Implementation of a thermal management unit for canceling temperature-dependent clock skew variations

Thermal gradients across the die are becoming increasingly prominent as we scale further down into the sub-nanometer regime. While temperature was never a primary concern, its non-negligible impact on delay and reliability is getting significant attention lately.One of the principal factors affecting designs today is timing criticality, which, in today's technologies is mostly determined by wire delays. Clocks, which are the backbone of the interconnect network, are extremely prone to temperature dependent delay variations and need to be designed with extreme care so as to meet accurate timing constraints. Their skew has to be minimized in order to guarantee functionality, albeit in the presence of these process variations.Temperature, on the other hand, is dynamic in nature and its effects hence need run-time monitoring and management. One of the most efficient ways to manage temperature dependent skew is through the use of buffers with dynamically tunable delays. The use of such buffers in the clock distribution network allows modulating the delay on selected branches of the clock network based on a thermal profile, so as to keep the skew within acceptable bounds.A runtime scheme obviously requires an on-line management unit. Our work predominantly focuses on the implementation of one such unit, while studying its impact on design parameters such as area, wire-length and power. Results show negligible a impact (0.67% in area, 0.62% in wire-length, 0.33% in power, and 0.37% in via-number) on the design.     

Gate-level dual-threshold static power optimization methodology (GDSPOM) using path-based static timing analysis (STA) technique for SOC application

This paper describes a novel gate-level dual-threshold static power optimization methodology (GDSPOM), which is based on the static timing analysis (STA) technique for designing high-speed low-power SOC applications using 90 nm multi-threshold complementory metal oxide semiconductor (MTCMOS) technology. The cell libraries come in fixed threshold—high V_th for good standby power and low V_th for high speed. Based on this optimization technique using two cell libraries with different threshold voltages, a 16-bit multiplier using the dual-threshold cells meeting the speed requirement has been designed to have a 50% less leakage power consumption when compared to the one using only the low-threshold cell library.     

Design of high-speed two-stage cascode-compensated operational amplifiers based on settling time and open-loop parameters

Settling behavior of operational amplifiers is of great importance in many applications. In this paper, an efficient methodology for the design of high-speed two-stage operational amplifiers based on settling time is proposed. Concerning the application of the operational amplifier, it specifies proper open-loop circuit parameters to obtain the desired settling time and closed-loop stability. As the effect of transfer function zeros has been taken into account, the proposed methodology becomes more accurate in achieving the desired specifications. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the methodology.     

Behavioral modeling, simulation and synthesis of multi-standard wireless receivers in MATLAB/SIMULINK

This paper presents a SIMULINK block set for the behavioral modeling and high-level simulation of RF receiver front-ends. The toolbox includes a library with the main RF circuit models that are needed to implement wireless receivers, namely: low noise amplifiers, mixers, oscillators, filters and programmable gain amplifiers. There is also a library including other blocks like the antenna, duplexer filter and switches, required to implement reconfigurable architectures. Behavioral models of building blocks include the main ideal functionality as well as the following non-idealities: thermal noise, characterized by the noise figure and the signal-to-noise ratio, and non-linearity, represented by the input-referred second-order and third-order intercept points, IIP₂ and IIP₃, respectively. In addition to these general parameters, some block-specific errors have also been included, like oscillator phase noise and mixer offset. These models have been incorporated into the SIMULINK environment making an extensive use of C-coded S-functions and reducing the number of library block elements. This approach reduces the simulation time while keeping high accuracy, which makes the proposed toolbox very appropriate to be combined with an optimizer for the automated high-level synthesis of radio receivers. As an application of the capabilities of the presented toolbox, a multi-standard direct-conversion receiver intended for 4G telecom systems is modeled and simulated considering the building block requirements for the different standards.     

Interfacial Enhancement by γ‐Al2O3 of Electrochemical Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells

Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODE) is limited by the facile deep oxidation and potential safety hazards. Now, electrochemical ODE reaction is incorporated into the anode of a solid oxide electrolysis cell, utilizing the oxygen species generated at anode to catalytically convert ethane. By infiltrating γ‐Al₂O₃ onto the surface of La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3‐δ‐Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_2‐δ (LSCF‐SDC) anode, the ethylene selectivity reaches as high as 92.5 %, while the highest ethane conversion is up to 29.1 % at 600 °C with optimized current and ethane flow rate. Density functional theory calculations and in situ X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterizations reveal that the Al₂O₃/LSCF interfaces effectively reduce the amount of adsorbed oxygen species, leading to improved ethylene selectivity and stability, and that the formation of Al‐O‐Fe alters the electronic structure of interfacial Fe center with increased density of state around Fermi level and downshift of the empty band, which enhances ethane adsorption and conversion.     

量子信号与经典光信号共纤传输中的噪声抑制技术

目前基于光纤的点对点量子密钥分配所需的器件和系统技术正逐步成熟并呈现商业化应用趋势,因此如何将量子信号和经典光信号复用在一根光纤中以大幅提高系统容量和节约光纤资源成为学术界近年来关注的热点问题之一。主要研究了量子信号与经典光信号共纤传输中的噪声抑制问题,首先分析四波混频和拉曼散射这两种主要噪声因素对量子信道产生的影响;然后针对不同信道间隔和不同传输距离的应用场景分别提出了一种基于非等间隔波长分配的四波混频噪声抑制算法以及一种针对四波混频和拉曼散射进行联合优化的波长分配算法;最后采用仿真验证了所提算法的性能优越性,为未来不同应用场景下的量子信号与经典光信号共纤传输提供了良好的技术方案。