At the Institute of Nanotechnologies in Electronics, Spintronics and Photonics (INTEL) of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, the youth laboratory "Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) in Microelectronics" is demonstrating significant success in creating domestic analogues of critical electronic components. A team of 17 people, mainly students and young scientists, focuses on two key tasks: developing miniature gas sensors of a new generation and creating unique laser equipment for micromachining materials — ensuring technological import substitution in instrumentation.
The leading engineer of the laboratory, Maya Etrekоva, laureate of the Moscow Government Prize, is working on sensors based on wide-bandgap semiconductors (silicon carbide, gallium oxide):
We are now actively mastering the technology for producing our gas sensors based on wide-bandgap semiconductors — silicon carbide and gallium oxide. I am sure that very soon such semiconductors will replace silicon, which has been the basis of the electronic industry for more than half a century. In the case of our MIS sensors, new semiconductor materials will accelerate the miniaturization of sensors while maintaining high sensitivity and speed. And a miniature gas sensor integrated, for example, into a smartphone or watch, is the future of sensory gas analysis.
Such components are in demand in avionics, space technology and industry.
At the same time, the head of the laboratory, Konstantin Oblov, also awarded with the capital's prize, solved the problem of the availability of specialized equipment for small-scale production and prototyping. His team created a hardware and software complex for four-coordinate laser micro-milling:
Our installation allows small research groups to get approximately the same result as on industrial lines "sharpened" for mass production. With the help of our equipment, you can repeat operations that are done in large industries, and also use new materials that were previously difficult to process volumetrically using classical technologies. For example, zirconium ceramics. It is used to create gas sensors – devices for extremely harsh operating conditions associated with recording the quality of fuel combustion in gas turbines and diesel engines.
This installation is a key tool for the development and manufacture of domestic ceramic MEMS sensors.
Laboratory staff are actively involved in various international scientific initiatives. One of these projects is joint work in the DigiMan consortium, together with scientific and commercial organizations from Germany and Israel.
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