Understanding Smart Sensors

Citation

Abbott, P. (1998), "Understanding Smart Sensors", Sensor Review, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 143-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1998.18.2.143.2

Understanding Smart Sensors is an introduction to the world of smart sensors, micromachining and silicon integration of controllers and peripheral devices.

Mr Frank’s credentials include years of experience with automotive and control systems engineering, and involvements with a number of professional and standards organisations in addition to over 150 published papers and articles on the subjects. The author’s career with Motorola explains the proliferation of the company’s parts and technologies used to illustrate the text.

The book itself is broken down into 12 chapters, starting with an overview of the subject, moving across the relevant technologies involved in the realisation of practical devices and systems, concluding with a look into the future of likely developments based on the current use of technology.

Each chapter follows the familiar format of literary quotation, followed by a rather more useful introduction to the chapter and closes with a list of full references.

After the initial preamble from the introduction, the overview of micromachining techniques gives an insight into the production processes involved in the fabrication of the sensors. This is followed by an explanation of the means of developing sensors based on the physical properties of the semiconductor materials used in the fabrication processes. These chapters are complemented by a later section on the construction of microelectromechanical systems, the fabrication of motors, pumps, grippers and more on the semiconductor substrate.

The bulk of the book’s middle chapters cover the integration of the basic semiconductor sensor elements with the signal conditioning, data processing and communication elements that combine to make the sensors “smart”.

This is a very informative book, which makes for quite compulsive and easy reading for the non‐specialist, despite some imperfect editing in places. The tone is that of a manufacturer’s lecture series rather than a reference work, which might excuse some of the lighter weight treatment of some topics.

Some glancing descriptions of very basic electronic technology add little to the experience of reading it, however, this does not detract from the many pages of good industry and technology specific information contained within the chapters.

A good introduction.