A Planar CMOS Field-Emission Vacuum Magnetic Sensor
We have fabricated a CMOS vacuum magnetic sensor that exploits the deflection of an electron beam produced by field emission by a perpendicular magnetic field. The device is planar and fabricated by conventional lithography and etching processes. An extremely high magnetic field sensitivity of 4times103%/T is reported.
A novel MEMS field emission accelerometer based on silicon nanotips array
A novel MEMS field emission accelerometer based on silicon nanotips array with about 10000 silicon tips in total is proposed. It consists of a proof mass, four L-shaped springs, silicon nanotips array, anode and feedback electrodes. The sensor is fabricated on one N-type (1 0 0) single crystal silicon wafer and one #7740 glass wafer using bulk silicon micromachining technology. The silicon tip arrays are form by wet etching with HNA (HNO3, HF and CH3COOH) with I2 as additive. After oxidation sharpening, the curvature radius of the tips is smaller than 50nm, and the tip arrays are metalized by sputtering TiW/Au film. ICP process is utilized to release the sensor chip. In order to improve the linearity of the sensor, a feedback control circuit is used to rebalance the proof mass. The accelerometer is tested on a dividing head and test results show that the sensitivity is about 420mV/g and nonlinearity is about 0.7% over a range of -1g~1g.
The Intuitive Physics of the Equilibrium of the Lever and of the Hydraulic Pressures: Implications for the Teaching of Elementary Physics.
The research field of intuitive physics focuses on discrepancies between 
theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge. Consideration of these 
discrepancies can help in the teaching of elementary physics. However, 
evidence shows that theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge may also 
be congruent. Physics teaching could further benefit from understanding the 
reasons for this congruence. The present study explored these reasons by 
investigating the intuitive physics of the equilibrium of the lever and of the 
hydraulic pressures. It was found that the intuitive-physics law of the lever 
was multiplicative for all participants while the intuitive-physics law of the 
hydraulic pressures differed among participants. Since these laws are 
equally simple and the layman probably has had extensive experience with 
the lever and scarce or no experience with the hydraulic lift, these findings 
support the general hypothesis that physical laws and corresponding 
intuitive-physics laws are congruent when people have had experience with 
the respective phenomena. The results and theoretical considerations suggest 
two strategic principles for teaching elementary physics.