The influence of packaging materials on RF performance

At frequencies beyond 1 GHz, every component of the IC package contributes to the RF performance, whether required or not. In this work, we study the effects of packaging materials namely, the substrate and the globtop/underfill material on RF performance. We have measured interconnects on two area-array CSPs, the ball grid array and the polymer stud grid array using IMEC’s MCM-D technology. The measurements on the package interconnect show that the losses in the package substrate material account for about 50% of the total losses at 1.8 GHz and this drops to less than 20% at 5.2 GHz. The losses due to impedance mismatch dominate the losses especially below 10 GHz and considerable improvement in performance cannot be obtained by using an improved/expensive substrate. The other study is about the influence of globtop/underfill materials on wirebonds (through 3D EM simulations) as well as on standard 50 Ω MCM-D transmission lines (through experiments). While a higher value of dielectric constant of the globtop/underfill material is better on wirebonds, the influence of loss tangent is felt only above values of 0.1. The influence of seven different globtop/undefill materials on 50 Ω transmission lines has been used to extract their dielectric constant and loss tangent values at 30 GHz. These results are very valuable since one can hardly find the properties of globtop/underfill materials beyond 1 GHz.     

土质边坡稳定分析中条分法与有限元法的比较

对比分析了土质边坡稳定性计算中条分法和有限元法的特点，讨论了在有限元法中边坡稳定系数的计算方法，并针对铜钟水电站库区左岸滑坡分别采用条分法和有限元法研究其稳定性，计算结果表明两种计算方法得到的滑坡稳定系数规律相同，但条分法计算值一般大于有限元值，反映出条分法中部分基本假设与实际情况存在一定差异。     

New insights into the relation between channel hot carrier degradation and oxide breakdown short channel nMOSFETs

In this letter, we report new findings in the relation between channel hot-carrier (CHC) degradation and gate-oxide breakdown (BD) in short-channel nMOSFETS biased at V/sub G/>V/sub D/. We observe that the time-to-BD is strongly reduced in the hot carrier regime and that although the channel hot-electron injection into the oxide occurs mainly at the drain side, stress-induced leakage current (SILC) generation and oxide BD always occur at the source side. The results of these measurements indicate that not solely the energy of the injected electrons but also the oxide electric field is determinant in the oxide BD process.     

Insulin-like growth factor I activates the invasion suppressor function of E-cadherin in MCF-7 human mammary carcinoma cells in vitro

The calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin has been shown to counteract invasion of epithelial neoplastic cells. Using three monoclonal antibodies, we have demonstrated the presence of E-cadherin at the surface of human MCF-7/6 mammary carcinoma cells by indirect immunofluorescence coupled to flow cytometry and by immunocytochemistry. Nevertheless, MCF-7/6 cells failed to aggregate in a medium containing 1.25 mM CaCl2, and they were invasive after confrontation with embryonic chick heart fragments in organ culture. Treatment of MCF-7/6 cells with 0.5 microgram ml-1 insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) led to homotypic aggregation within 5 to 10 min and inhibited invasion in vitro during at least 8 days. The effect of IGF-I on cellular aggregation was insensitive to cycloheximide. However, monoclonal antibodies that interfered with the function of either the IGF-I receptor (alpha IR3) or E-cadherin (HECD-1, MB2) blocked the effect of IGF-I on aggregation. The effects of IGF-I on aggregation and on invasion could be mimicked by 1 microgram ml-1 insulin, but not by 0.5 microgram ml-1 IGF-II. The insulin effects were presumably not mediated by the IGF-I receptor, since they could not be blocked by an antibody against this receptor (alpha IR3). Our results indicate that IGF-I activates the invasion suppressor role of E-cadherin in MCF-7/6 cells.     

The three-dimensional architecture of the mitotic spindle,analyzed by confocal fluorescence and electron microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy techniques have become important tools in mitosis research. The well-known disadvantages of fluorescence microscopy, rapid bleaching, phototoxicity and out-of-focus contributions blurring the in-focus image are obstacles which still need to be overcome. Confocal fluorescence microscopy has the potential to improve our capabilities of analyzing cells, because of its excellent depth-discrimination and image processing power. We have been using a confocal fluorescence microscope for the study of the mechanism of poleward chromosome movement, and report here (1) a cell preparation technique, which allows labeling of fixation sensitive spindle antigens with acceptable microtubule preservation; (2) the use of image processing methods to represent the spatial distribution of various labeled elements in pseudocolour; (3) a novel immunoelectron microscopic labeling method for microtubules, which allows the visualization of their distribution in semithin sections at low magnification; and (4) a first attempt to study microtubule dynamics with a confocal fluorescence microscope in living cells, microinjected with rhodamine labeled tubulin. Our experience indicates that confocal fluorescence microscopy provides real advantages for the study of spatial colocalization of antigens in the mitotic spindle. It does not, however, overcome the basic limits of resolution of the light microscope. Therefore, it has been necessary to use an electron microscopic method. Our preliminary results with living cells show that it is possible to visualize the entire microtubule network in stereo, but that the sensitivity of the instrument is still too low to perform dynamic time studies. It will be worthwhile to further develop this new type of optical instrumentation and explore its usefulness on both fixed and living cells.     

Cimaterol and clenbuterol residue analysis by HPLC-HPTLC in liver.

A method has been developed for the analysis of cimaterol and clenbuterol residues in liver, with detection limits of 0.25 micrograms/kg and 0.5 micrograms/kg, respectively. The recovery varied from 55% to 60%. After extraction, a clean-up procedure with Baker-spe C-18 columns was performed. The two chemical compounds of interest were eluted with methanol. Cimaterol and clenbuterol were quantitatively determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an RP-Select B (5 microns) column and a post-column reaction procedure. The positive results were confirmed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) as this technique reaches the same level of sensitivity as the HPLC method.     

Relation between the cavity detuning and the output opticalintensity in free-electron lasers

The authors use a simple model of saturation in free-electron lasers operating with pulsed beams to study the intensity growth as a function of the cavity mismatch and of the coupling parameter. In spite of the simplicity of the model, the dependence of the intracavity power, as a function of the cavity detuning, is reproduced remarkably well. It is also pointed out that an enhancement of the optical power is obtained by adjusting the cavity length while the optical signal grows. The problem is analyzed qualitatively and realization schemes are proposed     

Very low surface recombination velocities on p-type silicon wafers passivated with a dielectric with fixed negative charge

Surface recombination velocities as low as 10 cm/s have been obtained by treated atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al₂O₃ layers on p-type CZ silicon wafers. Low surface recombination is achieved by means of field induced surface passivation due to a high density of negative charges stored at the interface. In comparison to a diffused back surface field, an external field source allows for higher band bending, that is, a better performance. While this process yields state of the art results, it is not suited for large-scale production. Preliminary results on an industrially viable, alternative process based on a pseudo-binary system containing Al₂O₃ are presented, too. With this process, surface recombination velocities of 500–1000 cm/s have been attained on mc-Si wafers.