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To present the specifications and the technologies underpinning some new high‐speed cameras, and explore their applications.

Describes the industrial, military and other applications of high‐speed imaging. Traces the recent technical developments in sensors for visible and infrared light. Then describes some specific high‐speed cameras.

CMOS sensors have now taken over from CCD in high‐speed visible cameras. Microbolometers have made low‐cost uncooled cameras available for infrared imaging. Applications range from serious research and development topics, such as air‐bag and seat‐belt performance and combustion studies, to investigations of natural phenomena and analysis of sports equipment.

Monitors the progress of imaging technology and describes its current capabilities to the interested reader.

To expose the gate of ion‐sensitive field‐effect transistor (ISFET) to filthy and muddy water, suspended algae, etc. investigate the influence of these conditions on device performance and suggest measures for using the device in applications where suspended soil particles are present.

In this paper, cleaning procedure to make the blocked ISFET operative has been described. The effect of dirty water on pH sensitivity factor of ISFET, after it restarted functioning, has been measured. ISFET package has been modified. A relatively simple disposable nylon mesh with openings of size 100 μm for filtering bigger particles and lower for smaller particles, has been proposed for dirty applications to minimize device failures. This sieves away any dirt and thereby avoids failure.

The device action is frequently blocked by deposition of dirt on the gate. Generally, it is recoverable by proper cleaning action although with reduced sensitivity. This necessitates recalibration. But a protective filter helps in reducing failures. It is more advantageous to prevent clogging of ISFET than to revive a clogged device, sacrificing sensitivity.

After recovery, the original sensitivity of the device is not achieved, and the device has to be used with degraded sensitivity.

Measurement of pH of actual sources of water, whether clean or dirty, is important.

Problems of pH measurements of dirty samples have been studied. The study helps in understanding device behaviour in these samples and provides suitable corrective measures. Further, the pH survey of dirty and clean water samples provides useful information about the pH distribution and balance in nature.

Describes the world's first uncooled infrared array sensor based on micro electro‐mechanical systems technology. Each pixel comprises a cantilever which bends as it warms up. The system measures the capacitance between each cantilever and a metal substrate.

This paper aims to present the estimation of the output voltage of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) using the extended Kalman filter (EKF) method.

The method uses EKF for MOSFET output voltage estimation. To implement the EKF method, the state space model has been obtained using Kirchhoff’s current law and Enz-Krummenacher-Vittoz model of the MOSFET circuit.

The proposed method can be used for any mode of MOSFET operation besides near the quiescent point region. The nonlinearity that occurs in the saturation region of MOSFET can also be considered in the proposed method. The proposed method can also be used for a large input signal. Though Kalman filter can be used for the small amplitude input signal, it results in inaccurate estimation due to the linearization of the nonlinear system.

The method is able to track the parameters when they are slowly changing with time.

The proposed method presents maximal precision of simulation as the maximal precision of simulation requires modeling of the circuit in terms of device parameters and circuit elements.

The flow injection analysis (FIA) technique by Yoon-Chang Kim et al. for the determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD) involves the complete analysis including sampling and washing. FIA is analytical method for the measurement of COD using photochemical column. This method uses a bulky setup and takes 10-15 minutes to get the output result which is a tedious and time-consuming job. If conventional method is continuously used for a long time, then it is stable only for 15 days. The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach which is more users friendly and fast in operation by modeling and optimization of sensor used for water quality monitoring. This is to overcome several drawbacks generally found in the previous work like complex designing, nonlinearity and long computation time. The nonlinearity in conventional device is overcome by increasing the values of coefficient of determination R2 which in turn reduce the standard error.

A simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) model of photo catalytic sensor (PCS) is proposed for easy and fast operation and optimization of power.

The proposed macro model operates under subthreshold conditions that are appreciated in large integrated system design. The results of simulation were found to be fairly in agreement with the theoretical predictions. The results exhibited near linear variations of parameters of interest with appreciably reduced response time. The coefficient of determination (R2) has been found to be more in this technique.

As the threshold voltage of different photo catalytic materials will be different, E_ref in the setup has to be adjusted accordingly to obtain sufficient quantity of current to operate the device.

This approach relies on the SPICE model. The development of SPICE model for photochemical sensor is novel which is fast in operation and more user friendly.

Reviews the benefits and potential application of tactile sensors for use with robots.

Includes the most recent advances in both the design/manufacturing of various tactile sensors and their applications in different industries. Although these types of sensors have been adopted in a considerable number of areas, the applications such as, medical, agricultural/livestock and food, grippers/manipulators design, prosthetic, and environmental studies have gained more popularity and are presented in this paper.

Robots can perform very useful and repetitive tasks in controlled environments. However, when the robots are required to handle the unstructured and changing environments, there is a need for more elaborate means to improve their performance. In this scenario, tactile sensors can play a major role. In the unstructured environments, the robots must be able to grasp objects (or tissues, in the case of medical robots) and move objects from one location to another.

In this work, the emphasis was on the most interesting and fast developing areas of the tactile sensors applications, including, medical, agriculture and food, grippers and manipulators design, prosthetic, and environmental studies.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new multilayer process for three‐dimensional molded interconnect devices (3D‐MIDs) that allows the assembly of modern area array packaged semiconductors.

A new 3D‐MID multilayer process based on local overmolding is developed. To investigate this new process, a 3D demonstrator is designed, simulated and fabricated. Various technologies such as injection molding, maskless laser assisted electroless metallization, overmolding and laser via drilling are used.

Using the new 3D‐MID multilayer process a 3D demonstrator with three metallization layers is fabricated. Injection molding simulation is utilized to ensure a feasible demonstrator design. It is shown that a surface laser treatment improves layer‐to‐layer adhesion during the process. Shear and pull tests prove the adhesion promotion. The 3D fine‐pitch‐metallization is done down to 60 μm track width. Via resistance is measured by four terminal sensing in agreement with previous results. Design rules for process compatible vias are introduced. The fabricated demonstrator is suitable for flip‐chip‐based area array packaged semiconductors.

A proof of concept is given by the fabricated demonstrator. Further, work should include reliability tests of the multilayer structures and improvement of individual process steps.

The paper describes a new multilayer process for 3D‐MIDs. It overcomes existing restrictions regarding the electrical routing on 3D‐MID surfaces. The compatibility of area array packaged semiconductors with a high‐inputs/outputs count and the 3D‐MID technology is improved.

One of the key components of the micro-sensors is MEMS micro-hotplate. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a platinum micro-hotplate with the proper geometry using the analytical model based on the heat transfer analysis to improve both heating efficiency and time constant.

This analytical model exhibits that suitable design for the micro-hotplate can be obtained by the appropriate selection of square heater (LH) and tether width (WTe). Based on this model and requirements of routine sample loading, the size of LH and WTe are chosen 200 and 15 μm, respectively. In addition, a simple micro-fabrication process is adopted to form the suspended micro-heater using bulk micromachining technology.

The experimental results show that the heating efficiency and heating and cooling time constants are 21.27 K/mW and 2.5 ms and 2.1 ms, respectively, for the temperature variation from 300 to 400 K in the fabricated micro-hotplates which are in closed agreement with the results obtained from the analytical model with errors within 5 per cent.

Our design based on the analytical model achieves a combination of fast time constant and high heating efficiency that are comparable or superior to the previously published platinum micro-hotplate.

The Center for Industrial Research (SI), the University of Oslo (UiO) and a group of Norwegian companies have collaborated between 1990 and 1992 in the research programme ‘Industrial Microelectronics’ with a total cost of 30 MNOK. The programme was sponsored by the Norwegian Scientific and Industrial Research Council (NTNF) as one of the twin programmes constituting a national research initiative in microelectronics. The motivation for the programme is the recognition of microelectronics as a key technology commanding the performance and market success of many of the electronics systems from the Norwegian electronics industry towards the year 2000. The main objective is to stimulate industrial innovation by developing, transferring and exploiting knowledge and methods based upon advanced microelectronics. Focused activities are silicon sensor technology, combined analogue/digital design of application‐specific integrated circuits, large scale instrumentation, sensor packaging and thermal management of electronic systems. SI is focusing on applied research, UiO on education, and collaborating Norwegian companies are using the results in their own R&D projects. It is anticipated that the research results will be fully industrialised within 3–5 years. The programme is co‐ordinated with other Norwegian government‐sponsored research activities as well as European research programmes based on microelectronics. The programme is organised in projects and monitored with a set of milestones strongly indicating the achievement of successful industrial innovation, research results of international standing and high‐quality education of key personnel for the industry. Several successful examples of the research results are highlighted: Design and process methodology for double‐sided microstrip silicon radiation sensors for detection of high energy elementary particles, silicon‐to‐silicon and silicon‐to‐thin film anodic bonding processes for sensor fabrication, combined analogue/digital application‐specific integrated circuits for front‐end instrumentation applications, packaging of radiation sensors and thermal management of electronic systems by evaporation cooling. It is concluded that the programme has successfully achieved results in harmony with the objective.