ZnSe heteroepitaxy on GaAs (110) substrate

ZnSe heteroepitaxial layers have been grown on GaAs (100), (110) on axis, and (110) 6° miscut substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. ZnSe on GaAs (110) shows smooth and featureless spectra from Rutherford backscattering channeling measurements taken along major crystalline directions, whereas ZnSe on GaAs (100) without pre-growth treatments exhibit large interface disorder in channeling spectra. ZnSe films grown on GaAs (110) on axis show facet formation over a wide range of growth conditions. The use of (110) 6° miscut substrates is shown to suppress facet formation; and under the correct growth conditions, facet-free surfaces are achieved. Etch pit density measurements give dislocation densities for ZnSe epitaxial layers grown on GaAs (100), (110) on axis, and (110) 6° miscut substrates of 10⁷/cm², 3 × 10⁵/cm² and 5 × 10⁴/cm², respectively. These results suggest that with further improvements to ZnSe growth on GaAs (110)-off substrates it may be possible to fabricate defect free ZnSe based laser devices.     

Enhancing adhesion by ion beam-induced atomic mixing at the interface between copper film and polyimide substrate

Ion beam mixing was used to improve the adhesion between deposited Cu film (400 Å) and polyimide (PI) substrate. Ar⁺ ion with the energy levels between 180 and 200 keV, and the dose between 10¹⁴ to 4 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm² were used. The surface analyses were carried out by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (SEM). RBS analysis, using 2 MeV He⁺ ions, showed mixing of Cu and FI and the mixing depended on the Ar⁺ energy and dose. The X-ray study showed a very broad halo for deposited Cu film but the (111) peak appeared after the Ar⁺ implantation and the peak increased with Ar⁺ ion dose. Optical micrographs showed that Cu film formed circular bubbles after many thermal cycles when adhesion was poor and fracture cracks when adhesion was good.     

A Complementary Switched MOSFET Architecture for the 1/f Noise Reduction in Linear Analog CMOS ICs

We present a novel principle for 1/f noise reduction in linear analog CMOS ICs. The principle is experimentally demonstrated for a two-stage CMOS Miller operational amplifier in a standard 0.12-mum, 1.5-V digital CMOS technology. A threefold 1/f noise reduction (5 dB) is achieved at 10 Hz compared with a reference circuit. The impact of the principle on the circuit performance is investigated     

Broad-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with double-passconfiguration

We demonstrate a broad-band silica-based erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) with double-pass configuration. The signal gain and noise figure are obtained more than 24 dB and less than 6 dB, respectively, for 1526-1562 nm and 1569-1605 nm. The same signal gain can be achieved with 53% less pump power and 45% shorter erbium-doped fiber length, compared to a conventional parallel type EDFA. Furthermore, the noise figure and power conversion efficiency are improved for the wavelength range     

Limit of gate oxide thickness scaling in MOSFETs due to apparentthreshold voltage fluctuation induced by tunnel leakage current

We report on a new roadblock which will limit the gate oxide thickness scaling of MOSFETs. It is found that statistical distribution of direct tunnel leakage current through 1.2 to 2.8 nm thick gate oxides induces significant fluctuations in the threshold voltage and transconductance when the gate oxide tunnel resistance becomes comparable to gate poly-Si resistance. By calculating the measured tunnel current based on multiple scattering theory, it is shown that the device characteristics fluctuations will be problematic when the gate oxide thickness is scaled down to less than 1 nm     

Hybrid symbol- and bit-based source-controlled channel decoding for MELP speech parameters

A joint source channel coding (JSCC) scheme which exploits bit-level correlation as well as symbol-level correlation efficiently in a source-controlled channel decoding (SCCD) process is proposed and applied to the mixed-excitation linear prediction (MELP) parameters of speech. A modified BCJR algorithm is also proposed for use in the SCCD algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme performs better than other redundancy-based JSCC schemes such as bit-based SCCD, soft-bit speech decoding (SBSD) and iterative source-channel decoding.     

Iterative joint source-channel decoding with combined a priori information of source and channel

A joint source-channel decoding (JSCD) scheme which exploits the combined a priori information of source and channel in an iterative manner is proposed. A sequence minimum mean-square error (SMMSE) estimator based on bit or symbol error transition probability of the channel with memory is proposed and used in the iterative decoding process. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme leads to significant improvement over the scheme without using the a priori information of the source or channel.     

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.     

Writing current reduction and total set resistance analysis in PRAM

We evaluated the limit of scaling bottom electrode contact (BEC) heater size and high resistivity heater to reduce writing current. It was found that the resistivity of heater should be increased for reducing writing current below the heater size of about 50 nm without any undesirable increase of resistance of the crystalline state (SET state, Rset). It was shown in the numerical simulations that the dissipated heat loss through BEC during melting GST was decreased in the increase of resistivity of heater. In addition, we analyzed the resistance components contributing to the total set resistance. It was observed that the undesired sharp increase of Rset as the BEC size decreases below 50 nm was attributed to the resistance component of GST–BEC interface. In the case of high resistivity heater, the contributions of both incomplete crystallization and heater itself were enhanced.     

Hydration-Induced Void-Containing Hydrogels for Encapsulation and Sustained Release of Small Hydrophilic Molecules

Efficient encapsulation and sustained release of small hydrophilic molecules from traditional hydrogel systems are challenging due to the large mesh size of 3D networks and high water content. Furthermore, the encapsulated molecules are prone to early release from the hydrogel prior to use, resulting in a short shelf life of the formulation. Here, a hydration-induced void-containing hydrogel (HVH) based on hyperbranched polyglycerol-poly(propylene oxide)-hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG-PPG-HPG) as a robust and efficient delivery system is presented for small hydrophilic molecules. Specifically, after the HPG-PPG-HPG is incubated overnight at 4 °C in the drug solution, it is hydrated into a hydrogel containing micron-sized voids, which can encapsulate hydrophilic drugs and achieve 100% drug encapsulation efficiency. In addition, the voids are surrounded by a densely packed polymer matrix, which restricts drug transport to achieve sustained drug release. The hydrogel/drug formulation can be stored for several months without changing the drug encapsulation and release properties. HVH hydrogels are injectable due to shear thinning properties. In rats, a single injection of the HPG-PPG-HPG hydrogel containing 8 µg of tetrodotoxin (TTX) produces sciatic nerve block lasting up to 10 h without any TTX-related systemic toxicity nor local toxicity to nerves and muscles.