应用材料的光刻方案：图形vs．印制

虽然应用材料公司(Applied Materials)并不以光刻而闻名,但它还是想提醒大家:光刻不是只有印制(printing)。正如应用材料公司的薄膜事业群总经理Farhad Moghadam在SPIE的先进光刻会议的新闻发布午宴     

激光等离子体EUV光源令人期待

虽然近来放电等离子体（DPP）光源被认为是极紫外（EUV）光刻beta工具的最强有力的候选者，但是根据最近由Sematech在Baltimore，Md．主办的EUV光源研讨会（EUV Source Workshop）上的科学家们的观点，激光等离子体（LPP）光源似乎正在取得进展。     

Compositional effects on the fracture behaviour of alkali–silicate glasses

The two-point bend strength and the fracture toughness of a series of soda–potassia–silicate and soda–potassia–calcia–silicate glass fibres have been measured. There is a clear variation of mean strength with composition for the soda–potassia–silicate glasses, however, there is much less variation of mean strength with composition for the soda–potassia–calcia–silicate glasses. There is also a greater variation of fracture toughness with composition for the soda–potassia–silicate glasses than for the soda–potassia–calcia–silicate glasses. The mean strength, fracture toughness and inferred flaw sizes for the soda–potassia–calcia–silicate glasses are all less than the equivalent values for the soda–potassia–silicate glasses. These results are related to the structural models and durability of the glasses tested.     

CO/sub 2/ laser processing of alumina (Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) printed circuit board substrates

We report the results of an investigation of the laser-material interaction processes involved in laser drilling of alumina, through the use of an enhanced peak power (2.5 kW) CO/sub 2/ laser and novel temporal pulse formats. Peak power was varied from 30 W to 2 kW for pulses of constant energy to observe the effect produced on scribe depth. High-speed videography of hole formation has been combined with microscopic analysis to investigate the key processes involved in laser processing of alumina. Plasma screening was observed for short, high peak power laser pulses, and optimal scribing was achieved in the weakly plasma absorbing regime. A new processing technique for scribing alumina has been developed, which exploits the fast response of the laser to produce novel temporal pulse shapes, which can be modified to generate cleaner holes. Scribe speeds of up to 280 mm/spl middot/s/sup -1/ were obtained for scribe holes >200 /spl mu/m deep and 150 /spl mu/m apart, with no material plugging the hole, in 0.635-mm-thick 96% alumina.     

Isolation of synthetic lethal mutants of ras1 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Ras proteins are membrane-associated guanine nucleotide-binding proteins that serve as molecular switches for signal transduction pathways in a diverse array of organisms. Various cellular factors are known to interact with Ras proteins. In order to find the novel cellular factors that are associated with Ras function, we have constructed synthetic lethal mutants of the ras1+ gene in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and used them to identify the genes that are functionally dependent on the Ras1. We first constructed S. pombe strains in which chromosomal ras1+ gene is placed under the nmt1 promoter that is regulated by thiamine. This strain shows ras1+ phenotype in the absence of thiamine, whereas it shows ras1- phenotype in the presence of thiamine. Second, we mutated the constructed strains with ultraviolet light (UV) and selected two synthetic lethal mutants that could not grow when Ras1 function was repressed (ras1-). One of the mutants, KSC3, showed a swollen cell shape, aberrant deposition of septum materials, and aberrant nuclei. The other mutant, KSC4, showed sensitivity to hyper-osmolarity when Ras1 function is absent. These mutants, however, grow normally when Ras1 is expressed (ras1+). These two novel synthetic lethal mutants of ras1 provide the means to isolate the corresponding genes that function in association with Ras1 in S. pombe. Screening of a genomic library of S. pombe complementing the mutant phenotype allowed us to identify several novel genes associated with Ras1 of S. pombe.     

Al2O3/Al composites produced by directed melt oxidation using Zn containing external dopants

Al₂O₃/Al composites have been produced by the directed melt oxidation of Al with externally applied Zn containing dopants. Zn, ZnO and ZnAl₂O₄ are all shown to be capable of initiating the directed melt oxidation of Al without any Mg being present. The external surfaces of the reaction products were covered with a layer of ZnO overlaying a layer of ZnAl₂O₄, however, no Zn was observed within the composite bodies. Doping with ZnO or ZnAl₂O₄ resulted in a fine, dense ceramic microstructure and the amount of growth increased with increasing firing time and increasing ZnO or ZnAl₂O₄ content. Doping with Zn resulted in significantly less dense composites to those produced using ZnO or ZnAl₂O₄ and thus in the Zn system oxide and spinel dopants offer a significant advantage over using metallic Zn.     

Feasibility of a one–step process for desizing,scouring, bleaching and mercerisating cotton fabrics

In this study the desizing, scouring, bleaching and slack mercerising of cotton fabric by a one–step process at different sodium hydroxide concentrations, impregnation temperatures and curing times were examined. The results indicate that when the fabrics are mercerised at lower temperature, the strength retention and colour strength are enhanced. When the sodium hydroxide concentration is increased, these properties also increase. When cotton fabrics are mercerised for 3 min at 40C and cured for 30 s at 120C, their physical properties are similar to those obtained using a conventional two–step approach.