During hepatocarcinogenesis, most hepatocellular nodules show deterioration of arterial blood flow before loss of portal blood flow. Vascular imaging of hepatic nodules may predict malignant abnormality via the early loss of hepatic arterial flow seen before portal flow changes.

We have investigated the dependence of leakage current and capacitance of Pt/Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3/Pt capacitors on annealing temperature under high vacuum conditions. It is observed that leakage currents increase asymmetrically for negative and positive bias voltage with increasing annealing temperature. A model of leakage current and capacitance characteristics has been proposed on the assumption of generation of oxygen vacancies by annealing at the interfaces of the dielectric film adjacent to the Pt electrodes. The model predicts the oxygen vacancies of about 1020 cm−3.

Dielectric properties of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3 and (Ba0.75Sr0.25)TiO3 thin films have been investigated, focusing on the effects of film structure and Ba/Sr compositions on the dielectric properties. Dielectric constant of the films increased with increasing grain size and with improvement in film crystallinity. For the 50-nm-thick films deposited at 660° C, the dielectric constant of 400 for the (Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3 film is larger than that of 320 for the (Ba0.75Sr0.25)TiO3 film. This indicated that dielectric constant is affected by the ratio of Ba/Sr composition. Leakage current density of less than 1×10-7 A/cm2 at 1 V and SiO2 equivalent thickness of 0.38 nm are measured at 120° C for 660° C-deposited (Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3 film of 30 nm in thickness. The (Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3 film has the possibility for application to generations beyond 256 Mbit dynamic random access memories.

The dielectric relaxation of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)TiO3 thin films with high electric resistivity is investigated. The films are deposited by an rf-magnetron sputtering method in an atmosphere of argon and oxygen. The dielectric dispersion of the films is measured in the frequency range of 10-2-106 Hz. It is found that the dielectric constant ε slightly decreases with frequency, following the relationship of dε/d(log 10 f)∼-0.01ε, and the dielectric loss is almost constant at less than 1% in the measured frequency range. This type of dielectric relaxation causes absorption current which is inversely proportional to time, as the result of the dielectric aftereffect. In a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) operation, the dielectric relaxation would result in less than 10% loss of storage charge during the refresh cycle, and the film's DC leakage less affects the device operation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was introduced as a good technique to evaluate structural abnormalities in the white matter. In this study, we used DTI to examine anisotropic changes of the pyramidal tracts displaced by chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH).