Radiation Hardening Manufacturing Technology

Commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts offer high performance and low cost and are favored in most military applications. Unfortunately, they are usually not rad-hard. One of the more practical approaches to preventing catastrophic failure resulting from the explosion of a nuclear weapon entails circumvention and recovery, which entails removing power from the sensitive COTS for ~ 1 s, just enough time to prevent the buildup of currents that would cause the part to burn out. To do so, a power-supply-circumvention-controller is required. Such a part is not available on the market and contractors build their own power supply circumvention controller out of discrete. In the proposed work, Nu-Trek will be developing the first commercial power-supply-circumvention-controller. The power-supply-circumvention-controller will disconnect the input power source, discharge the stored energy in all supplies, and remove the"crowbar"and reconnect the power source after the nuclear event clears. The Intersil fab is being targeted to part. A letter of support indicating Intersil"s interest in the part is included in the proposal. The availability of a convenient power-supply-circumvention-controller will facilitate the implementation of circumvention and recovery, an important and cost effective approach to radiation hardening.