Molecular dynamics simulation study of the nano-wear characteristics of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study of the probe-based nano-lithography of an alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on a metal surface was performed. The motivation of this work was to understand the nano-tribological phenomena of the nano-metric scribing process of alkanethiol molecules and gain insight into the interaction between the probe tip and the SAM-coated surface during the scribing process. The simulation results revealed that the organothiol molecules were displaced and dragged by the probe tip during scribing due to the strong interchain interactions. It was also found that the scribed pattern width was largely dependent on the tip–surface interaction induced by the probe shape rather than the tip–surface contact size. Also, the minimum load for tip–substrate contact changed with the number of molecules that interact with the probe tip. Furthermore, from the investigation of the effect of the scribing speed on the surface-damage characteristics of the chain molecules, it was found that relatively high-speed scribing could induce excessive removal of the SAM molecules from the surface. PACS 02.70.Ns; 31.15.Qg; 81.16.Nd; 68.35.Af     

A numerical study on the enhancement of heat transfer by pressure distributions in acoustic fields

The enhancement of heat transfer in a cavity was investigated in the absence of and in the presence of acoustic streaming induced by ultrasonic waves. The present study provides the experimental and numerical results of heat transfer in the acoustic fields. The enhancement of heat transfer was experimentally investigated in the presence of acoustic streaming and was compared with the profiles of acoustic pressure calculated by the numerical analysis. A coupled finite element-boundary element method (FE-BEM) was applied for a numerical analysis. Experimental and numerical studies clearly show that pressure variations are closely related to the enhancement of heat transfer in the acoustic fields.     

Enhancement of long-term stability of pentacene thin-film transistors encapsulated with transparent SnO2

The long-term stability of pentacene thin-film transistors (TFTs) encapsulated with a transparent SnO₂ thin-film prepared by ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) was investigated. After encapsulation process, our organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) showed somewhat degraded field-effect mobility of 0.5 cm²/(V s) that was initially 0.62 cm²/(V s), when a buffer layer of thermally evaporated 100 nm SnO₂ film had been deposited prior to IBAD process. However, the mobility was surprisingly sustained up to 1 month and then gradually degraded down to 0.35 cm²/(V s) which was still three times higher than that of the OTFT without any encapsulation layer after 100 days in air ambient. The encapsulated OTFTs also exhibited superior on/off current ratio of over 10⁵ to that of the unprotected devices (∼10⁴) which was reduced from ∼10⁶ before aging. Therefore, the enhanced long-term stability of our encapsulated OTFTs should be attributed to well protection of permeation of H₂O and O₂ into the devices by the IBAD SnO₂ thin-film which could be used as an effective inorganic gas barrier for transparent organic electronic devices.     

Vibration characteristics of piezoelectric torsional transducers

The vibrational characteristics of Langevin-type torsional transducers, which consist of two piezoelectric torsional disks and two elastic blocks, are studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. The differential equations of piezoelectric torsional motions are derived in terms of the circumferential displacement and the electric potential. Solutions of the boundary-value problem yield the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the transducers, and the natural frequencies are verified by comparing the numerical results with the experimental ones. The theoretical results enable one to quantitatively predict the effect of the elastic blocks on the reduction of the natural frequencies of a Langevin-type torsional transducer.     

Strong lateral electron coupling of pb nanowires on stepped si(111): angle-resolved photoemission studies

We employ angle-resolved photoemission to characterize the electronic band structure of the Pb "nanowire" array self-assembled on a stepped Si(111) surface. Despite the highly oriented nanowires observed in scanning tunneling microscopy images, we find essentially two-dimensional Fermi contours modulated one dimensionally perpendicular to the wires. This strong two-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional nature of the band structure explains the stability and anisotropy of the metallic phase down to 4 K as reported recently. A simple tight-binding model with each Si nanoterrace covered by a densely packed Pb overlayer successfully reproduces this modulated band structure and quantifies the electron coupling within the "nanostripes" and the step-edge potential.     

Evanescent tunneling of an effective surface plasmon excited by convection electrons

We introduce the subwavelength transmission of an effective surface plasmon beyond the light zone via the proximity interaction of convection electrons with a metal grating. A comparative analysis of dielectric homogenization and a finite-difference-time-domain simulation shows that out-of-phase-like modes (pi modes) have strong transmission below the cutoff frequency relying on the parametric condition of structural dimension and electronic energy. The synchronous spatial field and charge distribution of the pi mode system confirms the evanescent tunneling effect of the electron-coupled plasmons.     

Bandwidth-tunable band-rejection filter based on helicoidal fiber grating pair of opposite helicities

We have developed a new type of all-fiber band-rejection filter consisting of a helicoidal long-period fiber grating pair of opposite helicities, which provides highly flexible spectral control over the rejection bandwidth. The detailed fabrication method and operation principles of the proposed bandwidth-tunable band-rejection filter are described. The proposed device enables unique rejection bandwidth tuning over more than 14 nm at the rejection level of 15 dB, with low insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss achieved by adjusting torsion stress.     

Performance limits of pico-cell systems using radio-over-fiber techniques with an electroabsorption modulator

We investigate the performance limits of a pico-cell system using the radio- over-fiber technique with an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) in a 2.4 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. To understand the performance limits of the system using an EAM as the optical transceiver, we vary the optical modulation index (OMI) of the transmitter for different bias voltages to the EAM. Power margins in the links are found to estimate a possible service range, and packet loss rates (PLRs) in the pico-cell system are measured to evaluate the transmission performance. The total service range can be extended up to 3 m by adjusting the OMI of the transmitter for different applied bias voltages to the EAM.     

N2O and O3 arctic column amounts from PARIS-IR observations: Retrievals, characterization and error analysis

Ground-based solar absorption infrared spectra were recorded in the Canadian Arctic during the early spring of 2004 using a moderate-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer, the Portable Atmospheric Research Interferometric Spectrometer for the Infrared (PARIS-IR). As part of the Canadian Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) validation campaign, the PARIS-IR instrument recorded solar absorption spectra of the atmosphere from February to March 2004 as the Sun returned to the Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory (AStrO) near Eureka, Nunavut, Canada (80.05°N, 86.42°W). In this paper, we briefly outline the PARIS-IR instrument configuration and data acquisition in the high Arctic. We discuss the retrieval methodology, characterization and error analysis associated with total and partial column retrievals. We compare the PARIS-IR measurements of N₂O and O₃ column amounts with those from the Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) onboard the Canadian SCISAT-1 satellite and the ozonesonde data obtained at Eureka during the validation campaign.