Speaker
Dr
Andrew Rys
(Kansas State University)
Description
Electronic circuits generally perform well at moderately cold temperatures, but can show interesting and negative behaviors as extreme cryogenic regimes are reached. This paper looks at the performance of Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) and selected commercial silicon devices operating to temperatures at and below the freezing point of nitrogen. While expected freeze-out behavior is observed clearly in a commercial silicon device (1N4001 rectifier), SOS resistors and transistors tested using the same setup did not experience this effect, and in some cases stayed reasonably well-behaved to 5 Kelvin. However, unlike other reported investigations of SOS devices operating at extreme cryogenic temperatures, strong kink-effects were observed, especially for devices operating at low Vgs overdrives (weak inversion). These results point out both problems and promises of developing electronics in an RF and mixed-signal IC process suitable for use in exploring the surface of outer-planets and their moons.
Primary author
Mr
Steven Melton
(Honeywell Co.)
Co-authors
Dr
Andrew Rys
(Kansas State University)
Mr
Andy Fund
(Kansas State University)
Mr
Weston Burress
(Sikorsky Aircraft Co.)
Dr
William Kuhn
(Kansas State University)
