In this paper, the electrical properties of bottom-gate (BG) polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs) by NiSi2 seed-induced lateral crystallization (SILC) and its applications are presented. Sequential lateral solidification (SLS), which is one of crystallization methods, is known to have poor electrical properties of TFTs with BG structures due to problems induced by laser. Therefore, the laser method cannot be used to well-developed production line of amorphous-Si (a-Si) TFT, resulting in large initial investment cost to change fabrication procedures. On the other hand, the BG poly-Si TFT by SILC (SILC-BGPS TFT) has basically compatible process flows with that of the a-Si TFT. The SILC-BGPS TFT exhibited threshold voltage of -3.9 V, steep subthreshold slope of 130 mV/dec, a high field-effect mobility of 129 cm2/Vs , and Ion/Ioff ratio of ∼106.

The formation and morphological evolution of germanides formed in a ternary Ni/Ta-interlayer/Ge system were examined by ex situ and in situ annealing experiments. The Ni germanide film formed in the Ni/Ta-interlayer/Ge system maintained continuity up to 550°C, whereas agglomeration of the Ni germanide occurred in the Ni/Ge system without Ta-interlayer. Through microstructural and chemical analysis of the Ni/Ta-interlayer/Ge system during and after in situ annealing in a transmission electron microscope, it was confirmed that the Ta atoms remained uniformly on the top of the newly formed Ni germanide layer during the diffusion reaction. Consequently, the agglomeration of the Ni germanide film was retarded and the thermal stability was improved by the Ta incorporation.

Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images and selected area electron diffraction pattern showed that the one-dimensional GaN nanorods with [0001]-oriented single-crystalline wurzite structures were formed on Si (111) substrates by using hydride vapor-phase epitaxy without a catalyst. Although some stacking faults and inversion domain boundaries existed in the GaN nanorods, few other defects such as threading dislocations were observed. The formation of the facet plane in the N-polar region of the GaN nanorod containing an inversion domain boundary originated from the slow growth rate, followed by the lateral adatom diffusion from the Ga-polar region to reduce the length difference.

In this paper, we demonstrate a perfectly-ordered microbowl array with balanced dielectrophoresis (DEP) for a high-throughput single-cell analysis. In order to fabricate well-ordered microbowl array in a large area, we utilized three-dimensional diffuser lithography for photoresist mold and nickel electroplating technique for final microbowl structures on a silicon substrate. Single microbowl has six sharp apexes surrounding the microbowl perimeter. Each microbowl has a diameter of 10 μm, and a height of 9 μm, which can be controllable by patterns on mask and lithography conditions. To investigate feasibility for application to the microbowl array as a single-cell microarray, we used latex beads of 6.4 μm in an average diameter to be captured by dielectrophoretic force. The nickel microbowl array densely packed with a hexagonal geometry played as a bottom electrode, and an ITO-coated glass covered the nickel microbowl array as a top electrode while keeping a uniform gap between two electrodes. After injecting solution containing latex beads through the gap, we applied an AC signal (2 VPP, 1 MHz) between two electrodes to induce high electric field near the sharp apexes of the single microbowl. A negative DEP trap is formed at the center of the single microbowl with balanced DEP force from the six apexes. The experimental result shows that injected latex beads had been successfully and uniformly aligned and trapped at the microbowl array sustained by negative DEP.

III-nitride films were grown on the corrugated interface substrate using a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition system to increase the optical power of white LEDs. The patterning of a substrate for enhancing the extraction efficiency was processed using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching system and the surface morphology of the etched sapphire wafer and that of the non-etched one were investigated using an atomic force microscope. The structural and optical properties of GaN on CIS were characterized by a high-resolution x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, AFM and photoluminescence. The roughness of the etched sapphire wafer was higher than that of the non-etched one. The GaN layer didn't grow locally over the surface of the cone shape pattern. The reason is that (0001) c-plane which is favor for GaN growth doesn't exist on the cone shape patterned region. The lateral growth of the GaN layer that was initially grown on the (0001) c-plane among pattern regions, was enhanced by raising the growth temperature and lowering the reactor pressure, resulting in the smooth surface over the pattern region. The (102) FWHM of GaN layer on the patterned substrate was better than that of GaN on the conventional substrate and no defect was detected at the interface of the cone shape pattern. The optical power of the LED on the patterned substrate was 20% higher than that on the conventional substrate due to the increased extraction efficiency.

The present study was designed to define how dietary fat type regulates body adiposity in dietary obesity-susceptible (DOS) Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. Eighty-three SD rats received a purified diet containing 50 g maize oil (MO)/kg for 3 weeks and then thirty-nine of the rats, designated as the DOS rats, were allotted to diets containing 160 g MO (DOS-MO), beef tallow (DOS-BT) or fish oil (DOS-FO)/kg for 9 weeks. As a result of the experiment, the DOS-FO rats had significantly (P<0·05) reduced weight gain and abdominal and epididymal fat-pad mass than the DOS-MO and DOS-BT rats. Serum leptin level was also significantly (P<0·05) lower in the DOS-FO rats; however, hypothalamic leptin receptor (a and b) mRNA and neuropeptide Y expressions were not altered by dietary fat sources. A lower acetyl-CoA carboxylase mRNA expression in the liver was observed in the DOS-FO group, whereas hepatic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ mRNA and protein expressions were markedly elevated in the DOS-FO group compared with those in the other groups. We did not observe differences in acetyl-CoA carboxylase and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ expressions in epididymal fat of the DOS rats consuming MO, BT or FO. It is concluded from our present observations that dietary fat type, especially that rich in FO, plays a potential role in down-regulation of adiposity by altering hepatic lipogenic genes, rather than feeding behaviour, in the DOS-SD rats.

Hot embossing has been widely accepted as an alternative to photolithography in generating patterns on polymer substrates. The optimization of embossing process should be accomplished based on polymer surface properties. Therefore, in this paper, polymers with different surface characteristic were selected and the surface properties of each polymers such as surface energy and adhesion force were investigated by contact angle and AFM. Based on these results, the imprinted nano patterns were compared. Silicon molds with nano size patterns were fabricated by e-beam direct writing. Molds were coated with self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of (1, 1, 2, 2H –perfluorooctyl)-trichlorosilane to reduce the stiction between molds and polymer substrates. For embossing, pressure of 500 psi, embossing time of 5 min and temperature of above transition temperature were applied. Mr-I 8010 polymer (Micro Resist Technology), Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA 495k) and LOR (polyaliphatic imide copolymer) were used as substrate for hot embossing process development in nano size. These polymers were spun coated on the Si wafer with the thickness of 150 nm. The nano size patterns obtained by hot embossing were identified by atomic force microscopy without breaking the pattern and compared based on the polymer surface properties. The mr-I 8010 which has the lowest surface energy and adhesion force shows the best demolding property.

The active sites and substrate bindings of Rhizobium trifolii molonyl-CoA synthetase (MCS) catalyzing the malonyl-CoA formation from malonate and CoA have been determined based on NMR spectroscopy, site-directed mutagenesis, and comparative modeling methods. The MCS-bound conformation of malonyl-CoA was determined from two-dimensional–transferred nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy data. MCS protein folds into two structural domains and consists of 16 α-helices, 24 β-strands, and several long loops. The core active site was determined as a wide cleft close to the end of the small C-terminal domain. The catalytic substrate malonate is placed between ATP and His206 in the MCS enzyme, supporting His206 in its catalytic role as it generates reaction intermediate, malonyl-AMP. These findings are strongly supported by previous biochemical data, as well as by the site-directed mutagenesis data reported here. This structure reveals the biochemical role as well as the substrate specificity that conservative residues of adenylate-forming enzymes have.