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Synaptic transistors mimicking the biological synapse's short term plasticity and short-term memory property were demonstrated using the amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide channel in combination with the nanogranular SiO 2 as the gate oxide. The lowest energy consumption was ∼1.08 pJ per pulse activity and the operating voltage was within 100 mV. The device's plasticity and memory characteristics can be explained by the movement of protons in the insulating layer. The proton relaxation was revealed by two ways of dual sweeping: continuous and discontinuous sweepings. We observed that the excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) rose as the voltage decreased anomaly during the backward sweeping process. In the electrical stimulus, both the short-term potentiation and depression were observed for this proposed device. The amplitude of the EPSC changed with the pulse number following a saturating exponential function. For the electrical stimulus under constant illumination, the UV light wavelength, intensity and duration time were found to have little effect on the paired pulse facilitation. While in the light stimulus, the light frequency promoted the paired pulse facilitation and had more effect on the synapse's plasticity than the other light pulse parameters including intensity, numbers and width. INDEX TERMS Synaptic transistor, transparent oxide, IGZO, nanogranular SiO 2 , UV light.

Germanane, a hydrogen-terminated graphane analogue of germanium has generated interest as a potential 2D electronic material. However, the incorporation and retention of extrinsic dopant atoms in the lattice, to tune the electronic properties, remains a significant challenge. Here, we show that the group-13 element Ga and the group-15 element As, can be successfully doped into a precursor CaGe2 phase, and remain intact in the lattice after the topotactic deintercalation, using HCl, to form GeH. After deintercalation, a maximum of 1.1% As and 2.3% Ga can be substituted into the germanium lattice. Electronic transport properties of single flakes show that incorporation of dopants leads to a reduction of resistance of more than three orders of magnitude in H2O-containing atmosphere after As doping. After doping with Ga, the reduction is more than six orders of magnitude, but with significant hysteretic behavior, indicative of water-activation of dopants on the surface. Only Ga-doped germanane remains activated under vacuum, and also exhibits minimal hysteretic behavior while the sheet resistance is reduced by more than four orders of magnitude. These Ga- and As-doped germanane materials start to oxidize after one to four days in ambient atmosphere. Overall, this work demonstrates that extrinsic doping with Ga is a viable pathway towards accessing stable electronic behavior in graphane analogues of germanium.

A back-illuminated mesa-structure InGaAs/InP modified uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (MUTC-PD) is fabricated and its frequency response is investigated. A bandwidth of 40 GHz and a saturation photocurrent up to 33 mA are demonstrated. A photocurrent-dependent equivalent circuit model is proposed to analyze the frequency response of the high power MUTC-PDs. The influences of the space-charge screening, self-induced electric field and over-shoot effects are discussed in detail based on the model. Fitted curves obtained from the simple equivalent circuit model are found to be in good agreement with the data measured under different bias voltages and photocurrents.

BackgroundIn China, frogs play an understudied role in the spread of human sparganosis (caused by the larval form of Spirometra). However, our knowledge about the prevalence of sparganum infection in frogs remains fragmented, and the taxonomic identification of the parasite is still controversial. Methodology/Principal findingsThe prevalence of sparganum infection in wild frogs was surveyed at 145 geographical locations from 28 of the 34 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities in China for six years. The collected sparganum isolates from the different locations were subjected to molecular identification by a multiplex PCR assay and then were analysed with clustering analysis. In the survey, sparganum infection was found in 8 out of 13 of the collected frog species, and the most frequently infected species was Pelophylax nigromaculatus (the infection rate was up to 14.07%). Infected frogs were found in 80 of the 145 surveyed locations. The sparganum infection rates in the wild frogs in several regions of China were still high (above 10%), especially in South and Southwest China. A total of 72 spargana were selected for molecular identification, and the clustering analysis showed that sequences from the Chinese isolates were very similar to those identified as from Spirometra erinaceieuropaei. However, the taxonomy of the genus remains confused and further analysis is required. ConclusionsEating wild frogs is associated with considerable health risks in China. Several traditional Chinese folk remedies may increase the risk of infection. The sparganum isolates in China are most likely from S. erinaceieuropaei, but new studies, especially comprehensive morphological analyses, are needed in the future.

Junctionless nanowire transistors (JNTs) have been fabricated on ultra-thin-body germanium-on-insulator (GOI) substrates using a simple Si-compatible top-down process. These JNTs, which have gate lengths and widths that are both less than 100 nm, exhibit good electrical characteristics (Ion/Ioff ratio of ∼105 at Vd = −1 V). The effects of the back gate voltage, temperature, the device dimensions, and the channel doping concentration on the leakage currents of the fabricated devices were experimentally analyzed in detail. The results indicate that the leakage current is mainly affected by the gate tunneling current, the Shockley-Read-Hall generation current, the band-to-band tunneling current and the trap-assisted tunneling current. Design guidelines were then proposed to reduce the leakage currents of GOI-based JNTs.

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