Tekmos was a sponsor, presented a paper, and maintained a display table at the July 6-8 2015, International Conference and Exhibition on High Temperature Electronics Network at Churchill College in Cambridge, England. This annual conference, which alternates venues between the U.S. and England, is dedicated to high temperature electronics, ranging from the relatively cool 175ºC up to the 1200ºC range for Silicon Carbide. It also covers high temperature materials and passive components.
Analog circuits are often required to interface between the sensing of real world parameters, such as temperature and pressure, and the digital electronics that process and transmit the information. As temperatures are raised, the performance of this circuitry deteriorates. Standard processed parts are almost unusable above about 200ºC but the use of SOI (Silicon On Insulator) processing pushes the usable temperature much higher. The Tekmos paper this year was “The Design and Characterization of an 8-bit ADC for 250ºC Operation”. Lynn Reed presented the paper written by Lynn and Vema Reddy. The paper describes how the design of an existing 8-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) was optimized for the SOI process. It also presents the characterization of the ADC at various temperatures up to and above 250ºC and shows the effects of increased leakage on the ADC parameters of linearity, accuracy, and conversion speed. The paper shows that these critical parameters may be within a usable range, at least for an 8-bit ADC, to temperatures above those previously thought. The ideas and data presented in this paper point to additional studies and approaches that might be pursued. See the photo of Lynn being presented a plaque to commemorate his presentation. The paper is available Here.
Attending the presentations does a lot more than just give Tekmos an opportunity to present our research. Listening to the presentation of other papers has led to some consideration of additional techniques that Tekmos may pursue. It is important to know what others are doing. The question and answer period following each presentation gives more insight and understanding than can be obtained from reading the paper alone.
Tekmos also had a display table at the conference. While there were several such displays, ours stood out for a couple of reasons. First, because we were a sponsor, our booth was in a prominent place. Attendees had to walk past our display on the way to the dining area. Second, the table had a 48 inch monitor displaying many of the high temperature parts and capabilities of Tekmos. The central figure on the display features a silicon chip in an open ceramic package sitting in the middle of a flickering fire. The picture shows no damage to the part as it sits on burning logs. Around the part and fire, various Tekmos high temperature parts and depiction of potential uses were flashed. We were able to engage a number of attendees in useful conversation and believe this has allowed us to make inroads toward new business. See the photo of Richard, Lynn, Vema, and Bob.
Attendance at the conference was lower than the prior year when it was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A couple of factors probably led to this. For many potential U.S. attendees, the extra cost of travel to England was too expensive. Perhaps more importantly, there has been a downturn in the oil industry. While the high temperature electronics industry goes well beyond the oil industry, this industry has been the major source of revenue for pursuing getting electronic components to work above 125ºC.