Enhancing human resilience beyond COVID-19-related stress: public responses to multi-benefits of home gardening.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused a public health crisis globally. Against the backdrop of global resilience, studies have demonstrated the therapeutic value of home gardening as a measure to strengthen human health. However, there is a lack of comparative studies on its benefits across countries. Studies need to examine the role of home gardening in improving public health in various societies to understand and encourage this practice broadly and effectively. We chose Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam as case studies, which have suffered substantial pandemic impacts, with millions of infections and thousands of deaths. We explored and compared the perceptions of people on home gardening and its health benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted online surveys in three countries between May 1 and September 30, 2022, with a total of 1172 participants. Data were collated on perceived pandemic stress, challenges and solutions in gardening, home gardening intentions, and mental and physical health benefits. In these countries, we found that perceived pandemic stress positively affects home gardening intentions, whereby the motivation of Vietnamese people is the highest. Challenges hinder gardening intentions, while the solutions only positively affect gardening intentions in Taiwan and Vietnam. Home gardening intentions positively affect mental and physical health, whereby there are higher mental health benefits in Taiwanese people than in Thai people. Our findings potentially support public health recovery and promote healthy lifestyles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stacked SiGe nanosheets p-FET for Sub-3 nm logic applications.

The fabrication of vertically stacked SiGe nanosheet (NS) field-effect transistors (FETs) was demonstrated in this study. The key process technologies involved in this device fabrication are low pressure chemical vapor deposition SiGe/Si multilayer epitaxy, selective etching of Si layers over SiGe layers using tetramethyl-ammonium-hydroxide wet solution, and atomic layer deposition of Y2O3 gate dielectric. For the fabricated stacked SiGe NS p-GAAFETs with a gate length of 90 nm, ION/IOFF ratio of around 5.0 × 105 and subthreshold swing of 75 mV/dec were confirmed via electrical measurements. Moreover, owing to its high quality of Y2O3 gate dielectric, the device showed a very small drain-induced barrier-lowering phenomenon. These designs can improve the gate controllability of channel and device characteristics.

Using Si/MoS2 Core-Shell Nanopillar Arrays Enhances SERS Signal.

Two-dimensional layered material Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) exhibits a flat surface without dangling bonds and is expected to be a suitable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for the detection of organic molecules. However, further fabrication of nanostructures for enhancement of SERS is necessary because of the low detection efficiency of MoS2. In this paper, period-distribution Si/MoS2 core/shell nanopillar (NP) arrays were fabricated for SERS. The MoS2 thin films were formed on the surface of Si NPs by sulfurizing the MoO3 thin films coated on the Si NP arrays. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed to characterize Si/MoS2 core-shell nanostructure. In comparison with a bare Si substrate and MoS2 thin film, the use of Si/MoS2 core-shell NP arrays as SERS substrates enhances the intensity of each SERS signal peak for Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules, and especially exhibits about 75-fold and 7-fold enhancements in the 1361 cm-1 peak signal, respectively. We suggest that the Si/MoS2 core-shell NP arrays with larger area could absorb more R6G molecules and provide larger interfaces between MoS2 and R6G molecules, leading to higher opportunity of charge transfer process and exciton transitions. Therefore, the Si/MoS2 core/shell NP arrays could effectively enhance SERS signal and serve as excellent SERS substrates in biomedical detection.

High-performance III-V MOSFET with nano-stacked high-k gate dielectric and 3D fin-shaped structure.

A three-dimensional (3D) fin-shaped field-effect transistor structure based on III-V metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication has been demonstrated using a submicron GaAs fin as the high-mobility channel. The fin-shaped channel has a thickness-to-width ratio (TFin/WFin) equal to 1. The nano-stacked high-k Al2O3 dielectric was adopted as a gate insulator in forming a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure to suppress gate leakage. The 3D III-V MOSFET exhibits outstanding gate controllability and shows a high Ion/Ioff ratio > 105 and a low subthreshold swing of 80 mV/decade. Compared to a conventional Schottky gate metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor or planar III-V MOSFETs, the III-V MOSFET in this work exhibits a significant performance improvement and is promising for future development of high-performance n-channel devices based on III-V materials.

Using spectroscopic ellipsometry to characterize and apply the optical constants of hollow gold nanoparticles.

In this paper, we report the optical constants (refractive index, extinction coefficient) of self-assembled hollow gold nanoparticle (HGN) monolayers determined through spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). We prepared a series of HGNs exhibiting various morphologies and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties. The extinction coefficient (k) curves of the HGN monolayers exhibited strong SPR peaks located at wavelengths that followed similar trends to those of the SPR positions of the HGNs in solution. The refractive index (n) curves exhibited an abnormal dispersion that was due to the strong SPR extinction. The values of Deltan and kmax both correlated linearly with the particle number densities. From a comparison of the optical constant values of HGNs with those of solid Au nanoparticles (NPs), we used SE measurements to demonstrate a highly sensitive Si-based chemical sensor. HGNs display a slightly lower value of k at the SPR peak but a much higher sensitivity to changes in the surrounding medium than do solid Au NPs.