A simplified system and method of applying protective coatings and/or extensions to fingernails, wherein a quantity of cyanoacrylate gel is applied to the fingernail surface from the discharge nozzle of a squeeze bottle, and the nozzle is used to spread and smooth the gel uniformly over the fingernail surface. A drop of hardener is then applied from the discharge nozzle of a squeeze bottle onto the center of the layer of gel, from whence the hardener rapidly spreads over the entire surface of the layer of gel, curing and hardening the gel.

A variety of systems have been developed for the repair and cosmetic enhancement of fingernails, including the use of artificial fingernails. The most successful and popular systems employ a cyanoacrylate gel which is spread over the surface of the fingernail and cured to form a protective coating or to adhesively secure an artificial fingernail to the natural nail. Such systems have been developed which use powders and liquids that are blended and applied to the fingernail surface to form a gel that hardens, or to cyanoacrylate liquids or gels contained in bottles for application to the fingernail by use of a brush or the like. Separate accelerators or hardeners to cure the gel are then applied by spraying or brushing the hardener onto the previously applied layer of cyanoacrylate gel. In all such systems, paramount considerations are ease of use, absence of toxicity and appearance of the finished product.
Examples of several prior art systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,626,428, 4,627,453, 4,646,765, 4,724,177 and 4,687,827.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,428 discloses a process for applying an acrylic coating to a fingernail, in which a powdered polymethacrylate ester is applied to a nail surface wetted with a slow curing cyanoacrylate glue, a blend of acrylic monomers is brushed onto the applied powder and glue, and the nail is finished after curing of the glue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,453 teaches a system for forming an artificial fingernail from layers of organic fabric, such as silk, applied over a natural nail with adhesive and hardened with a hardening solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,765 describes a system in which a mixture of cyanoacrylate and graphite fibers is applied to a fingernail and cured by spraying a hardener/accelerator onto the cyanoacrylate compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,177 is directed to a package for applying cyanoacrylate to a fingernail. In this system, a brush prewetted with a solvent for the cyanoacrylate is immersed in a bottle of the cyanoacrylate and used to brush it onto a nail surface. Thereafter, an accelerator is sprayed onto the cyanoacrylate to cure it.
U.S. Pat. 4,687,827 is directed to the method of applying cyanoacrylate as defined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,177.
In all of the prior art systems known to applicant, considerable skill is required to apply the cyanoacrylate and hardener so that a smooth and unblemished surface results. Moreover, many prior art systems require several steps and involve the use of many components, which adds to the difficulty of using the systems and increases their cost. Use of a brush to apply the cyanoacrylate or hardener may result in brush marks in the cyanoacrylate, which must be buffed out. Further, in those systems utilizing a container of cyanoacrylate gel or liquid having a brush or the like apply the gel to the fingernail surface, or to a hardener which is applied by brush or the like, there exists the potential for accidentally tipping over the container while the brush, etc. is out of the bottle, thereby tipping over and spilling the gel or hardener.
In those systems using a spray applicator to apply the hardener, the danger of tipping over an open bottle of hardener is eliminated, but disadvantages are introduced associated with the use of sprays.
Accordingly, there is need for a simple and inexpensive system and method for applying a protective coating or fingernail extension using a cyanoacrylate gel and hardener, wherein the danger of accidentally tipping over an open container of gel or hardener is minimized, and the application of the gel and hardener is reduced to a minimum number of steps, while at the same time a smooth finish is achieved without the need for excessive grinding and buffing.
Where reference herein is made to fingernails, it is to be understood that the invention applies equally as well to toenails, or to other surfaces, and use of the invention for such other applications is also intended to be covered.

System and method for applying a protective coating and/or extensions to fingernails


An airbag module including an inflatable airbag and an inflator. The airbag is formed by a main panel and a pair of side panels and deploys into a position to contact the occupant. The airbag includes a tether connected to the main panel at one end and is anchored proximate to the inflator at the other end. Prior to inflation, the airbag includes a pre-folded portion adjacent to the tether. The airbag is configured so that during an initial stage of the inflation process the tether is fully extended and the pre-folded portion remains folded and during a final stage of the inflation process the tether separates into at least two portions thereby allowing the pre-folded portion to unfold and the airbag to fully deploy.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of airbags in automotive vehicles. More specifically, this disclosure relates to an airbag configured to include an internal tether for controlling the deployment of the airbag.
Prior to deployment, airbags are typically folded and stored with the inflator as part of the airbag module. In certain circumstances, airbags are folded using an automated folding process. Before beginning the automated folding process it is sometimes necessary to create a pre-fold or tuck in the airbag. The pre-fold or tuck in the airbag is often held in position by sewing the airbag panel using thread designed to tear away. The sewing ensures that the pre-fold or tuck remains in place until the automated folding process begins. The pre-fold or tuck in the airbag may also be necessary in certain airbag designs to ensure proper airbag deployment in the case of an out of position (OOP) occupant. For example, the pre-fold reduces the force imparted onto the out-of-position occupant caused by the inertia of the deploying airbag cushion.
It would be advantageous for an airbag to include a mechanism for providing protection to out-of-position occupants by reducing the force imparted onto the out-of-position occupant caused by the inertia of the deploying airbag cushion that would eliminate the need for the pre-fold and sewing step that occurs before the folding the airbag.


A print medium includes a first layer on at least one of a first side and a second side of a substrate and a second layer. The first layer consists essentially of at least 80% by dry weight of one or more particulate inorganic pigments (PIPs). A combination of a particle size and a coat weight of the first layer on the substrate yields an effective pore size of the first layer in a range of about 0.008 to about 0.5 microns. For two or more PIPs in the first layer, the average particle size of one of the PIPs differs by no more than about 50% from the average particle size of another of the PIPs. The second layer is on top of the first layer and includes a particulate inorganic pigment (PIP) having an average particle size of about 0.1 to about 2 microns.

Inkjet printers are now very common and affordable and allow one to obtain decent print quality. They are used in home printing, office printing and commercial printing. The growth of inkjet printing is a result of a number of factors including reductions in cost of inkjet printers and improvements in print resolution and overall print quality. A continued demand in inkjet printing has resulted in a need to produce images of high quality, high permanence, good bleed and coalescence performance, good image gloss and high durability while maintaining a reasonable cost.
Two approaches that have been employed for making a coated glossy media that may be used in inkjet printing involve coatings with salt and coatings without salt. The coatings with salt have good bleed and coalescence characteristics, but not as good image gloss and durability. The coatings without salt have good durability and image gloss characteristics, but not as good bleed and coalescence. In some instances bonding agents may be employed; however, such agents do not improve all of these characteristics. In some instances coated print media having the requisite print characteristics may be employed. Unfortunately, such print media are coated with materials that are too expensive for commercial printing.
High speed inkjet web printing is a printing technology developed during recent years especially for commercial printing. However, print media face many challenges when used in high speed inkjet web printing. For example, glossy media for inkjet web printing has a trade-off between gloss and absorptivity of the media. Another trade-off is encountered between print durability and print quality (especially density and color gamut volume).

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Provided are an oxide semiconductor and an oxide thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor. The oxide semiconductor may be formed of an indium (In)-zinc (Zn) oxide in which hafnium (Hf) is contained, wherein In, Zn, and Hf are contained in predetermined or given composition ratios.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to an oxide semiconductor that may be used in a channel of an oxide thin film transistor or applied to a switching device or a driving device of a display apparatus, for example, a flat panel display, a liquid crystal display, or an organic light emitting display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thin film transistors are applied in various application fields; in detail, thin film transistors are used as switching or driving devices of display devices. Currently, liquid crystal displays (LCD) are widely used as TV panels, and thus, research is being conducted to develop methods of applying organic light emitting displays to TVs. Display devices for TVs are being developed to meet the market's needs. Market requirements are, for example, large-sized TVs or digital information displays (DID), lower prices, and a higher image quality (e.g., moving image representation, high resolution, contrast ratio, and color representation). In order to meet such demands, a thin film transistor (TFT) having a large-sized substrate, for example, glass, and improved performance, and which may be applied as a switching or driving device of a display device, is required.
An example of the driving or switching device of a display device is an amorphous silicon thin film transistor (a-Si TFT). The a-Si TFT is currently widely used and is uniformly formed on a large substrate of 2 m×2 m or greater at lower costs. However, as the size and image quality of the display device are increased, higher performance is also required of the driving or switching device. Thus an a-Si TFT of the related art having a mobility of 0.5 cm2/Vs may not be sufficient. Accordingly, a high performance TFT having greater mobility than the a-Si TFT and a method of manufacturing the same are required.
A poly-crystal silicon thin film transistor (poly-Si TFT) performing better than the a-Si TFT has a higher mobility of several tens to hundreds cm2/Vs, and thus may be applied to display devices with higher image quality, whereas the higher image quality is not realizable by the a-Si TFT. Also, the poly-Si TFT has less deterioration in terms of the device characteristics. However, in order to manufacture a poly-Si TFT, a more complicated manufacturing process is required than the a-Si TFT, and the manufacturing costs thereof are also increased. Thus, although the poly-Si TFT is appropriate for higher image quality and may be applied to products, e.g., an organic light emitting device (OLED), the poly-Si TFT is not cost competitive. Thus, the application thereof is limited. In addition, the poly-Si TFT has not yet been applied in a manufacturing process using a large-sized substrate of 1 m×1 m or greater due to limited manufacturing equipment or undesirable uniformity. Thus, applying the poly-Si TFT to TV products may be difficult.
Recently, a zinc oxide (ZnO)-based thin film transistor (TFT) has been studied as an oxide semiconductor device. Zinc oxide (ZnO), an In—Zn oxide, and oxides doped with gallium (Ga), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), and/or iron (Fe) may be introduced as ZnO-based materials. A ZnO-based semiconductor device may be manufactured in a lower temperature process, and may be easily manufactured to have a larger surface due to its amorphous nature. Also, a ZnO-based semiconductor film has higher mobility, and thus has improved electrical characteristics like the poly-crystal silicon. Research is currently being conducted to develop use of an oxide-based semiconductor material layer having higher mobility, that is, a ZnO-based material layer, in a channel area of a TFT.

Oxide semiconductor and thin film transistor including the same


A touch pad module includes a touch pad unit for generating contact signals in response to operation thereof, a control circuit unit separate from the touch pad unit, and an electrical coupling unit having a first end coupled to the touch pad unit and a second end coupled to the control circuit unit. The electrical coupling unit permits transmission of the contact signals generated by the touch pad unit to the control circuit unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a touch pad module, more particularly to a touch pad module that includes a touch pad unit separate from a control circuit unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of touch pads, such as capacitive, resistive, light-sensitive, sound-responsive, etc., are known in the art. Touch pads are usually integrated into electronic devices, such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants, etc. When used in combination with a touch pen, the touch pad can serve as an input device for inputting text. Moreover, with the use of a finger moving on the surface of the touch pad, the touch pad can have the cursor control, item selection and window scrolling functions of a computer mouse.
For a capacitive touch pad, the operating principle thereof is as follows: Finger position is sensed by virtue of the capacitance of the human body. Particularly, at the instant a finger touches the touch pad, a contact capacitance is generated at the surface of the touch pad. Because the surface of the touch pad is formed into a sensing array, and because the touch pad is connected to a control circuit, the control circuit is able to continuously track the finger contact capacitance and to generate position information corresponding to (X, Y) coordinates of the finger contact position. Moreover, since the touch pad is pressure-sensitive, a Z-coordinate of the finger contact position can be determined by the control circuit in accordance with the amount of finger pressure applied to the touch pad.
FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a conventional capacitive touch pad module 9 installed in notebook computers. The known touch pad module 9 includes a circuit board 91 and a touch pad unit 92 overlying the circuit board 91. The touch pad unit 92 includes a dielectric layer 921 and a sensing layer 922 disposed between the dielectric layer 921 and the circuit board 91. The circuit board 91 has a first surface adhered to the sensing layer 922 of the touch pad unit 92, and a second surface mounted with a control chip 911 and formed with circuit traces 912. The circuit traces 912 on the circuit board 91 are coupled electrically to the touch pad unit 92 using conductive vias 913. The modular configuration of the touch pad module 9 facilitates mass production and installation on electronic devices.
However, the size of the touch pad module 9 cannot be reduced further in view of physical limitations imposed by the control chip 911 and the circuit traces 912. Moreover, because the touch pad unit 92 is mounted directly on the circuit board 91, which is required to be rigid so as to be able to permit mounting of the control chip 911 and formation of the circuit traces 912 thereon, the conventional touch pad module 9 has a flat configuration and is not suitable for application to curved or rounded surfaces of casings of electronic devices.

Touch pad module including separate touch pad and control circuit units


Light projectors are located outside of a kiln inlet and at positions below the axis of a roller array for generating optical signals in the lengthwise direction. Light receptors are located outside of a kiln outlet and at positions below the axis of a roller array for independently receiving the optical signals from the projectors. When the rollers rotate normally, the light generated from the projectors enter intermediately the receptors. When there is roller breakage, the broken roller falls due to gravity and tilts down. Then, a part of the light generated from the projectors is cut off by the broken roller piece. Hence, no ray reaches the receptor corresponding to the shielded ray. This ensures that roller breakage is detected.

The present invention relates generally to a roller hearth kiln for firing material while it is being carried and more specifically to a system for detecting roller breakage or failure in a roller hearth kiln.
A roller hearth kiln so far used for firing ceramic material into compact, light-weight ceramic products such as tiles includes a tunnel form of kiln body formed of such materials as refractory brick or ceramic fibers. Within this kiln body, there are an array of rollers for carrying the material to be fired in the lengthwise direction, which are discretely arranged across the kiln body. These rollers are driven for rotation by a driving means located outside of a kiln casing.
Such a roller hearth kiln, when a roller or rollers therein fail or break down, has some difficulty in smoothly carrying the material being treated, because the broken roller or rollers form or forms a barrier. It is then required to detect such roller breakage promptly, thereby replacing the broken rollers by new ones. A conventional roller breakage detector such as one known from JP-B-56-14951 is designed such that, when some rollers break down, the overall roll array is axially moved by means of springs and this is detected by a proximity detector. Another sensor system that is known from JP-A-3-87592 includes an arrangement of semi-circular light shielding members mounted at the driven side ends of rollers. These light shielding members rotate in unison in normal roller operation, but they do not rotate in unison when the rollers do not operate normally. This is detected by light receptors and projectors.
A problem with the conventional system shown in JP-B-56-14951, however, is that the structure for supporting the rollers is complicated due to the provision of such means as metal sheets or springs at the driven ends of the rollers, thus needing special care as to how to support the rollers.
The prior art system set forth in JP-A-3-87592 also offers a problem. As illustrated in FIG. 4 as an example, when there is a failure of a roller that rotates at the position shown in FIG. 4A in normal operation, a roller piece 5a tilts down, as illustrated in FIG. 4B. Then, this roller failure cannot be detected by a photoelectric switch 20; in other words, light cannot normally be cut off. Another problem is that, as shown in FIG. 4C, much time and labor are needed for regulating semi-circular light shielding members mounted at the driven ends of several tens' rollers of a few hundred rollers 15 to the same angle of rotation.
In view of overcoming these problems, an object of the invention is to provide a roller breakage detector system used with a roller hearth kiln, which ensures to detect some roller breakage or failure with simple equipment but with no need of any special care as to how to support the rollers.

Roller breakage detector for roller hearth kilns


The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for production of a reset signal after a supply voltage (Vdd) has fallen and risen again, which circuit arrangement has two cross-coupled inverters (INV1, INV2) and an initialization circuit (S) which is connected to the input of one of the inverters (INV2), in which case the outputs of the inverters (INV1, INV2) are capacitively connected asymmetrically, andlor in which case the inverters (INV1, INV2) have different transfer voltages.

The present invention relates to a circuit arrangement for production of a rest signal after a supply voltage has fallen and risen again, in particular for use in a circuit which has a static memory.
Static memories (SRAMs) permanently require a supply voltage for reliable maintenance of a predetermined memory state, and this supply voltage must not fall below a predetermined value which is dependent on the technology of the respective memory. If the supply voltage falls below this minimum value despite this, then this can lead to undesirable changes in the memory states of individual memory cells, or to undefined memory states.
It is therefore necessary to identify such a fall in the supply voltage (which, for example, may be also be caused by EMC interference radiation) and to make a reset signal available once the supply voltage has risen again to a value which is required for reliable operation. A reset signal such as this may be used, for example, to carry out initialization of the memory via further circuit components. Various concepts are known for production of such reset signals.
Fundamentally, it is possible to compare the supply voltage with a reference voltage continuously and to produce a reset signal when the supply voltage falls below the reference voltage. A circuit arrangement such as this, which uses a reference voltage source, for producing a reset signal is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,725.
This concept has the disadvantage that the reference voltage source which, for example, may also be in the form of a band gap reference voltage source, permanently draws an operating current in the μA range. This concept is not suitable for battery-powered circuit applications in which a minimum power consumption must be ensured in order to achieve a long battery life.
One example of applications such as these is so-called ultra low power sensors, whose voltage supply is intended to be ensured, by means of a small battery, for a time period of three to ten years. Sensors such as these operate intermittently with short operating phases during which the mean current that is drawn is in the μA range, and with rest phases which are long in comparison to the operating phases and in which the current that is drawn is intended to be less than 20 nA, in order to ensure a long battery life. Reset circuits which draw small currents such as these can be produced, for example, using very high-value resistors, but these occupy a very large amount of space. In the case of sensors such as these, comparison values relating to the measured values determined by the sensor are stored, for example, in an SRAM. Sensors such as these are used, for example, as tire pressure sensors in motor vehicles, which cannot be connected to the vehicle power supply system voltage and which must therefore be supplied via their own battery, which is isolated from the vehicle power supply system battery.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,058 B2 describes a POR circuit (POR=Power On Reset) for production of a reset signal after a supply voltage has been switched on, in which a threshold voltage of an MOS transistor is used as a reference voltage for the production of a reset signal when the supply voltage rises.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,350 B2 describes a POR circuit having a capacitor which is connected to the supply voltage via a resistor, and whose state of charge is evaluated in order to produce a reset signal. This circuit has the disadvantage that it does not operate reliably when the supply voltage rises slowly again.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a circuit arrangement for production of a reset signal after a supply voltage has fallen and risen again, which circuit arrangement draws a very low current, can be produced easily and operates reliably.

Circuit arrangement for production of a reset signal after a supply has fallen and risen again


A self-compensating seal for a rotating shaft includes a seal ring (13) having a plurality of trapezoidal and/or triangular shaped seal sections (15). A ring housing (22) is affixed to a shaft (12) and engages the inside trailing edge (20) of the seal ring (13). Means (30, 31) are provided to prohibit circumferential rotational movement of the seal ring (13) within the ring housing (22). The ring housing (22) and the seal ring (13) rotate with the shaft (12). The centrifugal forces generated by the rotation causes the seal sections (15) to move outward from the ring housing (22) and toward a wear plate (24). Engagement of the outside leading edge (21) of the seal ring (13) and the wear plate (24) perfects the seal.

With the advent of modern turbine engines, much consideration has been given to the development of engine components capable of withstanding mechanical and thermal stresses far in excess of those which were known in the past. Severe conditions including high velocities of rotation and high temperatures often cause excessive wear and premature failure of engine components.
Shaft seals are an integral component of the turbine engine, and are therefore, subjected to the same severe operating conditions. It has heretofore been known in the art to use a labyrinth seal. However, these seals have proven to exhibit high leakage rates and are therefore not desirable in many applications.
Another type of turbine engine shaft seal is a brush seal having bristles formed from numerous small diameter wires. A drawback to this type of seal is that the individual wires must maintain a spring temper to be effective. Such temper is often difficult to maintain at the high temperatures at which turbine engines operate.
Thus, a need exists for a shaft seal capable of operating in environments giving rise to severely degrading conditions. Such a seal should maintain its integrity even if it wears excessively in the presence of these conditions.

Self-compensating seal for a rotating shaft


A telephone apparatus includes a phone body and an earpiece that is removably placed upright in the phone body. A supporting leg having a mounting surface that contacts a desk in a desk mount mode and that contacts a wall in a wall mount mode is provided on a sloped back side of the phone body so as to be turnable around a pivot. When the supporting leg is in a first turn position, a lower end of the slope of the phone body is substantially parallel to the mounting surface. When the supporting leg is in a second turn position after having turned through about 180 degrees from the first turn position, an upper end of the slope of the phone body becomes substantially parallel to the mounting surface.

The hitherto telephone apparatus of this type has the following configuration.
Specifically, the telephone apparatus includes a phone body that is mounted at an inclination and that has a cradle port formed in a sloped front side of the phone body and a supporting leg mounting section provided on a sloped back side of the same, an earpiece removably placed in the cradle port of the phone body, and a supporting leg provided on the supporting leg mounting section of the phone body so as to be turnable around a pivot.
The supporting leg has a fitting surface that turns around the pivot while facing the sloped back side of the phone body; a first mounting surface for bringing the fitting surface into contact with a desk during desk mount turning action; and a second mounting surface for bringing the fitting surface into contact with a wall during a wall mount turning action achieved after a turn of about 180 degrees from the position of desk mount turning action (e.g., Patent Document 1).
Specifically, in order to switch a position from the desk mount position to the wall mount position or from the wall mount position to the desk mount position, the supporting leg is turned around the pivot. During a desk mount mode, the first mounting surface of the supporting leg is brought into contact with the desk. During a wall mount mode, the second mounting surface is brought into contact with the wall.


The modification of the impedance ratio of a balun of four conductive windings formed in two metallization planes stacked by being interdigited and electrically in series two by two, by connecting a capacitor in series with the two windings defining the common mode of the balun.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mode-switching transformers, generally called baluns (for balance-unbalance). Such transformers are intended to convert a common-mode signal (referenced to ground) into a differential mode signal and conversely, and to avoid disturbances introduced by a ground plane of the circuit, a parasitic coupling, etc.
An example of application of baluns of the type to which the present invention applies relates to baluns equipping portable phones which convert the signals received by the telephone antenna into signals exploitable by its circuits and, in the reverse direction, of enabling transmission of signals by the antenna.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIG. 1 very schematically shows the block diagram of a balun 1 and FIG. 2 shows its equivalent electric diagram.
This transformer comprises a common-mode access 2, generally connected to an antenna 3, and two differential mode accesses 4 and 5 intended to be connected to circuits for processing received signals or signals to be transmitted. Electrically, transformer 1 is equivalent to four inductances L1, L2, L3, and L4 (FIG. 2) associated in series two by two, each inductance of a branch (common mode or differential mode) being coupled to an inductance of the other branch. For example, two inductances L1 and L2 are in series between common-mode access 2 and an access 6 generally left in the air. Two inductances L3 and L4 are in series between differential-mode accesses 4 and 5, their junction point being generally connected to ground 7.
Baluns are distributed in three categories. A first category relates to so-called distributed baluns formed of transmission lines coupled to one another. A second category relates to so-called active baluns formed of transistors. A third category relates to so-called baluns with local elements formed of inductive elements and possible discrete capacitive elements. The present invention relates to distributed baluns of the first category.
Distributed baluns are generally formed by means of conductive tracks deposited on a substrate. These tracks have the shape of planar windings forming the inductive elements and have lengths which are a function, especially, of the operating frequency range desired for the balun. The present invention more specifically relates to so-called Marchand-type baluns, the conductive windings of which have lengths which are a function of the quarter of the wavelength corresponding to the central frequency of the passband desired for the balun.
A problem which is posed in the assembly of a balun in the radiofrequency transceiver chain for which it is intended originates from the impedance matching between the different elements.
FIG. 3 shows a conventional example of the assembly of a balun 1 such as described previously in its application environment. Differential-mode accesses 4 and 5 are intended to be connected to input-output terminals of a circuit 8 (IC), generally, an integrated circuit of exploitation and generation of the communication signals. The connection between balun 1 and circuit 8 is generally performed via at least one impedance matching element 9 (Z) and, possibly, a filter (not shown). For simplification, ground 7 has not been shown in FIG. 3.
Impedance matching element 9 has a unity impedance ratio (for example, 50 ohms/50 ohms, 200 ohms/200 ohms, etc.) or not (for example, 50 ohms/100 ohms, 400 ohms/75 ohms, etc.) according to the needs of the application.
The insertion of an impedance matching element between the balun and the circuits exploiting its signals adversely affects the need to miniaturize electronic circuits. It would thus be desirable to be able to combine them.
However, balun sizing aims are a priori incompatible with those of an impedance matcher, especially for distributed baluns. In particular, in a distributed balun of the type to which the present invention applies, the respecting of the winding lengths according to one quarter of the wavelength is necessary for to the proper operation of the balun. If this may be convenient for a unity impedance ratio, a non-unity impedance ratio generally requires inductive elements of values different from one another. It has been envisaged to increase the number of spirals on one side with respect to the other of the transformer (of one branch with respect to the other), which causes an increase in the inductances on one side with respect to the other, and thus a change in the impedance ratio. Such a solution is however incompatible with the proper operation of a distributed balun since the number of spirals must preferentially be the same on the common mode side and on the differential mode side to comply with the other balun characteristics.

Setting of the impedance ratio of a balun


A semiconductor device includes a memory cell array and first and second replica bit lines. A plurality of memory cells are arranged in an array form on the memory cell array. The first replica bit line is configured by wirings having the same wiring width and wiring intervals as bit lines configuring the memory cell array and is operated to generate a read timing signal. The second replica bit line is configured by wirings having the same wiring width and wiring intervals as the bit lines configuring the memory cell array and is operated to generate a write timing signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, a semiconductor device having a semiconductor memory device and logic circuit formed in one chip or a semiconductor device such as a system on chip (SoC) and more particularly to a semiconductor device having an ECC circuit to correct an error in data read out from a semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miniaturization of elements with the development of the semiconductor device technology causes a reduction in the memory node capacitance of each memory cell in a semiconductor memory device and a soft error tends to become a serious problem.
Therefore, as the countermeasure against the soft error, an error correcting code (ECC) circuit is provided in the chip (for example, refer to K. Arimoto et al., "A Speed-Enhanced DRAM Array Architecture with Embedded ECC," IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 25, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 1990, pp. 11-17). In a semiconductor memory device having the ECC circuit, code bits for checking are stored in addition to normal data bits and the presence or absence of an error in the data bits is detected based on the value of the code bits. Further, the bit position in which the error has occurred is detected by use of the ECC circuit, the error is corrected and error-corrected data is output. In the ECC circuit, the number of error bits of memory cells selected by the same word which can be corrected is determined according to a code used. Generally, a single error correction-double error detection (SEC-DED) code which can be used to make one-bit error correction or 2-bit error detection in addition to one-bit error correction is widely used.
In the conventional semiconductor memory device having the ECC circuit, the number of code bits required for correcting a one-bit error is different depending on the number of data bits. For example, a 7-bit code is required for correcting a one-bit error in 32-bit data. Therefore, memory cells for the code bits of seven bits in addition to data bits of 32 bits are required and the total memory capacity which is approximately 1.22 times the original memory capacity is required.
In order to suppress an increase in the memory capacity due to use of the code bits, a method for applying the ECC circuit to cope with a larger number of data bits in the semiconductor memory device is proposed. For example, an ECC circuit is used to cope with 128-bit data in the internal portion and desired 32-bit data is selected from corrected 128-bit data by use of a multiplexer and output. In this case, since a code of nine bits can be used to cope with 128-bit data, the total memory capacity can be suppressed to approximately 1.07 times the original memory capacity.
However, with the above configuration, there occurs a problem that the operation becomes complicated and the operation speed is lowered. This is specifically explained below. In the data read operation, first, "128 bits (data)+9 bits (code)" are read out and then an error in the data (128 bits) is corrected by use of the ECC circuit. After this, data of required 32 bits among the 128-bit data is multiplexed and output.
In the write operation, it is necessary to first read out all of the 128-bit data before 32-bit data is written. This is because the code bit cannot be calculated if all of the 128-bit data is not arranged and it is necessary to read out 96-bit data other than the 32-bit data which is to be written.
Therefore, when a write command is issued, it is required for the semiconductor memory device to perform two operations of the read operation and write operation. As a result, there occurs a problem that the operation speed is lowered to approximately half in comparison with a case of the normal write operation.

Semiconductor memory device having ECC circuit


It is presented a lighting device (2) arranged to embed light quality data in light emanating from the lighting device. The light quality data pertains to a status of the lighting device (2), e.g. with respect to its end of operational life. The light may be detected by a monitoring device (3) external to the lighting device (2). The monitoring device (3) can then help to determine the status of the lighting device (2), whereby maintenance operations of the lighting device (2) may be carried out.

With higher quality SLL light sources nowadays being readily available, it has become desirable to, instead of implementing lighting systems based on incandescent and fluorescent lighting technologies, utilize such SSL light sources for lighting in e.g. office spaces and in public areas such as department stores and airports. There are several reasons for SSL light sources being attractive as light source, based on inherent properties of solid state technology. For instance, SSL light sources provide for more energy-efficient lighting solutions.
Compared to the classical technologies of incandescent and fluorescent lighting, SSL devices such as Light Emitting Diodes and Organic Light Emitting Diodes (abbreviated LED and OLED, respectively) have different lighting characteristics, e.g. light quality of LEDs degrade with time in a way invisible to the eye of an observer, wherein in e.g. fluorescent lighting devices, for instance visible flickering, or part of the tube turning black, is a sign of the device being close to its end of operational life; the light quality is visibly lower than at the start of the light sources' life time. Incandescent light sources simply stop producing light.
For maintenance personnel of lighting systems in e.g. an office environment comprising a large amount of such SSL light sources, where each SSL light source may have been independently regulated and thereby each SSL light source having different burning hours to date, it thus becomes a non-trivial task to know which SSL light sources are to be replaced due to being close to its end of operational life and thus possessing a light quality below existing lighting norms. For example, automatic tuning of light output of lighting devices close to a window may have the consequence that these lighting devices can provide a different amount of burning hours compared to those lighting devices positioned away from windows. Different operating conditions as exemplified above render it more difficult for maintenance personnel to know when to change light sources.
Therefore, there is a risk that a light source is changed at a too early stage of its lifetime, making it both uneconomical and hazardous for the environment in the sense that the light source becomes waste disposal before its actual light quality is below e.g. lighting norms. Alternatively, a light source will not be changed in time, so that it will provide light below lighting norms, or even no light at all until maintenance personnel has been summoned to change the light source in the lighting device.
By replacing all SSL light sources simultaneously, light sources having a light quality below lighting standards may be reduced. However, as mentioned above, such an approach is not desirable, at least from an economical and environmental perspective.
It is known to implement software into an SSL light source, wherein after a predetermined amount of burning hours, the SSL light source starts to e.g. flicker, in order to model the behavior of for instance a fluorescent light source when reaching its end of life.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,425,798 discloses an intelligent degradation-sensing LED traffic signal. A signal can be sent through a communications port to notify that the LED is at the end of its useful life.

Lighting device having status indication by modulated light

Abstract: Maintenance personnel may thus replace lighting devices and/or light sources in need of maintenance as indicated by the status of each lighting device, before any lighting device in the system has reached an end of operational life.


An ink cartridge including an ink storage chamber in which ink is stored, a cover to cover the upper portion of the ink storage chamber and a head to eject ink droplets in the ink storage chamber onto a recording medium, wherein the cover includes an inner cover to cover the upper portion of the ink storage chamber and an outer cover that seals the ink storage chamber and the inner cover, and is positioned at a predetermined distance above the inner cover. Also provided are plates to form zigzag air passages by blocking a space between the inner cover and the outer cover. With the ink cartridge according to the present invention, it is possible to satisfactorily suppress the backward flow of ink contained in an ink storage chamber due to overheating of or careless treatment of the ink cartridge. Even if ink flows backward from the ink storage chamber, it is stored in an ink storage space, thus preventing the clogging of an air passage. Further, air entering the ink storage space is filtered, passing through the air passage, and additional components are not required to seal up an opening to which ink is supplied. For this reason, manufacturing costs can be reduced and a manufacturing process can be simplified.

This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-60129, filed Sep. 27, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge that is used in an ink jet printer, and more particularly, to an ink cartridge in which zigzag air passages are formed at the top of an ink storage chamber, thus preventing the air passages from being clogged due to the backward flow of the ink in the ink storage chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a lid 120 of a colored ink cartridge having five chambers disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 6,086,193. Referring to FIG. 1, the ink cartridge includes five ink chambers: two chambers, which are different from each other in terms of ink concentration, are for each of magenta ink and cyan ink, and one chamber for yellow ink. In the lid 120, five ink filling holes 130 and five air discharging holes 132 are formed to correspond to the five ink storage chambers positioned at the bottom of the lid 120. Also, snake grooves 133 are formed extending in a labyrinth fashion from the air discharging holes 132 to air vents 134a through 134e. Due to the elongated grooves 133, the ink contained in the ink storage chamber can be prevented from evaporating when the inside of each of the ink storage chambers is exposed to the air by taking off a film 135 covering the air vents 134a through 134e so as to use the ink cartridge.
However, in the case of the ink cartridge having the lid 120 with the grooves 133, air passages are easily clogged when the ink cartridge is turned upside-down by mistake or when the ink stored in the ink storage chambers flows backwards via the grooves 133 when the ink cartridge is shaken or overheated. The clogging of the grooves 133 makes it difficult to ventilate the ink cartridge, which results in irregularity in the pressure inside the ink cartridge. As a result, the pressure inside the ink cartridge becomes lower than it should be for stable operation and thus the ink stored in the ink storage chambers is difficult to be ejected.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge of which air passages, which are located at the top of each of ink storage chambers, are not clogged due to the backward flow of ink stored in the ink storage chambers.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing an ink cartridge including an ink storage chamber in which ink is stored, a cover to cover the upper portion of the ink storage chamber and a head to eject ink droplets in the ink storage chamber onto a recording medium, wherein the cover includes an inner cover to cover the upper portion of the ink storage chamber; an outer cover that seals the ink storage chamber and the inner cover, and is positioned at a predetermined distance above the inner cover; and plates to form zigzag air passages by blocking a space between the inner cover and the outer cover.
The inner cover includes air discharging holes connected to the air passages at its upper portion, and air filling holes through which ink is supplied to the ink storage chamber.
The ink cartridge further includes a cylindrical element that extends from the lower part of the inner cover and has a predetermined height.
Further, each of the ink filling holes is sealed by combining a first cylindrical element, which is formed on the inner cover encircling the opening, and a second cylindrical element formed on the outer cover to be engaged with the first cylindrical element.
Further, the inner cover and the outer cover are ultrasonically fused to be combined with each other.


A system and method for allowing a smooth transition between a public digital reality experience into a private digital reality experience. A cloud server delimitates a public digital zone where interactions with digital reality applications stored in the cloud server and corresponding digital content are viewable to all users in the public digital zone. When users access the public digital zone, the cloud server detects the users and provides digital content from the digital reality to the users via digital reality devices. Upon reaching predetermined levels of interaction, users may access a personal digital reality view, whereby a smooth transition from a public to a personal digital reality experience takes place, prompting a specific portion of computing power from the cloud server to be dedicated to the specific user to enable personal interactions with the digital content. Users may also invite other users to engage in a multi-user private streaming.

Technology developments for providing digital content to users have enabled experiences that were not possible in the past. Particularly, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) change a user's perception on what they are seeing, hearing, and feeling, and how much of the real world comes into these experiences, providing the user with a sensation of a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world.
A typical way to accomplishing these more immersive interactive experiences is to use head-mounted digital reality devices. These devices may usually include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) for processing intensive graphics operations, a vector unit for performing geometry transformations, and other glue hardware, firmware, and software. However, highly dynamic and interactive applications such as those including AR and VR experiences are primarily downloaded and hosted on the client (device) side, resulting in high hardware demands to execute the applications. Additionally, to accommodate the GPUs and achieve their desired performance, high quality head-mounted digital reality devices are currently physically tethered to very powerful and expensive personal computers (PCs). These requirements create larger adoption barriers due to high price points and limited mobility, which detracts from the overall experience, such as limiting the capability and flexibility for rapidly migrating from a personal to a public experience. Moreover, streaming complex, interactive AR/VR 3D graphics requires high data rates.
Reducing hardware and network demands along with adoption barriers for digital realities motivates the desire to offload computationally intensive tasks to one or more powerful remote servers, or cloud servers. Typical applications dominant today (asynchronous or one-way-delivery applications like instant messaging, web page loading, etc.) which employ cloud computing can tolerate around 100+ms of latency, and are supported by existing network infrastructure, content delivery networks (CDN), and centralized cloud computing. This architecture is optimized for the delivery of static, predefined content with minimal levels of dynamic interaction. However, dynamic AR/VR applications require real-time interaction, and thus extremely low latency (around 7 ms), placing very high demands on the network and limiting the quality and variety of digital reality experiences that users may enjoy.
What is desired is a system and method that enables reducing hardware and network demands and expands the capabilities of digital reality experiences.

Transitioning from public to personal digital reality experience


There is provided a scanning electron microscope capable of achieving a size reduction of the device while at the same time suppressing the increase in column temperature as well as maintaining performance, e.g., resolution, etc. With respect to a scanning electron microscope for observing a sample by irradiating the sample with an electron beam emitted from an electron source and focused by condenser lenses, and detecting secondary electrons from the sample, the condenser lenses comprise both an electromagnetic coil-type condenser lens and a permanent magnet-type condenser lens.

Due to an emphasis on operability and from the perspective of environmental friendliness, scanning electron microscopes with a specific focus on size reduction have been under development in recent years. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the sizes of the condenser lenses provided in the column. In general, in order to reduce the size of an electromagnetic coil-type condenser lens, either the number of turns of the coil wire or the coil wire diameter has to be reduced.
If the number of turns were to be reduced with the coil wire diameter left unchanged, although the electromagnetic coil would naturally become smaller, the magnetic field strength would decrease. On the other hand, if the coil wire diameter were to be reduced with the number of turns left unchanged, although it would be possible to achieve a size reduction while maintaining the magnetic field strength, the resistance of the coil wire would increase, causing an increase in the amount of heat generated. Unless the magnetic field strength is maintained, the spot size of the electron beam with which the sample is irradiated cannot be made small, and the resolution of the scanning electron microscope cannot be maintained. In addition, if the column surface temperature were to rise due to an increase in the amount of heat generated, it would no longer be possible to meet various standards, such as IEC, etc. In terms of performance, image shifts, and focus offsets would occur due to temperature drift. Therefore, in order to reduce the size of an electromagnetic coil-type condenser lens, it is necessary to solve such problems as the decrease in magnetic field strength, and the increase in the amount of heat generated.
In order to solve such problems, by way of example, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure where, instead of electromagnetic coil-type condenser lenses, permanent magnet coil-type condenser lenses that are smaller than those of an electromagnetic coil-type are adopted.


A latch includes a body extending a length between a latch end portion and a spring end portion that is opposite the latch end portion. The body includes a latch portion that includes the latch end portion, a spring portion that includes the spring end portion, and a central longitudinal axis extending along the length of the body. The latch portion includes a latch element. The latch portion is stiffer than at least a portion of the spring portion with respect to bending along the central longitudinal axis.

The subject matter herein relates generally to pluggable electrical components, and more particularly, to a latch for pluggable electronic modules.
Various types of fiber optic and copper based transceivers that permit communication between electronic host equipment and external devices are known. These transceivers may be incorporated into modules that can be pluggably connected to the host equipment to provide flexibility in system configuration. The modules are constructed according to various standards for size and compatibility, one standard being the Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) module standard.
SFP modules are plugged into a receptacle that is mounted on a circuit board within the host equipment. The receptacle includes an elongated guide frame, or cage, having a front that is open to an interior space, and an electrical connector disposed at a rear of the guide frame within the interior space. Both the connector and the guide frame are electrically and mechanically connected to the circuit board, and when an SFP module is plugged into a receptacle it is electrically and mechanically connected to the circuit board as well.
SFP modules typically include a latch element that cooperates with a latch element on the guide frame to latch the SFP module to the receptacle. At least some known latch elements of SFP modules include a retractable pin that is received within a triangular opening of the latch element of the guide frame. However, the retractable pins of conventional SFP module latch elements may have complicated actuating mechanisms and/or may take up more space than is desired within a housing of the SFP module.
There is a need for an electrical component latch that has a less complicated actuating mechanism and/or that takes up less space within a housing of the electrical component.


An insecticide comprised of a mixture of Boric Acid {ORTHOBORIC ACID U.S. Borax Co. EPA Reg. No. 1624-117}, white wheat flour, solid white vegetable shortening, onion white cane sugar, and water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insecticide for controlling insects such as cockroaches and to a method for preparing the insecticide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known in the art to produce insecticides for treating cockroaches and other insects by utilizing boric acid as the active ingredient. For example, U.S. Pat Nos. 1,029,203 and 4,438,090 both disclose insecticides containing boric acid. Boric acid is used as the active ingredient because it is poisonous to the insect, and is relatively low in toxicity to human beings and animals such as house pets.
Accordingly, there have been many attempts made to incorporate boric acid into a composition. Typically, these compositions are placed in the area where the insects are located with the expectation that the insects will consume the composition, and therefore, the boric acid. Traditionally, the compositions take the form of tablets or powders. An example of such a product is Harris Roach Tablets.TM..
It is scientifically recognized that roaches and other insects pre-taste their food, and in some cases can detect poisonous materials and will avoid the bait that contains the poison. In the above-described roach tablets, often what happens is that the roaches recognize the poison, and do not comsume the entire tablet. Thus, the tablets are not completely successful in exterminating the roaches or other insects.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a composition such that the insects will consume significant portions of the entire composition and therefore the boric acid, so that the consumption will be fatal.


A laser processing apparatus is provided. The laser processing apparatus includes a laser processing head having a transmission window, an opening portion, an outlet hole, a first vent hole and a second vent hole. The transmission window transmits laser light by which a processing object is irradiated. The opening portion passes the transmitted laser light to a bottom portion of the laser processing head. The outlet hole discharges an atmosphere in the vicinity of a laser light irradiation region of the processing object to the outside. The first vent hole directs gas into the vicinity of the laser light irradiation region. The second vent hole discharges the atmosphere in the vicinity of the laser light irradiation region. Debris generated from the processing object is discharged from the outlet hole and the second vent hole that are continuous with the opening portion provided at the bottom portion of the laser processing head.

The present application relates to technology for performing pattern processing on a transparent conductive film that is used for a transparent electrode on a multilayer thin film of a FPD (Flat Panel Display) and the like. Particularly the present application relates to a laser processing apparatus, a laser processing head and a laser processing method for removing and extracting debris that is particles and products generated during laser processing based on ablation, thermofusion, or composite action thereof in which a surface of a processing object is irradiated with laser light.
A transparent conductive film is used as a transparent electrode of an array substrate (multilayer film substrate) for a flat display panel, of a solar cell and the like. Also a transparent conductive film is widely adopted as a transparent electrode in the field of electronic paper whose development has been promoted as a future display device, and the use thereof has been expanded. Further, since competition for higher definition and lower costs of a display has become more intensive recently, a transparent conductive film of higher quality and higher productivity may also be required in manufacturing.
Such transparent conductive film is typically patterned into a desired shape by a photolithography method. For example, a transparent conductive film made of an ITO (Indium Tin Oxides) film, a ZnO (Zinc Oxides) film or the like is vacuum-coated on a glass, plastic, or silicon wafer substrate or the like, then a resist layer is formed thereon to obtain a multilayer thin film. The resist layer is exposed by irradiation of light through a photomask having a predetermined pattern. The photomask pattern is transcribed onto the resist layer by performing development and post bake, then a portion of the transparent conductive film not covered with the resist is removed by an etching method, and the remaining resist layer is removed at the end so that the desired pattern of the transparent conductive film is obtained.
However, the photolithography process described above needs a large scale apparatus such as a coater/developer, which discourages manufacturing costs from being reduced. In addition, since a large amount of chemical solution such as developing solution is used, there is also caused a problem in view of environmental preservation. Furthermore, a low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal display of reflective and transmissible type, for example, includes an ITO film used as a transmissible portion of a pixel electrode and an Al film or the like used as a reflective film on a substrate provided with a TFT (Thin Film Transistor). In this case, the photolithography process is needed twice since the resist and development solution are different even if the same pattern form is used in each patterning. Accordingly, in order to simplify a manufacturing process by omitting additional photolithography processing, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-153171, for example, discloses technology for directly processing a transparent conductive film by using laser light.
In the above-described direct processing of a transparent conductive film by using a laser, a short wavelength laser such as an excimer laser, for example, is used. Typically, an excimer laser (excited dimmer laser) has high photon energy capable of cutting a chemical bond, and in photochemical decomposition and photothermal decomposition process called ablation using a short pulse laser of short wavelength, a processing object can be removed and minutely processed while suppressing thermal effect. Attention is focused on such laser processing technology based on the ablation. With irradiation of excimer laser light whose energy density is adjusted, various materials such as plastics (polymeric materials), metals and ceramics can be ablated.
In the ablation processing using a laser, ablation products generated from a surface of a processed object irradiated by the laser light may re-deposit around a processed region. Those ablation products are typically called debris. When re-deposition of the debris occurs around the processed region, there is a possibility that desired processing quality and processing accuracy may not be obtained. Hence, a method of reducing debris has been studied.
For example, a method (hereinafter, referred to as method 1) is proposed, in which a fluid feed apparatus for directing a fluid such as air onto a surface in the vicinity of a processed region is provided and a suction duct for sucking the fluid is installed on the opposite side to a fluid feeding nozzle. In this method 1, debris is blown away from the processed region and simultaneously is sucked and removed (see, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 10-99978).
Further, it is known that blowing an assist gas around a laser light irradiated region together with irradiation of laser light onto the processing object is efficient for reducing an amount of debris generated. A method (hereinafter, referred to as method 2) is proposed, in which a laser processing head includes an inner side nozzle and an outer side nozzle arranged surrounding an outer circumferential surface thereof are disposed. In this method 2, an assist gas is directed toward a processed region from the inner side nozzle, and debris is extracted by sucking the assist gas using the outer side nozzle (see, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 09-192870). Further, a method of decomposing debris or preventing re-deposition thereof by using a predetermined atmospheric gas is known as a method of controlling generation itself of debris. Furthermore, it is known that an amount of debris deposited on the processed object can be greatly reduced by performing the laser processing under low pressure conditions of about 10[Pa] (10−2 Torr).
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a method (hereinafter, referred to as method 3) is proposed, in which an opening portion 120 is provided right above a processing object 107 having a transparent conductive film 108b laminated on a substrate 108a, for example. In this method 3, a discharge device is provided to reduce the pressure of a region surrounded by a mask or variable aperture 104 and the opening portion 120 as a closed space portion, and so debris generated by radiation of laser light 102 on the processing object 107 is discharged and also debris 121 deposits on the opening portion 120 without depositing on the processing object 107 (see, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-230458).
However, debris is scattered even when suction and discharge thereof is attempted by blowing off the debris on the surface in the vicinity of the processed region as described in the method 1, and therefore it has been difficult to completely remove and extract the debris even if suction power is raised.
In addition, debris is scattered and deposits again around the processed region even when an assist gas is blown onto the processed region from the inner side nozzle as described in the method 2, and therefore it has been difficult to sufficiently remove the debris even if suction power of the outer side nozzle is increased.
Moreover, debris may not necessarily deposit at the opening portion even if pressure is reduced inside the closed space portion provided with the opening portion as described in the method 3, and therefore there has been such a problem that the debris in the center portion of the processed region re-deposits on the surface of the processing object.
In view of the problems heretofore described, there is a need for efficiently removing and extracting debris generated from laser processing, thereby reducing debris deposited on a processing object.

Laser processing apparatus, laser processing head and laser processing method


A transmitting device communicates a multi-level clock signal to a receiving device. Changes in the clock level may indicate the start or stop of a transmitting message or delineate fields in the transmitted message. The number of clock pulses received at a particular voltage may indicate further information about the message.

Various interfaces and methodologies are presently available for communicating between electronic devices such as chips and hardware boards. Some of these methods have been adopted as industry standards. These interfaces typically use additional signal lines or coding as a signaling method from one device to the next, which consume extra input/output connections and/or bandwidth in the data stream.
For example, in some methods, a particular bit stream is sent that indicates the start or end of a message or that delineates fields within a message. This consumes extra bandwidth. In some methods, a separate signal line carries a signal indicative of the start or end of a message. This consumes an input/output connection of the device.
Accordingly, there is a need for a signaling method that is capable of indicating the start and end of a message but that minimizes the amount of additional bandwidth and/or input/output connections that are necessary to implement the method.

Method for signaling during a transaction and receiving unit and system for use therewith


A proximity ventilated cooking system for interior use is provided with means for providing effective exhaustive ventilation to maintain in a variety of installations an air flow velocity adjacent the burners and throughout the exhaust system that has sufficient velocity to capture and carry to atmosphere substantially all of the cooking gasses, vapors and fumes produced in cooking, but insufficient velocity adjacent the burners to produce undesirable cooking and burner heat distribution, and where gas burners are used, interference with desirable flame patterns.

This invention relates to apparatus and methods for providing effective exhaustive ventilation for proximity ventilated cooking systems.
In self-ventilated cooking systems, such as cooktops and grill ranges with proximity ventilation, cooking gases, vapors and odors are drawn into an exhaust inlet and are exhausted into the atmosphere. Usually, the exhaust inlet is located adjacent the cooking surface and is the inlet to a flow path which serially includes a plenum, a blower, an atmospheric exhaust and interconnecting ductwork. The flow path to the atmosphere normally extends through a wall or floor of the room in which the cooking system is located.
The blower is frequently made a separate unit from the rest of the cooking apparatus and is installed prior to the installation of the rest of the apparatus. The blower is provided with a pair of brackets which permit the selective mounting of the blower to the floor for discharge either through-the-wall or through-the floor, as required by the installation. Because the blower is installed separately, it can be located for ease of access and to avoid the joists or studs, which can be a problem in retrofit installations. For a through-the-floor exhaust, the blower is secured to the floor with the outlet extending through the floor. However, for a through-the-wall installation, the blower is secured to the floor with the outlet of the blower extending horizontally. The outlet of the blower is connected to atmosphere by a flexible ductwork which extends through the wall to an external exhaust outlet. After the blower is secured in place and connected to the atmospheric exhaust, the self-ventilated cooking apparatus is set in place over the blower and connected to the electrical service. The self-ventilated cooking apparatus can have a full height plenum, which can be made thinner to accommodate a full size oven, or to permit the installation of a full size oven where the cooking surface is adapted for countertop installation, while still providing proximity ventilation of the cooktop. The flow path is completed by connecting the blower and the plenum of the range by means of a length of flexible pipe, and the blower is plugged into the self-ventilated cooking apparatus and thereby the electrical system of the apparatus. Such self-ventilated cooking systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,357.
The installation of such cooking systems in a building presents significant problems. The air flow path from the blower to atmosphere varies widely from building to building in its length and its effective resistance to air flow. In some buildings, the air flow path may be long and torturous while in other buildings, the air flow path may be short and free from restrictions. Such variations in the air flow path have limited the installation of such cooking systems, particularly where gas was used to provide heat for grilling and cooking. Where the exhaust paths were short and free from restrictions, such systems provided too much air flow at the cooking surface and did not provide uniform cooking and heat distribution and, where gas heat was used, proper flame formation and combustion. Where the exhaust paths were long or torturous, the system provided too little air flow at the cooking surface and was ineffective in capturing cooking gases and vapors and in carrying grease particles to atmosphere. Variations in the structure of buildings and in the length and complication of the exhaust path between the blower and atmosphere through the walls of the building could therefore produce ineffective exhaustive ventilation.


Various embodiments include methods and apparatuses comprising methods for formation of and apparatuses including a source material for electronic devices. One such apparatus includes a vertical string of memory cells comprising a plurality of alternating levels of conductor and dielectric material, a semiconductor material extending through the plurality of alternating levels of conductor material and dielectric material, and a source material coupled to the semiconductor material. The source material includes a titanium nitride layer and a source polysilicon layer in direct contact with the titanium nitride layer. Other methods and apparatuses are disclosed.

Memory devices are frequently provided as internal, semiconductor integrated circuits in computers and other electronic devices. The memory devices may be arranged in strings of memory cells where each string may be coupled to a heavily doped semiconductor region from which majority carriers may flow into a channel associated with the memory devices. The heavily-doped region is typically referred to as a "source." Groups of strings of memory cells (e.g., memory blocks) may all be coupled to a common source.
When a memory manufacturer desires to increase density of a memory device, additional groups of strings of memory cells may be added to the memory device and coupled to the common source. Consequently, the common source may be increased in length, thereby increasing the resistance of the source.
In many applications, it is desirable to keep a resistance level of the source as low as possible since, as is known in the art, a larger resistance may cause a larger voltage drop from a particular point of the circuit to the common source. A larger voltage drop can cause problems during memory operations in which the memory operations rely on smaller voltage differences.

Source material for electronic device applications


A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes the following steps. At first, a Ru or RuO2 film and a SiO2 layer are formed over a Si substrate in that order. Then, a resist pattern is formed on the SiO2 layer and is then provided as a mask to etch the SiO2 layer to form a contact hole. The Ru or RuO2 film is exposed at the bottom of the contact hole. Subsequently, a plasma ashing is performed using an ashing gas prepared by mixing O2 with N2 where the composition ratio of N2 is 50% or more at a substrate temperature of 200xc2x0 C. or more for ashing the resist pattern. Consequently, the present invention allows the ashing of the resist pattern over the Ru or RuO2 film at a high selectivity to prevent the Ru or RuO2 film from becoming disappeared.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device and more particularly to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, wherein an ashing of a resist film formed over a ruthenium film or a ruthenium oxide film can be performed at a high selectivity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, semiconductor devices including ruthenium or ruthenium oxide have been actively studied and developed in the art. Among them, a capacitor having electrodes made of ruthenium or ruthenium oxide and a dielectric material such as Pb(ZrxTi1xe2x88x92x)O3, (BaxSr1xe2x88x92x)TiO3, or Ta2O5 has been employed in some Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) or Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM).
Ruthenium and ruthenium oxide are capable of being processed into a high-anisotropic form by reactive ion etching using oxygen gas (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,217 Maniar et al.) and a gas mixture of oxygen gas and halogen gas (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,583 Tokashiki et al.). While it become possible to make the size of a capacitor electrode minimized with above etching method, there is a necessity to conduct an ashing of a photo-sensitive material (i.e., photoresist) formed over the electrode made of ruthenium or ruthenium oxide using oxygen plasma.
FIGS. 1a to 1e are cross sectional views for illustrating substantial steps in an exemplified conventional method for fabricating a semiconductor device having a ruthenium (Ru) film, wherein the step of ashing is performed after the step of contact hole etching.
First, as shown in FIG. 1a, a Ru film 12 and a silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer 14 are formed over a silicon (Si) substrate 11. As shown in FIG. 1b, a photoresist is then applied on the SiO2 layer 14 followed by a patterning step using photolithography process to form a resist pattern 13. As shown in FIG. 1c, subsequently, a contact hole 16 for connecting a wiring to the Ru film 12 is formed through the SiO2 layer 14 by a dry etching process using CF4 or the like. After that, as shown in FIG. 1d, the resist pattern 13 is subjected to a plasma ashing process using O2 gas. During the ashing, the Ru film 12 is also gradually eroded because of the formation of volatile RuO3 or RuO4 as a result of reacting Ru with oxygen plasma 22. Consequently, the complete removal of the resist pattern 13 involves a substantial erosion of the Ru film 12. In some cases, the Ru film 12 under the contact hole 16 may be vanished as shown in FIG. 1e.
In the described conventional example, the ashing is performed after the contact hole etching. In the actual fabrication of the semiconductor device, there may be cases where such an ashing step in which the Ru film 12 may be exposed to oxygen plasma is performed more than one time. Thus, there is a possibility of vanish away the Ru film 12 from the structure after repeating the ashing step several times even though the entire Ru film 12 cannot be removed by the one ashing step.
For solving such a problem, Yunogami et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,218) disclose a method for preventing the Ru film 12 from erosion at the time of ashing the resist pattern 13 by forming a platinum (Pt) film 15 on a Ru film 12.
FIGS. 2a to 2e are cross sectional views for illustrating the steps in such a method disclosed in the above document. In this method, as shown in FIG. 2a, at first, the Ru film 12 is deposited over a Si substrate 11. Then, the platinum (Pt) film 15 is deposited on the Ru film 12. After patterning of the Pt film 15 and Ru film 12, a SiO2 layer 14 is deposited on the Pt film 15. Then, as shown in FIG. 2b resist pattern 13 is formed on the SiO2 layer 14. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2c, a contact hole 16 is formed through the SiO2 layer 14 by a dry etching process using CF4 or the like. After that, as shown in FIG. 2d, the resist pattern 13 is subjected to a plasma ashing process using oxygen plasma 22. In this case, as the Ru film 12 is covered with the Pt film 15, the Ru film 12 is not eroded at all, while the resist pattern 13 is completely incinerated by the ashing process as shown in FIG. 2e.
As described above, in the method for fabricating the conventional semiconductor device, the Ru film 12 may be eroded at the time of ashing. For preventing the Ru film 12 from the erosion, there is a necessity to deposit the Pt film 15 on the Ru film 12 to prevent it from erosion or disappearance. In this case, however, the fabrication becomes more complicated because of the additional steps of forming and patterning the Pt film 15 on the Ru film 12. In addition, the cost of fabricating the semiconductor device becomes increased because of costly Pt. Consequently, a sufficient productivity cannot be attained in the conventional method for fabricating a semiconductor device including Ru or Ru oxide. Furthermore, in some case, the formation of Pt film 15 on the Ru film 12 cannot be done as the need for directly forming a dielectric layer on the Ru film 12 comes out.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a semiconductor device with a high productivity, wherein an ashing of a photo-sensitive material formed over ruthenium or ruthenium oxide can be easily realized at a high selectivity.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device including at least one of a ruthenium and a ruthenium oxide comprises the step of ashing a photo-sensitive material over the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide using a gas mixture containing oxygen gas or ozone gas and nitrogen gas, wherein the percentage composition of nitrogen gas is 50% or more.
Here, the ashing step may be performed by heating a substrate over which the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide is formed at a temperature of 200xc2x0 C. or more.
The ashing step may be performed after etching an interlayer insulation film on the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide using a photo-sensitive material as a mask. Alternatively, the ashing step may be performed after etching of the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide using a photo-sensitive material as a mask.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device including at least one of a ruthenium and a ruthenium oxide, comprising the steps of: forming a film made of the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide over a substrate; forming an interlayer insulation film on the ruthenium or the ruthenium oxide film; applying a photo-sensitive material on the interlayer insulation film and patterning the applied photo-sensitive material; etching the interlayer insulation film using the patterned photo-sensitive material as a mask; and ashing the patterned photo-sensitive material using an ashing gas provided as a mixture of a gas that contains oxygen gas or ozone gas and a gas that contains nitrogen gas, wherein the percentage composition of nitrogen gas is 50% or more.
Here, a contact hole for exposing the ruthenium film or the ruthenium oxide film may be formed in the step of etching the interlayer insulation film.
According to the above first or second aspect of the invention, there is an advantage of effectively performing the ashing of the photo-sensitive material with a high selectivity and a high ashing rate while preventing a partial disappearance of the ruthenium film or the ruthenium oxide film.
The reason for such an advantage is as follows. In the prior art method, the ruthenium is etched by oxygen plasma because ruthenium is oxidized to form a volatile compound, i.e., RuO3 or RuO4. In this case ruthenium may be eroded or disappeared at the time of performing ashing of the photoresist using oxygen plasma.
On the other hand, according to the present invention the gas for ashing is prepared by mixing O2 gas with a large amount of N2 gas, so that the probability of a collision of oxygen with ruthenium can be decreased. At this time, the ashing rate of photoresist may be slightly decreased with a degree less than the decrease of etching rate of ruthenium. Therefore, the ashing of photoresist with an improved selectivity with respect to ruthenium can be attained.

Method and manufacturing a semiconductor device having a ruthenium or a ruthenium oxide


A water pump for a spa or the like has a pump water inlet, a pump water outlet and an impeller driving water from said inlet to said outlet. The impeller provides the water axially introduced at the pump water inlet with a radial component which delivers the water to a large plenum chamber surrounding the impeller and which plenum chamber has an increasing cross sectional area as the water moves from the pump water inlet to a plenum chamber outlet thereby reducing backpressure in the water. The plenum chamber terminates with the plenum water outlet located closely to the impeller and a smooth transition area defines the area extending from the plenum chamber outlet to the pump water outlet. The water outlet preferably extends so that the water has a directional component which is generally parallel to the direction of the water entering the pump through the pump water inlet.

This invention relates to spas or hot tubs and, more particularly, to a pump allowing large volumes of water to have directional changes close to the pump impeller, the pump providing water under pressure to the spa jets.
The use of pumps in spas or hot tubs is, of course, known. Such pumps are used to take water from a water inlet, put the water under pressure and convey the water under such pressure to the various outlets or jets within the tub where the user is positioned. The water under pressure creates a flow within the tub and otherwise discharges on the user where it has a pleasant and therapeutic benefit.
The pumps that create the pressure, however, are typically centripetal type pumps. These pumps have an impeller with a central portion into which water from the water inlet is introduced. The impeller has a series of radially located vanes that convey the water from the central inlet area and exhaust it radially to an outlet located adjacent the radial vanes. While the centripetal type pumps are pervasive in the industry, they have disadvantages.
A first disadvantage is that the water volume supplied under pressure by the centripetal type pump is limited. This dictates the size of jets that can be used in order to impinge properly upon a user and create the currents within the tub. Second, with the use of a centripetal type pump, the operation is typically at the upper end of the volume capabilities of he pump. This causes unnecessarily high pump noise which is diversionary to the enjoyment of a spa user. Thirdly, since the volume of water being pumped is limited, the jets may be somewhat slower in acting than would otherwise be desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,736 (French) teaches a motor cooling technique typically used in present spas. French takes ambient air from within a component compartment of a spa and passes such air through the motor which powers the spa pump by the use of the usual cooling fan within the motor. French teaches collecting the hot air which has passed through the motor by an exhaust shroud and exhausting such air to ambient conditions outside the component compartment of the spa.
While, again, the French technique operates generally in a satisfactory manner, advantages in such a cooling technique and increased flexibility with the cooling air is possible. First, because French takes his cooling air from within the component compartment, the location of electrical and electronic components within the compartment necessarily generates heat and, accordingly, the air gathered from the component compartment is at an elevated temperature which limits the cooling of the motor otherwise obtainable with air at a lower temperature.
Second, by exhausting his collected and heated air to a location outside the spa, the thermal energy of the heated air is wasted. The thermal energy, particularly in a spa, could be harnessed for other uses.
Thirdly, French does not cool the pump which is driven by the motor. His air is introduced into the cooling air inlet of the motor and does not reduce the temperature of the pump. Cooling the pump would assist is more efficient operation of both the pump and the motor.
Fourthly, centripetal type pumps typically do not have wide operating environment capabilities. They are prone to overheating if used in adverse conditions such as high altitude, low humidity, high ambient temperature conditions. Likewise, if the ventilation surrounding the pump is poor under the skirt of the spa for example, this also contributes to such problems.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a spa having water jets used to discharge water which impinges upon a user, said spa comprising a pump having a pump water inlet with a pump water inlet axis, a pump water outlet operably connected to said water inlet and allowing water under pressure to pass from said pump water inlet to said pump water outlet, an axially rotating impeller and a relatively large plenum chamber located outside said impeller and having a plenum chamber outlet operably connected to said pump water outlet, said impeller propelling water outwardly of said impeller into said plenum chamber with a principal direction of movement of said water being radially outwardly from said pump water inlet axis to said plenum chamber, said plenum chamber being defined by a passageway having a generally concave inner and curved rearward surface and a variable cross sectional area, said cross-sectional area increasing as said water from said impeller moves around and within said plenum chamber from a position nearer said pump water inlet to a position further from said pump water inlet and closer to said plenum chamber outlet, said plenum chamber outlet being located at a radial position furthermost from said water inlet and allowing said water to move from said plenum chamber outlet to said pump water outlet, and thence to said water jets.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing water to the jets of a spa comprising introducing water along an axis to a pump water inlet of a pump, using an impeller to propel said introduced water from said pump water inlet in a generally radial direction to a plenum chamber surrounding said impeller while simultaneously providing said water with a velocity component within said plenum chamber from said pump water inlet to a plenum water outlet while the cross-sectional area of said plenum chamber increases from said pump water inlet to said plenum water outlet and smoothly transitioning said water from said plenum water outlet to a pump water outlet by the use of a smooth curved surface between said plenum water outlet and said pump water outlet.


A static random access memory provides interconnection of local wordlines and bit lines to share charge during bulk write operations. Prior to a bulk write cycle, a bit line for each memory cell is driven to a first voltage level. Subsequently, the bit lines and the local wordlines are interconnected for sharing charge between the bit lines and the local wordlines. Next, the bit lines are disconnected from the local wordlines and the bit lines are driven to a second voltage level while the local wordlines are driven to the first voltage level to address the memory cells. Then the bit lines and local wordlines are reconnected to distribute charge from the local wordlines to the bit lines. Lastly, the bit lines are again disconnected from the local wordlines and driven to the first voltage level preparatory to resuming normal operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to random access memory (RAM) integrated circuits, and more particularly to static RAM (SRAM) circuits providing a flash write or clear feature with minimum power consumption.
2. Description of the Prior Art
SRAMs hold advantages in speed and lack of power demand over comparable capacity dynamic random access memories (DRAMs). Memory cells in SRAMs are based on latches instead of capacitors as in DPJuMs. Capacitors dissipate a charge (corresponding to a bit of data) over time and thus require periodic refresh. Refresh requires power. Reading and writing to a capacitor based memory device requires both time and power. Thus, SRAMs have been advantageously used in applications requiring high speed operation (e.g. cache memory for personal computers), low power consumption (e.g. portable computers powered by batteries), or both. Complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS) SRAM exhibit particularly low operating power requirements. In addition, SRAM Integrated circuits are simpler than competing dynamic RAMs because complex circuitry for clocks and refresh operations required by competing dynamic random access memories may be dispensed with. Thus SRAMs have been favored where the improved performance justifies their greater expense, or in basic electronic components where design cost to handle refresh is unjustified.
Memory cell densities achieved with DRAMs have not been matched in SRAMs and are not likely to do so in the future. An SRAM memory cell will typically include from four to six transistors, as compared to one transistor and a capacitor for a DRAM. Thus an SRkM having comparable capacity to a DRAM, when fabricated with comparable techniques, is physically larger. Large relative size compromises to some extent the advantages described above for SRAMs. As SRAMs of increased capacity have been designed they have been made physically larger. Size contributes to increased operating power requirements and reduced operating speed.
A feature of SRAM architecture are wordlines, which are used to address particular memory cells, and bit lines over which data are written and read. As SRAMs increase in size, wordlines and bit lines have become longer and more memory cells have been addressed and accessed, resulting in increased capacitance of the lines. Increased capacitance affects both for power requirements and timing, particularly for an operation called flash clear.
Flash clear (sometimes called flash write) is of particular utility in SkAMs utilized in computer cache memories. A computer cache memory duplicates selected data from main memory allowing a computer CPU faster access to that data than can be obtained from main memory, constructed from cheaper DRAMS. The protocol for selection of the data to be duplicated is critical to the effective operation of a cache. The flash clear operation can be used to clear all resident data from SRAMs of the cache, such as in tag arrays or data storage, where a selection protocol requires such an operation.
Flash clear results in relatively large currents on an SRAM. Current transients may be in the range of amperes, bordering on capacity limitations of the devices involved. In proposed SRAMs, a single wordline can have a capacitance of 230 femtofarads (fF). With 128 rows of memory cells, requiring 128 wordlines, each block has a wordline capacitance of approximately 29.5 picofarads. The device has 8 blocks so total wordline capacitance is about 240 pF. Bit line capacitance is 470 fF, for each of the two bit lines to a cell. Only one bit line, typically the bit line complement, is used for the flash clear operation. With 64 columns per block, capacitance for a block is 30 pF. Totalling capacitance over 8 blocks gives a total bit line capacitance of 240 pF.
To perform a flash clear all the wordlines are raised and the bit line complements are pulled to ground. Then, to terminate the bulk write, the bit line complements are returned to V.sub.cc and the wordlines lowered. The total amount of capacitance charged from V.sub.cc or discharged to V.sub.ss is 480 pF. Over a 10 nanosecond cycle the average current i would be: EQU i=c.DELTA.v/.DELTA.t=480 pF (5.5 v)/10 nS=264 mA.
Lengthening the cycle can reduce average current, but it must be recognized that capacitor charging and discharging is not constant. Further, lengthening flash clear cycle time is undesirable from a performance point of view. Transient currents during the flash cycle are quite large, additionally contributing to large IR (current times resistance) losses.

Charge sharing flash clear for memory arrays


A system for processing electronic transactions according to policies is disclosed. The system includes a user module configured to store computer-readable information related to a user, and a policy module configured to store a plurality of policies for electronic transactions. Each policy for an electronic transaction includes a permission to access a physical space or item by a user. The system also includes a processor configured to receive a request to complete an electronic transaction by the user, and configured to dynamically apply, upon receipt of the request by the processor, the plurality of policies to the user based on the request to complete the electronic transaction. Methods and machine-readable mediums are also disclosed.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for the processing of electronic transactions, and specifically, to the processing of electronic transactions using policy rules.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ability of educators, including educational institutions, private corporations, and institutions of higher learning, to reach potential students has generally been limited by geography. The advent of networked computers and communications has afforded a partial solution to these limitations. In particular, the widespread use and availability of electronic networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web have made it possible for students and educators to overcome geographic dispersion and physical location as a barrier to education.
Many educational institutions offer network-based role-based access control (RBAC) systems available through these electronic networks that provide users access to different information, items, and areas based on those users' roles. Such systems allow a user to interact with the educational system in a number of different ways. For example, a user having a student role can purchase a textbook at a cash register connected to the network in the institution's bookstore, but will not be able to purchase an instructor's edition. As another example, a user having an alumnus role can access his transcript information via a web browser connected to the network. As a further example, a user having an instructor role can access a file room restricted by an access card device connected to the network. Each of these different users is associated with roles that correspond to their individual and often unique access levels. These roles are static, because if a role does not currently exist that matches a user's access needs, a new type of role must be created for the user. For example, if a user is a student at an institution but is also an instructor for certain courses, then a new role that combines both the access privileges of a student role and an instructor role must be created for that user. For institutions that have many users with varying access needs, the requirement of creating new role types for users can be burdensome.
Furthermore, institutions having several departments often have interface techniques that are greatly variable, based on personal preference and the subject matter being provided. Network-based systems that do not provide for a significant degree of customization are ill suited to address this need to accommodate diverse modes in a single system.