Leakage mitigation in NW FET using negative Schottky junction drain and its process variation analysis

Journal of Computational Electronics - In this work, a Schottky junction on the drain side employing low workfunction (WF) metal is proposed as a method to suppress the OFF-state leakage in...     

Cascaded Multilevel Inverters Using Proposed Series Sub-multilevel Basic Blocks with Reduced Switching Devices

In this paper, a novel configuration of the cascaded multilevel inverters using series connection of new sub-multilevel basic blocks is presented. The basic structure of the proposed sub-multilevel inverter is made of three isolated batteries and eight unidirectional power switches. Hereby, by changing the polarity of one of such batteries and two power switches, two different modules of sub-multilevel inverters can be extracted that each of them is able to be incorporated into two different cascaded structures as the series basic blocks. Contemporary, to determine the suitable magnitudes of the integrated batteries, two different algorithms for each topology along with their relevant mathematical analysis have been also given. In this study, a complete comparison between the proposed topologies and several recently presented structures has been conducted. The compiled comparisons can prove the fact that both the proposed cascaded inverters are capable of generating a higher number of output voltage levels with less number of switching counts. Other advantages of these structures are reduction of voltage sources numbers, DC sources variety, value of total blocking voltage, and also conducting losses. In order to demonstrate the correct operation of the proposed structures and presented algorithms, some experimental results will be also shown.     

The Effect of Particle Size on the Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Freeze‐Casted Macroporous Hydroxyapatite Scaffolds

Two different hydroxyapatites with the particle sizes of 3.9 and 1.69 μm were chosen. Slurries with initial hydroxyapatite concentration of 15 vol% were prepared. Different cooling rates from 2 to 14°C/min were utilized. The specimens were sintered at different temperatures of 1250–1350°C. The phase composition (by X‐Ray Diffraction), microstructure (by Scanning Electron Microscopy), mechanical characteristics, and the porosity of sintered samples were assessed. The porosity of the sintered samples was in range of ~57–83%, and the compressive strength varied from ~1.7 to 15 MPa. The mechanical strength of the scaffolds increased as a function of cooling rate and sintering temperature.     

Optical properties and characterization of zinc nitride nanoneedles prepared from ball-milled Zn powders

Zinc nitride nanoneedles (ZNNs) with diameters at stem and tip parts as 200-300 nm and 30-70 nm respectively have been prepared by the nitridation of ball-milled zinc powders at 600 °C for 120 min under NH₃ gas environment. The structural, compositional and morphological characterizations of the product were conducted by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. From transmission spectrum data, an indirect band gap of 2.72 eV has been calculated for ZNNs whereas photoluminescence studies exhibited a strong UV excitonic mission band at 395 nm as well as two weak defect related blue emissions at 453 and 465 nm. A vapor-solid (VS) process based growth mechanism for the formation of ZNNs has also been discussed briefly.     

On selection of forwarding nodes for long opportunistic routes

Opportunistic routing is a promising routing paradigm which increases the network throughput. It forces the sender’s neighbors, who successfully overheard the transmitted packet, to participate in the packet forwarding process as intermediate forwarding nodes. As a seminal opportunistic routing protocol, MORE combines network coding idea with opportunistic routing to eliminate the need for strict coordination among active forwarding nodes. In this paper, we show that MORE performance does not scale well with the route length, especially when the route length goes beyond two hops. Also, we found that MORE fails to establish a working opportunistic route in sparse networks. Clearly, the network throughput is directly influenced by both the quantity and quality of forwarding nodes, and their cooperation order. In this paper, we propose a new forwarder selection mechanism which considers the route length, link qualities, the distance from the source, and nodes density. It eliminates the occasional route disconnectivity happening in MORE and improves the quality of the established opportunistic routes. The simulation result indicates that our proposal always outperforms MORE when dealing with long opportunistic routes.

     

Quantifying the influence of cold water intrusions in a shallow,coastal system across contrasting years: Green Bay,Lake Michigan

We present water column thermal structure for two climatically different years: 2012, which experienced abnormally warm spring and summer air temperatures preceded by a relatively low ice winter and 2013, which experienced cooler than average spring and average summer air temperatures and preceded by average ice conditions. Mean bottom water temperatures for the season and during cold water intrusions were significantly warmer in 2012 than 2013 leading to a significantly reduced stratified season in 2012. Cold water intrusions were driven into southern Green Bay by southerly winds while intrusions were terminated when winds switched to persistent northerly winds. 2012 observed a significant increase in northerly winds relative to 2013, decreasing cold water intrusion presence and duration but winds did not fully explain the difference in thermal conditions for southern Green Bay. These cold bottom waters drive stratification in polymictic southern Green Bay while dimictic waters were found to have significantly warmer bottom temperatures during 2012 and a deeper mixed layer. Our observations suggest that relatively shallow (<20?m), seasonally stratified systems may not increase in stratification strength and duration under a warming climate; rather, changing wind climatology and surface heat flux can inform the degree to which the mixing regime can be expected to change and impact stratification and thermal structure of coastal systems. We discuss the biogeochemical implications of different thermal regimes, particularly within the context of multiple drivers of physical water column structure in eutrophic, stratified coastal systems.     

Smart films based on bacterial cellulose nanofibers modified by conductive polypyrrole and zinc oxide nanoparticles

In this study, we synthesized novel films based on bacterial cellulose (BC), BC modified by polypyrrole (PPy), and a PPy–zinc oxide nanocomposite (BC–PPy–ZnO). The soft polymerization method at room temperature was used to obtain the BC–PPy and BC–PPy–ZnO films. The Combined D‐Optimal design was used to study the effects of the pyrrole monomer concentration, ZnO concentration, and polymerization time on the morphological, physical, color, and electrical conductivity properties of the films. Fourier transform infrared results reflected that some new interactions occurred between BC and PPy and PPy–ZnO. The X‐ray diffraction analysis showed that the crystalline behavior of the BC fiber was hindered because of the complete coating with the amorphous PPy particles. Scanning electron microscopy results show that the ZnO, PPy, and PPy–ZnO nanoparticles were placed between the BC fibers. PPy decreased the water vapor permittivity and total soluble matter percentage. Electrical conductivity studies of the synthesized BC–PPy–ZnO film showed that the film's electrical resistance was changed in different oxidation–reduction or volatile compounds media, so the results suggest that the BC–PPy–ZnO films could be used in antioxidative food active packaging and smart packaging. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46617.     

Three-Dimensional Chaotic Autonomous System with a Circular Equilibrium: Analysis,Circuit Implementation and Its Fractional-Order Form

A three-dimensional autonomous chaotic system with a circular equilibrium is investigated in this paper. Some dynamical properties and behaviors of this system are described in terms of equilibria, eigenvalue structures, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents, time series and phase portraits. For specific parameters, the system displays periodic and chaotic attractors. The physical existence of the chaotic behavior found in the proposed system is verified by using the Orcad-PSpice software and experimental verification. A good qualitative agreement is shown between the experimental results, PSpice and numerical simulations. Furthermore, the commensurate fractional-order version of the system with a circular equilibrium is numerically studied. It is found that chaos exists in this system with order less than three. By tuning the commensurate fractional order, the system with a circular equilibrium displays chaotic and periodic attractors, respectively. Finally, chaos synchronization of identical fractional-order chaotic systems with a circular equilibrium is achieved by using the unidirectional linear error feedback coupling. It is shown that the fractional-order chaotic system can achieve synchronization for appropriate coupling strength.