Study of warpage due to P-V-T-C relation of EMC in IC packaging

There were many studies about the prediction of warpage due to thermal mismatch , . However, cure induced warpage is usually ignored and the results can be inaccurate. To minimize this problem, a thorough understanding of epoxy molding compound (EMC) with pressure-volume-temperature-cure (P-V-T-C) relation is necessary. This paper used the P-V-T-C relation of an encapsulation material to formulate the stress-strain relationship. With the help of finite element method (FEM) and mold flow analysis, warpage predictions combined with P-V-T-C relation were performed and the results show that this approach is practical. For a given P-V-T-C relation, the shrinkage direction is pointing toward the gate and maximum warpage usually occurs at the boundary of an integrated circuit (IC) package. Variation of specific volume difference along the flow direction is larger than that perpendicular to the flow direction. When temperature difference is small in thickness direction, specific volume difference in thickness direction varies only slightly.     

Plastic deformation in a multifunctional Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-O alloy

Mechanisms for plastic deformation in the newly developed Ti-24 at. pct (Ta + Nb + V)-(Zr,Hf)-O alloys (Gum Metal) were investigated in relation to their unique properties. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the microstructure after deformation was characterized by highly distorted crystal images, which are accompanied by numerous “giant faults.” Such plastic behavior implies that a large amount of elastic stain energy was stored discretely and hierarchically during cold working. Calculated elastic constants of the Ti-X (Nb,Ta,Mo,V) binary systems predicted that Young’s modulus in 〈001〉 and shear moduli along some directions including slip systems in a bcc crystal were extraordinary small. The low modulus not only well explains the highly distorted microstructure observed in the cold-worked specimens, but also signifies that ideal shear strength of the developed alloys is a very small value, which is close to the practical strength required for plastic deformation in the alloy. This implies that the giant faults observed in the deformed specimen were formed without the aid of dislocation glide.     

On Striping Traffic over Multiple IEEE 802.11(b) Wireless Channels

Due to interference, path loss, multipath fading, background noise, and many other factors, wireless communication normally cannot provide a wireless link with both a high data rate and a long transmission range. To address this problem, striping network traffic in parallel over multiple lower-data-rate but longer-transmission-range wireless channels may be used. In this paper, we propose a new striping method and evaluate its performances over multiple IEEE 802.11(b) channels under various conditions. Our extensive simulation results show that this method is quite effective for such an application. S.Y. Wang is an Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He received his Master and Ph.D. degree in computer science from Harvard University in 1997 and 1999, respectively. His research interests include wireless networks, Internet technologies, network simulations, and operating systems. He is the author of the NCTUns 2.0 network simulator and emulator, which is being widely used by network and communication researchers. More information about the tool is available at http://NSL.csie.nctu.edu.tw/nctuns.html. C.H. Hwang received his master degree in computer science from NCTU in 2002 and currently is working for a network company. C.L. Chou currently is a third-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao TungUniversity (NCTU), Taiwan. He received his master degree in computer science from NCTU in 2002.     

Decreasing miscibility with greater heterogeneity in ternary polymer blend: poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate), poly(α‐methyl styrene) and poly(4‐methyl styrene)

A ternary blend system comprising poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate) (PCHMA), poly(α‐methyl styrene) (PαMS) and poly(4‐methyl styrene) (P4MS) was investigated by thermal analysis, optical and scanning electron microscopy. Ternary phase behaviour was compared with the behaviour for the three constituent binary pairs. This study showed that the ternary blends of PCHMA/PαMS/P4MS in most compositions were miscible, with an apparent glass transition temperature (T_g) and distinct cloud‐point transitions, which were located at lower temperatures than their binary counterparts. However, in a closed‐loop range of compositions roughly near the centre of the triangular phase diagram, some ternary blends displayed phase separation with heterogeneity domains of about 1 µm. Therefore, it is properly concluded that ternary PCHMA/PαMS/P4M is partially miscible with a small closed‐loop immisciblity range, even though all the constituent binary pairs are fully miscible. Thermodynamic backgrounds leading to decreased miscibility and greater heterogeneity in a ternary polymer system in comparison with the binary counterparts are discussed. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Efficient OVSF code assignment and reassignment strategies in UMTS

This paper presents an integrated solution for code management, assignment, and reassignment problems in UMTS. We propose a new architecture for code management and, based upon this new architecture, a code assignment strategy, referred to as "crowded-group first strategy". Our system architecture and code assignment strategy represent significant improvements both in the time complexity and the maintenance complexity. Moreover, the code blocking probability of the crowded-group first strategy is competitive to that of the other strategies. In this paper, we also propose a new code reassignment strategy, called the "crowded-branch first strategy". The main objective of this reassignment strategy is to reduce reassigned call probability with low computation overhead and extend this strategy for the general case. In order to systematically analyze the performances of the code assignment strategy, we implement a simulator to analyze the code selection behavior and code blocking probability of each strategy. Moreover, we propose some new performance metrics, named "weighted code blocking", "reassigned call probability", and "ratio of actual code reassignments", in order to precisely measure the performance obtained by different strategies. From the simulation results, we show that our proposed strategies efficiently utilize the OVSF codes with low computation overhead.     

Adaptive median filters: new algorithms and results

Based on two types of image models corrupted by impulse noise, we propose two new algorithms for adaptive median filters. They have variable window size for removal of impulses while preserving sharpness. The first one, called the ranked-order based adaptive median filter (RAMF), is based on a test for the presence of impulses in the center pixel itself followed by a test for the presence of residual impulses in the median filter output. The second one, called the impulse size based adaptive median filter (SAMF), is based on the detection of the size of the impulse noise. It is shown that the RAMF is superior to the nonlinear mean L(p) filter in removing positive and negative impulses while simultaneously preserving sharpness; the SAMF is superior to Lin's (1988) adaptive scheme because it is simpler with better performance in removing the high density impulsive noise as well as nonimpulsive noise and in preserving the fine details. Simulations on standard images confirm that these algorithms are superior to standard median filters.     

Improved stochastic gradient adaptive filter with gradient adaptivestep size

The performance of a stochastic gradient adaptive filter can be significantly improved by introducing a forgetting factor. The complexity of the original algorithm can also be reduced by using only the signs of error signals and input signals in the gradient adaptive step size computation     

Conference key distribution schemes for secure digital mobilecommunications

We propose a new service for digital mobile communication systems. The service enables two or more users to hold a secure conference. Two requirements must be considered: privacy and authentication. Privacy involves ensuring that an eavesdropper cannot intercept the conversations of the parties holding the conference. Authentication involves ensuring that service is not obtained fraudulently in order to avoid usage charges. We present two new conference key distribution schemes for digital mobile communication systems. In these schemes, a group of users can generate a common secret keg over a public channel so that they may hold a secure conference     

The oxidative inducation test applied to medical PVC and other polymers

We have examined the applicability of this simple and effective test to polymer systems widely used in the medical industry. First, it was found that not every polymer examined exhibited a distinct onset of autocatalytic oxidation detectable by DSC. However, for cases where distinct onsets are found, powerful insights can be obtained. These included activation energy of the degradation, thermal oxidative shelf life prediction, and correlation, with product performances. Actual examples are presented to illustrate the utility of the test.