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Since its beginning in 1992 in Japan, International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM) has provided unique opportunities to share the best practices of semiconductor manufacturing technologies for professionals. At the symposiums, semiconductor manufacturing professionals discussed the technologies developed to meet the worldwide requirements for advanced manufacturing. It is becoming crucial to re-examine semiconductor manufacturing in terms of fundamental principles to improve the performance of semiconductor devices. Moreover, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to improve semiconductor manufacturing have become a new challenge. These manufacturing technology challenges are showing the need for drastic revolutionary concept and stronger collaborative efforts to find solutions to the precompetitive challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with conventional porcelain bushings, polymeric ones are light and therefore possess improved seismic performance. They are also explosion proof with no scattering when broken and are highly stain resistant. In particular, the polymeric bushings coated with silicone rubber show good voltage resistance performance, even when covered with salt deposits. That is, by covering the surface with silicone rubber, the hydrophobic nature of the polymer bushing becomes excellent. This reduces the risk of the occurrence of surface arc discharges and flashovers. Therefore, as shown in Figure 1, the length of a typical polymer bushing insulated with pressurized SF6 can be reduced significantly compared with a conventional porcelain bushing insulated with oil-impregnated paper (OIP) of the same voltage class. The weight can be reduced drastically as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a prototype transmitter and receiver with set partitioning (SP)-64 amplitude and phase shift keying (APSK) coded modulation we developed for expanding satellite transmission capacity. SP-multi-level coded modulation is a transmission scheme that can improve noise immunity by properly combining a modulation scheme, bit allocation, and error-correction codes. We designed SP-64APSK coded modulation on the basis of channel capacity for expanding satellite transmission capacity. We confirmed that it has higher robustness to additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) than DVB-S2X’s 64APSK modulation with Gray mapping through computer simulation. We also developed a prototype transmitter and receiver to implement our SP-64APSK coded modulation and evaluated its transmission performances in an AWGN channel and in a non-linear channel simulating 12-GHz-band satellite transponder characteristics. We describe the method of designing our SP-64APSK coded modulation through computer simulation, the modulation/demodulation process, and transmission performances of the prototype transmitter and receiver. We also indicate that 8K ultra-high definition television (UHDTV) with an encoded bit rate of 150 Mbps can be transmitted using the prototype within 34.5 MHz, which is the bandwidth of a single transponder for satellite broadcasting in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nine toroidal field (TF) coils have been developed in Japan for the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). The joint resistance of TF coil should satisfy the requirement of smaller than 3 nano-ohm at 2 T of external magnetic field and 68 kA of transport current. Full-size joint sample (FSJS) tests were performed for joint development and for TF coil manufacture, as part of the process control. 11 FSJS tests are conducted in total. FSJS tests were conducted with assistance from a test faculty in the National Institute for Fusion Science as reported in a previous paper. All FSJS tests successfully satisfied the requirement of resistance less than 3 nΩ at 2 T. Additionally, the TF coil joints are subjected to cyclic electromagnetic force and warm-up/cool-down during the ITER operation. The authors investigated the joint performance for the abovementioned influence. The results showed no degradation in the joint resistance. Thus, the TF joint developed in Japan was qualified successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its beginning in 1992 in Japan, International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM) has provided unique opportunities to share the best practices of semiconductor manufacturing technologies for professionals. At the symposiums, semiconductor manufacturing professionals discussed the technologies developed to meet the worldwide requirements for advanced manufacturing. It is becoming crucial to re-examine semiconductor manufacturing in terms of fundamental principles to improve the performance of semiconductor devices. Moreover, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to improve semiconductor manufacturing have become a new challenge. These manufacturing technology challenges are showing the need for drastic revolutionary concept and stronger collaborative efforts to find solutions to the precompetitive challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a synthesis of a novel dynamic incentive mechanism and optimal control for moral hazard in power grids with real-time power balancing markets. For the liberalization of the balancing markets, it is an indispensable requirement to integrate dynamic subsystems controlled by individual agents into a stabilized power grid via an incentive mechanism. Meanwhile, without the proper use of the agents’ private information, high-speed market-clearing achieving an appropriate social objective cannot be ensured. Consequently, a market mechanism is needed that contains some dynamic incentive mechanisms for eliciting their private information and proper controls under moral hazard, which is called incentivizing market in this article. Drawing on dynamic contract theory in microeconomics, a novel method for designing the incentivizing market is proposed on the basis of the integration of economic models and a dynamic grid model. Conventional contract problems have been analyzed for both static and dynamic systems whose control inputs are operated directly by an independent system operator. However, these analyses do not accord with the design for the dynamic incentive mechanism in the incentivizing market. The approach in this article requires adapting the dynamic contract problems to the market. To achieve this objective, the fundamental formulas for optimal design are established and the basic properties of the designed market based on a model-based approach are clarified. We next propose optimal pricing and control synthesis for social-objective designs. The performance of our proposed method is illustrated through simulations with an Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ) East 30-machine system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the use of electricity in Japan began as telecommunication, which started in 1869, one year after the Meiji Restoration. The first electric arc lamp shone in Ginza, Tokyo, in 1882, the same year as the start of operation of Edison's Pearl Street Power Plant in New York. Only four years later (1886), Tokyo Electric Light Company, one of the predecessors of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, started its business as the first electric power company in Japan. Many similar companies started their businesses in the following several years. In these early days, electric power companies in eastern Japan imported 50-Hz generators from Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) in Germany, and those in western Japan imported 60-Hz generators from General Electric Company in the United States. From this historical background, AC 50 Hz is still used in eastern Japan and 60 Hz in western Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now in his second retirement, Dr. Toshikatsu Tanaka finally has time to delve into Japanese history, practice tai chi, and reflect on his career. Not that he has stopped working; he is simply working a little less. In a conversation covering everything from Portuguese desserts to philosophy, we discussed his devotion to research and a passion for sharing knowledge. His is a career defined by scientific study and elevated by collaboration. While conducting internationally recognized research, he connected Japan's scientists with the rest of the world, helping advance his country's power industry, shining a light on their own research, and developing life-long friendships along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the News from Japan column in the March/April 2021 issue [1], a brief introduction of the Ninth International Symposium on Electrical Insulating Material (ISEIM) was described. It was also described that the $Q(t)$ method developed by Prof. Tatsuo Takada of Tokyo City University had been introduced in a seminar taking place in the Ninth ISEIM. As mentioned in that column, the principle of the $Q(t)$ method itself is well known. However, this revisited method is very innovative and truly useful. Regarding this, although a measurement example of the $Q(t)$ method was briefly introduced in the above March/April issue, more examples are being introduced in detail in this issue and the next issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 1988 Prof. Yoshi Ohki wrote his first “News from Japan” column. Since then he has contributed a column to every issue of the magazine over the past 34 years! It is rare for a volunteer to have such a sustained effect on a publication, and both the past editors in chief and the current IEEE DEIS executive want to acknowledge Yoshi's amazing commitment to the magazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]