Search

We present gas sensor devices based on nanocrystalline SnO 2 films, which are integrated on CMOS fabricated micro-hotplate (μhp) chips. Bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) such as PdAu, PtAu, and PdPt have been synthesized for optimizing the sensing performance of these sensors. We demonstrate that proper functionalization with PdAu-NPs leads to a strongly improved sensitivity to the toxic gas carbon monoxide while the cross sensitivity to humidity and carbon dioxide is almost completely suppressed, which is of high importance for real life environmental conditions. We also present μhp chips employing Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) technology, which are capable for flexible 3D-integration of different types of gas sensors to a multi-parameter nanosensor system. Such CMOS integrated systems are promising candidates for realizing smart sensor devices for consumer market applications.

We present H 2 S gas sensor devices based on tungsten oxide nanowire networks, which are integrated on CMOS fabricated microhotplate chips. Such CMOS integrated systems are promising candidates for realizing smart sensor devices for consumer market applications. The CMOS tungsten oxide gas sensors were prepared by the deposition of nanowire networks onto interdigitated electrodes on CMOS microhotplates via drop-coating. Drop-coating of a nanowire suspension represents a simple and cost-effective technique for mass production of tungsten oxide nanowire network gas sensors. Utilizing this tungsten oxide nanowire network as gas sensing material we could obtain extraordinary sensitivity to H 2 S: concentrations down to 100 ppb have been detected at different humidity levels. An optimum operating temperature could be determined, where the different humidity levels do not affect the sensor performance.

Integration of low voltage analog and logic circuits as well as high-voltage (HV) devices for operation at greater than 5 V enables Smart Power ICs used in almost any system that contains electronics. HVCMOS (High-Voltage CMOS) technologies offer much lower process cost, if compared to BCD technologies, they enable multiple HV levels on a single chip, and need less effort when scaling to smaller CMOS technology nodes or when integrating embedded non-volatile memory. In this work we propose a new 0.35 µm HVCMOS technology that can overcome the previous limitations in drive currents. It can match the low HV chip sizes (Rdson) of typical BCD processes while maintaining the low process complexity with only 2 mask level adders on top of CMOS. We also introduce a figure of merit (FOM) for comparing HV technologies. Key elements of making this newly proposed 0.35 µm HVCMOS so competitive to BCD technologies are discussed and a device lifetime of more than 10 years, operating temperatures of 150 °C and ESD robustness of 4 kV HBM and higher, as well as the integration of a highly robust embedded EEPROM/Flash technology is shown. We also provide first verification results of the scalability of the proposed 0.35 µm HVCMOS technology to 0.18 µm and beyond as well as to currents of up to 8 A.

We present gas sensor devices based on ultrathin SnO2 films, which are integrated on CMOS fabricated micro- hotplate (µhp) chips. Bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) such as PdAu, PtAu, and PdPt have been synthesized for optimizing the sensing performance of these sensors. We demonstrate that functionalization of nanocrystalline SnO2 gas sensing films with PdAu-NPs leads to a strongly improved sensitivity to the toxic gas carbon monoxide (CO) while the cross sensitivity to humidity is almost completely suppressed. We conclude that specific functionalization of CMOS integrated SnO2 thin film gas sensors with different types of NPs is a powerful strategy towards sensor arrays capable for distinguishing several target gases. Such CMOS integrated arrays are highly promising candidates for realizing smart multi-parameter sensing devices for the consumer market.

We present performance results of SnO 2 and CuO nanowire gas sensor devices, where single and multi-nanowire device configurations have been employed in order to optimize sensor design. In particular the response to the target gases CO, H 2 , and H 2 S has been measured in dry and humid air; both the SnO 2 and CuO nanowire sensors are able to detect CO in the low ppm concentration range, which is important for environmental monitoring. The CuO multi-nanowire devices show an extraordinary high response to H 2 S with sensitivity in the low ppb concentration. We present our developments of CMOS technology based micro-hotplates, which are employed as platform for gas sensitive thin films and nanowires. Potential heterogeneous integration of nanowires on the micro-hotplate chips as well as an approach towards gas sensor arrays is discussed. We conclude that CMOS integrated multi-nanowire gas sensors are highly promising candidates for the practical realization of multi-parameter sensor devices for indoor and outdoor environmental monitoring.

For competitive high-voltage (HV) integrated circuit (IC) products an excellent trade-off between specific on-resistance Ron,sp and breakdown voltage BV of a HV lateral DMOS (LDMOS) transistor, while keeping low fabrication cost, is mandatory. This paper presents a review of the HVIC technology trend with special emphasis on cost effective 0.35 μm and 0.18 μm HV-CMOS technologies. Through optimized process setup and device engineering a very competitive Ron,sp-BV trade-off of a HV LDMOS transistor without degrading the low-voltage (LV) CMOS performance has been achieved. A 0.35μm HV-CMOS technology with LDMOS transistor operating voltages from 20V to 120V is reported. Only two mask level adders on top of standard CMOS are required to provide the full set of 3.3V, 5V and 20V-120V HV devices. This is the result of taking advantage of predictive TCAD which enables early optimization of device layouts and dopant concentrations. In addition, HV and LV process integration issues of a 0.18 μm HV-CMOS technology, which play a key role to efficiently implement a HV module into a deep submicron CMOS process, are described. Key issues of p-channel LDMOS transistors are reviewed. The hot-carrier (HC) behaviour of a 50 V p-channel LDMOS transistor is presented too.

A highly reliable and scalable non-volatile embedded memory cell and technology is described. This embedded technology operates at very low power, and has minimal impact on the analog and digital components used in the SoC design. The main objective of this technology development was to achieve high reliability and high data retention for automotive applications over the extended temperature range from -40/spl deg/ to 150/spl deg/ C. A wider range, from -55/spl deg/ to 180/spl deg/ C, has been achieved in manufacturing. Full cell, and memory module functionality, and data retention of over 30 years for the automotive temperature range have been achieved. Write cycling of over 200K writes (tested up to 180/spl deg/C) over the design temperature range has also been achieved. The memory cell and the technology are optimized to operate at very low voltage and consume very low power. The applications requiring high data retention (>50 years), over the industrial or automotive temperature range can be well served with this technology. The data confirms that this technology is a highly manufacturability and a reliable technology for the embedded non-volatile memory applications. The data presented is based on a 0.35/spl mu/m CMOS technology implementation.

This paper presents one of the first fully functional FlexRay transceivers manufactured in a 0.35 mum CMOS high-voltage technology, which provides high voltage MOS devices together with standard 3.3 V gates. The circuit operates as interface between a generic controller and the copper wire FlexRay physical bus, to be used in fault tolerant and fail safe applications. In particular, the transceiver meets the operating requirements of the automotive environment. The design was validated by means of simulations and experimental measurements on fabricated prototypes