The preparation of Ru and RuO2 thin films by organometallic chemical vapor deposition and an investigation of the films' properties are reported. Ru is of interest for metallization in integrated circuit fabrication because its thermodynamically stable oxide, RuO2 , also exhibits metallic conductivity. As a result, oxidation during processing of Ru is a less critical concern than in current metallization technology. Taking advantage of the benefits of chemical vapor deposition, such as conformal coverage and low temperature, damage‐free deposition, we have deposited Ru, RuO2 , and normalRu/RuO2 by pyrolysis of three organoruthenium complexes. Films of a given phase composition were deposited under a wide variety of conditions and exhibited large variations in electrical resistivity and carbon content. The best Ru film, produced from Ru3false(CO)12 at 300°C in vacuum, had a resistivity of 16.9 μΩ‐cm and exhibited excellent adhesion to Si and SiO2 substrates. The best RuO2 film, produced from normalRufalse(C5H5)2 at 575°C in O2 , had a resistivity of 89.9 μΩ‐cm and similarly exhibited excellent adhesion. Rutherford backscattering studies show that Ru and RuO2 films are effective diffusion barriers between Al and Si up to annealing temperatures of about 550° and 600°C false(1/2 normalh exposurefalse) , respectively. Thus, they are significantly better than the currently used W films, which are only effective to about 500°C.

Abstract-The aim of the present study was to investigate whether and which cardiac growth factors are involved in human hypertrophy, whether growth factor synthesis is influenced by overload type and/or by the adequacy of the hypertrophy, and the relationships between cardiac growth factor formation and ventricular function. Cardiac growth factor formation was assessed by measuring aorta-coronary sinus concentration gradient in patients with isolated aortic stenosis (nϭ26) or regurgitation (nϭ15) and controls (nϭ12). Gene expression and cellular localization was investigated in ventricular biopsies using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Cardiac hypertrophy with end-systolic wall stress Ͻ90 kdyne/cm 2 was associated with a selective increased formation of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I in aortic regurgitation and of IGF-I and endothelin (ET)-1 in aortic stenosis. mRNA levels for IGF-I and preproET-1 were elevated and mainly expressed in cardiomyocytes. At stepwise analysis, IGF-I formation was correlated to the mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (rϭ0.86, PϽ0.001) and ET-1 formation to relative wall thickness (rϭ0.82, PϽ0.001). When end-systolic wall stress was Ͼ90 kdyne/cm 2 , IGF-I and ET-1 synthesis by cardiomyocytes was no longer detectable, and only angiotensin (Ang) II was generated, regardless of the type of overload. The mRNA level for angiotensinogen was high, and the mRNA was exclusively expressed in the interstitial cells. Ang II formation was positively correlated to end-systolic stress (rϭ0.89, PϽ0.001) and end-diastolic stress (rϭ0.84, PϽ0.001). Multivariate stepwise analysis selected end-systolic stress as the most predictive variable and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure as the independent variable for Ang II formation (rϭ0.93, PϽ0.001). In conclusion, the present results indicate that the course of human left ventricular hypertrophy is characterized by the participation of different cardiac growth factors that are selectively related both to the type of hemodynamic overload and to ventricular function. (Circ Res. 1999;85:57-67.) Key Words: myocardial hypertrophy Ⅲ aortic valve disease Ⅲ endothelin-1 Ⅲ insulin-like growth factor-I Ⅲ angiotensin II

This paper unravels the role played by charge transfer to and from Ag nanoparticles in their plasmonic catalytic activities.

Ru is of interest for metallization in integrated circuit fabrication because its thermodynamically stable oxide, RuO2, also exhibits metallic conductivity.