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Electronics
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Instrumentation, Noise, Reliability
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Instrumentation, Noise, Reliability (Closed)

A topical collection in Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292).

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Editor

Dr. Graziella Scandurra

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: design of dedicated; low-noise and high-sensitivity instrumentation; design and characterization of sensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

The continuous and rapid progress of electronics, with the ever-increasing diffusion of programmable digital platforms and the production of advanced devices based on innovative, flexible materials, has facilitated the design and construction of increasingly smart measuring instruments and systems that are portable, wearable, wireless, low-cost, and useful for different applications in various fields (medicine, biology, environment, sport, food, agriculture, industry). On the other hand, the production of these advanced platforms and devices, which enables access to new tools, requires thorough evaluation of their characterization and reliability. For this purpose, the accessibility of investigation techniques and advanced instrumentation is crucial. Among these techniques, low-frequency noise measurements (LFNM) are of increasing importance, and, moreover, the design of dedicated low-noise instrumentation can also find application in the field of sensors, allowing for the implementation of sensing systems that are much more sensitive than conventional ones.

Therefore, for this topical collection, we are inviting the submission of papers focused on techniques and systems assessing the characteristics and reliability of such materials and devices, as well as those presenting dedicated, improved measurement systems. This collection aims to highlight the design, operation mode, and testing of instruments and systems as aspects that are often overshadowed to emphasize their potential applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Design and realization of dedicated instrumentation;
  • Low-noise instrumentation;
  • Noise characterization;
  • Highly sensitive instrumentation;
  • Design of circuits and systems for reliability characterization of devices and materials;
  • Design and realization of measurement systems for sensors application;
  • Sensors’ characterization and reliability;
  • Medical instrumentation and measurement techniques;
  • Portable and wearable measurement systems;
  • Automated measurement systems;
  • Measurement systems for harsh environments

Dr. Graziella Scandurra
Collection Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • instruments
  • noise
  • portable systems
  • reliability
  • characterization

Published Papers (3 papers)

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2022

13 pages, 4123 KiB  
Article
Simulation and Optimization of Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Unit Based on AlN
by Xin Su, Xincheng Ren, Haoji Wan, Xingfang Jiang and Xianyun Liu
Electronics 2022, 11(18), 2915; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11182915 - 14 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1802
Abstract
The relatively low piezoelectric constant of aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric film limits the development and application of the acoustic field performance of AlN-based micromachined ultrasonic transducers; thus, in this study we establish a mid- to low-frequency transducer unit model to address this problem. [...] Read more.
The relatively low piezoelectric constant of aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric film limits the development and application of the acoustic field performance of AlN-based micromachined ultrasonic transducers; thus, in this study we establish a mid- to low-frequency transducer unit model to address this problem. The transducer operates at 4.5 MHz, and the construction of a clamped structure is first investigated to ensure the feasibility of performance analysis. Secondly, the effectiveness of the optimized upper electrode distribution proposed in this paper in improving the acoustic field radiation of the array element is also compared with the original structure. Finally, the influence of the optimized electrode geometry parameters on the acoustic wave direction is analyzed. The finite element simulations are performed in the COMSOL Multiphysics (COMSOL) software and post-processing results are analyzed. Based on the simulation results, the proposed optimal distribution of the upper electrode makes the radiation beam uniform and symmetrical in the case of both the clamped model and the optimized structure model. In the case of the upper electrode radius of 28 µm, this electrode division operation makes the unit vibration mode switching in the frequency range more moderate. The sound field radiation improvement of the proposed optimized structure model is better than that of the clamped structure. Full article
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10 pages, 2426 KiB  
Article
On the Use of Supercapacitors for DC Blocking in Transformer-Coupled Voltage Amplifiers for Low-Frequency Noise Measurements
by Graziella Scandurra, Krzysztof Achtenberg, Zbigniew Bielecki, Janusz Mikołajczyk and Carmine Ciofi
Electronics 2022, 11(13), 2011; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11132011 - 27 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1268
Abstract
When performing low-frequency noise measurements on low-impedance electron devices, transformer coupling can be quite effective in reducing the contribution of the equivalent input noise voltage of the preamplifier to the background noise of the system. However, noise measurements on electron devices are usually [...] Read more.
When performing low-frequency noise measurements on low-impedance electron devices, transformer coupling can be quite effective in reducing the contribution of the equivalent input noise voltage of the preamplifier to the background noise of the system. However, noise measurements on electron devices are usually performed with a biased device under test. A bridge configuration must be used to null the DC component at the input of the transformer. Unfortunately, using a bridge results in a complication of the set-up and degradation of the system’s sensitivity because of the noise introduced by the nulling arm. We propose an alternative approach for blocking the DC component that exploits the fact that supercapacitors with capacitances in excess of a few Farads are nowadays easily available. Actual measurement results in conventional and advanced measurement configurations are discussed that demonstrate the advantages of the approach we propose. Full article
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14 pages, 4505 KiB  
Article
Dual Phase Lock-In Amplifier with Photovoltaic Modules and Quasi-Invariant Common-Mode Signal
by Pavel Baranov, Ivan Zatonov and Bien Bui Duc
Electronics 2022, 11(9), 1512; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11091512 - 09 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1908
Abstract
In measuring small voltage deviations of about 1 µV and lower, it is important to separate useful signals from noise. The measurement of small voltage deviations between the amplitudes of two AC signals in wide frequency and voltage ranges, is performed by using [...] Read more.
In measuring small voltage deviations of about 1 µV and lower, it is important to separate useful signals from noise. The measurement of small voltage deviations between the amplitudes of two AC signals in wide frequency and voltage ranges, is performed by using lock-in amplifiers with the differential input as a comparator (null-indicator). The resolution and measurement accuracy of lock-in amplifiers is largely determined by the common-mode rejection ratio in their measuring channel. This work presents a developed differential signal recovery circuit with embedded photovoltaic modules, which allows implementing the dual phase lock-in amplifier with the differential input and quasi-invariant common-mode signal. The obtained metrological parameters of the proposed dual phase analog lock-in amplifier prove its applicability in comparing two signal amplitudes of 10√2 µV to 10√2 V in the frequency range of 20 Hz to 100 kHz with a 10 nV resolution. The proposed dual phase analog lock-in amplifier was characterized by a 130 to 185 dB CMRR in the frequency range up to 100 kHz with 20 nV/√Hz white noise. Full article
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