Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Sample Preparation of Si(1-x)Gex in c-Plane Sapphire Substrate

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration-invented X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods, including the total defect density measurement method and the spatial wafer mapping method, have confirmed super hetero epitaxy growth for rhombohedral single crystalline silicon germanium (Si1-xGex) on a c-plane sapphire substrate. However, the XRD method cannot observe the surface morphology or roughness because of the method s limited resolution. Therefore the authors used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with samples prepared in two ways, the focused ion beam (FIB) method and the tripod method to study the structure between Si1-xGex and sapphire substrate and Si1?xGex itself. The sample preparation for TEM should be as fast as possible so that the sample should contain few or no artifacts induced by the preparation. The standard sample preparation method of mechanical polishing often requires a relatively long ion milling time (several hours), which increases the probability of inducing defects into the sample. The TEM sampling of the Si1-xGex on sapphire is also difficult because of the sapphire s high hardness and mechanical instability. The FIB method and the tripod method eliminate both problems when performing a cross-section TEM sampling of Si1-xGex on c-plane sapphire, which shows the surface morphology, the interface between film and substrate, and the crystal structure of the film. This paper explains the FIB sampling method and the tripod sampling method, and why sampling Si1-xGex, on a sapphire substrate with TEM, is necessary

High-Electron-Mobility SiGe on Sapphire Substrate for Fast Chipsets

High-quality strain-relaxed SiGe films with a low twin defect density, high electron mobility, and smooth surface are critical for device fabrication to achieve designed performance. The mobilities of SiGe can be a few times higher than those of silicon due to the content of high carrier mobilities of germanium (p-type Si: 430 cm2/V·s, p-type Ge: 2200 cm2/V·s, n-type Si: 1300 cm2/V·s, and n-type Ge: 3000 cm2/V·s at 1016 per cm3 doping density). Therefore, radio frequency devices which are made with rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire can potentially run a few times faster than RF devices on SOS wafers. NASA Langley has successfully grown highly ordered single crystal rhombohedral epitaxy using an atomic alignment of the [111] direction of cubic SiGe on top of the [0001] direction of the sapphire basal plane. Several samples of rhombohedrally grown SiGe on c-plane sapphire show high percentage of a single crystalline over 95% to 99.5%. The electron mobilities of the tested samples are between those of single crystals Si and Ge. The measured electron mobility of 95% single crystal SiGe was 1538 cm2/V·s which is between 350 cm2/V·s (Si) and 1550 cm2/V·s (Ge) at 6 × 1017/cm3 doping concentration

Review of the genus Stictane Hampson (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae) in Thailand with description of a new species

Bayarsaikhan, Ulziijargal, Cha, Yeong-Bin, Černý, Karel, Kwon, Hyung-Wook, Bae, Yang-Seop (2022): Review of the genus Stictane Hampson (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae) in Thailand with description of a new species. Zootaxa 5138 (4): 481-491, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5138.4.

Retrospective Clinical Study of a Freely Removable Implant-Supported Fixed Dental Prosthesis by a Microlocking System

This retrospective clinical study was conducted to evaluate the clinical usefulness of a freely removable microlocking implant prosthesis (MLP) that was developed to overcome the problems with conventional implant prostheses. A total of 54 patients (male: 31, female: 23) and 100 implant prostheses were included. Patients were divided into three groups such as 6-12 months, 12-18 months, and 18-24 months according to the used period after implant prosthesis delivery, and the patients in each group were recalled for examinations of survival rate, marginal bone resorption, peri-implant soft tissue indices, and complications. The prosthetic complications were analysed by combining the recorded chart data during the periodic checks including the last call for this study. During a 2-year observation period, all the implants showed a 100% survival rate without clinical mobility and functional problems. There was no significant difference in marginal bone resorption, plaque index, and bleeding index over the observation period after implant prosthesis delivery. Probing depth of the 18-24 months group (1.5±0.19 mm) was significantly lower than that of the 6-12 months group (p<0.05). The main complication was abutment loosening (4%), followed by implant prosthesis fracture (2%) and food impaction (2%) which were recorded. Within the limits of the present study, the implant prostheses with MLP are considered to be an applicable and predictable treatment method

Comparison of Bone Regeneration between Porcine-Derived and Bovine-Derived Xenografts in Rat Calvarial Defects: A Non-Inferiority Study

The present study aimed to compare the bone-regeneration capacity of porcine-derived xenografts to bovine-derived xenografts in the rat calvarial defect model. The observation of surface morphology and in vitro cell studies were conducted prior to the animal study. Defects with a diameter of 8 mm were created in calvaria of 20 rats. The rats were randomly treated with porcine-derived (Bone-XP group) or bovine-derived xenografts (Bio-Oss group) and sacrificed at 4 and 8 weeks after surgery. The new bone regeneration was evaluated by micro-computed tomography (&mu;CT) and histomorphometric analyses. In the cell study, the extracts of Bone-XP and Bio-Oss showed a positive effect on the regulation of osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) without cytotoxicity. The new bone volume of Bone-XP (17.52 &plusmn; 3.78% at 4 weeks and 32.09 &plusmn; 3.51% at 8 weeks) was similar to that of Bio-Oss (11.6 &plusmn; 3.88% at 4 weeks and 25.89 &plusmn; 7.43% at 8 weeks) (p &gt; 0.05). In the results of new bone area, there was no significant difference between Bone-XP (9.08 &plusmn; 5.47% at 4 weeks and 25.22 &plusmn; 13.56% at 8 weeks) and Bio-Oss groups (5.83 &plusmn; 2.56% at 4 weeks and 21.68 &plusmn; 11.11% at 8 weeks) (p &gt; 0.05). It can be concluded that the porcine-derived bone substitute may offer a favorable cell response and bone regeneration similar to those of commercial bovine bone mineral

Development of Superior Thermal Protective Coating on Carbon Composites

A superior SiC based thermal protection coating process for carbon composite, which can be especially effective in a hot oxidizing atmosphere, was established in this study. A multi-coating process based on a combination of Chemical Vapor Reaction (CVR) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) was developed. Various protective coating layers on carbon composite were tested in hot oxidizing surroundings and the test results verified that the thermal ablation rate could be dramatically reduced down to 3.8% when the protective multi-coating was applied. The thermal protection mechanism of the coating layers was also investigated