Estimating the Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio Using a Spherical Harmonics-Based Spatial Correlation Model

The direct-to-reverberant ratio (DRR), which describes the energy ratio between the direct and reverberant component of a soundfield, is an important parameter in many audio applications. In this paper, we present a multichannel algorithm, which utilizes the blind recordings of a spherical microphone array to estimate the DRR of interest. The algorithm is developed based on a spatial correlation model formulated in the spherical harmonics domain. This model expresses the cross correlation matrix of the recorded soundfield coefficients in terms of two spatial correlation matrices, one for direct sound and the other for reverberation. While the direct path arrives from the source, the reverberant path is considered to be a nondiffuse soundfield with varying directional gains. The direct and reverberant sound energies are estimated from the aforementioned spatial correlation model, which then leads to the DRR estimation. The practical feasibility of the proposed algorithm was evaluated using the speech corpus of the acoustic characterization of environments challenge. The experimental results revealed that the proposed method was able to effectively estimate the DRR of a large collection of reverberant speech recordings including various environmental noise types, room types and speakers.DP14010341

X-Ray topography of semiconductor silicon

This thesis describes the examination and characterisation of semiconductor silicon by the various methods of X-Ray Diffraction Topography. A brief introduction is given to the dynamical theory of X-ray diffraction and its relevance to the formation of contrast in X-ray topographs. The experimental methods used and contrast formation mechanisms are introduced. The design and construction of an inexpensive Automated Bragg Angle Controller (ABAC) is described, based around a microcomputer and using many of the existing features of the Lang camera. This enables Lang topographs of the whole of distorted crystals to be taken. Using the ABAC, the contrast of defects in Lang topographs of cylindrically bent silicon wafers is explored. A comparison is made between this data and images in Hirst topographs and contrast differences between the techniques are attributed to the presence of an inhomogeneous bending moment. The change in contrast in section and Lang topographs upon homogeneous bending for asymmetric reflections is also investigated and mechanisms for the contrast changes are suggested. A bipolar device wafer is examined with double crystal topography using synchrotron radiation and a highly asymmetric reflection with a glancing angle of incidence. By exploiting the wavelength tuneability of the synchrotron radiation, the depth penetration of the X-rays is varied and the optimum experimental conditions for observing both defects and devices determined. Using this technique it is possible to image both devices and process related defects to a high resolution and contrast. The Lang, section and glancing angle double crystal topography techniques are compared for the examination of a CMOS device wafer. The relative strengths and weaknesses of each technique are highlighted and many defects are imaged and characterised. Finally, results showing the appearance of fringes in the double crystal topographs for low angles of incidence are presented. These are attributed to the' presence of along range strain, and the dependence of the fringes upon curvature is explored for moderate bending conditions (R ~35m)

Optimal and Near Optimal Configurations on Lattices and Manifolds

Optimal configurations of points arise in many contexts, for example classical ground states for interacting particle systems, Euclidean packings of convex bodies, as well as minimal discrete and continuous energy problems for general kernels. Relevant questions in this area include the understanding of asymptotic optimal configurations, of lattice and periodic configurations, the development of algorithmic constructions of near optimal configurations, and the application of methods in convex optimization such as linear and semidefinite programming

Analysis of the structural and optoelectronic properties of semiconductor materials and devices using photoacoustic spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray topography

This thesis deals with the characterisation of semiconductor materials and devices through two complimentary experimental modalities. Synchrotron X-ray topography and photoacoustic spectroscopy are rapid, non-destructive and non-invasive techniques. The former may be used to elucidate the strain within a crystalline material due to localised structural defects causing deviations in the recorded X-ray intensity; whilst the latter can indirectly probe the non-radiative de-excitation processes within the bandstructure by measuring pressure variations within the gas in contact with the sample. In the first half of this work, a review of the theoretical description of the photoacoustic effect in condensed matter samples is presented. This classical review is extended to encompass the photoacoustic effect in semiconductor materials. Criteria governing the design o f a spectrometer are then extracted. A photoacoustic spectrometer based on the gas-microphone technique, with a wide spectral range (0.5 eV to 6.2 eV) was designed and constructed. The spectrometer was characterised across its spectral range using common semiconductor materials. The latter half of the thesis commences with a review of the kinematical and dynamical theories of X-ray diffraction. The properties of synchrotron radiation are discussed, with particular focus on their applicability to X-ray topography. The large area, section and grazing incidence topography techniques are presented. Several topographic studies of semiconductor materials and devices were performed. These included an analysis of the evolution of strain in ultra-bright light emitting diodes under varying degrees of electrical stress, strain induced by the epitaxial lateral overgrowth of gallium nitride on sapphire, stress due to rapid thermal processing of silicon wafers, characterisation of diamond crystals for use in a high energy monochromator, misfit dislocation generation at a Si/SiGe heterointerface and dynamical imaging of microdefects in nearly perfect silicon

Analysis of silicon wafer damage due to nanoindentation by microraman spectroscopy and white beam synchrotron X-ray toporaphy

In the semiconductor industry, wafer handling introduces micro-cracks at the wafer edge and the causal relationship of these cracks to wafer breakage is a difficult task. By way of understanding the wafer breakage process, a series of nano-indents were introduced to both 20 x 20mm (100) wafer pieces and into whole 200mm wafers as a means of introducing controlled strain. The indents were introduced to the silicon by way of a Berkovich tip with applied forces of 100mN to 600mN and with a Vickers tip with applied forces of 2N to 50N. The samples were subjected to an array of both in situ and ex situ anneal in order to simulate a production environment. The samples were analysed using both micro-Raman spectroscopy and white beam x-ray topography to study the strain fields produced by the nano-indentation and the effect of annealing on the strain fields which was then compared to FEM models of the indents. A novel process for the creation of three dimensional x-ray images, 3D-XRDI, was defined using ImageJ, a freely available image processing tool. This allowed for the construction of three dimensional images and the ability to rotate these images to any angle for ease of viewing. It will be shown how this technique also provided the ability to travel through the sample to view the dislocation loops at any point within the sample. It was found that the temperature profile across the annealing tool had an effect on the strain fields, the growth and movement of dislocation loops and slip bands and on the opening and propagation of cracks. The behaviour of the cracks during rapid thermal anneal was also observed and from this data a parameter was defined that could predict the possibility of wafer breakage

Theory and Design of Spatial Active Noise Control Systems

The concept of spatial active noise control is to use a number of loudspeakers to generate anti-noise sound waves, which would cancel the undesired acoustic noise over a spatial region. The acoustic noise hazards that exist in a variety of situations provide many potential applications for spatial ANC. However, using existing ANC techniques, it is difficult to achieve satisfying noise reduction for a spatial area, especially using a practical hardware setup. Therefore, this thesis explores various aspects of spatial ANC, and seeks to develop algorithms and techniques to promote the performance and feasibility of spatial ANC in real-life applications. We use the spherical harmonic analysis technique as the basis for our research in this work. This technique provides an accurate representation of the spatial noise field, and enables in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the noise field. Incorporating this technique into the design of spatial ANC systems, we developed a series of algorithms and methods that optimizes the spatial ANC systems, towards both improving noise reduction performance and reducing system complexity. Several contributions of this work are: (i) design of compact planar microphone array structures capable of recording 3D spatial sound fields, so that the noise field can be monitored with minimum physical intrusion to the quiet zone, (ii) derivation of a Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio (DRR) estimation algorithm which can be used for evaluating reverberant characteristics of a noisy environment, (iii) propose a few methods to estimate and optimize spatial noise reduction of an ANC system, including a new metric for measuring spatial noise energy level, and (iv) design of an adaptive spatial ANC algorithm incorporating the spherical harmonic analysis technique. The combination of these contributions enables the design of compact, high performing spatial ANC systems for various applications

Duality Symmetry

Symmetry is one of the most general concepts in physics. Symmetry arguments are used to explain and predict observations at all length scales, from elementary particles to cosmology. The generality of symmetry arguments, combined with their simplicity, makes them a powerful tool for both fundamental and applied investigations. In electrodynamics, one of the symmetries is the invariance of the equations under exchange of electric and magnetic quantities. The continuous version of this symmetry is most commonly known as electromagnetic duality symmetry. This concept has been accepted for more than a century, and, throughout this time, has influenced other areas of physics, like high energy physics and gravitation. This Special Issue is devoted to electromagnetic duality symmetry and other vareities of dualities in physics. It contains four Articles, one Review and one Perspective. The context of the contributions ranges from string theory to applied nanophotonics, which, as anticipated, shows that duality symmetries in general and electromagnetic duality symmetry in particular are useful in a wide variety of physics fields, both theoretical and applied. Moreover, a number of the contributions show how the use of symmetry arguments and the quantification of symmetry breaking can successfully guide our theoretical understanding and provide us with guidelines for system design

13th Annual Review of Progress in Applied Computational Electromagnetics at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, March 17-21, 1997, Conference Proceedings Volumes I & II

Includes Volumes 1 &