Effect of material selection and background impurity on interface property and resulted CIP-GMR performance

In this paper, we investigated the effect of background base pressure, wafer-transferring time between process modules, and stack layer material selection on the current-in-plane giant magneto-resistive (CIP-GMR) interface properties and the resulted CIP-GMR performance. Experimental results showed that seed layer/AFM interface, AFM/pinned layer (PL) interface, pinned layer/Ru interface, and reference layer (RL)/Cu spacer interface are among the most critical ones for a CIP-GMR device. By reducing the background impurity level (water moisture and oxygen), optimizing the wafer process flow sequence, and careful stack-layer material selection, such critical interfaces in a CIP-GMR device can be preserved. Consequently, a much robust GMR performance control can be achieved.     

Simplified,interpretable graph convolutional neural networks for small molecule activity prediction

Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design - We here present a streamlined, explainable graph convolutional neural network (gCNN) architecture for small molecule activity prediction. We first...     

Diastereoselectivity and site dependency in the photochemistry of ketoprofen in the bovine serum albumin matrix

The photodegradation of the S(+)- and R(-)-ketoprofen (KP) enantiomers in the bovine serum albumin matrix was studied by steady-state photolysis with the use of lambda(irr) > 320 nm and transient absorption spectroscopy with lambda(exc) = 355 nm, at 1/1 and 2/1 KP/BSA molar ratios. R(-)-KP was found to be more labile than S(+). Triplet ketoprofen species were evidenced with lifetimes of 400 ns for S(+) and 600 ns for R(-)-KP. Further longer-lived transients with lifetimes of 2.6 and 6.0 mus for S(+) and R(-), respectively, were detected. On the basis of the binding constants of the drug enantiomers to the two main binding sites of the protein, obtained from circular dichroism experiments, the individual disappearance quantum yields of the 1:1 and 2:1 diastereomeric KP:BSA complexes could be estimated. The photoreactivity in the BSA matrix was rationalized on the basis of diastereoselective photodecarboxylation in the two main protein sites.     

A novel chemo-multienzymatic synthesis of bioactive cyclophellitol and epi-cyclophellitol in both enantiopure forms

A new route to synthesize cyclophellitol and epi-cyclophellitol from racemic starting materials in enantiopure forms has been developed. The synthesis involves a multi-enzymatic biotransformation pathway of the novel cyano-cyclitol (1R,4S,5R,6R)/(1S,4R,5S,6S)-4,5,6-trihydroxycyclohex-2-enecarbonitrile by a cooperative use of lipase, nitrile hydratase, and amidase.     

Synthesis and Liquid-Crystalline Properties of Diazabutadiene Complexes of Rhenium(I)

New N,N '-bis(4-((4-alkoxybenzoyl)oxy)phenyl)-1,4-diaza-1,3-butadiene (L) ligands, obtained by condensation of 4-((alkoxybenzoyl)oxy)anilines and glyoxal, were complexed to different [ReX(CO)(3)] fragments to give the complexes [ReX(L)(CO)(3)] (X = Cl, Br, I) and [Re(CF(3)SO(3))(L)(CO)(3)].THF. The chloro and bromo complexes were obtained by direct reaction of the ligands with [ReX(CO)(5)] (X = Cl, Br), while the iodo and triflato derivatives were obtained via metathesis of the chloro or bromo precursors with potassium iodide or silver triflate respectively. The liquid-crystalline behavior of the ligands and the related rhenium complexes has been studied by means of optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and small angle X-ray diffraction. Nematic and smectic C phases were observed when the coordinated counteranions were Cl, Br, and I, respectively; the triflato derivatives were not mesomorphic.     

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation of the structure and proton transport dynamics of methanol-water solutions

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the structural and proton transport properties of methanol-water mixtures. Structural characteristics analyzed at two different methanol mole fractions (X(M) = 0.25 and X(M) = 0.5) reveal enhanced structuring of water as the methanol mole fraction increases in agreement with recent neutron diffraction experiments. The simulations reveal the existence of separate hydrogen-bonded water and methanol networks, also in agreement with the neutron diffraction data. The addition of a single proton to the X(M) = 0.5 mixture leads to an anomalous structural or Grotthuss-type diffusion mechanism of the charge defect in which water-to-water, methanol-to-water, and water-to-methanol proton transfer reactions play the dominant role with methanol-to-methanol transfers being much less significant. Unlike in bulk water, where coordination number fluctuations drive the proton transport process, suppression of the coordination number of waters in the first solvation shell of the defect diminish the importance of coordination number fluctuations as a driving force in the structural diffusion process. The charge defect is found to reside preferentially at the interface between water and methanol networks. The length of the ab initio molecular dynamics run (approximately 120 ps), allowed the diffusion constant of the charge defect to be computed, yielding a value of D = 4.2 x 10(-5) cm2/s when deuterium masses are assigned to all protons in the system. The relation of this value to excess proton diffusion in bulk water is discussed. Finally, a kinetic theory is introduced to identify the relevant time scales in the proton transfer/transport process.     

Instationary conjugate optical-thermal fields in thin films due to pulsed laser heating: A comparison between back and front treatment

Manufacturing of multilayer thin films deposited on a glass substrate can be accomplished by means of pulsed laser sources. Thermal and optical nonlinearities are induced during transient heating, since the response of weakly absorbing thin films depends on the temperature. The heat source can either directly impinge the film surface,␣front treatment, or the glass substrate, back treatment. In this paper a one-dimensional conjugate non-linear thermal-optical time dependent problem is numerically analysed. The investigation is accomplished in order to compare the two processes. For a Nd-YAG laser with wavelength of 1064 nm, a a-Si/TCO and Al/a-Si/TCO multilayers are investigated. Results are presented in form of spatial and temporal temperature profiles as well as absorbed heat transfer rates inside the layers. The accomplished analysis clearly shows that the back treatment is more efficient in terms of manufacturing process, oriented to the production of photovoltaic cells. Received on 4 November 1997     

Harmonic Fields in a Non Uniform Plasma

The magnitudes of the harmonic fields which are generated when an alternating electric field is applied to a plasma are calculated. The plasma has a density gradient and is immersed in a uniform static magnetic field. The harmonics are very strongly excited near the upper hybrid frequency. A fluid theory is employed to describe the highly non linear behavior near resonance and a kinetic theory is used to find the effect of a finite temperature. It is found that kinetic effects are important if the radius of gyration is comparable in size to the scale length.     

Nuclear quantum effects in water

A path-integral Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulation of liquid water and ice is performed. It is found that the inclusion of nuclear quantum effects systematically improves the agreement of first-principles simulations of liquid water with experiment. In addition, the proton momentum distribution is computed utilizing a recently developed open path-integral molecular dynamics methodology. It is shown that these results are in good agreement with experimental data.