Photoabsorption in carbon and silicon layer of phosphorous doped camphoric carbon/p-silicon (n-CC/p-Si) solar cell

Photoresponse characteristics of heterostructure solar cells, fabricated by depositing a phosphorous (P) doped carbon (n-C) layer on a p-type silicon (Si) substrate (n-C/p-Si cell), have been studied. The camphoric carbon (CC) targets containing varying amounts of P ranging from 1% to 7% by mass were used in a pulsed laser deposition chamber for the deposition of the carbon layers of the cells under analysis. The quantum efficiency of these cells was measured in the ultraviolet-visible-infrared region (300-1200 nm), which is found to vary with the P content in the carbon layer. The individual contributions of the carbon and silicon regions to the overall photoresponse are extracted by deconvoluting the overall photoresponse spectra. The relative contribution of the carbon region is found to increase with the P content up to 5 wt.% P in the carbon layer of the cell and decreases thereafter. This trend is similar to that of the optoelectronic properties of the P-doped CC films.     

A method for dispersing dry nano-sized particles in a liquid using carrier particles

A method for dispersing dry particles in a liquid is described. The method involves coating large carrier particles with fine particles. When two types of particles having different sizes are mixed in dry conditions, the particles adhere to one another, and the large particles become coated with small particles. When the large core particles are coated with a mono-layer of small particles, further agglomeration is inhibited. Because the single small particles generated by the disruption adhere to the core particles, we presumed that, if the small particles that are adhered to large particles could be separated from the large particles by a sonication in a liquid, the dry fine particles could be dispersed in a liquid.The dispersion experiments conducted using spherical silica particles having a count median diameter D_p50 of 74 nm as small particles and spherical glass beads as large particles. In this situation, the large particles carry the small particles from a dry condition into a liquid. We refer to the large particles as carrier particles. The experiments revealed that the proposed dispersion procedure results in a superior product, compared to sonication only. The effect of carrier size on dispersion performance is also investigated. The findings indicate and an optimum carrier size exists. Observations of the carrier particle surfaces after dry mixing indicate that the optimum condition is the condition at which a mono-layer of Silica particles is formed.     

High-frequency Lamb wave device composed of MEMS structure using LiNbO3 thin film and air gap

High-frequency devices operating at 3 GHz or higher are required, for instance, for future 4th generation mobile phone systems in Japan. Using a substrate with a high acoustic velocity is one method to realize a high-frequency acoustic or elastic device. A Lamb wave has a high velocity when the substrate thickness is thin. To realize a high-frequency device operating at 3 GHz or higher using a Lamb wave, a very thin (less than 0.5 μm thick) single-crystal plate must be used. It is difficult to fabricate such a very thin single crystal plate. The authors have attempted to use a c-axis orientated epitaxial LiNbO(3) thin film deposited by a chemical vapor deposition system (CVD) instead of using a thin LiNbO(3) single crystal plate. Lamb wave resonators composed of a interdigital transducer (IDT)/the LiNbO(3) film/air gap/base substrate structure like micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) transducers were fabricated. These resonators have shown a high frequency of 4.5 and 6.3 GHz, which correspond to very high acoustic velocities of 14,000 and 12,500 m/s, respectively, have excellent characteristics such as a ratio of resonant and antiresonant impedance of 52 and 38 dB and a wide band of 7.2% and 3.7%, respectively, and do not have spurious responses caused by the 0th modes of shear horizontal (SH(0)) and symmetric (S(0)) modes.     

Developments of new concept analytical instruments for failure analyses of sub-100 nm devices

We have developed analytical instruments based on new concepts for failure analyses of devices of 100 nm dimensions or less. They are a sputtered neutral mass spectrometer with focused ion beam for highly sensitive element analysis in microarea (10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ in 30 nm area), transmission electron microscope (TEM) with electron energy loss spectrometer for chemical bond analysis in less than 2 nm area, Nanoprober for electrical characteristics inspection in actual circuits, computed tomography-TEM for three-dimensional observation of crystalline defect with 1 nm spatial resolution, atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometer for trace impurities ppq (parts per quadrillion) analysis in gases, and glow discharge optical emission spectrometer for rapid and precise composition analysis. Using these instruments, it was found that the formation of SiO₂ or TiO_x film by water from titanic acid (TiO_x·H₂O) is the cause of the high resistivity in a contact (CVD-W/CVD-TiN/Ti/Si) and vaporization of silicon dioxide by phosphorus trifluoride (PF₃) is the cause of voids in interlayer dielectric film borophosphosilicate glass.     

Characteristics of partial discharges in artificial simulated treechannels during tree propagation

In order to clarify partial discharge (PD) mechanism in an electrical tree, we investigated PD pulse sequence and light emission from a single PD in an artificially-simulated tree channel during the tree propagation in low-density polyethylene (LDPE). For positive PD, the light emission was observed near the needle-tip and there was a positive correlation between the PD magnitude and the length of luminous region. The pulse-sequence analysis showed that PD took place at constant voltage increments. These results suggest that PD starts at the needle-tip and the PD magnitude is determined by the PD length. On the other hand, for negative PD, there was no correlation between the PD magnitude and the length of luminous region. The PD pulse sequence can be explained by a simple PD model, since the voltage increment is related to the magnitude of preceding PD. These results suggest that there is a difference between positive and negative PD characteristics and their mechanisms in an artificial channel during tree propagation     

X-ray diffraction studies of the environmental deterioration of a transversely loaded carbon-fibre-reinforced composite

A unidirectional continuous-carbon-fibre-reinforced composite was subjected to stress in the direction perpendicular to the fibre direction. By X-ray diffraction, the stress on the incorporated fibre in the composite under transverse load was monitored, and the effects of the environment (water, heat) on stress transfer in the composite were investigated. The adhesion between the matrix and the fibre was irreversibly destroyed by the water absorption and/or cyclic heating, which is found to bring worse stress transfer to the incorporated fibre. X-ray diffraction is a powerful tool for monitoring the stress transfer and its environmental deterioration behaviour in the composite in situ and non-destructively.     

Ex Vivo Expanded and Activated Natural Killer Cells Prolong the Overall Survival of Mice with Glioblastoma-like Cell-Derived Tumors

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the leading malignant intracranial tumor and is associated with a poor prognosis. Highly purified, activated natural killer (NK) cells, designated as genuine induced NK cells (GiNKs), represent a promising immunotherapy for GBM. We evaluated the anti-tumor effect of GiNKs in association with the programmed death 1(PD-1)/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint pathway. We determined the level of PD-1 expression, a receptor known to down-regulate the immune response against malignancy, on GiNKs. PD-L1 expression on glioma cell lines (GBM-like cell line U87MG, and GBM cell line T98G) was also determined. To evaluate the anti-tumor activity of GiNKs in vivo, we used a xenograft model of subcutaneously implanted U87MG cells in immunocompromised NOG mice. The GiNKs expressed very low levels of PD-1. Although PD-L1 was expressed on U87MG and T98G cells, the expression levels were highly variable. Our xenograft model revealed that the retro-orbital administration of GiNKs and interleukin-2 (IL-2) prolonged the survival of NOG mice bearing subcutaneous U87MG-derived tumors. PD-1 blocking antibodies did not have an additive effect with GiNKs for prolonging survival. GiNKs may represent a promising cell-based immunotherapy for patients with GBM and are minimally affected by the PD-1/PD-L1 immune evasion axis in GBM.