Demanding environments

Our activities focus on sensors for high-temperature applications and sensors for mechanically harsh environments.

Such sensors are needed in oil-wells, in engines and for industrial production monitoring. SINTEF silicon micromachined sensors have advantages in such applications due to long-term stability and smallsize. SINTEF has several strengths when it comes to development and manufacturing of sensors for demanding environments:

• Long experience in integrated design of package and silicon sensor. This in turn minimises the environmental influence on the sensing element.
• Strong expertise on ASICs for high-temperature applications (HT-ASICs).
• Fusion bonding processes that create very durable and strong seals between silicon layers. The result is sensors that can withstand both mechanically harsh conditions and high temperatures.
• Experience in packaging of sensors for high temperature applications.
• Close collaboration with the company PreSens on development and production of silicon high pressure sensors.
• Successful design and manufacturing of a complete measuring system for oil-well monitoring.
• Successful development of high-temperature piezoresistive pressure sensors based on Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology.
• Room-temperature deposition of protection nitride

Capacitive pressure sensor
We have recently developed and produced a silicon pressure sensor which is operated at high temperatures (200 C) and is designed and packaged to withstand rough mechanical conditions. The sensor is a part of a large oil well monitoring system developed by a collaboration of SINTEF departments. The system has been successfully tested by the customer Maritime Well Services.

Contact person: Dag Thorstein Wang

The capacitive pressure sensing element is transparent to IR light. The dummy capacitor is seen to the right, the pressure sensor to the left. The sensor consists of three fusion bonded silicon chips. Channels etched in silicon leads the pressure to the sensing diaphragm. The element is mounted in the package via a tube from the back side of the element. This minimises the mechanical noise from the environment on the sensor.