50-nm Self-Aligned and “Standard” T-gate InP pHEMT Comparison: The Influence of Parasitics on Performance at the 50-nm Node

Continued research into the development of III-V high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), specifically the minimization of the device gate length, has yielded the fastest performance reported for any three terminal devices to date. In addition, more recent research has begun to focus on reducing the parasitic device elements such as access resistance and gate fringing capacitance, which become crucial for short gate length device performance maximization. Adopting a self-aligned T-gate architecture is one method used to reduce parasitic device access resistance, but at the cost of increasing parasitic gate fringing capacitances. As the device gate length is then reduced, the benefits of the self-aligned gate process come into question, as at these ultrashort-gate dimensions, the magnitude of the static fringing capacitances will have a greater impact on performance. To better understand the influence of these issues on the dc and RF performance of short gate length InP pHEMTs, the authors present a comparison between In_0.7Ga_0.3As channel 50-nm self-aligned and "standard" T-gate devices. Figures of merit for these devices include transconductance greater than 1.9 S/mm, drive current in the range 1.4 A/mm, and fT up to 490 GHz. Simulation of the parasitic capacitances associated with the self-aligned gate structure then leads a discussion concerning the realistic benefits of incorporating the self-aligned gate process into a sub-50-nm HEMT system     

Mechanistic study of borosilicate glass growth by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition from tetraethylorthosilicate and trimethylborate

A reaction mechanism and film morphology as a function of reactor conditions and post growth thermal annealing for borosilicate glass (BSG), (SiO₂)_x(B₂O₃)_1−x, films deposited from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), trimethylborate (TMB), and oxygen (O₂) precursors by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) was determined. An empirically derived reaction model for BSG film growth is proposed that predicts the growth rate and composition of BSG films up to 70 mole% B₂O₃. The BSG reaction model includes a strongly adsorbed TEOS-derived intermediate that forms SiO₂ and a direct surface reaction of TMB, in O₂, to form B₂O₃. This model is supported by growth rate and mass spectroscopic data. The BSG film morphology, investigated using atomic force microscopy, was found to have a root-mean-square roughness of 0.5 nm, with the precise film morphology being a function of reactor conditions. The BSG film roughness increases with film thickness, temperature, and boron content. Thermal annealing of the films in a water-free environment leads to planarization of the BSG governed by the film composition and anneal temperature.     

Tunable transform-limited pulse generation using self-injectionlocking of an FP laser

Wavelength-tunable, near transform-limited pulses have been generated using a Fabry-Perot laser diode coupled to a fiber loop containing a fiber Fabry-Perot resonator (FFPR) and a polarization controller. The ratio of transmitted to reflected light from the loop can be adjusted using the polarization controller. Single-mode operation of the gain-switched laser is achieved by self-injection locking, which is induced by light reflected from the fiber loop. The resulting output pulse has a time-bandwidth product of 0.4 and is tunable over about 15 nm by varying the tuning voltage of the FFPR     

Influence of Bulky Organo‐Ammonium Halide Additive Choice on the Flexibility and Efficiency of Perovskite Light‐Emitting Devices

Perovskite light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) require small grain sizes to spatially confine charge carriers for efficient radiative recombination. As grain size decreases, passivation of surface defects becomes increasingly important. Additionally, polycrystalline perovskite films are highly brittle and mechanically fragile, limiting their practical applications in flexible electronics. In this work, the introduction of properly chosen bulky organo‐ammonium halide additives is shown to be able to improve both optoelectronic and mechanical properties of perovskites, yielding highly efficient, robust, and flexible perovskite LEDs with external quantum efficiency of up to 13% and no degradation after bending for 10 000 cycles at a radius of 2 mm. Furthermore, insight of the improvements regarding molecular structure, size, and polarity at the atomic level is obtained with first‐principles calculations, and design principles are provided to overcome trade‐offs between optoelectronic and mechanical properties, thus increasing the scope for future highly efficient, robust, and flexible perovskite electronic device development.     

Photovoltaic Devices: High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells with Spray Coated Hole‐Transport and Active Layers (Adv. Funct. Mater. 1/2011)

In this study, we report high performance organic solar cells with spray coated hole‐transport and active layers. With optimized ink formulations we are able to deposit films with controlled thickness and very low surface roughness (<10 nm). Specifically we deposit smooth and uniform 40 nm thick films of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as well as films composed of a mixture of poly(3‐hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and the C₆₀‐derivative (6,6)‐phenyl C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with thicknesses in the range 200–250 nm. To control film morphology, formation and thickness, the optimized inks incorporate two solvent systems in order to take advantage of surface tension gradients to create Marangoni flows that enhance the coverage of the substrate and reduce the roughness of the film. Notably, we achieve fill factors above 70% and attribute the improvement to an enhanced P3HT crystallization, which upon optimized post‐drying thermal annealing results in a favorable morphology. As a result, we could extend the thickness of the layer to several hundreds of nanometers without noticing a substantial decrease of the transport properties of the layer. By proper understanding of the spreading and drying dynamics of the inks we achieve spray coated devices with power conversion efficiency of 3.75%, with fill factor, short circuit current and open circuit voltage of 70%, 9.8 mA cm^?2 and 550 mV, respectively.     

Characterization of 1.55-μm pulses from a self-seededgain-switched Fabry-Perot laser diode using frequency-resolved opticalgating

The intensity and frequency chirp of picosecond pulses from a self-seeded gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser diode have been directly measured using the technique of frequency-resolved optical gating. Measurements over an output sidemode suppression ratio (SMSR) range of 15-35 dB show that higher SMSR's are associated with an increasingly linear frequency chirp across the output pulses. This complete pulse characterization allows the conditions for optimum pulse compression to be determined accurately, and indicates that transform-limited, pedestal free pulses can be obtained at an SMSR of 35 dB     

Reactive Power Compensation Technologies: State-of-the-Art Review

This paper presents an overview of the state of the art in reactive power compensation technologies. The principles of operation, design characteristics and application examples of Var compensators implemented with thyristors and self-commutated converters are presented. Static Var generators are used to improve voltage regulation, stability, and power factor in ac transmission and distribution systems. Examples obtained from relevant applications describing the use of reactive power compensators implemented with new static Var technologies are also described.     

Cramer-Rao lower bounds for QAM phase and frequency estimation

In this paper, we present the true Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) for the estimation of phase offset for common quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), PSK, and PAM signals in AWGN channels. It is shown that the same analysis also applies to the QAM, FSK, and PAM CRLBs for frequency offset estimation. The ratio of the modulated to the unmodulated CRLBs is derived for all QAM, PSK, and PAM signals and calculated for specific cases of interest. This is useful to determine the limiting performance of synchronization circuits for coherent receivers without the need to simulate particular algorithms. The hounds are compared to the existing true CRLBs for an unmodulated carrier wave (CW), BPSK, and QPSK. We investigated new and existing QAM phase estimation algorithms in order to verify the new phase CRLB. This showed that new minimum distance estimator performs close to the QAM bound and provides a large improvement over the power law estimator at moderate to high signal-to-noise ratios     

Effect of chemical treatments of sugar beet fibre on their physico-chemical properties and on their in-vitro fermentation

Chemically treated and dried sugar beet fibres were fermented in vitro in order to study the effects of chemical and physico-chemical parameters of dietary fibre on their colonic fermentation. Sugar beet fibre was treated with dilute alkali, removing mainly acetyl and methyl ester groups, and/or with dilute acids eliminating arabinose, galactose and certain uronic acid residues. The chemical treatments led to an increase in the hydration properties and fermentability by improvement of the accessibility of the remaining polysaccharides. However, if the chemically treated fibres were dried under harsh conditions (100°C), their hydration properties and their fermentability were limited, probably because of structural collapse of the fibre matrix. Whatever the conditions for chemical treatments and drying of the sugar beet fibres, it was possible to predict their fermentability from the water-binding capacity. Because of the relationship between the physiological effects of dietary fibres and the extent to which they are fermented, this result underlines the importance of the physico-chemical characterisation of the fibre in order to acquire a better knowledge of their physiological effects.     

Non‐geostationary satellite orbit communications satellite constellations history

This special issue of the journal on ‘constellations’ comes at a critical time in their development as a second wave of such non‐geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) systems is being planned and deployed. These mega‐constellations as they have become known are, with a few exceptions, very much larger than those in the first wave and are focused on broadband and 5G applications rather than speech and narrow band data as those deployed in the first wave during the 1990s. However, as we explain in this editorial, there are many similarities in the design and business plans to the first wave and, perhaps, many similar lessons to be learned.