- Date:
- 2002-2004
- Themes:
- Sensor Technology, Intelligent Control, Communications, Environmental Monitoring
To make new autonomous sub-glacial probes for glaciology research. This involves the design of small probes containing sensors and transponders which will be placed inside and under a glacier. They will be monitored over a year by a base station, which will collect the measurements, measure the probe positions and transmit data to a web server in the UK. The projects also involves the Geography Department.
Primary investigators
- Kirk Martinez
- Dr J.K. Hart
Secondary investigator
Associated research group
- Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group
- Date:
- 2001-2004
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- EU
In electricity generation, online monitoring of critical components is key to making advances. Uninterrupted operation can bring about big reductions in operating costs and is vital to the implementation of modern asset management principles. The resulting energy cost reductions in Europe amount to multi-milliopn Euro savings, with similar potential within the petrochemical and other industries.
This project's main objective is to produce a multi-channel, passive, batteryless, remote monitoring system operating at 600C. The sensors will be based on surface acoustic wave devices on a special piezoelectric substrate material.
Primary investigator
Secondary investigator
- mnbh01r
Partners
- Iberdrola Generacion, Spain
- Electricite de France
- Corus
- SenTec Electronik GmbH
- Ilmenau Technical University, Germany
- AVL GmbH, Austria
- SJB Engineering Ltd
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2001-2003
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- EPSRC (GR/R35858/01)
The project is a multi-disciplinary venture to design and manufacture novel instrumentation for monitoring oil/gas/water separation processes (up to 150 bar) and temperatures up to 150C. Multi-modal distributed sensors immune to sludge deposition will provide measurements in the hostile multi-phase environment. The instrument will be tested in offshore separators and will have potential for use down-hole.
Conventional sensor materials are not suitable for use at the high temperatures and pressures encountered down-hole. The ideal candidates are thick-film conductors and piezoelectrics implemented on ceramic substrates. They will combine outstanding mechanical and electrical properties, which will be thoroughly tested for robustness and finctionality in this novel application. To obtain a reliable and accurate picture of phase distribution, two measurement modalities will be required: electrical impedance and ultrasonic. This multi-modal measurement will be modelled and then tested experimentally. Sensor surfaces will be kept free from deposits by using active control mechanisms.
Primary investigators
- Neil White
- Prof. Tom Dyakowski, UMIST
- Dr Jack Hale, Newcastle University
- Dr Artur Jaworski, Manchester University
Secondary investigator
Partner
- Advanced Research Partnership
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2000-2003
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- EPSRC (GR/N05970/01)
This research will benefit any device manufacturing that requires ferroelectric active layers with thickness in the range 10 to 100 microns. In the short term, investigations into both piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials will allow the integration of this fabrication process into numerous devices. Examples range from actuators, sound and pressure sensors to IR 'uncooled' thermal detectors. In the longer term it is anticipated that the results from these trials may offer benefits to other manufacturing techniques, such as ceramic processing. There is also interest into incorporating the stable 'composite' suspension into the more conventional screen printing technique.
Primary investigators
- Neil White
- Prof. Roger Whatmore, Cranfield University
Secondary investigator
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2001-2004
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- DERA
Ultrasonic waves have been shown to provide a means of liquid/solid separation. When a standing wave is set up in a liquid, forces act on particles acting towards nodal planes within the liquid. The effect has been used in the past for cell separation in biology. The motivation for this proposal is for a flow-through separation technique (acoustic filter). Existing work at Southampton has demonstrated the feasibility of such an approach based on the concept of having a single flow inlet one side of an acoustically-driven rectangular cell and several outlets on the opposite face. The system holds its resonance condition via closed loop electronic control using an embedded microcontroller. The proposed programme of work will aim to produce a microfluidic version of the device capable of filtering solid particles (in the range 1-100 microns) from liquids with relatively low flow-rates. The fabrication will exploit the latest results of our research into combining thick-film processing with silicon micromachining methods. Finite element techniques will be used to model the system.
Primary investigator
Secondary investigators
- Mr Martyn Hill, School of Engineering Science
- Nick Harris
- Steve Beeby
Partner
- DSTL Ltd
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2001-2004
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- EPSRC
The field of smart sensor technology continues to mature both in terms of the advances in the characteristics of the sensing elements themselves and also the electronic processing of data. The area of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) is a relatively new field for making miniature sensors and actuators using integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and related techniques. A majority of existing MEMS research has concentrated on sensors but the recent interest in areas such as microfluidics has broadened the field to cover micro-actuators. Research at the University of Southampton into thick-film piezoelectric materials has shown that a combination of both silicon micromachining and thick-film techniques can offer a new approach to MEMS strategies.One of the drawbacks of piezoelectric materials for actuator applications is that a relatively large (several hundred volts) excitation voltage is required This limits its use in some applications, particularly in the medical field. An alternative type of actuator is based on the magnetostrictive effect. Modern-day magnetostrictive materials such as Terfenol-D, posses very large magnetostrictive coefficients, producing much greater displacements than their piezoelectric counterparts for a given input power Another potential advantage is that magnetostrictive actuators can be driven by external magnetic fields, thus removing the need for large driving voltages. Untill now, however, there has been no published work on thick-film magnetostrictive materials. The main aim of this proposal, therefore, is to develop and characterise a thick-film magnetostrictive material for use in MEMS applications. It is envisaged that the evolutionary steps in this process will be similar to those experienced with the formulation of our thick-film piezoelectric materials. The combination of thick-film and silicon technologies will therefore lead to a powerful and economic solution for new types of MEMS actuator.
Primary investigator
Secondary investigator
Partner
- Newlands Scientific Plc
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2002-2005
- Theme:
- Sensor Technology
- Funding:
- EPSRC (GR/R52626/01)
Current industrial measuring systems based on strain-gauge technology (wire, foil and thin-film devices) suffer from various problems, such as low amplitude intensity signal levels, hysteresis and creep. The purpose of the proposed research is to combine the experiences and academic strengths of two well-established research teams at Brunel and Southampton Universities to provide a practical basis for an alternative generic technology employing small mechanical frequency-based stress gauges which can become available to a wide range of industrial manufacturers and users. Novel robust resonant microsensor modules will be developed based upon miniature triple beam tuning fork structures and fabricated both in steel and on silicon. Excitation and detection will utilise screen-printed PZT thick-inks. Suitable resonator packaging (mechanical/electrical interfaces and integration) will be developed. With the active support of the industrial collaborators (6 SME manufacturers and 7 industrial users), 4 demonstrators will be used to evaluate the application of the microsensor modules: (i) pressure sensor; (ii) continuous torque sensor; (iii) load cell; (iv) wireless stress gauge. The initial demonstrators will employ the small metallic resonators fabricated using etching methods and spot welding, while subsequent demonstrators will employ the miniature silicon resonators fabricated using silicon micromachining.
Primary investigator
Secondary investigators
Partner
- Brunel University
Associated research groups
- Electronic Systems and Devices Group
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Date:
- 2002-2002
- Theme:
- Electrostatics
- Funding:
- Industrial
Two fires have occurred in the copper solvent extraction (CuSX) plant at the Olympic Dam mine in Southern Australia. The first occurred on 21 December 1999, the second occurred on 21 October 2001. Both of these fires occurred in the same area of the SX plant and their origins were attributed to static electricity.
In the areas where the fires originated, low conductivity solvent (Shellsol) with some additives, is transported at various velocities through HDPE and MDPE pipe work. Although the flashpoint of the solvent is relatively high at 78ºC, temperatures within the plant may periodically reach 70-80ºC. In addition, the pipes can on occasion, be partially filled with solvent and air. Droplets or solvent mist may also be generated.
This project will examine the electrostatic charging characteristics of the process, the solvents used and the flammability of the solvents in mist form. A code of practice will be developed to ensure future safe operation.
Primary investigator
- G.L. Hearn
Secondary investigators
- J.R. Ballard
- T.J. Williams
Partners
- Western Mining Corporation
- Shell
- Date:
- 2000-2004
- Themes:
- Software Engineering, Business Process Modelling, Systems Engineering
- Funding:
- EPSRC (GR/N11513 and GR/R31973)
The overall objective of the RICES project is to provide the means whereby architects and designers of inter-enterprise IT solutions will be able to ensure that new business processes or new services launched into the everything-connected-to-everything-else world will indeed survive and function well, despite having to work with only partially-consistent information.
Primary investigator
- ph
Partners
- ICL
- DERA
Associated research group
- Dependable Systems & Software Engineering
- Date:
- 2001-2007
- Theme:
- Silicon Electronic Devices
- Funding:
- EPSRC
Over the past few years SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors have come out of the research laboratory and gone into production in BiCMOS processes around the world. The state of the art fT and fmax are around 200GHz, which is ideal for rf circuit applications up to 20GHz and optical communications applications up to 40Gbit/s.
To date, all SiGe HBTs have been produced with a vertical architecture in which the emitter is placed above the base and the base above the collector. Although this approach has given the above impressive performance, it has a number of disadvantages. These disadvantages arise from the need to make a contact to the collector, which is buried below the surface. A heavily doped buried layer is needed beneath the collector to reduce the collector resistance, and epitaxy has to be used to create the lower doped collector on top of the buried layer. Epitaxy is a very expensive process, and even with a very heavily doped buried layer, it is not possible to achieve very low values of collector resistance.
In principle, this problem could be solved by using a lateral architecture in which the emitter, base and collector were placed side by side at the surface. Contact to the collector could then be made directly from the surface, giving a very low value of collector resistance and eliminating the need for collector epitaxy. This arrangement would also be more compatible with CMOS, where the MOS transistors are fabricated using a lateral architecture. Silicon lateral bipolar transistors have been available for some time, but they tend to be low frequency devices because of the parasitic capacitances associated with them. Lateral SiGe HBTs have never been reported.
To produce a high frequency lateral SiGe HBT, it is necessary to minimise parasitic capacitance and at the same time find a method of producing a lateral SiGe layer. Silicon on insulator (SOI) technology offers one method of reducing parasitic capacitance, and has delivered an extremely impressive fmax of 67GHz on lateral silicon bipolar transistors. Simulations of lateral SiGe HBTs on SOI substrates indicate that the lateral SiGe HBT on SOI outperforms the vertical HBT, especially in terms of fmax. Confined lateral selective epitaxial growth (CLSEG) and germanium implantation are two possible methods of creating a lateral SiGe layer. Both techniques have shown promising results.
In this project, confined lateral selective epitaxial growth is being investigated for the fabrication of lateral devices in growth chambers fabricated on the surface of the silicon wafer. Device design issues are being investigated by process and device simulation.
Primary investigators
Associated research group
- Nano Research Group