Drucksensor könnte das Fliegen umweltverträglicher machen
Built to take the heat: While conventional sensors reach breaking point at around 300°C, researchers at Fraunhofer IZM are creating a sensor that works reliably at twice that temperature. The secret of the heat-loving sensors: Silicon carbide, etched with exceptional precision. Their ability to monitor pressure even in extremely adverse environments could help fine-tune the combustion process in jet turbines and reduce the fuel consumption of aircraft.
In the north of Germany’s capital Berlin, researchers at Fraunhofer IZM have taken on the mission to design and build a high-temperature sensor with the right properties. Silicon carbide or SiC, their material of choice, represents a quantum leap for the robustness of pressure sensors. Conventional silicon sensors would not be an option for this type of application, as they would reach their limit already at 150°C. With the Silicon-on-Insulator (SoI) technology, this limit can be pushed to around 400°C. But when this threshold is crossed and the sensors are exposed to mechanical pressure, they begin to deform and immediately lose precision.