Crystallographic report: Bis{[diacetyl‐bis(2,6‐isopropylphenylimine)]nickel(I)(µ‐chloro)}

The first α‐diimine nickel(I) complex having a chloro bridge is reported. The centrosymmetric dinuclear structure of {[ArN?C(Me)C(Me)?NAr]NiCl}₂[Ar?2,6?C₆H₃(i‐Pr)₂] features two chelating α‐diimine ligands and two bridged chlorine atoms, so that a distorted tetrahedral N₂Cl₂ coordination geometry for nickel results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Noise–Power Optimization of Incremental Data Converters

Incremental data converters (IDCs) are useful in instrumentation and measurement applications, where low-frequency analog signals need to be converted into digital form with high accuracy and low power dissipation. They are particularly well suited for applications where a single analog-digital converter is multiplexed between many channels. This paper proposes an exact design methodology for IDCs, which optimizes the signal-to-noise ratio of the converter under practical design constraints. The process also allows the designer to apportion the noise budget in an arbitrary manner between thermal and quantization noise. The design process is illustrated by an example which describes the optimization of a third-order multiplexed IDC.     

Crystallographic report: catena‐Aqua(2,2′‐bipyrimidine)lithium(I) perchlorate

A lithium(I) coordination polymer has been formed from LiClO₄ and the 2,2′‐bipyrimidine (bpym) ligand in which each square pyramidal lithium(I) atom is coordinated in the basal plane by four nitrogen donor atoms derived from two bpym ligands and one water molecule at the apical position. These are connected into a layer structure via hydrogen‐bonding interactions involving the perchlorate anions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrothermal Reaction Mechanism and Pathway for the Formation of K2Ti6O13 Nanowires

Calculations and detailed first principle and thermodynamic analyses have been performed to understand the formation mechanism of K₂Ti₆O₁₃ nanowires (NWs) by a hydrothermal reaction between bulk Na₂Ti₃O₇ crystals and a KOH solution. It is found that direct ion exchange between K⁺ and Na⁺ plus H⁺ interactions with [TiO₆] octahedra in Na₂Ti₃O₇ promote the formation of an intermediate H₂K₂Ti₆O₁₄ phase. The large lattice mismatch between this intermediate phase and the bulk Na₂Ti₃O₇ structure, and the large energy reduction associated with the formation of this intermediate phase, drive the splitting of the bulk crystal into H₂K₂Ti₆O₁₄ NWs. However, these NWs are not stable because of large [TiO₆] octahedra distortion and are subject to a dehydration process, which results in uniform K₂Ti₆O₁₃ NWs with narrowly distributed diameters of around 10 nm.     

A 3-D Enlarged Cell Technique (ECT) for the Conformal FDTD Method

In this paper, we present an enlarged cell technique (ECT) to avoid the time step reduction encountered in the conformal finite-difference time-domain (CFDTD) method due to small irregular cells truncated by metallic boundaries. We focus our efforts on the discussion of the accuracy and stability of the ECT and its comparison with other conformal methods, especially the one called the uniformly stable conformal (USC) method. We also provide a simplified ECT, which is much easier to implement. In the ECT, a stability criterion is first constructed to identify instable irregular cells, i.e., those having so small an area to cause instability. Those instable cells are then enlarged into their adjacent cells to obtain a large, stable area. Careful treatment is performed on the communication between the intruding and intruded cells in terms of electromotive force by keeping the total electromotive force conservative. This technique is verified by several 3-D numerical experiments. Results show that the ECT is second-order accurate and numerically stable at the regular Courant time step limit.     

A Low-Power CMOS Linear-in-Decibel Variable Gain Amplifier With Programmable Bandwidth and Stable Group Delay

This brief presents a new circuit architecture for linear-in-decibel, constant-bandwidth variable gain amplifier (VGA). To obtain high linearity under low-voltage operation, this VGA is a closed-loop structure. In loop amplifier design, two techniques are applied: first, the loop amplifier is given finite input impedance. This arrangement keeps the VGA bandwidth constant under different gain setting. Second, a current-buffered compensation is applied for loop stability. Compared to the Miller compensation, this method achieves wider bandwidth. The prototype chip using 0.18-mum CMOS technology demonstrates that -10- to 20-dB gain and 0.5- to 30-MHz bandwidth can be programmed independently. The group delay difference within 30-dB gain control range is smaller than 1%. The total circuit dissipates 1.35 mA from a 1.8-V supply     

Driving Mechanisms of Delamination Related Reliability Problems in Exposed Pad Packages

Exposed pad packages were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s because of their excellent thermal and electrical performance. Despite these advantages, the exposed pad packages experience a lot of thermo-hygro-mechanical related reliability problems during qualification and testing. Examples are die lift, which occurs predominantly after moisture sensitivity level conditions, and die-attach to leadframe delamination leading to downbond stitch breaks during temperature cycling. In this chapter, nonlinear finite element (FE) models using fracture mechanics based J-integral calculations are used to assess the reliability problems of the exposed pad package family. Using the parametric FE models any geometrical and material effects can be explored to their impact on the occurrence diepad delamination, and dielift. For instance the impact of diepad size is found to be of much less importance as the impact of die thickness is. Using the fracture mechanics approach, the starting location for the delamination from thermo-hygro-mechanical point of view is deducted. The results indicate that when diepad delamination is present, cracks are likely to grow beneath the die and dielift will occur. The interaction between dielift and other failure modes, such as lifted ball bonds, are not found to be very significant. The FE models are combined with simulation-based optimization methods to deduct design guidelines for optimal reliability of the exposed pad family.     

Modeling wireless fading channels via stochastic differential equations: identification and estimation based on noisy measurements

This paper is concerned with modeling and identification of wireless channels using noisy measurements. The models employed are governed by stochastic differential equations (SDEs) in state space form, while the identification method is based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm and Kalman filtering. The algorithm is tested against real channel measurements. The results presented include state space models for the channels, estimates of inphase and quadrature components, and estimates of the corresponding Doppler power spectral densities (DPSDs), from sample noisy measurements. Based on the available measurements, it is concluded that state space models of order two are sufficient for wireless flat fading channel characterization.     

One-to-Many and Many-to-One Optical Chaos Communications Using Semiconductor Lasers

A theoretical construction of one-to-many (OTM) and many-to-one (MTO) chaos synchronization communications using semiconductor lasers is presented. One center laser provides strong injections (strong link) to other side lasers, and the side lasers also provide weak injections (weak link) to the center one. Simulation results show that the side lasers synchronize with the center laser through injection-locking. In addition, messages transmitted via the strong links or the weak links experience strong chaos pass filtering, enabling us to realize OTM and MTO communications.     

基于MoCA标准的家庭网络研究

本文描述了一种基于MOCA标准的家庭网络,并对该网络及设备进行了基本性能的测试.本文首先介绍了家庭网络的发展现状,对目前的各种家庭网络标准进行了比较.在此基础上详细描述了基于MOCA标准的家庭网络,并对该网络的设计,实现、网络性能进行了详述.然后对该网络进行了测试并得出了相关的测试结论.最后指出该网络的不足及改进之处.