Next Generation, High Temperature Chip-Based UV and IR Sensors

Secondary fire detection in P&W 100 engines used on F-15 and F-16 aircraft are detected by a 1970's technology Light Off Detector (LOD). The LOD is bulky and heavy. They are also expensive and therefore repair kits must be purchased and personnel trained to maintain them. There are reliability issues as well as recurring failures of the phototubes and transformers due to the temperature and vibration extremes of the environment. The overall goal of this project is to design and develop a "plug and play", completely solid-state LOD using SiC technology that will afford higher reliability with a lower cost. The SiC substrate is an emerging technology that has been shown to successfully operate at extreme temperatures of up to 600°C without performance degradation. Feasibility of this approach will be demonstrated in Phase I by developing a solid-state SiC-based semiconductor design for the devices that are needed to build analog and digital integrated circuits and by developing a hybrid packaging methodology that possesses attributes consistent with the required extreme environmental operation.