Using a hollow cathode assembly (HCA) in a large vacuum chamber, such as the University of Michigan's Large Vacuum Test Facility (LVTF), provides the capability of generating a plasma environment that closely approximates that of the ionosphere. This capability allows examinations of ionospheric-plasma phenomena in a controlled setting without, in most cases, relying on scaling techniques. The ...

We have obtained nonperturbative one-loop expressions for the mean energy-momentum tensor and current density of Dirac's field on a constant electric-like background. One of the goals of this calculation is to give a consistent description of back-reaction in such a theory. Two cases of initial states are considered: the vacuum state and the thermal equilibrium state. First, we perform calculat...

Wafer bonding has been widely used for forming vacuum and hermetic packages for MEMS devices. Several techniques, including anodic silicon-glass, silicon-silicon fusion, metal compression, glass frit, eutectic, and solder bonding have been attempted and some have been demonstrated successfully. Solders have some advantages that make them an interesting area of research for wafer bonding. They o...

In this paper, the method of determining thermal contact resistance of wavy surfaces is discussed exactly. For determining the thermal contact resistance of real contacts, a new method has been presented. In this method, assuming a regular sinusoidal surface profile, the real contact area in terms of applied forces has been determined. Then thermal contact resistance has been calculated. Testin...

Dense Silicon nitride was investigated to determine the effect of its microstructural parameters and densification on thermo-mechanical properties and thermal stress resistance to fracture initiation during a hot or cold mechanical and thermal shock testing. The different materials and microstructures were obtained by changing the parameters such as the type of the powder, additive, forming p...

Ultrafine silicon quantum wires with high-quality Si/SiO2 heterointerfaces are successfully fabricated by utilizing anisotropic wet chemical etching and subsequent thermal oxidation. It is also found that the lateral dimensions of silicon quantum wires can be well controlled by selecting the temperature of the thermal oxidation process. The cross-sectional image from a scanning electron microsc...