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NASA NTRS2004

Fabricating Blazed Diffraction Gratings by X-Ray Lithography

Gray-scale x-ray lithography is undergoing development as a technique for fabricating blazed diffraction gratings. As such, gray-scale x-ray lithography now complements such other grating-fabrication techniques as mechanical ruling, holography, ion etching, laser ablation, laser writing, and electron-beam lithography. Each of these techniques offers advantages and disadvantages for implementing specific grating designs; no single one of these techniques can satisfy the design requirements for all applications. Gray-scale x-ray lithography is expected to be advantageous for making gratings on steeper substrates than those that can be made by electron-beam lithography. This technique is not limited to sawtooth groove profiles and flat substrates: various groove profiles can be generated on arbitrarily shaped (including highly curved) substrates with the same ease as sawtooth profiles can be generated on flat substrates. Moreover, the gratings fabricated by this technique can be made free of ghosts (spurious diffraction components attributable to small spurious periodicities in the locations of grooves). The first step in gray-scale x-ray lithography is to conformally coat a substrate with a suitable photoresist. An x-ray mask (see Figure 1) is generated, placed between the substrate and a source of collimated x-rays, and scanned over the substrate so as to create a spatial modulation in the exposure of the photoresist. Development of the exposed photoresist results in a surface corrugation that corresponds to the spatial modulation and that defines the grating surface. The grating pattern is generated by scanning an appropriately shaped x-ray area mask along the substrate. The mask example of Figure 1 would generate a blazed grating profile when scanned in the perpendicular direction at constant speed, assuming the photoresist responds linearly to incident radiation. If the resist response is nonlinear, then the mask shape can be modified to account for the nonlinearity and produce a desired groove profile. An example of grating grooves generated by this technique is shown in Figure 2. A maximum relative efficiency of 88 percent has been demonstrated.

Mouroulis, Pantazis↗
NASA NTRS2004

Fabrication of Channels for Nanobiotechnological Devices

A method, now undergoing development, of forming nanochannels in planar substrates is intended to enable the fabrication of advanced fluidic devices that could be integrated with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronic circuits. Such integral combinations of fluidic and electronic components ("laboratory-on-a-chip" devices) could be used, for example, to detect individual molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins. The width of a channel in such a device would be chosen so that molecules of the species of interest would move along the channel in single file. In this method, the fabrication of channels includes the use of such CMOS-compatible processes as chemical-mechanical polishing and oxide deposition. The layout of the channels in the substrate plane is determined by a single photolithographic process, but it is not a nanoscale lithographic process, and this process is not relied upon to define the thickness and width of the channels. Stating it from a slightly different perspective, unlike in the prior fabrication of electronic and fluidic devices involving the use of lithography to define microscale features, this process does not include the use of lithography to define nanoscale features. It is this aspect of the method that enables simplification of the process and, hence, a decrease in cost.

Lee, Choonsup↗
NASA NTRS2004

Chemical Thinning Process for Fabricating UV-Imaging CCDs

The thinning stage of the postfabrication process reported in the immediately preceding article is notable in its own right. Although the thinning process was described in the preceding article as part of an overall process of fabrication of a supported charge-coupled device (CCD), it is more generally applicable to both free-standing and supported devices that have been fabricated in die and wafer formats. Like the thermocompression bonding process described in the preceding article, the thinning process is compatible with CCD-fabrication processes, as well as postfabrication processes that enhance the response of CCDs to ultraviolet (UV) light, including the delta-doping process. CCDs that are thinned by this process and then delta-doped exhibit high quantum efficiencies that are stable with time and with exposure to the environment.

Jones, TOdd↗
NASA NTRS2004

RFID and Memory Devices Fabricated Integrally on Substrates

Electronic identification devices containing radio-frequency identification (RFID) circuits and antennas would be fabricated integrally with the objects to be identified, according to a proposal. That is to say, the objects to be identified would serve as substrates for the deposition and patterning of the materials of the devices used to identify them, and each identification device would be bonded to the identified object at the molecular level. Vacuum arc vapor deposition (VAVD) is the NASA derived process for depositing layers of material on the substrate. This proposal stands in contrast to the current practice of fabricating RFID and/or memory devices as wafer-based, self-contained integrated-circuit chips that are subsequently embedded in or attached to plastic cards to make smart account-information cards and identification badges. If one relies on such a chip to store data on the history of an object to be tracked and the chip falls off or out of the object, then one loses both the historical data and the means to track the object and verify its identity electronically. Also, in contrast is the manufacturing philosophy in use today to make many memory devices. Today s methods involve many subtractive processes such as etching. This proposal only uses additive methods, building RFID and memory devices from the substrate up in thin layers. VAVD is capable of spraying silicon, copper, and other materials commonly used in electronic devices. The VAVD process sprays most metals and some ceramics. The material being sprayed has a very strong bond with the substrate, whether that substrate is metal, ceramic, or even wood, rock, glass, PVC, or paper. An object to be tagged with an identification device according to the proposal must be compatible with a vacuum deposition process. Temperature is seldom an issue as the substrate rarely reaches 150 F (66 C) during the deposition process. A portion of the surface of the object would be designated as a substrate for the deposition of the device. By use of a vacuum arc vapor deposition apparatus, a thin electrically insulating film would first be deposited on the substrate. Subsequent layers of materials would then be deposited and patterned by use of known integrated-circuit fabrication techniques. The total thickness of the deposited layers could be much less than the 100- m thickness of the thinnest state-of-the-art self-contained microchips. Such a thin deposit could be readily concealed by simply painting over it. Both large vacuum chambers for production runs and portable hand-held devices for in situ applications are available.

Schramm, Harry F.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Progress in Fabrication of Rocket Combustion Chambers by VPS

Several documents in a collection describe aspects of the development of advanced materials and fabrication processes intended to enable the manufacture of advanced rocket combustion chambers and nozzles at relatively low cost. One concept discussed in most of the documents is the fabrication of combustion-chamber liners by vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) of an alloy of 88Cu/8Cr/4Nb (numbers indicate atomic percentages) -- a concept that was reported in "Improved Alloy for Fabrication of Combustion Chambers by VPS" (MFS-26546). Another concept is the deposition of graded-composition wall and liner structures by VPS in order to make liners integral parts of wall structures and to make oxidation- and thermal-protection layers integral parts of liners: The VPS process is started at 100 percent of a first alloy, then the proportion of a second alloy is increased gradually from zero as deposition continues, ending at 100 percent of the second alloy. Yet another concept discussed in one of the documents is the VPS of oxidation-protection coats in the forms of nickel-and-chromium-containing refractory alloys on VPS-deposited 88Cu/8Cr/4Nb liners.

Holmes, Richard R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

A New Process for Fabricating Random Silicon Nanotips

An improved process for the fabrication of random arrays of silicon nanotips has been demonstrated to be feasible. Relative to other such processes, this process offers advantages of low cost and simplicity. Moreover, this process can readily be combined with other processes used to fabricate integrated circuits and other monolithic silicon structures. Arrays of silicon nanotips are subjects of research and development efforts directed toward utilizing them as field emitters in flat-panel displays, vacuum microelectronics, and microwave devices. Other silicon-nanotip-fabrication processes developed thus far predominantly include lithography, etching, and/or elaborate deposition steps followed by oxide sharpening steps and are both process intensive as well as expensive. In addition to being cheaper and simpler, the present process can efficiently produce silicon nanotips that range in height from a few microns to several tens of microns and are distributed over large areas. The process mentioned here can be summarized as consisting of (1) the growth of micro-etch masks on a silicon substrate, followed by (2) etching away of the masks, along with some of the substrate, to make an array of sharp tips. In the first step of the process, a cleaned silicon substrate is subjected to reactive ion etching (RIE) in a certain mixture of oxygen and carbon tetrafluoride under radio-frequency excitation. This process step results in the growth of fluorine based compounds in the form of stumps randomly distributed on the substrate. These stumps are known in the art as polymer RIE grass. The dimensions of these stumps are of the order of hundreds of nanometers, the exact values depending on process time and gas composition. The areal density of the stumps decreases with increasing process time as they grow and merge with neighboring stumps. These stumps constitute the micro-etch masks for the next step of the process. In the second step of the process, the substrate covered with the microetch masks is subjected to deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process, which consists of cycles of reactive ion etching alternating with passivation (the Bosch process). The gas used in the etching substeps is sulfur hexafluoride (SF6); the gas used in the passivation substeps is octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8). The portions of the substrate directly under the RIE grass stubs are etched more slowly than are the portions between the stubs. Hence, what remains at the end of the process, after the stubs and parts of the substrate have been etched away, are silicon spikes where the stubs were (see figure). In a variation of the process, one starts with a silicon or silicon-on-insulator substrate with the intent to etch through the full thickness of the substrate. That is to say, one chooses the thickness so that the DRIE step releases individual nanotips. Such individual silicon nanotips may have utility as microscopic probes in biomedical applications.

Manohara, Harish↗
NASA NTRS2003

Fabricating Composite-Material Structures Containing SMA Ribbons

An improved method of designing and fabricating laminated composite-material (matrix/fiber) structures containing embedded shape-memory-alloy (SMA) actuators has been devised. Structures made by this method have repeatable, predictable properties, and fabrication processes can readily be automated. Such structures, denoted as shape-memory-alloy hybrid composite (SMAHC) structures, have been investigated for their potential to satisfy requirements to control the shapes or thermoelastic responses of themselves or of other structures into which they might be incorporated, or to control noise and vibrations. Much of the prior work on SMAHC structures has involved the use SMA wires embedded within matrices or within sleeves through parent structures. The disadvantages of using SMA wires as the embedded actuators include (1) complexity of fabrication procedures because of the relatively large numbers of actuators usually needed; (2) sensitivity to actuator/ matrix interface flaws because voids can be of significant size, relative to wires; (3) relatively high rates of breakage of actuators during curing of matrix materials because of sensitivity to stress concentrations at mechanical restraints; and (4) difficulty of achieving desirable overall volume fractions of SMA wires when trying to optimize the integration of the wires by placing them in selected layers only.

Turner, Travis L.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Electrophoretic Deposition for Fabricating Microbatteries

An improved method of fabrication of cathodes of microbatteries is based on electrophoretic deposition. Heretofore, sputtering (for deposition) and the use of photoresist and liftoff (for patterning) have been the primary methods of fabricating components of microbatteries. The volume of active electrode material that can be deposited by sputtering is limited, and the discharge capacities of prior microbatteries have been limited accordingly. In addition, sputter deposition is slow. In contrast, electrophoretic deposition is much faster and has shown promise for increasing discharge capacities by a factor of 10, relative to those of microbatteries fabricated by prior methods.

West, William↗
NASA NTRS2012

Regolith-Derived Heat Shield for Planetary Body Entry and Descent System with In-Situ Fabrication

High-mass planetary surface access is one of NASA's Grand Challenges involving entry, descent, and landing (EDL). Heat shields fabricated in-situ can provide a thermal protection system for spacecraft that routinely enter a planetary atmosphere. Fabricating the heat shield from extraterrestrial regolith will avoid the costs of launching the heat shield mass from Earth. This project will investigate three methods to fabricate heat shield using extraterrestrial regolith.

Hogue, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Improvements in Cold-Plate Fabrication

Five improvements are reported in cold-plate fabrication. This cold plate is part of a thermal control system designed to serve on space missions. The first improvement is the merging of the end sheets of the cold plate with the face sheets of the structural honeycomb panel. The cold plate, which can be a brazed assembly, uses the honeycomb face sheet as its end sheet. Thus, when the honeycomb panel is fabricated, the face sheet that is used is already part of the cold plate. In addition to reducing weight, costs, and steps, the main benefit of this invention is that it creates a more structurally sound assembly. The second improvement involves incorporation of the header into the closure bar to pass the fluid to a lower layer. Conventional designs have used a separate header, which increases the geometry of the system. The improvement reduces the geometry, thus allowing the cold plate to fit into smaller area. The third improvement eliminates the need of hose, tube, or manifold to supply the cooling fluid externally. The external arrangement can be easily damaged and is vulnerable to leakage. The new arrangement incorporates an internal fluid transfer tube. This allows the fluid to pass from one cold plate to the other without any exposed external features. The fourth improvement eliminates separate fabrication of cold plate(s) and structural members followed by a process of attaching them to each other. Here, the structural member is made of material that can be brazed just as that of the cold plate. Now the structural member and the cold plate can be brazed at the same time, creating a monolithic unit, and thus a more structurally sound assembly. Finally, the fifth improvement is the elimination of an additional welding step that can damage the braze joints. A tube section, which is usually welded on after the braze process, is replaced with a more structurally sound configuration that can be brazed at the same time as the rest of the cold plate.

Zaffetti, Mark A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Fabrication of a Cryogenic Terahertz Emitter for Bolometer Focal Plane Calibrations

A fabrication process is reported for prototype emitters of THz radiation, which operate cryogenically, and should provide a fast, stable blackbody source suitable for characterization of THz devices. The fabrication has been demonstrated and, at the time of this reporting, testing was underway. The emitter is similar to a monolithic silicon bolometer in design, using both a low-noise thermometer and a heater element on a thermally isolated stage. An impedance-matched, high-emissivity coat ing is also integrated to tune the blackbody properties. This emitter is designed to emit a precise amount of power as a blackbody spectrum centered on terahertz frequencies. The emission is a function of the blackbody temperature. An integrated resistive heater and thermometer system can control the temperature of the blackbody with greater precision than previous incarnations of calibration sources that relied on blackbody emission. The emitter is fabricated using a silicon- on-insulator substrate wafer. The buried oxide is chosen to be less than 1 micron thick, and the silicon device thickness is 1-2 microns. Layers of phosphorus compensated with boron are implanted into and diffused throughout the full thickness of the silicon device layer to create the thermometer and heater components. Degenerately doped wiring is implanted to connect the devices to wire-bondable contact pads at the edge of the emitter chip. Then the device is micromachined to remove the thick-handle silicon behind the thermometer and heater components, and to thermally isolate it on a silicon membrane. An impedance- matched emissive coating (ion assisted evaporated Bi) is applied to the back of the membrane to enable high-efficiency emission of the blackbody spectrum.

Chervenak, James↗
NASA NTRS2012

Degradation of Spacesuit Fabrics in Low Earth Orbit

Six samples of pristine and dust-abraded outer layer spacesuit fabrics were included in the Materials International Space Station Experiment-7, in which they were exposed to the wake-side low Earth orbit environment on the International Space Station (ISS) for 18 months in order to determine whether abrasion by lunar dust increases radiation degradation. The fabric samples were characterized using optical microscopy, optical spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and tensile testing before and after exposure on the ISS. Comparison of pre- and post-flight characterizations showed that the environment darkened and reddened all six fabrics, increasing their integrated solar absorptance by 7 to 38 percent. There was a decrease in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure of lunar dust abraded Apollo spacesuit fibers by a factor of four and an increase in the elastic modulus by a factor of two.

Gaier, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Fabrication and Testing of a Thin-Film Heat Flux Sensor for a Stirling Convertor

The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has been testing high efficiency free-piston Stirling convertors for potential use in radioisotope power systems since 1999. Stirling convertors are being operated for many years to demonstrate a radioisotope power system capable of providing reliable power for potential multi-year missions. Techniques used to monitor the convertors for change in performance include measurements of temperature, pressure, energy addition, and energy rejection. Micro-porous bulk insulation is used in the Stirling convertor test set up to minimize the loss of thermal energy from the electric heat source to the environment. The insulation is characterized before extended operation, enabling correlation of the net thermal energy addition to the convertor. Aging microporous bulk insulation changes insulation efficiency, introducing errors in the correlation for net thermal energy addition. A thin-mm heat flux sensor was designed and fabricated to directly measure the net thermal energy addition to the Stirling convertor. The fabrication techniques include slip casting and using Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD). One micron thick noble metal thermocouples measure temperature on the surface of an Alumina ceramic disc and heat flux is calculated. Fabrication, integration, and test results of a thin film heat flux sensor are presented.

Wilson, Scott D.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Regolith-Derived Heat Shield for Planetary Body Entry and Descent System with In-Situ Fabrication

High-mass planetary surface access is one of NASA's Grand Challenges involving entry, descent, and landing (EDL). Heat shields fabricated in-situ can provide a thermal protection system for spacecraft that routinely enter a planetary atmosphere. Fabricating the heat shield from extraterrestrial regolith will avoid the costs of launching the heat shield mass from Earth. This project investigated three methods to fabricate heat shield using extraterrestrial regolith and performed preliminary work on mission architectures.

Hogue, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Out of the Autoclave Fabrication of LaRC[TradeMark] PETI-9 Polyimide Laminates

The NASA Langley Research Center developed polyimide system, LaRC PETI-9, has successfully been processed into composites by high temperature vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (HT-VARTM). To extend the application of this high use temperature material to other out-of-autoclave (OOA) processing techniques, the fabrication of PETI- 9 laminates was evaluated using only a vacuum bag and oven cure. A LaRC PETI-9 polyimide solution in NMP was prepared and successfully utilized to fabricate unidirectional IM7 carbon fiber prepreg that was subsequently processed into composites with a vacuum bag and oven cure OOA process. Composite panels of good quality were successfully fabricated and mechanically tested. Processing characteristics, composite panel quality and mechanical properties are presented in this work. The resultant properties are compared to previously developed LaRC material systems processed by both autoclave and OOA techniques including the well characterized, autoclave processed LaRC PETI-5.

Cano, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Fabrication and Testing of Durable Redundant and Fluted-Core Joints for Composite Sandwich Structures

The development of durable bonded joint technology for assembling composite structures is an essential component of future space technologies. While NASA is working toward providing an entirely new capability for human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit, the objective of this project is to design, fabricate, analyze, and test a NASA patented durable redundant joint (DRJ) and a NASA/Boeing co-designed fluted-core joint (FCJ). The potential applications include a wide range of sandwich structures for NASA's future launch vehicles. Three types of joints were studied -- splice joint (SJ, as baseline), DRJ, and FCJ. Tests included tension, after-impact tension, and compression. Teflon strips were used at the joint area to increase failure strength by shifting stress concentration to a less sensitive area. Test results were compared to those of pristine coupons fabricated utilizing the same methods. Tensile test results indicated that the DRJ design was stiffer, stronger, and more impact resistant than other designs. The drawbacks of the DRJ design were extra mass and complex fabrication processes. The FCJ was lighter than the DRJ but less impact resistant. With barely visible but detectable impact damages, all three joints showed no sign of tensile strength reduction. No compression test was conducted on any impact-damaged sample due to limited scope and resource. Failure modes and damage propagation were also studied to support progressive damage modeling of the SJ and the DRJ.

Lin, Shih-Yung↗
NASA NTRS2013

Whole Wafer Design and Fabrication for the Alignment of Nanostructures for Chemical Sensor Applications

A major objective in aerospace sensor development is to produce sensors that are small in size, easy to batch fabricate and low in cost, and have low power consumption The fabrication of chemical sensors involving nanostructured materials can provide these properties as well as the potential for the development of sensor systems with unique properties and improved performance. However, the fabrication and processing of nanostructures for sensor applications currently is limited in the ability to control their location on the sensor. Currently, our group at NASA Glenn Research Center has demonstrated the controlled placement of nanostructures in sensors using a sawtooth patterned electrode design. With this design the nanostructures are aligned between opposing sawtooth electrodes by applying an alternating current.

Biaggi-Labiosa, Azlin M.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Applications for Gradient Metal Alloys Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing

Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have been developed that may shift the paradigm of traditional metal production by allowing complex net-shaped hardware to be built up layer-by-layer, rather than being machined from a billet. The AM process is ubiquitous with polymers due to their low melting temperatures, fast curing, and controllable viscosity, and 3D printers are widely available as commercial or consumer products. 3D printing with metals is inherently more complicated than with polymers due to their higher melting temperatures and reactivity with air, particularly when heated or molten. The process generally requires a high-power laser or other focused heat source, like an electron beam, for precise melting and deposition. Several promising metal AM techniques have been developed, including laser deposition (also called laser engineered net shaping or LENS® and laser deposition technology (LDT)), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), and electron beam free-form (EBF). These machines typically use powders or wire feedstock that are melted and deposited using a laser or electron beam. Complex net-shape parts have been widely demonstrated using these (and other) AM techniques and the process appears to be a promising alternative to machining in some cases. Rather than simply competing with traditional machining for cost and time savings, the true advantage of AM involves the fabrication of hardware that cannot be produced using other techniques. This could include parts with "blind" features (like foams or trusses), parts that are difficult to machine conventionally, or parts made from materials that do not exist in bulk forms. In this work, the inventors identify that several AM techniques can be used to develop metal parts that change composition from one location in the part to another, allowing for complete control over the mechanical or physical properties. This changes the paradigm for conventional metal fabrication, which relies on an assortment of "post-processing" methods to locally alter properties (such as coating, heat treating, work hardening, shot peening, etching, anodizing, among others). Building the final part in an additive process allows for the development of an entirely new class of metals, so-called "functionally graded metals" or "gradient alloys." By carefully blending feedstock materials with different properties in an AM process, hardware can be developed with properties that cannot be obtained using other techniques but with the added benefit of the net-shaped fabrication that AM allows.

Hofmann, Douglas C.↗