Dopant diffusion and activation induced by sub-melt laser anneal within the co-implanted p+ polycrystalline silicon gate used in CMOS technologies

Due to the continuous CMOS transistor scaling requirements, highly doped shallow junctions with improved activation have been widely investigated in recent CMOS technologies. In this scope, sub-melt millisecond laser annealing has been introduced in the integration flows to enhance dopant activation, without any additional detrimental diffusion. This MSA step impacts not only the transistor junction properties, but also the polysilicon gate depletion. This paper is devoted to the study of the MSA influence on boron and germanium co-implanted polysilicon films. A sensitive boron diffusion occurring during the laser anneal step, with or without an initial spike annealing step, has been observed. The activation energy of the boron diffusivity extracted from SIMS profiles in the laser only sequence has been found equal to 4.05 eV. In addition, it was shown that either a high temperature laser anneal sequence or a spike anneal followed by a laser anneal sequence can reach the same activation levels.     

From solid modelling to skin model shapes: Shifting paradigms in computer-aided tolerancing

Product design requires the consideration of geometric models and representations that reflect shape deviations and support tolerance management issues. Computer-Aided Tolerancing (CAT) systems have been developed as simulation tools for modelling the effects of tolerances on digital product simulation. However, geometric variations cannot be addressed efficiently with regard to form deviations. This paper investigates the concepts of Skin Model Shapes, which provide a finite describability and the digital representation of the Skin Model concept, and their unified discrete geometry representation. New contributions to tolerance representation and analysis are presented. Applications and perspectives for CAT systems are highlighted as well.     

Common FABP4 Genetic Variants and Plasma Levels of Fatty Acid Binding Protein 4 in Older Adults

We examined common variants in the fatty acid binding protein 4 gene (FABP4) and plasma levels of FABP4 in adults aged 65 and older from the Cardiovascular Health Study. We genotyped rs16909187, rs1054135, rs16909192, rs10808846, rs7018409, rs2290201, and rs6992708 and measured circulating FABP4 levels among 3190 European Americans and 660 African Americans. Among European Americans, the minor alleles of six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were associated with lower FABP4 levels (all p ≤ 0.01). Among African Americans, the SNP with the lowest minor allele frequency was associated with lower FABP4 levels (p = 0.015). The C-A haplotype of rs16909192 and rs2290201 was associated with lower FABP4 levels in both European Americans (frequency = 16 %; p = 0.001) and African Americans (frequency = 8 %; p = 0.04). The haplotype combined a SNP in the first intron with one in the 3′untranslated region. However, the alleles associated with lower FABP4 levels were associated with higher fasting glucose in meta-analyses from the MAGIC consortium. These results demonstrate associations of common SNP and haplotypes in the FABP4 gene with lower plasma FABP4 but higher fasting glucose levels.     

Assessment of maple syrup physico-chemistry and typicity by means of fluorescence spectroscopy

Maple syrup is a natural sweetener obtained from the transformation of maple sap collected mostly from sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) in North America. At present, simple physico-chemical tests are used for routine quality control. Inspectors also taste all batches on the market to ensure authenticity. Because of the presence of various aromatic compounds in sap and syrup, intrinsic fluorescence was tested as a means to characterize the physico-chemistry and typicity of maple syrup. Two hundred samples of sap and their corresponding syrup were obtained from various farms in 2003 and 2004. They were analysed by conventional physico-chemical tests and by fluorescence spectroscopy. Two major regions of fluorescence were found, which were mostly the same for sap and syrup. The first one was at 320 nm, excited at 275 nm, and the second one at 460 nm, excited at 360 (syrup) or 370 nm (sap). The first peak diminishes as harvesting season progresses, while the second peak increases, making it possible to predict the harvesting period of syrup from its spectra (r² = 0.88 in 2003 and 0.81 in 2004). Color of syrup (r² = 0.91 and 0.88) and bacterial counts in sap (r² = 0.75 and 0.78) were also predicted from syrup spectra. Results show that sap spectra are related to syrup spectra and could potentially be used as predictor of quality prior to transformation. Discriminant analysis revealed that between 71% and 95% of syrup samples were correctly classified according to the farm of origin in 2003, and between 78% and 100% in 2004. Proximity was not always a factor of explanation of misclassification, suggesting that precise farm location, rather than the broad region of production is the major factor of typicity.     

Application of the Voronoï tessellation to study transport and segregation of grains inside 2D and 3D packings of spheres

This article provides a simple method to simulate the transport of a small bead through a static granular medium as a random walk on a network. This kind of displacement is strongly related to the geometry of the porous structure. A way to map the interparticle space is to calculate the Voronoï tessellation of the packing whose edges describe the network of pores of the medium. Then, the calculation of the probabilities to use each bond and a Monte-Carlo method for the choice of them, can simulate the displacement of the sphere. We introduce this technique for the inter-particle percolation of a fine particle through a packing of monosize spheres. We compare our numerical simulation with experiments performed in our laboratory. Then this technique is extended to the surface segregation. For the two kinds of segregation, we study the transverse diffusion and obtain a good agreement with experimental results. That our numerical simulation based on a rigorous geometric analysis of the medium is in agreement with inter-particle percolation and surface segregation experiments shows the importance of the study of the geometry of granular materials.     

Exergy analysis for Generation IV nuclear plant optimization

This paper deals with the application of the exergy concept to an energy production system involving a very high temperature reactor coupled with an innovative electricity‐generating cycle. The objective is to propose a general approach to quantify exergy destruction of the involved process components, modelled by a thermodynamic simulator Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, 22–24 September 2004, International Atomic Agency, Vienna (Austria), HTR‐2004; 1–11). The minimization of exergy destruction is then identified as the optimization criterion used in an optimization framework based on a genetic algorithm, in which the model is embedded. Finally, the approach is applied to electrical production by a Brayton–Rankine combined cycle connected to a nuclear reactor. Some typical results are presented. The perspectives of this work including the cogeneration of hydrogen and electricity are highlighted. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electro-Cross-Flow Ultrafiltration System for the Rejection of Nickel Ions from Aqueous Solution,and Sugeno Fuzzy Model Simulation

An empirical model was developed using the experimental results, to predict the removal of nickel ions under the effect of an external electric field applied to an ultrafiltration membrane, electroultrafiltration (EUF) process. Two commercial membranes from Millipore PLCC5 (regenerated cellulose, 5 kDa) and PBCC5 (polyethersulfone, 5 kDa) were selected to conduct the experiments. The rejection of nickel ions increases with an increment of the applied voltage. The maximum rejection of the metal was found to be 60% obtained with the PBCC5 membrane and applying a potential difference of 3.5 and 4.5 V. The results have shown that the application of an external electric field increases the removal capacity of UF membranes and enhances EUF system efficiency. The experimental data for removal of nickel ions in the system were analyzed using the Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TKS) fuzzy model. The goodness of fit for the TKS fuzzy model used was at least 98%.     

Environmental effects on mode II fatigue delamination growth in an aerospace grade carbon/epoxy composite

An investigation of the effects of water, hydraulic fluid and deicing fluid exposure on mode II delamination propagation in an aerospace grade composite is presented. All exposed specimens suffered a loss in delamination toughness and an increase in fatigue delamination growth rate, which was particularly significant for deicing fluid exposure. The number of cycles for delamination onset was also reduced by these exposures, although scanning electron micrographs showed no significant differences between the fracture pattern of dry and exposed specimens. It was also shown that environmental effects can be simply accounted for in a cohesive zone based finite element model.