Fabrication of damascene Cu wirings using solid acidic catalyst

The copper damascene process is one of the most promising technologies for fabricating Cu wirings for electronic devices such as LSIs. In this research, the fabrication of damascene Cu wirings was conducted using solid acidic catalyst. When a Cu-plated wafer, whose oxide is a basic oxide is dipped into a mixture of oxidizing solution and acidic solution, surface atoms are ionized and etched off into the solution. However, because conventional nonelectrolytic etching does not have a reference surface, it is difficult to utilize for planarization. Therefore, a new nonelectrolytic machining method using a cation-exchange fabric instead of an acidic solution was developed. To be more precise, the planarization of a Cu-plated wafer was carried out by rubbing with the cation-exchange fabric in ozone water. Basically, this method exploits chemical reactions so that the physical properties of the workpiece surface are not deteriorated. Furthermore, this method uses no chemicals except for ozone water, which easily dissociates into water and oxygen molecules; thus, this method is a low-cost, environmentally friendly process. In this paper, as a preliminary experiment, the nonelectrolytic etching of a Cu sample using solutions of O₃ and CO₂ was carried out to inspect the dependence of the etching rate on [O₃] and [H⁺]. The results indicate that the etching rate increased as [O₃] and [H⁺] increased. When [H⁺] was high relative to [O₃], a smooth etch-pit-free surface was achieved. Next, nonelectrolytic etching using a cation-exchange fabric was carried out, and properties similar to those in the case of etching using solutions were obtained. Finally, damascene Cu wirings were fabricated using ozone water and a cation-exchange catalyst.     

氮化硅基陶瓷连接技术的研究进展

陶瓷连接技术是结构陶瓷实用化的有效手段，焊料成分对连接体的性能具有决定性作用。本文主要从焊料成分选择的角度，总结了氮化硅基陶瓷连接技术的发展现状；并重点讨论了陶瓷／玻璃复合焊料在β-Sialon陶瓷连接中的应用。     

Protective effect of phytic acid hydrolysis products on iron-induced lipid peroxidation of liposomal membranes

Beneficial effects of dietary phytic acid (myo-inositol hexaphosphate; IP₆) have often been explained by its strong iron ion-chelating ability, which possibly suppresses iron ion-induced oxidative damage in the gastrointestinal tract. Because phytic acid is hydrolyzed during digestion, this work aimed to know whether its hydrolysis products (IP_2′ IP_3′, IP_4′ and IP₅) could still prevent iron ion-induced lipid peroxidation. Studies using liposomal membranes demonstrated that hydrolysis products containing three or more phosphate groups are able to inhibit iron ion-induced lipid peroxidation although their effectiveness decreased with dephosphorylation. Similarly, they also prevented iron ion-induced decomposition of phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide. These results demonstrate that intermediate products of phytic acid hydrolysis still possess iron ion-chelating ability, and thus they can probably prevent iron ion-induced lipid peroxidation in biological systems.     

Crystalline complex between poly(γ-methyl l-glutamate) and dimethyl phthalate

The crystalline complex between poly(γ-methyl l-glutamate) (PMLG) and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) has been formed in films cast from a solution in dichloroethane. It has the stoichiometry of 1 mol of DMP to three or four residues of PMLG and shows two definite characteristics in X-ray diffraction patterns; one is the large hexagonal unit cell with the edge of around 28 Å and another the ‘extra’ 5.07 Å meridional reflection which can not be interpreted by a PMLG α-helical conformation. The structural examination for the films with various DMP contents is carried out by X-ray, viscoelastic, and d.s.c. measurements and the following structure is proposed for the crystalline complex. Four PMLG are associated to form a group which is hexagonally packed and DMP molecules, located in the gaps between groups, form a specific favourable helical structure along PMLG chains in which the van der Waals stacking of benzene rings of DMP is significant.     

Reduction of fatty acid hydroperoxides by human parotid saliva

Arachidonic acid hydroperoxide (15-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid; 15-HPETE) was introduced into human parotid saliva and incubated at 37°C. Straight phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of the reaction mixture showed that 15-HPETE was detoxified to its reduced form, 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, in the presence of glutathione. Therefore, it is concluded that human parotid saliva possesses fatty acid hydroperoxide-reducing ability. However, its effectiveness was found to be lower than that of blood plasma.     

Response to walnut olfactory and visual cues by the parasitic wasp Diachasmimorpha juglandis

Diachasmimorpha juglandis is a specialist parasitoid attacking fly larvae in the genus Rhagoletis that feed exclusively on walnut fruit husks. In a free-foraging assay comparing response to uninfested, infested, and mechanically damaged fruits, we first determined that D. juglandis use host feeding damage on the fruit as a cue for host presence. In another free-foraging assay that used artificial walnut models and wind tunnel experiments, D. juglandis distinguished infested from uninfested fruits by using either olfactory or visual cues separately. However, the response rate of wasps in the wind tunnel was raised considerably when visual cues were also available. We analyzed the volatile compounds emitted by cohorts of uninfested, mechanically damaged, and infested fruits 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 days after oviposition by flies into the infested fruits. Total volatile emissions did not differ significantly among treatments, but quantitative changes in volatiles distinguished infested fruits from uninfested and damaged fruits. The fact that parasitoids did not distinguish between infested and damaged fruits in assays where damage was visible indicates that they rely on visual cues when those are available.     

有限状态自动机的C#实现

基于Visual C#语言实现了有限状态自动机.该自动机具有小巧轻便、简单易用的优点,可应用于程序复杂界面的操作与控制.     

Three-dimensional medical image recognition of cancer of the liver by a revised radial basis function (RBF) neural network algorithm

In this study, we propose a revised radial basis function (RBF) neural network algorithm and apply this algorithm to computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) of the liver. First, the revised RBF neural network algorithm is applied to recognition of the liver regions, and the recognition results are compared with those obtained using the conventional RBF neural network and the conventional multilayered neural network trained using the back-propagation algorithm. It is shown that the revised RBF neural network is accurate, and is a useful method because the parameters are automatically determined. Then, the revised RBF neural network is applied to CAD of the liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).     

Pose-Invariant Facial Expression Recognition Using Variable-Intensity Templates

In this paper, we propose a method for pose-invariant facial expression recognition from monocular video sequences. The advantage of our method is that, unlike existing methods, our method uses a simple model, called the variable-intensity template, for describing different facial expressions. This makes it possible to prepare a model for each person with very little time and effort. Variable-intensity templates describe how the intensities of multiple points, defined in the vicinity of facial parts, vary with different facial expressions. By using this model in the framework of a particle filter, our method is capable of estimating facial poses and expressions simultaneously. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. A recognition rate of over 90% is achieved for all facial orientations, horizontal, vertical, and in-plane, in the range of ±40 degrees, ±20 degrees, and ±40 degrees from the frontal view, respectively. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.