The effect of surface roughness on the radiative properties ofpatterned silicon wafers

The radiative properties of patterned silicon wafers have a major impact on the two critical issues in rapid thermal processing (RTP), namely wafer temperature uniformity and wafer temperature measurement. The surface topography variation of the die area caused by patterning and the roughness of the wafer backside can have a significant effect on the radiative properties, but these effects are not well characterized. We report measurements of room temperature reflectance of a memory die, logic die, and various multilayered wafer backsides. The surface roughness of the die areas and wafer backsides is characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). These data are subsequently used to assess the effectiveness of thin film optics in providing approximations for the radiative properties of patterned wafers for RTP applications     

Microfabricated liquid chromatography columns based on collocated monolith support structures

There is great interest today in massively parallel analytical strategies as a way to accelerate the rate of discovery in biological research; among them being 'biochips' and 'laboratories-on-a-chip'. The concept in the 'chip' approach is that minaturization will allow large numbers of operations to be performed in parallel in a small space, as in electronics. Proceeding with the semiconductor analogy, this paper demonstrates that in situ micromachining can be used to simultaneously fabricate millions of micrometer size, particle like structures in multiple liquid chromatography columns on a single wafer. Reduction of this widely used bioanalytical tool to the nanoliter volume, parallel processing, chip format is a significant step toward laboratories-on-a-chip.     

An OFDM scheme with a half complexity

The paper deals with an OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) system based on filter-bank architecture. The known implementation uses a DFT (discrete Fourier transform) processor and a polyphase network (PPN). Even if it is based on complex components, in the final step it operates the real part extraction of the incoming signal. This leads to redundant operations in the DFT processor and in the PPN. Specifically, for the transmission of N complex symbol sequences at a given rate ½F, an N-point DFT processor and an N-branch PPN, both working at the rate F, are required. This implementation can be improved with a complexity reduction by a factor of two. In fact, in the paper an architecture is presented based on an N-point DFT processor and N-branch PPN at the rate F, for the transmission of 2N (in place of N) complex symbol sequences at the rate ½F     

Effects of forced power transfer on high speed generator-loadsystems

A computer-aided method for investigating disturbances due to the forced paralleling of out of phase high speed salient pole AC generator systems feeding isolated loads is presented. The method is used to predict the system performance including the reverse voltage across the rotating bridge rectifier of the field exciter. This paper presents the fundamentals and the modeling approach used in the development of this method. In addition, the results of using this approach to compute the machine parameters under different load conditions including saturation effects due to magnetic material nonlinearities and space harmonics effects due to machine geometry and winding layouts are presented. The computed parameters are validated by comparison to test data. These parameters form the main data for simulating the forced paralleling of out of phase high speed salient pole AC generator systems feeding isolated loads. Further, the results of using this modeling approach in a case study to predict the system performance due to forced power transfer are summarized and are shown to be in good agreement with test data     

Determining elasticity and strength characteristics of powder coating

Methods are described for forming coating specimens and testing them in pure bending. The proposed tester gives adequate accuracy in determining the elastic characteristics and strength for thin specimens (up to 0.1 mm) of brittle materials of powder-coating type.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 3, pp. 94–97, March, 1993.     

Dimensionless relations for zero-consumption electric arcs in a channel

Limiting dimensionless relations are presented for the cnaracteristics of an arc in a channel when the consumption of the plasma-generating gas approaches zero. An extensive comparison of calculation with experiment is carried out. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 99–104, January–February, 1997.     

The "pedrada" ("coup-de-fouet") syndrome. A possibility to be considered in acute leg pain

The authors report the case of a woman admitted to hospital for minor trauma of the left hip and who presented major ST segment elevation on the second day suggesting an acute anterior wall myocardial infarction at the same time as a cerebrovascular accident. Complementary investigations and follow-up excluded the diagnosis of myocardial infarction with normalisation of the ECG on the 5th day. ECG changes during cerebrovascular accidents may be very variable ranging from extrasystoles to ST elevation mimicking myocardial infarction. They carry a poor prognosis with an increased risk of sudden death necessitating continuous ECG monitoring until the ECG reverts to normal. The cardiac involvement is not ischaemic but due to disease of the insular cortex of the brain which induces myocytolysis (centered around the intra-cardiac nerve endings) due to the sudden liberation of catecholamines. These lesions may be treated by propranolol or phentolamine.