Materials

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Vertical-Bloch-line (VBL) memory devices of a proposed type would include stacks of VBL memory chips plus other components (see figure on next page). Each chip would be square, approximately...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Several microwave-cavity devices at various stages of development are designed for heating material samples or process streams with uniform temperature-versus-time histories. These devices...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A Magnetic Random-Access Memory (MagRAM) is an array of bistable magnetic memory elements with semiconductor amplifier and addressing circuitry. MagRAMs are in the early stages of development, which has been...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A dc-to-dc switching power converter of the three-level, pulse-width-modulated, buck type has been designed, built, and verified to operate at temperatures from ambient down to -196 °C...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved pulsed inductive plasma accelerators are undergoing development for use as long-life thrusters for propulsion of spacecraft on interplanetary missions and for maneuvering of...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
An improved miniature electrostatic sector has been designed for a miniature double-focusing mass spectrometer (see figure). Miniature mass spectrometers are essential components...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Tracks for the guidance of magnetic bubbles propagating in the input and output lines of Vertical-Bloch-Line memory devices can be made in the form of ridges instead of in the traditional form of...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Noncontact Measurement of Surface Tension of Molten Material
An improved method of noncontact measurement of the surface tension of a molten material has been developed, partly to overcome the disadvantages of contact measurement techniques as described in the preceding article, "Noncontact Measurement of Resistivity of Molten Material"...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Noncontact Measurement of Resistivity of Molten Material
It is now possible to determine the electrical resistivity of a molten sample of a pure, electrically conductive material (a metal or semiconductor), without contact between the sample or any solid object. Once the electrical resistivity has been determined, the thermal conductivity can be...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Efforts are underway to develop an electron-tunneling magnetometer with a "planarized" (as explained below) design. Older designs of electron-tunneling magnetometers are more three-dimensional in...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
The figure illustrates an apparatus for inducing an electric current in an electrically conductive object or layer of material and measuring the magnetic field generated by the current...
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Briefs: Materials
A rapid densification technology uses nanostructured powders to produce ceramic devices and components. This technology provides ceramic monoliths and composites that can be used in the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Magnetostatic switches — switches that open or close in response to magnetic fields — are being developed and fabricated using micromachining (MEMS) technology. These switches operate similarly to...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A microwave-heating technique provides for batch processing of multiple, identically sized and shaped samples of the same material. The technique involves (1) excitation of a symmetrical...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
SQUID-Based Asymmetric Planar Gradiometer
Berkeley Laboratory researchers have demonstrated a novel superconducting gradiometer that helps to reduce ambient magnetic field noise generated by relatively distant sources in favor of tiny magnetic signals generated by a local source. This is another step toward the operation of SQUID-based instruments...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Delta-Doped CCDs for Measuring Energies of Positive Ions
Research closely related to that reported in the preceding article has shown that δ-doped charge-coupled devices (CCDs) could be used to detect incident protons and perhaps other positive ions, and to measure the kinetic energies of the ions, down to about 1.25 keV. Prior to the development...
Briefs: Materials
Ion-beam-deposited surface layers of diamond-like carbon (DLC) on fine-grain chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond have been found to be effective in reducing friction and wear in a...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A portable, self-contained, compact instrument measures and records transient electric fields generated by nearby lightning strikes. This instrument complements, and in many respects is...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Magnetron plasma etching has been found to be a promising technique for micromachining of single-crystal silicon carbide to fabricate microscopic structures comprising integrated mechanical,...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An electromagnetic shaker based on a linear induction motor has been developed for use in flight flutter testing of aircraft. The shaker is a wing-tip-mounted unit capable of delivering...
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Briefs: Materials
Experiments have shown that carbon-based materials containing pure metallic iron, alloys of iron, halides of iron, and/or oxides of iron can be synthesized from precursors of general...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Two closely related methods of optical inspection and computation yield data on misalignments between critical features in different layers of microfabricated devices. Examples of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A computational study has been performed to show that one can accurately compute the cold-test electromagnetic characteristics of the helical slow-wave circuit of a...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A computational method for designing all-dielectric grating electromagnetic filters involves a combination of (1) numerical simulation of filter performance via integral-equation...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Permanent-magnet rotary bearings with ferrofluid stabilization in the axial degree of freedom are undergoing development. These bearings are totally passive, yet stable in all degrees of...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A device for measuring the distribution of masses in an atmosphere or plasma exploits the electrostatic deflection of ions in a rotating magnetic field. A magnetic field is not required. The device is...
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