Agglomeration,sedimentation, and cellular toxicity of alumina nanoparticles in cell culture medium

The cytotoxicity of alumina nanoparticles (NPs) was investigated for a wide range of concentration (25–200 μg/mL) and incubation time (0–72 h) using floating cells (THP-1) and adherent cells (J774A.1, A549, and 293). Alumina NPs were gradually agglomerated over time although a significant portion of sedimentation occurred at the early stage within 6 h. A decrease of the viability was found in floating (THP-1) and adherent (J774A.1 and A549) cells in a dose-dependent manner. However, the time-dependent decrease in cell viability was observed only in adherent cells (J774A.1 and A549), which is predominantly related with the sedimentation of alumina NPs in cell culture medium. The uptake of alumina NPs in macrophages and an increased cell-to-cell adhesion in adherent cells were observed. There was no significant change in the viability of 293 cells. This in vitro test suggests that the agglomeration and sedimentation of alumina NPs affected cellular viability depending on cell types such as monocytes (THP-1), macrophages (J774A.1), lung carcinoma cells (A549), and embryonic kidney cells (293).     

用镍硅氧化物源横向诱导晶化的多晶硅薄膜

采用磁控溅射法,以镍硅合金为靶,制备了一种适用于金属诱导横向晶化的氧化物镍源——自缓释镍源.该镍源在内部构成和晶化现象上都不同于纯金属镍源.采用该镍源制备低温多晶硅材料,晶化速率不明显依赖于镍源薄膜的厚度,且晶化多晶硅膜内的残余镍量亦可有效降低,可为薄膜晶体管提供宽的工艺窗口.本文对用纯金属镍源所得多晶硅薄膜的晶化率、表面粗糙度、电学特性等与溅射条件的关系进行了研究,并对相应结果进行了讨论. 关键词： 自缓释 金属诱导横向晶化 多晶硅薄膜 低温制备与退火     

用镍硅氧化物源横向诱导晶化的多晶硅薄膜

采用磁控溅射法,以镍硅合金为靶,制备了一种适用于金属诱导横向晶化的氧化物镍源——自缓释镍源.该镍源在内部构成和晶化现象上都不同于纯金属镍源.采用该镍源制备低温多晶硅材料,晶化速率不明显依赖于镍源薄膜的厚度,且晶化多晶硅膜内的残余镍量亦可有效降低,可为薄膜晶体管提供宽的工艺窗口.本文对用纯金属镍源所得多晶硅薄膜的晶化率、表面粗糙度、电学特性等与溅射条件的关系进行了研究,并对相应结果进行了讨论.     

Effects of Y incorporation in TaON gate dielectric on electrical performance of GaAs metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitor

In this study, GaAs metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors using Y‐incorporated TaON as gate dielectric have been investigated. Experimental results show that the sample with a Y/(Y + Ta) atomic ratio of 27.6% exhibits the best device characteristics: high k value (22.9), low interfacestate density (9.0 × 10¹¹ cm^–2 eV^–1), small flatband voltage (1.05 V), small frequency dispersion and low gate leakage current (1.3 × 10^–5A/cm² at V_fb + 1 V). These merits should be attributed to the complementary properties of Y₂O₃ and Ta₂O₅:Y can effectively passivate the large amount of oxygen vacancies in Ta₂O₅, while the positively‐charged oxygen vacancies in Ta₂O₅ are capable of neutralizing the effects of the negative oxide charges in Y₂O₃. This work demonstrates that an appropriate doping of Y content in TaON gate dielectric can effectively improve the electrical performance for GaAs MOS devices.

Capacitance–voltage characteristic of the GaAs MOS capacitor with TaYON gate dielectric (Y content = 27.6%) proposed in this work with the cross sectional structure and dielectric surface morphology as insets.     

Electron spin resonance from annealed titania nanotubes

Titania nanotubes were prepared using a hydrothermal method. Hydrogen titanate nanotubes (H-TNTs) with an anatase phase changed to anatase nanocrystals at about 500 °C, and then a rutile structure at ∼800 °C. A sharp and symmetrical electron spin resonance (ESR) signal (g=2.003), attributed to a single-electron-trapped oxygen-vacancy (SETOV), was obtained at the annealed H-TNTs (T<500 °C). The SETOV signal increased and maximized remarkably at about 400–500 °C. Then, the nanotube structure appeared to be demolished. Yet, when the vacuum-heated H-TNTs were sealed in N₂ or Ar ambient, some additional ESR signals appeared besides the SETOV signal. The broad asymmetric ESR signal (g=1.98) was attributed to a surface oxygen vacancy related to the Ti³⁺ sites in a reduced TiO₂ matrix. The vacuum-heated sodium titanate nanotubes (Na-TNTs) showed only the SETOV signal (T<500 °C). PACS 61.46.Fg; 61.72.Ji; 76.30.-v     

Magnetic response of microbially synthesized transition metal- and lanthanide-substituted nano-sized magnetites

The magnetic susceptibility (κ_RT) and saturation magnetization (M_S) of microbially synthesized magnetites were systematically examined. Transition metal (Cr, Mn, Co, Ni and Zn)- and lanthanide (Nd, Gd, Tb, Ho and Er)-substituted magnetites were microbially synthesized by the incubation of transition metal (TM)- and lanthanide (L)-mixed magnetite precursors with either thermophilic (TOR-39) or psychrotolerant (PV-4) metal-reducing bacteria (MRB). Zinc incorporated congruently into both the precursor and substituted magnetite, while Ni and Er predominantly did not. Microbially synthesized Mn- and Zn-substituted magnetites had higher κ_RT than pure biomagnetite depending on bacterial species and they exhibited a maximum κ_RT at 0.2 cationic mole fraction (CMF). Other TMs’ substitution linearly decreased the κ_RT with increasing substitution amount. Based on the M_S values of TM- and L-substituted magnetite at 0.1 and 0.02 CMF, respectively, Zn (90.7 emu/g for TOR-39 and 93.2 emu/g for PV-4)- and Mn (88.3 emu/g by PV-4)-substituted magnetite exhibited higher M_S than standard chemical magnetite (84.7 emu/g) or pure biomagnetite without metal substitution (76.6 emu/g for TOR-39 and 80.3 emu/g for PV-4). Lanthanides tended to decrease M_S, with Gd- and Ho-substituted magnetites having the highest magnetization. The higher magnetization of microbially synthesized TM-substituted magnetites by the psychrotroph, PV-4 may be explained by the magnetite formation taking place at low temperatures slowing mechanics, which may alter the magnetic properties compared to the thermophile, through suppression of the random distribution of substituted cations.     

光纤光热干涉气体检测技术研究进展

本文阐述光纤光热干涉气体检测的基本原理,从光纤光热相位调制的产生、动态过程、探测方法以及响应时间等方面出发,综述本研究组在光纤光热干涉气体检测方面的最新工作进展.光纤光热干涉技术具有灵敏度高、动态范围大、测量不受散射及其他损耗影响等优势,能够实现小型化、多点复用、组网及远程监测,在环境、医疗、安防等领域具有重要的应用.