A Low-Loss Built-In Current Sensor

This paper presents a novel built-in current sensor that uses two additional power supply voltages besides the system power supply voltage, and that is constructed by using a current mirror circuit to pick up an abnormal IDDQ. It is activated only by an abnormal quiescent power supply current and minimizes the voltage drop at the terminal of the circuit under test. Simulation results showed that it could detect 16-A IDDQ against 0.03-V voltage drop at 3.3-V VDD and that it reduced performance degradation in the circuit under test. It is therefore suitable for testing low-voltage integrated circuits. Moreover, we verified the behavior of the sensor circuit implemented on the board by using discrete devices. Experimental results showed that the real circuit of the sensor functioned properly.     

Interface and layer thickness dependence of the effective mass in InAs/GaSb superlattices studied by high field cyclotron resonance

The effective mass has been studied in a series of semiconducting and semimetallic InAs/GaSb superlattices as a function of superlattice period and band gap. The mass is found to be determined almost entirely by the superlattice period, and is relatively insensitive to both the ratio of the InAs to GaSb thickness, and the structure of the interface layer, which was grown as both a monolayer of InSb and GaAs. Using pulsed magnetic fields of up to 180 T it was possible to observe spin-split cyclotron resonance at room temperature for all samples studied. On cooling the spin-splitting was found to be temperature dependent. This is attributed to the importance of electron-electron interactions which couple the two spin transitions as observed recently in high purity GaAs/GaAlAs heterojunctions at low temperatures.     

Ultrafine grain formation in face centered cubic metals during severe plastic deformation

The evolution mechanisms of new high-angle boundaries as well as ultrafine grains at large strains were studied by means of multidirectional forging (MDF) of pure copper at low temperature and aluminum alloy at high temperature, where dynamic recovery operates as a main restoration process. The structural changes can be characterized by the evolution of deformation bands such as microshear or kink bands at moderate strains. Multidirectional forging accelerates the evolution of many mutually crossing microshear or kink bands developed in various directions. The misorientations between (sub)grains increased gradually with increasing cumulative strain, finally leading to the development of a new fine-grained structure. The dynamic grain formation can be resulted from in situ or continuous dynamic recrystallization which is discussed in detail.     

AstroSim: Collaborative Visualization of an Astrophysics Simulation in Second Life

Developed in the Second Life 3D online multiuser environment, AstroSim (astrophysics simulation) provides synchronous collaborative visualization for astronomers. Users can play, halt, and rewind simulations and annotate stars interactively to track individual stars and gain a better understanding of stellar dynamics and astrophysics phenomena. This article is part of a special issue on collaborative visualization.     

Functional binders for reversible lithium intercalation into graphite in propylene carbonate and ionic liquid media

Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which have oxygen species as functional groups, were utilized as a binder for graphite electrodes, and the electrochemical reversibility of lithium intercalation was examined in PC medium and ionic liquid electrolyte, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide dissolved in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (BMP-TFSA). Columbic efficiency of 75–80% with more than 300 mAh g^?1 was achieved upon first reduction/oxidation cycle in both electrolytes using these binding polymers, which were significantly improved in comparison to a conventional PVdF binder (less than 45% of columbic efficiency for the first cycle). For the graphite-PVdF electrode, co-intercalation and/or decomposition of PC molecules solvating to Li ions were observed by the electrochemical reduction, resulting in the cracking of graphite particles. In contrast, the co-intercalation and decomposition of PC molecules and BMP cations for the first reduction process were completely suppressed for the graphite electrodes prepared with the polymers containing oxygen atoms. It was proposed that the selective permeability of lithium ions was attained by the uniform coating of the graphite particles with PAA, PMA, and PVA polymers, because the electrostatic interaction between the positively charged lithium ions and negatively charged oxygen atom in the polymer should modulate the desolvation process of lithium ions during the lithium intercalation into graphite, showing the similar functions like artificial solid-electrolyte interphase.     

Observation of the electrorheological effect of siliconeoil/polymer particles suspension

A liquid insulator that suspends small particles is one of the electrorheological fluids (ERF) whose apparent viscosity becomes larger under an electric field because of the formation of particle chains. Since many possible applications of ERF are expected, the development of a more practical ERF is required. We have investigated the ER effect of silicone oil in which small particles are suspended. Silica particles, silica particles coated by conductive polymer film, and polymer particles (microcrystalline cellulose), with a diameter between 5~100 μm, are investigated in order to clarify the difference between suspending materials. To measure the ER effect, a rotational viscometer was constructed. It became clear that the shear stress for cellulose particles is much stronger than that for other particles because of its peculiar particle chain formation due to the particle shape     

Model-less visual servoing using modified simplex optimization

This article describes a robot positioning task with respect to a static target by visual servoing. The vision system is uncalibrated, and the kinematic model of the robot may be totally unknown. The displacements of the robot at joint level are generated in real time in order to minimize the objective function. The objective function includes the quadratic error between the current and the desired target images. A simplex method is used to minimize the objective function, and a Newton-like method is also used near convergence. We successfully validated this method with simulations under the graphic library OpenGL. This work was presented in part at the 10th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 4–6, 2005     

Improved PWM control for GTO inverters with pulse number modulation

This paper proposes pulse number modulation (PNM)-assisted pulse-width modulation (PWM) control to improve the modulation factor of bridge inverters and to solve voltage uncontrollability in neutral point clamped (NPC) inverters. The basic idea is to enlarge the linear region of PWM control via PNM technology. The authors show the following through simulation and experimental results: (1) conventional bridge inverters can utilize at most 80% of the nominal inverter capacity because of the limit of the modulation factor. The PWM and PNM combined control is able to improve the modulation factor up to approximately 1.0; and (2) the PWM and PNM control enables linear voltage control in the NPC inverter even for an extremely small reference. The PNM technology also contributes to a reduction in switching losses     

Coherency strains influence on martensitic transformation of γ-Fe particles in compressed Cu-Fe alloy single crystals

Single crystals of a Cu-Fe alloy, which contained spherical -Fe particles, were compressed up to shear strain of 0.17 in liquid nitrogen bath. In the process of straining the structural (optical and TEM) observations in as-deformed and post-deformation annealed samples were provided. The substructure of deformed samples was characterized by slightly developed cell structure and lack of distinct layer-like arrangements of dislocations. Three kinds of particles were found: coherent and semi-coherent f.c.c. -Fe and martensiticly transformed b.c.c. -Fe. The critical diameter for coherency loss was found to be 58 nm at the initial stage of deformation decreasing with strain to 50 nm. These values coincided with the theoretical estimations. It was suggested that relaxation of coherency strains around -Fe particles by the generation of interface dislocations might occur prior to the martensitic transformation. This assumption might explain the particle size dependency of martensitic transformation.