Circuitry for suspending an automated sequence for a nonvolatile semiconductor memory is described. The circuitry and memory reside on the same substrate. The circuitry includes a circuit for suspending erasure at a predetermined state of the erase sequence when a suspend signal is active and a circuit for resuming erasure at a predetermined state of the erase sequence when the suspend signal goes inactive. A method for suspending automated erasure sequence of a non-volatile semiconductor memory is also described. A suspend signal is received and erasure is suspended after a first erasure step of the erase sequence if suspend signal is active. Erasure resumes at a second erasure step of the erase sequence when the suspend signal goes inactive.

One type of prior non-volatile semiconductor memory is the flash electrically erasable programmable read-only memory ("flash EEPROM"). The flash EEPROM can be programmed by a user, and once programmed, the flash EEPROM retains its data until erased. After erasure, the flash EEPROM may be programmed with new code or data.
Flash memories differ from conventional electrically erasable programmable read only memory ("EEPROMs") with respect to erasure. Conventional EEPROMs typically use a select transistor for individual byte erase control. Flash memories, on the other hand, typically achieve much higher density with single transistor cells. During one prior art erase mode for a flash memory, a high voltage is supplied to the source of every memory cell in a memory array simultaneously. This results in a full array erasure.
For one prior flash EEPROM, a logical "one" means that few if any electrons are stored on a floating gate associated with a bit cell. A logical "zero" means that many electrons are stored on the floating gate associated with the bit cell. Erasure of that prior flash memory causes a logical one to be stored in each bit cell. Each single bit cell of that flash memory cannot be overwritten from a logical zero to a logical one without a prior erasure. Each single bit cell of that flash memory can, however, be overwritten from a logical one to a logical zero, given that this entails simply adding electrons to a floating gate that contains the intrinsic number of electrons associated with the erased state.
One prior flash EEPROM is the 28F256 complementary metal oxide semiconductor ("MOS") flash memory sold by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., which is a 256 kilobit flash EEPROM. The 28F256 flash memory includes a command register to manage electrical erasure and reprogramming. Commands are written to the command register from a controlling microprocessor using standard microprocessor write timings. The command register contents serve as input to an internal state machine that controls erase and programming circuitry.
The controlling microprocessor controls the erasure and programming of the flash memory. A prior Quick-Erase.TM. algorithm of Intel Corporation can be used by the microprocessor to erase the flash memory. The prior Quick-Erase.TM. algorithm requires that all bits first be programmed to their charged state, which is data equal to 00 (hexadecimal). Erasure then proceeds by pulling transistor sources within the array to the Vpp level for a period of 10 milliseconds. After each erase operation, byte verification is performed. The prior Quick-Erase.TM. algorithm allows up to 3000 erase operations per erasure sequence prior to recognizing erasure failure. Proper device operation requires that the erasure procedure be strictly followed.
One disadvantage of the Intel Quick-Erase.TM. algorithm is that erasure can take as long as 1 second, and during that time the contents of the flash memory cannot be accessed.
The prior Quick-Pulse Programming.TM. algorithm of Intel Corporation can be used by the microprocessor to program the flash memory after erasure. The Quick-Pulse Programming.TM. algorithm requires that a programming pulse of a specific duration and voltage level be applied to the selected transistors in the array. For example, for certain prior Intel flash memories a programming pulse of 10 microseconds is suggested while Vpp is held at 12.75 volts. After the programming pulse is applied to the selected memory cells, the user must verify whether the memory cell addressed is properly programmed. If not properly programmed, a programming pulse may be reapplied a number of times before a programming error is recognized. Intel's Quick-Pulse Programming.TM. algorithm allows up to 25 programming operations per byte. Proper and reliable operation of the flash memory mandates that the programming procedure be strictly followed.
One disadvantage of the prior way of using a controlling microprocessor to control the erasure and programming of the flash memory is that it ties up the microprocessor and requires a relatively high level of microprocessor overhead. This, in turn, decreases computer system throughput.
Another disadvantage of the prior way of using a microprocessor to control the erasure and programming of the flash memory is the relatively high complexity of typical erasure/programming software. This complexity increases the likelihood of a customer error, such as overerasure of the flash memory.

Circuitry and method for suspending the automated erasure of a non-volatile semiconductor memory


A drive mechanism for a hospital bed effects relative vertical movement of a base and a patient litter. The drive mechanism includes spaced, telescoping threaded screw assemblies, which are driven by a single electric motor through a train of gears having helical teeth oriented to offset inherent frictional forces of the screw assemblies. A support for the motor and a component of the drive train are made of electrically nonconductive materials to electrically isolate the motor, and are arranged to damp vibrations produced by the motor. Two coiled electrical cords extend between the base and patient litter, and are each received in a recess in the patient litter when the patient litter is adjacent the base. A sensor arrangement provides an electrical signal indicative of the relative vertical positions of the patient litter and base, and a manual drive arrangement is provided to permit the gear train to be manually driven.

Over the years, various arrangements have been developed to effect vertical movement of a patient support portion of a hospital bed with respect to a base. For example, upward and downward movement of a patient support litter relative to a base has been effected with a pair of spaced hydraulic cylinders which have housings fixedly mounted on the base and which have vertically extending piston rods with their upper ends fixedly secured to the patient support portion. However, hydraulic arrangements tend to drip oil, which creates a mess and in some cases presents a safety problem when the oil ends up on a floor surface where someone may slip on it. Further, in order to be competitive in today's marketplace, a hydraulic arrangement must usually include both electrically and manually actuated pumps, because the convenience of electrical pumps is normally desired but manual pumps are necessary for emergency circumstances during an electrical power outage. However, the provision of both manual and electrical systems can render the resulting bed relatively complex and expensive.
One alternative approach is to use a lift mechanism which includes a vertically extending threaded member operatively engaging a nut, and includes a drive arrangement to effect relative rotation of the threaded member and nut in order to provide vertical movement of the threaded member relative to the nut. An example of such a mechanism is disclosed in copending U.S. Ser. No. 07/816,826, filed Jan. 3, 1992 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,442 . While this known mechanism has been a distinct improvement over prior approaches and has been entirely adequate for its intended purposes, it has not been satisfactory in all respects.
It is the object of the present invention to provide, for a hospital bed, an improved lift mechanism of the type which includes a threaded member engaging and rotatable relative to a threaded part such as a nut.
It is a further object to provide such a lift mechanism in which the noise generated by the lift mechanism during operation is minimal, and in which certain friction-producing forces are compensated at least in part by opposite forces in order to reduce friction and thus achieve increased efficiency.
It is a further object to provide such a mechanism in which the drive mechanism is operated by an electric motor and the electric motor is electrically isolated from all of the components of the lift mechanism in a simple and inexpensive manner.
It is a further object to provide such a mechanism in which an electrical cord signals for the lift mechanism is kept spaced from moving components of the lift mechanism in a tangle-free manner as the lift mechanism moves the patient support part vertically with respect to the base.
It is a further object to provide such a mechanism in which a simple and inexpensive arrangement is provided to generate an electrical signal indicative of the vertical position of the patient support part relative to the base.
A further object is to provide such a mechanism in which a reliable but simple manual drive arrangement is provided to permit manual operation of the lift mechanism.

Housing and drive mechanism for screw lift of hospital bed


A cylinder jacket profile for impression cylinders or sheet transfer cylinders has uniformly distributed elevations with an easy-clean layer as a surface coating. The easy-clean layer has a thickness of less than 5 xcexcm, in particular 1 xcexcm, and a surface energy of less than 50 mN/m. The cylinder jacket profile has an improved cleaning behavior. A method of producing an easy-clean layer on a cylinder jacket profile is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cylinder jacket profile, a method of producing a cylinder jacket profile, and to a rotary printing press.
German Patent No. DE 42 07 119 C2 discloses a conventional cylinder jacket profile. An impression cylinder or sheet guiding cylinder includes a surface coating which is polished parallel to the axis of the impression cylinder. The cylinder jacket profile is formed from cylindrical elevations which are disposed perpendicular to the surface of the cylinder jacket. The cylindrical elevations have a cylinder length of 20 to 200 xcexcm, and the raster definition is 400 to 10,000 points/cm2. The impression cylinder has a chromium surface coating into which the cylinder jacket profile is etched. The cylinder jacket profile is formed of individual, statistically uniformly distributed elevations. The high surface energy of chromium of 78 mN/m is disadvantageous due to the associated contamination problems, namely the smearing of the freshly printed surface, as well as the expensive production technique.
Furthermore, it is generally known that the cleanability of impression cylinders may be improved by applying a nonstick coating, for instance a TEFLON or silicon coating, with a typical thickness of some 20 xcexcm. The large alteration of the surface structure of the impression cylinder as a result of the layer and the associated increased degradation of the print result are disadvantageous. Furthermore, the wear resistance of these nonstick layers and their chemical resistance to the cleaning and printing chemicals are low. In addition, this type of coated impression cylinder often cannot sufficiently hold the sheet in the printing process.
Various techniques are generally known for nonstick coatings with a low surface energy. For instance, amorphous, adamantine carbon layers are deposited in thicknesses of 1 to 10 xcexcm using CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) or PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) methods. This way, wear-resistant nonstick layers with low surface energy or surface tension (typically 20-40 mN/m) can be realized for refining or finishing surfaces, for instance of tools.
Colloid technology is a new technology for coating surfaces with a nonstick coating in thicknesses of 100 nm to 10 xcexcm.
This technology takes advantage of the complex formation of a polyelectrolyte with fluorine surfactants. The externally exposed surfactant layer, which itself is only up to 1 nm thick, is distinguished by extreme smoothness and extremely low surface tension (11-16 mN/m).
With inorganic-organic hybrid polymers, by incorporating functional groups of, for instance, perfluorinated silane compounds in the silicate frame, it is possible to generate layers with nonstick properties which are not only water-repellent (hydrophobic) but also oil- and grease-repellent (oleophobic) and which therefore have an improved protective effect. The achieved surface characteristics effectuate a reduced adhesion of dirt particles and thus a good cleaning behavior.
In a sol-gel process, it is possible to produce a coating, for instance by immersion or spraying, as an easy-clean layer on the basis of inorganic-organic nanocomposites with a low free surface energy (approx. 19 mN/m) and a high resistance to scratching and rubbing owing to fluorinated organic groups.
It is also known how to realize surfaces having periodic structures with dimensions in the range between 1 xcexcm and 100 nm by photolithography techniques.
Particularly good cleaning characteristics of surfaces can also be realized using a system of plasma-polymer thin layers.
Further, the so-called lotus effect for self-cleaning surfaces is known. In particular, a self-cleaning surface including an artificial surface structure of elevations and depressions is described in European Patent No. EP 0 772 524 B1. The spacing between the elevations is in the range between 5 and 200 xcexcm, and at least the elevations are formed of hydrophobic polymers or durable hydrophobized materials. The elevations cannot be removed by water or water in combination with detergents.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a cylinder jacket profile which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known profiles of this general type and which ameliorates the presently existing problems when guiding a sheet in a recto/verso printing operation, and which particularly improves the cleaning behavior of a cylinder jacket profile.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a cylinder jacket profile configuration for a rotary printing press cylinder, including:
a sheet-guiding cylinder jacket profile having elevations; and
an easy-clean layer as a surface coating for the sheet-guiding cylinder jacket profile, the easy-clean layer having a thickness of less than 5 xcexcm, in particular approximately 1 xcexcm, and a surface energy of less than 50 mN/m.
According to the invention, the cylinder surface is provided with a surface structure. It is of no importance whether the structure is created on the surface of the cylinder itself or on a layer or covering that is applied to the cylinder. In particular, the cylinder can be constructed with a structured surface by spray techniques, jet techniques or molding techniques. In addition, a coating with a thin and low-energy layer which is easy to clean is provided on the surface in such a way that the dimensions of the surface structure remain substantially unaffected.
According to another feature of the invention, the sheet-guiding cylinder jacket profile includes an anti-wear layer, the easy-clean layer is disposed on the anti-wear layer, for example a chromium layer.
It can be advantageously provided that the layer which is constructed for easy cleaning be applied to a structured chromium layer. Because of the small thickness, the layer can be worn off in the contact region in the elevations after only a few revolutions of the impression cylinder, such that the easy-clean layer is interrupted on the elevations. The chromium layer then takes over the generation of high counterpressure, while the ink barely sticks in the depressions of the jacket profile or is easily removed therefrom due to the easy-clean layer.
According to a preferred embodiment, the cylinder jacket profile is constructed with spherical elevations and/or depressions. This makes it possible to realize a good cleanability of the surface, whereby a sufficiently high counterpressure can also be achieved in the print operation. Besides this, a surface so constructed without corners or slopes can be evenly coated with ease. Alternatively, however, it is possible to provide elevations on the surface in the shape of pyramids, cylinders, spheres, truncated cones and/or in an irregularly structured fashion. In accordance with the invention, the various structural shapes may also be combined.
The structured surface according to the invention allows to guide the sheet without slippage or scratching, while experiencing only slight wear. The low-energy coating which is applied to the anti-wear chromium coating serves for picking up optimally little or no ink in the regions in which the sheet has no direct contact with the cylinder jacket profile.
When the easy-clean layer is not sufficiently wear-resistant, it is worn off during use in the regions of contact with the sheet. But this is not problematic, since the low-energy easy-clean layer is preferably intended to exert its effect only between the contact points of the sheet.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, a method for producing an easy-clean layer on a cylinder jacket profile, the method includes the steps of:
providing a cylinder jacket profile having elevations; and
applying an easy-clean layer as a surface coating for the cylinder jacket profile such that the easy-clean layer has a thickness of less than 5 xcexcm and a surface energy of less than 50 mN/m.
According to another mode of the invention, the easy-clean layer is initially applied as a substantially uninterrupted layer and subsequently removed from the elevations, preferably by contacting the easy-clean layer with a printing sheet during a printing operation.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, a printing press, including:
a cylinder having a jacket surface with a cylinder jacket profile having elevations; and
an easy-clean layer provided as a surface coating for the cylinder jacket profile, the easy-clean layer having a thickness of less than 5 xcexcm and a surface energy of less than mN/m.
According to another feature of the invention, the cylinder is a sheet-guiding cylinder such as an impression cylinder or a sheet transfer cylinder used for a recto/verso printing.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a cylinder jacket profile, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Cylinder jacket profile, method of producing an easy-clean layer on a cylinder jacket profile and printing press


The system is a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system for conducting self-oxidation of a raw material gas under the presence of oxygen and conducting steam reforming to generate a hydrogen-rich reformed gas. The system includes a steam generator including a combustion section for combusting an air-fuel mixture obtained by mixing a combustion air with a fuel, thereby heating water using a combustion gas generated in the combustion section to generate hydrogen; a first sucking-mixer for sucking the raw material gas into a steam stream coming from the steam generator to obtain a raw material-steam mixture; and a reformer for oxidizing the raw material gas in the raw material-steam mixture by an oxygen-containing gas supplied from outside, thereby conducting steam reforming of the raw material gas using the reaction heat of the oxidation to generate a hydrogen-rich reformed gas.

Conventionally, there is known a system for generating hydrogen-rich reformed gas by the steam-reforming of a mixture of raw material gas including hydrocarbons such as methane, aliphatic alcohols such as methanol, or ethers such as dimethyl ether, with steam, (hereinafter referred to as the "raw material-steam mixture"), under the presence of a steam reforming catalyst. The hydrogen-rich reformed gas obtained from the reforming system is favorably used as the fuel of fuel cells. The reformer which is a main component of the reforming system is classified into the external heating type and the internal heating type in view of the mode of supplying heat necessary for the steam reforming reaction. The reaction formula of steam reforming when methane is used as the raw material gas is written as CH4+2H2O→CO2+4H2, where a preferable range of reforming reaction temperature is from 700° C. to 750° C.
The former external heating type heats externally the wall surface of the reformer by a combustion gas generated by a burner and the like, thereby supplying the heat necessary for the reforming reaction through the wall into the reaction chamber.
Internal heating type is a modified version of the external heating type, and constituted to have a partial oxidation reaction bed at the supply side (or the upstream side) of the raw material-steam mixture in the reformer. The heat generated in the partial oxidation reaction bed is used to heat the steam reforming bed located at the downstream side to the steam reforming temperature. The steam reforming is carried out in thus heated steam reforming catalyst bed to generate the hydrogen-rich reformed gas. The partial oxidation reaction is written as CH4+½O2→CO+2H2, where a preferable temperature for the partial oxidation is 250° C. or above.
For the conventional reformers of external heating type and internal heating type, however, the temperature of the heating section becomes a higher temperature than the reforming temperature level of about 700° C., reaching to, for example, as high as 1,000° C. Accordingly the conventional reformers have problems of large energy loss caused by radiation, and generation of high temperature deterioration of the members structuring the reformer, leading to a short life.
As an improved model of the internal heating type, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-192201 proposes a reforming apparatus of self-oxidation internal heating type. Although the conventional understanding was that the functions of steam reforming catalyst are hindered under the presence of oxygen, the related art proposed in the patent publication solved the problem by the coexistence of an oxidation catalyst, thus allowed the steam reforming catalyst to effectively maintain the inherent functions thereof even under the presence of oxygen.
The improved technology proposed in the above related art conducts both the heat generation by the oxidation reaction and the steam reforming reaction simultaneously in a mixed catalyst bed structured by an oxidation catalyst and a steam reforming catalyst, respectively. That is, by the coexistence of the oxidation exothermic bed and the steam reforming reaction (endothermic reaction) bed, the temperature of the heating section and the temperature of the heat-absorbing section can be maintained equivalently. Furthermore, the disclosure described that the temperature of structural members including the catalyst can be controlled to a specified reforming temperature or below, for example at near 700° C., thereby making it possible to prolong the life of the structural members. In addition, the apparatus has a function to effectively recover the heat inside the reforming apparatus so that a high reforming efficiency is attained.
According to the reforming apparatus of the self-oxidation internal heating type of the above related art, water supplied from a water feed pump is heated by heat exchange with the reformed gas in a cooler, and further is heat-exchanged in the reforming apparatus to generate steam. Thus generated steam is then mixed with a raw material gas in a mixer.
For the type to generate steam by exchanging heat between water and reformed gas or the like, however, the quantity of generated steam depends on the flow rate and temperature of the reformed gas, thus accurate control of necessary quantity of the generating steam is difficult. In addition, that type has problems of securing space to install a relatively large heat exchange section for generating steam in the reformer, and of complex structure of the reformer.
Although the hydrogen-rich reformed gas generated in the reformer can be used as the fuel for fuel cells, as described before, the structure of above related art cannot reuse the anode flue gas of the fuel cell as the fuel for generating steam.
For the case that the anode flue gas of the fuel cells is combusted to generate steam, the fuel is required to be supplied to a combustor by pressurizing the fuel using, for example, a booster pump. That type of structure makes the system complex and the weight larger. The increased weight is a drawback particularly in a reformer to supply the reformed gas to fuel cells for vehicle.
According to the above related art, the reformer, the mixer, the steam supply system, and the like are fabricated separately, and the total system is structured by connecting between respective devices with conduits. Accordingly, for small systems ranging from 1 kW to 10 kW class, the radiation loss from the conduits connecting individual constructing devices becomes large, which reduces the system efficiency.
In this regard, the present invention aims to solve the problems of above-disclosed self-oxidation internal heating type reformer. An object of the present invention is to provide a novel self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system that solves the problems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which generates steam for reforming at a high efficiency using a compact steam generator.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which generates a raw material-steam mixture to be supplied to a reformer at a high efficiency without applying a special power unit.
A still another object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which generates steam for use in reforming at a high efficiency by supplying a fuel-air mixture to the steam generator.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which attains a high system thermal efficiency.
A more object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, having a reformer of compactness and high reforming efficiency.
A still more object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which recycles the anode flue gas containing hydrogen discharged from a fuel cell as the raw material for reforming when the generated reformed gas is supplied to the fuel cell.
A furthermore object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which efficiently recovers the heat from surplus steam, when it is generated.
A still furthermore object of the present invention is to provide a system, in a self-oxidation internal heating steam reforming system, which generates a reformed gas containing decreased quantity of CO.

Autooxidation internal heating type steam reforming system

Nippon Chemical Plant Consultant Co., Ltd.


[Task] To provide an automatic analysis apparatus including a photomultiplier tube which controls a sensitivity of the photomultiplier tube without adjusting a high voltage value. [Solution] An automatic analysis apparatus according to the present invention includes a photomultiplier tube which detects light from a reaction vessel; a determination unit which determines an output signal of the photomultiplier tube in a case where the photomultiplier tube is irradiated with first light; and a control unit which irradiates the photomultiplier tube with second light to lower a sensitivity of the photomultiplier tube in accordance with a determination result by the determination unit.

Quantitative measurement has been performed clinically with respect to concentration of chemical substances, such as proteins, lipids, sugars, ions, and various components constituting them, contained in body fluid components such as blood and urine. An apparatus for automating steps necessary for this measurement (for example, quantitative collection of a specimen body sample, mixing with a reagent, determination of a reaction result, measurement of a change in a substance contained in a reagent, and the like) is called an automatic analysis apparatus.
Such an automatic analysis apparatus is demanded to detect weak light emitted from a luminescent label or the like, and what is called a photomultiplier tube is used as a photodetector. The photomultiplier tube is a kind of a vacuum tube, in which a high voltage of about 700 to 1000 [V] is applied between a cathode that receives light inside the vacuum tube and converts it into electrons, and an anode from which a final signal is extracted. By utilizing this potential difference, electrons generated at the cathode of the photomultiplier tube are amplified by approximately 106 times.
The sensitivity of the photomultiplier tube may increase over time due to abnormalities in the power supply and circuit during use. As an example, a case where the value of a variable resistor that determines a value of high voltage applied to the photomultiplier tube changes over time is considered. As a method of controlling the sensitivity of the photomultiplier tube, a method of adjusting a value of high voltage applied to the photomultiplier tube is known. For example, as described in Patent Document 1, there has been known a method of finally adjusting the value of high voltage utilizing that there is a certain relationship between the logarithm of the value of high voltage applied to the photomultiplier tube and the logarithm of a signal amount when the same object is measured. However, such a method of adjusting the value of high voltage has a risk of deviating from the adjustment range in a circuit for adjusting the value of high voltage.

Automatic analysis apparatus and method for controlling automatic analysis apparatus


A slurry composition for polishing a metal layer and a method for fabricating a semiconductor device using the same are provided. The slurry composition for polishing a metal layer includes polishing particles including a metal oxide, an oxidizer including hydrogen peroxide, and a first polishing regulator including at least one selected from a group consisting of phosphate, phosphite, hypophosphite, and metaphosphate, wherein a content of the oxidizer is 0.01 wt % to 0.09 wt % with respect to 100 wt % of the slurry composition for polishing the metal layer.

In a planarization process of a layer, for example, an etch-back process, a reflow process, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, and the like may be used. The chemical mechanical polishing process is advantageous for a wide area planarization.
In the chemical mechanical polishing process, a polishing target to be polished is mounted on a polishing apparatus, and a slurry composition containing a polishing agent may be provided between a polishing target and a polishing pad. At the same time, by rotating the polishing target in the state of being in contact with the polishing pad, the surface of the polishing target can be planarized. That is, the chemical mechanical polishing process is a process of mechanically polishing the surface of the polishing target by mechanically rubbing the polishing agent contained in the slurry composition and the surface protrusion of the polishing pad with the surface of the polishing target, and chemically removing the surface of the polishing target by causing the chemical components contained in the slurry composition and the surface of the polishing target to chemically react with each other.
Meanwhile, the oxidizer used in the slurry for polishing the metal layer may cause excessive oxidative etching of the metal layer. Such oxidative etching may intensify the surface roughness of the metal layer after the polishing process and may degrade the electric characteristics of the semiconductor device fabricated using the polishing process. Although slurry for polishing the metal layer with the lowered oxidizer content may be used, such slurry may have a problem of significantly lowering the polishing rate.

Slurry compositions for polishing a metal layer and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices using the same

Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do


A system and method for producing micro-texture on a slider substrate using chemical & mechanical polishing techniques is described. In certain embodiments of the present invention, this is accomplished by a method comprising formulating an abrasive slurry solution of predetermined acidity (or pH value), treating a chemical mechanical polishing pad with the abrasive slurry, disposing magnetic heads on the chemical mechanical polishing pad and lapping and grinding the magnetic heads for a predetermined period of time. In certain embodiment of the present invention the lapping and grinding of the magnetic heads are accomplished using an apparatus comprising an abrasive slurry solution of predetermined acidity (pH value), a chemical mechanical polishing pad treated with the abrasive slurry solution, wherein the magnetic heads are attached to a fixture capable of disposing the heads on the chemical mechanical polishing pad.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to magnetic head sliders used in hard disk drive (HDD) head gimbal assemblies. More specifically, the present invention pertains to producing micro-texture on a slider substrate using chemical & mechanical polishing techniques.
B. Description of the Related Art
Presently, the hard disk drive industry is observing great success in the consumer electronics environment. One of the main reasons for this success is the ability to achieve ever increasing storage capacity reflecting consumer demand in ever decreasing form factors (e.g., greater than 1 Gb in 1″ disks and below for portable music players). So far, these advancements are being achieved with minimal cost compared to competitors (e.g., flash memory).
However, continuing these advances require overcoming arising design and manufacturing difficulties. These difficulties can be found both in the drive level and the component level.
By way of background, while executing a read/write instruction, an actuator (arm) of a disk drive operates to position a magnetic head along the surface of a rotating disk. Typically, this magnetic head is supported on a slider. A typical slider body is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, an ABS 102 design known for a common slider 104 may be formed with a pair of parallel rails 106 and 108 that extend along the outer edges of the slider surface facing the disk. The two rails 106 and 108 typically run along at least a portion of the slider body length from the leading edge 110 to the trailing edge 112. The leading edge 110 is defined as the edge of the slider that the rotating disk passes before running the length of the slider 104 towards a trailing edge 112. The transducer or magnetic element 114 is typically mounted at some location along the trailing edge 112 of the slider as shown in FIG. 1.
The operation of a typical slider is shown in FIG. 2. A suspension 204 holds the head gimbal assembly (HGA) 202 over the moving disk 206 (having edge 208) and moving in the direction indicated by arrow 210. In operation of the disk drive, as shown in FIG. 2, an actuator 212 moves the HGA over various diameters of the disk 206 (e.g., inner diameter (ID), middle diameter (MD) and outer diameter (OD)) over arc 214.
In order to continue the current advances in disk drive technology, two main design criteria must be continuously addressed and improved upon: a) the flying height and b) the surface roughness of the various disk drive components, while maintaining optimum flying characteristics of the head (e.g., crown, camber, twist, and overcoat and pole tip recession).
In order to achieve maximum hard disk drive performance, the head must fly as close to the surface of the disk as possible while still maintaining a consistent, required spacing. This spacing is also known as the "flying height" or "magnetic spacing" of the disk. When a disk is rotated, it carries with it a small amount of flowing air (substantially parallel to the tangential velocity of the disk) on its surface that acts to support a magnetic head flying above, thereby creating the "flying height" of the head above the disk. Typically, the slider supporting the head is aerodynamically shaped to use the flow of this small amount of air to maintain a uniform distance from the surface of the rotating disk, thereby preventing the head from contacting the disk. The surface of magnetic head closest to the disk (and being supported by the flowing air) is referred to as the "air bearing surface". In FIG. 1, the rails 106 and 108 form the air bearing surface on which the slider flies, and provide the necessary lift upon contact with the air flow created by the spinning disk. As the disk rotates, the generated wind or air flow runs along underneath, and in between, the slider rails 106 and 108. As the air flow passes beneath the rails 106 and 108, the air pressure between the rails and the disk increases thereby providing positive pressurization and lift. In general, as the air bearing surface area increases, the amount of lift created is also increased. Therefore, as a design criterion, there is a need for a method that allows for design of a flying height constituting the minimal amount of spacing between the head and the disk required for successful operation of the hard disk drive.
Second, any surface roughness issues must be addressed to overcome any associated friction issues that might impede the head's ability to fly as close to the surface of the disk as possible. Along with general frictional resistance due to the moving parts of the disk drive (e.g., the disk, the loading/unloading zones or the magnetic head), excessive surface roughness of either the disk or the magnetic head significantly increases the chances of HDI (head disk interaction), often resulting in intermittent contact and/or crashes. However, while it is possible to smoothen these surfaces, continuously increasing the smoothness comes with problems as well. Smoother surfaces lead to increased inter-molecular (Van der Waal's) forces acting at the interface and higher sensitivity to altitude and pressure changes during operational mode. Both of these factors may cause increased undesired variations in the flying height. Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective process that can easily attain the desired smoothness of the disk designed for optimum performance.
The flying height and the surface roughness of the disk drive components must be designed to preserve the mechanical operating parameters of the head, such as crown, camber and twist. The "crown" represents a deformation in shape along forward and aft directions of the slider (as shown by the Y-Y plane), and the "camber" represents a deformation in shape along lateral directions of the magnetic head slider (as shown by X-X plane). Crown and camber are shown in FIG. 3. Also, while achieving the desired value of micro texture on the substrate, the overcoat recession and pole tip recession characteristics of the head must be optimal as well. Overcoat recession is the difference in height between the surface of the alumina of the head and the air bearing surface. Pole tip recession is the difference in height between the pole tip material and the air-bearing surface.
Generally, grinding and lapping are processes by which the head is smoothened and finished. Specifically, grinding is a process of material removal in which a surface composed of many hard abrasive grits wears away a softer material. Lapping is a manufacturing method that employs particles of an abrasive material (often in liquid form) to remove undesired stock from a surface.
Several attempts have been made to address these issues both at the disk and head level. For instance, a certain amount of texturing may be designed in at the loading/unloading areas (i.e., "zone texturing") in order to reduce the effects described above. However, it proves to be an insufficient and inefficient method for achieving desired performance.
Another option can be to increase the roughness of the disk as shown in FIG. 4a. FIG. 4a shows a smooth slider body surface flying above a textured disk surface. However, again as discussed above, increasing roughness in such a manner may become an issue when the increased roughness leads to greater friction, thereby creating a greater-than-required flying height. Moreover, increasing the surface roughness of the disk (being the data carrier) is generally not favored. Another alternative for increasing surface roughness for optimal performance is the texturing of the slider body itself as shown in FIG. 4b. FIG. 4b shows a textured slider body surface and a smooth disk surface.
Generally, a slider body may be comprised of a two-phase granular composite ceramic material called AlTiC (Aluminum Titanium Carbide), wherein the AlTiC is formed by distinctive grains of Al2O3 (aluminum oxide) and TiC (titanium carbide). The head portion of the slider typically is a thin layer of alumina fabricated on the trailing edge face of the slider portion in which the magnetic portion of the head is embedded. FIGS. 5a-b illustrate in a top and side view of one embodiment of a slider 504. The substrate 502 may then be deposited with an undercoat material 504 of sputtered transparent alumina. The shield 506 and read/write sensor 508 may be built onto the sputtered transparent alumina using conventional photolithographic and electro deposition techniques. The read/write sensor 508 may then be carefully deposited with the overcoat material 510 (also alumina), which also serves as a dielectric medium encasing the read/write sensor 508 of the head.
However, it is often the alumina portion of the slider that if not designed correctly, comes in contact with a disk, thereby causing failure. The overextension of the overcoat of alumina is generally the result of improper lapping. Therefore, it is primary design goal to ensure that, regardless of the operating conditions of the slider, the height of any alumina along the trailing edge of a slider not be above height of the air bearing surface of the slider.
A method for texturing the slider body is suggested in "Method and Apparatus for Ultrasonically Texturing ABS of Magnetic Head of Hard Disk Drive" (U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,880). In this method, ultrasonic energy in the form of a sonitrode is used in combination with an abrasive alumina slurry to produce a micro-texture on the slider body. In particular, the head is juxtaposed with the disk, and an abrasive slurry is disposed there between. Finally, the sonitrode is vibrated to created a texturing along the air bearing surface of the head. However, this method has its limitations. First, the use of the vibrations from the sonitrode along the surface of the head creates manufacturing irregularities and any excess jarring of the slider body may diminish the performance of the head. Secondly, as the abrasive slurry particles collide with the body, the particles often fuse to the slider body. This fused abrasives are practically impossible to remove, leaving behind foreign bodies embedded in the slider. Consequently, the probability of interference in proper flying height characteristics is largely increased, the amount depending on the size and amount of the abrasive slurry fused to the head. This interference, when sufficient, can result in catastrophic failures during drive level operation.
A third, alternative approach practiced in today's industry is the use of an etching process to create the composite used to form the slider body material (e.g., the two phase composite of Al2O3 and TiC discussed above). Alumina grains may be preferentially etched over the granular composite material to create relative differences in the heights of the two grains, thereby creating a micro-texture shown in FIG. 6a-b. This micro texture produced with this technique is due to the difference in the etch rate of the two materials. However, since this method uses an ion beam applied to the surface of the slider, there is a risk of exposing the sensitive elements of the reader to the high energy of the ion beam (as shown in FIG. 7). The amount of texture created is directly proportional to the time the composite is exposed the energy beam. However, when a reader is exposed to a excessive amount of energy, it begins to show signs of magnetic degradation. One approach to negating the effects of the energy beam is to cover the sensitive reader elements with a photo resist (as shown in FIG. 8), and then subjecting it to the beam. However, this creates further complications in the fabrication process, and degrades magnetic head performance.
Another approach has been discussed in "Method for Producing Sliders" (U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,715), disclosing a method for removing alumina protrusion wherein the air bearing surface of the slider is treated with an aqueous base having a pH of approximately 9-11. However, this method is disadvantageous from a manufacturing point of view, as the etching process disclosed requires actually immersing the selected elements in the aqueous solution. The process is both imprecise and not cost-efficient.
Another method described in "Method and apparatus for the manufacture of thin film magnetic transducers using a compliant, soft lapping process" (U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,985), discloses a chemical-mechanical process entailing the use of a lapping media slurry in conjunction with a soft compliant pad. The lapping media is then applied to the surface of the head using the soft compliant pad. Upon application, the motion of the compliant pad allows the mechanical etchants to eliminate anomalies between the magneto-resistive sensor element of the head and the shields. However, this process is limited by its imprecision in the applications of the slurry, and is generally directed towards the elimination of anomalies and smears, not towards the creation of a micro texture on a slider body.
Conventional lapping processes typically use diamonds as the mechanical abrasive found in the slurry used to create the finished surface. Diamond, being very hard relative to the magneto-resistive sensor and the adjoining shields, upon contact leaves behind residual stress points which diminish the magnetic performance of the head. There is a need for a method which utilizes a much softer abrasive in order to avoid the residual stress points left behind. Moreover, lapping with a diamond slurry often causes the surface of the magnetic head to become scratched thereby diminishing the magnetic head performance. Lastly, lapping with the embedded diamond particles found in the diamond slurry often leaves behind markings (commonly referred to as "black spots") on the magneto-resistive sensor and shield areas.
Therefore, it is evident that there is a need for a developing a new method overcoming the aforementioned deficiencies and producing an optimum amount of micro-texture to be precisely fabricated on a slider substrate in a cost-efficient manner.

Method and apparatus for producing micro-texture on a slider substrate using chemical and mechanical polishing techniques


A magnetic disk apparatus has a base member and a cover mounted on the base member to form an enclosure having at least six magnetic disks rotatably supported therein. First and second transducers are included for writing information on and reading information from upper and lower surfaces of adjacent ones of the magnetic disks. The transducers are supported by leaf springs in close proximity to both surfaces of adjacent ones of the magnetic disks. The leaf springs extend in a radial direction with respect to the magnetic disks and are supported on one end by a plurality of head arms. The leaf springs are arranged substantially within the same plane parallel to the magnetic disks so they do not overlie one another. A voice coil motor is provided for moving the head arms in order to position the transducer pairs in predetermined positions. A circuit board is included for controlling the magnetic disk apparatus.

The present invention relates to a magnetic disk apparatus and, more particularly, relates to a magnetic disk apparatus having a large storage capacity.
In a magnetic disk apparatus used as an external memory for a computer, a magnetic head floating on a recording face of the magnetic disk with a predetermined gap left therebetween operates for recording and reproducing an objective information on the magnetic disk through magnetic flux.
Accordingly, in order to attain and realize a large capacity construction of the magnetic disk apparatus, it is of importance that a recording density of the magnetic information on the magnetic disk is enhanced, and that the magnetic disk is packaged with as many disks as possible within the apparatus housing case, which is limited in size in accordance with various restrictions.
The recording density of magnetic disks has been enhanced in recent years, which is the result of an improvement in magnetic materials constituting the magnetic disk, an improvement in the high frequency characteristics of magnetic heads for recording magnetic information on the magnetic disk and so forth.
The recording density of magnetic information on a magnetic disk and a floating gap of the magnetic head are related in inverse proportion. A standard minimum floating gap is 0.2 .mu.m or so today. Thus, the stability of the floating gap must be accurately maintained from the viewpoint of realizing a large capacity construction and high reliability of the magnetic disk apparatus.
A desired floating gap is obtained for the magnetic head by balancing a dynamic lift of an air viscous flow generated from the rotation of the magnetic disk and a pressure force created by a leaf spring or the like packaged with the head arm. Accordingly, the aforementioned dynamic lift and pressure must be controlled with high precision so as to accurately maintain the floating gap. The dynamic lift can be set precisely by keeping the width of the magnetic heads and the rotational frequency of the magnetic disk constant with high accuracy. The pressure can be controlled by keeping a spring constant of the leaf spring uniform and by precisely maintaining the relative position between the magnetic disk and the magnetic head.
The situation being such as mentioned, the cardinal point for realizing a large capacity construction of a magnetic disk apparatus lies in packaging a multiplicity of magnetic disks within a housing case limited in size, and placing the magnetic disk and the magnetic head in precise relative position at the time of assembling the apparatus.
The prior art, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,004, concerns a conventional magnetic disk apparatus as one of known construction having therein magnetic disks. In Japanese Laid-Open patent 63-53770, the art disclosed refers to the head arm structure.

Magnetic disk apparatus having at least six magnetic disks


The systems and methods that determine tests that may be executed in parallel during regression testing of an analytics application are provided. Multiple tests that test functions of the analytics application are accessed from a test automation suite. For each test, data sources that provide data to the analytics application during the test are identified. The tests are aggregated into temporary groups according to the identified data sources. The test groups are generated from the temporary groups such that each test group comprises tests that are associated with non-overlapping data sources. The regression testing is performed on the application by executing the test groups in parallel.

Automation tools perform thousands and thousands of tests on applications before the applications are rolled out into a real-world and utilized by other applications, servers, client devices and/or users. When testing analytics applications, automation tools use different data sources, such as database tables, static and dynamic files, live data feeds, etc., that are injected with data. The data may have particular values that trigger functionality being tested in the analytics application. The automation tools then validate the output data from the tests against the benchmark data that includes the expected results.
The thousands of tests that test an application are stored in a test automation suite. As the application evolves and develops, more features and services are added to the application. To test the new features and services, new tests are created and integrated into the test automation suite. This causes the size of the test automation suite to grow and include more and more tests.
Typically, before the application is rolled out into a real-world, automation tools perform regression testing on the application. During regression testing, most or all tests in the test automation suite are executed against the application, and the output data is validated against the expected test results. Because there are thousands of tests in the test automation suite, regression testing is a time consuming process which may take several hours. Further, when one or more tests during the regression testing fail, the errors in the application are fixed. After the fix, the automation tools re-execute regression tests in the test automation suite against the application to ensure application stability. This process may be performed multiple times until the application passes most or all tests in the test automation suite.
Regression testing takes several hours for numerous reasons. First, there may be thousands of tests in the test automation suite that are executed against the application. Second, these tests are performed sequentially which causes the total execution time to be the sum of the execution times of all executed tests. Tests are performed sequentially because multiple tests may depend on data from the same data sources, and parallel execution of these tests may cause the tests to overwrite data in the one or more data sources. This in turn, may cause subsequent tests to fail because the application may execute subsequent tests using data in the data sources that has been overwritten by other tests.
An alternative approach to reduce time required for regression testing is to create multiple copies of the testing environment. In this way, tests that access the same data sources may execute in parallel, but in different testing environments and not overwrite data stored in the data sources. But this solution is also expensive. First, the testing environment administrator needs to configure and maintain multiple testing environments. Second, the multiple testing environments require additional computing hardware and software to function and conduct the tests. Moreover, this solution may not be scalable as the test automation suite grows, and more and more tests are added into the test automation suite.
Embodiments of the disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Test execution optimizer for test automation


An instrument panel, for use with a vehicle including a body, wheels, a driver seat, and an engine, is configured to be disposed at least partially in front of the seat and includes a steering wheel disposed in front of the seat, a display configured to provide information to a person seated in the seat, and a modular housing configured to hold the display and the steering wheel, the steering wheel being rotatably connected to the housing, the display connected to the housing, the housing extending substantially an entire width of a passenger area of the vehicle, the modular housing including independent sections that can be removed and replaced independently of any other section of the housing.

Vehicle interiors provide drivers and passengers with information, functionality, and, preferably, comfort. Information such as speed, engine temperature, gas level, oil level and/or pressure, engine or other component functional state (e.g., windshield washer fluid level, operational status of lights such as brake lights, etc.) can be provided through a variety of gauges, readouts, etc. The interiors also provide functional features such as turn signal indicators, a horn, a heater, an air condition, audio components, lights, storage areas (e.g., a console and/or a glove compartment), etc. Further, the interiors provide comfort through soft, adjustable seats, tinted windows, etc. The interiors are preferably ergonomically designed to make operating the vehicle, including actuating and using the functional components, both uncomplicated and physically easy.
Different vehicle interiors are provided for different applications. For example, luxury vehicle interiors are typically provided with more amenities than those of pickup trucks. Specialty functions, such as a winch, can be operated from the interior of specific vehicles, such as a tow truck.
Police vehicles represent a particular class of vehicles that have features not typically found in other vehicles. For example, in recent years, police cars have been frequently equipped with computer equipment to facilitate database searching, e.g., of license plates of cars to check on the background of the owner of a vehicle that has been stopped, to check the criminal record of the expected driver or possible passengers of the stopped vehicle, etc. The computer equipment is typically mounted to a bracket attached to the dashboard of the police car. The bracket may be movable so that the computer can be adjusted according to the preferences of the user. Also, a speaker is typically mounted to the driver's seat on the driver's right side. Such vehicle interiors have many safety/health issues because, e.g., they have many sharp edges and corners, impede egress of the driver through the passenger door, present many items that can be tossed about causing injury to the driver, even for minor accidents such as fender benders (that constitute approximately 85% of all police-involved vehicular accidents), and induce hearing problems in many officers (approximately 75% of officers in one police department had hearing problems in their right ears).


To enable syncing communication-specific history information on apparatuses of a user, one of which may be a legacy apparatus, in a multi-apparatus environment, to correspond to each other, communication-specific history information is also maintained in a network, and in response to an event changing the communication-specific history information, it is also updated in the network, and by means of the information in the network, corresponding communication-specific history information in the user's other apparatuses can be updated.

One feature provided by the evolvement of wireless cellular communications technologies, especially generic access networks, and the use of different gadgets by one user, is that a short message, for example, send to a user, is actually delivered to two or more gadgets of the user, like a legacy mobile terminal and a smartphone supporting Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia services. However, for the time being, when the user reads the message using one of the apparatuses, the message history information in the other apparatus(es) shows the message as unread. Thus, the user cannot trust the communication-specific history information in one of his/her gadgets, and thereby cannot be sure whether or not he/she has read a particular message. In order to find that out, the user needs to check all his gadgets.


A steam on demand generator uses a stainless steel cup and cap arrangement and hollow cone spray nozzle. The nozzle directs a cone of water onto a wall of the cup. A heating device and a thermocouple are brazed to the cup, with the thermocouple positioned on a part of the wall to enhance control of the operation and steam generation.

In the prior art, the use of steam generators to sterilize articles for medical procedures and the like is well known. One type of steam generator for sterilization of articles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,271,893 and 5,290,511 to Newman, herein incorporated in their entirety by reference herein. In these patents, a boiler operates as a flash boiler wherein water supplied to the boiler is immediately evaporated so that the boiler stays essentially dry during steam generation. The temperature of the boiler is monitored using a temperature sensor placed inside the boiler, whereby evaporation of the water is signified by a sharp increase in the boiler temperature. Water is injected into the boiler at this time to generate additional steam, and the process is repeated continually to supply steam while keeping the boiler in a dry state. The water is injected using a dosing pump and a conduit having an end positioned near the bottom of the chamber of the boiler. The thus-generated steam exits the boiler in another conduit and enters a sterilizing cassette.
While these steam-on-demand boilers offer significant advantages over other types of steam generators, the boilers are made of aluminum, which is cast around its heating coils. The aluminum material tends to oxidize over time. The oxides can coat the temperature sensor and affect its performance. Moreover, steam generation output is sensitive to the manner in which the water is injected into the boiler chamber and placement of the temperature sensor, and steam output can sometimes suffer due to improper water injection and sensor placement.
Therefore, a need exists to improve the generation of steam using steam-on-demand generators. In response to this need, the present invention provides an improved steam-on-demand generator that has improved corrosion resistance, and better steam generation capability.

Apparatus for steam sterilization of articles


An image forming apparatus is provided, with which it is possible to reduce the overall size of an apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member including a plurality of switching elements that are arranged in a moving direction and a generatrix direction of the image bearing member, and a latent image forming unit for forming a latent image on the image bearing member, the latent image forming unit including a voltage generating unit for generating a voltage in each switching element in accordance with an image signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a copying machine, or a facsimile.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, as a method of recording an image on a recording material (for instance, paper or a transparent film), there have been widely known an electrophotographic method, a magnetic recording method, an ink-jet method, and the like.
Among these methods, with the electrophotographic method, the surface of a photosensitive member (photosensitive drum or photosensitive belt) constructed by applying or evaporating an optical semiconductor onto the surface of a conductive drum or belt is evenly charged. Then, a charged latent image (electrostatic latent image) is formed by irradiating the charged surface with light corresponding to image information, a toner image (visualized image) is formed by allowing toner (colored particles) to adhere in accordance with electric lines of force from charges, the toner image is transferred onto a recording material, and an image is formed by fixing the toner image on the surface of the recording material through heating and pressurizing.
Next, with the magnetic recording method, a material for holding magnetism is provided instead of an optical semiconductor, the magnetism holding material is magnetized in accordance with image information, and image formation is performed by allowing magnetic colored particles to be attracted by each magnetized portion.
Finally, with the ink jet recording method, fine particles of ink are directly sprayed on a recording material, thereby forming an image.
In general, each of the electrophotographic method, the magnetic recording method, and the ink-jet method described above has its inherent problem described below.
With the electrophotographic method, image formation is performed through an image forming process including charging, exposure, development, transfer, fixation, and cleaning that are performed in succession, so that the image forming process becomes complicated and the number of process devices is increased accordingly. As a result, the overall size of an image forming apparatus tends to be enlarged.
Also, with the magnetic recording method, it becomes possible to simplify an image forming process, in comparison with the case of the aforementioned electrophotographic method. However, it is required to use magnetic substances as colored particles and the magnetic substances assume darkened colors. As a result, it is difficult to clearly form a color image in colors (yellow, magenta, cyan) other than black.
With the ink jet recording method, there are obtained various advantages. For instance, it is possible to reduce the size of an apparatus and to manufacture the apparatus at low cost. However, the time taken by image formation is long and therefore this method is not suitable for the use in an office or a company in which it is required to print documents in large quantity.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with which it is possible to reduce the overall size of an apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that is suitable for the formation of a clear image and, in particular, suitable for the formation of a color image.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with which it is possible to shorten the time taken by the formation of an image.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become further clear from the detailed description given below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Image forming apparatus with switching elements


A removable floor-mounted console includes a frame having a base with a seat mounting mechanism attached thereto for removably mounting the base and frame to the vehicle in an area where a seat has been removed. The console frame includes a storage area which, in one embodiment, includes a slide-out storage bin. The frame may also include, in an upper portion thereof, integrally formed container holders and storage trays. Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, the console includes an electronic entertainment device such as a small screen LCD television for use by the rear seat occupants of the vehicle.

The present invention relates to a vehicle console and particularly one which can be removably mounted to the seat mounting mechanism of a vehicle having removable seats.
Many modern vehicles, and particularly the so-called mini-vans, have removable bucket seats for changing the seating arrangements and storage areas of the vehicle. Typically, vehicle seats are mounted on U-shaped mounting rods fixedly secured to recesses in the floor of the vehicle by mounting sockets associated with the seats and having spring-loaded latching mechanisms for anchoring the seats in place. The vehicle seats can be easily removed by depressing a latching lever and lifting the seats from the mounting brackets in the floorboard of the vehicle. In many mini-vans and vans, several such seats are mounted to the vehicle particularly in the second and third rows of seats. Typically, vehicle consoles for storage of articles and the like are permanently mounted between the seats of the vehicle or, in some cases, are included in fixed armrests. Some consoles have been suggested which are portable and can be attached to the vehicle seats themselves. Consoles may include accessories such as cupholders and storage bins, although existent consoles provide the vehicle occupants with minimal storage and usefulness due in part to the restricted space between vehicle seats.


A method of fabricating self-aligned gate trench utilizing trench top oxide (TTO) poly spacer is disclosed. A semiconductor substrate having thereon a pad oxide layer and pad nitride layer is provided. A plurality of trench capacitors are embedded in a memory array region of the semiconductor substrate. Each of the trench capacitors has a TTO that extrudes from a main surface of the semiconductor substrate. Poly spacers are formed on two opposite sides of the extruding TTO and are used, after oxidized, as an etching hard mask for etching a recessed gate trench in close proximity to the trench capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for fabricating semiconductor devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for making recessed-gate Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistor device of a trench type Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Integrated circuit devices are continually being made smaller in order to increase speed, make the device more portable and to reduce the cost of manufacturing the device. However, certain designs have a minimum feature size, which cannot be reduced without compromising the integrity of electrical isolation between devices and consistent operation of the device. For example, dynamic random access memory devices (DRAMs), which use vertical metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with deep trench (DT) storage capacitors, have a minimum features size of approximately 70 nm˜0.15 μm. Below that size, the internal electric fields exceed the upper limit for storage node leakage, which decreases retention time below an acceptable level. Therefore, there is a need for different methods and/or different structures to further reduce the size of integrated circuit devices.
With the continued reduction in device size, sub-micron scale MOS transistors have to overcome many technical challenges. As the MOS transistors become narrower, that is, their channel length decreases, problems such as junction leakage, source/drain breakdown voltage, and data retention time become more pronounced.
One solution to decrease the physical dimension of ULSI circuits is to form recessed-gate or "trench-type" transistors, which have a gate electrode buried in a groove formed in a semiconductor substrate. This type of transistor reduces short channel effects by effectively lengthening the effective channel length by having the gate extend into the semiconductor substrate.
The recess-gate MOS transistor has a gate insulation layer formed on sidewalls and bottom surface of a recess etched into a substrate, a conductive filling the recess, contrary to a planar gate type transistor having a gate electrode formed on a planar surface of a substrate.
However, the aforesaid recessed-gate technology has some shortcomings. For example, the recess for accommodating the recessed gate of the MOS transistor is etched into a semiconductor wafer by using conventional dry etching methods. It is difficult to control the dry etching and form recesses having the same depth across the wafer. A threshold voltage control problem arises because of recess depth variation.
Furthermore, the aforesaid recessed-gate technology requires at least two steps of polysilicon deposition and a lithography process. The first deposited polysilicon layer is used to form a gate structure of the support circuit area, and a lithography process is required to remove the first deposited polysilicon layer and a silicon oxide layer deposited on the memory array area. Then, a second deposited polysilicon layer is used to form a gate structure of the memory array area. However, when over etching happens in removing the silicon oxide layer and bias or misalignment happens in defining the gate structure, the second deposited polysilicon layer may short with the substrate.
Additionally, the aforesaid recessed-gate technology requires another mask to define the recessed-gate since the large misalignment will reduce the landing area of the source and drain, and increase the bit line contact resistance.

Method for fabricating recessed gate MOS transistor device


TDR (time domain reflection) technology may be used in optical domain or in electrical domain. For electrical TDR, single layer ITO glass may form a transmission line as a base TDR touch sensor. When the touch sensor is paired, the existing internal metal line of the display device may be reused as a TDR sensor and the ITO glass may be removed. When touched, the TDR profile is changed dynamically from baseline to the particular profile due to its dynamic impedance profile change across the display screen. Likewise, for optical TDR touch sensing, 2 dimensional optical slab waveguide is used to carry OTDR signal. When touched, the profile is changed due to this perturbation mainly by evanescent field changes on that particular position.

A. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to touch-screen displays, and more specifically to a high-resolution touch screen display with multi-touch capability either using electrical time domain reflection or optical time domain reflection profile.
B. Description of the Related Art
There are about a dozen technologies available in the field of touch screen sensor that applies onto display unit such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), CRT, and Plasma display and so on. ATM machine display unit and MP3 display in a consumer product are well known daily encountered examples of the field. Recently as a new technology advance in this field, 'Multi-Touch' capability has been added onto this conventional touch screen technology, which has created a new generation of this field in a way it shifts the paradigm of man machine interactive device as simple menu-driven single touch display interface to more versatile gesture interactive tool.
Among many other possible technologies, FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) based multi-touch technology shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication US2008/0029691 A1 assigned to Jefferson Y. Han is noteworthy of its image sensing technology for multi-touch sensing. When fingers or any objects touch the overlay optical sensor surface which normally confines (infrared or invisible) the flooding light by TIR (total internal reflection) condition, the light start to emanate through the area of the frustrated TIR created by a touch (or multiple touches) event and at the same time the locations of light openings can be captured by external image array sensor or possibly embedded image sensors in LCD substrate as shown in FIG. 1. The captured locations of the touched areas are then to be signal-processed in a sequential time order to interpret the gesture for the finger motion through computer software. This invention, however, unless LCD panel manufacturer invest on embedded sensor array in TFT(Thin Film Transistor)—LCD array process, create extra volume to place the external camera at least in its focal distance to capture the image properly so that it makes the whole unit bulky which is not desirable for their thinner and wall-mountable purpose.
The projected-capacitive touch (PCT) technology is another popular and well known technology that has multi-touch capability. (FIG. 3) But because PCT uses ITO (indium tin oxide) metal layer on glass or in general any transparent material such as acrylic board, the brightness of overall display is diminished due to its opaqueness. Moreover, in order to keep a reasonable SNR (Signal-to-noise ratio) for touch sensitivity, increasing the size of screen will result in increasing the thickness of ITO layer, which makes the sensor panel even more opaque. This is especially critical for multi-ITO layers. This becomes why the technology is limited to the small handheld type of application. So it has been a challenge for PCT to be applied successfully into large flat panel display monitor such as Flat-Panel (FP) TV. The present invention is reducing or even removing such layer the number of ITO layers by applying Time domain reflectometer (TDR) processing.
SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) technology can be another multi-touch touch screen method that are currently available and can be implemented to keep an optical transparency with reasonable size of display. SAW is using ultrasonic transducers with some sophisticated hardware or software implementation to keep the sensor linearity meaningful. Shadowing issue that makes the recognition of the second touch in the shadow region of the first difficult is another hurdle for multi-touch capability. Another technology that has shadowing effect is 'infrared touch' technology Infrared touch uses the infrared light source array at one side of display panel and the detector array at the opposite side of it as shown in FIG. 2. The infrared touch method is straight forward in a sense that it locates the touched area by looking at the shadow area of the opposite side of photo detector array but with the drawback of the shadowing effect. In other words, it has difficulty to tell the second touch behind the shadow.

Time domain reflectometer touch screen sensor


The invention relates to a rail vehicle, including a wagon body and a suspension system having a running gear supporting the wagon body. A sensor device and a control device are provided. The sensor device capturing an actual value of at least one status variable being representative of a spatial relationship between a first reference part of the sensor device associated to a part of the running gear and a second reference part of the sensor device associated to the wagon body. The control device performs a malfunction analysis using the actual value of the status variable, the malfunction analysis assessing fulfillment of at least one predetermined malfunction criterion. The control device provides a malfunction signal if the malfunction analysis reveals that the malfunction criterion is fulfilled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rail vehicle comprising a wagon body and a suspension system with a running gear supporting the wagon body. The present invention further relates to a method for detecting malfunction in a suspension system of such a rail vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In modem rail vehicles it is generally known to detect malfunctions within the suspension system of the rail vehicle which have an adverse effect on the running stability of the rail vehicle. Typically, vibration sensors or the like are used to capture actual values of status variables representative of the accelerations acting on specific component of the suspension system of a vehicle. The data obtained in this way are then analyzed in order to detect situations with excessive accelerations acting within the suspension system which are representative of a malfunction of the suspension system. If such a malfunction situation is detected, corresponding malfunction warning signals are issued in order to initiate appropriate countermeasures to avoid hazardous situations. Such systems are for example known from WO 01/81147 A1.
However, during operation of a rail vehicle unacceptable and potentially hazardous situations may not only result from an inappropriate vibrational behavior of the running gear of the vehicle. For example, excess lateral movements of the wagon body with respect to the running gear may lead to a violation of the kinematic envelope defined for the specific track the vehicle is negotiating. In order to avoid such violations of the kinematic envelope under any circumstances, typically, the outer contour of the wagon body and the suspension system of a rail vehicle are specifically adapted to the track system the vehicle is to be operated on.
Although, by this means, in a passive suspension system a violation of the kinematic envelope of the respective track may be effectively avoided, this approach has the disadvantage that it typically results, on the one hand, in a rather restricted outer contour of the wagon body which reduces the transport capacity of the vehicle and, on the other hand, in a rather rigid suspension of the wagon body which is undesirable in terms of passenger comfort.
A further problem exists for active suspension systems comprising, for example, and active tilt control of the wagon body with respect to the running gear (i.e. a control of the tilting angle or the rolling angle, respectively, of the wagon body about a tilting axis or rolling axis, respectively, extending along the longitudinal direction of the wagon body). In such systems, for example, a malfunction of the tilting control system may lead to the introduction of excessive excursions on the wagon body with respect to the running gear leading to violations of the kinematic envelope. The same applies to an active sway motion control of the wagon body.
A further problem that may arise with such active suspension systems is that, for example, a malfunction of the tilting control system may lead to the introduction of opposite lateral excursions of the wagon body with respect to the leading running gear and the trailing running gear. Such a situation, due to the specific kinematics of such a tilting system, would lead to a torsional loading of the wagon body leading to undesired unloading of some of the wheels of the running gears and, consequently, to a considerable increase in the risk of derailment.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a rail vehicle as outlined above that, at least to some extent, overcomes the above disadvantages. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rail vehicle that provides both, high transport capacity as well as high passenger comfort while ensuring safe and reliable operation under any circumstances. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for detecting malfunction in a suspension system allowing realization of such a vehicle.

Suspension failure detection in a rail vehicle


A system and method for an MRI apparatus includes an MRI system having a computer programmed to initiate a first scan procedure to acquire MR data and locate a feature of interest of the object, initiate a second scan procedure when a feature of interest of the object is located, and determine if an anomaly of the feature of interest exists. The computer is programmed to initiate a third scan procedure to scan the anomaly and reconstruct an image of the located anomaly if the anomaly exists. The first scan procedure includes a scan table motion and scan data acquisition commands. The second scan procedure includes scan table motion and scan data acquisition commands to acquire MR data from the feature of interest. The third scan procedure includes scan table motion and scan data acquisition commands to acquire MR data from the located anomaly.

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and, more particularly, to a system and method for MR image scan and analysis.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, or "longitudinal magnetization", MZ, may be rotated, or "tipped", into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The resulting set of received NMR signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well known reconstruction techniques.
Conventional MR imaging typically follows a prescribe-ahead imaging model that outputs, for example, diagnostic images formed of different pixel intensities. In the prescribe-ahead model, one or more MR scanning protocols based on a desired imaging study are typically chosen and implemented by a technician. One or more images are then generated, and the technician or a doctor analyzes or "reads" the image(s) and determines if any anomalies are evident in the image(s) and also determines if further scanning is needed. If further scanning is needed, the technician and/or doctor determine if the same scanning protocol will be implemented and/or if one or more different scanning protocols will be implemented. Often, a technician and/or doctor undergoes several iterations of the scanning and reading procedure until a proper diagnosis can be made or until it is determined that no anomalies are present in the imaged region.
The "reading" of MR images and the prescription of scanning protocols, however, typically requires a special skill set and can often be a time consuming and costly process. Generally, a skilled technician and/or doctor is needed to undertake an MR study.
In a study where several different sections of the anatomy are scanned, such as in a whole-body screening study, the scan parameters need to be adjusted to fit the specific region of the body. For example, a scan for the head generally requires a different technique (and acquisition parameters) than that for the lower abdomen. Hence, the skilled technician and/or doctor generally needs to manually adjust for the type of scan, spatial coverage, and acquisition parameters or protocols for each region of the body. This can be a time-consuming process.
It would therefore be desirable to have a system and method capable of automatically analyzing MR images, where the analysis identifies a section of anatomy that is scanned.

System and method for MR image scan and analysis


A control device for generating electrical signals. The control device includes a bottom support, a first, a second, and a third fixed contacts, a first, a second, and a third moving contacts, each of which is elastically deformable. The control device also includes an intermediate control cradle thank includes first, second and third actuating pawls. The control device is suitable for occupying an inactive position in which at least one first, one second and one third bearing points of the intermediate cradle are in abutment, vertically upwards, each against an associated surface portion facing the bottom support, and a single top control member in the form of a drum.

The present disclosure relates to a control device generating electrical signals for the control of an electronic appliance. Such a device is also called switch with multiple electrical switching channels. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a control device with multiple switching channels, with tactile effect.
Recent developments and the rapid evolution of telecommunication means, such as portable radiotelephones, laptop computers and other devices that make it possible, for example, to play by accurately moving a cursor on a screen, and, for example, on the steering wheel of a motor vehicle, require the availability of electromechanical components of reduced dimensions and, in particular in the areas mentioned previously, the possibility to scan menus, move a symbol on a screen and, more generally, combine in a single component a plurality of electrical switching functions.
It is desirable to have a device that uses a single control member that makes it possible, on the one hand, to generate pulses or electrical signals repeated at high frequency and, on the other hand, to generate unitary signals, for example selection signals, and do so with a user-friendliness that is perfectly suited to this type of operation, that is to say which enables the user to easily and rapidly produce the repeated pulses, for example in order to perform a rapid scan of a menu or of a list, then to produce selection signals.
It is notably desirable for such a control member with multiple switching channels to be able to be manipulated with the thumb by being located on the front main face of the telephone notably comprising the keypad, or on one of the two main side edges of the telephone casing, or under the main face of the telephone. The same applies when such a control member is incorporated in the rim of a steering wheel of a motor vehicle, the manipulation having to be able to be performed reliably and blindly by the driver.
The need for a control device that is compact and of small dimensions that makes it possible to move a cursor on a screen, and/or to scroll menus (scanning), also called "navigator", is becoming increasingly important for the control of appliances that are offering more and more functions and services notably involving options offered on one or more screens, in a manner similar to the use of a laptop computer.
It is also desirable to be able to have at least one selection function on which the user presses to select an option corresponding to the position reached by the cursor on the screen through the manipulation of a control member, notably in the form of a rotating drum. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to have a very efficient navigator that makes it possible in particular to move around both with speed and accuracy.
Moreover, the tactile sensation transmitted by the device to the user of the navigator is a very important parameter for its efficiency and its user-friendliness. The sensitivity of the touch of the user is such that it enables him or her to perceive very fine, discrete or continuous variations, and it is thus possible to transmit to the finger or to the hand of the user a very complex "message". The finger is thus a giver of commands (or sender) for moving the cursor on the screen and/or for selecting a position of the cursor, and it is also a sensor (or receiver) which "blindly" perceives tactile information in return via the actuator or control member of the control device, without therefore the user having to look at the screen and/or in addition to his or her visual perceptions.
It is thus desirable to provide the user with tactile sensations which are produced directly in response to the movement of the finger on the actuator, that is to say in its function as sender. In the case of a movement or scanning, such tactile information or sensations are, for example, mechanical pulses or "clicks" corresponding to each electrical signal or pulse produced by the navigator and intended for the electronic signal or data processing circuits of the appliance, or corresponding to series of pulses.
Other mechanical pulses or "clicks" correspond to the electrical pulses supplied to the electronic circuits upon a manual selection (select) action, for example when a target has been reached on the screen. Such a control device must now be able to be of the so-called five switching channels type, that is to say having a first and a second switching channels corresponding to the rotation of the control drum in one or other of the two directions of rotation, for example for vertical movements on a screen, a third and a fourth switching channels by pressing on the left or right end of the drum to move in corresponding directions on the screen, then a fifth so-called selection channel, when a target area has been reached, by pressing at the centre of the control drum.
It is necessary to be able to have a tactile sensation upon the generation of the signals associated with the third, fourth and fifth switching channels. Moreover, a significant enhancement of the reliability of this type of control device or navigator is required by the market, notably with regard to the dust-tightness of the electrical contact areas, which has led to this requirement being taken into account from the product design phase.
To this end, a control device has already been proposed that is of the type comprising a rotating horizontal shaft that can be driven in rotation, in both directions, by a manually driven drum borne by the shaft to which it is linked in rotation, of the type in which the shaft is linked in rotation to at least one rotating member belonging to a generator of control signals, or pulses, for an electronic appliance, to generate signals according to a first or a second switching channels notably to control movements of a cursor on a display screen of the appliance, and of the type in which the shaft is mounted to move vertically and pivot in both directions about a transversal horizontal axis orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the shaft to selectively provoke the triggering: (1) of a triggering member belonging to a third switching channel when a distinct force is applied in the vicinity of one of the two longitudinal ends of the drum; (2) of a triggering member belonging to a fourth switching channel when a distinct force is applied in the vicinity of the other of the two longitudinal ends of the drum; and (3) of a triggering member belonging to a fifth switching channel when a (selection/select) force of vertical orientation is applied substantially at the centre (at mid-length) of the drum.
Design examples of such a device are, for example, described in France Patent Publication FR 2792486, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In this document, three triggering members of bistable type are used, each making it possible to generate a tactile sensation when it is actuated to generate an associated signal. Such a design has the drawback of exhibiting the risk of simultaneous production of several "clicks", that is to say several tactile sensations corresponding to the simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous actuation of two bistable triggering members, or moving contacts.
In order to prevent this phenomenon which is detrimental to the good user-friendliness of the control device, a hinge ball joint is used for the cradle supporting the rotating cylindrical drum, so as to mechanically "separate" the different "pivotings" of the support cradle. However, this solution is not satisfactory because it culminates in very poor user-friendliness when actuating in "selection" or "select" mode because it requires the user to apply his or her force to the drum in an almost pinpoint manner at a "central" point at axial mid-length of the drum, failing which the user accidentally generates "left" or "right" signals, instead of a "select" signal.
The present invention aims to propose a control device that uses only a single bistable control member supplying a tactile sensation reliably and unequivocally.

Enhanced control device with drum and multiple switching channels