Silicon nanoparticles have important applications, including nonvolatile floating-gate memory devices. To prevent device performance variations, particle size and oxide thicknesses need to be controlled with a high degree of precision. Additionally, producing well-ordered, two-dimensional arrays of nanoparticles may require the exploitation of self-assembly techniques and colloidal forces, whic...

Carbon nanotube adhesion force measurements were performed on single-walled nanotubes grown over lithographically defined trenches. An applied vertical force from an atomic force microscope (AFM), in force distance mode, caused the tubes to slip across the 250-nm-wide silicon dioxide trench tops at an axial tension of 8 nN. The nanotubes slipped at an axial tension of 10 nN after being selectiv...

The narrowest feature of an integrated circuit is the silicon dioxide gate dielectric (3±5 nm). The viability of future CMOS technology is contingent upon thinning the oxide further to improve drive performance, while maintaining reliability. Practical limitations due to direct tunneling through the gate oxide may preclude the use of silicon dioxide as the gate dielectric for thicknesses less t...

Offering mild, non-invasive and deep cancer therapy modality, radio frequency (RF) radiation-induced hyperthermia lacks for efficient biodegradable RF sensitizers to selectively target cancer cells and thus avoid side effects. Here, we assess crystalline silicon (Si) based nanomaterials as sensitizers for the RF-induced therapy. Using nanoparticles produced by mechanical grinding of porous sili...

To evaluate the significance of thin-film composite membrane surface morphology on water productivity, flat-sheet experiments were conducted with silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide, and cerium dioxide nanoparticles. The polyamide thin-film active layer exhibited a valley and ridge morphology that was directly related to the surface roughness, and was found to contribute to particle accumulation ...

Silicon constitutes 28% of the earth's mass. Its high abundance, lack of toxicity and low cost coupled with its electrical and optical properties, make silicon unique among the semiconductors for converting sunlight into electricity. In the quest for semiconductors that can make chemicals and fuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide, unfortunately the best performers are invariably made from rare...

Infrared metamaterials fabricated on semiconductor substrates exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to very thin (as small as 2 nm) layers of low permittivity materials between the metallic elements and the underlying substrate. We have measured the resonant frequencies of split ring resonators and square loops fabricated on Si wafers with silicon dioxide thicknesses ranging from 0 to 10 nm. Res...

In the present work, the stress evaluation of RF sputtered silicon dioxide films for MEMS applications has been reported. The films were deposited in argon atmosphere in the pressure range 5-20 mtorr at 300 W RF power using a 3 inch diameter silicon dioxide target. The stress measurements were carried out using wafer curvature technique. All the deposited films show compressive stress except th...

Background & objectives: Because of its very high solubility, nitrate penetrates easily into soil and underground waters. Surface waters such as lakes, reservoirs, and rivers are exposed to nitrate pollution. Photocatalytic processes have a high potential for nitrate removal due to complete oxidation, lack of formation of multi-cycle metabolites and the availability of catalysts. The purpose of...

The present study investigates Joule heating in piezoresistive microcantilever sensors. Joule heating and thermal deflections are a major source of noise in such sensors. This work uses analytical and numerical techniques to characterise the Joule heating in 4-layer piezoresistive microcantilevers made of silicon and silicon dioxide substrates but with the same U-shaped silicon piezoresistor. A...