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In this study, we prepare the zinc oxide nanotip with aqueous solution on Al doped ZnO/glass substrate. In excess of 6 hours growth, the film-liked layer is obtained in the bottom of ZnO nanotip. In order to study the photoresponse of maximum ZnO nanotip length without film-like layer, we choose 6 hours as the growth time of ZnO nanotip, which the height is almost the same of about 4 £gm. For the fabrication of ZnO nanotip UV photodetector, In-Zn was use as anode and cathode electrodes in digitate type on the top of ZnO nanotip array. The photoresponse which use AZO buffer layer of 300 s is better than others due to the larger surface to volume ratio. We obtain that Ron/off is 10.9, rise time is 280 s, and decay time is 870 s. The thermal annealing at 300 ¢XC in N2, O2, and N2O for 1 hr can improve the photoresponse, because the Zn(OH)2 in the ZnO nanotip gets converted into ZnO. Among annealing ambiences, the annealed ZnO nanotip in N2O show higher performance due to high decomposition of O atoms, which fills in the oxygen vacancy. We obtained that Ron/off is 26.04, rise time is 50 s, and decay time is 70 s at 300 oC in N2O.

This study examines the use of unmodified magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) for selective extraction and enrichment of the catecholamines dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NE), and adrenaline (E), prior to analysis using capillary electrophoresis with UV detection. Coordination between Fe3+ on-the-surface Fe3O4 NPs and the catechol moiety of catecholamines enables Fe3O4 NPs to capture catecholamines from an aqueous solution. We obtained maximum loading of catecholamines on the NP surface by adjusting the pH of the solution to 7.0. In addition, catecholamine loading on the Fe3O4 NPs increased in conjunction with NP concentrations. Ligand exchange found H3PO4 to be efficient in the removal of adsorbed catecholamines on the NP surface. Adding 1.2% poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) to the background electrolyte caused efficient separation of the liberated catecholamines with baseline resolution within 20 min. Under optimal extraction and separation conditions, the limit of detections at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 for E, NE, and DA were 9 nM, 8 nM, and 10 nM, respectively. Significantly, we successfully used the combination of a phenylboronate-containing spin column and the proposed method to determine the concentrations of NE and DA in urine and the content of NE in Portulaca oleracea L. leaves.

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) was first investigated in the 1920s as a semiconductor material with Eg~2.17 eV. It is ideal for applications in solar cells, electrochromic devices, oxygen and humidity sensors because of its high optical absorption coefficient, non-toxic nature, abundant availability and low cost for production. Many groups have tried different ways to grow the cuprous oxide by, for instance, sputtering, CVD, PLD, MBE, and electro-deposition etc. Among them, the sputtering method is probably the most cost-effective and easy to operate. In this work, the cuprous oxide thin films were grown on R-Al2O3 and (110)-MgO substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. Thin films grown at different temperatures under various oxygen partial pressures were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to test their structural perfections. Samples with the Cu2O on Al2O3(1012) and MgO(110) were studied via measurement of cathodoluminescence(CL) spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, transmission spectroscopy and magneto transport behaviors. The correlation of growth condition and physical properties are discussed.

Primary cultured astrocytes were treated with Mn in the absence and presence of proinflammatory cytokines to determine their effect upon stimulation of nitric oxide (NO) production. Treatments of manganese and cytokines raised NO production to intermediate levels, whereas combined treatment raised NO creation to much greater levels. Furthermore, this combined treatment differed from control only in its ability to elevate cellular NO levels at 24 hours, but not at earlier time points. Combined exposure in astrocytes derived from mice lacking the nos2 gene prevented any increase in production of NO. Thus, manganese and cytokines enhance NO production through activation of the nos2 gene. Additionally, pharmacologic ligands of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) were used to test the role of this orphan nuclear receptor in modulating Mn-dependent production of NO. The agonist, 1,1-Bis(3’-indolyl)-1-(p-trifluormethylphenyl) methane (cDIM1) diminished NO in a dose-dependent manner, whereas addition of the PPARγ antagonist, GW 9662, amplified cellular NO production, also in a dose-dependent fashion. Moreover, it was observed that NO production was both attenuated and augmented at similar rates, suggesting the agonist and antagonist work through similar mechanisms. To clarify the means by which NO levels are manipulated by PPARγ, we measured activation levels of the transcription factor NF-κB, a primary factor resulting in expression of NOS2. We found that NF-κB was slightly activated in cells treated solely with manganese or cytokines, whereas cells treated with both manganese and cytokines showed the highest levels of activation. Also, we found that these ligands function through an NF-κB dependent mechanism. Treatment of cDIM1 to astrocytes already treated with manganese and cytokines caused decreased activation of NF-κB, while addition of GW9662 to similarly treated cells resulted in increased activation of NF-κB. While these compounds were effective at manipulating induction of the nos2 gene, they had no effect on induction of guanosine tri-phosphate cyclohydrolase (GTPCH) the rate limiting enzyme for the production of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), a cofactor essential to the conversion of arginine to NO, Thus, these novel PPARγ ligands can influence manganese- and cytokine-induced production of NO by an NF-κB dependent mechanism.

Recent studies suggest that carbon monoxide (CO) is another gas molecule that has similar biological actions as nitric oxide (NO). The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between NO and CO in the survival of naïve rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. Western blot analysis revealed that all three isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) exhibited low expression and two isoforms of heme oxygenase (HO), especially HO-1, exhibited higher expression in PC12 cells under basal condition. Exposure of PC12 cells for 24 h to the NO scavenger, carboxy-2-phenyl-4,4,5,5,- tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxy-1-3-oxide (carboxy-PTIO, 2 £gmol) or HO inhibitor, zinc protoporphyrinIX (ZnPP, 25 nmol) resulted in a progressive reduction in mitochondria dehydrogenase activity reflected cell viability as determined by the WST-1 (4-[3-(4-lodophenyl)- 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-2H-5-tetrazolio]-1,3-benzene disulfonate) assay. On the other hand, incubation with NO donors, amino-3-morpholinyl- 1,2,3-oxadiazolium chloride (SIN-1, 1 £gmol) or S-Nitroso-N-acetyl- penicillamine (SNAP, 1 £gmol), or the CO precursor, hematin (500 nmol), resulted in an elevation in cell viability. The progressive reduction in cell viability induced by carboxy-PTIO (2 £gmol) or ZnPP (25 nmol) was significantly blunted by co-treatment with SIN-1 (1 £gmol). However, incubation with the NO precursor, L-arginine (L-Arg, 2 £gmol), or the selective inhibitors for nNOS, iNOS or eNOS, N£s-propyl-L-arginine (NPLA, 100 pmol), S-methylisothiourea (SMT, 10 nmol) or N5-1-Iminoethyl-L-ornithine dihydrochloride (L-NIO, 4 nmol) did not significantly alter cell viability. Co-treatment with carboxy-PTIO (2 £gmol) and L-Arg (2 £gmol) was also ineffective. These results suggest that NO or CO contributes to the survival of naïve PC12 cells.

The area of advanced gate dielectrics has gained considerable attention recently because semiconductor technology roadmaps predict for less than 2 nm equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) for next 10 years, and there are significant leakage current and reliability concerns for oxy-nitride in this regime. So it¡¦s an important business to use alternate high-k dielectrics instead of oxy-nitride. Titanium silicon oxide shows a low leakage current with a high dielectric constant for dielectric applications. Besides, barium doping can create additional oxygen vacancies that can enhance dielectric constant. In this study, we prepared barium doped titanium silicon by liquid phase deposition which is a novel material considered to have intermediate properties of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide. From several characteristic measurements, we found that barium doped titanium silicon oxide with exhibiting higher dielectric constant, low leakage current and well interface state which is very promising candidates to instead of titanium silicon oxide. The physical and chemical properties of barium doped titanium silicon oxide films by means of several measuring instruments, including Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), secondary ion spectrometer (SIMS), and X-Ray diffractometer (XRD). An Al / Ba doped titanium silicon oxide / Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structure was used for the electrical measurements. The static dielectric constant of the O2-annealed barium doped titanium silicon oxide film can reach about 22.3. In addition, it has well leakage current density of 2.6 ¡Ñ 10-6 A/cm2 at 5 MV/cm with the equivalent oxide thickness 1.27 nm (optical thickness of 7.3 nm). It has high potential for dielectric applications.

Transparent conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) thin films were synthesized by reactive RF magnetron co-sputtering system with metallic zinc and aluminum targets under oxygen atmosphere. Systematic study on the fixed sputtering power of the Zinc target (PZn) and the variation of the sputtering power of the Aluminum target (PAl) on structural, electrical and optical properties of AZO thin film was mainly investigated in this work. We found that the microstructure of AZO films would be obviously transformed from rice-like crystalline structure to nanocrystalline (nano-column) structure with the increasing of the sputtering power of the Aluminum target (PAl) . Nanocrystalline AZO films were formed at the specific sputtering power ratio of metallic targets (PAl/ PZn=1) . X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra revealed that nanocrystalline AZO films highly preferred c-axis orientation (002) was growth in perpendicular to the substrate. The optical refractive index (n) of nanocrystalline AZO films had significantly lower values than others of microstructure AZO films, and this suggested the low optical dispersion in nano-column structure . Furthermore, the electronic properties of AZO films with the proper sputtering power of the Aluminum target (PAl) evidently improved under rapid temperature annealing (RTA) process. It suggested that both high annealing temperature(400¢J) and rapid cooling time(15min) are main factors to decrease the sheet resistances due to the maintenance of high temperature structural phase. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show that RTA process can decrease oxidized Al in order to decrease the sheet resistances.

Polycrystalline p-Cu2O were fabricated by reactive rf magnetron sputtering . we found that The electrical, optical, and crystallographical properties of films were strongly dependent on the deposition condition . Grant size increasing in the range from 10 to 45nm , A hole concentration increasing in the range from 1016 to 1017 cm-3 and a mobility increasing on the order of 10-1 cm2/V s were obtained in the cuprous oxide thin film prepared by controlling work pressure (Argon partial partial pressure ) . Fabricated thin-film heterojunction diodes consisting of a p-type cuprous oxide combined with and n-type Al-doped ZnO and ITO exhibited a rectifying current-voltage characteristic .

In this thesis, the growth and fabrication of the self-assembly ordered porous alumina have been investigated. First, well-ordered honeycomb array can be obtained in large area under well-anodizing condition. The diameter of formed porous alumina was about 40 to 80 nm. Pore diameter can be tuned by different voltage and electrolyte. After we got such an ordered-arrangement porous alumina array, the following analysis of the material optical properties were characterized. In the luminescence behavior, photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed a strong PL peak in blue. The PL peak was at 420 nm excited by He-Cd laser. Material transmittance was also detected, the result showed that material was transparent above 400 nm. On the other hand, the porous alumina membrane can be used as a mask. For working as negative mask, we evaporated the metal such as Au or Ti into the membrane and the metal filled into the porous to adhere to the semiconductor substrate. After lifting-off the membrane, the metal nanadots was formed on the substrate. The size and the position of these metal nanodots were distinctly-controlled by the mask. For working as replica mask, we have used the membrane as an etching mask to transfer the pattern to the semiconductor substrate successfully. This technique has the advantages of low cost and large area for nano-fabrication.