The ampere and the electrical units in the quantum era

By fixing two fundamental constants from quantum mechanics, the Planck constant $h$ and the elementary charge $e$, the revised Syst\`eme International (SI) of units endorses explicitly quantum mechanics. This evolution also highlights the importance of this theory which underpins the most accurate realization of the units. From 20 May 2019, the new definitions of the kilogram and of the ampere, based on fixed values of $h$ and $e$ respectively, will particularly impact the electrical metrology. The Josephson effect (JE) and the quantum Hall effect (QHE), used to maintain voltage and resistance standards with unprecedented reproducibility since 1990, will henceforth provide realizations of the volt and the ohm without the uncertainties inherited from the older electromechanical definitions. More broadly, the revised SI will sustain the exploitation of quantum effects to realize electrical units, to the benefit of end-users. Here, we review the state-of-the-art of these standards and discuss further applications and perspectives.Comment: 78 pages, 35 figure

Dynamically Controllable Integrated Radiation and Self-Correcting Power Generation in mm-Wave Circuits and Systems

This thesis presents novel design methodologies for integrated radiators and power generation at mm-wave frequencies that are enabled by the continued integration of various electronic and electromagnetic (EM) structures onto the same substrate. Beginning with the observation that transistors and their connections to EM radiating structures on an integrated substrate are essentially free, the concept of multi-port driven (MPD) radiators is introduced, which opens a vast design space that has been generally ignored due to the cost structure associated with discrete components that favors fewer transistors connected to antennas through a single port. From Maxwell's equations, a new antenna architecture, the radial MPD antennas based on the concept of MPD radiators, is analyzed to gain intuition as to the important design parameters that explain the wide-band nature of the antenna itself. The radiator is then designed and implemented at 160 GHz in a 0.13 um SiGe BiCMOS process, and the single element design has a measured effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of +4.6 dBm with a total radiated power of 0.63 mW. Next, the radial MPD radiator is adapted to enable dynamic polarization control (DPC). A DPC antenna is capable of controlling its radiated polarization dynamically, and entirely electronically, with no mechanical reconfiguration required. This can be done by having multiple antennas with different polarizations, or within a single antenna that has multiple drive points, as in the case of the MPD radiator with DPC. This radiator changes its polarization by adjusting the relative phase and amplitude of its multiple ports to produce polarizations with any polarization angle, and a wide range of axial ratios. A 2x1 MPD radiator array with DPC at 105 GHz is presented whose measurements show control of the polarization angle throughout the entire 0 degree through 180 degree range while in the linear polarization mode and maintaining axial ratios above 10 dB in all cases. Control of the axial ratio is also demonstrated with a measured range from 2.4 dB through 14 dB, while maintaining a fixed polarization angle. The radiator itself has a measured maximum EIRP of +7.8 dBm, with a total radiated power of 0.9 mW, and is capable of beam steering. MPD radiators were also applied in the domain of integrated silicon photonics. For these designs, the driver transistor circuitry was replaced with silicon optical waveguides and photodiodes to produce a 350 GHz signal. Three of these optical MPD radiator designs have been implemented as 2x2 arrays at 350 GHz. The first is a beam forming array that has a simulated gain of 12.1 dBi with a simulated EIRP of -2 dBm. The second has the same simulated performance, but includes optical phase modulators that enable two-dimensional beam steering. Finally, a third design incorporates multi-antenna DPC by combining the outputs of both left and right handed circularly polarized MPD antennas to produce a linear polarization with controllable polarization angle, and has a simulated gain of 11.9 dBi and EIRP of -3 dBm. In simulation, it can tune the polarization from 0 degrees through 180 degrees while maintaining a radiated power that has a 0.35 dB maximum deviation from the mean. The reliability of mm-wave radiators and power amplifiers was also investigated, and two self-healing systems have been proposed. Self-healing is a global feedback method where integrated sensors detect the performance of the circuit after fabrication and report that data to a digital control algorithm. The algorithm then is capable of setting actuators that can control the performance of the mm-wave circuit and counteract any performance degradation that is observed by the sensors. The first system is for a MPD radiator array with a partially integrated self-healing system. The self-healing MPD radiator senses substrate modes through substrate mode pickup sensors and infers the far-field radiated pattern from those sensors. DC current sensors are also included to determine the DC power consumption of the system. Actuators are implemented in the form of phase and amplitude control of the multiple drive points. The second self-healing system is a fully integrated self-healing power amplifier (PA) at 28 GHz. This system measures the output power, gain and efficiency of the PA using radio frequency (RF) power sensors, DC current sensors and junction temperature sensors. The digital block is synthesized from VHDL code on-chip and it can actuate the output power combining matching network using tunable transmission line stubs, as well as the DC operating point of the amplifying transistors through bias control. Measurements of 20 chips confirm self-healing for two different algorithms for process variation and transistor mismatch, while measurements from 10 chips show healing for load impedance mismatch, and linearity healing. Laser induced partial and total transistor failure show the benefit of self-healing in the case of catastrophic failure, with improvements of up to 3.9 dB over the default case. An exemplary yield specification shows self-healing improving the yield from 0% up through 80%.</p

Aerosol physical properties in the stratosphere (APPS) radiometer design

The measurement concepts and radiometer design developed to obtain earth-limb spectral radiance measurements for the Aerosol Physical Properties in the Stratosphere (APPS) measurement program are presented. The measurements made by a radiometer of this design can be inverted to yield vertical profiles of Rayleigh scatterers, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, aerosol extinction, and aerosol physical properties, including a Junge size-distribution parameter, and a real and imaginary index of refraction. The radiometer design provides the capacity for remote sensing of stratospheric constituents from space on platforms such as the space shuttle and satellites, and therefore provides for global measurements on a daily basis

Data Acquisition Applications

Data acquisition systems have numerous applications. This book has a total of 13 chapters and is divided into three sections: Industrial applications, Medical applications and Scientific experiments. The chapters are written by experts from around the world, while the targeted audience for this book includes professionals who are designers or researchers in the field of data acquisition systems. Faculty members and graduate students could also benefit from the book

The relation between solar cell flight performance data and materials and manufacturing data Final report

Flight performance data for solar cell power systems in satellites and correlation with manufacturing methods and material

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2001

Topics include: special coverage section on sensors, and sections on electronic components systems, software, materials, machinery/automation, manufacturing/fabrication, bio-medical, book and reports, and a special section of Photonics Tech Briefs

Deep Trek High Temperature Electronics Project

This report summarizes technical progress achieved during the cooperative research agreement between Honeywell and U.S. Department of Energy to develop high-temperature electronics. Objects of this development included Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) wafer process development for high temperature, supporting design tools and libraries, and high temperature integrated circuit component development including FPGA, EEPROM, high-resolution A-to-D converter, and a precision amplifier