Abstract: A solid state plasma monolithic microwave integrated circuit having single or multiple elemental devices with at least three terminals operating within the microwave, millimeter wave or terahertz bands, that can be configured within a parallel plate structure, which solid state plasma monolithic microwave integrated circuit comprises: (i) a semiconductor dielectric substrate (3); (ii) parallel plates (1, 2) which comprise an upper conducting parallel plate (1) and a lower conducting parallel plate (2) and which parallel plates (1, 2) are used to guide an electromagnetic wave; (iii) an isolating trench which is between the parallel plates (1, 2), and which is used to contain a solid state plasma; (iv) a distinct p-doped region and a distinct n-doped region which are within a first semiconductor region defined by the isolating trench below the upper conducting parallel plate (1), and which are connected to two electrical bias terminals, where at least one electrical bias terminal forms a radio frequency short t

Abstract: A solid state plasma monolithic microwave integrated circuit having single or multiple elemental devices with at least three terminals operating within the microwave, millimetre wave or terahertz bands, that can be configured within a parallel plate structure, which solid state plasma monolithic microwave integrated circuit comprises: (i) a semiconductor dielectric substrate (3); (ii) parallel plates (1, 2) which comprise an upper conducting parallel plate (1) and a lower conducting parallel plate (2) and which parallel plates (1, 2) are used to guide an electromagnetic wave; (iii) an isolating trench which is between the parallel plates (1, 2), and which is used to contain a solid state plasma; (iv) a distinct p-doped region and a distinct n-doped region which are within a first semiconductor region defined by the isolating trench below the upper conducting parallel plate (1), and which are connected to two electrical bias terminals, where at least one electrical bias terminal forms a radio frequency short t

Abstract: A solid state electronically steerable antenna can be generated from a sheet of semiconductor material by forming a pattern of localised plasma regions in the sheet, either by injecting carriers into, or by generating carriers in, those localised regions. A suitable solid state plasma antenna can be made from a silicon wafer (10) by first thermally oxidising the surfaces and subjecting the wafer (10) to a high temperature stabilisation process to improve the stoichiometry at the silicon/silica interface, and optionally also performing a low-temperature bake in a gas mixture including hydrogen. This produces a wafer (10) with a long minority carrier lifetime. Regions of the wafer (10) in which plasma may be generated are then defined by reticulation to form isolated regions with high minority carrier lifetime. The resulting discrete regions may be of a size less than 1 mm, for example 0.3 mm.

Abstract: A method of comparing the binding strengths of a plurality of different ligands to a receptor, in which several micro-cantilever structures (10) are coated with the receptor on at least a part of a surface (13) of each micro-cantilever structure (10). Each micro-cantilever structure (10) is then contacted with a different ligand solution, and the amounts by which the micro-cantilever structures deflect are compared. The deflection may be detected by an optical lever (16,18; 28). The micro-cantilever structures (10) may be in the form of an array, each structure (10) being in a respective well (24), to which ligand solutions are added.