Hybrid Circuit Research Articles

A power‐efficient current‐integrating hybrid for full‐duplex communication over chip‐to‐chip interconnects

A power‐efficient current‐integrating hybrid for full‐duplex communication over chip‐to‐chip interconnects

Ultra-Broadband Surface-Normal Coherent Optical Receiver with Nanometallic Polarizers

A coherent receiver that can demodulate high-speed in-phase and quadrature signals of light is an essential component for optical communication, interconnects, imaging, and computing. Conventional waveguide-based coherent receivers, however, exhibit large footprints, difficulty in coupling a large number of spatial channels efficiently, and limited operating bandwidth imposed by the waveguide-based optical hybrid. Here, we present a surface-normal coherent receiver with nanometallic-grating-based polarizers integrated directly on top of photodetectors without the need for an optical hybrid circuit. Using a fabricated device with the active section occupying a 70-{\mu}m-square footprint, we demonstrate demodulation of high-speed (up to 64 Gbaud) coherent signals in various formats. Moreover, ultra-broadband operation from 1260 nm to 1630 nm is demonstrated, thanks to the wavelength-insensitive nanometallic polarizers. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a surface-normal homodyne optical receiver, which can easily be scaled to a compact two-dimensional arrayed device to receive highly parallelized coherent signals.

Hybrid Circuit Actuator Design for Ship Course Control Experiment

This brief presents a low cost hardware-in-the-loop experimental design for large ship course control with actuator in the form of hybrid circuit, which can effectively capture the essential properties of friction and provide a more realistic environment to perform test. According to the Coulomb plus static friction model formulation, the velocity decision circuit, the absolute value circuit and the friction decision circuit are designed based on the basic circuit components and are validated by a series of simulations, respectively. Besides, the circuit of PID controller and the linear model of steering gear are also added to generate the closed-loop actuator. In addition, the model of the ship and the corresponding PID course controller are realized by the algorithm in the computer. The numerical model and the circuit implementation of realistic actuator can exchange information to establish a hardware-in-the-loop experimental platform. Finally, several experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed low-cost system.

A Dual-Mode Hybrid Step-Up Converter with Stable Output for Vibration Energy Harvesting

A dual-mode hybrid step-up circuit for electromagnetic energy harvesting (EVEH) is proposed in this paper, with the merits of continuous output power delivery with and without external vibrations, simple architecture, and no need for extra circuits to start up. The proposed hybrid converter combines a multi-stage voltage multiplier (VM) with a boost regulator, which utilizes the winding inductance of the electromagnetic energy harvester as a boost inductor. With external vibration, the proposed circuit powers the load and stores energy in the super-capacitor through VM mode. When external vibration disappears, it automatically switches to boost mode and powers the load using the energy stored in the supercapacitor. For hybrid mode operation, the number of VM stages is optimized considering the following three aspects: sufficient voltage gains when vibration is on, time durations to provide constant power when vibration is off for as long as possible, and low losses at VM stage. A GaN-based dual-mode hybrid converter is built to verify the output regulation capability with an in-house-designed electromagnetic energy harvester. The outputs of the hybrid circuit achieve 4.05 V and 1.64 mW at a 100-Hz external vibration frequency and an acceleration of 0.7 g. The peak efficiency of the proposed hybrid converter reaches 60.7%. When external vibration disappears, the circuit is able to maintain a stable output for 13 s with a super-capacitor of 0.1 F.

Controlled beam splitter gate transparent to dominant ancilla errors

In hybrid circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) architectures containing both ancilla qubits and bosonic modes, a controlled beam splitter (cBS) gate is a powerful resource. It can be used to create (up to a controlled-parity operation) an ancilla-controlled SWAP gate acting on two bosonic modes. This is the essential element required to execute the ‘swap test’ for purity, prepare quantum non-Gaussian entanglement and directly measure nonlinear functionals of quantum states. It also constitutes an important gate for hybrid discrete/continuous-variable quantum computation. We propose a new realization of a hybrid cSWAP utilizing ‘Kerr-cat’ qubits—anharmonic oscillators subject to strong two-photon driving. The Kerr-cat is used to generate a controlled-phase beam splitter operation. When combined with an ordinary beam splitter one obtains a cBS and from this a cSWAP. The strongly biased error channel for the Kerr-cat has phase flips which dominate over bit flips. This yields important benefits for the cSWAP gate which becomes non-destructive and transparent to the dominate error. Our proposal is straightforward to implement and, based on currently existing experimental parameters, should achieve cBS gates with high fidelities comparable to current ordinary beam-splitter operations available in circuit QED.

A novel bidirectional nonuniform hybrid circuit breaker considering different direction protection requirements

Hybrid switching technologies such as zero voltage switching (ZVS) and zero current switching (ZCS) are widely accepted to protect DC power systems from different kinds of faults. However, in some cases such as the protection of DC generators in the electrical distribution system of modern ships, different protection strategies are needed for faults in different directions and both ZVS and ZCS technologies may be needed in one circuit breaker. This special protection requirement will lead to being more complicated in the bidirectional protection of the system and limits the application of the hybrid circuit breakers. Therefore, a novel bidirectional nonuniform hybrid circuit breaker based on a special combination of ZVS and ZCS technologies is proposed to simplify the overall topology of the circuit breaker. The proposed scheme can interrupt high rate-of-rise fault current in one direction by ZCS technology while interrupting short-circuit current in another direction with short-circuit short-delay strategy by ZVS technology. First, the topology and working principle of the proposed bidirectional nonuniform hybrid circuit breaker are introduced. Moreover, three current commutation processes involved in both directions of fault current interrupting are analysed to achieve the optimal connection structure. Furthermore, a high-speed driving mechanism of the vacuum interrupter (VI) based on the flexible conjunction of an electromagnetic repulsion (EMR) driver and a permanent magnetic (PM) system is introduced and the structure of the optimal connection is designed. Finally, the proposed topology of the hybrid circuit breaker is validated using a realistic 800 V/1600 A prototype. The short-circuit breaking off tests of both directions are conducted. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is verified with these tests.

Automatic synapse parameter exploration for the interaction of living neurons and models in hybrid circuits and hybrots

Hybrid circuits that connect living and model neurons allow studying neural dynamics to assess the role of specific cells and synapses in emergent phenomena of neural computation (Reyes-Sanchez et al. 2020). In this work, we deal with the automatic adaptation and mapping of parameters in hybrid circuits and, in particular, those that yield dynamical invariants. Such invariants take the form of robust relationships between the intervals that build robust sequences arising from the cell interactions and have been recently unveiled in well-known CPGs (Elices et al. 2019). In our methodology, we input biological time series with a characteristic temporal structure of spiking-bursting dynamics to different model neurons with monodirectional and bidirectional synapses implemented with dynamic clamp. To illustrate the protocol, we searched for dynamical invariants established between a living pyloric CPG cell and a Komendantov-Kononenko model neuron connected through a graded synapse model. The biological recordings were preprocessed to automatically adapt the corresponding time and amplitude scales to those of the synapse and neuron models employed. Our automatic experimental protocol then mapped the neuron and synapse parameters that yielded a predefined dynamical invariant. By using parallel computing, this approach readily achieved a full characterization of the parameter space that resulted in the predefined target dynamics. To search for dynamical invariants in real-time bidirectional connections, we also developed a genetic search that found valid set of parameters to reproduce the target dynamical invariant in a few iterations. We illustrated this methodology in the study of the coordination generated by the dynamical invariants to balance flexibility and robustness in neural rhythms. Our results demonstrate that maps showing the presence of dynamical invariants can be built in a few minutes for monodirectional hybrid circuits and that the genetic algorithm can readily find dynamical invariants in bidirectional connections between living and model neurons. The proposed strategy can be generalized for any hybrid circuit and can also be used in the design of hybrots, i.e., robots whose locomotion is controlled by living neural circuits with feedback from the sensor robots.

One-step construction of a multi-qubit controlled phase gate with ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in hybrid circuit QED

One-step construction of a multi-qubit controlled phase gate with ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in hybrid circuit QED

A Series-Type Hybrid Circuit Breaker Concept for Ultrafast DC Fault Protection

A new series-type hybrid circuit breaker (S-HCB) concept for dc fault protection is reported that is fundamentally different from other prior-art hybrid circuit breakers (HCB) or solid-state circuit breakers (SSCB) in the literature. The S-HCB conducts its load current through metal wires instead of power semiconductor switches and curtails its fault current to near zero throughout the entire opening process of a series mechanical switch. It offers the low <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small> -resistance of the conventional mechanical contacts for normal operation and µs-scale fault response even faster than the fast-acting SSCBs. A proof-of-concept S-HCB prototype experimentally demonstrates the interruption of a fault current of 30 A within 10 μs at a dc voltage of 600 V. The operating principle, simulation, and experimental results are discussed in this letter.

Scalable Manufacturing of Liquid Metal Circuits

AbstractLiquid‐metal (LM)‐based soft and stretchable electronics (SSEs) provide unique advantages for wearable computing, soft robotics, and implantable devices applications involving physical interaction with biological tissues and delicate objects. However, the lack of scalable manufacturing techniques prevents their mainstream adoption and commercialization. This paper introduces a scalable and reproducible manufacturing technique for wafer‐level fabrication of LM‐based SSEs, including LM‐only devices and hybrid circuits with LM and solid‐state microelectronics. The approach combines selective metal‐alloy wetting (SMAW) and controlled dip‐coating of eutectic gallium‐indium (EGaIn). The alloying of EGaIn and metal enables depositing EGaIn selectively onto the circuit layout defined by lithographically patterned copper traces on elastomer‐coated wafers. An automated, wafer‐level dip‐coating (DC) approach is developed to enable controllable and reproducible deposition of EGaIn. Wafer‐level simultaneous fabrication of many LM capacitors is demonstrated, and their geometric and electrical reproducibility is evaluated. The results indicate that the SMAW‐DC process can fabricate LM circuits reproducibly and rapidly. Hybrid SSEs are demonstrated by fabricating multiple wearable patches of ultra‐high frequency circuits with an LM dipole antenna, an LM strain gauge, and a solid‐state temperature sensor. Importantly, the presented technique can be integrated into the standard microfabrication flow for microelectronics, ensuring a high level of scalability.

Differential spin Hall MRAM based low power logic circuits and multipliers

A Multiplier is an essential component that dictates the performance of modern computing systems. However, high power dissipation of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) multiplier circuits has become a major concern in sub 45 nm technology nodes. Recently, emerging non-volatile memory based hybrid circuits have gained a lot of attention due to the prominent feature of negligible static power consumption. Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) based spin-torque memories have been used for low power applications. However, spin-transfer torque magnetic random-access memory (STT-MRAM) based hybrid CMOS/MTJ circuits exhibit higher write energy and longer incubation delay. In this work, a differential spin Hall (DSH)-MRAM cell is employed for logic and circuit applications. It stores a pair of complementary bits with low write voltage and reduced area. The variability analysis of DSH-MRAM signifies the availability of sufficient margin between different resistance states. Different types of 8 × 8 and 4 × 4 hybrid CMOS/MTJ multipliers are analyzed using DSH based adders and logic gates. The proposed multipliers consume approximately 20% less power and exhibit 19% improvement in power-delay product characteristics compared to CMOS based multipliers.

HfO2-based memristor-CMOS hybrid implementation of artificial neuron model

Memristors with threshold switching behavior are increasingly used in the study of neuromorphic computing, which are frequently used to simulate synaptic functions due to their high integration and simple structure. However, building a neuron circuit to simulate the characteristics of biological neurons is still a challenge. In this work, we demonstrate a leaky integrate-and-fire model of neurons, which is presented by a memristor-CMOS hybrid circuit based on a threshold device of a TiN/HfO2/InGaZnO4/Si structure. Moreover, we achieve multiple neural functions based on the neuron model, including leaky integration, threshold-driven fire, and strength-modulated spike frequency characteristics. This work shows that HfO2-based threshold devices can realize the basic functions of spiking neurons and have great potential in artificial neural networks.

Design, production, burn-in and tests of the hybrid circuits of the Upstream Tracker at the LHCb detector

We present a description of the design process, prototyping and production of the hybrid circuits for the front-end electronics of the Upstream Tracker at LHCb. The multilayer polyamide-based printed circuit boards, or hybrids, are designed to host the front-end ASICs. The ASICs require an optimized power delivery network from 0 to 120 MHz, with a maximum of 10−2 Ohms round-trip resistance, and 100 Ohms differential traces. Hybrids are required to have minimal radiation length, and to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of the data taking through intrinsic radiation hardness characteristics.

Transfer Characteristics Analysis of Single Electron Transistor

Single Electron Transistor is often referred to as a nanometer scale because it can be made very small and can detect the movement of individual electrons. However, the SET has a high input impedance, low voltage gain, and is sensitive to random background charges. The Transfer characteristics features of a SET are calculated by analyzing the different resistance of the tunnels and the tunneling capacitance. Tunneling method is considering a stochastic process, and the state master equation is solving to calculate the free energy change. There are some unusual variations that set the limit for parallel circuit parameters for proper operation. The SET can maintain its scalability and control the movement of individual electrons. In this paper, we have provided a comparative and simulated study of standard CMOS device, SET and hybrid circuits such as a switched capacitor filter.

Study and Analysis of Different Types of Circuit Breaker

Circuit breakers play an important role in an electrical system performance in terms of system safety, control, maintenance and cost. In some cases, the conventional mechanical circuit breakers (MCB) may be too slow for the electrical network to operate within the desired safety limits. Besides their other limitations, the MCB also forces the network elements to be rated much higher. The uses of power semiconductor devices to overcome some of their limitations are discussed in this paper. These usages are in terms of solid state circuit breaker (SCB) and hybrid circuit breaker (HCB) concepts. This paper summarizes and reviews the various circuits of SCB and HCB available in the literature. The relevant simulation results for some example circuits have also been presented in this paper. This study will provide a useful framework and point of reference for the future development of HCB and SCB technologies. The breaker can not only open a circuit in response to a current spike, but can also react to a sustained moderate current draw, just above its rated current. Operation of the circuit breaker is simple, but utilizes complex mechanisms. Essentially there are to main internal mechanisms; the trigger and the switch. The trigger is the device that senses the abnormal current load. A sharp spike in current will cause a magnetic field to form in the trigger, releasing the switch. A slightly elevated, but more constant current draw through the breaker will cause the bi-metal composition of the trigger mechanism to deflect in an arc like manner, which is also capable of releasing the switch. The circuit breaker's best point is that the device is effective and compact. The switch can be set to open or closed from the outside of the breaker's case, but can only be set to the tripped position internally, as a results of the trigger mechanism. Once the breaker has been tripped internally, it must be reset externally by switching it off, and then back on. The features enable the breaker to do several jobs at once, eliminating the need for multiple elements in the circuit. For example, it provides the user with an easily assessable on/off switch, fault protection against current spike, and fault protection against heavy current draw. On the other hand it is not 100% effective and must also be manually reset which can be problematic if it is dark and no lights are available with which to see the fuse box. Another bad point is that the circuit breaker has many moving parts, which complicates construction. Simpler or fewer parts might drive cost down and make manufacturing more efficient.

A Novel Auto-Write-Stopping Circuit for SHE + STT-MTJ/CMOS Hybrid ALU

A novel auto-write-stopping (AWS) circuit is proposed for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) that use spin-Hall-effect-assisted spin transfer torque (SHE + STT) switching mechanism to store information when used in hybrid MTJ/CMOS circuits developed based on logic-in-memory (LIM) architecture. Continuous monitoring and AWS process of the proposed AWS circuit prevent redundant MTJ writing and eliminate unnecessary write current flow, and thereby save write energy/bit of 96.72%. Using this AWS write circuit, we have developed an AWS full adder (AWSFA), which in turn is used to develop a 1-bit hybrid arithmetic logical unit (ALU). AWSFA is better than its conventional equivalent by dissipating a lower power of 75.08%, whereas 1-bit hybrid ALU is superior to its CMOS counterpart with 39.99% and 41.61% lower power dissipation, and 24.1% and 34.28% lower power delay product (PDP) for arithmetic addition and subtraction, respectively. Furthermore, we have extended the working of hybrid ALU to perform 4-bit arithmetic addition and subtraction to demonstrate the feasibility of AWS hybrid circuits in higher bit operations. We have also conducted Monte Carlo simulations on AWS write and hybrid circuits to study its power dissipation behavior at an early design stage.

Photonic-Plasmonic Hybrid Nanocavity for Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum at Telecom Wavelengths

Recent advances in bound states in the continuum (BICs) are closely associated with optically induced Mie and Fabry-P&#x00E9;rot resonances in the dielectric supercavity, featuring with suppressed radiative losses and strong light confinement. In order to break the diffraction limit and achieve large-scale optoelectronic integration, we propose a novel photonic-plasmonic hybrid nanocavity to manipulate the mode hybridization arising from the inter-coupling between the photonic and plasmonic Mie-like resonances. The regime of quasi-BIC modes can be achieved via the tuning of the inner radius of the Au split-ring or the position of the Si cylinder instead of the dimensional aspect ratio. In contrast to the previously individual or arrayed nanostructures, we integrate the proposed nanocavity with the Si waveguides to construct a hybrid circuit, which could support both inspiration and transmission of optical quasi-BIC signals totally on chip. Our photonic-plasmonic hybrid configuration represents a typical example of the development of novel BIC-inspired optical cavities, paving the way for its applications in the fields of nanophotonics and meta-optics.

Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker with Integrated Self-charging and Current Limiting

With the rapid development of DC power systems in recent years, more stringent requirements have been put forward for the fast reliability of DC circuit breakers. At present, in the medium voltage DC circuit breaker, the mechanical switch commonly uses an external secondary power supply to charge the mechanism drive capacitor, which has the problems of large breaker size and high cost. In this paper, we propose a DC circuit breaker topology that uses short-circuit current to charge the mechanism drive capacitor of the mechanical switch. When the short-circuit current rises, a voltage drop is formed across the series inductor, and this voltage charges the drive capacitor in parallel through a diode, avoiding the use of a secondary power supply to charge the drive capacitor and reducing the complexity of the DC circuit breaker system. The operating principle of the circuit breaker is analysed and the rationality of the proposed scheme is verified by simulation calculations.

A Novel DC Circuit Breaker with Fast Breaking Capability in Full Current Range

With the rapid development of DC power system in recent years, more stringent requirements have been put forward for the rapid reliability of DC circuit breakers. At present, most hybrid circuit breakers widely used create artificial zero crossing by injecting current opposite to short-circuit current. However, when it comes to the small current, the injected current may reverse puncture the contacts of the high-speed mechanical switch. And this results in the difficulty of extinguishing the arc between the contacts of the high-speed mechanical switch during disconnection, prolonging the disconnection time and adversely affecting the system. This paper presents a double break DC circuit breaker structure based on double capacitor structure. In the process of current breaking, the capacitor with small capacitance is used to commutate for small current, and the double capacitor parallel method is used to complete the current transfer for large current. The working principle of the circuit breaker is analysed, and the appropriate parameters are selected through simulation.

Nonvolatile van der Waals Heterostructure Phototransistor for Encrypted Optoelectronic Logic Circuit.

With the rising demand for information security, there has been a surge of interest in harnessing the intrinsic physical properties of device for designing a secure logic circuit. Here we provide an innovative approach to realize the secure optoelectronic logic circuit based on nonvolatile van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure phototransistors. The phototransistors comprising WSe2 and h-BN flakes exhibit electrical tunability of nonvolatile conductance under cooperative operations of electrical and light stimulus. This intriguing feature allows the phototransistor to work as a building block for the design of secure optoelectronic logic circuit in which the information encryption can be directly achieved with a designed secret key. On the basis of this approach, we assemble two phototransistors into an optoelectronic hybrid circuit and implement a functionally complete set of logic gates (i.e., NOR, XOR, and NAND) in a reconfigurable manner. Our findings highlight the potential of nonvolatile phototransistors for the development of reconfigurable secure optoelectronic circuits.