Simplified 0.35-μm flash EEPROM process using high-temperatureoxide (HTO) deposited by LPCVD as interpoly dielectrics and peripheraltransistors gate oxide

A simplified flash EEPROM process was developed using high-temperature LPCVD oxide both as flash cells interpoly dielectrics and as peripheral transistors gate oxide (decoding logic). An O₂ anneal at 850°C lowers charge trapping and interface trap density induced by Fowler-Nordheim injection. However, electron trapping remains slightly higher than with dry thermal oxide. Similar memory charge loss and write-erase endurance are obtained as for ONO-insulated cells. HTO thus proves to have the required quality and reliability to be used in flash EEPROMs     

Evaluation of multicast routing algorithms for real-timecommunication on high-speed networks

Multicast (MC) routing algorithms capable of satisfying the quality of service (QoS) requirements of real-time applications will be essential for future high-speed networks. We compare the performance of all of the important MC routing algorithms when applied to networks with asymmetric link loads. Each algorithm is judged based on the quality of the MC trees it generates and its efficiency in managing the network resources. Simulation results over random networks show that unconstrained algorithms are not capable of fulfilling the QoS requirements of real-time applications in wide-area networks. Simulations also reveal that one of the unconstrained algorithms, reverse path multicasting (RPM), is quite inefficient when applied to asymmetric networks. We study how combining routing with resource reservation and admission control improves the RPM's efficiency in managing the network resources. The performance of one semiconstrained heuristic, MSC, three constrained Steiner tree (CST) heuristics, Kompella, Pasquale, and Polyzos (1992), constrained adaptive ordering (CAO), and bounded shortest multicast algorithm (BSMA), and one constrained shortest path tree (CSPT) heuristic, the constrained Dijkstra heuristic (CDKS) are also studied. Simulations show that the semiconstrained and constrained heuristics are capable of successfully constructing MC trees which satisfy the QoS requirements of real-time traffic. However, the cost performance of the heuristics varies. The BSMA's MC trees are lower in cost than all other constrained heuristics. Finally, we compare the execution times of all algorithms, unconstrained, semiconstrained, and constrained     

Mathematical analysis of dynamic channel selection in indoor mobilewireless communication systems

Dynamic channel selection (DCS) is an algorithm for flexible resource sharing in mobile radio systems. The digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) standard implements a version of DCS based on time as well as frequency multiplexing. In this paper, mathematical models are developed to evaluate the probabilities of channel availability, desired carrier power, and the carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR) for a constant traffic load. These results can be used to compute the call setup blocking probability. The models reported in this study are based on a decentralized DCS according to the DECT standard specifications. The results show that blocking due to availability of a channel (resource blocking), not interference blocking, generally is the most important factor in overall call blocking. Furthermore, it is seen that resource blocking is sensitive to the implementation of portable sets. Also, with homogeneous static traffic, this type of DCS ran be as good as fixed channel allocation (FCA) with respect to resource blocking     

The effect of surface roughness on the radiative properties ofpatterned silicon wafers

The radiative properties of patterned silicon wafers have a major impact on the two critical issues in rapid thermal processing (RTP), namely wafer temperature uniformity and wafer temperature measurement. The surface topography variation of the die area caused by patterning and the roughness of the wafer backside can have a significant effect on the radiative properties, but these effects are not well characterized. We report measurements of room temperature reflectance of a memory die, logic die, and various multilayered wafer backsides. The surface roughness of the die areas and wafer backsides is characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). These data are subsequently used to assess the effectiveness of thin film optics in providing approximations for the radiative properties of patterned wafers for RTP applications     

Novel technique for SiO2 formed by liquid-phasedeposition for low-temperature processed polysilicon TFT

A technique for SiO₂ formation by liquid-phase deposition (LPD) at nearly room temperature for low-temperature processed (LTP) polysilicon thin-film transistor (poly-Si TFT) was developed. LPD SiO₂ film with a lower P-etch rate shows a dense structure. LPD SiO₂ also exhibits good electrical characteristics. LTP poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs) with LPD SiO ₂ as the gate insulator have been fabricated and investigated. Their characteristics indicate performance adequate for their use as pixel transistors in liquid crystal displays (LCDs)     

An OFDM scheme with a half complexity

The paper deals with an OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) system based on filter-bank architecture. The known implementation uses a DFT (discrete Fourier transform) processor and a polyphase network (PPN). Even if it is based on complex components, in the final step it operates the real part extraction of the incoming signal. This leads to redundant operations in the DFT processor and in the PPN. Specifically, for the transmission of N complex symbol sequences at a given rate ½F, an N-point DFT processor and an N-branch PPN, both working at the rate F, are required. This implementation can be improved with a complexity reduction by a factor of two. In fact, in the paper an architecture is presented based on an N-point DFT processor and N-branch PPN at the rate F, for the transmission of 2N (in place of N) complex symbol sequences at the rate ½F     

A stochastic deconvolution method to reconstruct insulin secretionrate after a glucose stimulus

Insulin secretion rate (ISR) is not directly measurable in man but it can be reconstructed from C-peptide (CP) concentration measurements by solving an input estimation problem by deconvolution. The major difficulties posed by the estimation of ISR after a glucose stimulus, e.g., during an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT), are the ill-conditioning of the problem, the nonstationary pattern of the secretion rate, and the nonuniform/infrequent sampling schedule. In this work, a nonparametric method based on the classic Phillips-Tikhonov regularization approach is presented. The problem of nonuniform/infrequent sampling is addressed by a novel formulation of the regularization method which allows the estimation of quasi time-continuous input profiles. The input estimation problem is stated into a Bayesian context, where the a priori known nonstationary characteristics of ISR after the glucose stimulus are described by a stochastic model. Deconvolution is tackled by linear minimum variance estimation, thus allowing the derivation of new statistically based regularization criteria. Finally, a Monte-Carlo strategy is implemented to assess the uncertainty of the estimated ISR arising from CP measurement error and impulse response parameters uncertainty     

AN ALTERNATIVE SPECIFICATION FOR MODELING GROUNDWATER DYNAMICS

This research extends previous work with dynamic models to manage groundwater quality by using the consumptive nitrate use rate instead of the nitrate application rate. The analysis indicates that misspecification results in overestimation of economic benefits, and supra-optimum nitrogen fertilizer application rates and groundwater nitrate stocks at a steady state.     

Algorithm for cosine transform of Toeplitz matrices

An algorithm for calculating the 2D cosine transform of a Toeplitz matrix is presented. The algorithm is based on the application of 1D cosine transforms. More specifically, four 1D cosine transforms of size N are needed to obtain the transform of a Toeplitz matrix of size N×N. This is an improvement over previously published algorithms. The algorithm is also simple and regular