Modeling of circuits and architectures for molecular electronics

The considerable progress of recent years have demonstrated the potential of molecular electronics to first enhance the capabilities of silicon electronics and, possibly, to substitute it when the intrinsic physical limits of scalability will be reached by CMOS technology. Despite such advances, a real alternative will only be possible if novel circuit and architecture concepts will be developed, which are fully suited to molecular devices. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the theoretical activities carried out at the Institute for Nanoelectronics of the Technische Universität München in the field of molecular devices and circuits, critically assessing such work with respect to what has been proposed in the literature. Two approaches to molecular electronics will be analyzed. On the one side, we will deal with transistors based on organic films, and present circuit solutions based on inverters as basic blocks. On the other side, we will consider single molecule devices and the architectures that might allow system implementations.     

Thermal transport in MWCNT sheets and yarns

Laser flash and self-heating 3ω techniques were employed to determine the anisotropic thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of a highly oriented, free-standing multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sheet and a yarn drawn from a sidewall of the MWCNT forest grown by chemical-vapor deposition. Normalized to ideal high density structure the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity along the alignment are 50 ± 5 W/m K and 45 ± 5 mm²/s, respectively, and are mostly limited by dangling terminals of bundles, intrinsic defects of individual nanotubes and phonon scattering within the bundles, which form the supporting matrix of the MWCNT sheet. The high degree of tube–tube overlap substantially decreases the electrical and thermal interconnection resistance, which usually dominates in randomly deposited mat-like nanotube assemblies. The extremely high surface area of the MWCNT sheet leads to excessive radial heat radiation that does not allow transferring the heat energy along the MWCNT sheet by means of phonons to distances >2 mm. On the other hand, the high surface area and negligible heat capacitance make it a perfect material for bolometric sensing (r = 38 V/W) and heat dissipation.     

Molecular architecture and biophysical properties of phospholipids during thermal adaptation in fish: An experimental and model study

Phospholipids from livers of carps (Cyprinus carpio L.) adapted to winter (5°C) and summer (25°C) temperatures were isolated, and the fatty acid composition of total phospholipids, as well as molecular species composition of diacyl phosphatidylcholines and ethanolamines, were determined. Order parameter of 5-doxyl stearic acid and steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of different anthroyloxy fatty acids—[2-, 12(N-9-anthroyloxy)stearic acid and 16(N-9-anthroyloxy)palmitic acid—embedded in native and synthetic (16∶0/16∶0, 16∶0/22∶6, 18∶0/22∶6, 18∶1/22∶6, 20∶4/20∶4, 22∶6/22∶6 phosphatidylcholines and 16∶0/18∶1, 18∶1/22∶6 phosphatidylethanolamines) phospholipid vesicles was also determined between −30 and 30°C and 5 and 30°C, respectively. There is an accumulation of 1-monoenoic, 2-polyenoic diacyl phosphatidylcholine and ethanolamine with a concomitant reduction of 1-stearoyl,2-docosahexaenoyl species in the cold-adapted state. Despite a 30% accumulation of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in phospholipids in cold, there is only a 5°C downshift in the solid-gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition temperature (−8 vs. −13°C). Vesicles from total phospholipids of cold-adapted fish proved to be more disordered in all segments than from the warmadapted ones when assayed using 2,12-(N-9-anthroyloxy)stearic and 16-(N-9-anthroyloxy)palmitic acid. Vesicles made from purified phosphatidylcholines showed the same pattern, but they were more disordered than the corresponding total phospholipids. This could be modelled using mixed phospholipid vesicles made of synthetic 16∶0/22∶6 phosphatidylcholine (75%) and either 18∶1/22∶6 phosphatidylethanolamine (25%) vs. 16∶0/18∶1 phosphatidylethanolamine (25%) and comparison of the anisotropy parameters of 100% 16∶0/22∶6 and 100% 18∶1/22∶6 phosphatidylcholine vesicles. Mixing either 16∶0/18∶1 (25%) or 18∶1/22∶6 (25%) phosphatidylethanolamines to 18∶0/22∶6 (75%) phosphatidylcholine shifted down or up, respectively, the transition temperature of vesicles compared to 100% 18∶0/22∶6 vesicles assayed by electron spin resonance spectroscopy using 5-doxylstearic acid. It is concluded that it is not the gross amount of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in phospholipids, but rather their specific combination withcis Δ9 monounsaturated fatty acids in the positionsn-1, especially in phosphatidylethanolamines, that is important in determining the physical properties of biomembranes in relation to adaptational temperature.     

Synthesis and characterization of cross-linked polymeric nanoparticles and their composites for reinforcement of photocurable dental resin

Reactive polymeric nanoparticles were formed for reinforcement of photocurable dental resin. Cross-linked polymeric nanoparticles were synthesized by emulsion polymerization of mono- (methyl methacrylate; MMA) and trifunctional (trimethylol propane trimethacrylate; TMPTMA) monomers. The nanoparticles were dispersed in bisphenol A glycol dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA) based dental resin matrix in the range of 5–25 wt% to form photocurable nanocomposites.The effect of reactive polymeric particles on the mechanical properties of photocurable dental resin was investigated. Polymerization shrinkage, polymerization shrinkage stress, viscosity, diametral tensile strength, compressive, and flexural strength of the nanocomposites have been studied.It was observed that the cross-linked nanoparticles significantly influenced the mechanical properties of the reinforced dental resin nanocomposites.     

Unspecific binding capacity of androgen receptors in the rat uterus

Plasma levels of cAMP and serum concentrations of IgE have been determined in children with acute atopic dermatitis (AD) and in a healthy control group, to illuminate the pathophysiological mechanisms that cause AD. There were significantly lower plasma levels of cAMP (P < 0.001) and significantly higher levels of serum IgE (P < 0.004) in children with AD, in comparison with a healthy control group. It is possible that defective control of c-AMP levels could contribute to the immunopathogenesis of AD and monitoring levels may be of value in the clinical evaluation of the disease.     

Simulation of Field Coupled Computing Architectures Based on Magnetic Dot Arrays

In this paper, we demonstrate that field-coupled nanomagnets can be used for digital information processing. The operation of logic devices is based on a QCA-like architecture, where information propagates by magnetostatic interaction between individual magnetic dots. Micromagnetic simulations indicate that simple logic gates function properly. Efficient design tools, based on the single-domain approximation are developed.     

Photosynthetic reaction centers/ITO hybrid nanostructure

Photosynthetic reaction center proteins purified from Rhodobacter sphaeroides purple bacterium were deposited on the surface of indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive oxide, and the photochemical/-physical properties of the composite were investigated. The kinetics of the light induced absorption change indicated that the RC was active in the composite and there was an interaction between the protein cofactors and the ITO. The electrochromic response of the bacteriopheophytine absorption at 771 nm showed an increased electric field perturbation around this chromophore on the surface of ITO compared to the one measured in solution. This absorption change is associated with the charge-compensating relaxation events inside the protein. Similar life time, but smaller magnitude of this absorption change was measured on the surface of borosilicate glass. The light induced change in the conductivity of the composite as a function of the concentration showed the typical sigmoid saturation characteristics unlike if the photochemically inactive chlorophyll was layered on the ITO. In this later case the light induced change in the conductivity was oppositely proportional to the chlorophyll concentration due to the thermal dissipation of the excitation energy. The sensitivity of the measurement is very high; few picomole RC can change the light induced resistance of the composite.     

Using database machines in embedded computer systems

A discussion whether or not present database machine technology addresses the needs of embedded computer systems is presented. The interface between the embedded system and its environment tends to be complex, asynchronous, highly parallel and sometimes distributed. In addition, embedded systems are likely to have stringent resource requirements, both physical and logical. An answer to both the complexity issue and the resource limitation can be potentially found in the database machine.Functions are identified for two applications that the embedded system in general and the database machine specifically are asked to perform. Given the requirements of such applications the current database machine technology is evaluated.Finally, given the primary requirements of data security and system throughput of tactical embedded computer systems, a database machine using distributed architecture is proposed. The system has the potential for connecting multiple database machines to each host or for connecting multiple hosts to one database machine.     

Weak-perspective structure from motion by fast alternation

This paper addresses the problem of moving object reconstruction. Several methods have been published in the past 20 years including stereo reconstruction as well as multi-view factorization methods. In general, reconstruction algorithms compute the 3D structure of the object and the camera parameters in a non-optimal way, and then a nonlinear and numerical optimization algorithm refines the reconstructed camera parameters and 3D coordinates. In this paper, we propose an adjustment method which is the improved version of the well-known Tomasi–Kanade factorization method. The novelty, which yields the high speed of the algorithm, is that the core of the proposed method is an alternation and we give optimal solutions to the subproblems in the alternation. The improved method is discussed here and it is compared to the widely used bundle adjustment algorithm.