49,105 research outputs found
Deal Making in Whitehall: competing and complementary motivations behind the Review of Sub-national Economic Development and Regeneration'
Purpose â The aim of this paper is to explore Whitehall motivations underpinning the Sub-national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration.
Design/methodology/approach â The paper is based on interviews conducted with senior Whitehall officials involved in regional working.
Findings â The Sub-national Review seeks to streamline regional structures and provide regions with enhanced autonomy. However, findings indicate that there are distinct differences of opinion across Whitehall departments regarding the future trajectory of English regionalism and what powers and functions regional bodies should acquire. These contradictory positions raise questions about the implementation and effectiveness of the proposals.
Originality/value â An examination of these phenomena is intended to provide greater clarity regarding the opportunities and constraints presented by the latest phase of regional restructuring
Atmospheric refraction effects on baseline error in satellite laser ranging systems
Because of the mathematical complexities involved in exact analyses of baseline errors, it is not easy to isolate atmospheric refraction effects; however, by making certain simplifying assumptions about the ranging system geometry, relatively simple expressions can be derived which relate the baseline errors directly to the refraction errors. The results indicate that even in the absence of other errors, the baseline error for intercontinental baselines can be more than an order of magnitude larger than the refraction error
Higgs bosons of a supersymmetric model at the Large Hadron Collider
It is found that CP symmetry may be explicitly broken in the Higgs sector of
a supersymmetric model with two extra neutral gauge bosons at the
one-loop level. The phenomenology of the model, the Higgs sector in particular,
is studied for a reasonable parameter space of the model, in the presence of
explicit CP violation at the one-loop level. At least one of the neutral Higgs
bosons of the model might be produced via the fusion process at the Large
Hadron Collider.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, JHE
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Dependence of drop speed on nozzle diameter, viscosity and drive amplitude in drop-on-demand ink-jet printing
Results of recent experiments and numerical simulations are presented, which have been used to establish empirical rules for
the dependence of drop speed on nozzle diameter and drive amplitude for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids printed with a
range of different ink-jet print-head technologies. Experiments were carried out with Xaar, MicroFab and Spectra Dimatix print heads and with solutions of polystyrene in diethyl phthalate as model fluids. These results are compared with
predictions from recent numerical codes developed by collaborators in the University of Leeds, and from simple models for drop-on-demand fluid jetting resulting from physical law
Theory of plasmon-enhanced high-harmonic generation in the vicinity of metal nanostructures in noble gases
We present a semiclassical model for plasmon-enhanced high-harmonic
generation (HHG) in the vicinity of metal nanostructures. We show that both the
inhomogeneity of the enhanced local fields and electron absorption by the metal
surface play an important role in the HHG process and lead to the generation of
even harmonics and to a significantly increased cutoff. For the examples of
silver-coated nanocones and bowtie antennas we predict that the required
intensity reduces by up to three orders of magnitudes and the HHG cutoff
increases by more than a factor of two. The study of the enhanced high-harmonic
generation is connected with a finite-element simulation of the electric field
enhancement due to the excitation of the plasmonic modes.Comment: 4 figure
Characterization Of Thermal Stresses And Plasticity In Through-Silicon Via Structures For Three-Dimensional Integration
Through-silicon via (TSV) is a critical element connecting stacked dies in three-dimensional (3D) integration. The mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients between the Cu via and Si can generate significant stresses in the TSV structure to cause reliability problems. In this study, the thermal stress in the TSV structure was measured by the wafer curvature method and its unique stress characteristics were compared to that of a Cu thin film structure. The thermo-mechanical characteristics of the Cu TSV structure were correlated to microstructure evolution during thermal cycling and the local plasticity in Cu in a triaxial stress state. These findings were confirmed by microstructure analysis of the Cu vias and finite element analysis (FEA) of the stress characteristics. In addition, the local plasticity and deformation in and around individual TSVs were measured by synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction to supplement the wafer curvature measurements. The importance and implication of the local plasticity and residual stress on TSV reliabilities are discussed for TSV extrusion and device keep-out zone (KOZ).Microelectronics Research Cente
Stress-Induced Delamination Of Through Silicon Via Structures
Continuous scaling of on-chip wiring structures has brought significant challenges for materials and processes beyond the 32 nm technology node in microelectronics. Recently three-dimensional (3-D) integration with through-silicon-vias (TSVs) has emerged as an effective solution to meet the future interconnect requirement. Thermo-mechanical reliability is a key concern for the development of TSV structures used in die stacking as 3-D interconnects. This paper examines the effect of thermal stresses on interfacial reliability of TSV structures. First, the three-dimensional distribution of the thermal stress near the TSV and the wafer surface is analyzed. Using a linear superposition method, a semi-analytic solution is developed for a simplified structure consisting of a single TSV embedded in a silicon (Si) wafer. The solution is verified for relatively thick wafers by comparing to numerical results obtained by finite element analysis (FEA). Results from the stress analysis suggest interfacial delamination as a potential failure mechanism for the TSV structure. Analytical solutions for various TSV designs are then obtained for the steady-state energy release rate as an upper bound for the interfacial fracture driving force, while the effect of crack length is evaluated numerically by FEA. Based on these results, the effects of TSV designs and via material properties on the interfacial reliability are elucidated. Finally, potential failure mechanisms for TSV pop-up due to interfacial fracture are discussed.Aerospace Engineerin
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