SBIR Phase I: Quantum Power Chip Component Development

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是旨在在电子设备的主板上安装一个微型发电厂。每个带有电池的设备都有可能通过提出的方法得到增强。这将照顾到空闲和待机功能，防止不必要的电池消耗。这带来的好处是巨大的，例如，一个潜在的客户能够监测一个谷仓一年，每天传输一次，通过增加一个拟议的电源，他们可以监测五年，每小时传输一次。这些设备有望大放异彩的市场是物联网，特别是对于提供传感服务的公司，特别是在偏远、恶劣和恶劣的环境中，维护传感器的成本太高，以及在太空中。在太空中，我们提供小型卫星及以下航天器的第三种动力替代方案。所提出的电源可用于为整个系统持续发电，或用作冗余电源以确保关键系统始终存活。该公司预计到2023年底将成品商业化。SBIR第一期项目建议加强正在开发的电源中使用的放射性同位素化合物。该产品由三个主要部件组成，半导体（芯片），化合物（该接合的燃料和目标）和封装（将它们放在一起并确保它们产生能量）。这种化合物的改进有望提高我们设备的发电能力。从以前的实验中发现，以前版本的化合物的面积覆盖范围可以大大提高。随着覆盖率的提高，预计功率输出也会相应提高，假设有可能至少将以前的功率输出结果提高一倍。在这种预期的化合物性能显著改善之后，该公司将试验不同的芯片组合，这将允许根据潜在客户的功率和预算需求为他们创造替代方案。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is aiming to put a minute power plant in the motherboard of electronic devices. Every device with a battery in it has the potential to be enhanced with the proposed approach. This will take care of the idle and standby functions, preventing unnecessary battery drain. The benefits this provides are enormous, as an example, a potential customer was able to monitor a grain silo for a year transmitting once a day with its current setup, by adding one of the proposed power sources, they could monitor for five years while transmitting once an hour. The markets where such devices are expected to shine are IoT, especially for companies offering sensing as a service, particularly in remote, austere, and hostile environments where maintaining sensors is too costly, and in Space. In Space, we offer a third power alternative to the small satellite and below spacecraft. The proposed power sources can be used to continuously generate power for the entire system, or be used as a redundant power source to ensure critical systems are always alive. The company expects to commercialize the finished product by the end of 2023. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to enhance the radioisotopic compound used in the power sources under development. The product is composed of three major components, the semiconductor (chip), the compound (the fuel and target for this engagement), and the encapsulation (putting them both together and ensuring they are producing power). The compound improvement is expected to enhance the power generation of our devices. From previous experiments, it was discovered that the area coverage of the previous version of the compound could be greatly improved. As coverage improves, the power output is expected to improve accordingly, the hypothesis is that it will be possible to at least double the previous power output results. Following such an anticipated significant improvement in the compound performance, the company will experiment with different chip combinations, this will allow for the creation of alternatives for potential customers, depending on their power and budget needs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.