Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Stable, Extreme Temperature, High Radiation, Compact. Low Power Clock Oscillator for Space, Geothermal, Down-Hole & other High Reliability Applications, Phase II
Project Description
Efficient and stable clock signal generation requirements at extreme temperatures (-180C to +450C)and radiation (>250 Krad TID) are not met with the current solutions.Chronos technology proposes to design and fabricate RTXO as a new, comprehensive and scalable solution that simultaneously addresses the attributes of a reliable clock source in extreme environments. RTXO offers very small form-factor 5X7mm surface mount device utilizing high-Q Quartz material and CMOS/SOI for the extreme cold temperatures of Mars surface up to +110C. For extreme high temperature (to +450C) it uses Silicon Carbide (SiC-4H) semiconductor technology, high quality Gallium Orthophisphate (GaPO4) piezo-electric resonator material in a non-adhesive configured innovative assembly. All the different elements and processes used in the RTXO technology have been investigated in phase I to comply with the intended performance. This includes the individual elements, packaging, interconnecting method and manufacturing processes. RTXO offers standard signal interface, wide operating voltage range, conventional microelectronic packaging, and industry standard and reliable metal to metal as well as glass to metal sealing processes. RTXO delivers its exceptional performance over a wide (application specific) frequency range to 100 MHz from a single supply voltage and requires very low power.
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Anticipated Benefits
The need for extreme temperature clock as offered by RTXO will be acute in geothermal monitoring sensors and advanced jet engin controllers and sensors where present solutions literally fail and fall way short of the required performance and reliability. Higher RTXO performance comes with aded reliability, lower cost and smaller package as we have estimated thru our present customer and market activity for such opportunities. Nuclear process monitoring is another area that will benefit from RTXO technology and reduce the performance glitches of such systems. High end down-hole applications are on the operating temprature rise and will immediately benefit too. RTXO will benefit system applications that are required to operate in extreme environments such as the up and coming missions to Mars like Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and other missions to Moon and, Venus where all current and available solutions will fail due to continued exposure to extreme temperature, wide thermal cycling and radiation. Furthermore, RTXO is intended to be a high performance but standard solution for space qualified clocks that NASA always treats as custom made and controls them thru NASA Doc# 311-INST-001, MIL-PRF-38534 & Mil-PRF-55310. RTXO will be used in all sensors, control & communication modules in orbiters or landers.
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) | Lead Organization | FFRDC/UARC | Pasadena, California |
| Chronos Technology (Div. of FMI, Inc.) | Supporting Organization | Industry | Huntington Beach, California |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
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California
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This is a historic project that was completed before the creation of TechPort on October 1, 2012. Available data has been included. This record may contain less data than currently active projects.