A 5G NR FR2 Beamforming System with Integrated Transceiver Module.

This paper presents a 5G new radio (NR) FR2 beamforming system with an integrated transceiver module. A real-time operating module providing enhanced flexibility and capability has been proposed. The integrated RF beamforming system with an integrated transceiver module can be operated in 8Tx-8Rx mode configuration simultaneously. A series-fed structure 8 × 7 microstrip antenna array for compact size and improved directivity is employed in the RF beamforming module. The RF beamforming module incorporates a custom 28 GHz, eight-channel fully differential beamforming IC (BFIC). An eight-channel BFIC in a phased-array beamforming system offers advantages in terms of increased antenna density and improved beam steering precision. The RF beamforming module is integrated with an RF transceiver module that enables the simultaneous up-conversion and down-conversion of the baseband signal. The RF transmitter module consists of a transmitter, a receiver, a signal generator, a power supply, and a control unit. The RF beamforming system can scan horizontally from -50° to +50° with a step of 10°. To achieve an optimized beam pattern, a calibration was conducted. The transmit and receive conversion gain of around 20 dB is achieved with the transceiver module. To verify the communication performance of the manufactured integrated RF beamforming system, a real-time wireless video transmission/reception test was performed at a frequency of 28 GHz, and the video file was transmitted smoothly in real time without interruption within a range of ±50°.

Miniaturized Wirelessly Powered and Controlled Implants for Multisite Stimulation.

This paper presents a miniaturized implant with a diameter of only 14 mm, which houses a novel System on Chip (SoC) enabling two voltage level stimulation of up to 16 implants using a single Tx coil. Each implant can operate at a distance of 80 mm in the air through the inductive resonant link. The SoC consumes only 27 µW static power and enables two channels with stimulation amplitudes of 1.8 V and 3.3 V and timing resolution of 100 µs. The SoC is implemented in the standard 180 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and has an area of 0.75 mm × 1.6 mm. The SoC comprises an RF rectifier, low drop-out regulator (LDO), error detection block, clock data recovery, finite state machine (FSM), and output stage. Each implant has a PCB-defined passcode, which enables the individual addressability of the implants for synchronized therapies. The implantable device weighs only 80 mg and sizes 20.1 mm3. Tolerance of up to 70° to angular misalignment was measured at a distance of 50 mm. The efficacy of bilateral stimulation was further verified by implanting two devices on two sides of a pig's neck and performing bilateral vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), while monitoring the heart rate.

Miniature Wide-Band Noise-Canceling CMOS LNA.

In this paper, a wide-band noise-canceling (NC) current conveyor (CC)-based CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) is presented. The circuit employs a CC-based approach to obtain wide-band input matching without the need for bulky inductances, allowing broadband performance with a very small area used. The NC technique is applied by subtracting the input transistor's noise contribution to the output and achieves a noise figure (NF) reduction from 4.8 dB to 3.2 dB. The NC LNA is implemented in a UMC 65-nm CMOS process and occupies an area of only 160 × 80 µm2. It achieves a stable frequency response from 0 to 6.2 GHz, a maximum gain of 15.3 dB, an input return loss (S11) < −10 dB, and a remarkable IIP3 of 7.6 dBm, while consuming 18.6 mW from a ±1.2 V DC supply. Comparisons with similar works prove the effectiveness of this new implementation, showing that the circuit obtains a noteworthy performance trade-off.

Integrated On-Chip Transformers: Recent Progress in the Design, Layout, Modeling and Fabrication.

On-chip transformers are considered to be the primary components in many RF wireless applications. This paper provides an in-depth review of on-chip transformers, starting with a presentation on the various equivalent circuit models to represent transformer behavior and characterize their performance. Next, a comparative study on the different design and layout strategies is provided, and the fabrication techniques for on-chip implementation of transformers are discussed. The critical performance parameters to characterize on-chip transformers, such as the Q-factor, coupling factor (k), resonance frequency (fSR), and others, are discussed with reference to trade-offs in silicon chip real-estate. The performance parameters and area requirements for different types of on-chip transformers are summarized in tabular form and compared. Several techniques for performance enhancement of on-chip transformers, including the different types of micromachining and integration approaches stemming from MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technologies are also analyzed. Lastly, the different uses and applications of on-chip transformers are discussed to highlight the evolution of on-chip transformer technology over the recent years and provide directions for future work in this field.

Right Frontoinsular Cortex and Subcortical Activity to Infant Cry Is Associated with Maternal Mental State Talk.

The study objective was to examine neural correlates of a specific component of human caregiving: maternal mental state talk, reflecting a mother's proclivity to attribute mental states and intentionality to her infant. Using a potent, ecologically relevant stimulus of infant cry during fMRI, we tested hypotheses that postpartum neural response to the cry of "own" versus a standard "other" infant in the right frontoinsular cortex (RFIC) and subcortical limbic network would be associated with independent observations of maternal mental state talk. The sample comprised 76 urban-living, low socioeconomic mothers (82% African American) and their 4-month-old infants. Before the fMRI scan, mothers were filmed in face-to-face interaction with their infant, and maternal behaviors were coded by trained researchers unaware of all other information about the participants. The results showed higher functional activity in the RFIC to own versus other infant cry at the group level. In addition, RFIC and bilateral subcortical neural activity (e.g., thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, putamen) was associated positively with maternal mental state talk but not with more global aspects of observed caregiving. These findings held when accounting for perceptual and contextual covariates, such as maternal felt distress, urge to help, depression severity, and recognition of own infant cry. Our results highlight the need to focus on specific components of caregiving to advance understanding of the maternal brain. Future work will examine the predictive utility of this neural marker for mother-child function. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The current study advances extant literature examining the neural underpinning of early parenting behavior. The findings highlight the special functional importance of the right frontoinsular cortex-thalamic-limbic network in a mother's proclivity to engage in mental state talk with her preverbal infant, a circumscribed aspect of maternal caregiving purported to be a prerequisite of sensitive and responsive caregiving. These associations existed specifically for maternal mentalizing behavior and were not evident for more generic aspects of caregiving in this urban sample of 76 postpartum mothers. Finally, the findings were robust even when controlling for potential demographic, perceptual, and contextual confounds, supporting the notion that these regions constitute an innate, specialized maternal mentalizing network.

Design and Manufacture of Millimeter-Scale 3D Transformers for RF-IC.

The development of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RF-IC) necessitates higher requirements for the size of microtransformers. This paper describes millimeter-scale 3D transformers in millimeter-scale, solenoidal, and toroidal transformers manufactured using Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS). Two through-silicon via (TSV) copper coils with a high aspect ratio are precisely interleaved on a reserved air core (magnet core cavity) with a vertical height of over 1 mm because of the thickness of the substrate, which increases the performance while reducing the footprint. The effects of the wire width, coil turns, magnetic core, and substrate on the performance of the two transformers are discussed through numerical simulations. When an air core is present, solenoidal transformers are better than toroidal transformers in terms of performance and footprint; however, the gap decreases when the size is reduced. Additionally, the magnetic core significantly improves the performance of the toroidal transformer compared to that of the solenoid. Thus, the toroidal transformer has a higher potential for further size reduction. The two types of transformers were then manufactured completely using MEMS and electroplating. This paper discusses the influence of various parameters on millimeter-scale 3D transformers and realizes processing in silicon, which provides the foundation for integrating transformers in a chip.

Circular High-Q Resonating Isotropic Strain Sensors with Large Shift of Resonance Frequency under Stress.

We present circular architecture bioimplant strain sensors that facilitate a strong resonance frequency shift with mechanical deformation. The clinical application area of these sensors is for in vivo assessment of bone fractures. Using a rectangular geometry, we obtain a resonance shift of 330 MHz for a single device and 170 MHz for its triplet configuration (with three side-by-side resonators on chip) under an applied load of 3,920 N. Using the same device parameters with a circular isotropic architecture, we achieve a resonance frequency shift of 500 MHz for the single device and 260 MHz for its triplet configuration, demonstrating substantially increased sensitivity.

Disrupted insula-based neural circuit organization and conflict interference in trauma-exposed youth.

Childhood trauma exposure is a potent risk factor for psychopathology. Emerging research suggests that aberrant saliency processing underlies the link between early trauma exposure and later cognitive and socioemotional deficits that are hallmark of several psychiatric disorders. Here, we examine brain and behavioral responses during a face categorization conflict task, and relate these to intrinsic connectivity of the salience network (SN). The results demonstrate a unique pattern of SN dysfunction in youth exposed to trauma (n = 14) relative to comparison youth (n = 19) matched on age, sex, IQ, and sociodemographic risk. We find that trauma-exposed youth are more susceptible to conflict interference and this correlates with higher fronto-insular responses during conflict. Resting-state functional connectivity data collected in the same participants reveal increased connectivity of the insula to SN seed regions that is associated with diminished reward sensitivity, a critical risk/resilience trait following stress. In addition to altered intrinsic connectivity of the SN, we observed altered connectivity between the SN and default mode network (DMN) in trauma-exposed youth. These data uncover network-level disruptions in brain organization following one of the strongest predictors of illness, early life trauma, and demonstrate the relevance of observed neural effects for behavior and specific symptom dimensions. SN dysfunction may serve as a diathesis that contributes to illness and negative outcomes following childhood trauma.