Sep 11 2007
From The Space Library
NASA announced that its aeronautics researchers had designed and built a new silicon-carbide differential-amplifier integrated-circuit chip that could exceed 1,700 hours of continuous operation at 500°C (932°F). The groundbreaking success represented a 100 percent improvement over the operating times that integrated circuit chips had achieved in the past. Previously, such chips could only withstand a few hours of high temperatures before degrading or failing. The goal of the project, a joint effort of the Aviation Safety and Fundamental Aeronautics programs under NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, was to develop extremely functional, but physically small, circuitry for the hot sections of jet engines. This circuitry would enhance sensing and control of the combustion process—key elements in the search for improved safety, fuel efficiency, and reduced emissions for jet engines. Researchers believed that this technology could also improve automotive engines, equipment for drilling oil and natural gas wells, and other types of machinery requiring long-lasting electronic circuits in very hot environments, such as robotic equipment for exploratory missions on the hostile surface of gaseous planets like Venus.
NASA, “NASA Researchers Extend Life of Hot Temperature Electronic Chip,” news release 07-189, 11 September 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/sep/HQ_07189_Silicon_Chip.html (accessed 4 August 2010).
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