Novel T-rail electrodes for substrate removed low-voltage high-speed GaAs/AlGaAs electrooptic modulators

A novel traveling-wave electrode utilizing capacitively loaded T-rail elements was developed for low-voltage high-speed substrate-removed GaAs/AlGaAs electrooptic modulators. Electrodes with varying dimensions were fabricated and characterized. Electrode phase velocity, characteristic impedance, loss coefficient, and capacitive loading were extracted from the measured s-parameters up to 40 GHz. Electrode was also simulated using a finite-element solver. The measured and calculated electrode capacitance values were found to be in excellent agreement, showing that the electrode can be precisely designed. Approaches were outlined to provide a group velocity-matched very high-speed modulator electrode suitable for a low drive-voltage substrate-removed GaAs/AlGaAs electro-optic modulator     

Kinetic studies and process analysis of the reactive compatibilization of nylon 6/polypropylene blends

This article describes a study on the reactive compatibilization of nylon 6 (N6) and polypropylene (PP) blends through a functionalized PP. A graft copolymer was formed in-situ by reacting an acid modified PP with N6 during blend compounding. The compatibilization reactions are studied in detail. Kinetics were estimated by means of experiments in a batch mixer. Three time constants were estimated, corresponding to (a) reactions, (b) melting of polymers, and (c) melt mixing. The effects of temperature and rotor speed on the reaction kinetics were also measured. There was a substantial increase in initial reaction rate, as the rotor speed was increased. Increasing the temperature did not significantly affect the reaction rate. Process parameters important for such a reactive compatibilization process were identified by statistically designed experiments in a co-roatating intermeshing twin-screw extruder. Screw speed, presence of venting, and sequence of feeding were shown to have a noticeable effect on the reactive compatibilization process during continuous compounding.     

Biofuel supply chain optimal design considering economic,environmental, and societal aspects towards sustainability

Biofuel supply chain design plays a critical role in facilitating the large‐scale substitution of biofuel for traditional fossil fuels with a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly manner towards sustainability. This paper proposes a multiobjective optimization model for a 4‐layer biofuel supply chain network using mixed integer nonlinear programming while considering the benefits from economic, environmental, and societal aspects. The model can be used either to optimize an existing biofuel supply chain network or to guide the construction of a new biofuel supply chain network. The profit, the greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, and the market share of biofuel were set as targets for optimization. The selection of the participators at each layer, and the amount of the material flow between each pair of selected supplier and customer located at two adjacent layers were modeled as decision variables. The conventional weighted aggregation method was used to unify 3 objectives after normalization. Particle swarm optimization was used to solve this high‐dimension multiobjective problem to obtain a near optimal solution. A numerical case study based on the state of Missouri in the United States was implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results of the case study illustrate that the benefits in terms of transportation emission, profit, and market share can be achieved simultaneously. Using the equal weights configuration in conventional weighted aggregation as an example, a 21% reduction of the transportation emission, a 33% increase of the profit, and a 2% augmentation of the market share were achieved compared to the benchmark scenario.     

Depletion edge translation waveguide crossing optical switch

A waveguide crossing optical switch using the depletion edge translation concept is described. By using a single AlGaAs/GaAs material growth and ion implantation technology, an impedance discontinuity is formed at the intersection of two waveguides. Switching operation has been observed, and a high-speed, small-device-size, and high-extinction-ratio optical switch are expected     

Bulk Undoped GaAs–AlGaAs Substrate-Removed Electrooptic Modulators With 3.7-V-cm Drive Voltage at 1.55 $mu$ m

Substrate removed bulk GaAs-AlGaAs electrooptic modulators with 3.7-V-cm drive voltage at 1.55 mum were realized. The 1.94-mum-thick undoped GaAs-AlGaAs epilayer removed from its substrate behaves as an electrooptic dielectric layer and has electrodes placed directly on both sides. This allows a very strong modulating electric field overlapping very well with the optical mode. The propagation loss in the presence of electrodes is less than 2.9dB/cm. There is very good agreement between the measured and simulated values     

Artificial neural network approach in printed circuit board assembly

In this study, automation of the circuit board assembly process is considered using artificial neural networks with knowledge-based systems. Basic issues in achieving intelligent control that can adapt to changing conditions in the assembly process are discussed. The feasibility of using neural networks for pattern recognition and optimum component insertion sequence generation is examined. The study provides a basic foundation for designing a conceptual architecture for adaptive intelligent control of circuit board assembly. Real-time testing of component recognition is conducted using adaptive resonance theory (ART 1) as a neural network paradigm.     

Experimental analysis of transmission line parameters in high-speedGaAs digital circuit interconnects

Transmission line properties of typical high-speed interconnects were experimentally investigated by fabricating and characterizing coplanar strips on semi-insulating GaAs substrates. The strips have thicknesses of about 2500 Å or 5000 Å and widths of 4, 6, or 8 μm so as to be representative of on-chip interconnects in high-speed GaAs digital circuits. Measurements are carried out up to 18 GHz, and the pertinent line parameters, such as resistance, capacitance per unit length, and characteristic impedance, are extracted using the measured S-parameters. The measurement results confirm the quasi-TEM properties of such interconnects. In all cases, the measured distributed capacitance and inductance are sensitive to frequency whereas the resistance is found to increase as much as 38% for the widest and thickest conductors     

Physical origin of the negative output resistance of heterojunctionbipolar transistors

An analytical expression for the small-signal output impedance of a heterojunction bipolar transistor is obtained based on device physics. It is shown that, when external parasitics are sufficiently reduced so that intrinsic time delays become the dominant limitations to high-frequency performance, the output resistance can be negative over certain bands of frequencies due to transit time delays. Under such conditions amplifiers with high gains can be designed at frequencies where the power gain of the device due to conventional transistor action is very low, and power gain vs. frequency characteristics of the device can be drastically different from the traditional 6-dB/octave rolloff. Analytical expressions that can be used in the design of these devices are derived to obtain the full benefit of negative output resistance     

On leaky mode approximations for modal expansion in multilayer openwaveguides

We propose an analytic method to calculate the leaky mode functions to enable modal expansion without encountering the normalization and orthogonality problems of the unphysical mode shape. The wave functions of leaky modes are derived from the explicit formulas of normalized radiation modes. Using leaky modes to approximate a continuum of radiation modes greatly simplifies the analysis of excitation, transitions, propagation, and radiation of light waves in multilayer waveguide structures. Upon comparison with the beam propagation method and modal propagation method, we show that the leaky mode approximation while requiring a much simpler computation is as accurate. This method can also provide better physical insight to device operations     

GaAs/AlGaAs electro-optic modulator with bandwidth >40 GHz

A high speed GaAs/AlGaAs travelling wave Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator has been fabricated. The device uses a novel slow wave electrode design to achieve phase velocity matching and has a measured electrical bandwidth >40 GHz