Radiation Hardness and Annealing Tests of a Custom VLSI Device
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Modular Ocean Instrumentation System (MOIS) presentation from the Water Power Technologies Office Peer Review, FY14-FY16.
Unless the scientific understanding and engineering of CdTe solar cell interfaces improve, the potential efficiency gains from improving the absorber lifetime and hole density will not be realized. We use thermomechanical cleaving, a new method of cleanly exposing interfaces, in conjunction with surface analysis methods to elucidate new aspects of CdTe solar cell structure and function. Liquid nitrogen-based thermomechanical, planar cleaving of devices and test structures in a glove box connected to a cluster tool allows surface spectroscopy of buried interfaces without contamination, oxidation, or perturbation of chemical environment.
The embodiment of this invention lies on experimental evidence of photoconductivity activity of a hybrid solar cell, organic/chalcogenide. The device is made of thin layers of conductive indium-tin-oxide (ITO) on glass with a 100 nm layer of chalcogenide molybdenum di-sulfide (MoS 2 ) and a thin layer of about ˜50 nm of complex organic compound assembled at room temperature. The device was tested to conventional electrical transport measurements in the regime of −1V to 1V under electromagnetic radiation simulator at 100 mW/cm 2 . Results indicate solar conversion efficiency of 2.48% and current density of 6.35 mA/cm 2 .
WOW presents its revolutionary technology and equipment for liquid radioactive waste treatment: outperforming ultimate water decontamination and purification process, enhanced sludge concentration, no secondary waste nor consumables, fully automated, remote controlled and self-decontaminating device. The WOW's technology is based upon a never before observed discovery of fluid dynamics science: the possibility of performing a molecular separation between solute and suspended elements and the solvent. The combination of such a molecular separation process with a standard vacuum evaporation improves the abatement performances by thousands of times, with respect to those of the state of the art vacuum evaporators. In addition to this, no secondary waste is produced during the process, as no filters, membranes, resins or additives are used. WOW equipment, automated and remote controlled, self decontaminates after use and can be designed and constructed either tailored to the application needs or with a modular approach for enhanced transportability and application flexibility. After the preliminary verification by CNR, the Italian National Research Center, WOW Technology's decontamination device was tested c/o LENA, the Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy of the University of Pavia, Italy with a simulated solution 6000 times more contaminated than the nuclear reactor's cooling water of Fukushima-Daiichi NPP. In addition to that, WOW's technology was also used in a real case at the Radiochemistry laboratory of the Pavia's University Chemistry department. Both the above mentioned contaminated fluids have been successfully decontaminated without production of additional or secondary waste. WOW's technology has already performed on industrial scale c/o the Nuclear Repository of S.S.M. in Saluggia, Italy: 45000 liters of acid radioactive solution have been successfully decontaminated to a Decontamination Factor (DF) of 335000 for Cs-137 by one single evaporation step and without using any additional tool to control steam. [Performances independently certified by: National Physics Laboratory (UK) and Pavia University Radiochemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department (Italy)]. The high decontamination factors and the high volume reduction of the sludge make this technology suitable for the ultimate treatment of highly contaminated liquid waste such as the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear reactor's cooling water. The WOW's technology addresses as well to interventions in both, operating and decommissioning nuclear power plants and any other nuclear and radioactive facility whose produced and/or stored radioactive liquid solutions, including acid liquid solutions, can be successfully treated, the waste volume reduced and no secondary waste produced. (authors)
Impedance-based methods are widely used for power system stability analysis with inverter-based resources (IBRs), e.g., assessing dynamic interactions between the power grid and an IBR, control interactions between multiple IBRs, and the sub-synchronous oscillation and damping phenomenon. Since it is difficult to get a numerical model 100% matching with the hardware IBR, using the hardware inverter directly to obtain its output impedance has become a prominent approach nowadays. Therefore, this article presents the impedance scan using hardware IBRs, and also a hardware diesel generator as it still stays with the grid before the grid completely goes to renewable. The devices under test (DuTs) for the impedance scan includes two 3-..phi.., 480 V, 60 Hz commercial grid-forming IBRs (one of 250 kVA and another of 125 kVA rating) in series with ..delta..-Y transformers, one 3-..phi.., 480 V, 60 Hz commercial grid-following IBR (of 125 kVA rating), and a 3-..phi.., 480 V, 60 Hz commercial diesel generator (of 187.5 kVA rating). Using voltage signals perturbed with sub-, inter-, and higher harmonic components, and measuring the current response, the positive-sequence impedances are computed via an offline- based post-analysis. Moreover, best-fit transfer functions are estimated that closely resemble the measured data points of the positive-sequence impedances. Based on the observations from various outcomes of the hardware experiments, this article also provides some fundamental insights on the equivalent positive- sequence impedance of a combination of multiple hardware components by comparing the estimated and the empirically computed impedances. A comparative insight on the damping capability of the DuTs using the positive-sequence impedances of the hardware is also discussed.
In water-cooled reactors, hydriding failure of zircaloy cladding tubes can be easily caused by high content of total water in fuel rods. WEC, which is the water equivalent content within the cold space of a fuel rod, directly reflects the total water content of the fuel rod. A device measuring WEC has been designed, manufactured and tested. This extraction device is a hermetically sealed system consisting of six parts: the break-off part, the heating unit, the reduction unit, the sample storage part, the collecting unit and the gas flow system. Each part is connected to another one using a special connection, and the device's end part is connected to a gas chromatograph. The determination procedure can be briefly summarized as follows: first, a test fuel rod should be put into the sealed device after lathing two circular grooves on both ends, so that it can be easily broken at these points in the break-off part. Driven by carrier gas, water and hydrogen both contained in helium gas and absorbed on the rod in-wall pass over the hot uranium filament where water is converted into hydrogen. After being concentrated by the collecting unit, hydrogen flows into the gas chromatograph for measurement and data are calculated as total water content A. UO{sub 2} pellets in the test rod should be taken out from the sample storage part and the total hydrogen content of these pellets is determined according to ASTM C1457 standard, followed by its conversion into total water content B. Finally, the sum of A and B being divided by the free volume of the cold space within the test rod, gives the value of WEC.
This article presents an improved double pulse test (DPT) for accurate dynamic characterization of the medium voltage (MV) silicon carbide device. The difference between low voltage (LV) and MV DPT setup grounding is first introduced, which results in different measurement considerations. Then, parasitic capacitances in the DPT and their impact on the DPT are discussed considering different grounding points and device connections. Approaches are proposed to minimize the impact of parasitic capacitances on DPT results. In addition, the impact of switching V-I timing alignment on the testing results is discussed, compared to that in the LV DPT; a V-I alignment approach is introduced for the MV DPT. A 10 kV/20 A SiC mosfet -based DPT is taken as an example of the improved DPT, and test results show that it can minimize the impact from parasitic and improve the accuracy of the device switching loss estimation.
The GrayQb{sup TM} Single Faced Version 2 (SF2) is a non-destructive examination device developed to generate radiation contour maps showing source locations and relative radiological levels present in an area under examination. This device allows for characterization of radioactively contaminated areas such as hot cells, gloveboxes, small and large rooms, hallways, and waste tanks. The goal of GrayQb{sup TM} (pronounced 'Gray Cube') is to provide a low cost easily deployable device to aid in the process of decontamination and decommissioning (D and D). The GrayQb{sup TM} SF2 device is approximately a six inch cube weighing seven (7) pounds composed of a tungsten shield with integrated collimator, radiation imaging medium (Phosphor Storage Plate), and digital camera. This paper details the design upgrades incorporated into the new version of the GrayQb{sup TM} SF2 device and the characterization testing of this upgraded device. Device results from controlled testing performed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) Health Physics Instrument Calibration Laboratory (HPICL) are presented, as well as results from the open environment field testing performed in the E-Area Low Level Waste Storage Area. Follow on work performed deploying the GrayQb SF2 device at the Hanford Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) to assist in the radiological characterization of the canyon will also be presented. Testing of the redesigned GrayQb{sup TM} SF2 device demonstrated its ability to detect low energy isotopes, e.g. Am-241 and Pu-238, not only indoors in controlled environments with well-defined source locations, but also in open environment field areas with a significant high energy background. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the device could detect higher energy isotopes (Cs-137 and Co-60) in a controlled setting and with additional testing and/or modifications to device and software, would likely be able to detect these isotopes in the open environment field testing. Follow on 2015 work performed at Hanford proved GrayQb to be a useful tool in the radiological characterization of the PRF canyon. Distribution tendencies of the radiological hot spots were identified that provided insights which will assist in more efficient planning of the continued D and D effort. Hot spots were identified which can be targeted during the future D and D effort and used as markers during the NDA assessment to quantify the radiological environment. (authors)
Environmental tests on microelectronic devices having surface defects
Environmental test of microelectronic devices for surface defects
The purpose of this test was to characterize the Analog Devices ADXL354 parameter degradation for total dose response. In the test, the device was exposed to a dose rate of 50 rad(Si)/s or 0.5 Gy(Si)/s using a gamma radiation source in accordance with MIL-STD-883K Paragraph 3.6.1 (Condition A). Device parameters such as supply current, self-test voltage response, and LDO regulator output voltages were monitored.
Design, fabrication and test of materials handling device for spacecraft use
Design of mechanical device for stirring several test tubes simultaneously
Indoor and outdoor testing of photovoltaic (PV) device performance requires the use of solar simulators and natural solar radiation, respectively. This performance characterization requires accurate knowledge of spectral irradiance distribution that is incident on the devices. Spectroradiometers are used to measure the spectral distribution of solar simulators and solar radiation. On September 17, 2013, a global spectral irradiance intercomparison using spectroradiometers was organized by the Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This paper presents highlights of the results of this first intercomparison, which will help to decrease systematic inter-laboratory differences in the measurements of the outputs or efficiencies of PV devices and harmonize laboratory experimental procedures.
Destructive and nondestructive testing, results, and specifications for reliability of integrated circuit and semiconductor devices
Test data were collected on 1035 plastic encapsulated devices and 75 hermetically scaled control group devices that were purchased from each of five different manufacturers in the categories of (1) low power Schottsky TTL (bipolar) digital circuits; (2) CMOS digital circuits; (3) operational amplifier linear circuits; and (4) NPN transistors. These parts were subjected to three different initial screening conditions, then to extended life testing, to determine any possible advantages or trends for any particular screen. Several tests were carried out in the areas of flammability testing, humidity testing, high pressure steam (auroclave) testing, and high temperature storage testing. Test results are presented. Procurement and application considerations for use of plastic encapsulated semiconductors are presented and a statistical analysis program written to study the log normal distributions resulting from life testing is concluded.
Building a simulation tool to select a suitable radiation mapping device for FE detection during Cold Testing. Evaluating asymmetries in photons angular distribution to get information about the FE site position. The final goal is to focus cleaning efforts in that point to reduce employed resources, iterations and costs.