text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Aug 25, 1992
|Filing date
|Apr 26, 1991
|Priority date
|Dec 13, 1988
|Fee status
|Publication number
|Thane Smith, Ho-Chung Huang, Chi Hsiang Lee
|Original Assignee
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|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (16), Referenced by (56), Classifications (6), Legal Events (14)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/283,703 filed Dec. 13, 1988 now abandoned.
The invention is directed to a non-destructive wafer probing system for characterizing monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). FETs and other devices, and more particularly to such a system for characterizing these devices as a function of signal frequency up to at least 100 GHz.
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) microwave and millimeter-wave devices and monolithic integrated circuits are currently being developed for applications such as satellite communications, radar, and phased-array systems. The conventional frequency domain approach for testing these discrete devices and MIMIC chips usually constitutes one of the major costs of a development program. This is especially true for devices and circuits operating in the millimeter-wave regime. Therefore, a low-cost testing technique which allows on wafer characterization of MMICs before dicing the wafer into individual chips is highly desirable.
In addition to the cost factor, the evaluation of these devices becomes more difficult as applications extend to the higher millimeter wave frequencies. Fairly accurate characterization of active devices and monolithic circuits can be achieved by using a waveguide measurement system that offers small attenuation, and with careful design may achieve low mismatch loss. However, this approach is inherently limited by the waveguide bandwidth, resulting in the need for multiple calibrations for different waveguides when measurements are made over a wide frequency range. Furthermore, high-performance waveguide-to-microstrip transitions for each waveguide band, and careful assembly of the interface between these transitions and the MMIC test block, are required. Such an evaluation process is quite time consuming. In addition, oscillations may occur during the characterization of active devices that are not terminated with matching circuits. This problem occurs because of the purely reactive termination presented by the waveguide below its fundamental mode cutoff frequency.
Current commercially available on-chip characterization systems for MMICs have provided useful performance data in the lower microwave range, and attempts are being made to extend their frequency of operation. However, several fundamental limitations still exist. Because these systems use special coplanar waveguide (CPW) probes. e.g.. as disclosed by E. W. Strid. "26-GHz Wafer Probing for MMIC Development and Manufacture," Microwave Journal, pp. 71-82, August 1986, it is difficult to achieve a low-loss, impedance-matched probe at millimeter-wave frequencies. The operating life of such a mechanical direct-contact probe is usually quite limited, and a customized probe card is required for each set of microwave circuits on the wafer. The circuits also require CPW patterns to be incorporated at various test locations on the wafer.
Recently, optical techniques have been used in the characterization of microwave devices and circuits. Frequency domain measurements have been performed using electro-optic probing of a microstrip line. e.g. as disclosed by B. Kolner et al. "Electro-optic Sampling in GaAS Integrated Circuits." IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-22, pp. 79-93, January 1986 and K. J. Weingarten et al, "Picosecond Optical Sampling of GaAs Integrated Circuit." IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-24. pp. 198-220, February 1988. In this work, the microwave signal was launched onto the circuit using CPW contacting probes. J. A. Valdmanis et al. "Subpicosecond Electrical sampling and Applications." Picosecond Optoelectronic Devices, Academic Press, pp. 209-270, 1984, have demonstrated that, by using an electro-optic probe containing polar material such as lithium tantalate, substrates which do not exhibit the electro-optic effect can still be probed. Some results for a GaAS field-effect transistor (FET) mounted on a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) test circuit have been presented by D. E. Cooper et al, "Picosecond Optoelectronic Measurement of the High-Frequency Scattering Parameter of a GaAS FET." IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-22, pp. 94-100, January 1986.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a system for non-destructive wafer probing effective at millimeter-wave frequencies.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a wafer probing system which overcomes the disadvantages of high cost and inconvenience in the prior art.
These and other objects are achieved according to the present invention by a wafer probing system wherein both the electrical signal provided to the device under test (DUT) and the sampling of that signal are performed using optical switching. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, optical pulses for triggering the input electrical signal and for use as sampling pulses are all derived from a single laser pulse via suitable beam splitters and adjustable delays. A set of samples at one value of delay between the input signal and each of the sample points is taken, and then the delays are adjusted for a further set of samples. This is repeated until enough samples are taken to completely reconstruct the signal waveform, and then a Fourier transform algorithm is used on the time domain waveforms to obtain amplitude and phase as a function of frequency.
According to a further aspect of the invention, certain simple and standardizable auxiliary features are fabricated on the wafer and connected to each device or circuit to be characterized in such a manner that the auxiliary elements will be cut off from the device or circuit when the wafer is diced. The purpose of the auxiliary structures is to provide appropriate wideband terminations, e.g., 50 ohm impedance terminations, on the input and output, and to allow optical laser pulses to generate a very wideband signal to the input and also to sample the input and output voltage waveforms at selected points. Fourier transforms of these time domain waveforms give amplitude and phase as a function of frequency. The system may also be used to characterize individual chips (mounted without opaque covers) with the signal provided from a conventional signal generator. The advantage in this case is that the voltage waveform can be sampled at any desired point on the chip and non-linearities can be studied directly. The invention allows characterization up to a frequency given by the reciprocal of the duration of the voltage pulse generated on a transmission line by means of a laser pulse.
The invention described herein comprises an optoelectronic technique employing a picosecond pulse source which can be used for on-wafer MMIC characterization. To bring very closely spaced, independently adjustable and variably time delayed laser pulses to the semiconductor wafer, the preferred embodiment of the invention uses convex and concave lenses to demagnify the pattern of beam positions. Widely spaced parallel beams enter the large convex lens and closely spaced parallel beams exit from the concave lens. These lenses are used in combination with movable structures containing beam splitters, pathlength adjusters, and polarization analyzers. The distance between the two lenses may be adjustable to change the demagnification factor.
A further advantageous feature of the invention resides in the use of a very short duration pulse and using the Fourier transform of both incident and reflected pulses at a given site in a transmission line to derive S11 vs frequency.
The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of electrical pulse generation and sampling according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a measurement system according to the present invention:
FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of optical system components for generating plural sampling pulses according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a further illustration of the pulse generating optical system;
FIG. 5 is a diagram of one technique for generating a short duration voltage pulse:
FIG. 6 is an illustration of one technique for optical sampling:
FIG. 7 is an illustration of an example of a test structure for S-parameter characterization:
FIG. 8 is an illustration of lumped element test structures;
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the optical system with delay line and switch components:
FIG. 10 illustrates a DC characterization of the optical switch:
FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate Ka -band performance for a single-stage amplifier:
FIG. 12 illustrates time-domain correlation response measured at the input of a reference line;
FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate the frequency response of a 50 ohm reference line according to the optoelectronic technique of the present invention;
FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrates the frequency response of a 50 ohm reference line based on network analyzer measurement;
FIG. 15 illustrates time domain response at the output of the Ka -band MMIC;
FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrates the frequency response of a two-stage MMIC amplifier acccording to the optoelectronic technique of the present invention;
FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrates the frequency response of a two-stage MMIC amplifier according to a network analyzer measurement.
The invention is an adaptation of a picosecond photoconductivity measurement technique, e.g.. as disclosed by D. A. Auston. "Impulse Response of Photoconductor in Transmission Lines," IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-19, pp. 639--648, April 1983, and D. A. Auston et al, "Ultrafast Optical Electronics: From Femtoseconds to Terahertz," Picosecond Electronics and Optoelectronics, Springer-Verlag 1985, pp. 2-7. This technique assumes a sufficiently low optical intensity such that small-signal conditions apply. The invention comprises a pulse generation/sampling technique using SOS photoconductors to obtain frequency domain scattering parameters for the FET. This approach has been extended for on-wafer implementation of monolithic circuits using GaAs photoconductive switches, including an experimental study of its accuracy and sensitivity. e.g. as disclosed by the present inventors in "Optical Electronic Characterization of Monolithic Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits." 12th Int. Conf. on Infrared and Millimeter Waves Conf. Dig., pp. 87--88, December 1987, and also by the present inventors in "On-Wafer Characterization of Monolithic Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuit by a Picosecond Optical Electronic Technique." in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Dig. (New York, N.Y.), pp. 237-240, May 1988.
FIG. 1 illustrates the generation and sampling operations, with the voltage pulse being generated by an incident optical pulse at the left side of the figure and sampled by an optical pulse at the right side. The time-dependent portion of the sampled signal as a function of delay time has been shown to correspond to a cross correlation between the electrical signal on the line and the photoconductive response of the sampling gap. The generation and sampling time responses are determined by the photoconductance of the gaps. For identical generation and sampling photoconductors, the time-dependent sampled signal gxy (t), is the cross correlation of the voltage pulse on the line at the output, y(t), and the generated voltage x(t). as ##EQU1##
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the optoelectronic characterization system of this invention, including the device under test (DUT) 100. A short electrical pulse is generated by a DC-biased photoconductive switch 110 at port a and travels down the input transmission line 112 toward the DUT. A suitable switch is disclosed in Picosecond Optoelectronics Devices, Academic Press, 1984. The pulse traveling in the opposite direction, i.e., toward the left of port a in FIG. 2, is absorbed by the matched termination, which may be a coaxial load or can be implemented as an integrated monolithic resistor (MR). The pulse approximates a delta function in the time domain, resulting in a very broad frequency spectrum. Since the input electrical pulse generated is in complete time synchronization with the optical pulse, this electrical pulse can be precisely sampled at port b by a time-delayed laser pulse illuminating a second picosecond photoconductive switch 114 on the input side of the DUT 100.
The output of the DUT 100 can be sampled using the same procedure, with a photoconductive switch (116 or 118) at the output of the MMIC (port c or d). By comparing the Fourier transforms of the transmitted and reflected waveforms to those of the incident waveform in a signal processing computer 120, the two-port scattering parameters can be determined without using CPW probes.
Probe pads 111, 113, 115 and 117 are provided for coupling electrical signals to and from the photoconductive switches 110, 114, 116 and 118, respectively, during characterization. Further, although not necessary for the practice of the present invention in certain of its aspects, in the preferred embodiment the components 110-118 as well as the terminations MR are all formed on a single wafer 10, together with the DUT, and can be separated from the DUT by dicing after characterization of the device is completed.
In the following analysis (referenced to the measurement system schematic shown in FIG. 2). a picosecond electrical pulse is generated at port a. The signal at port b corresponds to an autocorrelation of the voltage pulse, fi (t). created at port a (assuming identical photoconductors at ports a and b) and is obtained by illumination of the gaps associated with ports a and b. The time-dependent sampled signal at port b is given by
g.sub.bi (t)=f.sub.i (-t) * f.sub.i (t) (2)
where * represents the convolution operation, the first subscript on g(t) refers to the port identification, and the second refers to the incident (i). reflected (r). or transmitted (t), signal, depending on which is measured. In equation (2) it is assumed that the time domain signal is windowed (by selecting the length of sampling time) so that only the contribution from the incident signal is measured. The frequency domain spectrum on the sampled input signal at port b is
G.sub.bi (f)=|F.sub.i (f)|.sup.2 (3)
If the time domain window at port b is such that only the reflected signal fr (t) is sampled, then the reflected time domain waveform
g.sub.br t=f.sub.i (-t) * f.sub.r (t) (4)
can be obtained. Thus, the spectrum of the windowed reflected signal which is sampled is
G.sub.br (f)=F.sub.i *(f)�F.sub.r (f) (5)
where Fi * is the complex conjugate of Fi.
At the output of the MMIC, the voltage pulse is given by
f.sub.o (t)=h(t) * f.sub.i (t) (6)
where h(t) is the impulse response of the DUT. The photoconductive switches in the output network are the same as those used for generation and sampling in the input network. The sampled signal at port c or d is given by the cross correlation of fi (t) with fo (t), or
g.sub.ct (t)=f.sub.i (-t) * f.sub.o (t) (7)
The Fourier transform of gct (t) is therefore
G.sub.ct (f)=|F.sub.i (f)|.sup.2 H(F) (8)
The complex input scattering parameters, S11 (f) and S22 (f) for the DUT can thus be expressed as a function of frequency, as ##EQU2## Equations (9) and (10) establish the phase reference planes at ports b and c; however, these references can be adjusted. The complex scattering parameters, S12 (f) and S22 (f) can also be obtained in a similar manner. The time domain to frequency domain transforms are performed numerically using a Fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm on a computer also used to control the experiment.
The optical system and components including the laser source and the GaAs photoconductive switch to generate the electrical pulse will now be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses a convex lens 50 and a concave lens 52 to demagnify the pattern of beam positions. Widely spaced parallel beams 54 enter the large convex lens 50 and closely spaced parallel beams exit from the concave lens 32 to strike the semiconductor wafer. These lenses are used in combination with movable structures containing beam splitters, path length adjusters, and polarization analyzers. For example, a primary laser beam 60 would be split by a beam splitter 62, with a portion of the beam being directed upwardly to a polarization analyzer 64 and a portion of the beam being directed downwardly to a path length adjuster 66 where a stepper motor 68 would vary the horizontal position of a reflective member 70 to effectively vary the length of the optical path followed by the laser. The number of path length adjusters disposed along the primary laser beam path would preferably be equal to the number of optical switch triggers to be generated, and they would advantageously be arranged such that the reflective member 70 would move along a path perpendicular to the path of the primary laser beam., The distance between the two lenses could be adjustable, e.g., by adjusting the vertical position of the concave lens 52, to change the demagnification factor.
A more complete diagram of the wafer probing optical system is shown in FIG. 4. As shown, the various laser beam positions can be moved only in one dimension, e.g., by independent movement of any of the path length adjusters 66 along the beam path. The path length adjusters in FIG. 5 are rotated 90� with respect to the path length adjuster shown in FIG. 3, so that they can be spaced more closely. The distance between the lenses 50 and 52 is variable by moving the lens 52 vertically by means of its threaded mounting 53. A probe card 55 supports a plurality of metal low frequency probes 57 for contacting the ports a, b, c and d on the wafer 10. The wafer 10 is preferably supported on a movable support 59. Two dimensional positioning of beams is also possible by use of additional beam splitters and a more complicated mechanical system. Not shown are means to sense and digitize the actual path length differences of each beam from whichever beam is used to generate the voltage pulse, to do the required computations and display the results, and the electronic and mechanical equipment to control the entire system. The technology to implement these items is well known by electronic instrument manufacturers.
FIG. 5 shows one type of structure which can be fabricated on a high resistivity semiconductor wafer which allows a laser pulse to generate an electrical pulse on a transmission line. The probe pad 111 may be made of plated gold 121 plated on an ohmic contact metal 123. The transmission line 112 is a 50-Ω microstrip line, e.g., having a low resistivity metal 125 as a top conductor making an ohmic contact to the high resistivity semiconductor substrate in a region 124. Without laser pulse illumination, the DC bias pulse voltage coupled to the probe pad 111 is blocked from the microstrip line by a picosecond photoconductor gap 110 with very high dark resistivity. The laser pulse illumination will briefly make the gap conducting, and it will generate two voltage pulses traveling in opposite directions from the generation site. The one traveling away from the device or circuit to be characterized (target device) is absorbed by a length of microstrip line with high attenuation so that it will not be reflected. This length of high attenuation microstrip line is designated by reference characters MR in each of FIGS. 2 and 5, and as shown in FIG. 5 may be formed of a high resistivity metal top conductor 126 for a lossy microstrip line making a gradual transition to the low resistivity metal 125 over the region 128. This same non-reflecting termination also absorbs any reflections from the target device. The voltage waveform is sampled at one or more points between the pulse generation site and the input port of the target device e.g., at part b in FIG. 2.
The voltage waveform on the transmission line is found by the well known technique of sampling. The pulsed laser produces identical waveforms each time a pulse arrives at the photoconductive gap 110 shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, several beams are derived from the same laser pulse by means of beam splitters 62. These deliver a laser pulse to other locations along the transmission line. The arrival time of one of these relative to the laser pulse arrival time at the photoconductive gap depends on the path length difference between them. The path length adjustors shown in FIG. 3 are used to adjust the time delay. As will be explained below, a laser pulse arriving at a point on the transmission line can produce an effect proportional to the voltage at that time and at that point on the line. Voltage samples associated with many laser pulses with many different values of time delay are used to reconstruct the shape of the voltage vs. time waveform. The optical probing system would automatically control the path length adjustments and record the data. It would also use these data to compute the Fourier transform yielding the frequency spectrum of the voltage pulse. It should be noted that the technique of optical sampling of voltage waveforms can also be applied to structures other than transmission lines.
One technique for using a laser pulse to obtain a voltage sample depends on structures fabricated on the semiconductor wafer at the locations where the voltage is to be sampled. These are similar to the structure used to generate the voltage pulse as is shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, a metal plate 130 is formed on an ohmic contact metal 132 to form both a probe pad and a small value capacitor to ground. As in the case of FIG. 5, the transmission line 112 is a low resistivity top conductor making an ohmic contact at 134 to the high resistivity semiconductor substrate. What happens in this technique is that the laser pulse, time delayed with respect to the pulse used in FIG. 5, is focused on a photoconductive gap 114 between the transmission line 112 and a capacitor formed at the metal plate 130. During the photoconductive transient, a quantity of charge is transferred to the capacitor. The amount of charge is proportional to the voltage on the transmission line integrated over the duration of the photoconductive transient. The resulting voltage on the capacitor is then proportional to the voltage on the transmission line during this time interval. This voltage is measured using conventional metal probe tips. The capacitor is discharged before the next laser pulse. The photoconductive transient used to generate the voltage pulse on the transmission line will be of the same duration and have similar shape to the one used to sample the voltage. Therefore, the waveform obtained by this technique is really an autocorrelation function from which the actual transmission line voltage waveform must be computed.
Another technique uses polarized laser pulses. An electric field in the semiconductor causes rotation of the plane of polarization, and this is then detected at one of the polarization analyzers 64 shown in FIG. 3 or 4. The angle of rotation is proportional to the electric field strength. If the laser light passes through a portion of the semiconductor near the edge of the transmission line, it will encounter an electric field proportional to the voltage at that point on the line. Compared to the previously described method, better time resolution can be obtained by this method because the duration of the laser pulse is typically much shorter than the duration of the photoconductive pulse. It also has the advantage of not requiring any special structures on the semiconductor. A disadvantage is that measurement of the rotation of the polarization will probably require many laser pulses at the same time delay, increasing the total measurement time.
The use of rotation of the plane of polarization to obtain a voltage sample has some engineering problems. The maximum rotation for a given voltage is obtained by using a laser wavelength to which the semiconductor is transparent so that the beam can pass through the entire thickness, be reflected from the ground plane metal, and pass again through the same thickness of semiconductor. Such a wavelength, however, is not efficient in producing the photoconductive transient needed to generate a voltage pulse on the transmission line (photons must be absorbed to generate hole-electron pairs). Nevertheless, as long as there is some absorption, a voltage pulse can be generated. It is possible to obtain sufficient rotation even if the laser light is only reflected from the top surface, since the electromagnetic fields, even in this case, penetrate some distance into the semiconductor. The most effective laser wavelength to give the best compromise between efficient pulse generation and detection would be determined on an empirical basis. Another possibility is to pass the generating pulse through a nonlinear medium to generate a pulse of half the original wavelength.
Since the semiconductor is not transparent to shorter wavelength pulses, an optical frequency doubler may be used to effectively halve the wavelength of the pulse when using the capacitive sampling technique. Less transparency to the pulse will means the generation of a greater number of electron-hole paris, and consequent greater photoconductivity at the switch. When using the polarization analysis technique, it is necessary that the pulses pass through the semiconductor, so that the longer wavelength of the original laser pulse may be used. A combination of both shorter and longer wavelength pulses would have the original longer wavelength pulse used for the polarization sampling while a frequency doubler would be disposed in the optical path of the pulse used for the photoconductive switch which serves as the pulse generator.
FIG. 7 shows how the structures already described would be connected to a target device so that S-parameters could be measured by the optical probing system. Identical 50-Ω microstrip lines 112 and 113 are attached across saw lanes 150 and 152, respectively to the input and output ports 101 and 102 of the target device 100. DC bias is supplied through conventional metal probe tips applied to bias pads 154, 155, 156 and 157. Each 50-Ω line has a branch line structure 160, 162 separated from the main line by a photoconductive gap. These are the voltage pulse generators. A gradual transition to lossy line occurs beyond these in the direction away from the target device, in the regions 164 and 166. Two waveform sampling sites 170, 172 and 174, 176 are selected in each microstrip line between the pulse generator and the target device. The distance from the input port of the target device to the nearest of these sites, e.g. 172, is chosen to be large enough so that the reflected pulse from the target device will not overlap the incident pulse. For a microstrip line on semi-insulating GaAs, and a voltage pulse duration of 10 pS, the pulse length along the microstrip line is 0.83 mm. About half a millimeter would be required between the input port and the nearest measurement site. The real and imaginary parts of Fourier transforms of the incident and reflected waveforms at either site 170 , 172 gives S11. The second measurement site gives attenuation and dispersion along the line allowing translation of S11 to the input port. S21 is obtained from the ratio of the incident wave Fourier amplitudes to the Fourier amplitudes measured at one of the sites 174, 176 in the output microstrip lines. To find S12 and S22 the pulse generator 162 in the output line is used to generate a pulse to the output port of the target device. The same procedure described above is used to measure the incident and reflected signal at the output port.
The test structures described above may be inconveniently large. The microstrip transmission line including the lossy termination needs to be approximately 3 mm long. This dimension is typical of GaAs MMIC chips, and much larger than the typical dimensions of GaAs FETs. Two such structures are required for each target device. To allow characterization on every MMIC on a wafer would require about two thirds of the wafer to be occupied by the test structures. The ratio would be even worse for discrete devices such as FETs. In practice it would be likely that only a few of the MMIC or devices on the wafer would be selected for this type of characterization.
More compact test structures using lumped elements are also possible. The input and output ports of chips are usually bond pads near the chip edges. These are suitable places to sample voltage waveforms. FIG. 8 shows how lumped elements small enough to fit in 150-Mm wide saw lanes could be connected to allow characterization. It is assumed here that ground pads 200, 202 serving as capacitor bottom plates can be placed near the input and output on the chip which is the target device for characterization. The pulse generation and voltage sampling laser beams need to be focused to a small spot diameter (4-6 Mm). The beams need to be positionable in two dimensions to a minimum separation on the order of 50 micrometers. It is also assumed that metal probes can provide dc bias and grounding while not perturbing the signal frequency impedances attached to the input and output ports. This can be done if the probes have high enough inductance to appear as open circuits to the signal frequency, and the probe placement is chosen carefully.
FIG. 8 shows ohmic metal areas 210 and 212 extending into the saw lanes from the input and output pond pads 214 and 216. Voltage sampling sites 218 and 220 are located at the edges of these metal areas. A 50 ohm resistor 222 or 224 connects each of them to another ohmic contact 226 or 228 in the saw lane 230 or 232 which ohmic contact is attached to the top plate 234 or 236 of a capacitor to ground. The 50-ohm resistor is formed of a GaAs N+ layer (100 ohms per square). A photo conductive gap 238 or 240 separates another part of the top plate from metal 241 or 243 connected to a probe pad 2424 or 244 for providing a DC voltage across the gap. Voltage sampling sites 218, 220, 246 and 246 are shown for voltage measurement on both the top plate and the device input or output port. Since the voltage difference is current times resistance, both voltage and current waveforms can be found at the input and output of the target device. Again. Fourier transformation is used to obtain the signals in the frequency domain. The current and voltage amplitudes and phases are used to compute the two port admittance (or impedance) matrix (S-parameters can be mathematically derived from this).
The wafer probing optical system is further schematically shown in FIG. 9. It consists of a continuous-wave actively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser 300, whose output is compressed by a fiber-grating pair pulse compressor 302 and then frequency doubled by passing through a potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) crystal 308. The optical pulses have a wavelength of 532 nm (green spectrum). a repetition rate of 100 MHz, a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) pulse duration of 5 ps, and an average power of 400 mW. The laser output is split by beam splitter 306 into two beams in FIG. 9: one beam 308 focused on the pulse generator photoconductive switch, and the other beam 310 focused on the sampling gate, with a typical fluence of 30 μJ/cm2. Two separate stepper motors (not shown) vary the length of the delay line between for the two laser beams: via path length adjusters 66 as described earlier herein a high-resolution stage with a step size of 0.4 μm and travel distance of 5 cm, and a longer delay stage with a step size of 10 μm and a total travel length of 15 cm. Thus, the optical delay line can provide a variable time delay of 1.3 ns between the two beams, with a resolution of 0.01 ps. The pulse train illuminating the generator gap is chopped at 200 Hz via chopper 312, and the resultant signal from the sampling gap is fed to a lock-in amplifier (not shown).
The optically-activated photoconductive switches for picosecond pulse generation consist of 100-μm-wide by 5-μm-long gaps between metal conductors on a 245-μm thick liquid-encapsulated-Czochralski (LEC)-grown GaAs semi-insulating substrate. They are fabricated between a planar 50-Ω microstripline and a shunt high-impedance line. The gaps are proton-implanted at 150 KeV with hydrogen at a dose of 1014 p/cm2 on the surface of the substrate, in order to reduce the carrier lifetime. Oxygen-implantation, at a lower dosage, can also be used. A Ti-Au metal conductor thickness of 3 μm can be used to achieve sufficiently low conductor loss. Because the shunt microstrip lines are designed to minimize the discontinuity seen by the electrical pulse, and by the microwave signal used in the experimental validation tests which is propagating along the 50-Ω transmission line, the presence of the switches has very little effect on the transmission characteristics of the pulses and microwave signals. In addition, a reference measurement can be performed and used to normalize the data for the MMIC.
When photons are absorbed in GaAs, electron-hole pairs are created, increasing the conductivity of the illuminated GaAs. In a biased photoconductor the photoconductive signal responds instantaneously to the optical pulse. The decay of the photoconductive signal is influenced by carrier recombination and carrier sweep-out Whichever process has the shorter characteristic time constant dominates the photoconductive signal decay process.
In very pure GaAs, the recombination time is measured in microseconds, e.g. as disclosed by M. Neuberger, "III-V Semi-Conducting Compounds," Handbook of Electropic Materials, Vol. 2, IFI/Plenum 1971, p. 48, and is typically a factor of approximately 106 longer than the required pulse length. Carriers in GaAs have a saturation velocity of approximately 0.1 μm/ps. If a constant electric field greater than 0.3V/μm can be maintained across the gap, the carrier sweep-out time for a 5-μm gap is 50 ps. However, in undamaged semi-insulating GaAs, current is observed to persist for as much as 200 ps after illumination of the gap ceases. This is because the electric field in the gap "collapses." creating a low field region in the center of the gap, from which carriers leak relatively slowly.
The solution to the above problem is to heavily damage the GaAs lattice in the gap by proton implantation. This creates a high density of recombination centers, which reduces the recombination time to the sub-picosecond range. e.g.. as disclosed by F. E. Doany et al. "Carrier Lifetime versus Ion-Implantation in Silicon on Sapphire." Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 50, pp. 460-462, 1987. The tradeoff for this is an increase in the illuminated resistance by a factor of 2 or more and a decrease in the dark resistance due to conduction via defect sites. The photoconductive switches for the present study typically have a dark resistance of several megohms, and with sufficiently intense illumination can have an illuminated resistance as low as several ohms. FIG. 10 shows the change in conductance as indicated in the I-V characteristics of a switch with illumination from a microscope light source and without illumination.
The measured FWHM pulse length at port b (FIG. 2) is 10 to 12 ps, close to the resistance/capacitance (RC) time constant of the photoconductive gap. Therefore, to obtain shorter pulses, it is necessary to reduce this time constant. When the time constant becomes negligible, the pulse length becomes the sum of the optical pulse length (5 ps in the present case) and the carrier recombination time. The carrier recombination time can be reduced, if necessary, by increasing the proton bombardment fluence. Shorter optical pulses will also decrease the electrical pulse duration. Optical pulses from lasers with a duration of 80 fs have been demonstrated, e.g.. as disclosed by D. Grischkowsky et al, "Photoconductive Generation of Sub-Picosecond Electrical Pulses and Their Measurement Applications." Picosecond Electronics and Optoelectronics II, Springer-Verlag 1985, and by M. B. Ketchen et al, "Generation of Sub-Picosecond Electrical Pulses on Coplanar Transmission Lines."Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 48, pp. 751-753, 1986, and more recently pulses with a duration as short as 6 fs have been demonstrated. e.g.. as disclosed by C. V. Shank, "Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulses." Ultrashort Optical Pulses, 3rd ed., Ch. 2, Springer-Verlag 1987.
The comparison of the measured results on both a 50-Ω line reference circuit and an MMIC from optical and network analyzer technique will now be described.
Two GaAS circuits were tested, one being the reference and the other the MMIC to be characterized. The reference circuit consisted of a sample 50-Ω microstrip line for overall system calibration. The MMIC to be tested was a two-stage power amplifier with a nominal gain of 4 dB per stage and an output power close to 0.5W at 28 GHz, e.g., as disclosed by H-L. A. Hung. A. Ezzeddine. L. B. Holdeman. F. R. Phelleps. J. F. Allison, A. B. Cornfeld. T. Smith, and H. C. Huang "Ka -Band Monolithic Power Amplifiers," IEEE Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Monolithic Circuit Symp. Dig., (Las Vegas. Nev.), pp. 97-100, June 1987. FIGS. 11A and 11B show the nominal performance of a one-stage MMIC measured in a waveguide housing. An output power of 1W has been achieved with these MMICs in a balanced configuration.
The MMIC tested was mounted between two circuits, each containing two photoconductive switches, in the manner shown in FIG. 2. In the implementation of this technique, the bias of the switch and the collection of the signal are achieved with simple low-frequency probes (LFPs) at the end of the high-impedance shunt transmission lines. Since the sampled signals are at the 200-Hz chopper frequency, coaxial LFPs such as those used in the existing automatic on-wafer DC characterization are needed to pick up the sampled signal, eliminating the need for expensive microwave CPW probes. In the experiment, a bias voltage of 20V was applied to the photoconductive switches.
The measured autocorrelation signal at port b is shown in FIG. 12 for the case where data has been taken every 0.5 ps. A similar time response was obtained at the output port when the reference circuit was tested. In order to correctly determine the phase response of the device, the time delay between the signal at the input port and the signal at the output port was determined by moving the delay stage. For the reference circuit, this delay was 186 ps. The time domain data obtained at the output were shifted by this delay time before the FFT was performed. FIGS. 13A and 13B the transfer function magnitude and phase response of the 50-Ω reference line after the FFT of the time domain data. A 4,000-point FFT was used to obtain each set of the input and output spectral domain data. The time domain wave form was sampled during a time interval much shorter than the period of laser pulse repetition. For times between the end of the sampling interval and the beginning of the next laser cycle, the measured data were padded with zeros to improve the resolution.
To verify these measured results the transfer function of the 50-Ω reference circuit was measured using an HP8510 network analyzer. An additional reference test fixture was also measured, to eliminate the effect of the coaxial launchers used in the reference line and MMIC measurements in the frequency domain. The reference circuit contained an appropriate length of GaAS 50-Ω microstrip line for circuit loss calibration. The transfer function for the reference line determined by this method is depicted in FIGS. 14A and 14B. The good agreement between the results in magnitude and phase shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 confirms the accuracy of the optoelectronic technique.
For the MMIC circuit, the time domain signal obtained at the input port is similar to that of FIG. 12. The electrical pulse waveform detected at the output, which is shown in FIG. 15, consists of 800 points taken at 0.5-ps intervals. Since the electrical pulse was amplified through the MMIC with a narrow bandwidth around 28 GHz, the pulse at the output is expected to have a much broader waveform compared to that at the input.
The magnitude and phase of the transfer functions, S21, as determined by the FFT optical technique, are shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B. This can be compared with FIGS. 17A and 17B, which show the transfer function measured by the network analyzer technique. Good agreement in the broadband response was obtained. S11 can be determined in a similar manner. In this case, both the input and reflected pulses are measured at the input port.
The optoelectronic technique has provided good results for S-parameters when compared to frequency domain network analyzer measurements. The dynamic range of the time domain technique achieved thus far is less than that from the HP8510 network analyzer when comparison is made at the lower microwave frequency range. However. this dynamic range can be improved by limiting the bandwidth of the optically generated electrical pulse. If broadband data are required, the time domain technique accomplishes this in one measurement, rather than as a super position of frequency domain measurements. Therefore, there is a bandwidth/signal-to-noise tradeoff. The sensitivity of the present optoelectronic switch is also limited by the switch-off characteristics of the present photoconductors, which exhibited some leakage current. Better photoconductive switches can be fabricated to overcome this difficulty. The pulse amplitude could be raised by reducing the on state resistance with a lower fluence of protons, an increase in photoconductive gap size, or by using higher voltage across the switch.
The optoelectronic characterization technique described herein may be implemented using either auxiliary test structures on separate chips or by structures implemented on-chip. For application to on-wafer characterization, the mask set can be designed with microstrip test structures connected to the MMIC to be characterized. A pulse generation optical switch and a pulse sampling port (which can be an identical optical switch) must be placed at sites along the lines. The line length limit is determined by the need to resolve incident from reflected signals and to remove spurious reflections. The line lengths can be shortened by using shorter-duration electrical signals or by additional measurements and enhancing the FFT algorithm to separate the different signal waveforms. If these lines are made short and implemented in areas normally not occupied by devices, such as saw kerfs around the border on each MMIC chip or test pattern locations, the required test patterns can be incorporated on the wafer while maintaining the same chip density.
To allow the measurement of scattering parameters at each MMIC port, transmission lines terminated in their characteristic impedance may not be required, as in a conventional frequency domain measurement method. In the pulse technique, this requirement can be eliminated by using appropriate time domain windowing to remove the reflected pulses from the sampled data. Data collection is simply terminated before the reflected signal arrives at the sampling point. However, good RF terminations, especially on the output transmission line, will permit a reduction in the size of the test structure.
With the photoconductive switch for broadband spectral signal generation, electro-optic sampling could be used instead of built-in optical sampling switches along a transmission line. This has the advantage that the electric field (which is proportional to the voltage) at any point on the line, or even at any internal node within the MMIC itself, can be selected for sampling, e.g.. as disclosed by B. Kolner et al. "Electro-optic Sampling in GaAS Integrated Circuits." IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-22, pp. 79-93, January 1986, and by K. J. Weingarten et al, "Picosecond Optical Sampling of GaAS Integrated Circuit." IEEE J. Quantum Electron., Vol. QE-24, pp. 198-220, February, 1988. In addition, this sampling technique causes minimal discontinuity since no physical sampling structure is required. Also of interest is the fact that the electro-optic sampling time is exactly the laser pulse duration. This can be made so short (well below 0.1 ps) that the sampling output is indistinguishable from the actual voltage versus time waveform being measured. The disadvantages are that adequate electric field magnitude and exact placement of the optical signal are required in order to obtain a meaningful detected signal, and this approach works best with materials that exhibit the electro-optic effect, such as GaAs. For measurements on materials which are not electro-optic, such as Si, an electro-optic probe can be used. e.g.. as disclosed by J. A. Valdmanis et al. "Subpicosecond Electrical Sampling and Applications." Picosecond Optoelectronic Devices, Academic Press 1984, pp. 209-270. In this case, the magnitude of the electric field is more critical, but the probe material could be chosen to have the largest possible electro-optic effect.
The electro-optic sampling approach can be applied to the testing of the same MMIC used in the optoelectronic experiment, and similar time-domain waveforms are obtained from both the photoconductive and electro-optic techniques.
An optoelectronic characterization technique has been described which achieves broadband frequency response for both the magnitude and phase of a Ka -band MMIC. The optical system has been calibrated using a reference measurement, and the measured scattering parameters show close agreement with data obtained from network analyzer measurements on the MMIC amplifier. This technique offers significant potential for on-wafer characterization of both high speed devices and high-frequency circuits.
The invention does not require high frequency mechanical contact between the measuring system and the wafer for either waveform generation sampling containing millimeter-wave frequency spectrum. The same measuring system allows broadband operation from DC to 100 GHz, and can be extended to higher frequencies depending on the optical pulse rise and fall time and the photoconductive switch dynamics. A working model of the invention has been successfully demonstrated on a Ka -band (28 GHz) monolithic power amplifier circuit. A systematic study of the validity of this time domain measurement technique compared to the conventional frequency domain measurement approach shows excellent agreement in a direct comparison of measurements of the magnitude and phase of the frequency response of the same MMIC obtained using the optoelectronic technique of this invention with those from a conventional network analyzer measurement.
Based on these experiments, an automated measurement system suitable for the manufacturing environment can be developed to achieve high throughput in on-wafer MMIC evaluation. With an appropriate pulse width, the measurement system can be extended to frequencies above 100 GHz. The optical technique may also be applied to measurements of non-linear and multiport characteristics of MMIC components and subsystems.
It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications could be made to the embodiments disclosed above without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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|International Classification
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|European Classification
|Oct 8, 1993
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text:
Doug Sider
Doug is the Executive Director of BIC Canada. Doug has been in BIC leadership over the past 17 years serving in a variety of roles. He served as a church planter, pastor bishop and most recently as Executive Pastor of Carlisle BIC Church in Carlisle, PA. Doug is passionate about the transforming power of Christ to change a life and then a community. He desires to help all churches be active places of light helping people experience Christs transforming presence. He and his family recently relocated from the US to Welland, Ontario. He has been married to Tonya for 18 years and is the proud father of four great kids (Prestyn 16, Grace-Anne 13, Ashly 11 and Carter 8).
Sheryl Roberts
& Office Manager
Sheryl serves the BIC Canada team administratively since 2005. She has a passion for supporting the visionary…and there's plenty of exciting vision here at BIC Canada! She has a BA in Economics/International Trade & Finance. Her career has included involvement in leadership and administration with a variety of non-profit organizations. She and her two children live in Oakville, Ontario.
Charlie Mashinter
Charlie Mashinter is Team Leader of BIC Canada Community Churches. Prior to coming into this position, he was the Lead Pastor for almost 19 years at Wainfleet BIC Church, a growing and vibrant church in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. He carries a passion to see local BIC Community Churches across Canada reach their kingdom potential as centres of spiritual life and blessing. He enjoys working with Pastors and church leaders to see this picture of a preferable future become reality. Charlie and his wife, Becky, are the parents of three great kids - Darcie, Greg and Josh. They currently reside in Stouffville, Ontario. Charlie enjoys coffee, long drives, good books, Downton Abbey and hockey. He fuels his abiding sense of optimism by believing he will see the Toronto Maple Leafs win the cup again in his lifetime.
Matt Vincent
Matt Vincent has been a part of the BIC Family since 2007, serving in various roles with The Meeting House. A new adventure is unfolding as Matt, his wife Bobbi and their three kids (Tabea, Silas, Hadley) step out with some friends to plant a new church - REUNION Oakville, Ontario. Matt is passionate about taking faithful steps forward, and helping introduce people to Jesus. Matt also has the privilege of giving leadership to The Network - and is humbled by the chance to learn and walk with new expressions within BIC Canada. Drop him a line – he'd love to connect.
Darrell Winger
Darrell has been in ministry with the BIC for over 25 years in various roles: local church, global missions, and denominational leadership. Since 1997 he engaged in denominational leadership, serving as Bishop/Executive Director of BIC Canada from 1997-2004; 2009-2013 and the General Secretary of the BIC North America, 2004-2006. Currently, Darrell is one of the Executive Pastors at The Meeting House. Darrell helped to establish the International BIC Association in 2005, serving as its Executive Director until 2010. Darrell's education includes a BA and a Master of Divinity. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Theology at the Toronto School of Theology (University of Toronto). Darrell and his wife, Anna, live in Oakville, Ontario.
Janet Manafo
Janet's introduction to the BIC came through The Village, a church plant in North Whitby (that she and her husband have given leadership to, along with a great community of people). Before that, Janet and her husband have been involved in serving church communities for more than 20 years. Janet's background is twofold: children's ministry and payroll/HR. She's worked as a volunteer or paid children's director the past few years. Her experience in Human Resources comes from her former role as Payroll and Human Resources Coordinator for Gay Lea Foods. Janet's passions mainly include her husband Jonathan and her two children, Jacob and Madison. She also loves swimming, biking, the outdoors, building authentic community, and good stories.
Alex Nicholls
Alex has a passion for telling compelling stories, especially stories that inspire hope. With his experience in communications and digital engagement for multiple non-profits and volunteer experience at The Meeting House and REUNION Oakville, Alex is excited to support the growing communities and expressions of BIC Canada. Alex and his wife Meghan live in Mississauga, Ontario and share a love of travel, food, movies and conversation.
Sherry Main
Sherry serves as Administrative Coordinator for BIC Canada-Global. She provides support to the individual Global Cabinet members and global workers as needed. Over the past 25 years, Sherry has served the BIC church in Canada as well as in Venezuela and Colombia. She has also worked for MCC Ontario. Sherry and her husband Trevor reside in Wainfleet and have two fearless and fun young adult children.
Trevor Main
Trevor has been privileged to serve God and the BIC church in both pastoral ministry and as a missionary. From 1991-1997 he served as pastor of the Rosebank BIC Church in Ontario, and then from 1998-2010, together with his wife Sherry and their two children, they followed the Lord in global ministry to Venezuela and Colombia. Trevor enjoys the blessing of being bilingual and being able to help bridge the language barrier between our brothers and sisters in Spanish speaking parts of the world and the BIC church here in Canada. It has been a joy for Trevor to work with short-term teams that travel into Latin America. Trevor has led in the translation of four BIC authored books from English to Spanish. He is presently on staff at the Wainfleet BIC Church as Pastor of Discipleship & Pastoral Care and works with BIC Canada-Global on a part-time basis.
Jonathan Zinck
Jonathan is the SE Asia director of BIC Canada Global. Over the past 25 years Jonathan has ministered as a youth counsellor, campus ministries director, minister and pastor, chaplain and has given leadership to a number of compassion outreaches both locally and overseas. Together with His wife Jan and their three children, they have served in communities from Halifax to Kelowna. For Jonathan the greatest gift and opportunity is investing in people's lives. He is actively involved as a volunteer in his community as a coach, chaplain, and refugee committee member, and together with 'The Pier' church family, is engaged in daily outreach and support to those in need in His community. Currently, Jonathan is the lead pastor at The Pier Christian Church in Brockville, ON, and author of the book "When God Is Silent".

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Havana, 10 October 2017. Meliá Cuba announces the reopening of hotels affected by Hurricane Irma in Cayo Santa María, Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo and Varadero.
Cooperation with the Cuban tourism authorities and the dedicated efforts of the hotels' workers have made it possible to repair the facilities that were damaged by the severe weather phenomenon whose trajectory along the island's northern coast affected Jardines del Rey, Cayo Santa María and Varadero.
Meliá Cuba has taken advantage of the temporary shutdown of the facilities to repair and improve the hotels and offer updated products for the high season.
The hotels Meliá Península Varadero and Paradisus Varadero both in Varadero will reopen on 15 October.
In Cayo Santa María, the Meliá Cayo Santa María and the Meliá Las Dunas hotels will reopen their doors on 1 November and Meliá Buenavista and Sol Cayo Santa María will reopen on 15 November.
In Jardines del Rey, the hotel Sol Cayo Coco will reopen on 17 October, Meliá Cayo Guillermo will start operating again on 20 October, and Meliá Jardines del Rey will reopen on 1 November. Meliá Cayo Coco will be operational from 4 November and Sol Cayo Guillermo will start receiving guests again on 15 November.
Meliá Hotels International Cuba is grateful for this collective effort and for the loyalty and support of guests, travel agents and tour operators.
2016 is coming to an end, and it's the time for gatherings, emotions and friendships. That's why this Christmas we've got everything set at Meliá Cuba to see out the year just how our guests deserve and to ring in 2017 with new energy.
We'll have special deals for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve starting on the 19th of December in all the Meliá Cuba hotels, along with promotions in accommodation, parties, dinners and much more. Because choosing #TimeForCuba with Meliá also means the joy of celebrating with the beautiful people of the island in eight unique destinations.
Enjoy the intense urban feel of Havana and Santiago de Cuba, or simply let yourself be carried away by the coolness of the beaches in Varadero, Holguín and the coves... It's a universe of sensations and emotions available to everybody in our hotels.
Deals in all the Meliá Cuba hotels… to make the most of your time!


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[Linux-cluster] fence_drac5 timeouts
: ch urnd <churnd gmail com>
: linux-cluster redhat com
: [Linux-cluster] fence_drac5 timeouts
: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:29:58 -0400
I'm trying to get fence_drac5 working on a cluster I'm setting up of two Dell R410's. The primary issue I'm seeing are timeouts. The fence does seem to work as the other node will get shut down, but the script always exits 1.
Here's the output:
# fence_drac5 -a 192.168.1.100 --power-timeout 30 -x -l root -p calvin -c 'admin1->' -o reboot
Connection timed out
# fence_drac5 -a 192.168.1.100 --power-timeout 30 -v -x -l root -p calvin -c 'admin1->' -o reboot
root 192 168 1 100
's password:
/admin1-> racadm serveraction powerstatus
Server power status: ON
/admin1-> racadm serveraction powerdown
Server power operation successful
/admin1->Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/sbin/fence_drac5", line 154, in <module>
File "/usr/sbin/fence_drac5", line 137, in main
result = fence_action(conn, options, set_power_status, get_power_status, get_list_devices)
File "/usr/share/fence/fencing.py", line 838, in fence_action
if wait_power_status(tn, options, get_power_fn) == 0:
File "/usr/share/fence/fencing.py", line 744, in wait_power_status
if get_power_fn(tn, options) != options["-o"]:
File "/usr/sbin/fence_drac5", line 38, in get_power_status
status = re.compile("(^|: )(ON|OFF|Powering ON|Powering OFF)\s*$", re.IGNORECASE | re.MULTILINE).search(conn.before).group(2)
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'group'
Even though I pass "-o reboot", it still powers off. It does the same even if I don't pass that option.
I added --power-timeout 30 in the latest test to see if that'd help but no dice. Doesn't work without it either.
I have tried fence_ipmilan & it works great, but the iDRAC interfaces are somewhat exposed & need to use SSH for security reasons, which limits me to fence_drac5.
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I was bored and looking for tattoo ideas online and thought I would share my favourites with you.
10. American Horror Story
It's true. They do scare me.
9. Michael Myers (Halloween)
This is a tattoo I've wanted since I first saw Halloween 5.
8. The Exorcist
Ah, so beautiful.
7. April Fools Day
This has always been one of my favourite horror film covers.
6. Nosferatu
Count Orlok scared the life out of me as a child.
5. Psycho
I've always loved Norman Bates. I'd love to make him forever a part of me with an awesome tattoo like this one.
4. A Nightmare On Elm Street
This is the tattoo of my dreams. I know... that's a predictable joke.
3. Mixed 1
Top (left to right): Regan MacNeil (The Exorcist), Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th), Michael Myers (Halloween), Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Bottom (left to right): Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare On Elm Street), The Tall Man (Phantasm)
2. Mixed 2
This one kicks ass on so many levels.
1. Opera
This one is amazing! I have to get this!
So anyway, those were my favourites. Sorry I didn't provide much commentary on each photo but I mainly just wanted to show how awesome they looked.


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Kristiansten Fortress
The Kristiansten Fortress is in Trondheim over looking the city. Built in the early 1680s, it was strategically placed on the east hill to protect the city from inland attacks, especially from the Swedes. In the Great Northern War, the fortress achieved it's purpose in 1718. Just its mer presence deterred the Swedes.
Karl VII of Sweden initiated attacks in the south and sent an army to seize Trondheim. Both the Norwegian troops and countrymen held off the invasion. Kristiansten fortress was never overthrown. Winter came and the Swedish troops were unprepared. After the death of Karl VII of Sweden at Fredriksten fortress (shot in the head), the army in Trondheim retreated to Sweden, across the mountains and through the snow. Not many returned back to their homeland.
In 1816 the fortress was decommissioned. The King of Norway, Carl Johan, said the fortress was to be abandoned and left to the 'ravishes of time', however, it was turned into a fire watch for the city. During the occupation in WWII, Kristiansten Fortress was taken over by the Nazis. It was a place for execution of the Norwegian resistance. After the war the fortress became the official place of execution of national traitors and criminals of war as part of the 'legal purge of Norway'. Out of the 45 that were condemned to death in Norway, 14 were executed at Kristiansten.
In 1997, Kriatiansten Fortress was turned into a museum. It is a good walk from the city centre up the hill, about 15mins. Just look up and head for the white building. Only when the flag is raised are the gates open for entrance. The cafe is only open during summer. The view of Trondheim is certainly worth the trip – over the city centre, Nidaros Cathedral, out to the fjord and Munkholmen.
The way that the buildings are carved into the landscape makes for an interesting walk through. A detailed history of events at Kristiansten fortress can be experienced through readings. You can be part of a group tour or go on a do-it-yourself tour. Sometimes special events are held on the grounds throughout the year.


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Oakland, Berkeley, And East Bay News, Events, Restaurants, Music, & Arts
Yes most of the brands do give out samples of their products. Look for "Official Samples" online and get the samples. They are the best. You wont need CC.
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East Bay Express All Rights Reserved
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It's back. It doesn't exactly put us on the cutting edge, but it's back for good.
"Rock 'n' Roll Part II" – a.k.a. the "Hey" song – made an unannounced but widely praised return to the Sharks' goal celebration for exhibition games last weekend. Team spokesman Scott Emmert confirmed that the one-year switch to Green Day's "Holiday" is history.
Last year, the Sharks were among the teams that switched on moral grounds because the song's creator, Gary Glitter, is in prison in Vietnam after being convicted of molesting two girls. The Sharks stress that their version is from an organist, meaning the artist receives no royalties.
"The change of the song probably drew the most passionate response from our fans of anything in the 17 years we've been here," Emmert said, adding that "it really became obvious that quite a few of our fans really include that as being part of the Shark experience."
• Raves all around for the new high-def video board, which is four times as big and a zillion times more viewable than the old one. But that lights-going-out in half of HP Pavilion on Friday night? That wasn't part of the new Sharks experience, and it was corrected by Saturday. Hey, that's why they have the preseason.
• Tonight marks "Shark Byte, Return of Drew." That it airs at 6:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net – while the non-televised exhibition game at Calgary is being played – should not be taken as any kind of comment on the validity of exhibition games. (At least not by those who pay for them as part of the season-ticket package.)
Contact John Ryan at firstname.lastname@example.com or (408) 920-5266.


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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Laugh Lines and the IRS
The latest scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service is a serious matter, involving as it does an agency of the government using its awesome powers to quash the free speech rights of a significant portion of the country, but there's something undeniably comical about the excuses being offered.There was the heartfelt apology from the IRS, offered in all sincerity just moments before an inspector general's report was about to expose the misdeeds, and then the president's strongly worded indignation that anyone in his government would ever do harm to his political enemies. This was followed by the explanation that only a few rogue employees in a far-flung Ohio office were involved, that although subsequent testimony showed the practices were ordered from Washington it did not go any higher than the middle levels of the bureaucracy there, that the agents were only demanding extra paperwork and extraordinary questions of conservative groups because the IRS was understaffed and over-worked, and that in any case those damnable Tea Party types had it coming. The lattermost explanation was somewhat undermined by the strongly worded indignation of the president, who insisted that much like Will Rogers he only knew what he read in the papers, and although it has since been revealed that his closest aides were aware of the outrages long before they hit the papers we are assured that they just didn't want to bother him with such trivialities.Just as it seemed that the scandal couldn't become any more farcical, along comes David Plouffe. The former senior advisor to President Barack Obama took to the airwaves on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday to trot out the latest lines, and somehow maintained a straight face as he assured the viewers that "This was not a political pursuit."
David Plouffe's defense? "This was no an effort driven by the White House. It would be the dumbest political effort of all time. OK?"
Even if it were dumb to target conservative groups, that's no reason to believe that the White House wouldn't do it. It was dumb to sell guns to Mexican drug gangs, and loan hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars to unviable "green" companies that had contributed to the president's campaign, and restructure the American health care system along lines that will raise premiums and discourage employers from hiring anyone for more than 29 hours of work a week, and any number of other policies that a reasonably well-informed critic could think of, but in each case the White House went ahead and did it.
Why would Team Obama think they coulkd get away with it? Well, they did because they stifled the Tea party for the 2012 election. Second, because when you have the press running interference for you, why not break a few laws?
The political consequences were always mild, thanks to the complacency of a supportive press, and there was no reason anyone at the White House should have expected for this scandal to be any different. They might just get away with it yet again, always a possibility given the complacency of the general public, but in the meantime they're provoking some unintended laughs that can't be good for business.
Labels: culture of corruption, IRS, media, Obama, Scandals, The Press
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21/08/2014 Auto Parts & Accessories
Sponsored Ads
Mobile crushing plants manufacturer provides mobile crusher for sale. Mobile cursher is the advanced and scientific crushing machine that brings much convenience for crushing and mining industry. Mobile crusher plants also called portable crushing plant, because of the mobile crusher's structure and performance. Taken literally, obviously, ordinary crusher machine just like desktop computer, while the mobile crusher plants like the laptop computer. The mobile crusher plants aggregate various crusher machines and Screening and Transmission. Different types of the mobile crushing plants match the homologous crusher machines. For example, the mobile jaw crusher plants use jaw breaker, and the optional equipments such as Belt Conveyor, Vibrating Feeder, Vibrating Sieve, Electromotor etc. are different sizes to matching different types of the jaw crusher machine, all of the collocations dependent on the customers' requirements.
1. Daily Maintenance
The equipment should be lubricated according to requirements. Medium and small equipment mainly uses lubricating grease and lubricating oil to lubricate on a regular basis. Large-scale equipment like cone crusher and jaw crusher is generally equipped with forced lubricating system. At this time, you should often observe oil temperature, oil pressure, quantity of flow and other parameters. Besides, it's necessary to tighten the loose fasteners.
During the running of equipment, you should always pay attention to noise and vibration of equipment, if it appears excessive noise or vibration, you should quick stop to check the machine. After troubleshooting, you should restart the machine with no-load according to starting sequence. Additionally, you should also pay attention to quality and productivity of product, when quality and production rate are abnormal, the machine is likely to be clogged or worn.
2. Overhaul
In order to keep the equipment in good performance, you should also carry out minor repair, repair and overhaul in addition to normal maintenance. Repair schedule of mobile construction station is put forward according to inspection requirements of each machines used in mobile crusher plant. Due to the difference of repair schedule of each machine, when conditions allow, you can replace some machine to carry out overhaul, thus reducing down time and improving utilization rate of equipment.
Thank you for your interest in Fote Machinery. If you have a question about our stone crushing plant, we'd like to hear from you.
portable aggregate plant: http://www.china-ftm.com/pros/tyre_type_multistage_combination_of_mobile_crusher_station.html


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Sports. BY: Salem al Sabah & Ali al Shammari. http:// www.ancientgreece.com/s/Olympic http :// www.ancientgreece.com/s/Main\_Page/ http:// www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient\_greeks/the\_olympic\_games /. References.
Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author.While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server.
BY: Salem al Sabah & Ali al Shammari


text:
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
With great styling, a solid build quality and Beats by Dr Dre headphones, the HP Envy 14 Beats Edition notebook is hard to resist. It's the type of notebook you buy when you have deep pockets, a need for a powerful laptop, and you want to stand out from the crowd. That said, it's not perfect, and it could still use a few more features to make it a killer notebook.
There is a lot to like about the HP Envy 14 Beats Edition. For starters, it looks great! Its dark lid, silver base and red Beats logo give it an identity that's sure to stand out in the crowd; secondly, it has a very sturdy build quality and it feels great to use; thirdly, it has an Intel Core i7 CPU and 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM in it, so it can handle practically any task you throw at it. However, despite being a notebook that's aimed at DJs and music lovers, its audio adapter isn't great: it doesn't have a comprehensive settings panel and it also lacks an analogue line input. Also, at 2.55kg, it's a comparatively heavy notebook.
When you lift the lid on the Envy 14 Beats Edition, you are greeted by a 1366x768-resolution LCD screen that has edge-to-edge glass, a chiclet-style keyboard with red-backlit keys, and a huge touchpad with left- and right-click buttons that are hidden beneath the actual pad. The palm rest is large and it has a grippy texture that feels very comfortable to use when typing. The keys themselves are soft and it doesn't take much effort to press them. We love the red backlight — it looks great when you use the notebook in the dark.
The screen is glossy, but it isn't as reflective as the screens we've seen on other glossy notebooks. We also wish that the screen had a larger resolution (perhaps a Full HD resolution), which would come in handy if you were to use this notebook for editing and sequencing audio.
In terms of performance, because the Envy 14 uses a relatively low frequency 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM CPU, its straight-line speed isn't as good as CPUs that run a faster clock speed; this was shown in our iTunes MP3 encoding test, in which the Envy 14 Beats Edition recorded 1min 19sec. Laptops with faster clock speeds, such as Toshiba's 2.4GHz Core i5-520M-based Portege R700, recorded a time of 1min in this test; Acer's 2.6GHz Core i7-620M-based TravelMate TimelineX 8572G recorded 54sec. However, as the Core i7-720QM has four cores plus Hyper-Threading, it comes into its own when running multi-threaded software and when multitasking. In the multi-threaded Blender 3D test, the Envy 14 recorded a time of 47sec, which is better than the 50sec of the Acer TravelMate TimelineX 8572G and 59sec of the Toshiba Portege R700.
It wasn't very fast in our Xvid encoding test, in which we use AutoGordianKnot to transcode a DVD file to a 1.5GB Xvid file: it recorded 1hr 15min in this test, which is about 15min longer than we expected. The hard drive in the HP Envy 14 Beats Edition is a 5400rpm Western Digital Scorpio with a spin speed of 5400rpm and a capacity of 640GB (595GB formatted). It recorded a transfer rate of 27.17 megabytes per second in our tests, which is a speedy result.
The graphics adapter in the Envy 14 Beats Edition is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, which provides good mid-range performance. In 3Dmark06, it recorded a score of 6980, which means that apart from some demanding first-person shooters, you should be able to play most games smoothly when you set them to run medium graphics details.
The notebook's red-backlit keyboard looks great and is very useful when using the notebook in the dark.
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Visit our shop for the best deals on hot products
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Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
Sharp PN-40TC1 Huddle Board
Brainstorming, innovation, problem solving, and negotiation have all become much more productive and valuable if people can easily collaborate in real time with minimal friction.
Brother QL-820NWB Professional Label Printer
The print quality also does not disappoint, it's clear, bold, doesn't smudge and the text is perfectly sized.
Sharp PN-40TC1 Huddle Board
The Huddle Board's built in program; Sharp Touch Viewing software allows us to easily manipulate and edit our documents (jpegs and PDFs) all at the same time on the dashboard.
Sharp PN-40TC1 Huddle Board
The biggest perks for me would be that it comes with easy to use and comprehensive programs that make the collaboration process a whole lot more intuitive and organic
Brother PocketJet PJ-773 A4 Portable Thermal Printer
I rate the printer as a 5 out of 5 stars as it has been able to fit seamlessly into my busy and mobile lifestyle.
Brother PocketJet PJ-773 A4 Portable Thermal Printer
It's perfect for mobile workers. Just take it out — it's small enough to sit anywhere — turn it on, load a sheet of paper, and start printing.


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USS Midway - The Hero Ship Trailer (2006)
From its commissioning in 1945 to its role in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, The USS Midway gallantly provided the U.S. military with nearly half a century of loyal service. As the longest-serving carrier in American naval history, the Midway has become a veritable maritime legend. Launched just after the end of World War II, the ship first made history in 1947 when it fired a captured German rocket from a moving platform. During the Vietnam War, aviators from the Midway shot down the first thee MiGs credited to the U.S. forces. And in the first Gulf War, the veteran carrier played in integral role in the deployment of sorties into the Persian Gulf before it was finally decommissioned in San Diego, California, in 1992.
Watch the official USS Midway - The Hero Ship 2006 trailer in HD below or find more USS Midway - The Hero Ship videos on Vidimovie.


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Well, I did it!
View Single Post
April 20th, 2010, 12:56 PM
Platinum Supermommy
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Ohio
Posts: 27,123
I had posted before asking advice about how to put Abby in Em's room. Well, we did it two nights ago and it's gone really well!! Abby is in her crib, Em in her bed and they seem to be fine.
The first night we just put them to bed at the same time. Abby had a hard time falling asleep because Em kept calling me over the monitor. lol So I finally got Em to stop and then both went right to sleep.
Lastnight we put Abby down about 45 minutes before Emily and it worked really well. Abby was sleeping, never woke up and Em went right to sleep.
I'm knocking on wood though, I don't want to jinx anything.
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South Coast Villa Hayborough
Apartment, Hayborough
Rated 4 out of 5 stars 1 review
Confirmation within 24hr
From $255 per night {{quote.pricing.message}} Total {{quote.pricing.price | format:'currency':'short'}} for
Min 2 - 4 nights stay
Treat yourself to an relaxing get-away by the sea.
Hayborough holiday home is a fully appointed, self-contained apartment just minutes from Victor Harbor in the peaceful Hayborough area. Enjoy magnificent sea views from balcony.
Points of interest:
Minutes walk to beach - local family friendly & surfing / body boarding beaches Chiton Rocks & Victor Harbor
5 minutes drive to Victor Harbor and Port Elliott's beautiful & relaxing Horse-Shoe Bay.
Quick and easy access to Victor Harbor's Ferris Wheel, Granite Island and the Bluff
5 mins walk to famous south coast "Cockletrain" route
Whale spotting opportunity during whale season
PLEASE NOTE: There is strictly a No Party Policy in this property and failure to adhere to this will result in the loss of your bond.
Three large, bright spacious bedrooms - Sleeps 8 [10 with sofa bed]
2 x Queens; 4 x singles/bunk
[BYO sheets, pillow cases and towels or can be supplied at a charge of $10/person]
Quilts/blankets/pillows supplied
Child / baby friendly - portacot, highchair, safety stair gate available
2 bathrooms - 2 x showers + 2 WCs + bath tub
Fully equipped kitchen including dishwasher and microwave.
Washing machine available for use.
Large flat screen TV with digital channels, Stereo, DVD player
Extensive selection of DVDs/videos/CDs/ puzzles / games / library & kids' toys & books
Outdoor furniture, undercover + Gas BBQ
Large, fully fenced back lawn
Off street parking available for 2-3 cars on driveway
Peak Season December/January/February, Easter - from $250 per night max $285 per night
Low Season March-November, excluding Easter - from $185 per night
A security bond from $300-$-500 depending on length of stay is taken prior to checking in and this is returned after the house is inspected usually within 14 Days less a cleaning fee.
The cleaning fee is a minimum of $70 for a standard clean but may be more depending on how much cleaning is required after your stay.
Sheets, pillow cases and towels can be supplied at a cost of $10 per person.
During peak season, the minimum booking is 4 nights. During other times of the year, the minimum booking is for 2 nights.
There is a very strict NO PARTY POLICY: Parties & functions are strictly prohibited and will result in you being asked to leave immediately and the loss of your bond.
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Select request booking to access the quote calculator and to check availability.
Enter your check in and check out dates to see availability and a total price.
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p/n = per night, p/s = per stay, p/p = per person, p/np = per night and person. Ask the owner to arrange optional extras
Note: Pricing is subject to change, and a minimum stay period and other conditions may apply. You should confirm pricing with the property owner.
Prices listed based on 8 adults. Property has 6 beds and can sleep a maximum 8 people.
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Maison Louis Marie's roll on Perfume oil is a lovely gift and perfect for travel. Suitable for either gender. This scent is a woody, mineral fragrance. The top note is a citrus accord of grapefruit, orange and black pepper enhanced by cedarwood and patchouli. Direction to use: Use roll-on perfume oil any time you desire. Apply to pulse points (neck, chest and wrist), lightly rolling the ball on the skin to release the fragrance.
• Top Note: sandalwood, cedarwood
• Mid Note: vetiver, nutmeg, cinnamon
• Base Note: amber wood
• Ingredients: Safflower oil, fragrances. Safflower oil contains linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid with moisturizing properties
• Does not contain parabens.
• 0.5 Oz
• Comes with presentation box


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About Continental Ultra Sport II 700X28c Folding Road Tyre
Trusty training companion
established all-round tyre with Continental's well-known level of quality
proven Continental racing tyre design for responsive handling and secure grip
excellent grip and high mileage thanks to PureGrip Compound
The advanced new compound
Based on activated silica compounds, this technology was originally intended as an performance level compound, but after intensive development at our Korbach Research and Development Department Facility, an advanced new compound with outstanding grip and cross-country properties was developed. This new rubber mix, given the self explanatory name "PureGrip", is ranked just behind our BlackChili Compound and is being used in our performance products both in the road and mountain bike sectors. Whilst providing great grip, it is also long lasting and highly durable – both characteristics of Continental tyres, which are exclusively manufactured in the factory in Hefei (Asia).
About Bike Tires
Investing in a good robust bike tire means no stopping over punctures, care-free ride over potholes, shards, and other picky objects sticking out of the road. Before you buy a bike tire, make sure you're aware of the correct bike size, your purpose of buying a specific tire and what kind of bike riding(road, urban, off-road) you're into. Road tires are sleek and smooth, can retain high pressure. Hybrid tires are suitable for everyday city rides whereas mountain bike tires come equipped with treads for firm grip and handling over the uneven surface.
About Continental
More than 100 years experience in the development and production of bicycle tires has made Continental a unique company within the industry. Continental is the only German bicycle tire manufacturer to produce its tires in Germany. Knowing this serves as a mighty incentive to our engineers and everyone else involved in the manufacturing process to constantly strive for further innovations. In our technology and development center in Korbach, we are constantly developing new revolutionary technologies such as the unbeatable Black Chili Compound and the ultimate Vectran™ Breaker anti-puncture technology, both used at the top end of race sport. These technologies demand sophisticated processes to ensure our legendary end-product quality, and these innovations as well as the new "ProTection" and "RaceSport" technology for MTB tires, can only be manufactured in our factory in Germany – "Handmade in Germany".
Dimension : 700 x 28C
Technology : Performance
Color : Black
Sidewall : Black Skin
Bead : Foldable
Weight(g) : 340