Search Results (21)

This study systematically investigates the electrical characteristics of the vertical NPN bipolar junction transistor (VNPN BJT) in the strong magnetic field environment, focusing on analyzing the effects of magnetic field direction and intensity on key parameters such as terminal current and current gain (β). The simulation results show that the magnetic field induces changes in the carrier distribution, thereby affecting the current transport path. Through the in-depth analysis of electron motion trajectories, potential distribution, and Hall voltage, this paper reveals the physical mechanisms behind the device’s characteristic changes under the magnetic field and discovers that the inherent asymmetry of the BJT structure induces significant magnetic anisotropy effects. On this basis, a design for interference-resistant structures in strong magnetic field environments is proposed, effectively suppressing the adverse effects of magnetic-field-sensitive directions on BJT performance and significantly improving the device’s stability in complex magnetic field environments. Full article

This study investigates the mechanisms driving current generation, power output, and charge storage in carbon nanotube springs under mechanical strain, addressing the gap between experimental observations and theoretical modeling, particularly in asymmetric electrical responses. Leveraging the Dirac equation in curved spacetime, we analyze how curvature-induced scalar and pseudo-gauge potentials shape two-dimensional electron gases confined to carbon nanotube springs. We incorporate applied mechanical strain by introducing time-dependent variations in the Lamé coefficient and curvature parameters, enabling the analysis of mechanical deformation’s influence on electrical properties. Our model clarifies asymmetric electrical responses during stretching and compression cycles and explains how strain-dependent power outputs arise from the interplay between mechanical deformation and curvature effects. Additionally, we demonstrate mechanisms by which strain influences charge redistribution within the helically coiled structure. We develop a new equivalent circuit model linking mechanical deformation directly to electronic behavior, bridging theoretical physics with practical electromechanical applications. The analysis reveals asymmetric time-dependent currents, enhanced power output during stretching, and strain-dependent charge redistribution. Fourier analysis uncovers dominant frequency components (primary at $\Omega$, harmonic at $2\Omega$) explaining these asymmetries. Theoretical investigations explain the mechanisms behind the curvature-driven time-dependent current source, the frequency-dependent peak power, the characteristics of open-circuit voltage with strain, and the asymmetric electrical property response under applied strain as the generated current and the charge distribution within the carbon nanotube springs. These findings highlight carbon nanotube springs applied to energy harvesting, wearable electronics, and sensing technologies. Full article

In this study, the resistive switching phenomena in TiN/Ti/HfO₂/Ti metal–insulator–metal stacks is investigated, mainly focusing on the analysis of set and reset transitions. The electrical measurements in a wide temperature range reveal that the switching transitions require less voltage (and thus, less energy) as temperature rises, with the reset process being much more temperature sensitive. The main conduction mechanism in both resistance states is Space-charge-limited Conduction, but the high conductivity state also shows Schottky emission, explaining its temperature dependence. Moreover, the temporal evolution of these transitions reveals clear differences between them, as their current transient response is completely different. While the set is sudden, the reset process development is clearly non-linear, closely resembling a sigmoid function. This asymmetry between switching processes is of extreme importance in the manipulation and control of the multi-level characteristics and has clear implications in the possible applications of resistive switching devices in neuromorphic computing. Full article

Anodic titania nanotubes (TiO₂-NT) are very promising for use in photocatalysis and photovoltaics due to their developed surface, symmetrical structure and conductive properties, which, moreover, makes them a convenient matrix for creating various nanocomposites. Herein we propose a new facile way of synthesizing symmetrical TiO₂-NT followed by a modification with barium titanate (BaTiO₃) nanoparticles, combining the advantages of electrochemical oxidation and hydrothermal synthesis. The electrophysical and optoelectronic properties of the formed nanocomposites have been studied. An asymmetry of the current–voltage characteristics was revealed. It is shown that during the barium titanate deposition, a symmetry-breaking nanoheterojunction TiO₂/BaTiO₃ is formed. Using EPR spectroscopy, paramagnetic defects (titanium, barium and oxygen vacancies) in the samples were determined. It was observed for the first time that upon illumination of titania nanotubes modified with BaTiO₃, the asymmetrical separation of photoexcited charge carriers (electrons and holes) between TiO₂-NT and BaTiO₃ occurs, followed by the capture of electrons and holes by defects. As a result, the photoinduced charge accumulates on the defects. Full article

This article presents an analysis of the causes behind the development of asymmetric modes in a traction drive system that features direct torque control (DTC) of a rolling stock with asynchronous traction motors. The development of asymmetric modes in the traction drive system was found to be caused by the asymmetry of the supply voltage system, the asymmetry of the traction motor windings, and transient processes triggered by a change in the inverter supply voltage and variation in the traction motor load. At the same time, the asymmetric modes caused by the asymmetry of the feed voltage system and the windings of the traction motor are the emergency modes. The influence of the asymmetry of the feed voltage system and asymmetry of the windings of traction motor on the starting characteristics of the phase currents and flux linkages of the stator in the steady-state mode was investigated. In these cases, the ratio of the amplitudes of phase currents and flux linkages of the stator of different phases was found to be constant. The effect of a variation in the feed voltage and load acting on the motor shaft on the starting characteristics of phase currents and flux linkages of the stator was investigated in the case of absence of the emergency modes. In these cases, the ratio of the amplitudes of phase currents and flux linkages of the stator of different phases was found to not be constant. The amplitudes of the phase current and stator flux linkage were proposed as criteria for diagnosis and identification of asymmetric emergency modes. An algorithm and a structural scheme have been proposed for the diagnosis of emergency asymmetric modes in the traction drive system with direct torque control. Modifications to the traction drive system with direct torque control are suggested in order to diagnose the presence of faulty asymmetric modes and identify the damaged traction drive element. Full article

Cadmium (Cd)-free photodiodes based on n-type Zinc Selenide/p-type Zinc Telluride (n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe) heterojunctions were prepared by Radio Frequency-Magnetron Sputtering (RF-MS) technique, and their detailed optical and electrical characterization was performed. Onto an optical glass substrate, 100 nm gold (Au) thin film was deposited by Thermal Vacuum Evaporation (TVE) representing the back-contact, followed by the successive RF-MS deposition of ZnTe, ZnSe, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films, finally resulting in the Au/ZnTe/ZnSe/ZnO/ITO sub-micrometric “substrate”-type configuration. Next, the optical characterization by Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-VIS) spectroscopy was performed on the component thin films, and their optical band gap values were determined. The electrical measurements in the dark and under illumination at different light intensities were subsequently performed. The Current–Voltage (I–V) characteristics in the dark are nonlinear with a relatively high asymmetry, following the modified Shockley–Read equation. From their analysis, the series resistance, shunt resistance, the ideality factor and saturation current were determined with high accuracy. It is worth noting that the action spectrum of the structure is shifted to short wavelengths. A sensibility test for the 420–500 nm range was performed while changing the intensity of the incident light from 100 mW/cm${}^2$ down to 10 mW/cm${}^2$ and measuring the photocurrent. The obtained results provided sufficient information to consider the present sub-micrometric photodiodes based on n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe heterojunctions to be more suitable for the UV domain, demonstrating their potential for integration within UV photodetectors relying on environmentally-friendly materials. Full article

 The cascaded droop-voltage-current controller plays a key role in the effective operation of microgrids, where the controller performance is critically impacted by the desigheme, a constant value n of the droop controller. Moreover, in critical loading (e.g.: connection/disconnection of large inductive load), the pre-set value of the droop coefficient brings asymmetry in transient performance leading to instability. Hence, to improve symmetry by reducing the trade-off between transient response and stability margin, this paper proposes a state machine-based droop control method (SMDCM) aided with droop coefficients’ tuning through in-feasible range detection. Here, to realize the issues and the role of the droop controller’s dynamics on the microgrid’s stability, a small-signal stability analysis is conducted, thereby, an in-feasible range of droop values is identified. Accordingly, safe values for droop coefficients are implemented using the state machine concept. This proposed SMDCM is compared with the conventional constant droop control method (CDCM) and fuzzy logic-based droop control method (FLDCM) in terms of frequency/power/voltage characteristics subjected to different power factor (PF) loading conditions. From the results, it is seen that CDCM failed in many metrics under moderate and poor PF loadings. FLDCM is satisfactory under moderate PF loading, but, showed 54 Hz/48 Hz as maximum/minimum frequency values during poor PF loading. These violate the standard limit of ±2%, but SMDCM satisfactorily showed 50.02 Hz and 49.8 Hz, respectively. Besides, FLDCM levied an extra burden of 860 W on the system while it is 550 W with SMDCM. System recovery has taken 0.04 s with SMDCM, which completely failed with FLDCM. Similarly, voltage THD with FLDCM is 58.9% while with SMDCM is 3.08%. Peak voltage due to capacitive load switching is 340V with FLDCM and 150 V with SMDCM. These findings confirm that the proposed SMDCM considerably improved the transient performance of microgrids.  Full article

The continuous operation of 1000 MW large hydro generators in China is of great value to the implementation of “double carbon strategy” and power grid safety. However, with the continuous increase of single unit capacity of the hydro generator, the problems of unit fault grounding current and neutral point voltage drift become more and more prominent, and the traditional analysis methods cannot accurately obtain the fault dynamic data. Therefore, starting from the neutral point grounding mode of the large hydro generator, taking a 1000 MW hydro generator as the research object, this paper establishes the single-phase grounding fault model under the condition of three-phase parameter asymmetry of stator winding and analyzes the dynamic characteristics of fault current, transient overvoltage, and neutral point voltage drift under different grounding modes by using transient analysis method; the influence of frequency offset on neutral voltage drift and the dynamic characteristics of single-phase grounding fault of the large hydro generator under different grounding modes are also obtained. Finally, according to the analysis results, the selection and optimization method of neutral grounding parameters are proposed, which provides a reference for the selection of neutral grounding mode and the research of protection strategy of the large hydro generator. Full article

An appropriate modulation scheme selection ensures inverter performance. Thus, space vector modulation (SVM) is more efficient and has its own distinct advantages compared to other pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques. This work deals with the development of an advanced space vector pulse width modulation (SVM) technique for two-phase inverter control using an XSG library to ensure rapid prototyping of the controller FPGA implementation. The proposed architecture is applied digitally and in real time to drive a two-phase induction motor (TPIM) for small-scale wind turbine emulation (WTE) profiles in laboratories with minimum current ripple and torque oscillation. Four space voltage vectors generated for the used SVM technique do not contain a zero vector. Hence, for an adequate adjustment of these four vectors, a reference voltage vector located in the square locus is determined. Considering the asymmetry between the main and auxiliary windings, the TPIM behavior, which is fed through the advanced SVM controlled-two-phase inverter (2ϕ-inverter), is studied, allowing us to control the speed and the torque under different conditions for wind turbine emulation. Several quantities, such as electromagnetic torque, rotor fluxes, stator currents and speed, are analyzed. To validate the obtained results using both Simulink and XSG interfaces, the static and dynamic characteristics of the WTE are satisfactorily reproduced. The collected speed and torque errors between the reference and actual waveforms show low rates, proving emulator controller effectiveness. Full article

A novel bilayer cation-exchange membrane—consisting of a thick layer of a pristine perfluorinated membrane MF-4SC (Russian equivalent of Nafion^®-117) and a thinner layer (1 μm) of the membrane, on a base of glassy polymer of internal microporosity poly(1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne) (PTMSP)—was prepared and characterized. Using the physicochemical characteristics of one-layer membranes MF-4SC and PTMSP in 0.05 M HCl and NaCl solutions, the asymmetric current–voltage curves (CVC) of the bilayer composite were described with good accuracy up to the overlimiting regime, based on the “fine-porous membrane” model. The MF-4SC/PTMSP bilayer composite has a significant asymmetry of CVC that is promising for using it in electromembrane devices, such as membrane detectors, sensors, and diodes. Full article

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy in ultrahigh vacuum conditions and conductive atomic-force microscopy in ambient conditions were used to study local electroresistive properties of ferroelectric tunnel junctions SrTiO₃/La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃/BaTiO₃. Interestingly, experimental current-voltage characteristics appear to strongly depend on the measurement technique applied. It was found that screening conditions of the polarization charges at the interface with a top electrode differ for two scanning probe techniques. As a result, asymmetry of the tunnel barrier height for the opposite ferroelectric polarization orientations may be influenced by the method applied to study the local tunnel electroresistance. Our observations are well described by the theory of electroresistance in ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Based on this, we reveal the main factors that influence the polarization-driven local resistive properties of the device under study. Additionally, we propose an approach to enhance asymmetry of ferroelectric tunnel junctions during measurement. While keeping the high locality of scanning probe techniques, it helps to increase the difference in the value of tunnel electroresistance for the opposite polarization orientations. Full article

Since memristor was found, it has shown great application potential in neuromorphic computing. Currently, most neural networks based on memristors deploy the special analog characteristics of memristor. However, owing to the limitation of manufacturing process, non-ideal characteristics such as non-linearity, asymmetry, and inconsistent device periodicity appear frequently and definitely, therefore, it is a challenge to employ memristor in a massive way. On the contrary, a binary neural network (BNN) requires its weights to be either +1 or −1, which can be mapped by digital memristors with high technical maturity. Upon this, a highly robust BNN inference accelerator with binary sigmoid activation function is proposed. In the accelerator, the inputs of each network layer are either +1 or 0, which can facilitate feature encoding and reduce the peripheral circuit complexity of memristor hardware. The proposed two-column reference memristor structure together with current controlled voltage source (CCVS) circuit not only solves the problem of mapping positive and negative weights on memristor array, but also eliminates the sneak current effect under the minimum conductance status. Being compared to the traditional differential pair structure of BNN, the proposed two-column reference scheme can reduce both the number of memristors and the latency to refresh the memristor array by nearly 50%. The influence of non-ideal factors of memristor array such as memristor array yield, memristor conductance fluctuation, and reading noise on the accuracy of BNN is investigated in detail based on a newly memristor circuit model with non-ideal characteristics. The experimental results demonstrate that when the array yield $\alpha$ ≥ 5%, or the reading noise $\sigma$ ≤ 0.25, a recognition accuracy greater than 97% on the MNIST data set is achieved. Full article

Geometric diodes are planar conductors patterned asymmetrically to provide electrical asymmetry, and they have exhibited high-frequency rectification in infrared rectennas. These devices function by ballistic or quasi-ballistic transport in which the transport characteristics are sensitive to the device geometry. Common methods for predicting device performance rely on the assumption of totally ballistic transport and neglect the effects of electron momentum relaxation. We present a particle-in-cell Monte Carlo simulation method that allows the prediction of the current–voltage characteristics of geometric diodes operating quasi-ballistically, with the mean-free-path length shorter than the critical device dimensions. With this simulation method, we analyze a new diode geometry made from graphene that shows an improvement in rectification capability over previous geometries. We find that the current rectification capability of a given geometry is optimized for a specific mean-free-path length, such that arbitrarily large mean-free-path lengths are not desirable. These results present a new avenue for understanding geometric effects in the quasi-ballistic regime and show that the relationship between device dimensions and the carrier mean-free-path length can be adjusted to optimize device performance. Full article

In the case of three-phase arc furnaces, two types of asymmetry can be distinguished: constructional and operational. The structural asymmetry is related to the construction of high-current circuits supplying the arc furnace. The knowledge of the parameters of the high-current circuit allows to determine the operating characteristics of the arc device. The author proposed a method for calculating the real values of the resistance and reactance of the high-current circuit. For this purpose, tests were made to short-circuit the electrodes with the charge. During the short-circuit, with the use of a power quality analyzer, measurements of electrical indicators were carried out, which allow to determine the parameters of the high-current circuit. A new method for determining voltage operational unbalance is also presented in this paper. The theoretical considerations presented in the article were verified in industrial conditions. Full article

For THz rectennas, ultra-fast diodes are required. While the metal–insulator–metal (MIM) diode has been investigated in recent years, it suffers from large resistance and capacitance, as well as a low cut-off frequency. Alternatively, a geometric diode can be used, which is more suitable due to its planar structure. However, there is only one report of a THz geometric diode based on a monolayer graphene. It is based on exfoliated graphene, and thus, it is not suitable for mass production. In this work, we demonstrate chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown monolayer graphene based geometric diodes, which are mass-producible. The diode’s performance has been studied experimentally by varying the neck widths from 250–50 nm, the latter being the smallest reported neck width for a graphene geometric diode. It was observed that by decreasing the neck widths, the diode parameters such as asymmetry, nonlinearity, zero-bias resistance, and responsivity increased within the range studied. For the 50 nm neck width diode, the asymmetry ratio was 1.40 for an applied voltage ranging from −2 V to 2 V, and the zero-bias responsivity was 0.0628 A/W. The performance of the diode was also verified through particle-in-cell Monte Carlo simulations, which showed that the simulated current-voltage characteristics were consistent with our experimental results. Full article