Improvement in growth and toxin production of Alexandrium tamarense by two-step culture method

The growth and toxin content of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense ATHK was markedly affected by culture methods. In early growth phase at lower cell density static or mild agitation methods were beneficial to growth, but continuous agitation or aeration, to some extent, had an adverse effect on cell growth. Static culture in 2 L Erlenmeyer flasks had the highest growth rate (0.38 d(-1)) but smaller cell size compared with other culture conditions. Cells grown under aerated conditions possessed low nitrogen and phosphorus cell yields, namely high N and P cell-quota. At day 18, cells grown in continuous agitated and 1 h aerated culture entered the late stationary phase and their cellular toxin contents were higher (0.67 and 0.54 pg cell(-1)) compared with cells grown by other culture methods (0.27-0.49 pg cell(-1)). The highest cell density and cellular toxin content were 17190 cells mL(-1) and 1.26 pg cell(-1) respectively in an airlift photobioreactor with two-step culture. The results indicate that A. tamarense could be grown successfully in airlift photobioreactor by a two-step culture method, which involved cultivating the cells statically for 4 days and then aerating the medium. This provides an efficient way to enhance cell and toxin yield of A. tamarense.

High-density and narrow size-distribution InAs quantum dots formed by a modified two-step growth

We develop a modified two-step method of growing high-density and narrow size-distribution InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) by molecular beam epitaxy. In the first step, high-density small InAs QDs are formed by optimizing the continuous deposition amount. In the second step, deposition is carried out with a long growth interruption for every 0.1 InAs monolayer. Atomic force microscope images show that the high-density (similar to 5.9x 10(10) CM-2) good size-uniformity InAs QDs are achieved. The strong intensity and narrow linewidth (27.7 meV) of the photoluminescence spectrum show that the QDs grown in this two-step method have a good optical quality.

Formation of total-dose-radiation hardened materials by sequential oxygen and nitrogen implantation and multi-step annealing

Separation by implantation of oxygen and nitrogen (SIMON) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) materials were fabricated by sequential oxygen and nitrogen implantation with annealing after each implantation. Analyses of SIMS, XTEM and HRTEM were performed. The results show that superior buried insulating multi-layers were well formed and the possible mechanism is discussed. The remarkable total-dose irradiation tolerance of SIMON materials was confirmed by few shifts of drain leakage current-gate source voltage (I-V) curves of PMOS transistors fabricated on SIMON materials before and after irradiation.

Enhancement of photoluminescence intensity of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells by two-step rapid thermal annealing

We investigate the effect of rapid thermal annealing on InGaNAs/GaAs quantum wells. At optimized annealing temperatures and times, the greatest enhancement of the photoluminescence intensity is obtained by a special two-step annealing process. To identify the mechanism affecting the material quality during the rapid thermal annealing, differential temperature analysis is applied, and temperature- and power-dependent photoluminescence is carried out on the samples annealed under different conditions. Our experiment reveals that some composition redistribution or other related ordering process may occur in the quantum-well layer during annealing. Annealing at a lower temperature for a long time primarily can remove defects and dislocations while annealing at a higher temperature for a short time primarily homogenizes the composition in the quantum wells.

Atomic hydrogen induced step bunching and fabrication of quantum wire arrays on GaAs (311)A substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Atomic hydrogen assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a novel type of epitaxial growth of nanostructures. The GaAs (311)A surface naturally forms one-dimensional step arrays by step bunching along the direction of (-233) and the space period is around 40nm. The step arrays extend over several mum without displacement. The InGaAs quantum wire arrays are grown on the step arrays as the basis. Our results may prompt further development of more uniform quantum wire and quantum dot arrays.

The structure and current-voltage characteristics of multi-sheet InGaN quantum dots grown by a new multi-step method

Multi-sheet InGaN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) were grown successfully by surface passivation processing and low-temperature growth in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. This method based on the principle of increasing the energy barrier of adatom hopping by surface passivation and low-temperature growth, is quite different from present methods. The InGaN quantum dots in the first layer of about 40-nm-wide and 15-nm-high grown by this method were revealed by atomic force microscopy. The InGaN QDs in upper layer grew bigger. To our knowledge, the current-voltage characteristics of multi-sheet InGaN/GaN QDs were measured for the fist time. Two kinds of resonance-tunneling-current features were observed which were attributed to the low-dimensional localization effect. Some current peaks only appeared in positive voltage for sample due to the non-uniformity of the QDs in the structure. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Very low-pressure VLP-CVD growth of high quality gamma-Al2O3 films on silicon by multi-step process

gamma-Al2O3 films were grown on Si (10 0) substrates using the sources of TMA (AI(CH3)(3)) and O-2 by very low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The effects of temperature control on the crystalline quality, surface morphology, uniformity and dielectricity were investigated. It has been found that the,gamma-Al2O3 film prepared at a temperature of 1000degreesC has a good crystalline quality, but the surface morphology, uniformity and dielectricity were poor due to the etching reaction between 0, and Si substrate in the initial growth stage. However, under a temperature-varied multi-step process the properties Of gamma-Al2O3 film were improved. The films have a mirror-like surface and the dielectricity was superior to that grown under a single-step process. The uniformity of gamma-Al2O3 films for 2-in epi-wafer was <5%, it is better than that disclosed elsewhere. In order to improve the crystalline quality, the gamma-Al2O3 films were annealed for I h in O-2 atmosphere. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Intersubband optical absorption in a step asymmetric semiconductor quantum well driven by a terahertz field

The nonlinear optical absorption in a three-subband step asymmetric semiconductor quantum well driven by a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated theoretically by employing the intersubband semiconductor-Bloch equations. We show that the optical absorption spectrum strongly depends on the intensity, frequency, and phase of the pump THz wave. The strong THz field induces THz sidebands and Autler-Townes splitting in the probe absorption spectrum. Varying the pump frequency can bring not only the new absorption peaks but also the changing of the energy separation of the two higher-energy levels. The dependence of the absorption spectrum on the phase of the pump THz wave is also very remarkable.

Investigation of "Rearrangement Step" in classical Beckmann rearrangement mechanism over solid acid by means of O-18 isotopic

The reaction mechanism of the Beckmann rearrangement over B2O3/gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 in the gas phase has been investigated by isotope labeling approach. The isotopic labeled products were measured by mass spectrometry method. By exchanging oxygen with H, 180 in the rearrangement step, it was found that the exchange reaction between cyclohexanone oxime and (H2O)-O-18 over B2O3/-gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 could only be carried out in some extent. It suggested that the dissociation of nitrilium, over solid acids be not completely free as the classical mechanism. A concept of the dissociation degree (alpha) that is defined as the ratio of the dissociated intermediate nitrilium to the total intermediate nitrilium has been proposed. By fitting the experimental values with the calculation equation of isotopic labeled products, it is obtained that a values for B2O3/-gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 are 0.199 and 0.806 at the reaction conditions, respectively.

Colloidal crystal heterostructures by a two-step vertical deposition method

A two-step template-induced vertical deposition technique was introduced to fabricate the colloidal crystal heterostructures due to wettability differences and spatial confinement of the templates structured with microchannels. The heterostructures exhibited a bi-frequency Bragg diffraction whose position was determined by the microsphere diameter of the opals. It was demonstrated that the channel width had an influence on the optical properties of the colloidal crystal heterostructures. The strategy proposed is suited for fabrication of different micron-sized opal architectures with complex form and designed optical functionality.

Heterojunction ambipolar organic transistors fabricated by a two-step vacuum-deposition process

Ambipolar organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are produced, based on organic heterojunctions fabricated by a two-step vacuum-deposition process. Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) deposited at a high temperature (250 degrees C) acts as the first (p-type component) layer, and hexadecafluorophthalocyaninatocopper (F16CuPc) deposited at room temperature (25 degrees C) acts as the second (n-type component) layer. A heterojunction with an interpenetrating network is obtained as the active layer for the OFETs. These heterojunction devices display significant ambipolar charge transport with symmetric electron and hole mobilities of the order of 10(-4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) in air. Conductive channels are at the interface between the F16CuPc and CuPc domains in the interpenetrating networks. Electrons are transported in the F16CuPc regions, and holes in the CuPc regions. The molecular arrangement in the heterojunction is well ordered, resulting in a balance of the two carrier densities responsible for the ambipolar electrical characteristics. The thin-film morphology of the organic heterojunction with its interpenetrating network structure can be controlled well by the vacuum-deposition process.