Building Electronics for Harsh Environments: CERN Adopts Ultra-Rugged Chips
In a groundbreaking advance for particle physics research, Columbia University engineers have developed radiation-resistant, ultra-rugged chips that are now deployed at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These specialized analog-to-digital converter chips are built to withstand the extreme radiation levels and cosmic ray bombardment within the LHC’s unique environment. Unlike conventional commercial electronics, which quickly fail under such intense conditions, these chips maintain data accuracy and logic integrity, enabling precise digitization of subatomic particle collisions.
Custom Chip Design Powers Next Generation of Particle Experiments
The new chips are designed using commercial semiconductor processes already validated by CERN but enhanced with innovative circuit-level techniques. The engineers optimized transistor layouts, used guard rings, and integrated real-time error detection and correction systems. This combination delivers exceptional resilience, allowing the chips to operate reliably for at least a decade inside the LHC’s harshest experimental conditions. One type of chip filters and selects the most scientifically promising collision events among billions per second, acting as a digital gatekeeper. Another digitizes the chosen signals with high precision, supporting experiments that probe fundamental physics phenomena such as the elusive Higgs boson.
Transforming Particle Physics Through Durable Electronics
Installed as part of the upcoming LHC upgrade schedule starting in mid-2026, these ultra-rugged chips will empower physicists to explore the universe’s building blocks at unprecedented levels of detail. By ensuring reliable data collection under intense radiation and electromagnetic noise, the chips open new avenues for discovery in particle physics. This collaboration between physicists and engineers exemplifies the critical role of cutting-edge instrumentation in advancing science. The Columbia-designed chips represent a major leap in building electronics for extreme environments, demonstrating how custom semiconductor innovation can meet the specialized demands of experimental physics at facilities like CERN.
This pioneering development not only supports the pursuit of fundamental scientific questions but also sets a precedent for designing resilient technology suited for other harsh and radiation-rich applications in research and industry.