The Deptartment of Defense has announced that the Southwest Advanced Prototyping (SWAP) Hub based at Arizona State University (ASU) has been awarded $5M in funding by the CHIPS and Science Act for a Multi-MHz, High Density, Ultra-fast RADAR Power Convert project that will advance radar power systems in critical defense applications.
Researchers at the SWAP Hub are developing a comprehensive suite of technology innovations to unlock the multi-megahertz promise of gallium nitride (GaN) to achieve ultra-low size and weight, high efficiency and order of magnitude improvements in transient response and power quality of power conversion systems.
The project will specifically develop a multi-megahertz, multi-kilowatt, high-density ultra-fast radar power converter that forms the heart of advanced radar systems. The converters will use GaN-based switching devices and lead to dramatic performance improvements including six times higher power density, 50% lower losses and ultra-fast response times. It is being funded with $4.97 million from the Department of Defense in its first year.
This is one of five project awards to the SWAP Hub, part of the CHIPS and Science Act-funded Microelectronics Commons, a network of regional technology hubs. It connects the Southwest — the fastest-growing and largest semiconductor cluster in the United States with more than $100 billion in private investment — to a growing network of defense and electronics partners across the country. The SWAP Hub is one of eight U.S. DOD Microelectronics Commons Hubs across the country dedicated to advancing technology for national security.
The radar power converter project is led by ASU and includes partner organizations Lockheed Martin Corp., Sandia National Laboratories, Infineon Technologies Americas Corp., and ThermAvant Technologies.
“This project has potential to enable increased system power within pre-allocated volume and weight constraints, increasing mission capability,” said Raja Ayyanar, leader of the project and a professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering at ASU.
In addition to the partner organizations, other collaborators at ASU are Bertan Bakkaloglu, professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering, Mike Ranjram, assistant professor electrical, computer and energy engineering and Ayan Mallik, assistant professor at ASU’s Polytechnic School.
Infineon Technologies Americas Corp., will supply state-of-the-art GaN-based power devices which can operate at higher frequencies and higher efficiencies compared to the incumbent silicon-based power devices, says Sameh Khalil, senior principal engineer at Infineon Technologies. “Infineon will also perform accelerated lifetime tests and evaluate device robustness and reliability,” he added.
The superior performance characteristics of the GaN devices is a key driver, but the other technologies are critical in enabling the proposed ultra-high switching frequency operation of GaN devices.
Ayyanar said the GaN devices need to be robustly characterized for their critical parasitics and long-term reliability; active gate drive technology and packaging need to be advanced to efficiently drive the GaN devices at multi-megahertz frequencies; circuit topologies and control are needed to support these frequencies, enable fast response and minimize the volume-dominant magnetics; low-loss, high frequency magnetic core materials and planar designs must be advanced; and new thermal management solutions will be critical to alleviate hot spot temperatures and support the proposed extreme power densities of the new devices.
Each partner organization will bring specific, yet complimentary expertise to the project.
- Infineon Technologies Americas Corp.’s roles include providing advanced GaN devices, characterization for multi-MHz operation, reliability testing and techno-economic analysis.
- Sandia’s roles include development of advanced magnetic materials and components, heterogenous integration and advanced packaging of power devices.
- Lockheed Martin’s roles include defining system specifications, design oversight, simulation, test execution to applicable electrical/environmental conditions and technology transition.
- ThermAvant will develop advanced thermal management using its oscillating heat pipe technology.
- ASU’s roles include development of advanced circuit topologies, adaptive gate driver, high density planar magnetics, high performance control, converter design, fabrication and integration.
ThermAvant Technologies is the leading oscillating heat pipe provider, primarily for larger-scale aerospace and U.S. defense platforms. Under the proposed workplan, novel small-scale 3-D oscillating heat pipes will be demonstrated to manage the high power-densities and unique packaging requirements being developed by ASU and its partners, explained Joe Boswell, co-founder and CEO of ThermAvant Technologies.
“This is an enormous opportunity for oscillating heat pipes to be packaged within advanced power converters to thermally manage their power-dense components – and do so with minimal size, weight, and cost-or-complexity when integrating into real-world radar systems,” Boswell said.
“We are eager to pull together all of the pieces of this project and are excited to get started on it to see where this technology advancement will lead to,” Ayyanar added.