Trade-off analysis on cost and manufacturing technology of an electronic product: Case study

A trade-off analysis on the cost and system packaging metrics of an electronic product aimed at the commercial/retail industry has been carried out. By comparing the system cost and packaging metrics with those of comparable consumer products, we have determined that there is opportunity for significant cost, size, and weight reduction of the overall electronics packaging system. These include the use of fine pitch IC packages, smaller discrete components, denser PCB wiring technology, double sided IC package surface mount, surface mount connectors, and improved plastics for the product housing. The analysis concluded that PCB area reduction of 40%, using a single PCB instead of three boards, reduction in board cost of over 50% and product weight reduction of over 28% are possible using available technologies.     

Modulatory Effects of Biosynthesized Gold Nanoparticles Conjugated with Curcumin and Paclitaxel on Tumorigenesis and Metastatic Pathways—In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women globally, and diagnosing it early and finding potential drug candidates against multi-drug resistant metastatic breast cancers provide the possibilities of better treatment and extending life. Methods: The current study aimed to evaluate the synergistic anti-metastatic activity of Curcumin (Cur) and Paclitaxel (Pacli) individually, the combination of Curcumin–Paclitaxel (CP), and also in conjugation with gold nanoparticles (AuNP–Curcumin (Au-C), AuNP–Paclitaxel (Au-P), and AuNP–Curcumin–Paclitaxel (Au-CP)) in various in vitro and in vivo models. Results: The results from combination treatments of CP and Au-CP demonstrated excellent synergistic cytotoxic effects in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines (MDA MB 231 and 4T1) in in vitro and in vivo mouse models. Detailed mechanistic studies were performed that reveal that the anti-cancer effects were associated with the downregulation of the expression of VEGF, CYCLIN-D1, and STAT-3 genes and upregulation of the apoptotic Caspase-9 gene. The group of mice that received CP combination therapy (with and without gold nanoparticles) showed a significant reduction in the size of tumor when compared to the Pacli alone treatment and control groups. Conclusions: Together, the results suggest that the delivery of gold conjugated Au-CP formulations may help in modulating the outcomes of chemotherapy. The present study is well supported with observations from cell-based assays, molecular and histopathological analyses.     

Characteristics of the emitter-switched thyristor

The first experimental demonstration of 600-V emitter-switched thyristors fabricated using an IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) process sequence is reported. The forward drop is less than that for the IGBT, but larger than that for a thyristor by about 0.5 V due to the thyristor current flowing via the MOSFET channel. A unique characteristic observed for these devices, not exhibited by any previous MOS-gated thyristor structures, is gate-controlled current saturation even after thyristor latch-up. Switching tests were performed up to a current density of 1000 A/cm² on single-unit cells and the measured turn-off times were about 7 μs     

A new MOS-gated power thyristor structure with turn-off achieved bycontrolling the base resistance

A new MOS-gated power thyristor structure, called the base-resistance-controlled thyristor (BRT), is described. In this structure, the turn-off of a thyristor with an N-drift region is achieved by reducing the resistance of the P-base region under MOS-gate control. In contrast with previous devices, a P-channel MOSFET integrated in the N-drift region is used for this purpose. It has been shown, by two-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental measurements on devices fabricated using a seven-mask process, that devices with 600-V forward blocking capabilities can be achieved with a forward drop close to that for a thyristor. The ability to turn off the thyristor current flow has been verified over a broad range of current densities     

Organic thin film transistors: Materials,processes and devices

For the past ten years, organic materials have been extensively investigated as an electronic material for thin film transistor (TFT) devices. Organic materials offer strong promise in terms of properties, processing and cost effectiveness and they can be used in flat panel displays, imagers, smart cards, inventory tags and large area electronic applications. In this review, we summarize the current status of the organic thin film transistors including substrate materials, electrodes, semiconducting and dielectric layers; organic thin film preparation methods; morphological studies for organic thin films; electrical characterization of gate dielectric layers and semiconducting active layers; and characterization of the OTFTs. Future prospects and investigations required to improve the OTFT performance are also given. This paper is dedicated to Professor Hyun-Ku Rhee on the occasion of his retirement from Seoul National University.     

Knowledge-based learning using Conceptual Transformers

The notion of concept based on the semantics of objects is defined and illustrated. An underlying thread connecting a subset of concepts is identified. This class of concepts, called the Conceptual Transformer is defined and illustrated with real-world examples. This class finds a natural application in any area where objects can be characterized by functionality. Some interesting application areas are knowledge classification, manufacturing automation, and pattern synthesis. The salient features of this class are elaborated and a knowledge structure for representing concepts is proposed. The effect of these transformers on knowledge-directed classification, which results in the formation of virtual clusters, is examined in detail. We make use of examples from real life to bring out the efficacy of the proposed transformerbased, concept-directed classification.     

Forward biased safe operating area of emitter switched thyristors

The physical mechanisms for current saturation and destructive failure of the dual channel emitter switched thyristor (EST) are described. Forward Biased Safe Operating Areas (FBSOAs) at short-circuit state of the 600 V and 2500 V dual channel ESTs are reported. It is demonstrated by numerical simulation that the EST offers a better FBSOA than the IGBT. Experimental measurements are reported that corroborate these calculated results     

Agent-based knowledge management system with APQP: implementation of semiconductor manufacturing services industry

Future challenges posed to semiconductor manufacturing services firms demands a system framework which could not only introduce, development, and design new products into mass production with customer-acceptable quality level and profitable approaches, but also re-use best practice in the shop floor to continuously optimise the existing order fulfilment process with effectiveness and efficiency. Advanced product quality planning (APQP) tool integrated with agent-based knowledge management (KM) intelligence develops a systematic framework that responds to such challenges. We propose an APQP tool working with an agent-based knowledge management system (ABKMS) which builds on organisational knowledge resources and works with the APQP concept as well as KM agents. The proposed framework reflects how an APQP tool with KM agents seeks significant inroads into process knowledge repository to recommend a solution for decision making in delivering semiconductor manufacturing services in customer selection, parts and material selection, bill of material, equipments, and tools selection, with a modified APQP concept to work out the approach to be used to develop the streamlined and common process.