A compact LTCC-based Ku-band transmitter module

Presents design, implementation, and measurement of a three-dimensional (3-D)-deployed RF front-end system-on-package (SOP) in a standard multi-layer low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology. A compact 14 GHz GaAs MESFET-based transmitter module integrated with an embedded bandpass filter was built on LTCC 951AT tapes. The up-converter MMIC integrated with a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) exhibits a measured up-conversion gain of 15 dB and an IIP3 of 15 dBm, while the power amplifier (PA) MMIC shows a measured gain of 31 dB and a 1-dB compression output power of 26 dBm at 14 GHz. Both MMICs were integrated on a compact LTCC module where an embedded front-end band pass filter (BPF) with a measured insertion loss of 3 dB at 14.25 GHz was integrated. The transmitter module is compact in size (400 /spl times/ 310 /spl times/ 35.2 mil/sup 3/), however it demonstrated an overall up-conversion gain of 41 dB, and available data rate of 32 Mbps with adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of 42 dB. These results suggest the feasibility of building highly SOP integrated RF front ends for microwave and millimeter wave applications.     

A single-chip storage LSI for home networks

Network direct attached storage (NDAS) is a network storage architecture that allows direct attachment of existing ATA/ATAPI devices to Ethernet without a separate server. Unlike other architectures such as NAS, SAN, and USB mass storage, no server computer intervenes between the storage and the client hosts. We describe an NDAS disk controller (NDC) amenable to low-cost single-chip implementation that processes a simplified L3/L4 protocol and converts commands between ATA/ATAPI and Ethernet, while the remaining complex tasks are performed by remote hosts. Unlike NAS architectures that use TCP/IP, NDAS uses a TCP-like lean protocol that lends itself well to high-performance hardware realization. Thanks to the simple NDAS architecture and protocol, an NDC implemented on a single 4 mm /spl times/ 4 mm chip in 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS technology achieves a maximum throughput of 55 Mbytes/s on gigabit Ethernet, which is comparable to that of a high-performance disk locally attached to a host computer.     

The treatment of waste-air containing mixed solvent using a biofilter 2. Treatment of waste-air containing ethanol and toluene in a biofilter

An experiment for five stages of a biofilter-run was performed to investigate the effect of hydrophilic ethanol and hydrophobic toluene on the biodegradation of hydrophobic toluene and hydrophilic ethanol, respectively, when waste-air containing toluene and ethanol was treated by a biofilter. Removal efficiencies of toluene and ethanol began to decrease when inlet load surpassed 90 g/m³/h and 100 g/m³/h consistent with maximum elimination capacities of toluene and ethanol, respectively. At the end of the biofilter-run, removal efficiencies for toluene and ethanol were decreased and maintained at 65% and 40%, respectively. The concentration of toluene at 1st sampling port was raised by factor of two in the 3rd stage of the biofilter run when the inlet load of ethanol co-feed was increased by 1.5 times, while the process conditions of toluene were maintained the same as those of the 2nd stage of biofilter-run. According to the result of Mohseni and Allen, it may be interpreted that removal efficiency of hydrophobic toluene was affected by the presence of hydrophilic ethanol when high load of hydrophobic toluene was applied like that of the 1st sampling port of the biofilter. However it was not the case when a low load of hydrophobic toluene was applied like those of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sampling ports since hydrophobicity of toluene is much less that of α-pinene. Thus, it may be suggested that biodegradation of hydrophobic VOC was interfered by hydrophilic VOC dissolved in the biolayer and the degree of interference was proportional to the inlet load of hydrophobic VOC as well as that of hydrophilic VOC and was inversely proportional to the solubility of hydrophobic VOC. However, it was inferred that the existence of hydrophobic toluene from waste-air can hardly inversely hinder the removal of hydrophilic ethanol in the biofilter when timeevolutions of hydrophilic ethanol concentrations of this experiment were compared with those of the previous experiment of biofilter to treat waste-air containing ethanol only.     

An investigation into physicochemical characteristics of ash produced from combustion of oil palm biomass wastein a boiler

Ash derived from combustion of Malaysian oil palm biomass (empty fruit bunches consisting of fibers) was physically and chemically characterized in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of its specific properties in terms of toxicity, compositions and reusability. Principal analyses conducted include particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, elemental dispersive X-ray, elemental analysis, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) as well as thermogravimetric, X-ray diffractometry and Fourier-transform infrared analyses. TCLP result indicated that the oil palm ash (OPA) should not be classified as toxic wastes in terms of heavy metal leachability since leachable copper, cadmium, lead and nickel concentrations were detected below the stipulated leachability limits. It was determined that the OPA contained high amount of potassium as well as presence of silica which implied its suitability to be reused as crude fertilizer or cement replacement material.     

Development of Stretch Solder Interconnections for Wafer Level Packaging

A wafer level packaging technique has been developed with an inherent advantage of good solder joint co-planarity suitable for wafer level testing. A suitable weak metallization scheme has also been established for the detachment process. During the fabrication process, the compliancy of the solder joint is enhanced through stretching to achieve a small shape factor. Thermal cycling reliability of these hourglass-shaped, stretch solder interconnections has been found to be considerably better than that of the conventional spherical-shaped solder bumps.     

Reversible energy recovery logic circuit without non-adiabaticenergy loss

The authors propose a reversible energy recovery logic (RERL) circuit for ultra-low-energy consumption, which consumes only adiabatic energy loss and leakage current loss by completely eliminating non-adiabatic energy loss. It is a dual-rail adiabatic circuit using the concept of reversible logic with a new eight-phase clocking scheme. Simulation results show that at low-speed operation, the RERL consumes much less energy than the complementary static CMOS circuit and other adiabatic logic circuits     

The crystal structure of an Fe-superoxide dismutase from the hyperthermophile Aquifex pyrophilus at 1.9 A resolution: structural basis for thermostability

The incidence of stress fractures is increasing among competitive and recreational athletes as well as among children and the elderly. By understanding the continuum of bone's response to stress and maintaining an appropriate index of suspicion, the health care provider can diagnose these injuries appropriately. An accurate history and examination is essential and will differentiate stress fractures from other stress reactions. The more common stress fractures are discussed.