High Precision Radiation Resistant Bandgap Voltage Regulator for Aerospace Applications

Voltage reference circuits are crucial components within analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, serving fundamental roles in maintaining stability and accuracy. Through examining bipolar circuits from both circuit and layout design viewpoints, we have introduced several new techniques to tackle challenges that were overlooked in previous studies. These techniques include 1) a Wilson current mirror structure, 2) a base current compensation resistor, 3) temperature-compensating resistors, 4) fuse trimming, 5) improved lateral PNP transistor design, and 6) a common-centroid layout for NPN transistors. The proposed circuit architecture is realized using a 1.5μm, 32V bipolar process. Measurement outcomes demonstrate that it achieves a temperature coefficient as low as 4.9ppm/<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∘</sup>C. Post-irradiation with a total dose of 500 krad (Si), the voltage reference exhibited a minimal variation of 0.10%, fulfilling the criteria for single-event latch-up resistance with a Linear Energy Transfer (LET) threshold exceeding 80.5 MeV⋅cm<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup>/mg.