The reliability of amorphous-InGaZnO4 thin film transistor influence by self-heating stress at high temperature under compressive strain

Flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) play an important role in flexible technology applications, including wearable devices and high-resolution foldable displays and as curved displays. A reliability test was performed in this work, including mechanism and electrical stress at high temperature. An abnormal hump can be found in flexible a-InGaZnO4 TFTs after a self-heating stress at 90°C under compressive bending. COMSOL simulation confirmed that the etching stop layer absorbs more mechanism stress than the gate insulator. Accordingly, during the reliability stress, holes induced by the impact ionization tend to inject into the defect in the etching stop layer near the source side rather than the gate insulator, which is induced by compressive bending. Single side C-V measurement and forward/reverse-operation mode are utilized to analyze the hole trapping distribution. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Investigation of degradation caused by charge trapping at etching-stop layer under AC gate-bias stress for InGaZnO thin film transistors

A great amount of literatures has been focusing on bias-induced instability issues including threshold voltage shift (ΔVt ) and subthreshold swing (S.S) degradations [1]. However, in practical TFT operation circuits, very limited knowledge could be applied since operation modes are mostly applied with alternative current (AC). Based on these backgrounds, in this work, Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin Film Transistors (IGZO TFTs) are applied with AC PBS degradations. Compared with previous work, this work observed a structure dependent degradation. An etch-stop structure IGZO TFT observed a serious threshold voltage shift after AC stress but shown great stability after direct current (DC) stress. The device structure and transfer characteristic curves are demonstrated in Figure 1(a) and (b) respectively. From results of DC PBS/NBS, a favorable stability indicating a great quality of gate insulator. Therefore, the positive threshold voltage shift is believed to be origin from electron trapping at the etching stop layer (ESL), since ESL possesses a relatively poor quality compared to the gate insulator. The charge trapping at etching stop layer could be confirmed by results of asymmetric source/drain metal under AC stress, illustrated in Figure 1(c). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Effect of different a-InGaZnO TFTs channel thickness upon self-heating stress

In this work, Indium-Galium-Zinc-Oxide Thin Film Transistors (IGZO TFTs) with different channel thickness has been compared after self-heating stress (SHS). In previous literatures, self-heating of TFTs has been widely discussed and Joule Heat caused during driving TFTs has been compared with different channel length and width [1]. However, different channel thickness hasn’t been investigated. Although TFTs with a larger channel thickness possess a greater drain current, a less degradation is observed when comparing with small channel thickness structures, demonstrated in Figure 1(a). The ΔVt shift in the transfer characteristics are well described by the stretched-exponential equation. The Eτ value, which is the average effective barrier height for electron transport, is extracted in Figure (b). Results has shown that in the thick IGZO TFTs, the value is almost twice of that in the thin IGZO TFTs. From COMSOL simulations demonstrated in Figure 1(c), in could be noticed that different channel thickness effects the electrical field locating at the gate insulator. Therefore, a model is proposed to explain the degradation difference, illustrated in Figure (4). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Lightly Weighted Automatic Audio Parameter Extraction for the Quality Assessment of Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice

The Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice is a widely employed tool in clinical voice quality assessment that is significant for streaming communication among clinical professionals and benchmarking for the determination of further treatment. Currently, because the assessment relies on experienced clinicians, it tends to be inconsistent, and thus, difficult to standardize. To address this problem, we propose to leverage lightly weighted automatic audio parameter extraction, to increase the clinical relevance, reduce the complexity, and enhance the interpretability of voice quality assessment. The proposed method utilizes age, sex, and five audio parameters: jitter, absolute jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), and zero crossing. A classical machine learning approach is employed. The result reveals that our approach performs similar to state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods, and outperforms the latent representation obtained by using popular audio pre-trained models. This approach provide insights into the feasibility of different feature extraction approaches for voice evaluation. Audio parameters such as jitter and the HNR are proven to be suitable for characterizing voice quality attributes, such as roughness and strain. Conversely, pre-trained models exhibit limitations in effectively addressing noise-related scorings. This study contributes toward more comprehensive and precise voice quality evaluations, achieved by a comprehensively exploring diverse assessment methodologies.Comment: Published in IEEE 42th International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE 2024

A HRNet-based Rehabilitation Monitoring System

The rehabilitation treatment helps to heal minor sports and occupational injuries. In a traditional rehabilitation process, a therapist will assign certain actions to a patient to perform in between hospital visits, and it will rely on the patient to remember actions correctly and the schedule to perform them. Unfortunately, many patients forget to perform actions or fail to recall actions in detail. As a consequence, the rehabilitation treatment is hampered or, in the worst case, the patient may suffer from additional injury caused by performing incorrect actions. To resolve these issues, we propose a HRNet-based rehabilitation monitoring system, which can remind a patient when to perform the actions and display the actions for the patient to follow via the patient's smartphone. In addition, it helps the therapist to monitor the progress of the rehabilitation for the patient. Our system consists of an iOS app and several components at the server side. The app is in charge of displaying and collecting action videos. The server computes the similarity score between the therapist's actions and the patient's in the videos to keep track of the number of repetitions of each action. Theses stats will be shown to both of the patient and therapist. The extensive experiments show that the F1-Score of the similarity calculation is as high as 0.9 and the soft accuracy of the number of repetitions is higher than 90%

New Plasma Separation Glucose Oxidase-based Glucometer in Monitoring of Blood With Different PO2 Levels

BackgroundThe PalmLab glucometer is a newly designed plasma separation glucose oxidase (GO)-based glucometer. Past studies have shown that the accuracy of GO-based glucometers is compromised when measurements are taken in patients with high PO2 levels. We performed a two-arm study comparing the fitness of the PalmLab blood glucometer with that of a standard glucose analyzer in monitoring blood glucose levels in pediatric patients, especially when arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) was high.MethodsIn the first arm of the study, arterial blood samples from pediatric patients were measured by the PalmLab blood glucometer and the YSI 2302 Plus Glucose/Lactate analyzer. In the second arm of the study, venous blood samples from adult volunteers were spiked with glucose water to prepare three different levels of glucose (65, 150, and 300mg/dL) and then oxygenated to six levels of PO2 (range, 40–400mmHg). The biases of the PalmLab glucometer were calculated.ResultsA total of 162 samples were collected in the first arm of the study. Results of linear regression showed that the coefficient of determination (R2) between PalmLab glucometer and standard glucose analyzer was 0.9864. Error grid analysis revealed that all the results were within Zone A (clinically accurate estimate zone). The biases between the two systems were low at different PO2 levels. In the second arm of the study, the results were also unaffected by changes in PO2.ConclusionThe PalmLab glucometer provides accurate results in samples with high PO2 and is suitable for measuring arterial glucose levels in pediatric patients

Assessing the Decision-Making Process in Human-Robot Collaboration Using a Lego-like EEG Headset

Human-robot collaboration (HRC) has become an emerging field, where the use of a robotic agent has been shifted from a supportive machine to a decision-making collaborator. A variety of factors can influence the effectiveness of decision-making processes during HRC, including the system-related (e.g., robot capability) and human-related (e.g., individual knowledgeability) factors. As a variety of contextual factors can significantly impact the human-robot decision-making process in collaborative contexts, the present study adopts a Lego-like EEG headset to collect and examine human brain activities and utilizes multiple questionnaires to evaluate participants’ cognitive perceptions toward the robot. A user study was conducted where two levels of robot capabilities (high vs. low) were manipulated to provide system recommendations. The participants were also identified into two groups based on their computational thinking (CT) ability. The EEG results revealed that different levels of CT abilities trigger different brainwaves, and the participants’ trust calibration of the robot also varies the resultant brain activities

Outcome of lung cancer patients with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation

AbstractTo assess the weaning outcome of lung cancer patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) requiring mechanical ventilation, we retrospectively analyzed the database of the respiratory intensive care unit at a university-affiliated tertiary care hospital.Charts were reviewed for cancer status, biochemistries before respiratory failure, causes of respiratory failure, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) III score, ventilatory settings, data recorded during spontaneous breathing, duration of ventilator days, and weaning outcome. Ninety-five consecutive respiratory failure events in 81 patients were recorded from January 1, 1995 through June 30, 1999.Twenty-six episodes ended with successful weaning (27.4%). Age, gender, and cancer status did not affect the weaning outcome. Serum albumin level, APACHE III score, highest fractional inspired O2 (FiO2) and highest positive end-expiratory pressure, organ failure, ability to shift to partial ventilatory support, and duration of mechanical ventilation could significantly influence the weaning outcome statistically. The overall hospital mortality rate was 85.2%.Our results suggested that lung cancer patients with ARF will have a better chance to wean if the initial APACHE III score was less than 70, use of FiO2 never exceeded 0.6, or less than 2 additional organ systems failed during the treatment course

Genetic copy number variants in myocardial infarction patients with hyperlipidemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiovascular disease is the chief cause of death in Taiwan and many countries, of which myocardial infarction (MI) is the most serious condition. Hyperlipidemia appears to be a significant cause of myocardial infarction, because it causes atherosclerosis directly. In recent years, copy number variation (CNV) has been analyzed in genomewide association studies of complex diseases. In this study, CNV was analyzed in blood samples and SNP arrays from 31 myocardial infarction patients with hyperlipidemia.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified seven CNV regions that were associated significantly with hyperlipidemia and myocardial infarction in our patients through multistage analysis (P<0.001), at 1p21.3, 1q31.2 (<it>CDC73</it>), 1q42.2 (<it>DISC1</it>), 3p21.31 (<it>CDCP1</it>), 10q11.21 (<it>RET</it>) 12p12.3 (<it>PIK3C2G</it>) and 16q23.3 (<it>CDH13</it>), respectively. In particular, the CNV region at 10q11.21 was examined by quantitative real-time PCR, the results of which were consistent with microarray findings.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our preliminary results constitute an alternative method of evaluating the relationship between CNV regions and cardiovascular disease. These susceptibility CNV regions may be used as biomarkers for early-stage diagnosis of hyperlipidemia and myocardial infarction, rendering them valuable for further research and discussion.</p

Reliability of flexible low temperature poly-silicon thin film transistor

This work reports the effect of mechanical stress-induced degradation in flexible low-temperature polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistors. After 100,000 iterations of channel-width-direction mechanical compression at R=2mm, a significant shift of extracted threshold voltage and an abnormal hump at the subthreshold region were found. Simulation reveals that both the strongest mechanical stress and electrical field takes place at both sides of the channel edge, between the polycrystalline silicon and gate insulator. The gate insulator suffered from a serious mechanical stress and result in a defect generation in the gate insulator. The degradation of the threshold voltage shift and the abnormal hump can be ascribed to the electron trapping in these defects. In addition, this work introduced three methods to reduce the degradation cause by the mechanical stress, including the quality improvement of the gate insulator, organic trench structure and active layer with a wing structure. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract