Effect of substrate bias voltage on the structure, electric and dielectric properties of TiO(2) thin films by DC magnetron sputtering

Titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) films have been deposited on glass and p-silicon (1 0 0) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering technique to investigate their structural, electrical and optical properties. The surface composition of the TiO(2) films has been analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The TiO(2) films formed on unbiased substrates were amorphous. Application of negative bias voltage to the substrate transformed the amorphous TiO(2) into polycrystalline as confirmed by Raman spectroscopic studies. Thin film capacitors with configuration of Al/TiO(2)/p-Si have been fabricated. The leakage current density of unbiased films was 1 x10(-6) A/cm(2) at a gate bias voltage of 1.5 V and it was decreased to 1.41 x 10(-7) A/cm(2) with the increase of substrate bias voltage to -150 V owing to the increase in thickness of interfacial layer of SiO(2). Dielectric properties and AC electrical conductivity of the films were studied at various frequencies for unbiased and biased at -150 V. The capacitance at 1 MHz for unbiased films was 2.42 x 10(-10) F and it increased to 5.8 x 10(-10) F in the films formed at substrate bias voltage of -150 V. Dielectric constant of TiO(2) films were calculated from capacitance-voltage measurements at 1 MHz frequency. The dielectric constant of unbiased films was 6.2 while those formed at -150 V it increased to 19. The optical band gap of the films decreased from 3.50 to 3.42 eV with the increase of substrate bias voltage from 0 to -150 V. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Prebreakdown Current and Sparking Potential in a Nonuniform Electric Field with a Crossed Magnetic Field

Prebreakdown currents in a coaxial cylindrical geometry in nitrogen have been measured with and without a crossed magnetic field. The range of parameters used in the investigation are 2.6 ÿ p ÿ 14.5 torr, 50 ÿ (E/p) ÿ 420 V cm-1 torr-1, and 43.0 ÿ H/p ÿ 1185 Oe torr-1 (p is the pressure, E is the electric field, and H is the magnetic field). The initial photoelectric current is obtained by allowing photons produced in an auxiliary glow discharge to strike the cathode. Ions and electrons produced in the auxiliary discharge are prevented from reaching the main gap by suitable shielding. By modifying the Rice equation for back diffusion, the measured ionization current multiplication without a crossed magnetic field is compared with the multiplication predicted by the Townsend growth equation for nonuniform electric fields. It is observed that over the range of 50 Ã�¿ (E/P)max Ã�¿ 250 [(E/P)max is the value of E/p at the central electrode of the coaxial system] measured and calculated multiplication of current agree with each other. With a crossed magnetic field the prebreakdown currents have been measured and compared with the theoretically calculated currents using the equivalent pressure concept. Agreement between the calculated and measured currents is not satisfactory, and this has been attributed more to the uncertainty in the collision frequency data available than nonuniformity of the electric field. Sparking potentials have been measured with and without a crossed magnetic field.

Electrical Breakdown of Gases Between Coaxial Cylindrical Electrodes in Crossed Electric and Magnetic Fields

Sparking potentials have been measured in nitrogen and dry air between coaxial cylindrical electrodes for values of n = R2/R1 = approximately 1 to 30 (R1 = inner electrode radius, R2 = outer electrode radius) in the presence of crossed uniform magnetic fields. The magnetic flux density was varied from 0 to 3000 Gauss. It has been shown that the minimum sparking potentials in the presence of the crossed magnetic field can be evaluated on the basis of the equivalent pressure concept when the secondary ionization coefficient does not vary appreciably with B/p (B = magnetic flux density, p = gas pressure). The values of secondary ionization coefficients �¿B in nitrogen in crossed fields calculated from measured values of sparking potentials and Townsend ionization coefficients taken from the literature, have been reported. The calculated values of collision frequencies in nitrogen from minimum sparking potentials in crossed fields are found to increase with increasing B/p at constant E/pe (pe = equivalent pressure). Studies on the similarity relationship in crossed fields has shown that the similarity theorem is obeyed in dry air for both polarities of the central electrode in crossed fields.

Low-inductance axial flux BLDC motor drive for more electric aircraft

As aircraft technology is moving towards more electric architecture, use of electric motors in aircraft is increasing. Axial flux BLDC motors (brushless DC motors) are becoming popular in aero application because of their ability to meet the demand of light weight, high power density, high efficiency and high reliability. Axial flux BLDC motors, in general, and ironless axial flux BLDC motors, in particular, come with very low inductance Owing to this, they need special care to limit the magnitude of ripple current in motor winding. In most of the new more electric aircraft applications, BLDC motor needs to be driven from 300 or 600 Vdc bus. In such cases, particularly for operation from 600 Vdc bus, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based inverters are used for BLDC motor drive. IGBT-based inverters have limitation on increasing the switching frequency, and hence they are not very suitable for driving BLDC motors with low winding inductance. In this study, a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter is proposed to drive axial flux BLDC motors. Operation of a BLDC motor driven from three-level NPC inverter is explained and experimental results are presented.

A core study on NOX removal in diesel exhaust by pulsed/ac/dc electric discharge plasma

In this paper a study on effect of different energization on removal of NOX in diesel engine exhaust has been presented. Here we made a detailed qualitative study of effect of pulsed/ac/dc voltage energizations on the NOX treatment of using conventional wire-cylinder reactor configuration. It was observed that amongst different energizations, pulse energization exhibits maximum NOX removal efficiency when compared to ac and dc energizations. For a given specific energy density, wire-cylinder reactor filled with BaTiO3 pellet gives higher NOX removal efficiency when compared to reactor without pellets under both pulse and ac energization. The dc energization does not have much impact on the removal processes. The paper further discusses the individual energization cases in detail.

Minimization of the effects of harmonics and voltage dip caused by electric arc furnace

This study examines the thermal efficiency of the operation of arc furnace and the effects of harmonics and voltage dips of a factory located near Bangkok. It also attempts to find ways to improve the performance of the arc furnace operation and minimize the effects of both harmonics and voltage dips. A dynamic model of the arc furnace has been developed incorporating both electrical and thermal characteristics. The model can be used to identify potential areas for improvement of the furnace and its operation. Snapshots of waveforms and measurement of RMS values of voltage, current and power at the furnace, at other feeders and at the point of common coupling were recorded. Harmonic simulation program and electromagnetic transient simulation program were used in the study to model the effects of harmonics and voltage dips and to identify appropriate static and dynamic filters to minimize their effects within the factory. The effects of harmonics and voltage dips were identified in records taken at the point of common coupling of another factory supplied by another feeder of the same substation. Simulation studies were made to examine the results on the second feeder when dynamic filters were used in the factory which operated the arc furnace. The methodology used and the mitigation strategy identified in the study are applicable to general situation in a power distribution system where an arc furnace is a part of the load of a customer

Simulation of Potential and Electric Field Profiles for transmission line Insulators

Since the end of second world war, extra high voltage ac transmission has seen its development. The distances between generating and load centres as well as the amount of power to be handled increased tremendously for last 50 years. The highest commercial voltage has increased to 765 kV in India and 1,200 kV in many other countries. The bulk power transmission has been mostly performed by overhead transmission lines. The dual task of mechanically supporting and electrically isolating the live phase conductors from the support tower is performed by string insulators. Whether in clean condition or under polluted conditions, the electrical stress distribution along the insulators governs the possible flashover, which is quite detrimental to the system. Hence the present investigation aims to study accurately, the field distribution for various types of porcelain/ceramic insulators (Normal and Antifog discs) used for high-voltage transmission. The surface charge simulation method is employed for the field computation. A comparison on normalised surface resistance, which is an indicator for the stress concentration under polluted condition, is also attempted.

Electric-field-driven monoclinic-to-rhombohedral transformation in Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3

The lead free ferroelectric Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 (NBT) is shown to exhibit electric-field-induced monoclinic (Cc) to rhombohedral (R3c) phase transformation at room temperature. This phenomenon has been analyzed both from the viewpoint of the intrinsic polarization rotation and adaptive phase models. In analogy with the morphotropic phase boundary systems, NBT seems to possess intrinsic competing ferroelectric instabilities near room temperature.

Potential and electric field distribution in a ceramic disc insulator string with faulty insulators

Ceramic/Porcelain suspension disc insulators are widely used in power systems to provide electrical insulation and mechanically support for high-voltage transmission lines. These insulators are subjected to a variety of stresses, including mechanical, electrical and environmental. These stresses act in unison. The exact nature and magnitude of these stresses vary significantly and depends on insulator design, application and its location. Due to various reasons the insulator disc can lose its electrical insulation properties without any noticeable mechanical failure. Such a condition while difficult to recognize, can enhance the stress on remaining healthy insulator discs in the string further may lead to a flashover. To understand the stress enhancement due to faulty discs in a string, attempt has been made to simulate the potential and electric field profiles for various disc insulators presently used in the country. The results of potential and electric filed stress obtained for normal and strings with faulty insulator discs are presented.

Quasiuniversal Transient Behavior of a Nonequilibrium Mott Insulator Driven by an Electric Field

We use a self-consistent strong-coupling expansion for the self-energy (perturbation theory in the hopping) to describe the nonequilibrium dynamics of strongly correlated lattice fermions. We study the three-dimensional homogeneous Fermi-Hubbard model driven by an external electric field showing that the damping of the ensuing Bloch oscillations depends on the direction of the field and that for a broad range of field strengths a long-lived transient prethermalized state emerges. This long-lived transient regime implies that thermal equilibrium may be out of reach of the time scales accessible in present cold atom experiments but shows that an interesting new quasiuniversal transient state exists in nonequilibrium governed by a thermalized kinetic energy but not a thermalized potential energy. In addition, when the field strength is equal in magnitude to the interaction between atoms, the system undergoes a rapid thermalization, characterized by a different quasiuniversal behavior of the current and spectral function for different values of the hopping. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.260402

Effect of substrate surface roughness on electric current induced flow of liquid metals

Electric current can induce long-range flow of liquid metals over a conducting substrate. This work reports on the effect of the substrate surface roughness on the liquid metal-front velocity during such a flow. Experiments were conducted by passing electric current through liquid gallium placed over similar to 170 nm thick, 500 mu m wide gold and platinum films of varying roughness. The ensuing flow, thus, resembles micro-fluidics behavior in an open-channel. The liquid-front velocity decreased linearly with the substrate surface roughness; this is attributed to the reduction in the effective electric field along the liquid metal-substrate interface with the substrate surface roughness. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790182]

Fowler-Nordheim Field Emission from Carbon Nanotubes Under Intense Electric Field

In this paper, we study the Fowler-Nordheim field emission (FNFE) from carbon nanotubes on the basis of a newly formulated electron dispersion law by considering the fact that the intense electric field needed for FNFE changes the band structure in a fundamental way. It has been found that the field emitted current increases with increasing electric field in oscillatory manner due to the appearance of van Hove singularities and exhibits spikes for particular values of the electric field where the singularity occurs. The numerical values of the field emitted current in all the cases vary widely and the determined by the chiral indices and the diameter in the respective cases. The results of this paper find three applications in the fields of nanoscience and technology.

Simulation of potential and electric field across faulty ceramic disc insulator string

Ceramic/Porcelain insulators are widely used in power transmission lines to provide mechanical support for High voltage conductors in addition to withstand electrical stresses. As a result of lightning, switching or temporary over voltages that could initiate flashover under worst weather conditions, and to operate within interference limits. Given that the useful life in service of the individual insulator elements making up the insulator strings is hard to predict, they must be verified periodically to ensure that adequate line reliability is maintained at all times. Over the years utilities have adopted few methods to detect defective discs in a string, subsequently replacement of the faulty discs are being carried out for smooth operation. But, if the insulator is found to be defective in a string at some location that may not create any changes in the field configuration, there is no need to replace to avoid manpower and cost of replacement. Due to deficiency of electric field data for the existing string configuration, utilities are forced to replace the discs which may not be essentially required. Hence, effort is made in the present work to simulate the potential and electric field along the normal and with faults induced discs in a string up to 765 kV system voltages using Surface Charge Simulation Method (SCSM). A comparison is made between simulated results, experimental and field data and it was found that the computed results are quite acceptable and useful.

Estimation of electric stress and surface potential for traction insulators

Traction insulators are solid core insulators widely used for railway electrification. Constant exposure to detrimental effects of vandalism, and mechanical vibrations begets certain faults like shorting of sheds or cracks in the sheds. Due to fault in one/two sheds, stress on the remaining healthy sheds increases, owing to atmospheric pollution the stress may lead to a flashover of the insulator. Presently due to non availability of the electric stress data for the insulators, simulation study is carried out to find the potential and electric field for most widely used traction insulators in the country. The results of potential and electric field stress obtained for normal and faulty imposed insulators are presented.