Surface electronic states in metal-porous silicon-silicon structures

The character of electronic states in porous silicon (PS)-Si, Pd-PS interfaces, and/or PS bulk at the formation of the metal-PS-silicon heterostructure was studied. The energy parameters were estimated using the deep-level transient spectroscopy and capacitance-voltage characteristics at the accounting of the voltage drop distribution along the structure. The analytical expression for voltage drop distribution along dielectric layer, porous layer and space charge region in silicon was obtained by solving the equation for continuity of the electrostatic induction vector. The electronic states studied were shown to manifest the quasi-continuous sub-band in the energy gap if the porous layer was 30-nm thick. Their density increased, as the energy position was being transformed to a deeper energy level of E_v+0.81 eV at the PS layer growing to 90 nm wide.     

Equilibrium Moisture Characteristics of High Oleic Sunflower Seeds and Kernels

The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) characteristics of high oleic sunflower seeds and kernels between 10 and 55°C were determined by equilibrating the samples to known relative humidities (RH) above saturated salt solutions. EMC of the kernels was lower than that of seeds in the range of 11 to 96% ERH and at 25 and 40°C. Hysteresis effect was found for the EMC properties of seeds and kernels at 25°C. Four EMC-ERH models (modified Henderson, Chung-Pfost, Halsey, and Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer) and their estimated parameters were evaluated for goodness of fit. GAB and Halsey equations showed the best fitting of experimental data although GAB equation adjusted for temperature described the EMC data the best. Components of the seed as oil content or hull/kernel ratio did not explain the slight differences in EMC found between the varieties.     

Drying of Uncoated Paper with Gas-Fired Infrared Emitters—Optimum Emitters' Location Within a Paper Machine Drying Section

This article theoretically investigates the drying of uncoated paper with gas-fired infrared (IR) emitters installed within the drying section of a given commercial paper machine. Specifically, it presents the ideal location of two opposing IR emitters within the drying section. The ideal location of the two opposing IR emitters corresponds to the highest machine speed with specified average moisture content of paper sheet at the end of the drying section. This article also presents the average evaporation rate, temperature, and moisture content of the paper sheet as it travels through the drying section with the two opposing IR emitters operating at the optimum location. In addition, the temperature and moisture profiles in the sheet thickness direction, before and after the IR emitters, are provided. This article is not concerned with the potential effects of drying with IR emitters on paper sheet properties and machine runnability issues.     

Hydrogen limitation--a method for controlling the performance of membrane biofilm reactor for autotrophic denitrification of wastewater.

Hydrogen-driven denitrification using the fiber membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was evaluated for consistent operation in tertiary wastewater treatment. The possibility of controlling the process rates, as well as biofilm parameters by supplying limited amounts of electron donor (hydrogen), was tested. Limiting the hydrogen supply proved to be efficient in controlling the biofilm growth and performance of the MBfR. Denitrification rates remained unchanged for both synthetic wastewater (SWW) and real municipal wastewater (MWW) effluent as well through the fluctuations in the substrate (NO3-N) concentration. The average denitrification rates were 0.50 (+/- 0.02) g NO3-N per day per m2 for SWW and 0.59 (+/- 0.04) g NO3-N per day per m2 for MWW. Biofilm density rather than thickness was the determining factor in substrate diffusion and biofilm sloughing, ultimately determining operating stability. Limited hydrogen supply assured constant volatile solids (VS) concentration in the biofilm. It was determined that VS/TS ratio higher than 0.25 assured stable biofilm operation. Decrease of VS/TS ratio below 0.25 led to shearing of the nonbiological outer layers of the biofilm. The values of chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile suspended solids (VSS) and total suspended solids (TSS) in the final effluent were stable and well below wastewater effluent guidelines. Substitutions of bicarbonate with gaseous carbon dioxide as the carbon source did not affect denitrification rates despite lower than optimum pH conditions.     

Microstructure and properties of MoSi2–MoB and MoSi2–Mo5Si3 molybdenum silicides

MoSi₂-based intermetallics containing different volume fractions of MoB or Mo₅Si₃ were fabricated by hot-pressing MoSi₂, MoB, and Mo₅Si₃ powders in vacuum. Both classes of alloys contained approximately 5 vol.% of dispersed silica phase. Additions of MoB or Mo₅Si₃ caused the average grain size to decrease. The decrease in the grain size was typically accompanied by an increase in flexure strength, a decrease in the room temperature fracture toughness, and a decrease in the hot strength (compressive creep strength) measured around 1200 °C, except when the Mo₅Si₃ effectively became the major phase. Oxidation measurements on the two classes of alloys were carried out in air. Both classes of alloys were protected from oxidation by an in-situ adherent scale that formed on exposure to high temperature. The scale, although not analyzed in detail, is commonly recognized in MoSi₂ containing materials as consisting mostly of SiO₂. The MoB containing materials showed an increase in the scale thickness and the cyclic oxidation rate at 1400 °C when compared with pure MoSi₂. However, in contrast with the pure MoSi₂ material, oxidation at 1400 °C began with a weight loss followed by a weight gain and the formation of the protective silica layer. The Mo₅Si₃ containing materials experienced substantial initial weight losses followed by regions of small weight changes. Overall, the MoB and Mo₅Si₃ additions to MoSi₂ tended to be detrimental for the mechanical and oxidative properties.     

An efficient TDMA start-up and restart synchronization approach for distributed embedded systems

A desired attribute in safety-critical embedded real-time systems is a system time and event synchronization capability on which predictable communication can be established. Focusing on bus-based communication protocols, we present a novel, efficient, and low-cost start-up and restart synchronization approach for TDMA environments. This approach utilizes information about a node's message length that forms a unique sequence to achieve synchronization such that communication overhead can be avoided. We present a fault-tolerant initial synchronization protocol with a bounded start-up time. The protocol avoids start-up collisions by deterministically postponing retries after a collision. We also present a resynchronization strategy that incorporates recovering nodes into synchronization.     

Vortex Dynamics in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 Single Crystal with Low Density Columnar Defects Studied by Magnetic Force Microscope

We have studied vortex dynamics in Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ single crystal with low density columnar defects by using a magnetic force microscope. Single crystal Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ sample was irradiated by 1.3 GeV uranium ion to form artificial pinning centers along the crystalline c-axis. The irradiation dose corresponded to a matching field of 20 gauss. The radius of an individual vortex is approximately 140 nm, which is close to the penetration depth of this material. Magnetic force microscope (MFM) images show that intrinsic crystalline defects such as stacking fault dislocations are very effective pinning centers for vortices in addition to the pinning centers due to ion bombardment. By counting the number of vortex, we found that the flux trapped at each pinning center is a single flux quantum. At higher magnetic field, the vortex structure showed an Abrikosov lattice disturbed only by immobile vortices located at pinning centers. When increasing or decreasing the external magnetic field, the spatial distribution of vortices showed a Bean model like behavior.     

Reliability assessment of polysilicon MEMS structures under mechanical fatigue loading

This paper examines the current status and methodologies of study of material and system reliability in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). This includes: a review of the current literature in the area of MEMS regarding failure analysis experimental investigations; testing methods and philosophies for material characterization and possible mechanistic analytical solutions for estimating material properties. The paper proposes a reliability framework that encompasses all the available information. This statistical platform will enable the MEMS design engineer to distill all the available information in the literature into a stand-alone semi-empirical material reliability model, and a holistic system-level model for a complete system.     

Growth of GaAs on polycrystalline silicon-on-insulator

The growth of GaAs on polycrystalline silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy using a two-step growth process was studied in this work. We have compared the variation of the growth temperature and the thickness of the initial GaAs epilayer in the structures grown on polycrystalline SOI to ones grown on SOI and epi-Si. Structural properties were studied using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD). The growth temperature had a strong effect on the FWHM of the (0 0 4) XRD curve in structures grown on SOI and epi-Si. In the case of polycrystalline SOI the effect was not as strong. Optical properties of the samples in which the optically active layer consisted of self-organized In_0.5Ga_0.5As quantum dots were investigated by photoluminescence measurements. The photoluminescence intensity from structures grown on polycrystalline SOI was comparable to that from structures grown on SOI and epi-Si.     

Entropy Based Approach to Data Loss Reparation Through the Indeterminate Fine-Grained Parallel Computation

The new method of a gap recovery in symbol sequences is presented. A covering is combined from the suitable reasonably short strings of the parts of a sequence available for observation. Two criteria are introduced to choose the best covering. It must yield the maximum of entropy of a frequency dictionary developed over the sequence obtained due to the recovery, if an overlapping combined from the copies of strings from the available parts of the sequence exists. The second criterion identifies the best covering in case when one has to use any string to cover the gap; here the best covering must yield the minimum of specific entropy of the frequency dictionary developed over the available parts of the sequence against the one developed over the entire sequence obtained due to the recovery. Kirdin kinetic machine which is the ideal fine-grained structureless computer has been used to resolve the problem of the reconstruction of a gap in symbol sequence.