Abstract: A damascene process is described using a copper fill process to fill a trench (12). The copper fill (20) is started with a deposited seed layer which includes (5) copper and titanium. Some titanium migrates to the surface during the copper fill process. The structure is annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere which creates a self-aligned TiN barrier (24) at the surface of the copper fill (20). Air gaps (26) may be created in the same annealing process. The process may be used to form a multilayer structure.

Abstract: An R.F. transmitter circuit has an amplifier (30), a matching network (40) coupled to an output of the amplifier, a programmable resistance (35) coupled to the output of the amplifier, and a controller (60) arranged to control the programmable resistance, and to determine a matched output impedance of the amplifier by detecting a change in the amplifier output for different values of the programmable resistance. This output impedance can be used to adjust the matching to achieve optimum gain or optimum efficiency or other characteristic, during manufacture, test, or in use.

Abstract: A transistor device (10), the transistor device (10) comprising a substrate (11, 14), a fin (3, 3A) aligned along a horizontal direction on the substrate (11, 14), a first source/drain region (4) of a first type of conductivity in the fin (3, 3A), a second source/drain region (5) of a second type of conductivity in the fin (3, 3A), wherein the first type of conductivity differs from the second type of conductivity, a channel region (33) in the fin (3, 3A) between the first source/drain region (4) and the second source/drain region (5), a gate insulator (6) on the channel region (33), and a gate structure (7, 8) on the gate insulator (6), wherein the sequence of the first source/drain region (4), the channel region (33) and the second source/drain region (5) is aligned along the horizontal direction.

Abstract: In a signal processing arrangement, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC1) of the finite impulse response type converts a serial bitstream (BSL) into an analog output signal (AL). The digital-to-analog converter (DAC1) comprises at least two current source arrays (CCA1, CC A2). In a first current source array (CCA1), a current definition cell (CD1) generates a first basic current, and a plurality of first current copy cells ( . . . , CC40, CC41, . . . ) provide respective scaled copies of the first basic current to constitute first filter coefficient currents ( . . . , IP40, IP41, . . . ). In a further current source array (CCA2), a further current definition cell (CD2) generates a further basic current, and a plurality of current further copy cells (CC1, CC2, . . . , CC80) provide respective scaled copies of the further basic current to constitute further filter coefficient currents (IP1, IP2, . . . , IP80).

Abstract: The present invention relates to an electronic device for driving at least a first channel (CHA) and a second channel (CHB) of light emitting diodes (LED). The electronic device includes driving means having a first and a second driving portion for driving the first and the second channel (CHA, CHB) of light emitting diodes separately, and configuration 5 means for providing configurability of the driving means for using the driving means at least partially in a shared manner for more than one channel of light emitting diodes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an electronic device for driving a light emitting semiconductor device, which includes controlling means (CNTL) being adapted for controlling a switch mode power supply for supplying the light emitting semiconductor device in response to a sensing value received by the controlling means which is indicative of a voltage across a current source for determining a current through the light emitting semiconductor device, wherein the switch-mode power supply is controlled such that the voltage across the current source is minimum.

Abstract: The invention provides for an alternative and less complex method of manufacturing a bipolar transistor comprising a field plate (17) in a trench (7) adjacent to a collector region (21), which field plate (17) employs a reduced surface field (Resurf) effect. The Resurf effect reshapes the electric field distribution in the collector region (21) such that for the same collector-base breakdown voltage the doping concentration of the collector region (21) can effectively be increased resulting in a reduced collector resistance and hence an increased bipolar transistor speed. The method comprises a step of forming a base window (6) in a first base layer (4) thereby exposing a top surface of the collector region (21) and a part of an isolation region (3). The trench (7) is formed by removing the exposed part of the isolation region (3), after which isolation layers (9,10) are formed on the surface of the trench (7).

Abstract: The present invention relates to a video processing device comprising a luminance and saturation detector (LSHD) for detecting the luminance values (lum) and the saturation values (sat) of pixels of an input video signal (IN); and a white-point, saturation and hue modulator (WSH) for transforming luminance and saturation properties (lum, sat) of the pixels of the input video signal (IN) into white-point, saturation and hue correction factors (W, Wc; S, Sc; H, Hc).

Abstract: An electronic circuitry is provided for reading out a memory element (ME). The electronic circuitry comprises a first electronic path (IP) being coupled to the memory element (ME), a second electronic path (RP) having predetermined electrical properties, and a basic detection element (BDE) being coupled to the first and second electronic paths (IP, RP) such that the information contained in the memory element (ME) can be determined by the basic detection element (BDE) based on the relation of a digital signal being propagated over the first path (IP) to a digital signal being propagated over the second path (RP).

Abstract: A transmitter device for wireless communication equipment, comprises at least one path (Pl) comprising i) a low-pass filter (LPF 1+, LPFl?) for filtering differential signals and applying a chosen first attenuation to each of them to decrease their amplitudes, ii) a differential transconductor (TC1+, TCl?) arranged for applying a chosen second attenuation to each differential signal coming from the low-pass filter (LPF1+, LPFl?) to decrease its continuous component, and iii) a mixer (Ml) for mixing separately the differential signals delivered by the transconductor with local oscillator carriers at a chosen radio frequency to deliver output RF signals to be transmitted. The transconductor (TC1+, TCl?) comprises two original cells (OC) for defining two original signals from the differential signals having the first attenuation, and N first and N second signal copy cells (CC1-CC6) each arranged for generating a copy of one of the original signals.

Abstract: There is provided an amplifier that comprises a plurality of amplifier stages arranged in a cascade; and a frequency-dependent load associated with the output of at least one of the plurality of amplifier stages, the frequency dependent load being adapted to reduce a voltage or current offset in the output of said at least one amplifier stage.

Abstract: Aspects involve effectively separating communication hardware in a data processing system by introducing a communication device for each processor. By introducing this separation the processors can concentrate on performing their function-specific tasks, while the communication device provide the communication support for the respective processor. Accordingly, in certain embodiments, a data processing system is provided with a computation, a communication support and a communication network layer.

Abstract: When activating a desired communication mode of an ID communication partner device (2) from a group of possible communication modes, which group comprises at least a TTF mode and an RTF mode, the ID communication partner device (2) and at least one other ID communication partner device (4) are brought into a communication connection, wherein a carrier signal (CS) is output by the at least one other ID communication partner device (4), which carrier signal (CS) is received by the ID communication partner device (2), and wherein the carrier signal (CS) is repeatedly designated by at least one mode activation signal (AS) by means of the at least one other ID communication partner device (4), and wherein the presence of the mode activation signal (AS) is recognized by the ID communication partner device (2), giving a recognition result signal (RRS), and wherein, as a function of the recognition result signal (RRS), the desired communication mode of the ID communication partner device (2) is activated.

Abstract: There is a method of forming a contact post and surrounding isolation trench in a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The method comprises etching a contact hole and surrounding isolation trench from an active layer of the substrate to the insulating layer, masking the trench and further etching the contact hole to the base substrate layer, filling the trench and contact hole with undoped intrinsic polysilicon and then performing a doping process in respect of the polysilicon material filling the contact hole so as to form in situ a highly doped contact post, while the material filling the isolation trench remains non-conductive. The isolation trench and contact post are formed substantially simultaneously so as to avoid undue interference with the device fabrication process.

Abstract: A method of selective formation of suicide on a semiconductor wafer, wherein the metal layer (12) is deposited over the entire wafer prior to application of the SiProt mask (10, 16, 22) such that any etching of the mask (10, 16, 22) does not cause any surface deterioration of the silicon wafer.

Abstract: Compensation coil functionality and flip coil functionality are combined into a single combination coil that is placed under an angle ? with respect to the length direction of a magneto-resistive sensor element. The angle ? substantially deviates from 0° and 90°. This configuration enables to reduce the width of the current line of the planar combination coil, to reduce the effective threshold for sensor element switching, and to include features to simplify a 2D sensor design.

Abstract: A device for characterizing an object (100, 503, 504) is provided wherein the device comprises a first sensor element (310) and a determination unit (508), wherein the first sensor element (310) is adapted to measure a value of a physical parameter of an object (100, 503, 504), wherein the physical parameter has an impact on a signal of a contactless transmission element arranged (511, 512) on the object (503, 504), and wherein the determination unit (508) is adapted to determine an impact value based on the measured value of the physical parameter.

Abstract: The integrated circuit (10) has an internal power supply domain with a power supply voltage adaptation circuit (14) to adapt the power supply voltage in the power supply domain. Typically, a plurality of such domains is provided wherein the power supply voltage can be adapted independently. During testing an internal power supply voltage is supplied to a temporally integrating analog to digital conversion circuit (16) in the integrating circuit (10). A temporally integrated value of the power supply voltage is measured during a measurement period. Preferably, integrating measurements of a plurality of internal supply voltages are performed in parallel during the same measurement time interval. Preferably a further test is performed by changing over between mutually different supply voltages during a further measurement period. In this way the measured integrated supply voltage can be used to check the speed of the change over between the different voltages.

Abstract: An analysis circuit for analysing the RF response of an RF circuit, comprises a voltage controlled oscillator (12), wherein a signal derived from voltage controlled oscillator output is applied as input to the RF circuit (10). A first mixer (18) mixes the RF circuit output with a first mixer signal derived from the voltage controlled oscillator and a second mixer (20) mixes the RF circuit unit output with a second mixer signal derived from the voltage controlled oscillator, the first and second mixer signals being 90 degrees out of phase. The mixer output signals are processed to provide the analysis. This analysis circuit uses mixers to enable baseband digital signal processing of signals to enable a frequency response characteristic of the RF circuit to be obtained. The analysis circuit essentially operates in the manner of an IF demodulator circuit.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a capacitive MEMS sensor device for sensing a mechanical quantity.