Effect of ink organics on cambering of an Ag-metallized low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC)

Ceramic technology has had an important role in microelectronics since 1960s and ceramic seems to be a continuously developing, mature technology. Recently, development of low temperature co-fired ceramic technology (LTCC) has been geared up due to the huge demand of miniaturisation of electronic components. New materials are being developed for extending the demand of wide range of dielectric properties of LTCC, minimization of shrinkage, cambering of LTCC, high quality of conductors and patterning etc. This paper deals with formulation of silver conductor inks for LTCC and the effect of ink organics on the LTCC in particular to cambering/warpage, microstructure development were studied and presented.

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A 4 bit highly energy and area efficient SC SAR ADC based on a combinational technique with reduced reset energy

A combinational method, based on hybrid and junction splitting techniques, is used to realize a 4 bit high energy efficient SC SAR ADC. The hybrid switching scheme is very energy efficient in which the first three comparison cycles do not consume any energy. In junction split technique, the total value of capacitors does not remain constant. Rather capacitors are appended as bits are being determined successively. The present method combines the features of these two methods to realize an even more energy efficient SC SAR ADC. Reset energy, in some cases, can seriously impact the overall efficiency of a SC SAR ADC. A study has been made about the normal reset energy and two step reset energy for the different cases. A table has been drawn to show the overall energy efficiency for normal conversion, conversion with single step reset and lastly conversion with two step reset for all the architectures.

     

Front Cover: Structure-Based Design,Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Triazole-Based smHDAC8 Inhibitors (ChemMedChem 7/2020)

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic flatworms of the genus Schistosoma, which affects over 200 million people worldwide and leads to at least 300,000 deaths every year. In this study, initial screening revealed the triazole-based hydroxamate 2 b (N-hydroxy-1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamide) exhibiting potent inhibitory activity toward the novel antiparasitic target Schistosoma mansoni histone deacetylase 8 (smHDAC8) and promising selectivity over the major human HDACs. Subsequent crystallographic studies of the 2 b /smHDAC8 complex revealed key interactions between the inhibitor and the enzyme's active site, thus explaining the unique selectivity profile of the inhibitor. Further chemical modifications of 2 b led to the discovery of 4-fluorophenoxy derivative 21 (1-[5-chloro-2-(4-fluorophenoxy)phenyl]-N-hydroxy-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamide), a nanomolar smHDAC8 inhibitor (IC₅₀=0.5 μM), exceeding the smHDAC8 inhibitory activity of 2 b and SAHA (vorinostat), while exhibiting an improved selectivity profile over the investigated human HDACs. Collectively, this study reveals specific interactions between smHDAC8 and the synthesized triazole-based inhibitors and demonstrates that these small molecules represent promising lead structures, which could be further developed in the search for novel drugs for the treatment of schistosomiasis.     

Copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and allyl acetate Part I. Rate of reaction

Free radical bulk copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and allyl acetate (AAc) has been investigated using electron spin resonance (ESR) and FT–near infrared (FTNIR) spectroscopy. Data are used to evaluate the rate constants. The mole fraction of AAc plays an important role in the copolymerization of these two monomers. AAc not only delays the Trommsdorff effect but also increases the onset of percentage total conversion at which the Trommsdorff region begins. With AAc fraction 0.5 and higher, no Trommsdorff effect was observed. Inclusion of AAc into copolymer structure mainly occurs in the Trommsdorf region or when the AAc fraction in the comonomer feed is dominant. This is associated with a drop in the concentration of propagating radicals. However, ESR spectra indicate that the MMA propagating radical is predominant during the reaction. In the comonomer mixtures where a Trommsdorff region can be observed, the addition of AAc does not produce any significant change in k_p and k_t in the steady state region. Major changes in k_p and k_t are observed after the gel point and glassy state, respectively. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Compositional effects on microstructure evolution and microwave properties of silver–palladium based thick film microstrips

Recent improvements in materials and processing technologies have dramatically increased the frequency range where ceramic thick film circuits can be utilized. Coupled with inherent advantages of thick film technology viz. low manufacturing cost, multilayering capability and relative insensitivity to substrate surface characteristics, such improvements have resulted in circuits that are penetrating the domain which was previously reserved to thin film technology. In view of newer developments in modern electronics, there is still ample scope for the development of new materials and processes especially in thick film technology. In thick films, conductors play a major role and silver–palladium is one of the important conductor materials in microelectronic circuits. Efforts are made in this work towards the development of suitable silver–palladium thick film conductors from the standpoint of microwave applications. The properties such as surface microstructure, sheet resistance, adhesion and microwave performance of the indigenously developed silver–palladium paste compositions is reported here. Highly porous surface structure, low adhesion and low characteristic impedance of thick film microstrip are observed for pastes with high palladium concentration.     

Compositional effects on microstructure evolution and microwave properties of silver–palladium based thick film microstrips

Recent improvements in materials and processing technologies have dramatically increased the frequency range where ceramic thick film circuits can be utilized. Coupled with inherent advantages of thick film technology viz. low manufacturing cost, multilayering capability and relative insensitivity to substrate surface characteristics, such improvements have resulted in circuits that are penetrating the domain which was previously reserved to thin film technology. In view of newer developments in modern electronics, there is still ample scope for the development of new materials and processes especially in thick film technology. In thick films, conductors play a major role and silver–palladium is one of the important conductor materials in microelectronic circuits. Efforts are made in this work towards the development of suitable silver–palladium thick film conductors from the standpoint of microwave applications. The properties such as surface microstructure, sheet resistance, adhesion and microwave performance of the indigenously developed silver–palladium paste compositions is reported here. Highly porous surface structure, low adhesion and low characteristic impedance of thick film microstrip are observed for pastes with high palladium concentration.     

Electrospun gelatin fiber mats containing a herbal-Centella asiatica-extract and release characteristic of asiaticoside

Ultra-fine gelatin (type A, porcine skin, ～180 Bloom) fiber mats containing a methanolic crude extract of Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, a medicinal plant widely known for its traditional medical applications including its wound healing ability, were fabricated, for the first time, from the neat gelatin solution (22% w/v in 70?vol% acetic acid) containing the crude extract (mCA) in various amounts (i.e. 5-30?wt% based on the weight of gelatin powder) by electrospinning. Incorporation of mCA in the neat gelatin solution did not affect both the morphology and the size of the mCA-loaded gelatin fibers, as both of the neat and the mCA-loaded gelatin fibers were smooth and the average diameters of these fibers ranged between 226 and 232?nm. The cross-linked mCA-loaded e-spun gelatin fiber mat from the neat gelatin solution containing 30?wt% of mCA was further investigated for the release characteristic of asiaticoside, identified as the most active compound associated with the healing of wounds, in two different types of releasing medium, i.e. acetate buffer and the buffer containing 10?vol% of methanol, based on the thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-densitometry technique. Based on the unit weight of the actual amount of asiaticoside present in the specimens, the total amount of asiaticoside released from the fiber mat specimens was lower than that from the film counterparts while, based on the unit weight of the specimens, an opposite trend was observed.     

Rh promoted and ZrO2/Al2O3 supported Ni/Co based catalysts: High activity for CO2 reforming,steam–CO2 reforming and oxy–CO2 reforming of CH4

Ni (2.5 wt%) and Co (2.5 wt%) supported over ZrO₂/Al₂O₃ were prepared by following a hydrolytic co-precipitation method. The synthesized catalysts were further promoted by Rh incorporation (0.01–1.00 wt%) and tested for their catalytic performance for dry CO₂ reforming, combined steam–CO₂ reforming and oxy–CO₂ reforming of methane for production of syngas. The catalysts were characterized by using N₂ physical adsorption, XRD, H₂–TPR, SEM, CO₂–TPD, NH₃–TPD, TEM and TGA. The results revealed that ZrO₂ phase was in crystalline form in the catalysts along with amorphous Al oxides. Ni and Co were confirmed to be in their respective spinel phases that were reducible to metallic form at 800 °C under H₂. Ni and Co were well dispersed with their nano-crystalline nature. The catalyst with 0.2% loading of Rh showed superior performance in the studied reactions for reforming of methane. This catalyst also showed good coke resistance ability for dry CO₂ reforming reaction with 3.8 wt% of carbon formation during the reaction as compared to 11.6 wt% carbon formation over the catalyst without Rh. The catalyst performance was stable throughout the reaction time for CH₄ conversions, irrespective of carbon formation with slight decline (～1%) in CO₂ conversion. For dry CO₂ reforming reaction, this catalyst showed good conversion for both CH₄ and CO₂ (67.6% and 71.8% respectively) with a H₂/CO ratio of 0.84, while for the Oxy-CO₂ reforming reaction, the activity was superior with CH₄ and CO₂ conversions (73.7% and 83.8% respectively) and H₂/CO ratio of 1.05.