A fully integrated high IP1dB CMOS SPDT switch using stacked transistors for 2.4 GHz TDD transceiver applications

A transmit/receive (T/R) switch is an essential module of every modern time division duplex (TDD) transceiver circuit. A T/R switch with high power handling capacity in CMOS process is difficult to design due to capacitive coupling of radio frequency signals to the substrate. This paper proposes a single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) T/R switch designed in a standard Silterra 130 nm CMOS process for high-power applications like RFID readers. The results reveal that, in 2.4 GHz ISM band, the proposed switch exhibits a very high input P1dB of 39 dBm with insertion loss of only 0.34 dB and isolation of 40 dB in transmit mode but 1.08 dB insertion loss and 30 dB isolation in receive mode. Stacked thick-oxide triple-well transistors, resistive body floating and negative control voltages are used to achieve such lucrative performance. Moreover, the chip size of the designed switch is only 0.034 mm² as bulky inductors and capacitors are avoided. The Monte-Carlo and corner analyses confirm that the performance of the switch is also quite stable and reliable.     

形变热处理制备的纳米晶NiTi形状记忆合金的超弹性行为（英文）

研究冷轧和后续退火形变热处理对Ni_(50)Ti_(50)形状记忆合金超弹性行为的影响。采用铜坩埚真空感应熔炼法制备样品。将成分均匀的样品进行热轧后在900°C退火,然后再进行冷轧,冷轧后样品的厚度有不同程度的减少,最大可达70%。透射电镜检测结果显示严重的冷轧导致Ni_(50)Ti_(50)合金中形成了纳米晶和非晶的复合显微组织。400°C下退火1 h后,冷轧样品中的非晶发生晶化形成纳米晶组织。随着冷轧变形量的增加,在超弹性实验中Ni_(50)Ti_(50)合金的弹性应变增加,变形量为70%的冷轧-退火样品其弹性应变为12%。此外,随着变形量的增加,应力诱导马氏体相变的临界应力提高。值得注意的是,70%变形量的冷轧-退火样品的阻尼容量值为28 J/cm3,明显高于商业NiTi合金。     

Third‐harmonic generation imaging of breast tissue biopsies

We demonstrate for the first time the imaging of unstained breast tissue biopsies using third‐harmonic generation (THG) microscopy. As a label‐free imaging technique, THG microscopy is compared to phase contrast and polarized light microscopy which are standard imaging methods for breast tissues. A simple feature detection algorithm is applied to detect tumour‐associated lymphocyte rich regions in unstained breast biopsy tissue and compared with corresponding regions identified by a pathologist from bright‐field images of hematoxylin and eosin stained breast tissue. Our results suggest that THG imaging holds potential as a complementary technique for analysing breast tissue biopsies.     

Superelastic properties of nanocrystalline NiTi shape memory alloy produced by thermomechanical processing

Effects of thermomechanical treatment of cold rolling followed by annealing on microstructure and superelastic behavior of the Ni₅₀Ti₅₀ shape memory alloy were studied. Several specimens were produced by copper boat vacuum induction melting. The homogenized specimens were hot rolled and annealed at 900 °C. Thereafter, annealed specimens were subjected to cold rolling with different thickness reductions up to 70%. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the severe cold rolling led to the formation of a mixed microstructure consisting of nanocrystalline and amorphous phases in Ni₅₀Ti₅₀ alloy. After annealing at 400 °C for 1 h, the amorphous phase formed in the cold-rolled specimens was crystallized and a nanocrystalline structure formed. Results showed that with increasing thickness reduction during cold rolling, the recoverable strain of Ni₅₀Ti₅₀ alloy was increased during superelastic experiments such that the 70% cold rolled–annealed specimen exhibited about 12% of recoverable strain. Moreover, with increasing thickness reduction, the critical stress for stress-induced martensitic transformation was increased. It is noteworthy that in the 70% cold rolled–annealed specimen, the damping capacity was measured to be 28 J/cm³ that is significantly higher than that of commercial NiTi alloys.     

Polymer–clay nanocomposites via chemical grafting of polyacrylonitrile onto cloisite 20A

The synthesis and characterization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanocomposites through grafting the polymer onto organophilic montmorillonite have been reported. Cloisite 20A reacted with vinyltrichlorosilane to replace the edge hydroxyl groups of the clay with a vinyl moiety. Because the reaction liberates HCl, it was performed in the presence of sodium hydrogen carbonate to prevent the exchange of quaternary alkylammonium cations with H^?+? ions. Only the silanol groups on the edge of the clay reacted with vinyltrichlorosilane. The radical polymerization of the product with acrylonitrile (AN) as a vinyl monomer leads to chemical grafting of polyacrylonitrile onto montmorillonite surface. The homopolymer formed during polymerization was separated from the grafted organoclay by Soxhlet extraction. Chemical grafting of the polymer onto Cloisite 20A was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. The prepared nanocomposite materials and grafted nanoparticles were studied by XRD and TEM. Exfoliated nanocomposites were obtained for 0·5–7 wt% clay content. The nanocomposites were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMTA).