Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    Sensor Systems for Extremely Harsh Environments
    Sensors are key elements for capturing environmental properties and are today indispensable in the industry for monitoring and control of industrial processes. Many applications are demanding for highly integrated intelligent sensors to meet the requirements on safety, clean and energy efficient operation or to gain process information in the context of industry 4.0. While in many everyday objects highly integrated sensor systems are already state of the art, the situation in an industrial environment is clearly different. Frequently the use of sensor systems is impossible, due to the fact that the extreme ambient conditions of industrial processes like high operating temperatures or strong mechanical loads do not allow a reliable operation of sensitive electronic components. Eight Fraunhofer Institutes have bundled their competencies and have run the Fraunhofer Lighthouse Project ‘eHarsh’ to overcome this situation. The project goal was to realize sensor systems for extremely harsh environments, whereby sensor systems are not only pure sensor elements, rather containing one or multiple sensor elements and integrated readout electronics. Various technologies which are necessary for the realization of such sensor systems have been identified, developed and finally bundled in a technology platform. These technologies are e. g. MEMS and ceramic based sensors, SOI-CMOS based integrated electronics, board assembly and laser based joining technologies. All these developments have been accompanied by comprehensive tests, material characterization and reliability simulations. Based on the platform a pressure sensor for turbine applications has been realized to prove the performance of the eHarsh technology platform.
  • Publication
    Sensor Systems for Extremely Harsh Environments
    Sensors are key elements for capturing environmental properties and are today indispensable in the industry for monitoring and control of industrial processes. Many applications are demanding for highly integrated intelligent sensors to meet the requirements on safety, clean, and energy-efficient operation, or to gain process information in the context of industry 4.0. While in many everyday objects highly integrated sensor systems are already state of the art, the situation in an industrial environment is clearly different. Frequently, the use of sensor systems is impossible due to the fact that the extreme ambient conditions of industrial processes like high operating temperatures or strong mechanical loads do not allow a reliable operation of sensitive electronic components. Eight Fraunhofer Institutes have bundled their competencies and have run the Fraunhofer Lighthouse Project “eHarsh” to overcome this situation. The project goal was to realize sensor systems for extremely harsh environments, whereby sensor systems are more than pure sensors, rather these are containing one or multiple sensing elements and integrated readout electronics. Various technologies, which are necessary for the realization of such sensor systems, have been identified, developed, and finally bundled in a technology platform. These technologies are, e.g., MEMS and ceramic-based sensors, SOI-CMOS-based integrated electronics, board assembly and laser-based joining technologies. All these developments have been accompanied by comprehensive tests, material characterization, and reliability simulations. Based on the platform, a pressure sensor for turbine applications has been realized to prove the performance of the eHarsh technology platform.
  • Publication
    Sensor Systems for Extremely Harsh Environments
    Sensors are key elements for the detection of environmental properties and are indispensable in industrial applications for process monitoring and intelligent control of processes. While highly integrated sensor systems are already state -of-theart in many everyday areas, the situation in an industrial environment is significantly different. The use of sensor systems is often not possible because the extreme environmental conditions of industrial processes such as high operating temperatures or strong mechanical loads do not allow the reliable operation of sensitive electronic components. As part of the Fraunhofer Lighthouse project eHarsh, eight institutes have bundled their competencies and created a technology platform as a basis for the development of sensor systems for extremely harsh environments.
  • Publication
    Smart sensor systems for extremely harsh environments
    Sensors systems are key elements for capturing environmental properties and are increasingly important in industry 4.0 for the intelligent control of processes. However, under harsh operating conditions like high temperatures, high mechanic load or aggressive environments, standard electronics cannot be used. Eight Fraunhofer institutes have therefore bundled their competencies in sensors, microelectronics, assembly, board design, laser applications and reliability analysis to establish a technology platform for sensor systems working under extreme conditions.
  • Publication
    Functional integration - structure-integrated wireless sensor technology targeting smart mechanical engineering applications
    Functional integration on the micro/nano scales enables smart functionalities in mechanical engineering systems. Here, exemplarily shown for a ball screw drive, a structure-integrated wireless sensor technology is implemented into a manufacturing system for advanced process control and status monitoring - even at machine components being not yet accessible or difficult to access. This includes also a miniaturized, networked and energy-efficient information and communication technology (ICT) integrated into the machine.
  • Publication
    HOT-300 - a multidisciplinary technology approach targeting microelectronic systems at 300 °C operating temperature
    Several applications in the fields of industrial sensors and power electronics are creating a demand for high operating temperature of 300 °C or even higher. Due to the increased temperature range new potential defect risks and material interactions have to be considered. As a consequence, innovation in semiconductor, devices and packaging technologies has to be accompanied by dedicated research of the reliability properties. Therefore various investigations on realizing high temperature capable electronic systems have shown that a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to achieve highly reliable solutions. In the course of the multi-institute Fraunhofer internal research program HOT-300 several aspects of microelectronic systems running up to 300 °C have been investigated like SOI-CMOS technology and circuits, silicon capacitor devices, a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT), ceramic substrates and different packaging and assembly techniques. A ceramic molded package has been developed. Die attach on different leadframe alloys were investigated using silver sintering and transient liquid phase bonding (TLPB). Copper and gold wire bonding was studied and used to connect the chips with the package terminals. Investigations in flip chip technology were performed using Au/Sn and Cu/Sn solder bumps for transient liquid phase bonding. High operating temperatures result in new temperature driven mechanisms of degradation and material interactions. It is quite possible that the thermomechanical reliability is a limiting factor for the technology to be developed. Therefore investigations on material diagnostics, reliability testing and modeling have been included in the project, complementing the technology developments.
  • Publication
    Fraunhofer cluster 3D integration - key to a holistic technology and service approach
    ( 2014)
    Wolf, Jürgen M.
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    Zschech, Ehrenfried
    3D integration - as a key technology - is of high significance for the realization of future innovative products. With its outstanding competencies in the fields of technology, design and reliability, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft offers an excellent base and prerequisite for the market-oriented implementation of 3D integration for the industry in Germany, Europe and worldwide. To meet the complexity of this technological approach, the Fraunhofer institutes IZM, ENAS, IIS-EAS, IKTS cluster their competencies in a network to cover a broad spectrum of topics related to 3D integration. The complex correlation of the different aspects of 3D integration and the synergies that are met by the Fraunhofer cluster enable a strong positioning as a competent and broad project, technology and service partner.