Ferroelectric Poling of Methylammonium Lead Iodide Thin Films

Seemingly contradictory reports on polar domains and their origin have surrounded the controversial discussion about the ferroelectricity of the methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI₃) thin films that are commonly employed in perovskite solar cells. In this work, microscopic modulations of the polar domain patterns upon application of an electric poling field are correlated with macroscopic changes to the currents through the MAPbI₃ layer. Piezoresponse force microscopy is used to monitor the widening, narrowing, generation or extinction of polar domains, as well as shifts of the domain walls at room temperature under an in‐plane electric poling field that is applied between two laterally organized electrodes. This poling leads to a net polarization of individual grains and the thin film itself. Macroscopically, this net polarization results in a persistent shift of the diode characteristics that is measured across the channel between the electrodes. Both the modulation of the polar domains upon electric poling and the concurrent persistent shift of the electric currents through the device are the unambiguous hallmarks of ferroelectricity, which demonstrate that MAPbI₃ is a ferroelectric semiconductor.     

Bandpass filter with an ultra-wide stopband designed on miniaturized coaxial resonators

Characteristics of a new miniaturized coaxial resonator are theoretically investigated. It is shown that the first resonant frequency of the resonator can be significantly lowered relative to the second one and the resonator dimensions can be considerably decreased as compared to those of a traditional dielectric-filled quarter-wavelength coaxial resonator. Based on the investigated resonator, a fourth-order bandpass filter has been designed and fabricated. The filter stopband at a level of no worse than ?90 dB extends to the frequency that exceeds the passband center frequency by a factor of 47. Calculated frequency responses are in good agreement with those measured on the fabricated filter prototypes.     

UNICORE 6 — Recent and Future Advancements

UNICORE is a European Grid Technology with more than 10 years of history. Originating from the Supercomputing domain, the latest version UNICORE 6 has turned into a general-purpose Grid technology that follows established standards and offers a rich set of features to its users. The paper starts with an architectural insight into UNICORE 6, highlighting the workflow features, standards and the different clients. Next, the current state of advancement is presented by describing recent developments. The paper closes with an outlook on future planned developments.     

Harvesting Lost Photons: Plasmon and Upconversion Enhanced Broadband Photocatalytic Activity in Core@Shell Microspheres Based on Lanthanide‐Doped NaYF4, TiO2, and Au

Efficiently harvesting solar energy for photocatalysis remains very challenging. Rational design of architectures by combining nanocomponents of radically different properties, for example, plasmonic, upconversion, and photocatalytic properties, offers a promising route to improve solar energy utilization. Herein, the synthesis of novel, plasmonic Au nanoparticle decorated NaYF₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺, Tm³⁺‐core@porous‐TiO₂‐shell microspheres is reported. They exhibit high surface area, good stability, broadband absorption from ultraviolet to near infrared, and excellent photocatalytic activity, significantly better than the benchmark P25 TiO₂. The enhanced activity is attributed to synergistic effects from nanocomponents arranged into the nanostructured architecture in such a way that favors the efficient charge/energy transfer among nanocomponents and largely reduced charge recombination. Optical and energy‐transfer properties are modeled theoretically to support our interpretations of catalytic mechanisms. In addition to yielding novel materials and interesting properties, the current work provides physical insights that can contribute to the future development of plasmon‐enhanced broadband catalysts.     

Increasing inequalities in what we do online: A longitudinal cross sectional analysis of Internet activities among the Dutch population (2010 to 2013) over gender,age, education,and income

We investigate types of Internet activities among a representative sample of the Dutch population from 2010 to 2013. We examined usage patterns of seven types of Internet activities (i.e., information, news, personal development, commercial transaction, social interaction, leisure, and gaming) and related these patterns with gender, age, education, and income. Activities related to news, personal development, commercial transaction, and social interaction increased in popularity. For most capital enhancing activities, men, younger people, higher educated people, and people with higher than average incomes were prominent. These observations, however, are subject to change. The Internet seems to provide increasingly more capital-enhancing opportunities for those with higher education and income, which would accordingly reinforce their already strong positions in society.     

Semiconductor Yield Analysis and Multi-Chip Package(MCP) Dic Pairing Optimization using Machine Learning

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Self‐Healing Reduced Graphene Oxide Films by Supersonic Kinetic Spraying

The industrial scale application of graphene and other functional materials in the field of electronics has been limited by inherent defects, and the lack of simple deposition methods. A simple spray deposition method is developed that uses a supersonic air jet for a commercially available reduced graphene oxide (r‐GO) suspension. The r‐GO flakes are used as received, which are pre‐annealed and pre‐hydrazine‐treated, and do not undergo any post‐treatment. A part of the considerable kinetic energy of the r‐GO flakes entrained by the supersonic jet is used in stretching the flakes upon impact with the substrate. The resulting “frozen elastic strains” heal the defects (topological defects, namely Stone‐Wales defect and C₂ vacancies) in the r‐GO flakes, which is reflected in the reduced ratio of the intensities of the D and G bands in the deposited film. The defects can also be regenerated by annealing.     

Current flow through metal shunts in ohmic contacts to n +-Si

It is experimentally found that an ohmic contact based on Au-Pt-Ti-Pd-n ⁺-Si metallization is formed due to nanoscale metal shunts containing Si, Au, and Pt in the region of the interface with n ⁺-Si, which appears during heat treatment at T = 450°C for 10 min in a vacuum chamber with a residual pressure of 10^?6 Torr. The high density of shunts adjoining dislocations and other imperfections is confirmed by the temperature dependence of the specific contact resistance ρ _c (T). The density of conductive dislocations, calculated from the temperature dependence of ρ _c is ～5 × 10⁹ cm^?2 which correlates with the density of structural defects, determined by the etch pits after removal of the metallization layers.