Design and Implementation of C-Band Large-Power Planar Butler Matrix in SRS.

In satellite remote sensing (SRS), there is a demand for large-power microwave components. A Butler matrix is essential to a transmitting antenna array in SRS. This article illustrates the electrical and mechanical design, simulation, and test results of a large-power planar beamforming network for SRS at C-band. It is a 4 × 4 Butler matrix based on square coaxial lines. Short-ended stubs are used in the Butler matrix to broaden its bandwidth by 10%, support inner conductors, and enhance heat transfer in vacuum environments. The simulation results are consistent with the measured results. The reflection coefficient is less than -18 dB, and the isolation is more than 23 dB from 3.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz. The insertion losses are less than 0.6 dB, and the phase errors are better than ±6°. The measured peak microwave power of the proposed Butler matrix is 9 kW. Its size is 440 × 400 × 40 mm3. The proposed Butler matrix beamforming network can be applied to SRS systems.

Modelling energy deposition in polymethyl methacrylate with low-energy electron irradiation.

Energy deposition in dielectric materials by electron irradiation is important in evaluating irradiation effects in various applications. Herein, we developed a novel Monte Carlo model to calculate the actual distribution of energy deposition in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by simulating low-energy electron transport, including secondary electron cascades. We compared the energy deposition calculated using this model with the distribution of energy loss based on the continuous slowing down approximation (CSDA). The difference in depth distribution between energy deposition and energy loss near the surface is attributed to the secondary electron emission. The characteristics of energy deposition distributions at various incident angles and primary energy were analysed. Energy depositions based on different energy loss mechanisms were classified. Approximately half of the total energy deposition was formed in paths of the secondary cascade at keV-electron irradiation. The temporal properties of energy deposition show that the fast process of energy deposition occurs first near the surface of the dielectric material, then deep inside and 1-keV electrons deposit their energy in 10-14 s.

Experimental research on influence of gas adsorption on secondary electron emission of copper surface.

Secondary electron (SE) emission is a superficial physical phenomenon. The range of SEs excited in materials which are finally emitted from the surface is generally within a few tens of nanometers. SE emission from materials by electron irradiation has great dependence on surface quality, such as gas adsorption, oxidation, contamination, and morphology. In this paper, the influence of surface adsorption of N2, O2, Ar and air on SE yield (SEY) and the SE spectrum (SES) of copper was investigated by experiment. The measured SEY and SES were compared before and after the copper surface was sputtered by Ar ions. The results show that gas adsorption could increase SEY, and air adsorption lead to the maximum increase, Ar adsorption the minimum. Meanwhile, the relationship between the SES and the SEY was deduced and validated by the experiment. It was also found in the experiment that the Ar ion sputtering or heating alone can effectively reduce the SEY, while heating the sample after Ar ion sputtering increases SEY. The reasons for the variation of the SEYs with gas adsorption, sputtering and heating are preliminarily explained with the help of in-situ XPS. Accordingly, the research helps to further reveal the mechanism of SEE influenced by complex superficial factors.

Electron beam irradiation on novel coronavirus (COVID-19): A Monte-Carlo simulation.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia triggered by COVID-19 is now raging the whole world. As a rapid and reliable killing COVID-19 method in industry, electron beam irradiation can interact with virus molecules and destroy their activity. With the unexpected appearance and quickly spreading of the virus, it is urgently necessary to figure out the mechanism of electron beam irradiation on COVID-19. In this study, we establish a virus structure and molecule model based on the detected gene sequence of Wuhan patient, and calculate irradiated electron interaction with virus atoms via a Monte Carlo simulation that track each elastic and inelastic collision of all electrons. The characteristics of irradiation damage on COVID-19, atoms' ionizations and electron energy losses are calculated and analyzed with regions. We simulate the different situations of incident electron energy for evaluating the influence of incident energy on virus damage. It is found that under the major protecting of an envelope protein layer, the inner RNA suffers the minimal damage. The damage for a ∼100-nm-diameter virus molecule is not always enhanced by irradiation energy monotonicity, for COVID-19, the irradiation electron energy of the strongest energy loss damage is 2 keV.

Effect of Sputtering Temperature on Fluorocarbon Films: Surface Nanostructure and Fluorine/Carbon Ratio.

In this work, fluorocarbon film was deposited on silicon (P/100) substrate using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as target material at elevated sputtering temperature. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to investigate the surface morphology as well as structural and chemical compositions of the deposited film. The surface energy, as well as the polar and dispersion components, were determined by water contact angle (WCA) measurement. The experimental results indicated that increasing sputtering temperature effectively led to higher deposition rate, surface roughness and WCA of the film. It was found that the elevated temperature contributed to increasing saturated components (e.g., C-F2 and C-F3) and decreasing unsaturated components (e.g., C-C and C-CF), thus enhancing the fluorine-to-carbon (F/C) ratio. The results are expected aid in tailoring the design of fluorocarbon films for physicochemical properties.

Voltage Control of Magnetic Anisotropy through Ionic Gel Gating for Flexible Spintronics.

In spite of recent rapid development of flexible electronics, voltage-tunable spintronic structures and devices on flexible substrates have been rarely studied. Here, voltage control of magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) is demonstrated via ionic gel (IG) gating on flexible polyimide substrates with a circuit operating voltage of 1.8 V. A reversible, nonvolatile VCMA switching of 114 Oe is achieved in Pt/Fe/Pt multilayer, where the spatial magnetic anisotropy distribution is determined quantitatively by electron spin resonance technique. This IG gating process is repeatable as the substrates are under different bending conditions. The voltage modulation of magnetic anisotropy through IG gating with excellent flexibility proposes potential applications in low-power wearable spintronic devices.

Fabrication of Porous Ag/TiO2/Au Coatings with Excellent Multipactor Suppression.

Porous Ag/TiO2/Au coatings with excellent multipactor suppression were prepared by fabrication of porous Ag surface through two-step wet chemical etching, synthesis of TiO2 coatings by electroless-plating-like solution deposition and deposition of Au coatings via electroless plating. Porous structure of Ag surface, TiO2 coatings on porous Ag surface and Au coatings on porous Ag/TiO2 surface were verified by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, the composition and crystal type of TiO2 coatings was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Secondary electron yield (SEY) measurement was used to monitor the SEY coefficient of the porous Ag coatings and Ag/TiO2/Au coatings. The as-obtained porous Ag coatings were proved exhibiting low SEY below 1.2, and the process was highly reproducible. In addition, the porous Ag/TiO2/Au coatings showed excellent multipactor suppression with the SEY 1.23 and good environmental stability. It is worth mentioning that the whole preparation process is simple and feasible, which would provide a promising application in RF devices.

Influence of surface topography on the secondary electron yield of clean copper samples.

Secondary electron yield (SEY) due to electron impact depends strongly on surface topography. The SEY of copper samples after Ar-ion bombardment is measured in situ in a multifunctional ultrahigh vacuum system. Increasing the ion energy or duration of ion bombardment can even enlarge the SEY, though it is relatively low under moderate bombardment intensity. The results obtained with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy images demonstrate that many valley structures of original sample surfaces can be smoothed due to ion bombardment, but more hill structures are generated with stronger bombardment intensity. With increasing the surface roughness in the observed range, the maximum SEY decreases from 1.2 to 1.07 at a surface characterized by valleys, while it again increases to 1.33 at a surface spread with hills. This phenomenon indicates that hill and valley structures are respectively effective in increasing and decreasing the SEY. These obtained results thus provide a comprehensive insight into the surface topography influence on the secondary electron emission characteristics in scanning electron microscopy.

Heating-induced variations of secondary electron emission from ion-cleaned copper samples.

Secondary electron (SE) emission due to electron impact depends strongly on surface conditions. The variations of SE yield and spectrum with the heating temperature of Ar-ion-cleaned oxygen-free copper samples are therefore measured in situ in a multifunctional ultrahigh vacuum system. The SE yield and the SE spectrum are observed to increase and to narrow, respectively, after sample heating. The maximum SE yield increases from 0.97 before heating to 1.25 after heating at ∼313 °C, and the corresponding full width at half maximum of SE spectrum decreases considerably from 9.3 to 5.5 eV. More CO2 and Ar ions are shown to desorb at a higher heating temperature by residual gas analysis, indicating their contribution to the reduction in work function and surface potential barrier. Ar-ion desorption appears to affect the SE spectrum more than the SE yield. The obtained results provide a new insight into complicated surface influences on SE emission in thermal applications of scanning electron microscopy.

Note: measuring effects of Ar-ion cleaning on the secondary electron yield of copper due to electron impact.

In a measurement system of total secondary electron yield (SEY) with in situ ion cleaning, we investigate SEY characteristics of the Cu samples cleaned at different Ar-ion energies and cleaning time. Measured SEY data are compared with those before cleaning and simulated with the Monte Carlo method for an ideal surface of copper. We find that weakening the cleaning intensity, i.e., the ion energy or cleaning time, in some circumstances, can further reduce both the maximum SEY and the SEY at the high-energy end (>0.3 keV) of primary electrons, though the SEY is increased somewhat at the low-energy end. Accompanied by the analysis on the opposing contributions of contamination elimination and surface morphology to the SEY, this study thus provides a comprehensive insight into the effects of ion cleaning on the SEY in the investigation and suppression of secondary electron emission.

Rainbow-like radiation from an omni-directional source placed in a uniaxial metamaterial slab.

In this paper, the radiation of an omni-directional line source placed in a uniaxial metamaterial slab is experimentally presented. The anisotropic slab made of metallic symmetrical rings with dispersive permeability is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. For low value of the permeability, a directive radiation at the broadside of the slab can be obtained. Due to the excitation of the leaky wave mode supported by this structure, the emitted electromagnetic wave transmits at a greater angle from the normal of the slab as the value of permeability increases along with the frequency. Thus a rainbow-like radiation will be formed since waves of different frequencies will deflect into different directions.