Temperature compensation of total power radiometers

This paper describes a new technique to compensate output variations of total power radiometers due to physical temperature changes of the instrument. This technique performs the correction without the addition of expensive microwave hardware required in Dicke switching or many other widely used methods. A characterization period, over which the input antenna temperature is known, indicates the appropriate output adjustment needed for a change in physical temperature of the radiometer. The method effectively corrects the output in an example radiometer system built with inexpensive commercially available parts. For a 30-K variation in physical temperature, the measured data shows an improvement from 60-K peak-to-peak error to 6.9 K with an average absolute error of 1.1 K.     

A 15-mW fully integrated I/Q synthesizer for Bluetooth in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS

A low-power fully integrated synthesizer for Bluetooth applications is presented. The circuit with quadrature output signals at 2.45 GHz and 15-mW power dissipation has been designed in a digital 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process with 1.8-V supply voltage. The only external component is a 64-MHz crystal. Measurements have been performed on packaged samples mounted on an FR-4 board and show that the Bluetooth requirements are met. The measured phase noise is below -120 dBc/Hz at 3-MHz offset, and the resulting residual frequency modulation is 7.4-kHz rms. The tuning range consists of an analog and digital tuning mechanism, resulting in more than 15% overall tuning range.     

Influence of Si<Subscript>3</Subscript>N<Subscript>4</Subscript> passivation on surface trapping in SiC metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors

The SiC metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) have been reported to have current instability and strong dispersion caused by trapping phenomena at the surface and in the substrate, which degrade direct-current (DC) and radio-frequency (RF) performance. This paper illustrates the change in electrical characteristics of SiC MESFETs after Si₃N₄ passivation. Because of a reduction of surface trapping effects, Si₃N₄ passivation can diminish current collapse under pulsed DC conditions, increasing the RF power performance. The reduction of surface trapping effects is verified by the change in the ratio of the drain current to the gate current under pinch-off conditions.     

The properties of MOVPE grown 1.3 μm DFB MQW lasers infilled with semi-insulating InP fabricated on semi-insulating substrates

The use of optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) is now emerging as a practical technology for a variety of applications, particularly in advanced telecommunications. OEICs consist of a range of devices such as lasers, waveguides, modulators, amplifiers, transistors, detectors, etc. fabricated on the same substrate. When a semi-insulating substrate is used, these devices can be electrically isolated by channel etching, resulting in a low capacitance structure with reduced electrical interference between the subcomponents. One of the devices which is particularly advantageous for this type of integration scheme is the distributed feedback (DFB) laser. The laser can be made to function more efficiently by minimizing the current flowing outside the active region. This can be achieved by surrounding the active region with semi-insulating iron doped InP. This work describes for the first time, the MOVPE growth, fabrication, and device characterization of 1.3 um buried heterostructure DFB MQW lasers, which combine the advantages of using both a semi-insulating substrate and a semi-insulating infill region in the same device structure. The potential advantage of this design scheme is improved OEIC performance as a result of, reduced capacitance and electrical crosstalk, enhanced laser output power, higher speed, increased efficiency, wider operating temperature and reduced threshold current. The laser active region consists of 8 x 140 Å quantum wells of GalnAsP (λ = 1.3 μm) and 110 Åbarriers of GalnAsP (λ= 1.07 μm). Single mode 1.3 urn devices of length 250 μm operating at room temperature produced threshold currents of 8 mA, efficiencies of up to 25%, output powers of 18 mW at 80 mA (pulsed), and a frequency response greater than 12GHz. The parasitic capacitance was estimated to be less than 3 pF.     

A new look at spotlight mode synthetic aperture radar astomography: imaging 3-D targets

A new 3D tomographic formulation of spotlight mode synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is developed. This extends the pioneering work of Munson et al. (1983), who first formally described SAR in terms of tomography but who made the simplifying assumption that the target scene was 2D. The present authors treat the more general and practical case in which the radar target reflectivities comprise a 3D function. The main goal is to demonstrate that the demodulated radar return data from a spotlight mode collection represent a certain set of samples of the 3D Fourier transform of the target reflectivity function and to do so using a tomographic paradigm instead of traditional range-Doppler analysis. They also show that the tomographic approach is useful in interpreting the reconstructed 2D SAR image corresponding to a 3D scene. Specifically, the well-known SAR phenomenon of layover is easily explained in terms of tomographic projections and is shown to be analogous to the projection effect in conventional optical imaging.     

Information Processing With Pure Spin Currents in Silicon: Spin Injection, Extraction, Manipulation, and Detection

We demonstrate that information can be transmitted and processed with pure spin currents in silicon. Fe/Al₂O₃ tunnel barrier contacts are used to produce significant electron spin polarization in the silicon, generating a spin current which flows outside of the charge current path. The spin orientation of this pure spin current is controlled in one of three ways: 1) by switching the magnetization of the Fe contact; 2) by changing the polarity of the bias on the Fe/Al₂O₃ "injector" contact, which enables the generation of either majority or minority spin populations in the Si, providing a way to electrically manipulate the injected spin orientation without changing the magnetization of the contact itself; and 3) by inducing spin precession through the application of a small perpendicular magnetic field. Spin polarization by electrical extraction is as effective as that achieved by the more common electrical spin injection. The output characteristics of a planar silicon three-terminal device are very similar to those of nonvolatile giant magnetoresistance metal spin-valve structures.     

1.4-/spl mu/m InGaAsP-InP strained multiple-quantum-well laser for broad-wavelength tunability

InGaAsP-InP strained multiple-quantum-well (MQW) lasers for extended wavelength tunability in external cavity operation were designed, fabricated, and tested. The active layer was a strain compensated structure consisting of three 3.2/spl plusmn/0.3 nm and three 6.4/spl plusmn/0.3 nm 1.0% compressive strained wells and five 10.3/spl plusmn/0.3 nm 0.45% tensile strained barrier layers. A 2-/spl mu/m-wide ridge waveguide laser of length 250 /spl mu/m, when used in a grating external cavity and with no coatings to alter the reflectivity of the facets, was observed to operate over a range >110 nm. The lasers were designed for applications in trace gas and liquid detection with the goal to maximize the tunable range when operated in external cavities and with no facet coatings.     

Simulation Models for Investigation of Multiuser Scheduling in MIMO Broadcast Channels

Spatial correlation is a result of insufficient antenna spacing among multiple antenna elements, while temporal correlation is caused by Doppler spread. This paper compares the effect of spatial and temporal correlation in order to investigate the performance of multiuser scheduling algorithms in multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) broadcast channels. This comparison includes the effect on the ergodic capacity, on fairness among users, and on the sum‐rate capacity of a multiuser scheduling algorithm utilizing statistical channel state information in spatio‐temporally correlated MIMO broadcast channels. Numerical results demonstrate that temporal correlation is more meaningful than spatial correlation in view of the multiuser scheduling algorithm in MIMO broadcast channels. Indeed, the multiuser scheduling algorithm can reduce the effect of the Doppler spread if it exploits the information of temporal correlation appropriately. However, the effect of spatial correlation can be minimized if the antenna spacing is sufficient in rich scattering MIMO channels regardless of the multiuser scheduling algorithm used.     

Non‐Covalent Functionalization of Graphene Using Self‐Assembly of Alkane‐Amines

A simple, versatile method for non‐covalent functionalization of graphene based on solution‐phase assembly of alkane‐amine layers is presented. Second‐order Møller–Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory on a cluster model (methylamine on pyrene) yields a binding energy of ≈220 meV for the amine–graphene interaction, which is strong enough to enable formation of a stable aminodecane layer at room temperature. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations on an assembly of 1‐aminodecane molecules indicate that a self‐assembled monolayer can form, with the alkane chains oriented perpendicular to the graphene basal plane. The calculated monolayer height (≈1.7 nm) is in good agreement with atomic force microscopy data acquired for graphene functionalized with 1‐aminodecane, which yield a continuous layer with mean thickness ≈1.7 nm, albeit with some island defects. Raman data also confirm that self‐assembly of alkane‐amines is a non‐covalent process, i.e., it does not perturb the sp² hybridization of the graphene. Passivation and adsorbate n‐doping of graphene field‐effect devices using 1‐aminodecane, as well as high‐density binding of plasmonic metal nanoparticles and seeded atomic layer deposition of inorganic dielectrics using 1,10‐diaminodecane are also reported.     

Tomographic fluorescence imaging in tissue phantoms: a novel reconstruction algorithm and imaging geometry

A novel image reconstruction algorithm has been developed and demonstrated for fluorescence-enhanced frequency-domain photon migration (FDPM) tomography from measurements of area illumination with modulated excitation light and area collection of emitted fluorescence light using a gain modulated image-intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera. The image reconstruction problem was formulated as a nonlinear least-squares-type simple bounds constrained optimization problem based upon the penalty/modified barrier function (PMBF) method and the coupled diffusion equations. The simple bounds constraints are included in the objective function of the PMBF method and the gradient-based truncated Newton method with trust region is used to minimize the function for the large-scale problem (39919 unknowns, 2973 measurements). Three-dimensional (3-D) images of fluorescence absorption coefficients were reconstructed using the algorithm from experimental reflectance measurements under conditions of perfect and imperfect distribution of fluorophore within a single target. To our knowledge, this is the first time that targets have been reconstructed in three-dimensions from reflectance measurements with a clinically relevant phantom.