Noncontact measurement of charge induced voltage shift in capacitive MEM-switches

The use of a modulated microwave signal to directly measure the voltage shift induced by charge in the dielectric layer of a capacitive microelectromechanical (MEM) switch is presented. This method does not require the metal bridge to contact the dielectric layer and is thus much less intrusive than previously reported measurements. The technique is a useful tool for understanding charge build up and dissipation in capacitive MEM switches.     

Oxynitride gate dielectric grown in nitric oxide (NO): the effectof reoxidation on dielectric reliability of the active edge

Reoxidation of an oxynitride gate dielectric grown by NO anneal of thermal oxide has been studied. This process has demonstrated ~3-5X improvement of Q_BD of active edge intensive capacitors in comparison to thermal oxide, N₂O and NO oxynitride. This improvement is believed to be due to the reduction of local thinning of the gate dielectric at the field oxide edge which also reduces local build-up of positive charge near the gate electrode at the isolation edges     

Permutation groups generated by cycles of fixed length

Combinatorial conditions on a set of cycles of fixed degree inS _n are studied, so that they generateA _n orS _n . It is shown thatA _n orS _n is so generated if and only if a graph associated with the set of cycles is connected, provided two of the cycles satisfy certain, not too restrictive, criteria. As a corollary, the minimum number of cycles of degreem ≧ 2 that generateA _n or S_n is determined.     

Every vertex a king

A king in a tournament is a vertex which can reach every other vertex via a 1-path or 2-path. A new inductive proof is given for the existence of an n-tournament with exactly k kings for all integers n ? k ? 1 with the following exceptions: k = 2 with n arbitrary, and n = k = 4 (in which cases no such n-tournament exists). Also, given an n-tournament T, the smallest order m is determined so that there exists an m-tournament W which contains T as a subtournament and so that every vertex of W is a king. Bounds are obtained in a similar problem in which the kings of W are exactly the vertices of T.     

Effect of broadcast and precise ephemerides on estimates of the frequency stability of GPS Navstar clocks

Frequency stability analysis of on-orbit Navstar clocks is performed by the Naval Research Laboratory using both the broadcast and the precise post-processed ephemerides. The phase offset between the Navstar clock and the reference clock is computed from pseudorange measurements obtained by dual-frequency GPS receivers at the five GPS monitor sites and at the U.S. Naval Observatory precise-time site. The broadcast ephemerides are generated at the GPS master control station by a Kalman filter using data collected from the five GPS monitor stations. The precise post-processed ephemerides are generated by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) using data collected from the GPS monitor sites and from five additional DMA monitor sites. In this paper the frequency stability is estimated for two Navstar caesium clocks–a Block I caesium clock (Navstar 9) and a Block II caesium clock (Navstar 23)–using both the broadcast and the precise ephemerides. A significant improvement in the estimate of the frequency stability of the Block II clocks has been achieved using the precise ephemeris.     

Reactive ion etching of Ta-Si-N diffusion barriers in CHF3+O2

Reactive ion etching of Ta₃₆Si₁₄N₅₀ diffusion barrier layers was performed in CHF₃+O₂ plasmas. Etch depths and rates were determined as a function of etch gas composition, cathode power, and etching time. Etching proceeds only after an initial delay which depends on gas composition and cathode power. This delay is attributed to the presence of a native surface oxide which must first be removed before etching can commence. Maximum etch rate was attained at 62.5% O₂ concentration, which also corresponds to minimum delay