Electrical properties of sub-100 nm SiGe nanowires

In this study, the electrical properties of SiGe nanowires in terms of process and fabrication integrity, measurement reliability, width scaling, and doping levels were investigated. Nanowires were fabricated on SiGe-on oxide (SGOI) wafers with thickness of 52 nm and Ge content of 47%. The first group of SiGe wires was initially formed by using conventional I-line lithography and then their size was longitudinally reduced by cutting with a focused ion beam (FIB) to any desired nanometer range down to 60 nm. The other nanowire group was manufactured directly to a chosen nanometer level by using sidewall transfer lithography (STL). It has been shown that the FIB fabrication process allows manipulation of the line width and doping level of nanowires using Ga atoms. The resistance of wires thinned by FIB was 10 times lower than STL wires which shows the possible dependency of electrical behavior on fabrication method.     

Evaluation of dissimilar friction stir lap joints using digital X-ray radiography

A digital X-ray radiography methodology is proposed for quality assessment of aluminium–zinc coated steel dissimilar lap joints produced by a friction stir welding process. This methodology uses digital frame integration for acquisition of data to reduce the image noise followed by high pass filtering to sharpen the image by gradient operation and contrast adjustments to detect micro defects in FSW joints. The effect of welding parameters such as rotational and travel speed of weld tool and penetration depth on quality of the weld is studied. The new methodology has resulted in three-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with improved defect detection sensitivity. The present study clearly shows that the weld tool rotational speed, travel speed and plunger depth have a decisive role on the quality of the weld obtained by the friction stir welding process.     

Curcumin loaded chitin nanogels for skin cancer treatment via the transdermal route

In this study, curcumin loaded chitin nanogels (CCNGs) were developed using biocompatible and biodegradable chitin with an anticancer curcumin drug. Chitin, as well as curcumin, is insoluble in water. However, the developed CCNGs form a very good and stable dispersion in water. The CCNGs were analyzed by DLS, SEM and FTIR and showed spherical particles in a size range of 70-80 nm. The CCNGs showed higher release at acidic pH compared to neutral pH. The cytotoxicity of the nanogels were analyzed on human dermal fibroblast cells (HDF) and A375 (human melanoma) cell lines and the results show that CCNGs have specific toxicity on melanoma in a concentration range of 0.1-1.0 mg mL(-1), but less toxicity towards HDF cells. The confocal analysis confirmed the uptake of CCNGs by A375. The apoptotic effect of CCNGs was analyzed by a flow-cytometric assay and the results indicate that CCNGs at the higher concentration of the cytotoxic range showed comparable apoptosis as the control curcumin, in which there was negligible apoptosis induced by the control chitin nanogels. The CCNGs showed a 4-fold increase in steady state transdermal flux of curcumin as compared to that of control curcumin solution. The histopathology studies of the porcine skin samples treated with the prepared materials showed loosening of the horny layer of the epidermis, facilitating penetration with no observed signs of inflammation. These results suggest that the formulated CCNGs offer specific advantage for the treatment of melanoma, the most common and serious type of skin cancer, by effective transdermal penetration.     

A Study on Hydrotropy—Petroleum and Petrochemical Products

Abstract

A comprehensive investigation of the solubility and mass transfer coefficient enhancement of benzene through hydrotropy has been undertaken. The solubility and mass transfer coefficient studies were carried out using hydrotropes such as citric acid, urea, nicotinamide, and sodium salicylate under a wide range of hydrotrope concentrations (0 to 3.0 mol/L) and different system temperatures (303 to 333 K). The effectiveness of hydrotropes was measured in terms of Setschenow constant KS and reported for all hydrotropes used in this study.     

Overview of TBM R&D activities in India

In India, development of Lead–Lithium Ceramic Breeder (LLCB) blanket is being performed as the primary candidate of Test Blanket Module (TBM) towards DEMO reactor. The LLCB TBM will be tested from the first phase of ITER operation (H-H phase) in one-half of an ITER port no. 2. The Indian TBM R&D program is focused on the development of blanket materials and critical technologies: structural material (IN-RAFMS), breeding materials (Pb–Li, Li₂TiO₃), development of technologies for Lead–Lithium cooling system (LLCS), helium cooling system (HCS), tritium extraction system (TES) and TBM related fabrication technologies. This paper will provide an overview of LLCB TBM R&D activities under progress in India.     

Novel carboxymethyl derivatives of chitin and chitosan materials and their biomedical applications

Chitin and chitosan are natural biopolymers that are non-toxic, biodegradable and biocompatible. In the last decade, chitin and chitosan derivatives have garnered significant interest in the biomedical and biopharmaceutical research fields with applications as biomaterials for tissue engineering and wound healing and as excipients for drug delivery. Introducing small chemical groups to the chitin or chitosan structure, such as alkyl or carboxymethyl groups, can drastically increase the solubility of chitin and chitosan at neutral and alkaline pH values without affecting their characteristics; substitution with carboxyl groups can yield polymers with polyampholytic properties. Carboxymethyl derivatives of chitin and chitosan have shown promise for adsorbing metal ions, as drug delivery systems, in wound healing, as anti-microbial agents, in tissue engineering, as components in cosmetics and food and for anti-tumor activities. This review will focus on the preparative methods and applications of carboxymethyl and succinyl derivatives of chitin and chitosan with particular emphasis on their uses as materials for biomedical applications.     

Fabrication and characterization of n-CdSe0.7Te0.3/p-CdSe0.15Te0.85 solar cell

Hot wall deposited CdSe_xTe_1−x where 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 thin films for solar cell applications have been prepared from a compound synthesized by direct reaction of high purity Cd, Se and Te elements. Crystal structure and composition of the films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and EDAX. X-ray diffraction studies carried out on pseudo-binary system revealed that the films are polycrystalline in nature with CdSe_0.7Te_0.3 film exhibiting hexagonal structure and CdSe_0.15Te_0.85 film exhibiting cubic zinc blende structure. The type of conduction was determined by Hall studies. A novel solar cell with structure n-CdSe_0.7Te_0.3/p-CdSe_0.15Te_0.85 has been fabricated and the efficiency was found to be 3.13%.     

Parallel algorithms for recognizing handwritten characters using shape features

Systolic algorithms suitable for VLSI implementation for recognizing handwritten characters using shape features are presented. Local shape features, namely start and end points, edge types and their join-relations in the contours of a given character, are first extracted using a systolic algorithm. The global features consisting of the actual sequence of feature points in the contours are then constructed from the local features using a novel systolic ranking algorithm designed for randomized linked lists. By training the algorithms on a set of 1200 handwritten numerals (120 per digit) a classification scheme is developed. A simple PLA like classifier is also presented. Handwritten numerals are recognized using a horizontal, a vertical and a diagonal scan. The scheme works well even if the images are rotated by an angle between −15 and +15 degrees.     

Characterization of solutionizing behavior in VT14 titanium alloy using ultrasonic velocity and attenuation measurements

VT14 titanium alloy (Ti–4.5Al–3Mo–1V) was subjected to a series of heat treatments consisting of solutionizing for 1 h at the selected temperatures in range of 923–1323 K at an interval of 50 K, followed by water quenching. Hardness and optical microscopy results are correlated with ultrasonic longitudinal and shear wave velocities and attenuation in these specimens. Ultrasonic velocities and hardness decrease with solution annealing temperature (SAT) in the 923–1123 K range. Beyond 1123 up to 1223 K, they increase slightly. Beyond 1223 K, ultrasonic velocities become constant, whereas hardness increases up to 1323 K. Ultrasonic attenuation exhibits an opposite behavior to velocity and hardness. Further, for the first time, authors have shown that ultrasonic velocity can be used to identify the β-transus temperature in this alloy. Because of non-monotonous variation of velocity and attenuation with solutionizing temperature, it was not possible to identify the SAT using any one of these parameters. Hence, a new parameter, ratio of normalized differential of ultrasonic attenuation to normalized differential of ultrasonic velocity (RNDAV) has been used, which is found to increase monotonously with SAT and hence enabling unambiguous characterization of SAT in solution annealed VT14 alloy.