Implementation of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Control Electronics to Accelerometers for High Temperature Applications

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (HITEN) ◽  
pp. 000233-000237
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
I White ◽  
G Rickard ◽  
G Chadwick

The requirement to install control systems integrated with sensors in high temperature environments has posed a challenge to the traditional limit of 125°C for conventional electronics. There is a need to operate at temperatures of 200°C and above in restricted space for example in down-well, aero-engine or geothermal applications in combination with high pressures, vibrations and potentially corrosive environments. Piezo-electric accelerometers based on ferro-electric ceramics have been used in a wide range of applications for measuring vibrations, fluid flow and turbulence and are capable of operating as a transducer alone at temperatures up to 250°C, which has made them attractive in sensing applications for down-well drilling and aero-engine health and usage monitoring. However, the electronics traditionally used to carry out the signal conditioning and processing (e.g. charge to voltage conversion, filtering) has been limited to a qualification limit of 125°C, which results in a reduced sensitivity of the transducer output as the signal conditioning and processing cannot be performed close to the sensor. With the development of Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) semiconductor technology, which can operate at temperatures of up to 250°C, many of the signal conditioning and processing operations can be carried out in-situ with the accelerometers to create a new generation of high temperature products. In addition, the integration of many of the functions that used to require discrete components into one SOI based device has led to further miniaturisation opportunities and a protection against obsolescence of specialist analogue devices. This paper will describe the migration of the traditional low temperature electronics to a high temperature SOI based ASIC device and the implementation of high temperature electronics packaging technology to instrumentation for piezo-electric accelerometers, leading to products that are suitable for high temperature monitoring in restricted spaces in down-well drilling and aero-engine applications.

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (HITEC) ◽  
pp. 000089-000096 ◽  
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
K Cannon ◽  
C Johnston ◽  
M Sousa ◽  
P Grant ◽  
...  

The requirement to install electronic power and control systems in high temperature environments has posed a challenge to the traditional limit of 125°C for high temperature exposure of electronics systems. The leap in operating temperature to above 200°C in combination with high pressures, vibrations and potentially corrosive environments means that different semiconductors, passives, circuit boards and assembly processes will be needed to fulfil the target performance specifications. Bare die mounted onto ceramic and insulated metal substrates can withstand higher temperatures than soldered surface mount devices on printed circuit boards. The results of the evaluation of electronic interconnect and substrate materials that have been submitted to temperatures of 250°C for up to 2000 hours will be presented, including details on novel adhesive formulations and high temperature insulated metal substrates. The materials and processes developed have been applied to the manufacture of high temperature circuits representative of analogue signal conditioning and processing, using silicon on insulator devices and passive components mounted into HTCC packages and onto thick film on ceramic substrates. Results of the characterisation of these devices and circuits at temperatures of 250°C for up to 2000 hours will be presented. This work forms part of the UPTEMP project has been set-up with support from UK Technology Strategy Board and the EPSRC, which started in March 2007 with 3 years duration. The project brings together a consortium of end-users (Sondex Wireline and Vibro-Meter UK), electronic module manufacturers (GE Aviation Systems Newmarket) and material suppliers (Gwent Electronic Materials and Thermastrate Ltd) with Oxford University-Materials Department, the leading UK high temperature electronics research centre.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 000192-000199
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
C Johnston ◽  
A Lui

The requirement to install electronic power and control systems in high temperature environments in aero-engines and in down-well exploration has posed a challenge to the traditional limit of 125°C of electronics systems. The leap in operating temperature to above 200°C in combination with high pressures, vibrations and potentially corrosive environments means that different semiconductors, passives, circuit boards and assembly processes will be needed to fulfil target performance specifications. Silicon on Insulator (SOI) device technology has been shown to be capable of functioning satisfactorily at operating temperatures of >200°C. Most of the applications to date have required performance for short times (<2,000 hours) at the highest operating temperatures of up to 225°C in down-well drilling applications. There is interest in extending the endurance of high temperature electronics into aero-engine and other applications where a minimum 20 year operating life is stipulated. Most of the reliability data on the high temperature endurance of the integrated circuit is generated with little consideration of the packaging technologies, whilst most of the reliability data pertinent to high temperature packaging technologies uses test pieces, which limits any conclusions relating to long term electrical performance. This paper will present results of studies on high temperature packaging technologies relevant to signal conditioning and processing functions for sensors in down-well and aero-engine applications. Different die attach and wire bond options have been included in the study and the performance of several functional blocks on a high temperature SOI device has been tracked over the endurance tests which have lasted for >11,000 hours at 250°C. Degradation phenomena such as thermal migration and material deterioration due to high temperature exposure in air and inert atmospheres will be described. An assessment of the availability of high temperature materials and components to meet long term requirements for operation at 250°C will be presented.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (HITEN) ◽  
pp. 000096-000103
Author(s):  
Yoann Dusé ◽  
Fabien Laplace ◽  
Nicolas Joubert ◽  
Xavier Montmayeur ◽  
Noureddine Zitouni ◽  
...  

We present in this paper two new products for high-temperature, low-voltage (2.8V to 5.5V) power management applications. The first product is an original implementation of a monolithic low dropout regulator (XTR70010), able to deliver up to 1A at 230°C with less than 1V of dropout. This new voltage regulator can source an output current level up to 1.5A. The regulated output voltage can be selected among 32 preset values from 0.5V to 3.6V in steps of 100mV, or it can be obtained with a pair of external resistors. The circuit integrates complex analog and digital control blocks providing state of the art features such as UVLO protection, chip enable control, soft start-up and soft shut-down, hiccup short-circuit protection, customer selectable thermal shut-down, input power supply protection, output overshoot remover and stability over an extremely wide range of load capacitances. The circuit offers a fair ±2% absolute accuracy and is guaranteed latch-up free. The second product is an advanced high-temperature, low-power, digitally trimmable voltage reference (XTR75020). Thanks to a custom, 1-wire serial interface, the absolute precision and the temperature coefficient can be adjusted in order to obtain an accuracy better than 0.5% with a temperature coefficient bellow ±20ppm/°C. On-chip OTP memory for trimming of absolute value and temperature coefficient makes the circuit extremely accurate and almost insensitive to drifts over time and temperature. The circuit features a class AB output buffer able to source or sink up to 5mA and remains stable with any load capacitance up to 50μF. The XTR75020 has nine preset possible output voltages. The source and sink short circuit current always remains bellow 25mA. The quiescent current consumption is 300μA typical at 230°C while the standby current is, in all cases, under 20μA. Both devices are designed on a latch-up free silicon-on-insulator process.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (HITEN) ◽  
pp. 000251-000254
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
C Johnston ◽  
M Sousa ◽  
P Grant

Silicon on Insulator (SOI) device technology is fulfilling a niche requirement for electronics that functions satisfactorily at operating temperatures of >200°C. Most of the reliability data on the high temperature endurance of the devices is generated on the device itself with little attention being paid to the packaging technology around the device. Similarly, most of the reliability data generated on high temperature packaging technologies uses testpieces rather than real devices, which restricts any conclusions on long term electrical performance. This paper presents results of high temperature endurance studies on SOI devices combined with high temperature packaging technologies relevant to signal conditioning and processing functions for sensors in down-well and aero-engine applications. The endurance studies have been carried out for up to 7,056 hours at 250°C, with functioning devices being tested periodically at room temperature, 125°C and 250°C. Different die attach and wire bond options have been included in the study and the performance of multiplexers, transistors, bandgap voltage, oscillators and voltage regulators functional blocks have been characterised. This work formed part of the UPTEMP project which was set-up with support from UK Technology Strategy Board and the EPSRC. The project brought together a consortium of end-users (Sondex Wireline and Vibro-Meter UK), electronic module manufacturers (GE Aviation Systems Newmarket) and material suppliers (Gwent Electronic Materials and Thermastrate Ltd) with Oxford University-Materials Department, the leading UK high temperature electronics research centre.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (HiTEN) ◽  
pp. 000261-000265
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
K Doyle ◽  
N Tebbit ◽  
Y Jia ◽  
A Seshia

Distributed electronics for improving the accuracy of sensing in harsh high temperature environments, such as aero-engine and down-well is a growing field, where reduced power input requirements in cabling and batteries is viewed a key enabler for accelerating the adoption of high temperature electronics. Although batteries are available that can operate up to 200°C, they offer limited life at high temperatures and are bulky, increasing the costs of deployment and maintenance. Cabling also adds weight and takes up space in limited access applications. Energy harvesting in-situ offers the opportunity to make a step change in the design of high temperature electronics modules and in expanding their possible range of applications; for example, in sensor systems for combustor and turbine monitoring in aero-engines. This paper covers an assessment of MEMS vibration energy harvesting technology for high temperature sensing applications. MEMS devices based on the principle of parametric resonance, using AlN on Silicon have been designed and fabricated, along with sourcing of high temperature components for rectification, impedance matching and energy storage. The MEMS devices have been packaged into ceramic chip carriers and measured for energy output from a random vibration profile representative of an aerospace application. The measured output from the MEMS vibration energy harvester is capable of providing sufficient power to be of interest for autonomous sensing applications. This paper reports on the performance of the MEMS vibration energy harvesting devices and their associated circuitry at room temperature and at temperatures of up to 150°C. The challenges remaining to develop robust energy harvesting devices that could be applied in aero-engine, down-well and other high temperature applications are described. This work has been carried out under the Innovate UK supported project HI-VIBE, in a collaboration between GE Aviation Systems – Newmarket and the University of Cambridge.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 001818-001850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn G. Daves

The long-term trend in automobiles has been increasing electronics content over time. This trend is expected to continue and drives diverse functional, form factor, and reliability requirements. These requirements, in turn, are leading to changes in the package types selected and the performance specifications of the packages used for automotive electronics. Several examples will be given. This abstract covers the development of a distributed high temperature electronics demonstrator for integration with sensor elements to provide digital outputs that can be used by the FADEC (Full Authority Digital Electronic Control) system or the EHMS (Engine Health Monitoring System) on an aircraft engine. This distributed electronics demonstrator eliminates the need for the FADEC or EHMS to process the sensor signal, which will assist in making the overall system more accurate and efficient in processing only digital signals. This will offer weight savings in cables, harnesses and connector pin reduction. The design concept was to take the output from several on-engine sensors, carry out the signal conditioning, multiplexing, analogue to digital conversion and data transmission through a serial data bus. The unit has to meet the environmental requirements of DO-160 with the need to operate at 200°C, with short term operation at temperatures up to 250°C. The work undertaken has been to design an ASIC based on 1.0 μm Silicon on Insulator (SOI) device technology incorporating sensor signal conditioning electronics for sensors including resistance temperature probes, strain gauges, thermocouples, torque and frequency inputs. The ASIC contains analogue multiplexers, temperature stable voltage band-gap reference and bias circuits, ADC, BIST, core logic, DIN inputs and two parallel ARINC 429 serial databuses. The ASIC was tested and showed to be functional up to a maximum temperature of 275°C. The ASIC has been integrated with other high temperature components including voltage regulators, a crystal oscillator, precision resistors, silicon capacitors within a hermetic hybrid package. The hybrid circuit has been assembled within a stainless steel enclosure with high temperature connectors. The high temperature electronics demonstrator has been demonstrated operating from −40°C to +250°C. This work has been carried out under the EU Clean Sky HIGHTECS project with the Project being led by Turbomeca (Fr) and carried out by GE Aviation Systems (UK), GE Research – Munich (D) and Oxford University (UK).


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (HITEC) ◽  
pp. 000285-000290 ◽  
Author(s):  
S T Riches ◽  
C Warn ◽  
K Cannon ◽  
G Rickard ◽  
L Stoica ◽  
...  

This paper covers the development of a distributed high temperature electronics demonstrator for integration with sensor elements to provide digital outputs that can be used by the FADEC (Full Authority Digital Electronic Control) system or the EHMS (Engine Health Monitoring System) on an aircraft engine. This distributed electronics demonstrator eliminates the need for the FADEC or EHMS to process the sensor signal, which will assist in making the overall system more accurate and efficient in processing only digital signals. This will offer weight savings in cables, harnesses and connector pin reduction. The design concept was to take the output from several on-engine sensors, carry out the signal conditioning, multiplexing, analogue to digital conversion and data transmission through a serial data bus. The unit has to meet the environmental requirements of DO-160 with the need to operate at 200°C, with short term operation at temperatures up to 250°C. The work undertaken has been to design an ASIC based on 1.0μm Silicon on Insulator (SOI) device technology incorporating sensor signal conditioning electronics for sensors including resistance temperature probes, strain gauges, thermocouples, torque and frequency inputs. The ASIC contains analogue multiplexers, temperature stable voltage band-gap reference and bias circuits, ADC, BIST, core logic, DIN inputs and two parallel ARINC 429 serial databuses. The ASIC was tested and showed to be functional up to a maximum temperature of 275°C. The ASIC has been integrated with other high temperature components including voltage regulators, a crystal oscillator, precision resistors, silicon capacitors within a hermetic hybrid package. The hybrid circuit has been assembled within a stainless steel enclosure with high temperature connectors. The high temperature electronics demonstrator has been shown to operate from −40°C to +250°C. This work has been carried out under the EU Clean Sky HIGHTECS project with the Project being led by Turbomeca (Fr) and carried out by GE Aviation Systems (UK), GE Research – Munich (D) and Oxford University (UK).


Author(s):  
B. J. Hockey

Ceramics, such as Al2O3 and SiC have numerous current and potential uses in applications where high temperature strength, hardness, and wear resistance are required often in corrosive environments. These materials are, however, highly anisotropic and brittle, so that their mechanical behavior is often unpredictable. The further development of these materials will require a better understanding of the basic mechanisms controlling deformation, wear, and fracture.The purpose of this talk is to describe applications of TEM to the study of the deformation, wear, and fracture of Al2O3. Similar studies are currently being conducted on SiC and the techniques involved should be applicable to a wide range of hard, brittle materials.


Author(s):  
Gerald B. Feldewerth

In recent years an increasing emphasis has been placed on the study of high temperature intermetallic compounds for possible aerospace applications. One group of interest is the B2 aiuminides. This group of intermetaliics has a very high melting temperature, good high temperature, and excellent specific strength. These qualities make it a candidate for applications such as turbine engines. The B2 aiuminides exist over a wide range of compositions and also have a large solubility for third element substitutional additions, which may allow alloying additions to overcome their major drawback, their brittle nature.One B2 aluminide currently being studied is cobalt aluminide. Optical microscopy of CoAl alloys produced at the University of Missouri-Rolla showed a dramatic decrease in the grain size which affects the yield strength and flow stress of long range ordered alloys, and a change in the grain shape with the addition of 0.5 % boron.


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