Bibliothek

Notizen: Thin-film ferroelectric capacitors consisting of PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 sandwiched between La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 electrodes have been deposited using pulsed laser deposition. The combination of oxidic perovskite-type materials results in capacitors with a coercive field (Ec) which is comparable with values for bulk ceramics. Textured thin-film capacitors with a columnar microstructure show lower switching voltages than epitaxial films. No thickness dependence of Ec and a good endurance up to 1011 cycles have been observed for epitaxial as well as textured capacitors with oxidic electrodes. In contrast, capacitors with a metallic top electrode show an increase of Ec with decreasing thickness of the ferroelectric layer. We show that charge injection can explain the experimentally observed increase of Ec with decreasing ferroelectric layer thickness. An overview is given of the growth conditions needed for PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 films, because the precise stoichiometry is of the utmost importance for the capacitor quality. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: We describe two new measurement techniques for studying the wetting behavior of a liquid on a surface. First, we measure the contact angle of a droplet, by measuring the capacitance between a conducting droplet and a subsurface counter electrode. The estimated error in the measured contact angle is 2% for contact angles in the range between 60° and 120°. In the second measurement technique, we detect the current as a function of time, which provides information about the dynamics of a droplet wetting the substrate. The time-integrated current is related to the base area of the droplet. Consequently, we can derive the radial velocity of the three-phase line of the droplet. The time resolution of the measurement technique is limited by the charging time of the initial capacitance, in our case approximately 0.5 ms. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: We present a model that describes grain-boundary-limited conduction in polycrystalline semiconductors, for thermally assisted ballistic as well as diffusive transport, both for degenerate and nondegenerate doping. In addition to bulk parameters (the carrier effective mass and mean free path) the model contains grain boundary parameters (barrier height and width) and a coefficient of current nonuniformity. Temperature-dependent conductivity and Hall measurements on polycrystalline SnO2 thin films with different Sb concentrations are consistently interpreted. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: Operation is demonstrated of a field-effect transistor made of transparant oxidic thin films, showing an intrinsic memory function due to the usage of a ferroelectric insulator. The device consists of a high mobility Sb-doped n-type SnO2 semiconductor layer, PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 as a ferroelectric insulator, and SrRuO3 as a gate electrode, each layer prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The hysteresis behavior of the channel conductance is studied. Using gate voltage pulses of 100 μs duration and a pulse height of ±3 V, a change of a factor of two in the remnant conductance is achieved. The dependence of the conductance on the polarity of the gate pulse proves that the memory effect is driven by the ferroelectric polarization. The influence of charge trapping is also observed and discussed. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: We present a study of electrical characteristics of ferroelectric field-effect transistors made of PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 and SnO2:Sb thin films. Due to properly chosen semiconductor parameters, the transistor channel can be totally depleted by the ferroelectric charge displacement. The observed remnant on/off ratio of the channel current amounts to 7×103. Pulse response measurements give information on data retention, device speed, and the occurrence of charge injection. The results lead to important design considerations for ferroelectric transistors. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: A magneto-optical near-field scanning tunneling microscope is used to image the prewritten magnetic domain structure of a Pt/Co multilayer. A semiconducting tip acts as a local photodetector to measure the magnetic circular dichroism signal coming from the magnetic sample. The resolution of the magnetic imaging is given by the photoelectrically active volume of the tip. Reduction of the laser light wavelength resulted in a factor of 4 improvement of the magnetic resolution. Based on a sound and applicable definition we estimate the resolution to be (60±35) nm for a wavelength of 532 nm. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: The charge generated at the apex of a semiconductor tip upon laser irradiation is utilized in a scanning tunneling microscope. We show such arrangements can produce photoinduced tunnel currents of several hundred picoamperes, sufficient for stable STM operation and sensitive enough to detect nanowatt variations in the incident optical power.

Notizen: Images of magnetic bits written in a Pt/Co multilayer are presented. Using photosensitive semiconducting tips in a scanning tunneling microscope, both surface topography as well as polarization-dependent optical transmission are measured. Magnetic contrast is achieved by detection of the Faraday effect. Magneto-optical lateral resolution of 250 nm is demonstrated. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Notizen: There is growing evidence of the brain's ability to increase its reliance on alternative metabolic substrates under conditions of energy stress such as starvation, hypoxia and ischemia. We hypothesized that following traumatic brain injury (TBI), which results in immediate changes in energy metabolism, the adult brain increases uptake and oxidation of the alternative substrate β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB). Arterio-venous differences were used to determine global cerebral uptake of βHB and production of 14CO2 from [14C]3-βHB 3 h after controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury. Quantitative bioluminescence was used to assess regional changes in ATP concentration. As expected, adult sham and CCI animals with only endogenously available βHB showed no significant increase in cerebral uptake of βHB or 14CO2 production. Increasing arterial βHB concentrations 2.9-fold with 3 h of βHB infusion failed to increase cerebral uptake of βHB or 14CO2 production in adult sham animals. Only CCI animals that received a 3-h βHB infusion showed an 8.5-fold increase in cerebral uptake of βHB and greater than 10.7-fold increase in 14CO2 production relative to sham βHB-infused animals. The TBI-induced 20% decrease in ipsilateral cortical ATP concentration was alleviated by 3 h of βHB infusion beginning immediately after CCI injury.

Notizen: Background Dithranol (anthralin) has been known to be effective in the treatment of psoriasis for more than 80 years. However, perilesional and uninvolved skin often show irritation during dithranol treatment, which limits its use. As the relapse rate of psoriasis is worsened by adding corticosteroids to a dithranol regimen, the use of topical corticosteroids to reduce dithranol irritation is controversial. Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical and cell biological effect of clobetasol-17-propionate 0·05% ointment on dithranol-treated lesional and perilesional skin. Methods For 17 consecutive days, 2% dithranol cream was applied on two test sites. A third site was left untreated on all participating patients (n = 8). All sites consisted of a psoriasis lesion as well as a 3-cm zone of perilesional skin localized on the back. After 1 h, the cream was washed off, and subsequently one of the dithranol-treated sites was treated once a day with clobetasol-17-propionate 0·05% ointment. The second site was treated once daily with the vehicle. On day 17, punch biopsies were taken from all three lesions and from the perilesional zone of all test sites in order to perform an immunohistochemical investigation, using markers to assess proliferation, differentiation and inflammation. Results The SUM score (erythema + induration + scaling) of the lesion treated with dithranol/clobetasol showed a pronounced reduction, which was significantly greater than the SUM score of the lesion treated with dithranol/vehicle. However, the scores of both sites were equal by 6 weeks of follow-up. Comparing the two treated lesions, we observed a lower number of cycling epidermal cells in the dithranol/clobetasol lesion and a significantly lower perivascular dermal score of T lymphocytes. Comparing the perilesional skin of the two treated sites we observed less cycling epidermal cells in the dithranol/clobetasol-treated site. Regarding perilesional differentiation, the interpapillary involucrin expression was higher in the dithranol/clobetasol-treated site. With respect to perilesional inflammation the expression of dermal polymorphonuclear leucocytes, monocytes, macrophages and T lymphocytes in the dermal infiltrate were significantly lower in the dithranol/clobetasol-treated site. Conclusions The addition of clobetasol-17-propionate enhanced the antipsoriatic efficacy of dithranol by interfering with T-cell accumulation and epidermal proliferation. The addition of a corticosteroid reduced perilesional dithranol inflammation at the cellular level, although clinically detectable dithranol erythema was not reduced.