Symbiotic N2 Fixation and N Uptake of Yellow and White Lupines Influenced by Spontaneous Rhizobia Infection and Substrate

Abstract

By using soil as substrate, white and yellow lupines (Lupinus albus L., Lupinus luteus L.) assimilated higher N amounts than under quartz sand conditions. This was caused by spontaneous infection of lupines with wild Rhizobia strains and also by an additional N uptake from the soil. In yellow lupines without inoculation in non-sterile soil, only the additional N uptake played a role. Differences in P and K supply as the cause of different N acquisition from soil and quartz sand could be excluded. As compared with white lupines, yellow lupines inoculated with Rhizobia had a high N₂ fixation that exceeded the effect of spontaneous infections. This result as well as the positive effect of spontaneous infections with soil-borne Rhizobia on white lupines indicates insufficient effectiveness of the strains used for inoculation on this plant species.     

An analytical method for measuring α‐amylase activity in starch‐containing foods

The quality of starch‐containing foods may be significantly impaired by contamination with very small amounts of α‐amylase, which can enzymatically hydrolyze the starch and cause viscosity loss. Thus, for quality control, it is necessary to have an analytical method that can measure low amylase activity. We developed a sensitive analytical method for measuring the activity of α‐amylase (from Bacillus subtilis) in starch‐containing foods. The method consists of six steps: (1) crude extraction of α‐amylase by centrifugation and filtration; (2) α‐amylase purification by desalting and anion‐exchange chromatography; (3) reaction of the purified amylase with boron‐dipyrromethene (BODIPY)‐labeled substrate, which releases a fluorescent fragment upon digestion of the substrate, thus avoiding interference from starch derivatives in the sample; (4) stopping the reaction with acetonitrile; (5) reversed‐phase solid‐phase extraction of the fluorescent substrate to remove contaminating dye and impurities; and (6) separation and measurement of BODIPY fluorescence by HPLC. The proposed method could quantify α‐amylase activities as low as 10 mU/mL, which is enough to reduce the viscosity of starch‐containing foods. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low-temperature ECR-PEMOCVD deposition of high-quality crystalline gallium nitride films: A comparative study of intermediate layers for growth on amorphous glass substrates

A low temperature growth method based on an electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition system (ECR-PEMOCVD) was proposed for the growth of GaN (Gallium nitride) films on ordinary amorphous soda-lime glass substrates. To alleviate the large lattice mismatch between GaN film and glass substrate and improve the heat dissipation performance for potential optoelctrical device application, five intermediate layers (Cu, Ni, Ti, Ag, and ITO) were deposited on the glass substrate before the growth of GaN. A comparative study was performed through structural analysis of the as-grown GaN films with various intermediate layers investigated by means of in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results indicate that the Ti intermediate layer has a great advantage over other intermediate layers in view of crystalline quality and smooth surface, therefore is more suitable and preferred for the potential application in optoelectronic devices.     

Propagation of extremely short pulses in a graphene–boron nitride bilayer

In this study we investigate the propagation of extremely short optical pulses in a thin film formed by a graphene grown on a boron nitride substrate. Conduction electrons of the system are described on the basis of the long-wavelength effective Hamiltonian in the case of low temperatures; the electromagnetic field being taken into account within the framework of the classical Maxwell equations. The time evolution of the pulse?s shape for different speeds and maximum amplitudes of an extremely short pulse is analyzed.     

Investigation of light output performance for gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes grown on different shapes of patterned sapphire substrate

GaN-based blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on various patterned sapphire substrates (PSSs) are investigated in detail. Hemispherical and triangular pyramidal PSSs have been applied to improve the performance of LEDs compared with conventional LEDs grown on planar sapphire substrate. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of these LEDs are investigated. The leakage current is related to the crystalline quality of epitaxial GaN films, and it is improved by using the PSS technique. The light output power and emission efficiency of the LED grown on triangular pyramidal PSS with optimized fill factor show the best performance in all the samples, which indicates that the pattern structure and fill factor of the PSS are related to the capability of light extraction.     

IC基板传输机器人末端执行器结构拓扑优化设计

在半导体封装基板检测的传输过程中,末端执行器对其快速稳定高效率的传输起着关键作用。在满足设计强度、刚度的条件下,以末端执行器轻量化为目标,建立了末端执行器的三维模型,利用有限元分析软件ANSYS对基板传输机器人末端执行器进行静力学和模态分析,得到末端执行器在最大载荷情况下的应力、应变特性和对应的振型,并对其进行拓扑优化设计,根据拓扑优化结果建立新的末端执行器结构,对新的结构进行强度校核,验证设计方案的有效性。研究结果表明,优化后末端执行器的前四阶固有频率都大于伺服电动机的回转频率(50Hz),质量减少了26.7%,较好地实现了轻量化的目标,同时为后续的相关产品研制提供了一种新的技术方案。     

硅衬底GaN基LED薄膜芯片的应力调制

将Si衬底GaN基LED外延薄膜经晶圆键合、去硅衬底等工艺制作成垂直结构GaN基LED薄膜芯片,并对其进行不同温度的连续退火,通过高分辨X射线衍射(HRXRD)研究了连续退火过程中GaN薄膜芯片的应力变化。研究发现:垂直结构LED薄膜芯片在160~180℃下退火应力释放明显,200℃时应力释放充分,GaN的晶格常数接近标准值。继续升温应力不再发生明显变化,GaN薄膜的晶格常数只在标准晶格常数值附近波动。扫描电子显微镜给出的bonding层中Ag-In合金情况很好地解释了薄膜芯片应力的变化。     

Signal noise perturbation on automotive mixed-mode semiconductor device generated by graded substrate defect

The semiconductor technologies evolution allows greatly reducing noise impact on products and many structures have been created to reduce its effect. However, this paper presents the apparition of a noise issue during the production of a mixed-mode device dedicated to automotive applications. The research investigations concerned the fact that failure was not detected at test level but at customer level; therefore, it was determinant to understand the root cause of this failure mode to drive corrective actions in order to secure customer. The challenge was to analyse noise in Failure Analysis (FA) without fault spatial localization results. Indeed, Light Emission Microscopy (EMMI) and Thermal Laser Stimulation (ex: Soft Defect Localization – SDL) were unable to provide any defective area in the product. The lack of failing device identification led us to combine electrical and design analyses in order to define hypothesis on the failure origin. It was then possible to drive physical investigations through different approaches, using physical cross-section, Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and Scanning Capacitance Microscopy (SCM) techniques. Finally, the obtained complementary results will be discussed and an explanation of the failure mechanism will be presented as the root cause issue, allowing defining the defective step in production process.     

An improved analytical model of 4H-SiC MESFET incorporating bulk and interface trapping effects

An improved analytical model for the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the 4H-SiC metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) on a high purity semi-insulating (HPSI) substrate with trapping and thermal effects is presented. The 4H-SiC MESFET structure includes a stack of HPSI substrates and a uniformly doped channel layer. The trapping effects include both the effect of multiple deep-level traps in the substrate and surface traps between the gate to source/drain. The self-heating effects are also incorporated to obtain the accurate and realistic nature of the analytical model. The importance of the proposed model is emphasised through the inclusion of the recent and exact nature of the traps in the 4H-SiC HPSI substrate responsible for substrate compensation. The analytical model is used to exhibit DC I-V characteristics of the device with and without trapping and thermal effects. From the results, the current degradation is observed due to the surface and substrate trapping effects and the negative conductance introduced by the self-heating effect at a high drain voltage. The calculated results are compared with reported experimental and two-dimensional simulations (Silvaco^®-TCAD). The proposed model also illustrates the effectiveness of the gate-source distance scaling effect compared to the gate-drain scaling effect in optimizing 4H-SiC MESFET performance. Results demonstrate that the proposed I-V model of 4H-SiC MESFET is suitable for realizing SiC based monolithic circuits (MMICs) on HPSI substrates.     

大功率LED散热用微通道铝基板的有限元仿真

对带微通道的铝基板上封装的不同功率LED,用Comsol Multiphysics软件对其温度场进行了有限元模拟,重点研究了微通道的孔大小、孔间距、绝缘层的厚度和热导率对基板散热性能的影响,结果表明:铝基板厚度为1.5mm左右,微通道方形孔,孔长0.8mm,孔间距0.8mm,绝缘层厚度50μm,热导率1.5 W/(m·K),为最佳散热性能铝基板.微通道铝基板封装3W灯珠与普通铝基板和氮化铝基板相比,热阻分别下降了5.44和3.21℃/W,表明微通道铝基板能更好地满足大功率LED散热的需求.