Breakdown enhancement in silicon nanowire p-n junctions.

We demonstrate highly reproducible silicon nanowire diodes fabricated with a fully VLSI compatible etching technology, with diameters down to 30 nm. A contact technology based on recrystallized polysilicon enables specific contact resistances as low as rho approximately 10-7 Omega cm2. Our devices show a strongly diameter-dependent breakdown voltage at reverse bias, which we explain in terms of the influence of the surrounding dielectric. We suggest that this technology is suitable for incorporating nanowire-based functionalities into future integrated circuits.

[An unsuspected imported disease: meningo-encephalitis contracted in Spain]. / Een niet-vermoede importziekte: meningo-encefalitis opgelopen in Spanje.

A 13-year-old boy consulted a doctor during a holiday in Spain because of high fever, headache and exanthema. A local physician prescribed josamycin, but the medication was lost due to vomiting. A few days later, shortly after returning to the Netherlands, he was hospitalised with a life-threatening neurologic and multi-organ failure. It took two weeks before the diagnosis 'Mediterranean spotted fever' was made and an appropriate antibiotic treatment was started. The patient made a slow but successful recovery. Rereading the hand-written Spanish medical report revealed that it had mentioned a correct diagnosis and adequate treatment. An apparently safe holiday destination thus does not exclude an imported disease. Knowledge of local epidemiology and good communication with the locally consulted medical system are essential for a correct diagnosis and therefore for appropriate treatment and a good prognosis.