Advanced Electronics and Optics
Abstract
Advanced Electronics is a series of efforts addressing advanced manufacturing technologies for a wide range of applications such as sensors, radars, power generation, switches, and optics for defense applications. These efforts will provide significant productivity and efficiency gains in the defense manufacturing base. These manufacturing technologies will accelerate delivery of technical capabilities to impact current warfighting operations, and manufacturing technologies to reduce the cost, acquisition time and risk of our major defense acquisition programs. One significant issue is the need to move toward lead-free electronics. However, current methods to produce lead-free solder create further issues such as the formation of unwanted tin whisker structures, which can cause electronics to short out. The Tin Whisker Mitigation project will demonstrate controlled grain structure in soldered joints and plated surfaces. The objective is to show significantly reduced or completely prevented tin whisker growth, while maintaining the original performance characteristics of the test components. Another emerging manufacturing technology undergoing development is for Silicon Carbide High Efficiency Power Switches to enable a new class of power electronics that allows flexible new architectures at higher voltages, higher frequencies, less volume / weight, higher temperatures, higher efficiency (reduced fuel consumption), and better power quality for PEO GCS and the AMDR Radar Power Conversion Module. Future efforts will focus on advances in fuel cells, radars, conformal sensors, and solder free electronics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2013
- Source ID
- c2a75d8de174e491a7de6b8e4648cb33