Power Reduction in Punch-Through Current-Based Electro-Thermal Annealing in Gate-All-Around FETs

Device guidelines for reducing power with punch-through current annealing in gate-all-around (GAA) FETs were investigated based on three-dimensional (3D) simulations. We studied and compared how different geometric dimensions and materials of GAA FETs impact heat management when down-scaling. In order to maximize power efficiency during electro-thermal annealing (ETA), applying gate module engineering was more suitable than engineering the isolation or source drain modules.

Compact transition enabled broadband propagation of spoof surface plasmon polaritons based on the equivalent circuit model

In this paper, a strategy to develop a compact transition of the spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission line (TL) is proposed. First, an equivalent distributed circuit model is employed for the theoretical analysis and optimization design of the SSPP unit. The mapping relation between the unit performance and the geometric parameters is deduced from the transmission matrix. The calculated results are compared with the numerical ones from the three-dimensional (3D) simulations for validation. Then, a compact transition (only 0.26λg) is built with only two matching units and a tapered strip through optimizations. The optimizations are implemented with the circuit simulations based on the equivalent model, which can remarkably save time in comparison with the 3D simulations. The transition principle is also explained by quantitatively extracting the dispersion properties and impedance characteristics. Finally, a prototype of the proposed SSPP TL is fabricated and measured for demonstration. The measured operating band (0-7.7 GHz) is almost up to the cut-off frequency (about 8 GHz), which remains the inherent broadband low-pass transmission characteristics. Meanwhile, the measured in-band return loss is almost higher than 10dB, which verifies the high-efficiency propagation. This work can pave the way for building up a new SSPP-based framework of microwave circuits.

Impact of distributed meteorological forcing on snow dynamic and induced water fluxes over a mid-elevation alpine micro-scale catchment

From the micro to mesoscale, water and energy budgets of mountainous catchments are largely driven by topographic features such as terrain orientation, slope, steepness, elevation together with associated meteorological forcings such as precipitation, solar radiation and wind. This impact the snow deposition, melting and transport, which further impact the overall water cycle. However, this microscale variability is not well represented in Earth System Models due to coarse resolutions, and impacts of such resolution assumptions on simulated water and energy budget lack quantification. This study aims at exploring these effects on a 15.28 ha small mid-elevation (2000–2200 m) alpine catchment at Col du Lautaret (France). This grass-dominated catchment remains covered with snow for 5 to 6 months per year. The surface-subsurface coupled hyper-resolution (10 m) distributed hydrological model ParFLOW-CLM is used to simulate the impacts of meteorological variability at spatio-temporal micro-scale on the water cycle. These include 3D simulations with spatially distributed forcing of precipitation, solar radiation and wind compared to 3D simulations with non-distributed forcing simulation. Our precipitation distribution method encapsulates the spatial snow distribution along with snow transport. The model simulates the snow cover dynamics and spatial variability through the CLM energy balance module and under the different combinations of distributed forcing. The resulting subsurface and surface water transfers are solved by the ParFLOW module. Distributed forcing induce a snowpack with a more spatially heterogeneous thickness, which becomes patchy during the melt season and shows a good agreement with the remote sensing images. This asynchronous melting results in a longer melting period and smoother hydrological response than the non-distributed forcing, which does not generate any patchiness. Amongst the tested distributed meteorological forcing that impacts the hydrology, precipitation distribution, including snow transportation, is the most important. Solar insolation distribution has an important impact in reducing evapotranspiration depending on the slope orientation. For the studied catchment mainly facing east, it adds small differential melting effect. Wind distribution in the energy budget calculation has a more complicated impact on our catchment as it participate to accelerate the melting when meteorological conditions are favourable but does not generate patchiness at the end in our test case.

DEVELOPMENT OF JACKET PATTERNS FOR TEENAGERS USING OPTITEX FLATTENING MODULE

Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood, defined by major changes in physical, behavioural and social plan. The interest of teenagers for computer technology is in a perpetual growing and shopping online is one of their favourite activities. The garment industry is extremely competitive in terms of virtual simulation, consisting of 3D virtual bodies, virtual garments and virtual try-on systems. The paper presents the advanced method of designing 2D patterns, started from the 3D surfaces, obtained by real scanning of several teenager bodies. The development of a jacket model for girls, by using Optitex software with its high-performance modules 3D Flattening, 3D Simulations and PDS, based on the anthropometric standard for children, SR 13546: 2012, will be presented. These modules enable the designer to preview the shape of the product and its fitting to the body dimensions, which offer the possibility of developing to an infinite number of clothing collections just by changing the characteristics of the material, various seams, accessories or colours.

Friction modulation in limbless, three-dimensional gaits and heterogeneous terrains

Motivated by a possible convergence of terrestrial limbless locomotion strategies ultimately determined by interfacial effects, we show how both 3D gait alterations and locomotory adaptations to heterogeneous terrains can be understood through the lens of local friction modulation. Via an effective-friction modeling approach, compounded by 3D simulations, the emergence and disappearance of a range of locomotory behaviors observed in nature is systematically explained in relation to inhabited environments. Our approach also simplifies the treatment of terrain heterogeneity, whereby even solid obstacles may be seen as high friction regions, which we confirm against experiments of snakes ‘diffracting’ while traversing rows of posts, similar to optical waves. We further this optic analogy by illustrating snake refraction, reflection and lens focusing. We use these insights to engineer surface friction patterns and demonstrate passive snake navigation in complex topographies. Overall, our study outlines a unified view that connects active and passive 3D mechanics with heterogeneous interfacial effects to explain a broad set of biological observations, and potentially inspire engineering design.

Comparison of 2D versus 3D diffusion analysis at Nanowire Electrodes: Finite element analysis and experimental study

In electroanalysis, finite element simulations of electrochemical processes occurring at electrodes are used to provide key insight into experimental design in relation to diffusion profiles and expected currents. The diffusion domain approach (DDA) offers a means of reducing a three dimensional design to two dimensions to ease computational demands. However, the DDA approach can be limited when basic assumptions, for example that all electrodes in an array are equivalent, are incorrect. Consequently, to get a more realistic view of molecular diffusion to nanoelectrodes, it is necessary to undertake simulations in 3D. In this work, two and three dimensional models of electrodes comprising of (i) single nanowires, (ii) arrays of nanowires and (iii) interdigitated arrays of nanowires operating in generator-collector mode, are undertaken and compared to experimental results obtained from fabricated devices. The 3D simulations predict a higher extracted current for a single nanowires and diffusionally independent nanowire arrays when compared to 2D simulations since, unlike the 2D model, they take into account molecular diffusion to and from the nanowire termini. This current difference was observed to increase with increasing electrode width and decrease with electrode length. When the nanowire arrays were diffusionally overlapped, they behaved as an electrode of larger width, and the divergence between the two models increased. By contrast, in generator-collector mode, using interdigitated nanowire arrays, the difference between extracted current values obtained using two models was significantly lower. Simulations indicated however that a higher collection efficiency was predicted by the 2D model when compared to the 3D model. Electrochemical experiments were undertaken to confirm the simulation study and demonstrated that the extracted currents from 3D simulations more closely mapped onto experimentally measured currents.