Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that play an important role in signal transduction at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Movement of the nAChR extracellular ...domain following agonist binding induces conformational changes in the extracellular domain, which in turn affects the transmembrane domain and opens the ion channel. It is known that the surrounding environment, such as the presence of specific lipids and proteins, affects nAChR function. Diffracted X-ray tracking (DXT) facilitates measurement of the intermolecular motions of receptors on the cell membranes of living cells, including all the components involved in receptor function. In this study, the intramolecular motion of the extracellular domain of native nAChR proteins in living myotube cells was analyzed using DXT for the first time. We revealed that the motion of the extracellular domain in the presence of an agonist (e.g., carbamylcholine, CCh) was restricted by an antagonist (i.e., alpha-bungarotoxin, BGT).
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper reports the heat dissipation ability of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film used as an insulator in interconnection layers. The thermal resistance is used as an evidence for evaluating ...particular ability. There are two points to measure, that is to say, the temperature in the active Si region and that of the nearest point at the top of the insulating film. We used a thin film Si resistor covered with NCD or silicon dioxide (SiO
2
) on a silicon on insulator substrate. The NCD film was deposited by microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition at 400 °C, while the SiO
2
film was deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 350 °C. The thickness of the NCD film was 600 nm, while that of the SiO
2
film was 300 and 500 nm. The aluminium (Al) was deposited by sputtering and patterned on the top of the insulating-film. Heat was applied to the resistor by directly applying electricity to the resistor. The temperature of the Si resistor and Al was determined from the resistance change. It was found that the thermal resistance of NCD film was approximately 14 % less than that of SiO
2
film, leading to the reduction of the thin-film Si temperature by 20 °C, even though it was thicker than 100 nm.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The low cost, environmental harmless Cu
2ZnSnS
4 (CZTS)-based thin film solar cells are fabricated by using abundant materials. The CZTS film possesses promising characteristic optical properties; ...band-gap energy of about 1.5 eV and large absorption coefficient in the order of 10
4 cm
−
1
. All constituents of this CZTS film, which are abundant in the crust of the earth, are non-toxic. Therefore, if we can use CZTS film practically as the absorber of solar cells, we will be free from both of the resource saving problem and the environmental pollution.
In our CZTS project, CZTS absorber films were prepared by two independent techniques. One is three rf sources co-sputtering followed by annealing in sulfurized atmosphere. The latest conversion efficiency of over 6.7% was achieved by this technique. The other is co-evaporation technique. CZTS films were grown on Si (100) by vacuum co-evaporation using elemental Cu, Sn, S and binary ZnS as sources. XRD patterns indicated that the polycrystalline growth was suppressed and the orientational growth was relatively induced in a film grown at higher temperatures.
In this presentation, the development of CZTS-based thin film solar cells will be surveyed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The improvement in the quality of ZnO:Al films grown on glass substrates was investigated using a sputtered buffer layer inserted between a glass substrate and a ZnO:Al CVD film. ZnO:Al layers were ...grown at 773 K using dimethylzinc (DMZn), trimethylaluminum (TMAl), and high-temperature H2O generated by a catalytic reaction as zinc, aluminum, and oxygen sources, respectively. The electron mobility increased by approximately 20 cm2 V−1 s−1 with the use of a buffer layer with a thickness of approximately 40 nm. In addition, the optical transmittance in the wavelength range of 380-600 nm increased with the insertion of the buffer layer. For the growth of ZnO films on a sputtered buffer layer, the average surface roughness was reduced, and as a result the fluctuation in crystal orientation along the c-axis became smaller than that of the film grown directly on the glass substrate by the proposed CVD. This resulted in improvements in the optical transmittance and electron mobility of the ZnO:Al films.
