Search

Metamorphic semiconductor devices such as high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, and solar cells are grown on mismatched substrates and typically exhibit a high degree of lattice relaxation. In order to minimize the incorporation of threading defects it is common to use a linearly-graded buffer layer to accommodate the mismatch between the substrate and device layers. However, some work has suggested that buffer layers with non-linear grading could offer superior performance in terms of limiting the surface density of threading defects. In this work, we have compared S-graded buffer layers with different orders and thicknesses. To do so we calculated the expected surface threading dislocation density for each buffer design assuming a GaAs (001) substrate. The threading dislocation densities were calculated using the LMD model, in which the coefficient for second-order annihilation and coalescence reactions between threading dislocations is considered to be equal to the length of misfit dislocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several simple models have been developed for the threading dislocation behavior in heteroepitaxial semiconductor materials. Tachikawa and Yamaguchi [Appl. Phys. Lett., 56, 484 (1990)] and Romanov et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett., 69, 3342 (1996)] described models for the annihilation and coalescence of threading dislocations in uniform-composition layers, and Kujofsa et al. [J. Electron. Mater., 41, 2993 (2013)] extended the annihilation and coalescence model to compositionally-graded and multilayered structures by including the misfit dislocation-threading dislocation interactions. However, an important limitation of these previous models is that they involve empirical parameters. The goal of this work is to develop a predictive model for annihilation and coalescence of threading dislocations which is based on the dislocation interaction length Lint. In the first case if only in-plane glide is considered the interaction length is equal to the length of misfit dislocation segments while in the second case glide and climb are considered and the interaction length is a function of the distance from the interface, the length of misfit dislocations, and the density of the misfit dislocations. In either case the interaction length may be calculated using a model for dislocation flow. Knowledge of the dislocation interaction length allows predictive calculations of the threading dislocation densities in metamorphic device structures and is of great practical importance. Here we demonstrate the latter model based on glide and climb. Future work should compare the two models to determine which is more relevant to typical device heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET with multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) in the diagnosis of pretreatment prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: Pubmed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched for eligible studies published before June 22, 2022. We assessed risk of bias and applicability by using QUADAS-2 tool. Data synthesis was performed with Stata 17.0 software, using the "midas" and "meqrlogit" packages. Results: We included 29 articles focusing on primary cancer detection, 18 articles about primary staging, and two articles containing them both. For PSMA PET versus mpMRI in primary PCa detection, sensitivities and specificities in the per-patient analysis were 0.90 and 0.84 (p<0.0001), and 0.66 and 0.60 (p <0.0001), and in the per-lesion analysis they were 0.79 and 0.78 (p <0.0001), and 0.84 and 0.82 (p <0.0001). For the per-patient analysis of PSMA PET versus mpMRI in primary staging, sensitivities and specificities in extracapsular extension detection were 0.59 and 0.66 (p =0.005), and 0.79 and 0.76 (p =0.0074), and in seminal vesicle infiltration (SVI) detection they were 0.51 and 0.60 (p =0.0008), and 0.93 and 0.96 (p =0.0092). For PSMA PET versus mpMRI in lymph node metastasis (LNM) detection, sensitivities and specificities in the per-patient analysis were 0.68 and 0.46 (p <0.0001), and 0.91 and 0.90 (p =0.81), and in the per-lesion analysis they were 0.67 and 0.36 (p <0.0001), and 0.99 and 0.99 (p =0.18). Conclusion: PSMA PET has higher diagnostic value than mpMRI in the detection of primary PCa. Regarding the primary staging, mpMRI has potential advantages in SVI detection, while PSMA PET has relative advantages in LNM detection. Clinical relevance statement: The integration of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET into the diagnostic pathway may be helpful for improving the accuracy of prostate cancer detection. However, further studies are needed to address the cost implications and evaluate its utility in specific patient populations or clinical scenarios. Moreover, we recommend the combination of PSMA PET and mpMRI for cancer staging. Key Points: • Prostate-specific membrane antigen PET has higher sensitivity and specificity for primary tumor detection in prostate cancer compared to multiparametric MRI. • Prostate-specific membrane antigen PET also has significantly better sensitivity and specificity for lymph node metastases of prostate cancer compared to multiparametric MRI. • Multiparametric MRI has better accuracy for extracapsular extension and seminal vesicle infiltration compared to ate-specific membrane antigen PET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optically driving liquid crystal display (ODLCD) uses polarized light field to control the orientation of the liquid crystal, and the display content can be maintained without external electric field, with extremely low power consumption. However, it has a long rewriting time, which is difficult to achieve industrialization. In order to improve the rewriting performance, the influence of the rotational viscosity of the mixed system of azo-dyes (SD1, MR) and nematic liquid crystal (5CB) on the rewriting speed is investigated. The experimental results show that the electro-optical properties of SD1-5CB and MR-5CB have great changes after irradiation by polarized light, among which the SD1-5CB is the best to improve the performance. With the increase of SD1 concentration, the rotational viscosity of SD1-5CB decreases significantly due to the change of cis-trans isomerization of azo-dye, and the optimal doping concentration is 0.5 wt%. In this case, the rewriting time is shortened from 45 s to 11 s, which has the potential to broaden the application of ODLCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most properties of liquid crystal (LC) materials will change with the change of temperature, which makes the performance of liquid crystal display (LCD) and other devices change. However, at low temperature, the properties of LC will mutate with the decrease of temperature, which directly leads to the defects of LC devices. This paper makes use of the developed homemade temperature control device to realize the construction of high temperature to low temperature environment, using precision LCR meter (Agilent E4980A) and self-built optical path, combined with LC cell capacitance model and dual-cell model, the dynamic response properties of LC materials with temperature change law was explored. The results show that the decay time τd of the LC with positive dielectric anisotropy increases from 12.04 ms to 159.7 ms, and the rotational viscosity coefficient γ1 increases exponentially from 12.04 mPa·s to 1582.45 mPa·s. While τd of the LC with negative dielectric anisotropy increases from 13.10 ms to 408.1 ms, γ1 also increases exponentially from 162.73 mPa·s to 7903.69 mPa·s. The conclusions presented in this paper provide some guidance for the improvement of low temperature properties of LC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature measurement and control has an extremely important role in both scientific research and manufacturing. Capacitive liquid crystal (LC) temperature sensors can monitor the temperature using the linear variation of the capacitance of LC cell with temperature, but the sensitivity and other properties need to be improved. In order to improve the performance of capacitive LC temperature sensor, we propose to mix twisted nematic LC (1M10600-100) with ferromagnetic nanoparticles γ-Fe2O3 to prepare LC temperature sensor in this paper. The relationship between the capacitance change rate of different concentrations of nano-doped LC materials at 0.1–20 V and different temperatures was tested, the sensitivity of the sensor was calculated, and the mechanism of the effect of doped nanoparticles on the performance of the device was analyzed. The experimental results show that the sensitivity of the capacitive temperature sensor made of nano-doped LC with the concentration of 0.03 wt% is as high as 9.5 pF/°C at 12 V, which is about 14.87% higher than the undoped device, and its recovery and stability remain almost unchanged. The Pearson correlation coefficient only changes by 0.02%. The results of this paper provide some guidance for the improvement of the performance of capacitive LC temperature sensors, and the development of high-sensitivity temperature sensors based on LC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image sticking of the liquid crystal display (LCD) is related to the residual direct current voltage (RDCV) on the liquid crystal cell. The saturated residual DC voltage (SRDCV) can be obtained by analyzing the change of the capacitance of the liquid crystal cell under the application of DC bias (DCB), thus the LCD image sticking can be evaluated. Based on this, we evaluated the image sticking of the hybrid aligned nematic (HAN) liquid crystal display (HAN-LCD) with four different alignment layer materials (KPI-300B, PIA-2710, RV-961G, SE-4811(0526)) combinations of infused liquid crystal materials with negative dielectric anisotropy, from which the effect of the alignment layer material on image sticking was analyzed. The experiment found that the SRDCV measured by the HAN cell with vertical PI model SE-4811(0526) and parallel PI model PIA-2710 is the minimum under positive and negative DCB. The results show that the alignment layer material can greatly affect the image sticking problem of HAN-LCD, and provide useful guidance for improving its display quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a highly sensitive and transparent flexible temperature sensor fabricated from the polyethylene terephthalate flexible substrate and the nematic liquid crystal (1M0921900-000) is proposed, which simultaneously has low power consumption. Using the relaxation time (τ = RC) as an intrinsic variable to characterise temperature, a better linear fitting with temperature can be obtained at low voltage, high precision and more stable temperature monitoring can be achieved. The maximum sensitivity is −4.05%/°C at 0.1 V and 200 Hz. The transmittance of the sensor can reach 62.36–81.13% in the visible light range. Compared with the rigid liquid crystal temperature sensor, the rise time and the decay time of the sensor are reduced by 97.104% and 90.313%, respectively. In addition, it also has good stability, recovery, and durability, which shows potential applicability to electronic skin, prostheses, robots, and biomedical by accurately monitoring the change of external temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the stability of a liquid crystal (LC) system doped with γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, the physical properties (clearing point, dielectric properties), electro-optical properties and residual direct-current voltage (RDCV) of the doped LC system were measured and evaluated at different times. First, the temperature was controlled by precision hot stage, and the clearing point temperature of doped LC was observed and measured by a polarized optical microscope. Using a precision LCR meter, we measured the capacitance-voltage curves of the doped LC system at the temperature of 27 °C. The dielectric constant of doped LC was calculated by the dualcell capacitance method. Then, the electro-optical properties of the doped LC system were measured. Finally, the RDCV of the doped LC system was measured and calculated. After five months, the parameters of the doped LC system were re-measured and analyzed under the same conditions to evaluate its stability. The experimental results show that, within five months, the clearing point change rate of doped LC is in the range of 0.24%–1.37%, the change of dielectric anisotropy is in the range of 0.035–0.2, the curves of electro-optical properties are basically fitted, and the change rate of saturated RDCV is about 11.2%, which basically indicate that the LC system doped with γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles has good stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orientation of Nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and order degree of LC molecules are easily affected by ambient temperature, so it is of great significance to explore the low-temperature properties of NLC materials to improve the low-temperature performance of LC devices. The dielectric and elastic constant of the NLC material 1M10500-000 under the high and low-temperature conditions were obtained by the dual-cell capacitance method, linear fitting method and numerical fitting, and were compared. The dynamic response of the NLC at different temperatures was tested, and the rotational viscosity was calculated. The experimental results show that the dielectric constant is still proportional to the order parameter at low temperature. The elastic constants k11 and k33 and the square of order parameter no longer conform to the proportional relationship at low temperature, and the lower the temperature, the greater the deviation of elastic constants from the proportional relationship. As the temperature decreases, the ratio of k33/k11 changes from 2.62 to 2.71, and the rotational viscosity coefficient changes from 5.66 mPa.s to 177.64 mPa.s. Finally, the transient hysteresis phenomenon at low temperature was proposed and explained by the residual direct current voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermistor was fabricated by filling the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) material IM95100-000 into a liquid crystal device with an interdigital electrode structure. In the temperature range of 25 °C–120 °C, the temperature response of the thermistor under different voltages was measured with a step length of 5 °C to study its performance. The experimental results show that the resistance value of the thermistor decreases exponentially with increasing temperature in the range of 25 °C–120 °C. The temperature resistance characteristics at different voltages can satisfy the Steinhart-Hart formula well and the nonlinear fitting coefficient can reach 0.999; under the voltage of 1 V, the total resistance percentage changes by 93.1%, the material constant B25-120 value can reach 3299.07 K, and the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) can reach 0.98%/K. As a temperature sensor, it is twice as sensitive as that without the interpolated electrode structure, and the sensitivity can be further improved as the temperature decreases. Through the stability and recovery measurements, it is found that the resistance has no obvious deviation, which verifies the possibility of long-term application of this thermistor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature monitoring plays an increasingly important role in research and industrial applications. Based on the influence of liquid crystal material thermal sensitivity on the capacitance of liquid crystal cell, the sensing performance of the capacitive-type liquid crystal temperature sensor were studied. By testing the capacitance under the voltage from 0 V to 20 V at different temperatures, the capacitance–voltage curve is drawn, and then the relationship between the capacitance change rate and the temperature at different voltages was obtained, so as to analyse its sensitivity. The results show that the capacitance of the liquid crystal material (RDP-09 T-100) is linearly related to the temperature in the temperature range of 20–110°C, even when the applied voltage is 0.1 V, which proves its feasibility as a temperature measuring medium for the temperature sensor and shows that the sensor has the advantage of low power consumption. When the applied voltage is 15 V, the sensitivity of the capacitive-type liquid crystal temperature sensor can reach 0.94 pF/°C and its response time is 0.115 s/(pF.°C). This research further expands the application scope of liquid crystal and has certain guiding significance for the development of new temperature sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Physical properties of liquid crystals such as dielectric anisotropy, viscosity coefficient and birefringence are analyzed. • Different substituents of fluorinated polyphenyl liquid crystal compounds have different effects on the above properties. • The physical properties are quantitatively analyzed by combining experimental measurement with density functional theory. In order to explore the influence of molecular structure on the properties of liquid crystal (LC) materials, the dielectric anisotropy, rotational viscosity coefficient and birefringence of different fluorine-containing polyphenyl LC compounds are measured experimentally. The effects of lateral substituents and terminal substituents are analyzed. The experimental results show that the substitution of fluorine substituents in lateral substituents or terminal substituents will lead to the decrease of rotational viscosity coefficient, whether it is fluorine-containing triphenyl LC compounds or fluorine-containing tetraphenyl LC compounds. The dielectric anisotropies of LC compounds (fluorine-containing tetraphenyl LC compounds ND-3 and ND-8, ND-4 and ND-9, and ND-1 and ND-10) in which the terminal isothiocyano substituents are substituted by fluorine substituents all show a downward trend, with the decreasing degrees of 41.3%, 20.7% and 19.2% respectively. In addition to the influence of the replacement of fluorine and isothiocyanato on the terminal substituents, the dielectric anisotropy is affected by different lateral substituents from large to small: fluorine, methyl, and ethyl. The lateral fluorine substitution impact of ND-3, with an increase of 9.4%, is the best among fluorine-containing tetraphenyl LC compounds when compared to the lateral ethyl substitution of ND-2. Besides, compared with -F, -NCS can effectively extend the π-electron conjugation length of the molecule and improve the birefringence of the LC. This research is of great help to improve the comprehensive properties of LC materials and provides data accumulation for the development and application of LC compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to accurately determine the pre-tilt angle, we proposed a systematic method by combining optical and electrical measurement. First, the pre-tilt angles of the parallel and vertical aligned nematic liquid crystal (LC) cell with a large thickness (>10 μm) were measured by the crystal rotation method. Then, the material parameters of E7, including the dielectric constant and the splay and bend elastic constant, were obtained by using the dual-cell capacitance model and comparing the capacitance-voltage (C-U) curves of the thick cells. Finally, the pre-tilt angles of two thin LC cells to be tested were determined by theoretical and experimental fitting of their normalised C-U curve, which are 1.80°±0.04° and 3.50°±0.02°, respectively. Our method not only has relatively high accuracy, but also is not limited by the thickness and mode of LC cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotational viscosity coefficient is an important material parameter affecting the dynamic response of liquid crystals. We evaluated the dynamic response of two series of mixed liquid crystals SCL17V33L00 and SCL17V28L00 with negative dielectric anisotropy on the basis of the accurate measurement of rotational viscosity. At the temperature of 25°C, 30°C and 35°C, the parallel and vertical dielectric constants of them were calculated from the dual-cell capacitance model and liquid crystal cell capacitance model. Then, the bend and splay elastic constants of them were determined by analysing the Fréedericksz transition threshold voltage in the vertically aligned nematic cell and comparing the liquid crystal layer capacitance–voltage curve through the finite-differential iteration method with experimental curve. At last, the rotational viscosity coefficients γ1 of them were obtained by performing dynamic response simulation using Visual Fortran software. As the temperature increases, the rotational viscosity coefficient of them decreases. Although the rotational viscosity coefficient of the second mixed liquid crystal was relatively large under the same temperature, the viscoelastic ratio coefficient was small, and the figure-of-merit was large, thereby resulting in a relatively fast dynamic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic response property of liquid crystal (LC) devices mainly depends on the selection of LC materials and driving method of the devices. In this work, we explored the modulation of the dynamic response property of LC mixtures through the microscopic mechanism and macroscopic method of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticle doping and driving mode adjustment, respectively. LC mixtures doped with different concentrations of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles retained the dielectric and elastic properties of the LC state and good temperature stability. In addition, doped LC mixtures had lower threshold voltage, higher birefringence, and faster rise and decay times than pure LC materials. Besides, the application of voltage overdriving and undershooting methods could reduce the rise and decay times of LC mixtures by 74.8% and 21.7%, respectively. Moreover, the combined methods of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticle doping and voltage overdriving and undershooting decreased the total response time of LC mixtures by 71.5%, and the response speed of doped LC mixtures increased by 3-fold relative to that of the pure LC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric and elastic properties of liquid crystals (LCs) generally depend on the molecule structure, such as polar group and carbon chain length. For further investigation of the influence of molecular structure on the dielectric and elastic properties of fluorine-containing tricyclic isothiocyanate LC, the experimental temperature was controlled at 25°C by precision hot stage, and a precision LCR meter was used to measure the capacitance of six LC cells under the voltage from 0.1 to 20 V at 1 kHz. An LC cell capacitance model and a dual-cell model were adopted to obtain the dielectric anisotropy, and the capacitance–voltage curves of six LC materials were plotted. The threshold voltage of Fréedericksz transition was analysed, and a finite difference iterative method was used to attain specific values of three elastic constants. The influence of molecular structure on the dielectric and elastic constants was finally analysed. Experimental results showed that the introduction of meta-difluoro group would increase the dielectric anisotropy and reduce the threshold voltage of LC. As the length of the alkyl carbon chain increased, the dielectric anisotropy would have an odd–even alternation effect, which would lead to changes in the elastic constants of LC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the twist elastic constant (k22) of liquid crystals (LCs) was accurately measured using capacitance method. The constant can be obtained on the basis of accurate measurement of other LC parameters, such as parallel and vertical dielectric constants (ε// and ε⊥), splay and bend elastic constants (k11 and k33), and rotational viscosity coefficient (γ1). First, by using dual-cell capacitance method and an LC cell capacitance model to measure ε// and ε⊥, k11 and k33 can be obtained from the threshold voltage determined from the voltage-capacitance curve of the parallel-aligned nematic LC layer and the comparison between the experimental and theoretical results based on the Frank elastic theory, respectively. In addition, γ1 can be obtained from the measurement of the dynamic response in the parallel-aligned nematic cell. Finally, k22 can be accurately determined using the threshold voltage of the twisted nematic LC cell. By adopting the above method, the measured k22 for LC E7 was 6.7 × 10−12 N. The proposed method is more rigorous and yields a more accurate measurement result than the other methods reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image sticking in thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) is related to the dielectric property of liquid crystal (LC) material. Low threshold value TFT LC materials have a weak stability and the free ions in them will be increased because of their own decomposition. In this study, the property of TFT LC material MAT-09-1284 doped with γ -Fe2O3 nanoparticles was investigated. The capacitances of parallel-aligned nematic LC cells and vertically aligned nematic LC cells with different doping concentrations were measured at different temperatures and frequencies. The dielectric constants perpendicular and parallel to long axis of the LC molecules ε⊥ and ε//, as well as the dielectric anisotropy Δε, were obtained. The dynamic responses and the direct current threshold voltages in parallel-aligned nematic LC cells for different doping concentrations were also measured. Although the dielectric anisotropy Δε decreased gradually with increasing temperature and frequency at the certain frequency and temperature in LC state for each concentration, the doping concentration of γ -Fe2O3 nanoparticles less than or equal to 0.145 wt % should be selected for maintaining dynamic response and decreasing free ions. This study has some guiding significance for improving the image sticking in TFT-LCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• For the first time, we have produced flexible 1D and 2D PDLC gratings using liquid crystals and polymers. • The transmittance and rise and decay time of flexible PDLC gratings don't change with the radius of curvature. • Flexible 1D and 2D PDLC gratings have the advantage of fast response and low driving voltage. Liquid crystal (LC) materials have dielectric and optical anisotropy and are candidates for the preparation of electrically controlled tunable diffraction gratings. Flexible LC gratings have the advantages of high flexibility, light weight, small size, and attachability. At present, the electronically controllable flexible LC grating needs to be further studied. In this paper, polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is poured into the flexible cell made of ITO-PET, and 1D and 2D flexible PDLC gratings are prepared by the method of polymer-induced phase separation. It can realize the modulation of the grating diffraction order through an external electric field under different curvature radii, and it also has the characteristics of the low driving voltage, low saturation voltage, and fast response. The driving voltage and saturation voltage of the 1D flexible PDLC grating are 0.8 V and 12 V, the cell thickness is 5.2 μm, and the rise and decay times are 3.225 ms and 98.29 ms, respectively, the first-order diffraction efficiency at the center is 9.1%. For the 2D flexible PDLC grating, the driving voltage and saturation voltage are 2.5 V and 16.5 V, the cell thickness is 5.2 μm, the rise and decay times are 3.362 ms and 75.46 ms, respectively, the first-order diffraction efficiency at the center is 7.58%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving image sticking in liquid crystal display (LCD) has attracted tremendous interest because of its potential to enhance the quality of the display image. Here, we proposed a method to evaluate the residual direct current (DC) voltage by varying liquid crystal (LC) cell capacitance under the combined action of alternating current (AC) and DC signals. This method was then used to study the improvement of image sticking by doping γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles into LC materials and adjusting the friction torque difference of the upper and lower substrates. Detailed analysis and comparison of residual characteristics for LC materials with different doping concentrations revealed that the LC material, added with 0.02 wt% γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, can absorb the majority of free ions stably, thereby reducing the residual DC voltage and extending the time to reach the saturated state. The physical properties of the LC materials were enhanced by the addition of a small amount of nanoparticles and the response time of doping 0.02 wt% γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles was about 10% faster than that of pure LC. Furthermore, the lower absolute value of the friction torque difference between the upper and lower substrates contributed to the reduction of the residual DC voltage induced by ion adsorption in the LC cell under the same conditions. To promote the image quality of different display frames in the switching process, we added small amounts of the nanoparticles to the LC materials and controlled friction technology accurately to ensure the same torque. Both approaches were proven to be highly feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]