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The paper proposes an advanced exclusive‐OR (XOR) design using a non‐stacked symmetric structure based on complementary pass transistor logic (CPL) for high‐speed applications. The proposed XOR adopts a non‐stacked structure where a cascade structure is used for pull‐up/down paths instead of a cascoded structure, allowing the increase of pull‐up/down strength and thus faster output transitions. The CPL provides a symmetric scheme that further improves the bandwidth by eliminating the deterministic jitter generated from various input patterns. Verified in a 28‐nm CMOS process, the proposed XOR shows 17.2 times smaller data‐dependent jitter compared to the conventional XOR at the data rate near the limit bandwidth of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In droplet-based manufacturing processes, such as dropwise rapid prototyping, solder bumping, and spray forming, the quality of the deposit is adversely affected by bouncing of liquid droplets off the target surfaces. This study investigates the effects of wetting and surface roughness on the bouncing phenomenon. An analytical model, based on the conservation of energy during deposition, was developed to correlate wetting and surface roughness to a dimensionless droplet bouncing potential. In addition, experiments were conducted to image the deposition behavior of Sn-37 wt % Pb solder droplets, averaging 280 [micro]m in diameter, on prepared substrates with a wide range of wetting properties and roughness levels. The high-speed image data correlate well with the model prediction that droplets are likely to bounce as a target surface becomes less wetting or is roughened. [DOI: 10.1115/1.3090884] Keywords: droplet deposition, droplet bouncing, wetting, surface roughness, 3D printing, flexible manufacturing system (FMS), rapid prototyping

Among the current challenges to the global automotive industry are changes in global markets leading to product variety, regulation leading to pressure for new technologies in body and powertrain, and competition by new players such as huge information and communication technology companies. Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) deal with these issues in different ways. This paper uses the scenario technique to illustrate possible answers to the question, how future value chains of automotive industry will look like. In almost all cases, information and communication technology (ICT) plays a major role in future strategies to cope with the aforementioned challenges. On the one hand, ICT can boost the way to more efficient production of variants by utilizing smart manufacturing approaches, on the other hand ICT enables new features such as autonomous driving.

This paper demonstrates a ultraviolet (UV)-embossed polymeric chip for protein separation by capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) and identification by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The polymeric chip was replicated by a UV-embossing technique using a soft rubber mold. Five diverse widely investigated families of UV-cured formulations were examined for MALDI ionization efficiency of bovine serum albumin (BSA) samples spotted on the polymer surfaces. The signal and signal-to-noise ratio from the polyester formulation were each 12 times those obtained with PMMA (a commonly used polymer material for MALDI) at picomole sample concentration. A polyester chip was successfully used to carry out CIEF to separate proteins, followed by MALDI-TOF-MS identification. Issues related to the successful chip fabrication and protein separation and identification are discussed.

Extrusion spin coating was developed to reduce photoresist waste and to improve coating uniformity in microlithography. This new method uses an efficient extrusion coating technique to apply a thin film of resist to a wafer prior to spinning. This initial layer of photoresist eliminates the spreading phase, the most inefficient step in conventional spin coating. The initial layer also provides existing spin coating models with preset initial conditions, allowing the prediction of coating thickness and uniformity a priori. This paper compares the experimental results with Emslie et al.'s predictive models of spin coating. A solvent concentration of 80% or higher in the coating chamber environment was found to be necessary to attain a predictable coating thickness with 5-[Angstrom] uniformity. With optimized process variables, the mean coating thick-ness matched theoretical predictions within a variation of 0.01[micro]m. Defect-free coating results were achieved with coating efficiencies as high as 40%. Index Terms--Extrusion spin coating, microlithography, photoresist coating.