Double-Gate Operation of Metal Nanodot-Array-Based Single-Electron Device

Multidot single-electron devices (SEDs) can realize new types of computing technologies, such as reconfigurable and reservoir computing. The self-assembled metal nanodot-array film attached with multiple gates is a candidate for use in such SEDs to achieve high functionality. However, the single-electron properties of such a film have not yet been investigated in use with optimally controlled multiple gates because of structural complexity having many nanodots. In this study, Fe nanodot-array-based double-gate SEDs were fabricated and their single-electron properties modulated by the top- and bottom-gate voltages (VT and VB, respectively) were investigated. As reported in our previous study, the drain current (ID) exhibited clear oscillations against VB (i.e., Coulomb blockade oscillation) in a part of the devices, originating from a single dot among several dots. The phase of the Coulomb blockade oscillation systematically shifted with VT, indicating that the charge state of the single dot was clearly controlled by both the gate voltages despite the multidot structure and the metal multidot SED has potential for logic-gate operation. The top and bottom gates affected the electronic state of the dot unevenly owing to the geometrical effect caused by the dot shape and size of the surrounding dots.

Experimental Study on Rubbing Wear Characteristics of Labyrinth Seal with Trapezoidal Fins

The wear characteristics of trapezoidal fin against high speed rotor were experimentally investigated at different final incursion depths, incursion rates, and sliding velocities. To characterize the geometrical effect, a small specimen (SS) and a large specimen (LS) were selected to analyze the mass loss, wear geometry, contact forces, and frictional temperature distributions under different conditions. The results show that the contact-separation is most likely to occur between the trapezoidal fin and rotor. In the rubbing process, the plastic deformation is dominating, and the abrasive and adhesive wears have pronounced effects on the wear behavior of rubbing interface. The wear performance of the SS is sensitive to the structure imbalance, which induces the combined mushrooming and bending damage in the trapezoidal fin. However, the symmetrical mushrooming damage is generated in the LS. For both SS and LS, the mass loss is decreased with increasing the incursion rate and sliding velocity, and the mass loss percentage is pronounced at the early stage of rubbing. The averaged friction coefficient is 0.1-0.16 for the LS, while 0.1-0.19 for the SS. The peak frictional temperature is 560-640 °C for the LS, while 360-400 °C for the SS. The contact-separation significantly reduces the effects of final incursion depth, incursion rate, and sliding velocity on the wear geometry, contact forces and temperature rise in the trapezoidal labyrinth fin.

Surface Energy of Curved Surface Based on Lennard-Jones Potential

Although various phenomena have confirmed that surface geometry has an impact on surface energy at micro/nano scales, determining the surface energy on micro/nano curved surfaces remains a challenge. In this paper, based on Lennard-Jones (L-J) pair potential, we study the geometrical effect on surface energy with the homogenization hypothesis. The surface energy is expressed as a function of local principle curvatures. The accuracy of curvature-based surface energy is confirmed by comparing surface energy on flat surface with experimental results. Furthermore, the surface energy for spherical geometry is investigated and verified by the numerical experiment with errors within 5%. The results show that (i) the surface energy will decrease on a convex surface and increase on a concave surface with the increasing of scales, and tend to the value on flat surface; (ii) the effect of curvatures will be obvious and exceed 5% when spherical radius becomes smaller than 5 nm; (iii) the surface energy varies with curvatures on sinusoidal surfaces, and the normalized surface energy relates with the ratio of wave height to wavelength. The curvature-based surface energy offers new insights into the geometrical and scales effect at micro/nano scales, which provides a theoretical direction for designing NEMS/MEMS.

Numerical Investigation of the Geometrical Effect on Flow-Induced Vibration Performance of Pivoted Bodies

In this study, the Flow-Induced Vibration (FIV) of pivoted cylinders (at a distance) is numerically investigated as a potential source of energy harvesting. In particular, we investigate the effect of pivot point placement, arm length, and natural frequency on the FIV performance of six different cross sections in the Reynolds number of around 1000. All sections have similar mass, area, and moment of inertia to eliminate non-geometrical effects on the performance. Classical studies show that the synchronization phenomenon (lock-in) occurs when the vortex formation frequency is close enough to the body’s natural frequency. Due to the configuration of the cylinder in this research (pivoted eccentrically), the natural frequency is also a function of the flow velocity as well as the geometrical specifications of the system. The simulation is done for the arm lengths between −3D and +3D for all cross sections. Results show that maximum output power is principally influenced more by the pivot location than the arm length. Although the box cross section has a higher amplitude of vibration, the circular cross section has the highest efficiency followed by the egg shape.