Sliding wear resistance of metallic coated surfaces

The role of metallic coatings in sliding wear is examined experimentally. The results indicate that the tribological behavior of soft coatings is consistent with the delamination theory of wear, especially the critical nature of the plating thickness. It is shown that a reduction in wear rate of three orders of magnitude is possible when the coating material is softer than the substrate and thinner than a critical thickness. The optimum plate thickness is found to be of the order of 0.1 μm for cadmium, silver, gold or nickel plated on various types of steel. Cadmium, silver and nickel reduce wear only in non-oxidizing environments, whereas gold reduces wear both in air and in inert atmospheres.The roughness of the substrate surface prior to plating and the nature of the coating/substrate bond have significant effects on the life of these coatings. The life of the coatings is increased by polishing the substrate to 0.1 μm (c.l.a.) prior to plating, and also by diffusion of the plated material into the substrate, which increases the coating/substrate bond strength.     

Enhanced efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells with Sr2SiO4:Eu2+ and SrGa2S4:Eu2+ phosphors

We report the effect of yellow Sr₂SiO₄:Eu²⁺ and green SrGa₂S₄:Eu²⁺ phosphors on the efficiency of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. Each phosphor was coated on the back side of indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass substrates by spin coating with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The maximum absorption wavelength of the active layer in the OPV cells was ～512 nm. The emission peaks of Sr₂SiO₄:Eu²⁺ and SrGa₂S₄:Eu²⁺ were maximized at 552 nm and 534 nm, respectively. The short circuit current density (J_sc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the OPV cells with Sr₂SiO₄:Eu²⁺ (8.55 mA/cm² and 3.25%) and with SrGa₂S₄:Eu²⁺ (9.29 mA/cm² and 3.3%) were higher than those of the control device without phosphor (7.605 mA/cm² and 3.04%). We concluded that phosphor tuned the wavelength of the incident light to the absorption wavelength of the active layer, thus increasing the J_sc and PCE of the OPV cells.     

Designing training sequences for carrier frequency estimation in frequency-selective channels

A procedure for selecting a training sequence (TS) is developed for frequency estimation in frequency-selective channels. An expression for the unconditional Crame/spl acute/r-Rao bound (UCRB) is obtained by averaging the CRB for frequency estimation over the probability density function of Gaussian random channels. In addition, a necessary and sufficient condition for minimizing the UCRB is derived. Based on these results, a procedure for selecting a TS is developed. Through a computer search, binary TSs up to length 24 are found and tabulated. It is observed that periodic TSs tend to be selected when the TS length is twice the channel duration. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed TSs can enhance the performance of the maximum likelihood (ML) frequency estimate.     

HeS‐CoP: Heuristic switch‐controller placement scheme for distributed SDN controllers in data center networks

Software‐defined networking (SDN) has been widely researched and used to manage large‐scale networks such as data center networks (DCNs). An early stage of SDN controller experienced low responsiveness, low scalability, and low reliability. To solve these problems, distributed SDN controllers have been proposed. The concept of distributed SDN controllers distributes control messages among multiple SDN controllers. However, distributed SDN controllers must assign a master controller for each networking devices. Most previous studies, however, did not consider the characteristics of DCNs. Thus, they are not suitable to operate in DCNs. In this paper, we propose HeS‐CoP, a heuristic switch‐controller placement scheme for distributed SDN controllers in DCNs. With the control traffic load and CPU load, HeS‐CoP decides when our scheme should be performed in DCNs. To show the feasibility of HeS‐CoP, we designed and implemented an orchestrator that contains our proposed scheme and then evaluated our proposed scheme. As a result, our proposed scheme well distributes the control traffic load, decreases the average CPU load, and reduces the packet delay.     

Enhanced efficiency of organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) by control of laser imaging condition

Laser Induced Thermal Imaging (LITI) is a laser addressed thermal patterning technology with unique advantages such as excellent uniformity of transfer film thickness, capability of multilayer stack transfer, high resolution and scalability to large-size mother glass. However, the deterioration of the device performance during imaging process has been an obstacle to use it as a commercial technology. To investigate a possibility of thermal deformation of organic materials as a transfer layer and a receptor layer during imaging process, we executed a preliminary annealing test by using standard green devices at various temperatures. By comparison of these results with those obtained from LITI devices, we found that the main reason of device deterioration could be originated from the mobility change of the organic layers. Hence, we developed the dwell time control technology to suppress the thermal impact during LITI process and we finally obtained current efficiency which is quite equivalent to that obtained from the standard evaporation devices.     

A Fast Computation Method in Frequency Domain for Power Ground Plane Impedance Calculation Using the Mobius Transform

A new method to reduce the computation time in power/ground-plane analysis is proposed. The proposed method is based on an approximation of impedance in the frequency domain using Mobius transform. The power/ground plane impedance is transformed by Mobius transform and is more linear than the raw impedance, which ensures that a simple approximation is possible. After the approximation, an inverse Mobius transform is applied to predict the power/ground plane impedance. This method displays the high speed of computing with good accuracy. In the case of impedance calculation for a 17.78 cm times 10.16 cm printed circuit board (PCB) board, the proposed method has shown to be 12 times faster than conventional methods. This method can be applied to the analysis and design of power/ground-plane where complex computation is needed.     

An alternative interpretation of hot electron interface degradationin NMOSFETs: isotope results irreconcilable with major defect generationby holes?

The giant deuterium isotope effect found previously for NMOS hot electron degradation is applied to study defect generation at the Si-SiO ₂ interface. The data suggest that interface defects related to hydrogen depassivation may be generated directly by channel hot electrons bombarding the interface without the necessity of injection into the oxide. This is in contrast to the standard teaching that energetic holes, created by impact ionization, and injected into the oxide are the main cause for hydrogen-related defect generation at the Si-SiO₂ interfaces     

A flexible and highly sensitive strain-gauge sensor using reversible interlocking of nanofibres

Flexible skin-attachable strain-gauge sensors are an essential component in the development of artificial systems that can mimic the complex characteristics of the human skin. In general, such sensors contain a number of circuits or complex layered matrix arrays. Here, we present a simple architecture for a flexible and highly sensitive strain sensor that enables the detection of pressure, shear and torsion. The device is based on two interlocked arrays of high-aspect-ratio Pt-coated polymeric nanofibres that are supported on thin polydimethylsiloxane layers. When different sensing stimuli are applied, the degree of interconnection and the electrical resistance of the sensor changes in a reversible, directional manner with specific, discernible strain-gauge factors. The sensor response is highly repeatable and reproducible up to 10,000 cycles with excellent on/off switching behaviour. We show that the sensor can be used to monitor signals ranging from human heartbeats to the impact of a bouncing water droplet on a superhydrophobic surface.