Laterally Coupled DFB Lasers With Self-Aligned Metal Surface Grating by Holographic Lithography

A laterally coupled InGaAsP-InP distributed-feedback (DFB) laser operating around 1.55 mum was fabricated through a novel technique for the formation of metal surface gratings by holographic lithography. The self-aligned Cr DFB gratings were formed on the sidewalls as well as on both sides of the laser ridge by means of angled e-beam evaporation of Ti mask and metal-SiO₂ lift-off on the top of ridges. For an uncoated 3-mum-wide and 300-mum-long cavity, the device emitted an output power of ~9.7 mW/facet at an injection current of 100 mA with a threshold current of 29 mA and a slope efficiency of 0.14 mW/mA per facet at 20 degC under continuous-wave mode. A stable single-mode emission near 1.54 mum with a sidemode suppression ratio of nearly 28 dB was observed and a tuning coefficient of 0.21 nm/K was obtained in the temperature range of 15 degC -55 degC.     

Biomimetic Chitin–Silk Hybrids: An Optically Transparent Structural Platform for Wearable Devices and Advanced Electronics

The cuticles of insects and marine crustaceans are fascinating models for man‐made advanced functional composites. The excellent mechanical properties of these biological structures rest on the exquisite self‐assembly of natural ingredients, such as biominerals, polysaccharides, and proteins. Among them, the two commonly found building blocks in the model biocomposites are chitin nanofibers and silk‐like proteins with β‐sheet structure. Despite being wholly organic, the chitinous protein complex plays a key role for the biocomposites by contributing to the overall mechanical robustness and structural integrity. Moreover, the chitinous protein complex alone without biominerals is optically transparent (e.g., dragonfly wings), thereby making it a brilliant model material system for engineering applications where optical transparency is essentially required. Here, inspired by the chitinous protein complex of arthropods cuticles, an optically transparent biomimetic composite that hybridizes chitin nanofibers and silk fibroin (β‐sheet) is introduced, and its potential as a biocompatible structural platform for emerging wearable devices (e.g., smart contact lenses) and advanced displays (e.g., transparent plastic cover window) is demonstrated.     

Defect Restoration of Low‐Temperature Sol‐Gel‐Derived ZnO via Sulfur Doping for Advancing Polymeric Schottky Photodiodes

This study shows that the deep‐level defect states in sol‐gel‐derived ZnO can be efficiently restored by facile sulfur doping chemistry, wherein the +2 charged oxygen vacancies are filled with the S^2? ions brought by thiocyanate. By fabricating a solution‐processed polymeric Schottky diode with ITO/ZnO as the cathode, the synergetic effects of such defect‐restored ZnO electron selective layers are demonstrated. The decreased chemical defects and thus reduced mid‐gap states enable to not only enlarge the effective built‐in potential, which can expand the width of the depletion region, but also increase the Schottky energy barrier, which can reduce undesired dark‐current injection. As a result, the demonstrated simple‐structure blue‐selective polymeric Schottky photodiode renders near‐ideal diode operation with an ideality factor of 1.18, a noise equivalent power of 1.25 × 10^?14 W Hz^?1/2, and a high peak detectivity of 2.4 × 10¹³ Jones. In addition, the chemical robustness of sulfur‐doped ZnO enables exceptional device stability against air exposure as well as device‐to‐device reproducibility. Therefore, this work opens the possibility of utilizing low‐temperature sol‐gel‐derived ZnO in realizing high‐performance, stable, and reliable organic photodiodes that could be employed in the design of practical image sensors.     

Outage Probability Analysis for Energy Harvesting Cooperative Relays in a Clustered Environment

This paper presents the outage probability analysis of the energy harvesting (EH) decode and forward (DF) cooperative relay network when more than one relays are available to assist the communication between source and destination in the presence of the direct connection. The relays use power splitting (PS) protocol with adaptive PS ratio for EH. As wireless EH can be more beneficial over smaller distances therefore a clustered environment is considered in which the source, destination and relays are located in a small area. First, we analyze the performance of selection cooperation (SC) which requires channel state information (CSI) at the source. High signal to noise ratio approximation of the outage probability is provided for this case. Secondly, we present the performance of all relays cooperation (ARC) scheme which requires no CSI at the source. Lower and upper bounds of the outage probability are presented for smaller number of relays in ARC scheme whereas high signal to noise ratio approximation is provided for higher number of relays. Simulation results validate the analytical results and show that SC scheme outperforms ARC scheme at the expense of CSI requirement.     

Neuro-Glia-Vascular-on-a-Chip System to Assess Aggravated Neurodegeneration via Brain Endothelial Cells upon Exposure to Diesel Exhaust Particles

Air pollution induces neurodegeneration, including cognitive deficits, neuroinflammation, and disruption of the blood–brain barrier. The mechanisms underlying air pollution-mediated neurodegeneration have not yet been fully elucidated given the limited knowledge on intercellular interactions. A brain-on-a-chip platform is presented comprising neurons, glia, and brain endothelial cells (bECs; neuro-glia-vascular, NGV) and diesel exhaust particle (DEP)-induced neurodegeneration is evaluated with a particular focus on the intercellular interactions. DEP exposure in the NGV model yields Alzheimer's disease-like signatures, including amyloid beta accumulation, tau phosphorylation, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)/reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and neuronal cell death. bEC-secreted granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulates microglial activation and the overproduction of H₂O₂/ROS in microglia, suggesting that the bEC-microglia-neuron is a neurodegeneration cascade. Pharmacological inhibition at each step of the cascade, including GM-CSF neutralization, microglial activation suppression, and ROS scavenging, prohibits neurodegeneration in the NGV model. Therefore, intercellular interactions should be further studied of air pollution-induced neurodegeneration.     

Double S-Shaped Polarization – Voltage Curve and Negative Capacitance from Al2O3-Hf0.5Zr0.5O2-Al2O3 Triple-Layer Structure

The negative capacitance (NC) effect, recently discovered in a fluorite-based ferroelectric thin film, has attracted great attention as a rescue to overcome the scaling limitations of the conventional memory and logic devices of highly integrated circuits. The NC effect manifesting an S-shaped polarization–voltage (P–V) curve is initially interpreted by a 1-dimensional Landau Ginzburg Devonshire (LGD) model. However, a series of recent studies have found that this effect can also be explained by the inhomogeneous stray field energy (ISE) model. In this study, by extending the ISE model in the ferroelectric (FE)-dielectric (DE) layered structure, an analytical model that considers the influence of the interfacial screening charge distribution is presented. This model showed that the NC effect in the FE-DE heterostructure can be manifested in various forms other than a single S-shaped P–V curve. In particular, a double S-shaped P–V curve is expected from the fully compensated anti-parallel domain structure, confirmed experimentally in the actual Al₂O₃/(Hf_0.5Zr_0.5)O₂/Al₂O₃ triple-layer structure. Furthermore, to reveal the origin of the double S-shaped P–V curve, a multidomain LGD model is presented. It is confirmed that this phenomenon is attributed to the evolution of inhomogeneous stray field energy.     

A Wide Locking Range Differential Colpitts Injection Locked Frequency Divider

This letter proposes a new wideband Colpitts injection locked frequency divider (ILFD) and describes the operation principle of the ILFD. The circuit consists of a differential CMOS LC-tank oscillator and a direct injection topology. The divide-by-two ILFD can provide wide locking range, and the measurement results show that at the supply voltage of 2.4 V, the tuning range of the free running ILFD is from 4.46 to 5.6 GHz, about 1.14 GHz, and the locking range of the ILFD is from 8.03 to 11.63 GHz, about 3.6 GHz, at the injection signal power of 0 dBm. The ILFD dissipates 19.92 mW at a supply voltage of 2.4 V and was fabricated in 1P6M 0.18 mum CMOS process. At the tuning voltage of 1.2 V, the measured phase noise of the free running ILFD is -110.8 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency from 4.94 GHz and the phase noise of the locked ILFD is -135.4 dBc/Hz, while the input signal power is -4 dBm.     

Small molecule interlayer for solution processed phosphorescent organic light emitting device

Using a 4,4′,4′′-tris(N-carbazolyl)-triphenylamine (TCTA) small molecule interlayer, we have fabricated efficient green phosphorescent organic light emitting devices by solution process. Significantly a low driving voltage of 3.0 V to reach a luminance of 1000 cd/m² is reported in this device. The maximum current and power efficiency values of 27.2 cd/A and 17.8 lm/W with TCTA interlayer (thickness 30 nm) and 33.7 cd/A and 19.6 lm/W with 40 nm thick interlayer are demonstrated, respectively. Results reveal a way to fabricate the phosphorescent organic light emitting device using TCTA small molecule interlayer by solution process, promising for efficient and simple manufacturing.     

CARD资源发现架构在无线传感网络中的性能研究

(西北工业大学计算机学院,陕西西安,710072)【摘要】CARD架构适用于大规模、高查询率、每次查询的数据传输量较小的Ad-hoc网络,它的核心目标是降低网络资源发现能耗,延长网络生命周期。文章首先介绍了CARD架构的结构;然后,建立了该架构的数学模型,该模型以无线传感器网络为目标场景,并推导出CARD架构的能耗和查询成功率与各个参数之间的函数关系;最后,根据该模型对CARD架构的能耗和查询成功率进行了理论分析,为CARD架构的参数选择提供了可靠的依据,并为对架构的进一步优化打下了坚实基础。