The development of sensor technology is constantly injecting vitality into smart devices, bringing a variety of new functions. These sensors have become key connectivity technologies in an increasingly automated, electrified and connected world. With the development of science and technology, today's sensors are more powerful and more acceptable to product designers. At the same time, sensors have been further miniaturized and their functional range has been further expanded, making sensors an important component of advanced iot systems and a key driver of innovation.

Sensor technology will help us meet our environmental goals around cleaner energy and lower carbon, including the electrification of vehicles; For autonomous vehicles and smart city infrastructure; To collect big data for management, control and security; Is widely used in the medical market, and so on. The truth is we're still at the beginning of the sensor era, and the future of sensors has a long way to go. Packaging, size, power consumption, and the ability to operate in harsh environments are ongoing challenges for sensor designers.

With the continuous improvement of the input power of the sensor, the size of the sensor is constantly reduced, and the large heat caused by the large dissipation power puts forward new and higher requirements for the packaging materials. Based sensor has a wide application prospect, which also has a more rigid requirement for the performance of packaging materials.

Advanced ceramic materials, also known as precision ceramic materials, refers to the use of refined high purity, ultra-fine inorganic compounds as raw materials and advanced preparation technology to produce products with excellent performance. The use of ceramic packaging, on one hand, alleviates the anxiety of sensor designers.

The superiority of ceramic materials

1. High thermal conductivity, meeting the heat dissipation requirements of the sensor;

2. Good heat resistance, meet the sensor high temperature (more than 200°C) application requirements;

3. Matching the thermal expansion coefficient, matching the thermal expansion coefficient of the chip material, reducing the packaging thermal stress;

4. Small dielectric constant, good high-frequency characteristics, reduce the signal transmission time of the device, improve the signal transmission rate;

5. High mechanical strength, meet the requirements of mechanical properties in the process of device packaging and application;

6. Good corrosion resistance, can withstand strong acid, strong alkali, boiling water, organic solution and other erosion;

7. Compact structure to meet the requirements of airtight packaging.

Foreign statistical data show that the reliability of electronic components decreases by 10% when the temperature increases by 2℃. Obviously, the overheating of electronic components is one of the main culprits of the shortened life of equipment. In order to do a good job in thermal management of equipment, ceramic copper clad plate is essential. The ceramic copper clad plate of Silitong has a high thermal conductivity (thermal conductivity of 180 W/(m-K)~ 260 W/(m-K)), which can dissipate the heat in time, ensure the stable operation of equipment, and effectively extend the service cycle of goods.

Sensors have a wide range of applications in industrial, medical, automotive electronics and so on. Complex application scenarios have higher requirements for product stability. And ceramics by virtue of its high temperature resistance, vibration resistance, moisture resistance, chemical corrosion resistance. Whether it is usability or reliability, ceramic copper cladding can bring great improvement to the product. Ceramic copper-clad plate is the guarantee of product cost performance, this point has no doubt.

Silitong ceramic copper-coated plate uses DPC process (direct copper plating), and uses the film manufacturing technology -- vacuum coating method to splash on the ceramic and combine with the copper metal composite layer, so that the copper and ceramic have a super binding force, and then the optical resistance of the yellow light shadow is re-exposed, developed, etched, and removed the film process to complete the circuit production. Finally, the thickness of the circuit is increased by electroplating/electroless deposition. After the photoresistance is removed, the metallized circuit is finished. Therefore, the ceramic copper clad plate has good metal crystallization performance, good flatness, line is not easy to fall off, and has reliable and stable performance, so as to effectively improve the bonding strength of the chip and the substrate. Slitong porcelain coppercoated plate can carry out high-density assembly (line/pitch (L/S) resolution can reach 20μm) and support to customize the image, is the Internet of Things environment sensor equipment integration, miniaturization good helper. Meet the needs of high-end sensors.

1. How do sensors help Industry 4.0 and Industrial IIoT?

Future industries will need sensors that support wireless connectivity and sensors that support Ethernet connectivity. Industrial automation systems require machine vision and photoelectric sensors. And sensors for specific functions, such as gas sensors for harsh environments and air quality, will also be very targeted to serve the iot. There are also inertial sensors that serve robotics alongside accelerometers, velocity sensors and gyroscopes.

Industrial predictive maintenance applications also use active sensors that measure sensors including pressure, temperature, force and vibration. These sensors can not only collect data, but also actively react and control based on the data.

2. How will sensors affect the smart car industry?

While smart cars are lighting up the automotive industry, sensors are similarly evolving at a rapid pace to better serve more new automotive technologies such as lidar, radar sensing, internal measurement units (IMU) and advanced driver assistance systems. These sensors allow for autonomous navigation and improved safety.

As electrification advances, temperature and gas sensors for battery management systems are also rapidly evolving to provide more powerful capabilities while taking up less space in a compact system architecture. As vehicles become more autonomous and inertial sensors and position sensors continue to emerge, we'll see improvements in these technologies.

3. How will sensors meet medical needs?

The initial COVID-19 pandemic triggered extreme demand for pressure, airflow and oxygen sensors in ventilators. In addition, the demand for non-contact thermometers to monitor the body temperature of staff and students, including thermometers and low-cost thermoelectric reactors, has soared.

COVID-19 has given us a heightened understanding of the diseases that cause respiratory illness. With the development of new vaccines, vaccines need to be stored and transported at extremely low temperatures, and this has led to a market for extremely low temperature, cryogenic-friendly temperature sensors and monitors.

4. What new types of sensors or new uses of sensors will appear in the future?

We will see more sensors for monitoring environmental factors such as pollution, ozone, carbon monoxide and air quality. At the same time, more integrated and combined sensors with sensing and control capabilities, including autonomous control, will also arrive. There will also be low-power sensors for iot applications, as well as sensors with more functions, such as embedded sleep mode.

As security becomes more common, we'll see the use of sensors in optical imaging and facial recognition. More IMUs providing six degrees of freedom (6DoF) will also appear, and we will see continued miniaturization and wider use of RFID.

Overall, we expect new sensors to have an increasing number of higher level capabilities such as functional safety integrity, redundancy and fault detection, as well as built-in monitoring and reporting capabilities. There are still many possibilities for sensors. DPC ceramic copper cladding is a more feasible option for manufacturers because it is more in line with the future development direction of high density, high precision and high reliability. Slitong will continue to strive to create high-quality ceramic copper-clad products, provide customers with more satisfactory products and services, and achieve win-win cooperation with merchants.