NASA Brings Cinema to Television
high-temperature,
high-voltage semiconductor called Silicon Carbide (SiC), developed by
NASA's Lewis Research Center (LeRC) and delivering three times the power
of conventional silicon devices, is helping accelerate the use of high
definition television (HDTV). It also promises to bring cinema-quality
pictures and compact disc sound to the United States and abroad during
the 21st century.
Westinghouse Wireless Solutions, a division of CBS Corporation, recently introduced HDTV transmitter modules made from SiC for advanced television transmission. The solid-state
SiC transmitter modules—compact, more reliable, safer and easier to maintain than transmitters using tube-based technology—will ultimately cut the cost of digital television. SiC-based transmitters hold great promise for television stations as a transmitter technology to convert from analog NTSC to digital broadcasting. Transmitter manufacturers will be able to abandon their reliance on tube-based technology for high-power transmitters and build smaller, higher power solid-state transmitters with SiC.
When compared with silicon technology, SiC modules can offer twice the power per module. When translated to the system level, this equates to a transmitter requiring less space, being more reliable, needing less maintenance and therefore being more cost effective.
As the technology is developed further, SiC devices will ultimately drop in price, becoming very cost competitive with tube transmitters. This will reduce the cost of the new digital television transmission systems being implemented by television stations in the United States and around the world.
Westinghouse has targeted a 75-watt-average power transistor as its power device, built into 500-watt-average power-amplifier modules. Using these high-power transistors will significantly reduce the space needed for high-power transmitters at the television stations and offer a solid-state solution, reducing long-term maintenance costs. A modular solid-state design provides broadcasters with an option to gradually add modules, increasing the power of their transmitters as they expand their HDTV coverage.
Over the course of six years of joint research under a Space Act Agreement, the High Temperature Integrated Electronics and Sensors Team at the Lewis Research Center played a key role in the development of the base SiC epitaxial growth technology for Westinghouse's SiC technology efforts. The team is developing SiC for advanced semiconductor electronic devices because of its superior ability to function in high-temperature, high-power and high-radiation conditions, resulting in a variety of large-performance enhancements and applications.
For more information, contact Philip Neudeck at Lewis Research Center.
Call (216) 433-8902, Fax: (216) 433-8643, E-mail: neudeck@lerc.nasa.gov
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