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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Gamma, electron beam and X-ray irradiation effects on polymers in an advanced bone cement mixer device

The medical device industry has been investigating ways to increase the use of alternatives to cobalt-60 gamma radiation and ethylene-oxide gas sterilization, such as electron beam (E-beam) and X-ray radiation, due to regulatory and market pressures. One impediment to switching to E-beam or X-ray technology for sterilization is the lack of data on the effects of these radiation sources on medical device polymers. To provide such data this work considers irradiation and testing of a common single-use medical bone cement mixing system, the Stryker Advanced Cement Mixer (ACM®), that is composed of seven polymer materials. The ACM® devices considered here were processed to sterilization-relevant doses (15, 25, 50, and 70 kGy) using three radiation technologies: gamma, E-beam, and X-ray. The system and its polymer components were tested for product functionality, as well as mechanical and visual properties to determine how exposure effects may be influenced by radiation technology and dose level. We found that although there were instances of statistically significant differences in effects between the gamma-irradiated products and those irradiated with E-beam and X-ray, those effects were negligible in terms of retained functionality of the product and retained mechanical properties of the polymer components. Overall, results of this study demonstrate that, for of the effects studied, E-beam and X-ray are viable alternatives to cobalt-60 gamma radiation for sterilization of the polymer-based device investigated.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The global energy footprint of information and communication technology electronics in connected Internet-of-Things devices

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been critical to the emergence of a new Internet-of-Things (IoT) era, as a rapidly increasing number and variety of IoT electronic devices in a wide range of end-use sectors require massive data communication in terms of volume, velocity/speed, and variety. Additionally, semiconductor technology advancements have played a key role in ICT and unlike the past ICT energy footprint analysis, which focused on the final electronic product, an attempt has been made to examine the global energy impacts for the period 2016–2025 based on the market forecasts of three major IoT IC types, i.e., sensors and actuators, connectivity, and processor ICs distributed among four major IoT device components.Total global IoT semiconductor primary energy demand is projected to increase from 2 EJ in 2016 to 35 EJ by 2025, resulting mainly from a substantial projected increase energy needed in the manufacturing of ICs, with growth in the use of sensors and energy-intensive next fab generation manufacturing. Unlike the trend in manufacturing energy, total global operational energy use is projected to decrease significantly with the development of smaller transistor size, low-power devices, and faster wireless data communication technology. Total operational energy is projected to significantly decrease from 118 TWh/year (1,2 EJ/year) to less than 1 TWh/year (0.003 EJ/year) in spite of a significantly higher anticipated growth in its market size during the 2016–2025 forecast period. Its annual share of total primary energy use is projected to reach an insignificant level of 0.01% by the end of 2025, consistent with the past limited electronic product life cycle analyses besides the analysis focus here limited to ICs in IoT devices.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Optimization of the electron transport layer in quantum dot light-emitting devices

Quantum dot light-emitting devices have emerged as an important technology for display applications. Their emission is a result of recombination between positive and negative charge carriers that are transported through the hole and electron conductive layers, respectively. The selection of electron or hole transport materials in these devices not only demands the alignment of energy levels between the layers but also balances the flow of electrons and holes toward the recombination sites. In this work, we examine a method for device optimization through control of the charge carrier kinetics. We employ impedance spectroscopy to examine the mobility of charge carriers through each of the layers. The derived mobility values provide a path to estimate the transition time of each charge carrier toward the emitting layer. We suggest that an optimal device structure can be obtained when the transition times of both charge carriers toward the active layer are similar. Finally, we examine our hypothesis by focusing on thickness optimization of the electron transport layer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Wafer-Scale Integration of Graphene-based Electronic, Optoelectronic and Electroacoustic Devices

In virtue of its superior properties, the graphene-based device has enormous potential to be a supplement or an alternative to the conventional silicon-based device in varies applications. However, the functionality of the graphene devices is still limited due to the restriction of the high cost, the low efficiency and the low quality of the graphene growth and patterning techniques. We proposed a simple one-step laser scribing fabrication method to integrate wafer-scale high-performance graphene-based in-plane transistors, photodetectors, and loudspeakers. The in-plane graphene transistors have a large on/off ratio up to 5.34. And the graphene photodetector arrays were achieved with photo responsivity as high as 0.32 A/W. The graphene loudspeakers realize wide-band sound generation from 1 to 50 kHz. These results demonstrated that the laser scribed graphene could be used for wafer-scale integration of a variety of graphene-based electronic, optoelectronic and electroacoustic devices.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Improved interfacial and electrical properties of vanadyl-phthalocyanine metal-insulator-semiconductor devices with silicon nitride as gate insulator

We have investigated the interfacial and electrical properties of vanadyl-phthalocyanine (VOPc) metal-insulator-semiconductor devices by the measurement of capacitance and conductance. The devices have been fabricated on ordered para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) layer with silicon nitride (SiN{sub x}) as gate insulator. The VOPc/p-6P/SiN{sub x} devices have shown a negligible hysteresis, low series resistance, and high operated frequency. Bulk traps have been distinguished from interface traps by two loss peaks in conductance measurement. Trap densities and distribution of trap energy level have been obtained. The improved properties indicate that VOPc/ p-6P devices with SiN{sub x} insulator hold a great promise of application in flexible displays.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Layer-by-layer charging in non-volatile memory devices using embedded sub-2 nm platinum nanoparticles

In this work, we demonstrate multi-level operation of a non-volatile memory metal oxide semiconductor capacitor by controlled layer-by-layer charging of platinum nanoparticle (PtNP) floating gate devices with defined gate voltage bias ranges. The device consists of two layers of ultra-fine, sub-2 nm PtNPs integrated between Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} tunneling and separation layers. PtNP size and interparticle distance were varied to control the particle self-capacitance and associated Coulomb charging energy. Likewise, the tunneling layer thicknesses were also varied to control electron tunneling to the first and second PtNP layers. The final device configuration with optimal charging behavior and multi-level programming was attained with a 3 nm Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} initial tunneling layer, initial PtNP layer with particle size 0.54 ± 0.12 nm and interparticle distance 4.65 ± 2.09 nm, 3 nm Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layer to separate the PtNP layers, and second particle layer with 1.11 ± 0.28 nm PtNP size and interparticle distance 2.75 ± 1.05 nm. In this device, the memory window of the first PtNP layer saturated over a programming bias range of 7 V to 14 V, after which the second PtNP layer starts charging, exhibiting a multi-step memory window with layer-by-layer charging.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interaction of the high energy deuterons with the graphite target in the plasma focus devices based on Lee model

Numerical experiments are systematically carried out using the Lee model code extended to compute the ion beams on various plasma focus devices operated with Deuterium gas. The deuteron beam properties of the plasma focus are studied for low and high energy plasma focus device. The energy spectral distribution for deuteron ions ejected from the pinch plasma is calculated and the ion numbers with energy around 1 MeV is then determined. The deuteron–graphite target interaction is studied for different conditions. The yield of the reaction {sup 12}C(d,n){sup 13}N and the induced radioactivity for one and multi shots plasma focus devices in the graphite solid target is investigated. Our results present the optimized high energy repetitive plasma focus devices as an alternative to accelerators for the production of {sup 13}N short lived radioisotopes. However, technical challenges await solutions on two fronts: (a) operation of plasma focus machines at high rep rates for a sufficient period of time (b) design of durable targets that can take the thermal load.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Transport and photoconduction characteristics of metal-graphene-4H-SiC(0001) heterojunction devices

Vertically integrated graphene-semiconductor systems remain of significant technological importance for their promise to captivate new device physics and propel the development of advanced carbon-based opto-electronic devices. In this study, we carry out a series of bias-dependent transport, gate-dependent transport, and photoconduction measurements to probe the opto-electronic characteristics of metal-graphene-4H-SiC (0001) (Si-face) heterojunctions. The forward bias transport is found to deviate strongly from thermionic emission one as being controlled by the device circuitry and minority carrier injection mechanisms. An improved analytical model is offered and used to extract key junction parameters including series resistance of ∼80 kΩ, interface barrier height of ∼0.6 eV, and ideality factor of ∼6.1. The results of the photocurrent tests point to a light-assisted minority carrier injection as a key mechanism behind the photoconductive gain obtained in the devices subject to a weak, sub-bandgap cw-excitation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Role of interfacial layer on complementary resistive switching in the TiN/HfO{sub x}/TiN resistive memory device

The role of the bottom interfacial layer (IL) in enabling stable complementary resistive switching (CRS) in the TiN/HfO{sub x}/IL/TiN resistive memory device is revealed. Stable CRS is obtained for the TiN/HfO{sub x}/IL/TiN device, where a bottom IL comprising Hf and Ti sub-oxides resulted from the oxidation of TiN during the initial stages of atomic-layer deposition of HfO{sub x} layer. In the TiN/HfO{sub x}/Pt device, where formation of the bottom IL is suppressed by the inert Pt metal, no CRS is observed. Oxygen-ion exchange between IL and the conductive path in HfO{sub x} layer is proposed to have caused the complementary bipolar switching behavior observed in the TiN/HfO{sub x}/IL/TiN device.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Graphene nanopores as negative differential resistance devices

We present graphene nanopores as new negative differential resistance (NDR) devices, and study their quantum transport properties using non-equilibrium Green's function and the density functional tight binding method. The proposed device structure is created on intrinsic armchair-edged graphene nanoribbons with uniform widths, where the central scattering region has a nanopore in the interior, and the two ends of the nanoribbon act naturally as connecting electrodes. We show that nitrogen-passivated scattering regions generally result in pronounced NDR properties, while hydrogen-passivated ones do not. This NDR effect occurs at low bias voltages, below 1 V, and achieves extraordinarily high peak-to-valley current ratio, while still attaining very high peak current densities. In addition, very sharp current peaks in the μA range can occur in the I-V curves, and through varying structural dimensions of the proposed structure multiple NDR regions can be realized. These results suggest that the device has promising potential in applications such as high frequency oscillators, memory devices, and fast switches.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor based non-volatile flash memory devices with InAs quantum dots as charge storage nodes

Ultra-thin InP passivated GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor based non-volatile flash memory devices were fabricated using InAs quantum dots (QDs) as charge storing elements by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique to study the efficacy of the QDs as charge storage elements. The grown QDs were embedded between two high-k dielectric such as HfO{sub 2} and ZrO{sub 2}, which were used for tunneling and control oxide layers, respectively. The size and density of the QDs were found to be 5 nm and 1.8×10{sup 11} cm{sup −2}, respectively. The device with a structure Metal/ZrO{sub 2}/InAs QDs/HfO{sub 2}/GaAs/Metal shows maximum memory window equivalent to 6.87 V. The device also exhibits low leakage current density of the order of 10{sup −6} A/cm{sup 2} and reasonably good charge retention characteristics. The low value of leakage current in the fabricated memory device is attributed to the Coulomb blockade effect influenced by quantum confinement as well as reduction of interface trap states by ultra-thin InP passivation on GaAs prior to HfO{sub 2} deposition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bipolar resistive switching characteristics in tantalum nitride-based resistive random access memory devices

This paper reports the bipolar resistive switching characteristics of TaN{sub x}-based resistive random access memory (ReRAM). The conduction mechanism is explained by formation and rupture of conductive filaments caused by migration of nitrogen ions and vacancies; this mechanism is in good agreement with either Ohmic conduction or the Poole-Frenkel emission model. The devices exhibit that the reset voltage varies from −0.82 V to −0.62 V, whereas the set voltage ranges from 1.01 V to 1.30 V for 120 DC sweep cycles. In terms of reliability, the devices exhibit good retention (>10{sup 5 }s) and pulse-switching endurance (>10{sup 6} cycles) properties. These results indicate that TaN{sub x}-based ReRAM devices have a potential for future nonvolatile memory devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Controlled exfoliation of (100) GaAs-based devices by spalling fracture

The importance of exfoliation techniques increases as the semiconductor industry progresses toward thinner devices as a way to reduce material costs and improve performance. Here, the controlled spalling technique is a recently developed substrate removal process that utilizes the physics of fracture to create wafer cleavage parallel to the surface at a precise depth. In this letter, we apply principles of linear elastic fracture mechanics to predict the process conditions needed to exfoliate (100) GaAs of a desired thickness. Spalling can be initiated in a controllable manner, by depositing a stressor film of a residual stress value just below the threshold value to induce a spontaneous spall. Experimental data show process window requirements to controllably spall (100) GaAs. Additionally, experimental spall depth in (100) GaAs compares well to spalling mechanics predictions when the effects of wafer thickness and modulus are considered. To test spalled material quality, III-V single junction photovoltaic devices are lifted off of a (100)-GaAs substrate by spalling methods and electrical characteristics are recorded. No degradation is observed in the spalled device, illustrating the potential of this method to rapidly produce thin, high quality devices.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Impacts of Co doping on ZnO transparent switching memory device characteristics

The resistive switching characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO)/Zn{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}O/ITO transparent resistive memory devices were investigated. An appropriate amount of cobalt dopant in ZnO resistive layer demonstrated sufficient memory window and switching stability. In contrast, pure ZnO devices demonstrated a poor memory window, and using an excessive dopant concentration led to switching instability. To achieve suitable memory performance, relying only on controlling defect concentrations is insufficient; the grain growth orientation of the resistive layer must also be considered. Stable endurance with an ON/OFF ratio of more than one order of magnitude during 5000 cycles confirmed that the Co-doped ZnO device is a suitable candidate for resistive random access memory application. Additionally, fully transparent devices with a high transmittance of up to 90% at wavelength of 550 nm have been fabricated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Design of practical alignment device in KSTAR Thomson diagnostic

The precise alignment of the laser path and collection optics in Thomson scattering measurements is essential for accurately determining electron temperature and density in tokamak experiments. For the last five years, during the development stage, the KSTAR tokamak’s Thomson diagnostic system has had alignment fibers installed in its optical collection modules, but these lacked a proper alignment detection system. In order to address these difficulties, an alignment verifying detection device between lasers and an object field of collection optics is developed. The alignment detection device utilizes two types of filters: a narrow laser band wavelength for laser, and a broad wavelength filter for Thomson scattering signal. Four such alignment detection devices have been successfully developed for the KSTAR Thomson scattering system in this year, and these will be tested in KSTAR experiments in 2016. In this paper, we present the newly developed alignment detection device for KSTAR’s Thomson scattering diagnostics.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

A perspective on the device physics of lead halide perovskite semiconducting detector for gamma and x-ray sensing

Metal-halide perovskites are emerging materials for radiation sensing featuring high absorption cross section, high charge mobility, and long carrier lifetime enabling superior detection efficiencies even at room temperature. Perovskite detector technologies are more complex involving different detecting modes and device architectures. Here, to elucidate the working principles, we provide a Perspective on the device structures and the operational principles of halide perovskite direct conversion detectors for radiation sensing. We will first discuss different detection modes and introduce the commonly used device architectures and their working principles. Based on our work and pioneer developments in the field, we will next compare the performances of the reported detectors. Additionally, we will summarize the single crystal detectors and polycrystalline thin film devices and discuss their advantages and disadvantages for different applications. Finally, we provide a future Perspective on the critical problems that must be addressed to commercialize this technology.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Digital logic for soft devices

Although soft devices (grippers, actuators, and elementary robots) are rapidly becoming an integral part of the broad field of robotics, autonomy for completely soft devices has only begun to be developed. Adaptation of conventional systems of control to soft devices requires hard valves and electronic controls. This paper describes completely soft pneumatic digital logic gates having a physical scale appropriate for use with current (macroscopic) soft actuators. Each digital logic gate utilizes a single bistable valve—the pneumatic equivalent of a Schmitt trigger—which relies on the snap-through instability of a hemispherical membrane to kink internal tubes and operates with binary high/low input and output pressures. Soft, pneumatic NOT, AND, and OR digital logic gates—which generate known pneumatic outputs as a function of one, or multiple, pneumatic inputs—allow fabrication of digital logic circuits for a set–reset latch, two-bit shift register, leading-edge detector, digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and toggle switch. The DAC and toggle switch, in turn, can control and power a soft actuator (demonstrated using a pneu-net gripper). We note ehese macroscale soft digital logic gates are scalable to high volumes of airflow, do not consume power at steady state, and can be reconfigured to achieve multiple functionalities from a single design (including configurations that receive inputs from the environment and from human users). This work represents a step toward a strategy to develop autonomous control—one not involving an electronic interface or hard components—for soft devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Microfabrication of plastic-PDMS microfluidic devices using polyimide release layer and selective adhesive bonding

In this study, we present an improved method to bond poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with polyimide (PI) to develop flexible substrate microfluidic devices. The PI film was separately fabricated on a silicon wafer by spin coating followed by thermal treatment to avoid surface unevenness of the flexible substrate. In this way, we could also integrate flexible substrate into standard micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication. Meanwhile, the adhesive epoxy was selectively transferred to the PDMS microfluidic device by a stamp-and-stick method to avoid epoxy clogging the microfluidic channels. To spread out the epoxy evenly on the transferring substrate, we used superhydrophilic vanadium oxide film coated glass as the transferring substrate. After the bonding process, the flexible substrate could easily be peeled off from the rigid substrate. Contact angle measurement was used to characterize the hydrophicity of the vanadium oxide film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis was conducted to study the surface of the epoxy. We further evaluated the bonding quality by peeling tests, which showed a maximum bonding strength of 100 kPa. By injecting with black ink, the plastic microfluidic device was confirmed to be well bonded with no leakage for a day under 1 atm. Finally, this proposed versatile method could bond the microfluidic device and plastic substrate together and be applied in the fabrication of some biosensors and lab-on-a-chip systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗