SiC in Space

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been proposed as a semiconductor material especially suited for harsh environments. Applications in space have been suggested, including even electronics for a Venus lander . The principal investigator’s group has already demonstrated 500 °C operation of various integrated circuits (ICs), including operational amplifiers (OPAMPs).The functional tests have so far been performed using on-wafer measurements (unpackaged ICs) on earth and in normal atmosphere. During the fall of 2014 a number of these ICs will be packaged and bonded in standard through hole 14-pin ceramic dil packages (CERDIP) for reliability testing, including accelerated lifetime tests at elevated temperature, and in radiation environments. The OPAMPS, being a general electronic building block, can very well be integrated in other electronics, mounted on one of the circuit boards. These SiC ICs are hereby offered for flight testing in the KTH Student Satellite, for in-orbit testing of low-TRL (Technology Readiness Level) technologies.