NOVEL MATERIALS FOR HIGH CURRENT SWITCH APPLICATIONS

IF A SERIES OF MATERIALS CAN BE ENGINEERED HAVING METAL TO INSULATOR OR METAL-TO-SEMICONDUCTOR TRANSITION AT A SPECIFIC DESIRED TEMPERATURE, THEN THESE MATERIALS WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS. ONE SUCH APPLICATION IS A HIGH CURRENT, SOLID STATE, RELIABLE SWITCH. IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP SUCH MATERIALS USING TIO2-VO2 SOLID SOLUTION. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE RUTILE STRUCTURE OF VO2 IS PROPOSED TO BE STABLIZED BY TI02 AND THUS ENGINEER THE PHASE CHANGE IN VO2 AT THE DESIRED TEMPERATURE. VO2 IS KNOWN TO HAVE METAL TO INSULATOR TRANSITION FO 341K. IN THIS PROGRAM, ATTEMPTS WILL BE MADE TO REDUCE THE TRANSITION TEMPERATURE OF PURE VO2 BY CONTROLLED ADDITIONS OF TIO2, YET MAINTAIN THE 5 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE CONDUCTIVITY CHANGE AT THE TRANSITION TEMPERATURE. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT A RANGE OF DOPED VO2 COMPOSITION WILL RESULT, EACH WITH THE TRANSITION AT A DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE BETWEEN 0 AND 200 DEG C. SOLID STATE SWITCHES CAN THEN BE FABRICATED FOR SPECIFIC TEMPERATURES.