POSS Nanochemical Technology for Radiation Hardened/Tolerant Systems

Hybrid Plastics proposes to develop a low cost, and versatile method for shielding commercial, military, and stacked microelectronics against the deleterious effects of space radiation. The technical approach utilizes metallized nanoscopic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes as conformal coatings or potting agents. Such coatings would permit spacecraft designers to use commercial ICs in applications where, previously, only more expensive military-technology radiation hardened chips could be used. Also, POSS coatings may provide a means to shield flexible solar cells against space radiation, a task that conventional cover glass cannot do. Hybrid Plastics also proposes to perform fundamental thermal neutron, X-ray, electron, and proton testing of POSS coatings to determine their shielding effectiveness