For the efficient utilization of energy resources and the minimization of environmental damage, thermoelectric materials can play an important role by converting waste heat into electricity directly. Nanostructured thermoelectric materials have received much attention recently due to the potential for enhanced properties associated with size effects and quantum confinement. "Nanoscale Thermoelectrics" describes the theory underlying these phenomena, as well as various thermoelectric materials and nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, SiGe nanowires, and graphene nanoribbons. Chapters written by leading scientists throughout the world are intended to create a fundamental bridge between thermoelectrics and nanotechnology, and to stimulate readers' interest in developing new types of thermoelectric materials and devices for power generation and other applications. "Nanoscale Thermoelectrics" is both a comprehensive introduction to the field and a guide to further research, and can be recommended for Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Materials Science departments.

Digital Systems Design and Prototyping: Using Field Programmable Logic and Hardware Description Languages, Second Edition covers the subject of digital systems design using two important technologies: Field Programmable Logic Devices (FPLDs) and Hardware Description Languages (HDLs). These two technologies are combined to aid in the design, prototyping, and implementation of a whole range of digital systems from very simple ones replacing traditional glue logic to very complex ones customized as the applications require. Three HDLs are presented: VHDL and Verilog, the widely used standard languages, and the proprietary Altera HDL (AHDL). The chapters on these languages serve as tutorials and comparisons are made that show the strengths and weaknesses of each language. A large number of examples are used in the description of each language providing insight for the design and implementation of FPLDs. The CD-ROM included with the book contains the Altera MAX+PLUS II development environment which is ready to compile and simulate all examples. With the addition of the Altera UP-1 prototyping board, all examples can be tested and verified in a real FPLD. Digital Systems Design and Prototyping: Using Field Programmable Logic and Hardware Description Languages, Second Edition is designed as an advanced level textbook as well as a reference for the professional engineer.

As the characteristic dimensions of electronic devices continue to shrink, the ability to characterize their electronic properties at the nanometer scale has come to be of outstanding importance. In this sense, Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is becoming an indispensable tool, playing a key role in nanoscience and nanotechnology. SPM is opening new opportunities to measure semiconductor electronic properties with unprecedented spatial resolution. SPM is being successfully applied for nanoscale characterization of ferroelectric thin films. In the area of functional molecular materials it is being used as a probe to contact molecular structures in order to characterize their electrical properties, as a manipulator to assemble nanoparticles and nanotubes into simple devices, and as a tool to pattern molecular nanostructures. This book provides in-depth information on new and emerging applications of SPM to the field of materials science, namely in the areas of characterisation, device application and nanofabrication of functional materials. Starting with the general properties of functional materials the authors present an updated overview of the fundamentals of Scanning Probe Techniques and the application of SPM techniques to the characterization of specified functional materials such as piezoelectric and ferroelectric and to the fabrication of some nano electronic devices. Its uniqueness is in the combination of the fundamental nanoscale research with the progress in fabrication of realistic nanodevices. By bringing together the contribution of leading researchers from the materials science and SPM communities, relevant information is conveyed that allows researchers to learn more about the actual developments in SPM applied to functional materials. This book will contribute to the continuous education and development in the field of nanotechnology.

This book describes a unique combination of quantum chemical methods for calculating the basic physical properties of luminescent materials, or phosphors. These solid inorganic materials containing an optically active dopant are key players in several major fields of societal interest, including energy-efficient lighting, solar cells, and medical imaging. The novel ab initio methods described in this book are especially designed to target the crowded and complex electronic excited states of lanthanide activators in inorganic solids. The book is well suited to both new and experienced researchers alike and appeals to a broad range of theoretical and experimental backgrounds. The material presented enables an adept understanding of elaborate calculations, which, in tandem with experiments, give essential insight into difficult luminescence problems and quandaries, thus fully preparing the reader for an educated search for new functional luminescent materials

Describes the optical structure and optical properties of the human eye Explains image formation and refraction of the eye Covers interactions between light and the eye, considering transmission, reflection and scatter in the media of the eye and at the fundus Covers aberrations and image quality of the eye

Test Resource Partitioning for System-on-a-Chip is about test resource partitioning and optimization techniques for plug-and-play system-on-a-chip (SOC) test automation. Plug-and-play refers to the paradigm in which core-to-core interfaces as well as core-to-SOC logic interfaces are standardized, such that cores can be easily plugged into "virtual sockets" on the SOC design, and core tests can be plugged into the SOC during test without substantial effort on the part of the system integrator. The goal of the book is to position test resource partitioning in the context of SOC test automation, as well as to generate interest and motivate research on this important topic.

SOC integrated circuits composed of embedded cores are now commonplace. Nevertheless, There remain several roadblocks to rapid and efficient system integration. Test development is seen as a major bottleneck in SOC design, and test challenges are a major contributor to the widening gap between design capability and manufacturing capacity. Testing SOCs is especially challenging in the absence of standardized test structures, test automation tools, and test protocols.

Test Resource Partitioning for System-on-a-Chip responds to a pressing need for a structured methodology for SOC test automation. It presents new techniques for the partitioning and optimization of the three major SOC test resources: test hardware, testing time and test data volume.

Test Resource Partitioning for System-on-a-Chip paves the way for a powerful integrated framework to automate the test flow for a large number of cores in an SOC in a plug-and-play fashion. The framework presented allows the system integrator to reduce test cost and meet short time-to-market requirements.

Metal-dielectric interfaces are ubiquitous in modern electronics. As advanced gigascale electronic devices continue to shrink, the stability of these interfaces is becoming an increasingly important issue that has a profound impact on the operational reliability of these devices. In this book, the authors present the basic science underlying the thermal and electrical stability of metal-dielectric interfaces and its relationship to the operation of advanced interconnect systems in gigascale electronics. Interface phenomena, including chemical reactions between metals and dielectrics, metallic-atom diffusion, and ion drift, are discussed based on fundamental physical and chemical principles. Schematic diagrams are provided throughout the book to illustrate interface phenomena and the principles that govern them. Metal-Dielectric Interfaces in Gigascale Electronics provides a unifying approach to the diverse and sometimes contradictory test results that are reported in the literature on metal-dielectric interfaces. The goal is to provide readers with a clear account of the relationship between interface science and its applications in interconnect structures. The material presented here will also be of interest to those engaged in field-effect transistor and memristor device research, as well as university researchers and industrial scientists working in the areas of electronic materials processing, semiconductor manufacturing, memory chips, and IC design.

This book focuses on the photoelectric nanodevices based on carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene and related heterojunctions. The synthesis of carbon nanostructures and device fabrication are simply given. The interface charge transfer and the performance enhancement in the photodetectors and solar cells are comprehensively introduced. Importantly, carbon allotropes behave as high-mobility conductors or bandgap-tunable semiconductors depending on the atomic arrangements, the direct motivation is to fabricate all-carbon nanodevices using these carbon nanomaterials as building blocks. The photoelectric nanodevices based on all-carbon nanostructures have increasingly attracted attention in the future. The book offers a valuable reference guide to carbon-based photoelectric devices for researchers and graduate school students in the field. It will also benefit all researchers who investigate photoelectric nanodevices and photoelectric conversion with relevant frontier theories and concepts.

This open access book presents research and evaluation results of the Austrian flagship project "Connecting Austria," illustrating the wide range of research needs and questions that arise when semi-automated truck platooning is deployed in Austria. The work presented is introduced in the context of work in similar research areas around the world. This interdisciplinary research effort considers aspects of engineering, road-vehicle and infrastructure technologies, traffic management and optimization, traffic safety, and psychology, as well as potential economic effects. The book's broad perspective means that readers interested in current and state-of-the-art methods and techniques for the realization of semi-automated driving and with either an engineering background or with a less technical background gain a comprehensive picture of this important subject. The contributors address many questions such as: Which maneuvers does a platoon typically have to carry out, and how? How can platoons be integrated seamlessly in the traffic flow without becoming an obstacle to individual road users? What trade-offs between system information (sensors, communication effort, etc.) and efficiency are realistic? How can intersections be passed by a platoon in an intelligent fashion? Consideration of diverse disciplines and highlighting their meaning for semi-automated truck platooning, together with the highlighting of necessary research and evaluation patterns to address such a broad task scientifically, makes Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning a unique contribution with methods that can be extended and adapted beyond the geographical area of the research reported.

Physics of Semiconductor Devices covers both basic classic topics such as energy band theory and the gradual-channel model of the MOSFET as well as advanced concepts and devices such as MOSFET short-channel effects, low-dimensional devices and single-electron transistors. Concepts are introduced to the reader in a simple way, often using comparisons to everyday-life experiences such as simple fluid mechanics. They are then explained in depth and mathematical developments are fully described.
Physics of Semiconductor Devices contains a list of problems that can be used as homework assignments or can be solved in class to exemplify the theory. Many of these problems make use of Matlab and are aimed at illustrating theoretical concepts in a graphical manner.

This book focuses on complex shaped micro- and nanostructures for future biomedical and sensing applications that were investigated by both theory and experiments. The first part of the book explores rotation-translation coupling of artificial microswimmers at low Reynolds numbers. Usually corkscrew shapes, i.e chiral shapes, are considered in such experiments, due to their inspiration from nature. However, the analysis of the relevant symmetries shows that achiral objects can also be propulsive, which is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. In the second part, a new single-particle spectroscopy technique was developed and the role of symmetry in such measurements is carefully examined. Spectra stemming from one individual nanoparticle that is moving freely in bulk solution, away from a surface, and only due to Brownian motion, are presented. On that basis, the rotationally averaged chiroptical spectrum of a single nanoparticle is measured - a novel observable that has not been accessible before.

This book provides an overview of the use of nanoparticles, carbon-nanotubes, liposomes, and nanopatterned flat surfaces for specific biomedical applications. This book explains the chemical and physical properties of the surface of these materials that allow their use in diagnosis, biosensing and bioimaging devices, drug delivery systems, and bone substitute implants. The toxicology of these particles is also discussed in the light of a new field referred to as nanotoxicology in this book. This book will be useful for engineers, researchers and industry professionals primarily in the fields of polymer science and engineering, materials science, surface science, nanocatalysis, biotechnology and biomedicine.

This contributed volume offers practical solutions and design-, modeling-, and implementation-related insights that address current research problems in memristors, memristive devices, and memristor computing. The book studies and addresses related challenges in and proposes solutions for the future of memristor computing. State-of-the-art research on memristor modeling, memristive interconnections, memory circuit architectures, software simulation tools, and applications of memristors in computing are presented. Utilising contributions from numerous experts in the field, written in clear language and illustrated throughout, this book is a comprehensive reference work. Memristor Computing Systems explains memristors and memristive devices in an accessible way for graduate students and researchers with a basic knowledge of electrical and control systems engineering, as well as prompting further research for more experienced academics.

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are emerging as a promising solution to help us explore and understand the ocean. The global market for AUVs is predicted to grow from 638 million dollars in 2020 to 1,638 million dollars by 2025 - a compound annual growth rate of 20.8 percent. To make AUVs suitable for a wider range of application-specific missions, it is necessary to deploy multiple AUVs to cooperatively perform the localization, tracking and formation tasks. However, weak underwater acoustic communication and the model uncertainty of AUVs make achieving this challenging. This book presents cutting-edge results regarding localization, tracking and formation for AUVs, highlighting the latest research on commonly encountered AUV systems. It also showcases several joint localization and tracking solutions for AUVs. Lastly, it discusses future research directions and provides guidance on the design of future localization, tracking and formation schemes for AUVs. Representing a substantial contribution to nonlinear system theory, robotic control theory, and underwater acoustic communication system, this book will appeal to university researchers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students in control theory and control engineering who wish to learn about the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications of AUVs. Moreover, the practical localization, tracking and formation schemes presented provide guidance on exploring the ocean. The book is intended for those with an understanding of nonlinear system theory, robotic control theory, and underwater acoustic communication systems.

For courses in Logic and Computer design. Understanding Logic and Computer Design for All Audiences Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals is a thoroughly up-to-date text that makes logic design, digital system design, and computer design available to students of all levels. The Fifth Edition brings this widely recognised source to modern standards by ensuring that all information is relevant and contemporary. The material focuses on industry trends and successfully bridges the gap between the much higher levels of abstraction students in the field must work with today than in the past. Broadly covering logic and computer design, Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals is a flexibly organised source material that allows instructors to tailor its use to a wide range of student audiences.

Now in a thoroughly revised second edition, this practical practitioner guide provides a comprehensive overview of the SoC design process. It explains end-to-end system on chip (SoC) design processes and includes updated coverage of design methodology, the design environment, EDA tool flow, design decisions, choice of design intellectual property (IP) cores, sign-off procedures, and design infrastructure requirements. The second edition provides new information on SOC trends and updated design cases. Coverage also includes critical advanced guidance on the latest UPF-based low power design flow, challenges of deep submicron technologies, and 3D design fundamentals, which will prepare the readers for the challenges of working at the nanotechnology scale. A Practical Approach to VLSI System on Chip (SoC) Design: A Comprehensive Guide, Second Edition provides engineers who aspire to become VLSI designers with all the necessary information and details of EDA tools. It will be a valuable professional reference for those working on VLSI design and verification portfolios in complex SoC designs

This comprehensive text examines existing and emerging electrical drive technologies. The authors clearly define the most basic electrical drive concepts and go on to explain the most important details while maintaining a solid connection to the theory and design of the associated electrical machines. Also including links to a number of industrial applications, the authors take their investigation of electrical drives beyond theory to examine a number of practical aspects of electrical drive control and application. Key features: * Provides a comprehensive summary of all aspects of controlled-speed electrical drive technology including control and operation. * Handling of electrical drives is solidly linked to the theory and design of the associated electrical machines. Added insight into problems and functions are illustrated with clearly understandable figures. * Offers an understanding of the main phenomena associated with electrical machine drives. * Considers the problem of bearing currents and voltage stresses of an electrical drive. * Includes up-to-date theory and design guidelines, taking into account the most recent advances. This book s rigorous coverage of theoretical principles and techniques makes for an excellent introduction to controlled-speed electrical drive technologies for Electrical Engineering MSc or PhD students studying electrical drives. It also serves as an excellent reference for practicing electrical engineers looking to carry out design, analyses, and development of controlled-speed electrical drives.

This book presents an overview of both the theory and experimental methods required to realize high efficiency solar absorber devices. It begins with a historical description of the study of spectrally selective solar absorber materials and structures based on optical principles and methods developed over the past few decades. The optical properties of metals and dielectric materials are addressed to provide the background necessary to achieve high performance of the solar absorber devices as applied in the solar energy field. In the following sections, different types of materials and structures, together with the relevant experimental methods, are discussed for practical construction and fabrication of the solar absorber devices, aiming to maximally harvest the solar energy while at the same time effectively suppressing the heat-emission loss. The optical principles and methods used to evaluate the performance of solar absorber devices with broad applications in different physical conditions are presented. The book is suitable for graduate students in applied physics, and provides a valuable reference for researchers working actively in the field of solar energy.

This book presents posits a solution to the current limitations in global connectivity by introducing a global laser/optical communication system using constellation satellites, UAVs, HAPs and Balloons. The author outlines how this will help to satisfy the tremendous increasing demand for data exchange and information between end-users worldwide including in remote locations. The book provides both fundamentals and the advanced technology development in establishing worldwide communication and global connectivity using, (I) All-Optical technology, and (ii) Laser/Optical Communication Constellation Satellites (of different types, sizes and at different orbits), UAVs, HAPs (High Altitude Platforms) and Balloons. The book discusses step-by-step methods to develop a satellite backbone in order to interconnect a number of ground nodes clustered within a few SD-WAN (software-defined networking) in a wide area network (WAN) around the world in order to provide a fully-meshed communication network. This book pertains to anyone in optical communications, telecommunications, and system engineers, as well as technical managers in the aerospace industry and the graduate students, and researchers in academia and research laboratory. Proposed a solution to the limitations in global connectivity through a global laser/optical communication system using constellation satellites, UAVs, HAPs and Balloons; Provides both fundamentals and the advanced technology development in establishing global communication connectivity using optical technology and communication constellation satellites; Includes in-depth coverage of the basics of laser/optical communication constellation satellites.

MCMs today consist of complex and dense VLSI devices mounted into packages that allow little physical access to internal nodes. The complexity and cost associated with their test and diagnosis are major obstacles to their use. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies presents state-of-the-art test strategies for MCMs. This volume of original research is designed for engineers interested in practical implementations of MCM test solutions and for designers looking for leading edge test and design-for-testability solutions for their next designs. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies consists of eight contributions by leading researchers. It is designed to provide a comprehensive and well-balanced coverage of the MCM test domain. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies has also been published as a special issue of the Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications (JETTA, Volume 10, Numbers 1 and 2).

This book presents an important technique to process organic photovoltaic devices. The basics, materials aspects and manufacturing of photovoltaic devices with solution processing are explained. Solution processable organic solar cells - polymer or solution processable small molecules - have the potential to significantly reduce the costs for solar electricity and energy payback time due to the low material costs for the cells, low cost and fast fabrication processes (ambient, roll-to-roll), high material utilization etc. In addition, organic photovoltaics (OPV) also provides attractive properties like flexibility, colorful displays and transparency which could open new market opportunities. The material and device innovations lead to improved efficiency by 8% for organic photovoltaic solar cells, compared to 4% in 2005. Both academic and industry research have significant interest in the development of this technology. This book gives an overview of the booming technology, focusing on the solution process for organic solar cells and provides a state-of-the-art report of the latest developments. World class experts cover fundamental, materials, devices and manufacturing technology of OPV technology.

Integrated circuits are expected to increase their speed and power dramatically and rapidly. New packaging techniques are required if the devices are to remain within cost and size constraints. The present volume addresses new hermetic packaging, new materials for thermal management and assembly, and new components that integrate multiple functions (embedded substrates and component arrays), while retaining previous high levels of reliability. The book embraces many developments in fundamental materials science and manufacturing processes of discrete components, as well as developments in high speed, high integration packaging and more complex embedded component technologies.