# CERN's SoCMake produces first radiation-hardened RISC-V ASIC prototype

> **Key takeaway:** CERN's SOCRATES ecosystem, using the SoCMake framework, has produced TriglaV, a fully radiation-hardened RISC-V SoC prototype tested for Large Hadron Collider front-end electronics.

**Published:** 2026-10-20T09:46:58+00:00 
**Source:** RISC-V International 
**Category:** open-hardware 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/cerns-socmake-produces-first-radiation-hardened-risc-v-asic-.html 

## Summary
The System-on-Chip Radiation-Tolerant Ecosystem (SOCRATES) at CERN has advanced to silicon with TriglaV, a prototype ASIC built using the SoCMake modular RISC-V framework. The chip incorporates triple modular redundancy, hardened interconnects, and memory protection for reliable operation in the LHC's radiation environment. While initially targeting high-energy physics detector readout and control tasks, the fault-tolerant design techniques are also applicable to automotive and industrial safety-critical systems.

## TriglaV test results and SoCMake architecture
- **SoCMake** is a modular build framework for generating RISC-V SoC designs, part of the broader SOCRATES ecosystem
- **TriglaV** is the first fully radiation-hardened prototype ASIC produced with SoCMake, designed for LHC detector front-end electronics
- Fault-tolerance techniques include **triple modular redundancy (TMR)**, hardened interconnects, and memory protection
- Current applications focus on **control tasks and local data processing** such as chip calibration; physics data processing remains longer-term
- The platform builds on prior use of programmable SoCs for edge computing in other domains, now adapted to ASIC designs for radiation-harsh environments

## Why it matters
The work demonstrates that modular, open RISC-V SoC construction flows can produce real radiation-hardened silicon for some of the most demanding environments on Earth. If SOCRATES/SoCMake matures, it could lower barriers for academic and industrial teams building fault-tolerant embedded controllers without proprietary lock-in.