Nanometer lithography on silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon with low-energy electrons

We report the local oxidation of hydrogen terminated silicon (Si) surfaces induced with the scanning-tunneling microscope (STM) operating in air and by a beam of free low-energy electrons. With STM, oxide lines were written in Si(100) and Si(110) and transferred into the substrate by wet etching. In case of Si(110) trenches with a width as small as 35 nm and a depth of 300 nm were made. The same process has also successfully been applied to the patterning of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. We demonstrate the fabrication of metallic ‘nanowires’ using a-Si:H as resist layer. With regard to the process of oxidation, it is found that the oxide written with STM is apparently not proportional to the electron current, in contrast to results obtained with a beam of free electrons in an oxygen gas-environment. The dose needed to remove the hydrogen was determined as a function of electron energy. This dose is minimal for 100 eV electrons amounting to 4 mC/cm2

Building fault detection and diagnostics: Achieved savings, and methods to evaluate algorithm performance

Fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) represents one of the most active areas of research and commercial product development in the buildings industry. This paper addresses two questions concerning FDD implementation and advancement 1) What are today's users of FDD saving and spending on the technology? 2) What methods and datasets can be used to evaluate and benchmark FDD algorithm performance? Relevant to the first question, 26 organizations that use FDD across a total 550 buildings and 97 M sf achieved median savings of 8%. Twenty-seven FDD users reported that the median base cost for FDD software, annual recurring software cost, and annual labor cost were $8,$2.7 and $8 per monitoring point, with a median implementation size of approximately 1300 points. To address the second question, this paper describes a systematic methodology for evaluating the performance of FDD algorithms, curates an initial test dataset of air handling unit (AHU) system faults, and completes a trial to demonstrate the evaluation process on three sample FDD algorithms. The work provided a first step toward a standard evaluation of different FDD technologies. It showed the test methodology is indeed scalable and repeatable, provided an understanding of the types of insights that can be gained from algorithm performance testing, and highlighted the priorities for further expanding the test dataset

Long-term CF6 engine performance deterioration: Evaluation of engine S/N 451-479

The performance testing and analytical teardown of CF6-6D engine is summarized. This engine had completed its initial installation on DC-10 aircraft. The investigative test program was conducted inbound prior to normal overhaul/refurbishment. The performance testing included an inbound test, a test following cleaning of the low pressure turbine airfoils, and a final test after leading edge rework and cleaning the stage one fan blades. The analytical teardown consisted of detailed disassembly inspection measurements and airfoil surface finish checks of the as received deteriorated hardware. Included in this report is a detailed analysis of the test cell performance data, a complete analytical teardown report with a detailed description of all observed hardware distress, and an analytical assessment of the performance loss (deterioration) relating measured hardware conditions to losses in both SFC (specific fuel consumption) and EGT (exhaust gas temperature)

Wave packet approach to transport in mesoscopic systems

Wave packets provide a well established and versatile tool for studying time-dependent effects in molecular physics. Here, we demonstrate the application of wave packets to mesoscopic nanodevices at low temperatures. The electronic transport in the devices is expressed in terms of scattering and transmission coefficients, which are efficiently obtained by solving an initial value problem (IVP) using the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. The formulation as an IVP makes non-trivial device topologies accessible and by tuning the wave packet parameters one can extract the scattering properties for a large range of energies.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Spherical Orbifolds for Cosmic Topology

Harmonic analysis is a tool to infer cosmic topology from the measured astrophysical cosmic microwave background CMB radiation. For overall positive curvature, Platonic spherical manifolds are candidates for this analysis. We combine the specific point symmetry of the Platonic manifolds with their deck transformations. This analysis in topology leads from manifolds to orbifolds. We discuss the deck transformations of the orbifolds and give eigenmodes for the harmonic analysis as linear combinations of Wigner polynomials on the 3-sphere. These provide new tools for detecting cosmic topology from the CMB radiation.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1011.427

CF6-6D engine short-term performance deterioration

Studies conducted as part of the NASA-Lewis CF6 jet engine diagnostics program are summarized. An 82-engine sample of DC-10-10 aircraft engine checkout data that were gathered to define the extent and magnitude of CF6-6D short term performance deterioration were analyzed. These data are substantiated by the performance testing and analytical teardown of CF6-6D short term deterioration engine serial number (ESN) 451507

A Bayesian method for pulsar template generation

Extracting Times of Arrival from pulsar radio signals depends on the knowledge of the pulsars pulse profile and how this template is generated. We examine pulsar template generation with Bayesian methods. We will contrast the classical generation mechanism of averaging intensity profiles with a new approach based on Bayesian inference. We introduce the Bayesian measurement model imposed and derive the algorithm to reconstruct a "statistical template" out of noisy data. The properties of these "statistical templates" are analysed with simulated and real measurement data from PSR B1133+16. We explain how to put this new form of template to use in analysing secondary parameters of interest and give various examples: We implement a nonlinear filter for determining ToAs of pulsars. Applying this method to data from PSR J1713+0747 we derive ToAs self consistently, meaning all epochs were timed and we used the same epochs for template generation. While the average template contains fluctuations and noise as unavoidable artifacts, we find that the "statistical template" derived by Bayesian inference quantifies fluctuations and remaining uncertainty. This is why the algorithm suggested turns out to reconstruct templates of statistical significance from ten to fifty single pulses. A moving data window of fifty pulses, taking out one single pulse at the beginning and adding one at the end of the window unravels the characteristics of the methods to be compared. It shows that the change induced in the classical reconstruction is dominated by random fluctuations for the average template, while statistically significant changes drive the dynamics of the proposed method's reconstruction. The analysis of phase shifts with simulated data reveals that the proposed nonlinear algorithm is able to reconstruct correct phase information along with an acceptable estimation of the remaining uncertainty.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, submitted to MNRA

CF6-6D engine performance deterioration

Cruise cockpit recordings and test cell performance data in conjunction with hardware inspection data from airline overhaul shops were analyzed to define the extent and magnitude of performance deterioration of the General Electric CF6-6D model engine. These studies successfully isolated short-term deterioration from the longer term, and defined areas where a significant reduction in aircraft energy requirements for the 1980's can be realized. Unrestored losses which remain after engine refurbishment represent over 70% of the loss at engine shop visit. Sixty-three percent of the unrestored losses are cost-effective to restore which could reduce fuel consumed by CF6-6D engines in 1980 by 10.9 million gallons

Long term monitoring of mode switching for PSR B0329+54

The mode switching phenomenon of PSR B0329+54 is investigated based on the long-term monitoring from September 2003 to April 2009 made with the Urumqi 25m radio telescope at 1540 MHz. At that frequency, the change of relative intensity between the leading and trailing components is the predominant feature of mode switching. The intensity ratios between the leading and trailing components are measured for the individual profiles averaged over a few minutes. It is found that the ratios follow normal distributions, where the abnormal mode has a wider typical width than the normal mode, indicating that the abnormal mode is less stable than the normal mode. Our data show that 84.9% of the time for PSR B0329+54 was in the normal mode and 15.1% was in the abnormal mode. From the two passages of eight-day quasi-continuous observations in 2004, and supplemented by the daily data observed with 15 m telescope at 610 MHz at Jodrell Bank Observatory, the intrinsic distributions of mode timescales are constrained with the Bayesian inference method. It is found that the gamma distribution with the shape parameter slightly smaller than 1 is favored over the normal, lognormal and Pareto distributions. The optimal scale parameters of the gamma distribution is 31.5 minutes for the abnormal mode and 154 minutes for the normal mode. The shape parameters have very similar values, i.e. 0.75^{+0.22}_{-0.17} for the normal mode and 0.84^{+0.28}_{-0.22} for the abnormal mode, indicating the physical mechanisms in both modes may be the same. No long-term modulation of the relative intensity ratios was found for both the modes, suggesting that the mode switching was stable. The intrinsic timescale distributions, for the first time constrained for this pulsar, provide valuable information to understand the physics of mode switching.Comment: 31 pages,12 figures, Accepted by the Ap