Contact: Phil Hearn
Yaroslav Koshka
Mississippi State scientists are teaming up with a Starkville-based company to develop light, rugged, high-density power electronics for missile defense applications in outer space.
SemiSouth Laboratories Inc. has received a two-year, $500,000 contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to manufacture and transfer silicon carbide (SiC) integrated circuit technology provided by MSU for space-based power and sensor applications.
"The contract will pave the way for a new class of rugged temperature and radiation-tolerant solid state circuits in silicon carbide to be developed for use in key space systems," said SemiSouth president Jeff Casady.
Silicon carbide is a high-power, high-temperature, high-frequency, robust semiconductor with military applications for radar, power conversion and space. SemiSouth is a leading manufacturer of SiC electronics and electronic material (epitaxy)--technologies historically developed by researchers from MSU's department of electrical and computer engineering.
"Silicon carbide is well known as a radiation and temperature-tolerant semiconductor, ideally suited for harsh environment operation," noted Casady. "However, the level of integration in SiC has been limited by the immature state of the technology, which is something the new work will address."
Yaroslav Koshka, an MSU assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, said both digital and analog integrated circuits made of SiC offer important advantages such as higher power density, lower weight, compact dimensions, wider temperature range of operation, and higher resistance to mechanical impacts and radiation.
"The Defense Department needs satellites with increasingly higher electrical loads--thus driving the need for compact, high-density power electronics that can survive under rugged conditions, including radiation," he said. "SiC, once matured, provides an ideal solution, and that is the purpose of this work. Weight is very critical on a satellite.
"The next step is to further develop this technology to enable integration of a few SiC devices or transistors on a single chip," added Koshka, who conducts studies for his department's Emerging Materials Research Laboratory. "These devices should properly communicate with each other to provide circuit functionality."
Koshka said MSU will provide its extensive expertise in epitaxial growth, process development and material characterization in the SemiSouth project. SiC epitaxial growth is one of the more significant processes used to fabricate transistors. Material characterization is used as a major source of feedback for material and device process development.
"In addition, our group will develop models for specific SiC transistors that will be used in computer-simulation of integrated circuit performance," Koshka added. "We will assist SemiSouth in testing integrated circuits to be developed during the project, using specialized device characterization capabilities available at MSU."
Casady said his company's relationship with MSU, one of the first institutions to work with silicon carbide, "continues to be a great partnership in moving SiC forward from basic university research into key defense applications."
Colin Scanes, MSU's vice president for research and graduate studies, said he was "delighted to see the continuing success of SemiSouth, a start-up company built on Mississippi State technology.
"The company is increasingly contributing to economic development in Northeast Mississippi and particularly in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park," Scanes added. The park is located adjacent to the MSU campus.
For more information, contact Koshka at (662) 325-2411 or Yaroslav Koshka. Casady may be reached at 324-7607, 769-0962 or Jeff Casady.