16,560 research outputs found
Organic Single-Crystal Field-Effect Transistors
We present an overview of recent studies of the charge transport in the field
effect transistors on the surface of single crystals of organic
low-molecular-weight materials. We first discuss in detail the technological
progress that has made these investigations possible. Particular attention is
devoted to the growth and characterization of single crystals of organic
materials and to different techniques that have been developed for device
fabrication. We then concentrate on the measurements of the electrical
characteristics. In most cases, these characteristics are highly reproducible
and demonstrate the quality of the single crystal transistors. Particularly
noticeable are the small sub-threshold slope, the non-monotonic temperature
dependence of the mobility, and its weak dependence on the gate voltage. In the
best rubrene transistors, room-temperature values of as high as 15
cm/Vs have been observed. This represents an order-of-magnitude increase
with respect to the highest mobility previously reported for organic thin film
transistors. In addition, the highest-quality single-crystal devices exhibit a
significant anisotropy of the conduction properties with respect to the
crystallographic direction. These observations indicate that the field effect
transistors fabricated on single crystals are suitable for the study of the
\textit{intrinsic} electronic properties of organic molecular semiconductors.
We conclude by indicating some directions in which near-future work should
focus to progress further in this rapidly evolving area of research.Comment: Review article, to appear in special issue of Phys. Stat. Sol. on
organic semiconductor
Influence of the gate leakage current on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors
We investigate the effect of a small leakage current through the gate
insulator on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors
(FETs). We find that, irrespective of the specific organic molecule and
dielectric used, leakage current flowing through the gate insulator results in
an irreversible degradation of the single-crystal FET performance. This
degradation occurs even when the leakage current is several orders of magnitude
smaller than the source-drain current. The experimental data indicate that a
stable operation requires the leakage current to be smaller than $10^{-9} \
\mathrm{A/cm}^2$. Our results also suggest that gate leakage currents may
determine the lifetime of thin-film transistors used in applications.Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys. Let
Field-Effect Transistors on Tetracene Single Crystals
We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of field-effect
transistors at the surface of tetracene single crystals. We find that the
mobility of these transistors reaches the room-temperature value of $0.4 \
cm^2/Vs$. The non-monotonous temperature dependence of the mobility, its weak
gate voltage dependence, as well as the sharpness of the subthreshold slope
confirm the high quality of single-crystal devices. This is due to the
fabrication process that does not substantially affect the crystal quality.Comment: Accepted by Appl. Phys. Lett, tentatively scheduled for publication
in the November 24, 2003 issu
A numerical study of a method for measuring the effective in situ sound absorption coefficient
The accuracy of a method [Wijnant et al., “Development and applica-
tion of a new method for the in-situ measurement of sound absorption”, ISMA 31,
Leuven, Belgium (2010).], for measurement of the effective area-averaged in situ
sound absorption coefficient is investigated. Based on a local plane wave assump-
tion, this method can be applied to sound fields for which a model is not available.
Investigations were carried out by means of finite element simulations for a typical
case. The results show that the method is a promising method for determining the
effective area-averaged in situ sound absorption coefficient in complex sound fields
High-pressure study of the non-Fermi liquid material U_2Pt_2In
The effect of hydrostatic pressure (p<= 1.8 GPa) on the non-Fermi liquid
state of U_2Pt_2In is investigated by electrical resistivity measurements in
the temperature interval 0.3-300 K. The experiments were carried out on
single-crystals with the current along (I||c) and perpendicular (I||a) to the
tetragonal axis. The pressure effect is strongly current-direction dependent.
For I||a we observe a rapid recovery of the Fermi-liquid T^2-term with
pressure. The low-temperature resistivity can be analysed satisfactorily within
the magnetotransport theory of Rosch, which provides strong evidence for the
location of U_2Pt_2In at an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point. For I||c
the resistivity increases under pressure, indicating the enhancement of an
additional scattering mechanism. In addition, we have measured the pressure
dependence of the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature (T_N= 37.6 K) of the
related compound U_2Pd_2In. A simple Doniach-type diagram for U_2Pt_2In and
U_2Pd_2In under pressure is presented.Comment: 21 pages (including 5 figures); pdf forma
First-principles investigation of Ag-Cu alloy surfaces in an oxidizing environment
In this paper we investigate by means of first-principles density functional
theory calculations the (111) surface of the Ag-Cu alloy under varying
conditions of pressure of the surrounding oxygen atmosphere and temperature.
This alloy has been recently proposed as a catalyst with improved selectivity
for ethylene epoxidation with respect to pure silver, the catalyst commonly
used in industrial applications. Here we show that the presence of oxygen leads
to copper segregation to the surface. Considering the surface free energy as a
function of the surface composition, we construct the convex hull to
investigate the stability of various surface structures. By including the
dependence of the free surface energy on the oxygen chemical potential, we are
able compute the phase diagram of the alloy as a function of temperature,
pressure and surface composition. We find that, at temperature and pressure
typically used in ethylene epoxidation, a number of structures can be present
on the surface of the alloy, including clean Ag(111), thin layers of copper
oxide and thick oxide-like structures. These results are consistent with, and
help explain, recent experimental results.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Predictions from a stochastic polymer model for the MinDE dynamics in E.coli
The spatiotemporal oscillations of the Min proteins in the bacterium
Escherichia coli play an important role in cell division. A number of different
models have been proposed to explain the dynamics from the underlying
biochemistry. Here, we extend a previously described discrete polymer model
from a deterministic to a stochastic formulation. We express the stochastic
evolution of the oscillatory system as a map from the probability distribution
of maximum polymer length in one period of the oscillation to the probability
distribution of maximum polymer length half a period later and solve for the
fixed point of the map with a combined analytical and numerical technique. This
solution gives a theoretical prediction of the distributions of both lengths of
the polar MinD zones and periods of oscillations -- both of which are
experimentally measurable. The model provides an interesting example of a
stochastic hybrid system that is, in some limits, analytically tractable.Comment: 16 page
The elliptic genus from split flows and Donaldson-Thomas invariants
We analyze a mixed ensemble of low charge D4-D2-D0 brane states on the
quintic and show that these can be successfully enumerated using attractor flow
tree techniques and Donaldson-Thomas invariants. In this low charge regime one
needs to take into account worldsheet instanton corrections to the central
charges, which is accomplished by making use of mirror symmetry. All the
charges considered can be realized as fluxed D6-D2-D0 and anti-D6-D2-D0 pairs
which we enumerate using DT invariants. Our procedure uses the low charge
counterpart of the picture developed Denef and Moore. By establishing the
existence of flow trees numerically and refining the index factorization
scheme, we reproduce and improve some results obtained by Gaiotto, Strominger
and Yin. Our results provide appealing evidence that the strong split flow tree
conjecture holds and allows to compute exact results for an important sector of
the theory. Our refined scheme for computing indices might shed some light on
how to improve index computations for systems with larger charges.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figure
Maternal Undernutrition And The Offspring Kidney: From Fetal To Adult Life.
Maternal dietary protein restriction during pregnancy is associated with low fetal birth weight and leads to renal morphological and physiological changes. Different mechanisms can contribute to this phenotype: exposure to fetal glucocorticoid, alterations in the components of the renin-angiotensin system, apoptosis, and DNA methylation. A low-protein diet during gestation decreases the activity of placental 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, exposing the fetus to glucocorticoids and resetting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the offspring. The abnormal function/expression of type 1 (AT1(R)) or type 2 (AT2(R)) AngII receptors during any period of life may be the consequence or cause of renal adaptation. AT1(R) is up-regulated, compared with control, on the first day after birth of offspring born to low-protein diet mothers, but this protein appears to be down-regulated by 12 days of age and thereafter. In these offspring, AT2(R) expression differs from control at 1 day of age, but is also down-regulated thereafter, with low nephron numbers at all ages: from the fetal period, at the end of nephron formation, and during adulthood. However, during adulthood, the glomerular filtration rate is not altered, due to glomerulus and podocyte hypertrophy. Kidney tubule transporters are regulated by physiological mechanisms; Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase is inhibited by AngII and, in this model, the down-regulated AngII receptors fail to inhibit Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase, leading to increased Na(+) reabsorption, contributing to the hypertensive status. We also considered the modulation of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic factors during nephrogenesis, since organogenesis depends upon a tight balance between proliferation, differentiation and cell death.431010-
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