Improved spectral mismatch and performance of a phosphor-converted light-emitting diode solar simulator

A phosphor-converted light-emitting diode (LED) solar simulator is an illuminance device that produced irradiance intensity and spectral close to the sunlight. It is determined as spectral mismatch, non-uniformity of irradiance, and temporal instability. This paper has improved the LED solar simulator (LSS) system to have a spectral distribution consistent with the AM1.5G spectrum at 100%. It was developed as a new prototype to have the AAA class spectral characteristics, time instability, and inconsistency according to IEC 60904-9. The results showed that an optimal approach was to use phosphor-converted natural white LED (pc-nWLED), combining a monochromatic near-infrared (NIR) (730, 800, 850, 940, and 1,000 nm) as well as the proposed LSS system capable of generating 1,000 W/m2 irradiation over the test plane of 125×125 mm and operated continuously in a constant temperature LED state for at least 2 hours, therefore suitable for demonstration of solar cell features under standard test condition (STC) in the laboratory

Integration of optical interconnections and optoelectronic components in flexible substrates

Licht als informatiedrager voor datacommunicatie kende een ongezien succes in de laatste decennia. Wegens de lage verliezen en hoge datasnelheden hebben ze voor het overbruggen van lange afstanden hun elektrische tegenhangers reeds geruime tijd verdrongen. Deze trend zet zich ook voort voor korte afstand communicatie op printplaten. Naast zijn functie als informatiedrager, wordt licht ook gebruikt om een waaier aan fysische grootheden te meten. Ook hier heeft licht enkele significante voordelen t.o.v elektrische informatiedragers, waardoor optische sensoren wijdverspreid zijn. Een tweede duidelijke trend binnen de elektronica is het gebruik van flexibele printkaarten. Deze zijn veel dunner, lichter en betrouwbaarder dan de klassieke harde printkaarten, waardoor ze uiterst geschikt zijn voor draagbare toepassingen waar compactheid en een laag gewicht hoge vereisten zijn. De flexibiliteit van de printplaten laat ook toe hen te gebruiken op onvlakke oppervlakken en op bewegende onderdelen. Het doel van het gepresenteerde doctoraatswerk is de ontwikkeling van een nieuw technologieplatform dat bovengenoemde trends combineert. Alle bouwblokken van optische communicatie, gaande van actieve opto-elektronische componenten, aanstuurelektronica, golfgeleiderbaantjes en galvanische verbindingen tot optische koppelstructuren tussen de verschillende bouwblokken, worden zodanig gerealiseerd dat elke component flexibel is en geïntegreerd wordt in een dunne folie met een dikte van slechts 150µm. Op die manier bekomen we een flexibele folie met alle passieve en actieve onderdelen voor optische communicatie geïntegreerd met enkel een elektrische interface naar de buitenwereld, wat de aanvaarding en toepassing van deze technologie in de huidige elektronica aanzienlijk kan versnellen. Binnen het doctoraatswerk werden alle voorgestelde technologieën en processen gerealiseerd en geoptimaliseerd. Bovendien werden de optische verliezen, warmteaspecten, hoogfrequent gedrag, mechanisch gedrag en betrouwbaarheid van de technologie gekarakteriseerd en vergeleken met de huidige state-of-the-art

Carbon Nanotube Based Interconnect Material for Electronic Applications

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered as a candidate material for future electronic interconnect applications. This thesis summarizes the research work on the fabrication and characterization of CNT-based interconnect systems, and explores the possibilities of integrating CNTs into various electronic interconnect scenarios. CNT material properties and fabrication methods are introduced as well as its potential for solving the future interconnect challenges. The technology development works are presented in detail in four categories: synthesis, densification, coating and transfer. The principles of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method for producing the CNTs are described and discussed. Densification methods are developed in order to increase the volume density of the pristine porous CVD-grown CNTs. Two techniques, vapor-based densification and paper-mediated wet densification, have been proposed and characterized. CNT transfer techniques are developed in order to decouple the harsh CVD growth environment from the target application devices. Two kinds of transfer medium materials, indium and polymer, have been proposed and optimized. To improve the electrical performance of the pristine CNTs, metallic coating techniques for both vertically aligned and randomly dispersed CNTs are developed and characterized. Finally, three different CNT-based interconnect scenarios: bumps, through silicon vias, and flexible conductors, are demonstrated and characterized, using the as-developed processes. The integration technologies developed in this thesis not only improve the CNT process compatibility with the conventional electronics manufacture flows, but also offers state-of-the-art electrical and mechanical performance for the non-conventional flexible and stretchable interconnect applications

Design, measurement and analysis of multimode light guides and waveguides for display systems and optical backplane interconnections

The aim of the research in this thesis was to design and model multimode lightguides for optimising visible light for liquid crystal display systems and to design, model and experimentally test infrared light propagation within polymer multimode waveguides as board-to-board interconnects for high data rate communication. Ray tracing models the behaviour of a novel LCD colour separating backlight to optimize its efficiency by establishing the optimum dimensions and position for a unique micro-mirror array within the light guide. The output efficiency increased by 38.2% compared to the case without the embedded mirror array. A novel simulation technique combined a model of liquid crystal director orientation and a non-sequential ray tracing program was used first time to compute the reflected intensity from a LCOS device for a rear projection TV system. The performance of the LCOS display was characterised by computing the contrast ratio over a ±15° viewing cone. Photolithographically manufactured embedded multimode waveguides made from acrylate Truemode® polymer are characterized by measuring the optical transmission loss of key waveguide components including. straight, bend and crossing. Design rules derived from the experimental measurement were used to optimize optical PCB (OPCB) layout. A most compact and complex optical interconnects layout up-to-date for data centres, including parallel straight waveguide sections, cascaded 90° bends and waveguide crossing other than 90° angles, was designed, tested and used in an optic-electrical demonstration platform to convey a 10.3 Gb/s data. A further new method for reducing the end facet roughness and so the coupling loss, by curing a thin layer of core material at the end of the waveguide facet to cover the roughness fluctuations, was proposed and successfully demonstrated giving the best results reported to date resulting in an improvement of 2.8 dB which was better than the results obtained by using index matching fluid

Index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1975

This index contains abstracts and four indexes--subject, personal author, originating Center, and Tech Brief number--for 1975 Tech Briefs

Conducting metal oxide materials for printed electronics

Printed electronics as a manufacturing process has many advantages, mainly, it allows for the high throughput rapid fabrication of thin, flexible electronic components with minimal waste. There are many printing processes that can be utilised for printing electronics and although each process can differ vastly, the materials currently used in these processes are generally the same, silver and carbon. However, to develop printing as a more mainstream manufacturing method for electronics, a wider variety of materials are required which can provide better stability and longevity of components, new functionality for printed applications and allow for in-situ processing and tuning of components. Conducting metal oxides are a good candidate for integrating into printed electronics processes, these materials are typically semiconductors, they have bandgaps, and properties can be altered via altering the band gap. They are also oxides, so they cannot oxidise further and therefore atmospheric damage is reduced compared to pure metals. They can also be fabricated into a wide range of particle morphologies, all with advantages in different fields and electronic applications. Therefore, the ability to print these materials is valuable to the field. In this thesis, the integration of conducting metal oxide electro-ceramic materials into the field of printed electronics has been explored. This was performed through the completion of five research objectives including, the selection of appropriate materials for the research, the formulation of conductive inks with the materials, the investigation of post-processing techniques for printed films and further research into passive component fabrication and sensor applications. Firstly, following an extensive literature review, four materials were selected including three doped zinc oxide materials synthesised via different methods. The fourth material is commercially sourced indium tin oxide (ITO). A nitrocellulose vehicle was determined to be the most compatible with the oxides and selected for ink formulation. Inks were then formulated with all four materials, with optical and electrical properties analysed. Gallium doped Zinc Oxide (GZO) and ITO were selected for further investigation based on the excellent conductivity of the indium tin oxide (57.77Ω□-1) and the highly transparent optical properties of the gallium doped zinc oxide (>84% transmittance). Laser processing was selected as a post processing method. It was found that the laser processing dramatically increased conductivity. The GZO improving from a non-conductive film to 10.21% of bulk conductivity. The ITO improved from 3.46% to 40.47% of the bulk conductivity. It was also found that the laser processing invoked a carbothermal reduction process allowing for a rapid manufacturing process for converting spherical particles into useful nanoparticle morphologies (nanorods, nanowires etc). Following this, resistive and capacitive applications involving laser processing and conventionally heat-treated conductive oxide inks were developed. Combining the new materials and manufacturing processes, tuneable printed resistors with a tuning range of 50 to 20M could be fabricated. All metal oxide, ITO based capacitors were also fabricated and characterised. These were then developed into humidity sensors which provided excellent humidity sensing properties, showing linearity between 5 and 95% relative humidity (RH) and sensitivities of up to 7.76pF/RH%, demonstrating higher performance than commercial equivalents (0.2 – 0.5pF/RH%). In conclusion, this work provides a breakthrough for conductive metal oxide materials research and its place in Printed Electronics research by providing insight into the processes required to make these materials conduct and by developing useful manufacturing methods, post processing techniques and applications.</div

Co-Package Technology Platform for Low-Power and Low-Cost Data Centers

We report recent advances in photonic–electronic integration developed in the European research project L3MATRIX. The aim of the project was to demonstrate the basic building blocks of a co-packaged optical system. Two-dimensional silicon photonics arrays with 64 modulators were fabricated. Novel modulation schemes based on slow light modulation were developed to assist in achieving an efficient performance of the module. Integration of DFB laser sources within each cell in the matrix was demonstrated as well using wafer bonding between the InP and SOI wafers. Improved semiconductor quantum dot MBE growth, characterization and gain stack designs were developed. Packaging of these 2D photonic arrays in a chiplet configuration was demonstrated using a vertical integration approach in which the optical interconnect matrix was flip-chip assembled on top of a CMOS mimic chip with 2D vertical fiber coupling. The optical chiplet was further assembled on a substrate to facilitate integration with the multi-chip module of the co-packaged system with a switch surrounded by several such optical chiplets. We summarize the features of the L3MATRIX co-package technology platform and its holistic toolbox of technologies to address the next generation of computing challenges

The Development and Packaging of a High-Density, Three-Phase, Silicon Carbide (SiC) Motor Drive

Technology advances within the power electronics field are resulting in systems characterized by higher operating efficiencies, reduced footprint, minimal form factor, and decreasing mass. In particular, these attributes and characteristics are being inserted into numerous consumer applications, such as light-emitting diode lighting, compact fluorescent lighting, smart phones, and tablet PCs, to industrial applications that include hybrid, electric, and plug-in electric vehicles and more electric aircraft. To achieve the increase in energy efficiency and significant reduction in size and mass of these systems, power semiconductor device manufacturers are developing silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor technology. In this dissertation, the author discusses the design, development, packaging, and fabrication of the world\u27s first multichip power module (MCPM) that integrates SiC power transistors with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) integrated circuits. The fabricated MCPM prototype is a 4 kW, three-phase inverter that operates at temperatures in excess of 250 °C. The integration of high-temperature metal-oxide semiconductor (HTMOS) SOI bare die control components with SiC power JFET bare die into a single compact module are presented in this work. The high-temperature operation of SiC switches allows for increased power density over silicon electronics by an order of magnitude, leading to highly miniaturized power converters. This dissertation is organized into a compilation of publications written by the author over the course of his Ph.D. work. The work presented throughout these publications covers the challenges associated with power electronics miniaturization and packaging including high-power density, high-temperature, and high-efficiency operation of the power electronic system under study