Current gain-Early voltage products in heterojunction bipolartransistors with nonuniform base bandgaps

The tradeoff between common-emitter current gain (β) and Early voltage (V_A) in heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) where the bandgap varies across the base has been studied. The Early voltage depends exponentially on the difference between the bandgap at the collector side of the base and the largest bandgap in the base, allowing very high Early voltages with only very thin narrow bandgap regions. Using Si/Si_1-xGe_x/Si HBTs with a two-layer stepped base, βV_A products of over 100000 V have been achieved for devices with a cutoff frequency expected to be about 30 GHz     

Caffeine attenuates CNS oxygen toxicity in rats

We tested the effect of caffeine, on hyperoxia-induced seizures. Thirty-seven rats with chronic cortical electrodes were injected i.p. with caffeine (1.25, 2.5, and 10 mg/kg) or vehicle before exposure to 0.5 MPa oxygen and 17 rats to oxygen with 5% CO2 at 0.5 MPa. EEG monitoring and spectral analysis of EEG activity were carried out. Caffeine significantly prolonged the latent period to the onset of seizures (P < 0.05 in ANOVA), in a dose-related manner. Our results suggest that caffeine may be used in low doses for protection against hyperoxia-induced seizures.     

The effect of multipath on the detection of symbol-rate spectrallines by delay and multiply receivers

The effect of a secondary path signal on the detectability of the symbol rate spectral line of a binary phase-shift keyed (BPSK) signal by a delay and multiply receiver is investigated. The measure of detectability used is the rate line signal-to-noise ratio. The parameters that define the secondary path signal are initially modeled as deterministic quantities; the phase of the secondary path signal is then taken to be a random variable independent and uniform on (0, 2π). It is found that, with deterministic path parameters, the presence of a secondary path can seriously affect the detectability of BPSK rate lines. When the phase is taken to be uniform on (0, 2π) over the receiver observation time, then the delay and multiply receiver performs as if no multipath is present. In this case, a noncoherent power addition of the primary and secondary path signals occurs     

A Conflict Between Language and Atomistic Information

Minds and Machines -     

An over 2200-km coherent transmission experiment at 2.5 Gb/s usingerbium-doped-fiber in-line amplifiers

A 2223 km transmission distance was achieved with a 2.5-Gb/s heterodyne detection system that used erbium-doped-fiber in-line amplifiers and dispersion-shifted single-mode fibers. Twenty-five amplifiers, placed at approximately 80-km intervals, offered a total gain of more than 440 dB. Receiver sensitivity was -42.0 dBm, with only a 4.2-dB penalty from the initial sensitivity achieved by the back-to-back configuration     

Elastic, anelastic, and piezoelectric coefficients of langasite: resonance ultrasound spectroscopy with laser-Doppler interferometry

This paper presents advanced techniques to determine all independent elastic-stiffness coefficients C/sub ij/, the associated internal friction Q/sub ij//sup -1/, and piezoelectric coefficients e/sub ij/ of monocrystal langasite (La/sub 3/Ga/sub 5/SiO/sub 14/) using a single rectangular parallelepiped specimen. Langasite's crystal structure belongs to the trigonal system with point group 32, and thus possesses six independent C/sub ij/, two e/sub ij/, and two dielectric coefficients /spl epsiv//sub ij/. All of the elastic and piezoelectric coefficients affect the mechanical resonance frequencies of the solid specimen, and measuring them very accurately permits one to determine the C/sub ij/ and e/sub ij/ with known density, dimensions, and e/sub ij/. We developed a piezoelectric tripod to support the specimen upward and measured the free-vibration resonance frequencies with minimum load from its own weight. This weak and stable acoustic coupling ensures accuracy of the frequency measurement better than 10/sup -5/, enough to determine the coefficients reliably. Our C/sub ij/ fall in the range of results measured with previous (conventional) methods. Our e/sub 11/ is smaller than the reported values by 1.2-13%, and e/sub 14/ is larger by 44-97%. For the internal friction measurement, we used a solenoid coil to vibrate the specimen without any contact. The longitudinal-wave internal friction considerably exceeds the shear-wave internal friction, which can be explained by phonon-phonon interactions.     

Effect of biochemical storage on the denitrification potential of acetate in sequencing batch reactors.

This study evaluates the effect biochemical storage on the denitrification potential (N(DP)) of acetate. The fate of bacterial storage is evaluated in a sequencing batch reactor system operated in a sequence of anoxic/aerobic phases, fed with acetate as a pulse and continuously under anoxic conditions. N(DP) is defined based on system stoichiometry both for direct growth and storage on acetate. Experimental results do not support conceptual calculations based on system stoichiometry, yielding a higher denitrification potential, N(DP), for continuous feeding than the N(DP) obtained with pulse feeding, due to partial utilisation of the stored PHB within the anoxic phase. The nitrate, acetate and poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) profiles obtained in the experimental studies were used in model calibrations for two different feeding patterns. Results of model simulations confirm the experimental results and evaluate the effects imposed on the denitrification potential by sludge age and the anoxic volume ratio.