Recovery - high temperature sensors

Added: Dec 21, 2009 2:07 pm RECOVERY ACT - THE NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC) HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED UNDER THEAMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 TO ISSUE A WORK ORDER FOR TESTING,FACILITIES, OPERATING, MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING UNDER THE PREVIOUSLY AWARDED,COMPETITIVE, 8(A) CONTRACT NNC05CA95C WITH SIERRA LOBO INCORPORATED. THIS NOTICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.NASA Glenn Research Center has committed support for specific efforts under the AmericanRecovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Recovery Act funds for NASAs AeronauticsResearch Program will accelerate key research, enhance the state of aeronautics for thenation, and provide a foundation for addressing the need for a Next Generation AirTransportation System (NextGen.) To increase the safety of aviation, better information on the performance of aircraft jetengines is required. To produce such information, electronic circuits that are able tosense the engines performance while it is operating and transmit the collected datawirelessly must be placed inside the engine. This presents an extremely harshenvironment for the operation of the electronic circuits, especially in terms ofoperating temperatures which exceed 300 o C. In order to enable electronic circuits thatcan operate in such harsh environments, and can also be manufactured into small,lightweight, and non-intrusive packages, new materials must be used and new fabricationprocesses developed.There are a range of components which are necessary to enable this high-temperatureengine performance monitoring and data transmitting circuit. This includeshigh-temperature packaging and interconnects as well as components within the circuititself. One major and fundamental circuit component is a capacitor. This task will develop and validate a process for fabricating a capacitor that can beintegrated into the high temperature circuit, using a material called silicon carbide. While silicon based semiconductors have enabled quite complex room-temperature circuitsto be miniaturized onto small chips, the extension of this technology to temperaturesabove 300 C is impractical. Silicon carbide (SiC) is the strongest candidatesemiconductor for implementing 400-600 C integrated elNNC019dddectronics. Oral communications are NOT acceptable in response to this notice. This announcement will NOT result in a Request for Proposal; this announcement is forinformational purposes only. All questions and/or concerns must be submitted in writingto points of contact contained herein. An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note "B".