Current Status of Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography in Japan

ASET, Association of Super- advanced Electronics Technologies, has been taking the initiative in developing EUV lithography technology in Japan for the past three years. The aspherical mirror metrology using a visible light point diffraction interferometer (PDI), the wave-front measurement using an at - wavelength PDI, and an at-wavelength reflectometry for multilayers, various imaging simulations, multilayer coatings for the mask, the development of absorber materials for mask patterning, the mask substrate cleaning technique, and various photoresist processes have been developed. The visible light PDI employs a 0.5 -μm pinhole as an aperture to generate an ideal spherical wave-front and can measure a 0.3 - N A mirror maximum. The at - wavelength PDI can measure the wave-front error of the projection optics. The at- wavelength reflectometer can measure the reflectivity of multilayers and the round - robin test is taking place among ASET, the ALS in Lawrence Berkeley, and BESSY in Germany.The mask cleaning technique employs a supersonic hydro- cleaning technique. We have confirmed that the single layer resists can be used for EUV lithography.     

Changes in adenine nucleotide and mitochondrial metabolism of the kidney of burned rats and their relation to insulin

In rats with third-degree burns, the blood glucose level increased remarkably, with a concomitant suppression of insulin secretion from the pancreas after an oral glucose load. The energy charge (ATP + 1/2 ADP/ATP + ADP + AMP) levels of the kidney decreased to 0.659 as compared with 0.858 of controls at 8 hr after the burn (p less than 0.001). The phosphorylative activity of the kidney mitochondria fell to one third of controls at 8 hr after the burn (p less than 0.001), and that of heart mitochondria decreased to approximately 70% (p less than 0.005); the fall in liver and brain was less remarkable. The decrease in mitochondrial phosphorylative activity was accompanied by a reduction in the respiratory control ratio, P/O ratio, and state 3 respiration. The concentrations of cytochrome a(+a3) in the kidney mitochondria decreased to 69.9% of controls at 8 hr after the burn (p less than 0.001), those of cytochrome b to 82.6%, and those of cytochrome c + c1 to 75.3% (p less than 0.001). The decreased energy charge and oxidative phosphorylation of the kidney in burned rats were remarkably restored by subcutaneous administration of insulin. It is suggested that a reduction in insulin secretion from the pancreas may play an important role in initiating an impairment of adenine nucleotide and mitochondrial metabolism of the kidney.     

Purification and identification of lactoperoxidase in milk basic proteins as an inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis

A milk protein fraction with alkaline isoelectric points (milk basic protein, MBP) inhibits both bone resorption and osteoclastogenesis for in vitro models. We previously identified bovine angiogenin as a component of MBP that inhibits bone resorption. However, purified angiogenin had no effect on osteoclastogenesis, suggesting that MBP contains unidentified component(s) that inhibit osteoclast formation. In this study, we purified lactoperoxidase (LPO) as the predominant inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis in MBP. The LPO treatment downregulated levels of reactive oxygen species in osteoclasts. Signaling by receptor activator of NF-kappa-B ligand/receptor activator of NF-kappa-B (RANKL/RANK) was downregulated in LPO-treated cells, and, in particular, the ubiquitination of tumor necrosis factor receptor associate factor 6 (TRAF6) and activation of downstream signaling cascades (JNK, p38, ERK, and NFκB) were suppressed. Ultimately, LPO treatment led to decreased expression of c-Fos and NFAT2. These results suggest that MBP contains at least 2 components that independently suppress bone resorption through a unique mechanism: angiogenin inhibits bone resorption and LPO inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation. These data explain many of the positive aspects of milk consumption on bone health.     

Retiming and reshaping function of all-optical clock extraction at 160 Gb/s in monolithic mode-locked laser diode

Retiming and reshaping behaviors in an all-optical clock extraction operation at 160 Gb/s using a monolithic 160-GHz mode-locked laser diode was investigated in detail. The investigation of the basic clock extraction performance revealed that the clock extraction was stable against the input of data signals with a long zero sequence and with a poor extinction ratio. The clock extraction performance when the input data had random intensity and timing fluctuations was also discussed. We revealed that the generated clock pulse train absorbed well the intensity and timing fluctuations of the input data. Stable clock extraction remained even when the input data had 25% of the peak-intensity fluctuations. A timing jitter reduction from 0.85 to 0.32 ps was also achieved. The detailed investigation in the frequency-domain analysis of the jitter spectra revealed that the timing jitter reduction originated from the short-term stability of the slave 160-GHz mode-locked laser diode.     

Pediatric onychomycosis treated with oral antifungal drugs

A compact, high-resolution, laser-plasma, x-ray contact microscopy method using a table-top Nd:glass laser system has been developed. This x-ray microscopy system was applied for the observation of macrophage ultrastructures. These images were produced using proximity imaging in which a 5-ns pulse of soft x-rays with wavelengths near and inside the water windows (23A-44A) produced by the laser-plasma were absorbed by the specimen and then registered on a photo resist. The x-ray images imprinted on the photo resist were then developed and analyzed with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Mouse thioglycollate-elicited peritoneal macrophages in suspension were examined by this new x-ray microscope. The x-ray images of the macrophages were compared with those observed by conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The x-ray images showed no obvious organelles, including the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum, as can be seen with TEM, but high- and low-contrast structures caused by mass distribution of carbon were observed. Thus, using the x-ray microscopy we visualized the first x-ray images of macrophage ultrastructures. The successful x-ray imaging of macrophage ultrastructure indicates that proximity x-ray microscopy may be of value in studying physiology linked to the dynamics of a cell.     

The effect of the molecular structure of a cationic azo dye on the photoinduced intercalation of phenol in a montmorillonite

The effect of the molecular structure of a cationic azo dye on the photoinduced intercalation of phenol into the azo dye-montmorillonites was reported. Two types of cationic azo dyes were used; one has (2-hydroxyethyl)dimethylammonium group (AZ(OH)⁺), and the other has trimethylammonium group (AZ(CH₃)⁺). Phenol was intercalated into both cation exchanged azo dye-montmorillonites (Kunipia F) by mechanical mixing without solvent. By the UV irradiation, the basal spacings increased further, and subsequent visible light irradiation led to decrease the basal spacings, indicating the intercalation and the deintercalation of phenol by the UV and visible light, respectively. The amounts of the phenol intercalated both chemically and photochemically varied depending on the azobenzene cations, showing the interactions between the cationic head group and phenol.     

The potential of the gyrotrons for development of the sub-terahertz and the terahertz frequency range — A review of novel and prospective applications

Some recent advancements in the development of powerful high frequency gyrotrons that generate coherent radiation in the sub-terahertz and terahertz regions of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as their typical and novel applications are presented and discussed.     

A 40-Gb/s CMOS clocked comparator with bandwidth modulation technique

A differential comparator that can sample 40-Gb/s signals and that operates off a single 1.2-V supply was designed and fabricated in 0.11-/spl mu/m standard CMOS technology. It consists of a front-end sampler, a regenerative stage, and a clocked amplifier to provide a small aperture time and a high toggle rate. The clocked amplifier employs a bandwidth modulation technique that switches the feedback gain to reduce the reset time while keeping the effective gain high. We confirmed that the comparator receives a 40-Gb/s data stream at a toggle rate of 10 GHz with bit error rate less than 10/sup -12/ by laboratory measurements.     

Application of heat shock protein assay and proteome assay to water from wastewater treatment plant.

In this study we applied bioassay using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells with a heat shock protein (HSP) 47 promoter to the effluent of the wastewater treatment plants in Sapporo and we observed the statistically significant HSP production. This implied the effluent contained some organic matter which can stress the CHO cells. To investigate the possible causes of the toxicity of the effluent, we applied the assay to the rejected water from the sludge treatment plant, the mixtures of sewage and rejected water. The evolution of HSP production during the aerobic decay process and thickening process of sludge was also examined. These assay results showed that dissolved microbial products generated and/or released from activated sludge during its decay process in the aeration tank and during thickening and dewatering process in the sludge treatment train contributed to develop HSP production. The proteomics analysis was also applied to the effluent and detected the production of elongation factor 1beta. This result implies that the effluent from wastewater treatment plants may cause changes in cell proteins involved in allergic reaction.     

Non-equilibrium Green’s function method for modeling quantum electron transport in nano-scale devices with anisotropic multiband structure

Aggressive scaling of devices has reduced device dimensions into nanometer scale in which the single-band effective mass model is inadequate to simulate quantum transport in such devices. Thus it motivates the use of more realistic full band structures in quantum transport simulations. In this study we perform the analysis of multiband quantum transport in nanoscale devices based on a non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism coupled self-consistently with the Poisson equation. The empirical nearest neighbor sp ³ s ^* tight binding approximation (TBA), where the couplings among atomic orbitals of the host crystal are taken into account, is employed to obtain a realistic multiband structure. The effects of non-parabolic bandstructure as well as anisotropic features of Si are studied and analyzed. Our multiband simulation results on potential and current profiles show significant differences, especially in higher applied bias, with those of conventional effective mass model where only parabolic singleband is considered in the simulation.