Investigation of pulse compression technique and time-frequency analysis in medical ultrasound imaging

Linear frequency modulation (LFM) followed by pulse Compression processing has bee

Electrodeposition of Copper on Ruthenium Oxides and Bimetallic Corrosion of Copper/Ruthenium in Polyphenolic Antioxidants

Copper (Cu) electrodeposition on ruthenium (Ru) oxides was studied due to important implications in semiconductor industry. Ruthenium, proposed as the copper diffusion barrier/liner material, has higher oxygen affinity to form different oxides. Three different oxides (the native oxide, reversible oxide, and irreversible oxide) were studied. Native oxide can be formed on exposing Ru in atmosphere. The reversible and irreversible oxides can be formed by applying electrochemical potential. Investigation of Cu under potential deposition on these oxides indicates the similarity between native and reversible oxides by its nature of inhibiting Cu deposition. Irreversible oxide formed on Ru surface is rather conductive and interfacial binding between Cu and Ru is greatly enhanced. After deposition, bimetallic corrosion of Cu/Ru in different polyphenols was studied. Polyphenols are widely used as antioxidants in post chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). For this purpose, different trihydroxyl substituted benzenes were used as antioxidants. Ru, with its noble nature enhances bimetallic corrosion of Cu. Gallic acid (3,4,5 - trihydroxybenzoic acid) was chosen as model compound. A mechanism has been proposed and validity of the mechanism was checked with other antioxidants. Results show that understanding the chemical structure of antioxidants is necessary during its course of reaction with Cu

Preparation of a Binder-Free Three-Dimensional Carbon Foam/Silicon Composite as Potential Material for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

We report a novel three-dimensional nitrogen containing carbon foam/silicon (CFS) composite as potential material for lithium ion battery anodes. Carbon foams were prepared by direct carbonization of low cost, commercially available melamine formaldehyde (MF, Basotect) foam precursors. The carbon foams thus obtained display a three-dimensional interconnected macroporous network structure with good electrical conductivity (0.07 S/cm). Binder free CFS composites used for electrodes were prepared by immersing the as-fabricated carbon foam into silicon nanoparticles dispersed in ethanol followed by solvent evaporation and secondary pyrolysis. In order to substantiate this new approach, preliminary electrochemical testing has been done. The first results on CFS electrodes demonstrated initial capacity of 1668 mAh/g with 75% capacity retention after 30 cycles of subsequent charging and discharging. In order to further enhance the electrochemical performance, silicon nanoparticles were additionally coated with a nitrogen containing carbon layer derived from codeposited poly­(acrylonitrile). These carbon coated CFS electrodes demonstrated even higher performance with an initial capacity of 2100 mAh/g with 92% capacity retention after 30 cycles of subsequent charging and discharging