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This paper analyzes the electrical parameters of Si/ZnO heterojunction diodes in the wide temperature range, i.e. from room temperature (298 K) to 573 K to study the electrical performance of the diode in very high temperature environment. In this work, sol-gel derived nanostructured ZnO thin film was deposited directly on p-Si substrate using spin coating technique. Electrical parameters, such as rectification ratio, reverse saturation current, ideality factor, barrier height, series resistance and activation energy are derived from current-voltage characteristics of the device, measured using semiconductor parameter analyzer in the temperature range of 298 K–573 K for bias voltage of ±5 V. The ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance is derived as 2.66, 0.789 eV and 3554 Ω respectively at 298 K, whereas at 573 K these are modified as 1.58, 1.15 eV and 801 Ω respectively. The above-mentioned results indicate the presence of spatial barrier height inhomogeneities (BHI) in high temperature environment. Hence, we have included the Gaussian distribution of spatial BHI in our analysis to calculate the effective Richardson constant (RC). Before inclusion of spatial BHI, RC was 4.026 × 10−6 Acm−2K−2. However, after inclusion of spatial BHI, RC is modified to 29.14 Acm−2K−2, which is nearer to the theoretical value (32 Acm−2K−2). Therefore, this study indicates that our as-fabricated Si/ZnO heterojunction diodes can sustain their electrical behaviour in very high temperature environment also and they are suitable for high temperature electronic and optoelectronic application.

In this article, temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics of n -ZnO/p-Si nanoparticle thin film heterojunction diode grown by RF sputtering technique are analyzed in the temperature range of 300–433 k to investigate the performance of the device in high temperature environment. The microstructural, morphological, optical and temptrature dependent electrical properties of as-grown nanoparticle thin film were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emmision scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), variable angle ellipsometer and semiconductor device analyzer. XRD spectra of as-grown ZnO films are exhibited that highly c-axis oriented ZnO nanostructures are grown on p - Si〈100〉 substrate whereas AFM and FESEM images confirm the homogeneous deposition of ZnO nanoparticles on surface of Si substratewith minimum roughness.The optical propertiesof as-grown ZnO nanoparticles have been measured in the spectral range of 300–800 nm using variable angle ellipsometer.To measure electrical parameters of the device prototype in the temperature range of room temperature (300 K) to 433 K, large area ohmic contacts were fabricated on both side of the ZnO/Si heterostructure. From the current-voltage charcteristics of ZnO/Si heterojunction device, it is observed that the device exhibits rectifing nature at room temperature. However, with increase in temperature, reverse saturation current and barrier height are found to increase, whereas ideality factor is started decreasing. This phenomenon confirms that barrier inhomogeneities are present at the interface of ZnO/Si heterojunction, as a result of lattice constant and thermal coefficient mismatch between Si and ZnO. Therefore, a modified value of Richardson constant [33.06 Acm −2 K −2 ] has been extracted from the temperature-dependent electrical characteristics after assuming the Gaussian distribution of special barrier height inhomogeneities across the Si/ZnO interface which is close to its theoretical value [32 Acm −2 K −2 ]. This result indicates that regardless of presence of barrier height inmogeneities, ZnO/Si heterojunction diode still hasability to perform well in high temperature environment.

In this paper, structural, electrical and ultraviolet photodetection parameters of RF sputtered-ZnO/Si heterojunction diodes are analyzed. In this work, ZnO thin film was deposited on bare Si substrate as well as Si substrate coated with ultrathin ZnO seed layer to exhibit the effect of seed layer on device performance. AFM image of as-grown ZnO films have exhibited the uniform growth ZnO film over the whole Si substrate with average roughness of 3.2 nm and 2.83 nm for ZnO with and without seed layer respectively. Stronger peak intensity along (002) direction, as shown in XRD spectra confirm that ZnO film grown on ZnO seed layer is having more stable wurtzite structure. Ti/Al point contacts were deposited on top of the ZnO film and a layer of Al was deposited on bottom of Si substrate for using as ohmic contacts for further device characterization at dark and under UV light of 365 nm wavelength. This process is repeated for both the films sequentially. The photo-responsivity of our proposed devices is calculated as 0.34 A/W for seed layer-mediated devices and 0.26 A/W for devices without seed layer. These values are very high as compare to the reported value of photo-responsivity for same kind of ZnO/Si heterojunction device prototypes prepared by other techniques.

Mechanized room-and-pillar system of coal pillar mining using side dump loading machine or load haul dumper machine, or by continuous miner, is the presently most dominant underground method of extraction in India. Under this method of extraction, strata control is a major problem affecting safety and productivity of the mine. As per existing Director General of Mine Safety guidelines, systematic support rules must be followed at the depillaring faces irrespective of immediate roof rock type and competency. Therefore, there is a high chance that sometimes these systematic support rules give unnecessarily high support, or sometimes inadequate support, which may lead to roof failure at the face. As a result, there is a big loss of life and material including coal in terms of left-out ribs/stooks and other associated mining equipment deployed at the faces. Therefore, in the present paper, authors attempted to develop generalized empirical equations for estimating the required support load density at different places of the face based on geotechnical parameters of the mine and physico-mechanical properties of the immediate roof rocks for designing of support system during mechanized coal pillar mining.

Summary Emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN) is a rare necrotizing infection of renal parenchyma and/or urinary tract caused by gas producing organisms more commonly associated with diabetes mellitus. It has life threatening potential primarily due to septicemia and multiorgan failure and often requires nephrectomy. We report three patients with EPN who were managed with medical treatment and nephrostomy.