A 63nm Twin Flash memory cell with a size of 0.0225μm2 per 2 (or 4) bits is presented. To achieve small cell areas, a buried bit line and an aggressive gate length of 100 nm are the key features of this cell together with a minimum thermal budget processing. A novel epitaxial CoSi2 process allows the salicidation of local buried bitlines with only a few tens of nanometer width.

The use of Multi Quantum Well structures has been shown to provide a promising strategy for improving the thermoelectric figure of merit. In a recent paper the concept of carrier pocket engineering has been applied to strain symmetrized Si/Ge-superlattices leading to a ZT of 0.96 at room temperature for (111) orientation. Since the strain of the individual layers is crucial for the desired modification of their band structures, their experimental determination will be of importance. We have prepared a series of (111) oriented, 100 period (Si 2nm / Ge 2nm) superlattices on a graded Si0.5Ge0.5-buffer by sputter deposition. Deposition temperature and buffer thickness have been varied, the superlattices were characterized by AFM and XRD. The technique of XRD reciprocal space mappings of asymmetric reflections has been applied to describe the strain state of the superlattice. We found a buffer thickness of 1.1μm sufficient for more than 90% strain relaxation. XRD-data of 4nm-period superlattices are consistent with complete strain symmetrization.

Epitaxial ReSi1.75 thin films of variable thickness between 15nm and 150nm have been prepared in an one step process by Facing Target Sputtering (FTS) onto heated (100) and (111)Si and SOS wafers. The epitaxial relations and film structure have been investigated by Xray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Epitaxial growth was found at a substrate temperature of 1070K. Thermoelectric properties were measured between 100K and 450K and compared to the transport behavior of bulk ReSi1.75 and polycrystalline films. A distinct dependence of both the conductivity and thermopower was found on the film thickness, on unintentional doping and on the film structure. The results show that epitaxial ReSi1.75 films prepared by FTS can be a basis for further investigations of thermoelectric silicide/silicon multilayers.