Aspects of the design of low noise, negative resistance, reflectionmode transistor amplifiers

The authors consider the use of microwave transistors in the negative resistance reflection mode and present the conditions for optimum noise performance. Possible advantages include the possibility of higher gain in the millimeter-wave region, which can be achieved by absorbing the parasitic common lead inductance into the feedback circuit designed to generate the negative resistance, and the existence of a failsafe mode of operation, in that the failure of the active device or its power supply is likely to lead a low return loss, resulting in a small insertion loss through the amplifiers, which may permit continued, although degraded, system operation. The latter potential advantage has proved to be of interest to radar system designers     

低价、高效、微波产品用的TPA覆铜版

随着信息产业的飞速发展,高频信号设备,如高速计算机、移动电话、卫星通信等,都已从兆赫频段扩展到千兆赫,这就意味着对它们所用的微波电路基板提出了更高的要求.长期以来,高频微波基板几乎没有越出使用聚四氟乙烯的老传统,但是,它有若干缺点玻璃化温度低,故刚性差;加工复杂,故成本高;金属化孔镀层与孔壁的结合力弱,故可靠性不高. 多年来,美国GIL科技公司一直在研制替代聚四氟乙烯的材料,经过姐妹公司的合作,终于研制成功了TPA板材,这种材料克服了上述缺点,从而获得了美国专利.本文介绍了TPA层压板的电气特性、机械特性和热效应,给出了许多宝贵数据.     

Accelerated Growth and Early Breeding of Holstein Heifers

Twenty-four Holstein heifers were fed grain and alfalfa hay ad libitum for accelerated growth from 91 kg body weight until verification of pregnancy (Treatment A). Grain then was deleted until near time of freshening. They were bred at second estrus if they weighed at least 305 kg. An additional 24 heifers were fed a conventional roughage ration to allow a growth rate corresponding to the Beltsville growth standard and were bred when 15 to 16 mo of age (Treatment S). Observations were of growth rate, reproductive and productive performance, and length of herd life under normal culling.The A heifers gained 38% faster to 364 kg body weight (1.1 versus .8 kg/day). Average weights and ages were first estrus 275 kg, 8.3 mo (A), 288 kg, 10.2 mo (S); first breeding 319 kg, 9.6 mo (A), 392 kg, 16.8 mo (S); and first calving 560 kg, 19.7 mo (A), 26.9 mo (S). Differences in body dimensions at given weights were negligible. Treatment effects on dystocia were inconclusive. Lactation number, numbers of animals milked 100+ days, and average milk yields (kg) were: 1st lactation 24, 4436 (A), 22, 5415 (S); 2nd–22, 5295 (A), 18, 5903 (S); 3rd–12, 6278 (A), 10, 6407 (S); 4th–6, 7181 (A), 5, 5269 (S). Mean accumulative milk yields per animal to 36 mo of age were 7173 (A) and 4853 kg (S). Accelerated growth and early breeding did not affect herd life.     

The Influence of Film Morphology in High‐Mobility Small‐Molecule:Polymer Blend Organic Transistors

Organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) based upon blends of small molecular semiconductors and polymers show promise for high performance organic electronics applications. Here the charge transport characteristics of high mobility p‐channel organic transistors based on 2,8‐difluoro‐5,11‐bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene:poly(triarylamine) blend films are investigated. By simple alteration of the film processing conditions two distinct film microstructures can be obtained: one characterized by small spherulitic grains (SG) and one by large grains (LG). Charge transport measurements reveal thermally activated hole transport in both SG and LG film microstructures with two distinct temperature regimes. For temperatures >115 K, gate voltage dependent activation energies (E_A) in the range of 25–60 meV are derived. At temperatures <115 K, the activation energies are smaller and typically in the range 5–30 meV. For both film microstructures hole transport appears to be dominated by trapping at the grain boundaries. Estimates of the trap densities suggests that LG films with fewer grain boundaries are characterized by a reduced number of traps that are less energetically disordered but deeper in energy than for small SG films. The effects of source and drain electrode treatment with self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) on current injection is also investigated. Fluorinated thiol SAMs were found to alter the work function of gold electrodes by up to ～1 eV leading to a lower contact resistance. However, charge transport analysis suggests that electrode work function is not the only parameter to consider for efficient charge injection.     

Anisotropy of Charge Transport in a Uniaxially Aligned and Chain‐Extended,High‐Mobility,Conjugated Polymer Semiconductor

Charge transport in the ribbon phase of poly(2,5‐bis(3‐alkylthiophen‐2‐yl)thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene) (PBTTT)—one of the most highly ordered, chain‐extended crystalline microstructures available in a conjugated polymer semiconductor—is studied. Ribbon‐phase PBTTT has previously been found not to exhibit high carrier mobilities, but it is shown here that field‐effect mobilities depend strongly on the device architecture and active interface. When devices are constructed such that the ribbon‐phase films are in contact with either a polymer gate dielectric or an SiO₂ gate dielectric modified by a hydrophobic, self‐assembled monolayer, high mobilities of up to 0.4 cm² V^?1 s^?1 can be achieved, which is comparable to those observed previously in terrace‐phase PBTTT. In uniaxially aligned, zone‐cast films of ribbon‐phase PBTTT the mobility anisotropy is measured for transport both parallel and perpendicular to the polymer chain direction. The mobility anisotropy is relatively small, with the mobility along the polymer chain direction being higher by a factor of 3–5, consistent with the grain size encountered in the two transport directions.     

A novel digital predistorter technique using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system

This letter presents a novel digital predistorter technique using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The proposed approach employs real-time input and output signals of a nonlinear power amplifier as inputs to the ANFIS, so as to approximate the inverse functions of the power amplifier. The antecedent and consequent parameters of the FIS constructed by the ANFIS are tuned using backpropagation and least squares algorithms. Simulation shows that this novel technique has improved the linearity of a WCDMA signal by a further 4 dBc compared to a conventional look-up table (secant) approach. Moreover, this proposed technique is capable of adapting to instantaneous variation in the power amplifier response through time, which is a topic often omitted by researchers in this area.     

Role of the Anion on the Transport and Structure of Organic Mixed Conductors

Organic mixed conductors are increasingly employed in electrochemical devices operating in aqueous solutions that leverage simultaneous transport of ions and electrons. Indeed, their mode of operation relies on changing their doping (oxidation) state by the migration of ions to compensate for electronic charges. Nevertheless, the structural and morphological changes that organic mixed conductors experience when ions and water penetrate the material are not fully understood. Through a combination of electrochemical, gravimetric, and structural characterization, the effects of water and anions with a hydrophilic conjugated polymer are elucidated. Using a series of sodium‐ion aqueous salts of varying anion size, hydration shells, and acidity, the links between the nature of the anion and the transport and structural properties of the polymer are systematically studied. Upon doping, ions intercalate in the crystallites, permanently modifying the lattice spacings, and residual water swells the film. The polymer, however, maintains electrochemical reversibility. The performance of electrochemical transistors reveals that doping with larger, less hydrated, anions increases their transconductance but decreases switching speed. This study highlights the complexity of electrolyte‐mixed conductor interactions and advances materials design, emphasizing the coupled role of polymer and electrolyte (solvent and ion) in device performance.     

The Effect of Alkyl Spacers on the Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conduction Properties of N-Type Polymers

Conjugated polymers with mixed ionic and electronic transport are essential for developing the complexity and function of electrochemical devices. Current n-type materials have a narrow scope and low performance compared with their p-type counterparts, requiring new molecular design strategies. This work presents two naphthalene diimide-bithiophene (NDI-T2) copolymers functionalized with hybrid alkyl-glycol side chains, where the naphthalene diimide unit is segregated from the ethylene glycol (EG) units within the side chain by an alkyl spacer. Introduction of hydrophobic propyl and hexyl spacers is investigated as a strategy to minimize detrimental swelling close to the conjugated backbone and balance the mixed conduction properties of n-type materials in aqueous electrolytes. It is found that both polymers functionalized with alkyl spacers outperform their analogue bearing EG-only side chains in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). The presence of the alkyl spacers also leads to remarkable stability in OECTs, with no decrease in the ON current after 2 h of operation. Through this versatile side chain modification, this work provides a greater understanding of the structure-property relationships required for n-type OECT materials operating in aqueous media.     

Bimolecular Crystals of Fullerenes in Conjugated Polymers and the Implications of Molecular Mixing for Solar Cells

The performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells is heavily influenced by the interpenetrating nanostructure formed by the two semiconductors because the size of the phases, the nature of the interface, and molecular packing affect exciton dissociation, recombination, and charge transport. Here, X‐ray diffraction is used to demonstrate the formation of stable, well‐ordered bimolecular crystals of fullerene intercalated between the side‐chains of the semiconducting polymer poly(2,5‐bis(3‐tetradecylthiophen‐2‐yl)thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene. It is shown that fullerene intercalation is general and is likely to occur in blends with both amorphous and semicrystalline polymers when there is enough free volume between the side‐chains to accommodate the fullerene molecule. These findings offer explanations for why luminescence is completely quenched in crystals much larger than exciton diffusion lengths, how the hole mobility of poly(2‐methoxy‐5‐(3′,7′‐dimethyloxy)‐p‐phylene vinylene) increases by over 2 orders of magnitude when blended with fullerene derivatives, and why large‐scale phase separation occurs in some polymer:fullerene blend ratios while thermodynamically stable mixing on the molecular scale occurs for others. Furthermore, it is shown that intercalation of fullerenes between side chains mostly determines the optimum polymer:fullerene blending ratios. These discoveries suggest a method of intentionally designing bimolecular crystals and tuning their properties to create novel materials for photovoltaic and other applications.     

Active Integrated Antenna Design Using a Contact-Less, Proximity Coupled, Differentially Fed Technique

A novel contact-less, differential feeding technique suitable for integrated active antenna design is demonstrated. This technique utilizes an odd mode signal to generate fringing fields on either side of a microstrip gap under the antenna. This allows electromagnetic energy to be efficiently coupled from the transmission lines to the radiating antenna. In a balanced integrated antenna amplifier configuration, the proposed non-contact feeding method removes the need for any balun or power combining network. Hence in theory, a compact RF front-end design with lower losses can be realized. This feeding method has been successfully applied to the design of simple passive microstrip patch antennas and active integrated antennas (AIA). Simulated and measured results are also included to validate the proposed feeding concept and antenna designs. The performance of the proposed differential feeding technique on a simple microstrip patch antenna has been systematically studied. The study suggests that the proposed proximity method is broadband in nature, allowing antennas operating at different resonant frequencies to be swapped without the need to change the feed dimensions and without degrading the matching performance