As-deposited LiCoO2 thin film cathodes prepared by rf magnetron sputtering

LiCoO₂ thin films were deposited using radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering system on stainless steel substrates. Different rf powers, up to 150 W, were applied during deposition. The as-deposited films exhibited (1 0 1) and (1 0 4) preferred orientation and the nanocrystalline film structure was enhanced with increasing rf power. The film crystallinity was examined using X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The compositions of the films were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy. The average discharge capacity of as-deposited films is about 59 μAh/(cm² μm) for cut-off voltage range of 4.2 and 3.0 V. From the electrochemical cycling data, it is suggested that as-deposited LiCoO₂ films with a nanocrystalline structure and a favorable preferred orientation, e.g. (1 0 1) or (1 0 4) texture, can be used without post-annealing at high temperatures for solid-state thin film batteries.     

Achromatized transmission-type holographic screen for a multiview stereoscopic image system

The main drawback of the use of transmission-type holographic screens is poor color reproduction caused by their high spectral dispersion. For overcoming this drawback, a long, narrow diffusing slit is used as an object when recording the screen. The necessary size and position of the slit relative to the photoplate and to the recording and reconstruction beams are determined by the phase relations of the beams. By use of the slit, holographic screens of 30 cm x 40 cm are recorded with a diverging reference beam and are used to display a multiview full-color stereoscopic image. The images displayed on the screen show no sign of color separation except near the edges of the screen. The image brightness on the screen is high enough that it can be watched in a normally illuminated room.     

Real-time adult authentication scheme for digital contents using X.509 certificate in ubiquitous Web environment

In the ubiquitous Web environment which exploits real-time image processing methods, easy access to a variety of digital contents such as movies, e-books, and digital songs significantly enhances people’s quality of life. However, most digital content sites do not provide a concrete mechanism to prohibit minors from accessing harmful content, even though a few mechanisms are available in the market to screen out minors from accessing inappropriate content. This paper proposes a fundamental approach that confirms the age of a user using his digital signature with the X.509 certificate when the user attempts to access specific digital content. Its performance is verified by the implementation of the approach.     

Structure‐Texture Decomposition of Images with Interval Gradient

This paper presents a novel filtering‐based method for decomposing an image into structures and textures. Unlike previous filtering algorithms, our method adaptively smooths image gradients to filter out textures from images. A new gradient operator, the interval gradient, is proposed for adaptive gradient smoothing. Using interval gradients, textures can be distinguished from structure edges and smoothly varying shadings. We also propose an effective gradient‐guided algorithm to produce high‐quality image filtering results from filtered gradients. Our method avoids gradient reversal in the filtering results and preserves sharp features better than existing filtering approaches, while retaining simplicity and highly parallel implementation. The proposed method can be utilized for various applications that require accurate structure‐texture decomposition of images.     

Floating single sustain drive method for AC plasma display panel

This paper presents a method for driving an AC plasma display panel (PDP). This method separates the circuit ground for the sustain pulse generator from the system ground during the sustain period, so it is named the floating single sustain method. The problems observed in previous single sustain methods are solved by separating the ground systems. A drive waveform and circuit for the floating single sustain method are proposed, and a cost-effective method of connecting the drive circuit to the electrodes of a PDP is presented. Experimental results on a 42-in. WVGA single-scan PDP show that the proposed waveform and circuit are well suited for driving the PDP; all problems observed in the previous single sustain method are solved and the power consumption due to the sustain power leakage to the data drive circuit is eliminated.     

HIPaG: An energy-efficient in-network join for distributed condition tables in sensor networks

In sensor networks, the event-detection process can be considered as a join of two relations, i.e., a sensor table and a condition table, where a condition table is a set of tuples each of which contains condition information about a certain event. When join operations are used for event-detection, it is desirable, if possible, to perform ‘in-network’ joins in order to reduce the communication cost. In this paper, we propose an in-network join algorithm, called HIPaG. In HIPaG, a condition table is partitioned into several fragments. Those fragments are stored either in paths from the base station to sensor nodes, or in groups of nodes each of which are within the broadcast range among each other. By distributing a condition table in this way, a distributed join of a sensor table and a condition table can be effectively performed in the network. The experimental results show that our proposed HIPaG works much better than the existing method.     

High-fidelity simulation of integrated single-wafer processing tools for evaluation of scheduling algorithms

Semiconductor manufacturing equipments are being integrated into complex systems that perform multiple processes in a single contained unit. An integrated single-wafer processing tool, composed of multiple single-wafer processing modules and transfer robots, has complex re-visit routing sequences, and often has critical post-processing residency constraints at the process modules. The simulation of the single-wafer processing tools presented in this paper is to test and validate on-line schedulers, and evaluate the performance of the integrated single-wafer processing tools before they are actually deployed into the fabs. The developed simulator consists of six components which are a graphic user interface, an emulator, an execution system, a manager, an analyzer and a 3D animator. The overall framework is built by using Microsoft Visual C++, and the animator is constructed by using OpenGL. The emulator has the state models of the process and transfer modules, and control functions that execute unit processes of the transfer robots. The manager checks the states of the robots, and sequentially calls these control functions to fulfill transfer commands. The execution system automatically generates contingencies with pre-defined failure lists, and determines whether the rest of the operable wafers should be further processed or discarded. The animator shows real-time 3D animation of the operation of the processing tools. The analyzer provides various performance measures such as throughput rate, cycle time, utility, and ratio of overtime to residency (ROR). Users can test and evaluate various manufacturing scenarios and configurations of the processing tools and recipes.     

A real-time 3D video analyzer for enhanced 3D audio–visual systems

Multimedia Systems - With the recent advent of three-dimensional (3D) sound home theater systems (HTS), more and more TV viewers are experiencing rich, immersive auditory presence at home. In this...     

Flexible Protective Film: Ultrahard,Yet Flexible Hybrid Nanocomposite Reinforced by 3D Inorganic Nanoshell Structures

Emerging flexible optoelectronics requires a new type of protective material that is not only hard but also flexible. Organic–inorganic (O–I) hybrid materials have been used as a flexible cover window to increase wear resistance and polymer-like flexibility. However, the hardness of O–I hybrid materials is much lower than that of metals and ceramics due to the low intrinsic hardness of the organic matrix and limited volume fraction of inorganic reinforcement. Herein, a new type of hybrid nanocomposite combining an O–I hybrid material with continuous and ordered 3D inorganic nanoshell as an additional reinforcement is proposed. The 3D alumina nanoshell uniformly embedded in the epoxy-siloxane molecular hybrid (ESMH) enables a rule of mixture without a loss in flexibility. Two types of reinforcements comprising siloxane molecules and 3D alumina shell ensure a metal-like hardness (1.3 GPa), which is significantly higher than that of the typical polymers and polymer nanocomposites. The 3D hybrid nanocomposite films show superb impact resistance due to the 3D alumina nanoshell that effectively suppresses crack propagation. Inch-scale 3D hybrid nanocomposite films also endure 20 000 bending cycles without failure and maintain high transparency (>82.0% at 550 nm) in the visible regions.