Ion-channel sensing of ferricyanide anion based on a supported bilayer lipid membrane

Ferricyanide anion has usually been used as a marker of ion-channel sensors. In this work we first found that ferricyanide, itself, can act as a stimulus to regulate the permeability of sBLM prepared from didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (a kind of synthetic lipid) on a GC electrode. We used cyclic voltammetry and a.c. impedance to investigate this phenomenon. The interaction between sBLM and ferricyanide concerns time. Furthermore, we developed a sensor for ferricyanide anion. The ion-channel sensor is highly sensitive. It can detect ferricyanide concentration as low as 5 muM.

(Ga, Gd, As) film growth on GaAs substrate by low-energy ion-beam deposit

(Ga, Gd, As) film was fabricated by the mass-analyzed dual ion-beam epitaxy system with the energy of 1000 eV at room temperature. There was no new peak found except GaAs substrate peaks (0 0 2) and (0 0 4) by X-ray diffraction. Rocking curves were measured for symmetric (0 0 4) reflections to further yield the lattice mismatch information by employing double-crystal X-ray diffraction. The element distributions vary so much due to the ion dose difference from AES depth profiles. The sample surface morphology indicates oxidizing layer roughness is also relative to the Gd ion dose, which leads to islandlike feature appearing on the high-dose sample. One sample shows ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY OF ION TRAPS ON A PLANAR CHIP

We investigate a planar ion chip design with a two-dimensional array of linear ion traps for the scalable quantum information processor. The segmented electrodes reside in a single plane on a substrate and a grounded metal plate, a combination of appropriate rf and DC potentials are applied to them for stable ion confinement, and the trap axes are located above the surface at a distance controlled by the electrodes' lateral extent and the substrate's height as discussed. The potential distributions are calculated using static electric field qualitatively. This architecture is conceptually simple and many current microfabrication techniques are feasible for the basic structure. It may provide a promising route for scalable quantum computers.

Effects of sensing temperature on the NO2-sensing properties of octa-iso-pentyloxymetallonaphthalocyanine spin-coated films

A kind of 1,6,10,15,19,24,28,33-octa-iso-pentyloxy-2,3-metallonaphthalocyanines complexes MNc(iso-PeO)(8) (M = Co, Cu, Pd) are used as spincoating film-forming materials. The surface morphologies of the films prepared were studied first. These films were then used for the experiments of NO2 sensing. The effects of sensing temperature as well as the NO concentration on the sensing properties were studied. The experimental results showed that the three MNc(iso-PeO)(8) films were uniform, smooth and dense. Due to the different metal ions (M) on the center of naphthalocyanine, the CoNc(iso-PeO)(8) film had a higher film resistance and response-recovery rate in the NO2 sensing experiments. On the contrary, the response to NO2 of the PdNc(iso-PeO)(8) and CuNc(iso-PeO)(8) films were superior to that of CoNc(iso-PeO)(8). By varying the sensing temperature, it was found that the elevation of sensing temperature could improve the sensing response, recovery ratio, and sensitivity of the sensing films. At high concentrations of NO2, the response time became shorter. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural and up-conversion luminescence properties in Tm (3+)/Yb3+-codoped heavy metal oxide-halide glasses

Tm3+/Yb3+-codoped heavy metal oxide-halide glasses have been synthesized by conventional melting and quenching method. Structural properties were obtained based on the Raman spectra, indicating that halide ion has an important influence on the phonon density and maximum phonon energy of host glasses. Intense blue and weak red emissions centered at 477 and 650 nm, corresponding to the transitions (1)G(4) -> H-3(6) and (1)G(4) -> H-3(4), respectively, were observed at room temperature. The possible up-conversion mechanisms are discussed and estimated. With increasing halide content, the up-conversion luminescence intensity and blue luminescence lifetimes of Tm3+ ion increase notably. Our results show that with the substitution of halide ion for oxygen ion, the decrease of phonon density and maximum phonon energy of host glasses both contribute to the enhanced up-conversion emissions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Radiation hardness improvement of separation-by-implantation-of-oxygen/silicon-on-insulator material by nitrogen ion implantation

In our work, nitrogen ions were implanted into separation-by-implantation-of-oxygen (SIMOX) wafers to improve the radiation hardness of the SIMOX material. The experiments of secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis showed that some nitrogen ions were distributed in the buried oxide layers and some others were collected at the Si/SiO2 interface after annealing. The results of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) suggested the density of the defects in the nitrided samples changed with different nitrogen ion implantation energies. Semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor (SIS) capacitors were made on the materials, and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements were carried out to confirm the results. The super total dose radiation tolerance of the materials was verified by the small increase of the drain leakage current of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor with n-channel (NMOSFETs) fabricated on the materials before and after total dose irradiation. The optimum implantation energy was also determined.

GdxSi grown with mass-analyzed low energy dual ion beam epitaxy technique

Semiconducting gadolinium silicide GdxSi samples were prepared by mass-analyzed low-energy dual ion beam epitaxy technique. Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiles indicate that the gadolinium ions are implanted into the single-crystal silicon substrate and formed 20 nm thick GdxSi film. X-ray double-crystal diffraction measurement shows that there is no new phase formed. The XPS spectra show that one type of silicon peaks whose binding energy is between that of silicide and silicon dioxide, and the gadolinium peak of binding energy is between that of metal Gd and Gd2O3. All of these results indicate that an amorphous semiconductor is formed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Nitrogen vacancy scattering in n-GaN grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy

Electron mobility limited by nitrogen vacancy scattering was taken into account to evaluate the quality of n-type GaN grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The nitrogen vacancy scattering potential used for our mobility calculation has to satisfy two requirements: such potential is (1) spatially short range, and (2) finite and not divergent at the vacancy core. A square-well potential was adopted to calculate the mobility, because it satisfies not only these two requirements, but also simplifies the calculation. As a result, the estimated mobility shows a T-1/2 temperature dependence, and is very sensitive to the potential well width. After introducing the nitrogen vacancy scattering, we obtained the best fitting between the calculated and experimental results for our high quality sample, and it was found that the measured mobility is dominated by ion impurity and dislocation scatterings at the low temperatures, but dominated by optical phonon and nitrogen vacancy scatterings at the high temperatures. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)04112-7].

Fabrication of Nano-structured VOx Film by Low Temperature Ion Beam Sputtering and Reductive Annealing

VOx thin films have been fabricated by low temperature ion beam sputtering and post reductive annealing process. Semiconductor-metal phase transition is observed for the film annealed at 400 degrees C for 2 hours. The film also shows a polycrystal structure with grain size from 50nm to 150nm. The VOx thin films fabricated by this process have a TCR up to -2.7% at room temperature. Our results indicate a promising fabrication method of the nano-structured VOx film with relatively high TCR and semiconductor-metal phase transition.

Formation and Properties of a Novel Heavy-Metal Chalcogenide Glass Doped with a High Dysprosium Concentration

A novel heavy-metal chalcogenide glass doped with a high dysprosium ion (Dy(3+)) concentration was prepared by the well-established melt-quenching technique from high-purity elements. The results show that when Cadmium (Cd) is introduced into chalcogenide glass, the concentration of Dy(3+) ions doped in GeGaCdS glasses is markedly increased, the thermodynamic performance improves, and the difference between T(g) and T(x) is >120 degrees C. The Vickers microhardness is also modified greatly, about 245 kgf/mm(2). The optical spectra indicate that all absorption and emission bands of Dy(3+) are clearly observed and red-shifted with increasing Dy(3+) concentration.

BACKGATING AND LIGHT SENSITIVITY IN GAAS METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTORS

Three different types of GaAs metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFET) by employing ion implantation, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and low-temperature MBE (LT MBE) techniques respectively were fabricated and studied in detail. The backgating (sidegating) measurement in the dark and in the light were carried out. For the LT MBE-GaAs buffered MESFETs, the output resistance R(d) and the peak transconductance g(m) were measured to be above 50 k Omega and 140 mS/mm, respectively, and the backgating and light sensitivity were eliminated. A theoretical model describing the light sensitivity in these kinds of devices is given. and good agreement with experimental data is reached.

An introduction to the trapping of clusters with ion traps and electrostatic storage devices

This paper presents an introduction to the application of ion traps and storage devices for cluster physics. Some experiments involving cluster ions in trapping devices such as Penning traps, Paul traps, quadrupole or multipole linear traps are briefly discussed. Electrostatic ion storage rings and traps which allow for the storage of fast ion beams without mass limitation are presented as well. We also report on the recently developed mini-ring, a compact electrostatic ion storage ring for cluster, molecular and biomolecular ion studies.

Near infrared lights emission of Ar-40(16+) impacting on metal surfaces

The highly charged ion Ar-40(16+) with the velocity (kinetic energy E (K)=150 keV, velocity V=8.5x10(5) m/s) smaller than Bohr velocity (V (Bohr)=2.9x10(6) m/s) was found to hove impacts on the surfaces of metals Ni, Mo, Au and Al, and the Ar atomic infrared light lines and X-rays spectra were simultaneously measured. The experimental results show that the highly charged ion that captures electrons is neutralized, and the multiply-excited hollow atom forms. The hollow atom cascade decay radiates lights from infrared to X-ray spectrum. The intensity of infrared lights shows that the metallic work functions play an important role in the neutralization process of highly charged ions during their interaction with metallic surfaces, which verifies the classical over-the-barrier model.

X-ray spectra induced by Xe-129(q+) impacting the metal surface

Using the slow highly charged ions Xe-129(q+) (q = 25, 26, 27; initial kinetic T-0 <= 4.65 keV/a.u.) to impact Au surface, the Au atomic M alpha characteristic X-ray spectrum is induced. The result shows that as long as the charge state of projectile is high enough, the heavy atomic characteristic X-ray can be effectively excited even though the incident beam is very weak (nA magnitude), and the X-ray yield per ion is in the order of 10(-8) and increases with the kinetic energy and potential energy of projectile. By measuring the Au M alpha-X-ray spectra, Au atomic N-level lifetime is estimated at about 1.33x10(-18) s based on Heisenberg uncertainty relation.