High Performance VHF Power VDMOSFETs for Low Voltage Applications

A high performance VHF power VDMOSFET,ap plying to the mobile communications,is developed,which can deliver an output power of 12W with the drain efficiency of 70% as well as the gain of 12dB at a low supply voltage of 12V and 175MHz.It is fabricated by using the terraced gat e structure and refractory molybdenum (Mo) gate technology.

Solid-state NMR study on sodium intercalation at low voltage window for Na_(3)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3) as an anode

In-situ XRD,^(31)P NMR and ^(23)Na NMR were used to analyze the interaction behavior of Na_(3)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3) at low voltage,and then a new intercalation model was proposed.During the transition from Na_(3)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3) to Na_(4)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3),Na ions insert into M1,M2 and M3 sites simultaneously.Afterwards,during the transition of Na_(4)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3)to Na_(5)V_(2)(PO_(4))_(3),Na ions mainly insert into M3 site.

A Low-Voltage,Low-Power CMOS High Dynamic Range dB-Linear VGA for Super Heterodyne Receivers

This paper presents a low-voltage low-power variable gain amplifier,which is applied in the automatic gain control loop of a super heterodyne receiver. Six stages are cascaded to provide an 81dB digitally controlled gain range in a 3dB step. The gain step error is less than 0.5dB. It operates at an intermediate frequency of 300kHz, and the power consumption is 1.35mW from a 1.8V supply. The prototype chip is implemented in a TSMC＇s 0.18μm 1P6M CMOS process and occupies approximately 0.24mm^2 . It is very suitable for portable wire- less communication systems. The measurement results agree well with the system requirements.

A Low-Voltage,High Efficiency Power Generation Structure for UHF RFID

This paper presents a new power generation structure that can provide DC energy for passive UHF RFID with high sensitivity and high efficiency. The structure is designed with 0.18μm standard CMOS technology, including two charge pumps,a current reference, and a group of bias circuits. Low-voltage performance is improved thanks to the bias structure,which eliminates the threshold voltage drop and body-effect of conventional circuits. A 350mV minimum input level is required to generate a 1.5V power supply for a 100k~ load with power conversion efficiency （PCE） of 22%. PCE up to 29.8% is achieved with a 60kΩ load. Simulation results show that the new circuit is superior to conventional charge pumps.

A Low Voltage,Low Power RF/Analog Front-End Circuit for Passive UHF RFID Tags

This paper presents a low voltage, low power RF/analog front-end circuit for passive ultra high frequency （UHF） radio frequency identification （RFID） tags. Temperature compensation is achieved by a reference generator using sub-threshold techniques. The chip maintains a steady system clock in a temperature range from - 40 to 100℃. Some novel building blocks are developed to save system power consumption,including a zero static current power-on reset circuit and a voltage regulator. The RF/analog front-end circuit is implemented with digital base-band and EEPROM to construct a whole tag chip in 0. 18μm CMOS EEPROM technology without Schottcky diodes. Measured results show that the chip has a minimum supply voltage requirement of 0.75V. At this voltage, the total current consumption of the RF/analog frontend circuit is 4.6μA.

Self-Aligned InGaP/GaAs Power HBTswith a Low Bias Voltage

A self aligned InGaP/GaAs power HBTs for L band power amplifier with low bias voltage are described.Base emitter metal self aligning,air bridge,and wafer thinning are used to improve microwave power performance.A power HBT with double size of emitter of (3μm×15μm)×12 is fabricated.When the packaged HBT operates in class AB at a collector bias of 3V,a maximum 23dBm output power with 45% power added efficiency is achieved at 2GHz.The results show that the InGaP/GaAs power HBTs have great potential in mobile communication systems operating at low bias voltage.

Analysis and management strategies for the low voltage problems of rural power grid based on the distribution network flow calculation method

For a long time, because of the lack of investment capital and enough attentions, the overall constructions of rural power grid were far behind than the urban power grid in Chongqing Jiangbei Power Company. The low voltage problems were highlighted in the rural power grid due to the characteristics of rural power grid. Using the distribution network flow calculation method, we evaluated the low voltage problems of the rural power grid which belongs to Chongqing Jiangbei Power Company. In addition, we collected the data of distribution transformers in electricity consumption peak period. Some practical management strategies were proposed by the analysis and evaluation of potential and appeared low voltage problems.

Very Low Power,Low Voltage,High Accuracy,and High Performance Current Mirror

A novel low power and low voltage current mirror with a very low current copy error is presented and the principle of its operation is discussed. In this circuit, the gain boosting regulated cascode scheme is used to improve the output resistance, while using inverter as an amplifier. The simulation results with HSPICE in TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS technology are given, which verify the high performance of the proposed structure. Simulation results show an input resistance of 0.014 Ω and an output resistance of 3 GΩ. The current copy error is favorable as low as 0.002% together with an input （the minimum input voltage of Vin,min- 0.24 V） and an output （the minimum output voltage of Vout,min~ 0.16 V） compliances while working with the 1 V power supply and the 50 μA input current. The current copy error is near zero at the input current of 27 μA. It consumes only 76μW and introduces a very low output offset current of 50 pA.

Grain refinement of as-cast superalloy IN718 under action of low voltage pulsed magnetic field

The grain refinement of superalloy IN718 under the action of low voltage pulsed magnetic field was investigated. The experimental results show that fine equiaxed grains are acquired under the action of low voltage pulsed magnetic field. The refinement effect of the pulsed magnetic field is affected by the melt cooling rate and superheating. The decrease of cooling rate and superheating enhance the refinement effect of the low voltage pulsed magnetic field. The magnetic force and the melt flow during solidification are modeled and simulated to reveal the grain refinement mechanism. It is considered that the melt convection caused by the pulsed magnetic field, as well as cooling rate and superheating contributes to the refinement of solidified grains.

Characterization and comprehension of corona partial discharge in air under power frequency to very low frequency voltage

For the partial discharge test of electrical equipment with large capacitance,the use of lowfrequency voltage instead of power frequency voltage can effectively reduce the capacity requirements of test power supply.However,the validity of PD test under low frequency voltage needs to be evaluated.In order to investigate the influence of voltage frequency on corona discharge in the air,the discharge test of the tip-plate electrode under the frequency from 50 to0.1 Hz is carried out based on the impulse current method.The results show that some of the main features of corona under low frequency do not change.The magnitude of discharge in a positive half cycle is obviously larger than that in a negative cycle.The magnitude of discharge and interval in positive cycle are random,while that in negative cycle are regular.With the decrease of frequency,the inception voltage increases.The variation trend of maximum and average magnitude and repetition rate of the discharge in positive and negative half cycle with the variation of voltage frequency and magnitude is demonstrated,with discussion and interpretation from the aspects of space charge transportation,effective discharge time and transition of discharge modes.There is an obvious difference in the phase resolved pattern of partial discharge and characteristic parameters of discharge patterns between power and low frequency.The experimental results can be the reference for mode identification of partial discharge under low frequency tests.The trend of the measured parameters with the variation of frequency provides more information about the insulation defect than traditional measurements under a single frequency（usually 50 Hz）.Also it helps to understand the mechanism of corona discharge with an explanation of the characteristics under different frequencies.

DESIGN OF LOW-VOLTAGE AND LOW-POWER FULLY INTEGRATED FILTER BASED ON LOG-DOMAIN CURRENT-MODE INTEGRATOR

In this paper a novel log-domain current-mode integrator based on MOS transistors in subthreshold is proposed. The integrator's time-constant is tunable by varying a reference bias current. By use of the integrator, a fifth-order Chebyshev lowpass filter with 0.1dB ripples is designed. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed filter has such advantages as low power supply(1.5V), very low power dissipation (μW level), nearly ideal frequency response, very small sensitivity to components in passband, and adjustable cut-off frequency over a wide range.The circuit is composed of NMOS transistors and grounded capacitors which make it suitable for fully integrated circuit implementation.

Improved RF power performance of InAlN/GaN HEMT by optimizing rapid thermal annealing process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications

Improved radio-frequency(RF)power performance of InAlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)is achieved by optimizing the rapid thermal annealing(RTA)process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications.By optimizing the RTA temperature and time,the optimal annealing condition is found to enable low parasitic resistance and thus a high-performance device.Besides,compared with the non-optimized RTA HEMT,the optimized one demonstrates smoother ohmic metal surface morphology and better heterojunction quality including the less degraded heterojunction sheet resistance and clearer heterojunction interfaces as well as negligible material out-diffusion from the barrier to the channel and buffer.Benefiting from the lowered parasitic resistance,improved maximum output current density of 2279 mA·mm^(-1)and higher peak extrinsic transconductance of 526 mS·mm^(-1)are obtained for the optimized RTA HEMT.In addition,due to the superior heterojunction quality,the optimized HEMT shows reduced off-state leakage current of 7×10^(-3)mA·mm^(-1)and suppressed current collapse of only 4%,compared with those of 1×10^(-1)mA·mm^(-1)and 15%for the non-optimized one.At 8 GHz and V_(DS)of 6 V,a significantly improved power-added efficiency of 62%and output power density of 0.71 W·mm^(-1)are achieved for the optimized HEMT,as the result of the improvement in output current,knee voltage,off-state leakage current,and current collapse,which reveals the tremendous advantage of the optimized RTA HEMT in high-performance low-voltage terminal applications.

A Novel Offset-Cancellation Technique for Low Voltage CMOS Differential Amplifiers

Based on a physical understanding of nonlinearity and mismatch, a novel offset-cancellation technique for low voltage CMOS differential amplifiers is proposed. The technique transfers the offset voltage from the output to other parts of the differential amplifier and can greatly reduce the input-referred offset voltage without extra power consumption. A 1.8V CMOS differential amplifier is implemented in 0.18μm CMOS process using the proposed technique. The simulation results show that the technique could reduce the input-referred offset voltage of the amplifier by 40% with a 20% load transistor mismatch and a 10% input differential transistor mismatch. Moreover, the proposed technique consumes the least power and achieves the highest integration among various offset-cancellation techniques.

Low Voltage CMOS Gilbert Mixers for Bluetooth Transceiver

Based on the analyses of the reported Gilbert mixers operating at low supply vol tage,a down-conversion mixer and an up-conversion mixer for 2.4GHz bluetooth transceiver are presented with the modified low voltage design techniques,respe ctively.Feedback and current mirror techniques suitable for low voltage operatio n are used to improve the linearity of the up-conversion mixer,and folded-casc ode output stage is adopted to optimize the noise and conversion gain of the dow n-conversion mixer operating at low voltage.Based on 0.35μm CMOS technology,s imulations are performed with 2V supply voltage.The results show that 20dBm thir d-order intercept point (IIP3),87mV output signal amplitude are achieved for up -conversion mixer with about 3mA current;while 20dB conversion gain (CG),6.5nV /Hz input-referred noise,4.4dBm IIP3 are obtained for down-conversion mixer with about 3.5mA current.

Power-line Modem over the Low Voltage Grid Using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Techniques

Power-line networks are designed to deliver electricity. They reach most of the domiciles and other buildings nowadays, so most of the people have access to it. On the other hand the backbone for the communications networks is not available in all countries especially the developing ones. A high cost and changing the design for the networks may be needed to construct this backbone. If data can be transmitted over the power-line networks, a recognized cost and time save can be achieved. In Egypt, the infrastructure is not always available for constructing a communications network backbone due to the already designed buildings before the need for these backbones. In this paper, we overcome this problem by designing a reliable Power-line Modem that operates safely on the low voltage grid. The modem is based on the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technique. It uses the mains zero crossing as an efficient way for the synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. The Modem takes into account the problems of the Power-line including noise, attenuation and impedance dismatching.

ANovel Non-Isolated Cubic DC-DC Converter with High Voltage Gain for Renewable Energy Power Generation System

In recent years,switched inductor(SL)technology,switched capacitor(SC)technology,and switched inductor-capacitor(SL-SC)technology have been widely applied to optimize and improve DC-DC boost converters,which can effectively enhance voltage gain and reduce device stress.To address the issue of low output voltage in current renewable energy power generation systems,this study proposes a novel non-isolated cubic high-gain DC-DC converter based on the traditional quadratic DC-DC boost converter by incorporating a SC and a SL-SC unit.Firstly,the proposed converter’s details are elaborated,including its topology structure,operating mode,voltage gain,device stress,and power loss.Subsequently,a comparative analysis is conducted on the voltage gain and device stress between the proposed converter and other high-gain converters.Then,a closed-loop simulation system is constructed to obtain simulation waveforms of various devices and explore the dynamic performance.Finally,an experimental prototype is built,experimental waveforms are obtained,and the experimental dynamic performance and conversion efficiency are analyzed.The theoretical analysis’s correctness is verified through simulation and experimental results.The proposed converter has advantages such as high voltage gain,low device stress,high conversion efficiency,simple control,and wide input voltage range,achieving a good balance between voltage gain,device stress,and power loss.The proposed converter is well-suited for renewable energy systems and holds theoretical significance and practical value in renewable energy applications.It provides an effective solution to the issue of low output voltage in renewable energy power generation systems.

Study on the instantaneous protection reliability of low voltage circuit breakers

This paper outlines the significance of enhancing the instantaneous protection reliability of low voltage circuit breakers and describes their main failure modes. The instantaneous failure mechanism of low voltage circuit breakers was analyzed so that measures to improve instantaneous protection reliability can be determined. Furthermore, the theory of the instantaneous characteristics calibration device for low voltage circuit breakers and the method of eliminating the non-periodic component of test current are given in detail. Finally, the test results are presented.

Key technologies for medium and low voltage DC distribution system

Development of the medium and low voltage DC distribution system is of great significance to a regional transmission of electric energy,increasing a penetration rate of new energy,and enhancing a safety of the operation of the AC/DC interconnected grid.This paper first summarizes the medium and low voltage DC distribution system schemes and plans put forward by many countries,and then elaborate status of under-construction medium and low voltage DC distribution system project cases in China.Based on these project cases,this paper analyzes key issues involved in the medium and low voltage DC distribution system topologies,equipment,operation control technologies and DC fault protections,in order to provide theoretical and technical reference for future medium and low voltage DC distribution system-related projects.Finally,this paper combines a current China research status to summarize and give a prediction about the future research direction of medium and low voltage DC distribution system,which can provide reference for the research of medium and low voltage DC distribution system.

Increasing the Efficiency and Level of Environmental Safety of Pro-Environmental City Heat Supply Technologies by Low Power Nuclear Plants

In connection with the current prospect of decarbonization of coal energy through the use of small nuclear power plants (SNPPs) at existing TPPs as heat sources for heat supply to municipal heating networks, there is a technological need to improve heat supply schemes to increase their environmental friendliness and efficiency. The paper proves the feasibility of using the heat-feeding mode of ASHPs for urban heat supply by heating the network water with steam taken from the turbine. The ratio of electric and thermal power of a “nuclear” combined heat and power plant is given. The advantage of using a heat pump, which provides twice as much electrical power with the same heat output, is established. Taking into account that heat in these modes is supplied with different potential, the energy efficiency was used to compare these options. To increase the heat supply capacity, a scheme with the use of a high-pressure heater in the backpressure mode and with the heating of network water with hot steam was proposed. Heat supply from ASHPs is efficient and environmentally friendly even in the case of significant remoteness of heat consumers.

Boosting of reversible capacity delivered at a low voltage below 0.5 V in mildly expanded graphitized needle coke anode for a high-energy lithium ion battery

The rate performance and cycle stability of graphitized needle coke(GNC)as anode are still limited by the sluggish kinetics and volume expansion during the Li ions intercalation and de-intercalation process.Especially,the output of energy density for lithium ion batteries(LIBs)is directly affected by the delithiation capacity below 0.5 V.Here,the mildly expanded graphitized needle coke(MEGNC)with the enlarged interlayer spacing from 0.346 to 0.352 nm is obtained by the two-step mild oxidation intercalation modification.The voltage plateau of MEGNC anode below 0.5 V is obviously broadened as compared to the initial GNC anode,contributing to the enhancement of Li storage below the low voltage plateau.Moreover,the coin full cell and pouch full cell configured with MEGNC anode exhibit much enhanced Li storage ability,energy density and better cycling stability than those full cells configured with GNC and commercial graphite anodes,demonstrating the practical application value of MEGNC.The superior anode behaviors of MEGNC including the increased effective capacity at low voltage and superior cyclic stability are mainly benefited from the enlarged interlayer spacing,which not only accelerates the Li ions diffusion rate,but also effectively alleviates the volume expansion and fragmentation during the Li ions intercalation process.In addition,the above result is further confirmed by the density functional theory simulation.This work provides an effective modification strategy for the NC-based graphite to enhance the delithiation capacity at a low voltage plateau,dedicated to improving the energy density and durability of LIBs.