Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, August 5 – August 9, 2007

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, August 5 – August 9, 2007

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2006

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2006

We have developed an FIB micro-sampling technique to prepare both plan view and cross-sectional TEM specimens from a specific site.

The instruments that were used in this study are the Hitachi FB-2000A FIB system equipped a with micromanipulator unit and an HF-2200 cold field emission 200kV analytical TEM equipped with a scanning attachment allowing both STEM and SEM imaging.

Figure 1 shows a procedure to prepare a micro-sample for either plan view or cross-sectional TEM observation of the specific site. First, the micro-sample for plan view TEM observation is trench milled by using an FIB(Figure 1a). Second, a tip of a micromanipulator W-probe is bonded to the micro-sample with the FIB assisted metal deposition. Then, the micro-sample is lifted out and transferred onto a micro-sample carrier(Figure 1b).

We determined (a) the haemodynamic responses to intubating laryngeal mask (ILM) airway insertion/intubation and removal in anaesthetized patients, and (b) whether the timing of ILM removal influences these responses. One-hundred and twenty patients without cardiovascular disease were studied. ILM airway insertion/intubation was 5 min after induction with propofol 2mg kg−1 and maintenance of anaesthesia with sevoflurane 2% in oxygen 33% and nitrous oxide. Patients were randomly assigned for removal of the intubating laryngeal mask airway at 1, 3 and 5 min after successful intubation. Systolic and diastolic arterial pressures and heart rate were recorded preinduction (baseline), before ILM airway insertion/intubation, at 1-min intervals after insertion/intubation, and at 1-min intervals for 5 min after ILM removal. ILM insertion was successful at the Arst attempt in all patients, but 46 patients required more than one intubation attempt. Compared with baseline values, there were no increases in systolic or diastolic arterial pressure, but there was an increase in heart rate 1 min after ILM insertion/intubation (9%, P < 0.001) and 1 min after ILM removal (8%, P < 0.01). There was a significant increase in systolic and diastolic pressures and heart rate 1 min after ILM insertion/intubation (30%, 31% and 15%; all: P < 0.002) compared with before ILM insertion/intubation values and 1 min after ILM removal (9%, 8% and 7%; all P < 0.05) compared with 1 min after ILM insertion/intubation values. Removal of the ILM 1 min after successful intubation resulted in higher arterial pressure compared with removal at 3 min (systolic arterial pressure 10% higher for 1 min, P=0.01) and 5 min (systolic arterial pressure 10–23% higher for 3 min, P < 0.01; diastolic arterial pressure 10–20% higher for 4 min, P > 0.02), but there were no differences in heart rate between groups. Systolic and diastolic arterial pressures were greater if more than one intubation attempt was required. Early removal or multiple intubation attempts did not exceed baseline haemodynamic values. We conclude that ILM insertion/intubation and removal in anaesthetized patients produces little or no haemodynamic response, even if multiple intubation attempts are required. The timing of removal exerts a small, but clinically unimportant influence on these responses.

The results of our previous studies revealed that the specimen heating holder with the heating elements of spiral shaped fine metal wires of high melting point enable us to observe high resolution transmission electron microscopy(TEM) images at elevated temperatures.

In fact, the holder was applied for high resolution TEM study of a formation of SiC crystal at 1500°C and a surface reconstruction of Au deposited Si particle at 1000°C successfully. However, because the heating holder was single tilt type, there was a certain limitation in its application.

In this paper, development of a double tilt specimen heating holder with a heating element of spiral shaped fine metal wire and its application for the study of microstructural changes of Si3N4 during sintering at very high temperature.

Photograph of the newly developed double tilt specimen heating holder is shown in Fig. 1. The heating element is mounted on the electrically isolated tilting frame of the holder and the heating current is supplied via tilting rod which is also electrically isolated from other parts of the holder.

Kinetics of Ge segregation during molecular beam epitaxial growth is described. It is shown that the Ge segregation is self-limited in Si epitaxial overlayers due to a high concentration effect when the Ge concentration exceeds 0.01 monolayer (ML). As a result, segregation profiles of Ge are found to decay non-exponentially in the growth direction. This unusual Ge segregation was found to be suppressed with an adlayer of strong segregant, Sb, during the kinetic MBE growth. We develop a novel scheme to realize sharp Si/Ge interfaces with strong segregante. Lower limit of the effective amount of Sb for this was found to be 0.75 ML.

We investigated the initial oxidation of MBE-grown Si (100) surfaces with atomic flatness using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). It was found that the MBE-grown surfaces are inert and hardly oxidized even after exposure to molecular oxygen up to 1500 Langmuir (L) at room temperature. At elevated temperatures, the surface oxidation was substantially promoted. On the contrary, the surface oxidation was found to be substantiated on a deliberately corrugated Si surface prepared by low temperature MBE growth, even at room temperature.

We have studied interfacial mixing of Si/Ge strained-layer superlattices during Si molecular beam epitaxy. The mixing has been shown to be primarily due to the surface segregation of Ge atoms during Si overlayer growth. It has been found that only the Ge atoms on the topmost Ge layer dominantly segregate to the growing surface. It has also been found that the surface segregation of Ge is effectively suppressed by depositing Sb atoms on the Ge layers. It has been demonstrated that Si/Ge superlattices with abrupt Si/Ge interfaces can be grown by depositing Sb. The two state exchange model is used to discuss the surface segregation of Ge and the suppression of the segregation by Sb deposition.