Nano-Second Laser Interference Photoembossed Microstructures for Enhanced Cell Alignment

Photoembossing is a powerful photolithographic technique to prepare surface relief structures relying on polymerization-induced diffusion in a solventless development step. Conveniently, surface patterns are formed by two or more interfering laser beams without the need for a lithographic mask. The use of nanosecond pulsed light-based interference lithography strengthens the pattern resolution through the absence of vibrational line pattern distortions. Typically, a conventional photoembossing protocol consists of an exposure step at room temperature that is followed by a thermal development step at high temperature. In this work, we explore the possibility to perform the pulsed holographic exposure directly at the development temperature. The surface relief structures generated using this modified photoembossing protocol are compared with those generated using the conventional one. Importantly, the enhancement of surface relief height has been observed by exposing the samples directly at the development temperature, reaching approximately double relief heights when compared to samples obtained using the conventional protocol. Advantageously, the light dose needed to reach the optimum height and the amount of photoinitiator can be substantially reduced in this modified protocol, demonstrating it to be a more efficient process for surface relief generation in photopolymers. Kidney epithelial cell alignment studies on substrates with relief-height optimized structures generated using the two described protocols demonstrate improved cell alignment in samples generated with exposure directly at the development temperature, highlighting the relevance of the height enhancement reached by this method. Although cell alignment is well-known to be enhanced by increasing the relief height of the polymeric grating, our work demonstrates nano-second laser interference photoembossing as a powerful tool to easily prepare polymeric gratings with tunable topography in the range of interest for fundamental cell alignment studies.

The limits of near field immersion microwave microscopy evaluated by imaging bilayer graphene moiré patterns

Near field scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy can resolve structures as small as 1 nm using radiation with wavelengths of 0.1 m. Combining liquid immersion microscopy concepts with exquisite force control exerted on nanoscale water menisci, concentration of electromagnetic fields in nanometer-size regions was achieved. As a test material we use twisted bilayer graphene, because it provides a sample where the modulation of the moiré superstructure pattern can be systematically tuned from Ångstroms up to tens of nanometers. Here we demonstrate that a probe-to-pattern resolution of 108 can be obtained by analyzing and adjusting the tip-sample distance influence on the dynamics of water meniscus formation and stability.

Chromosome Abnormalities and Fertility in Domestic Bovids: A Review

After discovering the Robertsonian translocation rob(1;29) in Swedish red cattle and demonstrating its harmful effect on fertility, the cytogenetics applied to domestic animals have been widely expanded in many laboratories in order to find relationships between chromosome abnormalities and their phenotypic effects on animal production. Numerical abnormalities involving autosomes have been rarely reported, as they present abnormal animal phenotypes quickly eliminated by breeders. In contrast, numerical sex chromosome abnormalities and structural chromosome anomalies have been more frequently detected in domestic bovids because they are often not phenotypically visible to breeders. For this reason, these chromosome abnormalities, without a cytogenetic control, escape selection, with subsequent harmful effects on fertility, especially in female carriers. Chromosome abnormalities can also be easily spread through the offspring, especially when using artificial insemination. The advent of chromosome banding and FISH-mapping techniques with specific molecular markers (or chromosome-painting probes) has led to the development of powerful tools for cytogeneticists in their daily work. With these tools, they can identify the chromosomes involved in abnormalities, even when the banding pattern resolution is low (as has been the case in many published papers, especially in the past). Indeed, clinical cytogenetics remains an essential step in the genetic improvement of livestock.

Topographically-Designed Hybrid Nanostructures via Nanotransfer printing and Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

Nanotransfer printing (nTP) has attracted much attention due to its high pattern resolution, simple process, and low processing cost for useful nanofabrication. Here, we introduce a thermally-assisted nTP (T-nTP) process...

Controlled Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers in Printed Sub-20 nm Cross-bar Structures

Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) has garnered much attention due to its excellent pattern resolution, simple process, and good compatibility with many other lithography methods for useful nanodevice...

Fabrication of a Photomask Containing Ultra-Fine Patterns of less than 100 nm through the Process Optimization of Electron Beam Lithography

This study aims to develop an electronic beam lithography processing technique with the best pattern resolution among top-down machining methods and apply it to manufacture nanoscale structures. When electron beams enter a substrate with highly dense patterns, a pattern distortion occurs due to the electron beam proximity effect caused by the scattering of electron beams reaching the pattern region under the substrate. A silicon nanomold of line width 50 nm was produced and the pattern uniformity was satisfied within the tolerance range through a proper correction of the electron beam proximity effect. In addition, a photo mask with ultra-fine patterns of diameter less than 100 nm was manufactured for use in the semiconductor exposure process using the correction method of the electron beam proximity effect and innovative methods involving liftoff processes.

iHDT++: improving HDT for SPARQL triple pattern resolution

RDF self-indexes compress the RDF collection and provide efficient access to the data without a previous decompression (via the so-called SPARQL triple patterns). HDT is one of the reference solutions in this scenario, with several applications to lower the barrier of both publication and consumption of Big Semantic Data. However, the simple design of HDT takes a compromise position between compression effectiveness and retrieval speed. In particular, it supports scan and subject-based queries, but it requires additional indexes to resolve predicate and object-based SPARQL triple patterns. A recent variant, HDT++, improves HDT compression ratios, but it does not retain the original HDT retrieval capabilities. In this article, we extend HDT++ with additional indexes to support full SPARQL triple pattern resolution with a lower memory footprint than the original indexed HDT (called HDT-FoQ). Our evaluation shows that the resultant structure, iHDT++ , requires 70 - 85% of the original HDT-FoQ space (and up to 48 - 72% for an HDT Community variant). In addition, iHDT++ shows significant performance improvements (up to one level of magnitude) for most triple pattern queries, being competitive with state-of-the-art RDF self-indexes.