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|Número de publicación
|Tipo de publicación
|Número de solicitud
|Fecha de publicación
|7 Feb 2008
|Fecha de presentación
|3 Ago 2006
|Fecha de prioridad
|3 Ago 2006
|También publicado como
|Número de publicación
|Kie Y. Ahn, Leonard Forbes
|Cesionario original
|Micron Technology, Inc.
|Exportar cita
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Citada por (44), Clasificaciones (31), Eventos legales (2)
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet
This application relates generally to semiconductor devices and device fabrication and, more particularly to dielectric layers, their method of fabrication, and ferroelectric properties.
The semiconductor device industry has a continuous market driven need to reduce the size of devices such as transistors. Smaller transistors result in improved operational speed and clock rate, and reduced power requirements in both standby and operational modes. To reduce transistor size, the thickness of the silicon dioxide (SiO2) gate dielectric is reduced in proportion to the shrinkage of the gate length. For example, a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) might use a 1.5 nm thick SiO2 gate dielectric for a gate length of less than 100 nm. Such physically thin gate dielectrics may be a potential reliability issue with gate leakage and breakdown problems in upcoming generations of smaller MOSFETs. Small, low power consuming, and more reliable integrated circuits (ICs) will likely be used in products such as processors, mobile telephones, and memory devices such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs).
The semiconductor industry relies on the ability to scale the dimensions of its basic devices, such as the MOSFET, to achieve improved operational speed and power consumption. Device scaling includes scaling the gate dielectric, which has primarily been silicon dioxide (SiO2). A thermally grown amorphous SiO2 layer provides an electrically and thermodynamically stable material, where the interface of the SiO2 layer with underlying silicon provides a high quality interface with superior electrical isolation. However, increased scaling and other requirements in microelectronic devices have created reliability issues as the gate dielectric has become thinner. It has been proposed to form a gate dielectric by the use of materials with higher dielectric constants (k).
The semiconductor memory industry has a need for non volatile memory elements that do not lose the stored information in the memory when power is shut down. One method includes forming electrically floating gates between a control gate and the substrate. However, the need to form multiple levels of gate electrodes increases the cost of manufacture, and the electrically floating gates must be charged and discharged by means of tunneling currents and avalanche currents, which may be slow, require high programming voltages, and may have reliability problems. It has been proposed to use a dielectric material for the gate insulator that is affected by impressed signals.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific aspects and embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the described embodiments. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The various embodiments are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some embodiments can be combined with one or more other embodiments to form new embodiments.
The terms "wafer" and "substrate" used in the following description include any structure having an exposed surface with which to form an integrated circuit (IC) structure. The term "substrate" is understood to include semiconductor wafers. The term "substrate" is also used to refer to semiconductor structures during processing, and may include other layers that have been fabricated thereupon. Both wafer and substrate include doped and undoped semiconductors, epitaxial semiconductor layers supported by a base semiconductor or insulator, as well as other semiconductor structures well known to one skilled in the art. The term "conductor" is understood to generally include n-type and p-type semiconductors. The term "insulator" or "dielectric" is defined to include any material that is less electrically conductive than the materials referred to as conductors or as semiconductors. Dielectric is defined to include insulators that have properties that may be commonly known as ferroelectric, high dielectric constant (k), electrostrictive or relaxor.
The term "horizontal" as used in this application is defined as a plane parallel to the conventional plane or surface of a wafer or substrate, regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. The term "vertical" refers to a direction perpendicular to the horizontal as defined above. Prepositions, such as "on", "side" (as in "sidewall"), "higher", "lower", "over" and "under" are defined with respect to the conventional plane or surface being on the top surface of the wafer or substrate, regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
Improved gate dielectric films, as discussed herein, may include at least one of increasing the dielectric constant of the gate insulator material over the 3.9 value of silicon dioxide, and the use of a ferroelectric material to provide a non volatile memory cell with a single gate electrode.
First, a general discussion on the use of high dielectric constant (i.e., high k) materials will be given. A gate dielectric in a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor has both a physical gate dielectric thickness and an equivalent oxide thickness (teq). The equivalent oxide thickness quantifies the electrical properties, such as capacitance, of the gate dielectric in terms of a representative physical thickness. teq is defined as the thickness of a theoretical silicon dioxide (SiO2 ) layer that would have the same capacitance density as a given dielectric, ignoring leakage current and reliability considerations.
A SiO2 layer of thickness, t, deposited on a Si surface as a gate dielectric will have a teq larger than its physical thickness, t. This teq results from the capacitance in the surface channel on which the SiO2 is deposited due to the formation of a depletion/inversion region. This depletion/inversion region can result in teq being from 3 to 6 Angstroms (A) larger than the SiO2 thickness, t. Thus, with the semiconductor industry driving to scale the gate dielectric equivalent oxide thickness to under 10 Å, the physical thickness requirement for a SiO2 layer used for a gate dielectric would need to be approximately 4 to 7 Å.
Additional requirements for a SiO2 layer would depend on the gate electrode used in conjunction with the SiO2 gate dielectric. Using a conventional polysilicon gate would result in an additional undesirable increase in teq for the SiO2 layer. This additional thickness could be eliminated by using a metal gate electrode, though metal gates are not currently used in typical complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (CMOS) technology. These two effects require devices designed with a physical SiO2 gate dielectric layer of about 4 Å or less.
Silicon dioxide is used as a gate dielectric, in part, due to its electrical isolation properties in a SiO2-Si based structure. This electrical isolation is due to the relatively large band gap of SiO2 (8.9 eV), which makes it a good insulator. Significant reductions in its band gap would eliminate a material for use as a gate dielectric. However, as the thickness of a SiO2 layer decreases, the number of atomic layers, or monolayers of the material in the thickness decreases. At a certain thickness, the number of monolayers will be sufficiently small that the SiO2 layer will not have a complete arrangement of atoms as found in a thicker, or bulk layer. As a result of incomplete formation relative to a bulk structure, a thin SiO2 layer of only one or two monolayers will not form a full band gap. The lack of a full band gap in a SiO2 gate dielectric may cause an effective short between an underlying conductive silicon channel and an overlying polysilicon gate. This undesirable property sets a limit on the physical thickness to which a SiO2 layer can be scaled. The minimum thickness due to this monolayer effect is thought to be about 7-8 Å. Therefore, for future devices to have a teq less than about 10 Å, other dielectrics than SiO2 need to be considered for use as a gate dielectric.
For a typical dielectric layer used as a gate dielectric, the capacitance is determined as in a parallel plate capacitance: C=kε0A/t, where k is the dielectric constant, ε0 is the permittivity of free space, A is the area of the capacitor, and t is the thickness of the dielectric. The thickness, t, of a material is related to its teq for a given capacitance, with SiO2 having a dielectric constant kox=3.9, as
t=(k/k ox) t eq=(k/3.9) teq.
Thus, materials with a dielectric constant greater than that of SiO2 will have a physical thickness that can be considerably larger than a desired teq, while providing the desired equivalent oxide thickness. For example, an alternate dielectric material with a dielectric constant of 10 could have a thickness of about 25.6 Å to provide a teq of 10 Å, not including any depletion/inversion layer effects. Thus, a reduced equivalent oxide thickness for transistors can be realized by using dielectric materials with higher dielectric constants than SiO2.
The thinner equivalent oxide thickness required for lower transistor operating voltages and smaller transistor dimensions may be found in many materials, but typical fabricating requirements makes replacing SiO2 difficult. The microelectronics industry still uses silicon-based devices, which requires that the gate dielectric be grown on a silicon substrate. During the formation of the dielectric on the silicon layer, there exists the possibility that a small layer of SiO2 could be formed in addition to the desired dielectric due to high temperature processing. The result would effectively be a dielectric layer consisting of two sub-layers in parallel with each other and with the silicon layer on which the dielectric is formed. The resulting overall capacitance would be that of two dielectrics in series. The teq of the dielectric layer is the sum of the SiO2 thickness and a multiplicative factor of the thickness, t, of the dielectric being formed with a dielectric constant of k, written as
t eq =t SiO2+(k ox /k)t.
Thus, if a SiO2 layer is unintentionally formed during the gate insulator process, the teq is again limited by a relatively low dielectric constant SiO2 layer. In the event that a barrier layer is formed between the silicon layer and the gate dielectric in which the barrier layer prevents the formation of a SiO2 layer, the teq would be limited by the layer with the lowest dielectric constant. However, whether a single dielectric layer with a high dielectric constant or a barrier layer with a higher dielectric constant than SiO2 is employed, the layer directly in contact, or interfacing with the silicon layer must provide a high quality interface to maintain high channel carrier mobility. Preventing the formation of an undesirable SiO2 layer is one advantage of using lower temperatures in an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process.
One of the advantages of using SiO2 as a gate dielectric has been that the formation of the SiO2 layer results in an amorphous gate dielectric. Having an amorphous structure for a gate dielectric provides reduced leakage current associated with grain boundaries in polycrystalline gate dielectrics, which may cause high leakage paths. Additionally, grain size and orientation changes throughout a polycrystalline gate dielectric may cause variations in the film's dielectric constant, along with uniformity and surface topography issues. Typically, materials having the advantage of a high dielectric constant relative to SiO2 also have the disadvantage of a crystalline form, at least in a bulk configuration. The best candidates for replacing SiO2 as a gate dielectric are those with high dielectric constant, which can be fabricated as a thin layer with an amorphous form. The amorphous nature of the film is another advantage of using lower temperatures in the ALD deposition process.
Another consideration for selecting the material and method for forming a dielectric film concerns the roughness of a dielectric film on a substrate. Surface roughness of the dielectric film has a significant effect on the electrical properties of the gate oxide, and the resulting operating characteristics of the transistor. The leakage current through a physical 1.0 nm gate dielectric may increase by a factor of 10 for every 0.1 increase in the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of the dielectric layer. This is another advantage of using ALD processes that provide smooth surfaces compared to other deposition methods.
During a conventional sputtering deposition process, particles of the material to be deposited bombard the substrate surface at a high energy. When a particle hits the surface, some particles adhere, and other particles may cause damage. High energy impacts may create pits. The surface of a sputtered layer may be rough due to the rough interface at the substrate.
A dielectric film formed using atomic layer deposition (ALD) will have a substantially smooth surface relative to other processing techniques, can provide for controlling transitions between material layers, and have tight control of thickness and uniformity. As a result of such control, atomic layer deposited dielectric film may have an engineered transition with a substrate surface, or may be formed with many thin layers of different dielectric materials to enable selection of the dielectric constant and other material properties to a value between that available from pure dielectric compounds.
Secondly, a general discussion of atomic layer deposition (ALD) will be given to describe how the use of ALD improves the dielectric properties discussed above and improves manufacturability and process control. ALD, which may also be known as atomic layer epitaxy (ALE), is a modification of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and may also be called "alternatively pulsed-CVD." In ALD, gaseous precursors are introduced one at a time to the substrate surface mounted within a reaction chamber (or reactor). This introduction of the gaseous precursors takes the form of sequential pulses of each gaseous precursor. In a pulse of a precursor gas, the precursor gas is made to flow into a specific area or region for a short period of time. Between the pulses, the reaction chamber is purged with a gas, which in many cases is an inert gas, and/or evacuated.
In the first reaction step of the ALD process the first precursor saturates and is chemisorbed at the substrate surface, during the first pulsing phase. Subsequent pulsing with a purging gas removes excess precursor from the reaction chamber, specifically the precursor that has not been chemisorbed.
The second pulsing phase introduces a second precursor to the substrate where the growth reaction of the desired film takes place, with a reaction thickness that depends upon the amount of the chemisorbed first precursor. Subsequent to the film growth reaction, reaction byproducts and precursor excess are purged from the reaction chamber. With a precursor chemistry where the precursors adsorb and aggressively react with each other on the substrate, one ALD cycle can be performed in less than one second in properly designed flow type reaction chambers. Typically, precursor pulse times range from about 0.5 sec to about 2 to 3 seconds.
In ALD processes, the saturation of all the reaction and purging phases makes the film growth self-limiting, which results in large area uniformity and conformality. ALD provides for controlling film thickness in a straightforward manner by controlling the number of growth cycles.
The precursors used in an ALD process may be gaseous, liquid or solid. However, liquid or solid precursors should be volatile with high vapor pressures or low sublimation temperatures. The vapor pressure should be high enough for effective mass transportation. In addition, solid and some liquid precursors may need to be heated inside the reaction chamber and introduced through heated tubes to the substrates. The necessary vapor pressure should be reached at a temperature below the substrate temperature to avoid condensation of the precursors on the substrate. Due to the self-limiting growth mechanisms of ALD, relatively low vapor pressure solid precursors may be used, though evaporation rates may vary somewhat during the process because of changes in surface area of the solid precursor.
Other desirable characteristics for ALD precursors include thermal stability at the substrate temperature, since decomposition may destroy surface control and accordingly the advantages of the ALD method, which relies on the reaction of the precursor at the substrate surface. A slight decomposition, if slow compared to the ALD growth, can be tolerated. The precursors should chemisorb on, or react with the surface, though the interaction between the precursor and the surface as well as the mechanism for the adsorption is different for different precursors. The molecules at the substrate surface should react aggressively with the second precursor, which may be called a reactant, to form the desired film. Additionally, precursors should not react with the film to cause etching, and precursors should not dissolve in the film. The use of highly reactive precursors in ALD may contrast with the precursors for conventional metallo-organic CVD (MOCVD) type reactions. Further, the by-products of the reaction should be gaseous in order to allow their easy removal from the reaction chamber during a purge stage. Finally, the by-products should not react or adsorb on the surface.
In a reaction sequence ALD (RS-ALD) process, the self-limiting process sequence involves sequential surface chemical reactions. RS-ALD relies on chemistry between a reactive surface and a reactive molecular precursor. In an RS-ALD process, molecular precursors are pulsed into the ALD reaction chamber separately. The metal precursor reaction at the substrate is typically followed by an inert gas pulse (or purge) to remove excess precursor and by-products from the reaction chamber prior to an input pulse of the next precursor of the fabrication sequence.
By the use of RS-ALD processes, films can be layered in equal metered sequences that are all identical in chemical kinetics, deposition per cycle, composition, and thickness. RS-ALD sequences generally deposit less than a full layer per cycle. Typically, a deposition or growth rate of about 0.25 to about 2.00 Å per RS-ALD cycle can be realized.
The advantages of RS-ALD include continuity at an interface and avoiding poorly defined nucleating regions, which are typical for thin chemical vapor deposition (<20 Å) and physical vapor deposition (<50 Å), conformality over a variety of substrate topologies due to its layer-by-layer deposition technique, use of low temperature and mildly oxidizing processes, lack of dependence on the reaction chamber, growth thickness dependent solely on the number of cycles performed, and ability to engineer multilayer laminate films with resolution of one to two monolayers. RS-ALD processes allow for deposition control on the order of single monolayers and the ability to deposit monolayers of amorphous films.
A cycle of an ALD deposition sequence includes pulsing a precursor material, pulsing a purging gas for the precursor, pulsing a reactant precursor, and pulsing the reactant's purging gas, resulting in a very consistent deposition thickness that depends upon the amount of the first precursor that adsorbs onto, and saturates, the surface. This cycle may be repeated until the desired thickness is achieved in a single material dielectric layer, or may be alternated with pulsing a third precursor material, pulsing a purging gas for the third precursor, pulsing a fourth reactant precursor, and pulsing the reactant's purging gas. There need not be a reactant gas if the precursor can interact with the substrate directly, as in the case of a dopant metal layer on a dielectric layer, as claimed in the present subject matter. In the case where the thickness of the first series of ALD cycles results in a dielectric layer that is only a few molecular layers thick, and the second series of cycles also results in a different dielectric layer that is only a few molecular layers thick, this may be known as a nanolayer material or a nanolaminate. A nanolaminate means a composite film of ultra-thin layers of two or more different materials in a layered stack, where the layers are alternating layers of different materials having a thickness on the order of a nanometer, and may be a continuous film only a single monolayer thick of the material. The nanolayers are not limited to alternating single layers of each material, but may include having several layers of one material alternating with a single layer of the other material, to obtain a desired ratio of the two or more materials. Such an arrangement may obtain a dielectric constant that is between the values of the two or more materials singly. A nanolaminate may also include having several layers of one material formed by an ALD reaction either over or under a single layer of a different material formed by another type of reaction, such as a MOCVD reaction. The layers of different materials may remain separate after deposition, or they may react with each other to form an alloy layer. The alloy layer may be viewed as a doping layer, and the properties of the dielectric layer may be varied by such doping.
The present disclosure is on the use of the above described ALD method for forming a uniform film of zirconium substituted barium titanate. By adjusting the percentage of zirconium, the properties of the film may be varied from a ferroelectric material suitable for non volatile memories (NVRAM), to a very high dielectric contact material with high electrostrictive strains suitable for micro-mechanical devices (MEMs). The ALD layers may be formed as two different interleaved layers of barium zirconate and barium titanate, or as three different interleaved layers of titanium oxide, barium oxide and zirconium oxide, or other variations resulting in the desired composition of Ba(Ti1-XZrXO3). The individual material layers may be high temperature annealed after deposition to form the uniform final film, or may be left in the "as deposited" state.
In an illustrative embodiment, a layer of a barium titanium oxide (which may be known as a barium titanate film) is formed on a substrate mounted in a reaction chamber using sequential atomic layer deposition, which may also be known as RS-ALD, or ALD. An embodiment includes forming the titanium oxide layers using a precursor gas such as titanium tetra-chloride, having a chemical formula of TiCl4, or titanium tetraisoproxide and water vapor. The barium may be formed as a separate layer of barium oxide or as a part of the titanium oxide layer using barium bis(penta methyl cyclopentadieyl) or barium bis(tri isopropyi cyclopentadienyl) and water vapor. Another embodiment includes using other precursors such as a diketonate chelate precursor gas such as tetramethyl heptanedione or dipivaloylmethane, and ozone. Other solid or liquid precursors may be used in an appropriately designed reaction chamber. The use of such precursors in an ALD reaction chamber may result in lower deposition temperatures in the range of 100° C. to 350° C., more preferably 275° C. to 325° C. Purge gases may include nitrogen, helium, argon or neon. The barium titanate films formed may have good thermal and electrical properties, with a high dielectric constant k=350 to 550. Such films may survive high temperature anneals (sometimes used to reduce fixed surface state charges and improve metal to semiconductor resistance) of up to 1000° C. (more preferably 500° C.), and have low leakage currents of less than 2×10−7 A/cm2 at electric field strengths of one MVolt/cm.
Also included in the system are purging gas sources 114 and 118, coupled to mass-flow controllers 116 and 120, respectively. The embodiment may use only one of the purge gases for all four disclosed illustrative purging steps, or both purge gases may be used simultaneously, or alternating the purge gases as required for the particular desired result. Furthermore, additional purging gas sources can be constructed in ALD system 100, one purging gas source for each different precursor and reactant gas, for example. For a process that uses the same purging gas for multiple precursor gases, fewer purging gas sources may be required for ALD system 100. The precursor gas may be a combination of various precursors to form a combination layer. The precursor, reactant and purge gas sources are coupled by their associated mass-flow controllers to a common gas line or conduit 112, which is coupled to the gas-distribution fixture 110 inside the reaction chamber 102. Gas conduit 112 may also be coupled to another vacuum pump, or exhaust pump, to remove excess precursor gases, purging gases, and by-product gases at the end of a purging sequence from the gas conduit 112.
Vacuum pump, or exhaust pump, 104 is coupled to chamber 102 by control valve 105, which may be a mass-flow valve, to remove excess precursor gases, purging gases, and by-product gases from reaction chamber 102 at the end of a purging sequence. For convenience, control displays, mounting apparatus, temperature sensing devices, substrate maneuvering apparatus, and necessary electrical connections as are known to those skilled in the art are not shown in
The use and operation of reaction chambers for deposition of films are understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of semiconductor fabrication. The present embodiments may be practiced on a variety of such reaction chambers without undue experimentation. Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art will comprehend the necessary detection, measurement, and control techniques in the art of semiconductor fabrication upon reading the disclosure.
The elements of ALD system 100 may be controlled by a computer using a computer readable medium to control the individual elements such as pressure control, temperature control, and gas flow within ALD system 100. To focus on the use of ALD system 100 in the various described embodiments, the computer is not shown, although those skilled in the art can appreciate that system 100 can be under computer control.
At 206 a first purge gas enters the reaction chamber for a predetermined length of time sufficient to remove substantially all of the non-chemisorbed first precursor materials. Typical times may be 1.0-2.0 seconds, with a purge gas comprising nitrogen, argon, neon, combinations thereof, or other gases such as hydrogen. At 208 a first reactant gas enters the chamber for a predetermined length of time, sufficient to provide enough of the reactant to chemically combine with the amount of chemisorbed first precursor material on the surface of the substrate. Typical reactant materials include mildly oxidizing materials such as water vapor, but may in general also include hydrogen peroxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and oxygen gas, and combinations thereof. It should be noted that the difference between a precursor and a reactant is basically the timing of the introduction of the material into the reaction chamber. At 210 a second purge gas, which may be the same or different from the first purge gas, enters the chamber for a predetermined length of time, sufficient to remove substantially all non-reacted materials and any reaction byproducts from the chamber.
At 212 a decision is made as to whether or not the thickness of the first material has reached the desired thickness, or whether another deposition cycle is required of the first material. If another deposition cycle is needed, then the operation returns to 204, until the desired first layer is completed, at which time the process moves on to the deposition of the second material at 214. At 214 a second precursor material, or combination of precursor materials, enters the reaction chamber for a predetermined length of time, typically 0.5-2.0 seconds. The second precursor material is chemically adsorbed onto the surface of the substrate, in this case the top surface of the first material, the amount of absorption depending upon the temperature of the substrate, and the presence of sufficient flow of the precursor material. In addition, the pulsing of the precursor may use a period that provides uniform coverage of an adsorbed monolayer on the substrate surface, or may use a period that provides partial formation of a monolayer on the substrate.
At 216 the first purge gas is shown as entering the chamber, but the invention is not so limited. The purge gas used in the second dielectric material deposition may be the same or different from either of the two previously noted purge gases, and
At 218 an illustrative second reactant gas, which may be the same or different from the first reactant gas, enters the chamber for a predetermined length of time, sufficient to provide enough of the reactant to chemically combine with the amount of chemisorbed second precursor material on the surface of the substrate. In certain cases there may be no second reactant gas, and the precursor chemically reacts with the first material to form an alloy or a doped layer of the first material. At 220 another purge gas enters the chamber, which may be the same or different from any of the three previously discussed purge gases, for a predetermined length of time, sufficient to remove substantially all non-reacted materials and any reaction byproducts from the chamber.
At 222 a decision is made as to whether or not the thickness of the second material has reached the desired thickness, or whether another deposition cycle is required. If another deposition cycle is needed, then the operation returns to 214, until the desired second layer is completed. The desired thicknesses of the first and second materials in the dielectric may not be the same thickness, and there may be more deposition cycles for one material as compared to the other. The thickness of each of the first two layers may be selected to obtain a desired final composition. If the second layer has reached the desired thickness, the process moves on to a decision at 224 of whether the number of layers of the first and second materials has reached the desired number. In this illustrative embodiment a single layer of the first material and a single layer of the second material have been completed at this point in the process. If more than a single layer of each material is desired, the process moves back to another deposition of the first dielectric material at 204. After the number of interleaved layers of materials one and two has reached the desired value, the deposition ends at 226.
The embodiments described herein provide a process for growing a dielectric film having a wide range of useful ferroelectric properties and high dielectric constants and equivalent oxide thickness, teq, associated with a dielectric constant in the range from about 150 to about 550. This range of dielectric constants provides for a teq ranging up to about 1% relative to a given silicon dioxide thickness, that is, it appears to be equivalent to a silicon dioxide layer that is 100 times thinner than the physical thickness, providing enhanced probability for reducing leakage current. Controlling the amount of zirconium in the barium titanate film to 10 to 30% results in a material having what may be known as relaxor properties and electrostrictive action. The described materials and process may be implemented to form transistors, capacitors, non volatile memory devices, micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMs) and other electronic systems including information handling devices. The invention is not limited to two dielectric materials, and the equipment described in
The dielectric covering the area on the substrate 302 between the source and drain diffused regions 304 and 306 may be deposited by ALD in this illustrative embodiment, and may comprise one or more barium titanate layers 310 and 314, each potentially formed of many individual deposition layers. There are shown sequentially interleaved barium zirconate layers 308, 312 and 316. Each of the shown layers may have any desired thickness to obtain desired work function and interface state density between the lowest layer 308 and the substrate, and to provide a desired final gate dielectric composition. Alternatively, there may be other combinations of interleaved and non-interleaved layers of varying thickness and deposition method. This laminated dielectric layer may be referred to as the gate oxide, and while shown as distinct layers for clarity, is a single alloyed layer, or substituted, or doped layer. There may be a diffusion barrier layer inserted between the first dielectric layer 308 and the substrate 302 to prevent metal contamination from affecting the electrical properties of the device. The illustrative embodiment shows the two dielectric layers 310 and 314 having the same thickness, however the desired dielectric properties of the nanolaminate film may be best achieved by adjusting the ratio of the thickness of the dielectric layers to different values. For example it may be desired to have the dielectric constant value change as the dielectric is close to the substrate 302 versus near the gate electrode 318. This may be known as a graded dielectric. The transistor 300 has a conductive material forming a gate electrode 318 in this illustrative embodiment, but the laminated (or nanolaminate if the individual layers are thin enough) dielectric may also be used in a floating gate device such as an EEPROM transistor, as either one or both of the floating gate dielectric and the control gate dielectric layers. The conductive material may be polysilicon or various metals.
As illustrative embodiments, the gate dielectric (layers 308-316) may be used as a simple transistor dielectric having a controllable and high dielectric constant, as a non volatile memory device, as a capacitor, or as a tunnel gate insulator and/or as a floating gate dielectric in a flash memory device. Use of dielectric layers containing a laminated atomic layer deposited dielectric layer for a gate dielectric and/or floating gate dielectric in which the dielectric layer contacts a conductive layer is not limited to silicon based substrates, but may be used with a variety of semiconductor substrates.
Embodiments of methods for forming dielectric layers containing an ALD deposited dielectric layer contacting a conductive layer may also be applied to forming capacitors in various integrated circuits, memory devices, and electronic systems. In an embodiment including a capacitor 400 illustrated in
System 600 may include, but is not limited to, information handling devices, telecommunication systems, and computers. Peripheral devices 610 may include displays, additional storage memory, or other control devices that may operate in conjunction with controller 602 and/or memory 606. It will be understood that embodiments are equally applicable to any size and type of memory circuit and are not intended to be limited to a particular type of memory device. Memory types include a DRAM, SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) or Flash memories. Additionally, the DRAM could be a synchronous DRAM commonly referred to as SGRAM (Synchronous Graphics Random Access Memory), SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), SDRAM II, and DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), as well as other emerging DRAM technologies.
Thin films of ferroelectric materials have emerged in the last few decades as an important constituent of nonvolatile memory devices (NVRAMs), tunable dielectrics, infrared sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) and electro-optic modulators. Ferroelectric materials include spontaneous polarizers for memory devices, and relaxors having very high dielectric permittivity and high electro-strictive response and thus of interest in multi layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) and micromechanical systems. By varying the percentage of barium titanate (referred to as either BT or BaTiO3) and barium zirconate (BaZrO3) the material may be controlled to act as either a standard ferroelectric material for use in a NVRAM, or as a relaxor for use in a MLCC or MEM.
Other material properties of the ferroelectric film may also be adjusted or optimized by varying the titanium to zirconium ratio. As the amount of zirconium is increased the Curie point of the material decreases and the spontaneous polarization decreases. This may be significant in the temperature stability of a NVRAM and the amount of electric charge that may be stored.
As the amount of zirconium approaches about 27%, the material becomes similar to the properties of relaxors, such as typical lead based materials used in MEM structures. The material may also become more amorphous, or at least having smaller polycrystalline grain size, perhaps due to the larger size of the zirconium atom as compared to the titanium atom inhibiting grain growth.
The dielectric constant of the material varies substantially with the percentage of zirconium, with barium titanate having a value of about 475, a 20% zirconium substituted layer having a value of about 400, 30% about 275 and 40% about 150. This is a large variation within a relatively small percentage change, and films formed by the methods of sputtering of a target, dual target co-sputtering, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), pulse laser deposition and chemical solution deposition (CSD), result in variations in thickness and layer composition producing large changes in device operating parameters as compared to the described use of ALD, which provides better uniformity and accuracy.
Thus, a reliable process for forming the dielectric layer must have desirably accurate control over the ratio of zirconium to titanium in the film, and improved control over the film thickness. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) provides both levels of film property control.
An embodiment for a method for forming an electronic device includes forming a dielectric layer by using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique to form a dielectric having zirconium substituted barium titanium oxide Ba(Ti1-XZrXO3). Titanium is elemental metal number 22 and zirconium is element number 40, both in the IVA column of the periodic chart. Barium is element number 56 in column IIA of the periodic chart. Zirconium substituted films may be formed by first forming a single molecule thick barium titanate film, followed by forming a single molecule thick barium zirconate film, thus producing a barium film with approximately a 50% zirconium, 50% titanium content, i.e., a 1/1 ratio. By adjusting the number of barium titanate layers between each single barium zirconate layer, the ratio of zirconium to titanium in the final Ba(T1-XZrXO3) film may be easily and repeatably controlled within the useful range of X from zero to 0.40, which may represent the amount of zirconium versus titanium in the film.
There are many alternative methods of forming the final Ba(Ti1-XZrXO3) film. Thin layers of titanium oxide films, layered with thin layers of barium oxide and zirconium oxide may be annealed to form a substantially single film of zirconium substituted barium titanate. For example titanium dioxide, TiO2, or zirconium dioxide ZrO2, may be atomic layer deposited using various precursors such as titanium tetrachloride TiCl4 (or respectively zirconium tetrachloride ZrCl4) and water vapor (H2O) at a temperature of from 100 to 250° C., more typically 160° C. An alternative titanium or zirconium precursor is tetrakis diethyl amino titanium (TDEAT), or zirconium (TDEAZ). Yet another zirconium precursor is zirconium tertiary-butoxide [Zr(t-OC4H9)4] also known as ZTB, which has a higher vapor pressure and thus evaporates more easily. Alternative oxidizing precursors or reactants may include hydrogen peroxide, nitrous oxide and oxygen.
Barium titanate layers may be formed using ALD with reactants like barium cyclopentadienyl compounds. One example is barium bis(penta methyl cyclo pentadienyl) mixed with titanium tetra isoproxide and water at around 275° C. Various other types of precursors may be used, such as volatile diketonate chelates (for example 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedione). In many of these cases the titanium precursor may have a selected proportion of a chemically similar zirconium precursor added, so that the single thin layer deposited in a single deposition iteration may have the complete formula Ba(Ti1-XZrXO3). In this example there would be no need for an anneal to create a single thick layer out of the multiple interleaved deposition steps, as may be required if the layer is formed of different interleaved material layers.
Each of these films may have a very tightly controlled thickness for each deposition cycle that depends on the saturation of the substrate surface. The surface of the ALD formed is also very smooth and continuous, even over sharp underlying topography. The deposition cycles may also be alternated between the two different materials, and the resulting film may either be a nanolaminate of the two or more different oxides, or the oxides may form an alloy with each other if the similarity between the two metals results in miscible materials, as is the case with barium titanate and barium zirconate. In either case the film properties may vary depending upon the ratio of the two or more different materials, and thus materials may be formed that have engineered properties.
The low temperature deposition results in films that are amorphous even after subsequent heat cycles such as densification and mild oxidative repair cycles. Silicon dioxide layers grown by oxidation of silicon substrates are amorphous, and the subsequent heat cycles typically used in semiconductor fabrication do not substantially change the amorphous nature of the silicon dioxide. This may be important since crystallization of a dielectric may cause the surface to become rough, which may cause greatly increased leakage across the dielectric. The crystallization of a dielectric may also cause the covering conductive layer to form sharp spikes, which may increase the local electric field to a level that may cause dielectric breakdown and result in a short circuit. This may be another benefit of the use of ALD in comparison to other deposition methods.
The atomic layer deposition may have an activated substrate surface at a preselected temperature exposed to a titanium-containing first precursor material for a first time period and flow volume, which saturates the substrate surface. Then a first purge for a second time period removes substantially all non-adsorbed portions of the first precursor material, or combination of materials from the substrate surface. Then the substrate surface is exposed to a first oxidizing reactant material which reacts with the adsorbed first precursor material on the substrate surface to form a first material layer (such as barium titanate) to complete a first deposition cycle. The deposition cycle is repeated until a desired first material thickness is obtained, and the substrate surface is exposed to a second precursor material, or combination of materials, to saturate the substrate surface with the second precursor material, which is repeated to obtain the second material thickness.
Embodiments include structures for capacitors, transistors, memory devices, and electronic systems with dielectric layers containing an atomic layer deposited dielectric, and methods for forming such structures. These and other aspects, embodiments, advantages, and features will become apparent from the following description and the referenced drawings.
Formation of oxide layers by an ALD deposition may form substituted dielectric films at relatively low temperatures, such as 250° C., may be amorphous, have tighter thickness and compositional control, and possess smooth surfaces, as compared to sputtered films. Such oxide films may provide enhanced electrical properties as compared to physical deposition methods, or typical chemical layer depositions, due to their smoother surface, and reduced damage, resulting in reduced leakage current. Additionally, such ferroelectric layers provide a thicker physical thickness than a silicon oxide layer having the same equivalent oxide thickness, where the increased thickness may reduce leakage currents. The properties of ALD deposited dielectric layers allow applications as dielectric layers in electronic devices and systems, MEMs, and non volatile memories. ALD zirconium substituted barium titanates as gate oxides have a dielectric constant (k) substantially higher than that of silicon oxide, such that these dielectric films possess an equivalent thickness, teq, thinner than SiO2 gate dielectrics of the same physical thickness. Films having relatively large physical thickness improve the electrical properties of the dielectrics.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive, and that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Combinations of the above embodiments and other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon studying the above description. The scope of the present invention includes any other applications in which embodiments of the above structures and fabrication methods are used. The scope of the embodiments of the present invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
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Owner name: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC., IDAHO
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Owner name: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC., IDAHO
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:AHN, KIE Y.;FORBES, LEONARD;SIGNING DATES FROM 20060615 TO 20060626;REEL/FRAME:018158/0968
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text:
Like Amazon, Facebook is considering a future with drones. But unlike Amazon, it's ready to spend. Andrew O'Day looks at the role of drones in Facebook's internet-for-everyone ambitions.
Take On Tech Get email alerts
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Calif. man charged with tossing baby onto highway
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - A California man will stand trial on charges that he pulled his infant daughter out of his car and threw her more than 20 feet into the lanes of a highway.
Prosecutors say the girl's mother quickly retrieved the 9-month-old off the road on April 1, but the girl suffered cuts to her mouth, stomach, sides and legs.
A Santa Cruz County judge ordered the trial Monday for 23-year-old Erik Johnston on charges including domestic battery, child endangerment and false imprisonment.
Prosecutors say the Boulder Creek man was driving his car when he became angry, pulled over, grabbed his daughter by the arm and threw her.
A person who partially saw the incident called the sheriff's office.
A call to Johnston's public defender, Allen Cave, was not immediately returned.
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- Infowars - http://www.infowars.com -
Private genetic data easily accessible via internet searches
Posted By aaron On January 27, 2013 @ 5:47 pm In Old Infowars Posts Style,Science & Technology | Comments Disabled
David Gutierrez
Natural News
January 27, 2013
Using only publicly available online information, a team of researchers from the Whitehead Institute showed that it is possible to discern the identities of people who have submitted personal genetic information to scientific studies, even when that information is supposedly stored anonymously. The findings were published in the journal Science.
"This is an important result that points out the potential for breaches of privacy in genomics studies," says Whitehead Fellow Yaniv Erlich said.
The study was performed in the spirit of "vulnerability research" studies, in which experts assess the security of data by attempting to break through the measures put in place to protect it. In the current study, it was not even necessary for the researchers to hack into any servers or crack any codes: all the information was freely available for the taking.
The researchers began by analyzing the Y-chromosomes of people who had participated in the 1,000 Genomes Project at the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphism, because the entire genomes of all participants had been sequenced and made publicly available. Taking advantage of the fact that the Y-chromosome is inherited only from the father, the researchers analyzed the men's Y-chromosomes for unique genetic markers known as short tandem repeats (Y-STR).
The researchers then referred to public databases that record known links between Y-STR data and various surnames – linkages that are made possible because like Y-chromosomes, surnames tend to be inherited from fathers. With this data, the researchers were able to infer the surnames of a large number of participants in the 1,000 Genomes Project. They then used other public information sources, including genealogical websites, Internet search engines, obituaries, and data from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Human Genetic Cell Repository to identify almost 50 male and female 1,000 Genomes Project participants by name.
Out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved, the researchers did not release the names that they had uncovered. They did; however, notify both NIGMS and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the security flaw prior to the study's publications. Both organizations said they had responded by removing certain demographic data from the public databases.
Notably, the method of analysis used in the study could also have allowed the researchers to identify their relatives, both living and deceased, even if those people had never themselves submitted a genetic sample to anybody.
"We show that if, for example, your Uncle Dave submitted his DNA to a genetic genealogy database, you could be identified," first author Melissa Gymrek, said. "In fact, even your fourth cousin Patrick, whom you've never met, could identify you if his DNA is in the database, as long as he is paternally related to you."
"Yaniv's work is a timely reminder that in this era in which massive amounts of genomic data are being generated rapidly and shared in the interest of scientific advancement, there is an increasing likelihood of privacy breaches," Whitehead Institute Director, David Page said.
Article printed from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/private-genetic-data-easily-accessible-via-internet-searches/
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text:
TPG October 29-November 4 Bucket
6th China Folk Handicraft Art Festival was opened on Saturday... News PhotoHorizontal,Human Interest,Jiangsu Province,SuzhouPhotographer TPGCollection: Getty Images News 2012 TPGJIANGSU, CHINA - NOVEMBER 03: (CHINA MAINLAND OUT)6th China Folk Handicraft Art Festival was opened on Saturday November 03, 2012 in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. More than 50 folk handicraft artmasters showed their special skills during the activity. (Photo by TPG/Getty Images)


text:
> Uneasy Rider
Follow @snopes
Critter Country
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E-mail this
Uneasy Rider
Video shows Jeff Gordon pranking a car salesman with a wild test drive.
[Collected via e-mail, March 2013]
Is this a true prank or just a commerical (fake prank) about jeff gordon taking a test drive with a man.
This "Test Drive" video showing NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon going to a car dealership in disguise and taking an unsuspecting car salesman on the test drive of his life hit the Internet in mid-March 2013. It's not a video that captures a real-life prank played on a hapless used car salesman, however, but rather
a promotional spot for the Pepsi MAX soft drink brand that was filmed at Troutman Motors in Concord, North Carolina, and employed about
75 people
in its staging. Racer Brad Noffsinger, who works with the Richard Petty Driving Experience, did the stunt work for the production, and the video was produced by
Gifted You
, a division of Will Ferrells
Funny or Die
company. The shoot was set up with the dealership in advance and used a new high-performance car supplied for that purpose (rather than a used vehicle selected off the lot).
To believe this video really captured a prank played on an unsuspecting car lot employee, we'd have to believe, among other implausibilities, that "Steve" the salesman utterly failed to recognize that the used 2009 Chevy Camaro he was supposedly trying to sell to Jeff Gordon (a vehicle type that doesn't even exist, as the current Chevrolet Camaro
the 2009 model year) was really a brand new 2013 Camaro. Also, as noted at
If you look at the area where the car sets out from, there sure are a lot of tire marks like repeated burnouts were done there. My source that was on site told me that was because they did multiple takes for everything.
During the entire drive, there isn't one shot of Jeff Gordon driving the car. We see him put the camera in at the beginning and turn it towards the passenger. At the end when he parks the car, the camera is suddenly back on Gordon. That's because Gordon didn't drive the car, according to our tipster. I have no doubt that Gordon is an excellent driver, but I was told that [Brad] Noffsinger did all of the slides, burnouts, and other stunt driving for the film.
Liability issues also make it virtually impossible that the passenger shown in the video could have been an unsuspecting car salesman who was taken on unexpected wild ride with Jeff Gordon (without the use of any additional safety equipment, to boot). If "Steve" were a real employee of the dealership (rather than an actor) who was actually present in the car during filming, he would had to have been informed in advance about the nature of the shoot and have signed a release prior to participating; otherwise, he would have grounds for major lawsuits against both the dealership and the production company if he had been harmed in the process.
Pepsi MAX did a follow-up promotional "Test
Drive 2"
spot featuring Travis Okulski from Jalopnik playing an unsuspecting taxi passenger taken on a terrifying trip by Jeff Gordon, who, disguised as an
cab driver, pretends to recklessly flee from a pursuing state trooper:
Travis is
(for now, at least) that this second prank was done on the level:
So, just as I was able to say with total certainty that the first Pepsi
Test Drive
ad was totally fake, I can say with total certainty that this second Pepsi
Test Drive
ad is unequivocally, one hundred percent, totally, absolutely real.
As indicated in the
section of Okulski's article, a number of viewers are just as skeptical about this Pepsi MAX spot as he was of the previous one:
I'm having a hard time believing it's not fake, Travis. You just don't seem to be genuinely scared out of your wits. I sure did like the video though, much more entertaining than the first one.
Yeah even the run up seems fake. Like he is just sitting back there snickering.
That was followed by a suspiciously telegenic reaction take by Travis, but yes, it was glorious.
Oh I think the first half was probably real ... but after Travis went all fight or flight on Jeff's cab, they had to tell him it was fake and [he had to] just go along with it for the rest of the ride. At least, that's my take on it.
I concur. at 4:02 there's a steady shot from a moving truck on the left side of the cab. Travis didn't notice this? Come on ...
God, this is as embarrassingly fake as the first one. As if the over-the-top acting wasn't a big enough giveaway, it seems at least five different cameras were used for the interior shots.
(or similar-sized HD cameras) are small, but they're not small enough to go unnoticed, especially if they're mounted a foot in front of you. There's another one mounted on the front grille as well, but at least that one could be easily missed.
Last updated:
27 February 2014
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text:
Concept Toast-Dropping Toaster is Real After All: The Trapdoor Toaster
We gave the Nahamer T450 toaster concept design a big thumbs-up for its simplicity... but it turns out that there's actually a real toast-dropping versus toast-popping machine. The Trapdoor Toaster does exactly what it sounds like it does. It's a 1400W device, with auto-adjusting guide racks so it can do toast, bagels… »


text: On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 3:19 AM, Alejandro Castillo <pyalec at gmail.com> wrote: > 2010/8/12 Richard Tew <richard.m.tew at gmail.com>: >> If you want to add it in with the stackless examples google code >> project, we can do that, let me know. You can also add a reference to >> your repository there, within the wiki, so your code is offered as an >> option to similar functionality. > > Yes. I would like it to be added to the stackless examples project and the wiki. > If there's something I can do to get it there, I'll gladly help. Just > tell me how. I've added pyalec at gmail.com as a committer for the project. Look in the wiki and see what is there that is similar. Look in SVN and see what is there and similar. Add it into SVN beside what is similar. Add a wiki entry that links to it. http://code.google.com/p/stacklessexamples/wiki/StacklessExamples Cheers, Richard.


text:
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Whether you are a practicing Dentist or a recent dental school graduate looking to start your career, you can be confident that PDS will help you maximize your individual and professional God-given potential. Pacific Dental Services' Private Practice + model gives dentists clinical autonomy while focusing on clinical excellence. Owner dentists partner with PDS to alleviate the burden of running a successful dental practice. Our expertise includes every aspect of dental offices operations, from site development and construction, marketing, human resources and payroll, billing and collections, vendor relationships, providing a comprehensive benefits package, and so much more. Dentists focus on providing ideal comprehensive care in an all digital environment (including lasers and CAD/CAM) and continuous education. Together we understand that the way to grow a successful practice long term is through its continuing care patients, therefore our goal is to create patients for life. Whether you are at the point in your career where you are interested in owning a dental practice or working as an associate, we invite you to join us and see for yourself.


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- Infowars - http://www.infowars.com -
Illinois concealed carry now on the books
Posted By kit On July 11, 2013 @ 11:35 am In constitution,Old Infowars Posts Style,Tile | Comments Disabled
Kevin McDermott
St. Louis Post Dispatch
July 11, 2013
Leaning against a display case at Metro Shooting Supplies in Belleville on Wednesday afternoon, Tyler Bennett showed how comfortably his Smith & Wesson pistol fit his right hand.
The 9mm semiautomatic with a 12-round magazine, still warm from the 75 bullets that Bennett had fired through it at Metro's indoor range, is small but powerful. Bennett said he selected it last year for the day that finally arrived Tuesday, when Illinois became the last state in the nation to legalize concealed carry.
"That (concealed carry) was in the back of my mind when I bought this gun," said Bennett, 21, of Belleville.
Article printed from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/illinois-concealed-carry-now-on-the-books/
Click here to print.
Copyright © 2015 Infowars. All rights reserved.


text:
'Sherlock Holmes: A Game
of Shadows'
What is it? Victoriana buffs will not be amused by this film, but it's a modest improvement on bad-boy director Guy Ritchie's first tweaking of Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective. Not because it's more subtle: This sequel is just as profligate as its 2009 predecessor, with explosions, anachronisms and quick cuts. But the dialogue is a little sharper, and Holmes gets a worthy opponent in Professor Moriarty. It seems a diabolical mastermind has begun a series of bombings and assassinations, hoping to spark a war. Robert Downey Jr. plays Holmes as brainy yet highly physical and keen on dressing up. Jude Law returns as Dr. Watson. "A Game of Shadows" draws here and there on Doyle's tales but relies more on Hong Kong's hyperactive 1980s new wave, as filtered through "The Matrix" and Quentin Tarantino. Extreme close-ups, violent edits and slo-mo inserts are used to depict both visceral action and Holmes' methodical thought. Thinking, however, is not the movie's priority. The game here is action farce, and that's better played with swagger than intellect.
Rated PG-13 for action, violence and drug use.
Time: 2 hrs., 9 min.
The Star gave the film:
Extras: "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: A Perfect Chemistry," "Moriarty's Master Plan Unleashed" and "Holmesavision on Steroids" featurettes. On Blu-ray: Downey Jr. "movie mode" commentary from Holmes' point of view, "Guy Ritchie's Well-Oiled Machine" and three other making-of featurettes.
'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance'
What is it? A goofy, gonzo thrill ride, "Vengeance" is a bad movie sequel that's almost a great bad movie. It's still a silly mashup of comic book and quasi-religious "prophecy" about a motorcyclist who sold his soul to the devil, who transforms into a flaming avenger hurtling out of hell when the need arises. But this time around, Nicolas Cage and everybody else on board are in on the joke. In "Vengeance," the "Rider" (Cage) is haunted by the life he now leads. But a boy borne of the devil needs the Rider's help. A wine-swilling biker-angel and the boy's mother are all that stand between the devil and the boy who "completes" Satan's grand design. Cage is hilariously wound-up throughout this sequel — manic, motor-mouthed and bug-eyed. The co-directors augment this with jump cuts that make the Rider move with the supernatural jerkiness of a Japanese ghost.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images and language.
Time: 1 hr., 35 min.
The Star gave the film: The film wasn't screened for critics.
Extras: Deleted scenes. On Blu-ray: Directors' expanded video commentary and a six-part making-of featurette. There's also a 3-D version, with a 3-D making-of featurette.
'In Darkness'
What is it? The Polish Jews of Lvov suffer mightily under Nazi brutality in this fact-based tale about a group of fugitives from the Jewish ghetto that find refuge in that city's sewers. The powerful and moving film centers less on the refugees than their unlikely savior, a virulently anti-Semitic sewer worker and petty thief. When Poldek, as he's called, stumbles upon the bickering, unruly and desperate group fleeing through the sewers one day, he will decide whether to turn them in to the Nazis for 500 zlotys a head, or charge the group that same amount per day not to. Poldek morphs, slowly but believably, into something of an Oskar Schindler, as protective of his charges as that German war-profiteer-turned-hero. In turn, the Jews gain a genuine if grudging affection for their unlovable benefactor. "In Darkness" also is filled with nail-biting suspense, a thriller in every sense of the word. In Polish, German, Yiddish and Hebrew with English subtitles.
Rated R for violence and brutality, obscenity, nudity and sex scenes.
Time: 2 hrs., 25 min.
The Star gave the film:
Extras: "An Evening With Agnieszka Holland" featurette on the film's director and an interview with Holland and Krystyna Chiger, the youngest of the Jewish survivors and author of the memoir, "The Girl in the Green Sweater."
The Washington Post


text:
Linemen honored for academic success
It wasn't so much beef, but brains up front that led the Moorpark College and Ventura College football teams to share the Western State Conference's Pacific Division title this fall.
That much is clear after local products filled out two of the five offensive line slots on JC Gridwire's Academic All-America team.
Ventura's 6-foot-3, 280-pound tackle Kevin Bigler, a sophomore from Nordhoff High, earned a 4.0 GPA while studying toward a degree in criminal justice.
Moorpark's 6-foot-1, 295-pound tackle Brandon Sofley, a sophomore from Moorpark High, earned a 3.7 GPA while studying toward a business degree.
When Moorpark began its 9-3 season, it did so with the left side of its offensive line consisting of Sofley and Garrett Nolan, who earned honorable mention.
"Wow, we're smart!" said Moorpark coach Jim Bittner. "That's great.
"Both are taking good courses, too. They're obviously smart kids."
Ventura sophomore linebacker Scott Garner, a Ventura High product, also earned honorable mention.
Mounties move on: The Mount San Antonio College football team, which stopped Moorpark's season 59-35 in the semifinals, eliminated previously undefeated Bakersfield, 47-42, in Saturday's Southern California title game.
"I had been depressed," said Bittner, who was in the crowd. "It's been a long time since somebody put 59 points up against us.
"I felt a lot better after the game."
Before a season-high crowd of 12,315 at Memorial Stadium, host Bakersfield led by two touchdowns, 35-21, in the first half.
But Bakersfield's third-team All-America quarterback Jacob Bower, who had thrown four touchdowns in the first half, threw five interceptions in the second half.
Incredibly, four of the turnovers came on four straight pass attempts.
"It's definitely uncharacteristic of him," head coach Jeff Chudy told the Bakersfield Californian. "We've won a lot of football games with Jacob."
Mount SAC (10-2) plays City College of San Francisco on Saturday afternoon in Fresno for the state title.
Title weekend: The men's soccer, women's soccer and wrestling state championships will also be held in Fresno this weekend.
The men's Final Four pits No. 1-South Mount San Antonio against No. 3-North Taft and No. 3S Santa Ana against No. 1N Santa Rosa.
Cerritos, which eliminated Oxnard in the regional semifinals, fell to Santa Rosa 2-1 in a regional final.
The women's Final Four pits No. 1S Santiago Canyon against No. 8N De Anza and No. 2S Cerritos against No. 2N Fresno.
By beating San Diego Mesa 5-4 in a regional final, Cerritos came out of the subregional that included WSC North foes Moorpark, Ventura and Santa Barbara City.
Championship wrapup: In a final between the state's two dominant programs, the West Valley men's water polo team defeated Golden West, 12-8, for its fifth state title in a decade Nov. 18 in Fresno. In doing so, it stuck 19-time state champion Golden West in its longest title drought since winning its first title in 1976.
The Riverside women's water polo team completed a perfect 35-0 season by outscoring its state tournament foes 41-5.
The San Bernardino Valley men's cross country team won its second straight state title Nov. 17 in Fresno.
Other fall state champions include Glendale women's cross country, College of the Canyons women's golf and El Camino women's volleyball.
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Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation in Neuroblastoma
|Tracking Information
|First Received Date ICMJE
|November 12, 2008
|Last Updated Date
|March 30, 2015
|Start Date ICMJE
|August 2005
|Estimated Primary Completion Date
|December 2016 (final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Current Primary Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Engraftment rate [ Time Frame: day 100 ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
|Original Primary Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Same as current
|Change History
|Complete list of historical versions of study NCT00790413 on ClinicalTrials.gov Archive Site
|Current Secondary Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Original Secondary Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Same as current
|Current Other Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Not Provided
|Original Other Outcome Measures ICMJE
|Not Provided
|Descriptive Information
|Brief Title ICMJE
|Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation in Neuroblastoma
|Official Title ICMJE
|High-dose MIBG With Subsequent Transplantation of Haploidentical Stem Cells in Children With Therapy Resistant Neuroblastoma
|Brief Summary
Children with primary resistant or relapsed neuroblastoma who do not achieve remission with conventional chemotherapy have extremely dismal prognosis. A novel treatment strategy combining tumor targeted radioisotope treatment with metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) and immunotherapeutic effect of haploidentical stem cell transplantation (haploSCT) followed by low-dose donor lymphocyte infusions will be piloted. The use of the isotope is aimed to decrease pre-transplant tumour burden. Reduced intensity conditioning containing Fludarabine, Thiotepa and Melfalan will enable sustained engraftment as well as will serve as additional anti-tumor treatment. A prompt natural killer (NK)-cell mediated tumour control may be achieved by haploidentical stem cell transplantation. The investigators hypothesize that tumour cells potentially evading NK-cell mediated immunity may be targeted by infused donor T-cells and eliminated by either MHC-dependent manner or through a bystander effect. The possible graft versus tumor effect will be evaluated in children with therapy resistant neuroblastoma.
|Detailed Description
|Not Provided
|Study Type ICMJE
|Study Phase
|Phase 0
|Study Design ICMJE
|Allocation: Non-Randomized
Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: Open Label
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Condition ICMJE
|Intervention ICMJE
|Study Arm (s)
|Experimental: High-dose MIBG with haploidentical stem cell transplantation
High-dose MIBG followed by Fludarabine, Thiotepa and Melfalan as conditioning Before haploidentical transplantation of T-cell depleted graft
|Publications *
* Includes publications given by the data provider as well as publications identified by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number) in Medline.
|Recruitment Information
|Recruitment Status ICMJE
|Estimated Enrollment ICMJE
|Completion Date
|Not Provided
|Estimated Primary Completion Date
|December 2016 (final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Eligibility Criteria ICMJE
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
|6 Months to 21 Years
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers
|Contacts ICMJE
|Listed Location Countries ICMJE
|Removed Location Countries
|Administrative Information
|NCT Number ICMJE
|Other Study ID Numbers ICMJE
|Has Data Monitoring Committee
|Not Provided
|Responsible Party
|Jacek Toporski, Lund University Hospital
|Study Sponsor ICMJE
|Lund University Hospital
|Collaborators ICMJE
|Not Provided
|Investigators ICMJE
|Information Provided By
|Lund University Hospital
|Verification Date
|March 2015
ICMJE Data element required by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the World Health Organization ICTRP


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National Alumni Society MemberName: Charles "Chuck" D. Sands IV
Degree(s) and Graduation Year(s): MA 1995; PhD (Public Health) 2004
Hometown: Pusan, South Korea
Current home city/town: Riverside, CA
Current employer and job/role: California Baptist University, Founding Dean and Professor
Why did you choose UAB? Excellence in Education
What is your favorite UAB memory? Connecting to a new world through faculty and fellow students.
How did UAB prepare you for life? Challenged me in developing as a professional.
Why did you want to be in this profession? My focus (since high school) has revolved around medicine/health, psychology, and education. So being a professor is a natural fit where I am able to interact with and positively influence the next generation.
What would you do if you were given more time in each day? Spend time with family.
With which celebrity or historical figure, current or past, would you most like to have dinner? Jesus
What is your favorite saying or motto? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6
What is the best piece of advice you ever received? Choose your battles wisely.
What is your life's "theme song"? "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns.
What is your favorite book? The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?, by Pastor Rick Warren.
How would you like to change the world? Less talking, more listening. This would allow us to work more closely together to be a positive influence.
Student Alumni Society MemberName: Julie I. Paul
Degree(s) and Graduation Year(s): Master of Arts in Education, May 2014
Hometown: Gadsden, Alabama
Current town: Birmingham, Alabama
Current employer and job: Student teaching at Pelham High School
Why did you choose UAB? At the time, I was deciding between returning to Madrid, Spain to teach English for an additional year or to begin the Master's program at UAB. After seeing the kind of support and encouragement that the professors provide to the students in the program, I knew that I did not need to hesitate any longer with my decision.
What is your favorite UAB memory? In our English Grammar class, to my surprise, my classmate brought her banjo and had created a song to sing to our class about her grammar lesson. It was definitely one of the funniest moments and brightened everyone's day.
How did UAB prepare you for life your life? UAB has imparted a strong foundation for my confidence and abilities within my profession.
What made you choose your current profession? I worked with young children in an orphanage in Guatemala. After I left, I knew that I wanted to make a career out of empowering the youth.
What would you do if you were given more time in each day? Recently, I've found that I don't have enough time to read for pleasure. I could use a few extra hours to catch up on a few books that are on my list to read.
Which historical figure do you most identify with and why? Anthony Bourdain because I love to try new foods and he is always partaking in a new delicacy wherever he goes.
What is your motto? "Everything seems impossible until it's done."
What is the best piece of advice you ever received? Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Whether it's a small town in Alabama or another country on a different continent, it doesn't matter to me; as long as I'm going somewhere. I have an eagerness for seeing as much of the world as I possibly can.
What is your favorite book? Currently, my favorite is The Alchemist by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. It's a very motivating novel.
How would you like to change the world? I think it's always better to look at the little things one can do to change the world, such as ways to help people in my daily life. For this reason, I hope to improve the world through educating others and improving other's access to education.


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Meltsdown: Body Work
As Heard On MaD Radio September 20, 2013 12:33 PM
Mike Meltser
MIKE MELTSER What I do for 610: Co-host mid-day show with Seth Payne....Read More
Mike is tired of people trying to fix the body damage on his car. Are they scam artists? Are they hard working Americans? And, don't you dare cut him off or honk at him… big trouble, big trouble.