Design of LTE/Sub-6 GHz Dual-Band Transparent Antenna Using Frame-Structured Metal Mesh Conductive Film.

This paper proposes a dual-band transparent antenna using frame-structured metal mesh conductive film (MMCF). The frame-structured metal mesh conductive film is based on the conductive-coated thin film and forms a narrow strip surrounding the edge of the antenna. The frame-structured metal mesh conductive film can resist considerable current leakage on the edge of the conductive strip to improve the antenna's efficiency by 51% at 2.1 GHz and 53% at 3.6 GHz. As a result, the transparent dual-band antenna has an operating bandwidth of 1.9-2.4 GHz and 3.2-4.1 GHz with a high transparency of 80%, which make it valuable to the applications of biomedical electronic components, wearable devices, and automobile vehicles.

Implementing a Hand Gesture Recognition System Based on Range-Doppler Map.

There have been several studies of hand gesture recognition for human-machine interfaces. In the early work, most solutions were vision-based and usually had privacy problems that make them unusable in some scenarios. To address the privacy issues, more and more research on non-vision-based hand gesture recognition techniques has been proposed. This paper proposes a dynamic hand gesture system based on 60 GHz FMCW radar that can be used for contactless device control. In this paper, we receive the radar signals of hand gestures and transform them into human-understandable domains such as range, velocity, and angle. With these signatures, we can customize our system to different scenarios. We proposed an end-to-end training deep learning model (neural network and long short-term memory), that extracts the transformed radar signals into features and classifies the extracted features into hand gesture labels. In our training data collecting effort, a camera is used only to support labeling hand gesture data. The accuracy of our model can reach 98%.

Genomic diversifications of five Gossypium allopolyploid species and their impact on cotton improvement.

Polyploidy is an evolutionary innovation for many animals and all flowering plants, but its impact on selection and domestication remains elusive. Here we analyze genome evolution and diversification for all five allopolyploid cotton species, including economically important Upland and Pima cottons. Although these polyploid genomes are conserved in gene content and synteny, they have diversified by subgenomic transposon exchanges that equilibrate genome size, evolutionary rate heterogeneities and positive selection between homoeologs within and among lineages. These differential evolutionary trajectories are accompanied by gene-family diversification and homoeolog expression divergence among polyploid lineages. Selection and domestication drive parallel gene expression similarities in fibers of two cultivated cottons, involving coexpression networks and N6-methyladenosine RNA modifications. Furthermore, polyploidy induces recombination suppression, which correlates with altered epigenetic landscapes and can be overcome by wild introgression. These genomic insights will empower efforts to manipulate genetic recombination and modify epigenetic landscapes and target genes for crop improvement.

Germanium-doped Metallic Ohmic Contacts in Black Phosphorus Field-Effect Transistors with Ultra-low Contact Resistance.

In this work, we demonstrate for the first time an ultra-low contact resistance few-layered black phosphorus (BP) transistor with metallic PGex contacts formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The on-state current of the transistor can be significantly improved and the ION/IOFF ratio increases by almost 2 order. The hole mobility is enhanced by 25 times to 227 cm2V-1s-1. The contact resistance extracted by the transfer length method is 0.365 kΩ∙µm, which is the lowest value in black phosphorus transistors without degradation of ION/IOFF ratio. In addition, the I-V curve of the transistor with PGex contact is linear compared to that with Ti contact at 80 K, indicating that a metallic ohmic contact is successfully formed. Finally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to characterize the PGex compound. A signal of P-Ge bond is first observed, further verifying the doping of Ge into BP and the formation of the PGex alloy.

How Important Is the Metal-Semiconductor Contact for Schottky Barrier Transistors: A Case Study on Few-Layer Black Phosphorus?

Black phosphorus (BP) is a recently rediscovered layered two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor with a direct band gap (0.35-2 eV), high hole mobility (300-5000 cm2/Vs), and transport anisotropy. In this paper, we systematically investigated the effects of metal-semiconductor interface/contacts on the performance of BP Schottky barrier transistors. First, a "clean" metal-BP contact is formed with boron nitride (BN) passivation. It is found that the contact resistance of the clean metal-BP contact is seven times less than the previously reported values. As a result, high-performance top-gate BP transistors show a record high ON-state drain current (I on) of 940 µA/µm. Second, BN tunneling barriers are formed at the source/drain contacts to help understand the abnormally high OFF-state drain current (I off) in devices with clean metal-BP contacts. This high I off is attributed to the electron tunneling current from the drain to the channel. Finally, the I on/I off of BP field-effect transistors can be significantly improved by using an asymmetric contact structure. By inserting a thin BN tunneling barrier at the drain side, I off is reduced by a factor of ∼120 with a cost of 20% reduction in I on. This case study of contacts on BP reveals the importance of understanding the metal-semiconductor contacts for 2D Schottky barrier transistors in general.

Oncogenic roles of carbonic anhydrase 8 in human osteosarcoma cells.

Carbonic anhydrase 8 (CA8), a member of the carbonic anhydrase family, is one of the three isozymes that do not catalyze the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide due to the lack of one important histidine. In the present study, we observed increased expression of CA8 in more aggressive types of human osteosarcoma (OS) cells and found that CA8 expression is correlated with disease stages, such that more intense expression occurs in the disease late stage. We also demonstrated that overexpression of CA8 in human OS (HOS) cells significantly increased cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Downregulated CA8 sensitized cells to apoptotic stress induced by staurosporine and cisplatin, suggesting a specific role of CA8 to protect cells from stresses. In addition, downregulation of CA8 in HOS cells reduced cell invasion and colony formation ability in soft agar and further decreased matrix metalloproteinase 9 and focal adhesion kinase expression, indicating that CA8 might facilitate cancer cell invasion via the activation of FAK-MMP9 signaling. Interestingly, HOS cells with CA8 knockdown showed a significant decrease in glycolytic activity and cell death under glucose withdrawal, further indicating that CA8 may be involved in regulating aerobic glycolysis and enhancing cell viability. Knockdown of CA8 significantly decreased phosphorylated Akt expression suggesting that the oncogenic role of CA8 may be mediated by the regulation of Akt activation through p-Akt induction. Importantly, the inhibition of glycolysis by 2-deoxyglucose sensitized CA8 HOS-CA8-myc cells to cisplatin treatment under low glucose condition, highlighting a new therapeutic option for OS cancer.

Epitaxial graphene nanoribbon array fabrication using BCP-assisted nanolithography.

A process for fabricating dense graphene nanoribbon arrays using self-assembled patterns of block copolymers on graphene grown epitaxially on SiC on the wafer scale has been developed. Etching masks comprising long and straight nanoribbon array structures with linewidths as narrow as 10 nm were fabricated, and the patterns were transferred to graphene. Our process combines both top-down and self-assembly steps to fabricate long graphene nanoribbon arrays with low defect counts. These are the narrowest nanoribbon arrays of epitaxial graphene on SiC fabricated to date.

State-of-the-art graphene high-frequency electronics.

High-performance graphene transistors for radio frequency applications have received much attention and significant progress has been achieved. However, devices based on large-area synthetic graphene, which have direct technological relevance, are still typically outperformed by those based on mechanically exfoliated graphene. Here, we report devices with intrinsic cutoff frequency above 300 GHz, based on both wafer-scale CVD grown graphene and epitaxial graphene on SiC, thus surpassing previous records on any graphene material. We also demonstrate devices with optimized architecture exhibiting voltage and power gains reaching 20 dB and a wafer-scale integrated graphene amplifier circuit with voltage amplification.

Three-terminal graphene negative differential resistance devices.

A new mechanism for negative differential resistance (NDR) is discovered in three-terminal graphene devices based on a field-effect transistor configuration. This NDR effect is a universal phenomenon for graphene and is demonstrated in devices fabricated with different types of graphene materials and gate dielectrics. Operation of conventional NDR devices is usually based on quantum tunneling or intervalley carrier transfer, whereas the NDR behavior observed here is unique to the ambipolar behavior of zero-bandgap graphene and is associated with the competition between electron and hole conduction as the drain bias increases. These three terminal graphene NDR devices offer more operation flexibility than conventional two-terminal devices based on tunnel diodes, Gunn diodes, or molecular devices, and open up new opportunities for graphene in microwave to terahertz applications.

Quantum behavior of graphene transistors near the scaling limit.

The superior intrinsic properties of graphene have been a key research focus for the past few years. However, external components, such as metallic contacts, serve not only as essential probing elements, but also give rise to an effective electron cavity, which can form the basis for new quantum devices. In previous studies, quantum interference effects were demonstrated in graphene heterojunctions formed by a top gate. Here phase coherent transport behavior is demonstrated in a simple two terminal graphene structure with clearly resolved Fabry-Perot oscillations in sub-100 nm devices. By aggressively scaling the channel length down to 50 nm, we study the evolution of the graphene transistor from the channel-dominated diffusive regime to the contact-dominated ballistic regime. Key issues such as the current asymmetry, the question of Fermi level pinning by the contacts, the graphene screening determining the heterojunction barrier width, the scaling of minimum conductivity, and of the on/off current ratio are investigated.

Outer membrane lipoprotein Lpp is Gram-negative bacterial cell surface receptor for cationic antimicrobial peptides.

Antimicrobial peptides/proteins (AMPs) are important components of the host innate defense mechanisms. Here we demonstrate that the outer membrane lipoprotein, Lpp, of Enterobacteriaceae interacts with and promotes susceptibility to the bactericidal activities of AMPs. The oligomeric Lpp was specifically recognized by several cationic α-helical AMPs, including SMAP-29, CAP-18, and LL-37; AMP-mediated bactericidal activities were blocked by anti-Lpp antibody blocking. Blebbing of the outer membrane and increase in membrane permeability occurred in association with the coordinate internalization of Lpp and AMP. Interestingly, the specific binding of AMP to Lpp was resistant to divalent cations and salts, which were able to inhibit the bactericidal activities of some AMPs. Furthermore, using His-tagged Lpp as a ligand, we retrieved several characterized AMPs, including SMAP-29 and hRNase 7, from a peptide library containing crude mammalian cell lysates. Overall, this study explores a new mechanism and target of antimicrobial activity and provides a novel method for screening of antimicrobials for use against drug-resistant bacteria.

Cytosine-phosphate-guanine oligodeoxynucleotides containing GACGTT motifs enhance the immune responses elicited by keyhole limpet hemocyanin antigen in dairy cattle.

Adjuvants are important components of vaccine formulations. Effective adjuvants line innate and adaptive immunity by signaling through pathogen recognition receptors. Synthetic cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) have been shown to have potentials as adjuvants for vaccines. However, the immunostimulatory effect of CpG is species-specific and depends on the sequence of CpG motifs. A CpG ODN (2135), containing 3 identical copies of GTCGTT motif, was previously reported to have the strongest effects on bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Based on the sequence of 2135, we replaced the GTCGTT motif with 11 other sequences containing CG and investigated their effects on bovine lymphocyte proliferation. Results showed that the CpG ODNs containing 3 copies of GACGTT motif had the highest lymphocyte stimulation index (7.91±1.18), which was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of 2135 (4.25±0.56). The CpG ODNs containing 3 copies of GACGTT motif also significantly increased the mRNA expression of interferon (IFN)-α, interleukin (IL)-12, and IL-21 in bovine PBMC. When dairy cows were immunized with the keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) antigen formulated with CpG ODNs containing 3 copies of GACGTT, production of KLH-specific antibodies in serum and in milk whey was significantly (P<0.05) enhanced. IFN-γ in whole blood stimulated by KLH was also significantly (P<0.05) increased in cows immunized with KLH plus CpG ODNs. Our results indicate that CpG ODNs containing 3 copies of the GACGTT motifs is a potential adjuvant for bovine vaccines.

Wafer-scale graphene integrated circuit.

A wafer-scale graphene circuit was demonstrated in which all circuit components, including graphene field-effect transistor and inductors, were monolithically integrated on a single silicon carbide wafer. The integrated circuit operates as a broadband radio-frequency mixer at frequencies up to 10 gigahertz. These graphene circuits exhibit outstanding thermal stability with little reduction in performance (less than 1 decibel) between 300 and 400 kelvin. These results open up possibilities of achieving practical graphene technology with more complex functionality and performance.

High-frequency, scaled graphene transistors on diamond-like carbon.

Owing to its high carrier mobility and saturation velocity, graphene has attracted enormous attention in recent years. In particular, high-performance graphene transistors for radio-frequency (r.f.) applications are of great interest. Synthesis of large-scale graphene sheets of high quality and at low cost has been demonstrated using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) methods. However, very few studies have been performed on the scaling behaviour of transistors made from CVD graphene for r.f. applications, which hold great potential for commercialization. Here we report the systematic study of top-gated CVD-graphene r.f. transistors with gate lengths scaled down to 40 nm, the shortest gate length demonstrated on graphene r.f. devices. The CVD graphene was grown on copper film and transferred to a wafer of diamond-like carbon. Cut-off frequencies as high as 155 GHz have been obtained for the 40-nm transistors, and the cut-off frequency was found to scale as 1/(gate length). Furthermore, we studied graphene r.f. transistors at cryogenic temperatures. Unlike conventional semiconductor devices where low-temperature performance is hampered by carrier freeze-out effects, the r.f. performance of our graphene devices exhibits little temperature dependence down to 4.3 K, providing a much larger operation window than is available for conventional devices.

The origins and limits of metal-graphene junction resistance.

A high-quality junction between graphene and metallic contacts is crucial in the creation of high-performance graphene transistors. In an ideal metal-graphene junction, the contact resistance is determined solely by the number of conduction modes in graphene. However, as yet, measurements of contact resistance have been inconsistent, and the factors that determine the contact resistance remain unclear. Here, we report that the contact resistance in a palladium-graphene junction exhibits an anomalous temperature dependence, dropping significantly as temperature decreases to a value of just 110 ± 20 Ω µm at 6 K, which is two to three times the minimum achievable resistance. Using a combination of experiment and theory we show that this behaviour results from carrier transport in graphene under the palladium contact. At low temperature, the carrier mean free path exceeds the palladium-graphene coupling length, leading to nearly ballistic transport with a transfer efficiency of ~75%. As the temperature increases, this carrier transport becomes less ballistic, resulting in a considerable reduction in efficiency.

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides containing GACGTT motifs enhance the immune responses elicited by a goose parvovirus vaccine in ducks.

Recombinant parvovirus VP2 (rVP2) was formulated with different types of adjuvant, including aluminum adjuvant and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), and the immunological responses after vaccination in ducks were examined. In comparison with the control group, production of rVP2-specific antibodies, expression of cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated by rVP2, and percentage of CD4(+)/CD8(+) cells in PBMC were significantly increased in ducks immunized with rVP2 formulated with CpG ODNs containing 3 copies of GACGTT motif. CpG ODNs with GACGTT motifs might be used to improve the efficacy of vaccines for ducks.

Controllable p-n junction formation in monolayer graphene using electrostatic substrate engineering.

We investigate electric transport in graphene on SiO2 in the high field limit and report on the formation of p-n junctions. Previously, doping of graphene has been achieved by using multiple electrostatic gates, or charge transfer from adsorbants. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to create p-n junctions by changing the local electrostatic potential in the vicinity of one of the contacts without the use of extra gates. The approach is based on the electronic modification not of the graphene but of the substrate and produces a well-behaved, sharp junction whose position and height can be controlled.

External bias dependent direct to indirect band gap transition in graphene nanoribbon.

In this work, using self-consistent tight-binding calculations, for the first time, we show that a direct to indirect band gap transition is possible in an armchair graphene nanoribbon by the application of an external bias along the width of the ribbon, opening up the possibility of new device applications. With the help of the Dirac equation, we qualitatively explain this band gap transition using the asymmetry in the spatial distribution of the perturbation potential produced inside the nanoribbon by the external bias. This is followed by the verification of the band gap trends with a numerical technique using Magnus expansion of matrix exponentials. Finally, we show that the carrier effective masses possess tunable sharp characters in the vicinity of the band gap transition points.

Graphene field-effect transistors with high on/off current ratio and large transport band gap at room temperature.

Graphene is considered to be a promising candidate for future nanoelectronics due to its exceptional electronic properties. Unfortunately, the graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) cannot be turned off effectively due to the absence of a band gap, leading to an on/off current ratio typically around 5 in top-gated graphene FETs. On the other hand, theoretical investigations and optical measurements suggest that a band gap up to a few hundred millielectronvolts can be created by the perpendicular E-field in bilayer graphenes. Although previous carrier transport measurements in bilayer graphene transistors did indicate a gate-induced insulating state at temperatures below 1 K, the electrical (or transport) band gap was estimated to be a few millielectronvolts, and the room temperature on/off current ratio in bilayer graphene FETs remains similar to those in single-layer graphene FETs. Here, for the first time, we report an on/off current ratio of around 100 and 2000 at room temperature and 20 K, respectively, in our dual-gate bilayer graphene FETs. We also measured an electrical band gap of >130 and 80 meV at average electric displacements of 2.2 and 1.3 V nm(-1), respectively. This demonstration reveals the great potential of bilayer graphene in applications such as digital electronics, pseudospintronics, terahertz technology, and infrared nanophotonics.

Utilization of a buffered dielectric to achieve high field-effect carrier mobility in graphene transistors.

We utilize an organic polymer buffer layer between graphene and conventional gate dielectrics in top-gated graphene transistors. Unlike other insulators, this dielectric stack does not significantly degrade carrier mobility, allowing for high field-effect mobilities to be retained in top-gate operation. This is demonstrated in both two-point and four-point analysis and in the high-frequency operation of a graphene transistor. Temperature dependence of the carrier mobility suggests that phonons are the dominant scatterers in these devices.