ESD On-Wafer Characterization: Is TLP Still the Right Measurement Tool?

The electrical characterization of devices and circuits regarding their electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness is done by using several measurement tools. Transmission line pulsing (TLP) and human body model (HBM) testing are the commonly used methods. In this paper, TLP and HBM on-wafer setups are presented regarding their electrical schematics, the type of data that is obtained, and the required calibration methodologies. By using three case studies, both test methods are compared by showing their advantages and disadvantages. It is demonstrated that pulsed measurement methods like TLP testing are not always a suitable tool to fully assess the ESD performance of devices or circuits.     

A decentralized scheduling method for flowshop problems with resource constraints

In this paper, we propose a decentralized scheduling method for flowshop scheduling problems with resource constraints using the Lagrangian decomposition and coordination approach. When a flowshop scheduling problem with resource constraints is decomposed into machine‐level subproblems, the decomposed problem becomes very difficult to solve so as to obtain the optimal solution, even when the production sequence of operations is given. In this study, the decomposed subproblems are solved by a simulated annealing algorithm combined with dynamic programming. By decomposing the problem into single machine subproblems, the changeover cost can easily be incorporated in the objective function. In order to reduce the computation time, a heuristic algorithm for calculating the starting times of operations is also proposed. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of the simulated annealing method by which the schedule of the entire machine is successively improved. Numerical results have shown that the proposed method can generate better solutions than the conventional method. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 149(1): 44–51, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10364     

The spectroscopic behaviour of J-aggregates of cyanine dyes without long chains incorporated in the monolayer assemblies

Cyanine dyes without long alkyl chains can be incorporated into composite monolayers with stearic acid at the air-water interface. In the composite monolayer of a 1:1 mixture of dye I (5,5′-dichloro-3,3′,9-triethylthiacarbocyanine chloride) and stearic acid on the water surface, two J-bands were observed, depending on the surface pressure. In the case of dye II (5,5′-dichloro-3,3′-diethyl-9-phehylthiacarbocyanine chloride) the J-aggregate was more stable than those of dye I.

The composite monolayers including the dyes can be transferred onto a solid support, retaining the J-aggregate between stearic acid layers. When the temperature was raised above 55°C, the J-band decreased very rapidly with a simultaneous increase in dimer and monomer bands. These spectral changes can be repeated with good reversibility. The correlation between the absorption spectra and the formation of J-aggregates for dyes I and II is discussed.     

Prevention of N-methylnitrosourea-induced colon carcinogenesis in F344 rats by lycopene and tomato juice rich in lycopene

A liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) assay was developed for the quantitative determination of olanzapine (LY170053, OLZ) in human plasma and serum. Bond Elut C2 solid-phase extraction cartridges (single cartridge or 96-well format), in conjunction with a positive pressure manifold, were used to extract OLZ and its internal standard, LY170222, from the biological matrix. Chromatographic resolution of OLZ from endogenous plasma interferences and its metabolites was accomplished with a MetaChem monochrom HPLC (4.6 x 150 mm, dp 5 microns). Detection was effected with a Perkin-Elmer SCIEX API III Plus mass spectrometer using positive ion atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and a multiple reaction monitoring protocol. The linear dynamic range was from 250 pg ml-1 to 50 ng ml-1 of human plasma/serum using a 0.5 ml aliquot. The inter-day precision (relative standard deviation) and accuracy (relative error) in plasma ranged from 6.26 to 7.66% and from -3.54 to 7.52%, respectively. The intra-day precision and accuracy in serum ranged from 3.46 to 8.76% and from -8.06 to 12.46%, respectively. This assay is sensitive and selective, and will be used to support both human clinical and toxicological analyses. Furthermore, using the 96-well solid-phase extraction format, sample preparation can be easily automated.     

Growth and coarsening of g. p. Zones in Al- Zn alloys

The structural changes during the precipitation of G. P. zones in Al-Zn binary alloys have been investigated by means of anin situ small-angle scattering technique using synchrotron radiation. Defining a specific time, normalized by the half-completion time, the time-dependent evolution of the precipitation process can be divided into three periods, independent of alloy composition and quench-ing conditions. The structural and kinetic features of the first two periods have been analyzed in detail. The first stage represents a growing process of clusters with diffuse interface into the well-defined G. P. zones. The average size of these clusters increases, and the density decreases. The second stage corresponds to the Ostwald ripening process. This mechanism is described by utilizing a modified Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory.     

Stereoselective Hydrolysis of Amino Acid Esters Catalyzed by β-Cyclodextrin-L(or D)-histidine Compounds

The catalytic activity of β-cyclodextrin-L(or D)-histidine compounds, β-CD-D-His(e) ( 2a ), β-CD-L-His(e) ( 2b ), and β-CD-D-D-His(a) ( 2c ), for the stereoselective hydrolysis of N-acyl-amino acid esters ( 3a-f ) was examined at 25° C (pH 7.90). The ability of 2a-c to bind the ester substrate into the cyclodextrin cavity and to attack the bound substrate by the nucleophilic imidazolyl group of the histidine moiety resulted in extremely high activity for those catalysts. However, the stereoselection of the enantiomeric esters during the inclusion of the substrate by 2a-c was found to be opposite, in terms of chiral specificity, to that during the esterolysis of 2a-c in the molecular cavity: that is, the stereoselective activity of 2a-c is very small. The catalytic activities of 2a-c are also influenced by the structural differences in 3a-f , which result in the different modes of substrate inclusion by the catalyst through hydrophobic forces.     

Large-field (> 20 × 25 mm) replication by EUV lithography

A two-aspherical-mirror system designed for large-area, high-resolution pattern replication has been developed. In order to expand the exposure area to 20 mm × 25 mm, new critical-illumination optics and a scanning mask stage synchronized with the wafer stage were developed. These improvements enabled the reduction of patterns in a large exposure field.     

Preparation of anti-oil stained membrane by grafting polyethylene glycol macromer onto polysulfone membrane

In this study, anti-oil stained ultrafiltration membrane was prepared by grafting a polyethylene glycol diacrylate macromer onto a plasma-activated polysulfone membrane. The macromer formed a hydrate layer which prevented oil in emulsion from directly contacting the membrane surface, thus preventing the oil from staining the membrane. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Stress analysis of a strip with a step and a crack

Stress analysis for a strip of which widths are different at the right and left handsides is carried out for before and after occurrence of a crack at a corner of a step. The strip is analyzed as a thin plate bending problem subject to transverse bending and torsion, and as a plane eleastic problem subject to bending in the plane and uniaxial tension. The rational mapping function of a sum of fractional expressions and complex variable method are used. Stress distribution and stress intensity factors are obtained.     

Construction of a BAC library of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea and finding specific genome regions in which its transposons tend to cluster

We have constructed a BAC library of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea consisting of 5760 clones. The insert size ranged from 35 to 175 kbp, with an average of 120 kbp. The library is about 18 genomes equivalent, therefore covering more than 99.999% of the genome. This library is the first to be constructed using a rice pathogenic wild type isolate. Improved high molecular weight DNA size fractionating helped to construct the library with high efficiency. Total library clones were arranged onto two nylon membranes for efficient screening. Test hybridization with a single-copy RFLP marker showed ten positive clones, of which restriction patterns indicated no chimerality or deletions. As a model case of application of this library, the distribution of the well-studied fungal retrotransposons MGSR1, MGR583, and MAGGY and DNA transposons MGR586 and Pot2 was analyzed. Of all the BAC clones, 10%, 13%, 18%, 12%, and 23% contained MGSR1, MGR583, MAGGY, MGR586 and Pot2, respectively. The percentage of clones possessing more than five kinds of transposons was 1.4%, 215 times greater than the expected number. The results show that these transposons were distributed in clusters in the M. grisea genome.