1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a substrate; and
a nickel silicide region located over the substrate, the nickel silicide region having an amount of indium located therein.
2. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 1 wherein the amount includes a peak concentration of indium greater than about 1E19 atomscm3.
3. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 1 wherein the amount includes a peak concentration of indium ranging from about 5E19 atomscm3 to about 5E20 atomscm3.
4. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 1 wherein the nickel silicide region is a silicided sourcedrain contact region located within a sourcedrain region formed in the substrate.
5. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 4 wherein the indium extends beyond the nickel silicide region and is located at an interface between the nickel silicide region and the sourcedrain region.
6. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 1 wherein the nickel silicide region is a silicided gate electrode contact region located within a gate electrode formed over the substrate.
7. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
placing an indium region in a silicidable substrate; and
forming a nickel silicide region in at least a portion of the indium region, the nickel silicided region having a reduced number of defects therein as a result of the inclusion of indium within the silicidable substrate prior to the forming the nickel silicided region.
8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein placing an indium region in the silicidable substrate includes ion implanting indium into the silicidable substrate to form an amorphous silicon region containing indium.
9. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein ion implanting includes ion implanting using a dose of indium greater than about 1E13 atomscm2.
10. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein ion implanting includes ion implanting using a dose of indium ranging from about 8E13 atomscm2 to about 2E14 atomscm2.
11. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein ion implanting includes ion implanting using an energy ranging from about 5 keV to about 50 keV.
12. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein ion implanting indium includes ion implanting indium using an angled implant having an implant angle greater than about 0 degrees to about 30 degrees, with or without substrate rotation.
13. The method as recited in claim 8 further including causing solid phase epitaxial regrowth of the amorphous silicon region by annealing the silicidable substrate using a temperature of greater than about 500\xb0 C.
14. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the indium region extends from about 8 nm to about 40 nm into the silicidable substrate.
15. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein placing an indium region in a silicidable substrate includes placing an indium region in a sourcedrain region located within the silicidable substrate, and wherein the nickel silicide region is formed entirely within a boundary created by the indium region.
16. The method as recited in claim 15 wherein forming a nickel silicide region entirely within the boundary created by the indium region, includes forming a nickel-containing layer over the silicidable substrate and annealing the nickel-containing layer and silicidable substrate using a first temperature to form the nickel silicide region.
17. The method as recited in claim 16 further including removing any unreacted portions of the nickel-containing layer and then annealing the silicidable substrate using a second temperature to further form the nickel silicided region and cause solid phase epitaxial regrowth of any amorphous silicon regions located in the silicidable substrate.
18. The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the sourcedrain regions are annealed prior to forming the nickel-containing layer and wherein the indium regions are formed in a step immediately preceding forming the nickel-containing layer.
19. The method as recited in claim 15 wherein placing an indium region in a silicidable substrate further includes placing an indium region in a gate electrode layer, and wherein the nickel silicide region is further formed in at least a portion of the indium region placed in the gate electrode layer.
20. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit, comprising:
forming semiconductor devices over a substrate, including;
forming gate structures over the substrate, each of the gate structures including a gate dielectric layer and a gate electrode layer;
forming sourcedrain regions in the substrate proximate the gate structures;
placing indium regions in the sourcedrain regions; and
forming nickel silicide regions in at least a portion of each of the indium regions, the nickel silicided region having a reduced number of defects therein as a result of the inclusion of indium within the silicidable substrate prior to the forming the nickel silicided region; and
forming interconnects within dielectric layers located over the substrate for electrically contacting the semiconductor devices.
21. The method as recited in claim 20 wherein forming nickel silicide regions in at least a portion of each of the indium regions, includes forming a nickel-containing layer over the indium regions and annealing the nickel-containing layer and indium regions to form the nickel silicide regions.
22. The method as recited in claim 20 wherein the sourcedrain regions are annealed prior to forming the nickel-containing layer and wherein the indium regions are formed in a step immediately preceding forming the nickel-containing layer.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of obtaining the lipoprotein profile of a sample, the method comprising:
contacting the sample, a density gradient forming agent, and a dye to produce an unseparated mixture, wherein the sample contains lipoproteins;
subjecting the unseparated mixture to a centrifuge force field under conditions suitable to produce a separated mixture, wherein the separated mixture comprises multiple lipoprotein fractions; and
visualizing the multiple lipoprotein fractions to obtain a lipoprotein profile.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the density gradient forming agent is sucrose.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the density gradient forming agent is CsBiEDTA.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample is a plasma sample or serum sample.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dye is a visible dye.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the dye is a fluorescent dye.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dye is NBD C6-ceramide or Sudan Black B.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the unseparated mixture further comprises a buffer.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the centrifuge force field is at least about 400,000g.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the centrifuge force field is about 400,000g to about 600,000g.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple lipoprotein fractions comprise one or more of the group consisting of a VLDL fraction, a IDL fraction, a LDL fraction, a Lp(a) fraction, and a HDL fraction.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the visualizing step comprises digital imaging and analysis of the separated mixture.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the visualizing step comprises scanning the separated mixture.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising freezing the separated mixture and slicing the separated mixture.
15. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing one or more of the multiple lipoprotein fractions.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the analyzing step comprises capillary electrophoresis, solid phase extraction, mass spectrometry, thin layer chromatography, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), immobilized pH gradient isoelectric focusing, matrix assisted laser desorptionionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), or two dimensional gel electrophoresis.
17. A method of separating total lipoprotein in a serum sample from non-lipoprotein serum proteins, the method comprising:
contacting a serum sample, a density gradient forming agent, and a dye to produce an unseparated mixture, wherein the serum sample contains lipoproteins and the unseparated mixture has a density of at least about 1.3 kgm3; and
subjecting the unseparated mixture to a centrifuge force field under conditions suitable to produce a separated mixture, wherein the separated mixture comprises sedimented non-lipoprotein serum proteins and non-sedimented lipoproteins.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the density gradient forming agent is sucrose.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the density gradient forming agent is CsBiEDTA.
20. A method of obtaining a differential density lipoprotein profile of a sample, the method comprising:
contacting the sample, a density gradient forming agent, and a dye to produce a first unseparated mixture, wherein the sample contains lipoproteins;
subjecting the first unseparated mixture to a centrifuge force field under conditions suitable to produce a first separated mixture, wherein the first separated mixture comprises a first set of multiple lipoprotein fractions;
visualizing the first set of multiple lipoprotein fractions to obtain a first lipoprotein profile;
contacting the sample and an antibody that binds to a lipoprotein fraction to form an antibody-lipoprotein complex;
separating the antibody-lipoprotein complex from the sample to produce a reduced sample;
contacting the reduced sample, a density gradient forming agent, and a dye to produce a second unseparated mixture;
subjecting the second unseparated mixture to a centrifuge force field under conditions suitable to produce a second separated mixture, wherein the second separated mixture comprises a second set of multiple lipoprotein fractions;
visualizing the second set of multiple lipoprotein fractions to obtain a second lipoprotein profile; and
subtracting the second lipoprotein profile from the first lipoprotein profile to obtain a differential density lipoprotein profile.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the sample is a plasma sample or serum sample.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein the antibody is a monoclonal antibody or a polyclonal antibody.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein the antibody-lipoprotein complex is separated by immunoprecipitation, paramagnetic beads, gel filtration chromatography, or antibody capture chromatography.
24. The method of claim 20, wherein the antibody-lipoprotein complex is separated by immunoprecipitation.