IR uncooled bolometers based on amorphous Ge/sub x/Si/sub 1-x/O/sub y/ on silicon micromachined structures

In this work, we present the fabrication of bulk micromachined microbolometers made of amorphous germanium-silicon-oxygen compounds (Ge/sub x/Si/sub 1-x/O/sub y/) grown by reactive sputtering of a Ge/sub 0.85/Si/sub 0.15/ target. We describe the complete procedure for fabricating thermally isolated microbolometers consisting of Ge/sub x/Si/sub 1-x/O/sub y/ sensing films deposited on sputtered silicon dioxide membranes suspended over a silicon substrate. The electrical properties of the sensitive material are set by controlling the deposition parameters of the sputtering technique. Under optimum deposition conditions, Ge/sub x/Si/sub 1-x/O/sub y/ layers with moderate electrical resistivity and thermal coefficient at room temperature as high as -4.2% /spl middot/ K/sup -1/ can be obtained. Isolated structures measured at atmospheric pressure in air have a thermal conductance of 3 /spl times/ 10/sup -6/ W /spl middot/ K/sup -1/ and a thermal capacitance of 6/spl middot/10/sup -9/ W /spl middot/ s /spl middot/ K/sup -1/, yielding a response time of 1.8 ms. Bolometers with an IR responsivity of 380 V /spl middot/ W/sup -1/ and a NEDT of 3.85 K at 100 nA bias current are obtained. The use of sputtered films allows designing a fully low-temperature fabrication process, wholly compatible with silicon integrated circuit technologies.     

L/sup p/ approximation of Sigma-Pi neural networks

A feedforward Sigma-Pi neural network with a single hidden layer of m neurons is given by /sup m//spl Sigma//sub j=1/c/sub j/g(n/spl Pi//sub k=1/x/sub k/-/spl theta//sub k//sup j///spl lambda//sub k//sup j/) where c/sub j/, /spl theta//sub k//sup j/, /spl lambda//sub k//spl isin/R. We investigate the approximation of arbitrary functions f: R/sup n//spl rarr/R by a Sigma-Pi neural network in the L/sup p/ norm. An L/sup p/ locally integrable function g(t) can approximate any given function, if and only if g(t) can not be written in the form /spl Sigma//sub j=1//sup n//spl Sigma//sub k=0//sup m//spl alpha//sub jk/(ln|t|)/sup j-1/t/sub k/.     

Remarks on the L/sup p/-input converging-state property

Let X /spl sub/ /spl Ropf//sup N/ and consider a system x/spl dot/ = f(x,u), f : X /spl times/ /spl Ropf//sup M/ /spl rarr/ /spl Ropf//sup N/, with the property that the associated autonomous system x/spl dot/ = f (x,0) has an asymptotically stable compactum C with region of attraction A. Assume that x is a solution of the former, defined on [0,/spl infin/), corresponding to an input function u. Assume further that, for each compact K /spl sub/ X, there exists k > 0 such that |f(z,v) - f(z,0)| /spl les/ k|v| for all (z,v) /spl isin/ /spl times/ /spl Ropf//sup M/. A simple proof is given of the following L/sup p/-input converging-state property: if u /spl isin/ L/sup p/ for some p /spl isin/ [1,/spl infin/) and x has an /spl omega/-limit point in A, then x approaches C.     

Single crystal silicon nano-wire piezoresistors for mechanical sensors

A p-type silicon (Si) nano-wire piezoresistor, whose minimum cross-sectional area is 53 nm/spl times/53 nm, was fabricated by combination of thermal diffusion, EB (electron beam) direct writing and RIE (reactive ion etching). The maximum value of longitudinal piezoresistance coefficient /spl pi//sub l[011]/ of the Si nano-wire piezoresistor was found to be 48/spl times/10/sup -5/ (1/MPa) at surface impurity concentration of 5/spl times/10/sup 19/ (cm/sup -3/) and it has enough sensitivity for mechanical sensor applications. The longitudinal piezoresistance coefficient /spl pi//sub l[011]/ of the Si nano-wire piezoresistor increased up to 60% with a decrease in the cross sectional area, while transverse piezoresistance coefficient /spl pi//sub t[011]/ decreased with a increase in the aspect ratio of the cross section. These phenomena were briefly investigated based on a hole energy consideration and FEM (finite element method) stress analysis.     

An exact stability analysis test for single-parameter polynomially-dependent linear systems

We provide a new condition for testing the stability of a single-parameter, polynomially-dependent linear system of polynomial degree N of the form x/spl dot/=A(/spl rho/)x, A(/spl rho/)=/spl Sigma//sub i=0//sup N//spl rho//sup i/ A/sub i/ (1) over a compact interval. The test is nonconservative and can be cast as a convex feasibility problem in terms of a pair of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs).     

Pulsed-laser annealing, a low-thermal-budget technique for eliminating stress gradient in poly-SiGe MEMS structures

In this paper, we demonstrate eliminating the stress gradient in polycrystalline silicon germanium films at temperatures compatible with standard CMOS (Al interconnects) backend processing. First, we study the effect of varying the germanium concentration from 40% to 90%, layer thickness, deposition pressure from 650 to 800 mtorr and deposition temperature from 400 to 450/spl deg/C, on the mechanical properties of SiGe films. Then the effect of excimer laser annealing (248 nm, 38 ns, 780 mJ/cm/sup 2/) on stress gradient is analyzed. It is demonstrated that stress gradient can be eliminated completely by depositing Si/sub x/Ge/sub 1-x/(10%相似文献   

Learning capability and storage capacity of two-hidden-layer feedforward networks

The problem of the necessary complexity of neural networks is of interest in applications. In this paper, learning capability and storage capacity of feedforward neural networks are considered. We markedly improve the recent results by introducing neural-network modularity logically. This paper rigorously proves in a constructive method that two-hidden-layer feedforward networks (TLFNs) with 2/spl radic/(m+2)N (/spl Lt/N) hidden neurons can learn any N distinct samples (x/sub i/, t/sub i/) with any arbitrarily small error, where m is the required number of output neurons. It implies that the required number of hidden neurons needed in feedforward networks can be decreased significantly, comparing with previous results. Conversely, a TLFN with Q hidden neurons can store at least Q/sup 2//4(m+2) any distinct data (x/sub i/, t/sub i/) with any desired precision.     

Magnetic composite electroplating for depositing micromagnets

This paper reports a novel magnetic composite materials deposition technique called magnetic composite electroplating (MCE). Thin films and micromagnets arrays of a composite matrix consisting of magnetic particles and a ferromagnetic alloy have been fabricated based on this technique. In a typical MCE process, magnetic particles are electrochemically and mechanically embedded into electroplated ferromagnetic thin films to form a magnetic particle-alloy composite. The magnetic particle selected is a barium ferrite magnet (BaFe/sub 12/O/sub 19/) and the ferromagnetic matrix is a pulse-reverse electroplated CoNiP alloy. The particle embedded fraction (w.t. %) directly affects magnetic properties and is experimentally determined by its energy dispersive spectrum (EDS). Various factors including electrolyte particle concentration, applied current, electrolyte pH, and the presence of cationic surfactants affecting the particle embedded fraction are experimentally investigated. Arrays of BaFe/sub 12/O/sub 19/-CoNiP magnets with a variety of dimensions and features as small as 8/spl mu/m have been realized by MCE. Experimental analysis shows that the composite exhibits magnetic properties, such as a high coercivity (H/sub c/) of up to 1.75/spl times/10/sup 5/ A/m, particularly well suited for MEMS actuators.     

Notch Root Oxide Formation During Fatigue of Polycrystalline Silicon Structural Films

This paper investigates the fatigue behavior of n⁺-type 2-mum- thick polycrystalline silicon films that exhibit an initially thin (~2-3 nm) native oxide layer. The testing of kilohertz-frequency resonators provided accurate stress-life fatigue data at 30 and 50% relative humidity (RH) in the low (< 10⁶)and high (up to 10¹¹) cycle regimes. Long fatigue life specimens were associated with larger decreases in the natural frequency of the resonator and very smooth failure origins (at the notch) that encompassed several grains. Additional testing at various humidity levels highlighted the critical influence of humidity on the fatigue damage accumulation rate, which was measured via changes in the natural frequency. Finally, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) characterized the formation of a nanometer-scale oxygen-rich reaction layer during cyclic loading. Although AES revealed a thin 2-3-nm initial oxide layer on a control specimen, measurements on a long-life fatigued specimen revealed an increased oxygen concentration over the first 10 nm of the material at the notch root. These findings demonstrate that the reaction-layer fatigue mechanism for silicon structural films operates even when reaction layers are initially very thin.     

Fast parallel algorithm for distance transform

We present an O((log log N)/sup 2/) -time algorithm for computing the distance transform of an N /spl times/ N binary image. Our algorithm is designed for the common concurrent read concurrent write parallel random access machine (CRCW PRAM) and requires O(N/sup 2+/spl epsi///log log N) processors, for any /spl epsi/ such that 0 < /spl epsi/ < 1. Our algorithm is based on a novel deterministic sampling scheme and can be used for computing distance transforms for a very general class of distance functions. We also present a scalable version of our algorithm when the number of processors is available p/sup 2+/spl epsi///log log p for some p < N. In this case, our algorithm runs in O((N/sup 2//p/sup 2/)+(N/p) log log p + (log log p)/sup 2/) time. This scalable algorithm is more practical since usually the number of available processors is much less than the size of the image.     

Many-to-many disjoint path covers in hypercube-like interconnection networks with faulty elements

A many-to-many k-disjoint path cover (k-DPC) of a graph G is a set of k disjoint paths joining k distinct source-sink pairs in which each vertex of G is covered by a path. We deal with the graph G/sub 0/ /spl oplus/ G/sub 1/ obtained from connecting two graphs G/sub 0/ and G/sub 1/ with n vertices each by n pairwise nonadjacent edges joining vertices in G/sub 0/ and vertices in G/sub 1/. Many interconnection networks such as hypercube-like interconnection networks can be represented in the form of G/sub 0/ /spl oplus/ G/sub 1/ connecting two lower dimensional networks G/sub 0/ and G/sub 1/. In the presence of faulty vertices and/or edges, we investigate many-to-many disjoint path coverability of G/sub 0/ /spl oplus/ G/sub 1/ and (G/sub 0/ /spl oplus/ G/sub 1/) /spl oplus/ (G/sub 2/ /spl oplus/ G/sub 3/ ), provided some conditions on the Hamiltonicity and disjoint path coverability of each graph G/sub i/ are satisfied, 0 /spl les/ i /spl les/ 3. We apply our main results to recursive circulant G(2/sup m/, 4) and a subclass of hypercube-like interconnection networks, called restricted HL-graphs. The subclasses includes twisted cubes, crossed cubes, multiply twisted cubes, Mobius cubes, Mcubes, and generalized twisted cubes. We show that all these networks of degree m with f or less faulty elements have a many-to-many k-DPC joining any k distinct source-sink pairs for any k /spl ges/ 1 and f /spl ges/ 0 such that f+2k /spl les/ m - 1.     

Magnetic induction machines integrated into bulk-micromachined silicon

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of laminated, magnetic induction machines intended for high-speed, high-temperature, high-power-density, silicon-based microengine power generation systems. Innovative fabrication techniques were used to embed electroplated materials (Cu, Ni/sub 80/Fe/sub 20/, Co/sub 65/Fe/sub 18/Ni/sub 17/) within bulk-micromachined and fusion-bonded silicon to form the machine structures. The induction machines were characterized in motoring mode using tethered rotors, and exhibited a maximum measured torque of 2.5 /spl mu/N/spl middot/m.     

Fabrication and measured performance of a first-generation microthermoelectric cooler

The measured performance of a column-type microthermoelectric cooler, fabricated using vapor-deposited thermoelectric films and patterned using photolithography processes, is reported. The columns, made of p-type Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ and n-type Bi/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ with an average thickness of 4.5 /spl mu/m, are connected using Cr/Au/Ti/Pt layers at the hot junctions, and Cr/Au layers at the cold junctions. The measured Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of the thermoelectric films, which were deposited with a substrate temperature of 130/spl deg/C, are -74 /spl mu/V/K and 3.6/spl times/10/sup -5/ /spl Omega/-m (n-type, power factor of 0.15 mW/K/sup 2/-m), and 97 /spl mu/V/K and 3.1/spl times/10/sup -5/ /spl Omega/-m (p-type, power factor of 0.30 mW/K/sup 2/-m). The cooling performance of devices with 60 thermoelectric pairs and a column width of 40 /spl mu/m is evaluated under a minimal cooling load (thermobuoyant surface convection and surface radiation). The average cooling achieved is about 1 K. Fabrication challenges include the reduction of the column width, implementation of higher substrate temperatures for optimum thermoelectric properties, and improvements of the top connector patterning and deposition.     

Low-temperature wafer bonding: a study of void formation and influence on bonding strength

The void formation has been systematically observed for low-temperature (120/spl deg/C and 400/spl deg/C) Si-Si and SiO/sub 2/-SiO/sub 2/ wafer bonding techniques in function of the annealing time (from 70 to 595 h), pressure (low vacuum and atmospheric) and surface pretreatments. Mixed solution (H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ and H/sub 2/O/sub 2/) standard cleaning, warm nitric acid and O/sub 2/-plasma-assisted surface pretreatments have been considered and compared. The void formation is clarified according to the void distribution and the measurement of surface energy. Long annealing time periods are considered in order to reach the saturation of the interface chemical reactions. Our experiments demonstrate that the origin of voids appearing in low temperature O/sub 2/-plasma-enhanced wafer bonding is related to the great quantity of chemical reaction products. It has been shown that optimized O/sub 2/-plasma pretreatment time can lead to void-free, uniform and high surface energy (over 2.0 J/m/sup 2/) wafer bonding. In the case of SiO/sub 2/-SiO/sub 2/ wafer bonding, our experimental results show that below a certain critical silicon dioxide thickness the reaction products cannot be absorbed totally and then voids occur. Presenting a higher surface energy than warm nitric acid O/sub 2/-plasma is an extremely promising surface pretreatment solution for the increasing demand of low-temperature wafer bonding techniques.     

Channel assignment with separation for interference avoidance in wireless networks

Given an integer /spl sigma/>1, a vector (/spl delta//sub 1/, /spl delta//sub 2/,..., /spl delta//sub /spl sigma/-1/), of nonnegative integers, and an undirected graph G=(V, E), an L(/spl delta//sub 1/, /spl delta//sub 2/,..., /spl delta//sub /spl sigma/-1/)-coloring of G is a function f from the vertex set V to a set of nonnegative integers, such that |f(u)-f(v)|/spl ges//spl delta//sub i/, if d(u,v)=i, for 1相似文献   

Design, fabrication, and measurement of high-sensitivity piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems accelerometers

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers based on piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick films with trampoline or annular diaphragm structures were designed, fabricated by bulk micromachining, and tested. The designs provide good sensitivity along one axis, with low transverse sensitivity and good temperature stability. The thick PZT films (1.5-7 /spl mu/m) were deposited from an acetylacetonate modified sol-gel solution, using multiple spin coating, pyrolysis, and crystallization steps. The resulting films show good dielectric and piezoelectric properties, with P/sub r/ values >20 /spl mu/C/cm/sup 2/, /spl epsiv//sub r/>800, tan/spl delta/<3%, and |e/sub 31,f/| values >6.5 C/m/sup 2/. The proof mass fabrication, as well as the accelerometer beam definition step, was accomplished via deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of the Si substrate. Measured sensitivities range from 0.77 to 7.6 pC/g for resonant frequencies ranging from 35.3 to 3.7 kHz. These accelerometers are being incorporated into packages including application specific integration circuit (ASIC) electronics and an RF telemetry system to facilitate wireless monitoring of industrial equipment.     

Two-axis single-crystal silicon micromirror arrays

This work presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a two-axis 320 pixel micromirror array. The mirror platform is constructed entirely of single-crystal silicon (SCS) minimizing residual and thermal stresses. The 14-/spl mu/m-thick rectangular (750/spl times/800 /spl mu/m/sup 2/) silicon platform is coated with a 0.1-/spl mu/m-thick metallic (Au) reflector. The mirrors are actuated electrostatically with shaped parallel plate electrodes with 86 /spl mu/m gaps. Large area 320-mirror arrays with fabrication yields of 90% per array have been fabricated using a combination of bulk micromachining of SOI wafers, anodic bonding, deep reactive ion etching, and surface micromachining. Several type of micromirror devices have been fabricated with rectangular and triangular electrodes. Triangular electrode devices displayed stable operation within a (/spl plusmn/5/spl deg/, /spl plusmn/5/spl deg/) (mechanical) angular range with voltage drives as low as 60 V.     

Low-voltage, large-scan angle MEMS analog micromirror arrays with hidden vertical comb-drive actuators

This paper reports on novel polysilicon surface-micromachined one-dimensional (1-D) analog micromirror arrays fabricated using Sandia's ultraplanar multilevel MEMS technology-V (SUMMiT-V) process. Large continuous DC scan angle (23.6/spl deg/ optical) and low-operating voltage (6 V) have been achieved using vertical comb-drive actuators. The actuators and torsion springs are placed underneath the mirror (137/spl times/120 /spl mu/m/sup 2/) to achieve high fill-factor (91%). The measured resonant frequency of the mirror ranges from 3.4 to 8.1 kHz. The measured DC scanning characteristics and resonant frequencies agree well with theoretical values. The rise time is 120 /spl mu/s and the fall time is 380 /spl mu/s. The static scanning characteristics show good uniformity (相似文献   

Pathwise convergence of recursive identification algorithms for Hammerstein systems

This paper gives estimates for: 1) coefficients contained in the linear part of the Hammerstein system; 2) the value of the nonlinear function f(u) in the Hammerstein system at any u; 3) Ef(u/sub k/) and Eu/sub k/f(u/sub k/) with u/sub k/ denoting the system input. No assumption is made on structure of f(/spl middot/). The estimates given by the stochastic approximation algorithms with expanding truncations are recursive and convergent to the true values with probability one. Two numerical examples are given.     

Piezoelectrically actuated dome-shaped diaphragm micropump

This paper describes a piezoelectric micropump built on a dome-shaped diaphragm with one-way parylene valves. The micropump uses piezoelectric ZnO film (less than 10 /spl mu/m thick) to actuate a parylene dome diaphragm, which is fabricated with an innovative, IC-compatible process on a silicon substrate. Piezoelectric ZnO film is sputter-deposited on a parylene dome diaphragm with its C-axis oriented perpendicular to the dome surface. Two one-way check valves (made of parylene) are integrated with a piezoelectrically actuated dome diaphragm to form a multi-chip micropump. The fabricated micropump (10/spl times/10/spl times/1.6 mm/sup 3/) consumes extremely low power (i.e., 3 mW to pump 3.2 /spl mu/L/min) and shows negligible leak up to 700 Pa static differential pressure.