To cope with ever growing mobile data traffic, we recently proposed a concept of cellular ultra-dense radio access network (RAN). In the cellular ultra-dense RAN, a number of distributed antennas are deployed in the base station (BS) coverage area (cell) and user-clusters are formed to perform small-scale distributed multiuser multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) transmission and reception in each user-cluster in parallel using the same frequency resource. We also proposed a decentralized interference coordination (IC) framework to effectively mitigate both intra-cell and inter-cell interferences caused in the cellular ultra-dense RAN. The inter-cell IC adopted in this framework is the fractional frequency reuse (FFR), realized by applying the channel segregation (CS) algorithm, and is called CS-FFR in this paper. CS-FFR divides the available bandwidth into several sub-bands and allocates multiple sub-bands to different cells. In this paper, focusing on the optimization of the CS-FFR, we find by computer simulation the optimum bandwidth division number and the sub-band allocation ratio to maximize the link capacity. We also discuss the convergence speed of CS-FFR in a cellular ultra-dense RAN.

In this paper, the effects of the TiN encapsulating layer and the dopant segregation process on the interface properties and the Schottky barrier height reduction of PdEr-silicide/n-Si(100) were investigated. The results show that controlling the initial location of the boron dopants by adding the TiN encapsulating layer lowered the Schottky barrier height (SBH) for hole to 0.20 eV. Furthermore, the density of interface states (Dit) on the order of 1011eV-1cm-2 was obtained indicating that the dopant segregation process with TiN encapsulating layer effectively annihilated the interface states.

Figure-ground (FG) segregation has been considered as a fundamental step towards object recognition. We explored plausible mechanisms that estimate global figure-ground segregation from local image features by investigating the human visual system. Physiological studies have reported border-ownership (BO) selective neurons in V2 which signal the local direction of figure (DOF) along a border; however, how local BO signals contribute to global FG segregation has not been clarified. The BO and FG processing could be independent, dependent on each other, or inseparable. The investigation on the differences and similarities between the BO and FG judgements is important for exploring plausible mechanisms that enable global FG estimation from local clues. We performed psychophysical experiments that included two different tasks each of which focused on the judgement of either BO or FG. The perceptual judgments showed consistency between the BO and FG determination while a longer distance in gaze movement was observed in FG segregation than BO discrimination. These results suggest the involvement of distinct neural mechanism for local BO determination and global FG segregation.

In this paper, we have investigated the etching selectivity of HfN encapsulating layer for high quality PtHf-alloy silicide (PtHfSi) formation with low contact resistivity on Si(100). The HfN(10 nm)/PtHf(20 nm)/p-Si(100) stacked layer was in-situ deposited by RF-magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Then, silicidation was carried out at 500°C/20 min in N2/4.9%H2 ambient. Next, the HfN encapsulating layer was etched for 1-10 min by buffered-HF (BHF) followed by the unreacted PtHf metal etching. We have found that the etching duration of the 10-nm-thick HfN encapsulating layer should be shorter than 6 min to maintain the PtHfSi crystallinity. This is probably because the PtHf-alloy silicide was gradually etched by BHF especially for the Hf atoms after the HfN was completely removed. The optimized etching process realized the ultra-low contact resistivity of PtHfSi to p+/n-Si(100) and n+/p-Si(100) such as 9.4×10-9Ωcm2 and 4.8×10-9Ωcm2, respectively, utilizing the dopant segregation process. The control of etching duration of HfN encapsulating layer is important to realize the high quality PtHfSi formation with low contact resistivity.

We investigated the low temperature formation of Pd2Si on Si(100) with TiN encapsulating layer formed at 500°C/1 min. Furthermore, the dopant segregation process was performed with ion dose of 1x1015 cm-2 for B+. The uniform Pd2Si was successfully formed with low sheet resistance of 10.4 Ω/sq. Meanwhile, the PtSi formed on Si(100) showed rough surface morphology if the silicidation temperature was 500°C. The estimated Schottky barrier height to hole of 0.20 eV (qφBp) was realized for n-Si(100).

Recently, we proposed an interference-aware channel segregation based dynamic channel assignment (IACS-DCA). In IACS-DCA, each base station (BS) measures the instantaneous co-channel interference (CCI) power on each available channel, computes the moving average CCI power using past CCI measurement results, and selects the channel having the lowest moving average CCI power. In this way, the CCI-minimized channel reuse pattern can be formed. In this paper, we introduce the autocorrelation function of channel reuse pattern, the fairness of channel reuse, and the minimum co-channel BS distance to quantitatively examine the channel reuse pattern formed by the IACS-DCA. It is shown that the IACS-DCA can form a CCI-minimized channel reuse pattern in a distributed manner and that it improves the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) compared to the other channel assignment schemes.

A new type of sound source segregation method using robot-mounted microphones, which are free from strict head related transfer function (HRTF) estimation, has been proposed and successfully applied to three simultaneous speech recognition systems. The proposed segregation method is executed with sound intensity differences that are due to the particular arrangement of the four directivity microphones and the existence of a robot head acting as a sound barrier. The proposed method consists of three-layered signal processing: two-line SAFIA (binary masking based on the narrow band sound intensity comparison), two-line spectral subtraction and their integration. We performed 20 K vocabulary continuous speech recognition test in the presence of three speakers' simultaneous talk, and achieved more than 70% word error reduction compared with the case without any segregation processing.

In DS-CDMA cellular communications systems, the single frequency reuse can be utilized. Since large other-cell interference is produced, the well known soft handover or site diversity must be used. If the single frequency reuse is not utilized to avoid the other-cell interference, we will face the frequency allocation problem, similar to FDMA systems. In this paper, a DS-CDMA cellular system using band division is proposed. The available wide frequency band is divided into several narrow frequency bands and the different frequency bands are allocated to adjacent cells so as to avoid the large other-cell interference. For the frequency allocation, the channel segregation distributed channel allocation (CS-DCA) algorithm is applied. The link capacity is evaluated by computer simulation.

A wireless multi-hop virtual cellular network (VCN) was recently proposed to avoid the large peak transmit power, resulting from the high transmission rates expected for future mobile communication systems. In VCN, calls hop through several links to reach the central port, which is the gateway to the network. With the use of a routing algorithm based on the total uplink transmit power minimization criterion, the total transmit power of all the multi-hop links between the mobile terminal and the central port can be significantly reduced, in comparison with the present (single-hop) cellular network. In this paper, an "on-demand" channel assignment strategy, using the channel segregation dynamic channel allocation (CS-DCA) algorithm, is proposed for multi-hop DS-CDMA VCN. Computer simulation is conducted to evaluate the blocking probability performance and make a comparison between the VCN and the present cellular network.

In this paper, the channel segregation dynamic channel allocation (CS-DCA) scheme is applied to a multi-hop DS-CDMA virtual cellular network (VCN). After all multi-hop routes are constructed over distributed wireless ports in a virtual cell, the CS-DCA is carried out to allocate the channels to multi-hop up and down links. Each wireless port is equipped with a channel priority table. The transmit wireless port of each link initiates the CS-DCA procedure and selects a channel among available ones using its channel priority table to check. In this paper, the channel allocation failure rate is evaluated by computer simulation. It is shown that CS-DCA reduces remarkably the failure rate compared to FCA. The impact of propagation parameters on the failure rate is discussed.

The segregation of non-magnetic phases such as borosilicate and Cr was investigated by crystallization behavior during the surface and bulk crystallization of Co-based amorphous alloys. The concentration of metalloids (B and Si) determined the extent of grain boundary segregation of borosilicate glass during surface crystallization. During the bulk crystallization of (Co75Cr25)0.8Si5B15 amorphous alloy, solute rejection of Cr resulted in the nucleation of Cr-deficient ferromagnetic crystals and non-magnetic σ-phase was subsequently precipitated along the grain boundary. These results show that crystallization process, i.e. nucleation and growth can be controlled to optimize the microstructure to reduce media noises in Co-based recording media.

The implant-anneal cycle for B doping during Si device fabrication causes transient enhanced diffusion (TED) of B and the formation of small immobile B-interstitial clusters (BICs) which deactivate the B. Additionally, since modern ultrashallow devices put most of the B in immediate proximity of the Si/SiO2 interface, interface-dopant interactions like segregation become increasingly important. In this work, we use density-functional theory calculations to study TED, clustering, and segregation of B during annealing and discuss a continuum model which combines the TED and clustering results.

In the current digital mobile communication that is used in the micro cellular system, a Self-Organized Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) Method has been proposed to use frequencies effectively. However, its characteristics and operational matters have not been reported yet. This paper takes up the TDMA/TDD system used in the current PHS system and also evaluates the characteristics and operational matters of this method through the actual operational tests. In addition, this paper aims to propose a new DCA method in order to speed up the Channel Segregation and evaluates its effects through the actual operational tests.

The CDMA system can provide more capacity than other systems and the hierarchical layer of cells is required for system design to provide a balance between maximizing the number of users perfrequency band and minimizing the network control associated with handoff. However, the co-channel interference from microcell to macrocell and vice versa in such a two-tier structure is different from that in a homogeneous structure. In order to avoid the serious interference, different RF channels should be used in microcell and macrocell in hierarchical structure. The efficient usage of multi-channels for macrocell and microcell is of primary concern herein. In this study, we investigate the channel segregation in a two-tier cellular system. Moreover, we intentionally arrange the procedures for the MS in macrocell and microcell to choose the channel. The macrocell's (resp., microcell's ) channels to be accessed are sorted into three priority groups. In order to justify the merits of the proposed channel segregation method, we define the following three performance measures including capacity gain, response to the variation of traffic loading and system stability. Under the condition of steady-state traffic load, capacity gain is 10% on the average. If the traffic load vary, the system can respond quickly and retrieve the borrowed channels with 2tp time interval as long as appropriate system parameters are chosen.

We have developed a practical 3-D integrated process simulator (3-D MIPS) based on the orthogonal grid. 3-D MIPS has a 3-D topography simulator (3-D MULSS) and 3-D impurity simulator which simulates the processes of ion implantation, impurity diffusion and oxidation. In particular, its diffusion and segregation model is new and practical. It assumes the continuity of impurity concentration at the material boundary in order to coordinate with the topography simulator (3-D MULSS) with cells in which two or more kinds of materials exist. And then, we introduced a time-step control method using the Dufort-Frankel method of diffusion analysis for stable calculation, and a selective oxidation model to apply to more general structures than LOCOS structure. After that, the 3-D MIPS diffusion model is evaluated compared with experimental data. Finally, the 3-D MIPS is applied to 3-D simulations of the nMOS Tr. structure with LOCOS isolation, wiring interconnect and pn-junction capacitances, and DRAM storage node area.

The umbrella cell system, where the same radio system is used for microcells and overlaying macrocells, is a promising strategy for deploying microcell service to cope with the locally increased radio traffic. The interference at microcells due to macrocells can be compensated by increasing the transmit power of microcell. In this paper, a practical method to implementing a microcell system overlaid with an existing macrocell system is proposed. In order to engineer the radio resource planning for the underlaid microcells, transmit power design and application of Channel Segregation, a self-organized dynamic channel assignment, are proposed. By these techniques, the system channels are reused automatically while minimizing interference between macrocell and microcell systems, thereby communication quality of umbrella cell system can be improved. Furthermore, the prime advantage of the proposed method is that locally increased traffic is handled by the underlaid microcells without any extra effort for channel management.

With the rapid increase in recording density in recent years, the development of media with high coercivity and low noise has become an important issue in perpendicular as well as longitudinal recording. Compared with the CoCr binary system, the CoCrTa system is more effective in increasing coercivity. The increase in coercivity is due to not Ta segregation but to enhanced Cr segregation at column boundaries caused by Ta addition. When a Ti underlayer with uniform thickness was used, there was no improvement in c-axis alignment of the magnetic layers in CoCrTa and CoCrPt films, although the lattice mismatch of Co ternary alloys with Ti was much reduced compared with that of the CoCr film with Ti. This indicates that there may be no direct heteroepitaxial relationship between Ti underlayer and CoCr alloys at the Ti-Co alloy interface. In the case of the CoCrPt film, perpendicular coercivity increased linearly as Pt content increased up to 10at%. When Pt content was about 13at%, the shape of the M-H loop showed characteristics of domain wall motion reversal, which indicated strong exchange coupling among columns. When Ta content was increased to 4at% in the CoCrPt film, perpendicular coercivity increased and the shape of the M-H loop suggested that the domain wall motion reversal behavior was much reduced. This is thought to be associated with Cr segregation at column boundaries by Ta addition.

An algorithm for extracting fundamental frequencies from duet sounds is proposed. The algorithm is based on an acoustical feature that the temporal fluctuation patterns in frequency an power are similar for harmonic components composing a sound for a single musical note played on a single instrument with a single active vibrating source. The algorithm is applied to the sounds of 153 combinations of pair-notes played by a flute duet and a violin duet. Experimental results show that the zone-wize correct identification rate by pitch name are 98% for the flute duet and 95% for the violin duet in the best cases.

This paper reviews Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) in TDMA cellular systems. The emphasis is on distributed DCA, which features decentralized control and adaptability to interference. Performance measures are discussed not only from a theoretical viewpoint but also from a practical viewpoint. Major techniques to enhance the capacity of cellular systems are channel segregation, reuse-partitioning, and transmitter power control. In addition to the performance of conventional cellular systems, differing performance in microcellular systems and multi-layer cellular systems is also discussed.

Packet Reservation Multiple Access (PRMA) is emerging as a possible multiple access scheme for the forth-coming Personal Communication systems, due to its inherent flexibility and to its capability to exploit silence periods to perform a statistical multiplexing of traffic sources, often characterised by a high burstiness. On the other hand, the current trend in reducing cell sizes and the more complex traffic scenarios pose major planning problems, which are best coped with by adaptive allocation schemes. The identification of adaptive schemes suitable to operate on a shorter time scale, which is typical of packetised information, disclose a number of problems which are addressed in this paper. A viable solution is provided by a well-known self-adaptive assignment method (Channel Segregation), originally developed for FDMA systems, provided it is conveniently adapted for PRMA operation. Simulations show good performance, provided that values of some system variables are correctly chosen. These results encourage further studies in order to refine adaptive methods suitable for cellular, packet switched personal communications systems.