Boston MicroSystems Inc develops environment detection technology solutions and provides micro-sensors and micro-concentrators to the automotive, medical and food industries. The firm operates as a subsidiary of Pall Corporation. Boston MicroSystems has created a miniature hotplate that can reach temperatures above 2012°F and is self-contained within a "laboratory" no bigger than a child's shoe. These micro-hotplates are only a few dozen microns across, which is roughly the width of a human hair, yet are capable of serving as substrates, heaters and conductors for thin-film experiments ranging from material analyses to the development of advanced sensors. The hotplates are created using silicon carbide, a robust material that can tolerate extreme heat and reach peak temperatures in less than one-thousandth of a second. Silicon carbide is not only stable at high temperatures; it is also impervious to chemical attack from most materials. As a result the hotplates can be cleaned by burning debris off the surface. The hotplates also contain an integrated temperature gauge and a pair of electrodes that allow researchers to test the electrical properties of various materials that may be deposited onto the hotplates. Researchers are already developing applications such as oxygen and engine emission sensors using the stable, thin-film deposition properties and integrated circuitry of the hotplates. The sensor may have several advantages over devices in today's combustion engines, due to the micro-hotplate's chemical stability, small size, rapid response and low power consumption.
