Patent ID: 7768317

Claim:
A method for operating a radiation-tolerant FPGA switching element, comprising the steps of: providing a programmable connection between two connection nodes with a plurality of parallel paths, a first parallel path comprising a first switch transistor and a second switch transistor coupled in series between the two connection nodes, a second parallel path comprising a third switch transistor and a fourth switch transistor coupled in series between the two connection nodes, each of the first through fourth switch transistors including a floating gate; providing a first memory element for the first switch transistor having a floating gate coupled to the first switch transistor; providing a second memory element for the second switch transistor having a floating gate coupled to the second switch transistor; providing a third memory element for the third switch transistor having a floating gate coupled to the third switch transistor; providing a fourth memory element for the fourth switch transistor having a floating gate coupled to the fourth switch transistor; and programming the first through fourth memory elements to place all of the switch transistors in the same state.