• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.173-178
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• 2024

We present an improved biphasic electrical nerve stimulator designed to overcome limitations. Traditional electrical nerve stimulators lacking a microcontroller unit (MCU) have restrictions in terms of frequency, pulse duration, and amplitude control, making them insufficient for medical applications requiring a broader range of pulse specifications. To address this, we developed a stimulator with enhanced capabilities. By not using an MCU, the design reduces power consumption and the required area, simplifying the overall design and increasing efficiency. In addition, our approach optimizes oscillator parameters to achieve wide frequency and pulse duration ranges. Specifically, we expanded the frequency range of the stimulator up to from 1 mHz to 100 kHz and the pulse duration up to from 5 ㎲ to 500 s. Improved amplitude control mechanisms were implemented for adjustable and high biphasic amplitudes. Furthermore, we added a balancing circuit to ensure proper discharging for tissue safety when biphasic pulses do not occur. The improved stimulator demonstrated an increase in operational range compared to traditional MCU-less designs, producing consistent biphasic pulses with adjustable amplitude and duration. The balancing circuit effectively managed discharging, reducing the risk of tissue damage and ensuring safety and efficacy.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.44-52
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• 2007

In this study, design and control method using low cost Micro-controller(MCU) for inverter driving circuit in fluorescence lamp is presented. Soft starting technique is adopted to reduce switching loss and moment deterioration which are induced by high speed switching frequency in inverter ballast. Performance of the ballast stabilizer and the lighting characteristic of the fluorescence lamp have been improved by stabilizing switching pulses through the Pulse Width Modulation control.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.132-139
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• 2020

The ionizer module used in this air cleaner supplies high voltages of 3.5KV / -4KV to the discharge electrode HV+ / HV- using a winding transformer to generate positive and negative ions by electric field radiation of carbon fiber brush. The ionizer module circuit using the existing MCU has the disadvantage of large PCB size and expensive price, and the gate driver chip using the existing ring oscillator has oscillation period sensitive to PVT (Process-Voltage-Temperature) fluctuation and there is risk of fire or electric shock because there is no fault detection function by short circuit of HV+ and GND as well as HV- and GND. Therefore, in this paper, even though PVT fluctuates, by using 7-bit binary up counter, HV+ voltage reaches the target voltage by adjusting oscillation period. And an HV+ short fault detection circuit for detecting a short circuit between HV+ and GND, an HV- short fault detection circuit for detecting a short circuit between HV- and GND, and an OVP (Over-Voltage Protection) for detecting that HV+ rises above an overvoltage are newly proposed.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.316-324
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• 2010

In this paper, we design a 256 kbits EEPROM for a MCU (Microcontroller unit) with the wide voltage range of 1.8 V to 5.5 V. The memory space of the EEPROM is separated into a program and data region. An option memory region is added for storing user IDs, serial numbers and so forth. By making HPWs (High-voltage P-wells) of EEPROM cell arrays with the same bias voltages in accordance with the operation modes shared in a double word unit, we can reduce the HPW-to-HPW space by a half and hence the area of the EEPROM cell arrays by 9.1 percent. Also, we propose a page buffer circuit reducing a test time, and a write-verify-read mode securing a reliability of the EEPROM. Furthermore, we propose a DC-DC converter that can be applied to a MCU with the wide voltage range. Finally, we come up with a method of obtaining the oscillation period of a charge pump. The layout size of the designed 256 kbits EEPROM IP with MagnaChip's 0.18 ${\mu}m$ EEPROM process is $1581.55{\mu}m{\times}792.00{\mu}m$.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.2820-2827
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• 2015

HSMS communication system using low-cost micro controller units(MCUs) is an essential technique for online semiconductor equipment system developments. It is intended as an alternative to SEMI E4 (SECS-I) for applications where higher speed communication is needed and the facilitated hardware setup is convenient. In this paper, an HSMS communication system using low-cost MCUS is designed and implemented. Using a MCU with a low price but high-performance as a main board, a module which processes HSMS communication is designed, and a circuit is designed to process BCR independently with a microminiature MCU. To convert tag data which is recognized from BCR into data based on HSMS communication protocol, SECS-II message is designed. Lastly, an HSMS communication system is implemented based on these designs. A low-cost HSMS communication module developed in this study can be applied in realtime monitoring and controlling system for semiconductor processes.

• The Magazine of the IEIE
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.31-41
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• 1998

With the advent of portable electronic systems, power consumption has recently become a major issue in circuit and system design. Furthermore, the sophisticated fabrication technology makes it possible to embed more functions and features in a VLSI chip, consequently calling for both higher performance and lower power to deal with the ever growing complexity of system algorithms than in the past. VLSI designers should cope with two conflicting constraints, high performance and low power, offering an optimum trade off of these constraints to meet requirements of system. Historically, VLSI designers have focused on performance improvement, and power dissipation was not a design criteria but an afterthought. This design paradigm should be changed, as power is emerging as the most critical design constraint. In VLSI design, low power design can be accomplished through many ways, for instance, process, circuit/logic design, architectural design, and etc.. In this paper, a few low power design examples, which have been used in 8 bit micro-controller core, and can be used also in 4/16/32 bit micro-controller cores, are presented in the areas of circuit, logic and architectural design. We first propose a low power guidelines for micro-controller design in SAMSUNG, and more detailed design examples are followed applying 4 specific design guidelines. The 1st example shows the power reduction through reduction of number of state clocks per instruction. The 2nd example realized the power reduction by applying RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) concept. The 3rd example is to optimize the algorithm for ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit) to lower the power consumption, Lastly, circuit cells designed for low power are described.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.515-519
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• 2022

In this paper, we propose the development of a high-sensitivity entry-level nuclide analysis module. The proposed measurement sensor module consists of an electronic driving circuit for nuclide analysis resolution, prototype production with nuclide analysis function, and GUI development applied to prototypes. The electronic part driving circuit for nuclide analysis resolution is divided into nuclide analysis resolution process by the electronic part driving circuit block diagram, MCU circuit design used for radiation measurement, and PC program design for Spectrum acquisition. Prototyping with nuclide analysis function is made by adding a 128×128 pixel OLED display, three buttons for operation, a Li-ion battery, and a USB-C type port for charging the battery. The GUI development department applied to the prototype develops the screen composition such as the current time, elapsed measurement time, total count, and nuclide Spectrum. To evaluate the performance of the proposed measurement sensor module, an expert witness test was conducted. As a result of the test, it was confirmed that the calculated result by applying the resolution formula to the Spectrum (FWHM@662keV) obtained using the Cs-137 standard source in the nuclide analysis device had a resolution of 17.77%. Therefore, it was confirmed that the nuclide analysis resolution method proposed in this paper produces improved performance while being cheaper than the existing commercial nuclide analysis module.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.274-282
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose the design of lighting control algorithm for intelligent LED lighting system. The proposed lighting control algorithm transmitted to MCU through a data bus the environmental information detected from respectively sensor node. The MCU control software was designed to determine the level maintained to depending on the set control method by comparing the results that calculated the dimming level using a signal value. Also, it was designed to be lighting by cross-performed periodically the rotation and reverse method by created fully symmetrical pattern using the control algorithm to LED lighting device. In this paper, the proposed lighting control algorithm improved the reliability of the data sent by designed the system that can be controlled lighting to stable, and it was maintained the event delivery ratio of 91%. Also, the lighting device was decreased the luminous intensity of 32%, the power consumption of 49%, and heat generation of 32%. As a result, it were could be improved the energy efficiency that the life-cycle of LED has been increased 50%.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.569-574
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• 2010

The full bridge converter have been used for high power system that is needed to switch the big current. So, EMI and stability problem is occurred. The Soft switching method is the solution to solve the above problem, But implementation of soft switching(ZVS: Zero Voltage Switching) is so complicate and expensive because of the DSP MCU and shift circuit. In this paper, we introduce the technical method for driving circuit of ZVS full bridge converter with 1st order delay circuit and logic elements. The realization of this method is so simple and cheap. The effectiveness of the proposed circuit is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.297-303
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• 2012

In this study, voltammetry system for realizing high sensitivity nano-labeled sensor of detecting heavy metals was designed, and optimal system operating conditions were determined. High precision digital to analog converter (DAC) circuit was designed to control applied unit voltage at working electrode and analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit was designed to measure the current range of $0.1{\sim}1000{\mu}A$ at counter electrode. Main control unit (MCU) circuit for controlling voltammetry system with 150 MHz clock speed, main memory circuit for the mathematical operation processing of the measured current value and independent power circuit for analog/digital circuit parts to reduce various noise were designed. From result of voltammetry system operation, oxidation current peaks which are proportional to the concentrations of Zn, Cd and Pb ions were found at each oxidation potential with high precision.