Radiation Survivability of MEMS Microelectronic Circuits with Carbon Nanotube Field Emitters
Abstract
Solid-state technology dominates the consumer electronics market because of the low cost associated with large-scale integration. However, there are numerous applications in which solid-state devices are unreliable or do not provide adequate performance, particularly applications with military systems operating in high radiation environments. In these applications, vacuum microelectronic devices present an attractive alternative. Despite the performance advantages, the use of vacuum electronics has been limited because there is no versatile and reliable microscale platform that enables integration of large numbers of vacuum circuit elements on a single substrate. To address this need, RTI International in collaboration with Duke University has been developing a Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) platform that enables integration of high-performance microelectronic vacuum components into functional circuits on a single silicon substrate.[Stoner, B. R., et. al., Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on 2011, 58, (9), 3189-3194] A variety of devices, including vacuum triodes and ion sources, have been demonstrated using this platform which combines versatile and well-established polysilicon fabrication technology and integrated carbon nanostructure cold-cathode field emitters. While these devices avoid the radiation-induced charge carrier problems in solid-state devices, other effects of radiation on this MEMS platform have not been studied. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of radiation on this device platform in collaboration with the NASA JPL Radiation Effects Group.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 26, 2016
- Source ID
- HDTRA11510071
Entities
People
- Jason J Amsden
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Duke University