Re: How is that working?
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Chances are they wanted the Mil Spec version versus Commercial grade- Mil Spec is supposed to be 100% tested to operate at a much larger temperature range than commercial grade. That tends to mean that they are simply very high quality chips and simply work better.
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Radiation hardened chips are usually made by a slightly different process that uses an insulating layer under the wafer substrate (e.g. sapphire). The bigger question is what end-user would be willing to pay $37K plus mark-up for such a feature. The temperature range could be achieved by providing a suitable temperature-controlled environment for the chip at a fraction the cost, so it is probably the radiation proofing that was needed.