Polycrystalline films are used in a wide array of microand nano-scale devices, for electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photonic and chemical functions. Increasingly, the properties, performance, and reliability of films in these systems depend on nano-scale structure. In collaborative research with a number of SMA Fellows, Associates, and students, our group is carrying out research focused on pr...

The use of nanometric size materials as embedded clusters, nanometric films, nanocrystalline layers and nanostructures is steadily increasing in industrial processes aiming to produce materials and devices. This is especially true in today Si-based microelectronics with transistors made of a multitude of different thin film materials (B-, As-, and P-doped Si, NiSi(Pt), poly-Si, W, TiOx, LaO, Si...

The topic of this project belongs to focus area #3 of the NSF solicitation: " Micro/Nanoscale Phenom-enology and Metrology. " Nano-structured materials are extremely attractive for applications requiring high strength and ductility. Two such areas are: (1) nano-layered composites for future aerospace applications demanding high strength-to-weight ratios; and (2) next-generation interconnect and...

To closely analyze the dislocation structure evolution during nano-indentation, a multi-scale discrete dislocation plasticity code is modified to include nano-indentation loading. This code couples two length scales, discrete dislocation dynamics and continuum finite element analysis and has been successfully applied to analyze various problems in mechanics and materials science. Description of...

During the last decade, major efforts have been made to develop adequate and commercially viable processes for disintegrating cellulose fibres into their structural components. Homogenisation of cellulose fibres has been one of the principal applied procedures. Homogenisation has produced materials which may be inhomogeneous, containing fibres, fibres fragments, fibrillar fines and nanofibrils....

The science of micro-nano technologies represents a multidisciplinary research domain, which provokes active participation of specialist from multiple domains (physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, electronics, medicine, a.o.). Nanotechnology is an applied science domain focusing the design, synthesis and characterization of materials and devices starting from individual atoms and molecules...

Multiple length-scale effects are demonstrated in indentation-strength measurements of a range of ceramic materials under inert and reactive conditions. Meso-scale effects associated with flaw disruption by lateral cracking at large indentation loads are shown to increase strengths above the ideal indentation response. Micro-scale effects associated with toughening by microstructural restraints...

In this paper, the authors define new classes of devices based on nanocomposite materials (NMs). The work introduces approaches about the design and the experimental characterization of these materials. A wide range of applications is presented by discussing novel devices implemented by nanocomposite techniques including sensing and robotic in micro/nano scale. The approaches are oriented on th...

based on the fact the manipulation of fine nanoclusters calls for more precise modeling, the aim of this paper is to conduct an atomistic investigation for interaction analysis of particle-substrate system for pushing and positioning purposes. in the present research, 2d molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate such behaviors. performing the planar simulations can provide a ...