Detection of conserved microbial patterns by host cell surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) activates innate immunity. The FLAGELLIN-SENSITIVE 2 (FLS2) receptor perceives bacterial flagellin and recruits another PRR, BAK1 and the cytoplasmic-kinase BIK1 to form an active co-receptor complex that initiates antibacterial immunity in Arabidopsis. Molecular mechanisms that transmit flagellin perception from the plasma-membrane FLS2-associated receptor complex to intracellular events are less well understood. Here, we show that flagellin induces the conjugation of the SMALL UBIQUITIN-LIKE MODIFIER (SUMO) protein to FLS2 to trigger release of BIK1. Disruption of FLS2 SUMOylation can abolish immune responses, resulting in susceptibility to bacterial pathogens in Arabidopsis. We also identify the molecular machinery that regulates FLS2 SUMOylation and demonstrate a role for the deSUMOylating enzyme, Desi3a in innate immunity. Flagellin induces the degradation of Desi3a and enhances FLS2 SUMOylation to promote BIK1 dissociation and trigger intracellular immune signalling.

A thermodynamic analysis of native point defect and dopant solubilities in zinc-blende III-V semiconductors

The advantages and disadvantages of using off-axis substrates for heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC on Si(111) substrates are investigated in this paper. 3C-SiC is deposited on on-axis and 4° off-axis 150 mm Si(111) substrates using low pressure chemical vapour deposition. The dependence of surface morphology, roughness, crystallinity, alignment between the epilayer and the substrate, and film stress are evaluated using atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and wafer curvature measurement. Highly parallel steps are observed on both on-axis and off-axis Si substrates after surface preparation, yet step density is doubled and step height is much larger (> 21 times of single step height) for 4° off-cut Si compared to on-axis Si. X-ray diffraction results indicate that SiC grown on on-axis Si substrates are well-aligned with the Si substrates, while the SiC grown on off-axis substrates are tilted positively by as large angle as 1.66°. The well-aligned SiC grown on on-axis Si substrate exhibits lower and uniform residual stress compared to the film grown on off-axis Si substrates, which exhibits a nonuniform distribution of higher stress.The stress distribution is found to be dependent on Si surface step direction and height. These misorientation dependent tilting and stress distribution mechanisms are expected to be applicable to other hetero-epitaxial growth systems with similar mismatch magnitude.

Single-crystal silicon carbide (SiC) thin-films on silicon (Si) were used for the fabrication and characterization of electrically conductive distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) on 100 mm Si wafers. The DBRs, each composed of 3 alternating layers of SiC and Al(Ga)N grown on Si substrates, show high wafer uniformity with a typical maximum reflectance of 54% in the blue spectrum and a stopband (at 80% maximum reflectance) as large as 100 nm. Furthermore, high vertical electrical conduction is also demonstrated resulting to a density of current exceeding 70 A/cm2 above 1.5 V. Such SiC/III-N DBRs with high thermal and electrical conductivities could be used as pseudo-substrate to enhance the efficiency of SiC-based and GaN-based optoelectronic devices on large Si wafers.

A thin, chemically inert 3C-SiC layer between GaN and Si helps not only to avoid the “melt-back” effect, but also to inhibit the crack generation in the grown GaN layers. The quality of GaN layer is heavily dependent on the unique properties of the available 3C-SiC/Si templates. In this paper, the parameters influencing the roughness, crystalline quality, and wafer bow are investigated and engineered to obtain high quality, low roughness 3C-SiC/Si templates suitable for subsequent GaN growth and device processing. Kinetic surface roughening and SiC growth mechanisms, which depend on both deposition temperature and off-cut angle, are reported for heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC on Si substrates. The narrower terrace width on 4° off-axis Si enhances the step-flow growth at 1200 °C, with the roughness of 3C-SiC remaining constant with increasing thickness, corresponding to a scaling exponent of zero. Crack-free 3C-SiC grown on 150-mm Si substrate with a wafer bow of less than 20 μm was achieved. Both concave and convex wafer bow can be obtained by in situ tuning of the deposited SiC layer thicknesses. The 3C-SiC grown on off-axis Si, compared to that grown on on-axis Si, has lower surface roughness, better crystallinity, and smaller bow magnitude.