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Countervailing Powers: On John Kenneth Galbraith
In a 1930 essay titled "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren," John Maynard Keynes ridiculed economists for having a high opinion of themselves and their work. As the Great Depression engulfed the world, Keynes looked back at historic rates of economic growth, arguing that the real problem people would face in the future was not poverty but the moral quandary of how to live in a society of such abundance and wealth that work would cease to be necessary. The "economic problem," as he put it, was technical, unimportant in the larger scheme of things. "If economists," he wrote, "could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people, on a level with dentists, that would be splendid!" John Kenneth Galbraith—the Harvard-based economist whose books shaped the public conversation on economic matters for a generation in mid-twentieth-century America—would have agreed.
Today, given the rise of mathematical methods and computer modeling, economics is if anything even more labyrinthine, esoteric and inaccessible to the layman than it was in the days of Keynes and Galbraith. It is also more intellectually and politically ascendant than it was in the 1930s. Its methods now dominate much of the social sciences, having made inroads in law and political science. Its central theme of the superiority of free markets is the gospel of political life. This makes the publication of the Library of America edition of four of Galbraith's best-known books—American Capitalism; The Great Crash, 1929; The Affluent Society and The New Industrial State—a cause for celebration. (The volume is edited by Galbraith's son James, also an economist.) Galbraith delighted in puncturing the self-importance of his profession. He was a satirist of economics almost as much as a practitioner of it. He took generally accepted ideas about the economy and turned them upside down. Instead of atomistic individuals and firms, he saw behemoth corporations; instead of the free market, a quasi-planned economy. Other economists believed that consumers were rational, calculating actors, whose demands and tastes were deserving of the utmost deference. Galbraith saw people who were easily manipulated by savvy corporations and slick advertising campaigns, who had no real idea of what they wanted, or why. In many ways, our economic world is quite different from the one Galbraith described at mid-century. But at a time when free-market orthodoxy seems more baroque, smug and dominant than ever, despite the recession caused by the collapse of the real estate bubble, his gleeful skewering of the "conventional wisdom" (a phrase he famously coined) remains a welcome corrective.
* * *
John Kenneth Galbraith was born in 1908, the third child of a farm family in the small Canadian town of Iona Station. He became an economist almost by accident. Shortly before his graduation from Ontario Agricultural College (which he described in later life as "probably the worst college in the English-speaking world"), he stumbled upon an advertisement for a graduate fellowship in agricultural economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He applied and was accepted, and after completing his studies he managed to secure a nontenure-track position at Harvard.
It took some time for Galbraith to become a full professor, but even then he never retreated into academic life. To learn of the sheer variety of his activities—detailed in the chronology in the Library of America volume—is exhausting. He was prolific, writing four dozen books—among them three novels—and more than 1,100 articles. Before he earned tenure, he did a stint at the Office of Price Administration during World War II, creating the system of price controls that prevented inflation during the wartime boom. In the 1940s he was a writer for a new magazine called Fortune, where his articles helped spread popular interpretations of Keynesianism. He participated in the United States Postwar Strategic Bombing Survey, which found that the supposedly accurate air-bombing of Europe had in fact failed to destroy the munitions plants it had targeted. He was closely tied to the Democratic Party of the postwar years, advising Adlai Stevenson and serving as the American ambassador to India under John F. Kennedy, although he ultimately became an outspoken opponent of the war in Vietnam (and steadily moved to the left of the Democratic Party). In the '70s he was pilloried by the conservative movement: the Heritage Foundation held him up as an example of all that was wrong with liberalism, and Milton Friedman's PBS series Free to Choose was created as a conservative alternative to a series Galbraith produced for the BBC called The Age of Uncertainty.
When Galbraith was a young man, the field of economics was more diverse and more openly ideological than it is today. It was far less dominated by mathematical techniques (which Galbraith never used), and political debates were a regular part of economics courses. (For example, the conservative Harvard economist Thomas Nixon Carver used to open the floor to socialist speakers for the first half of his spring semester class, and then spend the second half giving his rebuttal to their arguments.) Thorstein Veblen, Karl Marx and Keynes were among Galbraith's early intellectual influences. For Veblen, consumption was irrational and atavistic, a display of status more than the satisfaction of genuine needs—a skeptical view of consumerism that Galbraith would follow throughout his work. Even though Galbraith rejected Marxism, finding it as doctrinaire as conservative economics, he admitted that Marx was right about enough—the existence of social classes, the centrality of material interests, the recurrence of economic depressions, the concentration of industry—that any thinking person who was not a Marxist had to occasionally wonder: "Might he not be right on other things—including the prospect for capitalism itself?" In the 1930s, as a young professor, Galbraith became persuaded by Keynes's arguments against laissez-faire and in favor of an expansive role for government. In the postwar years, American Keynesianism became inextricably bound up with military spending. Galbraith would put forward another vision of Keynes, one that stressed a vision of the common good.
Despite the intellectual richness of economics in the early years of the twentieth century, most of Galbraith's academic elders in his formative years still believed the old truths of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Alfred Marshall. The economy was composed of millions of atomistic units—individuals and small firms—that interacted in a marketplace in which prices were set by competition. This perfect system ran best without interference from the state. Competition would produce the best rewards for everyone. Even the Social Darwinist certitude that "the millionaires are the product of natural selection" (to quote one of the credo's chief boosters, the Yale sociologist William Graham Sumner) remained a respected faith in the academy into the early 1930s.
For many in the broader society, this unthinking faith in the virtues of the market was shattered by the Great Depression. But the men who had devoted their lives to expounding the market's glories—including quite a few on the Harvard economics faculty—did not retreat. Instead, they spent their time denouncing the New Deal, Roosevelt and the "alien" intellectual influences that had seized control of the state. Throughout his career, Galbraith would write with bitter wit about people who clung to their sentimental philosophies about how the world ought to operate, long after reality should have shaken them free. In The Great Crash, 1929, he would quote Mark Twain, who had provided the Wall Street Journal's "thought of the day" for September 11 of that year: "Don't part with your illusions; when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." Galbraith sought to provide a vision of the modern economic world without illusions.
* * *
The four books collected in the Library of America volume take as their central target the idea that the economy is composed of rational, calculating individuals, whose personal preferences shape the market and guide it to an optimal outcome for everyone. It is hard to imagine four such books being written today: they were bestselling, lucid, fiercely confident works that argued in various ways against the idea that the American economy operates as a frictionless, benevolent free market.
American Capitalism, published in 1952, begins by comparing the economy to a bee. "It is told," Galbraith wrote, "that such are the aerodynamics and wing-loading of the bumblebee that, in principle, it cannot fly." And yet it did, in blissful ignorance of the laws of physics. So, too, the American economy of the '50s seemed to be thriving "in defiance of the rules" of economic life as laid down by Smith and Ricardo. A massive government, powerful labor unions and gigantic corporations had replaced the competitive economy of yesteryear. The result, though, was not economic collapse but unprecedented prosperity. Skeptics of bigness who urged a return to the small enterprises of the nineteenth century were nostalgic and misguided. The way to respond to concentrated economic power was not by trying to break it up, as had always been the American tendency. Instead of busting the trusts, the way to curb their power was to create institutions—strong labor unions, consumer associations, farmers' groups— that could match their economic might. Indeed, the federal government at times took on the role of a "countervailing power," as when it intervened in the labor market to establish a minimum wage.
The Great Crash, 1929, published in 1955, is perhaps the funniest book ever written about economic collapse. It gains its force by telling the story of the run-up to the stock market crash, and showing how businessmen, journalists, political leaders and economists all helped prop up and sustain the widespread faith in Wall Street as an easy source of vast wealth. This made the bubble of the 1920s possible and the crash that followed virtually inevitable. Galbraith scoured newspapers, political pronouncements, the writings of economists and the prospectuses of investment companies for examples of brash and bombastic statements about the stock market boom of the late '20s. In June 1929, Bernard Baruch told a magazine that "the economic condition of the world seems on the verge of a great forward movement." On October 15, 1929, Yale economist Irving Fisher famously pronounced, "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau…. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher than it is today within a few months."
Even after the stock market descent began on Thursday, October 24, the political and business communities rushed to reassure the public. President Herbert Hoover told the nation, "The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis." In the papers on Monday, October 28, brokerages bought advertisements filled with soothing words: "We believe that the investor who purchases securities at this time with the discrimination that is always a condition of prudent investing, may do so with utmost confidence." It was the day, Galbraith notes, "the real disaster began."
The central theme of The Great Crash is the impotence of people with power when in the grip of ideas that leave them no way of confronting reality. They endorse and protect a consensus that conceals what is objectively true. One of the most caustic passages in the book describes the "no-business meetings" held by Hoover in the wake of the crash, which assembled prestigious businessmen at the White House, to great fanfare from the press. No proposals emerged from Hoover's meetings. No action was taken. No one intended that anything should be accomplished. And yet by gathering men of wealth and undeniable social importance, Hoover intended to give the impression that something of importance was being done while doing nothing at all. They were, Galbraith wrote, a "practical expression of laissez faire."


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A thyristor device can be used to implement a variety of semiconductor memory circuits, including high-density memory-cell arrays and single cell circuits. In one example embodiment, the thyristor device includes doped regions of opposite polarity, and a first word line that is used to provide read and write access to the memory cell. A second word line is located adjacent to and separated by an insulative material from one of the doped regions of the thyristor device for write operations to the memory cell, for example, by enhancing the switching of the thyristor device from a high conductance state to a low conductance state and/or from the low conductance state to the high conductance. This type of memory circuit can be implemented to significantly reduce standby power consumption and access time.
1. A memory cell comprising:
a thyristor device including doped regions of opposite polarity;
a first word line providing read and write access to the memory cell; and
a second word line located adjacent to and separated by an insulative material from at least one of the doped regions of the thyristor device and used for write operation to the memory cell by enhancing the switching of the thyristor device from a high conductance state to a low conductance state and from the low conductance state to the high conductance state.
2. The memory cell of
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11. The memory cell of
12. A memory array comprising:
a first and a second word line; and
a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell comprising a thyristor device including doped regions of opposite polarity, wherein
the first word line providing read and write access to the memory cell; and
a portion of the second word line located adjacent to and separated by an insulative material from at least one of the doped regions of the thyristor device and used for write operation to the memory cell by enhancing the switching of the thyristor device from a high conductance state to a low conductance state and from the low conductance state to the high conductance state.
13. The memory array of
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This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/103,241, filed on Mar. 20, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,529 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/103,240, filed Mar. 20, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,356, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/666,825, filed on Sep. 21, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,586, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/092,449, filed on Jun. 5, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,229,161, to which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. �120.
The Government has certain rights in this invention which was made with Government support under contract MDA972-95-1-0017 awarded by the Defense Research Projects Agency.
The present invention is directed to the construction and manufacture of semiconductor-type memory devices.
The electronics industry continues to strive for high-powered, high-functioning circuits. Significant achievements in this regard have been realized through the fabrication of very large-scale integration of circuits on small areas of silicon wafers. Integrated circuits of this type are manufactured through a series of steps carried out in a particular order. The main objectives in manufacturing many such devices include obtaining a device that occupies as small an area as possible and consuming low levels of power using low supply levels, while performing at speeds comparable to speeds realized by much larger devices. To obtain these objectives, steps in the manufacturing process are closely controlled to ensure that rigid requirements, for example, of exacting tolerances, quality materials, and clean environment, are realized.
An important part in the circuit construction, and in the manufacture, of semiconductor devices concerns semiconductor memories; the circuitry used to store digital information. The construction and formation of such memory circuitry typically involves forming at least one storage element and circuitry designed to access the stored information. In applications where circuit space, power consumption, and circuit speed are primary design goals, the construction and layout of memory devices can be very important.
Conventional random access memory devices, such as SRAM and DRAM, often compromise these primary design goals. SRAMs, for example, include circuit structures that compromise at least one of these primary design goals. A conventional SRAM based on a four-transistor ("4T") cell or a six-transistor ("6T") cell has four cross-coupled transistors or two transistors and two resistors, plus two cell-access transistors. Such cells are compatible with mainstream CMOS technology, consume relatively low levels of standby power, operate at low voltage levels, and perform at relatively high speeds. However, the 4T and 6T cells are conventionally implemented using a large cell area; and this significantly limits the maximum density of such SRAMs.
Other SRAM cell designs are based on NDR (Negative Differential Resistance) devices. They usually consist of at least two active elements, including an NDR device. The NDR device is important to the overall performance of this type of SRAM cell. A variety of NDR devices have been introduced ranging from a simple bipolar transistor to complicated quantum-effect devices. The biggest advantage of the NDR-based cell is the potential of having a cell area smaller than 4T and 6T cells because of the smaller number of active devices and interconnections. Conventional NDR-based SRAM cells, however, have many problems that have prohibited their use in commercial SRAM products. Some of these problems include: high standby power consumption due to the large current needed in one or both of the stable states of the cell; excessively high or excessively low voltage levels needed for the cell operation; stable states that are too sensitive to manufacturing variations and provide poor noise-margins; limitations in access speed due to slow switching from one state to the other; and manufacturability and yield issues due to complicated fabrication processing.
NDR devices such as thyristors are also widely used in power control applications because the current densities carried by such devices can be very high in their on state. However, a significant difficulty with these devices in such applications is that once switched to their on-state, they remain in this state until the current is reduced below the device holding current. Also, in general, when the main current is interrupted, the time required for the thyristor to return to the blocking (OFF) state is largely determined by the carrier lifetime and can be quite long. This inability to switch the device off without interrupting the current and the associated slow switching speed are significant problems in many applications and have resulted in many attempts to modify the device structures so that it can be actively and rapidly switched off.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a thyristor-type device that alleviates one or more of the above-mentioned problems present in memory devices.
According to one example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a semiconductor memory device that includes a thyristor device with oppositely polarized regions. The memory device further includes a first word line providing read and write access to the memory cell, and a second word line located adjacent to and separated by an insulative material from at least one of the doped regions of the thyristor device. The second word line is used for memory cell write operations that can occur by enhancing the switching of the thyristor device from a high conductance state to a low conductance state and from the low conductance state to the high conductance state.
According to another example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a memory array that includes first and second word lines and a plurality of memory cells, each of which has a thyristor device including doped regions of opposite polarity. For each such memory cell, the first word line provides read and write access, and a portion of the second word line is located adjacent to and is separated by an insulative material from at least one of the doped regions of the thyristor device and used for write operation to the memory cell.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to characterize each disclosed embodiment of the present invention. Among various other aspects contemplated as being within the scope of the claims, the present invention is also directed to methods of manufacturing the above structures and their respective circuit layouts.
The invention may be more completely understood in consideration of the detailed description of various embodiments of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The present invention is directed to capacitively coupled NDR devices, such as multiple PN-type structures, and circuit applications thereof. The present invention has been found to be particularly advantageous for designs in need of NDR devices having improved on/off switching speed, and a low holding current in the on state. Unlike many NDR devices such as conventional thyristor structures that slowly turn-off due to the saturation of their junctions in the on state, and/or which may not turn off at all until the current is reduced below the holding current, one aspect of the present invention is directed to such a device that quickly switches between a current-passing mode and a current-blocking mode in response to a capacitively-coupled activation signal being present adjacent to at least one of the regions of the capacitively coupled NDR device. In addition, such a change can occur using a relatively low voltage, and the device can be implemented in a relatively small area.
A particular example embodiment of the present invention is directed to an NDR device that uses a capacitively-coupled gate adjacent to the NDR device. The location and construction of the NDR device and the gate are such that a voltage transition presented at the gate causes the NDR structure to improve the speed of the current switching.
Turning now to the drawings,
The NDR device 10 has a middle P region adjacent to, and in a particular example embodiment surrounded by, a charge plate, or gate-like device, 20. The plate 20 forms part of a second word line (WL2) and is used to enhance switching between the cell's two stable states: the OFF state, where the device 10 is in a current-blocking mode; and the ON state, where the device 10 is in a current-passing mode. The voltage of the storage node 24 is at its high value for the ON state, and the holding current of the NDR device is provided by the subthreshold current of the access transistor 12.
In the illustrated example, the plate 20 overlaps the lower N+ region but not the upper N region. The PNPN device is sufficiently thin so that the gate has tight control on the potential of the P region of the PNPN and this potential can be modulated by the capacitive coupling via the plate 20. The lower N+ region is the internal node of the cell and corresponds to the storage node 24 of FIG. 2. The upper P+ region is connected to a reference voltage. WL2 is used for write operations and, more particularly, to speed up the device 10 turn-off when writing a logical zero to the cell and to enable the device 10 to turn-on at low voltages when writing a logical one to the cell. In standby mode, the word-lines and the bit-line are inactive or at their low voltage levels (which can be different for each line).
For the write One operation, the bit line stays low. After WL1 is raised to its high level, a pulse is applied to WL2. The rising edge of this pulse raises the potential of the P region by capacitive coupling and makes the NP and lower PN junctions forward biased which, in-turn, starts the well-known regenerative process in the PNPN and turns the NDR device on.
For the write Zero operation, BL is raised to its high level and WL1 becomes active. This charges the level at the storage node to a high voltage level and moves the NDR device out of the strong forward biased region. A pulse is then applied to WL2. The capacitive coupling between WL2 and the middle P region results in an outflow of the minority charges from the middle P region of the PNPN on the falling edge of the WL2 pulse and blocks the current pass. In this embodiment, this is done only when the PNPN device is "thin". The PNPN is switched to the blocking state after this operation. This turn-off operation does not depend on the normal turn-off mechanism in a multiple PN device (recombination of the minority charges inside the device) and therefore is fast and reliable.
The fabrication of this cell structure can be based on CMOS technology with an additional epitaxial growth step to build the PNPN device, and this process can be similar to conventional stacked capacitor cells with the capacitance being replaced by the NDR device. According to one specific embodiment, the spacing between the bottom of each gate and the top of the NDR device is adjusted by a timed over-etch of the deposited poly. The gate adjacent to the PNPN device can be readily fabricated using well-known methods, including sidewall spacer or selective epitaxy methods. In a more specific embodiment, the gate(s) adjacent to the PNPN device is (are) fabricated using an anisotropic poly etch. The NDR device can be fabricated either before the planar device by etching silicon pillars and ion-implantation or after the planar device, for example, by selective epitaxial growth techniques.
According to one embodiment, the gate for each of the structures of
A specific example embodiment uses a supply voltage of one volt (1 V), with each gate being N+ doped and with an oxide layer having a thickness of 200 A. The dimensions of this example SRAM structure are shown in FIG. 7. The surrounding gate 20″ (WL2) overlaps with the N region of the internal storage node 24, but not with the upper N region. The NDR device 10″ is relatively thin, (0.3 um in this example embodiment) so that the gate has tight control on the potential of the P region of the NDR device 10″ and this potential can be readily modulated by the capacitive coupling to the gate 20″. In standby mode, BL and WL1 are kept at zero volts and WL2 is kept at minus one volt. If the PNPN device is off, the voltage level at the storage node is at zero volts. If the PNPN device is on, the voltage level at the storage node is about 0.4 V to 0.5 V. The threshold voltage of the access transistor is designed so that the holding current of the PNPN is provided by the subthreshold current of the access transistor. This holding current can be as low as pico-amps per um2. The read and write operations are generally as described in connection with
According to another example embodiment and application of the capacitively coupled NDR device, a 1-Gigabit SRAM includes cells implemented consistent with the above two-element NDR-based structure (of either
The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the invention. Based on the above discussion and illustrations, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that various modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without strictly following the exemplary embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein. Such changes include, but are not necessarily limited to: altering the shapes, locations, and sizes of the illustrated gates; adding structures to the capacitively coupled NDR device; increasing the number of PN sections in the current-switching device; and interchanging P and N regions in the device structures and/or using PMOSFETS rather than NMOSFETS. Such modifications and changes do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the present invention that is set forth in the following claims.
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Summerfest adds Pitbull, Luke Bryan to lineup
Summerfest formally announced two more 2013 headliners Thursday: Chart-topper Pitbull and country star Luke Bryan.
• Pitbull will headline the Marcus Amphitheater June 30; other performers on the bill will be announced later. Information on ticket prices wasn't available, but tickets for the show go on sale at 11 a.m. April 6 and include Summerfest admission. »Read Full Article(6)
AIA Wisconsin awards announced
A modernist home nestled into Wisconsin's driftless region, a pragmatic fix for a 1960s dorm building, a commercial building with a big heart and a clever disguise for an old power plant tank are among the architectural projects that will be recognized Thursday by the AIA Wisconsin, the state's society of the American Institute of Architects.
102.1 FM to have Adler go solo on morning show
WLUM-FM (102.1) is replacing Kramp and Adler with . . . Adler.
The station announced Monday that it had pulled the plug on its long-running morning-drive show featuring Brian Kramp and Jon Adler, and that it wasn't renewing Kramp's contract. Late Wednesday, WLUM said it will put a "music-based" show in that 5 to 9 a.m. weekday time slot, hosted by Adler going solo, being May 20. »Read Full Article
Singles Scorecard: Hear new songs from Mariah Carey, Queens of the Stone Age and Empire of the Sun
Pop diva Mariah Carey collaborated with singer Miguel for her latest single, #Beautiful, recently released to iTunes. Photo by Kevork Djansezian. »Read Full Blog Post
Tom Joyner show returns to Milwaukee radio
Tom Joyner's popular nationally syndicated morning radio show returns to urban contemporary station WJMR-FM (98.3) Monday, according to the station.
The station dropped the show in February 2012 and replaced it with a local morning show hosted by Andrea Williams. »Read Full Blog Post
Video: Carrie Rodriguez talks about Landing her Big Gig
During the madness that is the South by Southwest Music Conference in March, where thousands of bands descend upon Austin, Texas hoping to get discovered and advance their careers, I sought temporary refuge in the living room of singer-songwriter Carrie Rodriguez. »Read Full Blog Post
Author mixes magic with Jane Austen
Many of Jane Austen's contemporary readers consider her magical. Mary Robinette Kowal went one step further and made her so.
Jane Ellsworth, the Austen-inspired heroine of three Kowal novels to date, lives the kind of British Regency era life an Austen character might have, with a delightful exception: She's a glamourist, a professional magician who creates illusions by manipulating strands of the ether, that mysterious medium people once thought filled the air. »Read Full Article
Disney drops bid to trademark "Dia de los Muertos"
An attempt by the Walt Disney Co. to trademark "Día de los Muertos" drew such a loud protest that the company has dropped its plans to trademark the name, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The company had filed an application with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office for "Día de los Muertos," including applications pretaining to toys, cereals and jewelry, the newspaper says. That was in anticipation of a movie that Disney-Pixar is developing that features the popular Mexican holiday, a Disney spokesman said. »Read Full Blog Post(3)
Reunited Fall Out Boy looks to recapture chart-topping success
When Fall Out Boy went on hiatus in 2009, drummer Andy Hurley returned to his Milwaukee home, not sure what he should do with himself.
"I was really depressed for a while," said the 32-year-old Menomonee Falls native. "In a record cycle, we would have the next year to year and a half planned. You become institutionalized to that way of life. Life is so structured, and then you have nothing." »Read Full Article(5)
Harley-Davidson 110th anniversary schedule revealed; new show announcements from Rave, Turner Hall
The partial band schedule has been revealed for the Harley-Davidson 110th anniversary celebration, taking place at the Summerfest grounds Aug. 29 to 31.
Flappers, bee's knees and other words of the 'Great Gatsby' era
With Baz Luhrmann's sparkly adaptation of 'The Great Gatsby' hitting theaters Friday, Wordnik blogger Angela Tung has posted a friendly and very detailed look at the words of the 1920s. »Read Full Blog Post
Sam Durant's 'What #isamuseum' at the Getty Museum
The notion that marketing forces have invaded the temples of art has long been a fait accompli. The line between art and promotion is too often too hard to locate, and the art world has plenty of controversies to show for it.
Madison's Roman Candle pizza coming to Whitefish Bay
The Roman Candle Pizzeria, which has three restaurants in Madison, Middleton and Fitchburg, will open its first Milwaukee-area location in Whitefish Bay in autumn.
The restaurant is projected to open in late September or in October at 133 E. Silver Spring Drive, in part of what formerly was Peabody's Interiors, said owner Brewer Stouffer. »Read Full Blog Post
Staying connected should be easier at Summerfest
How many times has this happened to you?
The Summerfest grounds are jammed. You're on the south end of the grounds and you're trying to text a friend so you can meet up. »Read Full Blog Post(1)
On Tap Today: Green lights, green drinks and soul
Welcome, once again, to the middle of your week.
On your lunch hour, we recommend dropping in on The Disclaimer on WMSE. The irreverent show about Milwaukee doings airs at noon and can be streamed from the radio station's web site. »Read Full Blog Post


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Sarah Lombardo, SSH'15, Northeastern's first-ever recipient of the prestigious Pickering Fellowship, wants to use diplomacy to help former combatants following a conflict.
'I feel like I've made an actual impact on the world'
While studying at Northeastern, Christie Civetta, SSH'15, has worked throughout the world to tackle the prevention of suicide and drug abuse. She'll share her journey with her fellow graduates on May 8 when she delivers her Commencement address.
Faculty Senate supports new titles for some faculty
A resolution unanimously passed Wednesday would allow full-time, non-tenure-track faculty members to change the "academic specialist" part of their titles to "teaching professor."
Ask the Global Officer: Caitlin Morelli
On Wednesday, Caitlin Morelli, SSH'16, will leave for Mumbai, India—the site of her first stop on her six-month journey as President Aoun's Global Officer. Here, she tells us more about how she's prepared for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
January's can't-miss campus events
One of the can't-miss events at Northeastern this month is "A Tribute to the Dream" on Jan. 15, when the university community will honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3Qs: Historic policy shift for US and Cuba
President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced plans to "normalize relations" between the U.S. and Cuban governments. Here, associate professor Amílcar Antonio Barreto discusses what this will mean for the neighboring nations.
Understanding Ferguson
An interdisciplinary panel of Northeastern University professors convened on Wednesday night to discuss the factors that contributed to and arose from the shooting death of an unarmed teenager this summer in Ferguson, Missouri.
4 things we learned from Oliver Stone
The acclaimed film director and screenwriter was on campus Monday to screen part of his documentary series The Untold History of the United States and discuss the project with the Northeastern community.
New master's program to prepare future security professionals
Northeastern will launch a first-of-its-kind, interdisciplinary graduate program this fall to train the next generation of security professionals to face the new and evolving challenges of the 21st century.
Pioneering course's final exam: charitable giving
Students who participated in "Giving With Purpose," a massive open online course focused on philanthropy and informed civic engagement and the signature program of Northeastern's Social Impact Lab, have selected 30 U.S.-based nonprofit organizations to receive a total of $150,000 in grants.
One year later, Our Marathon exhibit offers a 'moment for reflection'
A new exhibit marking the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings is on display at International Village. Designed by undergraduates, the exhibit uses stories and photos from Northeastern's Our Marathon digital archive.
One big logic puzzle
Jillian Chaffee, SSH'15, loves the hands-on work she does on co-op at the U.S. Library of Congress, where she helps preserve the library's vast collection of books.


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State Correctional Institute SCI Mercer
801 Butler Pike
Mercer, PA 16137
(724) 662-1837
Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute SCI Mercer
SCI Mercer is located at 801 Butler Pike Mercer , Pennsylvania. It is a minimum-security adult male facility and is operated as a state prison run by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Pacific Telephone Company will now be offering cheap inmate calling from SCI Mercer Hill and all Pennsylvania State Prisons to countries and International locations outside of the United States. For international inmate call rate information please call: 866-966-8655
Due to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections phone rate changes, we are no longer offering discount inmate calling from PENNSYLVANIA STATE PRISONS to locations within Pennsylvania and other out-of-state locations within the United States.
Pennsylvania SCI Mercer Visiting
For additional information on visiting an inmate at SCI Mercer please visit the Pennsylvania Prison Visitor Information site..
To determine the precise Pennsylvania Correctional Facility your prisoner is being held at, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections offender locator for more info.
For addition information on SCI Mercer please call (724) 662-1837.


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Jon Stewart tries to talk about Israel on 'The Daily Show' and failsAdd to Favorites | The Daily Show
Jon Stewart learned a valuable lesson on Monday's episode of "The Daily Show." When it comes to the Israel-Gaza conflict, everyone has an opinion.
Stewart and his team of correspondents had a little fun with all of the arguing that seems to be going on. His message was simple though. Simply questioning one side doesn't automatically mean you side with the other.
Of course, what he actually learns is it might be better for him to avoid the topic altogether. You'd think he would he'd know that after the great pizza debate.
Photo/Video credit: Comedy Central


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THIS 4 bdrm boasts of gorgeous cherry kitchen, and we have a wonderful 2nd garage workshop, with tons of storage, and the yard is divine. Private one street area, with city water an sewer. Must see. Call Teresa Liepman @ 903-276-9464, RE/MAX Preferred.


text: > View Product Details Please select the size of the product. Please enter valid quantity. Canali white and grey print cotton point collar shirt overview details Retail: $245.00 Bluefly: $195.00 $195.00 color : We're sorry. This style is sold out. White / Grey Canali dresses you up in all the right touches with classic styling and exquisite craftsmanship. Color: White / Grey Lightweight printed cotton woven Point collar Pearlescent button front Long sleeve with single button cuff Rounded hem Modern fit 100% Cotton; Machine Wash or Dry Clean; Italy; style#324339901


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Some news and notes about the new items and changes in Patch 2.3.0, plus some Kanai's Cube recipes that are too good and getting tweaked.
One of the most popular/interesting Kanai's Cube recipes allows you to reroll a random item in any item set. You stick in say the IK helm, add the other material ingredients, and out comes one of the other items in the IK set, totally randomized like it was just dropped by a monster. This works pretty well with the six piece sets (most of which now have 7 items) since there's a lot of RNG on the output. It's too powerful a recipe when used with two-piece sets though, and anyone with some materials can use this to repeatedly reroll the same item, until they've got a perfect Ancient Bul Kathos sword, Danetta's Xbow, Shenlong's Fist, Focus/Restraint, etc.
Patch 2.3.0 News: Items and Kanai's Cube Recipes:
You don't even need 2 Focus. You just need one item from any of the two-piece sets, and you can roll it as long as your materials last, since the same item will keep switching to the other item in the 2P set. Though eventually you'll get a great roll and keep that one, rather than rerolling it again. After that you'll basically have to roll twice for each item you want, which only doubles the (very low) material cost.
This recipe is even more absurdly awesome when you consider the almost free material cost, especially compared to the extremely high material costs of the "Reforge Legendary" recipe.
Overpowered Rare Upgrade RecipeAnother new recipe that's probably going to get nerfed is the upgrade Rare. This one turns any Rare into a random Legendary, and like the Reroll Set Item recipe, it's very cheap, not requiring any of the new Horadric Cache materials or even any Souls.
It takes some getting used to, as you've got to actually pay attention to Rare drops, but it's not too hard if you play with the item icons turned on, rather than the distracting and meaningless names. Once you can retrain yourself to pick up Rare items, and get used to snatching every rare Amulet you see, this recipe feels OP. Think about it; Gambling is about 1/10 odds for a legendary, while this recipe is 100%. Thus each Rare Amulet you upgrade is worth the equivalent of 1000 Blood Shards. For the laughably low material cost of 50 white + 50 blue + 50 yellow + + 25 Death's Breath.
The value isn't as high with other item types since they don't cost as much to gamble as amulets, but as easy as it is to rack up huge heaps of materials, especially now that there's a recipe to turn your thousands of extra Veiled Crystals into the white and blue mats you're always out of, this one is crazy. And yes, you can feed gambled rares into the cube, thus letting you turn every yellow item you gamble into a Legendary. (Not sure if it also works with Vendor rares, but if so it would be completely exploitable.)
No word yet from Blizzard on this one, but once more players figure it out (and are actually able to log onto the PTR) I'm sure they'll nerf this one, (maybe by not allowing vendor/gambled items to be used) or at least raise the material costs quite a bit.
This and the upgrade legendary or set recipes should probably require fewer Cache materials, but cost Blood Shards as well, since they are basically item gambling. Better than Kadala gambling, since since they result in Legendary far more often, and have more target-able returns.
Click through for some additional Bliz comments on why Thorns of the Invoker turned into a Crusader-only set, and why existing Legendary items don't get altered.


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I've never heard of this company before I received my Birchbox sample. I was very impressed with this product. I love how thick the cream is and I also love the smell. My skin felt softer and smoother the morning after use. I am also impressed that I can actually pronounce the ingredients!5
It's amazing what the right night cream can do for your skin. I'm not typically a natural product lover, but this night cream from Havvn changed my mind!! I used to wake up with puffy eyes and dry skin. After the first week of using Havvn I actually looked BETTER first thing in the morning than I did with a face of makeup. And to to it all off, the product is 100% natural-and organic :) Thank you Birchbox!5
This cream is very thick and very effective, and I don't think I've ever seem such dramatic overnight results. My skin literally looks dewy the next morning.
The only reason I give it 4 stars is that it doesn't last that long. In order to cover my whole face effectively, I use 3 pumps, and I go through the bottle really quickly.
But it's worth it!
I'd advise it for women who have normal to dry skin. It may be a bit heavy for women with more oily skin.
This cream is phenomenal. I was hesitant to purchase it because I hadn't sampled it, but I am glad I did. It does make your face a bit shiny after application, but by the time you wake up - your skin has soaked it all up. I am trying to streamline products to have a more chemical-free routine, and this will be a staple from now on.5
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A method and apparatus for a reverse metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor. The apparatus includes a lower metal layer, a bottom electrode, and an upper metal layer. The lower metal layer is disposed above a substrate layer. The bottom electrode is disposed above the lower metal layer and coupled to the lower metal layer. The upper metal layer is disposed above the bottom electrode. The upper metal layer comprises a top electrode of a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a lower metal layer disposed above a substrate layer; and
a reverse metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor coupled to, and disposed above, the lower metal layer, the reverse MIM capacitor comprising a stack of layers, the stack comprising:
bottom electrode coupled to the lower metal layer;
a dielectric layer disposed above the bottom electrode;
an etch stop layer disposed above the dielectric layer; and
an upper metal layer disposed above the etch stop layer as a top electrode,
wherein the top electrode comprises a material composition different from the material composition of the etch stop layer,
wherein the bottom electrode, the dielectric layer and the upper metal layer form the reverse MIM capacitor, and
wherein the upper metal layer has more surface area than the lower metal layer.
2. The apparatus of
3. The apparatus of
4. The apparatus of
5. The apparatus of
6. The apparatus of
7. The apparatus of
8. The apparatus of
This invention relates to the field of integrated circuits and, in particular, to metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors.
Solid-state image sensors are widely used in camera systems. The solid-state image sensors in some camera systems have a matrix of photosensitive elements in series with switching and amplifying elements. The photosensitive elements may be, for example, photoreceptors, photodiodes, PIN diodes, phototransistors, charge-coupled device (CCD) gates, or other similar elements. Each photosensitive element receives incident light corresponding to a portion of a scene being imaged. A photosensitive element, along with its accompanying electronics, is called a picture element ("pixel") or a pixel circuit. Each photosensitive element produces an electrical signal relative to the light intensity of the image. The electrical signal generated by the photosensitive element is typically a current proportional to the amount of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., light) incident on the photosensitive element.
The electrons generated by the photons in the photodiode are converted to voltage in a capacitor (e.g., a sense capacitor) and stored there until the signal is read out of the pixel circuit. In choosing or designing a capacitor for the pixel circuit, there are several considerations including matching, linearity, fill factor, and leakage. Matching refers to the similarity of the photodiode (PD) capacitance and the sense capacitance. Scalability is related to matching. Linearity refers to the linearity of the electrical response of the photodiode resulting from incident light on the photodiode. A pixel's fill factor relates to the amount of pixel area used for the photodiode compared to the total area of the pixel. In other words, fill factor relates to how much of the surface area of an imager is used for photodiodes and how many pixels can be placed into a given surface area. The fill factor of the pixel is at least partially determinative of responsiveness of the pixel (as a part of final signal-to-noise ratio of the pixel). Leakage relates to the amount of energy that is lost over time from a charged capacitor. Leakage of the floating diffusion capacitor can significantly degrade pixel performance.
There are many types of conventional sense capacitor technologies such as diffusion capacitors (usually called floating diffusion (FD) capacitors), metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors, double poly capacitors, and standard metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. Each conventional capacitor technology has certain advantages and disadvantages.
Conventional diffusion capacitors are typically implemented using n+ or n-type lightly doped drain (NLDD) regions. While conventional diffusion capacitors do not require additional processing, conventional diffusion capacitors suffer in aspects of linearity, scalability, and dark current (DC) leakage. Conventional floating diffusion capacitors also suffer in that they act as parasitic photodiodes. In addition, achieving large fill factors places severe limits on how large a diffusion capacitor can be and, hence, what the maximum capacitance value can be.
Conventional MOS capacitors are typically implemented using a substrate with an oxide layer on one side. One metal contact is formed on the oxide layer, and a second metal contact is formed on the opposite side of the substrate. Conventional MOS capacitors typically have a high capacitance per unit area. However, conventional MOS capacitors usually suffer in aspects of linearity and scalability. Although additional implantation can provide improved linearity compared to conventional diffusion capacitors, the response is still not linear. Conventional MOS capacitors also suffer in active area usage, which reduces the fill factor of the corresponding pixel circuit. For example, conventional MOS capacitors typically cannot be used for pixels which have a pitch (i.e., width) of less than 3 μm.
Conventional double poly capacitors are typically implemented using two poly layers on a substrate. While double poly capacitors offer relatively good linearity and controllability, conventional double poly capacitors suffer in terms of processing cost and complexity. Conventional double poly capacitors also suffer in regard to scalability and fill factor.
Conventional MIM capacitors are typically implemented between metal layers in a pixel.
Out of the various types of conventional capacitors described above, conventional MIM capacitors are generally the best in terms of linearity, leakage, and controllability. However, the use of conventional MIM capacitors in a pixel circuit drastically reduces the fill factor and increases process cost. This is because additional metal layout (i.e., features) is added to the pixel in order to implement a standard MIM. Since the additional metal will block light transmission to the photodiode, there is a trade-off between fill factor and maximum capacitance of the conventional MIM capacitor.
Additionally, the use of conventional MIM capacitors impacts the routing of the lower metal layer 14. Since the capacitance of the conventional MIM capacitor depends on the available area of the lower metal layer, implementing conventional MIM capacitors can make it difficult to route the lower metal layer. Alternatively, the capacitance of conventional MIM capacitors might suffer if limited surface area of the lower metal layer is accessible. For these reasons, conventional MIM capacitors are typically not used to implement a floating diffusion capacitor in a pixel circuit.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
The following description sets forth numerous specific details such as examples of specific systems, components, methods, and so forth, in order to provide a good understanding of several embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that at least some embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known components or methods are not described in detail or are presented in simple block diagram format in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. Particular implementations may vary from these exemplary details and still be contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Embodiments of a method and apparatus are described to implement a reverse MIM capacitor. The reverse MIM capacitor is also referred to as an upside-down MIM capacitor because, in at least one implementation, the components are arranged upside down, compared to a conventional MIM capacitor. For example, the reverse MIM capacitor may include a bottom titanium tungsten (TiW) electrode and a top metal layer (e.g., M3) as a top electrode. In pixel circuits, M3 is often connected to a voltage source (e.g., VDD) and used to define the optical aperture of the pixel. The bottom electrode (e.g., TiW) is connected through a stacked VIA to the floating diffusion (FD) node in an intermediate metal layer (e.g., M2). In pixel circuits, M2 is often used for routing pixel outputs.
Some embodiments of the reverse MIM capacitor are implemented in a pixel circuit of an image sensor. In such an embodiment, the reverse MIM provides a controllable and linear sense capacitor. Image sensors may benefit from controllable and linear sense capacitors because they facilitate better capacitance matching between the PD capacitance and sense capacitance, and they allow more accurate color interpolation.
Additionally, some embodiments of the reverse MIM capacitor are further distinguished from conventional MIM capacitors because reverse MIM capacitors may be implemented with little or no fill factor reduction. Also, some embodiments facilitate flexible pixel routing of the metal layers such as a lower metal layer because the capacitance of the reverse MIM capacitor does not depend on the surface area or configuration of the lower metal layers.
One embodiment of an apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a lower metal layer, a bottom electrode, and an upper metal layer. The lower metal layer is disposed above a substrate layer. The bottom electrode is disposed above the lower metal layer and coupled to the lower metal layer. The upper metal layer is disposed above the bottom electrode. The upper metal layer comprises a top electrode of a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor. In some embodiments, a dielectric layer is disposed between the bottom electrode and the upper metal layer. In some embodiments, the apparatus also includes an etch stop layer disposed between the dielectric layer and the upper metal layer. In some embodiments, the bottom electrode and the upper metal layer are titanium tungsten (TiW). Alternatively, other conductive materials may be used.
Although embodiments of the apparatus may be implemented for several different applications, one embodiment may be implemented in a pixel imager circuit. In some embodiments, the upper metal layer defines an optical aperture of a pixel stack. In some embodiments, the MIM capacitor comprises a floating diffusion capacitor of a pixel in an image sensor. In some embodiments, the pixel is a four-transistor (4T) pixel. In some embodiments, the floating diffusion capacitor is a shared capacitor to be shared with the pixel and at least one additional pixel.
Another embodiment of an apparatus is also described. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes means for implementing a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor in a pixel circuit of an imager having at least two metal layers. A lower metal layer is used for routing, and an upper metal layer is disposed above the lower metal layer. The apparatus also includes means for providing increased fill factor of the imager. In one embodiment, the means for providing increased fill factor of the imager includes an embodiment of a reverse MIM capacitor. Other embodiments of the apparatus are also described.
An embodiment of a method is also described. In one embodiment, the method includes forming a lower metal layer above a substrate, forming a bottom electrode of a MIM capacitor above the lower metal layer, and forming an upper metal layer above the lower metal layer and the bottom electrode. The upper metal layer is a top electrode of the MIM capacitor, and the bottom electrode is coupled to the lower metal layer. In some embodiments, the upper metal layer comprises a top metal layer of a pixel stack. In some embodiments, forming the upper metal layer includes defining an optical aperture of the pixel stack. In some embodiments, the upper metal layer is an intermediate metal layer of a pixel stack. Other embodiments of the method are also described.
Rather than using the lower metal layer 104 as a bottom electrode, as in the conventional MIM capacitor 10, the reverse MIM capacitor 100 implements the top metal layer 102 as a top electrode. A bottom electrode 106 is coupled to the lower metal layer 104 by a stacked via 108 through a dielectric layer 110 separating the upper metal layer 102 from the lower metal layer 104. In this way, the bottom electrode 106 and the upper metal layer 102 form the reverse MIM capacitor 100. A dielectric layer 112 separates the bottom electrode 106 from the upper metal layer 102.
In a first operation 150, a base structure including a lower metal layer 104, stacked vias 108, and a dielectric material 110 is formed. The depicted implementation includes two separate routing traces on the lower metal layer 104 with corresponding stacked vias 108 for each of the traces. The formation of such layers is well known and not described further.
In a second operation 152, the bottom electrode 106 is formed on the base structure. In one embodiment, the bottom electrode 106 is formed with titanium tungsten (TiW). Alternatively, other conductive materials such as aluminum (Al) or titanium nitride (TiN) may be used.
In a third operation 154, the dielectric layer 112 is formed on the bottom electrode 106. In one embodiment, the dielectric layer 112 is formed with silicon nitride (SiN). Alternatively, other types of dielectric materials such as aluminum dioxide (AlO2) may be used.
In a fourth operation 156, some of the bottom electrode 106 and dielectric layer 112 may be removed. In one embodiment, a photoresistive process may be used in which a photoresist material (not shown) is layered on the area of the dielectric layer 112 to remain. The exposed surface of the dielectric layer 112 (and the area of the bottom electrode 106 below the exposed surface of the dielectric layer 112) is then etched with an etching substance to remove the exposed portion of the dielectric layer 112 and corresponding portion of the bottom electrode 106. The photoresist material is then removed from the surface of the remaining dielectric layer 112. Alternatively, other fabrication technologies may be implemented.
In a fifth operation 158, another dielectric material 114 is formed over the exposed dielectric material 110, bottom electrode 106, and dielectric layer 112. In one embodiment, the dielectric layer 114 is formed with silicon dioxide (SiO2). Alternatively, other types of dielectric materials such as silicon nitride (SiN), oxide-nitride (ON), nitride-oxide (NO), oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO), or another dielectric material may be used. In another embodiment, the dielectric material 114 is different from the dielectric material 112.
In a sixth operation 160, the dielectric material 114 is etched back to form a spacer post 116. In one embodiment, a highly anisotropic etch may be implemented to form the spacer post 116. Alternatively, other types of etching methods may be implemented to form the spacer post 116. In one embodiment, the space post 116 insulates the bottom electrode 106 from the upper metal layer 102 subsequently formed on top of the dielectric layer 112.
In a seventh operation 162, the top metal layer 102 is formed on the exposed dielectric material 110, spacer post 116, and dielectric layer 112. As described above, the top metal layer 102 is the top electrode of the reverse MIM capacitor 100. In one embodiment, the upper metal layer 102 is the same conductive material (e.g., TiW) as the bottom electrode 106. Alternatively, the upper metal layer 102 may be another conductive material.
In the depicted fabrication method 200, a first metal routing layer is deposited 205 on a pixel stack. Then, a second metal routing layer is deposited 210 on the pixel stack. The second metal routing layer is deposited on top of the first metal routing layer (with an insulating layer between the first and second metal layers). In one embodiment, the second metal routing layer is the lower metal layer 104. Next, a via 108 is formed 215. The via 108 is coupled the second metal routing layer so that the via 108 is in electrical contact with the second metal routing layer.
A bottom electrode 106 of the reverse MIM capacitor 100 is then deposited 220 on the pixel stack. The bottom electrode 106 is electrically coupled to the via 108. Next, a dielectric layer 112 is deposited 225 on the bottom electrode 106. Then, a third metal routing layer such as the upper metal layer 102 is deposited 230 on the dielectric layer 112. In this way, at least a portion of the third metal routing layer serves as a top electrode for the reverse MIM capacitor 100. The depicted fabrication method 200 then ends.
Reverse MIM capacitors 100 formed using the described fabrication method 200, or another similar fabrication method, may be implemented in a variety of circuits. Some embodiments of the reverse MIM capacitor 100 may be implemented in pixel circuits of an image sensor. Many image sensors are implemented using metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) or complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Image sensors with passive pixels and image sensors with active pixels are distinguished within the MOS and CMOS imaging technologies. An active pixel amplifies/buffers the charge that is collected on its photosensitive element. A passive pixel does not perform signal amplification; however, a charge sensitive amplifier that is not integrated in the pixel may be used.
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operation may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
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You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
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32 year old man | Los Angeles, CA, USA | Seeking women 26-33 within 50 miles of Culver City, CA
Are you that wonder woman?
Thanks for checking my profile out. My name is Anand, I grew up playing a ton of tennis and loved watching cricket. As a kid I had an affinity towards computers and loved learning on what these smart machines can do. So I went into software engineering and did my masters in the same. Now working for a big company here in LA helping with their video streaming service. Love to be out there getting some sun and enjoying a beautiful day, even though I really don't need it :). I enjoy cooking as well, helps me relax and also make some healthy food at home. I ride my bike a lot and hit the gym a few times a week. I travel quiet a bit and really enjoy learning something new from a new culture. Helps me think on how other cultures have evolved over time. Love to try new food while traveling and also when I am home. Family is big for me, my sister lives in OC and tend to visit her regularly. So I wish my partner is also family oriented. If you are someone who enjoys traveling, learning something new, having fun, experiencing what life has to offer us together. Please let me know, would love to join you. Happy searching!
Basketball, Cycling, Dancing, Running, Swimming, Tennis / Racquet sports, Weights / Machines, Yoga
I exercise 5 or more times per week.
Middle of the Road
One of my favorite things in life is music, tennis, creating art..
Traveling, long bike rides, reading science fiction books and a few others..
Four hour work week, by Tim Ferriss. Read it if you haven't already...
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Home > News > 2005 Early Stage East Venture Capital Conference
December 21st, 2004
2005 Early Stage East Venture Capital Conference
This year, companies specializing in chemicals and advanced materials, manufacturing technology, nanotechnology, medical instruments and devices, industrial biotechnology and electronic materials will also be featured.
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Marian University Assoc. Prof. Richard Whaley and local historian Herman Bender will offer a university history course free to the public at the Fond du Lac Public Library.
Kathy Kline, one of the authors of People of the Sturgeon, a fascinating collection of stories and photos, will present a slide show on the history of the Lake Winnebago lake sturgeon at 6 p.m.
What to get that helpful neighbor/adorable niece/plucky cat sitter? The Fond du Lac Public Library's BookCellar sells $5 gift certificates.
The Fond du Lac Public Library has set up Giving Trees at the downtown library and at FDLPL Express to collect donations of hats, scarves, mittens and gloves. Donated items will be given to the Fond du Lac Salvation Army before Christmas for distribution to local children. Donations accepted through December 23.
Press release provided by the WI Dept. of Financial Institutions
Uncle Fred doing the Macarena? Cousin Stella dressed as an elf? A Christmas hearth decorated just right? Everyone has favorite holiday photos that bring back great memories. Now you can share them in the Fond du Lac Public Library's Up On the Rooftop, Click, Click, Click photo display.
Fond du Lac Visual Arts Winter Show will showcase the diverse talents of the membership group through December at the Fond du Lac Public Library's Langdon Divers Gallery. The public is invited to attend an artists' reception 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, December 20, held in conjunction with the Tour the Town downtown art walk. Refreshments will be served.
The 2009 animated retelling of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, will be shown at the Fond du Lac Public Library at 1 p.m. Sunday, December 15.
December 7's Crafternoon project will use scraps of leftover holiday wrapping paper and odds and ends to make a pretty and festive Rolled Paper Tree wall hanging.
Shopping for readers this holiday season? The BookCellar at the Fond du Lac Public Library – the city's only used book store – sells used books, movies, music and magazines for all ages at deep discounts. Most hardcover books are $1, paperbacks and kids' books are 50 cents.
In December, two special sales offer even-better deals:


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Those responsible for websites for Albany County, the town of Guilderland, and Guilderland schools found both fault and value in this fall's statewide survey by an Albany think tank.
Was it Thanksgiving or Christmas? Last Wednesday, just before families and friends gather to feast, up to a foot of snow fell on the region, causing many to change their travel plans — either leaving earlier for far-flung destinations or simply staying at home to enjoy the peace and beauty of a newly white world.
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History speaks to us in many ways — from the newly-painted clapboard of a one-room rural school and from the memories shared from the long-ago pupils, now aged but still shaped by their earliest learning.
The hoppy holidays are here.
VOORHEESVILLE, NEW YORK — A dozen or so low-income homeowners in Albany County may soon have repairs made to their single-family homes. The Albany County Rural Housing Alliance Inc. last week received approval for $300,000 in grant funds.
A two-and-a-half-year study by municipal consulting firm Laberge Group outlined three pilot projects involving Albany County and the towns of Bethlehem, Colonie, and Knox.
Two elderly sisters strayed from reality when they took in too many cats; both felines and humans suffered. They need our help, not our condemnation.
To the Editor:
This holiday season, if you're looking for something to do with friends and family for a few hours, take a ride to some present-time and 100-year-old artifacts and pictures.
Tuesday, Nov. 18, this scribe traveled to the Country Café in Schoharie all alone (boo-hoo) since one of the riders was scheduled for surgery on his elbow.
RENSSELAERVILLE — The Medusa Volunteer Fire Company is selling Christmas trees for $25 each at 38 Route 351.
Follow @theAEnews
Copyright © 2013 The Altamont Enterprise.
Albany County, New York


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Looks like a very good start to me. You have covered all the bases real well and have some fine guns to show for it.
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Postfix Admin
Postfix Admin is a Web Based Management tool created for Postfix. It is a PHP based application that handles Postfix Style Virtual Domains and Users that are stored in MySQL or PostgreSQL.1,383 weekly downloads
Plugin for Irssi which monitors torrent IRC announce channels, downloads torrent files based on a user-defined filter, and then sends the torrent files to a local or remote torrent client. Supports several different private trackers.976 weekly downloads
TWiki Enterprise Collaboration Platform
Open Source Enterprise Wiki and Web Application Platform425 weekly downloads
Foswiki is an Enterprise wiki, typically used to run a collaboration platform, knowledge base or document management system. Users can create wiki applications using the Topic Markup Language, and developers can extend its functionality with plugins. Foswiki stands for "Free and Open Source" wiki to emphasize its commitment to Open Source software.184 weekly downloads
Enables tunneling of network connections through restrictive HTTP proxies. Features: Portmapping, SOCKS4, SOCKS5, web-based admin interface, possibility to use standalone server (perl) or hosted server (PHP), optional authorization from LDAP or MySQL231 weekly downloads
Moscrack is a perl application designed to facilitate cracking WPA keys on a cluster of computers. This is accomplished with any one of Mosix clustering software, ssh, rsh or Pyrit connectivity to nodes. Cluster nodes can run any Un*x variant (includ219 weekly downloads
Apache Mobile Filter
The fastest and easiest way to detect mobile devices82 weekly downloads
csvdiff is a Perl script to diff/compare two csv files with the possibility to select the separator. Differences will be shown like: "Column XYZ in record 999" is different. After this, the actual and the expected result for this column will be shown.109 weekly downloads
z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler
z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler and Emulator64 weekly downloads
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MARF is a general cross-platform framework with a collection of algorithms for audio (voice, speech, and sound) and natural language text analysis and recognition along with sample applications (identification, NLP, etc.) of its use, implemented in Java.69 weekly downloads
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File Read Test is a tool that reads disk files or directories and stops on the first read error. A second tool, Quick Disk Test, fills a disk with test data and verifies that it can be read back without errors.43 weekly downloads
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Overview of pre-defined compiler macros for standards, compilers, operating systems, and hardware architectures.22 weekly downloads
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Huge collection of cliparts in Encapsulated PostScript format derived from Open Clip Art Library. Includes more than 6,500 clip arts freely available without restrictions for free use and distribution. Released as Public Domain.10 weekly downloads
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The Top 10 In Action Sports
01Brick By Brick: Camping Lego Style
02Booze and Bikes: 14 Tours That Let Combine Two of the Best Things in the World
03Who Needs Hollywood? These Incredible Videos Were All Filmed on the Simplest Cameras
04Sam Pilgrim vs. The World: The Champion Aiming To Reclaim His Crown In A New Era Of Biking
05Eccentric Adventures Episode 2: Britain's Most Brutal Illegal Event is All About Cheese
06A Journey Into Darkness: We Went Mountain Biking in the Abandoned Mines of Slovenia
07After the Apocalypse: Inside The World's Most Breathtaking Ghost Towns
08Debate: Let's Stop Hating On Parents Who Want To Raise Adventurous Kids
09Guns, Roses, And Eating Insects: Adventure Cycling in Vietnam
10From Intense Trails to Intensive Care: Dicing with Death In a Mountain Biking Paradise
Truth Hurts promo parts #6
A Skateboarding video by truesk8boardmag - 749 views
True Skateboard Mag presents Truth Hurts promo parts. We was blasting 2 promo video parts the last 4 months. So, this is the sixth one up for "Truth Hurts promo parts" is "Noam Jimmi Be'er" filmed / edit by: Dan Deutsch http://truesk8boardmag.com Http://weeverapp.com/app/truesk8boardmag.com
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Guilfoyle has not been smart enough to realise she been co-opted by a misogynistic culture, being made the mouthpiece for a worrying trend which she was in a position to reject. Luckily, the sort of young women whose experience she distrusts, often prove to be far more savvy when it comes to equality in the media.
She called herself a "prize" to Dad, something which he has "won" and that I should think myself as a "prize" in my relationships, too. Whilst she wore this label like a badge of honour and saw it as some kind of compliment, I found being called a prize just as offensive had someone called me a sack of sh*t.
In 2004 I embarked, somewhat foolishly and naively, on a journey to write a trilogy of books about masculinity. In 2013 the third book was published, I sighed in relief, they had consumed nine years of my life. During the writing hiatuses I would tour a one-man show in which I experimented with concepts and ideas for the books. Those were tough times.
Animals of both sexes suffer under institutionalized exploitation. However, the female of the species often experiences more prolonged abuse, including an ongoing cycle of forceful artificial insemination (mechanical or manual rape), physical abuse of her mammary glands, and invariably being separated from her young; all of these are emotionally brutal experiences for the female members of any species.
British engineering is facing a serious skills shortage. Yesterday, the think tank IPPR published a report claiming that 'an additional 87,000 graduate level engineers will be needed in the UK each year between now and 2020' in order to meet growing demand, but that 'the higher education system is only producing 46,000 engineering graduates annually'. Well as a starter for ten, that maths doesn't look good.
Gender. You probably want gender equality, don't you? But gender is inequality. Gender is the convenient invention, the way we train women and men to be different, to be unequal. Gender equality is a smokescreen. Gender is a hierarchy. Feminine, masculine, they can never be equal, they are subordination and domination dressed up in frilly pink and crisp blue.
Women's lack of equality in so many crucial areas does eclipse many of the issues that men can feel unequal about. Yet, these opinions are often used in comments in feminism discussions/articles/blogs to belittle the progress and aim of feminism as a movement, but they need to be taken into context with the wider issues of gender equality.
The urgent physical urge to stop everything now is as primal as sex. At that point, ripping off the civilised veneer that the world sees and coming out, is as contrary an idea as putting a hand deeper into a fire. Bad enough you looking at you, which you can't bear to do. To have others see you as you are, right then, is unconscionable.
We're well into the 21st Century - monogamy should no longer be the unspoken rule. Isn't it time for everyone to openly admit that not just men have sexual desires? Women who begin Tinder exchanges are probably more common than you think (it's not just straight white boys). What's the point in being coy and not saying what we really want to say?
The removal of a truly dreadful secretary of state - who in the badger cull demonstrated his broader contempt or total failure to understand scientific evidence - is something to celebrate. The departure of education secretary Michael Gove is also cause for celebration. Again, his replacement is largely an unknown quality, her vote against gay marriage a cause for concern, but there's an opportunity here for the government to draw a line under a truly awful period for English schools.
Being collaborative is often cited as something that women are better at than men. Now before I elaborate on this point I would like to start with the caveat that there are more differences among men and among women than there are between the genders. I think it's important to make that case up front and to make sure that any discussion on gender differences does not resort to general stereotyping.


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Introducing a new way to navigate by topics. Access the latest news, data, publications and more around topics of interest.
Our population statistics cover age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, migration, ancestry, language use, veterans, as well as population estimates and projections.
The U.S. Census Bureau is the official source of statistical data tracking the national economy.
Business is a large part of America's diverse economy. This section provides key information about businesses in your community.
This section provides information on a range of educational topics, from educational attainment and school enrollment to school districts, costs and financing.
We measure the state of the nations workforce, including employment and unemployment levels, weeks and hours worked, occupations, and commuting.
Our statistics highlight trends in household and family composition, describe characteristics of the residents of housing units, and show how they are related.
Health statistics on insurance coverage, disability, fertility and other health issues are increasingly important in measuring the nation's overall well-being.
We measure the housing and construction industry, track homeownership rates, and produce statistics on the physical and financial characteristics of our homes.
Income is the gauge many use to determine the well-being of the U.S. population. Survey and census questions cover poverty, income, and wealth.
The U.S. Census Bureau is the official source for U.S. export and import statistics and regulations governing the reporting of exports from the U.S.
The U.S. Census Bureau provides data for the Federal, state and local governments as well as voting, redistricting, apportionment and congressional affairs.
Search an alphabetical index of keywords and phrases to access Census Bureau statistics, publications, products, services, data, and data tools.
Geography provides the framework for Census Bureau survey design, sample selection, data collection, tabulation, and dissemination.
Geography is central to the work of the Bureau, providing the framework for survey design, sample selection, data collection, tabulation, and dissemination.
Find resources on how to use geographic data and products with statistical data, educational blog postings, and presentations.
The Geographic Support System Initiative will integrate improved address coverage, spatial feature updates, and enhanced quality assessment and measurement.
Work with interactive mapping tools from across the Census Bureau.
Find geographic data and products such as Shapefiles, KMLs, TIGERweb, boundary files, geographic relationship files, and reference and thematic maps.
Metropolitan and micropolitan areas are geographic entities used by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics.
Find information about specific partnership programs and learn more about our partnerships with other organizations.
Definitions of geographic terms, why geographic areas are defined, and how the Census Bureau defines geographic areas.
We conduct research on geographic topics such as how to define geographic areas and how geography changes over time.
Visit our library of Census Bureau multimedia files. Collection formats include audio, video, mobile apps, images, and publications.
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The 2002 Current Population Survey (CPS) served as a tool for testing a sample expansion of the Annual Demographic Supplement and as a bridge to introduce new Census 2000-based population controls. The following section discusses the effects these methodological changes had on educational attainment.
Sample Expansion
The Census Bureau tested a 28,000 household expansion in the interviewed sample for the CPS Annual Demographic Supplement in 2002. The original sample size of approximately 50,000 interviewed households for the 2002 CPS Annual Demographic Supplement was increased to approximately 78,000. The primary goal of the sample expansion was to produce more reliable estimates of low-income children without health insurance for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) through reduced variances. Although the SCHIP sample expansion was specifically targeted toward producing better children's health insurance estimates at the state level, other state estimates, as well as national estimates, improved. Further information about the SCHIP sample expansion is available on the internet at: www.bls.census.gov/cps/ads/adsmain.htm.
Change in Population Controls
The procedure used in developing estimates for the entire civilian noninstitutional population for the Current Population Survey (CPS) involves the weighting of sample results to independent estimates of the population by sex, age, race, and Hispanic/non-Hispanic categories. These independent estimates are developed by using civilian noninstitutional population counts from the decennial censuses and projecting them forward to current years using data on births, deaths, and net migration. Beginning with the 2001 CPS Annual Demographic Supplement, the independent estimates used as control totals for the CPS are based on civilian noninstitutional population benchmarks consistent with Census 2000.
Effects of the Sample Expansion on Educational Attainment
Table C-1 displays national-level data for educational attainment from the original and expanded CPS samples from March 2001 and March 2002. The introduction of the expanded sample for March 2001 had very little effect on educational attainment. Changes that were statistically significant are shown in Table C-1, column 51. Among the population 25 years and over, there was a statistically significant increase in the percent with an associate degree. There was a decrease in the proportion with a high school degree as their highest degree attained. Among the non-Hispanic White population (25 years and over), the proportion with a bachelor's degree or higher increased.
Effects of the Census 2000 Population Controls on Educational Attainment
Weighting the estimates with 2000 population controls, instead of the 1990 census controls used in previous reports, had very little effect on educational attainment in 2001. The only statistically significant change in educational attainment due to the use of the 2000 population controls in 2001 was the 0.9 percentage point decrease in the percent of people with a high school degree or higher among the population age 25 to 29 years old (see Table C-1, column 3).
There were, however, several statistically significant differences between the 2001 and 2002 expanded samples using the 2000 population controls (see Table C-1, column 7). The differences between the two sets of estimates were 1.3 percentage points or less. Statistically significant differences occurred for the proportions of the population 25 years and over with the following levels of educational attainment: 1.) some college, no degree, 2.) bachelor's degree, 3.) master's degree, 4.) bachelor's degree or higher. All of these proportions increased from 2001 to 2002, except for the proportion of the population with some college, no degree, which declined by 0.4 percentage points. The proportion of the population with a bachelor's degree or higher increased the most (0.6 percentage points). Increases in the percent of the population 25 years and over with a bachelor's degree or higher also occurred among females (0.8 percentage points), Whites (0.6 percentage points), Blacks (1.3 percentage points), and non-Hispanic Whites (0.7 percentage points).
There were also statistically significant differences in the percent of high school graduates and higher among men (25 years and over), the 30 to 34 year age group, and the 60 to 64 year age group. While the percent with a high school degree or higher among the 30 to 34 year age group declined by 0.6 percentage points, it increased among the 60 to 64 year age group by 1.3 percentage points. The percent of men (25 years and over) with a high school degree or higher decreased.
For further information about CPS weighting procedures, see Technical Paper 63RV, available at www.bls.census.gov/cps/tp/tp63.htm.