The mechanical behavior of freestanding gold membranes 0.5 micron thick with and without passivation layers was studied with a membrane deflection experiment. Membrane width was varied from 2.5 to 20 microns to investigate size effects. The presence of the passivation layer had the effect of reducing the membrane strength. Yield stress, as well as fracture strain and stress, were all found to b...

The effect of ex situ hydrogen passivation process on the performance of visible hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide ~a-SiC:H!-based p-i-n type thin-film light-emitting diodes has been investigated. An ex situ hydrogen passivation process dramatically improved the device performance; that is, the threshold voltage decreased by about 5 V, the electroluminescence ~EL! intensity increased by a ...

We consider the passivity analysis and passivation problems for event-triggered feedback interconnected systems. Based on the location of the event-triggered samplers, we consider two event-triggered control schemes respectively: event-triggered sampler of plant output and event-triggered sampler of controller output. For both schemes, we first derive the conditions to characterize the level of...

In this report, we consider a passivation method that uses an input-output transformation matrix. This matrix generalizes the commonly used methods of series, feedback and parallel (or feedforward) interconnections to passivate a system. Through an appropriate design of this matrix, positive passivity levels can be guaranteed for the system. The passivation parameters can be selected by solving...

Stretching DNA in nanochannels allows for direct, visual studies of genomic DNA at the single molecule level. In order to facilitate the study of the interaction of linear DNA with proteins in nanochannels, we have implemented a highly effective passivation scheme based on lipid bilayers. We show long-term passivation of nanochannel surfaces to several relevant reagents and demonstrate that the...

Hydrogenated silicon nitride and aluminum oxide passivation layers were deposited on boron doped floatzone silicon wafers that underwent a high temperature firing step. The passivation quality was monitored during thermal treatment at 75°C, 150°C and 250°C in darkness or under illumination. It was found that the passivation quality of the specific layers under investigation is far from stable i...

Thermal ALD deposited Al2O3 films on silicon show marked difference in surface passivation quality as a function of annealing time (using rapid thermal process). An effective and quality passivation is realized in short anneal duration (~100s) which is reflected in the low surface recombination velocity (SRV <10 cm/s). The deduced values are close to the best reported SRV obtained by high therm...

Silicon surface passivation of hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) thin films deposited by radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) plasma process was investigated by measuring effective minority carrier lifetime (τeff) on Si (100) and (111) wafers and correlated with the silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cell performances. Apparently the higher ion bombardment in DC compared to RF plasma during growth ...

The problem of parasitic residual deposition on the passivation layer in electroless deposition process is studied in this paper. The characterization analysis tools involved are focused ion beam (FIB), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron dispersive Xray (EDX) and metallurgical interface analysis. Samples were identified as either good or bad prior to the characterization process via a...