The influence of packaging materials on RF performance

At frequencies beyond 1 GHz, every component of the IC package contributes to the RF performance, whether required or not. In this work, we study the effects of packaging materials namely, the substrate and the globtop/underfill material on RF performance. We have measured interconnects on two area-array CSPs, the ball grid array and the polymer stud grid array using IMEC’s MCM-D technology. The measurements on the package interconnect show that the losses in the package substrate material account for about 50% of the total losses at 1.8 GHz and this drops to less than 20% at 5.2 GHz. The losses due to impedance mismatch dominate the losses especially below 10 GHz and considerable improvement in performance cannot be obtained by using an improved/expensive substrate. The other study is about the influence of globtop/underfill materials on wirebonds (through 3D EM simulations) as well as on standard 50 Ω MCM-D transmission lines (through experiments). While a higher value of dielectric constant of the globtop/underfill material is better on wirebonds, the influence of loss tangent is felt only above values of 0.1. The influence of seven different globtop/undefill materials on 50 Ω transmission lines has been used to extract their dielectric constant and loss tangent values at 30 GHz. These results are very valuable since one can hardly find the properties of globtop/underfill materials beyond 1 GHz.     

Droplet formation by squeezing in a microfluidic cross-junction

In microfluidics, flow focusing is widely used to produce water-in-oil droplets in microchannels at high frequency. We here report an experimental study of droplet formation in a microfluidic cross-junction with a minimum number of geometrical parameters. We mostly focus on the squeezing regime, which is composed of two distinct steps: filling and pinching. The duration of each step (and corresponding volumes of each liquid phase) is analyzed. They vary according to both water and oil flow rates. These variations provide several insights about the fluid flows in both phases. We propose several scaling laws to relate the droplet volume and frequency to the flow rate of both phases. We also discuss the influence of surfactant and channel compliance on droplet formation.     

Observations of infrared bands of asymmetrical ozone isotopologues 16O16O18O and 16O18O18O

Infrared spectra (0.003 cm(-1) resolution) of 16O16O18O and 16O18O18O ozone isotopologues have been recorded and analyzed in the range 600-5000 cm(-1). Several thousand rovibrational lines belonging to 32 absorption bands have been measured and assigned. An accurate determination of band centers through the rovibrational analysis has been done, 12 bands being observed for the first time to our knowledge. In addition to atmospheric retrieval applications, these results are also useful for a validation of potential energy surfaces and for the study of isotope effects in dynamic processes of ozone.     

BER Analysis of Equalized OFDM Systems in Nakagami, <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis> < 1 Fading

The orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission scheme is currently experiencing increased popularity due to advances in very large scale integration technology. It is used for a variety of broadband systems such as asymmetric digital subscriber lines, very-high-speed digital subscriber lines, digital video, and audio broadcasting, and wide local area network standards such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11 g, and ETSI Hiperlan/2. However, propagation impairments can cause severe degradation in bit error rates (BER) for coherent detection. We derive a semi-analytical method to evaluate BER of a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)-OFDM system in Nakagami, m < 1 fading and additive noise where pilot-assisted linear channel estimation and channel equalization are used. This allows modeling of more severe fading environments than can be depicted by a Rayleigh distribution. Numerical simulations are used to validate the proposed methods. The techniques developed can be applied to other channel estimation techniques, modulation schemes and the performance evaluation of equalized single carrier narrowband systems.     

Stress and plastic deformation of MEA in running fuel cell

Numerical modelling of mechanical stresses in running fuel cell is provided. The evolution of stresses and plastic deformations in the membrane has been obtained during the turn-on phase. The operating conditions have been taken into account by imposing the heating sources and the humidity field. The results have been presented on two scales: the global scale reflects the stress evolution in the entire fuel cell and the local one corresponds to the tooth/channel structure. It has been shown that the stresses are strongly heterogeneous on the both scales and time dependent. From the mechanical point of view, the most sensible zone is under the GDL/seal joint interface. In the running fuel cell the heterogeneity decreases while it rises in the fuel cell just after the assembly. The stresses reach the maximum values during the humidification step, the magnitude of these stresses is sufficient for initiation of the plastic deformations in the Nafion membrane.     

Bacterial Kinetics of Sulfur Oxidizing Bacteria and Their Biodeterioration Rates of Concrete Sewer Pipe Samples

The importance of bacteria in catalyzing microbially induced concrete corrosion was evaluated. Experiments were conducted to determine the optimum pH and growth kinetics of four selected bacterial strains (Thiobacillus neapolitanus C2, Thiobacillus thioparus H1, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, and Acidiphilium cryptum LHET2). Combinations of these strains were inoculated into flasks containing ～ 42?g concrete blocks half-submerged in 600 mL of synthetic wastewater with hydrogen sulfide in the headspace air. Controls not inoculated with bacteria lost 0–3 mg/g concrete over 227 days; in the aqueous phase the minimum pH was 6–6.7 and 19–23 mg of calcium/g concrete was released. Systems inoculated with two species of neutrophilic sulfur oxidizing microorganisms (SOM) lost 8 mg/g concrete; in the aqueous phase the minimum pH was 4.5 and 25 mg of calcium/g concrete was released. The concrete samples incubated with neutrophilic and acidophilic SOM and an acidophilic heterotroph experienced the greatest deterioration, with a total mass loss of 13 mg/g concrete, minimum aqueous pH of 3.0, 28 mg calcium/g concrete released, and 47 mg sulfate/g concrete produced.     

The synthesis and crystal structure of unsubstituted 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY)

The fully unsubstituted 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) was synthesized for the first time by oxidation of dipyrromethane followed by treatment with boron trifluoride diethyl etherate in the presence of a base. The compound was fully characterized and its X-ray crystal structure is reported.     

Solving the Neoclassical Growth Model with Quasi-Geometric Discounting: A Grid-Based Euler-Equation Method

The standard neoclassical growth model with quasi-geometric discounting is shown elsewhere (Krusell, P. and Smith, A., CEPR Discussion Paper No. 2651, 2000) to have multiple solutions. As a result, value-iterative methods fail to converge. The set of equilibria is however reduced if we restrict our attention to the interior (satisfying the Euler equation) solution. We study the performance of a grid-based Euler-equation methods in the given context. We find that such a method converges to an interior solution in a wide range of parameter values, not only in the “test” model with the closed-form solution but also in more general settings, including those with uncertainty. JEL Classification: C73, D90, E21