Temperature dependence of excitonic emission in cubic CdSe thin film

A detailed photoluminescence investigation of the thermal redshift and broadening of the excitonic line of cubic CdSe film grown by molecular beam epitaxy is presented. Free excitonic emission from the cubic CdSe film was observed at low temperature. Temperature-dependent measurement was performed to obtain material parameters related to exciton-phonon interaction by fitting the experimental data to the phenomenological model. The relative contribution of both acoustic and optical phonon to the band gap shrinkage and exciton linewidth broadening are discussed. Exciton binding energy of 16±1.5 meV was determined from the Arrhenius analysis.     

Development of an external cavity quantum cascade laser spectrometer at 7.5 μm for gas detection

We report the development of an external cavity quantum cascade laser spectrometer at 7.5 μm. The quantum cascade laser and its anti-reflection coating were specially developed for this application. We provide details of the external cavity design and data processing. A continuous wave emission is demonstrated from 1,293 up to 1,350 cm^?1. A preliminary test of the spectrometer was realized by measurements on acetone and phosphoryl chloride.     

Resistance-in-series analysis in cross-flow ultrafiltration of fermentation broths of Bacillus subtilis culture

Quantitative analysis of various resistances that lead to flux decline during cross-flow ultrafiltration (UF) of the fermentation broth of Bacillus subtilis ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) 21332 culture was studied. Polyethersulfone membrane with a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 100 kDa was used. Prior to cross-flow UF, the broth was treated by acid precipitation (pH 4.0) and centrifugation, and the precipitate was re-dissolved in NaOH solution. Experiments were performed at a feed pH of 7.0, a feed surfactin concentration of 1.48 g L⁻¹, and a cross-flow velocity of 0.32 m s⁻¹ but at different transmembrane pressures (ΔP, 20–100 kPa). The resistance-in-series model was used to analyze the flux behavior, which involves the resistances of membrane itself and cake as well as those due to adsorption and solute concentration polarization. It was shown that the resistance due to solute concentration polarization and of membrane dominated under the conditions examined. The resistances due to cake formation and solute adsorption were comparable, and their sum contributed below 20% of the overall resistance.     

Change in the interfacial reaction of Hf-silicate film as a function of thickness and stoichiometry

Medium energy ion scattering and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are used to investigate the depth of the interfacial reaction of Hf-silicate film. The interfacial reaction is critically affected by the film thickness and the mole fraction of HfO(2) in silicate film. The interfacial compressive strain generated at the surface of the Si substrate is dependent on the film thickness during the postannealing process in film with a thickness of approximately 4 nm. Finally, the phase separation phenomenon demonstrates critically different behaviors at different film thicknesses and stoichiometries because the diffusion of Si from interface to surface is dependent on these factors. Moreover, the oxidation by oxygen impurity in the inert ambient causes SiO(2) top formation.     

Various effects of silicidation on shallow p+ junctionsformed by BF2+ implantation into thin poly-Sifilms on Si substrates

Various effects of silicidation on shallow p⁺ n junctions formed by the scheme that implants BF₂⁺ ions into thin poly-Si films on Si substrates are described. A post-Ni silicidation just slightly improves the preformed junctions of the annealed sample. However, as the sample is first deposited with thin Ni films after the implantation and then annealed, the resulting junctions are much better than the preformed ones. Moreover, as the sample is deposited with Ti films, the resultant junctions are just slightly better the preformed ones     

CORDIC algorithm for vectoring mode without constant scalingfactors

A new CORDIC algorithm is presented that can be used for the vectoring mode without requiring constant scaling factors. The algorithm can also be used to carry out complete transformation from rectangular co-ordinates (x,y) to polar co-ordinates (ρ&thetas;) in each iteration. The exponent difference of x and y is computed so as to speed up convergence. This new CORDIC algorithm has an average of 0.75 n iterations for n-bit input data and can achieve>94.78% 23 bit accuracy. It is also suitable for VLSI chip implementation due to the regular architecture required     

Nonspherical LED packaging lens for uniformity improvement

Light emitting diode (LED) has more advantages compared with a traditional incandescent light bulb and a fluorescent lamp, such as small size, low quantity of heat, long life, low power consumption, fast response, plain packaging and ease of develop ment of a frivolous short product. A methodology is proposed to improve the uniformity of the LED illumination system. As a light source in a backlight unit (BLU), the requirement for optical characteristics of a LED is different from highly directional conventional ones. New diffused-type LEDs need to be developed to fulfill the requirement of the BLU industry. A non-spherical lens is designed to optimize uniformity, and a great improvement in uniformity from 28.4 to 64% is demonstrated. In the future, it may used in an LED display to improve the unevenness of illumination.     

Surface modification for enhancing antibody binding on polymer-based microfluidic device for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

A novel surface treatment method using poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI), an amine-bearing polymer, was developed to enhance antibody binding on the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microfluidic immunoassay device. By treating the PMMA surface of the microchannel on the microfluidic device with PEI, 10 times more active antibodies can be bound to the microchannel surface as compared to those without treatment or treated with the small amine-bearing molecule, hexamethylenediamine (HMD). Consequently, PEI surface modification greatly improved the immunoassay performance of the microfluidic device, making it more sensitive and reliable in the detection of IgG. The improvement can be attributed to the spacer effect as well as the functional amine groups provided by the polymeric PEI molecules. Due to the smaller dimensions (140x125 microm) of the microchannel, the time required for antibody diffusion and adsorption onto the microchannel surface was reduced to only several minutes, which was 10 times faster than the similar process carried out in 96-well plates. The microchip also had a wider detection dynamic range, from 5 to 1000 ng/mL, as compared to that of the microtiter plate (from 2 to 100 ng/mL). With the PEI surface modification, PMMA-based microchips can be effectively used for enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) with a similar detection limit, but much less reagent consumption and shorter assay time as compared to the conventional 96-well plate.