A comprehensive approach to generation of electrothermal models of silicon carbide (SiC) power Schottky diodes is presented. Both the electrical and thermal parts of the model are behavioral. The electrical one was developed in order to accurately represent the nonlinear properties of SiC merged PiN Schottky (MPS) diodes. Its parameters are automatically obtained with a dedicated numerical procedure. The thermal model derivation differs from the earlier approaches because it is based on the analysis of thermal constant spectrum of the temperature response of a modeled device. Simple model generation and parameter extraction procedures are proposed in which no knowledge of technological data is necessary.

The constant development and miniaturization of MEMS sensors invariably provides new possibilities for their use in health-related and medical applications. The application of MEMS devices in posturographic systems allows faster diagnosis and significantly facilitates the work of medical staff. MEMS accelerometers constitute a vital part of such systems, particularly those intended for monitoring patients with imbalance disorders. The correct design of such sensors is crucial for gathering data about patient movement and ensuring the good overall performance of the entire system. This paper presents the design and measurements of a three-axis accelerometer dedicated for use in a device which tracks patient movement. Its main focus is the characterization of the sensor, comparing different designs and evaluating the impact of the packaging and readout circuit integration on sensor operation. Extensive testing and measurements confirm that the designed accelerometer works correctly and allows identifying the best design in terms of sensitivity/stability. Moreover, the response of the proposed sensor as a function of the applied acceleration demonstrates very good linearity only if the readout circuit is integrated in the same package as the MEMS sensor.

Single event transient (SET) pulses produced from heavy ion irradiation in digital integrated circuits (ICs) are modeled and analyzed using a mixed-mode approach, that is, three-dimensional (3-D) semiconductor device simulation coupled with a circuit solver. In this paper, we analyze the factors affecting the generation and propagation of digital SET pulses in fast CMOS ICs. Our mixed-mode simulations of various ion strike locations allowed to obtain agreement with measured data and explain the earlier published wide distribution of SET pulse widths created by heavy ion radiation in digital CMOS ICs at a given linear energy transfer (LET) value, which was observed experimentally, but not fully understood. We also indicate that the transient charge-collection current pulse (width and shape) on the struck device node is not directly related to the SET voltage pulse that will propagate through a logic circuit, and therefore current pulses alone should not be treated as a measure of DSET.

Fast evolution of high-performance cameras in recent years has made them promising tools for observing transient and fast events in large-scale scientific experiments. Complex experiments, such as ITER, take advantage of high-performance imaging system consisting of several fast cameras working in the range of visible and infrared light. However, the application of such devices requires a usage of high-performance data acquisition systems able to read and transfer large amount of data, reaching even 10 Gbit/s for a single camera. The MTCA.4 form factor fulfils the requirements of demanding imaging systems. The paper presents a first implementation of a complete image acquisition system built on the basis of MTCA.4 architecture, which is dedicated for the operation with high-resolution fast cameras equipped with Camera Link interface. Image data from the camera are received by the frame grabber card and transmitted to the host via the PCIe interface. The modular structure of MTCA.4 architecture allows connecting several cameras to a single MTCA chassis. The system can operate in two modes: with internal CPU installed in the MTCA chassis or with external CPU connected to the chassis with PCIe link. The usage of the external CPU opens a possibility to aggregate data from different subsystems. The system supports precise synchronization with the time reference using Precise Timing Protocol (IEEE 1588). The timing modules ensure clock distribution and triggers generation on backplane lines. These allow synchronization of image acquisition from different cameras with high precision. The software support for the system includes low-level drivers and API libraries for all components and a high-level EPICS-based environment for system control and monitoring.

Distributed data acquisition and control systems in large-scale scientific experiments, like e.g. ITER, require time synchronization with nanosecond precision. A protocol commonly used for that purpose is the Precise Timing Protocol (PTP), also known as IEEE 1588 standard. It uses the standard Ethernet signalling and protocols and allows obtaining timing accuracy of the order of tens of nanoseconds. The MTCA.4 is gradually becoming the platform of choice for building such systems. Currently there is no commercially available implementation of the PTP receiver on that platform. In this paper, we present a module in the MTCA.4 form factor supporting this standard. The module may be used as a timing receiver providing reference clocks in an MTCA.4 chassis, generating a Pulse Per Second (PPS) signal and allowing generation of triggers and timestamping of events on 8 configurable backplane lines and two front panel connectors. The module is based on the Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA and thermally stabilized Voltage Controlled Oscillator controlled by the digital-to-analog converter. The board supports standalone operation, without the support from the host operating system, as the entire control algorithm is run on a Microblaze CPU implemented in the FPGA. The software support for the card includes the low-level API in the form of Linux driver, user-mode library, high-level API: ITER Nominal Device Support and EPICS IOC. The device has been tested in the ITER timing distribution network (TCN) with three cascaded PTP-enabled Hirschmann switches and a GPS reference clock source. An RMS synchronization accuracy, measured by direct comparison of the PPS signals, better than 20 ns has been obtained.