Spontaneous oscillations and negative-conductance transitions in microfluidic networks

The tendency for flows in microfluidic systems to behave linearly poses challenges for designing integrated flow control schemes to carry out complex fluid processing tasks. This hindrance precipitated the use of numerous external control devices to manipulate flows, thereby thwarting the potential scalability and portability of lab-on-a-chip technology. Here, we devise a microfluidic network exhibiting nonlinear flow dynamics that enable new mechanisms for on-chip flow control. This network is shown to exhibit oscillatory output patterns, bistable flow states, hysteresis, signal amplification, and negative-conductance transitions, all without reliance on dedicated external control hardware, movable parts, flexible components, or oscillatory inputs. These dynamics arise from nonlinear fluid inertia effects in laminar flows that we amplify and harness through the design of the network geometry. These results, which are supported by theory and simulations, have the potential to inspire development of new built-in control capabilities, such as on-chip timing and synchronized flow patterns.

Simulation on Large Signal and Noise Properties of (n)Si/(p)SiC Heterostructural IMPATT Diodes

Si/SiC heterostructural impact avalanche transit time (IMPATT) diode indicates of important applications in Terahertz (THz) power source, integrated circuit etc. In this paper, the (n)Si/(p)4H-SiC, (n)Si/(p)6H-SiC, (n)Si/(p)3C-SiC heterostructural double drift region IMPATT diodes operating at the atmospheric window frequency of 0.85 THz are designed by the drift-diffusion model while their static state, large signal and noise properties are numerically simulated. The performance parameters of the studied devices such as breakdown voltage, peak electric field strength, optimal negative conductance, output power, power conversion efficiency, admittance-frequency relation, quality factor, noise electric field, mean-square noise voltage per band-width and noise measure were calculated and compared. This method can guide for optimizing the Si/SiC heterostructural IMPATT device in the future.

Robust and tunable bursting requires slow positive feedback

We highlight that the robustness and tunability of a bursting model critically rely on currents that provide slow positive feedback to the membrane potential. Such currents have the ability to make the total conductance of the circuit negative in a timescale that is termed “slow” because it is intermediate between the fast timescale of the spike upstroke and the ultraslow timescale of even slower adaptation currents. We discuss how such currents can be assessed either in voltage-clamp experiments or in computational models. We show that, while frequent in the literature, mathematical and computational models of bursting that lack the slow negative conductance are fragile and rigid. Our results suggest that modeling the slow negative conductance of cellular models is important when studying the neuromodulation of rhythmic circuits at any broader scale. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Nervous system functions rely on the modulation of neuronal activity between different rhythmic patterns. The mechanisms of this modulation are still poorly understood. Using computational modeling, we show the critical role of currents that provide slow negative conductance, distinct from the fast negative conductance necessary for spike generation. The significance of the slow negative conductance for neuromodulation is often overlooked, leading to computational models that are rigid and fragile.