ABSTRACT

Extension of the operating temperature envelope of transistor-based integrated circuits (ICs) well above the effective 300°C limit of silicon-on-insulator technology is expected to enable important improvements to aerospace, automotive, energy production, and other industrial systems [1–3]. For example, extreme temperature ICs capable of 500°C operation are considered vital to realizing improved sensing and control of turbine engine combustion, leading to better fuel efficiency with significantly reduced pollution. The ability to place such ICs in engine hot-sections would beneficially eliminate extra wires and liquid cooling plumbing (i.e., extra weight and decreased reliability) that are required when using silicon ICs that are limited to operational temperatures well below 300°C. In general, the competitive performance benefits to large systems enabled by extreme temperature ICs are recognized as quite substantial, even though most such systems require only a relatively small number of extreme temperature chips [1].