The U.S. Air Force plans to seek industry partners that can manufacture silicon carbide substrates and epitaxial films to help develop radio frequency and power switching semiconductor devices.
A pre-solicitation notice posted Friday on FedBizOpps says the Air Force is scheduled to issue a request for proposals on September 30 and the program could be worth $13.1 million and $11.2 million in government funds and $1.9 million in contractor funds.
The future contract would cover the development, assessment and manufacturing of single crystal SiC boules and homoepitaxial films as well as associated device demonstrations, the notice said.
The program’s goal is to achieve SiC crystal growth, substrate fabrication and polishing, homoepitaxy, material characterization and material and device correlation.