Enhanced transduction methods for electrostatically driven MEMS resonators

Electrically addressed silicon bulk acoustic wave microresonators offer high Q solutions for applications in sensing and signal processing. However, the electrically transduced motional signal is often swamped by parasitic feedthrough in hybrid technologies. With the aim of enhancing the ratio of the motional to feedthrough current at nominal operating voltages, this paper benchmarks a variety of drive and detection principles for electrostatically driven square-extensional mode resonators operating in air and in a foundry MEMS process utilizing 2μm gaps. A new detection technique, combining second harmonic capacitive actuation and piezoresistive detection, outperforms previously reported methods utilizing voltages as low as ± 3V in air providing a promising solution for low voltage CMOS-MEMS integration. ©2009 IEEE.

Análisis de la influencia de los sistemas de puesta a tierra en la eficiencia de instalaciones eléctricas de baja tensión residenciales e industriales.

[EN]Nowadays, global society is more aware of electrical energy’s risks than never before, and electrical safety has turned a priority when a new installation is designed. So, a great protection to an unwanted electric hazard is required, being specially careful with indirect contacts. If a circuit has an insulation failure and an indirect contact is produced, there is risk of an accidental electrocution, risk that must be avoided by making a good choice of the grounding methodology and properly coordinating the electrical protections in the installation. In order to minimize that risk, a study of low voltage industrial and residential installation’s grounding methodologies is introduced, analyzing the tree grounding methodologies internationally accepted (TT, TN, IT). In addition, two real examples are solved (using a computer-aided engineering software), confirming the results of the theoretical study.

Comparativa de metodologías de cálculo de faltas en redes eléctricas de baja tensión residenciales e industriales.

[ES]Este trabajo se basa en la aplicación de distintas metodologías (norma europea, método fácil y norma americana) para la obtención de las corrientes de cortocircuito en un sistema eléctrico de baja tensión, de forma que se sepa de antemano el valor de dichas corrientes en cualquier punto del circuito para el correcto dimensionamiento de los dispositivos de protección a emplear.

Stepped gate polysilicon thin film transistor for large area power applications

For the first time, we report a new poly-Si stepped gate Thin Film Transistor (SG TFT) on glass. The Density of States extracted from measured I-V characteristics has been used to evaluate the device performance with a two dimensional device simulator. The results show that the three-terminal SG TFT device has a switching speed comparable to a low voltage structure and the high on-current capability of a metal field plate (MFP) TFT and the potential for comparable breakdown characteristics.

Effect of gate dielectric scaling in nanometer scale vertical thin film transistors

A short channel vertical thin film transistor (VTFT) with 30 nm SiN x gate dielectric is reported for low voltage, high-resolution active matrix applications. The device demonstrates an ON/OFF current ratio as high as 10 9, leakage current in the fA range, and a sub-threshold slope steeper than 0.23 V/dec exhibiting a marked improvement with scaling of the gate dielectric thickness. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Plasma enhancement of current from carbon cathodes for field emission displays

This paper examines the possibility of using a background gas medium to enhance the current available from low threshold carbon cathodes. The field emission current is used to initiate a plasma in the gas medium, and thereby achieve a current multiplication effect. Results on the variation of anode current as a function of electric field and gas pressure are presented. These are compared with model calculations to verify the principles of operation. The influence of ion bombardment on the long term performance thin film carbon cathodes is examined for He and Ar multiplication plasmas. A measure of the influence of current multiplication on display quality is presented by examining light output from two standard low voltage phosphors. Also studied are the influence of doping the carbon with N to lower the threshold voltage for emission as well as the consequent impact on anode current from the plasma.

Energy recovery from high-frequency clocks using DC-DC converters

Large digital chips use a significant amount of energy to distribute a multi-GHz clock. By discharging the clock network to ground every cycle, the energy stored in this large capacitor is wasted. Instead, the energy can be recovered using an on-chip DC-DC converter. This paper investigates the integration of two DC-DC converter topologies, boost and buck-boost, with a high-speed clock driver. The high operating frequency significantly shrinks the required size of the L and C components so they can be placed on-chip; typical converters place them off-chip. The clock driver and DC-DC converter are able to share the entire tapered buffer chain, including the widest drive transistors in the final stage. To achieve voltage regulation, the clock duty cycle must be modulated; implying only single-edge-triggered flops should be used. However, this minor drawback is eclipsed by the benefits: by recovering energy from the clock, the output power can actually exceed the additional power needed to operate the converter circuitry, resulting in an effective efficiency greater than 100%. Furthermore, the converter output can be used to operate additional power-saving features like low-voltage islands or body bias voltages. ©2008 IEEE.

Conduction bottleneck in silicon nanochain single electron transistors operating at room temperature

Single electron transistors are fabricated on single Si nanochains, synthesised by thermal evaporation of SiO solid sources. The nanochains consist of one-dimensional arrays of ~10nm Si nanocrystals, separated by SiO 2 regions. At 300 K, strong Coulomb staircases are seen in the drain-source current-voltage (I ds-V ds) characteristics, and single-electron oscillations are seen in the drain-source current-gate voltage (I ds-V ds) characteristics. From 300-20 K, a large increase in the Coulomb blockade region is observed. The characteristics are explained using singleelectron Monte Carlo simulation, where an inhomogeneous multiple tunnel junction represents a nanochain. Any reduction in capacitance at a nanocrystal well within the nanochain creates a conduction " bottleneck", suppressing current at low voltage and improving the Coulomb staircase. The single-electron charging energy at such an island can be very high, ~20k BT at 300 K. © 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

Electron-beam-induced direct etching of graphene

We present electron-beam-induced oxidation of single- and bilayer graphene devices in a low-voltage scanning electron microscope. We show that the injection of oxygen leads to targeted etching at the focal point, enabling us to pattern graphene with a resolution of better than 20 nm. Voltage-contrast imaging, in conjunction with finite-element simulations, explain the secondary-electron intensities and correlate them to the etch profile. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimising the dynamic performance of an all-wide-bandgap cascode switch

A SPICE simulation model of a novel cascode switch that combines a high voltage normally-on silicon carbide (SiC) junction field effect transistor (JFET) with a low voltage enhancement-mode gallium nitride field effect transistor (eGaN FET) has been developed, with the aim of optimising cascode switching performance. The effect of gate resistance on stability and switching losses is investigated and optimum values chosen. The effects of stray inductance on cascode switching performance are considered and the benefits of low inductance packaging discussed. The use of a positive JFET gate bias in a cascode switch is shown to reduce switching losses as well as reducing on-state losses. The findings of the simulation are used to produce a list of priorities for the design and layout of wide-bandgap cascode switches, relevant to both SiC and GaN high voltage devices. © 2013 IEEE.

Stretchable liquid-crystal blue-phase gels.

Liquid-crystalline polymers are materials of considerable scientific interest and technological value. An important subset of these materials exhibit rubber-like elasticity, combining the optical properties of liquid crystals with the mechanical properties of rubber. Moreover, they exhibit behaviour not seen in either type of material independently, and many of their properties depend crucially on the particular mesophase employed. Such stretchable liquid-crystalline polymers have previously been demonstrated in the nematic, chiral-nematic, and smectic mesophases. Here, we report the fabrication of a stretchable gel of blue phase I, which forms a self-assembled, three-dimensional photonic crystal that remains electro-optically switchable under a moderate applied voltage, and whose optical properties can be manipulated by an applied strain. We also find that, unlike its undistorted counterpart, a mechanically deformed blue phase exhibits a Pockels electro-optic effect, which sets out new theoretical challenges and possibilities for low-voltage electro-optic devices.

A Fully Integrated 900-MHz Passive RFID Transponder Front End With Novel Zero-Threshold RF-DC Rectifier

This paper presents a fully integrated CMOS analog front end for a passive 900-MHz radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponder. The power supply in this front end is generated from the received RF electromagnetic energy by using an RF-dc voltage rectifier. In order to improve the compatibility with standard CMOS technology, Schottky diodes in conventional RF-dc rectifiers are replaced by diode-connected MOS transistors with zero threshold. Meanwhile, theoretical analyses for the proposed rectifier are provided and verified by both simulation and measurement results. The design considerations of the pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) demodulator and the backscatter modulator in the front end are also discussed for low-power applications. The proposed front end is implemented in a 0.35-mu m 2P4M CMOS technology. The whole chip occupies a die area of 490 x 780 mu m(2) and consumes only 2.1 mu W in reading mode under a self-generated 1.5-V supply voltage. The measurement results show that the proposed rectifier can properly operate with a - 14.7-dBm input RF power at a power conversion efficiency of 13.0%. In the proposed RFID applications, this sensitivity corresponds to 10.88-m communication distance at 4-W equivalent isotropically radiated power from a reader base station.

Design and fabrication of 1.06 mu m resonant-cavity enhanced reflective modulator with GaInAs/GaAs quantum wells

A resonant-cavity enhanced reflective optical modulator is designed and frabricated, with three groups of three highly strained InGaAS/GaAs quantum wells in the cavity, for the low voltage and high contrast ratio operation. The quantum wells are positioned in antinodes of the optical standing wave. The modulator is grown in a single growth step in an molecular beam epitaxy system, using GaAs/AIAs distributed Bragg reflectors as both the top and bottom mirrors. Results show that the reflection device has a modulation extinction of 3 dB at -4.5 V bias.

A novel DC-DC charge pump circuit for passive RFID transponder

This paper presents a low-voltage, high performance charge pump circuit suitable for implementation in standard CMOS technologies. The proposed charge pump has been used as a part of the power supply section of fully integrated passive radio frequency identification(RFID) transponder IC, which has been implemented in a 0.35-um CMOS technology with embedded EEPROM offered by Chartered Semiconductor. The proposed DC/DC charge pump can generate stable output for RFID applications with low power dissipation and high pumping efficiency. The analytical model of the voltage multiplier, the comparison with other charge pumps, the simulation results, and the chip testing results are presented.

VCSEL-based parallel optical transmission module

This paper describes the design process and performance of the optimized parallel optical transmission module. Based on 1x12 VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) array, we designed and fabricated the high speed parallel optical modules. Our parallel optical module contains a 1x12 VCSEL array, a 12 channel CMOS laser driver circuit, a high speed PCB (Printed Circuit Board), a MT fiber connector and a packaging housing. The L-I-V characteristics of the 850nm VCSEL was measured at the operating current 8mA, 3dB frequency bandwidth more than 3GHz and the optical output 1mW. The transmission rate of all 12 channels is 30Gbit/s, with a single channel 2.5Gbit/s. By adopting the integration of the 1x12 VCSEL array and the driver array, we make a high speed PCB (Printed Circuit Board) to provide the optoelectronic chip with the operating voltage and high speed signals current. The LVDS (Low-Voltage Differential Signals) was set as the input signal to achieve better high frequency performance. The active coupling was adopted with a MT connector (8 degrees slant fiber array). We used the Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) packaging. With the edge connector, the module could be inserted into the system dispense with bonding process.