Advanced Electrical Materials and Components Development---An Update

The primary means to develop advanced electrical components is to develop new and improved m aterials for magnetic components (transformers, inductors, etc.), capacitors, and semiconductor switches and diodes. This paper will give an update of the Advanced Power Electronics and Components Technology being developed by the NASA Glenn Research Cent er for use in future Power Management and Distribution sub systems used in space power systems for spacecraft and lunar and planetary surface power . The initial description and status of this technology program was presented two years ago at the First Inte rnational Energy Conversion Engineering Conference held at Portsmouth, VA, August 2003 1 . The present paper will give a brief background of the previous work reported and a summary of research performed the past several years on soft magnetic materials cha racterization , die lectric materials and capacitor developments , high quality silicon carbide atomically smooth substrates , and SiC static and dynamic device characterization under elevated temperature conditions. The rationale for and the benefits of dev eloping advanced electrical materials and components for the PMAD subsystem and also for the total power system will also be briefly discussed.