Pre- and post-breakdown electrical studies in ultrathin Al2O3 films by conductive atomic force microscopy

The loss of local dielectric integrity in ultrathin Al₂O₃ films grown by atomic layer deposition is investigated using conducting atomic force microscopy. I–V spectra acquired at different regions of the samples by constant and ramping voltage stress are analyzed for their pre- and post-breakdown signatures. Based on these observations, the thickness dependent dielectric reliability and failure mechanism are discussed. Our results show that remarkable enhancement in breakdown electric field as high as 130 MV/cm is observed for ultrathin films of thickness less than 1 nm.     

Electro–magnetic control of shear flow over a cylinder for drag reduction and lift enhancement

In this paper, the electro-magnetic control of a cylinder wake in shear flow is investigated numerically. The effects of the shear rate and Lorentz force on the cylinder wake, the distribution of hydrodynamic force, and the drag/lift phase diagram are discussed in detail. It is revealed that Lorentz force can be classified into the field Lorentz force and the wall Lorentz force and they affect the drag and lift forces independently. The drag/lift phase diagram with a shape of ＂8＂ consists of two closed curves, which correspond to the halves of the shedding cycle dominated by the upper and lower vortices respectively. The free stream shear （K 〉 0） induces the diagram to move downward and leftward, so that the average lift force directs toward the downside. With the upper Lorentz force, the diagram moves downwards and to the right by the field Lorentz force, thus resulting in the drag increase and the lift reduction, whereas it moves upward and to the left by the wall Lorentz force, leading to the drag reduction and the lift increase. Finally the diagram is dominated by the wall Lorentz force, thus moving upward and leftward. Therefore the upper Lorentz force, which enhances the lift force, can be used to overcome the lift loss due to the free stream shear, which is also obtained in the experiment.     

A novel slotted helix slow-wave structure for high power Ka-band traveling-wave tubes

A novel slotted helix slow-wave structure （SWS） is proposed to develop a high power, wide-bandwidth, and high reliability millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube （TWT）. This novel structure, which has higher heat capacity than a conven- tional helix SWS, evolves from conventional helix SWS with three parallel rows of rectangular slots made in the outside of the helix tape. In this paper, the electromagnetic characteristics and the beam-wave interaction of this novel structure operating in the Ka-band are investigated. From our calculations, when the designed beam voltage and beam current are set to be 18.45 kV and 0.2 A, respectively, this novel circuit can produce over 700-W average output power in a frequency range from 27.5 GHz to 32.5 GHz, and the corresponding conversion efficiency values vary from 19% to 21.3%, and the maximum output power is 787 W at 30 GHz.     

Stochastic mechano-chemical kinetics of molecular motors: A multidisciplinary enterprise from a physicist’s perspective

A molecular motor is made of either a single macromolecule or a macromolecular complex. Just like their macroscopic counterparts, molecular motors “transduce” input energy into mechanical work. All the nano-motors considered here operate under isothermal conditions far from equilibrium. Moreover, one of the possible mechanisms of energy transduction, called Brownian ratchet, does not even have any macroscopic counterpart. But, molecular motor is not synonymous with Brownian ratchet; a large number of molecular motors execute a noisy power stroke, rather than operating as Brownian ratchet. We review not only the structural design and stochastic kinetics of individual single motors, but also their coordination, cooperation and competition as well as the assembly of multi-module motors in various intracellular kinetic processes. Although all the motors considered here execute mechanical movements, efficiency and power output are not necessarily good measures of performance of some motors. Among the intracellular nano-motors, we consider the porters, sliders and rowers, pistons and hooks, exporters, importers, packers and movers as well as those that also synthesize, manipulate and degrade “macromolecules of life”. We review mostly the quantitative models for the kinetics of these motors. We also describe several of those motor-driven intracellular stochastic processes for which quantitative models are yet to be developed. In part I, we discuss mainly the methodology and the generic models of various important classes of molecular motors. In part II, we review many specific examples emphasizing the unity of the basic mechanisms as well as diversity of operations arising from the differences in their detailed structure and kinetics. Multi-disciplinary research is presented here from the perspective of physicists.     

Density Waves in One-Dimensional Granular Flows Driven by Non-Uniform Force Field

We introduce a non-uniform gravity-like force field to control the granular flow state in a quasi-onedimensional system, and study the system by the molecular dynamics simulation. We find that the granular flow under non-uniform force field can be well described by a density wave with fixed time period if a fixed particle number condition is used. The base frequency of the density wave does not depend on the position of the flow, while both the average density and oscillation amplitude of the flow vary continuously with the position. The formation of the density wave results from the aggregation of the granules in the decelerated region and the feed-back mechanism in the fixed particle number condition.     

The improvement of InAs/GaAs quantum dot properties capped by Graphene

InAs self‐assembled quantum dots (QDs) were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (001) GaAs substrate. Uncapped and capped QDs with GaAs and graphene layers were studied using atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Graphene multi‐layer was grown by chemical vapor deposition and transferred on InAs/GaAs QDs. It is well known that the presence of a cap layer modifies the size, shape, and density of the QDs. According to the atomic force microscopy study, in contrast to the GaAs capped sample, which induce a dramatic decrease of the density and height of dots, graphene cap layer sample presents a slight influence on the surface morphology and the density of the islands compared with the uncapped one. The difference shown in the Raman spectra of the samples is due to change of strain and alloy disorder effects on the QDs. Residuals strain and the relaxation coefficients have been investigated. All results confirm the best crystalline quality of the graphene cap layer dots sample relative to the GaAs capped one. So graphene can be used to replace GaAs in capping InAs/GaAs dots. To our knowledge, such study has not been carried out until now. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Atomic Absorption Spectrometry of Silver with Absorption Tube Having Nebulization Chamber

In the atomic absorption spectrometry with the long absorption tube using a hydrogen-air flame, only the total consumption type of the burners, e.g., Beckman¹ or ring burners², have been used for the input of a sample solution to the flame. The use of the indirect input method with nebulization chamber has never been attempted, though, by use of a commercially available apparatus with nebulization chamber, the large increase of the sensitivity has been easily obtained by heating the chamber and nebulizing air^3–5.     

Scaled DFT Force Constants and Vibrational Spectrum of Cyclopropylamine

Abstract

The molecular structure and harmonic vibrational frequencies of cyclopropylamine have been calculated using the B3LYP density functional method with the 6‐31G(2d,2p) basis set. The scaled DFT force field gives very good reproduction of the experimental vibrational frequencies. Several of the vibrational fundamental modes assigned previously are reassigned on the basis of the B3LYP/6‐31G(2d,2p) method and the scaled force field calculations. The optimized scaling factors were used to scale the B3LYP/6‐31G(2d,2p) force field of cyclopropane and cyclopropylamine (–ND₂) molecules.     

Synthesis and physical properties of Ca- and Ta-modified (K,Na)NbO3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics

Polycrystalline samples of lead-free Ca and Ta co-substituted potassium sodium niobate (K_0.5Na_0.5NbO_3, KNN) ceramics have been prepared by solid state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction showed formation of a single-phase perovskite structure with orthorhombic symmetry. Substitution inhibits the grain growth, improves densification and decreases the ferro-paraelectric phase transition temperature. Temperature dependent dielectric permittivity studies demonstrate significant decrease in peak-permittivity values in the substituted samples. Bulk longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient is significantly enhanced, up to ～155 pC/N for (K_0.48Na_0.48Ca_0.02)(Nb_0.85Ta_0.15O₃) as compared to 95 pC/N for pristine KNN ceramic. Local piezoelectric properties have been observed by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) technique. Distinct piezocontrast was studied in both vertical and in-plane modes of PFM for all samples. The samples exhibit self-polarization effect in the unpoled state and effective local vertical piezoelectric coefficient was the largest in Ca and Ta co-substituted sample whereas the in-plane piezoelectric coefficient was maximum for Ca-substituted KNN sample. These studies are important for using substituted lead free KNN materials in various piezoelectric applications.