Computer Aided Tolerance assignment

Tolerances are basic to the production of every part. This is because perfect parts cannot be produced with existing processes and machines. The determination of tolerances for the individual parts of a functional assembly is critical, but not trivial. Numerous approaches are suggested in past literature for (analytical) tolerance allocation. With the advent of total automation, more attempts are being made to computerize manual design tasks. Tolerance design, assignment and allocation can also be fully automated if the assembly function can be estimated by the computer.

In the present paper, an attempt is made to computerize tolerance assignment. A simple example of a two piece assembly, viz., a fit, is used to demonstrate the developed methodology. A feature extraction is first performed from both detail and assembly drawings. Then, probable assembly interfaces are determined using a rule based procedure. Consequently, tolerances are assigned to the basic dimensions of each feature and to the assembly interfaces using a tolerance database and user interaction. More complex analysis for tolerance allocation is also under study.     

Electrical properties of N2O/NH3 plasma grownoxynitride on strained-Si

Growth of ultrathin (<100 Å) oxynitride on strained-Si using microwave N₂O and NH₃ plasma is reported. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicate a nitrogen-rich layer at the strained-Si/SiO₂ interface. The electrical properties of oxynitrides have been characterized using a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. A moderately low value of insulator charge density (6.1×10¹⁰ cm^-2) has been obtained for NH₃ plasma treated N₂O oxide sample. Nitrided oxide shows a larger breakdown voltage and an improved charge trapping properties under Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) constant current stress     

Bending and free vibration analysis of shear deformable laminated composite beams by finite element method

In the present investigation a higher-order shear deformation theory and the conventional first-order theory are used to develop a finite element method to analyse accurately the bending and free vibration behaviour of laminated composite beams, using nine-noded isoparametric elements. The higher-order theory assumes all the displacement components, u, v and w, which contain variation up to a cubic power of z. The effects of various parameters such as fibre orientation, stacking sequence, span-to-thickness ratio and support condition on the non-dimensionalised deflections, stresses and fundamental frequencies are investigated. Cases where only the higher-order theory is likely to yield accurate results are highlighted.     

Furnace grown gate oxynitride using nitric oxide (NO)

Gate oxynitride was grown in NO for the first time. This approach can provide a tight N accumulation near the Si/SiO₂ interface. Much lower thermal budget is required for an NO process than for an N₂O process to produce an oxynitride with useful properties. Submicron MOSFET's with NO oxynitride showed superior current drive characteristics and comparable hot carrier immunity to those with N₂O oxynitride     

The polar cluster like behavior in Ti substituted BaZrO3 ceramics

In this paper we report the evolution of the polar cluster like behavior with the incorporation of Ti⁴⁺ ion in BaZrO₃ Ceramics. Dielectric behavior of BaZr_xTi_(1−x)O₃ (x = 1.00, 0.95, 0.90, 0.85) ceramics is studied in the temperature range from 300 to 30 K. Polar cluster like behavior becomes more prominent with the increase in content of Ti⁴⁺ ion. The dielectric relaxation is analyzed by Vogel–Fulcher relation and Arrhenius law. Frequency dependence of dielectric constant and low loss tangent of these materials can be useful for the potential applications at low temperature.