High-${Q}$ Transformers in Copper-Interconnection CMOS Technology

This paper proposes the adoption of aluminum-pad (AL-pad) film to improve the performance of on-chip transformers using current CMOS technology. Two devices proposed in this paper use an AL-pad film, without adding extra process, to enhance the Q value and bandwidth in the copper-interconnection process. The first device changes the transformer's coil location to increase the peak Q value and operation bandwidth, and the second device alters the coil material to improve the Q value in the entire operating band. A foundry 0.13-mum CMOS technology is fabricated the proposed transformers. The measurement results demonstrate that the first proposed device improves the peak Q value and operation bandwidth with the values of 32.5% and 22.6%, respectively. Afterward, the second proposed device increases the peak Q value 44.7% more than the standard device.     

Frequencies and Wavelengths From a New Far-Infrared Lasing Gas: $^{13}$ CHD$_{2}$ OH

The first laser action produced by the partially deuterated isotopic form of methanol, $^{13}$ CHD$_{2}$ OH, has been observed. With this laser medium, eight far-infrared laser emissions were discovered having wavelengths ranging from 33.8 to 80.9 $mu$m. A three-laser heterodyne system was used to measure the frequencies for these newly discovered laser lines and are reported with fractional uncertainties of ${pm}3 times 10^{-7}$. The offset frequency of the CO$_{2}$ pump laser was measured with respect to its center frequency for each $^{13}$CHD$_{2}$OH laser emission.      

${K}_{a}$ –Band All-Resonant Photonic Microwave Receiver

We demonstrate a microwave photonic receiver operating at 35-GHz carrier frequency with a sensitivity exceeding ${-}$70 dBm in a 3-MHz frequency band and possessing more than 40-dB dynamic range when operated in the direct detection mode. The receiver is based on a lithium niobate optical whispering gallery mode resonator coupled to a microwave strip line resonator. We theoretically analyze the performance of the receiver and estimate its optimal achievable sensitivity and dynamic range.      

180$^{circ}$ and 90$^{circ}$ Phase Shifting Networks With an Octave Bandwidth and Small Phase Errors

A new phase shifting network for both 180 $^{circ}$ and 90 $^{circ}$ phase shift with small phase errors over an octave bandwidth is presented. The theoretical bandwidth is 67% for the 180$^{circ}$ phase bit and 86% for the 90$^{circ}$ phase bit when phase errors are $pm 2^{circ}$. The proposed topology consists of a bandpass filter (BPF) branch, consisting of a LC resonator and two shunt quarter-wavelength transmission lines (TLs), and a reference TL. A theoretical analysis is provided and scalable parameters are listed for both phase bits. To test the theory, phase shifting networks from 1 GHz to 3 GHz were designed. The measured phase errors of the 180$^{circ}$ and the 90$^{circ}$ phase bit are $pm 3.5^{circ}$ and $pm 2.5^{circ}$ over a bandwidth of 73% and 102% while the return losses are better than 18 dB and 12 dB, respectively.      

$C$ -Band Optical 90$^{circ}$ -Hybrids Based on Silicon-on-Insulator 4 $times$ 4 Waveguide Couplers

We demonstrate 4times4 multimode interference couplers in a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide technology that enable compact integrated fully passive optical 90deg-hybrid devices with operation across the C-band.     

2 MHz AO $Q$ -switched ${rm TEM}_{00}$ Grazing Incidence Laser With 3 at.% Neodymium Doped Nd:YVO$_{4}$

We present a detailed experimental and theoretical study of the ultrahigh repetition rate AO $Q$ -switched ${rm TEM}_{00}$ grazing incidence laser. Up to 2.1 MHz $Q$-switching with ${rm TEM}_{00}$ output of 8.6 W and 2.2 MHz $Q$ -switching with multimode output of 10 W were achieved by using an acousto-optics $Q$ -switched grazing-incidence laser with optimum grazing-incidence angle and cavity configuration. The crystal was 3 at.% neodymium doped Nd:YVO$_{4}$ slab. The pulse duration at 2 MHz repetition rate was about 31 ns. The instabilities of pulse energy at 2 MHz repetition rate were less than ${pm}6.7hbox{%}$ with ${rm TEM}_{00}$ operation and ${pm}3.3hbox{%}$ with multimode operation respectively. The modeling of high repetition rate $Q$-switched operation is presented based on the rate equation, and with the solution of the modeling, higher pump power, smaller section area of laser mode, and larger stimulated emission cross section of the gain medium are beneficial to the $Q$-switched operation with ultrahigh repetition rate, which is in consistent with the experimental results.      

Sharp $p$ -Divisibility of Weights in Abelian Codes Over ${BBZ}/p^d{BBZ}$

A theorem of McEliece on the $p$-divisibility of Hamming weights in cyclic codes over ${BBF}_p$ is generalized to Abelian codes over ${{{BBZ}/p^d{BBZ}}}$. This work improves upon results of Helleseth–Kumar–Moreno–Shanbhag, Calderbank–Li–Poonen, Wilson, and Katz. These previous attempts are not sharp in general, i.e., do not report the full extent of the $p$ -divisibility except in special cases, nor do they give accounts of the precise circumstances under which they do provide best possible results. This paper provides sharp results on $p$-divisibilities of Hamming weights and counts of any particular symbol for an arbitrary Abelian code over ${{{BBZ}/p^d{BBZ}}}$. It also presents sharp results on $2$-divisibilities of Lee and Euclidean weights for Abelian codes over ${{{BBZ}/4{BBZ}}}$.      

Zn$_{1 - x}$Mg$_{x}$ O Homojunction-Based Ultraviolet Photodetector

Zn$_{1 - {x}}$ Mg$_{x}$ O p-n photodiodes were fabricated on (0001) sapphire substrates using a pulsed laser deposition technique with different Mg contents. Ti–Au and Ni–Au metals deposited using vacuum evaporation were used as n-type and p-type contacts, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed the Zn$_{1 - {x}}$Mg$_{x}$O double layers have a single phase hexagonal wurtzite structure. The optical bandgap of Zn$_{1 - {x}}$Mg$_{x}$O films has been tuned from 3.27 to 4.26 eV by increasing the Mg content ${x} =0.0$ to ${x}=0.34$. Correspondingly, the cutoff wavelength of the resultant detectors varies from 380 to 284 nm. Zn$_{1 - {x}}$Mg$_{x}$O p-n photodiodes with different Mg contents exhibit very good performance, with a very low dark current (${≪}$ 20 pA) at the bias voltage of 10 V. The ultraviolet to visible rejection ratio is more than three orders of magnitude.      

Nitride-Based Asymmetric Two-Step Light-Emitting Diode With In$_{0.08}$ Ga$_{0.92}$ N Shallow Step

A nitride-based asymmetric two-step light-emitting diode (LED) with $hbox{In}_{0.08} hbox{Ga}_{0.92}hbox{N}$ shallow step was proposed and fabricated. It was found that the low indium content $hbox{In}_{0.08} hbox{Ga}_{0.92}hbox{N}$ layer can significantly enhance phase separation and/or inhomogeneous indium distribution in the active $hbox{In}_{0.27}hbox{Ga}_{0.73}hbox{N}$ layer. It was also found that we can enhance LED output power by a factor of 2.27 by simply inserting an $hbox{In}_{0.08} hbox{Ga}_{0.92}hbox{N}$ shallow step.      

Diplexer With Integrated Filters and Photodetector in Ge–Si Using $Gamma-{X}$ and $Gamma-{M}$ Directions in a Grating Coupler

We demonstrate a central-office-type diplexer in which the filter and photodetector are monolithically integrated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. The photonic integrated circuit receives a 1577-nm signal from an external laser and sends it to the fiber link using a two-dimensional grating coupler. The same grating coupler receives a 1270-nm signal from the fiber link and sends it to a monolithically integrated germanium photodetector using a polarization-diversity scheme to achieve polarization independence. The grating coupler is novel in that both the $Gamma-{X}$ and $Gamma-{M}$ directions are employed. This allows the grating coupler to couple both the 1577- and 1270-nm wavelengths with a small fiber tilt angle and hence have low polarization-dependent loss.      

Efficient Frequency Doubling of a Low-Power Femtosecond Er-Fiber Laser in BiB$_{3}$ O$_{6}$

BiB₃O₆ (BIBO) crystal has been used for efficient second-harmonic generation (SHG) of a low-power femtosecond Er-fiber laser-amplifier system operating at 56 MHz. At the maximum input power of 65 mW, an internal conversion efficiency of 23% was achieved for SHG at 782 nm, with a pulse duration of 64 fs. A comparison with beta-BaB₂O₄ reveals superior properties of BIBO for such ultrashort-pulse ultra-broadband SHG.     

A 67 dBm $OIP_{3}$ Multistacked Junction Varactor

A multistacked varactor is presented for ultra-linear tunable radio frequency applications. The varactor elements are applied in anti-series configuration and are characterized by an “exponential” $C$- $V _{R}$ relationship. Third-order intermodulation ($IM_{3}$) is cancelled through proper harmonic loading of the terminals of the anti-series configuration. Multiple stacking is used to further increase the power handling and to minimize the remaining fifth-order distortion. The measured output intercept point ($OIP_{3}$ ) at 2 GHz is $ > 67~{rm dBm}$ for modulated signals up to 10 MHz bandwidth, while providing a capacitance tuning ratio of 3:1 with an average quality factor of 40 and maximum control voltage of 10 V.      

Optimal $ Sigma Delta$ Modulator Architectures for Fractional-$ {N}$ Frequency Synthesis

This paper presents a comparative study of $Sigma Delta$ modulators for use in fractional-$ {N}$ phase-locked loops. It proposes favorable modulator architectures while taking into consideration not only the quantization noise of the modulator but also other loop nonidealities such as the charge pump current mismatch that contributes to the degradation in the synthesized tone's phase noise. The proper choice of the modulator architecture is found to be dependent upon the extent of the nonideality, reference frequency, and loop bandwidth. Three modulator architectures are then proposed for low, medium, and high levels of nonidealities.      

Compact Variable ${rm TE}$-${rm TM}$ Polarization Splitter Based on Simplified Coherent Coupling in Lithium Niobate

A compact-sized electrically tunable ${rm TE}$- ${rm TM}$ mode splitter composed of a mode converter and an asymmetric Y-branch structure is presented. The asymmetric Y-branch consists of a straight and a bent waveguides to split two polarization modes based on the mode-sorting effect. To shorten the device length, a simplified coherently coupled-bending structure is utilized for the bent waveguide. Experimental results show that the device length is reduced about 52%, extinction ratios of both ${rm TE}$ and ${rm TM}$ modes are higher than 25 dB, yet the applied voltage is not significantly increased.      

High Density and Low Leakage Current in $ hbox{TiO}_{2}$ MIM Capacitors Processed at 300 $^{circ} hbox{C}$

We report Ir/TiO₂/TaN metal-insulator-metal capacitors processed at only 300degC, which show a capacitance density of 28 fF/mum² and a leakage current of 3 times 10^-8 (25degC) or 6 times 10^-7 (125degC) A/cm² at -1 V. This performance is due to the combined effects of 300degC nanocrystallized high-kappa TiO₂, a high conduction band offset, and high work-function upper electrode. These devices show potential for integration in future very-large-scale-integration technologies.     

A 20 to 24 GHz $+$16.8 dBm Fully Integrated Power Amplifier Using 0.18 $mu{rm m}$ CMOS Process

A 20-24 GHz, fully integrated power amplifier (PA) with on-chip input and output matching is realized in 0.18 mum standard CMOS process. By cascading two cascode stages, the PA achieves 15 dB small signal gain, 10.7% power added efficiency, 16.8 dBm output saturation power and high power density per chip area of 0.137 W/mm², which is believed to be the highest power density to our knowledge. The whole chip area with pads is 0.35 mm², which is the smallest one compared to all reported paper.     

A Comparative NBTI Study of $hbox{HfO}_{2}$, $hbox{HfSiO}_{x}$, and SiON p-MOSFETs Using UF-OTF $I_{rm DLIN}$ Technique

The time, temperature, and oxide-field dependence of negative-bias temperature instability is studied in $hbox{HfO}_{2}/hbox{TiN}$, $ hbox{HfSiO}_{x}/hbox{TiN}$, and SiON/poly-Si p-MOSFETs using ultrafast on-the-fly $I_{rm DLIN}$ technique capable of providing measured degradation from very short (approximately microseconds) to long stress time. Similar to rapid thermal nitrided oxide (RTNO) SiON, $hbox{HfO}_{2}$ devices show very high temperature-independent degradation at short (submilliseconds) stress time, not observed for plasma nitrided oxide (PNO) SiON and $hbox{HfSiO}_{x}$ devices. $hbox{HfSiO}_{x}$ shows lower overall degradation, higher long-time power-law exponent, field acceleration, and temperature activation as compared to $hbox{HfO}_{2}$, which are similar to the differences between PNO and RTNO SiON devices, respectively. The difference between $ hbox{HfSiO}_{x}$ and $hbox{HfO}_{2}$ can be attributed to differences in N density in the $hbox{SiO}_{2}$ IL of these devices.      

A Time-Variant Analysis of Fundamental $1/f^{3}$ Phase Noise in CMOS Parallel $LC$ -Tank Quadrature Oscillators

This paper presents a rigorous time-variant analysis of the 1/f MOS device noise upconversion into 1/f phase noise for two of the most popular parallel-coupled quadrature CMOS harmonic oscillators. Simple closed-form equations for the fundamental 1/f ³ phase-noise spectrum are derived and validated through SpectreRF simulations, proving that the two topologies display remarkably different sensitivities to the low-frequency noise sources. Based on the developed analysis, useful general design insights are also presented.     

$n$ -SIFT: $n$ -Dimensional Scale Invariant Feature Transform

We propose the $n$ -dimensional scale invariant feature transform ( $n$-SIFT) method for extracting and matching salient features from scalar images of arbitrary dimensionality, and compare this method's performance to other related features. The proposed features extend the concepts used for 2-D scalar images in the computer vision SIFT technique for extracting and matching distinctive scale invariant features. We apply the features to images of arbitrary dimensionality through the use of hyperspherical coordinates for gradients and multidimensional histograms to create the feature vectors. We analyze the performance of a fully automated multimodal medical image matching technique based on these features, and successfully apply the technique to determine accurate feature point correspondence between pairs of 3-D MRI images and dynamic $3{rm D} + {rm time}$ CT data.      

CPW to Rectangular Waveguide Transition on an ${hbox{LiNbO}}_{3}$ Substrate

This paper presents transition from coplanar waveguide (CPW) to rectangular waveguide for $W$ -band (75–110 GHz) operations. The waveguide consists of a cosine-shaped fin extending from the upper waveguide wall onto the CPW signal electrode. The design features direct integration of the waveguide with opto-electronic devices on lithium niobate $({hbox{LiNbO}}_{3})$ for the applications of millimeter wave to optical signal processing. Simulations and measurements show that the model works very well over the entire $W$-band. Measurements of fabricated devices have yielded return loss of more than 10 dB and insertion loss of about 2.8 dB over the operating bandwidth.