Hot Corrosion of Silica

The high-temperature corrosion of bulk silica glass was studied in pure oxygen and in SO₃-containing oxygen atmospheres in the presence of liquid sulfate deposits at temperatures of 700° and 1000°C. No reaction and devitrification were observed without Na₂SO₄ on the surface. The wetting of the silica by the sulfate, the tendency toward basic fluxing, and the crystallization of the silica incrased with the activity of Na₂O. The most extensive degradation of vitreous silica occurred by crystallization, and the resulting spalling under basic conditions and thermal cycling at basic conditions were parabolic. This behavior is explained by a model in which the crystallization is controlled by sodium at the glass-crystal interface and its diffusion into the glass. This sodium diffuses into the glass before crystallization and is swept ahead of the crystallization front.     

Application of the percolation model to gelation of an epoxy resin

The percolation model has been applied to the study of gelation of the TGDDM-DDS system (tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane–diaminodiphenylsulfone) at a mass concentration of 100–30. For each temperature the experimental viscosity curves are satisfactorily described by a percolation law. Using the degree of chemical reactions, X, as a variable, a very clear change in the reaction mechanism with temperature can be shown. Then a rate of advancement of effective reactions, Y, is defined. This value only takes intermolecular-type reactions into account, and is probably the only variable on which viscosity depends in a percolation law: η = B(1 ? Y/Y_c)^?p. We obtain Y_c= 0.45 and p= 2.0. Comparing X_c and Y_c at the gel point, we obtain information on the proportion of intramolecular reactions with temperature. It is also demonstrated that the critical percolation threshold agrees closely with the gel point determined experimentally on log G″= f(t) curves.     

MC-CDMA with exponential power profile in Nakagami fading channel

A refined study of multi-carrier code division multiple access transmission over a Nakagami fading channel is proposed. The channel power is modeled with an exponential power profile rather than the uniform profile prevalent in other papers. An expression for the bit error rate (BER) is then derived. Numerical results show that MC-CDMA performances depend on the power dispersion of interferers around the desired user power.     

A New CMOS Current-Mode Multiplexer for l0 Gbps Serial Links

This paper presents an in-depth study of the pros and cons of voltage-mode multiplexers for Gbps serial links and exploits the advantages of multiplexing in current domain. In addition, it proposes a new fully differential CMOS current-mode multiplexer where a high multiplexing speed is achieved by multiplexing at a low-impedance node. Multiplexing speed is further improved by inductive shunt peaking with active inductors. The differential configuration of the multiplexer minimizes the effect of common-mode disturbances, particularly those coupled from the power and ground rails. The flow of the output currents in the opposite directions minimizes the effect of electro-magnetic interference from channels, making the multiplexer particularly attractive for high-speed data transmission over long interconnects and printed-circuit-board (PCB) traces. The proposed multiplexer draws a constant current from the supply voltage, thereby minimizing both switching noise and noise injected to the substrate. A fully differential CMOS current-mode 8-to-l multiplexer has been implemented in TSMC’s 1.8 V 0.18 μm CMOS technology and analyzed using Spectre from Cadence Design Systems with BSIM3.3v device models. Simulation results demonstrate that the multiplexer offers sufficiently large eye-opening when multiplexed at 10 Gbps.Jean Jiang received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China in 1995. From 1999 to 2001, she worked for Ericsson Global IT Services where she was a technical staff to maintain computer networks. Since 2002, she has been a research assistant with the System-on-Chip research lab of Ryerson University. She is currently a M.A.Sc candidate under the supervision of Dr. Fei Yuan in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. Her research interests are in analog CMOS circuit design for high-speed data communications. She was awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) in 2003–2005 for academic excellence.Fei Yuan received the B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering from Shandong University, Jinan, China in 1985, the MASc. degree in chemical engineering and PhD. degree in electrical engineering from University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1995 and 1999, respectively.During 1985–1989, he was a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Jiangsu, China. In 1989 he was a Visiting Professor at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology, Toronto, Canada. During 1989–1994, he worked for Paton Controls Limited, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada as a Controls Engineer. Since July 1999 he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he is currently an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Faculty Affairs. He is the co-author of the book “Computer Methods for Analysis of Mixed-Mode Switching Circuits” (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004, with Ajoy Opal). Dr. Yuan received an “Excellence of Teaching” award from Changzhou Institute of Technology in 1988, a post-graduate scholarship from Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada during 1997–1998. He is a senior member of IEEE and a registered professional engineer in the province of Ontario, Canada.     

Ester-functionalized poly(3-alkylthiophene) copolymers: Synthesis,physicochemical characterization and performance in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

The introduction of functional moieties in the donor polymer (side chains) offers a potential pathway toward selective modification of the nanomorphology of conjugated polymer:fullerene active layer blends applied in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics, pursuing morphology control and solar cell stability. For this purpose, two types of poly(3-alkylthiophene) random copolymers, incorporating different amounts (10/30/50%) of ester-functionalized side chains, were efficiently synthesized using the Rieke method. The solar cell performance of the functionalized copolymers was evaluated and compared to the pristine P3HT:PCBM system. It was observed that the physicochemical and opto-electronic characteristics of the polythiophene donor material can be modified to a certain extent via copolymerization without (too much) jeopardizing the OPV efficiency, as far as the functionalized side chains are introduced in a moderate ratio (<30%) and that preference is given to side chains with a small molar volume. A range of complementary techniques – UV–Vis spectroscopy, (modulated temperature) differential scanning calorimetry, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis – indicated that variations in polymer crystallinity, while maintaining a high level of regioregularity, are probably the main factor responsible for the observed differences.     

Capacity Analysis for Connection Admission Control in Indoor Multimedia CDMA Wireless Communications

In this paper, the capacity analysis for connection admission control is presented for the reverse-link transmission of a packetized indoor multimedia wireless communication system using direct sequence code division multiple access (DS/CDMA). Since CDMA is interference limited, the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio criterion is used to check if there is enough system resources (i.e., the CDMA channels and received signal power) for each new connection request. Taking into account the stochastical nature of multimedia traffic, the effective bit rate is used to characterize the resources required by each mobile user and a linear approximation is then used to find the total resources required by all the mobile users already admitted to the system and the new connection request. Transmission errors due to both base station buffer overflow and wireless channel impairments are considered. The capacity of multimedia traffic is determined in such a way that the utilization of the system resources is maximized and, at the same time, the required transmission bit error rate and transmission delay of all users admitted to the system are guaranteed. Computer simulation results are given to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method for capacity analysis.     

Nanostructured Bulk Silicon as an Effective Thermoelectric Material

Thermoelectric power sources have consistently demonstrated their extraordinary reliability and longevity for deep space missions and small unattended terrestrial systems. However, more efficient bulk materials and practical devices are required to improve existing technology and expand into large‐scale waste heat recovery applications. Research has long focused on complex compounds that best combine the electrical properties of degenerate semiconductors with the low thermal conductivity of glassy materials. Recently it has been found that nanostructuring is an effective method to decouple electrical and thermal transport parameters. Dramatic reductions in the lattice thermal conductivity are achieved by nanostructuring bulk silicon with limited degradation in its electron mobility, leading to an unprecedented increase by a factor of 3.5 in its performance over that of the parent single‐crystal material. This makes nanostructured bulk (nano‐bulk) Si an effective high temperature thermoelectric material that performs at about 70% the level of state‐of‐the‐art Si_0.8Ge_0.2 but without the need for expensive and rare Ge.     

Electroluminescence and Laser Emission of Soluble Pure Red Fluorescent Molecular Glasses Based on Dithienylbenzothiadiazole

Soluble molecular red emitters 1a / 1b are synthesized by Stille coupling from 2‐(3,5‐di(1‐naphthyl)phenyl)thiophene precursors. The compounds show emission maxima at ca. 610 nm in CH₂Cl₂ solution and 620 nm in solid films. Replacing the n‐hexyl substituent by 4‐sec‐butoxyphenyl produces a marked increase of glass transition temperature (T_g) from 82 °C to 137 °C and increases the solubility in toluene and p‐xylene, thus improving the film‐forming properties. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the compounds can be reversibly oxidized and reduced around +1.10 and ?1.20 V, respectively. A two‐layered electroluminescent device based on 1b produces a pure red light emission with CIE coordinates (0.646, 0.350) and a maximal luminous efficiency of 2.1 cd A^?1. Furthermore, when used as a solution‐processed red emitter in optically pumped laser devices, compound 1b successfully produces a lasing emission at ca. 650 nm.