News

1 August 2008

 

GeneSiC selected by US Navy for Phase I and II SBIR awards

GeneSiC Semiconductor Inc of Dulles, VA, USA has been selected by the US Navy for two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards.

Founded by Dr Ranbir Singh as president in 2004, privately held firm GeneSiC develops high-temperature, high-power, and ultra-high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) devices for rad-hard and sensor applications, including high-temperature rectifiers, field-effect transistors (FETs), bipolar devices as well as particle and photonic detectors.

The latest SBIR awards will allow GeneSiC to develop high-voltage SiC devices that are critical for enabling the integration of high-power radars, directed energy weapons (DEW) and ship propulsion systems with the modern on-board power sources.

The projects awarded to GeneSiC are as follows:

• Prompted by the success of GeneSiC’s previous Phase I SBIR project, the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center has select GeneSiC’s Phase II SBIR proposal for award negotiations. The project is focused on developing multi-kV SiC devices for power conditioning and power distribution systems using legacy and modern ship bus infrastructure.

• The Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) has completed award formalities on another Phase I SBIR award. This project is focused on the design and fabrication of novel SiC devices for high-frequency, high-power radar applications.

“Power devices targeted in these programs will allow megawatt-level power to be handled with digital precision,” says GeneSiC’s president Dr Ranbir Singh. “This technology has the potential to revolutionize critical commercial and military hardware, not yet possible due to the limitations of contemporary silicon-based technologies,” he adds. “These device development programs can also significantly improve the efficiency levels in power inverters used to integrate wind and solar energy systems with the power grid.”

GeneSiC says that it also continuing to rapidly enhance the equipment and personnel infrastructure at its facility in Dulles, including hiring personnel experienced in compound semiconductor device fabrication, semiconductor testing and detector designs.

See related items:

Delphi team awarded $5m DOE funding to halve size and cost of electric propulsion inverters

SiC electronics market to reach $800m by 2015

GeneSiC wins SBIR and STTR grants from DoE

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