Fraunhofer-Institut für Zuverlässigkeit und Mikrointegration IZM

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 184
  • Publication
    A high temperature SOI-CMOS chipset focusing sensor electronics for operating temperatures up to 300 °C
    ( 2021)
    Kappert, Holger
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    Braun, Sebastian
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    Kordas, Norbert
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    Kosfeld, Andre
    ;
    Utz, Alexander
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    Weber, Constanze
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    Rämer, Olaf
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    Spanier, Malte
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    Ihle, Martin
    ;
    Ziesche, Steffen
    ;
    Kokozinski, Rainer
    Sensors are key elements for capturing environmental properties and are increasingly important in the industry for the intelligent control of industrial processes. 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, because the extreme ambient conditions of industrial processes like high operating temperatures or strong mechanical load do not allow a reliable operation of sensitive electronic components. Fraunhofer is running the Lighthouse Project 'eHarsh' to overcome this hurdle. In the course of the project an integrated sensor readout electronic has been realized based on a set of three chips. A dedicated sensor frontend provides the analog sensor interface for resistive sensors typically arranged in a Wheatstone configuration. Furthermore, the chipset includes a 32-bit microcontroller for signal conditioning and sensor control. Finally, it comprises an interface chip including a bus transceiver and voltage regulators. The chipset has been realized in a high temperature 0.35 micron SOI-CMOS technology focusing operating temperatures up to 300 °C. The chipset is assembled on a multilayer ceramic LTCC-board using flip chip technology. The ceramic board consists of 4 layers with a total thickness of approx. 0.9 mm. The internal wiring is based on silver paste while external contacts were alternatively manufactured in silver (sintering/soldering) or in gold-alloys (wire bonding). As interconnection technology, silver sintering has been applied. It has already been shown that a significant increase in lifetime can be reached by using silver sintering for die attach applications. Using silver sintering for flip chip technology is a new and challenging approach. By adjusting the process parameter geared to the chipset design and the design of the ceramic board high quality flip chip interconnects can be generated.
  • Publication
    Smart sensor systems for extremely harsh environments
    ( 2021)
    Kappert, Holger
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    Schopferer, Sebastian
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    Döring, Ralf
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    Ziesche, Steffen
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    Olowinsky, Alexander
    ;
    Naumann, Falk
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    Jägle, M.
    ;
    Ostmann, Andreas
    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
    Recent Advances and Challenges of Nanomaterials-Based Hydrogen Sensors
    ( 2021)
    Wang, B.
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    Sun, L.
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    Schneider-Ramelow, M.
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    Lang, K.-D.
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    Ngo, H.-D.
    Safety is a crucial issue in hydrogen energy applications due to the unique properties of hydrogen. Accordingly, a suitable hydrogen sensor for leakage detection must have at least high sensitivity and selectivity, rapid response/recovery, low power consumption and stable functionality, which requires further improvements on the available hydrogen sensors. In recent years, the mature development of nanomaterials engineering technologies, which facilitate the synthesis and modification of various materials, has opened up many possibilities for improving hydrogen sensing performance. Current research of hydrogen detection sensors based on both conservational and innovative materials are introduced in this review. This work mainly focuses on three material categories, i.e., transition metals, metal oxide semiconductors, and graphene and its derivatives. Different hydrogen sensing mechanisms, such as resistive, capacitive, optical and surface acoustic wave-based sensors, are also presented, and their sensing performances and influence based on different nanostructures and material combinations are compared and discussed, respectively. This review is concluded with a brief outlook and future development trends.
  • Publication
    On the feasibility of fan-out wafer-level packaging of capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUT) by using inkjet-printed redistribution layers
    ( 2020)
    Roshanghias, A.
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    Dreissigacker, M.
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    Scherf, C.
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    Bretthauer, C.
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    Rauter, L.
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    Zikulnig, J.
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    Braun, T.
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    Becker, K.-F.
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    Rzepka, S.
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    Schneider-Ramelow, M.
    Fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) is an interesting platform for Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor packaging. Employing FOWLP for MEMS sensor packaging has some unique challenges, while some originate merely from the fabrication of redistribution layers (RDL). For instance, it is crucial to protect the delicate structures and fragile membranes during RDL formation. Thus, additive manufacturing (AM) for RDL formation seems to be an auspicious approach, as those challenges are conquered by principle. In this study, by exploiting the benefits of AM, RDLs for fan-out packaging of capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUT) were realized via drop-on-demand inkjet printing technology. The long-term reliability of the printed tracks was assessed via temperature cycling tests. The effects of multilayering and implementation of an insulating ramp on the reliability of the conductive tracks were identified. Packaging-induced stresses on CMUT dies were further investigated via laser-Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements and the corresponding resonance frequency shift. Conclusively, the bottlenecks of the inkjet-printed RDLs for FOWLP were discussed in detail.
  • Publication
  • Publication
    Development and characterization of a novel low-cost water-level and water quality monitoring sensor by using enhanced screen printing technology with PEDOT:PSS
    ( 2020)
    Wang, B.
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    Baeuscher, M.
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    Hu, X.
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    Woehrmann, M.
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    Becker, K.
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    Juergensen, N.
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    Hubl, M.
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    Mackowiak, P.
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    Schneider-Ramelow, M.
    ;
    Lang, K.-D.
    ;
    Ngo, H.-D.
    A novel capacitive sensor for measuring the water-level and monitoring the water quality has been developed in this work by using an enhanced screen printing technology. A commonly used environment-friendly conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) for conductive sensors has a limited conductivity due to its high sheet resistance. A physical treatment performed during the printing process has reduced the sheet resistance of printed PEDOT:PSS on polyethylenterephthalat (PET) substrate from 264.39 W/sq to 23.44 W/sq. The adhesion bonding force between printed PEDOT:PSS and the substrate PET is increased by using chemical treatment and tested using a newly designed adhesive peeling force test. Using the economical conductive ink PEDOT:PSS with this new physical treatment, our capacitive sensors are cost-efficient and have a sensitivity of up to 1.25 pF/mm.
  • Publication
    Fan-Out Wafer and Panel Level Packaging as Packaging Platform for Heterogeneous Integration
    ( 2019)
    Braun, T.
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    Becker, K.F.
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    Hoelck, O.
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    Voges, S.
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    Kahle, R.
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    Dreissigacker, M.
    ;
    Schneider-Ramelow, M.
    Fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) is one of the latest packaging trends in microelectronics. Besides technology developments towards heterogeneous integration, including multiple die packaging, passive component integration in packages and redistribution layers or package-on-package approaches, larger substrate formats are also targeted. Manufacturing is currently done on a wafer level of up to 12/300 mm and 330 mm respectively. For a higher productivity and, consequently, lower costs, larger form factors are introduced. Instead of following the wafer level roadmaps to 450 mm, panel level packaging (PLP) might be the next big step. Both technology approaches offer a lot of opportunities as high miniaturization and are well suited for heterogeneous integration. Hence, FOWLP and PLP are well suited for the packaging of a highly miniaturized energy harvester system consisting of a piezo-based harvester, a power management unit and a supercapacitor for energy storage. In this study, the FOWLP and PLP approaches have been chosen for an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) package development with integrated SMD (surface mount device) capacitors. The process developments and the successful overall proof of concept for the packaging approach have been done on a 200 mm wafer size. In a second step, the technology was scaled up to a 457 x 305 mm(2) panel size using the same materials, equipment and process flow, demonstrating the low cost and large area capabilities of the approach.
  • Publication
    Editorial for the Special Issue on MEMS Accelerometers
    ( 2019)
    Rasras, M.
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    Elfadel, I.M.
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    Ngo, H.D.
  • Publication
    Lead-free piezoelectrics - The environmental and regulatory issues
    ( 2018)
    Bell, A.J.
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    Deubzer, O.
    The search for lead-free alternatives to Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics has become a major topic in functional materials research due to legislation in many countries that restricts the use of lead alloys and compounds in commercial products. This article examines both the necessity for regulation and the impacts those regulations have created in the context of piezoelectric materials. It reviews the toxicity of lead, describes current legislation to control the spread of lead in the environment, and attempts to define the risks associated with the manufacture, use, and disposal of lead-based piezoelectric materials. The consequences of current legislation, both intended and unintended, are examined.
  • Publication
    Functional integration - structure-integrated wireless sensor technology targeting smart mechanical engineering applications
    ( 2018)
    Rülke, Steffen
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    Beyer, Volkhard
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    Zorn, Wolfgang
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    Meinig, Marco
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    Wecker, Julia
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    Reuter, Danny
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    Deicke, Frank
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    Clausner, André
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    Werner, Thomas
    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.