Aqueous electrolyte-gated solution-processed metal oxide transistors for direct cellular interfaces.

Solution-processed metal oxide dielectrics often result in unstable thin-film transistor (TFT) performance, hindering the development of next-generation metal oxide electronics. In this study, we prepared fluorine (F)-doped zirconium oxide (ZrO2) dielectric layers using a chemical solution method to construct TFTs. The characterization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that appropriate fluoride doping significantly reduces oxygen vacancies and the concentration of hydroxyl groups, thereby suppressing polarization processes. Subsequently, the electrical properties of Al/F:ZrO2/n++Si capacitors were evaluated, demonstrating that the optimized 10% F:ZrO2 dielectric exhibits a low leakage current density and stable capacitance across a wide frequency range. Indium zinc oxide (IZO) TFTs incorporating 10% F:ZrO2 dielectric layers were then fabricated. These devices displayed reliable electrical characteristics, including high mobility over a broad frequency range, reduced dual-sweep hysteresis, and excellent stability under positive-bias stress (PBS) after three months of aging. These findings indicate that the use of the fluorine-doped ZrO2 dielectric is a versatile strategy for achieving high-performance metal oxide thin-film electronics.

We propose the introduction of a magnesium oxide (MgOx) layer to reduce the temperature required for the activation of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin films. By incorporating the MgOx layer between the IGZO channel layer and the gate insulator layer, the required activation temperature is lowered from 300 to 200 °C while enhancing the electrical performance of the IGZO thin-film transistor (TFT). Specifically, the field effect mobility is improved from 6.40 to 16.12 cm2/(V s), the on/off current ratio is enhanced from 1.62 × 109 to 7.16 × 109, and subthreshold swing is enhanced from 0.48 to 0.46 V/decade. Furthermore, IGZO TFTs with the MgOx layer exhibit enhancements in threshold voltage (VTH) shift compared to TFTs without the MgOx layer under positive bias stress (VGS = 20 V and VDS = 0.1 V for 10,000 s) and negative bias stress (VGS = -20 V and VDS = 0.1 V for 10,000 s): the VTH shifts are decreased from 2.40 to 1.72 V and from 0.56 to 0.53 V, respectively. These enhancements are verified through various analyses and are attributed to the diffusion of Mg atoms into the IGZO front channel during the low-temperature activation process, which results in the formation of Mg-doped IGZO between the MgOx and IGZO channel layers.

Solution-processed amorphous metal oxide semiconductors (AOSs) are promising candidates for printed electronics. However, process durability and bias stress instability issues still hinder their practical applications. Here, a poly(methyl methacrylate)/parylene/AlOx hybrid passivation approach was developed for AOS thin-film transistors (TFTs) to overcome these challenges. Notably, AlOx was successfully formed without degrading the AOS TFTs owing to the polymer buffer layers. The hybrid passivation approach ensured the satisfactory stabilization of the TFTs under bias stress owing to the high isolation effect, which could prevent the penetration of environmental molecules. This passivation method can facilitate the application of solution-processed AOSs in integrated circuits.

Bone Marrow–Derived Hepatic Oval Cells Differentiate Into Hepatocytes in 2-Acetylaminofluorene/Partial Hepatectomy–Induced Liver Regeneration

Enterohepatic transport of bile salts and genetics of cholestasis

Progress of solution-processed metal oxides as charge transport layers towards efficient and stable perovskite solar cells and modules

Large-scale multiparameter screening has become increasingly feasible and straightforward to perform thanks to developments in technologies such as high-content microscopy and high-throughput flow cytometry. The automated toolkits for analyzing similarities and differences between large numbers of tested conditions have not kept pace with these technological developments. Thus, effective analysis of multiparameter screening datasets becomes a bottleneck and a limiting factor in unbiased interpretation of results. Here we introduce compaRe, a toolkit for large-scale multiparameter data analysis, which integrates quality control, data bias correction, and data visualization methods with a mass-aware gridding algorithm-based similarity analysis providing a much faster and more robust analyses than existing methods. Using mass and flow cytometry data from acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome patients, we show that compaRe can reveal interpatient heterogeneity and recognizable phenotypic profiles. By applying compaRe to high-throughput flow cytometry drug response data in AML models, we robustly identified multiple types of both deep and subtle phenotypic response patterns, highlighting how this analysis could be used for therapeutic discoveries. In conclusion, compaRe is a toolkit that uniquely allows for automated, rapid, and precise comparisons of large-scale multiparameter datasets, including high-throughput screens.

Memory devices with a high speed and low energy are highly desired for next-generation nanoelectronics. Here, using the switchable polarization in magnesium-substituted zinc oxide, a simple metal oxide with a polar wurtzite structure, the tunability of the Schottky barrier formed at the ferroelectric–metal interfaces is demonstrated. Through comprehensive analyses involving microstructural study and scanning probe microscopy, our work establishes the effect of magnesium doping, leading to the emergence of ferroelectricity and switchable polarization, in solution-processed zinc oxide films on glass substrates, demonstrated through both spectroscopic probing of piezoresponse and global poling techniques. Concomitantly, with magnesium doping, the electromechanical performance of the films is enhanced by ∼180%. Furthermore, doped films exhibit bias-dependent asymmetric resistive switching behavior attributed to the polarity-modulated back-to-back Schottky diode configuration leading to off/on resistance ratios of approximately 100. Our research findings unveil switchable polarization and a polarity-controlled Schottky barrier, and thus, modulation of electronic transport in solution-processed simple metal oxide films with a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure thereby raises the translation prospects of ferroelectric electronic devices for information storage and memristive applications.

High dielectric constant (high-k) materials have been extensively investigated for low-voltage operating electronics. In recent years, solution-processed high-k dielectrics have been of technological interests in low fabrication cost, large area process and good film quality, compared to the vacuum-process technology. In this paper, we demonstrate solution-processed aluminum oxide (Al2O3) dielectrics for high performance solution-processed indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) operating at low voltage. The material and electrical properties of Al2O3 dielectrics fabricated at different post-annealing temperatures were analyzed by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and capacitance-voltage measurements. We also investigate the effect of crystalline Al2O3 dielectrics on the device performance of solution-processed IGZO TFTs. It is concluded that improved interfacial characteristics of crystalline Al2O3 dielectrics enhance the device performance of solution-processed IGZO TFTs operating at 3 V.

Fluorescent probes with multimodal and multilevel imaging capabilities are highly valuable as imaging with such probes not only can obtain new layers of information but also enable cross-validation of results under different experimental conditions. In recent years, the development of genetically encoded reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent proteins (RSFPs) has greatly promoted the application of various kinds of live-cell nanoscopy approaches, including reversible saturable optical fluorescence transitions (RESOLFT) and stochastic optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). However, these two classes of live-cell nanoscopy approaches require different optical characteristics of specific RSFPs. In this work, we developed GMars-T, a monomeric bright green RSFP which can satisfy both RESOLFT and photochromic SOFI (pcSOFI) imaging in live cells. We further generated biosensor based on bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) of GMars-T which offers high specificity and sensitivity in detecting and visualizing various protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in different subcellular compartments under physiological conditions (e.g., 37 °C) in live mammalian cells. Thus, the newly developed GMars-T can serve as both structural imaging probe with multimodal super-resolution imaging capability and functional imaging probe for reporting PPIs with high specificity and sensitivity based on its derived biosensor.

A new vibrational imaging method based on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) has been used for high-speed, selective imaging of neutral lipid droplets (LDs) in unstained live fibroblast cells. LDs have a high density of C-H bonds and show a high contrast in laser-scanning CARS images taken at 2,845 cm-1, the frequency for aliphatic C-H vibrations. The contrast from LDs was confirmed by comparing CARS and Oil Red O (ORO)-stained fluorescence images. The fluorescent labeling processes were examined with CARS microscopy. It was found that ORO staining of fixed cells caused aggregation of LDs, whereas fixing with formaldehyde or staining with Nile Red did not affect LDs. CARS microscopy was also used to monitor the 3T3-L1 cell differentiation process, revealing that there was an obvious clearance of LDs at the early stage of differentiation. After that, the cells started to differentiate and reaccumulate LDs in the cytoplasm in a largely unsynchronized manner. Differentiated cells formed small colonies surrounded by undifferentiated cells that were devoid of LDs. These observations demonstrate that CARS microscopy can follow dynamic changes in live cells with chemical selectivity and noninvasiveness. CARS microscopy, in tandem with other techniques, provides exciting possibilities for studying LD dynamics under physiological conditions without perturbation of cell functions.

This study reports on the fabrication and characterization of thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on indium–gallium–zinc–oxide (IGZO) with various source- and drain-region metals (Pt, W and Ti). The performance of the IGZO transistors is compared to TFTs based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) with Pt source- and drain-regions. From the output characteristics maximum saturation mobilities of µ = 0.45 cm2/Vs for a-Si:H, and µ = 24 to 50 cm2/Vs for IGZO TFTs are extracted, which are competitive to high-performance thin-film transistors. The study reveals a general influence of the source- and drain-electrode material on the maximum saturation mobility and inverse sub-threshold slope.Graphical abstract

We fabricated gallium-indium-zinc oxide (GIZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) having a double-gated (DG) structure and studied the back gate effect on device performance. DG GIZO TFTs showed better threshold voltage (Vth), swing factor (S), and on/off current than those with a single gate. With the variation in back gate bias, the device performance significantly changes due to the modification of field distribution near the GIZO channel. It is believed that our DG structure is an effective way to improve the performance of GIZO oxide transistors and suppress the formation of an accumulation layer at the back surface.

Strontium doping effects on the characteristics of solution-processed aluminum oxide dielectric layer and its application to low-voltage-operated indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors

Due to extraordinary physical and electrical properties, carbon nanotubes have become one of the most promising technologies that might someday pick up where conventional CMOS devices leave off. This paper details analysis of power and delay performance of carbon nanotube field effect transistor- based universal logic gates (NAND and NOR gates). Though electrolyte-gated carbon nanotube field effect transistor have exhibited the highest performance than top-gated and back-gated carbon nanotube field effect transistor, the work demonstrates that energy delay product and switching time performance of 30nm channel length top-gated carbon nanotube field effect transistor - based NAND gate is much better than 20nm channel length electrolyte-gated carbon nanotube field effect transistor technology. As the performance of p type carbon nanotube field effect transistor is better than n type carbon nanotube field effect transistor, 30nm channel length top-gated carbon nanotube field effect transistor-based NOR gate is 4% faster than corresponding NAND gate and its energy delay product is 46% lesser than that of NAND gate.