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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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24 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Quad-Chip Double-Balanced Frequency Tripler

Solid-state frequency multipliers are used to produce tunable broadband sources at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The maximum power produced by a single chip is limited by the electrical breakdown of the semiconductor and by the thermal management properties of the chip. The solution is to split the drive power to a frequency tripler using waveguides to divide the power among four chips, then recombine the output power from the four chips back into a single waveguide. To achieve this, a waveguide branchline quadrature hybrid coupler splits a 100-GHz input signal into two paths with a 90 relative phase shift. These two paths are split again by a pair of waveguide Y-junctions. The signals from the four outputs of the Y-junctions are tripled in frequency using balanced Schottky diode frequency triplers before being recombined with another pair of Y-junctions. A final waveguide branchline quadrature hybrid coupler completes the combination. Using four chips instead of one enables using four-times higher power input, and produces a nearly four-fold power output as compared to using a single chip. The phase shifts introduced by the quadrature hybrid couplers provide isolation for the input and output waveguides, effectively eliminating standing waves between it and surrounding components. This is accomplished without introducing the high losses and expense of ferrite isolators. A practical use of this technology is to drive local oscillators as was demonstrated around 300 GHz for a heterodyne spectrometer operating in the 2-3-THz band. Heterodyne spectroscopy in this frequency band is especially valuable for astrophysics due to the presence of a very large number of molecular spectral lines. Besides high-resolution radar and spectrographic screening applications, this technology could also be useful for laboratory spectroscopy.

Lin, Robert H.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Temperature Distribution Within a Defect-Free Silicon Carbide Diode Predicted by a Computational Model

Most solid-state electronic devices diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits are based on silicon. Although this material works well for many applications, its properties limit its ability to function under extreme high-temperature or high-power operating conditions. Silicon carbide (SiC), with its desirable physical properties, could someday replace silicon for these types of applications. A major roadblock to realizing this potential is the quality of SiC material that can currently be produced. Semiconductors require very uniform, high-quality material, and commercially available SiC tends to suffer from defects in the crystalline structure that have largely been eliminated in silicon. In some power circuits, these defects can focus energy into an extremely small area, leading to overheating that can damage the device. In an effort to better understand the way that these defects affect the electrical performance and reliability of an SiC device in a power circuit, the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field began an in-house three-dimensional computational modeling effort. The goal is to predict the temperature distributions within a SiC diode structure subjected to the various transient overvoltage breakdown stresses that occur in power management circuits. A commercial computational fluid dynamics computer program (FLUENT-Fluent, Inc., Lebanon, New Hampshire) was used to build a model of a defect-free SiC diode and generate a computational mesh. A typical breakdown power density was applied over 0.5 msec in a heated layer at the junction between the p-type SiC and n-type SiC, and the temperature distribution throughout the diode was then calculated. The peak temperature extracted from the computational model agreed well (within 6 percent) with previous first-order calculations of the maximum expected temperature at the end of the breakdown pulse. This level of agreement is excellent for a model of this type and indicates that three-dimensional computational modeling can provide useful predictions for this class of problem. The model is now being extended to include the effects of crystal defects. The model will provide unique insights into how high the temperature rises in the vicinity of the defects in a diode at various power densities and pulse durations. This information also will help researchers in understanding and designing SiC devices for safe and reliable operation in high-power circuits.

Kuczmarski, Maria A.↗
NASA NTRS1965

Solid-state detector

Solid state detector - N type silicon surface barrier diode as microparticle detector

SOLID STATE DEVICE↗
NASA NTRS1985

V-band IMPATT power amplifier

This program is the result of the continuing demand and future requirement for a high data rate 60-GHz communications link. A reliable solid-state transmitter which delivers the necessary power over a wide bandwidth using the present IMPATT diode technology required the development of combining techniques. The development of a 60-GHz IMPATT power combiner amplifier is detailed. The results form a basis from which future wideband, high-power IMPATT amplifiers may be developed. As a result, several state-of-the-art advancements in millimeter-wave components technology were achieved. Specific achievements for the amplifier integration were: development of a nonresonant divider/combiner circuit; reproducible multiple junction circulator assemblies; and reliable high power 60-GHz IMPATT diodes. The various design approaches and tradeoffs which lead to the final amplifier configuration are discussed. A detailed circuit design is presented for the various amplifier components, and the conical line combiner, radial line combiner, and circulator development are discussed. The performance of the amplifier, the overall achievement of the program, the implications of the results, and an assessment of future development needs and recommendations are examined.

Schell, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS2011

High-Efficiency Ka-Band Waveguide Two-Way Asymmetric Power Combiner

NASA is planning a number of Space Exploration, Earth Observation and Space Science missions where Ka-band solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) could have a role. Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) based SSPAs with output powers on the order of 10 W at Ka-band frequencies would be adequate to satisfy the data transmission rate requirements at the distances involved. MMICs are a type of integrated circuit fabricated on a GaAs wafer, which operates at micro wave frequencies and performs the function of signal amplification. The highest power Ka-band (31.8 to 32.3 GHz) SSPA to have flown in space had an output power of 2.6 W with an overall efficiency of 14.3 percent. This SSPA was built around discrete GaAs pHEMT (high electron mobility transistor) devices and flew aboard the Deep Space One spacecraft. State-of-the-art GaAs pHEMT-based MMIC power amplifiers (PAs) can deliver RF power at Ka-band frequencies anywhere from 3 W with a power added efficiency (PAE) of 32 percent to 6 W with a PAE of 26 percent. However, to achieve power levels higher than 6 W, the output of several MMIC PAs would need to be combined using a high-efficiency power combiner. Conventional binary waveguide power combiners, based on short-slot and magic-T circuits, require MMIC PAs with identical amplitude and phase characteristics for high combining efficiency. However, due to manufacturing process variations, the output powers of the MMIC PAs tend to be unequal, and hence the need to develop unequal power combiners. A two-way asymmetric magic-T based power combiner for MMIC power amplifiers, which can take in unequal inputs, has been successfully designed, fabricated, and characterized over NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) frequency range of 31.8 to 32.3 GHz. The figure is a transparent view of the a sym - metric combiner that shows the 4-port configuration and the internal structure. The rod, post, and iris are positioned by design to achieve the desired asymmetric power ratio, phase equality, and port isolation. Although the combiner was designed for an input power ratio of 2:1, it can be custom-designed for any arbitrary power ratio and frequency range. The manufactured prototype combiner was precision machined from aluminum and is less than 2 in.3 (32.8 cm3). Previously investigated rectangular waveguide unequal power combiners were based on shunt/series coupling slots, E-plane septums, or H-plane T-junctions. All the prior art unequal power combiners operated at or below X-band (10 GHz) frequencies and were primarily used in the feed network of antenna arrays. The only reported asymmetric magic-T was developed as a 2:1 power divider for operation at a much lower frequency, around 500 MHz. The measured power ratio when tested as a power divider was very close to 2 and the phase balance was within 2.6, resulting in near ideal performance. When tested as a combiner using two MMIC SSPAs with a 2:1 power output ratio, an efficiency greater than 90 percent was demonstrated over the 500 MHz DSN frequency range. The return loss at the combiner output port (1) was greater than 18 dB and the input port (2 and 3) isolation was greater than 22 dB. The results show the asymmetric combiner to be a good candidate for high-efficiency power combining of two or more SSPAs needed to achieve the 6 to 10 W required by space communications systems of future NASA missions.

Wintucky, E. G.↗