prieto@aluxp.UUCP (PRIETO) (02/02/84)
Are there any end user interested in HVIC technology in the net?
The article below describes the technology( IEEE/Spectrum JAN 84).
This technology has applications in various fields like:
industrial controls,electronics intrumentation,ATE, medical instrumentation,
appliances,computer peripherals,etc.
copyright permitted for personal use
allegra!aluxp!prieto
or
allegra!aluxp!prieto@berkeley
(215)770-3285
HIGH-VOLTAGE ICs PORTEND REVOLUTION IN CONTROLS
Most applicances in the home, fluorescent lighting in buildings and drills,
lathes, and other machines in industry are fitted with transformers, motor
controls. Integrated-circuit logic, and any number of discrete components
s, integrated-circuit logic, and any number of discrete components.
But improved high-voltage integrated circuits will soon alter the configuration
of such equipment requiring modest amounts of power by drastically reducing
the number of required components that are presently packed into these devices.
Today`s high-voltage ICs can perform logic and control at 200 volts, but chips
that can operate reliably at 400V are imminent from several companies. At
this voltage ICs can be used safely in any device that is plugged into a wall
socket, opening up a wide range of applications, from control displays, to
power fluorescent lights, to drive circuits in telephones, teleterminals, and
subscriber-loop interfaces, and to control motor drives in automotive
electronics, as well as appliances and in dustrial machinery. (For more on
high-voltage IC appliances in industrial controls, see "Industrial electronics,"on p. 68.)
High-voltage ICs combine on one chip functions that are presently performed
by logic circuits, discrete devices, and mechanical relays. These are low
cost, compact, high-voltage monolithic devices containing low voltage controls,
low-voltage logic circuitry, and high-voltage output circuits. Today's
experimental chips can handle up to 800 V, thanks to device isolation.
Often MOS and bipolar technologies are merged on the same chip.
Junction isolation, which separates devices from the rest of the IC with deep,
p-diffused walls, most often insulates the MOS circuits. Dielectric isolation
separates high-voltage devices, which are usually bipolar, from each other.
With this method, each device is placed in an insulated tub, so it acts like
a discrete component and can be biased independently from other devices and
the chip substrate.
At present the absence of low-cost, reliabile packaging is preventing the
development of ICs that can handle higher voltages. Both standard and custom
packaging designs are evolving. High-voltage ICs are cheaper to wire, have a
potentially higher yield, are are easier to assemble and test than the
discrete components they replace, because several functions are implemented
on single chip and fabricated in one process.