Formation of metastable liquid catalyst during subeutectic growth of germanium nanowires.

Lattice-resolved, video-rate environmental transmission electron microscopy shows the formation of a liquid Au-Ge layer on sub-30-nm Au catalyst crystals and the transition of this two-phase Au-Ge/Au coexistence to a completely liquid Au-Ge droplet during isothermal digermane exposure at temperatures far below the bulk Au-Ge eutectic temperature. Upon Ge crystal nucleation and subsequent Ge nanowire growth, the catalyst either recrystallizes or remains liquid, apparently stabilized by the Ge supersaturation. We argue that there is a large energy barrier to nucleate diamond-cubic Ge, but not to nucleate the Au-Ge liquid. As a result, the system follows the more kinetically accessible path, forming a liquid even at 240 degrees C, although there is no liquid along the most thermodynamically favorable path below 360 degrees C.

Probabilistic graphical models for semi-supervised traffic classification

Traffic classification using machine learning continues to be an active research area. The majority of work in this area uses off-the-shelf machine learning tools and treats them as black-box classifiers. This approach turns all the modelling complexity into a feature selection problem. In this paper, we build a problem-specific solution to the traffic classification problem by designing a custom probabilistic graphical model. Graphical models are a modular framework to design classifiers which incorporate domain-specific knowledge. More specifically, our solution introduces semi-supervised learning which means we learn from both labelled and unlabelled traffic flows. We show that our solution performs competitively compared to previous approaches while using less data and simpler features. Copyright © 2010 ACM.

Formation of composite organic thin film transistors with nanotubes and nanowires

Plastic electronics is a rapidly expanding topic, much of which has been focused on organic semiconductors. However, it is also of interest to find viable ways to integrate nanomaterials, such as silicon nanowires (SiNWs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), into this technology. Here, we present methods of fabrication of composite devices incorporating such nanostructured materials into an organic matrix. We investigate the formation of polymer/CNT composites, for which we use the semiconducting polymer poly(3,3‴-dialkyl-quaterthiophene) (PQT). We also report a method of fabricating polymer/SiNW TFTs, whereby sparse arrays of parallel oriented SiNWs are initially prepared on silicon dioxide substrates from forests of as-grown gold-catalysed SiNWs. Subsequent ink-jet printing of PQT on these arrays produces a polymer/SiNW composite film. We also present the electrical characterization of all composite devices. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of inclined soil layers on surface vibration from underground railways using a semi-analytical approach

Ground vibration due to underground railways is a significant source of disturbance for people living or working near the subways. The numerical models used to predict vibration levels have inherent uncertainty which must be understood to give confidence in the predictions. A semi-analytical approach is developed herein to investigate the effect of soil layering on the surface vibration of a halfspace where both soil properties and layer inclination angles are varied. The study suggests that both material properties and inclination angle of the layers have significant effect ( ± 10dB) on the surface vibration response. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Formation of nanoparticles from ultrafast laser condensates of metal targets

Optimised ultrafast laser ablation can result in almost complete ionisation of the target material and the formation of a high velocity plasma jet. Collisions with the ambient gas behind the shock front cools the material resulting in the formation of mainly spherical, single crystal nanoscale particles in the condensate. This work characterises the nanoscale structures produced by the ultrafast laser interactions in He atmospheres at STP with Ni and Al. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was employed to study the microstructure of the condensates and to classify the production of particles forms as a function of the illumination conditions.

Growth of highly-quality single-wall carbon nanotubes without amorphous carbon formation

A simple way to deposit single-wall carbon nanotubes by CVD without the co-deposition of unwanted a-C was demonstrated. It was found that the catalytic deposition of SWCNTs occurs at a substantial rate compared to the self-pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon gas used.

Semi-insulating layer for novel high voltage polysilicon thin film transistors

This work describes the deposition and characterisation of semi-insulating oxygen-doped silicon films for the development of high voltage polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) circuitry on glass. The performance of a novel poly-Si High Voltage Thin Film Transistor (HVTFT) structure, incorporating a layer of semi-insulating material, has been investigated using a two dimensional device simulator. The semi-insulating layer increases the operating voltage of the HVTFT structure by linearising the potential distribution in the device offset region. A glass compatible semi-insulating layer, suitable for HVTFT applications, has been deposited by the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) technique from silane (SiH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and helium (He) gas mixtures. The as-deposited films are furnace annealed at 600°C which is the maximum process temperature. By varying the N2O/SiH4 ratio the conductivity of the annealed films can be accurately controlled up to a maximum of around 10-7 Ω-1cm-1. Helium dilution of the reactant gases improves both film uniformity and reproducibility. Raman analysis shows the as-deposited and annealed films to be completely amorphous. A model for the microstructure of these Semi-Insulating Amorphous Oxygen-Doped Silicon (SIAOS) films is proposed to explain the observed physical and electrical properties.

New tools for self-organised pattern formation

Position-dependent gene expression is a critical aspect of the development and behaviour of multicellular organisms. It requires a complex series of interactions to occur between different cell types in addition to intracellular signalling cascades. We used Escherichia coli to study the properties of an artificial signalling system at the interface between two expanding cell populations. We genetically engineered one population to produce a diffusible acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signal, and another population to respond to it. Our experiments demonstrate how such a signal can be used to reproducibly generate simple visible patterns with high accuracy in swimming agar. The producing and responding cassettes of two such signalling systems can be linked to produce a symmetric interface for bidirectional communication that can be used to visualise molecular logic. Intracellular feedback between these two cassettes would then create a framework for self-organised patterning of higher complexity. Adapting the experiments of Basu et al. (Basu et al., 2005) using cell motility, rather than a differential response to AHL concentrations as a way to define zones of response, we noted how the interaction of sender and receiver cell populations on a swimming plate could lead to complex pattern formation. Equipping highly motile strains such as E. coli MC1000 with AHL-mediated auto-inducing systems based on Vibrio fischeri luxI/luxR and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasI/lasR cassettes would allow the amplification of a response to an AHL signal and its propagation. We designed and synthesised codon-optimised auto-inducing luxI/R and lasI/R cassettes as optimal gene expression is crucial for the generation of robust patterns. We still have to complete and test the entire genetic circuitry, although by modelling the system we were able to demonstrate its feasibility. © 2007 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Low-temperature (≤600 °C) semi-insulating oxygen-doped silicon films by the PECVD technique for large-area power applications

This work describes the deposition, annealing and characterisation of semi-insulating oxygen-doped silicon films at temperatures compatible with polysilicon circuitry on glass. The semi-insulating layers are deposited by the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique from silane (SiH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and helium (He) gas mixtures at a temperature of 350 °C. The as-deposited films are then furnace annealed at 600 °C which is the maximum process temperature. Raman analysis shows the as-deposited and annealed films to be completely amorphous. The most important deposition variable is the N2O SiH4 gas ratio. By varying the N2O SiH4 ratio the conductivity of the annealed films can be accurately controlled, for the first time, down to a minimum of ≈10-7Ω-1cm-1 where they exhibit a T -1 4 temperature dependence indicative of a hopping conduction mechanism. Helium dilution of the reactant gases is shown to improve both film uniformity and reproducibility. A model for the microstructure of these semi-insulating amorphous oxygen-doped silicon films is proposed to explain the observed physical and electrical properties. © 1995.