Risky business: testing commercial nonvolatile memory chips for military applications

摘要

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) programs are all about saving money, and integrated circuits (ICs) provide COTS buyers with some of their biggest savings. While qualified military ICs can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, commercial versions often cost less than 10 dollars. The conclusion seems obvious: buy an off-the-shelf commercial IC, pay a third-party test house to screen it over the military temperature range, and then assemble it into a military system as though it were a qualified military device.