Process Development for the Fabrication of a Double-Sided Photodiode

Given a cross-section and functionality requirements for a photodiode designed for application as the focal plane array on SNAP (SuperNova Acceleration Probe), a proposed satellite in the Joint Dark Energy Mission by NASA and the DOE, a process has been developed to fabricate the device in the most efficient and reliable manner. The photodector is to be hybridized with a ROIC (Read-Out Integrated Circuit) that interprets the individual pixel signals and converts the electrical information into an image. After several versions of the process based on simulations, efficiency of sequence, and research, a test run of key process steps was completed to evaluate chosen process values and their final results, including well profile and I-V characteristics. The results from the test run were used to create a preliminary process flow for device wafer fabrication. The process was implemented in full on a small lot of device wafers with some monitor wafers, with the entire process (not including test) requiring about 100 hours. The results from this device run were used to create a new revised version of the process flow in order to attain better functionality from the device. After this device run was completed, the results were analyzed and used to update the process flow again to address deficiencies in the resulting devices and processing difficulties

The Journal of Microelectronic Research 2008

https://scholarworks.rit.edu/meec_archive/1016/thumbnail.jp

Design of Prodrugs to Enhance Colonic Absorption by Increasing Lipophilicity and Blocking Ionization

pharmaceutical

Making the most of alarm signals: the adaptive value of individual discrimination in an alarm context

The value of individual discrimination is straightforward for many signal contexts, such as with contact or isolation calls, territorial marks, or status announcements. In contrast, the value of individual discrimination is less straightforward for alarm signals, and it is not yet known how or under what circumstances individual discrimination would be beneficial in an alarm context. One proposed mechanism is that receivers may discriminate individual signalers and respond differently based on the signaler's reliability, and that this may allow the receivers to optimize their antipredator behavior. To evaluate this mechanism, I constructed a dynamic model to test the fitness outcomes of 5 receiver response strategies under varying environmental, life history, and social conditions. The individual discrimination strategy yielded the highest fitness under the widest range of conditions, and the difference was substantial except in cases of very low predation pressure and high signaler accuracy. The adaptive value of individual discrimination of alarm signals may thus be a general phenomenon in nature and may provide evolutionary pressure for animals to increase their discrimination abilities. For species that use alarm signals nepotistically, the value of individual discrimination could provide selective pressure for the evolution of individual signatures in alarms and may help explain why the alarm signals of many species are so individualistic. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.

Model-Based Decision Making in Early Clinical Development: Minimizing the Impact of a Blood Pressure Adverse Event

We describe how modeling and simulation guided program decisions following a randomized placebo-controlled single-rising oral dose first-in-man trial of compound A where an undesired transient blood pressure (BP) elevation occurred in fasted healthy young adult males. We proposed a lumped-parameter pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model that captured important aspects of the BP homeostasis mechanism. Four conceptual units characterized the feedback PD model: a sinusoidal BP set point, an effect compartment, a linear effect model, and a system response. To explore approaches for minimizing the BP increase, we coupled the PD model to a modified PK model to guide oral controlled-release (CR) development. The proposed PK/PD model captured the central tendency of the observed data. The simulated BP response obtained with theoretical release rate profiles suggested some amelioration of the peak BP response with CR. This triggered subsequent CR formulation development; we used actual dissolution data from these candidate CR formulations in the PK/PD model to confirm a potential benefit in the peak BP response. Though this paradigm has yet to be tested in the clinic, our model-based approach provided a common rational framework to more fully utilize the limited available information for advancing the program