text:
Skip to comments.An Empire's Epidemic (Justinian Plague)
Posted on 09/18/2006 4:38:39 PM PDT by blam
An Empire's Epidemic
Scientists Use DNA in Search for Answers to 6th Century Plague
By THOMAS H. MAUGH II, Times Staff Writer
By the middle of the 6th century, the Emperor Justinian had spread his Byzantine Empire around the rim of the Mediterranean and throughout Europe, laying the groundwork for what he hoped would be a long-lived dynasty.
His dreams were shattered when disease-bearing mice from lower Egypt reached the harbor town of Pelusium in AD 540. From there, the devastating disease spread to Alexandria and, by ship, to Constantinople, Justinian's capital, before surging throughout his empire.
By the time Justinian's plague had run its course in AD 590, it had killed as many as 100 million people -- half the population of Europe -- brought trade to a near halt, destroyed an empire and, perhaps, brought on the Dark Ages. Some historians think that the carnage may also have sounded the death knell for slavery as the high demand for labor freed serfs from their chains. Justinian's plague was a "major cataclysm," says historian Lester K. Little, director of the American Academy in Rome, "but the amount of research that has been done by historians is really minimal."
Little is hoping to do something about that. In December, he brought the world's plague experts together in Rome to lay the groundwork for an ambitious research program on the pandemic. A book resulting from the meeting will be published this year.
Modern techniques for studying DNA have begun answering long-standing questions about the evolution of the plague bacillus, how it infects humans and what can be done to counteract it.
While a 6th century plague might seem an esoteric subject, Little and others think that it has great relevance in a modern world that is continually threatened by emerging diseases. A second pandemic of plague struck Europe in the Middle Ages -- the so-called Black Death -- killing 25 million people and once more producing widespread social disruption.
A third pandemic began in China in the late 19th century and spread to North America, where a large reservoir of the disease remains active in animals throughout the Southwest.
An outbreak occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25, but was contained.
Plague could become a tool of bioterrorists. Russian experts have long argued that plague is a much more frightening prospect than anthrax. As part of their germ war efforts during the Cold War, Soviet scientists developed strains of plague resistant to antibiotics used to cure infections. Unleashing such organisms could potentially have a devastating effect on modern society.
Understanding Justinian's plague could also lead to insights into other types of disasters, man-made and natural, adds UCLA historian Michael Morony.
"People were dying faster than they could be buried," he said. "I find myself wondering how society survived. That's a relevant question to try to understand."
Plague is caused by a bacillus called Yersinia pestis, identified in 1894 by the Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. The bacterium once killed more than half the people it infected but is now routinely controlled by such antibiotics as streptomycin, gentamicin or tetracycline.
Plague Still Kills
2,000 People a Year
About 2,000 deaths from plague are still reported worldwide every year, a handful of them in the United States. Naturally occurring strains resistant to antibiotics have been observed recently, however, and scientists fear that their spread could lead to large outbreaks.
Y. pestis is carried by rats and other animals. It can be transmitted to humans by direct exposure to an infected animal. Most often, however, it is carried by fleas that bite the infected animals, then bite humans.
People bitten by such fleas develop agonizingly painful, egg-sized swellings of the lymph nodes -- called buboes -- in the neck, armpit and groin. Hence the name bubonic plague.
Some authorities recognize two other forms of plague, one called pulmonary or pneumonic, in which the lungs are affected, and one called septicemic, in which the organism invades the bloodstream, but all are the same disease, Little said.
Because of its possible use in bioterrorism, researchers have been actively studying the plague organism. In October, a British team from the Sanger Center in Cambridge reported that they had decoded the complete DNA sequence of Y. pestis, a feat that could help to control outbreaks.
"The genome sequence we have produced contains every possible drug or vaccine target for the organism," said Dr. Julian Parkhill, the team's leader.
Genetics shows that the closest relative of Y. pestis is a gut bacterium called Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, which is transmitted through food and water and which causes diarrhea, gastroenteritis and other intestinal problems, but is rarely fatal. Y. pseudotuberculosis may be the immediate ancestor of Y. pestis, but it is not transmitted by fleas. Last month, researchers apparently discovered why.
Bacteriologist B. Joseph Hinnebusch and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health's Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana reported that the key is a gene called PDL, which is carried by the plague bacterium, but not by the one that causes diarrhea.
Although they do not yet know how it works, PDL allows Y. pestis to survive in the gut of the rat flea. Artificially produced strains of the bacterium without the gene are destroyed in the flea's gut and thus cannot be transmitted to humans.
Hinnebusch and his colleagues believe the bacterium acquired the gene from other soil bacteria by a process called horizontal transfer, somewhat akin to a form of bacterial sex. The transfer probably took place 1,500 to 20,000 years ago, they said, setting the stage for full-scale epidemics of plague. "Our research illustrates how a single genetic change can profoundly affect the evolution of disease," Hinnebusch said.
Some scholars have argued that Y. pestis was not the cause of the Black Death and, by implication, of Justinian's plague as well. Jean Durliat, a French expert on the Byzantine Empire, argued in the 1980s that contemporary literary accounts of Justinian's plague were overblown and exaggerated, and not supported by archeological evidence.
Last year, British historians Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan published "Biology of Plagues," arguing that death spread through Europe much too rapidly in the 14th century to be caused by Y. pestis.
They believe that the Black Death must have spread through human-to-human contact and argue that it might have been caused by the Ebola virus or something similar.
Anthropologist James Wood of Pennsylvania State University made a similar argument last month at a meeting in Buffalo, N.Y.
"This disease appears to spread too rapidly among humans to be something that must first be established in wild rodent populations, like bubonic plague," Wood said. "An analysis of monthly mortality rates [among priests] during the epidemic shows a 45-fold greater risk of death than during normal times, far higher than usually associated with bubonic plague."
But molecular biology may be on the brink of answering questions that history cannot. One unique feature of the plague virus is that it accumulates inside the teeth of its victims, where its DNA can be protected for centuries, or perhaps even longer.
Molecular biologists Michel Drancourt and Olivier Dutour of the University of the Mediterranean in Marseilles, France, reported in 1998 that they had identified Y. pestis DNA in human remains dating from 1590 and 1722. Two years later, they reported a similar finding in remains dating from 1348.
That evidence is "pretty impressive," said Little, and indicates that Y. pestis at the very least played a role in the Black Death.
The Marseilles team is continuing to study other remains from the period to document how widespread the infections were. Meanwhile, archeologists are searching for plague cemeteries from the time of Justinian to perform similar studies.
Mass Graves Found
In Gaza to Be Studied
Archeologist Michael McCormick of Harvard University has already identified eight mass graves in the Gaza Strip, Turkey and Italy where he expects to find human remains dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries. Remains have yet to be exhumed, however.
Some researchers speculate that a particularly virulent form of Y. pestis was responsible for Justinian's plague or the Black Death, just as an unusually pathogenic form of the influenza virus caused the worldwide flu pandemic in the early 20th century. Analysis of human remains could yield clues.
Theoretically, McCormick said, if DNA is found in the remains, it could be possible to grow the organisms in the laboratory and see if it is, in fact, more virulent.
One of the "major social issues" arising from the great mortality of the plague "is that it tends to raise the value of labor," Little said. "There are not enough workers around anymore. You can't find servants and, when you do find someone, they tend to charge outrageous amounts."
Little and others believe that this increased premium on labor was the final blow to slavery during the Justinian plague and that it similarly brought an end to serfdom during the Black Death.
Historians obviously still have a lot to learn about these pandemics, but valuable first steps have been taken, Little said. With the increasing assistance of molecular biologists, he added, the final pieces of the puzzle may now fall into place.
Also, I believe the Justinian Plague was initiated by a comet impact. I will post data supporting that belief as the thread progresses.
GGG Ping.
Mexicans, catching the diseases that Americans don't want to catch.
The rise of Islam was opportuned by mass death.
The Hypothetical Effects of a Release of Pneumonic Plague in New York City
"Terrorists release a deadly plague in New York City. In this simulated exercise, terrorists on board a ship from the Middle East, with Liberian registry, are able to successfully and covertly release plague in the form of an aerosol in the New York City Harbor. Three days pass before the first cases of the plague victims beginning reporting to local hospitals and military treatment facilities for care. The intentional release of the plague on a modern metropolitan area would be devastating. Casualties would quickly overwhelm the existing medical system, and initial attempts at quarantine would fail. Panic would ensue, and eventually the world's population, governments and economies maybe impacted. Government and military leaders, reacting to demands of revenge from their populations, would begin military strikes against those countries, correctly or incorrectly assumed responsible for the initial release of the plague. Religious fanaticism would rise as extremists attempt to explain the modern catastrophe as the will of an angered God. The intentional and successful release of the plague by terrorists in a major metropolitan area would significantly alter the existing world society."
Scientists at Cardiff University, UK, believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago a comet colliding with Earth.
The team has been studying evidence from tree rings, which suggests that the Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter.
The scientists in the School of Physics and Astronomy believe this was caused by a comet hitting the earth and exploding in the upper atmosphere. The debris from this giant explosion was such that it enveloped the earth in soot and ash, blocking out the sunlight and causing the very cold weather.
This effect is known as a plume and is similar to that which was seen when comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 hit Jupiter in 1995.
Historical references from this period - known as the Dark Ages are sparse, but what records there are, tell of crop failures and summer frosts.
The work was carried out by two Cardiff undergraduate students, Emma Rigby and Mel Symonds, as part of their student project work under the supervision of Dr Derek Ward-Thompson.
Their findings are reported in the February issue of Astronomy and Geophysics, the in-house magazine of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The surprising result of the new work is just how small a comet is needed to cause such dramatic effects. The scientists calculate that a comet not much more than half a kilometre across could cause a global nuclear winter effect. This is significantly smaller than was previously thought.
Dr. Ward-Thompson said: "One of the exciting aspects of this work is that we have re-classified the size of comet that represents a global threat. This work shows that even a comet of only half a kilometre in size could have global consequences. Previously nothing less than a kilometre across was counted as a global threat. If such an event happened again today, then once again a large fraction of the earth's population could face starvation."
The comet impact caused crop failures and wide-spread starvation among the sixth century population. The timing coincides with the Justinian Plague, widely believed to be the first appearance of the Black Death in Europe. It is possible that the plague was so rampant and took hold so quickly because the population was already weakened by starvation.
Let'er rip! Iran, SA, Pakistan,etc.
The Magna Carta was signed in 1215.
Andromeda Strain?
Hmmm. That's right. Probably it was an earlier plague then.
Nah. It was a 'cosmic winter'. People starved to death and were weakened to any opportune disease around.
BTW, the Dark Ages was a worldwide event...not just Europe as many think.
Frankly, the whole thing smacks of more junk science. Someone cherry picking data to support their pet theory, which isn't supported by the entirety of the historical record. It's pretty hard to attribute a 50 year plague to a alleged 5 years of bad crops or cold winters. Rats freeze too.
540 was a pretty bad year.
By the time Justinian's plague had run its course in AD 590, it had killed as many as 100 million people -- half the population of Europe -- brought trade to a near halt, destroyed an empire and, perhaps, brought on the Dark Ages. Some historians think that the carnage may also have sounded the death knell for slavery as the high demand for labor freed serfs from their chains. Justinian's plague was a "major cataclysm," says historian Lester K. Little, director of the American Academy in Rome, "but the amount of research that has been done by historians is really minimal."One quibble I have right now -- the population of Europe at that time probably wasn't anything like 200 million. The population of the whole Roman Empire at its peak was something in excess of 50 million, and that included north Africa, Anatolia, and the Levant.
Don't ever let work get in the way of the really important stuff.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
LOL...........good book, but not all that realistic.
I read your profile. You may be your generation's Ann Coulter.
Are they referring to the Hanta (Sp?) Virus here?
Yeah, that "100 million deaths" figure seems like it was plucked out of thin air. I don't think that there is any way to know the population of the Mediterranean region with any degree of certainty during that period.
Nope. Bubonic plague. They warn people at Griffith Park in L.A. not to approach wildlife, such as squirrels, because of it.
Wow! I had no idea!
Only by conquest. He assumed the Purple in the Eastern (read: Byzantine) Empire and went on to conquer Rome, which by that time had been in Ostrogoth hands for some 60 years.
I doubt that the Eastern emperors normally thought of themselves as "Roman emperors", since Rome was in the Western empire. I'm not sure how the word "Byzantine" came into vogue to describe the East.
by Nick Nuttall
Copyright 1990 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times, May 24, 1990, Thursday
Over the next few weeks the Taurid stream, a procession of vast cosmic rubble and dust that snakes around the Sun and out towards Jupiter, will swing through Earth's orbit for the first of its bi-annual crossings.
Within the stream are probably thousands of bodies including asteroids, mountain-and island-sized boulders, smaller meteoroids, Encke's Comet and assorted fragments of celestial refuse.
The exact number, size and location of objects, however, remains a mystery and according to Dr. Mark Bailey, research Fellow in astronomy at Manchester University, it is likely that for every object which is confirmed, there are nine others that have so far eluded detection.
All that is certain is that the rubble, believed by some astronomers to have been formed by a collision in the asteroid belt of a defunct comet which was captured by the solar system up to 30,000 thousand years ago, will bisect Earth's orbit in late June and again in November.
According to astronomers such as Dr. Victor Clube, of Oxford University's Department of Astrophysics, the coming and goings of the Taurid stream should be a source of concern to politicians, planners and anyone who cherishes life on Earth.
A ''catastrophist'', Dr. Clube is one of many astronomers who are convinced that within this celestial procession lie the seeds of mass destruction an Armageddon of biblical proportions. ''The matter requires urgent attention. It is crucial that everyone is woken up to the danger,'' Dr. Clube says.
The chilling scenario envisaged is of Earth and one of the 46,000mph objects in the Taurid stream colliding during one of the orbital crossings.
Dr. Clube says: ''It is analagous to a nuclear war with a megatonnage of the same order and all the effects of nuclear war with debris from the impact causing sunlight to be blocked causing a Dark Age or Ice Age.''
He has coined the phrase ''Multiple Tunguska Bombardment'' to describe the worst nightmare which, he believes, will eventually happen. Tunguska refers to a Siberian River near which, in June 1908, a 100 yard body from the Taurid stream ploughed into Earth, exploding and devastating an area 25 miles wide with the impact of a 20-megaton bomb.
Fortunately the encounter occured in an unpopulated part of the globe but if the impact had been on London it would have devastated the city, killing millions. The Tunguska event may have been only a chance occurence.
Yet, according to Dr. Clube and Dr. Bill Napier, of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, whose book Cosmic Winter is published next month, the history of Earth is littered with subtle evidence that cosmic debris have consistently intervened, often with catastrophic consequences.
One of the most popular theories to explain the sudden demise of the dinosaurs is that, 65 million years ago, a huge asteroid ploughed into the planet, triggering either a nuclear-style winter or huge fires.
This popular theory was given a boost only last week when scientists at the University of Arizona reported the discovery of an apparent 180-mile-wide crash site in the Caribbean of an asteroid six miles wide. They claim this could be linked with the great reptiles' extinction.
Dr. Clube ascribes other events including the Old Testament story of Noah and his Ark to a Dark Age linked with colliding heavenly bodies. He also believes that climatic changes, including fears of present global warming, may have a cosmic component.
There is sufficient evidence, he says, to indicate that collisions happen within centuries and millenniums rather than millions and billions of years, with multiple encounters more likely than sceptics claim.
Dr. Clube emphasizes that predicting when a bombardment may occur is impossible without more scientific evaluation of the Taurid stream.
''We are probably a little safer at the moment because the intersecting orbits are far away. But we are on the inward run and in 500 years we will start getting close again,'' he says.
According to Dr. Clube, the last time that the stream was closest within Earth's orbit was in the first millennium BC, from about 500BC up to 0AD, the time of Christ.
It is vital to overcome complacency about the threat from cosmic debris, he says. This complacency is relatively new, as pagan and ancient civilisations such as the Babylonians were firm believers in the threat of of cosmic destruction. Part of the blame for this complacency rests with the breakup, in 1845, of Comet Biela without any easily visible effect on Earth.
''This rather relaxed attiude to comets, which has persisted to the present day, helped turn 19th century opinion against a prevailing catastrophist view of evolution,'' Dr. Clube says.
''Indeed, the eventual disintegration of Comet Biela into dust made it no longer out of place for biologists and geologists to explain evolution in processes that were non-violent and slow-acting.''
''In short, it became fashionable to assume that the world is safe when in fact multiple Tunguska bombardments, releasing around five-thousand megatons, the equivalent of a full-scale nuclear war, may happen at intervals of about 1,500 years, producing a Dark Age,'' he says.''To suggest the planet is safe is absurd.''
The Oxford astrophysicist is not alone in his views. Similar concerns were echoed last week by the respected American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
The institute is calling for studies aimed at defending the Earth from asteroid attack, including the possible redeployment of nuclear weapons to shatter incoming celestial bodies.
The call comes in the wake of thawing East-West relations and what is being claimed as a recent, potentially disastrous near-collision.
Last year, 1989 FC, a cosmic boulder bigger than an aircraft carrier, passed within 400,000 miles of Earth, a mere whisker in astronomical terms, before being noticed by astronomers.
''Such an object could cause a disaster of unprecedented proportions if it had struck. Although the probability is very small, its consequences in terms of the casuality rate could be enormous,'' the institute argues in a paper it released about the problem.
Apart from putting nuclear warheads on standby for intercepting and shattering asteroids, the institute is calling for studies into power units that could attach and divert the celestial boulders away from Earth.
''We have the technology needed to detect and track such an object and possibly to divert if from an impending impact. We would be derelict if we did nothing,'' the institute says.
Dr. Clube is hoping to get access to an infra-red telescope to study the Taurid stream during the November crossover.
In 1983, a satellite revealed what appeared to be dust following Comet Encke, but some scientists, including Dr. Clube, now believe that this contains the single large missing body, perhaps as large as 20 miles wide, shrouded in dust and boulders.
The best chance of detecting the defunct comet might come in 1994 when the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) is expected to launch the infra-red telescope, ISO.
Dr. Bailey says: ''We are learning more about these objects almost every week. We are realizing that there are quite a large number of fairly large objects, ranging in size from just a few hundred yards to six miles across, which are in Earth's collision orbit.''
Along with Dr. Bailey, Dr. Clube supports the institute's call for improved monitoring. But both British astronomers are concerned at suggestions of shattering incoming asteroids.
They believe that there is the danger that by solving one large threat, it may create scores of smaller ones.
Cosmic Winter by Dr. Victor Clube and Dr. Bill Napier. Published in June by Basil Blackwell (Pounds 16.95). The Origin of Comets by Dr. Mark Bailey, Dr. Victor Clube and Dr. Bill Napier. Pergamon Press.
This seems unlikely if the entire world population was only 200 million.
The Magna Carta was in the 12th century well before the Great Plague. Europe didn't recover from the J-Plague until the time of John, look at population density in the Doomsday book, 1086, and 1345.
"Then came pestilence. The Justinian plague, named for a Byzantine emperor, apparently began in central Asia, spread into Egypt, and then swept across Europe. Hundreds of thousands died.
|GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
Fire, Life Safety - MNS, ECS
Aspirating smoke detector
VEA supports up to 120 individually addressable sampling points networked to a single central detector. » more
What are the impacts of NFPA 72-2016?
Although the revision process is not yet complete for NFPA 72-2016, this highlights some of the more significant changes that may be included in the 2016 edition. » more
Certified amending motions on NFPA 72
Several motions on NFPA 72 were discussed at the NFPA meeting in June. » more
Intelligent smoke detector
The ASAtechnology fire detector and fire and carbon monoxide detector provide safety and early warning of flaming fires. » more
Fire alarm panel
The SIMPLEX 4007ES is an expandable fire alarm panel that is compatible with both addressable and conventional detection and notification technologies. » more
Top 5 Consulting-Specifying Engineer articles, July 13-19: NFPA 99, integrated project delivery, fire protection, more
Articles about adopting NFPA 99, integrated project delivery, fire protection and critical facilities, evaluating UPS system efficiency, and implementing microgrids were Consulting-Specifying Engineer's five most clicked articles... » more
2015 Fire and Life Safety Study: Fire and life safety in hospitals, health care facilities
More than half of fire protection engineers specify, design, or make product selections for hospitals and health care facilities. Through the 2015 Fire and Life Safety Study, Consulting-Specifying Engineer identified four key... » more
Restaurant fire-suppression systems
The increased nozzle heights for ANSUL PIRANHA restaurant fire-suppression systems feature a UL-300-certified design. » more
Fire suppression sprinklers
RAVEN studio sprinklers are designed for use in commercial spaces such as offices, hospitals, universities, schools, apartments, and hotels. » more
Pre-assembled fire protection enclosure
The Victaulic Fire-Pac is a pre-assembled fire protection valve and trim that is prewired to a fire alarm's control panel or junction box and enclosed inside a metal cabinet. » more
Fire suppression system
The INERGEN clean-agent fire suppression system provides a regulated agent discharge into the protected hazard area. » more
Aspirating smoke detectors for smaller applications
The new addition to FAAST line of aspirating smoke detectors, the FAAST XS is used for smaller applications and uses the same technology. » more

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The author requires you to be 18 or older to read this contentI am 18 or older
Please Subscribe to read further chapters
L.Joe falls for Minsoo at first sight – falls for his shy smile as much for his lithe body, falls for his childish 'mehrong' as much for his perfectly kissable jaw line. The catch? He is supposed to be in love with Chunji. And Minsoo – Minsoo is head over heels for Niel. And L.Joe doesn't want to stay in this dark place all by himself.
You must be logged in to comment


text:
Aaron Rogers
An echo of love that is built upon past bonds and will re-ignited our two protagonists love from Childhood Nostalgia. The opening sequence shows children at play, which is one of the most heart-warming sights however this is eventually cut short when one of children has to leave. They live their separate lives as normal as possible, but with the lingering and subconscious thought of their childhood love. Un-intentionally, the couple meet again after both experiencing life troubles, they both find comfort in each other's company; this sparks their love for one and another.
Wrote, Directed and Shot by:
Aaron Rogers (Myself)
Jack Neale
Mitchell Armstrong
Melvyn Connell
All visuals are owned by us as the original creators.
The Music used is not owned by us and no copyright infringement was intended!
Purely for Educational use!


text:
ReportSee more
Windows was unable to complete the format [Solved/Closed]
Ask a question yyoo23 2Posts Saturday April 19, 2008Registration date April 20, 2008 Last seen - Latest answer on Oct 30, 2012 03:26AM
Members get more answers than anonymous users.
Being a member gives you detailed monitoring of your requests.
Being a member gives you additional options.


text:
XXL's Father's Day 2013 Gift Guide: Clothing
Shopping for someone is hardly ever an easy task. It's even more difficult when it's for your parents. Case in point, Father's Day is this weekend and because the old man keeps saying he doesn't want anything, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place with trying to figure out what to get him. After years of getting those same old convenient Hallmark cards or the 'Hey-Dad-its-time-for-you-to-shave accessories, it's time to try something different. And to kick off the week, we give you this essential shopper's guide on the best gifts to get the old man, or if you're a father yourself, a wish list to suggest to your fam. Throughout the week, we'll be highlighting the perfect items to cop for your pops and today we begin with Clothing.


text:
Crafted from fine white clay, this sweet festive ornament will bring joy and grace to the holiday season, year after year. Engraved upon its perfectly spherical shape are the words 'JINGLE ALL THE WAY', inspired by that famous carol. Adorning the ornament also are several stunning gold-toned jingle bells that would bring certain glamour amongst other decorations. Ease of suspension is provided thanks to the beautiful gold-flecked cord and the ornament is well protected thanks to the way it is finished. Ideal for any festive tree during the Christmas season or as a gift to bring joy to that certain someone.
Our collection of exceptional home accessories can bring a touch of unique individuality and affection into the home, from exquisite keepsake boxes to charming personalised tiles and bowls, every piece has a story to tell. Each product has been created by hand with unrivalled attention to detail, ensuring that each and every item has been finished with love and care.
Made with a handpicked selection of organic materials and non-toxic finishes, each piece has a wonderfully artisanal-inspired look, which allows the each item to exude an earthy and everlasting quality. The collection prides itself on its quality, design and sentiment and is certain to bring a wonderful and personal touch to the home.
This is a Bespoke item; please read our Terms and Conditions for Bespoke Orders. Contact Gigi Brooks' Customer Services if you have any questions or would like to discuss your design options with one of our team of specialists.


text:
©1998 Stephen King, All Rights Reserved; (P)1998 Simon & Schuster, Inc., All Rights Reserved
"The witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination." (Amy Tan)
"What King lacks in professional polish he makes up for with an infectious enthusiasm that will lock in listeners for the long haul." (Publishers Weekly)
For all of you reviewers out there, I want you to know how important you are to me. Reviews are very powerful. Thought you should know.
"Didn't Work For Me"
I'm a Stephen King fan, but this one didn't work for me. As someone who numbers many of his books as some of my top 50 favs (ie, Desperation, The Stand), I couldn't imagine how I missed this earlier book so I bought it, and was so excited. Over 21 hrs. with one of my favorite authors, and to top it off, HE narrates...how wonderful! To my dismay, it wasn't wonderful. And it came to me a couple of hours into it how I'd missed it in the first place. I'd tried to read it years ago and finally gave up out of boredom. It doesn't go anywhere forever, and when it finally does get moving, it's not worth the journey.
As for the narration, if you can stand 21-1/2 hrs. of Stephen King's congested adenoids ("please" comes out puhl-neeze, for example) AND mediocre story, then you're more patient than I, and more power to you. Personally, I'd rather have the 21 hrs. back of my life I gave up for this book.
"a real bell ringer!"
I do plan on listening to this book again. I enjoyed how the interwoven threads made for an interesting tapestry of a book. It kept my attention.
Jo because she shows the power of love doesn't end with death, but lives on.
I enjoyed King narrating as the author he can place the emphasis on the words/scenes he felt were most important.
I was disappointed that it seems he has sold out to add gratuitously explicit sex scenes in the book. I don't see how his graphic descriptions of his dreams of Mattie added to the story line and felt it was a lessening of his style.
54 yrs, ,memb 12yrs,library -75%nonfic 10% fiction,15% classics. History, all sciences, bio, classics,diverse other interests.
I can't believe how many positive reviews this book has. It's one thing for a book to drag.. but this was criminal! How can this get by an editor? All I could do is fantasize on having king in front of me listening as I read through the endless, interminable "top of the driveway segment- watching his face turn red with shame and embarrassment as the hours rolled by. I wonder what was going on with him when he was writing this, drugs?, booze?, I've read alot of king and enjoyed much of his stuff immensely, but this book makes me wary of blindly putting down time and credits for his work. Now kings writing scares the hell out of me for a different reason. He is a remarkably talented writer but he's inconsistent and I often wonder how much he really cares about the end product beyond sales. 11/22/63 was a revelation and I hoped it signaled a new matured era for his writing (not to imply he goes all falkonery) but it seems quantity over quality is still his focus. Joyland was a big disappointment for me. The same old (very old) done to death storyline- like something thrown out there to fulfill his contract... Doctor sleep on the other hand at least seemed to be a book he put his back into, even so I don't think he has yet to exercise all his powers/ talent and I know there are alot of readers like me who wait and wonder when or if he will ever really strive to write something that utilizes his untapped full potential.
"there was nothing I didn't love about this book!!!"
addicting! addicting! addicting!
honestly The Shining comes to mind. mainly because the house is alive in both and the way the characters relate and experience the ghosts.
everything! bravo Mr. King! your narration brought the story to life! plus I loved the background music that helped you feel the moment.
I think most will say when madie (not sure if that's how it's spelled in the book) dies. which is very moving, but for me it was when Joe's true intentions where revealed. when he realized every move he made his entire life hasn't really been his own. I felt that.
omg! LOVED! LOVED! LOVED! this book! this will definitely be a re-read! as always Stephen King delivers!
"Babaling book"
I know his wife died and he has writers block, but after 3 hours of listening, that's all I know. Can't believe Stephen King wrote and read this trash.
"Good book"
I've never physically read this book. I've seen the movie, but it was like they weren't the same. I remember the movie, but the book for me was better.
I didn't think King is the best narrator, but I do think that he gave the characters and scenes just the right touch.
"Loved the narration"
I enjoyed this story a lot. Stephen King does an excellent job of narrating. I like the fact that he didn't try to overact the story or go crazy with a lot of different voices.. He knows his characters, how they feel, what they think. He did a great job.
"My First Book From Mr. King"
This is my first Stephen King novel, I got it because it's recommended by my cousin. I enjoyed most of it, the sound effects are kinda distracting, I didn't enjoy the singing so much. I can see why Mr. King is a best seller, his writing has a lot of depth and it makes you think. But it's not a memorable one, it's the kind of book that's purely for entertaining, it's not something that sticks with you, keep you thinking months afterward. As the matter of fact, I had forgotten that I read it until I came across it to review. I haven't read any of his other books so I can't compare. But I can imagine that someone will enjoy this one very much if you like his other ones. He does a good job narrating it too, while not a professional, he captures the essence of the book very well.
Kiki V
"Mr. King is the Maestro and a great Narrator!"
TOP 3 for sure.
The Maine landscape and social aspect of the story is very believable. Its sexy in all the right places!
This is the first King Narrated book I have listened to.
No, it was fun to take it a piece at a time. Its way too much story to get all in one sitting. "Living with the characters" for several days was enjoyable.
Thanks Steve (King) for supporting audio books. The work and production effort is well worth it! You are the Maestro for all aspiring writers to study.
"Poor listening!"
Title did not match story. Read poorly.
Accomplished reader and less vulgarity.
Anger that I waisted a credit and disappointment with the book as a whole.
Report Inappropriate Content
If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.


text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jul 31, 2001
|Filing date
|Jan 6, 2000
|Priority date
|Mar 30, 1998
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|William E. Bernier, Michael A. Gaynes, Wayne J. Howell, Mark V. Pierson, Ajit K. Trivedi, Charles G. Woychik
|Original Assignee
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (17), Non-Patent Citations (3), Referenced by (10), Classifications (10), Legal Events (4)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/050,820, filed on Mar. 30, 1998, which is pending.
The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/709,375 titled "Computer System With Photomask Screened Joining Material And Process," filed on Sep. 6, 1996 on behalf of M. Pierson et al., assigned to the assignee of the present application, and incorporated herein by reference.
The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in the present invention and the right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of Contract No. DE-FC04-94AL98817 awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The present invention generally relates to the testing of semiconductor chips and wafers and, more particularly, to a method and device for testing a chip or wafer without damaging contact points on the chip or wafer while providing a reliable electrical conductive path from each contact point on the chip or wafer to a corresponding point on a testing substrate.
Most modern electronic systems include one or more integrated circuit (IC) chips bonded to a suitable substrate which, in turn, is connected to an electronic package such as a module, card, board, or gate. There are a variety of known techniques for connecting the chips to a substrate such as a circuit board. An overview of some of these techniques follows.
FIG. 1 shows one prior art technique for attaching an IC package 100 to a circuit board 105. In this particular case, the IC 110 itself is inside a plastic, dual, in-line package 100 having bent metal leads 115. (For convenience, an individual IC 110 is often referred to as a "die.") Wire leads 120 are used to connect the IC 110 to the bent leads 115 of the package 100. To mount the package 100, the leads 115 are inserted into matching holes 125 in the circuit board 105 and fixed in place by solder.
FIG. 2 shows another prior art technique of attaching an IC to a circuit board generally known as the "solder-bump" approach. In this technique, the die 110 has metal pads on which small bumps of solder 130 are deposited. The die 110 is aligned over matching metal pads 135 on the circuit board 105. When the assembly is heated to above the melting point of solder 130, the solder melts to form an electrical contact between the IC 110 and the circuit board 105. In this configuration, the die 110 is upside down from what is shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the configuration is also known as a "flip-chip."
Closely related to die connection technology is the increasing use of multi-chip module (MCM) design and packaging. In short, MCM techniques seek to combine a number of different dies on a common substrate. Benefits of MCM systems include increased operating clock speeds and reduced product footprint. Some in the semiconductor industry predict that as "real estate" (i.e., surface area) on IC devices continues to shrink, flip-chip bonding techniques will become dominant. Some of the benefits of the flip-chip bonding technique over wire bonding or tape automated bonding techniques—two other common die connection methods—are summarized in Table 1. Tape automated bonding is presently a preferred method of bonding dies to MCM-like substrates.
Comparison of Typical Die Connection Characteristics
Tape Automated
Wire Bonding
Resistance (0hms)
[smaller is better]
Inductance (nH)
[smaller is better]
Capacitance (pF)
[smaller is better]
Example Bond Size,
one side (mils)
[smaller is better]
As shown in Table 1, the flip-chip technique requires less bonding area (for a given size die, e.g., 400 mils on a side) than do either wire or tape automated bonding methods. This advantage allows, in turn, for an increased packing density of dies on an MCM substrate. Flip-chip bonding also provides lower levels of resistance, capacitance, and inductance per contact than do the other methods. All of these features support increased operational speeds.
A significant problem in assembling MCM systems, or other multi-die circuits, is that dies purchased from silicon foundries usually cannot be assumed to be 100% "good" (i.e., functional). In a large multi-die circuit, the probability that a completed circuit will contain all good dies decreases exponentially as the number of dies increases. A significant problem for companies that assemble dies into circuits, e.g., system houses, is that of testing purchased dies to ensure that they are in fact good.
From the point of view of the system house, the problem is being able to obtain dies that are "known good" so that the system house does not have to incur the cost of testing each purchased die. On the other hand, silicon foundries make their money in running wafers and often do not want to perform costly functional testing. (A plurality of chips or dies are formed on a single wafer, during semiconductor manufacturing, which is then diced.) Many silicon foundries might be willing to perform, at most, a worst-case DC test at the wafer level.
If a system house avoids testing in manufacturing a one-hundred die MCM, for example, and any one or more of the dies are bad, the system house incurs the added costs of fault isolation and die removal and replacement—a possibly time-consuming and costly endeavor. Because of the costs of these operations, all of the forward-thinking semiconductor companies are now developing capabilities to perform bare die testing in preparation for flip-chip applications.
In semiconductor manufacturing, after a plurality of chips are formed on a wafer, each of the chips are commonly probed in sequence to initially check certain of their electrical characteristics. Following this initial probing, the wafer is diced, then packaged and subjected to a burn-in acceleration test to remove those products subject to initial failure. This acceleration test simulates long-time performance by operating a circuit at an elevated temperature (typically about 150� C.) while selected signal patterns and sequences are applied to the circuit. As MCM designs become more prevalent, new ways to conduct burn-in tests become more urgent, especially because replacement of faulty chips in an MCM is difficult to automate and a reworked MCM is typically not as reliable as an MCM which was not reworked. Disposal of an MCM having a single faulty chip is costly and, therefore, is not a desirable solution.
The processes of mounting individual dies to substrates or sequentially testing individual chips before they are diced are time consuming and costly alternatives. A considerable amount of time can be saved by testing an entire wafer at once. Accordingly, such all-encompassing tests are desirable.
These tests usually incorporate a test probe. One type of conventional test probe has a plurality of fixed needles mounted on respective cantilevered tungsten wires supported on an epoxy substrate. The wires are connected to an external tester and the needles are brought into contact with respective ones of the chip input/output (I/O) pads. Thus, the needles serve as contact electrodes. This needle and cantilevered wire arrangement, although used for many years in the semiconductor industry, is not suitable for high-density products. It has also been found that, when the chip under test is heated during burn-in testing, thermal expansion differences between the needles, the cantilevered wires, and the chip prompt the needles to shift from their original position. This thermal shifting is especially exaggerated when the chips are being tested in wafer (i.e., un-diced) form and can cause false readings or inputs. Thus, this probe technology is ill-adapted for reliable burn-in testing before dicing.
One attempt to meet the new requirements of testing MCM technology was disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,298 issued to Hirano et al. (discussing T. Tada et al., "A Fine Pitch Probe Technology," 1990 International Test Conference, pages 900-06). In this attempt, probe contact electrodes were formed on the surface of a glass board by a lithographic technique. Each contact was electrically connected to an external tester via a respective conductive via passing through a hole on the board. The metal contact electrodes are stiff, however, and do not allow for significant—although small—variations in the co-planarity of the wafer contacts. Consequently, the metal contact electrodes cannot compensate for small variations in the thickness of wafer metallizations or substrate pads, or perturbations in the surface of a wafer or substrate, not to mention solder bumps. Moreover, the process to manufacture was found to be complicated and costly.
One prior attempt to resolve this compensation problem is disclosed By E. Klink et al. in "High-Performance Test System," IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 1A, pages 124-25 (June 1990). The article teaches applying lead-tin C4 (Controlled Collapse Chip Connection) solder bumps to the wafer pads and forming conductive copper dendrites on corresponding pads formed on a silicon carrier. The two silicon parts have substantially flat surfaces. Consequently, all chip positions can be contacted in parallel and, compared with standard needle contacts, only a minimum of compressive force is required.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520, issued to Anschel et al., teaches a method of testing chips using a conductive dendrite contact. FIG. 3 (which corresponds to FIG. 4 of the patent) shows a cross-sectional schematic representation of a burn-in board 140 having dendritic contacts 138 aligned with C4 bumps 142 formed on a chip 110. A problem with this method is that the conductive dendrite contacts 138 leave indentations in the C4s after their removal, and the C4 bumps 142 have to be reflowed following the testing procedure. The added expense and time required to reflow the C4 bumps 142 are undesirable; the present invention renders this step unnecessary.
In an effort to reliably test integrated circuit chips and at the same time prepare them for assembly in an MCM, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,239 issued to Zappella et al. discloses a method of forming a Transferable Solder Bump (TSB) on a test substrate. As shown in FIG. 4, which corresponds to FIG. 3 of the patent, die 110 has an aluminum pad 150 through which electrical connections can be made. The test board or substrate 160 includes an electrical-contact pad, such as an aluminum pad 170, and a TSB stack 180. The TSB stack 180 is made up of a number of metallization layers: a vapor-deposited protected conductor layer 182 comprised of chromium; a solder bump 184 comprised of tin, lead-tin, an indium solder alloy, or various other alloys depending on the target melting point; a diffusion layer 186 comprised of copper or a nickel-copper alloy; and a top layer 188 of gold that eventually forms a permanent contact with the aluminum pad 150 of the die 110.
The test device 190 is bonded to the die 110 through thermal compression or thermalsonic techniques. As the name implies, thermal compression bonding uses compression and heat to form a bond between the gold layer 188 and the aluminum pad 150 of the die 110. Thermalsonic bonding techniques use compression, heat, and ultrasonic energy to introduce a scrubbing action between the gold layer 188 and the aluminum pad 150 of the die 110. Once bonded, the test device 190 is plugged into a test jig for testing. If the die 110 proves to be reliable, the die 110 is removed from the substrate 160, with gold layer 188, diffusion layer 186, and solder bump 184 intact, by elevating the air temperature and allowing the chromium layer 182 to oxidize. Thus, the tested die 110 is provided with solder bumps 184 and is ready for incorporation into an MCM or other package.
A problem with this method is that the pads, solder bumps, and associated metallic layers do not provide a sufficient margin of error along the Z-axis for testing an entire wafer. Furthermore, the method requires many steps, including the costly step of vapor deposition of the chromium layer 182. In addition, "bad" dies 110 are discarded along with the testing module and substrate, which entails a-further expense in lost materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,884, issued to Bearinger et al., discloses an Electrically Conductive Adhesive (ECA) material containing silicone resin, siloxane gum, and a conductive particulate material. The composite exhibits properties of electrical conductivity and a tacky surface. FIGS. 3A-3C of this patent show a method of attaching and detaching a chip having C4 bumps formed on its contacts to and from a substrate using the ECA material. The conductive particulate material of the ECA material may be spherical gold particles; spherical, hollow glass microspheres coated with silver, gold, nickel, or copper; or spherical particles of metal alloys such as tin-copper, lead-tin, and gold-tin.
The conductive particulate materials disclosed by Bearinger et al. have several disadvantages, including the spherical shape of the conductive particulates, the relatively high cost of some of the materials (e.g., gold), and the relatively strong adhesion provided by some of the materials (e.g., lead-tin solder). Alternative shapes such as flakes, rather than spheres, might be advantageous in certain applications. Cost savings are always desired. Weaker adhesion would allow cleaner separation between the ECA material and the substrate and, at least in some applications, would be preferred. It would also be advantageous to increase the surface area of contact between is the ECA material and the substrate to which it is attached (e.g., by using dendrites) and to increase the conductivity of the ECA material.
The known art has failed to provide a mechanism for rapid, reproducible, low cost, high throughput testing of integrated circuit chips. To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional mechanisms, a new method and device are provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for testing a chip or wafer having a two-dimensional array of electrical contacts by providing temporary attachment to a substrate having corresponding contacts without unduly increasing the number of steps required to prepare the chip for attaching it to its final assembly. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method and device for reliably testing and/or burning-in an array of chips in a wafer by providing a reliable, simultaneous electrical connection between each electrical contact on the wafer and a corresponding electrical contact on a test substrate. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and device that allow easy chip positioning and temporary attachment and easy removal of chips after testing. A related object is to fill the need for an efficient testing mechanism which can easily and readily feed an MCM-like manufacturing process.
To achieve these and other objects, and in view of its purposes, the present invention provides a method and device for testing a chip or wafer without damaging contact points on the chip or wafer while providing a reliable electrical conductive path from each contact point on the chip or wafer to a corresponding point on a testing substrate. A first embodiment of the method of the present invention, which tests a semiconductor chip using a separable connection, includes the steps of: (1) providing a semiconductor chip having contact pads located in an arrangement on a surface of the semiconductor chip, (2) dispensing and curing an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) material on the contact pads, (3) providing a test substrate having conductive test pads located on a surface of the test substrate in a mirror image pattern corresponding to the arrangement of the contact pads, (4) optionally forming conductive dendrites or gold-plated copper pads on the test pads, (5) aligning the wafer with the test substrate, (6) moving the wafer and the test substrate together and applying a predetermined force causing the ECA material to conform to the variance in the wafer pads, (7) testing the wafer, (8) removing the force and separating the ECA material from the test pads, (9) applying a solvent to dissolve the ECA material from the contact pads of the wafer, and (10) applying ECA material again or adding solder to the wafer.
A second embodiment of the invention includes the method steps of (1) flowing C4s onto wafer pads, (2) depositing ECA material onto the substrate pads, (3) moving the wafer and the substrate together and applying a predetermined force so that the ECA material conforms to the C4 bumps, (4) testing the wafer, and (5) washing the ECA material off the substrate, thereby readying the C4s for attachment into a final assembly.
A third embodiment of the method of the present invention includes the steps of (1) flowing C4s onto wafer pads; (2) positioning a non-conductive interposer between the wafer and the substrate so that vias in the interposer are aligned with the contacts on the wafer and substrate, the vias being filled with ECA material; (3) moving the wafer and is the substrate together and applying a predetermined force so that the ECA material conforms to the C4 bumps and pads of the substrate; (4) testing the wafer; and (5) removing the interposer, thereby readying the C4s for attachment into a final assembly.
A fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention includes the steps of (1) providing a lead base on the wafer at each contact point; (2) applying a gold-tin cap, e.g., through a sputtering process, to each lead base; and (3) then adhering an ECA bump to each gold-tin cap. The wafer and substrate are then (4) aligned and forced together with a predetermined pressure. After the wafer is tested, the ECA bump then (5) is removed and the contacts are prepared for final assembly. A modification of this embodiment replaces the lead base with standard C4 solder bumps and ECA material is adhered to the C4s. The wafer and substrate are aligned, then forced together with a predetermined force and tested.
Another method of testing wafers is contemplated in which a finished wafer with aluminum wire bond pads is treated with zincate, nickel, and gold to prepare the metal surface for bonding to a thermoplastic, electrically conductive adhesive and to provide an excellent electrical interface. The ECA is applied, for example, using a photobumping process. The resulting ECA bumps are plasma-etched to roughen the surfaces of the bumps, to create a high surface area contact, and to expose some of the conductive particles by etching away some of the polymer matrix. Palladium is then plated on the roughened surface of the ECA. The wafer is then brought into contact with plated palladium pads on a glass ceramic carrier surface acting as the test probes and dendritic palladium contacts are formed between the palladium probes and the ECA bumps on the wafer pads. After the electrical connection is made, the wafer is tested and known good die are identified. On completion of the testing, the ECA bumps are stripped by wet processing with a solvent such as ethyl benzoate, leaving a gold surface exposed. After dicing, the dies identified as good may be bonded into packages using gold wire.
The above method can be modified by applying the ECA bumps to the test probe fixture instead of to the wafer. In this case, the probe pads are bumped with ECA material which is then plasma etched and plated with palladium. The probe and wafer are then brought together for testing. The resulting structure provides a test probe interface which is mechanically compliant to accommodate tolerances of the probe carrier, ECA bump heights, and wafer contact tolerances and which is capable of forming a high-quality electrical interconnection due to the palladium dendrite growth from the ECA bump surface into the target wafer contact surface.
The above method can be further modified for use with C4 bump wafer processing as follows. After the ball limiting metallurgy (BLM) is deposited on the wafer pads, ECA bumps are formed in place of the C4s. The bumps are plasma etched to roughen the surface and expose the conductive particles. Palladium is then plated on the ECA bump. A test probe having palladium pads on a carrier (formed of glass ceramic, silicon quartz ceramic, or similar material) is brought into contact with the plated ECA bumps on the wafer. Palladium dendrites are formed between the contacts to enhance the electrical contact of the test probe to the compliant conductive bumps. After testing, the die can be diced and assembled to circuit packages using the ECA flip chip attach assembly process or to a chip carrier or board assembly. Alternatively, the ECA bumps can be stripped using a wet process solvent such as ethyl benzoate after which the wafer can be bumped using standard bump metallurgy, diced, and picked yielding the good die and assembled using an appropriate C4 circuit package.
Standard wafers bumped with 97-3 lead-tin can be tested with this approach as well. The mating ECA-bumped test probe carrier pads are brought into intimate contact with the solder-bumped wafer. Dendritic palladium contacts are formed between the palladium-plated ECA bumps of the test probes and the solder bumps on the wafer, allowing a continuous electrical path to form. The fixturing pressure at the contact is such that the resiliency of the ECA material is retained and the solder bump on the wafer is not mechanically damaged. When testing is complete, the interface can be easily separated and the test probes can be reused. The C4 wafer may be cleaned if desired and the wafer can proceed to normal subsequent processing such as dice, pick, and assembly.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention.
The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing. It is emphasized that, according to common practice, the various features of the drawing are not to scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of the various features are arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. Included in the drawing are the following figures:
FIG. 1 illustrates how a dual, in-line package is typically attached to a circuit board, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,239;
FIG. 2 illustrates how the flip-chip solder bump technique can be used to attach a semiconductor die to a circuit board, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,239;
FIG. 3 is a prior art schematic representation of a connection between an integrated circuit chip and a test/burn-in board as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520;
FIG. 4 is a prior art schematic representation of a connection between an integrated circuit chip and a test/burn-in board as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,239;
FIG. 5 illustrates a device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads with dendrites used to electrically and mechanically engage an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) material which is applied to the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 6 illustrates a device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test contacts with gold-plated copper pads used to electrically and mechanically engage an ECA material which is applied to the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 7 illustrates a device according to a third embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads with an ECA material used to electrically and mechanically engage a C4 ball which is applied to the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 8 illustrates a device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, including (a) a test substrate having test pads, (b) an interposer having vias filled with an ECA material, and (c) a C4 ball which is applied to the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 9 illustrates a device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads used to electrically and mechanically engage an ECA material which is applied, through a gold-tin cap and lead base, to the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 10 illustrates a device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads used to electrically and mechanically engage an ECA material which is applied to a C4 ball on the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 11 illustrates a device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads used to electrically and mechanically engage the palladium dendrites formed on an ECA material which is applied to the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 12 illustrates a device according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads on which are formed palladium dendrites atop an ECA material, with the dendrites used to electrically and mechanically engage the chip pads of the wafer to be tested;
FIG. 13 illustrates a device according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, including a test substrate having test pads on which are formed palladium dendrites atop an ECA material, with the dendrites used to electrically and mechanically engage the C4 balls of the wafer to be tested; and
FIG. 14 illustrates a device similar to the fourth embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 8, but with an alternative arrangement of the thin precious metal layers.
Because there are so many test points on a wafer, and the connections between the test module and the test points must be electrically sound, metals have been used to form the connections. But metals are stiff, by nature, and do not permit much variation in the vertical or Z-axis. Electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) materials are conductive, flexible, and can be dispensed to form the small features demanded by C4 technology. The present invention incorporates such ECA materials to achieve these advantages.
Typically, ECA materials are formed from a thermoplastic component dissolved in an organic solvent. The preferred ECA incorporates a polyimide-siloxane thermoplastic because of its high temperature stability, high adhesion, mechanical strength, elasticity, and high solubility in organic solvents. The solvent may include n-methylprilodone, xylene, and more preferably acetophenone. An oxygen scavenger or other type of deoxidizer may be added to the dissolved thermoplastic to improve the connection between particles during curing. Flux components such as the oxygen scavenger should be the "no-clean" type of fluxes which vaporize or leave an inert residue after curing. Although most have not been tested with the present invention, flux components that may be useful include abietic acid, adipic acid, ascorbic acid, acrylic acid, citric acid, maleic acid, polyacrylic acid, or other organic acids with an electron-withdrawing group such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, sulfur, nitrile, hydroxyl, or benzyl groups.
Silver flakes are formed by mechanically flattening silver particles in a press to produce a powder containing a high ratio of flakes to particles. (Alternatively, copper flakes may be used.) The particles may be suspended in an expanding air flow to categorize them by air resistance. Then the air-resistance categorized particles are sorted by size to separate flakes from much smaller compact particles. The flakes are mixed into the dissolved thermoplastic until sufficient to form an isotropically conductive joining ECA material during subsequent curing. Silver flakes have a very low percolation threshold at which time the material switches from a high-resistance material to a very low-resistance material. The theoretical percolation threshold for silver flakes that are three times as wide as they are thick is only about 16% by volume (about 25% by weight). More preferably, the ECA material has as many particles as allowed for screening. The preferred range is about 60 to about 90% silver flakes by weight, more preferably about 70 to about 85% silver flakes. Preferably, the average width of the flakes is at least two times and more preferably three times the average thickness of the flakes. Although the preferred ECA material has been described as a polyimide-siloxane thermoplastic dissolved in an organic solvent with silver flakes mixed into the dissolved thermoplastic, the present invention can use a commercially available ECA such as the materials marketed under the trade names Diemat and Staystik.
Although ECA materials bond well to a variety of substances, it has been discovered that such materials bond best to noble metals. Accordingly, a coating of noble metal may be required on the surface of the component to which the ECA material will bond to assure reliable connection using either thermoplastic or thermoset ECA materials. The noble metal may be gold, silver, platinum, or palladium. A nickel-gold alloy may be preferable.
The ECA material may be applied, through a process called "photobumping," to a semiconductor wafer using a screening machine with a screening head and nozzle. First, the thermoplastic material is dissolved in the organic solvent. Silver particles are formed, optionally coated with gold, and mixed into the dissolved thermoplastic until the paste (which is the consistency of toothpaste) is isotropically electroconductive. Next, provided are the following components: a semiconductor wafer with a photoresist coating having holes exposing gold pads; a screening head with a piston and an elongated nozzle; a screening machine to move the head; a source of pressurized air; and a holder to seal the nozzle.
The wafer is placed in a fixture and located in the screening machine. The nozzle is lowered in the Z-direction and a certain amount of force is applied to keep blades in intimate contact with the photoresist on the wafer. The blades are thin to conform to the photoresist surface without leaking. Pneumatic pressure is applied through an aperture to the piston and, therefore, the ECA material is forced through the blade openings and into the holes formed in the photoresist. The screening machine moves the nozzle laterally. The ECA material is forced into the holes in the photoresist as the nozzle travels over the features of the wafer. If several passes are needed, the screening machine stops and reverses direction and returns to its original position.
More specifically, paste is introduced into the enclosure below the piston, the nozzle is unsealed by lifting it from the holder, the nozzle is moved to and placed on the planar surface of the photoresist, pressurized air is introduced above the piston to pressurize the paste, the nozzle is moved laterally across the surface then moved in the opposite direction, air above the piston is depressurized to depressurize the paste, and the nozzle is lifted off the surface. The nozzle may then be rotated (e.g., ninety degrees) and returned to the surface to repeat application of the paste. Finally, the nozzle is moved to the holder and sealed by pressing down on the holder.
Referring now to the figures of the drawing which illustrate the present invention, in FIG. 5 the wafer 30 has had ECA bumps 33 dispensed and cured on the precious metal layer 31 on chip pads 32. The test substrate 36 has conductive test pads 35 that each have conductive dendrites 34. Test pads 35 may be made of copper. Dendrites 34 are essentially vertical members extending outwardly from a generally planar area of electrically conductive material such as test pads 35. The dendrites 34 may be produced by a columnar growth process and generally have an aspect ratio, of vertical to horizontal dimensions, of at least about 3:1 to 12:1. The height of the dendrites 34 above the planar area of test pads 35 is typically about 5 to 20 micrometers.
Dendrites 34 are high-surface area connectors. One suitable structure for dendrites 34 is (1) a smooth, thin-film, underlayer of, for example, palladium; and (2) a porous, columnar palladium overlayer. Optionally, a gold layer may be placed atop the porous palladium layer for bonding. Such dendrites are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, gold plated copper pads 37 can be formed on the test pads 35 instead of dendrites 34. The ECA material bonds well to a variety of substances, especially noble metals such as gold and palladium; palladium dendrites 34 allow the underlying ECA material to bond well to even more substances.
To test the entire wafer 30, an alignment is performed between wafer 30 and test substrate 36. The two components are moved together and a predetermined force is applied. The pressure (e.g., 100 to 200 psi) may be applied at elevated temperatures (e.g., 200 to 240� C.) and for a specific time (e.g., 5 to 240 seconds). The ECA bumps 33 of FIG. 5 conform to the variances in wafer chip pads 32 and substrate test pads 35. After testing is completed, a solvent is applied to dissolve and remove the ECA material from the wafer 30. Thus, removal of the tested wafer 30 from the test substrate 36 is possible. ECA material can again be applied to wafer 30 or 97-3 lead-tin solder can be added before the wafer is prepared for normal dicing and picking.
The ECA 33 remains flexible and will readily stick to a substrate 36 whether the substrate 36 is flexible or rigid, thus minimizing stress on the chip pads 32 which may arise from any differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the chip pads 32 and the substrate 36. The ECA 33 may be applied by any suitable mechanism, including rolling or spreading. The ability of the ECA material to conform to variances in the Z-axis allows an entire wafer 30 to be tested at once. In addition, because the testing operation occurs before depositing C4s on the wafer 30, two reflowing operations of the C4s, before and after testing, are not necessary.
The test module can be designed to allow 100% functional testing of the die as well as burn-in. Dies that successfully complete the test and burn-in process are considered to be "known good dies." Finally, a solvent is applied to remove the known good die from the test device which can then be used immediately in a flip-chip configuration and affixed to an MCM or other circuit board.
FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which ECA bumps 43 are deposited on conductive test pads 45 of test substrate 46. A thin precious metal layer 44 is provided on conductive test pads 45. C4 balls 49 are provided on chip pads 42 of wafer 40. A thin precious metal layer 41 is provided on C4 balls 49. Wafer 40 and test substrate 46 are aligned and forced together for testing. During this process, the ECA material conforms to C4 balls 49 of wafer 40 without damaging them. After testing, the ECA material 43 is washed off the test substrate 46 with a solvent. The wafer 40, with prepared C4 balls 49, then is ready for immediate dicing and picking. The process step of reflowing C4 balls 49 is unnecessary because they are not damaged by the ECA bumps 43; C4 balls 49 are not indented by the material of ECA bumps 43. Thin precious metal layer 41 will be absorbed into reflowed solder when it is joined to a substrate or card.
In FIG. 8, the ECA material is provided as ECA slugs 53 which reside in vias 51 of a non-conductive interposer 58. Vias 51 are aligned with C4 balls 59 which are provided on chip pads 52 of wafer 50. A thin precious metal layer 54 is provided on C4 balls 59. Wafer 50, non-conductive interposer 58, and test substrate 56 (which has test pads 55 and a thin precious metal layer 57) are aligned and then forced together with a predetermined force. The ECA material 53 conforms to both C4 balls 59 and test pads 55, forming a secure electrical connection during the test procedure. After testing, the wafer 50 and test substrate 56 are easily separated. Test substrate 56 and non-conductive interposer 58 can be reused.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 14, thin precious metal layers 54, 57 may be disposed directly on the faces of ECA slug 53 which resides in via 51 of non-conductive interposer 58. The material used to form ECA slug 53 in this alternative embodiment preferably has more silicone, to enhance resiliency and provide higher resistance, than does the ECA material of other embodiments. Dendrites, such as dendrites 34 illustrated in FIG. 5, might be disposed directly on the faces of ECA slug 53 rather than thin precious metal layers 54, 57.
In FIG. 9, the wafer 60 has a plurality of lead is bases 62 which have thin tin or precious metal caps 64. ECA bumps 63 are disposed on the caps 64 of respective lead bases 62. The caps 64 are applied using a sputtering process, after which the ECA bumps 63 are added. Before the test procedure, the wafer 60 and test substrate 66 (which has test pads 65 and may also have a thin precious metal layer 67) are aligned and forced together to provide a good electrical connection at each contact point.
In FIG. 10, the wafer 70 is provided with standard C4 balls 79 having a thin precious metal layer 71. C4 balls 79 have ECA bumps 73 disposed on them. During testing, the ECA bumps 73 are brought into contact with the substrate metallizations or test pads 75, which are provided with a thin precious metal layer 74 and are formed on the test substrate 76.
Wafer-level tests for generation of known good dies present a challenge for both wire bond and C4 technologies (discussed in the "Background" section above). It is difficult to bring test probes into contact with the conductive metal pads of the wafer to test the die functions without damaging the metal pad surfaces and rending those surfaces unsuited for subsequent bonding to the circuit package. The process step of attaching C4 balls to either wire bond wafer pads or for flip-chip technology wafers risks damage to the balls. Wire bond wafer pads, which are normally aluminum, must be further processed to create a gold surface on the ball-limiting metallurgy (BLM) to accept deposit of the C4 balls. After testing, the C4 balls must be removed to allow for normal wire bonding. These added pre- and post-processing steps are cumbersome and expensive. In the case of C4 technology, the balls are often damaged during testing and must be reflowed again to reform their spherical shape for subsequent circuit packaging. The various embodiments of the method and device of the present invention simplify known good die testing procedures for both wire bond wafers and C4 wafers.
FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which the wafer 80 is provided with ECA bumps 83. Specifically, the ECA bumps 83 are applied to the chip pads 82 of wafer 80. A thin precious metal layer 81 is applied to the chip pads 82. The ECA bumps 83 may be applied using the photobumping process, and will typically have the preferred composition, described above. ECA bumps 83 may be plasma etched to increase their surface area at the microscopic level and to remove portions of the polymer, thereby exposing some of the conductive particles contained in the material and creating a dendritic form. After etching, the ECA bumps 83 are plated with a layer of palladium 84 to form a dendritic palladium layer.
Palladium test pads 85 are formed on the test substrate 86, which is preferably a glass ceramic carrier surface. Test substrate 86 and its test pads 85 act as test probes. Wafer 80 is brought into contact with test substrate 86 and dendritic palladium contacts are formed between the palladium test pads 85 and the palladium layer 84 on ECA bumps 83 of wafer 80. Known good die may be identified from subsequent tests.
When the wafer 80 to be tested is finished with aluminum wire bond pads, these pads are treated with zincate, nickel, and gold before applying the ECA bumps 83 to prepare the metal for bonding to the ECA material. After testing of the wafer 80 is completed, the ECA bumps 83 are stripped by wet processing with a solvent such as ethyl benzoate. The gold surface from the earlier wafer processing is then exposed. Wafer 80 is then diced and known good individual die may be bonded into packages using gold wire.
When the wafer 80 is a C4 bump wafer, ECA bumps 83 replace the C4 bumps, at least during testing. The ECA material is photobumped after the BLM (not shown) has been deposited on the chip pads 82 of wafer 80 but before application of the 97-3 lead-tin bump metallurgy. Instead, the ECA bumps are formed. After testing, the die can be diced and assembled to a chip carrier or board assembly in a circuit package using the ECA flip-chip attach assembly process. Alternatively, the ECA bumps 83 can be stripped using a wet process solvent such as ethyl benzoate. Wafer 80 can then be bumped using the 97-3 lead-tin standard bump metallurgy, diced, and picked, yielding the good die which can then be assembled using an appropriate C4 circuit package.
The method and device of the present invention eliminate several problems with conventional processes. First, the ECA bumps 83 are compliant to absorb the co-planarity tolerances of the solder bumps, test probes (which typically have platinum tips), and probe carriers upon mating of the probes to the bumps. Second, the palladium plating forms dendrites which penetrate into the test probe pads on the glass ceramic carrier to provide a consistently high-quality electrical contact with low contact resistance. Oxide formation on the bumps during conventional processes can cause wide variations in the electrical contact resistance between the probe and the solder. Finally, the processing for preparation of the wafers for packaging after testing consists of simple wet processing steps for wire bond wafers, no additional steps for wafers using the ECA bumps 83 for packaging interconnection, or simple wet processing followed by standard C4 application where C4 solder bumps are desired. Additional high-temperature processing may be required, during conventional processes, to prepare the tested wafers for subsequent circuit packaging.
FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate a device similar to that shown in FIG. 11. The main difference between the devices is that the ECA bumps 93, in FIGS. 12 and 13, are formed on the test substrate 96 rather than on the wafer 90. Test substrate 96 is a test probe comprised of a glass ceramic carrier and has test pads 95 which correspond with chip pads or contacts 92 on the target wafer 90 (in FIG. 12). The ECA bumps 93 may be formed on test pads 95 (directly on a precious metal layer 97) using the photobumping process. The ECA bumps 93 have a preferred tolerance of about 0.0005 inches.
The test substrate 96 with its ECA bumps 93 is exposed to plasma to etch away some of the polymer matrix of ECA bumps 93. The etching process exposes the conductive metal particles of the ECA bumps 93 and roughens the surface of ECA bumps 93, creating a high surface contact area. The ECA bumps are then selectively plated with a palladium layer 94. The resulting structure provides a test probe interface which is mechanically compliant—to accommodate tolerances of the probe carrier, ECA bump heights, and wafer contacts—and which is capable of forming a high-quality electrical interconnection due to palladium dendrite growth from the surface of ECA bumps 93 into the chip pads or contacts 92 (through thin precious metal layer 91 ) on the target wafer 90. When testing is complete, the interface can be easily separated and the test probe can be reused.
When the target wafer 90 is a wire bond wafer, as illustrated in FIG. 12, it will typically be provided with aluminum wire bond pads 92. These may be tested directly by bringing the mating test substrate 96 with palladium-treated ECA bumps 93 into intimate contact with the aluminum wire bond pads 92 with sufficient pressure to form a continuous electrical path between the test substrate 96 and the wafer 90. The silver-palladium-aluminum metals provide the electrical contact at the interface. The compliance of the ECA material accommodates the mechanical tolerances to allow the continuous electrical path to be formed. The fixturing pressure at the contact is such that the resiliency of the ECA material is retained and the aluminum surface of the wafer is not mechanically damaged. If a better electrical interface is required, wafer 90 can be further treated before testing with zincate, nickel, and gold to prepare the metal surface for bonding to the ECA-palladium interface. When testing is complete, the interface can be easily separated and the test probe reused. The wire bond wafer pads can be cleaned, if desired, and the wafer can proceed to normal subsequent processing such as dice and pick.
A target wafer 90 having C4 bumps 99, typically 97-3 lead-tin coated with a thin precious metal layer 91, is shown in FIG. 13. Such wafers 90 can also be tested according to the method of the present invention. The ECA-bumped test substrate 96 is brought into intimate contact with the solder-bumped wafer. Dendritic palladium contacts are formed between the palladium layer 94 of the ECA bumps is 93 and the C4 solder bumps 99 on wafer 90, allowing a continuous electrical path to form. The fixturing pressure at the contact is such that the resiliency of the ECA material is retained and solder bumps 99 on wafer 90 are not mechanically damaged. Wafer 90 may be cleaned after testing and the wafer can proceed to normal subsequent processing such as dicing, picking, and assembly.
Various structures are known in the art for applying a predetermined force to move the chip and the test substrate together and align the ECA material with the test pads. Such structures can also remove the force and separate the ECA material from the test pads. The person of ordinary skill in the art will also be familiar with various apparatus suitable for performing a known good die test. U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520 illustrates several of these structures and apparatus and its teachings of those components are incorporated by reference.
Although illustrated and described herein with reference to certain specific embodiments, the present invention is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Mar 23, 1987
|Mar 7, 1989
|Motorola, Inc.
|Semiconductor die bonding with conductive adhesive
|Apr 18, 1990
|Apr 16, 1991
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Non-destructure method of performing electrical burn-in testing of semiconductor chips
|Sep 13, 1990
|Feb 11, 1992
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Direct attachment of semiconductor chips to a substrate with a substrate with a thermoplastic interposer
|Jun 11, 1993
|May 30, 1995
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and apparatus for testing of integrated circuit chips
|Apr 25, 1994
|Aug 8, 1995
|Rockwell International Corporation
|Transferable solder bumps for interconnect and assembly of MCM substrates
|Feb 14, 1994
|Apr 16, 1996
|Microelectronics And Computer Technology Corporation
|Compliant electrically connective bumps for an adhesive flip chip integrated circuit device and methods for forming same
|Feb 2, 1994
|Aug 6, 1996
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Direct chip attachment (DCA) with electrically conductive adhesives
|May 24, 1995
|Aug 13, 1996
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Circuit board having a defined volume of solder or conductive adhesive deposited at interconnection sites for electrical circuits
|Jun 23, 1995
|Nov 26, 1996
|Industrial Technology Research Institute
|Connection construction and method of manufacturing the same
|May 1, 1995
|Nov 26, 1996
|Micron Technology, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for testing unpackaged semiconductor dice
|Dec 11, 1995
|Mar 18, 1997
|Dow Corning Corporation
|Flip chip silicone pressure sensitive conductive adhesive
|Oct 12, 1994
|Apr 29, 1997
|International Business Machines Corp.
|Semi-conductor chip test probe
|Title not available
|Title not available
|Title not available
|Title not available
|Title not available
|IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 32, No. 10B (Mar. 1990) pp. 474-477.
|IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 33, No. 1A (Jun. 1990) pp. 124-125.
|M. Nealon, "C4: A Legacy Technology for the Future", IBM MicroNews (1996).
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Feb 13, 2001
|Jun 4, 2002
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Circuit trace probe and method
|Feb 9, 2001
|Apr 29, 2003
|Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum, Vzw
|Flip-chip assembly of semiconductor devices using adhesives
|Dec 7, 2000
|Feb 22, 2005
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Multi-chip stack and method of fabrication utilizing self-aligning electrical contact array
|Dec 4, 2003
|Jul 26, 2005
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Multi-chip stack and method of fabrication utilizing self-aligning electrical contact array
|May 13, 2008
|Jun 2, 2009
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Conductive adhesive for thinned silicon wafers with through silicon vias
|Feb 3, 2014
|Sep 29, 2015
|Xilinx, Inc.
|Solder bump structure with enhanced high temperature aging reliability and method for manufacturing same
|Dec 27, 2002
|Sep 18, 2003
|Seiko Epson Corporation
|Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same, circuit board and electronic equipment
|Apr 10, 2003
|Oct 16, 2003
|Nec Electronics Corporation
|Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same
|Dec 4, 2003
|Jun 10, 2004
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Multi-chip sack and method of fabrication utilizing self-aligning electrical contact array
|Jan 19, 2012
|Chroma Ate Inc.
|Test fixture for testing semiconductor die with its loading member maintained flat throughout the test
|U.S. Classification
|324/755.09, 324/762.04
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Dec 15, 2004
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Feb 9, 2009
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|Jul 31, 2009
|Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees
|Sep 22, 2009
|Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee
Effective date: 20090731


text:
You may also like: Big Apples Bagels or Bruegger's Bagels
Atlanta Bread Company Locations, Interactive Maps, Phone, Website and More
All Brands » Atlanta Bread Company
Atlanta Bread Company is a bakery/café that was originally established in 1993 from an Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, Georgia. In 1995, the company began franchising and expanding across the country. As of late 2003, over 160 locations in 24 states have opened up.The restaurant serves fresh bread, desserts, salads, and a variety of sandwiches and soups.
The motto "The sun never rises twice on our bread" means that the bread is never more than a day old. Leftover breads and bakery items are usually donated to local charities.
International Locations
Interested in purchasing Atlanta Bread Company information?
Related Points of Interest
Bakeries Points of Interest


text:
Season 36, Episode 40 In an Instant
First Aired: April 26, 2013
Examining how lives can change in an instant during a crisis. Included: car accidents; workplace violence; stampedes. Also: an updated report on the Boston Marathon bombing; an interview with soccer player and amputee Bree McMahon, who discusses her recovery story and visits victims of the attack in Boston.
Next On TVSee all »
Fri Oct 28 10:01pm
20/20New ABCI'll Watch30 Watching
Cast & Details See all »
- Premiered: June 6, 1978
- Rating: None
- Premise: A durable newsmagazine mixing investigative pieces with human-interest and celebrity features that's ABC's oldest prime-time series despite its notoriously rocky premiere. (Hosts Robert Hughes and Harold Hayes lasted only that one show.) (more)
Trending TonightSee all »
The Blacklist10:00 pm | NBCI'll Watch316 Watching
Pure Genius10:00 pm | CBSI'll Watch251 Watching
How to Get Away With Murder10:00 pm | ABCI'll Watch232 Watching
Watch This
American Horror Story: Roanoke's Big Twist Explained
Here's how everything changed in "Chapter 6"
Popular Shows
Popular Movies
- 1. War Dogs
- 2. Pete's Dragon
- 3. Sausage Party
- 4. Suicide Squad
- 5. Star Trek Beyond
- 6. Jason Bourne
- 7. Captain America: Civil War
Popular Celebrities
- 1. Rami Malek
- 2. Taylor Schilling
- 3. Constance Zimmer
- 4. Emilia Clarke
- 5. Tom Hiddleston
- 6. Kit Harington
- 7. Gina Rodriguez


text:
A Memoir And Fantasy Of HollywoodTom Wilson, the actor, comedian, and writer best known for playing "Biff" in the classic movie "Back To The Future," goes on an unplanned adventure after meeting fellow actor Clayton Moore, the man who played The Lone Ranger on T.V., experienced the pitfalls of pop celebrity, and most notably, died over a decade ago. In stories of the past that careen from Ethel Merman on Broadway to John Belushi
$2.99Life can take you by surprise, it can also put you through hell. My fate was never my own to deal with. It was ruined before I even had a chance. It was a rough start and it hasn't gotten much better. Hiding behind the walls of my room is how I get through each day. Destroyed doesn't even begin to describe the way my life has been.Finally, I get away and things are looking up. Of course nothing
$11.99"Human beings fear the unknown. So, whatever's freaking you out, grab it by the balls and say hello. Then it ain't the unknown anymore and it ain't scary. Or I guess it could be a shitload scarier." Fans of the #1 bestseller Sh*t My Dad Says will recognize the always-patient voice of Justin Halpern's dad as it crackles through the pages of this hysterical new book. The story begins when Justin
The Edge (Book 2)New York Times bestselling author J. A. Redmerski brings us the breathtaking sequel to her novel The Edge of Never.When everything falls apart, love remains . . .THE EDGE OF ALWAYSCamryn Bennett has never been happier. Five months after meeting on a Greyhound bus, she and her soul mate Andrew Parrish are engaged-and a wedding isn't the only special event in their future. Nervous but excited,
$9.99A stunning collection from international bestseller Stephen King that displays his phenomenally broad readership (stories published in The New Yorker, Playboy, and McSweeney's and including the 25,000 word story "Gingerbread Girl" published in Esquire).Stephen King—who has written more than fifty books, dozens of number one New York Times bestsellers, and many unforgettable movies—delivers an
The Burke Brothers (Book 3)Bad boy drummer Aidan Burke of Dirty B takes center stage in New York Times bestselling author Emma Hart's hotly anticipated follow-up to Dirty Past and Dirty Secret!Aidan Burke is the perfect rebound guy for Jessie Law after she catches her asshole ex-boyfriend with his hands down some other girl's pants. The world-famous drummer of Dirty B isn't shy about his preference for no-strings-attached
I Hate Everyone...Starting with MeNOW WITH NEW MATERIAL FOR THE PAPERBACK EDITION"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." —Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1850 "How do I hate thee? How much time do you have?" —Joan Rivers, today, about two-ish Joan Rivers, comedienne, actress, jewelry monger, and an award-winning international star (she can sneer in eight different languages) lives by the golden rule: Do unto others before they do
Matchmaker Trilogy (Book 2)Crossed Hearts is the second novel in beloved bestselling author Barbara Delinsky's Matchmaker trilogy about a woman who makes up crossword puzzles for a living-and a man who just might be the answer to L-O-V-E in her life...Leah Gates always enjoys a good challenge-with words or otherwise. Still, she should have known better than to leave New York City for this. Knee-deep mud, lashing rain, a
The Art of Men (I Prefer Mine al Dente)John Travolta. Parker Stevenson. Ted Danson. Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Kelsey Grammer. Patrick Swayze. Woody Allen. Woody Harrelson. And many others. . . . In three decades in Hollywood, Kirstie Alley has lived with, worked with, loved, or lost all of these men, and in this revealing memoir, she peels back the layers (and sometimes the sheets) on her relationships with all of them. From the early days
Warriors (Book 1)Charlene Groome begins a spirited new series with this riveting introduction to the Warriors, a hockey team whose star player has game both on and off the ice—until their new skating coach changes everything. . .Ty Caldwell is one of the Warriors' most valuable players—and one of Vancouver's most eligible bachelors. His moves are part of his charm, so he's surprised by how strongly he's drawn to
My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away"This book is about men I have known, in both the Platonic and Biblical senses. Some I knew only slightly, some quite well. Some I'll love always, some I no longer like very much, and there are a few I'd like to strip naked, tie to a Maypole, smear with sweet syrup near a beehive, then stand back and watch. I'll describe a goodly number of these hot dudes—and duds—keeping the nicest man for last
$11.99In his second book, Adam Carolla—author of New York Times bestseller In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks and chart-topping podcaster—reveals all the stories behind how he came to be the angry middle-aged man he is today. Funnyman Adam Carolla is known for two things: hilarious rants about things that drive him crazy and personal stories about everything from his hardscrabble childhood to his


text:
Jobs in Peterstone
Your search for 'Jobs in Peterstone' resulted in no matches.
Email me jobs like this
Shift Engineer BLUS41848
Posted 13 October by Blue Octopus
Sous Chef / New Restaurant / Permanent
Posted 17 October by Recruit 500 Featured
Operations Assistant
Posted 12 October by Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited
Chef De Partie
Posted Yesterday by Recruit 500 Featured New
Meter Technician
Posted Yesterday by Reed Featured New
Meter Technician
Posted Yesterday by Reed Featured New
Process Technologist BLUP42153
Posted Yesterday by Blue Octopus New
Retail Merchandiser - Morrisons Fakenham
Posted 12 October by Dee Set Featured
Full Time Support Worker / Care Assistant - Day Service
Posted 11 October by networx Featured
Cook - North Norfolk Coast - £18,500
Posted 11 October by Contract Personnel Limited
Sous Chef
Posted 11 October by Select Appointments
Bar and Cellar Manager
Posted 11 October by Select Appointments
Operations Assistant
Posted 30 September by Swanstaff Recruitment Ltd
Email me jobs like this
Optical Assistant - Fakenham, Norfolk
Posted 6 days ago by Network Healthcare Professionals
Chef De Partie - North Norfolk Coast - Competitive Salary
Posted 1 week ago by Contract Personnel Limited
CDP - Brancaster Staithe
Posted 14 October by OSR Recruitment Services
Class 1 Bulk Tipper
Posted 1 week ago by Interaction Recruitment
Agency Support Worker
Posted 1 week ago by Interaction Recruitment
Office Manager
Posted 7 October by Operations Resources
Chartered Tax Accountant
Posted 5 October by Prima Ardelle - NORWICH
Sous Chef
Posted 5 October by Recruit 500 Featured
Sous Chef, Brancaster Staithe
Posted 14 September by OSR Recruitment Services
Cleaning Operative
Posted 29 September by Norwich Hospitality & Leisure Featured
Support Worker
Posted 27 September by CF Social Work
Office Administrator
Posted 26 September by Sowerbys Holiday Cottages
Email me jobs like this
Email me jobs like this
Sign in to create your email job alert.
Replace a saved search
Replace a saved search
Shortlisted job limit
You have reached your limit of 100 shortlisted jobs. To save more, please delete some of your existing shortlisted jobs. View shortlisted jobs


text:
Dicker (surname)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dicker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
- Cintia Dicker (born 1986), Brazilian model
- Fred Dicker (21st century), American radio host
- Fredric U. Dicker (21st century), American columnist
- Gary Dicker (born 1986), Irish footballer
- John Dicker (1815-1895), English cricketer
- Ruth Dicker (1919-2004), American painter
- Samuel Dicker (died 1760), English politician
See also[edit]
- Dicker-Brandeis
- Rick Dicker a minor character from The Incredibles
|This page or section lists people with the surname Dicker. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.