text:
It is an intelligent fitness coach powered by AI. We understand the importance of achieving your fitness goals, and that’s why we have developed a user-friendly platform that offers personalized nutrition and workout plans, progress tracking, and access to an AI chatbot for fitness guidance.
- Personalized Nutrition Plans: Our AI-driven system creates tailored meal plans based on your specific dietary needs and goals. Whether you follow a vegan, vegetarian, or sugar-free diet, we have options that cater to your preferences.
- Customized Workout Plans: Say goodbye to generic workout routines. With Mike AI, you receive workout plans that are designed specifically for your individual goals and body type. We understand that everyone is unique, and your workouts should be too.
- Detailed Recipes: We provide you with detailed recipes for each meal included in your personalized nutrition plan. Enjoy delicious and healthy meals that are designed to fuel your body and support your fitness journey.
- Fitness GPT Chatbot: Need guidance or have fitness-related questions? Our AI chatbot, FitnessGPT, is here to assist you. Get instant answers, tips, and support whenever you need it. Our chatbot is like having a personal fitness coach at your fingertips.
- Progress Tracking: Stay motivated and keep track of your progress with our progress tracking tools. Monitor your achievements, set new goals, and see how far you’ve come on your fitness journey.
- Individuals seeking personalized nutrition and workout plans to achieve their fitness goals can rely on Mike AI for tailored solutions.
- If you have specific dietary needs, such as being a vegan, vegetarian, or following a sugar-free diet, we can create meal plans that align with your requirements.
- Fitness enthusiasts looking for guidance, tips, and answers to their fitness-related questions will find our AI chatbot, FitnessGPT, to be a valuable resource.
- For those who prefer the convenience and flexibility of a virtual fitness coach and progress tracker, Mike AI offers the perfect solution.
With “Mike AI”, you have a comprehensive fitness companion that leverages the power of AI to personalize your nutrition and workout plans, track your progress, and provide expert guidance.

domain: sports


text:
Vermicelli is the most popular and easy-to-please dish. A delicious, nutritious bowl of vermicelli will quickly regain energy for the holidays.
1. Imitation civet vermicelli
Those who love street food in Hanoi will never forget the taste of fake civet vermicelli with soft pork leg meat, but still keep the crispy skin and texture, the water is golden, the aroma of galangal, shrimp paste. Picking up each roll of soft white vermicelli and dipping it into a bowl of golden, luscious water, many other foods will give way.
With simple ingredients, the way to make it is to pay attention to seasoning so that it is “old and young”, adding a little soy sauce to bring back the old taste.
To cook the nails soft enough, the pork leg meat is not too soft, you need to let the pork leg simmer first, then add the pork leg meat after 15 minutes. In some places, turmeric is replaced by diluted blood, added near the end to make the dish taste like plum machete.
=>> See how to make: vermicelli imitation civet
2. Quynh Coi fish soup
Quynh Coi fish soup from around the 17th century has been recorded in the list of typical Thai Binh delicacies. Today, this delicacy is listed in the top of the delicious noodle soup dishes of Vietnam. With simple everyday ingredients such as perch, rice paper, flexible seasonal vegetables … through meticulous and skillful processing, it creates a very rustic and dear country flavor.
Over time, Quynh Coi fish soup spread to all parts of the country and has different versions, but the taste of the original dish is always marked by the right rustic but delicate nature like the beauty of the people here. You can make this delicious dish yourself at home.
=>> See how to make: Quynh Coi fish soup
3. Crab noodle soup
Crab vermicelli vermicelli attracts foodies by its friendly and popular features. Each strand of vermicelli is soft and soaked in a bowl of golden crab, adding a little shrimp paste to taste, eating with chopped young lettuce, the fatigue will all disappear. Traditional Hanoi crab noodle soup has only rustic flavor from crab meat, crab bricks, tomatoes and spring onions.
Over time, in order to “afternoon” people’s hearts, vermicelli noodles have variations with ear rolls, fried tofu, and scrambled duck eggs for a richer topping. Note that when processing, you should pound the crab with a mortar and add a little salt to create the protein adhesion to help get more meat and block when cooking rather than grinding.
=>> See how to make: Rice noodle with crab
4. Grilled pork vermicelli
Vermicelli with grilled meat is a popular dish in the South. A bowl of vermicelli with rich toppings including fragrant, tender and naturally sweet grilled meat mixed with green vegetables, vermicelli and sweet and sour fish sauce creates an attractive colorful picture.
=>> See how to make: Vermicelli with grilled meat
5. Stir-fried vermicelli with celery
Stir-fried vermicelli with celery (also known as “Xoi Ba Chua”) is a traditional dish in Co Loa, Dong Anh, Hanoi. Legend has it that, while preparing a banquet to treat guests for the wedding ceremony of Princess My Chau, the cook in a hurry should pour rice flour into the basket placed in the cauldron of boiling water. When the basket is lifted, the rice flour forms long, delicious white threads. There was still lard and celery in season, this person regretted the “rice fiber” so he fried it with celery. Surprisingly, when enjoying this dish, the guests all praised. Since then, the dish “Xèo” has become a specialty of Co Loa, gradually spreading throughout the Northern Delta region, associated with the meaning of the day of asking My Chau.
The original dish is only fried vermicelli with celery. According to taste, you can flexibly add beef, pork or fat as you like. If you use Mai Trang vermicelli (handmade, long fiber), it is the best. Some people here have another way of doing it, which is vermicelli marinated with a little fish sauce, seasoning seeds, pork fat to loosen and absorb the flavor and then stir-fry.
=>> See how to make: Stir-fried vermicelli with celery
6. Fish noodle soup
This is a popular noodle dish, appearing in many regions throughout the country with topping variations to suit your taste. With a mild broth, each piece of golden fish is warm, crispy and delicious, keeping the rustic taste always “more expensive” than ever. The soul of this dish is the secret to frying fish fillets to keep the flavor but still crispy for a long time.
Note: fish fillets after being washed need to be completely drained, sprinkled with a little salt to enhance the taste. Heat the oil slowly, then add the fish in batches. Wait until the golden fish is crispy before turning it over.
=>> See how to make: Fish noodle soup
7. Noodles with pork ribs cooked with crocodile
According to Oriental medicine, crocodile fruit is average, sour when green and slightly sweet when ripe. This fruit has the effect of refreshment, detoxification, alcohol detoxification, sore throat, cough relief, itchy rash… With its characteristic sour taste, crocodile fruit is favored by many housewives to be used in the processing of vermicelli. Cool ribs for summer days.
This dish has simple ingredients and preparation, suitable for all ages. The ribs are tender, boneless, rich in flavor; moderately sour broth.
=>> See how to make: Noodles with ribs cooked with crocodile

domain: food


Photo: Courtesy of The White House/Courtesy MTV.com
President Barack Obama will directly address the concerns of young voters in “Ask Obama Live: An MTV Interview With the President,” which will air live Friday, October 26 at 5 p.m. ET (tape delayed PT), according to an article on MTV.com.
You can start posting your questions for President Obama right now on MTV’s Facebook page, by clicking here.
“Ask Obama Live” will reportedly be broadcasted on MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits and MTV Jams, as well as online through MTV.com and MTV’s mobile platform. There will also be a live-stream discussion about the election through MTV.com both before and after the interview.
MTV has also invited Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to participate in a similar live special, and reportedly hopes to conduct a sit-down interview with him in advance of Election Day on November 6.


McLaren's P1 supercar is likely to become one of the most dazzling and enticing supercars of our era, and following the release of the P1 concept car at the Paris Motor Show last year, the countdown to the release of the production model is fast gaining momentum.
In fact, McLaren has just released some pictures and a video of the production model, albeit wearing camouflage, as it undergoes its rigorous track testing regime.
McLaren is quite explicit about how good it wants this supercar to be: "Our goal is to make the McLaren P1 the most exciting, most capable, most technologically advanced and most dynamically accomplished supercar ever made."
In a bid to achieve such perfection, a team of engineers, technicians and racing drivers are currently putting a fleet of P1 prototypes through their paces around the clock and under demanding conditions.
Naturally, the final technical spec sheet is still a heavily guarded state secret, but McLaren has divulged a few details about the concept car, which is a mid-engined design that uses a carbon fibre monocoque and roof structure as well as lightweight carbon body panels.
The vehicle also has a large adjustable 'active' rear wing that automatically adjusts to boost downforce and optimise aerodynamics.
McLaren says the production car will have a power to weight ratio of more than 440kW per tonne. Although no other engine details have been mentioned, it is widely speculated that the P1 will use a modified version of the 12C's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8.
Not too long to wait though, as McLaren expects to deliver the first units to its customers towards the end of this year.


text:
Business Optimism for Small, Medium and Large Firms: Does It Explain Investment?
We use UK survey data on variation in business optimism by manufacturing size group to estimate the determinants of optimism using OLS and SURE. There are similarities across the size groups but also some differences: the medium-size group seems to have been unusually affected by real interest rates in recent years. We also model investment authorisations, conditional on business optimism. Again, there are similarities across the size groups. However, the largest-size group, and possibly also the medium-size group, seem to be investing less in recent years in relation to reported optimism. By contrast, capital investment by smaller-sized firms has been stable in relation to business optimism. Some tentative explanations for these findings are explored. Copyright 2007 Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Volume (Year): 28 (2007)
Issue (Month): 2 (06)
|Contact details of provider:|| Postal: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE|
Phone: (+44) 020 7291 4800
Fax: (+44) 020 7323 4780
Web page: http://www.ifs.org.uk
More information through EDIRC
|Order Information:|| Postal: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE|

domain: economics


text:
Jyah, 9, found a message in a bottle – 50 years after it was sent!
**Not only that, but he has tracked down the boy (who is now 63) who wrote it.**
He came across the glass bottle at the bottom of some sand dunes while fishing with his dad Paul off the south coast of Australia.
After noticing the letter was a bit wet inside, Jyah and his dad decided to break the bottle to read the message inside it.
They discovered that the note had been written in 1969 (!) by a then-13-year-old boy called Paul Gilmore from Britain.
“When we smashed it and we saw it was a letter from 1969, we knew it was pretty special,” said Jyah’s dad.
What did the letter say?
The message describes the young boy’s journey travelling on a cruise ship along the southern Australian coast.
He was travelling with his family to Melbourne, Australia from Southampton, England to start a new life. They were on a boat called the Fairstar Sitmar line and the letter was written on the boat’s special paper.
He dropped the bottle into the sea when he was “1,000 miles east of Fremantle in Western Australia” (although people have pointed out that he must have meant west!).
The TSS Fairstar Sitmar Line was the ship that brought many people to Australia in the late 1960s, including British immigrants who were known as ‘ten-pound Poms’, because it cost £10 to travel.Tracking down Paul
Tracking down Paul
After finding the bottle, Jyah wanted to find the original author of the message Paul – now aged 63. And… he has been tracked down!
Mr Gilmore was amazed to know that his letter had been found.
“It is amazing it has turned up – it was a real surprise 50 years on!” he said.
He now lives in Yorkshire in England, after living in Australia for four years at the age of 13.
On finding the original author of the message, Jyah’s mum said: “This is absolutely amazing. We can’t believe he has been found. We are totally blown away!”What happened to the bottle over the last 50 years?
What happened to the bottle over the last 50 years?
According to reports about the story, Australian Government oceanographer David Griffin monitors the behaviour of the sea and says the bottle could not have remained floating in the water for 50 years because it would’ve been destroyed.
“If it had been dropped anywhere in the ocean somewhere south of Australia, then there’s no way it’s going to stay actually at sea moving around for more than a year or two,” he said.
He thinks that the bottle was probably washed up, buried beneath the sand for years and then churned up back into the sea during stormy weather.

domain: geography


text:
I care, therefore I am; I hope, therefore I am; I imagine, therefore I am. I am ethical, therefore I am. I have a purpose, therefore I am. I pause and reflect, therefore I am.
In traditional theater, when the curtain finally rises, it reveals what was temporarily hidden, unknown, unconscious, and protected from the light. The moments just before the curtain opens are potent: with preparation, vulnerability, doubts, delight, surprises, and hope for relevance. Ideally, after the curtain rises, a mirror-like effect is created between the audience, those who are watching or reading what’s revealed, and the performers, those who are revealing their story. Through the beauty and the failures of the characters presented to us, we see our own beauty and failures. In some ways, the light of theater can set us free if it dares to reveal courageous truths. Therefore, from the personal and distinctive details fearlessly shared, something universal emerges. Progressively, we recognize and deeply feel, thanks to that light shining on the truth and the mystery of our lives, something that in the best cases can even inspire us to take action. That process of revelation is at the heart of creativity, imagination, innovation, and telling stories. Even before we had curtains to reveal our stories, we had the open stage of the circus and of ancient Rome’s Colosseum, for example. And before that, we simply gathered in a circle, with a fire in the middle as our light.

domain: artistic


text:
Throughout history, pastry chefs have dedicated their finest delicacies to people of note: the pavlova was named after the famous Russian ballerina and choreographer; peach melba after the Australian opera singer Nellie Melba; the savarin after the French gastronome, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin; and the battenberg, which is said to have been named after Prince Louis of Battenberg.
To be the namesake of a pastry is quite an honour, I would imagine. I, on the other hand, have lost my identity to cakes. Literally. For years people have referred to me as “Cakes”. It all started when I first moved to London. New friends would enter me into their mobile phones as “Claire Cakes” to differentiate me from their other Claires. The abbreviation stuck. But back to Prince Louis ...
When the prince married Princess Victoria (Queen Victoria’s granddaughter), the battenberg was their wedding cake. The chequered sponge was said to represent the prince and his three brothers. Another account claims that the original battenberg had nine squares rather than four. Stories such as these are forever intriguing to a baking nerd like me.
The battenberg cake is one of Britain’s most beloved bakes. It can be found anywhere from supermarket shelves to the finest tea rooms in the land, but I had always been so intimidated by the assembly, and the prospect of it falling apart, that I had avoided it. Then I came across a special battenberg cake tin – which is divided into four long, rectangular compartments – and I finally decided to give it a go.
A battenberg tin eliminates much of the cutting and trimming otherwise required, but the recipe is so easy that I would recommend you try it with or without a special tin. (I’ve given directions for how to make it both ways.) It’s surprisingly sturdy once assembled, and never fails to delight the eyes.
215g caster sugar
Red and yellow food colouring
3 large eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla
215g fine plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g apricot jam
Icing sugar, for rolling
500g golden marzipan
1 Preheat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3½. Butter and line a 20cm x 15cm battenberg tin, or two 20cm x 7.5cm straight-sided loaf tins.
2 Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Divide the mixture between two bowls, and dye each with different food colouring. The amount to use varies greatly depending on the quality of your colouring. Start with a small amount and go from there until you have the desired colour intensity.
3 Beat the eggs together with the vanilla in separate bowl. Divide this between the yellow and pink mixtures, beating to combine.
4 Sift the baking powder and flour twice. Divide the flour between the bowls and fold it into the mixtures.
5 Spread the mixture into the prepared tin or tins accordingly. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the cakes spring back to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool in the tin(s).
6 Remove the cakes from the tin. If you’re using a battenberg tin, simply remove the four pieces and trim, if needed, to make four even bars. If you’re using two loaf tins, slice each slab in half lengthways and trim likewise to make four neat bars.
7 Heat the apricot jam in a small pan. Brush all the long sides of the cake pieces with jam, then press them together in a checkerboard fashion.
8 Lightly dust a work surface with the icing sugar. Roll the block of marzipan out and trim to 20cm x 30cm. With a clean, dry pastry brush, dust away as much icing sugar from the marzipan as you can. Then check for the smoothest side (it may be the underneath side) and have that facing down.
9 Brush the top of the marzipan with melted apricot jam. Place the block of cake on the left-hand side of the marzipan and roll to the right until it is encased. Rest for 30 minutes for the jam to set and glue it all together, then slice and serve. This keeps well in a tin for up to a week.
- Claire Ptak is an author and food stylist and owns Violet Bakery in London. She is the author of the Violet Bakery Cookbook (Square Peg); @violetcakeslondon

domain: hobby


text:
MORE than 40% of people in Wales have a long-standing
illness or disability, new figures have revealed.
What makes Misys Healthcare Systems truly unique is its long-standing
relationships with physicians throughout Western Pennsylvania and with over 92,000 physicians throughout the rest of the United States.
The initial members of the ASSP program join Nissin Systems, a long-standing
TimeSys partner experienced in the embedded real-time market.
NASDAQ:MDII) today announced that its MDI Security Systems Division has been awarded contracts to upgrade critical security systems for eight of its long-standing
Kline has served as a long-standing
member of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC).
Clearly, the future of this mid-size firm is solid, and more than 60 percent of its buildings are long-standing
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing
tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement.
IBM's claims also reflect a reversal of its long-standing
practice of licensing its intellectual property on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms - a policy that it trumpeted on its web site until last year.
Tishman, Westin, and Sheraton Hotels & Resorts (also owned by Starwood) have a long-standing
relationshipon several awardwinning properties in the U.
The City of West Hollywood has been a long-standing
supporter of the use of marijuana that is prescribed, dispensed and used for medicinal purposes.
This new contract builds on USEC's long-standing
relationship with PPL and reflects our commitment to provide customers with a reliable, competitive source of enriched uranium fuel for years to come," said John M.
service to the ELA reflects my long-standing
appreciation and support of leasing in capital formation," said Hurd.
Current economic conditions are very strong, enhancing revenues and enabling the state to begin to address long-standing
pressures of education and pension funding.
We have developed a cancer vaccine that has the potential to meet a long-standing
, unmet medical need in patients with Stage II colon cancer, an earlier stage than most approved treatments address," said Michael G.
At HMC, we take pride in the long-standing
relationships we build with our hotel partners," said Mokhtar Ramadan, CEO for Hospitality Marketing Concepts.

domain: news


text:
The opening hour of the 2011 Britcar 24 Hours was dominated, from pole, by the Aquila CR1 driven by Bob Berridge.
The Danish car led the opening lap as defending winners MJC – again relying on Witt Gamski to start the race – slipped back from their second placed starting spot. Gamski ended the opening lap in ninth place before slipping back out of the top ten on subsequent tours.
“It’s very hot and physical,” said Gamski after stepping out of the car toward the end of the hour. “I’ve not been the car since May, so I’m not in my best, but the car was nice. We just want to get these first hours out of the way and then start racing at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“We’re going calm and will see how things are at midnight – that will be a good indicator, because the reliability and the big engine cars will stop more than we will. The biggest worry out there is the McInerney car [No 2] and the No 5 Porsche [ARC Bratislava]. They’re the ones we have to watch out for.”
The ARC Bratislava Porsche picked up the early lead in Class two, while the Japanese crewed Marcos Mantis – affectionately nicknamed the Orient Express – lead Class Three after jumping the Optimum Racing Ginetta of Stuart Linn in the early laps.
Linn's problems soon became more serious, stopping the yellow G50 out on track and bringing out the first safety car of the race after only a handful of laps. As the safety car scrambled he picked up the RJN Motorsport Nissan of Alex Buncombe running in fourth overall and second in Class two behind the Porsche ahead.
The forced split in the field gave the first three cars a massive advantage – Berridge's Aquila, the Strata 21 Mosler of Calum Lockie and the ARC Bratislava – allowing them to latch onto the tail of the safety car train Buncombe was heading.
Once the race was restarted Berridge began to pull away again, though the gap back to Lockie stretched and contracted as both men worked their way through the slower traffic.
Berridge's progress, unfortunately turned out of be too good. The hour ended with a 30 second stop-go penalty for the Aquila for overtaking the slower traffic before crossing the start line when the race was restarted.
The first hour saw several mechanical problems striking up and down the grid. Though early class leaders The Japanese Topcats Racing crew stopped with a driveshaft failure – the team having to push the orange hi-lighted car down the pitlane.
Their issue handed the Class Three lead at the close of the hour to the Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50 – their engine issue of yesterday now cured.
Class four leaders at the end of the first hour were Britcar regulars APO Sport – normal drivers James May and Alex Osborne joined by Guy Parr.
2011 Britcar 24 Hours Class Leaders after hour one:
1 – No.6 Aquila – Berridge/Martin/Mustill/Evans
2 – No.4 Mosler – White/Lockie/Cintrano/Morcillo
3 – No.3 Mosler – Beaumont/Fletcher/Draper/Hetherington
1 – No. 5 Porsche – Konopka/O'Donnell/Myszkowski/Lewandowski/Edwards
2 – No.31 Nissan – Buncombe/Ward/Mardenborough/Heitkotter
3 – No.27 Marcos – Upton/Huggins/Fletcher/Orton
1 – No.61 Ginetta – Denis/Jones/Spencer/Thorne
2 – No.66 Porsche – Winter/Mundy/Morris/Speed/Raven
3 – No.68 BMW – Clarke/Gibson/Radcliffe/Hayes
1 – No.81 SEAT – May/Osbourne/Parr
2 – No.83 Lotus – Chamberlain/Randeria/Fillingham/Webb
3 – No.84 SEAT – Breukers/Thijssen/Jensiew/Han
Follow live coverage from The Checkered Flag here: http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2011/10/2011-britcar-24-hours-live-coverage/


text:
Most of us are probably aware that the birth control pill can cause women to experience “sexual side effects,” but did you know that the pill might also influence who women are attracted to? And even who they choose as partners and their likelihood of staying married? It may sound too sci-fi to be true, but (as we all know) truth is often far stranger than fiction.
Before I throw us both in the deep end of the research, I just want to remind you what the birth control pill is made of (artificial sex hormones) and what sex hormones do (flip billions of switches on and off in cells throughout your body, influencing the version of yourself that your body creates). This means that the pill is going to influence your love- and sex-related brain circuitry. It would be impossible for it not to. Although this general idea and the research looking into it is still in its infancy, the data that do exist suggest that the pill might influence who you’re attracted to, the dynamics of your relationships, the quality of your sex life, how jealous you are, how you respond to your partner’s face, how sexy you are to others, and your likelihood of getting a divorce. In other words, the pill can influence pretty much everything that matters when it comes to love, sex, and relationships. It may even be influencing yours.
For example, in one study, researchers brought heterosexual women into a research lab and allowed them to use a special computer program to manipulate the appearance of photographs of male and female faces. They could change the appearance of the men and women in the photographs by adjusting their jaw height, face width, cheekbone prominence, and so on. The researchers asked the women to manipulate the features on the male face to create the face of their ideal short-term or long-term romantic partner (male face). They also asked them to manipulate the features on the female face to create the face of a maximally attractive woman (female faces, which were used as a control). The women came into the lab and completed this task at two different time points: Once before they began taking the birth control pill and once around three months after they began.
The pill can influence pretty much everything that matters when it comes to love, sex, and relationships. It may even be influencing yours.
When the researchers compared the two sets of images (pre-pill and post-pill), they found that women’s ideal male, but not female, faces became significantly less masculine once they started taking the birth control pill. In a second study, these same researchers looked at whether women who are on the pill actually choose men with less masculine faces as relationship partners relative to their non-pill taking counterparts. To this end, they compared the facial masculinity of a sample of men whose partners chose them when they were on the birth control pill to a sample of men whose partners chose them when they were not. Facial masculinity was assessed by having the faces rated by a separate sample of participants. What they found was that pill-taking women not only prefer somewhat less masculine male faces; they are also more likely to choose such men as partners.
The idea that women might choose different partners when they are on the pill than they would have chosen off of it suggests that the pill may have rippling effects on the quality and dynamics of women’s long-term relationships. Maybe even the risk of divorce or infidelity. It also raises a number of questions that researchers hadn’t considered worth asking until now. For example, if pill-taking women aren’t really all that interested in masculinity cues, what exactly are they looking for when it comes to partners?
To address this question, researchers conducted a survey of relationship quality on a sample of more than 2000 women, each of whom had at least one child at the time the survey was administered. Half of the women in their sample were on the pill when they met their partners and half of them weren’t. The survey asked women questions about the quality of their relationship with the man who fathered their first child, regardless of whether they were still involved a relationship with him or not.
Pill-taking women not only prefer a somewhat less masculine male faces; they are also more likely to choose such men as partners.
What they found was that naturally cycling women—in addition to choosing sexier partners with more masculine features—seem to be enjoying better sex-related … well … pretty much everything when compared to women who chose their partners when they were on the pill. They’re more sexually aroused, they’re more sexually adventurous, they’re more attracted to their partners. They’re just more into sex than the pill-takers were.
This is consistent with the research that demonstrates that naturally cycling women—at least near ovulation, when fertility is high and estrogen is dominant—have a keen eye (and ear) for certain cues to masculinity. In particular, this research finds that women at high fertility find masculine male faces, deeper, more masculine male voices, and find socially dominant, confident men more attractive than they do at non-fertile points in the cycle. Given that pill-taking women don’t ovulate and are kept in a perpetual state of low estrogen, the pill may decrease the emphasis that women place on these sorts of traits, leading to development of a relationship that is less about sex and more about other qualities.
But, what other qualities, you ask?
The research suggests that the pill-takers may zero in on another set of qualities that are pretty important to a lot of women. In particular, they found that women who’d chosen their partners when they were on the pill were more satisfied with their partners’ earning capacity and intelligence than were the women who’d chosen their partners when they were off of it. This is consistent with the interpretation that being on the pill makes women shift their mate preferences toward qualities that would help keep them safe and secure when preparing for pregnancy, which is believed to occur because the pill mimics a hormonal state in which women’s bodies are waiting to see whether a fertilized egg may implant.
Women who chose their partners when they were on the pill were significantly less likely to divorce than women who chose their partners when they were off it.
Such an interpretation is echoed in the results of brain imaging research. When compared to naturally cycling women, pill-taking women exhibit less activity in the reward centers of the brain when looking at masculine faces, but more activity in these centers in response to monetary rewards. Most of us would agree that money and brains matter, so this is nothing to sneeze at.
But an even bigger positive is what comes when we look at the divorce rate. Despite the whole my-sex-life-is-meh-and-I-am-not-that-attracted-to-my-partner thing, women who chose their partners when they were on the pill were significantly less likely to divorce than women who chose their partners when they were off it (!!!).
This suggests that being on the pill may lead women to choose partners who are good resource providers and willing to stick with them through thick and thin (hence the lower divorce rate and greater satisfaction with resource investment). However, equally as noteworthy, this research found that when these pill-taking women did get divorced, they were overwhelmingly the ones who initiated it (they were the initiators 84.5 percent of the time, compared to being the initiators 73.6 percent of the time among those who chose their partners when not on the pill). This suggests that, in choosing these faithful, resource-investing men as partners (and at the expense of sexiness), pill-taking women may be putting themselves at risk for becoming dissatisfied with their relationship due to a lack of attraction and sexual satisfaction if they ever go off of it.
The results of this study are incredibly provocative. The idea that the quality and longevity of women’s long-term relationships might be impacted, for better and for worse, by their method of pregnancy prevention is just so … big … that it’s almost unbelievable. But, before we get too carried away, it’s worth noting that this study wasn’t perfect, so we need to be careful in its interpretation.
For example, because this research compared the relationship outcomes of women who were on the pill to those who were not, it’s possible that the results reflect pre-existing differences in the types of men preferred by women who choose to be on the pill as a matter of habit (remember, these women were on the pill when they met their partners) and those who do not. For instance, women who are on the pill as a matter of habit, may be more likely to be the types of women who tend to choose romantic partners for reasons of the head (Is he a good provider and likely to be faithful?) rather than reasons of the heart (Is he so delicious that I want to bite him and sit in his lap all day?). So, we can’t really know for certain whether the pill is responsible for the differences observed between these two groups of women. Additionally, because the researchers didn’t measure women’s pill-status across their relationship (we don’t know how long they were off it and on it over the course of their relationships), it’s also hard to know whether any differences that we see between the two groups are differences that occur as a result of being on the pill, going on the pill, or going off the pill.
We’re still in the early phases of the science, which means the results are preliminary, but they may matter to you.
Interestingly, some new research has failed to find differences between women’s facial preferences or relationship satisfaction based on their pill-taking status. And this is the way that science works—unraveling the answers to questions in a series of shuffle steps forward, followed by shuffle steps backward, followed by more steps forward … and so on.
We’re still in the early phases of the science, which means the results are preliminary, but they may matter to you. It will probably be years before we have definitive answers about the reliability with which the pill influences women’s facial preferences and relationship satisfaction. And it will be longer yet before we know whether these effects vary depending on the hormonal composition of the pills that the women are on (which I suspect play a huge role in driving the contradictory results).
Until that time, this is information you can use to help you know what to look for in your own relationships. Taking the time to understand what you most desire in a long-term romantic partner—and the role that hormones play in nudging our preferences this way and that—can only improve our ability to choose someone who will go distance, whether we are on the pill or off of it.

domain: sociology


|Publication number||US8137467 B2|
|Application number||US 11/974,966|
|Publication date||Mar 20, 2012|
|Filing date||Oct 16, 2007|
|Priority date||Oct 16, 2007|
|Also published as||CN201343570Y, US20090095219|
|Publication number||11974966, 974966, US 8137467 B2, US 8137467B2, US-B2-8137467, US8137467 B2, US8137467B2|
|Inventors||Henner Meinhold, Dan M. Doble, Stephen Lau, Vince Wilson, Easwar Srinivasan|
|Original Assignee||Novellus Systems, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (25), Non-Patent Citations (10), Referenced by (24), Classifications (20), Legal Events (2)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention pertains to apparatus and systems for depositing films on a substrate. Specifically, the invention pertains to a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) apparatus for injecting gases into a reaction chamber. Even more specifically, the invention pertains to a temperature controlled showerhead and its temperature control system.
CVD showerhead reactors employ a perforated or porous planar surface to dispense reactant and carrier gases as uniformly as possible over a second parallel planar surface. This configuration can be used for continuous batch processing of multiple substrates or processing of single round wafers. Wafers are generally heated to a process temperature at which the reactant gases react and deposit a film on the wafer surface.
Showerhead reactors, or parallel-plate reactors, lend themselves to implementation of plasma-enhanced processes, e.g., plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). In most PECVD reactors the top and bottom electrodes are about the same size. The wafer electrode may be a substrate support and be grounded and the showerhead may have RF power applied. Bias RF power may be applied to the substrate support. The applied RF in the showerhead may necessitate insulating sections in the gas supply system to avoid creating a parasitic discharge in the gas feed lines to the chamber. RF power may be applied through the substrate support electrode, while the showerhead may be grounded.
Wafer-to-wafer uniformity may be affected by varying reaction temperature from wafer-to-wafer: process conditions, clean cycles, idling time, and change in emissivity of the showerhead components over time can all affect the substrate or wafer as well as the gas reaction temperature. Although after a number of wafers in continuous batch processing the showerheads eventually reach an equilibrium temperature, these factors can affect the equilibrium temperature or the number of deposition cycles before the equilibrium temperature is reached. Also, in a multiple station chamber, showerhead temperature may vary from station to station. For example, the cool incoming wafers at station 1 may lead to a progressive cooling of the showerhead. The thermal cycle of showerheads may also create particles from coatings on the showerhead having different coefficients of thermal expansion from the showerhead itself.
It is therefore desirable to accurately control the temperature of each showerhead in a chamber to create a manufacturing-worthy equipment with best wafer-to-wafer uniformity. The showerhead should be designed without creating particles and be manufacturable at the lowest cost without increasing footprint or reducing throughput while maintaining good wafer-to-wafer uniformity.
A temperature controlled CVD showerhead and temperature control system with enhanced heat dissipation enable accurate and stable temperature control with fast response. Accurate temperature control reduces wafer-to-wafer non-uniformity within continuous batch processing and from batch to batch. The enhanced heat dissipation and heater enable quick recovery to the temperature set point when changes in the operating environment perturb the system. Increased heat dissipation is achieved by increased conduction through the showerhead stem, additional convective cooling using a fluid in a fluid passageway and increased radiation from a back plate. The temperature control system also includes a heat exchanger that serially cools the convective cooling fluid flowing in the showerhead fluid passageway. In addition, the showerhead temperature may provide an additional parameter for process optimization.
In one aspect, the present invention pertains to a temperature controlled CVD showerhead that includes a stem with a convective cooling fluid passageway, a back plate thermally coupled to the stem, a heater physically attached to the back plate, a face plate thermally coupled to the back plate, and a temperature sensor for measuring a temperature of the face plate. The temperature sensor may be a thermocouple attached to the face plate. A non-contact method for temperature measurement, based on infra-red radiation, fluorescence or pyrometry may also be employed. The back plate may be made of aluminum or an alloy of aluminum. The external surface of the back plate may be coated with a material to increase emissivity. The coating may be anodized aluminum. The heater may be an electrical resistance heater and may be embedded in the back plate.
The stem houses a channel through which reactant and carrier gases flow to the face plate, where the gases are distributed through holes or perforations in the face plate. A baffle plate or some other distribution device may be located between the end of the gas channel and the face plate to help distribute the gas evenly. The stem also houses a convective cooling fluid passageway through which cooling fluid may flow to cool the showerhead. The fluid passageway is constructed so that it is isolated from the reactant channel in the stem carrying reactant and carrier gases to the showerhead. The convective cooling fluid enters the stem at an inlet and may exit the stem through one or more exit channels. In the stem, the inlet or the outlet channel or both channels of the passageway may follow a helical path or some other tortuous path designed for conductive heat transfer between the fluid and the surface. The cooling fluid may be clean dry air (CDA), argon, helium, nitrogen, hydrogen, or a mixture of these. Though not preferred, water and oil based liquid coolant may be used as the convective cooling fluid. Particularly, the CDA may be supplied by fab facilities at a pressure of about 50-100 psi. The CDA may also be cooled by a heat exchanger connected to more than one showerhead serially. Serial cooling means that the CDA may be supplied to various showerheads with intermediate cooling by the heat exchanger. For example, the CDA may be supplied to a first showerhead, cooled by the heat exchanger, supplied to a second showerhead, cooled by the heat exchanger, supplied to a third showerhead, cooled by the heat exchanger, supplied to a fourth showerhead, cooled by the heat exchanger, and exhausted. This arrangement minimizes the amount of air used and also ensures a low temperature of the exhaust, eliminating safety hazards.
The face plate contains holes or perforations through which gas reactants flow to the wafer. The face plate may have various configuration of hole patterns of difference sizes. The face plate may be removably attached to the back plate so as to facilitate cleaning or changing hole patterns. The temperature of the face plate may be measured by a thermocouple in physical and thermal contact with the face plate, or by other means that are less susceptible to RF interferences, such as optical thermometry. If a thermocouple is used, it may be connected to the face plate through a standoff between the back plate and the face plate and through the stem. A radio frequency (RF) filter may be electrically coupled to the thermocouple to reduce or eliminate interference in the temperature signal from the applied RF to the showerhead.
An RF filter may be also electrically coupled to the heater. One or both of the heater and the thermocouple may be isolated from RF power of certain frequency used during deposition. A controller may be coupled to the thermocouple and the heater to maintain desired temperature at the face plate.
In another aspect, the present invention pertains to a temperature control system for controlling one or more showerhead temperatures in a CVD chamber. The system includes a CVD chamber and a cooling system. The CVD chamber includes one or more temperature controlled showerheads. Each showerhead includes a stem, a back plate, a face plate, and a thermocouple for measuring the temperature of the face plate. The stem includes a convective cooling fluid passageway and is thermally coupled to the back plate, which is thermally coupled to the face plate. The cooling system is connected to the convective cooling fluid passageways in each showerhead to serial flow cooling fluid through each showerhead and through the heat exchanger in between showerheads. The cooling system may include a liquid cooled heat exchanger and connections to the convective cooling fluid passageways. The temperature control system may also include a controller coupled to the thermocouple and a heater physically attached to the back plate.
The convective cooling fluid may be clean dry air (CDA), argon, helium, nitrogen, hydrogen, or a combination of these. The convective cooling fluid may be delivered via a fab facilities connection and may be CDA. The CDA may be delivered at a pressure of about 50-100 psi and ambient temperature to the first showerhead stem. The CDA may be serially cooled between cooling different showerheads, which may or may not be in the same process chamber on the same tool. One heat exchanger may be used to cool showerheads in more than one chamber for more than one tool. The CDA may be finally exhausted at ambient pressure and/or ambient temperature after a last cooling. The liquid coolant in the heat exchanger may be facilities water or another liquid coolant. The heat exchanger may be a cast metal block having embedded coolant line and convective cooling fluid lines. The cast metal material may be aluminum. The cooling system may also include one or more bypass loops configured to isolate one or more showerheads from the cooling system. The cooling system may also include flow modulators, coupled to the controller, to regulate or control the flowrate of cooling fluids into each showerhead so as to control the amount of cooling. In some embodiments, the CVD chamber may also include a chamber top that has a high-emissivity coating. The coating may be on the inside surface of the chamber top and may be anodized aluminum.
In yet another aspect, the present invention pertains to a temperature control system for controlling CVD showerhead temperature. The system includes cooling means thermally coupled to the showerhead; heating means thermally coupled to the showerhead; temperature sensing means thermally coupled a face of the showerhead; RF filtering means electrically coupled to the temperature sensing means and heating means; and, controlling means for controlling temperature. The system may also include radiative cooling means and convective cooling means.
In one aspect, the present invention pertains to a temperature controlled CVD showerhead that includes a stem with a convective cooling fluid passageway, a back plate thermally coupled to the stem, and a face plate thermally coupled to the back plate. The convective cooling fluid passageway may be designed such that cooling fluid exiting the passageway would be at the same temperature as the showerhead. The showerhead apparatus may also include a temperature sensor for measuring the exit cooling fluid temperature that is outside of the plasma RF interference range. The temperature sensor may be a thermocouple or a non-contact method for temperature measurement, based on infra-red radiation, fluorescence or pyrometry. The back plate may be made of aluminum or an alloy of aluminum. The external surface of the back plate may be coated with a material to increase emissivity. The coating may be anodized aluminum. In some embodiment, a heater may be attached to the back plate, which may be an electrical resistance heater and may be embedded in the back plate.
In another aspect, the present invention pertains to a temperature control system for controlling showerhead temperatures in a CVD chamber. The system may include a CVD chamber with one or more temperature controlled showerheads, a cooling system fluidly coupled to the convective cooling fluid passageways, and a controller. Each showerhead may include a stem having a convective fluid passageway, a back plate thermally coupled to the stem, and a face plate thermally coupled to the back plate. The cooling system may include inlets and outlets to the convective cooling fluid passageways, a liquid cooled heat exchanger, flow modulators, and a temperature sensor thermally coupled to a convective cooling fluid exiting the stem. The heat exchanger may remove heat from the convective cooling fluid that flows serially through the passageways of the one more showerheads and is intermediately cooled by the heat exchanger. The flow modulators may control the flow rate of the convective cooling fluid to each showerhead based on information from the controller. The temperature sensor may measure the temperature of the fluid exiting a showerhead so that the controller may determine a temperature of the face plate. The controller may be coupled to the flow modulator and the temperature sensor so as to determine and control the face plate temperature. In some cases, a heater may be attached to the back plate and coupled to the controller to provide heating.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the associated drawings.
In the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific embodiments are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the present invention may be practiced without these specific details or by using alternate elements or processes. In other instances well-known processes, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.
In this application, the terms “substrate” and “wafer” will be used interchangeably. The following detailed description assumes the invention is implemented on semiconductor processing equipment. However, the invention is not so limited. The apparatus may be utilized to process work pieces of various shapes, sizes, and materials. In addition to semiconductor wafers, other work pieces that may take advantage of this invention include various articles such as display face planes printed circuit boards and the like.
Showerhead temperatures drift over time and affects deposition reaction in terms of reaction rates and film properties.
Temperature Controlled Showerhead
A temperature controlled showerhead improves wafer-to-wafer uniformity both for bulk film and individual sub-layers, increases throughput by eliminating non-processing delays, reduces particles by reducing or eliminating thermal cycling, and adds a valuable process parameter for fine-tuning film properties. The film wafer-to-wafer uniformity is improved because temperature varies less over a continuous batch of wafers (both within a batch and one batch to another and is independent of the tool condition). This reduces difference in film properties between the first wafer in a batch when the showerheads are cold and the last wafer in a batch when the showerheads have reached equilibrium temperature. By controlling all showerheads in a chamber to be at the same temperature, the film property uniformity in different sub-layers is also improved. Non-processing time, e.g., dummy deposition time to heat the showerhead, may be eliminated, thus increasing throughput. Thermal cycling may be reduced because the showerhead temperature may be maintained while the station is idle or being cleaned, instead of allowing the showerhead to cool. The reduction in thermal cycling would reduce the effect of different thermal expansion coefficients between chamber components and coatings on the components and thereby reduce particles. As discussed above, for some CVD processes, desired film properties may be achieved by controlling the showerhead temperature with other process parameters. For silicon nitride spacers with high stress, for example, low showerhead temperature is desirable.
There are generally two main types of CVD showerheads: the chandelier type and the flush mount. The chandelier showerheads have a stem attached to the top of the chamber on one end and the face plate on the other end, resembling a chandelier. A part of the stem may protrude the chamber top to enable connection of gas lines and RF power. The flush mount showerheads are integrated into the top of a chamber and do not have a stem. The present invention pertains to a temperature controlled chandelier type showerhead.
To control temperature, heat is added or removed based on the showerhead temperature. The showerhead temperature increases when the plasma is on, because (1) charged particles collide with the showerhead to impart energy, (2) the applied RF energy is coupled to the showerhead, and/or (3) external heat is intentionally added by, for example, electrical energy from an electrical heater. The showerhead temperature decreases when cooler material enters the chamber, e.g., reactant gases at lower temperature or wafers at ambient temperature, when heat is removed by conduction, e.g., heat conduction through the showerhead stem material up to the chamber ceiling, and by radiation from the showerhead surfaces. Some of these thermal events occur as a part of normal chamber operation, and others may be used to control showerhead temperature.
A heater 314 may be thermally attached to the back plate 306. The heater 314 may be an electrical heater and may be embedded in the back plate 306. The heater may be attached by a vacuum brazing process. The heater coil 314 is controlled by heater wires 316 that are connected to the coil through the stem. Because the showerhead is subjected to high RF energy during chamber operation, all or part of the heater is insulated and isolated from the RF. The RF isolation may be accomplished through an EMI/RFI filter or any other commercially available RF isolation device. In some embodiments, the heater is not used.
The temperature controlled showerhead enhances heat removal by conduction, convection and radiation. Heat is conducted away through the showerhead stem itself, which is connected to a chamber top. The stem diameter may be designed to maximize conductive heat loss to the chamber top. Heat is also removed by convection through cooling fluids flowing in a convective cooling fluid passageway in the stem 304. The embodiment in
The fluid cooling channels may be designed so that the exiting fluid is completely heated up to the temperature of the showerhead stem. Because the faceplate temperature and stem temperature are correlated, it is possible to deduce the faceplate temperature by measuring the temperature of the exiting fluid. The exiting fluid temperature may be measured away from the electromagnetic interference caused by the RF. This design may avoid the use of a thermocouple inside the showerhead and its associated RF filtering circuitry.
In another scenario, the cooling fluid may further be modulated to control the amount of cooling. A feedback loop based on the exiting fluid temperature may increase or decrease the flow to change the amount of cooling. This cooling may be in addition to or instead of heat on the back plate. For less demanding applications, the cooing alone may be used to control the showerhead temperature; and, the heater elements and RF isolation devices may be omitted. For more demanding application, the modulation of cooling fluid is an additional parameter to control the showerhead temperature.
In addition to conduction and convection, heat may radiate away from the showerhead from the back plate. To improve radiative cooling, the external surface of the back plate may be coated with a high emissivity material. For example, the coating may be anodized aluminum. The radiation may be absorbed by the top of the chamber. The chamber top may also be treated with a high emissivity material to increase radiative heat transfer. The inside surface of the chamber top may be coated with anodized aluminum. The chamber top may be cooled independently, e.g., with cooling water lines.
The conductive and radiative heat removal keeps the showerhead at low enough temperatures whereby the electrical heater can accurately heat it back. Without the heat removal, the showerhead temperature would remain high and uncontrollable. The heat removal creates headroom for temperature control. In one embodiment, the heat removal keeps the showerhead temperature below about 200° C. The heater is a simple coil around the perimeter of the back plate because most of the heat transfer between the face and back plate is around the perimeter. Better thermal contact between the showerhead and back plate also improves temperature control because conductive heat transfer, and thus heat loss through the stem, is enhanced.
A cooling system connected to one or more showerhead stems cools the convective cooling fluid that flows through each showerhead stem. The cooling system includes a liquid cooled heat exchanger and connections to the showerheads.
In some embodiments, exiting cooling fluid temperature from the showerhead is measured and used to determine the showerhead temperature. Temperature sensor 441, 443, 445, and 447 may be thermally coupled to the exiting cooling fluid and yet be outside the range of RF interference. This configuration would eliminate the need for an RF filtering device. As discussed above, the convective cooling passageways may be designed so that the exiting cooling fluid temperature is the same as that of the showerhead stem. One skilled in the art would then be able to devise algorithms to correlate measured exiting fluid temperatures to showerhead temperatures knowing thermal properties of the various components.
In certain embodiments, the showerhead may not include a heater attached to the back plate. The showerhead temperature increases during processing, preheating, and remote plasma cleaning. In these embodiments, active cooling from the cooing fluid may be used to control showerhead temperature. Control valves 421, 423, 425, and 427 controls the flow of cooling fluids to the showerhead based on input from the controller. The cooling fluid either flows to the showerhead stem or is diverted in a by-pass loop 431, 433, 435, or 437. More or less cooling may be accomplished based on the flow of cooling fluids to the showerhead. An active cooling only design may be appropriate in certain less demanding applications where the range of acceptable showerhead temperatures is larger. In these embodiments, the showerhead temperature may be determined based on the exit cooling fluid temperature or be measured at the showerhead through a contact thermocouple or through a non-contact thermal sensing means.
In one embodiment, four showerheads and four compartments are shown in
In some cases one or more of the showerhead may be bypassed for convective cooling fluid flow altogether. Thus each showerhead connection may also include a bypass loop with corresponding valves. For certain processes, not every station may be configured to deposit material onto the wafer or require a temperature controlled showerhead. In that case the bypass loop may be used at station 4.
The liquid coolant for the heat exchanger 401 enters the system at inlet 405 and follows a coolant path 403 before it exits the system at outlet 407. Although only one loop is shown for coolant path 403, the coolant path may consist of many loops depending on the diameter of the coolant path, heat transfer required, the coolant temperature at the inlet, and any coolant temperature requirements at the exit. The liquid coolant may be water or any other type of known liquid coolant, e.g., Freon. In one embodiment, the liquid coolant is facilities delivered water. After exiting the heat exchanger, the liquid coolant may or may not be treated further before being released, for example, into the drain. For example, the facilities delivered water as the liquid coolant may be exhausted directly. However, if other liquid coolant is used, the coolant may be compressed and recirculated back into the heat exchanger, creating a closed-loop coolant system.
Different designs of the heat exchanger 401 may be utilized.
Temperature Control System
The showerhead temperature control system includes one of more showerheads, the cooling system, and controllers for controlling the temperature of each showerhead.
From the heat exchanger 506, as discussed above, the convective cooling fluid may be flowed to another component, such as 504. If the showerhead is configured as the first station in a chamber, then component 502 may be the facilities air and component 504 may be another showerhead, such as station showerhead. If the showerhead is not configured as the first station, then component 502 and 506 may be the same component, the liquid cooled heat exchanger as discussed above. Note that this cooling loop may not have a feed back loop where more or less cooling may be adjusted. The simple design merely cools the showerhead enough such that the electric heater 518 may accurately heat the showerhead to a certain temperature.
Thermocouple 510 is in physical contact with the face plate, as discussed above. Thermocouple 510 is connected to a RF isolation device 512 via a cable to remove the effect of RF applied on the showerhead as an electrode from the thermocouple signal; the electrical connection of thermocouple 510 to the cable is not shown due to scale. Typically, the RF applied in a PECVD has two frequency components, a high frequency (e.g., 13.56 MHz) trap and a low frequency (e.g., 400 kHz). The RF isolation device may include one or more filters. In one embodiment, the RF isolation device includes a high frequency and a low frequency filter. Without RF isolation, it is believed that the thermocouple measurement would not be useful because the RF interference would be too great.
A schematic of a possible configuration of the RF isolation device is shown in
Referring again to
In another embodiment, the exit cooling fluid temperature may be measured by a temperature sensing device 520 that is outside of the range of RF interference. In this embodiment, no RF filter is required for the temperature sensing device 520. The controller may correlate the exit cooling fluid temperature to a showerhead temperature.
The temperature controller 516 may also takes feed forward information from component 514. The feed forward information may be that the time period until the plasma turns on. In some cases the feed forward information may also include other predictable events that affect the showerhead temperature such as wafer processing with cold wafers, gas flow into the showerhead. The controller may increase the heater input in anticipation of a cooling event, e.g., chamber purge, or decrease the heater input in anticipation of a heating event, e.g., plasma “on.” The controller may also increase the cooling by increasing cooling fluid flow in anticipation of a heating event or decrease the cooling by decreasing cooling fluid flow in anticipation of a cooling event.
Various combinations of the input and output components may be used in different controlling schemes. For example, active cooling (modulating cooling fluid flow) may be used with active heating (heater in the back plate) to accurately control showerhead temperature. The showerhead temperature may be measured directly from a thermocouple attached to the face plate, or determined indirectly from the exiting cooling fluid temperature. In some cases, only active cooling or only active heating may be included in the control system. Still other inputs may be included, such as temperature sensing of the cooling fluid at the inlet to accurately determine the heat removed from the showerhead.
In certain embodiments, the temperature controller may be integrated with the system controller. In those cases component 514 would not be separated from controller 516.
A showerhead temperature control system was implemented in accordance with the present invention. The control system implemented included the temperature controlled showerheads as discussed above and a controller that uses only feed back (thermocouple only) input. The showerhead temperatures for a four-station chamber were measured over a 50 wafer run and plotted in
The difference in showerhead temperatures as compared to
The data shows that with the temperature control scheme, showerhead temperatures may be controlled to without about 4° C. within a 50 wafer batch. Because the data was generated without using feed forward control, implementation including feed forward control may improve the response to even less than about 4° C.
In another test, wafer-to-wafer results of deposition rate for Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) deposition were studied using a standard showerhead and a temperature controlled showerhead in accordance with the present invention. The standard showerhead does not include the temperature controlled features of the present invention. It does not include the cooling mechanisms or the heater. In order to test the responsiveness of the temperature controlled showerhead to changing conditions, 100 wafers were deposited with each showerhead under four conditions. Before each condition, the process chamber was subjected to a remote plasma clean (RPC) where a plasma is ignited from gases fed into a chamber that is located remotely from the processing chamber. Plasma-activated species from the RPC chamber then flow through a delivery line towards the processing chamber. Thus a RPC was conducted before wafers 1, 26, 51, and 76. In the first condition, TEOS was deposited for 12 seconds per wafer and thickness deposited were measured. In the second condition, after the RPC the showerhead was cooled with nitrogen gas from the reactant channel for 20 minutes. It is estimated that in the standard showerhead, after about 20 minutes of forced cooling with nitrogen gas the showerhead temperature reached about 240° C. In the third condition, the process chamber was idled overnight after the RPC. During this idle, the pedestal remains heated to about 350° C., so that in the standard showerhead over this duration the showerhead equilibrated to a temperature less than 350° C. In the fourth condition, after the RPC the showerhead was heated with a high power plasma for 20 minutes. Nitrogen is used to generate this plasma at a flowrate of about 10 slm. The chamber pressure was maintained at about 2.5 Torr and the high frequency power at about 1500 watts.
Regions 802 correspond to the second condition. After the RPC sequence the process chamber was cooled with nitrogen. In this region the deposition with temperature controlled showerhead was affected less initially—there was less of a drop in deposition thickness than the standard showerhead. Regions 803 correspond to the third condition. After overnight idling, the deposition with the temperature controlled showerhead had the same characteristics as that after a RPC sequence. The deposition dips initially and regained relatively constant value. The deposition with the standard showerhead decreased over the initial wafers and also maintained a relatively constant value. Note that although the deposition parameters are the same, the standard showerhead maintained a lower deposition rate in region 803 than all the other regions. Lastly, regions 804 correspond to the fourth condition. High energy plasma after the RPC sequence heated the showerhead to a higher temperature than RPC alone. In the standard showerhead, the highest deposition rates were recorded in region 4. After an initial dip in deposition, the thickness appeared to equilibrate at a higher value. In the temperature controlled showerhead, the high energy plasma appeared not to affect the deposition, save perhaps for the very first wafer.
Overall, the range of thicknesses measured for the standard showerhead was about 37 angstroms and for the temperature controlled showerhead, only about 13 angstroms. The wafer-to-wafer non-uniformity for the deposition was 3.7% for the standard showerhead and 1.3% for the temperature controlled showerhead. The better wafer-to-wafer uniformity for the temperature controlled showerhead is a 66% improvement over that of the standard showerhead.
Although various details have been omitted for clarity's sake, various design alternatives may be implemented. Therefore, the present examples are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.
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|6||U.S. Appl. No. 11/974,945, Office Action mailed Mar. 21, 2011.|
|7||U.S. Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/181,927 mailed Mar. 28, 2011.|
|8||U.S. Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 11/974,945 mailed Sep. 17, 2010.|
|9||U.S. Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/148,267 mailed Aug. 17, 2011.|
|10||U.S. Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/181,927 mailed Sep. 17, 2010.|
|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US8308865 *||Oct 9, 2008||Nov 13, 2012||Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.||Showerhead for chemical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition apparatus having the same|
|US8673080||Jul 29, 2008||Mar 18, 2014||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Temperature controlled showerhead|
|US9034142||Dec 18, 2009||May 19, 2015||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Temperature controlled showerhead for high temperature operations|
|US9070750||Mar 6, 2013||Jun 30, 2015||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Methods for reducing metal oxide surfaces to modified metal surfaces using a gaseous reducing environment|
|US9121097||Sep 28, 2012||Sep 1, 2015||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Variable showerhead flow by varying internal baffle conductance|
|US9157152 *||Feb 10, 2011||Oct 13, 2015||Tokyo Electron Limited||Vapor deposition system|
|US9157730||Oct 17, 2013||Oct 13, 2015||Applied Materials, Inc.||PECVD process|
|US9290843 *||Feb 11, 2014||Mar 22, 2016||Lam Research Corporation||Ball screw showerhead module adjuster assembly for showerhead module of semiconductor substrate processing apparatus|
|US9441296||Mar 2, 2012||Sep 13, 2016||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Hybrid ceramic showerhead|
|US9449795 *||Apr 8, 2013||Sep 20, 2016||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Ceramic showerhead with embedded RF electrode for capacitively coupled plasma reactor|
|US9458537||Sep 29, 2015||Oct 4, 2016||Applied Materials, Inc.||PECVD process|
|US9469912||Apr 21, 2014||Oct 18, 2016||Lam Research Corporation||Pretreatment method for photoresist wafer processing|
|US9472377||Mar 13, 2015||Oct 18, 2016||Lam Research Corporation||Method and apparatus for characterizing metal oxide reduction|
|US9476120 *||Jan 31, 2014||Oct 25, 2016||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Temperature controlled showerhead|
|US9570289||Mar 6, 2015||Feb 14, 2017||Lam Research Corporation||Method and apparatus to minimize seam effect during TEOS oxide film deposition|
|US9607822||Sep 13, 2016||Mar 28, 2017||Lam Research Corporation||Pretreatment method for photoresist wafer processing|
|US9728380||Jul 17, 2015||Aug 8, 2017||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Dual-plenum showerhead with interleaved plenum sub-volumes|
|US20090266911 *||Oct 9, 2008||Oct 29, 2009||Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd.||Showerhead for chemical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition apparatus having the same|
|US20110061810 *||Mar 10, 2010||Mar 17, 2011||Applied Materials, Inc.||Apparatus and Methods for Cyclical Oxidation and Etching|
|US20110061812 *||Mar 10, 2010||Mar 17, 2011||Applied Materials, Inc.||Apparatus and Methods for Cyclical Oxidation and Etching|
|US20110065276 *||Mar 10, 2010||Mar 17, 2011||Applied Materials, Inc.||Apparatus and Methods for Cyclical Oxidation and Etching|
|US20110146571 *||Dec 18, 2009||Jun 23, 2011||Bartlett Christopher M||Temperature controlled showerhead for high temperature operations|
|US20140158792 *||Jan 31, 2014||Jun 12, 2014||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Temperature controlled showerhead|
|US20140238608 *||Apr 8, 2013||Aug 28, 2014||Novellus Systems, Inc.||Ceramic showerhead with embedded rf electrode for capacitively coupled plasma reactor|
|U.S. Classification||118/724, 156/345.37, 118/663, 118/715, 118/666, 156/345.34, 156/345.24, 156/345.33, 156/345.27|
|International Classification||H01L21/306, C23C16/06, C23C16/52, C23C16/22, C23F1/00|
|Cooperative Classification||C23C16/4557, C23C16/45565, C23C16/45572|
|European Classification||C23C16/455K6, C23C16/455K8, C23C16/455K2|
|Oct 16, 2007||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: NOVELLUS SYSTEMS, INC., CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:MEINHOLD, HENNER;DOBLE, DAN M.;LAU, STEPHEN;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:020029/0501;SIGNING DATES FROM 20071010 TO 20071015
Owner name: NOVELLUS SYSTEMS, INC., CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:MEINHOLD, HENNER;DOBLE, DAN M.;LAU, STEPHEN;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20071010 TO 20071015;REEL/FRAME:020029/0501
|Sep 21, 2015||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4


Minutes of Proceedings
Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Venue: Senate Chamber, Parliament Buildings
The meeting commenced at 10.32 am in open session.
The Committee noted the tabled items.
The Chairperson informed Members that the Minister of Education is planning to make a statement to the Assembly on Monday 26 September 2011 and that the Minister will brief the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson on the contents of his statement in advance.
Apologies are detailed above.
2. Draft Minutes of 14 September 2011
The Committee approved the minutes of the 14 September 2011.
3. Matters Arising
- The Committee noted correspondence of 13 September 2011 from the Department of Education enclosing a response from the Minister for Education to APTIS regarding budget concerns.
Agreed – The Committee would write to inform the Minister that the Committee was supportive of all schools affected by the issues raised by APTIS and asking to be informed of the outcome of the Minister’s meeting with APTIS.
Agreed – the Committee would write to APTIS to express the Committee’s support for all schools affected by the concerns raised and inform APTIS that the Committee had asked the Minister to keep it informed on the outcome of his meeting with APTIS.
Agreed – the Committee would request the Department to provide a breakdown on mobile classroom use by sector and E&LB.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 13 September 2011 from the Department of Education enclosing a response from the Minister of Education to the Omagh Learning Community regarding budget concerns.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Minister to indicate that it is sympathetic to the concerns raised by the Omagh Learning Community and would write to inform Omagh Learning Community accordingly.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 16 September 2011 from the Chairperson of the Committee for OFMdFM regarding the lack of democratic representation on the SEELB.
Agreed – the Committee would forward this correspondence to the Minister for Education on behalf of the Chairperson of the Committee for OFMdFM and ask to be copied in on the response.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 16 September 2011 from the Department of Education enclosing additional information on sensory processing disorder.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 19 September 2011 from the Committee for OFMdFM enclosing the September 2011, Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland Investing Activity Report for the Department of Education.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 14 September 2011 from Mr Ian Houston regarding prompt payments.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department to request a breakdown of E&LBs performance on prompt payments and to ask the Department to respond to the issues raised in this correspondence, and Mr Houston’s correspondence of 7 September 2011, at the briefing on 12 October 2011 regarding Budget.
- The Committee noted correspondence 8 September 2011 from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) regarding the Memorandum of Reply (MoR) on a PAC Report entitled ‘The management of Substitution Cover for Teachers: Follow-up Report.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Minister of Education to ask him what action he proposed taking on foot of the resolution of the Assembly in relation to the employment prospects of newly qualified teachers on 20 September 2011.
Agreed – the Committee would also write to request:
- that the information in Figure 3 of the Department’s MoR, showing a breakdown of substitution cover by category, be supplemented by columns showing each category cost as a percentage of total salary costs in 2009/10 and 2010/11.
- an analysis of trends emerging across categories of substitution cover and the specific steps being taken by DE/E&LBs to address these trends;
- that the Department position in relation to the robustness of the breakdown provided in Figure 3, in light of the somewhat qualified reliance which officials believed could be placed on them, and whether the Public Accounts Committee should be advised of any reservations the Department may have;
- details of what action, if any, is planned to assess (for example by sampling, external audit etc) the robustness of the categorisation of substitution cover and to ensure its robustness in the future;
- In this context the Committee agreed to request a copy of the guidance from DE/E&LBs to schools on how substitution cover should be classified in the returns from which the information in Figure 3 is compiled.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 9 September 2011 from the NAHT regarding pre-school education.
Agreed – the Committee would commission Assembly Research to produce an evaluation on the various issues raised by the NAHT regarding pre-school education and would write to the NAHT to inform them of this.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 12 September 2011 from the Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards enclosing a Report detailing new policies screened by the E&LBs.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 9 September 2011 from the Ulster Teachers’ Union requesting a meeting with the Committee to discuss the issues that were debated at their recent conference.
Agreed – the Chairperson would meet with the UTU on behalf of the Committee to discuss issues around education policy.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 15 September 2011 from the Committee for Finance and Personnel on monitoring post project evaluations.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department to request an explanation on why it is responsible for 77% of outstanding PPE’s due before the 1 April 2010.
- The Committee noted correspondence from Coleraine Primary Principals’ Group regarding convergence and primary funding.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department to request that they respond directly to the Principals Group on the issues raised in its correspondence and copy DE’s response to the Committee.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Principals’ Group to inform them of this decision.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 14 September 2011 from Councillor T Jeffers regarding transport assistance.
Agreed – the Committee would write to Councillor Jeffers to inform him that it had written to the Department of Education on 14 September 2011 to ascertain whether there were any plans to review the policy on home to school transport, indicating that a number of Committee Members were of the view that now was the time for such a review to support the Executive’s commitment to achieving sustainability and promoting modal shift.
Agreed - the Committee would inform Councillor Jeffers the Committee was unable to become involved in individual cases due to limited resources and its work priorities.
- Subject to the matters specifically agreed below, Members noted the following conferences, invitations and meeting requests:
- GTCNI– Invitation to launch of Report entitled ‘Teachers’ Voice 2010’;
- Carrickfergus College – Invitation to visit school
Agreed – the Committee would write to Carrickfergus College to congratulate them on their recent exam successes. and to invite them to attend a Committee meeting. The Committee also agreed to drop in on their planned visit to Parliament Buildings in February 2012.
- Members noted the following publications:
- Teachers’ Superannuation Resource Accounts 2010-11
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department of Education to request that they be provided with an update on the Scheme.
- Members noted the following press releases previously emailed to Members:
- Education Minister visits St Colman’s Bann Primary School;
- Education Minister visits Derrylatinee St Francis’ Primary School;
- Education Minister commends Lismore Comprehensive.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 19 September 2011 from the Committee for the Environment regarding reducing energy costs and the Environment Committee’s request that this be forwarded to the Department of Education.
Agreed – the Committee would forward this correspondence to the Department of Education.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 20 September 2011 from the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure regarding the dual usage of schools.
Agreed – the Committee would forward this correspondence to the Department of Education for a response on the issues raised, to ask what DE’s input into the Sports Matters Implementation Group entailed and to request copies of any relevant papers.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department of Education to request that it be provided with an update regarding the Community Use of Schools Working Group set up by the Department, the Group’s Report that was submitted to DE on 15 March 2010, and to ask whether the Minister has had a chance to consider the Group’s recommendations and his views on the way forward.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department of Education to request details of its asset management strategy, including how assets are scheduled for disposal; to ask how DE deals with the disposal of assets across the different sectors within education; and, to ascertain what responsibility Boards of Governors have in relation to the disposal of assets.
- The Committee noted correspondence of 15 September 2011 from the Consumer Council enclosing a copy of its Annual Report 2010-11.
- The Committee noted an invitation from Sammy Douglas, MLA, Paul Maskey, MLA and Robin Newton, MLA to an event to celebrate the Fostering Achievement Scheme.
5. Common Funding Scheme 2011-12
Trevor Connolly, Finance Director, Paul Price, Schools Access Team, Mark Mawhinney, Teachers Negotiating and Pensions Policy Team and Ken Reid, School Finance Team provided an oral briefing to the Committee on the Department’s Common Funding Scheme 2011-12 and answered Members’ questions.
Agreed – Officials would provide the Committee with greater detail on what is compassed within the Initiatives category referred to in Figure 3 of the Department’s Memorandum of Reply to the PAC’s Follow-Up Report on the Management of Substitution Cover for Teachers. The Committee would also be provided with the guidance issued by DE to assist schools categorise teacher substitution cover under the headings in Figure 3.
Agreed – the Chairperson would share with other Committee Members the answer to an Assembly question he has asked in relation to £52M additional funding for specific initiatives.
The Committee noted, with thanks, Assembly Research Service’s briefing paper on the Common Funding Scheme.
Officials left the meeting at 12.36pm
6. Compulsory School Starting Age
The meeting moved into closed session at 12.37pm
A Legal Advisor from Assembly Legal Services briefed the Committee and answered Members’ questions.
The meeting moved into public session at 12.48 pm.
An Assembly Research Officer provided the Committee with a briefing entitled “Arguments on the school starting age” and the Committee considered previous correspondence from ATL/ParentsOutloud and noted their email of 31 August 2011 and attachments.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department to request details of the average number of children with May/June birthdays likely to be impacted by any flexibility in relation to school starting age and would enclose copies of Assembly Research’s briefing paper.
Agreed – the Committee would forward to the Department copies of the correspondence received from the E&LBs’ psychology services and ask for the Department’s response on the views expressed in BELB’s response.
Agreed – the Committee would write to the Department in light of the legal advice received seeking clarification of the Department’s position.
Agreed – The Committee would write to ATL/ParentsOutloud enclosing copies of the Research Paper, the correspondence from the E&LBs and to inform them of the action taken by the Committee.
7. Forward Work Programme
Agreed -. The Committee would meet on Tuesday 27 September 2011 to receive a briefing from the Minister for Education on his statement to the Assembly on 26 September 2011 – Putting Pupils First: Shaping Our Future – The Next Steps for Education.
The Clerk updated the Committee on progress made in arranging:
- visits to Fleming Fulton and other schools on the same site;
- visit to St Mary’s, Roe Valley, and its sharing education partners;
- visit to Strabane Academy
Agreed – The Committee noted and approved the draft Forward Work Programme.
Agreed – the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson would meet with the Minister for Education on Monday 26 September 2011 to be briefed on his statement to the Assembly on 26 September 2011 – Putting Pupils First: Shaping Our Future – The Next Steps for Education.
8. Any other business
9. Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting
The Committee will be attending the shared Education Conference on 28 September 2011 at 9.00am in the Hilton Hotel, Belfast.
Following the special meeting on Tuesday 27 September the next meeting will be held on Wednesday 5 October 2011 at 10.30 am in the Senate Chamber, Parliament Buildings.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 13.04 pm.
Mervyn Storey MLA
Chairperson, Committee for Education
5 October 2011


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text:
Here's the Back to Basics round-up that I hosted for Desi Soccer Mom, its creator. Please tell me if I've missed out on any entries that have been sent to me.
Jaya of Spice & Curry tells us how to make home-made mustard powder, and how to use it too!
Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen lets us in on her recipe for rasam.
Hema of Salt to Taste gives us a recipe for another staple popular in some parts of the South.
I haven't made anything basic for this event, even though I am the host, but I'm directing you to this more than four-years-old post of mine on how to make flavoured ghee. That's what I intended to republish anyway.
Weekend Herb Blogging Curds/Yoghurt Gluten-free Potatoes


text:
ICED EARTH mastermind Jon Schaffer has revealed several more song titles that are set to be included on the group's upcoming "Glorious Burden" CD, due in late spring/early summer.
The guitarist — who is simultaneously working on the material for the sophomore effort from DEMONS & WIZARDS, his side project with BLIND GUARDIAN's Hansi Kursch — is hoping to begin recording the effort in January, most likely at Tampa's Morrisound Recording, where all of the band's previous albums were tracked.
Among the titles set to appear on "Glorious Burden" are the following:
01. The Reckoning (Don't Tread On Me)
02. Hollow Man
03. And The Anger Flows
04. Honesty and the Damage Done
05. Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
06. When the Eagle Cries
08. Red Badge of Courage
09. My Life
10. Tale of a Sale
11. Solitude II
12. The Glorious Burden
13. The Opportunist
14. The Haunting
15. This Virus Called Man
16. A Gift Or A Curse?
17. Ignorance is Bliss
18. Deception in the Desert
Says Schaffer: "These are working titles and may change slightly. Also, some of these tunes will end up being on DEMONS & WIZARDS since I'm working on both simultaneously."

domain: entertainment


sorry for not updating lately. I'm going to be leaving for tour on Saturday, soooooooooo I probably won't be updating then either. Maybe, I don't know. I'll be gone for a little over a week so yeah. I'll be back sometime soon, in the meantime...
-Kanye West "Stronger" is really great.
-The new Transformers theme sounds like Linkin Park did it, but it's actually some band called Mute Math, it's sooooo god awful
-The new White Stripes leaked. If you listen to the first 2 tracks you would think it was going to be a great album, but actually the rest of the album is absolutely terrible!
-Belaire has some new tunes posted on their myspace. I'll post them eventually.