Interconnect Technology Research Articles

Fault Location for Distribution Smart Grids: Literature Overview, Challenges, Solutions, and Future Trends

Thanks to smart grids, more intelligent devices may now be integrated into the electric grid, which increases the robustness and resilience of the system. The integration of distributed energy resources is expected to require extensive use of communication systems as well as a variety of interconnected technologies for monitoring, protection, and control. The fault location and diagnosis are essential for the security and well-coordinated operation of these systems since there is also greater risk and different paths for a fault or contingency in the system. Considering smart distribution systems, microgrids, and smart automation substations, a full investigation of fault location in SGs over the distribution domain is still not enough, and this study proposes to analyze the fault location issues and common types of power failures in most of their physical components and communication infrastructure. In addition, we explore several fault location techniques in the smart grid’s distribution sector as well as fault location methods recommended to improve resilience, which will aid readers in choosing methods for their own research. Finally, conclusions are given after discussing the trends in fault location and detection techniques.

Towards Intelligent Attack Detection Using DNA Computing

In recent years, frequent network attacks have seriously threatened the interests and security of humankind. To address this threat, many detection methods have been studied, some of which have achieved good results. However, with the development of network interconnection technology, massive amounts of network data have been produced, and considerable redundant information has been generated. At the same time, the frequently changing types of cyberattacks result in great difficulty collecting samples, resulting in a serious imbalance in the sample size of each attack type in the dataset. These two problems seriously reduce the robustness of existing detection methods, and existing research methods do not provide a good solution. To address these two problems, we define an unbalanced index and an optimal feature index to directly reflect the performance of a detection method in terms of overall accuracy, feature subset optimization, and detection balance. Inspired by DNA computing, we propose intelligent attack detection based on DNA computing (ADDC). First, we design a set of regular encoding and decoding features based on DNA sequences and obtain a better subset of features through biochemical reactions. Second, nondominated ranking based on reference points is used to select individuals to form a new population to optimize the detection balance. Finally, a large number of experiments are carried out on four datasets to reflect real-world cyberattack situations. Experimental results show that compared with the most recent detection methods, our method can improve the overall accuracy of multiclass classification by up to 10%; the imbalance index decreased by 0.5, and 1.5 more attack types were detected on average; and the optimal index of the feature subset increased by 83.8%.

Research Progress on Bonding Wire for Microelectronic Packaging

Wire bonding is still the most popular chip interconnect technology in microelectronic packaging and will not be replaced by other interconnect methods for a long time in the future. Au bonding wire has been a mainstream semiconductor packaging material for many decades due to its unique chemical stability, reliable manufacturing, and operation properties. However, the drastic increasing price of Au bonding wire has motivated the industry to search for alternate bonding materials for use in microelectronic packaging such as Cu and Ag bonding wires. The main benefits of using Cu bonding wire over Au bonding wire are lower material cost, higher electrical and thermal conductivity that enables smaller diameter Cu bonding wire to carry identical current as an Au bonding wire without overheating, and lower reaction rates between Cu and Al that serve to improve the reliability performance in long periods of high temperature storage conditions. However, the high hardness, easy oxidation, and complex bonding process of Cu bonding wire make it not the best alternative for Au bonding wire. Therefore, Ag bonding wire as a new alternative with potential application comes to the packaging market; it has higher thermal conductivity and lower electric resistivity in comparison with Cu bonding wire, which makes it a good candidate for power electronics, and higher elastic modulus and hardness than Au bonding wire, but lower than Cu bonding wire, which makes it easier to bond. This paper begins with a brief introduction about the developing history of bonding wires. Next, manufacturability and reliability of Au, Cu, and Ag bonding wires are introduced. Furthermore, general comparisons on basic performance and applications between the three types of bonding wires are discussed. In the end, developing trends of bonding wire are provided. Hopefully, this review can be regarded as a useful complement to other reviews on wire bonding technology and applications.

Research Progress of Electroplated Micropore for Interconnection Technology

Electroplated micropore interconnection is one of the core technologies to realize the electronic connections of the high-density multilayer Printed circuit board (PCB). The quality of electroplated copper layer is a key factor for the reliability of PCB and electronic components. Focusing on the acid copper plating process, this paper expounds the development of the electroplating solution and additives, the mechanisms of electroplated copper deposition and hole filling mechanism, and the process control of electroplating, which will provide a reference for the in-depth study of the electroplating micropore interconnection technology.

MRCG: A MRI Retrieval Framework With Convolutional and Graph Neural Networks for Secure and Private IoMT.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the medical industry is horizontally integrating the medical resources of the entire industry through the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital interconnection technologies. Speeding up the establishment of the public retrieval database of diagnosis-related historical data is a common call for the entire industry. Among them, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) retrieval system, which is one of the key tools for secure and private the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), is significant for patients to check their conditions and doctors to make clinical diagnoses securely and privately. Hence, this paper proposes a framework named MRCG that integrates Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Graph Neural Network (GNN) by incorporating the relationship between multiple gallery images in the graph structure. First, we adopt a Vgg16-based triplet network jointly trained for similarity learning and classification task. Next, a graph is constructed from the extracted features of triplet CNN where each node feature encodes a query-gallery image pair. The edge weight between nodes represents the similarity between two gallery images. Finally, a GNN with skip connections is adopted to learn on the constructed graph and predict the similarity score of each query-gallery image pair. Besides, Focal loss is also adopted while training GNN to tackle the class imbalance of the nodes. Experimental results on some benchmark datasets, including the CE-MRI dataset and a public MRI dataset from the Kaggle platform, show that the proposed MRCG can achieve 88.64% mAP and 86.59% mAP, respectively. Compared with some other state-of-the-art models, the MRCG can also outperform all the baseline models.

Development of a Silicon Interposer: Toward an Ultralow Radioactivity Background Photodetector System

It is of great importance to develop a photodetector system with an ultralow radioactivity background in experiments dedicated to rare events’ detection. Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are two ideal candidates for low background photosensors and readout electronics, respectively, because they are mainly composed of silicon, which can achieve good radio-purity without considerable extra effort. However, interposers, used to provide mechanical support and signal routes between the photosensor and the electronics, are a bottleneck in building ultralow background photodetectors. Silicon and quartz are two candidates to construct the low background interposer because of their good radio-purity; nevertheless, it is nontrivial to produce through-silicon vias (TSVs) or through-quartz vias (TQVs) on the large area silicon or quartz wafer. In this work, motivated by the requirement of the nEXO project, we developed the first prototype of a silicon interposer with a size of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10\times10$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm and a thickness of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$320~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , based on the double-sided TSV interconnect technology. The electrical properties of the interposer are carefully evaluated at room temperature, and its performance is also examined at <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$- 110\,\,^{\circ} \text{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with an integrated SiPM on the interposer. The testing results reveal quite promising performance of the prototype, and the single photoelectron signals can be clearly observed from the SiPM. The features of the observed signals are comparable with those from the SiPM mounted on a normal FR4-based printed circuit board (PCB).

Use of Rotary Ultrasonic Plastic Welding as a Continuous Interconnection Technology for Large-Area e-Textiles

For textile-based electronic systems with multiple contacts distributed over a large area, it is very complex to create reliable electrical and mechanical interconnections. In this work, we report for the first time on the use of rotating ultrasonic polymer welding for the continuous integration and interconnection of highly conductive ribbons with textile-integrated conductive tracks. For this purpose, the conductive ribbons are prelaminated on the bottom side with a thermoplastic film, which serves as an adhesion agent to the textile carrier, and another thermoplastic film is laminated on the top side, which serves as an electrical insulation layer. Experimental tests are used to investigate the optimum welding process parameters for each material combination. The interconnects are initially electrically measured and then tested by thermal cycling, moisture aging, buckling and washing tests, followed by electrical and optical analyses. The interconnects obtained are very low ohmic across the materials tested, with resulting contact resistances between 1 and 5 mOhm. Material-dependent results were observed in the reliability tests, with climatic and mechanical tests performing better than the wash tests for all materials. In addition, the development of a heated functional prototype demonstrates a first industrial application.

Pixel detector hybridisation with anisotropic conductive films

Hybrid pixel detectors require a reliable and cost-effective interconnect technology adapted to the pitch and die sizes of the respective applications. During the ASIC and sensor R&D phase, and in general for small-scale applications, such interconnect technologies need to be suitable for the assembly of single-dies, typically available from Multi-Project-Wafer submissions. Within the CERN EP R&D programme and the AIDAinnova collaboration, innovative hybridisation concepts targeting vertex-detector applications at future colliders are under development. This contribution presents recent results of a newly developed in-house single-die interconnection process based on Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF). The ACF interconnect technology replaces the solder bumps with conductive particles embedded in an adhesive film. The electro-mechanical connection between the sensor and the read-out chip is achieved via thermo-compression of the ACF using a flip-chip device bonder. A specific pad topology is required to enable the connection via conductive particles and create cavities into which excess epoxy can flow. This pixel-pad topology is achieved with an in-house Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG) plating process that is also under development within the project. The ENIG and ACF processes are qualified with the Timepix3 ASIC and sensors, with 55 µm pixel pitch and 14 µm pad diameter. The ACF technology can also be used for ASIC-PCB/FPC integration, replacing wire bonding or large-pitch solder bumping techniques. This contribution introduces the ENIG plating and ACF processes and presents recent results on Timepix3 hybrid assemblies.

System design and prototyping for the CMS Level-1 Trigger at the High-Luminosity LHC

For the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, the trigger and data acquisition system of the CMS experiment will be entirely replaced. Novel design choices have been explored, including ATCA prototyping platforms with SoC controllers and newly available interconnect technologies with serial optical links with data rates up to 28 Gb/s. Trigger analyses will be performed through sophisticated algorithms, including widespread use of Machine Learning, in large FPGAs, such as the Xilinx Ultrascale family. The system will process over 50 Tb/s of detector data with an event rate of 750 kHz. We describe system design and prototyping and review trigger algorithm exemplars.

Assessment of 3D micro-computed tomography for PV interconnection technology development

X-ray (micro-)computed tomography is a non-destructive characterization method using photons to obtain multiple radiographic projections, which generates a 3D volume rendering of a scanned object after reconstruction. It is recently used in the research and development of photovoltaic modules to investigate smaller volumes in a PV module, for example, detection of cavities in solder joints and visualization of module volumes up to connection ribbon sizes. This work shows that current advanced devices are able to scan larger volumes, using a single-cell 20 × 20 × 0.5 cm 3 module with back-contact multi-ribbon interconnection technology as an example. The generated 3D volume renderings show the interconnection structures and give information on ribbon-metallization interconnections. Next to this, also the solder reflow volume is visible, indicating that the technology has great potential to be used in further interconnection technology development. Finally, a destructive cross section analysis using scanning electron microscopy is performed; it has a higher resolution and can differentiate elements with similar photon absorption coefficients, thus enabling microstructure and intermetallic compound analysis. The findings show the potential for micro-computed tomography as a non-destructive and relatively fast visualization method and how it can give complementary information to other characterization techniques for photovoltaic interconnection research. • X-ray computed tomography is a non-destructive visual inspection technique. • Scanning electron microscopy and x-ray tomography are complementary. • X-ray tomography can aid PV interconnection technology developments.

Review of Topside Interconnections for Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Packaging

Due to their superior material properties, wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors enable the application of power electronics at higher temperature operation, higher frequencies, and higher efficiencies compared to silicon (Si). However, the commonly-used aluminum wire bonding as topside interconnection technology prevents WBG semiconductors from reaching their full potential, due to inherent parasitic inductances, large size, heat dissipation, and reliability issues of wire bonding technology. Therefore, this article presents a comprehensive review of topside interconnection technologies of WBG semiconductor power devices and modules. First, the challenges and driving factors for the interconnection of WBG semiconductor dies are discussed. Second, for each widely commercially used WBG semiconductor, i.e., silicon carbide and gallium nitride, technical details and innovative features of state-of-the-art interconnection techniques in packages are reviewed. Then, the majority of existing topside interconnection materials for WBG semiconductors are categorized and compared, followed by a discussion of their advantages, challenges, and failure modes. Based on this elaborate discussion, potential future directions of the interconnection technology development are given. It is concluded that the superior performance of WBG semiconductors can be obtained by combining novel materials with innovative designs for the topside interconnections.

Graphene-Based Interconnect Exploration for Large SRAM Caches for Ultrascaled Technology Nodes

Graphene-based interconnects are considered promising replacements for traditional copper (Cu) interconnect due to their great electric properties. In this article, an interconnect-memory co- design framework is developed to efficiently optimize various graphene-based interconnect technologies. Four interconnect materials and heterogeneous design schemes are benchmarked against their traditional Cu counterparts to optimize large cache-level SRAM performance in terms of delay and energy per access, energy-delay product (EDP), and energy-delay-area product (EDAP). A large design space exploration is performed based on realistic subarray design and device technology. Various interconnect- and array-level design parameters are studied to quantify the true potential of graphene-based wires for optimal memory performance.

Construction of Supply Chain Security Management Model for Information and Communication Technology Based on the Internet of Things and Cloud Computing

At the level of enterprise supply chain security management, with the rise of network technology big data technology methods such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, it has had a multi-level impact on its supply chain management mode, including operation mode, operation mode, and security management mode. The traditional supply chain management model is based on old-fashioned communication methods and manual intervention for judgment and processing. Information and communication technology has advantages such as immediacy and strong correlation. Based on this, this article applies the data interconnection technology of the Internet of Things to the construction of supply chain management models and combines it with efficient algorithms of cloud computing. This article also explores the construction of supply chain security management models from the perspectives of participants, activity modes, module operations, and conducts data comparisons based on them. The experimental results show that in the running tests of the model, its average accuracy is about 89.60%, and the prediction accuracy of benefits is as high as 98.48%. In stability testing, it is also evident that the average stability of the model after multiple iterations is about 96.02%. Research has shown that the Internet of Things and cloud computing technology have great application potential in the construction of supply chain security management, which can provide enterprises with more effective supply chain security management tools.

Contactless RF Probe Interconnect Technology Enabling Broadband Testing to the Terahertz Range

Radiofrequency (RF) probes based on 50- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega$</tex-math></inline-formula> planar transmission lines play a key role in almost every stage of RF device development, establishing the physical contact between high-end instrumentation and the device. With the continuous downscaling of semiconductor technologies to reach into the millimeter-wave (30–300 GHz) and Terahertz (300 GHz to 3 THz) bands and devices exhibiting broader frequency response, current RF probe technology is the Achilles heel for precise and repeatable measurements. Here, we propose a novel RF probe technology based on the near-field coupling of single-mode dielectric waveguide structures, which according to our full-wave simulations provide an extremely broad frequency range covering from 0 Hz up to 340 GHz, the largest continuous bandwidth reported to date. A concept demonstrator using this approach shows contactless RF probing on test structures, which shows the path toward continuous measurements across the microwave, millimeter-wave, and Terahertz range.

High-temperature resistant interconnection using Ni nanoparticles and Al microparticles paste sintered in an atmosphere

Next-generation power devices using wide bandgap semiconductors, such as SiC, are expected to operate at higher temperatures than conventional Si power devices, and their operating temperatures are expected to exceed 250 °C. We developed a novel high-temperature resistant interconnection technology for die-bonding of SiC power devices using Ni nanoparticles and Al microparticles composite paste. The bond strength of the Al-metallized Si chip to Ni-plated direct bonded copper substrate was evaluated using shear tests. The initial shear strength of samples from pressureless sintering at 350 °C for 15 min in the air exceeded 30 MPa. Furthermore, no significant degradation was observed in a high-temperature storage test at 250 °C for 1000 h.

Advanced photonic integrated circuit building blocks for reconfigurability in hyperscale data centres - INVITED

In this talk we introduce two new European projects DYNAMOS and ADOPTION, which will develop advanced integrated photonic technologies for WDM hyperscale data centre architectures including a novel stamped metallic micro-mirror array for advanced PIC-to-fibre coupling with the potential to dramatically reduce PIC design and assembly costs. We also discuss international standardization efforts for these corresponding optical interconnect technologies for future hyperscale data centre, HPC and 6G and Quantum environments.

Research progress of intelligent design of on-chip optical interconnection devices

&lt;sec&gt;Compared with traditional communication technologies such as electrical interconnection, optical interconnection technology has the advantages of large bandwidth, low energy consumption, anti-interference, etc. Therefore, optical interconnection is becoming an important approach and development trend of short distance and very short distance data terminal communication. As the chip level optical interconnection is implemented, silicon on insulator (SOI) based on-chip optical interconnection has been widely utilized with the support of a series of multiplexing technologies. In recent decades, many on-chip optical interconnection devices have been developed by using conventional design methods such as coupled-mode, multimode interference, and transmission line theories. However, when used in device design, these conventional methods often face the problems such as complex theoretical calculations and high labor costs. Many of the designed devices also encounter the problems of insufficient compactness and integration, and single function.&lt;/sec&gt;&lt;sec&gt;Intelligent design method has the advantages such as pellucid principle, high freedom of optimization, and good material compatibility, which can solve the problems of conventional design methods to a large extent. With the widespread use of intelligent design methods in the design of on-chip optical interconnection devices, three main trends have emerged. Firstly, the size of on-chip optical interconnect device is gradually developing towards ultra compact size. Secondly, the number of intelligently designed controllable on-chip optical interconnect devices is increasing. Thirdly, on-chip optical interconnect devices are gradually developing towards integration and systematization. This paper summarizes the most commonly used intelligent design methods of photonic devices, including intelligent algorithms based intelligent design methods and neural networks based intelligent design methods. Then, the above three important research advances and trends of intelligently designed on-chip optical interconnection devices are analyzed in detail. At the same time, the applications of phase change materials in the design of controllable photonic devices are also reviewed. Finally, the future development of intelligently designed on-chip optical interconnection devices is discussed.&lt;/sec&gt;

Recent Progress and Prospect of Optical Interconnect Technologies

Recent Progress and Prospect of Optical Interconnect Technologies

Revealing the improved stability of amorphous boron-nitride upon carbon doping.

We report on a large improvement of the thermal stability and mechanical properties of amorphous boron-nitride upon carbon doping. By generating versatile force fields using first-principles and machine learning simulations, we investigate the structural properties of amorphous boron-nitride with varying contents of carbon (from a few percent to 40 at%). We found that for 20 at% of carbon, the sp3/sp2 ratio reaches a maximum with a negligible graphitisation effect, resulting in an improvement of the thermal stability by up to 20% while the bulk Young's modulus increases by about 30%. These results provide a guide to experimentalists and engineers to further tailor the growth conditions of BN-based compounds as non-conductive diffusion barriers and ultralow dielectric coefficient materials for a number of applications including interconnect technology.

Analysis of Convergence Journalism Education from the Perspective of Complexity: Thinking Based on Theoretical Dimension and Technical Logic

From attributes of education, the news practice and theory of convergence journalism, the characteristics of the Internet, convergence journalism education is a complex system. Under the impact of the Internet, the knowledge system of traditional journalism is no longer suitable for the media environment and social needs of new media. Under the impact of the Internet, the knowledge system of traditional journalism is no longer suitable for the media environment and social needs of new media. Internet-based convergence journalism theory needs to form a communication journalism theory system because of traditional journalism theory system. At the same time, the convergence journalism curriculum also faces the deconstruction and reconstruction of traditional journalism curriculum system by Internet technology. Based on the complexity theory, this paper analyzes the complexity of convergence journalism education from the two dimensions of journalism theory and technology, so as to explore the innovative path of convergence journalism education. The paper holds that from the theoretical dimension, the convergence journalism education is confronted with the challenges of the convergence journalism phenomenon and practice to the traditional journalism theory, the adaptation of the convergence journalism education to the Marxist journalism, and the construction of the convergence journalism paradigm on the basis of the traditional journalism. From the point of technology dimensions, the complexity of journalism education embodied in the macro level of complex network environment , the medium of level of interweaving between the curriculum system and interconnection technology, and the micro level of practice courses such as news interview, writing, editing and publishing relying on Internet technology. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the innovative path of convergence journalism education, we should form systematic thinking in the complex process of convergence journalism education, establish the “dual logic” in education to keep the tension between the elements of convergence journalism education, and embody the process of integrated journalism education and activates the vitality of collaborative development between courses