New Generation of Crystal Quartz Thin-Film Multijunction Thermal Converters
The design of a new generation of planar multijunction thermal converters (PMJTCs) on quartz membranes and on quartz crystal chips improves the frequency response of the PMJTC in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 100 MHz and allows a decrease in the uncertainties. For a heater resistance of 1 kOmega ac-dc voltage transfer differences smaller than 5 muV/V are calculated for frequencies above 100 kHz up to 1 MHz. This is a reduction of more than one order of magnitude in the ac-dc voltage transfer differences for such high heater resistance in comparison to the PMJTCs with Si3N4/SiO2/Si3N4 sandwich membrane on a silicon chip. The quartz PMJTCs allow the improvement of the standard uncertainties to 3 muV/V in the frequency range of 100-500 kHz and 5 muV/V for 700 kHz to 1 MHz. The model for calculating the ac-dc voltage transfer differences and the uncertainty budget are given
Advanced thermal sensors for precision AC voltage metrology
We describe a new generation of thermal sensors for the measurement of ac voltages at frequencies up to 100 MHz. Electronics grade fused silica has been selected as a substrate material because it is significantly more robust than the previous generation of crystalline quartz, yet retains excellent dielectric properties. We report the design and fabrication of the new sensors, including the method of forming thin membranes, and present results for two sensor designs. Our latest devices show a reduction in the RF-DC of more than an order of magnitude over traditional high-frequency thermal sensors. We anticipate that the new sensors will enable significant reductions in the uncertainties in the NIST calibration service for RF-DC thermal converters.
In search of optimum chest radiography techniques.
A nation-wide study of chest radiography in Sweden had previously revealed a large variation in the physical and technical factors involved, in particular the radiation dose. In this study the image quality could not be assessed unambiguously. The aim of the present study was to try to establish a correlation between visual grading of radiographs and physical and technical factors in order to find the optimum chest X-ray system. The physical and technical performance of 24 chest units was evaluated. Radiographs were taken of an anthropomorphic chest phantom supplied with test structures simulating various pathologies. Image quality was assessed by visual grading analysis of the radiographs. The physical and technical parameters of the units rated best were used to exemplify good radiographic practice. The results were in agreement with the recommendations issued by the Commission of the European Communities (CEC). It was also shown that low radiation dose is compatible with high-quality radiographic imaging of the chest.