Low resistance conductors are crucial for the development of ultra-low-cost electronic systems such as radio frequency identification tags. Low resistance conductors are required to enable the fabrication of high-Q inductors, capacitors, tuned circuits, and interconnects. The fabrication of these circuits by printing will enable a dramatic reduction in cost, through the elimination of lithography, vacuum processing, and the need for high-cost substrates. Solutions of organic-encapsulated gold nanoparticles many be printed and subsequently annealed to form low resistance conductor patterns. We describe a process to form the same, and discuss the optimization of the process to demonstrate plastic-compatible gold conductors for the first time. By optimizing both the size of the nanoparticle and the length of the alkanethiol encapsulant, it is possible to produce particles that anneal at low temperatures (Ͻ150°C) to form continuous gold films having low resistivity. We demonstrate the printing of these materials using an inkjet printer to demonstrate a plastic-compatible low resistance conductor technology.

In this work we demonstrate the feasibility of electric-field tuning of the plasmonic spectrum of a novel gold nanodot array in a liquid crystal matrix. As opposed to previously reported microscopically observed near-field spectral tuning of individual gold nanoparticles, this system exhibits macroscopic far-field spectral tuning. The nanodot-liquid crystal matrix also displays strong anisotropic absorption characteristics, which can be effectively described as a collective ensemble within a composite matrix in the lateral dimension and a group of noninteracting individual particles in the normal direction. The effective medium model and the Mie theory are employed to describe the experimental results.

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BACKGROUND To determine the safety and maximum-tolerated dose of concurrent sunitinib and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) followed by maintenance sunitinib in oligometastastic patients. METHODS: Eligible patients had 1 to 5 sites of metastatic cancer measuring ≤6 cm. The most common treatment sites were bone, liver, and lung. Patients were treated with concurrent sunitinib (Day 1 through Day 28) and IGRT (40-50 Gy in 10 fractions starting on Day 8) followed by maintenance sunitinib (50 mg daily, 4 weeks on/2 weeks off starting on Day 43). The starting dose was sunitinib 25 mg and IGRT 40 Gy. Doses were escalated in a ping-pong design with incremental increases in either sunitinib or IGRT. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients with 36 metastatic lesions were enrolled, with a median follow-up of 10 months. No dose limiting toxicities (DLT) were noted at dose levels 1 or 2 (SU 37.5 mg/RT 40 Gy). One of 10 patients at dose level 3 (SU 37.5 mg/RT 50 Gy) and 2 of 5 patients at dose level 4 (SU 50 mg/RT 50 Gy) experienced DLTs comprising grade 4 myelosuppression and grade 3 nausea. At last follow-up, 8 patients are alive without evidence of progression. The 1-year local, progression-free, and overall survival were 85%, 44%, and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Addition of SU (25 to 37.5 mg) to IGRT is tolerable in patients with oligome-tastases, without potentiation of RT toxicity. On the basis of promising antitumor responses observed with this novel combination, a multi-institutional phase 2 trial using SU 37.5 mg/RT 50 Gy is ongoing.