Fiducial markers for increasing the versatility of optical correlation in the measurement of faults on integrated-circuit wafers

A microscope-coherent optical processor is used for the measurement of the registration errors on integrated-circuit wafers. The measurements are obtained from the optical correlation of wafers with reference wafer patterns by use of matched spatial filters. Previously, the intricate pattern of the active circuit area of wafers has been used in the correlation process, and a new matched spatial filter had to be created for each different integrated circuit. Here, the results of using comparatively plain fiducial markers on a wafer for the registration-error measurement are presented, and these show that the measurements can be made independent of the design of the integrated circuit while maintaining the advantages and accuracy of the optical correlation technique.     

Surface Control and Electrical Tuning of MXene Electrode for Flexible Self-Powered Human–Machine Interaction

MXene materials emerge as promising candidates for energy harvesting and storage application. In this study, the effect of the surface chemistry on the work function of MXenes, which determines the performance of MXene-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), is elucidated. First-principles calculations reveal that the surface functional group greatly influences MXene work function:  OH termination reduces the work function with respect to that of bare surface, while  F and  Cl increase it. Then, work functions are experimentally determined by Kelvin probe force microscopy. The MXene prepared by gentle etching at 40 °C for 48 h (GE_40/48) has the largest work function. Furthermore, an electron-cloud potential-well model is established to explain the mechanism of electron emission-dominated charge transfer and assemble a triboelectric device to verify experimentally its conclusions. It is found that GE_40/48 has the best performance with a 281 V open-circuit voltage, 9.7 µA short-current current, and storing 1.019 µC of charge, which is consistent with the model. Last, a patterned TENG is demonstrated for self-powered human–machine interaction application. This finding enhances the understanding of the inherent mechanism between the surface structure and the output performance of MXene-based TENG, which can be applied to other TENG based on 2D materials.     

An automatic docking method for large-scale sections based on real-time pose measuring and assembly deviation control

Aiming at the problem of poor accuracy consistency of large sections’ docking assembly, an automatic docking method using multiple laser trackers to measure the position and posture of the docking sections in real time was proposed. In the solution of the pose of the docking section, real-time pose measurement of the docking section was realized by establishing a global coordinate system and a coordinate fusion method of three or more laser trackers. In the automatic control of the docking process, the real-time communication protocol and the circular negative feedback control strategy of measurement-adjustment-re-measurement are adopted, and the fully-automated docking of large sections is realized. Finally, an experimental verification system was set up, and the docking of the large-scale section reduction models was realized under the requirements of docking accuracy, and the effectiveness of the automatic docking scheme was successfully verified.     

An SPH-based mass transfer model for simulating hydraulic characteristics and mass transfer process of dammed rivers

Engineering with Computers - Aerated flow characterized by complex mass transfer processes with multiple hydraulic properties is a common enviro-hydraulics phenomenon, which have a variety of...     

Application of intelligent real-time image processing in fitness motion detection under internet of things

The purpose is to study the applicability of digital and intelligent real-time Image Processing (IP) in fitness motion detection under the environment of the Internet of Things (IoT). Given the absence of real-time training standards and possible workout injury problems during fitness activities, an intelligent fitness real-time IP system based on Deep Learning (DL) is implemented. Specifically, the keyframes of the real-time images are collected from the fitness monitoring video, and the DL algorithm is introduced to analyze the fitness motions. Afterward, the performance of the proposed system is evaluated through simulation. Subsequently, the Noise Reduction (NR) performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated from the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), which remains above 20 dB for seriously noisy images (with a noise density reaching up to 90%). By comparison, the PSNR of the Standard Median Filter (SMF) and Ranked-order Based Adaptive Median Filter (RAMF) algorithms are not higher than 10 dB. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithm outperforms other DL algorithms by over 2.24% with a detection accuracy of 97.80%; the proposed system can adaptively detect the fitness motion, with a transmission delay no larger than 1 s given a maximum of 750 keyframes. Therefore, the proposed DL-based intelligent fitness real-time IP algorithm has strong robustness, high detection accuracy, and excellent real-time image diagnosis and processing effect, thus providing an experimental reference for sports digitalization and intellectualization.

     

Tensile Properties and Failure Mechanism of a New 3D Nonorthogonal Woven Composite Material

Tensile properties and failure mechanism of a newly developed three-dimensional (3D) woven composite material named 3D nonorthogonal woven composite are investigated in this paper. The microstructure of the composite is studied and the tensile properties are obtained by quasi-static tensile tests. The failure mechanism of specimen is discussed based on observation of the fracture surfaces via electron microscope. It is found that the specimens always split along the oblique yarns and produce typical v-shaped fracture surfaces. The representative volume cell (RVC) is established based on the microstructure. A finite element analysis is conducted with periodical boundary conditions. The finite element simulation results agree well with the experimental data. By analyzing deformation and stress distribution under different loading conditions, it is demonstrated that finite element model based on RVC is valid in predicting tensile properties of 3D nonorthogonal woven composites. Stress distribution shows that the oblique yarns and warp yarns oriented along the x direction carry primary load under x tension and that warp yarns bear primary load under y tension.     

Reliability analysis on systems with self-healing and self-repairing under different environments and shock models

Inspired by the process of self-healing of biological damage, high technology materials with self-healing and self-repairing mechanisms have been developed for high reliability and long lifetime. Therefore, the reliability modeling on intelligent systems with healing performance has become a research hotspot. Based on the diversity of healing mechanisms, this paper proposes a two-phase reliability model method on self-healing and self-repairing systems. Impacts of environments, shock loads, self-healing, and self-repairing mechanisms are taken into account in this novel model. Besides, system lifetime and some reliability indexes under two shock models are derived, respectively. Moreover, Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to verify the accuracy of reliability under two models. Finally, an engineering case of metallized film capacitor is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed models by comparing numerical results and simulation results.     

Comparison of approaches based on optimization and algebraic iteration for binary tomography

Binary tomography represents a special category of tomographic problems, in which only two values are possible for the sought image pixels. The binary nature of the problems can potentially lead to a significant reduction in the number of view angles required for a satisfactory reconstruction, thusly enabling many interesting applications. However, the limited view angles result in a severely underdetermined system of equations, which is challenging to solve. Various approaches have been proposed to address such a challenge, and two categories of approaches include those based on optimization and those based on algebraic iteration. However, the relative strengths, limitations, and applicable ranges of these approaches have not been clearly defined in the past. Therefore, it is the main objective of this work to conduct a systematic comparison of approaches from each category. This comparison suggested that the approaches based on algebraic iteration offered both superior reconstruction fidelity and computation efficiency at low (two or three) view angles, and these advantages diminished at high view angles. Meanwhile, this work also investigated the application of regularization techniques, the selection of optimal regularization parameter, and the use of a local search technique for binary problems. We expect the results and conclusions reported in this work to provide valuable guidance for the design and development of algorithms for binary tomography problems.