Advanced process device technology for 0.3-μm high-performancebipolar LSIs

A new method is developed for forming shallow emitter/bases, collectors, and graft bases suitable for high-performance 0.3-μm bipolar LSIs. Fabricated 0.5-μm U-SICOS (U-groove isolated sidewall base contact structure) transistors are 44 μm², and they have an isolation width of 2.0 μm, a minimum emitter width of 0.2 μm, a maximum cutoff frequency (f_T) of 50 GHz, and a minimum ECL gate delay time of 27 ps. The key points for fabricating high-performance 0.3-μm bipolar LSIs are the control of the graft base depth and the control of the interfacial layer between emitter poly-Si and single-Si. The importance of a tradeoff relation between f_T and base resistance is also discussed     

A semi-static complementary gain cell technology for sub-1 V supplyDRAM's

A new semi-static complementary gain cell for future low power DRAM's has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. This gain cell consists of a write-transistor and its opposite conduction type read-transistor with a heating gate as a storage node which causes a shift in the threshold voltage. This gain cell provides a two orders of magnitude larger cell signal output and higher immunity to noise on the bitlines when compared with a conventional one-transistor DRAM cell without increasing the storage capacitance even at a supply voltage of 0.8 V. The 0.87 μm² cell size is achieved by using a 0.25 μm design rule with a polysilicon thin-film transistor built in the trench and phase shifted i-line lithography     

Tree Recovery in PIM Sparse Mode

A PIM–SM-built multicast tree must be restructured when the underlying unicast routing tables change. We describe the PIM–SM recovery mechanisms and evaluate the recovery performance, showing its dependence on a range of network and session parameters. Our results show that a substantial packet loss can be caused by nonreductive, benign events in the network, such as an addition of a new link. We propose and evaluate an improvement to the standard PIM–SM recovery procedure aimed to reduce the packet loss caused by the benign events. Our evaluation shows that the data loss caused by these events can be significantly decreased regardless of the topology and session parameters.     

The performance of SAS-super-180 air sampler and settle plates for assessing viable fungal particles in the air of dry-cured meat production facility

Performances of SAS-super-180 air sampler and settle plates were investigated for the assessment of airborne fungal food contamination. Air samples were taken from processing rooms of a dry-cured production facility and outdoors. Fungal colonies and numbers of species were counted and compared. Quantitatively, the air sampler showed higher numbers of species and mean CFU/plate compared to settle plates. Qualitatively, the two methods showed similar dominating fungal genera and species associated with dry-cured meat products. The study showed settle plates could provide important qualitative information for food processing plants where airborne fungi associated with food products are the targets.     

0.1-μm gate-length superconducting FET

A superconducting field-effect transistors (FET) with a 0.1-μm-length gate electrode was fabricated and tested at liquid-helium temperature. Two superconducting electrodes (source and drain) were formed on the same Si substrate surface with an oxide-insulated gate electrode by a self-aligned fabrication process. Superconducting current flowing through the semiconductor (Si) between the two superconducting electrodes (Nb) was controlled by a gate-bias voltage     

Alternating copolymerization of phenylvinyl sec-butyl ether and maleic anhydride

Summary The reactivity ratios k_1c/k_1c and k_2c/k₂₁ in the copolymerization of phenylvinyl sec-butyl ether (M₂) and maleic anhydride (M₁) were calculated by applying the generalized model described by Shirota and coworkers. It was found that under the experimental conditions applied in our work, the copolymerization proceeds predominantly through the participation of charge-transfer complex monomers.Dedicated to Prof. C.I. Simionescu in honor of this 60th birthday     

Impact of the gate-drain overlapped device (GOLD) for deepsubmicrometer VLSI

The gate-drain overlapped device (GOLD) structure is proposed to achieve high reliability and high performance in deep submicrometer MOSFETs. The GOLD device concept is different from that of drain-engineering methods such as the double-diffused drain (DDD) and lightly doped drain (LDD). GOLD eliminates the tradeoff between transconductance and breakdown voltage (hot-carrier, drain sustaining). The overlap effect of the GOLD devices is discussed using simulation and experiment. GOLD has a gate structure using a native oxide film (5-10 A) to obtain an overlapped fine structure. The process is also compatible with conventional LDD processes and is suitable for 0.3-0.5-μm-design-rule devices at 5-V operation, and 3-V operation     

Flavonoids and cell membrane fluidity

The membrane fluidity characteristics of multilamellar (MLV) and extruded liposomes prepared with kaempferol (K), kaempferol-3-glucoside (KG), (−)-epigallocatechin (EGC) or (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) are presented. Kaempferol caused the highest increase in fluorescence polarisation of DPH in both liposomes (other compounds had not) indicating that K with n_K/n_Lip below 0.2 or 0.1 decreased the membrane fluidity, while at higher molar ratios the membrane fluidity increased. EPR measurements with MLV and spin probes MeFASL(10,3) and MeFASL(2,11) showed a significant decrease in fluidity in the upper part of the membrane for all flavonoids measured, and in the core of the membrane an increase in fluidity for EGCG and EGC. Computer simulation of the EPR spectra showed that the membrane of the MLV used was composed of at least three coexisting domain types with different fluidity and that the order parameter of the most ordered domains is responsible for membrane fluidity alterations.     

Use of the selective agar medium CREAD for monitoring the level of airborne spoilage moulds in cheese production

It was investigated if a selective medium for common cheese spoiling moulds (CREAD) could give more relevant information than a general mould medium in hygienic air-sampling in cheese factories. A total of 126 air-samples were taken in six Nordic cheese factories using the general mould medium DG18 and CREAD. The level and genera of air-borne mould was determined. Identification to species-level was performed for a selection of samples. In five cheese factories the mycobiota was dominated by Penicillium spp. and in one cheese factory by Cladosporium spp. The concentration of air-borne moulds varied between the cheese factories ranging from 1 to 270 cfu/m3 on DG18 with a median value of 17. The number of mould colonies was in general lower at CREAD. Identification indicated that CREAD supported growth of common spoilage moulds for cheese, such as Penicillium palitans and P. commune. The mycobiota on DG18 also consisted of moulds not commonly associated with spoilage of cheese, such as Cladosporium spp., P. brevicompactum and P. chrysogenum. Contamination of cheese with mould is periodically a problem in production of semi-hard cheese and the level of air-borne mould is therefore routinely monitored in cheese factories. A clear correlation between the total number of moulds in air and mould growth on products is not always found. The conclusion from the investigation is that it is recommended to use a selective medium for cheese spoilage moulds, such as CREAD in hygienic monitoring.     

An integrated cyber security risk management framework and risk predication for the critical infrastructure protection

Neural Computing and Applications - Cyber security risk management plays an important role for today’s businesses due to the rapidly changing threat landscape and the existence of evolving...