Will Develop Advanced Silicon Carbide Digital Sensor
INPROX Technology Corporation (ITC) recently told ANN it has
entered into a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA's Glenn Research
Center to develop advanced silicon carbide (SiC) based position
sensors aimed at potential uses in future space flight, turbine
engine controls and automotive engine applications.
Silicon carbide electronics are capable of operating in the
extreme 600°C (1112°F) range and are poised to aid
challenging on-engine, aerospace surface, automotive and energy
applications and are recognized as a significant advancement over
conventional silicon-based electronics. All of today’s
conventional electronics must be carefully housed in controlled
environments shielded from higher temperatures by cooling,
necessitating complicated and often costly thermal management
systems and long cable runs between critical sensor systems and the
electronics that control them.
"The capability to embed electronics in a device without the
need to provide cooling provides a substantial technological
advantage for many applications in sensing and control," said Phil
Neudeck, Electronics Engineer and Team Lead for this silicon
carbide work sponsored by the Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate at NASA Glenn Research Center.
The rising costs of fuel, both in automotive and aerospace
markets and the drive for greater reliability at lower costs has
the sensors and electronics market anticipating the capabilities of
these next generation SiC electronics and sensors. Future space
missions and satellites will certainly have high temperature and
radiation hardened requirements and will rely heavily on the
breakthroughs of today. The reduction or elimination of these
thermal management systems and extended cable runs will aid greatly
in lowering weight and costs even in the more traditional
commercial aviation markets.
Present-day satellites have
requirements for thermal radiators in order to dissipate heat
generated by onboard electronics. These electronics, which are
currently based in silicon or gallium arsenide, would have
catastrophic failures if they were not carefully cooled by the
craft's thermal radiators.
Because silicon carbide electronics can operate at much higher
temperatures than these standard substrates, the mass and weight of
such radiators on a given satellite could be greatly reduced or
eliminated altogether. This would enable a set of substantial
weight savings on satellites, or in the least case allow a much
greater degree of functionality by using up the space and weight
formerly assigned to the thermal management systems.
In addition, SiC sensors and controls are less susceptible to
radiation damage than similarly rated basic silicon. In that
respect SiC electronics could also shrink the size and weight of
shielding which is normally used to protect satellite electronic
components from space radiation.
"Silicon carbide is one of the most exciting advances in
electronics being developed today. The marriage of SiC electronics,
which can remain operational in high temperature, high power, and
high radiation environments, enabled with our proprietary digital
sensor technology is of great significance to us, our customers and
the aerospace and automotive communities at large," said Derek
Weber, INPROX Technology President. "Playing this vital role in the
development of (SiC) sensors with NASA is a great opportunity and
one that we are very proud of."