Comparisons of PWM and one-cycle control for power amplifier with multilevel converter

Based on the concepts of cascade multilevel converters and one-cycle technique, comparisons are conducted to characterize the distortion of the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) and one-cycle control methods that were applied to converters. Simulation results for the different control schemes are obtained in PSIM software initially to see the effect of one-cycle control different from that of PWM control. Through the comparisons, the advantages and disadvantages are identified for each method. The one-cycle scheme is better than PWM control in reducing undesirable harmonics and tracing dynamic waveforms. Simulation and experimental results are also provided to verify the conclusions.     

New efficient designs for XOR and XNOR functions on the transistorlevel

Two new methods are proposed to implement the exclusive-OR and exclusive-NOR functions on the transistor level. The first method uses non-complementary signal inputs and the least number of transistors. The other one improves the performance of the prior method but two more transistors are utilized. Both of them have been fully simulated by HSPICE on a SUN SPARC 2 workstation     

Non‐reflecting artificial boundaries for transient scalar wave propagation in a two‐dimensional infinite homogeneous layer

This paper presents an exact non‐reflecting boundary condition for dealing with transient scalar wave propagation problems in a two‐dimensional infinite homogeneous layer. In order to model the complicated geometry and material properties in the near field, two vertical artificial boundaries are considered in the infinite layer so as to truncate the infinite domain into a finite domain. This treatment requires the appropriate boundary conditions, which are often referred to as the artificial boundary conditions, to be applied on the truncated boundaries. Since the infinite extension direction is different for these two truncated vertical boundaries, namely one extends toward x →∞ and another extends toward x→‐ ∞, the non‐reflecting boundary condition needs to be derived on these two boundaries. Applying the variable separation method to the wave equation results in a reduction in spatial variables by one. The reduced wave equation, which is a time‐dependent partial differential equation with only one spatial variable, can be further changed into a linear first‐order ordinary differential equation by using both the operator splitting method and the modal radiation function concept simultaneously. As a result, the non‐reflecting artificial boundary condition can be obtained by solving the ordinary differential equation whose stability is ensured. Some numerical examples have demonstrated that the non‐reflecting boundary condition is of high accuracy in dealing with scalar wave propagation problems in infinite and semi‐infinite media. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High voltage (>1kV) and high current gain (32) 4H-SiC power BJTs using Al-free ohmic contact to the base

This letter reports the design and fabrication of 4H-SiC bipolar junction transistors with both high voltage (>1kV) and high dc current gain (/spl beta/=32) at a collector current level of I/sub c/=3.83A (J/sub c/=319 A/cm/sup 2/). An Al-free base ohmic contact has been used which, when compared with BJTs fabricated with Al-based base contact, shows clearly improved blocking voltage. A specific on-resistance of 17 m/spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ has been achieved for collector current densities up to 289 A/cm/sup 2/.     

45% efficient silicon photovoltaic cell under monochromatic light

Improvements in the performance of silicon photovoltaic cells for solar applications are adapted for nonsolar photovoltaic applications. Improved monochromatic light efficiencies above 45% are reported including efficiencies close to 40% for relatively long-wavelength (1.064 μm) light as produced by neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers     

Fabrication of optical fibre nanowires and their optical and mechanical characterisation

It is demonstrated for the first time that long nanowires with radii as small as 30 nm can be manufactured with a conventional coupler fabrication rig. The temporal deterioration of nanowire optical properties has been studied and correlated with its mechanical behaviour. The original transmission properties have been restored by a post-fabrication treatment.