The fortress of Noviodunum on the lower Danube guarded the border of both the Roman and the Byzantine empires. The Noviodunum Archaeological Project, based in the Institute of Archaeology, is an international collaborative project with the primary aim of investigating the changing economic relations between the fortress, its hinterland and the wider Mediterranean world. The project began in 2000 and the final season of fieldwork will take place in 2009. In this article the directors describe the work of the last four seasons and present preliminary conclusions.

Single-spin measurement represents a major challenge for spin-based quantum computation. In this paper, we propose a new method for measuring the spin of a single electron confined in a quantum dot (QD). Our strategy is based on entangling (using unitary gates) the spin and orbital degrees of freedom. An 'orbital qubit', defined by a second, empty QD, is used as an ancilla and is prepared in a known initial state. Measuring the orbital qubit will reveal the state of the (unknown) initial spin qubit, hence reducing the problem to the easier task of single charge measurement. Since spin-charge conversion is done with unit probability, single-shot measurement of an electronic spin can be, in principle, achieved. We evaluate the robustness of our method against various sources of error and discuss possible implementations.

We describe and discuss a solid state proposal for quantum computation with mobile spin qubits in one-dimensional systems, based on recent advances in spintronics. Static electric fields are used to implement a universal set of quantum gates, via the spin-orbit and exchange couplings. Initialization and measurement can be performed either by spin injection from/to ferromagnets, or by using spin filters and mesoscopic spin polarizing beam-splitters. The vulnerability of this proposal to various sources of error is estimated by numerical simulations. We also assess the suitability of various materials currently used in nanotechnology for an actual implementation of our model.

This paper examines the behaviour of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) LIGBTs and LDMOSes under unclamped inductive switching (UIS). Surprisingly, it is found that LIGBTs can absorb much less UIS current than LDMOSes, specifically only between one-half and one-third. Two-dimensional device simulation showed that this was because hole injection from the LIGBT anode during turn-off changed the potential distribution within the device, leading to field concentration beneath the gate and hence premature failure of the gate. This has an important impact on the choice of a power device in a power integrated circuit, and its design

A power integrated circuit process has been developed, based on silicon-on-insulator, which allows intelligent CMOS control circuitry to be placed alongside integrated high-voltage power devices. A breakdown voltage of 335V has been obtained by using a silicon layer of 4μm thickness together with a buried oxide layer of 3μm thickness. The respective LDMOS specific on-resistance and LIGBT on-state voltage for this breakdown voltage were 148mΩcm2 and 3.9V, respectively.

A new extraction method for source series resistance and mobility reduction coefficient with transverse field, based on the MOSFET transconductance modeling in the saturation region, is reported. The simple associated transconductance model also appears to be extremely useful for optimal parameter extraction. The proposed method is validated on partially depleted SIMOX MOSFETs.

A new and simple extraction method for source series resistance and mobility reduction coefficient with the gate transverse field, based on the MOSFET transconductance modeling in the saturation region, is reported. The proposed procedure is validated on partially depleted SIMOX MOSFETs.

This paper gives a critical review of some of the most widely used series resistance extraction methods based essentially on static curves revealed by state-of-the-art bipolar transistors: polysilicon-emitter bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) with “normal” (Al) and TiSi2 contacts. An unusual current-dependence of series resistances in polysilicon emitter transistors is also reported