Silica-based circular cross-sectioned channel waveguides

A technique for fabricating silica channel waveguides with circular cross sections is presented. The geometrical mismatch between a square or rectangular waveguide and a regular optical fiber is therefore largely reduced. The fiber-waveguide-fiber coupling loss drops from 1.8 dB to 0.5 dB or less for step index multimode waveguides by applying this technique. The heat treatment applied in the waveguide rounding process also smooths the waveguide sidewalls and results in much lower propagation loss in the waveguides. Uniform Y splitters were fabricated to show the feasibility of using this technique to make integrated optical devices.<>     

Encapsulant-free annealing of ion-implanted GaP

GaP diodes were fabricated by Mg+ implantation and controlled atmosphere annealing. At room temperature, these diodes emit green light under forward bias, with an ideality factor of 2.0. Reverse breakdown voltages are 180 V, with a measured reverse leakage current density of 4.8 × 10?9 A/cm2 at a bias of ?3 V. The diodes retain good electrical characteristics at 400°C.     

Low series resistance high-efficiency GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with continuously graded mirrors grown by MOCVD

GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity top-surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a continuously graded mirror composition have been grown by MOCVD, and planar devices with proton-implant current confinement have been characterized. Continuous grading of the heterointerfaces in the Bragg reflectors eliminated the energy-band discontinuities, thus improving carrier transport and resulting in a substantial reduction in the series resistance and threshold voltage of the laser diodes. These VCSELs have excellent room-temperature CW electrical characteristics, including some of the lowest series resistances, highest power efficiencies and lowest operating voltages ever reported.<>     

A comparison of theoretical efficiencies of multi‐junction concentrator solar cells

Champion concentrator cell efficiencies have surpassed 40% and now many are asking whether the efficiencies will surpass 50%. Theoretical efficiencies of >60% are described for many approaches, but there is often confusion about “the” theoretical efficiency for a specific structure. The detailed balance approach to calculating theoretical efficiency gives an upper bound that can be independent of material parameters and device design. Other models predict efficiencies that are closer to those that have been achieved. Changing reference spectra and the choice of concentration further complicate comparison of theoretical efficiencies. This paper provides a side‐by‐side comparison of theoretical efficiencies of multi‐junction solar cells calculated with the detailed balance approach and a common one‐dimensional‐transport model for different spectral and irradiance conditions. Also, historical experimental champion efficiencies are compared with the theoretical efficiencies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Novel Metal-Rich Anneal for In Vacuo Passivation of High-Aspect-Ratio Mercury Cadmium Telluride Surfaces

A new method for Cd-rich annealing of mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) was developed based on the observation that the deposition of Cd onto MCT by vacuum evaporation became self-limiting whenever the substrate temperature was above 70°C regardless of the Cd evaporation rate. Preliminary results indicated that this new method may be suitable for passivation of high-aspect-ratio MCT surfaces, for passivation at low temperatures, for in vacuo operation, and/or for vacancy annihilation in MCT. Furthermore, the process can be carried out in the conventional open-tube reactors used for molecular beam epitaxy, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, and physical vapor deposition.     

Interfacing synchronous and asynchronous modules within ahigh-speed pipeline

This paper describes a new technique for integrating asynchronous modules within a high-speed synchronous pipeline. Our design eliminates potential metastability problems by using a clock generated by a stoppable ring oscillator, which is capable of driving the large clock load found in present day microprocessors. Using the ATACS design tool, we designed highly optimized transistor-level circuits to control the ring oscillator and generate the clock and handshake signals with minimal overhead. Our interface architecture requires no redesign of the synchronous circuitry. Incorporating asynchronous modules in a high-speed pipeline improves performance by exploiting data-dependent delay variations. Since the speed of the synchronous circuitry tracks the speed of the ring oscillator under different processes, temperatures, and voltages, the entire chip operates at the speed dictated by the current operating conditions, rather than being governed by the worst case conditions. These two factors together can lead to a significant improvement in average-case performance. The interface design is simulated using the 0.6-μm HP CMOS14B process in HSPICE     

Language-based information-flow security

Current standard security practices do not provide substantial assurance that the end-to-end behavior of a computing system satisfies important security policies such as confidentiality. An end-to-end confidentiality policy might assert that secret input data cannot be inferred by an attacker through the attacker's observations of system output; this policy regulates information flow. Conventional security mechanisms such as access control and encryption do not directly address the enforcement of information-flow policies. Previously, a promising new approach has been developed: the use of programming-language techniques for specifying and enforcing information-flow policies. In this paper, we survey the past three decades of research on information-flow security, particularly focusing on work that uses static program analysis to enforce information-flow policies. We give a structured view of work in the area and identify some important open challenges.     

Failure mechanisms in wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde adhesives

Wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde (UF) are weakened by cyclic swelling and shrinking. To study the failure mechanisms in UF-bonded joints, specimens were bonded with unmodified, modified (amine), or phenol formaldehyde adhesive and subjected to accelerated aging. Modification of the adhesive properties increased the cleavage fracture toughness and shear strength of bonded joints and improved the resistance of joints to cyclic swell-shrink treatment and accelerated moist-heat aging. Joints bonded with some modified urea-formaldehyde adhesives were as resistant to these treatments as joints bonded with phenol formaldehyde. Physical and mechanical origins of the improved adhesive performance were determined by microscopic analysis. Cure-shrinkage stresses precracked unmodified adhesive layers and damaged the wood interphase. The damaged interphase was especially susceptible to the effects of cyclic swelling and shrinking stresses. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated cure-shrinkage cracking and damage to the wood. Moist-heat aging caused molecular scission in the bulk unmodified adhesive layer as revealed by the onset of shear cracking in the adhesive layer and erosion of exposed surfaces. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated molecular scission and erosion responsible for adhesive weakening in moist-heat aging. We conclude that incorporating flexible amines in the adhesive structure improves the durability and stability of UF-bonded joints.     

Effects of dietary deoiled soy lecithin supplementation on milk production and fatty acid digestibility in Holstein dairy cows

Deoiled soy lecithin is a feed additive enriched in phospholipids. Our study evaluated the effects of dietary deoiled soy lecithin supplementation on (1) milk production and composition, (2) plasma and milk fatty acid (FA) content and yield, and (3) apparent FA digestibility and absorption in lactating dairy cows fed fractionated palm fat. In a split-plot Latin square design, 16 Holstein cows (160 ± 7 days in milk; 3.6 ± 1.2 parity) were randomly allocated to a main plot receiving a corn silage and alfalfa haylage-based diet with palm fat containing either moderate (MPA) or high palmitic acid (HPA) content at 1.75% of ration dry matter (72 or 99% palmitic acid, respectively; n = 8/palm fat diet). On each palm fat diet, deoiled soy lecithin was top-dressed at 0, 0.12, 0.24, or 0.36% of ration dry matter in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design. Following a 14-d covariate period, lecithin supplementation spanned 14 d, with milk and blood collected during the final 3 d. Milk composition and pooled plasma markers were measured. The statistical model included the fixed effects of palm fat type, lecithin dose, period, and the interaction between palm fat type and lecithin dose. The random effect of cow nested within palm fat group was also included. Lecithin linearly decreased dry matter intake. In cows fed HPA, lecithin feeding reduced milk fat content and tended to decrease milk fat yield. Although no changes in milk yield were observed, a quadratic reduction in 3.5% fat-corrected milk was observed with increasing lecithin dose. Lecithin linearly increased energy-corrected milk efficiency in cows fed MPA. Lecithin supplementation also decreased milk urea nitrogen, relative to unsupplemented cows. The proportion of 16-carbon FA in milk fat decreased linearly with lecithin dose, whereas 18-carbon FA increased linearly. Lecithin reduced de novo FA (<16-carbon) content and tended to increase preformed FA (>16-carbon) content in a linear manner. Compared with MPA, HPA diets reduced apparent total and 16-carbon FA digestibility and absorption. Deoiled soy lecithin feeding did not modify FA digestibility or absorption. Our observations suggest that soy lecithin feeding modifies rumen digestion to reduce dry matter intake and change milk composition.     

Hypocholesterolemic agents V: Inhibition of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase by substituted 4-biphenylylalkyl carboxylic acids and methyl esters

Eleven substituted 4-biphenylylalkyl carboxylic acids and three methyl esters were synthesized and assayed for inhibition of rat liver beta-hydroxy-beta-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. Five of the acids were analogs, resulting from various isosteric replacements of the carbonyl and ether oxygens of the previously described reversible inhibitor 1-(4-biphenylyl)pentyl hydrogen succinate. No significant change in activity was noted, except upon introduction of an amide linkage where a decrease in inhibition was found. Six carboxylic acids and three methyl esters, all containing the 4-biphenylyl radical but lacking the n-butyl side chain found in 1-(4-biphenylyl)pentyl hydrogen succinate, also were inhibitors of the reductase.