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SET for Britain 2012 PHANTASY* Platinum Hybrid Automotive Nano-Technology Alternative Sensing for You (and your children) Emission footprint reduction through advanced exhaust gas temperature sensing photo-developed add-on national high temp centre focus industry + academy • Challenging ambient, 750 o C – 1000 o C, thermal and mechanical shock, automotive application of thick (screen-print) and thin (HDP atomization) film technology. • closed and open housing product applications, fully compatible with established manufacturing technology. • 30μm, 20 μm and 10 μm Pt and other layers obtained • robust, scalable process, suitable for mass-production • synergetic with other fine-structure sensor development • Renault - Nissan European HQ on site, est. 1991, 800 staff • UK’s top student to staff ratio; wholly postgraduate • Internationally recognized research, 85%, 15% world-leading1. 1 RAE UK, 2008 (opposite for National Surface Science and Engineering Centre, on par with Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial). strategy timeline 2011-2014 • thick film HTCC meander element, functional at >1000 o C, patented. • excellent thermal shock resistance due to design. • High-purity micro-nano alumina paste sinter-able at 1350 o C (pilot technology development worldwide, vastly superior to conventional glass sealing) • Process R&R supplier production customer concept Sources of Research Funding Surface Science and Engineering Centre drivers hybrid element main process steps • Further pollution control Enable OEMs to meet forthcoming CO 2 and other emission targets. • Manufacturing optimisation Improve quality and reduce cost. • Synergy Innovative thick and thin film technology relevant to other functional layer research topics: fuel cell, photovoltaic. • dense (refraction ellipsometric index close to bulk), nano-crystalline high-purity alumina layer obtained • very homogeneous layer thickness, no target racetrack • TCR predominantly a function of controllable ppm impurities, less by grain size. Capability for Ro and TCR approaching 3.4ppm 6 σ. HDP sputtering, differentiators The World Depends on Sensors and Controls Petar Mitsev [email protected] J R Nicholls FREng Cranfield University Bedfordshire MK43 0AL thick film technology • substrate plasma-cleaning, offering enhanced adhesion. • remotely generated plasma; independent control of all parameters, including voltage and current. • stable high rate reactive process - virtual elimination of target poisoning; 95% Pt utilization • multilayer device capability in-situ • nine main steps versus state-of-the-art 46 total. • increased automation, quality and functionality, optimized cost. • compressive reactive thermal Pt – Al – Pt bonding, patented. hybrid platinum sensing technology A novel, mass-produced sensing element, capable of operating reliably in the harsh automotive combustion environment, comprising a broad spectrum of high temperatures, severe shocks and a chemically aggressive ambient, has been designed and tested. The sensor system has been installed in various production cars, where it has been used widely over the past decade. Further optimisation, miniaturisation and performance enhancements are underway to match performance demands to the growing advances in engine performance. This project represents a beyond the state-of-the-art effort in design and industrializing such a sensing solution. At this present moment, following 2.5 years of research work, partially performed at Cranfield University and partially within industry as part of an industrially sponsored PhD programme, new prototypes have been produced that outperform sensors, now installed in cars. These are based on a novel hybrid approach using thick- and thin- film technology; superior nano-cement encapsulation technology and a new, high-density plasma, reactive sputtering method, which has been successfully applied to produce the sensing element. An on-going, forward looking, Cranfield University - Sensata Technologies Inc joint, global project. It is currently in its third year from conception and is on track to meet its goals in mass production, effective from 2014, which will benefit from the best scientific and industrial practices in advanced materials, atomic modelling (HD plasma reactive sputtering), nanotechnology (sol-gel, lattice defect introduction sintering), miniaturization (novel patterning photoprocesses) and automation ( 6σ lean, simplified production arrangements ) towards the needs of the real hybrid car of tomorrow. synopsis • thin film adherent Pt sensing elements • high TCR, 500nm layer • 100% lab scale yield *PHANTASY - the free play of creative imagination, Merriam Webster 2012 thin film technology
