The impact of etched trenches geometry and dielectric material on the electrical behaviour of silicon-on-insulator self-switching diodes

Hole electrical transport in a p-doped nanochannel defined between two L-shape etched trenches made on a silicon-on-insulator substrate is investigated using a TCAD-Medici simulator. We study the impact of the etched trenches' geometry and dielectric filling materials on the current-voltage characteristics of the device. Carrier accumulation on frontiers defined by the trenches causes a modulation of the hole density inside the conduction channel as the bias voltage varies and this gives rise to a diode-like characteristic. For a 1.2?μm-long channel, plots of the electric field distribution show that a nonlinear transport regime is reached at a moderate reverse and forward bias of ± 2?V. Plots of the carrier velocity along the conduction channel show that holes remain hot for a few hundreds of nm outside the nanometre-wide channel, at a bias of ± 10?V. Filling the etched trenches with a high-κ dielectric material gives rise to a lower threshold voltage, V(th). A similar decrease of V(th) is also achieved by reducing the longitudinal and/or the transverse trench width. Our simulation results provide useful design guidelines for future integrated self-switching-diode-based circuits.     

平面应变模具尺寸差对金属流变及其力能的影响

采用MARC/Superform有限元软件对平面应变压缩过程进行了二维有限元分析,分析了上下模具尺寸不相等时,对金属流变规律及其力能参数的影响.同时应用滑移线场理论对端部的滑移线场进行了分析,分析了金属的流动情况,进一步验证了有限元模拟结果的可靠性.研究结果显示:模具尺寸相等时,金属流动呈现对称分布;当上下两个模具尺寸不等时,金属流动呈现非对称分布,有剪切变形产生.而且随着模具尺寸差的增大,其交叉剪切变形越严重,总压力也增大,平均压力相对降低,这与异步轧制过程类似.所研究结果为异步轧制过程提供了一种新的物理模拟方法.     

氧化剂对聚吡咯复合材料介电性能的影响

为了探究氧化剂对聚吡咯复合材料介电性能的影响,以吡咯为单体,采用原位聚合法制备了聚吡咯涂层复合材料。通过BDS50介电谱仪研究了氧化剂种类和氧化剂物质的量浓度对复合材料介电常数实部、虚部、损耗角正切、表面电阻的影响;采用Quanta200型环境扫描电子显微镜和Instron万能材料试验机研究了聚吡咯涂层复合材料的外观形貌和强度。结果表明:氧化剂种类、氧化剂浓度对聚吡咯涂层复合材料介电常数实部、虚部、损耗角正切、表面电阻影响较大;制备的聚吡咯涂层复合材料既具备良好的介电性能和导电性,又兼具良好的强度.     

Effects of strain rate and mean strain on cyclic behavior of aluminum alloys under isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings

In this paper, effects of strain rate and mean strain on the cyclic behavior and the lifetime of aluminum–silicon alloys are investigated under thermo-mechanical and isothermal fatigue loadings. To achieve these goals, low cycle fatigue tests are accomplished at evaluated temperatures under various strain rates (by changing the loading frequency) and different strain ratios (minimum to maximum strain). Thermo-mechanical fatigue experiments are performed in an out-of-phase condition where the temperature varies between 50 and 250 °C. Various heating/cooling rates are taken into account to assess the strain rate effect and different starting temperatures are considered to study the mean strain effect.     

轴肩结构对搅拌摩擦焊过程中材料流动的影响

考虑材料参数随温度的变化关系以及搅拌头的实际结构形式,利用ANSYS FLUENT软件对搅拌摩擦焊过程中材料的流动行为进行了数值分析,研究了轴肩结构分别为平面、内凹与同心圆时的材料流动规律.研究表明,当轴肩结构发生变化时,焊件表面及内部的材料流动趋势基本相同;靠近焊件表面的材料流动速度在轴肩结构为同心圆时最大,在轴肩结构为平面时最小.从避免搅拌摩擦焊根部缺陷的角度看,同心圆轴肩的搅拌头优于内凹轴肩,这一规律得到了试验证实.     

Effect of the material properties of a dielectric specimen on the electrorheological stabilization force

Measurements are reported for the static peeling and shear forces for various flat insulators as indicated by the electrorheological effect.Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 83–86, July, 1973.     

Effect of strain rate sensitivity and cavity growth rate on failure of superplastic material

Abstract

Necking development and fracture strain of superplastic material under tensile load are analysed by introducing a model of cavity growth into the long wavelength approximation analysis which can describe the external neck development of specimens during deformation. The results show that both strain rate sensitivity m and cavity growth rate η have an important influence on the fracture strain of superplastic material. According to these results, a fracture diagram is presented in m–η coordinates, which is divided into three: a region in which material fails by macroscopic external necking, a region where cavity growth is predominant leading to fracture without pronounced external necking, and an intermediate region where both fracture modes occur. The prediction of fracture strain for various superplastic alloys exhibiting cavity growth during deformation is in good agreement with experimental results. The present analysis thus enables quantitative prediction of the effects of both strain rate sensitivity and cavity growth on superplastic fracture under uniaxial tension.

MST/491     

Electro-fragmentation analysis of dielectric thin films on flexible polymer substrates

An electro-fragmentation method was developed as a fast alternative to the time consuming fragmentation test carried out in situ in a microscope, to investigate the failure of dielectric inorganic coatings on polymer substrates. An ultrathin conductive layer was used to probe the onset of tensile failure in the dielectric coating through changes of its electrical resistance. A careful selection of the conductive layer has been carried out to avoid artifacts resulting for instance from a change of the cohesive properties (e.g. internal stress state) of the investigated structures. Au layers were found to be too ductile, contrary to Al-Ti layers that were too brittle, which invalidated the use of both materials to probe the failure of the dielectric coatings. In contrast, for structures on high-temperature polymer substrates, a 10 nm thick amorphous graphite (a-G) layer was found to accurately reproduce the cracking of the coating. The Young's modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion of the a-G layer are low enough not to impact the internal strain, hence the crack onset strain of the dielectric coating. The a-G layer is also sufficiently brittle, and its cohesive failure and resulting increase of electrical resistance is triggered by the failure of the dielectric coating. The a-G electro-fragmentation method is presently limited to polymers substrates with a glass-transition temperature higher than 100 °C.     

Effect of temperature on thermo-mechanical properties of Macro-Defect-Freecement-polymer composite

In this work thermo-mechanical properties of MDF cements have been analyzed under complex thermal hystories. In particular the temperature sensitivity of the material has been investigated using dynamical-mechanical analysis. Several tests have been performed to investigate the behaviour of the material from room temperature to 250 °C at a fixed frequency (1 Hz). The viscoelastic behaviour of the composite was then analyzed at different frequencies: it was observed that the material exhibits two main transitions, around 60 °C and 160 °C. For comparison with differential scanning calorimeter analysis the first peak was attributed to the glass transition of the PVAAc while the second one was associated to the melting of the crystalline part of the polymer. In addition, dynamical-mechanical analysis that included complex thermal hystories, were performed both on pure polymer films, and on the MDF cements, confirming that the drop of mechanical properties with temperature is essentially due to the nature of the viscoelastic component. Results obtained are in agreement with the picture of a composite in which a polymeric thermoplastic matrix surrounds partially hydrated cement particles.     

Ion implantation assisted synthesis of graphene on various dielectric substrates

Direct synthesis of high-quality graphene on dielectric substrates is of great importance for the application of graphene-based electronics and optoelectronics. However, high-quality and uniform graphene film growth on dielectric substrates has proven challenging due to limited catalytic ability of dielectric substrates. Here, by employing a Cu ion implantation assisted method, high-quality and uniform graphene can be directly formed on various dielectric substrates including SiO2/Si, quartz glass, and sapphire substrates. The growth rate of graphene on the dielectric substrates was significantly improved due to the catalysis of Cu. Moreover, during the graphene growth process, the Cu atoms gradually evaporated away without involving any metal contamination. Furthermore, an interesting growth behavior of graphene on sapphire substrate was observed, and the results show the graphene domains growth tends to grow along the sapphire flat terraces. The ion implantation assisted approach could open up a new pathway for the direct synthesis of graphene and promote the potential application of graphene in electronics.     

Effect of ultraviolet curing wavelength on low-k dielectric material properties and plasma damage resistance

A set of SiCOH low dielectric constant films (low-k) has been deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using variable flow rates of the porogen (sacrificial phase) and matrix precursors. During the deposition, two different substrate temperatures and radio frequency power settings were applied. Next, the deposited films were cured by the UV assisted annealing (UV-cure) using two industrial UV light sources: a monochromatic UV source with intensity maximum at λ = 172 nm (lamp A) and a broadband UV source with intensity spectrum distributed below 200 nm (lamp B). This set of various low-k films has been additionally exposed to NH₃ plasma (used for the CuO_x reduction during Cu/low-k integration) in order to evaluate the effect of the film preparation conditions on the plasma damage resistance of low-k material. Results show that the choice of the UV-curing light source has significant impact on the chemical composition of the low-k material and modifies the porogen removal efficiency and subsequently the material porosity. The 172 nm photons from lamp A induce greater changes to most of the evaluated properties, particularly causing undesired removal of SiCH₃ groups and their replacement with SiH. The softer broadband radiation from lamp B improves the porogen removal efficiency, leaving less porogen residues detected by spectroscopic ellipsometry in UV range. Furthermore, it was found that the degree of bulk hydrophilization (plasma damage) after NH₃ plasma exposure is driven mainly by the film porosity.     

Modelling the hot plane strain compression test Part 1 – Effect of specimen geometry,strain rate,and friction on deformation

Abstract

Thermomechanically coupled finite element analysis of the hot plane strain compression test has been carried out to investigate the effect of various test parameters on the measured response and deformation of specimens. The results are presented in a series of papers. In this paper (Part 1), the results of two-dimensional simulations are discussed, evaluating the effects of material type, specimen geometry, strain rate, and friction on the overall deformation behaviour. The effects of spread and friction are detailed in Part 2, and the effects of asymmetry during the test are detailed in Part 3. The present results show that the local deformation behaviour is independent of the type of material and strain rate, at least up to 50 s^-1. The behaviour, however, depends strongly on friction and initial specimen geometry, with deformation becoming more uniform with decreasing initial specimen thickness, i.e. with increasing tool width w to specimen thickness h ratio. The deformation is constrained within the predicted slip line fields, and is controlled by the instantaneous geometry and not by the strain history. At low values of w/h the strain rate gradients are very high, and the raw data must be corrected for local strain rates and strains. Master curves have been produced to account for these gradients. The present results can be treated as generic, since the deformation is independent of material and the strain rate of deformation.     

Effect of strain and grain boundaries on dielectric properties in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

High dielectric constant and its dependence on structural strain and grain boundaries (GB) in La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) thin films are reported. X-ray diffraction, magnetization, and magneto-transport measurements of the LSMO films, made by pulsed laser deposition on two different substrates—MgO and SrTiO₃ (STO), were compared to co-relate magnetic properties with dielectric properties. At room temperature, in the ferromagnetic phase of LSMO, a high dielectric constant (6 × 10⁴) was observed up to 100 kHz frequency for the films on MgO, with polycrystalline properties and more high-angle GB related defects, while for the films on STO, with single-crystalline properties but strained unit cells, high dielectric constant (≈10⁴) was observed until 1 MHz frequency. Also, a large dielectric relaxation time with significant broadening from the Debye single-dielectric relaxation model has been observed in samples with higher GB defects. Impedance spectroscopy further shows that large dielectric constant of the single-crystalline, strained LSMO film is intrinsic in nature while that in the polycrystalline films are mainly extrinsic due to higher amount of GBs. The presence of high dielectric constant value until high frequency range rules out the possibility of “apparent giant dielectric constant” arising from the sample-electrode interface. Coexistence of ferromagnetism and high dielectric constant can be very useful for different microelectronic applications.     

Exploring the geometry and material space in gear design

Gear design is a complex process. When new materials and manufacturing processes are introduced, traditional empirical knowledge is unavailable and considerable effort is required to find starting design concepts. This forces gear designers to go beyond the traditional standards-based design methods. The method presented here, the concept exploration method, is based on the compromise decision support problem and is demonstrated for gear design which requires the simultaneous exploration of geometry, material and manufacturing spaces to exploit synergies. The results obtained are in agreement with existing knowledge. To further develop design guidelines, ternary contour plots of goal achievement are created to show the interdependence among various design goals. These ternary charts help gear designers to visualize and understand the complexity and compromises involved and help them to make trade-offs among individual goals.     

Washcoating of low surface area cerium oxide on complex geometry substrates

ABSTRACT

An acid-free formulation based on water, glycerol, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was studied to disperse and stabilize, via steric-like interaction, low surface area cerium oxide powders. A dispersion route that implies a milling process and a proper ratio among the components was experienced. PVA was used as viscosity modulator, to enhance viscosity and system stability. Newtonian fluids, suitable for foams dip-coating, were obtained in the application shear range. Foams with different porosities (20, 30, and 40 pore per inch density) were coated. It was found that withdrawal velocity did not affect deposition: a constancy in coating load was obtained once rheology was fixed, while multiple dipping was effective to enhance load. An optimal flash drying temperature (350°C) was identified to consolidate the coated layer and to decompose the organic additives. Good loads, homogeneous coverage, and no pore clogging were obtained after calcination at 900°C. Even though acceptable weight losses were obtained, further investigations need to be accomplished to understand data scattering after adhesion tests.     

A parametric study on thermo-mechanical vibration of axially functionally graded material pipe conveying fluid

In this article, we study the thermo-elastic vibration of axially functionally graded material (FGM) pipe conveying fluid considering temperature changes. The governing equation based on Euler–Bernoulli beam theory is solved by differential quadrature method. The FGM properties are defined by the property ratios and the volume fraction functions. Power volume fraction function and exponent volume fraction function are compared. We also use sigmoid volume fraction functions so that the exclusive influence of function distribution can be isolated from that of total material proportions. The property ratios’ effects of elasticity and thermo-elasticity gradient are also discussed. Based on the numerical results of first-order dimensionless frequencies and critical flow velocities, concerning thermo-elasticity gradient can theoretically change the stability of the pipe. And the influences of the pure distribution on the first-order critical flow velocities are much smaller than that of the varying total proportions of the component materials. These conclusions will hopefully be used as reference for FGM pipe designing and fabricating.

     

Thermal strain in indium thin films deposited on GaAs substrates

Thermal strains in indium thin films deposited on GaAs substrates, which were introduced into the films upon cooling from 293 to 25 K, were measured using the conventional X-ray diffraction technique. Since the thermal expansion coefficients and the elastic constants of indium have strong dependences on the crystal orientation, we studied intensively the crystal orientation dependence of the strains perpendicular to the film surface. The strains measured for films with 60 nm thickness agreed well with those calculated based on a biaxial strain model using the difference in thermal expansions between the indium and the GaAs. The present strain analysis indicated that the anisotropy in the thermal expansion of indium is the prinary cause of different strains measured in grains with various crystal orientations. For the thicker films the strains were observed to deviate from the theoretical values owing to strain relaxation upon cooling.     

Controlled formation of dielectric chain aggregates on material surfaces

This paper investigated the formation of chain aggregates from fine particles suspended in gas stream onto material surfaces under the action of electric field. The results showed that the shape of aggregate formed on material surface was greatly influenced by the field intensity and the surface condition of materials. In a weak electric field without corona discharge, particles tended to form clustered aggregates on a metal plate with smooth surface, but on a metal mesh and a porous alumina substrate, to form chain aggregate. On the other hand, in a corona discharge field, these surfaces were coated uniformly. Consequently, for forming chain aggregates on material surface, an electric field without corona discharge and a rough surface are necessary conditions. On rough surface, chain aggregates of dielectric particles or conductive particles grew from the protrusions of the surface and could form a rough and porous layer. When the external electric field was removed, the chain aggregates remained long time due to the Van der Waals forces. After sintered at proper temperature, the chain aggregates became fiber-like. The results indicate that the formation of chain aggregate can be controlled by electrostatic force, and sintering can be used as a method for increasing their mechanical strength.