Given the logic density of modern FPGAs, it is feasible to use FPGAs for floating-point applications. However, it is important that any floating-point units that are used be highly optimized. This paper introduces an open source library of highly optimized floating-point units for Xilinx FPGAs. The units are fully IEEE compliant and achieve approximately 230 MHz operation frequency for double-precision add and multiply in a Xilinx Virtex-2-Pro FPGA (-7 speed grade). This speed is achieved with a 10 stage adder pipeline and a 12 stage multiplier pipeline. The area requirement is 571 slices for the adder and 905 slices for the multiplier.
The annual program report provides detailed information about all aspects of the SNL/CA Environmental Monitoring Program for a given calendar year. It functions as supporting documentation to the SNL/CA Environmental Management System Program Manual. The 2005 Update program report describes the activities undertaken during the past year, and activities planned in future years to implement the Environmental Monitoring Program, one of six programs that supports environmental management at SNL/CA.
Hot-switched low-force gold electrical contact testing was performed using a nanomechanical test apparatus to ascertain the sensitivity of simulated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) contact to silicone oil contamination. The observed cyclic contact resistance degradation was dependent on both closure rate and noncontact applied voltage. The decomposition of silicone oil from electrical arcing was hypothesized as the degradation mechanism.
PyTrilinos provides python access to selected Trilinos packages: emerging from early stages, portability, completeness; parallelism; rapid prototyping; application development; unit testing; and numeric compatibility (migrating to NumPy). PyTrilinos complements and supplements the SciPy package.
A monolithic crystalline Si photovoltaic device, developing a potential of 2,120 Volts, has been demonstrated. The monolithic device consists of 3600 small photovoltaic cells connected in series and fabricated using standard CMOS processing on SOI wafers. The SOI wafers with trenches etched to the buried oxide (BOX) depth are used for cell isolation. The photovoltaic cell is a Si pn junction device with the n surface region forming the front surface diffused region upon which light impinges. Contact is formed to the deeper diffused region at the cell edge. The p+ deep-diffused region forms the contact to the p-type base region. Base regions were 5 or 10 {micro}m thick. Series connection of individual cells is accomplished using standard CMOS interconnects. This allows for the voltage to range from approximately 0.5 Volts for a single cell to above a thousand volts for strings of thousands of cells. The current is determined by cell area. The voltage is limited by dielectric breakdown. Each cell is isolated from the adjacent cells through dielectric-filled trench isolation, the substrate through the SOI buried oxide, and the metal wiring by the deposited pre-metal dielectric. If any of these dielectrics fail (whether due to high electric fields or inherent defects), the photovoltaic device will not produce the desired potential. We have used ultra-thick buried oxide SOI and several novel processes, including an oxynitride trench fill process, to avoid dielectric breakdown.
Wide-angle x-ray scattering measurements on various vinyl polymer melts show that the main amorphous peak (at k {approx} 1.5 A{sup -1}) in the structure factor initially broadens, and then forms a 'pre-peak' that shifts to lower k as the size of the pendant group increases. To investigate this behavior we performed self-consistent PRISM calculations on isotactic polypropylene and polystyrene liquids. Good qualitative agreement was seen for the theoretical structure factors with scattering data. Analysis of the torsional angle distribution shows a significant amount of short-range helical content in the iPP and iPS melts. At 450 K the average number of consecutive trans/gauche pairs along the chain backbone was significantly higher than for a random distribution of torsional angles. The theory indicates that the location of the pre-peak is a measure of the helix-helix correlation distance or helix 'thickness'.
The Independent Network Model (INM) has proven to be a useful tool for understanding the development of permanent set in strained elastomers. Our previous work showed the applicability of the INM to our simulations of polymer systems crosslinking in strained states. This study looks at the INM applied to theoretical models incorporating entanglement effects, including Flory's constrained junction model and more recent tube models. The effect of entanglements has been treated as a separate network formed at gelation, with additional curing treated as traditional phantom contributions. Theoretical predictions are compared with large-scale molecular dynamics simulations.
The ease and ability to predict sintering shrinkage and densification with the Skorohod-Olevsky viscous sintering (SOVS) model within a finite-element (FE) code have been improved with the use of an Arrhenius-type viscosity function. The need for a better viscosity function was identified by evaluating SOVS model predictions made using a previously published polynomial viscosity function. Predictions made using the original, polynomial viscosity function do not accurately reflect experimentally observed sintering behavior. To more easily and better predict sintering behavior using FE simulations, a thermally activated viscosity function based on creep theory was used with the SOVS model. In comparison with the polynomial viscosity function, SOVS model predictions made using the Arrhenius-type viscosity function are more representative of experimentally observed viscosity and sintering behavior. Additionally, the effects of changes in heating rate on densification can easily be predicted with the Arrhenius-type viscosity function. Another attribute of the Arrhenius-type viscosity function is that it provides the potential to link different sintering models. For example, the apparent activation energy, Q, for densification used in the construction of the master sintering curve for a low-temperature cofire ceramic dielectric has been used as the apparent activation energy for material flow in the Arrhenius-type viscosity function to predict heating rate-dependent sintering behavior using the SOVS model.