Probing stress effects in HfO2 gate stacks with time dependent measurements

Effects of constant voltage stress (CVS) on gate stacks consisting of an ALD HfO₂ dielectric with various interfacial layers were studied with time dependent sensing measurements: DC I–V, pulse I–V, and charge pumping (CP) at different frequencies. The process of injected electron trapping/de-trapping on pre-existing defects in the bulk of the high-κ film was found to constitute the major contribution to the time dependence of the threshold voltage (V_t) shift during stress. The trap generation observed with the low frequency CP measurements is suggested to occur within the interfacial oxide layer or the interfacial layer/high-κ interface, with only a minor effect on V_t.     

Antenna design strategy and demonstration for software-defined radio (SDR)

Antennas are a key enabling technology for software-defined radio (SDR). Although software is extremely flexible, SDR??s potential is limited by antenna size and performance. In this paper, we review typical antenna miniaturization techniques and fundamental theories that limit antenna size and performance including operational bandwidth, gain (or range), and radiation pattern. Possible antenna design strategies are discussed to meet the desired specifications in SDR based on observations from the limit theories. The application of strategies to enable multiband (resonant), continuous multiband (frequency independent), and instantaneous, ultra-wideband antennas are discussed qualitatively. Advantages, disadvantages, and design trade-off strategies for different types of antennas are compared from a system-level perspective. A design example for a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is presented for a software-defined platform. The example involves a direct-conversion radio developed in Wireless@VT that uses a Motorola RFIC having a 100 MHz?C6 GHz operational frequency range with a 9 kHz?C20 MHz channel bandwidth. The example antenna covers frequencies from 450 MHz to 6 GHz instantaneously with approximately 5-dBi realized gain over a finite-size ground plane, including return loss and omni-directional coverage.     

News: EPA report targets 10 key research areas

Science.     

系统级封装技术及其应用

本文介绍了系统级封装技术及其兴起背景,对比了与SoC的异同。通过分析系统级封装的技术特点,阐述了其优势;分析了系统级封装的成本构成和特点。本文从集成电路产业链整合的观点,分析了国内系统级封装的机遇与挑战;以长电科技为例,介绍了系统级封装在设计、制造上的关键技术与当前的能力,并分析了未来的趋势和挑战。本丈还对当前的系统级封装产品与应用领域做了详细介绍。     

Impact of the injection‐level‐dependent lifetime on Voc,FF, ideality m,J02, and the dim light response in a commercial PERC cell

The injection‐level‐dependent (ILD) lifetime of the silicon wafer impacts many characteristics of the final photovoltaic cell. While efficiency is commonly understood to be impacted by the silicon bulk lifetime (at the maximum power point injection level), this work demonstrates the wide ranging impacts of ILD lifetime on the V_oc, the fill factor (FF), the diode ideality factor m, and the dim light response. Instead of a two‐diode model, we utilize a boundary + ILD bulk lifetime model to analyze a commercial passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cell featuring an AlO_x dielectric rear passivation. The ILD lifetime is directly measured and used to calculate the bulk recombination current across injection levels. With this boundary + ILD lifetime model, we demonstrate the role of the ILD lifetime on many cell parameters in this PERC cell. For most high efficiency commercial p‐type monocrystalline solar cells, the typically lower bulk lifetime at the maximum power point versus the lifetime at the open circuit point reduces the measured FF and pseudo‐FF. This work illustrates that for a commercial PERC cell with AlO_x rear passivation, the ILD lifetime is the primary mechanism behind reduced FF, ideality factors greater than 1, and the source of the J₀₂ term in the two‐diode model. The crucial implications of this work are not only to better understand commercial PERC cell loss mechanisms but also to encourage a focus on different metrics in cell diagnostics. One such metric is the V_oc at 0.1 or 0.05 suns. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technologies and the development of the Automated Metadata Indexing and Analysis (AMIA) system

The Automated Metadata Indexing and Analysis (AMIA) project aims to provide an effective digital asset management (DAM) tool for large digital asset databases. We began with text-based indexing since it is still the most reliable approach as compared with other content-based media features. AMIA not only searches for the text of the file name, but also utilizes embedded information such as the metadata in Maya files. The AMIA system builds a linked map between all dependency files. We present an approach of preserving previously established metadata created by the old DAM tools, such as AlienBrain, and integrating them into the new system. Findings indicate that AMIA has significantly improved search performance comparing to previous DAM tools. Finally, the ongoing and future work in the AMIA project is described.     

固态源输运系统推动铪基栅介质的应用

在生产中引入高介电常数绝缘材料/金属栅电极结构,需要采用全新的制造技术,前驱物和输运系统推动了铪基材料栅极绝缘层的应用。AID技术也促进了新一代栅电极材料的推广和应用。     

LabVIEW8．5为开发者带来多核处理器的强大功能

根据摩尔定律,芯片上晶体管的数目每隔18～24个月就会翻一番。如同在过去40年里一样,这个定律现在还是正确的,但是在性能上却并不再呈现一个线性增强的现象。以前,芯片制造商通过提高处理器时钟速度使芯片性能翻番——从100MHz到200MHz,直至近来达到吉赫兹。