A very simple method to measure the input capacitance and the input current of transistors

Abstract We describe a method to measure the gate capacitance and the gate current of transistors at any temperature and at any operating condition. Discrimination between the total input capacitance and transfer reverse capacitance (gate to drain capacitance) is also possible with high accuracy. With this data the optimization of the signal to noise ratio and power dissipation can be achieved in the design of the front-end electronics for nuclear applications

FAST FRONT-END ELECTRONICS FOR EXPERIMENTS USING SILICON CALORIMETERS AT SSC /LHC COLLIDERS

Abstract A fast VLSI preamplifier using HF2CMOS technology was designed and built. The preamplifier meets the requirements for silicon calorimetry application in experiments at hadron colliders SSC/LHC. The overall power consumption is less than 45 mW for a maximum output voltage swing of 5 V (≈ 7 ns rise time). The slew rate is about 700 V/μs for an input capacitance of 150 pF. The measured value of ENC (equivalent noise charge), for an RC-CR shaping time of 20 ns and an input capacitance of 150 pF, is 17 ke RMS

Lab-on-Chip for Testing Myelotoxic Effect of Drugs and Chemicals

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.In the last twenty years, one of the main goals in the drug discovery field has been the development of reliable in vitro models. In particular, in 2006 the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) has approved the Colony forming Unit-Granulocytes-Macrophages (CFU-GM) test, which is the first and currently unique test applied to evaluate the myelotoxicity of xenobiotics in vitro. The present work aimed at miniaturizing this in vitro assay by developing and validating a Lab-on-Chip (LoC) platform consisting of a high number of bioreactor chambers with screening capabilities in a high-throughput regime

Characterization of the Hamamatsu R11265-103-M64 multi-anode photomultiplier tube

The aim of this paper is to fully characterize the new multi-anode photomultiplier tube R11265-103-M64, produced by Hamamatsu. Its high effective active area (77%), its pixel size, the low dark signal rate and the capability to detect single photon signals make this tube suitable for an application in high energy physics, such as for RICH detectors. Four tubes and two different bias voltage dividers have been tested. The results of a standard characterization of the gain and the anode uniformity, the dark signal rate, the cross-talk and the device behaviour as a function of temperature have been studied. The behaviour of the tube is studied in a longitudinal magnetic field up to 100 Gauss. Shields made of a high permeability material are also investigated. The deterioration of the device performance due to long time operation at intense light exposure is studied. A quantitative analysis of the variation of the gain and the dark signals rate due to the aging is described.Comment: 22 page

Temperature characterization of deep and shallow defect centers of low noise silicon JFETs

Abstract We have selected different low noise JFET processes that have shown outstanding dynamic and noise performance at both room temperature and low temperatures. We have studied JFETs made with a process optimized for cryogenic operation, testing several devices of varying capacitance. For most of them, we have been able to detect the presence of shallow individual traps at low temperature which create low frequency (LF) Generation–Recombination (G–R) noise. For one device type no evidence of traps has been observed at the optimum temperature of operation (around 100 K). It had a very small residual LF noise. This device has been cooled down to 14 K. From below 100 K down to 14 K the noise was observed to increase due to G–R noise originating from donor atoms (dopants) inside the channel. A very simple theoretical interpretation confirms the nature of G–R noise from these very shallow trapping centers. We also studied devices from a process optimized for room temperature operation and found noise corresponding to the presence of a single deep level trap. Even for this circumstance the theory was experimentally confirmed. The measurement approach we used allowed us to achieve a very high accuracy in the modeling of the measured G–R noise. The ratio of the density of the atoms responsible for G–R noise above the doping concentration, NT/Nd, has been verified with a sensitivity around 10−7

The revision of the 30 October 1901 earthquake, west of Lake Garda (northern Italy)

On 24 November 2004 an earthquake (Mw 5.0) struck the west side of Lake Garda (northern Italy), producing moderate but widespread damage. It provided the opportunity of reviewing the seismicity of all the area over the past two centuries, whose former most significant event is the 30 October 1901 earthquake (Mw 5.5), while other minor but damaging events are the 5 January 1892 (Mw=5.0) and 16 November 1898 (Mw=4.6) earthquakes. On the reviewing we found common similarities in ground shaking distribution as recurrent damaged spots, amplification zones due to local site condition or energy radiation We believe that these findings are suitable to provide information for provisional purposes in low hazard level area hampered by the lack of knowledge about the seismic sources. New data are provided both in MCS scale and EMS. The sensitivity of a source parameters estimation technique was evaluated for the major event