Reliability Potential Of Epoxy Based Encapsulants For Automotive Applications

Automotive under-the-hood electronics often have to withstand temperatures up to 175 °C in combination with harsh environment conditions. This paper gives an overview about the reliability potential of epoxy based encapsulants for automotive applications. Therefore the resistance of epoxy molding compound against typical automotive fluids at temperature of use is analyzed. Six epoxy molding compounds available on the market, showing high temperature automotive potential have been carefully selected to undergo a media resistance testing. For this purpose a dedicated mold tool has been designed and manufactured to prepare these encapsulants for material testing. Thermo-mechanical, mechanical and thermal properties had been determined in initial state directly after molding and after storage in aggressive fluids typical for automotive applications as e.g. gas oil, automatic transmission fluid (ATF), brake fluid or accumulator acid at the respective temperature of use.     

Transmission study of germanium using free-electron laser

We have measured optical transmittance through germanium in the mid-infrared region at room temperature using the Osaka free-electron laser (FEL). In spite of the fact that germanium is transparent in the mid-infrared region, we observed strong suppression of optical transmission under high-intensity FEL excitation. We found that the observed suppression is due to optical absorption in germanium. To analyze the experimental results, we have calculated optical transmittance of germanium within Keldysh theory     

Project failures in small companies

The author relates his experiences in a small software development company. These experiences show that project management is challenging and if the project manager is an obstacle, the project is bound to fail. When it does, it can spell disaster for the manager and anyone who accompanies him or her on a software development journey.     

Experimental Electronuclear Setup at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics

The purpose and current construction status, at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, of an experimental electronuclear setup, combining a pulsed proton linear accelerator (36 MeV, 0.5 mA) and a subcritical blanket thermal-power assembly 100 kW, are discussed. The main equipment is already available or is being built in industry. The setup can be used to investigate the dynamics of the interaction of a linac–driver and a subcritical reactor and problems concerning the accelerator–driver and the target–blanket assembly. The proton beams and neutron fluxes will be used for applied purposes. In the future it will be possible to increase substantially the current and energy of the proton beam.     

Large Coulomb blockade oscillations at room temperature in ultranarrow wire channel MOSFETs formed by slight oxidation process

We propose a new fabrication technique of room-temperature operating silicon single-electron transistors (SETs). The devices are in the form of ultranarrow wire channel MOSFETs, where a sub-10-nm channel is formed by wet etching and slight thermal oxidation. Large Coulomb blockade (CB) oscillations whose peak-to-valley current ratio at room temperature is as high as 6.8 are observed in the fabricated ultranarrow wire channel MOSFETs. It is found that larger CB oscillations are obtained in the ultranarrow wire channel SETs than in the point-contact channel SETs. It is considered that the potential fluctuations induced during the channel formation processes give rise to multiple-dot SET structures in the ultranarrow wire channel MOSFETs.     

Vapor pressure and thermodynamic functions of TeI<Subscript>4</Subscript> and its decomposition products

Using a flow method, we have measured the vapor pressure of tellurium tetraiodide, an attractive reagent for chemical vapor deposition technology. The results, combined with earlier tensimetric data, have been used to evaluate the basic thermodynamic functions of TeI₄ and its thermolysis products.