A combinatorial approach was applied to thin-film transistors (TFTs) using amorphous In–Ga–Zn–O semiconductor channels. A large number of TFTs, having n-type channels with different chemical compositions, were fabricated simultaneously on a substrate. A systematic relation was clarified among the compositional ratio of In:Ga:Zn, oxygen partial pressure in film deposition atmosphere, and TFT characteristics. The results provide an experimental basis to understand the roles of each metallic element in the In–Ga–Zn–O system. This information leads to a guideline to tune the metallic compositions for required TFT specifications.

We have studied the effects of air nonthermal plasma irradiation of seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) on their growth from the beginning of cultivation to their harvest. Three minute plasma irradiation of dry seeds resulted in growth acceleration in all the growth stages. Compared with the control, the plasma irradiation led to an 11% shorter harvest period, a 56% increase in total seed weight, a 12% increase in each seed weight, and a 39% increase in seed number.

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The compositional dependence of sputter‐deposited Zn–In–O (ZIO) film properties and the TFT performance were studied by means of a combinatorial technique. Both the characteristics of ZIO‐TFTs and the ZIO film properties are very sensitive to the Zn:In ratio. The best TFT performances are obtained at Zn:In ∼60:40 at%, where the saturation mobility (μsat), subthreshold swing (S.S.), on–off current ratio (Ion/Ioff), and threshold voltage (Vth) are 26.5 cm2/V s, 0.24 V/dec., 1010, and +2 V, respectively. The TFT characteristics peak at this compositional ratio. Specifically, μsat, Ion/Ioff and Vth reach maximum, while S.S. reaches minimum at this ratio. The air stability of ZIO‐TFTs was also examined for active channel layers with different Zn:In ratios, which clarified that the TFTs with high stability are obtained around the same composition ratio where the best characteristics are obtained. It was confirmed by X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy that the ZIO films with this composition ratio have amorphous structure. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Cathode catalysts without platinum group metals (PGMs) or carbon supports can reduce the price of polymer electrolyte fuel cells in automobiles, making them commercially competitive. In this paper, an inexpensive and PGM-free catalyst-amorphous nitrogen-doped TiO 2-shell on TiN-core-was synthesized without carbon support. While existing PGM-free all-oxide catalysts without carbon support have shown moderate current densities (at the order of μA/cm 2), the current density of this new catalyst is three orders of magnitude higher. Replacing commercial carbon support by hydrothermally synthesized Ti 4 O 7 significantly enhanced the activity to be close to that of carbon-supported platinum. Although its conductivity and surface area were not sufficient for an accurate evaluation of its activity, these new results demonstrate the possibility of high-performance non-PGM catalysts without carbon supports.