Printed Sub‐2 V Gel‐Electrolyte‐Gated Polymer Transistors and Circuits

The fabrication and characterization of printed ion‐gel‐gated poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) transistors and integrated circuits is reported, with emphasis on demonstrating both function and performance at supply voltages below 2 V. The key to achieving fast sub‐2 V operation is an unusual gel electrolyte based on an ionic liquid and a gelating block copolymer. This gel electrolyte serves as the gate dielectric and has both a short polarization response time (<1 ms) and a large specific capacitance (>10 µF cm^?2), which leads simultaneously to high output conductance (>2 mS mm^?1), low threshold voltage (<1 V) and high inverter switching frequencies (1–10 kHz). Aerosol‐jet‐printed inverters, ring oscillators, NAND gates, and flip‐flop circuits are demonstrated. The five‐stage ring oscillator operates at frequencies up to 150 Hz, corresponding to a propagation delay of 0.7 ms per stage. These printed gel electrolyte gated circuits compare favorably with other reported printed circuits that often require much larger operating voltages. Materials factors influencing the performance of the devices are discussed.     

用单个按钮实现多种功能

如果你拥有一部智能电话（例如,BlackBerry、Palm…等）、个人数字助理（PDA）、笔记本电脑或PC,那么你也许已经熟悉了用单一按钮就可以利用的多种电源功能。这些设备仅是这类例子中的几个,在这类设备中,用来给设备加电和断电的主按钮常常具有附加功能,通常是“备用”或“冬眠”模式,这种模式将设备置于一种省电模式。在笔记本电脑中,当你暂时离开时,备用模式切断对硬盘驱动器和显示屏的供电,将数据存储到存储器中,保持笔记本电脑基本部分的运行。在冬眠模式,笔记本电脑完全停机,将数据保存到硬盘驱动器而不是存储器中,     

Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules

In the reliability theme a central activity is to investigate, characterize and understand the contributory wear-out and overstress mechanisms to meet through-life reliability targets. For power modules, it is critical to understand the response of typical wear-out mechanisms, for example wire-bond lifting and solder degradation, to in-service environmental and load-induced thermal cycling. This paper presents the use of a reduced-order thermal model coupled with physics-of-failure-based life models to quantify the wear-out rates and life consumption for the dominant failure mechanisms under prospective in-service and qualification test conditions. When applied in the design of accelerated life and qualification tests it can be used to design tests that separate the failure mechanisms (e.g. wire-bond and substrate-solder) and provide predictions of conditions that yield a minimum elapsed test time. The combined approach provides a useful tool for reliability assessment and estimation of remaining useful life which can be used at the design stage or in-service. An example case study shows that it is possible to determine the actual power cycling frequency for which failure occurs in the shortest elapsed time. The results demonstrate that bond-wire degradation is the dominant failure mechanism for all power cycling conditions whereas substrate-solder failure dominates for externally applied (ambient or passive) thermal cycling.     

Global Intermedia Agenda Setting: A Big Data Analysis of International News Flow

This study contributes to international news flow literature methodologically, by significantly expanding its scope, and theoretically, by incorporating intermedia agenda-setting theory, through which we reveal how news media in different countries influence each other in covering international news. With a big data analysis of 4,708 online news sources from 67 countries in 2015, the study shows that wealthier countries not only continue to attract most of the world news attention, they are also more likely to decide how other countries perceive the world. However, international news flow is not as hierarchical and U.S.-centric as found earlier. Online-only, emerging media in core countries are not necessarily more impactful in setting the world news agenda than those in (semi)peripheral countries.     

Epidemic contact tracing with smartphone sensors

ABSTRACT

Contact tracing is widely considered as an effective procedure in the fight against epidemic diseases. However, one of the challenges for technology based contact tracing is the high number of false positives, questioning its trust-worthiness and efficiency amongst the wider population for mass adoption. To this end, this paper proposes a novel, yet practical smartphone-based contact tracing approach, employing WiFi and acoustic sound for relative distance estimate, in addition to the air pressure and the magnetic field for ambient environment matching. We present a model combining six smartphone sensors, prioritising some of them when certain conditions are met. We empirically verified our approach in various realistic environments to demonstrate an achievement of up to 95% fewer false positives, and 62% more accurate than Bluetooth-only system. To the best of our knowledge, this paper was one of the first work to propose a combination of smartphone sensors for contact tracing.     

系统模块(SiP)和三维封装(3D)在移动通讯中的应用

电子封装业界正遭受着前所未有的来自手机和其他移动通讯终端设备挑战。在这一领域里,IC封装的关键是尺寸微型化,缩减成本和市场时机。这一挑战的背后隐含着手机技术发展的两大趋势:系统模块化和日益增长的复杂性及功能。越来越多的功能正在被组合到手机上即PDA、MP3、照相机、互联网等等。功能的增加需要靠模块化来实现,而模块化又促进了更多功能的组合。同时,模块化使得移动通讯终端设备得以微型化、降低成本和缩短设计周期。业界越来越多地感受到整体射频模块和通讯模块解决方案的必要性。这些整体模块把手机设计师从电路设计的细节中解脱出来,从而能专著于高层的手机应用和系统的设计。为了满足上诉移动通讯产品的苛刻要求,大量的新兴电子封装技术和封装产品应运而生。最引人注目的例子在于对系统模块穴SiP雪和三维穴3D雪封装的重点资金和技术投入。这两项先进封装技术有着各自不同的特征和应用范围。总体介绍先进封装技术在移动通讯中的应用,重点讨论电子封装材料和工艺所面临的挑战和最新发展趋势。对移动通讯带来的新一轮集成化及其所产生的潜在供应链问题也做了适当的讨论。     

Single Molecule with Dual Function on Nanogold: Biofunctionalized Construct for In Vivo Photoacoustic Imaging and SERS Biosensing

Multimodal imaging provides complimentary information that is advantageous in studying both cellular and molecular mechanisms in vivo, which has tremendous potential in pre‐clinical research and clinical translational imaging. It is desirable to design probes for multimodal imaging that can be administered minimally but provides multifaceted information. Herein, we demonstrate the complementary dual functional ability of a nanoconstruct for molecular imaging in both photoacoustic (PA) and surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) biosensing simultaneously in tandem. To realize this, a group of NIR active organic molecules are designed and synthesized that possess both SERS and PA activity. Nanoconstructs realized by anchoring such molecules onto gold nanoparticles are demonstrated for targeting cancer biomarkers in vivo while providing complimentary information about biodistribution and targeting efficiency. In future, such nanoconstructs could play a major role in identifying surgical margins and also for disease monitoring in translational medicine.     

Diindenoperylene derivatives: A model to investigate the path from molecular structure via morphology to solar cell performance

Efficient organic electronic devices require a detailed understanding of the relation between molecular structure, thin film growth, and device performance, which is only partially understood at present. Here, we show that small changes in molecular structure of a donor absorber material lead to significant changes in the intermolecular arrangement within organic solar cells. For this purpose, phenyl rings and propyl side chains are fused to the diindenoperylene (DIP) molecule. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry turned out to be a powerful combination to gain detailed information about the thin film growth. Planar and bulk heterojunction solar cells with C60 as acceptor and the DIP derivatives as donor are fabricated to investigate the influence of film morphology on the device performance. Due to its planar structure, DIP is found to be highly crystalline in pristine and DIP:C60 blend films while its derivatives grow liquid-like crystalline. This indicates that the molecular arrangement is strongly disturbed by the steric hindrance induced by the phenyl rings. The high fill factor (FF) of more than 75% in planar heterojunction solar cells of the DIP derivatives indicates excellent charge transport in the pristine liquid-like crystalline absorber layers. However, bulk heterojunctions of these materials surprisingly result in a low FF of only 54% caused by a weak phase separation and thus poor charge carrier percolation paths due to the lower ordered thin film growth. In contrast, crystalline DIP:C60 heterojunctions lead to high FF of up to 65% as the crystalline growth induces better percolation for the charge carriers. However, the major drawback of this crystalline growth mode is the nearly upright standing orientation of the DIP molecules in both pristine and blend films. This arrangement results in low absorption and thus a photocurrent which is significantly lower than in the DIP derivative devices, where the liquid-like crystalline growth leads to a more horizontal molecular alignment. Our results underline the complexity of the molecular structure-device performance relation in organic semiconductor devices.     

The future is small : The role of RE in a decentralised energy model

The energy industry is changing rapidly and the combination of liberalisation, technological change and environmental pressures are pointing towards a decentralised energy model with a major contribution from renewables. Chris Hewett, from UK think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, reviews a recent international electricity conference and new Financial Times report which both come to the conclusion that small is not only beautiful, but profitable.     

春暖花开 带上iPhone去远行

春天来了,我们冻结一冬的心也开始复苏。看着满园春色,看着远处风景,或许你更想走到外面,在春游中找寻春的气息。在远行中,一系列问题也随之而来,天气如何、找寻方向、账务统计、出游随笔……其实只要带上iPhone,这些问题都不再是问题,让你带着一份好心情,轻松出游。