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Piero Malcovati

Other affiliations: Technical University of Denmark, TDK, STMicroelectronics  ...read more
Bio: Piero Malcovati is an academic researcher from University of Pavia. The author has contributed to research in topics: CMOS & Detector. The author has an hindex of 36, co-authored 356 publications receiving 5982 citations. Previous affiliations of Piero Malcovati include Technical University of Denmark & TDK.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents a complete set of blocks implemented in the popular MATLAB SIMULINK environment, which allows designers to perform time-domain behavioral simulations of switched-capacitor sigma-delta (/spl Sigma//spl Delta/) modulators.
Abstract: This paper presents a complete set of blocks implemented in the popular MATLAB SIMULINK environment, which allows designers to perform time-domain behavioral simulations of switched-capacitor (SC) sigma-delta (/spl Sigma//spl Delta/) modulators. The proposed set of blocks takes into account most of the SC /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulator nonidealities, such as sampling jitter, kT/C noise, and operational amplifier parameters (white noise, finite DC gain, finite bandwidth, slew rate and saturation voltages). For each block, a description of the considered effect as well as all of the implementative details are provided. The proposed simulation environment is validated by comparing the simulated behavior with the experimental results obtained from two actual circuits, namely a second-order low-pass and a sixth-order bandpass SC /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulator.

413 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A bandgap circuit capable of generating a reference voltage of 0.54 V is presented, implemented in a submicron BiCMOS technology, and achieves 5 ppm / K of accuracy without requiring additional operational amplifiers or complex circuits.
Abstract: We present a bandgap circuit capable of generating a reference voltage of 0.53 V. The circuit, implemented In a submicron BiCMOS technology, operates with a supply voltage of 1 V, consuming 92 /spl mu/W at room temperature. In the bandgap circuit proposed, we use a nonconventional operational amplifier which achieves virtually zero systematic offset, operating directly from the 1-V power supply. The bandgap architecture used allows a straightforward implementation of the curvature compensation method. The proposed circuit achieves 7.5 ppm/K of temperature coefficient and 212 ppm/V of supply voltage dependence, without requiring additional operational amplifiers or complex circuits for the curvature compensation.

387 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 Feb 2008
TL;DR: This SAR-ADC converter achieves 56fJ/conversion-step FOM with 58dB SNDR because it uses a comparator, named time-domainComparator, that instead of operating in the voltage domain, transforms the input and the reference voltages into pulses and compares their duration.
Abstract: The ADC-SAR is fabricated in a 0.18mum 2P5M CMOS process. This SAR-ADC converter achieves 56fJ/conversion-step FOM with 58dB SNDR. It uses a comparator, named time-domain comparator, that instead of operating in the voltage domain, transforms the input and the reference voltages into pulses and compares their duration.

241 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Marco Feroci1, Luigi Stella1, M. van der Klis2, T. J.-L. Courvoisier3  +201 moreInstitutions (41)
TL;DR: The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT) was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? LOFT, selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei.
Abstract: High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultradense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Thanks to an innovative design and the development of large-area monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board LOFT will achieve an effective area of ~12 m2 (more than an order of magnitude larger than any spaceborne predecessor) in the 2-30 keV range (up to 50 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of <260 eV, LOFT will yield unprecedented information on strongly curved spacetimes and matter under extreme conditions of pressure and magnetic field strength.

209 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Shuang-Nan Zhang1, Andrea Santangelo1, Andrea Santangelo2, Marco Feroci3  +150 moreInstitutions (21)
TL;DR: The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism and will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects.
Abstract: In this paper we present the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP. eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. The mission aims at determining the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, measuring effects of QED, and understanding the dynamics of matter in strong-field gravity. In addition to investigating fundamental physics, eXTP will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects. In particular, its wide field monitoring capabilities will be highly instrumental to detect the electro-magnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources. The paper provides a detailed description of: (1) the technological and technical aspects, and the expected performance of the instruments of the scientific payload; (2) the elements and functions of the mission, from the spacecraft to the ground segment.

206 citations


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01 Sep 2010

2,148 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: AGILE as discussed by the authors is an ASI space mission developed with programmatic support by INAF and INFN, which includes data gathered with the 1 meter Swope and 6.5 meter Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.
Abstract: This program was supported by the the Kavli Foundation, Danish National Research Foundation, the Niels Bohr International Academy, and the DARK Cosmology Centre. The UCSC group is supported in part by NSF grant AST-1518052, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, generous donations from many individuals through a UCSC Giving Day grant, and from fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (R.J.F.), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (R.J.F. and E.R.) and the Niels Bohr Professorship from the DNRF (E.R.). AMB acknowledges support from a UCMEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowship. Support for this work was provided by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grants HST-HF-51348.001 (B.J.S.) and HST-HF-51373.001 (M.R.D.) awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. This paper includes data gathered with the 1 meter Swope and 6.5 meter Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.r (AGILE) The AGILE Team thanks the ASI management, the technical staff at the ASI Malindi ground station, the technical support team at the ASI Space Science Data Center, and the Fucino AGILE Mission Operation Center. AGILE is an ASI space mission developed with programmatic support by INAF and INFN. We acknowledge partial support through the ASI grant No. I/028/12/2. We also thank INAF, Italian Institute of Astrophysics, and ASI, Italian Space Agency.r (ANTARES) The ANTARES Collaboration acknowledges the financial support of: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat a l'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives (CEA), Commission Europeenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), IdEx program and UnivEarthS Labex program at Sorbonne Paris Cite (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02), Labex OCEVU (ANR-11-LABX-0060) and the A*MIDEX project (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02), Region Ile-de-France (DIM-ACAV), Region Alsace (contrat CPER), Region Provence-Alpes-Cite d'Azur, Departement du Var and Ville de La Seyne-sur-Mer, France; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the Netherlands; Council of the President of the Russian Federation for young scientists and leading scientific schools supporting grants, Russia; National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), Romania;...

1,270 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize the current knowledge of neutron-star masses and radii and show that the distribution of neutron star masses is much wider than previously thought, with three known pulsars now firmly in the 1.9-2.0-M⊙ mass range.
Abstract: We summarize our current knowledge of neutron-star masses and radii. Recent instrumentation and computational advances have resulted in a rapid increase in the discovery rate and precise timing of radio pulsars in binaries in the past few years, leading to a large number of mass measurements. These discoveries show that the neutron-star mass distribution is much wider than previously thought, with three known pulsars now firmly in the 1.9–2.0-M⊙ mass range. For radii, large, high-quality data sets from X-ray satellites as well as significant progress in theoretical modeling led to considerable progress in the measurements, placing them in the 10–11.5-km range and shrinking their uncertainties, owing to a better understanding of the sources of systematic errors. The combination of the massive-neutron-star discoveries, the tighter radius measurements, and improved laboratory constraints of the properties of dense matter has already made a substantial impact on our understanding of the composition and bulk p...

1,082 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory is presented, and the current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories is summarized.
Abstract: One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity (GR) has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are theoretical and experimental reasons to believe that GR should be modified when gravitational fields are strong and spacetime curvature is large. The best astrophysical laboratories to probe strong-field gravity are black holes and neutron stars, whether isolated or in binary systems. We review the motivations to consider extensions of GR. We present a (necessarily incomplete) catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory, and we summarize our current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories. We discuss current bounds on modified gravity from binary pulsar and cosmological observations, and we highlight the potential of future gravitational wave measurements to inform us on the behavior of gravity in the strong-field regime.

1,066 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a 1.5-V, 10-bit, 14.3-MS/s pipeline analog-to-digital converter was implemented in a 0.6/spl mu/m CMOS technology.
Abstract: A 1.5-V, 10-bit, 14.3-MS/s pipeline analog-to-digital converter was implemented in a 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. Emphasis was placed on observing device reliability constraints at low voltage. MOS switches were implemented without low-threshold devices by using a bootstrapping technique that does not subject the devices to large terminal voltages. The converter achieved a peak signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio of 58.5 dB, maximum differential nonlinearity of 11.5 least significant bit (LSB), maximum integral nonlinearity of 0.7 LSB, and a power consumption of 36 mW.

966 citations