Detecting and characterising returns in a pulsed ladar system

A new multi-spectral laser radar (ladar) system based on the time-correlated single photon counting, time-of-flight technique has been designed to detect and characterise distributed targets at ranges of several kilometres. The system uses six separated laser channels in the visible and near infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The authors present a method to detect the numbers, positions, heights and shape parameters of returns from this system, used for range profiling and target classification. The algorithm has two principal stages: non-parametric bump hunting based on an analysis of the smoothed derivatives of the photon count histogram in scale space, and maximum likelihood estimation using Poisson statistics. The approach is demonstrated on simulated and real data from a multi-spectral ladar system, showing that the return parameters can be estimated to a high degree of accuracy.     

Enhanced thermal stability of a sputtered titanium-nitride film as a diffusion barrier for capacitor-bottom electrodes

The effect of a thin RuO_x layer formed on the Ru/TiN/doped poly-Si/Si stack structure was compared with that on the RuO_x/TiN/doped poly-Si/Si stack structure over the post-deposition annealing temperature ranges of 450–600°C. The Ru/TiN/poly-Si/Si contact system exhibited linear behavior at forward bias with a small increase in the total resistance up to 600°C. The RuO_x/TiN/poly-Si/Si contact system exhibited nonlinear characteristics under forward bias at 450°C, which is attributed to no formation of a thin RuO_x layer at the RuO_x surface and porous-amorphous microstructure. In the former case, the addition of oxygen at the surface layer of the Ru film by pre-annealing leads to the formation of a thin RuO_x layer and chemically strong Ru-O bonds. This results from the retardation of oxygen diffusion caused by the discontinuity of diffusion paths. In particular, the RuO_x layer in a nonstoichiometric state is changed to the RuO₂-crystalline phase in a stoichiometric state after post-deposition annealing; this phase can act as an oxygen-capture layer. Therefore, it appears that the electrical properties of the Ru/TiN/poly-Si/Si contact system are better than those of the RuO_x/TiN/poly-Si/Si contact system.     

Fast locking delay-locked loop using initial delay measurement

A delay-locked loop (DLL) architecture capable of incorporating fast locking and low jitter features simultaneously is reported. A test chip was fabricated in a 0.6 μm CMOS process to prove its functionality. The proposed DLL can align the internal clock to the external reference clock within two cycles and maintain its locking state with the aid of feedback operation     

Evaluation of Monkman-Grant parameters for type 316LN and modified 9Cr-Mo stainless steels

The Monkman-Grant (M-G) and its modified parameters were evaluated for type 316LN and modified 9Cr-Mo stainless steels prepared with minor element variations. Several sets of creep data for the two alloy systems were obtained by constant-load creep tests in 550-650°C temperature range. The M-G parameters,m, m’,C, andC’ were proposed and discussed for the two alloy systems. Them value of the M-G relation was 0.90 in type 316LN steel and 0.84 in modified 9Cr-Mo steel. Them’, value of the modified relation was 0.94 in type 316LN steel and 0.89 in 9Cr-Mo steel. Although creep fracture modes and creep properties between type 316LN and modified 9Cr-Mo steels showed a basic difference, the M-G and its modified relations demonstrated linearity quite well. Them’ of modified relation almost overlapped regardless of the creep testing conditions and chemical variations in the two alloy systems, and the parameterm’ was closer to unity than that of the M-G relation.     

Effect of Pressure Gradient on Heat Transfer of Impinging Submerged Circular Jets

An experimental and numerical study have been carried out to investigate the distribution of radial local heat transfer coefficients of impinging submerged circular jets. Good agreement is achieved between the experimental results and the predicted value. Results show that the outer peak usually occurs at the radial location of r/d= 1.8~2.0, in which transition from laminar to turbulence happens resulting from disappeared pressure gradient abruptly, and that the inner peak appears rigidly at r/d=0.5, where the boundary layer has a minimum thickness because of elevating pressure gradient.     

Nondestructive evaluation of the characteristics of degraded materials using backward radiated ultrasound

The frequency dependency of Rayleigh surface wave is investigated indirectly by measuring the angular dependency of the backward radiation of the incident ultrasonic wave in two kinds of degraded specimens by scuffing or corrosion. Then, the frequency dependency is compared with the residual stress distribution or the corrosion-fatigue characteristics for the scuffed or corroded specimens, respectively. The width of the backward radiation profile increases with the increase of the variation in residual stress distribution for the scuffed specimens. In the corroded specimens, the profile width decreases with the increase of the effective aging layer thickness and is inversely proportional to the exponent, m, in the Paris’ law that can predict the crack size increase due to fatigue. The result observed in this study demonstrates high potential of backward radiated ultrasound as a tool for nondestructive evaluation of subsurface gradient of material degradation generated by scuffing or corrosion.     

Solution of a multidimensional inverse radiation problem by means of mode reduction

The Karhunen–Loève Galerkin procedure is employed to solve an inverse radiation problem of determining the time‐varying strength of a heat source, which mimics flames in a furnace, from temperature measurements in three‐dimensional participating media where radiation and conduction occur simultaneously. The inverse radiation problem is solved through the minimization of a performance function, which is expressed by the sum of square residuals between calculated and observed temperature, using a conjugate gradient method. Through the Karhunen–Loève Galerkin procedure, one can represent the system dynamics with a minimum degree of freedom, and consequently the amount of computation required in the solution of the inverse problem is reduced drastically when the present technique is adopted. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-gain pseudomorphic InGaAs base ballistic hot-electron device

A high-gain ballistic hot-electron device is described. The GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure device, with a 21-mm-thick pseudomorphic In _0.12Ga_0.88As base, had a current gain of 27 at 77 K and 41 at 4.2 K. As characteristically seen in ballistic devices, transfer into the L valley limited the maximum gain. The Γ-L valley separation in the strained In_0.12Ga_0.88As was estimated to be about 380 meV     

Study of specific absorption rate (SAR) induced in two child head models and in adult heads using mobile phones

This paper gives a first comparison of specific absorption rate (SAR) induced in a child-sized (CS) head and an adult head using a dual-band mobile phone. In the second study, the visible human head is considered and comparison of SAR induced in a CS or child-like (CL) head and an adult head using a dual-band mobile phone is given. All the peaks of average SAR over a mass of 10 and 1 g in the head and the power budget are determined in the two comparisons using the finite-difference time-domain method. The differences between the results for adult and CS or CL heads are given at 900 and 1800 MHz. No important differences are noted for the peak SAR averaged over 10 g (SAR10 g), between the two adult head models, as well as between the two child head models. The peak SAR10 g in the brain of the CS or CL head is slightly more significant than that for the adult one.