A Radial Stub Test Circuit for Microwave Power Devices

With the principles of microwave circuits and semiconductor device physics, two microwave power device test circuits combined with a test fixture are designed and simulated, whose properties are evaluated by a parameter network analyzer within the frequency range from 3 to 8GHz. The simulation and experimental results verify that the test circuit with a radial stub is better than that without. As an example, a C-band AlGaN/GaN HEMT microwave power device is tested with the designed circuit and fixture. With a 5.4GHz microwave input signal, the maximum gain is 8.75dB, and the maximum output power is 33.2dBm.

Simulation of a Monolithic Integrated CMOS Preamplifier for Neural Recordings

A monolithic integrated CMOS preamplifier is presented for neural recording applications. Two AC-coupied capacitors are used to eliminate the large and random DC offsets existing in the electrode-electrolyte interface. Diode-connected nMOS transistors with a negative voltage between the gate and source are candidates for the large resistors necessary for the preamplifier. A novel analysis is given to determine the noise power spectral density. Simulation results show that the two-stage CMOS preamplifier in a closed-loop capacitive feedback configuration provides an AC in-band gain of 38.8dB,a DC gain of 0,and an input-referred noise of 277nVmax, integrated from 0. 1Hz to 1kHz. The preamplifier can eliminate the DC offset voltage and has low input-referred noise by novel circuit configuration and theoretical analysis.

An Improved Driving Circuit for Thermo-Optical Switch to Improve the Reliability of Thermo-Optical Switch Matrix

The influence of the heaters on the reliability of the thermo-optic (TO) switch matrix is analyzed and an improved driving circuit based on the analyzed results is designed and fabricated. The circuit can improve the reliability of the switch matrix device from 78.87% to 97.04% for a 4×4 optical switch device with a simplified tree structure. The simulation and experimental results show the circuit can provide suitable driving current for TO switch matrix.

Small Signal Equivalent Circuit Model and Modulation Properties of Vertical Cavity-Surface Emitting Lasers

Small signal equivalent circuit model and modulation properties of vertical cavity-surface emitting lasers (VCSEL's) are presented. The modulation properties both in analytic-equation calculation and in circuit model simulation are studied. The analytic-equation calculation of the modulation properties is calculated by using Mathcad program and the circuit model simulation is simulation is simulated by using Pspice program respectively. The results of calculation and the simulation are in good agreement with each other. Experiment is performed to testify the circuit model.

Small signal equivalent circuit model of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

Small signal equivalent circuit model of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL's) is given in this paper. The modulation properties of VCSEL are simulated using this model in Pspice program. The simulation results are good agree with experiment data. Experiment is performed to testify the circuit model.

Simulation of micromegas detector by garfield program

In this paper, a batch file which describes the detailed structure and the corresponding physical process of Micro-Mesh Gaseous Structure (Micromegas) detector, the macro commands and the control structures based on the Garfield program has been developed. And using the Garfield program controlled by this batch file, the detector's gain and spatial resolution have been investigated under different conditions. These results obtained by the simulation program not only exhibit the influences of the mesh and drift voltage, the mixture gas proportion, the distance between the mesh cathode and the printed circuit board readout anode, and the Lines Per Inch of the mesh cathode on the gain and spatial resolution of the detector, but also are very important to optimize the design, shorten the experimental period, and save cost during the detector development. Additionally, they also indicate that the Garfield program is a powerful tool for the Micromegas detector design and optimization.

Design and simulation of charge sensitive preamplifier with CMOS FET implemented as feedback capacitor C-fp

In this paper, to design a new preamplifier for optimum performances with charged-particle or heavy-ion detectors, the CMOS FET is implemented as a feedback capacitor C-fp, so that the entire system should be built only with MOSFET. This work is a revolution design because to realize an ASIC for a preamplifier circuit, the capacitor will also be included. We succeed after a simulation to maintain a rise time less than 3 ns, the output resistance less than 94 Omega and the linearity almost good.

Quench Protection Design and Simulation of a 7 Tesla Superconducting Magnet

A 7 Tesla superconducting magnet with a clear warm bore of 156 mm in diameter has been developed for Lanzhou Penning Trap at the Institute of Modern Physics for high precision mass measurement. The magnet is comprised of 9 solenoid coils and operates in persistent mode with a total energy of 2.3 MJ. Due to the considerable amount of energy stored during persistent mode operation, the quench protection system is very important when designing and operating the magnet. A passive protection system based on a subdivided scheme is adopted to protect the superconducting magnet from damage caused by quenching. Cold diodes and resistors are put across the subdivision to reduce both the voltage and temperature hot spots. Computational simulations have been carried in Opera-quench. The designed quench protection circuit and the finite element method model for quench simulations are described; the time changing of temperature, voltage and current decay during the quench process is also analysed.

Developing wireless measurement system for building deployed capacitive sensors with optimized RF front end circuit

In this paper, a prototype of miniaturized, low power, bi-directional wireless sensor node for wireless sensor networks (WSN) was designed for doors and windows building monitoring. The capacitive pressure sensors have been developed particularly for such application, where packaging size and minimization of the power requirements of the sensors are the major drivers. The capacitive pressure sensors have been fabricated using a 2.4 mum thick strain compensated heavily boron doped SiGeB diaphragm is presented. In order to integrate the sensors with the wireless module, the sensor dice was wire bonded onto TO package using chip on board (COB) technology. The telemetric link and its capabilities to send information for longer range have been significantly improved using a new design and optimization process. The simulation tool employed for this work was the Designerreg tool from Ansoft Corporation.

A simulation-based design method to transfer surface mount RF system to flip-chip die implementation

The flip-chip technology is a high chip density solution to meet the demand for very large scale integration design. For wireless sensor node or some similar RF applications, due to the growing requirements for the wearable and implantable implementations, flip-chip appears to be a leading technology to realize the integration and miniaturization. In this paper, flip-chip is considered as part of the whole system to affect the RF performance. A simulation based design is presented to transfer the surface mount PCB board to the flip-chip die package for the RF applications. Models are built by Q3D Extractor to extract the equivalent circuit based on the parasitic parameters of the interconnections, for both bare die and wire-bonding technologies. All the parameters and the PCB layout and stack-up are then modeled in the essential parts' design of the flip-chip RF circuit. By implementing simulation and optimization, a flip-chip package is re-designed by the parameters given by simulation sweep. Experimental results fit the simulation well for the comparison between pre-optimization and post-optimization of the bare die package's return loss performance. This design method could generally be used to transfer any surface mount PCB to flip-chip package for the RF systems or to predict the RF specifications of a RF system using the flip-chip technology.

Polymer waveguide and VCSEL array multi-physics modelling for OECB based optical backplanes [opto-electrical circuit boards]

The deployment of OECBs (opto-electrical circuit boards) is expected to make a significant impact in the telecomm switches arena within the next five years. This will create optical backplanes with high speed point-to-point optical interconnects. The crucial aspect in the manufacturing process of the optical backplane is the successful coupling between VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) device and embedded waveguide in the OECB. The results from a thermo-mechanical analysis are being used in a purely optical model, which solves optical energy and attenuation from the VCSEL aperture into, and then through, the waveguide. Results from the modelling are being investigated using DOE analysis to identify packaging parameters that minimise misalignment. This is achieved via a specialist optimisation software package. Results from the thermomechanical and optical models are discussed as are experimental results from the DOE.

Multiphysics simulation of microwave curing in micro-electronics packaging applications

Purpose – This paper aims to present an open-ended microwave curing system for microelectronics components and a numerical analysis framework for virtual testing and prototyping of the system, enabling design of physical prototypes to be optimized, expediting the development process. Design/methodology/approach – An open-ended microwave oven system able to enhance the cure process for thermosetting polymer materials utilised in microelectronics applications is presented. The system is designed to be mounted on a precision placement machine enabling curing of individual components on a circuit board. The design of the system allows the heating pattern and heating rate to be carefully controlled optimising cure rate and cure quality. A multi-physics analysis approach has been adopted to form a numerical model capable of capturing the complex coupling that exists between physical processes. Electromagnetic analysis has been performed using a Yee finite-difference time-domain scheme, while an unstructured finite volume method has been utilized to perform thermophysical analysis. The two solvers are coupled using a sampling-based cross-mapping algorithm. Findings – The numerical results obtained demonstrate that the numerical model is able to obtain solutions for distribution of temperature, rate of cure, degree of cure and thermally induced stresses within an idealised polymer load heated by the proposed microwave system. Research limitations/implications – The work is limited by the absence of experimentally derived material property data and comparative experimental results. However, the model demonstrates that the proposed microwave system would seem to be a feasible method of expediting the cure rate of polymer materials. Originality/value – The findings of this paper will help to provide an understanding of the behaviour of thermosetting polymer materials during microwave cure processing.

6-T SRAM cell design with nanoscale double-gate SOI MOSFETs: impact of source/drain engineering and circuit topology

The impact of source/drain engineering on the performance of a six-transistor (6-T) static random access memory (SRAM) cell, based on 22 nm double-gate (DG) SOI MOSFETs, has been analyzed using mixed-mode simulation, for three different circuit topologies for low voltage operation. The trade-offs associated with the various conflicting requirements relating to read/write/standby operations have been evaluated comprehensively in terms of eight performance metrics, namely retention noise margin, static noise margin, static voltage/current noise margin, write-ability current, write trip voltage/current and leakage current. Optimal design parameters with gate-underlap architecture have been identified to enhance the overall SRAM performance, and the influence of parasitic source/drain resistance and supply voltage scaling has been investigated. A gate-underlap device designed with a spacer-to-straggle (s/sigma) ratio in the range 2-3 yields improved SRAM performance metrics, regardless of circuit topology. An optimal two word-line double-gate SOI 6-T SRAM cell design exhibits a high SNM similar to 162 mV, I-wr similar to 35 mu A and low I-leak similar to 70 pA at V-DD = 0.6 V, while maintaining SNM similar to 30% V-DD over the supply voltage (V-DD) range of 0.4-0.9 V.

Electromagnetic atmosphere-plasma coupling: the global atmospheric electric circuit

A description is given of the global atmospheric electric circuit operating between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Attention is drawn to the huge range of horizontal and vertical spatial scales, ranging from 10−9 m to 1012 m, concerned with the many important processes at work. A similarly enormous range of time scales is involved from 10−6 s to 109 s, in the physical effects and different phenomena that need to be considered. The current flowing in the global circuit is generated by disturbed weather such as thunderstorms and electrified rain/shower clouds, mostly occurring over the Earth’s land surface. The profile of electrical conductivity up through the atmosphere, determined mainly by galactic cosmic ray ionization, is a crucial parameter of the circuit. Model simulation results on the variation of the ionospheric potential, ∼250 kV positive with respect to the Earth’s potential, following lightning discharges and sprites are summarized. Experimental results comparing global circuit variations with the neutron rate recorded at Climax, Colorado, are then discussed. Within the return (load) part of the circuit in the fair weather regions remote from the generators, charge layers exist on the upper and lower edges of extensive layer clouds; new experimental evidence for these charge layers is also reviewed. Finally, some directions for future research in the subject are suggested.

Simulation of a diffusion driven mobile robot

In this paper, we investigate the possibility to control a mobile robot via a sensory-motory coupling utilizing diffusion system. For this purpose, we implemented a simulation of the diffusion process of chemicals and the kinematics of the mobile robot. In comparison to the original Braitenberg vehicle in which sensorymotor coupling is tightly realised by hardwiring, our system employs the soft coupling. The mobile robot has two sets of independent sensory-motor unit, two sensors are implemented in front and two motors on each side of the robot. The framework used for the sensory-motor coupling was such that 1) Place two electrodes in the medium 2) Drop a certain amount of Chemical U and V related to the distance to the walls and the intensity of the light 3) Place other two electrodes in the medium 4) Measure the concentration of Chemical U and V to actuate the motors on both sides of the robot. The environment was constructed with four surrounding walls and a light source located at the center. Depending on the design parameters and initial conditions, the robot was able to successfully avoid the wall and light. More interestingly, the diffusion process in the sensory-motor coupling provided the robot with a simple form of memory which would not have been possible with a control framework based on a hard-wired electric circuit.