The impact of melt extrusion (HME) and spray drying (SD) on mechanical properties of hypromellose acetate succinate (HPMCAS), copovidone, and their formulated blends was studied and compared with that of reference excipients. Tensile strength (TS), compression pressure (CP), elastic modulus (E), and dynamic hardness (Hd ) were determined along with Hiestand indices using compacts prepared at a solid fraction of ∼0.85. HPMCAS and copovidone exhibited lower Hd , lower CP, and lower E than the reference excipients and moderate TS. HPMCAS was found to be highly brittle based on brittle fracture index values. The CP was 24% and 61% higher for HPMCAS after SD and HME, respectively, than for unprocessed material along with a higher Hd . Furthermore, the TS of HPMCAS and copovidone decreased upon HME. Upon blending melt-extruded HPMCAS with plastic materials such as microcrystalline cellulose, the TS increased. These results suggest that SD and HME could impact reworkability by reducing deformation of materials and in case of HME, likely by increasing density due to heating and shear stress in a screw extruder. A somewhat similar effect was observed for the dynamic binding index (BId ) of the excipients and formulated blends. Such data can be used to quantitate the impact of processing on mechanical properties of materials during tablet formulation development.

Studies of ferromagnetic MnAs in recent years have revealed a wide range of properties desirable for spintronic applications. Previously studied MnAs spin-light-emitting-diodes exhibited a low value of spin injection into the device active region. In this work, we have investigated injection of spin polarized electrons from MnAs into AlGaAs(n)/GaAs(i)/AlGaAs(p) n-i-p structures. The band-edge electroluminescence emitted from these devices has a saturation circular polarization of 26% at 7 K and B=2 T. Using optical pumping measurements the corresponding electron spin polarization was determined to be 52%. Emission persists up to room temperature, with a saturation circular polarization of 6% at B=2 T.

No abstract

Diffusion coefficients and the activation energy for Mn diffusion in ion-implanted and layered epitaxial structures of Ga1−xMnxAs/GaAs are reported from quantitative time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. Samples are annealed between the growth temperature (as low as 200 °C) and approximately 400 °C. This temperature range is reported to improve the Curie temperature, which is important for the spintronic applications of these materials. Quantitative diffusion information is obtained by calibrating the Mn concentration to ion-implanted standards and the depth scale to profilometry measurements. Depth profiles obtained for ion-implanted Mn in GaAs at a dose of 1.35×1015 atoms/cm2 show increased Mn concentration within the top 5 nm of the sample but otherwise reveal no significant differences in the implantation shape after annealing up to 350 °C. For a higher implantation dose of 8.10×1015 Mn atoms/cm2, diffusion is initiated after annealing at 300 °C with more significant diffusion at higher temperatures. The analysis of annealed epitaxial films of even higher concentration (Ga0.89Mn0.11As) exhibits diffusion at all temperatures measured (200–400 °C) and an activation energy of 0.67±0.09 eV is calculated by fitting the profiles to an error function.

Material properties play a significant role in pharmaceutical processing. The impact of roller compaction (RC) and tablet compression on solid fraction (SF), tensile strength (TS) and flexural modulus (FM) of Avicel DG [co-processed excipient with 75% microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and 25% anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate (DCPA)], lactose and 1:1 Mixture of the two was studied. Materials were roller compacted at different force and roller type and compressed into tablets over a range of compression pressures (CP). SF, TS and FM were determined for ribbons and tablets. Roller force was a significant variable affecting SF while roller type was not. Both SF and TS of tablets increased with CP with Avicel DG exhibiting greater TS than that of 1:1 Mixture while tablets of lactose had the lowest TS. The TS of tablets decreased exponentially with tablet porosity. Ribbon of Avicel DG had higher TS and lower SF than lactose and greater reworkability. This is attributed to plastic deformation of MCC resulting in high degree of bonding and fragmentation of DCPA that fills the void spaces during tablet compression. The lack of significant increase in SF and low tablet TS for lactose upon compression is likely due to its brittle fragmentation and some elastic recovery as shown by the high FM.