Low Voltage Characteristics Research Articles

Performance analysis of OTFT with varying semiconductor film thickness for future flexible electronics

The goal of this study was to get a deeper understanding of the intricate impact of organic semiconductor thickness on the performance of devices, using a thorough and meticulous investigation at the microscopic level incorporating the density of defect model using using Silvaco ATLAS TCAD Simulator. The present work thoroughly investigates the relationship between the thickness of semiconductors and important performance parameters, such as hole concentration, electric potential, electric field, and Hole QFL. The comprehensive insights derived from this research not only enhance the comprehension of device physics but also provide a framework for the systematic enhancement of electronic devices. The widespread use of organic thin film transistors (OTFT) in future Flexible electronics, particularly in display and memory circuits, necessitates the incorporation of low voltage, high speed, and low cost characteristics.

P‐2.20: Hand Interaction Acquisition Technology Based on Hall Sensor

The design adopts the assistance of Hall sensor and permanent magnet to realize the capture of finger movement, which has the advantages of low cost and accurate recognition. STM32 is used as the main control module and MDK5 development platform in the design. The platform has the advantages of high integration and convenient development, and also has the characteristics of digital signal processing, high performance, real-time function, low voltage and low power consumption. A permanent magnet is designed at the center of the palm of the glove to form a constant magnetic field near the palm. The Hall sensor is a magnetic field sensor made according to the Hall effect, which can convert the magnetic field strength into a voltage signal. Through the AD conversion module built in STM32 chip, the output voltage of Hall sensor can be collected and converted into finger position and posture information through algorithm.

Capacitor-Less Low-Power Neuron Circuit with Multi-Gate Feedback Field Effect Transistor

Recently, research on artificial neuron circuits imitating biological systems has been actively studied. The neuron circuit can implement an artificial neural network (ANN) capable of low-power parallel processing by configuring a biological neural network system in hardware. Conventional CMOS analog neuron circuits require many MOSFETs and membrane capacitors. Additionally, it has low energy efficiency in the first inverter stage connected to the capacitor. In this paper, we propose a low-power neuron circuit with a multi-gate feedback field effect transistor (FBFET) that can perform integration without a capacitor to solve the problem of an analog neuron circuit. The multi-gate FBFET has a low off-current due to its low operating voltage and excellent sub-threshold characteristics. We replace the n-channel MOSFET of the inverter with FBFET to suppress leakage current. FBFET devices and neuron circuits were analyzed using TACD and SPICE mixed-mode simulation. As a result, we found that the neuron circuit with multi-gate FBFET has a low subthreshold slope and can completely suppress energy consumption. We also verified the temporal and spatial integration of neuron circuits.

Impacts of pulse conditions on endurance behavior of ferroelectric thin-film transistor non-volatile memory

In this work, the ferroelectric thin-film transistor (Fe-TFT) with polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) channel and HfZrO x gate dielectric is fabricated to study the characteristics of non-volatile memory (NVM). Significant threshold voltage (V TH) modulation can be achieved with low pulse voltages less than ±3.5 V and pulse widths within 1 μs. In order to achieve the NVM characteristics of low voltage and high speed operation, the impact of the program/erase (PRG/ERS) pulse voltage (V PRG/V ERS) and pulse width on endurance is a critical consideration. In the study of the pulse width effect on endurance, it can be observed that the V TH in PRG-state exhibits the wake-up effect at both short and long pulse widths. In addition, with the increase of pulse width, the V TH in the PRG-state exhibits significant fatigue effect and subthreshold swing (SS) degradation effect. For V TH in the ERS-state, the increase of the pulse width also exhibits the fatigue effect and the SS degradation effect, which is dominated by the SS degradation effect at long pulse widths. In the study of the pulse voltage effect on endurance, the increase of V PRG shows the imprint effect that the V TH in either PRG- or ERS-state reveals a decreasing trend. When the V ERS increases, the SS of the PRG- and ERS-states is degraded, and the fatigue effect of the PRG-state is enhanced. Moreover, the retention characteristics of poly-Si Fe-TFTs exhibit stable characteristics at both room temperature and 50 °C.

Solution-based in situ deposition of Sb2S3 from a single source precursor for resistive random-access memory devices

A one-step, scalable, reproducible, low-temperature, and in situ solvothermal deposition method has been established for the growth of Sb2S3 on FTO using [Sb{S2P{O(Pr)2}3] precursor. The Ag/Sb2S3/FTO device demonstrated low operating voltage and excellent resistive switching characteristics.

Improved Quasi-Z-Source High Step-Up DC-DC Converter Based on Voltage-Doubler Topology.

The step-up DC-DC converter is widely used for applications such as IoT sensor nodes, energy harvesting, and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this article, a new topological quasi-Z-source (QZ) high step-up DC-DC converter for the PV system is proposed. The topology of this converter is based on the voltage-doubler circuits. Compared with a conventional quasi-Z-source DC-DC converter, the proposed converter features low voltage ripple at the output, the use of a common ground switch, and low stress on circuit components. The new topology, named a low-side-drive quasi-Z-source boost converter (LQZC), consists of a flying capacitor (CF), the QZ network, two diodes, and a N-channel MOS switch. A 60 W laboratory prototype DC-DC converter achieved 94.9% power efficiency.

Dimer-type Cs3Sb2I9: An efficient perovskite material for low operating voltage and high stability flexible resistive switching memory

All-inorganic perovskites have been taken as the promising functional materials in non-volatile resistive switching (RS) memory. Herein, the lead-free all-inorganic Cs3Sb2I9 perovskites with high stability are fabricated via hydrochloric acid (HCl) assisted solution method at low-temperature. The devices with a structure of Ag/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/HCl-modified dimer-Cs3Sb2I9/ITO take on typical bipolar RS behavior and remarkable characteristics such as high ON/OFF ratio (≈66), low operating voltage (≈ −0.34 V/+0.25 V), excellent endurance property (≥120 cycles) and long data retention (≥104 s). Moreover, outstanding mechanical stability of the Cs3Sb2I9-based flexible memory devices are demonstrated under different bending angles and over consecutive 103 bending cycles. In addition, the Cs3Sb2I9-based memory devices show no obvious change in the RS behavior after over 10 days storage under an ambient atmosphere. This work will contribute to understanding the characteristics of low operating voltage and high stability RS behavior of the all-inorganic perovskites, and illuminate the great application potential of the lead-free antimony-based perovskite materials in next generation low power consumption non-volatile flexible memory devices.

Facile synthesis of MXene−Polyvinyl alcohol hybrid material for robust flexible memristor

MXenes are emerging two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials composed of transition metal carbides/nitrides/carbonitrides with several atomic layers. However, due to the analogous metallic conductivity, their development in the field of electronic devices is restricted. Recently, various etching methods of MXenes lead to the surface terminals containing different functional groups, which provides opportunities for further modification of MXene nanosheets and makes it possible to apply them in the field of electronic memristors. At present, there are few researches about memristors on the basis of MXene-polymer hybrid materials. Here, we synthesize Ti3C2Tx-MXenes and adjust their content in an insulating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer for triggering memristive performance, which affords outstanding bipolar resistive switching behavior. The memristor exhibits the characteristics of low operating voltage, long retention time, high flexibility, and acceptable mechanical stability. In order to examine the switching mechanism of the device, the charge transport model simulation is implemented, which indicates that charge trapping effect is responsible for the non-volatile memristor performance of Ti3C2Tx-PVA hybrid material. This work provides a simple strategy for preparing MXene-polymer hybrid materials and broadens the prospects of 2D MXenes in the field of non-volatile memory applications.

A New Ultra-Fast-Response Low-Transient-Voltage Boost Converter Suitable for Low-Voltage Solar Cells in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this article, a new ultra-fast-response low-transient-voltage boost converter suitable for low-voltage solar cells in wireless sensor networks is presented. The proposed converter not only achieves a faster transient response but also higher power conversion efficiency. With the current-feedback adaptive-controlled technique, the system can operate in the more fixed switching frequency without extra phase-locked-loop circuits. The proposed new rail-to-rail current sensing circuit, which produces the inductor current information to the controlled loop, not only increases the stability of the system but also improves the dynamic response. The addition of a zero-current detector (ZCD) prevents the reverse current as the converter operates at light load, which enhances the conversion efficiency, and ensures that the converter works stably in the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The proposed converter has been implemented with TSMC 0.18- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ {\mu }\text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> 1P6M CMOS processes and occupies an area of 1.19 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times1.2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm. The measured results show that the transient response is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2 ~{\mu }\text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> when the load current changes between 1 and 200 mA. The peak conversion efficiency is 92.3% under 140-mA load current. The maximum efficiency improvement is 14.8% at 5-mA load current. The major contributions of this article are listed in the following: 1) we proposed a new architecture of boost converters with improved current-feedback and adaptive-controlled techniques; 2) the proposed architecture has one current loop and one voltage loop to balance the output voltage and the output current; 3) the proposed boost converter has the characteristics of fast response time and low transient voltage; 4) we have designed, implemented, and measured the proposed converters; and 5) from the figure of merit (FOM) formula, the performance of the proposed boost converter is better than other recent works.

Switchable 2D/3D display based on a liquid crystal lens array and the rotating specimen shooting method.

A liquid crystal (LC) lenticular lens array with auxiliary electrodes is proposed. The introduction of the auxiliary electrodes helps to obtain an LC lens array (LCLA) with relatively large aperture without complex structures. When the LCLA is in the focusing state, the voltage of auxiliary electrodes is less than that of edge electrodes, and the generated electric field in the LCLA can penetrate into the LC layer. Therefore, the ideal phase profile is obtained with a relatively thin LC layer thickness. Experimental results show that the LCLA has the characteristics of high optical power and low operation voltage. Based on the proposed LCLA, a multi-view 2D/3D switchable display is realized. In the experiment, a series of parallax images is obtained by rotating the sample to replace the convergence shooting method for 3D imaging. Compared with other 2D/3D switchable display devices, the multi-view 2D/3D switchable display based on the LCLA is characterized by being thin and compact, and displaying no moiré pattern.

Enhancement of holding voltage by a modified low-voltage trigger silicon-controlled rectifier structure for electrostatic discharge protection

A novel structure of low-voltage trigger silicon-controlled rectifiers (LVTSCRs) with low trigger voltage and high holding voltage is proposed for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. The proposed ESD protection device possesses an ESD implant and a floating structure. This improvement enhances the current discharge capability of the gate-grounded NMOS and weakens the current gain of the silicon-controlled rectifier current path. According to the simulation results, the proposed device retains a low trigger voltage characteristic of LVTSCRs and simultaneously increases the holding voltage to 5.53 V, providing an effective way to meet the ESD protection requirement of the 5 V CMOS process.

Experimental study on discharging current to reduce voltage stress during underwater shock wave generation

In food processing using underwater shock waves, the intensity of shock waves is determined by a discharging current from an output capacitor. In past studies, to realize efficient food processing, the underwater shock wave has been generated by charging a high voltage to the output capacitor with high withstand voltage characteristics. For this reason, the conventional method suffers from high manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the conventional method is dangerous due to high voltage requirements such as 3.5 kV. In this work, a low-cost and safe non-heat treatment technology using underwater shock waves is presented for food processing. Unlike the conventional methods, the proposed method generates underwater shock waves by using multiple large output capacitors with low withstand voltage characteristics. Therefore, the proposed method can achieve safe and low-cost non-thermal food processing, because the output capacitors do not need to be charged at high voltage. In the proposed method, the output voltage is about one-fourth that of the conventional methods. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed technique are confirmed by several experiments using a laboratory experimental system. The experiment revealed that the proposed technique can process a target food at 865 V output, where the rise time of the high voltage generator is 126 s and the output capacitor is 3300 μF.

A twelve-switch power conditioner for voltage and current compensation in three-phase four-wire grids

An interesting solution for problems associated with system voltage, such as sags and swells, as well as those associated with current such as low power factor and harmonic distortion is the unified power quality conditioner. However, one of its drawbacks is the high number of semiconductor devices since its conventional topology presents two full-bridge converters connected in a back-to-back configuration. Therefore, this paper proposes a twelve-switch converter topology as a power conditioner for voltage and current compensation in three-phase four-wire grids. The developed topology ally low voltage characteristic of dc bus of a hybrid power filter with a reduced number of semiconductor switches and the capability of homopolar voltage and current compensation through the converter fourth leg for the neutral wire connection. In the twelve-switch converter, there are two sets of three-phase four-wire outputs, each set behaving as an independent converter unit. One of these units is connected in parallel to the load by means of a series LC filter, working as a hybrid power filter and being responsible for the compensation of current harmonics and imbalance. The second converter unit is responsible for compensating harmonics, sags or swells in the grid voltage, in such way that the load receives a sinusoidal voltage waveform. Both converters are controlled in stationary reference frame through proportional-resonant controllers. Experimental results demonstrate the validity and the effectiveness of the proposed topology.

A negative dual output DC-DC converter with dual working modes

Renewable and clean energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) cells and fuel cells are increasing rapidly. Most of the renewable energy sources have low voltage characteristics. This necessitates the need of high gain converters. There are many other applications that require high gain converters. A negative dual output DC-DC converter with dual working modes is proposed. First working mode is a step-up (boost) operation in output 1 and step-up/step-down (buck-boost) operation in output 2, and the second working mode is step-up/step-down (buck-boost) operation in both output 1 and output 2 depending on different control strategies. The circuit structure is very simple with many advantages such as wide voltage gain and flexible. The performance study of negative dual output DC-DC converter is carried out with MATLAB/SIMULINK 2017a.

An innovative interleaved high step‐up direct current–direct current converter with switched‐inductor/capacitor–diode units for hydrogen fuel cell power system

SummaryAs a kind of new energy power generation technology in the 21st century, hydrogen fuel cell plays an indispensable role in energy network. However, due to its characteristics of low output voltage and large fluctuation, direct current–direct current (DC–DC) converter with high step‐up voltage gain has become a key part for safe and stable operation of fuel cell. In this paper, by replacing the inductors on the input side of interleaved boost converter with switched‐inductor units (small current ripple) and adding a capacitor–diode unit with strong voltage multiplication to the output side, an innovative interleaved high step‐up DC–DC converter is proposed with high step‐up voltage gain, small inductor current, and low voltage/current stresses. In addition, working principle, steady‐state performance, device parameter design, and theoretical efficiency calculation for the entire duty cycle range (duty cycle D &lt; 0.5 and D &gt; 0.5) are carried out, respectively, to verify its validity and feasibility. Finally, a 150‐W experimental prototype of fuel cell front‐stage power conversion is established. When the input voltage and output current are 16 V and 1.25 A, respectively, the efficiency of the entire system can reach about 92.6%.

Simulation studies on nano-hybrid polymer composites as covered conductor for enhancing the insulation characteristics of low voltage and medium voltage applications

The development of cover conductors involving nano-hybrid polymers possessing high strength & good insulation properties would really help the electrical industry to avoid fatal accidents due to electrical shock and minimize electrical damage occurring due to short circuit in the event of tree/load falling on the bare overhead lines/conductors. The material selection and design are very essential parameters from the point of manufacturing, processing and application. The material characteristics dictate the mechanical as well as electrical performance in the field. For any material to have long life expectancy, compositions/constituents matter a lot with the combination of the basic raw materials. When any material such as overhead conductor is subjected to heavy electrical & mechanical loads, there is a likelihood of sag in the line and short circuit in the event of bare conductors resulting in fire. In such cases, the propagation of fire, fire retardancy, generation of smoke in addition to line protection are required to be considered from the point of life saving and system reliability. In this context, the electrical properties get affected due to varying loads acting on the conductor from time to time and depend on the season. As a part of remedial measures, cover conductor is best suited to meet the requirements. The design of the cover conductor shall be done in such a way that it meets the requirement of the prevailing standards. In the present work simulation studies will be performed using simulation software to study the behavior of electric field of nano based covered conductor and prove that these conductors will give better reliability and superior performance compared to the existing bare conductor. Further, the matrices and filler addition are envisaged are Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)/Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) of different combinations and nano-silica/nano-clay as fillers for the preparation of nano insulating covered conductor material.

Basic low-voltage high gain amplifier block having multiple-inputs designed using differential FVF

Flipped voltage follower (FVF) is a basic unit used as a fundamental component in almost every field including analog/digital devices, fuzzy circuits, neural networks, circuits for signal processing and biological components. This paper presents a differential flipped voltage follower (DFVF) based multiple-input transconductance amplifier. The proposed amplifier operates at low voltage and increases the transconductance gain of the amplifier significantly by the use of multiple-input architecture. It utilizes the low voltage, low power and differential characteristics of DFVF configuration. The simulations have been carried out in Mentor Graphics EldoSpice with TSMC based 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The proposed circuit offers multiple-input characteristics and produces high output current and transconductance.

Analysis, Design, and Implementation of Multi-Quasi-Proportional-Resonant Controller for Thyristor-ControlledLC-Coupling Hybrid Active Power Filter (TCLC-HAPF)

Compared with the conventional active power filter, the thyristor-controlled <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -coupling hybrid active power filter (TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF) has a distinct characteristics of low dc-link operating voltage, which can lower the system and operational costs in the medium-voltage-level system. It also has a wider operational range than the conventional hybrid active power filter. Besides that, the TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF can provide reactive, harmonic, and unbalanced powers compensation simultaneously. In this article, the modeling of the TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF is investigated based on the linear control aspect. Then, the analysis, design, and implementation of a multi-quasi-proportional-resonant (MQPR) controller with gain scheduling for the TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF will be proposed, which can automatically change the resonant gain between the inductive and capacitive loads operation to improve its compensation performances. The proposed controller can significantly reduce the TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF steady-state current tracking errors and output current ripple. Finally, the simulation and experimental results are also provided to verify the effectiveness and performance of the MQPR controller for the TC <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> -HAPF in comparison with the hysteresis current controller and quasi-proportional-resonant (QPR) controller, which shows superior compensating performances.

Transformerless Three-Level Flying-Capacitor Step-Up PV Micro-Inverter Without Electrolytic Capacitors

Voltage step-up, DC/AC inversion, and active pulsating-power-buffering are three indispensable functions of next-generation PV micro-inverters. Conventionally, these three functions are realized by separate power-conversion stages, resulting in lower conversion efficiency and a higher cost. In this paper, a new hybrid topology capable of merging all three functions into a single power-conversion stage is proposed. The topology enjoys all the benefits of system integration, including simple circuit structure and low bill-of-materials. It also features low voltage stresses, significantly reduced energy storage requirement of the passive components, and low leakage current, potentially leading to highly compact and high efficiency design. A 60-W hardware prototype is built to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed inverter. An efficiency over 95% across a wide load range has been experimentally obtained.

Interleaved Multistage Step-Up Topologies with Voltage Multiplier Cells

This paper proposes a family of high-voltage-gain step-up dc-dc converters for photovoltaic integration application. The proposed converters are capable of converting the low voltage from input sources to a dc bus. The proposed family is constructed of interleaved single-switch multistage boost converters and voltage multiplier cells (VMC). The proposed converters feature low voltage stress across the components, equal current sharing among all phases, and a smooth input current. Moreover, the proposed family of converters has a modular structure in both the VMC and the boost stage. That is, the VMC can have N number of cells, and the boost stage can have k number of stages. The k can be different in each phase, allowing the designers to integrate two independent renewable energy sources with different output voltages. An example converter was explained, analyzed, and simulated. An 80 W hardware prototype was implemented to confirm the converter’s operation and validate the analysis.