1. A method for forming a capacitor stack comprising:
forming a first material over a substrate, wherein the first material is a conductive material;
etching a portion of the first material using a first etch process;
forming a second material over the etched first material, wherein the second material comprises a conductive compound of molybdenum oxide;
etching a portion of the second material using a second etch process;
forming a third material over the etched second material, wherein the third material is a dielectric material; and
forming a fourth material over the third material, wherein the fourth material is a conductive material.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises one of metals, conductive metal oxides, conductive metal silicides, conductive metal carbides, conductive metal nitrides, or combinations thereof.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first material comprises a conductive metal nitride.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the conductive metal nitride comprises one of cobalt nitride, molybdenum nitride, nickel nitride, tantalum nitride, titanium nitride, titanium aluminum nitride, tungsten nitride, or combinations thereof.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the conductive metal nitride comprises titanium nitride.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second material is subjected to an anneal process after the second etch process.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first etch process and the second etch process comprises one of wet etch, a reactive ion etch, or a plasma etch.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the third material comprises one of aluminum oxide, barium-strontium-titanate (BST), erbium oxide, hafnium oxide, hafnium silicate, lanthanum oxide, niobium oxide, lead-zirconium-titanate (PZT), a bilayer of silicon oxide and silicon nitride, silicon oxy-nitride, strontium titanate (STO), tantalum oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the third material further comprises a dopant.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the dopant comprises Al, Ce, Co, Er, Ga, Gd, Ge, Hf, In, La, Lu, Mg, Mn, Nd, Pr, Sc, Si, Sn, Sr, Ti, Y, Zr, or combinations thereof.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the third material comprises titanium oxide and the dopant comprises Al.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the third material is subjected to an anneal process after the formation of the third material.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the fourth material comprises one of metals, conductive metal oxides, conductive metal silicides, conductive metal carbides, conductive metal nitrides, or combinations thereof.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the fourth material comprises a conductive metal oxide.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the conductive metal oxide comprises one of the conductive compounds of chromium oxide, cobalt oxide, iridium oxide, manganese oxide, molybdenum oxide nickel oxide, ruthenium oxide, tin oxide, or tungsten oxide.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the conductive metal oxide comprises the conductive compounds of molybdenum oxide.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A kickboard apparatus comprising:
a buoyant kickboard body comprising an upper surface, a lower surface, and an opening extending through the kickboard body between the upper and lower surfaces; and
a blade extending through the opening and slidably engaged in the opening;
wherein:
the blade can be raised and lowered in the opening to adjust a proportion of the blade that extends below the lower surface.
2. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a support structure, the support structure extending into the opening.
3. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 2 wherein a first side of the blade is biased against a first side of the support structure formed to hold the blade at a fixed angle to the kickboard body.
4. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the blade is frictionally held in the opening by the support structure.
5. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 4 wherein at least a portion of the first side of the support structure is generally perpendicular to the lower surface of the kickboard body.
6. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the blade is generally perpendicular to a longitudinal centerline of the kickboard body.
7. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the blade is held frictionally with a force that is:
high enough to prevent the blade from moving up and down in the opening while the kickboard apparatus is being moved through the water by a swimmer; and
low enough to permit a swimmer to manually move the blade up and down in the opening.
8. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the support structure comprises a deformation component configured to push the blade against a surface of the support structure.
9. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the blade comprises a plurality of longitudinally-spaced-apart indents, and wherein the blade is positionable within the opening so that the deformation component extends into any one of the plurality of indents.
10. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the support structure dads a portion of the upper surface adjacent to the opening and the support structure dads a portion of the lower surface adjacent to the opening.
11. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the support structure comprises:
an upper component cladding the portion of the upper surface adjacent to the opening; and
a lower component cladding the portion of the lower surface adjacent to the opening;
wherein:
the upper component comprises an upper connector;
the lower component comprises a lower connector;
at least one of the upper and the lower connector extends into the opening; and
the upper and lower connectors form a connection therebetween.
12. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the connection is a snap-together connection.
13. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the blade comprises a plurality of longitudinally-extending ribs.
14. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the ribs are resiliently deformable.
15. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the blade is removable from the opening.
16. The kickboard apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a latitudinal cross-section of the blade has a concave shape.
17. A kit comprising:
a template showing the dimensions of an opening to be formed in a kickboard body; and
a blade dimensioned to be moveable up and down in an opening in a kickboard body, the opening having the dimensions shown in the template.
18. The kit according to claim 17 further comprising a support structure defining a channel therethrough, wherein the blade is dimensioned to be moveable up and down in the channel and to be frictionally held by the support structure within the channel.
19. The kit according to claim 18 wherein the support structure comprises:
a support structure upper component comprising an upper connector; and
a support structure lower component comprising a lower connector;
wherein:
the upper and lower connectors are connectable to form a connection that extends through an opening, the opening having the dimensions shown in the template.
20. A method for adjusting the resistance level of a kickboard apparatus, the method comprising:
providing:
a buoyant kickboard body comprising an upper surface, a lower surface, and an opening extending through the upper and lower surfaces;
a blade extending through the opening, a portion of the blade extending below the lower surface of the kickboard body defining a resistance surface; and
pushing or pulling the blade to increase or decrease the size of the resistance surface.
21. The method according to claim 20 further comprising completely removing the blade from the opening.