Stress intensity factors of an inclined elliptical crack near a bimaterial interface

In this paper the stress intensity factors are discussed for an inclined elliptical crack near a bimaterial interface. The solution utilizes the body force method and requires Green’s functions for perfectly bonded semi-infinite bodies. The formulation leads to a system of hypersingular integral equation whose unknowns are three modes of crack opening displacements. In the numerical calculation, unknown body force densities are approximated by using fundamental density functions and polynomials. The results show that the present method yields smooth variations of stress intensity factors along the crack front accurately. Distributions of stress intensity factors are presented in tables and figures with varying the shape of crack, distance from the interface, and elastic modulus ratio. It is found that the inclined crack can be evaluated by the models of vertical and parallel cracks within the error of 24% even for the cracks very close to the interface.     

Plasma etching of high-k and metal gate materials

Etching characteristics of high-k dielectric materials (HfO₂) and metal electrode materials (Pt, TaN) have been studied in high-density chlorine-containing plasmas at pressures around 10 mTorr. The etching of HfO₂ was performed in BCl₃ without rf biasing, giving an etch rate of about 5 nm/min with a high selectivity of >10 over Si and SiO₂. The etching of Pt and TaN was performed in Ar/O₂ with high rf biasing and in Ar/Cl₂ with low rf biasing, respectively, giving a Pt etch rate of about several tens nm/min and a TaN etch rate of about 200 nm/min with a high selectivity of >8 over HfO₂ and SiO₂. The etched profiles were outwardly tapered for Pt, owing to the redeposition of etch or sputter products on feature sidewalls, while the TaN profiles were almost anisotropic, probably owing to the ion-enhanced etching that occurred.     

Alteration of internal stresses in SiO2/Cu/TiN thin films by X-ray and synchrotron radiation due to heat treatment

A break of wiring by stress-migration becomes a problem with an integrated circuit such as LSI. The present study investigates residual stress in SiO₂/Cu/TiN film deposited on glass substrates. A TiN layer, as an undercoat, was first deposited on the substrate by arc ion plating and then Cu and SiO₂ layers were deposited by plasma coating. The crystal structure and the residual stress in the deposited multi-layer film were investigated using in-lab. X-ray equipment and a synchrotron radiation device that emits ultra-high-intensity X-rays. It was found that the SiO₂ film was amorphous and both the Cu and TiN films had a strong {1 1 1} orientation. The Cu and TiN layers in the multi thick (Cu and TiN:1.0 μm)-layer film and multi thin (0.1 μm)-layer film exhibited tensile residual stresses. Both tensile residual stresses in the multi thin-layer film are larger than the multi thick-layer film. After annealing at 400 °C, these tensile residual stresses in both the films increased with increasing the annealing temperature. Surface swelling formations, such as bubbles were observed in the multi thick-layer film. However, in the case of the multi thin-layer films, there was no change in the surface morphology following heat-treatment.     

Stiffness-Damping Simultaneous Identification under Limited Observation

A more reliable and stable method, compared to the previous one developed by the present writers, of stiffness-damping simultaneous identification of shear-type building structures is proposed using stationary random records under limited observation. It is shown that when stationary random horizontal accelerations are recorded at the floors just above and below a specific story in a shear building model, the story stiffness and the damping ratio can be identified uniquely. The viscous damping coefficient and the material damping ratio can also be identified simultaneously in a numerical model structure. It is also shown that unfavorable effects by extraneous noises, including measurement noises, due to wind excitation, building facilities, and the motion of the occupants can be eliminated partially by using the present method. The accuracy of the present identification method is investigated through the actual records under limited observation in a base-isolated building.     

An electrostatic microactuator using LIGA process for a magnetic head tracking system of hard disk drives

 We demonstrate an electrostatic micro actuator which is fabricated by LIGA process. The actuator is designed for a magnetic head tracking system of hard disk drives (HDDs). The actuator is essential to achieve very high track density of HDDs. We realize the aspect ratio of 125 by the LIGA process using a Si-Au mask. We propose to use PMMA molds both as the mechanical structure and as the insulator between electrodes. We believe there are great opportunity for the LIGA process in making micro actuators of HDDs. Received: 25 August 1997 / Accepted: 24 October 1997     

Efficient distribution-free population learning of simple concepts

We consider a variant of the ‘population learning model’ proposed by Kearns and Seung [8], in which the learner is required to be ‘distribution-free’ as well as computationally efficient. A population learner receives as input hypotheses from a large population of agents and produces as output its final hypothesis. Each agent is assumed to independently obtain labeled sample for the target concept and output a hypothesis. A polynomial time population learner is said to PAC-learn a concept class, if its hypothesis is probably approximately correct whenever the population size exceeds a certain bound which is polynomial, even if the sample size for each agent is fixed at some constant. We exhibit some general population learning strategies, and some simple concept classes that can be learned by them. These strategies include the ‘supremum hypothesis finder’, the ‘minimum superset finder’ (a special case of the ‘supremum hypothesis finder’), and various voting schemes. When coupled with appropriate agent algorithms, these strategies can learn a variety of simple concept classes, such as the ‘high–low game’, conjunctions, axis-parallel rectangles and others. We give upper bounds on the required population size for each of these cases, and show that these systems can be used to obtain a speed up from the ordinary PAC-learning model [11], with appropriate choices of sample and population sizes. With the population learner restricted to be a voting scheme, what we have is effectively a model of ‘population prediction’, in which the learner is to predict the value of the target concept at an arbitrarily drawn point, as a threshold function of the predictions made by its agents on the same point. We show that the population learning model is strictly more powerful than the population prediction model. Finally, we consider a variant of this model with classification noise, and exhibit a population learner for the class of conjunctions in this model. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A new hybrid GA solution to combinatorial optimization problems— an application to the multiprocessor scheduling problem

The multiprocessor scheduling problem is one of the classic examples of NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. Several polynomial time optimization algorithms have been proposed for approximating the multiprocessor scheduling problem. In this paper, we suggest a geneticizedknowledge genetic algorithm (gkGA) as an efficient heuristic approach for solving the multiprocessor scheduling and other combinatorial optimization problems. The basic idea behind the gkGA approach is that knowledge of the heuristics to be used in the GA is also geneticized alongiside the genetic chromosomes. We start by providing four conversion schemes based on heuristics for converting chromosomes into priority lists. Through experimental evaluation, we observe that the performance of our GA based on each of these schemes is instance-dependent. However, if we simultaneously incorporate these schemes into our GA through the gkGA approach, simulation results show that the approach is not problem-dependent, and that the approach outperforms that of the previous GA. We also show the effectiveness of the gkGA approach compared with other conventional schemes through experimental evaluation. This work was presented, in part, at the Second International Symposium on Artifiical Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 18–20, 1997     

Linear bipolar OTAs employing exponential‐law circuits

This paper presents design of linear bipolar OTAs, which are composed of two function blocks; one is an exponential‐law circuit and the other is a core cell. Multi‐tanh cells are employed as the core cell. This kind of OTA has lower power dissipation relatively to the conventional multi‐tanh cell. According as the order of the multi‐tanh core cell becomes higher, the number of circuit realization for the core cell increases. For example, we have two OTAs for the core circuit of an emitter‐coupled pair and four OTAs for the doublet core cell. Thus, we consider the generalized OTAs for an arbitrary order n of the core cell and obtain a formula to give the realization number of the linear OTAs for n. According to the formula, there must be eight OTAs in the case of n=3. All of the eight OTAs are examined. Analysis and simulation results show that the OTAs have advantage in their characteristics, such as linear input range, power dissipation, noise, and frequency response. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phase Diagram of Hydrogen in Palladium

Hydrogen in palladium, Pd-H(D), is an interesting system because of the highly mobile hydrogen and the presence of a phase boundary below 100 K. Experimentally, however, the nature of this transition has not been established. Historically this transition around 55 to 100 K has been thought to be an order-disorder transition. Such a transition would produce a phase boundary with anomalies at specific hydrogen concentrations corresponding to the specific ordered structures. In order to check this phase boundary we have performed a detailed study of the hydrogen concentration dependence of the specific heat of PdH _x over the temperature range from below 0.5 K to above 100 K using PdH _x specimens with x up to 0.8753. The measured heat capacity has been analyzed as the sum of contributions due to the lattice specific heat of Pd, the electronic specific heat of PdH _x , and the excess contribution caused by hydrogenation of the specimen. The excess specific heat result shows a sharp peak which indicates a phase boundary with transition temperature T ₁=55 K to 85 K depending linearly on the hydrogen concentration from x=0.6572 to 0.8753. We do not observe anomalies at specific x values as would be expected for the specific ordered structures.     

Mass recovery adsorption refrigeration cycle—improving cooling capacity

The study investigates the performance of two-bed, silica gel-water adsorption refrigeration cycle with mass recovery process. The cycle with mass recovery can be driven by the relatively low temperature heat source. In an adsorption refrigeration cycle, the pressures in adsorber and desorber are different. The chiller with mass recovery process utilizes the pressure difference to enhance the refrigerant mass circulation. Cooling capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) were calculated by cycle simulation computer program to analyze the influences of operating conditions. The mass recovery cycle was compared with conventional cycle such as the single stage adsorption cycle in terms of cooling capacity and COP. The results show that the cooling capacity of mass recovery cycle is superior to that of conventional cycle and the mass recovery process is more effective for low regenerating temperature.