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Skip to comments.Chris Christie, fierce Obama critic, praises presidents response to Hurricane Sandy
Posted on 10/30/2012 8:37:13 PM PDT by WilliamIII
click here to read article
You are making many assumptions that have no basis in reality.
I am merely suggesting that the shellshocked Governor of NJ is no fool. He knows how much fiscal trouble he is in, and you can bet that the Chicago thug put a quid pro qou on those funds.
He is putting his state first and the smell of dirty politics is hanging in the air.
Clear enough for you?
Once again read my posts. First, Obama hasn't done anything for NJ yet. Second, if Romney wins was it wise for NJ to practically swing the election to Obama in a bid to get aid? Federal aid will be needed for the next 2 years.
And yes, something more is up because when Christie was asked about Romney he became suddenly confused and said not a positive word. He could have said Romney was "supportive", not even that.
Do you doubt that Obama is playing hardball with his power and that they threatened Christie? Take a look at what Obama has done withholding federal aid to states like Texas.
well I noticed he failed to mention Romney at all. you know after the convention he was on alot of shows and managed to put Eastwood down on all of them and no mention of Romney. I think he is out for whoever will scratch his back..this close to an election that makes him look bad.. he made it political by running his fat mouth
Based on your post 51, we agree. Don't people understand how panicked the Obama team is, how desperate, Axelrod is Mr. Hardball, and this is a last minute golden opportunity.
I think Christie is in the process of "John Roberts-ing" us.
We'll know for sure tomorrow after the cameras follow him and the Kenyan around the damage sites and then he is asked to comment on it.
Christie is working on his own re-election. Always looking forward with loads of Jersey democrat ass to kiss. He may be a RHINO at best.
Is that not what I just said? Quid pro Quo.
New Jersey is never going Romney period.
What the heck is Romney supposed to be offering to be "supportive of"?
R is nothing right now. (never will be in NJ)
Apparently you don't understand east coast corruption/politics.
Make that RINO.
On second thought maybe RHINO was the proper description of Christie.
NJ was hit hard and I feel for those people.
I haven't seen hurricane damage this bad since cat 4 Ike hit Galveston and Houston.
No big deal. He is a politician who will likely seek a second term. No need for him to act confrontational while the whole nation is watching.
My very favorite hurricane moment was watching Shep blown off his feet and sent rolling down a Beaumont, TX, street when Rita was coming in.
First let me say my heart and prayers go out to all affected by this disaster.
But in my most humble opinion...there is no reason that a governor should have to kiss hiney or play politics to get disaster aid. I think I'll lay that at The Won's feet. Perhaps Christie has seen what he has done to Texas in the past.
Disaster aid is nothing more than our tax dollars.
Hurricane Ike was at least equally as devastating to Galveston and Houston as Sandy was to NJ.
The areas of New York and New Jersey that were hit the hardest are all near the water. Who do you think lives in these areas? Certainly not poor people (with a few exceptions).
I live in Queens and I love going to Long Beach in the Summer. It reminds me so much of my native South Florida (particularly Dania and Hollywood beach). The West End of Long Beach has all these quaint bungalows. A lot of them are pretty tiny, no more than 800 sq. feet, and yet they still fetch half a million dollars. For a lot of people who live there, it's just a Summer hangout, and they have apartments n Manhattan.
The Jersey Shore is also very pricey. And EVVIILLLLL Wall St was hit especially hard.
So in terms of economic demographics, this natural disaster in no way resembles the poor Blacks of New Orleans suffering the effects of Katrina. No Mayor Nagin making promises of rebuilding a "chocolate city".
Yes, a lot of people have suffered the loss of property, and some, tragically, the loss of life. But for the most part, with the exception of some housing projects in Coney Island and Rockaway Beach, these are successful people with good jobs and money in the bank, living in some of the most expensive zip codes.
So if Obama tries to play the hero over the next several days to the affluent people who live in these affected areas, it will just reinforce the anger that all the people in the Midwest felt when Obama snubbed them when they were the victims of floods, wildfires and tornadoes. And in most of those areas, half a million dollars would buy you a helluva lot more than an 800 sq. foot bungalow.
Correct. Another ass is Haley Barbour (former MS Governor) who supports Christie's ill-timed and foolish comment.
Christie looked scared tonight. He better get over it because his real problems haven't even started. People are still in shock. Just wait 'til they get mad.
Agreed. It's all about location, location, location, not the actual structures.
I like those old bungalows, but plenty of people would say "half a million dollars for that little dump?". Guess that's why I live in an 1,100 sq. foot apartment in Queens, that I bought for the same price as a McMansion in flyover country. I'm a sucker for Old World charm and big city hustle and bustle. Did I say I was a sucker? Yeah, a really BIG sucker, since next to California, New York is the most mismanaged rip off state in the country. But what can I say, I love being a stealth Conservative in Liberal land.
But they'll find some way to salvage these eroded areas. Beachfront property in the New York area is too desirable for people to just throw up their hands and walk away. If they could gentrify the most run down, dangerous areas of Manhattan, like the Lower East Side and Hell's Kitchen, and turn them into a Disney Land for upscale hipsters, they'll find a way to restore Long Beach and the Jersey Shore.
Exactly. Flies with honey, etc.
It's less than 24hr since the storm and Christie is thanking obama and FEMA??! What did I miss?
What exactly have they done already for Christie?
Why would obama remove all the red tape? Is he buying his election by having FEMA do their stuff bypassing all rules and laws?
Considering all the insane paperwork we had to go through during Irene, something shady is going on with this deal with Christie.
Didn't get any play but Elizabeth Birnbaum, head of the MMS, appointed by salazar and commander zero fell on her sword over the spill. Seems her agency gave BP waivers on testing the Blow Out Preventer on the well in question. Didn't hear a peep from the msm and could not find anything about it except...surprise...the NY Slimes.
The only other thing worth noting about Christie; is if there was a contest as to who habitually mentions 'themselves' in their rhetoric 'more often'; Christie vs Obama; it might be a 'tie'.
(Impossible to keep up a count of how many 'I's and Christie's 'self referencing', "me"; frames almost every thought/sentence. MY state; MY decision; MY idea. . .I,I,I...me; me; me. Yes; a real challenger for Obama's record.)
There is a critical difference, of course; and that is what comes 'after' the self-reference. Christie offer serious solutions for the most part; beneficial to his State. Obama OTOH; does the precise opposite.
The only other thing worth noting about Christie; is if there was a contest as to who habitually mentions 'themselves' in their rhetoric 'more often'; Christie vs Obama; it might be a 'tie'.
(Impossible to keep up a count of how many 'I's and Christie's 'self referencing', "me"; frames almost every thought/sentence. MY state; MY decision; MY idea. . .I,I,I...me; me; me. Yes; a real challenger for Obama's record.)
There is a critical difference, of course; and that is what comes 'after' the self-reference. Christie offer serious solutions for the most part; beneficial to his State. Obama OTOH; does the precise opposite.
The only thing that obama is doing is taking advantage of this due to the closeness of the election. All he can do is declare a state of emergency at a federal level which directs taxpayer money to the affected areas.
we had worse hits back in the 70s. 7' in 2 days, no power for 5 weeks. We had to pull whole families out by snowmobile at 3 AM (4 miles, no gps, no cell phones or radios)
Fat B@$t@rd deliberately praised Obama who to that point only talked to him on the phone.
Regardless of the praise,NJ will get federal funds so its a joke to think he is kissing zeros butt for that.
He is setting himself up. And yes, his convention speech was all about Fat B@$t@rd. he didn't help Mitt at all.
Don't trust him.
I love the charm of bungalows. And, I have always wanted to live in a brownstone...for about a year. Then...back to trees.
EXACTLY..regardless of the politicians Americans get the job done and they dont have to go bawling all over to do it.
Yeah. You have to be ready to fend for yourself. At least it seems for the most part that the NY & NJ folks had enough sense to get the heck out of the way, unlike a lot of the Katrina "victims" in NO.
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|Ravikumar Govindarajan <ravikumar.govindara...@gmail.com>
|Help on MMap of SSTables
|Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:59:45 GMT
Our current SSTable sizes are far greater than RAM. {150 Gigs of data, 32GB RAM}. Currently we run with mlockall and mmap_index_only options and don't experience swapping at all. We use wide rows and size-tiered-compaction, so a given key will definitely be spread across multiple sstables. Will MMapping data files be detrimental for reads, in this case? In general, when should we opt for MMap data files and what are the factors that need special attention when enabling the same? -- Ravi
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The 26-year-old defenseman signed a two-year deal worth a reported $2.5 million. Schenn split last season with the Philadelphia Flyers and L.A. Kings scoring four goals and 12 assists in 72 games. More
The off-season action is slowing down, but the Auston Matthews contract, Connor McDavid's bid for the Oilers' captaincy and the induction of the 'Big E' into the Hall of Fame gives us plenty to talk about as the summer rolls along.
The 28-year-old forward, who spent four seasons with the New York Rangers, was dealt to Ottawa on Monday afternoon in exchange for Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second-round pick.
Trade speculation continues to surround Nail Yakupov. However, the expansion draft could give the Oilers trouble finding what they deem a fair return for the 2012 first-overall pick. Meanwhile, the Canucks could consider moving Chris Tanev if it nets them a scoring forward.
Kris Versteeg may have had a tough time finding an NHL deal early this off-season, but the veteran winger almost certainly would have gotten a shot on a tryout deal somewhere. Instead of taking that chance, though, the 30-year-old is reportedly set to sign in Switzerland.
Claude Giroux was slated to miss 10-12 weeks following surgery to repair a sports hernia and hip injury, but the Philadelphia Flyers captain is back training after just nine weeks. This past season, Giroux, 28, had his lowest points per game since 2009-10.
Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier had parallel careers, right up to their retirements after this season. But were those careers great enough to merit being in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
The Sabres power forward was handcuffed outside of Central Booking in Buffalo, where he was charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing and several counts of harassment. The charges stem from an alleged late-night incident at a nightclub.
Chris Kreider and the New York Rangers avoided arbitration Friday and came to terms on a four-year, $18.5 million deal. The deal is closer to Kreider's asking price than it is to what the Rangers were seeking in arbitration.
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Rubio is an experienced and entertaining addition to the panel and provides Latinos with the opportunity to break another star into main-stream America
Celine Dion just joined Twitter. That breaking news has nothing to do with today's A-Sides session. It's just sort of a media advisory for fans of the...
The five women below have bucked the proverbial system and gone outside the confines of the norm in an effort to get their work out there.
In honor of McMonday, The Voice Runner Up Terry McDermott shares his thoughts on this year's contestants; the state of the music industry, and his loyal legion of fans who call themselves The McHobbits.
If you're not watching the NBC's The Voice, you are missing someone special, Sasha Allen. Triple threat talent Sasha is a singer, actress and classic...
She didn't make the finals, to the shock of the nation (and Rolling Stone as they declared "a star is born"). The point that jumped out at me after the first few minutes of talking to Amanda was the concept of a risk-taker. In this, I discovered a new take on "Americana."
On April 23, to celebrate the release of his fourth solo album, Willpower, will.i.am joined collaborators Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Nicole Scherzinger in a live Google+ Hangout on his illwilly YouTube channel.
Everything is a cycle and this is GMA's time. Wait, did Swedish House Mafia just break up???
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I applied to four colleges and so far have gotten into three, and now it's time for me to decide. I can't help but feel that this is what it feels like to be on "The Voice" and have to make the decision about which judge to go with.
Naturally, as with any season finale results show, "The Voice." filled up 120 minutes with plenty of musical acts until the results were revealed. We've decided to take a look at the performances that include coaches, finalists or other former Season 3 competitors .
The Voice" kicked off part one of the Season 3 finale with a touching tribute to the victims of the Newtown shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. While singing Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," everyone held a sign with the name and age of one of the victims.
Is there anyone out there who can take another season of Randy Jackson shouting "dawg" repeatedly? I'm not sure I can. American Idol is back next mont...
No one knows precisely what time the end is to occur -- my only hope is that the shock doesn't give me a heart attack and I miss the amazing once-in-a-lifetime feeling of being sucked into a black hole.


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If you're disappointed that summer is coming to an end and you have to say goodbye to vacations, trips to the outdoor pool, and cook-outs – here's how to beat those end-of-summer blues.
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Lululemon Athletica Inc. is lowering its fiscal fourth-quarter forecasts below analysts' estimates due to declining traffic and sales in January.
The yoga-inspired clothing company's stock dropped almost 8 percent in Monday premarket trading.
Lululemon now foresees quarterly earnings between 71 cents and 73 cents per share on revenue in a range of $513 million to $518 million. Its prior guidance was for earnings of 78 cents to 80 cents per share on revenue of $535 million to $540 million.
Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of 79 cents per share on revenue of $541.2 million for the period ending Feb. 2.
Lululemon also anticipates sales at stores open at least a year to decline by a low- to mid- single digit percentage rate. The company's previous outlook was for the metric to be flat on a constant-dollar basis.
This figure is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
Chief Financial Officer John Currie said in a statement that since the start of January Lululemon's sales and traffic slowed "meaningfully." He said the company was lowering its quarterly guidance based on the recent performance and the assumption that the slowdown would continue through the rest of the month.
Lululemon is trying to bounce back from a series of embarrassing issues. In the spring it pulled a line of its popular yoga pants from shelves after customers complained they were too sheer, which it blamed on production problems.
Then the Canadian company's founder, Chip Wilson, angered some people with his comments during a television interview that suggested larger women's bodies were to blame for some quality complaints. He said some women's bodies "just don't actually work" for the company's pants and said thigh rubbing over time would cause pants to wear out too quickly. Last month Lululemon said that Wilson would step down as chairman. It also named a new CEO, Laurent Potdevin, former head of Toms Shoes. He replaces the company's popular CEO Christine Day.
Lululemon is expected to report final fourth-quarter financial results on March 27.
Its stock fell $4.61, or 7.7 percent, to $54.99 in premarket trading.
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NEW YORK (AP) - The latest tales of horror from Stephen King can be found in cyberspace.
King on Monday offered up the first two installments of his new serial novel online, asking readers to pony up a buck for each copy they download from his Web site, www.stephenking.com. If the honor system works, the episodes will continue.
It could be a scary venture for publishers, who were eliminated from the process in this latest cyberspace venture.
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Simon & Schuster worked closely with King on his previous electronic publishing effort, a novella for hand-held devices that sold more than half a million copies in March.
The new novel, "The Plant," is about a creeping "vampire" plant that takes over a publishing company. But King says the only people he's interested in scaring are his readers.
"I love my editors, and I like my publisher," King says in a message on his Web site. "I love the smell of glue."
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"This ain't Napster," he said. "Take what you want . . . and pay for it."
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Benelux Stocks: Royal Reesink, Spector Photo, Spyker Cars, TNT
The Netherlands' AEX-Index dropped 0.45, or 0.1 percent, to 366.94 at the 5:30 p.m. close in Amsterdam, paring this week's loss to 0.7 percent. Belgium's Bel20 Index added 0.4 percent to 2,722.23 today.
The following were among the most active stocks in Benelux markets today. Symbols are in parentheses.
Dutch stocks:
Royal Reesink NV (ALRRE NA) surged 9.8 percent to 86 euros, the biggest increase since 2008. The Dutch importer of Kuhn SA farm equipment said profit rose to 5.9 million euros ($8.5 million) in 2010 from 2 million euros in 2009. The company predicted that it will generate the same operating profit in 2011 as in 2010.
Spyker Cars NV (SPYKR NA) gained 6 percent to 4.09 euros. The company's Saab Automobile unit, the cash-strapped Swedish carmaker whose production is at a standstill, is in talks with Sweden's National Debt Office about the possibility of releasing some collateral used to back a European Investment Bank loan to secure new credit, Dagens Industri reported today, without saying how it got the information.
TNT NV (TNT NA) slumped 13 percent to 16.01 euros, the lowest since July 2009. The Dutch mail carrier said its express division's profit fell in the first 12 weeks of the year because of the Arab revolts in the Middle East and north Africa and flooding in Australia.
Belgian stocks:
Spector Photo Group NV (SPEC BB) surged 7.9 percent to 82 euro cents, extending the previous day's 7 percent rally. The photography company that owns the Photo Hall stores said its imaging unit obtained a 14.8 million-euro credit facility for five years from NIBC Bank NV.


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Britannica Web sites
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Bob Pettit - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
(born 1932), U.S. basketball player. A graceful athlete, 6 feet, 9 inches (2.1 meters) tall, Bob Pettit was considered the first truly agile forward of extraordinary height in professional basketball. Twice the league scoring champion, he was the first player to score 20,000 points in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in Baton Rouge, La., he attended Louisiana State University before playing 11 NBA seasons with the St. Louis Hawks. In 792 NBA regular-season games, Pettit scored 20,880 points and collected 12,849 rebounds. In 1961 he set a single-game record by scoring 19 free throws without missing.


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|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Sep 22, 1998
|Filing date
|Jan 15, 1997
|Priority date
|Jul 8, 1992
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Keith A. Nelson, John A. Rogers, Matthew J. Banet, John Hanselman, Martin Fuchs
|Original Assignee
|Active Impulse Systems, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (45), Classifications (21), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/680,002, filed Jul. 15, 1996, now abandoned. This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/350,378, entitled "Measurement of Material Properties with Optically Induced Phonons", filed Dec. 5, 1994 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,711. This application also is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/910,762, now abandoned having the same name and filed Feb. 2, 1992. These applications are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to methods for determining the thickness of both opaque or transparent samples (e.g., thin films).
Thin films of dielectric (e.g., polymer, oxide) and conducting (e.g., metal) materials are used in a range of microelectronic, optical, and biomedical devices. A microprocessor, for example, contains multiple layers of metal, semiconducting, and oxide thin films. Thickness variations in these films can modify the films' electrical and mechanical properties, thereby affecting the performance of the microprocessor. Accordingly, film thickness is often monitored as a quality-control parameter during and/or after the microprocessor's fabrication.
Well-known techniques, such as optical ellipsometry and interferometry, measure the thicknesses of transparent films. Measuring the thicknesses of opaque films (e.g., metal films) is a more difficult problem. Current methods for measuring metal film thickness include electrical tests and x-ray spectroscopy. In the electrical test (commonly called a sheet-resistance test), a pair of conducting probes contact the film; electrical resistance, as measured by the probes, is proportional to the film's thickness. Sheet-resistance tests require contacting the film, making such tests undesirable for measuring actual devices during the fabrication process. X-ray-based techniques measure the thickness of metal films by inducing, measuring, and analyzing x-ray fluorescence. This method is both non-contact and non-destructive, but requires large, unwieldy instruments that generate hazardous x-ray radiation.
In general, in one aspect, the invention provides a method for determining the thickness of both transparent or opaque samples (e.g., thin films within a microelectronic circuit). The method includes the step of exciting time-dependent "acoustic waveguide modes" in the sample using an excitation radiation field. The radiation field includes a spatially and temporarily varying optical interference pattern containing alternating "bright" and "dark" regions defined by a wavevector (described in detail below). Absorption of light in the bright regions launches acoustic waveguide modes that induce a ripple morphology on the sample's surface. The waveguide modes are measured by diffracting a portion of the probe radiation off the ripple morphology. The diffracted probe radiation is then detected and analyzed to yield the frequency of the acoustic waveguide modes. This property, in turn, is related to the sample's thickness.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for determining the thickness of a thin sample by exciting and detecting time-dependent acoustic waveguide modes in the sample. Here, to increase the accuracy of the measurement, the wavevector of the acoustic waveguides modes is chosen to optimize (e.g., maximize or nearly maximize) the dependence of the frequency on the thickness of the sample. The thickness of the sample is then determined from the frequency.
Several techniques are used to analyze the acoustic waveguide modes to determine the sample's thickness. For example, the acoustic frequencies can be compared to a database that correlates frequency to sample thickness. This type of database is generated by measuring and recording the acoustic frequencies from standards that include films having known thicknesses.
Alternatively, the sample's thickness is determined by comparing the acoustic properties to a mathematical model. The model describes the stiffness (i.e., elastic moduli) and thickness of each layer in a multi-layer film/substrate structure, and can be used to analyze single or multiple-frequency measurements. For the multiple-frequency measurements, the exciting, detecting, and analyzing steps are repeated to generate a "dispersion" containing multiple frequencies, each corresponding to a different wavevector. The determining step of the method is an iterative fitting procedure that includes: i) proposing initial components of a stiffness tensor and an initial thickness of the sample; ii) calculating an initial dispersion based on the proposed initial components of the stiffness tensor and the initial thickness; iii) comparing the calculated dispersion to the measured dispersion; iv) repeating the proposing, calculating, and comparing steps until the calculated dispersion matches the measured dispersion to a desired degree; and, v) determining the thickness of the sample from the calculated dispersion. If the components of the stiffness tensor are known, only the thickness needs to be varied during the fitting procedure. Using the above-mentioned determining step, a single frequency can be compared to a model of a single or multi-layer film/substrate structure to calculate film thickness.
Any property that can be calculated from the frequency can be used in place of frequency during the steps described above. For example, a phase velocity (i.e., the frequency divided by the excitation wavevector) can be used in the calculations.
Samples having a range of thicknesses and compositions can be measured with the method of the invention. The sample can be, for example, thin films of metals, polymers, semiconductors, or oxides having thicknesses ranging from 100 angstroms to 20 microns. The product of the wavevector of the excitation field and the thickness of the sample is typically between about 0.1-10. The sample can be included in a device as an "outer" layer (i.e., having an exposed planar surface) or "underlying" layer (i.e., having no exposed planar surfaces) in a film/substrate structure.
The method of the invention is carried out using a film-measuring instrument that includes excitation and probe lasers for generating, respectively, a pulse of excitation radiation (at a wavelength that is strongly absorbed by the sample) and probe radiation (at a wavelength that is not substantially absorbed by the sample). Each pulse of the excitation radiation is typically focused as an elliptical spot having a major axis along the direction of the wavevector; optical interference between these spots generates the spatially and temporally varying excitation field. The probe radiation spot is typically round and covers an area which is about an order of magnitude smaller than the excitation field spot size. Each excitation pulse typically has a duration less than 1 nanosecond, while the probe radiation is typically cw radiation or a pulse having a duration longer than a lifetime of the acoustic waveguide mode (e.g., greater than about 500 nanoseconds).
The film-measuring instrument includes an optical system oriented to receive the pulse of radiation from the excitation laser, and then separate the pulse into at least two optical pulses. The system delivers the pulses to the sample so that they interfere and form the optical interference pattern within or on top of the sample. This launches the acoustic waveguide modes which, in turn, generate the ripple morphology on the sample's surface. The probe radiation is oriented to diffract off of the ripple morphology to form a diffraction signal which is then monitored with an optical detector (e.g., a fast photodiode having a response time faster than 1 nsec). In this way, a light-induced signal indicating the frequency or phase velocity of the acoustic waveguide mode is generated and analyzed to determine a thickness of the thin sample.
The excitation laser is a typically a Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, or nitrogen laser. The probe laser is typically a cw laser, such as a gated diode laser.
The invention has many advantages. For example, the film-measuring instrument can be a stand-alone unit, or can be attached directly to a film-formation tool (e.g., a chemical-vapor deposition tool, a plasma-vapor deposition tool, a cluster tool, or a vacuum chamber) or a film-processing tool (e.g., a chemical-mechanical polisher). In this embodiment, the film-formation tool includes an optical port (e.g., a glass window) that is transparent to the excitation and probe radiation. Thus, during operation, the film-measuring instrument is oriented so that the excitation and probe radiation, and the diffraction signal, pass through the optical port. In this mode of operation, the instrument remotely measures films undergoing processing at both high and low temperatures. The instrument also functions in-line during semiconductor wafer processing to determine the exact thicknesses of metal, oxide, polymer, and semiconductor films, or to determine if thicknesses of these films are out of specification. In one embodiment, for example, the film-measuring instrument alerts a process controller when unacceptable films are being fabricated, and sends signals that correct fabrication parameters (e.g., temperature). This process can be repeated iteratively until films having the desired thickness are formed. Because film-formation processes are directly and non-invasively monitored, the instrument increases device yields, removes defective product from the fabrication process, and, in general, facilitates production of high-quality films.
The film thickness-measuring instrument collects practically noise-free data in a real-time, non-destructive, and non-contact manner. Data from a single measurement point (having an area of between 10 and 100 microns) are typically collected in less than one second and used to determine a film's thickness to within tens of angstroms. For typical film thicknesses (e.g., 1 micron) this corresponds to a fraction of a percent of the film's true value. The instrument is also compact, occupying a footprint of about 2 square feet.
Other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention follow from the following detailed description, and from the claims.
FIG. 1A is a schematic drawing showing the optical beam configuration of the film-thickness instrument according to the invention;
FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing a series of electrical components for measuring the signal generated by the instrument of FIG. 1A;
FIG. 2 is a plot of a time-dependent diffracted signal measured with the instrument of FIG. 1A;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for calculating film thickness according to the invention;
FIG. 4 is a grid-distortion diagram of the three lowest waveguide modes (modes 0-2) in a typical thin film;
FIGS. 5A-5C are plots of the time-dependent diffracted signals measured in, respectively, a 4-micron fluorinated polymer film, a 5-micron fluorinated polymer film, and both the 4 and 5-micron polymer films;
FIG. 6 is a plot of the Fourier transforms of the data of FIG. 5A-5C;
FIGS. 7A-7C are plots of dispersion curves measured from a 127-nm hafnium film on silicon dioxide and silicon fitted using, respectively, the "best fit" thickness, a thickness 10% larger than the "best fit" thickness, and a thickness 10% smaller than the "best fit" thickness;
FIG. 8 is a plot of the calculated change in phase velocities of gold, aluminum, hafnium, nickel, and tungsten films as a function of the wavevector-thickness product when the film thickness is changed by 0.5%;
FIG. 9 is a schematic drawing of the optical components of a small-scale, compact film-measuring instrument;
FIG. 10 is a top schematic view of a film-measuring instrument attached to a film-processing tool; and
FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a method for calculating film thickness according to an alternate embodiment of the invention.
In FIGS. 1A and 1B, a thickness of a thin film 10 on a substrate 12 is measured by irradiating the film 10 with two excitation pulses 16, 16' and a probe pulse 18. The excitation pulses 16, 16' are short in duration (e.g., less than 1 nanosecond), are of the same wavelength, and are separated by an angle θ; the probe pulse is relatively long (e.g., several hundred microseconds). In this conventional four-wave mixing geometry, the excitation pulses are overlapped in time and space so that they interfere to form a spatially and temporally varying excitation radiation field 14 in or on the surface of the film 10. The field 14 is composed of a series of periodic, sinusoidal "bright" 14a (i.e., constructive interference) and "dark" 14b (destructive interference) regions. The direction of the field is defined by a wavevector that is inversely proportional to the spatial distance between consecutive bright (or dark) regions. The magnitude (q) of the wavevector is determined by the angle θ between the excitation pulses and the wavelength λl of each pulse using the equation q=4πsin(θ/2)(λl)1 =2π/Λ, where Λ is the grating wavelength.
The excitation radiation field 14 excites acoustic waveguide modes in the film 10 that have a wavelength and orientation corresponding to the excitation wavevector. Excitation of the waveguide modes occurs via Impulsive Stimulated Thermal Scattering ("ISTS"), a technique that relies upon the bright regions of the excitation radiation field 14 being absorbed by the film. Heat is deposited in the film during the short duration of the pulse, causing the heated regions of the film to thermally expand. This launches coherent, counter-propagating acoustic waveguide modes having a velocity that is proportional to the mode's frequency divided by the excitation wavevector. The waveguide modes induce a morphology in the film that generates a time-dependent "ripple" on the film's surface. The frequency of the ripple oscillations depends on the thickness of the film.
The probe pulse 18 has a duration that is longer than the lifetime of the acoustic waveguide mode. During operation, the probe pulse 18 irradiates the ripple induced on the surface of the film and diffracts to form at least two signal beams 20, 20'. The ripple modulates each signal beam according to the time dependence of the acoustic waveguide modes. One of these beams is detected using a high-bandwidth photodetector 22 to generate a light-induced signal 24 that is digitized with a high-bandwidth analog-to-digital converter 26 to produce a digitized waveform signal 28 (shown, for example, in FIG. 2). The signal 28 is then sent to a computer 32 and analyzed with the wavevector of the excitation radiation field. The frequency of the waveform signal 28 is determined using standard computer algorithms, such as a fast Fourier transform algorithm. Both the frequency and wavevector are then processed by the computer to determine the film's thickness as described below.
Determination of Film Thickness
As indicated by FIG. 2, the digitized waveform signal 28 oscillates at the frequency of the detected acoustic waveguide mode. These oscillations undergo a time-dependent decrease in intensity due to damping (i.e., viscosity-related losses) in the film. At longer times (not shown in the figure) the signal includes a component that decays exponentially due to diffusion of heat in the film. The thickness of the film is determined by analyzing one or more acoustic waveguide mode frequencies.
The film's thickness is proportional to the frequency of the waveguide mode: as the film becomes thinner, its acoustic response is affected by both the underlying substrate and film layers. For example, an aluminum film supported by a relatively stiff silicon substrate will support a relatively high acoustic frequency compared to a free-standing aluminum film. Similarly, the effective stiffness of the supported film is increased as the thickness is decreased. The frequency of the acoustic waveguide mode increases with the stiffness of the film. Conversely, a thicker aluminum film takes on less of silicon's acoustic properties, and thus supports relatively low-frequency acoustic waveguide modes.
The thickness of each layer in the sample is determined explicitly from a single-frequency measurement or by measuring acoustic waveguide mode frequencies at a number of different wavevectors (i.e., a dispersion). Either the single frequency or dispersion is then calculated using a mathematical model that describes a multi-layer film/substrate structure with a (4n�2)�(4n�2) determinant (where n is the number of film layers) and an iterative fitting procedure (e.g., a non-linear least squares fitting algorithm, such as a Marquardt-Levenburg algorithm). The determinant is defined by imposing the appropriate boundary conditions at the film/air and film/substrate interfaces. Each layer described by the determinant is characterized by a thickness and a stiffness tensor component.
Referring to FIG. 3, film thickness is determined from the dispersion by proposing initial values for both the stiffness tensor components and the film thicknesses (step 50). In most cases, the stiffness tensor components are known and are therefore fixed during the fitting procedure. The acoustic response of each film is then calculated from the proposed values (step 52) and compared to the measured data (step 54). The thickness and stiffness values can be updated using the iterative fitting routine (step 56). The final values of the thicknesses and stiffness tensor components are found when the calculated acoustic response matches the measured data to a desired degree (step 58).
The mathematical model used in the iterative fitting routine is derived from the acoustic field equations as described, for example, in M. Grimsditch et. al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58:1216 (1987). The general differential equation for the model is: ##EQU1## where ρ is the density, ui is the displacement in dimension i, and c is a stiffness tensor containing elements cijkl.
In this analysis, the coordinate system is defined such that the wavevector points in the z direction (direction index 3, shown in FIG. 1A as being in the plane of the film). Next, the x and z dimensions (directions 1 and 3, respectively) are assumed to extend infinitely. These assumptions are valid experimentally. The excitation pulses are cylindrically focused to produce an elliptical spot such that the major axis of the focus is much longer than the fringe spacing. In this way, the motions in the z direction are assumed to be purely sinusoidal. Moreover, the probe radiation spot size is small compared to that of the excitation radiation. The derivatives along x can thus be ignored. Finally, the tensor elements cijkl are not independent from one another because of the physical constraints of the film/substrate system. These elements can therefore be written in reduced form as cij. With these simplifications, the equations of motion can be written as: ##EQU2## where the c's are elements of the stiffness tensor. This expression can be written in tensor matrix form: ##EQU3## The above equations are manipulated by taking a Laplace transform along t, a Fourier transform along z, and postulating solutions to uy and uz of the form, respectively, ˜exp(iqby) and ˜exp(iqbz), where b is unknown and of the same value for both solutions, and q is the wavevector described above. The resulting equations are used to form a (4n�2)�(4n�2) determinant, where n is the number of film layers. A bisection interval search is performed for the value of b that causes the determinant to equal zero. The process is repeated iteratively by adjusting the thickness of each layer (and any non-fixed stiffness tensor components) using the non-linear least squares fitting algorithm. The resulting set of tensor elements and thickness are compared to the data to determine the quality of the fit.
Acousto-Optical Response of Thin Films
FIG. 4 illustrates the thickness-dependent material displacements induced in a supported thin film by the film-measuring instrument described above. The three grid-distortion diagrams in the figure show the displacements and velocities associated with the lowest-order waveguide modes (modes 0-2). More than one of these modes can be excited simultaneously with a single excitation field. As shown by the spatially varying grid pattern, the acoustic waveguide modes in the film result in surface ripple having different spatial characteristics. When irradiated with the probe pulse, the ripple diffracts radiation to generate the signal beams (20 and 20' in FIG. 1A). These beams are then detected and analyzed to determine the properties of the film.
FIGS. 5A-5C indicate generally how the time-dependent response of the lowest-order acoustic waveguide mode (mode 0 of FIG. 3) of a thin film varies as a function of film thickness. The film-measurement instrument described above was used to excite the lowest-order acoustic waveguide modes in thin films composed of a fluorinated polymer sample. The signals shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B were measured from films having thicknesses of, respectively, 4.0 and 5.0 microns (as measured with a stylus profilometer). Although the data shown in these figures appear to be similar, closer inspection (FIG. 5C) indicates that the frequencies measured from the two films are, in fact, significantly different. FIG. 6 shows the Fourier transforms of the time-dependent data shown in the plots of FIGS. 5A and 5B. As is clear from these frequency-domain data, the 4-micron film supports a frequency of about 28 MHz, whereas the 5-micron film supports a frequency of about 32 MHz.
FIGS. 7A-7C show the dispersion (i.e., phase velocity plotted as a function of excitation wavevector for the four lowest-order acoustic modes) and corresponding fits for a 127-nm hafnium film deposited on a silicon oxide layer on a silicon substrate. The squares in the figures indicate data points measured using the film-measuring instrument; the solid lines are the fits to the data generated using the mathematical model described above. The data indicate the sensitivity of the fits to film thickness. Compared to the "best fit" thickness (FIG. 7A), a thickness that is increased or decreased by 10% yields computed results lying, respectively, above (FIG. 7B) or below (FIG. 7C) the experimentally determined data. Closer analysis of the experimental data and the corresponding fits indicates that a thickness value that differs from the "best fit" value by only a few percent clearly falls outside the data.
FIG. 8 indicates how the frequencies of the lowest-order acoustic waveguide mode vary with film thickness. To calculate the curves shown in the figure, the thicknesses of a number of different metal films deposited on silicon were changed (using a computer simulation) from their base values by 0.5%. The phase velocity for each metal film was then calculated according to the mathematical model similar to the one described above. As is clear from the data, the phase velocity supported by each metal film is most sensitive to the thickness change at different wavevector-thickness products. For example, the phase velocity of gold is most sensitive to the thickness change at a wavevector-thickness product of about 1.5. At this value, a change in thickness results in a relatively large (and thus relatively easy-to-measure) change in phase velocity. The corresponding values for aluminum, hafnium, nickel, and tungsten are, respectively, about 2.0, 0.75, 0.6, and 0.5.
As is clear from FIG. 8, it is desirable to choose an excitation wavevector so that the wavevector-thickness product of the film maximizes the dependence of the film's phase velocity on thickness. When this condition is met, small changes in the film's thickness will result in relatively large changes in the measured phase velocity. Using this technique, the accuracy of the film-thickness measurement is easily maximized.
Optical System
The excitation light source used in the film-measuring instrument is typically a pulsed Nd:YAG laser that is Q-switched, mode-locked, or both. A particularly desirable excitation light source is a microchip laser, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,413. The pulse duration of the excitation radiation field must be short enough to impulsively stimulate material motions in the film via ISTS, and is typically between 50 picoseconds (ps) and 5 nanoseconds (ns). The output pulse typically has an energy of between 0.1 and 40 millijoules, and a wavelength of 1064 nm. The second (i.e., 532 nm), third (i.e., 355 nm), or even higher harmonics of this laser can also be generated and used to excite the sample. These lower wavelengths may be used if the film's optical properties (i.e., reflectivity or absorbtivity) at 1064 nm are not adequate to excite the acoustic modes.
The excitation pulses should have a wavelength at which greater than 20% of the light is absorbed by the film. In typical applications, the excitation radiation field is completely absorbed in the first 10-20 nm of the film to effectively excite the lowest-order mode. Too little absorption (i.e., too much reflection or transmission) may result in insufficient excitation of the acoustic waveguide modes. The wavevector of the excitation radiation field is such that the wavevector-thickness product is typically in the range of 0.1-10.0.
The probe radiation is typically derived from a single-mode diode laser producing between 0.1 and 1 Watt in the visible or infrared frequency range. The probe radiation typically has a wavelength that is not absorbed by the film. In order to measure the entire time dependence of the acoustic and thermal responses induced in the sample (which, e.g., may take place over several hundreds of microseconds), a well-defined probe waveform is generated by electro-optically modulating the cw probe radiation with a light modulator that controls both the duration and shape of the probe waveform. For example, a square probe pulse can be generated that has a time duration which is slightly longer than the time-dependent excited motions in the film (e.g., between 1 and 20 microseconds). The probe pulse may also be a Q-switched laser pulse having a long duration relative to the sample's acoustic response. Both the cw and Q-switched probe pulses are advantageous, as they can be used to measure the entire acoustic response with a single laser shot (i.e., real-time data acquisition), and therefore obviate the need for optical delay lines. This dramatically reduces both the time required for measuring data and the size of the film-measuring instrument.
The probe radiation is typically focussed to a spot size that is smaller than the spot size of the excitation radiation field. In particular, the excitation pulses are typically cylindrically focused to produce an excitation radiation field having an elliptical shape, with the major axis of the ellipse along the direction of the wavevector and being much larger than the fringe spacing of the excitation radiation field.
In addition, the repetition rate of the pulses must be high enough to allow suitable data averaging (when necessary), but low enough to allow the film's temperature to return to ambient temperature between laser shots. The repetition rate is typically between 1 and 2000 Hz, with the rate being adjusted for measurement of different types of films. For films that easily damage, it is desirable to reduce the repetition rate of the excitation laser. This decreases heat-related effects which can potentially damage thin, fragile films.
Once detected, the light-induced waveform signal typically has a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 100:1. The signal-to-noise ratio can be further enhanced by signal averaging at a rate which is limited only by the repetition rate of the laser (typically around 1 kHz) or the speed of the recording electronics (typically on the order of a millisecond). Signal averaging can improve the signal-to-noise ratio to greater than 500:1; data-collection times for averaged signals are still in the range of several seconds.
Any optical system can be used to direct the excitation and probe pulses onto the sample. One such system, for example, is described in U.S. Ser. No. 08/377,310, Rogers et al., entitled "Simplified Device and Method for Time-resolved Optical Measurements", filed Jan. 24, 1995, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The optical system described in this reference includes a `phase mask` that diffracts a single, incident excitation beam into two spatially diverging beams; the angle of divergence is determined by a diffracting pattern on the phase mask. Using a lens, the diverging beams are recombined and imaged onto a sample's surface, where they interfere to form an excitation pattern having a well-defined wavevector. Excitation patterns having different wavevectors are formed simply by translating the phase mask to move different diffracting patterns into the excitation beam's path.
The optical system containing the phase mask has a number of advantages. In particular, the phase mask reduces the number of optical components (e.g., lenses, beamsplitters, and mirrors) required to deliver the excitation beams to the sample. This, in turn, reduces the size of the optical system. Moreover, the phase mask is the only moving part in the optical system, and can be easily translated using conventional, computer-controlled automation systems. This means that the optical system can be completely automated and can operate for long periods of time without requiring user intervention.
The Apparatus
The optical and electrical components of the film-measuring instrument can be disposed in a number of different configurations. FIG. 9 shows one such instrument 100 containing a microchip excitation laser 101 (such as the Nd:YAG microchip laser described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,413), high-power, cw-diode probe laser 102, and phase mask 104. In this particular configuration, the sizes of both the excitation and probe lasers are dramatically reduced. Moreover, the use of cw, real-time detection and the phase mask minimizes the required number of optical components. Taken in combination, these features significantly decrease the instrument's `footprint`, resulting in a compact, portable, small-scale spectrometer for measuring samples using the four-wave mixing technique. The instrument 100 shown in FIG. 9, for example, has a footprint of about 1 square foot, whereas conventional, large-scale four-wave mixing spectrometers typically have a footprint of about 20 square feet.
During operation, the microchip excitation laser 101 generates a single excitation beam 105 that is focused onto the phase mask 104 using a cylindrical lens 106. A diffraction pattern on the phase mask 104 splits the incident beam 105 into two components 105a, 105b which are then imaged onto a sample 110 using an imaging lens 112. This forms an excitation radiation pattern which, in turn, excites acoustic waveguide modes on the sample's surface. The entire duration of the waveguide modes is measured by irradiating the waveguide modes with a cw beam 116 from the diode probe laser 102. The cw beam 116 is directed onto the sample using a first mirror 118 and first focusing lens 120, and is diffracted to form a signal beam 116a. The signal beam 116a is then directed onto a photodetector 124 using a second mirror 126 and focussing lens 128. The photodetector 124 must have a high bandwidth (e.g., 1 GHz) to time resolve the individual features of the signal beam and collect data in real time.
Because of its small footprint and ability to collect data in real-time, the film-measuring instrument shown in FIG. 9 can be attached directly to a film-formation tool (e.g., a chemical-vapor deposition tool, a plasma-vapor deposition tool, a cluster tool, or a vacuum chamber) or a film/substrate processing tool (e.g., a chemical-mechanical polisher) and used as a process monitor. Referring to FIG. 10, a film-formation tool 130 includes a central housing 140 containing an optical port 131 and multiple film-processing chambers 141 and 142 (e.g. metal deposition and etch chambers). During operation, a film-containing device 143 (e.g. processed wafer) is robotically transferred under vacuum from the film-processing chamber 142 to the central housing 140. The optical port 131 is transparent to both the excitation and probe radiation. The film-measuring instrument 133 is attached to the film-formation tool 131 above the optical part 131, and is positoined so that during operation the excitation and probe radiation, and the resulting diffraction signal, pass through the optical port 131. In this way, the instrument 133 remotely measures films being processed by the film-formation tool 130. The film-measuring instrument 133 can generate a signal indicating the quality of the film. This signal can then be sent to the film-processing chamber 142 or to the operator so that appropriate adjustments can be made to the process. The instrument can therefore be used in-line during semiconductor wafer processing to determine the thicknesses of metal, oxide, polymer, and semiconductor films. The instrument can also be used as a simple quality-control device for determining whether or not a film is within a manufacturer's specifications.
Other Embodiments
Other embodiments are within the scope of the invention. Referring to FIG. 11, the thickness-measuring instrument can be calibrated so that a single acoustic frequency is converted into a film thickness without having to compare the measured data to a mathematical model (step 150). The instrument is calibrated, for example, by measuring the frequency of waveguide modes from standard samples where the thicknesses and compositions of the top and underlying layers are known. A database is then generated by systematically varying the thickness of the film in the standard, measuring (or calculating) an acoustic waveguide mode frequency, and then storing each thickness and the correlated frequency in the database (step 152). During a measurement of a sample of known composition but unknown thickness, the acoustic frequency is measured (step 154) and compared to the database (step 156) to determine the film's thickness.
This same type of calibration-based measurement determines the thicknesses of underlying film layers. For example, the film-measuring instrument can be calibrated against multi-layer standards containing layers with known thicknesses and compositions. As before, a database is generated by systematically varying the thickness of each layer in the standard, measuring (or calculating) an acoustic waveguide mode frequency, and then correlating each thickness of each underlying layer to the frequency of the acoustic waveguide mode. During an actual measurement, an acoustic waveguide mode frequency is measured from a multi-layer sample and compared to a database generated using the appropriate standard to determine the thicknesses of the sample's underlying layers.
Acoustic waveguide modes in transparent films can be excited via mechanisms other than ISTS, such as by Impulsive Stimulated Brillion Scattering (ISBS). ISBS is described in more detail in Y. X. Yan, J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 87, p. 6240-6257 (1987).
Light sources other than Nd:YAG lasers may be used to optically excite the film. Suitable lasers include, among others, Nd:YLF, nitrogen, ion (e.g., argon and krypton), Ti:Sapphire, diode, CO2, holmium, excimer, dye, and metal-vapor lasers. Typically, these lasers are electro-optically or acousto-optically modulated (using, e.g., mode-locking and Q-switching devices known in the art) to produce suitable energies (i.e., between 0.1 and 100 microjoules/pulse) and pulse durations (i.e., less than about 1 ns).
Similarly, light sources other than diode lasers may be used as the probe laser. Alternative lasers include ion, quantum-well, and Nd:YAG lasers. Alternatively, a pulsed laser producing a pulse duration greater than about 500 ns may be used as the probe laser. Pulsed light sources which may be used to generate the probe pulse include Q-switched Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Ti:Sapphire, diode, CO2, holmium, excimer, diode, dye, and metal-vapor lasers.
Still other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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|International Technologies (Lasers) Ltd.
|Personal identification verification and controlled substance detection and identification system
|Feb 12, 2004
|Feb 10, 2005
|Kazuya Fukuhara
|Inspection method, processor and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device
|Jun 2, 2005
|Apr 13, 2006
|International Technologies (Lasers) Ltd.
|Personal identification verification and controlled substance detection and identification system
|May 13, 2005
|Nov 16, 2006
|Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
|Combined ultra-fast x-ray and optical system for thin film measurements
|Mar 6, 2006
|Apr 19, 2007
|Laser Detect Systems Ltd.
|Controlled substance detection and identification system
|Apr 12, 2004
|May 17, 2007
|Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
|Method for measuring thin films
|Jun 23, 2004
|May 29, 2008
|Advanced Metrology Systems Llc
|Method of Measuring Sub-Micron Trench Structures
|Jul 28, 2008
|Nov 20, 2008
|Hughes Michael K
|System and method for measurement of thickness of thin films
|Nov 30, 2004
|Aug 8, 2007
|Method for measuring random variance of film thickness of equal periodic multi layer film by using diffractometer
|Jul 19, 2000
|Feb 8, 2001
|Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
|Improved optical method for measuring thin metal films
|Jul 19, 2000
|Aug 9, 2001
|Koninkl Philips Electronics Nv
|Improved optical method for measuring thin metal films
|Jul 17, 2000
|Feb 8, 2001
|Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
|Method and device for simultaneously measuring multiple properties of multilayer films
|Jul 17, 2000
|Aug 9, 2001
|Koninkl Philips Electronics Nv
|Method and device for simultaneously measuring multiple properties of multilayer films
|Nov 25, 2002
|Jun 5, 2003
|Lockheed Martin Corporation
|Method to characterize material using mathematical propagation models and ultrasonic signal
|Nov 25, 2002
|Nov 13, 2003
|Lockheed Corp
|Method to characterize material using mathematical propagation models and ultrasonic signal
|Apr 12, 2004
|Oct 28, 2004
|Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
|Method for measuring thin films
|May 10, 2006
|Nov 23, 2006
|Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
|Combined ultra-fast x-ray and optical system for thin film measurements
|U.S. Classification
|356/318, 356/600, 356/601
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Apr 13, 1998
Owner name: ACTIVE IMPULSE SYSTEMS, INC., MASSACHUSETTS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:NELSON, KEITH A.;ROGERS, JOHN A.;BANET, MATTHEW J.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:009111/0948;SIGNING DATES FROM 19980402 TO 19980406
|Feb 26, 2002
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Feb 28, 2006
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8
|Oct 30, 2006
Owner name: ADVANCED METROLOGY SYSTEMS LLC, MASSACHUSETTS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:PHILIPS ADVANCED METROLOGY SYSTEMS, INC.;REEL/FRAME:018442/0989
Effective date: 20061005
|Mar 19, 2010
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 12


text:
Form Timeline
Click here to view Form Timeline for runners
Sat, 22nd Dec, 2012
View Using Active Card View all races on one page
Formscan By Thomas Weekes - Very little between the four here with preference for Patrick Mullins' (crucially seeking his 73rd win of the year) mount TOUCH THE EDEN. The form of his Thurles win is undoubtably ordinary but the manner of his win combined with heavy market support then suggests he may be a smart type. Ted Veale is a useful type, possesses a high rating, and has a good recent run to his name. He should figure prominently. Four year old Sizing Jo'burg won an ordinary maiden latest but has a similarly high mark and while stepping up in grade here, has obvious chances. Art Of Logistics, without a run for 50 days, is a horse with a sound future and gave away weight to win his maiden at Down Royal. If progressing, despite his minor layoff, he could be thereabouts.
Show Cards Help
A novice hurdle race for four and five yrs old only that have not won more than one hurdle race
Weights - A novice hurdle race for four and five yrs old only that have not won more than one hurdle race
Allowances - 4-y-o 11st; 5-y-o 11st 3lb; Mares allowed 7lb
Riders - Winner of a hurdle race 7lb extra;
Probable SP 5/4 Touch The Eden, 5/2 Ted Veale, 3/1 Sizing Jo'burg, 6/1 Art Of Logistics.
Previous Years
2011 Lyreen Legend 4 11-7 B J Cooper 11/4 (D T Hughes)
2010 Abandoned


text:
The Accredited Air Cargo Agent (AACA) Scheme
The AACA Scheme strengthens the supply chain industry by enhancing security arrangements and procedures for the road transportation of cargo. The AACA Scheme extends the existing Regulated Air Cargo Agent (RACA) Scheme to cover smaller operators with less complex business operations, such as courier companies. Both schemes apply to cargo to be carried on an aircraft from anywhere in Australia.
Accredited Air Cargo Agents are responsible for:
- complying with an AACA Security Program provided by the Department;
- providing a statement of undertaking giving effect to specific obligations imposed under the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004;
- security checking, and protecting the security of all cargo from receipt until it leaves their possession; and
- providing their employees with security awareness training.
How can I see who is an AACA or a RACA?
The Department publishes an AACA List and a RACA List.
How do I know if I am an AACA or a RACA?
Your business details should appear on the AACA List or RACA List.


text:
Has anyone tried Sunny Baby diapers? A girlfriend who has cd'd her two kiddos loves them, but I wanted to see if anyone else can recommend them as well. I had never heard of them before tonight. They are made by a sahm in Hong Kong, and my friend bought them directly from her. They seem like a Fuzzi Bunz knock-off. Anyone? Thanks!
Also, if I order, is it worth it to get an extra set of liners?
Here is the link to them:


text:
Social Tunes
By Bitformed Ltd
Open iTunes to buy and download apps.
Social Tunes is music meta data aggregator. Select a track on your iPad and Social Tunes will grab local gigs, similar artists and spotify links for you.
If you find something you like you can share it on one of several social networks including Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.
This is just the start - we want to add:
* Flickr lookup
* Wikipedia lookup
* More last.fm integration
* And more...
If you have any ideas or suggestions please let us know!
Reviews, good or bad, are welcome but if you have a specific problem please get in touch and we will be able to help.
Social Tunes was supported and funded by NFM and OneNorthEast. All music shown was provided by No-Fi.org
iPad Screenshots
- Free
- Category: Music
- Released: Mar 02, 2011
- Version: 1.0
- Size: 0.7 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Bitformed Ltd
- © 2011 Bitformed Ltd
Compatibility: Requires iOS 4.2 or later. Compatible with iPad.


text:
The first instance of "the shift" -- piling two-thirds of your defense on one side of the field to disrupt a pull hitter -- happened in 1946 when, in the second game of a double-header, Cleveland manager Lou Boudreau stacked six players on the right side of the infield when Ted Williams came to the plate. He did this because the splinter had cranked three home runs against his Indians in Game one. Fair enough.
The concept caught on, and Williams' numbers, though remaining gaudy, took a small hit the rest of his career. And people noticed; an old Ty Cobb once said, "The way those clubs shift against (him), I can't understand how he can be so stupid not to accept the challenge to him and hit to left field." But Williams had an excuse -- "By the time you know what to do, you're too old to do it!" he once said -- and only occasionally sought relief on the 5-6-7 side.
Today, only a handful of players routinely face the shift. David Ortiz, Jason Giambi, Jim Thome, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Carlos Delgado are the main culprits and, frankly, they all could qualify as multi-year pension holders in the old-dog-new-tricks club. But perhaps with the advent of the prominent pee cup, a younger generation has learned to go the other way to keep the average up, since dreams of 60 home runs are no longer in play.
Just look at this list of "oppo" hitters so far in 2009:
Robinson Cano might have been tempted, as any other lefty would, to pull the ball at Yankee Stadium, but he's off to the best hitting start of his still young career, because he's learned how to go the other way. That his K/BB ratio (11/7) is better than it has been in previous years is a sign he's taking pitchers the other way when they try to keep him from pulling inside stuff to the short porch.
Nick Johnson is hitting .330, even amid a blunted Washington lineup. His previous career high average is .290.
Orlando Hudson, a career .284 hitter, is currently spraying the ball the other way to a .342 average as of Friday morning.
Nick Markakis has seen steady improvement in his career, but his ability to take the ball to left and improve his K/BB ratio (14/16) has him also off to by far the best run of his young career. He sits at .355 and hasn't sacrificed power.
Even steady old Raul Ibanez is benefiting from attacking the other side of the field. He's a career .287 hitter, and we know it's a small sample set for a guy with a solid track record, but again, the man is hovering at .347 on the season.
Essentially, this list doubles as a list of guys off to, if not their best starts, easily some of the best stretches of their career. The contrarian can point out sample sets and claim that the list is also indicative of a bunch of guys hitting the most shanked drives that hit trees and landed in the fairway, but we know better. Whether it was Mr. Cobb himself, Rod Carew, Julio Franco, Ichiro or any other great opposite field connoisseur, the results often speak for themselves.
And just look at the list of players who led the majors in opposite field hits last year. At that point, on a more aggregate scale, the numbers again don't look like an accident. Consider that the two lowest averages on that list belong to Miguel Tejada (.283) and Michael Young (.284). One is a former MVP who often had to be a power source in a middling Houston lineup, the other has a batting title to his name.
The rest are a mix of over-achievers who know that to use the whole field is to maximize not just their abilities but the geography of the game itself. Ryan Theriot fits the bill. And even Derek Jeter, long considered a natural, we forget was perhaps called as much because -- like the subject of our cover story, Evan Longoria -- he simple learned the value of pulling his hands in and driving the ball to right at an early age.
And maybe that's the key. Williams hit for his Triple Crown in 1941, before he ever went off to fly planes in the war, and five years before anybody ever decided to just make him truly hit it where they ain't.
The lesson of Longoria's success isn't that you'd never want to be Williams -- who would ever want that? -- but that you'd never have to shift your whole philosophy because someone else could simply shift theirs to neutralize you. Dealing with the pitcher is hard enough.
Just ask Williams, the guy who said "Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of 10 and be considered a good performer."


text:
You might think you're a pro when it comes to applying mascara, eyeshadow and lipstick, but what if your appearance isn't quite matching up to what you're seeing in magazines? Does it seem like you're always envying your friends for their flawless looks? Here are some common makeup mistakes you might be making and how to avoid them in the future.
1. Your eyeliner is too dark for your lipstick.
Lifescript.com reports that it's important to ensure you aren't going too dramatic when it comes to your eyeliner and mascara if you're keeping your lips light. Doing so can create an unsightly contrast.
2. Your blush is too bold.
Real Simple magazine states that if your blush is making your cheeks look like you just came out of the freezing cold, you're using the wrong color. Your blush should brighten your face and highlight your natural beauty – not make you look like a clown.
3. Your lip liner is too dark.
This mistake can actually make you look older if you aren't careful. Choose a light lip liner to keep your lipstick in check while giving definition to your pout.


text:
Recent Discussion about Muckle Green Holm
love it!
- Places To Visit
- Tours & Activities
- Shopping / Nightlife
- Eating
- Events
What's happening!
- Donnao is going to Italy.
- Aung has created the deal Bagan- Mt.Popa- Salay (Day Tour).
- Muhammad has created the deal Margika.com - Best Price Guaranteed.
- Subitha is going to Manali.
- Vijay is going to Manali.
Sponsored Ads


text:
Published on
The Sloan Employment Report for 2013 highlights the impact the programme has on career progression. After 6 months of graduation, we found that 83% of our graduates accepted an offer and 67% are earning more than £100K.
If you are interested in recruiting our talent, please visit http://bit.ly/GTGDxL
Find out more about the Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy programme: http://www.london.edu/programmes/sloanmastersinleadershipandstrategy.html


text:
Video Industry News Video Company News Technology Industry News Technology Company News Novelty Industry News Novelty Company News Gay Industry News Gay Company News Legal Industry News All Company News
Director: Jim Powers
Company: Powersville, Inc.
DVD Extras: Music Video(s), Trailer(s)
Cast: Charisma Cappelli, Missy Woods, Kasey Grant, Caroline Reese, Heather Starlet, Kita Zinn, Nikki Sexx, Sea J Raw, Lina Paige, Jessie Andrews, Others
Critical Rating: AAA 1/2
Genre: Oral
Truth in advertising lives! The covers in this series always show female faces with their mouths filled with cock—and that is exactly what you get in this latest release in the series devoted to oral, gagging, swallowing and just overall messy blowjobs. A large cast of cuties and industry studs keeps the action hopping.
This starts with a party which quickly turns into a mouth orgy topped off with facials. Next, Kasey Grant makes her own party and takes on a trio of studs—whatta gal! From here, the action continues with more parties, big and small, and other themes, such as voyeurism as a guy whacks off watching from a closet as his woman blows and jacks off what appears to be an unaware customer in a jack shack room. A special pat on the nodding head of Lina Paige should be made for personally draining five overeager cocks.


text:
ODT Online
ODT /directory
Look out for Tommy Tucker at Ascot Park today. That's the
word from Wingatui trainer Shane Anderton as he takes a
six-strong team south with father Brian for the Southland
Racing Club's Christmas meeting.
The Andertons have been toiling away this season, picking up
three wins to date, and Anderton jun is fairly happy with the
current performance of the stable.
''The team has been going pretty good,'' he said.
''We're not winning many, but we're running plenty of
One horse who racked up a win last start is Beehive Bomber.
He was sent out as favourite at Winton on November 21 and
rewarded punters with an easy three-length win.
His rating of 63 puts him at the top of the weights on 59kg
along with Peter Richard and Strike Up The Band for the
rating 65 1200m, but that does not concern Anderton.
''He's a big enough horse to carry a bit of weight and he's
very well.''
The Danske 5yr-old is paired with Shankar Muniandy, who rode
the gelding to the Winton win.
Muniandy also teams up with mare Inferno, who has drawn
barrier four in the $25,000 open 2200m.
Anderton said the Yamanin Vital mare would relish the longer
distances, as she jumped up from her last start at Cromwell
over 1400m to the extra slog of the 2200m.
''She was running on good at the end and she hit the line
Inferno may be jumping up in distance, but Tommy Tucker drops
back in class considerably from his previous assignment.
The Gallant Guru gelding was just a neck away from Ishiguru
on New Zealand Cup day at Riccarton Park on November 17. That
second placing has since been franked by Cold Snap (fourth),
winning at Wanganui on December 1. Anderton is confident the
4yr-old can make it two from two on the Ascot Park track in
race 6.
''Jamie [Bullard] was happy with him at Riccarton and he's
riding him again - hopefully he'll go one better.''
Anderton is also very happy with News Flash (race 1), Valiant
(race 3), and The Boys (race 9). The Boys dashed home late at
Winton behind Pinot Express on November 21, but Anderton
earmarked Tommy Tucker as the best of his six charges, based
on the big drop back in opposition.
The track is expected to be rated good (3) today. It has been
- Matt Smith
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text:
Stopping Muon Beams
Award Information
Small Business Information
Muons, Inc
552 N. Batavia Ave., Batavia, IL, 60510
Principal Investigator:
Rolland Johnson
(757) 930-1463
(757) 930-1463
Business Contact:
Rolland Johnson
(757) 870-6943
(757) 870-6943
Research Institution:
AbstractPhysics experiments often use low-energy beams of unstable particles that stop in a target, in order to provide high sensitivity to rare processes while reducing backgrounds. However, the stopping rate in the target is limited by the kinematics of the production process and by multiple scattering and energy straggling in the material used to slow the particles. In practice, this means that the event rates and sensitivity are limited. Enlarging the target is not an option because this would compromise performance and/or increase the cost of the detector. This project will demonstrate that beam cooling can be used to improve the stopping of muon beams. A six-dimensional beam cooling technique will be developed, and simulation tools will be used to develop designs that can stop many muons in a small volume. As an example, a stopping muon beam design, using a helical cooling channel (HCC), will be developed for a particular experiment to search for the direct conversion of muons to electrons. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The use of the HCC for stopping muon beams would provide a new level of sensitivity for experimental physics, allowing the development of muon colliders and neutrino factories. Many applications of intense stopping muon beams, such as spin-resonance investigations and muon-catalyzed fusion, also would benefit.
* information listed above is at the time of submission.
An Official Website of the United States Government


text:
I've been struggling with a problem for a few days now, and hope some of you can help me out. I'll just explain what happend breifly.
Well, I have an AMD E-350 APU HTPC, which I use for media center stuff. A couple of days ago I decided to install
XBMCbuntu on it, as I thought learning Linux could be fun. I ended up having so much trouble with sound driver, graphics driver, hardware acceleration not working and so on, that I decided to reinstall Windows again.
So I popped in the Windows DVD, formatted all "visisble" partitions, and installed Windows on the same drive as Linux used to be on.
When the installation reached the reboot part, the computer shutdown and the started up and gave me the message:
Loading Operating System ... error: unknow filesystem. grub rescue>
Now I don't know much about bootloaders nor Linux to be honest, but I thought it might have been some
ext partition which I didn't format when I reinstalled Windows, so I went into an Ubuntu Live CD, opened
gparted and left everything as unallocated space. Then I restarted the Windows installation, but same problem occured again.
At this point I've been googling pretty much non-stop, and I've pretty much lost track of what I've tried and what i haven't. I've run pretty much any imagineable bootable, GRUB/boot recover CD and still no luck :(
Here's a link to an Ubuntu Pastebin, I've got from one of the many attempted rescues, maybe it can help?: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6531541/
And please note that i'm fully aware that there's lots of people with a similar error on this page, and on google in general, but i've really tried almost anything that has been suggested in any of those threads, so i really hope you'll forgive me starting a new question.
Thanks a lot.


text:
First Place – Lutes Away
This photo was taken of a PLU student Molly Jane Meszaros sharing the love of reading with students from the Ondau Mobile Schools in Opuwo, Namibia. The picture shows the collaboration of traditional Himba dress and western wear in the tent classroom.
Kari Olson
Opuwo, Namibia; January 2011
Second Place – Lutes Away
Education for All
Pacific Lutheran University's Kari Olson shares a conversation about school with learners of Ohungumure Mobile Tent School during a trip to northern Namibia.
Veronica Whetstine
Opuwo, Namibia; January 2011
Third Place – Lutes Away
Kelsey Serier and 1st Standard Student from Razeena Matriculation
~THOUGHT FOR THE DAY~ We are all inhabitants of one world. We fill this earth with curiosity, hope, love, and adventure. No matter where we travel, or who we meet, we are connected by this planet that we share and the knowledge that we exchange. "Experience is a hard teacher, she gives the test first and the lesson afterward...."
Tess Raley
Chennai, India; January 2011
First Place– Natural Landscapes
The West Lake
This photo was taken on a crisp winter afternoon at the West Lake in Hangzhou. Many of these sorts of bridges line the lake and make for a perfect walk overlooking a beautiful scene. The West Lake is a famous tourist destination and has been for centuries thanks to its natural beauty and the numerous poets who wrote about it.
Alexandra Wong
Hangzhou, China; December 2010
Second Place – Natural Landscapes
Castle View
I arrived at the Chateau after miles of biking around Lake Geneva only to discover I had arrived just in time for closing. By some stroke of luck, it was the monthly "Night of the Living Theater" event and I was allowed in to experience historic castle life complete with actors, old style clothing, and a huge fire pit with roasting bratwurst. I reveled in walking around imagining things as they once were and was fascinated by the incredible views of the surrounding gorgeous Alps and lake. Though there were probably more houses in my scene in comparison to past residents, the landscape was still breathtaking and made me wish that I could stay indefinitely as a part of the living theater.
Jen Jepsen
Chateau de Chillon, Lake Geneva, Switzerland; May 2010
Third Place – Natural Landscapes
Limmat River in the Late Evening
This photo was taken late on a Friday evening in Zurich. Although most of the city rests at this time, the Limmat River still flows.
James Murphy
Zurich, Switzerland; April 2010
First Place – People and Culture
Traditional Dance
Directly effected by the Lord's Resistance Army, the community of Agoro has suffered border disputs, famine, sickness, and lack of education. However, they are still able to come together to enjoy the benefits of traditional dance.
Cynthia Ford
Agoro, Uganda; February 2010
Second Place – People and Culture
Japanese Wedding Procession
This was taken at a Shinto shrine. Originally expecting to see one of the most famous shrines in all of Japan, we got more than we bargained for. In this picture you see the wedding procession parting the crowd of people paying homage to the newlyweds.
Lucas McCallum
Tokyo, Japan; January 2011
Third Place – People and Culture
Tibetan Grandmothers
"We will be your Tibetan Grandmothers," Our guide translated the women's words. They wanted to adopt us. These Grandmothers were on pilgrimage, walking across Tibet to Lhasa. Their children had all grown and they promised to cook for us everyday. After one taste of Tibetan food we were all ready to say yes!
Audrey Lewis
Lhasa, Tibet; October 2010
First Place – Urban Landscapes
Machu Picchu at Sunrise
As the fog lifted on a crisp morning at Machu Picchu the true majesty of this world wonder was revealed. The city was a maze of wonder beyond anything we had ever witnessed, each turn piquing new curiosity within each visitor. The stunning architectural precision bears no rival and was only matched by the lush green colors ranging from emerald to deep forest green.
Dakota Selene-Hait
Machu Picchu, Peru; January 2011
Second Place – Urban Landscapes
A Katutura Corner
Our first time in Katutura while in Namibia. The busy city of Katutura consists of shantis, barber shops, and car washes. It is one of the most colorful places I have ever seen with the streets filled with people. Some people looking like they are walking with a purpose and others looking like they are lost in time.
Janelle Meisenheimer
Katutura, Namibia; January 2011
Third Place – Urban Landscapes
Reach for the Skies in the largest city in New Zealand
Auckland Sky Tower.
Jeanée Vilja
Auckland, New Zealand; June 2010


text:
Some people say that the kitchen apron has not always been popular as a collectible in its own right, but don't tell that to the members of the Meramec Valley Genealogical and Historical Society (MVGHS).
"My mother and grandmother always wore aprons," Therissa Schlemper told fellow genealogy society members at their Nov. 16 meeting.
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text:
I haven't seen him in any other games to be honest. But based on this game, he looks like he's capable of pressuring the QB somewhat. I just...
Did Jeremy Mincey look like he could be this good when we released him?
I can't really remember.
Re: Mind Boggling Stat
The Colts have 14 players left from their 2007 squad: Addai, Bethea, Brackett, Bullitt, Clark, Diem, Freeney, Gonzalez,...
Not even close. I'm just a bit jaded. I'm sure I'll be proven wrong.
No, You. *open hand slap*.
A f*cking tight end. F*ck off Bill.
So Romeus and Jeremy Beal are still on the board.
I hope we take one. I dont' expect it will happen, though.
It would make for a rather tasty OL.
I did not know that. That's good news.
I guess he could be a starter earlier than expected!
Anyone think Dan Connolly can step in for Koppen in the long run?
Maybe a line of Solder-Mankins-Connolly-Cannon-Vollmer for the future? I...
In addition to the number of treatments, chemo really takes it out of you physically. People regularly go in to treatment really optimistic but...
Yeah, I call bull**** on that. That was supposed to be this year. It's just about economics.
Just like he's hated every DE/OLB class for the last 10 years. I'm really not sure what he wants at that position anymore. It's odd because the...
I'd also like to be a defending team.
=2 firsts and 2 seconds in 2013, and on it goes.
Kiwanuka as a FA?
So these are the rounds in which you build championships, eh?
Oh balls.
Free agency better be bad*ss.
Ryan effing Mallet? F*ck me.
I'm actually sort of hoping for Mark Herzlich at this point - just for the story.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure this board has completely forgotten about Cunningham.
Separate names with a comma.