First record of Rhabdoceras suessi (Ammonoidea, Late Triassic) from the Transylvanian Triassic Series of the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) and a review of its biochronology, paleobiogeography and paleoecology

Abstract The occurrence of the heteromorphic ammonoid Rhabdoceras suessi Hauer, 1860, is recorded for the first time in the Upper Triassic limestone of the Timon-Ciungi olistolith in the Rarău Syncline, Eastern Carpathians. A single specimen of Rhabdoceras suessi co-occurs with Monotis (Monotis) salinaria that constrains its occurrence here to the Upper Norian (Sevatian 1). It is the only known heteromorphic ammonoid in the Upper Triassic of the Romanian Carpathians. Rhabdoceras suessi is a cosmopolitan species widely recorded in low and mid-paleolatitude faunas. It ranges from the Late Norian to the Rhaetian and is suitable for high-resolution worldwide correlations only when it co-occurs with shorter-ranging choristoceratids, monotid bivalves, or the hydrozoan Heterastridium. Formerly considered as the index fossil for the Upper Norian (Sevatian) Suessi Zone, by the latest 1970s this species lost its key biochronologic status among Late Triassic ammonoids, and it generated a controversy in the 1980s concerning the status of the Rhaetian stage. New stratigraphic data from North America and Europe in the subsequent decades resulted in a revised ammonoid biostratigraphy for the uppermost Triassic, the Rhaetian being reinstalled as the topmost stage in the current standard timescale of the Triassic. The geographic distribution of Rhabdoceras is compiled from published worldwide records, and its paleobiogeography and paleoecology are discussed

Medium energy ion scattering for the high depth resolution characterisation of high-k dielectric layers of nanometer thickness

Medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) using, typically, 100–200 keV H+ or He+ ions derives it ability to characterise nanolayers from the fact that the energy after backscattering depends (i) on the elastic energy loss suffered in a single collision with a target atom and (ii) on the inelastic energy losses on its incoming and outgoing trajectories. From the former the mass of the atom can be determined and from the latter its depth. Thus MEIS yields depth dependent compositional and structural information, with high depth resolution (sub-nm near the surface) and good sensitivity for all but the lighter masses. It is particularly well suited for the depth analysis of high-k multilayers of nanometer thickness. Accurate quantification of the depth distributions of atomic species can be obtained using suitable spectrum simulation. In the present paper, important aspects of MEIS including quantification, depth resolution and spectrum simulation are briefly discussed. The capabilities of the technique in terms of the high depth resolution layer compositional and structural information it yields, is illustrated with reference to the detailed characterisation of a range of high-k nanolayer and multilayer structures for current microelectronic devices or those still under development: (i) HfO2 and HfSiOx for gate dielectric applications, including a TiN/Al2O3/HfO2/SiO2/Si structure, (ii) TiN/SrTiO3/TiN and (iii) TiO2/Ru/TiN multilayer structures for metal–insulator–metal capacitors (MIMcaps) in DRAM applications. The unique information provided by the technique is highlighted by its clear capability to accurately quantify the composition profiles and thickness of nanolayers and complex multilayers as grown, and to identify the nature and extent of atom redistribution (e.g. intermixing, segregation) during layer deposition, annealing and plasma processing. The ability makes it a valuable tool in the development of the nanostructures that will become increasingly important as device dimensions continue to be scaled down

Yb-doped Ni FUSI for the n-MOSFETs gate electrode application

10.1109/LED.2006.870252IEEE Electron Device Letters273160-162EDLE

Advanced Ni-based FUlly SIlicidation (FUSI) technology for sub-45nm CMOS devices

10.1109/ICSICT.2006.306263ICSICT-2006: 2006 8th International Conference on Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology, Proceedings404-40