Euclid Beamlabs in collaboration with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II NASA grant for “Single Event Burnout Hardened High-Power Diamond Devices,” that entails research and development to advance diamond high-power transistor technology to withstand the harsh radiation environment in space.
FET test structure made from Euclid high purity diamond material.
Electrical power management designed for use in space requires electronics capable of operating without damage in the galactic cosmic ray space radiation environment. Unfortunately, SiC and GaN technology in space applications is hindered by their susceptibility to permanent degradation and catastrophic failure from single-event effect heavy-ion exposure. This degradation occurs at <50% of the rated operating voltage, requiring the operation of SiC/GaN devices at de-rated voltages.
Diamond is one of the candidate materials for the next-generation [ultra] wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor devices capable of overcoming the current limitations of SiC/GaN technology. This program will develop a new quasi-lateral diamond power MOSFET (QLDT) to overcome the current limitations by leveraging the inherent advantages of diamond material and a SEB hardened transistor design with advanced 3D femtosecond laser writing capabilities of micrometer-scale conductive structure fabrication inside the diamond.
Look for future updates here and on our Diamond Materials & Applications page, or contact us directly.