System-level SoC near-field (NF) emissions: Simulation to measurement correlation

As System-on-Chip (SoC) designs migrate to 28nm process node and beyond, the electromagnetic (EM) co-interactions of the Chip-Package-Printed Circuit Board (PCB) becomes critical and require accurate and efficient characterization and verification. In this paper a fast, scalable, and parallelized boundary element based integral EM solutions to Maxwell equations is presented. The accuracy of the full-wave formulation, for complete EM characterization, has been validated on both canonical structures and real-world 3-D system (viz. Chip + Package + PCB). Good correlation between numerical simulation and measurement has been achieved. A few examples of the applicability of the formulation to high speed digital and analog serial interfaces on a 45nm SoC are also presented.

Electrocaloric Effect in 0.85PMN-0.15PT Thin Films Deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) of 0.85PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O(3-)0.15PbTiO(3) (0.85PMN-0.15PT) thin films deposited on (111) Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been calculated. The reversible adiabatic temperature was calculated indirectly using the Maxwell's relation Delta T = -T/C rho integral(E2)(E1) (partial derivative P/partial derivative T)(sigma,E)dE. Permittivity and P-E measurements show an anomaly at 11 degrees C on heating only. This anomaly previously reported are claimed to arise due to the PNR depolarization upon heating. The absence of this anomaly during cooling suggests that no structural phase transition takes place. A negative electrocaloric effect is observed which is explained by the increase in the entropy term.

Dielectric and electrical studies of Pr3+ doped nano CaSiO3 perovskite ceramics

CaSiO3 nano-ceramic powder doped with Pr3+ has been prepared by solution combustion method. The powder Ca0.5Pr0.05SiO3 is investigated for its dielectric and electrical properties at room temperature to study the effect of doping. The sample is characterized by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. The size of either of volume elements of CaSiO3:Pr3+ estimated from transmission electron microscopy is about 180-200 nm. The sample shows colossal dielectric response at room temperature. This colossal dielectric behaviour follows Debye-type relaxation and can be explained by Maxwell-Wagner (MW) polarization. However, analysis of impedance and electric modulus data using Cole-Cole plot shows that it deviates from ideal Debye behaviour resulting from the distribution of relaxation times. The distribution in the relaxation times may be attributed to existence of electrically heterogeneous grains, insulating grain boundary, and electrode contact regions. Doping, thus, results in substantial modifications in the dielectric and electrical properties of the nano-ceramic CaSiO3. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chern-Simons vortices and holography

In this paper, based on the AdS(4)/CFT3 duality, we have explored the precise connection between the abelian Chern-Simons (CS) Higgs model in (2 + 1) dimensions to that with its dual gravitational counterpart living in one higher dimension. It has been observed that theU(1) current computed at the boundary of the AdS(4) could be expressed as the local function of the vortex solution that has the remarkable structural similarity to that with the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) type local expression for the current associated with the Maxwell-CS type vortices in (2 + 1) dimensions. In order to explore this duality a bit further we have also computed the coherence length as well as the magnetic penetration depth associated with these vortices. Finally using the knowledge of both the coherence length as well as the magnetic penetration depth we have computed the Ginzburg-Landau coefficient for the Maxwell-CS type vortices in (2 + 1) dimensions.

Magnetic frustration and dielectric relaxation in insulating Nd2NiMnO6 double perovskites

We have investigated structural, dielectric, and magnetic properties of polycrystalline double perovskite Nd2NiMnO6 compound. The compound crystallizes in monoclinic P2(1)/n symmetry and is partially B-site disordered depending on the synthesis conditions. It undergoes second-order ferromagnetic transition at 192K and shows glassy behaviour at low temperature. The glassy phase is due to anti-site disorder within the homogeneous sample. Temperature and frequency dependent dielectric measurements reveal colossal values of dielectric constant and is best interpreted using Maxwell-Wagner interfacial polarization model. Impedance spectroscopy has been used to analyse the intrinsic dielectric response. This enabled us to differentiate the conduction process at the grain and grain boundaries. Arrhenius behaviour is favoured at the grain boundary, while variable range hopping mechanism is considered most suitable within the grain region. dc conductivity measurements corroborate variable range hopping conduction. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Fast Convergence of EFIE-Based 3-D Extraction

3-D full-wave method of moments (MoM) based electromagnetic analysis is a popular means toward accurate solution of Maxwell's equations. The time and memory bottlenecks associated with such a solution have been addressed over the last two decades by linear complexity fast solver algorithms. However, the accurate solution of 3-D full-wave MoM on an arbitrary mesh of a package-board structure does not guarantee accuracy, since the discretization may not be fine enough to capture spatial changes in the solution variable. At the same time, uniform over-meshing on the entire structure generates a large number of solution variables and therefore requires an unnecessarily large matrix solution. In this paper, different refinement criteria are studied in an adaptive mesh refinement platform. Consequently, the most suitable conductor mesh refinement criterion for MoM-based electromagnetic package-board extraction is identified and the advantages of this adaptive strategy are demonstrated from both accuracy and speed perspectives. The results are also compared with those of the recently reported integral equation-based h-refinement strategy. Finally, a new methodology to expedite each adaptive refinement pass is proposed.

Lead selection and characterization of antitubercular compounds using the Nested Chemical Library

Discovering new drugs to treat tuberculosis more efficiently and to overcome multidrug resistance is a world health priority. To find novel antitubercular agents several approaches have been used in various institutions worldwide, including target-based approaches against several validated mycobacterial enzymes and phenotypic screens. We screened more than 17,000 compounds from Vichem's Nested Chemical Library(TM) using an integrated strategy involving whole cell-based assays with Corynebacterium glutamicum and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and target-based assays with protein kinases PknA, PknB and PknG as well as other targets such as PimA and bacterial topoisomerases simultaneously. With the help of the target-based approach we have found very potent hits inhibiting the selected target enzymes, but good minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against M. tuberculosis were not achieved. Focussing on the whole cell-based approach several potent hits were found which displayed minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against M. tuberculosis below 10 mu M and were non-mutagenic, non-cytotoxic and the targets of some of the hits were also identified. The most active hits represented various scaffolds. Medicinal chemistry-based lead optimization was performed applying various strategies and, as a consequence, a series of novel potent compounds were synthesized. These efforts resulted in some effective potential antitubercular lead compounds which were confirmed in phenotypic assays. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modelling Proximity Effects in Transverse Magnetic Mode for Lightning Studies

Lightning strike to instrumented and communication towers can be a source of electromagnetic disturbance to the system connected. Long cables running on these towers can get significant induction to their sheath/core, which would then couple to the connected equipments. For a quantitative analysis of the situation, suitable theoretical analysis is necessary. Due to the dominance of the transverse magnetic mode during the fast rising portion of the stroke current, which is the period of significant induction, a full wave solution based on Maxwell's equations is necessary. Owing to the large geometric aspect ratio of tower lattice elements and for feasibility of a numerical solution, the thin-wire formulation for the electric field integral equation is generally adopted. However, the classical thin-wire formulation is not set for handling non-cylindrical conductors like tower lattice elements and the proximity of other conductors. The present work investigates further into a recently proposed method for handling such a situation and optimizes the numerical solution approach.

Origin of giant dielectric constant and conductivity behavior in Zn1-xMgxO (0 <= x <= 0.1) ceramics

Zn1-xMgxO ( <= x <= 0.1) ceramics were fabricated by conventional solid-state reaction of co-precipitated zinc oxide and magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles. Structural and morphological properties of the fabricated ceramics were studied using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic analysis. The dielectric measurements of the ceramics were carried out as a function of frequency and temperature respectively. Interestingly, Mg doped ZnO (MZO) samples exhibited colossal dielectric response (similar to 1 x 10(4) at 1 kHz) with Debye like relaxation. The detailed dielectric studies and thermal analyses showed that the unusual dielectric response of the samples were originated from the defected grain and grain boundary (GB) conductivity relaxations due to the absorbed atmospheric water vapor (moisture). Impedance spectroscopy was employed to determine the defected grain and GB resistances, capacitances and which supported Maxwell-Wagner type relaxation phenomena. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.