Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT), a high-tech startup in Michigan’s Capitol Region, has been selected for funding support by NASA based on GLCT’s Phase I SBIR proposal entitled “Radiation Tolerant High-Voltage, High-Power Diamond Electronics.”
For this effort GLCT is teamed with leading scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Coatings and Diamond Technologies (Fraunhofer USA CCD).
The proposed effort is a natural play for the team. GLCT is a recent startup that has licensed a bundle of patents from MSU which were jointly invented by MSU and Fraunhofer USA CCD. Diamond has been demonstrated to be very radiation hard in the past by several research groups. Additionally, diamond has the highest electronic device figures of merit amongst competing semiconductor materials and has already been demonstrated by MSU and Fraunhofer USA CCD under previous US DOE ARPA-E (SWITCHES Program) funding to support very good power electronics performance.
GLCT’s president and CEO Keith Evans commented, “We are excited over the potential to provide NASA with what could be the beginning of a new generation of radiation hard diamond electronics capable of operating without damage in the natural space radiation environment.”
About Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT)
GLCT is a spin out of the world-class diamond research collaboration between Michigan State University (MSU) and MSU-located Fraunhofer USA Center for Coatings and Diamond Technologies (CCD). GLCT’s mission is to become the leading supplier of high-performance diamond materials for advanced (non-gemstone) applications.
About Fraunhofer USA
Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of applied research. Fraunhofer USA was founded in 1994 to conduct applied R & D for customers from industry and state government and the federal government in the United States. Partnering with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest application-oriented research and development organization, Fraunhofer USA can offer both domestic and international resources to enhance its portfolio of R&D services. For more information, please visit www.fraunhofer.org.
