Radiation detectionCollaborative effort in developing ionizing radiation, neutron detector

Published 18 May 2012

Trojan Defense and Silvaco the other day announced their collaboration in the development of the Trojan Defense Carnyx ionizing radiation and neutron detector

Trojan Defense and Silvaco the other day announced their collaboration in the development of the Trojan Defense Carnyx ionizing radiation and neutron detector. Trojan Defense has been using Silvaco’s tool set to develop the Carnyx solid-state ionizing radiation and neutron detector. The companies say that Trojan Defense’s Carnyx is a low-power, low-profile, embeddable ionizing radiation and neutron sensor, with broad applications in stand-off detection of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM), nuclear dosimetry, civil engineering, nuclear medicine, space exploration, and the oil and gas drilling industry.

The innovative Carnyx ionizing radiation and neutron detector enables the creation of the Global Neutron Grid (GNG), a high-performance wireless detector network. The GNG aims to provide early detection of weapons-grade nuclear materials (for example, SNM) if such material is introduced into the supply chain.

The Carnyx detector was prototyped using Silvaco’s design tools for analog semiconductor processes, device, and design automation solutions to simulate radiation effects on solid-state CMOS electronics. Other Silvaco tools such as SmartSpice and Expert ensured that the sensor designed by Trojan Defense would be successfully and accurately fabricated in the target foundry.

Silvaco’s tools provided the accurate circuit simulations and gave us confidence in our design prior to fabrication,” said Matthew Schor, Trojan Defense founder and CEO. “It was comforting to see the circuits perform after delivery from the foundry as predicted by Silvaco’s software tools.”

Silvaco has many customers that are applying our tool flow to radiation hardened ASIC designs,” said J. K. Johnson, manager of business development at Silvaco. “The use of our tools by Trojan Defense to design radiation softened circuits for increased radiation sensitivity really opens up the application envelope. Now, Silvaco tools are being used for homeland security and defense at a critical time.”

Trojan Defense LLC is a systems solutions provider of radiation detection and communication tracking systems. Silvaco Inc. is a provider of TCAD, circuit simulation, and IC CAD software tools.