11,111 research outputs found
A Survey of Digital Systems Curriculum and Pedagogy in Electrical and Computer Engineering Programs
Digital Systems is one of the basic foundational courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering. One of the challenges in designing and modifying the curriculum for the course is the fast pace of technology change in the area. TTL chips that were in vogue with students building physical circuits, have given way to new paradigms like FPGA based synthesis with hardware description languages such as VHDL. However, updating a course is not as simple as just changing the book, and changing the syllabus. A large amount of work needs to be done in terms of selecting the book that will accommodate the course, the device that should be used, the laboratory content, and even how much time needs to be dedicated for every topic. All these issues, and many more makes it hard to take the decision of updating the course. For that reason, this paper surveys the pedagogy and methodology that is used to teach the digital systems curriculum at different universities. The goal is that it will serve as a resource for faculty looking to update or revamp their digital systems curricula. Within the document they will find a comparative study by electrical and computer engineering program, a list of textbooks, and the devices most commonly used.Cockrell School of Engineerin
A non-equilibrium equation-of-motion approach to quantum transport utilizing projection operators
We consider a projection operator approach to the non-equilbrium Green
function equation-of-motion (PO-NEGF EOM) method. The technique resolves
problems of arbitrariness in truncation of an infinite chain of EOMs, and
prevents violation of symmetry relations resulting from the truncation. The
approach, originally developed by Tserkovnikov [Theor. Math. Phys. 118, 85
(1999)] for equilibrium systems, is reformulated to be applicable to
time-dependent non-equilibrium situations. We derive a canonical form of EOMs,
thus explicitly demonstrating a proper result for the non-equilibrium atomic
limit in junction problems. A simple practical scheme applicable to quantum
transport simulations is formulated. We perform numerical simulations within
simple models, and compare results of the approach to other techniques, and
(where available) also to exact results.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Efficiency fluctuations in quantum thermoelectric devices
We present a method, based on characterizing efficiency fluctuations, to
asses the performance of nanoscale thermoelectric junctions. This method
accounts for effects typically arising in small junctions, namely,
stochasticity in the junction's performance, quantum effects, and
nonequilibrium features preventing a linear response analysis. It is based on a
nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) approach, which we use to derive the
full counting statistics (FCS) for heat and work, and which in turn allows us
to calculate the statistical properties of efficiency fluctuations. We simulate
the latter for a variety of simple models where our method is exact. By
analyzing the discrepancies with the semi-classical prediction of a quantum
master equation (QME) approach, we emphasize the quantum nature of efficiency
fluctuations for realistic junction parameters. We finally propose an
approximate Gaussian method to express efficiency fluctuations in terms of
nonequilibrium currents and noises which are experimentally measurable in
molecular junctions.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, v2: version accepted in PR
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