The entrainment of air by advancing contact lines is studied by plunging a solid plate into a very viscous liquid. Above a threshold velocity, we observe the formation of an extended air film, typically 10 microns thick, which subsequently decays into air bubbles. Exploring a large range of viscous liquids, we find an unexpectedly weak dependence of entrainment speed on liquid viscosity, pointi...

We present a short and self-contained proof of Jin’s theorem about the piecewise syndeticity of difference sets which is entirely elementary, in the sense that no use is made of nonstandard analysis, ergodic theory, measure theory, ultrafilters, or other advanced tools. An explicit bound to the number of shifts that are needed to cover a thick set is provided. Precisely, we prove the following:...

We show from density-functional calculations that Pb 100 thin films exhibit quantum size effect with a bilayer periodicity in film energies, film relaxations, and work functions, which originate from different symmetry of the stacking geometry of odd and even layer films. This symmetry-driven quantum size effect on the film energy could allow for growth of “magically” thick even-layer Pb 100 fi...

The Harris group proposed to develop significantly higher efficiency thin film multi-junction solar cells by combining multi-junctions and advanced nano-scale light management concepts in ultra-thin film devices that lend themselves to very large scale, low cost manufacturing. In the past year, they developed thin-film nanostructured solar cell modeling, epitaxial growth and fabrication. A nano...

Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) with silver and gold conductor systems offer a low cost, high performance, and high reliability solution utilizing the advantages of ceramic technology. Gold conductors are generally used in applications requiring best reliability in harsh environmental conditions. Gold conductors are bonded to active or passive components through wirebonding, soldering, ...

A vibration energy scavenger, manufactured entirely by thick-film construction, has been developed to power autonomous subsystems in an embedded health and useage system. The device is constrained to a 2mm thickness and has been designed for a specific helicopter application. The resulting power output is capable of powering an ‘off-the-shelf’ microcontroller based system.

The performance of novel solid state Thick-Film pH sensors for water quality sampling that are designed for deployment in remote catchment areas is described. These miniaturised screen printed planar pH sensors are an alternative to conventional glass pH electrodes that have many disadvantages such as high-cost, large size, mechanical fragility and limited shape. The approach adopted here for i...

In an attempt to improve the functionality of a prosthetic hand device, a new fingertip has been developed that incorporates sensors to measure temperature and grip force, and to detect the onset of object slip from the hand. The sensors have been implemented using thick film printing technology and exploit the piezoresistive characteristics of commercially available screen printing resistive p...

Polysilicon thick films have been found to be an irreplaceable option in various sensors and other microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-designs. Polysilicon is also a prospective option for replacing singlecrystal silicon in customized silicon-on-insulator-substrates. Due to the nature of polysilicon, bonding for MEMS-purposes has so far concentrated on anodic bonding, which has drawbacks for i...

This paper investigates the effect of water vapour in CO sensing by using Pd doped SnO2 sensors realized in thick film technology as an example of the basic understanding of sensing mechanisms applied to sensors. The results of phenomenological and spectroscopic measurement techniques, all of them obtained under working conditions for sensors, were combined with modelling in order to derive con...