A DIAMOND TRANSMIT/RECEIVE SWITCH FOR RADAR

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP A DIAMOND TRANSMIT/RECEIVE (T/R) SWITCH FOR HIGH POWER, HIGH FREQUENCY RADAR SYSTEMS. THE DIAMOND ELECTRONIC DEVICE MOST LIKELY TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED T/R SWITCH SPECIFICATIONS IS AN INSULATED GATE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR (IGFET) OPERATED AS A SWITCHING POWER TRANSISTOR. DIAMOND MATERIALS, INC. (DMI), PLANS TO DEVELOP A DIAMOND IGFET T/R SWITCH IN TWO PHASES. IN PHASE I, DMI WILL EVALUATE CUBIC BORON NITRIDE (C-BN) THIN FILMS AS A SUITABLE GATE DIELECTRIC FOR DIAMOND IGFETS. THE PROPERTIES OF THE GATE DIELECTRIC ARE CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THE DIAMOND IGFET, AND DMI BELIEVES THAT C-BN SHOULD BE THE BEST GATE DIELECTRIC MATERIAL. DMI WILL DEPOSIT C-BN FILMS ON P-TYPE, EPITAXIAL DIAMOND MONOCRYSTALS, AND WILL EVALUATE THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE C-BN/DIAMOND INTERFACE. THE C-BN FILMS WILL BE DEPOSITED USING A PROPRIETARY PROCESS UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT DMI. IF THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF C-BN ON DIAMOND ARE ACCEPTABLE, THEN DMI WILL PROPOSE A PHASE II PROGRAM TO DEVELOP DIAMOND IGFETS (WITH C-BN GATE DIELECTRICS) AS T/R SWITCHES. PHASE II WILL STRIVE TO DEVELOP DIAMOND T/R SWITCHES WHICH MEET THE POWER, FREQUENCY, VOLTAGE, AND SWITCHING TIME SPECIFICATIONS DESIRED BY THE AIR FORCE. THE P-CHANNEL IGFET HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE MOST PRACTICAL TRANSISTOR ARCHITECTURE FOR DIAMOND BECAUSE ITS PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS SHOULD BE REASONABLY CONSTANT OVER A WIDE TEMPERATURE RANGE, AND BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE THE ABILITY TO TRANSMIT HIGH FREQUENCY SIGNALS.