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To: maceng2 who wrote (418)	9/8/2003 6:55:15 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

British company profits are still falling Monday, September 08 09:00:44 (BizWorld) Profits of British firms have slumped for the 16th quarter running, a new survey has shown. Companies saw their average return on capital drop to 5.76pc in the first three months of this year, according to the Experian Corporate Health Check. The period of sustained decline in profits is longer than in either of the two previous recessions in Britain, the business information company says. The health check is compiled from the audited financial results of the 2,000 largest firms in the UK. Meanwhile, a separate survey this morning claimed that the UK service sector still "far from healthy" and that companies in the sector of the British economy seem to be getting no closer to sustainable recovery. Carried out for the Confederation of British Industry by business advisors Grant Thornton, it shows that firms that provide services to consumers are struggling to cope with over capacity. The survey also shows that some business service firms such as employment agencies have shown "a glimmer" of hope for the future. However, marketing companies and road hauliers report falling trade, it says. businessworld.ie

To: maceng2 who wrote (418)	9/13/2003 4:03:19 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

On PC's and IC's and world demand. First I would like to thank the contributors who have provided the links etc. My own personal circumstance is that I use a PC bought in April 2001, and I run win XP on it. I have no reason to upgrade it unless I want it's gaming performance improved. Hardly a priority item right now. We have a need for a further two (possibly three)PC's or laptops in the pearly household. Whether they get bought or not depends on a number of factors. We don't buy cell phones here, perfectly good ones are given to us. Yesterday I was talking to a security guard I know who wanted to buy a PC, he has never used a computer before. I told him my local boxmaker makes them for under £500. Far too much... security guards are not paid much. I told him he could get a perfectly good second hand PC, and run win 98 on it for £50, in fact with a little smooth talking he could get one for free. Plenty around for the asking. So, do corporations need to upgrade their PC's and are they making good profits these days? My answer to both those questions is NO. Do lower income families have to buy new PC's and can they afford them. My answer to both those questions is NO. Ya see, people in Europe and the USA are paid too much already.. Message 19298019 So we are going to see global shipments of PC's at 150 million units this year.. Message 19272433 And we are going to make 100 billion IC's... Message 19282407 see link icinsights.com Well, my only comment is that is one sales job that needs doing, I am sure the sales guys will do their best. Message 19289142

To: maceng2 who wrote (418)	9/16/2003 2:36:59 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

Diamond chips sparkle after breakthroughs in n-doping Steve Bush Two recent developments have bought diamond semiconductor devices closer to reality. electronicsweekly.com Diamond has an extremely high thermal conductivity, can withstand high electric fields, and can be made into a semiconductor - ideal for power devices, one would think. Unfortunately, although it can be p-doped with boron, n-doping is proving to be a problem. Japanese scientists have managed to n-dope using phosphorus, but the most recent development is n-doping using the p-dopant boron. Jacques Chevallier of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France and colleagues from France and Israel exposed boron-doped diamond layers, grown by chemical vapour deposition, to deuterium plasma. For an unknown reason, probably the creation of electron-donating boron-deuterium complexes, the diamond becomes n-type. The process is thought to be reversible with heat driving out the deuterium and reverting the material to p-type. Details have been published in the journal Nature Materials. "If it works like the Nature article, it will be very interesting. You could change from n-type to p-type in one layer and make a transistor," said an industry insider who did not want to be named. Over in Belgium, at the Institute for Materials Research (IMO) of the Limburgs Universitair Centrum, researchers have moved phoshorus doping on to polycrystaline diamond. "With monocrystal diamond, substrates are only 2x2mm, or 5x5mm maximum," said scientist Dr Milos Nesladek. "Polycrystaline can be three inches." Nesladek and collegues have produced poly-diamond p-n junctions with a seven decade forward-reverse current ratio, he said. Voltage drop in the forward direction is around 4.6V from the material's 5.5eV bandgap. Suitable insulators are being developed which could lead to diamond Mosfets. "Calcium fluoride is a possibility," said Nesladek. By bonding oxygen molecules to the diamond surface, a thin insulating layer can be formed. "Nano Fets have been made in Japan using this," said Nesladek. In February, scientists in Germany demonstrated an in-plane gate transistor using the surface properties of diamond, with oxygen and hydrogen (p-type) termination. Another thing on the horizon which could speed diamond semiconductor making is the availability of large synthetic diamonds which avoid the vagaries of natural diamond. Massachusetts-based Apollo Diamond is making "wafers ranging from 3mm square to 10mm square" and anticipates having 25mm square wafers shortly. These wafers, made using chemical vapour deposition, are available from 0.25 to 4mm thick. Thermal conductivity is above 3kW/mK, "almost double that of polycrystalline diamond, and exceeding the best mined diamond", it said.