An extraction method to determine interconnect parasitic parameters

Interconnect parasitic parameters in integrated circuits have significant impact on circuit speed. An accurate monitoring of these parameters can help to improve interconnect performance during process development, provide information for circuit design, or give useful reference for circuit failure analysis. Existing extraction methods either are destructive (such as SEM measurement) or can determine only partial parasitic parameters (such as large capacitor measurement). In this paper, we present a new method for extracting interconnect parasitic parameters, which can simultaneously determine the interlayer and intralayer capacitances, line resistance, and effective line width. The method is based on two test patterns of the same structure with different dimensions. The structure consumes less wafer area than existing methods. The method shows good agreement with SEM measurement of dielectric thickness in both nonglobal planarized and chemical-mechanical polished processes, and gives accurate prediction of the process spread of a ring oscillator speed over a wafer     

Optical quenching of the magnetoplastic effect in NaCl crystals

Observations indicate that illuminating NaCl crystals by ultraviolet light (λ=350 nm) suppresses the magnetoplastic effect. The processes induced by illumination take place in a subsystem of point defects and are related to a change in the state of magnetically sensitive dislocation pinning sites. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1389–1391 (1996)     

A multiple-switch high-voltage DC-DC converter

Series connection of power devices has evolved into a mature technique and is widely applied in HV DC power systems. Static and dynamic voltage balance is ensured by shunting individual devices with dissipative snubbers. The snubber losses become pronounced for increased operating frequencies and adversely affect power density. Capacitive snubbers do not exhibit these disadvantages, but they require a zero-voltage switching mode. Super-resonant power converters facilitate the principle of zero-voltage switching. A high-voltage DC-DC power converter with multiple series-connected devices is proposed. It allows the application of nondissipating snubbers to assist the voltage sharing between the multiple series-connected devices and lowers turnoff losses. Simulation results obtained with a circuit simulator are validated in an experimental power converter operating with two series-connected devices. The behavior of the series connection is examined for MOSFETs and IGBTs by both experimental work with a 2 kW prototype and computer simulation. Applications can be found in traction and heavy industry, where the soft-switching power converter is directly powered from a high-voltage source     

Possible application of X-ray optical elements for reducing the spectral bandwidth of an X-ray SASE FEL

A new design for a single pass X-ray Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) FEL is proposed. The scheme consists of two undulators and an X-ray monochromator located between them. The first stage of the FEL amplifier operates in the SASE linear regime. After the exit of the first undulator the electron bunch is guided through a non-isochronous bypass and the X-ray beam enters the monochromator. The main function of the bypass is to suppress the modulation of the electron beam induced in the first undulator. This is possible because of the finite value of the natural energy spread in the beam. At the entrance to the second undulator the radiation power from the monochromator dominates significantly over the shot noise and the residual electron bunching. As a result the second stage of the FEL amplifier operates in the steady-state regime when the input signal bandwidth is small with respect to that of the FEL amplifier. Integral losses of the radiation power in the monochromator are relatively small because grazing incidence optics can be used. The proposed scheme is illustrated for the example of the 6 nm option SASE FEL at the TESLA Test Facility under construction at DESY. As shown in this paper the spectral bandwidth of such a two-stage SASE FEL (Δλ/λ 5 × 10⁻⁵) is close to the limit defined by the finite duration of the radiation pulse. The average brilliance is equal to 7 × 10²⁴ photons/(s × mrad² × mm² × 0.1% bandw.) which is by two orders of magnitude higher than the value which could be reached by the conventional SASE FEL. The monochromatization of the radiation is performed at a low level of radiation power (about 500 times less than the saturation level) which allows one to use conventional X-ray optical elements (grazing incidence grating and mirrors) for the monochromator design.     

Four unit linking groups IV. Liquid crystals of positive dielectric anisotropy

Three separate series of new materials of weak to strongly positive dielectric anisotropy have been prepared. Each series contains four sub-sets of materials each incorporating a different four unit linking group (i.e., C₄H₈, C₄H₆, C₃H₆O and C₃H₄O) and the same series of end groups (i.e. F, CN and OCF₃) in various substitution patterns. The synthesis and liquid crystal transition temperatures of these novel substances are described and compared with those of the corresponding materials incorporating standard central linkages (i.e.-, C₂H₄, CH₂O, COO). The effect of an additional trans carbon-carbon double bond in the terminal alkyl chain and in the central linking unit has also been studied.     

Identification of peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I in the urine of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry

A new porphyrin, peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I, has been isolated from the urine of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. The porphyrin was characterized by high resolution mass spectrometry and by typical chemical reactions of a peroxyacid.     

The oxidation of 3,3′-dimethoxy benzidine with potassium bromate in acidic solutions

The kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of 3,3′-dimethoxybenzidine (oda, o-dianisidine) by potassium bromate in aqueous acidic medium were studied by monitoring the formation rate of the reaction product, 3,3′-dimethoxy 4,4′-diphenoquinone at 447 nm. The reaction is, first order with respect to both the substrate and oxidant, and second order with respect to H⁺. The oda: bromate stoichiometric ratio is 1:1. Plausible mechanism and rate laws are proposed accounting the experimental findings. Computer simulations were done using the proposed mechanism.     

The contribution of the (t(τ)+N) component to the α-particle wave function from data on the reactions p(α,pp)t and p(α,pn)τ at incident α-particle momentum 5 GeV/c

The 2-meter liquid-hydrogen bubble chamber is exposed to a separated beam of α particles from the ITEP synchrotron. The momentum of the incident ⁴He nuclei, averaged over the fiducial volume of the chamber, is 5 GeV/c (the kinetic energy of initial protons in the nucleus rest frame is T _p =620 MeV). The spectral functions of decays α→tp and α→τn) are extracted in the 4π geometry (the latter is extracted for the first time) from the exclusive reactions αp→tpp and αp→τpn in the spectator momentum region 0<q<0.3 GeV/c. The pole dominance criteria are carefully checked. Extrapolation of the nuclear vertex function to the pole gives a lower bound on the nuclear vertex constant. Our experimental data are compared with the results of other studies and with theoretical calculations. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 2, 69–74 (25 July 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Separation of piano keyboard vibrations into tonal and broadband components

A new method is presented for splitting musical notes into tonal and broadband components by removing the harmonic peaks from the spectra. This method was used to analyse the key vibrations of eight pianos (four grand and four upright). The broadband component of vibrations was found to be more intense in the upright pianos than in the grand pianos, while no such difference was found in the tonal component. As grands are considered to be superior to uprights, this suggests that it may be possible to improve upright pianos by reducing the strength of the broadband component of vibrations.     

A density functional theory computational study of the role of ligand on the stability of CuI and CuII species associated with ATRP and SET‐LRP

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and single electron‐transfer living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) both utilize copper complexes of various oxidation states with N‐ligands to perform their respective activation and deactivation steps. Herein, we utilize DFT (B3YLP) methods to determine the preferred ligand‐binding geometries for Cu/N‐ligand complexes related to ATRP and SET‐LRP. We find that those ligands capable of achieving tetrahedral complexes with Cu^I and trigonal bipyramidal with axial halide complexes with [Cu^IIX]⁺ have higher energies of stabilization. We were able to correlate calculated preferential stabilization of [Cu^IIX]⁺ with those ligands that perform best in SET‐LRP. A crude calculation of energy of disproportionation revealed that the same preferential binding of [Cu^IIX]⁺ results in increased propensity for disproportionation. Finally, by examining the relative energies of the basic steps of ATRP and SET‐LRP, we were able to rationalize the transition from the ATRP mechanism to the SET‐LRP mechanism as we transition from typical nonpolar ATRP solvents to polar SET‐LRP solvents. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 4950–4964, 2007