Arkansas NASA EPSCoR - High Speed Electronic Devices Using SiGe on Sapphire Technology for Advanced NASA Space Communications

In order to enable NASA's science, space operations and exploration missions, the space communication techniques with faster and more reliable data transfer rate are always wanted. The very basic function of the spacecraft requires extensive contacts with ground stations for control, command, communication, and data return. A spacecraft command and data handling system processes all the data sent and received by the spacecraft, including operations and science data. The system is connected to radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver units that are the sole point of passage for data entering or leaving the spacecraft. The bandwidth of the current transmitter and receiver in the spacecraft limits the maximum data-transfer rate. To provide comprehensive, robust, cost effective, and exponentially higher data rate space communications, the technologies for high-speed reliable electronic devices need to be advanced to maintain a scalable integrated mission support infrastructure. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology has been developed since 1998 and widely used for highspeed RF communication circuits. The parasitic components are eliminated due to the nonconducting substrate. Less heat will be generated during the fast operating of devices. Using the SOI technology, a lower parasitic capacitance of devices enables a faster switching frequency and less power consumption of circuits. The fabrication process is also simplified with less number of masks to define wells and trenches, etc. Another key advantage for SOI technology is the radiation hardness. The soft error rates (SER), which is the percentages of data corruption due to cosmic rays and radioactive signals, can be greatly reduced with the use of the insulating substrate. As one of the first SOI processes, silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) process is commercially available for the fabrications of integrated circuits on synthetic sapphire. Sapphire was chosen as an insulating substrate due to its high dielectric constant, low dielectric loss, good thermal conductivity, and relative availability. The cost of developing SOS circuits is continuously decreasing with the large demand for mobile handsets, broadband consumer, military and space applications. Despite tremendous research efforts in developing high speed electronic devices based on SOS technologies, overall results are still less than satisfactory. For example, the speed of the devices on SOS technology is limited by the Si material. Recent developments of silicon-germanium (SiGe) on sapphire substrate (SGOS) from NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC) demonstrate the much higher device mobility compared with those on the SOS technology. The breakthrough results on the SGOS technology will result in transceiver systems (i.e., transmitter, receiver, frequency synthesizers and amplifiers) with much higher speed and wider bandwidth, which can substantially improve the data rate of space communications, operations and data collection and transfer. Working as a basic building block, devices based on SGOS technology are expected to play a key role in fulfilling the needs of a variety of space exploration missions at NASA. This project aims to develop Arkansas State research infrastructure so that the team eventually could tackle the grand technical challenge in SOS technology by developing transformative costeffective high speed electronic devices based on the SGOS techniques. The research team includes five researchers from two Arkansas institutions: UAF and UAPB. The team is strongly supported by a senior scientist (Dr. Sang H. Choi) from NASA LaRC.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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