Understanding metal alloy migration in metal-catalyzed nanowires growth is a prerequisite for improving its potential applications in the field of nanodevices. Here, we explored the surface migration of Au alloys in vertically aligned Si nanowires with different cooling rates. We varied the diameter of Au alloys by controlling the thickness of Au film as a catalyst for SiNW growth, and found th...

The solidification of two-dimensional liquid silicon confined to a slit nanopore has been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The results clearly show that the system undergoes an obvious transition from liquid to multilayer hexagonal film with the decrease of temperature, accompanied by dramatic change in potential energy, atomic volume, coordination number and lateral radial distrib...

Upon cooling, a thin metal film deposited on compliant elastomer substrate undergoes equi-biaxial compression and begins to buckle at a critical stress. As further cooling occurs, a highly ordered herringbone pattern self-assembles. The preference for the herringbone pattern over other potential modes is demonstrated based on minimum energy arguments. Control of the pre-buckling in-plane stress...

Direct numerical simulations are used to investigate the method of film cooling in a laminar flat-plate Mach-2.67 boundary layer. Air is employed as mean-flow and coolant gas and is introduced into the boundary layer through one row of holes by means of a modeled blowing approach. The effects of a favorable streamwise pressure gradient are investigated for two different blowing rates and an adi...

Superlattice material technologies in the Bi2Te3-material system can potentially enable efficient micro-scale thermoelectric devices for energy harvesting and active site-specific thermal management from ~200K to ~400K. The state-of-the-art in these thin film materials and the state of transition of these materials into device prototypes are presented. In the energy harvesting area, early resul...

In present-day high-performance electronic components, the generated heat loads result in unacceptably high junction temperatures and reduced component lifetimes. Thermoelectric modules can, in principle, enhance heat removal and reduce the temperatures of such electronic devices. However, state-of-the-art bulk thermoelectric modules have a maximum cooling flux qmax of only about 10 W cm(-2), w...