In this study, the effect of carrier quantization on device characteristics and stress-induced device degradation for multifin high-K/metal tri-gate n-type and p-type fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs) were investigated through electrical characterization and simulation. Carrier conduction in the steep Si fins of FinFETs is different for devices with different numbers of fins and affects device performance and reliability. For n-type FinFETs, devices with fewer fins inhibited the coupling effect between fins to exhibit superior device performance but underwent more severe hot carrier-induced device degradation. The coupling effect between fins reduced the equivalent electric field in the multifin devices and further inhibited impact ionization; thus devices with more fins achieved superior reliability to single-fin devices after hot-carrier stress. For p-type FinFETs, a similar effect on performance was demonstrated but with lower sensitivity to hot-carrier stress-induced device degradation caused by lower hole mobility within the Si fin channel.

Background: Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely studied for evaluating diseases. This paper discusses the intelligence mode of an ANN in grading the diagnosis of liver fibrosis by duplex ultrasonogaphy. Methods: 239 patients who were confirmed as having liver fibrosis or cirrhosis by ultrasound guided liver biopsy were investigated in this study. We quantified ultrasonographic parameters as significant parameters using a data optimization procedure applied to an ANN. 179 patients were typed at random as the training group; 60 additional patients were consequently enrolled as the validating group. Performance of the ANN was evaluated according to accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Youden’s index and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: 5 ultrasonographic parameters; i.e., the liver parenchyma, thickness of spleen, hepatic vein (HV) waveform, hepatic artery pulsatile index (HAPI) and HV damping index (HVDI), were enrolled as the input neurons in the ANN model. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the ANN model for quantitative diagnosis of liver fibrosis were 95.0%, 85.0% and 88.3%, respectively. The Youden’s index (YI) was 0.80. Conclusions: The established ANN model had good sensitivity and specificity in quantitative diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis or liver cirrhosis. Our study suggests that the ANN model based on duplex ultrasound may help non-invasive grading diagnosis of liver fibrosis in clinical practice.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common causes of cardiovascular disease as it causes arterial stiffness changes. The purpose of this study is to characterize, in vivo, carotid arterial structural and functional changes by applying radio frequency and X-strain ultrasound techniques.

Background: Abnormality of hepatic vein (HV) waveforms evaluated by Doppler ultrasonography has been widely studied in patients with chronic liver disease. We investigated the correlation between changes in HV waveforms and portal vein velocity (PVVel), the hepatic artery pulsatility index (HAPI), and also the extent of abnormal Doppler HV waveforms expressed as damping index (DI), severity of portal hypertension expressed as Child-Pugh scores and portal pressure (PP) measured directly from patients with portal hypertension (PHT) to evaluate the indicative value of abnormal HV waveforms and discuss the cause of abnormal HV waveform.Methods: Sixty patients who had been diagnosed with PHT and accepted surgical therapy of portosystemic shunts were investigated. PP was measured intraoperatively. Thirty healthy volunteers with no history of chronic liver disease were enrolled as the control group. HV waveforms were categorized as triphasic, biphasic or monophasic. DI was compared as the quantitative indicator of abnormal HV waveforms. Another two Doppler parameters, PVVel and HAPI were also measured. These Doppler features were compared with PP, Child-Pugh scores and histological changes assessed by liver biopsy.Results: In the patient group, the Doppler flow waveforms in the middle HV were triphasic in 31.6%, biphasic in 46.7%, and monophasic in 21.6% of subjects. These figures were 86.7%, 10.0%, and 3.3%, respectively, in healthy subjects. With the flattening of HV waveforms, the HAPI increased significantly (r= 00.438,p< 0.0001), whereas PVVel decreased significantly (r= -0.44,p <0.0001). Blood flow parameters, HAPI, PVVel and HV-waveform changes showed no significant correlations with Child-Pugh scores. The latter showed a significant correlation with PP (r= 0.589,p= 0.044). Changes of HV waveform and DI significantly correlated with PP (r= 0.579,r= 0.473,p <0.0001), and significant correlation between DI and Child-Pugh scores was observed (r= 0.411,p =0.001). PP was significantly different with respect to nodule size (p< 0.05), but HV-waveform changes were not significantly correlated with pathological changes.Conclusion: In patients with PHT, a monophasic HV waveform indicates higher portal pressure. Furthermore, quantitative indicator DI can reflect both higher portal pressure and more severe liver dysfunction. Flattening of HV waveforms accompanied by an increase in the HAPI and decrease in PVVel support the hypothesis that histological changes reducing HV compliance be the cause of abnormality of Doppler HV waveforms from the hemodynamic angle.

In this paper, the impact of width quantization on device characteristic and stressing induced device degradation for high-k/metal tri-gate n/p-type FinFET was investigated well including electrical characteristic clarification and simulation. Carrier conduction in the trapezoidal shape Si-fin body of FinFETs is different for devices with different Fin bottom widths (W _{Fin_bottom} ), which will impact the device performance and reliability. For n-type FinFETs, the experimental results show that the thinner W _{Fin_bottom} device performs better reliability under HCI stress due to higher inversion carrier density at the center of Si-fin channel. For p-type FinFETs under negative bias stressing, the thinner W _{Fin_bottom} device shows more serious degradation on drain current (I _D ) and subthreshold swing (SS) with the increasing of stressing voltage due to larger electric field within the Si-fin and higher energy of inversion holes, while the thicker W _{Fin_bottom} device shows almost insensitively degradation with the variation of stressing voltage.