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The aim of this article is to provide a systematic method for performing experimental tests and theoretical evaluations on interfacial adhesion properties of the W/Al bilayer thin films interface. Samples W/Al bilayer thin films assembly is deposited on the quartz glass by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Based on the analysis of the experimental indentation data, the elastic modulus and hardness of the sample are investigated. The test results show that both of the values are easily influenced by the indentation depth. At the meantime, a finite element model is built to simulate the interface mechanical properties. The analysis shows that stress is mainly centralized close to the indenter and the maximum stress occurs in the lower layer Al film, not in the upper W film. The comparison between the experiment and the simulation shows the validity of the test and the modeling of each other to a certain extent. The investigation builds a basis for future work such as the fabrication of W/Al bilayer thin films for micro/nano manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The National Policy for Solid Waste (NPSW), passed in 2010, established a system of shared responsibility for waste management in Brazil, including Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This law requires the collection and disposal of technological waste through the implementation of Reverse Logistics Systems (RLS). In this study we discuss the main challenges and prospects in implementing WEEE reverse logistics in Brazil. The research was conducted through document analysis and interviews with different players, who are participants in the process of establishing a sector agreement. The findings suggest that the shared responsibility model proposed by the NPSW is not comprehensive enough to deal with the complexity of the Brazilian WEEE reverse chain. Based on this research we were able to propose a broader model covering the interrelationships among all the agents that interfere directly, indirectly, locally and abroad with the implementation of reverse logistics chain practices for electrical and electronic consumer goods in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses deep sea mining for rare earth elements (REEs), which are essential components of modern electronics. Topics include a type of sedimentary rock formation composed of manganese, called polymetallic nodules, discovered by scientists aboard the HMS Challenger research vessel 140 years ago, RRE researchers Tracey Shimmield of the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban and Jon Copley of the Southampton Oceanography Center in England, and land-based RRE mines in China.

El artículo discurre sobre la compañía Powerven, una distribuidora de equipos electrónicos en Venezuela durante los años noventa. Los autores comentan sobre la crisis financiera en la región durante este periodo, resultando en el cambio de gerencia de Powerven a cooperativas para ahorrar gastos.

Circular economy is a sustainable economic development model. It replaces the traditional economic development model that relies heavily on resource consumption and waste generation. Circular economy is particularly important to the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry as e-waste contains toxic substances and precious metals. While previous review studies focused on specific aspects of the WEEE industry (e.g., "4R" circular economy strategies), these studies offer little details on how circular economy practices affect the development of the environment and economy in the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. This study examines "10R" circular economy strategies to advance knowledge of the existing literature that focuses on "4R" circular economy strategies. To improve the methodology used in the previous review studies that apply subjective methods (e.g., content analysis), this paper conducts a systematic literature review on 208 studies and uses citation network analysis to examine specific circular economy practices in the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. The citation network analysis identified five major research domains (i.e., "e-waste management systems and practices", "e-waste legislation and its components", "extended producer responsibility schemes", "recycling critical materials from e-waste", "circular economy strategies for the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry"). Based on these results, this study conducts a main path analysis to reveal ten major topics (i.e., e-waste recycling system; exploring untapped e-waste; compliance assurance of stakeholders; e-waste reverse logistics; reward and punishment mechanisms in extended producer responsibility system; verifying the rationality of product classification; recycling critical materials from urban mines; setting a specific target for preparation for reuse; "10R" strategies applied in the smart factory; consumer attitude toward remanufactured/refurbished/repurposed strategies and the resultant products) in the identified research domain. Finally, this paper proposes future research directions and provides managerial and policy implications for researchers and practitioners. • "10R" strategies for the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. • Effect of circular economy practices on environmental and economic performance. • Related publications evolution characteristics in 2003–2020. • Five key research domains of circular economy practices and their major topics. • Research directions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 has already become part of the world's largest manufacturers and is beginning to influencing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the supply chain. High-tech industries, such as pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, aircraft manufacturing, etc., will be the first to face technological transformation. To this end, it becomes relevant to assess the sustainability of the technological development of SMEs as a factor of their successful digital transformation. This paper fills a gap in the study of such development as it pertains to Russian high-tech SMEs. Based on a critical literature review, we propose a new approach to assessing the sustainable technological development of these industries. The approach is distinguished by the use of a set of five indicators highlighted during the literature review, which can be quantified based on financial statements. The choice of variables is justified by their compliance with the specifics of industrial SMEs and KMO and Bartlett tests. We empirically tested the selected indicators using a sample of 7980 enterprises in two high-tech industries: Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). We concluded that the larger the business, the higher the sustainability of its technological development. At the same time, SMEs have two key advantages in the implementation of technological development – a decrease in resource costs of production, flexibility in asset management and gross profit. The proposed approach allows us to identify promising high-tech SMEs for the transition to Industry 4.0 technologies. Our research will be useful both for private enterprises when searching for technologically promising contractors and for public authorities when analyzing and selecting enterprises for pilot digital transformation. [Display omitted] • Assessing the sustainability of the high-tech industries small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). • The larger the business, the higher the sustainability of its technological development. • SMEs implement technological development to yield decrease in resource costs of production. • SMEs implement technological development to yield flexibility in asset management, and gross profit. • This approach identifies promising high-tech SMEs for the transition to Industry 4.0 technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Top-gate thin-film transistors (TFTs) with amorphous aluminum-indium-zinc-oxide (a-AIZO) as channel layer and organic polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as dielectric layer were prepared via a solution process of dip coating method. The additive Al led to the band gap of AIZO films wider and effectively controlled the oxygen vacancies. This behaviour indicates that Al acted as an effective carrier suppressor in the IZO materials. Moreover, it was found that organic PMMA dielectric layer exhibited antireflection effect when it combined with a-AIZO film to form double-layer structure, showing the highly transparent of ∼94.7%. The a-AIZO-TFT with Al atomic content of 30% exhibited optimum device characteristics, with a high saturated mobility of 26.8 cm2 V−1 s−1, a small subthreshold swing of 0.24 V/decade, and slight hysteresis with Vth shift of ∼−1.26 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation and management of the efficiency of innovation activities is essential for the improvement of innovation performance. However, only a few studies on the quantitative evaluation of innovation efficiency have been conducted to date due to the complexity and uncertainty of innovation indicators. Therefore, a new approach is proposed to measure innovation efficiency with the consideration of the complexity and uncertainty of innovation indicators. This study applies the fuzzy data envelopment analysis (DEA) which is useful for dealing with imprecise data or language variables to measure innovation efficiency quantitatively and then evaluates the innovation efficiencies of the Korean electronic equipment industry. The results show that the industry can save 28.7% of inputs by improving its innovation efficiency. In order to do this, the industry is recommended to downsize the production scale since decreasing returns to scale (DRS) was found in its production technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communications technology (ICT) contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutant emissions, but it is time-consuming to estimate the environmental impacts caused by the production of ICT devices, and the literature lacks coverage for newer products. Using a process-sum life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, we estimate and compare the embodied GHG emissions of 11 ICT products, including large- and small-form-factor desktop and laptop personal computers, a thin client device, an LCD monitor, newer mobile devices (an Apple iPad, an iPod Touch, and an Amazon Kindle), a rack server, and a network switch. Full bills of materials are provided via hand disassembly and weighing and are mapped to processes in the ecoinvent v2.2 database to produce impact estimates. Results are analyzed to develop simplified impact estimation models using linear regressions based on product characteristics. A simple and robust linear relationship between mass and embodied emissions is identified; a more sophisticated linear model using display mass, battery mass, and circuit board mass as inputs is slightly more accurate. Embodied GHG emissions for newer products are 50-60% lower than corresponding older products with similar functionality, largely due to decreased material usage, especially reductions in integrated circuit content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology transition can have significant implications on the evolution of environmental impact potential of disposed electronics over time. Considering technology transition, we quantify the temporal behavior of ecological and human health impact potential from select heavy metals in electronic waste (e-waste). The case study analyzes product substitution effects in two electronic cohorts from the U.S. market: (1) computers (laptops substituting for desktops) and (2) televisions (flat-panel liquid crystal displays [LCDs] and plasma displays substituting for cathode-ray tubes [CRTs]). Quantities of end-of-life (EoL) units to year 2030 are forecasted by the unique combination of dynamic material flow analysis, logistic trend analysis, and product lifespan calibration methods. Metal content from EoL units are assessed via a pathway and effect model using USETox™ characterization factors to determine the toxicity potential attributed to heavy metal releases into different media (e.g., air, water, and soil) as an indicator of environmental burden. Results show high impact materials such as lead, nickel, and zinc cause changes in human health toxicity potential and copper causes changes in ecological toxicity potential. Effects of dematerialization, such as reduced metal content in laptops over desktops, provide some positive benefits in toxicity potential per product. However, from a market perspective, emerging e-waste quantities created by increasing per capita penetration rates of electronics and increasing population will offset gains in environmental performance at the product level. The resulting analysis provides guidance on the timing expected for emerging EoL units and an indication of high impact potential materials requiring pollution prevention as product substitution occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business-to-business (B2B) electronics account for a significant volume of the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) put on the market. Very little B2B waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is reported as collected in the European Union (EU) in compliance with the WEEE Directive, which uses the policy principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR) to ensure that WEEE is managed correctly. This presents a barrier to parties looking for access to the waste. Company practice dictates the channels into which B2B WEEE flows following primary use. This article presents a study that engaged with company actors directly to get a better understanding of business information technology (IT) EEE asset management. Data were collected to determine the barriers current practice could present to the collection of B2B IT EEE at end of life and the implications of these for the development of policies and strategies for EPR. A questionnaire was developed and data were gathered from organizations in three EU countries-the United Kingdom, Germany, and France-stratified by size. Some notable findings were that there are several routes by which end-of-life B2B WEEE can flow. The recycling and refurbishment of B2B IT units at end of use was shown to be commonplace, but it is likely that these units enter streams where they are not reported. The actors disposing of their units did not have information on the management or disposition of these streams. It is concluded that to achieve the goals of EPR for B2B IT WEEE, the networks and the operational practices of these streams need to be better understood when developing strategies and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of electric push buttons from 1880 and 1923. It comments on the educational strategies used to decrease fear of electricity, particularly noting the pedagogical approaches of the electric industry. The author comments on electric push buttons in the broader context of human-machine relations and also reflects on the concept of user interfaces. Electric bells, or doorbells, are considered, and the work of the U.S. National Electric Light Association (NELA) is examined.

We investigate empirically whether the presence of foreign enterprises in downstream industries has increased intra-provincial backward linkages in China, and what characteristics of foreign direct investment (FDI) contribute to the generation of backward linkages. We conclude that FDI in downstream industries generally has failed to induce higher backward linkages except for the electronic and telecommunications equipment industry. Across industries, those characteristics of FDI, such as the labour productivity gap between indigenous and foreign companies, whether FDI is from Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan or other countries and whether FDI is wholly owned or jointly owned, appear less influential on the backward linkages than the activities of foreign enterprises (e.g. value-added activities and import and export activities). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To investigate the coupled technology for advanced wastewater treatment and microalgal biomass production, a photo-membrane bioreactor was constructed. The microalga Scenedesmus sp. LX1 was cultured in the bioreactor using liquor prepared from the effluent of an electronic device factory. The algal cell growth, nitrate nitrogen removal, orthophosphate phosphorus removal were investigated. When cultured with batch operation, the average specific growth rate was about 0.09d−1, and low nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) concentrations in the liquor were achieved. However, under continuous operation with an inflow of 60Lh−1, the average specific growth rate was only 0.02d−1, and removal rates of 100% for orthophosphate P and 46% for nitrate N were achieved. With the inflow of 120Lh−1, the accumulated metal ions in the bioreactor adversely affected the algal cells. The algal cells were much easier to settle, and the removal efficiency for N and P decreased. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a new method of evaluating the present state of X-ray machines used in the electronics device manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach - There are several kinds of failures that can only be detected by means of X-ray inspection. The capabilities and properties of such machines, however, alter over a period of time. The effects of these changes are rarely published and when they are, the significance and reliability of the results produced depends very much on the state and capabilities of the machines in question. Findings - The effectiveness and appropriateness of the present methods of calibration have been investigated. The optimization of the prevalence and effectiveness of these calibrations is described. Suggestions are also made as to the necessary adjustments or repairs that are required to reach the ideal optimized state of X-ray machines. A scientifically substantiated method is also presented that can be efficiently employed in practise during automated X-ray inspections of electronic devices. Originality/value - In this paper, a new method of testing automated X-ray inspection systems is introduced. It is clear that the method currently used by many engineers and inspection system manufacturers is not in itself sufficient, as they do not test grey-scale and positioning stability in relation to changes that occur over time. Further, there is no evidence that numerical testing of the image quality takes place. Detailed investigations have been carried out to find the best methods to measure these parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international financial crisis has been felt acutely in international trade. This article looks at the extent of the fall in trade and its impacts in major world exporters and sectors of industry. The article finds that the effects of the crisis have been far from homogeneous, with certain sectors more heavily impacted than others. In particular, electronics and transport equipment have seen large falls in trade, with base metals and machinery also strongly affected. Furthermore, certain countries have seen greater impacts than others. In particular, China saw relatively lower falls in trade than the other countries covered, contributing to an increase in the emerging world's share of global trade. Finally, the article looks at two key elements hypothesized as motors of the extensive trade fall-the fragmentation of production and the contraction in trade finance. It finds evidence that both were important to the impacts of the crisis on trade, although falls in GDP were the main driver. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sidewall surface roughness is an important parameter in electronic device manufacture. At present, no high resolution technique exists to quantitatively characterize this property for undercut structures created by semiconductor processing techniques. We developed a three-dimensional atomic force microscope (3D-AFM) to measure the surface roughness of undercut sidewalls with nanometer precision. Decoupled from the positional scanner, the 3D-AFM probe had a variable tilt up to 40° off the normal. Nonorthogonal scans resolved the sidewall surface roughness, base width, and acute critical angle for undercut structures, including a metal overhang and the transmission line of a photonic device. Compatible with standard cantilevers, the 3D-AFM demonstrates great potential for characterizing the sidewalls of soft materials such as photoresist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several types of nanoscale materials recently dodged a bullet as the European Parliament de-clined to ban nanosilver and long multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the European Union's Directive on the Restriction and Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, (more commonly known as "RoHS"). For reasons not entirely clear, detractors of these nanoscale materials tried, and failed, to ban them outright in the RoHS Recast initiative. For nano stakehold-ers, while the news is good, the process serves as a cautionary tale of the shape of things to come in forthcoming legislative initiatives in the European Union, and likely elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The use of renewable alternative sources of energy in the world has been growing in the last few decades due to concerns about dependence on fossil sources and to environmental reasons, related to climatic change and its effects on mankind. Tax and/or financial incentives have been instituted for the population, to have access to renewable source technologies, and for the local equipment industry, to develop more quickly. In Brazil, the PV (photovoltaic) equipment to convert solar into electricity is more often used in low income rural communities, located distant from the grid network, for rural electrification, water pumping and public illumination. However, since there is no currently specific regulatory incentive mechanism for this source in the country, the Brazilian PV equipment industry has not made great advances and the market is largely dominated by multinationals. Against this background, a survey of the current PV equipment industry in Brazil is extremely relevant, especially in the event of a national program development to promote the use of this technology, stimulate the domestic industry and reduce the dependence on imported equipment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]