Beam focusing characteristics of silicon microtips with an in-planelens

Single microtips, 2×2 and 10×10 arrays of microtips surrounded by an integrated focusing ring, were fabricated and their focusing characteristics experimentally investigated. Observation of the beam on a phosphor screen shows that the focusing is very effective for single microtips and 2×2 arrays; moreover, the reduction in emitted current is much smaller than for double-gate focusing. 10×10 arrays of microtips, however, do not generate very focused beams. These results agree well with simulations. The possibility of simultaneous focusing and deflecting is also discussed, and a new structure combining the advantages of double-gate and surrounding ring focusing is suggested     

Pulse propagation in superconducting coplanar striplines

The phenomenological loss equivalence method (PEM), the enhanced two-fluid model for thin-film superconducting materials, and the dynamical calculation of radiation losses in planar structures are used-in the context of a linear filter approach-to model attenuation and dispersion of ultrafast pulses in coplanar striplines. The numerical simulation of this modeling shows excellent agreement with experimental results available in the literature. Simple relationships between the peak attenuation and delay time of the propagation pulse, and penetration depth at absolute zero and conductivity at critical temperature may open the possibility of using pulse distortion to characterize thin-film, high-temperature superconducting materials     

Analysis of the interactions of SDZ PSC 833 ([3'-keto-Bmt1]-Val2]-Cyclosporine), a multidrug resistance modulator, with P-glycoprotein

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is considered to be an important impediment to the effective treatment of cancer. P-glycoprotein, the drug efflux pump that mediates this resistance, can be inhibited by a wide variety of pharmacological agents, resulting in the circumvention of the MDR phenotype. SDZ PSC 833 ([3'-keto-Bmt1]-Val2]-cyclosporine), a nonimmunosuppressive cyclosporine D derivative, was identified to be a potent MDR modulator (Gaveriaux et al. J. Cell Pharmacol. 2:225-234; 1991). In this study, the interactions of P-glycoprotein with two cyclosporine derivatives, SDZ PSC 833 and cyclosporine A (CsA, Sandimmune), were analyzed. SDZ PSC 833 enhanced the sensitivity of the MDR cells to anticancer drugs by increasing the accumulation and inhibiting the efflux of cytotoxic agents from resistant cells more efficiently than CsA. The two cyclosporine analogs competed with the labeling of P-glycoprotein by a photoactive cyclosporine derivative. In addition, membrane vesicles derived from resistant cells bound SDZ PSC 833. However, CsA was transported by P-glycoprotein, whereas SDZ PSC 833 was not actively transported. This resulted in a prolonged inhibitory effect by SDZ PSC 833. The studies suggest that the binding of SDZ PSC 833 to P-glycoprotein in the absence of its transport from MDR cells mediated its high potency as an MDR reversing agent. In addition, the comparison of the two cyclosporine analogs indicated that limited chemical modifications of MDR reversing agents can affect their potential to inhibit P-glycoprotein function.     

Optical-signal-processing device based on waveguide-type variable delay lines and optical gates

In this paper, an optical-signal-processing device mainly designed for time-slot switching is demonstrated. The device is composed of variable delay-line arrays fabricated by planar lightwave circuit technology and high-speed optical gates. The variable delay-line arrays consist of transversal-form or lattice-form optical circuits. The operating principle is based on serial-to-parallel conversion, adjustment of the delay time between the parallel signals, and the gating of the optical bits or packets in the optical region. The device does not require any interaction between lightwaves through optical nonlinear effects or filter banks for code matching. As an example of its operation, label-processing functions are demonstrated, specifically the label swapping of optical return-to-zero pulses. The merits of the proposed device are described and problems that must be solved are also discussed.     

Deep-submicrometer BiCMOS circuit technology for sub-10-ns ECL 4-MbDRAM's

A 0.3-μm sub-10-ns ECL 4-Mb BiCMOS DRAM design is described. The results obtained are: (1) a V_cc connection limiter with a BiCMOS output circuit is chosen due to ease of design, excellent device reliability and layout area; (2) a mostly CMOS periphery with a specific bipolar use provides better performances at high speed and low power; (3) the direct sensing scheme of a single-stage MOS preamplifier combined with a bipolar main amplifier offers high speed; and (4) the strict control of MOS transistor parameters has been proven to be more important in obtaining high speed DRAMs, based on the 4-Mb design     

Increase of coercive force in sputtered hard disk

A study was made on increasing the coercive force in CoNiCr/Cr sputtered hard-disk media. A higher coercive force could be obtained when the substrate temperature was higher than 150°C and a negative bias voltage was applied to the substrate during sputtering. With optimized conditions, a coercive force of more than 2300 Oe was obtained. The increase in the coercive force is thought to be due to the enhancement of isolation between magnetic particles by developing the segregation of Cr in the CoNiCr film     

Millimeter wave twin slot antennas on layered substrates

We have constructed a planar, monolithic twin slot antenna integrated with a bismuth microbolometer detector for operation near 94 GHz. In this paper, we briefly discuss the theory of operation for planar antennas on a dielectric stack. We then cover the fabrication details, including a short discussion of a photoresist bridge technique used to fabricate the microbolometer detectors. Measured receiver gain beam patterns are then compared with theoretical patterns for a number of cases.     

TM surface-wave power combining by a planar active-lens amplifier

Power combining of TM surface waves by a planar active-lens amplifier is the subject of this paper. An amplifier gain of 11 dB at 8.25 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.65 GHz has been demonstrated. Gain is measured from input to output connector to facilitate comparisons with more conventional amplifiers. Measurements of output power versus input power are also presented. The amplifier behaved in a linear manner and no problems with spurious oscillations were encountered. Construction of the amplifier is compatible with planar fabrication technologies. A key component of the combiner is a microstrip-fed Yagi-Uda slot-array antenna for TM surface-wave excitation of a thick dielectric slab. Design and optimization guidelines for the antenna are presented as well as detailed spectral-domain and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis results. Measured and simulation results show an input return loss and front-to-back ratio better than 10 dB over a 5% bandwidth. Calculated and measured results for the fields radiated by the antenna confirm forward radiation of the dominant TM mode in the thick dielectric slab. Integration of the computed radiated fields shows the antenna has a surface-wave launching efficiency of 85%