Development of silicon wafer packaging technology for deep UV LED

This paper reports a deep‐ultraviolet LED (deep‐UV‐LED) package based on silicon MEMS process technology (Si‐PKG). The package consists of a cavity formed by silicon crystalline anisotropic etching, through‐silicon vias (TSVs) filled with electroplated Cu, bonding metals made of electroplated Ni/AuSn and a quartz lid for hermetic sealing. A deep‐UV LED die is directly mounted in the Si‐PKG by AuSn eutectic bonding without a submount. It has advantages in terms of size, heat dissipation, light utilization efficiency, productivity and cost over conventional AlN ceramic packages. We confirmed a light output of 30 mW and effective reflection on Si (111) cavity slopes in the Si‐PKG. Based on simulation, further improvement of the optical output is expected by optimizing DUV‐LED die mount condition.     

Application results of a prototype ultrasonic liquid film sensor to a 7 MPa steam–water two-phase flow experiment

A prototype ultrasonic liquid film sensor was applied to a high-temperature steam–water two-phase flow experiment. The liquid film sensor was vertically installed in a loop which was connected to HUSTLE, a multi-purpose steam source test facility. The hydraulic diameter of the measurement section was 9.4 mm. The output waveforms of the sensor were acquired with a digital oscilloscope. The fluid temperature and system pressure were kept at 288 °C and 7.2 MPa, respectively, during the experiment. The pulse-echo method was used to calculate the liquid film thickness. The cross-correlation calculation was utilized to determine the time difference between the pulse reflected at the sensor surface and the pulse reflected at the liquid film surface. The time-averaged liquid film thicknesses were less than 0.055 mm in the annular flow condition. The increase of the time-averaged thickness was small with the change of the gas momentum flux. The film thicknesses measured with the sensor were compared with the past experimental results; the former were smaller than one-fourth of the thickness estimated as the mean film thickness. The comparison results suggested that the continuous liquid sublayer thickness was measured with the liquid film sensor.     

Epitaxial p-type SiC as a self-driven photocathode for water splitting

Solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiencies of water-splitting photochathodes using epitaxially grown p-type 4H-, 6H- and 3C-SiC were estimated in a two-electrode system without applying any external bias. By using electrode materials with small oxygen overpotentials as counter electrodes, the photocurrent became comparable to that observed in a three-electrode system with a suitable bias. Estimated efficiencies seem to depend on the bandgap of the SiC polytypes. For the 3C-SiC, the obtained efficiency was 0.38%, which is so far the highest value reported for SiC. We confirmed that the hydrogen volumes estimated from the photocurrent were almost the same as actual volumes observed by gas chromatography.     

Impact of Dynamic Interlayer Interactions on Thermal Conductivity of Ca3Co4O9

The phonon thermal conductivity of misfit-layered Ca₃Co₄O₉ has been calculated by perturbed molecular dynamics using a classical force field. Detailed numerical analyses reveal that, in spite of its smaller cross-sectional area, the CoO₂ layer transports more heat than the thicker rock salt (RS) layer, although its local thermal conduction is more suppressed than in another layered cobaltite, Na _x CoO₂. The origins of these differences have been elucidated through careful examination of the atomic arrangements in each layer. Since thermal conduction in the RS layer can be reduced without deteriorating electronic properties for which the CoO₂ layer is responsible, it is suggested that the RS layer should be modified to further suppress the overall in-plane thermal conductivity. Computational experiments with increasing number of Ca–O planes in the RS layer showed the opposite trend to what can be predicted based on the misfit between two dissimilar layers. Further analyses to reveal the origin of these unexpected results provide yet another strategy to further decrease the thermal conductivity, namely to control the dynamic interference between atoms across the interface between two layers.     

Investigation of Precipitation Behavior in Age-Hardenable Cu-Ti Alloys by an Extraction-Based Approach

We investigated the precipitation processes in Cu-4 mol pct Ti alloy specimens aged at 723 K (450 °C), by means of X-ray diffraction and chemical analyses of the precipitates extracted from the parent alloy specimens. Aging-induced precipitate particles of a spinodally decomposed disorder, α′; those of a metastable order, β′-Cu₄Ti; and those of a stable order, β-Cu₄Ti, were continuously formed in the aged specimens. The extraction of the precipitate particles from the aged specimens by submergence in a nitric solution allowed for not only the structural analyses of the constituent precipitate phases but also the quantitative evaluation of their chemical compositions and volume fractions. Early during the aging process, the supersaturated Cu solid solution decomposes spinodally in a continuous manner, and an unstable disorder, α′, appears. Then, fine needle-shaped β′-Cu₄Ti particles, which have a Ti content of approximately 37.5 mol pct, form in the Cu matrix. During prolonged aging, coarse cellular components composed of the terminal Cu solid solution and stable β-Cu₄Ti particles which have a Ti content of 20.5 mol pct nucleate and grow, primarily in the grain boundaries, at the expense of the metastable β′-Cu₄Ti particles. The volume fraction of the β′-Cu₄Ti particles in the alloy reaches a maximum of approximately 1.7 pct after aging for 24 hours, while that of the β-Cu₄Ti particles increases steadily to more than 18 pct after 480 hours. The volume fraction of the fine β′-Cu₄Ti particles in the alloy specimens remained constant throughout the age-hardening, indicating that the hardening is primarily owing to the fine dispersion of the β′-Cu₄Ti particles and not because of the large volume fraction of coarse β-Cu₄Ti particles.     

Main‐chain smectic liquid crystalline polymer exhibiting unusually high thermal conductivity in an isotropic composite

The thermal conductivity (TC) of an isotropic composite comprising of a main‐chain smectic liquid crystalline PB‐10 polyester and 50‐μm‐sized roughly spherical magnesium oxide (MgO) particles is investigated. The increase in the composite TC with higher MgO fractions is steeper than that expected by Bruggeman's theory for the TC of a polydomain PB‐10 polyester (0.52 W m^?1 K^?1). When the filler content is larger than 30 vol %, the composite TC approaches a value that can be explained only if the polyester functions as a matrix with 1.0 W m^?1 K^?1, which is five times as high as those of isotropic common polymers (0.2 W m^?1 K^?1). Such an unusually high TC for a polymer matrix is attributed to some polymer lamellae that lie parallel to the particle surface and are stacked toward neighboring particles, thus creating effective heat paths between the particles and a continuous thermal network in a composite. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2014 , 131, 39896.     

Enzymatic Analysis of Positional Distribution of Fatty Acids in Solid Fat by 1,3-Selective Transesterification with Candida antarctica Lipase B

A protocol for the analysis of the positional distribution of fatty acids (FA) in solid triacylglycerols (TAG) was developed using sn-1(3) selective alcoholysis catalyzed by immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB). One part by weight of solid fat and ten parts by weight of ethanol (99.5 %) were warmed to liquefy the fat. After adding 0.44 parts by weight of CALB, the mixture was shaken at 50 °C for 10 min then at 30 °C for 2.8 h. The recovery of 2-MAG after the 3-h transesterification reaction was ca. 85 % of the maximum theoretical yield (33 mol%), with the loss of 15 % attributable to the acyl migration from sn-2 to sn-1(3). The recovery was similar to that of the solvent-free alcoholysis of structured lipids, 1,3-dipalmitoyl, 2-oleoyl glycerol and 1,3-dioleoyl, 2-palmitoyl glycerol, conducted at 30 °C for 3 h. In contrast, the acyl migration from sn-1(3) to sn-2 was hardly observed. Because the detected acyl migration was only in the direction of sn-2 to sn-1(3), and not vice versa, it is proposed to determine the FA composition of the sn-2 position of TAG by the gas chromatographic analysis of 2-MAG fraction recovered from the enzymatic reaction mixture, and the FA composition of sn-1(3) position by a mass balance using the FA composition of TAG and of the sn-2 position as inputs. The procedure was successfully applied to palm oil and shea butter, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich single cell oil from Aurantiochytrium sp. KH105 for the first time.     

The Pathogenesis of Cardiac Fibrosis: A Review of Recent Progress

Fibrosis is defined as the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in the interstitium. It is an essential pathological response to chronic inflammation. ECM protein deposition is initially protective and is critical for wound healing and tissue regeneration. However, pathological cardiac remodeling in excessive and continuous tissue damage with subsequent ECM deposition results in a distorted organ architecture and significantly impacts cardiac function. In this review, we summarized and discussed the histologic features of cardiac fibrosis with the signaling factors that control it. We evaluated the origin and characteristic markers of cardiac fibroblasts. We also discussed lymphatic vessels, which have become more important in recent years to improve cardiac fibrosis.     

Crystalline Sodium Selenocarboxylates – synthesis and characterization

A series of sodium selenocarboxylates 2 were isolated from the reaction of diacyl selenides with sodium ethanolate and characterized. A convenient preparation of the sodium salts 2 by the direct reaction of acyl chlorides with sodium selenide was also established. The salts are colourless to slightly pale yellow crystals and labile towards moisture. They readily react with alkyl iodides at room temperature to give the corresponding Se-alkyl esters 3 .     

Profiling and Imaging of Phospholipids in Brains of Abcd1‐Deficient Mice

ABCD1 is a gene responsible for X‐linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X‐ALD), and is critical for the transport of very long‐chain fatty acids (VLCFA) into peroxisomes and subsequent β‐oxidation. VLCFA‐containing lipids accumulate in X‐ALD patients, although the effect of ABCD1‐deficiency on each lipid species in the central nervous system has not been fully characterized. In this study, each phospholipid and lysophospholipid species in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains were profiled by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Among the phospholipid and lysophospholipid species that are significantly more enriched in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains, VLCFA were present in 75, 15, 5, 4, and 1 species of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine, and lysophosphatidylethanolamine, respectively. Most VLCFA were incorporated at the sn‐1 position of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Among the phospholipid species that are significantly less enriched in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains, odd‐numbered saturated or mono‐unsaturated fatty acyl moieties are contained in all phosphatidylcholine species. In addition, a number of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylserine species contained highly unsaturated fatty acyl moieties. Intriguingly, 44:1 phosphatidylcholine with VLCFA was mainly distributed in the gray matter, such as the cortex, but not in the white matter in the cerebrum and cerebellum. These results show that ABCD1‐deficiency causes metabolic alternation of long‐chain fatty acids and VLCFA. Moreover, our results imply a molecular mechanism for the incorporation of saturated or monounsaturated VLCFA into the sn‐1 position of phospholipids, and also indicate that the distribution of phospholipids with VLCFA may correlate with the development of X‐ALD.