8 results
DESAlert: Enabling Real-Time Transient Follow-Up with Dark Energy Survey Data
- A. Poci, K. Kuehn, T. Abbott, F. B. Abdalla, S. Allam, A.H. Bauer, A. Benoit-Lévy, E. Bertin, D. Brooks, P. J. Brown, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, R. Covarrubias, L. N. da Costa, C. B. D’Andrea, D. L. DePoy, S. Desai, J. P. Dietrich, C. E Cunha, T. F. Eifler, J. Estrada, A. E. Evrard, A. Fausti Neto, D. A. Finley, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, J. Frieman, D. Gerdes, D. Gruen, R. A. Gruendl, K. Honscheid, D. James, N. Kuropatkin, O. Lahav, T. S. Li, M. March, J. Marshall, K. W. Merritt, C.J. Miller, R. C. Nichol, B. Nord, R. Ogando, A. A. Plazas, A. K. Romer, A. Roodman, E. S. Rykoff, M. Sako, E. Sanchez, V. Scarpine, M. Schubnell, I. Sevilla, C. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, M. E. C. Swanson, G. Tarle, J. Thaler, R. C. Thomas, D. Tucker, A. R. Walker, W. Wester, (The DES Collaboration)
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- Journal:
- Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia / Volume 33 / 2016
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 September 2016, e049
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The Dark Energy Survey is undertaking an observational programme imaging 1/4 of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the Dark Energy Survey will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts over 5 yr. Once gamma-ray bursts are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automated notices of gamma-ray burst activity, collates information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential gamma-ray burst host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software, and its data products, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to numerous previously detected gamma-ray bursts, including the possible identification of several heretofore unknown gamma-ray burst hosts.
Estimating true incidence of O157 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli illness in Germany based on notification data of haemolytic uraemic syndrome
- A. KUEHNE, M. BOUWKNEGT, A. HAVELAAR, A. GILSDORF, P. HOYER, K. STARK, D. WERBER, and the HUS active surveillance network Germany
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- Journal:
- Epidemiology & Infection / Volume 144 / Issue 15 / November 2016
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 29 July 2016, pp. 3305-3315
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Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important cause of gastroenteritis (GE) and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). Incidence of STEC illness is largely underestimated in notification data, particularly of serogroups other than O157 (‘non-O157’). Using HUS national notification data (2008–2012, excluding 2011), we modelled true annual incidence of STEC illness in Germany separately for O157 and non-O157 STEC, taking into account the groups’ different probabilities of causing bloody diarrhoea and HUS, and the resulting difference in their under-ascertainment. Uncertainty of input parameters was evaluated by stochastic Monte Carlo simulations. Median annual incidence (per 100 000 population) of STEC-associated HUS and STEC-GE was estimated at 0·11 [95% credible interval (CrI) 0·08-0·20], and 35 (95% CrI 12-145), respectively. German notification data underestimated STEC-associated HUS and STEC-GE incidences by factors of 1·8 and 32·3, respectively. Non-O157 STEC accounted for 81% of all STEC-GE, 51% of all bloody STEC-GE and 32% of all STEC-associated HUS cases. Non-O157 serogroups dominate incidence of STEC-GE and contribute significantly to STEC-associated HUS in Germany. This might apply to many other countries considering European surveillance data on HUS. Non-O157 STEC should be considered in parallel with STEC O157 when searching aetiology in patients with GE or HUS, and accounted for in modern surveillance systems.
Contributors
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- By Mitchell Aboulafia, Frederick Adams, Marilyn McCord Adams, Robert M. Adams, Laird Addis, James W. Allard, David Allison, William P. Alston, Karl Ameriks, C. Anthony Anderson, David Leech Anderson, Lanier Anderson, Roger Ariew, David Armstrong, Denis G. Arnold, E. J. Ashworth, Margaret Atherton, Robin Attfield, Bruce Aune, Edward Wilson Averill, Jody Azzouni, Kent Bach, Andrew Bailey, Lynne Rudder Baker, Thomas R. Baldwin, Jon Barwise, George Bealer, William Bechtel, Lawrence C. Becker, Mark A. Bedau, Ernst Behler, José A. Benardete, Ermanno Bencivenga, Jan Berg, Michael Bergmann, Robert L. Bernasconi, Sven Bernecker, Bernard Berofsky, Rod Bertolet, Charles J. Beyer, Christian Beyer, Joseph Bien, Joseph Bien, Peg Birmingham, Ivan Boh, James Bohman, Daniel Bonevac, Laurence BonJour, William J. Bouwsma, Raymond D. Bradley, Myles Brand, Richard B. Brandt, Michael E. Bratman, Stephen E. Braude, Daniel Breazeale, Angela Breitenbach, Jason Bridges, David O. Brink, Gordon G. Brittan, Justin Broackes, Dan W. Brock, Aaron Bronfman, Jeffrey E. Brower, Bartosz Brozek, Anthony Brueckner, Jeffrey Bub, Lara Buchak, Otavio Bueno, Ann E. Bumpus, Robert W. Burch, John Burgess, Arthur W. Burks, Panayot Butchvarov, Robert E. Butts, Marina Bykova, Patrick Byrne, David Carr, Noël Carroll, Edward S. Casey, Victor Caston, Victor Caston, Albert Casullo, Robert L. Causey, Alan K. L. Chan, Ruth Chang, Deen K. Chatterjee, Andrew Chignell, Roderick M. Chisholm, Kelly J. Clark, E. J. Coffman, Robin Collins, Brian P. Copenhaver, John Corcoran, John Cottingham, Roger Crisp, Frederick J. Crosson, Antonio S. Cua, Phillip D. Cummins, Martin Curd, Adam Cureton, Andrew Cutrofello, Stephen Darwall, Paul Sheldon Davies, Wayne A. Davis, Timothy Joseph Day, Claudio de Almeida, Mario De Caro, Mario De Caro, John Deigh, C. F. Delaney, Daniel C. Dennett, Michael R. DePaul, Michael Detlefsen, Daniel Trent Devereux, Philip E. Devine, John M. Dillon, Martin C. Dillon, Robert DiSalle, Mary Domski, Alan Donagan, Paul Draper, Fred Dretske, Mircea Dumitru, Wilhelm Dupré, Gerald Dworkin, John Earman, Ellery Eells, Catherine Z. Elgin, Berent Enç, Ronald P. Endicott, Edward Erwin, John Etchemendy, C. Stephen Evans, Susan L. Feagin, Solomon Feferman, Richard Feldman, Arthur Fine, Maurice A. Finocchiaro, William FitzPatrick, Richard E. Flathman, Gvozden Flego, Richard Foley, Graeme Forbes, Rainer Forst, Malcolm R. Forster, Daniel Fouke, Patrick Francken, Samuel Freeman, Elizabeth Fricker, Miranda Fricker, Michael Friedman, Michael Fuerstein, Richard A. Fumerton, Alan Gabbey, Pieranna Garavaso, Daniel Garber, Jorge L. A. Garcia, Robert K. Garcia, Don Garrett, Philip Gasper, Gerald Gaus, Berys Gaut, Bernard Gert, Roger F. Gibson, Cody Gilmore, Carl Ginet, Alan H. Goldman, Alvin I. Goldman, Alfonso Gömez-Lobo, Lenn E. Goodman, Robert M. Gordon, Stefan Gosepath, Jorge J. E. Gracia, Daniel W. Graham, George A. Graham, Peter J. Graham, Richard E. Grandy, I. Grattan-Guinness, John Greco, Philip T. Grier, Nicholas Griffin, Nicholas Griffin, David A. Griffiths, Paul J. Griffiths, Stephen R. Grimm, Charles L. Griswold, Charles B. Guignon, Pete A. Y. Gunter, Dimitri Gutas, Gary Gutting, Paul Guyer, Kwame Gyekye, Oscar A. Haac, Raul Hakli, Raul Hakli, Michael Hallett, Edward C. Halper, Jean Hampton, R. James Hankinson, K. R. Hanley, Russell Hardin, Robert M. Harnish, William Harper, David Harrah, Kevin Hart, Ali Hasan, William Hasker, John Haugeland, Roger Hausheer, William Heald, Peter Heath, Richard Heck, John F. Heil, Vincent F. Hendricks, Stephen Hetherington, Francis Heylighen, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Risto Hilpinen, Harold T. Hodes, Joshua Hoffman, Alan Holland, Robert L. Holmes, Richard Holton, Brad W. Hooker, Terence E. Horgan, Tamara Horowitz, Paul Horwich, Vittorio Hösle, Paul Hoβfeld, Daniel Howard-Snyder, Frances Howard-Snyder, Anne Hudson, Deal W. Hudson, Carl A. Huffman, David L. Hull, Patricia Huntington, Thomas Hurka, Paul Hurley, Rosalind Hursthouse, Guillermo Hurtado, Ronald E. Hustwit, Sarah Hutton, Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa, Harry A. Ide, David Ingram, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Alfred L. Ivry, Frank Jackson, Dale Jacquette, Joseph Jedwab, Richard Jeffrey, David Alan Johnson, Edward Johnson, Mark D. Jordan, Richard Joyce, Hwa Yol Jung, Robert Hillary Kane, Tomis Kapitan, Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley, James A. Keller, Ralph Kennedy, Sergei Khoruzhii, Jaegwon Kim, Yersu Kim, Nathan L. King, Patricia Kitcher, Peter D. Klein, E. D. Klemke, Virginia Klenk, George L. Kline, Christian Klotz, Simo Knuuttila, Joseph J. Kockelmans, Konstantin Kolenda, Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk, Isaac Kramnick, Richard Kraut, Fred Kroon, Manfred Kuehn, Steven T. Kuhn, Henry E. Kyburg, John Lachs, Jennifer Lackey, Stephen E. Lahey, Andrea Lavazza, Thomas H. Leahey, Joo Heung Lee, Keith Lehrer, Dorothy Leland, Noah M. Lemos, Ernest LePore, Sarah-Jane Leslie, Isaac Levi, Andrew Levine, Alan E. Lewis, Daniel E. Little, Shu-hsien Liu, Shu-hsien Liu, Alan K. L. Chan, Brian Loar, Lawrence B. Lombard, John Longeway, Dominic McIver Lopes, Michael J. Loux, E. J. Lowe, Steven Luper, Eugene C. Luschei, William G. Lycan, David Lyons, David Macarthur, Danielle Macbeth, Scott MacDonald, Jacob L. Mackey, Louis H. Mackey, Penelope Mackie, Edward H. Madden, Penelope Maddy, G. B. Madison, Bernd Magnus, Pekka Mäkelä, Rudolf A. Makkreel, David Manley, William E. Mann (W.E.M.), Vladimir Marchenkov, Peter Markie, Jean-Pierre Marquis, Ausonio Marras, Mike W. Martin, A. P. Martinich, William L. McBride, David McCabe, Storrs McCall, Hugh J. McCann, Robert N. McCauley, John J. McDermott, Sarah McGrath, Ralph McInerny, Daniel J. McKaughan, Thomas McKay, Michael McKinsey, Brian P. McLaughlin, Ernan McMullin, Anthonie Meijers, Jack W. Meiland, William Jason Melanson, Alfred R. Mele, Joseph R. Mendola, Christopher Menzel, Michael J. Meyer, Christian B. Miller, David W. Miller, Peter Millican, Robert N. Minor, Phillip Mitsis, James A. Montmarquet, Michael S. Moore, Tim Moore, Benjamin Morison, Donald R. Morrison, Stephen J. Morse, Paul K. Moser, Alexander P. D. Mourelatos, Ian Mueller, James Bernard Murphy, Mark C. Murphy, Steven Nadler, Jan Narveson, Alan Nelson, Jerome Neu, Samuel Newlands, Kai Nielsen, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Carlos G. Noreña, Calvin G. Normore, David Fate Norton, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Donald Nute, David S. Oderberg, Steve Odin, Michael O’Rourke, Willard G. Oxtoby, Heinz Paetzold, George S. Pappas, Anthony J. Parel, Lydia Patton, R. P. Peerenboom, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Adriaan T. Peperzak, Derk Pereboom, Jaroslav Peregrin, Glen Pettigrove, Philip Pettit, Edmund L. Pincoffs, Andrew Pinsent, Robert B. Pippin, Alvin Plantinga, Louis P. Pojman, Richard H. Popkin, John F. Post, Carl J. Posy, William J. Prior, Richard Purtill, Michael Quante, Philip L. Quinn, Philip L. Quinn, Elizabeth S. Radcliffe, Diana Raffman, Gerard Raulet, Stephen L. Read, Andrews Reath, Andrew Reisner, Nicholas Rescher, Henry S. Richardson, Robert C. Richardson, Thomas Ricketts, Wayne D. Riggs, Mark Roberts, Robert C. Roberts, Luke Robinson, Alexander Rosenberg, Gary Rosenkranz, Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Adina L. Roskies, William L. Rowe, T. M. Rudavsky, Michael Ruse, Bruce Russell, Lilly-Marlene Russow, Dan Ryder, R. M. Sainsbury, Joseph Salerno, Nathan Salmon, Wesley C. Salmon, Constantine Sandis, David H. Sanford, Marco Santambrogio, David Sapire, Ruth A. Saunders, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Charles Sayward, James P. Scanlan, Richard Schacht, Tamar Schapiro, Frederick F. Schmitt, Jerome B. Schneewind, Calvin O. Schrag, Alan D. Schrift, George F. Schumm, Jean-Loup Seban, David N. Sedley, Kenneth Seeskin, Krister Segerberg, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Dennis M. Senchuk, James F. Sennett, William Lad Sessions, Stewart Shapiro, Tommie Shelby, Donald W. Sherburne, Christopher Shields, Roger A. Shiner, Sydney Shoemaker, Robert K. Shope, Kwong-loi Shun, Wilfried Sieg, A. John Simmons, Robert L. Simon, Marcus G. Singer, Georgette Sinkler, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Matti T. Sintonen, Lawrence Sklar, Brian Skyrms, Robert C. Sleigh, Michael Anthony Slote, Hans Sluga, Barry Smith, Michael Smith, Robin Smith, Robert Sokolowski, Robert C. Solomon, Marta Soniewicka, Philip Soper, Ernest Sosa, Nicholas Southwood, Paul Vincent Spade, T. L. S. Sprigge, Eric O. Springsted, George J. Stack, Rebecca Stangl, Jason Stanley, Florian Steinberger, Sören Stenlund, Christopher Stephens, James P. Sterba, Josef Stern, Matthias Steup, M. A. Stewart, Leopold Stubenberg, Edith Dudley Sulla, Frederick Suppe, Jere Paul Surber, David George Sussman, Sigrún Svavarsdóttir, Zeno G. Swijtink, Richard Swinburne, Charles C. Taliaferro, Robert B. Talisse, John Tasioulas, Paul Teller, Larry S. Temkin, Mark Textor, H. S. Thayer, Peter Thielke, Alan Thomas, Amie L. Thomasson, Katherine Thomson-Jones, Joshua C. Thurow, Vzalerie Tiberius, Terrence N. Tice, Paul Tidman, Mark C. Timmons, William Tolhurst, James E. Tomberlin, Rosemarie Tong, Lawrence Torcello, Kelly Trogdon, J. D. Trout, Robert E. Tully, Raimo Tuomela, John Turri, Martin M. Tweedale, Thomas Uebel, Jennifer Uleman, James Van Cleve, Harry van der Linden, Peter van Inwagen, Bryan W. Van Norden, René van Woudenberg, Donald Phillip Verene, Samantha Vice, Thomas Vinci, Donald Wayne Viney, Barbara Von Eckardt, Peter B. M. Vranas, Steven J. Wagner, William J. Wainwright, Paul E. Walker, Robert E. Wall, Craig Walton, Douglas Walton, Eric Watkins, Richard A. Watson, Michael V. Wedin, Rudolph H. Weingartner, Paul Weirich, Paul J. Weithman, Carl Wellman, Howard Wettstein, Samuel C. Wheeler, Stephen A. White, Jennifer Whiting, Edward R. Wierenga, Michael Williams, Fred Wilson, W. Kent Wilson, Kenneth P. Winkler, John F. Wippel, Jan Woleński, Allan B. Wolter, Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Rega Wood, W. Jay Wood, Paul Woodruff, Alison Wylie, Gideon Yaffe, Takashi Yagisawa, Yutaka Yamamoto, Keith E. Yandell, Xiaomei Yang, Dean Zimmerman, Günter Zoller, Catherine Zuckert, Michael Zuckert, Jack A. Zupko (J.A.Z.)
- Edited by Robert Audi, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
- Published online:
- 05 August 2015
- Print publication:
- 27 April 2015, pp ix-xxx
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RR Lyrae stars in the Bootes structure
- M. Dall'Ora, G. Clementini, K. Kinemuchi, V. Ripepi, M. Marconi, M. Di Criscienzo, L. Di Fabrizio, C. Greco, C. T. Rodgers, C. Kuehn, H. A. Smith
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- Journal:
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union / Volume 2 / Issue S241 / December 2006
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 December 2006, pp. 331-332
- Print publication:
- December 2006
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V, I time-series photometry of the new Milky Way satellite recently discovered in the Bootes constellation (Belokurov et al. 2006) was collected at the TNG, WIRO and Loiano telescopes and used to search for variable stars. We have identified a non-negligible population of RR Lyrae variables, which confirms the presence of an old population in this newly discovered structure. The distribution of periods coupled with information on the evolutionary status of the system derived fromthe color-magnitude diagram provide important hints on the nature and history of this intriguing new companion of the Milky Way.
Physics and Results from the AMANDA-II High Energy Neutrino Telescope
- Steven W. Barwick, the AMANDA Collaboration, J. Ahrens, X. Bai, S. W. Barwick, T. Becka, K.-H. Becker, E. Bernardini, D. Bertrand, F. Binon, A. Biron, S. Böser, O. Botner, O. Bouhali, T. Burgess, S. Carius, T. Castermans, D. Chirkin, J. Conrad, J. Cooley, D. F. Cowen, A. Davour, C. De Clercq, T. DeYoung, P. Desiati, J.-P. Dewulf, P. Doksus, P. Ekström, T. Feser, T. K. Gaisser, R. Ganupati, M. Gaug, H. Geenen, L. Gerhardt, A. Goldschmidt, A. Hallgren, F. Halzen, K. Hanson, R. Hardtke, T. Hauschildt, M. Hellwig, P. Herquet, G. C. Hill, P. O. Hulth, K. Hultqvist, S. Hundertmark, J. Jacobsen, A. Karle, L. Köpke, M. Kowalski, K. Kuehn, J. I. Lamoureux, H. Leich, M. Leuthold, P. Lindahl, J. Madsen, K. Mandli, P. Marciniewski, H. S. Matis, C. P. McParland, T. Messarius, Y. Minaeva, P. Miočinović, R. Morse, R. Nahnhauer, T. Neunhöffer, P. Niessen, D. R. Nygren, H. Ogelman, Ph. Olbrechts, C. Pérez de Los Heros, A. C. Pohl, P. B. Price, G. T. Przybylski, K. Rawlins, E. Resconi, W. Rhode, M. Ribordy, S. Richter, J. Rodríguez Martino, D. Ross, H.-G. Sander, K. Schinarakis, T. Schmidt, D. Schneider, R. Schwarz, A. Silvestri, M. Solarz, G. M. Spiczak, C. Spiering, D. Steele, P. Steffen, R. G. Stokstad, P. Sudhoff, K.-H. Sulanke, I. Taboada, L. Thollander, S. Tilav, W. Wagner, C. Walck, C. H. Wiebusch, C. Wiedemann, R. Wischnewski, H. Wissing, K. Woschnagg, G. Yodh, S. Young
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- Journal:
- Symposium - International Astronomical Union / Volume 214 / 2003
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 May 2016, pp. 357-371
- Print publication:
- 2003
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This paper briefly describes the principle of operation and science goals of the AMANDA high energy neutrino telescope located at the South Pole, Antarctica. Results from an earlier phase of the telescope, called AMANDA-BIO, demonstrate both reliable operation and the broad astrophysical reach of this device, which includes searches for a variety of sources of ultrahigh energy neutrinos: generic point sources, Gamma-Ray Bursts and diffuse sources. The predicted sensitivity and angular resolution of the telescope were confirmed by studies of atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds. We also report on the status of the analysis from AMANDA-II, a larger version with far greater capabilities. At this stage of analysis, details of the ice properties and other systematic uncertainties of the AMANDA-II telescope are under study, but we have made progress toward critical science objectives. In particular, we present the first preliminary flux limits from AMANDA-II on the search for continuous emission from astrophysical point sources, and report on the search for correlated neutrino emission from Gamma Ray Bursts detected by BATSE before decommissioning in May 2000. During the next two years, we expect to exploit the full potential of AMANDA-II with the installation of a new data acquisition system that records full waveforms from the in-ice optical sensors.
Synthesis of Copper and Lithium Copper Ferrites as High Magnetization Materials
- K. E. Kuehn, D. Sriram, S. S. Bayya, J. J. Simmins, R. L. Snyder
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- Journal:
- Journal of Materials Research / Volume 15 / Issue 7 / July 2000
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 31 January 2011, pp. 1635-1641
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- July 2000
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The ferrite with composition Cu0.5Fe2.5O4 was heat treated in air and in reducing atmospheres to different temperatures within the solid solution region confirmed by dynamic high-temperautre x-ray characterization. The samples were quenched in oil and air, and lattice parameter, Curie temperature, and saturation magnetization measurements were completed. The magnetization measurements for these samples showed a maximum 4πMs of 0.7729 and 0.5426 T at 10 and 300 K, respectively. The cationic distribution based on the low-temperature 4πMs measurements is (Cu+0.24Fe3+0.76)A[Cu+0.26Fe3+1.74]BO4 → 4.9 µ B. X-ray-pure Cu0.5Fe2.5O4 samples were also synthesized by slow cooling from the formation temperature to 900 °C in a reducing atmosphere. A temperature–PO2 diagram for the stability of Cu0.5Fe2.5O4 under the conditions of the experiment was determined. Low-temperature 4πMs measurements did not indicate an increase in the Cu+ A site occupancy for the samples cooled to 900 °C in a reducing environment above those samples that were quenched from high temperature. Curie temperatures for all Cu0.5Fe2.5O4 samples ranged from 348 to 369 °C. Lithium additions (0.1 mol/unit formula) to copper ferrite Li0.1Cu0.4Fe2.5O4 decreased the room-temperature 4πMs values to 0.5234 T with a corresponding decrease in the 10 K measurements to 0.7047 T. From the low-temperature magnetization measurements, the distribution was (Cu+0.15Fe3+0.85)A[Cu+0.25Li+0.1Fe3+1.65]BO4 → 4.48 µ B.
Process Definition for Obtaining Ultra-Thin Silicon Oxides Using Full-Wafer Electrical and Optical Measurements
- A. Oberhofer, J. Chen, K. Koh, M. Schrader, S. Shah, R. Venables, C. Young, M. Xu, R. Kuehn, D. Maher, D. Venables
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- Journal:
- MRS Online Proceedings Library Archive / Volume 567 / 1999
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 February 2011, 573
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- 1999
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The objective of this research was to establish a new baseline process for obtaining ultra-thin silicon-oxide gate material in a prototype vertical furnace. Of particular concern was the optimization of a process sequence whereby unpatterned 150 mm diameter wafers ‘see’ the same processing steps prior to gate oxidation as patterned device wafers ‘see’. The figures-of-merit for evaluating process optimization include: i) full-wafer current-voltage (I-V) maps using Hg-gate capacitors; ii) the variation in the current or current density at a given bias voltage, extracted from an I-V map; iii) the variation in electrical oxide thickness that is extracted from full-wafer capacitance-voltage measurements using Hg-gate capacitors; and iv) the variation in optical oxide thickness that is extracted from full-wafer spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. The results from this research demonstrate that: i) the addition of 1% O2 to the usual N2 gas during the ramp-up cycle in the vertical furnace is necessary to achieve acceptable across-the-wafer oxide-thickness uniformity as determined from both electrical and optical figures-of-merit; and ii) a full-wafer response surface of the current at a given bias voltage is a powerful finger print for process development when the question of variation in as-grown silicon-oxide thickness is at issue.
Rapid Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition of Polycrystalline Silicon-Germanium Films on SiO2 and Their Properties
- V. Z-Q Li, M. R. Mirabedini, R. T. Kuehn, D. Gladden, D. Batchelor, K. Christenson, J. J. Wortman, M. C. Ozturk, D. M. Maher
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- Journal:
- MRS Online Proceedings Library Archive / Volume 403 / 1995
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 February 2011, 333
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- 1995
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In this work, polycrystalline SiGe has been viewed as an alternative gate material to polysilicon in single wafer processing for the deep submicrometer VLSI applications. We studied deposition of the silicon-germanium (SiGe) films with different germanium concentrations (up to 85%) on SiO2 in a rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition reactor using GeH4 and SiH4/H2 gas mixture with the temperature ranging from 550°C to 625°C. Since the SiGe RTCVD process is selective toward oxide and does not form nucleation sites on the oxide easily, an in-situ polysilicon flash technique is used to provide the necessary nucleation sites for the deposition of SiGe films with high germanium content. It was observed that with the in-situ polysilicon flash as a pre-nucleation seed, the SiGe deposited on SiO2 forms a continuous polycrystalline layer. Polycrystalline SiGe films of about 2000Å in thickness have a columnar grain structure with a grain size of approximately 1000Å. Compositional analyses from Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) show that the high germanium incorporation in the SiGe films has a weak dependence on the deposition temperature. It is also noted that the germanium content across the film thickness is fairly constant which is a critical factor for the application of SiGe films as the gate material. Lastly, we found that the surface morphology of SiGe films become smoother at lower deposition temperature.