Synchrotron X-Ray Microdiffraction Investigation of Scaling Effects on Reliability for Through-Silicon Vias for 3-D Integration

Synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction has been applied to TSV characterization in various studies for nondestructive inspection with submicron resolution due to its high beam intensity and penetration depth. In this paper, the application of this technique to TSV investigations is examined and the correlation of the plastic deformation to the microstructure and extrusion behavior along with the effect of TSV dimensional scaling is examined. It is shown that the variability of the copper microstructure and resulting TSV behavior requires a larger number of samples in order to report statistically significant observations. The role of the microstructure in creating statistical scatter is demonstrated through microdiffraction measurements of grain orientation correlated with the observed peak widening, which shows that degraded TSV reliability is largely due to the high elastic anisotropy of copper. After taking the statistical variations into account, the scaling effect was clearly observed, with larger plastic deformation in 2μm diameter TSVs than in 5μm diameter TSVs consistent with microstructure variations. This is confirmed by TSV extrusion measurements, which show that the magnitude and statistical spread of the via extrusion for the 2μm diameter TSVs is higher than that of the 5μm diameter TSVs. These results, validated by thermomechanical simulation, demonstrate first that large sample sizes are required in copper TSV investigations due to high variability, which is not improved with scaling

On Effective Action of Multiple M5-branes and ABJM Action

We calculate the fluctuations from the classical multiple M5-brane solution of ABJM action which we found in the previous paper. We obtain D4-brane-like action but the gauge coupling constant depends on the spacetime coordinate. This is consistent with the expected properties of M5-brane action, although we will need to take into account the monopole operators in order to fully understand M5-branes. We also see that the Nambu-Poisson bracket is hidden in the solution.Comment: 21 pages; v2:version to appear in JHE

More on the Nambu-Poisson M5-brane Theory: Scaling limit, background independence and an all order solution to the Seiberg-Witten map

We continue our investigation on the Nambu-Poisson description of M5-brane in a large constant C-field background (NP M5-brane theory) constructed in Refs.[1, 2]. In this paper, the low energy limit where the NP M5-brane theory is applicable is clarified. The background independence of the NP M5-brane theory is made manifest using the variables in the BLG model of multiple M2-branes. An all order solution to the Seiberg-Witten map is also constructed.Comment: expanded explanations, minor corrections and typos correcte

A No-Go Theorem for M5-brane Theory

The BLG model for multiple M2-branes motivates an M5-brane theory with a novel gauge symmetry defined by the Nambu-Poisson structure. This Nambu-Poisson gauge symmetry for an M5-brane in large C-field background can be matched, on double dimension reduction, with the Poisson limit of the noncommutative gauge symmetry for a D4-brane in B-field background. Naively, one expects that there should exist a certain deformation of the Nambu-Poisson structure to match with the full noncommutative gauge symmetry including higher order terms. However, We prove the no-go theorem that there is no way to deform the Nambu-Poisson gauge symmetry, even without assuming the existence of a deformation of Nambu-Poisson bracket, to match with the noncommutative gauge symmetry in 4+1 dimensions to all order, regardless of how the double dimension reduction is implemented.Comment: v4: minor modifications

Diabetes status and post-load plasma glucose concentration in relation to site-specific cancer mortality: findings from the original Whitehall study

ObjectiveWhile several studies have reported on the relation of diabetes status with pancreatic cancer risk, the predictive value of this disorder for other malignancies is unclear. Methods: The Whitehall study, a 25year follow-up for mortality experience of 18,006 men with data on post-challenge blood glucose and self-reported diabetes, allowed us to address these issues. Results: There were 2158 cancer deaths at follow-up. Of the 15 cancer outcomes, diabetes status was positively associated with mortality from carcinoma of the pancreas and liver, while the relationship with lung cancer was inverse, after controlling for a range of potential covariates and mediators which included obesity and socioeconomic position. After excluding deaths occurring in the first 10years of follow-up to examine the effect of reverse causality, the magnitude of the relationships for carcinoma of the pancreas and lung was little altered, while for liver cancer it was markedly attenuated. Conclusions: In the present study, diabetes status was related to pancreatic, liver, and lung cancer risk. Cohorts with serially collected data on blood glucose and covariates are required to further examine this area

An SU(N) Mott insulator of an atomic Fermi gas realized by large-spin Pomeranchuk cooling

The Hubbard model, containing only the minimum ingredients of nearest neighbor hopping and on-site interaction for correlated electrons, has succeeded in accounting for diverse phenomena observed in solid-state materials. One of the interesting extensions is to enlarge its spin symmetry to SU(N>2), which is closely related to systems with orbital degeneracy. Here we report a successful formation of the SU(6) symmetric Mott insulator state with an atomic Fermi gas of ytterbium (173Yb) in a three-dimensional optical lattice. Besides the suppression of compressibility and the existence of charge excitation gap which characterize a Mott insulating phase, we reveal an important difference between the cases of SU(6) and SU(2) in the achievable temperature as the consequence of different entropy carried by an isolated spin. This is analogous to Pomeranchuk cooling in solid 3He and will be helpful for investigating exotic quantum phases of SU(N) Hubbard system at extremely low temperatures.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Nature Physic

Guillain-Barré syndrome: a century of progress

In 1916, Guillain, Barré and Strohl reported on two cases of acute flaccid paralysis with high cerebrospinal fluid protein levels and normal cell counts — novel findings that identified the disease we now know as Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). 100 years on, we have made great progress with the clinical and pathological characterization of GBS. Early clinicopathological and animal studies indicated that GBS was an immune-mediated demyelinating disorder, and that severe GBS could result in secondary axonal injury; the current treatments of plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin, which were developed in the 1980s, are based on this premise. Subsequent work has, however, shown that primary axonal injury can be the underlying disease. The association of Campylobacter jejuni strains has led to confirmation that anti-ganglioside antibodies are pathogenic and that axonal GBS involves an antibody and complement-mediated disruption of nodes of Ranvier, neuromuscular junctions and other neuronal and glial membranes. Now, ongoing clinical trials of the complement inhibitor eculizumab are the first targeted immunotherapy in GBS

N=8 Superspace Constraints for Three-dimensional Gauge Theories

We present a systematic analysis of the N=8 superspace constraints in three space-time dimensions. The general coupling between vector and scalar supermultiplets is encoded in an SO(8) tensor W_{AB} which is a function of the matter fields and subject to a set of algebraic and super-differential relations. We show how the conformal BLG model as well as three-dimensional super Yang-Mills theory provide solutions to these constraints and can both be formulated in this universal framework.Comment: 34 + 10 pages; added references, minor correction

On thermodynamics of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory

We study thermodynamics of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory by computing quantum corrections to the free energy. We find that in weakly coupled ABJM theory on R(2) x S(1), the leading correction is non-analytic in the 't Hooft coupling lambda, and is approximately of order lambda^2 log(lambda)^3. The free energy is expressed in terms of the scalar thermal mass m, which is generated by screening effects. We show that this mass vanishes to 1-loop order. We then go on to 2-loop order where we find a finite and positive mass squared m^2. We discuss differences in the calculation between Coulomb and Lorentz gauge. Our results indicate that the free energy is a monotonic function in lambda which interpolates smoothly to the N^(3/2) behaviour at strong coupling.Comment: 29 pages. v2: references added. v3: minor changes, references added, published versio

A novel class of microRNA-recognition elements that function only within open reading frames.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well known to target 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs) in mRNAs, thereby silencing gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Multiple reports have also indicated the ability of miRNAs to target protein-coding sequences (CDS); however, miRNAs have been generally believed to function through similar mechanisms regardless of the locations of their sites of action. Here, we report a class of miRNA-recognition elements (MREs) that function exclusively in CDS regions. Through functional and mechanistic characterization of these 'unusual' MREs, we demonstrate that CDS-targeted miRNAs require extensive base-pairing at the 3' side rather than the 5' seed; cause gene silencing in an Argonaute-dependent but GW182-independent manner; and repress translation by inducing transient ribosome stalling instead of mRNA destabilization. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms and functional consequences of miRNAs that target CDS versus the 3' UTR and suggest that CDS-targeted miRNAs may use a translational quality-control-related mechanism to regulate translation in mammalian cells