Award Data

Thermopile arrays manufactured using integrated process compatible materials and micro-machining will provide high performance with low manufacturing cost. Black Forest Engineering (BFE) teamed with Case Western Reserve University will design thermopiles using silicon based semiconductors and compare performance. Low cost thermopiles, differentially coupled with advanced BFE CMOS readout, will pr ...

Accurate real-time waterborne pathogen detection is of paramount importance to security of U.S. military forces and installations. Fieldable high-throughput pathogen concentration is a critical analytical need for enhanced detection performance. Existing concentration methods are time-consuming, bulky, labor-intensive, power- and reagent-hungry, and consequently ill-suited for battlefield deployme ...

Higher efficiency solar cells are needed to reduce mass, volume, and cost of DoD space missions. However, to achieve higher efficiency and radiation hardness of the best to date multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) devices, several challenges must be addressed. This project aims to develop: 1) Quantum Well (QW)-based multi-junction cell that exhibits enhanced efficiency, and 2) Radiation-hardened PV c ...

deciBel Research and our university partner, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)-Center for Imaging Science, propose to develop a dual MWIR/LWIR imaging polarimeter for the detection and discrimination of aerosolized biological spores. The system will exploit spectral absorption and MIE scattering-induced radiometric and polarimetric phenomenon exhibited by clouds of aerosolized biological spo ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research program will develop narrow band plasmonic resonant cavity filters with integrated microbolometer sensors operating in the long wave infrared (LWIR) atmospheric transmission band for IR absorption measurements of low concentration chemicals. IR spectroscopy can identify a wide range of contaminants, including chemical/biological warfare agents, exp ...

Hypersonic missile defense systems are being designed to reach global threats. During flight, external surfaces are predicted to reach temperatures in excess of 2200C. As a result, innovative, high performance thermal protection systems (TPS) are of great demand. Among ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTC), it is well known that ZrB2- and HfB2-based materials have high melting temperatures and ...

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) seeks technical investigations related to the development and application of advanced electronic materials, processes, and devices to meet its need for radiation hardened, high performance electronics for critical space and missile applications. With the advent of smaller transistor dimensions and reductions in price per bit, significant changes in materials and pr ...

Gallium Nitride (GaN) substrates are ideal materials for fabrication of high-power and high-frequency devices based on III-V materials. The current state-of-the-art Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) methods are plagued by several challenges, including, surface charge affects due to surface contamination, and sub-surface damages, which can limit the quality of III-V devices. Furthermore, there is ...

This Phase I STTR program seeks a new fabrication method to produce stronger (>100 kpsi) and tougher (>10 MPa m1/2) ultra high temperature Ta-Hf-C-based composites (UHTC) with an outstanding oxidation resistance for use as thermal protection systems for hypersonic applications, as well as for advanced rocket nozzle throat components. UES will apply a novel "Top Down" approach to control the micro ...

This will facilitate the development of remedial approaches for existing facilities and assist in planning new facilities, logistics, and procedures to protect the environment without impairing critical mission functionality. The commercial application will include software distribution and updates.