Top‐Down Fabrication of High Quality III–V Nanostructures by Monolayer Controlled Sculpting and Simultaneous Passivation

In the fabrication of III–V semiconductor nanostructures for electronic and optoelectronic devices, techniques that are capable of removing material with monolayer precision are as important as material growth to achieve best device performances. A robust chemical treatment is demonstrated using sulfur (S)‐oleylamine (OA) solution, which etches layer by layer in an inverse epitaxial fashion and simultaneously passivates the surface. The application of this process to push the limits of top‐down nanofabrication is demonstrated by the realization of InP‐based high optical quality nanowire arrays, with aspect ratios more than 50, and nanostructures with new topologies. The findings are relevant for other III–V semiconductors and have potential applications in III–V device technologies.     

A 24-channel implantable neural recording based on time and frequency-division multiplexing

This paper presents a novel approach to encapsulate prerecorded neural signals in implantable neural recording microsystems. We have increased the number of channels and the reconstructed neural signal quality in the receiver by combining time-division-multiplexing (TDM) and frequency-division-multiplexing (FDM) method. Reducing the number of channels in each TDM module is the fundamental advantage of this method that leads to reduced crosstalk noise. We evaluate some possible configurations and propose an optimized system that has less power dissipation and area occupation than other configurations. A 24-channel implantable neural recording based on the optimized system is designed in both system and circuit level. In this system, first, channels are divided into three 8-channel groups then after multiplexing in the time domain, they are combined together by FDM method. Finally, a frequency modulator wirelessly transmits neural signals to an external setup. In addition, we adjust local carrier frequencies and the bandwidth of TDM to synchronize detection without transmitting pilot carrier. To justify the system operation, using 0.18 μm CMOS technology, we design the system in circuit level. The designed circuit consumes a power of 1.39 mW at a supply voltage of 1.8 V. This leads to a power consumption of 58 μW per channel.     

Analysis of error in the fixed-point implementation of two-dimensional discrete wavelet transforms

Computational error due to the fixed-point implementation of two-dimensional (2-D) discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is analyzed. This analysis is based on the exact knowledge of the DWT analysis and synthesis filters and the word length of the original image. In the fixed-point implementation, it is crucial to understand and analyze effects of finite precision in filters coefficients as well as rounding of intermediate calculations for the purpose of storage and/or transmission. Analyses and formulations are presented for both convolution and lifting approaches and they are validated by Monte Carlo simulations. The specific example used throughout this work is the lossy wavelet transformation used in the JPEG2000 compression standard.     

Two new low-power Full Adders based on majority-not gates

Two novel low-power 1-bit Full Adder cells are proposed in this paper. Both of them are based on majority-not gates, which are designed with new methods in each cell. The first cell is only composed of input capacitors and CMOS inverters, and the second one also takes advantage of a high-performance CMOS bridge circuit. These kinds of designs enjoy low power consumption, a high degree of regularity, and simplicity. Low power consumption is targeted in implementation of our designs. Eight state-of-the-art 1-bit Full Adders and two proposed Full Adders are simulated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology at many supply voltages. Simulation results demonstrate improvement in terms of power consumption and power-delay product (PDP).     

Emerging gallium nitride based devices

Wide bandgap GaN has long been sought for its applications to blue and UV emitters and high temperature/high power electronic devices. Recent introduction of commercial blue and blue-green LED's have led to a plethora of activity in all three continents into the heterostructures based on GaN and its alloys with AlN and InN. In this review, the status and future prospects of emerging wide bandgap gallium nitride semiconductor devices are discussed. Recent successes in p-doping of GaN and its alloys with InN and AlN, and in n-doping with much reduced background concentrations have paved the way for the design, fabrication, and characterization of devices such as MESFET's, MISFET's, HBT's, LED's, and optically pumped lasers. We discuss the electrical properties of these devices and their drawbacks followed by future prospects. After a short elucidation of materials characteristics of the nitrides, we explore their electrical transport properties in detail. Recent progress in processing such as formation of low-resistance ohmic contacts and etching is also presented. The promising features of quarternaries and double heterostructures in relation to possible current injection lasers, LED's, and photodetectors are also elaborated on     

Speech frame recognition based on less shift sensitive wavelet filter banks

The wavelet transform possesses multi-resolution property and high localization performance; hence, it can be optimized for speech recognition. In our previous work, we show that redundant wavelet filter bank parameters work better in speech recognition task, because they are much less shift sensitive than those of critically sampled discrete wavelet transform (DWT). In this paper, three types of wavelet representations are introduced, including features based on dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT), perceptual dual-tree complex wavelet transform, and four-channel double-density discrete wavelet transform (FCDDDWT). Then, appropriate filter values for DT-CWT and FCDDDWT are proposed. The performances of the proposed wavelet representations are compared in a phoneme recognition task using special form of the time-delay neural networks. Performance evaluations confirm that dual-tree complex wavelet filter banks outperform conventional DWT in speech recognition systems. The proposed perceptual dual-tree complex wavelet filter bank results in up to approximately 9.82 % recognition rate increase, compared to the critically sampled two-channel wavelet filter bank.     

Constraining Si Particles within Graphene Foam Monolith: Interfacial Modification for High‐Performance Li+ Storage and Flexible Integrated Configuration

Pulverization of electrode materials and loss of electrical contact have been identified as the major causes for the performance deterioration of alloy anodes in Li‐ion batteries. This study presents the hierarchical arrangement of spatially confining silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) within graphene foam (GF) for alleviating these issues. Through a freeze‐drying method, the highly oriented GF monolith is engineered to fully encapsulate the Si NPs, serving not only as a robust framework with the well‐accessible thoroughfares for electrolyte percolation but also a physical blocking layer to restrain Si from direct exposure to the electrolyte. In return, the pillar effect of Si NPs prevents the graphene sheets from restacking while preserving the highly efficient electron/Li⁺ transport channels. When evaluated as a binder‐free anode, impressive cycle performance is realized in both half‐cell and full‐cell configurations. Operando X‐ray diffraction and in‐house X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm the pivotal protection of GF to sheathe the most volume‐expanded lithiated phase (Li₁₅Si₄) at room temperature. Furthermore, a free‐standing composite film is developed through readjusting the pore size in GF/Si monolith and directly integrated with nanocellulose membrane (NCM) separator. Because of the good electrical conductivity and structural integrity of the GF monolith as well as the flexibility of the NCM separator, the as‐developed GF/Si‐NCM electrode showcases the potential use in the flexible electronic devices.     

Energy efficiency optimization of one-way and two-way DF relaying considering circuit power

In this paper, the energy efficiency (EE) of a decode and forward (DF) relay system is studied, where two sources communicate through a half-duplex relay node in one-way and two-way relaying strategies. Both the circuitry power and the transmission power of all nodes are taken into consideration. In addition, three different coding schemes for two-way DF relaying strategy with two phases and two-way DF relaying with three phases are considered. The aim is to maximize the EE of the system for a constant spectral efficiency (SE). For this purpose, the transmission time and the transmission power of each node are optimized. Simulations are used to compare the EE–SE curve of different DF strategies with one-way and two-way amplify and forward (AF) strategies and direct transmission (DT), to find the best energy efficient strategy in different SE conditions. Analytical and simulation results demonstrate that in low SE conditions, DF relaying strategies are more energy efficient compared to that of AF strategies and DT. However, in high SE conditions, the EE of two-way AF relaying and DT strategy outperform some of the DF relaying strategies. In simulations, the impact of different circuitry power and different channel conditions on the EE–SE curves are also investigated.     

SEPFL routing protocol based on fuzzy logic control to extend the lifetime and throughput of the wireless sensor network

In this paper a new protocol using fuzzy logic control has been proposed. The protocol is based on Stable Election Protocol (SEP). Fuzzy logic control based on three variables, distance of nodes form base station, density of nodes and the battery level of nodes along with the traditional threshold values used in SEP are used to enhance the process of cluster head election in the existing SEP protocol and improve the lifetime and throughput of the Wireless Sensor Network. The result of the simulation which has been done in MATLAB simulator indicates that Stable Election Protocol based on fuzzy logic is more energy efficient and improves the lifetime and throughput of the network by 73.2 and 68.54 % respectively comparing with the existing SEP protocol.     

Improved Message Forwarding for Multi-Hop HaRTES Real-Time Ethernet Networks

Nowadays, switched Ethernet networks are used in complex systems that encompass tens to hundreds of nodes and thousands of signals. Such scenarios require multi-switch architectures where communications frequently occur in multiple hops. In this paper we investigate techniques to allow efficient multi-hop communication using HaRTES switches. These are modified Ethernet switches that provide real-time traffic scheduling, dynamic bandwidth management and temporal isolation between real-time and non-real-time traffic. This paper addresses the problem of forwarding traffic in HaRTES networks. Two methods have been recently proposed, namely Distributed Global Scheduling (DGS) that buffers traffic between switches, and Reduced Buffering Scheme (RBS), that uses immediate forwarding. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of RBS within HaRTES and we carry out an experimental validation with a prototype implementation. Then, we carry out a comparison between RBS and DGS using worst-case response time analysis and simulation. The comparison clearly establishes the superiority of RBS concerning end-to-end response times. In fact, with sample message sets, we achieved reductions in end-to-end delay that were as high as 80 %.