Effects of losses on the transmission and reflection in the single-negative materials

In this work, we investigate the angular dependence of transmission and reflection in the single-negative (SNG) materials. We consider a model structure of a SNG bilayer which consists of the epsilon-negative (ENG) and mu-negative (MNG) layers. The wave transmission and reflection properties due to the losses from the ENG and MNG materials are specifically investigated. With the presence of losses in the ENG and MNG materials, some unusual wave properties will be explored and numerically demonstrated.     

Plasmonic multilayer structure for ultrathin amorphous silicon film photovoltaic cell

A plasmonic multilayer structure (PMS) is proposed for photovoltaic cells with an ultrathin active layer that is 30 nm amorphous Si (α-Si). The optical properties of the PMS are analyzed by rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Using the PMS, the incident light can be trapped into localized surface plasmon (LSP) and then the localized surface plasmon induces the surface plasmon (SP) that propagates transversely within the α-Si layer. Compared with the indium tin oxide (ITO)/α-Si/Ag structure, the photon number absorbed by PMS increase 28.7% while a normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) polarization wave is applied.     

Miniaturized Dual-Band Hybrid Couplers With Arbitrary Power Division Ratios

Branch-line and rat-race couplers are designed to have dual-band operation with arbitrary power division ratios. An elementary two-port is proposed to imitate the 90^deg section at the two designated frequencies with different characteristic impedances. The two-port consists of a stepped-impedance section with open stubs attached to its two ends, and its circuit parameters are determined by the transmission line theory. The use of the stepped-impedance sections also leads to circuit miniaturization. By the standard microstrip technology, investigated also includes the realizable power division ratios and circuit bandwidths in the two bands, the upper limit of the ratio of the two designated frequencies and the miniaturization factor of the proposed circuit. Hybrid couplers operating at 2.45/5.2 GHz with various power division ratios are designed, fabricated and tested. Experiment results are compared with the theory and simulation.     

Surface tension measurement of metastable liquid Ti–Al–Nb alloys

Thermophysical properties of liquid alloys are usually difficult to measure, especially for high melting point and reactive alloys. In this work, the surface tensions of superheated and undercooled liquid Ti₅₅Al₄₅, Ti₅₀Al₄₅Nb₅ and Ti₄₅Al₄₅Nb₁₀ alloys are determined by using oscillating drop method under electromagnetic levitation state. The experimental results of Ti–Al and Ti–Al–Nb alloys display linear temperature dependence. The maximum undercoolings of 259 (0.143T _L), 268 (0.146T _L) and 275 K (0.147T _L) are respectively achieved for these three alloys. Furthermore, the viscosities of liquid Ti_55−x Al₄₅Nb _x alloys are also derived from the experimental results.     

Application-Aware Acceleration for Wireless Data Networks: Design Elements and Prototype Implementation

A tremendous amount of research has been done toward improving transport-layer performance over wireless data networks. The improved transport layer protocols are typically application-unaware. In this paper, we argue that the behavior of applications can and does dominate the actual performance experienced. More importantly, we show that for practical applications, application behavior all but completely negates any improvement achievable through better transport layer protocols. In this context, we motivate an application-aware, but application transparent, solution suite called A³ (application-aware acceleration) that uses a set of design principles realized in an application-specific fashion to overcome the typical behavioral problems of applications. We demonstrate the performance of A³ through both emulations using realistic application traffic traces and implementations using the NetFilter utility.     

Impact of preanneal process on threshold voltage of MOS transistors for trench DRAM

As the first step of DRAM manufacture, preanneal process plays an important role in determining the threshold voltage variation. It is found that the higher trans-1,2-dichloroethene flow in pad oxide growth and the higher nitrogen flow in high-temperature annealing step would respectively engender a lower boron segregation coefficient and higher nitridation of the oxide, both modify the boron distribution in the substrate and consequently the behavior of the threshold voltage. As the feature size of DRAM devices enter nanometer regime, besides gate oxidation, ion implantation and related thermal processes, the impact of preanneal process condition should be prudentially taken into consideration for rigorous control of the threshold voltage in the advanced DRAM production.     

CdSe-sensitized inorganic–organic heterojunction solar cells: The effect of molecular dipole interface modification and surface passivation

CdSe-sensitized heterojunction solar cells composed of mesoscopic TiO₂/CdSe/P3HT (poly-3-hexylthiophene) were constructed, and the negative molecular dipole of 4-methoxybenzenethiol (MBT) and the ZnS passivation layer were used as interface modifiers to improve device performance. Through the interface modification between TiO₂/CdSe and P3HT using MBT and by ZnS surface passivation, the power conversion efficiency of the modified solar cell was greatly enhanced from 1.02% to 1.62% under 1 sun illumination.