Modelling and simulation of brinicle formation.

Below the Arctic sea ice, under the right conditions, a flux of icy brine flows down into the sea. The icy brine has a much lower fusion point and is denser than normal seawater. As a result, it sinks while freezing everything around it, forming an ice channel called a brinicle (also known as ice stalactite).

Giga-voxel computational morphogenesis for structural design.

In the design of industrial products ranging from hearing aids to automobiles and aeroplanes, material is distributed so as to maximize the performance and minimize the cost. Historically, human intuition and insight have driven the evolution of mechanical design, recently assisted by computer-aided design approaches. The computer-aided approach known as topology optimization enables unrestricted design freedom and shows great promise with regard to weight savings, but its applicability has so far been limited to the design of single components or simple structures, owing to the resolution limits of current optimization methods.

Topology optimization for optical projection lithography with manufacturing uncertainties.

This article presents a topology optimization approach for micro- and nano-devices fabricated by optical projection lithography. Incorporating the photolithography process and the manufacturing uncertainties into the topology optimization process results in a binary mask that can be sent directly to manufacturing without additional optical proximity correction (OPC). The performance of the optimized device is robust toward the considered process variations.