Electrical stimulation of nervous tissue is used clinically for the treatment of multiple neurological disorders and experimentally for basic research. With the increase of optical probes to record neuronal activity, simple and user-friendly methods are desired to stimulate neurons and their subcellular compartments for biological experimentation. Here we describe the novel integration of liquid metal electrodes with microfluidic culture platforms to accomplish this goal. We integrated electrode and cell channels into a single poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) chip, eliminating entirely the need to align electrodes with microchannels. We designed the electrode channels such that the metal can be injected by hand and when the device is non-covalently bound to glass. We demonstrated the biocompatibility of the electrodes for long-term cultures (12 days) using hippocampal neurons. We demonstrated the use of these electrodes to depolarize neurons and recorded neuronal activity using the calcium indicator dye, Fluo-4. We established optimal stimulation parameters that induce neuronal spiking without inducing damage. We showed that the liquid metal electrode evoked larger calcium responses in somata than bath electrodes using the same stimulus parameters. Lastly we demonstrated the use of these liquid metal electrodes to target and depolarize axons. In summary, the integration of liquid metal electrodes with neuronal culture platforms provides a user-friendly and targeted method to stimulate neurons and their subcellular compartments, thus providing a novel tool for future biological investigations.

The authors report on pulsed lateral epitaxial overgrowth of aluminum nitride films on basal plane sapphire substrates. This approach, at temperatures in excess of 1150°C, enhanced the adatom migration, thereby significantly increasing the lateral growth rates. This enabled a full coalescence in wing regions as wide as 4–10μm. Atomic force microscopy and cross-section transmission electron microscopy were used to establish the reduction of threading dislocations in the lateral growth. Cross-sectional monochromatic cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence measurements confirmed the improved optical properties of the laterally overgrown aluminum nitride films.

AlN is an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor which has been developed for applications including power electronics and optoelectronics. Thermal management of these applications is the key for stable device performance and allowing for long lifetimes. AlN, with its potentially high thermal conductivity, can play an important role serving as a dielectric layer, growth substrate, and heat spreader to improve device performance. However, the intrinsic high thermal conductivity of bulk AlN predicted by theoretical calculations has not been experimentally observed because of the difficulty in producing materials with low vacancy and impurity levels, and other associated defect complexes in AlN which can decrease the thermal conductivity. This work reports the growth of thick (>15 m) AlN layers by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition with an air-pocketed AlN layer and the first experimental observation of intrinsic thermal conductivity from 130 K to 480 K that matches density-function-theory calculations for single crystal AlN, producing some of the highest values ever measured. Detailed material characterizations confirm the high quality of these AlN samples with one or two orders of magnitude lower impurity concentrations than seen in commercially available bulk AlN. Measurements of these commercially available bulk AlN substrates from 80 K to 480 K demonstrated a lower thermal conductivity, as expected. A theoretical thermal model is built to interpret the measured temperature dependent thermal conductivity. Our work demonstrates that it is possible to obtain theoretically high values of thermal conductivity in AlN and such films may impact the thermal management and reliability of future electronic and optoelectronics devices.

eExperimental and theoretical studies are presented of the current-voltage characteristics of symmetrically doped n-type GaN-AIN-GaN semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor (SIS) structures. The asymmetry caused by the strain-induced electric field leads to the depletion layer barrier in addition to the barrier presented by a thin insulating layer of AlN. It is shown that the tunnel current depends on the degree of the elastic strain relaxation which, in turn, is related to the AlN film thickness. This dependence provides quantitative information about the film relaxation. This characterization technique is compared with the capacitance-voltage characterization of the SIS structures. The data indicate that the low bound of the conduction-band offset for the AlN/GaN heterointerface is close to 1 eV. 8

Cross-plane electronic and thermal transport properties of p-type La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/LaMnO3 perovskite oxide metal/semiconductor superlattices J. Appl. Phys. 112, 063714 (2012) Polarization Coulomb field scattering in In0.18Al0.82N/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors J. Appl. Phys. 112, 054513 (2012) Modulation doping to control the high-density electron gas at a polar/non-polar oxide interface Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 111604 (2012) Ultra low-resistance palladium silicide Ohmic contacts to lightly doped n-InGaAs