A self-healing microchip comprising a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) microchip lacking radiation shielding. The self-healing microchip includes one or more microheaters that are integrated directly upon a surface of the COTS microchip, a self-test circuit which detects a degradation in the COTS microchip, and one or more temperature sensors. The one or more microheaters may be formed directly upon a backside surface of the COTS microchip using tungsten sputtered shadow mask patterning or by lithography and etching, for example. In response to a detected degradation in the COTS microchip, a temperature control configures an output temperature generated by the one or more microheaters and an amount of time at which the output temperature is maintained to cause annealing in the microchip responsive to the detected degradation in the COTS microchip.