Testing and Diagnosis of Realistic Defects in Digital Microfluidic Biochips

Microfluidics-based biochips are soon expected to revolutionize biosensing, clinical diagnostics and drug discovery. Robust off-line and on-line test techniques are required to ensure system dependability as these biochips are deployed for safety-critical applications. Due to the underlying mixed-technology and mixed-energy domains, biochips exhibit unique failure mechanisms and defects. We first relate some realistic defects to fault models and observable errors. We next set up an experiment to evaluate the manifestations of electrode-short faults. Motivated by the experimental results, we present a testing and diagnosis methodology to detect catastrophic faults and locate faulty regions. The proposed method is evaluated using a biochip performing real-life multiplexed bioassays.     

A Sharp Interface Model of Intermediate-Phase Growth Under the Influence of Electromigration

A sharp interface model has been developed to model intermediate-phase growth under the influence of electromigration in a binary system. Simulation results show that the phase growth rate depends on both the magnitude and the direction of the applied current. With the current density fixed, at early times, there is a parabolic growth behavior for the intermediate phase, while at longer times, there is a linear phase growth behavior when the electron flow aids diffusion of atoms; however, a limiting thickness is found when the electron flow hinders diffusion. Qualitative analysis shows that the longer time behavior also holds in a binary system with multiple intermediate phases present.     

Atom Probe Tomography of Zinc Oxide Nanowires

Wide-bandgap zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductors and nanowires have become important materials for electronic and photonic device applications. In this work, we report the growth of well-aligned single-crystal ZnO nanowire arrays on sapphire substrates by chemical vapor deposition and the development of atom probe tomography, an emerging nanoscale characterization method capable of providing deeper insight into the three-dimensional distribution of atoms and impurities within its structure. Using a metal-catalyst-free approach, the influence of the growth parameters on the orientation and density of the nanowires were studied. The resulting ZnO nanowires were determined to be single crystalline, with diameter on the order of 50 nm to 150 nm and length that could be controlled between 0.5 μm to 20 μm. Their density was on the order of high 10⁸ cm⁻² to low 10⁹ cm⁻². In addition to routine characterizations using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy, we developed the atom probe tomography technique for ZnO nanowires, comparing the voltage pulse and laser pulse modes. In-depth analysis of the data was carried out to determine the accurate chemical composition of the nanowires and reveal the incorporation of nitrogen impurities. The current–voltage characteristics of individual nanowires were measured to determine their electrical properties.     

Targeted Delivery of Anesthetic Agents to Bone Tissues using Conductive Microneedles Enhanced Iontophoresis for Painless Dental Anesthesia

Pain management during dental procedures is a cornerstone for successful daily practice. In current practice, the traditional needle and syringe injection is used to administer local anesthesia. However, the appearance of long needles and the pain associated with it often leads to dental anxiety deterring timely interventions. Microneedles (MNs) have emerged as a minimally invasive alternative to hypodermic needles and shown to be effective in transdermal drug delivery applications. In this article, the potential use of MNs for local anesthesia delivery in dentistry is explored. The development of a novel conductive MN array that can be used in combination with iontophoresis technique to achieve drug penetration through the oral mucosa and the underlying bone tissue is presented. The conductive MN array plays a dual-role, creating micro-conduits and lowering the resistance of the oral mucosa. The reduced tissue resistance further enhances the application of a low-voltage current that is able to direct and accelerate the drug molecules to target the sensory nerves supplying teeth. The successful delivery of lidocaine using this new strategy in a clinically relevant rabbit incisor model is shown to be as effective as the current gold standard.     

Modal Analysis of the Quasi-Optical Performance of Phase Gratings

This paper is concerned with the analysis of phase gratings as passive quasi-optical multiplexing devices. One important application of such components is in the local oscillator injection chain of heterodyne array receivers. Gaussian beam mode analysis can be applied as a powerful tool when modelling the optical performance of phase gratings in a real submillimeter system of finite throughput and bandwidth. In our experimental investigations we have concentrated on the Dammann Grating (DG) which is a binary optical component and thus straightforward to manufacture. A number of quartz gratings were fabricated and carefully tested to evaluate the practical limitations of such quasi-optical components. Because of its convenient refractive index quartz can be used to produce gratings with very low reflection losses. The results presented confirm DGs to be particularly suitable multiplexers for sparse arrays of finite bandwidth.     

A Multiwalled‐Carbon‐Nanotube‐Based Biosensor for Monitoring Microcystin‐LR in Sources of Drinking Water Supplies

A multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)‐based electrochemical biosensor is developed for monitoring microcystin‐LR (MC‐LR), a toxic cyanobacterial toxin, in sources of drinking water supplies. The biosensor electrodes are fabricated using vertically well‐aligned, dense, millimeter‐long MWCNT arrays with a narrow size distribution, grown on patterned Si substrates by water‐assisted chemical vapor deposition. High temperature thermal treatment (2500 °C) in an Ar atmosphere is used to enhance the crystallinity of the pristine materials, followed by electrochemical functionalization in alkaline solution to produce oxygen‐containing functional groups on the MWCNT surface, thus providing the anchoring sites for linking molecules that allow the immobilization of MC‐LR onto the MWCNT array electrodes. Addition of the monoclonal antibodies specific to MC‐LR in the incubation solutions offers the required sensor specificity for toxin detection. The performance of the MWCNT array biosensor is evaluated using micro‐Raman spectroscopy, including polarized Raman measurements, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, optical microscopy, and Faradaic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A linear dependence of the electron‐transfer resistance on the MC‐LR concentration is observed in the range of 0.05 to 20 μg L^?1, which enables cyanotoxin monitoring well below the World Health Organization (WHO) provisional concentration limit of 1 μg L^?1 for MC‐LR in drinking water.     

Cyclobutadiene–C60 Adducts: N‐Type Materials for Organic Photovoltaic Cells with High VOC

New tetraalkylcyclobutadiene–C₆₀ adducts are developed via Diels–Alder cycloaddition of C₆₀ with in situ generated cyclobutadienes. The cofacial π‐orbital interactions between the fullerene orbitals and the cyclobutene are shown to decrease the electron affinity and thereby increase the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level of C₆₀ significantly (ca. 100 and 300 meV for mono‐ and bisadducts, respectively). These variations in LUMO levels of fullerene can be used to generate higher open‐circuit voltages (V_OC) in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. The tetramethylcyclobutadiene–C₆₀ monoadduct displays an open‐circuit voltage (0.61 V) and a power conversion efficiency (2.49%) comparable to the widely used P3HT/PCBM (poly(3‐hexylthiophene/([6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester) composite (0.58 V and 2.57%, respectively). The role of the cofacial π‐orbital interactions between C₆₀ and the attached cyclobutene group was probed chemically by epoxidation of the cyclobutene moiety and theoretically through density functional theory calculations. The electrochemical, photophysical, and thermal properties of the newly synthesized fullerene derivatives support the proposed effect of functionalization on electron affinities and photovoltaic performance.     

底部填充工艺的瞬时温度环境管理

微电子组装的大部份工艺开发都要求将元件做到更小,以便在尺寸日益缩小的便携式设备上实现更多功能。阐述了大元件的底部填充,即一侧的尺寸超过15mm,底部填充的胶量介于30～50mg。大尺寸晶元的制造工艺要求比现有生产线更大的产能,这就给底部填充点胶带来更大的挑战。大元件的产能超过3000个/h时,需要点胶机点出非常多的胶水。如此多的胶水在出胶前通过点胶阀,这将会带来加热的问题-某些工艺要求出胶前胶水必须要加热。这会对胶点尺寸有影响,因为随着温度的变化,底部填充的胶水黏度也会随之变化,从而轻微影响点出的胶量。从而将影响晶元相邻的“非沾染区”。稳定的温度是点胶稳定性的保证,并且能帮助胶水流进晶元下方同时也有助胶水分离从而更容易喷射出来。从研究中可以观察到：系统温度环境（点胶机内部）对点胶的胶水质量有影响。     

Improved surface laplacian estimates of cortical potential using realistic models of head geometry

Surface Laplacian of scalp EEG can be used to estimate the potential distribution on the cortical surface as an alternative to invasive approaches. However, the accuracy of surface Laplacian estimation depends critically on the geometric shape of the head model. This paper presents a new method for computing the surface Laplacian of scalp potential directly on realistic scalp surfaces in the form of a triangular mesh reconstructed from MRI scans. Unlike previous methods, this algorithm does not resort to any surface fitting proxy and can improve the surface Laplacian estimation of cortical potential patterns by as much as 34% on realistically shaped head models. Simulations and experimental data are presented to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method over the conventional spherical approximation and the utility of a more accurate surface Laplacian method for estimating cortical potentials from scalp electrodes.     

平板显示器制造中用作精密淀积设备的喷墨印刷头

显示器设备制造商之间有着共同的发展计划,电子流体显色剂和喷墨印刷头的设计者们已成功实现了大型电子显示板平板显示器引导线制造中特制的喷墨印刷头的发展计划。这种喷墨印刷头正在被认作各种大面积液晶显示器制造工艺的精密淀积设备。现这种喷墨型设备的市场需求正在不断增长。对于通过单独整理每个喷嘴通道进行一个128喷嘴的压力式喷墨印刷头流体下降位置控制情况给予了介绍。这种印刷头用作大型电子显示板显示器引导线的制造,通过采用不同的印刷头便可使大面积衬底的生产率得到提高的机会。讨论了通过印刷头和系统设计提高生产率实质。其它的高技术市场为利用精密降落位置和降落量控制。并给出了采用喷嘴制作印刷电路极的一些例子。