Date: Oct 01, 2012 Source: (
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Boise, Idaho, October 1, 2012 - American Semiconductor, Inc. today announced the first space flight FleX™ Silicon-on-Polymer™ by Team RockSat, a crew of engineering students from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in Nampa, Idaho. The NNU RockSat team designed a project to test the effects of radiation on flexible integrated circuits using American Semiconductor's FleX process.
The June 21 launch of NASA's 35-foot-tall Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket heralded the first space demonstration of flexible ICs. NNU's RockSat-C experiment included a FleX IC with direct write interconnects in parallel with a traditionally packaged IC for control. Both ICs were fully functional after the 20G launch that propelled the rocket 73 miles into space and subsequent recovery of the rocket from the Atlantic Ocean.
American Semiconductor supported Team RockSat's six engineering students in designing and implementing their experiment. The students worked at the NNU campus in Nampa, ID, American Semiconductor's R&D facility in Boise, ID, and NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. After the rocket was recovered Team RockSat showed the FleX IC functioned through the flight with no upset due to radiation effects.
"American Semiconductor is proud to sponsor NNU and their innovative engineering program", said Doug Hackler, President and CEO of American Semiconductor. "We are committed to supporting engineering and manufacturing capability in the United States and especially in Idaho. We are happy to see NNU's engineering program engage students and industry to produce valuable research."
"FleX can be applied to almost any SOI wafer from any IDM or foundry to economically create flexible ICs", said Rich Chaney, General Manager of American Semiconductor. "FleX is compatible with printed electronics to create flexible hybrid systems that enable new innovation in many applications including conformal and structurally integrated antennas, structural health monitoring for automotive and aerospace, and flexible consumer electronics."
American Semiconductor, Inc. provides FleX technology as a standard process offering for both commercial and ITAR customer requirements.
