Al2O3 formation on Si by catalytic chemical vapor deposition

Catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) has been developed to deposit alumina (Al₂O₃) thin films on silicon (Si) crystals using N₂ bubbled tri-methyl aluminum [Al(CH₃)₃, TMA] and molecular oxygen (O₂) as source species and tungsten wires as a catalyzer. The catalyzer dissociated TMA at approximately 600 °C. The maximum deposition rate was 18 nm min⁻¹ at a catalyzer temperature of 1000 °C and substrate temperature of 800 °C. Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) diodes were fabricated using gates composed of 32.5-nm-thick alumina film deposited at a substrate temperature of 400 °C. The capacitance measurements resulted in a relative dielectric constant of 7.4, fixed charge density of 1.74×10¹² cm⁻², small hysteresis voltage of 0.12 V, and very few interface trapping charges. The leakage current was 5.01×10⁻⁷ A cm⁻² at a gate bias of 1 V.     

Compensation of rotor imbalance for precision rotation of a planar magnetic bearing rotor

Magnetic bearings provide an alternative for achieving precision rotation. But the rotational accuracy is sensitive to rotor imbalance. The system we study is a planar rotor supported by aerostatic suspension and positioned by a radial magnetic bearing of nanometer precision. We present compensation designs and experiment results for precision rotation about the geometric center and the mass center, respectively. In the former case, the base harmonic component at each sensor output is removed by explicit trigonometric compensation signals that are constructed in real time. In the latter case, a new double-loop compensation design is given. Each compensation loop is similar to that in the former case. The compensation, aided by a variable rotational speed that is changed up and down repeatedly, is shown to push the rotational center to approach the mass center. Once the mass center is reached, the rotor remains to rotate about the mass center at variable rotational speed without transient. Compared with the existing methods, which find the mass center or inertial axis at a fixed rotational speed and rely on exact values of plant parameters, our method may locate the mass center more accurately. Experiment data indicate that the mass center is located with an error of tens of nanometers.     

Experiment and modelling of cantilever-based electromagnetic energy harvester driven by direct impact of spherical ball

Microsystem Technologies - We carried out a numerical analysis and an experimental investigation of the nonlinear resonance characteristics of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester driven...     

A cost-effective extracorporeal magnetically-levitated centrifugal blood pump employing a disposable magnet-free impeller

In the field of rotary blood pumps, contactless support of the impeller by a magnetic bearing has been identified as a promising method to reduce blood damage and enhance durability. The authors developed a two-degrees-of-freedom radial controlled magnetic bearing system without a permanent magnet in the impeller in order that a low-cost disposable pump-head for an extracorporeal centrifugal blood pump could be manufactured more easily. Stable levitation and contactless rotation of the 'magnet-free' impeller were realized for a prototype blood-pump that made use of this magnetic bearing. The run-out of the impeller position at between 1000 r/min and 3000 r/min was less than 40 microm in the radial-controlled directions. The total power consumption of the magnetic bearing was less than 1 W at the same rotational speeds. When the pump was operated, a flow rate of 5 l/min against a head pressure of 78.66 kPa was achieved at a rotational speed of 4000 r/min, which is sufficient for extracorporeal circulation support. The proposed technology offers the advantage of low-cost mass production of disposable pump heads.     

A micro-magnetic bearing using capacitive axial displacement sensing

This paper describes a one-axis-controlled micro-magnetic bearing (MMB) system that utilizes capacitive axial displacement sensing (CADS). The axial rotor displacement is measured using the variation in capacitance between the rotor and the electromagnet cores, which take the form of a flange. An MMB structure is proposed and designed to realize the CADS and achieve high magnetic stiffness for supporting the rotor. Experimental results for an MMB with 6-mm-diameter rotor show that the CADS was able to measure the axial rotor displacement with a resolution of about 1 μm in 10 kHz bandwidth and ±20 μm range. By using the CADS output as a feedback signal, the rotor could be levitated stably and rotated at about 10,000 rpm without external displacement sensors.     

A combined repetitive control for precision rotation of magnetic bearing

In this paper, we focus on improving the rotational accuracy of the magnetic bearing under the consideration of the unbalance force of the spindle and the unbalanced magnetic pull of the motor. First, the vibrations of the spindle are analyzed. Next, in order to suppress the vibrations of the spindle, a combined repetitive control method is proposed, which includes a space domain repetitive compensator and a time domain repetitive compensator. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the proposed method is effective for suppressing the vibrations of the spindle and the rotational accuracy is improved from 301.2 to 21.9 nm at 2880 min⁻¹.     

Miniaturization of a one-axis-controlled magnetic bearing

The design of a novel micro-magnetic bearing (MMB) for a 2-mm-diameter rotor is discussed. The bearing is supported by magnetic couplings generated by permanent magnets and is stabilized by a one-axis controller. The structure of the MMB is greatly simplified, not only in terms of machining and assembly of micro- and precision parts, but the number of mechanical parts is also reduced in comparison with previous designs of MMB. To increase the magnetic stiffness used to support the rotor in the passively controlled directions and to realize stable levitation using one-axis control, the dimensions of the mechanical parts that affect the magnetic stiffness are investigated using a finite element method. An MMB for a 2-mm-diameter rotor was constructed, such that the rotor could be levitated without mechanical contact and which rotated at 39,000 rpm. The static and dynamic characteristics of the MMB are evaluated, including magnetic stiffness, rotational accuracy and power consumption.     

A polydimethylsiloxane diaphragm integrated with a sputtered thin film NdFeB magnet

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper we propose a MEMS fabrication process that enables a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) diaphragm to be integrated with a sputtered thin film permanent magnet...     

State feedback control for active magnetic bearings based on current change rate alone

This work presents a new sensorless control technique for active magnetic bearings (AMB). We consider a single-axis AMB composed of a rotor and a pair of electromagnets. It is driven by a pair of pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) switching power amplifiers. We connect the amplifier input and output terminals and the magnet coils to a simple network composed of a transformer and a sample-and-hold circuit. Then, we show that when the sampling takes place at a certain moment of each PWM cycle, the electronics gives a full state feedback that can stabilize the rotor. Although there is not an explicit controller, the closed-loop poles can be arbitrarily placed, and good performance is achieved with reasonable parameter values of the driving electronics. We include an implementation example with experimental results.