Influence of the doping type and level on the morphology of porous Si formed by galvanic etching

The formation of porous silicon (por-Si) layers by the galvanic etching of single-crystal Si samples (doped with boron or phosphorus) in an HF/C₂H₅OH/H₂O₂ solution is investigated. The por-Si layers are analyzed by the capillary condensation of nitrogen and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The dependences of the morphological characteristics of por-Si (pore diameter, specific surface area, pore volume, and thickness of the pore walls), which determine the por-Si combustion kinetics, on the dopant type and initial wafer resistivity are established.     

Effect of gold on the properties of nitrogen dioxide sensors based on thin WO<Subscript>3</Subscript> films

The microstructure and properties of gold-doped WO₃ (WO₃:Au) thin films before and after deposition of dispersed Au layers have been studied. It is shown that the γ-WO_2.72 phase arises in WO₃:Au layers, which leads to a significant increase in the film conductivity. Deposition of a dispersed gold layer results in an increase in the sensor response to NO₂ by several times. The concentration dependences and the dynamics of sensor responses to nitrogen dioxide are described by the analytical expressions derived under the assumption that WO₃ films contain grains connected by conducting bridges. An analysis of the experimental data using these expressions made it possible to determine the activation energies of NO₂ adsorption and desorption and the adsorption heat.     

Temperature dependence of contact resistance for Au-Ti-Pd<Subscript>2</Subscript>Si-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript>-Si ohmic contacts subjected to microwave irradiation

Based on a theoretical analysis of the temperature dependence of the contact resistance R _c for an Au-Ti-Pd₂Si-n ⁺-Si ohmic contact, a current-transfer mechanism explaining the experimentally observed increase in R _c in the temperature range 100–380 K is proposed. It is shown that microwave treatment of such contacts results in a decrease in the spread of R _c over the wafer and a decrease in the value of R _c whilst retaining an increase in R _c in the temperatures range 100–380 K.     

Shallow acceptors in strained Ge/Ge1−x Six heterostructures with quantum wells

The energies of localized acceptor states in quantum wells (strained Ge layers in Ge/Ge_1?x Si_x heterostructures) were analyzed theoretically in relation to the quantum well width and the impurity position in the well. The impurity absorption spectrum in the far IR range is calculated. Comparison of the results of the calculation with experimental photoconductivity spectra allows an estimation of the acceptor distribution in the quantum well to be made. In particular, it was concluded that acceptors may largely concentrate near the heterointerfaces. The absorption spectrum is calculated taking into account the resonance impurity states. This allows the features observed in the short-wavelength region of the spectrum to be interpreted as being due to transitions into the resonance energy levels “linked” to the upper size-quantization subbands.     

Adaptive S-ALOHA CDMA as an alternative way of integrating servicesin mobile environments

Code-division multiple-access (CDMA) schemes appear to be very promising access techniques for coping with the requirements of third-generation mobile systems, mainly because of their flexibility. This paper proposes an adaptive S-ALOHA DS-CDMA access scheme as a method for integrating nonreal-time (i.e., Internet applications) and real-time (i.e., voice) services in a multicell scenario by exploiting the potentials of CDMA under time-varying channel load conditions. The adaptive component makes data terminals autonomously change their transmission rate according to the total (voice+data) channel occupancy, so that the minimum possible data delay, which can be analytically obtained by defining a birth-death process, is almost always achieved. Moreover, by means of a simplified cellular model, the proposed algorithm revealed the same behavior, i.e., it tries to select the most suitable transmission rate at any time slot, when it is affected by intercell interference and even by power control imperfections. Finally, in order to gain more insight into the potentials of such an access strategy, the adaptive S-ALOHA CDMA scheme is then compared to a reservation time-division multiple-access (TDMA)-based protocol (PRMA++), showing the benefits of the CDMA-based solution in terms of capacity, flexibility, and data delay performance     

Multisensor approach to automated classification of sea ice image data

A multisensor data fusion algorithm based on a multilayer neural network is presented for sea ice classification in the winter period. The algorithm uses European Remote Sensing (ERS), RADARSAT synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and low-resolution television camera images and image texture features. Based on a set of in situ observations made at the Kara Sea, a neural network is trained, and its structure is optimized using a pruning method. The performance of the algorithm with different combinations of input features (sensors) is assessed and compared with the performance of a linear discriminant analysis (LDA)-based algorithm. We show that for both algorithms a substantial improvement can be gained by fusion of the three different types of data (91.2% for the neural network) as compared with single-source ERS (66.0%) and RADARSAT (70.7%) SAR image classification. Incorporation of texture increases classification accuracy. This positive effect of texture becomes weaker with increasing number of sensors (from 8.4 to 6.4 percent points for the use of two and three sensors, respectively). In view of the short training time and smaller number of adjustable parameters, this result suggests that semiparametric classification methods can be considered as a good alternative to the neural networks and traditional parametric statistical classifiers applied for the sea ice classification.     

The Asymmetric Golden Code for Fast Decoding on Time-Varying Channels

The golden code is a full-rate full-diversity space–time code for the two-input two-output channel with good performance but high decoding complexity. The overlaid Alamouti codes were recently proposed as an alternative; in exchange for a slight performance penalty, they have lower decoding complexity on quasistatic channels with QAM alphabets. However, the complexity advantage of the overlaid codes vanishes for time-varying channels. This paper proposes the asymmetric golden code, a novel full-rate and full-diversity space–time code for the two-input two-output channel that offers reduced-complexity decoding on both quasistatic and time-varying channels.     

Control of high common mode voltage during transthoracicdefibrillation

A high common mode voltage (V_cm) relative to earth ground is produced on the myocardium during the delivery of a defibrillator pulse and can generate a differential error signal when potential gradients are recorded with bipolar electrodes and isolation amplifiers. The error signal is proportional to V_cm, and therefore, a reduction in V_cm improves the accuracy of the potential gradient data. Experiments were conducted on 5 dogs to determine whether V_cm can be controlled using a bridge circuit. The bridge circuit consisted of a 5 kΩ power rheostat in parallel with the transthoracic resistance of the dog. The variable contact of the rheostat was connected to earth ground, and by adjusting the rheostat, V_cm on the myocardium could be varied. In each dog, 20 A shocks were delivered through stainless steel transthoracic electrodes. Point contact electrodes sutured to the epicardium were used to measure V_cm. It was determined that V_cm could be reduced to approximately zero at a given electrode on the heart. In addition, for the 5 dogs studied, the maximum measured V_cm on the heart was only 10% of the transthoracic voltage when the bridge circuit was balanced for an interior point in the heart     

Analysis and optimization of InGaAsP electro-absorption modulators

A numerical model of bulk electro-absorption modulators has been developed based on a quasi-two-dimensional drift-diffusion approach which includes both the presence of heterostructures and the Fermi statistics for the carriers. We show that the nonlinear behavior of this type of devices is essentially related to hole pile-up and space-charge effects. The simulation results compare favourably with some laboratory measurements on a fabricated device with abrupt hetero-junctions. Two other types of structures have been simulated, one obtained with the inclusion of a thin quaternary layer and the other with a, graded hetero-junction, which eliminate the hole pile-up at the InGaAsP-InP hetero-interface. The paper demonstrates that it is possible to approach the optimum behavior using both the alternatives considered here. Finally, nonlinear effects in short modulators have been investigated     

10 Gbit/s optical BPSK homodyne detection experiment with solitaryDFB laser diodes

Solitary DFB laser diodes with 174 kHz beat linewidth are applied to a 10 Gbit/s optical BPSK homodyne detection system for the first time: a sensitivity of -38.9 dBm was achieved. A three-electrode laser forms the local oscillator and is modulated with a partial push-pull scheme to improve its frequency response