Microwave Plasma Assisted ALD Development for the Deposition of Gate Oxides & ALD of High-k Dielectrics

The semiconductor industry's urge towards faster, smaller and cheaper integrated circuits has lead the industry to smaller node devices. The integrated circuits that are now under volume production belong to 22 nm and 14 nm technology nodes. In 2007 the 45 nm technology came with the revolutionary high- /metal gate structure. 22 nm technology utilizes fully depleted tri-gate transistor structure. The 14 nm technology is a continuation of the 22 nm technology. Intel is using second generation tri-gate technology in 14 nm devices. After 14 nm, the semiconductor industry is expected to continue the scaling with 10 nm devices followed by 7 nm. Recently, IBM has announced successful production of 7 nm node test chips. This is the fashion how nanoelectronics industry is proceeding with its scaling trend. For the present node of technologies selective deposition and selective removal of the materials are required. Atomic layer deposition and the atomic layer etching are the respective techniques used for selective deposition and selective removal. Atomic layer deposition still remains as a futuristic manufacturing approach that deposits materials and lms in exact places. In addition to the nano/microelectronics industry, ALD is also widening its application areas and acceptance. The usage of ALD equipments in industry exhibits a diversi cation trend. With this trend, large area, batch processing, particle ALD and plasma enhanced like ALD equipments are becoming prominent in industrial applications. In this work, the development of an atomic layer deposition tool with microwave plasma capability is described, which is a ordable even for lightly funded research labs.

Grading mit Grappa - Ein Werkstattbericht

„Grappa“ ist eine Middleware, die auf die Anbindung verschiedener Autobewerter an verschiedene E-Learning-Frontends respektive Lernmanagementsysteme (LMS) spezialisiert ist. Ein Prototyp befindet sich seit mehreren Semestern an der Hochschule Hannover mit dem LMS „moodle“ und dem Backend „aSQLg“ im Einsatz und wird regelmäßig evaluiert. Dieser Beitrag stellt den aktuellen Entwicklungsstand von Grappa nach diversen Neu- und Weiterentwicklungen vor. Nach einem Bericht über zuletzt gesammelte Erfahrungen mit der genannten Kombination von Systemen stellen wir wesentliche Neuerungen der moodle-Plugins, welche der Steuerung von Grappa aus moodle heraus dienen, vor. Anschließend stellen wir eine Erweiterung der bisherigen Architektur in Form eines neuentwickelten Grappa-php-Clients zur effizienteren Anbindung von LMS vor. Weiterhin berichten wir über die Anbindung eines weiteren Autobewerters „Graja“ für Programmieraufgaben in Java. Der Bericht zeigt, dass bereits wichtige Schritte für eine einheitliche Darstellung automatisierter Programmbewertung in LMS mit unterschiedlichen Autobewertern für die Studierenden absolviert sind. Die praktischen Erfahrungen zeigen aber auch, dass sowohl bei jeder der Systemkomponenten individuell, wie auch in deren Zusammenspiel via Grappa noch weitere Entwicklungsarbeiten erforderlich sind, um die Akzeptanz und Nutzung bei Studierenden sowie Lehrenden weiter zu steigern.

Magnetophotoresistance in Pr 1–x CaxMnO3 Thin Films

In this work, a colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) Pr1−xCaxMnO3 (PCMO) man- ganite thin films and polycrystalline samples were studied with the main focus on the properties of the insulator to metal Mott phase transition. The polycrystalline PCMO samples were fabricated with the solid state reaction method. The polycrystalline sam- ples were further processed into the epitaxial thin films with the pulsed laser deposition method (PLD). The structural and magnetic properties of the samples were systemat- ically investigated and the thin films samples were further investigated with magneto- transport measurement where the thin films response to illumination was also studied. After the successful synthesis of polycrystalline PCMO samples with varying x = between 0.0 - 0.5, the magnetic characterization of the samples showed rich magnetic properties having the signatures of the magnetic phase coexistence of antiferromag- netic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) ordering and cluster glass behaviour. With the increased doping concentration from x = 0.3 to 0.5, the AFM charge-order (CO) phase started to form up being strongest on the sample x = 0.5. This AFM CO phase could be melted with the high external magnetic field at temperatures below Neel’s tempera- ture TN inducing an irreversible first order metamagnetic AFM to FM phase transition. The strength of the AFM CO phase decreased with decreasing Ca concentration and increasing temperature. The polycrystalline PCMO samples with Ca concentrations of 0.3 - 0.5, showing metamagnetic behaviour, were selected for the fabrication of the thin film samples. The films were grown using two different in situ oxygen treatment temperatures at 500 ◦C and 700 ◦C in the PLD system. The films with x = 0.4 and 0.5 showed weaker AFM CO phase with greatly reduced melting fields when compared to polycrystalline samples. Also, the robustness of the AFM CO phase was further decreased in thin films with the lower oxygen treatment temperature of 500 ◦C. The magneto-transport measurements made on the thin films showed that the melting of AFM CO phase was connected to CMR effect where the increasing magnetic field induced an insulator to metal phase transition, which reduces the resistivity of the film around nine orders of magnitude. The use of illumination during the magneto-transport measurements showed a vari- ety of intriguing phenomena including magnetophotoresistance. The illumination had a huge effect to the insulator to metal transition (IMT) reducing the transition magnetic field significantly. Moreover, by magnetically biasing the thin films with the constant external magnetic field, the IMT could be induced by switching on the illumination.

STRAINING ENGINEERING OF GRAPHENE AND GRAPHENE-BASED NANOSTRUCTURES

Graphene has emerged as an extraordinary material with its capability to accommodate an array of remarkable electronic, mechanical and chemical properties. Extra-large surface-to-volume ratio renders graphene a highly flexible morphology, giving rise to intriguing observations such as ripples, wrinkles and folds as well as the potential to transform into other novel carbon nanostructures. Ultra-thin, mechanically tough, electrically conductive graphene films promise to enable a wealth of possible applications ranging from hydrogen storage scaffolds, electronic transistors, to bottom-up material designs. Enthusiasm for graphene-based applications aside, there are still significant challenges to their realization, largely due to the difficulty of precisely controlling the graphene properties. Controlling the graphene morphology over large areas is crucial in enabling future graphene-based applications and material design. This dissertation aims to shed lights on potential mechanisms to actively manipulate the graphene morphology and properties and therefore enable the material design principle that delivers desirable mechanical and electronic functionalities of graphene and its derivatives.

La traducción del humor verbal finés-español en la literatura novelística: El caso de la novela finlandesa Ihmisen osa

En este trabajo de fin de máster estudiamos la traducción del humor en la literatura novelística. Nos interesa sobre todo en el lenguaje humorístico, y nos centramos en los recursos con los que cuenta un traductor para poder transmitir el humor lingüístico del texto fuente finlandés al texto de llegada español. Primero vemos las definiciones del humor y contemplamos las características del humor lingüístico expresado mediante el vocabulario y la aliteración. Después seguimos con los puntos de vista de algunos estudiosos sobre la traducción y la posibilidad de traducir humor en la literatura, o sea, cómo se traduce, cómo se debería traducir y a qué medida es posible mantener el efecto humorístico en el texto traducido. Las fuentes teoréticas más importantes son Salvatore Attardo sobre el humor lingüístico, Walter Nash sobre el análisis del lenguaje humorístico, y Peter Newmark sobre estrategias y métodos de traducción. En la parte empírica del trabajo realizamos una comparación entre la obra finlandesa Ihmisen osa de Kari Hotakainen y su traducción al español, Por partes, por Ursula Ojanen y Rafael García Anguita. Las principales observaciones de este trabajo de fin de máster están relacionadas con los procedimientos de traducción más útiles para un traductor de literatura humorística y con la naturaleza y del lenguaje humorístico en la obra finlandesa. Así, por ejemplo vimos que en la obra finlandesa Ihmisen osa la aliteración tiene un papel importante en la creación del efecto humorístico, y que la aliteración se puede traducir. Sin embargo, la traducción de la aliteración no suele ser el principal objetivo de la traducción, ya que eso supondría la anteposición de una característica estilística al contenido de la narrativa. También averiguamos que el procedimiento más utilizado por los traductores de esta obra, en cuanto a la traducción de las expresiones de estilo humorístico, es la sinonimia, que alude a la traducción de un término del texto fuente con un término de la lengua de llegada con un significado aproximadamente igual, pero no exactamente lo mismo. Cuando no se aspira a encontrar un equivalente exacto en el texto de llegada el traductor tiene más libertad de elegir una expresión estilísticamente adecuado en el contexto. Ocasionalmente no es posible encontrar una expresión humorística equivalente en ambos idiomas, y así el humor no se mantiene siempre en la traducción. La mayoría de los ejemplos analizados podían ser calificados como menos humorísticos que los del texto original. Al contrario de nuestra hipótesis de partida, la compensación no figura entre los procedimientos más utilizados en la traducción de esta obra.

Die Verknüpfung von systematischem und fallorientiertem Lernen in Lern-Informationssystemen

Der vorliegende Aufsatz beschäftigt sich mit der Konzeption von Lern-Informationssystemen (LIS) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Verknüpfung von systematischem und fallorientiertem Lernen. Lern-Informationssysteme heben sich strukturell und funktional deutlich von den Lern-Managementsystemen (LMS) ab. Während ein LMS die administrativen Funktionalitäten stark betont, sehen die LIS ihren Schwerpunkt in der flexiblen und größtenteils dynamischen Bereitstellung von unterschiedlichen Anwendungsszenarien für den Lernenden. Erreicht wird die Dynamik und Flexibilität durch die Grundkonstrukte des LIS, die so genannten Module. Module enthalten neben dem zu vermittelnden Wissen Vor- und Nachbedingungen als logische Beschreibungen ihrer Inhalte bzw. der Voraussetzung ihrer Anwendbarkeit. Der Aufbau eines LIS wird anhand eines bestehenden und eingesetzten Lernsystems zum Thema der koronaren Herzkrankheit erklärt. Neben einer kurzen Einführung in die Theorie der LIS werden Anwendungsszenarien für systematisches Lernen und die Darstellung von Fällen und deren Verbindung zu Wissenseinheiten dargestellt. Für die Repräsentation der Daten eines Falles wird zurück gegriffen auf das an der Universität Regensburg entwickelte Fall-Schema MedicCaseML.(DIPF/Orig.)

aiTutor : um etutor de agentes inteligentes

Relatório de estágio apresentado para a obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação e Comunicação Multimédia

Construção da plataforma de e-Learning do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém

Relatório de estágio apresentado para obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação e Comunicação Multimédia.

Construção da plataforma de e-Learning do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém

Relatório de estágio apresentado para obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação e Comunicação Multimédia.

Characterization of Copper Covetic Bulk and Films: Copper with High Carbon Content

Incorporation of carbon nanostructures in metals is desirable to combine the strongly bonded electrons in the metal and the free electrons in carbon nanostructures that give rise to high ampacity and high conductivity, respectively. Carbon in copper has the potential to impact industries such as: building construction, power generation and transmission, and microelectronics. This thesis focuses on the structure and properties of bulk and thin films of a new material, Cu covetic, that contains carbon in concentrations up to 16 at.%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows C 1s peak with both sp2 and sp3 bonded C measuring up to 3.5 wt.% (16 at.%). High resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction of bulk covetic samples show a modulated structure of ≈ 1.6 nm along several crystallographic directions in regions that have high C content suggesting that the carbon incorporates into the copper lattice forming a network. Electron energy loss spectra (EELS) from covetics reveal that the level of graphitization from the source material, activated carbon, is maintained in the covetic structure. Bulk Cu covetics have a slight increase in the lattice constant, as well as <111> texturing, or possibly a different structure, compared to pure Cu. Density functional theory calculations predict bonding between C and Cu at the edges and defects of graphene sheets. The electrical resistivity of bulk covetics first increases and then decreases with increasing C content. Cu covetic films were deposited using e-beam and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at different temperatures. No copper oxide or any allotropes of carbon are present in the films. The e-beam films show enhanced electrical and optical properties when compared to pure Cu films of the same thickness even though no carbon was detected by XPS or EELS. They also have slightly higher ampacity than Cu metal films. EELS analysis of the C-K-edge in the PLD films indicate that graphitic carbon is transferred from the bulk into the films with uniform carbon distribution. PLD films exhibit flatter and higher transmittance curves and sheet resistance two orders of magnitude lower than e-beam films leading to a high figure of merit as transparent conductors.

MAIS(F) : Moodle : Android : interface simplificado para utilização de fóruns

É crescente a utilização dos dispositivos móveis com ecrãs maiores e melhores, mais memória, maiores capacidades multimédia e métodos mais refinados para introduzir dados. Dispositivos que integram comunicações, acesso à internet e diversos tipos de sensores possibilitarão, seguramente, abordagens inovadoras e criativas em atividades pedagógicas, em contraste com as utilizações atuais nos computadores pessoais. A análise das aplicações que atualmente integram os módulos do Moodle nos dispositivos móveis mostra que existe ainda um longo caminho a percorrer. As aplicações existentes têm, quase na sua totalidade, como objetivo adaptar o interface aos dispositivos móveis, o que é apenas o primeiro passo no sentido de aproveitar todas as potencialidades destes dispositivos. É, pois, possível imaginar um futuro próximo, onde as potencialidades dos dispositivos móveis darão origem a aplicações com um enorme potencial de aprendizagem, que advém do facto de os estudantes encontrarem conexões entre as suas vidas e a sua educação, através da realização de atividades em contexto no dispositivo móvel, sempre omnipresente. Com este trabalho de investigação e desenvolvimento pretende-se: a) avaliar o estado da arte do mobile learning, na área dos Learning Management System (LMS); b) refletir sobre as funcionalidades que deve oferecer uma aplicação para dispositivos móveis, com enfoque no sistema operativo Android, que permita a gestão e atualização dos fóruns e ficheiros do Moodle; c) conceber e produzir a referida aplicação, de acordo com as especificações consideradas relevantes; d) avaliar o seu impacto educativo e funcional. É demonstrado neste estudo que o recurso a dispositivos móveis potencia a aprendizagem baseada em LMS (Learning Management System), identificando-se as vantagens da sua utilização. São também apresentadas as funcionalidades da aplicação Mais(f), desenvolvida no âmbito da investigação, a avaliação da mesma pelos participantes no estudo, bem como as perspectivas futuras de utilização da aplicação Mais(f).

A Fuzzy Decision Strategy for Topic Identification and Dynamic Selection of Language Models

International audience

Multibiomarker assessment of cadmium-based quantum dots effects in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

Tese de Doutoramento, Ciências do Mar, da Terra e do Ambiente, Ramo: Ciências e Tecnologias do Ambiente, Especialização em Ecotoxicologia, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Health-care costs over 15 years after bariatric surgery for patients with different baseline glucose status: results from the Swedish Obese Subjects study

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery prevents and induces remission of type 2 diabetes in many patients. The effect of preoperative glucose status on long-term health-care costs is unknown. We aimed to assess health-care costs over 15 years for patients with obesity treated conventionally or with bariatric surgery and who had either euglycaemia, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes before intervention. METHODS: The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study is a prospective study of adults who had bariatric surgery and contemporaneously matched controls who were treated conventionally (age 37-60 years; BMI of ≥34 in men and ≥38 in women) recruited from 25 Swedish surgical departments and 480 primary health-care centres. Exclusion criteria were identical for both study groups, and were previous gastric or bariatric surgery, recent malignancy or myocardial infarction, selected psychiatric disorders, and other contraindicating disorders to bariatric surgery. Conventional treatment ranged from no treatment to lifestyle intervention and behaviour modification. In this study, we retrieved prescription drug costs for the patients in the SOS study via questionnaires and the nationwide Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. We retrieved data for inpatient and outpatient visits from the Swedish National Patient Register. We followed up the sample linked to register data for up to 15 years. We adjusted mean differences for baseline characteristics. Analyses were by intention to treat. The SOS study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01479452. FINDINGS: Between Sept 1, 1987, and Jan 31, 2001, 2010 adults who had bariatric surgery and 2037 who were treated conventionally were enrolled into the SOS study. In this study, we followed up 4030 patients (2836 who were euglycaemic; 591 who had prediabetes; 603 who had diabetes). Drug costs did not differ between the surgery and conventional treatment groups in the euglycaemic subgroup (surgery US$10,511 vs conventional treatment $10,680; adjusted mean difference -$225 [95% CI -2080 to 1631]; p=0·812), but were lower in the surgery group in the prediabetes ($10,194 vs $13,186; -$3329 [-5722 to -937]; p=0·007) and diabetes ($14,346 vs $19,511; -$5487 [-7925 to -3049]; p<0·0001) subgroups than in the conventional treatment group. Compared with the conventional treatment group, we noted greater inpatient costs in the surgery group for the euglycaemic ($51,225 vs $25,313; $22,931 [19,001-26,861]; p<0·0001), prediabetes ($58,699 vs $32,861; $27,152 [18,736-35,568]; p<0·0001), and diabetes ($61,569 vs $47,569; 18,697 [9992-27,402]; p<0·0001) subgroups. We noted no differences in outpatient costs. Total health-care costs were higher in the surgery group in the euglycaemic ($71,059 vs $45,542; $22,390 [17,358-27,423]; p<0·0001) and prediabetes ($78,151 vs $54,864; $26,292 [16,738-35,845]; p<0·0001) subgroups than in the conventional treatment group, whereas we detected no difference between treatment groups in patients with diabetes ($88,572 vs $79,967; $9081 [-1419 to 19,581]; p=0·090). INTERPRETATION: Total health-care costs were higher for patients with euglycaemia or prediabetes in the surgery group than in the conventional treatment group, but we detected no difference between the surgery and conventional treatment groups for patients with diabetes. Long-term health-care cost results support prioritisation of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes for bariatric surgery. FUNDING: AFA Försäkring and Swedish Scientific Research Council.

The ghosts of ravished Armenias: pastiches of genocide

Ravished Armenia – an eight-reel, eighty-five-minute, silent dramatized film based on actual events – first screened in New York City in 1919. It was primarily for the purposes of fundraising. Aurora Mardiganian was a survivor of the Genocide and played the lead role in this film. However, the entire full-length feature film was thought lost until recently, when a twenty- minute segment of the film was found in Armenia. Following the separate discovery in Yerevan in 1994, the twenty-minute segment was incorporated into two new films (although both used the same footage). Even though both films are distinct in their notions of filmic representation, memory and the sacred memorialization of the Genocide, it is no oversight that one rendering is titled Ravished Armenia in order to pay homage to the original film and the Genocide. The second rendering, titled Credo, aims to separate itself from the initial film.