Tuesday, 8th May 2007 (3073 views)

Gold is being used to improve the safety and reliability of the automotive industry as new transmission control units are developed.

Conti Temic is the company researching and developing the new transmission control units which feature fine-line gold tracks and thin gold bonding. The transmissions are electronically controlled and can be automated manually or continuously variable.

The firm is using gold conductors and resistors which are made by DuPont Microcircuit Minerals which manufactures control circuits for new applications.

The DuPont QG150 gold conductor in particular is being used. It is a thin dense gold which is printed with 150 micron lines and it can provide enough surface area for over 1,200 gold wire bonds per circuit.

Temperatures under the hood of cars can reach up to 150C as well as occasionally dipping down to -40C so Conti Temic has to be sure that the control circuits can cope with thermal stress as well as being able to withstand constant vibration.

Confident of this, the company says that production of the application will begin this year with control units being fitted in cars very soon.

 

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