Solid state devices are being used increasingly to provide the means for computerised control and sensing in high temperature environments. They are particularly useful, since they can be fully integrated with all of the necessary electronics incorporated on a single chip. The ability of such on-chip electronics to survive high temperature operating conditions becomes increasingly important as they are placed in deep wells or in other harsh environments. Substantial improvements in both performance and cost of complex instrumentation systems that incorporate electronic controls and sensors could be obtained if their circuitry operated reliably at elevated temperatures.

Silicon based semiconductors have traditionally been specified to operate only up to 125°C. Applications for solid state devices with signal processing that operate in oil wells require circuitry that can operate at higher temperatures (e.g. 200°C). Materials used today for design of semiconductor devices that can withstand these conditions include standard CMOS/BiCMOS (<200°C), epi-CMOS (<250°C) SOI (<300°C), GaAs (<350°C), SiC (<650°C) and Diamond (<1000°C).
 
The Department is involved in designing high temperature electronics systems based on CMOS/BiCMOS high temperature ASICs (HOTASIC^â, HTASIC^â) for oil and process industry. The ASICs include such functions as front-end measurement systems for pressure and temperature, voltage to frequency converters, Sigma Delta modulators, and capacitive measurement systems.
 
For more information contact: Ovidiu Vermesan, Joar Martin Østby