Aluminum Nitride Ceramic Heater ramps up to 270°F/sec.

Press Release Summary:




ULTRAMIC® advanced ceramic heater has monolithic, geometrically stable structure resulting in low-porosity, homogenous assembly. Leakage current is less than 10 µA and high thermal conductivity unit can operate up to 752°F depending on application, heater design, and process parameters. Heater's integrated thermocouple configuration optimizes reliability of sensor/heater interface. Available in rectangle or ring forms, units can be machined to meet specific design requirements.



Original Press Release:



Watlow Introduces ULTRAMIC®, an Advanced Ceramic Heater with High Thermal Conductivity and Clean, Non-Contaminating Material



St. Louis - Watlow, a St. Louis-based provider of thermal solutions, introduces its ULTRAMIC® advanced ceramic heater. The high thermal conductivity aluminum nitride (AIN) ceramic composition is paired with a proprietary, thermally matched, heating element to enable a fast responding heater configured in a low mass package.

"Watlow's R&D team developed the ULTRAMIC heater to meet the requirements found in chip testing and die bonding applicatons," said Dr. Hongy Lin, principal scientist. "Numerous hours of life testing and development of proprietary techniques and practices have made all of this possible."

With high thermal conductivity, it enables the ULTRAMIC heater to be constructed with a high watt density, giving it the ability to ramp as fast as 150°C (270°F) per second. This also allows for fast cooling.

The construction technique of the ULTRAMIC heater is to sinter the ceramic at elevated temperatures to create a monolithic, geometrically stable structure. The result is a very low porosity, homogeneous, robust heater assembly that provides the necessary heat transfer for high temperature and long heater life.

Constructing an electric heater using sintered ceramic materials provides many benefits including high dielectric strength, a leakage current of less than 10 µA, uniform temperatures, high durability at low mass, a rapid ramp rate and an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion.

Watlow's ULTRAMIC heater can operate up to 752°F (400°C) depending on the application, heater design and process parameters. This heater also contains a unique (patent pending) integrated thermocouple configuration that improves the reliability of the sensor/heater interface to ensure fast responsiveness during high ramp rate applications.

Watlow's ULTRAMIC heater is available in either rectangle or ring forms and can be machined to meet specific design requirements including holes, vacuum grooves or ultra-fine surface finishes.

About Watlow

Since the company's founding in 1922, Watlow has brought its thermal expertise to numerous applications, including power generation, semiconductor, plastics processing, foodservice equipment, life sciences, aerospace and others. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Watlow is the largest custom designer and manufacturer of industrial heaters, sensors, controllers and software with offices and manufacturing facilities around the world.

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