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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Proximity printing using synchrotron X-ray lithography provides high resolution pattern transfer with large depth of field, low diffraction effects and no reflection from the substrate. Electro-plating of photo-resist allows deposition of thin, uniform films over geometrically complex and topographically diverse, electrically conductive surfaces.
Measuring thermal contact conductance of various dissimilar metal joints in vacuum for testing Saturn electronic components
Development of materials for encapsulating electronic devices used in biotelemetry is discussed. Chemical resistance of materials to effects of animal fluids is described. Silicone rubber is recommended as basic material with polymers applied to outer surface for protective coating.
Instrument for detecting short circuits monitors ground connections and sounds alarm if out-of-limits condition occurs. Circuit includes electronics that prevent false triggering by high-resistance or capacitive paths and other noise.
An imaging ultraviolet detector has been designed for use with a precision pointed telescope flown on a sounding rocket. Resolution of better than 80 microns over a field of 5 mm has been achieved. The ultraviolet image is converted to electrons at the front surface of a CsI coated chevron microchannel-plate electron multiplier. For each photoelectron, the multiplier produces a burst of about 3,000,000 electrons, which impinges on a tellurium-coated resistive anode with four evaporated hyperbolic readout electrodes. The sizes of the four resulting output pulses are digitized to 10 bit accuracy and telemetered to the ground, where they are divided in pairs to give the x and y coordinates of the photoelectron event. The coordinates are used to generate a picture in real time, and are recorded for computer processing later. The detector was successfully flown in December 1978. Good images of Jupiter and Capella in hydrogen Lyman alpha emission were obtained.
The Al-In-Sn alloys were directionally solidified in the NASA KC-135 aircraft which flies a series of parabolas to generate high (high-g) and low (low-g) gravity forces parallel to the longitudinal growth axis. Thus, for a given sample, successive sections can be identified which were solidified in high-g and low-g. Measurements of the electronic properties of the samples reveal that: the resistivity of the low-g sections is larger (about a factor of 10) than that of the high-g sections; the low-g sections behave conductively like a semi-metal, while the high-g sections are essentially metallic; and both high-g and low-g sections are superconducting but the superconducting transition temperature of the low-g sections is 1 K higher than that of the high-g sections.
Amorphous Ta(93)Cu(7) and Ta(80)Cu(20) alloy films are prepared by cosputtering of pure Ta and pure Cu targets with a rotating sample holder table. To investigate the possible application of these materials as diffusion barriers for the Au-GaAs system, vacuum annealings are made in the temperature range from 200 to 800 C. Resistivity change, X-ray diffraction, and Auger electron spectroscopy measurements are performed to find the chemical and metallurgical stabilities of these materials in this system. The reaction temperature for Ta(x)Cu(1-x) in contact with GaAs lies between 500 and 700 C. For Au in contact with Ta(x)Cu(1-x) the reaction occurs at about 600 C. Amorphous Ta(93)Cu(7) shows different interdiffusion characteristics with surrounding elements than does Ta(80)Cu(20).
The Al-In-Sn alloys were directionally solidified in the NASA KC-135 aircraft which flies a series of parabolas to generate high (high-g) and low (low-g) gravity forces parallel to the longitudinal growth axis. Thus, for a given sample, successive sections can be identified which were solidified in high-g and low-g. Measurements of the electronic properties of the samples reveal that: the resistivity of the low-g sections is larger (about a factor of 10) than that of the high-g sections; the low-g sections behave conductively like a semi-metal, while the high-g sections are essentially metallic; and both high-g and low-g sections are superconducting but the superconducting transition temperature of the low-g sections is 1 K higher than that of the high-g sections.
The accumulation of lattice defects during fatigue cycling of nickel was investigated by electrical resistivity measurements, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Dislocations and vacancy clusters were found to be the main defect types. During cycling of axial and flexural samples at constant load amplitude, the dislocations form a saturated structure early in the fatigue life. This saturated structure consists of a cellular dislocation matrix, in which persistent slip bands (PSBs) begin to operate after the saturation has been established. Vacancies and vacancy clusters are formed during fatigue as a consequence of repetitive dislocation glide in the PSB structure. When PSBs operate, the matrix is assumed to be dormant, allowing vacancies to accumulate preferentially in the PSBs. The increase in vacancy concentration then accounts for the monotonic accumulation of fatigue damage, which points to the importance of vacancy accumulation as a precursor to crack nucleation.
The highest AMO efficiency (19.1 percent) InP solar cell consisted of an n+pp+ structure epitaxially grown on a p+ InP substrate. However, the high cost and relative fragility of InP served as motivation for research efforts directed at heteroepitaxial growth of InP on more viable substrates. The highest AMO efficiency (13.7 percent) for this type of cell was achieved using a GaAs substrate. Considering only cost and fracture toughness, Si would be the preferred substrate. The fact that Si is a donor in InP introduces complexities which are necessary in order to avoid the formation of an efficiency limiting counterdiode. One method used to overcome this problem lies in employing an n+p+ tunnel junction in contact with the cell's p region. A simpler method consists of using an n+ substrate and processing the cell in the p+ nn+ configuration. This eliminates the need for a tunnel junction. Unfortunately, the p/n configuration has received relatively little attention the best cell with this geometry having achieved an efficiency of 17 percent. Irradiation of these homoepitaxial cells, with 1 Mev electrons, showed that they were slightly more radiation resistant than diffused junction n/p cells. Additional p/n InP cells have been processed by some activity aimed at diffusion. Currently, there has been some activity aimed at producing heteroepitaxial p+nn+ InP cells using n+ Ge substrates. Since, like Si, Ge is an n-dopant in InP, use of this configuration obviates the need for a tunnel junction. Obviously, before attempting to process heteroepitaxial cells, one must produce a reasonably good homoepitaxial cell. In the present case we focus our attention on homoepitaxially on an n+ Ge substrate.
The transport properties of channel delta-doped quantum well structures were characterized by conventional Hall effect and light-modulated Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) effect measurements. The large number of carriers that become available due to the delta-doping of the channel, leads to an apparent degeneracy in the well. As a result of this degeneracy, the carrier mobility remains constant as a function of temperature from 300 K down to 1.4 K. The large amount of impurity scattering, associated with the overlap of the charge carriers and the dopants, resulted in low carrier mobilities and restricted the observation of the oscillatory magneto-resistance used to characterize the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by conventional SdH measurements. By light-modulating the carriers, we were able to observe the SdH oscillation at low magnetic fields, below 1.4 tesla, and derive a value for the quantum scattering time. Our results for the ratio of the transport and quantum scattering times are lower than those previously measured for similar structures using much higher magnetic fields.
The high efficiency solar cells based on multilayer AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures, prepared by low temperature liquid phase epitaxy (LPE), were developed and tested. An investigation of the low temperature LPE process for the crystallization of AlGaAs heterostructures of as high as 24.0 to 24.7 percent under AMO conditions at concentration ratios of 20 to 100x, were reached. Developed solar cells show substantial radiation resistance to the damage induced by 3.75 MeV electrons.
The success of exploratory missions in outer space often depends on a highly efficient renewable energy supply, as provided by solar cells. Since future missions will demand large aggregates of solar cells, and space flight is expensive, the solar cells must furthermore be available at low costs and have a long lifetime and high resistance against structural damage introduced by irradiation with high energy electrons and protons. The photovoltaic materials that are presently available only partly fulfill all these requirements. Therefore, we propose to explore a new method for fabricating thin-films for cost-efficient solar cells with very high specific power,high irradiation resistance and long lifetime based on the alpha-phase of the Cu-In-Se system "alpha-CIS."
Effects of electron irradiation on surface recombination velocity of n and p type silicon photovoltaic cells of various resistivities
The fabrication and performance of an Al(0.3)Ga(0.7)As/GaAs modulation-doped resistive-gate CCD are reported. The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) CCD, implemented as a 32-stage four-phase delay line, was tested at both low (1-13 MHz) and high (0.6-1.0 GHz) frequency. It exhibits a room-temperature charge-transfer efficiency (CTE) of better than 0.999 at clock frequencies from 10 MHz up to 1 GHz without a fat-zero signal and is limited by dark current below 10 MHz. The high-frequency test showed no CTE degradation up to 1-GHz operation. The CTE degraded at frequencies lower than approximately 5 MHz due to dark current. The charge-handling capability and minimum clock swing of the resistive-gate 2DEG CCD are calculated.
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have been heralded for their ability to provide tremendous advantages in electronic systems through increased electrical performance, reduced power consumption, and higher levels of device integration with a reduction of board real estate. RF MEMS switch technology offers advantages such as low insertion loss (0.1- 0.5 dB), wide bandwidth (1 GHz-100 GHz), and compatibility with many different process technologies (quartz, high resistivity Si, GaAs) which can replace the use of traditional electronic switches, such as GaAs FETS and PIN Diodes, in microwave systems for low signal power (x < 500 mW) applications. Although the electrical characteristics of RF MEMS switches far surpass any existing technologies, the unknown reliability, due to the lack of information concerning failure modes and mechanisms inherent to MEMS devices, create an obstacle to insertion of MEMS technology into high reliability applications. All MEMS devices are sensitive to moisture and contaminants, issues easily resolved by hermetic or near-hermetic packaging. Two well-known failure modes of RF MEMS switches are charging in the dielectric layer of capacitive membrane switches and contact interface stiction of metal-metal switches. Determining the integrity of MEMS devices when subjected to the shock, vibration, temperature extremes, and radiation of the space environment is necessary to facilitate integration into space systems. This paper will explore the effects of different environmental stresses, operational life cycling, temperature, mechanical shock, and vibration on the first commercially available RF MEMS switches to identify relevant failure modes and mechanisms inherent to these device and packaging schemes for space applications. This paper will also describe RF MEMS Switch technology under development at NASA GSFC.
Detailed designs were produced for a 2 kW plasma motor generator tether system based largely on existing hardware and hardware designs. Specifically, the hollow cathode design and electronics are derived from ion propulsion equipment. A prototype tether was constructed and will be tested for deployment, strength, resistance to breakage and abrasion and electrical properties. In addition, laboratory development models of the electronics will be used to operate two plasma motor generator hollow cathode assemblies with this tether to verify electrical performance parameters for the complete system. Results show that a low cost demonstration of a plasma motor generator tether system appears to be feasible by the middle of the 1990s.
Electrical properties of reactively evaporated aluminum oxide films and electron mean free path through metal film