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Transdisciplinary Team Tackles Semiconductor Devices for Harsh Environments

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By Jenn Ambrose
Today's electronics, from cell phones to medical instrumentation, require a fairly moderate environment in order to operate at an optimal level. Subject a semiconductor device to an extreme environment (e.g. temperatures above 300° F) such as may be found on an engine, in a power generation facility, or in space, and device performance tends to degrade significantly.  These same devices perform poorly in high radiation environments as well and require radiation “hardening” for survival in space applications. 

One possible solution for harsh environments may be vacuum electron transistors, which can operate at very high temperatures and under extreme levels of radiation. 

A team of researchers led by Dr. Tayo Akinwande from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is studying the potential to use vacuum transistors in such environments.  Akinwande's team includes Drs. Karl Berggren, Tomas Palacios, and Luca Daniels from MIT; Dr. John Cary from the University of Colorado; Dr. Bruce Gnade from Southern Methodist University, and Dr. Jim Browning from Boise State University. 

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently funded the team's research, providing $7.5M over five years.  
"Our efforts will study the use of microfabrication techniques currently used in the semiconductor industry," says Browning.  "We expect to be able to create miniature vacuum transistors that can be integrated to form logic and analog circuits similar to those used in semiconductor devices."  The ultimate goal is to advance vacuum electronic transistors technology which could be used to deploy better monitoring in power generation facilities, safer satellites, and other public safety improvements.

Dr. Browning is the chair and an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boise State University, and he is pursuing the characterization, reliability, and degradation research for the project.  The $7.5M, 5-year research program is a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

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