Application of High Temperature Superconducting Materials to Compsoite Structures in Thin Film Interconnected Electronic

In future military and commercial communication infrastructures, there is a growing need to handle high density packaging problems, dispersion, losses and multireflections, associated with signal lines carrying short pulses. High temperature superconducting (HTS) thin film technology has reached a stage where it is now feasible to combine HTS thin film passive components with various active and passive VLSI components to achieve greater integration and optimize performance, thereby overcoming some of the above mentioned problems. The Superconducting Non-reciprocal Multi Chip Module (SNMCM) proposed in this Phase I program is a compact multilayer sandwich incorporating HTS films for digital signal transport, ferrimagnetic films for non-reciprocal functionality and permanent magnetic films for fixed magnetic bias. It is expected that successful development of SNMCM would greatly benefit a broad range of electronic systems, spanning from military-secure communications to commercial wireless multimedia networks. Phase I of this SBIR has the goal to study the feasibility of an SNMCM by combining HTS and magnetic multilayer thin film technology with various active and passive components. We will undertake system-wide studies of future communications networks to assess the needs in term of inter-connectivity, packaging and system function. We will assess limitations and establish key manufacturing technologies for the different SNMCM layers which will form the basis for a subsequent Phase II effort. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: Successful development of an SNMCM would lead to advances in (1) Digital signal processors for heavy traffic multi-channel communications system - such as the current cellular and paging networks and future mobile sataellite pay loads, (2) Digital beam forming networks for phased array radars and multi-beam communications antennas, (3) Digital signal processors for wide band, multi-media transmissions involving digitally compressed video, data and voice channels for both commercial (such as the National Information Infrastructure) and battle field communications.