SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors and circuits toward terahertz communication applications

The relatively less exploited terahertz band possesses great potential for a variety of important applications, including communication applications that would benefit from the enormous bandwidth within the terahertz spectrum. This paper overviews an approach toward terahertz applications based on SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, focusing on broad-band communication applications. The design, characteristics, and reliability of SiGe HBTs exhibiting record f/sub T/ of 375 GHz and associated f/sub max/ of 210 GHz are presented. The impact of device optimization on noise characteristics is described for both low-frequency and broad-band noise. Circuit implementations of SiGe technologies are demonstrated with selected circuit blocks for broad-band communication systems, including a 3.9-ps emitter coupled logic ring oscillator, a 100-GHz frequency divider, 40-GHz voltage-controlled oscillator, and a 70-Gb/s 4:1 multiplexer. With no visible limitation for further enhancement of device speed at hand, the march toward terahertz band with Si-based technology will continue for the foreseeable future.     

Transistor design and application considerations for >200-GHz SiGe HBTs

SiGe HBT transistors achieving over 200 GHz f/sub T/ and f/sub MAX/ are demonstrated in this paper. Techniques and trends in SiGe HBT design are discussed. Processing techniques available to silicon technologies are utilized to minimize parasitic resistances and capacitances and thereby establish raw speeds exceeding III-V devices despite the higher mobility in those materials. Higher current densities and greater avalanche currents, which are required for establishing such high performance, are discussed as they relate to device self-heating and reliability and the degradation of the devices. Simple circuit results are shown, demonstrating 4.2-ps ring-oscillator delays.     

Continuous,Atmospheric Process to Create Organic Clusters and Nanostructured,Functional Films

An atmospheric process based on compressed CO₂ is used to create stable clusters of small organic molecules. These clusters, 1–10 nm in size, are used as building blocks to assemble thin films on various substrates. Cluster assembly of these films is verified by using low‐angle X‐ray diffraction. The surface quality of these cluster‐assembled films is similar to that of films usually prepared via the vacuum process. Several functional organic light‐emitting diode devices have been prepared, in which only the doped emissive layer has been deposited by our process. The radiometric features and efficiencies of these devices match those of vacuum‐built devices. Atomic force microscopy of these molecular clusters reveals that they are liquid‐like at standard atmospheric conditions. Coatings of these clusters on cloth and stainless steel have been found to be superhydrophobic in nature.     

A graph theoretical approach for the yield enhancement of reconfigurable VLSI/WSI arrays

In this paper, we consider the yield enhancement of programmable structures by logical restructuring of the circuit placement. In this approach, an initial placement of a circuit on the array is first obtained by simulated annealing on a defect-free array. To implement the circuit on a defective array, the initial placement is reconfigured so that only the defect-free portion of the array is used. Customizing a given initial placement for each defective chip by logical restructuring, if done very fast, would be a cost effective method for yield enhancement. We describe a formulation of the circuit reconfiguration problem in terms of graphs and pebbles, wherein each processing element (PE) of the array is represented by a vertex which is classified as either defective or nondefective, depending upon whether the PE that it represents is defective or nondefective. Vertices representing PEs that are physically adjacent are connected by an edge, whose length is a measure of the proximity of the PEs. The logic elements of a circuit are represented by weighted pebbles. The initial placement of the circuit on the array corresponds to an initial placement of the pebbles on the vertices of the graph, with at most one pebble per vertex. The problem is to successively shift these pebbles along paths in the graph, such that after reconfiguration no pebble is located on a defective vertex, and an associated cost function is minimized. We describe four cost measures using weighted displacement and weighted shift of the pebbles. After presenting exact algorithms for some special cases of the problem, we prove the NP-completeness of the general cases of the corresponding decision problems.     

Finite-dimensional quantum mechanics of a particle. III. The Weylian quantum mechanics of confined quarks

A finite-dimensional analog of Weyl's formulation of quantum kinematics of a physical system through irreducible Abelian groups of unitary ray rotations in system space offers many possibilities for the quantum mechanics of confined particles. This paper is devoted to the expansion of the recently developed framework of such Weylian finite-dimensional quantum mechanics which may provide a new way of thinking about the characteristics of quark physics.     

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and biochemical investigation of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Asian Indians: observation of high muscle lipids and C-reactive protein levels

We report the determination of intramyocellular lipids (IMCLs) of the soleus muscle of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In addition, the various anthropometric and biochemical profiles of these patients were determined, including estimation of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker of coronary heart disease, and insulin resistance [Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA-IR)]. The estimated CRP level and the IMCL content in these patients were correlated with body mass index, percentage of body fat, other measures of abdominal obesity, serum lipoproteins, fasting and post-oral glucose load serum insulin levels and other surrogate markers of insulin resistance. The IMCL content (P=.04), CRP (P=.008) and insulin resistance (P=.0007) were significantly higher in T2DM patients compared to healthy controls. However, IMCL content did not correlate with values of fasting insulin, HOMA-IR or CRP in either group. These findings have strong implications of increased cardiovascular risk in Asian Indians with T2DM. The absence of relationship between CRP and IMCL needs to be explored further in a study using a large sample size.     

Correlation between metabolite ratios and ADC values of prostate in men with increased PSA level

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) were carried out in men with increased prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. Forty subjects [controls (Group I) and patients (Groups II and III with PSA >20 and 4-20 ng/ml, respectively)] were investigated using endorectal coil at 1.5 T prior to transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy. Metabolite ratio [citrate/(choline+creatine)] and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were calculated for identical voxels. In patients, voxels that showed lower metabolite ratio showed reduced ADC in the peripheral zone (PZ) of the prostate, and voxels with increased metabolite ratio showed higher ADC. Metabolite ratios were used to predict areas of malignancy if the ratio was <1.4 and if ADC value was <1.17 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s. Patients in Group II had lower metabolite ratio and ADC in the PZ compared to controls and Group III. All 13 were positive for malignancy in MR, while 12 of 13 were positive on TRUS-guided sextant biopsy. In Group III, certain voxels of PZ that showed reduced metabolite ratio also showed lower ADC. A positive correlation was observed between metabolite ratio and ADC. MR predicted areas of malignancy in PZ in 15 of 20 patients; however, only six were positive on TRUS-guided biopsy perhaps due to high false-negative rate of TRUS-guided biopsy. Results show positive correlation between MRSI and DWI and their potential in detection of malignancy, thereby improving the diagnosis especially in patients with PSA level of 4-20 ng/ml.     

Duality for nonlinear fractional programs

Summary This paper develops duality results for nonlinear fractional programming problems. This is accomplished by using some known results connecting the solutions of a nonlinear fractional program with those of a suitably defined parametric convex program.     

A numerical investigation of the resonance of gas-filled microbubbles: resonance dependence on acoustic pressure amplitude

The general Keller-Herring equation for free gas bubbles is augmented by specific terms to describe the elasticity, viscosity and thickness of the encapsulating shell in ultrasound contrast agent microbubbles. A numerical investigation that analyses the acoustic backscatter from bubbles is employed to identify resonance frequencies that can be compared, for increasing driving pressure amplitude, with linear approximations obtained via analytical considerations. Calculations for bubbles of the size employed in diagnostic ultrasound, between 2 and 6 mum diameter, that are immersed in water and blood and exposed to monochromatic insonation, causing the bubbles to undergo stable cavitation, reveal that the resonance frequency diverges from the linear approximation as the pressure amplitude is increased. The shift in resonance, to lower frequency values, is found to be more pronounced for larger bubbles with the calculated value differing by up to 40% from the linear approximation. The results of this simulation might be potentially useful in preparation of formulations of ultrasound contrast agents with the specifically desired features, such as for instance resonance frequency.     

Resolution-enhanced 3D image correlator using computationally reconstructed integral images

In this paper, a novel resolution-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) image correlator using the computationally reconstructed integral images is proposed in order to extract target object’s 3D location data in a scene. Elemental images of the reference and target objects are picked up by lenslet arrays and using these elemental images, reference and target plane images are reconstructed on the output plane by means of a modified computational integral imaging reconstruction technique. Then, through cross-correlations between the reconstructed reference and the target plane images, 3D location data of the target object can be extracted from the correlation outputs. With the purpose of showing the feasibility of the proposed method, some computational and optical experiments on the target objects in space are carried out and the results are presented.