Generation of Minimum Leakage Input Vectors with Constrained NBTI Degradation

Technology scaling has caused Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) to emerge as a major circuit reliability concern. Simultaneously leakage power is becoming a greater fraction of the total power dissipated by logic circuits. As both NBTI and leakage power are highly dependent on vectors applied at the circuit’s inputs, they can be minimized by applying carefully chosen input vectors during periods when the circuit is in standby or idle mode. Unfortunately input vectors that minimize leakage power are not the ones that minimize NBTI degradation, so there is a need for a methodology to generate input vectors that minimize both of these variables.This paper proposes such a systematic methodology for the generation of input vectors which minimize leakage power under the constraint that NBTI degradation does not exceed a specified limit. These input vectors can be applied at the primary inputs of a circuit when it is in standby/idle mode and are such that the gates dissipate only a small amount of leakage power and also allow a large majority of the transistors on critical paths to be in the “recovery” phase of NBTI degradation. The advantage of this methodology is that allowing circuit designers to constrain NBTI degradation to below a specified limit enables tighter guardbanding, increasing performance. Our methodology guarantees that the generated input vector dissipates the least leakage power among all the input vectors that satisfy the degradation constraint. We formulate the problem as a zero-one integer linear program and show that this formulation produces input vectors whose leakage power is within 1% of a minimum leakage vector selected by a search algorithm and simultaneously reduces NBTI by about 5.75% of maximum circuit delay as compared to the worst case NBTI degradation. Our paper also proposes two new algorithms for the identification of circuit paths that are affected the most by NBTI degradation. The number of such paths identified by our algorithms are an order of magnitude fewer than previously proposed heuristics.

Morphological study of nitrides of NbTi (50:50, by weight) alloy

Plates of NbTi (50:50, by weight) were nitrided in a nitrogen atmosphere in the temperature range 800-1000 °C for 15, 30, 60, 120 and 180 min. X-Ray diffraction and optical and electronic microscopy were used to characterize the samples. Two nitride layers were identified on the substrate: an external and continuous phase of TiN, named δ, and a deeper and discontinuous phase of Ti 2N, named ε{lunate}. The electron micrographs reveal the presence of paths rich in Nb which may be responsible for the diffusion of nitrogen into the matrix. © 1993.

Methods of patterning magnetic fields using bulk superconductors

High Temperature superconductors are able to carry very high current densities, and thereby sustain very high magnetic fields. There are many projects which use the first property and these have concentrated on power generation, transmission and utilization, however there are relatively few which are currently exploiting the ability to sustain high magnetic fields. There are two main reasons for this: high field wound magnets can and have been made from both BSCCO and YBCO but currently their cost is much higher than the alternative provided by low Tc materials such as Nb3Sn and NbTi. An alternative form of the material is the bulk form which can be magnetized to high fields and using flux pumping this can be done in situ. This paper explores some of the applications of bulk superconductors and describes methods of producing field patterns using the highly uniform magnetic fields required for MRI and accelerator magnets as the frame of reference. The patterns are not limited to uniform fields and it is entirely possible to produce a field varying sinusoidally in space such as would be required for a motor or a generator. The scheme described in this paper describes a dipole magnet such as is found in an accelerator magnet. The tunnel is 30 × 50 × 1000 mm and we achieve a uniformity of better than 200 ppm over the 1000 mm length and better than 1 ppm over the central 500 mm region. The paper presents results for both the overall uniformity and the integrated uniformity which is 302 ppm over the 1000 mm length. © 2010 IEEE.

A finite element model of magnetization of superconducting bulks using a solid-state flux pump

Superconductors have a bright future; they are able to carry very high current densities, switch rapidly in electronic circuits, detect extremely small perturbations in magnetic fields, and sustain very high magnetic fields. Of most interest to large-scale electrical engineering applications are the ability to carry large currents and to provide large magnetic fields. There are many projects that use the first property, and these have concentrated on power generation, transmission, and utilization; however, there are relatively few, which are currently exploiting the ability to sustain high magnetic fields. The main reason for this is that high field wound magnets can and have been made from both BSCCO and YBCO, but currently, their cost is much higher than the alternative provided by low-Tc materials such as Nb3Sn and NbTi. An alternative form of the material is the bulk form, which can be magnetized to high fields. This paper explains the mechanism, which allows superconductors to be magnetized without the need for high field magnets to perform magnetization. A finite-element model is presented, which is based on the E-J current law. Results from this model show how magnetization of the superconductor builds up cycle upon cycle when a traveling magnetic wave is induced above the superconductor. © 2011 IEEE.

A 3 Tesla Superconducting Magnet for Hall Sensor Calibration

A 3 T superconducting magnet with a 70 mm diameter warm bore and energy storage of 47 kJ has been successfully fabricated and tested, which can be used to calibrate Hall sensors in high magnetic field as well as conduct superconducting experiments. The magnet consists of three solenoid coils and an iron yoke. The homogeneity of the magnetic field in the region of interest (ROI) is +/- 6.0 x 10(-5). The coils of the magnet were fabricated with NbTi-Cu superconducting wire and the stray magnetic field is shielded by an iron yoke. The coils and yoke are fully immersed in a helium vessel. The optimized structural design, stress and quench simulation, fabrication and test results are presented in this paper.

3T超导螺线管的研制

超导螺线管广泛应用于核磁共振仪、粒子探测器等设备。本文设计了中心场值为3T，中心附近Φ30mm区域内均匀度达到1×10-4的超导螺线管。磁体线圈采用多芯NbTi-Cu复合超导线绕制，并利用铁轭屏蔽漏场。磁体采用温孔冷铁轭、全浸泡冷却方式结构。同时，为了减少辐射漏热，采用液氮冷屏、真空多层绝热结构。 本文重点对带有冷铁轭的超导螺线管的磁场进行了优化设计。设计过程中结合了专业磁场计算软件OPERA和多种优化方法。线圈采用六次槽型结构，利用遗传算法和优选法优化线圈尺寸；铁轭采用正交试验设计优化尺寸。 利用有限元软件ANSYS对超导磁体进行电磁力分析，并且对降温后线圈、支撑筒和箍筒的热应力进行了模拟计算。估算了支撑系统的传导漏热、磁体的辐射漏热以及剩余气体漏热。详细介绍了超导磁体绕制工艺，超导磁体液氦杜瓦的加工工艺，并且对杜瓦的绝热工艺进行了介绍。最后介绍了超导螺线管的总体加工进展

Development of a new epoxy resin for superconducting magnet impregnation

A novel epoxy resin system based on a low viscosity Bisphenol-A (DGEBA)/Bisphenol-F (DGEBF) blend has been investigated for use in tight-wound superconducting magnet impregnation. The principle is to decrease the Bisphenol-A resin system viscosity by adding the low viscosity Bisphenol-F resin. The rheological and mechanical properties of the blend system are compared to the pure Bisphenol-A resin and also to the Bisphenol-F resin both cured with acid anhydride. For the vacuum/pressure impregnation, both the pure Bisphenol-F resin system and DGEBA/DGEBF blend system can be applied without S-glass fabric between coil layers due to its higher rigidity at low temperature and good resistance to thermal shock. This resin system have been tested for impregnation of copper and NbTi wire wound coils whilst Bisphenol-A resin system have been used for testing Nb3Sn coil impregnation where S-glass braid is present as wire insulation.

Design, manufacturing, and testing of a Nb3Sn coil employing Ti alloy as structural material

We describe the design, manufacturing, and testing results of a Nb3Sn superconducting coil in which TiAIV alloys were used instead of stainless steel to reduce the magnetization contribution caused by the heat treatment for the A-15 Nb-3 Sn phase formation that affects the magnetic field homogeneity. Prior to the coil manufacturing several structural materials were studied and evaluated in terms of their mechanical and magnetic properties in as-worked, welded, and heat-treated conditions. The manufacturing process employed the wind-and-react technique followed by vacuum-pressure impregnation(VPI) at 1 MPa atm. The critical steps of the manufacturing process, besides the heat treatment and impregnation, are the wire splicing and joint manufacturing in which copper posts supported by Si3N4 ceramic were used. The coil was tested with and without a background NbTi coil and the results have shown performance exceeding the design quench current confirming the successful coil construction.

Evaluation of preisach model of hysteresis to model superconductors

The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The project is divided in phases. The first one goes from 2009 until 2020. The second phase will consist of the implementation of upgrades. One of the upgrades is to increase the ratio of collision, the luminosity. This objective is the main of one of the most important projects which is carrying out the upgrades: Hi-Lumi LHC project. Increasing luminosity could be done by using a new material in the superconductor magnets placed at the interaction points: Nb3Sn, instead of NbTi, the one being used right now. Before implementing it many aspects should be analysed. One of them is the induction magnetic field quality. The tool used so far has been ROXIE, software developed at CERN by S. Russenschuck. One of the main features of the programme is the time-transient analysis, which is based on three mathematical models. It is quite precise for fields above 1.5 Tesla. However, they are not very accurate for lower fields. Therefore the aim of this project is to evaluate a more accurate model: Classical Preisach Model of Hysteresis, in order to better analyse induced field quality in the new material Nb3Sn. Resumen: El Gran Colisionador de Hadrones es el mayor acelerador de partículas circular del mundo. Se trata de uno de los mayores proyectos de investigación. La primera fase de funcionamiento comprende desde 2009 a 2020, cuando comenzará la siguiente fase. Durante el primer periodo se han pensado mejoras para que puedan ser implementadas en la segunda fase. Una de ellas es el aumento del ratio de las colisiones entre protones por choque. Este es el principal objetivo de uno de los proyectos que está llevando a cabo las mejoras a ser implementadas en 2020: Hi- Lumi LHC. Se cambiarán los imanes superconductores de NbTi de las dos zonas principales de interacción, y se sustituirán por imanes de Nb3Sn. Esta sustituciónn conlleva un profundo estudio previo. Entre otros, uno de los factores a analizar es la calidad del campo magnético. La herramienta utilizada es el software desarrollado por S. Russenschuck en el CERN llamado ROXIE. Está basado en tres modelos de magnetización, los cuales son precisos para campos mayores de 1.5 T. Sin embargo, no lo son tanto para campos menores. Con este proyecto se pretende evaluar la implementación de un cuarto modelo, el modelo clásico de histéresis de Preisach que permita llevar a cabo un mejor análisis de la calidad del campo inducido por el futuro material a utilizar en algunos de los imanes.