Nanomaterials protect from cosmic radiation

The expensive electronics of spacecraft and satellites are constantly exposed to ionizing radiation and high-energy cosmic rays. A recent discovery made by an international team of scientists will significantly reduce the cost of "space electronics", increasing its protection from cosmic rays.


Gallium nitride (GaN) is a promising semiconductor nanomaterial for electronics, since semiconductor structures based on it are resistant to ionizing radiation.

As scientists from Moldova, Russia and the USA have established, nanotechnologically modified gallium nitride is even more resistant to ionizing radiation.

According to Nanotechweb, Ion Tiginyanu from the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and specialists from the University of Virginia, processed the GaN plate with powerful ultraviolet radiation in potassium hydroxide. As a result, a matrix of nanopyramids was formed on the surface, which allowed the GaN nanostructure to withstand ten times the ionizing radiation.

Scientists conducted experiments with ions of 85 and 130 MeV on a cyclotron in the G.N. Flerova in Dubna.

According to the developers, the new material will make it possible to make various electronic devices for their use in extreme conditions. For example, sensors and electronics of satellites and devices of other aerospace engineering.

Link to the source:rnd.cnews.ru/tech/news/top/index_science.shtml?2007/05/22/251222