PHOSPHORUS AND PHOSPHATE LEVELS IN THE ALEURONE CELLS OF CEREAL GRAINS

The aleurone cells of barley, wheat, rice, rye, oats and triticale contained, comparatively, higher percentages of phosphorus than the aleurone cells of sorghum, maize or millet. The aleurone tissues of barley, wheat and rice had more phosphate than corresponding tissues of sorghum and maize. Phosphate was not detected in the aleurone tissue of maize but was found in trace amounts in the aleurone tissue of sorghum.     

Effect of surface treatment on segregation of impurities in haematite

Surface segregation of various impurities such as Mg, Si, Ca, Al and Cr were determined for the haematite phase (Fe₂O₃) annealed in two different gas compositions involving (1) air at 1173 K, and (2) a gas mixture containing sulphur at 773 K. The objective of work was to establish the effect of the gas-phase composition on segregation of lattice defects. The near-surface segregation profiles of the impurities were determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The depth profile analysis was made by sputtering using an Ar⁺ primary beam of energy 30 keV. The surface charge was neutralized by an electron gun. It was found that annealing Fe₂O₃ under a gas phase containing sulphur resulted in the formation of an Fe(SO₄)₃ surface layer. It was observed that the two surface treatment procedures applied (both with and without sulphur) result in Mg enrichment in the near-surface region of Fe₂O₃. Si and Ca exhibit an enrichment and impoverishment after the surface treatments 1 and 2, respectively. Finally, the near-surface layer is impoverished in Cr and Al after both types of surface treatment. Experimental results are discussed in terms of segregation driving forces of the respective elements and the possible effect of sulphur on the gas-solid heterogeneous kinetics.     

Hot-carrier reliability of 20V MOS transistors in 0.13 μm CMOS technology

This paper presents results of reliability investigation of 20 V N-Drift MOS transistor in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. Due to high performances required for CMOS applications, adding high voltage devices becomes a big challenge to guarantee the reliability criteria. In this context, new reliability approaches are needed. Safe Operating Area are defined for switch, V_ds limited and V_gs limited applications in order to improve circuit designs. For V_ds limited applications, deep doping dose effects in drift area are investigated in correlation to lifetime evaluations based on device parameter shifts under hot carrier stressing. To further determine the amount and locations of hot carriers injections, accurate 2D technological and electrical simulations are performed and permit to select the best compromise between performance and reliability for N-Drift MOS transistor.     

Fabrication of Strain-Relaxed Si<Subscript>1 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Ge<Subscript>x</Subscript>/Si(001) Buffer Layers of Low Surface Roughness

The results are presented of the fabrication of strain-relaxed graded Si_{1 − x} Ge_x/Si(001) buffer layers with a maximum Ge fraction of about 0.25 that have a low density of threading dislocations (<10⁶ cm⁻²) and low surface roughness. The buffer layers are grown by atmospheric-pressure hydride CVD. It is found that chemical mechanical polishing can reduce their surface roughness to a level comparable with that of the original Si(001) substrates. It is shown that the polished buffer layers can serve as substrates for MBE-grown SiGe/Si heterostructures.__________Translated from Mikroelektronika, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2005, pp. 243–250.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Vostokov, Drozdov, Krasil’nik, Kuznetsov, Novikov, Perevoshchikov, Shaleev.     

Modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions through integrating titrimetric and off-gas measurements-applied to EBPR systems.

An innovative method for modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions is presented and discussed. The method is based on titrimetric and off-gas measurements. Titrimetric data is recorded as the addition rate of hydroxyl ions or protons that is required to maintain pH in a bioreactor at a constant level. An off-gas analysis arrangement measures, among other things, the transfer rate of carbon dioxide. The integration of these signals results in a continuous signal which is solely related to the biological reactions. When coupled with a mathematical model of the biological reactions, the signal allows a detailed characterisation of these reactions, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Two applications of the method to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes are presented and discussed to demonstrate the principle and effectiveness of the method.     

Force criteria of the state of limiting equilibrium of a cracked plate under biaxial loading

We deduce the theoretical formula taking into account the influence of biaxial loading of a plate weakened by a crack on the stress intensity factor K _I. This enables us to compute the characteristic of crack resistance K _c according to the known boundary forces. __________ Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 14–16, November–December, 2007.     

PECVD of diamond-like carbon (a-C:H) from the decomposition of methane in a high-density inductively coupled discharge

The paper describes an experimental investigation of the diamond-like carbon deposition process from methane precursor with an innovative high-density inductively coupled plasma source. It appears that a high plasma density allows a fast growth of diamond-like carbon coatings exhibiting a high hardness. In contrast to what is usually found in the literature, it seems that the ion species participate significantly to the growth of the carbon film when exposed to a high ion flux.     

Low-temperature pyroelectric properties of Li<Subscript>2</Subscript>SO<Subscript>4</Subscript>

The pyroelectric properties of lithium sulfate have been studied theoretically on the hypothesis of a pseudosymmetry of the structure of its polar phase. Analytical expressions are proposed for the temperature dependences of its pyroelectric polarization and pyroelectric coefficient at low temperatures and near the polymorphic transformation. The pyroelectric and piezoelectric coefficients of a polar crystal are shown to be in direct proportion.     

Standing on Solid Ground

The new Editor in Chief of IEEE Micro introduces himself and the first issue of 2007. He thanks outgoing Editor in Chief Pradip Bose for his outstanding work on Micro during his tenure. He assesses the current state of the microarchitecture field, speculates on the future, and asks readers for their suggestions on topics the magazine should cover in coming issues.     

Reduction of optical beat interference using gain-saturated RSOA in upstream WDM/SCM optical links

A new scheme for reducing optical beat interference (OBI) noise in optical network units is proposed for subcarrier multiplexing-based access network applications. The optical spectrum of the transmit lasers is broadened by using a radio frequency (RF) clipping tone with a modulation depth greater than one. This reduces the impact of the OBI noise. The distortions caused by an RF clipping tone are also suppressed by introducing a gain-saturated reflective optical amplifier, which shows the characteristics of high-pass filter. The proposed scheme has been verified by measuring the error vector magnitude of 16QAM signal with 20 Mbps. Error-free transmission has been achieved even when the light of OBI-noise-causing lasers is stronger than that of the signal laser by 7 dB