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BACKGROUND As the importance of electrical personal health records (ePHR)-based platform for chronic disease management is emphasized, common data elements (CDE) developed to collect data with standardized protocols are emerging. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the diseases that continuity of care and long-term follow-up are important. Self-engagement and management using ePHR can be useful in improving CKD related outcomes. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to identify and characterize the CDE for non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. METHODS Consensus recommendations for CKD-CDE were developed by reviewing previously established articles, existing registries for non-dialysis CKD, and consensus on various variables that nephrologists check when treating CKD patients. For the compliance method with a standard model for the CKD-CDE, we used the ASTM continuity of care record and ISO/IEC 11179. The created metadata of the CDE-CKD was changed into the database upon being verified according to the ASTM CCR/XML schema. This DialysisNET-CKD (DNET-CKD) was created as an iPad application. RESULTS The CKD-CDE was categorized as patient-level and healthcare provider-level data elements. Especially, patient-level data included self-check elements, which need patients’ self-reports, and elements that can be automatically using wearable monitoring devices and electronic personal health records. CKD-CDEs from this study were implemented in the DNET-CKD with a focus on visualization, graphics, images, statistics, and database so that both patients and physicians can easily find them. CONCLUSIONS The recommended variables of DialysisNET-CKD have been compiled from a wide range of history, demographics, laboratory tests, and outcomes. We hope that these developed CDEs will facilitate the integration and manage data from both patients and hospitals, and help patients' awareness and providers' decision-making.

Previous literature posits that CEOs with inside debt holdings are more likely to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) since they respond to bondholders’ demands as their appetite for risk decreases. This study examines whether a CEO’s risk concerns moderate the effect of CEO inside debt holdings on the firm’s CSR performance. We find that the positive relationship between CEO inside debt and CSR is weakened when CEOs are close to retirement, or when firms face less product market competition within their respective industries. Our results also suggest that the effect of CEO inside debt, as well as the moderating effect of CEO retirement and low competition, differs between internal and external stakeholder CSR. Furthermore, we find that the moderating effect of CEO retirement is strongly supported in propensity score matching analysis and alternative model specification, whereas that of low competition is weakly supported. Overall, this study has important policy implications for board members, managers, investors, and regulators as it highlights that CEOs’ compensation structure and risk concerns can be determinants of corporate sustainability policies.

This study investigates whether a target firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance creates value for shareholders. Our results indicate that target CSR performance that is stronger than that of the acquirer firm yields higher premiums for target shareholders. In addition, the positive valuation effect of CSR is more pronounced when well‐governed acquirers conduct the takeover. Our evidence is robust to several sensitivity tests. These results imply that favorable market reactions to the target's CSR are due to the market expectation that well‐governed acquirers reward the target's shareholders with a fair CSR value in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. Consistent with the stakeholder theory that maximizes stakeholder value, investing in CSR creates value in M&A transactions.

Traditional studies show that CEOs’ overconfidence can mitigate underinvestment problem that occurs due to risk-aversion. To extend this argument, we investigate whether investment by overconfident...

Genetic differences may be associated with the response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In this study, we identified genetic alterations between rapid and slow responders (BCR/ABL1 International Scale at 6 months: ≤0.1 % vs. 0.1 %) of TKI treatment in chronic phase CML patients. Our analyses involved single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), a Genome Wide Association Study and a Network-wide Association Study (NetWAS). Seventy-two patients from 16 institutions were enrolled and treated with a TKI, nilotinib. Gene Set Analysis identified genetic alterations in pathways related to the differentiation, proliferation, and activity of various innate immune cells. The NetWAS analysis found that genes associated with natural killer (NK) cells (PTPRCAP, BLNK, HCK, ARHGEF11, GPR183, TRPV2, SHKBP1, CD2) showed significant differences between rapid and slow responders of nilotinib. However, we found no significantly different genetic alterations according to the response in the SNP analysis. In conclusion, we found that rapidity of response to TKI was associated with pathway-associated genetic alterations in immune cells, particularly with respect to NK cell activity. These results suggested that the innate immune system at initial diagnosis had an important role in treatment response in patients with CML.

Background The Health Avatar Platform provides a mobile health environment with interconnected patient Avatars, physician apps, and intelligent agents (termed IoA3) for data privacy and participatory medicine; however, its fully decentralized architecture has come at the expense of decentralized data management and data provenance. Objective The introduction of blockchain and smart contract technologies to the legacy Health Avatar Platform with a clinical metadata registry remarkably strengthens decentralized health data integrity and immutable transaction traceability at the corresponding data-element level in a privacy-preserving fashion. A crypto-economy ecosystem was built to facilitate secure and traceable exchanges of sensitive health data. Methods The Health Avatar Platform decentralizes patient data in appropriate locations (ie, on patients’ smartphones and on physicians’ smart devices). We implemented an Ethereum-based hash chain for all transactions and smart contract–based processes to guarantee decentralized data integrity and to generate block data containing transaction metadata on-chain. Parameters of all types of data communications were enumerated and incorporated into 3 smart contracts, in this case, a health data transaction manager, a transaction status manager, and an application programming interface transaction manager. The actual decentralized health data are managed in an off-chain manner on appropriate smart devices and authenticated by hashed metadata on-chain. Results Metadata of each data transaction are captured in a Health Avatar Platform blockchain node by the smart contracts. We provide workflow diagrams each of the 3 use cases of data push (from a physician app or an intelligent agents to a patient Avatar), data pull (request to a patient Avatar by other entities), and data backup transactions. Each transaction can be finely managed at the corresponding data-element level rather than at the resource or document levels. Hash-chained metadata support data element–level verification of data integrity in subsequent transactions. Smart contracts can incentivize transactions for data sharing and intelligent digital health care services. Conclusions Health Avatar Platform and interconnected patient Avatars, physician apps, and intelligent agents provide a decentralized blockchain ecosystem for health data that enables trusted and finely tuned data sharing and facilitates health value-creating transactions with smart contracts.

This study examines convertible bond issue announcement effects in Korea from 2000 to 2015. Our empirical results show that convertible bond issues have significantly positive cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around the announcement. In particular, issuing firms that state capital expenditure as the use of proceeds have significantly higher CARs compared to firms that state other purposes. We find that such firms actually increase their expenses for capital expenditure after offering convertibles, and suggest that the market reacts positively to these issues due to the high expectation of investment in the near future. We also find consistent results using propensity score matching to address potential endogeneity concerns. In addition, we find that CARs are more likely to be positive for smaller firms where asymmetric information occurs more from the new investment opportunities than from the assets-in-place, which is consistent with the generalized Myers-Majluf model. Overall, our empirical results suggest that the key factors of convertible bond announcement effects in Korea are the stated use of proceeds as capital expenditure and the asymmetric information effect from investment opportunities.

Ultra-deep sequencing detects low-frequency genetic mutations with high sensitivity. We used this approach to prospectively examine mutations in the BCR/ABL1 tyrosine kinase from patients with newly diagnosed, chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor nilotinib. Between May 2013 and November 2014, 50 patients from 18 institutions were enrolled in the study. We screened 103 somatic mutations and found that mutations in the P-loop domain were the most frequent (173/454 mutations in the P-loop) and noted the presence of the V299 L mutation (dasatinib-resistant/nilotinib-sensitive) in 98 % of patients (49/50). No patients had Y253H, E255 V, or F359 V/C/I mutations, which would recommend dasatinib rather than nilotinib treatment. The S417Y mutation was associated with lower achievement of a major molecular response (MMR) at 6 months, and the V371A mutation was associated with reduced MMR and MR4.5 durations (MMR for 2 years: 100 % for no mutation vs. 75 % for mutation, P=0.039; MR4.5 for 15 months: 94.1 % vs. 25 %, P=0.002). Patients with known nilotinib-resistant mutations had lower rates of MR4.5 achievement. In conclusion, ultra-deep sequencing is a sensitive method for genetic-based treatment decisions. Based on the results of these mutational analyses, nilotinib treatment is a promising option for Korean patients with CML.

BACKGROUND The Health Avatar Platform provides a mobile health environment with interconnected patient Avatars, physician apps, and intelligent agents (termed IoA3) for data privacy and participatory medicine; however, its fully decentralized architecture has come at the expense of decentralized data management and data provenance. OBJECTIVE The introduction of blockchain and smart contract technologies to the legacy Health Avatar Platform with a clinical metadata registry remarkably strengthens decentralized health data integrity and immutable transaction traceability at the corresponding data-element level in a privacy-preserving fashion. A crypto-economy ecosystem was built to facilitate secure and traceable exchanges of sensitive health data. METHODS The Health Avatar Platform decentralizes patient data in appropriate locations (ie, on patients’ smartphones and on physicians’ smart devices). We implemented an Ethereum-based hash chain for all transactions and smart contract–based processes to guarantee decentralized data integrity and to generate block data containing transaction metadata on-chain. Parameters of all types of data communications were enumerated and incorporated into 3 smart contracts, in this case, a health data transaction manager, a transaction status manager, and an application programming interface transaction manager. The actual decentralized health data are managed in an off-chain manner on appropriate smart devices and authenticated by hashed metadata on-chain. RESULTS Metadata of each data transaction are captured in a Health Avatar Platform blockchain node by the smart contracts. We provide workflow diagrams each of the 3 use cases of data push (from a physician app or an intelligent agents to a patient Avatar), data pull (request to a patient Avatar by other entities), and data backup transactions. Each transaction can be finely managed at the corresponding data-element level rather than at the resource or document levels. Hash-chained metadata support data element–level verification of data integrity in subsequent transactions. Smart contracts can incentivize transactions for data sharing and intelligent digital health care services. CONCLUSIONS Health Avatar Platform and interconnected patient Avatars, physician apps, and intelligent agents provide a decentralized blockchain ecosystem for health data that enables trusted and finely tuned data sharing and facilitates health value-creating transactions with smart contracts.

To lead the world's fifth-generation mobile communication networks (5G) market, China introduced several policies to support 5G industry development that will impact telecommunication operators, the main implementers in this industry. Thus, this study examines the impact of the government's 5G policy announcements on telecommunication operators' firm value in China, where the state exerts a strong influence on industry development. We find that government policy announcement in general affects telecommunication operators' stock returns negatively, and when the government announces policies with a higher level of interference, the decline in firm value is more pronounced. To understand the comprehensive impact of 5G technology on telecommunication operators, we also examine the effect of institution-driven corporate technology R&D and investment activities on firm value. We find that the firms' 5G activities also decrease their firm value, and this effect is more significant than government policy announcements. These results imply that the market has a negative evaluation of the introduction of 5G technology due to its immaturity and uncertainty. This study provides a basis for understanding the market's views on 5G technology and development policies.

This study focuses on terrorist attacks as exogenous shocks on business uncertainty, specifically whether terrorist attacks affect the value of a firm's cash holdings. We find that firms with excess cash have higher cash holding values when a terrorist attack occurs near their locations; these results also hold for the excess stock returns of firms that increased their cash holdings. Furthermore, the results strengthen when firms face more financial constraints, fewer agency conflicts, and better investment opportunities. Overall, this study suggests that cash is a more valuable asset under the circumstance with high uncertainty such as terrorist attacks.

In light of recent developments in genomic technology and the rapid accumulation of genomic information, a major transition toward precision medicine is anticipated. However, the clinical applications of genomic information remain limited. This lag can be attributed to several complex factors, including the knowledge gap between medical experts and bioinformaticians, the distance between bioinformatics workflows and clinical practice, and the unique characteristics of genomic data, which can make interpretation difficult. Here we present a novel genomic data model that allows for more interactive support in clinical decision-making. Informational modelling was used as a basis to design a communication scheme between sophisticated bioinformatics predictions and the representative data relevant to a clinical decision. This study was conducted by a multidisciplinary working group who carried out clinico-genomic workflow analysis and attribute extraction, through Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Based on those results, a clinical genome data model (cGDM) was developed with 8 entities and 46 attributes. The cGDM integrates reliability-related factors that enable clinicians to access the reliability problem of each individual genetic test result as clinical evidence. The proposed cGDM provides a data-layer infrastructure supporting the intellectual interplay between medical experts and informed decision-making.

Post-deposition annealing (PDA) was used to improve gate oxide physical and electrical properties. Deposition was accomplished by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). We investigated the densification silicon dioxide (SiO2) formed by PEALD on 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) using PDA without oxidation and nitridation. PDA was conducted at 400–1200 °C in argon (Ar) ambient. The thickness of the SiO2 was reduced by up to 13.5% after Ar PDA at 1000 °C. As the temperature of the Ar PDA increased, the etching rate of SiO2 decreased. At temperatures greater than 1000 °C, the SiO2 etching rate was low compared with that of thermal SiO2. After PDA, the SiO2/4H-SiC interface was smoother than that of thermal SiO2/4H-SiC. The current density versus oxide field and capacitance versus voltage of the SiO2/4H-SiC metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors were measured. Sufficient densification of SiO2 formed by PEALD on 4H-SiC was obtained using Ar PDA at 1200 °C.

Although nilotinib has improved efficacy compared to imatinib, suboptimal response and intolerable adverse events (AEs) limit its effectiveness in many patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML‐CP). We investigated the 2‐year efficacy and safety of nilotinib and their relationships with plasma nilotinib concentrations (PNCs). In this open‐label, multi‐institutional phase 4 study, 110 Philadelphia chromosome‐positive CML‐CP patients were treated with nilotinib at a starting dose of 300 mg twice daily. Molecular responses (MRs) and AEs were monitored for up to 24 months. The 24‐month cumulative MR 4.5 rate was evaluated as the primary endpoint. Plasma samples were collected from 94 patients to determine PNCs, and the per‐patient mean was used to categorize them into four mean PNC (MPNC) groups. Cumulative MR rates and safety were compared between groups. With a median follow‐up of 22.2 months, the 24‐month cumulative MR 4.5 rate was 56.2% (95% confidence interval, 44.0%–8.3%), and the median time to MR 4.5 was 23.3 months. There were no significant differences in the cumulative rates of major molecular response, MR 4, and MR 4.5 between MPNC groups. One patient died due to acute viral hepatitis, and two developed hematological or cytogenetic relapse, while no progression to accelerated or blast phase was observed. Safety results were consistent with previous studies with no new safety signal identified. Across the MPNC groups, there was no significant linear trend in the frequency of AEs. Nilotinib is highly effective for the treatment of CML‐CP with manageable AEs. The measurement of PNC has no predictive value for patient outcomes and is thus not found to be clinically useful. This study is registered with clinicaltrials.gov, Number NCT03332511.

Reactive sputtering followed by N2, NH3, O2, and NO post-deposition annealing (PDA) of SiO2 on 4H-SiC was investigated in this study. The results of ellipsometry, an etching test, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy showed that N2 and NH3 PDA nitrified the SiO2. Devices using N2 and NH3 PDA exhibited a high gate leakage current and low breakdown field due to oxygen vacancies and incomplete oxynitride. SiO2/4H-SiC MOS capacitors were also fabricated and their electrical characteristics measured. The average breakdown fields of the devices using N2, NH3, O2, and NO PDA were 0.12, 0.17, 4.71 and 2.63 MV/cm, respectively. The shifts in the flat-band voltage after O2 and NO PDA were 0.95 and −2.56 V, respectively, compared with the theoretical value. The extracted effective oxide charge was −4.11 × 1011 cm−2 for O2 PDA and 1.11 × 1012 cm−2 for NO PDA. NO PDA for 2 h at 1200 °C shifted the capacitance–voltage curve in the negative direction. The oxygen containing PDA showed better electrical properties than non-oxygen PDA. The sputtering method described can be applied to 4H-SiC MOS fabrication.

This study examines the impact of terrorist attacks on total factor productivity (TFP). Using measures of attack proximity in the U.S., we find strong evidence that terrorist attacks overall reduce firm-level TFP. Specifically, the firms located near terrorist attacks experience a nearly 3.4% TFP decrease in standard deviation units. Our evidence is robust to a battery of additional tests, and the impact of terrorist attacks on TFP is more pronounced for high-competition industries and firms with high tangibility.

In situ H2 etching and homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC were performed on on-axis Si-face substrates using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. We investigated the effect of various etching temperatures and durations on the surface of the on-axis substrates and used optimized etching characteristics to enhance the polytype stability of the epitaxial layer. It was found that the micro-steps at the etched surface of the on-axis substrates play a vital role in enhancing the stability of the 4H-SiC polytype. Homoepitaxial 4H-SiC with up to 99% stability was successfully grown with spread-out micro-steps without step-bunching during the etching process.

Background Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) is an exact method of measurement in cancer research. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate minimal residual disease (MRD) using ddPCR in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We also evaluated treatment outcome depending on BCR/ABL1 transcript level using ddPCR. Methods Between May 2013 and November 2014, CML patients treated with nilotinib as the first-line therapy were enrolled. BCR/ABL1 transcripts levels were evaluated using ddPCR at the first time of complete molecular response (CMR). CMR was verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results We enrolled 15 patients from 7 institutions. The treatment period and median follow-up period were 45 months (range, 37–55 months) and 47 months (range, 39–61 months), respectively. The median value of BCR/ABL1 measured by ddPCR was 3.6 copies/20 μl (range, 1.2–6.8 copies/20 μl). Patients with a high level of BCR/ABL1 transcript had a greater tendency to lose the CMR during the follow-up period (0/10 (0%) for low levels vs. 2/5 (40%) for high levels, P = 0.095). In addition, patients with a low level of BCR/ABL1 transcript showed a longer duration of CMR than those with a high level (rate of sustained CMR at 2 years: 100% for low levels vs. 37.5% for high levels, P = 0.032). Conclusions We found that ddPCR is a sensitive method for detecting MRD and that MRD could affect the duration of the treatment response. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Various cosmetics, medicines, and light and laser treatments have been increasingly developed to improve pigmentary skin alterations such as melasma, actinic lentigo and dyschromia. To determine the efficacy of these modalities in view of the changes in pigmentation, an objective and reliable device that has a comparable performance to that of physicians is required. We developed a novel photography-based skin pigmentation evaluation system and validated its accuracy and reliability with a newly proposed method.A novel photography-based system was developed that integrates a consistent photography setting and image processing diagnostic algorithms. To automatically detect areas of pigmentation, the diagnostic algorithms were applied to photographs, which were obtained from 31 female patients. To validate its performance in comparison with the physicians' evaluation, five dermatologists independently evaluated the area of pigmentation. The clinical consensus area of pigmentation (CCAP) was calculated based on the consensus of five dermatologists' to exclude subjectivity or bias, and it was compared with the pigmentation area determined by the system.Forty-four photographs with pigmented areas were evaluated by the system and the physicians. In contrast to the individual physician assessments, CCAP reduced the error that occurred due to subjectivity and bias, particularly for areas with indistinct pigmentation, and it was set as the gold standard. The results from the system showed a mean accuracy of 92.1% and a standard deviation of 4.6% in comparison with CCAP.This pigmentation evaluation system can reproduce the physicians' consensus, suggesting that this system can support the dermatologists' objective evaluation of pigmentation.

The composition-dependent structural and electrical properties of SnOx films prepared by means of reactive DC sputtering at various oxygen partial pressures (PO) and post-heat treatment temperatures (TA) were investigated, toward these films' potential use in p-channel oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). A SnOx film fabricated under the lowest studied PO of 4% and heat-treated at 210 °C consisted of dendritic phases and irregular protrusions of metallic Sn. The resulting p-channel SnOx thin-film transistors suffered from marginal field effect mobility (μFE) and low on/off current ratio (ION/OFF), suggesting that the imperfect phases caused by oxygen-deficient stoichiometry hinder hole carrier conduction and act as bulk trap states. The heterogeneous structures observed in SnOx films annealed at 210 °C could be eliminated by increasing PO during fabrication. The resulting TFTs based on p-type SnOx films prepared at the high PO of 8% showed high mobilities up to 2.8 cm2 V−1 s−1 and reasonable ION/OFF of approximately 103, demonstrating the critical role of these films' homogeneous ordered aggregates without any imperfect phases such as a dendritic phase or irregular protrusions of metallic Sn. Among TFTs based on the films fabricated under 8% PO, the μFE and ION/OFF performance metrics degraded with increasing TA from 210 to 300 °C, which was mainly related to the 2SnO → SnO2 + Sn disproportionation reaction.

aDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Inter-university Semiconductor Research Center (ISRC), Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea bDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA cDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA dDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, and Optoelectronics Convergence Research Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea

Although GaAs is one of the most attractive channel materials for achieving high electron mobility, reduction of the interface state is still required for high quality MOS devices. In this paper, thermal oxidation under two pressures and various temperatures, and subsequent HF etching were performed to deactivate the interfacial states of the Al2O3/GaAs stack. High pressure oxidation (HPO) at 10 atm and 400 °C resulted in substantial improvement in the C–V frequency dispersion characteristics whereas the deactivation effect of the interfacial trap density under the thermal oxidations at 1 atm was not observed irrespective of the thermal oxidation temperature, ranging from 400 to 550 °C. Strong disparity between pressure and temperature was elucidated based on the existence of an efficient As excess layer and the prevention of unwanted Ga oxidation.

This study examines the announcement effect of convertible bond issue in Korea where the issuance of convertible bonds is increasing rapidly. We find that abnormal stock returns are positive for the firms with unusual high trading volume using a sample of listed firms in Korea Stock Exchange during 2000-2015. Moreover, we show that unusual high volume around convertibles issue announcement has positive correlation with capital expenditure when firm has valuable investment opportunities. Therefore, more favorable announcement returns are driven by capital expenditure decisions and the quality of investment opportunities. In the same sense, the impact of cash flow also depends on the issuer’s quality of investment opportunities. Additionally, we confirm that issuing convertibles has negative signaling effect that stock of issuer is overvalued, and the issuer’s volatility has negative impact around announcement date.

This study examined the effects of the chamber pressure, radio frequency power and oxygen flow ratio during channel deposition on the performance and photobias stability of zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin film transistors (TFTs). The densification of the ZTO thin film allowed the improvement in the field-effect mobility and the suppression in the negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) instability of the resulting TFTs simultaneously, irrespective of the specific process condition. The porosity in the ZTO channel layer was shown to prevent the effective intercalation of the Sn 5s orbital and, thus, deteriorate the field-effect mobility. Furthermore, the increased effective surface area in the porous ZTO film adversely affected the NBIS stability of the resulting TFTs because the porosity-related surface states and oxygen vacancy defects provide the hole trapping centers and the delocalized electron free carrier, respectively. Therefore, the densification of ZTO channel layer is a key factor for the high mobility and good photobias stability of the TFTs. This concept can be applicable for any metal-oxide-TFTs.

The oxygen ratio-dependent device performance and reliability of zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) were examined. ZTO TFTs fabricated under pure Ar conditions exhibited a high saturation mobility of 21.5 ${\rm cm}^{2}/{\rm Vs}$ , low subthreshold gate swing of 0.34 V/decade, and high $I_{{\scriptstyle{\rm ON}}/{\scriptstyle{\rm OFF}}}$ ratio $(10^{9})$ , whereas modest mobility of 7.3 ${\rm cm}^{2}/{\rm Vs}$ was obtained for the ZTO TFTs prepared at an oxygen ratio $[{\rm R}={\rm O}_{2}/({\rm Ar}+{\rm O}_{2})]$ of 0.3. The photobias stability $(\Delta V_{\rm th}\approx-2.0~{\rm V})$ of the ZTO TFTs under the Ar only condition was much better than that $(\Delta V_{\rm th}\approx-5.9~{\rm V})$ of the device at $R$ of 0.3, even though their channel layers contained the larger density of oxygen vacancies. This abnormal behavior was attributed to the compressive stress of ZTO films retarding the phototransition of oxygen vacancies.

The effect of sweeping direction on the capacitance–voltage (C–V) behavior of sputtered SiO2/4H-silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide semiconductor capacitors was investigated. Nitric oxide post-deposition annealing was conducted for the sputtered SiO2 on 4H-SiC. The sweeping direction of the measurement changed the C–V behavior and effective oxide charge density (Q eff) because of trapped electrons at the accumulation and detrapped electrons at the depletion. The nitrogen atoms near interface between SiO2 and 4H-SiC as a result of nitric oxide post-deposition annealing shifted the flat-band voltage in the negative direction. When the C–V was measured from depletion to accumulation, the absolute value of the Q eff after 60 min long annealing, 3.465 × 1010 cm−2 was less than that of the Q eff after 30 min long annealing, −2.912 × 1011 cm−2. The mechanisms of the nitric oxide post-deposition annealing on sputtered SiO2 on 4H-SiC are film densification and nitrogen passivation of the defects.