Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device on a substrate (10) is disclosed. The method comprises providing the substrate (10) including a body region (12) protruding from said substrate (10), the body region (12) being covered by a gate electrode material (16, 56) forming a first gate region (18) on a first side of the body region (12) and a second gate region (20) on a second side of the body region (12), the gate material (16, 56) being separated from the body region (12) by a dielectric layer (14); and introducing a dopant (22, 58) of a first conductivity type into the gate electrode material (16, 56) such that the first gate region (18, 20) is exposed to the dopant while the second gate region (20, 18) is substantially sheltered from the dopant by the protruding body region (12). This allows for versatile tuning of the work function of a single gate to be formed. An integrated circuit comprising such a semiconductor device is also disclosed.

Abstract: An identification card for identifying a user comprises a thin film carrier, an accommodation recess formed in the thin film carrier and adapted for detachably accommodating a memory card, and a communication interface adapted for being communicatively coupled to a reader and/or writer device.

Abstract: A surge protection circuit for a circuit having a rectification module. The surge protection circuit includes a first diode, a second diode, a capacitor and a discharge device. The anode of the first diode is connected to a first input of the rectification module, and the anode of the second diode is connected to a second input of the rectification module. The cathodes of the first and second diodes are both connected to the first plate of the capacitor. The second plate of the capacitor is connected to the negative output of the rectification module. The capacitor is configured such that it is consistently charged to substantially the peak value of a supply voltage during normal operation between surge events.

Abstract: The invention relates to a token, to an integrated circuit comprising the token, to a method of randomizing the token and a system for randomizing the token. The token comprises a physical unclonable function and comprising probing means for probing the physical unclonable function. The physical unclonable function comprises a capacitor comprising a dielectric medium being arranged at least partially between the electrodes of the capacitor. The dielectric medium is configured for contributing to a capacitance value of the capacitor and comprises conducting particles substantially randomly dispersed in the dielectric medium. The conducting particles comprise a phase changeable material being changeable between a first structural state having a first conductivity and a second structural state having a second conductivity different from the first conductivity.

Abstract: The invention relates to an RFID transponder device configured for responding to a request of an RFID reader device, by sending a response (UID) comprising information for encoding a feature set of the RFID transponder device. The invention further relates to an RFID reader device and to an RFID system comprising such RFID transponder device and such RFID reader device. The invention also relates to various methods. The invention provides an RFID system, which is more flexible towards introducing new RFID transponder devices that are newly introduced to the market. The invention enables the introduction of such new devices using a sub-set of a prior defined feature set without requiring updating of the look-up tables of the RFID reader devices that are already on the market. This is achieved by directly encoding the feature set of the RFID transponder device in the response, such as in a unique identifier of the device.

Abstract: The present application relates to at least one digitally controlled oscillator and a data modulation device. More particularly, the digital polar transmitter comprises at least one digitally controlled oscillator configured to generate at least one frequency. The digital polar transmitter comprises a data modulation device, wherein the data modulation device comprises at least one data input terminal, at least one output terminal, and at least one frequency input terminal, wherein the output terminal is connected to the digitally controlled oscillator. The digital polar transmitter comprises a phase measuring device configured to measure phase information from the output signal of the data modulation device for every frequency sample.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a plurality of ICs for different transponder types adapted for different operating range is provided, wherein the method comprises manufacturing a first IC having a first capacitance corresponding to a first operating range of the first transponder and manufacturing a second IC having a second capacitance corresponding to a second operating range of the second transponder, wherein a common layout is used for manufacturing the first IC and the second IC.

Abstract: A reconfigurable radio-frequency front-end 20 with an antenna 24 and a resonant circuit within a matching network 22. In order to provide for high tuning range with low cost and low size, a matching network 22 may comprise at least one electrically tunable passive solid-state dielectrical component 6 on a carrier substrate 2.

Abstract: A power supply unit is provided which comprises an AC/DC conversion unit with an input to which an input voltage is coupled and an output to which a DC bus voltage is coupled. The power supply unit furthermore comprises a DC bus capacitor which is coupled to the output of the AC/DC conversion unit. The power supply unit furthermore comprises at least one sub-power supply unit receiving the DC bus voltage as input for providing at least one power supply. The power supply of the at least one sub-power supply unit or part of the load is at least reduced or switched off if the input voltage falls below a predetermined threshold value.

Abstract: An ad token apparatus for managing a user credit account in a multimedia broadcasting system. The ad token apparatus includes a token embedder, a token cache, and a token verifier. The token embedder embeds a token in a digital advertisement stream to generate a token-embedded ad. The token includes an identifiable sequence of data of a predetermined length. The token cache stores the token and receives a detected token from the user device in response to detection of the token in the token-embedded ad by the user device. The token verifier adds at least one credit to a user credit account in response to receipt of the detected token. The user credit account corresponds to the user device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a tunable filter device for providing a tunable band pass characteristics for the receive path of a multi-band front-end module. According to the invention is proposed, a distributed, wide-band amplifier with a low-frequency cut-off and a high-frequency cut-off in combination with a LCR network, of which wide-band amplifier the DC blocking capacitors define the low-frequency cut-off of the filter device, whilst the high-frequency cut-off is determined by the cut-off frequency of the artificial input and output transmission lines of the LCR network. In one embodiment, additional capacitors are coupled in parallel to the DC blocking capacitors of the LCR network, switchable by MOS transistors as switching elements. Accordingly, in a certain embodiment it is proposed to allow tuning of the low- and the high-frequency cut-off by programming with a digital control command.

Abstract: A cache memory system and method for supporting multiple simultaneous store operations using a plurality of tag memories is provided. The cache data system further provides a plurality of multiple simultaneous cache store functions along with a single cache load function that is simultaneous with the store functions. Embodiments create a cache memory wherein the cache write buffer does not operate as a bottle neck for data store operations into a cache memory system or device.

Abstract: During successive approximation analog to digital conversion a series of successive digital reference values is selected that converges towards a digital representation of an analog input signal. An analog reference signal is generated dependent on the successive digital reference values and compared to the analog input signal. The digital reference values are selected dependent on comparison results. In the selection of the digital reference values successive steps between digital reference values are each selected dependent on values of the comparator result from a plurality of preceding recursion cycles. The comparison results define a series of successively narrower ranges of digital values that contain a digital representation of the analog input signal. Use of a plurality of comparator results for selecting the steps in the digital reference values makes it possible to reduce uncertainty about whether the comparison result has settled.

Abstract: A voltage reference circuit and method for generating a reference voltage using the circuit uses a comparison of the voltages on first and second nodes of a diode resistor network to produce a comparison signal, which is then used to increase the voltage on an output of a charge pump to generate the reference voltage.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a storage unit and a related method in a Viterbi decoder for decoding a binary convolutional code with power efficiency. A storage unit for storing survivor paths may use a register exchange method to append additional information received from an add-compare-select unit onto the end of the survivor path. An exemplary method produces a prediction path after a specified depth in the survivor path processing history and subtracts the prediction path from the survivor path. This may cause a majority of bits that comprise the survivor path to be converted to a low-energy bit, such as a logical “0”. During subsequent copies of a differential survivor path using the register exchange method, less energy is consumed when copying the entire survivor path, as a majority of the bits in the survivor paths are a logical “0”.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a memory device in a turbo decoder and a related method for allocating data into the memory device. Different communications standards use data blocks of varying sizes when enacting block decoding of concatenated convolutional codes. The memory device efficiently minimizes space while enabling a higher throughput of the turbo decoder by enabling a plurality of memory banks of equal size. The number of memory banks may be limited by the amount of unused space in the memory banks, which may be a waste of area on an IC chip. Using the address associated with the maximum value of the data block, the memory may be split into a plurality of memory blocks according to the most-significant bits of the maximum address, with a number of parallel SISO decoders matching the number of memory banks. This may enable higher throughput while minimizing area on the IC chip.

Abstract: Various exemplary embodiments relate to improved fabrication of CMOS transistor arrays for integrated circuits. Increased regularity in standard-cells using gate-isolation architecture may permit further reduction in feature size. MOSFETs may be spaced at roughly equal pitch and have increased channel lengths for leakage current reduction. Logic gates may be designed to have nominal channel lengths for speed and increased channel lengths for leakage current reduction. Further leakage current reduction may involve specialized channel lengths for isolation MOSFETs. Thus, the combination of the gate-isolation technique with MOSFETs having lengthened channels that are evenly spaced at substantially the same pitch may produce a flexible library architecture for improved standard-cell designs in advanced CMOS technology nodes.

Abstract: A DC voltage converter, comprising: a multi-ratio capacitive converter; a linear voltage regulator in series with the multi-ratio capacitive converter; and a controller; the controller arranged to control the ratio of the multi-ratio capacitive converter dependent upon the voltage difference across the linear voltage regulator.

Abstract: A system is described for personalization of vehicle operations. The system includes a smart card reader and a vehicle computer system. The smart card reader reads user-specific personalization information from a smart card corresponding to a user of the smart card within the vehicle. The vehicle computer system receives the user-specific personalization information from the smart card reader and implements user-specific functionality within the vehicle based on the user-specific personalization information.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to an light-emitting diode (LED) driver and related method that drives various LEDs in an LED string beyond their isolated nominal luminance. Individual LEDs in an LED string may be thermally dependent so that specific LEDs may operate at higher temperatures without degradation. This may include driving specific LEDs beyond isolated nominal luminance when associated LEDs dim below their isolated nominal luminance. Such operation allows the LED to receive higher amounts of current and therefore exhibit higher luminous intensity. A control circuit may monitor the forward voltage and temperature in a feedback loop to ensure that the LEDs in the string are operating below a defined maximum junction temperature. The control circuit may signal a processing unit to adjust adjacent circuits to compensate when the controlled LEDs cannot produce a requested luminance without operating beyond a maximum junction temperature.