Digitally Controlled Oscillator with High Timing Resolution and Low Complexity for Clock Generation.

This paper presents a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) with a low-complexity circuit structure that combines multiple delay circuits to achieve a high timing resolution and wide output frequency range simultaneously while also significantly reducing the overall power consumption. A 0.18 µm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor standard process was used for the design, and measurements showed that the chip had a minimum controllable timing resolution of 4.81 ps and power consumption of 142 µW with an output signal of 364 MHz. When compared with other designs using advanced processes, the proposed DCO demonstrated the best power-to-frequency ratio. Therefore, it can output a signal at the required frequency more efficiently in terms of power consumption. Additionally, because the proposed DCO uses digital logic gates only, a cell-based design flow can be implemented. Hence, the proposed DCO is not only easy to implement in different processes but also easy to integrate with other digital circuits.

Extracellular and intracellular intermittent magnetic-fluid hyperthermia treatment of SK-Hep1 hepatocellular carcinoma cells based on magnetic nanoparticles coated with polystyrene sulfonic acid.

The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) magnetized on applying an alternating magnetic field (AMF) to stimulate the thermal characteristics and to induce tumor apoptosis is a currently active area of research in cancer treatment. In previous work, we developed biocompatible and superparamagnetic polystyrene-sulfonic-acid-coated magnetic nanoparticles (PSS-MNPs) as applications for magnetically labeled cell trapping, but without assessment of treatment effects on tumor diseases. In the present work, we examined PSS-MNP-induced magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) on SK-Hep1 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells for lethal thermal effects with a self-made AMF system; an adjustable AMF frequency generated a variable intensity of magnetic field and induced MNP relaxation. The extracellular and intracellular MFH treatments on a SK-Hep1 cell line were implemented in vitro; the result indicates that the lethal effects were efficient and caused a significantly decreased cell viability of SK-Hep1 cells. As the PSS-MNP concentration decreased, especially in intracellular MFH treatments, the MFH effects on cells, however, largely decreased through heat spreading to the culture medium. On controlling and decreasing the volume of culture medium, the problem of heat spreading was solved. It can be consequently expected that PSS-MNPs would be a prospective agent for intracellular cancer magnetotherapy.

Thermoelectric Effects of Nanogaps between Two Tips.

This study designs a microscaled thermoelectric component featuring a nanogap of varying size (133-900 nm) between the tips of the component. Electricity and heat are transmitted between the gap of the tips through the thermionic emission of electrons. Because the gaps exhibit a discontinuous structure, the phonon's contribution to thermal conductivity can be virtually neglected, thereby enhancing the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of the designed thermoelectric component. The experimental results reveal that a narrow tip gap generates stronger thermoelectric effects, with Seebeck voltage and Seebeck coefficient being respectively, one and two orders of magnitude greater than those of the thermoelectric effects of nanowires. The thermoelectric figure of merit without considering the contributions from other heat carriers is higher than the value of thermoelectric devices developed in recent years. For a set of asymmetrical thin film electrodes of differing sizes, the thermoelectric effects generated in the heating process of large thin films are stronger than those of small thin films. Furthermore, adding nanoparticles to the nanogap facilitate the thermionic emission of electrons, in which electrons hop from the hot end to the cold end, thereby intensifying the thermoelectric effects of the nanogap.

Influence of magnetic domain walls and magnetic field on the thermal conductivity of magnetic nanowires.

We investigated the influence of magnetic domain walls and magnetic fields on the thermal conductivity of suspended magnetic nanowires. The thermal conductivity of the nanowires was obtained using steady-state Joule heating to measure the change in resistance caused by spontaneous heating. The results showed that the thermal conductivity coefficients of straight and wavy magnetic nanowires decreased with an increase in the magnetic domain wall number, implying that the scattering between magnons and domain walls hindered the heat transport process. In addition, we proved that the magnetic field considerably reduced the thermal conductivity of a magnetic nanowire. The influence of magnetic domain walls and magnetic fields on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline magnetic nanowires can be attributed to the scattering of long-wavelength spin waves mediated by intergrain exchange coupling.

Wheatstone bridge giant-magnetoresistance based cell counter.

A Wheatstone bridge giant magnetoresistance (GMR) biosensor was proposed here for the detection and counting of magnetic cells. The biosensor was made of a top-pinned spin-valve layer structure, and it was integrated with a microchannel possessing the function of hydrodynamic focusing that allowed the cells to flow in series one by one and ensured the accuracy of detection. Through measuring the magnetoresistance variation caused by the stray field of the magnetic cells that flowed through the microchannel above the GMR biosensor, we can not only detect and count the cells but we can also recognize cells with different magnetic moments. In addition, a magnetic field gradient was applied for the separation of different cells into different channels.

Single cell detection using 3D magnetic rolled-up structures.

A 3D rolled-up structure made of a SiO2 layer and a fishbone-like magnetic thin film was proposed here as a biosensor. The magnetoresistance (MR) measurement results of the sensor suggest that the presence of the stray field, which is induced by the magnetic nanoparticles, significantly increased the switching field. Comparing the performance of the 2D sensor and 3D sensor designed in this study, the response in switching field variation was 12.14% in the 2D sensor and 62.55% in the 3D sensor. The response in MR ratio variation was 4.55% in the 2D sensor and 82.32% in the 3D sensor. In addition, the design of the 3D sensor structure also helped to attract and trap a single magnetic cell due to its stronger stray field compared with the 2D structure. The 3D magnetic biosensor designed here can provide important information for future biochip research and applications.

Single cell detection using a magnetic zigzag nanowire biosensor.

A magnetic zigzag nanowire device was designed for single cell biosensing. Nanowires with widths of 150, 300, 500, and 800 nm were fabricated on silicon trenches by electron beam lithography, electron beam evaporation, and lift-off processes. Magnetoresistance measurements were performed before and after the attachment of a single magnetic cell to the nanowires to characterize the magnetic signal change due to the influence of the magnetic cell. Magnetoresistance responses were measured in different magnetic field directions, and the results showed that this nanowire device can be used for multi-directional detection. It was observed that the highest switching field variation occurred in a 150 nm wide nanowire when the field was perpendicular to the substrate plane. On the other hand, the highest magnetoresistance ratio variation occurred in a 800 nm wide nanowire also when the field was perpendicular to the substrate plane. Besides, the trench-structured substrate proposed in this study can fix the magnetic cell to the sensor in a fluid environment, and the stray field generated by the corners of the magnetic zigzag nanowires has the function of actively attracting the magnetic cells for detection.

Magnetically-controllable zigzag structures as cell microgripper.

We designed and fabricated a micro-scaled cell gripper based on two highly flexible magnetic zigzag structures that can be actuated by a magnetic field. Elongated single domain magnetic thin films with high magnetic shape anisotropy were deposited on the zigzag structures. By adjusting the external magnetic field we were able to control the torque applied on the magnetic films that was responsible for the actuation. We measured and discussed the displacement of the zigzag structures under different magnetic fields, and we observed a hysteresis characteristic in the actuation. Furthermore, we demonstrated the ability of gripping a single cell in water solution using the designed cell microgripper. The cell microgripper proposed in this study can provide important information for future biochip and biomedical applications.