SBIR-STTR Award

The Office of Naval Research has issued an SBIR solicitation seeking proposals for the development of drift step recovery diodes (DSRD) for generating fast rising, high power wideband and ultra-wideband pulse sources capable of long-lived operation at high pulse repetition frequency. In this proposal Transient Plasma Systems, Inc. (TPS) outlines a plan setup and run a known and demonstrated diffusion process that has been shown to produce DSRDs that are capable of achieving specifications outlined in the solicitation. TPS is well positioned to address the requirements of this SBIR solicitation because of the deep domain of expertise in the field of nanosecond pulsed power, specifically in the field of DSRD devices. TPS, founded in 2009, has nearly a decade of experience designing, developing, and commercializing wideband pulse sources that run at high pulse repetition frequency and use DSRD or DSRD-like devices. Furthermore, in Q1 of 2018, and independent of this solicitation, TPS began building out a 4,500 ft2 manufacturing space to produce DSRDs for commercial applications. This solicitation is a good fit for TPS existing technical and commercialization plans for producing these diodes, which will be outlined in the technical volume of this proposal.

Benefit:
A successful Phase I effort will demonstrate the capability for TPS to become a domestic, U.S. source and supplier of DSRD devices that are optimized for reliably producing fast (1-5 ns), high voltage (> 600 V/junction) pulses at high pulse repetition frequency. As stated in Section I, these devices offer superior performance for applications that require highly repetitive, fast pulses, and the United States has historically lacked a reliable source for these devices. Because TPS will be employing a diffusion process that has been shown to reliably produce DSRDs that are capable of hitting the baseline specifications outlined in this solicitation, there is a high degree of confidence that the Phase I effort will be successful in producing devices that meet the outlined requirements. In addition to DoD applications, the devices developed with this SBIR are planned to go into TPS proprietary pulsed power systems that promise to have major impact on large and growing market segments in auto, heavy transport, energy, medical, and agriculture. TPS technology demonstrated improvements in fuel efficiency in engines by over 20% and improved ignition of a broader range of fuels (e.g. gasoline, natural gas, jet fuel) compared to traditional ignition methods, exhaust remediation, drag reduction in airfoils by more than 30%, improved wine quality and quantity and reduced maturation time after its application to wine grapes, microbial disinfection, and a noninvasive cancer treatment that leaves no scars. Contrary to many new ventures based on revolutionary technology, TPS is not attempting to create new markets but rather was formed in response to pull from customers with time-critical, priority applications that could be addressed by TPS solutions. The breadth of the potential marketplace provides extraordinary opportunities for growth and risk reducing resilience for TPS through market and product diversification. Despite all of the opportunities, it is critical for an emerging company to remain focused in order to effectively leverage its core capabilities. Therefore, TPS is focused on platform technology and is establishing strategic relationships with well-positioned firms to leverage those capabilities in market segments of interest. TPS plans to utilize existing relationships with high-technology system integrators in conjunction with consultation with our government partners, to push TPS technology from research and development to deployment as part of a system approach. For additional information regarding the commercial potential of this technology, please refer to Section 6. of the Technical Volume, entitled Commercialization Strategy.

Keywords:
Drift Step Recovery Diode, Drift Step Recovery Diode, wideband, high power pulse, Ultra-wideband, high voltage pulse, pulse generation, DSRD, Nanosecond pulse