Program Summary
Many defense electronics are susceptible to radiation and high temperatures. Developing electronics that can withstand harsh conditions would expand the types of environments in which DoD electronics may be used.
The DARPA Microscale Plasma Devices (MPD) program seeks to enable a revolutionary new class of electronics and signal processing devices based on microscale plasma cavities capable of withstanding damaging electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and of operating in extreme temperature and radiation environments. MPD will work to develop small feature size (< 20 micrometer) devices for use in electronic protection systems for Defense applications. Plasma devices sought should be capable of switching high-carrier densities (1018/cm³) with speeds of 100ps or faster. MPD seeks to develop dual- and multi-terminal devices and demonstrate them in circuits, substrates and materials—highlighting the efficacy of the proposed approaches as well as the unique benefits of microplasma-based systems.
This program includes two research objectives:
- To advance fundamental understanding of microscale plasma science and device operations for one or more key MPD design parameters, such as gas type or pressure.
- To design, model and fabricate microscale plasmas devices that target advances in specified performance objectives.
MPD also aims to develop modeling, simulation and design tools for rapid manufacturing of devices.
Work under MPD began in July 2011.