Field theoretical treatment of H-plane waveguide junctionswith anisotropic medium

A method based on the equivalence principle and cavity field expansions is used to analyze an H-plane waveguide junction containing an anisotropic (ferrite or composite ferrite) post. Using the equivalence principle, magnetic surface currents are introduced at the imaginary boundaries chosen between the central region of the junction and the waveguides. The electric displacement in the junction can be completely expressed in terms of a solenoidal set. On the other hand, the magnetic induction in the junction must be expressed in terms of a solenoidal set and an irrotational set. Continuing the tangential magnetic field at the imaginary boundaries leads to a matrix equation, the unknowns of which are the amplitudes of the scattered waveguide modes. Using this method, H-plane waveguide junctions with ferrite and composite ferrite posts are considered. The numerical results show excellent agreement with previously published experimental and theoretical results     

A Low-Latency Multi-layer Prefix Grouping Technique for Parallel Huffman Decoding of Multimedia Standards

Huffman coding is a popular and important lossless compression scheme for various multimedia applications. This paper presents a low-latency parallel Huffman decoding technique with efficient memory usage for multimedia standards. First, the multi-layer prefix grouping technique is proposed for sub-group partition. It exploits the prefix characteristic in Huffman codewords to solve the problem of table size explosion. Second, a two-level table lookup approach is introduced which can promptly branch to the correct sub-group by level-1 table lookup and decode the symbols by level-2 table lookup. Third, two optimization approaches are developed; one is to reduce the branch cycles and the other is parallel processing between two-level table lookup and direct table lookup approaches to fully utilize the advantage of VLIW parallel processing. An AAC Huffman decoding example is realized on the Parallel Architecture Core DSP (PAC DSP) processor. The simulation results show that the proposed method can further improve about 89% of decoding cycles and 33% of table size comparing to the linear search method.

Enhanced Thermal Stability and Efficiency of Polymer Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells by Low‐Temperature Drying of the Active Layer

This study addresses two key issues, stability and efficiency, of polymer solar cells based on blended poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) by demonstrating a film‐forming process that involves low‐temperature drying (?5 °C) and subsequent annealing of the active layer. The low‐temperature process achieves 4.70% power conversion efficiency (PCE) and ～1250 h storage half‐life at 65 °C, which are significant improvements over the 3.39% PCE and ～143 h half‐life of the regular room‐temperature process. The improvements are attributed to the enhanced nucleation of P3HT crystallites as well as the minimized separation of the P3HT and PCBM phases at the low drying temperature, which upon post‐drying annealing results in a morphology consisting of small PCBM‐rich domains interspersed within a densely interconnected P3HT crystal network. This morphology provides ample bulk‐heterojunction area for charge generation while allowing for facile charge transport; moreover, the P3HT crystal network serves as an immobile frame at heating temperatures less than the melting point (T_m) of P3HT, thus preventing PCBM/P3HT phase separation and the corresponding device degradation.     

Simultaneous Q-switching and mode-locking in a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4-Cr4+:YAG laser

Parametric studies of passive Q-switching and mode-locking in a Nd ³⁺:YVO₄-Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser were theoretically carried out. Simultaneous mode-locking and Q-switching was also experimentally studied. It was found that over 90% of the output power could be mode-locked in a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd³⁺:YVO₄-Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser. The average pulse duration of the mode-locked pulse train was estimated to he around 110~150 ps. The highest peak power of a single pulse near the maximum of the Q-switched envelope was greater than 100 kW     

Adaptive DS-CDMA Receiver with Code Tracking in Phase Unknown Environments

In this paper, we propose and analyze a new noncoherent receiver with PN code tracking for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) communication systems in multipath channels. We employ the decision-feedback differential detection method to detect MDPSK signals. An ";error signal"; is used to update the tap weights and the estimated code delay. Increasing the number of feedback symbols can improve the performance of the proposed noncoherent receiver. For an infinite number of feedback symbols, the optimum weight can be derived analytically, and the performance of the proposed noncoherent receiver approaches to that of the conventional coherent receiver. Simulations show good agreement with the theoretical derivation.     

Growth of epitaxial Si1-xGex layers at 750° C by VLPCVD

Silicon-germanium epitaxial layers have been grown on (100) silicon at 750° C by very low pressure chemical vapor deposition (VLPCVD). Pure SiH₄ and GeH₄ were used as the processing gases. Commensurate films of Si_1-x withx < 0.13 have been deposited up to a critical thickness about 2-4 times larger than the equilibrium value. Interrupted growth, controlled by gas switching, was employed to improve interfacial abruptness. The films have been characterized as a function of SiH₄ and GeH₄ flow rates and germanium content. Growth rate and germanium incorporation as a function of GeH₄:SiH₄ input ratio and total gas flow rate have been studied. We observed that the growth rate of the Si_1-x Ge _x layer decreases as the germanium content in the film or the GeH₄:SiH₄ ratio increases at 750° C using VLPCVD. We also found that, for a given GeH₄:SiH₄ ratio, the germanium incorporated in the solid is independent of the total gas flow rate.     

In vitro measurement of myocardial impedivity anisotropy with a miniature rectangular tube

Due to rapid change of fiber orientation, it is difficult to measure myocardial impedivity separately in a longitudinal or transverse fiber direction without mutual influence in the two directions. Previously published values of the longitudinal and the transverse myocardial impedivity were derived indirectly from measurements that mixed the impedivity in all directions. Those values are questionable because the derivations were based on a simplified uniform myocardial fiber model. In this paper, a miniature rectangular tube was devised to facilitate direct measurement of myocardial impedivity in a uniform fiber direction. The average transverse-to-longitudinal ratio of the measured in vitro swine myocardial impedivity was about 1.66 from 1 Hz to 1 kHz and dropped to 1.25 at 1 MHz. The result is important for accurate modeling of the electrical property of myocardium in biomedical research of radio-frequency cardiac catheter ablation.     

Comparative investigation of InP/InGaAs heterostructure-emitter tunneling and superlattice bipolar transistors

In this article, the characteristics of InP/InGaAs heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistors with 30 n-InP layer tunneling layers and a five-period InP/InGaAs superlattice are demonstrated and comparatively investigated by experimentally results and analysis. In the three devices, a 200 Å n-In_0.53Ga_0.47As layer together with an n-InP tunneling emitter layer (or n-InP/n-InGaAs superlattice) forms heterostructure emitter to decrease collector-emitter offset voltage. The results exhibits that the largest collector current and current gain are obtained for the tunneling transistor with a 30 Å n-InP tunneling emitter layer. On the other hand, some of holes injecting from base to emitter will be blocked at n-InP/n-InGaAs heterojunction due to the relatively small hole transmission coefficient in superlattice device, which will result in a considerable base recombination current in the n-InGaAs layer. Therefore, the collector current and current gain of the superlattice device are the smallest values among of the devices.     

Characterization and modeling of static and cyclic relaxation in nonconductive adhesives

Adhesive interconnections are considered to be attractive alternatives to lead or lead-free solder interconnects because of their lower processing temperatures and extendability to fine pitch applications. However, reliability issues, such as moisture-induced delamination and viscoelastic relaxation of the adhesive in both steady-state and cyclic loading, continue to pose a challenge to widespread implementation. To date, the static and cyclic relaxation characteristics of nonconductive adhesives (NCAs) are yet to be understood. This paper attempts to provide insights into this static and cyclic relaxation behavior through experimental characterization and modeling. The viscoelastic property of a typical NCA material was characterized, and a simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) modeling program was used to model the cyclic relaxation behavior. The modeling results were successfully validated with a series of experiments. This showed that cyclic relaxation of the adhesive can be successfully modeled using linear-viscoelastic property. The phenomenon of slower relaxation of the adhesive under cyclic loading than that in static loading suggests that accelerated reliability testing used in solder-joint fatigue durability investigations may not be directly applicable to the adhesive interconnections. A rework methodology applicable to adhesive interconnects using cyclic loading has also been proposed.