Shooting for the Stars: Polaris Semiconductor Chips to Take Flight!
Semiconductor devices are the foundation of our nation’s digital economy, empowering technologies that make the world smarter, more efficient, and better connected. DC voltage regulators are a critical subset of these devices; these tiny but mighty components ensure the reliable delivery of stable DC power within circuit boards, a fundamental requirement for electronics. To realize the next generation of smaller, lighter, and more capable electronics, performance improvements at the component level are a critical driving force. Polaris Semiconductor has developed a unique, patented technology that delivers low-noise, high-efficiency and extremely compact DC voltage regulators with high tolerance to radiation, addressing long-standing pain-points with incumbent technologies in one of the most demanding environments faced by electronics: space.
In collaboration with our integration partner, Aegis Aerospace, we will launch our devices to the International Space Station onboard their MISSE Flight Facility. Our objective is to better understand how the temperature and radiation extremes of space impact our devices. To do so, we are assembling a variety of our latest generation voltage regulators on advanced electronic test-boards that monitor device electrical performance during the flight, using the ISS downlink to beam the data back to Earth. The space environment will provide critical data to refine and validate our device models as well as ground-based radiation and temperature tests. It will also provide insight into product design factors, such as low-cost plastic packaging versus premium, high-reliability ceramic packages. Our experiment follows in the footsteps of a long history of testing emerging semiconductor device technologies in the harsh ISS environment and will accelerate our path to a commercial product for many demanding applications beyond just space.
We are extremely grateful to the International Space Station National Lab for supporting our technology advancement via the NLRA program that advances their mission of fostering scientific discovery and technological innovation in space. We are also extremely grateful to our government sponsors and the VIPC for helping turn our ideas into reality.
Photo credit: NASA, reproduced with permission.
