Questionnaire survey of Japanese board-certified expert hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeons and instructors on the surgical indications for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Recent advancements in systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) necessitate the establishment of resectability criteria for advanced HCC.

Methods: A questionnaire survey sought to clarify the perspectives of Japanese expert hepatobiliary surgeons regarding surgical indications for HCC. Thirty-one questions were used to determine when surgery is strongly recommended (resectable: R) or not recommended (unresectable: UR).

Influence of laser power on atom probe tomographic analysis of boron distribution in silicon.

The relationship between the laser power and the three-dimensional distribution of boron (B) in silicon (Si) measured by laser-assisted atom probe tomography (APT) is investigated. The ultraviolet laser employed in this study has a fixed wavelength of 355nm. The measured distributions are almost uniform and homogeneous when using low laser power, while clear B accumulation at the low-index pole of single-crystalline Si and segregation along the grain boundaries in polycrystalline Si are observed when using high laser power (100pJ).

Elemental Distribution in Multilayer Systems by Laser-Assisted Atom Probe Tomography with Various Analysis Directions.

Elemental distributions in a magnetic multilayer system with the structure Si substrate/Ta/NiFe/Ru/CoFeB/Ru/NiFe were studied using atom probe tomography (APT) along different analysis directions. The distributions of Ru and B atoms, which require a high evaporation field, were strongly influenced by the APT analysis direction. In particular, B in the CoFeB layer appeared near the interface with the lower Ru layer when the analysis was anti-parallel to the film growth direction, while B atoms were observed at the other side of the CoFeB layer when the analysis was parallel to the film growth direction.

Behavior of phosphorous and contaminants from molecular doping combined with a conventional spike annealing method.

The fabrication of future nanoscale semiconductor devices calls for precise placement of dopant atoms into their crystal lattice. Monolayer doping combined with a conventional spike annealing method provides a bottom-up approach potentially viable for large scale production. While the diffusion of the dopant was demonstrated at the start of the method, more sophisticated techniques are required in order to understand the diffusion, at the near surface, of P and contaminants such as C and O carried by the precursor, not readily accessible to direct time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements.

Dopant distributions in n-MOSFET structure observed by atom probe tomography.

The dopant distributions in an n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) structure were analyzed by atom probe tomography. The dopant distributions of As, P, and B atoms in a MOSFET structure (gate, gate oxide, channel, source/drain extension, and halo) were obtained. P atoms were segregated at the interface between the poly-Si gate and the gate oxide, and on the grain boundaries of the poly-Si gate, which had an elongated grain structure along the gate height direction.