In Vivo Detection and Absolute Quantification of a Secreted Bacterial Factor from Skin Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers in a Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor for Improved Diagnostic Abilities.

In this study, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor was developed for the detection and quantification of a secreted bacterial factor (RoxP) from skin. A molecular imprinting method was used for the preparation of sensor chips and five different monomer-cross-linker compositions were evaluated for sensitivity, selectivity, affinity, and kinetic measurements. The most promising molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Limit of detection (LOD) value was calculated as 0.23 nM with an affinity constant of 3.3 × 10-9 M for the promising MIP. Besides being highly sensitive, the developed system was also very selective for the template protein RoxP, proven by the calculated selectivity coefficients. Finally, absolute concentrations of RoxP in several skin swabs were analyzed by using the developed MIP-SPR biosensor and compared to a competitive ELISA. Consequently, the developed system offers a very efficient tool for the detection and quantification of RoxP as an early indicator for some oxidative skin diseases especially when they are present in low-abundance levels (e.g., skin samples).

Self-cleaning and surface chemical reactions during hafnium dioxide atomic layer deposition on indium arsenide.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) enables the ultrathin high-quality oxide layers that are central to all modern metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits. Crucial to achieving superior device performance are the chemical reactions during the first deposition cycle, which could ultimately result in atomic-scale perfection of the semiconductor-oxide interface. Here, we directly observe the chemical reactions at the surface during the first cycle of hafnium dioxide deposition on indium arsenide under realistic synthesis conditions using photoelectron spectroscopy. We find that the widely used ligand exchange model of the ALD process for the removal of native oxide on the semiconductor and the simultaneous formation of the first hafnium dioxide layer must be significantly revised. Our study provides substantial evidence that the efficiency of the self-cleaning process and the quality of the resulting semiconductor-oxide interface can be controlled by the molecular adsorption process of the ALD precursors, rather than the subsequent oxide formation.

Low Trap Density in InAs/High-k Nanowire Gate Stacks with Optimized Growth and Doping Conditions.

In this paper, we correlate the growth of InAs nanowires with the detailed interface trap density (Dit) profile of the vertical wrap-gated InAs/high-k nanowire semiconductor-dielectric gate stack. We also perform the first detailed characterization and optimization of the influence of the in situ doping supplied during the nanowire epitaxial growth on the sequential transistor gate stack quality. Results show that the intrinsic nanowire channels have a significant reduction in Dit as compared to planar references. It is also found that introducing tetraethyltin (TESn) doping during nanowire growth severely degrades the Dit profile. By adopting a high temperature, low V/III ratio tailored growth scheme, the influence of doping is minimized. Finally, characterization using a unique frequency behavior of the nanowire capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics reveals a change of the dopant incorporation mechanism as the growth condition is changed.

Structural Properties of wurtzite InP-InGaAs nanowire core-shell heterostructures.

We report on growth and characterization of wurtzite InP-In(1-x)Ga(x)As core-shell nanowire heterostructures. A range of nanowire structures with different Ga concentration in the shell was characterized with transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. We found that the main part of the nanowires has a pure wurtzite crystal structure, with occasional stacking faults occurring only at the top and bottom. This allowed us to determine the structural properties of wurtzite In(1-x)Ga(x)As. The InP-In(1-x)Ga(x)As core-shell nanowires show a triangular and hexagonal facet structure of {1100} and {101̅0} planes. X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the core and the shell are pseudomorphic along the c-axis, and the strained axial lattice constant is closer to the relaxed In(1-x)Ga(x)As shell. Microphotoluminescence measurements of the nanowires show emission in the infrared regime, which makes them suitable for applications in optical communication.