The biomimetic characteristics of the memristor as an electronic synapse and neuron have inspired the advent of new information technology in the neuromorphic computing. The application of the memristors can be extended to the artificial nerves on condition of the presence of electronic receptors which can transfer the external stimuli to the internal nerve system. In this work, nociceptor behaviors are demonstrated from the Pt/HfO /TiN memristor for the electronic receptors. The device shows four specific nociceptive behaviors; threshold, relaxation, allodynia, and hyperalgesia, according to the strength, duration, and repetition rate of the external stimuli. Such nociceptive behaviors are attributed to the electron trapping/detrapping to/from the traps in the HfO layer, where the depth of trap energy level is ≈0.7 eV. Also, the built-in potential by the work function mismatch between the Pt and TiN electrodes induces time-dependent relaxation of trapped electrons, providing the appropriate relaxation behavior. The relaxation time can take from several milliseconds to tens of seconds, which corresponds to the time span of the decay of biosignal. The material-wise evaluation of the electronic nociceptor in comparison with other material, which did not show the desired functionality, Pt/Ti/HfO /TiN, reveals the importance of careful material design and fabrication.

This study examined the optical and electronic properties of post-annealed Al-doped ZnO ͑ZnO:Al͒ thin films. The lowest resistivity was observed after annealing a sputter-deposited ZnO:Al film at 350°C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed a ϳ0.4 eV shift in the Fermi level when the carrier concentration was increased to 1.6ϫ 10 20 cm −3 by Al doping and annealing. The optical band gap increased from 3.2 eV for insulating ZnO to 3.4 eV for conducting ZnO:Al, and was associated with conduction-band filling up to ϳ0.4 eV in a renormalized band gap. Schematic band diagrams are shown for the ZnO and ZnO:Al films.

The NAND flash memory serves as the key enabler of the flourishing of portable handheld information devices, such as the cellular phone. The recent upsurge in the sales of vertical NAND flash memory (V‐NAND) entails a further increase in the available information capacity at the edge devices and the servers with higher performance and lower power consumption compared with the magnetic hard‐disc drives. Nonetheless, there will certainly be an upper limit for the number of stacked layers, which will be the point at which further memory density increase will stop. While V‐NAND is a supreme outcome of semiconductor memory technologies, it still relies on conventional Si‐based materials. The newly explored memory materials and concepts, such as the resistance‐based memories, can therefore be an appealing contender to or successor of V‐NAND. In this review, the current state of V‐NAND is first briefly looked into, and then the eventual limitation of memory density increase and performance boost are discussed. Most importantly, the possible strategies of integrating the resistance‐based memories into the vertical architecture are then discussed. Finally, the outlook for such resistance‐based vertical memories is presented.

Conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM) has been regarded as a promising candidate for the next-generation nonvolatile memory technology. Even with the great performance of CBRAM, the global generation and overinjection of cations after much repetitive switching cannot be prevented. The overinjection of cations into an electrolyte layer causes high-resistancestate resistance (R HRS ) degradation, on/off ratio reduction, and eventual switching failure. It also degrades the switching uniformity. In this work, a Cu-cone-structure-embedded TiN/TiO 2 /Cu cone/TiN device is fabricated to alleviate the problems of Cu-based CBRAM, mentioned above. The fabrication method of the device, which is useful for laboratory scale experiment, is developed, and its superior switching performance and reliability compared with the conventional planar device. The insertion of the Cu cone structure allows the placement of only a limited amount of cation source in each cell, and the embedded conical structure also concentrates the applied electric field, which enables filament growth control. Furthermore, the concentrated field localizes the resistive switching on the tip area of the cone structure, which makes the effective switching area about tens of nanometers even for the much larger area of the entire electrode (several µm 2 ).

Background: As the use of social media continues to rise, the presence of social media accounts among orthopaedic surgery residency programs can foster connections with other specialties, highlight departmental achievements, and be a resource for applicants to learn more about the program. This study evaluated the current utility and landscape of social media, with an emphasis on the use of Instagram, in orthopaedic surgery residency programs in the United States. Methods: A cross-sectional study of orthopaedic surgery residency Instagram accounts was performed. The Instagram accounts were evaluated for the number of followers, number of accounts following, and number of posts. Instagram posts were further categorized into academic, departmental, education, and COVID-19–related content. In addition, a search was performed to identify the presence of Twitter and Facebook accounts among orthopaedic surgery residency programs. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the data in this study. Results: Of the 192 orthopaedic surgery residency programs evaluated, 108 programs (56%) had an Instagram account, 65 programs (34%) had a Twitter account, and 58 programs (30%) had a Facebook account. Of the 108 programs with an Instagram account, 92 accounts (85%) were created in 2020. A higher Doximity ranking of a program was positively associated with the presence of an Instagram account (p < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between the number of posts and the Instagram engagement score (p = 0.018). The majority of Instagram posts contained departmental content (54%) followed by social (13%) and COVID-19–related (10%) content. Conclusions: The presence of orthopaedic surgery residency programs on social media has grown significantly in the year 2020. With the presence of more than 50% of residency programs on Instagram, this can be a useful resource for prospective applicants and other healthcare professionals to gain insight into the activities of orthopaedic surgery residency programs across the United States.