Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: MDA14-007

Description

Addressing the MDAs need for an integrated circuit-based sensor to measure the ambient radio frequency (RF) near field, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to advance, in Phase II, the development of a new Two Dimensional Ambient RF FielD Integrated Sensor (TARDIS), which was successfully proven feasible in Phase I. TARDIS is based on state-of-the-art fully depleted thin-film silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. Using minimum power, it offers high ambient RF near-field sensitivity under harsh operation environment. Specifically, TARDIS yields high sensitivity to magnetic field perturbation while consuming <1 microwatt of electrical power when implemented with the double-gate (DG) split drain/source (SDS) magnetic field-effect transistor (MAGFET). Designed in Phase I, TARDISs complementary use of DG SDS MAGFET magnetic sensing technology, coupled with on-chip all-MOS current-to-frequency converter post-processing, generates accurate frequency output that is linearly proportional to the frequency component of the measured magnetic field. In Phase II, POC aims to optimize the TARDIS system by designing, fabricating, and packaging integrated circuits prototypes along with associated test hardware and software to support a full-scale laboratory characterization. Working together with MDA and Lockheed Martin, we plan to demonstrate the TARDIS performance relevant to a specific platform environment.