Microelectronic Hybrid, Hermetically Sealed, PRU, DSCS

This is a microelectronic hybrid designed for the power regulation system of a Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft.

Inside the casing is a sequence of conducting and nonconducting layers arrnaged on top of an alumina wafer. The topmost layer contains the critical electronic components; sublayers provide additional pathways for connecting the devices on the top layer. The completed hybrid is an ingenious puzzle in which tens of chips and devices are integrated through hundreds connections.

This artifact is flight ready equipment, hermetically sealed to protect the electronics inside.

This design represented the state of the art in miniaturization for such hybrids as of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Lockheed Martin donated this artifact to the Museum in 1998.