Sunday, May 1, 2011
Got up at nine o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Looked after my yards this afternoon. Ate a Japanese-Western meal for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today".
Today's maximum temperature is 90 degrees F (32.2 degrees C). In the evening, it's getting cooler hour by hour.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Went out shopping at grocery stores this evening.
"This is an interesting topic found in the Reuters online news today". The following are my comments on it:
The founder of Al Qaeda was hidden in underground dugouts and other hiding places somewhere in Afghanistan and Pakistan for about a decade as if he had been a living ghost. Judging from the news last night and the recent events, he became a real ghost either yesterday or within the last few months.
It's a matter of regret that the best conclusion didn't come. The best should be his arrest. It shouldn't be a good idea that his followers may deify him, by comparing him with a Jedi.
Indeed, almost none of U.S. officials currently regard this incident as an ending.
Today's maximum temperature is 54 degrees F (12.2 degrees C).
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the USA Today today".
Today's maximum temperature is 73 degrees F (22.8 degrees C).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese-Western meal for dinner.
"The Information Week reported the following topic today". Briefly speaking, Intel Corp. succeeded in making the production of its 3D transistors for logic applications.
--- "Intel on Wednesday announced what it calls 3-D, or tri-gate, transistors". "The new transistor design will help Intel improve performance on three fronts, all of which are critical to the continued march of improved performance with lower power consumption".
"Devices built on the tri-gate transistors will have lower active state power consumption, lower off-state power consumption, and higher performance". "Intel can design devices to maximize any of these three parameters, giving the new process applicability from the fastest server chips to the most power-conscious personal device chips".
"Intel is applying this new design to all devices manufactured on its new 22-nm fabrication process". "Currently, Intel primarily uses 32- and 45-nm fabrication processes for most chips it produces". "Intel competitors are also moving to 22 nm and are talking about their own 3-D transistor designs, but those types of chips are not planned for production until the competitors reach a 14-nm manufacturing process sometime in 2013 or 2014". "Intel effectively has a two- to three-year lead with the new design, which will give it a much-needed competitive advantage against British chipmaker ARM, which currently dominates the market for mobile devices". "The new design should also provide performance gains over similar chips from rival AMD".
"While the details of Wednesday's announcement were closely guarded, the concept 3-D of transistors is over a decade old, originally bearing the name finFET, referring to the fin-like vertical design component of classic field effect transistors". "What's important about Intel's announcement is that it has made the manufacturing of these transistors commercially viable, which Intel claims adds just 2% to 3% to the cost of manufacturing 22-nm devices while resulting in performance improvements as great as 37% or active power savings of up to 50% versus the company's current 32-nm devices". ---
It used to be thought that the 3-D transistor had some problems in process control and manufacturability. However, significant improvements in the photolithography, the etching processes, and the transistor design have enabled the semiconductor industry to manufacture the computer chip utilizing the 3-D transistors.
It seems to me that what Intel Corp. is currently working on for the development of its next-generation logic processor following the above-mentioned processor (Ivy Bridge processor) is obvious.
Today's maximum temperature is 82 degrees F (27.8 degrees C).
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Got up at five forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 86 degrees F (30 degrees C).
Friday, May 6, 2011
Got up at seven-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and pieces of Central Market's pizza for dinner.
About a decade ago or earlier period of time, the 3-D transistors such as the FinFET and the TriGate didn't meet the requirements of logic applications. Those days, the compound semiconductor transistors didn't meet the requirements of the logic circuit in general use, as the alternative to the Si transistors, either. The primary reason why these transistors didn't emerge as the leading players previously was that there was still enough scope to scale the dimensions of the transistors with rather easy technical methods, in order to improve their performances and the circuit speed. As well known, the transistor scaling following Moore's law hit a difficult when the thinning of the conventional gate dielectric film, that is SiO2, reached about 1.5nm in the early 2000s. Thinning the silicon dioxide film beyond about 1.5nm exponentially increases the undesirable leakage current through it at the given applied voltage appropriate for its technology generation. The introduction of silicon oxynitride as the gate dielectric material allowed advancing technology by one generation, and that of the high-k as the gate dielectric material allowed advancing technology by two generations. For its new 22nm technology node, Intel Corp. adopted its 3D transistors. The time has come.
Today's maximum temperature is 90 degrees F (32.2 degrees C).
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Got up at nine o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
The photos below were taken in a room at a hotel near LAX, in front of the Hollywood Wax Museum, and at the entrance gate of the Universal Studios in Los Angeles in 1996. I visited only the popular tourist destinations including Santa Monica there. For a beach of the second largest city in the US, the water quality of Santa Monica beach was good. Both a loose-fitting jacket and a loose-fitting trouser were reminiscent of my taste in casual dressing those days. Those casual clothes were suitable for a traveler.
Today's maximum temperature is 95 degrees F (35 degrees C).
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Japanese noodles for dinner.
Judging from the photo that indicates the structure of Intel's 3-D transistor, found at the BBC online news at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13283882, it's very similar to the structure of the 3-D transistor that I proposed in my technical paper under the title of “Moderately Doped Channel Multiple-FinFET for Logic Applications” in 2005.
Obviously, either the double gate configuration of the FinFET or the triple gate configuration of the TriGate should improve the gate controllability so that the transistor size can be scaled down further. In the same way as my proposal, Intel's 3-D device has the configuration of multiple fins that enable to boost the speed of the logic circuit when the low-k insulating dielectric material is used to minimize the increase in the undesirable parasitic capacitances, as explained in my diary on September 29, 2009. As also explained in my diary, the adoption of the TriGate structure, which Intel Corp. patented previously, enables to elimination some unnecessary parasitic capacitances existing between the top of fins and the gate electrodes. Indeed, the use of the low-k dielectric as the ARC may also help to reduce the same type of parasitic capacitances of the conventional Fin-FET structure. The 3D-device structure is very suitable for the so-called stress engineering to enhance the carrier mobility in the channel regions by optimizing the strained ESLs, Field Isolations, stressors, and so on.
Obviously, either the double gate configuration of the FinFET or the triple gate configuration of the TriGate should improve the gate controllability so that the transistor size can be scaled down further. In the same way as my proposal, Intel's 3-D device has the configuration of multiple fins that enable to boost the speed of the logic circuit when the low-k insulating dielectric material is used to minimize the increase in the undesirable parasitic capacitances, as explained in my diary on September 29, 2009. As also explained in my diary, the adoption of the TriGate structure, which Intel Corp. patented previously, enables to elimination some unnecessary parasitic capacitances existing between the top of fins and the gate electrodes. Indeed, the use of the low-k dielectric as the ARC may also help to reduce the same type of parasitic capacitances of the conventional Fin-FET structure. The 3D-device structure is very suitable for the so-called stress engineering to enhance the carrier mobility in the channel regions by optimizing the strained ESLs, Field Isolations, stressors, and so on.
An apparent difference between Intel's 3D- device and my proposed 3-D device is the degree of the body floating. My proposed 3D device has floating fin bodies on the Insulator (SiO2), which can be categorized as the SOI device. On the other hand, Intel's 3D device has the body-tied (non-floating) fin bodies. This may be called either the body-tied SOI device or the bulk-FinFET. In either case, both the performance and the power consumption of the processor should be improved by eliminating the capacitances underneath the source and drain electrodes.
It seems to me that Intel's 3D device also has dual metal gates and the high-k gate dielectric, as seen in the current and previous technology nodes. It's uncertain whether the body of Intel's 3D device is doped or undoped. Probably, the use of the body-tied structure is a key to knowing it. The body of Intel's 3D device seems to be doped. Probably, Intel people still dislike handling the floating body effects peculiar to the SOI devices though most of these effects should be minimized in the fully depleted mode.
The above-mentioned advantages should be enough to result in performance improvements as great as 37% or active power savings of up to 50%. To come right to the point, this technology will help improve the capability and the energy saving of your gadgets.
According to some online news, Intel Corp. will start the mass production of its Ivy Bridge processors, on which the 3D transistors are integrated, and will release them into the market for high-performance and low-power applications such as computers and mobile devices in the early of 2012.
BTW, in my paper, the doped channel is recommended even for scaled 3D transistors such as the FinFET and TriGate. However, I have never supported any doping for the purpose of athlete performance enhancements. It goes without saying that I have never taken any doping or illegal stuff in my life.
Today's maximum temperature is 97 degrees F (36.1 degrees C).
Monday, May 9, 2011
Got up at seven-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Went out shopping at grocery stores this evening.
In my technical paper under the title of “Moderately Doped Channel Multiple-FinFET for Logic Applications” published in 2005, the 3D-transistor design, which is named Multiple-fin FinFET, was proposed for high logic applications at the 45nm technology node and beyond. The use of the high-k gate dielectric material wasn't considered for these generations in my paper. That's because my prediction is that, for the future high-performance logic processor, the compound semiconductor transistors will replace the Si transistors. As well known, several kinds of high-k materials have been evaluated for the gate dielectric film of the compound semiconductor transistors, and some of them have been used as its standard gate dielectric film since long before the high-k gate dielectric film was adapted for the Si transistors at the 45nm technology node. My belief those days was that the high-k gate dielectric film should come with the release of the compound semiconductor transistors for logic applications.
BTW, my summary explanations for the issues regarding the transistors utilizing the compound semiconductor channel and my proposed ideas about these technologies can be found in my diary written some days from August 27 through September 15, 2009.
Different from my recommendation, before the 3D transistor is adopted for the 22nm technology node at the present time, the high-k gate dielectric film was adopted for the planar Si transistors at the 45 and 32nm technology nodes by Intel Corp. firstly and by some followers later on though the other companies still haven't adopted the high-k gate dielectric film. Probably, the timing to bring in the new immersion photolithography, the dual patterning, and probably the extreme ultraviolet lithography should have been one of the dominant key factors in deciding that roadmap. The results obtained by the past enormous efforts on the development of the high-k gate dielectric film on the Si transistors will be desirably reusable for the advancement of the high-k gate dielectric film on the probably coming 3D transistors with the compound semiconductor channel aiming at the production for the 16nm or the 11 nm technology node.
Today's maximum temperature is 99 degrees F (37.2 degrees C).
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Western meal for dinner.
In February last year, IBM announced that it had created its graphene transistors. Different from carbon nanotube transistors, graphene transistors are made from atom-thick sheets of carbon. Because of its very thin channel, the double gate, the triple gate, or the gate-all-around configuration is probably unnecessary. The success in the formation of the graphene allows fabricating the transistor with the potentially high mobility channel using the processes compatible with the existing manufacturing. The primary concern about the graphene transistors is whether the degradation of the carrier mobility due to the scattering mechanisms from many sources neighboring the channel, which is made from atom-thick sheets of carbon, may be successfully minimized or not. In terms of transistor scalability, the atom-thick channel is advantageous. From the aspect of mobility degradations, however, it may be disadvantageous.
It's estimated that Intel's TriGate in its 22nm generation has the fins with the thickness of dozens of atomic layers of silicon. Having rather thicker fins requires the multiple-gate configuration such as double-gate or triple-gate in order to scale the gate length down to sub-30nm or sub-20nm. The mobility degradation becomes non-negligible with thinning the fin thickness down below a certain thickness. However, in the case of an optimized TriGate in these technology generations, the undesirable mobility degradations should be manageable with tough engineering efforts. This comparison with the TriGate clearly tells how the graphene transistors are avant-garde. The feasibility of the graphene transistors can't be judged here without collecting enough data.
The photos below were taken on a bridge over the Li River against very peaky-shaped limestone rocks soaring to the sky (left) and in the city (right) of Guilin in China and the south coast of Hong Kong Island in former Hong Kong in the summer of 1990. The taste of Tsingtao beer feasting my eyes on an unparalleled view of a sightseeing boat was really good. More than twenty years have passed since I traveled carrying a backpack on my shoulder in China. Those days, wild water buffalos herded together in and near the Li River. It's known to everybody how badly China's rapid industrialization has polluted the rivers and lakes there for the last two decades. At least, the water quality of popular tourist sites such as Guilin may have been protected from pollution to some extent. The water quality around Hong Kong Island in those days seemed to be comparable to that of Manhattan Island's waterfront.
Indeed, that was a very low-cost international travel because I was a student at that time. It was impressive to see that backpackers delightfully exchanged information on how to avoid useless spending and falling victim to the fraudulence there.
Those days, I usually wore a pair of tortoiseshell-rimmed (or back-rimmed) eyeglasses with rectangular lenses. In the photo on the left, a pair of eyeglasses was taken off and it was held in my right hand, as seen. In most cases when taking my photographs, I took my glasses off because my wearing glasses caused a lack of individuality.
Today's maximum temperature is 93 degrees F (33.8 degrees C). There were slight showers in the evening.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Japanese noodles for dinner.
Most of the computer processor chips with the conventional Si transistors contain only a very small amount of arsenic. With the widely distributed manufacturing processes, the arsenic ions are implanted into certain areas of the surface of the Si substrate as a dopant in order to form the n-type electrodes in the Si transistors. Future computer logic chips may be equipped with the transistors with the III-V compound (e.g. GaAs, InGaAs, InAs) channel as its n-type transistors. However, these compound channel transistors are fabricated only on the top surface of the thick Si substrate, giving consideration to the wafer cost. Conventionally, the transistors are formed only in certain surface regions within the depth of about 100nm, and the thickness of the Si substrate is a few mm. Therefore, roughly speaking, a typical semiconductor logic chip utilizing the compound semiconductor transistors contains at most 0.001% or much smaller % of arsenic.
In nature, arsenic is mostly found as sulfide in both arsenopyrite and realgar or as oxides such as As2O3 and As2O5. Arsenic isn't so rare in the Earth's crust and its average concentration in seawater is about 0.002mg/l.
The pollution due to industrial wastes containing some poisonous materials may have already spread over the garbage treatment areas. As well known, arsenic and some sorts of arsenic compounds are poisonous. Although arsenic exists in nature and a computer chip contains only a very small amount of arsenic, it isn't a smart idea to return arsenic just by dumping semiconductor chips on the ground. Desirably, the disposable of computer chips containing arsenic will be replaced by recycling.
Finally, I would like to add a few more comments. Don't administer any poison like arsenic compounds to a person. Needless to say, it's either a murder or an attempted murder.
Today's maximum temperature is 90 degrees F (32.2 degrees C).
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of lunch, pieces of toast for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
It seems to me that the degree of safety of semiconductor laboratories and manufacturing plants is comparable to those of the other manufacturing plants, though its workers wear an SF-like jumpsuit. In semiconductor laboratories, many kinds of poisonous materials, strong acid solutions, and explosive gasses are used to fabricate the semiconductor chips. However, these materials, solutions, and gasses are well controlled with the state-of-the-art automated equipment there. The semiconductor plants seldom cause any environmental problems, to my knowledge.
As well known, the semiconductor labs and plants consist of many clean rooms, where the environments free from dust and other contaminants to a high degree have to be maintained. This is because the production yield of the semiconductor chips decreases with increasing the number of ducts floating in the atmosphere of the clean rooms in the plants. In the clean rooms of the latest semiconductor labs and plants, all researchers and operators have to wear an elaborate jumpsuit just like a spacesuit. It should be mentioned that the jumpsuit isn't designed to protect researchers and operators but the products. Generally, the primary sources of dust in clean rooms are known to be humans. They have to cover themselves, which are troublesome sources of dust, tightly with that jumpsuit in order not to spread undesirable dust around.
The following two photos were taken at the top of St. Peter's Basilica designed by Michelangelo against the piazza and the Tevere River in the Vatican City, and on Bridge St. Angelo over the Tevere River against a Bernini Angel sculpture near the Castelo de St. Angelo in Rome in the autumn of 2006. Although, exaggeratedly speaking, pickpockets seem to be nearly left at large in Rome, the water quality of the Tevere River, which flows south from the Tuscan Apennines through the central part of the large city of Rome, is kept clean. The current of the Tevere River is rather strong and its flow rate is large. There are a number of beautiful artworks by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini displayed at many sites in the Vatican City and Rome. His sculptures stay dynamic as if they're about to move. A large angel sculpture by Bernini on exhibition at the Historical Artistic Museum and Sacristy was most impressive. The name of this artwork is still unknown to me.
The following photo on the left was taken in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Many travelers come together in a crowd to see this famous fountain and toss a coin into it. Although the coins aren't usually clean, their water quality should be good unless a drunk put something dirty into it by way of amusement on the night before. The last photo was taken in the Gallery of Maps at the Vatican Museum. This is the most luxurious and beautiful hallway I have ever walked through. There is no blank space on the ceiling displaying a number of drawings and the walls on both sides display 40 maps of a long hallway, except the windows exhibiting a beautifully cared quadrangle. That's amazing.
Overall, Rome is the treasure city of sightseeing.
Because I devoted myself to writing my diary without doing what I ought to do for the last few days, my eyes were red with strain and fatigue. Since I had a LASIK vision correction about a decade ago, I have had to blink my eyes frequently in order to avoid dry eyes when seeing a computer monitor or driving a vehicle. Just blinking my eyes more frequently whenever it's necessary resolves this problem.
BTW, I personally don't recommend the LASIK vision correction for a weakly nearsighted person or a weakly farsighted person because the advantages obtained with it may not be greater than the disadvantages. For the reason described above, I don't recommend it for the person who has to overstrain one's eyes on business or as a hobby, either. However, I have no regret having a LASIK.
Today's maximum temperature is 86 degrees F (30 degrees C). This morning, a thunderstorm brought a heavy fall of rain.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and pieces of Archer Farms' pizza for dinner.
The place overseas where my wife and I would like to travel for sightseeing next time is either the Greek Islands or the Great Barrier Reef.
The places in the US where we would like to travel overland from Texas by car next time are Chicago & Lake Michigan.
Today's maximum temperature is 90 degrees F (32.2 degrees C).
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Got up at nine o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of lunch, and for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
The other places in the US where we would like to travel overland from Texas by car are shown as follows:
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Zion N.P., Grand Canyon N.P. and Santa Fe
Badlands N.P., Yellow Stone N.P., Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs
Crystal River, Florida Keys, Miami and Orlando
BTW, for the purpose of our travels by car proposed above, we would like to use a car with good fuel efficiency such as the 2012 LaCrosse with eAssist Technology (Hybrid), which will begin selling later this year. For shopping, my wife wants a smaller SUV such as the Land (Range?) Rover Evoque.
Additionally, owning a luxury sedan or coupe as the third car would further satisfy our needs for special occasions. The application of the right car for the right use should help our efforts for energy saving.
Moreover, owning a pickup truck as the fourth vehicle should add extra convenience to our living. Let's wind things up here for now. This is because possessing too many cars may cause some problems.
Today's maximum temperature is 81 degrees F (27.2 degrees C).
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 81 degrees F (27.2 degrees C). A heat wave may have subsided in the middle of this month.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It seems to me that the reason why Intel Corp. uses the body-tied SOI (the bulk TriGate) for its 22nm technology generation is that the Vt variations due to the fluctuations in the processes to shape the doped fins, especially the photo and etching, can be somewhat suppressed with the introduction of it. This is a very advantageous aspect. A disadvantage of this concept is that the formation of the body tie should increase the complexity of the process integration.
The tendency of the transistors utilizing the multiple gate configuration toward the volume inversion allows keeping the peak location of the conducting carriers in the fins away from the peak locations of the scattering centers to some extent, which is generally located at or near the interfaces between the fin body and the gate dielectric film while demonstrating the excellent gate controllability so that the carrier mobility in the fins can be improved.
There's the curiosity of the contrast between the stillness of Michelangelo's David, which is on display at Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, and the dynamism of Bernini's David, which is on display at Museo e Galleria Borghese in Rome Italy. Which image of David people find more agreeable, Michelangelo's or Bernini's is a reasonably attractive topic. Indeed, I haven't yet seen either statue actually with my own eyes.
Most people seem to know Michelangelo's David, which stands still in a place symbolizing a triumph over tyranny. Someone who doesn't know what the theme of this famous sculpture is may be unable to recognize it. Michelangelo's David wears an expression of great dignity. A lover of good-looking men may prefer Michelangelo's. A father who has a tendency to be overly protective of his daughters may complain to a person responsible for the Gallery that such a nude sculpture shouldn't be exhibited in public. He may also shout out that this artwork must be R-rated.
On the other hand, Bernini's David is very active. Bernini's sculpture deals with the theme that young David is on the point of casting a stone with his sling at his enemy, 9'6"(2.9m) in height, Goliath. As opposed to Michelangelo's, Bernini's David wears an expression of indignation and passion. A devotee of either a drama or a video may prefer Bernini's. A sort of religious people may complain that David shouldn't have such a fury even on the field of battle. They may say that David must defeat Goliath with a poker face.
It seems to me that, in modern times, a people whose ancestors lived mostly by hunting through successive generations have a tendency to agree to a religious icon with a compassionate face, except for ancient myths, because they have to repress their abundant fighting spirit given in nature and cultivated by custom in order to maintain public order in their society, though there are always exceptions. On the other hand, agricultural people tend not only to agree to a religious icon with a compassionate face but also to agree to that with an indignant face because there is no pressing necessity to weaken the fighting spirit that would be required in times of war to protect their society against the aggressors from outside. On the whole, the world puts the right religion in the right region, of its own accord.
Today's maximum temperature is 84 degrees F (28.9 degrees C).
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the Reuters online news today".
Today's maximum temperature is 89 degrees F (31.7 degrees C).
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. At about seven o'clock, for some reason or other, the power supply of my house was turning off and on very frequently for about a minute. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch. In the evening, the power failures returned and lasted for about three hours. Ate a Japanese meal for dinner.
My wife and I don't want to see any strange phenomena such as poltergeist activity. Such mischievous acts can result in a breakdown of our home appliances due to surge current.
Today's maximum temperature is 88 degrees F (31.1 degrees C).
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Got up at seven o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner.
Anger is one of the primitive emotions of humans. Uncontrollable anger may lead people to sins. It's simply obvious that such a primitive emotion has to be controlled in modern social life, by suppressing it, redirecting its energy to a creative field or other ways. However, anger itself isn't evil. Naturally, beings more primitive than human beings such as animals shouldn't be evil. Anger is just brutal for modern human beings.
The intrigue that is designed to make a person furious intentionally is satanic. The same goes for the intrigue that is designed to make a person fulfill the lust or the gluttony. The true forms of what seemed to be evil are the beings that make people stray from the right path by corrupting them. On most occasions, a true evil may wear a blank face.
Today's maximum temperature is 75 degrees F (23.9 degrees C). It's cloudy with occasional rain.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and pieces of Central Market's pizza for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 88 degrees F (31.1 degrees C).
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the Reuters online news today". The following are my comments on it:
Considering the scientific view that the collisions between our Planet Earth and large meteorites, and the spread of fatal diseases have ever caused the extinction of many kinds of life forms several times, the end of human beings on our planet Earth will come someday. Considering the general view that all things including our Planet Earth and solar system have their life spans, the end of our world must come. Even our galaxy and universe may have their life spans. Even if our universe were to continue to exist forever while getting bigger indefinitely, it would become an inanimate wasteland. Scientifically speaking, the doomsday is a hard fact.
An interesting question for pessimists is when either the end of human beings on our Planet Earth or the situation close to it will come. It's my belief that the end of human beings on Earth due to the above-mentioned natural causes will occur only in the far-off distance. I have no idea how far the future will be. The time might come in thousands of years, millions of years, hundreds of million years, or further. However, it can be said that the time shouldn't come in our lifetime. The advancements in science and technology should be indispensable for human beings to survive such far-future catastrophes. One of the possible ways to save the human race against future catastrophes may be the temporary migration to space stations built-in space or on satellites or planets, just like Noah's Ark. In this case, a selection of the immigrants should be quite problematic.
There is always the possibility of the end of a human being caused by a man-made calamity. The end of human beings caused by human error could occur suddenly in the near future. It seems to me that the possibility should be much greater than those of the above-mentioned ends of human beings caused by natural disasters within a relatively short period of time. Therefore, the choices for political leaders in the major powers have to be very carefully accomplished all the time. In a democratic world society, everyone can contribute to world peace by means of this attitude.
As written several times, I am a world federalist dreaming about a bright future world. The formation of a future unified nation should significantly reduce the possibility of an unfortunate ending by human beings. The establishment of a clever system should help maintain the peace of the world.
Today's maximum temperature is 91 degrees F (32.8 degrees C).
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Got up at seven o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch. Looked after my yards this afternoon. Ate a Japanese meal for dinner. Went out shopping at a grocery store this evening.
Today's maximum temperature is 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C).
Monday, May 23, 2011
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a Chinese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 95 degrees F (35 degrees C).
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Got up at sever-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 95 degrees F (35 degrees C).
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Got up at seven o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
A trade secret isn't concerned with a device structure but a manufacturing process for it. A trade secret only deals with how to fabricate it. A device structure was unpatentable those days because its structure and some other structures similar to it had already been patented previously. Indeed, my US patent is one of them. Unfortunately, the method of production utilizing it wasn't patented, either.
As far as I know, a trade secret has been well-kept. My published technical papers have never revealed any trade secrets. It goes without saying that my patents and publications were applied to the institutes and the patent offices outside a company after all necessary approvals were gained.
Today's maximum temperature is triple digits. It's 100 degrees F (37.8 degrees C). Indeed, it's 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) in my neighborhood.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 92 degrees F (33.3 degrees C).
Friday, May 27, 2011
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and pieces of Central Market's pizza for dinner.
This is only a guess of mine, but the tendency of the transistors utilizing the multiple gate configuration toward the volume inversion may also allow the scaling of the EOT of the high-k gate dielectric film on the Si channel. The scaling of the EOT of the high-k gate dielectric film is very limited because of the presence of the thin native oxide between the high-k gate dielectric film and the Si channel, which is necessary to prevent the degradation of the carrier mobility at the channel for the planar transistors. Indeed, this is the disappointing nature of the high-k gate dielectric film on the Si.
However, making the peak location of the conducting carriers in the channel deeper by utilizing and optimizing the multiple gate configuration potentially enables to remove the thin interlayer existing between the high-k gate dielectric film and the Si channel. When the interlayer may be removed without damaging the carrier mobility in the channel, the EOT of the high-k gate dielectric film could be further scaled down by the choice of higher-k dielectric films such as ZrO2 or other dielectric films. If the above-mentioned features are right, the combination of the multiple gate configuration and the high-k gate dielectric film should considerably improve the scalability of the transistor gate dimensions including the gate length. Naturally, this trend should also be applicable to the compound channel transistor utilizing the multiple gate configuration.
With only a limited amount of information getting through the online news, it's hard to judge whether Intel Corp's Ivy Bridge uses its 3D transistors with the high-k dielectric film directly deposited on the Si fins without forming the interlayer or not.
Today's maximum temperature is 100 degrees F (37.8 degrees C).
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The following two photos show the old town and the Bousdri Islet of the Nafplion port looked down from the Palamidhi Fortress, and a valley near the ancient city of Mycenae taken from a rough mountain path in the Peloponnesian peninsula, Greece. The water quality of the Bay of Nafplion is good, but it doesn't match those around the Greek islands. The prospect from the top of the Palamidhi Fortress is splendid. I was unable to go to see a Greek play at the ancient theater of Epidaurus held nearby Nafplion because it was the off-season in the late summer of 1995. It would be wonderful if my wife and I could do it on our next visit. At a motorcycle rental shop, I rented an off-road motorcycle with a small engine displacement, and I went touring it around the southern part of the Peloponnesian peninsula visiting Mycenae, Mistra, and Sparta for a few days. Such a small off-reader may be rather powerless but it's appropriate for the purpose of the solitary touring on the unfamiliar winding roads through the forest of low olive trees and bushes. The condition of asphalted roads in the Peloponnesian peninsula isn't nice. Sometimes, a group of wild animals such as goats ran slowly across a bumpy street.
The next two photos were taken against the bronze statue of Leonidas at the central part of Sparta, the Peloponnesian peninsula, and against the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, which is very famous as the Oracle of Apollo at the mid-slope of Mt. Parnassus, Greece. Delphi is the most important religious site of ancient Greece. The water quality of the Gulf of Corinth looked down from the village of Delphi seemed to be fine, too.
Today's maximum temperature is 100 degrees F (37.8 degrees C).
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Went out shopping at grocery stores this evening.
The photos below were taken in New Orleans in December 2002. That was the third visit of mine. The water quality of the mouth of the Mississippi River, which is one of the busiest waterways in the world, isn't well thought of. It's a large muddy river. The French Quarter is the famous sightseeing spot brimming with live performances by blues and jazz musicians. Spicy Cajun and Creole meals are exceptional. At night, there are some drunken brawls, as often seen in any amusement area in the world. Some shady shops with neon lights were conspicuous in New Orleans those days. It goes without saying that I've never entered any of such shops and places there.
Today's maximum temperature is 97 degrees F (36.1 degrees C). Because of the fierce heat lasting since the middle of March, the growth rates of plants including lawns in the yards are slower than in the average year. The frequency of lawn care has to be kept low in order to protect the roots of the lawn. Probably, a lawn care every three weeks seems to be appropriate for the given frequency of watering with the sprinkler. Currently, the use of the sprinkler is requested to be limited to only two days a week in our neighborhood.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Today is Memorial Day. Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The volume and the transparency of water of the Rio Grande, which rises in the Rocky Mountains and flows to the Gulf of Mexico passing through the US-Mexican border change greatly, depending on weather conditions. When my wife and I visited Big Bend National Park in Texas, in June 2003, the quantity of water was large and the transparency wasn't good probably because of day after day of rainy weather in mountainous areas. A hot spring bath set in the open near the bank of the Rio Grande was flooded with cold muddy water from the river. We didn't take a hot spring bath there.
When we were departing for our next destination, my Chevy pickup truck had to stop at a state checkpoint located at the side of a road near the Big Bend for about thirty minutes because, in a thoughtless manner, we didn't carry the Employment Authorization cards (temporary green cards) of ours, which were issued to prove our rights to stay and work in the US, inside it. At that time, carrying only our passports during a trip was insufficient for the purpose of our identification because the visas stamped on our passports were expired. Over the telephone, our rights to stay in the US were verified within a short time.
About a few minutes after our arrival at the checkpoint, a strange SUV that an unfamiliar man drove was forced to stop there. It seems to me that he and his companions were burdened with fairly difficulties. Needless to say, we have no connection with them, at all. Since that occurrence, some Americans and people originally from abroad who probably have some connections with blackmailing groups including a Japanese group have begun alluding to something about either "a trader" or "a dealer" sometimes. It seems that they fabricated a malicious made-up story based on the above-mentioned triviality half in jest and spread it relying on the assistance of their cooperators here, as usual. Whether an unfamiliar man who drove an SUV was one of the conspirators linked with troublesome blackmailing groups or not is uncertain. I may think too much about it.
Our next destination was El Paso, Texas. That was the third visit of mine. A beautiful night view in a clear atmosphere in the arid zone commanded from a high place of Scenic Drive Park is gorgeous. In the cool of the morning, we also enjoyed the historical sites of the El Paso Mission Trail. The photo below shows the San Elizario Chapel, which was established in 1882. The texture of the walls of that adobe building is so cozy. The designs of the other Missions with the adobe structure such as Ysleta del Sur and Socorro del Sur are also adorable.
Next, we took our way toward White Sands National Park in New Mexico. As well known, many Hollywood movies have ever been filmed on the locations in the vast zone of the white gypsum salt dune. The photos below show a huge Sumac Pedestal and a small Soaptree Yucca. A Pedestal topped with sumac, rosemary-mint, or salt cedar is probably 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5m) in diameter. That plant has some resemblance in shape to an adobe building I saw somewhere in Greece previously. I have never heard the story about the effects of the distant past radiation exposure on these strange plants. Currently, there is no fear of that unnatural happening at all.
Then, we visited Carlsbad, New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is famous for the inhabitation of many bats. At dusk in the summer, a large colony of free-tail bats comes flitting out of the caverns. The view of flying bats against the sky aglow with the setting sun is peculiar. Taking any photographs of bats, especially using an electric flash, is prohibited there in order to avoid any disturbance in its colony. The following two photos were taken at the Big Room, which is one of the largest caverns ever discovered. Public visitors can access there by taking an elevator down to a depth of about 270 yards (250m). The last photo shows one of the largest stalactites in the Big Room. That rock looks like a giant troll about 30 feet (10m) in height.
Overall, there are many interesting sightseeing sites in and near Texas. A problem is that these sites are too far from each other because Texas is big in size as a country.
Today's maximum temperature is 96 degrees F (35.6 degrees C).
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Judging from the facts that the online news reported about a month ago and the insights that I described in my diary for the last month, the future 3D-transistors for processor applications would have the fins made of non-Si semiconductors. The primary reason why the fin material would be switched from the Si to the compound semiconductors or others is that the electron mobility of the compound such as InGaAs, which can be used for the channel of the n-type transistors, is potentially much higher than that of the Si. The hole mobility of the Ge, which can be used for the channel of the p-type transistors, is also higher than that of the Si. When only the fins about 100nm height made of the compound semiconductors and others are fabricated on either the Si substrate or the oxide grown on the Si substrate, the increase in the costs of materials and the impact on the environment can be minimized. When the Si-based oxide interlayer existing between the high-k gate dielectric film and the fin in most cases, which offers the minimum degradations in the carrier mobility because of its excellent interface states, is taken away from the transistors without hurting the carrier mobility and the short channel control in order to enable further scaling of the EOT of the gate dielectric film and the dimension of the transistor, there is no strong reason why the material of the fin has to be the Si.
For the next few technology generations or beyond, however, the era of the Si channel will continue, and at a transitional stage in the near future, the Si channel will step aside for state-of-the-art processor applications. Some researchers believe that the compound channel transistors would take the place of the Si channel transistors, and others believe that the graphene channel transistors would.
Today's maximum temperature is 98 degrees F (36.7 degrees C).
