Isolation of the left innominate artery from the right aortic arch is a rare anomaly. Herein, we present an even rarer case of incomplete isolation of the proximal left innominate artery with the right aortic arch in a 3-month-old female infant with a double-outlet right ventricle and pulmonary stenosis. Surgical repair at 6 months of age was successful, leading to the restoration of adequate flow in the left arm.

Based on the investigation of mechanism for large dielectric losses in relaxor fluorinated polymers, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) derivatives, a new nanostructure-controlled PVDF based polymer films with low dielectric loss, tanδ < 1% (0.6%), and high dielectric constant, εr = 13 at frequency of 1 kHz, was proposed for electrical energy storage applications. The high dielectric loss was mainly due to the electric-field induced α-β phase transition, and one dimensional extension of P(VDF-TrFE)-g-PEMA films was found to reduce the α phase component resulting in reduction of the dielectric loss while keeping the high dielectric constant. In-situ FTIR measurements suggested a possibility of further reducing the dielectric-loss.

NiO is a typical material for new p-type oxide semiconductors. Conductivity of NiO can be raised with Li+ doping. In case of Li-heavy doping, we can obtain LixNiO2(0.5< × <1.0). Recently the importance of LiNiO2 has been increased as an electrode material for rechargeable lithium cells.

In this work, we tried to fabricate a novel NiO material with Li+-heavily doped by applying the pulsed laser-induced room temperature (R.T.) film process. Previously, we have succeeded in the epitaxial growth of various oxide thin films at R.T. such as Sn-doped In2O3 transparent electrodes [1]. Although the many studies have been made on the deposition of NiO epitaxial thin film at low temperatures [2], there are few reports on fabrication and the conductive characteristic for Li-heavily doped NiO epitaxial films. The film deposition at R.T., which is the unequilibrium vapor phase process, is expected to result in different crystal structure and characteristics from the films grown at high-temperatures.

A composition-adjusted thin film of LixNi1-xO(0.10< × <0.40) was deposited on a sapphire (α-Al2O3)(0001) or MgO(100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique in 10−6 Torr of oxygen at R.T. and the high temperatures of 350 and 515°C. Crystalline properties of thin films deposited at R.T. or high temperatures were examined using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and X-ray diffraction. For the Li-heavily doped NiO films(x>0.30) grown at R.T., a clear streak RHEED pattern showing epitaxial growth was observed. But the Li-heavily doped NiO films grown at high temperatures, exhibited the ring RHEED pattern, which indicates the policrystal growth of films. Electric conductivity of various Li-doped NiO thin films deposited at R.T. or high temperatures on sapphire (0001) substrates were measured by two-probe method. The interesting results were obtained that conductivity of the film was increased remarkably with an increase of Li-doping for R.T. deposition, but was not changed so much regardless of Li-doping for high-temperature depositions.

We investigated the fabrication of Si nanocrystals, including thin films, by annealing the SiO/C/SiO thin films in an Ar atmosphere. The SiO/C/SiO trilayered thin films were deposited on α-Al2O3 (0001), Si (111), or ITO-coated borosilicate glass substrates at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition using dual sintered SiO and graphite targets. The SiO/C/SiO thin films subjected to heat treatment at 500°C included nanocrystalline Si. Measurements by synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction indicated the formation of Si nanocrystals having a size of 5–10 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectra showed that Si–O stretching and vibrational peak intensities of the as-deposited thin film decreased remarkably after annealing. The C layer in the SiO/C/SiO trilayered thin films is considered to play a role in enhancing the chemical reaction that produces Si nanocrystals through reduction of SiO during heat treatment. The annealed SiO/C-based thin films, including Si nanocrystals, exhibited photosensitive conduction behavior in current–voltage measurements.

The crystal growth of lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) thin films was examined by applying the laser molecular beam epitaxy (laser MBE) process. C-axis (100) highly-oriented LaB6 thin films could be fabricated on ultrasmooth sapphire (α-Al2O3 single crystal) (0001) substrates with atomic steps of 0.2 nm in height and atomically flat terraces. The obtained film exhibited a smooth surface with root mean square roughness of 0.15 nm. The lattice parameter of the LaB6 thin film was close to the bulk value reported previously. In the case of deposition on commercial mirror-polished sapphire substrates, the grown film was amorphous. The resistivity of the prepared crystalline LaB6 thin films was as low as 2.2 × 10−4 Ω cm and almost constant in the temperature range of 10–300 K.

A meso-porous anodic alumina capillary tube (MAAC) having highly oriented radial meso-pore channels with a minimum diameter of 3 nm has been successfully synthesized using a novel pulse sequential anodic oxidation technique at 100 Hz of pulse frequency. A value resulting in a high channel-pore formation rate at 1 V of the pulse sequential voltage was determined to be the optimum pulse frequency for the anodization. Transmission electron microscopy observation and N2 sorption analysis revealed that controlling the minimum pore channel diameter at 3 nm was possible by the voltage of 1 V. The gas permeance according to Knudsen’s diffusion mechanism was demonstrated at 500 °C, by evaluating gas permeation properties through the meso-porous anodic alumina capillary tube with radial meso-pore channels with minimum diameter of 3 nm, achieving hydrogen permeance of 1.8 × 10−6 mol/m2 s Pa.

SiC bulk single crystal growth by sublimation was investigated. A new crucible design, double-walled crucible, was proposed, and its effect was confirmed numerically and experimentally. On the point of heat transfer in a growth cavity, double-walled crucible is better than conventional crucible. With a double-walled crucible, temperature of seed and source surfaces could be kept constant with better uniformity than that with a conventional crucible. It was deduced that a crystal growth rate could be kept constant with flat surface. Furthermore, in case of a double walled crucible, crystal enlarged rapidly with less inclusion. As the results, a double-walled crucible is useful to grow high quality SiC single crystal by sublimation.