Low temperature UV/ozone oxidation formation of HfSiON gate dielectric

Physical and electrical properties of hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSi_xO_yN_z) dielectric films prepared by UV ozone oxidation of hafnium silicon nitride (HfSiN) followed by annealing to 450 °C are reported. Interfacial layer growth was minimized through room temperature deposition and subsequent ultraviolet/ozone oxidation. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) and current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the as-deposited and annealed HfSi_xO_yN_z are presented. These 4 nm thick films have a dielectric constant of 8–9 with 12 at.% Hf composition, with a leakage current density of 3×10⁻⁵ A/cm² at V_fb+1 V. The films have a breakdown field strength >10 MV/cm.     

Preparation of PAM/PVA blending films by solution-cast technique and its characterization: a spectroscopic study

Polyacrylamide (PAM) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were blended with different weight percentages (70/30, 50/50, 30/70) using solution-cast technique. The prepared films were studied by different characterization techniques. The effect of PVA content on PAM blends was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultra violet visible (UV–vis), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Different mechanical properties of blends were also studied. Significant changes were observed in FTIR, UV–vis, TGA, SEM and mechanical analysis which revealed interactions between the two polymers. FTIR spectra showed the presence of hydrogen bonding between PAM and PVA and hydrophilic nature of the blends. Different optical properties were studied by UV–vis spectroscopy. The weight loss, as a function of temperature of blends, was analyzed by TGA. The results obtained from different experimental techniques were supported by SEM image analysis. FTIR analysis confirmed the conclusion on the specific hydrogen bonding between –CONH₂ groups in PAM and –OH group in PVA. These results showed the change in the thermal stability and mechanical properties. FTIR analysis revealed that a blend ratio of 50/50 wt% had maximum intermolecular interaction between two polymers. It was finally concluded that blend films with the above ratio display higher thermal stability and improved mechanical properties. Due to changes in interactions, the optical parameters were also changed.     

Enhancing data delivery with density controlled clustering in wireless sensor networks

Microsystem Technologies - Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are primarily used for sensing and collecting the information from environment. This information is sent to base station (BS), where, it is...     

Biometric-based cryptography for digital content protection without any key storage

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The traditional digital data security mechanisms follow either cryptography or authentication. The primary point of contention with these mechanisms remains...     

A Case Study into Using Common Real-Time Workflow Monitoring Infrastructure for Scientific Workflows

Scientific workflow systems support various workflow representations, operational modes, and configurations. Regardless of the system used, end users have common needs: to track the status of their workflows in real time, be notified of execution anomalies and failures automatically, perform troubleshooting, and automate the analysis of the workflow results. In this paper, we describe how the Stampede monitoring infrastructure was integrated with the Pegasus Workflow Management System and the Triana Workflow Systems, in order to add generic real time monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities across both systems. Stampede is an infrastructure that provides interoperable monitoring using a three-layer model: (1) a common data model to describe workflow and job executions; (2) high-performance tools to load workflow logs conforming to the data model into a data store; and (3) a common query interface. This paper describes the integration of Stampede monitoring architecture with Pegasus and Triana and shows the new analysis capabilities that Stampede provides to these workflow systems. The successful integration of Stampede with these workflow engines demonstrates the generic nature of the Stampede monitoring infrastructure and its potential to provide a common platform for monitoring across scientific workflow engines.     

Hollow graphitic carbon nanospheres: synthesis and properties

Hollow-graphitized carbon nanospheres (CNS), also known as nanocapsules (CNC), with inner diameter of 20–50 nm and shell thickness of 10–15 nm were synthesized from resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) polymerized in the presence of an iron polymeric complex (IPC). IPC acts as a dispersant for the formation of uniform R–F–Fe carbon precursor and provides iron catalyst/template for the formation of CNS. The uniform and narrow particle size (<3 nm) of the IPC ensures reproducible synthesis of uniform final products with unique properties. The morphology and structure properties of the CNS have been characterized in detail. CNS is as a promising material for replacing carbon black in high-performance and weight-sensitive applications or for replacing CNT in cost-sensitive applications.     

Mapping Abstract Complex Workflows onto Grid Environments

In this paper we address the problem of automatically generating job workflows for the Grid. These workflows describe the execution of a complex application built from individual application components. In our work we have developed two workflow generators: the first (the Concrete Workflow Generator CWG) maps an abstract workflow defined in terms of application-level components to the set of available Grid resources. The second generator (Abstract and Concrete Workflow Generator, ACWG) takes a wider perspective and not only performs the abstract to concrete mapping but also enables the construction of the abstract workflow based on the available components. This system operates in the application domain and chooses application components based on the application metadata attributes. We describe our current ACWG based on AI planning technologies and outline how these technologies can play a crucial role in developing complex application workflows in Grid environments. Although our work is preliminary, CWG has already been used to map high energy physics applications onto the Grid. In one particular experiment, a set of production runs lasted 7 days and resulted in the generation of 167,500 events by 678 jobs. Additionally, ACWG was used to map gravitational physics workflows, with hundreds of nodes onto the available resources, resulting in 975 tasks, 1365 data transfers and 975 output files produced.     

Fault Administration by Load Balancing in Distributed SDN Controller: A Review

Wireless Personal Communications - Tremendous amount of data generated due to increasing no of users every day in the technology world. It is difficult to manage huge amount of discrete data with...