SBIR-STTR Award

Full Circle Research, Inc. (FCR) proposes a program to develop radiation-inclusive technology computer aided design (RH-TCAD) modeling techniques which will permit commercial suppliers to manufacture rad-hard charge coupled devices (CCDs) for use in imagers and star trackers for space applications. Successful completion of this program will facilitate the procurement of rad-hard CCDs from commercial microelectronic foundries at reasonable cost for use in space surveillance and navigation systems. This proposal discusses the applications in which CCDs are being used in military and commercial space systems, and the importance of radiation hardening in these applications. It then discusses how TCAD tools are used by commercial foundries, and how these tools are used today to procure commercial (unhardened) CCDs. It then discusses the differences between unhardened CCDs and rad-hard CCDs, and explains what improvements need to be made to the commercial TCAD tools to permit these tools to be used to design and manufacture rad-hard CCDs. A specific program of RH-TCAD development for CCDs for use in military and commercial space systems is then presented which will permit recent advances in our understanding of space radiation effects in CCDs to be implemented in production devices, at reasonable cost.Anticipated Benefits/Commercial Applications: This project would benefit military and civilian space users by permitting commercial IC manufacturers to build CCDs hardened to space radiation. Applications for CCDs such as space navigation, surveillance, terminal guidance etc., are curently limited by the sensitivity of conventional CCDs to radiation. This project will permit commercial production of hardened CCDs.

A program to develop a business based on supplying rad-hard charge coupled devices (CCDs) to manufacturers of Rad-hard star trackers. This business will use radiation-inclusive technology computer aided design (RH-TCAD) modeling techniques to enable FCR to use commercial foundries to manufacture rad-hard CCDs for use in imagers and star trackers for space applications. Successful completion of this program will enable military and commercial space systems to procure rad-hard CCDs at the cost of commercial CCDs. This proposal discusses the applications in which CCDs re being used in the military and commercial space systems, and the importance of radiation hardening in these applications, It then discusses how TCAD tools are used today in the manufacture of commercial (unhardened) CCDs, how these devices differ from rad-hard CCDs, and how these tools can be used to design and manufacture Rad-hard CCDs. A specific program of business development is then presented which permit recent advances in our understanding of space radiation effects in CCDs to be implemented in production devices at reasonable cost.

Keywords:
Rad-effects Computer Modeling, Radiation Hardening CCDs, Rad-hard star trackers, COTS manufacture of Rad-hard ICs