Recent work demonstrates that phase displacements within horizontal fractures large with respect to the spatial correlation length of the aperture field lead to a satiated condition that constrains the relative permeability to be less than one. The authors use effective media theory to develop a conceptual model for satiated relative permeability, then compare predictions to existing experimental measurements, and numerical solutions of the Reynolds equation on the measured aperture field within the flowing phase. The close agreement among all results and data show that for the experiments considered here, in-plane tortuosity induced by the entrapped phase is the dominant factor controlling satiated relative permeability. They also find that for this data set, each factor in the conceptual model displays an approximate power law dependence on the satiated saturation of the fracture.
This paper formally introduces several stability characterizations of fixtured three-dimensional rigid bodies initially at rest and in unilateral contact with Coulomb friction. These characterizations, weak stability and strong stability, arise naturally from the dynamic model of the system, formulated as a complementarity problem. Using the tools of complementarity theory, these characterizations are studied in detail to understand their properties and to develop techniques to identify the stability classifications of general systems subjected to known external loads.
In this paper a new time-stepping method for simulating systems of rigid bodies is given. Unlike methods which take an instantaneous point of view, the method is based on impulse-momentum equations, and so does not need to explicitly resolve impulsive forces. On the other hand, the method is distinct from previous impulsive methods in that it does not require explicit collision checking and it can handle simultaneous impacts. Numerical results are given for one planar and one three-dimensional example, which demonstrate the practicality of the method, and its convergence as the step size becomes small.
An automated gas chromatography was used to analyze water samples contaminated with trace (parts-per-billion) concentrations of organic analytes. A custom interface introduced the liquid sample to the chromatography. This was followed by rapid chromatographic analysis. Characteristics of the analysis include response times less than one minute and automated data processing. Analytes were chosen based on their known presence in the recycle water streams of semiconductor manufacturers and their potential to reduce process yield. These include acetone, isopropanol, butyl acetate, ethyl benzene, p-xylene, methyl ethyl ketone and 2-ethoxy ethyl acetate. Detection limits below 20 ppb were demonstrated for all analytes and quantitative analysis with limited speciation was shown for multianalyte mixtures. Results are discussed with respect to the potential for on-line liquid process monitoring by this method.
An edge-emitting buried-oxide waveguide (BOW) laser structure employing lateral selective oxidation of AlGaAs layers above and below the active region for waveguiding and current confinement is presented. This laser configuration has the potential for very small lateral optical mode size and high current confinement and is well suited for integrated optics applications where threshold current and overall efficiency are paramount. Optimization of the waveguide design, oxide layer placement, and bi-parabolic grading of the heterointerfaces on both sides of the AlGaAs oxidation layers has yielded 95% external differential quantum efficiency and 40% wall-plug efficiency from a laser that is very simple to fabricate and does not require epitaxial regrowth of any kind.
A two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal is an attractive alternative and complimentary to its 3D counterpart, due to fabrication simplicity. A 2D crystal, however, confines light only in the 2D plane, but not in the third direction, the z-direction. Earlier experiments show that such a 2D system can exist, providing that the boundary effect in z-direction is negligible and that light is collimated in the 2D plane. Nonetheless, the usefulness of such 2D crystals is limited because they are incapable of guiding light in z-direction, which leads to diffraction loss. This drawback presents a major obstacle for realizing low-loss 2D crystal waveguides, bends and thresholdless lasers. A recent theoretical calculation, though, suggests a novel way to eliminate such a loss with a 2D photonic crystal slab. The concept of a lightcone is introduced as a criterion for fully guiding and controlling light. Although the leaky modes of a crystal slab have been studied, there have until now no experimental reports on probing its guided modes and band gaps. In this paper, a waveguide-coupled 2D photonic crystal slab is successfully fabricated from a GaAs/Al{sub x}O{sub y} material system and its intrinsic transmission properties are studied. The crystal slab is shown to have a strong 2D band gap at {lambda} {approximately} 1.5 {micro}m. Light attenuates as much as {approximately}5dB per period in the gap, the strongest ever reported for any 2D photonic crystal in optical {lambda}. More importantly, for the first time, the crystal slab is shown to be capable of controlling light fully in all three-dimensions. The lightcone criterion is also experimentally confirmed.
The ultimate limitation in obtainable resolution and sensitivity for space-based imaging systems is the size of the optical collecting aperture. Large collecting apertures are at odds with maintaining low launch costs and with current launch vehicle configurations. Development of a deployable mirror is one approach being considered to satisfy these conflicting requirements. The focus of this research is to develop fundamental technology toward the realization of deployable electron-gun-controlled piezoelectric thin films mirrors as shown below. A bimorph layer of film will bend in response to an applied electric field and can therefore be deformed into desirable shapes using a scanning electron gun. Surface curvature measurements govern the electron gun scanning strategy, yielding distributed shape corrections.
Results on a variety of mixed ABO{sub 3} oxides have revealed a pressure-induced ferroelectric-to-relaxor crossover and the continuous evolution of the energetics and dynamics of the relaxation process with increasing pressure. These common features have suggested a mechanism for the crossover phenomenon in terms of a large decrease in the correlation length for dipolar interactions with pressure--a unique property of soft mode or highly polarizable host lattices. The pressure effects as well as the interplay between pressure and dc biasing fields are illustrated for some recent results on PZN-9.5 PT,PMN and PLZT 6/65/35.
The finite element method is being used today to model component assemblies in a wide variety of application areas, including structural mechanics, fluid simulations, and others. Generating hexahedral meshes for these assemblies usually requires the use of geometry decomposition, with different meshing algorithms applied to different regions. While the primary motivation for this approach remains the lack of an automatic, reliable all-hexahedral meshing algorithm, requirements in mesh quality and mesh configuration for typical analyses are also factors. For these reasons, this approach is also sometimes required when producing other types of unstructured meshes. This paper will review progress to date in automating many parts of the hex meshing process, which has halved the time to produce all-hex meshes for large assemblies. Particular issues which have been exposed due to this progress will also be discussed, along with their applicability to the general unstructured meshing problem.
Atoms and molecules adsorbed on metals affect each other even over considerable distances. In a tour-de-force of density-functional methods, the authors establish the nature and strength of such indirect interactions, and explain for what adsorbate systems they can critically affect important materials properties. These perceptions are verified in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of epitaxial growth, and help rationalize a cascade of recent experimental reports on anomalously low diffusion prefactors. The authors focus their study on two metal systems: Al/Al(111) and Cu/Cu(111).
A spray-suppression model that captures the effects of liquid suppressant on a turbulent combusting flow is developed and applied to a turbulent diffusion flame with water spray suppression. The spray submodel is based on a stochastic separated flow approach that accounts for the transport and evaporation of liquid droplets. Flame extinguishment is accounted for by using a perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) submodel of turbulent combustion. PSR pre-calculations of flame extinction times are determined using CHEMKIN and are compared to local turbulent time scales of the flow to determine if local flame extinguishment has occurred. The PSR flame extinguishment and spray submodels are incorporated into Sandia's flow fire simulation code, VULCAN, and cases are run for the water spray suppression studies of McCaffrey for turbulent hydrogen-air jet diffusion flames. Predictions of flame temperature decrease and suppression efficiency are compared to experimental data as a function of water mass loading using three assumed values of drop sizes. The results show that the suppression efficiency is highly dependent on the initial droplet size for a given mass loading. A predicted optimal suppression efficiency was observed for the smallest class of droplets while the larger drops show increasing suppression efficiency with increasing mass loading for the range of mass loadings considered. Qualitative agreement to the experiment of suppression efficiency is encouraging, however quantitative agreement is limited due to the uncertainties in the boundary conditions of the experimental data for the water spray.
Commercialization and transfer of technology from laboratories in academia, government, and industry has only met a fraction of its potential and is currently an art not a science. The line of sight approach developed and in use at Sandia National Laboratories, is used to better understand commercialization and transfer of technology. The line of sight process integrates technology description, the dual process model of innovation and the product introduction model. The model, that the line of sight is based OR is presented and the application of the model to both disruptive and sustaining technologies is illustrated. Work to date suggests that the differences between disruptive and sustaining technologies are critical to quantifying the level of risk and choosing the commercialization path. The applicability of the line of sight to both disruptive and sustaining technologies is key to the success of the model and approach.
Sandia National Laboratory are working on ways to increase production using Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management is: finding ways to create, identify, capture, and distribute organizational knowledge to the people who need it; to help information and knowledge flow to the right people at the right time so they can act more efficiently and effectively; recognizing, documenting and distributing explicit knowledge (explicit knowledge is quantifiable and definable, it makes up reports, manuals, instructional materials, etc.) and tacit knowledge (tacit knowledge is doing and performing, it is a combination of experience, hunches, intuition, emotions, and beliefs) in order to improve organizational performance and a systematic approach to find, understand and use knowledge to create value.
An overall trend toward smaller electronic packages and devices makes it increasingly important and difficult to obtain meaningful diffraction information from small areas. X-ray micro-diffraction, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and Kossel are micro-diffraction techniques used for crystallographic analysis including texture, phase identification and strain measurements. X-ray micro-diffraction primarily is used for phase analysis and residual strain measurements. X-ray micro-diffraction primarily is used for phase analysis and residual strain measurements of areas between 10 {micro}m to 100 {micro}m. For areas this small glass capillary optics are used for producing a usable collimated x-ray beam. These optics are designed to reflect x-rays below the critical angle therefore allowing for larger solid acceptance angle at the x-ray source resulting in brighter smaller x-ray beams. The determination of residual strain using micro-diffraction techniques is very important to the semiconductor industry. Residual stresses have caused voiding of the interconnect metal which then destroys electrical continuity. Being able to determine the residual stress helps industry to predict failures from the aging effects of interconnects due to this stress voiding. Stress measurements would be impossible using a conventional x-ray diffractometer; however, utilizing a 30{micro}m glass capillary these small areas are readily assessable for analysis. Kossel produces a wide angle diffraction pattern from fluorescent x-rays generated in the sample by an e-beam in a SEM. This technique can yield very precise lattice parameters for determining strain. Fig. 2 shows a Kossel pattern from a Ni specimen. Phase analysis on small areas is also possible using an energy dispersive spectrometer (EBSD) and x-ray micro-diffraction techniques. EBSD has the advantage of allowing the user to observe the area of interest using the excellent imaging capabilities of the SEM. An EDS detector has been used for simultaneous element identification which enhances phase identification of unknowns. The x-ray area detector also allows for rapid microstructure information including crystallite orientation and size by directly observing the diffraction rings. These techniques allow for small area analysis that in the past would have been difficult if not impossible to obtain. The future development in x-ray optics and the use of synchrotron sources will allow for the potential of nondestructive submicron x-ray diffraction analysis.
A multi-rover cooperative team or swarm developed by Sandia National Laboratories is described, including various control methodologies that have been implemented to date. How the swarm's capabilities could be applied to a lunar ice prospecting mission is briefly explored. Some of the specific major engineering issues that must be addressed to successfully implement the swarm approach to a lunar surface mission are outlined, and potential solutions are proposed.
Electrodeposited metal matrix/metal particle composite (EMMC) coatings were produced with a nickel matrix and aluminum particles. By optimizing the process parameters, coatings were deposited with 20 volume percent aluminum particles. Coating morphology and composition were characterized using light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was employed to study reactive phase formation. The effect of heat treatment on coating phase formation was studied in the temperature range 415 to 1,000 C. Long-time exposure at low temperature results in the formation of several intermetallic phases at the Ni matrix/Al particle interfaces and concentrically around the original Al particles. Upon heating to the 500--600 C range, the aluminum particles react with the nickel matrix to form NiAl islands within the Ni matrix. When exposed to higher temperatures (600--1,000 C), diffusional reaction between NiAl and nickel produces ({gamma})Ni{sub 3}Al. The final equilibrium microstructure consists of blocks of ({gamma}{prime})Ni{sub 3}Al in a {gamma}(Ni) solid solution matrix, with small pores also present. Pore formation is explained based on local density changes during intermetallic phase formation and microstructural development is discussed with reference to reaction synthesis of bulk nickel aluminides.
The authors explore the use of variational grid-generation to perform alignment of a grid with a given vector field. Variational methods have proven to be a powerful class of grid-generators, but when they are used in alignment, difficulties may arise in treating boundaries due to an incompatibility between geometry and vector field. In this paper, a refinement of the procedure of iterating boundary values is presented. It allows one to control the quality of the grid in the face of the above-mentioned incompatibility. This procedure may be incorporated into any variational alignment algorithm. The authors demonstrate its use with respect to a new quasi-variational alignment method having a particularly simple structure. The latter method is comparable to Knupp's method (see [7]), but avoids use of the Winslow equations.
Sandia is a national security laboratory operated for the U.S. department of Energy by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company. Sandia designs all non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear weapons, performs a wide variety of energy research and development projects, and works on assignments that respond to national security threats - both military and economic. They encourage and seek partnerships with appropriate U.S. industry and government groups to collaborate on emerging technologies that support their mission. Today, Sandia has two primary facilities, one in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and one in Livermore, California. They employ about 7,600 people and manage about $1.4 billion of work per year. In 1995, a decision was made to move from their in-house developed systems to commercial software. This decision was driven partly by Y2K compliance issues associated with the existing operating system and support environment. Peoplesoft was selected for human resources and Oracle for manufacturing and financial. They implemented Peoplesoft for human resources (HR) in 1997. They then implemented 7 Oracle modules in manufacturing in October 1998, including WIP, BOM, engineering, quality, inventory, MRP, cost management and limited HR/purchasing/receiving functionality required to support manufacturing. In March of 1999, they brought a portion of their Projects module up to allow for input of project/task information by their line customers and on October 1, 1999, they went live with the fill-blown financial package. They implemented projects, GL, receivables, payables, purchasing, assets and incorporated manufacturing modules and HR. This paper will discuss the analysis and implementation of the purchasing module.
Photosensitive films incorporating molecular photoacid generators compartmentalized within a silica-surfactant mesophase were prepared by an evaporation-induced self-assembly process. UV-exposure promoted localized acid-catalyzed siloxane condensation, enabling selective etching of unexposed regions, thereby serving as a resistless technique to prepare patterned mesoporous silica. The authors also demonstrated an optically-defined mesophase transformation (hexagonal {r_arrow} tetragonal) and patterning of refractive index and wetting behavior. Spatial control of structure and function on the macro- and mesoscales is of interest for sensor arrays, nano-reactors, photonic and fluidic devices, and low dielectric constant films. More importantly, it extends the capabilities of conventional lithography from spatially defining the presence or absence of film to spatial control of film structure and function.
This paper presents the challenges and solutions of applying Built-In-Current Sensors (BICS) to a safety-critical IC design for the purpose of in-situ state-of-health monitoring. The developed Quiscent Current Monitor (QCM) system consists of multiple BISC and digital control logic. The QCM BICS can detect leakage current as low as 4 {micro}A, run at system speed, and has relatively low real estate overhead. The QCM digital logic incorporates extensive debug capability and Built-In-Self-Test (BIST). The authors performed analog and digital simulations of the integrated BICS, and performed layout and tapeout of the design. Silicon is now in fabrication. Results to date show that, for some systems, BICS can be a practical and relatively inexpensive method for providing state-of-health monitoring of safety-critical microelectronics.
A mechanically induced color transition ('mechanochromism') in poly(diacetylene) thin films has been generated at the nanometer scale using the tips of two different scanning probe microscopes. A blue-to-red chromatic transition in poly(diacetylene) molecular trilayer films, polymerized from 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (poly-PCDA), was found to result from shear forces acting between the tip and the poly-PCDA molecules, as independently observed with near-field scanning optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Red domains were identified by a fluorescence emission signature. Transformed regions as small as 30 nm in width were observed with AFM. The irreversibly transformed domains preferentially grow along the polymer backbone direction. Significant rearrangement of poly-PCDA bilayer segments is observed by AFM in transformed regions. The rearrangement of these segments appears to be a characteristic feature of the transition. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of nanometer-scale mechanochromism in any material.
Electrical breakdown in thin oxides is assessed by a new bias-temperature ramp technique. No significant effect of radiation exposure on breakdown is observed for high quality thermal and nitrided oxides, up to 20 Mrad(SiO{sub 2}).
The authors report Q-switched operation from an electrically-injected monolithic coupled-resonator structure which consists of an active cavity with InGaAs quantum wells optically coupled to a passive cavity. The passive cavity contains a bulk GaAs region which is reverse-biased to provide variable absorption at the lasing wavelength of 990 nm. Cavity coupling is utilized to effect large changes in output intensity with only very small changes in passive cavity absorption. The device is shown to produce pulses as short as 150 ps at repetition rates as high 4 GHz. A rate equation approach is used to model the Q-switched operation yielding good agreement between the experimental and theoretical pulse shape. Small-signal frequency response measurements also show a transition from a slower ({approximately} 300 MHZ) forward-biased modulation regime to a faster ({approximately} 2 GHz) modulation regime under reverse-bias operation.
Solar Two was a collaborative, cost-shared project between eleven US industry and utility partners and the U. S. Department of Energy to validate molten-salt power tower technology. The Solar Two plant, located east of Barstow, CA, was comprised of 1926 heliostats, a receiver, a thermal storage system and a steam generation system. Molten nitrate salt was used as the heat transfer fluid and storage media. The steam generator powered a 10 MWe, conventional Rankine cycle turbine. Solar Two operated from June 1996 to April 1999. The major objective of the test and evaluation phase of the project was to validate the technical characteristics of a molten salt power tower. This paper describes the significant results from the test and evaluation activities.
The positions of Ge atoms intermixed in the Si(100) surface at very low concentration are identified using empty-state imaging in scanning tunneling microscopy. A measurable degree of place exchange occurs at temperatures as low as 330 K. Contrary to earlier conclusions, good differentiation between Si atoms and Ge atoms can be achieved by proper imaging conditions.