Extreme Environment System Integration Techniques for Venus In-Situ Processing

NASA has demonstrated a resolve to land instruments on the corrosive, high-pressure (~100 bar), high-temperature (470°C) surface of Venus. NASA Glenn Research Center’s JFET-R technology is the only one that has shown 1000’s of hours operation under Venus surface conditions. The limitation of this process is that the current integrated circuit die and feature sizes make it impractical for large complex designs. Ozark IC has developed high-temperature packaging technology capable of integrating several JFET-R die onto a single layer substrate. Complex Venus-surface ICs, such as a microprocessor, can be created by marrying these two technologies. The objective for this proposal is a multi-chip packaging technology that hosts several JFET-R die to effectively create complex electronic functions for Venus surface conditions. The project will utilize additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques to create high-temperature single-connector terminals, high temperature/high density multiple conductor connectors, and single or multiple level high-temperature substrates. This, in combination with NASA’s JFET-R technology will create a design technology which will be used to develop a multi-chip high-temperature microprocessor. These advancements in terminal and board manufacturing design should enable denser chip designs. Several prototype connectors will be designed, manufactured, and tested. Once a reliable connector and board system has been identified, an integrated module will be tested at 470°C. Questions to be answered during the Phase 1 are: Is it possible to create a high-temperature connector reliable enough for Venus surface conditions? What package density can be achieved? What performance can be expected?

The proposed packaging technology is the next logical development step for NASA’s JFET-R process towards enabling processing capability on the corrosive, high-pressure (~100 bar), high-temperature (up to 500°C) Venus surface. The system will also be useful for other high temperature environments, such as Mercury, as well as high temperature avionics, re-entry, and propulsion sensing and controls

Any application that needs a very high temperature system integration, such as high temperature data processing, measurement or actuation is a potential market. Examples include: geothermal resource exploration to improve drilling efficiency, jet engine sensing and actuation for distributed engine controls, and avionics for high temperature sensing and actuation in hypersonic aircraft.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.