Modeling and Simulation of a Tungsten Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes are widely used in semiconductor device fabrication to deposit thin films of electronic materials. Physically based CVD modeling and simulation methods have been adopted for reactor design and process optimization applications to satisfy the increasingly strigent processing requirements. In this research, an ULVAC ERA-1000 selective tungsten chemical vapor deposition system located at the University of Maryland was studied where a temperature difference as large as 120 oC between the system wafer temperature reading and the thermocoupled instrumented wafer measurement was found during the manual processing mode. The goal of this research was to develop a simplified, but accurate, three-dimensional transport model that is capable of describing the observed reactor behavior.A hybrid approach combining experimental and simulation studies was used for model development. Several sets of experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of process parameters on wafer temperature. A three-dimensional gas flow and temperature model was developed and used to compute the energy transferred across the gas/wafer interface. System dependent heat transfer parameters were formulated as a nonlinear parameter estimation problem and identified using experimental measurements. Good agreement was found between the steady-state wafer temperature predictions and experimental data at various gas compositions, and the wafer temperature dynamics were successfully predicted using a temperature model considering the energy exchanges between the thermocouple, wafer, and showerhead

THE BALANCE EFFECT OF REARFOOT WEDGES WITH DIFFERENT HEIGHT FOR COLLEGIATE STUDENTS WITH CHRONIC ANKLE INSTABILITY: PILOT STUDY

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is caused by recurrent lateral ankle sprain. Foot orthotic is one option of treatment. The purpose of this study was to determinate the balance effect of rearfoot wedges with different height in collegiate students with chronic ankle instability. Eight collegiate students with CAI subjects were voluntarily particapated in this study. The area of center of pressure was used as balance variable of outcome measurement. Seven height of rearfoot wedge was used to test, included 0°, 2°, 4°, 6° of medial wedge and 2°, 4°, 6° of lateral wedge. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the difference among sevent height of wedge intervention in CAI group. The results were showed no significantly difference among seven height of wedge intervention. However, we found a trend of balance improvement with the wedge intervention, especially in 4 degrees of medial wedge intervention

Analysis of Heat Transfer in a Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor: An Eigenfunction Expansion Solution Approach

A numerical solution procedure combining several weighted residual methods and based on global trial function expansion is developed to solve a model for the steady state gas flow field and temperature distribution in a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor. The enthalpy flux across the wafer/gas boundary is calculated explicitly and is found to vary significantly as a function of wafer position. An average heat transfer coefficient is estimated numerically and is compared to typical radiative heat transfer rates in the system. The convergence properties of the discretization method developed also are discussed

Model Reduction for a Tungsten Chemical Vapor Deposition System

A model of a tungsten chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system isdeveloped to study the CVD system thermal dynamics and wafer temperaturenonuniformities during a processing cycle. We develop a model for heattransfer in the system's wafer/susceptor/guard ring assembly and discretizethe modeling equation with a multiple-grid, nonlinear collocation technique.This weighted residual method is based on the assumption that the system'sdynamics are governed by a small number of modes and that the remaining modesare slaved to these slow modes. Our numerical technique produces a model thatis effectively reduced in its dynamical dimension, while retaining theresolution required for the wafer assembly model. The numerical techniqueis implemented with only moderately more effort than the traditional collocationor pseudospectral techniques. Furthermore, by formulating the technique in termsof a collocation procedure, the relationship between temperature measurementsmade on the wafer and the simulator results produced with the reduced-ordermodel remain clear

Artificial Intelligence and Visual Analytics: A Deep-Learning Approach to Analyze Hotel Reviews & Responses

With a growing number of online reviews, consumers often rely on these reviews to make purchase decisions. However, little is known about managerial responses to online hotel reviews. This paper reports on a framework to integrate visual analytics and machine learning techniques to investigate whether hotel managers respond to positive and negative reviews differently and how to use a deep-learning approach to prioritize responses. In this study, forty 4- and 5-star hotels in London with 91,051 reviews and 70,397 responses were collected and analyzed. Visual analyses and machine learning were conducted. The results indicate most hotels (72.5%) showing no preference to respond to positive and negative reviews. Our proposed deep-learning approach outperformed existing algorithms to prioritize responses

A Computational Framework for Boundary-Value Problem Based Simulations

A framework is presented for step-by-step implementation of weighted-residualmethods (MWR) for simulations that require the solution ofboundary-value problems. A set of Matlab-based functions ofthe computationally common MWR solution steps has beendeveloped and is used in the application of eigenfunction expansion,collocation, and Galerkin-projection discretizations oftime-dependent, distributed-parameter system models. Fourindustrially relevant examples taken from electronic materialsand chemical processing applications are used to demonstrate thesimulation approach developed

CMOS Image Sensor with a Built-in Lane Detector

This work develops a new current-mode mixed signal Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) imager, which can capture images and simultaneously produce vehicle lane maps. The adopted lane detection algorithm, which was modified to be compatible with hardware requirements, can achieve a high recognition rate of up to approximately 96% under various weather conditions. Instead of a Personal Computer (PC) based system or embedded platform system equipped with expensive high performance chip of Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), the proposed imager, without extra Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) circuits to transform signals, is a compact, lower cost key-component chip. It is also an innovative component device that can be integrated into intelligent automotive lane departure systems. The chip size is 2,191.4 × 2,389.8 μm, and the package uses 40 pin Dual-In-Package (DIP). The pixel cell size is 18.45 × 21.8 μm and the core size of photodiode is 12.45 × 9.6 μm; the resulting fill factor is 29.7%

Absorption Cross Sections of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the Spectral Range 140-220 nm and Implications for Planetary Isotopic Fractionation

Cross sections for photoabsorption of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the spectral region 140-220 nm were determined at ~298 K using synchrotron radiation. Absorption spectra of NH_2D and NHD_2 were deduced from spectra of mixtures of NH_3 and ND_3, of which the equilibrium concentrations for all four isotopologues obey statistical distributions. Cross sections of NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 are new. Oscillator strengths, an integration of absorption cross sections over the spectral lines, for both A ← X and B ← X systems of NH_3 agree satisfactorily with previous reports; values for NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 agree with quantum chemical predictions. The photolysis of NH_3 provides a major source of reactive hydrogen in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere of giant planets such as Jupiter. Incorporating the measured photoabsorption cross sections of NH_3 and NH_2D into the Caltech/JPL photochemical diffusive model for the atmosphere of Jupiter, we find that the photolysis efficiency of NH_2D is lower than that of NH_3 by as much as 30%. The D/H ratio in NH_2D/NH_3 for tracing the microphysics in the troposphere of Jupiter is also discussed