Techniques for Aging, Soft Errors and Temperature to Increase the Reliability of Embedded On-Chip Systems

This thesis investigates the challenge of providing an abstracted, yet sufficiently accurate reliability estimation for embedded on-chip systems. In addition, it also proposes new techniques to increase the reliability of register files within processors against aging effects and soft errors. It also introduces a novel thermal measurement setup that perspicuously captures the infrared images of modern multi-core processors

Cosmological Signatures of a Mirror Twin Higgs

We explore the cosmological signatures associated with the twin baryons, electrons, photons and neutrinos in the Mirror Twin Higgs framework. We consider a scenario in which the twin baryons constitute a subcomponent of dark matter, and the contribution of the twin photon and neutrinos to dark radiation is suppressed due to late asymmetric reheating, but remains large enough to be detected in future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. We show that this framework can lead to distinctive signals in large scale structure and in the cosmic microwave background. Baryon acoustic oscillations in the mirror sector prior to recombination lead to a suppression of structure on large scales, and leave a residual oscillatory pattern in the matter power spectrum. This pattern depends sensitively on the relative abundances and ionization energies of both twin hydrogen and helium, and is therefore characteristic of this class of models. Although both mirror photons and neutrinos constitute dark radiation in the early universe, their effects on the CMB are distinct. This is because prior to recombination the twin neutrinos free stream, while the twin photons are prevented from free streaming by scattering off twin electrons. In the Mirror Twin Higgs framework the relative contributions of these two species to the energy density in dark radiation is predicted, leading to testable effects in the CMB. These highly distinctive cosmological signatures may allow this class of models to be discovered, and distinguished from more general dark sectors.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures; added new discussions and figures; references added; matches published versio

Low-power emerging memristive designs towards secure hardware systems for applications in internet of things

Emerging memristive devices offer enormous advantages for applications such as non-volatile memories and in-memory computing (IMC), but there is a rising interest in using memristive technologies for security applications in the era of internet of things (IoT). In this review article, for achieving secure hardware systems in IoT, low-power design techniques based on emerging memristive technology for hardware security primitives/systems are presented. By reviewing the state-of-the-art in three highlighted memristive application areas, i.e. memristive non-volatile memory, memristive reconfigurable logic computing and memristive artificial intelligent computing, their application-level impacts on the novel implementations of secret key generation, crypto functions and machine learning attacks are explored, respectively. For the low-power security applications in IoT, it is essential to understand how to best realize cryptographic circuitry using memristive circuitries, and to assess the implications of memristive crypto implementations on security and to develop novel computing paradigms that will enhance their security. This review article aims to help researchers to explore security solutions, to analyze new possible threats and to develop corresponding protections for the secure hardware systems based on low-cost memristive circuit designs

Current and Future Nanotech Applications in the Oil Industry

Problem statement: Nanotech applications in the oil industry are not completely new: nanoparticles have been successfully used in drilling muds for the past 50 years. Only recently all the other key areas of the oil industry, such as exploration, primary and assisted production, monitoring, refining and distribution, are approaching nanotechnologies as the potential Philosopher's stone for facing critical issues related to remote locations (such as ultra-deep water and artic environments), harsh conditions (high-temperature and high-pressure formations), nonconventional reservoirs (heavy oils, tight gas, tar sands). The general aim is to bridge the gap between the oil industry and nanotechnology community using various initiatives such as consortia between oil and service companies and nanotechnology excellence centres, networking communities, workshops and conferences and even dedicated research units inside some oil companies. Quite surprisingly, even if a lot of discussion is taking place, no substantial research on these topics is currently being undertaken around the world by the petroleum industry. A very different attitude is demonstrated by other industries and the advances they achieved are outstanding. Approach: This study provides an overview of the most interesting nanotechnology applications and critically highlights the potential benefits that could come from transposing the same-or adapted-solutions to the oil industry. Results/Conclusion: As extensively illustrated, some technologies which are already available off-the-shelf can offer real improvements in dealing with some specific issues of the oil industry. Other technologies can require further elaboration before direct use, but their potential is enormous

Agenda: Second International Workshop on Thin Films for Electronics, Electro-Optics, Energy and Sensors (TFE3S)

University of Dayton’s Center of Excellence for Thin Film Research and Surface Engineering (CETRASE) is delighted to organize its second international workshop at the University of Dayton’s Research Institute (UDRI) campus in Dayton, Ohio, USA. The purpose of the new workshop is to exchange technical knowledge and boost technical and educational collaboration activities within the thin film research community through our CETRASE and the UDRI