A five-year project led by the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a novel approach to space electronics that could change how space vehicles and instruments are designed.
The new capabilities are based on silicon-germanium (SiGe) technology, which can produce electronics that are highly resistant to both wide temperature variations and space radiation.
The project was funded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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“The team's overall task was to develop an end-to-end solution for NASA — a tested infrastructure that includes everything needed to design and build extreme-environment electronics for space missions,” said John Cressler, who is a Ken Byers Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cressler served as principal investigator for the project.
A paper on the project findings will appear in December in IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability, 2010. SiGe alloys combine silicon with germanium at nanoscale dimensions.
The result is a robust material that offers important gains in toughness, speed and flexibility.
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Crucial robustness
That robustness is crucial to silicon-germanium's ability to function in space without bulky radiation shields or large, power-hungry temperature control devices. Compared to conventional approaches, SiGe electronics can provide major reductions in weight, size, complexity, power and cost, as well as increased reliability and adaptability, according to a Georgia Institute of Technology press release. —