Interfacial reaction between 42Sn-58Bi solder and electroless Ni-P/immersion Au under bump metallurgy during aging

The interfacial reaction between 42Sn-58Bi solder (in wt.% unless specified otherwise) and electroless Ni-P/immersion Au was investigated before and after thermal aging, with a focus on the formation and growth of an intermetallic compound layer, consumption of under bump metallurgy (UBM), and bump shear strength. The immersion Au layer with thicknesses of 0 μm (bare Ni), 0.1 μm, and 1 μm was plated on a 5-μm-thick layer of electroless Ni-P (with 14–15 at.% P). The 42Sn-58Bi solder balls were then fabricated on three different UBM structures by using screen printing and pre-reflow. A Ni₃Sn₄ layer formed at the joint interface after the pre-reflow for all three UBM structures. On aging at 125°C, a quaternary phase, identified as Sn₇₇Ni₁₅Bi₆Au₂, was observed above the Ni₃Sn₄ layer in the UBM structures that contain Au. The thick Sn₇₇Ni₁₅Bi₆Au₂ layer degraded the integrity of the solder joint, and the shear strength of the solder bump was about 40% less than the nonaged joints.     

Low turn-on voltage and series resistance of polarization-induced InGaN-GaN LEDs by using p-InGaN/p-GaN superlattice

We have demonstrated high-performance InGaN-GaN multiple quantum-wells light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using polarization-induced (PI) p-InGaN-GaN superlattice. Electrical measurements show that PI LEDs produce much lower series resistance and turn-on voltage (at 20 mA) as compared to those of normal LEDs without the superlattice. It is also shown that the output power and photon wavelength of the PI LEDs remain electrically stable up to a high stress region of 200 mA. However, those of normal LEDs become electrically and optically degraded in excess of 120 mA. These results show that the use of the PI effect is very effective to the improvement of the electrical properties of LEDs.     

High Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells Exceeding 22% via a Photo-Assisted Two-Step Sequential Deposition

One of the most effective methods to achieve high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is to employ additives as crystallization agents or to passivate defects. Tri-iodide ion has been known as an efficient additive to improve the crystallinity, grain size, and morphology of perovskite films. However, the generation and control of this tri-iodide ion are challenging. Herein, an efficient method to produce tri-iodide ion in a precursor solution using a photoassisted process for application in PSCs is developed. Results suggest that the tri-iodide ion can be synthesized rapidly when formamidinium iodide (FAI) dissolved isopropyl alcohol (IPA) solution is exposed to LED light. Specifically, the photoassisted FAI–IPA solution facilitates the formation of fine perovskite films with high crystallinity, large grain size, and low trap density, thereby improving the device performance up to 22%. This study demonstrates that the photoassisted process in FAI dissolved IPA solution can be an alternative strategy to fabricate highly efficient PSCs with significantly reduced processing times.     

Mechanoreceptor-Inspired Dynamic Mechanical Stimuli Perception based on Switchable Ionic Polarization

Diverse touch experiences offer a path toward greater human–machine interaction, which is essential for the development of haptic technology. Recent advances in triboelectricity-based touch sensors provide great advantages in terms of cost, simplicity of design, and use of a broader range of materials. Since performance solely relies on the level of contact electrification between materials, triboelectricity-based touch sensors cannot effectively be used to measure the extent of deformation of materials under a given mechanical force. Here, an ion-doped gelatin hydrogel (IGH)-based touch sensor is reported to identify not only contact with an object but also deformation under a certain level of force. Switchable ionic polarization of the gelatin hydrogel is found to be instrumental in allowing for different sensing mechanisms when it is contacted and deformed. The results show that ionic polarization relies on conductivity of the hydrogels. Quantitative studies using voltage sweeps demonstrate that higher ion mobility and shorter Debye length serve to improve the performance of the mechanical stimuli-perceptible sensor. It is successfully demonstrated that this sensor offers dynamic deformation-responsive signals that can be used to control the motion of a miniature car. This study broadens the potential applications for ionic hydrogel-based sensors in a human–machine communication system.     

A SiGe BiCMOS transmitter module for IMT2000 applications

This paper describes a Tx module for IMT2000 applications consisting of an up-conversion mixer and a variable-gain driver amplifier. The up-conversion mixer, based on the Gilbert active topology has a power gain of 4.8 dB and consumes 15-mA current from a 3-V supply. The variable-gain driver amplifier comprises a gain-controlled stage of the current steering structure and a common emitter stage, and has a variable-gain range of over 30 dB with 30.3-mA current consumption. The Tx module achieves a gain error of less than 1.2 dB over a 30-dB gain range, an output IP3 of 25 dBm, and an output PI dB of 7.4 dBm at the maximum gain of 24.5 dB. It occupies 1.0 /spl times/ 1.2 mm.     

Effective Periodic Poling in Optical Fibers

The distributions of electric field and induced second‐order nonlinearity are analyzed in the periodic poling of optical fibers. A quasi‐phase matching efficiency for the induced nonlinearity is calculated in terms of both the electrode separation distance between the applied voltage and generalized electrode width for the periodic poling. Our analysis of the quasi‐phase matching efficiency implies that the conversion efficiency can be enhanced through adjusting the separation distance, and the electrode width can be maximized if the electrode width is optimized.     

Rake‐Based Cellular Radar Receiver Design for Moving Target Detection in Multipath Channel

In this paper, we design a rake‐based cellular radar receiver (CRR) scheme to detect a moving target located in a multipath environment. The modules of Doppler filter banks, threshold level test, and target detection module are newly introduced into the conventional rake receiver so that it can function as a radar system. The proposed CRR tests the Doppler‐shift frequency and signal‐to‐noise ratio of the received signal against predefined threshold levels to determine detection and then calculates target velocities and ranges. The system performance is evaluated in terms of detection probability and the maximum detection range under a Nakagami‐n channel that reflects the multipath environment.     

Logical and diversity combining in FH/SSMA packet radio networks

We propose the logical and diversity combining in slotted frequency-hopped spread spectrum multiple access (FH/SSMA) packet radio networks. The proposed diversity scheme employs the symbol-by-symbol logical AND operation between the currently received packet and the previously combined packet. Our results show that the proposed low-complexity diversity combining scheme provides a significant performance improvement over existing diversity combining schemes     

Microlens for efficient coupling between LED and optical fiber

A new fabrication method of a microlens is proposed that can be easily applied to optical devices and microlens systems. The proposed microlens is formed by self-surface tension and cohesion of UV curing material. Since the microlens is hardened by short time UV exposure, the fabrication process is very simple. Integration with surface emitting-light emitting diode (SE-LED) results in enhanced coupling to optical fiber with coupling efficiency larger than the conventional case by 1.5 times. We also made a hemispheric microlensed fiber using this method. Compared with a typical arc-lensed fiber and a flat-end fiber, the coupling efficiency is improved to 18% and 40%, respectively     

High-performance cell transistor design using metallic shieldembedded shallow trench isolation (MSE-STI) for Gbit generation DRAM's

In this paper, the cell transistor design issues for the Gbit level DRAM's with the isolation pitch of less than 0.2 μm caused by the inverse-narrow-channel effect (INCE) and the neighboring storage-node E-field penetration effect (NSPE) will be discussed. Then we propose novel DRAM cell transistor structure by employing metallic shield inside the shallow trench isolation (STI). As confirmed by three-dimensional (3-D) device simulation results, by suppressing the inverse narrow-channel effect and the neighboring storage-node E-field penetration effect using metallic shield inside STI, we can obtain reliable cell transistors with low-doped substrate, low junction leakage current and uniform V_TH a distribution regardless of the active width variation