351 nm, 0.7 ns laser damage thresholds of monomeric liquid-crystalline systems

The 351 nm laser-damage thresholds (at 0.7 nm pulse length) of monomeric liquid crystals are reported and results from aromatic-core samples are compared with those from fully saturated systems. The role of π-electron conjugation is examined and identified as the key cause for laser damage. For UV laser compatibility of devices, the damage behaviour of an alignment-layer polymer (nylon 6/6) was also investigated.     

Practical accuracy analysis of some existing effective channellength and series resistance extraction methods for MOSFET's

A method to analyze the accuracy of the extracted values for the channel length (L_eff) and series resistance (R_s) of MOSFET devices is presented. The analysis is based on a statistical argument being the variance σ of the extracted results. This variance is found to be a good measure for the accuracy of the particular extraction method used. It is shown that, in the case of deep submicron technologies, errors as large as 200 nm for ΔL can be made for these extraction methods depending on the process design and the process control. The use of a single transistor method is suggested as a possible solution to the low accuracy of the L-array methods     

Microstructure and creep of eutectic indium/tin on copper and nickel substrates

The behavior during creep in shear of eutectic indium-tin joints on copper and nickel substrates was examined in order to determine the effect of creep deformation on the microstructure of the alloy. Primary creep was absent in all the samples tested. The stress exponent at 20° C was much higher for samples on nickel than for those on copper, indicating a different creep deformation mechanism. Also, the microstructure within the indium-tin joints differed significantly with a change of substrate. Samples with a nickel substrate showed a colony microstructure that was not observed in those with a copper substrate. Thus, eutectic morphology is important in determining deformation mechanism during creep. The microstructure within the joints in tested and untested regions of the samples was effectively the same. This is quite distinct from the behavior of eutectic lead-tin observed in previous work. Lead-tin formed a recrystallized band of material along a region of concentrated shear deformation. While the deformation pattern in the indium-tin samples appeared to be the same as for lead-tin, the microstructural changes did not occur. This implies that the behavior observed in lead-tin is not universal to eutectic alloys.     

Fast switching ferroelectric side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer and copolymer

New ferroelectric side-chain liquid-crystalline polymers, a copolymer and a homopolymer, with siloxane backbone and a triaromatic mesogen as the side group have been synthesized. The materials exhibit a chiral smectic C phase over a large temperature range extending to room temperature. They possess high values of spontaneous polarization: 105 nC cm^-2 for the homopolymer and 180 nC cm^-2 for the copolymer. The electro-optic switching time in the chiral smectic C phase is extremely fast (150 μs). In the smectic A phase, an electroclinic effect with switching times less than 100 μs and with field induced tilt angles of 18° is observed.     

Synthesis of poly-yne polymers containing transition metals,disilane, disiloxane and phosphine groups in the main chain

The synthesis and characterization of metal poly-yne polymers containing disilane, disiloxane and phosphine groups in the main chain are described. The platinum and palladium poly-yne polymers were synthesized by polycondensation reactions between a metal chloride and an α, ω-bisethynyl complex in amines in the presence of cuprous iodide as a catalyst. The nickel poly-yne polymers were synthesized by an alkynyl ligand exchange reaction between a nickel acetylide and an α, ω-bisethynyl complex in diethylamine in the presence of cuprous iodide as a catalyst. The reaction of the platinum poly-yne polymer, containing disiloxane groups in the main chain, with copper (I) salts afforded adducts of η-²-bonded σ-acetylide polymer complexes. The reactions of the palladium poly-yne polymer, containing phosphine groups in the main chain, with transition-metal carbonyl complexes afforded polymer complexes which have phosphorus in the main chain-transition-metal bonds. A concentrated solution of the platinum poly-yne polymer containing disiloxane groups in the main chain forms a lyotropic liquid crystal in dichloromethane or 1, 2-dichloroethane.     

A novel derivatization method for peptides to increase sensitivity and backbone fragmentation in liquid secondary-ion mass spectra.

Derivatization is used to increase both negative-ion sensitivity and positive-ion sequence information in the liquid secondary-ion mass spectra (LSIMS) of a series of peptides. The derivatization method involves acylation with pentafluorobenzoyl fluoride in a single-step reaction, and the reaction mixture is applied directly to the probe tip for analysis. Acylation takes place at the unprotected N-terminus, tyrosine, and lysine. The derivatives exhibit increased signal-to-noise ratio for [M-H]- ions, especially where there is not already an acidic amino acid residue in the peptide. In positive-ion LSIMS, the N-terminal group acts to retain the charge at the N-terminus, simplifying the fragmentation by producing N-terminal fragment ions. It also increases positive-ion fragmentation, sometimes very dramatically, making sequence determination more straightforward. The simplicity of the process, together with the enhancements it provides, make this a generally useful method for obtaining peptide structural information.     

An isolated ZVS/ZCS flyback converter using the leakage inductanceof the coupled inductor

This paper describes a simple and effective way to modify an existing hard-switched flyback power converter into a circuit with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and zero-current switching (ZCS). The key improvement is to turn the unattractive features of the coupled inductor leakage inductance and snubber capacitor into attractive ones. The coupled inductor leakage inductance and snubber are used to form a quasi-resonant circuit to facilitate ZVS/ZCS of all power devices. The operating principles of the power converter and experimental results are presented     

Reactor design considerations for MOCVD growth of thin films

Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) performance is optimized for growing titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films. Different gas flow directions and susceptor rotation, along with reactor geometry and shape variations are considered. Gravity proves to be an important parameter in changing the flow pattern in the reaction chamber. However, since film uniformity is not improved by changing the flow direction, modifying the reactor geometry is also proposed. Among the different geometrical parameters, the susceptor-inlet distance, inlet tube diameter, and susceptor size are considered. To minimize the occurrence of recirculation cells in the reaction chamber, modifications in the reactor shape are also suggested. Acceptable results are achieved by changing the cylindrical reactor to a diamond shape     

On estimates of approximation characteristics of the Besov classes of periodic functions of many variables

We obtain order estimates for some approximate characteristics of the Besov classes B _p,ϑ ^r of periodic functions of many variables. Institute of Mathematics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev. Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 49, No. 9, pp. 1250–1261, September, 1997.