SBIR-STTR Award

Cryocooler microelectromechanical microdynamics integrated general pneumatics corp's preliminary design for employing microdynamics to produce microelectromechanical closed-cycle cryocoolers using silicon processing techniques will be used for making integrated circuits in phase 1. Microminiature coolers will be integrated at the wafer scale with a wide variety of sensors and other cold electronic devices to make units of modest cost and high reliability. Development of self-contained microcoolers for direct integration with and fabricated like wafer scale electronics would be an advancement comparable to the development of integrated circuits. Such development would facilitate the use of cold electronics in civil, military, scientific and medical applications.

Keywords:
Microcryocooler Wafer Scale Integration Sensors

Increasingly sophisticated microelectronics technology is creating a growing need for self-contained closed-cycle microcryocoolers suitable for wafer-scale integration with various sensors and electronics. This need will rapidly increase as devices employing high temperature (above 80K) superconductors are developed. The best currently available cryocoolers are impractically large, inefficient, short-lived, and expensive for such applications. Stirling cryocoolers have proven to be the most suitable type of cryocoolers for miniaturization. In Phase I, prospective components designs and fabrication methods, along with several conceptual system configurations, for Stirling microcryocoolers were defined and appear feasible. The major issues to be resolved include determining operating requency limits, limiting parasitic heat flow due to the high conductivity of silicon, and devising suitably small drive methods of sufficient force and displacement. Phase II development will carry out the detail design, fabrication, and testing of a Stirling microcryocooler test bed which is an order of magnitude size reduction below current miniature Stirling cryocoolers.