Structural and electrical characteristics of high-κ Er2O3 and Er2TiO5 gate dielectrics for a-IGZO thin-film transistors

In this letter, we investigated the structural and electrical characteristics of high-κ Er₂O₃ and Er₂TiO₅ gate dielectrics on the amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) devices. Compared with the Er₂O₃ dielectric, the a-IGZO TFT device incorporating an Er₂TiO₅ gate dielectric exhibited a low threshold voltage of 0.39 V, a high field-effect mobility of 8.8 cm²/Vs, a small subthreshold swing of 143 mV/decade, and a high I_on/I_off current ratio of 4.23 × 10⁷, presumably because of the reduction in the oxygen vacancies and the formation of the smooth surface roughness as a result of the incorporation of Ti into the Er₂TiO₅ film. Furthermore, the reliability of voltage stress can be improved using an Er₂TiO₅ gate dielectric.     

Adaptive Routing on the New Switch Chip for IBM SP Systems

The IBM RS/6000 SP is one of the most successful commercially available multicomputers. SP owes its success partially to the scalable, high bandwidth, low latency network. This paper describes the architecture of Switch2 switch chip, the recently developed third generation switching element which future IBM RS/6000 SP systems may be based on. Switch2 offers significant enhancements over the existing SP switch chips by incorporating advances in both VLSI technology and interconnection network research. One of the major new features of Switch2 is the incorporation of adaptive routing support into it. We describe the adaptive source routing architecture of the Switch2 chip which is a unique feature of this chip. The performance of the adaptive source routing and oblivious routing for a wide range of system characteristics and traffic patterns is evaluated. It is shown that adaptive source routing outperforms or performs comparably with oblivious routing. We propose two novel algorithms for generating adaptive routes specifications required for enabling the usage of adaptive source routing. A comparison between the cost of these two algorithms and the performance improvement obtained from using these algorithms are discussed. We also propose different output selection functions to be used in switching elements for implementing the adaptive routing. We evaluate and compare the performance of these selection functions and discover that the best selection functions for BMINs are not dependent on the traffic pattern, message size, or system size.     

Physical properties and photoresponse of Cu-Ag-In-S semiconductor electrodes created using chemical bath deposition

Cu-Ag-In-S solid solution semiconductor films were grown on indium-tin oxide-coated glass substrates using chemical bath deposition. New procedures for the growth of Cu-Ag-In-S semiconductor films are presented. The optical, electrical, and photoelectrochemical performances of the ternary CuInS₂, AgIn₅S₈, and their solid solutions are investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns of samples reveal a change in the crystal phase of the samples from the tetragonal CuInS₂ to the cubic AgIn₅S₈ phase with an increase in the [Ag/(Cu+Ag)] molar ratio in precursor solutions. The thicknesses and band gaps of the samples, determined from the surface profile measurements and transmittance spectra, are in the ranges of 841-2107 nm and 1.42-1.75 eV, respectively. The highest photoresponse was observed in the sample with [Ag/(Ag+Cu)]=0.4 (sample (d)) under illumination with a white light intensity of 100 mW/cm². The results show that Cu-Ag-In-S film electrodes have potential in solar to hydrogen applications.     

Numerical simulation for thin wall injection molding of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

The thickness of product is less than 1mm and product compares flowing length to thickness (flow length ratio L/t) to be living above 150 of injection molding filling. This situation is called thin wall injection molding. This study uses MoldFlow software for material (PP), different processing parameters (injection time, melt temperature, mold temperature, injection pressure), various fiber (glass, long glass), different fiber ratio (40%, 50%) and different thickness (1mm, 0.9mm) to simulate the result on notebook computer. The result shows that the mold temperature is the important factor on processing. The mold temperature, melt temperature and injection pressure of thin wall injection molding are higher than convectional injection molding.     

Metal-organic frameworks derived spinel NiCo2O4/graphene nanosheets composite as a bi-functional cathode for high energy density Li–O2 battery applications

Electrode materials having a combined heterostructure morphology can boost the electrochemical performance of energy conversion and storage applications. In this paper, we prepared three-dimensional (3D) porous NiCo₂O₄ dodecahedron nanosheets (NCO) from a metal–organic framework template (ZIF-67) and incorporated them with two-dimensional (2D) multilayer graphene nanosheets (GNS) through a simple and rapid ultrasonication process. The combination of these 3D/2D nanostructures created effective interfaces between the NCO and GNS components that enhanced the intrinsic electronic properties and increased the number of active catalytic sites on the NCO@GNS surfaces. Accordingly, the NCO@GNS electrocatalyst displayed superior kinetics for both the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes and could be fabricated into an air-cathode for Li–O₂ battery applications. The NCO@GNS air-cathode delivered a specific storage capacity (7201 mA h g^?1) higher than those of the NCO and commercial carbon black electrodes. We tested the durability of the Li–O₂ battery featuring the NCO@GNS cathode in a new PAT-cell configuration; it exhibited long-term cyclability for 200 cycles with a limited capacity of 500 mA h g^?1 at a current density of 100 mA g^?1. This cathode design featuring meso- and micropores shortened the pathways for Li⁺ ion diffusion and ensured rapid electron and oxygen transfer, thereby increasing the lifetime of its corresponding Li–O₂ battery.     

Effects of senofilcon A and lotrafilcon B bandage contact lenses on epithelial healing and pain management after bilateral photorefractive keratectomy

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to compare postoperative epithelial healing time and ocular discomfort score in patients wearing two types of silicon hydrogel bandage contact lenses (BCLs) following bilateral photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).MethodsFor the study’s contralateral eye comparison, 43 patients who underwent bilateral PRK were randomized to be fitted for a senofilcon a lens in one eye and a lotrafilcon B lens in the other. The patients were masked to the specific BCL in each eye. On the first 3 days after PRK, the epithelial defect size was calculated, and patients reported their level of ocular discomfort, including pain, epiphora, and photophobia, on a visual analog scale (0 = no pain or discomfort, 10 = highest level of pain and discomfort).ResultsEpithelial defect size (mm²) did not differ significantly between the BCLs on Day 1 (senofilcon A vs. lotrafilcon B: 14.15 ± 5.59 vs. 14.93 ± 5.72, p = .327), Day 2 (senofilcon A vs. lotrafilcon B: 7.43 ± 4.67 vs. 7.04 ± 3.82, p = .586), or Day 3 (senofilcon A vs. lotrafilcon B: 0.59 ± 1.44 vs. 0.38 ± 1.08, p = .348) postoperation. By Day 3, re-epithelialization was complete in 35 eyes (81.3%) with senofilcon A lenses and 36 eyes (83.7%) with lotrafilcon B lenses. Patients reported less pain in eyes with senofilcon A lenses during the first 3 days postoperation (for all, p < .001) and less epiphora during the first 2 days postoperation (Day 1: p = .008, Day 2: p < .001, Day 3: p = .267) than in eyes with lotrafilcon B lenses. No significant difference in photophobia emerged between the BCLs postoperatively (for all, p > .05).ConclusionsAlthough duration of corneal re-epithelialization after PRK between the two BCLs did not differ significantly, senofilcon A lenses caused significantly less pain and epiphora after PRK.     

One-pot synthesis of antimony oxide and bismuth oxide nanocomposites for the selective electrochemical determination of the anticancer drug methotrexate in biomedical samples

Methotrexate (MTRX) is an anticancer drug that is also used for several chronic illnesses; however, a high dosage of MTRX can cause adverse effects, so it is necessary to monitor the MTRX level in blood and urine samples. This work reports the electrochemical determination of MTRX based on Sb₂O₃ and Bi₂O₃ composite material (Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃)modified electrodes. The one-pot sonohydrolysis synthesis method is employed for the preparation of the Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃ composite, which reveals high crystallinity with mixed phases of monoclinic Bi₂O₃ and cubic Sb₂O₃. Furthermore, the phases are identified by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and HRTEM analysis. This composite reveals nanoneedle and nanocube morphologies. The Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃modified GCE shows excellent electrochemical activity for the detection of the anticancer drug methotrexate (MTRX). The activity is compared with the individual Sb₂O₃ and Bi₂O₃ compounds. Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃/GCE shows good electroanalytical characteristics in chronoamperometric analysis. Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃/GCE exhibits a linear range of approximately 0.01 μM to 174.6 μM, a sensitivity of 1.46 μA cm^-2μM^-1, and an LOD of 2.9 nM. Moreover, Sb₂O₃@Bi₂O₃/GCE delivered high selectivity among highly interfering compounds in blood and urine samples.