Leaf stomatal characteristics of Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) were investigated by electron microscopy and white light scanning interferometry. On the basis of average annual precipitations, two types of tree specimens were collected from Korea, China, and Mongolia: (1) trees under normal environmental conditions and (2) trees under arid conditions. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed oval-shaped stomata on the lower surface, and they were ca. 20 μm in width. In-lens secondary electron imaging showed differences in electron density and stomatal pore depth between the two types. According to the line profile analysis by white light scanning interferometry, stomata under arid conditions appeared to have higher levels of the stomatal pore depth than ones under normal conditions. Focused ion beam–field emission electron microscopy supported the increased stomatal pore depth with the increasing drought stress gradient. These results suggest that complementary microscopy can be employed to unravel the adaptive phenotypic plasticity of Siberian elm in response to drought stress.

The detailed knowledge of the three-dimensional (3D) organization of the nervous tissue provides essential information on its functional elucidation. We used serial block-face scanning electron microscopy with focused ion beam (FIB) milling to reveal 3D morphologies of the mossy fiber rosettes in the mice cerebellum. Three-week-old C57 black mice were perfused with a fixative of 1% paraformaldehyde/1% glutaraldehyde in phosphate buffer; the cerebellum was osmicated and embedded in the Araldite. The block containing granule cell layer was sliced with FIB and observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The contrast of backscattered electron image of the block-face was similar to that of transmission electron microscopy and processed using 3D visualization software for further analysis. The mossy fiber rosettes on each image were segmented and rendered to visualize the 3D model. The complete 3D characters of the mossy fiber rosette could be browsed on the A-Works, in-house software, and some preliminary quantitative data on synapse of the rosette could be extracted from these models. Thanks to the development of two-beam imaging and optimized software, we could get 3D information on cerebellar mossy fiber rosettes with ease and speedily, which would be an additive choice to explore 3D structures of the nervous systems and their networks.

The charging effects of microfibrils of sciatic nerve tissues due to electron irradiation are investigated using electron holography. The phenomenon that the charging effects are enhanced with an increase of electron intensity is visualized through direct observations of the electric potential distribution around the specimen. The electric potential at the surface of the specimen could be quantitatively evaluated by simulation, which takes into account the reference wave modulation due to the long-range electric field.

In 2011 the Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor census recorded a 22% drop in numbers from 2010, particularly at the known large coastal wintering sites. During this period, we discovered two new inland wintering sites for the species using satellite telemetry data, one located in China, where the individual followed the Yangtze river as far as Wuhan (500 km inland), and the other across the Vietnam-Cambodia border (70–200 km inland). Long periods of concentrated use of various freshwater habitats were in evidence for these two tagged individuals (China: 79 days, Vietnam/Cambodia: 91 Days) and in the latter case visual confirmation indicated a larger group of at least five individuals. The importance and potential of inland freshwater environments is highlighted towards the further conservation of the recovering population.

Background: Mortality associated with depression may be influenced by severity of depression and gender. We investigated the differential impacts on all-cause mortality of late-life depression by the type of depression (major depressive disorder, MDD; minor depressive disorder, MnDD; subsyndromal depression, SSD) and gender after adjusting comorbid conditions in the randomly sampled elderly.

Methods: One thousand community-dwelling elderly individuals were enrolled. Standardized face-to-face clinical interviews, neurological examination, and physical examination were conducted to diagnose depressive disorders and comorbid cognitive disorders. Depressive disorders were diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria and SSD to study-specific operational criteria. Five-year survivals were compared between groups using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: By the end of 2010, 174 subjects (17.4%) died. Depressive disorder (p = 0.001) and its interaction term with gender (p < 0.001) were significant in predicting five-year survival. MDD was an independent risk factor for mortality in men (hazard ratio = 3.65, 95% confidence interval = 1.67–7.96) whereas MnDD and SSD were not when other risk factors were adjusted.

Conclusions: MDD may directly confer the risk of mortality in elderly men whereas non-major depression may be just an indicator of increased mortality in both genders.

Mg deficiency increases the concentration of Zn in the liver. We investigated the effect of Mg deficiency on the expression of Zn-regulating factors such as Zn transporters and metallothionein (MT) in the rat liver. Because Ca deficiency alleviates some of the effects of Mg deficiency, we also investigated the interactions associated with Ca and Mg deficiencies. Growing male rats were given a control diet, a Mg-deficient diet, a Ca-deficient diet and a Mg- and Ca-deficient diet for 3 weeks. Mg and Ca deficiencies additively increased the mRNA levels of MT-1 and MT-2, the MT protein concentration and the concentration of Zn in the liver. The hepatic mRNA level of Zip14 increased with Mg deficiency but not with Ca deficiency. The dietary treatments did not affect the mRNA levels of other Zn transporters such as Zip1, Zip5, ZnT1, ZnT5 and ZnT6 in the liver. Ca deficiency was found to decrease the amount of femoral Zn and increase serum Zn concentration. This did not occur in the case of Mg deficiency. These results suggest that Mg deficiency enhances hepatic Zn uptake by the up-regulation of Zip14 expression and increases hepatic Zn concentration, leading to the enhancement of MT expression. Ca deficiency causes a transfer of Zn from the bone to the liver, which increases hepatic Zn concentration and, in turn, up-regulates the expression of MT. Because Mg and Ca deficiencies increase hepatic Zn concentration and increase MT expression by different mechanisms, their effects are additive.

Morphology of foliar trichomes was analyzed in Quercus variabilis by electron microscopy and three-dimensional surface profiling. Leaves from suppressed or dominant sprouts of the oak species were collected after a forest fire to unravel the effects of the disturbance factor on sprouting of the oak species. Scanning electron microscopy revealed two types of trichomes depending on the leaf surface. The trichomes on the adaxial surface were branched and constricted, and possessed a single row of thin-walled cells with a collapsed morphology (glandular branched uniseriate trichomes). Meanwhile, the trichomes on the abaxial surface were star-shaped, unfused with each other, and had 6 to 10 rays (nonglandular simple stellate trichomes). An apparent proliferation of trichomes was evident on the adaxial surface of the dominant sprouts. Uniseriate trichomes could be discernable as an elevation from the surface by white light scanning interferometry. By transmission electron microscopy, thin and convoluted cell wall, degenerated cytoplasm, and a single row of cells were characteristic of the trichomes on the adaxial surface. The thick cell walls of the mature trichomes on the abaxial surface represented the nonglandular nature. This is the first report on the morphological and ultrastructural characterization of foliar trichomes of the oak species.

This paper compared two different film deposition processes for formation of TiN barrier layers, conventional TiCl4-based chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition (ALD). The 30nm thick TiN film deposited by conventional TiCl4-based CVD at the process temperature of 600°C followed by NH3 post-deposition anneal showed about 180 μΩcm of resistivity, over 95 % of step coverage for the pattern aspect ratio of 6 on 0.35 μm contact diameters, and below 2 at.% of chlorine contents in the film. Meanwhile, the films deposited by ALD at 100°C lower process temperature than CVD showed much better film properties even without post-deposition anneal. It showed lower resistivity values and lower chlorine incorporation along with better step coverage characteristics. More detailed material analysis was done by AFM, SEM, and AES.

The cocktail source of BST was prepared by mixing of Ba, Sr, and Ti precursor solution with specific mole ratio. This cocktail source was vaporized and delivered into the warm wall reactor by liquid delivery system(LDS) and gaseous source was distributed by simple structure of gas injector instead of showerhead system. The thickness uniformity of BST on 8 inch wafers were less than 3%. The Ti composition uniformity of our films were less than the 1 at%(1σ ) at stoichiometric and near stoichiometric. Their dielectric constant was about 230 and leakage current density was lower than 10-8 A/cm2 under ±1V bias. Excellent step coverage and smooth (haze-free) surface morphology of BST films were obtained by a deposition using a noble dome type reactor. The merit of our warm wall type reactor also will be explained by excellent step coverage and the uniform composition with 3 dimensional structure. Our achievement should be applicable to the capacitor of next generation DRAM.

Simulation of chemical-mechanical polishing is important because the chip-level planarity are difficult to control. The simulator has been developed for predicting and optimizing the thickness distribution after the STI and damascene CMP as well as ILD CMP using chip-level pattern density, elastic spring model and erosion model. In this study, the results of CMP simulation is shown to agree well with the measured data. The simulator can be used to optimize CMP process conditions and to generate design rules for filling dummy patterns which are used to improve the planarity and uniformity.

Tantalum nitride (TaN) films were deposited using pentakis-diethylamido-tantalum [PDEAT, Ta(N(C2H5)2)5] as a precursor. During film growth, N- and Ar-ion beams with an energy of 120 eV were supplied in order to improve the film quality. In case of thermallydecomposed films, the deposition rate is controlled by the surface reaction up to about 350 °C with an activation energy of about 1.07 eV. The activation energy of the surface reaction controlled regime is decreased to 0.26 eV when the Ar-beam is applied. However, in case of Nbeam bombarded films, the deposition is controlled by the precursor diffusion in gas phase at the whole temperature range. By using Ar-beam, the resistivity of the film is drastically reduced from approximately 10000 µω-cm to 600 µω-cm and the density of the film is increased from 5.85 g/cm3 to 8.26 g/cm3, as compared with thermally-decomposed film. The use of N-beam also considerably lowers the resistivity of films (∼ 800 µω-cm) and increases the density of the films (7.5 g/cm3). Finally, the diffusion barrier properties of 50-nm-thick TaN films for Cu were investigated aftre annealing by X-ray diffraction analysis. The films deposited using N- and Arbeam showed the Cu3Si formation after annealing at 650 °C for 1 hour, while thermallydecomposed films showed Cu3Si peaks firstly after annealing at 600 °C. It is considered that the improvements of the diffusion barrier performance of the films deposited using N- and Ar-ion beam are the consequence of the film densification resulting from the ion bombardment during film growth.

CMP(Chemical Mechanical Planarization) process is widely used to reduce step height in semiconductor fabrication processes. As a design rule shrinks, a highly planar surface becomes inevitable within wafer scales. In order to get a high degree of a planarization, self-stopping characteristics of a ceria-based slurry should be studied and used in semiconductor process. In this study, threshold polishing pressure for a self-stopping characteristics was obtained by optimizing down pressure, pad conditioning, and mixing ratio of ceria abrasive and additive. A series of experiments were made to optimize the threshold polishing pressure in variable line & space patterns that consist of 0.8um step height and unit oxide film. As a result, self-stopping cmp process is twice batter than conventional silica-based process with respect to planarity and WIWNU. In addition, WIWNU and step height was dramatically decreased to less than 1000Å when applying to real fabrication devices over 2um step height.

TaCN films were deposited at low temperature (≤400 °C) by metallorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using pentakis(diethylamido)tantalum (PDEAT) as a precursor. The activation energy of the surface reaction is about 0.79 eV and the maximum deposition rate is about 100 Å/min at 350 °C. The resistivity of the as-deposited film decreases as the deposition temperature increases and the minimum value of resistivity obtained is 6000 μΩ-cm for the sample deposited at 400 °C. Major chemical elements in the films were detected as Ta, C, and N with some amounts of O by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). By x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), it is identified that the most of carbon in the films was bonded to Ta. The microstructural investigation using high resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals a nanocrystalline phase with an average grain size of about 30 Å. Preliminary investigation of the diffusion barrier property for copper showed that the 300 Å of TaCN diffusion barrier was failed after annealing at 500°C for 1 hr.

We have deposited TiN films by using ion-beam-induced chemical-vapor-deposition (IBICVD). Tetrakis-dimethyl-amido-titanium (TDMAT) was used as a precursor. N2 and Ar gas were used to generate the plasma and the ions in the plasma were extracted by using two electrically isolated grids. The energy of ion beam was about 115–127 eV. The use of N-ion beam significantly lowers the resistivity and carbon content of TiN film (∼320 μΩ-cm, 15 at.%), compared with the thermally decomposed film (∼6000 μΩ-cm, 36 at.%). The use of Ar ion beam also considerably lowers the resistivity of films (∼800 μΩ-cm), but does not reduce the carbon content. The step coverage of the thermally-decomposed film was about 70 %, while the step coverages of the films deposited using N2 and Ar ion beams were about 0 and 30 %, respectively, in 0.5 μm x 1.5 μm contacts. The etch-pit test showed that 50-nm-thick films deposited by using N2 and Ar ion beams prevent the diffusion of Cu into the Si substrate up to annealings at 550 °C and 600 °C for 1 hour, while the thermally decomposed film fails at 500 °C.

We report a new Ni/Pt/Au (20/30/80 nm) metallization scheme to achieve a low ohmic contacts to p-type GaN with a carrier concentration of 9.4 × 1016 cm-3. A Mg-doped GaN layer (0.5 μm) was grown on (0001) sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). All metal thin films were deposited on the p-GaN layer in an electron-beam evaporation system. Samples were annealed by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process at a range of temperatures from 300 °C to 850 °C under a flowing Ar atmosphere. A circulartransmission line model (c-TLM) was employed to calculate the specific contact resistance, and current-voltage (I-V) data were measured with HP4155A. The Ni/Pt/Au contacts without the annealing process showed nearly rectifying characteristics. The ohmic contacts were formed on the samples annealed at 500 °C for 30 sec and the I-V data showed a linear behavior. The specific contact resistance was 2.1 × 10-2 Ωcm2. However with increasing the annealing temperature above 600 °C, ohmic contacts were again degraded. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiles were used to investigate the interfacial reactions between the trilayer and GaN. AES results suggested that Pt plays a significant role in forming ohmic contact as an acceptor at the interface. Atomic force microscope (AFM) also showed that the samples with good ohmic contact have very smooth surface.

Tantalum nitride (TaN) films were deposited by using pentakis(diethylamido)tantalum and ammonia. The activation energies of the surface reaction were obtained with the NH3 flow rate. In addition, the resistivity, composition, crystal structure, and microstructure were systematically studied with the NH3 flow rate from 0 to 25 sccm. The resistivity of the asdeposited film was decreased as the NH3 flow rate was increased, but it was increased at the NH3 flow rate of 25 sccm. The minimum value of resistivity is about 7000 μΩ-cm at the NH3 flow rate of 20 sccm. The carbon content in the film was decreased down to 1 at.% as the NH3 flow rate was increased up to 25 sccm by Auger electron spectroscopy. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry showed that the N/Ta ratio is about 1.75, which is not considerably changed with the NH3 flow rate. In spite of this high nitrogen content in the film, it was revealed that the fcc TaN was formed by x-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. The etch-pits test showed that 50-nm-thick TaN films deposited at the NH3 flow rate of 0 and 25 sccm prevented the diffusion of Cu into the Si substrate at the annealing condition of 500 °C and 550 °C for 1 hour, respectively. The step coverage was estimated as over 80 % at the NH3 flow rate of 0 sccm and below 10 % with the addition of NH3 in 0.5 μm × 1.5 μm contacts by cross-section scanning electron microscopy.