Synthesis and Evaluation of Semiconductive Polymer Compositions

A semiconductive polymer composition was prepared in which micronized particulate conductive filler, such as copper or graphite, is dispersed in a polymeric component that is of an essentially amorphous thermoplastic resin (such as polymethylmethacrylate). These molding powders of polymethylmethacrylate were prepared by suspension polymerization of methylmethacrylate monomer in presence of these conductors. The prepared molding powder contains 4.8% and 40.44% by volume (with respect to polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)) of copper and graphite, respectively.

The effect of blending copper and graphite at different vol % to the prepared molding powder on the specific resistance of the product was studied.

It was concluded that the specific resistance of molding powder was decreased from 2.1 × 10¹¹ to 3.05 × 10⁶ ohm.cm at 70% volume copper and from 2.3 × 10⁴ to 2 × 10² ohm cm at 80% volume graphite.     

Analysis of power gating in different hierarchical levels of 2MB cache,considering variation

This article reintroduces power gating technique in different hierarchical levels of static random-access memory (SRAM) design including cell, row, bank and entire cache memory in 16 nm Fin field effect transistor. Different structures of SRAM cells such as 6T, 8T, 9T and 10T are used in design of 2MB cache memory. The power reduction of the entire cache memory employing cell-level optimisation is 99.7% with the expense of area and other stability overheads. The power saving of the cell-level optimisation is 3× (1.2×) higher than power gating in cache (bank) level due to its superior selectivity. The access delay times are allowed to increase by 4% in the same energy delay product to achieve the best power reduction for each supply voltages and optimisation levels. The results show the row-level power gating is the best for optimising the power of the entire cache with lowest drawbacks. Comparisons of cells show that the cells whose bodies have higher power consumption are the best candidates for power gating technique in row-level optimisation. The technique has the lowest percentage of saving in minimum energy point (MEP) of the design. The power gating also improves the variation of power in all structures by at least 70%.     

Artificial fish skin of self-powered micro-electromechanical systems hair cells for sensing hydrodynamic flow phenomena

Using biological sensors, aquatic animals like fishes are capable of performing impressive behaviours such as super-manoeuvrability, hydrodynamic flow ‘vision’ and object localization with a success unmatched by human-engineered technologies. Inspired by the multiple functionalities of the ubiquitous lateral-line sensors of fishes, we developed flexible and surface-mountable arrays of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) artificial hair cell flow sensors. This paper reports the development of the MEMS artificial versions of superficial and canal neuromasts and experimental characterization of their unique flow-sensing roles. Our MEMS flow sensors feature a stereolithographically fabricated polymer hair cell mounted on Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ micro-diaphragm with floating bottom electrode. Canal-inspired versions are developed by mounting a polymer canal with pores that guide external flows to the hair cells embedded in the canal. Experimental results conducted employing our MEMS artificial superficial neuromasts (SNs) demonstrated a high sensitivity and very low threshold detection limit of 22 mV/(mm s⁻¹) and 8.2 µm s⁻¹, respectively, for an oscillating dipole stimulus vibrating at 35 Hz. Flexible arrays of such superficial sensors were demonstrated to localize an underwater dipole stimulus. Comparative experimental studies revealed a high-pass filtering nature of the canal encapsulated sensors with a cut-off frequency of 10 Hz and a flat frequency response of artificial SNs. Flexible arrays of self-powered, miniaturized, light-weight, low-cost and robust artificial lateral-line systems could enhance the capabilities of underwater vehicles.