Much discussion has surrounded possible alternatives for international agreements on climate change, particularly post-2012. Among these alternatives, technology-oriented agreements (TOAs) are perhaps the least well defined. We explore what TOAs may consist of, why they might be sensible, which TOAs already exist in international energy and environmental governance, and whether they could make a valuable contribution to addressing climate change. We find that TOAs aimed at knowledge sharing and coordination, research, development, or demonstration could increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of international climate cooperation, but are likely to have limited environmental effectiveness on their own. Technology-transfer agreements are likely to have similar properties unless the level of resources expended is large, in which case they could be environmentally significant. Technology-specific mandates or incentives could be environmentally effective within the applicable sector, but are more likely to make a cost-effective contribution when viewed as a complement to rather than a substitute for flexible emissions-based policies. These results indicate that TOAs could potentially provide a valuable contribution to the global response to climate change. The success of specific TOAs will depend on their design, implementation, and the role they are expected to play relative to other components of the policy portfolio. r

A low-temperature and low-activation-energy process for the gate oxidation of Si substrates has been proposed. Using the energy-controlled excited oxygen generated in rare-gas and O2 molecule mixture plasma, the enhancement of the oxidation rates was achieved. In addition, the oxidation rates and kinetics drastically change with the type of mixed rare gas in the plasma. Using Kr as the mixed rare gas, the interface trap density near the mid gap [D it(mid)] of the SiO2/Si interface grown at 500°C was 2.6×1011/cm2/eV, which was comparable to that of the as-grown one using conventional thermal oxidation at a higher temperature. For this process, the oxidation rates were shown to be hardly dependent on the substrate temperature, and the activation energy of B, which is the parabolic rate constant, was found to be low, 0.14 eV.

The relation between germanium monoxide (GeO) desorption and either improvement or deterioration in electrical characteristics of metalGeO(2)Ge capacitors fabricated by thermal oxidation has been investigated. In the metalGeO(2)Ge stack, two processes of GeO desorption at different sites and at different temperatures were observed by thermal desorption spectroscopy measurements. The electrical characteristics of as-oxidized metalGeO(2)Ge capacitors shows a large flat-band voltage shift and minority carrier generation due to the GeO desorption from the GeO(2)Ge interface during oxidation of Ge substrates. On the other hand, the electrical properties were drastically improved by a postmetallization annealing at low temperature resulting in a metal catalyzed GeO desorption from the top interface.

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Since 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has threatened public health worldwide, and caused drastic changes to work styles and work environments. With regard to work style, COVID-19 has accelerated the recent trend to work from home (WFH). According to the International Labour Organization, only 7.9% of the world's workforce worked from home on a permanent basis prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 1 As a result of government-imposed lockdowns and declarations of a