NASA cooks chips at 500 degrees

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 12 Sep 2007 at 13:31

NASA has developed a new computer chip capable of operating in furnace temperatures.

The silicon carbide-based integrated circuit chips managed 1,700 hours of continuous operation at 500C, a temperature at which a standard processor would rapidly fail.

The US space agency is developing this and other highly durable integrated circuitry and packaging for use in jet engines. Such electronics will help to improve sensing and control of the combustion process, leading to both safety and fuel efficiency improvements while cutting emissions.

The chip will also bring the same benefits to the internal combustion engine and to industrial machinery used in oil and natural gas well drilling. In fact, the chips could be used for any application requiring long lasting electronic circuits in very hot environments, including, NASA says, robotic exploration on the surface of Venus.

"It's really a significant step toward mission-enabling harsh environment electronics," says Phil Neudeck, an electronics engineer in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

"This new capability can eliminate the additional plumbing, wires, weight and other performance penalties required to liquid-cool traditional sensors and electronics near the hot combustion chamber, or the need to remotely locate them elsewhere where they aren't as effective."

For more information go to grc.nasa.gov/WWW/SiC.