An attenuated total reflectance far-UV spectrometer

An ultraviolet spectrometer based on attenuated total reflection (ATR) has been developed and tested for liquid water (light and heavy water) in the wavelength range from 140 to 300 nm, which includes the far ultraviolet (FUV) region. One of the principal limitations of FUV transmission spectra is the strong absorption of the solvent itself. High absorptivity of the n --> sigma(*) transition in water molecule has thus far prevented meaningful spectral measurements of aqueous solutions in the wavelength region under 170 nm. Our technique uses the evanescent wave created through total reflection when light is passed through an internal reflection element (IRE) in contact with the sample. Since the evanescent field is used as an optical path length, the method allows spectral measurements favorably comparable with that of transmittance method with a shorter path length than the wavelength of FUV light. In this study, we have designed an original miniature IRE probe made of sapphire that allows detection of the whole n --> sigma(*) transition absorption band of water down to 140 nm. The obtained ATR-FUV spectra closely match calculations based on the Fresnel formula. It is also confirmed that this spectrometer is equally effective for spectral measurements of nonaqueous solvents with significant absorptivities in the FUV region.     

High‐Speed Organic Single‐Crystal Transistor Responding to Very High Frequency Band

Although high carrier mobility organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) are required for high‐speed device applications, improving the carrier mobility alone does not lead to high‐speed operation. Because the cut‐off frequency is determined predominantly by the total resistance and parasitic capacitance of a transistor, it is necessary to miniaturize OFETs while reducing these factors. Depositing a dopant layer only at the metal/semiconductor interface is an effective technique to reduce the contact resistance. However, fine‐patterning techniques for a dopant layer are still challenging especially for a top‐contact solution‐processed OFET geometry because organic semiconductors are vulnerable to chemical damage by solvents. In this work, high‐resolution, damage‐free patterning of a dopant layer is developed to fabricate short‐channel OFETs with a dopant interlayer inserted at the contacts. The fabricated OFETs exhibit high mobility exceeding 10 cm² V^?1 s^?1 together with a reasonably low contact resistance, allowing for high frequency operation at 38 MHz. In addition, a diode‐connected OFET shows a rectifying capability of up to 78 MHz at an applied voltage of 5 V. This shows that an OFET can respond to the very high frequency band, which is beneficial for long‐distance wireless communication.     

Preparation of niobium oxide films as a humidity sensor

Niobium oxide films were prepared over a quartz plate by withdrawing it from a solution of niobium penta-isopropoxide (NIP) dissolved in sec-propyl alcohol. The films calcined at 673 K were well controlled in the film thickness either by NIP concentration in the solution or by the withdrawing rate of the quartz plate from the solution. BET surface area of the calcined films was as huge as around 400 m²g₋₁ and was not reduced by cyclic adsorption/desorption of water vapor. A rapid decrease and increase in the electrical resistivity of the calcined films was well associated with the cyclic adsorption/desorption of water vapor. The decrease in the electrical resistivity of the films by water vapor adsorption was more than 10 times sensitive than the decrease caused by the adsorption of ethanol, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These results suggest an application of the niobium oxide films as an element of a humidity sensor.

The calcined films were proved by SEM observation to consist of tiny particles possessing a lotofmicropores sized less than 20 A. The decrease in the electrical resistivity of the films, or the increase in the electrical conductivity, was attributed to the water vapor adsorbed in these micropores. In order to identify the charge carriers during water vapor adsorption on the films, changes in the impedance and the phase shift caused by water vapor adsorption were measured using an LCR meter in AC frequency range of 10 Hz to 100 kHz. From a complex impedance plotting, single semicircule was obtained for water vapor adsorption onto the films, suggesting single adsorbed species as a charge carrier. Assuming an equivalent electric circuit for the films adsorbing water vapor, a constant capacitance was calculated under various partial pressures of water vapor, probably suggesting that the charge carriers will be H₃O⁺ on the films.     

Characterization of micro‐cell discharge in AC‐PDPs by spatio‐temporal optical emission spectroscopy

Abstract— We have developed highly resolved spatio‐temporal optical emission spectroscopy to investigate the discharge characteristics of coplanar type ac plasma‐display panels (AC‐PDPs). Spatio‐temporal emission profiles were measured for relevant lines of atomic He, Ne, Xe, and ionic Xe in He‐Xe and Ne‐Xe systems with various Xe concentrations and total gas pressures. The surface‐discharge behavior in coplanar PDPs has been clarified.     

Formation of novel sintered composites by high-pressure crystallization of amorphous ceramics

A combination of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and high-pressure (HP) techniques has achieved the fabrication of the zincblende form of boron nitride (z-BN)-based ceramic composites. The CVD technique provides amorphous B-N-X (X = aluminium, silicon or titanium). The HP technique renders the amorphous samples crystalline and decomposition into z-BN plus the respective nitride (-Si₃N₄ for instance) occurs. Compacts of the composites are obtained byin situ sintering under high pressure. The compacts exhibit peculiar microstructures composed of z-BN nano-crystals homogeneously dispersed in the nitride matrices.     

Potential of far-ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy as a highly sensitive qualitative and quantitative analysis method for polymer films, part I: classification of commercial food wrap films

The aim of the present study is to propose a totally new technique for the utilization of far-ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy in polymer thin film analysis. Far-UV spectra in the 120-300 nm region have been measured in situ for six kinds of commercial polymer wrap films by use of a novel type of far-UV spectrometer that does not need vacuum evaporation. These films can be straightforwardly classified into three groups, polyethylene (PE) films, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films, and polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) films, by using the raw spectra. The differences in the wavelength of the absorption band due to the sigma-sigma* transition of the C-C bond have been used for the classification of the six kinds of films. Using this method, it was easy to distinguish the three kinds of PE films and to separate the two kinds of PVDC films. Compared with other spectroscopic methods, the advantages of this technique include nondestructive analysis, easy spectral measurement, high sensitivity, and simple spectral analysis. The present study has demonstrated that far-UV spectroscopy is a very promising technique for polymer film analysis.     

Decomposition of benzene using a nonthermal plasma reactor packedwith ferroelectric pellets

The decomposition of benzene in air was carried out using a nonthermal plasma discharge reactor packed with ferroelectric materials. It was found that ferroelectric materials of 1-2 mm in diameter with a relative dielectric constant of ϵ_r>1100 decomposed benzene with greatest energy efficiency. Benzene at low concentrations (below 50 ppm) was completely decomposed to CO and CO₂ with no formation of other hydrocarbons. The ratio of CO to CO₂ produced from benzene was minimized under an atmosphere containing more than 5% O₂     

Multiple‐type objects in an enhanced C++ persistent programming language

An entity in the real world may obtain and lose its roles, or aspects, again and again with time. For modeling such dynamic changes of aspects, objects having multiple types, or multiple‐type objects, are essential to persistent programming languages. In this paper, we introduce multiple‐type objects, and show a method of implementing them in an enhanced C++ persistent programming language called INADA. Any persistent objects in INADA may obtain any type at any time the type is needed, and may lose any unnecessary types dynamically. We also present a performance study in which the performance penalty caused by the introduction of multiple‐type objects was examined. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decomposition of benzene using alumina-hybrid and catalyst-hybridplasma reactors

In order to investigate the effects of alumina and metal ions in plasma discharge, plasma reactors packed with a mixture of BaTiO₃ pellets and porous Al₂O₃ pellets (alumina-hybrid reactor), and with a-mixture of BaTiO₃ pellets and metal-supported Al₂O₃ pellets (catalyst-hybrid reactor) were examined for oxidation of dilute benzene in air. It was found that the oxidative decomposition of benzene was enhanced by concentrating benzene on the Al₂O₃ pellets and the catalyst pellets. Furthermore, the selectivities to CO ₂ in the alumina-hybrid reactor and the catalyst-hybrid reactors were higher than those in the plasma reactor packed with BaTiO ₃ pellets alone. In particular, the selectivities to CO₂ in the catalyst-hybrid reactors using Ag, Co, Cu and Ni/Al₂ O₃ were higher than those from the alumina-hybrid reactor. In addition, the presence of the alumina and catalysts suppressed the formation of N₂O     

A 1.6-GByte/s DRAM with flexible mapping redundancy technique andadditional refresh scheme

We implemented 72-Mb direct Rambus DRAM with new memory architecture suitable for multibank. There are two novel schemes: flexible mapping redundancy (FMR) technique and additional refresh scheme. This paper shows that multibank reduces redundancy area efficiency. But with the FMR technique, this 16-bank DRAM realizes the same area efficiency as a single-bank DRAM. In other words, FMR reduces chip area by 13%. This paper also describes that additional refresh scheme reduces data retention power to 1/4. Its area efficiency is about four times better than that of the conventional redundancy approach