Advanced Scanning Tunneling Microscopy for Nanoscale Analysis of Semiconductor Devices

Significant attention has been addressed to high-spatial resolution analysis of modern sub-100-nm electronic devices to achieve new functions and energy-efficient operations. The chapter presents a review of ongoing research on charge carrier distribution analysis in nanoscale Si devices by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) employing advanced operation modes: a gap-modulation method, a molecule-assisted probing method, and a dual-imaging method. The described methods rely on detection and analysis of tunneling current, which is strongly localized within an atomic dimension. Representative examples of applications to nanoscale analysis of Si device cross-sections and nanowires are given. Advantages, difficulties, and limitations of the advanced STM methods are discussed in comparison with other techniques used in a field of device metrology

Urinary trypsin inhibitor suppresses the production of interstitial procollagenase/proMMP-1 and prostromelysin 1/proMMP-3 in human uterine cervical fibroblasts and chorionic cells

AbstractThe mechanisms by which urinary trypsin inhibitor (UTI) prevents preterm premature rupture of fetal membrane and premature cervical ripening were investigated. We, therefore, examined the effects of UTI on the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which closely participate in the breakdown of extracellular matrix in cultured human uterine cervical fibroblasts and human chorionic cells. UTI suppressed specifically the production of interstitial procollagenase/proMMP-1 and prostromelysin 1/proMMP-3 from both cells in a dose-dependent manner (0.32-1.28 μM). This suppression was accompanied by a decrease in steady-state levels of their mRNAs. These results indicate for the first time that UTI down-regulates the production of proMMP-1 and proMMP-3 accompanying with the decrease in the expression of their mRNAs, and therefore UTI actually participates in the maintenance of fetal membranes and/or uterine cervix by overall suppression of MMP production along with the known inhibitory actions towards serine proteinases