Inorganic nanoparticles are among the most investigated objects nowadays, both in fundamental science and in various technical applications. In this book the physical properties of nanowires formed by nanoparticles with elongated shape, i.e. rod-like or wire-like, are described. The transition in the physical properties is analyzed for nanorods and nanowires consisting of spherical and rod-like nanoparticles. The physical properties of nanowires and elongated inorganic nanoparticles are reviewed too. The optical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical and catalytic properties of nanowires consisting of semiconductors, noble and various other metals, metal oxides properties and metal alloys are presented. The applications of nanorods and nanowires are discussed in the book.

Polycrystalline SiGe has emerged as a promising MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) structural material since it provides the desired mechanical properties at lower temperatures compared to poly-Si, allowing the direct post-processing on top of CMOS. This CMOS-MEMS monolithic integration can lead to more compact MEMS with improved performance. The potential of poly-SiGe for MEMS above-aluminum-backend CMOS integration has already been demonstrated. However, aggressive interconnect scaling has led to the replacement of the traditional aluminum metallization by copper (Cu) metallization, due to its lower resistivity and improved reliability. Poly-SiGe for MEMS-above-CMOS sensors demonstrates the compatibility of poly-SiGe with post-processing above the advanced CMOS technology nodes through the successful fabrication of an integrated poly-SiGe piezoresistive pressure sensor, directly fabricated above 0.13 m Cu-backend CMOS. Furthermore, this book presents the first detailed investigation on the influence of deposition conditions, germanium content and doping concentration on the electrical and piezoresistive properties of boron-doped poly-SiGe. The development of a CMOS-compatible process flow, with special attention to the sealing method, is also described. Piezoresistive pressure sensors with different areas and piezoresistor designs were fabricated and tested. Together with the piezoresistive pressure sensors, also functional capacitive pressure sensors were successfully fabricated on the same wafer, proving the versatility of poly-SiGe for MEMS sensor applications. Finally, a detailed analysis of the MEMS processing impact on the underlying CMOS circuit is also presented.

Micro Metal Forming, i. e. forming of parts and features with dimensions below 1 mm, is a young area of research in the wide field of metal forming technologies, expanding the limits for applying metal forming towards micro technology. The essential challenges arise from the reduced geometrical size and the increased lot size. In order to enable potential users to apply micro metal forming in production, information about the following topics are given: tribological behavior: friction between tool and work piece as well as tool wear mechanical behavior: strength and formability of the work piece material, durability of the work pieces size effects: basic description of effects occurring due to the fact, that the quantitative relation between different features changes with decreasing size process windows and limits for forming processes tool making methods numerical modeling of processes and process chains quality assurance and metrology All topics are discussed with respect to the questions relevant to micro metal forming. The description comprises information from actual research and the young history of this technology branch to be used by students, scientists and engineers in industry who already have a background in metal forming and like to expand their knowledge towards miniaturization. tribological behavior: friction between tool and work piece as well as tool wear mechanical behavior: strength and formability of the work piece material, durability of the work pieces size effects: basic description of effects occurring due to the fact, that the quantitative relation between different features changes with decreasing size process windows and limits for forming processes tool making methods numerical modeling of processes and process chains quality assurance and metrology All topics are discussed with respect to the questions relevant to micro metal forming. The description comprises information from actual research and the young history of this technology branch to be used by students, scientists and engineers in industry who already have a background in metal forming and like to expand their knowledge towards miniaturization.

The book consists of chapters based on selected papers of international conference "Power, Control and Optimization 2012", held in Las Vegas, USA. Readers can find interesting chapters discussing various topics from the field of power control, its distribution and related fields. Book discusses topics like energy consumption impacted by climate, mathematical modeling of the influence of thermal power plant on the aquatic environment, investigation of cost reduction in residential electricity bill using electric vehicle at peak times or allocation and size evaluation of distributed generation using ANN model and others. Chapter authors are to the best of our knowledge the originators or closely related to the originators of presented ideas and its applications. Hence, this book certainly is one of the few books discussing the benefit from intersection of those modern and fruitful scientific fields of research with very tight and deep impact on real life and industry. This book is devoted to the studies of common and related subjects in intensive research fields of power technologies. For these reasons, we believe that this book will be useful for scientists and engineers working in the above-mentioned fields of research and applications.

This book covers the physical properties of nanosized ferroics, also called nanoferroics. Nanoferroics are an important class of ceramic materials that substitute conventional ceramic ferroics in modern electronic devices. They include ferroelectric, ferroelastic, magnetic and multiferroic nanostructured materials. The phase transitions and properties of these nanostructured ferroics are strongly affected by the geometric confinement originating from surfaces and interfaces. As a consequence, these materials exhibit a behavior different from the corresponding bulk crystalline, ceramic and powder ferroics. This monograph offers comprehensive coverage of size- and shape-dependent effects at the nanoscale; the specific properties that these materials have been shown to exhibit; the theoretical approaches that have been successful in describing the size-dependent effects observed experimentally; and the technological aspects of many chemical and physico-chemical nanofabrication methods relevant to making nanoferroic materials and composites. The book will be of interest to an audience of condensed matter physicists, material scientists and engineers, working on ferroic nanostructured materials, their fundamentals, fabrication and device applications.

Nanorobots can be defined as intelligent systems with overall dimensions at or below the micrometer range that are made of assemblies of nanoscale components with individual dimensions ranging between 1 to 100 nm. These devices can now perform a wide variety of tasks at the nanoscale in a wide variety of fields including but not limited to fields such as manufacturing, medicine, supply chain, biology, and aerospace. Nanorobotics: Current Approaches and Techniques offers a comprehensive overview of this emerging interdisciplinary field with a wide ranging discussion that includes nano-manipulation and industrial nanorobotics, nanorobotic manipulation in biology and medicine, nanorobotic sensing, navigation and swarm behavior and CNT, and protein and DNA-based nanorobotics.

The development of nanomaterials opens the possibility for new materials with outstanding properties compared to classical engineering materials. These materials can find applications in different fields such as medical treatment or structural mechanics. This monograph focuses on two major groups of nanomaterials, i.e.nanoparticels and nanocomposites. Nanopartices, for example in the form of hollow particles, allow for new possibilities in drug delivery. Different aspects of nanoparticles ranging from manufacturing to modeling and simulation are covered. Nanocomposite materials are formed by mixing two or more dissimilar materials at the nanoscale in order to control and develop new and improved structures and properties. The properties of nanocomposites depend not only on the individual components used but also on the morphology and the interfacial characteristics. Nanocomposite coatings and materials are one of the most exciting and fastest growing areas of research and novel properties being continuously developed which are previously unknown in the constituent materials. Thus, the second part of this monograph gives an overview on the latest developments in the area of composites and coatings based on nanomaterials.

Surface Engineering constitutes a variety of processes and sub processes. Each chapter of this work covers specific processes by experts working in the area. Included for each topic are tribological performances for each process as well as results of recent research. The reader also will benefit from in-depth studies of diffusion coatings, nanocomposite films for wear resistance, surfaces for biotribological applications, thin-film wear, tribology of thermal sprayed coatings, hardfacing, plating for tribology and high energy beam surface modifications. Material scientists as well as engineers working with surface engineering for tribology will be particularly interested in this work.

Transient friction effects determine the behavior of a wide class of mechatronic systems. Classic examples are squealing brakes, stiction in robotic arms, or stick-slip in linear drives. To properly design and understand mechatronic systems of this type, good quantitative models of transient friction effects are of primary interest. The theory developed in this book approaches this problem bottom-up, by deriving the behavior of macroscopic friction surfaces from the microscopic surface physics. The model is based on two assumptions: First, rough surfaces are inherently fractal, exhibiting roughness on a wide range of scales. Second, transient friction effects are caused by creep enlargement of the real area of contact between two bodies. This work demonstrates the results of extensive Finite Element analyses of the creep behavior of surface asperities, and proposes a generalized multi-scale area iteration for calculating the time-dependent real contact between two bodies. The toolset is then demonstrated both for the reproduction of a variety of experimental results on transient friction as well as for system simulations of two example systems.

This book deals with all aspects of plasmonics, basics, applications and advanced developments. Plasmonics is an emerging field of research dedicated to the resonant interaction of light with metals. The light/matter interaction is strongly enhanced at a nanometer scale which sparks a keen interest of a wide scientific community and offers promising applications in pharmacology, solar energy, nanocircuitry or also light sources. The major breakthroughs of this field of research originate from the recent advances in nanotechnology, imaging and numerical modelling. The book is divided into three main parts: extended surface plasmons polaritons propagating on metallic surfaces, surface plasmons localized on metallic particles, imaging and nanofabrication techniques. The reader will find in the book: Principles and recent advances of plasmonics, a complete description of the physics of surface plasmons, a historical survey with emphasize on the emblematic topic of Wood's anomaly, an overview of modern applications of molecular plasmonics and an extensive description of imaging and fabrications techniques.

This book focuses the recent progress in nanophotonics technology to be used to develop novel nano-optical devices, fabrication technology, and advanced systems. It begins with a review of near-field excitation dynamics in molecules. Further topics include: wavelength up-converting a phonon-assisted excitation process with degenerate beams and non-degenerate beams in dye grains, a fabrication method of semiconductor quantum dots including self-assembly of InAs quantum dots based on the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode, single-nanotube spectroscopy and time-resolved spectroscopy for studying novel excitonic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The striking features of ecxitons in the carbon nanotube, multiple-exciton states, and microfluidic and extended-nano fluidic techniques. These topics are reviewed by nine leading scientists. This overview is a variable resource for engineers and scientists working in the field of nanophotonics.

For many decades, the semiconductor industry has miniaturized transistors, delivering increased computing power to consumers at decreased cost. However, mere transistor downsizing does no longer provide the same improvements. One interesting option to further improve transistor characteristics is to use high mobility materials such as germanium and III-V materials. However, transistors have to be redesigned in order to fully benefit from these alternative materials. High Mobility and Quantum Well Transistors: Design and TCAD Simulation investigates planar bulk Germanium pFET technology in chapters 2-4, focusing on both the fabrication of such a technology and on the process and electrical TCAD simulation. Furthermore, this book shows that Quantum Well based transistors can leverage the benefits of these alternative materials, since they confine the charge carriers to the high-mobility material using a heterostructure. The design and fabrication of one particular transistor structure - the SiGe Implant-Free Quantum Well pFET - is discussed. Electrical testing shows remarkable short-channel performance and prototypes are found to be competitive with a state-of-the-art planar strained-silicon technology. High mobility channels, providing high drive current, and heterostructure confinement, providing good short-channel control, make a promising combination for future technology nodes.

This book presents cutting-edge research on the design and development of novel, advanced high-strength, light-weight materials via the incorporation of novel reinforcements, namely, metallic amorphous alloys/bulk metallic glasses (BMG), in light metal matrix composites (LMMCs) based on Al and Mg. The book begins with an introduction to conventional ceramic reinforced light metal matrix composites, along with the major drawbacks which limit their application. Metallic amorphous alloys/Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMG) are new class of metallic materials that are distinctly differently from conventional metals/alloys in terms of their structure and thermal behavior, and exhibit extremely high strength (1 to 2 GPa) and large elastic strain limit (1 to 2%). Given these unique properties, upon their incorporation into Al/Mg-matrices, they provide superior interfacial properties, i.e. high degree of compatibility with the matrix due to their metallic nature when compared to conventional ceramic reinforcements, and thereby significantly enhance the mechanical performance of LMMCs. Amorphous/BMG reinforced LMMCs is an emerging research field and the existing literature is meager. This book discusses the various processing methods that would be suitable for these novel materials. A comparison of mechanical properties and strengthening mechanisms of amorphous/BMG reinforced composites with those of conventional ceramic composites is presented. Future research directions and wider research potential of the novel materials are discussed, and prospective applications are highlighted. For ease of understanding and comparison, appropriate schematics, tables, and figures are provided.

This book represents the first comprehensive overview over amorphous nano-optical and nano-photonic systems. Nanophotonics is a burgeoning branch of optics that enables many applications by steering the mould of light on length scales smaller than the wavelength with devoted nanostructures. Amorphous nanophotonics exploits self-organization mechanisms based on bottom-up approaches to fabricate nanooptical systems. The resulting structures presented in the book are characterized by a deterministic unit cell with tailored geometries; but their spatial arrangement is not controlled. Instead of periodic, the structures appear either amorphous or random. The aim of this book is to discuss all aspects related to observable effects in amorphous nanophotonic material and aspects related to their design, fabrication, characterization and integration into applications. The book has an interdisciplinary nature with contributions from scientists in physics, chemistry and materials sciences and sheds light on the topic from many directions.

Micro and Nano Flow Systems for Bioanalysis addresses the latest developments in biomedical engineering at very small scales. It shows how organic systems require multi-scale understanding in the broadest sensewhether the approach is experimental or mathematical, and whether the physiological state is healthy or diseased. Micro-and nano-fluidics represent key areas of translational research in which state-of-the-art engineering processes and devices are applied to bedside monitoring and treatment. By applying conventional micro- and nano-engineering to complex organic solids, fluids, and their interactions, leading researchers from throughout the world describe methods and techniques with great potential for use in medicine and clinical practice. Coverage includes the seeming plethora of new, fine-scale optical methods for measuring blood flow as well as endothelial activation and interaction with tissue. Generic areas of modeling and bioelectronics are also considered. In keeping with the recurring theme of medicine and clinical practice, approximately half of the chapters focus on the specific application of micro- and nano- flow systems to the understanding and treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This book developed from an Expert Overview Session on "Micro & Nano Flows in Medicine: the way ahead" at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011) held in Thessaloniki, Greece. Additional chapters were included to enhance the international, state-of-the-art coverage.

This book presents the state of the art technologies and solutions to tackle the critical challenges faced by the building and development of the WSN and ecological monitoring system but also potential impact on society at social, medical and technological level. This book is dedicated to Sensing systems for Sensors, Wireless Sensor Networks and Ecological Monitoring. The book aims at Master and PhD degree students, researchers, practitioners, especially WSN engineers involved with ecological monitoring. The book will provide an opportunity of a dedicated and a deep approach in order to improve their knowledge in this specific field.

This Brief highlights the search for strain gradients and geometrically necessary dislocations as a possible source of strength for two cases of deformation of materials at small scales: nanoindented single crystal copper and uniaxially compressed single crystal submicron gold pillars. When crystalline materials are mechanically deformed in small volumes, higher stresses are needed for plastic flow. This has been called the "Smaller is Stronger" phenomenon and has been widely observed. studies suggest that plasticity in one case is indeed controlled by the GNDs (strain gradient hardening), whereas in the other, plasticity is not controlled by strain gradients or sub-structure hardening, but rather by dislocation source starvation, wherein smaller volumes are stronger because fewer sources of dislocations are available (dislocation starvation hardening).

This is a richly imaginative study of machines for writing and reading at the end of the nineteenth century in America. Its aim is to explore writing and reading as culturally contingent experiences, and at the same time to broaden our view of the relationship between technology and textuality.
At the book's heart is the proposition that technologies of inscription are materialized theories of language. Whether they failed (like Thomas Edison's "electric pen") or succeeded (like typewriters), inscriptive technologies of the late nineteenth century were local, often competitive embodiments of the way people experienced writing and reading. Such a perspective cuts through the determinism of recent accounts while arguing for an interdisciplinary method for considering texts and textual production.
Starting with the cacophonous promotion of shorthand alphabets in postbellum America, the author investigates the assumptions--social, psychic, semiotic--that lie behind varying inscriptive practices. The "grooves" in the book's title are the delicate lines recorded and played by phonographs, and readers will find in these pages a surprising and complex genealogy of the phonograph, along with new readings of the history of the typewriter and of the earliest silent films. Modern categories of authorship, representation, and readerly consumption emerge here amid the un- or sub-literary interests of patent attorneys, would-be inventors, and record producers. Modern subjectivities emerge both in ongoing social constructions of literacy and in the unruly and seemingly unrelated practices of American spiritualism, "Coon" songs, and Rube Goldberg-type romanticism.
Just as digital networks and hypertext have today made us more aware of printed books as knowledge structures, the development and dissemination of the phonograph and typewriter coincided with a transformed awareness of oral and inscribed communication. It was an awareness at once influential in the development of consumer culture, literary and artistic experiences of modernity, and the disciplinary definition of the "human" sciences, such as linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. Recorded sound, typescripts, silent films, and other inscriptive media are memory devices, and in today's terms the author offers a critical theory of ROM and RAM for the century before computers.

The book 'BiLBIQ: A biologically inspired Robot with walking and rolling locomotion' deals with implementing a locomotion behavior observed in the biological archetype Cebrennus villosus to a robot prototype whose structural design needs to be developed. The biological sample is investigated as far as possible and compared to other evolutional solutions within the framework of nature's inventions. Current achievements in robotics are examined and evaluated for their relation and relevance to the robot prototype in question. An overview of what is state of the art in actuation ensures the choice of the hardware available and most suitable for this project. Through a constant consideration of the achievement of two fundamentally different ways of locomotion with one and the same structure, a robot design is developed and constructed taking hardware constraints into account. The development of a special leg structure that needs to resemble and replace body elements of the biological archetype is a special challenge to be dealt with. Finally a robot prototype was achieved, which is able to walk and roll - inspired by the spider Cebrennus villosus.

This book presents a method for replicating natural butterfly wing scales using a variety of metals for state-of-the-art applications requiring high surface-enhancement properties. During the past decade, three dimensional (3D) sub-micrometer structures have attracted considerable attention for optical applications. These 3D subwavelength metallic structures are, however, difficult to prepare. By contrast, the 3D superstructures of butterfly wing scales, with more than 175 000 morphologies, are efficiently engineered by nature. Natural butterfly wing scales feature 3D sub-micrometer structures that are superior to many human designs in terms of structural complexity, reproducibility, and cost. Such natural wealth offers a versatile chemical route via the replication of these structures into functional metals. A single versatile chemical route can be used to produce butterfly scales in seven different metals. These synthesized structures have the potential for catalytic (Au, Pt, Pd), thermal (Ag, Au, Cu), electrical (Au, Cu, Ag), magnetic (Co, Ni), and optical (Au, Ag, Cu) applications. Plasmon-active Au, Cu, Ag butterfly scales have exhibited excellent properties in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The Au scales as SERS substrates have ten times the analyte detection sensitivity and are one-tenth the cost of their human-designed commercial counterparts (KlariteTM). Preliminary mechanisms of these surface-enhancement phenomena are also reviewed.

High quality optical components for consumer products made of glass and plastic are mostly fabricated by replication. This highly developed production technology requires several consecutive, well-matched processing steps called a "process chain" covering all steps from mold design, advanced machining and coating of molds, up to the actual replication and final precision measurement of the quality of the optical components. Current market demands for leading edge optical applications require high precision and cost effective parts in large volumes. For meeting these demands it is necessary to develop high quality process chains and moreover, to crosslink all demands and interdependencies within these process chains. The Transregional Collaborative Research Center "Process chains for the replication of complex optical elements" at Bremen, Aachen and Stillwater worked extensively and thoroughly in this field from 2001 to 2012. This volume will present the latest scientific results for the complete process chain giving a profound insight into present-day high-tech production.

The book "Mechatronics: Recent Technological and Scientific Advances" provides comprehensive and accessible coverage of the evolving disciplines of mechatronics for nanotechnology, automatic control & robotics, biomedical engineering, design manufacturing and testing of MEMS, metrology, photonics, mechatronic products majors. It is already the third volume following the previous editions in 2007 and 2009 providing a recent state of advances in mechatronics presented on the 9th International Conference Mechatronics 2011, hosted this year at the Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. The carefully selected contributions give an insight into the current development of these scientific disciplines, present the new results of research and development and indicate the trends of development in the interdisciplinary field of mechatronics systems. Even though many people believe that the presence of mechanical, electrical, electronic components, and computers make a system mechatronics, others do not feel the same as there is nothing wrong with the individual identity. The enclosed material is original, and reflects the main research tendencies and developments in mechatronics among Mechatronics 2011 contributing countries. It helps to acquire the mix of skills needed to comprehend and design mechatronic systems and also provides with the frame of understanding to develop a truly interdisciplinary and integrated approach to engineering. The enclosed material is original, and reflects the main research tendencies and developments in mechatronics among Mechatronics 2011 contributing countries. It helps to acquire the mix of skills needed to comprehend and design mechatronic systems and also provides with the frame of understanding to develop a truly interdisciplinary and integrated approach to engineering.

In this textbook, fundamental methods for model-based design of mechatronic systems are presented in a systematic, comprehensive form. The method framework presented here comprises domain-neutral methods for modeling and performance analysis: multi-domain modeling (energy/port/signal-based), simulation (ODE/DAE/hybrid systems), robust control methods, stochastic dynamic analysis, and quantitative evaluation of designs using system budgets. The model framework is composed of analytical dynamic models for important physical and technical domains of realization of mechatronic functions, such as multibody dynamics, digital information processing and electromechanical transducers. Building on the modeling concept of a technology-independent generic mechatronic transducer, concrete formulations for electrostatic, piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and electrodynamic transducers are presented. More than 50 fully worked out design examples clearly illustrate these methods and concepts and enable independent study of the material.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) has been successfully used to perform nanorobotic manipulation operations on nanoscale entities such as particles, nanotubes, nanowires, nanocrystals, and DNA since 1990s. There have been many progress on modeling, imaging, teleoperated or automated control, human-machine interfacing, instrumentation, and applications of AFM based nanorobotic manipulation systems in literature. This book aims to include all of such state-of-the-art progress in an organized, structured, and detailed manner as a reference book and also potentially a textbook in nanorobotics and any other nanoscale dynamics, systems and controls related research and education. Clearly written and well-organized, this text introduces designs and prototypes of the nanorobotic systems in detail with innovative principles of three-dimensional manipulation force microscopy and parallel imaging/manipulation force microscopy.