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Quotes on War (4)More War Quotes:
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"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." Joe Stalin, comment to Churchill at Potsdam, 1945
"Dress it as we may, feather it, daub it with gold, huzza it, and sing swaggering songs about it, what is war, nine times out of ten, but murder in uniform?" Douglas Jerrold
"During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism." Howard Thurman
"During war, the laws are silent." Quintus Tullius Cicero. (c.102-43 B.C.), Roman general, brother of Cicero the orator
"There never was a good war," said Franklin. "There have indeed been many wars in which a good man must take part, and take part with grave gladness to die if need be, a willing sacrifice, thankful to give life for what is dearer than life, and happy that even by death in war he is serving the cause of peace. But if a war be undertaken for the most righteous end, before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense, it is a national crime." Charles Eliot Norton
"Each of the Iraqi children killed by the United States was our child. Each of the prisoners tortured in Abu Ghraib was our comrade. Each of their screams was ours. When they were humiliated, we were humiliated. The U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq - mostly volunteers in a poverty draft from small towns and poor urban neighborhoods - are victims just as much as the Iraqis of the same horrendous process, which asks them to die for a victory that will never be theirs." Arundhati Roy, "Tide? Or Ivory Snow? Public Power in the Age of Empire"
"Either man is obsolete or war is. War is the ultimate tool of politics. Political leaders look out only for their own side. Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers." R. Buckminster Fuller
"Endless money forms the sinews of war." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), Roman statesman, philosopher and orator
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." Dwight Eisenhower
"Everything, everything in war is barbaric... But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being." Ellen Key
"Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes." Murray Edelman
"Democracy don't rule the world, You'd better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that's better left unsaid." Bob Dylan, American folksinger, b.1941
"You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset people, then that's obscenity." Roman Polanski
"For what can war, but endless war, still breed?" John Milton
"Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived." Abraham Lincoln
"And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace." George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism." Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
"From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?" Thomas Paine
"One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one." Agatha Christie
"George, your reckless and wanton foreign policies killed my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, in the illegal and unjust war on Iraq. Helping to bring about your political downfall will be the most noble accomplishment of my life, and it will bring justice for my son and the hundreds of other brave Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis your lies have killed." Cindy Sheehan
"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace." Charles Sumner
More War Quotes:
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World of Wars
A War Prayer by Mark Twain. Preachers, profiteers and politicians make war appear to be glorious. This is the text of Mark Twain's powerful illustration and a link to a youtube video version.
War: Who is responsible? by Lawrence M. Vance. Points out that the American government has created a mindset that when a person puts on a military uniform, they are no longer responsible for their actions on the killing fields. This is wrong.
War is a Racket by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler
The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service. - Albert Einstein.
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. David Friedman
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." -MATTHEW 5:9
Neither shall they learn war any more. Jewish and Christian Bibles, Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
Perhaps the world's largest collection of war, anti-war quotes:
Perhaps the world's largest war antiwar quotes
See also Power, Justice and Mercy Quotes


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Texas Politics
All Texas politics all the time from the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle
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White and Shami in El Paso, Gilbert is buying clothes with campaign cash, and a truth test for GOP
White and Shami go to El Paso Former Houston Mayor Bill White and Houston businessman Farouk Shami were in El Paso this weekend campaigning for the Democratic nomination for governor. White pitched job creation and security in light of the drug war in nearby Juarez, Mexico. Meanwhile, Shami continued to sell his jobs-for-money guarantee: 100,000 […] [Read More]
Medina's clothes, Shami's plan and Perry's enterprise woes
About Medina's campaign-funded clothes… Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina is defending her use of campaign funds to pay for her clothes and shoes that she wears on the campaign trail. In an editorial board meeting with the Austin American-Statesman, Medina said that even though doing so makes her uncomfortable, she uses the funds for clothes […] [Read More]

subset: commoncrawl


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Some 1,000 junior and senior high school students will have the opportunity to learn about various skill trades and career professions from people who work in them every day. The Associated General Contractors of Western Kentucky and Murray State University will partner to present the upcoming Construction Career Day within the western Kentucky construction industry.
Students, instructors and administrators connect with industry professionals within the skill trades and management through local, postsecondary degree and certification programs. Vendors provide hands-on activities within their trades and information about career opportunities.
The workforce development initiative is designed to offer young people the opportunity to see a variety of rewarding construction careers available at all levels of industry. That ranges from skilled trades such as carpenters, welders and heavy equipment operators to professions such as architects, engineers and construction management. It is estimated that the construction industry will need 2 million additional workers by 2017. Without encouragement to enter these fields, it's very possible that a shortfall between needs and available workers will exist by then.
The career day will include hands-on activities such as operating a backhoe and mini-excavator, welding activities, climbing electrical poles with power linemen, driving a concrete trowel machine, sheet-metal bending, bricklaying, operating aerial and scissor lifts, operating a soil tamping machine, scaffold building, jack hammering concrete and more.
Participating businesses include the Associated General Contractors of Western Kentucky, Murray State University's department of industrial and engineering technology, the Regional Outreach Council of Murray State University, West Kentucky Community and Technical College, the Paducah Area Construction Advancement Foundation, McKeel Equipment Company, Pinnacle Inc., Jim Smith Contracting Company, and a number of vendors.
Students participating represent some 16 vocational high schools that serve 25 western Kentucky counties.
The one-day event is scheduled to take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, at the MSU's William Cherry Expo Center. It's located in Murray at 2101 College Farm Road, across from Calloway County High School. Media representatives are welcome and encouraged to visit and cover this event that provides positive professional possibilities to a large number of young people.
An ideal time for reporters to visit is 10 a.m. that day; however, they are welcome at any time, all according to Chris Nelson, of the AGC of Western Kentucky. To learn more, phone him at 270.744.6261, call his cell phone at 270.556.9047, fax him at 270.744.9522 or email him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
West KY Mentoring hosts Youth Unity March/EventJuly 01, 2015
Governor's Scholars Program arrives on campus SaturdayJune 25, 2015
MSU to host CPE sponsored Town HallJune 25, 2015
Special Programming for 4th of July Weekend on WKMSJune 25, 2015
Paducah area middle schoolers will LEAP into STEMJune 04, 2015
Summer Youth camps at Murray StateMay 21, 2015
Cyber Academy scheduled at Murray StateMay 07, 2015
About Author
Commentary (March 8, 2013)
March 06, 2013
Clark and Hart college head vacancies
March 07, 2013
College Day 2013
March 07, 2013
Senior Salute for May 2013 graduates
March 07, 2013
Racer Payne goes to OKC in NBA Draft
July 01, 2015
WKMS Newsroom wins national awards for documentary work
July 01, 2015


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Noticed that my post count is now 90 when I could have sworn my post count a few days ago was 166. Is there a bug or was something done to the forums?
Noticed that my post count is now 90 when I could have sworn my post count a few days ago was 166. Is there a bug or was something done to the forums?
It honestly shouldn't matter? Post count really doesn't have any major relevance.
Anyway. Some threads you posted in could have been deleted, and that would lower your count. At least it does on some forum providers.
General Off-topic/Fun Stuff/Diablo 3/Sports & Fitness mod(rules)------KUPO --------Sig by Elyssia------- Show em how to live
Does your title get better with higher post counts?
"It hath been found by experience that no matter how decent, intelligent or thoughtful the reasoning of a conservative may be, as an argument with a liberal is advanced, the probability of being accused of 'bigotry', 'hatred' or 'intolerance' approaches 1." - Cranmer's Law
Do you ever wonder how some of the people have so high post counts around here, Dontrike?
You might think, "Well, they simply post a lot, don't they?". Well, no. No they do not. They hunt down the less prominent posters and steal their posts in the night, adding it to their own for everyone to see. There are two kinds of people in this world, Dontrike. There are those who post to earn their numbers, and there are those who take it from those too weak to hold it. You've simply fallen prey to Darsithis insatiable lust for posts. It is as it has always been.
The weak are meat, and the strong do eat.
Dontrike: I didn't look at your post history, but sometimes what happens is a thread from WoW Gen or OT Gen or whatever gets moved to Fun Stuff, and all the posts in that thread for each poster no longer get counted and you can lose a lot of post count with that.
Other than that I'm guessing a few threads got deleted.
The "post areas" tab doesn't take into account deleted posts.
It isn't like it's a huge deal that it is lower, I was was just curious as to why this might be.
But that thread was originally in Fun Stuff. I merged it and it moved to GenOT because I wasn't paying attention, so I moved it back. Don's post area shows only 9 posts in General Off-topic, where the thread was temporarily, while he has 81 posts in that thread. I don't think it's being caused by that.
General Off-topic/Fun Stuff/Diablo 3/Sports & Fitness mod(rules)------KUPO --------Sig by Elyssia------- Show em how to live
It's possible that it subtracts when something is moved to fun stuff but doesn't properly add when it gets merged into a forum that does count postcount; hmm.
I'll run some tests, but that would probably be a vb issue
Thanks Sunshine.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...261?page=8#154Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment


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What must Obama do to get past these scandals?
It's a question being asked a lot these days, especially since some politicians think the disturbing revelations aren't over. As commentator Paul Bedard wrote in his blog Washington Secrets, "Senior Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who recently slapped Obamacare as a 'train wreck,' believes that the IRS scandal is just beginning and that 'a lot […] [Read More]
Should a special prosecutor investigate the IRS scandal, or should Congress handle it?
The person who just named a new leader for the IRS doesn't want a special prosecutor. As ABC News reported, "The IRS shuffle comes after Obama said … there is no need for a special counsel to investigate the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. … Obama said the (IRS) inspector general has recommended an investigation after releasing its own report on the […] [Read More]


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Ocean Palms is official Toys for Tots drop-off
STUART - For the first time ever, Ocean Palms is now an official drop-off spot for Toys for Tots. While the holiday season means shopping, food, family, presents and parties, some people see it as the season for giving to those in need.
Everyone here, staff and residents at Ocean Palms Independent Living Community, is so thrilled to be a part of the Marine Corps Toys for Tots organization. Many residents are not near their own children, or grandchildren, and this means they can give to a child deserving of a happy holiday.
For more information, contact Debbie McShane, Community Relations Director, at 772-286-9384. Ocean Palms Independent Living Community, 2750 SE Ocean Blvd., Stuart, FL 34996 to drop-off Toys for Tots.
Everybody deserves to smile, everybody deserves to laugh, giving makes everyone feel good inside! Look for the drop box in Ocean Palms Lobby.
This story is contributed by a member of the community and is neither endorsed nor affiliated with TCPalm.
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14 Oct 2014
NASA Mission Provides Its First Look at Martian Upper Atmosphere
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has provided scientists their first look at a storm of energetic solar particles at Mars, produced unprecedented ultraviolet images of the tenuous oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon coronas surrounding the Red Planet, and yielded a comprehensive map of highly variable ozone in the atmosphere underlying the coronas.
13 Jun 2014
NASA Experiments Recreate Aromatic Flavors of Titan
NASA scientists have created a new recipe that captures key flavors of the brownish-orange atmosphere around Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The recipe is used for lab experiments designed to simulate Titan's chemistry. With this approach, the team was able to classify a previously unidentified material discovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in the moon's smoggy haze.
15 May 2014
The shrinking of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling storm feature larger than Earth -- is shrinking. This downsizing, which is changing the shape of the spot from an oval into a circle, has been known about since the 1930s, but now these striking new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images capture the spot at a smaller size than ever before.
15 May 2014
The Shrinking of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling storm feature larger than Earth -- is shrinking. This downsizing, which is changing the shape of the spot from an oval into a circle, has been known about since the 1930s, but now these striking new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images capture the spot at a smaller size than ever before.
4 Dec 2013
NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn's north pole. This is the first hexagon movie of its kind, using color filters, and the first to show a complete view of the top of Saturn down to about 70 degrees latitude. Spanning about 20,000 miles (30,000 kilometers) across, the hexagon is a wavy jet stream of 200-mile-per-hour winds (about 322 kilometers per hour) with a massive, rotating storm at the center. There is no weather feature exactly, consistently like this anywhere else in the solar system.
6 Nov 2013
Here Comes the Sun: Ionizing Titan's Atmosphere
A detailed analysis of data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft has directly linked the density of the ionosphere - a region in the upper atmosphere that is dominated by electrically charged particles - at Saturn's moon Titan to the 11-year boom-and-bust cycle of activity at our Sun. The confirmation was possible because of Cassini's long-term stay in the Saturn system, which began in 2004, and a Swiss-Army-knife-like suite of many instruments.
17 Oct 2013
NASA Rover Confirms Mars Origin of Some Meteorites
Examination of the Martian atmosphere by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover confirms that some meteorites that have dropped to Earth really are from the Red Planet. A key new measurement of the inert gas argon in Mars' atmosphere by Curiosity's laboratory provides the most definitive evidence yet of the origin of Mars meteorites while at the same time providing a way to rule out Martian origin of other meteorites.
19 Sep 2013
NASA Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane On Mars
Data from NASA's Curiosity rover has revealed the Martian environment lacks methane. This is a surprise to researchers because previous data reported by U.S. and international scientists indicated positive detections. The roving laboratory performed extensive tests to search for traces of Martian methane. Whether the Martian atmosphere contains traces of the gas has been a question of high interest for years because methane could be a potential sign of life, although it also can be produced without biology.
17 Sep 2013
Saturn's Hidden Turbulence Revealed
Peering deeply into Saturn's placid-looking atmosphere with the radar/microwave radiometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed a dynamic and in many places turbulent atmosphere that has more similarities with that of its sibling planet Jupiter than previously realized. The new observations reveal a calm and narrow equatorial belt surrounded by stormy bands like those on Jupiter, although regions at higher latitudes show a different character that is unique to Saturn.
3 Sep 2013
Cassini Sees Saturn Storm's Explosive Power
A monster storm that erupted on Saturn in late 2010 - as large as any storm ever observed on the ringed planet -- has already impressed researchers with its intensity and long-lived turbulence. A new paper in the journal Icarus reveals another facet of the storm's explosive power: its ability to churn up water ice from great depths. This finding, derived from near-infrared measurements by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, is the first detection at Saturn of water ice. The water originates from deep in Saturn's atmosphere.
18 Jul 2013
MAVEN Spectrometer Opens Window to Red Planet's Past
When NASA's MAVEN mission begins its journey to the Red Planet later this year, it will be equipped with a special instrument to take the planet back in time. That instrument is the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, a network of electrically charged rods that will measure the charged gas particles -- or ions -- making up Mars' upper atmosphere.
18 Jul 2013
Reports Detail Mars Rover Clues to Atmosphere's Past
A pair of new papers report measurements of the Martian atmosphere's composition by NASA's Curiosity rover, providing evidence about loss of much of Mars' original atmosphere.
18 Jun 2013
The Fast Winds of Venus Are Getting Faster
The most detailed record of cloud motion in the atmosphere of Venus chronicled by ESA's Venus Express has revealed that the planet's winds have steadily been getting faster over the last six years.
13 Jun 2013
MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph May Help Paint Total Atmospheric Picture
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, will travel to the Red Planet in 2013 with instruments designed to answer specific questions about the planet's atmosphere, and one instrument will help piece together the bigger picture. The Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, IUVS for short, designed and built at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, known as LASP, will measure Mars' global atmosphere to help solve the mystery of how the planet became frozen and barren.
12 Jun 2013
Mars Water-Ice Clouds Are Key To Odd Thermal Rhythm
Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found that temperatures in the Martian atmosphere regularly rise and fall not just once each day, but twice. "We see a temperature maximum in the middle of the day, but we also see a temperature maximum a little after midnight," said Armin Kleinboehl of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who is the lead author of a new report on these findings. Temperatures swing by as much as 58 degrees Fahrenheit (32 kelvins) in this odd, twice-a-day pattern, as detected by the orbiter's Mars Climate Sounder instrument. He and his four co-authors found the answer in the water-ice clouds of Mars.
7 Jun 2013
Noctilucent Clouds Get an Early Start
Every summer, something strange and wonderful happens high above the north pole. Ice crystals begin to cling to the smoky remains of meteors, forming electric-blue clouds with tendrils that ripple hypnotically against the sunset sky. Noctilucent clouds -- a.k.a. "NLCs"-- are a delight for high-latitude sky watchers, and around the Arctic Circle their season of visibility is always eagerly anticipated. This year, NLCs are getting an early start. NASA's AIM spacecraft, which is orbiting Earth on a mission to study noctilucent clouds, started seeing them on May 13th.
5 Jun 2013
Cassini Sees Precursors to Aerosol Haze on Titan
Scientists working with data from NASA's Cassini mission have confirmed the presence of a population of complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that later evolve into the components that give the moon a distinctive orange-brown haze. The presence of these complex, ringed hydrocarbons, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), explains the origin of the aerosol particles found in the lowest haze layer that blankets Titan's surface. Scientists think these PAH compounds aggregate into larger particles as they drift downward.
24 May 2013
Big Weather on Hot Jupiters
Among the hundreds of new planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft are a class of exotic worlds known as "hot Jupiters." Unlike the giant planets of our own solar system, which remain at a safe distance from the sun, these worlds are reckless visitors to their parent stars. They speed around in orbits a fraction the size of Mercury's, blasted on just one-side by starlight hundreds of times more intense than the gentle heating experienced by Jupiter here at home. Meteorologists are probably wondering what kind of weather a world like that might have. The short answer is "big."
21 May 2013
Forecast for Titan: Wild Weather Could Be Ahead
Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.
30 Apr 2013
Why LADEE Matters
Earth's atmosphere is critically important to all of us. In addition to providing us with air to breathe, it protects us from temperature extremes, harmful space radiation and vast numbers of incoming meteoroids. The atmosphere is a very complex system that we are only beginning to understand. Gaining a better understanding of the atmosphere, how it protects us and how we can protect it is in all of our interests. In order to understand Earth's atmosphere and how it works, it is essential to study atmospheres under a wide range of conditions beyond Earth. Examining atmospheres on other planets allows this.
29 Apr 2013
Cassini Gets Close-up Views of Large Hurricane on Saturn
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 mph (150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as the hexagon.
25 Apr 2013
See Saturn at its Best and Brightest
At the end of April, Saturn will put on a breathtaking display. No space probe is required to see it. Just set up a telescope in your back yard -- even a small department store 'scope will do -- and point the optics toward the constellation Virgo. Saturn is there, not far from the bright star Spica. On April 28th, Saturn makes its closest approach to Earth, appearing bigger and brighter than at any other time in 2013. Astronomers call this event "an opposition," because Saturn will be opposite the sun in the skies of Earth. The golden planet rises at sunset, soars almost overhead at midnight, and stays up all night long.
23 Apr 2013
Hershel Links Jupiter's Water to Comet Impact
The European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory has solved a long-standing mystery as to the origin of water in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, finding conclusive evidence that it was delivered by the dramatic impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994.
14 Apr 2013
Is There an Atmosphere on the Moon?
Until recently, most everyone accepted the conventional wisdom that the moon has virtually no atmosphere. Just as the discovery of water on the moon transformed our textbook knowledge of Earth's nearest celestial neighbor, recent studies confirm that our moon does indeed have an atmosphere consisting of some unusual gases, including sodium and potassium, which are not found in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars or Venus.
11 Apr 2013
Ice Cloud Heralds Fall at Titan's South Pole
An ice cloud taking shape over Titan's south pole is the latest sign that the change of seasons is setting off a cascade of radical changes in the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon. Made from an unknown ice, this type of cloud has long hung over Titan's north pole, where it is now fading, according to observations made by the composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
10 Apr 2013
Blame it on the Rain (from Saturn's Rings)
A new study tracks the "rain" of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and finds there is more of it and it falls across larger areas of the planet than previously thought. The study reveals that the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn's upper atmosphere.
8 Apr 2013
Remaining Martian Atmosphere Still Dynamic
Mars has lost much of its original atmosphere, but what's left remains quite active, recent findings from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity indicate. Evidence has strengthened this month that Mars lost much of its original atmosphere by a process of gas escaping from the top of the atmosphere.
25 Mar 2013
Venus Vortices Go For Chaotic Multi-Storey Strolls Around The Poles
A detailed study of Venus' south polar vortex shows a much more chaotic and unpredictable cyclone than previously thought. The analysis reveals that the center of rotation of the vortex wanders around the pole differently at different altitude levels in the clouds of Venus. In its stroll around the pole, in layers separated by 20 km, the vortex experiences unpredictable changes in its morphology.
14 Mar 2013
'Hot Spots' Ride a Merry-Go-Round on Jupiter
In the swirling canopy of Jupiter's atmosphere, cloudless patches are so exceptional that the big ones get the special name "hot spots." Exactly how these clearings form and why they're only found near the planet's equator have long been mysteries. Now, using images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have found new evidence that hot spots in Jupiter's atmosphere are created by a Rossby wave, a pattern also seen in Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The team found the wave responsible for the hot spots glides up and down through layers of the atmosphere like a carousel horse on a merry-go-round.
11 Feb 2013
Mars Rock Takes Unusual Form
On Mars, as on Earth, sometimes things can take on an unusual appearance. A case in point is a shiny-looking rock seen in a recent image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Some casual observers might see a resemblance to a car door handle, hood ornament or some other type of metallic object. To Ronald Sletten of the University of Washington, Seattle, a collaborator on Curiosity's science team, the object is an interesting study in how wind and the natural elements cause erosion and other effects on various types of rocks.
4 Feb 2013
Cassini Sees Titan Cooking up Smog
A paper published this week using data from NASA's Cassini mission describes in more detail than ever before how aerosols in the highest part of the atmosphere are kick-started at Saturn's moon Titan. Scientists want to understand aerosol formation at Titan because it could help predict the behavior of smoggy aerosol layers on Earth.
4 Feb 2013
Hexagon and Rings on Saturn
Saturn's north polar hexagon basks in the Sun's light now that spring has come to the northern hemisphere. Many smaller storms dot the north polar region and Saturn's signature rings, which appear to disappear on account of Saturn's shadow, put in an appearance in the background.
31 Jan 2013
NASA's Cassini Watches Storm Choke on Its Own Tail
In a new paper that provides the most detail yet about the life and death of a monstrous thunder-and-lightning storm on Saturn, scientists from NASA's Cassini mission describe how the massive storm churned around the planet until it encountered its own tail and sputtered out. It is the first time scientists have observed a storm consume itself in this way anywhere in the solar system.
28 Nov 2012
NASA's Cassini Sees Abrubt Turn in Titan's Atmosphere
Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft tie a shift in seasonal sunlight to a wholesale reversal, at unexpected altitudes, in the circulation of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. At the south pole, the data show definitive evidence for sinking air where it was upwelling earlier in the mission. So, the key to circulation in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan turned out to be a certain slant of light.
27 Nov 2012
Regional Dust Storm on Mars Dissipating
A regional dust storm on Mars, tracked from orbit since Nov. 10, appears to be abating rather than going global.
27 Nov 2012
Staring into Saturn's baleful eye
Images looking down onto Saturn's summer north pole were taken on November 27, 2012 from a distance of 361,000 kilometers through an infrared (CB2) filter.
26 Nov 2012
Pluto Atmosphere Larger Than Thought, Study Shows
A new simulation of Pluto's upper atmosphere shows that it extends so far from the planet that stray molecules may be deposited on its largest moon, Charon.
21 Nov 2012
Spacecraft Monitoring Martian Dust Storm
A Martian dust storm that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been tracking since last week has also produced atmospheric changes detectable by rovers on Mars.
15 Nov 2012
NASA Rover Providing New Weather And Radiation Data About Mars
Observations of wind patterns and natural radiation patterns on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover are helping scientists better understand the environment on the Red Planet's surface. Researchers using the car-sized mobile laboratory have identified transient whirlwinds, mapped winds in relation to slopes, tracked daily and seasonal changes in air pressure, and linked rhythmic changes in radiation to daily atmospheric changes. The knowledge being gained about these processes helps scientists interpret evidence about environmental changes on Mars that might have led to conditions favorable for life.
6 Nov 2012
Watching the slow shift of seasons on Titan
A sharp-eyed amateur noticed two images of Titan taken 20 months apart from nearly exactly the same perspective, and they illustrate how the shifting of Saturn's seasons has brought change to Titan's atmosphere.
31 Oct 2012
Titan Glows in the Dark
A literal shot in the dark by imaging cameras on NASA's Cassini spacecraft has yielded an image of a visible glow from Titan, emanating not just from the top of Titan's atmosphere, but also -- surprisingly -- from deep in the atmosphere through the moon's haze.
26 Oct 2012
Saturn Storm Cranks the Heat WAY Up
Observations taken in the infrared by Cassini as well as from Earth show that a massive storm on Saturn was not just big and violent, it also formed a vortex (a storm within a storm, if you like) that got hot - well, hot for frigid Saturn, that is. In the heart of the system, the temperature rose by an incredible 80° Celsius - a difference in temperature that's like starting in the depths of winter in Anchorage, Alaska and then going to the height of summer in the Sahara!
25 Oct 2012
Cassini Sees Burp at Saturn After Large Storm
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a rare massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought.
17 Oct 2012
Keck Observations Bring Weather of Uranus Into Sharp Focus
In 1986, when Voyager swept past Uranus, the probe's portraits of the planet were "notoriously bland," disappointing scientists, yielding few new details of the planet and its atmosphere, and giving it a reputation as a bore of the solar system. Now, however, thanks to a new technique applied at the Keck Observatory, Uranus is coming into sharp focus through high-resolution infrared images, revealing in incredible detail the bizarre weather of the seventh planet from the sun.
17 Oct 2012
Jupiter: Turmoil from Below, Battering from Above
As Jupiter gets peppered continually with small space rocks, wide belts of the atmosphere are changing color, hotspots are vanishing and reappearing, and clouds are gathering over one part of Jupiter, while dissipating over another.
18 Jul 2012
Cassini Spots Daytime Lightning on Saturn
Saturn was playing the lightning storm blues. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured images of last year's storm on Saturn, the largest storm seen up-close at the planet, with bluish spots in the middle of swirling clouds.
10 Jul 2012
The Titanian Seasons Turn, Turn, Turn
Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show a concentration of high-altitude haze and a vortex materializing at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan, signs that the seasons are turning on Saturn's largest moon.
25 Jun 2012
Cassini Shows Why Jet Streams Cross-Cut Saturn
Scientists used images collected over several years by NASA's Cassini spacecraft to discover that the heat from within the planet powers the jet streams.
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text:
1. stream - noun
· a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
Synonym(s): watercourse
Hypernym(s): body_of_water, water
2. stream - noun
· dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas; "two streams of development run through American history"; "stream of consciousness"; "the flow of thought"; "the current of history"
3. stream - noun
· the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression
Synonym(s): flow
Hypernym(s): motion, movement, move
4. stream - noun
· something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously; "a stream of people emptied from the terminal"; "the museum had planned carefully for the flow of visitors"
Synonym(s): flow
Hypernym(s): motion
5. stream - noun
· a steady flow of a fluid (usually from natural causes); "the raft floated downstream on the current"; "he felt a stream of air"; "the hose ejected a stream of water"
Synonym(s): current
6. stream - verb
· to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind; "their manes streamed like stiff black pennants in the wind"
Hypernym(s): float, drift, be_adrift, blow
7. stream - verb
· exude profusely; "She was streaming with sweat"; "His nose streamed blood"
Hypernym(s): exude, exudate, transude, ooze_out, ooze
8. stream - verb
· move in large numbers; "people were pouring out of the theater"; "beggars pullulated in the plaza"
Synonym(s): pour, swarm, teem, pullulate
Hypernym(s): crowd, crowd_together
9. stream - verb
· rain heavily; "Put on your rain coat-- it's pouring outside!"
Synonym(s): pour, pelt, rain_cats_and_dogs, rain_buckets
10. stream - verb
· flow freely and abundantly; "Tears streamed down her face"
Synonym(s): well_out
Hypernym(s): run, flow, feed, course
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text:
It's 2012, What's your new year's resolution?
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Cyberspace, Sydney connection
Posts: 10,000
Re: It's 2012, What's your new year's resolution?
Originally Posted by
One of mine is to post some of my playing on the " your playing" section as well. Like iwantmemoney, stated, it's more for accountability purposes. I've been a member here for a long time and I figured it's about time to do that. Plus, I never feel right responding to others who have posted their playing because I haven't put my own neck out there. :)
Good one, fixxxer. It seems that most chatters don't post their playing. Meanwhile, most people posting their playing don't chat.
I find it harder to get interested in what people say about playing when their playing is unheard (apart from people like Caddy and Moontheloon, who are obviously educated musicians).
Who cares about people you don't know putting up drum covers for promo purposes? Most drum covers sound horrible because the mix is unbalanced. On the other hand, if a regular poster puts up their playing I'm always curious to see the connection between personality, convictions and playing style/skills.
My NY resolution is to keep my sanity and sense of humour ... since I'm now caring for my ancient father I have no control over my life ... what I do is entirely dependent on how he's going.
Until now I've been very sooky about disgusting things and a while ago my nephew told me to "harden the f* up" (haha) after a bout of gagging when confronted by dad's excretions (not for the faint hearted). However, daily exposure to the disgustingness of old age with its various pungent excretions has indeed hardened me the f* up :)
My drum chops are diminishing but my nursing chops are improving ...
Polly's rhythms
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text:
Exploring Alzheimer's
wowOwow partners with Pfizer to demystify and understand the most common form of dementia
Alzheimer's disease. What is it? How do you recognize it? When will it strike? How long will it last? How much will it cost? Why me?
wowOwow has been covering this dreaded disease that has afflicted 5.4 million people (and the largest majority, by far, is women) through personal stories, author's narratives, group discussions, expert interviews, and chats with victims and caretakers.
Now, we are privileged to have access to one of America's most informed authorities, Dr. Rachel Schindler, Clinical Disease Area Expert in Alzheimer's and Vice President for Pfizer Inc. She has agreed to host a series that will run on the site over the next few months that we hope will demystify and humanize this increasingly common disease.
We are grateful to Dr. Schindler and to Pfizer to have the chance to help shed light — and hope — on Alzheimer's.


text:
Hang tight!
Recipe by Christina B
"My family loves B.L.A.T. sandwiches. The addition of avocado to the normal bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich makes so much sense to a girl born in California! We have been calling these 'BLATS' for years. Recently we decided to update our favorite treat by using a tortilla in place of the bread, and Ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise. This recipe is so easy and tasty, the hardest part is cooking the bacon!"
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8 slices
4 (10 inch)
flour tortillas
4 tablespoons
Ranch-style salad dressing
avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
tomato, chopped
1 cup
shredded lettuce
OH MAN...these were AWESOME!!! I didn't have the ranch dressing so I used the herbed mayo mixture from "Mama's Best Broiled Tomato Sandwich" also on this site..(it's delicious)! I used turkey bacon cooked in the microwave and mashed my avacado so I could spread it over the tortilla. Will definitley be making this again. Thanks Christina B.
Three stars as written--just boring and needing something---like maybe flavor. I had to doctor this up BIG time to make this more than simply blah and forgettable. Instead of bottled ranch dressing, I made a chipotle mayo. In addition to the bacon, I added grilled shrimp, but this would have been very good with the addition of grilled chicken breast as well. Good starting point, but this needed some serious kicking up.
205 Ratings
i thought this was great! one thing i tried instead of ranch was mixing a packet of raanch seasoning with cream cheese. i've also added turkey and that was great too!
These were yummy - my husband loved them. Cooking the bacon was messy, but the bacon was the best part, and the tortillas made them so easy to eat. I'll definitely make them again!
Great for lunch! I didn't crumble the bacon, left it in slices. I smashed up the avacado and spread that on the tortilla then layered the rest of the ingredients. I added a little Cheddar cheese and left the ranch dressing on the outside to dip the wrap into. Overall, very good and very easy.
I love wraps and BLTs, but the chunks of avocado were just too much. For my veggie hating boyfriend I mushed up a little and blended it with the ranch. The tasted quite a bit better this way. You have to LOVE avocados for this.
I did things a bit differently...I used an herb flatbread instead of the flour tortilla. I also added some fresh mozzarella cheese. Really good stuff and very easy to make. Thanks for the recipe.
YUM! I LOVE avocados and I thought these turned out great! Really nice twist on a BLT. Will make again, thanks Christina!!
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
B.L.A.T. Wraps
Serving Size: 1/4 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 643
Calories from Fat: 414
Hard to believe, but many kids will be back in school at the end of the month. Get ready.
You won't believe all the things you can do with cauliflower. It's a great low-carb option.
Delicious recipes, party ideas, and cooking tips! Get a year of Allrecipes magazine for $7.99!
The classic BLT gets the California treatment with the addition of ripe avocado.
Jalapenos are stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and grilled!
Crunchy lettuce wraps are great for a family-style dinner.


text:
Cyclone fans know its January, but they're excited about Iowa State's basketball team. And they should be.
The Cyclone men's basketball team ran the #7 team in the country out of Hilton Coliseum Tuesday night.
DeAndre Kane had college basketball's best all-around stat line against a top ten team in more than 15 years against Baylor – 30 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, and 5 steals.
The Cyclones move to 14-0 with that 15 point win. It's the best start in school history, and as Channel 13's Michael Admire reports, they're not the only Cyclone basketball team still perfect…


text:
Purchase Concert Tickets
Welcome to the Music Program at Long Beach City College. In order to find out more information about the Applied Music Program as well as other aspects of the AA degree and transfer program, please select from the items on the left. You can also find specific information about auditioning for the program there as well. The transfer program offers a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum in applied music, ensembles, theory, musicianship, and piano. We have had on-going success in transferring students regularly to area university programs, including CSULB, CSUDH, CSUF, CSULA, UCI, USC, Chapman, Whittier, Biola, and SDSU. We look forward to hearing you!


text:
CRD is a world renowned institute that produces policy relevant research and innovative methods that advance the use of research evidence to improve population health.
Read more about CRD
Identifying the evidence for systematic reviews
Tuesday 15th September 2015
A one day course for information specialists and librarians on supporting systematic reviews in health and social care will be held at the Centre for Reviews & Dissemination, University of York.
Course details and how to book
Posted on Thursday 23 July 2015
We are delighted to announce that CRD has been awarded two prestigious NIHR Fellowships in Systematic Review, and that a third fellowship will be funded by the University of York.


text:
Photovoltaics. Fundamentals, Technology and Practice
- Language: English
- 294 Pages
- Published: February 2014
The analysts forecast the Global Building Integrated Photovoltaics market to grow at a CAGR of 16.58 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing number of facilities available to store solar energy. The Global Building Integrated Photovoltaics market has also been witnessing increased R&D investment for the Solar industry. However, the seasonal fluctuation of solar power availability could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.
The report, the Global Building Integrated Photovoltaics Market 2012-2016, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market in North America, Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world; it also covers the Global Building Integrated Photovoltaics market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.
The key vendors dominating this space include First Solar Inc., Sharp Corp., Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., and United Solar Ovonic LLC.
The other vendors mentioned in this report are Ascent Solar Technologies Inc., Centrosolar AG, Dow Solar, Dyesol Ltd., Eagle Roofing Products Florida LLC, Ertex Solar GmbH, Heliatek GmbH, Konarka Technologies Inc., Kyocera Corp., PowerFilm Inc., Pythagoras Solar Ltd., Scheuten Solar Holding B.V., SCHOTT Solar AG, SolarOr Ltd., Solyndra LLC, and Wurth Solar GmbH & Co. KG.
Key questions answered in this report:
- What will the market size be in 2016 and what will be the growth rate?
- What are key market trends?
- What is driving this market?
- What are the challenges to market growth?
- Who are the key vendors in this market space?
- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by key vendors?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these key vendors?
You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details provided within the report.
The report is also available as part of our annual subscription offer. Please get in touch with our customer service team in order to find out more. SHOW LESS READ MORE >
01. Executive Summary
02. List of Abbreviations
03. Introduction
04. Market Research Methodology
Market Research Process
Research Design
Research Methodology
05. Scope of the Report
Market Overview
Product Offerings
06. Solar Technology
06.1 Solar Panel
06.2 End-user Segmentation of Solar Panels
06.3 Solar Cell Classification
06.4 Solar Cell Feature Comparison
06.5 Solar Cell Industry Segmentation
Solar Cell Industry by Solar Cell Type
Solar Cell Industry by Solar Cell Chemical Composition
06.6 Global Solar Cell Industry Demand and Supply Trend Line 2000–2015
07. Market Landscape
07.1 Market Size and Forecast
BIPV Advantages
08. Segmentation by BIPV Types
08.1 Description
08.2 Market Segmentation by BIPV Types
08.3 Five Forces Analysis
09. Geographical Segmentation
10. Vendor Landscape
11. Buying Criteria
12. Market Growth Drivers
13. Drivers and their Impact
14. Market Challenges
15. Impact of Drivers and Challenges
16. Market Trends
17. Key Vendor Analysis
17.1 First Solar Inc.
Business Overview
Business Segmentation
Revenue Segmentation by Business Segments in 2012
Revenue Segmentation by Products in 2012
Revenue Segmentation by Region in 2012
Key Information
SWOT Analysis
17.2 Sharp Corp.
Business Overview
Business Segmentation
Key Information
SWOT Analysis
17.3 Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd.
Business Overview
Revenue Segmentation by Products in 2011
Revenue Segmentation by Region in 2011
SWOT Analysis
17.4 United Solar Ovonic LLC
Business Overview
Key Information
SWOT Analysis
18. Other Reports in this Series
List of Exhibits
Exhibit 1: Market Research Methodology
Exhibit 2: BIPV Types
Exhibit 3: Solar Panel Components
Exhibit 4: End-user Segmentation of Solar Panels 2012
Exhibit 5: Major Types of Solar Cells
Exhibit 6: Description of Solar Cell Types
Exhibit 7: Feature Comparison of Various Solar Cells
Exhibit 8: Solar Cell Industry Segmentation by Cell Type 2012
Exhibit 9: Crystalline Solar Cell and Thin Film Solar Cell Types by Chemical Composition
Exhibit 10: Solar Cell Industry by Cell Chemical Composition 2012
Exhibit 11: Global Solar Cell Industry Demand and Supply Trend Line 2000–2015 (percent)
Exhibit 12: Global BIPV Market 2012-2016 (US$ billion)
Exhibit 13: Advantages of BIPV 2012
Exhibit 14: Types of BIPV
Exhibit 15: Description of Types of BIPV 2012
Exhibit 16: Global BIPV Market Segmentation by Types 2012 (percent)
Exhibit 17: Global BIPV Market Segmentation by Types 2016 (percent)
Exhibit 18: Global BIPV Market Segmentation by Types 2012-2016 (percent)
Exhibit 19: Global BIPV Market by Geographical Segmentation 2012
Exhibit 20: Top Five Technological Advancements in the Solar Panels Industry
Exhibit 21: First Solar Inc. Business Segmentation 2012
Exhibit 22: First Solar Inc. Revenue Generation by Business Segments 2012 (percentage)
Exhibit 23: First Solar Inc. Revenue Generation by Products 2012 (percentage)
Exhibit 24: First Solar Inc. Revenue Generation by Region 2012 (percentage)
Exhibit 25: Product Segmentation of Sharp Corp.
Exhibit 26: Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. Revenue Generation by Products 2011 (percentage)
Exhibit 27: Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. Revenue Generation by Region 2011 (percentage)
Commenting on the report, an analyst from the team said: "One of the major trends in the Global BIPV market is the huge investments made in R&D for the Solar industry. For instance, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued grants for R&D in the Renewable Energy sector. The National Research Centre in the UK, which deals with solar wafer research, has partnered with European Union-funded R&D programs that are related to solar wafers and PV technology. Some of the international agencies and conferences involved in the research on solar wafers and solar cells include the European Renewable Energy Research Centres Agency, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st century, the International Renewable Energy Storage Conference, the World Renewable Energy Congress/Network, the International Energy Agency, and the International Renewable Energy Agency. This increased R&D in the Solar industry is one of the major trends in the Global BIPV market."
According to the report, one of the key issues faced by the Solar industry previously was the difficulty in storing the energy generated for later use. As this issue has been rectified to a certain extent, with the introduction of solar PV inverters and other storage technologies, the investment in the Solar industry is increasing. As a result, the increase in the usage of solar power storage technologies will in turn increase the growth of the Global BIPV market in the future.
Further, the report states that one of the major challenges in this market is the seasonal fluctuations in availability of solar power. As solar power generation is directly dependent on sunlight, during off-seasons its availability is reduced due to cloud cover and rain, shortened daytime and snowfall, meaning that buildings using BIPV technology have to find an alternative source for power generation. This will be an additional cost for the consumers, as the BIPV itself is quite expensive. This will in turn adversely affect the growth of the market in the future.
The report also includes a discussion of the other vendors operating in this market. The other vendors in the market are Ascent Solar Technologies Inc., Centrosolar AG, Dow Solar, Dyesol Ltd., Eagle Roofing Products Florida LLC, Ertex Solar GmbH, Heliatek GmbH, Konarka Technologies Inc., Kyocera Corp., PowerFilm Inc., Pythagoras Solar Ltd., Scheuten Solar Holding B.V., SCHOTT Solar AG, SolarOr Ltd., Solyndra LLC, and Wurth Solar GmbH & Co. KG
The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.
- Ascent Solar Technologies Inc.
- Centrosolar AG
- Dow Solar
- Dyesol Ltd.
- Eagle Roofing Products Florida LLC
- Ertex Solar GmbH
- First Solar Inc.
- Heliatek GmbH
- Konarka Technologies Inc.
- Kyocera Corp.
- PowerFilm Inc.
- Pythagoras Solar Ltd.
- Scheuten Solar Holding B.V.
- SCHOTT Solar AG
- Sharp Corp.
- SolarOr Ltd.
- Solyndra LLC
- Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd.
- United Solar Ovonic LLC.
- Wurth Solar GmbH & Co. KG.


text:
Be eco friendly by wearing hemp shoes
Fashion can be eco-friendly if you just make an attempt. Being green at heart, I always try to avoid buying leather shoes, though once in a while I do pick up something that has been made from recycled or faux leather. There are plenty of green options out there for shoes and one of them is hemp shoes.
Hemp is a part of the plant that is used to make these shoes and is a name commonly used for THC or low tetrahydrocannabinol portions of the plant Cannabis sativa. Today, hemp has been used for various kinds of industrial, home, fuel, textiles and even biodegradable plastics. Even though it has been traditionally associated with marijuana, hemp has a lot of other benefits too.
Hemp shoes offer your feet comfort and style, without compromising on the eco-friendly quotient. Labels like Patagonia, Vans and Sanuk have been using hemp to make comfy shoe types like loafers and slip ons. Such shoes let your feet breathe, offer support to the feet and offer all day comfort. The best part is you can wear them all year round too. The casual shoes provide effortless style and make you feel good for being environment friendly.
Apart from hemp, another green alternative for stylish shoes are bamboo flat shoes. As the name suggests, these shoes are made using bamboo as a main material. Combined with suede uppers and neoprene, bamboo flat shoes are perfect for day and casual wear. They come with ventilated mesh lining to let your feet breathe and are affordable and durable too.
Both hemp and bamboo shoes are made using natural materials, which helps to conserve the environment. They are great for the feet because they are skin-friendly and breathable, thus saving you those terrible foot odor problems. So, make a sensible switch and opt for these eoc-friendly shoes.


text:
A micromachined three-plate capacitive accelerometer incorporates a "sandwich" proof mass formed from two layers that are boron-doped to define hinges attached essentially to the midplane of the proof mass by being placed abutting a bonding interface region at the midplane.
1. A solid-state silicon accelerometer comprising:
a three-plate capacitor including fixed top and bottom plates and a silicon movable sensing plate having a top surface separated from said top plate by a top gap and a bottom surface separated from said bottom plate by a bottom gap, defining a reference midplane and being connected to support members by flexible connections extending across a support gap between said silicon sensing plate and said support members to move between said top and bottom plates in response to acceleration along an acceleration axis perpendicular to said reference midplane, whereby acceleration along said acceleration axis displaces said silicon sensing plate from said reference midplane and alters the capacitance between said silicon sensing plate and said top and bottom plates, in which;
said top and bottom plates and said support members are bonded together to form a rigid structure;
said silicon sensing plate is connected to said support members by at least one pair of flexures extending a predetermined hinge width along opposite sides of said sensing plate and having a predetermined hinge length less than the length of said sensing plate, so that a communication path is established between a top chamber between said top and said silicon sensing plates and a bottom chamber between said bottom and said silicon sensing plates;
at least one chamber has motion stops disposed therein and grooves to facilitate squeeze-film damping in one of said silicon sensing plate and said fixed plate; and
electronic means for measuring the capacitance of at least one of said chambers, characterized in that:
said silicon sensing plate is formed from top and bottom silicon slabs bonded together at an interface region, each of said silicon slabs being boron doped on a flexure surface abutting said interface region, and is connected to said support members by flexures lying substantially in said flexure surfaces and being disposed about said support gap in a predetermined pattern, whereby said top and bottom silicon slabs combine to form a composite sensing plate connected to said support members by said at least one pair of flexures disposed symmetrically in said top and bottom plates and substantially in said sensing plate midplane,
said top silicon slab, a corresponding top slab portion of said support members and a corresponding top slab flexure and said bottom silicon slab, a corresponding bottom slab portion of said support member and a corresponding bottom slab flexure being micromachined from a block of silicon.
2. An accelerometer according to claim 1, further characterized in that said interface region is formed from a layer of metal bonded to said top and bottom silicon slabs.
3. An accelerometer according to claim 1, further characterized in that said interface region is formed from a layer of dielectric material.
4. An accelerometer according to claim 3, further characterized in that said interface region is formed from a layer of dielectric material and in which said top and bottom silicon slabs are electrically isolated from one another.
5. An accelerometer according to claim 1, further characterized in that said movable silicon sensing plate has a rectangular shape and opposite corners in said reference midplane and said at least one pair of flexures comprises a plurality of pairs of flexures disposed symmetrically about said acceleration axis with respect to a pair of diagonal axes extending in said reference midplane through said acceleration axis.
6. An accelerometer according to claim 5, further characterized in that said flexures of said plurality of pairs of flexures are disposed azimuthally about said acceleration axis and sequentially above and below said reference midplane.
7. An accelerometer according to claim 6, further characterized in that said silicon sensing plate has a square cross section in said reference midplane.
This invention is related to inventions disclosed in commonly owned copending applications, U.S. Ser. No. 7/317,240; U.S. Ser. No. 7/317/309; U.S. Ser. No. 7/317/239; U.S. Ser. No. 7/317/238; U.S. Ser. No. 7/317/237 and U.S. Ser. No. 7/317/217, filed contemporaneously herewith.
This invention relates to solid state capacitive accelerometers micro-machined from silicon.
In the field of accelerometers, it is known to form a small compact accelerometer by etching the relevant parts out of silicon. U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,327 illustrates one version of such a transducer in which a proof mass having a textured surface containing many grooves and apertures extending through the proof mass has its surface tailored in order to achieve the desired frequency response by using the squeeze-film damping phenomenon.
Other forms of micro-accelerometers employ cantilever proof masses that introduce an asymmetry that can give an undesirable cross-axis sensitivity. The preceding '327 patent avoids that asymmetric effect by showing a flexible hinge all around the proof mass so that the response is directed preferentially to an axis perpendicular to the plane of the proof mass.
Preferably, the hinges are mounted in the mid-plane of the proof mass to avoid torques that will couple accelerations on different axes, but accurate location in the mid-plane is difficult.
The problem solved by the present invention is that prior art mid-plane proof masses were formed by boron-doping the top surface of a silicon wafer and then growing an epitaxial layer above the doped surface to a height that matched the thickness of the silicon under the doped layer. This was a very slow and expensive process.
More important, this process invariably leads to induced stresses in the proof mass structure formed thereby, leading to high device temperature sensitivities and lack of device-to-device reproducibility in accelerometer span and bias offset. Alternate etching from both sides of an undoped wafer has been employed to define mid-plane hinges. This process is controlled only by the duration of the etch. However, since the thickness of the proof mass structure is typically 10 mils, while hinge thicknesses are typically 0.1 mils, this technique does not lead to good device-to-device reproducibility on a wafer-to-wafer basis.
The invention relates to an improved capacitive accelerometer in which a three-plate capacitor is formed with the proof mass being the central plate. The proof mass is suspended from a silicon frame by means of a novel arrangement of flexures, located at the top and bottom surfaces of a mid-plane interface region, that have highly improved symmetry resulting in decreased cross-axis coupling while at the same time being easy to fabricate to an extremely high precision and reproducibility with minimal induced stress in the critical hinge support region and attached proof mass structure.
FIG. 1 illustrates in cross section an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates in perspective a proof mass constructed according to the invention.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown in cross section an embodiment of the invention adapted to register acceleration coaxial with an axis 230 extending upwardly through the drawing. Electrically, the apparatus is a three-plate capacitor in which top and bottom plates 20 and 30 respectively are formed of rigid silicon members that are bonded to an intermediate silicon frame 105 that contains a proof mass 110. Bonding, by means of standard anodic or thermal methods, is between frame 105 and glass borders 22 formed on the top and bottom plates 20 and 30 using standard glass deposition and etching techniques. Proof mass 110 is formed from two silicon slabs 112 and 114 joined in interface region 115 by any convenient bonding process, such as sputtering a layer of aluminum on the mating surfaces and heating the "sandwich" at 700� C. for 1 hour to bond the two slabs. Alternatively, glass dielectric bond could be employed in place of the aluminum. The surfaces touching interface region 115 are boron-doped with a pattern that will correspond to the hinges to be formed in a subsequent etching step. As is customary, the vertical dimension in the drawing is greatly exaggerated in order to show very thin features of the invention.
FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the left and right flexures are in the bottom and top slabs, respectively, in order to emphasize the composite nature of the proof mass. Those skilled in the art will readily be able to devise many other flexure layouts using the invention.
Further differences between the prior art and the present invention may be illustrated conveniently in FIG. 2, showing frame 105 and proof mass 110 in simplified perspective. The same axis 230 is the Z axis in this drawing with corresponding X axis 210 and Y axis 220 which lie on the midplane of the proof mass and pass through its centroid. Proof mass 110 is surrounded by a gap 163 formed by anisotropic etching, illustratively EDP etching, in the step that defines the flexures 162 and 164. A distinction between prior art arrangements and the present invention is that of the layout of the flexures, or hinges, which couple proof mass 110 to frame 105. Looking along Y axis 220, it can be seen that there is a relatively large flexure 162 in the upper slab at both the top and bottom of the drawing. The flexure in each slab is in a surface, called the flexure surface, that is adjacent to interface region 115. The two pieces of silicon 112 and 114 that are bonded together will be referred to as slabs in order to distinguish them from the capacitor plates. In the bottom slab of proof mass 110, there is a pair of smaller flexures 164 disposed symmetrically about Y axis 220, each having half the width of flexure 162, so that the total stiffness of the flexures on the top and bottom surface is the same. Also, on the lower portion of gap 163 on the opposite side of the proof mass, there is a symmetric arrangement of corresponding flexures 162 and 164. Thus, not only is the top and bottom of the arrangement symmetric about axis 220, but also it is symmetric about X axis 210 since there is a balance on the top and bottom of the drawing.
On the left and right of the drawing, there is a corresponding symmetric arrangement of flexures 164 and 162 that differs from the top and bottom sides in that the smaller flexures 164 are on the top slab and the larger one, 162, is on the bottom slab. The symmetry of this arrangement can be seen by looking at axes 240 and 250, respectively, which extend along the diagonals of the square proof mass 110 midplane Looking at axis 240, for example, there is a flexure 164 on the bottom surface of proof mass 110 on the left and a corresponding flexure 164 on the top surface on the right. This would induce a slight torque about axis 240 but that is balanced by corresponding flexures 162 on the bottom right and top left, respectively. Similarly, about axis 250, there is a corresponding top/bottom matching of flexures, both flexures being spaced equally from the corner. For purposes of this application, the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 will be referred to as being symmetric about the diagonal plane defined by axes 230 and 240 and axes 230 and 250, even though corresponding flexures are in opposite top or bottom slabs of the proof mass.
The flexure layout is not, of course, confined to a three-flexure per side arrangement and many other arrangements relative to widths, numbers and placement of the flexures will be evident to those skilled in the art. The principle being followed in this embodiment is that of high symmetry about the transverse axes 210 and 220 together with the out of plane symmetry about the diagonal axes 240 and 250. Since the flexures 162 and 164 will be on the order of microns, as will layer 115, any torques or asymmetry introduced by the difference in vertical position will be extremely small.
The sequence of fabrication is that the two silicon wafers that will become slabs 112 and 114 are doped with boron in a pattern corresponding to the flexures 162 and 164 in each slab. A layer of bonding material, such as sputtered aluminum is applied to each doped surface. In the case of aluminum, the layer is typically 2000 Angstroms thick. The wafers are aligned and bonded by heating to a temperature of 700� C. for 1 hour, or by any other convenient method that provides a stress free bond. The combined slabs are wet etched in order to cut gaps 163 and define flexures 162 and 164. In FIG. 1, the assembly is shown with a left-right misalignment to illustrate that the alignment is not critical, since the dimensions of the gaps and proof masses are are on the order of millimeters in the horizontal direction in the Figure. The critical dimensions of microns are in the vertical direction in the Figure and are not affected by misalignment.
Alternatively, a dielectric material such as a glass can be deposited by techniques such as ion milling on one slab. Subsequently, the second slab is electrostatically bonded to the deposited dielectric layer. If desired, the top and bottom slabs can be electrically isolated by this method, which provides additional flexibility for the associated electrical current that measure the capacitance.
According to the present invention, the flexures 162 and 164 are fabricated by masking and boron doping the top surface of a silicon wafer illustratively 10 mils in thickness such that the limit of 6�1019 boron atoms per cubic centimeter is reached at the depth corresponding to the desired flexure thickness, illustratively 2 microns. With this arrangement, the boron layers, in the top and bottom surfaces, serve as etch stops for a standard anisotropic etchant, illustratively ethylenediamine pyrocatohol (EDP), so that when gap 163 is etched, the gap is opened until the boron layer is reached which serves as an etch stop in those areas where it exists and the etchant opens the apertures around the gap 163. Preferably, the wafer is etched from both top and bottom at the same time by immersing in a fluid bath.
With this technique, the thickness of the flexures is precisely defined. Moreover, the flexures are located precisely adjacent to the mid-plane of the proof mass, overcoming the major short fall of prior art techniques.
Referring back to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the cross section is taken through the Y/Z plane showing two of flexures 162 at the top of proof mass 110. Apertures 24 in the top plate 20 and 26 in bottom plate 30 have been opened by any convenient etching method to sharply define the area of the variable capacitors formed by plates 20 and 30 and the proof mass 110 and also to reduce parasitic capacitance. When the proof mass is displaced downward, gas will be forced out of or into the inter-plate chambers 32 and 34 into these apertures and into other apertures described below.
It has been found that substantial factors in the temperature and temporal stability of capacitor transducers are the temperature coefficient and the aging characteristics of the glass dielectric 22 which bonds together the several plates of the capacitor. The smaller the bond area and the greater the thickness of the glass dielectric 22 between plates 20 and 30 and the frame 105, the less effect the temperature and aging will have on the capacitance measurement being made. Preferably, the thickness of bonding glass 22 is relatively large compared with the capacitor gap and the horizontal dimension of the bonding glass 22 is relatively small compared with the width of mesa 31. In an illustrative example, the width of mesas 31 and 33 was about 0.150 inch and the width of the glass 22 was about 0.010 inch. Illustratively, the entire arrangement will be enclosed in a hermetically sealed enclosure having a pressure chosen for convenient damping and a gas volume communicating with apertures 24 and 26 far in excess of the volume of capacitance chambers 32 and 34 plus the apertures 24 and 26.
In operation, as the unit is accelerated upwards along axis 230, the proof mass 110 will drop toward the bottom in the diagram reducing the gap between surfaces 56 and 58 and thus, the gas volume in lower chamber 34. Insulating travel stops 72 are shown as being located at various locations on mesas 31 and 33 in order to prevent the proof mass from coming in contact with either mesa. These stops are illustratively glass coated in order to prevent electrical short circuits when the proof mass touches them and have illustrative dimensions of 0.005 inch in width and 0.4 micron in height, with a glass layer of 0.5 micron in thickness for insulation.
The squeeze film damping phenomenon is used to control the frequency response of the proof mass. A sample channel or passageway 42 is shown that serves to provide a reservoir to hold displaced gas that is squeezed out from the volume between the plates. This channel will be part of a network covering surfaces 58 and 52. As chamber 34 contracts, gas is forced into these reservoirs 42. The total volume of the gas reservoirs should be considerably greater than the change in volume of gas chamber 34 so that there will be only a small increase in pressure in the reservoirs. Preferably, the ratio is about 10 to 1 or greater and the channels have a width of 0.005" and a depth of 12 microns. Channels 42 are formed by any of the standard silicon processing techniques, such as ion milling or reactive ion etching. Since the passageways are relatively shallow, little additional surface area is removed beyond that associated with their width in spite of the non-vertical walls that result from a wet etch process, as illustrated in the figure. In contrast, if the passageways are formed in the proof mass, its much greater thickness (typically 0.01") requires deep trenches in order to form the through holes, thereby removing appreciable mass and surface area. Thus, the surface area effectively available for the capacitor is much reduced, and for a given capacitance the area of the capacitor itself must be larger. With this arrangement of relatively narrow shallow trenches in mesas 31 and 33, the effective area available for the capacitance measurement is maximized and, since the proof mass is not pierced and trenched, maximum inertial mass is retained. These channels 42 communicate with reservoir 26 by extending perpendicular to the plane of the paper and/or in the plane of the paper.
The overall arrangement of upper plate 20, lower plate 30 and frame 105 is supported by any convenient means, such as a three-dimensional lower frame having a generally U-shaped cross section and connected to frame 105 by glass joints similar to joints 22. An advantage of this method is that the thermal effects of heat conduction or loss to the outside world are entered through frame 105 symmetrically relative to the upper and lower plates. If the device were mounted on lower plate 30, for example, that would usually be at a different temperature from upper plate 20 with consequent thermal stresses and distortion and different temperatures experienced by the glass dielectric capacitors.
For a given surface area, the capacitance of the upper and lower capacitors is set by the gap between the proof mass and the surfaces of the top and bottom plates. This gap, illustratively 2 microns, is determined both by the thickness of glass layers 22 which are deposited across the surface of the wafers and etched away except in predetermined areas and by the heights of mesas 31 and 33. Consequently, the gap can be controlled simply by changing the thickness of glass layer 22, in contrast to other art wherein the gap is set by removing material from the face of the proof mass. It is a further advantageous feature of this invention that the network of damping passageways have minimal impact on the surface areas 52 and 58, and therefore on the capacitance , and being located on the plates 20 and 30 rather than on the proof mass 110 have no effect on the maximum detectable acceleration Gmax. For a given capacitance, the full scale range can be controlled independently by selecting the thickness of the proof mass and by controlling the numbers and the thicknesses of flexures 162 and 164 and their lengths and widths. In the illustrative embodiment, flexures 162 and 164 had a thickness of 2.5 microns and respective widths of 0.066" and 0.033" for gap spacing 163 of 0.010" and a proof mass 110 having a thickness of 0.010" and a mass of 7 milligrams. Since no material is removed from the proof mass to create the damping passageways in this invention, Gmax is independent of damping characteristics. Further, since the sensitivity is proportional to the ratio of the nominal capacitance to Gmax, two of the three parameters, sensitivity, capacitance and Gmax can be selected independently with the damping characteristics being virtually independent of these. This is in contrast to prior art designs wherein these parameters are all closely linked together and compromised because of the extensive sculpturing of the proof mass.
Referring now to the method of fabrication, the top and bottom silicon slabs 20 and 30 having a nominal thickness of 0.050" have within them top and bottom mesas referred to by the numerals 33 and 31, respectively. These mesas are formed by repeated oxidation of the areas that will be gas plenums 24 and 26 and that will contain the glass spacers 22, followed by etching to remove the silicon dioxide formed in repeated oxidation. The result of this method is a desirable, tightly controlled mesa area surrounded by extremely smooth surface upon which the glass dielectric is deposited. Further details may be found in copending commonly owned application, U.S. Ser. No. 7/317,239, filed on the same day herewith and incorporated by reference herein.
In a preferred embodiment, a closed loop configuration would result in even better performance. The electronic portion of the apparatus is illustrated schematically in box 310. This box contains straightforward circuits which may apply forcing voltages to the electrodes for closed loop operation and also to sense capacitance by monitoring the unbalance of the high frequency bridge circuit of which the three-plate capacitor forms a part. A signal proportional to the external acceleration is derived from the forcing voltages required to return the proof mass to its null position. Further details may be found in copending commonly owned application, U.S. Ser. No. 7/317,309, filed on the same day herewith and incorporated by reference herein.
It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments shown and described herein, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this novel concept as defined by the following claims.
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One of the most stressful jobs in all of Baseball is manager of the Boston Red Sox and Terry Francona excels at it. So much so that multiple sources are saying the club intends to pick up their two, year options worth $4.5 million. Unfortunately thats not true...yet.
At the end of this current contract (with options picked up) Francona will have been the Red Sox manager for 10 season, three away from Joe Cronin's franchise long of 13 seasons.
Francona called in to WEEI and denied that he has been extended. Despite the rumors he said he was comfortable with his current contract status but didn't know where the report had come from.
When I heard the Sox had extended Francona I was thrilled and as far as I'm concerned Francona should stay in the Red Sox dugout for as long as he wants. He has led the Red Sox to two World Series titles, handled a harsh Boston media, appeased a rabid hardcore fan base and had fun while doing it.
There have never been those major "what was he thinking?" moments. No Grady Little, fire him now screw ups. There are those times when he is a bit too loyal to struggling players but it always seems to work out.
Also by making a move now Francona and the Red Sox avoid a season long of "what's your future" and "will you have Tito back" questions.
Please get this done sooner rather then later


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best way to run XP?
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Member Since: Aug 14, 2007
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Mac Specs: white MB 2.16GHz 3GB 320GB 10.6.1
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What would be the best method to run Windows on a 2.2ghz MacBook with 4 gigs of ram? Parallels , Bootcam, or other....
You must want to run Windows for a good reason. When I switched, I used Windows a lot, because I didn't know which software was available for Mac and I didn't know how to use a lot of what software I knew was available for Mac. NOW I love OS X and prefer to use Mac, but still need to use Windows from time to time. The handiest (best) way IMO is Fusion. No reboot is necessary, it's fast and stable, and more feature-rich. I love the ability to sleep (suspend) my Windows machine and close Fusion. When I open Fusion next, BAM, there's Windows. Virtually no boot time (10 seconds, maybe?) With you having so much RAM, Fusion is probably the way to go. Even with image processing, I'll bet it'd be fast enough.
One caveat to the above: when you install Windows virtually, you've got to realize that EVERYTHING Windows-related is in actuality one huge file on your HD. So you won't be able to backup to a FAT32 external drive, for example. Also if your drive gets corrupted, it's bye-bye Windows (and Windows apps and Windows files).
There are two ways around this: first, save all files to the Mac HD, rather than the Windows My Documents folder (or what have you). Fusion bridges data between Windows and OS X, so you can seamlessly access "both" hard drive structures. This also holds for Clipboard functions. You can copy from a Windows app and paste into a Mac app. So that's one way around it; if you save all files to Mac HD, if your drive goes bad, you still have important files.
The second way around is to use BootCamp to partition your drive and install Windows, but then use Fusion to run your BootCamp partition from within OS X. This has the benefit of separate Windows files. If something corrupts, it is compartmentalized from everything else. With this method you can also choose to boot natively from your BootCamp partition if the need arises (e.g., you want to use both processors and all of your RAM on Windows tasks). The only thing you lose here is the ability to suspend your virtual machine from inside OS X, since with a bootable partition, it would be easy to corrupt if it was suspended and then booted. That's not THAT big of a deal; you just have longer startup times for Windows (still less than a minute on my MacBook).
I shied away from Parallels because of reports of slowness, instability and just overall feature-anemia. Yes, it's been around longer than Fusion and is more well-known, but those attributes don't make software better. I mean, look at Microsoft Word!
Does that answer your question?
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A composite containing an integrated circuit chip having conductive site thereon and electrically conductive leads that are interconnected to the conductive site by electrically conductive wire; wherein the wire is coated with a dielectric material. Also, a method for fabricating the composite is provided.
1. A method for fabricating a composite which comprises providing an integrated circuit chip having electrically conductive site thereon; interconnecting conductive lead to said conductive site with electrically conductive wire wherein said wire is at least 5 mm long; then conformally coating said wire with a dielectric material wherein said dielectric is parylene; and then encapsulating the chip, wire and portion of said conductive lead in a dielectric encapsulating composition.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said electrically conductive site is aluminum.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said conductive lead is copper.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said conductive lead is gold-plated copper.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said dielectric material is parylene N.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the dielectric material is about 0.0001 to about 0.0003 inches thick.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein parylene is coated on said wire by vapor deposition.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said dielectric material is about 0.0001 to about 0.001 inches thick.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein said wire is 0.0005 to about 0.003 inches thick.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein said wire is gold wire.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said encapsulating composition is an epoxy composition.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein said composite is a plastic flat-pack package.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/445,381, filed May 19, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,898 which in turn is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/988,849 filed Dec. 10, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,830.
1. Technical Field
The present invention is concerned with an integrated circuit chip package and especially to providing improved interconnection between electrically conductive sites thereon and electrically conductive leads. In addition, the present invention is concerned with a method for fabricating such a composite.
2. Background Art
In the fabrication of what is referred to as plastic flat pack packages, the electrically conductive sites or pads on an integrated circuit chip are connected to the electrically conductive leads by using a relatively thin wire, typically a gold wire. During molding to encapsulate the composite with a dielectric material, there is a tendency to cause distortion of the wires, thereby resulting in short circuiting. In order to avoid this short circuiting, relatively short wires (e.g. 3-4 mm) that are drawn very tightly between the integrated circuit chip and conductive leads are typically employed. However, the need for short length wires drawn tightly requires relatively high tolerances, which thereby significantly increases the complexity of fabricating the package.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a technique that allows distortion of the wire during molding while preventing short circuiting. It is a further object of the present invention to make it possible to fabricate electronic packages without requiring the high tolerances associated with relatively short length wires drawn tightly as currently required.
It has been found pursuant to the present invention that coating the wire with a conformable dielectric material, the problem caused by distortion during molding is eliminated. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a composite that comprises an integrated circuit chip having electrically conductive site thereon; an electrically conductive lead; and electrically conductive wire interconnecting the conductive site and electrically conductive lead. The wire includes a conformal coating of a dielectric thereon.
The present invention is also concerned with a method for fabricating the composite which includes providing an integrated circuit chip having electrically conductive site thereon. A conductive lead is connected to the conductive site on the integrated circuit chip with an electrically conductive wire. A dielectric material is then conformably coated onto the wire. Then, the chip, wire and portion of conductive lead is encapsulated in a dielectric material.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a composite pursuant to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an alternative composite pursuant to the present invention.
Reference is made to the figures in order to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. Like numerals in different figures refer to the same or equivalent element. In particular, FIG. 1 illustrates a composite pursuant to the present invention wherein chip 1 is located on a chip carrier or pedestal 2. The integrated circuit chip is preferably of silicon. The chip carrier is typically fabricated from an electrically conductive material such as copper. It is used to create a rigid mechanical system for chip/lead processing prior to molding. Of course, other types of chip carriers could be used, if desired. The chip includes electrically conductive sites 3 which are typically aluminum, gold and solder. Connected to each conductive site 3 are electrically conductive wires 4. The wires are typically about 0.0005 to about 0.003 and more typically about 0.001 to about 0.003 inches thick. Also, the wires are typically at least about 3 mm long, more typically about 5 mm long and preferably about 5 mm to about 8 mm long. Examples of suitable wires are aluminum and gold and more typically gold. More particularly, the wire typically includes a ball like configuration at the end that is to contact the conductive site. The wire is attached to the conductive site 3 through normal wire bonding techniques using usual bonding tools. In a preferred embodiment, the balled end of a gold wire is contacted with an aluminum site 3 and upon the heating a eutectic is formed that unites the aluminum site with the gold wire.
Typically, the bonding tool employed attaches the wire's other end to electrically conductive leads 5 such as gold-coated copper leads. Although not shown in the figure, each lead 5 will have a wire connecting it to a conductive site 3. The wire 4 is connected by heating to typical wire bonding temperatures.
A dielectric coating 6 is then applied to wires 4. It is important to the success of the present invention that the wires are coated with dielectric coating 6 after connection has been made between the conductive site and leads via the wire. The coating 6 is typically about 0.0001 to about 0.001 inches thick and more typically about 0.0001 to about 0.0003. The coating also typically extends over the chip 1, and ends of copper leads 5. The coating must be conformable, an example being a parylene coating. Parylene polymers are obtainable from Union Carbide Corp. Suitable parylene coatings including parylene N, parylene C and parylene D. These polymers are represented by the following structural formulas. ##STR1##
These polymers typically have molecular weights of about 500,000. A discussion of these polymers can be found in the publication entitled "Novatran Corp. Parylene Conformal Coatings Specifications and Properties, P/N 400-0001-00" by Novatran Corp., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The preferred parylene coating employed pursuant to the present invention is parylene N.
Parylene is commercially available as a dimer. Parylene N is referred to as polyparaxylylene. Parylene C is referred to as monochloropolyparaxylylene and parylene D is dichloropolyparaxylylene.
The coating is typically applied by a vapor deposition method. Coating apparatus such as that disclosed in "Novatran Corp. Parylene Conformal Coatings Specifications and Properties, P/N 400-0001-00"; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,401,053, 4,945,856 and WO90/02604 can be employed. A detailed discussion of the apparatus for carrying out the deposition is not necessary since such can be carried out by those skilled in the art without undue experimentation. In a typical arrangement, the apparatus includes a vaporizing chamber, pyrolizing chamber and deposition chamber. The parylene dimer is first vaporized at a temperature of about 150° C. and pressure of about 1 Torr. Next, the dimer is pyrolyzed at the two methylene-methylene bonds at about 680° C. and about 0.5 Torr to yield a stable monomeric diradical, such as p-xylylene. Next, the monomer enters the deposition chamber which is at about room temperature and about 0.1 torr where it is absorbed and polymerized on the wire.
The dielectric constant of the parylene coating is typically about 3.
The composite also includes support fingers that lead from the chip support 2. These support fingers are typically constructed of copper.
Next, the composite is placed in a mold into which is placed a dielectric encapsulating composition 8 such as an epoxy composition. Typical suitable encapsulants are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,235,620; 4,592,944, and 4,818,812, disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The dielectric coating 6 precludes short circuiting due to movement of the wires during this encapsulation process.
Reference to FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention that further includes an electrically conductive coating 10 surrounding the dielectric coating 6. Preferably, the conductive coating is aluminum and is typically about 0.0005 to about 0.002 inches thick. Other electrically conductive materials including polymeric compositions such as epoxides containing electrically conductive particles can be used. This coating 10 provides for a ground that can be coupled to the chip. It is advantageous since it reduces lead inductance and gives greater package speeds. It also provides for reduced electrical noise. In the alternative, ground can be provided by providing vias through the dielectric coating 6 to conducter 5, which in turn is electrically connected to a conductive pad 11. The vias can be formed by providing a suitable mask during the vapor deposition of the dielectric coating 6.
The vias are filled with the electrically conductive material 10.
In a further alternative embodiment, conducter 5 is composed of a dielectric substrate such as a ceramic having electrical conductors thereon.
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