ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has received accreditation to provide “trusted design” services for both unclassified and classified integrated circuits at its Albuquerque, N.M., facility.
Sandia’s Category 1A status was awarded through the Trusted IC Supplier Accreditation Program (www.dmea.osd.mil/trustedic.html) of the Department of Defense (DoD)’s Defense MicroElectronics Activity (DMEA) (www.dmea.osd.mil/).
The accreditation program is part of DoD’s strategy to ensure that electronic components used in U.S. military and national security applications are trustworthy. Certification is necessary because the increasing offshore migration of all sectors of the microelectronics industry comes at a time of increasing demand for high-performance, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) from military and national security agencies.
Sandia provides ASIC design services for both radiation-hardened and non-radiation-hardened trusted foundries. Design capability for 350 nanometers, 180 nm, 130 nm and 90 nm technologies enables Sandia to work with most of the trusted foundries. This includes in-house design for mixed-signal, radiation-hardened, low-volume ASIC products. Other trusted foundries — among them, IBM, National Semiconductor, Honeywell and BAE Systems — provide access to leading-edge technologies for mixed-signal, high-performance and high-density system-on-chip (SoC) solutions.
In support of its primary mission as steward of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, Sandia has developed and delivered digital and mixed-signal microelectronic products for nearly three decades. This expertise has also been applied to other national security needs including ensuring the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and materials, reducing the threat from chemical and biological weapons and providing advanced custom designs for other agencies like the DoD. Sandia’s ASIC development team develops and maintains digital, analog and mixed-signal design expertise along with deep understanding of technology offerings and design methodologies to provide custom microelectronic products and engineering services that fulfill needs of diverse customers.
Sandia focuses on high-reliability custom solutions for high-consequence applications. An efficient and disciplined ISO 9001 certified design methodology enhances chances for first-pass silicon solutions. The Labs maintain a leading-edge design tool set. Combining ASIC solutions with other in-house capabilities in fabrication and packaging, along with test, failure analysis and reliability, Sandia can offer a total integrated circuit design solution.
For further information or questions please email Trusted_ASIC@sandia.gov.