Nanoscale observations of the operational failure for phase-change-type nonvolatile memory devices using Ge2Sb2Te5 chalcogenide thin films

In this study, a phase-change memory device was fabricated and the origin of device failure mode was examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) was used as the active phase-change material in the memory device and the active pore size was designed to be 0.5 m. After the programming signals of more than 2×10⁶ cycles were repeatedly applied to the device, the high-resistance memory state (reset) could not be rewritten and the cell resistance was fixed at the low-resistance state (set). Based on TEM and EDS studies, Sb excess and Ge deficiency in the device operating region had a strong effect on device reliability, especially under endurance-demanding conditions. An abnormal segregation and oxidation of Ge also was observed in the region between the device operating and inactive peripheral regions. To guarantee an data endurability of more than 1×10¹⁰ cycles of PRAM, it is very important to develop phase-change materials with more stable compositions and to reduce the current required for programming.     

Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of derivative and spot markets

We investigate the multifractal properties of price increments in the cases of derivative and spot markets. Through the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, we estimate the generalized Hurst and the Renyi exponents for price fluctuations. By deriving the singularity spectrum from the above exponents, we quantify the multifractality of a financial time series and compare the multifractal properties of two different markets. The different behavior of each agent-group in transactions is also discussed. In order to identify the nature of the underlying multifractality, we apply the method of surrogate data to both sets of financial data. It is shown that multifractality due to a fat-tailed distribution is significant.     

Decay rate with coordinate-dependent diffusion coefficients

Using a master equation for the reduced density matrix of open quantum system, the influence of coordinate-dependent microscopical diffusion coefficients on the decay rate from a potential well is studied. For different temperatures, frictions, heights of barrier and ratios of stiffnesses of the potential in the minimum and on the top of the barrier, the quasistationary decay rates are obtained with the sets of coordinate-dependent and -independent microscopical diffusion coefficients, and coordinate-dependent phenomenological diffusion coefficients.     

First-principles study of fundamental properties and electronic structure of alloys

We have performed first-principles calculations using full-potential augmented-plane-wave method to investigate the fundamental properties of the Cd_1–xZn_xTe alloys. The composition dependence of the lattice constant and the bulk modulus have been estimated from total energy calculations. By means of the analytical fitting the band structures in the vicinity of the Brillouin center a complete set of effective electron- and hole-masses have also been derived. In order to further understand the effects of the chemical bonding on the above macroscopic properties we then studied the relaxation behaviors and the changes of the electronic states upon alloying for x=0.25 system. The results presented here yield a general understanding of the fundamental properties for the Cd_1–xZn_xTe crystals studies.     

Synthesis,characterization and biological activity evaluation of new 3- methyl and 4- fluoro isoindoline-1, 3-dione/phthalimide analogues

The convenient route for the synthesis of a series of new Isoindoline-1, 3-dione/phthalimide analogues by condensation of substituted phthalic anhydride with an appropriate Ar-amine is described. Selective phthalimide derivatives were evaluated for their preliminary biological activities against Gram-positive, Gram-negative and fungi strains. These encouraging results could be helpful for the development of new antibacterial or antifungal agents.     

The effect of macroscopic polarization on intrinsic and extrinsic thermal conductivities of AlN

The effect of macroscopic polarization on thermal conductivity of bulk wurtzite AlN has been theoretically investigated. Our results show that macroscopic polarization modifies the phonon group velocity, Debye frequency and Debye temperature of the AlN. Using revised phonon velocity and Debye temperature, various phonon scattering rates and combined scattering rate are calculated as functions of the phonon frequency at room temperature. The intrinsic and extrinsic thermal conductivities of AlN have been estimated using these modified parameters. The theoretical analysis shows that up to a certain temperature the polarization effect acts as negative effect and reduces the intrinsic and extrinsic thermal conductivities. However, after this temperature both thermal conductivities are significantly enhanced. High phonon velocity and Debye temperature are the reason of this enhancement which happens due to the polarization effect. The revised thermal conductivities at room temperature are found to be increased by more than 20% in AlN due to macroscopic polarization phenomenon. The method we have developed can be taken into account during the simulation of heat transport in optoelectronic nitride devices to minimize the self heating processes.     

Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+的发光、浓度猝灭及温度稳定性

采用高温固相法制备了Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+蓝色荧光粉,研究了Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+的发光、浓度猝灭及温度稳定性.Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+的激发光谱覆盖200～350 nm紫外区;发射光谱为一主峰位于445 nm的宽谱,对应Eu2+的4f6 5d1--→4f特征跃迁.研究发现,随Eu2+掺杂量的增大,Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+的发射强度呈现先增大、后减小的变化趋势,最大发射强度对应的Eu2+掺杂量为0.01,即存在浓度猝灭效应,对应的机理为电偶极-电偶极相互作用;依据晶格常数,得出临界距离为2.297 nm.在25～300℃范围内改变光谱测量温度,发现温度升高到150℃时,Ca9Al(PO4)7∶Eu2+的发射强度变为25℃时的81.0％,对应的激活能为0.268 eV,说明材料具有较好的温度稳定性.     

Interpolating minimal energy C1‐Surfaces on Powell–Sabin Triangulations: Application to the resolution of elliptic problems

In this article, we present a method to obtain a C¹‐surface, defined on a bounded polygonal domain Ω, which interpolates a specific dataset and minimizes a certain “energy functional.” The minimization space chosen is the one associated to the Powell–Sabin finite element, whose elements are C¹‐quadratic splines. We develop a general theoretical framework for that, and we consider two main applications of the theory. For both of them, we give convergence results, and we present some numerical and graphical examples. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 798–821, 2015     

Biembedding Steiner Triple Systems in Surfaces Using the Bose Construction

A uniform framework is presented for biembedding Steiner triple systems obtained from the Bose construction using a cyclic group of odd order, in both orientable and nonorientable surfaces. Within this framework, in the nonorientable case, a formula is given for the number of isomorphism classes and the particular biembedding of Ducrocq and Sterboul (preprint 18pp., 1978) is identified. In the orientable case, it is shown that the biembedding of Grannell et al. (J Combin Des 6 ( 7 ), 325–336) is, up to isomorphism, the unique biembedding of its type. Automorphism groups of the biembeddings are also given.     

Perfect 1‐Factorizations of a Family of Cayley Graphs

A 1‐factorization of a graph G is a decomposition of G into edge‐disjoint 1‐factors (perfect matchings), and a perfect 1‐factorization is a 1‐factorization in which the union of any two of the 1‐factors is a Hamilton cycle. We consider the problem of the existence of perfect 1‐factorizations of even order 4‐regular Cayley graphs, with a particular interest in circulant graphs. In this paper, we study a new family of graphs, denoted , which are Cayley graphs if and only if k is even or . By solving the perfect 1‐factorization problem for a large class of graphs, we obtain a new class of 4‐regular bipartite circulant graphs that do not have a perfect 1‐factorization, answering a problem posed in 7 . With further study of graphs, we prove the nonexistence of P1Fs in a class of 4‐regular non‐bipartite circulant graphs, which is further support for a conjecture made in 7 .