The comparisons among 126 14C dates of Carex samples including separated leaf and root parts with acid (A)-treatment and acid-base-acid (ABA)-treatment, and 48 published 14C dates of bulk peat plants on a 92-cm core from Jinchuan Mire in NE China, indicate old carbon influence (OCI) on the 14C dates. The OCI varies with plant species, pretreatment and peat depth. In vascular peat plants such as Carex, humin fractions (remains after ABA treatment) and humic acids are representative of the original plant precursor, while fulvic acids are regarded as the secondary mobile product which should be removed for 14C dating. ABA- treatment removes both fulvic acids and humic acids, whereas A-treatment gets rid of only fulvic acids. Carex roots uptake more dissolved CO2 in peat water. Carex leaves may use more CO2 (involving degassing CO2) above the peat surface. By removing humic acids throughout ABA treatment, the OCI may vary differently over depth (time). ABA treatment cannot eliminate the fixed OCI in humin fractions of vascular peat plants, instead, this treatment may enhance OCI by removing humic acid which may represent the true age of the plants. In addition, Bacon model results on this core could not show rapid changes in accumulation rate.

Since the 1950s, Taiwan and China have utilized foreign aid as an instrument of foreign policy. After Taiwan's forced withdrawal from the United Nations in 1971, diplomatic and aid-giving competition with China became more intense. As a result, Taiwan's and China's struggles to gain supporters have been reflected in foreign aid strategies. Taiwan's bid for the UN and the WHO, and the issue of diplomatic recognition empirically demonstrate the utilization of aid to obtain diplomatic support from recipient countries, and, frequently, any decisions are heavily influenced by the competition it experiences with China. Theoretically, this highlights an important relational framework for analyzing foreign aid decisions – particularly the management of foreign relations of small states or middle powers simultaneously influenced by greater powers and aid recipient states.

Using data from ICDF and related reports, we observe geographically concentrated patterns in the distribution of Taiwan's aid recipients from 1988 to 1997 – mostly in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In contrast to China's foreign aid which emphasizes infrastructural development, the spirit of Taiwan's economic development aid programs often took the form of technical cooperation. However, a high percentage of aid went to countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan. With civil society development and increased international activities of Taiwanese NGOs in humanitarian relief and development projects after 2000, we find a new emerging set of geographical aid distribution patterns that expand beyond countries that recognize Taiwan. In addition, while the process of incorporating civil society into foreign aid work was initiated by the ICDF the following decade, Taiwanese NGOs have increasingly demonstrated autonomous international agendas, funding, and direction, as well as the formation of civil society alliances that work on common international development issues.

Boron-doped, single (∼54 nm) or double (∼21 + 54 nm) Si1−xGex layers were epitaxially grown on 300-mm-diameter p−-Si(100) device wafers with 20 nm technology node design features, by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition. The Si1−xGex/Si wafers were annealed in the temperature range of 950–1050 °C for 60 s to investigate the effect of annealing on possible changes of Ge content and Si stress near the Si1−xGex/Si interface. High spectral resolution, micro-Raman spectroscopy was used as a nondestructive characterization technique with five excitation wavelengths of 363.8, 441.6, 457.9, 488.0, and 514.5 nm. Ge diffusion and generation of compressive stress at the Si1−xGex/Si interface were measured on all annealed wafers. Ge diffusion and the accumulation of compressive Si stress after annealing showed significantly different behaviors between single- and double-layer Si1−xGex/Si wafers. Raman characterization results were compared with secondary ion mass spectroscopy and high-resolution x-ray diffraction results.

Modulation of the cellular response by the administration of probiotic bacteria may be an effective strategy for preventing or inhibiting tumour growth. We orally pre-inoculated mice with probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (La) for 14 d. Subcutaneous dorsal-flank tumours and segmental orthotopic colon cancers were implanted into mice using CT-26 murine colon adenocarcinoma cells. On day 28 after tumour initiation, the lamina propria of the colon, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and spleen were harvested and purified for flow cytometry and mRNA analyses. We demonstrated that La pre-inoculation reduced tumour volume growth by 50·3 %, compared with untreated mice at 28 d after tumour implants (2465·5 (sem 1290·4) v. 4950·9 (sem 1689·3) mm3, P < 0·001). Inoculation with La reduced the severity of colonic carcinogenesis caused by CT-26 cells, such as level of colonic involvement and structural abnormality of epithelial/crypt damage. Moreover, La enhanced apoptosis of CT-26 cells both in dorsal-flank tumour and segmental orthotopic colon cancer, and the mean counts of apoptotic body were higher in mice pre-inoculated with La (P < 0·05) compared with untreated mice. La pre-inoculation down-regulated the CXCR4 mRNA expressions in the colon, MLN and extra-intestinal tissue, compared with untreated mice (P < 0·05). In addition, La pre-inoculation reduced the mean fluorescence index of MHC class I (H-2Dd, -Kd and -Ld) in flow cytometry analysis. Taken together, these findings suggest that probiotics La may play a role in attenuating tumour growth during CT-26 cell carcinogenesis. The down-regulated expression of CXCR4 mRNA and MHC class I, as well as increasing apoptosis in tumour tissue, indicated that La may be associated with modulating the cellular response triggered by colon carcinogenesis.

We report the fabrication of GaN lateral polarity inversion heterostructure with self assembled crystalline inversion domain boundaries (IDBs). The sample was fabricated by two step molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) with microlithography patterning in between to define IDBs. Despite the use of circular pattern, hexagonal crystalline IDBs were self assembled from the circular pattern during the second MBE growth. Both cathodoluminescent (CL) and photoluminescent (PL) measurements show a significant enhanced emission at IDBs and in particular at hexagonal corners. The ability to fabricate self assembled crystalline IDBs and its enhanced emission property can be useful in optoelectronic applications.

We report that the high crystalline and high efficiency green emission semipolar {101̅1} InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on the {101̅1} facets of GaN nanopyramid arrays by selective area epitaxy. Clear and sharp interfaces of the semipolar {101̅1} InGaN/GaN MQWs was observed by transmission electron microscopy images. As comparing with (0001) MQWs, the internal electric field of {101̅1} MQWs was remarkably reduced from 1.7 MV/cm to 0.5 MV/cm, and the room temperature (RT) internal quantum efficiency (IQE) at green emission was enhanced by about 80%. This greatly enhancement of IQE is due to suppress the polarization effect in the {101̅1} MQWs which shorten the radiative recombination to compete with nonradiative recombination at RT. These results evince that the {101̅1} planes are promising for solving the efficiency green gap of III-nitride light emitters.

Let $A={{({{a}_{j,k}})}_{j,k\ge 1}}$ be a non-negative matrix. In this paper, we characterize those $A$ for which ${{\left\| A \right\|}_{E,F}}$ are determined by their actions on decreasing sequences, where $E$ and $F$ are suitable normed Riesz spaces of sequences. In particular, our results can apply to the following spaces: ${{\ell }_{p}}$, $d(w,p)$, and ${{\ell }_{p}}(w)$. The results established here generalize ones given by Bennett; Chen, Luor, and Ou; Jameson; and Jameson and Lashkaripour.

A multilevel metal interconnect with air-gap has been developed to reduce RC delay time for quick turn-around-time foundry manufacturing. The air-gap method has been successfully applied to 0.25 νm foundry technology. Measurements on ring oscillators confirm that the smallest delay time is indeed achieved with the air-gap method, compared with that using either conventional high-density-plasma (HDP) oxide or low-dielectric-constant spin-on-glass (SOG). In addition, we have also developed fitting equations for the delay time, thus provide a handy method for predicting the RC delay time. The oscillator delay time is also found to be critically dependent on not only the size, but also the position of the air-gap. Best delay time reduction is obtained when the air-gap is positioned in extended both above and below the metal lines to effectively reduce the fringing capacitance.

Breakdown characteristics of ultra-thin gate oxides caused by plasma charging were studied in this work. It is observed that as oxide thickness is scaled down to 4 nm, some traditional monitor parameters may lose their sensitivity for detecting oxide degradation induced by plasma charging damage, due to insignificant trap generation. Even the gate leakage current, although sensitive for 4 nm oxide, may no longer be sensitive enough for even thinner oxide (e.g., 2.6 nm), due to the existence of large tunneling current. Moreover, several soft-breakdown events were found to occur in ultrathin oxide before the final onset of a catastrophic hard-breakdown. Finally, an equivalent local oxide thickness is calculated using local oxide thinning model to estimate the stepwise increase of gate current after soft-breakdown event.

Selective tungsten chemical vapor deposition (W-CVD) is one of the most attractive technique for filling deep submicron contact hole and via hole for the ULSI application. In this work, we firstly find out the anomalous selective W growth for the contact hole. The tungsten only nucleates from the side ring of the contact hole bottom. Several predeposition treatments prior to W growth can improve this anomalous feature and excellently selective W growth can be achieved. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is utilized to investigate the interface of Si/W. A model has been proposed to explain this anomalous selective tungsten growth.

In this work, we study the thermal stability and interaction between SiOF and Cu. Blanket SiOF films with various F concentration were deposited by PE-CVD. A dielectric constant as low as 3.2 was obtained. Copper were deposited on these SiOF and a series of post-deposition anneal were performed. Dielectric constant of SiOF was measured after deposition and again after anneal. AES and SIMS depth profile are utilized to determine the interdiffusion between Cu and SiOF under different annealing conditions. Breakdown voltage and dielectric constant were determined form C-V and I-V measurement using a MIS ( Cu/ SiOF/ p-Si) diode. This results of leakage current measurement and flat band shift measurement suggest that the fluorine in the SiOF film will retard the cu diffusion.

The first study of the TiW nitrides (TiWNx) as the Schottky contact metals to the n type Ga0.51In0 49P has been made. The Ga0.51 In0.49P epitaxial layer was successfully grown on the GaAs substrate by LP-MOCVD to form a lattice-matched heterostructure. The RF-magnetron sputtering system was utilized for the nitride deposition. The thermal stability of the nitride films were studied using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method. Both the electrical characteristics and the materials characteristics were investigated. The materials properties of the nitride films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The TiWNx Schottky contacts demonstrate excellent electrical and physical characteristics, even after high temperature annealing. The barrier heights range from 0.81 to 1.05 eV depending on the content of the nitrogen and the annealing conditions. The XRD and AES results show no indication of interaction at the TiWNX/GaInP interface of both as-deposited and annealed samples. The outstanding characteristics of the contact were attributed to the high bandgap nature of the Ga0.51In0.49P and the incorporation of nitrogen into the TiW films.

Thermal stability of the Schottky contacts on Ga0.51In0.49P has been made. The Ga0.51In0.49P epitaxial layer was successfully grown on the GaAs substrate by LP-MOCVD to form a lattice-matched heterostructure. In this paper, materials aspects of the Ga0.51In0.49P layers were characterized and thermal stability of three different types of films, including single-layer metal (Pt, Ni, Pd, Au, Co, Mo, W, Cr, Ti, Al, Ta, and In), metal silicides (WSi2, W5Si3, PtSi, and Pt2i), and TiW nitrides (TiWNx ) as the Schottky contacts materials on Ga0.51In0.49P were studied. Due to the high bandgap nature of Ga0.51In0.49P, the Schottky contacts on Ga0.51In0.49P demonstrate good characteristics. The barrier heights range from 0.79 to 1.19 eV depending on the selection of the materials and the annealing conditions. For single-metal contacts, Pt film shows the best thermal stability, the barrier height of 1.09 eV and the ideality factor of 1.06 were obtained for the Pt Schottky diode with furnace annealing at 500 °C for 30 min. For refractory compound films, the TiWNx film shows the best thermal stability. The TiWNx Schottky contacts demonstrate excellent electrical as well as physical characteristics, even after high temperature annealing at 850°C.