High-performance MIM capacitor using ALD high-k HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectrics

For the first time, we successfully fabricated and demonstrated high performance metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectric using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Our data indicates that the laminate MIM capacitor can provide high capacitance density of 12.8 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ from 10 kHz up to 20 GHz, very low leakage current of 3.2 /spl times/ 10/sup -8/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 3.3 V, small linear voltage coefficient of capacitance of 240 ppm/V together with quadratic one of 1830 ppm/V/sup 2/, temperature coefficient of capacitance of 182 ppm//spl deg/C, and high breakdown field of /spl sim/6 MV/cm as well as promising reliability. As a result, the HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate is a very promising candidate for next generation MIM capacitor for radio frequency and mixed signal integrated circuit applications.     

Properties of nanoporous organosilicate hybrid thin films with a bimodal pore size distribution

Low dielectric poly[methylsilsesquioxane‐ran‐trifluoropropylsilsesquioxane‐ran‐(2,4,6,8‐tetramethyl‐2,4,6,8‐tetraethylenecyclotetrasiloxane)silsesquioxane]s {P[M‐ran‐TFP‐ran‐(TCS)]SSQs} having various compositions were synthesized using trifluoropropyl trimethoxysilane, methyl trimethoxysilane and 2,4,6,8‐tetramethyl‐2,4,6,8‐tetra(trimethoxysilylethyl)cyclotetrasiloxane. The chemical composition of the polymers and the content of SiOH end‐groups were controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions, and they were characterized by ¹H‐NMR. The thermally decomposable trifluoropropyl groups on the P[M‐ran‐TFP‐ran‐(TCS)]SSQ backbone and heptakis(2,3,6‐tri‐O‐methyl)‐β‐cyclodextrin (CD) were employed as pore generators. The dielectric constants of the porous CD/P[M‐ran‐TFP‐ran‐(TCS)]SSQ films were in the range 2.0–2.7 (at 100 kHz) depending on the concentration of the porogens, and showed no change over 4 days under aqueous conditions. The pore size of the films showed a bimodal distribution, with diameters of ca 0.5–1.0 nm for those originating from the trifluoropropyl groups and 1.7 nm from the CD. The elastic modulus and hardness of the 30 vol% CD‐blended film with a dielectric constant of 2.26 were 2.40 and 0.38 GPa, respectively, as determined by a nanoindenter. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Performance modeling and evaluation of data/voice services in wireless networks

Application-level performance is a key to the adoption and success of the CDMA 2000. To predict this performance in advance, a detailed end-to-end simulation model of a CDMA network is built to include application traffic characteristics, network architecture, network element details using the proposed simulation methodology. We assess the user-perceived application performance when a RAN and a CN adopt different transport architectures such as ATM and IP. To evaluate the user-perceived quality of voice service, we compare the end-to-end packet delay for different vocoder schemes such as G.711, G.726 (PCM), G.726 (ADPCM), and vocoder bypass scheme. By the simulation results, the vocoder bypass scenario shows 30% performance improvement over the others. We also compare the quality of voice service with and without DPS scheduling scheme. We know that DPS scheme keep the voice delay bound even if the service traffic is high. For data packet performance, HTTP v.1.1 shows better performance than that of HTTP v.1.0 due to the pipelining and TCP persistent connection. We may conclude that IP transport technology is better solution for higher FER environment since the packet overhead of IP is smaller than that of ATM for web browsing data traffic, while it shows opposite effect to the small size voice packet in RAN architecture. We show that the 3G-1X EV-DO system gives much better packet delay performance than 3G-1X RTT. The main conclusion is that end-to-end application-level performance is affected by various elements and layers of the network and thus it must be considered in all phases of the development process. Jae-Hyun Kim He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all in computer science and engineering, from Hanyang University, Ansan, Korea, in 1991, 1993, and 1996 respectively. In 1996, he was with the Communication Research Laboratory, Tokyo, Japan, as a Visiting Scholar. From April 1997 to October 1998, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the department of electrical engineering, University of California, Los Angeles. From November 1998 to February 2003, he worked as a member of technical staff in Performance Modeling and QoS management department, Bell laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Holmdel, NJ. He has been with the department of electrical engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, as an assistant professor since 2003. His research interests include QoS issues and cross layer optimization for high-speed wireless communication. Dr. Kim was the recipient of the LGIC Thesis Prize and Samsung Human-Tech Thesis Prize in 1993 and 1997, respectively. He is a member of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences (KICS), Korea Institute of Telematics and Electronis (KITE), Korea Information Science Society (KISS), and IEEE. Hyun-Jin Lee received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, in 2004, and is working toward the M.S. degree and Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering at Ajou University. He has been awarded Samsung Human-Tech Thesis Prize in 2004. His research interests QoS, especially network optimization and wireless packet scheduling. He is a member of the KICS. Sung-Min Oh received the B.S. and M. S. degrees in electrical engineering form Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, in 2004, and is working toward the Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering at Ajou University. His research interests QoS performance analysis and 4G network. He is a member of the KICS. Sung-Hyun Cho received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from Hanyang University, Korea, in 1995, 1997, and 2001, respectively. From 2001 to 2005, he has been with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, where he has been engaged in the design and standardization of MAC and upper layers of B3G, IEEE 802.16e, and WiBro systems. He is currently a MAC part leader in the telecommunication R&D center of Samsung Electronics. His research interests include 4G air interface design, radio resource management, cross layer design, and handoff in wireless systems.     

Multiterminal light-emitting logic device electricallyreprogrammable between OR and NAND functions

A monolithic multiterminal logic device that functions both optically and electrically as an ORNAND gate, is demonstrated for the first time. The device, based on the real-space transfer of hot electrons into a complementary collector layer, has been implemented in an InGaAs/InAlAs/InGaAs heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Excellent performance is obtained at room temperature. The collector current and the optical output power both exhibit the OR and the NAND functions of any two of the three input terminals, these functions being interchangeable by the voltage on the third terminal     

Laser scanning path generation considering photopolymer solidification in micro-stereolithography

It is essential to automate the scanning path generation process to effectively implement the micro-stereolithography. However, a scanning path that is generated based only on a 3D CAD model introduces dimensional inaccuracies. In micro-stereolithography, the photopolymer solidification is affected by fabrication conditions, such as the optical properties (laser power, laser scanning speed, laser scanning pitch focusing condition, etc.) and material properties of the photopolymer. Thus, the photopolymer solidification phenomena must be considered when generating a laser scanning path. In this paper, a scanning path generation algorithm that uses 3D CAD data and considers the photopolymer solidification phenomena is proposed to improve the dimensional accuracy in micro-stereolithography. Multi-line photopolymer solidification experiments were performed for various laser scanning conditions to examine the photopolymer solidification phenomena. From these experiments, linear relations between the solidification length (width) and scanning length (width) were acquired and stored in a database. Subsequently, these data were utilized to compensate the scanning path of the laser beam. In addition, experiments for determining the layer thickness in the z-direction were performed and these results were also used in the scanning path generation algorithm.This research was supported by the Highly Advanced National Project (http://www.most.go.kr), which performs some of the National R&D Program, and sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology under the contract project code M10214000116-02B1500-02010.     

A comparative cerebral blood flow study in a baboon model with acetazolamide provocation: 99mTc-HMPAO vs 123I(IMP)

Pharmacological interactions are important when nuclear medical procedures are applied to patients under drug therapy, or drug provocation. This study compares in baboon models (regional) cerebral blood flow [(r)CBF] results from 99mTc-HMPAO and 123I-iodoamphetamine [123I(IMP)] each with and without acetazolamide, the latter a suggested drug for testing cerebrovascular reserve. Expected differences in cerebral uptake were observed between the two radio-tracers without acetazolamide. The increase in tracer uptake resulting from acetazolamide is significantly enhanced for 123I(IMP), which could have diagnostic implications.     

Effective sludge solubilization treatment by simultaneous use of ultrasonic and electrochemical processes.

Sludge disintegration treatment by using simultaneously ultrasonic irradiation and electrolysis was investigated experimentally. A lab-scale diaphragm cell irradiated with ultrasound at a constant oscillating frequency of 20 kHz was used as a reactor. The batch experiments were carried out under different conditions of electric outputs of the ultrasonic generator, electric current for the electrolysis and different initial SS concentrations. A simultaneous treatment in the cathodic compartment without any chemical doses considerably facilitated the sludge solubilization, compared to the sonication alone. An increase in the electric current up to 400 mA under a constant ultrasonic density decreased the specific energy by 55% within the experimental range. The specific energy consumption was also reduced when the initial SS concentration increased. In addition, before carrying out the simultaneous treatment, a brief electrolysis was effective for further reduction of the specific energy and the acceleration of soluble COD generation.     

A self-organizing fuzzy control of weld pool size in GMA welding processes

In arc welding processes, because of the complexity and nonlinearity of heat transfer phenomena, it is often difficult to design an effective control system based upon an exact mathematical model. In this paper, a self-organizing fuzzy control method is proposed to obtain a uniform weld quality by regulation of the surface temperature at a desired level. The proposed control system is designed to comprise a combined structure of the fuzzy SOC with conventional PD control for improving the system's stability. The control experiments show that the proposed controller guarantees a uniform weld quality for various welding conditions.     

A micromachined electrochemical sensor for free chlorine monitoring in drinking water.

In this work, we designed, fabricated and tested a disposable, flow-through amperometric sensor for free chlorine determination in water. The sensor is based on the principle of an electrochemical cell. The substrate, as well as the top microfluidic layer, is made up of a polymer material. The advantages include; (a) disposability from low cost; (b) stable operation range from three-electrode design; (c) fluidic interconnections that provide on line testing capabilities; and (d) transparent substrate which provides for future integration of on-chip optics. The sensor showed a good response and linearity in the chlorine concentration ranging from 0.3 to 1.6 ppm, which applies to common chlorination process for drinking water purification.