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The main objective of the FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experiment is the measurement of the double differential cross-sections with respect to kinetic energy and emission angle of fragments produced in nuclear interactions at energies of interest for hadrontherapy (up to 400 MeV/u) (Battistoni et al., 2021) [1]. The Microstrip Silicon Detector (MSD) will be one of the key components of the experiment, used to reconstruct the fragments' tracks needed for momentum reconstruction. The sensors produced were tested throughout the production chain first in the laboratory and then at the accelerators to ensure their operation and performance in terms of noise and signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work briefly discusses the potential applications of the Skipper-CCD technology in astronomy and reviews its current use in dark matter and neutrino experiments. An overview of the ongoing efforts to build multi-kilogram experiments with these sensors is given, in the context of the Oscura experiment. First results from the characterization of Oscura sensors from the first 200 mm wafer-fabrication run with a new vendor are presented. The overall yield of the electron counting capability of these sensors is 71%. A noise of 0.087 e − RMS, with 1225 samples/pix, and a dark current of (0. 031 ± 0. 013) e − /pix/day at 140 K were measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method of embedding a Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) into a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) and its interconnection by means of through-hole copper plating. The resulting assembly, baptised "MAPS foil", is a flexible, light, protected, and fully integrated detector module. By using widely available printed circuit board manufacturing techniques, the production of these devices can be scaled easily in size and volume, making it a compelling candidate for future large-scale applications. A first series of prototypes that embed the ALPIDE chip has been produced, functionally tested, and shown to be working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer has been linked to long-term exposures to radon through food or water consumption, inhalation in caves or closed chambers, or exposure to radon-saturated open air. In Abeokuta, Nigeria, 58 samples of drinking water were tested for radon. 25 samples from a hand-dug well and 33 samples from a borehole of water used for drinking and other domestic purposes were each taken from different locations in Abeokuta. For this study, the RAD7 Radon Monitor system was employed. The water samples were taken using a 250 mL radon-tight bottle. A bubbling kit was included with the radon detector. Radon measurements were performed using the WAT 250 technique and grab mode on the water samples. On each sample, a total of two cycles were performed. The findings revealed that the mean value for radon concentration in borehole drinking water samples is 18.8 Bq/L, with a range of 10.65–29.5 Bq/L. In contrast, the measured samples from hand-dug wells range from 1.41 to 20.02 Bq/L, with a mean value of 9.7 Bq/L. 100% of borehole water samples and 48% of hand-dug well water samples showed radon concentrations over 11 Bq/L, the maximum contamination limit advised by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Furthermore, water samples from boreholes range between 0.037 and 0.081 mSv per year with an average mean of 0.051 mSv per year, while the total annual effective dose of radon concentration due to ingestion and inhalation from hand-dug well samples ranges between 0.0038 and 0.055 mSv per year with a mean of 0.027 mSv per year. No samples from hand-dug wells or boreholes have cumulative yearly effective doses of radon that are higher than the maximum contaminant level advised, which is 0.1 mSv/y. •Radon concentration. • Grounodwater. • RAD 7 solid state Detector. • Inhalation, ingestion, and Annual Effective Dose. • Abeokuta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characterization of new materials thermoluminescent used in radiation dosimetry, require the determination of kinetic parameters, which are associated with the number and shape of the peaks which presents its glow curve, among the most important are: the activation energy, E , or depth of the traps, the frequency factor, s , and the kinetics order, b . These parameters are necessary to predict the stability of thermoluminescent information after irradiation of the material. In this work, we present the results obtained for the determination of kinetic parameters of Tm 3+ -doped CaF 2 , the methods used for the determination of kinetic parameters were; initial growth signal TL, General order Chen method, and Deconvolution of glow curve. The results showed that the glow curve of CaF 2 presents three glow peaks, 492 K main peak and two smaller peaks, one at 430 K and another to 566 K. The dosimetric glow peak fits to the general-order kinetics model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dedicated detector system for heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis at the Tandem Laboratory of Uppsala University is presented. Benefits of combining a time-of-flight measurement with a segmented anode gas ionization chamber are demonstrated. The capability of ion species identification is improved with the present system, compared to that obtained when using a single solid state silicon detector for the full ion energy signal. The system enables separation of light elements, up to Neon, based on atomic number while signals from heavy elements such as molybdenum and tungsten are separated based on mass, to a sample depth on the order of 1 μm. The performance of the system is discussed and a selection of material analysis applications is given. Plasma-facing materials from fusion experiments, in particular metal mirrors, are used as a main example for the discussion. Marker experiments using nitrogen-15 or oxygen-18 are specific cases for which the described improved species separation and sensitivity are required. Resilience to radiation damage and significantly improved energy resolution for heavy elements at low energies are additional benefits of the gas ionization chamber over a solid state detector based system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a novel way to investigate the properties of silicon and CVD diamond detectors for High Energy Physics experiments complementary to the already well-established E-TCT technique using laser beam. In the proposed setup the beam of high energy hadrons (MIPs) is used instead of laser beam. MIPs incident on the detector in the direction parallel to the readout electrode plane and perpendicular to the edge of the detector. Such experiment could prove very useful to study CVD diamond detectors that are almost inaccessible for the E-TCT measurements with laser due to large band-gap as well as to verify and complement the E-TCT measurements of silicon. The method proposed is being tested at CERN in a beam of 120 GeV hadrons using a reference telescope with track resolution at the DUT of few μm. The preliminary results of the measurements are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of external magnetic field and exciting photon energies on the Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios of various alloy compositions of Ti-Ni transition metal alloys have been investigated in this work using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The spectrum of characteristic K-X-ray photons from pure Ti, pure Ni and Ti x Ni 1-x (x=0.30; 0.40; 0.50; 0.60; 0.70) alloys were detected with a high resolution Si (Li) solid-state detector. Firstly, Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios of pure Ti, pure Ni and Ti x Ni 1-x alloys were measured following excitation by 59.54 keV γ -rays from a 200 mCi 241 Am radioactive point source without any magnetic field and under 0.5 and 1 T external magnetic fields, separately. Later, the same measurements were repeated under the same experimental conditions for 22.69 keV X-rays from a 370 MBq 1 0 9 Cd radioactive point source. The results obtained for Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios of pure Ti, pure Ni, Ti and Ni in various Ti-Ni alloys were evaluated in terms of both external magnetic field effect and exciting photon energy effect. When the results obtained for both exciting photon energies are evaluated in terms of changing of Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios depending on the alloy composition, the tendency of these changes are observed to be similar. Also, Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios for all samples examined have changed with increasing external magnetic field. Therefore, the results obtained have shown that Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios of Ti and Ni in Ti x Ni 1−x alloys are connected with the external magnetic field. The present study makes it possible to perform reliable interpretation of experimental Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios for Ti, Ni and Ti x Ni 1−x alloys and can also provide quantitative information about the changes of the Kβ / Kα X-ray intensity ratios of these metals with alloy composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method for evaluating the standard uncertainty in the measurements with passive personal dosemeters using a numerical method (Monte Carlo). The paper builds on a previous paper where a two-stage measurement model for passive dosemeters was proposed. This model follows the course of events during the measurement, which also consists of two stages: (1) the exposure of the dosemeter in the workplace where a signal develops in the form of, e.g. electron/hole pairs in solid-state detectors and film or damages to a molecular structure in track films, the latent signal and (2) the evaluation at the service where the latent signal is ‘developed’ into an observable signal. In this paper, the study is extended to multielement dosemeters that have multiple outputs. The charm of the proposed method is that it needs no mathematical approximations and does inherently include any correlations that may exist between input quantities and, in the case of multiple outputs like Hp(10) and Hp(0.07), between these outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The INFN PixFEL project is developing the fundamental building blocks for a large area X-ray imaging camera to be deployed at next generation free electron laser (FEL) facilities with unprecedented intensity. Improvement in performance beyond the state of art in imaging instrumentation will be explored adopting advanced technologies like active edge sensors, a 65 nm node CMOS process and vertical integration. These are the key ingredients of the PixFEL project to realize a seamless large area focal plane instrument composed by a matrix of multilayer four-side buttable tiles. In order to minimize the dead area and reduce ambiguities in image reconstruction, a fine pitch active edge thick sensor is being optimized to cope with very high intensity photon flux, up to 10 4 photons per pixel, in the range from 1 to 10 keV. A low noise analog front-end channel with this wide dynamic range and a novel dynamic compression feature, together with a low power 10 bit analog to digital conversion up to 5 MHz, has been realized in a 110 μm pitch with a 65 nm CMOS process. Vertical interconnection of two CMOS tiers will be also explored in the future to build a four-side buttable readout chip with high density memories. In the long run the objective of the PixFEL project is to build a flexible X-ray imaging camera for operation both in burst mode, like at the European X-FEL, or in continuous mode with the high frame rates anticipated for future FEL facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon sensors are widely used as tracking detectors in high energy physics experiments. This results in several specific requirements like radiation hardness and granularity. Therefore research for highly performing silicon detectors is required. The RD50 Collaboration is a CERN R&D collaboration dedicated to the development of radiation hard silicon devices for application in high luminosity collider experiments. Extensive research is ongoing in different fields since 2001. The collaboration investigates both defect and material characterization, detector characterization, the development of new structures and full detector systems. The report gives selected results of the collaboration and places an emphasis on the development of new structures, namely 3D devices, CMOS sensors in HV technology and low gain avalanche detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, results towards the development of a 3D diamond sensor are presented. Conductive channels are produced inside the sensor bulk using a femtosecond laser. This electrode geometry allows full charge collection even for low quality diamond sensors. Results from testbeam show that charge is collected by these electrodes. In order to understand the channel growth parameters, with the goal of producing low resistivity channels, the conductive channels produced with a different laser setup are evaluated by Raman spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the design and preliminary characterization of the first detection module based on Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) tailored for single-photon timing applications. The aim of this work is to demonstrate, thanks to the design of a suitable module, the possibility to easily exploit SiPM in many applications as an interesting detector featuring large active area, similarly to photomultipliers tubes, but keeping the advantages of solid state detectors (high quantum efficiency, low cost, compactness, robustness, low bias voltage, and insensitiveness to magnetic field). The module integrates a cooled SiPM with a total photosensitive area of 1 mm2 together with the suitable avalanche signal read-out circuit, the signal conditioning, the biasing electronics, and a Peltier cooler driver for thermal stabilization. It is able to extract the single-photon timing information with resolution better than 100 ps full-width at half maximum. We verified the effective stabilization in response to external thermal perturbations, thus proving the complete insensitivity of the module to environment temperature variations, which represents a fundamental parameter to profitably use the instrument for real-field applications. We also characterized the single-photon timing resolution, the background noise due to both primary dark count generation and afterpulsing, the single-photon detection efficiency, and the instrument response function shape. The proposed module can become a reliable and cost-effective building block for time-correlated single-photon counting instruments in applications requiring high collection capability of isotropic light and detection efficiency (e.g., fluorescence decay measurements or time-domain diffuse optics systems). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A brain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system using cadmium telluride (CdTe) solid-state detectors was previously developed. This CdTe-SPECT system is suitable for simultaneous dual-radionuclide imaging due to its fine energy resolution (6.6 %). However, the problems of down-scatter and low-energy tail due to the spectral characteristics of a pixelated solid-state detector should be addressed. The objective of this work was to develop a system for simultaneous Tc-99m and I-123 brain studies and evaluate its accuracy. Methods: A scatter correction method using five energy windows (FiveEWs) was developed. The windows are Tc-lower, Tc-main, shared sub-window of Tc-upper and I-lower, I-main, and I-upper. This FiveEW method uses pre-measured responses for primary gamma rays from each radionuclide to compensate for the overestimation of scatter by the triple-energy window method that is used. Two phantom experiments and a healthy volunteer experiment were conducted using the CdTe-SPECT system. A cylindrical phantom and a six-compartment phantom with five different mixtures of Tc-99m and I-123 and a cold one were scanned. The quantitative accuracy was evaluated using 18 regions of interest for each phantom. In the volunteer study, five healthy volunteers were injected with Tc-99m human serum albumin diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (HSA-D) and scanned (single acquisition). They were then injected with I-123 N-isopropyl-4-iodoamphetamine hydrochloride (IMP) and scanned again (dual acquisition). The counts of the Tc-99m images for the single and dual acquisitions were compared. Results: In the cylindrical phantom experiments, the percentage difference (PD) between the single and dual acquisitions was 5.7 ± 4.0 % (mean ± standard deviation). In the six-compartment phantom experiment, the PDs between measured and injected activity for Tc-99m and I-123 were 14.4 ± 11.0 and 2.3 ± 1.8 %, respectively. In the volunteer study, the PD between the single and dual acquisitions was 4.5 ± 3.4 %. Conclusions: This CdTe-SPECT system using the FiveEW method can provide accurate simultaneous dual-radionuclide imaging. A solid-state detector SPECT system using the FiveEW method will permit quantitative simultaneous Tc-99m and I-123 study to become clinically applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method for determination of diffraction pattern for irregular 3D objects with application on rotated conical tracks in solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) wasdescribed in this paper. The model can be applied for different types of the diffraction (Fresnel, Fraunhofer) and arbitrary shapes of the obstacle. By applying the developed model on conical tracks it was fond that diffraction pattern strongly depends from radius, length and rotation angle of the conical tracks. These dependences were investigated in this paper and results can be applied for determination of inner tracks structure via diffraction pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L ℓ , L α and L β XRF production cross-sections were measured for 62 Sm at excitation energies i.e. 6.8 KeV, 7.4 KeV and 8 KeV using synchrotron radiations. Experimental measurements were also carried out to examine the effect of Coster–Kronig transitions (non-radiative transitions) on fluorescence cross section for the L i ( i = 1, 2, 3) X-ray lines. The experimental cross-sections with greater accuracy and better signal to noise ratio can be measured using a polarized monoenergetic excitation beam and a high resolution detector system. A Peltier cooled vortex solid state detector with energy resolution of 138 eV at 5.959 keV X-ray was employed. Experimentally measured cross-sections have been compared with the theoretical predictions with the data of M.O. Krause [J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 8 (1979) 307], J.L. Campbell [At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 85 (2003) 291] and S. Puri et al. [X-Ray Spectrom. 22 (1993) 358]. The measured enhancement factors were found to be smaller than the theoretically calculated values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of organic materials as radiation detectors has grown, due to the easy processability in liquid phase at room temperature and the possibility to cover large areas by means of low cost deposition techniques. Direct charged-particle detectors based on solution-grown Organic Semiconducting Single Crystals (OSSCs) are shown to be capable to detect charged particles in pulse mode, with very good peak discrimination. The direct charged-particle detection in OSSCs has been assessed both in the planar and in the vertical axes, and a digital pulse processing algorithm has been used to perform pulse height spectroscopy and to study the charge collection efficiency as a function of the applied bias voltage. Taking advantage of the charge spectroscopy and the good peak discrimination of pulse height spectra, an Hecht-like behavior of OSSCs radiation detectors is demonstrated. It has been possible to estimate the mobility-lifetime value in organic materials, a fundamental parameter for the characterization of radiation detectors, whose results are equal to μτcoplanar = (5 .5 ± 0.6 ) × 10-6 cm2/V and μτsandwich = (1 .9 ± 0.2 ) × 10-6 cm2/V, values comparable to those of polycrystalline inorganic detectors. Moreover, alpha particles Time-of-Flight experiments have been carried out to estimate the drift mobility value. The results reported here indicate how charged-particle detectors based on OSSCs possess a great potential as low-cost, large area, solid-state direct detectors operating at room temperature. More interestingly, the good detection efficiency and peak discrimination observed for chargedparticle detection in organic materials (hydrogen-rich molecules) are encouraging for their further exploitation in the detection of thermal and high-energy neutrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a few different phenomenological approaches that aim to track the dependence of signal height in irradiated solid state detectors on the fluence of damaging particles. However, none of them are capable to provide a unique radiation hardness parameter that would reflect solely the material capability to withstand high radiation environment. To extract such a parameter for chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond, two different diamond detectors were irradiated with proton beams in MeV energy range and subjected afterwards to ion beam induced charge (IBIC) analysis. The change in charge collection efficiency (CCE) due to defects produced was investigated in context of a theoretical model that was developed on the basis of the adjoint method for linearization of the continuity equations of electrons and holes. Detailed modeling of measured data resulted with the first known value of the kσ product for diamond, where k represents the number of charge carriers’ traps created per one simulated primary lattice vacancy and σ represents the charge carriers’ capture cross section. As discussed in the text, this product could be considered as a true radiation damage parameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review (with 90 refs.) covers the state of the art in optofluidic devices with integrated solid-state nanopores for use in detection and sensing. Following an introduction into principles of optofluidics and solid-state nanopore technology, we discuss features of solid-state nanopore based assays using optofluidics. This includes the incorporation of solid-state nanopores into optofluidic platforms based on liquid-core anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides (ARROWs), methods for their fabrication, aspects of single particle detection and particle manipulation. We then describe the new functionalities provided by solid-state nanopores integrated into optofluidic chips, in particular acting as smart gates for correlated electro-optical detection and discrimination of nanoparticles. This enables the identification of viruses and λ-DNA, particle trajectory simulations, enhancing sensitivity by tuning the shape of nanopores. The review concludes with a summary and an outlook. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When obtaining a chemical element image through energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) scanning of a specific sample, it is important to determine the minimum detection time (MDT) required per dot (pixel) and per element in order to identify the minority and the trace elements present in the sample. Starting from the statistical criteria of limit of detection, quantitative estimations can be made regarding the concentration of elements present in the samples, determining the MDT which fits to the limit of detection previously established. Given that with this technique it is possible to implement in vivo applications, in this work, a process was developed for the MDT that is capable of generating the minimum radiation exposure in imaging EDXRF. For this proposal, the MDT is determined for metals, such as Fe, Cu, and Pb, given their great biomedical interest, in a series of equivalent bone and soft tissue phantom samples. Consequently, a criteria for global scanning time per dot was established, hence providing an elemental XRF image according to the As Low As Reasonably Achievable principles, i.e. as low an exposure as reasonably possible for each sample type studied by this sort of devices, in order to obtain appropriate information for each field of application. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-state photo-detectors are one of the main innovations of past century in the field of sensors. First produced in the early forties with the invention of the p–n junction in silicon and the study of its optical properties, photo-detectors received a major boost in the sixties when the p-i-n (PIN) photodiode was developed and successfully used in several applications. The development of devices with internal gain, avalanche photodiodes (APD) first and then Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes, named single photon avalanche diode (SPAD), leads to a substantial improvement in sensitivity and allowed single photon detection. Later on, thousands of SPADs have been assembled in arrays of few millimeters squared (named SiPM, silicon photo-multiplier) with single photon resolution. The high internal gain of SiPMs, together with other features peculiar of the silicon technology like compactness, speed and compatibility with magnetic fields, promoted SiPMs as the principal photo-detector competitor of photomultipliers in many applications from radiation detection to medical imaging. This paper provides a review of the properties of analog solid-state photo-detectors. Particular emphasis is given to latest advances on Positron Emission Tomography instrumentation boosted by the adoption of the silicon photo-detectors as an alternative to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). Special attention is dedicated to the SiPMs, which are playing a key role in the development of innovative scanners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phenothiazine-based colorimetric and fluorescent probe ( 3 ) for Hg 2+ and Cu 2+ was designed and synthesized. Probe 3 showed high selectivity and sensitivity toward Hg 2+ and Cu 2+ over other metal ions. This probe works as a chemodosimeter based on the Kucherov reaction for the selective detection of Hg 2+ . Copper recognition is based on soft–soft metal interactions with the –S and –N atoms of the probe 3 . Probe 3 exhibited a red-shift in the absorption spectra from 449 to 606 nm for Hg 2+ and at 612 nm for Cu 2+ that is accompanied by significant color changes from orange to dark blue and blackish-blue. Probe 3 could be used as a solid state (test paper, TLC plates) optical sensor for the selective detection of Hg 2+ and Cu 2+ . The binding process was confirmed by UV–vis absorption, fluorescence measurements, IR, 1 H NMR and mass spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing solid state materials capable of generating homogeneous white light in an energy efficient and resource-sustainable way is central to the design of new and improved devices for various lighting applications. Most currently-used phosphors depend on strategically important rare earth elements, and rely on a multicomponent approach, which produces sub-optimal quality white light. Here, we report the design and preparation of a colloidal white-light emitting nanocrystal conjugate. This conjugate is obtained by linking colloidal Ga2O3 and II-VI nanocrystals in the solution phase with a short bifunctional organic molecule (thioglycolic acid). The two types of nanocrystals are electronically coupled by Förster resonance energy transfer owing to the short separation between Ga2O3 (energy donor) and core/shell CdSe/CdS (energy acceptor) nanocrystals, and the spectral overlap between the photoluminescence of the donor and the absorption of the acceptor. Using steady state and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopies, we quantified the contribution of the energy transfer to the photoluminescence spectral power distribution and the corresponding chromaticity of this nanocrystal conjugate. Quantitative understanding of this new system allows for tuning of the emission color and the design of quasi-single white light emitting inorganic phosphors without the use of rare-earth elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Loss Cone Imager (LCI) instrument package on the US Air Force׳s Demonstration and Science eXperiment (DSX) mission is expected to provide in-situ measurements of energetic charged particles in the Earth׳s radiation belts. The LCI comprises an 18-pixel imaging electron spectrometer known as the Fixed Sensor Head (FSH) and a single pixel, narrow view angle, large geometric factor, charged particle telescope known as the High-Sensitivity Telescope (HST). The LCI is anticipated to be flown in a 6000 km×12,000 km orbit at 42 ° inclination to allow sampling of the inner and outer radiation belts as well as the slot region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A halogen-anion fluorescent solid-state sensor based on natively porous films doped with a quinolinium derivative is reported. The sensitive films are prepared with a low temperature sol–gel synthesis starting from bridged silsesquioxane precursors, and 6-methoxyquinolinium moieties are covalently linked to the organic–inorganic hybrid network. This sensor system is reversible and allows selective detection and measurement of halogen anion concentrations in the physiological range by a dynamic quenching effect of the sensitive fluorophore. The quenching constants are unaffected by dye inclusion in the bridged polysilsesquioxane matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-to-digital converters (TDCs) are increasingly used as building blocks in biomedical imaging, digital communication, and measurement instrumentation systems. When fabricated in deep-submicrometer (DSM) CMOS technology, TDCs have outstanding time stamping capability on the order of picoseconds. Typically, the timing resolution of a TDC directly determines the minimum resolvable spatial resolution in time-of-flight (ToF) measurements. It also limits the signal-to-noise ratio in ToF positron emission tomography and the in-band noise in an all-digital phase-locked-loop. In TDCs, good linearity and precision result in high measurement accuracy, while the detectable range is limited by its dynamic range. In addition, size and power consumption are of significant importance in large-scale array implementations such as image sensors. Here, we discuss the most recent developments in CMOS TDCs, with an emphasis on ring-oscillator-based TDC and its variants, due to their suitability for array designs with less area overhead. In addition, key performance metrics, and accurate cost-effective characterization methods will be discussed. Finally, future perspectives of CMOS TDCs will be highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is my great pleasure to introduce the Seventh Special Issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES on Solid-State Image Sensors. Previous special issues were published in February 1976, August 1985, May 1991, October 1997, January 2003, and November 2009. During the six-year interval since the last special issue, significant changes have occurred in the field of solid-state image sensors. This is due, in particular, to the drive for low-power, high integration, compact imaging systems. Now that the speed of pixel shrinkage is slowing down, various new technologies are being developed to increase the functionality of the sensors, to make them more compact, to make them faster, to increase their dynamic range, etc. Papers reflecting these trends in the image sensor technology are well represented in this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of military high explosives and illicit drugs presents problems of paramount importance in the fields of counter terrorism and criminal investigation. Effectively dealing with such threats requires hand-portable, mobile and affordable instruments. The paper shows that solid-state gas sensors can contribute to the development of such instruments provided the sensors are incorporated into integrated sensor systems, which acquire the target substances in the form of particle residue from suspect objects and which process the collected residue through a sequence of particle sampling, solid-vapor conversion, vapor detection and signal treatment steps. Considering sensor systems with metal oxide gas sensors at the backend, it is demonstrated that significant gains in sensitivity, selectivity and speed of response can be attained when the threat substances are sampled in particle as opposed to vapor form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the preparation methods for solid models of gears of different geometries using emulation cutting tooth profile generating circuit rack and further processing in Autodesk Inventor. The parameters of the rack contour can be set at a designer's request. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods of automatic computer analyses of images have large impotence in numerous physical problems with different kinds of radiations, which use such solid-state detectors as nuclear photographic emulsions, plastics and others. We described a method of expanding boundaries of dark areas for such computer analyses of micro-pictures. We demonstrated effectiveness of this method by the example of the search of microcrystals size distributions in two undeveloped nuclear emulsions and similar distribution of background grains in the developed emulsion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the calibration of Fuji BAS-TR image plate (IP) response to high energy carbon ions of different charge states by employing an intense laser-driven ion source, which allowed access to carbon energies up to 270 MeV. The calibration method consists of employing a Thomson parabola spectrometer to separate and spectrally resolve different ion species, and a slotted CR-39 solid state detector overlayed onto an image plate for an absolute calibration of the IP signal. An empirical response function was obtained which can be reasonably extrapolated to higher ion energies. The experimental data also show that the IP response is independent of ion charge states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piezoelectric 0.365BiScO-0.635PbTiO (BSPT) ceramics are promising for high temperature actuator applications due to their high Curie temperature and high piezoelectric coefficient. However, relatively low mechanical quality factor (Q ≈ 25) and high dielectric loss (tan δ ≈ 0.04) would lead to self-heating and property degradation if BSPT ceramics are used in piezoelectric actuators that work at resonant frequency. In this work, Mn-doped BSPT ceramics were prepared by conventional solid state reaction to modify the electrical properties. Excellent hard piezoelectric properties of d ≈ 200 pC/N, Q ≈ 210, and tan δ ≈ 0.015 were measured in the BSPT ceramics doped with 1.2 wt% of Mn. Further, Mn-doped BSPT ceramics showed a depoling temperature of 360 °C, about 100 °C higher than that of commercialized hard PZT ceramics. These results indicate that piezoelectric actuators fabricated with Mn-doped BSPT ceramics would exhibit enhanced thermal stability and higher energy efficiency in a wide temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]