Embedded OEM application markets such as the military and aerospace industries are experiencing a growing demand for sensors that provide instantaneous and continuous process control and machine health information. For a large segment of these industries, fluid viscosity is the key physical parameter that can assist in final process control and machine diagnostics. To that end, it is imperative that a solid-state chip be cost-effective and provide the functionality and scalability that is demanded.

Microstrip antennas that can be made to perform well over relatively wide frequency ranges but are mechanically and electrically simpler than prior such antennas have been invented. These antennas are designed to support traveling waves, in contradistinction to being designed traditionally to support standing waves. The exploitation of traveling waves to enable wideband operation is not new in itself; the novelty of the present invention lies in the electrical and mechanical antenna configuration for supporting traveling waves.

Progress has been made in calculation of spintronic effects in semiconductor nanostructures. The calculations contribute to the body of theoretical knowledge complementing recent experimental advances in generating, transporting, and detecting coherent spin-polarized populations of electron and nuclear spins in semiconductors. The experimental advances have demonstrated that spintronic effects could be harnessed as the basis of novel nanoscale devices. Theoretical advances are needed to understand and extend the experimental advances by enabling inference of previously unknown phenomena from results of experiments and incorporation of these phenomena into realistic models of operation and performance of spintronic devices, including devices that could be used in quantum computation.