Super 3D printing vacuum tube: better performance

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The vacuum tube was invented by John Fleming in 1904 and soon became an important part of the radio, television and other products. For example, in the history of humans, the first computer ENIAC used 17468 different vacuum tubes.

Today, although the use of many semiconductor electronic components has replaced the role of vacuum tubes, it still plays a role in many electronic devices. For example, the US Department of Defense still uses more than 200,000 pieces of vacuum electronic devices (VEDS) in some key communications equipment and various other radar systems.

Therefore, the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has become interested in how to improve these VEDSs and has begun to explore the possibility of using 3D printing technology to achieve this. But the first question that DARPA has to answer is: In the current era, why are they investing in more sophisticated technologies based on vacuum tubes to increase their production rather than using more sophisticated semiconductor technology?

Dev Palmer, INVEST project manager at the DARPA Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), explains why:

“The proliferation of low-cost, high-power commercial amplifiers and signal sources around the world today has made the electromagnetic spectrum crowded and there is fierce competition in the radio frequency (RF) and microwave regions. When you need to be outside the industrial frequency parameters field Vacuum tubes are the technology of choice for any operation, but the design and manufacture of VEDS is a complex, labor-intensive process that requires sophisticated modeling tools in terms of the high millimeter-wave frequencies of interest to our project. Special materials, and expensive, high processing accuracy."

And that's where 3D printing comes into play. At present, DARPA's research on vacuum tube technology focuses on millimeter wave frequencies above 75 GHz. These vacuum tubes are very small in size but require absolute precision, which is one of the main advantages of 3D printing.

“When you increase the frequency, you can't use the regular manufacturing process,” Palmer said. “If you can print out the overall structure with a 3D printer , making everything as neat as it is on the assembly line, this will make They are made easier to manufacture."

DARPA has embarked on a new research project and allocated funds for a feasibility study to build the next generation of miniature VEDS. The Innovation Vacuum Electronics Science and Technology (INVEST) project will provide grant contracts to support any basic research to achieve this vision.

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