Raytheon has been awarded a $3.3 million contract to overcome thermal challenges in semiconductors designed for next-generation high-power radars and other electronic systems. The award is for the first of a three-phase Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Radio Frequency Thermal Ground Plane program that could be worth $8 million if all options are exercised.

The full three-phase program is designed to run 45 months beginning now and ending in the fourth quarter of 2011.

"The Raytheon solution couples innovative nanostructured materials with optimized fluid systems and thermal expansion-matched packaging," said Mark Russell, vice president of Engineering at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS).

"This approach overcomes power density, total heat dissipation, and weight and fit limitations of current heat pipe technology to achieve up to 100 times the effective thermal conductivity of conventional packaging materials."