Electronic materials for defence and aerospace PDF

BACKGROUND

Advanced defence and aerospace systems which have had a profound effect upon both military conflicts and civil transport over the last 50 years, have been underpinned by progress in Electronic Materials and Device (EMD) technology. The GulfWar and Operation Corporate in the Falklands both demonstrated that very significant advantages could be obtained through the use of'smart' munitions, night vision and thermal imaging equipment, advanced command, control communications and intelligence (C3I), stealth technology and radar systems and emphasised the fact that the content of the military platform in the form of its sensing suites and avionics was at least as important as the platform itself. Similarly, in the civil field, the ability to maintain a competitive aerospace industry within the context of falling costs of air transport depends upon maintaining advances in air-frames, aero-engines and electronic systems which all require parallel capabilities in sensors, monitoring, control, communications and radar . equipment. All past advances in these critical fields have depended to a large extent upon the existence of an advanced technological capability in EMD. Without exception, the development of advanced electronic systems which have given our armed forces and our aerospace industry competitive edge on the battlefield and in the market place have been presaged by discovery of new electronic materials and their development into exploitable forms and devices.

In many cases, the basic materials research can be performed relatively economically in comparison with systems R&D, but it should be emphasised that the gestation period from basic materials research to exploitation in devices can be extremely long; typically 15 to 20 years from the discovery of a new electronic material to its exploitation in commercially-viable devices. Furthermore, early 'versions' of a material which achieve initial commercial success in devices and systems are almost always superseded by improved or lower cost versions. An example is silicon, which since its first use in commercial transistors in the early 1950s, continues to undergo change in terms of the sizes of crystal wafers, the quality of the bulk material and the growth temperature and perfection of epitaxial layers. In some cases there are examples of materials which have been known for many

years to exhibit desirable properties, but whose application in commercial devices has depended upon the development of advanced materials fabrication technologies to make their application in commercial devices viable. An example of this is GaN, which has been known since the late 1960s to possess a wide band gap and to be a possible material to apply to solid state blue lasers. It has taken the development of advanced III-V epitaxial growth technologies to make such devices a reality. It is thus vitally important that basic electronic materials R&D be maintained at a viable level within the UK and, as part of the OST Foresight exercise, it has been the purpose of this working party to examine the likely future market for advanced electronic systems in the aerospace and defence market sectors and from this to derive the priority areas for electronic materials research and development in the UK. years to exhibit desirable properties, but whose application in commercial devices has depended upon the development of advanced materials fabrication technologies to make their application in commercial devices viable. An example of this is GaN, which has been known since the late 1960s to possess a wide band gap and to be a possible material to apply to solid state blue lasers. It has taken the development of advanced III-V epitaxial growth technologies to make such devices a reality.

It is thus vitally important that basic electronic materials R&D be maintained at a viable level within the UK and, as part of the OST Foresight exercise, it has been the purpose of this working party to examine the likely future market for advanced electronic systems in the aerospace and defence market sectors and from this to derive the priority areas for electronic materials research and development in the UK.

Edited by: Roger. W. Whatmore