Silicon Switch Research Articles

Q-EDR Hybrid Boost Converter Operation For High Gain With Low Device Stress

Abstract: The hybrid continuous-discontinuous mode (CCM-DCM) operation of non-isolated systems is proposed in this paper. boost converter with quadratic extended duty ratio (Q-EDR) for applications with high gain and low power. The inductors at the input while the EDR was in continuous conduction mode (CCM) The mode of operation of stage inductors is discontinuous conduction. (DCM) in order to reap the advantages of CCM and DCM operation. Interleaving's ripple in the low input current and low voltage The EDR stage switches' stress remains. With what is being half and half method of activity, the inductance worth of EDR stage significant decrease in the inductor. an additional decrease in switch voltage is accomplished during turn-on progress in the proposed activity, prompting huge decrease thus on exchanging losses. This lets the converter run at higher switching speeds. frequency, thereby reducing EDR inductors' size by 45 percent in this instance an experiment confirms the proposed idea. Simulink prototype for a two-phase Q-EDR operating at 30 V-40 V to 400 V output, a gain of more than 12 at duty close to 0.54. The converter has a peak efficiency of 95.5 percent. at a switching frequency of 135 kHz and 300 W for all silicon switches.

Ultra-low-power consumption silicon electro-optic switch based on photonic crystal nanobeam cavity

Ultra-low-power consumption and high-speed integrated switches are highly desirable for future data centers and high-performance optical computers. In this study, we proposed an ultra-low-power consumption silicon electro-optic switch based on photonic crystal nanobeam cavities on a foundry platform. The proposed switch showed an ultra-low static-tuning power of 0.10 mW and a calculated dynamic switching power of 6.34 fJ/bit, with a compact footprint of 18 μm × 200 μm. Additionally, a 136-Gb/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation signal transmission experiment was carried out to verify the capability of the proposed electro-optic switch to support high-speed data transmission. The proposed device has the lowest static-tuning power consumption among silicon electro-optic switches and the highest data transmission rate. The results demonstrate the potential applications of this switch in high-performance optical computers, data center interconnects, optical neural networks, and programmable photonic circuits.

Multilayer stacked crystalline silicon switch with nanosecond-order switching time.

To realize compact and denser photonic integrated circuits, three-dimensional integration has been widely accepted and researched. In this article, we demonstrate the operation of a 3D integrated silicon photonic platform fabricated through wafer bonding. Benefiting from the wafer bonding process, the material of all layers is c-Si, which ensures that the mobility is high enough to achieve a nanosecond response via the p-i-n diode shifter. Optical components, including multimode interferences (MMIs), waveguide crossing, and Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based switch, are fabricated in different layers and exhibit great performance. The interlayer coupler and crossing achieve a 0.98 dB coupling loss and <-43.58 dB cross talk, while the crossing fabricated in the same layer shows <-36.00 dB cross talk. A nanosecond-order switch response is measured in different layers.

Study on TSV insulating medium based on SACVD process

TSV silicon switching board technology has the advantages of short global interconnection, small delay, low power consumption and high integration. The dielectric insulation performance in the TSV hole will directly affect the signal integrity and power integrity of the TSV silicon switching board. The insulating dielectric layer of TSV requires good forming ability and step covering, and lower leakage current and good heat resistance reliability. In this paper, the filling capacity of SACVD process is analyzed, the coverage rate of SACVD process is studied under different process parameters, and the leakage current of silicon dioxide film is measured by planar capacitance structure. Finally, the leakage current test of the TSV pairs is carried out online. Before the substrate thinning, the leakage current of the two blind hole TSV pairs is measured by the probe station. The voltage ranges form 0 to 50V, and the leakage current ranges from a few pA to a few hundred pA.

Compact module for complementary-channel THz pulse slicing

We present a modular quasi-optical pulse slicer designed for use at terahertz (THz) frequencies. Given a quasi-cw input, the two outputs of a module are (1) a pulse with programmable duration and (2) its complement. The quasi-optical design incorporates a laser-driven silicon switch at Brewster's angle to the incoming THz beam, which limits undesired reflections before the switch is activated such that THz power is only transmitted when the switch is “on.” An “off” switch ensures that no power is leaked after the pulse and that the switching profile is sharp. The slicer's small footprint (0.048×0.072×0.162 m3) and small insertion loss (1.2 dB at 320 GHz) as well as high switching efficiency (∼70%) allows modules to be stacked to create multiple pulses. The output channel that is not used for experiments can be used for concurrent analysis of beam parameters. Stacking modular assemblies will enable more complex sequences of kW-level pulses than are currently achievable for applications including free-electron-laser or gyrotron-powered pulsed electron spin resonance at high magnetic fields.

A Gallium Nitride Based High Bandwidth, Extended Single-Ended Primary Inductance Converter, for Fast Balancing of Ultracapacitors

Ultracapacitors (UCs) are the preferred choice for specific power requirements. Series and parallel of UCs are required to match the required voltage and power, as the available voltage range is 2.5 to 3 VDC. Passive and active balancing is inevitable here, while some demand, high bandwidth control for fast balancing and stable operations. A novel Extended-Single Ended Primary Inductance Converter (E-SEPIC) is used to actively balance the UCs. A new, simple and effective method is formulated to achieve a higher Degree of Balancing of UCs. A two-stage E-SEPIC with Silicon (Si) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) switch based are demonstrated with an input of 12 VDC to balance up to 3 VDC UCs at the output for high bandwidth and high-power density properties. An effective method of emulating impedance of UCs using Hybrid Electro-chemical Impedance Spectroscopy is evolved. The devised novel method of balancing is effective in height of balancing with GaN based converter exhibiting higher bandwidth of around 30 kHz around 18 times better, with increased efficiency of 12% with an improved power-density of 8.25 times in comparison with that of Si based. This contribution of GaN properties in electrical performance enhancements has influenced the design of Power Electronics applications.

Measurement of Time Dependent Reflection, Transmission, and Absorption in Laser Driven Silicon and GaAs Switches for 250 GHz Radiation.

The reflectance and transmittance of Si and GaAs wafers irradiated by a 6 ns pulsed, 532 nm laser have been studied for s- and p-polarized 250 GHz radiation as a function of laser fluence and time. The measurements were carried out using precision timing of the and signals, allowing an accurate determination of the absorptance where . Both wafers had a maximum reflectance above 90% for a laser fluence . Both also showed an absorptance peak of ~50% lasting ~2 ns during the risetime of the laser pulse. Experimental results were compared with a stratified medium theory using the Vogel model for the carrier lifetime and the Drude model for permittivity. Modeling showed that the large absorptance at the early part of the rise of the laser pulse was due to the creation of a lossy, low carrier density layer. For Si, the measured and were in very good agreement with theory on both the nanosecond time scale and the microsecond scale. For GaAs, the agreement was very good on the nanosecond scale but only qualitatively correct on the microsecond scale. These results may be useful for planning applications of laser driven semiconductor switches.

Comparative Performance Evaluation of Transparent Conducting Oxides With Different Mobilities for All-Optical Switching in Silicon

All-optical switching is an appealing approach for signal processing, optical communications or sensing systems. In this work, we compare the performance of doped cadmium oxide, aluminum doped zinc oxide, and indium tin oxide as transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials with different mobilities in thin-film configuration integrated into a hybrid silicon photonic waveguide. Our results reveal the best operational parameters and trade-offs for enabling high-performance and energy-efficient switching by using TCOs with moderate mobility but more environmental-friendly. Extinction ratios of 10 dB∙μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> and insertion losses of 2 dB∙μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> are achieved by an AZO/Si amplitude switch with an energy consumption of only 90 fJ. These results reveal that cadmium-free TCO materials can also be leveraged to build high-performance all-optical switches in silicon.

Handling mode and polarization in fiber by fs-laser inscribed (de)multiplexer and silicon switch array

The emergence of dynamic optical switching has opened up new perspectives for lightening the ever growing load on the electrical switches and routers, to meet the increasing demand on high-speed and flexible data processing and management in fiber-optic communications. Despite diversity schemes of optical switching in the single-mode regime, multi-mode switching of the hybrid fiber and chip system enabled by photonic integrated circuits, especially for the fiber-chip-fiber system, is still an outstanding challenge. Here, we propose and demonstrate the mode and polarization transmission and switching fiber-chip-fiber system with few-mode fibers (FMFs), including the FMF links for mode- and polarization-division multiplexing data transmission, the femtosecond (fs)-laser inscribed 3-dimensional (3D) photonic lantern silica chip for (de)multiplexing and coupling between FMFs and chip, and the topology-optimized N × N non-blocking 2-dimensional (2D) silicon switch array chip for switching and routing. Using 30-Gbaud quadrature phase-shift keying signals on wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) channels, the WDM-compatible hybrid mode/polarization transmission, switching and routing system with FMFs, fs-laser inscribed silica (de)multiplexing chip and silicon switch array chip are demonstrated in the experiment with favorable operation performance. The demonstration may open the door for developing robust multi-dimensional optical data processing in fiber-optic communication systems with versatile fibers and chips.

Silicon switch: Carbon-silicon Bioisosteric replacement as a strategy to modulate the selectivity, physicochemical, and drug-like properties in anticancer pharmacophores.

Bioisosterism is one of the leading strategies in medicinal chemistry for the design and modification of drugs, consisting in replacing an atom or a substituent with a different atom or a group with similar chemical properties and an inherent biocompatibility. The objective of such an exercise is to produce a diversity of molecules with similar behavior while enhancing the desire biological and pharmacological properties, without inducing significant changes to the chemical framework. In drug discovery and development, the optimization of the absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity (ADMETox) profile is of paramount importance. Silicon appears to be the right choice as a carbon isostere because they possess very similar intrinsic properties. However, the replacement of a carbon by a silicon atom in pharmaceuticals has proven to result in improved efficacy and selectivity, while enhancing physicochemical properties and bioavailability. The current review discusses how silicon has been strategically introduced to modulate drug-like properties of anticancer agents, from a molecular design strategy, biological activity, computational modeling, and structure-activity relationships perspectives.

Semi-Г Type Single Phase Differential Boost Inverter With High Voltage Gain

The conventional differential boost inverters have limited voltage gain due to the inductor’s parasitic resistance, which limits the output voltage ranges as the duty cycle approaches unity and causes a narrow input voltage range. Moreover, it is also vulnerable to shoot-through problems and a dc-offset problem that leads to high voltage stress across capacitors. The proposed two winding magnetically coupled semi <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol{\Gamma }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -type structures produce high voltage boosting with decreasing turns ratio (1 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathbf { &lt; } {K}~\mathbf { &lt; }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> 2). The modified PWM scheme is implemented to operate the proposed inverter to overcome the dc-offset problem in output capacitors, which further reduces the voltage stress on the system. Furthermore, provides step-up sinusoidal output voltage/current without LC-filter, dead time, and shoot-through operation. The designed prototype is analyzed for Silicon and silicon carbide (SiC) switch using PSIM thermal module. The features of the proposed inverter are comprehensively compared with state-of-the-art topologies. Finally, the simulation and experimental findings verify the proposed topology.

The numerical study on performance evaluation of a thermal switch capacitor in a magnetocaloric cooling device.

Compact, solid thermal control devices offer a new way to control the intensity and direction of heat flow between the components of a system, which is crucial for both optimized performance and safety. In this work we study a thin, silicon thermal switch capacitor (TSC) used for heat transport in a magnetocaloric cooling system. A numerical model was developed to quantify the effects of various operating conditions and design parameters on the performance of a magnetocaloric device with an embedded TSC. Based on realistic material properties, a maximum cooling-power density of 4000 Wm-2 (2025 ) was obtained for a zero temperature span and an operating frequency of 20Hz. The use of the presented device was demonstrated on a battery system, motivating further experimental studies to develop a new, compact cooling device that can be directly attached to a heat reservoir, making it desirable for a variety of applications.

Pressure-induced photoconductivity enhancement and positive–negative switch in bulk silicon

Silicon is a long-standing photosensitive material because of its unique photoelectronic properties and mature manufacturing technology. However, silicon photodetectors are generally limited by weak photoresponse in the near-infrared region. In this work, pressure is used as an effective means of tuning the photoresponse of silicon, specifically in the near-infrared region. Silicon has two different types of photoresponse under pressure. In the pressure range from 1 atm to 10 GPa, huge pressure-enhanced photocurrent is observed under illumination by a xenon lamp and near-infrared light (1064 nm). At 10 GPa, the photocurrent density (Jph), responsivity (R), and external quantum efficiency are increased 40-fold from those at 1.2 GPa. Interestingly, above 10 GPa, a unique pressure-induced positive–negative photoresponse switch is found along with the phase transformation from the semiconductive phase (Si I) to the metallic phase (β-tin). Further experiments show that the photothermal effect is the main factor for negative photoresponse. All these pressure-induced properties give silicon more possibilities in the further design of visible and infrared photodetectors.

Performance Evaluation of Silicon and GaN Switches for a Small Wireless Power Transfer System

In the last few years, the wide diffusion of rechargeable devices has fueled the research interest in wireless power transfer (WPT) technology that offers advantages such as safety, flexibility, and ease of use. Different standards have been developed over the years but a significant part of the global interest is focused on the inductive resonant wireless power transfer. By increasing the resonance frequency, an improvement in the transfer efficiency between transmit and receive coils is generally observed, at the expense, however, of an increase in losses in the switching devices that constitute the transmitting and receiving circuits. This study concerned the performance evaluation of a WPT transmitting circuit built using Gallium Nitride (GaN) or conventional silicon (Si) switching devices, to assess their specific contribution to the overall efficiency of the system. The overall performance of two circuits, respectively based on GaN HEMTs and Si MOSFETs, were compared at frequencies of the order of MHz under different operating conditions. The theory and design choices regarding the WPT circuit, the coils, and the resonant network are also discussed. The comparison shows that the GaN circuit typically performs better than the Si one, but a clear advantage of the GaN solution cannot be established under all operating conditions.

Programmable low-threshold optical nonlinear activation functions for photonic neural networks.

We experimentally demonstrate two types of programmable, low-threshold, optically controlled nonlinear activation functions, which are challenging to realize in photonic neural networks (PNNs). These devices rely on on-chip integrated Ge-Si photoelectric detectors and silicon electro-optical switches, and they generate rectified linear unit (ReLU) or sigmoid functions with arbitrary slopes without additional electrical processing. Both devices function at an extremely low threshold of 0.2 mW. The embedding of these nonlinear activation functions into convolutional neural networks facilitates the attainment of high inference accuracies of up to 95% when applied to Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) handwritten digit-classification tasks. The devices are suitable for low-power PNNs with an arbitrary number of propagation layers in photonic-computing chips.

Fractional order PID controlled quasi Z-source inverter with front-line semiconductor material made of power electronics switches fed PMSM motor for EV applications

In the area of control theory, conventional PID controller is most commonly used for various applications to bring out the output of the system at higher efficacy. Now due various technological advancements, PID controller is derived into various advanced controllers. In the advancement of PID controller, there is a controller called Fractional Order PID controller which used widely in industrial applications. The advancement o9f classical integer order PID controller is the FOPID controller. This paper deals with the control of PMSM by FOPID controller. In this work, different control strategies such as Proportional Integral (PI) controller, and Fractional Order Proportional Integral Derivative (FOPID) controller is exploited to sustain the constant yield motor speed of the quasi z-source with 3-phase inverter fed PMSM drive. Also, the source disturbance is introduced to analyze the performance of quasi z-source with 3-phase inverter fed PMSM driven by different controllers. The implementation of FOPID controller will gives out the enhanced response in Quazi Z source inverter fed PMSM. The closed loop system with the FOPID controller has reduced steady state error, improved rise time, settling time and the peak time, when compared with the closed loop system with PI controller. The simulation has been done utilizing MATLAB Simulink software. As discussed, outcomes reveal that the quasi z-source with 3-phase inverter fed PMSM driven by the FOPID-FOPID controller has good-performance such as transient response etc., when compared to the PI-PI controller. Material properties affect the performance and efficiency of power electronic switching devices in three phase inverter circuits. These are generally silicon switches. To increase material technology and performance, switching devices employ wide band-gap semiconductors. This paper also examines the optimal semiconductor material utilized in the three-phase inverter circuit's power electronic switches.

Low-Voltage GaN FETs in Motor Control Application; Issues and Advantages: A Review

The efficiency and power density improvement of power switching converters play a crucial role in energy conversion. In the field of motor control, this requires an increase in the converter switching frequency together with a reduction in the switching legs’ dead time. This target turns out to be complex when using pure silicon switch technologies. Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices have appeared in the switching device arena in recent years and feature much more favorable static and dynamic characteristics compared to pure silicon devices. In the field of motion control, there is a growing use of GaN devices, especially in low voltage applications. This paper provides guidelines for designers on the optimal use of GaN FETs in motor control applications, identifying the advantages and discussing the main issues. In this work, primarily an experimental evaluation of GaN FETs in a low voltage electrical drive is carried out. The experimental investigation is obtained through two different experimental boards to highlight the switching legs’ behavior in several operative conditions and different implementations. In this evaluative approach, the main GaN FETs’ technological aspects and issues are recalled and consequently linked to motion control requirements. The device’s fast switching transients combined with reduced direct resistance contribute to decreased power losses. Thus, in GaN FETs, a high switching frequency with a strong decrease in dead time is achievable. The reduced dead time impact on power loss management and improvement of output waveforms quality is analyzed and discussed in this paper. Furthermore, input filter capacitor design matters correlated with increasing switching frequency are pointed out. Finally, the voltage transients slope effect (dv/dt) is considered and correlated with low voltage motor drives requirements.

Heterogeneously-Integrated Optical Phase Shifters for Next-Generation Modulators and Switches on a Silicon Photonics Platform: A Review.

The realization of a silicon optical phase shifter marked a cornerstone for the development of silicon photonics, and it is expected that optical interconnects based on the technology relax the explosive datacom growth in data centers. High-performance silicon optical modulators and switches, integrated into a chip, play a very important role in optical transceivers, encoding electrical signals onto the light at high speed and routing the optical signals, respectively. The development of the devices is continuously required to meet the ever-increasing data traffic at higher performance and lower cost. Therefore, heterogeneous integration is one of the highly promising approaches, expected to enable high modulation efficiency, low loss, low power consumption, small device footprint, etc. Therefore, we review heterogeneously integrated optical modulators and switches for the next-generation silicon photonic platform.

Investigation on GaN HEMTs Based Three-Phase STATCOM with Hybrid Control Scheme.

The modern trend of decarbonization has encouraged intensive research on renewable energy (RE)-based distributed power generation (DG) and smart grid, where advanced electronic power interfaces are necessary for connecting the generator with power grids and various electrical systems. On the other hand, modern technologies such as Industry 4.0 and electrical vehicles (EV) have higher requirements for power converters than that of conventional applications. Consequently, the enhancement of power interfaces will play an important role in the future power generation and distribution systems as well as various industrial applications. It has been discovered that wide-bandgap (WBG) switching devices such as gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) offer considerable potential for outperforming conventional silicon (Si) switching devices in terms of breakdown voltage, high temperature capability, switching speed, and conduction losses. This paper investigates the performance of a 2kVA three-phase static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) based on a GaN HEMTs-based voltage-source inverter (VSI) and a neural network-based hybrid control scheme. The proportional-integral (PI) controllers along with a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) controller for fast reactive power control are designed in synchronous reference frame (SRF). Both simulation and hardware implementation are conducted. Results confirm that the proposed RBFNN assisted hybrid control scheme yields excellent dynamic performance in terms of various reactive power tracking control of the GaN HEMTs-based three-phase STATCOM system.

Expanding the Chemical Space of Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors via the Carbon-Silicon Switch Strategy.

The carbon-silicon switch strategy has become a key technique for structural optimization of drugs to widen the chemical space, increase drug activity against targeted proteins, and generate novel and patentable lead compounds. Flubeneteram, targeting succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), is a promising fungicide candidate recently developed in China. We describe the synthesis of novel SDH inhibitors with enhanced fungicidal activity to enlarge the chemical space of flubeneteram by employing the C-Si switch strategy. Several of the thus formed flubeneteram-silyl derivatives exhibited improved fungicidal activity against porcine SDH compared with the lead compound flubeneteram and the positive controls. Disease control experiments conducted in a greenhouse showed that trimethyl-silyl-substituted compound W2 showed comparable and even higher fungicidal activities compared to benzovindiflupyr and flubeneteram, respectively, even with a low concentration of 0.19 mg/L for soybean rust control. Furthermore, compound W2 encouragingly performed slightly better control than azoxystrobin and was less active than benzovindiflupyr at the concentration of 100 mg/L against soybean rust in field trials. The computational results showed that the silyl-substituted phenyl moiety in W2 could form strong van der Waals (VDW) interactions with SDH. Our results indicate that the C-Si switch strategy is an effective method for the development of novel SDH inhibitors.