ESA Microelectronics Section   Artistic view of a microelectronic circuit   Experts plan to use autocorrelation spectrometers for several future space missions with applications in radiometers for both aeronomy and astronomy. The core of such an instrument consist of a correlation DSP and an ADC, both realised as full-custom-designed ASICs. The target for this specific project was to lower power consumption by a factor of 5 while rasing the clock rate up to 2 gigahertz. Background information     Layout of the fault-tolerant LEON2FT processor, implemented by the section in UMC 0.18 µm technology. Engineers made this test chip to investigate the radiation tolerance of commercial ASIC technologies with an SEU hardened design; it has also provided valuable design experience with the LEON VHDL model, which benefits other ESA developments. Last update: 16 March 2011