Mode‐SVD‐Based Maximum Likelihood Source Localization Using Subspace Approach

A mode‐singular‐value‐decomposition (SVD) maximum likelihood (ML) estimation procedure is proposed for the source localization problem under an additive measurement error model. In a practical situation, the noise variance is usually unknown. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that does not require the noise covariance matrix as a priori knowledge. In the proposed method, the weight is derived by the inverse of the noise magnitude square in the ML criterion. The performance of the proposed method outperforms that of the existing methods and approximates the Taylor‐series ML and Cramér‐Rao lower bound.     

Thermo-Adaptive Block Copolymer Structural Color Electronics

Flexible electronics that enable the visualization of thermal energy have significant potential for various applications, such as thermal diagnosis, sensing and imaging, and displays. Thermo-adaptive flexible electronic devices based on thin 1D block copolymer (BCP) photonic crystal (PC) films with self-assembled periodic nanostructures are presented. By employing a thermo-responsive polymer/non-volatile hygroscopic ionic liquid (IL) blend on a BCP film, full visible structural colors (SCs) are developed because of the temperature-dependent expansion and contraction of one BCP domain via IL injection and release, respectively, as a function of temperature. Reversible SC control of the bi-layered BCP/IL polymer blend film from room temperature to 80 °C facilitates the development of various thermo-adaptive SC flexible electronic devices including pixel arrays of reflective-mode displays and capacitive sensing display. A flexible diagnostic thermal patch is demonstrated with the bi-layered BCP/IL polymer blend enabling the visualization of local heat sources from the human body to microelectronic circuits.     

Fluorinated Polyimide as a Novel High‐Voltage Binder for High‐Capacity Cathode of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

An increase in the energy density of lithium‐ion batteries has long been a competitive advantage for advanced wireless devices and long‐driving electric vehicles. Li‐rich layered oxide, xLi₂MnO₃?(1?x)LiMn_1?y?zNi_yCo_zO₂, is a promising high‐capacity cathode material for high‐energy batteries, whose capacity increases by increasing charge voltage to above 4.6 V versus Li. Li‐rich layered oxide cathode however suffers from a rapid capacity fade during the high‐voltage cycling because of instable cathode–electrolyte interface, and the occurrence of metal dissolution, particle cracking, and structural degradation, particularly, at elevated temperatures. Herein, this study reports the development of fluorinated polyimide as a novel high‐voltage binder, which mitigates the cathode degradation problems through superior binding ability to conventional polyvinylidenefluoride binder and the formation of robust surface structure at the cathode. A full‐cell consisting of fluorinated polyimide binder‐assisted Li‐rich layered oxide cathode and conventional electrolyte without any electrolyte additive exhibits significantly improved capacity retention to 89% at the 100th cycle and discharge capacity to 223–198 mA h g^?1 even under the harsh condition of 55 °C and high charge voltage of 4.7 V, in contrast to a rapid performance fade of the cathode coated with polyvinylidenefluoride binder.     

Anodized Aluminum Oxide/Polydimethylsiloxane Hybrid Mold for Roll‐to‐Roll Nanoimprinting

Two types (hard and soft) of the molds are widely used in nanoimprint lithography for a high throughput over a large area, and high‐resolution parallel patterning. Although hard molds have proven excellent resolutions and can be used at high temperatures, cracks often occur in the mold in addition to the requirement of high imprinting pressure. On the other hand, though soft molds can operate at lower pressures, they give poor pattern resolution. Here, a novel hybrid mold of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template attached to a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) plate is introduced. Due to the flexible nature of PDMS, various polymer nanostructures are obtained on flat and curved substrates without crack formation on the AAO mold surface. Furthermore, the hybrid mold is successfully used for roll‐to‐roll imprinting for the fabrication of high density array of various shaped polymeric nanostructures over a large area.     

Low Voltage CMOS LC VCO with Switched Self‐Biasing

This paper presents a switched self‐biasing and a tail current‐shaping technique to suppress the 1/f noise from a tail current source in differential cross‐coupled inductance‐capacitance (LC) voltage‐controlled oscillators (VCOs). The proposed LC VCO has an amplitude control characteristic due to the creation of negative feedback for the oscillation waveform amplitude. It is fabricated using a 0.13 µm CMOS process. The measured phase noise is ‐117 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset from a 4.85 GHz carrier frequency, while it draws 6.5 mA from a 0.6 V supply voltage. For frequency tuning, process variation, and temperature change, the amplitude change rate of the oscillation waveform in the proposed VCO is 2.1 to 3.2 times smaller than that of an existing VCO with a fixed bias. The measured amplitude change rate of the oscillation waveform for frequency tuning from 4.55 GHz to 5.04 GHz is 131 pV/Hz.     

Optical BGP Routing Convergence in Lightpath Failure of Optical Internet

Optical Border Gateway Protocol (OBGP) is an extension to BGP for Optical Cross Connects (OXCs) to automatically setup multiple direct optical lightpaths between many different autonomous domains. With OBGP, the routing component of a network may be distributed to the edge of the network while the packet classification and forwarding is done in the core. However, it is necessary to analyze the stable convergence functions of OBGP in case of lightpath failures. In this paper, we first describe the architecture of the OBGP model and analyze the potential problems of OBGP, e.g., virtual BGP router convergence behavior in the presence of lightpath failure. We then propose an OBGP convergence model derived from an inter‐AS (Autonomous System) relationship. The evaluation results show that the proposed model can be used for a stable OBGP routing policy and OBGP routing convergence under lightpath failures of the optical Internet.     

Performance of Efficient Signal Detection for LED-ID Systems

In this paper, effects of reader-to-reader interference are investigated for LED identification (LED-ID) system in a multi-reader environment. The LED-ID readers typically use different channels to avoid collision between readers. However, in-channel collision usually happens in terms of interrogation range. A reader-to-reader interference scenario is proposed, and nominal interrogation range of a desired reader is derived from this model. In order to evaluate the LED-ID reader-to-reader interference quantitatively, an efficient detection scheme is proposed and simulated by employing spreading sequence. The spreading sequence is inserted between each user’s frame formats. In the receiver, the desired signal is detected by using correlation among inserted spreading sequences. From simulation results, it is confirmed that the proposed scheme is very effective to enhance reliability of LED-ID communication systems.     

Physicochemically Stable Polymer‐Coupled Oxide Dielectrics for Multipurpose Organic Electronic Applications

A chemically coupled polymer layer is introduced onto inorganic oxide dielectrics from a dilute chlorosilane‐terminated polystyrene (PS) solution. As a result of this surface modification, hydrophilic‐oxide dielectrics gain hydrophobic, physicochemically stable properties. On such PS‐coupled SiO₂ or AlO_x dielectrics, various vacuum‐ and solution‐processable organic semiconductors can develop highly ordered crystalline structures that provide higher field‐effect mobilities (μ_FETs) than other surface‐modified systems, and negligible hysteresis in organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs). In particular, the use of PS‐coupled AlO_x nanodielectrics enables a solution‐processable triethylsilylethynyl anthradithiophene OFET to operate with μ_FET ～ 1.26 cm² V^?1 s^?1 at a gate voltage below –1 V. In addition, a complementary metal‐oxide semiconductor‐like organic inverter with a high voltage gain of approximately 32 was successfully fabricated on a PS‐coupled SiO₂ dielectric.     

A Fully Integrated Thin‐Film Inductor and Its Application to a DC‐DC Converter

This paper presents a simple process to integrate thin‐film inductors with a bottom NiFe magnetic core. NiFe thin films with a thickness of 2 to 3 μm were deposited by sputtering. A polyimide buffer layer and shadow mask were used to relax the stress of the NiFe films. The fabricated double spiral thin‐film inductor showed an inductance of 0.49 μH and a Q factor of 4.8 at 8 MHz. The DC‐DC converter with the monolithically integrated thin‐film inductor showed comparable performances to those with sandwiched magnetic layers. We simplified the integration process by eliminating the planarization process for the top magnetic core. The efficiency of the DC‐DC converter with the monolithic thin‐film inductor was 72% when the input voltage and output voltage were 3.5 V and 6 V, respectively, at an operating frequency of 8 MHz.