Advanced etching of silicon based on deep reactive ion etching for silicon high aspect ratio microstructures and three-dimensional micro- and nanostructures

International audienceDifferent processes involving an inductively coupled plasma reactor are presented either for deep reactive ion etching or for isotropic etching of silicon. On one hand, high aspect ratio microstructures with aspect ratio up to 107 were obtained on sub-micron trenches. Application to photonic MEMS is presented. Isotropic etching is also used either alone or in combination with anisotropic etching to realize various 3D shapes. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Hepatitis C, illicit drug use and public health: Does Canada really have a viable plan?

Some 300,000 individuals are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada. HCV infection is associated with major morbidity, mortality and health care costs; these indicators are projected to rise over the next decade. The vast majority of prevalent and incident HCV infections in Canada are illicit drug use-related; thus, the HCV disease burden can only be addressed through interventions targeting this primary risk factor. Both preventive (e.g., needle exchange, methadone treatment) and therapeutic (e.g., the accessibility of HCV treatment for illicit drug users) interventions aimed at HCV in illicit drug users have been broadly expanded in Canada in recent years. However, evidence suggests that existing preventive measures only offer limited effectiveness in reducing HCV risk exposure. Also, due to restricted resources, treatment for HCV currently only reaches an extremely small proportion (i.e., <5%) of HCV-infected drug users. Thus, on the basis of current HCV incidence as well as given interventions and their impact, Canada is not achieving a net reduction in the prevalence of HCV-related to illicit drug use. In order to reduce the HCV disease burden, Canada needs to reconsider the scope, delivery and resourcing of both preventive and treatment interventions targeting the primary risk population of illicit drug users