NASA Awards $245,000 To Ozark IC to Create Circuits For Venus Rover Program
by July 28, 2015 2:34 pm 174 views
NASA has awarded two grants totaling nearly $245,000 to Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc., a technology firm affiliated with the University of Arkansas.
The company, which designs semiconductors at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, will use the grants to design complex integrated circuits that can operate on the surface of Venus, where the temperature can reach 500 degrees Celsius – 932 degrees Fahrenheit.
The two silicon-carbide-based circuits could be incorporated into the overall design of the space agency’s proposed Venus Landsailing Rover, said Matt Francis, Ozark IC’s president and chief executive officer.
The company will collaborate with electrical engineering students at UA on one of the projects. It will also utilize the integrated circuit packaging expertise and facilities of the university’s High Density Electronics Research Center at the research park. In electronics manufacturing, circuit packaging is the final stage of semiconductor device fabrication.
“Silicon carbide is a semiconductor that is ideally suited for the extreme environments found on Venus,” Francis said. “We have many years of experience working with this semiconductor fabrication process, developing models and process-design kits specifically for this process.”
Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc.’s expertise consists of design of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for extreme environments – high and low temperatures and radiation.