Monolithic distributed amplifier with active control schemes for optimum gain and group-delay flatness, bandwidth, and stability

In this paper, active control schemes are presented to optimize the performance of the distributed amplifier (DA) subject to the process variation. A detailed analysis of the DA with mismatched termination loads has been performed, which reveals that pronounced gain and group-delay ripple arises at the low-frequency end from the reflected waves in the artificial transmission line. To solve this problem, an active variable resistor is proposed as the gate-line termination load. The gain and stability of the cascode DA has also been analyzed, which identifies the most critical component determining the tradeoff between the gain-bandwidth product (GBP) and the stability to be the gate feedback resistor of common-gate field-effect transistor. It is also replaced with the active resistor to maximize GBP, while avoiding oscillations. A nine-section cascode DA with active control features is designed and fabricated using commercial GaAs pseudomorphic high electron-mobility transistor foundry. The measurement shows that the gain and group-delay ripple can be minimized, and GBP can be maximized without oscillations by the active bias controls. Active control schemes allow the monolithic DAs to be fine tuned after the fabrication and, thus, can be a robust DA design methodology against process variation and inaccurate device models.     

Fine‐Grained FSMD Power Gating Considering Power Overhead

As a fine‐grained power gating method for achieving greater power savings, our approach takes advantage of the finite state machine with a datapath (FSMD) characteristic which shows sequential idleness among subcircuits. In an FSMD‐based power gating, while only an active subcircuit is expected to be turned on, more subcircuits should be activated due to the power overhead. To reduce the number of missed opportunities for power savings, we deactivated some of the turned‐on subcircuits by slowing the FSMD down and predicting its behavior. Our microprocessor experiments showed that the power savings are close to the upper bound.     

A 2-Gbaud 0.7-V swing voltage-mode driver and on-chip terminatorfor high-speed NRZ data transmission

A large-swing, voltage-mode driver and an on-chip termination circuit are presented for high-speed nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) data transmission through a copper cable. The proposed driver with active pull-up and pull-down can generate a 700-mV signal to deliver a 2 Gbaud serial NRZ data stream. Low output impedance offered by simple negative-feedback resistors alleviates the detrimental effect of the parasitic capacitance by supplying fast current impulses. A proposed on-chip termination circuit provides termination impedance to a mid-supply termination voltage with the benefit of reduced parasitic capacitance and better termination characteristics compared with off-chip termination. The driver and termination circuits have been incorporated in a 2 Gbaud transceiver chip and fabricated in 0.35 μm CMOS technology. Measurements show a 1.4 V differential swing with a slew rate of 2.5 V/ns at the receiver output and a 65% reduction of reflection by the on-chip termination circuit with power consumption of 191 mW at 3.3 V supply     

All‐Carbon Nanotube‐Based Flexible Field‐Emission Devices: From Cathode to Anode

The fabrication of a flexible field‐emission device (FED) using single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) network films as the conducting electrodes (anode and cathode) and thin multi‐walled CNT/TEOS hybrid films as the emitters is reported. P‐type doping with gold ions and passivation with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) made the SWNT network film highly conductive and environmentally stable, and hence a good alternative to conventional indium tin oxide electrodes. CNT/TEOS hybrid emitters showed high current density, low turn‐on field, and long‐term emission stability, compared with CNT emitters; these characteristics can be attributed to the TEOS sol, acting both as a protective layer surrounding the nanotube tip, and as an adhesive layer enhancing the nanotube adhesion to the substrate. All‐CNT‐based flexible FEDs fabricated by this approach showed high flexibility in field emission characteristics and extremely bright electron emission patterns.     

Theoretical analysis of cladding-mode waveguide dispersion and its effects on the spectra of long-period fiber grating

A new method to control the free spectral range (FSR) of a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) is proposed and theoretically analyzed. As the refractive index decreases radially outward in the silica cladding by graded doping of fluorine, waveguide dispersion in the cladding modes was modified to result in the effective indexes change and subsequently the phase-matching conditions for coupling with the core mode in a LPFG. Enlargement of the FSR in a LPFG was theoretically confirmed.     

A new method to suppress harmonics using /spl lambda//4 bias line combined by defected ground structure in power amplifiers

A new /spl lambda//4 bias line combined by a dumb-bell shaped defected ground structure (DGS) is proposed to suppress harmonics in power amplifiers. The proposed DGS bias line maintains the required high impedance even after DGS is inserted, while the width and length of the /spl lambda//4 bias line are broader and shorter than those of conventional bias lines. When the DGS bias line is used in power amplifiers, the third harmonic components as well as the second harmonic are reduced, because of the increased slow-wave effect over wide harmonic band. It is shown that the reduction of the third harmonic component, the improvement of 1 dB compression point, and power added efficiency are 26.5 dB, 0.45 dB, and 9.1%, respectively.     

Performance of improved probabilistic location update scheme forcellular mobile networks

This paper suggests an improved probabilistic location update (IPLU) scheme for advanced cellular mobile networks. The location management cost with IPLU is analyzed, and various performance characteristics of IPLU are investigated. It is shown that IPLU has the parameter q that can be used as a control parameter to achieve the best performance when the unit location update cost (U) and the unit paging cost (P) are given. In addition, this paper provides some recommendable values of q in two cases, P>U and P⩽U. As a result, we demonstrate a merit of IPLU, that is, simple implementation with an acceptable performance level, especially, under the future cellular mobile network environments where a vast number of microcells/picocells exist and the relative user mobility is very high     

Improvement of kink and beam steering characteristics of 0.98-μmGaInAs-GaInP high-power lasers utilizing channel ion implantation

We demonstrate a kink and beam steering free operation of 0.98-μm GaInAs-GaInP high-power ridge waveguide (RW) lasers utilizing channel ion implantation. The ion-implanted regions along the both sides of the ridge effectively suppressed the excitation of higher order lateral modes, which causes beam steering and kink. The maximum power without beam steering and kink has been achieved over 250 mW for channel ion-implanted RW lasers with 1.8-3.7-μm ridge width, compared to 120-mW maximum power without the channel ion implantation     

Highly Customizable All Solution–Processed Polymer Light Emitting Diodes with Inkjet Printed Ag and Transfer Printed Conductive Polymer Electrodes

Inkjet and transfer printing processes are combined to easily form patterned poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) films as top anodes of all solution–processed inverted polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs) on rigid glass and flexible plastic substrates. An adhesive PEDOT:PSS ink is formulated and fully customizable patterns are obtained using the inkjet printing process. In order to transfer the patterned PEDOT:PSS films, adhesion properties at interfaces during multistep transfer printing processes are carefully adjusted. The transferred PEDOT:PSS film on the plastic substrates shows not only a sheet resistance of 260.6 Ω/□ and a transmittance of 92.1% at 550 nm wavelength but also excellent mechanical flexibility. The PLEDs with spin‐coated functional layers sandwiched between the transferred PEDOT:PSS top anodes and inkjet‐printed Ag bottom cathodes are fabricated. The fabricated PLEDs on the plastic substrates show a high current efficiency of 10.4 cd A^?1 and high mechanical stability. It is noted that because both Ag and PEDOT:PSS electrodes can be patterned with a high degree of freedom via the inkjet printing process, highly customizable PLEDs with various pattern sizes and shapes are demonstrated on the glass and plastic substrates. Finally, with all solution process, a 5 × 7 passive matrix PLED array is demonstrated.     

Microparticle‐Based Soft Electronic Devices: Toward One‐Particle/One‐Pixel

While microparticle (MP) assemblies have long attracted academic interest, few practical applications of assembled MPs have been achieved because of technological difficulties related to MP synthesis, MP position registration, and the absence of device concepts. The precise positioning of functional MPs in a proper stencil can produce flexible/stretchable electronic devices, even when the MPs themselves are rigid. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the programmable position registration of MPs, production of functional MPs, and concepts for MP‐based, pixel‐type electronic devices. This progress report reviews the recent technological advances in MP assembly and discusses the technological challenges preventing the realization of the one‐particle/one‐pixel concept.