A Resistive GaN-HEMT Mixer for a Cable Modem Operable up to 250°C for Downhole Communications

It is necessary for the oil and gas industry to drill deeper due to decrease of easily accessible natural reserves. Temperatures of deep wells can exceed 210°C, and conventional cooling and heat extraction techniques are impractical in such a harsh environment. Reliable electronic designs that can sustain high temperature become necessary. This article presents a high-temperature passive radio frequency (RF) mixer for downhole communications. The proposed mixer is designed to upconvert or downconvert the incoming signal with low conversion loss (CL), high linearity, and reliable operation at the ambient temperature up to 250°C. GaN is a wide-bandgap technology that can provide a reliable operation at high ambient temperatures, and the proposed mixer adopts a commercial GaN high-electron-mobility transistor. Measurement results indicate that the proposed mixer achieves a CL of 7.1 dB at local oscillator (LO) power of 2.5 dBm for the downconversion from 230–253 to 97.5 MHz at 250°C and the input P1dB compression point lies at 5 dBm. The designed mixer also achieves 24.5 dB RF-to-intermediate frequency (IF) isolation and 28 dB LO-to-IF isolation at 250°C. The power dissipation of the mixer is virtually zero.

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A High Temperature Passive GaN-HEMT Mixer for Downhole Communications

Additional Conferences (Device Packaging HiTEC HiTEN & CICMT) ◽

10.4071/2016-hitec-272 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 (HiTEC) ◽

pp. 000272-000277 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jebreel M. Salem ◽

Dong Sam Ha

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Wide Band ◽

High Electron Mobility Transistor ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Heat Extraction ◽

High Electron ◽

Reliable Operation ◽

Gas Industry ◽

Gap Technology

Abstract Declining reserves of easily accessible natural resources have motivated the oil and gas industry to drill deeper. Temperatures in these hostile wells can exceed 210 °C. Cooling and conventional heat extraction techniques are impractical in such a harsh environment. Reliable electronic designs that can sustain high temperature become necessary. This paper presents a high temperature passive RF mixer that is suited for downhole communications. The proposed mixer is designed to upconvert or downconvert the incoming signal with a low conversion loss (CL) and high linearity and reliable operation at temperature up to 250 °C. Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a wide band gap technology that can provide a reliable operation at the elevated ambient temperature, and the proposed mixer adopts a commercial GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. Measurement results indicate that the proposed mixer achieves CL of 6.5 dB at LO power of 2.5 dBm for the downconversion from 230–253 MHz to 97.5 MHz at 250 °C and input P1dB compression point lies at 5 dBm. The power dissipation of the mixer is virtually zero.

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Design of High Temperature Combline Band-pass Filters for Downhole Communications

Additional Conferences (Device Packaging HiTEC HiTEN & CICMT) ◽

10.4071/2016-hitec-312 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 (HiTEC) ◽

pp. 000312-000317 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mohammed Ehteshamuddin ◽

Jebreel M. Salem ◽

Dong Sam Ha

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Insertion Loss ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Heat Extraction ◽

Simple Method ◽

Gas Industry ◽

Rf Filter ◽

Stable Performance ◽

Band Pass

Abstract The decline of easily accessible reserves pushes the oil and gas industry to drill deeper to explore previously untapped wells. Temperatures in these wells can exceed 210 °C. Cooling and conventional heat extraction techniques are impractical in such a harsh environment. Reliable electronic designs that can sustain high temperature become necessary. This paper presents RF and IF microstrip combline band-pass filters for downhole communications, which can reliably operate up to 250 °C. Both filters are prototyped on a Rogers RO4003C substrate. Measured results at 250 °C show that the RF and IF filters have insertion losses of 4.53 dB and 3.45 dB, respectively. Both filters have stable performance at high temperatures. The maximum insertion loss variation with temperature for the RF filter is 1.88 dB, and bandwidth variation is 1.3 MHz. The maximum insertion loss variation with temperature for the IF filter is 1.48 dB, and bandwidth variation is 0.4 MHz. Return loss for the RF filter is more than 12 dB, and for the IF filter more than 10 dB in the passband. This paper also describes a simple method to find spacing between coupled symmetrical microstrip lines of a combline filter.

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A G-band cryogenic MMIC heterodyne receiver module for astronomical applications

International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies ◽

10.1017/s1759078712000189 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 283-289 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Patricia Voll ◽

Lorene Samoska ◽

Sarah Church ◽

Judy M. Lau ◽

Matthew Sieth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Integrated Circuit ◽

Second Harmonic ◽

Block Design ◽

Noise Temperature ◽

High Electron Mobility Transistor ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Local Oscillator ◽

High Electron ◽

Heterodyne Receiver ◽

Receiver Module

We report cryogenic noise temperature and gain measurements of a prototype heterodyne receiver module designed to operate in the atmospheric window centered on 150 GHz. The module utilizes monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifiers, a second harmonic mixer, and bandpass filters. Swept local oscillator (LO) measurements show an average gain of 22 dB and an average noise temperature of 87 K over a 40 GHz band from 140 to 180 GHz when the module is cooled to 22 K. A spot noise temperature of 58 K was measured at 166 GHz and is a record for cryogenic noise from HEMT amplifiers at this frequency. Intermediate frequency (IF) sweep measurements show a 20 GHz IF band with less than 94 K receiver noise temperature for a fixed LO of 83 GHz. The compact housing features a split-block design that facilitates quick assembly and a condensed arrangement of the MMIC components and bias circuitry. DC feedthroughs and nano-miniature connectors also contribute to the compact design, so that the dimensions of the moduleare approximately 2.5 cm per side.

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InGaN-channel high-electron-mobility transistor with enhanced linearity and high-temperature performance

Applied Physics Express ◽

10.7567/apex.11.094101 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 094101 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Yachao Zhang ◽

Tao Zhang ◽

Hong Zhou ◽

Yao Li ◽

Shengrui Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Electron Mobility ◽

High Electron Mobility Transistor ◽

High Electron ◽

High Electron Mobility ◽

Temperature Performance

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POL and LDO for Harsh Environment Applications

Additional Conferences (Device Packaging HiTEC HiTEN & CICMT) ◽

10.4071/hiten-mp14 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 (HITEN) ◽

pp. 000075-000081

Author(s):

Ramesh Khanna ◽

Srinivasan Venkataraman

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

High Reliability ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Low Noise ◽

Harsh Environment ◽

Buck Converters ◽

Gas Industry ◽

Component Selection

Harsh Environment approved components/ designs require high reliability as well as availability of power to meet their system needs. The paper will explore the various design constrains imposed on the high temperature designs. Down hole oil and gas industry requires high reliability components that can withstand high temperature. Discrete component selection, packaging and constrains imposed by various specification requirements to meet harsh environment approval are critical aspect of high-temp designs. High temperature PCB material, PCB layout techniques, trace characteristics are an important aspect of high-temperature PCB design and will be explored in the article. Buck Converters are the basic building blocks, but in order to meet system requirements to power FPGA's where low output voltage and high currents are required. Converter must be able to provide wider step down ratios with high transient response so buck converters are used. The paper with explore the various features of a buck-based POL converter design. Low noise forces the need for Low-dropout (LDO) Regulators that can operate at high Temperatures up to 210°C. This paper will address the power requirements to meet system needs.

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Environmentally Hardening IC Die Previously Assembled in Plastic Packages through Die Removal, Bond Pad Replating and Reassembly into Hermetic Packages

Additional Conferences (Device Packaging HiTEC HiTEN & CICMT) ◽

10.4071/2380-4491-2018-hiten-000039 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 (HiTEC) ◽

pp. 000039-000044

Author(s):

Charlie Beebout ◽

Erick M. Spory

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Integrated Circuits ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Elevated Temperatures ◽

Electroless Nickel ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Market Demand ◽

Global Circuit ◽

Bond Wires ◽

Bond Pads

ABSTRACT Many integrated circuits (ICs) will operate well above their maximum rated temperature of +70°C or +125°C, but are often not packaged appropriately to reliably endure temperatures above +150C. Specifically, the original gold or copper bonds on the aluminum die bond pads are prone to Kirkendall or Horsting voiding, particularly at temperatures greater than +150°C. Also the mold compounds used in plastic packaging for IC assembly can degrade at these elevated temperatures. In some cases, commercial demand for higher temperature reliability can justify a separate offering of ICs assembled in hermetic, ceramic packages from the original component manufacturer (OCM). However, in most cases, the market demand is deemed insufficient. Global Circuit Innovations (GCI) has developed a high-yielding process, which can remove a semiconductor die (i.e., computer chip) from a plastic package, remove the original bond wires and/or ball bonds, plate the aluminum die bond pads with Electroless Nickel, Electroless Palladium, and Immersion Gold (ENEPIG), and then reassemble the now improved semiconductor die into a hermetic, ceramic package. Device Extraction, ENEPIG die bond pad plating and Repackaging (DEER) provides an improved die bond pad surface such that works well with either gold or aluminum bond wires in applications up to +250°C without mechanical or electrical connectivity degradation. GCI routinely exposes sample devices to +250°C bakes with 100% post bake yields so as to continuously ensure that any device processed with the DEER technology will reliably perform in high-temperature environments. Although the oil and gas industry has already expressed significant interest in the DEER process, with excellent lifetest and production application results demonstrating dramatically increased component lifetimes at elevated temperatures, this technology can also be leveraged for any application exposing ICs to harsh environments. Not only is the high-temperature reliability dramatically increased, but also the new hermetic, ceramic package protects the IC from a variety of elements and environments (i.e., corrosives and moisture).

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Importance of ambient cure for high-temperature coatings

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj19087 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 654

Author(s):

Graeme Ross

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Gas Industry ◽

Final Project ◽

Test Methodology ◽

Silicone Coatings ◽

Increasing Process ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Project Location

Due to increasing demand for energy around the world, the prevalence of global megaprojects within the oil and gas industry is increasing. Process pipes, valves and vessels may be manufactured and coated in China or Korea, where labour costs are comparatively low, before being transported to the final project location, such as Western Australia. During the transport and fabrication phase, coated steelwork may spend months or even years exposed to harsh offshore or coastal environments before going into service. This means coatings must be able to provide protection throughout an extensive construction phase, in addition to the in-service lifetime of the steel. This paper examines the demands on high temperature performance coatings both before and once in service. Test methodology and exposure data are reviewed with a focus on how modern aluminium pigmented silicone coatings provide a solution to the corrosion challenges faced in global megaprojects.

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