Enhanced Performance of Self‐Assembled Monolayer Field‐Effect Transistors with Top‐Contact Geometry through Molecular Tailoring,Heated Assembly,and Thermal Annealing

Low‐voltage self‐assembled monolayer field‐effect transistors (SAMFETs) that operate under an applied bias of less than ?3 V and a high hole mobility of 10^?2 cm² V^?1 s^?1 are reported. A self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) with a quaterthiophene semiconducting core and a phosphonic acid binding group is used to fabricate SAMFETs on both high‐voltage (AlO_x/300 nm SiO₂) and low‐voltage (HfO₂) dielectric platforms. High performance is achieved through enhanced SAM packing density via a heated assembly process and through improved electrical contact between SAM semiconductor and metal electrodes. Enhanced electrical contact is obtained by utilizing a functional methylthio head group combined with thermal annealing post gold source/drain electrode deposition to facilitate the interaction between SAM and electrode.     

Magnetoresponsive Virus‐Mimetic Nanocapsules with Dual Heat‐Triggered Sequential‐Infected Multiple Drug‐Delivery Approach for Combinatorial Tumor Therapy

Stimuli‐responsive drug‐delivery systems constitute an appealing approach to direct and restrict drug release spatiotemporally at the specific site of interest. However, it is difficult for most systems to affect every cancer cell in a tumor tissue due to the presence of the natural tumor barrier, leading to potential tumor recurrence. Here, core–shell magnetoresponsive virus‐mimetic nanocapsules (VNs), which can infect cancer cells sequentially and double as a magnetothermal agent fabricated through anchoring iron oxide nanoparticles in a single‐component protein (lactoferrin) shell, are reported. With large payload of hydrophilic/hydrophobic anticancer cargos, doxorubicin and palictaxel, VNs can simultaneously give a rapid drug release and intense heat while applying an external high‐frequency magnetic field (HFMF). Furthermore, after being liberated from dead cells by HFMF manipulation, the constructive VNs can sequentially infect neighboring cancer cells and deliver sufficient therapeutic agents to next targeted sites. With high efficiency for sequential cell infections, VNs have successfully eliminated subcutaneous tumor after a combinatorial treatment. These results demonstrate that the VNs could be used for locally targeted, on‐demand, magnetoresponsive chemotherapy/hyperthermia, combined with repeated cell infections for tumor therapy and other therapeutic applications.     

A novel analytical model for determining the maximum power point of thin film photovoltaic module

Achieving the maximum power output from photovoltaic (PV) modules is indispensable for the operation of grid‐connected PV power systems under varied atmospheric conditions. In recent years, the study of PV energy for different applications has attracted more and more attention because solar energy is clean and renewable. We propose an efficient direct‐prediction method to enhance the utilization efficiency of thin film PV modules by tackling the problem of tracking time and overcoming the difficulty of calculation. The proposed method is based on the p–n junction recombination mechanism and can be applied to all kinds of PV modules. Its performance is not influenced by weather conditions such as illumination or temperature. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides high‐accuracy estimation of the maximum power point (MPP) for thin film PV modules with an average error of 1.68% and 1.65% under various irradiation intensities and temperatures, respectively. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can simply and accurately estimate the MPP for thin film PV modules under various irradiation intensities and temperatures. In future, the proposed method will be used to shed light on the optimization of the MPP tracking control model in PV systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis and design of a two‐transformer active‐clamping forward converter with parallel‐connected current doubler rectifiers

A new two‐transformer active‐clamping forward converter with parallel‐connected current doubler rectifiers (CDRs) is proposed in this paper. The presented DC–DC converter is mainly composed of two active‐clamping forward converters with secondary CDRs. Only two switches are required and each one is the auxiliary switch for the other. The circuit complexity and cost are thus reduced. The leakage inductance of the transformer or an additional resonant inductance is employed to achieve zero‐voltage‐switching (ZVS) during the dead times. Two CDRs at the secondary side are connected in parallel to reduce the current stresses of the secondary windings and the ripple current at the output side. Accordingly, the smaller output chokes and capacitors decrease the converter volume and increase the power density. Detailed analysis and design of the presented two‐transformer active‐clamping forward converter are described. Experimental results are recorded for a prototype converter with a DC input voltage of 130??180V, an output voltage of 5 V and an output current of 40 A, operating at a switching frequency of 100 kHz. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐input‐voltage backlight module driver for multi‐lamp LCD panels

A half‐bridge (HB) resonant inverter for driving a backlight module with multiple cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) is proposed. Conventionally, a backlight module driving inverter is designed to operate with a low‐input DC voltage. Therefore, a buck converter is required to step down the high‐output DC voltage of a power factor correction (PFC) pre‐regulator. The circuit cost is high and the conversion efficiency is low. In this letter, a high‐input‐voltage HB resonant inverter with only one transformer is used to drive multiple lamps. Analysis and design considerations are discussed in detail. Simulations and experimental results are close to the theoretical prediction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A newly developed calcia/titanium modified magnesia-based investment mold for titanium casting

Calcia (CaO) investment has the high stability with melted pure titanium (Ti) but the poor manipulation usually leads to low success rate of complete castings. Magnesia (MgO)-based investment can produce the high success rate of pure Ti casting though. However, the MgO-based investment should be accompanied with Ti powder to meet the accuracy of Ti castings. In this study, a pure titanium casting using Ti powder modified MgO-based investment and 0.1–0.5 wt.% CaO additive was investigated. Experimental results showed that pure Ti cast with a modified MgO-based dental investment with Ti/CaO resulted in a higher success rate of the complete casting and a decrease in the interfacial surface reaction at high casting temperatures as compared to unmodified MgO-based investments with Ti powder. This newly developed Ti modified MgO-based investment and 0.1–0.5 wt.% CaO additives had an acceptable marginal accuracy with a marginal gap of less than 50 μm; the 0.4 wt.% CaO additive gave the best accuracy. Based on a micro-chemical analysis, the addition of 0.1–0.5 wt.% CaO to the Ti modified MgO-based investment significantly reduced the reaction layers and casting defects in pure Ti casting, which had proven to enhance Ti–porcelain bonding; the investment modified with 0.5 wt.% CaO had the thinnest reaction layer.     

一种WXGA液晶显示器的非晶硅栅极驱动电路

介绍了一种采用非晶硅薄膜晶体管制作的14.1英寸WXGA(1280×RGB×800)液晶显示器栅极驱动电路.该栅极驱动电路的主要特点是电路中所有的薄膜晶体管器件均不会长期工作在直流偏置电压下.这种电路结构设计能够极大地减小非晶硅薄膜晶体管的阈值电压漂移,从而保证该栅极驱动电路能够长期可靠地工作.实验结果表明:非晶硅薄膜...     

Cutting temperature,tool wear,and tool life in heat-pipe-assisted end-milling operations

In this paper, using the specifications of nodal points on a nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curve of three degrees with respect to NURBS curve parameter and defining the coefficients for the velocity and acceleration vectors on these points, a new method is presented to design a tool path via C² PH spline curves. Values of the velocity/acceleration vector coefficients corresponding to the nodal points on the original NURBS curve are computed by pattern search algorithm. To this end, the normal distance between the constructed C² PH spline curve and its corresponding original NURBS curve is considered as the objective function. Using combination of the time-dependent feed rate interpolation in the acceleration/deceleration phase of the motion and the constant feed rate interpolation in the middle region of the motion, the position commands of the designed NURBS-based C² PH spline curve are generated. Several improved NURBS-based C² PH spline curve following tasks were implemented with pseudo-derivative feedback feed forward (PDFF) controller. The experimental and simulation results confirm that the devised interpolator with designed PDFF controller is not only feasible for machining the complicated tool path represented in the improved NURBS-based C² PH spline form but also yields satisfactory contouring performance under variable feed rate.