Award Data

Inductors are essential components of military and commercial power management and electronic systems. Existing ferrite based inductors have reached a technology plateau that allow only marginal improvements in performance per unit volume. It is anticipated that the future inductor based technologies, such as EMI suppression, would require significantly higher energy density inductors. Fundamental ...

Semiconducting lasers, laser arrays and other diode-laser devices for both military and private sector applications benefit greatly if used in conjunction with isolators capable of preventing reflections from reentering the device. This proposal describes an approach which can be integrated with laser/amplifier semiconducting material system, to produce efficient non-reciprocal magneto-optic isola ...

We propose to design and fabricate an adaptive beam expander that can be switched between two magnifications. Specifically, the beam expander provides diffraction-limited performance for laser radar beams with diameters of 1 mm and 3 mm. The adaptive beam expander is lightweight, and it has no moving parts. Because the beam expander is an afocal system, it operates on both outgoing and incoming be ...

Design and fabrication of a high thermal conductivity carbon fiber/aluminum matrix composite architecture is proposed which consists of discrete segments of functional areas that can respond to complex design calling for thermal management, low-expansion, structural, and low specific weight requirements. Composites will be produced utilizing Hollow and Planar Cathode Magnetron Sputtering Processin ...

High thermal conductivity materials with low CTE, and high strength and stiffness are required for high thermal flux applications. In addition, if these materials are relatively inexpensive, lightweight and non-toxic, and have low vapor pressure to survive in space-operating environments, they will be attractive candidates for thermal management in aerospace structures. Such materials are urgently ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I program proposes the development of a high thermal conductivity (470-550 W/mK), low coefficient of thermal expansion (5-8 ppm/K), and low weight (2.9-4.3 g/cc) Cu based metal matrix composite material to produce high performance substrates for microelectronics packaging. The proposed MMC system uses copper as the continuous metal matrix and cubic bor ...

Diamond has recently emerged as a promising material for electron field emission due to its unsurpassed properties of low voltage and room temperature operation, operation robustness, simple design, and reproducibility. However, the present diamond cathodes, which are microcrystalline diamond thin films deposited on macro-substrate (mm to cm size ) suffer a few drawbacks. Only 1-10% or less of the ...

Revolutionary high power electronics based on new materials such as SiC and GaN hold promise in numerous applications in power electronics, control and distribution circuits, hybrid drive-train automobiles, ''more electric" aircraft (avionics) and next generation battleships. These high-temperature materials require novel high-temperature (> 1500_C) processing schemes for improving the efficiency ...

MicroFab Research (MFR, Inc.) proposes to apply the techniques of micromachining to aid in the fabrication of millimeter wave components, thereby reducing manufacturing expenses. Many microwave applications such as radar and communication systems would be improved by shifting to higher frequencies, provided new lower cost manufacturing techniques can be found. A manufacturing technique is presente ...

Sensors, capacitors, and conducting features such as resistors and capacitors on circuit boards are produced from metal and ceramic powders 1-12 These powders are manufactured by liquid phase precipitation routes which often start with reduction of metal salts or by solid-state routes where solid reactants are mixed, heated and then milled. The solid-state processing is generally repeated several ...