Browsing by Author "Trong-Hieu Tran"

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A Fast Readout Circuit for an Organic Vertical Nano Junction Sensor
(2016-01-01)
Trong-Hieu Tran
;
Chao, Paul C. -P.
;
Su, Chin-I
;
Zan, Hsiao-Wen
;
電機工程學系
A fast mixed-signal readout circuit for high sensitivity organic vertical nano-junctions (VNJ) ammonia sensor detection is proposed in this study. Accompanying with the ammonia sensor, a low power, fast response and high resolution readout circuit is designed and successfully taped-out in this study. The analog front-end circuit includes a pre-amplifier, a sample and hold (S/H) circuit, a differential current, a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit, an automatically sensing and reset (S/R) circuit. The digital back-end is realized by cell-based technology to compute and display concentration values instantaneously. The chip is fabricated by the TSMC 0.18-um 1P6M 3.3V mixed-signal CMOS process technique for verification. The chip area is 1.5 x 1.6 mm(2). while power consumption is 3.2 mW. Experiment results show a strong linear relationship exists between differential S/R output slope and the gas concentration level in a logarithm scale, which is critically beneficial to sensor design. In results, the readout circuit has fast responses, 50 seconds, based on the auto-sensing circuit catching different slope coefficient of the signal in transient time. The resolution is 70.48mV/log(ppm) while error rate, average noise and detection rate reliability are 2.86%, 123 mu Vrms, and 99.6%, respectively. This chip could be suitable for applications in cars, cell phones, watches, etc.
A new single inductor bipolar multi-output (SIBMO) DC-DC converter driven by constant on-time with improved performance
(2016-06-01)
Chao, Paul C. P.
;
Chang, Chun-Kai
;
Cheng, Chun-Kai
;
Trong-Hieu Tran
;
Sauter, Thilo
This study is dedicated to design and realization of a new single inductor bipolar multi-output (SIBMO) DC-DC converter with performance improvement. A bandgap is first designed to offer a stable input bias with capability to work against inevitable input voltage variations for avoiding possible p-n breakdowns. A new drive technique based on constant on-time (COT) is developed for the designed SIBMO with assistance from level shifters and zero current detection circuits to drive MOS devices. The designed circuit is capable of boosting input voltage 2.8 V to four bipolar outputs of +6, -6, +12 and -12 V. The COT proposed herein adopts a new technique of time multiplexing to offer stable multi-outputs with an off-chip inductor for fast switchings. This new COT is different from the conventional pulse width modulation which usually operates with fixed frequencies. The COT is particularly favorable in regards of crossing regulation and high transfer efficiency in cases of unbalanced loads. The proposed SIBMO and COT are applicable to drive systems of organic light-emitting diodes, optical sensors, and portable electronic devices, displays, etc. The designed on-chip SIBMO and COT are fabricated via the TSMC 0.25 A mu m high-voltage CMOS process. Experimental results clearly show the capability of the designed SIBMO chip to offer four bipolar, stabilized output voltages with a total power consumption minimized to 320 mW and the switching frequency varying from 650 to 500 kHz. Most importantly, the maximum efficiency reaches 83.1 %.
A new single inductor bipolar multi-output (SIBMO) DC-DC converter driven by constant on-time with improved performance
(2016-06)
Chao, Paul C. P.
;
Chang, Chun-Kai
;
Cheng, Chun-Kai
;
Trong-Hieu Tran
;
Sauter, Thilo
This study is dedicated to design and realization of a new single inductor bipolar multi-output (SIBMO) DC-DC converter with performance improvement. A bandgap is first designed to offer a stable input bias with capability to work against inevitable input voltage variations for avoiding possible p-n breakdowns. A new drive technique based on constant on-time (COT) is developed for the designed SIBMO with assistance from level shifters and zero current detection circuits to drive MOS devices. The designed circuit is capable of boosting input voltage 2.8 V to four bipolar outputs of +6, -6, +12 and -12 V. The COT proposed herein adopts a new technique of time multiplexing to offer stable multi-outputs with an off-chip inductor for fast switchings. This new COT is different from the conventional pulse width modulation which usually operates with fixed frequencies. The COT is particularly favorable in regards of crossing regulation and high transfer efficiency in cases of unbalanced loads. The proposed SIBMO and COT are applicable to drive systems of organic light-emitting diodes, optical sensors, and portable electronic devices, displays, etc. The designed on-chip SIBMO and COT are fabricated via the TSMC 0.25 A mu m high-voltage CMOS process. Experimental results clearly show the capability of the designed SIBMO chip to offer four bipolar, stabilized output voltages with a total power consumption minimized to 320 mW and the switching frequency varying from 650 to 500 kHz. Most importantly, the maximum efficiency reaches 83.1 %.
A SIX-DOF FORCE/TORQUE SENSOR FOR COLLABORATIVE ROBOT AND ITS CALIBRATION METHOD
(2017-01-01)
Trong-Hieu Tran
;
Tan-Phat Phan
;
Chao, Paul C. -P
;
Wang, Yu-Jen
;
Wang, Chun-Chieh
This study presents a new six-DOF force/torque sensor and its calibration method for a "collaborative robot or cobot". This new calibration method applies the so-called "maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)". MLE is used to determine and identify the parameters related to applied torques/forces and resulted deformations at varied locations of the sensor structure. Formulating the relations in a vector-matrix form, such parameters are captured as the coefficients in a matrix relating torques/forces to angular/linear deformations in different directions. In addition to applying MLE, finite element (FEM) modeling and analysis are conducted to generate realistic-like empirical data for the aforementioned calibration computation based on MLE. The matrix formed by these coefficients can then predict forces and torques with good accuracy via deformations detected by strain gauges. Seen in simulation results, the worst sum of error for three forces is less than 0.04%, while that for three torques is less than 0.00005%. Very small values of sum of error demonstrate a strong correlation of the model with the results obtained from MLE, indicating high precision in sensing forces and torques without decoupling matrix. The developed sensor is highly suitable for real-time sensing of multidimensional interactive forces/torques in industrial robots.
The Front-End Readout as an Encoder IC for Magneto-Resistive Linear Scale Sensors
(2016-09-01)
Trong-Hieu Tran
;
Chao, Paul Chang-Po
;
Chien, Ping-Chieh
;
電子工程學系及電子研究所
;
Department of Electronics Engineering and Institute of Electronics
This study proposes a front-end readout circuit as an encoder chip for magneto-resistance (MR) linear scales. A typical MR sensor consists of two major parts: one is its base structure, also called the magnetic scale, which is embedded with multiple grid MR electrodes, while another is an MR reader stage with magnets inside and moving on the rails of the base. As the stage is in motion, the magnetic interaction between the moving stage and the base causes the variation of the magneto-resistances of the grid electrodes. In this study, a front-end readout IC chip is successfully designed and realized to acquire temporally-varying resistances in electrical signals as the stage is in motions. The acquired signals are in fact sinusoids and co-sinusoids, which are further deciphered by the front-end readout circuit via newly-designed programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs) and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The PGA is particularly designed to amplify the signals up to full dynamic ranges and up to 1 MHz. A 12-bit successive approximation register (SAR) ADC for analog-to-digital conversion is designed with linearity performance of +/- 1 in the least significant bit (LSB) over the input range of 0.5-2.5 V from peak to peak. The chip was fabricated by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) 0.35-micron complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology for verification with a chip size of 6.61 mm(2), while the power consumption is 56 mW from a 5-V power supply. The measured integral non-linearity (INL) is -0.79-0.95 LSB while the differential non-linearity (DNL) is -0.68-0.72 LSB. The effective number of bits (ENOB) of the designed ADC is validated as 10.86 for converting the input analog signal to digital counterparts. Experimental validation was conducted. A digital decoder is orchestrated to decipher the harmonic outputs from the ADC via interpolation to the position of the moving stage. It was found that the displacement measurement error is within +/- 15 mu m for a measuring range of 10 mm.