Effect of rapid thermal annealing on pentacene-based thin-film transistors

The bottom contact pentacene-based thin-film transistor is fabricated, and it is treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with the annealed temperature up to 240 °C for 2 min in the vacuum of 1.3 × 10⁻² torr. The morphology and structure for the pentacene films of OTFTs were examined by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. The thin-film phase and a very small fraction of single-crystal phase were found in the as-deposited pentacene films. While the annealing temperature increases to 60 °C, the pentacene molecular ordering was significantly improved though the grain size only slightly increased. The device annealed at temperature of 120 °C has optimal electrical properties, being consistent with the experimental results of XRD. The post-annealing treatment results in the enhancement of field-effect mobility in pentacene-based thin-film transistors. The field-effect mobility increases from 0.243 cm²/V s to 0.62 cm²/V s. Besides, the threshold voltage of device shifts from −7 V to −3.88 V and the on/off current ratio increases from 4.0 × 10³ to 8.7 × 10³.     

Analysis of adaptive bandwidth allocation in wireless networks with multilevel degradable quality of service

A wireless/mobile network supporting multilevel quality of service (QoS) is considered. In such a network, users or applications can tolerate a certain degree of QoS degradation. Bandwidth allocation to users can, therefore, be adjusted dynamically according to the underlying network condition so as to increase bandwidth utilization and service provider's revenue. However, arbitrary QoS degradation may be unsatisfactory or unacceptable to the users, hence resulting in their subsequent defection. Instead of only focusing on bandwidth utilization or blocking/dropping probability, two new user-perceived QoS metrics, degradation ratio and upgrade/degrade frequency, are proposed. A Markov model is then provided to derive these QoS metrics. Using this model, we evaluate the effects of adaptive bandwidth allocation on user-perceived QoS and show the existence of trade offs between system performance and user-perceived QoS. We also show how to exploit adaptive bandwidth allocation to increase system utilization (for the system administrator) with controlled QoS degradation (for the users). By considering various mobility patterns, the simulation results are shown to match our analytical results, demonstrating the applicability of our analytical model to more general cases.     

Novel Optical Phase Demodulator Based on a Sampling Phase-Locked Loop

A novel phase-locked coherent demodulator, based on a sampling phase-locked loop, is presented and investigated theoretically. The demodulator is capable of operating at high frequencies, by using optical sampling to downconvert the high-frequency input radio-frequency signal to the frequency range of the baseband loop. We develop a detailed theoretical model of the (sampling) phase-locked coherent demodulator and perform detailed numerical simulations. The simulation results show that the operation of the sampling demodulator resembles the operation of the baseband demodulator for very short optical pulses (<2 ps). Furthermore, we investigate how the signal-to-noise ratio of the demodulator is affected by timing and amplitude jitter of the pulsed optical source     

A methodology for product mix planning in semiconductor foundrymanufacturing

Since a semiconductor foundry plant manufactures a wide range of memory and logic products using the make-to-order business model, the product mix is an important production decision. This paper first describes the characteristics of the product mix planning problem in foundry manufacturing that are attributable to the long flow time and queuing network behaviors. The issues of time bucket selection, mix optimization and bottleneck-based planning are next addressed. A decision software system based on integer linear programming techniques and a heuristic procedure has been implemented for mix planning. Data provided by a wafer plant has been used to study problems related to product mix planning. It was determined that the suitable time bucket of planning is either one week or one month and the lead-time offset factor should be included in the logic of workload calculation. This paper also presents various facets of product mix decisions and how they should be integrated with operations management     

Benzodithiophene Hole‐Transporting Materials for Efficient Tin‐Based Perovskite Solar Cells

Developing efficient interfacial hole transporting materials (HTMs) is crucial for achieving high‐performance Pb‐free Sn‐based halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, a new series of benzodithiophene (BDT)‐based organic small molecules containing tetra‐ and di‐triphenyl amine donors prepared via a straightforward and scalable synthetic route is reported. The thermal, optical, and electrochemical properties of two BDT‐based molecules are shown to be structurally and energetically suitable to serve as HTMs for Sn‐based PSCs. It is reported here that ethylenediammonium/formamidinium tin iodide solar cells using BDT‐based HTMs deliver a champion power conversion efficiency up to 7.59%, outperforming analogous reference solar cells using traditional and expensive HTMs. Thus, these BDT‐based molecules are promising candidates as HTMs for the fabrication of high‐performance Sn‐based PSCs.     

Room-Temperature Quantum Cascade Laser: ZnO/Zn1−x Mg x O Versus GaN/Al x Ga1−x N

A ZnO/Zn_1?x Mg _x O-based quantum cascade laser (QCL) is proposed as a candidate for generation of THz radiation at room temperature. The structural and material properties, field dependence of the THz lasing frequency, and generated power are reported for a resonant phonon ZnO/Zn_0.95Mg_0.05O QCL emitting at 5.27 THz. The theoretical results are compared with those from GaN/Al _x Ga_1?x N QCLs of similar geometry. Higher calculated optical output powers [ $ {P}_{\rm{ZnMgO}} $  = 2.89 mW (nonpolar) at 5.27 THz and 2.75 mW (polar) at 4.93 THz] are obtained with the ZnO/Zn_0.95Mg_0.05O structure as compared with GaN/Al_0.05Ga_0.95N QCLs [ $ {P}_{\rm{AlGaN}} $  = 2.37 mW (nonpolar) at 4.67 THz and 2.29 mW (polar) at 4.52 THz]. Furthermore, a higher wall-plug efficiency (WPE) is obtained for ZnO/ZnMgO QCLs [24.61% (nonpolar) and 23.12% (polar)] when compared with GaN/AlGaN structures [14.11% (nonpolar) and 13.87% (polar)]. These results show that ZnO/ZnMgO material is optimally suited for THz QCLs.     

Atomic‐Scale CoOx Species in Metal–Organic Frameworks for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The activity of electrocatalysts strongly depends on the number of active sites, which can be increased by downsizing electrocatalysts. Single‐atom catalysts have attracted special attention due to atomic‐scale active sites. However, it is a huge challenge to obtain atomic‐scale CoO_x catalysts. The Co‐based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) own atomically dispersed Co ions, which motivates to design a possible pathway to partially on‐site transform these Co ions to active atomic‐scale CoO_x species, while reserving the highly porous features of MOFs. In this work, for the first time, the targeted on‐site formation of atomic‐scale CoO_x species is realized in ZIF‐67 by O₂ plasma. The abundant pores in ZIF‐67 provide channels for O₂ plasma to activate the Co ions in MOFs to on‐site produce atomic‐scale CoO_x species, which act as the active sites to catalyze the oxygen evolution reaction with an even better activity than RuO₂.     

New CO2 laser lines in the 11-μm wavelength region:new hot bands

Nineteen new laser lines in the 11-μm wavelength region have been observed in CW oscillation from a CO₂ laser with a high-Q, high-resolution cavity at a higher than usual current density. The frequency of each line has been measured using heterodyne frequency measurement techniques. Analysis of the frequencies shows that 15 lines are rotation-vibration transitions of the 01¹2-[11¹1,03¹1]_I band (the first sequence hot band) of the CO₂ molecule and four lines belong to the rotation-vibration transitions of the 02²1-[12 ²0, 04²0]_I band of CO₂     

IMPACCT: Methodology and Tools for Power-Aware Embedded Systems

Power-aware systems are those that must exploit a widerange of power/performance trade-offs in order to adapt to the power availabilityand application requirements. They require the integration of many novel powermanagement techniques, ranging from voltage scaling to subsystem shutdown.However, those techniques do not always compose synergistically with eachother; in fact, they can combine subtractively and often yield counterintuitive,and sometimes incorrect, results in the context of a complete system. Thiscan become a serious problem as more of these power aware systems are beingdeployed in mission critical applications.To address the problem of technique integration for power-aware embedded systems, we propose a new design tool framework called IMPACCT and the associated design methodology. The system modeling methodology includes application model for capturing timing/powerconstraints and mode dependencies at the system level. The tool performs power-awarescheduling and mode selection to ensure that all timing/power constraintsare satisfied and that all overhead is taken into account. IMPACCT then synthesizesthe implementation targeting a symmetric multiprocessor platform. Experimentalresults show that the increased dynamic range of power/performance settingsenabled a Mars rover to achieve significant acceleration while using lessenergy. More importantly, our tool correctly combines the state-of-the-arttechniques at the system level, thereby saving even experienced designersfrom many pitfalls of system-level power management.     

Fabrication process simulation and reliability improvement of high-brightness LEDs

To enhance the light extraction efficiency and thermal performance of AlGaInP light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the wafer bonding technique which can replace the GaAs substrate with other high thermal conductivity substrates was applied. However, this technique may make the film crack during either the removal etching process of the GaAs substrate or the annealing process after the GaAs removal. Therefore, this crack problem is an important issue in the reliability/yield of high-brightness LEDs. In this research, a detailed finite element model of the high-brightness AlGaInP LED, which is replaced by the GaAs substrate with high thermal conductivity substrate through the Au–In metal bonding technique, was developed and fabricated. In addition, the mechanical behavior of wafer-level metal bonding was also simulated by finite element analysis (FEA) and validated by experimental measurements. Hence, the above validated simulation technique combined with process modeling is used to understand the stress variation of the multilayer structure of AlGaInP LED during the fabrication process and to find the principal cause of the film crack.