{"72757":{"#nid":"72757","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Evaluate Electronic Material for NASA","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have received funding from the NASA\/Earth Science Technology Office to evaluate a material called liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for electronics applications in space.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe ultra-thin, paper-like plastic can incorporate a variety of electronic circuits, yet it molds to any shape and appears to perform well in the extreme temperatures and intense radiation encountered by NASA spacecraft.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorge E. Ponchak, a co-investigator and senior research engineer at NASA\u0027s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, said research to date indicates that LCP outperforms conventional materials for antennas and circuit boards in high-frequency radio applications aboard space vehicles. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I think the chances are very high that LCP will be practical for a variety of NASA applications,\u0022 Ponchak said . \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELight weight is the material\u0027s biggest potential benefit to NASA, he said. Flexible LCP antennas would be lighter than today\u0027s structured antennas, and LCP-based circuits molded to available spacecraft areas could eliminate heavy metal boxes that currently house rigid circuit boards. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Less weight lets us move to a smaller launch system, which in turn saves a lot of money,\u0022 Ponchak said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJohn Papapolymerou, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explains that LCP\u0027s unique structure - aromatic crystal polyester comprised of benzene rings, acetyloxy polymers, and carboxyl groups - allows it to be heat resistant, flexible and strong  while also possessing excellent electrical performance.  \t\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMoreover, the material can serve as a highly efficient substrate - material on which semiconductor chips are attached - as well as the backplane that connects those chips together, said Papapolymerou, who with Prof. Manos Tentzeris leads a team researching LCP.  Even micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices could be embedded on LCP, along with integrated circuits.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It\u0027s like having a PC board type of technology that has many other advantages,\u0022 Papapolymerou said.  \u0022We are already developing LCP-based technology for NASA applications, and I think eventually you will see LCP in next-generation consumer systems.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAmong the material\u0027s advantages:\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- It is \u0027near-hermetic\u0027 - highly resistant to humidity and other environmental conditions.  It could be applied almost like wallpaper to space and other vehicles, forming large antennas aloft. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- It effectively processes radio frequencies (RF) up to 110 GHz, which is well into the millimeter wave range used for radars as well as for military and scientific communications.  By contrast, conventional circuit-board RF capabilities dwindle swiftly above 5 GHz.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- It is cheaper to make than competing hermetic technologies such as ceramic substrates.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- Its thermal-expansion properties allow it to form multi-layer structures that won\u0027t crack or delaminate.  That could lead to three-dimensional circuits that provide both reliability and a smaller footprint.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPapapolymerou and Tentzeris have received two three-year awards from the NASA\/Earth Science Technology Office to pursue LCP-related applications. They are currently developing a precipitation-radar application that NASA could use to monitor global water cycling.  In addition to NASA, the National Science Foundation is also supporting Georgia Tech\u0027s LCP work.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERecent LCP-related publications by the Georgia Tech LCP team have appeared in \u003Cem\u003EIEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Cem\u003EIEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters\u003C\/em\u003E, and \u003Cem\u003EIEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging\u003C\/em\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENASA\u0027s Ponchak notes that LCP still has hurdles to clear before it can be used in space.  Though the material has performed well at high temperatures, it must still complete low-temperature and radiation tests.  If it passes those tests, it could be incorporated into NASA spacecraft designs within two years, he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPapapolymerou believes that RF circuits for communications and radar are LCP\u0027s most promising application thus far. But Georgia Tech engineers are also investigating the robust polymer\u0027s capacity to embed analog and digital chips, RF MEMS devices and RF circuits together in one flexible, weather-resistant package.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, Papapolymerou said, his team is weighing the reliability of RF MEMS switches embedded in LCP. Since RF MEMS devices have moving parts, they are more sensitive to environmental conditions than solid-state devices like chips and RF arrays. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELCP, which has been commercially available for many years, wasn\u0027t always a good candidate for environmentally demanding applications, Papapolymerou said. Ten years ago the malleable material tore easily, but changes in LCP chemistry have dramatically improved its strength and reliability.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe low cost of conventional circuit boards will probably bar the material from most applications below 5 GHz, he believes.  But above that threshold LCP could have numerous uses, including wireless LAN at 60 GHz and military applications at 30, 40 and 94 GHz .  Promising NASA applications include remote sensing precipitation radars at 14 and 35 GHz.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETentzeris believes that LCP and other similar flexible organics could also be used for a new generation of ultra-wideband sensor and secure communication applications. The flexible nature of LCP, he said, allows easy integration with complex surfaces such as airplanes, cars and trucks. In addition, its light weight and thermal expansion properties could make possible low-cost  portable multifunction modules operating in different frequency bands and standards. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHe stresses that a major advantage of LCP-type organics lies in the fact that their electrical properties feature only a slight change for frequencies ranging from the low-end of the cellular communications (900-1800 MHz) to the high-end short-range broadband telecom, sensor and radar bands (110 GHz). \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, Tentzeris said, his team is developing ultra-broadband \/ multiband antennas and embedded functions on LCP that could be used for reconfigurable frequency and data-rate telecom and sensor applications. His team is also investigating novel 3D meta-material ideas utilizing LCP to develop flexible lenses and dramatically improve the power efficiency of RF\/sensor modules.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECosts must come down before commercial LCP applications can take off, Papapolymerou said.  But as production and demand for LCP-based circuits increase, commercial use could become more likely.  In fact, he said, LCP-based circuits may play a role in next-generation consumer applications such as sophisticated communications products.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Devices that must provide a lot of bandwidth - that\u0027s where you will need a substrate that has good, low-cost, small-footprint performance at frequencies like 30 or 60 GHz,\u0022 Papapolymerou said.  \u0022Conventional circuit-board material will not do the job anymore.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson (404-694-2294); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:rick.robinson@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Erick.robinson@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETechnical Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Papapolymerou (404-385-6004); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ioannis.papapolymerou@ece.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eioannis.papapolymerou@ece.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Manos Tentzeris (404-385-0378); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:emmanouil.tentzeris@ece.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eemmanouil.tentzeris@ece.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Robust, paper-like liquid crystal polymer could be used in space applications"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have received funding from the NASA\/Earth Science Technology Office to evaluate a material called liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for electronics applications in space.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New electronic material evaluated for space use"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2006-08-22 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:29","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2006-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72758":{"id":"72758","type":"image","title":"Professors holding samples.","body":null,"created":"1449177954","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:54","changed":"1475894663","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:23"},"72759":{"id":"72759","type":"image","title":"Close-ups of material","body":null,"created":"1449177954","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:54","changed":"1475894663","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:23"},"72760":{"id":"72760","type":"image","title":"Professors holding samples","body":null,"created":"1449177954","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:54","changed":"1475894663","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:23"}},"media_ids":["72758","72759","72760"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/esto.nasa.gov\/","title":"NASA Earth Science Technology Office"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}