NASA SBIR 2016 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Ozark Integrated Circuits, Inc.
700 West Research Center Boulevard
Fayetteville, AR 72701 - 7175
(479) 935-1600

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
James A. Holmes
holmes@ozarkic.com
700 W. Research Center Blvd.
Fayetteville, AR 72701 - 7175
(479) 935-1600 Extension :502

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Anthony M. Francis
francis@ozarkic.com
700 West Research Center Boulevard
Fayetteville, AR 72701 - 7175
(479) 575-1600 Extension :501

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Extreme Environments Technology is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
Yes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
NASA has demonstrated a resolve for a flagship mission in the coming years to revisit Venus and land instruments on the surface. Venus has a corrosive, high pressure (~100 bar), high-temperature (up to 500 C) environment presenting extreme design challenges for lander electronics. The ability to establish simple wire-line communications between circuits operating in extremely disparate temperature domains is a critical need. Different technologies have specific strengths (complexity, density, area, power) which span from high-performance, lower-temperature silicon to medium-density SiC-CMOS and lower-density, high-reliability SiC JFET-R. A viable lander design requires applying the right technology to each temperature domain. The premier IC process for ultra-high temperatures is the SiC JFET technology developed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). In Phase I, Ozark IC proposes to use its extensive high temperature device and circuit expertise to create a PDK for the GRC SiC JFET process. Pre-existing designs by NASA will be recaptured with the PDK and simulation results will be validated against measured data. An RS-485 transceiver circuit will be designed using the PDK and verified such that it is ready for fabrication at the conclusion of Phase I.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
NASA has demonstrated a resolve for a flagship mission in the coming years to revisit Venus and land instruments on the surface. Venus has a corrosive, high-pressure (~100 bar), high-temperature (up to 500C) environment.

The SiC-JFET technology and RS-485 link proposed complement Ozark IC's existing SiC-CMOS designs, including a general-purpose microprocessor and an integrated UV camera, that can be combined to create scientific instruments and housekeeping circuits that can operate at Venus surface temperature conditions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The RS-485 data link standard is already a ubiquitous element in many applications: Oil Exploration - Deep well monitoring units can use the RS-485 to network sensors and actuators; Mil-Aero - Health monitoring of jet engines and turbines; Automotive - Health monitoring of internal combustion engines, exhaust systems, and emission controls; Industrial - Combustion and emission controls; Science - (Terrestrial) High temperature manufacturing processes