This paper numerically investigates the effects of airfoil leading edge radius on the aerodynamic characteristics of H-rotor Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). 10 modified airfoils are generated by changing the leading edge radius of the base NACA 0015 airfoil from 1%c to 9%c, respectively. A 2D unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is established and validated with the previously published experimental data. The power, torque, and flow field characteristics of the rotors are analyzed. The results indicate that the maximum and minimum power coefficient at the optimum tip speed ratio (TSR) are obtained for the LE-5%c and LE-1%c model, respectively. The best aerodynamic characteristics are determined by the LE-5%c model below the optimum TSR and the LE-3%c model beyond the optimum TSR. The torque characteristics and pressure distribution for the single blades with different airfoil leading edge radius show an obvious difference in the upwind region and a very small difference in the downwind region. Moreover, the airfoil leading edge radius influences the strength, region, and diffusion rate of the vortices, being the main reason for the observed differences in instantaneous torque coefficient and power coefficient. The vortices of the LE-1%c model are stronger, larger, and diffuse slower than those of the LE-2%c and LE-5%c model at the optimum TSR.

This paper presents a high quality-factor (Q) and spectrum-clean AlN Lamb-wave resonator (LWR). The width of its lateral reflection boundary was optimized to weaken the transverse modes’ coupling and wave guiding, and then to improve the LWR’s Q value and spectral purity, which was verified by finite element analysis and experimental characterization. In addition, the series resonance quality factor (Q_s) value of the interdigitated (IDT)-Ground LWR is similar to that of the IDT-Floating LWR, but its parallel resonance quality factor (Q_p) is nearly doubled, due to the reduction of the electrical loss induced by its static capacitance (C₀). The measured results show that the designed LWR with optimized boundary reflection conditions and IDT-Ground structure exhibit Q_s and Q_p values as high as 4019.8 and 839.5 at 401.2 MHz and 402.9 MHz, respectively, meanwhile, it has good spectral purity. Moreover, the influence of the metal ratio and material of the LWR’s IDT electrodes on the device’s performance was also studied by theoretical analysis and experimental verification.

This paper presents a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) processing technology for Aluminum Nitride (AlN) Lamb-wave resonators (LWRs). Two LWRs with different frequencies of 402.1 MHz and 2.097 GHz by varying the top interdigitated (IDT) periods were designed and fabricated. To avoid the shortcomings of the uncontrollable etching of inactive areas during the releasing process and to improve the fabrication yield, a thermal oxide layer was employed below the platted polysilicon sacrificial layer, which could define the miniaturized release cavities well. In addition, the bottom Mo electrode that was manufactured had a gentle inclination angle, which could contribute to the growth of the high-quality AlN piezoelectric layer above the Mo layer and effectively prevent the device from breaking. The measured results show that the IDT-floating resonators with 12 μm and 2 μm electrode periods exhibit a motional quality factor (Q_m) as high as 4382 and 1633. The series resonant frequency (f_s)·Q_m values can reach as high as 1.76 × 10¹² and 3.42 × 10¹², respectively. Furthermore, Al is more suitable as the top IDT material of the AlN LWRs than Au, and can contribute to achieving an excellent electrical performances due to the smaller density, smaller thermo-elastic damping (TED), and larger acoustic impedance difference between Al and AlN.

A novel wafer-level three-dimensional (3D) encapsulation structure was designed for radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) infrared detectors and investigated by using the finite element method (FEM) simulation. A subwavelength structure with a circular array of coaxial apertures was designed to obtain an extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) on top of a silicon substrate. For perpendicular incident light, a maximum transmission of 56% can be achieved in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) region and the transmission bandwidth covered almost the full LWIR region. Moreover, the maximum transmission could be further promoted with an increase in the incident angle. The vertical silicon vias, insulated by inserted Pyrex glass, were used to generate electrical contacts. With the optimized structure parameters, a feed-through level lower than −82 dB, and a transmission coefficient of one single via of more than −0.032 dB were obtained at a frequency from 0 to 2 GHz, which contributed to the low-loss transmission of the RF signals. Due to the matched thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) between silicon and Pyrex glass, the proposed via structure has excellent thermal reliability. Moreover, its thermal stress is much less than that of a conventional through-silicon via (TSV) structure. These calculated results demonstrate that the proposed 3D encapsulation structure shows enormous potential in RF MEMS infrared detector applications.

An aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric resonant infrared (IR) detector based on a Lame-wave resonator (LWR) and plasmon apertures was designed for dual-band sensing, and was investigated by using the finite element method (FEM) and finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. A plasmon structure with the apertures was designed on the surface of the detector in order to maintain electrical performance and to obtain ultrahigh dual-band IR absorption. The electrical performance of the LWR with the plasmon apertures was comparable to that of the LWR with floating electrodes, which was found to be superior to that of the LWRs with plasmon particles or open electrodes. Both of the rectangle aperture and cross-shaped aperture absorbers can achieve ultrahigh dual-band absorptions of up to 97%, and the cross-shaped aperture absorber is insensitive to the polarization angle. Moreover, a detailed optimization analysis for the thermal properties of the detector was conducted to obtain favorable responsivity and response speed. The calculated results demonstrate that the proposed resonant detector has great potential applications in IR detection.