3 research outputs found
Energy autonomous systems : future trends in devices, technology, and systems
The rapid evolution of electronic devices since the beginning of the nanoelectronics era has brought about exceptional computational power in an ever shrinking system footprint. This has enabled among others the wealth of nomadic battery powered wireless systems (smart phones, mp3 players, GPS, …) that society currently enjoys. Emerging integration technologies enabling even smaller volumes and the associated increased functional density may bring about a new revolution in systems targeting wearable healthcare, wellness, lifestyle and industrial monitoring applications
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Materials and processes for advanced lithography applications
textStep and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) is a high resolution, next-generation lithography technique that uses an ambient temperature and low pressure process to replicate high resolution images in a UV-curable liquid material. Application of the S-FIL process in conjunction with multi-level imprint templates and new imprint materials enables one S-FIL step to reproduce the same structures that require two photolithography steps, thereby greatly reducing the number of patterning steps required for the copper, dual damascene process used to fabricate interconnect wirings in modern integrated circuits. Two approaches were explored for the implementation of S-FIL in the dual damascene process: sacrificial imprint materials and imprintable dielectric materials. Sacrificial imprint materials function as a pattern recording medium during S-FIL and a three-dimensional etch mask during the dielectric substrate etch, enabling the simultaneous patterning of both the via and metal structures in the dielectric substrate. Development of sacrificial imprint materials and the associated imprint and etch processes are described. Application of S-FIL and the sacrificial imprint material in a commercial copper dual damascene process successfully produced functional copper interconnect structures, demonstrating the feasibility of integrating multi-level S-FIL in the copper dual damascene process. Imprintable dielectric materials are designed to combine the multi-level patterning capability of S-FIL with novel dielectric precursor materials, enabling the simultaneous deposition and patterning of the interlayer dielectric material. Several candidate imprintable dielectric materials were evaluated: sol-gel, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) epoxide, POSS acrylate, POSS azide, and POSS thiol. POSS thiol shows the most promise as functional imprintable dielectric material, although additional work in the POSS thiol formulation and viscous dispense process are needed to produce functional interconnect structures. Integration of S-FIL with imprintable dielectric materials would enable further streamlining of the dual damascene fabrication process. The fabrication of electronic devices on flexible substrates represents an opportunity for the development of macroelectronics such as flexible displays and large area devices. Traditional optical lithography encounters alignment and overlay limitations when applied on flexible substrates. A thermally activated, dual-tone photoresist system and its associated etch process were developed to enable the simultaneous patterning of two device layers on a flexible substrate.Chemical Engineerin
Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice
The GIREP-MPTL International conference on Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice [GIREP-MPTL 2014] was held from 7 to 12 July 2014 at the University of Palermo, Italy.
The conference has been organised by the Groupe International de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la Physique [GIREP] and the Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning [MPTL] group and it has been sponsored by the International Commission on Physics Education [ICPE] – Commission 14 of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics [IUPAP], the European Physical Society – Physics Education Division [EPS-PED], the Latin American Physics Education Network [LAPEN] and the Società Italiana di Fisica [SIF].
The theme of the conference, Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice, underlines aspects of great relevance in contemporary science education. In fact, during the last few years, evidence based Physics Education Research provided results concerning the ways and strategies to improve student conceptual understanding, interest in Physics, epistemological awareness and insights for the construction of a scientific citizenship. However, Physics teaching practice seems resistant to adopting adapting these findings to their own situation and new research based curricula find difficulty in affirming and spread, both at school and university levels. The conference offered an opportunity for in-depth discussions of this apparently wide-spread tension in order to find ways to do better.
The purpose of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 was to bring together people working in physics education research and in physics education at schools from all over the world to allow them to share research results and exchange their experience.
About 300 teachers, educators, and researchers, from all continents and 45 countries have attended the Conference contributing with 177 oral presentations, 15 workshops, 11 symposia, and around 60 poster presentations, together with 11 keynote addresses (general talks).
After the conference, 147 papers have been submitted for the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference proceedings. Each paper has been reviewed by at least two reviewers, from countries that are different to those of the authors and on the basis of criteria described on the Conference web site. Papers were subsequently revised by authors according to reviewers’ comments and the accepted papers are reported in this book, divided in 8 Sections on the basis of the keywords suggested by authors. The other book section (actually, the first one) contains the papers that six of the keynote talkers sent for publication in this Proceedings Book.
We would like to thank all the authors that contributed with their papers to the realization of this book and all the referees that with their criticism helped authors to improve the quality of the papers