The formation of titanium contacts to silicon germanium (SiGe) comprises the formation of a titanium silicide layer in which the silicon for the titanium silicide layer is provided by flowing silane (disilane, trisilane, etc.) over a titanium layer at an elevated temperature. The titanium silicide layer can help limit the amount of titanium and germanium interdiffusion that can occur across the titanium silicide-silicon germanium interface, which can reduce (or eliminate) the formation of voids in the SiGe layer during subsequent anneal and other high-temperature processes. The surface of the SiGe layer upon which the titanium layer is formed can also be preamorphized via boron and germanium implantation to further improve the robustness of the SiGe layer against microvoid development. The resulting titanium contacts are thermally stable in that their resistance remains substantially unchanged after being subjected to downstream annealing and high-temperature processing processes.

A precious metallic laminate may include a first transparent substrate, a transparent transition layer deposited on the first transparent substrate, and a metallic layer deposited on the transparent transition layer. The metallic layer may include a precious metal. The laminate may include a second transparent substrate covering the metallic layer.

A combined oil control ring comprising a pair of annular side rails each having a gap, and an axially corrugated spacer expander arranged between the side rails; the corrugated spacer expander having on the inside seating tabs for pushing inner peripheral surfaces of the side rails; the side-rail-pushing surface of each seating tab being provided with a nitrided layer; an entire surface of each spacer expander except for those provided with the nitrided layer being coated with a plating film; and the plating film having Vickers hardness HV0.01 of 300 or less.

Method for the particle beam-induced etching of a lithography mask, more particularly a non-transmissive EUV lithography mask, having the steps of: a) providing the lithography mask in a process atmosphere, b) beaming a focused particle beam onto a target position on the lithography mask, c) supplying at least one first gaseous component to the target position in the process atmosphere, where the first gaseous component can be converted by activation into a reactive form, where the reactive form reacts with a material of the lithography mask to form a volatile compound, and d) supplying at least one second gaseous component to the target position in the process atmosphere, where the second gaseous component under predetermined process conditions with exposure to the particle beam forms a deposit comprising a compound of silicon with oxygen, nitrogen and/or carbon.

Provided are a laminated body and a laminated body manufacturing method that can improve adhesiveness between a resin layer and a seed layer. The laminated body has a substrate, a first wiring layer, a resin layer, and a second wiring layer in this order, and the second wiring layer includes at least an adhesive layer and a seed layer in this order.

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe semiconductor equipment devices having a metal workpiece and a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating disposed on a surface of the metal workpiece, thermal semiconductor test pedestals having a metal plate and a DLC coating disposed on a surface of the metal plate, techniques for fabricating thermal semiconductor test pedestals with DLC coatings, and associated configurations. A thermal semiconductor test pedestal may include a metal plate and a DLC coating disposed on a surface of the metal plate. The metal plate may include a metal block formed of a first metal and a metal coating layer formed of a second metal between the metal block and the DLC coating. An adhesion strength promoter layer may be disposed between the metal coating layer and the DLC coating. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

To provide a Sn-based plated steel sheet capable of exhibiting superior corrosion resistance, yellowing resistance, coating film adhesiveness, and sulphide stain resistance without using a chromate film. A Sn-based plated steel sheet of the present invention includes: a steel sheet; a Sn-based plating layer located on at least one surface of the steel sheet; and a coating layer located on the Sn-based plating layer, wherein the Sn-based plating layer contains 1.0 g/m.sup.2 to 15.0 g/m.sup.2 of Sn per side in terms of metal Sn, the coating layer contains zirconium oxide, and a content of the zirconium oxide is 1.0 mg/m.sup.2 to 10.0 mg/m.sup.2 per side in terms of metal Zr, the zirconium oxide includes zirconium oxide with an amorphous structure, and a crystalline layer whose main component is zirconium oxide with a crystalline structure is present on an upper layer of the zirconium oxide with the amorphous structure.

Methods for forming molybdenum layers on a surface of a substrate and structures and devices formed using the methods are disclosed. Exemplary methods include forming an underlayer prior to forming the molybdenum layer. The underlayer can be used to manipulate stress in the molybdenum layer and/or reduce a nucleation temperature and/or deposition temperature of a step of forming the molybdenum layer.

A system for in situ repair of a metal pipe has a pipe repair head, an actuation assembly, an electrical power supply, and a controller. The pipe repair head can have an arm extending along a radiation direction of the pipe and a Joule heating element coupled to a distal end portion of the arm. The actuation assembly can move the pipe repair head along the axial and/or circumferential directions of the metal pipe. The controller controls the actuation assembly to position the pipe repair head with respect to a surface portion of the inner circumferential wall. The controller can then control the electrical power supply to apply a current pulse to the Joule heating element so as to generate a temperature of at least 1000° C. proximal to the surface portion, thereby sintering a metal powder in a slurry on the surface portion to form a metal repair layer.

Methods for the manufacture of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks and production systems therefor are disclosed. A method for forming an EUV mask blank comprises forming a bilayer on a portion of a multi-cathode PVD chamber interior and then forming a multilayer stack of Si/Mo on a substrate in the multi-cathode PVD chamber.