RAD-HARD CCDs FROM COMMERCIAL SUPPLIERS THRU COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN TECHNIQUES

"A program to develop a business based on supplying rad-hard charge coupled devices (CCDs) to manufacturers of rad-hard star trackers. This business will use radiation-inclusive technology computer aided design (RH-TCAD) modeling techniques to enable FCRto use commercial foundries to manufacture rad-hard CCDs for use in imagers and star trackers for space applications. Successful completion of this program will enable military and commercial space systems to procure rad-hard CCDs at the cost ofcommercial CCDs. This proposal discusses the applications in which CCDs re being used in the military and commercial space systems, and the importance of radiation hardening in these applications, It then discusses how TCAD tools are used today in themanufacture of commercial (unhardened) CCDs, how these devices differ from rad-hard CCDs, and how these tools can be used to design and manufacture rad-hard CCDs. A specific program of business development is then presented which permit recent advances inour understanding of space radiation effects in CCDs to be implemented in production devices at reasonable cost."