Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for controlling the etching rate of CoSi.sub.2 layers by adjusting the pH of an HF-based solution to obtain the desired etch rate. The pH of the HF-based solution may be adjusted by adding pH modifying chemicals to the solution. A further aspect of the invention is an improved method for manufacturing Schottky barrier infared detectors employing the controlled etching step. A method for reducing drain induced barrier lowering in an active transistor having a small gate length is also provided.

Abstract: A method for measuring resistance changes is described to study electromigration induced failures in conductive patterns. This method can provide a basis for lifetime predictions based on low value failure criteria, i.e. small resistance changes in the conductive patterns in a limited period of time. Two essentially identical so-called test and reference structures are placed close to each other on the same substrate and submitted to at least one sequence of a stress period and a measurement period. During a stress period, a DC current with a high current density is applied to the test structure thereby enhancing electromigration, while substantially simultaneous an AC current is applied to the reference structure leading to the same amount of power dissipation in said reference structure as the amount of power dissipation in said test structure, introduced by said DC stress current.

Abstract: The present invention may provide a particle detector or imager which may be used for accurate recording of medical (2-D) X-ray images. The imager includes at least one detector panel. The detector panel includes a microgap detector with an array of pixel electrodes of a novel form. Each pixel electrode is insulated from a planar cathode by means of an insulating layer. Each pixel electrode is connected to an underlying contact by means of a via hole in the insulating layer. The insulating layer is preferable conformal with the electrodes. The underlying contact is connected to an electronic measuring element which preferably lies underneath the electrode and is about the same size as the electrode. The measuring element may be a storage device, a digital counter or similar. A switching transistor is connected to the measuring device. The switching transistor may be a thin film transistor. Alternatively, both measuring element and transistor may be formed in a single crystal semiconductor, e.g.

Abstract: An open apparatus is described for the processing of planar thin semiconductor substrates, particularly for the processing of solar cells. The apparatus includes a first zone for the drying and burn-out of organic components from solid or liquid based dopant sources pre-applied to the substrates. The zone is isolated from the remaining zones of the apparatus by an isolating section to prevent cross-contamination between burn-out zone and the remaining processing zones. All the zones of the apparatus may be formed from a quartz tube around which heaters are placed for raising the temperature inside the quartz tube. Each zone may be purged with a suitable mixture of gases, e.g. inert gases such as argon, as well as oxygen and nitrogen. The zones may also be provided with gaseous dopants such as POCl.sub.3 and the present invention includes the sequential diffusion of more than one dopant into the substrates. Some of the zones may be used for driving-in the dopants alternatively, for other processes, e.g.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for forming a spacer, wherein said formation is preferably performed in a single dry etch sequence in a single dry etch tool. In this single dry etch sequence subsequently polysilicon spacers are defined, used as an etch mask and removed. Said etch sequence comprises at least one dry etching step. In case said etch sequence comprises more than one dry etching step, then these etching steps are performed subsequently in the same etch tool without breaking vacuum in said etch tool. In an embodiment of the invention the capability of using a single dry etch sequence for the formation of nitride spacers, using polysilicon spacer masking and the in-situ removal of the remaining polysilicon spacers, is demonstrated.

Abstract: A method of bonding a first substrate (10) to a second substrate (30) is described, comprising the steps of: coating an adhesive (28) onto a first major surface of said first substrate (10); aligning said first and second substrates (10, 30) so that said coated first major surface of said first substrate (10) is facing said second substrate (30) and is separated therefrom by a gap (47); deflecting at least one of said first and second substrates (10, 30) by exerting a pressure between said first and second substrates (10, 30) substantially at the center thereof so that the adhesive coating (28) substantially at the center of said first substrate (10) comes into contact with said second substrate (30); and allowing the remaining parts of said adhesive coated first major surface of said first substrate (10) to come into contact with said second substrate (30). Use of the method to produce composites, in particular transmissive liquid crystal display panels is also described.

Abstract: Measuring an electrical potential in a semiconductor element by applying one or more voltages over the semiconductor element, placing at least one conductor in contact with the semi-conductor element using a scanning proximity microscope while injecting a substantially zero current in the semiconductor element with the conductor, measuring an electrical potential in the conductor while injecting a substantially zero current in the semiconductor element with the conductor, changing the position of the conductor, and repeating the measuring and changing steps.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for fabricating Fully Overlapped Nitride-Etch Defined (Fond) devices. These methods permit the lateral dimension and depth of the lowly-doped source and drain extensions to be independently controlled and well defined.

Abstract: Selected code is modeled in a polyhedral dependency graph (PDG). A placement optimizer maps each element of the PDG to an optimally placed PDG. An ordering optimizer maps the placed PDG to an optimally ordered PDG. The PDG, place PDG, and ordered PDG are combined to produce a transformation script. The transformation script is applied to the selected specification description to produce optimized selected code. Optimized selected code is combined with original code to generate a control-flow optimized code. In addition, memory directives are derived from the ordered PDG model. The memory directives and optimized code are used to generate target code for simulation or software compilation.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for compressing digital data, such as the digital representation of a colored image. A scanning routine is described which aims to maintain the integrity of regions of the image that the human visual system also finds important. Pixel data from the image data includes color components, e.g., intensities of three or more colors such as red, green and blue or cyan, magenta and yellow. When the color components of the pixels are represented in color space, the axes of which are the three color components with the intensities thereof as variables, it has been found experimentally, particularly for artificial or synthetic images, that significant regions in the image tend to produce clusters of points in color space. In accordance with the invention, the color space is scanned by a space filling curve to convert the coordinates in color space into a one dimensional matrix such as a histogram. If certain types of space filling curves are used, e.g.

Abstract: A photon-emission microscope method and system are described which allow both emission spot localization and continuous spectral analysis of the emited light from the emission spot of a biased electronic circuit. The system includes an emission microscope, a detector and an in-line, direct vision, chromatically dispersing prismatic device. The microscope system advantageously uses only one detector which does not need to be moved to be able to detect both the localization and spectral images. In a particular embodiment, localization of emission spots may be performed using monochromatic light which allows sharp images of the electronic circuit despite the fact that the electronic circuit is viewed through the dispersing device. Further, an improved procedure is described for overcoming errors caused by saturation of the detector at high sensitivities.

Abstract: The present invention is a method for programming SSI cells or an array of said cells. The method achieves very fast programming while consuming only a very small amount of power, which paves the way for new applications such as battery-operated systems, page-mode programming for very high data throughput. The method also allows for the bitline voltage to be increased internally on the chip in order to circumvent the efficiency decrease associated with supply voltage scaling. By exploring the SSI mechanism in the subthreshold regime, an optimum value for the CG voltage is found for which the gate current is no longer maximized, but the energy consumed from the power supply is minimized and the injection efficiency during programming is maximized. The programming of a memory cell in this regime, where the gate current is a very steep function of the CG voltage, is, however, still achieved in a few microseconds while consuming only a very small cell current in the range of nanoamperes.

Abstract: Chemically sensitive sensors, suitable for detecting analytes in fluids (in gaseous or liquid phase), characterised in that the chemically sensitive sensors comprise a chemically sensitive probe, which comprises one or a blend of several arylene alkenylene oligomers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for receiving and converting spread spectrum signals is disclosed. The method and apparatus allow the receiving of spread spectrum signals and different frequency bands substantially simultaneously on the same chain of hardware components. The received signals are processed on the chain of hardware components and the resulting signal thereafter can further be used within an electronic circuit. The method includes the steps of converting analog signals into a lower frequency digital signal. The conversion step includes capturing a plurality of incoming signals within a predetermined spectral range, filtering out of the incoming signals a first plurality of analog spread spectrum signals in a plurality of analog spread spectrum signals in a plurality of predetermined bands with predetermined widths, and sampling the analog signals with a sampling frequency F.sub.s wherein F.sub.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for obtaining a read-out signal of a MOS-based pixel structure having at least a photosensitive element with an output node and a memory element with a first switch therebetween. The method comprises the steps of while acquiring charge carriers on said output node of said photosensitive element, said charge carriers being converted from electromagnetic radiation on the photosensitive element, after a first time period creating a first signal, and after a second time period, creating a second signal, said read-out signal being a combination of at least said first and said second signals.According to the present invention, there is no limitation to the amount of collected charges in none of the integrated periods. The signal collected during the first period is memorized by a switch which shortly opens and closes between the period. The switch is thus in the same state in both period of time. After a second period, there are thus two charge packets, each obtained during a different time.

Abstract: Gastrointestinal probe (2) comprising a sensitive material (4) which is able to be connected to electrical or optical readout devices or measurement devices (10) such that the sensitive material (4) undergoes an irreversible change when it is submitted to the cumulative action of the external medium, in such a manner that the irreversible change can be measured and/or recorded by said electrical or optical readout devices or measurement devices (10).

Abstract: A database method and method of using the database for determining the carrier concentration profile of a semiconductor, wherein the database includes a first set of first data, the first data being a correction factor; and a second set of second data, each of the second data including first and a second set of parameters, the first set of parameters characterizing the carrier concentration profile and the second set of parameters characterizing the measurement technique. Each data of the first set of first data is obtained from one data of the second set of data through simulation or calculation.

Abstract: A battery-powered computing system (20) including video decoding capability, particularly as pertinent to the H.263 standard, is disclosed. The system (20) includes a main integrated circuit (30) having an on-chip central processing unit (CPU) (32) and on-chip shared memory (33) for the temporary buffering of video image data that is retrieved and generated during the video decoding process. The CPU (32) is programmed to perform a combined P and B prediction process (46) upon a previously predicted P frame (P.sub.T-1), with accesses to internal buffers in shared memory (33) instead of to main memory (40). Preferably, inverse transform processes (48, 52) also access shared memory (33) rather than main memory (40). The combined P and B prediction process (46) preferably handles unrestricted motion vectors using edge pixels (P.sub.

Abstract: The present invention relates to processes for fabrictation of Vertical MISFET devices or a stack of several Vertical MISFET devices having high fabrication yield.

Abstract: A device for treatment of substrates in a fluid container includes a container containing a treatment fluid and a substrate transport device moveable into a position above the container. The substrate transport device has at least one substrate holding device for securing the substrates in a first position and releasing the substrates in a second position. A third position may be provided in which a first set of substrates is secured and a second set of substrates is released. The substrate holding device is preferably at least one rotatable securing rod.