Influence of voltage and frequency dimming on power losses in hf electronic ballasts for compact fluorescent lamps

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) incorporating electronic ballasts are widely used in lighting. In many cases, the ability to dim the lamp is a requirement. Dimming can be achieved by varying the switching frequency of the inverter or by changing the voltage supplied to the inverter. The effect of dimming by both approaches on the power losses in the inverter is studied in this work. The lamp and associated inverter has been modeled in Pspice, using a behavioral model for the CFL. Predicted losses are in good agreement with experimental data obtained from calorimetry. After verification, the model was then used to determine the distribution of losses within the inverter, enabling a comparison of the effects of the two dimming methods to be made. © 2011 IEEE.

Compact three-dimensional silicon termination solutions for high voltage SOI SuperJunction

This paper demonstrates and discusses novel "three dimensional" silicon based junction isolation/termination solutions suitable for high density ultra-low-resistance Lateral Super-Junction structures. The proposed designs are both compact and effective in safely distributing the electrostatic potential away from the active device area. The designs are based on the utilization of existing layers in the device fabrication line, hence resulting in no extra complexity or cost increase. The study/demonstration is done through extensive experimental measurements and numerical simulations. © 2012 IEEE.

Design of a compact reconfigurable optical interconnection using nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator

The wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) has been proposed as a promising technology to efficiently use the available bandwidth of a single optical fibre. This can be achieved by transmitting different channels on the optical fibre with each channel modulating a different wavelength. The aim of this paper is to propose a compact design (35 mm×65 mm) of a reconfigurable holographic optical switch in order to access and manipulate 4 channels at a node of a fibre-optic communication network. A vital component of such a switch is a nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator offering control and flexibility at the channel manipulation stage and providing the ability to redirect light into the desired output fibre. This is achieved by the use of a 2-D analogue phase computer generated hologram (CGH) based on liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) technology. © 2012 SPIE.

Compact multimode polymer waveguide bends for board-level optical interconnects

Multimode polymer waveguides are promising for use in board-level optical interconnects. In recent years, various on-board optical interconnection architectures have been demonstrated making use of passive routing waveguide components. In particular, 90° bends have played important roles in complex waveguide layouts enabling interconnection between non co-linear points on a board. Due to the dimensions and index step of the waveguides typically used in on-board optical interconnects, low-loss bends are typically limited to a radius of ∼ 10 mm. This paper therefore presents the design and fabrication of compact low-loss waveguide bends with reduced radii of curvature, offering significant reductions in the required areas for on-board optical circuits. The proposed design relies on the exposure of the bend section to the air, achieving tighter light confinement along the bend and reduced bending losses. Simulation studies carried out with ray tracing tools and experimental results from polymer samples fabricated on FR4 are presented. Low bending losses are achieved from the air-exposed bends up to 4 mm of radius of curvature, while an improvement of 14 μm in the 1 dB alignment tolerances at the input of these devices (fibre to waveguide coupling) is also obtained. Finally, the air-exposed bends are employed in an optical bus structure, offering reductions in insertion loss of up to 3.8 dB. © 2013 IEEE.

Award Winner in the Young Investigator Category, 2014 Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting and Exposition, Denver, Colorado, April 16-19, 2014: Periodically perforated core-shell collagen biomaterials balance cell infiltration, bioactivity, and mechanical properties.

Orthopedic tissue engineering requires biomaterials with robust mechanics as well as adequate porosity and permeability to support cell motility, proliferation, and new extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. While collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffolds have been developed for a range of tissue engineering applications, they exhibit poor mechanical properties. Building on previous work in our lab that described composite CG biomaterials containing a porous scaffold core and nonporous CG membrane shell inspired by mechanically efficient core-shell composites in nature, this study explores an approach to improve cellular infiltration and metabolic health within these core-shell composites. We use indentation analyses to demonstrate that CG membranes, while less permeable than porous CG scaffolds, show similar permeability to dense materials such as small intestine submucosa (SIS). We also describe a simple method to fabricate CG membranes with organized arrays of microscale perforations. We demonstrate that perforated membranes support improved tenocyte migration into CG scaffolds, and that migration is enhanced by platelet-derived growth factor BB-mediated chemotaxis. CG core-shell composites fabricated with perforated membranes display scaffold-membrane integration with significantly improved tensile properties compared to scaffolds without membrane shells. Finally, we show that perforated membrane-scaffold composites support sustained tenocyte metabolic activity as well as improved cell infiltration and reduced expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α compared to composites with nonperforated membranes. These results will guide the design of improved biomaterials for tendon repair that are mechanically competent while also supporting infiltration of exogenous cells and other extrinsic mediators of wound healing.

Waveguide based compact silicon Schottky photodetector with enhanced responsivity in the telecom spectral band.

We experimentally demonstrate an on-chip compact and simple to fabricate silicon Schottky photodetector for telecom wavelengths operating on the basis of internal photoemission process. The device is realized using CMOS compatible approach of local-oxidation of silicon, which enables the realization of the photodetector and low-loss bus photonic waveguide at the same fabrication step. The photodetector demonstrates enhanced internal responsivity of 12.5mA/W for operation wavelength of 1.55µm corresponding to an internal quantum efficiency of 1%, about two orders of magnitude higher than our previously demonstrated results [22]. We attribute this improved detection efficiency to the presence of surface roughness at the boundary between the materials forming the Schottky contact. The combination of enhanced quantum efficiency together with a simple fabrication process provides a promising platform for the realization of all silicon photodetectors and their integration with other nanophotonic and nanoplasmonic structures towards the construction of monolithic silicon opto-electronic circuitry on-chip.

The production of radionuclides for nuclear medicine from a compact, low-energy accelerator system.

The field of nuclear medicine is reliant on radionuclides for medical imaging procedures and radioimmunotherapy (RIT). The recent shut-downs of key radionuclide producers have highlighted the fragility of the current radionuclide supply network, however. To ensure that nuclear medicine can continue to grow, adding new diagnostic and therapy options to healthcare, novel and reliable production methods are required. Siemens are developing a low-energy, high-current - up to 10MeV and 1mA respectively - accelerator. The capability of this low-cost, compact system for radionuclide production, for use in nuclear medicine procedures, has been considered.

800V lateral IGBT in bulk Si for low power compact SMPS applications

An 800V rated lateral IGBT for high frequency, low-cost off-line applications has been developed. The LIGBT features a new method of adjusting the bipolar gain, based on a floating N+ stripe in front of the P+ anode/drain region. The floating N+ layer enhances the carrier recombination at the anode/drain side of the drift region resulting in a very significant decrease in the turn-off speed and substantially lower overall losses. Switching speeds as low as 140ns at 25oC and 300ns at 125oC have been achieved with corresponding equivalent Rdson at 125oC below 90mω.cm2. A fully operational AC-DC converter using a controller with an integrated LIGBT+depletion mode MOSFET chip has been designed and qualified in plastic SOP8 packages and used in 5W, 65kHz SMPS applications. The device is fabricated in 0.6μm bulk silicon CMOS technology without any additional masking steps. © 2013 IEEE.

Compact phase shifter based on highly anisotropic liquid crystals for microwave frequency

A compact microwave phase shifter was designed and fabricated using highly anisotropic liquid crystals (LCs). It comprises a thin LC layer between a ground plane and a directly coupled and inverted microstrip line. The proposed folding configuration is beneficial for size reduction. Both simulation and experimental results confirm the compact size devices with reasonably good performance.

Compact Reconfigurable Binary-Decision-Diagram Logic Circuit on a GaAs Nanowire Network

We describe a reconfigurable binary-decision-diagram logic circuit based on Shannon's expansion of Boolean logic function and its graphical representation on a semiconductor nanowire network. The circuit is reconfigured by using programmable switches that electrically connect and disconnect a small number of branches. This circuit has a compact structure with a small number of devices compared with the conventional look-up table architecture. A variable Boolean logic circuit was fabricated on an etched GaAs nanowire network having hexagonal topology with Schottky wrap gates and SiN-based programmable switches, and its correct logic operation together with dynamic reconfiguration was demonstrated.

Design of a compact polarizing beam splitter based on a photonic crystal ring resonator with a triangular lattice

We propose and simulate a new kind of compact polarizing beam splitter (PBS) based on a photonic crystal ring resonator (PCRR) with complete photonic bandgaps. The two polarized states are separated far enough by resonant and nonresonant coupling between the waveguide modes and the microring modes. Some defect holes are utilized to control the beam propagation. The simulated results obtained by the finite-difference time-domain method show that high transmission (over 95%) is obtained and the polarization separation is realized with a length as short as 3.1 mu m. The design of the proposed PBS can be flexible, thanks to the advantages of PCRRs.

Compact voltage-mode multi-valued literal gate using nanoscale ballistic MOSFETs

A CMOS voltage-mode multi-valued literal gate is presented. The ballistic electron transport characteristic of nanoscale MOSFETs is smartly used to compactly achieve universal radix-4 literal operations. The proposed literal gates have small numbers of transistors and low power dissipations, which makes them promising for future nanoscale multi-valued circuits. The gates are simulated by HSPICE.