Cold-capable, radiation-hardened SiGe BiCMOS wireline transceivers

Electronics in space-based systems are in the process of a paradigm shift moving from centralized, heavily shielded, temperature-controlled warm boxes to distributed, minimally shielded sensing and control nodes. SiGe BiCMOS technology is one of the enablers of this move with its ability to withstand extremely wide variations in temperature and high radiation doses. This article has presented two SiGe BiCMOS wireline transceivers designed to be a part of the new system perspective by creating a means of control and communication across vehicle-wide buses. Both the RS-485 and ISO 11898 transceivers have been shown to work robustly from 90 K to 390 K, with consistent rise/fall times, propagation delays, and output amplitudes. Additionally, the ISO 11898 transceiver is TID tolerant to 2 Mrad, and the transmitter is hardened to single-event effects.