Immobilizing bacteriorhodopsin on a single electron transistor

As awareness of potential human and environmental impacts from toxins has increased, so has the development of innovative sensors. Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light activated proton pump contained in the purple membrane (PM) of the bacteria Halobacterium salinarum. Bacteriorhodopsin is a robust protein which can function in both wet and dry states and can withstand extreme environmental conditions. A single electron transistor(SET) is a nano-scale device that exploits the quantum mechanical properties of electrons to switch on and off. SETs have tremendous potential in practical applications due to their size, ultra low power requirements, and electrometer-like sensitivity. The main goal of this research was to create a bionanohybrid device by integrating bR with a SET device. This was achieved by a multidisciplinary approach. The SET devices were created by a combination of sputtering, photolithography, and focused ion beam machining. The bionanomaterial bacteriorhodopsin was created through oxidative fermentation and a series of transmembrane purification processes. The bR was then integrated with the SET by electrophoretic deposition, creating a bionanohybrid device. The bionanohybrid device was then characterized using a semiconductor parametric analyzer. Characterization demonstrated that the bR modulated the operational characteristics of the SET when bR was activated with light within its absorbance spectrum. To effectively integrate bacteriorhodopsin with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), it is critical to know the electrical properties of the material and to understand how it will affect the functionality of the device. Tests were performed on dried films of bR to determine if there is a relationship between inductance, capacitance, and resistance (LCR) measurements and orientation, light-on/off, frequency, and time. The results indicated that the LCR measurements of the bR depended on the thickness and area of the film, but not on the orientation, as with other biological materials such as muscle. However, there was a transient LCR response for both oriented and unoriented bR which depended on light intensity. From the impedance measurements an empirical model was suggested for the bionanohybrid device. The empirical model is based on the dominant electrical characteristics of the bR which were the parallel capacitance and resistance. The empirical model suggests that it is possible to integrate bR with a SET without influencing its functional characteristics.

Integration of room temperature single electron transistor with CMOS subsystem

The single electron transistor (SET) is a charge-based device that may complement the dominant metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) technology. As the cost of scaling MOSFET to smaller dimensions are rising and the the basic functionality of MOSFET is encountering numerous challenges at dimensions smaller than 10nm, the SET has shown the potential to become the next generation device which operates based on the tunneling of electrons. Since the electron transfer mechanism of a SET device is based on the non-dissipative electron tunneling effect, the power consumption of a SET device is extremely low, estimated to be on the order of 10^-18J. The objectives of this research are to demonstrate technologies that would enable the mass produce of SET devices that are operational at room temperature and to integrate these devices on top of an active complementary-MOSFET (CMOS) substrate. To achieve these goals, two fabrication techniques are considered in this work. The Focus Ion Beam (FIB) technique is used to fabricate the islands and the tunnel junctions of the SET device. A Ultra-Violet (UV) light based Nano-Imprint Lithography (NIL) call Step-and-Flash- Imprint Lithography (SFIL) is used to fabricate the interconnections of the SET devices. Combining these two techniques, a full array of SET devices are fabricated on a planar substrate. Test and characterization of the SET devices has shown consistent Coulomb blockade effect, an important single electron characteristic. To realize a room temperature operational SET device that function as a logic device to work along CMOS, it is important to know the device behavior at different temperatures. Based on the theory developed for a single island SET device, a thermal analysis is carried out on the multi-island SET device and the observation of changes in Coulomb blockade effect is presented. The results show that the multi-island SET device operation highly depends on temperature. The important parameters that determine the SET operation is the effective capacitance Ceff and tunneling resistance Rt . These two parameters lead to the tunneling rate of an electron in the SET device, Γ. To obtain an accurate model for SET operation, the effects of the deviation in dimensions, the trap states in the insulation, and the background charge effect have to be taken into consideration. The theoretical and experimental evidence for these non-ideal effects are presented in this work.

Development of room temperature operating single electron transistor using FIB etching and deposition technology

The single-electron transistor (SET) is one of the best candidates for future nano electronic circuits because of its ultralow power consumption, small size and unique functionality. SET devices operate on the principle of Coulomb blockade, which is more prominent at dimensions of a few nano meters. Typically, the SET device consists of two capacitively coupled ultra-small tunnel junctions with a nano island between them. In order to observe the Coulomb blockade effects in a SET device the charging energy of the device has to be greater that the thermal energy. This condition limits the operation of most of the existing SET devices to cryogenic temperatures. Room temperature operation of SET devices requires sub-10nm nano-islands due to the inverse dependence of charging energy on the radius of the conducting nano-island. Fabrication of sub-10nm structures using lithography processes is still a technological challenge. In the present investigation, Focused Ion Beam based etch and deposition technology is used to fabricate single electron transistors devices operating at room temperature. The SET device incorporates an array of tungsten nano-islands with an average diameter of 8nm. The fabricated devices are characterized at room temperature and clear Coulomb blockade and Coulomb oscillations are observed. An improvement in the resolution limitation of the FIB etching process is demonstrated by optimizing the thickness of the active layer. SET devices with structural and topological variation are developed to explore their impact on the behavior of the device. The threshold voltage of the device was minimized to ~500mV by minimizing the source-drain gap of the device to 17nm. Vertical source and drain terminals are fabricated to realize single-dot based SET device. A unique process flow is developed to fabricate Si dot based SET devices for better gate controllability in the device characteristic. The device vi parameters of the fabricated devices are extracted by using a conductance model. Finally, characteristic of these devices are validated with the simulated data from theoretical modeling.

NANOSCALE ELECTROCHEMISTRY BY IN-SITU TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Nanoscale research in energy storage has recently focused on investigating the properties of nanostructures in order to increase energy density, power rate, and capacity. To better understand the intrinsic properties of nanomaterials, a new and advanced in situ system was designed that allows atomic scale observation of materials under external fields. A special holder equipped with a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) probe inside a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) system was used to perform the in situ studies on mechanical, electrical, and electrochemical properties of nanomaterials. The nanostructures of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes are characterized by electron imaging, diffraction, and chemical analysis techniques inside TEM. TiO2 nanotube is one of the candidates as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. It is necessary to study their morphological, mechanical, electrical, and electrochemical properties at atomic level. The synthesis of TiO2 nanotubes showed that the aspect ratio of TiO2 could be controlled by processing parameters, such as anodization time and voltage. Ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) treated TiO2 nanotubes showed unexpected instability. Observation revealed the nanotubes were disintegrated into nanoparticles and the tubular morphology was vanished after annealing. The nitrogen compounds incorporated in surface defects weaken the nanotube and result in the collapse of nanotube into nanoparticles during phase transformation. Next, the electrical and mechanical properties of TiO2 nanotubes were studied by in situ TEM system. Phase transformation of anatase TiO2 nanotubes into rutile nanoparticles was studied by in situ Joule heating. The results showed that single anatase TiO2 nanotubes broke into ultrafine small anatase nanoparticles. On further increasing the bias, the nanoclusters of anatase particles became prone to a solid state reaction and were grown into stable large rutile nanoparticles. The relationship between mechanical and electrical properties of TiO2 nanotubes was also investigated. Initially, both anatase and amorphous TiO2 nanotubes were characterized by using I-V test to demonstrate the semiconductor properties. The observation of mechanical bending on TiO2 nanotubes revealed that the conductivity would increase when bending deformation happened. The defects on the nanotubes created by deformation helped electron transportation to increase the conductivity. Lastly, the electrochemical properties of amorphous TiO2 nanotubes were characterized by in situ TEM system. The direct chemical and imaging evidence of lithium-induced atomic ordering in amorphous TiO2 nanotubes was studied. The results indicated that the lithiation started with the valance reduction of Ti4+ to Ti3+ leading to a LixTiO2 intercalation compound. The continued intercalation of Li ions in TiO2 nanotubes triggered an amorphous to crystalline phase transformation. The crystals were formed as nano islands and identified to be Li2Ti2O4 with cubic structure (a = 8.375 Å). This phase transformation is associated with local inhomogeneities in Li distribution. Based on these observations, a new reaction mechanism is proposed to explain the first cycle lithiation behavior in amorphous TiO2 nanotubes.

Measurement of the high-mass Drell–Yan differential cross-section in pp collisions at with the ATLAS detector

This Letter reports a measurement of the high-mass Drell-Yan differential cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. Based on an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb^-^1, the differential cross-section in the Z/@c^@?->e^+e^- channel is measured with the ATLAS detector as a function of the invariant mass, m_e_e, in the range 116ion in which both the electron and the positron have transverse momentum p_T>25 GeV and pseudorapidity |@h|<2.5. A comparison is made to various event generators and to the predictions of perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order.

The polarized distribution of poly(A+)-mRNA-induced functional ion channels in the Xenopus oocyte plasma membrane is prevented by anticytoskeletal drugs

Foreign mRNA was expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Newly expressed ion currents localized in defined plasma membrane areas were measured using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique in combination with a specially designed chamber, that exposed only part of the surface on the oocytes to channel agonists or inhibitors. Newly expressed currents were found to be unequally distributed in the surface membrane of the oocyte. This asymmetry was most pronounced during the early phase of expression, when channels could almost exclusively be detected in the animal hemisphere of the oocyte. 4 d after injection of the mRNA, or later, channels could be found at a threefold higher density at the animal than at the vegetal pole area. The pattern of distribution was observed to be similar with various ion channels expressed from crude tissue mRNA and from cRNAs coding for rat GABAA receptor channel subunits. Electron microscopical analysis revealed very similar microvilli patterns at both oocyte pole areas. Thus, the asymmetric current distribution is not due to asymmetric surface structure. Upon incubation during the expression period in either colchicine or cytochalasin D, the current density was found to be equal in both pole areas. The inactive control substance beta-lumicolchicine had no effect on the asymmetry of distribution. Colchicine was without effect on the amplitude of the expressed whole cell current. Our measurements reveal a pathway for plasma membrane protein expression endogenous to the Xenopus oocyte, that may contribute to the formation and maintenance of polarity of this highly organized cell.

Measurements of top quark pair relative differential cross-sections with ATLAS in pp collisions at sqrts=7 TeV

Measurements are presented of differential cross-sections for top quark pair production in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV relative to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section. A data sample of 2.05 fb(-1) recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used. Relative differential cross-sections are derived as a function of the invariant mass, the transverse momentum and the rapidity of the top quark pair system. Events are selected in the lepton (electron or muon) + jets channel. The background-subtracted differential distributions are corrected for detector effects, normalized to the total inclusive top quark pair production cross-section and compared to theoretical predictions. The measurement uncertainties range typically between 10 % and 20 % and are generally dominated by systematic effects. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectations are observed.

Search for excited electrons and muons in sqrts=8 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to search for excited electrons and excited muons in the channel pp -> ll* -> ll gamma, assuming that excited leptons are produced via contact interactions. The analysis is based on 13 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. No evidence for excited leptons is found, and a limit is set at the 95% credibility level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-lepton mass m(l*). For m(l*) >= 0.8 TeV, the respective upper limits on sigma B(l(*) -> l gamma) are 0.75 and 0.90 fb for the e* and mu* searches. Limits on sigma B are converted into lower bounds on the compositeness scale 3. In the special case where Lambda = m(l*), excited-electron and excited-muon masses below 2.2 TeV are excluded.

Measurement of the production cross section of jets in association with a Z boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the production of jets of particles in association with a Z boson in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV are presented, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Inclusive and differential jet cross sections in Z events, with Z decaying into electron or muon pairs, are measured for jets with transverse momentum p(T) > 30 GeV and rapidity vertical bar y vertical bar < 4.4. The results are compared to next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, and to predictions from different Monte Carlo generators based on leading-order and next-to-leading-order matrix elements supplemented by parton showers.

Measurement of the cross-section for W boson production in association with b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of the W+b-jets (W+b+X and W+b (b) over bar +X) production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. These results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1), collected with the ATLAS detector. Cross-sections are presented as a function of jet multiplicity and of the transverse momentum of the leading b-jet for both the muon and electron decay modes of the W boson. The W+b-jets cross-section, corrected for all known detector effects, is quoted in a limited kinematic range. Combining the muon and electron channels, the fiducial cross-section for W+b-jets is measured to be 7.1 +/- 0.5 (stat) +/- 1.4 (syst) pb, consistent with the next-to-leading order QCD prediction, corrected for non-perturbative and double-parton interactions (DPI) contributions, of 4.70 +/- 0.09 (stat) (+0.60)(-0.49) (scale) +/- 0.06 (PDF) +/- 0.16 (non-pert) (+0.52)(-0.38) (DPI) pb.

Measurement of the top quark pair production charge asymmetry in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the top quark pair () production charge asymmetry A (C) using 4.7 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. A -enriched sample of events with a single lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum and at least four high transverse momentum jets, of which at least one is tagged as coming from a b-quark, is selected. A likelihood fit is used to reconstruct the event kinematics. A Bayesian unfolding procedure is employed to estimate A (C) at the parton-level. The measured value of the production charge asymmetry is A (C) = 0.006 +/- 0.010, where the uncertainty includes both the statistical and the systematic components. Differential A (C) measurements as a function of the invariant mass, the rapidity and the transverse momentum of the system are also presented. In addition, A (C) is measured for a subset of events with large velocity, where physics beyond the Standard Model could contribute. All measurements are consistent with the Standard Model predictions.

Search for Quantum Black Hole Production in High-Invariant-Mass Lepton plus Jet Final States Using pp Collisions at root s=8 TeV and the ATLAS Detector

This Letter presents a search for quantum black-hole production using 20.3 fb(-1) of data collected with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The quantum black holes are assumed to decay into a final state characterized by a lepton (electron or muon) and a jet. In either channel, no event with a lepton-jet invariant mass of 3.5 TeV or more is observed, consistent with the expected background. Limits are set on the product of cross sections and branching fractions for the lepton + jet final states of quantum black holes produced in a search region for invariant masses above 1 TeV. The combined 95% confidence level upper limit on this product for quantum black holes with threshold mass above 3.5 TeV is 0.18 fb. This limit constrains the threshold quantum black-hole mass to be above 5.3 TeV in the model considered.

Optimum Electron Temperature and Density for Short-Wavelength Plasma-Lasing from Nickel-like ions

Soft X-ray lasing across a Ni-like plasma gain-medium requires optimum electron temperature and density for attaining to the Ni-like ion stage and for population inversion in the View the MathML source3d94d1(J=0)→3d94p1(J=1) laser transition. Various scaling laws, function of operating parameters, were compared with respect to their predictions for optimum temperatures and densities. It is shown that the widely adopted local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) model underestimates the optimum plasma-lasing conditions. On the other hand, non-LTE models, especially when complemented with dielectronic recombination, provided accurate prediction of the optimum plasma-lasing conditions. It is further shown that, for targets with Z equal or greater than the rare-earth elements (e.g. Sm), the optimum electron density for plasma-lasing is not accessible for pump-pulses at View the MathML sourceλ=1ω=1μm. This observation explains a fundamental difficulty in saturating the wavelength of plasma-based X-ray lasers below 6.8 nm, unless using 2ω2ω pumping.

Measurement of distributions sensitive to the underlying event in inclusive Z-boson production in pp collisions at √ s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of charged-particle distributions sensitive to the properties of the underlying event is presented for an inclusive sample of events containing a Z-boson, decaying to an electron or muon pair. The measurement is based on data collected using the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.6fb−1. Distributions of the charged particle multiplicity and of the charged particle transverse momentum are measured in regions of azimuthal angle defined with respect to the Z-boson direction. The measured distributions are compared to similar distributions measured in jet events, and to the predictions of various Monte Carlo generators implementing different underlying event models.

Search for new particles in events with one lepton and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a search for new particles in events with one lepton (electron or muon) and missing transverse momentum using 20.3 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at TeX = 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess beyond Standard Model expectations is observed. A W ′ with Sequential Standard Model couplings is excluded at the 95% confidence level for masses up to 3.24 TeV. Excited chiral bosons (W *) with equivalent coupling strengths are excluded for masses up to 3.21 TeV. In the framework of an effective field theory limits are also set on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross-section as well as the mass scale M * of the unknown mediating interaction for dark matter pair production in association with a leptonically decaying W.