scholarly journals Accelerating Flux Calculations Using Sparse Sampling

Micromachines ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Gnam ◽  
Paul Manstetten ◽  
Andreas Hössinger ◽  
Siegfried Selberherr ◽  
Josef Weinbub

The ongoing miniaturization in electronics poses various challenges in the designing of modern devices and also in the development and optimization of the corresponding fabrication processes. Computer simulations offer a cost- and time-saving possibility to investigate and optimize these fabrication processes. However, modern device designs require complex three-dimensional shapes, which significantly increases the computational complexity. For instance, in high-resolution topography simulations of etching and deposition, the evaluation of the particle flux on the substrate surface has to be re-evaluated in each timestep. This re-evaluation dominates the overall runtime of a simulation. To overcome this bottleneck, we introduce a method to enhance the performance of the re-evaluation step by calculating the particle flux only on a subset of the surface elements. This subset is selected using an advanced multi-material iterative partitioning scheme, taking local flux differences as well as geometrical variations into account. We show the applicability of our approach using an etching simulation of a dielectric layer embedded in a multi-material stack. We obtain speedups ranging from 1.8 to 8.0, with surface deviations being below two grid cells (0.6–3% of the size of the etched feature) for all tested configurations, both underlining the feasibility of our approach.

Author(s):  
Robert M. Glaeser

It is well known that a large flux of electrons must pass through a specimen in order to obtain a high resolution image while a smaller particle flux is satisfactory for a low resolution image. The minimum particle flux that is required depends upon the contrast in the image and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio at which the data are considered acceptable. For a given S/N associated with statistical fluxtuations, the relationship between contrast and “counting statistics” is s131_eqn1, where C = contrast; r2 is the area of a picture element corresponding to the resolution, r; N is the number of electrons incident per unit area of the specimen; f is the fraction of electrons that contribute to formation of the image, relative to the total number of electrons incident upon the object.


Author(s):  
H.A. Cohen ◽  
T.W. Jeng ◽  
W. Chiu

This tutorial will discuss the methodology of low dose electron diffraction and imaging of crystalline biological objects, the problems of data interpretation for two-dimensional projected density maps of glucose embedded protein crystals, the factors to be considered in combining tilt data from three-dimensional crystals, and finally, the prospects of achieving a high resolution three-dimensional density map of a biological crystal. This methodology will be illustrated using two proteins under investigation in our laboratory, the T4 DNA helix destabilizing protein gp32*I and the crotoxin complex crystal.


Author(s):  
R. Gronsky

The phenomenon of clustering in Al-Ag alloys has been extensively studied since the early work of Guinierl, wherein the pre-precipitation state was characterized as an assembly of spherical, ordered, silver-rich G.P. zones. Subsequent x-ray and TEM investigations yielded results in general agreement with this model. However, serious discrepancies were later revealed by the detailed x-ray diffraction - based computer simulations of Gragg and Cohen, i.e., the silver-rich clusters were instead octahedral in shape and fully disordered, atleast below 170°C. The object of the present investigation is to examine directly the structural characteristics of G.P. zones in Al-Ag by high resolution transmission electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Downing ◽  
Hu Meisheng ◽  
Hans-Rudolf Went ◽  
Michael A. O'Keefe

With current advances in electron microscope design, high resolution electron microscopy has become routine, and point resolutions of better than 2Å have been obtained in images of many inorganic crystals. Although this resolution is sufficient to resolve interatomic spacings, interpretation generally requires comparison of experimental images with calculations. Since the images are two-dimensional representations of projections of the full three-dimensional structure, information is invariably lost in the overlapping images of atoms at various heights. The technique of electron crystallography, in which information from several views of a crystal is combined, has been developed to obtain three-dimensional information on proteins. The resolution in images of proteins is severely limited by effects of radiation damage. In principle, atomic-resolution, 3D reconstructions should be obtainable from specimens that are resistant to damage. The most serious problem would appear to be in obtaining high-resolution images from areas that are thin enough that dynamical scattering effects can be ignored.


Author(s):  
Hirano T. ◽  
M. Yamaguchi ◽  
M. Hayashi ◽  
Y. Sekiguchi ◽  
A. Tanaka

A plasma polymerization film replica method is a new high resolution replica technique devised by Tanaka et al. in 1978. It has been developed for investigation of the three dimensional ultrastructure in biological or nonbiological specimens with the transmission electron microscope. This method is based on direct observation of the single-stage replica film, which was obtained by directly coating on the specimen surface. A plasma polymerization film was deposited by gaseous hydrocarbon monomer in a glow discharge.The present study further developed the freeze fracture method by means of a plasma polymerization film produces a three dimensional replica of chemically untreated cells and provides a clear evidence of fine structure of the yeast plasma membrane, especially the dynamic aspect of the structure of invagination (Figure 1).


Author(s):  
B. Carragher ◽  
M. Whittaker

Techniques for three-dimensional reconstruction of macromolecular complexes from electron micrographs have been successfully used for many years. These include methods which take advantage of the natural symmetry properties of the structure (for example helical or icosahedral) as well as those that use single axis or other tilting geometries to reconstruct from a set of projection images. These techniques have traditionally relied on a very experienced operator to manually perform the often numerous and time consuming steps required to obtain the final reconstruction. While the guidance and oversight of an experienced and critical operator will always be an essential component of these techniques, recent advances in computer technology, microprocessor controlled microscopes and the availability of high quality CCD cameras have provided the means to automate many of the individual steps.During the acquisition of data automation provides benefits not only in terms of convenience and time saving but also in circumstances where manual procedures limit the quality of the final reconstruction.


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