Investigation and modeling of impact ionization with regard to theRF and noise behavior of HFET

A new small-signal and noise-equivalent circuit for heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFET's), including the influence of impact-ionization and gate-leakage current on the electronic properties, is presented. The capability of the new model is demonstrated by bias-dependent investigations of the high-frequency (HF) (45 MHz up to 40 GHz) and noise behavior (2 GHz up to 18 GHz) of the InAlAs/InGaAs/InP HFET. Furthermore, based on these results, the bias-dependence of the newly implemented small-signal equivalent elements and the equivalent intrinsic noise sources, are discussed     

The influence of natural reinforcement fibres on insulation values of earth plaster for straw bale buildings

This work aimed to measure the thermal conductivity of some natural plaster materials that could be used for straw bale buildings. Thermal conductivity is very important to determine the insulation value and other thermal parameters for natural plaster materials. Plaster materials consisted of soil, sand and straw. Straw is used as a reinforcement fibre for plaster. Three types of fibres were used such as wheat straw, barley straw and wood shavings. The results indicated that the thermal conductivity of all materials decreased with increasing straw fibre content and decreased with increasing sand content. The straw fibres have greater effect on the change of thermal conductivity than the effect of sand. The results also revealed that plaster reinforced by barley straw fibres has the highest values of thermal insulation.     

Effect of Inclusions on Friction Coefficient of Highly Filled Composite Materials

Highly filled composite material systems exhibit, in triaxial compression, a composite strength that is greater than either the weaker particulate or matrix strength. This is due to an amplification of the local confinement in the matrix activating frictional mechanism. The paper quantitatively addresses this increase of the friction coefficient of a matrix reinforced by rigid inclusions using assorted means of nonlinear micromechanics. The approach is based on a nonlinear elastic representation of a Drucker–Prager type frictional strength behavior of the matrix at failure. The key to success of the homogenization procedure relies on the appropriate definition of effective strains in the matrix, to capture local confinement effects and shear effects in the connected matrix phase. It is shown that an effective strain concept based on linear volume averaging (i.e., classical secant method) leads to overestimate the inclusion effects; while an effective strain concept based on quadratic volume averaging (i.e., modified secant method) provides a more realistic representation of shear strains and local confinement effects that develop in triaxial compression in the matrix. Finally, a combination of these two methods leads to a mixed secant method, which gives a relative friction increase of (volume fraction fI). This estimate accurately predicts the experimentally observed frictional behavior of unleached and leached cement-based mortars, composed of a cement paste matrix and rigid sand inclusions.     

Residual design strength of cement-based materials for nuclear waste storage systems

Calcium leaching of concrete may be critical for the mechanical integrity of hazardous waste storage systems, in which cement-based materials are employed as construction material or grouting material. Results from a recent triaxial strength test campaign on calcium depleted cementitious materials highlight that these materials exhibit decohesion and frictional softening and become increasingly pressure sensitive. But the overall emerging picture is one of a material with a residual, finite accountable strength, which is well above either the particulate or the matrix strength. This allows us to propose a ‘safe’ lower bound for calcium depleted cement-based composites, which may serve for the durability performance design of concrete structures subjected to calcium leaching-one critical design scenario of e.g. nuclear waste storage systems.     

A new noise model of HFET with special emphasis on gate-leakage

A new temperature noise model, including the influence of a gate-leakage current on the noise performance of a microwave HFET, is presented. Based on an extended small-signal equivalent circuit of the HFET and three equivalent noise temperatures the noise model allows the exact prediction of the four noise parameters in a wide frequency range. The validity of the new model is demonstrated by noise measurements at room temperature. It is shown that the three equivalent noise temperatures are frequency independent and that one of them (T_p ) especially represents the noise contribution caused by the gate-current I_G. The advantages of the new model are clearly demonstrated in comparison with a well established temperature noise model     

Optical properties of heavily doped GaAs nanowires and electroluminescent nanowire structures

We present GaAs electroluminescent nanowire structures fabricated by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. Electroluminescent structures were realized in both axial pn-junctions in single GaAs nanowires and free-standing nanowire arrays with a pn-junction formed between nanowires and substrate, respectively. The electroluminescence emission peak from single nanowire pn-junctions at 10 K was registered at an energy of around 1.32 eV and shifted to 1.4 eV with an increasing current. The line is attributed to the recombination in the compensated region present in the nanowire due to the memory effect of the vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism. Arrayed nanowire electroluminescent structures with a pn-junction formed between nanowires and substrate demonstrated at 5 K a strong electroluminescence peak at 1.488 eV and two shoulder peaks at 1.455 and 1.519 eV. The main emission line was attributed to the recombination in the p-doped GaAs. The other two lines correspond to the tunneling-assisted photon emission and band-edge recombination in the abrupt junction, respectively. Electroluminescence spectra are compared with the micro-photoluminescence spectra taken along the single p-, n- and single nanowire pn-junctions to find the origin of the electroluminescence peaks, the distribution of doping species and the sharpness of the junctions.     

Multiporoelasticity of Hierarchically Structured Materials: Micromechanical Foundations and Application to Bone

We here extend the theory of microporomechanics by Dormieux et al. to multiple pore spaces. As an application, we reveal, on the basis of a recently validated multiscale elastic model for bone tissues by Fritsch and Hellmich, the effects of multiple pore pressures in various, scale-separated pore spaces, on the overall behavior of the multiporous composite material. Thereby, our focus is on the lacunar pore space, and on its interplay with the pore spaces found further below: not only those between the mineral crystals (of some 10?nm characteristic pore size) but also those of the collagen molecules building up (micro-)fibrils (with a little more than 1?nm distance between these molecules). Our results clearly show that the interplay between pore pressure and skeleton deformation depends strongly on the loading direction and on the characteristic size of the pores—hence, we can conclude that the consideration of these strongly hierarchical and anisotropic effects in whole-organ simulations including fluid mass transport, would allow for valuable new insights into the ongoing discussion on poromechanobiology of bone.     

Alignment of Semiconductor Nanowires Using Ion Beams

Gallium arsenide nanowires are grown on 〈100〉 GaAs substrates, adopting the epitaxial relation and thus growing with an angle around 35° off the substrate surface. These straight nanowires are irradiated with different kinds of energetic ions. Depending on the ion species and energy, downwards or upwards bending of the nanowires is observed to increase with ion fluence. In the case of upwards bending, the nanowires can be aligned towards the ion beam direction at high fluences. Defect formation (vacancies and interstitials) within the implantation cascade is identified as the key mechanism for bending. Monte Carlo simulations of the implantation are presented to substantiate the results.