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This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a MEMS capacitive accelerometer with an asymmetrical comb finger arrangement. By optimizing the ratio of the gaps of a rotor finger to its two adjacent stator fingers, the sensitivity of the accelerometer is maximized for the same comb finger area. With the fingers' length, width, and depth at 120 μm, 4 μm, and 45 μm, respectively, the optimized finger gap ratio is 2.5. The area of the proof mass is 750 μm × 560 μm, which leads to a theoretical thermomechanical noise of 9 μg/√Hz. The accelerometer has been fabricated using a modified silicon-on-glass (SOG) process, in which a groove is pre-etched into the glass to hold the metal electrode. This SOG process greatly improves the silicon-to-glass bonding yield. The measurement results show that the resonant frequency of the accelerometer is about 2.05 kHz, the noise floor is 28 μg/√Hz, and the nonlinearity is less than 0.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nour Amin Elsahoryi,1 Hadil Shafee Subih,2 Fadwa Hammouh,3 Fwziah Jammal Hammad2 1Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, The University of Petra, Jordan; 2Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid Jordan; 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Madaba, Madaba, JordanCorrespondence: Nour Amin Elsahoryi, Email nour.elsahoryi@uop.edu.joAim: This study aimed to determine the current stage of change (SOG) toward seven healthy eating behaviors and two healthy lifestyle behaviors related to blood pressure (BP) control. The lifestyle behaviors included smoking Behavior and practicing regular exercise, while the dietary behaviors included the DASH diet guidelines.Methods: A total of 1109 outpatients participated in this cross-sectional study that was conducted between 2021 and 2022 in Jordan. A staging algorithm assessed SOG for several BP control-related behaviors for diagnosed hypertension patients. Data were collected by a structured interview-based questionnaire.Results: There was a high degree of maintenance toward consuming diets with high grains, fruit, vegetables, meat, and poultry, less saturated fat, and more low-fat dairy products. More than half of the participants were in the pre-action stage for quitting smoking, practicing physical exercise, and consuming sweets and added sugars. Significant associations were observed between the degree of maintenance for several behaviors (p < 0.01). Age, income, education level, disease duration, and nutrition consultation availability were the most related factors to the SOG of the studied behaviors (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Patients with hypertension in Jordan are still in the pre-action stages for quitting smoking, practicing physical exercise, and consuming 5 servings of refined sweets and added sugars weekly. The current outcome suggests a need for nutritional counseling, education, and interventions to raise awareness of lifestyle factors influencing BP among hypertension patients.Keywords: hypertension, stage of change, SOG, health behavior

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a MEMS capacitive accelerometer with an asymmetrical comb finger arrangement. By optimizing the ratio of the gaps of a rotor finger to its two adjacent stator fingers, the sensitivity of the accelerometer is maximized for the same comb finger area. With the fingers’ length, width, and depth at 120 μm, 4 μm, and 45 μm, respectively, the optimized finger gap ratio is 2.5. The area of the proof mass is 750 μm × 560 μm, which leads to a theoretical thermomechanical noise of 9 μg/√Hz. The accelerometer has been fabricated using a modified silicon-on-glass (SOG) process, in which a groove is pre-etched into the glass to hold the metal electrode. This SOG process greatly improves the silicon-to-glass bonding yield. The measurement results show that the resonant frequency of the accelerometer is about 2.05 kHz, the noise floor is 28 μg/√Hz, and the nonlinearity is less than 0.5%.

Cast-mono silicon material is interesting for its lower carbon footprint compared to Czochralski (Cz) monocrystalline silicon. However, solar cells fabricated using cast-mono (CM) silicon show lower performances. In this work, two routes to make cast-mono silicon advantageous over Cz silicon are considered. The first route is to further reduce carbon footprint of cast-mono silicon, by using Upgraded Metallurgical Grade silicon (UMG-Si) feedstock instead of Solar Grade silicon (SoG-Si) feedstock. TOPCon solar cells are fabricated using both feedstocks, and cast-mono growth technology, using industrial-type furnaces. Laboratory studies show that UMG-Si can result in efficiencies higher than solar cells made of SoG-Si when feeding the material to a CM crystallization process. But when compared to Cz, CM-UMG-Si TOPCon solar cells conversion efficiency values are still 0.5%abs lower. The second route is to take advantage of the TOPCon passivation layer (e.g., poly-Si) ability to getter metallic impurities, and thus improve the quality of cast-mono material. Several TOPCon sequences are tested and their effect on the carrier recombination properties of the device are studied. In the end, solar cells are fabricated and again, UMG-Si solar cells show better results than SoG-Si solar cells, with efficiency up to 22.65%, independently confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anode bonding is a widely used method for fabricating devices with suspended structures, and this approach is often combined with deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) for releasing the device; however, the DRIE process with a glass substrate can potentially cause two critical issues: heat accumulation on the suspended surface and charging effects resulting from the reflection of charged particles from the glass substrate. In particular, for torsional bars with narrow widths, the heat accumulated on the suspended surface may not dissipate efficiently, leading to photoresist burning and, subsequently, resulting in the fracture of the torsional bars; moreover, once etching is finished through the silicon diaphragm, the glass surface becomes charged, and incoming ions are reflected towards the back of the silicon, resulting in the etching of the back surface. To address these issues, we proposed a method of growing silicon oxide on the back of the device layer. By designing, simulating, and fabricating electrostatic torsional micromirrors with common cavity silicon-on-glass (SOG) structures, we successfully validated the feasibility of this approach. This approach ensures effective heat dissipation on the suspended surface, even when the structure is over-etched for an extended period, and enables the complete etching of torsional bars without adverse effects due to the overheating problem; additionally, the oxide layer can block ions from reaching the glass surface, thus avoiding the charging effect commonly observed in SOG structures during DRIE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anode bonding is a widely used method for fabricating devices with suspended structures, and this approach is often combined with deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) for releasing the device; however, the DRIE process with a glass substrate can potentially cause two critical issues: heat accumulation on the suspended surface and charging effects resulting from the reflection of charged particles from the glass substrate. In particular, for torsional bars with narrow widths, the heat accumulated on the suspended surface may not dissipate efficiently, leading to photoresist burning and, subsequently, resulting in the fracture of the torsional bars; moreover, once etching is finished through the silicon diaphragm, the glass surface becomes charged, and incoming ions are reflected towards the back of the silicon, resulting in the etching of the back surface. To address these issues, we proposed a method of growing silicon oxide on the back of the device layer. By designing, simulating, and fabricating electrostatic torsional micromirrors with common cavity silicon-on-glass (SOG) structures, we successfully validated the feasibility of this approach. This approach ensures effective heat dissipation on the suspended surface, even when the structure is over-etched for an extended period, and enables the complete etching of torsional bars without adverse effects due to the overheating problem; additionally, the oxide layer can block ions from reaching the glass surface, thus avoiding the charging effect commonly observed in SOG structures during DRIE.

We improved the performance of self‐aligned coplanar thin‐Film transistors with SOG Materials. In this work, the composition of TFT's buffer layer was changed by SOG Material to ensure the electrical performance of TFTs and high transparency of panel simultaneously. In addition, the shielding metal layer of self‐aligned top gate TFT was used as auxiliary cathode which can improve the uniformity of large size AMOLED display. We achieved 48% transparency of AMOLED display panel with 80PPI resolution ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a proposal to encode the Old Sogdian script into the Unicode Standard. The script was published in Unicode version 11.0 in 2018. Old Sogdian was used in the Kultobe inscriptions, the 'Ancient Letters' of Dunhuang, China, the upper Indus inscriptions dated from 4-7c CE, and on inscribed coins and vessels from the area of Chach (modern Tashkent, Uzbekistan).

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Background: Neuroelectrophysiological measures such as electroencephalograms (EEGs) in resting state and event-related potentials (ERPs) provide valuable information about the vulnerability and treatment-related changes in persons with alcoholism. This study examined the effectiveness of an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism (IIPA) using electrophysiological measures. Methods: Fifty individuals with early onset of alcohol dependence participated. They were grouped randomly into two: the treatment as usual (TAU) group and the treatment group, matched on age (±1 year) and education (±1 year). eyes closed and resting state EEGs and ERPs on cognitive tasks (flanker task, alcohol Go/No-Go task, and single outcome gambling task) were recorded before and after treatment. The TAU group received pharmacotherapy, six days/week yoga sessions, and three sessions/week group therapy on relapse prevention while the treatment group received IIPA along with usual treatment (except yoga) for 18 days. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups pre-treatment. RM-ANOVA for pre- and post-treatment stages showed a significant difference between the two groups in the absolute power of alpha, beta, theta, and delta, during eye closure, in the resting-state EEGs. The treatment group showed significantly larger N200/N2 amplitude in congruent and incongruent conditions (flanker task), N200/N2 amplitude for alcohol No-Go, P300/P3 amplitude for neutral No-Go on alcohol Go/No-Go task, and outcome-related positivity (ORP) amplitude on single outcome gambling task. Conclusion: This exploratory study suggests that IIPA is effective for enhancing relaxation state and attentiveness, decreasing hyperarousal, and ameliorating neurocognitive dysfunctions of conflict-monitoring, response inhibition, and reward processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-oriented architecture is one of the fields of software engineering that enables a connection between the two systems in a heterogeneous network with different technology. Architectural features include the ability to reuse and agility against future changes. In the service-oriented architecture, one of the most important and fundamental challenge is that despite various code generators that introduced in this field, there are still shortcomings in the various phases of the code generator. In this paper, due to the weaknesses of the code generators in the different phases and that these shortcomings be found in the quality, and production software systems, have to offer a hybrid approach for the introduction of two references to the code generator. In order to use the advantages of the above two code generator, a hybrid code generator (SOG) is offered. Also, in order to increase the efficiency in the production of software systems using the provided code generator, the new features to enhance the security the code generator, increase programming languages supported, multiple formats for the transmission of information between client and server, adding a cryptographic layer and the production of panels for database management is provided on the web. The main objective of this paper is the code generator provides the codes related to service-oriented architecture. In order to assess the ability of the proposed code generator, the code generator is evaluated based on criteria related to different protocols and data transfer between client and server.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation is a monosaccharide post-translational modification maintained by two evolutionarily conserved enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). Mutations in human OGT have recently been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, although the mechanisms linking O-GlcNAc homeostasis to neurodevelopment are not understood. Here, we investigate the effects of perturbing protein O-GlcNAcylation using transgenic Drosophila lines that overexpress a highly active OGA. We reveal that temporal reduction of protein O-GlcNAcylation in early embryos leads to reduced brain size and olfactory learning in adult Drosophila. Downregulation of O-GlcNAcylation induced by the exogenous OGA activity promotes nuclear foci formation of Polycomb-group protein Polyhomeotic and the accumulation of excess K27 trimethylation of histone H3 (H3K27me3) at the mid-blastula transition. These changes interfere with the zygotic expression of several neurodevelopmental genes, particularly shortgastrulation (sog), a component of an evolutionarily conserved sog-Decapentaplegic (Dpp) signaling system required for neuroectoderm specification. Our findings highlight the importance of early embryonic O-GlcNAcylation homeostasis for the fidelity of facultative heterochromatin redeployment and initial cell fate commitment of neuronal lineages, suggesting a possible mechanism underpinning OGT-associated intellectual disability., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Genetics Society of China. All rights reserved.)

Cu-based nanoparticles supported on three different carbon materials including: activated carbon (AC), ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC), and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT) were prepared by ultrasonic assisted incipient-wetness impregnation and evaluated in oxidative carbonylation of methanol under atmosphere pressure. Samples were characterized by BET, XRD, TEM, H 2 -TPR and XPS. The pore structure of carbon supports had significantly affected the location and dispersion of Cu species and the increased surface oxygenated groups promote Cu 2+ reduced to (Cu +  + Cu 0 ). The Cu/OMC catalyst showed superior initial activity than Cu/AC and Cu/CNT catalysts because of smaller particle size of Cu species and moderate amounts of active species. The Cu/CNT catalyst was more stable than Cu/AC and Cu/OMC during the reaction process, and its deactivation is due to the oxidation of the active Cu 2 O and Cu. Unlike Cu/CNT, the deactivation of Cu/OMC and Cu/AC was caused by the oxidation of the active Cu species (Cu 2 O + Cu 0 ) and the increased particle size of Cu species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MEMS fabrication that is based on the silicon-on-glass (SOG) process requires many steps, including patterning, anodic bonding, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE), and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The effects of the process parameters of CMP and DRIE are investigated in this study. The process parameters of CMP, such as abrasive size, load pressure, and pH value of SF1 solution are examined to optimize the total thickness variation in the structure and the surface quality. The ratio of etching and passivation cycle time and the process pressure are also adjusted to achieve satisfactory performance during DRIE. The process is optimized to avoid neither the notching nor lag effects on the fabricated silicon structures. For demonstrating the capability of the modified CMP and DRIE processes, a z-axis micro gyroscope is fabricated that is based on the SOG process. Initial test results show that the average surface roughness of silicon is below 1.13 nm and the thickness of the silicon is measured to be 50 μm. All of the structures are well defined without the footing effect by the use of the modified DRIE process. The initial performance test results of the resonant frequency for the drive and sense modes are 4.048 and 4.076 kHz, respectively. The demands for this kind of SOG MEMS device can be fulfilled using the optimized process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photoluminescence characteristics of films consisting of Si nanocrystals either coated with or embedded into Spin on Glass (SOG) were studied. Si nanocrystals showing red or blue luminescence when suspended in alcohol solution were obtained from porous silicon films. These were then either deposited in Si substrates and coated with SOG, or mixed in an SOG solution that was later spun on Si substrates. Both types of films were thermally annealed at 1100 °C for three hours in N2 atmosphere. Transmission electron microscopy measurements showed a mean diameter of 2.5 nm for the Si nanocrystals, as well as the presence of polycrystalline Si nanoagglomerates. These results were confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies, which revealed the (111), (220) and (311) Bragg peaks in Si nanocrystals. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies showed that the coated films present higher chemical reactivity, promoting the formation of non-stoichiometric SiO2, while the embedded films behave as a stoichiometric SiO2 after the thermal annealing. The PL (photoluminescence) characterization showed that both embedded and coated films present emission dominated by the Quantum Confinement Effect before undergoing any thermal treatment. After annealing, the spectra were found to be modified only in the case of the coated films, due to the formation of defects in the nanocrystals/SiO2 interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photoluminescence characteristics of films consisting of Si nanocrystals either coated with or embedded into Spin on Glass (SOG) were studied. Si nanocrystals showing red or blue luminescence when suspended in alcohol solution were obtained from porous silicon films. These were then either deposited in Si substrates and coated with SOG, or mixed in an SOG solution that was later spun on Si substrates. Both types of films were thermally annealed at 1100 °C for three hours in N2 atmosphere. Transmission electron microscopy measurements showed a mean diameter of 2.5 nm for the Si nanocrystals, as well as the presence of polycrystalline Si nanoagglomerates. These results were confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies, which revealed the (111), (220) and (311) Bragg peaks in Si nanocrystals. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies showed that the coated films present higher chemical reactivity, promoting the formation of non-stoichiometric SiO2, while the embedded films behave as a stoichiometric SiO2 after the thermal annealing. The PL (photoluminescence) characterization showed that both embedded and coated films present emission dominated by the Quantum Confinement Effect before undergoing any thermal treatment. After annealing, the spectra were found to be modified only in the case of the coated films, due to the formation of defects in the nanocrystals/SiO2 interface.

The present study examines the cause of fluorine detection during the corrosion of the TiN antireflection coat (ARC) layer of AlSiCu metal lines. When a crack is generated in the tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) oxide or spin-on-glass (SOG) film of an LSI device, the corrosion of the TiN ARC layer (TiO x N y -oxidation) may occur due to residual moisture inside the device. In this case, concentrated fluorine is detected around the corroded TiN ARC layer by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. Fluorine concentration was correlated with the degree of corrosion on the TiN ARC layer, suggesting the contribution of fluorine to the corrosion of this layer. When a wider distribution of fluorine concentrations was evaluated, however, the concentration of fluorine and the degree of corrosion on the TiN ARC layer did not match; instead, a higher concentration of fluorine was observed near the crack of the TEOS oxide film. The corroded TiN ARC layer of the sample was then removed, and the Al line of the underlying layer was observed. Etching was observed on the Al line surface where a high concentration of fluorine was detected. More specifically, EDX analysis detected that fluorine reacted with the Al line in the underlying layer after diffusion through the TiO x N y film, causing decreased film density due to the corrosion of the TiN ARC layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila melanogaster feeds mainly on rotten fruits, which contain many kinds of sugar. Thus, the sense of sweet taste has evolved to serve as a dominant regulator and driver of feeding behavior. Although several sugar receptors have been described, it remains poorly understood how the sensory input is transformed into an appetitive behavior. Here, we used a neural silencing approach to screen brain circuits, and identified neurons labeled by three Gal4 lines that modulate Drosophila feeding behavior. These three Gal4 lines labeled neurons mainly in the suboesophageal ganglia (SOG), which is considered to be the fly's primary taste center. When we blocked the activity of these neurons, flies decreased their sugar consumption significantly. In contrast, activation of these neurons resulted in enhanced feeding behavior and increased food consumption not only towards sugar, but to an array of food sources. Moreover, upon neuronal activation, the flies demonstrated feeding behavior even in the absence of food, which suggests that neuronal activation can replace food as a stimulus for feeding behavior. These findings indicate that these Gal4-labeled neurons, which function downstream of sensory neurons and regulate feeding behavior towards different food sources is necessary in Drosophila feeding control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we extend the feature descriptor known as Shape of Gaussian (SOG) and we call the new descriptor Extended Shape of Gaussian (ESOG). SOG has a matrix Lie group structure, it use the geodesic distance to measure the difference between two features. First, we decompose geodesic distance on the Lie algebra into two orthogonal components. By adjusting the weights of components, we get a distance sequence. Then we identify that every element in the sequence corresponds to an element of the original Lie group, a matrix. All these matrices form ESOG. Thus the new descriptor utilizes a matrix set rather than one matrix to describe feature. In this view, SOG and region covariance are both special element of ESOG. So we can choose different element from it for different application. Noting that different elements in the ESOG describe a signal in a different view, we propose an adaptive method to select appropriate ESOG element for visual tracking. The element selected by this method is called Adaptive SOG (ASOG). ASOG keeps the advantages of both SOG and region covariance and has better accuracy and robustness under different conditions. Experiments show the tracking results compared with SOG. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A prototype of system-on-glass (SOG) with a novel source driver circuit for electrophoretic displays is proposed. With A.C-common driving and boost circuit, we reduce the source driver to achieve the claim of slim boarder. Source drivers including data shift registers and two-stage latches were demonstrated in a-Si:H backplane with low mobility of 0.14 cm2/V-sec. From measurement, output of the source driver is ± 15V in amplitude with 18 μ sec tr and 9 μ sec tf while the boarder is only 7mm for 110 μ m pixel width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Most embedded optical waveguide biosensors require low dielectric optical material. The prerequisites for such applications include the selection of an appropriate material and effective bio-functionalization. Spin-on glass (SOG) is one of the preferred polymers that can be easily deposited. Further, the chemical properties of the polymer make it amenable for bio-functionalization. This paper reports a detailed study of a protocol for immobilization of antibodies on SOG for possible immunobiosensor applications. The effect of silanization at different pH values on the number of free and usable amine sites was quantified by fluorimetry. Contact angle measurements, ellipsometry, AFM, and fluorescence microscopy was used for assessing the surface properties at various stages of preparation, functionalization and biomolecule immobilization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Polymer spin coating, surface plasma treatment and selective UV-lithography processes have been developed to realize 2.5D photonic micro-resonators, made of disk- or ring-shaped upper rib waveguides, using common polymers such as SU8 (biphenol A ether glycidyl), PS233 (polymeric silane) and SOG (siloxane Spin on Glass). Both oxygen and argon plasma treatments, applied to PS233 and SOG before spin-coating the SU8, improve substantially the grip of multilayer devices (SU8 / PS233 or SU8 / SOG). Surface energy components derived from contact angle measurements have been used to optimize the processing conditions. In such integrated photonic devices, the both single-electromagnetic-modes called transverse electric (TE00) and transverse magnetic (TM00) have been excited in a SU8 micro-disk, with a single mode propagation strongly localized near the edge of the disk (i.e. the so called whispering gallery modes). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Silicone polymer (PDMS), widely used for micro-fluidic and biosensor applications, possesses an extremely dynamic surface after it is subjected to an oxygen plasma treatment process. The surface becomes extremely hydrophilic immediately after oxygen plasma exposure by developing silanol bond (Sih promotes its adhesion to some other surfaces like, silicon, silicon dioxide, glass, etc. Such a surface, if left in ambient dry air, shows a gradual recovery of hydrophobicity. We have found an identical behavior to occur to surfaces coated with a thin continuous film of SOG (methyl silsesquioxane). The chemistry induced by oxygen plasma treatment of a spin-on-glass (SOG) coated surface provides a much higher density of surface silanol groups in comparison to precleaned glass, silicon or silicon dioxide substrates thus providing a higher bond strength with polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS). The bonding protocol developed by using the spin coated and cured SOG intermediate layer provides an universal regime of multi level wafer bonding of PDMS to a variety of substrates. The paper describes a contact angle based estimation of bond strength for SOG and PDMS surfaces exposed to various combinations of plasma parameters. We have found that the highest bond strength condition is achieved if the contact angle on the SOG surface is less than 10°. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Line beam excimer laser annealing (ELA) is a well-known technique for thin Si-film crystallization and established in LTPS mass production. With introduction of sequential lateral solidification (SLS) some aspects such as crystalline quality, throughput and flexibility regarding the substrate size could be improved, but for OLED manufacturing still further process development is necessary. This paper discusses line beam ELA and SLS-techniques that might enable process engineers to make polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) films with a high degree of uniformity and quality as required for system on glass (SOG) and active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLED). Equipment requirements are discussed and compared to previous standards. SEM-images of process examples are shown in order to demonstrate the viability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Drosophila tolloid (tld) and tolloid related (tlr) gene products belong to a family of developmentally important proteases that includes Bone Morphogenetic Protein 1 (Bmp1). Tld is required early in Drosophila development for proper patterning of dorsal embryonic structures, whereas Tlr is required later during larval and pupal stages of development. The major function of Tld is to augment the activity of Decapentaplegic (Dpp) and Screw (Scw), two members of the Bmp subgroup of the Tgfβ superfamily, by cleaving the Bmp inhibitor Short gastrulation (Sog). In this study, we provide evidence that Tlr also contributes to Sog processing. Tlr cleaves Sog in vitro in a Bmp-dependent manner at the same three major sites as does Tld. However, Tlr shows different site selection preferences and cleaves Sog with slower kinetics. To test whether these differences are important in vivo, we investigated the role of Tlr and Tld during development of the posterior crossvein (PCV) in the pupal wing. We show that tlr mutants lack the PCV as a result of too little Bmp signaling. This is probably caused by excess Sog activity, as the phenotype can be suppressed by lowering Sog levels. However, Tld cannot substitute for Tlr in the PCV; in fact, misexpressed Tld can cause loss of the PCV. Reducing levels of Sog can also cause loss of the PCV, indicating that Sog has not only an inhibitory but also a positive effect on signaling in the PCV. We propose that the specific catalytic properties of Tlr and Tld have evolved to achieve the proper balance between the inhibitory and positive activities of Sog in the PCV and early embryo, respectively. We further suggest that, as in the embryo, the positive effect of Sog upon Bmp signaling probably stems from its role in a ligand transport process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkylene groups incorporated porous silica films were prepared by using hydrolysis and condensation of BIS (Triethoxysilyl) Ethelene (BTE). BTE and H2O containing HCl as a catalyst were mixed with organic solvent, 2-Methylpentane-2,4-diol (MPD). FT-IR peaks due to MPD were not observed but Si–C2H4–Si related peaks were still observed in the film even after 450°C vacuum annealing. Electric characteristics were evaluated with an MOS structure. K value does not depend on the annealing temperature below 400°C; however, it was reduced down to 1.9 at 450°C. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Planarization techniques requires a deeper understanding of spin-on-glass (SOG) material behaviour. Besides chemical properties, the cure processes are becoming more and more relevant to achieve a positive impact over microelectronic devices manufacturing flow. In this paper we present a comparative evaluation of different thermal and plasma SOG treatments as detectable by FTIR technique. As far as the vacuum cure is concerned, we found 425‡ C at 300 mTorr a suitable process window. In order to investigate the plasma cure effect on SOG materials we used N plasma connected to either a radio frequency or microwave power generator. We found these plasmas not effective in SOG curing. The O plasma, in a barrel type reactor connected to a radio frequency generator, resulted in both an effective material shrinkage by an ashing reaction, and C elimination by an oxydation reaction. These results, together with the non cumulative effects of plasma and the vacuum cure, represent the more relevant conclusions of our investigation. Thus, the simple vacuum cure process has been found the most suitable for microelectronics manufacturing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]