Simple K-band MMIC VCO utilizing a miniaturized hairpin resonator and a three-terminal p-HEMT varactor with low phase noise and high output power properties

Presents a fully monolithic K-band MMIC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) implemented by using a 0.25 /spl mu/m AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT (p-HEMT) technology. The use of a half-wavelength miniaturized hairpin-shaped resonator and a three-terminal p-HEMT varactor was effective in reducing the chip size and simplifying fabrication processes of the microwave MMIC VCO without impairing the performance of the circuit. The VCO provides a typical output power of 11.5 dBm at 20.8 GHz and a free-running phase noise of -82 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and -95 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. It also shows a tuning range of 70 MHz with little reduction in output power and high yield properties. The chip size of the MMIC VCO is 1.5 /spl times/ 2.0 mm/sup 2/.     

Lineage of non-cranial neural crest cell in the dental mesenchyme: using a lacZ reporter gene during early tooth development

The tooth is one of the ectodermal organs controlled by reciprocal interactions between the epithelium and the mesenchyme. Mesenchymal cells in the developing tooth, so-called dental mesenchymal cells, are derived from two different origins: the cranial neural crest (CNC) and the non-CNC. These CNC-derived cells migrate, proliferate and differentiate into odontoblasts, cementoblasts, fibroblasts, osteoblasts and chondroblasts. Tooth germs of wild-type mice were transplanted into the kidney of adult lacZ-transgenic mice. After 1 week of transplantation, a few lacZ-expressing cells and many red blood cells were found near or inside the blood vessels in the pulp of wild-type tooth germs. This result shows that circulating cells of the adult host could invade the dental pulp during tooth development, through the blood vessels, and be a part of dental pulp tissue. Therefore, it can be suggested that these circulating progenitor cells could be the origin of non-CNC-derived cells in tooth germ and their migration pathways would be the blood vessels invading the dental pulp during tooth development. If variations of this experiment were suitably adjusted, such as the embryonic stage of the tooth germ, duration of transplantation, etc., this transplantation experiment using adult lacZ-transgenic mice could be a good system to reveal the origin and migration pathway of cells in developing organs as well as in dental mesenchymal cells.     

On Striping Traffic over Multiple IEEE 802.11(b) Wireless Channels

Due to interference, path loss, multipath fading, background noise, and many other factors, wireless communication normally cannot provide a wireless link with both a high data rate and a long transmission range. To address this problem, striping network traffic in parallel over multiple lower-data-rate but longer-transmission-range wireless channels may be used. In this paper, we propose a new striping method and evaluate its performances over multiple IEEE 802.11(b) channels under various conditions. Our extensive simulation results show that this method is quite effective for such an application. S.Y. Wang is an Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He received his Master and Ph.D. degree in computer science from Harvard University in 1997 and 1999, respectively. His research interests include wireless networks, Internet technologies, network simulations, and operating systems. He is the author of the NCTUns 2.0 network simulator and emulator, which is being widely used by network and communication researchers. More information about the tool is available at http://NSL.csie.nctu.edu.tw/nctuns.html. C.H. Hwang received his master degree in computer science from NCTU in 2002 and currently is working for a network company. C.L. Chou currently is a third-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao TungUniversity (NCTU), Taiwan. He received his master degree in computer science from NCTU in 2002.     

A power-driven multiplication instruction-set design method for ASIPs

This paper presents a novel power-driven multiplication instruction-set design method for application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs). Based on a dual-and-configurable-multiplier structure, our proposed method devises a multiplication instruction set for low-power ASIPs. Our method exploits the execution sequences of multiplication instructions and effective bit widths of variables to reduce power consumed by redundant multiplication bits while minimizing the multiplication execution time. Experimental results on a set of DSP programs demonstrate that our proposed method achieves significant power reduction (up to 18.53%) and execution time improvement (up to 10.43%) with 18% area overhead.     

Curved Projection Integral Imaging Using an Additional Large‐Aperture Convex Lens for Viewing Angle Improvement

In this paper, we propose a curved projection integral imaging system to improve the horizontal and vertical viewing angles. The proposed system can be easily implemented by additional use of a large‐aperture convex lens in conventional projection integral imaging. To obtain the simultaneous display of 3D images through real and virtual image fields, we propose a computer‐generated pickup method based on ray optics and elemental images, which are synthesized for the proposed system. To show the feasibility of the proposed system, preliminary experiments are carried out. Experimental results indicate that our system improves the viewing angle and displays 3D images simultaneously in real and virtual image fields.     

Data retention characteristics of MANOS-type flash memory device with different metal gates at various levels of charge injection

We investigated the impact of charge injection and metal gates (Al and Pt) on the data retention characteristics of metal–alumina–nitride–oxide–silicon (MANOS) devices for NAND flash memory application. Through the theoretical and experimental results, the highly injected charge (ΔV_TH) could cause the band bending of Al₂O₃, which reduced the tunneling distance across Al₂O₃. Thus, the dominant charge loss path is not only toward SiO₂ but also toward Al₂O₃ direction. Compared to low-metal work function (Ф_M), ONA stack with high-Ф_M showed better data retention characteristics, even if ΔV_TH is high. This could be explained by Fermi level alignment for different Ф_M, which results in the reduction of electric field across the Al₂O₃ compensated by the ΔФ_M (Ф_Pt ? Ф_Al).     

A Reliable Multicast Routing Protocol Based on Recovery Points and FEC in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

Multicasting is an essential service for mobile ad-hoc networks. A major challenge for multicasting in mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) is the unstable forwarding path. This work presents a reliable multicasting protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks. A virtual backbone is used as a shared structure for multiple sessions. A lost packet recovery scheme is developed for reliable packet transmission, called the Recovery Point (RP) scheme. The RP scheme maintains the data packets received from the source for recovering lost packets for its downstream RPs. In addition, we combine the Forward Error Correction (FEC) technology with our RP scheme to enhance the reliability of our RP scheme. A mergence scheme for RP is also proposed to avoid excessive control overhead. Our RP and FEC based scheme can be used to improve the reliability and efficiency of the traditional non-acknowledged multicasting approach. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the proposed multicasting scheme. The results demonstrate that our scheme outperforms other schemes in terms of packet delivery ratio and multicast efficiency. Furthermore, the simulation results also demonstrate that our approach is stable in networks with high mobility.

Design and evaluation of inter‐bandwidth broker signaling

Bandwidth brokers (BBs) have been proposed for providing end‐to‐end quality of services (QoS) in differentiated services (Diffserv) networks. As a single entity in each domain, a BB aims at performing both intra‐ and inter‐domain resource management on behalf of its domain. There have been plenty of BB studies for intra‐domain resource management. However, how a BB can perform inter‐domain resource management in a scalable and deployable manner is still an open issue. In this work, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of an inter‐BB communication protocol that is used by each BB to communicate with its neighboring BBs for inter‐domain QoS resource management. The proposed model uses a destination‐based aggregation scheme in which reservations are aggregated as they merge through the destination region. The destination‐based aggregation improves inter‐domain state and signaling scalability. The protocol also performs traffic engineering to increase inter‐domain resource utilization. The implementation and simulation results verify the achievements of our model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

InxGa1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature

In_xGa_1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy is characterized by Hall effect, transmission electron microscopy, and ultrafast optical testing. As with low temperature (LT) GaAs, the resistivity is generally higher after a brief anneal at 600°C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows all the as-grown epilayers to be heavily dislocated due to the large lattice mismatch (2–3%). When the layers are annealed, in addition to the dislocations, precipitates are also generally observed. As with LT-GaAs, the lifetime shortens as growth temperature is reduced through the range 300–120°C; also, the lifetime in LT-In_xGa_1−xAs is generally shorter in as-grown samples relative to annealed samples. Metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors fabricated on the material exhibit response times of 1–2 picoseconds, comparable to results reported on GaAs grown at low temperature, and the fastest ever reported in the wavelength range of 1.0–1.3 μm.     

A lattice realization for 2-D separable-denominator digital filters

New properties useful in connection with 1-D and 2-D lattice realizations are developed. These properties enable one to represent given, complicated 2-D separable-denominator digital filters in terms of simpler, more elemental building blocks which consist of two 1-D lattice realizations having dynamics in different directions and connected in a cascade form. The matrix-relationship between a 2-D discrete Schwarz form and a controller-observer canonical form is also derived. A notable property of the proposed 2-D lattice realization is that the impulse response energy of a 2-D separable-denominator digital filter can be readily obtained from the reflection coefficients and input/output tapped coefficients of the realization.This work was supported by the National Science Council of the Republic of China under Grant NSC79-0402-E0006-02, the US Army Research Office under Grant DAAL-03-91-G0106, and the NASA-Johnson Space Center under Grant NAG-9-380.