Detection of failure sites by focused ion beam and nano-probing in the interconnect of three-dimensional stacked circuit structures

Focused ion beam (FIB) and nano-probing were applied for failure analysis of three-dimensional stacked circuits with copper through-silicon-vias between the stacked chips. The failure analysis was done after high temperature storage and thermal cycling tests. Passive voltage contrast in FIB allowed to pinpoint the open sites. FIB cross-sections showed the presence of opens at the bottom of the copper vias. The failure cause was suspected to be an interlayer particle, which was confirmed by optical profilometry. Nano-probing was used on another sample to pinpoint the failure location through the measurement of the local resistance within the daisy chains. The failure was traced out to be related with surface contamination.     

The effect of Cu-rich sub-layer on the increased corrosion resistance of Cu-xZn alloys in chloride containing borate buffer

The electrochemical behaviour of Cu-xZn alloys, as well as their constituent metals, in a borate buffer containing chloride ions in the molar range from 0.01 to 1 M are studied. Characteristics of these materials under anodic polarization are compared and the composition and morphology of the corrosion products formed in the course of polarization experiment are analysed by SEM and EDS. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance measurements are used for characterization of the surface layers formed on Cu, Zn and Cu-40Zn alloy during 2-h immersion at E_oc in a borate buffer containing two different concentrations of chloride ions. New aspects of the behaviour of brass under E_oc condition are revealed. The improved corrosion resistance of brass in chloride media, if compared to zinc metal, is attributed to a Cu-rich layer formed by the selective dissolution of zinc. Based on the results, a structural model describing the improved corrosion resistance of Cu-40Zn alloy with respect to Zn metal is proposed.     

Chemical correlates of α-tocopherol (Vitamin E) alteredMalacosoma disstria herbivory inFraxinus pennsylvanica var.Subintegerrinia,green ash

The antioxidant -tocopherol (vitamin E), applied in a basal trunk band to the green ash tree,Fraxinus pennsylvanica var.subintergerrinia, elicited an alteration of foliar feeding byMalacosoma disstria larvae (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). The bioassayed effects were dependent on the dosage of elicitor, the time after elicitation, and the position in the tree. Leaves for chemical analysis were collected from trees receiving two dosages and at two intervals after elicitation. Compounds in the ethyl acetate extractables from the ash tree leaves were separated by TLC and HPLC. TLC separations showed differences in the nonhydrolyzed extractables attributable to elicitor dosage and time after elicitation. TLC-resolved differences were also evident among acid-hydrolyzed samples. HPLC-resolved profiles revealed eight peaks in the nonhydrolyzed extractables that were quantitatively negatively correlated with larval feeding preference between elicited versus control foliage on at least one of the two sampling dates. Results from this study and other investigations reported in the literature indicate that the antioxidant-tocopherol (vitamin E) can function as an environmental-stress elicitor of alterable defensive chemistry in green ash and other plants.     

Associative Learning Improves Visual Working Memory Performance.

The ability to remember visual stimuli over a short delay period is limited by the small capacity of visual working memory (VWM). Here the authors investigate the role of learning in enhancing VWM. Participants saw 2 spatial arrays separated by a 1-s interval. The 2 arrays were identical except for 1 location. Participants had to detect the difference. Unknown to the participants, some spatial arrays would repeat once every dozen trials or so for up to 32 repetitions. Spatial VWM performance increased significantly when the same location changed across display repetitions, but not at all when different locations changed from one display repetition to another. The authors suggest that a major role of learning in VWM is to mediate which information gets retained, rather than to directly increase VWM capacity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adiponectin Deficiency Alters Placenta Function but Does Not Affect Fetal Growth in Mice

Adiponectin administration to pregnant mice decreases nutrient transport and fetal growth. An adiponectin deficiency, on the other hand, as seen in obese women during pregnancy, alters fetal growth; however, the mechanism is unclear. To determine the role of adiponectin on placenta function and fetal growth, we used adiponectin knockout, adiponectin heterozygote that displays reduced adiponectin levels, and wild-type mice on a control diet or high fat/high sucrose (HF/HS) diet. Triglycerides (TGs) in the serum, liver, and placenta were measured using colorimetric assays. Gene expression was measured using quantitative RT-PCR. Adiponectin levels did not affect fetal weight, but it reduced adiponectin levels, increased fetal serum and placenta TG content. Wildtype dams on a HF/HS diet protected the fetuses from fatty acid overload as judged by increased liver TGs in dams and normal serum and liver TG levels in fetuses, while low adiponectin was associated with increased fetal liver TGs. Low maternal adiponectin increased the expression of genes involved in fatty acid transport; Lpl and Cd36 in the placenta. Adiponectin deficiency does not affect fetal growth but induces placental dysfunction and increases fetal TG load, which is enhanced with obesity. This could lead to imprinting effects on the fetus and the development of metabolic dysfunction in the offspring.     

Network virtualization as an integrated solution for emergency communication

In this paper the Virtual Private Ad Hoc Networking (VPAN) platform is introduced as an integrated networking solution for many applications that require secure transparent continuous connectivity using heterogeneous devices and network technologies. This is done by creating a virtual logical self-organizing network on top of existing network technologies reducing complexity and maintaining session continuity right from the start. One of the most interesting applications relies in the field of emergency communication with its specific needs which will be discussed in this paper and matched in detail against the architecture and features of the VPAN platform. The concept and dynamics are demonstrated and evaluated with measurements done on real hardware.     

In situ Characterization of SiO2 Nanoparticle Biointeractions Using BrightSilica

By adding a gold core to silica nanoparticles (BrightSilica), silica‐like nanoparticles are generated that, unlike unmodified silica nanoparticles, provide three types of complementary information to investigate the silica nano‐biointeraction inside eukaryotic cells in situ. Firstly, organic molecules in proximity of and penetrating into the silica shell in live cells are monitored by surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The SERS data show interaction of the hybrid silica particles with tyrosine, cysteine and phenylalanine side chains of adsorbed proteins. Composition of the biomolecular corona of BrightSilica nanoparticles differs in fibroblast and macrophage cells. Secondly, quantification of the BrightSilica nanoparticles using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) micromapping indicates a different interaction of silica nanoparticles compared to gold nanoparticles under the same experimental conditions. Thirdly, the metal cores allow the investigation of particle distribution and interaction in the cellular ultrastructure by cryo nanoscale X‐ray tomography (cryo‐XT). In 3D reconstructions the assumption is confirmed that BrightSilica nanoparticles enter cells by an endocytotic mechanism. The high SERS intensities are explained by the beneficial plasmonic properties due to agglomeration of BrightSilica. The results have implications for the development of multi‐modal qualitative and quantitative characterization in comparative nanotoxicology and bionanotechnology.     

Pseudo‐3D RSSI‐based WSN localization algorithm using linear regression

Receiver Strength Signal Indication based Wireless Sensor Networks offer a cheap solution for location‐aware applications. For a final breakthrough these systems need fast deployment and easy auto‐configuration. In this study, we use the real‐life iMinds test bed to expand a two‐dimensional localization algorithm to the pseudo third dimension with very low additional computational time. Our experiments show that this fast three‐dimensional algorithm has no outliers and avoids manual calibration. Our algorithm has lower position errors than a maximum likelihood algorithm with a mean square error cost function. Furthermore, with non‐parametric statistical tests, we show that our previously designed two‐dimensional preprocessing performs equally well in pseudo‐three dimensions: the preprocessing reduces the position error in a statistically significant way.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optically- and Electrically-Stimulated Terahertz Radiation Emission from Indium Nitride

Indium nitride is a novel narrow band gap semiconductor. The material is a potential strong source of terahertz frequency electromagnetic radiation with applications in time-domain terahertz spectroscopy and imaging systems. This article reviews recent experimental research on terahertz emission from the binary compound semiconductor indium nitride excited by near-infrared laser beams or microseconds electrical pulses. Advantages of indium nitride as terahertz radiation source material are discussed. It is demonstrated that different mechanisms contribute to the emission of terahertz radiation from indium nitride. The emission of up to 2.4 μW of THz radiation power is observed when InN is excited with near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses at an average power of 1 W.     

Impact of the access network topology on the handoff performance

Micromobility protocols such as Cellular IP, Hawaii and Hierarchical Mobile IP are developed to solve problems of high handoff latency and control overhead, which occur when Mobile IP is used in combination with frequent handoffs. Up to now, tree access network topologies are considered to evaluate the protocol performance. However, for reasons of robustness against link failures and load balancing, extra uplinks and mesh links in the topology are desired. This article makes a classification of several topology types and gives a model that points out to which extent the topology influences the protocol performance in terms of handoff latency and handoff packet loss. Simulations confirm the results calculated by the model. Performance metrics such as load balancing, end-to-end delay and robustness against link failures are also evaluated. The study points to several shortcomings of the existing micromobility protocols for different topology types. Several aspects of the studied handoff schemes, their advantages and drawbacks are identified. L. Peters is a Research Assistant of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (F.W.O.-V., Belgium) Liesbeth Peters was born in Temse, Belgium, in 1978. She received her Master of Science degree in Electrotechnical Engineering from Ghent University, Gent, Belgium in 2001. Since August 2001, she has been working as a doctoral researcher with the Department of Information Technology (INTEC) of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ghent University, where she joined the Broadband Communications Networks Group. Since October 2002, she works there as a research assistant of the Fund for Scientific Research—Flanders (F.W.O.-V., Belgium). Her current research interests are in broadband wireless communication and the support of IP mobility in wired cum wireless networks. Ingrid Moerman was born in Gent, Belgium, in 1965. She received the degree in Electro-technical Engineering and the Ph.D degree from the Ghent University, Gent, Belgium in 1987 and 1992, respectively. Since 1987, she has been with the Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Centre (IMEC) at the Department of Information Technology (INTEC) of the Ghent University, where she conducted research in the field of optoelectronics. In 1997, she became a permanent member of the Research Staff at IMEC. Since 2000 she is part-time professor at the Ghent University. Since 2001 she has switched her research domain to broadband communication networks. She is currently involved in the research and education on broadband mobile & wireless communication networks and on multimedia over IP. Her main research interests related to mobile & wireless communication networks are: adaptive QoS routing in wireless ad hoc networks, personal networks, body area networks, wireless access to vehicles (high bandwidth & driving speed), protocol boosting on wireless links, design of fixed access/metro part, traffic engineering and QoS support in the wireless access network. Ingrid Moerman is author or co-author of more than 300 publications in the field of optoelectronics and communication networks. Bart Dhoedt received a degree in Engineering from the Ghent University in 1990. In September 1990, he joined the Department of Information Technology of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Ghent. His research, addressing the use of micro-optics to realize parallel free space optical interconnects, resulted in a PhD degree in 1995. After a 2 year post-doc in opto-electronics, he became professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Department of Information Technology. Since then, he is responsible for several courses on algorithms, programming and software development. His research interests are software engineering and mobile & wireless communications. Bart Dhoedt is author or co-author of more than 100 papers published in international journals or in the proceedings of international conferences. His current research addresses software technologies for communication networks, peer-to-peer networks, mobile networks and active networks. Piet Demeester finished his PhD thesis at the Department of Information Technology (INTEC) at the Ghent University in 1988. At the same department he became group leader of the activities on Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxial growth for optoelectronic components. In 1992 he started a new research group on Broadband Communication Networks. The research in this field resulted in already more than 300 publications. In this research domain he was and is a member of several programme committees of international conferences, such as: ICCCN, the International Conference on Telecommunication Systems, OFC, ICC, and ECOC. He was Chairman of DRCN’98. In 2001 he was chairman of the Technical Programme Committee ECOC’01. He was Guest Editor of three special issues of the IEEE Communications Magazine. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journals “Optical Networks Magazine” and “Photonic Network Communications”. He was a member of several national and international PhD thesis commissions. Piet Demeester is a member of IEEE (Senior Member), ACM and KVIV. His current research interests include: multilayer networks, Quality of Service (QoS) in IP-networks, mobile networks, access networks, grid computing, distributed software, network and service management and applications (supported by FWO-Vlaanderen, the BOF of the Ghent University, the IWT and the European Commission). Piet Demeester is currently full-time professor at the Ghent University, where he is teaching courses in Communication Networks. He has also been teaching in different international courses.