Research Update: Atmospheric pressure spatial atomic layer deposition of ZnO thin films: Reactors, doping, and devices

Atmospheric pressure spatial atomic layer deposition (AP-SALD) has recently emerged as an appealing technique for rapidly producing high quality oxides. Here, we focus on the use of AP-SALD to deposit functional ZnO thin films, particularly on the reactors used, the film properties, and the dopants that have been studied. We highlight how these films are advantageous for the performance of solar cells, organometal halide perovskite light emitting diodes, and thin-film transistors. Future AP-SALD technology will enable the commercial processing of thin films over large areas on a sheet-to-sheet and roll-to-roll basis, with new reactor designs emerging for flexible plastic and paper electronics.The authors acknowledge the support of the Rutherford Foundation of New Zealand and the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trusts, and the ERC Advanced Investigator Grant, Novox, ERC-2009-adG247276. DMR acknowledges Marie Curie Actions (FP7/2007-2013, Grant Agreement Nos. 219332 and 631111), and the Ramon y Cajal 2011 programme from the Spanish MICINN and the European Social Fund, and the Comissionat per a Universitats I Recerca (CUR) del DIUE de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain.This is the final published version of the article. It was originally published in APL Materials (Hoye RLZ, Muñoz-Rojas D, Nelson SF, Illiberi A, Poodt P, Roozeboom F, MacManus-Driscoll JL, APL Materials, 2015, 3, 040701, doi:10.1063/1.4916525). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.491652

Surface passivation of silicon solar cells using industrially relevant Al2O3 deposition techniques

The next generation of industrial silicon solar cells aims at efficiencies of 20% and above. To achieve this goal using ever-thinner silicon wafers, a highly effective surface passivation of the cell front and rear is required. In the past, finding a suitable dielectric layer providing a high-quality rear passivation has been a major challenge. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) has only recently turned out to be a nearly perfect candidate for such a dielectric. However, conventional ALD is limited to deposition rates well below 2nm/min, which is incompatible with industrial solar cell production. This paper assesses the passivation quality provided by three different industrially relevant techniques for the deposition of Al2O3 layers, namely high-rate spatial ALD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and reactive sputtering

Effect of local anaesthesia and/or analgesia on pain responses induced by piglet castration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Surgical castration in male piglets is painful and methods that reduce this pain are requested. This study evaluated the effect of local anaesthesia and analgesia on vocal, physiological and behavioural responses during and after castration. A second purpose was to evaluate if herdsmen can effectively administer anaesthesia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Four male piglets in each of 141 litters in five herds were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: castration without local anaesthesia or analgesia (C, controls), analgesia (M, meloxicam), local anaesthesia (L, lidocaine), or both local anaesthesia and analgesia (LM). Lidocaine (L, LM) was injected at least three minutes before castration and meloxicam (M, LM) was injected after castration. During castration, vocalisation was measured and resistance movements judged. Behaviour observations were carried out on the castration day and the following day. The day after castration, castration wounds were ranked, ear and skin temperature was measured, and blood samples were collected for analysis of acute phase protein Serum Amyloid A concentration (SAA). Piglets were weighed on the castration day and at three weeks of age. Sickness treatments and mortality were recorded until three weeks of age.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Piglets castrated with lidocaine produced calls with lower intensity (<it>p </it>< 0.001) and less resistance movements (<it>p </it>< 0.001) during castration. Piglets that were given meloxicam displayed less pain-related behaviour (huddled up, spasms, rump-scratching, stiffness and prostrated) on both the castration day (<it>p </it>= 0.06, n.s.) and the following day (<it>p </it>= 0.02). Controls had less swollen wounds compared to piglets assigned to treatments M, L and LM (<it>p </it>< 0.001). The proportion of piglets with high SAA concentration (over threshold values 200, 400 mg/l) was higher (<it>p </it>= 0.005; <it>p </it>= 0.05) for C + L compared to M + LM. Ear temperature was higher (<it>p </it>< 0.01) for controls compared to L and LM. There were no significant treatment effects for skin temperature, weight gain, sickness treatments or mortality.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study concludes that lidocaine reduced pain during castration and that meloxicam reduced pain after castration. The study also concludes that the herdsmen were able to administer local anaesthesia effectively.</p

Educational paper: The expanding clinical and immunological spectrum of severe combined immunodeficiency

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is one of the most severe forms of primary immunodeficiency characterized by absence of functional T lymphocytes. It is a paediatric emergency, which is life-threatening when recognized too late. The clinical presentation varies from the classical form of SCID through atypical SCID to Omenn syndrome. In addition, there is a considerable immunological variation, which can hamper the diagnosis. In this educational review, we describe the immunopathological background, clinical presentations and diagnostic process of SCID, as well as the therapeutic possibilities

Educational paper: Primary antibody deficiencies

Primary antibody deficiencies (PADs) are the most common primary immunodeficiencies and are characterized by a defect in the production of normal amounts of antigen-specific antibodies. PADs represent a heterogeneous spectrum of conditions, ranging from often asymptomatic selective IgA and IgG subclass deficiencies to the severe congenital agammaglobulinemias, in which the antibody production of all immunoglobulin isotypes is severely decreased. Apart from recurrent respiratory tract infections, PADs are associated with a wide range of other clinical complications. This review will describe the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of the different PADs