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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Circuit for Full Charging of Series Lithium-Ion Cells
An advanced charger has been proposed for a battery that comprises several lithium-ion cells in series. The proposal is directed toward charging the cells in as nearly an optimum manner as possible despite unit-to-unit differences among the nominally identical cells.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Analog Nonvolatile Computer Memory Circuits
In nonvolatile random-access memory (RAM) circuits of a proposed type, digital data would be stored in analog form in ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FFETs). This type of memory circuit would offer advantages over prior volatile and nonvolatile types:
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A proposed visible-light imaging spectrometer on a chip would be based on the concept of a heterostructure comprising multiple layers of silicon-based photodetectors interspersed with long-wavelength-pass optical...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
SiC Multi-Chip Power Modules as Power-System Building Blocks
The term “SiC MCPMs” (wherein “MCPM” signifies “multi-chip power module”) denotes electronic power-supply modules containing multiple silicon carbide power devices and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) control integrated-circuit chips. SiC MCPMs are being developed as building blocks...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A research and development effort now underway is directed toward satisfying requirements for a new type of relatively inexpensive, lightweight, microwave antenna array and associated...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Theoretical analysis and some experiments have shown that the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 4-gate transistors known as G4-FETs can be used as building blocks of four-quadrant analog voltage...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Two modern cryogenic variants of the Pound circuit have been devised to increase the frequency stability of microwave oscillators that include cryogenic sapphire-filled cavity...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Semiconductor Bolometers Give Background-Limited Performance
Semiconductor bolometers that are capable of detecting electromagnetic radiation over most or all of the infrared spectrum and that give background-limited performance at operating temperatures from 20 to 300 K have been invented. The term "background-limited performance" as applied to a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A multichannel dielectric-resonator oscillator (DRO), built as a prototype of a local oscillator for an X-band transmitter or receiver, is capable of being electrically tuned among and within...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
According to a proposal, a silicon dioxide layer in a high speed, low power, silicon-based electro-optical modulator would be replaced by a layer of lead zirconate titanate or other...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Multiplexing and differential transducers based on tunnel-diode oscillators (TDOs) would be developed, according to a proposal, for operation at very low and/or widely varying...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A three-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) W-band amplifier has been constructed and tested in a continuing effort to develop amplifiers as well as oscillators, frequency...
Techs for License: Semiconductors & ICs
Developed for quality control and wafer metrology in the semiconductor manufacturing market, this non-destructive technology may be highly adaptable to measuring material properties such as a coating’s...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A proposed improved method of externally controlled time multiplexing of the readouts of focal plane arrays of pairs of stacked quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) that...
Briefs: Nanotechnology
Carbon-Nanotube Schottky Diodes
Schottky diodes based on semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are being developed as essential components of the next generation of submillimeter-wave sensors and sources. Initial performance predictions have shown that the performance characteristics of these devices can exceed those of the state-of-the-art...
Articles: Semiconductors & ICs
30 Years of Electronics & Semiconductors
In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of NASA Tech Briefs, our features in 2006 highlight a different technology category each month, tracing the past 30 years of the technology, and continuing with a glimpse into the future of where the technology is headed. Along the way, we include insights from industry...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A family of experimental highly miniaturized field-effect transistors (FETs) is based on exploitation of the electrical properties of nanofibers of polyaniline/ polyethylene oxide...
Briefs: Packaging & Sterilization
A waveguide power-amplifier module capable of operating over the frequency range from 80 to 150 GHz has been constructed. The module comprises a previously reported power amplifier packaged in...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Improved low-resistance, semitransparent back contacts, and a method of fabricating them, have been developed for solar photovoltaic cells that are made from thin films of I-III-VI2...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A single-chip CMOS-based (complementary-metal-oxide-semi-conductor-based) transmit/receive (T/R) module is being developed for L-band radar systems. Previous T/R module implementations required multiple chips...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
The figure is a schematic diagram of a complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) electronic circuit that performs one of three different logic functions, depending on the level of an...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A circuit that changes an electrical load in a switching time shorter than 0.3 microsecond has been devised. This circuit can be used in testing the regulation characteristics of power-supply circuits...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Figure 1 shows a single-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier in which the gain element is a double-heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) connected in common-base...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A system of electronic instrumentation, constituting the equivalent of a two-port vector network analyzer, has been developed for use in on-wafer measurement of key electrical characteristics...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
PVM Enhancement for Beowulf Multiple-Processor Nodes
A recent version of the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) computer program has been enhanced to enable use of multiple processors in a single node of a Beowulf system (a cluster of personal computers that runs the Linux operating system). A previous version of PVM had been enhanced by addition of a...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Programs for Testing Processor-in-Memory Computing Systems
The Multithreaded Microbenchmarks for Processor-InMemory (PIM) Compilers, Simulators, and Hardware are computer programs arranged in a series for use in testing the performances of PIM computing systems, including compilers, simulators, and hardware. The programs at the beginning of the...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A fault-tolerant computer architecture has been conceived in an effort to reduce vulnerability to single-event upsets (spurious bit flips caused by impingement of energetic ionizing...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
An improved apparatus has been designed and built for use in precise positioning and pressing of a microchip onto a substrate (which could, optionally, be another microchip) for the...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A low-temperature process for fabricating flexible, ohmic contacts for use in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) has been developed. Typical drainsource contact materials used...
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