Application of phase-stabilized optical fiber in transmission ofreference and IF signals in VLBI observation

A phase-stabilized optical fiber (PSOF) cable, which is 880 m long, was successfully used to transmit a 100-520 MHz IF signal and 10 MHz reference frequency signal in Mark III very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. Phase stability of the 1760-m round-trip PSOF cable was measured by a dual mixer time difference system. Results of the measurements show that the stability of the PSOF cable system is about 50 times better than that of an ordinary coaxial cable system. The measured phase fluctuations are smaller than the tolerance limit required for a coherence loss of less than 20% in VLBI observations with an integration time of several hundred seconds. Internal accuracies of the international geodetic VLBI observations, in which the PSOF cable system is used at a station, are proven to be in the level of the present-day standard. The results show that the performance of the cable is at least comparable with, and probably better than, that of coaxial cables of much shorter length widely used in VLBI stations     

A Fully-Automated Electron Beam Test System for VLSI Circuits

A fully automated, stroboscopic electrobeam test system that analyzes the behavior of logic VLSI circuits, this system consists of a stroboscopic electron-beam tester combined with an LSI CAD system. LSI circuit design data, read from the CAD system, provides a designed map. The host computer performs interconnection pattern recognition by superimposing this map onto an observed stroboscopic SEM image. Then, once the circuit nodes for voltage waveform measurements are automatically determined on the superimposed map. Next, the electron beam is positioned on the actual circuit-under-test wires. These automatic processes result in measured waveforms, which are displayed on the host computer terminal. This system has been applied to a 2.3K-gate logic LSI circuits, and has been successful in locating the critical path. This system, coupled with the recently developed fault diagnostic electron-beam tester, Finder, constitutes a unified electron-beam test system.     

Integrating an Electron-Beam System into VLSI Fault Diagnosis

Using design data, the system can prepare a logic-state map for the device under test. The map draws top-layer connections in different colors according to their expected logic states so the map may be compared to the DUT image observed by the electron-beam tester. The system has successfully tested a 75K-transistor VLSI device.     

Evaluation of the radiologic findings on hysterosalpingography by selective hydrotubation with flexible hysterofiberscope

In order to assess the influence of the protein charge on its partitioning in poly(ethyleneglycol)/salt aqueous two-phase systems, three bovine serum albumin derivatives with isoelectric points of 5.50, 6.20 and 6.85 were obtained by chemical modification of the protein with a soluble carbodiimide and glycine O-methyl ester and separation of the derivative mixture by liquid isoelectric focusing. The modification reaction was mild enough to preserve the tertiary structure of the proteins, as judged by circular dichroism and fourth derivative UV spectra. The surface hydrophobicity of the bovine serum albumin derivatives was identical, as measured by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. Partitioning of the derivatives in poly(ethyleneglycol)/phosphate and poly(ethyleneglycol)/citrate aqueous two-phase systems between pH 5.2 and 6.5 indicates that partitioning is not dependent on the protein charge in the poly(ethyleneglycol)/salt systems studied.     

Preparation of giant magnetostrictive materials under microgravity condition

In this paper, we investigated the possibility of preparation of TbFe₂ giant magnetostrictive alloys under a microgravity condition using 6 m drop-tube system on basis of a feasibility study by JAMIC drop-tower. The diameters of TbFe₂ alloy droplets varied from 1.1 to 2.1 mm were obtained. The magnetostriction of 1.1 mm droplet shows the highest value of about 1600 ppm at external magnetic field of 15 kOe. The magnetostriction of TbFe₂ droplets increased with decreasing diameter. It was suggested that a cooling rate during free-fall in helium gas atmosphere and oil quenching influenced the magnetostriction of the samples. We concluded that 6 m drop-tube system could be potential the continuous preparation process for high performance TbFe₂ giant magnetostrictive alloys.     

Optimization of the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II Global Imager channels by use of radiative transfer calculations

The channel specifications of the Global Imager onboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II have been determined by extensive numerical experiments. The results show that there is an optimum feasible position for each ocean color channel. The bandwidth of the 0.763-microm channel should be less than 10 nm for good sensitivity to the cloud top height and geometric thickness of the cloud layer; a 40-nm bandwidth is suitable for the 1.38-microm channel to have the strongest contrast between cloudy and clear radiance with a sufficient radiant energy; and a 3.7-microm channel is better than a 3.95-microm channel for estimation of the sea surface temperature (SST) and determination of the cloud particle size when the bandwidth of the channel is 0.33 microm. A three-wavelength combination of 6.7, 7.3, and 7.5 microm is an optimized choice for water vapor profiling. The combination of 8.6, 10.8, and 12.0 microm is suitable for cloud microphysics and SST retrievals with the split-window technique.     

Automated placement of testing pads for electron-beam observation

A novel testing-pad placement method has been developed to greatly improve the electron-beam testing observability of multi-metal-layer LSIs. The pads consist of such small stacked vias that they can be placed in any unoccupied area of an LSI layout without any change in chip size. The observability is more than 88% for a 0.25um 390kG ASIC with this method.     

Construction of a cost-effective failure analysis service network––microelectronic failure analysis service in Japan

A failure analysis network has been constructed for providing cost-effective failure analysis service. In Japan, physical/chemical analysis service has been provided for long time by professional companies, who offer virtually all types of surface and material analyses. On the other hand, history of real failure analysis service is short, and there had been no professional company directed to it. However, a wide range of the failure analysis services has recently become available through a failure analysis network based on collaboration among professional physical/chemical analysis companies, electrical failure analysis companies, universities with specific technologies, and some companies with special techniques. Collaboration with the professional analysis equipment manufacturers will be the next stage in the network's construction.     

Urothelial carcinoma of the navicular fossa

We report a case of transitional cell carcinoma arising in the fossa navicularis. The patient was a 74-year-old man. He had no history of sexually transmitted disease or urethral stricture. Clinically, the tumor was suspected to be a condyloma acuminatum; however, the pathological diagnosis yielded an unexpected result: transitional cell carcinoma. Radiological examinations and cystoscopy showed no other tumor besides the primary cancer in the fossa navicularis. Partial resection of the urethra was performed and the patient has been without evidence of disease for 3 years.