Feasibility of using vanadium to form damascene structures with an air gap

We have studied the feasibility of fabricating multi-level interconnects using air as an interlayer dielectric material. In particular, we fabricated dual damascene structures using the via-first approach without etch stop layers required for trench formation, which opens up the possibility of further lowering the effective dielectric constant. Dual damascene structures were formed by sequential deposition of vanadium and vanadium pentoxide layers, which was followed by etching with hydrogen peroxide and water, respectively. Use of vanadium, vanadium pentoxide, and hydrogen peroxide was found suitable for the conventional silicon technology. Based on the findings in this study a novel process for the air gap formation was proposed, which may be applied even to the substrate level.     

基于波传播法的周期复合板振动带隙衰减特性研究

运用波传播法对有限和无限周期对边简支复合板的振动带隙衰减特性进行了研究.在建立相邻板结构边界连续方程的基础上, 分别运用传递矩阵和Bloch定理建立了有限和无限周期复合板的耦合运动方程, 并详细对比分析了有限和无限周期复合板带隙衰减特性的关联关系.研究表明: 周期板结构的振动带隙频率范围与激励方式和激励位置是相关的, 若周期复合板在宽度方向按某阶模态进行线激励, 则该激励下的振动带隙与无限周期复合板在该阶模态下的振动带隙是一致的; 若周期板在点激励作用, 则该点激励下的振动带隙是参与振动的各阶模态振动带隙的交集. 此外, 还进一步研究了结构阻尼对振动衰减带隙的影响. 关键词： 周期复合板 带隙衰减特性 波传播法 结构阻尼     

Microscopic approach to the calculation of extensive air shower radio emission

Bulletin of the Lebedev Physics Institute - Abstract—Within the kinetic theory of extensive air shower (EAS), an approach to calculating electron charge excess radio emission is formulated....     

Accurate calculation of the complex eigenvalues of the Schrödinger equation with an exponential potential

We show that the Riccati-Padé method is suitable for the calculation of the complex eigenvalues of the Schrödinger equation with a repulsive exponential potential. The accuracy of the results is remarkable for realistic potential parameters.     

Photopyroelectric spectroscopy in the presence of an air gap transparent phase-shifter

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of a two-layered pyroelectric detector which can be used in photopyroelectric spectroscopy where one of the two layers is an air gap. The analysis was performed using a recently developed one-dimensional two-layer model. It was shown theoretically and numerically that the presence of an air gap between the substrate and the pyroelectric material simplifies the photopyroelectric spectroscopic technique.     

Microstructure of the current channel of an atmospheric-pressure diffuse discharge in a rod-plane air gap

The multichannel structure of the current channel of an atmospheric-pressure diffuse discharge excited in a 10-cm rod-plane air gap was investigated using the imprint technique. A voltage pulse with an amplitude of 240 kV, a duration of 180 ns, and a rise time of 14 ns was applied to a 1-cm-diameter bullet-shaped cathode with a tip curvature radius of 0.2 mm; the discharge current reached 350 A. It is found that the diameter of the discharge channel in the anode plane varies in the range 2.5–9.7 mm from shot to shot. The overall imprint of the current channel is formed of 170–9500 imprints of microchannels with an average diameter of 5–20 μm. The parameters of the observed microstructure do not correlate with variations in the main electric characteristics of the discharge and the parameters of the generated X-ray pulse. It is shown that the formation of the microstructure is related to the onset of cathode-directed plasma structures developing from the anode. It is suggested that the same mechanism is responsible for both the formation of the current channels structure and the anode microstructure of diffuse nanosecond discharges developing in atmospheric-pressure air gaps with a highly nonuniform electric field.     

Slow surface plasmon polaritons with a large normalized delay bandwidth product in an ultracompact metal gap superlattice

We propose a metal gap superlattice that can decrease the group velocity of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) with a large normalized delay bandwidth product (NDBP) and small high-order dispersion. The length of the superlattice is only 8.60 μm and the transmission is 0.4. The multiple reflections of photons in the nanocavity result in slow SPP group velocity. The numerical analysis exploiting the transfer matrix method (TMM) is confirmed by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulations. In addition, we also analyze the reason for pulse deformation.     

Spectroscopic measurements and terahertz imaging of the cornea using a rapid scanning terahertz time domain spectrometer

Spectroscopic measurements and terahertz imaging of the cornea are carried out by using a rapid scanning terahertz time domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) system.A voice coil motor stage based optical delay line(VCM-ODL) is developed to provide a rather simple and robust structure with both the high scanning speed and the large delay length.The developed system is used for THz spectroscopic measurements and imaging of the corneal tissue with different amounts of water content,and the measurement results show the consistence with the reported results,in which the measurement time using VCM-ODL is a factor of 360 shorter than the traditional motorized optical delay line(MDL).With reducing the water content a monotonic decrease of the complex permittivity of the cornea is observed.The two-term Debye relaxation model is employed to explain our experimental results,revealing that the fast relaxation time of a dehydrated cornea is much larger than that of a hydrated cornea and its dielectric behavior can be affected by the presence of the biological macromolecules.These results demonstrate that our THz spectrometer may be a promising candidate for tissue hydration sensing and practical application of THz technology.     

The superspin approach to a disordered quantum wire in the chiral-unitary symmetry class with an arbitrary number of channels

We use a superspin Hamiltonian defined on an infinite-dimensional Fock space with positive definite scalar product to study localization and delocalization of noninteracting spinless quasiparticles in quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires perturbed by weak quenched disorder. Past works using this approach have considered a single chain. Here, we extend the formalism to treat a quasi-one-dimensional system: a quantum wire with an arbitrary number of channels coupled by random hopping amplitudes. The computations are carried out explicitly for the case of a chiral quasi-one-dimensional wire with broken time-reversal symmetry (chiral-unitary symmetry class). By treating the space direction along the chains as imaginary time, the effects of the disorder are encoded in the time evolution induced by a single site superspin (non-Hermitian) Hamiltonian. We obtain the density of states near the band center of an infinitely long quantum wire. Our results agree with those based on the Dorokhov–Mello–Pereyra–Kumar equation for the chiral-unitary symmetry class.     

Position calculation of the frequency band gap in the finite photonic crystal with multiple alternations using boundary element method

In this paper, the wave transmission from finite photonic crystals with multiple alternations is investigated using boundary element method (BEM). Since that, in these structures the alternation is not in all directions of space; the investigations of the frequency band gap with desired accuracy are not practical by analytical methods. Also, the frequency dispersion of dielectric rods is an effective parameter in photonic crystals, which this effect in our calculations has been considered. Due to the high capabilities of the BEM, the transmitted wave spectrum in the photonic crystal is calculated by changing the geometrical and optical parameters of the photonic crystal and applying more alternation in its structure and the position and width of the frequency band gap is investigated. Then, it is assumed that the photonic crystal with an arbitrary angle is rotated around the axis which is perpendicular on the crystal cross section and then, it is irradiated with a plan wave. The band gap of the photonic crystals with the desired structure, desired rotation angle and multiple alternations have been solved. Very low information volume, high speed and accuracy during the calculation and useable for any desired structures are the characteristics of this method.     

Effect of an external electric field on the coherent terahertz emission from multiple filaments in air

We describe the terahertz emission from multiple filaments in air in the presence of an external electric field. A strong enhancement of the radiated terahertz energy is obtained by the combined effect of terahertz field interference and presence of a static electric field.     

On the ab initio calculation of a pairing gap in atomic nuclei

The role of an effective mass in the ab initio BCS equation for a pairing gap in atomic nuclei has been analyzed.     

Simple fabrication of an antireflective hemispherical surface structure using a self-assembly method for the terahertz frequency range

A hemispherical surface structure was fabricated on a sapphire substrate by utilizing a self-assembly and spin-coating process for a terahertz (THz) antireflection coating. The self-assembled glass spheres and spin-coated material led to a gradual change in the effective refractive index. The aspect ratio of the hemispherical surface structure was controlled easily by adjusting the thickness of the B-staged bisbenzocyclobutene used as a coating. The reflectance of the fabricated hemispherical surface structure, having a period of 140 μm, exhibited low reflectance and low Fabry-Perot resonance in a THz spectral range from 0.1 to 1.9 THz.     

A novel power spectrum calculation method using phase-compensation and weighted averaging for the estimation of ultrasound attenuation

An estimation of ultrasound attenuation in soft tissues is critical in the quantitative ultrasound analysis since it is not only related to the estimations of other ultrasound parameters, such as speed of sound, integrated scatterers, or scatterer size, but also provides pathological information of the scanned tissue. However, estimation performances of ultrasound attenuation are intimately tied to the accurate extraction of spectral information from the backscattered radiofrequency (RF) signals. In this paper, we propose two novel techniques for calculating a block power spectrum from the backscattered ultrasound signals. These are based on the phase-compensation of each RF segment using the normalized cross-correlation to minimize estimation errors due to phase variations, and the weighted averaging technique to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The simulation results with uniform numerical phantoms demonstrate that the proposed method estimates local attenuation coefficients within 1.57% of the actual values while the conventional methods estimate those within 2.96%. The proposed method is especially effective when we deal with the signal reflected from the deeper depth where the SNR level is lower or when the gated window contains a small number of signal samples. Experimental results, performed at 5 MHz, were obtained with a one-dimensional 128 elements array, using the tissue-mimicking phantoms also show that the proposed method provides better estimation results (within 3.04% of the actual value) with smaller estimation variances compared to the conventional methods (within 5.93%) for all cases considered.     

A new approach to the calculation of the gain of an energy amplifier

A new view upon an energy amplifier (based on a subcritical reactor driven by an accelerator motivated source of neutrons) as a system united by the energy flow between the accelerator and the subcritical reactor is given in the paper. A new approach to the calculation of the gain of the energy amplifier using the neutron balance equation is also introduced. The expression for the gain obtained here is compared with an expression derived earlier [C. Rubbia et al.: Rep. ISC 93-31, ISC/P 57, CERN, 1993].     

Detection of positive and negative ions in a wire ionization counter filled with atmospheric air

The physical processes occurring during the detection of individual ions in a wire counter filled with atmospheric air are studied, and the amplitude distribution of electric pulses is measured. It is shown that a positive ion is detected due to electron emission from the surface of a negatively charged wire, whereas a negative ion is detected due to electron detachment near a positively charged wire. The secondary processes accompanying the neutralization of positive ions at a negatively charged external electrode and negatively charged wire are considered. It is established that, in contrast to standard proportional counters, these secondary processes result in an increase in the number of electric pulses rather than in an increase in the electric pulse amplitude. The wire counter allows the detection of both ions produced inside the detector and ions injected into the detector from the ambient air. Possible applications of air-filled wire detectors are described.     

Anisotropy of the superconducting gap of the borocarbide superconductor YNi2B2C with ultrasonic attenuation

The ultrasonic attenuation alpha of the highly anisotropic s-wave superconductor YNi2B2C has been measured for all the symmetrically independent elastic modes to explore the location of the zero superconducting gap region on the Fermi surface. The attenuation of the longitudinal mode shows a pronounced anisotropy in the superconducting state: While alpha shows a thermally activated behavior along [110] and [001] directions, it shows T-linear dependence along [100]. These results together with those for the transverse modes demonstrate the presence of point nodes or zero-gap regions along [100] and [010] directions. This is a clear demonstration of ultrasonic attenuation as a powerful probe for the structure of the anisotropic superconducting gap.     

精确计算电子重整化链图传播下的Compton散射微分截面

采用电子与光子电磁相互作用最小耦合模型,对电子重整化链图传播下Compton散射微分截面作了严格解析计算,获得精确理论结果;并将该计算结果与电子树图和重整化单圈图传播下Compton散射微分截面作对比分析,获得了有关辐射修正的重要信息.此研究结果对精确描述Compton散射现象以及对电磁相互作用所呈现的复杂内部过程的深入探讨,都将从一个重要研究侧面给出理论计算研究方面某些可供借鉴与参考之处.