Reflection mode scanning near-field optical microscopy analyses of integrated devices

Ultra-large-scale integrated devices have been investigated by a reflection mode scanning near-field optical microscope designed for semiconductor analyses. Although it could be found that imaging the reflectivity of metal structures buried underneath thin, optically transparent passivation layers is practicable, shading of the reflected light by the SNOM probe complicated the interpretability of the achieved results. This issue has been overcome by using the SNOM probe as both illumination source and detector, simultaneously. The application of focused ion beam milling to the probes has allowed the increase of the transmittivity of the probes to such an extent that coated fibres could be utilized and the interpretability of the results could be enhanced. Furthermore, the investigated structures are of great interest for an investigation of z-motion artefacts, as the presence of the polished passivation layers allows topographical influences to be distinguished from pure optical contrast.     

PCDD,PCDF and PCB contamination in Atherina boyeri (Risso, 1810) from Turkey

The levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) and indicator polychlorinated biphenyls were measured in Atherina boyeri (Risso, 1810) samples collected from Hirfanl? Dam Lake, Turkey in 2008 and 2009.Concentrations of PCDDs–PCDFs were detected as 0.16 and 0.17 pg TEQ₍₁₉₉₈₎ g^?1 wet weight while contamination levels of DL-PCBs were found as 0.42 and 0.38 pg TEQ₍₁₉₉₈₎ g^?1 wet weight in fish samples. The concentrations of total indicator PCBs in fish samples were found as 1.5 ng g^?1 and 0.9 ng g^?1 wet weight. Concentrations of PCDDs–PCDFs and DL-PCBs were below the EU regulation limits.     

Evaluation of hybrid solar-wind-hydrogen energy system based on methanol electrolyzer

In this study, it is aimed to meet the annual electricity and heating needs of a house without interruption with the photovoltaic panel, wind turbine, methanol electrolyzer, and high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell system. The system results show that the use of the 2 WT with 18 PV was enough to provide the need of the methanol electrolyzer, which provides requirements of the high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The produced heat by the fuel cell was used to meet the heat requirement of the house with combined heat and power system. Electrical, thermal and total efficiencies of fuel cell system with combined heat and power were obtained as 38.54%, 51.77% and 90%, respectively. Additionally, the levelized cost of energy of the system was calculated as 0.295 $/kWh with combined heat and power application. The results of this study show that H₂ is useful for long-term energy storage in off-grid energy systems and that the proposed hybrid system may be the basis for future H₂-based alternative energy applications.     

Experimental investigation of CO tolerance in high temperature PEM fuel cells

In the present work, the effect of operating a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) with different reactant gases has been investigated throughout performance tests. Also, the effects of temperature on the performance of a HT-PEMFC were analyzed at varying temperatures, ranging from 140 °C to 200 °C. Increasing the operating temperature of the cell increases the performance of the HT-PEMFC. The optimum operating temperature was determined to be 160 °C due to the deformations occurring in the cell components at high working temperatures. To investigate the effects of CO on the performance of HT-PEMFC, the CO concentration ranged from 1 to 5 vol %. The current density at 0.6 V decreases from 0.33 A/cm² for H₂ to 0.31 A/cm² for H₂ containing 1 vol % CO, to 0.29 A/cm² for 3 vol % CO, and 0.25 A/cm² for 5 vol % CO, respectively. The experimental results show that the presence of 25 vol % CO₂ or N₂ has only a dilution effect and therefore, there is a minor impact on the HT-PEMFC performance. However, the addition of CO to H₂/N₂ or H₂/CO₂ mixtures increased the performance loss. After long-term performance test for 500 h, the observed voltage drop at constant current density was obtained as ～14.8% for H₂/CO₂/CO (75/22/3) mixture. The overall results suggest that the anode side gas mixture with up to 5 vol % CO can be supplied to the HT-PEMFC stack directly from the reformer.     

Silver and proton driven fluorescent multiple-mode molecular logic gates employing phthalocyanines

Spectral properties and switch behavior of two alkyl thia units bearing Zn (II) phthalocyanine derivatives (Pc-A and Pc-B) were investigated in solvents and in solid matrix of ethyl cellulose by means of absorption and emission spectroscopy. Fluorescence lifetime and fluorescence quantum yield values of the Zn (II) phthalocyanines were calculated. The employed phthalocyanines demonstrated multiple molecular logic gate functions operated by H⁺ and Ag⁺ ions as chemical inputs. The silver driven fluorescence modulation of the Pc-A arises from reversible variations in emission signal intensity at 717 nm. The Pc-B exhibited a similar decreasing emission response to proton and silver ions and an accompanying increasing peak yielding an isobestic point at 746 nm upon protonation. The phthalocyanine doped thin films selectively responded to silver ions in sub-nano and/or pico molar levels. Observed detection limits were 7.6 × 10⁻¹² and 2.3 × 10⁻¹¹ M for Pc-A and Pc-B, respectively. In immobilized phases the attained reversible relative signal changes of Pc-A and Pc-B were 82 and 90%, respectively.     

Improvement of PEMFC performance with Nafion/inorganic nanocomposite membrane electrode assembly prepared by ultrasonic coating technique

Membrane electrode assemblies with Nafion/nanosize titanium silicon dioxide (TiSiO₄) composite membranes were manufactured with a novel ultrasonic-spray technique and tested in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Nafion/TiO₂ and Nafion/SiO₂ nanocomposite membranes were also fabricated by the same technique and their characteristics and performances in PEMFC were compared with Nafion/TiSiO₄ mixed oxide membrane. The composite membranes have been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, water uptake, and proton conductivity. The composite membranes gained good thermal resistance with insertion of inorganic oxides. Uniform and homogeneous distribution of inorganic oxides enhanced crystalline character of these membranes. Gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) were fabricated by Ultrasonic Coating Technique. Catalyst loading was 0.4 mg Pt/cm² for both anode and cathode sides. Fuel cell performances of Nafion/TiSiO₄ composite membrane were better than that of other membranes. The power density obtained at 0.5 V at 75 °C was 0.456 W cm⁻², 0.547 W cm⁻², 0.477 W cm⁻² and 0.803 W cm⁻² for Nafion, Nafion/TiO₂, Nafion/SiO₂, and Nafion/TiSiO₄ composite membranes, respectively.     

Tensile and compressive microspecimen testing of bulk nanoporous gold

Nanoporous gold (np-Au) is a macroscopically brittle material, which poses difficulties for tensile testing of bulk specimens. By combining a fabrication approach that minimizes cracking in bulk np-Au and a microspecimen test technique that permits small testing volumes, both tension and compression tests were performed on sub-millimeter gage thicknesses of np-Au. Compressive strength was higher than tensile strength, as would be expected for a brittle material, but all strength values were significantly lower than literature values for nanoindentation testing. Measured elastic modulus was nearly the same in tension and compression, and was much lower than Gibson-Ash-by scaling relations would predict for porous gold with this density.     

The Interaction of Sheep Genomic DNA with a Cobalt(II) Complex Containing p-Nitrobenzoate and N,N′-Diethylnicotinamide Ligands

The synthesized cobalt(II) complex, CoPNBDENA and the binding of this complex with sheep genomic DNA were investigated by UV–Visible absorption and viscosity techniques. Also the interaction of sheep genomic DNA with the complex was studied using the agarose gel electrophoresis method. The results indicated that the complex interacted with DNA. The nature of the binding seemed to be mainly an electrostatic interaction between DNA and the cobalt(II) complex. Other binding modes such as hydrogen bonds may also exist in this system. In this study, after the interaction of DNA–CoPNBDENA, it was observed that the migration of the DNA band became slow as the amount of cobalt(II) complex was increased. This clearly demonstrates that the CoPNBDENA complex neutralizes the negative charges of DNA.     

Intraepithelial lymphocytes and their recognition of non-classical MHC molecules

Recent studies of the TCR alpha and beta chains expressed by normal human IELs suggest that these intestinal lymphocytes are directed at a limited set of antigens, presumably on intestinal epithelial cells in view of their anatomic location. The direct sequence analysis of these cells has indicated that they are oligoclonal and cannot, therefore, be responding to the complex mixture of antigens which are present in the lumen. The abundant expression of the CD8 accessory molecule by the IELs, in addition, indicates that these putative intestinal epithelial cell antigens are presented by MHC class I or I-like molecules. The expression of CD8 also suggests that these cells function biologically in part as cytolytic T lymphocytes which is consistent with a variety of functional studies. Taken together with their expression of the CD45RO isoform, these phenotypic and functional observations suggest that iIELs are cytolytic, memory cells which are responsive to an extremely limited number of antigens bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or class I-like molecules. Several non-polymorphic MHC class I-like molecules such as Qa, the thymus leukemia antigen (TL) and CD1 in the mouse and CD1 in human represent important candidate ligands for these oligoclonal iIELs. TL and CD1 are expressed specifically by murine intestinal epithelial cells. In humans, CD1d is constitutively expressed by intestinal epithelial cells. In addition, we have isolated iIEL T cell clones which specifically recognize members of the CD1 gene family when expressed on a transfected B cell line that lacks HLA-A and B and have shown that the proliferation of peripheral blood T cells to intestinal epithelial cells is CD1d dependent. Thus, the evidence to date strongly implicate the nonpolymorphic, class Ib molecules as novel restriction elements for unique populations of lymphocytes within the intestinal epithelium.     

Localized deposition of GaAs/GaInP heterostructures using LP-MOVPE

GaInP layers were grown selectively by low pressure MOVPE in patterned SiO₂ masks on GaAs (100) substrates. The variation of the composition and spontaneous ordering phenomena were analysed by Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence. In contrast to GaInAs, the composition of GalnP shows only a very weak dependence on the size of the structures. On the other hand, there is a shift of the bandgap energy up to 40 meV with decreasing size of the stripes caused by ordering of the Ga and In atoms. Based on these findings lattice matched GaAs/GalnP multilayers were grown to delineate the growth history of the structures. It was demonstrated that the growth habit of deposition in narrow slits (>1μm) can be used to produce mesa-like stripes with dimensions below 100 nm on top of the mesa. Results of GaAs/GaInP quantum wells selectively grown on top of a mesa are presented.