Common-signal-induced synchronization in photonic integrated circuits and its application to secure key distribution.

PubMed

Sasaki, Takuma; Kakesu, Izumi; Mitsui, Yusuke; Rontani, Damien; Uchida, Atsushi; Sunada, Satoshi; Yoshimura, Kazuyuki; Inubushi, Masanobu

2017-10-16

We experimentally achieve common-signal-induced synchronization in two photonic integrated circuits with short external cavities driven by a constant-amplitude random-phase light. The degree of synchronization can be controlled by changing the optical feedback phase of the two photonic integrated circuits. The change in the optical feedback phase leads to a significant redistribution of the spectral energy of optical and RF spectra, which is a unique characteristic of PICs with the short external cavity. The matching of the RF and optical spectra is necessary to achieve synchronization between the two PICs, and stable synchronization can be obtained over an hour in the presence of optical feedback. We succeed in generating information-theoretic secure keys and achieving the final key generation rate of 184 kb/s using the PICs.

Triggerable electro-optic amplitude modulator bias stabilizer for integrated optical devices

DOEpatents

Conder, A.D.; Haigh, R.E.; Hugenberg, K.F.

1995-09-26

An improved Mach-Zehnder integrated optical electro-optic modulator is achieved by application and incorporation of a DC bias box containing a laser synchronized trigger circuit, a DC ramp and hold circuit, a modulator transfer function negative peak detector circuit, and an adjustable delay circuit. The DC bias box ramps the DC bias along the transfer function curve to any desired phase or point of operation at which point the RF modulation takes place. 7 figs.

Triggerable electro-optic amplitude modulator bias stabilizer for integrated optical devices

DOEpatents

Conder, Alan D.; Haigh, Ronald E.; Hugenberg, Keith F.

1995-01-01

An improved Mach-Zehnder integrated optical electro-optic modulator is achieved by application and incorporation of a DC bias box containing a laser synchronized trigger circuit, a DC ramp and hold circuit, a modulator transfer function negative peak detector circuit, and an adjustable delay circuit. The DC bias box ramps the DC bias along the transfer function curve to any desired phase or point of operation at which point the RF modulation takes place.

Design and status of the RF-digitizer integrated circuit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rayhrer, B.; Lam, B.; Young, L. E.; Srinivasan, J. M.; Thomas, J. B.

1991-01-01

An integrated circuit currently under development samples a bandpass-limited signal at a radio frequency in quadrature and then performs a simple sum-and-dump operation in order to filter and lower the rate of the samples. Downconversion to baseband is carried out by the sampling step itself through the aliasing effect of an appropriately selected subharmonic sampling frequency. Two complete RF digitizer circuits with these functions will be implemented with analog and digital elements on one GaAs substrate. An input signal, with a carrier frequency as high as 8 GHz, can be sampled at a rate as high as 600 Msamples/sec for each quadrature component. The initial version of the chip will sign-sample (1-bit) the input RF signal. The chip will contain a synthesizer to generate a sample frequency that is a selectable integer multiple of an input reference frequency. In addition to the usual advantages of compactness and reliability associated with integrated circuits, the single chip will replace several steps required by standard analog downconversion. Furthermore, when a very high initial sample rate is selected, the presampling analog filters can be given very large bandwidths, thereby greatly reducing phase and delay instabilities typically introduced by such filters, as well as phase and delay variation due to Doppler changes.

Finite Ground Coplanar (FGC) Waveguide: It's Characteristics and Advantages for Use in RF and Wireless Communication Circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ponchak, George E.; Katehi, Linda P. B.; Tentzeris, Emmanouil M.

1998-01-01

To solve many of the problems encountered when using conventional coplanar waveguide (CPW) with its semi-infinite ground planes, a new version of coplanar waveguide with electrically narrow ground planes has been developed. This new transmission line which we call Finite Ground Coplanar (FGC) waveguide has several advantages which make it a better transmission line for RF and wireless circuits. Since the ground planes are electrically narrow, spurious resonances created by the CPW ground planes and the metal carrier or package base are eliminated. In addition, lumped and distributed circuit elements may now be integrated into the ground strips in the same way as they traditionally have been integrated into the center conductor to realize novel circuit layouts that are smaller and have less parasitic reactance. Lastly, FGC is shown to have lower coupling between adjacent transmission lines than conventional CPW.

Universal discrete Fourier optics RF photonic integrated circuit architecture.

PubMed

Hall, Trevor J; Hasan, Mehedi

2016-04-04

This paper describes a coherent electro-optic circuit architecture that generates a frequency comb consisting of N spatially separated orders using a generalised Mach-Zenhder interferometer (MZI) with its N × 1 combiner replaced by an optical N × N Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Advantage may be taken of the tight optical path-length control, component and circuit symmetries and emerging trimming algorithms offered by photonic integration in any platform that offers linear electro-optic phase modulation such as LiNbO_3, silicon, III-V or hybrid technology. The circuit architecture subsumes all MZI-based RF photonic circuit architectures in the prior art given an appropriate choice of output port(s) and dimension N although the principal application envisaged is phase correlated subcarrier generation for all optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. A transfer matrix approach is used to model the operation of the architecture. The predictions of the model are validated by simulations performed using an industry standard software tool. Implementation is found to be practical.

Moving Beyond 3D Hetero-Integration and Towards Monolithic Integration of Phase-Change RF Switches with SiGe BiCMOS

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-31

Corporation, Linthicum, Maryland *Corresponding author: Pavel.Borodulin@ngc.com Abstract: A chip -scale, highly-reconfigurable transmitter and...the technology has been used in a chip -scale, reconfigurable receiver demonstration and ongoing efforts to increase the level of performance and...circuit (RF-FPGA). It consists of a heterogeneous assembly of a SiGe BiCMOS chip with multiple 3D-integrated, low-loss, phase-change switch chiplets

RF Energy Interaction With Electro-Optic Materials (Single Investigator Award Proposed to Address Research Topic Area 6.4. Electromagnetics and RF Circuit Integration)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-27

demonstration vehicles. Test and measurement of fabricated structures will be conducted to experimentally quantify RF and optical performance. Measurement...the development of coupled RF and optical structures. Both the graduate student and the undergraduate student were trained in conducting precision...research conducted for this project. The journal paper citations are: 1. L. Chen, J. Nagy, and R. M. Reano, "Patterned ion-sliced lithium niobate for

Influence of bending strains on radio frequency characteristics of flexible microwave switches using single-crystal silicon nanomembranes on plastic substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Guoxuan; Yuan, Hao-Chih; Celler, George K.; Ma, Jianguo; Ma, Zhenqiang

2011-10-01

This letter presents radio frequency (RF) characterization of flexible microwave switches using single-crystal silicon nanomembranes (SiNMs) on plastic substrate under various uniaxial mechanical tensile bending strains. The flexible switches shows significant/negligible performance enhancement on strains under on/off states from dc to 10 GHz. Furthermore, an RF/microwave strain equivalent circuit model is developed and reveals the most influential factors, and un-proportional device parameters change with bending strains. The study demonstrates that flexible microwave single-crystal SiNM switches, as a simple circuit example towards the goal of flexible monolithic microwave integrated circuits, can be properly operated and modeled under mechanical bending conditions.

Acousto-optic modulation and opto-acoustic gating in piezo-optomechanical circuits

PubMed Central

Balram, Krishna C.; Davanço, Marcelo I.; Ilic, B. Robert; Kyhm, Ji-Hoon; Song, Jin Dong; Srinivasan, Kartik

2017-01-01

Acoustic wave devices provide a promising chip-scale platform for efficiently coupling radio frequency (RF) and optical fields. Here, we use an integrated piezo-optomechanical circuit platform that exploits both the piezoelectric and photoelastic coupling mechanisms to link 2.4 GHz RF waves to 194 THz (1550 nm) optical waves, through coupling to propagating and localized 2.4 GHz acoustic waves. We demonstrate acousto-optic modulation, resonant in both the optical and mechanical domains, in which waveforms encoded on the RF carrier are mapped to the optical field. We also show opto-acoustic gating, in which the application of modulated optical pulses interferometrically gates the transmission of propagating acoustic pulses. The time-domain characteristics of this system under both pulsed RF and pulsed optical excitation are considered in the context of the different physical pathways involved in driving the acoustic waves, and modelled through the coupled mode equations of cavity optomechanics. PMID:28580373

Implementation of a wireless ECG acquisition SoC for IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) applications.

PubMed

Wang, Liang-Hung; Chen, Tsung-Yen; Lin, Kuang-Hao; Fang, Qiang; Lee, Shuenn-Yuh

2015-01-01

This paper presents a wireless biosignal acquisition system-on-a-chip (WBSA-SoC) specialized for electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring. The proposed system consists of three subsystems, namely, 1) the ECG acquisition node, 2) the protocol for standard IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee system, and 3) the RF transmitter circuits. The ZigBee protocol is adopted for wireless communication to achieve high integration, applicability, and portability. A fully integrated CMOS RF front end containing a quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator and a 2.4-GHz low-IF (i.e., zero-IF) transmitter is employed to transmit ECG signals through wireless communication. The low-power WBSA-SoC is implemented by the TSMC 0.18-μm standard CMOS process. An ARM-based displayer with FPGA demodulation and an RF receiver with analog-to-digital mixed-mode circuits are constructed as verification platform to demonstrate the wireless ECG acquisition system. Measurement results on the human body show that the proposed SoC can effectively acquire ECG signals.

Microfluidic stretchable RF electronics.

PubMed

Cheng, Shi; Wu, Zhigang

2010-12-07

Stretchable electronics is a revolutionary technology that will potentially create a world of radically different electronic devices and systems that open up an entirely new spectrum of possibilities. This article proposes a microfluidic based solution for stretchable radio frequency (RF) electronics, using hybrid integration of active circuits assembled on flex foils and liquid alloy passive structures embedded in elastic substrates, e.g. polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This concept was employed to implement a 900 MHz stretchable RF radiation sensor, consisting of a large area elastic antenna and a cluster of conventional rigid components for RF power detection. The integrated radiation sensor except the power supply was fully embedded in a thin elastomeric substrate. Good electrical performance of the standalone stretchable antenna as well as the RF power detection sub-module was verified by experiments. The sensor successfully detected the RF radiation over 5 m distance in the system demonstration. Experiments on two-dimensional (2D) stretching up to 15%, folding and twisting of the demonstrated sensor were also carried out. Despite the integrated device was severely deformed, no failure in RF radiation sensing was observed in the tests. This technique illuminates a promising route of realizing stretchable and foldable large area integrated RF electronics that are of great interest to a variety of applications like wearable computing, health monitoring, medical diagnostics, and curvilinear electronics.

Signal Digitizer and Cross-Correlation Application Specific Integrated Circuit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baranauskas, Gytis (Inventor); Lim, Boon H. (Inventor); Baranauskas, Dalius (Inventor); Zelenin, Denis (Inventor); Kangaslahti, Pekka (Inventor); Tanner, Alan B. (Inventor)

2017-01-01

According to one embodiment, a cross-correlator comprises a plurality of analog front ends (AFEs), a cross-correlation circuit and a data serializer. Each of the AFEs comprises a variable gain amplifier (VGA) and a corresponding analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in which the VGA receives and modifies a unique analog signal associates with a measured analog radio frequency (RF) signal and the ADC produces digital data associated with the modified analog signal. Communicatively coupled to the AFEs, the cross-correlation circuit performs a cross-correlation operation on the digital data produced from different measured analog RF signals. The data serializer is communicatively coupled to the summing and cross-correlating matrix and continuously outputs a prescribed amount of the correlated digital data.

Ultra Low-Voltage Energy Harvesting

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Power PV Photovoltaic R Resistance RF Radio Frequencies S Switch SPICE Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis T Switching Cycle xiv...control experiment, a supercapacitor was connected to a photovoltaic (PV) source with a diode in between. The advantages of this circuit were a...Circuits to harvest thermal differences typically produce only 0.02 to 0.15 V, while low-power photovoltaic cells can generate 0.2 to 0.7 V and

Micro-miniature radio frequency transmitter for communication and tracking applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crutcher, R.I.; Emery, M.S.; Falter, K.G.

1996-12-31

A micro-miniature radio frequency (rf) transmitter has been developed and demonstrated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The objective of the rf transmitter development was to maximize the transmission distance while drastically shrinking the overall transmitter size, including antenna. Based on analysis and testing, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with a 16-GHz gallium arsenide (GaAs) oscillator and integrated on-chip antenna was designed and fabricated using microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. Details of the development and the results of various field tests will be discussed. The rf transmitter is applicable to covert surveillance and tracking scenarios due to its smallmore » size of 2.2 x 2.2 mm, including the antenna. Additionally, the 16-GHz frequency is well above the operational range of consumer-grade radio scanners, providing a degree of protection from unauthorized interception. Variations of the transmitter design have been demonstrated for tracking and tagging beacons, transmission of digital data, and transmission of real-time analog video from a surveillance camera. Preliminary laboratory measurements indicate adaptability to direct-sequence spread-spectrum transmission, providing a low probability of intercept and/or detection. Concepts related to law enforcement applications will be presented.« less

Extremely high frequency RF effects on electronics.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loubriel, Guillermo Manuel; Vigliano, David; Coleman, Phillip Dale

The objective of this work was to understand the fundamental physics of extremely high frequency RF effects on electronics. To accomplish this objective, we produced models, conducted simulations, and performed measurements to identify the mechanisms of effects as frequency increases into the millimeter-wave regime. Our purpose was to answer the questions, 'What are the tradeoffs between coupling, transmission losses, and device responses as frequency increases?', and, 'How high in frequency do effects on electronic systems continue to occur?' Using full wave electromagnetics codes and a transmission-line/circuit code, we investigated how extremely high-frequency RF propagates on wires and printed circuit boardmore » traces. We investigated both field-to-wire coupling and direct illumination of printed circuit boards to determine the significant mechanisms for inducing currents at device terminals. We measured coupling to wires and attenuation along wires for comparison to the simulations, looking at plane-wave coupling as it launches modes onto single and multiconductor structures. We simulated the response of discrete and integrated circuit semiconductor devices to those high-frequency currents and voltages, using SGFramework, the open-source General-purpose Semiconductor Simulator (gss), and Sandia's Charon semiconductor device physics codes. This report documents our findings.« less

Spatial integration in mouse primary visual cortex.

PubMed

Vaiceliunaite, Agne; Erisken, Sinem; Franzen, Florian; Katzner, Steffen; Busse, Laura

2013-08-01

Responses of many neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) are suppressed by stimuli exceeding the classical receptive field (RF), an important property that might underlie the computation of visual saliency. Traditionally, it has proven difficult to disentangle the underlying neural circuits, including feedforward, horizontal intracortical, and feedback connectivity. Since circuit-level analysis is particularly feasible in the mouse, we asked whether neural signatures of spatial integration in mouse V1 are similar to those of higher-order mammals and investigated the role of parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) inhibitory interneurons. Analogous to what is known from primates and carnivores, we demonstrate that, in awake mice, surround suppression is present in the majority of V1 neurons and is strongest in superficial cortical layers. Anesthesia with isoflurane-urethane, however, profoundly affects spatial integration: it reduces the laminar dependency, decreases overall suppression strength, and alters the temporal dynamics of responses. We show that these effects of brain state can be parsimoniously explained by assuming that anesthesia affects contrast normalization. Hence, the full impact of suppressive influences in mouse V1 cannot be studied under anesthesia with isoflurane-urethane. To assess the neural circuits of spatial integration, we targeted PV+ interneurons using optogenetics. Optogenetic depolarization of PV+ interneurons was associated with increased RF size and decreased suppression in the recorded population, similar to effects of lowering stimulus contrast, suggesting that PV+ interneurons contribute to spatial integration by affecting overall stimulus drive. We conclude that the mouse is a promising model for circuit-level mechanisms of spatial integration, which relies on the combined activity of different types of inhibitory interneurons.

Effects of BOX engineering on analogue/RF and circuit performance of InGaAs-OI-Si MOSFET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maity, Subir Kr.; Pandit, Soumya

2017-11-01

InGaAs is an attractive choice as alternate channel material in n-channel metal oxide semiconductor transistor for high-performance applications. However, electrostatic integrity of such device is poor. In this paper, we present a comprehensive technology computer-aided design simulation-based study of the effect of scaling the thickness of the buried oxide (BOX) region and varying the dielectric constant of BOX material on the electrostatic integrity, analogue/radio frequency (RF) performance and circuit performance of InGaAs-on-Insulator device. Device with thin BOX layer gives better drain-induced barrier lowering performance which enhances output resistance. The carrier mobility remains almost constant with thinning of BOX layer up to certain value. By lowering the dielectric constant of the BOX material, it is further possible to improve the analogue and RF performance. Effect of BOX thickness scaling and role of BOX dielectric material on gain-frequency response of common source amplifier is also studied. It is observed that frequency response of the amplifier improves for thin BOX and with low dielectric constant-based material.

Efficient Radio Frequency Inductive Discharges in Near Atmospheric Pressure Using Immittance Conversion Topology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razzak, M. Abdur; Takamura, Shuichi; Uesugi, Yoshihiko; Ohno, Noriyasu

A radio frequency (rf) inductive discharge in atmospheric pressure range requires high voltage in the initial startup phase and high power during the steady state sustainment phase. It is, therefore, necessary to inject high rf power into the plasma ensuring the maximum use of the power source, especially where the rf power is limited. In order to inject the maximum possible rf power into the plasma with a moderate rf power source of few kilowatts range, we employ the immittance conversion topology by converting a constant voltage source into a constant current source to generate efficient rf discharge by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technique at a gas pressure with up to one atmosphere in argon. A novel T-LCL immittance circuit is designed for constant-current high-power operation, which is practically very important in the high-frequency range, to provide high effective rf power to the plasma. The immittance conversion system combines the static induction transistor (SIT)-based radio frequency (rf) high-power inverter circuit and the immittance conversion elements including the rf induction coil. The basic properties of the immittance circuit are studied by numerical analysis and verified the results by experimental measurements with the inductive plasma as a load at a relatively high rf power of about 4 kW. The performances of the immittance circuit are also evaluated and compared with that of the conventional series resonance circuit in high-pressure induction plasma generation. The experimental results reveal that the immittance conversion circuit confirms injecting higher effective rf power into the plasma as much as three times than that of the series resonance circuit under the same operating conditions and same dc supply voltage to the inverter, thereby enhancing the plasma heating efficiency to generate efficient rf inductive discharges.

RF subsystem design for microwave communication receivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bickford, W. J.; Brodsky, W. G.

A system review of the RF subsystems of (IFF) transponders, tropscatter receivers and SATCOM receivers is presented. The quantity potential for S-band and X-band IFF transponders establishes a baseline requirement. From this, the feasibility of a common design for these and other receivers is evaluated. Goals are established for a GaAs MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) device and related local oscillator preselector and self-test components.

Solid State Technology Branch of NASA Lewis Research Center Second Annual Digest, June 1989 - June 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

A collection of papers and presentations authored by the branch between June 1989 and June 1990 is presented. The papers are organized into four sections. Section 1 deals with research in microwave circuits and includes full integrated circuits, the demonstration of optical/RF interfaces, and the evaluation of some hybrid circuitry. Section 2 indicates developments in coplanar waveguides and their use in breadboard circuits. Section 3 addresses high temperature superconductivity and includes: thin film deposition, transport measurement of film characteristics, RF surface resistant measurements, substrate permittivity measurements, measurements of microstrip line characteristics at cryogenic temperatures, patterning of superconducting films, and evaluation of simple passive microstrip circuitry based on YBaCuO films. Section 4 deals with carbon films, silicon carbide, GaAs/AlGaAs, HgCdTe, and other materials.

Dielectric Spectroscopic Detection of Early Failures in 3-D Integrated Circuits.

PubMed

Obeng, Yaw; Okoro, C A; Ahn, Jung-Joon; You, Lin; Kopanski, Joseph J

The commercial introduction of three dimensional integrated circuits (3D-ICs) has been hindered by reliability challenges, such as stress related failures, resistivity changes, and unexplained early failures. In this paper, we discuss a new RF-based metrology, based on dielectric spectroscopy, for detecting and characterizing electrically active defects in fully integrated 3D devices. These defects are traceable to the chemistry of the insolation dielectrics used in the through silicon via (TSV) construction. We show that these defects may be responsible for some of the unexplained early reliability failures observed in TSV enabled 3D devices.

Advances in gallium arsenide monolithic microwave integrated-circuit technology for space communications systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Connolly, D. J.

1986-01-01

Future communications satellites are likely to use gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) technology in most, if not all, communications payload subsystems. Multiple-scanning-beam antenna systems are expected to use GaAs MMIC's to increase functional capability, to reduce volume, weight, and cost, and to greatly improve system reliability. RF and IF matrix switch technology based on GaAs MMIC's is also being developed for these reasons. MMIC technology, including gigabit-rate GaAs digital integrated circuits, offers substantial advantages in power consumption and weight over silicon technologies for high-throughput, on-board baseband processor systems. In this paper, current developments in GaAs MMIC technology are described, and the status and prospects of the technology are assessed.

Dual-function photonic integrated circuit for frequency octo-tupling or single-side-band modulation.

PubMed

Hasan, Mehedi; Maldonado-Basilio, Ramón; Hall, Trevor J

2015-06-01

A dual-function photonic integrated circuit for microwave photonic applications is proposed. The circuit consists of four linear electro-optic phase modulators connected optically in parallel within a generalized Mach-Zehnder interferometer architecture. The photonic circuit is arranged to have two separate output ports. A first port provides frequency up-conversion of a microwave signal from the electrical to the optical domain; equivalently single-side-band modulation. A second port provides tunable millimeter wave carriers by frequency octo-tupling of an appropriate amplitude RF carrier. The circuit exploits the intrinsic relative phases between the ports of multi-mode interference couplers to provide substantially all the static optical phases needed. The operation of the proposed dual-function photonic integrated circuit is verified by computer simulations. The performance of the frequency octo-tupling and up-conversion functions is analyzed in terms of the electrical signal to harmonic distortion ratio and the optical single side band to unwanted harmonics ratio, respectively.

A programmable microsystem using system-on-chip for real-time biotelemetry.

PubMed

Wang, Lei; Johannessen, Erik A; Hammond, Paul A; Cui, Li; Reid, Stuart W J; Cooper, Jonathan M; Cumming, David R S

2005-07-01

A telemetry microsystem, including multiple sensors, integrated instrumentation and a wireless interface has been implemented. We have employed a methodology akin to that for System-on-Chip microelectronics to design an integrated circuit instrument containing several "intellectual property" blocks that will enable convenient reuse of modules in future projects. The present system was optimized for low-power and included mixed-signal sensor circuits, a programmable digital system, a feedback clock control loop and RF circuits integrated on a 5 mm x 5 mm silicon chip using a 0.6 microm, 3.3 V CMOS process. Undesirable signal coupling between circuit components has been investigated and current injection into sensitive instrumentation nodes was minimized by careful floor-planning. The chip, the sensors, a magnetic induction-based transmitter and two silver oxide cells were packaged into a 36 mm x 12 mm capsule format. A base station was built in order to retrieve the data from the microsystem in real-time. The base station was designed to be adaptive and timing tolerant since the microsystem design was simplified to reduce power consumption and size. The telemetry system was found to have a packet error rate of 10(-3) using an asynchronous simplex link. Trials in animal carcasses were carried out to show that the transmitter was as effective as a conventional RF device whilst consuming less power.

Radio frequency analog electronics based on carbon nanotube transistors

PubMed Central

Kocabas, Coskun; Kim, Hoon-sik; Banks, Tony; Rogers, John A.; Pesetski, Aaron A.; Baumgardner, James E.; Krishnaswamy, S. V.; Zhang, Hong

2008-01-01

The potential to exploit single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in advanced electronics represents a continuing, major source of interest in these materials. However, scalable integration of SWNTs into circuits is challenging because of difficulties in controlling the geometries, spatial positions, and electronic properties of individual tubes. We have implemented solutions to some of these challenges to yield radio frequency (RF) SWNT analog electronic devices, such as narrow band amplifiers operating in the VHF frequency band with power gains as high as 14 dB. As a demonstration, we fabricated nanotube transistor radios, in which SWNT devices provide all of the key functions, including resonant antennas, fixed RF amplifiers, RF mixers, and audio amplifiers. These results represent important first steps to practical implementation of SWNTs in high-speed analog circuits. Comparison studies indicate certain performance advantages over silicon and capabilities that complement those in existing compound semiconductor technologies. PMID:18227509

High stability buffered phase comparator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, W. A.; Reinhardt, V. S. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

A low noise RF signal phase comparator comprised of two high stability driver buffer amplifiers driving a double balanced mixer which operate to generate a beat frequency between the two RF input signals coupled to the amplifiers from the RF sources is described. The beat frequency output from the mixer is applied to a low noise zero crossing detector which is the phase difference between the two RF inputs. Temperature stability is provided by mounting the amplifiers and mixer on a common circuit board with the active circuit elements located on one side of a circuit board and the passive circuit elements located on the opposite side. A common heat sink is located adjacent the circuit board. The active circuit elements are embedded into the bores of the heat sink which slows the effect of ambient temperature changes and reduces the temperature gradients between the active circuit elements, thus improving the cancellation of temperature effects. The two amplifiers include individual voltage regulators, which increases RF isolation.

Flexible RF filter using a nonuniform SCISSOR.

PubMed

Zhuang, Leimeng

2016-03-15

This work presents a flexible radiofrequency (RF) filter using an integrated microwave photonic circuit that comprises a nonuniform side-coupled integrated spaced sequence of resonators (N-SCISSOR). The filter passband can be reconfigured by varying the N-SCISSOR parameters. When employing a dual-parallel Mach-Zechnder modulator, the filter is also able to perform frequency down-conversion. In the experiment, various filter response shapes are shown, ranging from a flat-top band-pass filter to a total opposite high-rejection (>40  dB) notch filter, with a frequency coverage of greater than two octaves. The frequency down-conversion function is also demonstrated.

High-performance packaging for monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shalkhauser, K. A.; Li, K.; Shih, Y. C.

1992-01-01

Packaging schemes are developed that provide low-loss, hermetic enclosure for enhanced monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. These package schemes are based on a fused quartz substrate material offering improved RF performance through 44 GHz. The small size and weight of the packages make them useful for a number of applications, including phased array antenna systems. As part of the packaging effort, a test fixture was developed to interface the single chip packages to conventional laboratory instrumentation for characterization of the packaged devices.

Wireless-powered electroactive soft microgripper

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheong, Hau Ran; Teo, Choon Yee; Leow, Pei Ling; Lai, Koon Chun; Chee, Pei Song

2018-05-01

This paper presents a wireless powered single active finger ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) based microgripper that is operated using external radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field for biological cell manipulation application. A unimorph-like active finger is fabricated by integrating the IPMC actuator to the planar resonant LC receiver and DC rectifier circuits (made of flexible double-sided copper clad polyimide). The finger activated when the device is exposed to the external magnetic field generated by transmitter circuit that matches the resonant frequency of LC receiver circuit, ∼13.6 MHz in magnetic resonant coupling power transfer mechanism. The fabricated prototype shows a maximum IPMC deflection of 0.765 mm (activation force of 0.17 mN) at the RF power of 0.65 W with 3.5 VDC supplied from the LC receiver circuit. Three repeated ON-OFF wireless activation cycle was performed with the reported cumulative deflection of 0.57 mm. The cumulative deflection was increased to 1.17 mm, 1.19 mm and 1.24 mm for three different samples respectively at 5 VDC supplied. As a proof of concept, fish egg was used to represent the biological cell manipulation operation. The microgripper successfully gripped the fish egg sample without any damages. The experiments result validates the effectiveness of wireless RF soft microgripper towards the target application.

Foundry fabricated photonic integrated circuit optical phase lock loop.

PubMed

Bałakier, Katarzyna; Fice, Martyn J; Ponnampalam, Lalitha; Graham, Chris S; Wonfor, Adrian; Seeds, Alwyn J; Renaud, Cyril C

2017-07-24

This paper describes the first foundry-based InP photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designed to work within a heterodyne optical phase locked loop (OPLL). The PIC and an external electronic circuit were used to phase-lock a single-line semiconductor laser diode to an incoming reference laser, with tuneable frequency offset from 4 GHz to 12 GHz. The PIC contains 33 active and passive components monolithically integrated on a single chip, fully demonstrating the capability of a generic foundry PIC fabrication model. The electronic part of the OPLL consists of commercially available RF components. This semi-packaged system stabilizes the phase and frequency of the integrated laser so that an absolute frequency, high-purity heterodyne signal can be generated when the OPLL is in operation, with phase noise lower than -100 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier. This is the lowest phase noise level ever demonstrated by monolithically integrated OPLLs.

Superconductor Digital Electronics: -- Current Status, Future Prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukhanov, Oleg

2011-03-01

Two major applications of superconductor electronics: communications and supercomputing will be presented. These areas hold a significant promise of a large impact on electronics state-of-the-art for the defense and commercial markets stemming from the fundamental advantages of superconductivity: simultaneous high speed and low power, lossless interconnect, natural quantization, and high sensitivity. The availability of relatively small cryocoolers lowered the foremost market barrier for cryogenically-cooled superconductor electronic systems. These fundamental advantages enabled a novel Digital-RF architecture - a disruptive technological approach changing wireless communications, radar, and surveillance system architectures dramatically. Practical results were achieved for Digital-RF systems in which wide-band, multi-band radio frequency signals are directly digitized and digital domain is expanded throughout the entire system. Digital-RF systems combine digital and mixed signal integrated circuits based on Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) technology, superconductor analog filter circuits, and semiconductor post-processing circuits. The demonstrated cryocooled Digital-RF systems are the world's first and fastest directly digitizing receivers operating with live satellite signals, enabling multi-net data links, and performing signal acquisition from HF to L-band with 30 GHz clock frequencies. In supercomputing, superconductivity leads to the highest energy efficiencies per operation. Superconductor technology based on manipulation and ballistic transfer of magnetic flux quanta provides a superior low-power alternative to CMOS and other charge-transfer based device technologies. The fundamental energy consumption in SFQ circuits defined by flux quanta energy 2 x 10-19 J. Recently, a novel energy-efficient zero-static-power SFQ technology, eSFQ/ERSFQ was invented, which retains all advantages of standard RSFQ circuits: high-speed, dc power, internal memory. The voltage bias regulation, determined by SFQ clock, enables the zero-power at zero-activity regimes, indispensable for sensor and quantum bit readout.

RF-DC converter for HF RFID sensing applications powered by a near-field loop antenna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colella, R.; Pasca, M.; Catarinucci, L.; Tarricone, L.; D'Amico, S.

2016-07-01

In this paper, an RF-DC converter operating at 13.56 MHz (HF radio frequency identification (RFID) frequency band) is presented. Its architecture provides RF to load isolation, reducing the losses due to the reverse saturation current and improving the sensitivity. Fed by a loop antenna, the RF-DC converter is made by a Dickson's RF-DC rectifier and an additional Pelliconi's charge pump driven by a fully integrated 50 kHz ring oscillator realized using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The input RF signal from the reader is converted to DC supply voltage and stored on a 1 μF capacitor. Mathematical model of the converter is developed and verified through measurements. Silicon prototypes of the ASIC have been realized in 350 nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology. Measurements have been done on 10 different samples showing an output voltage in the range of 0.5 V-3.11 V in correspondence of an RF input signal power in the range of -19 dBm-0 dBm. These output voltage levels are suitable to power HF RFID sensing platforms and sensor nodes of body sensor networks.

Immunity of medical electrical equipment to radiated RF disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mocha, Jan; Wójcik, Dariusz; Surma, Maciej

2018-04-01

Immunity of medical equipment to radiated radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic (EM) fields is a priority issue owing to the functions that the equipment is intended to perform. This is reflected in increasingly stringent normative requirements that medical electrical equipment has to conform to. A new version of the standard concerning electromagnetic compatibility of medical electrical equipment IEC 60601-1-2:2014 has recently been published. The paper discusses major changes introduced in this edition of the standard. The changes comprise more rigorous immunity requirements for medical equipment as regards radiated RF EM fields and a new requirement for testing the immunity of medical electrical equipment to disturbances coming from digital radio communication systems. Further on, the paper presents two typical designs of the input block: involving a multi-level filtering and amplification circuit and including a solution which integrates an input amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter in one circuit. Regardless of the applied solution, presence of electromagnetic disturbances in the input block leads to demodulation of the disturbance signal envelope. The article elaborates on mechanisms of amplitude detection occurring in such cases. Electromagnetic interferences penetration from the amplifier's input to the output is also described in the paper. If the aforementioned phenomena are taken into account, engineers will be able to develop a more conscious approach towards the issue of immunity to RF EM fields in the process of designing input circuits in medical electrical equipment.

Integrated optical modulator for signal up-conversion over radio-on-fiber link.

PubMed

Kim, Woo-Kyung; Kwon, Soon-Woo; Jeong, Woo-Jin; Son, Geun-Sik; Lee, Kwang-Hyun; Choi, Woo-Young; Yang, Woo-Seok; Lee, Hyung-Man; Lee, Han-Young

2009-02-16

An integrated optical modulator, which consists of a dual-sideband suppressed carrier (DSB-SC) modulator cascaded with a single-sideband (SSB) modulator, is proposed for signal up-conversion over Radio-on-Fiber. Utilizing a single-drive domain inverted structure in both modulators, balanced modulations were obtained without complicated radio frequency (RF) driving circuits and delicate RF phase adjustments. Intermediate frequency (IF) band signal was up-conversed to 60GHz band by using the fabricated device and was transmitted over optical fiber. Experiment results show that the proposed device enables millimeter wave generation and signal transmission without any power penalty caused by chromatic dispersion.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Na; Wu, Yu-Ping; Min, Hao

A radio-frequency (RF) source designed for cold atom experiments is presented. The source uses AD9858, a direct digital synthesizer, to generate the sine wave directly, up to 400 MHz, with sub-Hz resolution. An amplitude control circuit consisting of wideband variable gain amplifier and high speed digital to analog converter is integrated into the source, capable of 70 dB off isolation and 4 ns on-off keying. A field programmable gate array is used to implement a versatile frequency and amplitude co-sweep logic. Owing to modular design, the RF sources have been used on many cold atom experiments to generate various complicatedmore » RF sequences, enriching the operation schemes of cold atoms, which cannot be done by standard RF source instruments.« less

Silicon Technologies Adjust to RF Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinecke Taub, Susan; Alterovitz, Samuel A.

1994-01-01

Silicon (Si), although not traditionally the material of choice for RF and microwave applications, has become a serious challenger to other semiconductor technologies for high-frequency applications. Fine-line electron- beam and photolithographic techniques are now capable of fabricating silicon gate sizes as small as 0.1 micron while commonly-available high-resistivity silicon wafers support low-loss microwave transmission lines. These advances, coupled with the recent development of silicon-germanium (SiGe), arm silicon integrated circuits (ICs) with the speed required for increasingly higher-frequency applications.

Advanced 3-V semiconductor technology assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nowogrodzki, M.

1983-01-01

Components required for extensions of currently planned space communications systems are discussed for large antennas, crosslink systems, single sideband systems, Aerostat systems, and digital signal processing. Systems using advanced modulation concepts and new concepts in communications satellites are included. The current status and trends in materials technology are examined with emphasis on bulk growth of semi-insulating GaAs and InP, epitaxial growth, and ion implantation. Microwave solid state discrete active devices, multigigabit rate GaAs digital integrated circuits, microwave integrated circuits, and the exploratory development of GaInAs devices, heterojunction devices, and quasi-ballistic devices is considered. Competing technologies such as RF power generation, filter structures, and microwave circuit fabrication are discussed. The fundamental limits of semiconductor devices and problems in implementation are explored.

A nonlinear macromodel of the bipolar integrated circuit operational amplifier for electromagnetic interference analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, G. K. C.

1981-06-01

A nonlinear macromodel for the bipolar transistor integrated circuit operational amplifier is derived from the macromodel proposed by Boyle. The nonlinear macromodel contains only two nonlinear transistors in the input stage in a differential amplifier configuration. Parasitic capacitance effects are represented by capacitors placed at the collectors and emitters of the input transistors. The nonlinear macromodel is effective in predicting the second order intermodulation effect of operational amplifiers in a unity gain buffer amplifier configuration. The nonlinear analysis computer program NCAP is used for the analysis. Accurate prediction of demodulation of amplitude modulated RF signals with RF carrier frequencies in the 0.05 to 100 MHz range is achieved. The macromodel predicted results, presented in the form of second order nonlinear transfer function, come to within 6 dB of the full model predictions for the 741 type of operational amplifiers for values of the second order transfer function greater than -40 dB.

n+ GaAs/AuGeNi-Au Thermocouple-Type RF MEMS Power Sensors Based on Dual Thermal Flow Paths in GaAs MMIC

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhiqiang; Liao, Xiaoping

2017-01-01

To achieve radio frequency (RF) power detection, gain control, and circuit protection, this paper presents n+ GaAs/AuGeNi-Au thermocouple-type RF microelectromechanical system (MEMS) power sensors based on dual thermal flow paths. The sensors utilize a conversion principle of RF power-heat-voltage, where a thermovoltage is obtained as the RF power changes. To improve the heat transfer efficiency and the sensitivity, structures of two heat conduction paths are designed: one in which a thermal slug of Au is placed between two load resistors and hot junctions of the thermocouples, and one in which a back cavity is fabricated by the MEMS technology to form a substrate membrane underneath the resistors and the hot junctions. The improved sensors were fabricated by a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) process. Experiments show that these sensors have reflection losses of less than −17 dB up to 12 GHz. At 1, 5, and 10 GHz, measured sensitivities are about 63.45, 53.97, and 44.14 µV/mW for the sensor with the thermal slug, and about 111.03, 94.79, and 79.04 µV/mW for the sensor with the thermal slug and the back cavity, respectively. PMID:28629144

n⁺ GaAs/AuGeNi-Au Thermocouple-Type RF MEMS Power Sensors Based on Dual Thermal Flow Paths in GaAs MMIC.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhiqiang; Liao, Xiaoping

2017-06-17

To achieve radio frequency (RF) power detection, gain control, and circuit protection, this paper presents n⁺ GaAs/AuGeNi-Au thermocouple-type RF microelectromechanical system (MEMS) power sensors based on dual thermal flow paths. The sensors utilize a conversion principle of RF power-heat-voltage, where a thermovoltage is obtained as the RF power changes. To improve the heat transfer efficiency and the sensitivity, structures of two heat conduction paths are designed: one in which a thermal slug of Au is placed between two load resistors and hot junctions of the thermocouples, and one in which a back cavity is fabricated by the MEMS technology to form a substrate membrane underneath the resistors and the hot junctions. The improved sensors were fabricated by a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) process. Experiments show that these sensors have reflection losses of less than -17 dB up to 12 GHz. At 1, 5, and 10 GHz, measured sensitivities are about 63.45, 53.97, and 44.14 µ V/mW for the sensor with the thermal slug, and about 111.03, 94.79, and 79.04 µ V/mW for the sensor with the thermal slug and the back cavity, respectively.

(DCT) A Reconfigurable RF Photonics Unit Cell For Integrated Circuits

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-10

Public Release In this work, the integration of a Quantum Dot Mode Locked Laser , that acts as a microwave and millimeter wave source, with a wideband...antenna is presented. Two aspects of research are discussed. The first aspect deals with a Mode Locked Laser (MLL) based on quantum dot (QD...designed antennas were integrated with laser chips using the lithographic method. The challenges of designing this wideband antenna that can operate

Mixed-signal 0.18μm CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS foundry technologies for ROIC applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kar-Roy, Arjun; Howard, David; Racanelli, Marco; Scott, Mike; Hurwitz, Paul; Zwingman, Robert; Chaudhry, Samir; Jordan, Scott

2010-10-01

Today's readout integrated-circuits (ROICs) require a high level of integration of high performance analog and low power digital logic. TowerJazz offers a commercial 0.18μm CMOS technology platform for mixed-signal, RF, and high performance analog applications which can be used for ROIC applications. The commercial CA18HD dual gate oxide 1.8V/3.3V and CA18HA dual gate oxide 1.8V/5V RF/mixed signal processes, consisting of six layers of metallization, have high density stacked linear MIM capacitors, high-value resistors, triple-well isolation and thick top aluminum metal. The CA18HA process also has scalable drain extended LDMOS devices, up to 40V Vds, for high-voltage sensor applications, and high-performance bipolars for low noise requirements in ROICs. Also discussed are the available features of the commercial SBC18 SiGe BiCMOS platform with SiGe NPNs operating up to 200/200GHz (fT/fMAX frequencies in manufacturing and demonstrated to 270 GHz fT, for reduced noise and integrated RF capabilities which could be used in ROICs. Implementation of these technologies in a thick film SOI process for integrated RF switch and power management and the availability of high fT vertical PNPs to enable complementary BiCMOS (CBiCMOS), for RF enabled ROICs, are also described in this paper.

Nanoionics-Based Switches for Radio-Frequency Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nessel, James; Lee, Richard

2010-01-01

Nanoionics-based devices have shown promise as alternatives to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and semiconductor diode devices for switching radio-frequency (RF) signals in diverse systems. Examples of systems that utilize RF switches include phase shifters for electronically steerable phased-array antennas, multiplexers, cellular telephones and other radio transceivers, and other portable electronic devices. Semiconductor diode switches can operate at low potentials (about 1 to 3 V) and high speeds (switching times of the order of nanoseconds) but are characterized by significant insertion loss, high DC power consumption, low isolation, and generation of third-order harmonics and intermodulation distortion (IMD). MEMS-based switches feature low insertion loss (of the order of 0.2 dB), low DC power consumption (picowatts), high isolation (>30 dB), and low IMD, but contain moving parts, are not highly reliable, and must be operated at high actuation potentials (20 to 60 V) generated and applied by use of complex circuitry. In addition, fabrication of MEMS is complex, involving many processing steps. Nanoionics-based switches offer the superior RF performance and low power consumption of MEMS switches, without need for the high potentials and complex circuitry necessary for operation of MEMS switches. At the same time, nanoionics-based switches offer the high switching speed of semiconductor devices. Also, like semiconductor devices, nanoionics-based switches can be fabricated relatively inexpensively by use of conventional integrated-circuit fabrication techniques. More over, nanoionics-based switches have simple planar structures that can easily be integrated into RF power-distribution circuits.

RF Design of a Wideband CMOS Integrated Receiver for Phased Array Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Suzy A.

2004-06-01

New silicon CMOS processes developed primarily for the burgeoning wireless networking market offer significant promise as a vehicle for the implementation of highly integrated receivers, especially at the lower end of the frequency range proposed for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). An RF-CMOS ‘Receiver-on-a-Chip’ is being developed as part of an Australia Telescope program looking at technologies associated with the SKA. The receiver covers the frequency range 500 1700 MHz, with instantaneous IF bandwidth of 500 MHz and, on simulation, yields an input noise temperature of < 50 K at mid-band. The receiver will contain all active circuitry (LNA, bandpass filter, quadrature mixer, anti-aliasing filter, digitiser and serialiser) on one 0.18 μm RF-CMOS integrated circuit. This paper outlines receiver front-end development work undertaken to date, including design and simulation of an LNA using noise cancelling techniques to achieve a wideband input-power-match with little noise penalty.

TDR method for determine IC's parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timoshenkov, V.; Rodionov, D.; Khlybov, A.

2016-12-01

Frequency domain simulation is a widely used approach for determine integrated circuits parameters. This approach can be found in most of software tools used in IC industry. Time domain simulation approach shows intensive usage last years due to some advantages. In particular it applicable for analysis of nonlinear and nonstationary systems where frequency domain is inapplicable. Resolution of time domain systems allow see heterogeneities on distance 1mm, determine it parameters and properties. Authors used approach based on detecting reflected signals from heterogeneities - time domain reflectometry (TDR). Field effect transistor technology scaling up to 30-60nm gate length and 10nm gate dielectric, heterojunction bi-polar transistors with 10-30nm base width allows fabricate digital IC's with 20GHz clock frequency and RF-IC's with tens GHz bandwidth. Such devices and operation speed suppose transit signal by use microwave lines. There are local heterogeneities can be found inside of the signal path due to connections between different parts of signal lines (stripe line-RF-connector pin, stripe line - IC package pin). These heterogeneities distort signals that cause bandwidth decrease for RF-devices. Time domain research methods of transmission and reflected signals give the opportunities to determine heterogeneities, it properties, parameters and built up equivalent circuits. Experimental results are provided and show possibility for inductance and capacitance measurement up to 25GHz. Measurements contains result of signal path research on IC and printed circuit board (PCB) used for 12GHz RF chips. Also dielectric constant versus frequency was measured up to 35GHz.

Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology for space communications applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connolly, Denis J.; Bhasin, Kul B.; Romanofsky, Robert R.

1987-01-01

Future communications satellites are likely to use gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) technology in most, if not all, communications payload subsystems. Multiple-scanning-beam antenna systems are expected to use GaAs MMIC's to increase functional capability, to reduce volume, weight, and cost, and to greatly improve system reliability. RF and IF matrix switch technology based on GaAs MMIC's is also being developed for these reasons. MMIC technology, including gigabit-rate GaAs digital integrated circuits, offers substantial advantages in power consumption and weight over silicon technologies for high-throughput, on-board baseband processor systems. For the more distant future pseudomorphic indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and other advanced III-V materials offer the possibility of MMIC subsystems well up into the millimeter wavelength region. All of these technology elements are in NASA's MMIC program. Their status is reviewed.

Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology for space communications applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connolly, Denis J.; Bhasin, Kul B.; Romanofsky, Robert R.

1987-01-01

Future communications satellites are likely to use gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) technology in most, if not all, communications payload subsystems. Multiple-scanning-beam antenna systems are expected to use GaAs MMICs to increase functional capability, to reduce volume, weight, and cost, and to greatly improve system reliability. RF and IF matrix switch technology based on GaAs MMICs is also being developed for these reasons. MMIC technology, including gigabit-rate GaAs digital integrated circuits, offers substantial advantages in power consumption and weight over silicon technologies for high-throughput, on-board baseband processor systems. For the more distant future pseudomorphic indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and other advanced III-V materials offer the possibility of MMIC subsystems well up into the millimeter wavelength region. All of these technology elements are in NASA's MMIC program. Their status is reviewed.

Universal nondestructive mm-wave integrated circuit test fixture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romanofsky, Robert R. (Inventor); Shalkhauser, Kurt A. (Inventor)

1990-01-01

Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) test includes a bias module having spring-loaded contacts which electrically engage pads on a chip carrier disposed in a recess of a base member. RF energy is applied to and passed from the chip carrier by chamfered edges of ridges in the waveguide passages of housings which are removably attached to the base member. Thru, Delay, and Short calibration standards having dimensions identical to those of the chip carrier assure accuracy and reliability of the test. The MMIC chip fits in an opening in the chip carrier with the boundaries of the MMIC lying on movable reference planes thereby establishing accuracy and flexibility.

A Microwave Photonic Interference Canceller: Architectures, Systems, and Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Matthew P.

This thesis is a comprehensive portfolio of work on a Microwave Photonic Self-Interference Canceller (MPC), a specialized optical system designed to eliminate interference from radio-frequency (RF) receivers. The novelty and value of the microwave photonic system lies in its ability to operate over bandwidths and frequencies that are orders of magnitude larger than what is possible using existing RF technology. The work begins, in 2012, with a discrete fiber-optic microwave photonic canceller, which prior work had demonstrated as a proof-of-concept, and culminates, in 2017, with the first ever monolithically integrated microwave photonic canceller. With an eye towards practical implementation, the thesis establishes novelty through three major project thrusts. (Fig. 1): (1) Extensive RF and system analysis to develop a full understanding of how, and through what mechanisms, MPCs affect an RF receiver. The first investigations of how a microwave photonic canceller performs in an actual wireless environment and a digital radio are also presented. (2) New architectures to improve the performance and functionality of MPCs, based on the analysis performed in Thrust 1. A novel balanced microwave photonic canceller architecture is developed and experimentally demonstrated. The balanced architecture shows significant improvements in link gain, noise figure, and dynamic range. Its main advantage is its ability to suppress common-mode noise and reduce noise figure by increasing the optical power. (3) Monolithic integration of the microwave photonic canceller into a photonic integrated circuit. This thrust presents the progression of integrating individual discrete devices into their semiconductor equivalent, as well as a full functional and RF analysis of the first ever integrated microwave photonic canceller.

Using NCAP to predict RFI effects in linear bipolar integrated circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, T.-F.; Whalen, J. J.; Chen, G. K. C.

1980-11-01

Applications of the Nonlinear Circuit Analysis Program (NCAP) to calculate RFI effects in electronic circuits containing discrete semiconductor devices have been reported upon previously. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the computer program NCAP also can be used to calcuate RFI effects in linear bipolar integrated circuits (IC's). The IC's reported upon are the microA741 operational amplifier (op amp) which is one of the most widely used IC's, and a differential pair which is a basic building block in many linear IC's. The microA741 op amp was used as the active component in a unity-gain buffer amplifier. The differential pair was used in a broad-band cascode amplifier circuit. The computer program NCAP was used to predict how amplitude-modulated RF signals are demodulated in the IC's to cause undesired low-frequency responses. The predicted and measured results for radio frequencies in the 0.050-60-MHz range are in good agreement.

Architecture for a 1-GHz Digital RADAR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mallik, Udayan

2011-01-01

An architecture for a Direct RF-digitization Type Digital Mode RADAR was developed at GSFC in 2008. Two variations of a basic architecture were developed for use on RADAR imaging missions using aircraft and spacecraft. Both systems can operate with a pulse repetition rate up to 10 MHz with 8 received RF samples per pulse repetition interval, or at up to 19 kHz with 4K received RF samples per pulse repetition interval. The first design describes a computer architecture for a Continuous Mode RADAR transceiver with a real-time signal processing and display architecture. The architecture can operate at a high pulse repetition rate without interruption for an infinite amount of time. The second design describes a smaller and less costly burst mode RADAR that can transceive high pulse repetition rate RF signals without interruption for up to 37 seconds. The burst-mode RADAR was designed to operate on an off-line signal processing paradigm. The temporal distribution of RF samples acquired and reported to the RADAR processor remains uniform and free of distortion in both proposed architectures. The majority of the RADAR's electronics is implemented in digital CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), and analog circuits are restricted to signal amplification operations and analog to digital conversion. An implementation of the proposed systems will create a 1-GHz, Direct RF-digitization Type, L-Band Digital RADAR--the highest band achievable for Nyquist Rate, Direct RF-digitization Systems that do not implement an electronic IF downsample stage (after the receiver signal amplification stage), using commercially available off-the-shelf integrated circuits.

670-GHz Schottky Diode-Based Subharmonic Mixer with CPW Circuits and 70-GHz IF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chattopadhyay, Goutam; Schlecht, Erich T.; Lee, Choonsup; Lin, Robert H.; Gill, John J.; Mehdi, Imran; Sin, Seth; Deal, William; Loi, Kwok K.; Nam, Peta;

Low temperature probe for dynamic nuclear polarization and multiple-pulse solid-state NMR.

PubMed

Cho, HyungJoon; Baugh, Jonathan; Ryan, Colm A; Cory, David G; Ramanathan, Chandrasekhar

2007-08-01

Here, we describe the design and performance characteristics of a low temperature probe for dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) experiments, which is compatible with demanding multiple-pulse experiments. The competing goals of a high-Q microwave cavity to achieve large DNP enhancements and a high efficiency NMR circuit for multiple-pulse control lead to inevitable engineering tradeoffs. We have designed two probes-one with a single-resonance RF circuit and a horn-mirror cavity configuration for the microwaves and a second with a double-resonance RF circuit and a double-horn cavity configuration. The advantage of the design is that the sample is in vacuum, the RF circuits are locally tuned, and the microwave resonator has a large internal volume that is compatible with the use of RF and gradient coils.

Improved RF Isolation Amplifier

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, G. L.; Macconnell, J.

1985-01-01

Circuit has high reverse isolation and wide bandwidth. Wideband isolation amplifier has low intermodulation distortion and high reverse isolation. Circuit does not require selected or matched components or directional coupling device. Circuit used in applications requiring high reverse isolation such as receiver intermediate-frequency (IF) strips and frequency distribution systems. Also applicable in RF and video signaling.

RF MEMS and Their Applications in NASA's Space Communication Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, W. Daniel; Ponchak, George E.; Simons, Rainee N.; Zaman, Afroz; Kory, Carol; Wintucky, Edwin; Wilson, Jeffrey D.; Scardelletti, Maximilian; Lee, Richard; Nguyen, Hung

2001-01-01

Radio frequency (RF) and microwave communication systems rely on frequency, amplitude, and phase control circuits to efficiently use the available spectrum. Phase control circuits are required for electronically scanning phase array antennas that enable radiation pattern shaping, scanning, and hopping. Two types of phase shifters, which are the phase control circuits, are most often used. The first is comprised of two circuits with different phase characteristics such as two transmission lines of different lengths or a high pass and low pass filter and a switch that directs the RF power through one of the two circuits. Alternatively, a variable capacitor, or varactor, is used to change the effective electrical path length of a transmission line, which changes the phase characteristics. Filter banks are required for the diplexer at the front end of wide band communication satellites. These filters greatly increase the size and mass of the RF/microwave systems, but smaller diplexers may be made with a low loss varactor or a group of capacitors, a switch and an inductor.

HBCU/MI: 3D Formable RF Materials and Devices

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: The aim of this project was to explore 3D printing for RF/microwave circuits and devices. The research produced several... 3D printed microwave filters, a 3D wifi radio circuit, and new materials for 3D printed electromagnetic devices. The research demonstrates that 3D ...journals: Final Report: HBCU/MI: 3D Formable RF Materials and Devices Report Title The aim of this project was to explore 3D printing for RF/microwave

Microfabricated ion trap array

DOEpatents

Blain, Matthew G [Albuquerque, NM; Fleming, James G [Albuquerque, NM

2006-12-26

A microfabricated ion trap array, comprising a plurality of ion traps having an inner radius of order one micron, can be fabricated using surface micromachining techniques and materials known to the integrated circuits manufacturing and microelectromechanical systems industries. Micromachining methods enable batch fabrication, reduced manufacturing costs, dimensional and positional precision, and monolithic integration of massive arrays of ion traps with microscale ion generation and detection devices. Massive arraying enables the microscale ion traps to retain the resolution, sensitivity, and mass range advantages necessary for high chemical selectivity. The reduced electrode voltage enables integration of the microfabricated ion trap array with on-chip circuit-based rf operation and detection electronics (i.e., cell phone electronics). Therefore, the full performance advantages of the microfabricated ion trap array can be realized in truly field portable, handheld microanalysis systems.

RF Testing Of Microwave Integrated Circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romanofsky, R. R.; Ponchak, G. E.; Shalkhauser, K. A.; Bhasin, K. B.

1988-01-01

Fixtures and techniques are undergoing development. Four test fixtures and two advanced techniques developed in continuing efforts to improve RF characterization of MMIC's. Finline/waveguide test fixture developed to test submodules of 30-GHz monolithic receiver. Universal commercially-manufactured coaxial test fixture modified to enable characterization of various microwave solid-state devices in frequency range of 26.5 to 40 GHz. Probe/waveguide fixture is compact, simple, and designed for non destructive testing of large number of MMIC's. Nondestructive-testing fixture includes cosine-tapered ridge, to match impedance wavequide to microstrip. Advanced technique is microwave-wafer probing. Second advanced technique is electro-optical sampling.

Integrated Circuit Wear out Prediction and Recycling Detection using Radio Frequency Distinct Native Attribute Features

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-22

105 A.1 Main Loop ... loop monitoring for preventative maintenance rather than early replacement based on statistical projections or replacement-after- failure schemes. IC...estimates, RF-DNA may provide a means to track an IC’s physical degradation during actual use. Monitoring an IC’s degradation in a closed loop fashion

UWB multi-burst transmit driver for averaging receivers

DOEpatents

Dallum, Gregory E

2012-11-20

A multi-burst transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems generates a sequence of precisely spaced RF bursts from a single trigger event. There are two oscillators in the transmitter circuit, a gated burst rate oscillator and a gated RF burst or RF power output oscillator. The burst rate oscillator produces a relatively low frequency, i.e., MHz, square wave output for a selected transmit cycle, and drives the RF burst oscillator, which produces RF bursts of much higher frequency, i.e., GHz, during the transmit cycle. The frequency of the burst rate oscillator sets the spacing of the RF burst packets. The first oscillator output passes through a bias driver to the second oscillator. The bias driver conditions, e.g., level shifts, the signal from the first oscillator for input into the second oscillator, and also controls the length of each RF burst. A trigger pulse actuates a timing circuit, formed of a flip-flop and associated reset time delay circuit, that controls the operation of the first oscillator, i.e., how long it oscillates (which defines the transmit cycle).

Wafer-scale integrated micro-supercapacitors on an ultrathin and highly flexible biomedical platform.

PubMed

Maeng, Jimin; Meng, Chuizhou; Irazoqui, Pedro P

2015-02-01

We present wafer-scale integrated micro-supercapacitors on an ultrathin and highly flexible parylene platform, as progress toward sustainably powering biomedical microsystems suitable for implantable and wearable applications. All-solid-state, low-profile (<30 μm), and high-density (up to ~500 μF/mm(2)) micro-supercapacitors are formed on an ultrathin (~20 μm) freestanding parylene film by a wafer-scale parylene packaging process in combination with a polyaniline (PANI) nanowire growth technique assisted by surface plasma treatment. These micro-supercapacitors are highly flexible and shown to be resilient toward flexural stress. Further, direct integration of micro-supercapacitors into a radio frequency (RF) rectifying circuit is achieved on a single parylene platform, yielding a complete RF energy harvesting microsystem. The system discharging rate is shown to improve by ~17 times in the presence of the integrated micro-supercapacitors. This result suggests that the integrated micro-supercapacitor technology described herein is a promising strategy for sustainably powering biomedical microsystems dedicated to implantable and wearable applications.

Online tuning of impedance matching circuit for long pulse inductively coupled plasma source operation—An alternate approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sudhir, Dass; Bandyopadhyay, M., E-mail: mainak@ter-india.org; Chakraborty, A.

2014-01-15

Impedance matching circuit between radio frequency (RF) generator and the plasma load, placed between them, determines the RF power transfer from RF generator to the plasma load. The impedance of plasma load depends on the plasma parameters through skin depth and plasma conductivity or resistivity. Therefore, for long pulse operation of inductively coupled plasmas, particularly for high power (∼100 kW or more) where plasma load condition may vary due to different reasons (e.g., pressure, power, and thermal), online tuning of impedance matching circuit is necessary through feedback. In fusion grade ion source operation, such online methodology through feedback is notmore » present but offline remote tuning by adjusting the matching circuit capacitors and tuning the driving frequency of the RF generator between the ion source operation pulses is envisaged. The present model is an approach for remote impedance tuning methodology for long pulse operation and corresponding online impedance matching algorithm based on RF coil antenna current measurement or coil antenna calorimetric measurement may be useful in this regard.« less

Design and Implementation of RF Energy Harvesting System for Low-Power Electronic Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzun, Yunus

2016-08-01

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvester systems are a good alternative for energizing of low-power electronics devices. In this work, an RF energy harvester is presented to obtain energy from Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 900 MHz signals. The energy harvester, consisting of a two-stage Dickson voltage multiplier circuit and L-type impedance matching circuits, was designed, simulated, fabricated and tested experimentally in terms of its performance. Simulation and experimental works were carried out for various input power levels, load resistances and input frequencies. Both simulation and experimental works have been carried out for this frequency band. An efficiency of 45% is obtained from the system at 0 dBm input power level using the impedance matching circuit. This corresponds to the power of 450 μW and this value is sufficient for many low-power devices. The most important parameters affecting the efficiency of the RF energy harvester are the input power level, frequency band, impedance matching and voltage multiplier circuits, load resistance and the selection of diodes. RF energy harvester designs should be optimized in terms of these parameters.

Microstrip Butler matrix design and realization for 7 T MRI.

PubMed

Yazdanbakhsh, Pedram; Solbach, Klaus

2011-07-01

This article presents the design and realization of 8 × 8 and 16 × 16 Butler matrices for 7 T MRI systems. With the focus on low insertion loss and high amplitude/phase accuracy, the microstrip line integration technology (microwave-integrated circuit) was chosen for the realization. Laminate material of high permittivity (ε(r) = 11) and large thickness (h = 3.2 mm) is shown to allow the best trade-off of circuit board size versus insertion loss, saving circuit area by extensive folding of branch-line coupler topology and meandering phase shifter and connecting strip lines and reducing mutual coupling of neighboring strip lines by shield structures between strip lines. With this approach, 8 × 8 Butler matrices were produced in single boards of 310 mm × 530 mm, whereas the 16 × 16 Butler matrices combined two submatrices of 8 × 8 with two smaller boards. Insertion loss was found at 0.73 and 1.1 dB for an 8 × 8 matrix and 16 × 16 matrix, respectively. Measured amplitude and phase errors are shown to represent highly pure mode excitation with unwanted modes suppressed by 40 and 35 dB, respectively. Both types of matrices were implemented with a 7 T MRI system and 8- and 16-element coil arrays for RF mode shimming experiments and operated successfully with 8 kW of RF power. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

System-Level Integrated Circuit (SLIC) Technology Development for Phased Array Antenna Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Windyka, John A.; Zablocki, Ed G.

1997-01-01

This report documents the efforts and progress in developing a 'system-level' integrated circuit, or SLIC, for application in advanced phased array antenna systems. The SLIC combines radio-frequency (RF) microelectronics, digital and analog support circuitry, and photonic interfaces into a single micro-hybrid assembly. Together, these technologies provide not only the amplitude and phase control necessary for electronic beam steering in the phased array, but also add thermally-compensated automatic gain control, health and status feedback, bias regulation, and reduced interconnect complexity. All circuitry is integrated into a compact, multilayer structure configured for use as a two-by-four element phased array module, operating at 20 Gigahertz, using a Microwave High-Density Interconnect (MHDI) process. The resultant hardware is constructed without conventional wirebonds, maintains tight inter-element spacing, and leads toward low-cost mass production. The measured performances and development issues associated with both the two-by-four element module and the constituent elements are presented. Additionally, a section of the report describes alternative architectures and applications supported by the SLIC electronics. Test results show excellent yield and performance of RF circuitry and full automatic gain control for multiple, independent channels. Digital control function, while suffering from lower manufacturing yield, also proved successful.

Three Dimensional Integration and On-Wafer Packaging for Heterogeneous Wafer-Scale Circuit Architectures

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-11-01

Chip Level CMOS Chip High resistivity Si Metal Interconnect 25μm 24GHz fully integrated receiver CMOS transimpedance Amplifier (13GHz BW, 52dBΩ...power of a high-resistivity SiGe power amplifier chip with the wide operating frequency range and compactness of a CMOS mixed signal chip operating...With good RF channel selectivity, system specifications such as the linearity of the low noise amplifier (LNA), the phase noise of the voltage

Characterization of a piezoelectric MEMS actuator surface toward motion-enabled reconfigurable RF circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tellers, M. C.; Pulskamp, J. S.; Bedair, S. S.; Rudy, R. Q.; Kierzewski, I. M.; Polcawich, R. G.; Bergbreiter, S. E.

2018-03-01

As an alternative to highly constrained hard-wired reconfigurable RF circuits, a motion-enabled reconfigurable circuit (MERC) offers freedom from transmission line losses and homogeneous materials selection. The creation of a successful MERC requires a precise mechanical mechanism for relocating components. In this work, a piezoelectric MEMS actuator array is modeled and experimentally characterized to assess its viability as a solution to the MERC concept. Actuation and design parameters are evaluated, and the repeatability of high quality on-axis motion at greater than 1 mm s-1 is demonstrated with little positional error. Finally, an initial proof-of-concept circuit reconfiguration has been demonstrated using off-the-shelf RF filter components. Although initial feasibility tests show filter performance degradation with an additional insertion loss of 0.3 dB per contact, out-of-band rejection degradation as high as 10 dB, and ripple performance reduction from 0.25 dB to 1.5 dB, MERC is proven here as an alternative to traditional approaches used in reconfigurable RF circuit applications.

Matching network for RF plasma source

DOEpatents

Pickard, Daniel S.; Leung, Ka-Ngo

2007-11-20

A compact matching network couples an RF power supply to an RF antenna in a plasma generator. The simple and compact impedance matching network matches the plasma load to the impedance of a coaxial transmission line and the output impedance of an RF amplifier at radio frequencies. The matching network is formed of a resonantly tuned circuit formed of a variable capacitor and an inductor in a series resonance configuration, and a ferrite core transformer coupled to the resonantly tuned circuit. This matching network is compact enough to fit in existing compact focused ion beam systems.

Conductor backed and shielded multi-layer coplanar waveguide designs on LTCC for RF carrier boards for packaging PICs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marraccini, Philip J.; Jezzini, Moises A.; Peters, Frank H.

2016-05-01

Designing photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with packaging in mind is important since this impacts the performance of the final product. In coherent optical communication applications there are a large number of DC and RF lines that need routed to connect the PIC to the outer packaging. These RF lines should be impedance matched to the devices, isolated from each other, low loss and protected against electromagnetic interference (EMI) over the frequency range of interest to achieve the performance required for the application. Multilevel low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) boards can be used as a carrier board connecting the PIC to the packaging due to its good RF performance, machinability, compatibility with hermetic sealing, and ability to integrate drivers into the board. Flexibility with layer numbers enables additional layers for shielding against electromagnetic interference or increased space for routing electrical connections. In this paper the design, simulations, and measured results for a set of 4 phase matched transmission lines in LTCC that would be used with an IQ MZM are presented. The measured 3dB bandwidth for a set of four phase matched transmission lines for an IQ MZM was measured to be 19.8 GHz.

Demodulation Radio Frequency Interference Effects in Operational Amplifier Circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutu, Yue-Hong

A series of investigations have been carried out to determine RFI effects in analog circuits using monolithic integrated operational amplifiers (op amps) as active devices. The specific RFI effect investigated is how amplitude-modulated (AM) RF signals are demodulated in op amp circuits to produce undesired low frequency responses at AM-modulation frequency. The undesired demodulation responses were shown to be characterized by a second-order nonlinear transfer function. Four representative op amp types investigated were the 741 bipolar op amp, the LM10 bipolar op amp, the LF355 JFET-Bipolar op amp, and the CA081 MOS-Bipolar op amp. Two op amp circuits were investigated. The first circuit was a noninverting unity voltage gain buffer circuit. The second circuit was an inverting op amp configuration. In the second circuit, the investigation includes the effects of an RFI suppression capacitor in the feedback path. Approximately 30 units of each op amp type were tested to determine the statistical variations of RFI demodulation effects in the two op amp circuits. The Nonlinear Circuit Analysis Program, NCAP, was used to simulate the demodulation RFI response. In the simulation, the op amp was replaced with its incremental macromodel. Values of macromodel parameters were obtained from previous investigations and manufacturer's data sheets. Some key results of this work are: (1) The RFI demodulation effects are 10 to 20 dB lower in CA081 and LF355 FET-bipolar op amp than in 741 and LM10 bipolar op amp except above 40 MHz where the LM10 RFI response begins to approach that of CA081. (2) The experimental mean values for 30 741 op amps show that RFI demodulation responses in the inverting amplifier with a 27 pF feedback capacitor were suppressed from 10 to 35 dB over the RF frequency range 0.1 to 150 MHz except at 0.15 MHz where only 3.5 dB suppression was observed. (3) The NCAP program can predict RFI demodulation responses in 741 and LF355 unity gain buffer circuits within 6 and 7 dB respectively for RF frequencies 0.1 to 400 MHz except near the resonant frequencies for the LF355 circuit. (4) The NCAP simulations suggest that the resonances of the LF355 unity gain buffer circuit are related to small parasitic capacitance values of the order of 1 to 5 pF. (5) The NCAP sensitivity analysis indicates that variations in a second-order transfer function are sensitive to some macromodel parameters.

On the dynamic rounding-off in analogue and RF optimal circuit sizing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotti, Mouna; Fakhfakh, Mourad; Fino, Maria Helena

2014-04-01

Frequently used approaches to solve discrete multivariable optimisation problems consist of computing solutions using a continuous optimisation technique. Then, using heuristics, the variables are rounded-off to their nearest available discrete values to obtain a discrete solution. Indeed, in many engineering problems, and particularly in analogue circuit design, component values, such as the geometric dimensions of the transistors, the number of fingers in an integrated capacitor or the number of turns in an integrated inductor, cannot be chosen arbitrarily since they have to obey to some technology sizing constraints. However, rounding-off the variables values a posteriori and can lead to infeasible solutions (solutions that are located too close to the feasible solution frontier) or degradation of the obtained results (expulsion from the neighbourhood of a 'sharp' optimum) depending on how the added perturbation affects the solution. Discrete optimisation techniques, such as the dynamic rounding-off technique (DRO) are, therefore, needed to overcome the previously mentioned situation. In this paper, we deal with an improvement of the DRO technique. We propose a particle swarm optimisation (PSO)-based DRO technique, and we show, via some analog and RF-examples, the necessity to implement such a routine into continuous optimisation algorithms.

Design of a CMOS integrated on-chip oscilloscope for spin wave characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egel, Eugen; Meier, Christian; Csaba, György; Breitkreutz-von Gamm, Stephan

2017-05-01

Spin waves can perform some optically-inspired computing algorithms, e.g. the Fourier transform, directly than it is done with the CMOS logic. This article describes a new approach for on-chip characterization of spin wave based devices. The readout circuitry for the spin waves is simulated with 65-nm CMOS technology models. Commonly used circuits for Radio Frequency (RF) receivers are implemented to detect a sinusoidal ultra-wideband (5-50 GHz) signal with an amplitude of at least 15 μV picked up by a loop antenna. First, the RF signal is amplified by a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA). Then, it is down-converted by a mixer to Intermediate Frequency (IF). Finally, an Operational Amplifier (OpAmp) brings the IF signal to higher voltages (50-300 mV). The estimated power consumption and the required area of the readout circuit is approximately 55.5 mW and 0.168 mm2, respectively. The proposed On-Chip Oscilloscope (OCO) is highly suitable for on-chip spin wave characterization regarding the frequency, amplitude change and phase information. It offers an integrated low power alternative to current spin wave detecting systems.

Meter circuit for tuning RF amplifiers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Longthorne, J. E.

1973-01-01

Circuit computes and indicates efficiency of RF amplifier as inputs and other parameters are varied. Voltage drop across internal resistance of ammeter is amplified by operational amplifier and applied to one multiplier input. Other input is obtained through two resistors from positive terminal of power supply.

High-speed thin-film transistors on single-crystalline, unstrained- and strained-silicon-based nanomembranes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Hao-Chih

This research focuses on developing high-performance single-crystal Si-based nanomembranes and high-frequency thin-film transistors (TFTs) using these nanomembranes on flexible plastic substrates. Unstrained Si or SiGe nanomembranes with thickness of several tens to a couple of hundred nanometers are derived from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) or silicon-germanium-on-insulator (SGOI) and are subsequently transferred and integrated with flexible plastic host substrates via a one-step dry printing technique. Biaxial tensile-strained Si membranes that utilize elastic strain-sharing between Si and additionally grown SiGe thin films are also successfully integrated with plastic host substrates and exhibit predicted strain status and negligible density of dislocations. Biaxial tensile strain enhances electron mobility and lowers Schottky contact resistance. As a result, flexible TFTs built on the strained Si-membranes demonstrate much higher electron effective mobility and higher drive current than the unstrained counterpart. The dependence of drive current and transconductance on uniaxial tensile strain introducing by mechanical bending is also discussed. A novel combined "hot-and-cold" TFT fabrication process is developed specifically for realizing a wide spectrum of micro-electronics that can exhibit RF performance and can be integrated on low-temperature plastic substrate. The "hot" process that consists of ion implant and high-temperature annealing for desired doping type, profile, and concentration is realized on the bulk SOI/SGOI substrates followed by the "cold" process that includes room-temperature silicon-monoxide (SiO) deposition as gate dielectric layer to ensure the process compatibility with low-temperature, low-cost plastics. With these developments flexible Si-membrane n-type RF TFTs for analog applications and complementary TFTs for digital applications are demonstrated for the first time. RF TFTs with 1.5-mum channel length have demonstrated record-high f T and fmax values of 2.04 and 7.8 GHz, respectively. A small-signal equivalent circuit model study on the RF TFTs reveals the physics of how device layout affects fT and f max, which paves the way for further performance optimization and realization of integrated circuit on flexible substrate in the future.

Suspended Integrated Strip-line Transition Design for Highly Integrated Radar Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

RF Circuit Design,” Second Edition, Pearson Education, 2009. 3. B. Ma, A. Chousseaud, and S . Toutain, “A new design of compact planar microstrip...technology. The measured results show good correlation to the simulated results with a return loss and insertion loss of less than 10 dB and greater...1) where is the cavity width, is the thickness of substrate 3, is the cavity height, and is the dielectric constant of substrate 3, and m/ s

Redefinition of the self-bias voltage in a dielectrically shielded thin sheath RF discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, Teck Seng; Charles, Christine; Boswell, Rod

2018-05-01

In a geometrically asymmetric capacitively coupled discharge where the powered electrode is shielded from the plasma by a layer of dielectric material, the self-bias manifests as a nonuniform negative charging in the dielectric rather than on the blocking capacitor. In the thin sheath regime where the ion transit time across the powered sheath is on the order of or less than the Radiofrequency (RF) period, the plasma potential is observed to respond asymmetrically to extraneous impedances in the RF circuit. Consequently, the RF waveform on the plasma-facing surface of the dielectric is unknown, and the behaviour of the powered sheath is not easily predictable. Sheath circuit models become inadequate for describing this class of discharges, and a comprehensive fluid, electrical, and plasma numerical model is employed to accurately quantify this behaviour. The traditional definition of the self-bias voltage as the mean of the RF waveform is shown to be erroneous in this regime. Instead, using the maxima of the RF waveform provides a more rigorous definition given its correlation with the ion dynamics in the powered sheath. This is supported by a RF circuit model derived from the computational fluid dynamics and plasma simulations.

RF waveguide phase-directed power combiners

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nantista, Christopher D.; Dolgashev, Valery A.; Tantawi, Sami G.

2017-05-02

High power RF phase-directed power combiners include magic H hybrid and/or superhybrid circuits oriented in orthogonal H-planes and connected using E-plane bends and/or twists to produce compact 3D waveguide circuits, including 8.times.8 and 16.times.16 combiners. Using phase control at the input ports, RF power can be directed to a single output port, enabling fast switching between output ports for applications such as multi-angle radiation therapy.

Systematic analysis of CMOS-micromachined inductors with application to mixer matching circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jerry Chun-Li

The growing demand for consumer voice and data communication systems and military communication applications has created a need for low-power, low-cost, high-performance radio-frequency (RF) front-end. To achieve this goal, bringing passive components, especially inductors, to silicon is imperative. On-chip passive components such as inductors and capacitors generally enhance the reliability and efficiency of silicon-integrated RF cells. They can provide circuit solutions with superior performance and contribute to a higher level of integration. With passive components on chip, there is a great opportunity to have transformers, filters, and matching networks on chip. However, inductors on silicon have a low quality factor (Q) due to both substrate and metal loss. This dissertation demonstrates the systematic analysis of inductors fabricated using standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) system technologies. We report system-on-chip inductor modeling, simulation, and measurements of effective inductance and quality factors. In this analysis methodology, a number of systematic simulations are performed on regular and micromachined inductors with different parameters such as spiral topology, number of turns, outer diameter, thickness, and percentage of substrate removed by using micromachining technologies. Three different novel support structures of the micromachined spiral inductor are proposed, analyzed, and implemented for larger size suspended inductors. The sensitivity of the structure support and different degree of substrate etching by post-processing is illustrated. The results provide guidelines for the selection of inductor parameters, post-processing methodologies, and its spiral supports to meet the RF design specifications and the stability requirements for mobile communication. The proposed CMOS-micromachined inductor is used in a low cost-effective double-balanced Gilbert mixer with on-chip matching network. The integrated mixer inductor was implemented and tested to prove the concept.

A modified quadrupole mass spectrometer with custom RF link rods driver for remote operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tashbar, P. W.; Nisen, D. B.; Moore, W. W., Jr.

1973-01-01

A commercial quadrupole residual gas analyzer system has been upgraded for operation at extended cable lengths. Operation inside a vacuum chamber for the standard quadrupole nude head is limited to approximately 2 m from its externally located rf/dc generator because of the detuning of the rf oscillator circuits by the coaxial cable reactance. The advance of long distance remote operation inside a vacuum chamber for distances of 45 and 60 m was made possible without altering the quadrupole's rf/dc generator circuit by employing an rf link to drive the quadrupole rods. Applications of the system have been accomplished for in situ space simulation thermal/vacuum testing of sophisticated payloads.

A flexible surface wetness sensor using a RFID technique.

PubMed

Yang, Cheng-Hao; Chien, Jui-Hung; Wang, Bo-Yan; Chen, Ping-Hei; Lee, Da-Sheng

2008-02-01

This paper presents a flexible wetness sensor whose detection signal, converted to a binary code, is transmitted through radio-frequency (RF) waves from a radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) to a remote reader. The flexible sensor, with a fixed operating frequency of 13.56 MHz, contains a RFID IC and a sensor circuit that is fabricated on a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) using a Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) process. The sensor circuit contains a comb-shaped sensing area surrounded by an octagonal antenna with a width of 2.7 cm. The binary code transmitted from the RFIC to the reader changes if the surface conditions of the detector surface changes from dry to wet. This variation in the binary code can be observed on a digital oscilloscope connected to the reader.

Characteristics of Radio-Frequency Circuits Utilizing Ferroelectric Capacitors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eskridge, Michael; Gui, Xiao; MacLeod, Todd; Ho, Fat D.

2011-01-01

Ferroelectric capacitors, most commonly used in memory circuits and variable components, were studied in simple analog radio-frequency circuits such as the RLC resonator and Colpitts oscillator. The goal was to characterize the RF circuits in terms of frequency of oscillation, gain, etc, using ferroelectric capacitors. Frequencies of oscillation of both circuits were measured and studied a more accurate resonant frequency can be obtained using the ferroelectric capacitors. Many experiments were conducted and data collected. A model to simulate the experimental results will be developed. Discrepancies in gain and frequency in these RF circuits when conventional capacitors are replaced with ferroelectric ones were studied. These results will enable circuit designers to anticipate the effects of using ferroelectric components in their radio- frequency applications.

Wirelessly powered microfluidic dielectrophoresis devices using printable RF circuits.

PubMed

Qiao, Wen; Cho, Gyoujin; Lo, Yu-Hwa

2011-03-21

We report the first microfluidic device integrated with a printed RF circuit so the device can be wirelessly powered by a commercially available RFID reader. For conventional dielectrophoresis devices, electrical wires are needed to connect the electric components on the microchip to external equipment such as power supplies, amplifiers, function generators, etc. Such a procedure is unfamiliar to most clinicians and pathologists who are used to working with a microscope for examination of samples on microscope slides. The wirelessly powered device reported here eliminates the entire need for wire attachments and external instruments so the operators can use the device in essentially the same manner as they do with microscope slides. The integrated circuit can be fabricated on a flexible plastic substrate at very low cost using a roll-to-roll printing method. Electrical power at 13.56 MHz transmitted by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader is inductively coupled to the printed RFIC and converted into 10 V DC (direct current) output, which provides sufficient power to drive a microfluidic device to manipulate biological particles such as beads and proteins via the DC dielectrophoresis (DC-DEP) effect. To our best knowledge, this is the first wirelessly powered microfluidic dielectrophoresis device. Although the work is preliminary, the device concept, the architecture, and the core technology are expected to stimulate many efforts in the future and transform the technology to a wide range of clinical and point-of-care applications. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

2.45 GHz Rectenna Designed for Wireless Sensors Operating at 500 C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ponchak, George E.; Schwartz, Zachary D.; Jordan, Jennifer L.; Downey, Alan N.; Neudeck, Philip G.

2004-01-01

High temperature wireless sensors that operate at 500 C are required for aircraft engine monitoring and performance improvement These sensors would replace currently used hard-wired sensors and lead to a substantial reduction in mass. However, even if the sensor output data is transmitted wirelessly to a receiver in the cooler part of the engine, and the associated cables are eliminated, DC power cables are still required to operate the sensors and power the wireless circuits. To solve this problem, NASA is developing a rectenna, a circuit that receives RF power and converts it to DC power. The rectenna would be integrated with the wireless sensor, and the RF transmitter that powers the rectenna would be located in the cooler part of the engine. In this way, no cables to or from the sensors are required. Rectennas haw been demonstrated at ambient room temperature, but to date, no high temperature rectennas haw been reported. In this paper, we report the first rectenna designed for 2.45 GHz operation at 500 C. The circuit consists of a microstrip dipole antenna, a stripline impedance matching circuit, and a stripline low pass filter to prevent transmission of higher harmonics created by the rectifying diode fabricated on an Alumina substrate. The rectifying diode is the gate to source junction of a 6H Sic MESFET and the capacitor and load resistor are chip elements that are each bonded to the Alumina substrate. Each element and the hybrid, rectenna circuit haw been characterized through 500 C.

Differential Resonant Ring YIG Tuned Oscillator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parrott, Ronald A.

2010-01-01

A differential SiGe oscillator circuit uses a resonant ring-oscillator topology in order to electronically tune the oscillator over multi-octave bandwidths. The oscillator s tuning is extremely linear, because the oscillator s frequency depends on the magnetic tuning of a YIG sphere, whose resonant frequency is equal to a fundamental constant times the DC magnetic field. This extremely simple circuit topology uses two coupling loops connecting a differential pair of SiGe bipolar transistors into a feedback configuration using a YIG tuned filter creating a closed-loop ring oscillator. SiGe device technology is used for this oscillator in order to keep the transistor s 1/f noise to an absolute minimum in order to achieve minimum RF phase noise. The single-end resonant ring oscillator currently has an advantage in fewer parts, but when the oscillation frequency is greater than 16 GHz, the package s parasitic behavior couples energy to the sphere and causes holes and poor phase noise performance. This is because the coupling to the YIG is extremely low, so that the oscillator operates at near the unloaded Q. With the differential resonant ring oscillator, the oscillation currents are just in the YIG coupling mechanisms. The phase noise is even better, and the physical size can be reduced to permit monolithic microwave integrated circuit oscillators. This invention is a YIG tuned oscillator circuit making use of a differential topology to simultaneously achieve an extremely broadband electronic tuning range and ultra-low phase noise. As a natural result of its differential circuit topology, all reactive elements, such as tuning stubs, which limit tuning bandwidth by contributing excessive open loop phase shift, have been eliminated. The differential oscillator s open-loop phase shift is associated with completely non-dispersive circuit elements such as the physical angle of the coupling loops, a differential loop crossover, and the high-frequency phase shift of the n-p-n transistors. At the input of the oscillator s feedback loop is a pair of differentially connected n-p-n SiGe transistors that provides extremely high gain, and because they are bulk-effect devices, extremely low 1/f noise (leading to ultralow RF phase noise). The 1/f corner frequency for n-p-n SiGe transistors is approximately 500 Hz. The RF energy from the transistor s collector output is connected directly to the top-coupling loop (the excitation loop) of a single-sphere YIG tuned filter. A uniform magnetic field to bias the YIG must be at a right angle to any vector associated with an RF current in a coupling loop in order for the precession to interact with the RF currents.

Electrically Tuneable EBG Integrated Circuits

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

Surface Wave Propagation Along a Modulated Microstrip -Line-Based High Impedance Surface,‖ IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagat., Vol. 56, No. 8, August...Heimlich, “Reconfigurable half- width microstrip leaky-wave antenna for fixed-frequency beam scanning”, Proceedings of 7th IEEE European Conference...patches, the structure would be an ideal microstrip configuration. Tuning is accomplished by using a pair of RF/microwave switches at opposite ends

Ground Isolation Circuit for Isolating a Transmission Line from Ground Interference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidson, Craig A. (Inventor)

1996-01-01

This invention relates generally to a system for isolating ground interference from a transmission line, e.g., a ground isolation circuit for isolating a wideband transmission signal (such as a video signal) from ground by modulating the base signal on a carrier signal to permit the transmission signal to be isolated. In one embodiment, the circuit includes a pair of matched mixer circuits, each of which receives a carrier signal from the same oscillator circuit. The first mixer circuit also receives the baseband signal input, after appropriate conditioning, and modulates the baseband signal onto the carrier signal. In a preferred embodiment the carrier signal has a predetermined frequency which is at least two times the frequency of the baseband signal. The modulated signal (which can comprise an rf signal) is transmitted via an rf transmission line to the second mixer, which demodulates the rf signal to recover the baseband signal. Each port of the mixer connects to an isolation transformer to ensure isolation from ground interference. The circuit is considered to be of commercial value in that it can provide isolation between transmitting and receiving circuits, e.g., ground isolation for television circuits or high frequency transmitters, without the need for video transformers or optical isolators, thereby reducing the complexity, power consumption, and weight of the system.

Equivalent circuit of radio frequency-plasma with the transformer model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishida, K.; Mochizuki, S.; Ohta, M.; Yasumoto, M.; Lettry, J.; Mattei, S.; Hatayama, A.

2014-02-01

LINAC4 H- source is radio frequency (RF) driven type source. In the RF system, it is required to match the load impedance, which includes H- source, to that of final amplifier. We model RF plasma inside the H- source as circuit elements using transformer model so that characteristics of the load impedance become calculable. It has been shown that the modeling based on the transformer model works well to predict the resistance and inductance of the plasma.

An Energy-Efficient ASIC for Wireless Body Sensor Networks in Medical Applications.

PubMed

Xiaoyu Zhang; Hanjun Jiang; Lingwei Zhang; Chun Zhang; Zhihua Wang; Xinkai Chen

2010-02-01

An energy-efficient application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) featured with a work-on-demand protocol is designed for wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) in medical applications. Dedicated for ultra-low-power wireless sensor nodes, the ASIC consists of a low-power microcontroller unit (MCU), a power-management unit (PMU), reconfigurable sensor interfaces, communication ports controlling a wireless transceiver, and an integrated passive radio-frequency (RF) receiver with energy harvesting ability. The MCU, together with the PMU, provides quite flexible communication and power-control modes for energy-efficient operations. The always-on passive RF receiver with an RF energy harvesting block offers the sensor nodes the capability of work-on-demand with zero standby power. Fabricated in standard 0.18-¿m complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology, the ASIC occupies a die area of 2 mm × 2.5 mm. A wireless body sensor network sensor-node prototype using this ASIC only consumes < 10-nA current under the passive standby mode, and < 10 ¿A under the active standby mode, when supplied by a 3-V battery.

Delta Modulation Technique for Improving the Sensitivity of Monobit Subsamplers in Radar and Coherent Receiver Applications

DOE PAGES

Rodenbeck, Christopher T.; Tracey, Keith J.; Barkley, Keith R.; ...

2014-08-01

This paper introduces a technique for improving the sensitivity of RF subsamplers in radar and coherent receiver applications. The technique, referred to herein as “delta modulation” (DM), feeds the time-average output of a monobit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) back to the ADC input, but with opposite polarity. Assuming pseudo-stationary modulation statistics on the sampled RF waveform, the feedback signal corrects for aggregate DC offsets present in the ADC that otherwise degrade ADC sensitivity. Two RF integrated circuits (RFICs) are designed to demonstrate the approach. One uses analog DM to create the feedback signal; the other uses digital DM to achieve themore » same result. A series of tests validates the designs. The dynamic time-domain response confirms the feedback loop’s basic operation. Measured output quantization imbalance, under noise-only input drive, significantly improves with the use of the DM circuit, even for large, deliberately induced DC offsets and wide temperature variation from -55°C to +85 °C. Examination of the corrected vs. uncorrected baseband spectrum under swept input signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) conditions demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach for realistic radar and coherent receiver applications. In conclusion, two-tone testing shows no impact of the DM technique on ADC linearity.« less

Microfabricated cylindrical ion trap

DOEpatents

Blain, Matthew G.

2005-03-22

A microscale cylindrical ion trap, having an inner radius of order one micron, can be fabricated using surface micromachining techniques and materials known to the integrated circuits manufacturing and microelectromechanical systems industries. Micromachining methods enable batch fabrication, reduced manufacturing costs, dimensional and positional precision, and monolithic integration of massive arrays of ion traps with microscale ion generation and detection devices. Massive arraying enables the microscale cylindrical ion trap to retain the resolution, sensitivity, and mass range advantages necessary for high chemical selectivity. The microscale CIT has a reduced ion mean free path, allowing operation at higher pressures with less expensive and less bulky vacuum pumping system, and with lower battery power than conventional- and miniature-sized ion traps. The reduced electrode voltage enables integration of the microscale cylindrical ion trap with on-chip integrated circuit-based rf operation and detection electronics (i.e., cell phone electronics). Therefore, the full performance advantages of microscale cylindrical ion traps can be realized in truly field portable, handheld microanalysis systems.

Investigation of Fully Three-Dimensional Helical RF Field Effects on TWT Beam/Circuit Interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kory, Carol L.

2000-01-01

A fully three-dimensional (3D), time-dependent, helical traveling wave-tube (TWT) interaction model has been developed using the electromagnetic particle-in-cell (PIC) code MAFIA. The model includes a short section of helical slow-wave circuit with excitation fed by RF input/output couplers, and electron beam contained by periodic permanent magnet (PPM) focusing. All components of the model are simulated in three dimensions allowing the effects of the fully 3D helical fields on RF circuit/beam interaction to be investigated for the first time. The development of the interaction model is presented, and predicted TWT performance using 2.5D and 3D models is compared to investigate the effect of conventional approximations used in TWT analyses.

A low-power RFID integrated circuits for intelligent healthcare systems.

PubMed

Lee, Shuenn-Yuh; Wang, Liang-Hung; Fang, Qiang

2010-11-01

This paper presents low-power radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology for intelligent healthcare systems. With attention to power-efficient communication in the body sensor network, RF power transfer was estimated and the required low-power ICs, which are important in the development of a healthcare system with miniaturization and system integration, are discussed based on the RFID platform. To analyze the power transformation, this paper adopts a 915-MHz industrial, scientific, and medical RF with a radiation power of 70 mW to estimate the power loss under the 1-m communication distance between an RFID reader (bioinformation node) and a transponder (biosignal acquisition nodes). The low-power ICs of the transponder will be implemented in the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process. The simulation result reveals that the transponder's IC can fit in with the link budget of the UHF RFID system.

S-MMICs: Sub-mm-Wave Transistors and Integrated Circuits

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

Research Lab BAA DAAD19-03-R-0017 Research area 2.35: RF devices—Dr. Alfred Hung Submitted by: Mark Rodwell, Department of Electrical and Computer ...MOTIVATION / APPLICATION 3 TECHNOLOGY STATUS 4 TRANSISTOR SCALING LAWS 5 256 NM GENERATION 6 HBT POWER AMPLIFIER DEVELOPMENT 7 DRY-ETCHED EMITTER...TECHNOLOGY: 256 NM GENERATION 9 SCALED EPITAXY 11 CONCLUSIONS 12 20081103013 Executive Summary Transistor and power amplifier IC technology was

Study of G-S/D underlap for enhanced analog performance and RF/circuit analysis of UTB InAs-OI-Si MOSFET using NQS small signal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maity, Subir Kumar; Pandit, Soumya

2017-01-01

InGaAs (and its variant) appears to be a promising channel material for high-performance, low-power scaled CMOS applications due to its excellent carrier transport properties. However, MOS transistors made of this suffer from poor electrostatic integrity. In this work, we consider an underlap ultra thin body (UTB) InAs-on-Insulator n-channel MOS transistor, and study the effect of varying the gate-source/drain (G-S/D) underlap length on the analog performance of the device with the help of technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation, calibrated with Schrodinger-Poisson solver and experimental results. The underlap technique improves the gate electrostatic integrity which in turn improves the analog performance. We develop a non-quasi-static (NQS) small signal equivalent circuit model of the device which is used for study of the RF performance. With increase of the underlap length, the unity gain cut-off frequency degrades and the maximum oscillation frequency improves beyond a certain value of the underlap length. We further study the gain-frequency response of a common source amplifier using the NQS model, through SPICE simulation and observe that the voltage gain and the gain bandwidth improves.

Plasma Switch for High-Power Active Pulse Compressor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirshfield, Jay L.

2013-11-04

Results are presented from experiments carried out at the Naval Research Laboratory X-band magnicon facility on a two-channel X-band active RF pulse compressor that employed plasma switches. Experimental evidence is shown to validate the basic goals of the project, which include: simultaneous firing of plasma switches in both channels of the RF circuit, operation of quasi-optical 3-dB hybrid directional coupler coherent superposition of RF compressed pulses from both channels, and operation of the X-band magnicon directly in the RF pulse compressor. For incident 1.2 ?s pulses in the range 0.63 ? 1.35 MW, compressed pulses of peak powers 5.7 ?more » 11.3 MW were obtained, corresponding to peak power gain ratios of 8.3 ? 9.3. Insufficient bakeout and conditioning of the high-power RF circuit prevented experiments from being conducted at higher RF input power levels.« less

Active integrated filters for RF-photonic channelizers.

PubMed

El Nagdi, Amr; Liu, Ke; LaFave, Tim P; Hunt, Louis R; Ramakrishna, Viswanath; Dabkowski, Mieczyslaw; MacFarlane, Duncan L; Christensen, Marc P

2011-01-01

A theoretical study of RF-photonic channelizers using four architectures formed by active integrated filters with tunable gains is presented. The integrated filters are enabled by two- and four-port nano-photonic couplers (NPCs). Lossless and three individual manufacturing cases with high transmission, high reflection, and symmetric couplers are assumed in the work. NPCs behavior is dependent upon the phenomenon of frustrated total internal reflection. Experimentally, photonic channelizers are fabricated in one single semiconductor chip on multi-quantum well epitaxial InP wafers using conventional microelectronics processing techniques. A state space modeling approach is used to derive the transfer functions and analyze the stability of these filters. The ability of adapting using the gains is demonstrated. Our simulation results indicate that the characteristic bandpass and notch filter responses of each structure are the basis of channelizer architectures, and optical gain may be used to adjust filter parameters to obtain a desired frequency magnitude response, especially in the range of 1-5 GHz for the chip with a coupler separation of ∼9 mm. Preliminarily, the measurement of spectral response shows enhancement of quality factor by using higher optical gains. The present compact active filters on an InP-based integrated photonic circuit hold the potential for a variety of channelizer applications. Compared to a pure RF channelizer, photonic channelizers may perform both channelization and down-conversion in an optical domain.

Systemic Nicotine Increases Gain and Narrows Receptive Fields in A1 via Integrated Cortical and Subcortical Actions

PubMed Central

Intskirveli, Irakli

2017-01-01

Abstract Nicotine enhances sensory and cognitive processing via actions at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), yet the precise circuit- and systems-level mechanisms remain unclear. In sensory cortex, nicotinic modulation of receptive fields (RFs) provides a model to probe mechanisms by which nAChRs regulate cortical circuits. Here, we examine RF modulation in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) using a novel electrophysiological approach: current-source density (CSD) analysis of responses to tone-in-notched-noise (TINN) acoustic stimuli. TINN stimuli consist of a tone at the characteristic frequency (CF) of the recording site embedded within a white noise stimulus filtered to create a spectral “notch” of variable width centered on CF. Systemic nicotine (2.1 mg/kg) enhanced responses to the CF tone and to narrow-notch stimuli, yet reduced the response to wider-notch stimuli, indicating increased response gain within a narrowed RF. Subsequent manipulations showed that modulation of cortical RFs by systemic nicotine reflected effects at several levels in the auditory pathway: nicotine suppressed responses in the auditory midbrain and thalamus, with suppression increasing with spectral distance from CF so that RFs became narrower, and facilitated responses in the thalamocortical pathway, while nicotinic actions within A1 further contributed to both suppression and facilitation. Thus, multiple effects of systemic nicotine integrate along the ascending auditory pathway. These actions at nAChRs in cortical and subcortical circuits, which mimic effects of auditory attention, likely contribute to nicotinic enhancement of sensory and cognitive processing. PMID:28660244

Systemic Nicotine Increases Gain and Narrows Receptive Fields in A1 via Integrated Cortical and Subcortical Actions.

PubMed

Askew, Caitlin; Intskirveli, Irakli; Metherate, Raju

2017-01-01

Nicotine enhances sensory and cognitive processing via actions at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), yet the precise circuit- and systems-level mechanisms remain unclear. In sensory cortex, nicotinic modulation of receptive fields (RFs) provides a model to probe mechanisms by which nAChRs regulate cortical circuits. Here, we examine RF modulation in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) using a novel electrophysiological approach: current-source density (CSD) analysis of responses to tone-in-notched-noise (TINN) acoustic stimuli. TINN stimuli consist of a tone at the characteristic frequency (CF) of the recording site embedded within a white noise stimulus filtered to create a spectral "notch" of variable width centered on CF. Systemic nicotine (2.1 mg/kg) enhanced responses to the CF tone and to narrow-notch stimuli, yet reduced the response to wider-notch stimuli, indicating increased response gain within a narrowed RF. Subsequent manipulations showed that modulation of cortical RFs by systemic nicotine reflected effects at several levels in the auditory pathway: nicotine suppressed responses in the auditory midbrain and thalamus, with suppression increasing with spectral distance from CF so that RFs became narrower, and facilitated responses in the thalamocortical pathway, while nicotinic actions within A1 further contributed to both suppression and facilitation. Thus, multiple effects of systemic nicotine integrate along the ascending auditory pathway. These actions at nAChRs in cortical and subcortical circuits, which mimic effects of auditory attention, likely contribute to nicotinic enhancement of sensory and cognitive processing.

Investigation of high sensitivity radio-frequency readout circuit based on AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiao-Yu; Tan, Ren-Bing; Sun, Jian-Dong; Li, Xin-Xing; Zhou, Yu; Lü, Li; Qin, Hua

2015-10-01

An AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) device is prepared by using a semiconductor nanofabrication process. A reflective radio-frequency (RF) readout circuit is designed and the HEMT device is assembled in an RF circuit through a coplanar waveguide transmission line. A gate capacitor of the HEMT and a surface-mounted inductor on the transmission line are formed to generate LC resonance. By tuning the gate voltage Vg, the variations of gate capacitance and conductance of the HEMT are reflected sensitively from the resonance frequency and the magnitude of the RF reflection signal. The aim of the designed RF readout setup is to develop a highly sensitive HEMT-based detector. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61107093), the Suzhou Science and Technology Project, China (Grant No. ZXG2012024), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 2012243).

A microfluidic microprocessor: controlling biomimetic containers and cells using hybrid integrated circuit/microfluidic chips.

PubMed

Issadore, David; Franke, Thomas; Brown, Keith A; Westervelt, Robert M

2010-11-07

We present an integrated platform for performing biological and chemical experiments on a chip based on standard CMOS technology. We have developed a hybrid integrated circuit (IC)/microfluidic chip that can simultaneously control thousands of living cells and pL volumes of fluid, enabling a wide variety of chemical and biological tasks. Taking inspiration from cellular biology, phospholipid bilayer vesicles are used as robust picolitre containers for reagents on the chip. The hybrid chip can be programmed to trap, move, and porate individual living cells and vesicles and fuse and deform vesicles using electric fields. The IC spatially patterns electric fields in a microfluidic chamber using 128 × 256 (32,768) 11 × 11 μm(2) metal pixels, each of which can be individually driven with a radio frequency (RF) voltage. The chip's basic functions can be combined in series to perform complex biological and chemical tasks and can be performed in parallel on the chip's many pixels for high-throughput operations. The hybrid chip operates in two distinct modes, defined by the frequency of the RF voltage applied to the pixels: Voltages at MHz frequencies are used to trap, move, and deform objects using dielectrophoresis and voltages at frequencies below 1 kHz are used for electroporation and electrofusion. This work represents an important step towards miniaturizing the complex chemical and biological experiments used for diagnostics and research onto automated and inexpensive chips.

Design and implementation of a low-power SOI CMOS receiver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zencir, Ertan

There is a strong demand for wireless communications in civilian and military applications, and space explorations. This work attempts to implement a low-power, high-performance fully-integrated receiver for deep space communications using Silicon on Insulator (SOI) CMOS technology. Design and implementation of a UHF low-IF receiver front-end in a 0.35-mum SOI CMOS technology are presented. Problems and challenges in implementing a highly integrated receiver at UHF are identified. Low-IF architecture, suitable for low-power design, has been adopted to mitigate the noise at the baseband. Design issues of the receiver building blocks including single-ended and differential LNA's, passive and active mixers, and variable gain/bandwidth complex filters are discussed. The receiver is designed to have a variable conversion gain of more than 100 dB with a 70 dB image rejection and a power dissipation of 45 mW from a 2.5-V supply. Design and measured performance of the LNA's, and the mixer are presented. Measurement results of RF front-end blocks including a single-ended LNA, a differential LNA, and a double-balanced mixer demonstrate the low power realizability of RF front-end circuits in SOI CMOS technology. We also report on the design and simulation of the image-rejecting complex IF filter and the full receiver circuit. Gain, noise, and linearity performance of the receiver components prove the viability of fully integrated low-power receivers in SOI CMOS technology.

Advanced RF Sources Based on Novel Nonlinear Transmission Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-26

microwave (HPM) sources. It is also critical to thin film devices and integrated circuits, carbon nanotube based cathodes and interconnects, field emitters ... line model (TLM) in Fig. 6b. Our model is compared with TLM, shown in Fig. 7a. When the interface resistance rc is small, TLM becomes inaccurate...due to current crowding. Fig. 6. (a) Electrical contact including specific interfacial resistivity ρc, and (b) its transmission line model

Planar Submillimeter-Wave Mixer Technology with Integrated Antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chattopadhyay, Gautam; Mehdi, Imran; Gill, John J.; Lee, Choonsup; lombart, Muria L.; Thomas, Betrand

2010-01-01

High-performance mixers at terahertz frequencies require good matching between the coupling circuits such as antennas and local oscillators and the diode embedding impedance. With the availability of amplifiers at submillimeter wavelengths and the need to have multi-pixel imagers and cameras, planar mixer architecture is required to have an integrated system. An integrated mixer with planar antenna provides a compact and optimized design at terahertz frequencies. Moreover, it leads to a planar architecture that enables efficient interconnect with submillimeter-wave amplifiers. In this architecture, a planar slot antenna is designed on a thin gallium arsenide (GaAs) membrane in such a way that the beam on either side of the membrane is symmetric and has good beam profile with high coupling efficiency. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) coupled Schottky diode mixer is designed and integrated with the antenna. In this architecture, the local oscillator (LO) is coupled through one side of the antenna and the RF from the other side, without requiring any beam sp litters or diplexers. The intermediate frequency (IF) comes out on a 50-ohm CPW line at the edge of the mixer chip, which can be wire-bonded to external circuits. This unique terahertz mixer has an integrated single planar antenna for coupling both the radio frequency (RF) input and LO injection without any diplexer or beamsplitters. The design utilizes novel planar slot antenna architecture on a 3- mthick GaAs membrane. This work is required to enable future multi-pixel terahertz receivers for astrophysics missions, and lightweight and compact receivers for planetary missions to the outer planets in our solar system. Also, this technology can be used in tera hertz radar imaging applications as well as for testing of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs).

Microelectronic bioinstrumentation systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, W. H.

1976-01-01

Progress was made in the development of an RF cage, a single channel RF powered ECG telemetry system, and a three channel RF powered ECG, aortic blood pressure, and body temperature telemetry system. Encapsulation materials for chronic implantation of electronic circuits in the body were also evaluated.

MEMS switches having non-metallic crossbeams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scardelletti, Maximillian C (Inventor)

2009-01-01

A RF MEMS switch comprising a crossbeam of SiC, supported by at least one leg above a substrate and above a plurality of transmission lines forming a CPW. Bias is provided by at least one layer of metal disposed on a top surface of the SiC crossbeam, such as a layer of chromium followed by a layer of gold, and extending beyond the switch to a biasing pad on the substrate. The switch utilizes stress and conductivity-controlled non-metallic thin cantilevers or bridges, thereby improving the RF characteristics and operational reliability of the switch. The switch can be fabricated with conventional silicon integrated circuit (IC) processing techniques. The design of the switch is very versatile and can be implemented in many transmission line mediums.

Spiral Chip Implantable Radiator and Printed Loop External Receptor for RF Telemetry in Bio-Sensor Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simons, Rainee N.; Hall, David G.; Miranda, Felix A.

2004-01-01

The paper describes the operation of a patented wireless RF telemetry system, consisting of a bio-MEMS implantable sensor and an external hand held unit, operating over the frequency range of few hundreds of MHz. A MEMS capacitive pressure sensor integrated with a miniature inductor/antenna together constitute the implantable sensor. Signal processing circuits collocated with a printed loop antenna together form the hand held unit, capable of inductively powering and also receiving the telemetry signals from the sensor. The paper in addition, demonstrates a technique to enhance the quality factor and inductance of the inductor in the presence of a lower ground plane and also presents the radiation characteristics of the loop antenna.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, R.; Lu, R.; Gong, S.

We demonstrate a room-temperature semiconductor-based photodetector where readout is achieved using a resonant radio-frequency (RF) circuit consisting of a microstrip split-ring resonator coupled to a microstrip busline, fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. The RF resonant circuits are characterized at RF frequencies as function of resonator geometry, as well as for their response to incident IR radiation. The detectors are modeled analytically and using commercial simulation software, with good agreement to our experimental results. Though the detector sensitivity is weak, the detector architecture offers the potential for multiplexing arrays of detectors on a single read-out line, in addition to high speedmore » response for either direct coupling of optical signals to RF circuitry, or alternatively, carrier dynamics characterization of semiconductor, or other, material systems.« less

FinFET and UTBB for RF SOI communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raskin, Jean-Pierre

2016-11-01

Performance of RF integrated circuit (IC) is directly linked to the analog and high frequency characteristics of the transistors, the quality of the back-end of line process as well as the electromagnetic properties of the substrate. Thanks to the introduction of the trap-rich high-resistivity Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) substrate on the market, the ICs requirements in term of linearity are fulfilled. Today partially depleted SOI MOSFET is the mainstream technology for RF SOI systems. Future generations of mobile communication systems will require transistors with better high frequency performance at lower power consumption. The advanced MOS transistors in competition are FinFET and Ultra Thin Body and Buried oxide (UTBB) SOI MOSFETs. Both devices have been intensively studied these last years. Most of the reported data concern their digital performance. In this paper, their analog/RF behavior is described and compared. Both show similar characteristics in terms of transconductance, Early voltage, voltage gain, self-heating issue but UTBB outperforms FinFET in terms of cutoff frequencies thanks to their relatively lower fringing parasitic capacitances.

Low-current traveling wave tube for use in the microwave power module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palmer, Raymond W.; Ramins, Peter; Force, Dale A.; Dayton, James A.; Ebihara, Ben T.; Gruber, Robert P.

1993-01-01

The results of a traveling-wave-tube/multistage depressed-collector (TWT-MDC) design study in support of the Advanced Research Projects Agency/Department of Defense (ARPA/DOD) Microwave Power Module (MPM) Program are described. The study stressed the possible application of dynamic and other tapers to the RF output circuit of the MPM traveling wave tube as a means of increasing the RF and overall efficiencies and reducing the required beam current (perveance). The results indicate that a highly efficient, modified dynamic velocity taper (DVT) circuit can be designed for the broadband MPM application. The combination of reduced cathode current (lower perveance) and increased RF efficiency leads to (1) a substantially higher overall efficiency and reduction in the prime power to the MPM, and (2) substantially reduced levels of MDC and MPM heat dissipation, which simplify the cooling problems. However, the selected TWT circuit parameters need to be validated by cold test measurements on actual circuits.

An RF Energy Harvester System Using UHF Micropower CMOS Rectifier Based on a Diode Connected CMOS Transistor

PubMed Central

Shokrani, Mohammad Reza; Hamidon, Mohd Nizar B.; Rokhani, Fakhrul Zaman; Shafie, Suhaidi Bin

2014-01-01

This paper presents a new type diode connected MOS transistor to improve CMOS conventional rectifier's performance in RF energy harvester systems for wireless sensor networks in which the circuits are designed in 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS technology. The proposed diode connected MOS transistor uses a new bulk connection which leads to reduction in the threshold voltage and leakage current; therefore, it contributes to increment of the rectifier's output voltage, output current, and efficiency when it is well important in the conventional CMOS rectifiers. The design technique for the rectifiers is explained and a matching network has been proposed to increase the sensitivity of the proposed rectifier. Five-stage rectifier with a matching network is proposed based on the optimization. The simulation results shows 18.2% improvement in the efficiency of the rectifier circuit and increase in sensitivity of RF energy harvester circuit. All circuits are designed in 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS technology. PMID:24782680

An RF energy harvester system using UHF micropower CMOS rectifier based on a diode connected CMOS transistor.

PubMed

Shokrani, Mohammad Reza; Khoddam, Mojtaba; Hamidon, Mohd Nizar B; Kamsani, Noor Ain; Rokhani, Fakhrul Zaman; Shafie, Suhaidi Bin

2014-01-01

This paper presents a new type diode connected MOS transistor to improve CMOS conventional rectifier's performance in RF energy harvester systems for wireless sensor networks in which the circuits are designed in 0.18  μm TSMC CMOS technology. The proposed diode connected MOS transistor uses a new bulk connection which leads to reduction in the threshold voltage and leakage current; therefore, it contributes to increment of the rectifier's output voltage, output current, and efficiency when it is well important in the conventional CMOS rectifiers. The design technique for the rectifiers is explained and a matching network has been proposed to increase the sensitivity of the proposed rectifier. Five-stage rectifier with a matching network is proposed based on the optimization. The simulation results shows 18.2% improvement in the efficiency of the rectifier circuit and increase in sensitivity of RF energy harvester circuit. All circuits are designed in 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS technology.

Automatic arc welding of propulsion system tubing in close proximity to sensitive electronic devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lumsden, J. M.; Whittlesey, A. C.

1981-01-01

The planned final assembly of the Galileo spacecraft propulsion system tubing, which involves welding in close proximity to sensitive electronics, raised significant concerns about the effects of electromagnetic coupling of weld energy on CMOS and other sensitive integrated circuits. A test program was established to assess the potential of an orbital arc welder and an RF-induction brazing machine to damage sensitive electronic equipment. Test parameters were varied to assess the effectiveness of typical transient suppression practices such as grounding, bonding, and shielding. A technique was developed to calibrate the hazard levels at the victim-circuit location; this technique is described along with the results and conclusions of the test program.

A simple device for long-term radar cross section recordings.

PubMed

Eskelinen, Pekka; Ruoskanen, Jukka; Peltonen, Jouni

2009-05-01

A sample and hold circuit with settable delay can be used for recording of radar echo amplitude variations having time scales up to 100 s at the selected range bin in systems utilizing short rf pulses. The design is based on two integrated circuits and gives 1% uncertainty for 70 ns pulses. The key benefit is a real-time display of lengthy amplitude variations because the sample rate is defined by the radar pulse repetition frequency. Additionally we get a reduction in file size at least by the inverse of the radar's duty cycle. Examples of 10 and 100 s recordings with a Ka-band short pulse radar are described.

MEMS based ion beams for fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persaud, A.; Seidl, P. A.; Ji, Q.; Waldron, W. L.; Schenkel, T.; Ardanuc, S.; Vinayakumar, K. B.; Schaffer, Z. A.; Lal, A.

2016-10-01

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication provides an exciting opportunity to shrink existing accelerator concepts to smaller sizes and to reduce cost by orders of magnitude. We revisit the concept of a Multiple Electrostatic Quadrupole Array Linear Accelerator (MEQALAC) and show how, with current technologies, the concept can be downsized from gap distances of several cm to distances in the sub-mm regime. The basic concept implements acceleration gaps using radio frequency (RF) fields and electrostatic quadrupoles (ESQ) on silicon wafers. First results from proof-of-concept experiments using printed circuit boards to realize the MEQALAC structures are presented. We show results from accelerating structures that were used in an array of nine (3x3) parallel beamlets with He ions at 15 keV. We will also present results from an ESQ focusing lattice using the same beamlet layout showing beam transport and matching. We also will discuss our progress in fabricating MEMS devices in silicon wafers for both the RF and ESQ structures and integration of necessary RF-circuits on-chip. The concept can be scaled up to thousands of beamlets providing high power beams at low cost and can be used to form and compress a plasma for the development of magnetized target fusion approaches. This work was supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy through the ARPA-e ALPHA program under contracts DE-AC0205CH11231 (LBNL).

T-gate aligned nanotube radio frequency transistors and circuits with superior performance.

PubMed

Che, Yuchi; Lin, Yung-Chen; Kim, Pyojae; Zhou, Chongwu

2013-05-28

In this paper, we applied self-aligned T-gate design to aligned carbon nanotube array transistors and achieved an extrinsic current-gain cutoff frequency (ft) of 25 GHz, which is the best on-chip performance for nanotube radio frequency (RF) transistors reported to date. Meanwhile, an intrinsic current-gain cutoff frequency up to 102 GHz is obtained, comparable to the best value reported for nanotube RF transistors. Armed with the excellent extrinsic RF performance, we performed both single-tone and two-tone measurements for aligned nanotube transistors at a frequency up to 8 GHz. Furthermore, we utilized T-gate aligned nanotube transistors to construct mixing and frequency doubling analog circuits operated in gigahertz frequency regime. Our results confirm the great potential of nanotube-based circuit applications and indicate that nanotube transistors are promising building blocks in high-frequency electronics.

Development of a Self Powered Vehicle Detector

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-10-01

Low Power RFTelemetry Link, Audio Tone kncoder/Decoder, 9mn’dlrectional Microstrip Antenna, RF Oscillator , RF Transmitter, Battery/ Solar Cell Tests...tuned Colpitts oscillator using a fundamental mode crystal, a reactance modulator (varactor diode), and a collector tank circuit tuned to the second...papers discussing this type of VCXO. The basic Colpitts oscillator equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 29 having a collector tank tuned to the 2nd

Coherent optical monolithic phased-array antenna steering system

DOEpatents

Hietala, Vincent M.; Kravitz, Stanley H.; Vawter, Gregory A.

1994-01-01

An optical-based RF beam steering system for phased-array antennas comprising a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The system is based on optical heterodyning employed to produce microwave phase shifting by a monolithic PIC constructed entirely of passive components. Microwave power and control signal distribution to the antenna is accomplished by optical fiber, permitting physical separation of the PIC and its control functions from the antenna. The system reduces size, weight, complexity, and cost of phased-array antenna systems.

A terahertz performance of hybrid single walled CNT based amplifier with analytical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sandeep; Song, Hanjung

2018-01-01

This work is focuses on terahertz performance of hybrid single walled carbon nanotube (CNT) based amplifier and proposed for measurement of soil parameters application. The proposed circuit topology provides hybrid structure which achieves wide impedance bandwidth of 0.33 THz within range of 1.07-THz to 1.42-THz with fractional amount of 28%. The single walled RF CNT network executes proposed ambition and proves its ability to resonant at 1.25-THz with analytical approach. Moreover, a RF based microstrip transmission line radiator used as compensator in the circuit topology which achieves more than 30 dB of gain. A proper methodology is chosen for achieves stability at circuit level in order to obtain desired optimal conditions. The fundamental approach optimizes matched impedance condition at (50+j0) Ω and noise variation with impact of series resistances for the proposed hybrid circuit topology and demonstrates the accuracy of performance parameters at the circuit level. The chip fabrication of the proposed circuit by using RF based commercial CMOS process of 45 nm which reveals promising results with simulation one. Additionally, power measurement analysis achieves highest output power of 26 dBm with power added efficiency of 78%. The succeed minimum noise figure from 0.6 dB to 0.4 dB is outstanding achievement for circuit topology at terahertz range. The chip area of hybrid circuit is 0.65 mm2 and power consumption of 9.6 mW.

RF surface receive array coils: the art of an LC circuit.

PubMed

Fujita, Hiroyuki; Zheng, Tsinghua; Yang, Xiaoyu; Finnerty, Matthew J; Handa, Shinya

2013-07-01

The radiofrequency (RF) receive array coil is a complicated device with many inductors and capacitors and serves as one of the most critical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) electronic devices. It directly determines the achievable level of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Simply put, however, the RF coil is nothing but an LC circuit. The receive array coil was first proposed more than 20 years ago, evolving from a simple arrangement with a few electronic channels to a complicated system of 128 channels, enabling highly sophisticated parallel imaging, at different field strengths. This article summarizes the basic concepts pertaining to RF receive coil arrays and their associated SNR and reviews the theories behind the major components of such arrays. This includes discussions of the intrinsic SNR of a receive coil, the matching circuits, low-noise preamplifiers, coupling/decoupling amongst coils, the coupling between receive and transmit coils, decoupling via preamplifiers, and baluns. An 8-channel receive array coil on a cylindrical former serves as a useful example for demonstrating various points in the review. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design of 2.4Ghz CMOS Floating Active Inductor LNA using 130nm Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muhamad, M.; Soin, N.; Ramiah, H.

2018-03-01

This paper presents about design and optimization of CMOS active inductor integrated circuit. This active inductor implements using Silterra 0.13μm technology and simulated using Cadence Virtuoso and Spectre RF. The center frequency for this active inductor is at 2.4 GHz which follow IEEE 802.11 b/g/n standard. To reduce the chip size of silicon, active inductor is used instead of passive inductor at low noise amplifier LNA circuit. This inductor test and analyse by low noise amplifier circuit. Comparison between active with passive inductor based on LNA circuit has been performed. Result shown that the active inductor has significantly reduce the chip size with 73 % area without sacrificing the noise figure and gain of LNA which is the most important criteria in LNA. The best low noise amplifier provides a power gain (S21) of 20.7 dB with noise figure (NF) of 2.1dB.

Computational Investigation of Helical Traveling Wave Tube Transverse RF Field Forces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kory, Carol L.; Dayton, James A.

1998-01-01

In a previous study using a fully three-dimensional (3D) helical slow-wave circuit cold- test model it was found, contrary to classical helical circuit analyses, that transverse FF electric fields have significant amplitudes compared with the longitudinal component. The RF fields obtained using this helical cold-test model have been scaled to correspond to those of an actual TWT. At the output of the tube, RF field forces reach 61%, 26% and 132% for radial, azimuthal and longitudinal components, respectively, compared to radial space charge forces indicating the importance of considering them in the design of electron beam focusing.

On the mechanisms of interference between mobile phones and pacemakers: parasitic demodulation of GSM signal by the sensing amplifier.

PubMed

Barbaro, V; Bartolini, P; Calcagnini, G; Censi, F; Beard, B; Ruggera, P; Witters, D

2003-06-07

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which the radiated radiofrequency (RF) GSM (global system for mobile communication) signal may affect pacemaker (PM) function. We measured the signal at the output of the sensing amplifier of PMs with various configurations of low-pass filters. We used three versions of the same PM model: one with a block capacitor which short circuits high-frequency signals; one with a ceramic feedthrough capacitor, a hermetically sealed mechanism connecting the internal electronics to the external connection block, and one with both. The PMs had been modified to have an electrical shielded connection to the output of the sensing amplifier. For each PM, the output of the sensing amplifier was monitored under exposure to modulated and non-modulated RF signals, and to GSM signals (900 and 1800 MHz). Non-modulated RF signals did not alter the response of the PM sensing amplifier. Modulated RF signals showed that the block capacitor did not succeed in short circuiting the RF signal, which is somehow demodulated by the PM internal non-linear circuit elements. Such a demodulation phenomenon poses a critical problem because digital cellular phones use extremely low-frequency modulation (as low as 2 Hz). which can be mistaken for normal heartbeat.

Three-dimensional simulation of helix traveling-wave tube cold-test characteristics using MAFIA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kory, C.L.

1996-12-31

A critically important step in the traveling-wave tube (TWT) design process is the cold-testing of the slow-wave circuit for dispersion, beam interaction impedance and RF losses. Experimental cold-tests can be very time-consuming and expensive, thus limiting the freedom to examine numerous variations to the test circuit. This makes the need for computational methods crucial as they can lower cost, reduce tube development time and allow the freedom to introduce novel and improved designs. The cold-test parameters have been calculated for a C-Band Northrop-Grumman helix TWT slow-wave circuit using MAFIA, the three-dimensional electromagnetic finite-integration computer code. Measured and simulated cold-test datamore » for the Northrop-Grumman helix TWT including dispersion, impedance and attenuation will be presented. Close agreement between simulated and measured values of the dispersion, impedance and attenuation has been obtained.« less

Design of low loss helix circuits for interference fitted and brazed circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jacquez, A.

1983-01-01

The RF loss properties and thermal capability of brazed helix circuits and interference fitted circuits were evaluated. The objective was to produce design circuits with minimum RF loss and maximum heat transfer. These circuits were to be designed to operate at 10 kV and at 20 GHz using a gamma a approximately equal to 1.0. This represents a circuit diameter of only 0.75 millimeters. The fabrication of this size circuit and the 0.48 millimeter high support rods required considerable refinements in the assembly techniques and fixtures used on lower frequency circuits. The transition from the helices to the waveguide was designed and the circuits were matched from 20 to 40 GHz since the helix design is a broad band circuit and at a gamma a of 1.0 will operate over this band. The loss measurement was a transmission measurement and therefore had two such transitions. This resulting double-ended match required tuning elements to achieve the broad band match and external E-H tuners at each end to optimize the match for each frequency where the loss measurement was made. The test method used was a substitution method where the test fixture was replaced by a calibrated attenuator.

Impedance matched, high-power, rf antenna for ion cyclotron resonance heating of a plasma

DOEpatents

Baity, Jr., Frederick W.; Hoffman, Daniel J.; Owens, Thomas L.

1988-01-01

A resonant double loop radio frequency (rf) antenna for radiating high-power rf energy into a magnetically confined plasma. An inductive element in the form of a large current strap, forming the radiating element, is connected between two variable capacitors to form a resonant circuit. A real input impedance results from tapping into the resonant circuit along the inductive element, generally near the midpoint thereof. The impedance can be matched to the source impedance by adjusting the separate capacitors for a given tap arrangement or by keeping the two capacitances fixed and adjustng the tap position. This results in a substantial reduction in the voltage and current in the transmission system to the antenna compared to unmatched antennas. Because the complete circuit loop consisting of the two capacitors and the inductive element is resonant, current flows in the same direction along the entire length of the radiating element and is approximately equal in each branch of the circuit. Unidirectional current flow permits excitation of low order poloidal modes which penetrate more deeply into the plasma.

Direct coupling of pulsed radio frequency and pulsed high power in novel pulsed power system for plasma immersion ion implantation.

PubMed

Gong, Chunzhi; Tian, Xiubo; Yang, Shiqin; Fu, Ricky K Y; Chu, Paul K

2008-04-01

A novel power supply system that directly couples pulsed high voltage (HV) pulses and pulsed 13.56 MHz radio frequency (rf) has been developed for plasma processes. In this system, the sample holder is connected to both the rf generator and HV modulator. The coupling circuit in the hybrid system is composed of individual matching units, low pass filters, and voltage clamping units. This ensures the safe operation of the rf system even when the HV is on. The PSPICE software is utilized to optimize the design of circuits. The system can be operated in two modes. The pulsed rf discharge may serve as either the seed plasma source for glow discharge or high-density plasma source for plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII). The pulsed high-voltage glow discharge is induced when a rf pulse with a short duration or a larger time interval between the rf and HV pulses is used. Conventional PIII can also be achieved. Experiments conducted on the new system confirm steady and safe operation.

Silicon Carbide Mixers Demonstrated to Improve the Interference Immunity of Radio-Based Aircraft Avionics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neudeck, Philip G.

1998-01-01

Concern over the interference of stray radiofrequency (RF) emissions with key aircraft avionics is evident during takeoff and landing of every commercial flight when the flight attendant requests that all portable electronics be switched off. The operation of key radio-based avionics (such as glide-slope and localizer approach instruments) depends on the ability of front-end RF receivers to detect and amplify desired information signals while rejecting interference from undesired RF sources both inside and outside the aircraft. Incidents where key navigation and approach avionics malfunction because of RF interference clearly represent an increasing threat to flight safety as the radio spectrum becomes more crowded. In an initial feasibility experiment, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the NASA Lewis Research Center recently demonstrated the strategic use of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor components to significantly reduce the susceptibility of an RF receiver circuit to undesired RF interference. A pair of silicon carbide mixer diodes successfully reduced RF interference (intermodulation distortion) in a prototype receiver circuit by a factor of 10 (20 dB) in comparison to a pair of commercial silicon-based mixer diodes.

Fundamental Problems of Hybrid CMOS/Nanodevice Circuits

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-14

Development of an area-distributed CMOS/nanodevice interface We have carried out the first design of CMOS chips for the CMOS/nanodevice integration, and...got them fabricated in IBM’ 180-nm 7RF process (via MOSIS, Inc. silicon foundry). Each 44 mm2 chip assembly of the design consists of 4 component... chips , merged together for processing convenience. Each 22 mm2 component chip features two interface arrays, with 1010 vias each, with chip’s MOSFETs

Method for Fabricating and Packaging an M.Times.N Phased-Array Antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xu, Xiaochuan (Inventor); Chen, Yihong (Inventor); Chen, Ray T. (Inventor); Subbaraman, Harish (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A method for fabricating an M.times.N, P-bit phased-array antenna on a flexible substrate is disclosed. The method comprising ink jet printing and hardening alignment marks, antenna elements, transmission lines, switches, an RF coupler, and multilayer interconnections onto the flexible substrate. The substrate of the M.times.N, P-bit phased-array antenna may comprise an integrated control circuit of printed electronic components such as, photovoltaic cells, batteries, resistors, capacitors, etc. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Simulation Model of A Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

MacLeod, Todd C.; Ho, Fat Duen; Russell, Larry W. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

An electronic simulation model has been developed of a ferroelectric field effect transistor (FFET). This model can be used in standard electrical circuit simulation programs to simulate the main characteristics of the FFET. The model uses a previously developed algorithm that incorporates partial polarization as a basis for the design. The model has the main characteristics of the FFET, which are the current hysterisis with different gate voltages and decay of the drain current when the gate voltage is off. The drain current has values matching actual FFET's, which were measured experimentally. The input and output resistance in the model is similar to that of the FFET. The model is valid for all frequencies below RF levels. A variety of different ferroelectric material characteristics can be modeled. The model can be used to design circuits using FFET'S with standard electrical simulation packages. The circuit can be used in designing non-volatile memory circuits and logic circuits and is compatible with all SPICE based circuit analysis programs. The model is a drop in library that integrates seamlessly into a SPICE simulation. A comparison is made between the model and experimental data measured from an actual FFET.

RF Frequency Oscillations in the Early Stages of Vacuum Arc Collapse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, Steven T.; Thio, Y. C. Francis

2003-01-01

RF frequency oscillations may be produced in a typical capacitive charging / discharging pulsed power system. These oscillations may be benign, parasitic, destructive or crucial to energy deposition. In some applications, proper damping of oscillations may be critical to proper plasma formation. Because the energy deposited into the plasma is a function of plasma and circuit conditions, the entire plasma / circuit system needs to be considered as a unit To accomplish this, the initiation of plasma is modeled as a time-varying, non-linear element in a circuit analysis model. The predicted spectra are compared to empirical power density spectra including those obtained from vacuum arcs.

Photonic integrated circuit implementation of a sub-GHz-selectivity frequency comb filter for optical clock multiplication.

PubMed

Geng, Zihan; Xie, Yiwei; Zhuang, Leimeng; Burla, Maurizio; Hoekman, Marcel; Roeloffzen, Chris G H; Lowery, Arthur J

2017-10-30

We report a photonic integrated circuit implementation of an optical clock multiplier, or equivalently an optical frequency comb filter. The circuit comprises a novel topology of a ring-resonator-assisted asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometer in a Sagnac loop, providing a reconfigurable comb filter with sub-GHz selectivity and low complexity. A proof-of-concept device is fabricated in a high-index-contrast stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 ) waveguide, featuring low loss, small size, and large bandwidth. In the experiment, we show a very narrow passband for filters of this kind, i.e. a -3-dB bandwidth of 0.6 GHz and a -20-dB passband of 1.2 GHz at a frequency interval of 12.5 GHz. As an application example, this particular filter shape enables successful demonstrations of five-fold repetition rate multiplication of optical clock signals, i.e. from 2.5 Gpulses/s to 12.5 Gpulses/s and from 10 Gpulses/s to 50 Gpulses/s. This work addresses comb spectrum processing on an integrated platform, pointing towards a device-compact solution for optical clock multipliers (frequency comb filters) which have diverse applications ranging from photonic-based RF spectrum scanners and photonic radars to GHz-granularity WDM switches and LIDARs.

Langmuir probes for SPIDER (source for the production of ions of deuterium extracted from radio frequency plasma) experiment: Tests in BATMAN (Bavarian test machine for negative ions)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brombin, M.; Spolaore, M.; Serianni, G.; Pomaro, N.; Taliercio, C.; Palma, M. Dalla; Pasqualotto, R.; Schiesko, L.

2014-11-01

A prototype system of the Langmuir probes for SPIDER (Source for the production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from RF plasma) was manufactured and experimentally qualified. The diagnostic was operated in RF (Radio Frequency) plasmas with cesium evaporation on the BATMAN (BAvarian Test MAchine for Negative ions) test facility, which can provide plasma conditions as expected in the SPIDER source. A RF passive compensation circuit was realised to operate the Langmuir probes in RF plasmas. The sensors' holder, designed to better simulate the bias plate conditions in SPIDER, was exposed to a severe experimental campaign in BATMAN with cesium evaporation. No detrimental effect on the diagnostic due to cesium evaporation was found during the exposure to the BATMAN plasma and in particular the insulation of the electrodes was preserved. The paper presents the system prototype, the RF compensation circuit, the acquisition system (as foreseen in SPIDER), and the results obtained during the experimental campaigns.

Langmuir probes for SPIDER (Source for the production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from Radio Frequency plasma) experiment: tests in BATMAN (BAvarian Test Machine for Negative ions).

PubMed

Brombin, M; Spolaore, M; Serianni, G; Pomaro, N; Taliercio, C; Dalla Palma, M; Pasqualotto, R; Schiesko, L

2014-11-01

A prototype system of the Langmuir probes for SPIDER (Source for the production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from RF plasma) was manufactured and experimentally qualified. The diagnostic was operated in RF (Radio Frequency) plasmas with cesium evaporation on the BATMAN (BAvarian Test MAchine for Negative ions) test facility, which can provide plasma conditions as expected in the SPIDER source. A RF passive compensation circuit was realised to operate the Langmuir probes in RF plasmas. The sensors' holder, designed to better simulate the bias plate conditions in SPIDER, was exposed to a severe experimental campaign in BATMAN with cesium evaporation. No detrimental effect on the diagnostic due to cesium evaporation was found during the exposure to the BATMAN plasma and in particular the insulation of the electrodes was preserved. The paper presents the system prototype, the RF compensation circuit, the acquisition system (as foreseen in SPIDER), and the results obtained during the experimental campaigns.

Physics-electrical hybrid model for real time impedance matching and remote plasma characterization in RF plasma sources.

PubMed

Sudhir, Dass; Bandyopadhyay, M; Chakraborty, A

2016-02-01

Plasma characterization and impedance matching are an integral part of any radio frequency (RF) based plasma source. In long pulse operation, particularly in high power operation where plasma load may vary due to different reasons (e.g. pressure and power), online tuning of impedance matching circuit and remote plasma density estimation are very useful. In some cases, due to remote interfaces, radio activation and, due to maintenance issues, power probes are not allowed to be incorporated in the ion source design for plasma characterization. Therefore, for characterization and impedance matching, more remote schemes are envisaged. Two such schemes by the same authors are suggested in these regards, which are based on air core transformer model of inductive coupled plasma (ICP) [M. Bandyopadhyay et al., Nucl. Fusion 55, 033017 (2015); D. Sudhir et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 013510 (2014)]. However, the influence of the RF field interaction with the plasma to determine its impedance, a physics code HELIC [D. Arnush, Phys. Plasmas 7, 3042 (2000)] is coupled with the transformer model. This model can be useful for both types of RF sources, i.e., ICP and helicon sources.

Physics-electrical hybrid model for real time impedance matching and remote plasma characterization in RF plasma sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sudhir, Dass, E-mail: dass.sudhir@iter-india.org; Bandyopadhyay, M.; Chakraborty, A.

2016-02-15

Plasma characterization and impedance matching are an integral part of any radio frequency (RF) based plasma source. In long pulse operation, particularly in high power operation where plasma load may vary due to different reasons (e.g. pressure and power), online tuning of impedance matching circuit and remote plasma density estimation are very useful. In some cases, due to remote interfaces, radio activation and, due to maintenance issues, power probes are not allowed to be incorporated in the ion source design for plasma characterization. Therefore, for characterization and impedance matching, more remote schemes are envisaged. Two such schemes by the samemore » authors are suggested in these regards, which are based on air core transformer model of inductive coupled plasma (ICP) [M. Bandyopadhyay et al., Nucl. Fusion 55, 033017 (2015); D. Sudhir et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 013510 (2014)]. However, the influence of the RF field interaction with the plasma to determine its impedance, a physics code HELIC [D. Arnush, Phys. Plasmas 7, 3042 (2000)] is coupled with the transformer model. This model can be useful for both types of RF sources, i.e., ICP and helicon sources.« less

MEMS-based, RF-driven, compact accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persaud, A.; Seidl, P. A.; Ji, Q.; Breinyn, I.; Waldron, W. L.; Schenkel, T.; Vinayakumar, K. B.; Ni, D.; Lal, A.

2017-10-01

Shrinking existing accelerators in size can reduce their cost by orders of magnitude. Furthermore, by using radio frequency (RF) technology and accelerating ions in several stages, the applied voltages can be kept low paving the way to new ion beam applications. We make use of the concept of a Multiple Electrostatic Quadrupole Array Linear Accelerator (MEQALAC) and have previously shown the implementation of its basic components using printed circuit boards, thereby reducing the size of earlier MEQALACs by an order of magnitude. We now demonstrate the combined integration of these components to form a basic accelerator structure, including an initial beam-matching section. In this presentation, we will discuss the results from the integrated multi-beam ion accelerator and also ion acceleration using RF voltages generated on-board. Furthermore, we will show results from Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabricated focusing wafers, which can shrink the dimension of the system to the sub-mm regime and lead to cheaper fabrication. Based on these proof-of-concept results we outline a scaling path to high beam power for applications in plasma heating in magnetized target fusion and in neutral beam injectors for future Tokamaks. This work was supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy through the ARPA-e ALPHA program under contracts DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Fully parameterized model of a voltage-driven capacitive coupled micromachined ohmic contact switch for RF applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heeb, Peter; Tschanun, Wolfgang; Buser, Rudolf

2012-03-01

A comprehensive and completely parameterized model is proposed to determine the related electrical and mechanical dynamic system response of a voltage-driven capacitive coupled micromechanical switch. As an advantage over existing parameterized models, the model presented in this paper returns within few seconds all relevant system quantities necessary to design the desired switching cycle. Moreover, a sophisticated and detailed guideline is given on how to engineer a MEMS switch. An analytical approach is used throughout the modelling, providing representative coefficients in a set of two coupled time-dependent differential equations. This paper uses an equivalent mass moving along the axis of acceleration and a momentum absorption coefficient. The model describes all the energies transferred: the energy dissipated in the series resistor that models the signal attenuation of the bias line, the energy dissipated in the squeezed film, the stored energy in the series capacitor that represents a fixed separation in the bias line and stops the dc power in the event of a short circuit between the RF and dc path, the energy stored in the spring mechanism, and the energy absorbed by mechanical interaction at the switch contacts. Further, the model determines the electrical power fed back to the bias line. The calculated switching dynamics are confirmed by the electrical characterization of the developed RF switch. The fabricated RF switch performs well, in good agreement with the modelled data, showing a transition time of 7 µs followed by a sequence of bounces. Moreover, the scattering parameters exhibit an isolation in the off-state of >8 dB and an insertion loss in the on-state of <0.6 dB up to frequencies of 50 GHz. The presented model is intended to be integrated into standard circuit simulation software, allowing circuit engineers to design the switch bias line, to minimize induced currents and cross actuation, as well as to find the mechanical structure dimensions necessary for the desired switching time and actuation voltage waveform. Moreover, process related design rules can be automatically verified.

Wireless and batteryless biomedical microsystem for neural recording and epilepsy suppression based on brain focal cooling.

PubMed

Hou, K-C; Chang, C-W; Chiou, J-C; Huang, Y-H; Shaw, F-Z

2011-12-01

This work presents a biomedical microsystem with a wireless radiofrequency (RF)-powered electronics and versatile sensors/actuators for use in nanomedicinal diagnosis and therapy. The cooling of brain tissue has the potential to reduce the frequency and severity of epilepsy. Miniaturised spiral coils as a wireless power module with low-dropout linear regulator circuit convert RF signals into a DC voltage, can be implanted without a battery in monitoring free behaviour. A thermoelectric (TE) cooler is an actuator that is employed to cool down brain tissue to suppress epilepsy. Electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes and TE coolers are integrated to form module that is placed inside the head of a rat and fastened with a bio-compatible material. EEG signals are used to identify waveforms associated with epilepsy and are measured using readout circuits. The wireless part of the presented design achieves a low quiescent current and line/load regulation and high antenna/current efficiency with thermal protection to avoid damage to the implanted tissue. Epilepsy is suppressed by reducing the temperature to reduce the duration of this epileptic episode. Related characterisations demonstrate that the proposed design can be adopted in an effective nanomedicine microsystem.

Multiplexing of Radio-Frequency Single Electron Transistors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevenson, Thomas R.; Pellerano, F. A.; Stahle, C. M.; Aidala, K.; Schoelkopf, R. J.; Krebs, Carolyn (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We present results on wavelength division multiplexing of radio-frequency single electron transistors. We use a network of resonant impedance matching circuits to direct applied rf carrier waves to different transistors depending on carrier frequency. A two-channel demonstration of this concept using discrete components successfully reconstructed input signals with small levels of cross coupling. A lithographic version of the rf circuits had measured parameters in agreement with electromagnetic modeling, with reduced cross capacitance and inductance, and should allow 20 to 50 channels to be multiplexed.

Low cost high efficiency GaAs monolithic RF module for SARSAT distress beacons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, W. C.; Siu, D. P.; Cook, H. F.

1991-01-01

Low cost high performance (5 Watts output) 406 MHz beacons are urgently needed to realize the maximum utilization of the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system spearheaded in the U.S. by NASA. Although current technology can produce beacons meeting the output power requirement, power consumption is high due to the low efficiency of available transmitters. Field performance is currently unsatisfactory due to the lack of safe and reliable high density batteries capable of operation at -40 C. Low cost production is also a crucial but elusive requirement for the ultimate wide scale utilization of this system. Microwave Monolithics Incorporated (MMInc.) has proposed to make both the technical and cost goals for the SARSAT beacon attainable by developing a monolithic GaAs chip set for the RF module. This chip set consists of a high efficiency power amplifier and a bi-phase modulator. In addition to implementing the RF module in Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) form to minimize ultimate production costs, the power amplifier has a power-added efficiency nearly twice that attained with current commercial technology. A distress beacon built using this RF module chip set will be significantly smaller in size and lighter in weight due to a smaller battery requirement, since the 406 MHz signal source and the digital controller have far lower power consumption compared to the 5 watt power amplifier. All the program tasks have been successfully completed. The GaAs MMIC RF module chip set has been designed to be compatible with the present 406 MHz signal source and digital controller. A complete high performance low cost SARSAT beacon can be realized with only additional minor iteration and systems integration.

Reticular Formation and Pain: The Past and the Future

PubMed Central

Martins, Isabel; Tavares, Isaura

2017-01-01

The involvement of the reticular formation (RF) in the transmission and modulation of nociceptive information has been extensively studied. The brainstem RF contains several areas which are targeted by spinal cord afferents conveying nociceptive input. The arrival of nociceptive input to the RF may trigger alert reactions which generate a protective/defense reaction to pain. RF neurons located at the medulla oblongata and targeted by ascending nociceptive information are also involved in the control of vital functions that can be affected by pain, namely cardiovascular control. The RF contains centers that belong to the pain modulatory system, namely areas involved in bidirectional balance (decrease or enhancement) of pain responses. It is currently accepted that the imbalance of pain modulation towards pain facilitation accounts for chronic pain. The medullary RF has the peculiarity of harboring areas involved in bidirectional pain control namely by the existence of specific neuronal populations involved in antinociceptive or pronociceptive behavioral responses, namely at the rostroventromedial medulla (RVM) and the caudal ventrolateral medulla (VLM). Furthermore the dorsal reticular nucleus (also known as subnucleus reticularis dorsalis; DRt) may enhance nociceptive responses, through a reverberative circuit established with spinal lamina I neurons and inhibit wide-dynamic range (WDR) neurons of the deep dorsal horn. The components of the triad RVM-VLM-DRt are reciprocally connected and represent a key gateway for top-down pain modulation. The RVM-VLM-DRt triad also represents the neurobiological substrate for the emotional and cognitive modulation of pain, through pathways that involve the periaqueductal gray (PAG)-RVM connection. Collectively, we propose that the RVM-VLM-DRt triad represents a key component of the “dynamic pain connectome” with special features to provide integrated and rapid responses in situations which are life-threatening and involve pain. The new available techniques in neurobiological studies both in animal and human studies are producing new and fascinating data which allow to understand the complex role of the RF in pain modulation and its integration with several body functions and also how the RF accounts for chronic pain. PMID:28725185

Reticular Formation and Pain: The Past and the Future.

PubMed

Martins, Isabel; Tavares, Isaura

2017-01-01

The involvement of the reticular formation (RF) in the transmission and modulation of nociceptive information has been extensively studied. The brainstem RF contains several areas which are targeted by spinal cord afferents conveying nociceptive input. The arrival of nociceptive input to the RF may trigger alert reactions which generate a protective/defense reaction to pain. RF neurons located at the medulla oblongata and targeted by ascending nociceptive information are also involved in the control of vital functions that can be affected by pain, namely cardiovascular control. The RF contains centers that belong to the pain modulatory system, namely areas involved in bidirectional balance (decrease or enhancement) of pain responses. It is currently accepted that the imbalance of pain modulation towards pain facilitation accounts for chronic pain. The medullary RF has the peculiarity of harboring areas involved in bidirectional pain control namely by the existence of specific neuronal populations involved in antinociceptive or pronociceptive behavioral responses, namely at the rostroventromedial medulla (RVM) and the caudal ventrolateral medulla (VLM). Furthermore the dorsal reticular nucleus (also known as subnucleus reticularis dorsalis; DRt) may enhance nociceptive responses, through a reverberative circuit established with spinal lamina I neurons and inhibit wide-dynamic range (WDR) neurons of the deep dorsal horn. The components of the triad RVM-VLM-DRt are reciprocally connected and represent a key gateway for top-down pain modulation. The RVM-VLM-DRt triad also represents the neurobiological substrate for the emotional and cognitive modulation of pain, through pathways that involve the periaqueductal gray (PAG)-RVM connection. Collectively, we propose that the RVM-VLM-DRt triad represents a key component of the "dynamic pain connectome" with special features to provide integrated and rapid responses in situations which are life-threatening and involve pain. The new available techniques in neurobiological studies both in animal and human studies are producing new and fascinating data which allow to understand the complex role of the RF in pain modulation and its integration with several body functions and also how the RF accounts for chronic pain.

Thermoelectric temperature control system for the pushbroom microwave radiometer (PBMR)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dillon-Townes, L. A.; Averill, R. D.

1984-01-01

A closed loop thermoelectric temperature control system is developed for stabilizing sensitive RF integrated circuits within a microwave radiometer to an accuracy of + or - 0.1 C over a range of ambient conditions from -20 C to +45 C. The dual mode (heating and cooling) control concept utilizes partial thermal isolation of the RF units from an instrument deck which is thermally controlled by thermoelectric coolers and thin film heaters. The temperature control concept is simulated with a thermal analyzer program (MITAS) which consists of 37 nodes and 61 conductors. A full scale thermal mockup is tested in the laboratory at temperatures of 0 C, 21 C, and 45 C to confirm the validity of the control concept. A flight radiometer and temperature control system is successfully flight tested on the NASA Skyvan aircraft.

Avionics electromagnetic interference immunity and environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clarke, C. A.

1986-01-01

Aircraft electromagnetic spectrum and radio frequency (RF) field strengths are charted, profiling the higher levels of electromagnetic voltages encountered by the commercial aircraft wiring. Selected military, urban, and rural electromagnetic field levels are plotted and provide a comparison of radiation amplitudes. Low frequency magnetic fields and electric fields from 400 H(Z) power systems are charted versus frequency and wire separation to indicate induced voltages on adjacent or neighboring circuits. Induced EMI levels and attenuation characteristics of electric, magnetic, RF fields, and transients are plotted and graphed for common types of wire circuits. The significance of wire circuit returns and shielding is emphasized to highlight the techniques that help block the paths of electromagnetic interference and maintain avionic interface signal quality.

UWB dual burst transmit driver

DOEpatents

Dallum, Gregory E [Livermore, CA; Pratt, Garth C [Discovery Bay, CA; Haugen, Peter C [Livermore, CA; Zumstein, James M [Livermore, CA; Vigars, Mark L [Livermore, CA; Romero, Carlos E [Livermore, CA

2012-04-17

A dual burst transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems generates a pair of precisely spaced RF bursts from a single trigger event. An input trigger pulse produces two oscillator trigger pulses, an initial pulse and a delayed pulse, in a dual trigger generator. The two oscillator trigger pulses drive a gated RF burst (power output) oscillator. A bias driver circuit gates the RF output oscillator on and off and sets the RF burst packet width. The bias driver also level shifts the drive signal to the level that is required for the RF output device.

R & D of a Gas-Filled RF Beam Profile Monitor for Intense Neutrino Beam Experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yonehara, K.; Backfish, M.; Moretti, A.

We report the R&D of a novel radiation-robust hadron beam profile monitor based on a gas-filled RF cavity for intense neutrino beam experiments. An equivalent RF circuit model was made and simulated to optimize the RF parameter in a wide beam intensity range. As a result, the maximum acceptable beam intensity in the monitor is significantly increased by using a low-quality factor RF cavity. The plan for the demonstration test is set up to prepare for future neutrino beam experiments.

Low-Loss NbTiN Films for THz SIS Mixer Tuning Circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kooi, J. W.; Stern, J. A.; Chattopadhyay, G.; LeDuc, H. G.; Bumble, B.; Zmuidzinas, J.

1998-01-01

Recent results at 1 THz using normal-metal tuning circuits have shown that SIS mixers can work well up to twice the gap frequency of the junction material (niobium). However, the performance at 1 THz is limited by the substantial loss in the normal metal films. For better performance superconducting films with a higher gap frequency than niobium and with low RF loss are needed. Niobium nitride has long been considered a good candidate material, but typical NbN films suffer from high RF loss. To circumvent this problem we are currently investigating the RF loss in NbTiN films, a 15 K Tc compound superconductor, by incorporating them into quasi-optical slot antenna SIS devices.

Study of Ni Metallization in Macroporous Si Using Wet Chemistry for Radio Frequency Cross-Talk Isolation in Mixed Signal Integrated Circuits

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xi; Xu, Chengkun; Chong, Kyuchul; Tu, King-Ning; Xie, Ya-Hong

2011-01-01

A highly conductive moat or Faraday cage of through-the-wafer thickness in Si substrate was proposed to be effective in shielding electromagnetic interference thereby reducing radio frequency (RF) cross-talk in high performance mixed signal integrated circuits. Such a structure was realized by metallization of selected ultra-high-aspect-ratio macroporous regions that were electrochemically etched in p− Si substrates. The metallization process was conducted by means of wet chemistry in an alkaline aqueous solution containing Ni2+ without reducing agent. It is found that at elevated temperature during immersion, Ni2+ was rapidly reduced and deposited into macroporous Si and a conformal metallization of the macropore sidewalls was obtained in a way that the entire porous Si framework was converted to Ni. A conductive moat was as a result incorporated into p− Si substrate. The experimentally measured reduction of crosstalk in this structure is 5~18 dB at frequencies up to 35 GHz. PMID:28879960

Study of Ni Metallization in Macroporous Si Using Wet Chemistry for Radio Frequency Cross-Talk Isolation in Mixed Signal Integrated Circuits.

PubMed

Zhang, Xi; Xu, Chengkun; Chong, Kyuchul; Tu, King-Ning; Xie, Ya-Hong

2011-05-25

A highly conductive moat or Faraday cage of through-the-wafer thickness in Si substrate was proposed to be effective in shielding electromagnetic interference thereby reducing radio frequency (RF) cross-talk in high performance mixed signal integrated circuits. Such a structure was realized by metallization of selected ultra-high-aspect-ratio macroporous regions that were electrochemically etched in p - Si substrates. The metallization process was conducted by means of wet chemistry in an alkaline aqueous solution containing Ni 2+ without reducing agent. It is found that at elevated temperature during immersion, Ni 2+ was rapidly reduced and deposited into macroporous Si and a conformal metallization of the macropore sidewalls was obtained in a way that the entire porous Si framework was converted to Ni. A conductive moat was as a result incorporated into p - Si substrate. The experimentally measured reduction of crosstalk in this structure is 5~18 dB at frequencies up to 35 GHz.

Efficient high-performance ultrasound beamforming using oversampling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freeman, Steven R.; Quick, Marshall K.; Morin, Marc A.; Anderson, R. C.; Desilets, Charles S.; Linnenbrink, Thomas E.; O'Donnell, Matthew

1998-05-01

High-performance and efficient beamforming circuitry is very important in large channel count clinical ultrasound systems. Current state-of-the-art digital systems using multi-bit analog to digital converters (A/Ds) have matured to provide exquisite image quality with moderate levels of integration. A simplified oversampling beamforming architecture has been proposed that may a low integration of delta-sigma A/Ds onto the same chip as digital delay and processing circuitry to form a monolithic ultrasound beamformer. Such a beamformer may enable low-power handheld scanners for high-end systems with very large channel count arrays. This paper presents an oversampling beamformer architecture that generates high-quality images using very simple; digitization, delay, and summing circuits. Additional performance may be obtained with this oversampled system for narrow bandwidth excitations by mixing the RF signal down in frequency to a range where the electronic signal to nose ratio of the delta-sigma A/D is optimized. An oversampled transmit beamformer uses the same delay circuits as receive and eliminates the need for separate transmit function generators.

Vortex spin-torque oscillator stabilized by phase locked loop using integrated circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kreissig, Martin; Lebrun, R.; Protze, F.; Merazzo-Jaimes, K.; Hem, J.; Vila, L.; Ferreira, R.; Cyrille, M.-C.; Ellinger, F.; Cros, V.; Ebels, U.; Bortolotti, P.

2017-05-01

Spin-torque nano-oscillators (STO) are candidates for the next technological implementation of spintronic devices in commercial electronic systems. For use in microwave applications, improving the noise figures by efficient control of their phase dynamics is a mandatory requirement. In order to achieve this, we developed a compact phase locked loop (PLL) based on custom integrated circuits (ICs) and demonstrate that it represents an efficient way to reduce the phase noise level of a vortex based STO. The advantage of our approach to phase stabilize STOs is that our compact system is highly reconfigurable e.g. in terms of the frequency divider ratio N, RF gain and loop gain. This makes it robust against device to device variations and at the same time compatible with a large range of STOs. Moreover, by taking advantage of the natural highly non-isochronous nature of the STO, the STO frequency can be easily controlled by e.g. changing the divider ratio N.

Modeling the frequency response of microwave radiometers with QUCS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zonca, A.; Roucaries, B.; Williams, B.; Rubin, I.; D'Arcangelo, O.; Meinhold, P.; Lubin, P.; Franceschet, C.; Jahn, S.; Mennella, A.; Bersanelli, M.

2010-12-01

Characterization of the frequency response of coherent radiometric receivers is a key element in estimating the flux of astrophysical emissions, since the measured signal depends on the convolution of the source spectral emission with the instrument band shape. Laboratory Radio Frequency (RF) measurements of the instrument bandpass often require complex test setups and are subject to a number of systematic effects driven by thermal issues and impedance matching, particularly if cryogenic operation is involved. In this paper we present an approach to modeling radiometers bandpasses by integrating simulations and RF measurements of individual components. This method is based on QUCS (Quasi Universal Circuit Simulator), an open-source circuit simulator, which gives the flexibility of choosing among the available devices, implementing new analytical software models or using measured S-parameters. Therefore an independent estimate of the instrument bandpass is achieved using standard individual component measurements and validated analytical simulations. In order to automate the process of preparing input data, running simulations and exporting results we developed the Python package python-qucs and released it under GNU Public License. We discuss, as working cases, bandpass response modeling of the COFE and Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) radiometers and compare results obtained with QUCS and with a commercial circuit simulator software. The main purpose of bandpass modeling in COFE is to optimize component matching, while in LFI they represent the best estimation of frequency response, since end-to-end measurements were strongly affected by systematic effects.

Modeling the transport of nitrogen in an NPP-2006 reactor circuit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepanov, O. E.; Galkin, I. Yu.; Sledkov, R. M.; Melekh, S. S.; Strebnev, N. A.

2016-07-01

Efficient radiation protection of the public and personnel requires detecting an accident-initiating event quickly. Specifically, if a heat-exchange tube in a steam generator is ruptured, the 16N radioactive nitrogen isotope, which contributes to a sharp increase in the steam activity before the turbine, may serve as the signaling component. This isotope is produced in the core coolant and is transported along the circulation circuit. The aim of the present study was to model the transport of 16N in the primary and the secondary circuits of a VVER-1000 reactor facility (RF) under nominal operation conditions. KORSAR/GP and RELAP5/Mod.3.2 codes were used to perform the calculations. Computational models incorporating the major components of the primary and the secondary circuits of an NPP-2006 RF were constructed. These computational models were subjected to cross-verification, and the calculation results were compared to the experimental data on the distribution of the void fraction over the steam generator height. The models were proven to be valid. It was found that the time of nitrogen transport from the core to the heat-exchange tube leak was no longer than 1 s under RF operation at a power level of 100% N nom with all primary circuit pumps activated. The time of nitrogen transport from the leak to the γ-radiation detection unit under the same operating conditions was no longer than 9 s, and the nitrogen concentration in steam was no less than 1.4% (by mass) of its concentration at the reactor outlet. These values were obtained using conservative approaches to estimating the leak flow and the transport time, but the radioactive decay of nitrogen was not taken into account. Further research concerned with the calculation of thermohydraulic processes should be focused on modeling the transport of nitrogen under RF operation with some primary circuit pumps deactivated.

Langmuir probes for SPIDER (source for the production of ions of deuterium extracted from radio frequency plasma) experiment: Tests in BATMAN (Bavarian test machine for negative ions)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brombin, M., E-mail: matteo.brombin@igi.cnr.it; Spolaore, M.; Serianni, G.

2014-11-15

A prototype system of the Langmuir probes for SPIDER (Source for the production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from RF plasma) was manufactured and experimentally qualified. The diagnostic was operated in RF (Radio Frequency) plasmas with cesium evaporation on the BATMAN (BAvarian Test MAchine for Negative ions) test facility, which can provide plasma conditions as expected in the SPIDER source. A RF passive compensation circuit was realised to operate the Langmuir probes in RF plasmas. The sensors’ holder, designed to better simulate the bias plate conditions in SPIDER, was exposed to a severe experimental campaign in BATMAN with cesium evaporation.more » No detrimental effect on the diagnostic due to cesium evaporation was found during the exposure to the BATMAN plasma and in particular the insulation of the electrodes was preserved. The paper presents the system prototype, the RF compensation circuit, the acquisition system (as foreseen in SPIDER), and the results obtained during the experimental campaigns.« less

Efficient, balanced, transmission line RF circuits by back propagation of common impedance nodes.

PubMed

Markhasin, Evgeny; Hu, Jianping; Su, Yongchao; Herzfeld, Judith; Griffin, Robert G

2013-06-01

We present a new, efficient strategy for designing fully balanced transmission line RF circuits for solid state NMR probes based on back propagation of common impedance nodes (BPCIN). In this approach, the impedance node phenomenon is the sole means of achieving mutual RF isolation and balance in all RF channels. BPCIN is illustrated using a custom double resonance 3.2 mm MAS probe operating at 500 MHz ((1)H) and 125 MHz ((13)C). When fully optimized, the probe is capable of producing high homogeneity (810°/90° ratios of 86% and 89% for (1)H and (13)C, respectively) and high efficiency (γB1=100 kHz for (1)H and (13)C at 70 W and 180 W of RF input, respectively; up to 360 kHz for (1)H). The probe's performance is illustrated by 2D MAS correlation spectra of microcrystals of the tripeptide N-f-MLF-OH and hydrated amyloid fibrils of the protein PI3-SH3. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A 2.4-GHz ISM RF and UWB hybrid RFID real-time locating system for industrial enterprise Internet of Things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Chuanying; Zou, Zhuo; Zhou, Qin; Mao, Jia; Chen, Qiang; Tenhunen, Hannu; Zheng, Lirong; Xu, Lida

2017-07-01

This paper presents a 2.4-GHz radio frequency (RF) and ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) hybrid real-time locating system (RTLS) for industrial enterprise Internet of Things (IoT). It employs asymmetric wireless link, that is, UWB radio is utilised for accurate positioning up to 10 cm in critical sites, whereas 2.4-GHz RF is used for tag control and coarse positioning in non-critical sites. The specified communication protocol and the adaptive tag synchronisation rate ensure reliable and deterministic access with a scalable system capacity and avoid unpredictable latency and additional energy consumption of retransmissions due to collisions. The tag, consisting of a commercial 2.4-GHz transceiver and a customised application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) UWB transmitter (Tx), is able to achieve up to 3 years' battery life at 1600 tags per position update second with 1000 mAh battery in one cluster. The time difference of arrival (TDoA)-based positioning experiment at UWB radio is performed on the designed software-defined radio (SDR) platform.

Phase stable RF transport system

DOEpatents

Curtin, Michael T.; Natter, Eckard F.; Denney, Peter M.

1992-01-01

An RF transport system delivers a phase-stable RF signal to a load, such as an RF cavity of a charged particle accelerator. A circuit generates a calibration signal at an odd multiple frequency of the RF signal where the calibration signal is superimposed with the RF signal on a common cable that connects the RF signal with the load. Signal isolating diplexers are located at both the RF signal source end and load end of the common cable to enable the calibration to be inserted and extracted from the cable signals without any affect on the RF signal. Any phase shift in the calibration signal during traverse of the common cable is then functionally related to the phase shift in the RF signal. The calibration phase shift is used to control a phase shifter for the RF signal to maintain a stable RF signal at the load.

The Induction of Chaos in Electronic Circuits Final Report-October 1, 2001

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

R.M.Wheat, Jr.

2003-04-01

This project, now known by the name ''Chaos in Electronic Circuits,'' was originally tasked as a two-year project to examine various ''fault'' or ''non-normal'' operational states of common electronic circuits with some focus on determining the feasibility of exploiting these states. Efforts over the two-year duration of this project have been dominated by the study of the chaotic behavior of electronic circuits. These efforts have included setting up laboratory space and hardware for conducting laboratory tests and experiments, acquiring and developing computer simulation and analysis capabilities, conducting literature surveys, developing test circuitry and computer models to exercise and test ourmore » capabilities, and experimenting with and studying the use of RF injection as a means of inducing chaotic behavior in electronics. An extensive array of nonlinear time series analysis tools have been developed and integrated into a package named ''After Acquisition'' (AA), including capabilities such as Delayed Coordinate Embedding Mapping (DCEM), Time Resolved (3-D) Fourier Transform, and several other phase space re-creation methods. Many computer models have been developed for Spice and for the ATP (Alternative Transients Program), modeling the several working circuits that have been developed for use in the laboratory. And finally, methods of induction of chaos in electronic circuits have been explored.« less

Wavelength Division Multiplexing Scheme for Radio-Frequency Single Electron Transistors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevenson, Thomas R.; Pellerano, F. A.; Stahle, C. M.; Aidala, K.; Schoelkopf, R. J.; Krebs, Carolyn (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We describe work on a wavelength division multiplexing scheme for radio-frequency single electron transistors. We use a network of resonant impedance matching circuits to direct applied rf carrier waves to different transistors depending on carrier frequency. Using discrete components, we made a two-channel demonstration of this concept and successfully reconstructed input signals with small levels of cross coupling. A lithographic version of the rf circuits had measured parameters in agreement with electromagnetic modeling, with reduced cross capacitance and inductance, and should allow 20 to 50 channels to be multiplexed.

Gated high speed optical detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, S. I.; Carson, L. M.; Neal, G. W.

1973-01-01

The design, fabrication, and test of two gated, high speed optical detectors for use in high speed digital laser communication links are discussed. The optical detectors used a dynamic crossed field photomultiplier and electronics including dc bias and RF drive circuits, automatic remote synchronization circuits, automatic gain control circuits, and threshold detection circuits. The equipment is used to detect binary encoded signals from a mode locked neodynium laser.

3D printed electromagnetic transmission and electronic structures fabricated on a single platform using advanced process integration techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deffenbaugh, Paul Issac

3D printing has garnered immense attention from many fields including in-office rapid prototyping of mechanical parts, outer-space satellite replication, garage functional firearm manufacture, and NASA rocket engine component fabrication. 3D printing allows increased design flexibility in the fabrication of electronics, microwave circuits and wireless antennas and has reached a level of maturity which allows functional parts to be printed. Much more work is necessary in order to perfect the processes of 3D printed electronics especially in the area of automation. Chapter 1 shows several finished prototypes of 3D printed electronics as well as newly developed techniques in fabrication. Little is known about the RF and microwave properties and applications of the standard materials which have been developed for 3D printing. Measurement of a wide variety of materials over a broad spectrum of frequencies up to 10 GHz using a variety of well-established measurement methods is performed throughout chapter 2. Several types of high frequency RF transmission lines are fabricated and valuable model-matched data is gathered and provided in chapter 3 for future designers' use. Of particular note is a fully 3D printed stripline which was automatically fabricated in one process on one machine. Some core advantages of 3D printing RF/microwave components include rapid manufacturing of complex, dimensionally sensitive circuits (such as antennas and filters which are often iteratively tuned) and the ability to create new devices that cannot be made using standard fabrication techniques. Chapter 4 describes an exemplary fully 3D printed curved inverted-F antenna.

Design of RF energy harvesting platforms for power management unit with start-up circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costanzo, Alessandra; Masotti, Diego

2013-12-01

In this contribution we discuss an unconventional rectifier design dedicated to RF energy harvesting from ultra-low sources, such as ambient RF sources which are typically of the order of few to few tens of μW. In such conditions unsuccessful results may occur if the rectenna is directly connected to its actual load since either the minimum power or the minimum activation voltage may not be simultaneously available. For this reason a double-branch rectifier topology is considered for the power management unit (PMU), instead of traditional single-branch one. The new PMU, interposed between the rectenna and application circuits, allows the system to operate with significantly lower input power with respect to the traditional solution, while preserving efficiency during steady-state power conversion.

Agile Blocker and Clock Jitter Tolerant Low-Power Frequency Selective Receiver with Energy Harvesting Capability.

PubMed

Hasan, Abul; Helaoui, Mohamed; Ghannouchi, Fadhel M

2017-08-29

In this article, a novel tunable, blocker and clock jitter tolerant, low power, quadrature phase shift frequency selective (QPS-FS) receiver with energy harvesting capability is proposed. The receiver's design embraces and integrates (i) the baseband to radio frequency (RF) impedance translation concept to improve selectivity over that of conventional homodyne receiver topologies and (ii) broadband quadrature phase shift circuitry in the RF path to remove an active multi-phase clock generation circuit in passive mixer (PM) receivers. The use of a single local oscillator clock signal with a passive clock division network improves the receiver's robustness against clock jitter and reduces the source clock frequency by a factor of N, compared to PM receivers using N switches (N≥4). As a consequence, the frequency coverage of the QPS-FS receiver is improved by a factor of N, given a clock source of maximum frequency; and, the power consumption of the whole receiver system can eventually be reduced. The tunable QPS-FS receiver separates the wanted RF band signal from the unwanted blockers/interferers. The desired RF signal is frequency down-converted to baseband, while the undesired blocker/interferer signals are reflected by the receiver, collected and could be energy recycled using an auxiliary energy harvesting device.

Signal Processing for Wireless Communication MIMO System with Nano- Scaled CSDG MOSFET based DP4T RF Switch.

PubMed

Srivastava, Viranjay M

2015-01-01

In the present technological expansion, the radio frequency integrated circuits in the wireless communication technologies became useful because of the replacement of increasing number of functions, traditional hardware components by modern digital signal processing. The carrier frequencies used for communication systems, now a day, shifted toward the microwave regime. The signal processing for the multiple inputs multiple output wireless communication system using the Metal- Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor (MOSFET) has been done a lot. In this research the signal processing with help of nano-scaled Cylindrical Surrounding Double Gate (CSDG) MOSFET by means of Double- Pole Four-Throw Radio-Frequency (DP4T RF) switch, in terms of Insertion loss, Isolation, Reverse isolation and Inter modulation have been analyzed. In addition to this a channel model has been presented. Here, we also discussed some patents relevant to the topic.

Design and evaluation of a GaAs MMIC X-band active RC quadrature power divider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henkus, J. C.

1991-03-01

The design and evaluation of a GaAs MMIC (Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit) X-band active RC Quadrature Power Divider (QPD) is addressed. This QPD can be used as part of a vector modulator. The chosen QPD topology consists of two active first order RC all pass networks and was converted into an MMIC design. The design is completely symmetrical except for two key resistors. On-wafer S parameter measurements were carried out; a special probe head configuration was composed in order to avoid measurement accuracy degradation associated with the reversal of the active output of the QPD. The measured nominal RF behavior of the chips complies with the simulated behavior to a very high degree. The optical, DC, and RF yield is very large (97, 83, and 74 percent respectively). A modification to Takashi's all pass network was proposed which offers gain/frequency slope control and compensation ability.

Conformal Thin Film Packaging for SiC Sensor Circuits in Harsh Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scardelletti, Maximilian C.; Karnick, David A.; Ponchak, George E.; Zorman, Christian A.

2011-01-01

In this investigation sputtered silicon carbide annealed at 300 C for one hour is used as a conformal thin film package. A RF magnetron sputterer was used to deposit 500 nm silicon carbide films on gold metal structures on alumina wafers. To determine the reliability and resistance to immersion in harsh environments, samples were submerged in gold etchant for 24 hours, in BOE for 24 hours, and in an O2 plasma etch for one hour. The adhesion strength of the thin film was measured by a pull test before and after the chemical immersion, which indicated that the film has an adhesion strength better than 10(exp 8) N/m2; this is similar to the adhesion of the gold layer to the alumina wafer. MIM capacitors are used to determine the dielectric constant, which is dependent on the SiC anneal temperature. Finally, to demonstrate that the SiC, conformal, thin film may be used to package RF circuits and sensors, an LC resonator circuit was fabricated and tested with and without the conformal SiC thin film packaging. The results indicate that the SiC coating adds no appreciable degradation to the circuits RF performance. Index Terms Sputter, silicon carbide, MIM capacitors, LC resonators, gold etchants, BOE, O2 plasma

A battery-free multichannel digital neural/EMG telemetry system for flying insects.

PubMed

Thomas, Stewart J; Harrison, Reid R; Leonardo, Anthony; Reynolds, Matthew S

2012-10-01

This paper presents a digital neural/EMG telemetry system small enough and lightweight enough to permit recording from insects in flight. It has a measured flight package mass of only 38 mg. This system includes a single-chip telemetry integrated circuit (IC) employing RF power harvesting for battery-free operation, with communication via modulated backscatter in the UHF (902-928 MHz) band. An on-chip 11-bit ADC digitizes 10 neural channels with a sampling rate of 26.1 kSps and 4 EMG channels at 1.63 kSps, and telemeters this data wirelessly to a base station. The companion base station transceiver includes an RF transmitter of +36 dBm (4 W) output power to wirelessly power the telemetry IC, and a digital receiver with a sensitivity of -70 dBm for 10⁻⁵ BER at 5.0 Mbps to receive the data stream from the telemetry IC. The telemetry chip was fabricated in a commercial 0.35 μ m 4M1P (4 metal, 1 poly) CMOS process. The die measures 2.36 × 1.88 mm, is 250 μm thick, and is wire bonded into a flex circuit assembly measuring 4.6 × 6.8 mm.

100 Gbps Wireless System and Circuit Design Using Parallel Spread-Spectrum Sequencing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheytt, J. Christoph; Javed, Abdul Rehman; Bammidi, Eswara Rao; KrishneGowda, Karthik; Kallfass, Ingmar; Kraemer, Rolf

2017-09-01

In this article mixed analog/digital signal processing techniques based on parallel spread-spectrum sequencing (PSSS) and radio frequency (RF) carrier synchronization for ultra-broadband wireless communication are investigated on system and circuit level.

Voltage controlled oscillator is easily aligned, has low phase noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sydnor, R. L.

1965-01-01

Voltage Controlled Oscillator /VCO/, represented by an equivalent RF circuit, is easily adjusted for optimum performance by varying the circuit parameter. It contains a crystal drive level which is also easily adjusted to obtain minimum phase noise.

Demonstration of a Submillimeter-Wave HEMT Oscillator Module at 330 GHz

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Radisic, Vesna; Deal, W. R.; Mei, X. B.; Yoshida, Wayne; Liu, P. H.; Uyeda, Jansen; Lai, Richard; Samoska, Lorene; Fung, King Man; Gaier, Todd;

Trap Design and Construction for High-Power Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Experiments

PubMed Central

Rispoli, Joseph V.; Dimitrov, Ivan E.; Cheshkov, Sergey; Malloy, Craig; Wright, Steven M.; McDougall, Mary P.

2016-01-01

Performing multinuclear experiments requires one or more radiofrequency (RF) coils operating at both the proton and second-nucleus frequencies; however, inductive coupling between coils must be mitigated to retain proton sensitivity and coil tuning stability. The inclusion of trap circuits simplifies placement of multinuclear RF coils while maintaining inter-element isolation. Of the commonly investigated non-proton nuclei, perhaps the most technically demanding is carbon-13, particularly when applying a proton decoupling scheme to improve the resulting spectra. This work presents experimental data for trap circuits withstanding high-power broadband proton decoupling of carbon-13 at 7 T. The advantages and challenges of building trap circuits with various inductor and capacitor components are discussed. Multiple trap designs are evaluated on the bench and utilized on an RF coil at 7 T to detect broadband proton-decoupled carbon-13 spectra from a lipid phantom. A particular trap design, built from a coaxial stub inductor and high-voltage ceramic chip capacitors, is highlighted owing to both its performance and adaptability for planar array coil elements with diverse spatial orientations. PMID:28529464

Wireless Medical Devices for MRI-Guided Interventions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venkateswaran, Madhav

Wireless techniques can play an important role in next-generation, image-guided surgical techniques with integration strategies being the key. We present our investigations on three wireless applications. First, we validate a position and orientation independent method to noninvasively monitor wireless power delivery using current perturbation measurements of switched load modulation of the RF carrier. This is important for safe and efficient powering without using bulky batteries or invasive cables. Use of MRI transmit RF pulses for simultaneous powering is investigated in the second part. We develop system models for the MRI transmit chain, wireless powering circuits and a typical load. Detailed analysis and validation of nonlinear and cascaded modeling strategies are performed, useful for decoupled optimization of the harvester coil and RF-DC converter. MRI pulse sequences are investigated for suitability for simultaneous powering. Simulations indicate that a 1.8V, 2 mA load can be powered with a 100% duty cycle using a 30° fGRE sequence, despite the RF duty cycle being 44 mW for a 30° flip angle, consistent with model predictions. Investigations on imaging artifacts indicates that distortion is mostly restricted to within the physical span of the harvester coil in the imaging volume, with the homogeneous B1+ transmit field providing positioning flexibility to minimize this for simultaneous powering. The models are potentially valuable in designing wireless powering solutions for implantable devices with simultaneous real-time imaging in MRI-guided surgical suites. Finally in the last section, we model endovascular MRI coil coupling during RF transmit. FEM models for a series-resonant multimode coil and quadrature birdcage coil fields are developed and computationally efficient, circuit and full-wave simulations are used to model inductive coupling. The Bloch Siegert B1 mapping sequence is used for validating at 24, 28 and 34 microT background excitation. Quantitative performance metrics are successfully predicted and the role of simulation in geometric optimization is demonstrated. In a pig study, we demonstrate navigation of a catheter, with tip-tracking and high-resolution intravascular imaging, through the vasculature into the heart, followed by contextual visualization. A potentially significant application is in MRI-guided cardiac ablation procedures.

Inductive Electron Heating Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuszewski, M.

1996-11-01

Inductively Coupled Plasmas (ICPs) have been studied for over a century. Recently, ICPs have been rediscovered by the multi-billion dollar semiconductor industry as an important class of high-density, low-pressure plasma sources suitable for the manufacture of next-generation integrated circuits. Present low-pressure ICP development is among the most active areas of plasma research. However, this development remains largely empirical, a prohibitively expensive approach for upcoming 300-mm diameter wafers. Hence, there is an urgent need for basic ICP plasma physics research, including experimental characterization and predictive numerical modeling. Inductive radio frequency (rf) power absorption is fundamental to the ICP electron heating and the resulting plasma transport but remains poorly understood. For example, recent experimental measurements and supporting fluid calculationsfootnote M. Tuszewski, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 in press (1996) on a commercial deposition tool prototype show that the induced rf magnetic fields in the source can cause an order of magnitude reduction in plasma conductivity and in electron heating power density. In some cases, the rf fields penetrate through the entire volume of the ICP discharges while existing models that neglect the induced rf magnetic fields predict rf absorption in a thin skin layer near the plasma surface. The rf magnetic fields also cause more subtle changes in the plasma density and in the electron temperature spatial distributions. These data will be presented and the role of basic research in the applied world of semiconductor manufacturing will be discussed. ^*This research was conducted under the auspices of the U.S. DOE, supported by funds provided by the University of California for discretionary research by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

SIMULATION RESULTS OF SINGLE REFRIGERANTS FOR USE IN A DUAL-CIRCUIT REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER

EPA Science Inventory

The paper reviews the refrigerant/freezer (RF) design and refrigerant selection process that is necessary to design an energy efficient RF that does not use fully halogenated chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). EPA is interested in phasing out CFCs in RFs to minimize stratospheric ozone ...

An externally head-mounted wireless neural recording device for laboratory animal research and possible human clinical use.

PubMed

Yin, Ming; Li, Hao; Bull, Christopher; Borton, David A; Aceros, Juan; Larson, Lawrence; Nurmikko, Arto V

2013-01-01

In this paper we present a new type of head-mounted wireless neural recording device in a highly compact package, dedicated for untethered laboratory animal research and designed for future mobile human clinical use. The device, which takes its input from an array of intracortical microelectrode arrays (MEA) has ninety-seven broadband parallel neural recording channels and was integrated on to two custom designed printed circuit boards. These house several low power, custom integrated circuits, including a preamplifier ASIC, a controller ASIC, plus two SAR ADCs, a 3-axis accelerometer, a 48MHz clock source, and a Manchester encoder. Another ultralow power RF chip supports an OOK transmitter with the center frequency tunable from 3GHz to 4GHz, mounted on a separate low loss dielectric board together with a 3V LDO, with output fed to a UWB chip antenna. The IC boards were interconnected and packaged in a polyether ether ketone (PEEK) enclosure which is compatible with both animal and human use (e.g. sterilizable). The entire system consumes 17mA from a 1.2Ahr 3.6V Li-SOCl2 1/2AA battery, which operates the device for more than 2 days. The overall system includes a custom RF receiver electronics which are designed to directly interface with any number of commercial (or custom) neural signal processors for multi-channel broadband neural recording. Bench-top measurements and in vivo testing of the device in rhesus macaques are presented to demonstrate the performance of the wireless neural interface.

The rectenna design on contact lens for wireless powering of the active intraocular pressure monitoring system.

PubMed

Cheng, H W; Jeng, B M; Chen, C Y; Huang, H Y; Chiou, J C; Luo, C H

2013-01-01

This paper proposed a wireless power harvesting system with micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) fabrication for noninvasive intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement on soft contact lens substructure. The power harvesting IC consists of a loop antenna, an impedance matching network and a rectifier. The proposed IC has been designed and fabricated by CMOS 0.18 um process that operates at the ISM band of 5.8 GHz. The antenna and the power harvesting IC would be bonded together by using flip chip bonding technologies without extra wire interference. The circuit utilized an impedance transformation circuit to boost the input RF signal that improves the circuit performance. The proposed design achieves an RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of 35% at 5.8 GHz.

Radio-frequency measurements of UNiX compounds (X=Al, Ga, Ge) in high magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsmadi, A. M.; Alyones, S.; Mielke, C. H.; McDonald, R. D.; Zapf, V.; Altarawneh, M. M.; Lacerda, A.; Chang, S.; Adak, S.; Kothapalli, K.; Nakotte, H.

2009-11-01

We performed radio-frequency (RF) skin-depth measurements of antiferromagnetic UNiX compounds (X=Al, Ga, Ge) in magnetic fields up to 60 T and at temperatures between 1.4 to ~60 K. Magnetic fields are applied along different crystallographic directions and RF penetration-depth was measured using a tunnel-diode oscillator (TDO) circuit. The sample is coupled to the inductive element of a TDO resonant tank circuit, and the shift in the resonant frequency Δ f of the circuit is measured. The UNiX compounds exhibit field-induced magnetic transitions at low temperatures, and those transitions are accompanied by a drastic change in Δ f. The results of our skin-depth measurements were compared with previously published B- T phase diagrams for these three compounds.

Influence of Germanium source on dopingless tunnel-FET for improved analog/RF performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cecil, Kanchan; Singh, Jawar

2017-01-01

Dopingless (DL) and junctionless devices have attracted attention due to their simplified fabrication process and low thermal budget requirements. Therefore, in this work, we investigated the influence of low band gap Germanium (Ge) instead of Silicon (Si) as a "Source region" material in dopingless (DL) tunnel field-effect transistor (DLTFET). We observed that the Ge source DLTFET delivers much better performance in comparison to Si DLTFET under various analog/RF figure of merits (FOMs), such as transconductance (gm), transconductance generation factor (TGF) (gm /Id), output conductance (gd), output resistance (RO), intrinsic gain (gmRO), intrinsic gate delay (τ) and RF FOMs, like unity gain frequency (fT), gain bandwidth product (GBW) along with various gate capacitances. These parameters were extracted using 2D TCAD device simulations through small signal ac analysis. Higher ION /IOFF ratio (1014) of Ge source DLTFET can reduce the dynamic as well as static power in digital circuits, while higher transconductance generation factor (gm /Id) ∼ 2287 V-1 can lower the bias power of an amplifier. Similarly, enhanced RF FOMs i.e unity gain frequency (fT) and gain bandwidth product (GBW) in Gigahertz range projects the proposed device preference for RF circuits.

A Study of Direct Digital Manufactured RF/Microwave Packaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stratton, John W. I.

Various facets of direct digital manufactured (DDM) microwave packages are studied. The rippled surface inherent in fused deposition modeling (FDM) fabricated geometries is modeled in Ansoft HFSS, and its effect on the performance of microstrip transmission lines is assessed via simulation and measurement. The thermal response of DDM microstrip transmission lines is analyzed over a range of RF input powers, and linearity is confirmed over that range. Two IC packages are embedded into DDM printed circuit boards, and their performance is analyzed. The first is a low power RF switch, and the second is an RF front end device that includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a power amplifier (PA). The RF switch is shown to perform well, as compared to a layout designed for a Rogers 4003C microwave laminate substrate. The LNA performs within datasheet specifications. The power amplifier generates substantial heat, so a thermal management attempt is described. Finally, a capacitively loaded 6dB Wilkinson power divider is designed and fabricated using DDM techniques and materials. Its performance is analyzed and compared to simulation. The device is shown to compare favorably to a similar device fabricated on a Rogers 4003C microwave laminate using traditional printed circuit board techniques.

Thin-film cadmium telluride photovoltaic cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Compaan, A. D.; Bohn, R. G.

1994-09-01

This report describes work to develop and optimize radio-frequency (RF) sputtering for the deposition of thin films of cadmium telluride (CdTe) and related semiconductors for thin-film solar cells. Pulsed laser physical vapor deposition was also used for exploratory work on these materials, especially where alloying or doping are involved, and for the deposition of cadmium chloride layers. The sputtering work utilized a 2-in diameter planar magnetron sputter gun. The film growth rate by RF sputtering was studied as a function of substrate temperature, gas pressure, and RF power. Complete solar cells were fabricated on tin-oxide-coated soda-lime glass substrates. Currently, work is being done to improve the open-circuit voltage by varying the CdTe-based absorber layer, and to improve the short-circuit current by modifying the CdS window layer.

Biasable, Balanced, Fundamental Submillimeter Monolithic Membrane Mixer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siegel, Peter; Schlecht, Erich; Mehdi, Imran; Gill, John; Velebir, James; Tsang, Raymond; Dengler, Robert; Lin, Robert

2010-01-01

This device is a biasable, submillimeter-wave, balanced mixer fabricated using JPL s monolithic membrane process a simplified version of planar membrane technology. The primary target application is instrumentation used for analysis of atmospheric constituents, pressure, temperature, winds, and other physical and chemical properties of the atmospheres of planets and comets. Other applications include high-sensitivity gas detection and analysis. This innovation uses a balanced configuration of two diodes allowing the radio frequency (RF) signal and local oscillator (LO) inputs to be separated. This removes the need for external diplexers that are inherently narrowband, bulky, and require mechanical tuning to change frequency. Additionally, this mixer uses DC bias-ability to improve its performance and versatility. In order to solve problems relating to circuit size, the GaAs membrane process was created. As much of the circuitry as possible is fabricated on-chip, making the circuit monolithic. The remainder of the circuitry is precision-machined into a waveguide block that holds the GaAs circuit. The most critical alignments are performed using micron-scale semiconductor technology, enabling wide bandwidth and high operating frequencies. The balanced mixer gets superior performance with less than 2 mW of LO power. This can be provided by a simple two-stage multiplier chain following an amplifier at around 90 GHz. Further, the diodes are arranged so that they can be biased. Biasing pushes the diodes closer to their switching voltage, so that less LO power is required to switch the diodes on and off. In the photo, the diodes are at the right end of the circuit. The LO comes from the waveguide at the right into a reduced-height section containing the diodes. Because the diodes are in series to the LO signal, they are both turned on and off simultaneously once per LO cycle. Conversely, the RF signal is picked up from the RF waveguide by the probe at the left, and flows rightward to the diodes. Because the RF is in a quasi- TEM (suspended, microstrip-like) mode, it impinges on the diodes in an anti-parallel mode that does not couple to the waveguide mode. This isolates the LO and RF signals. This operation is similar to a cross-bar mixer used at low frequencies, except the RF signal enters through the back-short end of the waveguide rather than through the side. The RF probe also conveys the down-converted intermediate frequency (IF) signal out to an off-chip circuit board through a simple LC low-pass filter to the left as indicated. The bias is brought to the diodes through a bypass capacitor at the top.

FPGA-based RF interference reduction techniques for simultaneous PET–MRI

PubMed Central

Gebhardt, P; Wehner, J; Weissler, B; Botnar, R; Marsden, P K; Schulz, V

2016-01-01

Abstract The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a multi-modal imaging technique is considered very promising and powerful with regard to in vivo disease progression examination, therapy response monitoring and drug development. However, PET–MRI system design enabling simultaneous operation with unaffected intrinsic performance of both modalities is challenging. As one of the major issues, both the PET detectors and the MRI radio-frequency (RF) subsystem are exposed to electromagnetic (EM) interference, which may lead to PET and MRI signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) deteriorations. Early digitization of electronic PET signals within the MRI bore helps to preserve PET SNR, but occurs at the expense of increased amount of PET electronics inside the MRI and associated RF field emissions. This raises the likelihood of PET-related MRI interference by coupling into the MRI RF coil unwanted spurious signals considered as RF noise, as it degrades MRI SNR and results in MR image artefacts. RF shielding of PET detectors is a commonly used technique to reduce PET-related RF interferences, but can introduce eddy-current-related MRI disturbances and hinder the highest system integration. In this paper, we present RF interference reduction methods which rely on EM field coupling–decoupling principles of RF receive coils rather than suppressing emitted fields. By modifying clock frequencies and changing clock phase relations of digital circuits, the resulting RF field emission is optimised with regard to a lower field coupling into the MRI RF coil, thereby increasing the RF silence of PET detectors. Our methods are demonstrated by performing FPGA-based clock frequency and phase shifting of digital silicon photo-multipliers (dSiPMs) used in the PET modules of our MR-compatible Hyperion IID PET insert. We present simulations and magnetic-field map scans visualising the impact of altered clock phase pattern on the spatial RF field distribution, followed by MRI noise and SNR scans performed with an operating PET module using different clock frequencies and phase patterns. The methods were implemented via firmware design changes without any hardware modifications. This introduces new means of flexibility by enabling adaptive RF interference reduction optimisations in the field, e.g. when using a PET insert with different MRI systems or when different MRI RF coil types are to be operated with the same PET detector. PMID:27049898

FPGA-based RF interference reduction techniques for simultaneous PET-MRI.

PubMed

Gebhardt, P; Wehner, J; Weissler, B; Botnar, R; Marsden, P K; Schulz, V

2016-05-07

The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a multi-modal imaging technique is considered very promising and powerful with regard to in vivo disease progression examination, therapy response monitoring and drug development. However, PET-MRI system design enabling simultaneous operation with unaffected intrinsic performance of both modalities is challenging. As one of the major issues, both the PET detectors and the MRI radio-frequency (RF) subsystem are exposed to electromagnetic (EM) interference, which may lead to PET and MRI signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) deteriorations. Early digitization of electronic PET signals within the MRI bore helps to preserve PET SNR, but occurs at the expense of increased amount of PET electronics inside the MRI and associated RF field emissions. This raises the likelihood of PET-related MRI interference by coupling into the MRI RF coil unwanted spurious signals considered as RF noise, as it degrades MRI SNR and results in MR image artefacts. RF shielding of PET detectors is a commonly used technique to reduce PET-related RF interferences, but can introduce eddy-current-related MRI disturbances and hinder the highest system integration. In this paper, we present RF interference reduction methods which rely on EM field coupling-decoupling principles of RF receive coils rather than suppressing emitted fields. By modifying clock frequencies and changing clock phase relations of digital circuits, the resulting RF field emission is optimised with regard to a lower field coupling into the MRI RF coil, thereby increasing the RF silence of PET detectors. Our methods are demonstrated by performing FPGA-based clock frequency and phase shifting of digital silicon photo-multipliers (dSiPMs) used in the PET modules of our MR-compatible Hyperion II (D) PET insert. We present simulations and magnetic-field map scans visualising the impact of altered clock phase pattern on the spatial RF field distribution, followed by MRI noise and SNR scans performed with an operating PET module using different clock frequencies and phase patterns. The methods were implemented via firmware design changes without any hardware modifications. This introduces new means of flexibility by enabling adaptive RF interference reduction optimisations in the field, e.g. when using a PET insert with different MRI systems or when different MRI RF coil types are to be operated with the same PET detector.

FPGA-based RF interference reduction techniques for simultaneous PET-MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gebhardt, P.; Wehner, J.; Weissler, B.; Botnar, R.; Marsden, P. K.; Schulz, V.

2016-05-01

The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a multi-modal imaging technique is considered very promising and powerful with regard to in vivo disease progression examination, therapy response monitoring and drug development. However, PET-MRI system design enabling simultaneous operation with unaffected intrinsic performance of both modalities is challenging. As one of the major issues, both the PET detectors and the MRI radio-frequency (RF) subsystem are exposed to electromagnetic (EM) interference, which may lead to PET and MRI signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) deteriorations. Early digitization of electronic PET signals within the MRI bore helps to preserve PET SNR, but occurs at the expense of increased amount of PET electronics inside the MRI and associated RF field emissions. This raises the likelihood of PET-related MRI interference by coupling into the MRI RF coil unwanted spurious signals considered as RF noise, as it degrades MRI SNR and results in MR image artefacts. RF shielding of PET detectors is a commonly used technique to reduce PET-related RF interferences, but can introduce eddy-current-related MRI disturbances and hinder the highest system integration. In this paper, we present RF interference reduction methods which rely on EM field coupling-decoupling principles of RF receive coils rather than suppressing emitted fields. By modifying clock frequencies and changing clock phase relations of digital circuits, the resulting RF field emission is optimised with regard to a lower field coupling into the MRI RF coil, thereby increasing the RF silence of PET detectors. Our methods are demonstrated by performing FPGA-based clock frequency and phase shifting of digital silicon photo-multipliers (dSiPMs) used in the PET modules of our MR-compatible Hyperion II D PET insert. We present simulations and magnetic-field map scans visualising the impact of altered clock phase pattern on the spatial RF field distribution, followed by MRI noise and SNR scans performed with an operating PET module using different clock frequencies and phase patterns. The methods were implemented via firmware design changes without any hardware modifications. This introduces new means of flexibility by enabling adaptive RF interference reduction optimisations in the field, e.g. when using a PET insert with different MRI systems or when different MRI RF coil types are to be operated with the same PET detector.

RF-Plasma Source Commissioning in Indian Negative Ion Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, M. J.; Bandyopadhyay, M.; Bansal, G.; Gahlaut, A.; Soni, J.; Kumar, Sunil; Pandya, K.; Parmar, K. G.; Sonara, J.; Yadava, Ratnakar; Chakraborty, A. K.; Kraus, W.; Heinemann, B.; Riedl, R.; Obermayer, S.; Martens, C.; Franzen, P.; Fantz, U.

2011-09-01

The Indian program of the RF based negative ion source has started off with the commissioning of ROBIN, the inductively coupled RF based negative ion source facility under establishment at Institute for Plasma research (IPR), India. The facility is being developed under a technology transfer agreement with IPP Garching. It consists of a single RF driver based beam source (BATMAN replica) coupled to a 100 kW, 1 MHz RF generator with a self excited oscillator, through a matching network, for plasma production and ion extraction and acceleration. The delivery of the RF generator and the RF plasma source without the accelerator, has enabled initiation of plasma production experiments. The recent experimental campaign has established the matching circuit parameters that result in plasma production with density in the range of 0.5-1×1018/m3, at operational gas pressures ranging between 0.4-1 Pa. Various configurations of the matching network have been experimented upon to obtain a stable operation of the set up for RF powers ranging between 25-85 kW and pulse lengths ranging between 4-20 s. It has been observed that the range of the parameters of the matching circuit, over which the frequency of the power supply is stable, is narrow and further experiments with increased number of turns in the coil are in the pipeline to see if the range can be widened. In this paper, the description of the experimental system and the commissioning data related to the optimisation of the various parameters of the matching network, to obtain stable plasma of required density, are presented and discussed.

Toward Realization of 2.4 GHz Balunless Narrowband Receiver Front-End for Short Range Wireless Applications.

PubMed

El-Desouki, Munir M; Qasim, Syed Manzoor; BenSaleh, Mohammed S; Deen, M Jamal

2015-05-07

The demand for radio frequency (RF) transceivers operating at 2.4 GHz band has attracted considerable research interest due to the advancement in short range wireless technologies. The performance of RF transceivers depends heavily on the transmitter and receiver front-ends. The receiver front-end is comprised of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a downconversion mixer. There are very few designs that focus on connecting the single-ended output LNA to a double-balanced mixer without the use of on-chip transformer, also known as a balun. The objective of designing such a receiver front-end is to achieve high integration and low power consumption. To meet these requirements, we present the design of fully-integrated 2.4 GHz receiver front-end, consisting of a narrow-band LNA and a double balanced mixer without using a balun. Here, the single-ended RF output signal of the LNA is translated into differential signal using an NMOS-PMOS (n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor, p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor) transistor differential pair instead of the conventional NMOS-NMOS transistor configuration, for the RF amplification stage of the double-balanced mixer. The proposed receiver circuit fabricated using TSMC 0.18 µm CMOS technology operates at 2.4 GHz and produces an output signal at 300 MHz. The fabricated receiver achieves a gain of 16.3 dB and consumes only 6.74 mW operating at 1.5 V, while utilizing 2.08 mm2 of chip area. Measurement results demonstrate the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed receiver for short-range wireless applications, such as in wireless sensor network (WSN).

Mid-infrared integrated optics: versatile hot embossing of mid-infrared glasses for on-chip planar waveguides for molecular sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seddon, Angela B.; Abdel-Moneim, Nabil S.; Zhang, Lian; Pan, Wei J.; Furniss, David; Mellor, Christopher J.; Kohoutek, Tomas; Orava, Jiri; Wagner, Tomas; Benson, Trevor M.

2014-07-01

The versatility of hot embossing for shaping photonic components on-chip for mid-infrared (IR) integrated optics, using a hard mold, is demonstrated. Hot embossing via fiber-on-glass (FOG), thermally evaporated films, and radio frequency (RF)-sputtered films on glass are described. Mixed approaches of combined plasma etching and hot embossing increase the versatility still further for engineering optical circuits on a single platform. Application of these methodologies for fabricating molecular-sensing devices on-chip is discussed with a view to biomedical sensing. Future prospects for using photonic integration for the new field of mid-IR molecular sensing are appraised. Also, common methods of measuring waveguide optical loss are critically compared, regarding their susceptibility to artifacts which tend artificially to depress, or enhance, the waveguide optical loss.

High-speed electro-optic polymers: mm-Wave applications and silica planar lightwave circuit integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Daniel H.

The development of high speed polymer electro-optic modulators has seen steady and significant progress in recent years, enabling novel applications in RF-Photonics. Two of these are described in this Thesis: an Opto-Electronic Oscillator (OEO), which is a hybrid RF and optical oscillator capable of high spectral purity, and Photonic Time-Stretch, which is a signal processing technique for waveform spectral shifting with application to photonically-assisted A/D conversion. In both cases, the operating frequencies achieved have been the highest demonstrated to date. Application of this promising material to more complicated devices, however, is stymied by insertion loss performance. Current loss figures, while acceptable for single modulators, are too high for large arrays of modulators or intrinsically long devices such as AWGs or photonic-RF phase shifters. This is especially frustrating in light of a key virtue which polymers possess as a photonic material: its photolithographic process-ability makes patterning complex devices possible. Indeed, the current ascendancy of silica-based waveguide devices can be attributed largely to the same reason. In this Thesis, we also demonstrate the first hybrid device composed of silica planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) and polymer planar waveguides. Our approach utilizes grayscale lithography to enable vertical coupling between polymer and silica layers, minimizing entanglement of their respective fabrication processes. We have achieved coupling excess loss figures on the order of 1dB. We believe this is the natural next step in the development of electro-optic polymer devices. The two technologies are highly complementary. Silica PLCs, with excellent propagation loss and fiber coupling, are ideally suited for long passive waveguiding. By endowing them with the high-speed phase shifting capability offered by polymers, active wideband photonic devices of increasing complexity and array size can be contemplated.

SIMULATION OF NON-AZEOTROPIC REFRIGERANT MIXTURES FOR USE IN A DUAL-CIRCUIT REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER WITH COUNTERCURRENT HEAT EXCHANGES

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses a refrigerator/freezer (RF) system that has two complete and independent refrigeration cycles for the two compartments. It uses a non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture (NARM) in each cycle and countercurrent heat exchangers throughout. This RF is housed in a stan...

Radio-frequency measurements of UNiX compounds (X= Al, Ga, Ge) in high magnetic fields

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mielke, Charles H; Mcdonald, David R; Zapf, Vivien

2009-01-01

We performed radio-frequency (RF) skin-depth measurements of antiferromagnetic UNiX compounds (X=Al, Ga, Ge) in magnetic fields up to 60 T and at temperatures between 1.4 to {approx}60 K. Magnetic fields are applied along different crystallographic directions and RF penetration-depth was measured using a tunnel-diode oscillator (TDO) circuit. The sample is coupled to the inductive element of a TDO resonant tank circuit, and the shift in the resonant frequency {Delta}f of the circuit is measured. The UNiX compounds exhibit field-induced magnetic transitions at low temperatures, and those transitions are accompanied by a drastic change in {Delta}f. The results of our skin-depthmore » measurements were compared with previously published B-T phase diagrams for these three compounds.« less

Low jitter RF distribution system

DOEpatents

Wilcox, Russell; Doolittle, Lawrence; Huang, Gang

2012-09-18

A timing signal distribution system includes an optical frequency stabilized laser signal amplitude modulated at an rf frequency. A transmitter box transmits a first portion of the laser signal and receive a modified optical signal, and outputs a second portion of the laser signal and a portion of the modified optical signal. A first optical fiber carries the first laser signal portion and the modified optical signal, and a second optical fiber carries the second portion of the laser signal and the returned modified optical signal. A receiver box receives the first laser signal portion, shifts the frequency of the first laser signal portion outputs the modified optical signal, and outputs an electrical signal on the basis of the laser signal. A detector at the end of the second optical fiber outputs a signal based on the modified optical signal. An optical delay sensing circuit outputs a data signal based on the detected modified optical signal. An rf phase detect and correct signal circuit outputs a signal corresponding to a phase stabilized rf signal based on the data signal and the frequency received from the receiver box.

Multi-level RF identification system

DOEpatents

Steele, Kerry D.; Anderson, Gordon A.; Gilbert, Ronald W.

2004-07-20

A radio frequency identification system having a radio frequency transceiver for generating a continuous wave RF interrogation signal that impinges upon an RF identification tag. An oscillation circuit in the RF identification tag modulates the interrogation signal with a subcarrier of a predetermined frequency and modulates the frequency-modulated signal back to the transmitting interrogator. The interrogator recovers and analyzes the subcarrier signal and determines its frequency. The interrogator generates an output indicative of the frequency of the subcarrier frequency, thereby identifying the responding RFID tag as one of a "class" of RFID tags configured to respond with a subcarrier signal of a predetermined frequency.

Photovoltaic properties of ferroelectric BaTiO3 thin films RF sputter deposited on silicon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dharmadhikari, V. S.; Grannemann, W. W.

1982-01-01

Ferroelectric thin films of BaTiO3 have been successfully deposited on n-type silicon substrates at temperatures above 500 C by RF sputtering in an O2/Ar atmosphere. Analysis by X-ray diffraction patterns show that films deposited at room temperature are amorphous. At temperatures above 500 C, crystalline BaTiO3 films with a tetragonal structure are obtained. The polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops and a broad peak in the dielectric constant versus temperature curve at Curie point indicate that the RF sputtered BaTiO3 films are ferroelectric. An anomalous photovoltaic effect is observed in these thin films which is related to the remanent polarization of the material. The results on open-circuit and short-circuit measurements provide an important basis for a better understanding of the role of photovoltaic field, photovoltaic current, and the pyroelectric properties in photoferroelectric domain switching.

Technique for enhancing the power output of an electrostatic generator employing parametric resonance

DOEpatents

Post, Richard F.

2016-02-23

A circuit-based technique enhances the power output of electrostatic generators employing an array of axially oriented rods or tubes or azimuthal corrugated metal surfaces for their electrodes. During generator operation, the peak voltage across the electrodes occurs at an azimuthal position that is intermediate between the position of minimum gap and maximum gap. If this position is also close to the azimuthal angle where the rate of change of capacity is a maximum, then the highest rf power output possible for a given maximum allowable voltage at the minimum gap can be attained. This rf power output is then coupled to the generator load through a coupling condenser that prevents suppression of the dc charging potential by conduction through the load. Optimized circuit values produce phase shifts in the rf output voltage that allow higher power output to occur at the same voltage limit at the minimum gap position.

Radio-frequency response of single pores and artificial ion channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, H. S.; Ramachandran, S.; Stava, E.; van der Weide, D. W.; Blick, R. H.

2011-09-01

Intercellular communication relies on ion channels and pores in cell membranes. These protein-formed channels enable the exchange of ions and small molecules to electrically and/or chemically interact with the cells. Traditionally, recordings on single-ion channels and pores are performed in the dc regime, due to the extremely high impedance of these molecular junctions. This paper is intended as an introduction to radio-frequency (RF) recordings of single-molecule junctions in bilipid membranes. First, we demonstrate how early approaches to using microwave circuitry as readout devices for ion channel formation were realized. The second step will then focus on how to engineer microwave coupling into the high-impedance channel by making use of bio-compatible micro-coaxial lines. We then demonstrate integration of an ultra-broadband microwave circuit for the direct sampling of single α-hemolysin pores in a suspended bilipid membrane. Simultaneous direct current recordings reveal that we can monitor and correlate the RF transmission signal. This enables us to relate the open-close states of the direct current to the RF signal. Altogether, our experiments lay the ground for an RF-readout technique to perform real-time in vitro recordings of pores. The technique thus holds great promise for research and drug screening applications. The possible enhancement of sampling rates of single channels and pores by the large recording bandwidth will allow us to track the passage of single ions.

Wireless implantable chip with integrated nitinol-based pump for radio-controlled local drug delivery.

PubMed

Fong, Jeffrey; Xiao, Zhiming; Takahata, Kenichi

2015-02-21

We demonstrate an active, implantable drug delivery device embedded with a microfluidic pump that is driven by a radio-controlled actuator for temporal drug delivery. The polyimide-packaged 10 × 10 × 2 mm(3) chip contains a micromachined pump chamber and check valves of Parylene C to force the release of the drug from a 76 μL reservoir by wirelessly activating the actuator using external radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields. The rectangular-shaped spiral-coil actuator based on nitinol, a biocompatible shape-memory alloy, is developed to perform cantilever-like actuation for pumping operation. The nitinol-coil actuator itself forms a passive 185 MHz resonant circuit that serves as a self-heat source activated via RF power transfer to enable frequency-selective actuation and pumping. Experimental wireless operation of fabricated prototypes shows successful release of test agents from the devices placed in liquid and excited by radiating tuned RF fields with an output power of 1.1 W. These tests reveal a single release volume of 219 nL, suggesting a device's capacity of ~350 individual ejections of drug from its reservoir. The thermal behavior of the activated device is also reported in detail. This proof-of-concept prototype validates the effectiveness of wireless RF pumping for fully controlled, long-lasting drug delivery, a key step towards enabling patient-tailored, targeted local drug delivery through highly miniaturized implants.

Microwave radiometer for subsurface temperature measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Porter, R. A.; Bechis, K. P.

1976-01-01

A UHF radiometer, operating at a frequency of 800 MHz, was modified to provide an integral, three frequency voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) circuit in the radio frequency (RF) head. The VSWR circuit provides readings of power transmission at the antenna-material interface with an accuracy of plus or minus 5 percent. The power transmission readings are numerically equal to the emissivity of the material under observation. Knowledge of material emissivity is useful in the interpretation of subsurface apparent temperatures obtained on phantom models of biological tissue. The emissivities of phantom models consisting of lean beefsteak were found to lie in the range 0.623 to 0.779, depending on moisture content. Radiometric measurements performed on instrumented phantoms showed that the radiometer was capable of sensing small temperature changes occurring at depths of at least 19 to 30 mm. This is consistent with previously generated data which showed that the radiometer could sense temperatures at a depth of 38 mm.

Application of automatic gain control for radiometer diagnostic in SST-1 tokamak.

PubMed

Makwana, Foram R; Siju, Varsha; Edappala, Praveenlal; Pathak, S K

2017-12-01

This paper describes the characterisation of a negative feedback type of automatic gain control (AGC) circuit that will be an integral part of the heterodyne radiometer system operating at a frequency range of 75-86 GHz at SST-1 tokamak. The developed AGC circuit is a combination of variable gain amplifier and log amplifier which provides both gain and attenuation typically up to 15 dB and 45 dB, respectively, at a fixed set point voltage and it has been explored for the first time in tokamak radiometry application. The other important characteristics are that it exhibits a very fast response time of 390 ns to understand the fast dynamics of electron cyclotron emission and can operate at very wide input RF power dynamic range of around 60 dB that ensures signal level within the dynamic range of the detection system.

Equivalent radiation source of 3D package for electromagnetic characteristics analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jun; Wei, Xingchang; Shu, Yufei

2017-10-01

An equivalent radiation source method is proposed to characterize electromagnetic emission and interference of complex three dimensional integrated circuits (IC) in this paper. The method utilizes amplitude-only near-field scanning data to reconstruct an equivalent magnetic dipole array, and the differential evolution optimization algorithm is proposed to extract the locations, orientation and moments of those dipoles. By importing the equivalent dipoles model into a 3D full-wave simulator together with the victim circuit model, the electromagnetic interference issues in mixed RF/digital systems can be well predicted. A commercial IC is used to validate the accuracy and efficiency of this proposed method. The coupled power at the victim antenna port calculated by the equivalent radiation source is compared with the measured data. Good consistency is obtained which confirms the validity and efficiency of the method. Project supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 61274110).

Recent research trends of radio-frequency biosensors for biomolecular detection.

PubMed

Lee, Hee-Jo; Yook, Jong-Gwan

2014-11-15

This article reviews radio-frequency (RF) biosensors based on passive and/or active devices and circuits. In particular, we focus on RF biosensors designed for detection of various biomolecules such as biotin-streptavidin, DNA hybridization, IgG, and glucose. The performance of these biosensors has been enhanced by the introduction of various sensing schemes with diverse nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, magnetic and gold nanoparticles, etc.). In addition, the RF biosensing platforms that can be associated with an RF active system are discussed. Finally, the challenges of RF biosensors are presented and suggestions are made for their future direction and prospects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A miniature batteryless health and usage monitoring system based on hybrid energy harvesting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chenling; Chakrabartty, Shantanu

2011-04-01

The cost and size of the state-of-the-art health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) are determined by capacity of on-board energy storage which limits their large scale deployment. In this paper, we present a miniature low-cost mechanical HUMS integrated circuit (IC) based on the concept of hybrid energy harvesting where continuous monitoring is achieved by self-powering, where as the programming, localization and communication with the sensor is achieved using remote RF powering. The self-powered component of the proposed HUMS is based on our previous result which used a controllable hot electron injection on floatinggate transistor as an ultra-low power signal processor. We show that the HUMS IC can seamlessly switch between different energy harvesting modes based on the availability of ambient RF power and that the configuration, programming and communication functions can be remotely performed without physically accessing the HUMS device. All the measured results presented in this paper have been obtained from prototypes fabricated in a 0.5 micron standard CMOS process and the entire system has been successfully integrated on a 1.5cm x 1.5cm package.

A High Efficiency, Miniaturized Ka Band Traveling Wave Tube Based on a Novel Finned Ladder RF Circuit Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wintucky, E. G.; Wilson, J. D.; Vaden, K. R.; Force, D. A.; Freeman, J. C.; Lesny, G. G.; Kory, C. L.; Chevalier, C. T.; Ebihara, B.; Dayton, J. A.;

A circuit model for nonlinear simulation of radio-frequency filters using bulk acoustic wave resonators.

PubMed

Ueda, Masanori; Iwaki, Masafumi; Nishihara, Tokihiro; Satoh, Yoshio; Hashimoto, Ken-ya

2008-04-01

This paper describes a circuit model for the analysis of nonlinearity in the filters based on radiofrequency (RF) bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators. The nonlinear output is expressed by a current source connected parallel to the linear resonator. Amplitude of the nonlinear current source is programmed proportional to the product of linear currents flowing in the resonator. Thus, the nonlinear analysis is performed by the common linear analysis, even for complex device structures. The analysis is applied to a ladder-type RF BAW filter, and frequency dependence of the nonlinear output is discussed. Furthermore, this analysis is verified through comparison with experiments.

An in situ trap capacitance measurement and ion-trapping detection scheme for a Penning ion trap facility.

PubMed

Reza, Ashif; Banerjee, Kumardeb; Das, Parnika; Ray, Kalyankumar; Bandyopadhyay, Subhankar; Dam, Bivas

2017-03-01

This paper presents the design and implementation of an in situ measurement setup for the capacitance of a five electrode Penning ion trap (PIT) facility at room temperature. For implementing a high Q resonant circuit for the detection of trapped electrons/ions in a PIT, the value of the capacitance of the trap assembly is of prime importance. A tunable Colpitts oscillator followed by a unity gain buffer and a low pass filter is designed and successfully implemented for a two-fold purpose: in situ measurement of the trap capacitance when the electric and magnetic fields are turned off and also providing RF power at the desired frequency to the PIT for exciting the trapped ions and subsequent detection. The setup is tested for the in situ measurement of trap capacitance at room temperature and the results are found to comply with those obtained from measurements using a high Q parallel resonant circuit setup driven by a standard RF signal generator. The Colpitts oscillator is also tested successfully for supplying RF power to the high Q resonant circuit, which is required for the detection of trapped electrons/ions.

A novel multi-actuation CMOS RF MEMS switch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Chiung-I.; Ko, Chih-Hsiang; Huang, Tsun-Che

2008-12-01

This paper demonstrates a capacitive shunt type RF MEMS switch, which is actuated by electro-thermal actuator and electrostatic actuator at the same time, and than latching the switching status by electrostatic force only. Since thermal actuators need relative low voltage compare to electrostatic actuators, and electrostatic force needs almost no power to maintain the switching status, the benefits of the mechanism are very low actuation voltage and low power consumption. Moreover, the RF MEMS switch has considered issues for integrated circuit compatible in design phase. So the switch is fabricated by a standard 0.35um 2P4M CMOS process and uses wet etching and dry etching technologies for postprocess. This compatible ability is important because the RF characteristics are not only related to the device itself. If a packaged RF switch and a packaged IC wired together, the parasitic capacitance will cause the problem for optimization. The structure of the switch consists of a set of CPW transmission lines and a suspended membrane. The CPW lines and the membrane are in metal layers of CMOS process. Besides, the electro-thermal actuators are designed by polysilicon layer of the CMOS process. So the RF switch is only CMOS process layers needed for both electro-thermal and electrostatic actuations in switch. The thermal actuator is composed of a three-dimensional membrane and two heaters. The membrane is a stacked step structure including two metal layers in CMOS process, and heat is generated by poly silicon resistors near the anchors of membrane. Measured results show that the actuation voltage of the switch is under 7V for electro-thermal added electrostatic actuation.

Bistability in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor inverter circuit.

PubMed

Carroll, Thomas L

2005-09-01

Radiofrequency signals can disrupt the operation of low frequency circuits. A digital inverter circuit would seem to be immune to such disruption, because its output state usually jumps abruptly between 0 and 5 V. Nevertheless, when driven with a high frequency signal, the inverter can have two coexisting stable states (which are not at 0 and 5 V). Slow switching between these states (by changing the rf signal) will produce a low frequency signal. I demonstrate the bistability in a circuit experiment and in a simple model of the circuit.

Large-Aperture Membrane Active Phased-Array Antennas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karasik, Boris; McGrath, William; Leduc, Henry

2009-01-01

Large-aperture phased-array microwave antennas supported by membranes are being developed for use in spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar systems. There may also be terrestrial uses for such antennas supported on stationary membranes, large balloons, and blimps. These antennas are expected to have areal mass densities of about 2 kg/sq m, satisfying a need for lightweight alternatives to conventional rigid phased-array antennas, which have typical areal mass densities between 8 and 15 kg/sq m. The differences in areal mass densities translate to substantial differences in total mass in contemplated applications involving aperture areas as large as 400 sq m. A membrane phased-array antenna includes patch antenna elements in a repeating pattern. All previously reported membrane antennas were passive antennas; this is the first active membrane antenna that includes transmitting/receiving (T/R) electronic circuits as integral parts. Other integral parts of the antenna include a network of radio-frequency (RF) feed lines (more specifically, a corporate feed network) and of bias and control lines, all in the form of flexible copper strip conductors on flexible polymeric membranes. Each unit cell of a prototype antenna (see Figure 1) contains a patch antenna element and a compact T/R module that is compatible with flexible membrane circuitry. There are two membrane layers separated by a 12.7-mm air gap. Each membrane layer is made from a commercially available flexible circuit material that, as supplied, comprises a 127-micron-thick polyimide dielectric layer clad on both sides with 17.5-micron-thick copper layers. The copper layers are patterned into RF, bias, and control conductors. The T/R module is located on the back side of the ground plane and is RF-coupled to the patch element via a slot. The T/R module is a hybrid multilayer module assembled and packaged independently and attached to the membrane array. At the time of reporting the information for this article, an 8 16 passive array (not including T/R modules) and a 2 4 active array (including T/R modules) had been demonstrated, and it was planned to fabricate and test larger arrays.

Driving lamps by induction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laue, H. H.; Clough, L. G. (Inventor)

1973-01-01

An electrodeless lamp circuit with a coil surrounding a krypton lamp is driven by an RF input source. A coil surrounding a mercury lamp is tapped across the connection of the input central to the krypton-lamp coil. Each coil is connected in parallel with separate capacitors which form resonant circuits at the input frequency.

Identification coding schemes for modulated reflectance systems

DOEpatents

Coates, Don M [Santa Fe, NM; Briles, Scott D [Los Alamos, NM; Neagley, Daniel L [Albuquerque, NM; Platts, David [Santa Fe, NM; Clark, David D [Santa Fe, NM

2006-08-22

An identifying coding apparatus employing modulated reflectance technology involving a base station emitting a RF signal, with a tag, located remotely from the base station, and containing at least one antenna and predetermined other passive circuit components, receiving the RF signal and reflecting back to the base station a modulated signal indicative of characteristics related to the tag.

Radio frequency telemetry system for sensors and actuators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simons, Rainee N. (Inventor); Miranda, Felix A. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

The present invention discloses and teaches apparatus for combining Radio Frequency (RF) technology with novel micro-inductor antennas and signal processing circuits for RF telemetry of real time, measured data, from microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors, through electromagnetic coupling with a remote powering/receiving device. Such technology has many applications, but is especially useful in the biomedical area.

Radio Frequency Telemetry System for Sensors and Actuators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simons, Rainee N. (Inventor); Miranda, Felix A. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

The present invention discloses and teaches apparatus for combining Radio Frequency (RF) technology with novel micro-inductor antennas and signal processing circuits for RF telemetry of real time, measured data, from microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors, through electromagnetic coupling with a remote poweringheceiving device. Such technology has many applications, but is especially useful in the biomedical area.

Making Complex Electrically Conductive Patterns on Cloth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Andrew; Fink, Patrick W.; Dobbins, Justin A.; Lin, Greg Y.; Scully, Robert C.; Trevino, Robert

2008-01-01

A method for automated fabrication of flexible, electrically conductive patterns on cloth substrates has been demonstrated. Products developed using this method, or related prior methods, are instances of a technology known as 'e-textiles,' in which electrically conductive patterns ar formed in, and on, textiles. For many applications, including high-speed digital circuits, antennas, and radio frequency (RF) circuits, an e-textile method should be capable of providing high surface conductivity, tight tolerances for control of characteristic impedances, and geometrically complex conductive patterns. Unlike prior methods, the present method satisfies all three of these criteria. Typical patterns can include such circuit structures as RF transmission lines, antennas, filters, and other conductive patterns equivalent to those of conventional printed circuits. The present method overcomes the limitations of the prior methods for forming the equivalent of printed circuits on cloth. A typical fabrication process according to the present method involves selecting the appropriate conductive and non-conductive fabric layers to build the e-textile circuit. The present method uses commercially available woven conductive cloth with established surface conductivity specifications. Dielectric constant, loss tangent, and thickness are some of the parameters to be considered for the non-conductive fabric layers. The circuit design of the conductive woven fabric is secured onto a non-conductive fabric layer using sewing, embroidery, and/or adhesive means. The portion of the conductive fabric that is not part of the circuit is next cut from the desired circuit using an automated machine such as a printed-circuit-board milling machine or a laser cutting machine. Fiducials can be used to align the circuit and the cutting machine. Multilayer circuits can be built starting with the inner layer and using conductive thread to make electrical connections between layers.

Development of pre pre-driver amplifier stage for generator of SST-1 ICRH system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sunil; Sinh Makwana, Azad; Srinivas, Y. S. S.; Kulkarni, S. V.; ICRH-RF Group

2010-02-01

The Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) system for SST1 consists mainly of the cwrf power generator to deliver 1.5MW for 1000sec duration at the frequencies 22.8, 24.3 and 45.6±1MHz, the transmission line and the antenna. This is planned to develop a independent and dedicated cwrf generator that consists of a oscillator, buffer, rf switch, modulator, rf attenuator, directional coupler, three stage solid state low power amplifier and four stage triode & tetrode based high power amplifier with specific performance at 45.6±1MHz including frequencies 22.8 and 24.3±1MHz. The pre pre-driver high power amplifier stage is fabricated about triode 3CX3000A7. The tube has sufficient margin in terms of plate dissipation and grid dissipation that makes it suitable to withstand momentarily load mismatch and to upgrade the source in terms of output power later. This indigenously developed amplifier is integrated inside a radiation resistant rack with all required biasing power supplies, cooling blower, controls, monitors and interlocks for manual or remote control operation. This grounded grid mode amplifier will be operated at plate with 3.8KV/ 800mA in class AB for 1.8KW cwrf output power rating. The input circuit is broadband and the output circuit is tunable with slide variable inductor and a vacuum variable capacitor in the frequency range of 22.8 to 45.6MHz. It is designed for a gain of about 12dB, fabrication completed and undergoing cwrf power testing. This paper presents specifications, design criteria, circuit used, operating parameters, tests conducted and the results obtained.

Review on analog/radio frequency performance of advanced silicon MOSFETs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passi, Vikram; Raskin, Jean-Pierre

2017-12-01

Aggressive gate-length downscaling of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) has been the main stimulus for the growth of the integrated circuit industry. This downscaling, which has proved beneficial to digital circuits, is primarily the result of the need for improved circuit performance and cost reduction and has resulted in tremendous reduction of the carrier transit time across the channel, thereby resulting in very high cut-off frequencies. It is only in recent decades that complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) field-effect transistor (FET) has been considered as the radio frequency (RF) technology of choice. In this review, the status of the digital, analog and RF figures of merit (FoM) of silicon-based FETs is presented. State-of-the-art devices with very good performance showing low values of drain-induced barrier lowering, sub-threshold swing, high values of gate transconductance, Early voltage, cut-off frequencies, and low minimum noise figure, and good low-frequency noise characteristic values are reported. The dependence of these FoM on the device gate length is also shown, helping the readers to understand the trends and challenges faced by shorter CMOS nodes. Device performance boosters including silicon-on-insulator substrates, multiple-gate architectures, strain engineering, ultra-thin body and buried-oxide and also III-V and 2D materials are discussed, highlighting the transistor characteristics that are influenced by these boosters. A brief comparison of the two main contenders in continuing Moore’s law, ultra-thin body buried-oxide and fin field-effect transistors are also presented. The authors would like to mention that despite extensive research carried out in the semiconductor industry, silicon-based MOSFET will continue to be the driving force in the foreseeable future.

Single-Pole Double-Throw MMIC Switches for a Microwave Radiometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montes, Oliver; Dawson, Douglas E.; Kangaslahti, Pekka P.

2012-01-01

In order to reduce the effect of gain and noise instabilities in the RF chain of a microwave radiometer, a Dicke radiometer topology is often used, as in the case of the proposed surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) radiometer instrument. For this topology, a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) microwave switch is needed, which must have low insertion loss at the radiometer channel frequencies to minimize the overall receiver noise figure. Total power radiometers are limited in accuracy due to the continuous variation in gain of the receiver. High-frequency SPDT switches were developed in the form of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) using 75 micron indium phosphide (InP) PIN-diode technology. These switches can be easily integrated into Dicke switched radiometers that utilize microstrip technology.

A Fully Integrated Humidity Sensor System-on-Chip Fabricated by Micro-Stamping Technology

PubMed Central

Huang, Che-Wei; Huang, Yu-Jie; Lu, Shey-Shi; Lin, Chih-Ting

2012-01-01

A fully integrated humidity sensor chip was designed, implemented, and tested. Utilizing the micro-stamping technology, the pseudo-3D sensor system-on-chip (SSoC) architecture can be implemented by stacking sensing materials directly on the top of a CMOS-fabricated chip. The fabricated sensor system-on-chip (2.28 mm × 2.48 mm) integrated a humidity sensor, an interface circuit, a digital controller, and an On-Off Keying (OOK) wireless transceiver. With low power consumption, i.e., 750 μW without RF operation, the sensitivity of developed sensor chip was experimentally verified in the relative humidity (RH) range from 32% to 60%. The response time of the chip was also experimentally verified to be within 5 seconds from RH 36% to RH 64%. As a consequence, the implemented humidity SSoC paves the way toward the an ultra-small sensor system for various applications.

RF power harvesting: a review on designing methodologies and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran, Le-Giang; Cha, Hyouk-Kyu; Park, Woo-Tae

2017-12-01

Wireless power transmission was conceptualized nearly a century ago. Certain achievements made to date have made power harvesting a reality, capable of providing alternative sources of energy. This review provides a summ ary of radio frequency (RF) power harvesting technologies in order to serve as a guide for the design of RF energy harvesting units. Since energy harvesting circuits are designed to operate with relatively small voltages and currents, they rely on state-of-the-art electrical technology for obtaining high efficiency. Thus, comprehensive analysis and discussions of various designs and their tradeoffs are included. Finally, recent applications of RF power harvesting are outlined.

Low-power analog integrated circuits for wireless ECG acquisition systems.

PubMed

Tsai, Tsung-Heng; Hong, Jia-Hua; Wang, Liang-Hung; Lee, Shuenn-Yuh

2012-09-01

This paper presents low-power analog ICs for wireless ECG acquisition systems. Considering the power-efficient communication in the body sensor network, the required low-power analog ICs are developed for a healthcare system through miniaturization and system integration. To acquire the ECG signal, a low-power analog front-end system, including an ECG signal acquisition board, an on-chip low-pass filter, and an on-chip successive-approximation analog-to-digital converter for portable ECG detection devices is presented. A quadrature CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator and a 2.4 GHz direct-conversion transmitter with a power amplifier and upconversion mixer are also developed to transmit the ECG signal through wireless communication. In the receiver, a 2.4 GHz fully integrated CMOS RF front end with a low-noise amplifier, differential power splitter, and quadrature mixer based on current-reused folded architecture is proposed. The circuits have been implemented to meet the specifications of the IEEE 802.15.4 2.4 GHz standard. The low-power ICs of the wireless ECG acquisition systems have been fabricated using a 0.18 μm Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CMOS standard process. The measured results on the human body reveal that ECG signals can be acquired effectively by the proposed low-power analog front-end ICs.

Integrated Inductors for RF Transmitters in CMOS/MEMS Smart Microsensor Systems

PubMed Central

Kim, Jong-Wan; Takao, Hidekuni; Sawada, Kazuaki; Ishida, Makoto

2007-01-01

This paper presents the integration of an inductor by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes for integrated smart microsensor systems that have been developed to monitor the motion and vital signs of humans in various environments. Integration of radio frequency transmitter (RF) technology with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor/micro electro mechanical systems (CMOS/MEMS) microsensors is required to realize the wireless smart microsensors system. The essential RF components such as a voltage controlled RF-CMOS oscillator (VCO), spiral inductors for an LC resonator and an integrated antenna have been fabricated and evaluated experimentally. The fabricated RF transmitter and integrated antenna were packaged with subminiature series A (SMA) connectors, respectively. For the impedance (50 Ω) matching, a bonding wire type inductor was developed. In this paper, the design and fabrication of the bonding wire inductor for impedance matching is described. Integrated techniques for the RF transmitter by CMOS compatible processes have been successfully developed. After matching by inserting the bonding wire inductor between the on-chip integrated antenna and the VCO output, the measured emission power at distance of 5 m from RF transmitter was -37 dBm (0.2 μW).

Dependence of NMR noise line shapes on tuning, matching, and transmission line properties

PubMed Central

Bendet-Taicher, Eli; Müller, Norbert; Jerschow, Alexej

2014-01-01

The tuning and matching conditions of rf circuits, as well as the properties of the transmission lines connecting these to the preamplifier, have direct consequences for NMR probe sensitivity and as for the optimum delivery of rf power to the sample. In addition, tuning/matching conditions influence radiation damping effects, which manifest themselves as fast signal flip-back and line broadening effects, and can lead to concentration-dependent frequency shifts. Previous studies have also shown that the appearance of spin-noise and absorbed circuit noise signals heavily depended on tuning settings. Consequently, all these phenomena are linked together. The mutual connections and interdependences of these effects are highlighted and reviewed here. PMID:25505374

Circuit Impedance Could Be a Crucial Factor Influencing Radiofrequency Ablation Efficacy and Safety: A Myocardial Phantom Study of the Problem and its Correction.

PubMed

Bhaskaran, Abhishek; Barry, M A; Pouliopoulos, Jim; Nalliah, Chrishan; Qian, Pierre; Chik, William; Thavapalachandran, Sujitha; Davis, Lloyd; McEwan, Alistair; Thomas, Stuart; Kovoor, Pramesh; Thiagalingam, Aravinda

2016-03-01

Circuit impedance could affect the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency (RF) ablation. To perform irrigated RF ablations with graded impedance to compare (1) lesion dimensions and overheated dimensions in fixed power ablations (2) and in power corrected ablations. Ablations were performed with irrigated Navistar Thermocool catheter and Stockert EP shuttle generator at settings of 40 W power for 60 seconds, in a previously validated myocardial phantom. The impedance of the circuit was set at 60 Ω, 80 Ω, 100 Ω, 120 Ω, 140 Ω, and 160 Ω. The lesion and overheated dimensions were measured at 53 °C and 80 °C isotherms, respectively. In the second set of ablations, power was corrected according to circuit impedance. In total, 70 ablations were performed. The lesion volume was 72.0 ± 4.8% and 44.7 ± 4.6% higher at 80 Ω and 100 Ω, respectively, compared to that at 120 Ω and it was 15.4 ± 1.2%, 28.1 ± 2.0%, and 38.0 ± 1.8% lower at 140 Ω, 160 Ω, and 180 Ω, respectively. The overheated volume was four times larger when impedance was reduced to 80 Ω from 100 Ω. It was absent at 120 Ω and above. In the power corrected ablations, the lesion volumes were similar to that of 40 W/120 Ω ablations and there was no evidence of overheating. The lesion and overheated dimensions were significantly larger with lower circuit impedance during irrigated RF ablation and the lesion size was smaller in high impedance ablations. Power delivery adjusted to impedance using a simple equation improved the consistency of lesion formation and prevented overheating. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

RF MEMS devices for multifunctional integrated circuits and antennas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peroulis, Dimitrios

Micromachining and RF Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (RF MEMS) have been identified as two of the most significant enabling technologies in developing miniaturized low-cost communications systems and sensor networks. The key components in these MEMS-based architectures are the RF MEMS switches and varactors. The first part of this thesis focuses on three novel RF MEMS components with state-of-the-art performance. In particular, a broadband 6 V capacitive MEMS switch is presented with insertion loss of only 0.04 and 0.17 dB at 10 and 40 GHz respectively. Special consideration is given to particularly challenging issues, such as residual stress, planarity, power handling capability and switching speed. The need for switches operating below 1 GHz is also identified and a spring-loaded metal-to-metal contact switch is developed. The measured on-state contact resistance and off-state series capacitance are 0.5 O and 10 fF respectively for this switch. An analog millimeter-wave variable capacitor is the third MEMS component presented in this thesis. This variable capacitor shows an ultra high measured tuning range of nearly 4:1, which is the highest reported value for the millimeter-wave region. The second part of this thesis primarily concentrates on MEMS-based reconfigurable systems and their potential to revolutionize the design of future RF/microwave multifunctional systems. High-isolation switches and switch packets with isolation of more than 60 dB are designed and implemented. Furthermore, lowpass and bandpass tunable filters with 3:1 and 2:1 tuning ratios respectively are demonstrated. Similar methods have been also applied to the field of slot antennas and a novel design technique for compact reconfigurable antennas has been developed. The main advantage of these antennas is that they essentially preserve their impedance, radiation pattern, polarization, gain and efficiency for all operating frequencies. The thesis concludes by discussing the future challenges of RF MEMS, such as packaging and reliability.

Oxygen ion-beam microlithography

DOEpatents

Tsuo, Y.S.

1991-08-20

A method of providing and developing a resist on a substrate for constructing integrated circuit (IC) chips includes the following steps: of depositing a thin film of amorphous silicon or hydrogenated amorphous silicon on the substrate and exposing portions of the amorphous silicon to low-energy oxygen ion beams to oxidize the amorphous silicon at those selected portions. The nonoxidized portions are then removed by etching with RF-excited hydrogen plasma. Components of the IC chip can then be constructed through the removed portions of the resist. The entire process can be performed in an in-line vacuum production system having several vacuum chambers. Nitrogen or carbon ion beams can also be used. 5 figures.

Oxygen ion-beam microlithography

DOEpatents

Tsuo, Y. Simon

1991-01-01

A method of providing and developing a resist on a substrate for constructing integrated circuit (IC) chips includes the following steps: of depositing a thin film of amorphous silicon or hydrogenated amorphous silicon on the substrate and exposing portions of the amorphous silicon to low-energy oxygen ion beams to oxidize the amorphous silicon at those selected portions. The nonoxidized portions are then removed by etching with RF-excited hydrogen plasma. Components of the IC chip can then be constructed through the removed portions of the resist. The entire process can be performed in an in-line vacuum production system having several vacuum chambers. Nitrogen or carbon ion beams can also be used.

Active stabilization of ion trap radiofrequency potentials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, K. G.; Wong-Campos, J. D.; Restelli, A.

2016-05-15

We actively stabilize the harmonic oscillation frequency of a laser-cooled atomic ion confined in a radiofrequency (rf) Paul trap by sampling and rectifying the high voltage rf applied to the trap electrodes. We are able to stabilize the 1 MHz atomic oscillation frequency to be better than 10 Hz or 10 ppm. This represents a suppression of ambient noise on the rf circuit by 34 dB. This technique could impact the sensitivity of ion trap mass spectrometry and the fidelity of quantum operations in ion trap quantum information applications.

Micropower RF transponder with superregenerative receiver and RF receiver with sampling mixer

DOEpatents

McEwan, Thomas E.

1997-01-01

A micropower RF transdponder employs a novel adaptation of the superregenerative receiver wherein the quench oscillator is external to the regenerative transistor. The quench oscillator applies an exponentially decaying waveform rather than the usual sinewave to achieve high sensitivity at microampere current levels. Further improvements include circuit simplifications for antenna coupling, extraction of the detected signal, and a low-voltage bias configuration that allows operation with less than a 1-volt rail voltage. The inventive transponder is expected to operate as long as the battery shelf life.

High efficiency low cost monolithic module for SARSAT distress beacons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Wendell C.; Siu, Daniel P.

1992-01-01

The program objectives were to develop a highly efficient, low cost RF module for SARSAT beacons; achieve significantly lower battery current drain, amount of heat generated, and size of battery required; utilize MMIC technology to improve efficiency, reliability, packaging, and cost; and provide a technology database for GaAs based UHF RF circuit architectures. Presented in viewgraph form are functional block diagrams of the SARSAT distress beacon and beacon RF module as well as performance goals, schematic diagrams, predicted performances, and measured performances for the phase modulator and power amplifier.

Micropower RF transponder with superregenerative receiver and RF receiver with sampling mixer

DOEpatents

McEwan, T.E.

1997-05-13

A micropower RF transponder employs a novel adaptation of the superregenerative receiver wherein the quench oscillator is external to the regenerative transistor. The quench oscillator applies an exponentially decaying waveform rather than the usual sinewave to achieve high sensitivity at microampere current levels. Further improvements include circuit simplifications for antenna coupling, extraction of the detected signal, and a low-voltage bias configuration that allows operation with less than a 1-volt rail voltage. The inventive transponder is expected to operate as long as the battery shelf life. 13 figs.

A 2×1 Coplanar Monopole Antenna Structure for Wireless RF Energy Harvesting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathur, Monika; Agarwal, Ankit; Singh, Ghanshyam; Bhatnagar, S. K.

2018-03-01

The objective of this paper is to design an efcient wireless energy harvesting (WEH) system to eliminate the problem to continuous charging of a battery operated electronics devices. Most of the devices are battery operated so charging of a battery time to time is serious issue. This WEH system receives the Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave frequency signals present in the atmosphere and converting it into DC signal so that it can stores in Capacitor or charges a battery for utilize the power. For this RF energy harvesting purposes 21 antenna array structure of the coplanar monopole antenna is presented. This structure shows the gain of 10.2 dBi and 83% efciency. This structure is designed for resonating on multiple bands (Radio, GSM, ISM, and UWB). It is useful for this application because it covers almost all useful bands in the maximum capturing area. The antenna can be connected directly to an RF-DC converter module and it uses about 60% of the total PCB area. And RF to DC convertor circuit can be implemented in that remaining 40% area on the same substrate so it eliminates the need of port connectors and impedance matching circuit between them. This design is worked in receiving mode only when used for energy harvesting purposes. This may be useful for the biomedical and satellite applications.

A flexible super-capacitive solid-state power supply for miniature implantable medical devices.

PubMed

Meng, Chuizhou; Gall, Oren Z; Irazoqui, Pedro P

2013-12-01

We present a high-energy local power supply based on a flexible and solid-state supercapacitor for miniature wireless implantable medical devices. Wireless radio-frequency (RF) powering recharges the supercapacitor through an antenna with an RF rectifier. A power management circuit for the super-capacitive system includes a boost converter to increase the breakdown voltage required for powering device circuits, and a parallel conventional capacitor as an intermediate power source to deliver current spikes during high current transients (e.g., wireless data transmission). The supercapacitor has an extremely high area capacitance of ~1.3 mF/mm(2), and is in the novel form of a 100 μm-thick thin film with the merit of mechanical flexibility and a tailorable size down to 1 mm(2) to meet various clinical dimension requirements. We experimentally demonstrate that after fully recharging the capacitor with an external RF powering source, the supercapacitor-based local power supply runs a full system for electromyogram (EMG) recording that consumes ~670 μW with wireless-data-transmission functionality for a period of ~1 s in the absence of additional RF powering. Since the quality of wireless powering for implantable devices is sensitive to the position of those devices within the RF electromagnetic field, this high-energy local power supply plays a crucial role in providing continuous and reliable power for medical device operations.

High-performance packaging for monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shalkhauser, K. A.; Li, K.; Shih, Y. C.

1992-01-01

Packaging schemes were developed that provide low-loss, hermetic enclosure for advanced monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits (MMICs). The package designs are based on a fused quartz substrate material that offers improved radio frequency (RF) performance through 44 gigahertz (GHz). The small size and weight of the packages make them appropriate for a variety of applications, including phased array antenna systems. Packages were designed in two forms; one for housing a single MMIC chip, the second in the form of a multi-chip phased array module. The single chip array module was developed in three separate sizes, for chips of different geometry and frequency requirements. The phased array module was developed to address packaging directly for antenna applications, and includes transmission line and interconnect structures to support multi-element operation. All packages are fabricated using fused quartz substrate materials. As part of the packaging effort, a test fixture was developed to interface the single chip packages to conventional laboratory instrumentation for characterization of the packaged devices. The package and test fixture designs were both developed in a generic sense, optimizing performance for a wide range of possible applications and devices.

New Generation of Superconducting Solenoids for Heavy-Ion Linac Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostroumov, P. N.; Kim, S. H.; Lessner, E. S.; Shepard, K. W.; Laxdal, R. E.

2002-01-01

The beam dynamics of superconducting (SC) heavy-ion linacs operating in the velocity range below 0.4c require a compact accelerating-focusing lattice. The use of SC solenoids together with SC RF resonators within a common cryostat can solve the real-estate problem. The solenoids must have low fringe fields to avoid magnetic-flux capture in the SC RF resonators. Also, incorporating dipole steering coils together with the SC solenoids in one magnet assembly can increase the compactness of the linac lattice. R&D work has been carried out to determine the feasibility of combining the three elements of high solenoid field, low fringe field, and integral dipole field, into one compact package. A 9-Tesla magnet has been initially designed and will be prototyped, with the goal of eventually developing 14-Tesla solenoids of similar design. The most important design issues are: (1) to minimize stray field in the RF cavity region using SC bucking coils and (2) to achieve adequate mechanical stability of the transverse dipole windings in the presence of forces produced by the solenoid/bucking coil assembly. The assembly, including terminals, switches, and protection circuit, are designed to fit inside a 25-cm diameter helium reservoir. The results of the preliminary design of the solenoid, including numerical simulations of the beam dynamics, are reported.

RF low-level control for the Linac4 H{sup −} source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Butterworth, A., E-mail: andrew.butterworth@cern.ch; Grudiev, A.; Lettry, J.

2015-04-08

The H{sup −} source for the Linac4 accelerator at CERN uses an RF driven plasma for the production of H{sup −}. The RF is supplied by a 2 MHz RF tube amplifier with a maximum power output of 100 kW and a pulse duration of up to 2 ms. The low-level RF signal generation and measurement system has been developed using standard CERN controls electronics in the VME form factor. The RF frequency and amplitude reference signals are generated using separate arbitrary waveform generator channels. The frequency and amplitude are both freely programmable over the duration of the RF pulse, which allowsmore » fine-tuning of the excitation. Measurements of the forward and reverse RF power signals are performed via directional couplers using high-speed digitizers, and permit the estimation of the plasma impedance and deposited power via an equivalent circuit model. The low-level RF hardware and software implementations are described, and experimental results obtained with the Linac4 ion sources in the test stand are presented.« less

Study of RF breakdown and multipacting in accelerator components

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pande, Manjiri; Singh, P., E-mail: manjiri@barc.gov.in, E-mail: psingh@barc.gov.in

2014-07-01

Radio frequency (RF) structures that are part of accelerators and energy sources, operate with sinusoidally varying electromagnetic fields under high RF energy. Here, RF breakdown and multipacting take place in RF structures and limit their performance. Electron field emission processes in a RF structure are precursors for breakdown processes. RF breakdown is a major phenomena affecting and causing the irreversible damage to RF structures. Breakdown rate and the damage induced by the breakdowns are its important properties. The damage is related to power absorbed during breakdown, while the breakdown rate is determined by the amplitudes of surface electric and magneticmore » fields, geometry, metal surface preparation and conditioning history. It limits working power and produces irreversible surface damage. The breakdown limit depends on the RF circuit, structure geometry, RF frequency, input RF power, pulse width, materials used, surface processing technique and surface electric and magnetic fields. Multipactor (MP) is a low power, electron multiplication based resonance breakdown phenomenon in vacuum and is often observed in RF structures. A multipactor discharge is undesirable, as it can create a reactive component that detunes the resonant cavities and components, generates noise in communication system and induces gas desorption from the conductor surfaces. In RF structures, certain conditions are required to generate multipacting. (author)« less

Application of RF varactor using Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO3/TiO2/HR-Si substrate for reconfigurable radio.

PubMed

Kim, Ki-Byoung; Park, Chul-Soon

2007-11-01

In this paper, the potential feasibility of integrating Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO3 (BST) films into Si wafer by adopting tunable interdigital capacitor (IDC) with TiO2 thin film buffer layer and a RF tunable active bandpass filter (BPF) using BST based capacitor are proposed. TiO2 as a buffer layer is grown onto Si substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and the interdigital capacitor on BST(500 nm)/TiO2 (50 nm)/HR-Si is fabricated. BST interdigital tunable capacitor integrated on HR-Si substrate with high tunability and low loss tangent are characterized for their microwave performances. BST/TiO2/HR-Si IDC shows much enhanced tunability values of 40% and commutation quality factor (CQF) of 56.71. A resonator consists of an active capacitance circuit together with a BST varactor. The active capacitor is made of a field effect transistor (FET) that exhibits negative resistance as well as capacitance. The measured second order active BPF shows bandwidth of 110 MHz, insertion loss of about 1 dB at the 1.81 GHz center frequency and tuning frequency of 230 MHz (1.81-2.04 GHz).

Characterization and evaluation of a flexible MRI receive coil array for radiation therapy MR treatment planning using highly decoupled RF circuits.

PubMed

McGee, Kiaran P; Stormont, Robert S; Lindsay, Scott A; Taracila, Victor; Savitskij, Dennis; Robb, Fraser; Witte, Robert J; Kaufmann, Timothy J; Huston, John; Riederer, Stephen J; Borisch, Eric A; Rossman, Phillip J

2018-04-13

The growth in the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data for radiation therapy (RT) treatment planning has been facilitated by scanner hardware and software advances that have enabled RT patients to be imaged in treatment position while providing morphologic and functional assessment of tumor volumes and surrounding normal tissues. Despite these advances, manufacturers have been slow to develop radiofrequency (RF) coils that closely follow the contour of a RT patient undergoing MR imaging. Instead, relatively large form surface coil arrays have been adapted from diagnostic imaging. These arrays can be challenging to place on, and in general do not conform to the patient's body habitus, resulting in sub optimal image quality. The purpose of this study is to report on the characterization of a new flexible and highly decoupled RF coil for use in MR imaging of RT patients. Coil performance was evaluated by performing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise correlation measurements using two coil (SNR) and four coil (noise correlation) element combinations as a function of coil overlap distance and comparing these values to those obtained using conventional coil elements. In vivo testing was performed in both normal volunteers and patients using a four and 16 element RF coil. Phantom experiments demonstrate the highly decoupled nature of the new coil elements when compared to conventional RF coils, while in vivo testing demonstrate that these coils can be integrated into extremely flexible and form fitting substrates that follow the exact contour of the patient. The new coil design addresses limitations imposed by traditional surface coil arrays and have the potential to significantly impact MR imaging for both diagnostic and RT applications.

Characterization and evaluation of a flexible MRI receive coil array for radiation therapy MR treatment planning using highly decoupled RF circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGee, Kiaran P.; Stormont, Robert S.; Lindsay, Scott A.; Taracila, Victor; Savitskij, Dennis; Robb, Fraser; Witte, Robert J.; Kaufmann, Timothy J.; Huston, John, III; Riederer, Stephen J.; Borisch, Eric A.; Rossman, Phillip J.

2018-04-01

The growth in the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data for radiation therapy (RT) treatment planning has been facilitated by scanner hardware and software advances that have enabled RT patients to be imaged in treatment position while providing morphologic and functional assessment of tumor volumes and surrounding normal tissues. Despite these advances, manufacturers have been slow to develop radiofrequency (RF) coils that closely follow the contour of a RT patient undergoing MR imaging. Instead, relatively large form surface coil arrays have been adapted from diagnostic imaging. These arrays can be challenging to place on, and in general do not conform to the patient’s body habitus, resulting in sub optimal image quality. The purpose of this study is to report on the characterization of a new flexible and highly decoupled RF coil for use in MR imaging of RT patients. Coil performance was evaluated by performing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise correlation measurements using two coil (SNR) and four coil (noise correlation) element combinations as a function of coil overlap distance and comparing these values to those obtained using conventional coil elements. In vivo testing was performed in both normal volunteers and patients using a four and 16 element RF coil. Phantom experiments demonstrate the highly decoupled nature of the new coil elements when compared to conventional RF coils, while in vivo testing demonstrate that these coils can be integrated into extremely flexible and form fitting substrates that follow the exact contour of the patient. The new coil design addresses limitations imposed by traditional surface coil arrays and have the potential to significantly impact MR imaging for both diagnostic and RT applications.

Development of a compact permanent magnet helicon plasma source for ion beam bioengineering.

PubMed

Kerdtongmee, P; Srinoum, D; Nisoa, M

2011-10-01

A compact helicon plasma source was developed as a millimeter-sized ion source for ion beam bioengineering. By employing a stacked arrangement of annular-shaped permanent magnets, a uniform axial magnetic flux density up to 2.8 kG was obtained. A cost effective 118 MHz RF generator was built for adjusting forward output power from 0 to 40 W. The load impedance and matching network were then analyzed. A single loop antenna and circuit matching elements were placed on a compact printed circuit board for 50 Ω impedance matching. A plasma density up to 1.1 × 10(12) cm(-3) in the 10 mm diameter tube under the magnetic flux density was achieved with 35 W applied RF power.

Development of a compact permanent magnet helicon plasma source for ion beam bioengineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerdtongmee, P.; Srinoum, D.; Nisoa, M.

2011-10-01

A compact helicon plasma source was developed as a millimeter-sized ion source for ion beam bioengineering. By employing a stacked arrangement of annular-shaped permanent magnets, a uniform axial magnetic flux density up to 2.8 kG was obtained. A cost effective 118 MHz RF generator was built for adjusting forward output power from 0 to 40 W. The load impedance and matching network were then analyzed. A single loop antenna and circuit matching elements were placed on a compact printed circuit board for 50 Ω impedance matching. A plasma density up to 1.1 × 1012 cm-3 in the 10 mm diameter tube under the magnetic flux density was achieved with 35 W applied RF power.

Radio Frequency (RF) Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Switches for Space Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simons, Rainee N.; Ponchak, George E.; Scardelletti, Maximillian C.; Varaljay, Nicholas C.

2000-01-01

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is an emerging technology for radio frequency (RF) systems because it has the potential to dramatically decrease loss and improve efficiency. In this paper, we address the design and fabrication of novel MEMS switches being developed at NASA Glenn Research Center. Two types of switches are being developed: a microstrip series single pole single throw (SPST) switch and a coplanar waveguide (CPW) series SPST and single pole double throw (SPDT) switches. These are being fabricated as an integral part of 50 Ohm microstrip and CPW RF integrated circuits using microfabrication techniques. The construction of the switch relies on a cantilever beam that is partially supported by a dielectric post. The cantilever beam is electro-magnetically actuated. To decrease stiction, a Si3N4 thin film is deposited over the contact area. Thus, when the switch is closed, the ON-state insertion loss is governed by the parallel plate capacitance formed by the two contacts. The isolation in the OFF-state is governed by the parasitic capacitance when the cantilever is in the up position. RF MEMS switches have been demonstrated with 80% lower insertion loss than conventional solid state devices (GaAs Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MESFETs) and Silicon PIN diodes) based switches. For example, a conventional GaAs five-bit phase shifter which is required for beam steering in a phased array antenna has approximately 7 dB of insertion loss at 26.5 GHz where as a comparable MEMS based phase shifter is expected to have only 2 dB of insertion loss. This translates into 56% lower power dissipation and therefore decreases the thermal load on the spacecraft and also reduces the power amplifier requirements. These benefits will enable NASA to build the next generation of deep space science crafts and micro/nano satellites.

Circuit-level simulation of transistor lasers and its application to modelling of microwave photonic links

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iezekiel, Stavros; Christou, Andreas

2015-03-01

Equivalent circuit models of a transistor laser are used to investigate the suitability of this relatively new device for analog microwave photonic links. The three-terminal nature of the device enables transistor-based circuit design techniques to be applied to optoelectronic transmitter design. To this end, we investigate the application of balanced microwave amplifier topologies in order to enable low-noise links to be realized with reduced intermodulation distortion and improved RF impedance matching compared to conventional microwave photonic links.

Traveling wave linear accelerator with RF power flow outside of accelerating cavities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dolgashev, Valery A.

A high power RF traveling wave accelerator structure includes a symmetric RF feed, an input matching cell coupled to the symmetric RF feed, a sequence of regular accelerating cavities coupled to the input matching cell at an input beam pipe end of the sequence, one or more waveguides parallel to and coupled to the sequence of regular accelerating cavities, an output matching cell coupled to the sequence of regular accelerating cavities at an output beam pipe end of the sequence, and output waveguide circuit or RF loads coupled to the output matching cell. Each of the regular accelerating cavities hasmore » a nose cone that cuts off field propagating into the beam pipe and therefore all power flows in a traveling wave along the structure in the waveguide.« less

Single frequency RF powered ECG telemetry system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, W. H.; Hynecek, J.; Homa, J.

1979-01-01

It has been demonstrated that a radio frequency magnetic field can be used to power implanted electronic circuitry for short range telemetry to replace batteries. A substantial reduction in implanted volume can be achieved by using only one RF tank circuit for receiving the RF power and transmitting the telemetered information. A single channel telemetry system of this type, using time sharing techniques, was developed and employed to transmit the ECG signal from Rhesus monkeys in primate chairs. The signal from the implant is received during the period when the RF powering radiation is interrupted. The ECG signal is carried by 20-microsec pulse position modulated pulses, referred to the trailing edge of the RF powering pulse. Satisfactory results have been obtained with this single frequency system. The concept and the design presented may be useful for short-range long-term implant telemetry systems.

Instrumentation and test methods of an automated radiated susceptibility system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, M. W.; Deere, J.

1983-09-01

The instrumentation and test methods of an automated electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) system for performing radiated susceptibility tests from 14 kHz to 1000 MHz is described. Particular emphasis is given to the effectiveness of the system in the evaluation of electronic circuits for susceptibility to RF radiation. The system consists of a centralized data acquisition/control unit which interfaces with the equipment under test (EUT), the RF isolated field probes, and RF amplifier ALC output; four broadband linear RF amplifiers; and a frequency synthesizer with drive level increments in steps of 0.1 dB. Centralized control of the susceptibility test system is provided by a desktop computer. It is found that the system can reduce the execution time of RF susceptibility tests by as much as 70 percent. A block diagram of the system is provided.

Effect of transverse nonuniformity of the rf field on the efficiency of microwave sources driven by linear electron beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nusinovich, G.S.; Sinitsyn, O.V.

This paper contains a simple analytical theory that allows one to evaluate the effect of transverse nonuniformity of the rf field on the interaction efficiency in various microwave sources driven by linear electron beams. The theory is, first, applied to the systems where the beams of cylindrical symmetry interact with rf fields of microwave circuits having Cartesian geometry. Also, various kinds of microwave devices driven by sheet electron beams (orotrons, clinotrons) are considered. The theory can be used for evaluating the efficiency of novel sources of coherent terahertz radiation.

An RF energy harvesting power management circuit for appropriate duty-cycled operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirane, Atsushi; Ito, Hiroyuki; Ishihara, Noboru; Masu, Kazuya

2015-04-01

In this study, we present an RF energy harvesting power management unit (PMU) for battery-less wireless sensor devices (WSDs). The proposed PMU realizes a duty-cycled operation that is divided into the energy charging time and discharging time. The proposed PMU detects two types of timing, thus, the appropriate timing for the activation can be recognized. The activation of WSDs at the proper timing leads to energy efficient operation and stable wireless communication. The proposed PMU includes a hysteresis comparator (H-CMP) and an RF signal detector (RF-SD) to detect the timings. The proposed RF-SD can operate without the degradation of charge efficiency by reusing the RF energy harvester (RF-EH) and H-CMP. The PMU fabricated in a 180 nm Si CMOS demonstrated the charge operation using the RF signal at 915 MHz and the two types of timing detection with less than 124 nW in the charge phase. Furthermore, in the active phase, the PMU generates a 0.5 V regulated power supply from the charged energy.

Optical Characterization of Tissue Phantoms Using a Silicon Integrated fdNIRS System on Chip.

PubMed

Sthalekar, Chirag C; Miao, Yun; Koomson, Valencia Joyner

2017-04-01

An interface circuit with signal processing and digitizing circuits for a high frequency, large area avalanche photodiode (APD) has been integrated in a 130 nm BiCMOS chip. The system enables the absolute oximetry of tissue using frequency domain Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fdNIRS). The system measures the light absorbed and scattered by the tissue by measuring the reduction in the amplitude of signal and phase shift introduced between the light source and detector which are placed a finite distance away from each other. The received 80 MHz RF signal is downconverted to a low frequency and amplified using a heterodyning scheme. The front-end transimpedance amplifier has a 3-level programmable gain that increases the dynamic range to 60 dB. The phase difference between an identical reference channel and the optical channel is measured with a 0.5° accuracy. The detectable current range is [Formula: see text] and with a 40 A/W reponsivity using the APD, power levels as low as 500 pW can be detected. Measurements of the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of solid tissue phantoms using this system are compared with those using a commercial instrument with differences within 30%. Measurement of a milk based liquid tissue phantom show an increase in absorption coefficient with addition of black ink. The miniaturized circuit serves as an efficiently scalable system for multi-site detection for applications in neonatal cerebral oximetry and optical mammography.

Minimally-Invasive Neural Interface for Distributed Wireless Electrocorticogram Recording Systems

PubMed Central

Chang, Sun-Il

2018-01-01

This paper presents a minimally-invasive neural interface for distributed wireless electrocorticogram (ECoG) recording systems. The proposed interface equips all necessary components for ECoG recording, such as the high performance front-end integrated circuits, a fabricated flexible microelectrode array, and wireless communication inside a miniaturized custom-made platform. The multiple units of the interface systems can be deployed to cover a broad range of the target brain region and transmit signals via a built-in intra-skin communication (ISCOM) module. The core integrated circuit (IC) consists of 16-channel, low-power push-pull double-gated preamplifiers, in-channel successive approximation register analog-to-digital converters (SAR ADC) with a single-clocked bootstrapping switch and a time-delayed control unit, an ISCOM module for wireless data transfer through the skin instead of a power-hungry RF wireless transmitter, and a monolithic voltage/current reference generator to support the aforementioned analog and mixed-signal circuit blocks. The IC was fabricated using 250 nm CMOS processes in an area of 3.2 × 0.9 mm2 and achieved the low-power operation of 2.5 µW per channel. Input-referred noise was measured as 5.62 µVrms for 10 Hz to 10 kHz and ENOB of 7.21 at 31.25 kS/s. The implemented system successfully recorded multi-channel neural activities in vivo from a primate and demonstrated modular expandability using the ISCOM with power consumption of 160 µW. PMID:29342103

Minimally-Invasive Neural Interface for Distributed Wireless Electrocorticogram Recording Systems.

PubMed

Chang, Sun-Il; Park, Sung-Yun; Yoon, Euisik

2018-01-17

This paper presents a minimally-invasive neural interface for distributed wireless electrocorticogram (ECoG) recording systems. The proposed interface equips all necessary components for ECoG recording, such as the high performance front-end integrated circuits, a fabricated flexible microelectrode array, and wireless communication inside a miniaturized custom-made platform. The multiple units of the interface systems can be deployed to cover a broad range of the target brain region and transmit signals via a built-in intra-skin communication (ISCOM) module. The core integrated circuit (IC) consists of 16-channel, low-power push-pull double-gated preamplifiers, in-channel successive approximation register analog-to-digital converters (SAR ADC) with a single-clocked bootstrapping switch and a time-delayed control unit, an ISCOM module for wireless data transfer through the skin instead of a power-hungry RF wireless transmitter, and a monolithic voltage/current reference generator to support the aforementioned analog and mixed-signal circuit blocks. The IC was fabricated using 250 nm CMOS processes in an area of 3.2 × 0.9 mm² and achieved the low-power operation of 2.5 µW per channel. Input-referred noise was measured as 5.62 µV rms for 10 Hz to 10 kHz and ENOB of 7.21 at 31.25 kS/s. The implemented system successfully recorded multi-channel neural activities in vivo from a primate and demonstrated modular expandability using the ISCOM with power consumption of 160 µW.

Biologically Inspired Network (BiONet) Authentication using Logical and Pathological RF DNA Credential Pairs

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-14

e.g. 000111) may be emitted along an ultra- high frequency (UHF) communications path as a possible waveform state generated by some circuit...Positive Rate TN True Negative TNR True Negative Rate TVR True Verification Rate Tx Transmitter UHF Ultra High Frequency 21 BIOLOGICALLY...otherwise healthy RF networks. More specifically, a representative miniaturized ultra- high frequency (UHF) CubeSat uplink access boundary, protected

Comments on X. Yin, A. Wen, Y. Chen, and T. Wang, `Studies in an optical millimeter-wave generation scheme via two parallel dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators', Journal of Modern Optics, 58(8), 2011, pp. 665-673

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasan, Mehedi; Maldonado-Basilio, Ramón; Hall, Trevor J.

2015-04-01

Yin et al. have described an innovative filter-less optical millimeter-wave generation scheme for octotupling of a 10 GHz RF oscillator, or sedecimtupling of a 5 GHz RF oscillator using two parallel dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators (DP-MZMs). The great merit of their design is the suppression of all harmonics except those of order ? (octotupling) or all harmonics except those of order ? (sedecimtupling), where ? is an integer. A demerit of their scheme is the requirement to set a precise RF signal modulation index in order to suppress the zeroth order optical carrier. The purpose of this comment is to show that, in the case of the octotupling function, all harmonics may be suppressed except those of order ?, where ? is an odd integer, by the simple addition of an optical ? phase shift between the two DP-MZMs and an adjustment of the RF drive phases. Since the carrier is suppressed in the modified architecture, the octotupling circuit is thereby released of the strict requirement to set the drive level to a precise value without any significant increase in circuit complexity.

Design and Development of a Series Switch for High Voltage in RF Heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Himanshu K.; Shah, Deep; Thacker, Mauli; Shah, Atman

2013-02-01

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. To sustain plasma in its ionic form very high temperature is essential. RF heating systems are used to provide the required temperature. Arching phenomenon in these systems can cause enormous damage to the RF tube. Heavy current flows across the anode-cathode junction, which need to be suppressed in minimal time for its protection. Fast-switching circuit breakers are used to cut-off the load from the supply in cases of arching. The crowbar interrupts the connection between the high voltage power supply (HVPS) and the RF tube for a temporary period between which the series switch has to open. The crowbar shunts the current across the load but in the process leads to short circuiting the HVPS. Thus, to protect the load as well as the HVPS a series switch is necessary. This paper presents the design and development of high voltage Series Switch for the high power switching applications. Fiber optic based Optimum triggering scheme is designed and tested to restrict the time delay well within the stipulated limits. The design is well supported with the experimental results for the whole set-up along with the series switch at various voltage level before its approval for operation at 5.2 kV.

Geometric dependence of the parasitic components and thermal properties of HEMTs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vun, Peter V.; Parker, Anthony E.; Mahon, Simon J.; Fattorini, Anthony

2007-12-01

For integrated circuit design up to 50GHz and beyond accurate models of the transistor access structures and intrinsic structures are necessary for prediction of circuit performance. The circuit design process relies on optimising transistor geometry parameters such as unit gate width, number of gates, number of vias and gate-to-gate spacing. So the relationship between electrical and thermal parasitic components in transistor access structures, and transistor geometry is important to understand when developing models for transistors of differing geometries. Current approaches to describing the geometric dependence of models are limited to empirical methods which only describe a finite set of geometries and only include unit gate width and number of gates as variables. A better understanding of the geometric dependence is seen as a way to provide scalable models that remain accurate for continuous variation of all geometric parameters. Understanding the distribution of parasitic elements between the manifold, the terminal fingers, and the reference plane discontinuities is an issue identified as important in this regard. Examination of dc characteristics and thermal images indicates that gate-to-gate thermal coupling and increased thermal conductance at the gate ends, affects the device total thermal conductance. Consequently, a distributed thermal model is proposed which accounts for these effects. This work is seen as a starting point for developing comprehensive scalable models that will allow RF circuit designers to optimise circuit performance parameters such as total die area, maximum output power, power-added-efficiency (PAE) and channel temperature/lifetime.

The Responsivity of a Miniaturized Passive Implantable Wireless Pressure Sensor.

PubMed

Jiang, Hao; Lan, Di; Goldman, Ken; Etemadi, Mozziyar; Shahnasser, Hamid; Roy, Shuvo

2011-01-01

A miniature batteryless implantable wireless pressure sensor that can be used deep inside the body is desired by the medical community. MEMS technology makes it possible to achieve high responsivity that directly determines the operating distance between a miniature implanted sensor and the external RF probe, while providing the read-out. In this paper, for the first time, an analytical expression of the system responsivity versus the sensor design is derived using an equivalent circuit model. Also, the integration of micro-coil inductors and pressure sensitive capacitors on a single silicon chip using MEMS fabrication techniques is demonstrated. Further, the derived analytical design theory is validated by the measured responsivity of these sensors.

Circuit model of the ITER-like antenna for JET and simulation of its control algorithms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Durodié, Frédéric, E-mail: frederic.durodie@rma.ac.be; Křivská, Alena; Dumortier, Pierre

2015-12-10

The ITER-like Antenna (ILA) for JET [1] is a 2 toroidal by 2 poloidal array of Resonant Double Loops (RDL) featuring in-vessel matching capacitors feeding RF current straps in conjugate-T manner, a low impedance quarter-wave impedance transformer, a service stub allowing hydraulic actuator and water cooling services to reach the aforementioned capacitors and a 2nd stage phase-shifter-stub matching circuit allowing to correct/choose the conjugate-T working impedance. Toroidally adjacent RDLs are fed from a 3dB hybrid splitter. It has been operated at 33, 42 and 47MHz on plasma (2008-2009) while it presently estimated frequency range is from 29 to 49MHz. Atmore » the time of the design (2001-2004) as well as the experiments the circuit models of the ILA were quite basic. The ILA front face and strap array Topica model was relatively crude and failed to correctly represent the poloidal central septum, Faraday Screen attachment as well as the segmented antenna central septum limiter. The ILA matching capacitors, T-junction, Vacuum Transmission Line (VTL) and Service Stubs were represented by lumped circuit elements and simple transmission line models. The assessment of the ILA results carried out to decide on the repair of the ILA identified that achieving routine full array operation requires a better understanding of the RF circuit, a feedback control algorithm for the 2nd stage matching as well as tighter calibrations of RF measurements. The paper presents the progress in modelling of the ILA comprising a more detailed Topica model of the front face for various plasma Scrape Off Layer profiles, a comprehensive HFSS model of the matching capacitors including internal bellows and electrode cylinders, 3D-EM models of the VTL including vacuum ceramic window, Service stub, a transmission line model of the 2nd stage matching circuit and main transmission lines including the 3dB hybrid splitters. A time evolving simulation using the improved circuit model allowed to design and simulate the effectiveness of a feedback control algorithm for the 2nd stage matching and demonstrates the simultaneous matching and control of the 4 RDLs: 11 feedback loops control 21 actuators (8 capacitors, 4 phase shifters and 4 stubs for the 2nd stage matching, 4 main phase shifters controlling of the toroidal phasing and the electronically controlled phase between RF sources feeding top and bottom parts of the array and determines the poloidal phasing of the array which is solved explicitly at each time step) on (simulated) ELMy plasmas.« less

Battery-Free Smart Sock for Abnormal Relative Plantar Pressure Monitoring.

PubMed

Lin, Xiaoyou; Seet, Boon-Chong

2017-04-01

This paper presents a new design of a wearable plantar pressure monitoring system in the form of a smart sock for sensing abnormal relative pressure changes. One advantage of this approach is that with a battery-free design, this system can be powered solely by radio frequency (RF) energy harvested from a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader unit hosted on a smartphone of the wearer. At the same time, this RFID reader can read foot pressure values from an embedded sensor-tag in the sock. A pressure sensing matrix made of conductive fabric and flexible piezo-resistive material is integrated into the sock during the knitting process. Sensed foot pressures are digitized and stored in the memory of a sensor-tag, thus allowing relative foot pressure values to be tracked. The control unit of the smart sock is assembled on a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) that can be strapped to the lower limb and detached easily when it is not in use. Experiments show that the system can operate reliably in both tasks of RF energy harvesting and pressure measurement.

A water-powered Energy Harvesting system with Bluetooth Low Energy interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kroener, M.; Allinger, K.; Berger, M.; Grether, E.; Wieland, F.; Heller, S.; Woias, P.

2016-11-01

This paper reports the design, and testing of a water turbine generator system for typical flow rates in domestic applications, with an integrated power management and a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) based RF data transmission interface. It is based on a commercially available low cost hydro generator. The generator is built into a housing with optimized reduced fluidic resistance to enable operation with flow rates as low as 6 l/min. The power management combines rectification, buffering, defined start-up, and circuit protection. An MSP430FR5949 microcontroller is used for data acquisition and processing. The data are transmitted via RF, using a Bluegiga BLE112 module in advertisement mode, to a PC where the measured flow rate is stored and displayed. The transmission rate of the wireless sensor node (WSN) is set to 1 Hz if enough power is available, which is the case for flow rates above 5.5 l/min. The electronics power demand is calculated to be 340 μW in average, while the generator is capable of delivering more than 200 mW for flow rates above 15 l/min.

External unit for a semi-implantable middle ear hearing device.

PubMed

Garverick, S L; Kane, M; Ko, W H; Maniglia, A J

1997-06-01

A miniaturized, low-power external unit has been developed for the clinical trials of a semi-implantable middle ear electromagnetic hearing device (SIMEHD) which uses radio-frequency telemetry to couple sound signals to the internal unit. The external unit is based on a commercial hearing aid which provides proven audio amplification and compression. Its receiver is replaced by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which: 1) adjusts the direct-current bias of the audio input according to its peak value; 2) converts the audio signal to a one-bit digital form using sigma-delta modulation; 3) modulates the sigma-delta output with a radio-frequency (RF) oscillator; and 4) drives the external RF coil and tuning capacitor using a field-effect transistor operated in class D. The external unit functions as expected and has been used to operate bench-top tests to the SIMEHD. Measured current consumption is 1.65-2.15 mA, which projects to a battery lifetime of about 15 days. Bandwidth is 6 kHz and harmonic distortion is about 2%.

Theoretical and experimental analysis of a linear accelerator endowed with single feed coupler with movable short-circuit.

PubMed

Dal Forno, Massimo; Craievich, Paolo; Penco, Giuseppe; Vescovo, Roberto

2013-11-01

The front-end injection systems of the FERMI@Elettra linac produce high brightness electron beams that define the performance of the Free Electron Laser. The photoinjector mainly consists of the radiofrequency (rf) gun and of two S-band rf structures which accelerate the beam. Accelerating structures endowed with a single feed coupler cause deflection and degradation of the electron beam properties, due to the asymmetry of the electromagnetic field. In this paper, a new type of single feed structure with movable short-circuit is proposed. It has the advantage of having only one waveguide input, but we propose a novel design where the dipolar component is reduced. Moreover, the racetrack geometry allows to reduce the quadrupolar component. This paper presents the microwave design and the analysis of the particle motion inside the linac. A prototype has been machined at the Elettra facility to verify the new coupler design and the rf field has been measured by adopting the bead-pull method. The results are here presented, showing good agreement with the expectations.

Enhanced Passive RF-DC Converter Circuit Efficiency for Low RF Energy Harvesting

PubMed Central

Chaour, Issam; Fakhfakh, Ahmed; Kanoun, Olfa

2017-01-01

For radio frequency energy transmission, the conversion efficiency of the receiver is decisive not only for reducing sending power, but also for enabling energy transmission over long and variable distances. In this contribution, we present a passive RF-DC converter for energy harvesting at ultra-low input power at 868 MHz. The novel converter consists of a reactive matching circuit and a combined voltage multiplier and rectifier. The stored energy in the input inductor and capacitance, during the negative wave, is conveyed to the output capacitance during the positive one. Although Dickson and Villard topologies have principally comparable efficiency for multi-stage voltage multipliers, the Dickson topology reaches a better efficiency within the novel ultra-low input power converter concept. At the output stage, a low-pass filter is introduced to reduce ripple at high frequencies in order to realize a stable DC signal. The proposed rectifier enables harvesting energy at even a low input power from −40 dBm for a resistive load of 50 kΩ. It realizes a significant improvement in comparison with state of the art solutions. PMID:28282910

Enhanced Passive RF-DC Converter Circuit Efficiency for Low RF Energy Harvesting.

PubMed

Chaour, Issam; Fakhfakh, Ahmed; Kanoun, Olfa

2017-03-09

For radio frequency energy transmission, the conversion efficiency of the receiver is decisive not only for reducing sending power, but also for enabling energy transmission over long and variable distances. In this contribution, we present a passive RF-DC converter for energy harvesting at ultra-low input power at 868 MHz. The novel converter consists of a reactive matching circuit and a combined voltage multiplier and rectifier. The stored energy in the input inductor and capacitance, during the negative wave, is conveyed to the output capacitance during the positive one. Although Dickson and Villard topologies have principally comparable efficiency for multi-stage voltage multipliers, the Dickson topology reaches a better efficiency within the novel ultra-low input power converter concept. At the output stage, a low-pass filter is introduced to reduce ripple at high frequencies in order to realize a stable DC signal. The proposed rectifier enables harvesting energy at even a low input power from -40 dBm for a resistive load of 50 kΩ. It realizes a significant improvement in comparison with state of the art solutions.

Can we estimate the cellular phone RF peak output power with a simple experiment?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fioreze, Maycon; dos Santos Junior, Sauli; Goncalves Hönnicke, Marcelo

2016-07-01

Cellular phones are becoming increasingly useful tools for students. Since cell phones operate in the microwave bandwidth, they can be used to motivate students to demonstrate and better understand the properties of electromagnetic waves. However, since these waves operate at higher frequencies (L-band, from 800 MHz to 2 GHz) it is not simple to detect them. Usually, expensive real-time high frequency oscilloscopes are required. Indirect measurements are also possible through heat-based and diode-detector-based radio-frequency (RF) power sensors. Another didactic and intuitive way is to explore a simple and inexpensive detection system, based on the interference effect caused in the electronic circuit of TV and PC soundspeakers, and to try to investigate different properties of the cell phones’ RF electromagnetic waves, such as its power and modulated frequency. This manuscript proposes a trial to quantify these measurements, based on a simple Friis equation model and the time constant of the circuit used in the detection system, in order to show it didactically to the students and even allow them also to explore such a simple detection system at home.

Towards a microcoil for intracranial and intraductal MR microscopy

PubMed Central

Strick, Debra S.; Nunnally, Ray L.; Smith, Jolinda C.; Clark, W. Gilbert; Mills, Dixie J.; Cohen, Mark S.; Judy, Jack W.

2011-01-01

Implantable RF-coils have enabled sub-mm resolution magnetic resonance images (MRI) of deep structures. Scaling down the size of RF coils has similarly provided a gain in signal-to-noise ratio in nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy. By combining both approaches we designed, fabricated, and imaged with an implantable microcoil catheter. While typical implantable catheters use a transverse magneti-zation, the axial magnetization of the microcoil provides improved sensitivity and allows visualization of the tissue beyond the distal end of the catheter. The microcoil catheter was designed with a diameter of 1 mm for future integration with intracranial devices, and for intraductal use in breast oncology. We modified the NMR-microcoil design to allow implantation of the RF coil, by winding the microcoil on medical-grade silicone tubing and incorporating leads on the catheter to connect circuit components. In order to achieve proper turn spacing, we coated copper wire with 25 µm of biocompatible polymer (Parylene C). Tuning and matching circuitry insured that the impedance of the RF coil was approximately 50 Ω at the operating frequency for 3-T proton MR applications. A duplexer was used to enable use of the microcoil catheter as a transceiver. Experimental verification of the coil design was achieved through ex vivo imaging of neural tissue. As expected, the microcoil catheter provided microscale images with 20-µm in-plane-resolution and 170-µm-thick slices. While 3-T MRI typically provides 1 to 30 voxels per-cubic-millimeter, in this paper we report that the MRI microcoil can provide hundreds, and even thousands of voxels in the same volume. PMID:19163097

Graphene integrated circuits: new prospects towards receiver realisation.

PubMed

Saeed, Mohamed; Hamed, Ahmed; Wang, Zhenxing; Shaygan, Mehrdad; Neumaier, Daniel; Negra, Renato

2017-12-21

This work demonstrates a design approach which enables the fabrication of fully integrated radio frequency (RF) and millimetre-wave frequency direct-conversion graphene receivers by adapting the frontend architecture to exploit the state-of-the-art performance of the recently reported wafer-scale CVD metal-insulator-graphene (MIG) diodes. As a proof-of-concept, we built a fully integrated microwave receiver in the frequency range 2.1-2.7 GHz employing the strong nonlinearity and the high responsivity of MIG diodes to successfully receive and demodulate complex, digitally modulated communication signals at 2.45 GHz. In addition, the fabricated receiver uses zero-biased MIG diodes and consumes zero dc power. With the flexibility to be fabricated on different substrates, the prototype receiver frontend is fabricated on a low-cost, glass substrate utilising a custom-developed MMIC process backend which enables the high performance of passive components. The measured performance of the prototype makes it suitable for Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems for medical and communication applications.

Improved RF Measurements of SRF Cavity Quality Factors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Holzbauer, J. P.; Contreras, C.; Pischalnikov, Y.

SRF cavity quality factors can be accurately measured using RF-power based techniques only when the cavity is very close to critically coupled. This limitation is from systematic errors driven by non-ideal RF components. When the cavity is not close to critically coupled, these systematic effects limit the accuracy of the measurements. The combination of the complex base-band envelopes of the cavity RF signals in combination with a trombone in the circuit allow the relative calibration of the RF signals to be extracted from the data and systematic effects to be characterized and suppressed. The improved calibration allows accurate measurements tomore » be made over a much wider range of couplings. Demonstration of these techniques during testing of a single-spoke resonator with a coupling factor of near 7 will be presented, along with recommendations for application of these techniques.« less

Gigahertz Electromagnetic Structures via Direct Ink Writing for Radio-Frequency Oscillator and Transmitter Applications.

PubMed

Zhou, Nanjia; Liu, Chengye; Lewis, Jennifer A; Ham, Donhee

2017-04-01

Radio-frequency (RF) electronics, which combine passive electromagnetic devices and active transistors to generate and process gigahertz (GHz) signals, provide a critical basis of ever-pervasive wireless networks. While transistors are best realized by top-down fabrication, relatively larger electromagnetic passives are within the reach of printing techniques. Here, direct writing of viscoelastic silver-nanoparticle inks is used to produce a broad array of RF passives operating up to 45 GHz. These include lumped devices such as inductors and capacitors, and wave-based devices such as transmission lines, their resonant networks, and antennas. Moreover, to demonstrate the utility of these printed RF passive structures in active RF electronic circuits, they are combined with discrete transistors to fabricate GHz self-sustained oscillators and synchronized oscillator arrays that provide RF references, and wireless transmitters clocked by the oscillators. This work demonstrates the synergy of direct ink writing and RF electronics for wireless applications. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Quad-channel beam switching WR3-band transmitter MMIC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Daniel; Eren, Gülesin; Wagner, Sandrine; Tessmann, Axel; Leuther, Arnulf; Zwick, Thomas; Kallfass, Ingmar

2017-05-01

Millimeter wave radar systems offer several advantages such as the combination of high resolution and the penetration of adverse atmosphere like smoke, dust or rain. This paper presents a monolithic millimeter wave integrated circuit (MMIC) transmitter which offers four channel beam steering capabilities and can be used as a radar or communication system transmitter. At the local oscillator input, in order to simplify packaging, a frequency tripler is used to multiply the 76.6 - 83.3 GHz input signal to the intended 230 - 250 GHz output frequency range. A resistive mixer is used for the conversion of the intermediate frequency signal into the RF domain. The actual beam steering network is realized using an active single pole quadruple throw (SP4T) switch, which is connected to a integrated Butler matrix. The MMIC was fabricated in a 35 nm InGaAs mHEMT process and has a size of 4.0 mm × 1.5 mm

Microtechnology management considering test and cost aspects for stacked 3D ICs with MEMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahn, K.; Wahl, M.; Busch, R.; Grünewald, A.; Brück, R.

2018-01-01

Innovative automotive systems require complex semiconductor devices currently only available in consumer grade quality. The European project TRACE will develop and demonstrate methods, processes, and tools to facilitate usage of Consumer Electronics (CE) components to be deployable more rapidly in the life-critical automotive domain. Consumer electronics increasingly use heterogeneous system integration methods and "More than Moore" technologies, which are capable to combine different circuit domains (Analog, Digital, RF, MEMS) and which are integrated within SiP or 3D stacks. Making these technologies or at least some of the process steps available under automotive electronics requirements is an important goal to keep pace with the growing demand for information processing within cars. The approach presented in this paper aims at a technology management and recommendation system that covers technology data, functional and non-functional constraints, and application scenarios, and that will comprehend test planning and cost consideration capabilities.

Nanoelectronics: Opportunities for future space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frazier, Gary

1995-01-01

Further improvements in the performance of integrated electronics will eventually halt due to practical fundamental limits on our ability to downsize transistors and interconnect wiring. Avoiding these limits requires a revolutionary approach to switching device technology and computing architecture. Nanoelectronics, the technology of exploiting physics on the nanometer scale for computation and communication, attempts to avoid conventional limits by developing new approaches to switching, circuitry, and system integration. This presentation overviews the basic principles that operate on the nanometer scale that can be assembled into practical devices and circuits. Quantum resonant tunneling (RT) is used as the center-piece of the overview since RT devices already operate at high temperature (120 degrees C) and can be scaled, in principle, to a few nanometers in semiconductors. Near- and long-term applications of GaAs and silicon quantum devices are suggested for signal and information processing, memory, optoelectronics, and radio frequency (RF) communication.

Radio-frequency characteristic variation of interdigital capacitor having multilayer graphene of various widths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hee-Jo; Hong, Young-Pyo

2018-03-01

In this paper, a radio-frequency circuit model of an interdigital capacitor (IDC) with a multilayer graphene (MLG) width variation is proposed. The circuit model with three sample configurations, i.e., a bare IDC, IDC-MLG with a width of 5 μm, and IDC-MLG with a width of 20 μm, is constructed via a fitted method based on the measured samples. The simulated results of the circuit model are validated through the RF characteristics, e.g., the capacitance and the self-resonance frequency, of the measured samples. From the circuit model, all samples show not only a similar capacitance behavior but also an identical self-resonance frequency of 10 GHz. Moreover, the R, L, and C values of MLG with a 5 μm width (MLG with a 20 μm width) alone are approximately 0.8 kΩ (0.5 kΩ), 0.5 nH (0.9 nH), and 0.3 pF (0.1 pF), respectively. As a result, we find that the simulated results are in good agreement with RF characteristics of the measured samples. In the future, we expect that the proposed circuit model of an IDC with MLG will offer assistance with performance predictions of diverse IDC-based 2D material applications, such as biosensors and gas sensors, as well as supercapacitors.

Flexible CMOS low-noise amplifiers for beyond-3G wireless hand-held devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becerra-Alvarez, Edwin C.; Sandoval-Ibarra, Federico; de la Rosa, José M.

2009-05-01

This paper explores the use of reconfigurable Low-Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) for the implementation of CMOS Radio Frequency (RF) front-ends in the next generation of multi-standard wireless transceivers. Main circuit strategies reported so far for multi-standard LNAs are reviewed and a novel flexible LNA intended for Beyond-3G RF hand-held terminals is presented. The proposed LNA circuit consists of a two-stage topology that combines inductive-source degeneration with PMOS-varactor based tuning network and a programmable load to adapt its performance to different standard specifications without penalizing the circuit noise and with a reduced number of inductors as compared to previous reported reconfigurable LNAs. The circuit has been designed in a 90-nm CMOS technology to cope with the requirements of the GSM, WCDMA, Bluetooth and WLAN (IEEE 802.11b-g) standards. Simulation results, including technology and packaging parasitics, demonstrate correct operation of the circuit for all the standards under study, featuring NF<2.8dB, S21>13.3dB and IIP3>10.9dBm, over a 1.85GHz-2.4GHz band, with an adaptive power consumption between 17mW and 22mW from a 1-V supply voltage. Preliminary experimental measurements are included, showing a correct reconfiguration operation within the operation band.

RF tuning element

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGrath, William R. (Inventor); Lubecke, Victor M. (Inventor)

1992-01-01

A device for tuning a circuit includes a substrate, a transmission line on the substrate that includes first and second conductors coupled to a circuit to be tuned, and a movable short-circuit for varying the impedance the transmission line presents to the circuit to be tuned. The movable short-circuit includes a dielectric layer disposed atop the transmission line and a distributed shorting element in the form of a conductive member that is configured to be slid along at least a portion of the transmission line atop the dielectric layer. The conductive member is configured to span the first and second conductors of the transmission line and to define at least a first opening that spans the two conductors so that the conductive member includes first and second sections separated by the first opening. The first and second sections of the conductive member combine with the first and second conductors of the transmission line to form first and second low impedance sections of transmission line, and the opening combines with the first and second conductors of the transmission line and the dielectric layer to form a first high impedance section of transmission line intermediate the first and second low impedance sections. Each of the first low impedance section and the first high impedance section have a length along the transmission line of approximately one-quarter wavelength, thus providing a periodic variation of transmission line impedance. That enhances reflection of rf power.

Wireless Capacitive Pressure Sensor With Directional RF Chip Antenna for High Temperature Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scardelletti, M. C.; Jordan, J. L.; Ponchak, G. E.; Zorman, C. A.

2015-01-01

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a wireless capacitive pressure sensor with directional RF chip antenna that is envisioned for the health monitoring of aircraft engines operating in harsh environments. The sensing system is characterized from room temperature (25 C) to 300 C for a pressure range from 0 to 100 psi. The wireless pressure system consists of a Clapp-type oscillator design with a capacitive MEMS pressure sensor located in the LC-tank circuit of the oscillator. Therefore, as the pressure of the aircraft engine changes, so does the output resonant frequency of the sensing system. A chip antenna is integrated to transmit the system output to a receive antenna 10 m away.The design frequency of the wireless pressure sensor is 127 MHz and a 2 increase in resonant frequency over the temperature range of 25 to 300 C from 0 to 100 psi is observed. The phase noise is less than minus 30 dBcHz at the 1 kHz offset and decreases to less than minus 80 dBcHz at 10 kHz over the entire temperature range. The RF radiation patterns for two cuts of the wireless system have been measured and show that the system is highly directional and the MEMS pressure sensor is extremely linear from 0 to 100 psi.

Development of thermocouple generators for small-caliber munitions fuze. Phase I. Final report, 1 Feb--3 Sep 1974. [Aerodynamically heated thermoelectric converters to power rf proximity fuses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eggers, P.E.

1975-03-01

An analytical study has been performed to assess the feasibility of using aerodynamically heated thermoelectric convertors to power RF proximity fuzes. The collective results of this study indicate that such a thermoelectric power supply is feasible for use with 20 mm projectiles and is compatible with the existing RF fuze circuit and safe arming distance requirements. A disc module concept has evolved from this study involving thin-film bismuth telluride as the basic thermoelectric element. Preliminary experimental studies were completed in order to identify principal parameters for the bismuth telluride.

Efficient 30-W, 140-MHz rf amplifier for CW CO2 waveguide laser excitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hochuli, U. E.; Haldemann, P. R.

1988-01-01

Details of a 30-W, 140-MHz rf amplifier for CW CO2 waveguide laser excitation are presented. The amplifier delivers 30 W into a 50-Ohm load while requiring only 40 W of dc power from a 28-V supply and 100 mW of rf drive power for an overall efficiency of 75 percent. A coupling-starting network design theory is given that provides the initiation over voltage for the discharge plasma from an rf power source of limited output voltage capability. The network then matches the drive circuit to the new input impedance of the operating discharge without any adjustments. This design theory applies to the whole class of networks whose losses can be approximated by a loss conductance in parallel with the gas discharge.

670-GHz Down- and Up-Converting HEMT-Based Mixers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlecht, Enrich T.; Chattopadhyay, Goutam; Lin, Robert H.; Sin, Seth; Deal, William; Rodriquez, Bryan; Bayuk, Brian; Leong, Kevin; Mei, Gerry

2012-01-01

A large category of scientific investigation takes advantage of the interactions of signals in the frequency range from 300 to 1,000 GHz and higher. This includes astronomy and atmospheric science, where spectral observations in this frequency range give information about molecular abundances, pressures, and temperatures of small-sized molecules such as water. Additionally, there is a minimum in the atmospheric absorption at around 670 GHz that makes this frequency useful for terrestrial imaging, radar, and possibly communications purposes. This is because 670 GHz is a good compromise for imaging and radar applications between spatial resolution (for a given antenna size) that favors higher frequencies, and atmospheric losses that favor lower frequencies. A similar trade-off applies to communications link budgets: higher frequencies allow smaller antennas, but incur a higher loss. All of these applications usually require converting the RF (radio frequency) signal at 670 GHz to a lower IF (intermediate frequency) for processing. Further, transmitting for communication and radar generally requires up-conversion from IF to the RF. The current state-of-the-art device for performing the frequency conversion is based on Schottky diode mixers for both up and down conversion in this frequency range for room-temperature operation. Devices that can operate at room temperature are generally required for terrestrial, military, and planetary applications that cannot tolerate the mass, bulk, and power consumption of cryogenic cooling. The technology has recently advanced to the point that amplifiers in the region up to nearly 1,000 GHz are feasible. Almost all of these have been based on indium phosphide pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs), in the form of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). Since the processing of HEMT amplifiers is quite differ en t from that of Schottky diodes, use of Schottky mixers requires separate MMICs for the mixers and amplifiers. Fabrication of all the down-/up-conversion circuitry on single MMICs, using a ll-HEMT circuits, would constitute a major advance in circuit simplicity.

An analytical model for floating probes in AC plasma and its application to double probes for high density, high power RF discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caneses, Juan Francisco; Blackwell, Boyd; Plasma Research Laboratory Team

2013-10-01

In this work we provide an analytical model that allows one to quantitatively assess the RF compensation performance and suitability of the double probe technique for use in RF generated plasma. The model is based in the theory of the self-bias effect as described in Braithwaite's work, which we extend to include the time resolved behavior of floating probes. We provide experimental verification for this model and show that the theory of transient RF self-bias probes and harmonic current detection probes are limiting cases of this extended model. Furthermore, the model shows that the RF compensation is solely dependent on the sheath impedance, the probe's stray capacitance to ground and RF frequency. In addition, we use these results to implement a double probe system for use in high density helicon plasma where heat loads could potentially damage the intricate components in an RF compensating circuit. Finally we use this model to (1) recommend ways to extend the operational regime of double probes where the plasma conditions would render them unsuitable and to (2) comment on the use of this model to aid design of RF compensated Langmuir probes.

Design of Refractory Metal Heat Pipe Life Test Environment Chamber, Cooling System, and Radio Frequency Heating System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, J. J.; Bragg-Sitton, S. M.; Reid, R. S.; Stewart, E. T.; Davis, J. D.

2011-01-01

A series of 16 Mo-44.5%Re alloy/sodium heat pipes will be experimentally tested to examine heat pipe aging. To support this evaluation, an environmental test chamber and a number of auxiliary subsystems are required. These subsystems include radio frequency (RF) power supplies/inductive coils, recirculation water coolant loops, and chamber gas conditioning. The heat pipes will be grouped, based on like power and gas mixture requirements, into three clusters of five units each, configured in a pentagonal arrangement. The highest powered heat pipe will be tested separately. Test chamber atmospheric purity is targeted at <0.3 ppb oxygen at an approximate operating pressure of 76 torr (.1.5 psia), maintained by active purification (oxygen level is comparable to a 10(exp -6) torr environment). Treated water will be used in two independent cooling circuits to remove .85 kW. One circuit will service the RF hardware while the other will maintain the heat pipe calorimetry. Initial procedures for the startup and operation of support systems have been identified. Each of these subsystems is outfitted with a variety of instrumentation, integrated with distributed real-time controllers and computers. A local area network provides communication between all devices. This data and control network continuously monitors the health of the test hardware, providing warning indicators followed by automatic shutdown should potentially damaging conditions develop. During hardware construction, a number of checkout tests.many making use of stainless steel prototype heat pipes that are already fabricated.will be required to verify operation.

Analog and RF performance of a multigate FinFET at nano scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Abhishek

2016-12-01

In this paper, analog and RF performance of the Fin field effect transistor (FET) at Nano scale is observed through 3D simulation. FinFET devices like rectangular gate all around (RE-GAA) FinFET, cylindrical gate all around (CY-GAA) FinFET and triple gate (TG) FinFET are observed. The figure of merit (FOMs) such as input-output characteristics, trans-conductance (gm), output-conductance (gd), intrinsic gain (gm/gd), gate capacitance (gate to source and total gate capacitance), unity gain cut-off frequency (ft), trans-conductance generation factor (TGF), gain frequency product (GFP), gain bandwidth product (GBP) and gain transconductance frequency product (GTFP) are observed. The analog performance of a FinFETs are observed by realising source follower circuit with NMOS transistor as a current source. The source follower circuit gain is observed. It has been observed that maximum capacitance is observed in case gate all around condition. Rectangular gate all around has the highest transconductance. In the source follower circuit, the gain curve (Vout/Vin) is sharper for TG-FinFET.

Wideband monolithically integrated front-end subsystems and components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mruk, Joseph Rene

This thesis presents the analysis, design, and measurements of passive, monolithically integrated, wideband recta-coax and printed circuit board front-end components. Monolithic fabrication of antennas, impedance transformers, filters, and transitions lowers manufacturing costs by reducing assembly time and enhances performance by removing connectors and cabling between the devices. Computational design, fabrication, and measurements are used to demonstrate the capabilities of these front-end assemblies. Two-arm wideband planar log-periodic antennas fed using a horizontal feed that allows for filters and impedance transformers to be readily fabricated within the radiating region of the antenna are demonstrated. At microwave frequencies, low-cost printed circuit board processes are typically used to produce planar devices. A 1.8 to 11 GHz two-arm planar log-periodic antenna is designed with a monolithically integrated impedance transformer. Band rejection methods based on modifying the antenna aperture, use of an integrated filter, and the application of both methods are investigated with realized gain suppressions of over 25 dB achieved. The ability of standard circuit board technology to fabricate millimeter-wave devices up to 110 GHz is severely limited. Thin dielectrics are required to prevent the excitation of higher order modes in the microstrip substrate. Fabricating the thin line widths required for the antenna aperture also becomes prohibitively challenging. Surface micro-machining typically used in the fabrication of MEMS devices is capable of producing the extremely small features that can be used to fabricate antennas extending through W-band. A directly RF fed 18 to 110 GHz planar log-periodic antenna is developed. The antenna is fabricated with an integrated impedance transformer and additional transitions for measurement characterization. Singly terminated low-loss wideband millimeter-wave filters operating over V- and W- band are developed. High quality performance of an 18 to 100 GHz front-end is realized by dividing the single instantaneous antenna into two apertures operating from 18 to 50 and 50 to 100 GHz. Each channel features an impedance transformer, low-pass (low-frequency) or band-pass (high-frequency) filter, and grounded CPW launch. This dual-aperture front-end demonstrates that micromachining technology is now capable of fabricating broadband millimeter-wave components with a high degree of integration.

Boron nitride housing cools transistors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1965-01-01

Boron nitride ceramic heat sink cools transistors in r-f transmitter and receiver circuits. Heat dissipated by the transistor is conducted by the boron nitride housing to the metal chassis on which it is mounted.

Intelsat TDMA and its implementation in Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howe, Stuart

The developmental history and characteristics of the Intelsat digital communications network are surveyed, with a focus on the current implementation status in Australia. Topics addressed include the fundamental principles and advantages of a TDMA system, the hardware required for a TDMA traffic station, and the Intelsat Indian Ocean Primary satellite network. Detailed consideration is given to TDMA test equipment (burst-mode link analyzers, PCM DSI test sets, burst-power meters, burst negators, and reference burst generators), terminal integration with terrestrial and RF links (TWT sharing and equalization), equipment compatibility, and traffic. Plans call for 950 TDMA circuits by the end of 1990, representing about 36.5 percent of the traffic between Australia and Europe, Africa, India and Pakistan, and the Middle East.

DESIGN AND INSTRUMENTATION OF A POUND-WATKINS NUCLEAR MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SPECTROMETER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geiger, F.E. Jr.

Problems of instrumentation of a Pound-Watkins nuclear magnetic- resonance spectrometer were investigated. Experimertal data were collected for the sensitivity of the os cillator to a signal from a Watkins calibrator as a function of modulation frequencies from 30 cps to 5 kc and rf tank voltsges from 0.05 to 0.7v/sub rms/. The results confirm Watkins" oscillator theory. An expression was derived for the amount of frequency modulation of the rf oscillator by the Watkins calibrator. For representative values of rf circuit components, this frequency modulation is roughly 0.5 cps at 10 Mc. The rf sample probes constructed for this projectmore » are almost free of modulation pickup in modulation fields as high as 23.5 oersteds (280 cps) and a steady field of 7000 oersteds. (auth)« less

Electron series resonance in a magnetized 13.56 MHz symmetric capacitive coupled discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, J. K.; Binwal, S.; Karkari, S. K.; Kumar, Sunil

2018-03-01

A 13.56 MHz capacitive coupled radio-frequency (RF) argon discharge under transverse magnetic field has been investigated. The discharge is operated in a push-pull mode using a 1:1 isolation transformer with its centre tap grounded to a RF generator. The power delivered to the plasma has been calculated from phase-calibrated RF current/voltage waveforms measured on the secondary side of the isolation transformer. An equivalent electrical circuit of the discharge has been described to determine the net plasma impedance. It is found that in the presence of magnetic field, the discharge impedance exhibits a series resonance as the RF power level is increased gradually. However, in the un-magnetized case, the discharge remains entirely capacitive. A qualitative discussion has been given to explain the role of external magnetic field in achieving the series resonance.

Diplexer switch

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grauling, C. H., Jr.; Parker, T. W.

1977-01-01

Switch achieves high isolation and continuous input/output matching by using resonant coupling structure of diplexer. Additionally, dc bias network used to control switch is decoupled from RF input and output lines. Voltage transients in external circuits are thus minimized.

Real-Time Telemetry System for Amperometric and Potentiometric Electrochemical Sensors

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei-Song; Huang, Hong-Yi; Chen, Shu-Chun; Ho, Kuo-Chuan; Lin, Chia-Yu; Chou, Tse-Chuan; Hu, Chih-Hsien; Wang, Wen-Fong; Wu, Cheng-Feng; Luo, Ching-Hsing

2011-01-01

A real-time telemetry system, which consists of readout circuits, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a graphical user interface (GUI), and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, is proposed for amperometric and potentiometric electrochemical sensors. By integrating the proposed system with the electrochemical sensors, analyte detection can be conveniently performed. The data is displayed in real-time on a GUI and optionally uploaded to a database via the Internet, allowing it to be accessed remotely. An MCU was implemented using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to filter noise, transmit data, and provide control over peripheral devices to reduce power consumption, which in sleep mode is 70 mW lower than in operating mode. The readout circuits, which were implemented in the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process, include a potentiostat and an instrumentation amplifier (IA). The measurement results show that the proposed potentiostat has a detectable current range of 1 nA to 100 μA, and linearity with an R2 value of 0.99998 in each measured current range. The proposed IA has a common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) greater than 90 dB. The proposed system was integrated with a potentiometric pH sensor and an amperometric nitrite sensor for in vitro experiments. The proposed system has high linearity (an R2 value greater than 0.99 was obtained in each experiment), a small size of 5.6 cm × 8.7 cm, high portability, and high integration. PMID:22164093

Real-time telemetry system for amperometric and potentiometric electrochemical sensors.

PubMed

Wang, Wei-Song; Huang, Hong-Yi; Chen, Shu-Chun; Ho, Kuo-Chuan; Lin, Chia-Yu; Chou, Tse-Chuan; Hu, Chih-Hsien; Wang, Wen-Fong; Wu, Cheng-Feng; Luo, Ching-Hsing

2011-01-01

A real-time telemetry system, which consists of readout circuits, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a graphical user interface (GUI), and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, is proposed for amperometric and potentiometric electrochemical sensors. By integrating the proposed system with the electrochemical sensors, analyte detection can be conveniently performed. The data is displayed in real-time on a GUI and optionally uploaded to a database via the Internet, allowing it to be accessed remotely. An MCU was implemented using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to filter noise, transmit data, and provide control over peripheral devices to reduce power consumption, which in sleep mode is 70 mW lower than in operating mode. The readout circuits, which were implemented in the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process, include a potentiostat and an instrumentation amplifier (IA). The measurement results show that the proposed potentiostat has a detectable current range of 1 nA to 100 μA, and linearity with an R2 value of 0.99998 in each measured current range. The proposed IA has a common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) greater than 90 dB. The proposed system was integrated with a potentiometric pH sensor and an amperometric nitrite sensor for in vitro experiments. The proposed system has high linearity (an R2 value greater than 0.99 was obtained in each experiment), a small size of 5.6 cm × 8.7 cm, high portability, and high integration.

A Prorating Method for Estimating MMPI-2-RF Scores From MMPI Responses: Examination of Score Fidelity and Illustration of Empirical Utility in the PERSEREC Police Integrity Study Sample.

PubMed

Tarescavage, Anthony M; Corey, David M; Ben-Porath, Yossef S

2016-04-01

The purpose of the current study was to identify Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) correlates of police officer integrity violations and other problem behaviors in an archival database with original MMPI item responses and collateral information regarding integrity violations obtained for 417 male officers. In Study 1, we estimated MMPI-2-RF scores from the MMPI item pool (which includes approximately 80% of the MMPI-2-RF items) in a normative sample, a psychiatric inpatient sample, and a police officer sample, and conducted analyses that demonstrated the comparability of estimated and full scale scores for 41 of the 51 MMPI-2-RF scales. In Study 2, we correlated estimated MMPI-2-RF scores with information about subsequent integrity violations and problem behaviors from the integrity violation data set. Several meaningful associations were obtained, predominately with scales from the emotional, thought, and behavioral dysfunction domains of the MMPI-2-RF. Application of a correction for range restriction yielded substantially improved validity estimates. Finally, we calculated relative risk ratios for the statistically significant findings using cutoffs lower than 65T, which is traditionally used to identify clinically significant elevations, and found several meaningful relative risk ratios. © The Author(s) 2015.

Materials for bioresorbable radio frequency electronics.

PubMed

Hwang, Suk-Won; Huang, Xian; Seo, Jung-Hun; Song, Jun-Kyul; Kim, Stanley; Hage-Ali, Sami; Chung, Hyun-Joong; Tao, Hu; Omenetto, Fiorenzo G; Ma, Zhenqiang; Rogers, John A

2013-07-12

Materials, device designs and manufacturing approaches are presented for classes of RF electronic components that are capable of complete dissolution in water or biofluids. All individual passive/active components as well as system-level examples such as wireless RF energy harvesting circuits exploit active materials that are biocompatible. The results provide diverse building blocks for physically transient forms of electronics, of particular potential value in bioresorbable medical implants with wireless power transmission and communication capabilities. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ferruleless coupled-cavity traveling-wave tube cold-test characteristics simulated with micro-SOS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, Dana L.; Wilson, Jeffrey D.

1993-01-01

The three-dimensional, electromagnetic circuit analysis code, Micro-SOS, can be used to reduce expensive and time consuming experimental 'cold-testing' of traveling-wave tube (TWT) circuits. The frequency-phase dispersion and beam interaction impedance characteristics of a ferruleless coupled-cavity traveling-wave tube slow-wave circuit were simulated using the code. Computer results agree closely with experimental data. Variations in the cavity geometry dimensions of period length and gap-to-period ratio were modeled. These variations can be used in velocity taper designs to reduce the radiofrequency (RF) phase velocity in synchronism with the decelerating electron beam. Such circuit designs can result in enhanced TWT power and efficiency.

DETECTOR FOR MODULATED AND UNMODULATED SIGNALS

DOEpatents

Patterson, H.H.; Webber, G.H.

1959-08-25

An r-f signal-detecting device is described, which is embodied in a compact coaxial circuit principally comprising a detecting crystal diode and a modulating crystal diode connected in parallel. Incoming modulated r-f signals are demodulated by the detecting crystal diode to furnish an audio input to an audio amplifier. The detecting diode will not, however, produce an audio signal from an unmodulated r-f signal. In order that unmodulated signals may be detected, such incoming signals have a locally produced audio signal superimposed on them at the modulating crystal diode and then the"induced or artificially modulated" signal is reflected toward the detecting diode which in the process of demodulation produces an audio signal for the audio amplifier.

System-on-chip-centric unattended embedded sensors in homeland security and defense applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jannson, Tomasz; Forrester, Thomas; Degrood, Kevin; Shih, Min-Yi; Walter, Kevin; Lee, Kang; Gans, Eric; Esterkin, Vladimir

2009-05-01

System-on-chip (SoC) single-die electronic integrated circuit (IC) integration has recently been attracting a great deal of attention, due to its high modularity, universality, and relatively low fabrication cost. The SoC also has low power consumption and it is naturally suited to being a base for integration of embedded sensors. Such sensors can run unattended, and can be either commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic, COTS microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), or optical-COTS or produced in house (i.e., at Physical Optics Corporation, POC). In the version with the simplest electronic packaging, they can be integrated with low-power wireless RF that can communicate with a central processing unit (CPU) integrated in-house and installed on the specific platform of interest. Such a platform can be a human body (for e-clothing), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), or many others. In this paper we discuss SoC-centric embedded unattended sensors in Homeland Security and military applications, including specific application scenarios (or CONOPS). In one specific example, we analyze an embedded polarization optical sensor produced in house, including generalized Lambertian light-emitting diode (LED) sources and secondary nonimaging optics (NIO).

Study of the photovoltaic effect in thin film barium titanate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grannemann, W. W.; Dharmadhikari, V. S.

1982-01-01

The basic mechanism associated with the photovoltaic phenomena observed in the R.F. sputtered BaTiO3/silicon system is presented. Series of measurements of short circuit photocurrents and open circuit photovoltage were made. The composition depth profiles and the interface characteristics of the BaTiO3/silicon system were investigated for a better understanding of the electronic properties. A Scanning Auger Microprobe combined with ion in depth profiling were used.

Impact of Lateral Straggle on the Analog/RF Performance of Asymmetric Gate Stack Double Gate MOSFET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivaram, Gollamudi Sai; Chakraborty, Shramana; Das, Rahul; Dasgupta, Arpan; Kundu, Atanu; Sarkar, Chandan K.

2016-09-01

This paper presents a systematic comparative study of Analog and RF performances of an underlapped double gate (U-DG) NMOSFET with Gate Stack (GS) for varying straggle lengths. Asymmetric underlap devices (A-U-DG) have been proposed as one of the remedies for reducing Short Channel Effects (SCE's) with the underlap being present towards the source for sub 20 nm devices. However, the Source to Drain (S/D) implant lateral diffusion leads to a variation in the effective underlap length. This paper investigates the impact of variation of straggle length on the Analog and RF parameters of the device. The RF performance is analyzed by considering the intrinsic capacitances (Cgd, Cgs), intrinsic resistances (Rgd, Rgs), transport delay (τm), inductance (Lsd), cutoff frequency (fT), and the maximum frequency of oscillations (fmax). The circuit performance of the devices are also studied. It is seen that the Analog and RF performances of the devices are improved by optimizing the S/D lateral straggle.

Thermocathode radio-frequency gun for the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics free-electron laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volkov, V.; Getmanov, Ya.; Kenjebulatov, E.; Kolobanov, E.; Krutikhin, S.; Kurkin, G.; Ovchar, V.; Petrov, V. M.; Sedlyarov, I.

2016-12-01

A radio-frequency (RF) gun for a race-track microtron-recuperator injector driving the free-electron laser (FEL) (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics) is being tested at a special stand. Electron bunches of the RF gun have an energy of up to 300 keV and a repetition rate of up to 90 MHz. The average electro-beam current can reach 100 mA in the continuous operation regime. The advantages of the new injector are as follows: long lifetime of the cathode for high average beam current; simple scheme of longitudinal beam bunching, which does not require an additional bunching resonator in the injector; absence of dark-current contamination of the injector beam; and comfortable RF gun operation due to the absence of a high potential of 300 kV at the cathode control circuits. In this study we describe the RF gun design, present the main characteristics of the injector with the RF gun, and give the results of testing.

Ultrananocrystalline diamond films with optimized dielectric properties for advanced RF MEMS capacitive switches

DOEpatents

Sumant, Anirudha V.; Auciello, Orlando H.; Mancini, Derrick C.

2013-01-15

An efficient deposition process is provided for fabricating reliable RF MEMS capacitive switches with multilayer ultrananocrystalline (UNCD) films for more rapid recovery, charging and discharging that is effective for more than a billion cycles of operation. Significantly, the deposition process is compatible for integration with CMOS electronics and thereby can provide monolithically integrated RF MEMS capacitive switches for use with CMOS electronic devices, such as for insertion into phase array antennas for radars and other RF communication systems.

Multimode waveguide speckle patterns for compressive sensing.

PubMed

Valley, George C; Sefler, George A; Justin Shaw, T

2016-06-01

Compressive sensing (CS) of sparse gigahertz-band RF signals using microwave photonics may achieve better performances with smaller size, weight, and power than electronic CS or conventional Nyquist rate sampling. The critical element in a CS system is the device that produces the CS measurement matrix (MM). We show that passive speckle patterns in multimode waveguides potentially provide excellent MMs for CS. We measure and calculate the MM for a multimode fiber and perform simulations using this MM in a CS system. We show that the speckle MM exhibits the sharp phase transition and coherence properties needed for CS and that these properties are similar to those of a sub-Gaussian MM with the same mean and standard deviation. We calculate the MM for a multimode planar waveguide and find dimensions of the planar guide that give a speckle MM with a performance similar to that of the multimode fiber. The CS simulations show that all measured and calculated speckle MMs exhibit a robust performance with equal amplitude signals that are sparse in time, in frequency, and in wavelets (Haar wavelet transform). The planar waveguide results indicate a path to a microwave photonic integrated circuit for measuring sparse gigahertz-band RF signals using CS.

Tape transfer printing of a liquid metal alloy for stretchable RF electronics.

PubMed

Jeong, Seung Hee; Hjort, Klas; Wu, Zhigang

2014-09-03

In order to make conductors with large cross sections for low impedance radio frequency (RF) electronics, while still retaining high stretchability, liquid-alloy-based microfluidic stretchable electronics offers stretchable electronic systems the unique opportunity to combine various sensors on our bodies or organs with high-quality wireless communication with the external world (devices/systems), without sacrificing enhanced user comfort. This microfluidic approach, based on printed circuit board technology, allows large area processing of large cross section conductors and robust contacts, which can handle a lot of stretching between the embedded rigid active components and the surrounding system. Although it provides such benefits, further development is needed to realize its potential as a high throughput, cost-effective process technology. In this paper, tape transfer printing is proposed to supply a rapid prototyping batch process at low cost, albeit at a low resolution of 150 μm. In particular, isolated patterns can be obtained in a simple one-step process. Finally, a stretchable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is demonstrated. The measured results show the robustness of the hybrid integrated system when the tag is stretched at 50% for 3000 cycles.

Design and development progress of a LLRF control system for a 500 MHz superconducting cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y. S.; Kim, H. W.; Song, H. S.; Lee, J. H.; Park, K. H.; Yu, I. H.; Chai, J. S.

2012-07-01

The LLRF (low-level radio-frequency) control system which regulates the amplitude and the phase of the accelerating voltage inside a RF cavity is essential to ensure the stable operation of charged particle accelerators. Recent advances in digital signal processors and data acquisition systems have allowed the LLRF control system to be implemented in digitally and have made it possible to meet the higher demands associated with the performance of LLRF control systems, such as stability, accuracy, etc. For this reason, many accelerator laboratories have completed or are completing the developments of digital LLRF control systems. The digital LLRF control system has advantages related with flexibility and fast reconfiguration. This paper describes the design of the FPGA (field programmable gate array) based LLRF control system and the status of development for this system. The proposed LLRF control system includes an analog front-end, a digital board (ADC (analog to digital converter), DAC (digital to analog converter), FPGA, etc.) and a RF & clock generation system. The control algorithms will be implemented by using the VHDL (VHSIC (very high speed integrated circuits) hardware description language), and the EPICS (experiment physics and industrial control system) will be ported to the host computer for the communication. In addition, the purpose of this system is to control a 500 MHz RF cavity, so the system will be applied to the superconducting cavity to be installed in the PLS storage ring, and its performance will be tested.

Development of 24GHz Rectenna for Receiving and Rectifying Modulated Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shinohara, Naoki; Hatano, Ken

2014-11-01

In this paper, we show experimental results of RF-DC conversion with modulated 24GHz waves. We have already developed class-F MMIC rectenna with resonators for higher harmonics at no modulated 24GHz microwave for RF energy transfer. Dimensions of the MMIC rectifying circuit is 1 mm × 3 mm on GaAs. Maximum RF-DC conversion efficiency is measured 47.9% for a 210 mW microwave input of 24 GHz with a 120 Ω load. The class-F rectenna is based on a single shunt full-wave rectifier. For future application of a simultaneous energy and information transfer system or an energy harvesting from broadcasting waves, input microwave will be modulated. In this paper, we show an experimental result of RF-DC conversion of the class-F rectenna with 24GHz waves modulated by 16QAM as 1st modulation and OFDM as 2nd modulation.

RF-MEMS tunable interdigitated capacitor and fixed spiral inductor for band pass filter applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bade, Ladon Ahmed; Dennis, John Ojur; Khir, M. Haris Md; Wen, Wong Peng

2016-11-01

This research presents the tunable Radio Frequency Micro Electromechanical Systems (RF-MEMS) coupled band-pass filter (BPF), which possess a wide tuning range and constructed by using the Chebyshev fourth degree equivalent circuit consisting of fixed inductors and interdigitated tunable capacitors. The suggested method was authenticated by designing a new tunable BPF with a 100% tuning range from 3.1 GHz to 4.9 GHz. The Metal Multi-User MEMS Process (Metal MUMPs) was involved in the process of design of this band-pass filter. It aimed to achieve the reconfiguration of frequencies and show high efficiency of RF in the applications that using Ultra Wide Band (UWB) such as wireless sensor networks. The RF performance of this filter was found to be very satisfactory due to its simple fabrication. Moreover, it showed less insertion loss of around 4 dB and high return loss of around 20 dB.

Integrated RF-shim coil allowing two degrees of freedom shim current.

PubMed

Jiazheng Zhou; Ying-Hua Chu; Yi-Cheng Hsu; Pu-Yeh Wu; Stockmann, Jason P; Fa-Hsuan Lin

2016-08-01

High-quality magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopic measurements require a highly homogeneous magnetic field. Different from global shimming, localized off-resonance can be corrected by using multi-coil shimming. Previously, integrated RF and shimming coils have been used to implement multi-coil shimming. Such coils share the same conductor for RF signal reception and shim field generation. Here we propose a new design of the integrated RF-shim coil at 3-tesla, where two independent shim current paths are allowed in each coil. This coil permits a higher degree of freedom in shim current distribution design. We use both phantom experiments and simulations to demonstrate the feasibility of this new design.

An Optimized 2.4GHz RF Power Amplifier Performance for WLAN System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Mohammed H.; Chakrabarty, C. K.; Abdalla, Ahmed N.; Hock, Goh C.

2013-06-01

Recently, the design of RF power amplifiers (PAs) for modern wireless systems are faced with a difficult tradeoff for example, cellphone; battery lifetime is largely determined by the power efficiency of the PA and high spectral efficiency which have ability to transmit data at the highest possible rate for a given channel bandwidth. This paper presents the design a multi stage class AB power Amplifier with high power added efficiency (PAE) and acceptable linearity for the WLAN applications. The open-circuited third harmonic control circuit enhances the efficiency of the PA without deteriorating the linearity of class-AB mode of the PA. The voltage and current waveforms are simulated to evaluate the appropriate operation for the modes. The effectiveness of the proposed controller has been verified by comparing proposed method with another methods using simulation study under a variety of conditions. The proposed circuit operation for a WLAN signals delivers a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 37.6% is measured at 31.6-dBm output power while dissipating 34.61 mA from a 1.8V supply. Finally, the proposed PA is show a good and acceptable result for the WLAN system.

Application of drive circuit based on L298N in direct current motor speed control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Liuliu; Wang, Fang; Han, Sen; Li, Yuchen; Sun, Hao; Lu, Qingjie; Yang, Cheng; Wang, Quanzhao

2016-10-01

In the experiment of researching the nanometer laser interferometer, our design of laser interferometer circuit system is up to the wireless communication technique of the 802.15.4 IEEE standard, and we use the RF TI provided by Basic to receive the data on speed control system software. The system's hardware is connected with control module and the DC motor. However, in the experiment, we found that single chip microcomputer control module is very difficult to drive the DC motor directly. The reason is that the DC motor's starting and braking current is larger than the causing current of the single chip microcomputer control module. In order to solve this problem, we add a driving module that control board can transmit PWM wave signal through I/O port to drive the DC motor, the driving circuit board can come true the function of the DC motor's positive and reversal rotation and speed adjustment. In many various driving module, the L298N module's integrated level is higher compared with other driver module. The L298N model is easy to control, it not only can control the DC motor, but also achieve motor speed control by modulating PWM wave that the control panel output. It also has the over-current protection function, when the motor lock, the L298N model can protect circuit and motor. So we use the driver module based on L298N to drive the DC motor. It is concluded that the L298N driver circuit module plays a very important role in the process of driving the DC motor in the DC motor speed control system.

Analysis of signal to noise enhancement using a highly selective modulation tracking filter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haden, C. R.; Alworth, C. W.

1972-01-01

Experiments are reported which utilize photodielectric effects in semiconductor loaded superconducting resonant circuits for suppressing noise in RF communication systems. The superconducting tunable cavity acts as a narrow band tracking filter for detecting conventional RF signals. Analytical techniques were developed which lead to prediction of signal-to-noise improvements. Progress is reported in optimization of the experimental variables. These include improved Q, new semiconductors, improved optics, and simplification of the electronics. Information bearing signals were passed through the system, and noise was introduced into the computer model.

Demonstration of Inexact Computing Implemented in the JPEG Compression Algorithm using Probabilistic Boolean Logic applied to CMOS Components

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-24

Ripple-Carry RCA Ripple-Carry Adder RF Radio Frequency RMS Root-Mean-Square SEU Single Event Upset SIPI Signal and Image Processing Institute SNR...correctness, where 0.5 < p < 1, and a probability (1−p) of error. Errors could be caused by noise, radio frequency (RF) interference, crosstalk...utilized in the Apollo Guidance Computer is the three input NOR Gate. . . At the time that the decision was made to use in- 11 tegrated circuits, the

Demonstration of Inexact Computing Implemented in the JPEG Compression Algorithm Using Probabilistic Boolean Logic Applied to CMOS Components

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-24

Ripple-Carry RCA Ripple-Carry Adder RF Radio Frequency RMS Root-Mean-Square SEU Single Event Upset SIPI Signal and Image Processing Institute SNR...correctness, where 0.5 < p < 1, and a probability (1−p) of error. Errors could be caused by noise, radio frequency (RF) interference, crosstalk...utilized in the Apollo Guidance Computer is the three input NOR Gate. . . At the time that the decision was made to use in- 11 tegrated circuits, the

OVERMODED HIGH-POWER RF MAGNETIC SWITCHES AND CIRCULATORS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tantawi, Sami

2002-08-20

We present design methodology for active rf magnetic components which are suitable for pulse compression systems of future X-band linear colliders. These components comprise an array of active elements arranged together so that the total electromagnetic field is reduced and the power handling capabilities are increased. The active element of choice is a magnetic material (garnet), which can be switched by changing a biasing magnetic field. A novel design allows these components to operate in the low loss circular waveguide mode TE{sub 01}. We describe the design methodology, the switching elements and circuits.

Analysis of radiofrequency discharges in plasma

DOEpatents

Kumar, Devendra; McGlynn, Sean P.

1992-01-01

Separation of laser optogalvanic signals in plasma into two components: (1) an ionization rate change component, and (2) a photoacoustic mediated component. This separation of components may be performed even when the two components overlap in time, by measuring time-resolved laser optogalvanic signals in an rf discharge plasma as the rf frequency is varied near the electrical resonance peak of the plasma and associated driving/detecting circuits. A novel spectrometer may be constructed to make these measurements. Such a spectrometer would be useful in better understanding and controlling such processes as plasma etching and plasma deposition.

Multi-frequency klystron designed for high efficiency

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jensen, Aaron

A multi-frequency klystron has an electron gun which generates a beam, a circuit of bunch-align-collect (BAC) tuned cavities that bunch the beam and amplify an RF signal, a collector where the beam is collected and dumped, and a standard output cavity and waveguide coupled to a window to output RF power at a fundamental mode to an external load. In addition, the klystron has additional bunch-align-collect (BAC) cavities tuned to a higher harmonic frequency, and a harmonic output cavity and waveguide coupled via a window to an additional external load.

Self isolating high frequency saturable reactor

DOEpatents

Moore, James A.

1998-06-23

The present invention discloses a saturable reactor and a method for decoupling the interwinding capacitance from the frequency limitations of the reactor so that the equivalent electrical circuit of the saturable reactor comprises a variable inductor. The saturable reactor comprises a plurality of physically symmetrical magnetic cores with closed loop magnetic paths and a novel method of wiring a control winding and a RF winding. The present invention additionally discloses a matching network and method for matching the impedances of a RF generator to a load. The matching network comprises a matching transformer and a saturable reactor.

Development of a 200 W CW high efficiency traveling wave tube at 12 GHz. [for use in communication technology satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, J. A.; Tammaru, I.

1974-01-01

The design, development, and test results are reported for an experimental PPM focused, traveling-wave tube that produces 235 watts of CW RF power over 85 MHz centered at 12.080 GHz. The tube uses a coupled cavity RF circuit with a velocity taper for greater than 30 percent basic efficiency. Overall efficiency of 51 percent is achieved by means of a nine stage depressed collector designed at NASA Lewis Research Center. This collector is cooled by direct radiation to deep space.

Novel RF and microwave components employing ferroelectric and solid-state tunable capacitors for multi-functional wireless communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tombak, Ali

The recent advancement in wireless communications demands an ever increasing improvement in the system performance and functionality with a reduced size and cost. This thesis demonstrates novel RF and microwave components based on ferroelectric and solid-state based tunable capacitor (varactor) technologies for the design of low-cost, small-size and multi-functional wireless communication systems. These include tunable lumped element VHF filters based on ferroelectric varactors, a beam-steering technique which, unlike conventional systems, does not require separate power divider and phase shifters, and a predistortion linearization technique that uses a varactor based tunable R-L-C resonator. Among various ferroelectric materials, Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) is actively being studied for the fabrication of high performance varactors at RF and microwave frequencies. BST based tunable capacitors are presented with typical tunabilities of 4.2:1 with the application of 5 to 10 V DC bias voltages and typical loss tangents in the range of 0.003--0.009 at VHF frequencies. Tunable lumped element lowpass and bandpass VHF filters based on BST varactors are also demonstrated with tunabilities of 40% and 57%, respectively. A new beam-steering technique is developed based on the extended resonance power dividing technique. Phased arrays based on this technique do not require separate power divider and phase shifters. Instead, the power division and phase shifting circuits are combined into a single circuit, which utilizes tunable capacitors. This results in a substantial reduction in the circuit complexity and cost. Phased arrays based on this technique can be employed in mobile multimedia services and automotive collision avoidance radars. A 2-GHz 4-antenna and a 10-GHz 8-antenna extended resonance phased arrays are demonstrated with scan ranges of 20 degrees and 18 degrees, respectively. A new predistortion linearization technique for the linearization of RF/microwave power amplifiers is also presented. This technique utilizes a varactor based tunable R-L-C resonator in shunt configuration. Due to the small number of circuit elements required, linearizers based on this technique offer low-cost and simple circuitry, hence can be utilized in handheld and cellular applications. A 1.8 GHz power amplifier with 9 dB gain is linearized using this technique. The linearizer improves the output 1-dB compression point of the power amplifier from 21 to 22.8 dBm. Adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) is improved approximately 11 dB at an output RF power level of 17.5 dBm. The thesis is concluded by summarizing the main achievements and discussing the future work directions.

VMM - An ASIC for Micropattern Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iakovidis, George

2018-02-01

The VMM is a custom Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that can be used in a variety of charge interpolating tracking detectors. It is designed to be used with the resistive strip micromegas and sTGC detectors in the New Small Wheel upgrade of the ATLAS Muon spectrometer. The ASIC is designed at Brookhaven National Laboratory and fabricated in the 130 nm Global Foundries 8RF-DM process. It is packaged in a Ball Grid Array with outline dimensions of 21×21 mm2. It integrates 64 channels, each providing charge amplification, discrimination, neighbour logic, amplitude and timing measurements, analog-to-digital conversions, and either direct output for trigger or multiplexed readout. The front-end amplifier can operate with a wide range of input capacitances, has adjustable polarity, gain and peaking time. The VMM1 and VMM2 are the first two versions of the VMM ASIC family fabricated in 2012 and 2014 respectively. The design, tests and qualification of the VMM1, VMM2 and roadmap to VMM3 are described.

Analysis of building envelope insulation performance utilizing integrated temperature and humidity sensors.

PubMed

Hung, San-Shan; Chang, Chih-Yuan; Hsu, Cheng-Jui; Chen, Shih-Wei

2012-01-01

A major cause of high energy consumption for air conditioning in indoor spaces is the thermal storage characteristics of a building's envelope concrete material; therefore, the physiological signals (temperature and humidity) within concrete structures are an important reference for building energy management. The current approach to measuring temperature and humidity within concrete structures (i.e., thermocouples and fiber optics) is limited by problems of wiring requirements, discontinuous monitoring, and high costs. This study uses radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) combined with temperature and humidity sensors (T/H sensors) for the design of a smart temperature and humidity information material (STHIM) that automatically, regularly, and continuously converts temperature and humidity signals within concrete and transmits them by radio frequency (RF) to the Building Physiology Information System (BPIS). This provides a new approach to measurement that incorporates direct measurement, wireless communication, and real-time continuous monitoring to assist building designers and users in making energy management decisions and judgments.

Optical techniques to feed and control GaAs MMIC modules for phased array antenna applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Anzic, G.; Kunath, R. R.; Connolly, D. J.

A complex signal distribution system is required to feed and control GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for phased array antenna applications above 20 GHz. Each MMIC module will require one or more RF lines, one or more bias voltage lines, and digital lines to provide a minimum of 10 bits of combined phase and gain control information. In a closely spaced array, the routing of these multiple lines presents difficult topology problems as well as a high probability of signal interference. To overcome GaAs MMIC phased array signal distribution problems optical fibers interconnected to monolithically integrated optical components with GaAs MMIC array elements are proposed as a solution. System architecture considerations using optical fibers are described. The analog and digital optical links to respectively feed and control MMIC elements are analyzed. It is concluded that a fiber optic network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but higher power will be required.

Optical techniques to feed and control GaAs MMIC modules for phased array antenna applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Anzic, G.; Kunath, R. R.; Connolly, D. J.

1986-01-01

A complex signal distribution system is required to feed and control GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for phased array antenna applications above 20 GHz. Each MMIC module will require one or more RF lines, one or more bias voltage lines, and digital lines to provide a minimum of 10 bits of combined phase and gain control information. In a closely spaced array, the routing of these multiple lines presents difficult topology problems as well as a high probability of signal interference. To overcome GaAs MMIC phased array signal distribution problems optical fibers interconnected to monolithically integrated optical components with GaAs MMIC array elements are proposed as a solution. System architecture considerations using optical fibers are described. The analog and digital optical links to respectively feed and control MMIC elements are analyzed. It is concluded that a fiber optic network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but higher power will be required.

A Wireless Capsule Endoscope System With Low-Power Controlling and Processing ASIC.

PubMed

Xinkai Chen; Xiaoyu Zhang; Linwei Zhang; Xiaowen Li; Nan Qi; Hanjun Jiang; Zhihua Wang

2009-02-01

This paper presents the design of a wireless capsule endoscope system. The proposed system is mainly composed of a CMOS image sensor, a RF transceiver and a low-power controlling and processing application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Several design challenges involving system power reduction, system miniaturization and wireless wake-up method are resolved by employing optimized system architecture, integration of an area and power efficient image compression module, a power management unit (PMU) and a novel wireless wake-up subsystem with zero standby current in the ASIC design. The ASIC has been fabricated in 0.18-mum CMOS technology with a die area of 3.4 mm * 3.3 mm. The digital baseband can work under a power supply down to 0.95 V with a power dissipation of 1.3 mW. The prototype capsule based on the ASIC and a data recorder has been developed. Test result shows that proposed system architecture with local image compression lead to an average of 45% energy reduction for transmitting an image frame.

Novel Techniques for Millimeter-Wave Packages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herman, Martin I.; Lee, Karen A.; Kolawa, Elzbieta A.; Lowry, Lynn E.; Tulintseff, Ann N.

1995-01-01

A new millimeter-wave package architecture with supporting electrical, mechanical and material science experiment and analysis is presented. This package is well suited for discrete devices, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's) and multichip module (MCM) applications. It has low-loss wide-band RF transitions which are necessary to overcome manufacturing tolerances leading to lower per unit cost Potential applications of this new packaging architecture which go beyond the standard requirements of device protection include integration of antennas, compatibility to photonic networks and direct transitions to waveguide systems. Techniques for electromagnetic analysis, thermal control and hermetic sealing were explored. Three dimensional electromagnetic analysis was performed using a finite difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm and experimentally verified for millimeter-wave package input and output transitions. New multi-material system concepts (AlN, Cu, and diamond thin films) which allow excellent surface finishes to be achieved with enhanced thermal management have been investigated. A new approach utilizing block copolymer coatings was employed to hermetically seal packages which met MIL STD-883.

Analysis of Building Envelope Insulation Performance Utilizing Integrated Temperature and Humidity Sensors

PubMed Central

Hung, San-Shan; Chang, Chih-Yuan; Hsu, Cheng-Jui; Chen, Shih-Wei

2012-01-01

A major cause of high energy consumption for air conditioning in indoor spaces is the thermal storage characteristics of a building's envelope concrete material; therefore, the physiological signals (temperature and humidity) within concrete structures are an important reference for building energy management. The current approach to measuring temperature and humidity within concrete structures (i.e., thermocouples and fiber optics) is limited by problems of wiring requirements, discontinuous monitoring, and high costs. This study uses radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) combined with temperature and humidity sensors (T/H sensors) for the design of a smart temperature and humidity information material (STHIM) that automatically, regularly, and continuously converts temperature and humidity signals within concrete and transmits them by radio frequency (RF) to the Building Physiology Information System (BPIS). This provides a new approach to measurement that incorporates direct measurement, wireless communication, and real-time continuous monitoring to assist building designers and users in making energy management decisions and judgments. PMID:23012529

Investigation of Helicon discharges as RF coupling concept of negative hydrogen ion sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briefi, S.; Fantz, U.

2013-02-01

The ITER reference source for H- and D- requires a high RF input power (up to 90 kW per driver). To reduce the demands on the RF circuit, it is highly desirable to reduce the power consumption while retaining the values of the relevant plasma parameters namely the positive ion density and the atomic hydrogen density. Helicon plasmas are a promising alternative RF coupling concept but they are typically generated in long thin discharge tubes using rare gases and an RF frequency of 13.56 MHz. Hence the applicability to the ITER reference source geometry, frequency and the utilization of hydrogen/deuterium has to be proved. In this paper the strategy of the approach for using Helicon discharges for ITER reference source parameters is introduced and the first promising measurements which were carried out at a small laboratory experiment are presented. With increasing RF power a mode transition to the Helicon regime was observed for argon and argon/hydrogen mixtures. In pure hydrogen/deuterium the mode transition could not yet be achieved as the available RF power is too low. In deuterium a special feature of Helicon discharges, the socalled low field peak, could be observed at a moderate B-field of 3 mT.

Spurious RF signals emitted by mini-UAVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schleijpen, Ric (H. M. A.); Voogt, Vincent; Zwamborn, Peter; van den Oever, Jaap

2016-10-01

This paper presents experimental work on the detection of spurious RF emissions of mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (mini-UAV). Many recent events have shown that mini-UAVs can be considered as a potential threat for civil security. For this reason the detection of mini-UAVs has become of interest to the sensor community. The detection, classification and identification chain can take advantage of different sensor technologies. Apart from the signatures used by radar and electro-optical sensor systems, the UAV also emits RF signals. These RF signatures can be split in intentional signals for communication with the operator and un-intentional RF signals emitted by the UAV. These unintentional or spurious RF emissions are very weak but could be used to discriminate potential UAV detections from false alarms. The goal of this research was to assess the potential of exploiting spurious emissions in the classification and identification chain of mini-UAVs. It was already known that spurious signals are very weak, but the focus was on the question whether the emission pattern could be correlated to the behaviour of the UAV. In this paper experimental examples of spurious RF emission for different types of mini-UAVs and their correlation with the electronic circuits in the UAVs will be shown

Alternative RF coupling configurations for H{sup −} ion sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Briefi, S.; Fantz, U.; AG Experimentelle Plasmaphysik, Universität Augsburg, 86135 Augsburg

2015-04-08

RF heated sources for negative hydrogen ions both for fusion and accelerators require very high RF powers in order to achieve the required H{sup −} current what poses high demands on the RF generators and the RF circuit. Therefore it is highly desirable to improve the RF efficiency of the sources. This could be achieved by applying different RF coupling concepts than the currently used inductive coupling via a helical antenna, namely Helicon coupling or coupling via a planar ICP antenna enhanced with ferrites. In order to investigate the feasibility of these concepts, two small laboratory experiments have been setmore » up. The PlanICE experiment, where the enhanced inductive coupling is going to be investigated, is currently under assembly. At the CHARLIE experiment systematic measurements concerning Helicon coupling in hydrogen and deuterium are carried out. The investigations show that a prominent feature of Helicon discharges occurs: the so-called low-field peak. This is a local improvement of the coupling efficiency at a magnetic field strength of a few mT which results in an increased electron density and dissociation degree. The full Helicon mode has not been achieved yet due to the limited available RF power and magnetic field strength but it might be sufficient for the application of the coupling concept to ion sources to operate the discharge in the low-field-peak region.« less

Alternative RF coupling configurations for H- ion sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briefi, S.; Gutmann, P.; Fantz, U.

2015-04-01

RF heated sources for negative hydrogen ions both for fusion and accelerators require very high RF powers in order to achieve the required H- current what poses high demands on the RF generators and the RF circuit. Therefore it is highly desirable to improve the RF efficiency of the sources. This could be achieved by applying different RF coupling concepts than the currently used inductive coupling via a helical antenna, namely Helicon coupling or coupling via a planar ICP antenna enhanced with ferrites. In order to investigate the feasibility of these concepts, two small laboratory experiments have been set up. The PlanICE experiment, where the enhanced inductive coupling is going to be investigated, is currently under assembly. At the CHARLIE experiment systematic measurements concerning Helicon coupling in hydrogen and deuterium are carried out. The investigations show that a prominent feature of Helicon discharges occurs: the so-called low-field peak. This is a local improvement of the coupling efficiency at a magnetic field strength of a few mT which results in an increased electron density and dissociation degree. The full Helicon mode has not been achieved yet due to the limited available RF power and magnetic field strength but it might be sufficient for the application of the coupling concept to ion sources to operate the discharge in the low-field-peak region.

Plasma processing of large curved surfaces for superconducting rf cavity modification

DOE PAGES

Upadhyay, J.; Im, Do; Popović, S.; ...

2014-12-15

In this study, plasma based surface modification of niobium is a promising alternative to wet etching of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. The development of the technology based on Cl 2/Ar plasma etching has to address several crucial parameters which influence the etching rate and surface roughness, and eventually, determine cavity performance. This includes dependence of the process on the frequency of the RF generator, gas pressure, power level, the driven (inner) electrode configuration, and the chlorine concentration in the gas mixture during plasma processing. To demonstrate surface layer removal in the asymmetric non-planar geometry, we are using a simplemore » cylindrical cavity with 8 ports symmetrically distributed over the cylinder. The ports are used for diagnosing the plasma parameters and as holders for the samples to be etched. The etching rate is highly correlated with the shape of the inner electrode, radio-frequency (RF) circuit elements, chlorine concentration in the Cl 2/Ar gas mixtures, residence time of reactive species and temperature of the cavity. Using cylindrical electrodes with variable radius, large-surface ring-shaped samples and d.c. bias implementation in the external circuit we have demonstrated substantial average etching rates and outlined the possibility to optimize plasma properties with respect to maximum surface processing effect.« less

An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanbin, Luo; Chengyan, Ma; Yebing, Gan; Min, Qian; Tianchun, Ye

2015-10-01

An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver is presented. Unlike the traditional topology of a low noise amplifier (LNA), the inductorless current-mode noise-canceling LNA is applied in this design. The high-impedance-input radio frequency amplifier (RFA) further amplifies the GNSS signals and changes the single-end signal path into fully differential. The passive mixer down-converts the signals to the intermediate frequency (IF) band and conveys the signals to the analogue blocks. The local oscillator (LO) buffer divides the output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and generates 25%-duty-cycle quadrature square waves to drive the mixer. Our measurement results display that the implemented RF front end achieves good overall performance while consuming only 6.7 mA from 1.2 V supply. The input return loss is better than -26 dB and the ultra low noise figure of 1.43 dB leads to high sensitivity of the GNSS receiver. The input 1 dB compression point is -43 dBm at the high gain of 48 dB. The designed circuit is fabricated in 55 nm CMOS technology and the die area, which is much smaller than traditional circuit, is around 220 × 280 μm2.

Integrated circuits for volumetric ultrasound imaging with 2-D CMUT arrays.

PubMed

Bhuyan, Anshuman; Choe, Jung Woo; Lee, Byung Chul; Wygant, Ira O; Nikoozadeh, Amin; Oralkan, Ömer; Khuri-Yakub, Butrus T

2013-12-01

Real-time volumetric ultrasound imaging systems require transmit and receive circuitry to generate ultrasound beams and process received echo signals. The complexity of building such a system is high due to requirement of the front-end electronics needing to be very close to the transducer. A large number of elements also need to be interfaced to the back-end system and image processing of a large dataset could affect the imaging volume rate. In this work, we present a 3-D imaging system using capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology that addresses many of the challenges in building such a system. We demonstrate two approaches in integrating the transducer and the front-end electronics. The transducer is a 5-MHz CMUT array with an 8 mm × 8 mm aperture size. The aperture consists of 1024 elements (32 × 32) with an element pitch of 250 μm. An integrated circuit (IC) consists of a transmit beamformer and receive circuitry to improve the noise performance of the overall system. The assembly was interfaced with an FPGA and a back-end system (comprising of a data acquisition system and PC). The FPGA provided the digital I/O signals for the IC and the back-end system was used to process the received RF echo data (from the IC) and reconstruct the volume image using a phased array imaging approach. Imaging experiments were performed using wire and spring targets, a ventricle model and a human prostrate. Real-time volumetric images were captured at 5 volumes per second and are presented in this paper.

Digital approach to stabilizing optical frequency combs and beat notes of CW lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Čížek, Martin; Číp, Ondřej; Å míd, Radek; Hrabina, Jan; Mikel, Břetislav; Lazar, Josef

2013-10-01

In cases when it is necessary to lock optical frequencies generated by an optical frequency comb to a precise radio frequency (RF) standard (GPS-disciplined oscillator, H-maser, etc.) the usual practice is to implement phase and frequency-locked loops. Such system takes the signal generated by the RF standard (usually 10 MHz or 100 MHz) as a reference and stabilizes the repetition and offset frequencies of the comb contained in the RF output of the f-2f interferometer. These control loops are usually built around analog electronic circuits processing the output signals from photo detectors. This results in transferring the stability of the standard from RF to optical frequency domain. The presented work describes a different approach based on digital signal processing and software-defined radio algorithms used for processing the f-2f and beat-note signals. Several applications of digital phase and frequency locks to a RF standard are demonstrated: the repetition (frep) and offset frequency (fceo) of the comb, and the frequency of the beat note between a CW laser source and a single component of the optical frequency comb spectrum.

Design development and testing of high voltage power supply with crowbar protection for IOT based RF amplifier system in VECC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakur, S. K.; Kumar, Y.

2018-05-01

This paper described the detailed design, development and testing of high voltage power supply (‑30 kV, 3.2 A) and different power supplies for biasing electrodes of Inductive Output Tube (IOT) based high power Radio Frequency (RF) amplifier. This IOT based RF amplifier is further used for pursuing research and development activity in superconducting RF cavity project at Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) Kolkata. The state-of-the-art technology of IOT-based high power RF amplifier is designed, developed, and tested at VECC which is the first of its kind in India. A high voltage power supply rated at negative polarity of 30 kV dc/3.2 A is required for biasing cathode of IOT with crowbar protection circuit. This power supply along with crowbar protection system is designed, developed and tested at VECC for testing the complete setup. The technical difficulties and challenges occured during the design of cathode power supply, its crowbar protection techniques along with other supported power supplies i.e. grid and ion pump power supplies are discussed in this paper.

Multiple components of surround modulation in primary visual cortex: multiple neural circuits with multiple functions?

PubMed Central

Nurminen, Lauri; Angelucci, Alessandra

2014-01-01

The responses of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) to stimulation of their receptive field (RF) are modulated by stimuli in the RF surround. This modulation is suppressive when the stimuli in the RF and surround are of similar orientation, but less suppressive or facilitatory when they are cross-oriented. Similarly, in human vision surround stimuli selectively suppress the perceived contrast of a central stimulus. Although the properties of surround modulation have been thoroughly characterized in many species, cortical areas and sensory modalities, its role in perception remains unknown. Here we argue that surround modulation in V1 consists of multiple components having different spatio-temporal and tuning properties, generated by different neural circuits and serving different visual functions. One component arises from LGN afferents, is fast, untuned for orientation, and spatially restricted to the surround region nearest to the RF (the near-surround); its function is to normalize V1 cell responses to local contrast. Intra-V1 horizontal connections contribute a slower, narrowly orientation-tuned component to near-surround modulation, whose function is to increase the coding efficiency of natural images in manner that leads to the extraction of object boundaries. The third component is generated by topdown feedback connections to V1, is fast, broadly orientation-tuned, and extends into the far-surround; its function is to enhance the salience of behaviorally relevant visual features. Far- and near-surround modulation, thus, act as parallel mechanisms: the former quickly detects and guides saccades/attention to salient visual scene locations, the latter segments object boundaries in the scene. PMID:25204770

Exploration and design of smart home circuit based on ZigBee

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Huirong

2018-05-01

To apply ZigBee technique in smart home circuit design, in the hardware design link of ZigBee node, TI Company's ZigBee wireless communication chip CC2530 was used to complete the design of ZigBee RF module circuit and peripheral circuit. In addition, the function demand and the overall scheme of the intelligent system based on smart home furnishing were proposed. Finally, the smart home system was built by combining ZigBee network and intelligent gateway. The function realization, reliability and power consumption of ZigBee network were tested. The results showed that ZigBee technology was applied to smart home system, making it have some advantages in terms of flexibility, scalability, power consumption and indoor aesthetics. To sum up, the system has high application value.

High Temperature Performance of a SiC MESFET Based Oscillator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, Zachary D.; Ponchak, George E.

2005-01-01

A hybrid, UHF-Band differential oscillator based on 10 w SiC RF Power Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MESFET) has been designed, fabricated and characterized through 475 C. Circuit is fabricated on an alumina substrate with thin film spiral inductors, chip capacitors, chip resistors, and wire bonds for all crossovers and interconnectors. The oscillator delivers 15.7 dBm at 515 MHz into a 50 Ohm load at 125 C with a DC to RF conversion efficiency of 2,8%. After tuning the load impedance, the oscillator delivers 18.8 dBm at 610 MHz at 200 C with a DC to RF conversion efficiency of 5.8%. Finally, by tuning the load and bias conditions, the oscillator delivers 4.9 dBm at 453 MHz at 475 C.

Passive and electro-optic polymer photonics and InP electronics integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Z.; Katopodis, V.; Groumas, P.; Konczykowska, A.; Dupuy, J.-.; Beretta, A.; Dede, A.; Miller, E.; Choi, J. H.; Harati, P.; Jorge, F.; Nodjiadjim, V.; Dinu, R.; Cangini, G.; Vannucci, A.; Felipe, D.; Maese-Novo, A.; Keil, N.; Bach, H.-.; Schell, Martin; Avramopoulos, H.; Kouloumentas, Ch.

2015-05-01

Hybrid photonic integration allows individual components to be developed at their best-suited material platforms without sacrificing the overall performance. In the past few years a polymer-enabled hybrid integration platform has been established, comprising 1) EO polymers for constructing low-complexity and low-cost Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) with extremely high modulation bandwidth; 2) InP components for light sources, detectors, and high-speed electronics including MUX drivers and DEMUX circuits; 3) Ceramic (AIN) RF board that links the electronic signals within the package. On this platform, advanced optoelectronic modules have been demonstrated, including serial 100 Gb/s [1] and 2x100 Gb/s [2] optical transmitters, but also 400 Gb/s optoelectronic interfaces for intra-data center networks [3]. To expand the device functionalities to an unprecedented level and at the same time improve the integration compatibility with diversified active / passive photonic components, we have added a passive polymer-based photonic board (polyboard) as the 4th material system. This passive polyboard allows for low-cost fabrication of single-mode waveguide networks, enables fast and convenient integration of various thin-film elements (TFEs) to control the light polarization, and provides efficient thermo-optic elements (TOEs) for wavelength tuning, light amplitude regulation and light-path switching.

Balanced optical-microwave phase detector for sub-femtosecond optical-RF synchronization

DOE PAGES

Peng, Michael Y.; Kalaydzhyan, Aram; Kärtner, Franz X.

2014-10-23

We demonstrate that balanced optical-microwave phase detectors (BOMPD) are capable of optical-RF synchronization with sub-femtosecond residual timing jitter for large-scale timing distribution systems. RF-to-optical synchronization is achieved with a long-term stability of < 1 fs RMS and < 7 fs pk-pk drift for over 10 hours and short-term stability of < 2 fs RMS jitter integrated from 1 Hz to 200 kHz as well as optical-to-RF synchronization with 0.5 fs RMS jitter integrated from 1 Hz to 20 kHz. Moreover, we achieve a –161 dBc/Hz noise floor that integrates well into the sub-fs regime and measure a nominal 50-dB AM-PMmore » suppression ratio with potential improvement via DC offset adjustment.« less

Millimeter And Submillimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits On Quartz

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehdi, Imran; Mazed, Mohammad; Siegel, Peter; Smith, R. Peter

1995-01-01

Proposed Quartz substrate Upside-down Integrated Device (QUID) relies on UV-curable adhesive to bond semiconductor with quartz. Integrated circuits including planar GaAs Schottky diodes and passive circuit elements (such as bandpass filters) fabricated on quartz substrates. Circuits designed to operate as mixers in waveguide circuit at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. Integrated circuits mechanically more robust, larger, and easier to handle than planar Schottky diode chips. Quartz substrate more suitable for waveguide circuits than GaAs substrate.

An improved equivalent circuit model of a four rod deflecting cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Apsimon, R.; Burt, G.

2017-03-01

In this paper we present an improved equivalent circuit model for a four rod deflecting cavity which calculates the frequencies of the first four modes of the cavity as well as the RT/Q for the deflecting mode. Equivalent circuit models of RF cavities give intuition and understanding about how the cavity operates and what changes can be made to modify the frequency, without the need for RF simulations, which can be time-consuming. We parameterise a generic four rod deflecting cavity into a geometry consisting of simple shapes. Equations are derived for the line impedance of the rods and the capacitance between the rods and these are used to calculate the resonant frequency of the deflecting dipole mode as well as the lower order mode and the model is bench-marked against two test cases; the CEBAF separator and the HL-LHC 4-rod LHC crab cavity. CST and the equivalent circuit model agree within 4% for both cavities with the LOM frequency and within 1% for the deflecting frequency. RT/Q differs between the model and CST by 37% for the CEBAF separator and 25% for the HL-LHC 4-rod crab cavity; however this is sufficient for understanding how to optimise the cavity design. The model has then been utilised to suggest a method of separating the modal frequencies in the HL-LHC crab cavity and to suggest design methodologies to optimise the cavity geometries.

Coherent coupling between radio frequency, optical, and acoustic waves in piezo-optomechanical circuits

PubMed Central

Balram, Krishna C.; Davanço, Marcelo I.; Song, Jin Dong; Srinivasan, Kartik

2016-01-01

Optomechanical cavities have been studied for applications ranging from sensing to quantum information science. Here, we develop a platform for nanoscale cavity optomechanical circuits in which optomechanical cavities supporting co-localized 1550 nm photons and 2.4 GHz phonons are combined with photonic and phononic waveguides. Working in GaAs facilitates manipulation of the localized mechanical mode either with a radio frequency (RF) field through the piezo-electric effect, which produces acoustic waves that are routed and coupled to the optomechanical cavity by phononic crystal waveguides, or optically through the strong photoelastic effect. Along with mechanical state preparation and sensitive readout, we use this to demonstrate an acoustic wave interference effect, similar to atomic coherent population trapping, in which RF-driven coherent mechanical motion is cancelled by optically-driven motion. Manipulating cavity optomechanical systems with equal facility through both photonic and phononic channels enables new architectures for signal transduction between the optical, electrical, and mechanical domains. PMID:27446234

Fast, high sensitivity dewpoint hygrometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoenk, Michael E. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

A dewpoint/frostpoint hygrometer that uses a surface moisture-sensitive sensor as part of an RF oscillator circuit with feedback control of the sensor temperature to maintain equilibrium at the sensor surface between ambient water vapor and condensed water/ice. The invention is preferably implemented using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device in an RF oscillator circuit configured to generate a condensation-dependent output signal, a temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the SAW device and to distinguish between condensation-dependent and temperature-dependent signals, a temperature regulating device to control the temperature of the SAW device, and a feedback control system configured to keep the condensation-dependent signal nearly constant over time in the presence of time-varying humidity, corrected for temperature. The effect of this response is to heat or cool the surface moisture-sensitive device, which shifts the equilibrium with respect to evaporation and condensation at the surface of the device. The equilibrium temperature under feedback control is a measure of dewpoint or frostpoint.

Soldering Tool for Integrated Circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Takahashi, Ted H.

1987-01-01

Many connections soldered simultaneously in confined spaces. Improved soldering tool bonds integrated circuits onto printed-circuit boards. Intended especially for use with so-called "leadless-carrier" integrated circuits.

Programmable optical processor chips: toward photonic RF filters with DSP-level flexibility and MHz-band selectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yiwei; Geng, Zihan; Zhuang, Leimeng; Burla, Maurizio; Taddei, Caterina; Hoekman, Marcel; Leinse, Arne; Roeloffzen, Chris G. H.; Boller, Klaus-J.; Lowery, Arthur J.

2017-12-01

Integrated optical signal processors have been identified as a powerful engine for optical processing of microwave signals. They enable wideband and stable signal processing operations on miniaturized chips with ultimate control precision. As a promising application, such processors enables photonic implementations of reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) filters with wide design flexibility, large bandwidth, and high-frequency selectivity. This is a key technology for photonic-assisted RF front ends that opens a path to overcoming the bandwidth limitation of current digital electronics. Here, the recent progress of integrated optical signal processors for implementing such RF filters is reviewed. We highlight the use of a low-loss, high-index-contrast stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguide which promises to serve as a practical material platform for realizing high-performance optical signal processors and points toward photonic RF filters with digital signal processing (DSP)-level flexibility, hundreds-GHz bandwidth, MHz-band frequency selectivity, and full system integration on a chip scale.

4 Kelvin Cryogenic Characterization of Commercial pHEMT Transistors at 9 kHz to 8.5 GHz Range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibarra-Medel, E.; Velázquez, M.; Ventura, S.; Ferrusca, D.; Gómez-Rivera, V.

2016-07-01

Nowadays, the technology innovations in large format array detectors at low temperature for millimetric observational astronomy demand the development of electronics capable to keep their functionality at cryogenic temperatures. In kinetic inductance detectors, the first stage of electronics readout requires high-bandwidth low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). These devices are commonly fabricated in monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) processes which commercially achieve a noise temperature level of 5 K. An alternative approach to the MMIC are the hybrid microwave circuit which mixes RF lumped elements and discrete electronic components. This paper describes the characterization of six commercial pHEMT transistors tested at cryogenic temperatures. DC properties such as I-V curves and transconductance (g_m) were measured for each transistor; these measurements allow us to calculate the best bias point versus gain, with the lowest noise figure and power consumption within the range of 9 kHz to 8.5 GHz at the operating temperature of 4 K. Experimental results suggest that the characterized pHEMTs have a noise figure that allow them to be used in hybrid LNAs arranges with a comparable MMIC performance.

RF Reference Switch for Spaceflight Radiometer Calibration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knuble, Joseph

2013-01-01

The goal of this technology is to provide improved calibration and measurement sensitivity to the Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission (SMAP) radiometer. While RF switches have been used in the past to calibrate microwave radiometers, the switch used on SMAP employs several techniques uniquely tailored to the instrument requirements and passive remote-sensing in general to improve radiometer performance. Measurement error and sensitivity are improved by employing techniques to reduce thermal gradients within the device, reduce insertion loss during antenna observations, increase insertion loss temporal stability, and increase rejection of radar and RFI (radio-frequency interference) signals during calibration. The two legs of the single-pole double-throw reference switch employ three PIN diodes per leg in a parallel-shunt configuration to minimize insertion loss and increase stability while exceeding rejection requirements at 1,413 MHz. The high-speed packaged diodes are selected to minimize junction capacitance and resistance while ensuring the parallel devices have very similar I-V curves. Switch rejection is improved by adding high-impedance quarter-wave tapers before and after the diodes, along with replacing the ground via of one diode per leg with an open circuit stub. Errors due to thermal gradients in the switch are reduced by embedding the 50-ohm reference load within the switch, along with using a 0.25-in. (approximately equal to 0.6-cm) aluminum prebacked substrate. Previous spaceflight microwave radiometers did not embed the reference load and thermocouple directly within the calibration switch. In doing so, the SMAP switch reduces error caused by thermal gradients between the load and switch. Thermal issues are further reduced by moving the custom, highspeed regulated driver circuit to a physically separate PWB (printed wiring board). Regarding RF performance, previous spaceflight reference switches have not employed high-impedance tapers to improve rejection. The use of open-circuit stubs instead of a via to provide an improved RF short is unique to this design. The stubs are easily tunable to provide high rejection at specific frequencies while maintaining very low insertion loss in-band.

Applications of plastic optical fiber in communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tayahi, Moncef Ben

In this thesis, we report the results of our theoretical and experimental studies of large core polymer fibers. This relatively low loss and high bandwidth plastic optical fiber (POF) potentially have important applications in LAN. We measured the power penalty due to modal noise. We also developed a model to calculate the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the bit error rate (BER) floor just by knowing the coupling coefficient in the mode selective loss being considered. The calculated bandwidth using the WKB approximation was found to be 0.44 GHz per 100 m, which is much lower than the measured bandwidth of 3 GHz per 100 m. This discrepancy was explained by the presence of strong mode coupling in POFs. We studied distortions products in CATV systems. Composite second order (CSO) and composite triple beat (CTB) for different channels were measured using a spectrum analyzer and adjustable band pass filter. Since the CSO and the CTB did not meet the CATV standard, a predistortion circuit was used to minimize CSO and CTB products produced by the laser. The predistortion circuit provides a signal comprising multiple subcarrier signals substantially equal in magnitude and opposite in phase to those associated with the nonlinear transfer function of the laser being deployed. The RF signal is split into a primary branch that has a time delayed portion (80% of the RF signal), the secondary branch (10% of the RF signal) is where the second order products are generated with a 180 °phase shift from the fundamental, and the last remaining 10% of the RF signal is where the third order distortion products are generated with a 180 °phase shift from the fundamental. The output signal is taken as the summation of three signals processed by the branch circuits and coupled to the directly to the laser to be linearized. Finally, using cyclic transparent optical polymer (CYTOP), a perfluorinated graded index fiber, different transmission characteristics were investigated. CYTOP fiber has many outstanding characteristics superior to any other polymer waveguide. It can support multi-Gb/s date rates from 800 run to 1300 nm.

Flexible low-power RF nanoelectronics in the GHz regime using CVD MoS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yogeesh, Maruthi

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted substantial interest for flexible nanoelectronics due to the overall device mechanical flexibility and thickness scalability for high mechanical performance and low operating power. In this work, we demonstrate the first MoS2 RF transistors on flexible substrates based on CVD-grown monolayers, featuring record GHz cutoff frequency (5.6 GHz) and saturation velocity (~1.8×106 cm/s), which is significantly superior to contemporary organic and metal oxide thin-film transistors. Furthermore, multicycle three-point bending results demonstrated the electrical robustness of our flexible MoS2 transistors after 10,000 cycles of mechanical bending. Additionally, basic RF communication circuit blocks such as amplifier, mixer and wireless AM receiver have been demonstrated. These collective results indicate that MoS2 is an ideal advanced semiconducting material for low-power, RF devices for large-area flexible nanoelectronics and smart nanosystems owing to its unique combination of large bandgap, high saturation velocity and high mechanical strength.

Multimode intravascular RF coil for MRI-guided interventions.

PubMed

Kurpad, Krishna N; Unal, Orhan

2011-04-01

To demonstrate the feasibility of using a single intravascular radiofrequency (RF) probe connected to the external magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system via a single coaxial cable to perform active tip tracking and catheter visualization and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) intravascular imaging. A multimode intravascular RF coil was constructed on a 6F balloon catheter and interfaced to a 1.5T MRI scanner via a decoupling circuit. Bench measurements of coil impedances were followed by imaging experiments in saline and phantoms. The multimode coil behaves as an inductively coupled transmit coil. The forward-looking capability of 6 mm was measured. A greater than 3-fold increase in SNR compared to conventional imaging using optimized external coil was demonstrated. Simultaneous active tip tracking and catheter visualization was demonstrated. It is feasible to perform 1) active tip tracking, 2) catheter visualization, and 3) high SNR imaging using a single multimode intravascular RF coil that is connected to the external system via a single coaxial cable. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Multi-mode Intravascular RF Coil for MRI-guided Interventions

PubMed Central

Kurpad, Krishna N.; Unal, Orhan

2011-01-01

Purpose To demonstrate the feasibility of using a single intravascular RF probe connected to the external MRI system via a single coaxial cable to perform active tip tracking and catheter visualization, and high SNR intravascular imaging. Materials and Methods A multi-mode intravascular RF coil was constructed on a 6F balloon catheter and interfaced to a 1.5T MRI scanner via a decoupling circuit. Bench measurements of coil impedances were followed by imaging experiments in saline and phantoms. Results The multi-mode coil behaves as an inductively-coupled transmit coil. Forward looking capability of 6mm is measured. Greater than 3-fold increase in SNR compared to conventional imaging using optimized external coil is demonstrated. Simultaneous active tip tracking and catheter visualization is demonstrated. Conclusions It is feasible to perform 1) active tip tracking, 2) catheter visualization, and 3) high SNR imaging using a single multi-mode intravascular RF coil that is connected to the external system via a single coaxial cable. PMID:21448969

Development of an 83.2 MHz, 3.2 kW solid-state RF amplifier using Wilkinson power divider and combiner for a 10 MeV cyclotron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ho Seung; Ghergherehchi, Mitra; Oh, Seyoung; Chai, Jong Seo

2017-03-01

We design a stripline-type Wilkinson power divider and combiner for a 3.2 kW solid-state radio frequency (RF) amplifier module and optimize this setup. A Teflon-based printed circuit board is used in the power combiner to transmit high RF power efficiently in the limited space. The reflection coefficient (S11) and insertion loss (S21) related to impedance matching are characterized to determine the optimization process. The resulting two-way divider reflection coefficient and insertion loss were -48.00 dB and -3.22 dB, respectively. The two-way power combiner reflection coefficient and insertion loss were -20 dB and -3.3 dB, respectively. Moreover, the 3.2 kW solid-state RF power test results demonstrate that the proposed power divider and combiner exhibit a maximum efficiency value of 71.3% (combiner loss 5%) at 48 V supply voltage.

Improved DC and RF performance of InAlAs/InGaAs InP based HEMTs using ultra-thin 15 nm ALD-Al2O3 surface passivation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asif, Muhammad; Chen, Chen; Peng, Ding; Xi, Wang; Zhi, Jin

2018-04-01

Owing to the great influence of surface passivation on DC and RF performance of InP-based HEMTs, the DC and RF performance of InAlAs/InGaAs InP HEMTs were studied before and after passivation, using an ultra-thin 15 nm atomic layer deposition Al2O3 layer. Increase in Cgs and Cgd was significantly limited by scaling the thickness of the Al2O3 layer. For verification, an analytical small-signal equivalent circuit model was developed. A significant increase in maximum transconductance (gm) up to 1150 mS/mm, drain current (IDS) up to 820 mA/mm and fmax up to 369.7 GHz was observed, after passivation. Good agreement was obtained between the measured and the simulated results. This shows that the RF performance of InP-based HEMTs can be improved by using an ultra-thin ALD-Al2O3 surface passivation.

An RFID tag system-on-chip with wireless ECG monitoring for intelligent healthcare systems.

PubMed

Wang, Cheng-Pin; Lee, Shuenn-Yuh; Lai, Wei-Chih

2013-01-01

This paper presents a low-power wireless ECG acquisition system-on-chip (SoC), including an RF front-end circuit, a power unit, an analog front-end circuit, and a digital circuitry. The proposed RF front-end circuit can provide the amplitude shift keying demodulation and distance to digital conversion to accurately receive the data from the reader. The received data will wake up the power unit to provide the required supply voltages of analog front-end (AFE) and digital circuitry. The AFE, including a pre-amplifier, an analog filter, a post-amplifier, and an analog-to-digital converter, is used for the ECG acquisition. Moreover, the EPC Class I Gen 2 UHF standard is employed in the digital circuitry for the handshaking of communication and the control of the system. The proposed SoC has been implemented in 0.18-µm standard CMOS process and the measured results reveal the communication is compatible to the RFID protocol. The average power consumption for the operating chip is 12 µW. Using a Sony PR44 battery to the supply power (605mAh@1.4V), the RFID tag SoC operates continuously for about 50,000 hours (>5 years), which is appropriate for wireless wearable ECG monitoring systems.

Synchronous radio-frequency FM signal generator using direct digital synthesizers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arablu, Masoud; Kafashi, Sajad; Smith, Stuart T.

2018-04-01

A novel Radio-Frequency Frequency-Modulated (RF-FM) signal generation method is introduced and a prototype circuit developed to evaluate its functionality and performance. The RF-FM signal generator uses a modulated, voltage-controlled time delay to correspondingly modulate the phase of a 10 MHz sinusoidal reference signal. This modulated reference signal is, in turn, used to clock a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) circuit resulting in an FM signal at its output. The modulating signal that is input to the voltage-controlled time delay circuit is generated by another DDS that is synchronously clocked by the same 10 MHz sine wave signal before modulation. As a consequence, all of the digital components are timed from a single sine wave oscillator that forms the basis of all timing. The resultant output signal comprises a center, or carrier, frequency plus a series of phase-synchronized sidebands having exact integer harmonic frequency separation. In this study, carrier frequencies ranging from 10 MHz to 70 MHz are generated with modulation frequencies ranging from 10 kHz to 300 kHz. The captured spectra show that the FM signal characteristics, amplitude and phase, of the sidebands and the modulation depth are consistent with the Jacobi-Anger expansion for modulated harmonic signals.

Optimum Design of Millimeter-Wave Impatt Diode Oscillators.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-10-01

assumed to be a quasi-sinusoid of the form v(t) a Vej"t (2.1) where V = V(t) and w = w(t) are real slowly varying functions of time . Slowly varying can be...are used: i dVF = 1 HF (3.12) RF dt 4 and 6 = w- i. (3.13) Therefore, the RF voltage and phase at different times can be calculated: VRF(t + dt ) = VF...15 2.2.2 The Circuit Model 18 2.2.3 Thermal Resistance 21 2.2.4 Thermal- Time Constant 23 2.3 Usefulness and Limitations of the Oscillator Model 26

Analysis of radiofrequency discharges in plasma

DOEpatents

Kumar, D.; McGlynn, S.P.

1992-08-04

Separation of laser optogalvanic signals in plasma into two components: (1) an ionization rate change component, and (2) a photoacoustic mediated component. This separation of components may be performed even when the two components overlap in time, by measuring time-resolved laser optogalvanic signals in an rf discharge plasma as the rf frequency is varied near the electrical resonance peak of the plasma and associated driving/detecting circuits. A novel spectrometer may be constructed to make these measurements. Such a spectrometer would be useful in better understanding and controlling such processes as plasma etching and plasma deposition. 15 figs.

Thermally-isolated silicon-based integrated circuits and related methods

DOEpatents

Wojciechowski, Kenneth; Olsson, Roy H.; Clews, Peggy J.; Bauer, Todd

2017-05-09

Thermally isolated devices may be formed by performing a series of etches on a silicon-based substrate. As a result of the series of etches, silicon material may be removed from underneath a region of an integrated circuit (IC). The removal of the silicon material from underneath the IC forms a gap between remaining substrate and the integrated circuit, though the integrated circuit remains connected to the substrate via a support bar arrangement that suspends the integrated circuit over the substrate. The creation of this gap functions to release the device from the substrate and create a thermally-isolated integrated circuit.

Integrated PET/MR breast cancer imaging: Attenuation correction and implementation of a 16-channel RF coil

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oehmigen, Mark, E-mail: mark.oehmigen@uni-due.de

Purpose: This study aims to develop, implement, and evaluate a 16-channel radiofrequency (RF) coil for integrated positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging of breast cancer. The RF coil is designed for optimized MR imaging performance and PET transparency and attenuation correction (AC) is applied for accurate PET quantification. Methods: A 16-channel breast array RF coil was designed for integrated PET/MR hybrid imaging of breast cancer lesions. The RF coil features a lightweight rigid design and is positioned with a spacer at a defined position on the patient table of an integrated PET/MR system. Attenuation correction is performed by generating andmore » applying a dedicated 3D CT-based template attenuation map. Reposition accuracy of the RF coil on the system patient table while using the positioning frame was tested in repeated measurements using MR-visible markers. The MR, PET, and PET/MR imaging performances were systematically evaluated using modular breast phantoms. Attenuation correction of the RF coil was evaluated with difference measurements of the active breast phantoms filled with radiotracer in the PET detector with and without the RF coil in place, serving as a standard of reference measurement. The overall PET/MR imaging performance and PET quantification accuracy of the new 16-channel RF coil and its AC were then evaluated in first clinical examinations on ten patients with local breast cancer. Results: The RF breast array coil provides excellent signal-to-noise ratio and signal homogeneity across the volume of the breast phantoms in MR imaging and visualizes small structures in the phantoms down to 0.4 mm in plane. Difference measurements with PET revealed a global loss and thus attenuation of counts by 13% (mean value across the whole phantom volume) when the RF coil is placed in the PET detector. Local attenuation ranging from 0% in the middle of the phantoms up to 24% was detected in the peripheral regions of the phantoms at positions closer to attenuating hardware structures of the RF coil. The position accuracy of the RF coil on the patient table when using the positioning frame was determined well below 1 mm for all three spatial dimensions. This ensures perfect position match between the RF coil and its three-dimensional attenuation template during the PET data reconstruction process. When applying the CT-based AC of the RF coil, the global attenuation bias was mostly compensated to ±0.5% across the entire breast imaging volume. The patient study revealed high quality MR, PET, and combined PET/MR imaging of breast cancer. Quantitative activity measurements in all 11 breast cancer lesions of the ten patients resulted in increased mean difference values of SUV{sub max} 11.8% (minimum 3.2%; maximum 23.2%) between nonAC images and images when AC of the RF breast coil was applied. This supports the quantitative results of the phantom study as well as successful attenuation correction of the RF coil. Conclusions: A 16-channel breast RF coil was designed for optimized MR imaging performance and PET transparency and was successfully integrated with its dedicated attenuation correction template into a whole-body PET/MR system. Systematic PET/MR imaging evaluation with phantoms and an initial study on patients with breast cancer provided excellent MR and PET image quality and accurate PET quantification.« less

Numerical simulation of electromagnetic fields and impedance of CERN LINAC4 H(-) source taking into account the effect of the plasma.

PubMed

Grudiev, A; Lettry, J; Mattei, S; Paoluzzi, M; Scrivens, R

2014-02-01

Numerical simulation of the CERN LINAC4 H(-) source 2 MHz RF system has been performed taking into account a realistic geometry from 3D Computer Aided Design model using commercial FEM high frequency simulation code. The effect of the plasma has been added to the model by the approximation of a homogenous electrically conducting medium. Electric and magnetic fields, RF power losses, and impedance of the circuit have been calculated for different values of the plasma conductivity. Three different regimes have been found depending on the plasma conductivity: (1) Zero or low plasma conductivity results in RF electric field induced by the RF antenna being mainly capacitive and has axial direction; (2) Intermediate conductivity results in the expulsion of capacitive electric field from plasma and the RF power coupling, which is increasing linearly with the plasma conductivity, is mainly dominated by the inductive azimuthal electric field; (3) High conductivity results in the shielding of both the electric and magnetic fields from plasma due to the skin effect, which reduces RF power coupling to plasma. From these simulations and measurements of the RF power coupling on the CERN source, a value of the plasma conductivity has been derived. It agrees well with an analytical estimate calculated from the measured plasma parameters. In addition, the simulated and measured impedances with and without plasma show very good agreement as well demonstrating validity of the plasma model used in the RF simulations.

High Efficiency Ka-Band Solid State Power Amplifier Waveguide Power Combiner

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wintucky, Edwin G.; Simons, Rainee N.; Chevalier, Christine T.; Freeman, Jon C.

2010-01-01

A novel Ka-band high efficiency asymmetric waveguide four-port combiner for coherent combining of two Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) having unequal outputs has been successfully designed, fabricated and characterized over the NASA deep space frequency band from 31.8 to 32.3 GHz. The measured combiner efficiency is greater than 90 percent, the return loss greater than 18 dB and input port isolation greater than 22 dB. The manufactured combiner was designed for an input power ratio of 2:1 but can be custom designed for any arbitrary power ratio. Applications considered are NASA s space communications systems needing 6 to 10 W of radio frequency (RF) power. This Technical Memorandum (TM) is an expanded version of the article recently published in Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Electronics Letters.

Integral electrical characteristics and local plasma parameters of a RF ion thruster

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Masherov, P. E.; Riaby, V. A., E-mail: riaby2001@yahoo.com; Godyak, V. A.

2016-02-15

Comprehensive diagnostics has been carried out for a RF ion thruster based on inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source with an external flat antenna coil enhanced by ferrite core. The ICP was confined within a cylindrical chamber with low aspect ratio to minimize plasma loss to the chamber wall. Integral diagnostics of the ICP electrical parameters (RF power balance and coil current) allowed for evaluation of the antenna coils, matching networks, and eddy current loss and the true RF power deposited to plasma. Spatially resolved electron energy distribution functions, plasma density, electron temperatures, and plasma potentials were measured with movable Langmuirmore » probes.« less

DC-based smart PV-powered home energy management system based on voltage matching and RF module

PubMed Central

Hasan, W. Z. W.

2017-01-01

The main tool for measuring system efficiency in homes and offices is the energy monitoring of the household appliances’ consumption. With the help of GUI through a PC or smart phone, there are various applications that can be developed for energy saving. This work describes the design and prototype implementation of a wireless PV-powered home energy management system under a DC-distribution environment, which allows remote monitoring of appliances’ energy consumptions and power rate quality. The system can be managed by a central computer, which obtains the energy data based on XBee RF modules that access the sensor measurements of system components. The proposed integrated prototype framework is characterized by low power consumption due to the lack of components and consists of three layers: XBee-based circuit for processing and communication architecture, solar charge controller, and solar-battery-load matching layers. Six precise analogue channels for data monitoring are considered to cover the energy measurements. Voltage, current and temperature analogue signals were accessed directly from the remote XBee node to be sent in real time with a sampling frequency of 11–123 Hz to capture the possible surge power. The performance shows that the developed prototype proves the DC voltage matching concept and is able to provide accurate and precise results. PMID:28934271

IEEE-802.15.4-based low-power body sensor node with RF energy harvester.

PubMed

Tran, Thang Viet; Chung, Wan-Young

2014-01-01

This paper proposes the design and implementation of a low-voltage and low-power body sensor node based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to collect electrocardiography (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. To achieve compact size, low supply voltage, and low power consumption, the proposed platform is integrated into a ZigBee mote, which contains a DC-DC booster, a PPG sensor interface module, and an ECG front-end circuit that has ultra-low current consumption. The input voltage of the proposed node is very low and has a wide range, from 0.65 V to 3.3 V. An RF energy harvester is also designed to charge the battery during the working mode or standby mode of the node. The power consumption of the proposed node reaches 14 mW in working mode to prolong the battery lifetime. The software is supported by the nesC language under the TinyOS environment, which enables the proposed node to be easily configured to function as an individual health monitoring node or a node in a wireless body sensor network (BSN). The proposed node is used to set up a wireless BSN that can simultaneously collect ECG and PPG signals and monitor the results on the personal computer.

DC-based smart PV-powered home energy management system based on voltage matching and RF module.

PubMed

Sabry, Ahmad H; Hasan, W Z W; Ab Kadir, Mza; Radzi, M A M; Shafie, S

2017-01-01

The main tool for measuring system efficiency in homes and offices is the energy monitoring of the household appliances' consumption. With the help of GUI through a PC or smart phone, there are various applications that can be developed for energy saving. This work describes the design and prototype implementation of a wireless PV-powered home energy management system under a DC-distribution environment, which allows remote monitoring of appliances' energy consumptions and power rate quality. The system can be managed by a central computer, which obtains the energy data based on XBee RF modules that access the sensor measurements of system components. The proposed integrated prototype framework is characterized by low power consumption due to the lack of components and consists of three layers: XBee-based circuit for processing and communication architecture, solar charge controller, and solar-battery-load matching layers. Six precise analogue channels for data monitoring are considered to cover the energy measurements. Voltage, current and temperature analogue signals were accessed directly from the remote XBee node to be sent in real time with a sampling frequency of 11-123 Hz to capture the possible surge power. The performance shows that the developed prototype proves the DC voltage matching concept and is able to provide accurate and precise results.

Anomalous Thrust Production from an RF Test Device Measured on a Low-Thrust Torsion Pendulum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brady, David; White, Harold G.; March, Paul; Lawrence, James T.; Davies, Frank J.

2014-01-01

This paper describes the eight-day August 2013 test campaign designed to investigate and demonstrate viability of using classical magnetoplasmadynamics to obtain a propulsive momentum transfer via the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. This paper will not address the physics of the quantum vacuum plasma thruster, but instead will describe the test integration, test operations, and the results obtained from the test campaign. Approximately 30-50 micro-Newtons of thrust were recorded from an electric propulsion test article consisting primarily of a radio frequency (RF) resonant cavity excited at approximately 935 megahertz. Testing was performed on a low-thrust torsion pendulum that is capable of detecting force at a single-digit micronewton level, within a stainless steel vacuum chamber with the door closed but at ambient atmospheric pressure. Several different test configurations were used, including two different test articles as well as a reversal of the test article orientation. In addition, the test article was replaced by an RF load to verify that the force was not being generated by effects not associated with the test article. The two test articles were designed by Cannae LLC of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The torsion pendulum was designed, built, and operated by Eagleworks Laboratories at the NASA Johnson Space Center of Houston, Texas. Approximately six days of test integration were required, followed by two days of test operations, during which, technical issues were discovered and resolved. Integration of the two test articles and their supporting equipment was performed in an iterative fashion between the test bench and the vacuum chamber. In other words, the test article was tested on the bench, then moved to the chamber, then moved back as needed to resolve issues. Manual frequency control was required throughout the test. Thrust was observed on both test articles, even though one of the test articles was designed with the expectation that it would not produce thrust. Specifically, one test article contained internal physical modifications that were designed to produce thrust, while the other did not (with the latter being referred to as the "null" test article). Test data gathered includes torsion pendulum displacement measurements which are used to calculate generated force, still imagery in the visible spectrum to document the physical configuration, still imagery in the infrared spectrum to characterize the thermal environment, and video imagery. Post-test data includes static and animated graphics produced during RF resonant cavity characterization using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software application. Excerpts from all of the above are included and discussed in this paper. Lessons learned from test integration and operations include identification of the need to replace manual control of the resonant cavity target frequency with an automated frequency control capability. Future test plans include the development of an automatic frequency control circuit. Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. Future test plans include independent verification and validation at other test facilities.

Pentacene-based organic thin film transistors, integrated circuits, and active matrix displays on polymeric substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheraw, Christopher Duncan

2003-10-01

Organic thin film transistors are attractive candidates for a variety of low cost, large area commercial electronics including smart cards, RF identification tags, and flat panel displays. Of particular interest are high performance organic thin film transistors (TFTs) that can be fabricated on flexible polymeric substrates allowing low-cost, lightweight, rugged electronics such as flexible active matrix displays. This thesis reports pentacene organic thin film transistors fabricated on flexible polymeric substrates with record performance, the fastest photolithographically patterned organic TFT integrated circuits on polymeric substrates reported to date, and the fabrication of the organic TFT backplanes used to build the first organic TFT-driven active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD), also the first AMLCD on a flexible substrate, ever reported. In addition, the first investigation of functionalized pentacene derivatives used as the active layer in organic thin film transistors is reported. A low temperature (<110°C) process technology was developed allowing the fabrication of high performance organic TFTs, integrated circuits, and large TFT arrays on flexible polymeric substrates. This process includes the development of a novel water-based photolithographic active layer patterning process using polyvinyl alcohol that allows the patterning of organic semiconductor materials for elimination of active layer leakage current without causing device degradation. The small molecule aromatic hydrocarbon pentacene was used as the active layer material to fabricate organic TFTs on the polymeric material polyethylene naphthalate with field-effect mobility as large as 2.1 cm2/V-s and on/off current ratio of 108. These are the best values reported for organic TFTs on polymeric substrates and comparable to organic TFTs on rigid substrates. Analog and digital integrated circuits were also fabricated on polymeric substrates using pentacene TFTs with propagation delay as low as 38 musec and clocked digital circuits that operated at 1.1 kHz. These are the fastest photolithographically patterned organic TFT circuits on polymeric substrates reported to date. Finally, 16 x 16 pentacene TFT pixel arrays were fabricated on polymeric substrates and integrated with polymer dispersed liquid crystal to build an AMLCD. The pixel arrays showed good optical response to changing data signals when standard quarter-VGA display waveforms were applied. This result marks the first organic TFT-driven active matrix liquid crystal display ever reported as well as the first active matrix liquid crystal display on a flexible polymeric substrate. Lastly, functionalized pentacene derivatives were used as the active layer in organic thin film transistor materials. Functional groups were added to the pentacene molecule to influence the molecular ordering so that the amount of pi-orbital overlap would be increased allowing the potential for improved field-effect mobility. The functionalization of these materials also improves solubility allowing for the possibility of solution-processed devices and increased oxidative stability. Organic thin film transistors were fabricated using five different functionalized pentacene active layers. Devices based on the pentacene derivative triisopropylsilyl pentacene were found to have the best performance with field-effect mobility as large as 0.4 cm 2/V-s.

19 CFR 10.14 - Fabricated components subject to the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... assembled, such as transistors, diodes, integrated circuits, machinery parts, or precut parts of wearing..., or integrated circuit wafers containing individual integrated circuit dice which have been scribed or... resulted in a substantial transformation of the foreign copper ingots. Example 2. An integrated circuit...

Ring resonator-based on-chip modulation transformer for high-performance phase-modulated microwave photonic links.

PubMed

Zhuang, Leimeng; Taddei, Caterina; Hoekman, Marcel; Leinse, Arne; Heideman, René; van Dijk, Paulus; Roeloffzen, Chris

2013-11-04

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel wideband on-chip photonic modulation transformer for phase-modulated microwave photonic links. The proposed device is able to transform phase-modulated optical signals into intensity-modulated versions (or vice versa) with nearly zero conversion of laser phase noise to intensity noise. It is constructed using waveguide-based ring resonators, which features simple architecture, stable operation, and easy reconfigurability. Beyond the stand-alone functionality, the proposed device can also be integrated with other functional building blocks of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to create on-chip complex microwave photonic signal processors. As an application example, a PIC consisting of two such modulation transformers and a notch filter has been designed and realized in TriPleX(TM) waveguide technology. The realized device uses a 2 × 2 splitting circuit and 3 ring resonators with a free spectral range of 25 GHz, which are all equipped with continuous tuning elements. The device can perform phase-to-intensity modulation transform and carrier suppression simultaneously, which enables high-performance phase-modulated microwave photonics links (PM-MPLs). Associated with the bias-free and low-complexity advantages of the phase modulators, a single-fiber-span PM-MPL with a RF bandwidth of 12 GHz (3 dB-suppression band 6 to 18 GHz) has been demonstrated comprising the proposed PIC, where the achieved spurious-free dynamic range performance is comparable to that of Class-AB MPLs using low-biased Mach-Zehnder modulators.

A Fully Integrated Dual-Channel On-Coil CMOS Receiver for Array Coils in 1.5-10.5 T MRI.

PubMed

Sporrer, Benjamin; Wu, Lianbo; Bettini, Luca; Vogt, Christian; Reber, Jonas; Marjanovic, Josip; Burger, Thomas; Brunner, David O; Pruessmann, Klaas P; Troster, Gerhard; Huang, Qiuting

2017-12-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is among the most important medical imaging modalities. Coil arrays and receivers with high channel counts (16 and more) have to be deployed to obtain the image quality and acquisition speed required by modern clinical protocols. In this paper, we report the theoretical analysis, the system-level design, and the circuit implementation of the first receiver IC (RXIC) for clinical MRI fully integrated in a modern CMOS technology. The dual-channel RXIC sits directly on the sensor coil, thus eliminating any RF cable otherwise required to transport the information out of the magnetic field. The first stage LNA was implemented using a noise-canceling architecture providing a highly reflective input used to decouple the individual channels of the array. Digitization is performed directly on-chip at base-band by means of a delta-sigma modulator, allowing the subsequent optical transmission of data. The presented receiver, implemented in a CMOS technology, is compatible with MRI scanners up to . It reaches sub- noise figure for MRI units and features a dynamic range up to at a power consumption below per channel, with an area occupation of . Mounted on a small-sized printed circuit board (PCB), the receiver IC has been employed in a commercial MRI scanner to acquire in-vivo images matching the quality of traditional systems, demonstrating the first step toward multichannel wearable MRI array coils.

A dual RF resonator system for high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging of small animals.

PubMed

Ludwig, R; Bodgdanov, G; King, J; Allard, A; Ferris, C F

2004-01-30

A new apparatus has been developed that integrates an animal restrainer arrangement for small animals with an actively tunable/detunable dual radio-frequency (RF) coil system for in vivo anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging of small animals at 4.7 T. The radio-frequency coil features an eight-element microstrip line configuration that, in conjunction with a segmented outer copper shield, forms a transversal electromagnetic (TEM) resonator structure. Matching and active tuning/detuning is achieved through fixed/variable capacitors and a PIN diode for each resonator element. These components along with radio-frequency chokes (RFCs) and blocking capacitors are placed on two printed circuit boards (PCBs) whose copper coated ground planes form the front and back of the volume coil and are therefore an integral part of the resonator structure. The magnetic resonance signal response is received with a dome-shaped single-loop surface coil that can be height-adjustable with respect to the animal's head. The conscious animal is immobilized through a mechanical arrangement that consists of a Plexiglas body tube and a head restrainer. This restrainer has a cylindrical holder with a mouthpiece and position screws to receive and restrain the head of the animal. The apparatus is intended to perform anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging in conscious animals such as mice, rats, hamsters, and marmosets. Cranial images acquired from fully conscious rats in a 4.7 T Bruker 40 cm bore animal scanner underscore the feasibility of this approach and bode well to extend this system to the imaging of other animals.

New Techniques For The Improvement Of The ICRH System ELM Tolerance On JET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monakhov, I.; Blackman, T.; Walden, A.; Nightingale, M.; Whitehurst, A.; Durodie, F.; Jet Efda Contributors

2003-12-01

Two complementary improvements to the ELM tolerance of the existing A2 antennas on JET are being assessed. The use of external conjugate-T matching of straps of adjacent antenna arrays could reduce the VSWR levels at RF amplifier output during fast load perturbations. The scheme under consideration uses coaxial line-stretchers (trombones) for tuning the conjugate-T to low resistive impedance (3-6 Ohm) with subsequent stub/trombone circuit impedance transformation to 30 Ohms. Another technique is to modify the RF plant protection system logic to reduce the high VSWR trip duration to an absolute minimum corresponding to a typical ELM response (˜1-2ms) without compromising the plant safety. Both projects are presently being tested and could increase the average power delivered by RF plant into ELMy plasmas at JET.

Real-time digital signal processing for live electro-optic imaging.

PubMed

Sasagawa, Kiyotaka; Kanno, Atsushi; Tsuchiya, Masahiro

2009-08-31

We present an imaging system that enables real-time magnitude and phase detection of modulated signals and its application to a Live Electro-optic Imaging (LEI) system, which realizes instantaneous visualization of RF electric fields. The real-time acquisition of magnitude and phase images of a modulated optical signal at 5 kHz is demonstrated by imaging with a Si-based high-speed CMOS image sensor and real-time signal processing with a digital signal processor. In the LEI system, RF electric fields are probed with light via an electro-optic crystal plate and downconverted to an intermediate frequency by parallel optical heterodyning, which can be detected with the image sensor. The artifacts caused by the optics and the image sensor characteristics are corrected by image processing. As examples, we demonstrate real-time visualization of electric fields from RF circuits.

Hybrid finite element/waveguide mode analysis of passive RF devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGrath, Daniel T.

1993-07-01

A numerical solution for time-harmonic electromagnetic fields in two-port passive radio frequency (RF) devices has been developed, implemented in a computer code, and validated. Vector finite elements are used to represent the fields in the device interior, and field continuity across waveguide apertures is enforced by matching the interior solution to a sum of waveguide modes. Consequently, the mesh may end at the aperture instead of extending into the waveguide. The report discusses the variational formulation and its reduction to a linear system using Galerkin's method. It describes the computer code, including its interface to commercial CAD software used for geometry generation. It presents validation results for waveguide discontinuities, coaxial transitions, and microstrip circuits. They demonstrate that the method is an effective and versatile tool for predicting the performance of passive RF devices.

Fundamental and subharmonic excitation for an oscillator with several tunneling diodes in series

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boric-Lubecke, Olga; Pan, Dee-Son; Itoh, Tatsuo

1995-01-01

Connecting several tunneling diodes in series shows promise as a method for increasing the output power of these devices as millimeter-wave oscillators. However, due to the negative differential resistance (NDR) region in the dc I-V curve of a single tunneling diode, a circuit using several devices connected in series, and biased simultaneously in the NDR region, is dc unstable. Because of this instability, an oscillator with several tunneling diodes in series has a demanding excitation condition. Excitation using an externally applied RF signal is one approach to solving this problem. This is experimentally demonstrated using an RF source, both with frequency close to as well as with frequency considerably lower than the oscillation frequency. Excitation by an RF (radio frequency) source with a frequency as low as one sixth of the oscillation frequency was demonstrated in a proof-of-principle experiment at 2 GHz, for an oscillator with two tunnel diodes connected in series. Strong harmonics of the oscillation signal were generated as a result of the highly nonlinear dc I-V curve of the tunnel diode and a large signal oscillator design. Third harmonic output power comparable to that of the fundamental was observed in one oscillator circuit. If submillimeter wave resonant-tunneling diodes (RTD's) are used instead of tunnel diodes, this harmonic output may be useful for generating signals at frequencies well into the terahertz range.

Concurrent System Engineering and Risk Reduction for Dual-Band (RF/optical) Spacecraft Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fielhauer, Karl, B.; Boone, Bradley, G.; Raible, Daniel, E.

2012-01-01

This paper describes a system engineering approach to examining the potential for combining elements of a deep-space RF and optical communications payload, for the purpose of reducing the size, weight and power burden on the spacecraft and the mission. Figures of merit and analytical methodologies are discussed to conduct trade studies, and several potential technology integration strategies are presented. Finally, the NASA Integrated Radio and Optical Communications (iROC) project is described, which directly addresses the combined RF and optical approach.

Safety and Health Evaluation - Command, Control Communication, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Electronic Warfare Equipment. Change 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-25

required. For example, RF transmitting equipment is tested for Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Personnel ( HERP ) at EPG’s Electromagnetic...Environmental Effects EPG U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground GFCI ground fault circuit interrupter GOTS Government off-the-shelf HERP

Superconductor Digital-RF Receiver Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukhanov, Oleg A.; Kirichenko, Dmitri; Vernik, Igor V.; Filippov, Timur V.; Kirichenko, Alexander; Webber, Robert; Dotsenko, Vladimir; Talalaevskii, Andrei; Tang, Jia Cao; Sahu, Anubhav; Shevchenko, Pavel; Miller, Robert; Kaplan, Steven B.; Sarwana, Saad; Gupta, Deepnarayan

Digital superconductor electronics has been experiencing rapid maturation with the emergence of smaller-scale, lower-cost communications applications which became the major technology drivers. These applications are primarily in the area of wireless communications, radar, and surveillance as well as in imaging and sensor systems. In these areas, the fundamental advantages of superconductivity translate into system benefits through novel Digital-RF architectures with direct digitization of wide band, high frequency radio frequency (RF) signals. At the same time the availability of relatively small 4K cryocoolers has lowered the foremost market barrier for cryogenically-cooled digital electronic systems. Recently, we have achieved a major breakthrough in the development, demonstration, and successful delivery of the cryocooled superconductor digital-RF receivers directly digitizing signals in a broad range from kilohertz to gigahertz. These essentially hybrid-technology systems combine a variety of superconductor and semiconductor technologies packaged with two-stage commercial cryocoolers: cryogenic Nb mixed-signal and digital circuits based on Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) technology, room-temperature amplifiers, FPGA processing and control circuitry. The demonstrated cryocooled digital-RF systems are the world's first and fastest directly digitizing receivers operating with live satellite signals in X-band and performing signal acquisition in HF to L-band at ˜30GHz clock frequencies.

Static current-voltage characteristics for radio-frequency induction discharge

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Budyansky, A.; Zykov, A.

1995-12-31

The aim of this work was to obtain experimentally such characteristic of Radio-Frequency Induction Discharge (RFID) that can play the role of its current-voltage characteristic (CVC) and to explain the nature of current and voltage jumps arising in RF coils at exciting of discharge. Experiments were made in quartz 5.5, 11, 20 cm diam tubes with outer RF coil at pressures 10--100 mTorr, at frequency 13.56 MHz and discharge power to 500 W. In case of outer coil as analogue of discharge voltage it`s convenient to use the value of the RF voltage U{sub R}, induced around outer perimeter ofmore » discharge tube. It is evident that current and voltage jumps arising at exciting of discharge are due to low output resistance of standard generators and negative slope of initial part of CVC. Three sets of such dependencies for different pressures were obtained for each diameter of tubes. The influence of different metal electrodes placed into discharge volume on CVC`s shape has been studied also. Experimental results can explain the behavior of HFI discharge as a load of RF generator and give data for calculation of RF circuit.« less

Vacuum Microelectronic Field Emission Array Devices for Microwave Amplification.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mancusi, Joseph Edward

This dissertation presents the design, analysis, and measurement of vacuum microelectronic devices which use field emission to extract an electron current from arrays of silicon cones. The arrays of regularly-spaced silicon cones, the field emission cathodes or emitters, are fabricated with an integrated gate electrode which controls the electric field at the tip of the cone, and thus the electron current. An anode or collector electrode is placed above the array to collect the emission current. These arrays, which are fabricated in a standard silicon processing facility, are developed for use as high power microwave amplifiers. Field emission has been studied extensively since it was first characterized in 1928, however due to the large electric fields required practical field emission devices are difficult to make. With the development of the semiconductor industry came the development of fabrication equipment and techniques which allow for the manufacture of the precision micron-scale structures necessary for practical field emission devices. The active region of a field emission device is a vacuum, therefore the electron travel is ballistic. This analysis of field emission devices includes electric field and electron emission modeling, development of a device equivalent circuit, analysis of the parameters in the equivalent circuit, and device testing. Variations in device structure are taken into account using a statistical model based upon device measurements. Measurements of silicon field emitter arrays at DC and RF are presented and analyzed. In this dissertation, the equivalent circuit is developed from the analysis of the device structure. The circuit parameters are calculated from geometrical considerations and material properties, or are determined from device measurements. It is necessary to include the emitter resistance in the equivalent circuit model since relatively high resistivity silicon wafers are used. As is demonstrated, the circuit model accurately predicts the magnitude of the emission current at a number of typical bias current levels when the device is operating at frequencies within the range of 10 MHz to 1 GHz. At low frequencies and at high frequencies within this range, certain parameters are negligible, and simplifications may be made in the equivalent circuit model.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simpson, M.L.; Sayler, G.S.

The goal of this project was the development of a family of wireless, single-chip, luminescence-sensing devices to solve a number of difficult distributed measurement problems in areas ranging from environmental monitoring and assessment to high-throughput screening of combinatorial chemistry libraries. These wireless luminescence integrated sensors (WLIS) consist of a microluminometer, wireless data transmitter, and RF power input circuit all realized in a standard integrated circuit (IC) process with genetically engineered, whole-cell, bioluminescent bioreporters encapsulated and deposited on the IC. The end product is a family of compact, low-power, rugged, low-cost sensors. As part of this program they developed an integratedmore » photodiode/signal-processing scheme with an rms noise level of 175 electrons/second for a 13-minute integration time, and a quantum efficiency of 66% at the 490-nm bioluminescent wavelength. this performance provided a detection limit of < 1000 photons/second. Although sol-gel has previously been used to encapsulate yeast cells, the reaction conditions necessary for polymerization (primarily low pH) have beforehand proven too harsh for bacterial cell immobilizations. Utilizing sonication methods, they have were able to initiate polymerization under pH conditions conductive to cell survival. both a toluene bioreporter (Pseudomonas putida TVA8) and a naphthalene bioreporter (Pseudomonas fluorescens HK44) were successfully encapsulated in sol-gel and shown to produce a fairly significant bioluminescent response. In addition to the previously developed naphthalene- and toluene-sensitive bioreporters, they developed a yeast-based xenoestrogen reporter. This technology has been licensed by Micro Systems Technologies, a startup company in Dayton, Ohio for applications in environmental containments monitoring, and for detecting weapons of mass destruction (i.e. homeland security).« less

Box truss analysis and technology development. Task 1: Mesh analysis and control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bachtell, E. E.; Bettadapur, S. S.; Coyner, J. V.

1985-01-01

An analytical tool was developed to model, analyze and predict RF performance of box truss antennas with reflective mesh surfaces. The analysis system is unique in that it integrates custom written programs for cord tied mesh surfaces, thereby drastically reducing the cost of analysis. The analysis system is capable of determining the RF performance of antennas under any type of manufacturing or operating environment by integrating together the various disciplines of design, finite element analysis, surface best fit analysis and RF analysis. The Integrated Mesh Analysis System consists of six separate programs: The Mesh Tie System Model Generator, The Loadcase Generator, The Model Optimizer, The Model Solver, The Surface Topography Solver and The RF Performance Solver. Additionally, a study using the mesh analysis system was performed to determine the effect of on orbit calibration, i.e., surface adjustment, on a typical box truss antenna.

CMOS-Compatible Room-Temperature Rectifier Toward Terahertz Radiation Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varlamava, Volha; De Amicis, Giovanni; Del Monte, Andrea; Perticaroli, Stefano; Rao, Rosario; Palma, Fabrizio

2016-08-01

In this paper, we present a new rectifying device, compatible with the technology of CMOS image sensors, suitable for implementing a direct-conversion detector operating at room temperature for operation at up to terahertz frequencies. The rectifying device can be obtained by introducing some simple modifications of the charge-storage well in conventional CMOS integrated circuits, making the proposed solution easy to integrate with the existing imaging systems. The rectifying device is combined with the different elements of the detector, composed of a 3D high-performance antenna and a charge-storage well. In particular, its position just below the edge of the 3D antenna takes maximum advantage of the high electric field concentrated by the antenna itself. In addition, the proposed structure ensures the integrity of the charge-storage well of the detector. In the structure, it is not necessary to use very scaled and costly technological nodes, since the CMOS transistor only provides the necessary integrated readout electronics. On-wafer measurements of RF characteristics of the designed junction are reported and discussed. The overall performances of the entire detector in terms of noise equivalent power (NEP) are evaluated by combining low-frequency measurements of the rectifier with numerical simulations of the 3D antenna and the semiconductor structure at 1 THz, allowing prediction of the achievable NEP.

Application of RF-MEMS-Based Split Ring Resonators (SRRs) to the Implementation of Reconfigurable Stopband Filters: A Review

PubMed Central

Martín, Ferran; Bonache, Jordi

2014-01-01

In this review paper, several strategies for the implementation of reconfigurable split ring resonators (SRRs) based on RF-MEMS switches are presented. Essentially three types of RF-MEMS combined with split rings are considered: (i) bridge-type RF-MEMS on top of complementary split ring resonators CSRRs; (ii) cantilever-type RF-MEMS on top of SRRs; and (iii) cantilever-type RF-MEMS integrated with SRRs (or RF-MEMS SRRs). Advantages and limitations of these different configurations from the point of view of their potential applications for reconfigurable stopband filter design are discussed, and several prototype devices are presented. PMID:25474378

Electronic circuits and systems: A compilation. [including integrated circuits, logic circuits, varactor diode circuits, low pass filters, and optical equipment circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

Technological information is presented electronic circuits and systems which have potential utility outside the aerospace community. Topics discussed include circuit components such as filters, converters, and integrators, circuits designed for use with specific equipment or systems, and circuits designed primarily for use with optical equipment or displays.

Optimization of direct current-enhanced radiofrequency ablation: an ex vivo study.

PubMed

Tanaka, Toshihiro; Isfort, Peter; Bruners, Philipp; Penzkofer, Tobias; Kichikawa, Kimihiko; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas; Mahnken, Andreas H

2010-10-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the optimal setting for radiofrequency (RF) ablation combined with direct electrical current (DC) ablation in ex vivo bovine liver. An electrical circuit combining a commercially available RF ablation system with DC was developed. The negative electrode of a rectifier that provides DC was connected to a 3-cm multitined expandable RF probe. A 100-mH inductor was used to prevent electrical leakage from the RF generator. DC was applied for 15 min and followed by RF ablation in freshly excised bovine livers. Electric current was measured by an ammeter. Coagulation volume, ablation duration, and mean amperage were assessed for various DC voltages (no DC, 2.2, 4.5, and 9.0 V) and different RF ablation protocols (stepwise increase from 40 to 80 W, 40 W fixed, and 80 W fixed). Results were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U test. Applying DC with 4.5 or 9.0 V, in combination with 40 W fixed or a stepwise increase of RF energy, resulted in significantly increased zone of ablation size compared with 2.2 V or no DC (P = 0.009). At 4.5 V DC, the stepwise increase of RF energy resulted in the same necrosis size as a 40 W fixed protocol (26.6 +/- 3.9 vs. 26.5 +/- 4.0 ml), but ablation duration was significantly decreased (296 +/- 85 s vs. 423 +/- 104 s; P = 0.028). Mean amperage was significantly lower at 4.5 V compared with 9.0 V (P = 0.028). Combining a stepwise increase of RF energy with a DC voltage of 4.5 V is most appropriate to increase coagulation volume and to minimize procedure time.

Optimization of Direct Current-Enhanced Radiofrequency Ablation: An Ex Vivo Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tanaka, Toshihiro, E-mail: toshihir@bf6.so-net.ne.jp; Isfort, Peter; Bruners, Philipp

2010-10-15

The purpose of this study was to investigate the optimal setting for radiofrequency (RF) ablation combined with direct electrical current (DC) ablation in ex vivo bovine liver. An electrical circuit combining a commercially available RF ablation system with DC was developed. The negative electrode of a rectifier that provides DC was connected to a 3-cm multitined expandable RF probe. A 100-mH inductor was used to prevent electrical leakage from the RF generator. DC was applied for 15 min and followed by RF ablation in freshly excised bovine livers. Electric current was measured by an ammeter. Coagulation volume, ablation duration, andmore » mean amperage were assessed for various DC voltages (no DC, 2.2, 4.5, and 9.0 V) and different RF ablation protocols (stepwise increase from 40 to 80 W, 40 W fixed, and 80 W fixed). Results were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U test. Applying DC with 4.5 or 9.0 V, in combination with 40 W fixed or a stepwise increase of RF energy, resulted in significantly increased zone of ablation size compared with 2.2 V or no DC (P = 0.009). At 4.5 V DC, the stepwise increase of RF energy resulted in the same necrosis size as a 40 W fixed protocol (26.6 {+-} 3.9 vs. 26.5 {+-} 4.0 ml), but ablation duration was significantly decreased (296 {+-} 85 s vs. 423 {+-} 104 s; P = 0.028). Mean amperage was significantly lower at 4.5 V compared with 9.0 V (P = 0.028). Combining a stepwise increase of RF energy with a DC voltage of 4.5 V is most appropriate to increase coagulation volume and to minimize procedure time.« less

Introduction of a conceptual model for integrating the MMPI-2-RF into HCR-20V3 violence risk assessments and associations between the MMPI-2-RF and institutional violence.

PubMed

Tarescavage, Anthony M; Glassmire, David M; Burchett, Danielle

2016-12-01

Reflecting the need to prevent violence, structured professional judgment assessment tools have been developed specifically to assess the likelihood of future violence. These tools typically integrate data from clinical interviews and collateral records to assist in the conceptualization of violence risk, but objective psychological testing may also be useful in completing the instruments. The authors describe the advantages of using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) in this manner with the Historical Clinical Management-20 Version 3 (HCR-20 V3 ). Accordingly, they have 2 purposes. First, they sought to identify conceptual links between the constructs measured by the tools and introduce a model to integrate MMPI-2-RF findings into an HCR-20 V3 risk assessment. Second, although the authors did not have collateral HCR-20 V3 ratings, they sought to examine associations between the MMPI-2-RF scales and future violence in a sample of 303 psychiatric patients (233 males, 70 females) adjudicated as not guilty by reason of insanity. The authors found that the MMPI-2-RF scales demonstrated significant, meaningful associations with a count of future violent acts at the hospital. The largest associations involved scales measuring emotional dysregulation and externalizing dysfunction. These associations were qualified by relative risk ratio analyses indicating that patients producing elevations on these scales were at 1.5 to 2.5 times greater risk of future violence than those without elevations. Overall, the findings indicated that most MMPI-2-RF scales conceptually linked to the HCR-20 V3 risk factors were associated with future violence. In light of these findings, the authors discuss recommendations for integrating the MMPI-2-RF when interpreting HCR-20 V3 risk factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Low-cost 20-22 GHz MIC active receiver/radiometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mollenkopf, Steven; Katehi, Linda P. B.; Rebeiz, Gabriel M.

1995-01-01

A microwave integrated circuit active receiver is built and tested at 19-25 GHz. The receiver consists of a planar CPW-fed double folded-slot antenna coupled to a six-stage MESFET (metal semiconductor field effect transistors) amplifier and followed by a planar Schottky-diode detector. The folded-slot antenna on a GaAs half-space results in a wide frequency bandwidth suitable for MMIC amplifiers. The measured system performance show a video responsivity close to 1 GV/W at 20 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 1500 MHz. A novel method which uses the planar video detector after the amplifier stages as an RF (radio frequency) mixer is used to measure the noise-figure of the direct detection radiometer. The system noise figure is 4.8 dB at 22 GHz. The radiometer sensitivity to a hot/cold load is 3.8 mu V/K. The measured antenna patterns show a 90% Gaussicity at 20-22 GHz. The active MIC receiver can be integrated monolithically for low-cost applications and is well suited for millimeter-wave linear imaging arrays.

A 200 Watt Traveling Wave-Tube for the Communications Technology Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, C. L.

1976-01-01

This final report presents the results of the design, development, and test of experimental and production units of a PPM focused traveling wave tube (L-5394) that produces 225 watts of CW RF power over 85 MHz centered at 12.080 GHz. The tube uses a coupled cavity RF circuit with a velocity taper for greater than 26 percent basic efficiency. Overall efficiency of 50 percent is achieved by the incorporation of a multistage depressed collector designed at NASA Lewis Research Center. The collector is cooled by direct radiation to deep space. The tube was designed to be used for broadcasting power transmission from a satellite.

RF current sensor

DOEpatents

Moore, James A.; Sparks, Dennis O.

1998-11-10

An RF sensor having a novel current sensing probe and a voltage sensing probe to measure voltage and current. The current sensor is disposed in a transmission line to link all of the flux generated by the flowing current in order to obtain an accurate measurement. The voltage sensor is a flat plate which operates as a capacitive plate to sense voltage on a center conductor of the transmission line, in which the measured voltage is obtained across a resistance leg of a R-C differentiator circuit formed by the characteristic impedance of a connecting transmission line and a capacitance of the plate, which is positioned proximal to the center conductor.

Automatic visual inspection system for microelectronics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Micka, E. Z. (Inventor)

1975-01-01

A system for automatically inspecting an integrated circuit was developed. A device for shining a scanning narrow light beam at an integrated circuit to be inspected and another light beam at an accepted integrated circuit was included. A pair of photodetectors that receive light reflected from these integrated circuits, and a comparing system compares the outputs of the photodetectors.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wojciechowski, Kenneth; Olsson, Roy; Clews, Peggy J.

Thermally isolated devices may be formed by performing a series of etches on a silicon-based substrate. As a result of the series of etches, silicon material may be removed from underneath a region of an integrated circuit (IC). The removal of the silicon material from underneath the IC forms a gap between remaining substrate and the integrated circuit, though the integrated circuit remains connected to the substrate via a support bar arrangement that suspends the integrated circuit over the substrate. The creation of this gap functions to release the device from the substrate and create a thermally-isolated integrated circuit.

Design structure for in-system redundant array repair in integrated circuits

DOEpatents

Bright, Arthur A.; Crumley, Paul G.; Dombrowa, Marc; Douskey, Steven M.; Haring, Rudolf A.; Oakland, Steven F.; Quellette, Michael R.; Strissel, Scott A.

2008-11-25

A design structure for repairing an integrated circuit during operation of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit comprising of a multitude of memory arrays and a fuse box holding control data for controlling redundancy logic of the arrays. The design structure provides the integrated circuit with a control data selector for passing the control data from the fuse box to the memory arrays; providing a source of alternate control data, external of the integrated circuit; and connecting the source of alternate control data to the control data selector. The design structure further passes the alternate control data from the source thereof, through the control data selector and to the memory arrays to control the redundancy logic of the memory arrays.

Phase-synchroniser based on gm-C all-pass filter chain with sliding mode control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitić, Darko B.; Jovanović, Goran S.; Stojčev, Mile K.; Antić, Dragan S.

2015-03-01

Phase-synchronisers have many applications in VLSI circuit designs. They are used in CMOS RF circuits including phase (de)modulators, phase recovery circuits, multiphase synthesis, etc. In this article, a phase-synchroniser based on gm-C all-pass filter chain with sliding mode control is presented. The filter chain provides good controllable delay characteristics over the full range of phase and frequency regulation, without deterioration of input signal amplitude and waveform, while the sliding mode control enables us to achieve fast and predetermined finite locking time. IHP 0.25 µm SiGe BiCMOS technology has been used in design and verification processes. The circuit operates in the frequency range from 33 MHz up to 150 MHz. Simulation results indicate that it is possible to achieve very fast synchronisation time period, which is approximately four time intervals of the input signal during normal operation, and 20 time intervals during power-on.

Laser Integration on Silicon Photonic Circuits Through Transfer Printing

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-10

AFRL-AFOSR-UK-TR-2017-0019 Laser integration on silicon photonic circuits through transfer printing Gunther Roelkens UNIVERSITEIT GENT VZW Final...TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 15 Sep 2015 to 14 Sep 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Laser integration on silicon photonic circuits through...parallel integration of III-V lasers on silicon photonic integrated circuits. The report discusses the technological process that has been developed as

RF lockout circuit for electronic locking system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, Earl M., Jr.; Miller, Allen

1991-02-01

An electronics lockout circuit was invented that includes an antenna adapted to receive radio frequency signals from a transmitter, and a radio frequency detector circuit which converts the radio frequency signals into a first direct current voltage indicative of the relative strength of the field resulting from the radio frequency signals. The first direct current voltage is supplied to a trigger circuit which compares this direct current voltage to an adjustable direct current reference voltage. This provides a second direct current voltage at the output whenever the amplitude of the first direct current voltage exceeds the amplitude of the reference voltage provided by the comparator circuit. This is supplied to a disconnect relay circuit which, upon receiving a signal from the electronic control unit of an electronic combination lock during the time period at which the second direct current voltage is present, isolates the door strike coil of a security door from the electronic control unit. This prevents signals falsely generated by the electronic control unit because of radio frequency signals in the vicinity of the electronic control unit energizing the door strike coil and accidentally opening a security door.

The phototron: A light to RF energy conversion device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freeman, J. W.; Simons, S.

1982-01-01

The phototron, a photoelectric device that converts light to radio frequency energy, is described. It is a vacuum tube, free electron, device that is mechanically similar to a reflex klystron with the hot filament cathode replaced by a large area photocathode. The device can operate either with an external voltage source used to accelerate the photoelectrons or with zero bias voltage; in which case the photokinetic energy of the electrons sustains the R.F. oscillations in the tuned R.F. circuit. One basic design of the phototron was tested. Frequencies as high as about 1 GHz and an overall efficiency of about 1% in the biased mode were obtained. In the unbiased mode, the frequencies of operation and efficiences are considerably lower. Success with test model suggests that considerable improvements are possible through design refinements. One such design refinement is the reduction of the length of the electron flight path.

Emerging and potential opportunities for 2D flexible nanoelectronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Weinan; Park, Saungeun; Akinwande, Deji

2016-05-01

The last 10 years have seen the emergence of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and black phosphorus (BP) among the growing portfolio of layered van der Waals thin films. Graphene, the prototypical 2D material has advanced rapidly in device, circuit and system studies that has resulted in commercial large-area applications. In this work, we provide a perspective of the emerging and potential translational applications of 2D materials including semiconductors, semimetals, and insulators that comprise the basic material set for diverse nanosystems. Applications include RF transceivers, smart systems, the so-called internet of things, and neurotechnology. We will review the DC and RF electronic performance of graphene and BP thin film transistors. 2D materials at sub-um channel length have so far enabled cut-off frequencies from baseband to 100GHz suitable for low-power RF and sub-THz concepts.

Real100G.RF: A Fully Packaged 240 GHz Transmitter with In-Antenna Power Combining in 0.13 μm SiGe Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malz, Stefan; Goettel, Benjamin; Eisenbeis, Joerg; Boes, Florian; Grzyb, Janusz; Vazquez, Pedro Rodriguez; Zwick, Thomas; Pfeiffer, Ullrich R.

2017-09-01

This paper reports on the research activities during the first phase of the project Real100G.RF, which is part of the German Research Foundation (DFG) priority programm SPP1655. The project's main objective is to research silicon-based wireless communication above 200 GHz to enable data rates in excess of 100 gigabit per second (Gbps). To that end, this paper presents a fully packaged 240 GHz RF transmitter front-end with power combining antenna in 0.13 μm SiGe technology. The design of circuit building blocks, passives, antenna and high-speed packaging is discussed. Communication measurements show data rates of 8 Gbps with an EVM of 12.4% using 16-QAM, 24 Gbps with 26.5% EVM using QPSK and 30 Gbps with 27.9% EVM using 8-PSK.

Multi-MW K-Band Harmonic Multiplier: RF Source For High-Gradient Accelerator R & D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solyak, N. A.; Yakovlev, V. P.; Kazakov, S. Yu.; Hirshfield, J. L.

2009-01-01

A preliminary design is presented for a two-cavity harmonic multiplier, intended as a high-power RF source for use in experiments aimed at developing high-gradient structures for a future collider. The harmonic multiplier is to produce power at selected frequencies in K-band (18-26.5 GHz) using as an RF driver an XK-5 S-band klystron (2.856 GHz). The device is to be built with a TE111 rotating mode input cavity and interchangeable output cavities running in the TEn11 rotating mode, with n = 7,8,9 at 19.992, 22.848, and 25.704 GHz. An example for a 7th harmonic multiplier is described, using a 250 kV, 20 A injected laminar electron beam; with 10 MW of S-band drive power, 4.7 MW of 20-GHz output power is predicted. Details are described of the magnetic circuit, cavities, and output coupler.

Advanced optical fiber communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazovsky, Leonid G.

1994-03-01

Our research is focused on three major aspects of advanced optical fiber communication systems: dynamic wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks, fiber nonlinearities, and high dynamic range coherent analog optical links. In the area of WDM networks, we have designed and implemented two high-speed interface boards and measured their throughput and latency. Furthermore, we designed and constructed an experimental PSK/ASK transceiver that simultaneously transmits packet-switched ASK data and circuit-switched PSK data on the same optical carrier. In the area of fiber nonlinearities, we investigated the theoretical impact of modulation frequency on cross-phase modulation (XPM) in dispersive fibers. In the area of high dynamic range coherent analog optical links, we developed theoretical expressions for the RF power transfer ratio (or RF power gain) and the noise figure (NF) of angle-modulated links. We then compared the RF power gains and noise figures of these links to that of an intensity modulated direct detection (DD) link.

Fabrication and RF characterization of a single nickel silicide nanowire for an interconnect.

PubMed

Lee, Dongjin; Kang, Myunggil; Hong, Suheon; Hwang, Donghoon; Heo, Keun; Joo, Won-Jae; Kim, Sangsig; Whang, Dongmok; Hwang, Sung Woo

2013-09-01

We fabricated a nickel silicide nanowire (NiSi NW) device with a low thermal budget and characterized it by measuring the S-parameters in the radio-frequency (RF) regime. A single silicon nanowire (Si NW) was assembled on a substrate with a two-port coplanar waveguide structure using the dielectrophoresis method. Then, the Si NW on the device was perfectly transformed into a NiSi NW. The NiSi NW device was characterized by performing measurements in the DC and RF regimes. The transformation into the NiSi NW resulted in reducing about three-order more the resistance than before the transformation. Hence, the transmission of the NiSi NW device was 25 dB higher than that of the Si NW device up to gigahertz. We also discussed extracting the intrinsic properties of the NiSi NW by using de-embedding, circuit modeling, and simulation.

Carbon Nanotube Devices for GHz to THz Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, Peter

2005-03-01

In this talk I will present an overview of the high-frequency applications of carbon nanotubes, one realization of nano-electronic devices, and where the challenges and opportunities lie in this new field. Specifically, I will first discuss the passive RF circuit models of one-dimensional nanostructures as interconnects[1]. Next, I will discuss circuit models of the ac performance of active 1d transistor structures, leading to the prediction that THz cutoff frequencies should be possible[2]. We recently demonstrated the operation of nanotube transistors at 2.6 GHz[3]. Third, I discuss the radiation properties of 1d wires, which could form antennas linking the nanoworld to the macroworld[4]. This could completely remove the requirements for lithographically defined contacts to nanotube and nanowire devices, one of the greatest unsolved problems in nanotechnology. [1] P.J. Burke "An RF Circuit Model for Carbon Nanotubes" IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 2(1), 55-58 (2003). [2] P.J. Burke, ``AC Performance of Nanoelectronics: Towards a Ballistic THz Nanotube Transistor'' Solid State Electronics, 48(10), 1981-1986 (2004). [3] Shengdong Li, Zhen Yu, Sheng-Fen Yeng, W.C. Tang, Peter J. Burke, ``Carbon Nanotube Transistor Operation at 2.6 GHz'' Nano Letters, 4(4), 753-756 (2004). [4] Peter J. Burke, Shengdong Li, Zhen Yu ''Quantitative theory of nanowire and nanotube antenna performance,'' http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/cond-mat/0408418cond-mat/0408418 (2004).

Narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method

DOEpatents

McEwan, Thomas E.

1996-01-01

A narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method of sensing a characteristic of an object provide the capability to realize a characteristic of an object such as density, thickness, or presence, for any desired coordinate position on the object. One application is imaging. The sensor can also be used as an obstruction detector or an electronic trip wire with a narrow field without the disadvantages of impaired performance when exposed to dirt, snow, rain, or sunlight. The sensor employs a transmitter for transmitting a sequence of electromagnetic signals in response to a transmit timing signal, a receiver for sampling only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while excluding all other electromagnetic signals in response to a receive timing signal, and a signal processor for processing the sampled direct RF path electromagnetic signal and providing an indication of the characteristic of an object. Usually, the electromagnetic signal is a short RF burst and the obstruction must provide a substantially complete eclipse of the direct RF path. By employing time-of-flight techniques, a timing circuit controls the receiver to sample only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while not sampling indirect path electromagnetic signals. The sensor system also incorporates circuitry for ultra-wideband spread spectrum operation that reduces interference to and from other RF services while allowing co-location of multiple electronic sensors without the need for frequency assignments.

Narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method

DOEpatents

McEwan, T.E.

1996-11-19

A narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method of sensing a characteristic of an object provide the capability to realize a characteristic of an object such as density, thickness, or presence, for any desired coordinate position on the object. One application is imaging. The sensor can also be used as an obstruction detector or an electronic trip wire with a narrow field without the disadvantages of impaired performance when exposed to dirt, snow, rain, or sunlight. The sensor employs a transmitter for transmitting a sequence of electromagnetic signals in response to a transmit timing signal, a receiver for sampling only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while excluding all other electromagnetic signals in response to a receive timing signal, and a signal processor for processing the sampled direct RF path electromagnetic signal and providing an indication of the characteristic of an object. Usually, the electromagnetic signal is a short RF burst and the obstruction must provide a substantially complete eclipse of the direct RF path. By employing time-of-flight techniques, a timing circuit controls the receiver to sample only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while not sampling indirect path electromagnetic signals. The sensor system also incorporates circuitry for ultra-wideband spread spectrum operation that reduces interference to and from other RF services while allowing co-location of multiple electronic sensors without the need for frequency assignments. 12 figs.

Novel uses of detonator diagnostics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibson, John R.; Wilde, Zakary Robert; Tasker, Douglas George

A novel combination of diagnostics is being used to research the physics of detonator initiation. The explosive PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) commonly used in detonators, is also a piezo-electric material that, when sufficiently shocked, emits an electromagnetic field in the radio frequency (RF) range, along crystal fracture planes. In an effort to capture this RF signal, a new diagnostic was created. A copper foil, used as an RF antenna, was wrapped around a foam fixture encompassing a PETN pellet. Rogowski coils were used to obtain the change in current with respect to time (di/dt) the detonator circuit, in and polyvinylidene difluoridemore » (PVDF) stress sensors were used to capture shockwave arrival time. The goal of these experiments is to use these diagnostics to study the reaction response of a PETN pellet of known particle size to shock loading with various diagnostics including an antenna to capture RF emissions. Our hypothesis is that RF feedback may signify the rate of deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) or lack thereof. The new diagnostics and methods will be used to determine the timing of start of current, bridge burst, detonator breakout timing and RF generated from detonation. These data will be compared to those of currently used diagnostics in order to validate the accuracy of these new methods. Future experiments will incorporate other methods of validation including dynamic radiography, optical initiation and use of magnetic field sensors.« less

Ferroelectric and piezoelectric thin films and their applications for integrated capacitors, piezoelectric ultrasound transducers and piezoelectric switches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klee, M.; Boots, H.; Kumar, B.; van Heesch, C.; Mauczok, R.; Keur, W.; de Wild, M.; van Esch, H.; Roest, A. L.; Reimann, K.; van Leuken, L.; Wunnicke, O.; Zhao, J.; Schmitz, G.; Mienkina, M.; Mleczko, M.; Tiggelman, M.

2010-02-01

Ferroelectric and piezoelectric thin films are gaining more and more importance for the integration of high performance devices in small modules. High-K 'Integrated Discretes' devices have been developed, which are based on thin film ferroelectric capacitors integrated together with resistors and ESD protection diodes in a small Si-based chip-scale package. Making use of ferroelectric thin films with relative permittivity of 950-1600 and stacking processes of capacitors, extremely high capacitance densities of 20-520 nF/mm2, high breakdown voltages up to 140 V and lifetimes of more than 10 years at operating voltages of 5 V and 85°C are achieved. Thin film high-density capacitors play also an important role as tunable capacitors for applications such as tuneable matching circuits for RF sections of mobile phones. The performance of thin film tuneable capacitors at frequencies between 1 MHz and 1 GHz is investigated. Finally thin film piezoelectric ultrasound transducers, processed in Si- related processes, are attractive for medical imaging, since they enable large bandwidth (>100%), high frequency operation and have the potential to integrate electronics. With these piezoelectric thin film ultrasound transducers real time ultrasound images have been realized. Finally, piezoelectric thin films are used to manufacture galvanic MEMS switches. A model for the quasi-static mechanical behaviour is presented and compared with measurements.

Graphene radio frequency receiver integrated circuit.

PubMed

Han, Shu-Jen; Garcia, Alberto Valdes; Oida, Satoshi; Jenkins, Keith A; Haensch, Wilfried

2014-01-01

Graphene has attracted much interest as a future channel material in radio frequency electronics because of its superior electrical properties. Fabrication of a graphene integrated circuit without significantly degrading transistor performance has proven to be challenging, posing one of the major bottlenecks to compete with existing technologies. Here we present a fabrication method fully preserving graphene transistor quality, demonstrated with the implementation of a high-performance three-stage graphene integrated circuit. The circuit operates as a radio frequency receiver performing signal amplification, filtering and downconversion mixing. All circuit components are integrated into 0.6 mm(2) area and fabricated on 200 mm silicon wafers, showing the unprecedented graphene circuit complexity and silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process compatibility. The demonstrated circuit performance allow us to use graphene integrated circuit to perform practical wireless communication functions, receiving and restoring digital text transmitted on a 4.3-GHz carrier signal.

Graphene radio frequency receiver integrated circuit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Shu-Jen; Garcia, Alberto Valdes; Oida, Satoshi; Jenkins, Keith A.; Haensch, Wilfried

2014-01-01

Graphene has attracted much interest as a future channel material in radio frequency electronics because of its superior electrical properties. Fabrication of a graphene integrated circuit without significantly degrading transistor performance has proven to be challenging, posing one of the major bottlenecks to compete with existing technologies. Here we present a fabrication method fully preserving graphene transistor quality, demonstrated with the implementation of a high-performance three-stage graphene integrated circuit. The circuit operates as a radio frequency receiver performing signal amplification, filtering and downconversion mixing. All circuit components are integrated into 0.6 mm2 area and fabricated on 200 mm silicon wafers, showing the unprecedented graphene circuit complexity and silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process compatibility. The demonstrated circuit performance allow us to use graphene integrated circuit to perform practical wireless communication functions, receiving and restoring digital text transmitted on a 4.3-GHz carrier signal.

Power-Combined GaN Amplifier with 2.28-W Output Power at 87 GHz

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fung, King Man; Ward, John; Chattopadhyay, Goutam; Lin, Robert H.; Samoska, Lorene A.; Kangaslahti, Pekka P.; Mehdi, Imran; Lambrigtsen, Bjorn H.; Goldsmith, Paul F.; Soria, Mary M.;

Fabrication and characterization of 8.87 THz schottky barrier mixer diodes for mixer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wenjie; Li, Qian; An, Ning; Tong, Xiaodong; Zeng, Jianping

2018-04-01

In this paper we report on the fabrication and characterization of GaAs-based THz schottky barrier mixer diodes. Considering the analyzed results as well as fabrication cost and complexity, a group of trade-off parameters was determined. Electron-beam lithography and air-bridge technique have been used to obtain schottky diodes with a cut off frequency of 8.87 THz. Equivalent values of series resistance, ideal factor and junction capacitance of 10.2 (1) Ω, 1.14 (0.03) and 1.76(0.03) respectively have been measured for 0.7um diameter anode devices by DC and RF measurements. The schottky barrier diodes fabrication process is fully planar and very suitable for integration in THz frequency multiplier and mixer circuits. THz Schottky barrier diodes based on such technology with 2 μm diameter anodes have been tested at 1.6 THz in a sub-harmonic mixer.

Hardware Architecture Study for NASA's Space Software Defined Radios

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinhart, Richard C.; Scardelletti, Maximilian C.; Mortensen, Dale J.; Kacpura, Thomas J.; Andro, Monty; Smith, Carl; Liebetreu, John

2008-01-01

This study defines a hardware architecture approach for software defined radios to enable commonality among NASA space missions. The architecture accommodates a range of reconfigurable processing technologies including general purpose processors, digital signal processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in addition to flexible and tunable radio frequency (RF) front-ends to satisfy varying mission requirements. The hardware architecture consists of modules, radio functions, and and interfaces. The modules are a logical division of common radio functions that comprise a typical communication radio. This paper describes the architecture details, module definitions, and the typical functions on each module as well as the module interfaces. Trade-offs between component-based, custom architecture and a functional-based, open architecture are described. The architecture does not specify the internal physical implementation within each module, nor does the architecture mandate the standards or ratings of the hardware used to construct the radios.

A cost-effective 25-Gb/s EML TOSA using all-in-one FPCB wiring and metal optical bench.

PubMed

Han, Young-Tak; Kwon, Oh-Kee; Lee, Dong-Hun; Lee, Chul-Wook; Leem, Young-Ahn; Shin, Jang-Uk; Park, Sang-Ho; Baek, Yongsoon

2013-11-04

We present a cost-effective 25-Gb/s electro-absorption modulator integrated laser (EML) transmitter optical sub-assembly (TOSA) using all-in-one flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) wiring and a metal optical bench (MOB). For a low cost and high bandwidth TOSA, internal and external wirings and feed-through of the TOSA to transmit radio-frequency (RF) signal are configured all-in-one using the FPCB. The FPCB is extended from an exterior of the TOSA package up to an EML chip inside the package through the slit formed on a rear sidewall of the package and die-bonded on the MOB. The EML TOSA shows a modulated output power of more than 3.5 dBm and a clear eye pattern with a dynamic extinction ratio of ~8.4 dB at a data rate of 25.78 Gb/s.

Luneburg lens and optical matrix algebra research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, V. E.; Busch, J. R.; Verber, C. M.; Caulfield, H. J.

1984-01-01

Planar, as opposed to channelized, integrated optical circuits (IOCs) were stressed as the basis for computational devices. Both fully-parallel and systolic architectures are considered and the tradeoffs between the two device types are discussed. The Kalman filter approach is a most important computational method for many NASA problems. This approach to deriving a best-fit estimate for the state vector describing a large system leads to matrix sizes which are beyond the predicted capacities of planar IOCs. This problem is overcome by matrix partitioning, and several architectures for accomplishing this are described. The Luneburg lens work has involved development of lens design techniques, design of mask arrangements for producing lenses of desired shape, investigation of optical and chemical properties of arsenic trisulfide films, deposition of lenses both by thermal evaporation and by RF sputtering, optical testing of these lenses, modification of lens properties through ultraviolet irradiation, and comparison of measured lens properties with those expected from ray trace analyses.

Monolithically integrated bacteriorhodopsin/semiconductor opto-electronic integrated circuit for a bio-photoreceiver.

PubMed

Xu, J; Bhattacharya, P; Váró, G

2004-03-15

The light-sensitive protein, bacteriorhodopsin (BR), is monolithically integrated with an InP-based amplifier circuit to realize a novel opto-electronic integrated circuit (OEIC) which performs as a high-speed photoreceiver. The circuit is realized by epitaxial growth of the field-effect transistors, currently used semiconductor device and circuit fabrication techniques, and selective area BR electro-deposition. The integrated photoreceiver has a responsivity of 175 V/W and linear photoresponse, with a dynamic range of 16 dB, with 594 nm photoexcitation. The dynamics of the photochemical cycle of BR has also been modeled and a proposed equivalent circuit simulates the measured BR photoresponse with good agreement.

Novel Ultrahigh Vacuum System for Chip-Scale Trapped Ion Quantum Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shaw-Pin; Trapped Team

2011-05-01

This presentation reports the experimental results of an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) system as a scheme to implement scalable trapped-ion quantum computers that use micro-fabricated ion traps as fundamental building blocks. The novelty of this system resides in our design, material selection, mechanical liability, low complexity of assembly, and reduced signal interference between DC and RF electrodes. Our system utilizes RF isolation and onsite-filtering topologies to attenuate AC signals generated from the resonator. We use a UHV compatible printed circuit board (PCB) material to perform DC routing, while the RF high and RF ground received separated routing via wire-wrapping. The standard PCB fabrication process enabled us to implement ceramic-based filter components adjacent to the chip trap. The DC electrodes are connected to air-side electrical feed through using four 25D adaptors made with polyether ether ketone (PEEK). The assembly process of this system is straight forward and in-chamber structure is self-supporting. We report on initial testing of this concept with a linear chip trap fabricated by the Sandia National Labs.

Microchannel cooling of face down bonded chips

DOEpatents

Bernhardt, Anthony F.

1993-01-01

Microchannel cooling is applied to flip-chip bonded integrated circuits, in a manner which maintains the advantages of flip-chip bonds, while overcoming the difficulties encountered in cooling the chips. The technique is suited to either multichip integrated circuit boards in a plane, or to stacks of circuit boards in a three dimensional interconnect structure. Integrated circuit chips are mounted on a circuit board using flip-chip or control collapse bonds. A microchannel structure is essentially permanently coupled with the back of the chip. A coolant delivery manifold delivers coolant to the microchannel structure, and a seal consisting of a compressible elastomer is provided between the coolant delivery manifold and the microchannel structure. The integrated circuit chip and microchannel structure are connected together to form a replaceable integrated circuit module which can be easily decoupled from the coolant delivery manifold and the circuit board. The coolant supply manifolds may be disposed between the circuit boards in a stack and coupled to supplies of coolant through a side of the stack.

Microchannel cooling of face down bonded chips

DOEpatents

Bernhardt, A.F.

1993-06-08

Microchannel cooling is applied to flip-chip bonded integrated circuits, in a manner which maintains the advantages of flip-chip bonds, while overcoming the difficulties encountered in cooling the chips. The technique is suited to either multi chip integrated circuit boards in a plane, or to stacks of circuit boards in a three dimensional interconnect structure. Integrated circuit chips are mounted on a circuit board using flip-chip or control collapse bonds. A microchannel structure is essentially permanently coupled with the back of the chip. A coolant delivery manifold delivers coolant to the microchannel structure, and a seal consisting of a compressible elastomer is provided between the coolant delivery manifold and the microchannel structure. The integrated circuit chip and microchannel structure are connected together to form a replaceable integrated circuit module which can be easily decoupled from the coolant delivery manifold and the circuit board. The coolant supply manifolds may be disposed between the circuit boards in a stack and coupled to supplies of coolant through a side of the stack.

Orbiter CCTV video signal noise analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawton, R. M.; Blanke, L. R.; Pannett, R. F.

1977-01-01

The amount of steady state and transient noise which will couple to orbiter CCTV video signal wiring is predicted. The primary emphasis is on the interim system, however, some predictions are made concerning the operational system wiring in the cabin area. Noise sources considered are RF fields from on board transmitters, precipitation static, induced lightning currents, and induced noise from adjacent wiring. The most significant source is noise coupled to video circuits from associated circuits in common connectors. Video signal crosstalk is the primary cause of steady state interference, and mechanically switched control functions cause the largest induced transients.

Microstrip Yagi array for MSAT vehicle antenna application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, John; Densmore, Arthur; Pozar, David

1990-01-01

A microstrip Yagi array was developed for the MSAT system as a low-cost mechanically steered medium-gain vehicle antenna. Because its parasitic reflector and director patches are not connected to any of the RF power distributing circuit, while still contributing to achieve the MSAT required directional beam, the antenna becomes a very efficient radiating system. With the complete monopulse beamforming circuit etched on a thin stripline board, the planar microstrip Yagi array is capable of achieving a very low profile. A theoretical model using the Method of Moments was developed to facilitate the ease of design and understanding of this antenna.

Topological Properties of Some Integrated Circuits for Very Large Scale Integration Chip Designs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swanson, S.; Lanzerotti, M.; Vernizzi, G.; Kujawski, J.; Weatherwax, A.

2015-03-01

This talk presents topological properties of integrated circuits for Very Large Scale Integration chip designs. These circuits can be implemented in very large scale integrated circuits, such as those in high performance microprocessors. Prior work considered basic combinational logic functions and produced a mathematical framework based on algebraic topology for integrated circuits composed of logic gates. Prior work also produced an historically-equivalent interpretation of Mr. E. F. Rent's work for today's complex circuitry in modern high performance microprocessors, where a heuristic linear relationship was observed between the number of connections and number of logic gates. This talk will examine topological properties and connectivity of more complex functionally-equivalent integrated circuits. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Waveguide Power Combiner Demonstration for Multiple High Power Millimeter Wave TWTAs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wintucky, Edwin G.; Simons, Rainee N.; Lesny, Gary G.; Glass, Jeffrey L.

2004-01-01

NASA is presently developing nuclear reactor technologies, under Project Prometheus, which will provide spacecraft with greatly increased levels of sustained onboard power and thereby dramatically enhance the capability for future deep space exploration. The first mission planned for use of this high power technology is the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). In addition to electric propulsion and science, there will also be unprecedented onboard power available for deep space communications. A 32 GHz transmitter with 1 kW of RF output power is being considered to enable the required very high data transmission rates. One approach to achieving the 1 kW RF power, now being investigated at NASA GRC, is the possible power combining of a number of 100-1 50 W TWTs now under development. The work presented here is the results of a proof-of-concept demonstration of the power combining Ka-band waveguide circuit design and test procedure using two Ka- band TWTAs (Varian model VZA6902V3 and Logimetrics model A440/KA-1066), both of which were previously employed in data uplink evaluation terminals at 29.36 GHz for the NASA Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program. The characterization of the individual TWTAs and power combining demonstration were done over a 500 MHz bandwidth from 29.1 to 29.6 GHz to simulate the Deep Space Network (DSN) bandwidth of 3 1.8 to 32.3 GHz. Figures 1-3 show some of the power transfer and gain measurements of the TWTAs using a swept signal generator (Agilent 83640b) for the RF input. The input and output powers were corrected for circuit insertion losses due to the waveguide components. The RF saturated powers of both ACTS TWTAs were on the order of 120 W, which is comparable to the expected output powers of the 32 GHz TWTs. Additional results for the individual TWTAs will be presented (AM/AM, AM/PM conversion and gain compression), some of which were obtained from swept frequency and power measurements using a vector network analyzer. The results for the power combining demonstration as well as a more detailed description of the power combining test circuit and test procedure will also be presented.

High quality silicon-based substrates for microwave and millimeter wave passive circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belaroussi, Y.; Rack, M.; Saadi, A. A.; Scheen, G.; Belaroussi, M. T.; Trabelsi, M.; Raskin, J.-P.

2017-09-01

Porous silicon substrate is very promising for next generation wireless communication requiring the avoidance of high-frequency losses originating from the bulk silicon. In this work, new variants of porous silicon (PSi) substrates have been introduced. Through an experimental RF performance, the proposed PSi substrates have been compared with different silicon-based substrates, namely, standard silicon (Std), trap-rich (TR) and high resistivity (HR). All of the mentioned substrates have been fabricated where identical samples of CPW lines have been integrated on. The new PSi substrates have shown successful reduction in the substrate's effective relative permittivity to values as low as 3.7 and great increase in the substrate's effective resistivity to values higher than 7 kΩ cm. As a concept proof, a mm-wave bandpass filter (MBPF) centred at 27 GHz has been integrated on the investigated substrates. Compared with the conventional MBPF implemented on standard silicon-based substrates, the measured S-parameters of the PSi-based MBPF have shown high filtering performance, such as a reduction in insertion loss and an enhancement of the filter selectivity, with the joy of having the same filter performance by varying the temperature. Therefore, the efficiency of the proposed PSi substrates has been well highlighted. From 1994 to 1995, she was assistant of physics at (USTHB), Algiers . From 1998 to 2011, she was a Researcher at characterization laboratory in ionized media and laser division at the Advanced Technologies Development Center. She has integrated the Analog Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits team as Researcher since 2011 until now in Microelectronic and Nanotechnology Division at Advanced Technologies Development Center (CDTA), Algiers. She has been working towards her Ph.D. degree jointly at CDTA and Ecole Nationale Polytechnique, Algiers, since 2012. Her research interest includes fabrication and characterization of microwave passive devices on porous silicon as new substrate, such as characterization of FinFET components.

Modeling of RF/MHD coupling using NIMROD, GENRAY, and the Integrated Plasma Simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Thomas; Schnack, D. D.; Sovinec, C. R.; Hegna, C. C.; Callen, J. D.; Ebrahimi, F.; Kruger, S. E.; Carlsson, J.; Held, E. D.; Ji, J.-Y.; Harvey, R. W.; Smirnov, A. P.

2009-05-01

We summarize ongoing theoretical/numerical work relevant to the development of a self--consistent framework for the inclusion of RF effects in fluid simulations; specifically considering resistive tearing mode stabilization in tokamak (DIII--D--like) geometry via ECCD. Relatively simple (though non--self--consistent) models for the RF--induced currents are incorporated into the fluid equations, markedly reducing the width of the nonlinearly saturated magnetic islands generated by tearing modes. We report our progress toward the self--consistent modeling of these RF--induced currents. The initial interfacing of the NIMROD* code with the GENRAY/CQL3D** codes (calculating RF propagation and energy/momentum deposition) via the Integrated Plasma Simulator (IPS) framework*** is explained, equilibration of RF--induced currents over the plasma flux surfaces is investigated, and studies exploring the efficient reduction of saturated island widths through time modulation and spatial localization of the ECCD are presented. *[Sovinec et al., JCP 195, 355 (2004)] **[www.compxco.com] ***[This research and the IPS development are both part of the SWIM project. Funded by U.S. DoE.

RF Single Electron Transistor Readout Amplifiers for Superconducting Astronomical Detectors for X-Ray to Sub-mm Wavelengths

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevenson, Thomas; Aassime, Abdelhanin; Delsing, Per; Frunzio, Luigi; Li, Li-Qun; Prober, Daniel; Schoelkopf, Robert; Segall, Ken; Wilson, Chris; Stahle, Carl

2000-01-01

We report progress on using a new type of amplifier, the Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistor (RF-SET), to develop multi-channel sensor readout systems for fast and sensitive readout of high impedance cryogenic photodetectors such as Superconducting Tunnel Junctions and Single Quasiparticle Photon Counters. Although cryogenic, these detectors are desirable because of capabilities not other-wise attainable. However, high impedances and low output levels make low-noise, high-speed readouts challenging, and large format arrays would be facilitated by compact, low-power, on-chip integrated amplifiers. Well-suited for this application are RF-SETs, very high performance electrometers which use an rf readout technique to provide 100 MHz bandwidth. Small size, low power, and cryogenic operation allow direct integration with detectors, and using multiple rf carrier frequencies permits simultaneous readout of 20-50 amplifiers with a common electrical connection. We describe both the first 2-channel demonstration of this wavelength division multiplexing technique for RF-SETs, and Charge-Locked-Loop operation with 100 kHz of closed-loop bandwidth.

Flexible superconducting Nb transmission lines on thin film polyimide for quantum computing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuckerman, David B.; Hamilton, Michael C.; Reilly, David J.; Bai, Rujun; Hernandez, George A.; Hornibrook, John M.; Sellers, John A.; Ellis, Charles D.

2016-08-01

We describe progress and initial results achieved towards the goal of developing integrated multi-conductor arrays of shielded controlled-impedance flexible superconducting transmission lines with ultra-miniature cross sections and wide bandwidths (dc to >10 GHz) over meter-scale lengths. Intended primarily for use in future scaled-up quantum computing systems, such flexible thin-film niobium/polyimide ribbon cables could provide a physically compact and ultra-low thermal conductance alternative to the rapidly increasing number of discrete coaxial cables that are currently used by quantum computing experimentalists to transmit signals between the several low-temperature stages (from ˜4 K down to ˜20 mK) of a dilution refrigerator. We have concluded that these structures are technically feasible to fabricate, and so far they have exhibited acceptable thermo-mechanical reliability. S-parameter results are presented for individual 2-metal layer Nb microstrip structures having 50 Ω characteristic impedance; lengths ranging from 50 to 550 mm were successfully fabricated. Solderable pads at the end terminations allowed testing using conventional rf connectors. Weakly coupled open-circuit microstrip resonators provided a sensitive measure of the overall transmission line loss as a function of frequency, temperature, and power. Two common microelectronic-grade polyimide dielectrics, one conventional and the other photo-definable (PI-2611 and HD-4100, respectively) were compared. Our most striking result, not previously reported to our knowledge, was that the dielectric loss tangents of both polyimides, over frequencies from 1 to 20 GHz, are remarkably low at deep cryogenic temperatures, typically 100× smaller than corresponding room temperature values. This enables fairly long-distance (meter-scale) transmission of microwave signals without excessive attenuation, and also permits usefully high rf power levels to be transmitted without creating excessive dielectric heating. We observed loss tangents as low as 2.2 × 10-5 at 20 mK, although losses increased somewhat at very low rf power levels, similar to the well-known behavior of amorphous inorganic dielectrics such as SiO2. Our fabrication techniques could be extended to more complex structures such as multiconductor cables, embedded microstrip, 3-metal layer stripline or rectangular coax, and integrated attenuators and thermalization structures.

Strong Recurrent Networks Compute the Orientation-Tuning of Surround Modulation in Primate V1

PubMed Central

Shushruth, S.; Mangapathy, Pradeep; Ichida, Jennifer M.; Bressloff, Paul C.; Schwabe, Lars; Angelucci, Alessandra

2012-01-01

In macaque primary visual cortex (V1) neuronal responses to stimuli inside the receptive field (RF) are modulated by stimuli in the RF surround. This modulation is orientation-specific. Previous studies suggested that for some cells this specificity may not be fixed, but changes with the stimulus orientation presented to the RF. We demonstrate, in recording studies, that this tuning behavior is instead highly prevalent in V1 and, in theoretical work, that it arises only if V1 operates in a regime of strong local recurrence. Strongest surround suppression occurs when the stimuli in the RF and the surround are iso-oriented, and strongest facilitation when the stimuli are cross-oriented. This is the case even when the RF is sub-optimally activated by a stimulus of non-preferred orientation, but only if this stimulus can activate the cell when presented alone. This tuning behavior emerges from the interaction of lateral inhibition (via the surround pathways), which is tuned to the RF’s preferred orientation, with weakly-tuned, but strong, local recurrent connections, causing maximal withdrawal of recurrent excitation at the feedforward input orientation. Thus, horizontal and feedback modulation of strong recurrent circuits allows the tuning of contextual effects to change with changing feedforward inputs. PMID:22219292

Flexible diodes for radio frequency (RF) electronics: a materials perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semple, James; Georgiadou, Dimitra G.; Wyatt-Moon, Gwenhivir; Gelinck, Gerwin; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

2017-12-01

Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in transferring the research advances in radiofrequency (RF) rectifiers, the quintessential element of the chip in the RF identification (RFID) tags, obtained on rigid substrates onto plastic (flexible) substrates. The growing demand for flexible RFID tags, wireless communications applications and wireless energy harvesting systems that can be produced at a low-cost is a key driver for this technology push. In this topical review, we summarise recent progress and status of flexible RF diodes and rectifying circuits, with specific focus on materials and device processing aspects. To this end, different families of materials (e.g. flexible silicon, metal oxides, organic and carbon nanomaterials), manufacturing processes (e.g. vacuum and solution processing) and device architectures (diodes and transistors) are compared. Although emphasis is placed on performance, functionality, mechanical flexibility and operating stability, the various bottlenecks associated with each technology are also addressed. Finally, we present our outlook on the commercialisation potential and on the positioning of each material class in the RF electronics landscape based on the findings summarised herein. It is beyond doubt that the field of flexible high and ultra-high frequency rectifiers and electronics as a whole will continue to be an active area of research over the coming years.

Method of forming through substrate vias (TSVs) and singulating and releasing die having the TSVs from a mechanical support substrate

DOEpatents

Okandan, Murat; Nielson, Gregory N

2014-12-09

Accessing a workpiece object in semiconductor processing is disclosed. The workpiece object includes a mechanical support substrate, a release layer over the mechanical support substrate, and an integrated circuit substrate coupled over the release layer. The integrated circuit substrate includes a device layer having semiconductor devices. The method also includes etching through-substrate via (TSV) openings through the integrated circuit substrate that have buried ends at or within the release layer including using the release layer as an etch stop. TSVs are formed by introducing one or more conductive materials into the TSV openings. A die singulation trench is etched at least substantially through the integrated circuit substrate around a perimeter of an integrated circuit die. The integrated circuit die is at least substantially released from the mechanical support substrate.

Electro-optical Probing Of Terahertz Integrated Circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Romanofsky, R.; Whitaker, J. F.; Valdmanis, J. A.; Mourou, G.; Jackson, T. A.

1990-01-01

Electro-optical probe developed to perform noncontact, nondestructive, and relatively noninvasive measurements of electric fields over broad spectrum at millimeter and shorter wavelengths in integrated circuits. Manipulated with conventional intregrated-circuit-wafer-probing equipment and operated without any special preparation of integrated circuits. Tip of probe small electro-optical crystal serving as proximity electric-field sensor.

Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits Based on GaAs Mesfet Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahl, Inder J.

Advanced military microwave systems are demanding increased integration, reliability, radiation hardness, compact size and lower cost when produced in large volume, whereas the microwave commercial market, including wireless communications, mandates low cost circuits. Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology provides an economically viable approach to meeting these needs. In this paper the design considerations for several types of MMICs and their performance status are presented. Multifunction integrated circuits that advance the MMIC technology are described, including integrated microwave/digital functions and a highly integrated transceiver at C-band.

Wide-band polarization controller for Si photonic integrated circuits.

PubMed

Velha, P; Sorianello, V; Preite, M V; De Angelis, G; Cassese, T; Bianchi, A; Testa, F; Romagnoli, M

2016-12-15

A circuit for the management of any arbitrary polarization state of light is demonstrated on an integrated silicon (Si) photonics platform. This circuit allows us to adapt any polarization into the standard fundamental TE mode of a Si waveguide and, conversely, to control the polarization and set it to any arbitrary polarization state. In addition, the integrated thermal tuning allows kilohertz speed which can be used to perform a polarization scrambler. The circuit was used in a WDM link and successfully used to adapt four channels into a standard Si photonic integrated circuit.

SU-E-T-558: An Exploratory RF Pulse Sequence Technique Used to Induce Differential Heating in Tissues Containing Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for a Possible Hyperthermic Adjuvant Effect to Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yee, S; Ionascu, D; Wilson, G

2014-06-01

Purpose: In pre-clinical trials of cancer thermotherapy, hyperthermia can be induced by exposing localized super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) to external alternating magnetic fields generated by a solenoid electrical circuit (Zhao et al., Theranostics 2012). Alternatively, an RF pulse technique implemented in a regular MRI system is explored as a possible hyperthermia induction technique . Methods: A new thermal RF pulse sequence was developed using the Philips pulse programming tool for the 3T Ingenia MRI system to provide a sinusoidal magnetic field alternating at the frequency of 1.43 kHz (multiples of sine waves of 0.7 ms period) before each excitationmore » RF pulse for imaging. The duration of each thermal RF pulse routine was approximately 3 min, and the thermal pulse was applied multiple times to a phantom that contains different concentrations (high, medium and low) of SPION samples. After applying the thermal pulse each time, the temperature change was estimated by measuring the phase changes in the T1-weighted inversion-prepared multi-shot turbo field echo (TFE) sequence (TR=5.5 ms, TE=2.7 ms, inversion time=200 ms). Results: The phase values and relative differences among them changed as the number of applied thermal RF pulses increased. After the 5th application of the thermal RF pulse, the relative phase differences increased significantly, suggesting the thermal activation of the SPION. The increase of the phase difference was approximately linear with the SPION concentration. Conclusion: A sinusoidal RF pulse from the MRI system may be utilized to selectively thermally activate tissues containing super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.« less

General technique for the integration of MIC/MMIC'S with waveguides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Geller, Bernard D. (Inventor); Zaghloul, Amir I. (Inventor)

1987-01-01

A technique for packaging and integrating of a microwave integrated circuit (MIC) or monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) with a waveguide uses a printed conductive circuit pattern on a dielectric substrate to transform impedance and mode of propagation between the MIC/MMIC and the waveguide. The virtually coplanar circuit pattern lies on an equipotential surface within the waveguide and therefore makes possible single or dual polarized mode structures.

Large Scale Integrated Circuits for Military Applications.

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-05-01

economic incentive for riarrowing this gap is examined, y (U)^wo"categories of cost are analyzed: the direct life cycle cost of the integrated circuit...dependence of these costs on the physical charac- teristics of the integrated circuits is discussed. (U) The economic and physical characteristics of... economic incentive for narrowing this gap is examined. Two categories of cost are analyzed: the direct life cycle cost of the integrated circuit

Liquid crystal polymer substrate MMIC receiver modules for the ECE Imaging system on the DIII-D

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Y.; Ye, Y.; Yu, J-H

A new generation of millimeter-wave heterodyne imaging receiver arrays has been developed and demonstrated on the DIII-D ECEI system. Improved circuit integration, allowing for absolute calibration, improved noise performance, and shielding from out-of-band emission, is made possible by using advanced liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrates and MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit) receiver chips. This array exhibits ~ 15 dB additional gain and > 30x reduction in noise temperature compared to the previous generation and provide ECEI capability for absolute 2-D electron temperature profile measurements. Each LCP horn-waveguide module houses a 3x3 mm GaAs MMIC receiver chip, which consists of amore » low noise amplifier (LNA), balanced mixer, local oscillator multiplier chain driven by ~12 GHz input via an RF cable to the enclosure box, and IF amplifier. A proof-of-principle instrument with 5 poloidal channels was installed on DIII-D in 2017. The full proof-of-principle system installation (20 poloidal x 8 radial channels) was commissioned early in 2018. The LCP ECEI system is used for pedestal region measurements, especially focusing on temperature evolution during ELM bursting. The DIII-D ECE Imaging signal has been significantly improved with extremely effective shielding of out-of-band microwave noise which plagued previous ECE Imaging studies on DIII-D. In H-mode ELM bursting, the radial propagation of electron heat flow has been detected on DIII-D. The LCP ECE Imaging is expected to be a valuable diagnostic tool for ELM physics investigations.« less

A wirelessly powered electro-acupuncture based on adaptive pulsewidth monophase stimulation.

PubMed

Kiseok Song; Long Yan; Seulki Lee; Yoo, Jerald; Hoi-Jun Yoo

2011-04-01

A wirelessly powered electro-acupuncture (EA) system with adaptive-pulsewidth (APW) monophase stimulation is presented for convenient invasive medicine. The proposed system removes cumbersome wires connected between EA nodes and an EA controller in order to realize both patients' convenience and remedial values simultaneously. An ultra-low-power stimulator integrated circuit (IC) that is integrated on the flexible-printed-circuit board (F-PCB) is attached to the tip of a needle electrode. Combined with a conductive yarn helical antenna wound around the needle electrode, the EA node receives wireless power from the EA controller using 433 MHz with the maximum loss of 6 dB. A zero-Vth nMOS rectifier harvests a supply voltage of 1.0 V from a -16-dBm incoming power signal with 32% efficiency. To deal with a body impedance variation (BIV) in the range of 100-200 kΩ , the proposed APW stimulator IC, fabricated in a 0.18-μm 1P6M complementary metal-oxide semiconductor CMOS process and occupying 1.56 mm(2), enables constant charge injection of 80-nC/stimulation. To ensure the patients' safety, the EA node (a pair of EAs) shares ground and clock wires to operate in alternate monophase (AMP) fashion for neutralizing the injected charge. The proposed wirelessly powered EA node was verified by applying it to a chunk of pork as a body model with the wireless power supplied from an RF signal generator (output power of 10 dBm and located 30 cm away).

Interlock system for machine protection of the KOMAC 100-MeV proton linac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Young-Gi

2015-02-01

The 100-MeV proton linear accelerator of the Korea Multi-purpose Accelerator Complex (KOMAC) has been developed. The beam service started this year after performing the beam commissioning. If the very sensitive and essential equipment is to be protected during machine operation, a machine interlock system is required, and the interlock system has been implemented. The purpose of the interlock system is to shut off the beam when the radio-frequency (RF) and ion source are unstable or a beam loss occurs. The interlock signal of the KOMAC linac includes a variety of sources, such as the beam loss, RF and high-voltage converter modulator faults, and fast closing valves of the vacuum window at the beam lines and so on. This system consists of a hardware-based interlock system using analog circuits and a software-based interlock system using an industrial programmable logic controller (PLC). The hardware-based interlock system has been fabricated, and the requirement has been satisfied with the results being within 10 µs. The software logic interlock system using the PLC has been connected to the framework of with the experimental physics and industrial control system (EPICS) to integrate a variety of interlock signals and to control the machine components when an interlock occurs. This paper will describe the design and the construction of the machine interlock system for the KOMAC 100-MeV linac.

Design of an Integrated-System FARAD Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, K.A.; Rose, R.F.; Miller, R.; Owens, T.

2007-01-01

Pulsed inductive plasma accelerators are spacecraft propulsion devices in which energy is stored in a capacitor and then discharged through an inductive coil. The device is electrodeless, inducing a current s heet in a plasma located near the face of the coil. The propellant is accelerated and expelled at a high exhaust velocity (order of 10 km/s) through the interaction of the plasma current and the induced magne tic field, The Faraday Accelerator with RF-Assisted Discharge (FARAD) thruster is a type of pulsed inductive plasma accelerator in which t he plasma is preionized by a mechanism separate from that used to for m the current sheet and accelerate the gas. Employing a separate preionization mechanism allows for the formation of an inductive current s heet at much lower discharge energies and voltages than those used in previous pulsed inductive accelerators like the Pulsed Inductive Thr uster (PIT). In this paper, we present the design of a benchtop FARAD thruster with all the subsystems (mass injection, preionization, and acceleration) integrated into a single unit. Design of the thruster follows the guidelines and similarity performance parameters presented elsewhere. The system is designed to use the ringing, RF-frequency s ignal produced by a discharging Vector Inversion Generator (VIG) to p reionize the gas. The acceleration stage operates on the order of 100 J/pulse and can be driven by several different pulsed powertrains. These include a simple capacitor coupled to the system, a Bernardes and Merryman configuration, and a pulsecompression circuit that takes a temporally broad, low current pulse and transforms it into a short, h igh current pulse. A set of applied magnetic field coils are integrated into the system to guide the preionized propellant as it spreads ov er the face of the inductive acceleration coil. The coils are operate d in a pulsed mode, and the thruster can be operated without using the coils to determine if there is a performance improvement gain realiz ed when an applied field is present.

Design of a 2.4-GHz CMOS monolithic fractional-N frequency synthesizer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shu, Keliu

The wireless communication technology and market have been growing rapidly since a decade ago. The high demand market is a driving need for higher integration in the wireless transceivers. The trend is to achieve low-cost, small form factor and low power consumption. With the ever-reducing feature size, it is becoming feasible to integrate the RF front-end together with the baseband in the low-cost CMOS technology. The frequency synthesizer is a key building block in the RF front-end of the transceivers. It is used as a local oscillator for frequency translation and channel selection. The design of a 2.4-GHz low-power frequency synthesizer in 0.35mum CMOS is a challenging task mainly due to the high-speed prescaler. In this dissertation, a brief review of conventional PLL and frequency synthesizers is provided. Design techniques of a 2.4-GHz monolithic SigmaDelta fractional-N frequency synthesizer are investigated. Novel techniques are proposed to tackle the speed and integration bottlenecks of high-frequency PLL. A low-power and inherently glitch-free phase-switching prescaler and an on-chip loop filter with capacitance multiplier are developed. Compared with the existing and popular dual-path topology, the proposed loop filter reduces circuit complexity and its power consumption and noise are negligible. Furthermore, a third-order three-level digital SigmaDelta modulator topology is employed to reduce the phase noise generated by the modulator. Suitable PFD and charge-pump designs are employed to reduce their nonlinearity effects and thus minimize the folding of the SigmaDelta modulator-shaped phase noise. A prototype of the fractional-N synthesizer together with some standalone building blocks is designed and fabricated in TSMC 0.35mum CMOS through MOSIS. The prototype frequency synthesizer and standalone prescaler and loop filter are characterized. The feasibility and practicality of the proposed prescaler and loop filter are experimentally verified.

Novel wideband microwave polarization network using a fully-reconfigurable photonic waveguide interleaver with a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure.

PubMed

Zhuang, Leimeng; Beeker, Willem; Leinse, Arne; Heideman, René; van Dijk, Paulus; Roeloffzen, Chris

2013-02-11

We propose and demonstrate a novel wideband microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas. The polarization network is based on a waveguide-implemented fully-reconfigurable optical interleaver using a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure. For microwave photonic signal processing, this structure is able to serve as a wideband 2 × 2 RF coupler with reconfigurable complex coefficients, and therefore can be used as a polarization network for wideband antennas. Such a device can equip the antennas with not only the polarization rotation capability for linear-polarization signals but also the capability to operate with and tune between two opposite circular polarizations. Operating together with a particular modulation scheme, the device is also able to serve for simultaneous feeding of dual-polarization signals. These photonic-implemented RF functionalities can be applied to wideband antenna systems to perform agile polarization manipulations and tracking operations. An example of such a interleaver has been realized in TriPleX waveguide technology, which was designed with a free spectral range of 20 GHz and a mask footprint of smaller than 1 × 1 cm. Using the realized device, the reconfigurable complex coefficients of the polarization network were demonstrated with a continuous bandwidth from 2 to 8 GHz and an in-band phase ripple of smaller than 5 degree. The waveguide structure of the device allows it to be further integrated with other functional building blocks of a photonic integrated circuit to realize on-chip, complex microwave photonic processors. Of particular interest, it can be included in an optical beamformer for phased array antennas, so that simultaneous wideband beam and polarization trackings can be achieved photonically. To our knowledge, this is the first-time on-chip demonstration of an integrated microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas.

Integrated circuits, and design and manufacture thereof

DOEpatents

Auracher, Stefan; Pribbernow, Claus; Hils, Andreas

2006-04-18

A representation of a macro for an integrated circuit layout. The representation may define sub-circuit cells of a module. The module may have a predefined functionality. The sub-circuit cells may include at least one reusable circuit cell. The reusable circuit cell may be configured such that when the predefined functionality of the module is not used, the reusable circuit cell is available for re-use.

EHF Test-Bed Subharmonic Mixer.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-14

work undertaken between June 1979 and April 1981 to develop a low noise, subharmonically pumped mixer f or a satel- lite receiver. A further objective is...waveguide with LO filter, of structure in Fig. 7a. 27 LO( J FILTER VRF TWT - Cj C10 RF SOURCE Fig. 8. Mixer equivalent circuit at RP. zo 9 VRF j Fig. 9

Large-Area Monolayer MoS2 for Flexible Low-Power RF Nanoelectronics in the GHz Regime.

PubMed

Chang, Hsiao-Yu; Yogeesh, Maruthi Nagavalli; Ghosh, Rudresh; Rai, Amritesh; Sanne, Atresh; Yang, Shixuan; Lu, Nanshu; Banerjee, Sanjay Kumar; Akinwande, Deji

2016-03-02

Flexible synthesized MoS2 transistors are advanced to perform at GHz speeds. An intrinsic cutoff frequency of 5.6 GHz is achieved and analog circuits are realized. Devices are mechanically robust for 10,000 bending cycles. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

670 GHz Schottky Diode Based Subharmonic Mixer with CPW Circuits and 70 GHz IF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chattopadhyay, Goutam (Inventor); Schlecht, Erich T. (Inventor); Lee, Choonsup (Inventor); Lin, Robert H. (Inventor); Gill, John J. (Inventor); Sin, Seth (Inventor); Mehdi, Imran (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A coplanar waveguide (CPW) based subharmonic mixer working at 670 GHz using GaAs Schottky diodes. One example of the mixer has a LO input, an RF input and an IF output. Another possible mixer has a LO input, and IF input and an RF output. Each input or output is connected to a coplanar waveguide with a matching network. A pair of antiparallel diodes provides a signal at twice the LO frequency, which is then mixed with a second signal to provide signals having sum and difference frequencies. The output signal of interest is received after passing through a bandpass filter tuned to the frequency range of interest.

Capacitively coupled RF voltage probe having optimized flux linkage

DOEpatents

Moore, James A.; Sparks, Dennis O.

1999-02-02

An RF sensor having a novel current sensing probe and a voltage sensing probe to measure voltage and current. The current sensor is disposed in a transmission line to link all of the flux generated by the flowing current in order to obtain an accurate measurement. The voltage sensor is a flat plate which operates as a capacitive plate to sense voltage on a center conductor of the transmission line, in which the measured voltage is obtained across a resistance leg of a R-C differentiator circuit formed by the characteristic impedance of a connecting transmission line and a capacitance of the plate, which is positioned proximal to the center conductor.

NMR measurements on the triumf polarized deuterium target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wait, G. D.; Delheij, P. P. J.; Healey, D. C.

1989-01-01

The NMR system and the polarization measurements of the TRIUMF polarized deuterium target are described. The NMR tuned circuit is kept resonant at all frequencies to allow for a high gain in the rf amplifiers and to permit the measurement of the real part of the NMR signal. A Starburst (J-11) and an LSI-11 are used to process the NMR signal at a high sample rate. A synthesizer under the control of an 8085 based microprocessor (TRIMAC) provides the rf sweep. Vector polarizations between -0.33 and -0.40 were routinely achieved during a four week run in the TRIUMF M11 pion beamline with a statistical uncertainty of 3.4% and a systematic uncertainty of 5%.

Radio Frequency Plasma Discharge Lamps for Use as Stable Calibration Light Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McAndrew, Brendan; Cooper, John; Arecchi, Angelo; McKee, Greg; Durell, Christopher

2012-01-01

Stable high radiance in visible and near-ultraviolet wavelengths is desirable for radiometric calibration sources. In this work, newly available electrodeless radio-frequency (RF) driven plasma light sources were combined with research grade, low-noise power supplies and coupled to an integrating sphere to produce a uniform radiance source. The stock light sources consist of a 28 VDC power supply, RF driver, and a resonant RF cavity. The RF cavity includes a small bulb with a fill gas that is ionized by the electric field and emits light. This assembly is known as the emitter. The RF driver supplies a source of RF energy to the emitter. In commercial form, embedded electronics within the RF driver perform a continual optimization routine to maximize energy transfer to the emitter. This optimization routine continually varies the light output sinusoidally by approximately 2% over a several-second period. Modifying to eliminate this optimization eliminates the sinusoidal variation but allows the output to slowly drift over time. This drift can be minimized by allowing sufficient warm-up time to achieve thermal equilibrium. It was also found that supplying the RF driver with a low-noise source of DC electrical power improves the stability of the lamp output. Finally, coupling the light into an integrating sphere reduces the effect of spatial fluctuations, and decreases noise at the output port of the sphere.

Silicon photonics integrated circuits: a manufacturing platform for high density, low power optical I/O's.

PubMed

Absil, Philippe P; Verheyen, Peter; De Heyn, Peter; Pantouvaki, Marianna; Lepage, Guy; De Coster, Jeroen; Van Campenhout, Joris

2015-04-06

Silicon photonics integrated circuits are considered to enable future computing systems with optical input-outputs co-packaged with CMOS chips to circumvent the limitations of electrical interfaces. In this paper we present the recent progress made to enable dense multiplexing by exploiting the integration advantage of silicon photonics integrated circuits. We also discuss the manufacturability of such circuits, a key factor for a wide adoption of this technology.

Reusable vibration resistant integrated circuit mounting socket

DOEpatents

Evans, Craig N.

1995-01-01

This invention discloses a novel form of socket for integrated circuits to be mounted on printed circuit boards. The socket uses a novel contact which is fabricated out of a bimetallic strip with a shape which makes the end of the strip move laterally as temperature changes. The end of the strip forms a barb which digs into an integrated circuit lead at normal temperatures and holds it firmly in the contact, preventing loosening and open circuits from vibration. By cooling the contact containing the bimetallic strip the barb end can be made to release so that the integrated circuit lead can be removed from the socket without damage either to the lead or to the socket components.

Integrated Topside (InTop) Joint Navy - Industry Open Architecture Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-10

57  Fig. 6.1-1 — Modified VRT dataflow key...68  Fig. 6.1-2 — Sample building block description using VRT nomenclature...converter (RF/IF) and the IF to RF converter (IF/RF) uses the VITA-49 format, also referred to as VRT (VITA Radio Transport), for real-time flow of signal

Mars Orbiter Sample Return Power Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mardesich, N.; Dawson, S.

1999-01-01

The NASA/JPL 2003/2005 Mars Sample Return (MSR) Missions will each have a sample return canister that will be filled with samples cored from the surface of MARS. These spherical canisters will be 14.8 cm in diameter and must be powered only by solar cells on the surface and must communicate using RF transmission with the recovery vehicle that will be coming in 2006 or 2009 to retrieve the canister. This paper considers the aspect and conclusion that went into the design of the power system that achieves the maximum power with the minimum risk. The power output for the spherical orbiting canister was modeled and plotted in various views of the orbit by the SOAP program developed by JPL. The requirements and geometry for a solar array on a sphere are unique and place special constraints on the design. These requirements include 1) accommodating a lid for sample loading into the canister, surface area was restricted from use on the Northern pole of the spherical canister. 2) minimal cell surface coverage (maximum cell efficiency), less than 40%, for recovery vehicle to locate the canister by optical techniques. 3) a RF transmission during 50% of MARS orbit time on any spin axis, which requires optimum circuit placement of the solar cell onto the spherical canister. The best configuration would have been a 4.5 volt round cell, but in the real world we compromised with six triangular silicon cells connected in series to form a hexagon. These hexagon circuits would be mounted onto a flat facet cut into the spherical canister. The surface flats are required in order to maximize power, the surface of the cells connected in series must be at the same angle relative to the sun. The flat facets intersect each other to allow twelve circuits evenly spaced just North and twelve circuits South of the equator of the spherical canister. Connecting these circuits in parallel allows sufficient power to operate the transmitter at minimum solar exposure, Northern pole of the canister facing the sun. Additional power, as much as 20%, is also generated by the circuits facing MARS due to albedo of MARS.

Macromodels of digital integrated circuits for program packages of circuit engineering design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrenko, A. I.; Sliusar, P. B.; Timchenko, A. P.

1984-04-01

Various aspects of the generation of macromodels of digital integrated circuits are examined, and their effective application in program packages of circuit engineering design is considered. Three levels of macromodels are identified, and the application of such models to the simulation of circuit outputs is discussed.

Integrated coherent matter wave circuits

DOE PAGES

Ryu, C.; Boshier, M. G.

2015-09-21

An integrated coherent matter wave circuit is a single device, analogous to an integrated optical circuit, in which coherent de Broglie waves are created and then launched into waveguides where they can be switched, divided, recombined, and detected as they propagate. Applications of such circuits include guided atom interferometers, atomtronic circuits, and precisely controlled delivery of atoms. We report experiments demonstrating integrated circuits for guided coherent matter waves. The circuit elements are created with the painted potential technique, a form of time-averaged optical dipole potential in which a rapidly moving, tightly focused laser beam exerts forces on atoms through theirmore » electric polarizability. Moreover, the source of coherent matter waves is a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). Finally, we launch BECs into painted waveguides that guide them around bends and form switches, phase coherent beamsplitters, and closed circuits. These are the basic elements that are needed to engineer arbitrarily complex matter wave circuitry.« less

Methods of fabricating applique circuits

DOEpatents

Dimos, Duane B.; Garino, Terry J.

1999-09-14

Applique circuits suitable for advanced packaging applications are introduced. These structures are particularly suited for the simple integration of large amounts (many nanoFarads) of capacitance into conventional integrated circuit and multichip packaging technology. In operation, applique circuits are bonded to the integrated circuit or other appropriate structure at the point where the capacitance is required, thereby minimizing the effects of parasitic coupling. An immediate application is to problems of noise reduction and control in modern high-frequency circuitry.

A revisit to self-excited push pull vacuum tube radio frequency oscillator for ion sources and power measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hlondo, L. R.; Lalremruata, B.; Punte, L. R. M.; Rebecca, L.; Lalnunthari, J.; Thanga, H. H.

2016-04-01

Self-excited push-pull vacuum tube oscillator is one of the most commonly used oscillators in radio frequency (RF)-ion plasma sources for generation of ions using radio frequency. However, in spite of its fundamental role in the process of plasma formation, the working and operational characteristics are the most frequently skip part in the descriptions of RF ion sources in literatures. A more detailed treatment is given in the present work on the RF oscillator alone using twin beam power tetrodes 829B and GI30. The circuit operates at 102 MHz, and the oscillation conditions, stability in frequency, and RF output power are studied and analyzed. A modified form of photometric method and RF peak voltage detection method are employed to study the variation of the oscillator output power with plate voltage. The power curves obtained from these measurements are quadratic in nature and increase with increase in plate voltage. However, the RF output power as measured by photometric methods is always less than the value calculated from peak voltage measurements. This difference is due to the fact that the filament coil of the ordinary light bulb used as load/detector in photometric method is not a perfect inductor. The effect of inductive reactance on power transfer to load was further investigated and a technique is developed to estimate the amount of power correction needed in the photometric measurement result.

A revisit to self-excited push pull vacuum tube radio frequency oscillator for ion sources and power measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hlondo, L. R.; Lalremruata, B.; Punte, L. R. M.

Self-excited push-pull vacuum tube oscillator is one of the most commonly used oscillators in radio frequency (RF)-ion plasma sources for generation of ions using radio frequency. However, in spite of its fundamental role in the process of plasma formation, the working and operational characteristics are the most frequently skip part in the descriptions of RF ion sources in literatures. A more detailed treatment is given in the present work on the RF oscillator alone using twin beam power tetrodes 829B and GI30. The circuit operates at 102 MHz, and the oscillation conditions, stability in frequency, and RF output power aremore » studied and analyzed. A modified form of photometric method and RF peak voltage detection method are employed to study the variation of the oscillator output power with plate voltage. The power curves obtained from these measurements are quadratic in nature and increase with increase in plate voltage. However, the RF output power as measured by photometric methods is always less than the value calculated from peak voltage measurements. This difference is due to the fact that the filament coil of the ordinary light bulb used as load/detector in photometric method is not a perfect inductor. The effect of inductive reactance on power transfer to load was further investigated and a technique is developed to estimate the amount of power correction needed in the photometric measurement result.« less

A revisit to self-excited push pull vacuum tube radio frequency oscillator for ion sources and power measurements.

PubMed

Hlondo, L R; Lalremruata, B; Punte, L R M; Rebecca, L; Lalnunthari, J; Thanga, H H

2016-04-01

Self-excited push-pull vacuum tube oscillator is one of the most commonly used oscillators in radio frequency (RF)-ion plasma sources for generation of ions using radio frequency. However, in spite of its fundamental role in the process of plasma formation, the working and operational characteristics are the most frequently skip part in the descriptions of RF ion sources in literatures. A more detailed treatment is given in the present work on the RF oscillator alone using twin beam power tetrodes 829B and GI30. The circuit operates at 102 MHz, and the oscillation conditions, stability in frequency, and RF output power are studied and analyzed. A modified form of photometric method and RF peak voltage detection method are employed to study the variation of the oscillator output power with plate voltage. The power curves obtained from these measurements are quadratic in nature and increase with increase in plate voltage. However, the RF output power as measured by photometric methods is always less than the value calculated from peak voltage measurements. This difference is due to the fact that the filament coil of the ordinary light bulb used as load/detector in photometric method is not a perfect inductor. The effect of inductive reactance on power transfer to load was further investigated and a technique is developed to estimate the amount of power correction needed in the photometric measurement result.

Single-Chip T/R Module for 1.2 GHz

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moussessian, Alina; Mojarradi, Mohammad; Johnson, Travis; Davis, John; Grigorian, Edwin; Hoffman, James; Caro, Edward; Kuhn, William

2006-01-01

A single-chip CMOS-based (complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductorbased) transmit/receive (T/R) module is being developed for L-band radar systems. Previous T/R module implementations required multiple chips employing different technologies (GaAs, Si, and others) combined with off-chip transmission lines and discrete components including circulators. The new design eliminates the bulky circulator, significantly reducing the size and mass of the T/R module. Compared to multi-chip designs, the single-chip CMOS can be implemented with lower cost. These innovations enable cost-effective realization of advanced phased array and synthetic aperture radar systems that require integration of thousands of T/R modules. The circulator is a ferromagnetic device that directs the flow of the RF (radio frequency) power during transmission and reception. During transmission, the circulator delivers the transmitted power from the amplifier to the antenna, while preventing it from damaging the sensitive receiver circuitry. During reception, the circulator directs the energy from the antenna to the low-noise amplifier (LNA) while isolating the output of the power amplifier (PA). In principle, a circulator could be replaced by series transistors acting as electronic switches. However, in practice, the integration of conventional series transistors into a T/R chip introduces significant losses and noise. The prototype single-chip T/R module contains integrated transistor switches, but not connected in series; instead, they are connected in a shunt configuration with resonant circuits (see figure). The shunt/resonant circuit topology not only reduces the losses associated with conventional semiconductor switches but also provides beneficial transformation of impedances for the PA and the LNA. It provides full singlepole/ double-throw switching for the antenna, isolating the LNA from the transmitted signal and isolating the PA from the received signal. During reception, the voltage on control line RX/TX (raised bar) is high, causing the field-effect transistor (FET) switch S1 to be closed, forming a parallel resonant tank circuit L1||C1. This circuit presents high impedance to the left of the antenna, so that the received signal is coupled to the LNA. At the same time, FET switches S2 and S3 are open, so that C2 is removed from the circuit (except for a small parasitic capacitance). The combination of L2 and C3 forms a matching network that transforms the antenna impedance of 50 ohms to a higher value from the perspective of the LNA input terminal. This transformation of impedance improves LNA noise figure by increasing the received voltage delivered to the input transistor. This allows lower transconductance and therefore a smaller transistor, which makes it possible to design the CMOS LNA for low power consumption. During transmission, the voltage on control line RX/TX (raised bar) is low, causing switch S1 to be open. In this configuration, the combination of L1 and C1 transforms the antenna impedance to a lower value from the perspective of the PA. This low impedance is helpful in producing a relatively high output power compatible with the low CMOS operating potential. At the same time, switches S2 and S3 are closed, forming the parallel resonant tank circuit L2||C2. This circuit presents high impedance to the right of the antenna, directing the PA output signal to the antenna and away from the LNA. During this time, S3 presents a short circuit across the LNA input terminals to guarantee that the voltage seen by the LNA is small enough to prevent damage.

A high-efficiency self-powered wireless sensor node for monitoring concerning vibratory events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Dacheng; Li, Suiqiong; Li, Mengyang; Xie, Danpeng; Dong, Chuan; Li, Xinxin

2017-09-01

This paper presents a self-powered wireless alarming sensor node (SWASN), which was designed to monitor the occurrence of concerning vibratory events. The major components of the sensor node include a vibration-threshold-triggered energy harvester (VTTEH) that powers the sensor node, a dual threshold voltage control circuit (DTVCC) for power management and a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitting module. The VTTEH generates significant electric energy only when the input vibration reaches certain amplitude. Thus, the VTTEH serves as both the power source and the vibration-event-sensing element for the sensor node. The DTVCC was specifically designed to utilize the limited power supply from the VTTEH to operate the sensor node. Constructed with only voltage detectors and MOSFETs, the DTVCC achieved low power consumption, which was 65% lower compared with the power management circuit designed in our previous work. Meanwhile, a RF transmit circuit was constructed based on the commercially available CC1110-F32 wireless transceiver chip and a compact planar antenna was designed to improve the signal transmission distance. The sensor node was fabricated and was characterized both in the laboratory and in the field. Experimental results showed that the SWASN could automatically send out alarming signals when the simulated concerning event occurred. The waiting time between two consecutive transmission periods is less than 125 s and the transmission distance can reach 1.31 km. The SWASN will have broad applications in field surveillances.

Development of ROACH firmware for microwave multiplexed X-ray TES microcalorimeters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Madden, T. J.; Cecil, T. W.; Gades, L. M.

We are developing room temperature electronics based upon the ROACH platform for reading out microwave multiplexed X-ray TES. ROACH is an open-source hardware and software platform featuring a large Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Power PC processor, several 10GB Ethernet SFP+ interfaces, and a collection of daughter boards for analog signal generation and acquisition. The combination of a ROACH board, ADC/DAC conversion daughter boards, and hardware for RF mixing allows for the generation and capture of multiple RF tones for reading out microwave multiplexed x-ray TES microcalorimeters. The FPGA is used to generate multiple tones in base band, frommore » 10MHz to 250MHz, which are subsequently mixed to RF in the multiple GHz range and sent through the microwave multiplexer. The tones are generated in the FPGA by storing a large lookup table in Quad Data Rate (QDR) SRAM modules and playing out the waveform to a DAC board. Once the signal has been modulated to RF, passed through the microwave multiplexer, and has been modulated back to base band, the signal is digitized by an ADC board. The tones are modulated to 0Hz by using a FPGA circuit consisting of a polyphase filter bank, several Xilinx FFT blocks, Xilinx CORDIC blocks (for converting to magnitude and phase), and special phase accumulator circuit for mixing to exactly 0Hz. Upwards of 256 channels can be simultaneously captured and written into a bank of 256 First-In-First-Out (FIFO) memories, with each FIFO corresponding to a channel. Individual channel data can be further processed in the FPGA before being streamed through a 10GB Ethernet fiber-optic interface to a Linux system. The Linux system runs software written in Python and QT C++ for controlling the ROACH system, capturing data, and processing data.« less

Predicting the performance of a power amplifier using large-signal circuit simulations of an AlGaN/GaN HFET model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilbro, Griff L.; Hou, Danqiong; Yin, Hong; Trew, Robert J.

2009-02-01

We have quantitatively modeled the conduction current and charge storage of an HFET in terms its physical dimensions and material properties. For DC or small-signal RF operation, no adjustable parameters are necessary to predict the terminal characteristics of the device. Linear performance measures such as small-signal gain and input admittance can be predicted directly from the geometric structure and material properties assumed for the device design. We have validated our model at low-frequency against experimental I-V measurements and against two-dimensional device simulations. We discuss our recent extension of our model to include a larger class of electron velocity-field curves. We also discuss the recent reformulation of our model to facilitate its implementation in commercial large-signal high-frequency circuit simulators. Large signal RF operation is more complex. First, the highest CW microwave power is fundamentally bounded by a brief, reversible channel breakdown in each RF cycle. Second, the highest experimental measurements of efficiency, power, or linearity always require harmonic load pull and possibly also harmonic source pull. Presently, our model accounts for these facts with an adjustable breakdown voltage and with adjustable load impedances and source impedances for the fundamental frequency and its harmonics. This has allowed us to validate our model for large signal RF conditions by simultaneously fitting experimental measurements of output power, gain, and power added efficiency of real devices. We show that the resulting model can be used to compare alternative device designs in terms of their large signal performance, such as their output power at 1dB gain compression or their third order intercept points. In addition, the model provides insight into new device physics features enabled by the unprecedented current and voltage levels of AlGaN/GaN HFETs, including non-ohmic resistance in the source access regions and partial depletion of the 2DEG in the drain access region.

Progress Toward a Gigawatt-Class Annular Beam Klystron with a Thermionic Electron Gun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazio, M.; Carlsten, B.; Farnham, J.; Habiger, K.; Haynes, W.; Myers, J.; Nelson, E.; Smith, J.; Arfin, B.; Haase, A.

2002-08-01

In an effort to reach the gigawatt power level in the microsecond pulse length regime Los Alamos, in collaboration with SLAC, is developing an annular beam klystron (ABK) with a thermionic electron gun. We hope to address the causes of pulse shortening in very high peak power tubes by building a "hard-vacuum" tube in the 10-10 Torr range with a thermionic electron gun producing a constant impedance electron-beam. The ABK has been designed to operate at 5 Hz pulse repetition frequency to allow for RF conditioning. The electron gun has a magnetron injection gun configuration and uses a dispenser cathode running at 1100 degC to produce a 4 kA electron beam at 800 kV. The cathode is designed to run in the temperature-limited mode to help maintain beam stability in the gun. The beam-stick consisting of the electron gun, an input cavity, an idler cavity, and drift tube, and the collector has been designed collaboratively, fabricated at SLAC, then shipped to Los Alamos for testing. On the test stand at Los Alamos a low voltage emission test was performed, but unfortunately as we prepared for high voltage testing a problem with the cathode heater was encountered that prevented the cathode from reaching a high enough temperature for electron emission. A post-mortem examination will be done shortly to determine the exact cause of the heater failure. The RF design has been proceeding and is almost complete. The output cavity presents a challenging design problem in trying to efficiently extract energy from the low impedance beam while maintaining a gap voltage low enough to avoid breakdown and a Q high enough to maintain mode purity. In the next iteration, the ABK will have a new cathode assembly installed along with the remainder of the RF circuit. This paper will discuss the electron gun and the design of the RF circuit along with a report on the status of the work.

CAT/RF Simulation Lessons Learned

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-06-11

IVSS-2003-MAS-7 CAT /RF Simulation Lessons Learned Christopher Mocnik Vetronics Technology Area, RDECOM TARDEC Tim Lee DCS Corporation...developed a re- configurable Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) simulation for the Crew integration and Automation Test bed ( CAT ) and Robotics Follower (RF...Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) experiments. This simulation was developed as a component of the Embedded Simulation System (ESS) of the CAT

Assessment of the potential noncancer health hazards of PCBs for inclusion on EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

EPA Science Inventory

At present, there are IRIS RfDs for two commercial PCB mixtures: Aroclor 1016 and Aroclor 1254. There is no IRIS RfD for complex PCB mixtures in general; and the RfDs for Aroclor 1016 and Aroclor 1254 were last updated in 1993 and 1994, respectively. The new assessment will integ...

Resonance Frequency Readout Circuit for a 900 MHz SAW Device

PubMed Central

Liu, Heng; Zhang, Chun; Weng, Zhaoyang; Guo, Yanshu; Wang, Zhihua

2017-01-01

A monolithic resonance frequency readout circuit with high resolution and short measurement time is presented for a 900 MHz RF surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor. The readout circuit is composed of a fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) as the stimulus source to the SAW device and a phase-based resonance frequency detecting circuit using successive approximation (SAR). A new resonance frequency searching strategy has been proposed based on the fact that the SAW device phase-frequency response crosses zero monotonically around the resonance frequency. A dedicated instant phase difference detecting circuit is adopted to facilitate the fast SAR operation for resonance frequency searching. The readout circuit has been implemented in 180 nm CMOS technology with a core area of 3.24 mm2. In the experiment, it works with a 900 MHz SAW resonator with a quality factor of Q = 130. Experimental results show that the readout circuit consumes 7 mW power from 1.6 V supply. The frequency resolution is 733 Hz, and the relative accuracy is 0.82 ppm, and it takes 0.48 ms to complete one measurement. Compared to the previous results in the literature, this work has achieved the shortest measurement time with a trade-off between measurement accuracy and measurement time. PMID:28914799

Resonance Frequency Readout Circuit for a 900 MHz SAW Device.

PubMed

Liu, Heng; Zhang, Chun; Weng, Zhaoyang; Guo, Yanshu; Wang, Zhihua

2017-09-15

A monolithic resonance frequency readout circuit with high resolution and short measurement time is presented for a 900 MHz RF surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor. The readout circuit is composed of a fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) as the stimulus source to the SAW device and a phase-based resonance frequency detecting circuit using successive approximation (SAR). A new resonance frequency searching strategy has been proposed based on the fact that the SAW device phase-frequency response crosses zero monotonically around the resonance frequency. A dedicated instant phase difference detecting circuit is adopted to facilitate the fast SAR operation for resonance frequency searching. The readout circuit has been implemented in 180 nm CMOS technology with a core area of 3.24 mm². In the experiment, it works with a 900 MHz SAW resonator with a quality factor of Q = 130. Experimental results show that the readout circuit consumes 7 mW power from 1.6 V supply. The frequency resolution is 733 Hz, and the relative accuracy is 0.82 ppm, and it takes 0.48 ms to complete one measurement. Compared to the previous results in the literature, this work has achieved the shortest measurement time with a trade-off between measurement accuracy and measurement time.

Electronic Model of a Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

MacLeod, Todd C.; Ho, Fat Duen; Russell, Larry (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A pair of electronic models has been developed of a Ferroelectric Field Effect transistor. These models can be used in standard electrical circuit simulation programs to simulate the main characteristics of the FFET. The models use the Schmitt trigger circuit as a basis for their design. One model uses bipolar junction transistors and one uses MOSFET's. Each model has the main characteristics of the FFET, which are the current hysterisis with different gate voltages and decay of the drain current when the gate voltage is off. The drain current from each model has similar values to an actual FFET that was measured experimentally. T'he input and o Output resistance in the models are also similar to that of the FFET. The models are valid for all frequencies below RF levels. No attempt was made to model the high frequency characteristics of the FFET. Each model can be used to design circuits using FFET's with standard electrical simulation packages. These circuits can be used in designing non-volatile memory circuits and logic circuits and is compatible with all SPICE based circuit analysis programs. The models consist of only standard electrical components, such as BJT's, MOSFET's, diodes, resistors, and capacitors. Each model is compared to the experimental data measured from an actual FFET.

A Robust High-Performance GPS L1 Receiver with Single-stage Quadrature Redio-Frequency Circuit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jianghua; Xu, Weilin; Wan, Qinq; Liu, Tianci

2018-03-01

A low power current reuse single-stage quadrature raido-frequency part (SQRF) is proposed for GPS L1 receiver in 180nm CMOS process. The proposed circuit consists of LNA, Mixer, QVCO, is called the QLMV cell. A two blocks stacked topology is adopted in this design. The parallel QVCO and mixer placed on the top forms the upper stacked block, and the LNA placed on the bottom forms the other stacked block. The two blocks share the current and achieve low power performance. To improve the stability, a float current source is proposed. The float current isolated the local oscillation signal and the input RF signal, which bring the whole circuit robust high-performance. The result shows conversion gain is 34 dB, noise figure is three dB, the phase noise is -110 dBc/Hz at 1MHz and IIP3 is -20 dBm. The proposed circuit dissipated 1.7mW with 1 V supply voltage.

Can we estimate plasma density in ICP driver through electrical parameters in RF circuit?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bandyopadhyay, M., E-mail: mainak@iter-india.org; Sudhir, Dass, E-mail: dass.sudhir@iter-india.org; Chakraborty, A., E-mail: arunkc@iter-india.org

2015-04-08

To avoid regular maintenance, invasive plasma diagnostics with probes are not included in the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) based ITER Neutral Beam (NB) source design. Even non-invasive probes like optical emission spectroscopic diagnostics are also not included in the present ITER NB design due to overall system design and interface issues. As a result, negative ion beam current through the extraction system in the ITER NB negative ion source is the only measurement which indicates plasma condition inside the ion source. However, beam current not only depends on the plasma condition near the extraction region but also on the perveancemore » condition of the ion extractor system and negative ion stripping. Nevertheless, inductively coupled plasma production region (RF driver region) is placed at distance (∼ 30cm) from the extraction region. Due to that, some uncertainties are expected to be involved if one tries to link beam current with plasma properties inside the RF driver. Plasma characterization in source RF driver region is utmost necessary to maintain the optimum condition for source operation. In this paper, a method of plasma density estimation is described, based on density dependent plasma load calculation.« less

Differential transimpedance amplifier circuit for correlated differential amplification

DOEpatents

Gresham, Christopher A [Albuquerque, NM; Denton, M Bonner [Tucson, AZ; Sperline, Roger P [Tucson, AZ

2008-07-22

A differential transimpedance amplifier circuit for correlated differential amplification. The amplifier circuit increase electronic signal-to-noise ratios in charge detection circuits designed for the detection of very small quantities of electrical charge and/or very weak electromagnetic waves. A differential, integrating capacitive transimpedance amplifier integrated circuit comprising capacitor feedback loops performs time-correlated subtraction of noise.

Design, Fabrication and Testing of Tunable RF Meta-atoms

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-14

Simple cantilever beam with actuation pad covered with a thin dielectric layer for short circuit protection...Cantilever actuation simulated with CoventorWare ® to determine the biasing voltage necessary to draw the cantilevers to the actuation pads ...Capacitive tunable meta-atom fabricated on quartz substrate. The meta-atom had to be cut at the metal trace leading to the cantilever actuation pads

A Standard for RF Modulation Factor,

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-09-01

Mathematics of Physics and Chemistry, pp. 474-477 (D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., 1943). [23] Graybill , F. A., An Introduction to Linear ...circuit model . The primary limitation on the quadratic technique is the linearity and bandwidth of the analog multiplier. A high speed (5 MHz...o ...... . ..... 39 7.2.1. Nonlinearity Model ............................................... 41 7.2.2. Model Parameters

Wireless Displacement Sensing of Micromachined Spiral-Coil Actuator Using Resonant Frequency Tracking

PubMed Central

Ali, Mohamed Sultan Mohamed; AbuZaiter, Alaa; Schlosser, Colin; Bycraft, Brad; Takahata, Kenichi

2014-01-01

This paper reports a method that enables real-time displacement monitoring and control of micromachined resonant-type actuators using wireless radiofrequency (RF). The method is applied to an out-of-plane, spiral-coil microactuator based on shape-memory-alloy (SMA). The SMA spiral coil forms an inductor-capacitor resonant circuit that is excited using external RF magnetic fields to thermally actuate the coil. The actuation causes a shift in the circuit's resonance as the coil is displaced vertically, which is wirelessly monitored through an external antenna to track the displacements. Controlled actuation and displacement monitoring using the developed method is demonstrated with the microfabricated device. The device exhibits a frequency sensitivity to displacement of 10 kHz/μm or more for a full out-of-plane travel range of 466 μm and an average actuation velocity of up to 155 μm/s. The method described permits the actuator to have a self-sensing function that is passively operated, thereby eliminating the need for separate sensors and batteries on the device, thus realizing precise control while attaining a high level of miniaturization in the device. PMID:25014100

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forno, Massimo Dal; Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste; Craievich, Paolo

The front-end injection systems of the FERMI@Elettra linac produce high brightness electron beams that define the performance of the Free Electron Laser. The photoinjector mainly consists of the radiofrequency (rf) gun and of two S-band rf structures which accelerate the beam. Accelerating structures endowed with a single feed coupler cause deflection and degradation of the electron beam properties, due to the asymmetry of the electromagnetic field. In this paper, a new type of single feed structure with movable short-circuit is proposed. It has the advantage of having only one waveguide input, but we propose a novel design where the dipolarmore » component is reduced. Moreover, the racetrack geometry allows to reduce the quadrupolar component. This paper presents the microwave design and the analysis of the particle motion inside the linac. A prototype has been machined at the Elettra facility to verify the new coupler design and the rf field has been measured by adopting the bead-pull method. The results are here presented, showing good agreement with the expectations.« less

Noise elimination method using a transmission line for the diagnostics of radio frequency plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, K.; Hallil, A.; Amemiya, H.

1997-04-01

A filter using a transmission line formed by a cascade connection of inverted L-type networks has been developed to reject the distortion of the probe characteristics by rf (radio-frequency) noise. Each inverse L network consists of two coaxial cables with the same physical constant and length. The filter can remove discrete frequency components including the fundamental and harmonic components, the cut-off frequencies being determined by the distributed circuit constant and the length of the cables. By inserting different kinds of the network in cascade, many noise components associated with the rf frequency can be eliminated at the end section of the filter. Experiments have been performed in rf plasmas by inserting three kinds of inverted L networks with the frequency f (13.56 MHz), 2 f and 4f as the cut-off frequency. Distortion free probe characteristics have been obtained, from which accurate determination of plasma parameter such as the electron energy distribution is possible.

PIC microcontroller-based RF wireless ECG monitoring system.

PubMed

Oweis, R J; Barhoum, A

2007-01-01

This paper presents a radio-telemetry system that provides the possibility of ECG signal transmission from a patient detection circuit via an RF data link. A PC then receives the signal through the National Instrument data acquisition card (NIDAQ). The PC is equipped with software allowing the received ECG signals to be saved, analysed, and sent by email to another part of the world. The proposed telemetry system consists of a patient unit and a PC unit. The amplified and filtered ECG signal is sampled 360 times per second, and the A/D conversion is performed by a PIC16f877 microcontroller. The major contribution of the final proposed system is that it detects, processes and sends patients ECG data over a wireless RF link to a maximum distance of 200 m. Transmitted ECG data with different numbers of samples were received, decoded by means of another PIC microcontroller, and displayed using MATLAB program. The designed software is presented in a graphical user interface utility.

Modeling of an 8-12 GHz receiver front-end based on an in-line MEMS frequency discriminator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Chenlei; Liao, Xiaoping

2018-06-01

This paper focuses on the modeling of an 8-12 GHz RF (radio frequency) receiver front-end based on an in-line MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) frequency discriminator. Actually, the frequency detection is realized by measuring the output dc thermal voltage generated by the MEMS thermoelectric power sensor. Based on this thermal voltage, it has a great potential to tune the resonant frequency of the VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) in the RF receiver front-end application. The equivalent circuit model of the in-line frequency discriminator is established and the measurement verification is also implemented. Measurement and simulation results show that the output dc thermal voltage has a nearly linear relation with frequency. A new construction of RF receiver front-end is then obtained by connecting the in-line frequency discriminator with the voltage controlling port of VCO. Lastly, a systemic simulation is processed by computer-aided software and the real-time simulation waveform at each key point is observed clearly.

Comparison of three rf plasma impedance monitors on a high phase angle planar inductively coupled plasma source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchiyama, H.; Watanabe, M.; Shaw, D. M.; Bahia, J. E.; Collins, G. J.

1999-10-01

Accurate measurement of plasma source impedance is important for verification of plasma circuit models, as well as for plasma process characterization and endpoint detection. Most impedance measurement techniques depend in some manner on the cosine of the phase angle to determine the impedance of the plasma load. Inductively coupled plasmas are generally highly inductive, with the phase angle between the applied rf voltage and the rf current in the range of 88 to near 90 degrees. A small measurement error in this phase angle range results in a large error in the calculated cosine of the angle, introducing large impedance measurement variations. In this work, we have compared the measured impedance of a planar inductively coupled plasma using three commercial plasma impedance monitors (ENI V/I probe, Advanced Energy RFZ60 and Advanced Energy Z-Scan). The plasma impedance is independently verified using a specially designed match network and a calibrated load, representing the plasma, to provide a measurement standard.

Non-contact radio frequency shielding and wave guiding by multi-folded transformation optics method

PubMed Central

Madni, Hamza Ahmad; Zheng, Bin; Yang, Yihao; Wang, Huaping; Zhang, Xianmin; Yin, Wenyan; Li, Erping; Chen, Hongsheng

2016-01-01

Compared with conventional radio frequency (RF) shielding methods in which the conductive coating material encloses the circuits design and the leakage problem occurs due to the gap in such conductive material, non-contact RF shielding at a distance is very promising but still impossible to achieve so far. In this paper, a multi-folded transformation optics method is proposed to design a non-contact device for RF shielding. This “open-shielded” device can shield any object at a distance from the electromagnetic waves at the operating frequency, while the object is still physically open to the outer space. Based on this, an open-carpet cloak is proposed and the functionality of the open-carpet cloak is demonstrated. Furthermore, we investigate a scheme of non-contact wave guiding to remotely control the propagation of surface waves over any obstacles. The flexibilities of such multi-folded transformation optics method demonstrate the powerfulness of the method in the design of novel remote devices with impressive new functionalities. PMID:27841358

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma response to chemotherapy enhanced with non-invasive radio frequency evaluated via an integrated experimental/computational approach.

PubMed

Ware, Matthew J; Curtis, Louis T; Wu, Min; Ho, Jason C; Corr, Stuart J; Curley, Steven A; Godin, Biana; Frieboes, Hermann B

2017-06-13

Although chemotherapy combined with radiofrequency exposure has shown promise in cancer treatment by coupling drug cytotoxicity with thermal ablation or thermally-induced cytotoxicity, limited access of the drug to tumor loci in hypo-vascularized lesions has hampered clinical application. We recently showed that high-intensity short-wave capacitively coupled radiofrequency (RF) electric-fields may reach inaccessible targets in vivo. This non-invasive RF combined with gemcitabine (Gem) chemotherapy enhanced drug uptake and effect in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), notorious for having poor response and limited therapeutic options, but without inducing thermal injury. We hypothesize that the enhanced cytotoxicity derives from RF-facilitated drug transport in the tumor microenvironment. We propose an integrated experimental/computational approach to evaluate chemotherapeutic response combined with RF-induced phenotypic changes in tissue with impaired transport. Results show that RF facilitates diffusive transport in 3D cell cultures representing hypo-vascularized lesions, enhancing drug uptake and effect. Computational modeling evaluates drug vascular extravasation and diffusive transport as key RF-modulated parameters, with transport being dominant. Assessment of hypothetical schedules following current clinical protocol for Stage-IV PDAC suggests that unresponsive lesions may be growth-restrained when exposed to Gem plus RF. Comparison of these projections to experiments in vivo indicates that synergy may result from RF-induced cell phenotypic changes enhancing drug transport and cytotoxicity, thus providing a potential baseline for clinically-focused evaluation.

A simple 5-DoF MR-compatible motion signal measurement system.

PubMed

Chung, Soon-Cheol; Kim, Hyung-Sik; Yang, Jae-Woong; Lee, Su-Jeong; Choi, Mi-Hyun; Kim, Ji-Hye; Yeon, Hong-Won; Park, Jang-Yeon; Yi, Jeong-Han; Tack, Gye-Rae

2011-09-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a simple motion measurement system with magnetic resonance (MR) compatibility and safety. The motion measurement system proposed here can measure 5-DoF motion signals without deteriorating the MR images, and it has no effect on the intense and homogeneous main magnetic field, the temporal-gradient magnetic field (which varies rapidly with time), the transceiver radio frequency (RF) coil, and the RF pulse during MR data acquisition. A three-axis accelerometer and a two-axis gyroscope were used to measure 5-DoF motion signals, and Velcro was used to attach a sensor module to a finger or wrist. To minimize the interference between the MR imaging system and the motion measurement system, nonmagnetic materials were used for all electric circuit components in an MR shield room. To remove the effect of RF pulse, an amplifier, modulation circuit, and power supply were located in a shielded case, which was made of copper and aluminum. The motion signal was modulated to an optic signal using pulse width modulation, and the modulated optic signal was transmitted outside the MR shield room using a high-intensity light-emitting diode and an optic cable. The motion signal was recorded on a PC by demodulating the transmitted optic signal into an electric signal. Various kinematic variables, such as angle, acceleration, velocity, and jerk, can be measured or calculated by using the motion measurement system developed here. This system also enables motion tracking by extracting the position information from the motion signals. It was verified that MR images and motion signals could reliably be measured simultaneously.