The invention disclosed an additive for preparing suede on a polycrystalline silicon chip. The invention also provides a suede preparation liquid for preparing suede on a polycrystalline silicon chip, comprising: an acid solution and the aforementioned additive for preparing suede on a polycrystalline silicon chip. The invention also provides a method for preparing suede on a polycrystalline silicon chip, by using which suede can be prepared on the surface of a polycrystalline silicon chip with the foregoing suede preparation liquid.

The preparation of suede on the surface of a silicon chip is a key link in the preparation of a polycrystalline silicon solar cell. The suede preparation effect directly influences the final conversion efficiency and the final rate of finished products of cell slices. As a polycrystalline silicon chip consists of crystalline grains in different crystal orientations and the crystal orientation of each crystalline grain is distributed optionally, in ordinary suede technologies, suede is formed on the surface of a polycrystalline silicon chip by means of the wet chemical corrosion of an acid solution. These suede preparation technologies based on the isotropic corrosion principle of an acid solution on silicon form, on surfaces of different crystalline grains of a silicon sheet, similar pit suede the shape and the appearance of which is irrelevant to orientations of the crystalline grains.
At present, the common acid solution used in industrial production consists of nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid and deionized water. The suede prepared with this acid solution is not desirable and has the following disadvantages: the suede is large in size and poor in uniformity, the color difference between different crystalline grains is obvious, there are deep etch pits of a black line shape in the macroscopic appearance of the suede, the reflection rate of the prepared suede is relatively high, and the stability of the suede prepared is not good. Thus, it will be of great significance to address the problems above by preparing suede through the addition of a suede preparation additive into an acid solution.

Additive for preparing suede on polycrystalline silicon chip and use method thereof

CHANGZHOU SHICHUANG ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


To provide estimating apparatus and method of the optical distortion of light transmitted through a transparent plate-shaped body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to detecting and estimating apparatus and method of the optical distortion of transmitting light due to a defect existing on a transparent plate-shaped body, such as a glass plate, or the optical distortion of reflecting light due to the non-uniformity of surface smoothness of a glossy plate-shaped body.
2. Background Art
A defect on a transparent plate, e.g., a glass plate, includes a concave existing on the surface, a fallen foreign material serving as a defect formed by a foreign material fallen on the surface, a concave, like craters, existing at the mark of the fallen foreign material, and a foreign material and bubbles in the glass plate. Further, in the case of a glass plate covered with a transparent film on the surface, a defect of the transparent film includes a pinhole. These defects cause the optical distortion and, then, light is refracted by the optical distortion. Therefore, since the glass plate or the like with the optical distortion becomes a defective product, as an optical substrate, and is not used, it needs to be excluded by inspection.
In a method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-220021, an image of a grid pattern is picked-up by a line sensor camera and the focal point is purposely out of the grid pattern, the difference between a bright portion and a dark portion does not exist to obtain a gray image, the refractive power of a transparent plate-shaped body changes the focal point, and the difference between the bright portion and the dark portion thus exists, thereby detecting a defect. However, in the method, the refractive power of the transparent plate-shaped body is not quantitatively measured on the basis of a unit of lens power (diopter).
On the contrary, in a method as disclosed in PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2001-502799, in the case of picking-up an image of a grid pattern by a line sensor camera, the number of CCDs corresponding to the grids is just an integral multiple of the number of grids and the optical distortion is quantitatively detected. However, in order to accurately set the number of CCDs to an integral multiple, the method requires a grid with accurate pitch and width and a lens that does not change the width thereof on the grid pattern corresponding to a pixel at any position at a viewing angle of a telecentric lens.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 4-98111 discloses a method for measuring the three-dimensional shape of a surface portion of the living body by fringe scan.

Device and method for evaluating optical distortion of transparent plate body

Abstract: Upon picking-up a grid pattern via a glass plate by an image pickup device, 4n±α CCD pixels correspond to n grids (pair of a bright portion and a dark portion), thereby generating α moire fringes. Sine waves with a phase A and sine waves with a phase B deviated from the phase A by 90° are generated based on gray data of the picked-up image in this state. A phase angle at each pixel on the Lissajous figure is calculated based on the sine waves with the phases A and B, and the refractive power is calculated based on a phase angular speed, serving as the difference between the phase angles of the pixels.


A bill discriminating apparatus including a detected data memory for temporarily storing data corresponding to at least one line of a bill photoelectrically detected by at least one scan of a photoelectrical detector, a control device for detecting the number of the detected data for each line of the bill to be stored in the detected data memory and detecting a condition of feeding based on the detected data of the first line of the bill to be stored in the detected data memory, a data count memory for storing the number of the detected data corresponding to each line of the bill detected by the control device, a bill feed condition memory for storing information detected by the control device and a detected pattern memory for storing the pattern of the bill based on the detected data stored in the detected data memory. The control device writes the detected data stored in the detected data memory in the detected pattern memory based on the number of the detected data corresponding to each line of the bill stored in the data count memory and the information stored in the bill feed condition memory so that rectangular patterns can be stored in the detected pattern memory.

The present invention relates to a bill discriminating apparatus, and more particularly, to such an apparatus capable of discriminating denominations, genuineness and/or condition of bills with high accuracy even in the case where the bills are fed with the edges thereof which should be oriented parallel to the bill feed direction actually oriented at an angle to the bill feed direction.


There is disclosed a fiber of a fluorocarbon polymer having pendant ion exchange groups, the fiber having a tensile strength at break as high as at least 1.0 g/denier. The fiber can be produced by subjecting to hydrolysis or chemical modification treatment a filament of a fluorocarbon polymer having ion exchange precursor groups in melt-fabricatable form to convert the ion exchange precursor groups to ion exchange groups in melt-nonfabricatable form and subjecting the resultant heat-infusible filament to drawing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel fiber of a fluorocarbon polymer and a process for producing the same. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a novel fiber of a fluorocarbon polymer, which not only has ion exchange properties, swelling properties, shrinking properties, and resistance to heat and corrosion but also has high tensile strength at break and which, therefore, is useful for various applications such as recovery of heavy metals, detection of humidity change and measurement of salt concentration and can also be employed as a reinforcing material for films, membranes, etc. The present invention is also concerned with a process for producing such a fiber by preparing a filament from a fluorocarbon polymer having ion exchange precursor groups in melt-fabricatable form, converting the precursor groups of the polymer filament to ion exchange groups in melt-nonfabricatable form, and then drawing the resultant melt-nonfabricatable filament at a temperature within a specific range.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Fibers of a fluorocarbon polymer having ion exchange properties are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,501 discloses a fiber of a fluorinated polymer containing sulfonyl groups, and in this patent, it is described that the sulfonyl groups are in the form of sulfonamide groups, sulfonic acid groups or a salt thereof. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,916 discloses a woven or knitted fabric comprising filaments of a fluorinated polymer containing sulfonyl groups, the filaments having a size of not larger than 400 denier and being individually supported by a high strength reinforcing material.
As disclosed in the above-mentioned patents, in general, a fiber having ion exchange properties is produced from a thermoplastic polymer containing ion exchange precursor groups using a customary melt spinning technique. The customary melt spinning technique includes drawing a spun filament in which the spun filament is generally drawn by 50 to 400%. However, even by such drawing, the strength of the filament cannot be satisfactorily improved and, therefore, it is difficult to perform fabrication, for example, weaving of the filament without occurrence of breaks of the filament. Therefore, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,916, it is inevitable that the filaments are supported by a high strength reinforcing material. The use of a supporting high strength reinforcing material is disadvantageous because the need for such reinforcing material is only temporary for performing the weaving operation and the reinforcing material does not contribute to the function of the resultant woven fabric. In addition, the use of reinforcing material disadvantageously causes the weaving operation to be cumbersome.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 60-40459 discloses an ion exchange membrane reinforced by a woven fabric obtained by weaving a fiber having ion exchange groups and another fiber having no ion exchange groups. The above-mentioned Patent Application Publication contains no description about the process for producing the fiber having ion exchange groups and, therefore, it is considered that a customary melt spinning technique is employed, which means that this prior art fiber also has the same problem with respect to the strength as mentioned above.

Fiber of a fluorocarbon polymer and a process for producing the same


A social networking system provides a user interface for a user to create, share, and participate in challenges. A challenge includes a challenge prompt. The challenge prompt instructs a challenge recipient to perform an action, such as to record a video or capture an image. A challenge creator sets parameters for the challenge, such as the challenge prompt, a challenge duration, available formats for challenge responses, challenge permissions, etc. Upon creation of the challenge, the social networking system distributes the challenge to other users of the social networking system. After a user submits a response to the challenge, or after expiration of the challenge duration, the user may view the challenge responses submitted by other users.

This disclosure relates generally to social networking systems, and more specifically to challenges in social networking systems.
Challenges may be intended to raise awareness of an issue, raise money for a cause, or provide entertainment. For example, the "ice bucket challenge" raised awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Participants in the ice bucket challenge would capture videos of a person receiving a bucket of ice water dumped over their head. Videos of individuals or groups completing challenges are often posted to video sharing platforms, where the videos may be publicly accessible. In some cases, individuals may transmit challenges or videos of completed challenges directly to other individuals, such as via a text message.

Challenge interface and access controls for social network challenges


An output of heater means of a tube shaped heater device is set to melt a compound body P suitable for injecting it into a mold cavity. The conditions of temperature and the viscosity of the compound body P is adjusted in a through aperture suitably for theirs injection molding process. Upon descended a pusher shaft, the molten, compound body P is injected by the shaft into the gate and further into the cavity. After the compound body P reaches there, it solidified and changed to an article S.

A molding device for injection molding an article is well known in the art as described in Japanese Laid-Open Public disclosure 2008-302634. The molding device is adapted to be used by incorporating the device into the injection molding apparatus comprising a heater device, a screw, and a control means for controlling the temperature of the heater device and/or the molding device.
In the operation of the injection molding apparatus including the molding device, a compound body, which is introduced from a hopper, may be heated and melted by the heater device, and delivered or injected by the screw into the mold cavity, and then an article is formed within the cavity. After the article is solidified, the mold cavity may be opened and pushed out the article therefrom by means of ejector pins.
During the above mentioned molding process, it is necessary to control precisely the temperature of the heater device and/or the mold so that provided are a plurality of temperature sensors and a control means for controlling on the basis of the information obtained through the sensors the temperature of the heater device and/or the molding device. It is necessary to change the parameters of the control means to each molding device exclusive for the article to be obtained.
Thus, the injection molding apparatus of the prior art is provided with a plurality of temperature sensors and a control means, and the parameters of the control means can be changed in accordance with the molding device to be used. In this connection, the injection molding apparatus must have a maximum performance to be imagined so as to satisfy the conditions to be set to the molding device to be used such as the highest injection pressure, the highest temperature, etc.

Injection molding apparatus with a heating unit and a pusher shaft


Methods and devices regulate the activation of ghrelin hormones within a stomach in order to treat weight disorders, to promote learning and memory functions, to treat stress-induced depression, and to control sleep duration. In one embodiment, a method for regulating activation of ghrelin hormones within a stomach comprises a means for isolating non-activated ghrelin hormones from food content and dietary lipids within the stomach. These means for isolating may take any number of forms and may comprise one or more of a surgical procedure, an implanted device, or an ingestible substance.

Ghrelin is a hormone produced mainly by P/D1 cells lining the majority of the human stomach. These cells are distributed throughout the stomach and portions of the duodenum, but are highly concentrated in the area of the fundus and along the greater curvature of the stomach. Ghrelin, commonly called the hunger hormone, is associated with eating and fasting cycles in the body. It has been found that ghrelin levels increase before meals and decrease after meals. Further, it has been discovered that ghrelin levels in the plasma of obese individuals are typically lower than those in leaner individuals, while those suffering from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa typically have high plasma levels of ghrelin compared to both the constitutionally thin and normal-weight controls. These findings suggest that ghrelin plays a role in weight disorders.
Additionally, increased Ghrelin levels have been linked to enhanced learning and memory, a reduction in stress-induced depression, and shorter sleep durations.
Accordingly, there remains a need for methods and devices for regulating the activation of ghrelin hormones within a stomach in order to treat weight disorders, to promote learning and memory functions, to treat stress-induced depression, and to promote healthy sleep duration.

Methods and devices for regulating the activation of ghrelin hormones within a stomach


A coated base fabric for airbags, which is fabricated by applying a resin elastomer to a base fabric formed of flattened cross-section yarns having a degree of filament cross-section flatness (that is, a ratio of the major axis length to the minor axis length of the filament cross-section) of from 1.5 to 8, and which is characterized in that the filaments are aligned in the base fabric in such a manner that the total average horizontal index (HI) represented by the following formula falls within a range of from 0.75 to 1.0, and the amount of the resin elastomer adhered to the fabric is from 0.1 to 60 g/m2. The base fabric for airbags has well-balanced properties of good mechanical properties, flame resistance, complete air-imperviousness, flexibility, compactness and containability.

At present, airbags are indispensable for ensuring the safety of drivers and passengers in automobiles, and the percentage of airbag installation in automobiles is increasing.
The requirement for improved reliability of airbags as safety devices is even more increasing, and the other requirements for compactness and cost reduction of airbag devices are also further more increasing. Accordingly, more improvements are required for base fabrics for airbags and for the process of producing yarns and base fabrics for airbags so as to satisfy the above mentioned requirements.
Techniques have heretofore been disclosed for realizing air bags that are compactly foldable to save the necessary housing space, not interfering with good mechanical properties of base fabrics for airbags. Above all, a technique of using a fabric of modified cross-section yarns for base fabrics for airbags is specifically noticed since it satisfies the capabilities such as safety and containability necessary to next-generation airbags.
The prior-art techniques of using modified cross-section yarns are, for example, in JP-A 4-193647, 4-201650, 7-252740, 8-60425, 2002-129444, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,047.
JP-A 4-193647 and 4-201650 disclose a base fabric for airbags which is lightweight, flexible and containable and has good mechanical properties, for which are used polyamide multifilaments composed of a plurality of modified cross-section filaments each having a filament fineness of from 1.0 to 12 deniers and having a degree of cross-section modification of from 1.5 to 7.0.
However, the technique disclosed is to utilize the entanglements and the loops formed in yarns for the surface characteristics of fabrics to thereby increase the surface area of the fabric and increase the efficiency of resin adhesion to the fabric, or that is, to increase the adhesiveness of resin to the fabric. In addition, the technique is characterized by increasing the bulkiness of fabrics to thereby increase the thickness of the fabrics that are still flexible. In other words, the technique has no intension of reducing the amount of resin to be adhered to fabrics and reducing the thickness of the fabrics.
JP-A 7-252740 discloses a base fabric for airbags, which is formed of multifilament yarns having a degree of filament cross-section flatness of at least 1.5, a total fineness of from 180 deniers to 450 deniers, a filament fineness of from 0.1 deniers to 7.0 deniers, a tenacity of at least 7.5 g/d, and an elongation of at least 12.0%.
It says that, according to the technique disclosed therein, a base fabric for airbags that is lightweight and containable and has low air permeability could be surely formed of yarns having a flattened filament cross-section and having a specific total fineness and specific filament fineness. However, the base fabric is not coated, or that is, the technique is for attaining reduced air permeability of non-coated base fabrics, and is not for attaining improved compactness and containability of coated base fabrics that are formed by coating base fabrics with resin.
JP-A 8-60425 discloses fibers for airbags, which are so designed that, in the filament cross-section, there exist from 1 to 3 nearly semi-circular projections symmetrically given in the major-axis direction of the flattened base of the cross-section, the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis of the flattened cross-section filament falls between 4/1 and 2/1, the filament fineness is from 2 to 10 deniers, and the tenacity is at least 7 g/d. However, the technique disclosed is for improving the producibility of the fibers by forming the projections in the filament cross-section thereof, while, on the other hand, the projections interfere with the packing capability of the filaments, and, as a result, the fabric formed of the fibers is unsatisfactory in point of reducing the thickness thereof. In addition, the reference is silent on resin coating, and discloses the technique that relates to non-coated base fabrics.
JP-A 2002-129444 discloses a technique for improving the containability and the air-imperviousness of non-coated base fabrics for airbags. However, this is silent on a technique of making the best use of the characteristics of flattened yarns as much as possible, or that is, this gives no description of indicating a technique for aligning the constitutive fibers in a base fabric in such a manner that the major axis of the warp and the weft to constitute the base fabric is highly oriented in the horizontal direction of the base fabric in the cross-section thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,047 discloses the effectiveness of diamond-shaped or S-shaped flattened cross-section yarns for polyester fiber fabrics having good covering capability and flexibility, saying that the yarns of the type are useful for fabrics for airbags. The polyester fiber fabrics formed of the diamond-shaped or S-shaped flattened cross-section yarns described in the patent specification surely have good covering capability and are highly flexible although they are formed of polyester fibers, but when compared with fabrics of polyamide fibers, it could not be said that the polyester fiber fabrics are specifically effective. In addition, the patent specification gives no description of coated base fabrics for airbags, and it may be said that this discloses a technique of non-coated base fabrics for airbags.
On the other hand, recently, non-coated base fabrics with no resin coating have become widely popularized with the intensive increase in the requirement for compactness, containability and cost reduction of airbags. Non-coated airbags are surely advantageous over coated airbags in point of the compactness, containability and cost reduction, but are disadvantageous than the latter in point of the heat resistance and the gas imperviousness, and, in addition, the safety of the former would be problematic as compared with that of the latter. In particular, the output power of inflators is being increased these days for further increased airbag safety. With that, therefore, base fabrics for airbags are required to have more increased heat resistance and air imperviousness, and at their most extreme, base fabrics are required to have a air permeability of 0 (zero). Given that situation, coated base fabrics with resin coating formed on the surface of base fabrics are still useful for airbags.
It could therefore be advantageous to provide a base fabric for airbags that has well-balanced properties of flame resistance, complete air-imperviousness and compactness that could not be attained by any conventional non-coated or coated base fabrics for airbags and to provide a coated base fabric for airbags that satisfy both good safety and good containability, or that is, for those which are thin and have good mechanical properties and good heat resistance and, when they have expanded, release substantially no gas except through the vent hole thereof, and which have good flexibility, compactness and containability.

Base cloth for coated airbag and method for manufacturing the same


When two wireless communication devices discover each other and prepare to associate with each other, they perform a negotiation with each other to decide which will act as the network controller in that association. The negotiation may include an exchange of information indicating which device is more suitable to act as a network controller.

In an ad-hoc wireless communications network, all the devices in the network may come and go, and therefore no single device is designated as the permanent network controller. However, to feasibly maintain scheduled communications in the network, some device needs to be designated as the current network controller. In conventional networks, the first device to start transmitting beacons becomes the network controller, and invites the subsequent devices to join its network. However, this process may not result in the best choice for a network controller. A network controller generally needs to have greater processing capacity and greater communications bandwidth than the other devices in the network. Since the network controller may also need to remain in an operational state rather than periodically sleeping in a low power mode, it is generally better if it is powered from an AC power source rather than a battery. Choosing a network controller based simply on which device transmits beacons first does not take any of these factors into consideration, and may result in a poor choice for network controller.

Peer-to-peer negotiation in a wireless network


A photographing device divides corrected image data into four quadrants by x and y axes with a position corresponding to an optical center being an origin (base point), divides each of the quadrants into a plurality of strip regions so that the x axis direction width has a predetermined number of pixels processed, and performs correction for each of the strip regions on a line by line basis within a corresponding strip region (which will be referred to as a “short line” hereinafter in order to distinguish from one line on an entire image). The order of correction for short lines within each strip region starts from a short line which is closest to the x axis and successively proceeds in a direction away from the x axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a correction method and a correction device for correcting an optical distortion upon digital image data, and a photographing device with such correction device.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to a photographing device such as a silver salt camera or a digital camera, a subject image is photographed through an optical lens and an image representing the subject image is obtained. In such photographing device, the periphery of the obtained image is distorted because of refraction of the lens. This distortion is generally referred to as an optical distortion. The lens used for the photographing device is structured so as to eliminate such optical distortion.
In the case that the lens is a zoom lens, however, it is difficult to correct a tele end and a wide end by the same lens structure. For this reason, large optical distortion easily occurs. In the case of a single vision lens, in order to perform correction, a lens must be made of expensive materials or a number of lens structures must be increased. Thus, a lens structure which is thin and inexpensive is difficult to be realized. In the case of the thin and inexpensive lens structure, an optical distortion remains.
In the case that an obtained image is recorded in a film as in the case of a silver salt camera, an image cannot be corrected once recorded. For this reason, an optical distortion is determined depending on the performance of a lens. On the other hand, when an image is obtained as digital data and recorded in a recording media as in the case of a digital camera, an image can be corrected by a calculation processing even after being recorded. Techniques for correcting an optical distortion have been conventionally suggested in the field of digital camera.
An optical distortion is classified into two types, i.e., "a spool type" in which corner portions of an image extend to the outside as shown in FIG. 1A and "a barrel type" in which the corner portions are shrunk as shown in FIG. 1B. It is generally known that a distortion amount (a displacement amount) is determined by the distance from an optical center in both of the aforementioned types. If the displacement amount is linear, an image is simply enlarged/reduced. In actuality, however, the displacement amount draws a non-linear curve as shown in FIG. 1C. In the case of positive displacement amount, the "spool type" can be obtained because pixels are shifted from their original positions in a direction away from the optical center. In the case of negative displacement amount, the "barrel type" can be obtained because the pixels are placed so as to approach the optical center from their original positions.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 6-292207 and 10-271490 describe a technique for correcting such optical distortions. According to this technique, a correction amount is calculated from coordinates on an image, and the correction amount is stored as a table in a memory, so that correction is performed. According to the technique, however, the memory for storing the table for the correction amount requires a storage capacity corresponding to the size of image data. For this reason, as the image size is increased, the storage capacity required for this memory is also increased. As a result, a work area in the memory is reduced and a price of the memory is increased.
A technique for solving such drawbacks is described in JP-A No. 11-252431. According to this technique, a correction amount is represented by an approximate expression and then corrected. Namely, it is generally known that a displacement amount of optical distortion as shown in FIG. 1C can be approximately represented by a polynominal expression. An inverse number of this polynominal expression is used as a correction expression. In this technique, correction amounts for the respective coordinates need not held in a table. Only parameters (coefficients for the polynominal expression) are stored in a memory and thus all of the coordinates of a uncorrected image can correspond to the coordinates of a corrected image by calculation. Generally, pixel data of a required coordinate is appropriately read from a memory storing a uncorrected image and pixel data of a corrected image is generated. It takes a long time for a CPU to get an access to the memory and perform a correction processing even for a processing upon only one pixel. Therefore, much longer time is required to process the entire image.
As described in JP-A No. 2001-101396, data which is necessary for correction is DMA transferred from a memory storing a uncorrected image and the transferred data is stored in an internal memory. As a result, a speed can be increased.
According to this technique, however, DMA transfer information, a correction coefficient and the coordinate of uncorrected data must be produced in advance for correction. Further, such information must be DMA transferred. As a result, there arises a problem in that a large capacity of memory is required.
The displacement amount of an optical distortion increases as being away from an optical center. For this reason, the number of lines of pixel data of a uncorrected image required to generate corrected pixels of one line may vary depending on the position that the correction is performed. Thus, an addressing for DMA transfer must be set for each of lines. As a result, there arises a problem in that processings become complicated.

Correction method, correction device and photographing device


To detect a delay fault along a signal path of interest (12) in a sequential digital circuit (10), a source flip-flop (14) and a destination flip-flop (16), proximate the beginning and end of the path, respectively, are designated in the circuit. Next, the signal path is activated to establish what logic values are necessary at the input of each of a set of combinational elements (18.sub.1 -18.sub.p) in the path to propagate a selected signal transition from the source flip-flop to the destination flip-flop. A first and second backward justification process is carried out to synthesize a first sequence to propagate a selected logic value from a primary circuit input to the source flip-flop to cause it to generate the selected signal transition to propagate to the destination flip-flop. A second backward justification process is carried out to synthesize a second vector sequence which serves to propagate the value latched in the destination flip-flop to a primary output. The vectors of the first and second sequences are then applied at periodic intervals using a slow clock, except that the rated clock is applied to the last vector of the first sequence to propagate the logic value affected by the delay fault ultimately to the primary output. By comparing the value propagated to the primary output to the expected correct logic value, a determination can be made as to the existence of a delay fault.

Today's modern digital electronic circuits operate by propagating digital signals (binary "1's" and "0's") between different combinational elements (i.e., logic gates) and/or sequential elements (i.e., flip-flops). The proper operation of most digital circuits requires that signals propagate along various signal paths within the circuit during a predetermined interval, usually the period between successive clock signals. The failure of a signal to propagate along one or more such signal paths during a clock period usually gives rise to an error known as a delay fault.
Presently, the technique most commonly relied upon to verify the operation of a digital circuit is the so-called "stuck-at fault" test. The stuck-at fault test presumes that the faults, if any, in a digital circuit under test are characterized by a fixed signal level (a "1" or a "0") at an input or output of one or more elements in the circuit irrespective of all other signals in the circuit. Stuck-at fault testing is typically accomplished by successively applying each of a set of selected test vectors to the input(s) of the digital circuit to cause the circuit to generate a known response under normal (defect-free) operating conditions. Should one or more stuck-at faults exist (i.e., the signal at a terminal of one or more elements is "stuck at" a particular level), then the response to one or more of the vectors will differ from the expected response. While the stuck-at testing technique is useful for revealing most types of faults, the technique may not reveal all possible delay faults that may exist.
The increasing speed of today's digital circuits has led to an increased interest in establishing a more reliable technique for detecting the presence of delay faults. In his paper "Model for Delay Faults Based Upon Paths", published in the Conference Proceedings of the International Test Conference (1985), at pages 342-349, G. L. Smith proposes detecting delay faults along a signal path by propagating one of six values from a first set of latches to the logic portion of a circuit under test. A second set of latches is provided to hold the signature generated by the logic portion following propagation of the selective value. By determining whether a designated value has been propagated from the input latch to the output latch within a predetermined interval, a delay fault can be determined.
The technique of Smith presupposes that the input latches are directly accessible from a primary circuit input and that the output latches are directly observable from a primary circuit output. Unfortunately, many digital circuits do not conform to such an architecture. While it is possible to modify a non-conforming circuit to add the necessary latches required to practice the Smith technique, such a modification will lead to an increase in the circuit overhead which is undesirable.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for detecting delay faults which is suitable for a wide variety of digital circuits.

Method for testing delay faults in non-scan sequential circuits


A roof support column used as a support between the roof and floor of a mine comprises a stacked series of hollow roof support cribs containing a mixture of light-weight aggregate such as volcanic lava, tuft, or pumice, and a chemical foam contained in a double-walled high density paper tubing. The combination of these materials results in a roof support crib which has the yielding characteristics of wood. Such cribs called variable yielding cribs are stacked and locked on top of one another to form a vertical cylindrical cribbing support column.

This invention relates to a mine support crib column for supporting the roof of a mine.
For decades wooden cribs have been used to support the roof in mines. Typically the wood cribs are 8".times.8" and 2' to 8' high. These cribs are stacked vertically to form column supports. Such cribs are usually between 40-100 pounds each in weight, and are typically cut from lodge-pole pine or oak.
Normally, wood cribs are transported by vehicle as far into the mine as possible. They are then carried by hand to their destination, which is, of course, very labor intensive. This is due to the fact that 24 wood cribs are needed to stack an 8 foot high column.
Another problem with wood cribs is that the cribs are not tied together. When a roof moves or shifts relative to the floor, a wood crib column cannot sustain non-lateral movement. The top cribs begin to roll and the column begins to fail.
A wooden crib's ultimate load bearing capacity can be significantly affected by the localized behavior of one timber within a crib. For example, if one wood crib has rotten timber or is taken from a weak part of the tree, it is in the weakest part of the column. The entire column is only as strong as the one weak crib. The compressive properties of wood are also dependent upon the wood's moisture content and grain orientation.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a roof support column structure that will sustain lateral shifts in the roof and is of uniform construction.
As wood cribs become more scarce, the need for an alternative becomes a necessity. Such an alternative should insure an endless supply of support materials superior to that of wood, and at prices competitive to wood even before installation and transportation costs are considered.
An alternative to wooden cribs should be lighter in weight and easier to handle than conventional wooden cribs. Such an alternative should have the added advantage of being rollable when necessary to install in remote locations in the mine.


A method and system for controlling a three-phase drive connected to a three phase power source. The method includes connecting a converter to transfer power from the power source to a first direct current (DC) bus, where the converter and the first DC bus each have a neutral common point (NCP). Connecting a second DC bus to the first DC bus and configuring an inverter connected to the second DC bus to draw power from the second DC bus to provide a plurality of motor signals, the inverter having an inverter NCP. The method also includes connecting a neutral point selection device to the first DC bus NCP and selectively connecting to the converter NCP or the inverter NCP, the bus selection device configured to disconnect the converter NCP or the inverter NCP from the first DC bus NCP under selected conditions.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to a motors and motor control and, more particularly, to a new architecture for a variable frequency variable voltage multilevel drive.
Aircraft systems commonly include a variety of motor controlled systems. For example, motor controlled systems can include actuation systems for control surfaces, aircraft components environmental control systems, and the like. In some systems, such as actuation systems for control surfaces, power quality can impact control systems limit their capability to achieve higher speeds, maintain loads, and design criteria.
Conventional motor drive systems, particularly in an airborne environments, are expected to operate under a variety of input power conditions that commonly exceed specifications. For example, in some instances aircraft power systems can exhibit Total Harmonic Distortions (THD) 30% higher than specified and power factors as low as 0.75. Commonly, these conditions worsen as power loads increase.
Aircraft power generation systems are often configured to regulate the bus voltage and current over a relatively small range of loads. As a result, and especially with very small or very large loads, it is common for aircraft generator systems to not be able to meet the bus regulation as expected. Moreover, in simple passive motor drives, the DC bus formulated from a given AC input varies widely with any variation in the input AC input voltage from an aircraft power generation system. One solution for these issues is to employ motor drives that are oversized/overdesigned and conservatively configured to ensure operations at a variety of input voltage and current ranges. However, oversizing components can be inefficient, and expensive. Similarly, overdesigning or conservatively designing motor drive components usually requires larger and heavier components. Moreover, as power levels increase, passive solutions for motor drives become very bulky and heavy and not well suited to airborne applications, primarily a result of the larger size and weight of magnetics, and the direct current (DC) Link capacitor typically employed in motor drives.
Therefore what is needs is a motor drive capable of providing for increasing speed and torque requirements while operating from power sources that exhibit limited power quality.

Motor drive architecture for variable frequency alternating current loads


A plate 2 with a photodiode PD is positioned with a slight interval with respect to a housing 1, a small amount of an ultraviolet curing adhesive 8a is applied to four portions each located between a corner of either side edge 2a of the plate 2 and the housing 1, the ultraviolet curing adhesive 8a is allowed to cure by application of ultraviolet rays thereto to temporarily fix the plate 2 to the housing 1, an appropriate amount of a thermosetting adhesive is applied to two portions each located between a central portion of either side edge 2a of the plate 2 and the housing 1, and the thermosetting adhesive 8b is allowed to cure by heating so as to finally fix the plate 2 to the housing 1.

The present invention relates to an optical pickup for use in a disk player such as a DVD or a CD and a method of fixing a plate provided with an electronic component such as a photodiode. More particularly, the present invention concerns a technique whereby the fixation of the plate can be effected speedily and accurately.
Conventionally, a technique disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No.Sho62-89249 and the like is known as a technique concerning an optical pickup. One of its examples will be described with reference to FIG. 5. In this optical pickup, a bilateral pair of projecting portions 1b are projectingly provided integrally on one end face 1a of a housing 1, and a plate 2 with a photodiode PD is fixed between the two projecting portions 1b. A collimator lens QWP and an objective lens OL are disposed on the other end face 1c side of the housing 1, a half mirror HM is disposed in an inclined state in a groove portion 3 of the housing 1, and a plate 4 with a semiconductor laser LD is fixed to a side surface 1d of the housing 1. Laser light is projected onto a disk D from the semiconductor laser LD through the half mirror HM, the collimator lens QWP, and the objective lens OL, and the light reflected therefrom is received by the photodiode PD through the half mirror HM, thereby reading information recorded in the disk D.
A description will be given of the procedure of fixing the plate 2 with the photodiode PD in the above-described arrangement. As shown by the phantom lines in FIG. 6, the plate 2 is attracted to a permanent magnet 6b (see FIG. 7A) provided on a lower surface of a distal end of a positioning arm 6, and is retained by a plurality of pins 6a provided projectingly on the lower surface of the distal end of the arm 6. As the positioning arm 6 is moved in three-dimensional directions a to f in the back-and-forth, left-and-right, and vertical directions, the plate 2 is positioned between the two projecting portions 1b with a predetermined interval xcex1 from the end face 1a of the housing 1, as shown in FIG. 7A, so as to align the center of the photodiode PD with the axis of the objective lens OL. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, by means of an applicator 7 an adhesive 8 is applied to two gaps which are each formed between either side edge 21 of the plate 2 and the housing 1. The adhesive 8 is allowed to cure so as to fix the plate 2 to the housing 1, and the positioning arm 6 is raised to move the pins 6a away from the plate 2.
Conventionally, as the aforementioned adhesive 8, an ultraviolet curing adhesive is generally used, and the ultraviolet curing adhesive is applied over each entire range between either side edge 2a of the plate 2 and the housing 1, as shown in FIG. 7B.
With the above-described conventional arrangement, as the ultraviolet curing adhesive applied over each entire range between either side edge 2a of the plate 2 and the housing 1 is allowed to cure instantly by the application of ultraviolet rays thereto, there is an advantage that the plate 2 can be fixed to the housing 1 in a short time. However, since the degree of shrinkage of the ultraviolet curing adhesive due to temperature change is large, there is a possibility that the center of the photodiode PD becomes positionally offset from the axis of the objective lens OL.
Accordingly, it is conceivable to use as the adhesive 8 a thermosetting adhesive whose degree of shrinkage due to the temperature change is small, and to apply the thermosetting adhesive over each entire range between either side edge 2a of the plate 2 and the housing 1. With the thermosetting adhesive, however, since it takes time to heat and cure the hat curing adhesive, it is necessary to maintain the support of the plate 2 by the positioning arm 6 for a relatively long time, so that this method lacks mass productivity.
In view of the above-described conventional drawbacks, the object of the invention is to provide an optical pickup which makes it possible to speedily and accurately fix a plate provided with an electronic component such as a photodiode, as well as a method of fixing a plate with an electronic component.
To attain the above object, the invention according to aspect 1 is characterized in that a plate with a photodiode is positioned with a slight interval with respect to a housing, that a small amount of an ultraviolet curing adhesive is applied between either side edge of the plate and the housing, that the ultraviolet curing adhesive is allowed to cure by application of ultraviolet rays thereto to temporarily fix the plate to the housing, that an appropriate amount of a thermosetting adhesive is applied between a central portion of the either side edge of the plate and the housing, and that the thermosetting adhesive is allowed to cure by heating so as to finally fix the plate to the housing.
According to the above-described construction, since the plate with a photodiode is temporarily fixed to the housing by the ultraviolet curing adhesive, there is no need to support the plate at the time of final fixation by the thermosetting adhesive, so that it is possible to overcome the drawback of the thermosetting adhesive that it takes time to cure. In addition, since the amount of ultraviolet curing adhesive applied can be reduced by the portion by which the thermosetting adhesive is applied, it is possible to overcome the drawback of the ultraviolet curing adhesive that the degree of shrinkage due to the temperature change is large. Thus by the combination of the two adhesives, the drawbacks of the two adhesives can be overcome, and the fixation of the plate with the photodiode to the housing can be effected speedily and accurately.
Further, since the four corners of the plate can be temporarily fixed positively to the housing by the ultraviolet curing adhesive, and the thermosetting adhesive is applied between the cured ultraviolet curing adhesive portions, the efflux of the thermosetting adhesive to the outside can be reliably prevented, and the plate can be finally fixed firmly to the housing.
The invention according to aspect 2 is characterized in that a plate with a electronic component is positioned with a slight interval with respect to a housing, that a small amount of an ultraviolet curing adhesive is applied between the plate and the housing, that the ultraviolet curing adhesive is allowed to cure by application of ultraviolet rays thereto to temporarily fix the plate to the housing, that an appropriate amount of a thermosetting adhesive is applied between the plate and the housing, and that the thermosetting adhesive is allowed to cure by heating so as to finally fix the plate to the housing.
According to the above-described construction, since the plate with an electronic component is temporarily fixed to the housing by the ultraviolet curing adhesive, there is no need to support the plate at the time of final fixation by the thermosetting adhesive, so that it is possible to overcome the drawback of the thermosetting adhesive that it takes time to cure. In addition, since the amount of ultraviolet curing adhesive applied can be reduced by the portion by which the thermosetting adhesive is applied, it is possible to overcome the drawback of the ultraviolet curing adhesive that the degree of shrinkage due to the temperature change is large. Thus by the combination of the two adhesives, the drawbacks of the two adhesives can be overcome, and the fixation of the plate with the electronic component to the housing can be effected speedily and accurately.
The invention according to aspect 3 is characterized in that, in the optical pickup according to aspect 2, the ultraviolet curing adhesive is applied to a plurality of portions at predetermined intervals between either side edge of the plate and the housing, and that the thermosetting adhesive is applied to gaps other than portions where the ultraviolet curing adhesive has been applied between the either side edge of the plate and the housing.
According to the above-described construction, since a plurality of portions of either side edge of the plate are temporarily fixed firmly to the housing by the ultraviolet curing adhesive, the plate can be positively supported so as not to move unexpectedly while the thermosetting adhesive applied for final fixation is allowed to cure.
The invention according to aspect 4 is characterized in that, in the optical pickup according to aspect 2, the ultraviolet curing adhesive is applied a central portion of either side edge of the plate and the housing, and that the thermosetting adhesive is applied between each corner portion of the either side edge of the plate and the housing.
According to the above-described construction, since only the central portions of the side edges of the plate are temporarily fixed to the housing by the ultraviolet curing adhesive, and the amounts of the ultraviolet curing adhesive applied are very small, it is possible to reliably overcome the drawback peculiar to the ultraviolet curing adhesive that the degree of shrinkage due to the temperature change is large.
The invention according to aspect 5 is characterized by comprising the steps of: positioning a plate with an electric component at a predetermined interval from a housing as a positioning arm retaining the plate is moved in three-dimensional directions including back-and-forth, left-and-right, and vertical directions; applying a small amount of an ultraviolet curing adhesive between either side edge of the plate and the housing; allowing the ultraviolet curing adhesive to cure by application of ultraviolet rays thereto to temporarily fix the plate to the housing; moving the positioning arm from the plate; applying an appropriate amount of a thermosetting adhesive to gaps other than portions where the ultraviolet curing adhesive has been applied between the either side edge of the plate and the housing; and allowing the thermosetting adhesive to cure by heating so as to finally fix the plate to the housing.
According to the above-described construction, before the plate with the electronic component is finally fixed to the housing by the thermosetting adhesive, the plate is temporarily fixed by the ultraviolet curing adhesive in a state in which the plate is supported by the positioning arm. After the temporary fixation, the positioning arm can be immediately moved away from the plate, and it is unnecessary to maintain the support of the plate by the positioning arm until the curing of the thermosetting adhesive in a conventional manner, so that this arrangement excels in mass productivity. In addition, since the amount of the ultraviolet curing adhesive applied can be reduced by the portion by which the thermosetting adhesive is applied, it is possible to overcome the drawback of the ultraviolet curing adhesive that the degree of shrinkage due to the temperature change is large. Thus by the combination of the two adhesives, the drawbacks of the two adhesives can be overcome, and the fixation of the plate with the electronic component to the housing can be effected speedily and accurately.

Optical pickup and method of fixing a plate with an electronic component


A method for itinerary planning includes the steps of populating a first queue with a first set of network segments connected to an origin, removing one of the network segments from the first queue, placing an expansion build representing the one network segment together with a continuing network segment in a second queue if the continuing network segment has not been considered, noting a cost for the expansion build if it arrives at a destination, and placing a captured build representing the one network segment together with the continuing network segment in the first queue if the continuing network segment has been considered.

Itinerary planning is generally known. Given a travel network, and a set of parameters that form an itinerary planning request, an itinerary is generated that best satisfies the parameters. The travel network typically is a street network or a public transportation network, but, in some cases, can incorporate two or more travel means to enable a comprehensive solution to be provided. The travel network consists of a set of paths, or network segments, that are terminated at both ends by nodes. For example, both metropolitan trains and transit buses travel along fixed routes that have scheduled stops therealong. Nodes can be used to represent the stops and network segments model the travel of the trains and buses between the stops. Nodes are often defined to denote points where interchange between various travel means can occur.
To further complicate things, when dealing with scheduled services such as bus and train services, network nodes may be used to not only represent physical locations, but also can be used to represent locations at particular times. This information can be important in determining estimated travel times, whether interchanges at nodes are possible and, if so, how long may have to be waited, etc. It can be undesirable to plan arrival at an intersection of a first bus route being traveled, for example, to change to a second bus route when the last bus for the day will have already departed from that location.
Itinerary planning requests typically include a departure location (referred to as an "origin"), a destination, and a desired departure time. The itinerary planning requests may also include a desired arrival time, possibly instead of the desired departure time. Using the parameters provided in the itinerary planning request, the travel network can be analyzed to identify itineraries that may be suitable and select the best one from them. Where the travel network is large, however, the process of identifying suitable itineraries can be onerous.
Many systems for itinerary planning use an approach known as Dijkstra's Algorithm to solve this problem. Dijkstra's Algorithm is a graph search algorithm that solves the single-source shortest route problem for a graph with non-negative network segment costs, producing a shortest route tree. Using this approach, the route with the lowest cost between the origin node and every other node is identified. It can also be used for finding the costs of the shortest (i.e., least costly) routes from the origin node to a destination node by stopping the algorithm once the shortest route to the destination node has been determined. This can be done since Dijkstra's Algorithm relies on maintaining partial solutions ordered by cost. This ordering of partial solutions can, however, be processor-intensive.
While Dijkstra's Algorithm and other such approaches provide a reasonably efficient solution in some scenarios, it can be cumbersome for other scenarios, such as travel networks that have relatively-uniform topologies; that is, where the lowest cost solution between any two nodes usually involves traversing the fewest network segments.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a system and method for itinerary planning.

System and method for itinerary planning


Various technologies for cooling a computer system are described. In accordance with one described embodiment, a fan assembly system for a computer comprises a fan operable for cooling the computer and a fan duct coupled with the fan. The fan duct comprises a number of attaching features. The fan is suspended at least one component of the computer. Moreover, the suspended fan enables air to flow between the fan and the component (e.g., a heatsink) to facilitate cooling of the component.

Due to the advancement in the computer industry, computing devices (e.g., personal computers) have been getting smaller in size and at the same time generating more heat. As a result, effective cooling for computing devices is becoming increasingly important. This is especially true for small form factor (SFF) computers. In general, SFF computers refer to a class of computers that use motherboards significantly smaller than the standard Advanced Technology Extended (ATX) sized motherboards. By using smaller motherboards, such as micro-ATX motherboards, the overall form factor of a computer can be reduced.
Because the small size of SFF computers introduces additional constraints, traditional cooling systems are unable to provide adequate cooling for SFF computers. Thus, maintaining a SFF computer being operated under a working temperature is challenging. For example, since the components within a SFF computer are tightly packed because of its size, less space is left for air to flow through. Traditional cooling systems not configured to function within a SFF environment may not be able to effectively direct air flow in the more confined space.
Moreover, traditional cooling systems generate significant amounts of noise. As SFF computers are often placed in proximity to a user (e.g., placed on a desk), the noise issue renders traditional cooling systems unsuitable.
Furthermore, in order to meet various business demands, it is often desired that a SFF computer is designed to be operable under different orientations. In one example, a user may place a SFF computer horizontally on his or her desk. In another example, a user may place a SFF computer vertically on a wall. Unfortunately, conventional cooling systems often cannot adapt to different orientations and can only properly function when a SFF computer is situated in a default orientation.


A method for preparation of Timosaponin BII, which uses Chinese traditional medicine Rhizoma Anemarrhenae or fresh rhizoma or fibrous root of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. as raw material, and comprises isolation of Timosaponin BII by one or more processes selected from solvent extraction, resin adsorption, polyamide chromatography, reversed phase column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, etc, combining with conventional drying method such as reduced pressure drying, freeze drying, spray drying, and so on. Timosaponin BII obtained by the present method is of over 90% purity, and the method is simple, practicable and suitable for industrial production.

Chinese traditional medicine Rhizoma Anemarrhenae is the rhizoma of the Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge, (Liliaceae), widely distributed in Hebei, Neimenggu, Shanxi province, northeast of China and some other areas. Due to the heat-clearing and fire-purging function and the action of promoting the production of body fluid and nourishing the lung, it was frequently used in Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic. The main components of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. are steroidal saponins, together with flavones, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and fatty acids, et, al. Pharmacological studies show that it has antibiosis, antiviral, pyretolysis, anti-diabetic, conscious-sedation, inhibition of platelet aggregation, anticancer and radioprotective effects, etc.
Timosaponin BII, also named Prototimosaponin AIII, is the main component of rhizoma of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. It has the structure of (25S)-26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-22-hydroxy-5β-furostane-3β, 26-diol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-galactopyranoside. It has the following formula:

Timosaponin BII was first isolated by Toshio KAWAZAKI in 1963, but he didn't give its structure. In 1991, Seiji NAGUMO first elucidated the structure of Timosaponin BII (Seiji NAGUMO et al, YAKUGAKU ZASSHI, 1991; 111 (1) 306-310). After that Noboru Nakashima (NOBORU NAKASHIMA et al, Journal of Natural Products, 1993; 56(3):345-350), Bai-ping Ma (Bai-ping Ma et al, Acta. Pharm. Sin. 1996; 31 (4): 271-277), Masayasu Kimula (Masayasu KIMURA et al, Biol. Pharm. Bull, 1996; 19 (7): 926-931) and Jian-ying Zhang (Jian-ying ZHANG et al, Clinica Chimica Acta, 1999; 289: 79-88) reported the isolation and activity of Timosaponin BII. Researches indicated that Timosaponin BII has the activities of antidiabetic, inhibition of platelet aggregation, scavenging of free radical and anti-dementia. In almost all the prior art references, the Timosaponin BII was prepared by n-butanol extraction, normal phase silica gel column chromatography, macroporous resin column chromatography and HPLC. But it is ease to emulsify in n-butanol extraction, the amount of sample is limited on silica gel column chromatography, it is difficult to reproduce silica gel, it is difficult to recover the eluent of chloroform-methanol-water. Therefore, the reported methods usually had a difficult process, low yield, low purity and not amenable to industrialized preparation. Even using macroporous resin and reversed-phase liquid chromatography, the eluent of methanol-water will result in the C-22 hydroxyl methoxylation of Timosaponin BII to form a certain fraction of Timosaponin BI (Seiji NAGUMO et al., YAKUGAKU ZASSHI, 1991; 111(1): 306-310). So these methods would waste some samples and could only generate the mixture of Timosaponin BII and Timosaponin BI, and it is too difficult to get the pure Timosaponin BII.

For these reasons, it is necessary to improve the preparative method of Timosaponin BII.

Process for preparation of timosaponin B II

Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, PLA


A novel hollow cathode magnetron source is disclosed. The source comprises a hollow cathode with a non-planar target. By using a magnet between the cathode and a substrate, plasma can be controlled to achieve high ionization levels, good step coverage, and good process uniformity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sputtering apparatus and methods used in semiconductor device fabrication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a physical vapor deposition ("PVD") process, atoms sputtered from a target are deposited onto a semiconductor substrate. The target, which could be made of aluminum, for example, is located a distance away from the substrate. A plasma of a gas suitable for sputtering, such as argon, is maintained between the target and the substrate. Ions of the sputtering gas are accelerated onto the target by applying a negative potential thereon. When accelerated ions hit the target, atoms are sputtered from the target and onto the substrate.
In a conventional PVD process, magnetic fields are employed to cause the electrons to spiral through the plasma, thereby increasing the electrons' residence time and ionization efficiency. This leads to higher ionization levels which, in turn, increases the deposition rate because there are more ions available to sputter atoms off the target and onto the substrate. The use of magnetic fields in a PVD process is also known as magnetron sputtering. In conventional magnetron sputtering, the ionization levels are not high enough throughout the chamber to yield substantially more ionized sputtered metal atoms than neutral metal atoms. Because neutral atoms are not affected by electric or magnetic fields, their trajectory towards the substrate cannot be influenced by using magnets or electric potential.
The control of the direction or flow of sputtered atoms onto the substrate is very important in any PVD process. For example, in applications requiring the deposition of a thin layer of barrier or liner metal in a trench or via, deposition of sufficient material on the bottom and sidewalls (step coverage) depends on the capability of the PVD process to direct the flow of sputtered atoms onto the substrate. In gap-fill applications, or filling of vias and trenches with primary metals, obtaining good step coverage similarly requires directionality of sputtered atoms. Conventional magnetron sputtering has proven to be inadequate in the aforementioned applications because it does not yield high levels of ionized atoms whose trajectories can be influenced by using magnetic or electric fields. This problem is exacerbated in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices where narrow and high-aspect ratio structures are used.
It is also important to obtain good step coverage uniformity across the substrate. Step coverage uniformity depends on precise control of the flow of sputtered atoms to the substrate.
From the foregoing, it is highly desirable to be able to control the direction of sputtered atoms in a PVD process in order to achieve excellent step coverage with good deposition uniformity across the substrate.

Apparatus and method for controlling plasma uniformity across a substrate


A electronic method, includes receiving, by a graphene structure, a SPP mode of a particular frequency. The electronic method includes receiving, by the graphene structure, a driving microwave voltage. The electronic method includes generating, by the graphene structure, an entanglement between optical and voltage fields.

Entanglement has been used in a variety of applications that include quantum teleportation, satellite quantum communication, submarine quantum communication, quantum internet, quantum error correction, and quantum cryptography. Various configurations exist that can initiate entanglement, including the use of a beam splitter, two trapped ions entanglement, and entanglement of two microwave radiations. In the entanglement of microwave and optical fields, several systems exist but have limitations. This includes a sensitivity of a mechanical resonator to thermal noise. In other approaches, a whispering gallery mode resonator filled with electro-optical material may be used. In this approach, an optical field is coupled to the whispering gallery resonator while a microwave field drives the resonator. However, there are limitations that include that the free spectral range of the whispering resonator must match the microwave frequency which can also limit tunability. Thus, there is no effective technique that achieve a wide band entanglement of microwave and optical fields with a large tunability

Wideband graphene-based electro-optic entangler


A method of forming a PE-TEOS layer of a semiconductor IC device provides uniformly thick PE-TEOS layers on a batch of wafers. First, a loading wafer cassette is prepared to provide the wafers to be processed. Next, a process atmosphere is pre-created in a processing chamber. Then the wafers are supplied in sequence into the chamber from the loading wafer cassette and the wafers are mounted on a heater table in the chamber. Next, the PE-TEOS layer is deposited on the wafers by spraying a process gas into the chamber through showerheads. Next, the wafers are discharged from the chamber. Once the chamber is cleared of wafers, the inside of the chamber is cleaned by supplying a cleaning gas into the chamber, and exciting the cleaning gas with RF power. Subsequently, more TEOS gas is supplied into the chamber through the showerheads without being excited by RF power to especially reduce the temperature of the showerheads and that prevailing inside the chamber. In particular, the temperature within the chamber is brought back down to the process temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuit devices using plasma. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of forming a PE-TEOS layer on a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuit devices, PE-TEOS (plasma enhanced tetra-ethyl ortho silicate) is widely used for inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layers because the PE-TEOS layer has good step coverage and a high dielectric characteristic. In general, TEOS is a silicon oxide grown by pyrolyzing liquid Si(OC2H5)4 under a vacuum. A PE-TEOS layer is a layer of silicon oxide deposited on a wafer by exciting TEOS gas using a radio frequency (RF) power while the gas is at a given temperature and under a given pressure, whereby plasma is formed. This process is thus known as a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process or, more specifically, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process.
A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) apparatus capable of batch processing is typically used to attain high yields for the PE-TEOS process. For example, the Sequel model of Novellus Systems, Inc. allows for six wafers to be processed at a time in a chamber. FIG. 1 schematically shows in plan such a conventional CVD apparatus for use in forming a PE-TEOS layer.
Referring to FIG. 1, the CVD apparatus 10 has a chamber 12 in which the PE-TEOS deposition process is performed. The CVD apparatus 10 further has a heater table 14, which is also referred to as a heater block, and several showerheads 16. The heater table 14 heats the inside of the chamber 12 and thus, the wafers 24 supported in the chamber 12. The showerheads 16 spray process gases, such as TEOS gas, onto the wafers 24 mounted on the heater table 14. In addition, the chamber 12 is equipped with two wafer cassettes 20 and 30. A loading wafer cassette 20 contains the wafers 24 to be supplied into the chamber 12. An unloading wafer cassette 30 receives wafers 26 discharged from the chamber 12 after the PE-TEOS deposition process.
The heater table 14 has a spindle 18 at its center and six wafer stages 17 disposed around the spindle 18. Each wafer stage 17 supports a wafer 24 supplied from the loading wafer cassette 20. The spindle 18 rotates so that the wafers 24 can be loaded from the loading cassette onto the respective wafer stages 17 and unloaded from the wafer stages 17. More specifically, the spindle 18 has a spindle body 13 capable of moving up-and-down and rotating, and pairs of transfer bars 15 connected to the spindle body 13. The transfer bars 15 extend to the wafer stages 17 and can be inserted into grooves formed on the wafer stages 17.
The wafer stages 17 include a first stage 17a located near the loading wafer cassette 20. The second through sixth stages 17b-17f are spaced from the first wafer stage 17a and from one another in the circumferential direction of the spindle body 13, i.e., are spaced from the first stage 17a in the clockwise direction in the figure. The sixth stage 17f is located near the unloading wafer cassette 30. The spindle 18 transfers each wafer 24 from one wafer stage to the next wafer stage in the clockwise direction. For example, in order to transfer the wafer 24 from the first stage 17a to the second stage 17b, the spindle body 13 moves upward so that the transfer bars 15 supporting the wafer 24 are raised above the top surface of the first stage 17a. Then the spindle body 13 rotates to move the transfer bars 15 supporting the wafer over the second stage 17b, whereupon the spindle body 13 moves downward. Therefore, the transfer bars 15 are inserted into the grooves in the second stage 17b, whereby the wafer 24 is mounted on the second stage 17b.
FIG. 2 illustrates a flow 40 of a conventional method for forming the PE-TEOS layer by using the CVD apparatus described above. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional PE-TEOS method begins with a preparation step 41 in which the loading wafer cassette 20 provides the wafers 24 to be subjected to the PE-TEOS deposition process. Next, and before the actual deposition occurs, a process atmosphere is created in the chamber 12 (pre-creating step 42). The atmosphere is the same as the one in which the actual deposition will take place. Such a pre-creating step 42 is also referred as to a pre-coating step.
In a next step 43, the wafers 24 are supplied in sequence into the chamber 12 from the loading wafer cassette 20. The PE-TEOS layer is deposited to a target thickness (PE-TEOS deposition step 44) while the wafers 24 in the chamber 12 are sequentially transferred by the spindle 18 from the first wafer stage 17a to the sixth wafer stage 17f.
In a next step 45, the wafer 26 on which the PE-TEOS layer has been formed to a target thickness is unloaded from the sixth stage 17f of the chamber 12 to the unloading wafer cassette 30. The PE-TEOS deposition (step 44) and the wafer unloading (step 45) are carried out continuously without interruption until an RF cleaning process (step 47) starts. More specifically, the PE-TEOS layer is deposited during the PE-TEOS deposition step 44 not only on the wafer(s) 24 but also on exposed portions of the inside of the chamber 12, namely, on inner walls of the chamber 12 and surfaces of the heater table 14. Therefore, the thickness of the PE-TEOS layer deposited on the exposed portions of the chamber 12 should be periodically checked and, if the thickness thereof exceeds a specific thickness, the inside of the chamber 12 should be cleaned. However, whether the cleaning process (step 47) can begin depends on the target thickness of the PE-TEOS layer. For example, if the target thickness is approximately 17000 Å, the RF cleaning step 47 can only be initiated once a PE-TEOS layer having the target thickness of approximately 17000 Å is formed on all twenty-five wafers 24 in the loading wafer cassette 20.
The RF cleaning step 47 is initiated after the PE-TEOS deposition step 44 once all of the wafers 26 are unloaded from the chamber 12. Then, oxygen gas and C2F6 gas are supplied together into the chamber 12 while excited by the RF power under a pressure of about 3 Torr and a temperature of about 390° C. The RF cleaning removes foreign particles as well as the PE-TEOS layer deposited on the exposed portions of the chamber 12. After the RF cleaning step 47, the CVD apparatus prepares for next PE-TEOS batch deposition process, i.e., the method returns to preparation step 41.
Unfortunately, the above-described conventional process for forming the PE-TEOS layer has drawbacks. As shown in FIG. 3, the thickness of the PE-TEOS layers deposited on the wafers decreases gradually and then becomes almost uniform after the RF cleaning process has been performed. For example, when the PE-TEOS layer has a target thickness of about 17000 Å, the thickness of the PE-TEOS layers formed on the first twelve wafers becomes smaller and smaller, and thereafter the thickness of the PE-TEOS layers formed on the following wafers is substantially uniform.
The thickness of the PTEOS layer becomes smaller in the first several wafers that are processed after the RF cleaning step because the shower heads and the inside of the chamber are heated during the cleaning step by the heater table 14 on which no wafers are mounted. Accordingly, the temperature of the shower heads and the inside of the chamber rises above the deposition process temperature, and this rise in temperature affects the deposition thickness of the PE-TEOS layer.
Under this condition, the PE-TEOS layers are formed on the wafers initially supplied into the chamber 12 to a thickness that is greater than the target thickness. On the other hand, as more and more wafers are supplied into the chamber 12, the heat produced by the heater table 12 is absorbed by the wafers. In addition, the TEOS gas sprayed through the showerheads reduces the temperature of the showerheads and the inside of the chamber. Therefore, the internal temperature of the chamber is eventually stabilized at about the desired process temperature whereupon the thickness of the PE-TEOS layers formed on the wafers becomes uniform.
When the PE-TEOS layers have different thicknesses for the reasons explained above, it is difficult to establish a suitable depth to which the PE-TEOS layers should be polished in a subsequent process. Furthermore, different thicknesses of the PE-TEOS layers cause serious differences to occur among the critical dimension of respective patterns subsequently formed on the wafers. It would therefore be desirable to prevent the temperature of the showerheads and the inside of the chamber from being excessively heated by the empty heater table. However, it is difficult to control the temperature of the heater table, and thereby control the temperature of the showerheads and the inside of the chamber.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for forming PE-TEOS layer of semiconductor integrated circuit device


Described is a device for generating an acoustic signal in an electrically conductive medium such as salt water. The device of the present invention has a broadband frequency response and supports high bandwidth data transmission. Reliability is improved in comparison to conventional underwater acoustic transmitters as the device includes no moving components. In one embodiment, the device includes a parallel and alternating arrangement of electrodes and magnets. Neighboring electrodes have different voltages and neighboring magnets have opposite pole configurations such that the magnetic fields overlap the currents between the electrodes in the medium. The currents or the magnetic fields are modulated according to a data signal to generate an acoustic signal in the medium.

Underwater acoustic transmitters such as acoustic modems are generally used for underwater communications in oceans, lakes and similar environments where radio frequency devices are not practical. Various types of underwater transmitters in use today are based on magnetostrictive and piezoelectric components, and moving coil elements. These transmitters are typically limited in acoustic bandwidth in comparison to land-based communication systems such as high speed cable Internet and 802.11 wireless communication systems. For example, the bandwidths of most underwater acoustic transmitters are typically less than 20 KHz and in many instances the frequency response varies significantly across the bandwidth. The restricted bandwidth is typically due to the material properties of the mechanical to acoustic transducer components used in the underwater transmitters. In addition, the frequency bands often have center frequencies determined according to the mechanical resonance frequencies of the components. Due to the limited bandwidth, the number of communications channels and the type of communications supported by conventional underwater transmitters are limited.
Current underwater acoustic transmitters have other disadvantages. The magnitude of the acoustic signal generated by an underwater acoustic transmitter limits the length of the communications path. Conventional underwater acoustic transmitters require significant power to establish and maintain communications links. Many underwater transmitters generate spatially broad acoustic signals while other transmitter generating more directional acoustic signals are typically limited in their ability to steer the acoustic signal in a desired direction. Moreover, many acoustic transmitters such as some piezoelectric transmitters employing brittle ceramics have limited mechanical reliability. In addition, many underwater transmitters are large devices and are not readily adapted for mounting to submerged structures such as underwater vessels and the underside of surface vessels.

Lorentz acoustic transmitter for underwater communications


A stable board book has multiple stiff pages bound together and a stand connected to an end panel for holding the pages vertical when the book is put on a surface and each page is opened. The stand is attached by a hinge to the top cover of the book and by a hinge to the end panel. The end panel is attached by a hinge to the ventral edge of the bottom page of the book. The length of the stand is at least ½ of the length of the cover so that when the pages are opened and leaned against the stand, they will be stable and not fall back down.

Miniature golf is a popular game. A new type of miniature golf uses a board book to allow users to play miniature golf on a table top. As used herein, a "board book" is a book with stiff pages. A page is stiff if it can hold its own weight when held horizontally or vertically. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior board book 100 called "The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf". The book comprises a plurality of stiff pages 102, binding for the pages 104, a stand 106 and an end panel 109. The stand and end panel are made from creased card stock about 1/64 inch thick. The stand is hingedly connected to the front cover 107 of the book and the end panel. The end panel is hingedly connected to the stand and the last page 111 of the book. When the book is closed, the stand rests against the front cover and the end panel rests against the book binding. When the book is open, the stand supports opened pages 108 in an upright orientation.
Each page represents a hole of golf. A portion of each page is recessed 115. The recess is a portion of the course. An opening 110 is provided in the recess that goes through the page to a corresponding course on the page below. The opening is seen as a "cup" in golf. In order to play a hole, a user 112 holds a small club 114 and hits a small ball 116 along the course. When the ball goes in the cup, the hole is complete and the ball passes through to the course below. The user then lifts up the page and rests it against the stand to reveal the page below. The ball that went through the cup is now on the course of the next hole on the page below. The user then continues to hit the ball until it goes in that page's cup. This process is repeated until the last page is reached. Score is based on how many hits a user needs to complete each hole.
One of the limitations of the prior art board book is that some pages are unstable in the opened position. The prior art board book has 10 pages including the cover. The cover is page 1. Each page is about 6 inches long (122), 6 inches wide (124) and ⅛ inch thick (126). 10 pages are joined together. The end panel is about 1.38 inches long (128). This is about the same as the combined thickness of the pages. The stand is about 1.5 inches long (132). Thus the ratio of stand length to page length is about 0.25. It has been found by experiment that for this ratio of stand length to page length, pages 7 and 8 are unstable in the open position. When pages 7 or 8 are opened and placed against the stand, they will spontaneously flip back 118 to the closed position and interfere with play. There is need, therefore, for a board book design where all of the pages are stable in the open configuration.


To control a solvent composition in a supercritical fluid system, a first pump pumps a first solvent through a first conduit into a mixer and a second pump pumps a second solvent through a second conduit into the mixer. First and second transducers measure the pressure in the first and second conduits and generate first and second signals proportional to the pressures. Each pressure signal is multiplied by a corresponding programmed concentration signal and compared to the programmed pressure in a feedback system to generate an error signal. The error signal is multiplied by concentration signals from a programmer to control the pumping rate of each pump. The pumps pressurize each fluid one at a time at the start of a run. The pressurization process is also used for producing disturbance-free flow as delivery is changed from one pump to another during prolonged runs.

This invention relates to multiple pump fluid delivery systems, such as for example, systems used to deliver multiple different solvents to columns in gradient elution liquid chromatography or to pressure vessels in fluid extraction or systems used to switch the outlet flow from one syringe pump to another to provide continuous flow without interruption or fluid disturbance.
In one class of multiple pump fluid delivery system, an effort is made to control the pressure of the fluids delivered to a vessel or column and in some such pressure controlled systems to also control the composition such as for example the ratio of the different fluids. In some such systems using controlled pressure and composition, the flow rate is controlled from each of a plurality of different pumps. The pressure is measured by transducers and one or more signals fed back to control the pumping motors and thus to maintain the proper flow rate for the desired composition and the proper pressure. These systems are of particular significance in supercritical fluid chromatography and supercritical fluid extraction systems using multiple solvents.
In one prior art system of this type, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,562, two syringe pumps for two different fluids are independently controlled for flow rate by a gradient controller and the pressures are equalized between the two pumps by a mechanical mixer which permits only the first or primary fluid to flow at the programmed rate while the second pump under program control builds up pressure to equal the pressure of the first pump so that a uniform pressure is applied to the fluids mixed in the mixer as they flow to the chromatographic column. The pressure equalizing mechanism is combined in mechanical structure with the mixer.
This system is relatively complex and suitable for only two pumps. It is known to control instability using feedback circuitry. One such system which controls transient instability in a single fluid flow system including a syringe pump is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,906 to Helmet. This system utilizes a multiple degree feedback system to provide adequate damping against transients. There is no disclosure of how to adapt this system to a multiple solvent system which controls pressure so as to maintain stability while at the same time providing the proper composition. This is a particularly significant problem when using supercritical fluids because of their compressibility.
In another prior art system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,131 filed in the name of Brownlee, a continuously flowing pumping system with mechanically operated valves is disclosed. This system uses two syringe pumps which operate reciprocally. However, there is no disclosure on how the valves or other parts of the system may be automatically operated to transfer flow from one pump to another without disturbance. A similar pump has been sold commercially in the United States by Chromatramix, Inc.
Generally, pressure transducers are not well enough matched in accuracy to measure pressure at multiple points in the fluid system to be used to control valves automatically for the prevention of the transfer of fluid flow from one pump to the next without disturbance.


The present invention provides a system that applies the latest technology related to compression, rendering, and geographical data processing to present an interactive interface to users, which enables them to efficiently manipulate maps and queries for information over the World Wide Web. The method includes a World Wide Web application to display GIS information and obtains user input, and a server application to process user input and to communicate with the database to retrieve or store data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image compression using wavelet transforms, spatial database, metadata and geographical information system (GIS)
2. Description of the Prior Art
GIS software has a variety of functionality including panning and zooming of geographic maps, querying information from a database, and performing geographic analysis. Such functionality typically requires a highend computer. Thus, GIS is expensive for organizations with multiple offices since all offices would require both computer and copy of the GIS software. Furthermore, all offices contribute to the maintenance of the central database requiring high network bandwidth. The present invention can reduce this cost and offer partial GIS functionality. A single server is maintained in a central location while remote sites access the server over the World Wide Web. Complex software is not required on the client, only a Java enabled web browser. Thus, typical PC can be used at the remote sites. However, the major problem of transferring the large amount of data in a reasonable time remains to be addressed. This problem is minimized by utilizing two different approaches offering multiple resolutions of the image and using data compression. In many cases, GIS users want to determine different area or same area in different time. This invention helps this situation by offering the mosaic feature that user can combine different maps to together to form a larger image for comparison or analysis purpose.
The present invention offers a choice of multiresolution images to the user; therefore, high-resolution images are transferred over the internet only when the user requires such detailed images. The multiple resolution images are created using a wavelet transformation. A further benefit of the wavelet transformation is that it reduces the typically high entropy of an image, thus, transforming the image to format highly compressable using typical data compression algorithms. The wavelet transformation will generally be more efficient in entropy reduction than other data transformations, since the localized representation of the data utilized two domains (time and scale) whereas other transformations utilize only one domain. Once the data is transformed into a wavelet data stream and compressed, the amount of data being transferred over World Wide Web is minimized.
This system comprises of a server process, a client process, a spatial database and a relational database. It presents the idea of geographical information access over the World Wide Web network using compression technology and data filtering—in the form of queries and metadata—for efficient use of network bandwidth. In addition, the user can access or change information using the tools provided inside the client application.
General GIS features and capabilities can be provided with the client application without loading the client machine. Commands are passed to the server, which accesses the spatial and relational databases to process the commands. The server retrieves the data and the result is sent to the client application. Therefore, users can access and use the features of the GIS server and its corresponding databases using a standard PC.

System and method for manipulating information and map for geographical resource management

National Science and Technology Development Agency


Electrical characteristics of a mounting board over which a semiconductor device is mounted is improved. A mounting board (wiring board) includes a plurality of first through holes and second through holes extending from its upper surface bearing a semiconductor device (semiconductor package) to its lower surface and through-hole wirings formed in the respective through holes. The mounting board has a capacitor arranged on its lower surface and electrically connected with the semiconductor device via second electrodes. Among a plurality of first electrodes formed on the upper surface of the mounting board, the several first electrodes to be connected with the capacitor are connected with one wiring formed in a first through hole with a larger diameter than a signal transmission path.

The present invention relates to technology for an electronic device or test board and more particularly to technology for an electronic device with a semiconductor package mounted over a mounting board or for a test board over which a semiconductor package is mounted in order to conduct an electrical test on the semiconductor package.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-66344 describes an electronic device in which a semiconductor device is mounted over the upper surface of a mounting board and a bypass capacitor electrically connected with the semiconductor device is mounted on the lower surface of the mounting board.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-220438 describes that a semiconductor device is mounted over a test board to conduct an electrical test on the semiconductor package.

Electronic device, test board, and semiconductor device manufacturing method


A method of monitoring a thermal protection system coupled to a structural component is provided. The thermal protection system includes a thermally insulative body and at least one layer of thermochromatic material applied thereon such that the at least one layer is positioned between the thermally insulative body and the structural component. The method includes determining a value of a thermochromatic property of the at least one layer of thermochromatic material, wherein the value of the thermochromatic property is responsive to an amount of heat applied to the at least one layer of thermochromatic material, comparing the value to a baseline value of the thermochromatic property, and determining degradation of the thermal protection system when the value of the thermochromatic property deviates from the baseline value.

The field of the present disclosure relates generally to thermal protection systems and, more specifically, to using thermochromatic coatings to monitor the structural integrity of thermal protection systems.
Thermal protection systems are generally implemented in the aerospace industry to thermally shield reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) from high temperatures caused by re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, or on certain aircraft in locations downstream from high-temperature engine exhaust, for example. At least some known thermal protection systems are formed from a heat-resistant fabric that facilitates maintaining a temperature of a metallic and/or composite structural of the vehicle below the thermal protection system. At least some known heat-resistant fabrics are fabricated from fiberglass, Nomex®, Kevlar®, and combinations thereof.
While generally effective at thermally shielding structural components of a vehicle, at least some known heat-resistant fabrics have a limited service life. For example, heat-resistant properties of the heat-resistant fabrics may degrade over time resulting in damage to the underlying structural components. At least some known non-destructive examination (NDE) techniques are capable of determining degradation of heat-resistant fabrics. However, such techniques are generally time-consuming and may be unable to detect degradation in the heat-resistant blanket until at least some damage to the underlying structural components has occurred.

Systems and methods of monitoring a thermal protection system