A mounting structure includes a base member and an electronic component having a protruded electrode which is formed on a transparent substrate. The electrode includes pads and elastic projections that are covered with a conductive film. On the transparent substrate, terminals connected to the conductive film are formed. Dummy projections are provided on the surface of the base member. When mounting the electronic component, the electrodes are deformed by the pressure for the mounting. The dummy projections formed on the base member are also deformed. A pattern, for visually inspecting the deformation volume of dummy projections, is marked on the transparent substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a mount structure that is formed by mounting an electronic component on a substrate. The present invention further relates to an electro-optical device that adopts the configuration of such a mount structure, and an electronic apparatus that is provided with such an electro-optical device.
2. Related Art
As a typical configuration of a mount structure that is known in the technical field to which the present invention pertains, an electronic component such as an IC is mounted on a substrate by means of a chip-on-glass (hereafter abbreviated as "COG") method or the like with an anisotropic conductive film (hereafter abbreviated as "ACF") being interposed therebetween. In the formation of such a mount structure, an ACF having resinous particles and an electro-conductive film (i.e., metal plating layer) that coats the resinous particles is commonly used in the related art. When manufacturing a liquid crystal device, which is an example of an electro-optical device that has the common/popular mount structure described above, an electronic component for driving liquid crystal elements (e.g., driver IC) is mounted on a substrate with an ACF interposed therebetween. The COG method or a similar method is used for the mounting of the electronic component thereon.
In the configuration of such a mount structure, the input/output terminals (i.e., bumps) of the driver IC are electrically connected to source electrodes to which data signals are supplied, gate electrodes to which scanning signals are supplied, and external connection electrodes, respectively, which are formed on the substrate. Specifically, the input/output terminals of the driver IC are electrically connected thereto via electrically conductive particles that are provided in a random layout in an ACF adhesive. As described above, electro-conductive particles contained in an ACF play an important role in electrically connecting the terminals of an electronic component and various kinds of electrodes.
These days, there is a growing demand for a liquid crystal device that is capable of offering high-definition image display. As the market demands for the higher definition of display, the pitch of the terminals of an electronic component is becoming narrower and narrower. The same holds true for electrodes formed on a substrate. Because of the narrowed pitch of the terminals/electrodes, the electric connection method of the related art that uses an ACF has a disadvantage in that a short circuit failure could occur between adjacent terminals or adjacent electrodes via electro-conductive particles contained in the ACF.
In order to provide a technical solution to the problem of such a short circuit failure, JP-A-2005-353983 proposes an alternative electric connection method that does not use any ACF at all.
In the proposed electric connection method, each terminal of an electronic component is made up of an electrode pad, a resinous projection having elasticity, and an electro-conductive film that covers a part of the surface of the electrode pad to extend across (i.e., further cover) the surface of the resinous projection. Having such a configuration, the electronic component disclosed in the above-identified patent publication is adhered to a substrate by means of an ordinary non-special adhesive with each of the electro-conductive films being directly connected to the corresponding one of various kinds of electrodes.
Since the proposed configuration does not employ any electro-conductive particles, it is possible to prevent adjacent terminals or adjacent electrodes from being short-circuited with each other. As another advantage, even when the bonding strength of the adhesive decrease due to aging, that is, with the passage of time, after mounting of the electronic component on the substrate, the resinous projection gets elastically deformed in counteraction to the decrease in the adhesive strength; and therefore, thanks to the resilience force thereof, there rarely occurs an electric connection failure between the electro-conductive film and the electrode. As still another advantage, the cost of production is reduced because electro-conductive particles are not used. As explained above, the proposed electric connection method offers various advantages over the conventional electric connection method that uses ACFs.
In the electric connection method described in the above-identified patent publication, it is possible to make a judgment as to whether the electric connection between a certain terminal of an electronic component and the corresponding electrode is in a good condition or in a poor condition on the basis of amount of deformation of the terminal caused at the time when the electronic component is non-tentatively mounted on a substrate. Specifically, it is possible to judge that the electric connection between a certain terminal of an electronic component and the corresponding electrode is in a good condition if the terminal is elastically deformed by a predetermined deformation amount, where a sufficient degree of deformation thereof means that the contact area between the electro-conductive film of the terminal and the electrode is not insufficiently small. However, it is practically difficult to visually perceive the amount of deformation of a terminal after the non-tentative mounting of an electronic component on a substrate because the terminal is arrayed at a position that overlaps the corresponding electrode when viewed in two dimensions (i.e., in plan view). That is, the proposed electric connection method has not addressed the problem of practical difficulty in visually checking whether the electric connection between a certain terminal of an electronic component and the corresponding electrode is in a good condition or in a poor condition.
In the ACF-based electrical connection method used in the related art that is described before the above alternative proposed method, a judgment as to whether the electric connection between a certain terminal of an electronic component and the corresponding electrode is in a good condition or in a poor condition is made as follows. After the non-tentative mounting of an electronic component on a substrate that has transparency, each shape of deformation of several test-target ACFs, which are selected among a plurality of ACFs placed in a random layout in the mounting area of the electronic component, is visually observed through the transparent substrate. Then, each shape of deformation of the visually-checked target ACFs is indirectly compared with more than one specified shapes of deformation thereof that have been stored and registered in, for example, a personal computer or the like in advance as sample deformation shapes. The plural shapes of deformation thereof are pre-defined in the personal computer or the like so as to enable rank classification for the check target ACF (e.g., a good deformation shape, a poor deformation shape, and the like) in a comparative manner. This is how the judgment is made in the first-mentioned electrical connection method that uses ACFs. According to such an electric connection condition check method, it is not possible to visually observe the state of electric connection therebetween by means of a mount structure only in an easy manner.

Mount structure, electro-optical device, and electronic apparatus


A portable refrigerant recovery and reclamation apparatus and method for removing and reclaiming fluorocarbon refrigerants from refrigeration systems through a closed loop preventing exposure of the refrigerant to the atmosphere. A refrigerant is drawn by suction to a boiler chamber, vaporized, condensed, filtered and recycled.

In the past venting of refrigerants to the atmosphere, from refrigeration systems, was an expedient and economical method of removing contaminated refrigerants to permit repairs and allow the equipment to return to full production as quickly as possible. Scientific research has concluded that in the case of chloroflourocarbon (CFC) refrigerants, such venting to the atmosphere has lead to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. In view of this, various taxes and legislative restrictions have been imposed to limit the production, use, and restrict and discourage discharging of such refrigerants. Alternative refrigerants are more costly and their use in present equipment is not compatible in all cases.
The above noted problems have necessitated the recovery and reclamation and reuse of present and future supplies of CFC refrigerants. The present invention relates to the field of recovery, reclamation, transfer and recharging of refrigerants for servicing of refrigeration and air conditioning systems. One feature of the present invention is the provision of a portable apparatus to permit the recycling and reclamation process to be performed while the refrigeration apparatus continues operating thereby preventing loss of production by the refrigeration system. A further advantage of the present invention is the removal of most of the contaminants such as acid, moisture, oil, solid particles and non-condensable gases by controlling temperatures.
The present invention also provides the capability to transfer refrigerants from a refrigeration apparatus requiring repairs, to a separate holding vessel whereby the present invention performs recycling and reclaiming of the refrigerant. Once repairs are completed on the refrigeration apparatus, the reclaimed refrigeration is reintroduced to the refrigeration apparatus by the transferring capability of the invention.

Method and apparatus for reclaiming a refrigerant


A method in a wireless device for determining a power allocation for an uplink transmission and a wireless device configured for determining a power allocation for an uplink transmission. Wherein the power allocation is based on a remaining power for scheduled transmissions derived from a maximum transmitter power of the wireless device, less any power for non-scheduled transmissions and a reserved power for any scheduled data transmission on the second frequency derived from a filtered power of a dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH, and a power offset for an enhanced-transport format combination, E-TFC, of a transmission for the second frequency configured with the second TTI, wherein the filtered power is averaged over a number of slots having a total duration equal to the second TTI length.

In Rel-9, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard introduced Dual-Carrier HSUPA (DC-HSUPA), which aims to increase the uplink data throughput by allowing a wireless device to transmit on two uplink carriers at the same time. In Rel-13, Dual-band Dual-Carrier HSUPA (DB-DC HSUPA) was added to the standard. DB-DC HSUPA aims at configuring two uplink carriers on different frequency bands. However, when DB-DC HSUPA is configured, high-frequency carriers have smaller coverage relative to low-frequency carriers. For example, there is a coverage difference of approximately 7.3 dB between a carrier operating at 900 MHz and a carrier operating at 2.1 GHz.
Until recently, the UMTS standard allowed configuration of a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) equal to 2 ms or 10 ms in the case of single carrier HSUPA. However, the UMTS standard only allows for configuring a TTI equal to 2 ms on both carriers for DB-DC HSUPA and/or DC-HSUPA. Nonetheless, and continuing with the evolution of the UMTS standard, a recently approved Rel-14 Work Item entitled "Multicarrier Enhancements for UMTS" will open the possibility of configuring 10 ms TTI on one or both uplink carrier frequencies in DB-DC HSUPA and/or DC-HSUPA scenarios.
Enabling different TTI configuration per carrier in DB-DC HSUPA and/or DC-HSUPA opens the possibility of having a variety of scenarios. For example, since 10 ms TTI offers a better coverage than 2 ms TTI, then in DB-DC HSUPA 10 ms TTI may be configured on a high frequency band and 2 ms TTI on the low frequency band. Such a configuration may provide compensation, even if slight, for the different propagation properties associated with each band. At a given path loss ratio, the compensation given by the TTI, if any, may be only approximately 1 dB or 2 dB, while the coverage difference between 900 MHz band and 2.1 GHz band may be approximately 7.3 dB.
The mixed TTI configuration for Uplink (UL) Multicarrier may have some side effects on some procedures and/or functionalities that currently only account for uplink transmissions to be performed on a 2 ms TTI basis. For example, prior to Rel-14, the standard stated that the power allocation in UL Multicarrier must be performed at the TTI boundary. As used herein, the term TTI boundary refers to the start of a TTI. However, it may be recognized that, upon the completion of Rel-14, the uplink carrier frequencies may be configured with different TTI boundaries. In that case, there will be two different TTI boundaries making power allocation problematic in those scenarios.
The Rel-14 "Multicarrier enhancements for UMTS" may also require a revision of some existing procedures and/or functionalities.

Systems and methods for power allocation in uplink multicarrier scenarios for mixed transmission time intervals


An active vibration damper includes a lower outer wall for placement on a floor, and front and rear outer walls, with the front and/or rear outer wall including first and second receptacles in an outer side thereof. The first receptacle receives a permanent magnet and is pot-shaped to maintain a closed configuration of the front and/or rear outer wall. A primary part of an electrical linear actuator is fixed at least on an inside of the lower outer wall, and a secondary part is arranged above the primary part and acted upon by the primary part. Retaining elements fixed to an inside of the upper outer wall movably hold the secondary part for displacement in a substantially linear manner in a left-right direction when the primary part is correspondingly impinged on. A magnetic back iron yoke is received in the second receptacle at the height of the secondary part.

The present invention is based on an active vibration damper,                wherein the vibration damper has a substantially cuboid housing, such that the housing, when positioned with a lower outer wall on the floor, additionally has an upper outer wall, a front and a rear outer wall, and a left and a right outer wall,        wherein a primary part of an electrical linear actuator is fixed at least on the inside of the lower outer wall,        wherein the primary part acts on a secondary part of the electrical linear actuator, arranged above the primary part,        wherein the secondary part is movably held via a left and a right retaining element, fixed to the inside of the upper outer wall, such that the secondary part is displaceable in a substantially linear manner when the primary part is correspondingly impinged on in the left-right direction,        wherein a number of receptacles for permanent magnets and, furthermore, a receptacle for a magnetic back iron yoke are introduced into the front outer wall and/or into the rear outer wall at the height of the secondary part,        wherein the receptacles for the permanent magnets and the receptacle for the magnetic back iron yoke are introduced into the outside of the front outer wall and/or into the outside of the rear outer wall.
An active vibration damper is known from WO 2017/140 760 A1 which appears to have a substantially cuboid housing, such that the housing, when positioned with a lower outer wall on the floor, additionally appears to have an upper outer wall, a front and a rear outer wall, and a left and a right outer wall. A primary part of an electrical linear actuator is fixed on the inside of the lower outer wall. The primary part acts on a secondary part of the electrical linear actuator, arranged above the primary part. The secondary part is movably held via a left and a right retaining element, fixed to the inside of the upper outer wall, such that the secondary part is displaceable in a substantially linear manner when the primary part is correspondingly impinged on in the left-right direction. A number of apertures are introduced into the front and the rear outer wall, into which what are known as slot gliding blocks can be inserted.
Active vibration dampers are used in various machines in order to damp vibrations arising during operation of the respective machine. The respective active vibration damper is not therefore used for the actual operation of the machine but merely to reduce and if possible even eliminate an undesired side-effect, namely the vibrations and oscillations, occurring during operation of the machine.
The vibration damper works very well. It can however only be mounted in a few orientations. It is nevertheless readily possible in particular to mount the vibration damper such that the outer wall referred to above as the lower outer wall points downward. In this case, no further measures at all are required in order to operate the vibration damper properly. Moreover, on account of the force of attraction exerted by the primary part on the secondary part, it is often also readily possible to mount the vibration damper such that the outer wall referred to above as the upper outer wall points downward. This is possible in particular if the force of attraction exerted by the primary part on the secondary part exceeds the weight force exerted on the secondary part. It is furthermore possible to mount the vibration damper such that one of the outer walls referred to above as the left and right outer wall points downward. In this case, it is necessary to equalize the weight force acting on the secondary part by actuating the primary part accordingly.
It is however not possible to mount the vibration damper such that one of the outer walls referred to above as the front and rear outer wall points downward. In this case, on account of the weight force acting on the secondary part, high bending stresses act on the retaining elements which would destroy the retaining elements immediately or at least very quickly. Under certain circumstances, therefore, the active vibration damper must be mounted such that it is spaced significantly apart from the machine, the vibration of which it is intended to damp. It cannot however be mounted such that it is effectively flush with the machine.
The object of the present invention is to develop an active vibration damper of the type cited in the introduction such that it can also be mounted such that the front and/or rear outer wall points downward.

Active vibration damper, usable in a plurality of orientations


In one aspect an apparatus for use in a wellbore is disclosed that in one non-limiting embodiment includes an assembly deployable in the wellbore that includes a first fluid flow path for supplying a first fluid from a surface location to a formation zone along the wellbore and a second fluid flow path for supplying a second fluid from a surface location to the formation zone and a flow control device that combines the first fluid and the second fluid before supplying the combined fluid to the zone and may controls the proportions of such fluid to the formation zone.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to a treating formation zones, including fracturing, gravel packing and flooding.
2. Background of the Art
Wellbores are drilled in subsurface formations for the production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas), which are trapped in various traps or zones in the subsurface formations at different wellbore depths. Such zones are referred to as reservoirs or hydrocarbon-bearing formations or production zones. A casing is generally placed inside the wellbore and the space between the casing and the wellbore (annulus) is filled with cement. A completion string or assembly containing a number of devices is placed inside the casing to perform a variety of operations downhole, including, but not limited to, fracturing, gravel packing and flooding zones with a fluid supplied from the surface. Typically, the completion assembly includes an outer assembly and an inner or service assembly placed inside the outer assembly to treat the wellbore zones. The outer assembly typically contains a variety of devices, such as packers to isolate zones, flow port devices to provide fluid communication between inside of the outer assembly and the formation, sand screens for preventing or mitigating flow of solid particles above a certain size from the formation to the inside of the outer string. The inner assembly contains devices to open and close or operate a number of devices in the outer assembly and to provide a fluid path from the surface to the outer assembly. To treat a zone, the treatment fluid is supplied to the inside of the inner assembly, which is supplied to the formation via a port in the inner assembly and another port in the outer assembly. This single fluid path provides an upper limit to the amount of the treatment fluid that can be supplied to a zone.
The disclosure herein provides apparatus and methods for supplying a treatment fluid to a zone via more than one fluid path to increase the rate of the supplied fluid.

Wellbore systems and methods for supplying treatment fluids via more than one path to a formation


A first discarding device is coupled to a second discarding device. This first discarding device can be a traffic policer or alternatively a network buffer. The second discarding device is a network buffer. A cell stream is supplied to the first discarding device. The system determines if the incoming cells are in accordance with the predetermined criteria and discards this cell, if this cell is not in accordance with the criterion. By discarding cells of a frame, this frame is corrupted and marked with a corrupted frame indicator, by the first discarding device. Afterwards the second discarding device may discard the remaining cells of the marked frame. If the first discarding device is a traffic policer, the traffic policer checks the conformance of the incoming cells according to conformance criterion and alternatively if the first discarding device is a network buffer it checks the conformance of the incoming cells according to some congestion determining criteria.

The present invention relates to a cell discard method for discarding of buffered fragmented frames within a communications network as described in the preamble of claim 1, and related devices as described in the preambles of claim 4 and claim 6.
Such a cell discard method is already known in the art, e.g. from the section xe2x80x9cTraffic and Congestion Control in ATM Networksxe2x80x9d, pages 302-340 in Asynchronous Transfer Mode: Solution for Broadband ISDN, third edition, from the author Martin de Prycker. Therein, a cell based traffic policing method called Usage Parameter Control (UPC), containing the steps of checking cells called determining cells to be conforming or non-conforming and discarding cells called cell discarding is described.
Since in a cell based discard method only single cells from a frame are discarded, the frame is left incomplete in the network. Since incomplete frames are useless from an application point of view, hence the presence of these frames decreases network throughput. This situation can be improved by using frame based traffic policing methods, but most of the times these have the disadvantage, that a number of cells of the entire frame which should be discarded, already have left the discarding device. Only the cells that still remain within the discarding device can be discarded. A corrupted frame is left then in the communications network. If this corrupted frame is not used anywhere in the communication network, then the presence of this frames also decreases network throughput. As a remark on this frame based policing methods it should be mentioned that there are frame based policing algorithms possible and available not having the disadvantage of leaving corrupted frames within the network. One of those methods is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,353 with title xe2x80x9cFrame based traffic policing for a digital switchxe2x80x9d. However the disadvantage of this kind of methods is that the network has to support this method end-to-end to avoid incomplete frames within the network. This situation is very unlikely in the near future because it should be agreed and supported by all network operators. Summarising the former, it can be said that applying traffic policing methods in a communication network in general, involves that the frames within the communication network may be incomplete because of a number of different possible problems already mentioned. If such incomplete frames are not used anywhere in the communication network, then the presence of these frames decreases network throughput. This can also be the situation in case of cell discard by network elements like network buffers which discard cells in case of network congestion whereby also corrupted frames are left within the network.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cell discard method of the above known type and related devices adopted to perform this method, but wherein the network throughput is improved.
By marking a frame wherefrom a cell has been deleted, discarding of this frame is facilitated. In this way, all corrupted frames that usually would be transported to its destination node in the prior art system are in the present invention discarded in an early stage, i.e. in the second discarding device, thereby decreasing network load and preventing the network from overload. To discard a marked frame completely, all leftover cells belonging to this frame should be stored in the second discarding device. If this is not the case, network load is reduced to a smaller extent by only discarding those cells which are present in the second discarding device.
However, those remaining cells of the frame, i.e. those are the cells which have left the second discarding device together with the last cell, can be discarded by another coupled second discarding device.
The first discarding device for instance can be a traffic policer. In that case, the criterion to check is a conformance criterion. Alternatively the first discarding device can be a network buffer. In that case, the criterion to check is a congestion criterion.
The corrupted frame indicator can be implemented by assigning a value to a single bit in the end of message cell which indicates the end of the corresponding frame. The meaning of the value 0 or 1 assigned to the bit is the state of the corresponding frame: corrupted or complete or vice versa. This implementation is a preferred solution because the end of message cell is often used in such communication networks whereby also spare bits are reserved for future implementations. By using spare bits of an existing cell no additional traffic is generated.


A signal transmission method, a signal transmission apparatus and a display device are provided which belonging to the field of display technology. The signal transmission method is applied to a signal sender, the signal sender includes a first interface, a point-to-point connection is established between the first interface and a second interface of a signal receiver, the signal transmission method includes: sending a non-periodic training signal to the second interface via the first interface in an interval of transmission of pixel data. EMI generated during data transmission is reduced by using a technical solution of the present disclosure.

A Point-to-Point (P2P) interface of a current display device generates significant Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) during data transmission, which causes significant interference to transmitted data, thereby leading to an appearance of snowflake dots or abnormal images in a display, and even in some cases, causing a P2P signal to be unlocked. Further, the significant EMI causes interference to electronic components of the display device, thereby causing unpredictable defects and damages.

Signal transmission method, signal transmission apparatus and display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


A plating apparatus comprises a plating unit having a plating bath for holding a plating liquid therein, and a planting monitoring unit having a liquid chromatography device and an arithmetical unit. The liquid chromatography device serves to separate and quantify an additive in a sample of the planting liquid. The arithmetical unit serves to compare a quantified value of the additive with a given concentration predetermined for the additive and to produce an output signal representing the compare result. The plating apparatus further comprises an additive replenishing unit for adding a solution including the additive from an additive tank to the plating liquid in the planting bath based on the output signal from the arithmetical unit in the plating liquid monitoring unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plating apparatus and a method of managing a plating liquid composition. More particularly, the invention relates to a plating apparatus for forming an interconnection by embedding copper in a fine interconnection groove defined in a surface of a semiconductor substrate through copper sulfate plating, and a method of managing an additive in a plating liquid used in such a plating apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Processes of depositing a metal film by plating have widely been used in electronic industries for manufacturing a printed circuit board and the like. Recently, there have been made more attempts to use copper (Cu) as a metal material for forming interconnection circuits on semiconductor substrates because of its low electric resistivity and high resistance to electromigration, instead of aluminum or aluminum alloy. Copper interconnections are generally formed by embedding copper in fine recesses defined in a surface of a semiconductor substrate. Processes for forming copper interconnections include a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, a sputtering process, and a plating process. In any of these processes, a copper film is deposited on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate, and then unwanted deposited copper is removed from the semiconductor substrate by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
FIGS. 1A through 1C show an example of a process for forming a copper interconnection on a substrate W through copper plating. As shown in FIG. 1A, an oxide film 2 of SiO2 is deposited on an electrically conductive layer 1a on a semiconductor base 1 on which a semiconductor device has been formed. A contact hole 3 and an interconnection groove 4 are formed in the oxide film 2 by a lithography etching technology. Then, a barrier layer 5 made of TaN or the like is formed on the oxide film 2, and a seed layer 7, which is used as a feeding layer in an electrolytic plating, is formed on the barrier layer 5.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1B, the surface of the substrate W is plated with copper to fill the contact hole 3 and the interconnection groove 4 with copper and to form a copper film 6 on the oxide film 2. Thereafter, the surface of the substrate W is polished to remove the copper film 6 from the oxide film 2 so that the surface of the copper film 6 filled in the contact hole 3 and the interconnection groove 4 is made substantially even with the surface of the oxide film 2. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1C, an interconnection comprising the copper film 6 is formed.
The seed layer 7 is generally formed by sputtering or CVD. The copper film 6 is formed by an electrolytic copper plating process using a plating liquid which generally comprises a copper sulfate plating liquid including copper sulfate and sulfuric acid.
As circuit interconnections become finer, interconnection grooves or plugs have higher aspect ratios. In view of such tendencies, a strict technical requirement has been imposed for completely embedding copper in fine recesses, 0.1 xcexcm or less wide, defined in substrates, without causing defects.
To meet such a requirement, it is necessary to optimize a geometrical shape of an electrolytic tank and operating conditions such as electric conditions in the plating process. However, it is most important to completely manage the composition of the plating liquid. The plating liquid comprises main components including metal ions to be deposited and counter ions thereof, and additives for locally controlling the rate of the deposition reaction to equalize the deposition of the metal ions on a surface to be plated. Although the amount of additives added is extremely small, the additives have a highly significant effect on the plating process. Therefore, the plating process may disadvantageously be affected by the additives unless the additives are strictly managed in their concentrations.
In recent years, it has been required to minimize loads on the environment in various production processes. Particularly, it is expected to use a plating bath for a longer time in the plating process, which is highly likely to produce a waste liquid having a high concentration. From these points of view, it is desirable to positively manage the concentration of the plating liquid for efficiently using the plating liquid.
Heretofore, however, almost no efforts have been made to manage plating liquids. In a conventional plating process, certain amounts of plating liquid components are added to the plating liquid at given intervals of time for replenishment, and a plating bath is replaced as a whole after the plating liquid components have been added a certain number of times.
In an electric plating process, the state of the deposition reaction is monitored based on electrochemical measurement such as cyclic voltammetric stripping (CVS), and information on the concentrations of additives is obtained indirectly from the measured results. In this CVS process, a cyclic voltammogram is plotted with use of a potentiostat and a potential scanner, and information on the concentrations of the additives and contaminants in the plating liquid is obtained indirectly from the shape of the plotted cyclic voltammogram. However, since the CVS process is based on an indirect approach, it cannot meet requirements for management of the plating liquid with higher accuracy.
The present invention has been made in view of the above drawbacks. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a plating apparatus which directly separates and quantifies an additive in a plating liquid to manage a composition of the plating liquid with high accuracy, and a method of managing a composition of a plating liquid in such a plating apparatus.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plating apparatus comprising a plating unit having a plating bath for holding a plating liquid therein; a plating liquid monitoring unit having a liquid chromatography device for separating and quantifying an additive in a sample of the plating liquid, and having an arithmetical unit for comparing a quantified value of the additive with a given concentration predetermined for the additive and for producing an output signal representing the compared result; and an additive replenishing unit for adding a solution including the additive from an additive tank to the plating liquid in the plating bath based on the output signal from the arithmetical unit in the plating liquid monitoring unit.
With the above arrangement, the additive in the plating liquid is directly separated and analyzed (quantified) with the liquid chromatography device, and additive which is insufficient or expected to be insufficient is properly added to the plating liquid. Thus, variations in the amount of the additive in the plating liquid are kept within a certain range.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the liquid chromatography device comprises an evaporative light-scattering detector for quantifying the additive. The evaporative light-scattering detector can detect the intensity of light scattered by the solute that remains unevaporated after the sample has been evaporated through spraying. Thus, the evaporative light-scattering detector can basically detect any substances and has sufficient detecting sensitivity at practical concentration levels of additives. Therefore, the evaporative light-scattering detector can simplify the entire system. In the case where the evaporative light-scattering detector has insufficient detection sensitivity for some reasons, the additives may be concentrated to a detectable level by way of pre-column concentration.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the plating liquid comprises a sulfuric acid copper plating liquid for embedding copper in a fine recess defined in a substrate to form an interconnection. Ionic components are removed from the plating liquid before the additive is quantified. With this arrangement, the main components such as sulfuric acid ions, copper ions, and chlorine ions, which are present at extraordinarily high concentrations, are removed in advance. Accordingly, a trace amount of additive in the plating liquid can easily be detected.
According to still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the additive comprises at least one of an oxygen-containing water-soluble polymeric compound, a sulfur-containing organic compound, and a nitrogen-containing organic compound. The oxygen-containing water-soluble polymeric compound may comprise polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, or the like. The sulfur-containing organic compound may comprise disulfide or the like. The nitrogen-containing organic compound may comprise polyamine or the like.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing a plating liquid composition, comprising: sampling a plating liquid in a plating bath; separating and quantifying an additive in the sampled plating liquid with liquid chromatography; comparing a quantified value of the additive with a given concentration predetermined for the additive; and adding a solution including the additive to the plating liquid based on the compared result.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, ionic components are removed from the plating liquid in advance before the additive is quantified.

Plating apparatus and method of managing plating liquid composition


This invention relates to a multiple cell container comprising: a hollow outer vessel having a top edge about a perimeter of an open top; a hollow internal vessel having a top rim about a perimeter of an open top, the internal vessel being housed within the outer vessel with a first portion of the rim being in overlapping juxtaposition with an adjacent portion of the top edge, a second portion of the rim spanning across said open top of the outer vessel; a cap closing said open tops of both the outer and internal vessels thus defining a first closed cell within the internal vessel and a second closed cell within the outer vessel external to the internal vessel, the cap having an inverted peripheral channel about an outer edge of the cap, and an inverted interior channel spanning between and communicating with said peripheral channel, the peripheral channel of the cap being sealingly secured to the top edge of the outer vessel and the overlapping portion of the rim, and the interior channel being sealingly secured to the second portion of the rim, the interior channel and second rim portion defining a seam folded over a top face of the cap. A method of manufacturing a filled multiple cell container is also provided.

The conventional soft drink or beer can comprises a substantially cylindrical sheet metal vessel with a disk shaped sheet metal cap sealingly secured to an upper edge of the vessel. Such conventional vessels are formed of recyclable aluminium or steel in a sheet metal process which is well known to those skilled in the art.
The conventional soft drink or beer can contains a single liquid, however it has in the past been proposed to modify such a can by including an internal vessel to hold a second liquid.
An example of such a multi-celled drink container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,295 to Hitzler. Hitzler uses an obsolete cylindrical outer vessel shape. The currently used cans are formed with a tapered neck in a smooth-necking process from an open topped cylindrical blank. The modern necking process technology results in material savings, enhances resistance to vertical stacking forces, and reduces storage space.
The internal vessel of Hitzler comprises a semi-circular prismatic vessel which abuts one half of the internal wall of the outer cylindrical vessel. The cap of the can of Hitzler is comprised of two semi-circular disk portions which are joined together at their straight sides. The straight sides are joined at their bottom side to the upstanding straight edge of the internal vessel to form a central seam across the top surface of the finished circular cap.
The multi-celled container described by Hitzler suffers from the disadvantage that the two-piece cap member is relatively complicated and difficult to fabricate in practice. The cap is comprised of two portions which must be joined together with the internal vessel at the center line of the cap. In most cases the liquid contained within such vessels is under pressure and the reliability of the seal made between the vessels and the external atmosphere is extremely critical. This is especially true when food products are stored within the cells of the container.
A further disadvantage to the multi-celled container of Hitzler is that the volume of liquid stored in the internal vessel is less than the volume which can be contained in the remaining portion of the outer vessel. Since the cap is sealed along its center line, the volume of liquid within the semi-circular internal vessel is less than one half of the internal volume of the outer vessel due to the wall thickness of the internal vessel.
The inability to contain equal volumes is disadvantageous in that the marketability of the multiple cell container is limited thereby. For example, three multiple celled containers could be used to replace a standard six pack of equal volume. If the liquids in the containers were to be mixed in equal volumes for certain applications such as for example epoxy resin and epoxy setting compounds, the application of unequal volumes would inhibit such use.
A multiple celled container could also be used as a promotional item to sell equal volumes of two of a companies products. For example a beer company may wish to sell a lager and an ale together in a multiple celled container as a promotional sales tool. The inability to sell equal volumes of liquid product in both sides of the multiple celled container adds to production considerations and labelling requirements. As a result, the attractiveness of the multiple celled container as a promotional device is diminished.
Therefore it is desirable to produce a multiple celled container which is easily and simply fabricated with a minimum number of parts but also results in a secure seal between the multiple cells and the outside atmosphere.
It is also desirable to produce a multiple celled container wherein the volumes contained within each separate cell are equal.
To ensure marketplace acceptance of any double vessel container, it is a practical necessity that the latest current shape of outer vessel be used. The outer vessels are formed and printed in massive volumes with existing machinery, and any proposed modification that requires a change to accepted manufacturing procedures would likely be a commercial failure. Therefore it is desirable to produce a multiple celled container wherein the volumes contained within each separate cell are equal and wherein the outer vessel is of the latest commonly used standard shape.


Disclosed herein is a display device with a touch sensor, including: a plurality of display pixel electrodes; a common electrode configured to be provided opposed to the display pixel electrodes; a display function layer configured to have an image display function; a display control circuit configured to apply a display voltage between the display pixel electrodes and the common electrode based on an image signal and carry out image display control so that the display function of the display function layer be exerted; and a touch detection electrode configured to be provided opposed to the common electrode and form capacitance between the touch detection electrode and the common electrode.

The present technique relates to a display device with a touch sensor, a potential control method, and a program. Specifically, the present technique relates to a display device with a touch sensor having enhanced sensitivity of the touch sensor, a potential control method, and a program.
In recent years, attention is being paid to a display device in which a contact detecting device referred to as a so-called touch panel (hereinafter, described as the touch sensor) is mounted directly on a liquid crystal display device and the liquid crystal display device is made to display various kinds of buttons to thereby enable information input by use of these buttons instead of normal buttons. Under the trend toward a larger size of the screen of mobile apparatus, this technique permits the display to be shared also as the area in which the buttons are disposed and therefore causes large advantages of space saving and reduction in the number of parts.
However, in this technique, the thickness of the whole liquid crystal module increases because of the mounting of the touch panel. In particular, in use as mobile apparatus, a protective layer for preventing generation of scratches on the touch panel is necessary. Thus, the liquid crystal module becomes thicker and thickness reduction is difficult.
To address this problem, the following technique has been proposed. Specifically, thickness reduction is obtained by using a common electrode for displaying originally provided in a liquid crystal display element also as one (drive electrode) of a pair of touch sensor electrodes and sharing an existing common drive signal as a display drive signal also as a touch sensor drive signal (refer to e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2009-244958 (hereinafter, Patent Document 1)).

Display device with touch sensor, potential control method, and program


Disclosed is a turret punch press in which tap holder assemblies TA are incorporated into the press body through tool lifters. Each of the tap holder assemblies TA is composed of a tap holding mechanism, a tap feeding mechanism and a tabular workpiece clamping mechanism formed on the same axis. At the same time, transmission mechanisms DA for selectively transmitting the torque from the press body to the tap holding mechanisms are incorporated into the press body. With a punch press having this construction, tapping can be performed on the same axis as punching.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a turret punch press with a tapping function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When forming a female screw by using a tapping process, it is common practice to first form a starting hole in the workpiece by means of a turret punch press or the like before performing the tapping with a tapping machine. However, since this is operationally inefficient, it has become common practice recently to adopt a method in which the tapping operation is performed using a tap 98 mounted on a motor 99 attached to an outer side section of the body MB of a turret punch press, as shown in FIG. 7.
In the case of a punch press which is not of the turret type, it is conventional practice to prepare an optional work set which is composed of a tapping motor 89 and a tap 88, as shown in FIG. 8. This optional work set is mounted on a punch press, tapping being performed on a starting hole which has been previously formed in a tabular workpiece 85 by means of a punch and a die respectively mounted on a punch holder 87 and a die holder 86.
In the conventional method shown in FIG. 7, however, the tapping operation is performed using a turret punch press, so that the tapping motor 99 and the tap 98 must be attached to the punch press at positions clear of the punch turret 97 and the die turret 96. As a result, the tapping motor 99 and the tap 98 are situated well away from the center of punching where the various punching operations such as blanking, boring and drawing are performed, and the workable range available with a single work clamping therefore has to be relatively narrow. It is to be noted that a tapping operation based on the conventional principle must be controlled on a software basis. However, the preparation of the required software is inevitably a rather troublesome task. Furthermore, even when the control is conducted on a software basis, the punching range is discordant with the tapping range, as shown in FIG. 9, since the punching axis is not aligned with the tapping axis, resulting in a reduced available range for working with a single work clamping.
The conventional method illustrated in FIG. 8, according to which the above-described optional work set is mounted on a punch press, does not provide satisfactory operational utility, either, since the central axes of the tapping motor 89 and the tap 88 are inevitably different from those of the punch holder 87 and the die holder 86.
Accordingly, it would be very convenient if a turret punch press could be developed in which punching and tapping can be conducted on one and the same axis.

Turret punch press with a tapping function


There is disclosed a threaded joint for coupling together rods, tubes, pipes etc. The joint consists of helical box and pin thread segments each defined by a pressure flank and a clearance flank spaced apart from each other with alternating roots and crests. The pressure flank is defined by an S-curve extending between the root and the crest, which is defined by a first curvature c1 adjacent to the root and a second curvature c2 adjacent to the crest. c1 and c2 curve in opposing directions with an inflection point “i” between curvatures c1 and c2.

Subsurface drilling, particularly for mineral exploration, involves the use of a rotating drill string assembled from multiple individual tubular rods that are coupled together as the drilling progresses. Typically, the rods are threaded together using threading that is provided at opposing ends of each rod. Significant axial and rotational stresses are placed on the threading during the drill rotation and drill string retraction. Furthermore, the rods should be coupled together and decoupled without the need to apply excessive torque or force to the drill rod segments.
Within the mining industry, there is an ongoing need to provide improved threaded joints that address some of the drawbacks that are present within prior art threaded joints.


The present invention is achieved with a control unit for a PWM inverter for comparing (8) a voltage command signal (7) with the fundamental of the inverter's output voltage waveform and for comparing (11) the result with a carrier signal (10) and using that result to keep the output voltage waveform equal to the voltage command signal. The use of the output's fundamental for feedback eliminates the prior art need to use slight delays in the inverter's switching stage thereby removing the prior art torque ripple and consequent vibration problems particularly at low speed and furthermore enables smoother stopping and starting control using variable speed ranges of several hundred to one.

In an induction motor (hereinafter, referred to as "IM") driven at variable speeds, PWM inverters are often utilized for the drive. Speed feedback is often omitted in such systems due to cost and reliability advantages. When such inverters drive the IM without using a speed feedback loop, current hunting is liable to occur in a particular periodicity range under a light load and torque ripple is liable to result. The current hunting may in some cases disable the control of the inverter. The IM, especially when driven at slow speed, is influenced by the torque ripple. Such inverters produce too much vibration to be used for applications intolerant of vibration (for example, elevator drive). Consequently, to avoid excessive control capability in the low speed range, the effective variable speed range is usually provided at no greater than 20 to 1.
The cause of the ripple lies in a delay of ON/OFF operation of power switching elements (as shown in TU to TW and TX to TZ in FIG. 2) composing an output section of an inverter This delay requires the switching command for ON.fwdarw.OFF.fwdarw.ON operation of each switching element to have a further delay (because it is necessary to prevent positive and negative power sources from being short-circuited by means of the operation delay of a transistor). Such inverters therefore provide an artificially imposed dead time between switchings, which unfortunately produces a difference between a commanded output voltage and an actual output voltage and hence a waveform distortion. Further, since the operational delays of the power switching elements and control elements are subject to manufacturing variables, the difference produced between a theoretical control value and an actual output value causes a further waveform distortion as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 3.
The foregoing control unit thus cannot be used for applications intolerant of vibration such as an elevator drive.


In one general aspect, a method and system are described for identifying a plurality of functions associated with an application that is operable on a first software platform, identifying a plurality of user interface aspects of the application, identifying a plurality of navigational aspects of the application, generating a reformatted user interface capable of executing the plurality of functions on a second software platform.

Web application platforms may use grid matrix-style home screen hub-and-spoke model user interfaces with the intent to reduce application complexity and increase user productivity across desktop and mobile computing devices. Such user interfaces may include functionality to launch (e.g., open) a selected application. There is a need for applications that, in addition to launching applications, can also provide additional navigation and interoperability of the applications or between the applications.

User interface for navigating multiple applications


An inter pap active television program guide system is provided in which a user may direct the program guide to display a browsing display screen. The browsing display screen includes a list of current programs including a movable highlight region, a video window containing a television program to which the system is currently tuned, and a detailed description of the highlighted program listing. The user may position the highlight region using remote control cursor keys. The user may then synchronize the content of the video window with the highlighted program listing by pressing a select key or a channel up or down key. If the user changes channels repeatedly using the channel up and down keys, the contents of the video window and the highlighted program listings remain in synchronization.

This invention relates to interactive television program guides, and more particularly, to television program guides with a display screen that may be used when browsing for available television programs. A program list and an associated video window may be displayed in the display screen at the same time.
Cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems provide viewers with a large number of television channels. Viewers have traditionally consulted printed television program schedules to determine the programs being broadcast at a particular time. More recently, interactive electronic television program guides have been developed that allow television program information to be displayed on a viewer's television.
Interactive program guides are typically implemented on set-top boxes. Such program guides allow users to view television program listings in different display formats. For example, a user may instruct the program guide to display a grid or table of program listings organized in a channel-ordered or a time-ordered list. Users may also search and sort program listings by genre (e.g., movies, sports, etc.) or by title (i.e., alphabetically). A user may obtain additional information for a program by placing a highlight region on a desired program listing and pressing an "info" button. The user may purchase a pay program from the program guide by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing an "OK" button. Some systems allow the user to select a program for recording by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing a "record" button.
Some program guides allow users to display a list of current programming on the user's display screen as an overlay on top of a television channel. With one such system, the user may scroll a highlight region through the list of programming while monitoring the program to which the system is tuned in a quarter-screen window. A description of the highlighted program may also be provided.
This type of system always maintains the video for the television channel and the text of the description in complete synchronization with the highlighted program. Whenever the highlight region is repositioned on a new program listing, the system automatically tunes to the television channel for that program. The user cannot browse through the program listings without loosing track of what is on the channel to which the user was originally tuned. Moreover, the program list that this type of system displays has cells of program information for programs that are scheduled to be broadcast in the future as well as current programs, which tends to clutter the display.
Another program guide feature that allows users to display current programming information as an overlay on top of a television channel is the so-called browse feature available in some program guides. With this type of arrangement, the user is only presented with the title of a single program listing, so that the user cannot review a number of listings at a time. The title information also obscures a portion of the television channel being broadcast, which interferes with the user's ability to monitor that channel. No program descriptions are listed on the browse display screen. If the user is interested in a program title listed on the browse display, the user may tune to that channel by pressing a select key. However, this will cause the program guide to exit the browse mode.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a program guide system with improved browsing capabilities.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Program guide system with browsing display


According to embodiments of the present invention, a piezoelectric actuator is provided. The piezoelectric actuator includes a shear mode piezoelectric material including a first arm and a second arm intersecting each other, the shear mode piezoelectric material having a polarization direction oriented at least substantially along a length of the first arm, wherein the shear mode piezoelectric material has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the first surface and the second surface being adapted to undergo a shear displacement relative to each other along an axis at least substantially parallel to the polarization direction in response to an electric field applied between the first surface and the second surface in a direction at least substantially perpendicular to the polarization direction.

With strong demand for larger data storage capacity in computers, data areal density in hard disk drive has increased significantly by about 30-40% per year. With the increase in data areal density, the intervals between data tracks are becoming narrower and narrower. The narrower data tracks make it difficult for hard drive motors to quickly and precisely position the read/write head over the desired tracks for data storage. Typical hard drive actuators such as voice coil motors (VCM) usually cannot meet the resolution and bandwidth requirements of high track density hard disk drives.
Great efforts have been made to increase the resolution and bandwidth by incorporating a second-stage actuator on the load beam of a head gimbal assembly or between the slider and the load beam. However, there are still difficulties in meeting the higher displacement resolution and broader bandwidth requirements of high track density hard disk drives (up to 1 to 10 TBit/in2).
For a second-stage actuator which is placed on the load beam, the displacement resolution and resonant frequency are not high enough for high track density hard drives, although it has a better performance than that without second-stage actuators.
For a second-stage actuator which is placed between the slider and the load beam, the fabrication process is usually complicated. For some types of micro-actuators, the precision of actuator dimensions may affect the displacement performance of the actuators, which makes it demanding for quality control during manufacturing. When the second stage actuator is a piezoelectric ceramic micro-actuator in shear mode, the resulting shear displacement under a typical 12 V working voltage cannot provide large enough displacement to drive the read/write head. Piezoelectric multilayer ceramic actuator in shear mode can provide larger displacements but the complicated structure significantly compromises the reliability of the actuator and increases the cost.

Piezoelectric actuator, head gimbal assembly including the same and method of forming the same

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


A method of fabricating an interconnect structure on a wafer and an interconnect structure are provided. A dielectric layer is provided on the wafer, with the dielectric layer having a recess therein. A silicon (Si) layer is deposited in the recess. An interconnect is formed by providing a barrier layer and a conductive layer in the recess over the Si layer. The Si layer has a density that prevents or substantially prevents the barrier layer from moving away from the conductive layer and towards the dielectric layer during subsequent processing of the interconnect structure.

Integrated circuits (ICs) generally include a plurality of semiconductor devices (transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.). Back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing is used to interconnect the plurality of semiconductor devices with wiring on the wafer and is also used to form contacts, insulating layers (dielectrics), metal levels, and bonding sites for chip-to-package connections. BEOL interconnects, including metal wiring lines and inter-level vias, carry direct current (DC) in the integrated circuits. Within BEOL interconnect structures, metal wiring lines run parallel to the substrate, and conductive vias run perpendicular to the substrate, with the conductive vias interconnecting different levels of the metal wiring lines. Typically, copper is used as the interconnect metal in BEOL interconnect structures, due to the higher conductivity of copper as versus metals such as aluminum.

Back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect structure

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited


The invention relates to a field-bus connecting device having a motherboard which is arranged in an essentially square housing at the base and a plurality of modules which hold at least one connection element by means of a module mounting board, for connection to the motherboard, the housing having at the connection element end a plurality of receptacles for, in each case, one module and each module being detachably coupled to the motherboard by means of a connector arrangement which is plugged on to the motherboard, and the modules each comprise a module board which is connected to the respective module mounting board, is configured to correspond to the at least one connection element and couples the module to the motherboard by means of the connector arrangement, and the receptacles each have a receptacle space, open at the connection element end, for, in each case, one module with base-end openings for the connector arrangement.

Known field-bus connecting devices hold, in an essentially square housing, a motherboard which is supported on the base. On one side of the housing, a plurality of connection elements is permanently connected to the housing, by means of which connection elements the sensors and actuators and the serial bus system can be connected to the motherboard. There are various connection techniques for connecting the sensors and actuators and the serial bus system to the housing, the connection elements being embodied, for example, as cable bushing connectors, plug-type connectors or plug-type/screw-type connectors. However, because the respective connection elements are permanently connected to the housing, such field-bus connecting devices have the disadvantage that the respective connection technique is fixed for each housing, and that in the event of defects in one or more connection elements the entire field-bus connecting device has to be replaced.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE 44 37 316 A1 discloses a field-bus connecting device in which a plurality of connection elements can be connected to a motherboard which is embodied as a signal processing device and which is arranged in a square housing. In each case a plurality of connection elements are arranged in a module here, the modules having plug-type connectors for plugging onto mating plug-type connectors which are provided on the motherboard, that is to say they can be replaced individually.
In such a field-bus connecting device, the modules can indeed each be replaced individually, but the motherboard with the associated electronics is then freely accessible from the outside, entailing the risk of the electronics being damaged or tampered with by the user. Furthermore, the configuration of the modules is largely prescribed for each module location on the motherboard, with the result that different connection techniques cannot be combined as desired.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE 39 33 099 A1 discloses a modular assembly and wiring system in which a plurality of housings with inserted modules which are locked by means of securing latches are plugged onto an insulated busboard. Owing to the fact that the modules are closed, it is not possible to replace different connection elements as desired. In addition, the busboard is also freely accessible in this device when the modules are being replaced.
German patent DE 197 16 137 C1 and German utility model DE 296 07 525 U 1 each disclose connecting devices for connecting actuators and/or sensors which have one or more upper parts which can be fitted onto a lower part and have a plurality of connection elements for the sensors and actuators. In addition, German Offenlegungsschrift DE 196 15 093 A1 discloses a serial interface for field buses which has an automation unit with a communications adapter which can be plugged onto a plug-type connector. There is no provision for different connection techniques to be implemented by replacing individual connections in these devices, nor is this possible.
Finally, German patent DE 44 12 270 C2 discloses a decentralized interface module for a bus system in which the electronic control unit can be assembled with differently equipped connection fittings in order to adapt it to different connection techniques. However, the control electronics are inevitably freely accessible here and thus exposed to the risk of damage or tampering.


A Group III nitride semiconductor device of the present invention is obtained by laminating at least a buffer layer (12) made of a Group III nitride compound on a substrate (11), wherein the buffer layer (12) is made of AlN, and a lattice constant of a-axis of the buffer layer (12) is smaller than a lattice constant of a-axis of AlN in a bulk state.

Group III nitride semiconductors offer a direct transition over a band gap energy from visible light to ultraviolet rays, and excel in the light emission efficiency, and thus have been manufactured as semiconductor light-emitting devices such as a light emitting diode (LED) and a laser diode (LD) for use in various applications. In addition, when used for an electronic device, Group III nitride semiconductors have a potential to provide electronic devices having characteristics superior to those using conventional Group III-V compound semiconductors.
Such Group III nitride compound semiconductors are, in general, produced from trimethyl gallium, trimethyl aluminum, and ammonia as raw materials through a Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) method. The MOCVD method is a method in which a vapor of a raw material is introduced into a carrier gas to convey the vapor to the surface of a substrate and decompose the raw material on the surface of the heated substrate, to thereby grow a crystal.
Hitherto, a single crystalline wafer of a Group III nitride semiconductor has not been commercially available, and Group III nitride semiconductors are, in general, produced by growing a crystal on a single crystalline wafer of a different material. There is a large lattice mismatching between such a different kind of substrate and a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal to be epitaxially grown thereon. For example, when gallium nitride (GaN) is grown directly on a substrate made of sapphire (Al2O3), there is a lattice mismatching of 16% therebetween. Also, when gallium nitride is directly grown on a substrate made of SiC, there is a lattice mismatching of 6% therebetween. In general, a large lattice mismatching as in the above leads to a problem in that it is difficult to epitaxially grow a crystal directly on a substrate, or a crystal, even if grown, can not gain excellent crystallinity.
Thus, for epitaxially growing a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal on a single crystalline sapphire substrate or a single crystalline SiC substrate through a Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) method, a method has been proposed and generally performed in which, firstly, a layer called a low temperature buffer layer made of aluminum nitride (AlN) or aluminum nitride gallium (AlGaN) is laminated on a substrate, and then a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal is epitaxially grown thereon at a high temperature (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
However, in the methods disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, lattice match is not basically achieved between a substrate and a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal grown thereon. Therefore, the state is prepared in which a dislocation called a threading dislocation that extends toward a surface is included in a grown crystal. As a result, distortion occurs in a crystal, and sufficient light emission strength cannot be obtained unless the structure is appropriately adjusted. In addition, there was a problem such as a deterioration of productivity.
In addition, a method has been proposed in which the aforementioned buffer layer is formed by a method other than the MOCVD method, and for example, a method has been proposed in which a buffer layer is formed by high frequency sputtering, and a crystal having the same composition is grown thereon by an MOCVD method (for example, Patent Document 3). However, the method disclosed in Patent Document 3 has a problem in that an excellent crystal cannot be stably laminated on a substrate.
Thus, in order to stably produce an excellent crystal, there have been proposed a method for annealing a buffer layer in a mixed gas made of ammonia and hydrogen on completion of its growth (for example, Patent Document 4), and a method for forming a buffer layer by DC sputtering at a temperature of 400° C. or higher (for example, patent document 5). However, in any of the methods disclosed in the Patent Documents 4 and 5, there was the problem that it was difficult to stably obtain a good crystal when lattice mismatch occurred between a substrate and a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal grown thereon.
In addition, in any of the Patent Documents 1 to 5, there was the big problem that the crystallinity of the (10-10) plane of the ground layer made of GaN, which strongly relates to the dislocation density of a crystal and has an important role to improve properties of the light-emitting device such as an LED, was particularly poor.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent No. 3026087
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 4-297023
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. Hei 5-86646
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent No. 3440873
[Patent Document 5]
Japanese Patent No. 3700492

Group III nitride semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same, group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same, and lamp


A scroll compressor is provided that may include a first wrap, and a second wrap engaged with the first wrap and coupled to be eccentric to a center of rotation of a rotational shaft to form a compression chamber, moving toward a central portion, together with the first wrap while performing an orbiting motion with respect to the first wrap. A height of at least one of the first wrap or the second wrap may be formed to have at least two inclination machining amounts which decrease toward the central portion, and the inclination machining amount of the central portion may be larger than the inclination machining amount of an edge portion or a wrap rigidity at a specific section, thereby preventing frictional loss or abrasion of the wrap and breakage of the wrap.

1. Field
A scroll compressor, and more particularly, a scroll compressor capable of preventing frictional loss or abrasion of a wrap is disclosed herein.
2. Background
The scroll compressor is a compressor that forms a compression chamber including a suction chamber, an intermediate pressure chamber, and a discharge chamber between a plurality of scrolls while the plurality of scrolls perform a relative orbiting motion in an engaged state. Such a scroll compressor may obtain a relatively high compression ratio as compared with other types of compressors while smoothly connecting suction, compression, and discharge strokes of a refrigerant, thereby obtaining a stable torque. Therefore, the scroll compressor is widely used for compressing refrigerant in an air conditioner, for example. Recently, a high-efficiency scroll compressor having a lower eccentric load and an operation speed at 180 Hz or higher has been introduced.
In general, a scroll compressor may be divided into a low pressure type in which a suction pipe communicates with an internal space of a casing constituting a low pressure portion, and a high pressure type in which a suction pipe directly communicates with a compression chamber. Accordingly, in the low pressure type, a drive unit s provided in a suction space which is the low pressure portion, whereas in the high pressure type, a drive unit is provided in a discharge space which is the high pressure portion.
Such a scroll compressor may be divided into an upper compression type and a lower compression type according to positions of the drive unit and the compression unit. A compressor in which the compression unit is located above the drive unit is referred to as an upper compression type, and a compressor in which the compression unit is located below the drive unit is referred to as a lower compression type.
In the scroll compressor, as a pressure of the compression chamber normally increases, an orbiting scroll is subjected to a gas force in a direction away from a fixed scroll. As the orbiting scroll then moves away from the fixed scroll, leakage between compression chambers occurs and compression loss increases.
In view of this, the scroll compressor employs a tip seal method in which a sealing member is inserted into an end face of each of a fixed wrap and an orbiting wrap, or a back pressure method in which a back pressure chamber forming an intermediate pressure or discharge pressure is formed on a rear surface of the orbiting scroll or the fixed scroll, and the orbiting scroll or the fixed scroll is pressed to an opposing scroll by the pressure of the back pressure chamber.
In particular, in the back pressure method, a sealing member is provided between the rear surface of the orbiting scroll (or the rear surface of the fixed scroll) and a frame corresponding thereto, such that the back pressure chamber is formed inside or outside the sealing member. In the back pressure method using such a sealing member, an annular groove is formed in one member consulting a thrust face, and an annular sealing member having a rectangular cross section is inserted into the annular groove. When the compressor is operated, a refrigerant of an intermediate pressure, compressed in the compression chamber, is introduced into the annular groove, and the sealing member is lifted by the intermediate pressure to be brought into close contact with an opposite member, so as to form the back pressure chamber.
However, in the related art scroll compressor as described above, back pressure applied to a central portion of the orbiting scroll becomes larger than back pressure applied to an edge portion of the orbing scroll, and thereby the central portion of the orbiting scroll is excessively pressed toward the fixed scroll. Then, a portion of the fixed wrap, adjacent to a discharge end, may excessively adhere to the orbiting scroll or a portion of the fixed wrap, adjacent to a discharge end, may excessively adhere to the fixed scroll. At the same time, the central portion of the fixed wrap or orbiting wrap is deformed while being bent outward due to a gas force and a centrifugal force applied in a direction of the edge portion, and thereby, frictional loss or abrasion may occur between the fixed wrap or the orbiting wrap and the scroll facing the same, causing a deterioration in compressor efficiency.
In the related art scroll compressor, in a case of a so-called shaft through scroll compressor in which a rotational shaft overlaps the compression chamber in a radial direction, as the rotational shaft is inserted through a central portion of the fixed scroll, a discharge end of the fixed wrap does not sufficiently extend up to the central portion of the fixed scroll due to the rotational shaft, and thereby, rigidity of the discharge end of the fixed wrap is weakened. Accordingly, the fixed wrap may be severely bent or the discharge end of the fixed wrap may be broken. Further, as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1059880, which is hereby incorporated by reference, when a compression ratio of the compression chamber is increased by changing the fixed wrap and the orbiting wrap to an atypical shape, the discharge end of the fixed wrap may be further severely deformed and damaged. In addition, even when a protrusion is formed on the discharge and of the fixed wrap to increase a wrap supporting force, wrap deformation due to the increase in the compression ratio may not be completely suppressed, and thereby reliability of the compressor may be lowered due to frictional loss or abrasion or a wrap fracture.
In the related art scroll compressor, the deformation and fracture of the wrap (particularly, the fixed wrap) are suppressed by changing the shape of the wrap, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-257573, which is hereby incorporated by reference. However, in a case where roots of the wrap are made thick, the same groove should be formed on an end of the wrap of the opposite scroll, the wrap fabricating process becomes complicated, and a wrap thickness from a middle of the wrap to an end of the wrap is made thin. Accordingly, there is a limit in that the problem of deformation or fracture of the wrap cannot be solved.
Also, in view of this, when the wrap thickness is made thick as a whole, a size of the compressor is increased due to an increase in a size of the scroll for ensuring an orbiting radius, or a volume of the compression chamber is decreased due to a decrease of the orbiting radius. This may be seen as a result of arbitrarily changing the wrap shape without considering rigidity of the wrap.

Scroll compressor with wrap contour modification


A method and apparatus for controlling a threshold of pad input circuits of an integrated circuit such that variations in manufacturing and environment will not substantially change its operating characteristics. The invention uses a very stable reference voltage supply whose output is controlled by a voltage divider circuit to determine the input threshold switching voltage of each pad input circuit. Since the voltage divider can be manufactured more accurately, i.e. with less variation, than the transistors on the integrated circuit and because one reference voltage supply can set the threshold for the entire chip, this invention provides a pad input circuit with accurate and stable input switching characteristics. Additionally the FETs on the inputs of the circuits are matched such that their individual values may vary with the manufacturing process, but as long as they vary in the same proportion, then the switching accuracy and noise immunity will be maintained.

The present invention relates to a binary input circuit and more particularly to an apparatus and method for controlling a threshold voltage of a binary input circuit of an integrated circuit.
Integrated circuits are designed using standard cells from a standard cell library. Standard cell libraries are not readily developed. Rather, such libraries must be laboriously worked out transistor by transistor and cell by cell by the designers. A typical library development cycle consists of defining the physical sizes of the devices, specifying the desired performance parameters, e.g. speed, noise margin, etc., designing the cells, simulating the cell designs, making prototype integrated circuits using the cell designs, and measuring the actual characteristics of the prototype integrated circuits. Usually the characteristics are used to go back and revise the design of various cells so that the desired performance parameters are met. This revision requires a second prototype set of integrated circuits and a measurement of the characteristics of the revised integrated circuits.
One of the more important cells in a library is the pad input cell. One of the harder things to do is design a library that is manufacturing process independent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly stable highly accurate voltage reference circuit that sets a highly stable and highly accurate threshold voltage for a plurality of binary input circuits.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for producing an integrated circuit with a plurality of binary input circuits, each having its threshold voltage set by a common reference voltage circuit.

Threshold controlled input circuit for an integrated circuit


A rotor for a rotating machine, in particular a steam turbine includes at least one subregion composed of a metal structure having a reduced density and including a multiplicity of finely distributed cavities.

Rotors of steam turbines are exposed to high stresses caused by centrifugal forces and temperature differences. The former mainly restrict the diameter of the rotor which can be installed, while the latter mainly reduce the service life as a result of LCF (Low Cycle Fatigue) stresses.
Hitherto, rotors have been produced primarily from steel alloys, in some cases using large cavities, as are formed in the case of rings of rotors welded together (cf. for example WO-A1-2004/101209).
On the other hand, it is known to foam metals and in this way to produce porous metal structures. Extensive tests have been carried out using aluminum foams (cf. for example U.S. Pat. No. B1-6,840,301). It is also known that foaming is in principle possible for all metals, i.e. including steels (cf. for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,953). The metal foams in this case have a continuous surface. The foam structure is therefore not visible from the outside.

Rotor for a rotating machine, in particular a steam turbine


A cassette for storing and dispensing filamentary material to a machine for producing hollow articles by filament winding includes a housing having an outlet; a spindle supported internally of the housing; a hollow roll rotatably mounted on the spindle; and a reel of filamentary material carried by the hollow roll. The reel is fixed for rotation with the hollow roll and the hollow roll is rotatable in one direction to permit unwinding of the filamentary material from the reel. A force opposing the unwinding of the filamentary material is provided by a device located internally of the hollow roll. An adjustable braking mechanism is provided to establish a first tension on the filamentary material and an additional tensioning force is applied to the filamentary material by a complementary tensioning arrangement.

In the field of filament winding of threads or ribbons of fibres on a mandrel, it is common to place the latter on a machine that imparts thereto a generally rotational movement by which the mandrel draws off the thread and winds it onto itself. According to other known techniques, for example for the purpose of producing and winding around tubes, a frame is provided to revolve around an article that winds the thread about the said article, which can itself have imparted to it a movement relative to the frame. In all cases, the thread or the fibre intended to form the filamentary winding is dispensed from a reel which is usually formed by a cylindrical cardboard support onto which the thread is wound, which reel is capable of maintaining the thread in wound condition and allows it to wind off under the traction effect caused by the movement of the mandrel. In certain special cases, more precisely when the thread has to be wound onto an irregularly shaped support, it must be possible for the thread to be wound off from the reel at a constant tension so that winding around the article also takes place in a manner that is constant, whatever the configuration of the article to be wound. This tension must further be adjustable by the user in accordance with the winding sought after, and classical dispensing reels do not afford this possibility. Certain windings also necessitate large quantities of thread, and when a reel is empty, it is then necessary to substitute a fresh reel therefor, and consequently, interrupt winding in order to bond together the strands from the two reels. If a previous dispensing tension has been set for the first reel, the setting has to be repeated so that this pretensioning is also applied to the second reel, which is not always easy to achieve with the classical dispensing reels.
There are known, of course, systems of housings containing threads or ribbons that unwind when pulled upon and that rewind when released, such as, for example, an electric cable drum, a tape measure or a dog leash. But none of these systems possesses the new mechanical functions necessitated by the modern techniques of filament winding, which require means for replenishment with thread and for unwinding thread continuously at a constant adjustable tension, as indicated above.

Cassette for the storage and dispensing of thread or ribbon at a preset tension

Aerospatiale Societe Nationale Industrielle


An assay test kit is used in a mouth rinse sample collection procedure involving collecting a mouth rinse sample from a patient. A neutrophil reactant diagnostic reagent is delivered to the rinse sample immediately after collection. Diagnostic reagents containing diammonium salts that are reactive with neutrophil enzymes are added to the sample to produce visually discernable color change in the solution after a selected period of time. Most preferably, the reagents are selected to produce a color change after a period of time. The reaction is then measured by comparing the resulting sample color change by eye or mechanically to a standardized color chart/swatch that correlates with predetermined neutrophil concentrations and/or periodontal disease levels.

Screening for periodontal diseases has heretofore required regular visits to the dentist in order for a regular examination to be carried out. Periodontal diseases are inflammatory conditions that result in loss of the bone, gingiva and ligament that support the teeth. The destruction of the tooth supporting tissues (periodontium) occurs as a result of collateral damage caused by enzymes released by specialized white blood cells called neutrophils as they attempt to contain the bacterial infection. Periodontal diseases are one of the most prevalent diseases occurring in man, with between 70 and 90% of the population experiencing this disease during their lifetime.
Typically, diagnosis of the severity of periodontal diseases are determined by periodic professional dental examination of the amount of lost bone, ligament and gingival tissues. This examination requires the insertion of a thin metal probe under the gum tissues surrounding the teeth. The depth to which to probe extends is noted indicating the degree of "detachment" and loss of the supporting tissues around the teeth. A key measure is the degree of bleeding that occurs following probe insertion which indicates the degree of inflammation and ongoing disease. This bleeding provides a crude quantitative measure of disease level. Many studies have shown that the degree of bleeding is the most accurate predictor of future periodontal tissue loss around a given tooth.
There are also biochemical tests that have been developed to identify enzymes that are released by cells of the periodontium and the immune system into the oral cavity. However these tests require specialized equipment and training to carry out.
Since periodontal diseases usually do not cause pain, patients will often not be aware that there is any active disease occurring in their mouths. Some may notice occasional bleeding when they brush their teeth but most choose to ignore this as the bleeding is often transient in nature. Earlier studies have correlated the presence of neutrophils entering into the mouth through the gingival crevice surrounding the teeth in the crevicular fluid as a possible measure of oral inflammation. Currently, microscopes are sold to dentists to enable them to visually count or quantify neutrophils taken from samples around teeth.

Method for non-invasive rinse diagnosis and monitoring of periodontal diseases using colourimetric reagents


A layout apparatus for communicating includes, but is not limited to, a structural device, a first signal adjustment device and a radio device. The structural device is designed for configuring the layout of a room, and the first signal adjustment device is adapted for the electrical-optical conversion of an antenna signal. Furthermore, the first signal adjustment device and the radio device are arranged in the structural device, and the radio device is connected to the first signal adjustment device in such a manner that the antenna signal can be transmitted and/or received as a radio signal.

In airplane cabins, antennae may be connected to the transmit systems and receive systems by means of coaxial cables. The use of coaxial cables or coaxial transmission systems may require the routing of coaxial cables in the interior of the airplane in order to convey an antenna signal from the transmit system to the antenna. The antenna may be installed at a location remote from the transmit system in order to provide good transmit prerequisites. The antenna can, for example, be arranged outside a wall so that the signals emitted by the antenna may not be blocked by the wall.
Due to their electrical characteristics, coaxial cables may be designed in a multilayer design or multi-ply design. In particular, for example for separating an interior conductor from an exterior conductor, dielectric materials may be used in coaxial cables. However, the dielectric materials may comprise a high density value. Consequently, even in small configurations high weights of the coaxial cables or bundles of coaxial cables that are used may result. In this arrangement the coaxial line systems may make a substantial contribution to the total weight of an airplane.
There may thus be a need to create more lightweight transmission systems. In addition, other needs, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Layout apparatus, radio apparatus, and method for communicating in an airplane


A composition of matter and method to remove excess material during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices includes providing a substrate; applying a metal chelator mixture to the substrate, where the metal chelator mixture comprising a metal chelator and a solvent, where the metal chelator binds to the platinum residue, to render the platinum residue soluble; and rinsing the metal chelator mixture from the substrate to remove the platinum residue from the silicide.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to semiconductor processing, and, more particularly, to the removal of excess noble metal material during contact electrode processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional semiconductor processing systems, many dangerous chemicals are used simply because an alternative has not been found. For example, during contact electrode processing in a front end of line (FEOL) application, aqua regia is commonly used to remove unreacted platinum and platinum metal alloys (e.g., NiPt/Pt). Aqua regia is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, usually in a molar ratio of 1:3. Moreover, when used as a solvent, aqua regia typically forms shallow craters devoid of silicide in the Ni(Pt)Si film. Moreover, aqua regia is very corrosive and highly flammable.
These factors contribute to making aqua regia an undesirable compound for use in industrial processes. Aqua regia, however, is used in conventional systems because it is known to dissolve Pt and thereby resulting in soluble hexachloroplatinic acid. Ideally, aqua regia dissolves Pt because it is a mixture of nitric acid (HNO3) and hydrochloric acid (HCl). Since nitric acid is a powerful oxidizer, it will dissolves Pt to form platinum ions (Pt4+). Thereafter, the oxidized platinum ions react with chloride ions from the hydrochloric acid resulting in the chloroplatinate ion. Industrial use of aqua regia to dissolve Pt and form hexachloroplatinic acid, however, is far from ideal and leaves undesirable amounts of Pt and Pt residues during, for example, contact electrode processing in a FEOL application.
Therefore, what is needed is a composition and method that allows for the safe removal of advanced materials (e.g., platinum) during semiconductor processing and manufacturing.

Composition and method to remove excess material during manufacturing of semiconductor devices