CAREER: Degradation-Aware GaN Electronics for Mixed-Signal Integration in Extreme Environments

Electronic systems are increasingly required to operate in extreme environments such as the surface of Venus, inside nuclear reactors, geothermal wells, and hypersonic aerospace platforms. Conventional silicon-based electronics fail at elevated temperatures because their electrical properties degrade rapidly above approximately 125 °C. Gallium nitride, a wide-bandgap semiconductor, offers superior thermal stability, radiation tolerance, and high-speed performance, making it a promising material for next-generation electronics in harsh environments. However, while individual gallium nitride transistors have demonstrated short-duration survival at high temperatures, little is understood about how complete circuits, particularly analog and mixed-signal systems that combine amplification, timing, and signal processing, degrade during prolonged exposure to heat and radiation. This project seeks to establish the scientific foundation needed to design reliable gallium nitride-based circuits that can operate above 500 °C for extended durations. The research will enable compact, energy-efficient electronics for planetary exploration, advanced energy systems, and distributed sensing in extreme conditions. The project also integrates research with education by developing a new graduate course on harsh environment electronics, mentoring undergraduate and high school researchers, and expanding outreach programs that introduce students to semiconductor reliability and extreme-environment engineering. By combining mission-driven research with workforce development, the project advances both national competitiveness in semiconductor technology and equitable access to engineering education. The technical goal of this CAREER project is to develop a degradation-aware design framework for gallium nitride mixed-signal circuits operating under combined high-temperature and radiation stress. The research focuses on indium aluminum nitride/gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors and co-fabricated passive components including capacitors, resistors, and inductors. The project will couple device-level degradation physics with electrothermal modeling and compact model extraction to enable predictive circuit design. Manufacturing processes will be developed using customizable processes in the Columbia Nano Initiative cleanroom, enabling optimization of gate geometries, metallization stacks, and integrated passive structures for operation above 500 °C. Devices and circuits will be characterized from cryogenic temperatures to 1000 °C using in situ radio-frequency probing and long-duration furnace testing. Two benchmark circuits will be developed: a ring oscillator that serves as a digital timing element and embedded degradation monitor, and a multi-stage low-noise amplifier that enables evaluation of analog performance metrics such as gain and noise figure at elevated temperatures. These blocks will be co-integrated into a mixed-signal test platform to assess system-level performance under thermal cycling and neutron and electron irradiation at Columbia’s Radiological Research Accelerator Facility. Experimental results will be integrated with physics-based simulations, circuit-level compact modeling frameworks, and particle interaction modeling to establish quantitative design rules linking materials degradation mechanisms to circuit-level performance metrics for applications such as wireless communications. The outcomes will advance fundamental understanding of wide-bandgap semiconductor reliability and enable scalable design strategies for extreme-environment electronics. 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. NSF Award ID: 2542756 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Savannah Eisner | Institution: Columbia University, NEW YORK, NY | Award Amount: $500,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2542756 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2542756.html