Systematic characterization of Cl2 reactive ion etchingfor improved ohmics in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Pre-metal-deposition reactive ion etching (RIE) was performed on an Al_0.3Ga_0.7N/AlN/GaN heterostructure in order to improve the metal-to-semiconductor contact resistance. An optimum AlGaN thickness for minimizing contact resistance was determined. An initial decrease in contact resistance with etching time was explained in terms of removal of an oxide surface layer and/or by an increase in tunnelling current with the decrease of the AlGaN thickness. The presence of a dissimilar surface layer was confirmed by an initial nonuniform etch depth rate. An increase in contact resistance for deeper etches was experienced. The increase was related to depletion of the two-dimensional (2-D) electron gas (2-DEG) under the ohmics. Etch depths were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact resistance decreased from about 0.45 Ωmm for unetched ohmics to a minimum of 0.27 Ωmm for 70 Å etched ohmics. The initial thickness of the AlGaN layer was 250 Å. The decrease in contact resistance, without excessive complications on device processing, supports RIE etching as a viable solution to improve ohmic contact resistance in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs     

Crystallographic report: Bis{[diacetyl‐bis(2,6‐isopropylphenylimine)]nickel(I)(µ‐chloro)}

The first α‐diimine nickel(I) complex having a chloro bridge is reported. The centrosymmetric dinuclear structure of {[ArN?C(Me)C(Me)?NAr]NiCl}₂[Ar?2,6?C₆H₃(i‐Pr)₂] features two chelating α‐diimine ligands and two bridged chlorine atoms, so that a distorted tetrahedral N₂Cl₂ coordination geometry for nickel results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Miscibility and phase structure of binary blends of polylactide and poly(methyl methacrylate)

Blends of amorphous poly(DL‐lactide) (DL‐PLA) and crystalline poly(L‐lactide) (PLLA) with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were prepared by both solution/precipitation and solution‐casting film methods. The miscibility, crystallization behavior, and component interaction of these blends were examined by differential scanning calorimetry. Only one glass‐transition temperature (T_g) was found in the DL‐PLA/PMMA solution/precipitation blends, indicating miscibility in this system. Two isolated T_g's appeared in the DL‐PLA/PMMA solution‐casting film blends, suggesting two segregated phases in the blend system, but evidence showed that two components were partially miscible. In the PLLA/PMMA blend, the crystallization of PLLA was greatly restricted by amorphous PMMA. Once the thermal history of the blend was destroyed, PLLA and PMMA were miscible. The T_g composition relationship for both DL‐PLA/PMMA and PLLA/PMMA miscible systems obeyed the Gordon–Taylor equation. Experiment results indicated that there is no more favorable trend of DL‐PLA to form miscible blends with PMMA than PLLA when PLLA is in the amorphous state. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 23–30, 2003     

Novel,biodegradable, functional poly(ester‐carbonate)s by copolymerization of trans‐4‐hydroxy‐L‐proline with cyclic carbonate bearing a pendent carboxylic group

Water‐soluble poly(ester‐carbonate) having pendent amino and carboxylic groups on the main‐chain carbon is reported for the first time. This article describes the melt ring‐opening/condensation reaction of trans‐4‐hydroxy‐N‐benzyloxycarbonyl‐L ‐proline (N‐CBz‐Hpr) with 5‐methyl‐5‐benzyloxycarbonyl‐1,3‐dioxan‐2‐one (MBC) at a wide range of molar fractions. The influence of reaction conditions such as catalyst concentration, polymerization time, and temperature on the number average molecular weight (M_n) and molecular weight distribution (M_w/M_n) of the copolymers was investigated. The polymerizations were carried out in bulk at 110 °C with 3 wt % stannous octoate as a catalyst for 16 h. The poly(ester‐carbonate)s obtained were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ¹H NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, and gel permeation chromatography. The copolymers synthesized exhibited moderate molecular weights (M_n = 6000–14,700 g mol^?1) with reasonable molecular weight distributions (M_w/M_n = 1.11–2.23). The values of the glass‐transition temperature (T_g) of the copolymers depended on the molar fractions of cyclic carbonate. When the MBC content decreased from 76 to 12 mol %, the T_g increased from 16 to 48 °C. The relationship between the poly(N‐CBz‐Hpr‐co‐MBC) T_g and the compositions was in approximation with the Fox equation. In vitro degradation of these poly(N‐CBz‐Hpr‐co‐MBC)s was evaluated from weight‐loss measurements and the change of M_n and M_w/M_n. Debenzylation of 3 by catalytic hydrogenation led to the corresponding linear poly(ester‐carbonate), 4 , with pendent amino and carboxylic groups. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2303–2312, 2004     

Behavior and surface energies of polybenzoxazines formed by polymerization with argon,oxygen, and hydrogen plasmas

Polybenzoxazine (PBZZ) thin films can be fabricated by the plasma‐polymerization technique with, as the energy source, plasmas of argon, oxygen, or hydrogen atoms and ions. When benzoxazine (BZZ) films are polymerized through the use of high‐energy argon atoms, electronegative oxygen atoms, or excited hydrogen atoms, the PBZZ films that form possess different properties and morphologies in their surfaces. High‐energy argon atoms provide a thermodynamic factor to initiate the ring‐opening polymerization of BZZ and result in the polymer surface having a grid‐like structure. The ring‐opening polymerization of the BZZ film that is initiated by cationic species such as oxygen atoms in plasma, is propagated around nodule structures to form the PBZZ. The excited hydrogen atom plasma initiates both polymerization and decomposition reactions simultaneously in the BZZ film and results in the formation of a porous structure on the PBZZ surface. We evaluated the surface energies of the PBZZ films polymerized by the action of these three plasmas by measuring the contact angles of diiodomethane and water droplets. The surface roughness of the films range from 0.5 to 26 nm, depending on the type of carrier gas and the plasma‐polymerization time. By estimating changes in thickness, we found that the PBZZ film synthesized by the oxygen plasma‐polymerization process undergoes the slowest rate of etching in CF₄ plasma. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4063–4074, 2004     

Fluorescent-based single-strand conformation polymorphism/heteroduplex capillary electrophoretic mutation analysis of the P53 gene.

Fluorescent-based single-strand conformation polymorphism (F-SSCP) analysis with capillary electrophoresis (CE) is the most common method for the detection of mutation because of its high sensitivity and resolution. In this study, we prepared an inexpensive linear polyacrylamide (LPA), and successfully applied it to CE-SSCP analysis and tandem CE-SSCP/heteroduplex analysis (HA) of the P53 gene on an ABI capillary genetic analyzer. A comparison of the sieving capabilities of a homemade LPA and commercial polydimethylacrylamide (PDMA) demonstrates that the homemade LPA has a higher resolution, a shorter analysis time, and is more suitable for tandem SSCP/HA than commercial PDMA. To show the usefulness, mutations of P53 gene exon 7 - 8 in 37 tumor samples were investigated by using homemade LPA. The results indicate that 10 mutations were found in 9 of 37 cases; the majority of P53 mutations were missense mutations, and 70% were located in exon 7, which plays an important role in neoplastic progression in human tumorigenesis.     

Blind channel estimation and equalization in wireless sensor networks based on correlations among sensors

In densely deployed wireless sensor networks, signals of adjacent sensors can be highly cross-correlated. This paper proposes to utilize such a property to develop efficient and robust blind channel identification and equalization algorithms. Blind equalization can be performed with complexity as low as O(N/spl tilde/), where N/spl tilde/ is the length of equalizers. Transmissions can be more power and bandwidth efficient in multipath propagation environment, which is especially important for wideband sensor networks such as those for acoustic location or video surveillance. The cross-correlation property of sensor signals and the finite sample effect are analyzed quantitatively to guide the design of low duty-cycle sensor networks. Simulations demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method.     

Transition‐metal‐catalyzed reactions of 5‐methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione with isocyanates

5‐Methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone (1) and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione (4) react with various isocyanates to give the corresponding urethanes 3 and 5 in high yields in the presence of palladium(0) or palladium(II) catalyst under mild reaction conditions. A mechanism is proposed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design of photonic crystal fibers for dispersion-related applications

A general procedure for design of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with desirable dispersion properties is presented. The design model is based on the combination of a rigorous vector mode solver and a scaling transformation for the dispersion properties of the PCFs. In comparison with the conventional design method, the new design procedure is more efficient and can be readily automated for the purpose of design optimization. Several applications of the design procedure, e.g., the design optimization for dispersion shifted fibers, dispersion flattened fibers, and dispersion compensation fibers, are demonstrated and discussed.