Abstract:
A process for preparing a semiconductor substrate for biological analysis in an integrated device, the biological analysis comprising the steps of amplifying DNA and detecting amplified DNA in the same chamber, comprises the steps of a) forming a silicon dioxide surface on said semiconductor substrate b) treating said silicon dioxide surface with a silane; c) forming a silanized surface; d) grafting nucleic acid probes; e) treating said silanized surface with a deactivating agent and f) forming a deactivated substrate sequentially. Further the process can include the step of cleaning the silicon dioxide substrate before the step of treating said silicon dioxide surface with a silane and the step of reacting the terminal group of the silane with a cross-linker or alternatively the step of reacting the derivatized nucleic acid probes with a cross-linker, before the grafting step.
Abstract:
Semiconductor device (1; 38, 48) formed by a first conductive strip (10) of semiconductor material; a control gate region (7; 35; 55) of semiconductor material, facing a channel portion (5c) of the first conductive strip,- and an insulation region (6; 32; 52) arranged between the first conductive strip and the control gate region. The first conductive strip (10) includes a conduction line (5) having a first conductivity type and a control line (4) having a second conductivity type, arranged adjacent and in electrical contact with each other, and the conduction line (5) forms the channel portion (5c) , a first conduction portion (5a) and a second conduction portion (5b) arranged on opposite sides of the channel portion.
Abstract:
Multistage ADC (1) for converting in multi- step cycles, analogue samples (V] n) of an input signal (VIn) into digital codes (Dout) each cycle resolving at least one bit of digital code (Dout), the converter (1) including: - a generation block (3) of a pseudorandom sequence (Y' ts) to be summed to said analogue samples, obtaining a second sequence ( V+in) of analog samples; - conversion means (5) with controllable digital gain ( g ), receiving the second sequence (V+in) and outputting bits of said digital codes (Dout); - a feedback loop (2, 6, 7, 8) for performing said multi- step conversion cycles, with a loop gain (GLoop); - a digital calibration block (9) matching the digital gain ( g ) to the loop gain ( GLoop ); said second sequence (V+in) including predetermined samples with no contribution of said pseudorandom sequence (γ-ts); - a prediction block (10) to produce a digital estimation (Dout) of said input signal (Vin).
Abstract:
In a pressure sensor (35) , a pressure-sensor element (10) has a monolithic body (12) of semiconductor material, and a first main face (12a) and a second main face (12b) acting on which is a stress resulting from a pressure (P) the value of which is to be determined; and a package (36) encloses the pressuresensor element (10) . The package (36) has an inner chamber (37) containing liquid material (38), and the -ores sure-sensor element (10) is arranged within the inner chamber (37) in such a manner that the first and second main faces (12a, 12b) are both in contact with the liquid material (38). In particular, the liquid material is a silicone gel.
Abstract:
A phase change memory formed by a plurality of phase change memory devices having a chalcogenide memory region (28) extending over an own heater (26). The heaters (26) have all a relatively uniform height. The height uniformity is achieved by forming the heaters within pores in an insulator that includes an etch stop layer (18) and a sacrificial layer (24). The sacrificial layer is removed through an etching process such as chemical mechanical planarization. Since the etch stop layer may be formed in a repeatable way and is common across all the devices on a wafer, considerable uniformity is achieved in heater height. Heater height uniformity results in more uniformity in programmed memory characteristics.
Abstract:
In an integrated pressure sensor (15) with a high full-scale value, a monolithic body (16) of semiconductor material has a first and a second main surface (16a and 16b), opposite and separated by a substantially uniform distance (w). The monolithic body (16) has a bulk region (17), having a sensitive portion (23) next to the first main surface (16a), upon which pressure (P) acts. A first piezoresistive detection element (18) is integrated in the sensitive portion (23) and has a variable resistance as a function of the pressure (P). The bulk region (17) is a solid and compact region and has a thickness substantially equal to the distance (w).
Abstract:
Process for manufacturing a multi-drain power electronic device (30) integrated on a semiconductor substrate (100) of a first type of conductivity whereon a drain semiconductor layer (20) is formed, characterised in that it comprises the following steps: forming at least a first semiconductor epitaxial layer (21) of the first type of conductivity forming the drain epitaxial layer (20) on the semiconductor substrate (100) , forming first sub-regions (51) of a second type of conductivity by means of a first selective implant step forming second sub-regions (Dl, DIa) of the first type of conductivity by means of a second implant step forming a surface semiconductor layer (23) wherein body regions (40) of the second type of conductivity are formed being aligned with the first sub-regions (51) , carrying out a thermal diffusion process so that the first sub-regions (51) form a single electrically continuous column region (50) being aligned and in electric contact with the body regions (40).
Abstract:
A power actuator (20) of the emitter-switched type is described, the power actuator comprising at least one high voltage bipolar transistor (2) and a low voltage DMOS transistor (3) connected in cascode configuration between a collector terminal (C) of the bipolar transistor (2) and a source terminal (S) of the DMOS transistor (3) and having respective control terminals (B, G). Advantageously according to the invention, the power actuator (20) further comprises at least a Zener diode (21), inserted between the source terminal (S) of the DMOS transistor (3) and the control terminal (B) of the bipolar transistor (2).
Abstract:
A device for controlling the frequency of resonance of an oscillating micro-electromechanical system includes: a microstructure (2), having a first body (10) and a second body (11) , which is capacitively coupled to the first body (10) and elastically oscillatable with respect thereto at a calibratable frequency of resonance (ω R ) , a relative displacement (ΔY) between the second body (11) and the first body (10) being detectable from outside; and an amplifier (21) coupled to the microstructure (2) for detecting the relative displacement (ΔY) . DC decoupling elements (23) are arranged between the amplifier (21) and the microstructure (2).
Abstract:
There is described a circuit for reconstructing an analog signal from a digital signal and wide-band transmission system, particularly for employment in cellular telephony systems, or more in general in mobile communication systems, that adopt the WCDMA standard. The circuit comprises: a digital to analog converter (DAC) suitable for receiving said digital signal and converting it into signal in analog.format; - a low pass-filter (LOW-PASS) connected at the output of said converter for receiving said signal in analog format and providing as output said reconstructed analog signal. Advantageously, the low pass filter (LOW-PASS) is an active filter continuous in time and current coupled to the output of the digital-analog converter (DAC) and the digital-analog converter (DAC) is a converter of the current-steering type functioning at sampling frequency greater than the Nyquist frequency of said analog signal to be reconstructed.