An apparatus and method for detecting a presence of a conductive object on a sensor array of a first circuit board using active electronic components of a second circuit board, which is coupled to the first circuit board. The apparatus may include a first circuit board, which includes a sensor array of sensor elements, and a second circuit board, coupled to the first circuit board, including sensing circuitry to measure capacitance on the sensor array of the first circuit board. The method may include measuring a capacitance on the sensor array using the active electronic components of the second circuit board, and processing the measured capacitance.

Computing devices, such as notebook computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), mobile communication devices, and portable entertainment devices (such as handheld video game devices, multimedia players, and the like) have user interface devices, which are also known as human interface devices (HID), that facilitate interaction between the user and the computing device. One type of user-interface device that has become more common is a touch-sensor pad (also known as a "touchpad"). A touchpad replicates mouse X/Y movement by using two defined axes, which contain a collection of sensor elements that detect the position of a conductive object such as a finger. Mouse right/left button clicks can be replicated by two mechanical buttons, located in the vicinity of the touchpad, or by tapping commands on the touchpad itself. The touchpad provides a user-interface device for performing such functions as positioning a pointer and selecting an item on a display. These touch pads may include multi-dimensional sensor arrays for detecting movement in multiple axes. The sensor array may include a one-dimensional sensor array to detect movement in one axis. The sensor array may also be two dimensional to detect movement in two axes.
One type of touchpad operates by way of capacitance sensing utilizing capacitive sensors. The capacitance detected by a capacitive sensor may change as a function of the proximity of a conductive object to the sensor. The capacitance may also change due the surface area of the conductive object that is in contact with the sensing device. The conductive object can be, for example, a stylus or a user's finger. In a touch-sensor device, a change in capacitance detected by each sensor in the X and Y dimensions of the sensor array due to the proximity or movement of a conductive object can be measured by a variety of methods. Regardless of the method, usually an electrical signal representative of the capacitance detected by each capacitive sensor is processed by a processing device, which in turn develops electrical signals representative of the position of the conductive object in relation to the touch-sensor pad in the X and Y dimensions. A touch-sensor strip, slider, or button operates on the same capacitance-sensing principle.
Conventional capacitive touch pads are constructed on four-layer printed and two-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs). For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,869,790 and 6,188,391 describe a four-layer and two-layer PCB, respectively. In a conventional four-layer touchpad, the first and second layers contain the horizontal and vertical sensor elements (also referred to as pads) and interconnecting sensor traces that form the capacitive sensor matrix; the third layer contains a ground plane; and, the fourth layer contains the controller and associated circuitry and interconnections to the capacitive sensor matrix. In some conventional two-layer touch pads, one layer contains the horizontal sensor elements and their corresponding interconnecting sensor traces; the second layer contains the vertical sensor elements and their interconnecting sensor traces; and, the controller resides on either of the two layers. It should be noted that in the field of capacitive touch pads, in reference to multiple-layer touch pads (e.g., "two-layer" or "four-layer" touch pads), the term "layer" is conventionally used to refer to a side of a non-conductive substrate upon which conductive material is disposed. It appears that the conventional meaning of the term "layer" is followed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,869,790 and 6,188,391, as discussed in further detail below.
FIG. 1A illustrates a four-layer touchpad as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,790. The first layer 2 resides on the topside of the PCB having sensor traces 4 disposed in the vertical direction. These vertical sensor traces connect to vertically-aligned sensor elements disposed on the first layer (not shown). The second layer 12 resides on the underside of the PCB having sensor traces 13 disposed in the horizontal direction. These horizontal sensor traces connect to horizontally-aligned sensor elements disposed on the second layer (not shown). The third layer 3 is buried in the substrate of the PCB and houses the ground plane, which may connect to the topside or underside of the PCB using conductive traces and vias. Lastly, the fourth layer 14 includes the sensing circuit 15.
FIG. 1B illustrates one conventional two-layer touchpad described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391. FIG. 1B of the present application is a reproduction of FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 with the addition of reference numbers for some components that were unlabeled in FIG. 1B of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391. The conventional two-layer touchpad illustrated in FIG. 1B of the present application contains the following: a capacitive sensor matrix 42, or array, having horizontal sensor elements 45 and vertical sensor elements 43 (represented by diamonds) and interconnecting horizontal sensor traces 44 and vertical sensor traces 46; and, a controller chip 48 disposed on the same side of the PCB 47 as the sensor array 42. Although the horizontal sensor traces 44 and vertical sensor traces 46 appear to reside on the same layer in FIG. 1B, such is only for conceptual purposes to understand the functional inter-relationship of the horizontal and vertical sensor elements of the array 42. As described in regards to FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391, which would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, the horizontal sensor elements 43 and their interconnecting row sensor traces 44 reside on a different layer than the vertical sensor elements 45 and their interconnecting column sensor traces 46. The controller chip 48 resides on one of these two different layers. Accordingly, the touchpad illustrated in FIG. 1B is a "two-layer" touchpad.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 describes the use of screen-printing carbon ink patterning to fabricate some of the conductive sensor traces to realize a two-layer board with the controller chip disposed on the opposite side (i.e., the second layer) of the board as the sensor elements and interconnecting conductive sensor traces (i.e., metal and conductive ink). FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view illustrating the two-layer touch pad of the purported invention of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391. FIG. 1C of the present invention is a reproduction of FIG. 8B of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 with the addition of the controller chip 110. It should be noted that in U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 the first layer (referred to as a single composite layer) contains both the horizontal sensor traces 69 and vertical sensor traces 104, as illustrated in FIG. 1C. The second layer is on the underside of the printed circuit board and contains the controller chip 110 (which is not shown in the illustration of FIG. 8B of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 but included in FIG. 1C of the present application for ease of understanding). Accordingly, the touchpad produced using screen-printing carbon ink patterning described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391 is a two-"layer" touchpad because the conductive material that constitutes the controller and associated interconnection circuitry to the array is located on a different side (i.e., layer) of the non-conductive PCB substrate (e.g., constructed from FR4 (Flame Resistant 4) PC board laminate) than that of the conductive material used to form the sensor array.
As can be seen from an inspection of FIG. 1C of the present application (and also FIG. 8B of U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391), the topside layer containing both the horizontal and vertical sensor element layers is a "composite layer," as it is referred to by U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,391. In such a composite layer, the vertical, carbon ink, interconnecting sensor traces 104 and the horizontal metal interconnecting sensor traces 69 reside in two different planes. The sensor elements 68 (sense pads illustrated by diamonds) and the horizontal metal interconnecting sensor traces 69 reside in a lower plane 130 than the vertical carbon ink sensor traces 104. The vertical carbon ink interconnecting sensor traces 104 reside on a substantially different plane 140 that is on top of the plane containing the sensor elements and the horizontal metal interconnecting sensor traces 130. Although some portion of the carbon ink sensor traces 104 may dip into the lower plane 130 in areas between the horizontal metal interconnecting sensor traces of the lower plane 130 (otherwise occupied by insulation 103), the carbon ink sensor traces 104 cannot reside in the same area of the lower plane 130 than is occupied by the horizontal metal interconnecting sensor traces 69 and their corresponding horizontal sense pads 68.
The substrate(s) of each of these conventional PCBs are made are constructed of material, such as FR4 composite, that is relatively more expensive than conductive ink on polymer construction of a typical keyboard key matrix. FR1 and FR2 composites may also be used. FR1 and FR2 are lower cost PCB substrates than FR4, but still more expensive than the film construction.
FIG. 1D illustrates a simplified version of a conventional keyboard matrix. A conventional keyboard matrix is constructed as two substrates (e.g., two thin sheets of plastic or polymer, for example, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), also known as PETE, PETP, or PET-P) with conductive traces (typically silver ink) printed on them, arranged such that when pressure is applied at certain locations, one trace on one sheet makes an electrical connection with one trace at the corresponding location on the other sheet. The keyboard buttons are each positioned over one of these locations, so that when the keyboard button is pressed, pressure is applied to the upper sheet at one of these locations causing it to touch a trace on the lower sheet, causing an electrical contact to be made. Typically, the two sheets are separated by a third sheet with no traces printed, and holes located at each of the button positions, so that when no pressure is applied to the area above the hole, the conductive traces on each of the other two sheets are not in contact. It should be noted, however, that FIG. 1D illustrates a small number of rows and columns, and that conventional keyboard matrices may include more rows and/or columns.
The traces on the two printed sheets are arranged such that each trace on the upper sheet crosses each trace on the lower sheet over a hole once and only once. In this way, each button on the keyboard makes a unique contact between one of the traces on the upper sheet and one of the traces on the lower sheet. Typically, one sheet has eight traces (referred to as the key matrix Rows) and the other sheet has between sixteen and twenty-four traces (referred to as Columns). In this way, an 8×16 or 8×24 matrix is formed, with each key or button corresponding to a single point in the matrix.
The keyboard matrix is connected to a main PCB with the keyboard controller (e.g., keyboard controller integrated circuit (IC)) using a compression contact. These compression contacts may be an inexpensive compression contact.
FIG. 1E illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional keyboard matrix coupled to the main keyboard PCB with the keyboard controller. The row traces on the lower side of the upper sheet contact with short traces on the upper side of the lower sheet, and these short connecting traces, and also the column traces on the lower sheet contact to carbon-printed pads on the controller PCB. Typically, a non-conducting rubber elastomer is situated in a groove in the keyboard enclosure, and the matrix sheets are laid over the elastomer (with the contacts on the lower sheet facing upwards). The PCB is placed over the contacts so that the carbon-printed contacts are facing down, making contact with the lower sheet contacts, and the PCB is screwed down with screws into the keyboard enclosure. By screwing down the PCB to the keyboard enclosure, the elastomer is under compression, making a pressure contact between the sheet contacts and the PCB contacts.
FIG. 1F illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional keyboard matrix coupled to the main keyboard PCB with the keyboard controller using anisotropic conductive adhesive. Contact between the PCB contacts of the main PCB and the sheet contacts are made disposing an anisotropic conductive adhesive between the PCB contacts and the sheet contacts. Anisotropic conductive adhesives only conduct in one direction, and effectively, behave like a connector in one direction (e.g., up/down), but not in the other directions (e.g., side/side and in/out). Anisotropic conductive adhesives are known by those of ordinary skill in the art, and accordingly, additional details regarding them have not been disclosed.
The construction of these conventional keyboard matrices are very inexpensive compared to the conventional circuit boards used for touchpads. For example, the cost of all 3 sheets together is typically around $0.40, with the area of each sheet being around 100 square inches. This compares with around $0.04 to $0.06 per square inch for a two-layer FR4 PCB and around $0.08 to $0.10 for a four-layer FR4 PCB. Accordingly, for a typical PC keyboard, with a 100 square inch matrix area, the total cost of a FR4 PCB is around $4.00 to $6.00 for a two-layer FR4 PCB and $8.00 to $10.00 for a four-layer FR4 PCB.
In addition, the construction of conventional touchpads is typically thicker than the thickness of the construction of keyboard matrices. This is due to the thickness of the conventional substrate(s) used for touchpads, such as FR4. Typical thicknesses of FR4 PCBs are 1.6 mm and 0.8 mm. FR4 PCBs have a thickness of 0.4 mm is somewhat more expensive, but becoming more widely used, especially in touchpad applications.
In another conventional design, a conventional touchpad can be implemented with a conventional keyboard matrix. Typically, both the conventional touchpad and conventional keyboard matrix each include separately circuit boards connected by an interconnecting wire.
FIG. 1G illustrates a conventional keyboard having a keyboard circuit board coupled to the keyboard matrix substrate. The conventional keyboard has a keyboard matrix substrate to which keyboard matrix traces are disposed to detect when a key of the keyboard has been pressed. The conventional keyboard also has a keyboard circuit board. A keyboard controller (e.g., keyboard controller IC) can be coupled to the substrate of the keyboard circuit board. The keyboard circuit board is coupled to a host via a cable.
FIG. 1H illustrates a system having a conventional keyboard coupled to a conventional touchpad. The conventional keyboard, as described above with respect to FIG. 1G, is coupled to a touchpad circuit board via an interconnecting cable. The touchpad circuit board is a separate circuit board from the circuit board of the keyboard circuit board. A touchpad controller (e.g., touchpad controller IC) can be coupled to the substrate of the touchpad circuit board, as described above, for example, on a back side of the substrate of a 2-layer touchpad.


A storage device system comprises interfaces connected to computers, a plurality of magnetic disks, and a control device that controls the plurality of magnetic disks. When a command from one of the computers instructing a tape library device to load a magnetic tape into a tape device is received by one of the interfaces, the control device selects a storage region that is managed as a virtual tape from among storage regions of the magnetic disks. When one of the interfaces receives an access request from the computer to the tape device, the control device controls to access the storage region selected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage device system used in information processing systems and computer systems, and especially to a virtual tape device and a virtual tape library device.
2. Related Background Art
Generally in computer systems, two types of storage media, magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, are used for data storage. Magnetic disks are devices in which data recorded at specified positions on magnetic disk devices can be directly accessed (i.e., random access), and are therefore used to record frequently used data. On the other hand, magnetic tapes are storage media in which data is written and read only in sequence from the beginning of the tapes (i.e., sequential access), and have therefore been used primarily for backup of data recorded on magnetic disks or for archiving old data to be stored long-term. The main reason for using magnetic tapes for backup and archiving purposes is that the bit cost of magnetic tapes is cheaper than that of magnetic disks, so that it costs less to store a large amount of data.
However, in recent years a rapid rise in the amount of data handled in computer systems has caused backup and restore processing to and from magnetic disks and magnetic tapes to take longer, such that making backups on magnetic tapes is beginning to be impractical. Backups are normally made when online operations do not take place, such as at night (off-line period); however, due to the fact that backups are taking too much time, there are instances where backup processing is not completed during off-line period. Furthermore, since the bit cost of magnetic disks are falling and approaching the bit cost of magnetic tapes, methods for using magnetic disks to store backup data are beginning to be considered.
For example, a device that uses a magnetic disk device and emulates a tape device has been proposed. With this device, when a command for the tape device is received from a host computer, the command is converted to a command for the magnetic disk, and data on the magnetic disk is accessed, such that the magnetic disk device can be used as a tape device. Such a device is called a virtual tape device.
The purpose of a virtual tape device is to be able to have such uses as making backups on virtual tape devices in existing computer environments that formerly used conventional tape devices, by replacing the conventional tape devices with virtual tape devices and without making any changes to host computers or backup software.
However, in such actual uses as making backups, a tape library device that maintains and manages a plurality of magnetic tapes also manages backups in many computer environments. In a backup operation to backup data that are distributed across a plurality of magnetic tapes, backup software operates the tape library device and thereby loads magnetic tapes into tape devices and replaces magnetic tapes without any human intervention. Consequently, in order to perform a backup processing that actually utilizes virtual tape devices in computer systems, a virtual library mechanism that realizes processing for loading virtual tape media into virtual tape devices and replacing virtual tapes is required.
The conventional technology teaches how to emulate a tape device but does not teach any technology regarding library mechanism, such as the operation of a library changer robot.
Furthermore, the virtual tape device only has functions of a tape device and cannot be used as a disk device. As a result, when making backups, data must be backed up on a virtual tape device from another disk device via a host computer. Consequently, even if the access speed of the magnetic disk is slightly faster than the access speed of the magnetic tape device, the backup speed does not improve significantly. Tape devices have reached higher read/write speeds especially in recent years, and this has made the performance of the tape devices comparable to the sequential read/write performance of disk devices. Consequently, even if a virtual tape device were used in place of a tape device, there would not be significant advantages in terms of performance.


Methods and apparatus for marshalling markup language objects into programming language objects in a scripting language runtime environment. A markup language integration method may be implemented in scripting runtime environments that allows the use of simple and complex markup language structures in scripts. At runtime of a script, only classes for the schema structures that are referenced by the script are generated. Document Object Model (DOM) objects may be incrementally constructed according to the schema structures referenced by the script, and bytecode may be generated corresponding to the schema structures according to class metadata for the schema structures. The bytecode may be dynamically linked in the runtime environment. The classes defined by the schema act as wrappers for the DOM objects; when an object is updated by the script, a corresponding DOM object is also updated. Type checking may be applied to catch script errors during development.

Scripting languages are programming languages that are interpreted at runtime rather than being precompiled as in compiled programming languages. For example, there are several conventional scripting languages for Java® technology environments, for example the Java® Runtime Environment (JRE®) in Java® Virtual Machine (JVM®) technology. Some examples of scripting languages for Java® technology (e.g., JVM®) environments include Groovy, Jruby, Scala, Fantom, and Jython (Python for JVM®). When executing scripts in a scripting language, there is often a need to bind markup language structures (e.g., Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema structures) to the programming language (e.g., the Java® programming language). Scripting languages may be used to develop scripting applications or scripting modules within applications.
While there are many conventional data binding frameworks for binding Extensible Markup Language (XML) structures to the Java® language (JiBX, Castor XML, JBind, XMLBeans and Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB®), among others), JAXB is generally considered the de facto Java® technology for binding XML structures to Java® classes. Generally, these conventional data binding frameworks operate by generating Java® classes from XML schema structures; the Java® classes are then compiled to generate Java® types that represents the schema structures. Typically, using these conventional data binding frameworks, Java® classes are generated for all the XML schema structures in a set of XML Schema Definition (XSD) files, even for XML schema structures that are not used in the code that is being compiled or script that is being interpreted. For example, in scripting languages, the XML schema structures needed by a script to be executed would generally be precompiled along with all other XML schema structures defined in a set of XSD files using a data binding framework (e.g., JAXB) prior to executing the script. This need to precompile the XML schema prior to executing a script may be an issue, particularly in design and development environments where the XML schema structures and the scripts may frequently be modified. Recompiling the entire XML schema every time the developer modifies the XML schema or the script can be very time consuming.
In addition, these data binding frameworks do not allow the manipulation of parsed Document Object Model (DOM) structures. For example, JAXB builds the object structure by parsing XML. JAXB does not transform directly from a DOM structure to the JAXB model, and thus cannot build the object tree directly from a parsed DOM structure. If a DOM structure is available, the DOM structure must be serialized (or marshaled) to generate XML, and then the XML is deserialized (or unmarshaled) to the JAXB model. This need for serialization and deserialization can also be very time consuming, especially in projects with large XML schemas.
Java, JRE, JVM, and JAXB are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries.


One or more devices may detect an indication of relevant multiple images of an environment of a vehicle. The indication may include at least one of input from a user of the vehicle, a set of instructions, or a threshold measurement by a sensor. The one or more devices may mark the multiple images of the environment as relevant. The one or more devices may identify corresponding types of one or more objects shown in the multiple images. The one or more devices may determine whether the multiple images show an occurrence of an event with respect to the one or more objects. Detection of the event may be based on determining corresponding locations of the one or more objects in relation to each other or to the vehicle. The one or more devices may perform, based on whether the multiple images show the occurrence of the event, one or more actions.

A dashcam is an onboard camera that continuously records images and/or video through a vehicle's front windshield or rear window. A vehicle may also include one or more integrated cameras that continuously record images and/or video associated with surroundings of the vehicle. Some dashcams and/or integrated cameras can send the images and/or video to another device wirelessly. In addition, some dashcams and/or integrated cameras gather various metrics related to a vehicle with which the dashcams and/or integrated cameras are associated, such as acceleration, deceleration, speed, steering angle, global positioning system (GPS) data, and/or the like.


A solid-state imaging device is provided and includes: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of photoelectric conversion films stacked above the semiconductor layer and absorbing different wavelength regions of light; and a transmission-blocking film at least one between the plurality of photoelectric conversion films, the transmission-blocking film blocking a transmission of a particular region of light, the particular region of light having a wavelength in a region to be absorbed in a photoelectric conversion film located above and nearest to the transmission-blocking film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device having a plurality of photoelectric conversion films stacked above a semiconductor substrate and for absorbing different wavelength portions of light.
2. Description of Related Art
There is proposed a solid-state imaging device having a semiconductor substrate over which are stacked, in a plurality of levels, photoelectric converters each including a photoelectric conversion film that absorbs light and generates an electric charge in an amount commensurate therewith, a pixel electrode film where to move, of the charges generated at the photoelectric conversion film, the charge for use in producing image data, and a counter electrode film provided opposite to the pixel electrode film with respect to the photoelectric conversion film (see JP-A-2002-83946, for example). JP-A-2002-83946 discloses a structure stacking, as a photoelectric converter, an R photoelectric converter including a photoelectric conversion film to detect red (R), a G photoelectric converter including a photoelectric conversion film to detect green (G) and a B photoelectric converter including a photoelectric conversion film to detect blue (B), in this order.
However, in the structure photoelectric conversion films are stacked as in the solid-state imaging device described in JP-A-2002-83946, the unabsorbed portion of light in the upper photoelectric conversion film is to enter the another photoelectric conversion film, thus raising a concern that color separation is not fully done.


A semiconductor component package comprises a metal plate and a synthetic resin housing or body. The plate is formed with an aperture by which it can be secured to a heat sink, generally a metal plate. Around the aperture is a weakened annular portion produced by shearing. When the package housing is secured to a surface which is not completely flat, mechanical stressing due to the tightening of the screw coupling is limited to the weakened annular portion and is not transmitted to the resin housing and to the elements therein.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and more particularly to a package housing for power transistors or power integrated circuits.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A typical package housing for power semiconductor devices is illustrated by the TO-220 package. This package housing comprises a metal plate partially embedded in a synthetic resin or plastic body exposing a major surface of the plate. One or more semiconductor chips forming the operative part of the device, are secured to the other major surface of the plate and are in good thermal contact therewith to ensure an external sink or dissipating element for the heat produced by the chip in operation. Rigid metal conductors serving as connecting terminals for the device are connected to metallized zones of the semiconductor chips by thin metal wires and are also partly embedded in the resin body. The unembedded part of the plate is formed with a through-hole enabling the plate to be secured to a heat dissipating element by a screw or rivet.
The known package housing of the kind described, although having many advantages over others of different types such as low production costs, do not ensure adequate mechanical strength in all applications. This disadvantage is principally the result of the fact that the metal and the resin (or plastic) used for the package housing have different physical characteristics from one another. The different physical characteristics prevent a completely rigid securing of the resin body to the metal plate. During some phases of the process for producing the package housing and, more particularly, when the device is secured to a heat dissipating element by the user, there is a risk of the semiconductor chip being subjected to mechanical stresses likely to damage it. This risk is very high when the package housing is screwed to a dissipating element which is not completely flat, or which is slightly concave.
Various solutions for the problem have been proposed. For instance, an attempt has been made to use an intermediate layer of a material which adheres well both to the resin and to the metal and which is highly resilient. The different expansions of the metal plate and of the resin body are thus compensated for and the mechanical stresses transmitted to the semiconductor chip are reduced. It has also been proposed to use claws or grooves or through-holes in the metal plate to improve the securing of the resin body to the metal plate. However, solutions of this kind do not always solve the problem. In addition, these solutions complicate the devices and manufacturing processes and therefore increase the cost of the resulting electronic component.

Method and apparatus for improving thermal coupling between a cooling plate of a semiconductor package housing and a heat sink


Polycrystalline cerium oxide powder in the form of aggregates of primary particles with a specific surface of between 70 and 150 m2/g, an average primary particle diameter of between 5 and 20 nm and an average, projected aggregate diameter of between 20 and 100 nm. It is produced in that an aerosol is reacted in a flame obtained from a hydrogen-containing combustible gas and primary air and the solid obtained is then separated from the gaseous substances.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a cerium oxide powder, a method for producing the powder, and the use thereof.
2. Description of the Background
Owing to its extraordinary properties as an abrasive and catalyst material, there are numerous patent applications and journal articles on the production of cerium oxide powders. Cerium oxide is generally produced by the calcination of cerium hydroxides or cerium carbonates. The calcined oxides are then ground and sieved. Another way of synthesising cerium oxide consists in hydrothermal synthesis, as described e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,352. Here, cerium(III) salts are converted oxidatively, under the influence of temperature and pressure, to cerium oxide, which crystallises out in the form of fine particles. Of particular interest are spray pyrolysis methods, in which a cerium oxide precursor, generally in the form of an aerosol, is oxidised in a flame. A method of this type is described e.g. in EP-A-1142830.
Pratsinis et al. in J. Mater. Res., vol. 17, pages 1356-1362 (2002), describe the production of cerium oxide powder of high crystallinity by flame spray pyrolysis of cerium acetate solutions in solvent mixtures of acetic acid, iso-octane and 2-butanol by oxidation using oxygen in an oxygen/methane flame. The solvent mixture is essential for the production of a cerium oxide powder that is free from, or substantially free from, coarser particles. Acetic acid alone leads to powders with a coarse portion. Particularly advantageous in achieving a fine particle size powder that is free from coarse portions is an increase in the cerium oxide precursor flow rate and a reduction in the oxygen flow. The average particle size is derived from the XRD spectrum. Especially the feed of iso-octane, with its high combustion enthalpy and a high evaporation/combustion rate, is said to reduce the proportion of coarser particles. It is stated that the specific surface of the cerium oxide particles, which can be between 101 and 240 m2/g, can be altered by varying the ratio of cerium oxide precursor and oxygen. An increase in the precursor feed rate with constant oxygen flow is said to lead to an increase in the particle size, an increase in the oxygen flow with constant precursor feed rate to a reduction in the particle size.
Only an average primary particle size can be taken from the document. No information is given as to how these are distributed. From the TEM photograph on page 1357 it can be seen that the primary particles of the fine portion have fused together into aggregates, which have a high degree of aggregation. It is known to the person skilled in the art that precisely aggregates of this type can be dispersed only with difficulty. Especially when the cerium oxide is used as an abrasive in dispersions, this can lead to scratches on the surface to be polished and to uneven removal. In addition, dispersions containing cerium oxide particles of this type often exhibit only low stability with respect to sedimentation.
The pore sizes and their distribution are an important feature when cerium oxide powders are used in catalytic processes. The cerium oxide powder produced by Pratsinis et. al. has a bimodal pore size distribution, wherein 10% of the pores are smaller than 10 nm.
Furthermore, the process described only enables small quantities of cerium oxide (range approx. 10 g/h) to be produced and is thus not very economical. No options are given for scaling up the process. Furthermore, the use of methane and iso-octane as combustible gas leads to a high proportion of carbon in the reaction mixture. Thus, the risk of cerium oxide being contaminated with carbon is also increased.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,780 claims a dispersion containing cerium oxide for the polishing of semiconductor substrates, wherein the cerium oxide is present in the form of aggregated crystalline particles with a crystallite size of no more than 30 nm. No production process for the cerium oxide particles and the cerium oxide-containing dispersion is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,269 claims an abrasive containing a cerium oxide grain, which is obtained by oxidation of a water-insoluble, trivalent cerium salt dispersed in water. The cerium oxide has a specific surface of between 50 and 500 m2/g and a density of 0.8-1.3 g/ml. The size of the cerium oxide primary grain is no more than 10 nm, the size of the cerium oxide secondary grain, which is formed by aggregation from the primary grains, is less than 1 μm. The secondary grains have a perimeter that is free from edges and has an angle of less than 120°. The cerium oxide grain has a main signal in the X-ray powder diffractogram with a half width of no less than 0.4° and no more than 0.5°. In addition, it is an essential feature that the material is not completely crystallised. This is said to display advantages in the polishing of semiconductor substrates.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,118 claims a dispersion containing cerium oxide particles of low crystallinity, which consists of primary particles with an average diameter of 30 to 250 nm. The cerium oxide particles in the dispersion have an average diameter of 150 to 600 nm. The cerium oxide particles are obtained by combustion of cerium carbonate.
In the German patent application number DE 10251029.6 of 02.11.2002, a pyrogenically produced cerium oxide powder with a specific surface of 15 to 200 m2/g is claimed, which consists of a coarse portion of crystalline, non-aggregated particles with an average diameter of between 30 and 200 nm and of a fine portion in the form of aggregates of fine crystalline, fused primary particles with an average aggregate diameter of 5 to 50 nm. It is produced in that at least one compound capable of being converted into cerium oxide by oxidation is fed into a flame, which is produced from a hydrogen-containing combustible gas, preferably hydrogen, and an excess of air or an air/oxygen mixture, and is reacted there. The discharge velocity of the fluid droplets from the atomizer unit into the reaction chamber is greater than 70 m/s here and the velocity of the reaction mixture in the reaction chamber is between 0.5 and 2 m/s. The flame has an oxygen excess, expressed as a lambda value, of at least 1.6.
From WO 01/36332 the production of cerium oxide particles is known. The cerium oxide particles are produced in a high-temperature reaction zone, generally a flame, by oxidation of cerium salt solutions, which are fed into the reaction zone in the form of fine droplets. In this way, aggregates are obtained which consist substantially of approximately spherical primary particles. At least some of these aggregates have a cenospherical structure with an aggregate size of 1 to 20 μm. In addition, the cerium oxide composition may also contain aciniform (grape-like) aggregates with an average aggregate diameter of less than 500 nm. A cerium oxide composition in which the cenospherical aggregates predominate is preferred. A disadvantage of this cerium oxide composition is that the cenospherical aggregates are unstable and friable, and can therefore disintegrate in an irregular manner in applications in which energy has to be applied, e.g. shear energy, during incorporation into dispersions. Furthermore, the fragments obtained after dispersion can lead to an undesirable, non-uniform, unpredictable particle size distribution in the dispersion.
On the one hand, there remains a keen interest in cerium oxide, and on the other hand it becomes clear that even small changes in the way in which the reaction is conducted lead to a material with different properties.
In particular, dispersions containing cerium oxide play an important part in the polishing of semiconductor substrates (CMP, chemical-mechanical polishing). With the increasing miniaturization of components, the polishing operation is of central importance.


The present invention provides techniques for controlling the functionality of a network processor and for facilitating integration of the network processor with a host system. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided which can be invoked by the host system for performing device level functions on the network processor. The APIs are provided by a device control module which may execute either on the host system or on the network processor. A host application may invoke an API and the function corresponding to the invoked API is performed by the network processor. Responses or results from the function execution may then be forwarded by the network processor to the host application.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the xerographic reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention is generally related to the networking field and more particularly to techniques for providing application user interfaces (APIs) for controlling the functionality of network processors.
The communication industry has experienced explosive growth stemming from increased demand for information and connectivity by both individual consumers and corporations. Due to the proliferation of the personal computer and the rise of communication networks, such as the Internet, there is an ever increasing need for faster communication between computers using efficient networks. In order to accommodate this explosive growth, carriers and backbone providers are rapidly introducing network infrastructures which offer exponentially more bandwidth and information carrying capacity than in the past.
In order to meet the growing demand for speed and bandwidth, network devices such as client computer systems, servers, hubs, routers, switches, network backbones, network processors, etc., are being forced to offer a wide range of services to meet consumer demands. These network processors have to be capable of supporting a plethora of emerging communication standards, transport protocols, and increased performance requirements. These network processors also have to perform a plurality of tasks such as performing translation between different network standards such as Ethernet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), reformatting of data, traffic scheduling, routing of data cells, packets, messages, etc.
Although network processors now provide more services, the success or failure of these network processors depends largely on how easily they can be integrated with and controlled by a host device such as a computer. Due to the differing requirements of host applications, it is desired that the network processors provide facilities to perform control functions and network management functions both at a higher level of control and also at a more granular device level. Further, it is desired that the network processors provide facilities allowing host applications to make full use of the resources and services offered by the various existing and emerging networking standards.
According to the teachings of the present invention, techniques are provided for controlling the functionality of a network processor and for facilitating integration of the network processor with a host system or an application executing on the host system. The present invention provides application programming interfaces (APIs) which can be invoked by the host system or the host application for performing functions on the network processor. The APIs provided by the present invention allow a host to efficiently use resources and services offered by the network processor.
According to an aspect of the present invention, APIs are provided for controlling the network processor at a device level. These APIs offer fine-grained control of the network processor. In one embodiment, these APIs are provided by a device control module which may execute either on the host system or on the network processor. A host application may invoke an API and the function corresponding to the invoked API is performed by the network processor. Responses or results from the function execution may then be forwarded by the network processor to the host application.
According to another aspect of the present invention, APIs are provided for performing a plurality of device level functions. Examples of these functions include rest and initialization functions, configuration functions, diagnostic functions, buffer management functions, functions for handling virtual connections, functions for receiving and transmitting packets, dynamic memory access functions, and functions for controlling physical devices.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying figures.

Method and apparatus for issuing commands to a network processor configured to provide a plurality of APIs


An implantable medical device, such as a heart pacemaker, or defibrillator, has a welded capsule housing which is filled with a gas mixture containing helium, the helium permitting the detection of leaks in the capsule housing. To improve the electrical insulating properties, the remaining gas of the mixture is selected from a group of gases having electrically insulating properties, such as nitrogen, sulfur hexafluoride, carbon dioxide, or halogenated hydrocarbons.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an implantable medical device of the type having a welded capsule housing which is filled with a gas mixture, and to a method for manufacturing such a device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In known heart pacemakers, the pacemaker electronics is arranged in a hermetically closed capsule housing, which is filled with a gas mixture of helium and argon. As disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,424, helium is especially well suited for detecting leaks in the capsule housing, due to its extremely small molecules. Argon, by contrast, is preferably employed as a protective gas when welding the capsule housing, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,956. The known helium-argon gas mixture, however, has relatively poor electrical insulating properties.
A method for manufacturing a film capacitor having a capsule housing filled with an insulating gas such as sulfur hexafluoride, nitrogen or carbon dioxide is disclosed in Japanese Application 55 099 713. A capsule housing for ultra-high frequency circuits whose parts are welded together in a helium-nitrogen atmosphere is disclosed in French Patent 2 648 275. Neither of these publications, however, is directed to an solving the aforementioned problems in the context of an implantable medical device.

Implantable medical device and method for the manufacture thereof


A packaging device including a filling unit for transporting a filling material, a filling tube connected to said filling unit, for introducing the filling material supplied by the filling unit into a tubular casing and for ejecting the filling material located in the casing, a clipping unit disposed in the direction of transport of the filling unit, for constricting the casing at a predetermined position and for closing the casing with at least one closure element, a sensor unit disposed between the filling unit and the filling tube, for detecting impurities in the filling material and for emitting a detection signal to a control unit, wherein the control unit has a control connection to the clipping unit. The invention also relates to a method for controlling a packaging device.

The present invention relates to a packaging device, and in particular to a packaging device in which a filling material is introduced into a tubular casing, and to a method for controlling a packaging device.
A packaging device known from practice, in which a filling material is introduced into a tubular casing, is shown in FIG. 3. Such a packaging device can be used to produce sausages, for example.
The packaging device in FIG. 3 comprises a mostly funnel-shaped filling container or storage container for the liquid, pasty and/or granular filling material, which may, for example, be sausage meat for producing sausages. The filling material 2 is supplied to a filling unit 4. Filling unit 4, also referred to as a filler, causes filling material 2 to be ejected via a connecting pipe 5 to a valve unit 6. A filling tube 7, on which a tubular casing 8 closed at one end by means of a closure element is arranged, is connected to valve unit 6. Casing 8 is pulled in folded form from a respective supply onto at least one part of filling tube 7, and the casing end with the closure is pulled over the end of filling tube 7.
If, during operation of the packaging device, filling material 2 is transported under a predetermined pressure from storage container 1 in the direction of filling tube 7 by means of filling unit 4, then the filling material 2 is introduced into casing 8. That part of casing 8 which is filled with the filling material 2 is transported to a clipping unit 9 disposed in the direction of flow of the filling material.
Portioning is carried out in clipping unit 9 according to a predetermined filling capacity (portion size, product size) in casing 8, by the filling material being displaced in a predetermined region of casing 8 by displacement devices (not shown in FIG. 3), and by the clipping unit 9 placing two spaced-apart closure elements (not shown), such as clips, in the resultant displacement region which is in the form of an unstuffed tress, such that casing 8 is closed and the constricted part of casing 8 can be severed between the closure elements.
The individual sausage products are removed after they leave clipping unit 9, and are transported for further processing to the respective processing positions.
The packaging device further comprises a sensor unit 10, which is provided in the form of a detector for detecting impurities in filling material 2. In particular, any pieces of metal that have been undesirably introduced into filling material 2 are detected. Sensor unit 10 emits a corresponding detection signal, which is supplied to a central control unit 11 for further processing and evaluation.
When filling material 2 is being processed, and particularly during mixing and comminution of components of filling material 2, it is possible, for example, that parts of the metal tools for comminuting the components of filling material 2 can be damaged and break off. The pieces of metal which have broken off, for example parts made of light metal such as aluminum, or made of steel, are transported in the volumetric flow of filling material 2, the direction of volumetric flow in FIG. 3 being indicated by respective arrows 12 in connecting pipe 5.
If, during operation of the packaging device, filling material 2 is contaminated by such metal parts, then these metal parts may end up in the finished product (for example in a sausage), which means that the product may be hazardous for the final consumer eating the product. Such metal parts are likewise hazardous in view of the fact that the product packaged in portions in casing 8, for example, is further processed in another processing operation. In that case, apparatus and machinery provided for further processing may be damaged.
The pre-processed filling material 2 stored in container 1 is fed past the sensor unit 10 into the connecting pipe 5 under a pressure produced by filling unit 4, such that a metal part can be detected by means of the relevant known measurement methods.
If a metallic impurity in filling material 2 is detected by sensor unit 10, control unit 11 emits a corresponding alarm for the operator of the packaging device and induces shut-down of filling unit 4, so that no further filling material 2 is transported in an uncontrolled manner in the direction of valve unit 6 and filling tube 7, and hence to prevent the impurity from entering the finished product.
After a metallic impurity has been detected in filling material 2, it is necessary for measures to be carried out manually by an operator. After detection of the metal impurity by sensor unit 10 and shut-down of the filling unit 4 by operating personnel, or automatically, valve unit 6 may be switched such that any filling material 2 transported to valve unit 6 is not fed to filling tube 7 but to a discharge pipe 13 and that filling unit 4 is manually operated for a predetermined duration, and that the part of filling material 2 which contains the metal impurity is ejected via discharge pipe 13 into an appropriate container 14. The amount of filling material 2 to be ejected, i.e. the amount of filling material 2 that is not fed to filling tube 7 and hence for processing into the final product, but instead is discharged into container 14, depends on the stuffing speed resulting from the volumetric flow generated by filling unit 4. In general, a relatively large amount of filling material 2 is ejected, in order to be certain that the metal impurity is ejected.
The filling material 2 thought to contain the metallic impurity is thus ejected in a time-dependent manner according to an adjustable time associated with the predefined volumetric flow rate of filling unit 4, on the one hand, or ejection can be carried out in such a way that the ejected amount corresponds to a number of portions set on filling unit 4 (pre-adjusted amount of product).
It is also possible that direct ejection is not carried out after a metallic impurity is detected by sensor unit 10, but that connecting pipe 5 and valve unit 6 are manually cleaned instead. To do this, the device must be partially disassembled manually and re-assembled. After operation of the entire portioning and packaging device is temporarily discontinued, it is also necessary to put the device back into operation.
However, such handling is very laborious and time-consuming and leads to the undesirable and protracted stoppage of the device. Manual intervention is also required, wherein disassembly and re-assembly of the device or at least parts thereof can be dangerous for the operating personnel.
Ejecting part of filling material 2 after detection of a metallic impurity means increased loss of filling material, since a larger amount of filling material must be ejected to ensure that the contaminated filling material is definitely ejected. Hence, in addition to the extended period that operation of the device is discontinued, substantial amounts of filling material 2 are also lost.

Packaging equipment and process for controlling of the packaging equipment


A board assembly includes a panel and a frame. The frame has a generally annular shape and includes first and second sections. The panel is retained between the first and second sections. The frame also includes a snap-fit device positioned on at least one of the first and second sections for attaching the second section to the first section, thereby facilitating the assembly of the panel with the frame. The frame also includes a plurality of storage pockets formed therewithin for receiving a writing instrument in different orientations.

Conventional dry-erase boards (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,987,825, Des. 402,696 and Des. 402,697) have erasable surfaces for writing notes, messages and the like. These boards are adapted to be hung easily from many different types of supporting surfaces, such as a refrigerator door, a wall, etc., and are in wide use at homes and offices.
A conventional dry-erase board includes a frame and a substantially rigid panel having a dry-erase writing surface. More particularly, the panel is typically glued to the frame. Due to the time required for applying and curing the glue, it takes a relatively large amount of time to construct the board, thereby rendering its assembly inefficient and/or costly. Other types of board assemblies, such as picture/photograph frames, poster boards, push-pin boards, etc., utilize comparable mechanisms (e.g., glue, nails, staples and screws) for mounting panels to associated frames and therefore suffer from similar problems. As a result, there is a need for an improved board assembly adapted for quick and easy construction.
In addition to the frame and panel, the conventional dry-erase board is provided with a holder for storing a writing instrument, such as a dry-erase marker. Typically, the holder is in the form of a clip mounted to the frame. Other types of holding mechanisms have also been developed. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. Des 402,696 discloses a dry-erase board frame having a plurality of slots for receiving and retaining a writing instrument therein. While these holding mechanisms are relatively cost-effective, there is a need for an improved holding mechanism for enhancing the functionality and/or appearance of the dry-erase board.


The invention provides an electro-optical device having circuits for driving electro-optical elements, such as organic EL elements, and a driving device, which can employ driving elements having low driving ability, such as α-TFTs. By providing a charge storage capacitor between the source electrode and the gate electrode of a driving transistor which is between power sources, the electro-optical device can allow the driving transistor to control a driving current, even when an electro-optical element is connected to the source side of the driving transistor. In addition, driving data can be stored in the charge storage capacitor by applying a predetermined voltage to the source electrode of the driving transistor.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an electro-optical device for performing display in information instruments such as televisions or computers. More specifically, the invention relates to a driving device for driving electro-optical elements such as organic electroluminescent elements.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent, since organic EL display devices have features as light weight, small thickness, high brightness, and wide viewing angle, the organic EL display devices had been paid attention to as monitor displays of portable information instruments, such as mobile phones. A typical active matrix organic EL display device has a construction that images are displayed through a plurality of display pixels arranged in a matrix. In the display pixels, a pixel circuit can be provided every pixel that is a minimum unit for display. The pixel circuits are circuits for controlling currents or voltages to be supplied to electro-optical elements.
In such an organic EL display device, a plurality of scanning lines are arranged along the rows of the display pixels, a plurality of data lines are arranged along the columns of the display pixels, and a plurality of pixel switches are arranged in the vicinity of intersections between the scanning lines and the data lines. Each display pixel comprises at least an organic EL element, a driving transistor connected in series to the organic EL element between a pair of power terminals, and a storage capacitor for holding a gate voltage of the driving transistor. The selecting switch of each pixel is electrically conducted in response to a scan signal supplied from the corresponding scanning line, and applies an image signal (voltage or current) supplied from the corresponding data line directly or a gray scale voltage as a result of correcting deviation in characteristics of the pixel circuit to the gate electrode of the driving transistor. The driving transistor supplies a driving current corresponding to the gray scale voltage to the organic EL element.
The organic EL element has a structure in which a light-emitting layer that is a thin film including a fluorescent organic compound of red, green or blue is inserted and held between a common electrode (cathode) and a pixel electrode (anode), generates exitons by injecting electrons and holes in the light-emitting layer and recombining them, and emits light by light emission occurring due to deactivation of the exitons. In a bottom emission type organic EL element, the electrode thereof is a transparent electrode made of ITO, etc., and the common electrode (cathode) is formed out of a reflecting electrode in which a resistance of an alkali metal is decreased using metal such as aluminum, etc. As a result, with an applied voltage of 10 V or less, a luminance of about 100 to 100,000 cd/m2 can be obtained from the organic EL element itself.
Each pixel circuit of the aforementioned organic EL display device can include thin film transistors (TFTs) as active elements, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-107561. The thin film transistor is formed out of, for example, a low-temperature polysilicon TFT.

Electro-optical device and driving device thereof


Methods, devices and systems for measuring emotions expressed by computing emoji responses to videos are described. An example method includes receiving user input corresponding to an emoji at a selected time, assigning at least one meaning-bearing word to the emoji, wherein the at least one meaning-bearing word has an intended use or meaning that is represented by the emoji, associating a corresponding vector with the at least one meaning-bearing word, wherein the corresponding vector is a vector of a plurality of vectors in a vector space, and aggregating the plurality of vectors to generate an emoji vector that corresponds to the user sentiment.

Measuring people's emotions and their emotional association with their work and careers is a complex and vibrant area of research. Different methodologies, including surveys, questionnaires and pop-up questions, have been traditionally used by human resources to ascertain an employee's sentiments and to address workplace issues. These traditional methodologies suffer from several drawbacks that include failing to capture the sentiment of the employee, a lack of anonymity, and reduced efficacy due to the limited number of questions typically used.

Generating sentiment metrics using emoji selections


The present invention relates to a heat-generating composition, comprising a hetero-structure nanomaterial which comprises (a) a first material comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of a metal, a metal chalcogen, a metal pnicogen, an alloy and a multi-component hybrid structure thereof; and (b) a second material comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of metal, metal chalcogen, metal pnicogen, alloy and the multi-component hybrid structure thereof; wherein the first material is enclosed in the second material; wherein at least one of the first material and the second material comprise a magnetic material. The specific loss power of the present nanomaterial is much higher than that of conventional nanomaterials (e.g., 40-fold higher than commercially accessible Feridex) and may be controlled by changing compositions or ratios of the first material and/or the second material. The heat-generating nanomaterial of the present invention may be used in a variety of application fields, for example cancer hyperthermia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-generating nanomaterials having a hetero-structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nanomaterials have new physiochemical characteristics different from bulk materials due to their minute size. The intensive researches for the nanomaterials permit nanomaterials to be precisely controlled in their composition and shape as well as the size, enabling that the physiochemical properties in a nano-region can be controlled like those in a bulk-region. Using these novel properties, the nanomaterials has been currently utilized in a variety of applications such as catalysts for chemical reactions, fabrication of next generation nanodevices, development of new sources of energy, and cancer diagnosis and therapy in combination with a biomedical science (nano-medicine).
Of them, magnetic nanomaterials generate heat under a magnetic field of high frequency by (a) Brownian relaxation caused by rotation of nanomaterials dispersed in a liquid solution and (b) Neel relaxation caused from energy barrier of internal spin of nanomaterials (E=KV, where K is the anisotropy constant and V is the volume of the nanomaterial) due to their unique magnetic property (J. Mater. Chem., 2004, 14, 2161-2175). Using heat generated thus, the magnetic nanomaterials may be applied to a multitude of heat-generating devices or technologies. Specially, in medical area, heat generated from the magnetic materials under a magnetic field of high frequency has been used in hyperthermia for various diseases and disorders such as cancer.
Heat generated by magnetic nanomaterials may be quantitated by a specific loss power (SLP). As referred to R. E. Rosensweig J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 2002, 252, 370-374, the value of specific loss power was determined according to various factors of materials, in particular a spin anisotropy and a saturation magnetism (Ms).
In this context, various research groups have made intensive studies to develop nanomaterials having higher specific loss power. Up to date, the applicable fields of heat generation using nanomaterials are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,479 discloses a hyperthermia agent for malignant tumors comprising the magnetic fine particles such as ferrite, magnetite or permalloy.
US Pat. Appln. No. 2005-0090732 discloses a targeted thermotherapy using an iron oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,039 discloses a hyperthermia method using an iron oxide coated by a silica or polymer.
WO2006/102307 discloses a method for hyperthermia using the magnetic nanoparticle in which a core coated with a noble metal is surrounded by other organic shell, followed by packing with an antibody or a fluorescent material.
However, the nanoparticles disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,479 and US Pat. Appln. No. 2005-0090732 are related to a cancer therapy using magnetic nanoparticles with a single structure. In addition, it is one of the purposes of the above-mentioned patents to develop a therapeutic agent for target a cancer by attaching targeting substances to conventional magnetic materials, instead of increasing the specific loss power of magnetic nanoparticles.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,039 and WO2006/102307, the heat-generating nanoparticle coated with multiple shells is provided but the components of shells are unlikely to contribute to enhancement of the specific loss power of magnetic nanoparticles.
The main reason why there is limitations on the increase in the specific loss power of nanoparticles is because most of researches on physiochemical characteristics of nanomaterials is focused on the controlling their size, shape and/or composition of simple structural nanomaterials. Therefore, these nanomaterials with a simple structure have serious limitations in their function or stability. As an alternative to overcome the drawbacks, the hetero-structure nanocomplex has been provided to have a high- and multi-functionality remarkably better than simple structural nanomaterials. For example, CdSe@ZnS (Nano Lett. 2001, 1, 207-211) or CdSe@CdS (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 7019-7029) nanocomplex has an increased optical property and stability compared to simple structural nanomaterials. In addition, FePt@Fe3O4 (Nano Lett. 2004, 4, 187-190) nanocomplex has novel magnetic properties. As such, the hetero-structure nanocomplex exhibits new optical, magnetic and chemical characteristics due to interactions between its components, not observed in simple structural nanomaterials.
As described above, a number of studies for hyperthermia using magnetic materials have been attempted; however the magnetic nanomaterials used so far had some limitations in the increase of the value of specific loss power due to their restricted physiochemical characteristics. Accordingly, the present invention may be suggested as a new alternative since a hetero-structure nanomaterial in the present invention shows a dramatic heat-generating effect.
Throughout this application, various publications and patents are referred and citations are provided in parentheses. The disclosures of these publications and patents in their entities are hereby incorporated by references into this application in order to fully describe this invention and the state of the art to which this invention pertains.

Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University


A display device and a method for manufacturing the display device are disclosed. An edge region of the display panel of the display device includes a first region in which an exposed connection line pattern is provided and a second region in which no connection line pattern is provided, and an electrostatic layer is attached to the edge region; wherein the electrostatic shielding layer comprises an insulating material region and a conductive material region, the insulating material region contacting the first region and the conductive material region contacting the second region.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) tends to do harm to and damage film integrated circuit (FIC) products. For a display device, the driver IC is an important circuit component. In practical applications, due to the requirements of the manufacturing process, a layer of sensitive adhesive (photoresist) is coated on a region of metal terminals of the driver chip. The photoresist prevents the metal terminals from being in contact with the conductor which causes a short circuit. However, as the photoresist is transparent, it is difficult to check its surface smoothness, and further, its anti-ESD effect is not good.
However, at present, the anti-ESD capability of the driver chip has become one of the important factors in measuring the ESD resistance of mobile terminals. For example, specs of anti-ESD for the driver chips anti-ESD in current market is 2 kV or so, but due to the usual technical constraints, the minimum authentication standard for mobile terminals (usually 6˜8 kV) cannot be satisfied, resulting in the overall performance of the display products deteriorated.

Display device and manufacturing method thereof

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


Provided herein are compositions and methods for generating polypeptides using non-natural amino acids (nnAAs) and genetic machinery, wherein the modified polypeptides, such as therapeutic polypeptides, bind to albumin, such as serum albumin. Methods of substituting a non-natural amino acid in a first polypeptide to obtain a modified polypeptide, the nnAA in some instances comprising an albumin targeting group, are disclosed, as are methods for making populations of such modified polypeptides. A therapeutic polypeptide, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) is exemplified using the disclosed methods.

More than one hundred therapeutic proteins are used currently to treat cancer, immune diseases, and diabetes, among other disorders, and hundreds more are in clinical trials (Dimitrov D S. Therapeutic Proteins. In: Therapeutic Proteins: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, Editor: Voynov V, Caravella J A. Springer Science+Business Media; 2012. p. 1-26). Antibodies comprise half of the market of currently prescribed therapeutic peptides. In part, the utility of antibodies derives from their relatively long serum half-lives compared to other peptides and proteins, which are generally cleared and/or metabolized quickly. Such rapid clearance often dictates aggressive dosing schedules for non-antibody therapeutic proteins, which can increase the risk of side effects, shrink the therapeutic window, and have a negative impact upon patient compliance. For example, Kineret® (anakinra), a 17 kD therapeutic protein currently prescribed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, is administered by daily subcutaneous injection (70-100 mg, 1-2 mg/kg) over several months. Peak anakinra serum concentrations occur at ˜6 h after injection.
Several strategies are currently employed to extend the serum lifetime of therapeutic peptides and proteins (Pollaro L, Heinis C. Strategies to prolong the plasma residence time of peptide drugs. MedChemComm. 2010; 1, 319-24), including alteration of peptide sequence and secondary structure to minimize protease activity (Timmerman P et al. Functional reconstruction and synthetic mimicry of a conformational epitope using CLIPS™ technology. J Mol Recognit. 2007; 20, 283-99; Houston M E et al. Lactam Bridge Stabilization of α-Helices: The Role of Hydrophobicity in Controlling Dimeric versus Monomeric α-Helices. Biochemistry (Mosc). 1996; 35, 10041-50; Sim S, et al. Directional Assembly of α-Helical Peptides Induced by Cyclization. J Am Chem Soc. 2012; 134, 20270-2) and PEGylation (Veronese F M. Peptide and protein PEGylation: a review of problems and solutions. Biomaterials. 2001; 22, 405-17; Jevševar S, et al. PEGylation of therapeutic proteins. Biotechnology Journal. 2010; 5, 113-28; Greenwald R B, et al. Effective drug delivery by PEGylated drug conjugates. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews. 2003; 55, 217-50; Xue X, et al Phenyl Linker-Induced Dense PEG Conformation Improves the Efficacy of C-Terminally MonoPEGylated Staphylokinase. Biomacromolecules. 2013; 14, 331-41) to limit globular filtration. A more promising, and potentially generalizable, approach is to introduce human serum albumin (HSA) targeting elements into the protein (Kratz F. Albumin as a drug carrier: Design of prodrugs, drug conjugates and nanoparticles. J Controlled Release. 2008; 132, 171-83; Dennis M S, et al. Albumin Binding as a General Strategy for Improving the Pharmacokinetics of Proteins. J Biol Chem. 2002; 277, 35035-43). Albumin targeting is currently accomplished either by genetic engineering or post-translational bioconjugation strategies. Genetically encoded albumin-targeting peptides (AlbudAb™ (O'Connor-Semmes R L, et al. GSK2374697, a Novel Albumin-Binding Domain Antibody (AlbudAb), Extends Systemic Exposure of Exendin-4: First Study in Humans-PK/PD and Safety. Clin Pharmacol Ther (N Y, N.Y., U S). 2014; 96, 704-12; WO2010108937A2; Holt Li, et al. Anti-serum albumin domain antibodies for extending the half-lives of short lived drugs. Protein Eng, Des Sel. 2008; 21, 283-8; Holt U, et al. Domain antibodies: proteins for therapy. Trends Biotechnol. 2003; 21, 484-90) and others (Dennis, 2002, supra; Langenheim J F, Chen W Y. Improving the pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of prolactin, GH, and their antagonists by fusion to a synthetic albumin-binding peptide. J Endocrinol. 2009; 203, 375-87) can be incorporated in a highly controlled fashion to extend the serum lifetime of therapeutic peptides, but this improvement in pharmacokinetic properties (PK) comes at the cost of a relatively large perturbation to the native protein structure. In contrast, post-translational modification of proteins can introduce relatively small albumin targeting molecules, but this approach can yield heterogeneous mixtures that are often difficult to characterize fully, and include macromolecular species with potentially widely varying PK and target affinity.
Significant progress toward the control of post-translational modification is possible with the introduction of genetically encoded "clickable" amino acids (Kurra Y, et al. Two Rapid Catalyst-Free Click Reactions for In Vivo Protein Labeling of Genetically Encoded Strained Alkene/Alkyne Functionalities. Bioconjugate Chem. 2014; 25, 1730-8; Milles S, et al. Click Strategies for Single-Molecule Protein Fluorescence. J Am Chem Soc. 2012; 134, 5187-95; Hertweck C. Biosynthesis and Charging of Pyrrolysine, the 22nd Genetically Encoded Amino Acid. Angew Chem, Int Ed. 2011; 50, 9540-1; Plass T, et al. Genetically Encoded Copper-Free Click Chemistry. Angew Chem, Int Ed. 2011; 50, 3878-81, S/1-S/13; Nguyen D P, et al. Genetic encoding and labeling of aliphatic azides and alkynes in recombinant proteins via a pyrrolysyl-tRNA Synthetase/tRNA(CUA) pair and click chemistry. J Am Chem Soc. 2009; 131, 8720-1), but this approach has inherent weaknesses for therapeutic protein development: the chemistry used to "click" on the albumin targeting group needs to be extremely efficient, and methods are required to separate the functionalized protein from those featuring unreacted or partially degraded side chains. Despite vast improvements in bioconjugation using click chemistry, generalizable reagents and reactions conditions required to meet these criteria are still lacking (Reddington S C, et al. Residue choice defines efficiency and influence of bioorthogonal protein modification via genetically encoded strain promoted Click chemistry. Chem Commun (Cambridge, U K). 2012; 48, 8419-21).
An ideal solution to the albumin-targeting problem for therapeutic proteins would maintain the control of the genetic approach, cause a minimal structural perturbation characteristic of a small molecule albumin targeting tag, and not require any post-translational protein modification.

Functionally modified polypeptides and radiobiosynthesis


A cockpit cross beam for a motor vehicle includes at least one structured metal section arranged on the driver's side, wherein the metal section exhibits cross-sectional areas varying in the axial direction and has connection elements for connecting the metal section to other structural parts of a motor vehicle body. A cockpit cross beam that permits variable steering column angles of inclination with identical steering column connection is achieved in that the metal section arranged on the driver's side in each case has rotationally symmetric cross-sectional areas as connection elements at its ends and the cross-sectional areas of the ends have a common rotational axis.

Cockpit cross beams for motor vehicles which consist of a plurality of hollow sections are known from the prior art, wherein a larger-dimensioned hollow section is generally provided on the driver's side, since the steering column connection is provided on the driver's side and therewith greater forces act on the cockpit cross beam in the event of an accident. A corresponding cockpit cross beam, for example, is known from the German published patent application DE 198 45 146. It consists of a metal section provided on the driver's side and a metal section arranged on the front passenger's side. This cockpit cross beam is problematic in that it can only be used for one specific motor vehicle type. This relates in particular to the design of the cockpit cross beam within the region of the steering column connection, since each motor vehicle type has different angles of inclination for the steering columns. The angle of inclination of the steering column to the horizontal can vary between 10 and 50° depending on motor vehicle type. The cockpit cross beam therefore on the driver's side is specifically designed to provide the steering column angle of inclination. Each motor vehicle type therefore needs its specific cockpit cross beam and corresponding tools for its production. This also applies to the steering column connections specifically designed for each motor vehicle type. A use of cross beams, steering column connections and their tools for the production of these components, which goes beyond one motor vehicle type, is currently not possible.

Cockpit cross beam with variable steering column angle of inclination


An automated method for analyzing crashes of a computer operating system begins with writing a dump file with the operating system state at the time of the crash. The dump file is processed to collect footprint information from the dump file into a footprint file, and a matching underlying cause is found by searching a footprint rule database for a match against the footprint information. Cause and repair information corresponding to the matching underlying cause is then extracted from a knowledgebase and merged with the footprint information for presentation to a technician.

The invention relates to computer operating systems, and in particular to the art of diagnosing failures in computer systems so that corrective action may be taken.
As with anything else made by man, computer operating systems are known to fail. Operating system failures that result in cessation of operation are known as fatal operating system crashes. Frequent crashes can cause substantial interference with use of a system, both through system unavailability and possible data loss.
In addition to fatal crashes, operating systems may encounter recoverable abnormal conditions. These abnormal conditions may also interfere with use of the system, and severe ones can also be considered system crashes.
Operating system crashes have many different causes. These include hardware defects, programming errors in operating system modules, misconfiguration of the system or of driver modules, programming errors in application programs running on the system, and incompatibilities between operating system and driver modules. Commercial operating systems may have hundreds of potential causes of crashes.
Many suppliers of operating systems have contractual obligations to provide maintenance by helping their customers avoid repeated crashes. Maintenance contractors also contract to help customers avoid repeat crashes. Many problems that cause system crashes can be fixed to prevent repeated crashes. Fixing crash causes requires that the causes be understood because xe2x80x9cfixesxe2x80x9d applied blindly can not only fail to fix the problem, but introduce new problems into or aggravate old problems of a system.
Many crash causes that occur on a customer""s machine have or will cause crashes on machines of other customers. Many maintainers of operating systems therefore maintain crash databases of information about past crashes, with underlying cause information and possible fix information for those crashes.
Analysis of operating system crashes to determine underlying causes is often performed manually by skilled technicians. These technicians perform dump analysis by reviewing xe2x80x9ccrash dumpsxe2x80x9d and error logs recorded by the system at the time of the crash, as well as a crash database. A xe2x80x9ccrash dumpxe2x80x9d is typically a recording, often formatted for printing, of relevant portions of system memory and register contents as they existed at the time the system crashed. Crash dumps are often recorded in a dump file on a filesystem of the machine that has suffered an operating system crash.
Manual dump analysis by skilled technicians is time consuming and expensive. Dump analysis is particularly expensive because of the high level of training and experience required before a technician is sufficiently expert to perform manual dump analysis accurately. It is therefore desirable that dump analysis be automated.
Crash dump files may be extremely large. Individual dump files may be tens to several hundreds of megabytes in size; it is therefore undesirable to store large numbers of crash dump files on a customer""s machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,384 describes a system wherein portions of dump files are transmitted on request from a remotely located host system that has crashed to a centralized system having an expert system. The expert system thereupon analyzes the dump files to determine whether they match a known pattern in its knowledge base, and reports which if any known pattern scores a match.
Many operating systems have diagnostic modes wherein their functionality is restricted, but their reliability is enhanced. For example, the UNIX and LINUX operating systems have a single-user mode, and the Windows system has its Safety Mode. Further, a second, diagnostic, copy of an operating system may be installed on a machine with the minimum set of drivers needed for basic functions. These diagnostic modes may permit access to a system despite significant misconfiguration or bugs; it is known that these diagnostic modes can be substantially more robust than the normal operating mode for the same operating system on the same machine.
An intelligent system, the Crash Analysis Tool (CAT), for interpreting and analyzes operating system crashes has been constructed.
This CAT has a parameter extraction module that runs when the system reboots. In the event that the reboot was a result of a system crash, this module collects a predetermined set of operating-system-dependent key fields and parameters, including parameters expected to be of use in diagnosing the underlying causes of crashes. Extracted parameters are stored as a crash footprint in a footprint file.
When analysis is desired, a collector and parser module gathers the key fields of the footprint from the footprint file and translates this information into a suitable format for an analysis engine. The analysis engine then locates any matching rule in its knowledge base. If a match is found, repair suggestions from a repair suggestion file is merged with the footprint and formatted for display to a technician. If no match is found, the footprint information is formatted and displayed.
CAT can be run under any of several operating systems, including systems selected from Linux, OpenVMS, Windows NT, and Compaq Tru64 Unix, and is operable on a variety of hardware, including Alpha and Intel Pentium family and Xeon processors. CAT can run under a different hardware and operating system combination than that of the crashed system.
The foregoing and other features, utilities and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer known in the art, showing operating system run-time storage and a dumpfile;
FIG. 2, a flow diagram of the automated dump analysis of the present invention;
FIG. 3, a flow diagram illustrating alternatives for analysis on systems suffering problems of various severity; and
FIG. 4, a flow diagram illustrating second pass analysis.

Method and expert system for analysis of crash dumps

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A pad (22) for isolating a weight (4) from vibration of a resonant beam (8) in a resonant beam support system (6) for dissipating heat. The pad is constructed of a rubberlike material having ridges (58) and grooves (60). The ridges and grooves include a trapezoidal configuration which yields an increasing resistance to compression, i.e., spring rate, with increasing deflection. Altering the configuration of the ridges and grooves permits variation in spring rate. The pads may be constructed of standard truck tire recap tread and arranged in a square configuration. Water is injected between the pads and grooves through inlets (50, 52) to cool the pads. An aluminum plate (48) is mounted between first and second layers (40, 41) of tire recap tread to increase heat dissipation.

The present invention relates to a suspension pad for a resonant beam support system.
A resonant beam support system provides a vertical impact system, for example, to break pavement or prepare the ground for construction or other uses by tamping beneath a mobile vehicle. The vehicle includes a resonant beam supported at its nodes and excited at one end near its resonant frequency. A tool projects downwardly from the output end of the beam to break the pavement or tamp the ground. A large weight is superimposed over the forward node of the beam to counteract the reaction forces of the tool striking the underlying surface. The weight is suspended from the vehicle so that the reaction forces are not transmitted by the weight to the vehicle, thereby isolating the vehicle from the reaction forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,408 entitled "Counterweight Support For Resonantly Driven Tool" issued on May 7, 1985 describes a mechanism for positioning the weight relative to the resonant beam in a resonantly driven impact system, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. The weight is linked to the resonant beam at the node proximate the output end of the beam. A member is fastened to the weight and extends to a position adjacent the node of the beam proximate the input end of the beam. A recess is formed in the lower portion of the weight and includes a plate located therein. As the beam oscillates, pads constructed of a resilient, deformable material intermediate the plate and the walls of the recess provide a large bearing surface for the weight so that the weight can absorb large reaction forces transmitted by the tool through the beam. The resiliency of the pads allows for vibratory movement of the beam relative to the weight.
The incompressibility of the resilient, deformable pads results in a non-linear resistance to compression, i.e., a non-linear spring rate. This occurs because the fixed volume of the pad must expand laterally as it is compressed vertically. Thus, only deflections of small magnitude occur at the true spring rate as determined by the elastic modulus of a given rubber compound. However, further deflection is resisted by tensile forces in the mass as it expands in other directions. As a block of rubber is compressed between its top and bottom faces, these tensile forces increase progressively from the center to the outer lateral surfaces. The material at the center of the pad is latterly restrained by the entire outer mass. The center of the pad exhibits the greatest resistance to compression, or in other words, the greatest spring rate. The overall spring rate is equivalent to the summation of the component forces at each position.
Rapid repetition of compression and relaxation creates internal friction in the rubber, causing a buildup of heat. The amount of heat energy required to raise rubber one degree is equal to approximately one-third of the amount of heat energy required for increasing water temperature by the same amount. Rubber, being a poor conductor of heat, allows this buildup to continue to destruction of the pads. The buildup of heat also increases the volume of material from thermal expansion which can add to the compression and hasten failure. As the temperature of the rubber is raised, the elastic modulus is lowered. Because the resonant beam support system requires a constant, exact and consistent spring rate, solid rubber pads do not provide optimum concrete breaking action for the resonant beam support system or adequate life of the pads themselves.


A power adapter is disclosed. The power adapter includes housing parts that carries electronic components. To secure the housing parts together, one housing part includes snaps and another housing part includes protrusions and rails. During assembly, the protrusions slide under the snap, causing the snap to deflect in one direction, while the rails slide over the snap, which keeps the snap partially flat but also causes the snap to deflect in another direction. The engagement (during assembly) of the rails and the protrusions to opposing surfaces of the snap cause bi-directional deflection/bending of the snap. When each protrusion is positioned into an opening of the snap, the snap returns to a flat, non-deflected state, and the housing parts are secured together by the snap, protrusions, and rails. The rails support the snaps by limiting or preventing additional deflection of the snap, which subsequently promotes the housing remaining together.

Power adapters can include multiple housing parts used to store components for a power adapter. At least one method for combining the housing parts is to weld, including ultrasonic weld, the housing parts together. However, ultrasonic welding may provide some drawbacks. For instance, ultrasonic welding uses a horn that provides a high-frequency oscillation to the housing parts to weld them together. The housing parts can be exposed to thermal energy generated during an ultrasonic welding operation, which can warp the housing parts and reduce their aesthetic appearance. Regarding the appearance of the housing parts, the ultrasonic welding operation may result in marks, including scuff marks or other residual marking, on at least one of the housing parts. This may be significantly noticeable when the housing parts are white, for example. In order to overcome this issue, a sacrificial film (e.g., soft polyethylene) can cover the housing parts during the ultrasonic welding operation to minimize damage. However, these films and thin covers are not reusable, and generally wasteful. Moreover, power adapters can include several internal electronic components on a circuit board, any of which may be sensitive to high frequency and/or thermal energy. Accordingly, the ultrasonic welding operation may cause damage the circuit board and/or the electronic components, and the associated issues to the internal components of the power adapter may be unknown until the power adapter is tested or is in use. Additionally, welds created through the ultrasonic welding operation may often be weaker than the material of the housing parts. Also, the welds may include geometric stress concentrations, leading to a stress gradient(s) along the weld region.

Power adapter housing with snaps capable of bidirectional deflection


A flash memory and a fabrication method thereof, which is capable of improving a whole capacitance of the flash memory by forming a tunneling oxide and a floating gate only in a portion where injection of electrons occurs. A flash memory wherein a tunneling oxide and a floating gate are formed only in a portion where injection of electrons occurs and a gate insulation film is formed on a semiconductor substrate between two portions of the tunneling oxide.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flash memory and a fabrication method thereof, and more particularly to a flash memory where a tunneling oxide and a floating gate are formed only in a portion in which electrons are injected.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a flash memory, which is a memory device designed to realize merits of EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory) and EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) simultaneously, aims at electrical programming and erasure of data and low production cost in aspects of simplicity of fabrication processes, small-sizing of chips, etc.
In addition, although the flash memory is a nonvolatile semiconductor memory where data are not erased even when a power turns off, since it has the property of ROM (random access memory) in that programming and erasure of information is easily achieved in a system, it has been used for a memory device substituting a memory card or a hard disk of an office automation equipment.
The programming of data in the flash memory is achieved by injection of hot electrons. In other words, when hot electrons are generated in a channel by a potential difference between a source and a drain, some of the hot electrons, which obtain more than 3.1 eV, which is a potential barrier between a polycrystalline silicon layer constituting a gate and an oxide film, move to and are stored in a floating gate by a high electric field applied across a control gate.
Therefore, the flash memory is designed such that the hot electrons are generated, although a general MOS device is designed such that generation of the hot electrons is suppressed because they are the cause of deterioration of the device.
Conventional techniques for the flash memory are disclosed in U.P. Pat. Nos. 6,579,761, 6,512,262, 6,501,125, 6,261,905, 6,153,494, and 6,069,382.
Hereinafter, a conventional flash memory will be in brief described with reference to FIGS. 1a to 2.
FIGS. 1a and 1b are sectional views showing a conventional method for fabricating the flash memory, and FIG. 2 is a top view of the conventional flash memory shown in FIG. 1b.
First, as shown in FIG. 1a, a tunneling oxide 2 is formed at a thickness of an order of 100 Å on a semiconductor substrate 1, a floating gate 3 made of polycrystalline silicon is formed at a thickness of an order of 2,500 Å on the tunneling oxide 2, and then a gate insulation film 4 having an oxide/nitride/oxide (ONO; hereinafter referred to as "ONO") structure is formed on the floating gate 3.
In order to form the gate insulation film 4 having the ONO structure, a lower oxide film is formed on the floating gate 3 by thermally oxidizing a polycrystalline silicon layer of the floating gate 3, a silicon nitride film is formed on the lower oxide film by using a thermal process, and then an upper oxide film is formed on the silicon nitride film by using a thermal process and is annealed.
Subsequently, a control gate 5 to function as an actual electrode is formed by depositing a polycrystalline silicon layer at a thickness of an order of 2,500 Å on the gate insulation film 4.
Next, as shown in FIGS. 1b and 2, after the control gate 5, the gate insulation film 4, the floating gate 3, and the tunneling oxide 2 are selectively etched, leaving a predetermined width, and a silicon nitride film is deposited at a thickness of an order of 2,000 Å on the entire top surface, a side wall 6 is formed by blanket etch without using a separate mask.
Subsequently, a source 7 and a drain 8 are formed by injecting impurity ions into the semiconductor substrate 1.
When a positive voltage of certain conditions for programming of data in the flash memory having the structure as described above is applied to the gate, the hot electrons are injected into the floating gate as they move through a channel formed in the semiconductor substrate 1 under the tunneling oxide 2 and are accelerated by an electric field.
At this time, just as the injection of the hot electrons into the floating gate is shown by an arrow in FIG. 1b, the hot electrons are injected into not the entire surface of the floating gate but a point close to a drain 8, which shows the greatest potential difference, so called "pinch-off point".
Similarly, when a negative voltage of certain conditions for erasure of data is applied to the gate, the electrons stored in the floating gate are injected into a source 7 by a potential difference.
At this time, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 1b, the electrons are injected into not the entire surface of the tunneling oxide but a point close to the source 7, which shows the greatest potential difference.
Therefore, in the above-described conventional flash memory, a whole capacitance is reduced by the tunneling oxide in an unnecessary portion where the injection of electrons does not occurs.
Since an application voltage has to be increased in order to compensate for the reduced capacitance, power consumption is increased. In addition, heat is generated due to the increase of the application voltage, which results in reduction of life of devices.

Flash memory and fabrication method thereof