Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Alessandro Paolo Bramanti

Alberto Pagani

Lillo Raia

Marco Cereda

Marco Angelo Bianchessi

Antonello Santangelo

Nadia Serina

Francesco Ferrara

Alessandro Cocci

Danilo Pirola

Pietro Ferrari

Davide Cucchi

Pier Giorgio Cozzi

Lorenzo Bruno

Luca Zoli

A solid reagent containment unit is formed by a support; a frame body fixed to the support and delimiting internally, together with the support, an analysis volume; a reagent-adhesion structure within the analysis volume; and at least one reagent cavity, which extends within the reagent-adhesion structure. The reagent-adhesion structure is of an adhesion material embossable at temperatures lower by 6-8° C. than its own melting point and has a melting point such as not to interfere with the analysis. The reagent cavity forms a retention wall, laterally surrounding the reagent cavity, and houses dried reagents. The adhesion material is chosen among wax, such as paraffin, a polymer, such as polycaprolactone, a solid fat, such as cocoa butter, and a gel, such as hydrogel or organogel.

Solid reagent containment unit, in particular for a transportable microfluidic device for sample preparation and molecule analysis

A method and system for rotating a vector, including at least one lookup table (LUT) including data corresponding to the vector being rotated around a first angle and a second angle, processing circuitry configured for accessing the at least one LUT for incrementally rotating the vector around the first and second angles, where accessing includes identifying an LUT input entry and selecting a corresponding LUT output entry, the corresponding output entry including an incremental angular rotation (IAR) of the vector around the first angle or the second angle, and a comparator configured to generate a comparator signal based upon comparing a counter incremented by the IAR with the first angle or the second angle, the processing circuitry further configured to iteratively access the at least one LUT, based on the comparator signal, for completing the incremental rotation of the vector around the first angle and the second angle.

System and method for performing vector rotation

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a power device including at least one first conductive element adapted to generate a magnetic field when traversed by a current, and characterised in that it further comprises a Hall sensor electrically insulated from the first conductive element. The sensor and the first conductive element are mutually arranged so as to detect said magnetic field indicative of the current that traverses the first conductive element.

Power device, system including the power device, method for manufacturing the power device, and method for controlling the power device

Approximation circuitry utilizes bitwise operations on operands to provide approximate results of operations on the operands. A significant digit detector utilizes bitwise operations on the received operands to identify or detect approximate most significant bits in the operands, and then utilizes these identified most significant bits to generate approximate values for each of the operands. Intermediate registers receive and store the approximate values from the significant digit detector. A combinatorial network, such as a lookup table (LUT), thereafter utilizes the approximate values stored in the intermediate registers to generate an approximate result. The approximate result has a value that is an approximate value of a given operation, such as multiplication or division, on the operands provided to the significant digit detector.

Bitwise digital circuit and method for performing approximate operations

A solid reagent containment unit is formed by a support; a frame body fixed to the support and delimiting internally, together with the support, an analysis volume; a reagent-adhesion structure within the analysis volume; and at least one reagent cavity, which extends within the reagent-adhesion structure. The reagent-adhesion structure is of an adhesion material embossable at temperatures lower by 6-8&#xb0; C. than its own melting point and has a melting point such as not to interfere with the analysis. The reagent cavity forms a retention wall, laterally surrounding the reagent cavity, and houses dried reagents. The adhesion material is chosen among wax, such as paraffin, a polymer, such as polycaprolactone, a solid fat, such as cocoa butter, and a gel, such as hydrogel or organogel.

Solid reagent containment unit, in particular for a portable microfluidic device for sample preparation and molecule analysis

Various embodiments provide a triaxial magnetic sensor, formed on or in a substrate of semiconductor material having a surface that includes a sensing portion and at least one first and one second sensing wall, which are not coplanar to each other. The sensing portion and the first sensing wall form a first solid angle, the sensing portion and the second sensing wall form a second solid angle, and the first sensing wall and the second sensing wall form a third solid angle. A first Hall-effect magnetic sensor extends at least partially over the sensing portion, a second Hall-effect magnetic sensor extends at least partially over the first sensing wall, and a third Hall-effect magnetic sensor extends at least partially over the second sensing wall.

Triaxial magnetic sensor for measuring magnetic fields, and manufacturing process thereof

Embodiments are directed to electrically confined ballistic devices, circuits, and networks. One such device includes a heterostructure that has a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer, and a two-dimensional electrode gas (2DEG) layer between the first and second semiconductor layers. The device further includes an input electrode electrically coupled to the 2DEG layer and an output electrode electrically coupled to the 2DEG layer. A first confinement electrode is positioned on the heterostructure. The first confinement electrode, in use, generates first space charge regions which at least partially define a boundary of the ballistic device within the 2DEG layer between the input electrode and the output electrode in response to a first voltage.

Electrically confined ballistic devices and methods

Systems and devices are provided to perform low-power digital filtering of sensor or other data based on bitwise operations. A reference sinusoid is encoded via a plurality of pulse trains, such that each pulse train includes a number of pulses n representing a value of the reference sinusoid out of a maximum possible pulses corresponding to an encoding quantization level. A circular register stores a representation of the encoded sinusoid. A set of multiple logical gate blocks are configured to multiply, via one or more bitwise operations, each of multiple bits of a received input signal with a pulse train corresponding to a value of the encoded sinusoid. A logic circuit coupled to the circular register and the set of multiple logical gate blocks is configured to generate, based on the encoded sinusoid and on the input signal, an output signal indicating an approximate value of the received input signal multiplied by the encoded sinusoid.

Low-power digital signal processing

A sample treatment and molecule analysis cartridge is configured to be mounted in a treatment machine vertically. The cartridge has a sample inlet opening, a fluidic inlet, and a fluidic outlet. The cartridge houses an extraction chamber extending vertically from the sample inlet opening and connected to the fluidic inlet; a waste chamber extending vertically, alongside the extraction chamber; and a collector extending along the extraction chamber and the waste chamber and having a smaller height than the extraction chamber and the waste chamber. A fluidic circuit connects together the extraction chamber, the waste chamber, the collector, the fluidic inlet, and the fluidic outlet, and is configured to connect the fluidic outlet to vent openings of the extraction chamber, the waste chamber, and the collector, and to connect the bottom end of the extraction chamber to the fluidic inlet, the waste chamber, and the collector.

Cartridge for sample preparation and molecule analysis, cartridge control machine, sample preparation system and method using the cartridge

A device includes a particle propagation channel, a particle deflector, a particle source, and a particle sink. The particle deflector facilitates ballistic transport of particles from a particle inflow portion through a particle flow deflection portion to a particle outflow portion. The particle deflector is arranged at the particle flow deflection portion and is activatable to deflect particles in the flow deflection portion and is configured to selectively prevent the particles from reaching the particle outflow portion. The particle source and particle sink are configured to cause a current path of the particles through the device.

Ballistic transport device and corresponding component

Embodiments are directed to two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)-confined 2DEG devices and methods. One such device includes a substrate and a heterostructure on the substrate. The heterostructure includes a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer, and a 2DEG layer between the first and second semiconductor layers. The device further includes a 2DEG device having a conduction channel in the 2DEG layer. An isolation electrode overlies the heterostructure and at least partially surrounds a periphery of the 2DEG device. The isolation electrode, in use, interrupts the 2DEG layer in response to an applied voltage.

Two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)-confined devices and methods

An integrated fluidic circuit has a supporting surface that carries a first fluid to be moved at a first functional region; a dielectric structure, defining the supporting surface; and an electrode structure, coupled to the dielectric structure for generating an electric field at the first functional region, such as to modify electrowetting properties of the interface between the first fluid and the supporting surface. The dielectric structure has a first spatially variable dielectric profile at the first functional region, thus determining a corresponding spatially variable profile of the electric field, and, consequently, of the electrowetting properties of the interface between the first fluid and the supporting surface. The integrated fluidic circuit may achieve mixing between the first fluid and a second fluid.

Integrated microfluidic circuit with electrowetting-based operation and corresponding microfluidic system

A method for sequencing a nucleic acid strand, comprising the steps of: providing a solution containing truncated strands having lengths different from one another terminating with a respective dideoxynucleotide from among ddATP, ddTTP, ddGTP, and ddCTP; functionalizing first masses by a donor molecule and second masses by an acceptor molecule such as to generate a light emission when they come into mutual contact; coupling a first mass to a first end of each truncated strand; coupling the second masses to a respective terminal dideoxynucleotide of each strand; applying an AC electrical field having variable frequencies that are such as to generate, on each second mass, a net movement directed towards the first mass; acquiring a plurality of light radiations for each frequency value; and associating each light radiation acquired to a respective dideoxynucleotide and, thus, to a respective nucleotide base.

Device for nucleic acid sequencing

A rigid mask protects selective portions of a chip including a plurality of wells for biochemical reactions. The rigid mask includes a supporting portion and a plurality of legs, where each leg is provided with a rigid stem and a plate. The plurality of legs are arranged and fixed with respect to the supporting portion in a way aligned to the spatial arrangement of the wells, and are configured in such a way that, when each leg is inserted into the corresponding well, the respective plate covers at least in part the bottom of the well, protecting it during a chemical/physical treatment of side walls of the wells.

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Maglie, Italy

Alessandro Paolo Bramanti