Systematic characterization of Cl2 reactive ion etchingfor improved ohmics in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Pre-metal-deposition reactive ion etching (RIE) was performed on an Al_0.3Ga_0.7N/AlN/GaN heterostructure in order to improve the metal-to-semiconductor contact resistance. An optimum AlGaN thickness for minimizing contact resistance was determined. An initial decrease in contact resistance with etching time was explained in terms of removal of an oxide surface layer and/or by an increase in tunnelling current with the decrease of the AlGaN thickness. The presence of a dissimilar surface layer was confirmed by an initial nonuniform etch depth rate. An increase in contact resistance for deeper etches was experienced. The increase was related to depletion of the two-dimensional (2-D) electron gas (2-DEG) under the ohmics. Etch depths were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact resistance decreased from about 0.45 Ωmm for unetched ohmics to a minimum of 0.27 Ωmm for 70 Å etched ohmics. The initial thickness of the AlGaN layer was 250 Å. The decrease in contact resistance, without excessive complications on device processing, supports RIE etching as a viable solution to improve ohmic contact resistance in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs     

A comparison between different PMD compensation techniques

We quantify the benefits of using different techniques for compensation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in fiber-optic communication systems by means of numerical simulations. This is done both with respect to PMD-induced pulse broadening and in terms of system outage probability for different data formats [nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ)]. Attention is focused on simple and relevant single- and double-stage post-transmission compensators with a few degrees of freedom (DOF). It is generally believed that a PMD compensator with a polarization controller and a variable delay line can only compensate the PMD to the first order. We show, from analytical results, the counterintuitive fact that this scheme can also partially compensate for higher order PMD. We also investigate the benefit of using a polarizer as compensation element where the optical average power can be used as a feedback signal     

The microstructure of Cu films deposited by the self-ion assisted technique

The microstructures of Cu films deposited by the self-ion assisted, partially ionized beam (PIB) deposition technique under two different accelerating potentials, 0 KeV and 6 KeV, are compared. The 6 KeV film shows a bimodal (111) fiber and (100) fiber texture with an abundance of twin boundaries and a relatively large average grain size with a typical lognormal distribution. The 0 KeV film consists of small, mostly (111) oriented grains with islands of abnormally large (100) grains. The controlling factors for the abnormal growth of the (100) grains are discussed in relation to the observed microstructures, showing that all factors necessary for abnormal (100) growth are present in the films.     

Sequential tripping strategy for a transmission network back-upprotection expert system

This paper describes a sequential tripping strategy used in a wide area back-up protection expert system (BPES) to combat situations in which protection relays have maloperated or information is missing. The BPES is an innovative back-up protection scheme designed to prevent the occurrence of widespread blackouts. The BPES evaluates the certainty that transmission lines are likely to be affected by the fault and uses a sequential tripping strategy to isolate the fault if a firm decision is not available due to maloperated relays and/or missing information. The mode of analysis and the sequential tripping strategy ensures that the BPES will clear a fault at minimum risk to the network. An example is included to demonstrate how the certainty factor based sequential tripping strategy is employed by the BPES to clear a fault which occurred on the South Western part of the UK National Grid System     

Microprocessor-Based Control of an Ion Beam Deposition System

A microprocessor-based system with 32 A/D, 24 D/A, and 16 ac load controllers, has been designed and built to monitor and control an ion beam thin-film deposition system. The A/D and D/A channels have electrical isolation of 7.5 kV between channels and between input and output. The microprocessor system keeps the ion beam deposition parameters stable for extended periods of operation and it is proposed as a means to greatly simplify switching from one deposition species to another to grow thin multilayer or alloy films.