 2008 to 2017, MAGICS has successfully delivered several radiation-hardened integrated circuits development projects, including: picosecond time-to-digital converter for a pulsed-mode time-of-flight Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system; MGy radiation tolerant sensor instrumentation link for nuclear environment; closed-loop motor control electronics for intelligent remote handling at ITER.

Rad-Hard IC Development

One-stop shop for custom rad-hard IC design: feasibility study, design specification, chip design, prototyping, test bench definition, electrical characterization, and radiation assessment.

Rad-hard IP Library

MAGICS Instruments assists customers in fast-to-market product development, employing MAGICS’ qualified radiation-hardened Analog/Mixed-signal IP blocks with excellent TID and SEE tolerance.

System-on-chip solutions

MAGICS helps customers to create system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for their PCB systems. An SoC integrates an electronics system into one single chip, and require very few external components, hence significantly reduces the cost and complexity of system-level integration. SoCs also consume less power, have smaller size, and provide greater reliability than their PCB counterparts.

Radiation assessment

With the in-house knowledge of conducting radiation qualification and access to radiation facilities (X-ray, Gamma-ray, Neutron, Proton, Heavy-ion), MAGICS can effectively assess the radiation hardness of its products and designs in an environment similar to real applications. This helps us in identifying potential risks and improving the reliability of the associated system.

We are great at what we do

Exposure to radiation reduces the lifespan of electronics. MAGICS has developed chips which are highly resistant to total-ionizing-dose as well as particle radiation. The pioneering technology of MAGICS offers unprecedented opportunities for the use of state-of-the-art electronics

for deep space missions, asteroid mining, and interplanetary travel;
for tracing and disposal of nuclear waste, post-nuclear-accident monitoring and intervention, health monitoring and dismantling of nuclear power plants, and new nuclear developments such as nuclear fusion reactors;
for high-energy particle physics experiments;
for other industrial use (e.g., medical, security check, quality control) of nuclear technology.

Rad-hard IC design flow

MAGICS has developed a unique rad-hard IC design environment to achieve high first-time-right rate and high reliability:

Industrial standard EDA tools: MATLAB for system behavioral model simulation; Cadence Virtuoso design tools for schematic edit, simulation and layout; Cadence Incisive and Innovus for digital design and implementation; Mentor Graphics Calibre for physical verification and sign-off.
Experimentally verified transistor radiation model for TID (total-ionizing-dose) simulation.
In-house proprietary TMR (triple modular redundancy) generator and SET simulator for single-event simulation.
A wide range of qualified rad-hard analog/mixed-signal IP blocks (e.g., PGA, ADC, PLL, Clock reference, Bandgap, LDO, Temperature sensor, etc.).

Discover MAGICS’ Rad-Hard Analog/Mixed-signal IP Library

Programmable gain amplifier (PGA)	Phase-locked loop (PLL)	Analog-to-digital converter (ADC)
Gain: 1 ~ 256 Gain error: ±0.5% Gain drift: 10 ppm/°C Offset: 5 μV Offset drift: <10 nV/°C Input noise: 20 nV/√Hz TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS	Frequency: 2.2 ~ 3.2 GHz Bandwidth: 0.7 ~ 2 MHz RMS jitter: 350 fs Power: 12 mW TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS	Resolution: 16 bits Bandwidth: 20 kHz SNDR: 96 dBFS Power: 5 mW TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS
Bandgap reference	Xtal-less clock reference	On-chip temperature sensor
Temperature range: -50 ~ 125 °C Temperature coefficient: 30 μV/°C Power: 80 μW TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS	Frequency: 8 ~ 12 MHz Temperature coefficient: 30 ppm/°C RMS jitter: 25 ps Power: 360 μW TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS	Temperature range: -50 ~ 125 °C Temperature coefficient: 1.5 mV/°C Accuracy: <1 °C Power: 60 μW TID tolerance: >100 Mrad SEL tolerance: >100 MeV·cm²/mg SET/SEU tolerance: >60 MeV·cm²/mg Technology: 65nm CMOS

The library is still growing. New elements will be added to the library (e.g., power regulators, SAR ADC, SERDES, LVDS, DAC, bus transceiver, XO). Digital IPs are also available upon request (e.g., SPI, bus controller, digital filter). The library can also be ported into another process, according to a customer’s requirement.

Featured business cases

iter_divertor_rhs — Rad-hard closed-loop motor control
Rad-hard closed-loop motor control for ITER remote handling

Light Detection and Ranging
Radiation-hardened light detection and ranging system for 3D time-of-flight measurement

What people who have worked with us have to say

We believe that the radiation-hard technology being developed at MAGICS Instruments has great potential in the nuclear industry. … For this reason radiation hard Megagray instrumentation solutions can greatly add value to our current solutions serving our existing clients as well as allowing us to develop relationships with new clients looking for radiation hardened electronic solutions.

Ian GraysonOperations Director – AMEC Foster Wheeler

The radiation hardening and qualification is duly identified and implemented, relying respectively on possible subcontracting for bespoke radiation tolerant electronics (MAGICS Instruments).

Tender evaluation – Fusion for Energy

Rad-Hard IC Development

Rad-hard IP Library

System-on-chip solutions

Radiation assessment

We are great at what we do

Rad-hard IC design flow

Featured business cases

Rad-hard closed-loop motor control

Light Detection and Ranging

What people who have worked with us have to say

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