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Laparoscopic percutaneous extraperitoneal closure (LPEC) is known to reduce the incidence of metachronous contralateral hernia (MCH) compared to conventional hernia repair. We herein describe the effects of insistent screening for an irregular orifice of the contralateral patent processus vaginalis (CPPV). All patients who underwent LPEC between 2003 and 2013 were reviewed. We started insistent screening for a CPPV in July 2010. The surgically treated cases before June 2010 were assigned to the former group, while those treated after July 2010 were in the latter group. The data were retrospectively collected from medical records. The statistical analysis was performed using the Mann–Whitney U test or Chi square test. A value of P

Isolated hypoganglionosis (IH) is a rare disease, with few well-established therapeutic strategies. This study aims to verify our preliminary therapeutic strategies developed to date in a comparison with data obtained from a nationwide survey of congenital-type IH. Of the 90 registered IH cases assessed in a survey of Japanese pediatric surgical departments, 40 patients who had initially undergone jejunostomy (JE) and 41 treated with ileostomy (IL) were analyzed. Thirteen patients with JE sites located less than 50 cm from the ligament of Treitz were defined as having undergone upper jejunostomy (UJE). Postsurgical plain abdominal X-ray findings and survival rates, estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method, were used to evaluate improvements following stoma creation. Improvements in bowel obstruction were observed in significantly more UJE patients (9/13) than non-UJE patients [20/63 (22 JE and 41 IL cases); p = 0.01]. Furthermore, the JE patients demonstrated a significantly higher survival rate than the IL patients (p = 0.01). Following the completion of the 10-year follow-up period, three JE patients died after undergoing massive bowel resection. To manage IH successfully, patients should undergo JE less than 50 cm from the ligament of Treitz during the neonatal period. Properly managing the distal intestines is important for achieving long-term survival.

Background Recurrent non-organic abdominal pain is the most commonly diagnosed medical problem in children. However, excluding small bowel disease remains a challenge. We evaluated our exclusion criteria for organic small intestinal diseases in pediatric patients with recurrent non-organic abdominal pain using cinematic magnetic resonance (cine-MR) enterography. Methods The non-intestinal organic (non-IO) group as classified by the Rome III criteria system and the intestinal organic (IO) group consisted of 81 and 19 patients, with 35 and 12 male and 46 and 7 female patients with an age range of 5–18 and 4–15 years (average 10.5 and 10.5 years), respectively. Cine-MR enterography was performed by dynamically balanced first-field-echo imaging with thick-slice water-selective excitation without breath holding. In our original small intestinal motility test, cine-MR enterography was taken at three different times (fasting state [P1], immediately after [P2] and 30 min after [P3] drinking liquid material), with images taken sequentially for 5 min at each time-point to evaluate the motion of water in the gastrointestinal tract. Positive findings for organic intestinal problems were concluded when persistent visible intestinal loops appeared in both the P1 and P2 phases. Results Cine-MR enterography showed 6/81 (7.4%) and 18/19 (94.7%) (P < 0.01) positive cases of organic intestinal problems in the non-IO and IO groups, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values of this examination were 78.3% and 97.4%, respectively. Conclusions The unique capabilities of cine-MR enterography technology in this clinical setting render it an important additional diagnostic tool when specific disease management issues must be addressed.

The distribution of sphincter muscle complex in anorectal malformation (ARM) needs to be investigated on a case-by-case basis. This study was undertaken to demonstrate the differences in the anal sphincter muscles between patients with the same type of ARM. Computed tomography (CT) data from cases of high- and intermediate-type male patients with ARM were reviewed using three-dimensional (3D) image analysis. Twenty-seven male patients with ARM (18 high and 9 intermediate) before anorectoplasty were assessed using multidetector-row helical CT (MRH-CT). A 3D reconstruction was made using volume rendering method. The multi-dimensional sections of the 3D reconstructed images of the pelvic muscles were then analyzed and compared with schematic drawings from the literature. The sphincters in the high and intermediate types of ARM could be divided into five groups. In 13 out of 18 cases in the high type and 7 out of 9 cases in the intermediate type, images of the sphincter muscles appeared different from schematic drawings appearing in the literature. In both high and intermediate types of ARM, more than 2/3 of cases demonstrated unexpectedly displaced and deformed hypoplastic sphincters. Therefore, we recommend that variations in anal sphincter should be investigated on an individual basis prior to surgery.

Up to now, the semiconductor industry has been developed under the promotion of the fine processing technology. The power relationships of the semiconductor industry have been changed drastically at the each advent of products used advanced fine process. In the past, this phenomenon is observed on the DRAM business frequently. Therefore, it is often said that semiconductor industry has the gambling property of high risk-high return on the business.

The central venous catheter (CVC) is a useful device for patients requiring parenteral nutrition (PN). However, the risk for catheter-related blood stream infection (CRBSI) is always present. We analyzed the medical course pattern and considered the strategies against febrile events in patients with CVC.Nine patients receiving PN in our institute from January 2009 to December 2010 were reviewed. Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U test. A p value of0.05 was considered statistically significant.Eighty-four febrile events were observed. Fifty-six specimens had a positive blood culture, and 52 (93%) specimens were found to be positive in 48 h. The fever dissolved within 48 h in 76 (90%) events after our scheduled treatment. Between the positive and negative blood culture groups, no statistical difference was observed in the count of white blood cell (p = 0.15), the proportion of neutrophils (p = 0.11) and C-reactive protein (p = 0.64). None of the CVCs were removed because of failure to control infection.We recommend the treatment for CRBSI be initiated when patients with CVC develop a high-grade fever, even before exact identification of the cause of infection. The treatment can be corrected after the re-evaluation at 48 h.

Purpose In cases of large umbilical hernias, standard surgical techniques have proven inadequate for diminishing the diameter of the umbilicus. We have modified the 3- and 4-triangular-skin-flap techniques to diminish the diameter of the umbilicus and achieve a cosmetically acceptable umbilicus. Materials and Methods Umbilicoplasty was performed in 149 children (median age, 2.5 years; range, 3 months-10 years) between 2003 and 2008. We created 4 skin flaps 1.5 cm in length on the umbilicus and excised the cranial diamond-shaped skin flap. After closure of the fascial defect, the diameter of the umbilicus was diminished by suturing the opened cranial part of the diamond-shaped skin flap vertically. The tips of the 3 remaining flaps were then anchored to the closed fascia. Results Postoperatively, granulation tissue occurred in 18 cases (12%), transient erythema of a flap in 15 cases (10%), and bulging of a skin flap in 15 cases (10%). These complications were reduced by suturing adjoining skin flaps. No recurrent hernias were encountered. The postoperative umbilical appearance was satisfactory in all cases. Conclusion This surgical technique is effective for diminishing the diameter of the umbilicus and creating a cosmetically acceptable shaped umbilicus, even for large umbilical hernias.

Purpose The sphincter muscles in anorectal anomalies, which do not appear in the surgical field, cannot be described adequately. Details of the anal sphincter in low-type anorectal malformations were investigated using 3-dimensional (3D) image analysis. Patients and Methods Thirty patients (10 males and 20 females) with low-type anorectal malformation were investigated with multidetector-row helical computed tomography. An image of the anorectal part was obtained with a slice thickness of 1 mm and a reconstruction pitch of 0.5 mm. A 3D reconstruction on a personal computer was made with a volume rendering method assisted by our own software (NewVES). Results Very thin vertical fibers (VFs) were observed behind the fistula in almost half of the low-type cases. They did not wrap the distal end of the fistula. The 3D images of these sphincters were different in each case. Discussion The fistula was dislocated forward from the deformed hypoplastic sphincter. We suggest that surgical mobilization of the anorectum into the center of the hypoplastic sphincter would be difficult using the cut back or Potts methods. Conclusion The choice of surgical method should take into consideration the displaced and deformed hypoplastic anal sphincter.

A high-speed electro-optic spatial light modulator (EOSLM) was successfully fabricated with (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 (PLZT) electro-optic thin film. This EOSLM has a longitudinal structure, so a large electro-optic effect is necessary for low driving voltage (

We have studied the effects of (i) impurity doping, (ii) rapid thermal annealing, and (iii) crystal polarity control on photoluminescence spectra in the band-edge emission region of high quality ZnO. As a result, we have discussed the possible lattice defects responsible for some photoluminescence emission peaks, namely (i) peak I8 appears at 3.3596 eV, (ii) peak I9 appears at 3.3565 eV and (iii) peak G appears at 3.3327 eV. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Phosphorus-doped ZnO films were grown by radical source molecular beam epitaxy (RS-MBE). Zn 3 P 2 was used for the phosphorus source. ZnO:P layers were grown on an in situ annealed low temperature buffer layers, and the phosphorus concentration was changed by altering the temperature of the Zn 3 P 2 K-cell. The phosphorus concentration could be controlled from 1 x 10 18 to 2 x 10 20 cm -3 without phase separation. The importance of the ambient gas used during thermal treatments was demonstrated. All of the ZnO:P layers showed n-type conduction, however, the electron concentration of ZnO:P was found to decrease by as much as from 4.1 × 10 19 to 9.7 x 10 16 cm -3 when the samples underwent oxygen ambient rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment. Furthermore, a new photoluminescence peak at 3.357eV was observed after RTA treatment, which was not present in undoped ZnO layers before and after RTA treatment. These results indicate that the activation of acceptors in ZnO:P occurred in samples that underwent RTA treatment and that phosphorus is a good candidate as an acceptor dopant.

The reduction of the power consumption is becoming more essential for portable systems. A powering down scheme is very useful to reduce power comsumption of LSIs. The scheme needs to keep logic state, so several latch circuits have been reported. However, these methods require large additional circuit or special manufacturing process. A non-volatile latch with ferroelectric capacitors is simple and smart way [1], and its area penalty is very small. The non-volatile device needs no power supply for data keeping. Moreover, a dynamic reconfigurable logic can be possible by using the non-volatile latch as non-volatile switches.

A novel nonvolatile logic style, called complementary ferroelectric-capacitor (CFC) logic, is proposed for low-power logic-in-memory VLSI, in which storage elements are distributed over the logic-circuit plane. Standby currents in distributed storage elements can be cut off by using ferroelectric-based nonvolatile storage elements, and the standby power dissipation can be greatly reduced. Since the nonvolatile storage and the switching functions are merged into ferroelectric capacitors by the capacitive coupling effect, reduction of active device counts can be achieved. The use of complementary stored data in coupled ferroelectric capacitors makes it possible to perform a switching operation with small degradation of the nonvolatile charge at a low supply voltage. The restore operation can be performed by only applying the small bias across the ferroelectric capacitor, which reduces the dynamic power dissipation. Applying the proposed circuitry in a fully parallel 32-bit content-addressable memory results in about 2/3 dynamic power reduction and 1/7700 static power reduction with chip size of 1/3, compared to a CMOS implementation using 0.6-/spl mu/m ferroelectric/CMOS.

We have investigated the effect of in-situ annealing and nitrogen doping on 40 nm low-temperature buffer layers in radical-source molecular beam epitaxy (RS-MBE) as well as subsequently grown high-temperature ZnO layers grown on the buffers. All layers were grown on (11&2macr;0) sapphire substrates. High resolution x-ray reciprocal space maps in the vicinity of the ZnO (0002) reciprocal lattice point (RLP) showed a sharp reduction in diffuse scattering for the thermally annealed buffer layer implying a reduction in dislocation density. X-ray lateral coherence (LC) values obtained from asymmetric diffraction near the (10&1macr;4) RLP indicated that the LC of a undoped, high-temperature ZnO layer grown on an in-situ N-doped buffer was larger than those of high-temperature ZnO layers grown on either the in-situ annealed or untreated low-temperature buffers. The increased LC was found to be correlated with in-plane twist suggesting that dislocation bunching may be present at domain boundaries in the high-temperature ZnO grown on annealed N-doped buffer layers. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The wide bandgap semiconductor, ZnO, is intrinsically n-type and one of the remaining hurdles to be overcome before it can be used for optoelectronic applications is achieving p-type doping. A potential candidate for a p-type dopant is Cu. Towards this end, X-ray near-edge absorption (XANES) has been used to determine changes in valency of Cu in molecular beam epitaxial grown ZnO as a function of growth parameters. Growth parameters varied include the Cu flux which was varied over roughly three orders of magnitude TCu=800–1000 °C and two substrate temperatures: 300 and 600 °C. XANES measurements confirmed that Cu was in the +1 valence state for all as-grown samples. Preliminary EXAFS measurements also demonstrated that Cu incorporated into a Zn-atom position substitutionally. X-ray diffraction also indicated significant phase separation with the presence of both metallic Cu and CuO indicated for Cu concentrations >3×1021 cm−3.

Laparoscopic percutaneous extraperitoneal closure (LPEC) allows the surgeon to look for contralateral patent processus vaginalis (CPPV) directly. We investigated the incidence of CPPV in relation to age at LPEC. Following Institutional Review Board approval, 1232 patients ranging in age from 2 months old to 15 years old (median 4.7 years), who underwent LPEC, were investigated retrospectively. Patients were divided into five groups based on their age at surgery: younger than 1, 1–2, 2–4, 4–6 years, and older than 6 years. The incidence of CPPV being detected by preoperative ultrasonography or laparoscopy was compared among these groups. Statistical analyses were performed using the Chi-square test or Cochran–Armitage trend test, and p

It has been theoretically predicted that the codoping of an acceptor (nitrogen) and a donor (aluminium, gallium, indium) in a 2 : 1 ratio will enable the fabrication of low resistivity p-type ZnO due to reduction of the Madelung energy making the nitrogen acceptor energy level shallower. We have been growing N-doped and Ga+N codoped ZnO films by radical-source molecular beam epitaxy. Nitrogen and oxygen radicals were separately supplied via radio-frequency radical cells. Nitrogen did not incorporate in ZnO films at the high substrate temperature of 600°C. Lower substrate temperatures were necessary for nitrogen incorporation. From the fact that the nitrogen concentration also depended on the Zn fluxes, it is concluded that Zn-rich conditions are indispensable for nitrogen doping. The presence of Ga was observed to enhance nitrogen incorporation, one of the predicted effects of codoping. However, high Ga concentrations were found to lead to formation of the additional phase of ZnGa 2 O 4 in ZnO films.

A novel nonvolatile latch with ferroelectric capacitors has been developed to reduce standby power of LSIs. This latch stores the data as a ferroelectric remanent polarization during power off without area penalty and operating speed degradation. Test circuits have been fabricated to confirm characteristics of the latch. The data retention and the stable recall procedure have been confirmed. This paper also describes scaling projection of this technique.

Near-edge X-ray absorption (XANES) at the Cu K-edge was employed to study the valency of Cu (a potential p-dopant) in Cu-doped ZnO grown by molecular beam epitaxy. For a similar chemical environment, a shift in the onset of absorption can be interpreted as being due to a change in effective valency. We have studied this shift for both as-grown and argon ambient annealed (1000°C, 30 min) Cu-doped ZnO samples. The valency shift was measured against ab-initio standards calculated using feff8 as well as the standard samples Cu 2 O (+1 valence) and CuO (+2 valence). It was found for the flux region explored here that as-incorporated Cu assumes an effective valence of approximately +1 which increases towards +2 upon a 1000 °C argon ambient anneal. X-ray diffraction also shows the presence of both metallic Cu and Cu 2 O depending upon growth and annealing conditions.

The optical and structural properties of textured ZnCdO films that exibit a newly found distinct blue luminescence have been investigated. Microscopic compositional fluctuations of Cd, associated with hexagonal grain structures, were observed. Models for the blue-luminescence process are proposed.

Catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) is a serious complication associated with parenteral nutrition (PN). We retrospectively examined the features of CRBSI in patients with motility disorder (MD) by reviewing medical records.Patients who received PN for more than 100 days in our hospital between January 2009 and September 2013 were reviewed. They were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of MD. The frequency of CRBSI and the pathogenic organisms detected were compared. Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher's exact test. P0.05 was considered significant.Six patients had MD (MD group) and four patients had short bowels without MD (SB group). The median frequencies of CRBSI were 12.6 per 1,000 catheter-days in the MD group and 2.3 in the SB group (P = 0.027). The percentage of Gram-negative bacilli in all pathogenic organisms was 61% in the MD group and 22% in the SB group (P = 0.036).We found CRBSI was more frequent and Gram-negative bacilli were more common in patients with MD. Stasis in the alimentary tract and subsequent bacterial overgrowth appear to be risk factors for CRBSI. Therefore, it is crucial to seek treatments not to cause intestinal stasis.

In the near future, the ferroelectric memory technology will be taken into reconfigurable devices as programmable interconnect switches besides being used as embedded memories. These ferroelectric memory-based reconfigurable devices can be used as dynamic programmable gate arrays (DPGA), which can be reconfigured from their original logic in a system under an operation mode.

The integrated use of (1120) α-plane sapphire substrates and high temperature growth with low temperature buffer layers have led to high quality undoped ZnO epitaxial films with mobilities as high as 120 cm 2 V -1 s -1 and residual carrier concentrations as low as 7.6 x 10 16 cm -3 . Pole figure measurements reveal that a-plane sapphire substrates are effective for the elimination of 30 rotation domains, which usually appear using c-plane sapphire substrates. In particular, when using c-plane sapphire substrates annealing at 1000°C in O 2 with c/2-height surface steps, the X-ray diffraction pole figure peak intensity related to these rotation domains increased. The use of low temperature buffer layers allow high temperature ZnO growth on sapphire, as initial ZnO growth does not occur at high initial growth temperature.

It has been recently demonstrated that it is possible to eliminate 30° rotation twins in c-oriented epitaxial ZnO films by growing on the (1 1 2 0) face of sapphire despite the apparent symmetry mismatch between the (6-fold) epilayer and the (2-fold) substrate. To further elucidate the details of the growth process, we have investigated the initial stages of growth of ZnO on (1 1 2 0) sapphire using molecular beam epitaxy. Films of approximately 3, 5, 8, 10, 20, 100, and 600 nm thickness were investigated by in situ reflection high-energy diffraction, high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and extended X-ray absorption (XAFS). XAFS indicates that there is no discernible change in nearest-neighbor distance with film thickness. On the other hand, HRXRD measurements indicate an ∼1% increase in the c-lattice constant with decreasing film thickness. XAFS measurements of the second nearest-neighbor structural disorder were observed to increase sharply for the thinnest films implying that distortion of bond angles is responsible for the increase in the c-axis observed by HRXRD. HRXRD reciprocal area maps of the symmetric ZnO (0 0 0 2) reflection indicate the onset of diffuse scattering from 20 nm, while AFM indicates a concurrent change in surface morphology suggesting a change in the growth process for t>∼20 nm .

The ferroelectric memory is not only an ideal memory with clear advantages such as non-volatility, low power consumption, high endurance and high speed writing, but is also the most suitable device for memory embedded applications. Its manufacturing process makes it more compatible with the standard CMOS process than the traditional non-volatile memory process, since it does not require high voltage operation, and the ferroelectric process does not influence the characteristics of the CMOS devices used in logic cells, analog cells and core cells. In the spreading of Intellectual Property (IP) application for the LSI Industry, this embedded application takes on a more important role. In the near future, the ferroelectric memory technology will be taken into reconfigurable devices as programmable interconnect switches besides being used as embedded memories. These ferroelectric memory based reconfigurable devices can be used as Dynamic Programmable Gate Array (DPGA), which are able to be reconfigured from their original logic in a system under an operation mode. New logic circuits will operated with lower power consumption or a resume function by introducing ferroelectric gated transistors or ferroelectric capacitors. Even though ferroelectric memory technology has many advantages, it is not popular yet, since, the conventional semiconductor process degrades the ferroelectric layer easily. The means to prevent degradation of ferroelectric films in the silicon wafer process will also be discussed.

Enhancement-mode metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with trench gate structures have been developed. These MOSFETs show excellent DC characteristics with on-voltage of 5.1 V, i.e., enhancement-mode operation and extremely high channel mobilities of 133 cm2/(V s). This structure enables us to realize vertical switching devices with high breakdown voltage and highly integrated low on-resistance with the usage of excellent physical parameters of GaN. This excellent performance of these devices breaks though the realization of GaN-based power switching transistors.

Ferroelectric memory is expected not only for a standard memory but also for embedded memories in logic LSIs such as smart cards and microcomputers, because it's electrical characteristics and process compatibility are adequate for embedded. For embedded devices, a high speed operation and a reduction in memory cell area are required. In order to apply the ferroelectric memory to the embedded devices widely, a multi level metallization (for high speed operation), a stacked capacitor cell (for reduction the cell area) and other techniques are necessary. In this paper, our approach for the ferroelectric embedded device will be presented.

m-Plane (10-10) nonpolar InGaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) with no threading dislocations or stacking faults have been realized on m-plane GaN single crystals by conventional metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. The crystalline properties of the material, together with the structures of the LED devices, have been observed by scanning transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that dislocation-free nonpolar nitride layers with smooth surfaces can be obtained under growth conditions involving high V/III ratios, which are the optimized growth conditions for c-plane GaN. The peak wavelength of the electroluminescence emission obtained from the finished devices is 435 nm, which is in the blue region. The output power and the calculated external quantum efficiency are 1.79 mW and 3.1%, respectively, at a driving current of 20 mA.

The ferroelectric memory is the most suitable device for memory embedded applications. Its manufacturing process makes it more compatible with the standard CMOS process than the traditional non-volatile memory processes, due to device operation voltage requirements. In addition, it provides clear advantages such as non-volatility, lower power consumption, higher endurance on writing cycles and higher writing speed. The most significant benefits of the embedded ferroelectric memory are shown on contactless smart IC cards and RF-ID cards without battery backup, which will expand the electronic ID market in a variety of applications. A super high integration chip will not be produced without having any redundancy circuit on it. If the ferroelectric memory technology is applied to FPGA (field programmable gate array), however, this problem will be solved. The ferroelectric memory technology will lead to a new semiconductor device architecture, and will take the major place in the coming multi-media era.

PLZT thin films were deposited on 6-inch Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering using a multichamber type production system. The lead (Pb) content in low temperature deposited PLZT films was measured by ICP spectroscopy and structural properties of rapid thermally annealed PLZT films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It is found that several sputtering parameters such as RF power, argon (Ar) gas flow and magnetic field were very effective to control the Pb content which is essential for obtaining good ferroelectric properties.

Recurrent non-organic abdominal pain is the most commonly diagnosed medical problem in children. However, excluding small bowel disease remains a challenge. We evaluated our exclusion criteria for organic small intestinal diseases in pediatric patients with recurrent non-organic abdominal pain using cinematic magnetic resonance (cine-MR) enterography.The non-intestinal organic (non-IO) group as classified by the Rome III criteria system and the intestinal organic (IO) group consisted of 81 and 19 patients, with 35 and 12 male and 46 and 7 female patients with an age range of 5-18 and 4-15 years (average 10.5 and 10.5 years), respectively. Cine-MR enterography was performed by dynamically balanced first-field-echo imaging with thick-slice water-selective excitation without breath holding. In our original small intestinal motility test, cine-MR enterography was taken at three different times (fasting state [P1], immediately after [P2] and 30 min after [P3] drinking liquid material), with images taken sequentially for 5 min at each time-point to evaluate the motion of water in the gastrointestinal tract. Positive findings for organic intestinal problems were concluded when persistent visible intestinal loops appeared in both the P1 and P2 phases.Cine-MR enterography showed 6/81 (7.4%) and 18/19 (94.7%) (P0.01) positive cases of organic intestinal problems in the non-IO and IO groups, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values of this examination were 78.3% and 97.4%, respectively.The unique capabilities of cine-MR enterography technology in this clinical setting render it an important additional diagnostic tool when specific disease management issues must be addressed.

ZnO films were grown on low-temperature (LT) buffer layers on sapphire a-plane (11–20) substrates by radical source molecular-beam epitaxy. The LT buffer layers were found to effect the electrical properties of subsequently grown undoped ZnO films, and their presence was found to be indispensable for the growth of films with low carrier concentrations and high mobilities. Temperature-dependent Hall measurements showed the existence of a degenerate region related to the LT buffer layers. It was found that the effects of degenerate layers could be reduced by using annealing treatments and nitrogen doping of the LT buffer layers. The dominant residual donor energy of 110 meV was found to be different than previously reported. The carrier concentration of a ZnO film fabricated using a nitrogen-doped buffer layer was 7.5×1016 cm−3 with a mobility of 132 cm2/V s at room temperature.

The development of ferroelectric memory device requires improvements in electrical characteristics such as fatigue, retention, imprint and other properties. Fatigue properties of PZT thin films were improved by using Pt/IrO2 or Ir/IrO2 used as electrodes, we reported. This report presents a study of the retention and the imprint characteristics of PZT thin films on various electrodes. Pt/IrO2 and Ir/IrO2 layer structures were used as electrodes of the PZT capacitors. In the case of using an Ir/IrO2 electrode, the improvements in electrical properties from the measurements of the retention and the imprint characteristics.

We proposed a MFMIS structure having a floating gate as a bottom electrode between a ferroelectric thin film and the gate SiO2. Conventional gate SiO2 can be used and ferroelectric thin films can be grown on bottom electrodes which have a good matching with the ferroelectric materials due to adopt the MFMIS structure. Ir and IrO2 on poly-Si were used as floating gate. When a IrO2 layer was formed between PZT and poly-Si, a high-quality PZT thin film was obtained and the PZT films show no fatigue up to 1012 cycles of switching pulses. From the ID-VG characteristics measurement for 1·2 μm P-ch MFMIS FET, the shift in Vth or the memory window for a bias sweep of ±15V was about 3·3V. The difference of ID-VD curves which corresponded to ID-VG characteristics were found between before and after a programming pulse was applied.

In this paper we describe an experimental study on ferroelectric non-volatile memory. The test devices using a MFMIS (metal-ferroelectric-metal-insulator-semiconductor) structure were developed for 1-Tr-type NDRO (non-destructive readout) memory. PZT (Lead-zirconate-titanate) and PT (lead-titanate) thin films were deposited on various bottom electrodes by solgel method. As electrodes, Pt, Pt/Ti, Pt/Ti/Ta and Pt/IrO2 were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. We found out that a variation in the electrodes caused drastic changes in the C-V characteristics and fatigue characteristics of MFMIS capacitors. The I-V characteristics of Pt/PZT/ Pt/SiO2/p-Si MFMIS FET showed a hysteresis loop and the direction of the loop corresponded to ferroelectric polarization in the PZT film. A 2.7 V memory window was achieved using a 6 V programming voltage. PZT thin films on Pt/IrO2 electrodes showed no fatigue after 1012 switching cycles.

It has been recently predicted that the co-doping of an acceptor (nitrogen) and a donor (aluminum, gallium, indium) in a 2:1 ratio will dope ZnO p-type due to a reduction in the Madelung energy making the nitrogen acceptor energy level more shallow. We have been growing gallium and nitrogen co-doped ZnO films by radical-source molecular-beam epitaxy by use of oxygen and nitrogen radicals supplied via rf radical source cells. Diode-like current–voltage characteristics and donor acceptor pair-like photoluminescence emission were observed for a Ga and N doped ZnO film grown on an undoped ZnO buffer layer. However, Hall measurements revealed that the conductivity was n-type. Formation of a non-ZnO phase in the sample was confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction measurements. Zn and Zn+O secondary ion intensities fell sharply by two orders of magnitude in going from the undoped ZnO layer to the highly co-doped ZnO. X-ray diffraction measurements indicated the formation of ZnGa2O4.

Background/Purpose Excessively long segment of congenital hypoganglionosis is rare, and therapeutic strategies to treat this disorder are not well established. The purpose of this study is to describe the significance of management in the neonatal and early infancy period. Patients and Methods Four patients (aged 1-4 years) with hypoganglionosis were selected for this study, of which 3 were treated at our hospital. In the initial treatment of 3 cases, an intraoperative pathological diagnosis was made on the basis of findings from simultaneous biopsies taken from the jejunum and sigmoid colon. Retrospective reviews of these patients were performed. Results Initial double-barrel jejunostomy at less than 50 cm from the ligament of Treitz allowed patients to start oral nutrition within a week following surgery. Subsequent refashioning of the initial jejunostomy to the Bishop-Koop type was performed at 3 to 6 months of age. Intravenous hyperalimentation was required to meet less than 50% of nutritional requirements, and patients were able to maintain their body weight within 1.5 SD of the normal mean body weight. Liver function test results were also within normal limits in the 3 patients treated at our hospital. Conclusion Early diagnosis and treatment may help improve the management of patients in the early stages of hypoganglionosis.

Thin films of ZnO and Mg x Zn 1-x O were epitaxially grown on Zn-polar ZnO substrates by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The miscut of c-plane ZnO substrates toward the [1-100] axis direction leads to a flat substrate surface with straight step edges. The growth mode of epitaxial ZnO films significantly depended on the growth temperature, and a substrate temperature over 800°C was needed for flat film surfaces with monolayer-height steps. Photoluminescence (PL) peak originating from the n = 2 state of A-free excitons was observed at 12 K for the ZnO films grown under stoichiometric and O-rich growth conditions. Mg x Zn 1-x O films were also fabricated under Zn-rich conditions. The film surface exhibited a step-and-terrace structure. The effective PL lifetime of Mg 0.08 Zn 0.92 O film was as long as 1.9 ns, which is the highest value ever reported, presumably due to a high purity level of the film.

Novel solid-state spatial light modulator (SLM) is developed. An electro-optic spatial ligNovel solid-state spatial light modulator (SLM) is developed. An electro-optic spatial light modulator (EOSLM) has advantages of high-speed operation, solid-state structure and easy integration with silicon LSIs in comparison with liquid crystal displays (LCD) and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) displays. We propose a kind of Fabry-Perot type planer optical pixel to achieve high optical efficiency and high aperture ratio. The use of sol-gel technique makes it possible to fabricate optically smooth 800nm-fhick lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films, which results in sufficient transparency for the three primary colors of visible light. The large electro-optic effects of Deltan=0.026 is confirmed, and the optical switching response of 7ns is fastest compared with that have ever been reported. The prototype 180x180 SLM chip, which includes pixel driver circuits, is fabricated and successfully demonstrated. ht modulator (EOSLM) has advantages of high-speed operation, solid-state structure and easy integration with silicon LSIs in comparison with liquid crystal displays (LCD) and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) displays. We propose a kind of Fabry-Perot type planer optical pixel to achieve high optical efficiency and high aperture ratio. The use of sol-gel technique makes it possible to fabricate optically smooth 800nm-fhick lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films, which results in sufficient transparency for the three primary colors of visible light. The large electro-optic effects of Deltan=0.026 is confirmed, and the optical switching response of 7ns is fastest compared with that have ever been reported. The prototype 180x180 SLM chip, which includes pixel driver circuits, is fabricated and successfully demonstrated.

A complementary ferroelectric-capacitor (CFC) logic-circuit style is proposed for a compact and standby-power-free content-addressable memory (CAM). Since the use of the CFC logic circuit in designing a CAM cell makes it possible to merge both logic and non-volatile storage elements into serially connected ferroelectric capacitors, the CAM becomes compact. The standby power of the CAM is completely eliminated because the supply voltage can be cut off with maintaining stored data in the CAM. The test chip is fabricated by using 0.35-mum ferroelectric CMOS, and the basic behavior can be also measured.