Low temperature growth and dimension- dependent photoluminescence efficiency of semiconductor nanowires

Low temperature growth and dimension dependent photoluminescence (PL) efficiency of semiconductor nanowires were investigated with CdS as a model system. The CdS nanowires were prepared with a simple, low temperature metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process via the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism. The low growth temperature of 360 °C was made possible with a newly developed single-source precursor of CdS and by using sputtered Au as the catalyst for the VLS growth. The length and diameter of the nanowires were adjusted by reaction time and sputtering conditions of Au, respectively. Nanowires of up to several μm in length and 20 to 200 nm in diameter were obtained. The PL quantum yield of the nanowires was found to decrease with increasing wire length, but to increase with decreasing wire diameter. This dimension-dependent PL efficiency of one-dimensional nanostructure, unlikely resulting from the quantum size confinement effect, appears to be a new observation that carries application significance. PACS 74.25.Gz; 78.55.Et; 78.67.Lt     

Deposition and electrostatic removal of gaseous organic contaminants on substrate surfaces

The adhesion behavior of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) onto different substrates (quartz, glass, and silicon) used as wafer surfaces was studied by using an in situ UV spectrophotometric technique. The results from the closed cell experiments revealed that greatest extent of DBP adhesion occurred on the quartz chip (0.154 μg cm⁻²), followed in the order by the glass (0.054 μg cm⁻²) and silicon (0.039 μg cm⁻²). By means of the in situ spectrophotometric observation, application of an electrical field at 290 V cm⁻¹ in the cell proved to be effective in inducing charging of DBP aerosols, which were consequently attracted towards the electrodes. This method can be applied to wafer storage and transport equipments to prevent wafer contamination from material outgassing representative by DBP.     

Crack-free micromachining on glass substrates by visible LIBWE using liquid metallic absorbers

Laser induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) is a promising laser direct-write technique for etching transparent materials and for producing high precision and near-optical quality surfaces. In this study, visible LIBWE using gallium and eutectic indium/gallium as absorbers was used for crack-free microfabrication of sodalime and quartz. Eutectic indium/gallium (In/Ga) has a melting temperature lower than metallic gallium does and the etching rate by using In/Ga was found to be similar to that by gallium for visible LIBWE. When using the gallium absorber, the etching threshold of quartz by visible LIBWE was about one-third of that by UV LIBWE. The heat-affected zone of the quartz etching was negligible at the trench rim in the visible LIBWE process. The wettability of the metallic absorbers on the substrates affects aspect ratio and is a new important factor for LIBWE. In addition, etching rate decreased when repetition rate was increased.     

Multifunctional carbon-coated magnetic sensing graphene oxide-cyclodextrin nanohybrid for potential cancer theranosis

Journal of Nanoparticle Research - Over the last years, an environmentally friendly and economically efficient way of nanoparticle production has been found in the biosynthesis of metal...     

Very high coercivities of top-layer diffusion Au/FePt thin films

The Au/FePt samples were prepared by depositing a gold cap layer at room temperature onto a fully ordered FePt layer, followed by an annealing at 800 °C for the purpose of interlayer diffusion. After the deposition of the gold layer and the high-temperature annealing, the gold atoms do not dissolve into the FePt Ll₀ lattice. Compared with the continuous FePt film, the TEM photos of the bilayer Au(60 nm)/FePt(60 nm) show a granular structure with FePt particles embedded in Au matrix. The coercivity of Au(60 nm)/FePt(60 nm) sample is 23.5 kOe, which is 85% larger than that of the FePt film without Au top layer. The enhancement in coercivity can be attributed to the formation of isolated structure of FePt ordered phase.     

MIXED-CONVECTION HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN A FULLY DEVELOPED HORIZONTAL CHANNEL FLOW

An experimental study of mixed-convection heat and mass transfer flow of a CuS0₄ + H₂S0₄ + H₂O solution in a horizontal channel is performed by using an electrochemical system. Unstable temperature and concentration gradients imposed by a heated cathodic bottom initiate an ascending (secondary) flow of light boundary-layer fluid into the freestream. To visualize the flow, the shadowgraph technique is used. Electrical measurements are used to obtain mass transfer rates and to infer a Sherwood number. The ranges of the parameters studied in the present work for the square channel are Pr = 5-7, Sc = 1,700-2,300, Re = 100-1,000, Gr_m= 1.27 X 10⁶ and Gr_ab = 4.06 × 10⁶-2.4S × 10⁷.     

Optical design for enhanced prism type fingerprint scanner image contrast with asymmetrical aspheric lens

The design of optical prism fingerprint scanner with aspheric lens is researched. We propose a modified structure for optical prism fingerprint scanner, which has an asymmetrical aspheric lens on the output plane. It is numerically shown under elliptic valley similar fingerprint model that the optical image qualities of such a scanner are better than the scanner with symmetrical aspheric lens. When the fingerprint range is 15 mm, the results show that the minimum image contrast is 0.49 for an optical prism with asymmetrical aspheric lens, much better than a symmetrical aspheric lens with 0.20. The relative illumination variation is from 0.62 to 1.00 for optical prism with asymmetrical aspheric lens, and for the symmetrical aspheric lens it is 0.35 to 1.00. We conclude that an optical prism with asymmetrical aspheric lens is better than an optical prism with symmetrical aspheric lens.     

Absorption and emission due to localized excitons in CsI:Na

The absorption spectra and the characteristic emission and excitation spectra of CsI:Na bulk crystals at temperatures between 300 K and 4.2 K are reported. Localized exciton energies were calculated by considering a Born-Haber cycle. The results were compared with the experimental results and the origins of the absorption bands were identified. The characteristic emission spectrum consists of two bands, one peaking around 4200 Å, the other around 3800 Å. The corresponding excitation spectra show that this emission is due to the recombination of a relaxed exciton which was created by transferring an electron from an iodine ion to a substitutional sodium ion in an otherwise perfect CsI lattice.     

Improved Stabilities of Labeling Probes for the Selective Modification of Endogenous Proteins in Living Cells and In Vivo

To date, various affinity-based protein labeling probes have been developed and applied in biological research to modify endogenous proteins in cell lysates and on the cell surface. However, the reactive groups on the labeling probes are also the cause of probe instability and nonselective labeling in a more complex environment, e. g., intracellular and in vivo. Here, we show that labeling probes composed of a sterically stabilized difluorophenyl pivalate can achieve efficient and selective labeling of endogenous proteins on the cell surface, inside living cells and in vivo. As compared with the existing protein labeling probes, probes with the difluorophenyl pivalate exhibit several advantages, including long-term stability in stock solutions, resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis and can be customized easily with diverse fluorophores and protein ligands. With this probe design, endogenous hypoxia biomarker in living cells and nude mice were successfully labeled and validated by in vivo, ex vivo, and immunohistochemistry imaging.