This paper presents several event models for memristor radiation interaction with Verilog-A. Radiation events can “affect all synapses or affect each synapse with different flux or intensity,” particularly for complex neuromorphic circuits. The simulation of neuromorphic circuits is thus important to emulate the effects of radiation.

The paper uses the Cadence Virtuoso design suite with Verilog-A to model the events. There are generally two ways to emulate analog and mixed-signal activities on integrated circuits: Verilog-A focuses on pure analog systems, and real data type modeling with SystemVerilog or the universal verification methodology/verification methodology manual (UVM/VMM) verification methodology concentrates on modeling interactions between traditional digital systems and floating-point analog designs. Future work could consider emulation on real data types with SystemVerilog, which is more scalable and compatible with system-level simulation and integration.

Today, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are commonly used in aerospace and military missions. The FPGA industry must think about application and protection in such harsh environments. The idea of using Verilog-A or SPICE for memristor models is not new. This paper focuses on using models to simulate the effects of radiation on devices, in order to find the responses of systems deployed in specific environments. In this regard, the emulation is new.