66 research outputs found
Cross-contact chain
A system is provided for use with wafers that include multiple integrated circuits that include two conductive layers in contact at multiple interfaces. Contact chains are formed beside the integrated circuits, each contact chain formed of the same two layers as the circuits, in the form of conductive segments alternating between the upper and lower layers and with the ends of the segments connected in series through interfaces. A current source passes a current through the series-connected segments, by way of a pair of current tabs connected to opposite ends of the series of segments. While the current flows, voltage measurements are taken between each of a plurality of pairs of voltage tabs, the two tabs of each pair connected to opposite ends of an interface that lies along the series-connected segments. A plot of interface conductances on normal probability chart enables prediction of the yield of good integrated circuits from the wafer
Cross-contact chain
A system is provided for use with wafers that include multiple integrated circuits that include two conductive layers in contact at multiple interfaces. Contact chains are formed beside the integrated circuits, each contact chain formed of the same two layers as the circuits, in the form of conductive segments alternating between the upper and lower layers and with the ends of the segments connected in series through interfaces. A current source passes a current through the series-connected segments, by way of a pair of current tabs connected to opposite ends of the series of segments. While the current flows, voltage measurements are taken between each of a plurality of pairs of voltage tabs, the two tabs of each pair connected to opposite ends of an interface that lies along the series-connected segments. A plot of interface conductances on a normal probability chart, enables prediction of the yield of good integrated circuits from the wafer
Toroidal-Core Microinductors Biased by Permanent Magnets
The designs of microscopic toroidal-core inductors in integrated circuits of DC-to-DC voltage converters would be modified, according to a proposal, by filling the gaps in the cores with permanent magnets that would apply bias fluxes (see figure). The magnitudes and polarities of the bias fluxes would be tailored to counteract the DC fluxes generated by the DC components of the currents in the inductor windings, such that it would be possible to either reduce the sizes of the cores or increase the AC components of the currents in the cores without incurring adverse effects. Reducing the sizes of the cores could save significant amounts of space on integrated circuits because relative to other integrated-circuit components, microinductors occupy large areas - of the order of a square millimeter each. An important consideration in the design of such an inductor is preventing magnetic saturation of the core at current levels up to the maximum anticipated operating current. The requirement to prevent saturation, as well as other requirements and constraints upon the design of the core are expressed by several equations based on the traditional magnetic-circuit approximation. The equations involve the core and gap dimensions and the magnetic-property parameters of the core and magnet materials. The equations show that, other things remaining equal, as the maximum current is increased, one must increase the size of the core to prevent the flux density from rising to the saturation level. By using a permanent bias flux to oppose the flux generated by the DC component of the current, one would reduce the net DC component of flux in the core, making it possible to reduce the core size needed to prevent the total flux density (sum of DC and AC components) from rising to the saturation level. Alternatively, one could take advantage of the reduction of the net DC component of flux by increasing the allowable AC component of flux and the corresponding AC component of current. In either case, permanent-magnet material and the slant (if any) and thickness of the gap must be chosen according to the equations to obtain the required bias flux. In modifying the design of the inductor, one must ensure that the inductance is not altered. The simplest way to preserve the original value of inductance would be to leave the gap dimensions unchanged and fill the gap with a permanent- magnet material that, fortuitously, would produce just the required bias flux. A more generally applicable alternative would be to partly fill either the original gap or a slightly enlarged gap with a suitable permanent-magnet material (thereby leaving a small residual gap) so that the reluctance of the resulting magnetic circuit would yield the desired inductance
The role of stationarity in magnetic crackling noise
We discuss the effect of the stationarity on the avalanche statistics of
Barkhuasen noise signals. We perform experimental measurements on a
FeB amorphous ribbon and compare the avalanche distributions
measured around the coercive field, where the signal is stationary, with those
sampled through the entire hysteresis loop. In the first case, we recover the
scaling exponents commonly observed in other amorphous materials (,
). while in the second the exponents are significantly larger
(, ). We provide a quantitative explanation of the
experimental results through a model for the depinning of a ferromagnetic
domain wall. The present analysis shed light on the unusually high values for
the Barkhausen noise exponents measured by Spasojevic et al. [Phys. Rev. E 54
2531 (1996)].Comment: submitted to JSTAT. 11 pages 5 figure
Planar varactor frequency multiplier devices with blocking barrier
The invention relates to planar varactor frequency multiplier devices with a heterojunction blocking barrier for near millimeter wave radiation of moderate power from a fundamental input wave. The space charge limitation of the submillimeter frequency multiplier devices of the BIN(sup +) type is overcome by a diode structure comprising an n(sup +) doped layer of semiconductor material functioning as a low resistance back contact, a layer of semiconductor material with n-type doping functioning as a drift region grown on the back contact layer, a delta doping sheet forming a positive charge at the interface of the drift region layer with a barrier layer, and a surface metal contact. The layers thus formed on an n(sup +) doped layer may be divided into two isolated back-to-back BNN(sup +) diodes by separately depositing two surface metal contacts. By repeating the sequence of the drift region layer and the barrier layer with the delta doping sheet at the interfaces between the drift and barrier layers, a plurality of stacked diodes is formed. The novelty of the invention resides in providing n-type semiconductor material for the drift region in a GaAs/AlGaAs structure, and in stacking a plurality of such BNN(sup +) diodes stacked for greater output power with and connected back-to-back with the n(sup +) GaAs layer as an internal back contact and separate metal contact over an AlGaAs barrier layer on top of each stack
End-of-fabrication CMOS process monitor
A set of test 'modules' for verifying the quality of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process at the end of the wafer fabrication is documented. By electrical testing of specific structures, over thirty parameters are collected characterizing interconnects, dielectrics, contacts, transistors, and inverters. Each test module contains a specification of its purpose, the layout of the test structure, the test procedures, the data reduction algorithms, and exemplary results obtained from 3-, 2-, or 1.6-micrometer CMOS/bulk processes. The document is intended to establish standard process qualification procedures for Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC's)
Power spectra of self-organized critical sandpiles
We analyze the power spectra of avalanches in two classes of self-organized
critical sandpile models, the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld model and the Manna model. We
show that these decay with a power law, where the exponent value
is significantly smaller than 2 and equals the scaling exponent
relating the avalanche size to its duration. We discuss the basic ingredients
behind this result, such as the scaling of the average avalanche shape.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to JSTA
Hysteresis and Avalanches in the Random Anisotropy Ising Model
The behaviour of the Random Anisotropy Ising model at T=0 under local
relaxation dynamics is studied. The model includes a dominant ferromagnetic
interaction and assumes an infinite anisotropy at each site along local
anisotropy axes which are randomly aligned. Two different random distributions
of anisotropy axes have been studied. Both are characterized by a parameter
that allows control of the degree of disorder in the system. By using numerical
simulations we analyze the hysteresis loop properties and characterize the
statistical distribution of avalanches occuring during the metastable evolution
of the system driven by an external field. A disorder-induced critical point is
found in which the hysteresis loop changes from displaying a typical
ferromagnetic magnetization jump to a rather smooth loop exhibiting only tiny
avalanches. The critical point is characterized by a set of critical exponents,
which are consistent with the universal values proposed from the study of other
simpler models.Comment: 40 pages, 21 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Watt-level millimeter-wave monolithic diode-grid frequency multipliers
Monolithic planar arrays containing in excess of 1000 Schottky diodes have produced watt level output at 66 GHz in a doubler configuration in excellent agreement with large signal predictions of the frequency multiplication. Current efforts are concentrated on fabricating and developing arrays of novel barrier-intrinsic-N+ (BIN) diode which promise increased performance in tripler and quintupler configurations
Dynamics of a ferromagnetic domain wall: avalanches, depinning transition and the Barkhausen effect
We study the dynamics of a ferromagnetic domain wall driven by an external
magnetic field through a disordered medium. The avalanche-like motion of the
domain walls between pinned configurations produces a noise known as the
Barkhausen effect. We discuss experimental results on soft ferromagnetic
materials, with reference to the domain structure and the sample geometry, and
report Barkhausen noise measurements on FeCoB amorphous
alloy. We construct an equation of motion for a flexible domain wall, which
displays a depinning transition as the field is increased. The long-range
dipolar interactions are shown to set the upper critical dimension to ,
which implies that mean-field exponents (with possible logarithmic correction)
are expected to describe the Barkhausen effect. We introduce a mean-field
infinite-range model and show that it is equivalent to a previously introduced
single-degree-of-freedom model, known to reproduce several experimental
results. We numerically simulate the equation in , confirming the
theoretical predictions. We compute the avalanche distributions as a function
of the field driving rate and the intensity of the demagnetizing field. The
scaling exponents change linearly with the driving rate, while the cutoff of
the distribution is determined by the demagnetizing field, in remarkable
agreement with experiments.Comment: 17 RevTeX pages, 19 embedded ps figures + 1 extra figure, submitted
to Phys. Rev.
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