Tungsten (W) films have many applications in the semiconducting industry for sensor technology. Deposition conditions can significantly impact the resulting W films in terms of the phases present (α-BCC or β-A12), microstructural grain orientation (texture), and residual strain. Tilt-A-Whirl methodology has been employed for the evaluation of a W film showing both texture and residual strain. Sin2(ψ) analysis of the film was performed to quantify the strongly tensile in-plane strain (+0.476%) with an estimated in-plane tensile stress of ~1.9 GPa. The 3D dataset was also evaluated qualitatively via 3D visualization. Visualization of 3D texture/strain data poses challenges due to peak broadening resulting from defocusing of the beam at high ψ tilt angles. To address this issue, principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to diagnose, model, and remove the broadening component from the diffraction data. Evaluation of the raw data and subsequent corrected data (after removal of defocusing effects) has been performed through projection of the data into a virtual 3D environment (via CAD2VR software) to qualitatively detect the impact of residual strain on the observed pole figure.

This paper presents a new type of forceps that consist of two microgrippers with the capability of direct force sensing, which enables grasping and manipulating forces at the tip of surgical instrument for minimally invasive robotic surgery. For the prototype design of the forceps, a double E-type vertical elastomer with four strain beams is presented, whose force-sensing principle is expounded. Thus, the forceps with the elastomer can be considered a compliant component, which provides tiny displacements that allow large strain, and the overall diameter is 10 mm. The sizes of the elastomer and forceps are successively determined by analyzing the relationship of several parameters and strain. Then, the linearity analysis of strain beams determines the positions to apply gauges for sensing. The two-dimensional force decoupling models for a single microgripper are proposed based on piecewise analytical polynomials of the strain difference and employed to develop a new three-dimensional force nonlinear decoupling algorithm based on double microgrippers, which realizes single-axial grasping and three-axial pulling forces. Finally, the required force-sensing performance of the proposed method is successfully verified in theory using finite-element simulations.

This article deals with uncertainty in the analysis of strain in silicon nanoscale structures and devices using nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED). Specimen and instrument related errors and instabilities and their effects on NBED analysis are addressed using a nanopatterned ultrathin strained silicon layer directly on oxide as a model system. We demonstrate that zero-loss filtering significantly improves the NBED precision by decreasing the diffuse background in the diffraction patterns. To minimize the systematic deviations the acquired data were verified through a reliability test and then calibrated. Furthermore, the effect of strain relaxation by specimen preparation using a FIB is estimated by comparing profiles, which were acquired by analyzing slices of strained structures in a 220-nm-thick region of the sample (invasive preparation) and the entire strained nanostructures, which are embedded in a thicker region of the same sample (noninvasive preparation). Together with the random deviation, the corresponding systematic shift results in a total deviation of ∼1 × 10−3 for NBED analyses, which is employed to estimate the measurement uncertainty in the thinner sample region. In contrast, the strain in the thick sample region is not affected by the preparation; the systematic shift reduces to a minimum, which improves the total deviation by ∼50%.

Structural data and a regional tectonic interpretation are given for the NE–SW-trending Hatay Graben, southern Turkey, within the collision zone of the African (Arabian) and Eurasian (Anatolian) plates. Regional GPS and seismicity data are used to shed light on the recent tectonic development of the Hatay Graben. Faults within Upper Cretaceous to Quaternary sediments are categorized as of first-, second- and third-order type, depending on their scale, location and character. Normal, oblique and strike-slip faults predominate throughout the area.The flanks of the graben are dominated by normal faults, mainly striking parallel to the graben, that is, 045–225°. In contrast, the graben axis exhibits strike-slip faults, trending 100–200°, together with normal faults striking 040–060° and 150–190° (a subset strikes 110–130°). Similarly orientated normal faults occur throughout Upper Cretaceous to Pliocene sediments, whereas strike-slip faults are mostly within Pliocene sediments near the graben axis. Stress inversion of slickenline data from mostly Pliocene sediments at ten suitable locations (all near the graben axis) show that σ3 directions (minimum stress axis ≈ extension direction) are uniform in the northeast of the graben but orientated at a high angle to the graben margins. More variable σ3 directions in the southwest may reflect local block rotations. During Miocene times, the Arabian and Anatolian plates collided, forming a foreland basin associated with flexurally controlled normal faulting. During the Late Miocene there was a transition from extension to transtension (oblique extension). The neotectonic Hatay Graben formed during the Plio-Quaternary in a transtensional setting. In the light of modern and ancient comparisons, it is suggested that contemporaneous strain was compartmentalized into large-scale normal faults on the graben margins and mainly small-scale strike-slip faults near the graben axis. Overall, the graben reflects Plio-Quaternary westward tectonic escape from a collision zone towards the east to a pre- or syn-collisional zone to the west in the Mediterranean Sea.