What Microelectronics Research Development Corporation does

Microelectronics Research Development Corporation (Micro-RDC) is a privately held U.S. Government contractor headquartered in Monument, Colorado, that provides research, design, and engineering services focused on radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) microelectronics for military, aerospace, and industrial-nuclear customers. The company's core technical differentiators are two proprietary SEU/SET immunity methodologies: a patented Temporal Latch architecture (U.S. Patent 6,127,864) that achieves triple-redundancy-equivalent protection through three-time temporal sampling with a voting circuit, and the proprietary MICE (Multiple Interlocked CEll) circuit family that mitigates heavy-ion-induced errors in both sequential and combinatorial logic. These technologies underpin the company's RHBD 90nm CMOS Standard Cell Library and Structured ASIC Platform, both built on the IBM 9LP process, along with a portfolio of standard products including the KM-807701 8051XC SoC with SpaceWire and USB, KM-803301 and KM-805502 8-bit RISC SoCs, the KM-807704 32-bit RISC SoC, the KM-805510 Programmable FPGA Scrubber, and the KM-803310 Parallel-to-SPI NVM Interface.

Micro-RDC operates a multi-stream revenue model that combines U.S. Government R&D contract revenue (DARPA, DTRA, NASA, Air Force Research Laboratory, including SBIR Phase 1 awards) with ASIC design and test services for radiation-hardened tapeouts, and modest standard product and development board sales. Distribution is a single-channel, domestic direct-sales motion targeting enterprise and government buyers; development board pricing is publicly disclosed (e.g., $7,495 for the KM-807701 board) while chip and design-service pricing is negotiated on request. The company also offers the Milli-Beam SEE Testing System, a DTRA-sponsored focused heavy-ion test subsystem installed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory that enables spatial SEE characterization of sub-100nm ICs, and provides full-lifecycle design services from structured ASIC or cell-library synthesis through packaging, development board assembly, post-silicon verification, and C API integration.

The firm operates with 11–50 employees and a DCAA-approved accounting system, positioning it as a small but technically specialized defense supplier. Its customer and partner ecosystem includes Boeing (as a DARPA RHBD subcontractor) and standard products engineered for compatibility with Northrop Grumman EEPROM, BAE Systems CRAM, and Honeywell NVM, indicating close integration into the U.S. defense prime contractor supply chain.

Name

Microelectronics Research Development Corporation

Legal name

Microelectronics Research Development Corporation

Website

https://micro-rdc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Micro-RDC is a privately held Colorado-based defense contractor providing radiation-hardened-by-design microelectronics — including patented Temporal Latch technology, RHBD ASIC platforms, and SoC products — for U.S. military, aerospace, and nuclear applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Radiation-Hardened Microelectronics

NAICS

Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing (33441), Semiconductor Machinery Manufacturing (333242), Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals (334515)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Instruments For Meas & Testing Of Electricity & Elec Signals (3825)

akta.pro primary industry

General-Purpose Logic & Microcontrollers (MCU/MPU) (HDAHAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Storage/IO Controllers & Bridge ICs (USB/PCIe/SATA/NVMe) (HDAHAJAI), Foundry Platform & Design Enablement Services (PDK/DFM/Process Qualification) (HDAHACAJ), Assembly & Packaging Services (Wirebond/Flip-Chip/FCBGA) (HDAHADAA)

Keywords

• Radiation hardened microelectronics
• Radiation hardened design
• ASIC design services
• Space grade semiconductors
• SEE testing systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Monument

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Government R&D Contracts: Research and engineering services provided through U.S. Government contracts including DARPA, DTRA, NASA, and Air Force Research Laboratory programs. Includes SBIR Phase 1 projects for radiation hardened technologies.
2. ASIC Design Services: Design and test services for Radiation Hardened By Design ASICs including Structured ASIC and Standard Cell Library-based designs. Support for tapeouts, packaging, and development boards.
3. Standard Products Sales: Sale of radiation-hardened standard products including 8051XC SoC, 8-bit RISC processors, 32-bit RISC SoC, FPGA Scrubbers, and Parallel to SPI interface chips.
4. Development Board Sales: Sale of development boards and FPGA emulation kits for post-silicon verification and chip integration into target systems.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Micro-RDC designs, develops, and sells radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) microelectronic products — including standard SoCs, a 90nm CMOS Structured ASIC platform, an RHBD standard cell library, an FPGA scrubber, and a NVM-to-SPI interface chip — alongside design, packaging, and SEE test services for U.S. military, aerospace, and spaceborne programs.

Product overview

Microelectronics Research Development Corporation offers a portfolio of radiation-hardened microelectronic products and design services for military and aerospace applications. The product line centers on two platform categories: Standard Cell Library (RHBD 90nm CMOS Standard Cell Library) and Structured ASIC (RHBD 90nm CMOS Structured ASIC Platform), both utilizing proprietary Temporal Latch and MICE technologies for SEU/SET immunity. Complementing these platforms are standard products including the KM-807701 8051XC SoC (with SpaceWire and USB), KM-807704 32-bit RISC SoC, KM-805502 Enhanced 8-bit RISC SoC, KM-803301 8-bit RISC SoC, KM-805510 FPGA Scrubber, and KM-803310 Parallel to SPI Interface. The Milli-Beam SEE Testing System provides advanced radiation testing capabilities. Design & Test Services support the full development lifecycle from concept through chip integration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• KM-807701 8051XC Based SoC Radiation-hardened 8051XC-based System on a Chip with 8x speed improvement over standard 8051, USB 1.1 Host/Slave, SpaceWire interfaces at 10 Mbps and 50 Mbps, dual I2C buses, four serial ports, 64Kx8 EDAC-protected Program RAM, and LVDS drivers/receivers for space applications.
• KM-803301 8-Bit RISC SoC SEU-immune radiation-hardened 8-bit RISC System on a Chip with 4Kx14bit EDAC Program RAM, dual I2C bus interfaces, packaged in a 172-pin CQFP with 96 CMOS I/O.
• KM-805502 Enhanced 8-Bit RISC SoC Enhanced SEU-immune 8-bit RISC System on a Chip with 8Kx14bit EDAC Program RAM, temporal latch technology in all sequential logic, SPI Master with 8 slave selects, dual I2C Master/Slave interfaces, and a 5mm x 5mm die with 64µm pad pitch.
• KM-807704 32-Bit RISC SoC SEU-immune radiation-hardened 32-bit RISC System on a Chip running at 50 MHz based on OpenRISC architecture with 256Kx8 EDAC-protected Program Space, SpaceWire interface, dual 16550 UARTs with hardware flow control, 32 bidirectional GPIO, and a 7mm x 7mm die with 406 pins.
• KM-805510 Programmable FPGA Scrubber SEU-immune programmable scrubber for SRAM-based FPGAs featuring RISC processor with 8-bit data bus, CRC16 error detection with up to 1024 checksum storage, EDAC support, frame-based and read-detect-scrub capabilities, supporting SelectMAP32, SelectMAP8, ICAP32 and JTAG configuration interfaces.
• KM-803310 NVM Parallel to SPI Interface Temporal Latch SEU-immune NVM Parallel to SPI Interface providing SPI Slave to Parallel NVM interface support with dual 74HC157-compatible muxes, CMOS to I2C bus interfaces, 24-bit address to Parallel NVM, and an on-chip 128x8 rad-hard temporal latch register file. Compatible with Northrop Grumman EEPROM, BAE CRAM, and Honeywell NVM.
• RHBD 90nm CMOS Structured ASIC Platform Single-layer-configurable radiation-hardened Structured ASIC platform built on IBM 9LP 90nm CMOS featuring Temporal Latch technology for SEU immunity, hardness estimate TID >1Mrad(Si), SEU <1e-8 Errors/day, SEL >75 MeV-cm2/mg, design-hardened PLL (10MHz to 125MHz), 1.25 Gbps LVDS channels, and configurable SRAM memory blocks with EDAC. Available in 6 die configurations from ~3mm to ~10mm.
• RHBD 90nm CMOS Standard Cell Library Comprehensive Radiation Hardened by Design (RHBD) standard cell library for ASIC design using IBM 9LP 90nm CMOS Process, incorporating Temporal Latch technology for SEU immunity (up to 125 MHz synchronous designs) and patented MICE technology for immunity to SEU and SET (up to 1 GHz clock frequencies).
• Milli-Beam SEE Testing System Advanced Single Event Effects (SEE) test subsystem using milli-beam focused radiation enabling broad-beam heavy-ion testing to raster scan individual device structures within complex sub-100nm ICs. Provides SEE spatial error isolation of 10µm to 30µm minimum and up to 100µm to 300µm maximum, with specialized 3-D surface plot data reduction software. DTRA-sponsored technology.
• Design & Test Services Full-spectrum design support for radiation-hardened ASIC development including Structured ASIC and Standard Cell Library-based designs, chip packaging, development board design and assembly, post-silicon verification, and C API development for system integration.
• KM-807701 8051XC Development Board At-Speed FPGA Emulation development board for the KM-807701 SoC, including LGA 484 Socket, SpaceWire support, RS-232, USB, and I2C interfaces. List price $7,495.

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• BoeingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMicro-RDC contributed heavily to the DARPA RHBD research and development program as a subcontractor to Boeing. Earlier work included development of cell libraries hardened to TID > 1 MRad(Si) using specialized layout techniques.
• Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMilli-Beam product installed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for advanced SEE characterization. The accelerator facility is used for broad-beam heavy-ion testing focused down to raster scan individual device structures.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Honeywell Aerospace: Major aerospace prime with proprietary radiation-hardened microelectronics and NVM for space platforms. One of Micro-RDC's named interface-compatibility partners; much larger and broader portfolio than Micro-RDC.
• Northrop Grumman Mission Systems: Defense prime with in-house rad-hard ASIC and EEPROM product families; named compatibility partner for Micro-RDC's NVM interface. Operates a much broader portfolio across space, missile defense, and strategic systems.
• Microchip Technology (Microsemi): Acquired Microsemi to add radiation-tolerant FPGAs, processors, and memory for space; competes broadly with Micro-RDC's RHBD SoCs and FPGA scrubbers, but from a much larger commercial semiconductor portfolio.
• Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions: Supplier of radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant semiconductors, RF, and power components for space and defense. Competes in the broader RHBD component market with a wider product catalog than Micro-RDC.
• BAE Systems Electronic Systems: Large defense prime with internal rad-hard ASIC and memory (CRAM) product lines that Micro-RDC's Parallel-to-SPI interface specifically targets. Operates broadly across defense electronics, not specializing solely in Micro-RDC's RHBD ASIC niche.
• Xilinx (AMD): Supplies radiation-tolerant FPGAs (RT Kintex, Virtex UltraScale+) commonly used in space applications. Indirectly competes because Micro-RDC's FPGA Scrubber is designed to support Xilinx SelectMAP/ICAP interfaces.

Direct peers

• Triad Semiconductor: ViaPath structured ASIC platform provider whose place-and-route tools Micro-RDC uses. Direct peer in configurable/structured ASIC silicon for mixed-signal and RHBD applications targeting aerospace and industrial customers.
• Vorago Technologies: Fabless semiconductor company specializing in radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) microcontrollers and processors for space and defense. Most direct head-to-head peer — competes in the same RHBD SoC/MCU category serving aerospace and DoD customers.

Emerging players

• Avalanche Technology: Provider of radiation-hardened MRAM memory for space and defense applications, overlapping Micro-RDC's rad-hard memory and NVM interface product direction. Smaller and more focused than primes but a niche competitor.
• Zero Error Systems (ZES): Singapore-based designer of radiation-hardened ICs and error-correction IP for LEO and deep-space constellations. Emerging peer with overlap to Micro-RDC's SEU-immune SoC and FPGA scrubber offerings but focused on newer process nodes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=g-iYV5kN5WA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/microelectronics-research-development-corporation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Microelectronics Research Development Corporation