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Abstract Thin ferromagnetic films possessing perpendicular magnetic anisotropy derived from the crystal lattice can deliver the requisite magnetocrystalline anisotropy density for thermally stable magnetic memory and logic devices at the single-digit-nm lateral size. Here, we demonstrate that an epitaxial synthetic antiferromagnet can be formed from L10 FePd, a candidate material with large magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy, through insertion of an ultrathin Ir spacer. Tuning of the Ir spacer thickness leads to synthetic antiferromagnetically coupled FePd layers, with an interlayer exchange field upwards of 0.6 T combined with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy of 0.95 MJ/m3 and a low Gilbert damping of 0.01. Temperature-dependent ferromagnetic resonance measurements show that the Gilbert damping is mostly insensitive to temperature over a range of 20 K up to 300 K. In FePd|Ir|FePd trilayers with lower interlayer exchange coupling, optic and acoustic dynamic ferromagnetic resonance modes are explored as a function of temperature. The ability to engineer low damping and large interlayer exchange coupling in FePd|Ir|FePd synthetic antiferromagnets with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy could prove useful for high performance spintronic devices.

Micromagnetic stimulation (μMS) is a promising branch of neurostimulation but without some of the drawbacks of electrical stimulation. Microcoil (μcoil)-based magnetic stimulation uses small micrometer-sized coils that generate a time-varying magnetic field, which, as per Faraday’s Laws of Electromagnetic Induction, induces an electric field on a conductive surface. This method of stimulation has the advantage of not requiring electrical contact with the tissue; however, these μcoils are not easy to operate. Large currents are required to generate the required magnetic field. These large currents are too large for standard test equipment to provide, and additional power amplifiers are needed. To aid in the testing and development of micromagnetic stimulation devices, we have created a compact single-unit test setup for driving these devices called the µCoil Driver. This unit is designed to drive small inductive loads up to ±8 V at 5 A and 10 kHz.

Abstract Anisotropic planar polaritons - hybrid electromagnetic modes mediated by phonons, plasmons, or excitons - in biaxial two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals crystals have attracted significant attention due to their fundamental physics and potential nanophotonic applications. In this Perspective, we review the properties of planar hyperbolic polaritons and the variety of methods that can be used to experimentally tune them. We argue that such natural, planar hyperbolic media should be fairly common in biaxial and uniaxial 2D and 1D van der Waals crystals, and identify the untapped opportunities they could enable for functional (i.e. ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric) polaritons. Lastly, we provide our perspectives on the technological applications of such planar hyperbolic polaritons.

Abstract Contrary to topological insulators, topological semimetals possess a nontrivial chiral anomaly that leads to negative magnetoresistance and are hosts to both conductive bulk states and topological surface states with intriguing transport properties for spintronics. Here, we fabricate highly-ordered metallic Pt3Sn and Pt3SnxFe1-x thin films via sputtering technology. Systematic angular dependence (both in-plane and out-of-plane) study of magnetoresistance presents surprisingly robust quadratic and linear negative longitudinal magnetoresistance features for Pt3Sn and Pt3SnxFe1-x, respectively. We attribute the anomalous negative longitudinal magnetoresistance to the type-II Dirac semimetal phase (pristine Pt3Sn) and/or the formation of tunable Weyl semimetal phases through symmetry breaking processes, such as magnetic-atom doping, as confirmed by first-principles calculations. Furthermore, Pt3Sn and Pt3SnxFe1-x show the promising performance for facilitating the development of advanced spin-orbit torque devices. These results extend our understanding of chiral anomaly of topological semimetals and can pave the way for exploring novel topological materials for spintronic devices.

The use of voltage induced strain to switch magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) is a promising solution for reducing the switching energy in MRAM technologies. The MTJ is integrated with a piezoelectric layer to generate the strain. A very thin layer is needed to switch with small voltages and small energy dissipation. It is challenging to synthesize ultrathin piezoelectric layers that retain a high degree of piezoelectricity. An alternate approach is to use time-varying strain generated by a surface acoustic wave (SAW). This approach does not require a thin piezoelectric layer since the SAW is confined to the surface of the layer. In this study, we fabricated in-plane MTJs on piezoelectric LiNbO3 substrates and used IDTs to generate the SAW signal within the substrate. Our results showed that the SAW signal had a significant influence on the resistance and the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of the MTJs. The influence was much less significant in nanometer size MTJs than in micrometer sized ones. Most surprisingly, the SAW signal caused the tunneling magnetoresistance ratio (TMR) to drop below zero for the micrometer size MTJ, meaning that the antiparallel resistance RAP is temporarily less than the parallel resistance RP under SAW excitation. Our results provide insight into the dynamic behavior of MTJs under periodic strain and the dependence of this behavior on the device dimensions as they are scaled down to nanometer sizes.

L10 FePd is increasingly recognized as a potential candidate for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), yet there remains room for enhancing device performance. In this work, we fabricated fully-integrated L10 FePd-based perpendicular MTJ devices and achieved a significant increase in tunnel magnetoresistance, reaching ∼65%, compared to the previous record of 25%. Notably, we observed bi-directional switching with a low switching current density of about 1.4 × 105 A/cm2, which outperforms the typical spin-transfer torque (STT) MTJ by about one order of magnitude. We propose two possible mechanisms to elucidate the switching process and associated device performance: (1) The voltage-controlled exchange coupling-driven switching of the bottom CoFeB layer; (2) The STT-driven switching of the exchange-coupled L10 FePd–CoFeB composite. While additional research is necessary, these findings may further advance the integration of L10 FePd into spintronic devices, potentially enabling low-energy memory and logic technologies.

Embedded Mask Patterning (EMP) has been proposed as a cost-effective fabrication method to be capable of patterning sub-5-nm grain sizes for highly ordered L10-FePt media for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). Understanding the etching mechanism of FePt is critical to maintaining the highly ordered L10 structure and low damage to magnetic grains. In this research, a reactive Molecular Dynamics (MD) model is developed to study methanol (MeOH) plasma etching on highly ordered continuous L10-FePt media film. The model describes the reactive interaction mechanism between the plasma products CO/H2 molecules and Fe/Pt atoms. It shows the dominant Fe-C interaction upon the dissociation of CO ligands leads to formation of large and volatile Fen-C clusters contributing to high chemical etch yield.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in a suspension have been shown to change resistance by an order of magnitude based on an applied field. We have prepared the MNPs samples with matrices of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PDOT:PSS) or H2O, and Co MNPs and carried out the magnetoresistive measurements. A switch-based model is used to understand the mechanism for the change in resistance. We further propose devices for memory based on MNPs. Building blocks for these devices are then fabricated using additive manufacturing techniques and measurements of change in resistance under the influence of a magnetic field are conducted. Niche applications of additive manufacturing techniques to the fabrication of these devices are proposed. The device uses MNPs suspended in a soft matter matrix. The application of a magnetic field is used to move the MNPs to or away from electrical contacts. Depending on the change of position of the MNPs, a connection is either made or broken, which can act as a 1 or a 0. The measured change in resistance observed in such devices is more than an order of magnitude depending on the matrix solution. The proposed device and its manufacturing process could be feasible for magnetic memory and in-memory computing devices on any flexible substrates.

Atomic structures of α″-phase magnetic material C-doped Fe16N2−nCn [n = (0,2)] are investigated using molecular dynamics energy minimization method. Based on simulated annealing principles, a highly efficient search method is developed to find the approximation to “global” minimum energy states for these ternary bct lattice structures by sampling a series of local energy minimal from continuously divided minimization space. It is found that in Fe16N2−nCn alloy, although lattice parameters vary with C concentration, bond length rankings of C/N-Fe at Wyckoff positions are consistent with those in Fe16C2 and Fe16N2 phases. There are also existing Fe16N2−nCn alloys with high-C concentrations (C:N ≥ 1) showing higher stability than Fe16C2 and Fe16N2.

α″–Fe16N2 has been investigated as one of promising candidates for environment-friendly magnets. While giant saturation magnetization has previously been experimentally observed in α″–Fe16N2, its magnetic anisotropy and structural stability leave room for improvement. Recent theoretical studies have considered alloying Fe16N2 with various elements to improve the magnetic properties and/or stability against decomposition. However, estimates of stability in particular are typically restricted to simple ground-state-energy comparisons, i.e. effectively taken at 0 K. For a more practical measure of stability, we therefore extend ground-state energies, obtained with the plane-wave density-functional theory code Quantum ESPRESSO, with appropriate empirical and/or statistical corrections to obtain free energies at arbitrary temperature. We then compare the stability of Fe16N2 against the neighboring phases in the Fe-N binary system, to estimate the range of temperatures at which it is stable. We compare against experimental observations of the Fe-N phase diagram.

Abstract Nb and its compounds are widely used in quantum computing due to their high superconducting transition temperatures and high critical fields. Devices that combine superconducting performance and spintronic non-volatility could deliver unique functionality. Here we report the study of magnetic tunnel junctions with Nb as the heavy metal layers. An interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy density of 1.85 mJ/m2 was obtained in Nb/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures. The tunneling magnetoresistance was evaluated in junctions with different thickness combinations and different annealing conditions. An optimized magnetoresistance of 120% was obtained at room temperature, with a damping parameter of 0.011 determined by ferromagnetic resonance. In addition, spin-transfer torque switching has also been successfully observed in these junctions with a quasistatic switching current density of 7.3 $$\times \;10^{5}$$ × 10 5 A/cm2.

Stochastic computing (SC) has emerged as a promising solution for performing complex functions on large amounts of data to meet future computing demands. However, the hardware needed to generate random bit-streams using conventional CMOS-based technologies drastically increases the area and delay cost. Area costs can be reduced using spintronics-based random number generators (RNGs), and however, this will not alleviate the delay costs since stochastic bit generation is still performed separately from the computation. In this article, we present an SC method of embedding stochastic bit generation and processing in a computational random access memory (CRAM) array, which we refer to as SC-CRAM. We demonstrate that SC-CRAM is a resilient and low-cost method for image processing, Bayesian inference systems, and Bayesian belief networks.

Abstract Unidirectional magnetoresistance (UMR) has been observed in a variety of stacks with ferromagnetic/spin Hall material bilayer structures. In this work, UMR in antiferromagnetic insulator Fe2O3/Pt structure is reported. The UMR has a negative value, which is related to interfacial Rashba coupling and band splitting. Thickness‐dependent measurement reveals a potential competition between UMR and the unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance (USMR). This work reveals the existence of UMR in antiferromagnetic insulators/heavy metal bilayers and broadens the way for the application of antiferromagnet‐based spintronic devices.

A rotating detonation engine (RDE) is a highly promising detonation-based propulsion system and has been widely researched in recent decades. In this study, BYCFoam, the latest gaseous version of the BYRFoam family, is developed specifically for RDE simulations. It is based on the standard compressible flow solver rhoCentralFoam in OpenFOAM and incorporates several enhancements: improved reconstruction variables and flux schemes; detailed chemistry and transport properties; the utilization of an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) and dynamic load balancing (DLB). A series of comprehensive numerical tests are conducted, including the shock-tube problem, shock-wave diffraction, homogeneous ignition delay, premixed flame, planar detonation, detonation cellular structure and rotating detonation combustor (RDC). The results demonstrate that BYCFoam can accurately and efficiently simulate the deflagration and detonation processes. This solver enhances the capability of the BYRFoam family for the in-depth exploration of RDE in future research.

Abstract Flexible biosensors exhibit great potential for the detection of various biomarkers with the ability to adapt to different surface textures. Here, a lab‐on‐a‐needle biosensing platform based on ultra‐flexible giant magnetoresistance (GMR) biosensors is developed. The fabricated flexible GMR sensors exhibit a MR ratio of 5.2% and a sensitivity of 0.13%/Oe in the linear region, which are comparable to their rigid counterparts. It is found that the magnetic properties of the flexible GMR sensors remain unchanged after 500 cycles of compressive and tensile stress, indicating strong robustness even when applied to a surface that is constantly in motion. The developed platform is then employed for the detection of different concentrations of canine osteosarcoma (OSCA‐8) cells with a limit of detection (LOD) of 200 cells in 20 µL sample (104 cells per mL), which demonstrate the ability to perform real‐time, sensitive, and quantitative cell detection.

Spin-torque nano-oscillators (STNO) are studied in terms of the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) equation. The effect on the limit of detectivity of an STNO concerning externally applied magnetic fields is studied with micromagnetic models by placing adjacent magnetic flux concentrators (MFCs) at different distances from the nanopillar to analyze the effect on the induced auto-oscillations and magnetization dynamics. Perpendicular STNO structures allow for different detectivities with respect to externally applied magnetic fields depending on the distance from the MFCs to the nanopillar. The optimal design of an STNO combined with MFCs is proposed to improve the limit of detectivity, where the STNO consists of two out-of-plane (OP) ferromagnetic (FM) layers separated by a MgO insulating nonmagnetic (NM) thin film, and the MFCs positioned in the vicinity of the STNO are made of permalloy. The time evolution of the free-layer magnetization is governed by the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) equation. The auto-oscillations induced within the free-layer averaged magnetization are provoked by externally applied magnetic fields. In addition, the DC current-driven auto-oscillations in the STNO structure are studied as a function of the externally applied magnetic field strength, with and without MFCs. The suppression of the DC current-driven auto-oscillations is observed due to the damping effect generated by the MFCs positioned at varying distances with respect to the STNO. By placing MFCs adjacent to the STNO, the lowest detectable magnetic field strength is enhanced from 10 (μT) to 10 (nT). Therefore, it is concluded that MFCs improve the sensitivity of STNO to externally applied magnetic fields thanks to the damped magnetization dynamics. The results presented in this work could inspire the optimal design of STNO and MFC-based ultra-low magnetic field sensors based on nanoscale oscillators and spintronic diodes.

Modern computing schemes require large circuit areas and large energy consumption for neuromorphic computing applications, such as recognition, classification, and prediction. This is because these tasks require parallel processing on large datasets. Stochastic computing (SC) is a promising alternative to conventional binary computing schemes due to its low area cost, low processing power, and robustness to noise. However, the large area and energy costs for random number generation with CMOS-based circuits make SC impractical for most hardware implementations. For this reason, beyond-CMOS approaches to random number generation have been investigated in recent years. Spintronics is one of the most promising approaches due to the intrinsic stochasticity of the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). In this review article, we provide an overview of the literature published in recent years investigating the tunable, intrinsic stochasticity of MTJs and proposing practical methods for random number generation using spintronic hardware.

α″-Fe16N2 is a promising environmentally friendly rare-earth-free permanent magnet material with ultra-high saturation magnetization. Recent research has demonstrated experimentally through a thermally quenching treatment using γ′ phase Fe4N as a precursor to synthesize α″-Fe16N2 in bulk format. In this research using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation, we investigated the γ′-Fe4N phase thermal decomposition process and the potential phase transition from face center cubic (fcc)-phase to body center tetragonal (bct)-phase. As nitrogen concentration is higher in γ′-Fe4N (5.9 wt. %) than that in α′-Fe8N or α″-Fe16N2 (3 wt. %), Nitrogen bond formation through atom diffusion is studied with a “Nitrogen-rich” grain boundary (GB) model to find out whether lower-Nitrogen content bct Fe–N solid solution can be formed. Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) interatomic potential of Fe–N system is applied. Post-processing including Nitrogen bond mapping/tracking is also performed for the thermostat-controlled heating and quenching simulation process. We also applied virtual XRD computation to characterize the material crystallographic texture before and after the thermal treatment.

The ordered iron nitride phase α″–Fe16N2 has been a potential candidate for rare-earth free magnets with giant saturation magnetization, but first-principles electronic-structure calculations have struggled to reproduce recent observations of high magnetic moment, while calculations of magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) vary significantly. Within the framework of density-functional theory (DFT), a common extension to the usual generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) exchange-correlation (XC) functional is the inclusion of Hubbard parameters U (,J) as GGA + U. A number of previous papers have applied this method to Fe16N2, each with their own choice of Hubbard parameters. The plane-wave DFT code Quantum ESPRESSO was employed to more comprehensively study the effect of the value of Hubbard parameters U and J on the system, particularly with respect to its magnetic properties. Various approaches for setting U and J were compared, including self-consistent calculations via the linear-response method.

Abstract Background The motion capture has been used as the usual method for measuring movement parameters of human, and most of the measuring data are obtained by partial manual process based on commercial software. An automatic kinematics data process was developed by programming on MATLAB software in this paper. Methods The motion capture measurement of healthy volunteers was carried out and the MATLAB program was used for data process. Firstly, the coordinate data of markers and anatomical points on human lower limb measured by motion capture system were read and repaired through the usual and the patch program. Meantime, the local coordinate systems of human femur and tibia were established with anatomical points. Then flexion/extension, abduction/adduction and internal/external rotation of human knee tibiofemoral joint were obtained by special coordinate transformation program. Results Using the above methods, motion capture measurements and batch data processing were carried out on squatting and climbing stairs of 29 healthy volunteers. And the motion characteristics (flexion/extension, internal/external rotation and adduction/abduction) of the knee joint were obtained. For example, the maximum internal/external rotation in squatting and climbing stairs were respectively was 30.5 degrees and 14 degrees, etc. Meantime, the results of this paper also were respectively compared with the results processed by other research methods, and the results were basically consistent, thus the reliability of our research method was verified. After calibration processing, the compiled MATLAB program of this paper can directly be used for efficient batch processing and avoiding manual modeling one by one. Conclusion A novel Patch Program of this paper has been developed, which can make reasonable compensation for missing and noise signals to obtain more complete motion data. At the same time, a universal data processing program has also been developed for obtaining the relative movement of various components of the human body, and the program can be modified for detail special analysis. These motion capture technologies can be used to judge whether the human body functions are abnormal, provide a reference for rehabilitation treatment and design of rehabilitation equipment, and evaluate the effectiveness before and after surgery.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), hallmarked by liver steatosis, is becoming a global concern, but effective and safe drugs for NAFLD are still lacking at present. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), the only FDA-approved anabolic treatment for osteoporosis, is important in calcium-phosphate homeostasis. However, little is known about its potential therapeutic effects on other diseases. Here, we report that intermittent administration of PTH ameliorated non-alcoholic liver steatosis in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice and db/db mice, as well as fasting-induced hepatic steatosis. In vitro, PTH inhibits palmitic acid-induced intracellular lipid accumulation in a parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R)-dependent manner. Mechanistically, PTH upregulates the expression of genes involved in lipid β-oxidation and suppresses the expression of genes related to lipid uptake and de novo lipogenesis by activating the cAMP/PKA/CREB pathway. Taken together, our current finding proposes a new therapeutic role of PTH on NAFLD.

An approach by using the γ′-Fe4N precursor was proposed to prepare a bulk magnet with high α″-Fe16N2 content, and the feasibility for high N content α′-Fe(N)/α′-Fe8N was demonstrated in ribbon samples. γ′-Fe4N decomposed when it was heated to a high temperature, and then, a supersaturated γ-Fe(N) phase formed because of N atoms diffusing out from the γ′-Fe4N lattice. The short-lived supersaturated γ-Fe(N) had the face-centered cubic lattice, and its nitrogen content is beyond 3.0 wt. %. The supersaturated γ-Fe(N) acts as a precursor of the martensite transformation for a body-centered tetragonal phase. After the cryo-treatment, which was essential to complete the martensite transformation, a mixture of α′-Fe(N) and α′-Fe8N was obtained. The N content of more than 2.5 wt. % in the samples was achieved.

This article describes how 3-D XPoint memory arrays can be used as in-memory computing accelerators. We first show that thresholded matrix-vector multiplication (TMVM), the fundamental computational kernel in many applications including machine learning (ML), can be implemented within a 3-D XPoint array without requiring data to leave the array for processing. Using the implementation of TMVM, we then discuss the implementation of a binary neural inference engine. We discuss the application of the core concept to address issues such as system scalability, where we connect multiple 3-D XPoint arrays, and power integrity, where we analyze the parasitic effects of metal lines on noise margins. To assure power integrity within the 3-D XPoint array during this implementation, we carefully analyze the parasitic effects of metal lines on the accuracy of the implementations. We quantify the impact of parasitics on limiting the size and configuration of a 3-D XPoint array, and estimate the maximum acceptable size of a 3-D XPoint subarray.

Leaf color has been considered an important agronomic trait in rice (Oryza sativa L.) for a long time. The changes in leaf color affect the yield of rice. In this study, a green-revertible albino (graS) mutant was isolated from a 60Co-gamma-irradiated mutant pool of indica cultivar Guangzhan 63-4S. The fine mapping indicated that graS mutant was mapped to chromosome 1, and was located in a confined region between markers ab134 and InDel 8 with genetic distances of 0.11 and 0.06 cM, respectively. Based on the annotation results, four open reading frames (ORFs) were predicted in this region. Sequence analysis revealed that LOC_Os01g55974 had a 2-bp nucleotide insertion (AA) in the coding region that led to premature termination at the 324th base. Sequence analysis and expression analysis of related genes indicated that LOC_Os01g55974 is the candidate gene of GraS. We studied the genome and protein sequences of LOC_Os01g55974, and the data showed that GraS contains a deoxycytidine deaminase domain, which was expressed ubiquitously in all tissues. Further investigation indicated that GraS plays an essential role in the regulation of chloroplast biosynthesis, photosynthetic capacity and yield. Moreover, leaf color mutant can be used as an effective marker for the purity of breeding and hybridization.

While giant saturation magnetization has been observed in α″–Fe16N2, its magnetic anisotropy and structural stability leave room for improvement. Several recent studies have investigated the effect of substitution to improve its magnetic properties and/or its stability; among these, substitution of Fe with V or Cu has shown promise. We thus compare the magnetic properties of such alloys in some more detail using first-principles electronic-structure calculations: The magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) energies of ordered Fe16–nVnN2 and Fe16–nCunN2 alloys (n=1, 2), as well as the co-substituted alloy Fe14VCuN2, are obtained within the plane-wave density-functional theory (DFT) code Quantum ESPRESSO.

Since its first report in 2006, magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS)-based biosensors have flourished over the past decade. Currently, MPS are used for a wide range of applications, such as disease diagnosis, foodborne pathogen detection, etc. In this work, different MPS platforms, such as dual-frequency and mono-frequency driving field designs, were reviewed. MPS combined with multi-functional magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been extensively reported as a versatile platform for the detection of a long list of biomarkers. The surface-functionalized MNPs serve as nanoprobes that specifically bind and label target analytes from liquid samples. Herein, an analysis of the theories and mechanisms that underlie different MPS platforms, which enable the implementation of bioassays based on either volume or surface, was carried out. Furthermore, this review draws attention to some significant MPS platform applications in the biomedical and biological fields. In recent years, different kinds of MPS point-of-care (POC) devices have been reported independently by several groups in the world. Due to the high detection sensitivity, simple assay procedures and low cost per run, the MPS POC devices are expected to become more widespread in the future. In addition, the growth of telemedicine and remote monitoring has created a greater demand for POC devices, as patients are able to receive health assessments and obtain results from the comfort of their own homes. At the end of this review, we comment on the opportunities and challenges for POC devices as well as MPS devices regarding the intensely growing demand for rapid, affordable, high-sensitivity and user-friendly devices.

The traditional scaling trend of semiconductor devices is approaching its limit with the node size in manufacturing already down to 2 nm, with a great guidance from Moore’s law. Heterogenous integration has recently been one of the major driving forces to push the semiconductor technologies further, with a great engineering effort to sum up the power of known and established technologies.

Objectives As early prediction of severe illness and death for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is important, we aim to explore the clinical value of laboratory indicators in evaluating the progression and prognosis of patients with COVID-19.Design Retrospective cohort study.Setting Hospital-based study in China.Participants Adult patients with COVID-19 from December 15, 2019 to March 15, 2020.End point Disease severity and mortality.Methods Clinical data of 638 patients with COVID-19 were collected and compared between severe and non-severe groups. The predictive ability of laboratory indicators in disease progression and prognosis of COVID-19 was analysed using the receiver operating characteristic curve. The survival differences of COVID-19 patients with different levels of laboratory indicators were analysed utilising Kaplan-Meier analysis.Results 29.8% (190/638) of patients with COVID-19 progressed to severe. Compared with patients with no adverse events, C reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and D-dimer were significantly higher in severe patients with adverse events, such as acute myocardial injury, respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, multiple organ dysfunction syndromes and death (all p

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) is a group of autoimmune diseases with clinical features presented with muscle weakness and inflammation in muscle. Compared with EMG and muscle biopsy, imaging examination is more convenient and non-invasive, and is valuable in the assessment of diagnosis, evaluation of disease extent and prognosis. MRI is widely used in clinical practice as its high resolution of soft tissue, which may provides detailed information about muscle. DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2020.01.009

This article presents a method for analyzing the parasitic effects of interconnects on the performance of the STT-MTJ-based computational random access memory (CRAM) in-memory computation platform. The CRAM is a platform that makes a small reconfiguration to a standard spintronics-based memory array to enable logic operations within the array. The analytical method in this article develops a methodology that quantifies the way in which wire parasitics limit the size and configuration of a CRAM array and studies the impact of cell- and array-level design choices on the CRAM noise margin. Finally, the method determines the maximum allowable CRAM array size under various technology considerations.

We propose a complete, quantitative quantum computing system that satisfies the five DiVincenzo criteria. The model is based on magnetic clusters with uniaxial anisotropy, where two-state qubits are formed utilizing the two lowest lying states of an anisotropic potential energy. We outline the quantum dynamics required by quantum computing for single-qubit structures, and then define a measurement scheme in which qubit states can be measured by sharp changes in current as voltage across the cluster is varied. We then extend the single-qubit description to multiple qubit interactions, facilitated specifically by an entanglement method that propagates the controlled-not quantum gate.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in the processing-in-memory (PIM) paradigm in computing due to its promise to improve the performance through the reduction of energy-hungry and long-latency memory accesses. Joined with the explosion of data to be processed, produced in genomics - particularly genome sequencing - PIM has become a potential promising candidate for accelerating genomics applications since they do not scale up well in conventional von Neumann systems. In this article, we present an in-memory accelerator architecture for DNA read alignment. This architecture outperforms corresponding software implementation by >49X and >18 000X, in terms of throughput and energy efficiency, respectively, even under conservative assumptions.

Abstract Background Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer‐associated mortality among affected women in the world. At present, treatment with weekly cisplatin plus ionizing radiation (IR) therapy is the standard regimen for cervical cancer, especially for locally advanced cervical cancer. The purpose of this study is to determine whether FEN1 inhibitors could enhance the therapeutic effect of IR therapy. Methods Western blot was applied to determine the expression of FEN1‐ and apoptosis‐related proteins. Cell growth inhibition assay and colony formation assay were used to determine the effects of FEN1 inhibitor and IR exposure for Hela cells in vitro. CRISPR technology was used to knockdown FEN1 expression level of 293T cells, and tumor xenograft in nude mice was employed to determine the effects of FEN1 inhibitor and IR exposure on tumor growth in vivo. Results Our data revealed that FEN1 is overexpressed in HeLa cell and can be upregulated further by IR. We also demonstrated that FEN1 inhibitor enhances IR sensitivity of cervical cancer in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion FEN1 inhibitor SC13 could sensitize radiotherapy of cervical cancer cell.

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effect of vanadium (V) in high-fat diets sourced from egg yolk on body weight gain, feed intake, blood characteristics and antioxidative status of Wistar rats. A total of 72 female Wistar rats were allocated according to a 2 × 4 factorial design throughout a 5-wk trial, including 2 levels of dietary fat (normal and high; ether extract 40.3 and 301.2 g/kg; fat sourced from egg yolk) and 4 levels of dietary V (0, 3, 15 and 30 mg/kg). Vanadium decreased (P ≤ 0.05) body weight gain (V at 30mg/kg during wk 1 and 2; V at 15 and 30 mg/kg during the overall phase), feed intake (V at 30 mg/kg during wk 3 and the overall phase; V at 15 and 30 mg/kg during wk 4), but increased the relative weight of liver (V at 30 mg/kg, P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, increasing dietary V significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) plasma aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and malondialdehyde levels and decreased triglyceride level, and V at 30 mg/kg in high-fat treatment had the highest or lowest values (interaction, P ≤ 0.05). Under the same dietary V dose, V residual content in liver (dietary V at 15 and 30 mg/kg) and kidney (dietary V at 15 mg/kg) was higher in high-fat diet treatment compared with normal-fat diet treatment (P ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, it is suggested that V could decrease the body weight together with the feed intake, and the high fat could enhance oxidative stress induced by V of Wistar rats. Keywords: Vanadium, High fat, Oxidative stress, Body weight, Wistar rats

Nowadays, the increasing number of foodborne disease outbreaks around the globe has aroused the wide attention of the food industry and regulators. During food production, processing, storage, and transportation, microorganisms may grow and secrete toxins as well as other harmful substances. These kinds of food contamination from microbiological and chemical sources can seriously endanger human health. The traditional detection methods such as cell culture and colony counting cannot meet the requirements of rapid detection due to some intrinsic shortcomings, such as being time-consuming, laborious, and requiring expensive instrumentation or a central laboratory. In the past decade, efforts have been made to develop rapid, sensitive, and easy-to-use detection platforms for on-site food safety regulation. Herein, we review one type of promising biosensing platform that may revolutionize the current food surveillance approaches, the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) biosensors. Benefiting from the advances of nanotechnology, hundreds to thousands of GMR biosensors can be integrated into a fingernail-sized area, allowing the higher throughput screening of food samples at a lower cost. In addition, combined with on-chip microfluidic channels and filtration function, this type of GMR biosensing system can be fully automatic, and less operator training is required. Furthermore, the compact-sized GMR biosensor platforms could be further extended to related food contamination and the field screening of other pathogen targets.

Spin Torque Oscillators (STOs) are promising solutions in a wide variety of next generation technologies from read-head sensors in high-density magnetic recording technology to neural oscillator units for neuromorphic computing. There are several metrics that can be used to quantify the performance of an STO such as power, quality factor, frequency tunability, etc., most of which are dependent on the design of the STO device itself. Furthermore, determining the most important metric will be contingent on its desired application, meaning that it is crucial to understand how the STOs design parameters influence all aspects of its performance so that its design can be optimized to perform the desired function. In this work, we analyzed spin torque oscillations generated from 20 magnetic tunnel junctions with in-plane anisotropy and patterned into elliptical nano-pillars with a wide range of sizes and aspect ratios. For each device, we acquired 20 to 50 data sets at various bias fields and currents and used power spectral density plots to measure output power, frequency, linewidth, quality factor, and power-to-linewidth ratio for each set. We also analyzed each STOs performance in terms of the bias fields and bias currents required to maximize output power and signal quality as well as the frequency tunability with both field and current. By comparing all of these performance metrics between the 20 STOs tested, we studied the influence of device size and shape on all aspects of STO performance and used correlation coefficients to quantify relative magnitude of these effects.

Development of L10 FePd thin films with large bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and a low damping constant may permit superior scaling of next-generation ultra-high density magnetic memory elements. The buffer layer influences the L10-order parameter, static and dynamic magnetic properties of FePd and demands consideration for the design of high anisotropy strength and low damping films. In this report, we systematically investigate the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and damping constant of the FePd thin films engineered through the Cr/(Pt, Ru, Ir, Rh), Mo/Ir, and Ir buffer layers. We observed that the Ir(001), Cr(001)/Ir(001), Cr(001)/Pt(001), Cr(001)/Rh(001), and Cr(001)/Ru(001) buffer layers can induce highly oriented (001) FePd films while the Mo/Ir buffer layer does not. Of all the buffer layers, the largest perpendicular magnetic anisotropy Ku ∼ 1.2 MJ/m3 and damping constant α ∼ 0.005 were achieved for the Cr/Pt buffered FePd sample, consistent with a high ordering parameter S ∼ 0.82. The Cr/Ru buffered FePd sample shows the lowest α ∼ 0.008, despite having a lower S ∼ 0.64 and a lower Ku ∼ 0.9 MJ/m3. These film-level properties would be sufficient for the engineering of devices that require thermally stable, sub-10 nm lateral size elements with low damping for applications of low energy-delay magnetic memory devices.

The magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) energy of the giant saturation magnetization candidate material α″–Fe16N2 was investigated using first-principles electronic-structure calculations. The plane-wave density-functional theory (DFT) code Quantum ESPRESSO was employed to study the effect of different DFT approaches on the system, particularly the influence of exchange-correlation functionals and pseudopotential methods. The MCA energies obtained this way are within the range of previous theoretical and experimental results, while exhibiting significant variation between the different approaches. The role and limitations of these approaches in the view of Fe16N2 band structure are discussed in detail.

In this study, we extend the analyses done on sputtered BixSe1-x based accumulation mode FETs. Previously, we studied the basic electrical and leakage properties of these FET devices. We extend our analyses to obtain key parameters of the BixSe1-x (x = 0.44) film at various gate voltages. We start by extracting the sheet carrier density and bulk mobility for different gate voltages, using the Drude model with the previously obtained semi-empirical relationship between carrier concentration and bulk mobility for BixSe1-x. The change in sheet carrier density is a result of accumulation or depletion or majority carriers from the BixSe1-x/SiO2 interface, which show hysteretic behavior. This allows us to calculate the surface sheet carrier density and the quasi-static capacitance at various gate voltages. We use a simple capacitive model to separate the capacitance originating from the gate and the film bulk. The capacitance from the film bulk is due to the surface charge thickness and is directly dependent on the Debye length. From the change of capacitance, with respect to gate voltage, we were able to identify the characteristics of the conduction band edge and the bulk band gap/Dirac cone.

Traditional Von Neumann computing is falling apart in the era of exploding data volumes as the overhead of data transfer becomes forbidding. Instead, it is more energy-efficient to fuse compute capability with memory where the data reside. This is particularly critical to pattern matching, a key computational step in large-scale data analytics, which involves repetitive search over very large databases residing in memory. Emerging spintronic technologies show remarkable versatility for the tight integration of logic and memory. In this article, we introduce SpinPM, a novel high-density, reconfigurable spintronic in-memory pattern matching spin-orbit torque (SOT)-specifically spin Hall effect (SHE)-substrate, and demonstrate the performance benefit SpinPM can achieve over conventional and near-memory processing systems.

We studied the spin-to-charge and charge-to-spin conversion at room temperature in sputtered WTe2−x (x = 0.8) (t)/Co20Fe60B20(6 nm) heterostructures. Spin pumping measurements were used to characterize the spin-to-charge efficiency, and the spin efficiency was calculated to be larger than ∼0.035. Second harmonic Hall measurements were carried out to estimate the charge-to-spin conversion ratio. We found that the system exhibits a large field-like torque (spin torque efficiency ∼0.1) and small damping-like torque (spin torque efficiency ∼0.001) compared to those reported for heavy metals. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images show that the WTe2−x layer is amorphous, which may enhance the spin swapping effect by inducing large interfacial spin–orbit scattering, thus contributing to a large field-like torque.

Spin-torque oscillators are promising candidates for hard disk drive read head sensors, neuromorphic computing, and telecommunications due to their frequency tunability by a direct current or a magnetic field. A narrow linewidth and a large quality factor are of great importance for these applications. Previous studies have indicated that the spin-torque oscillation linewidth depends on the temperature, current, and in-plane field angle. Here, we have investigated the spin-torque oscillations in MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and demonstrated the impact of the MTJ shape anisotropy on the threshold current. Our experimental results suggest that due to different threshold currents, the linewidth is different in the MTJs with different shape anisotropy, which might be significant for device optimization.

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted considerable interest for use in spintronic applications, especially hexagonal close-packed (hcp)-phase boron nitride (BN) as a tunnel barrier. In this paper, we experimentally investigated the structural properties of a sputtered hcp-BN thin film. By optimizing the experimental conditions, we obtained the stoichiometric BN thin film with a ratio of 1:1 of the Ar/N2 sputtering gas. Then the Co/BN/Co magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stacks were prepared to study the crystalline structure of the BN tunnel barrier and their epitaxial relationship. We found that the as-deposited BN tunnel barrier layer follows the texture of the bottom Co layer and forms a polycrystalline structure. After the high-temperature treatment of the MTJ stack, texturing of the BN tunnel barrier layer is observed, however, this annealing process makes the BN tunnel barrier noncontinuous and induces serious interdiffusion between layers. These results will open the door for development of spintronic devices based on MTJs with hcp-phase BN tunnel barrier and hcp-phase perpendicular magnetic anisotropy ferromagnetic layer.

Until now, there have been three choices for a room temperature (RT) single element ferromagnetic material in fundamental studies and applications. Here the authors achieved body-centered tetragonal phase ruthenium thin films by epitaxial growth, which is the 4th RT ferromagnetic single element material.

Magnetoelectric spin-orbit (MESO) logic is a promising spin-based post-CMOS logic computation paradigm. This paper explores the application of the basic MESO device concept to more complex logic structures. A simulation framework is first developed to facilitate the performance evaluation of MESO-based circuits. Based on the analysis, it is seen that inadvertent logic errors may potentially be introduced in cascaded MESO stages due to sneak paths, and solutions for overcoming this problem with a short pulse and two-phase evaluation are discussed. Next, the generalization of the MESO inverter structure to majority logic gates is shown. Two implementations, based on different physical mechanisms, are presented and a relative analysis of their speed and power characteristics is provided.

Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) has attracted great attention as it allows faster switching and lower energy consumption compared to traditional spin-transfer torque-based magnetization switching. In this paper, we evaluate the operating margin and switching probability of VCMA-based magnetic tunnel junctions using realistic material and device parameters. For this paper, we developed a physics-based SPICE model that incorporates various VCMA parameters such as VCMA coefficient, energy barrier, time constant, and external magnetic field. Switching probability of a VCMA device was obtained by running Monte Carlo simulations including thermal fluctuation effects. A design space exploration was performed using the proposed simulation framework. The highest switching probabilities we were able to achieve were 94.9%, 84.8%, and 53.5%, for VCMA coefficient values of 33, 105, and 290 fJ · V-1 · m-1, respectively. Our study shows that for VCMA devices to become viable, their switching probability must be improved significantly either through new physics or material innovation.

Unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance enables the new spintronic devices but is limited by the low amplitude or working temperature. Here, the authors report the large unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in a topological insulator and ferromagnetic metal bilayer system at relatively higher temperature.

Topological materials have attracted a lot of attention in the field of beyond Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices. Topological Insulators (TI) have been proposed for future high electron mobility field effect transistor (FET) devices that make the physics of operation and especially the oxide-film interface extremely crucial to understand. The effects of the gate voltage on the charge trapping in TI-based FET devices are reported in this work. Sputtered BixSe1-x was chosen as the TI material. The interfacial chemistry was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which shows a presence of Mg2+ and oxygen impurities. A unique hysteresis behavior was found for the gate transfer characteristics, with respect to the gate voltage. This was attributed to the charge trapping in the gate oxide and across the SiO2/BixSe1-x interface. We simulated the effects of charge fluctuations on the resistivity of the film. These devices operate under accumulation mode rather inversion mode. Application of positive gate voltage results in accumulation of electrons in the “n-type” BixSe1-x layer resulting in an increase of conductivity. In order to explain the drain current-gate voltage behavior, we used a simple polynomial model to describe the change in the device characteristics due to charge traps. The model was fitted with our experimental results. We further analyzed the gate leakage current, which showed a good match with trap-assisted tunneling (TAT) process that was used to derive trap parameters. The obtained trap parameters show the presence of ultra-deep charge traps contributing to the hysteretic behavior.