1,720,958 research outputs found
Pre-Charged Collapse-Mode Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT) Receivers for Efficient Power Transfer
No full textCapacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) offer several advantages over standard PZT transducers, particularly for implantable devices. To eliminate their typical need for an external bias voltage, we embedded a charge storage layer in the dielectric. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of PECVD Si3N4 and ALD Al2O3 as materials for the charge storage layer, and two different dielectric layer thicknesses, focusing on their application as receivers in a wireless power transfer link. Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) measurements revealed that Si3N4 has a higher charge storage capacity compared to Al2O3. Additionally, a thicker dielectric layer between the bottom electrode and the charge storage layer (Bdiel) improved both charge trapping and retention, as assessed in dynamic accelerated lifetime transmit-mode tests. We then analysed the power conversion performance of the fabricated CMUTs through both simulations and experiments. We performed extensive modelling based on an equivalent circuit derived from electrical impedance measurements of the fabricated CMUTs. The model was used to predict the power conversion efficiency under various conditions, including the charging field strength, the operating frequency, and parasitic series resistance. Power transfer experiments at 1 and 2.4 MHz recorded efficiencies exceeding 80% with an optimally matched load and up to 54% with a purely resistive load. Results confirmed that, with optimal load matching, the efficiency of different CMUT variants is comparable, indicating that the optimal variant should be selected based on additional criteria, such as charge retention time
Phase Distribution Efficiency of cm-Scale Ultrasonically Powered Receivers
No full textIn the domain of ultrasonically powered biomedical implants, there is an increasing interest in cm-scale ultrasonic receivers (RX). However, when a single-element transducer is used as the RX transducer, an uneven phase distribution across the RX area can significantly reduce the harvestable power. In this paper, we investigate the impact of lateral and angular misalignment on the acoustic field phase distribution across the RX surface. We show that, for a single-element RX transducer, lateral misalignment has minimal effect on the harvestable power, whereas even small angular misalignments can cause a considerable reduction, especially for larger RX sizes. We present a potential solution that consists of subdividing a large RX transducer (e.g. 20 × 20 mm2) into smaller elements, which significantly improves power transfer efficiency by taking advantage of the smaller phase variation across the surface of each element. The trade-offs between achieving a minimum acceptable power transfer efficiency and managing the increased complexity in packaging and matching circuitry are also discussed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The long-term reliability of pre-charged CMUTs for the powering of deep implanted devices
No full textRecently, focused ultrasound has been proposed to power deeply implanted medical devices. Almost exclusively, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers are used to convert acoustic energy into electrical energy. Unfortunately, these lead containing devices cannot be hermetically encapsulated since that would block the ultrasound. We propose the use of biocompatible Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) elements to replace traditional PZT transducers. In addition, to eliminate the external bias voltage, we introduced a charge trapping Al2O3 layer inside the CMUT to create a built-in bias voltage. These devices can be pre-charged and used as a receiver for US power. In this work, the viability of charged CMUTs to power deep implants was explored by investigating the effect of the charging parameters and by performing Accelerated Lifetime Tests (ALT). The estimated lifetime at body temperature ranges between 2.5 to 3.5 years at body temperature, which significantly depends on the charging parameters.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Electronic Components, Technology and Material
Fast and Accurate Estimation of Collapse and Snapback Voltages of CMUTs
No full textEstimation of the collapse (Vcol) and snapback (Vsb) voltages of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) is usually performed by extracting C-V curves from low frequency impedance measurements at different bias points. However, impedance analysis in several bias conditions is time-consuming, making this technique unsuitable for wafer-level testing. Additionally, prolonged exposure to high electric fields may lead to charge injection and trapping phenomena in the CMUT in-cavity insulation layers. This paper proposes an adjustment to the conventional impedance analysis technique aimed at enhancing estimation accuracy and introduces a novel technique for fast C-V assessment enabling rapid wafer-level characterization. Results from both techniques are compared, demonstrating the validity of the proposed approaches
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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