Silicon Carbide Microsystems For Harsh Environments

Silicon Carbide Microsystems for Harsh Environments reviews state-of-the-art Silicon Carbide (SiC) technologies that, when combined, create microsystems capable of surviving in harsh environments, technological readiness of the system components, key issues when integrating these components into systems, and other hurdles in harsh environment operation. The authors use the SiC technology platform suite the model platform for developing harsh environment microsystems and then detail the current status of the specific individual technologies (electronics, MEMS, packaging). Additionally, methods towards system level integration of components and key challenges are evaluated and discussed based on the current state of SiC materials processing and device technology. Issues such as temperature mismatch, process compatibility and temperature stability of individual components and how these issues manifest when building the system receive thorough investigation. The material covered not only reviews the state-of-the-art MEMS devices, provides a framework for the joining of electronics and MEMS along with packaging into usable harsh-environment-ready sensor modules.

This unique book describes the science and technology of silicon carbide (SiC) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), from the creation of SiC material to the formation of final system, through various expert contributions by several leading key figures in the field. The book contains high-quality up-to-date scientific information concerning SiC MEMS for harsh environments summarized concisely for students, academics, engineers and researchers in the field of SiC MEMS.This is the only book that addresses in a comprehensive manner the main advantages of SiC as a MEMS material for applications in high temperature and harsh environments, as well as approaches to the relevant technologies, with a view progressing towards the final product.

Since the production of the first commercially available blue LED in the late 1980s, silicon carbide technology has grown into a billion-dollar industry world-wide in the area of solid-state lighting and power electronics. With this in mind we organized this book to bring to the attention of those well versed in SiC technology some new developments in the field with a particular emphasis on particularly promising technologies such as SiC-based solar cells and optoelectronics. We have balanced this with the more traditional subjects such as power electronics and some new developments in the improvement of the MOS system for SiC MOSFETS. Given the importance of advanced microsystems and sensors based on SiC, we also included a review on 3C-SiC for both microsystem and electronic applications.

This book describes for readers various technical outcomes from the EU-project IoSense. The authors discuss sensor integration, including LEDs, dust sensors, LIDAR for automotive driving and 8 more, demonstrating their use in simulations for the design and fabrication of sensor systems. Readers will benefit from the coverage of topics such as sensor technologies for both discrete and integrated innovative sensor devices, suitable for high volume production, electrical, mechanical, security and software resources for integration of sensor system components into IoT systems and IoT-enabling systems, and IoT sensor system reliability. Describes from component to system level simulation, how to use the available simulation techniques for reaching a proper design with good performance; Explains how to use simulation techniques such as Finite Elements, Multi-body, Dynamic, stochastics and many more in the virtual design of sensor systems; Demonstrates the integration of several sensor solutions (thermal, dust, occupancy, distance, awareness and more) into large-scale system solutions in several industrial domains (Lighting, automotive, transport and more); Includes state-of-the-art simulation techniques, both multi-scale and multi-physics, for use in the electronic industry.

This book addresses the piezoresistance in p-type 3C-SiC, which it investigates using experimental characterization and theoretical analysis. The gauge factor, the piezoresistive coefficients in two-terminal and four-terminal resistors, the comparison between single crystalline and nanocrystalline SiC, along with the temperature dependence of the piezoresistive effect in p-type 3C-SiC are also discussed. Silicon carbide (SiC) is an excellent material for electronic devices operating at high temperatures, thanks to its large energy band gap, superior mechanical properties and extreme chemical inertness. Among the numerous polytypes of SiC, the cubic single crystal, which is also well known as 3C-SiC, is the most promising platform for microelectromechanical (MEMS) applications, as it can be epitaxially grown on an Si substrate with diameters of up to several hundred millimeters. This feature makes 3C-SiC compatible with the conventional Si-based micro/nano processing and also cuts down the cost of SiC wafers. The investigation into the piezoresistive effect in 3C-SiC is of significant interest for the development of mechanical transducers such as pressure sensors and strain sensors used for controlling combustion and deep well drilling. Although a number of studies have focused on the piezoresistive effect in n-type 3C-SiC, 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC, comparatively little attention has been paid to piezoresistance in p-type 3C-SiC. In addition, the book investigates the piezoresistive effect of top-down fabricated SiC nanowires, revealing a high degree of sensitivity in nanowires employing an innovative nano strain-amplifier. The large gauge factors of the p-type 3C-SiC at both room temperature and high temperatures found here indicate that this polytype could be suitable for the development of mechanical sensing devices operating in harsh environments with high temperatures.

Microsystems are an important success factor in the automobile industry. In order to fulfil the customers requests for safety convenience and vehicle economy, and to satisfy environmental requirements, microsystems are becoming indispensable. Thus a large number of microsystem applications came into the discussion. Some examples are sensors for engine management, exhaust and air quality control, immobilizers, ABS, anti skid (ASC) and vehicle dynamics control (VDC), smart airbag systems and other safety applications as obstacle detection and vision enhancement. With the international conference AMAA '98, VDI/VDE-IT provides a platform for the discussion of all MST relevant components for automotive applications. The conference proceedings gather the papers by authors from automobile suppliers and manufacturers.