Reliability challenges for copper low-k dielectrics and copper diffusion barriers

The performance of interconnects containing micro- (pore size smaller than 2 nm) and meso-porous (pore size larger than 2 nm) interlevel dielectrics is influenced by material selection, integration scheme and virtually all fabrication steps. It is generally reported that the reliability margin of the dielectric/barrier/copper system is shrinking. Barrier and dielectric integrity play a most important role in line-to-line leakage and Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB) reliability. TDDB has never been an issue for Cu-SiO₂ interconnects, but for sub-100 nm copper/barrier/low-k systems it becomes challenging. When monitoring the integrated dielectric properties early failures can be caused by weak integration interfaces, dielectric damage during the integration, defective diffusion barrier or other non-uniformities related to the damascene process. Recent advances are reviewed along with examples and reference to state of the art.     

Efficient relational calculation for software analysis

Calculating with graphs and relations has many applications in the analysis of software systems, for example, the detection of design patterns or patterns of problematic design and the computation of design metrics. These applications require an expressive query language, in particular, for the detection of graph patterns, and an efficient evaluation of the queries even for large graphs. In this paper, we introduce RML, a simple language for querying and manipulating relations based on predicate calculus, and CrocoPat, an interpreter for RML programs. RML is general because it enables the manipulation not only of graphs (i.e., binary relations), but of relations of arbitrary arity. CrocoPat executes RML programs efficiently because it internally represents relations as binary decision diagrams, a data structure that is well-known as a compact representation of large relations in computer-aided verification. We evaluate RML by giving example programs for several software analyses and CrocoPat by comparing its performance with calculators for binary relations, a Prolog system, and a relational database management system.     

drupa 2004展示印刷的前景

被誉为全球印刷业界“奥林匹克”盛会的drupa 2004国际印刷媒体、出版和纸品加工展览会将于今年5月6日在德国杜塞尔多夫展览中心拉开帷幕。据有关方面预计,届时我国印刷及设备器材行业将有5000余人前往参观。即使是没有机会亲临现场的业内人士,也无疑会对这一盛会给予极大的关注。为了使国内印刷业同仁能够在展会开幕前就对本届drupa展会有更好的了解,本刊于本期推出了“drupa观展指南”专题。本专题由二部分组成,前一部分是10篇国外印刷界专家撰写的文章,从各不同角度介绍和分析了当前印刷业各相关技术的发展趋势,也提示参观者在展会上看什么,怎么看?本专题的后一部分是国内外的一些知名参展商将在展会上推出的热点产品;穿插在专题当中的还有与本届展览相关的各种信息,可供参观人员参考。愿本专题能为即将赴德参观drupa2004的人士以及虽然不能亲临展会现场但密切关注drupa2004的本刊广大读者提供有益的帮助。这即是本刊编辑这一专题的初衷。     

Satellite-derived irradiance statistics for Africa

Hourly images registered by the Meteosat satellite are used to derive the global irradiance at ground level. Keeping almost the full spatial information of the original images, maps of irradiance characteristics for Africa are derived with a resolution of approx. 10 × 10 km². Monthly irradiance conditions are characterized by means and standard deviations of daily sums and the irradiance of specific daytime hours. The data also allow for the extraction of irradiance time series for specific sites. In addition, the analysis of the spatial structure of the satellite-derived irradiance fields is used to identify regions in which the radiation characteristics call for special attention.     

Biochemical disease-free survival following 125I prostate implantation

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was to validate the incentive spirometry (IS) as a simple mean to follow pulmonary function at the bedside after lung surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied prospectively 19 patients (16 men, 3 women; mean +/- SE age, 60 +/- 2.8 years) undergoing lobectomy for lung cancer. All the patients had an obstructive pattern with FEV1/FVC below 75%. Lung volumes, including functional residual capacity (FRC) and residual volume (RV), measured using spirometry and the helium dilution technique, and IS were measured preoperatively and postoperatively at days 1, 2, 3, and 8, and at 2 months. RESULTS: Our results showed that in the postoperative period after lung resection, IS performance was well correlated (R) during the first 8 postoperative days with vital capacity (VC) (R between 0.667 and 0.870) mainly due to the excellent correlation with the inspiratory reserve volume (IRV, R between 0.680 and 0.895) but was poorly correlated with expiratory reserve volume (R below 0.340), RV (R below 0.180), and FRC (R below 0.470). CONCLUSIONS: IS can be used as a simple mean to follow lung function, especially VC and IRV, in the postoperative period in spontaneously breathing patients. IS is noninvasive and can be performed repeatedly at the bedside in the intensive care setting.     

Toward a Detector/Readout Architecture for the Background-Limited Far-IR/Submm Spectrograph (BLISS)

We have built and tested 32-element linear arrays of absorber-coupled transition-edge sensors (TESs) read out with a time-division SQUID multiplexer. This detector/readout architecture is designed for the background-limited far-IR/submm spectrograph (BLISS) which is a broadband (35–433  \(\upmu \) m), grating spectrometer consisting of six wavebands each with a modest resolution of R \(\sim \) 700. Since BLISS requires the effective noise equivalent power (NEP) of the TESs to equal 1  \(\times \)  10 \(^{-19}\)  W/Hz \(^{1/2}\) , our detectors consist of very long (1–2 mm), narrow (0.4 \(\upmu \) m), and thin (0.25 \(\upmu \) m) Si \(_{x}\) N \(_{y}\) support beams that reduce the thermal conductance G between the substrate and the optical absorber. The thermistors of our lowest noise TESs consist of iridium with \(T_{c}=130\) mK. We have measured the electrical properties of arrays of these Ir TESs with various meander and straight support beams and absorber shapes and found that G is \(\sim \) 30 fW/K (meander) and \(\sim \) 110 fW/K (straight), the electrical NEP is 2–3  \(\times \)  10 \(^{-19}\) W/Hz \(^{1/2}\) (meander and straight), and the response time \(\tau \) is 10–30 ms (meander) and 2–5 ms (straight). To reduce spurious or “dark” power from heating the arrays, we mounted the arrays into light-tight niobium boxes and added custom L/R and L/C low-pass chip filters into these boxes to intercept dark power from the bias and readout circuit. We found the average dark power equals 1.3 and 4.6 fW for the boxes with L/R and L/C chip filters, respectively. We have built arrays with \(T_{c}= 70\)  mK using molybdenum/copper bilayers and are working to lower the dark power by an order of magnitude so we can demonstrate NEP \(~=~1~\times \)  10 \(^{-19}\)  W/Hz \(^{1/2}\) with these arrays. PACS numbers: 85.25.Pb; 95.85.Gn; 95.85.Fm; 63.22. \(+\) m     

Comparing Transition-Edge Sensor Response Times in a Modified Contact Scheme with Different Support Beams

We present measurements of the thermal conductance, G, and effective time constants, \(\tau \) , of three transition-edge sensors (TESs) populated in arrays operated from 80–87 mK with T \(_\mathrm{C}\)   \(\sim \)  120 mK. Our TES arrays include several variations of thermal architecture enabling determination of the architecture that demonstrates the minimum noise equivalent power, the lowest \(\tau \) , and the trade-offs among designs. The three TESs we report here have identical Mo/Cu bilayer thermistors and wiring structures, while the thermal architectures are: (1) a TES with straight support beams of 1 mm length, (2) a TES with meander support beams of total length 2 mm and with two phonon-filter blocks per beam, and (3) a TES with meander support beams of total length 2 mm and with six phonon-filter blocks per beam. Our wiring scheme aims to lower the thermistor normal state resistance R \(_{N}\) and increase the sharpness of the transition \(\alpha =\)  dlogR/dlogT at the transition temperature T \(_\mathrm{C}\) . We find an upper limit of \(\alpha \) given by ( \(25\pm 10\) ), and G values of 200 fW/K for (1), 15 fW/K for (2), and 10 fW/K for (3). The value of \(\alpha \) can be improved by slightly increasing the length of our thermistors.