Morphological Stabilization by Supramolecular Perfluorophenyl‐C60 Interactions Leading to Efficient and Thermally Stable Organic Photovoltaics

A new PC₆₁BM‐based fullerene, [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁ butyric acid pentafluorophenyl ester (PC₆₁BP^F) is designed and synthesized. This new n‐type material can replace PC₆₁BM to form a P3HT:PC₆₁BP^F binary blend or serve as an additive to form a P3HT:PC₆₁BM:PC₆₁BP^F ternary blend. Supramolecular attraction between the pentafluorophenyl group of PC₆₁BP^F and the C₆₀ cores of PC₆₁BP^F/PC₆₁BM can effectively suppress the PC₆₁BP^F/PC₆₁BM materials from severe aggregation. By doping only 8.3 wt% PC₆₁BP^F, device PC₆₁BP^F651 exhibits a PCE of 3.88% and decreases slightly to 3.68% after heating for 25 h, preserving 95% of its original value. When PC₆₁BP with non‐fluorinated phenyl group is used to substitute PC₆₁BP^F, the stabilizing ability disappears completely. The efficiencies of PC₆₁BP651 and PC₆₁BP321 devices significantly decay to 0.44% and 0.11%, respectively, after 25 h isothermal heating. Most significantly, this strategy is demonstrated to be effective for a blend system incorporating a low band‐gap polymer. By adding only 10 wt% PC₆₁BP^F, the PDTBCDTB: PC₇₁BM‐based device exhibits thermally stable morphology and device characteristics. These findings demonstrate that smart utilization of supramolecular interactions is an effective and practical strategy to control morphological evolution.     

Solution‐Processed High‐Performance Tetrathienothiophene‐Based Small Molecular Blends for Ambipolar Charge Transport

Four soluble dialkylated tetrathienoacene ( TTAR) ‐based small molecular semiconductors featuring the combination of a TTAR central core, π‐conjugated spacers comprising bithiophene ( bT ) or thiophene ( T ), and with/without cyanoacrylate ( CA ) end‐capping moieties are synthesized and characterized. The molecule DbT‐TTAR exhibits a promising hole mobility up to 0.36 cm² V^?1 s^?1 due to the enhanced crystallinity of the microribbon‐like films. Binary blends of the p‐type DbT‐TTAR and the n‐type dicyanomethylene substituted dithienothiophene‐quinoid ( DTTQ‐11 ) are investigated in terms of film morphology, microstructure, and organic field‐effect transistor (OFET) performance. The data indicate that as the DbT‐TTAR content in the blend film increases, the charge transport characteristics vary from unipolar (electron‐only) to ambipolar and then back to unipolar (hole‐only). With a 1:1 weight ratio of DbT‐TTAR DTTQ‐11 in the blend, well‐defined pathways for both charge carriers are achieved and resulted in ambipolar transport with high hole and electron mobilities of 0.83 and 0.37 cm² V^?1 s^?1, respectively. This study provides a viable way for tuning microstructure and charge carrier transport in small molecules and their blends to achieve high‐performance solution‐processable OFETs.     

Feasibility of adding a personal communications network to anexisting fixed-service microwave system

This paper examines the feasibility of adding a personal communication network (PCN) to a frequency band which is already allocated to fixed-service microwave systems. To achieve this goal, spread spectrum techniques are used to spread narrowband PCN signals into wideband. The forward and reverse link performance of PCN users under the influence of the microwave system and the influence of PCN users on the microwave system are both examined. It is proven that spectrum sharing between the PCN network and microwave systems is indeed feasible. Although our analysis is done based upon the consideration of only one microwave system, it can be easily extended to allow the appearance of two or more microwave systems     

A Vlsi Neural Network Processor Based on Hippocampal Model

The hippocampal region of the brain system can be analyzed with the nonlinear system modeling approach. The input-output relationship of the neural units is best represented by the kernel functions of different complexities. The modeling expression of the first and second order kernels are computed in analog current-mode instead of digital data processing in order to fully explore massively parallel processing capability of the neural networks. Two distinct methods are utilized: the table-look-up approach and the model-based approach. The former can achieve high accuracy but consumes large silicon area while the latter saves silicon area and maintains moderately high accuracy. Circuit-level simulation results and experimental data from two test structures are presented.     

Comparison of effects between large-area-beam ELA and SPC on TFTcharacteristics

Thin film transistors (TFTs) with channel dimensions between 0.5 μm and 5 μm were fabricated using a low-temperature process of 600°C with single-shot excimer laser annealing (ELA) having a large-area beam of 45×45 mm². The uniformity in device characteristics across the ELA-treated region was studied. As the channel size decreases, TFT performance and their uniformity for ELA devices were superior compared to those formed with solid phase crystallization (SPC). The superior characteristics by ELA can be explained by the resulting grains with higher crystallinity. TFTs fabricated using ELA having a uniform beam are promising candidates for future LCD peripheral circuits on inexpensive glass and for LSI     

Colour image detection and matching using modified generalisedHough transform

A new approach to 2-dimensional (2D) colour-image detection and matching using a modified version of the generalised Hough transform (GHT) is proposed. In the conventional GHT, the useful colour information existing in the input image and the relationship between each pixel and its neighbourhood are not used. Furthermore, lighting changes in the image are not usually considered. Therefore, the conventional GHT is seldom applied to colour images. In the proposed approach, lighting are removed using normalised colour values. Next, certain critical pixels of an input colour image whose neighbourhoods have larger variances of normalised colour values are extracted. For each critical pixel, a feature vector, which includes the normalised colour values of the pixel as well as those of the pixel's neighbours, is then constructed. A modified voting rule for the GHT is therefore proposed which is based on a similarity-measure function of the feature vectors. High maximum peaks in the cell array are searched finally as the result. The proposed method is robust for colour-image detection and matching in noisy, occlusive, and lighting-change environments, as demonstrated by experimental results     

COD: alternative architectures for high speed packet switching

Architectures for packet switches are approaching the limit of electronic switching speed. This raises the question of how best to utilize advances in photonic technology to enable higher speeds. The authors introduce cascaded optical delay line (COD) architectures. The COD architectures utilize an extremely simple distributed electronic control algorithm to configure the states of 2×2 photonic switches and use optical fiber delay lines to temporarily buffer packets if necessary. The simplicity of the architectures may also make them suitable for “lightweight” all-electronic implementations. For optical implementations, the number of 2×2 photonic switches used is a significant factor determining cost. The authors present a “baseline” architecture for a 2×2 buffered packet switch that is work conserving and has the first-in, first-out (FIFO) property. If the arrival processes are independent and without memory, the maximum utilization factor is ρ, and the maximum acceptable packet loss probability is ϵ, then the required number of 2×2 photonic switches is O(log(ϵ)/log(γ)), where γ=ρ²/(ρ²+4-4ρ). If one modifies the baseline architecture by changing the delay line lengths then the system is no longer work conserving and loses the FIFO property, but the required number of 2×2 photonic switches is reduced to O(log[log(ϵ)/log(γ)]). The required number of 2×2 photonic switches is essentially insensitive to the distribution of packet arrivals, but long delay lines are required for bursty traffic     

Design techniques for high-frequency CMOS switched-capacitorfilters using non-op-amp-based unity-gain amplifiers

A fully differential non-op-amp-based unity-gain amplifier (UGA) is proposed, whose 3-dB frequency can be as high as 250 MHz in 3.5-μm p-well CMOS technology. The purpose is to develop a new design concept for high-frequency switched-capacitor (SC) filters which uses balanced non-op-amp type UGAs with tunable gain to replace conventional op-amp-based unity-gain buffers (UGBs). The proposed UGA has a normal gain of unit, but it has a greater bandwidth, better setting behavior, smaller chip area, and less transistors than op-amp-based UGB. The new UGA also has a fully differential balanced configuration. The balanced configuration and proper predistortion by CAD tools can reduce the error due to linear parasitic capacitances. Experimental results prove the capability of the proposed structures in the realization of high-frequency SC filters over the megahertz range     

Investigation of Ag-bulk/glassy-phase/Si heterostructures of printed Ag contacts on crystalline Si solar cells

The interface structure of screen-printed silver contacts on a crystalline silicon solar cell has been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM results confirmed that the glassy-phase plays an important role in contact properties. There are at least three different microstructures present in optimal fired contacts. The location where silver-bulk directly contacts silicon is observed through SEM, and this is actually a very thin glass layer in between. In addition, high-density silver embryos on silicon were found for samples fired optimally. The results presented in this study suggest that Ag-bulk/thin-glass-layer/Si contact is the most decisive path for current transportation.     

Modeling of transport phenomena in hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding

Mathematical models and associated numerical techniques have been developed to investigate the complicated transport phenomena in spot hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding. A continuum formulation is used to handle solid phase, liquid phase, and the mushy zone during the melting and solidification processes. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is employed to handle free surfaces, and the enthalpy method is used for latent heat. Dynamics of weld pool fluid flow, energy transfer in keyhole plasma and weld pool, and interactions between droplets and weld pool are calculated as a function of time. The effect of droplet size on mixing and solidification is investigated. It is found that weld pool dynamics, cooling rate, and final weld bead geometry are strongly affected by the impingement process of the droplets in hybrid laser-MIG welding. Also, compositional homogeneity of the weld pool is determined by the competition between the rate of mixing and the rate of solidification.