A memory includes a storage element (10) composed of a storage layer (5) for holding information with the magnetization state of a magnetic material, a magnetization fixed layer (3) provided relative to the storage layer (5) through an intermediate layer (4), the magnetization of the storage layer (5) being changed with application of an electric current to the laminated layer direction to record information on the storage layer (5) and a drive layer (7) provided relative to the storage layer (5) through a nonmagnetic layer (6), the magnetic direction thereof being substantially fixed to the laminated layer direction and an electric current supplying means for applying an electric current to the storage element (10) along the laminated layer direction, wherein contents of information to be recorded are changed during a time period in which an electric current is supplied from the electric current supplying means to the storage element (10).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage element composed of a storage layer for storing therein the magnetization state of a ferromagnetic layer as information and a magnetization fixed layer of which magnetization direction is fixed and in which the magnetization direction of the storage layer is changed with application of an electric current and a memory including this storage element. More particularly, this invention relates to a memory suitable for use as a nonvolatile memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
As information communication equipment, in particular, personal small information equipment such as personal digital assistants is widespread rapidly, it is requested that devices such as memory and logic constructing personal small information equipment should become higher in performance in such a way as to become higher in integration degree, to become higher in operation speed and to become smaller in power consumption.
In particular, technologies to make semiconductor nonvolatile memories become higher in speed and larger in storage capacity become more important as complementary technologies to a magnetic hard disk which has been so far essentially difficult to be miniaturized, to become higher in speed and to become lower in power consumption due to the presence of movable parts and the like. Also, the above-mentioned technologies to realize the above-mentioned high-speed and large-capacity semiconductor nonvolatile memory become more important in order to realize new functions such as a so-called "instant on" by which an operation system can get started as the same time it is energized.
A semiconductor flash memory and an FeRAM (ferroelectric nonvolatile memory) and the like are now commercially available as the nonvolatile memory, and such nonvolatile memories are now under active research and development in order to make nonvolatile memories become higher in performance.
In recent years, as a new nonvolatile memory using a magnetic material, a MRAM (magnetic random-access memory) using a tunnel magnetoresistive effect has been developed and advanced so far remarkably and it now receives a remarkable attention (see Cited Non-Patent References 1 and 2, for example.
This MRAM has a structure in which very small magnetic memory devices to record information are located regularly, wirings, for example, word lines and bit lines being provided to access these magnetic memory devices.
Each magnetic memory device includes a storage layer to record information as the magnetization direction of a ferromagnetic material.
Then, as the arrangement of the magnetic memory device, there is employed a structure using a so-called magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ: magnetic tunnel junction) composed of the above-mentioned storage layer, a tunnel insulating layer (nonmagnetic spacer film) and a magnetization fixed layer whose magnetization direction is fixed. The magnetization direction of the magnetization fixed layer can be fixed by providing an antiferromagnetic layer, for example.
Since this structure generates a so-called tunnel magnetoresistive effect in which a resistance value relative to a tunnel electric current flowing through the tunnel insulating film changes in response to an angle formed between the magnetization direction of the storage layer and the magnetization direction of the magnetization fixed layer, it is possible to write (record) information by using this tunnel magnetoresistive effect. The magnitude of this resistance value becomes the maximum value when the magnetization direction of the storage layer and the magnetization direction of the magnetization fixed layer are anti-parallel to each other and it becomes the minimum value when they are parallel to each other.
According to the magnetic memory device having the above-mentioned arrangement, information can be written (recorded) on the magnetic memory device by controlling the magnetization direction of the storage layer of the magnetic memory device with application of a synthesized electric current magnetic field generated when an electric current flows through both of the word line and the bit line. It is customary to store a difference between the resultant magnetization directions (magnetized states) of the storage layer in response to "0" information or "1" information.
When on the other hand recorded information is read out from the magnetic memory device, a memory cell is selected by using a device such as a transistor and a difference between the magnetization directions of the storage layer is detected as a difference between voltage signals by using the tunnel magnetoresistive effect of the magnetic memory device, whereby recorded information can be detected.
Having compared this MRAM with other nonvolatile memories, it is to be understood that the maximum merit of the MRAM is that, since "0" information and "1" information are rewritten by inverting the magnetization direction of the storage layer formed of the ferromagnetic material, the MRAM can be rewritten as a high speed nearly infinitely (>1015 times).
However, the MRAM has to generate a relatively large electric current magnetic field to rewrite recorded information and hence an electric current of a certain large magnitude (for example, about several milliamperes (mA)) should flow through the address wirings. Therefore, it is unavoidable that power consumption of the MRAM is increased considerably.
Also, the MRAM needs write address wiring and read address wiring and hence it has been difficult to microminiaturize a memory cell from a structure standpoint.
Further, as the device is microminiaturized increasingly, the address wiring also is reduced in width so that it becomes difficult to apply a sufficient electric current to the address wiring. In addition, since coercive force of the device is increased, a necessary electric current magnetic field is increased and hence power consumption of the device is increased.
Accordingly, it has been difficult to microminiaturize the device.
For this reason, a memory having an arrangement to use magnetization inversion generated by spin transfer receives a remarkable attention as an arrangement capable of inverting the magnetization direction with application of a small electric current.
Magnetization inversion generated by spin transfer is to cause magnetization inversion to occur in other magnetic material by injecting spin-polarized electrons from the magnetic material to other magnetic material (see Cited Patent Reference 1, for example).
Specifically, magnetization inversion generated by spin transfer is a phenomenon to give torque to the magnetization of this magnetic layer when spin-polarized electrons passed through the magnetic layer (magnetization fixed layer) of which magnetization direction is fixed enter other magnetic layer (magnetization free layer) whose magnetization direction is not fixed. Then, the magnetization direction of the magnetic layer (magnetization free layer) can be inverted with application of an electric current of a magnitude higher than a certain threshold value.
For example, when application of an electric current to a giant magnetoresistive effect device (GMR device) or a magnetic tunnel junction device (MTJ device) including a magnetization fixed layer and a magnetization free layer in the direction perpendicular to the film plane thereof, the magnetization direction of at least a part of the magnetic layer of these devices can be inverted.
Thus, when the storage element including the magnetization fixed layer and the magnetization free layer (storage layer) is constructed and a polarity of an electric current flowing through the storage element is changed, the magnetization direction of the storage layer is inverted to rewrite "0" information and "1" information.
When recorded information is read out from the memory, recorded information can be read out from the memory by using the tunnel magnetoresistive effect similarly to the MRAM because this memory has the arrangement in which the tunnel insulating layer is provided between the magnetization fixed layer and the magnetization free layer (storage layer).
Then, magnetization inversion based on spin transfer has an advantage in that magnetization inversion can be realized without increasing an electric current even when the device is microminiaturized.
An absolute value of an electric current flowing through the storage element to invert the magnetization direction is less than 1 mA in a storage element of the scale of approximately 0.1 μm, for example. In addition, the above-mentioned absolute value is decreased in proportion to a volume of a storage element, which is advantageous from a scaling standpoint.
In addition, since the recording word line, which has been required by the MRAM, becomes unnecessary, this memory has an advantage in that the arrangement of the memory cell can be simplified.
[Cited Non-Patent Reference 1]: NIKKEI ELECTRONICS, 2001, VOL. 2. 12 (pp. 164 to 171)
[Cited Non-Patent Reference 2]: J. Nahas et al., IEEE/ISSC 2004 Visulas Supplement, p. 22
[Cited Patent Reference 1]: Official Gazette of Japanese laid-open patent application No. 2003-17782
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an arrangement of a storage element capable of recording information by using spin transfer according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, this storage element 110 is composed of an underlayer 101, an antiferromagnetic layer 102, a magnetization fixed layer 103, a nonmagnetic layer 104, a storage layer 105 and a capping layer 106 laminated with each other, in that order, from the lower layer.
The storage layer 105 is made of a ferromagnetic material having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and the storage element 110 is able to store information therein depending on the magnetization state of this storage layer 105, that is, the direction of a magnetization M112 of the storage layer 105.
The magnetization fixed layer 103 made of a ferromagnetic material and of which direction of a magnetization M111 is fixed is provided through the nonmagnetic layer 104 to the storage layer 105. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, since the antiferromagnetic layer 102 is formed on the lower layer of the magnetization fixed layer 103, the direction of the magnetization Mill of the magnetization fixed layer 103 is fixed by the action of this antiferromagnetic layer 102.
When information is written in this storage element 110, the direction of the magnetization M112 of the storage layer 105 is inverted based on spin transfer with application of an electric current flowing through the direction perpendicular to the film plane of the storage layer 105, that is, the lamination layer direction of the storage element 110.
Magnetization inversion based on spin transfer will be described in brief.
Electrons have two kinds of spin angular momentums. Let it be assumed that the two kinds of spin angular momentums are defined as upward spin angular momentum and downward spin angular momentum. Both of the upward spin angular momentums and the downward spin angular momentums are of the same number within the nonmagnetic material but they are different in number within the ferromagnetic material.
In the storage element 110 shown in FIG. 1, let it be considered the case in which the directions of the magnetic moments are anti-parallel to each other in the magnetization fixed layer 103 and the storage layer 105 and in which electrons are to be transferred from the magnetization fixed layer 103 to the storage layer 105.
Electrons passed through the magnetization fixed layer 103 are spin-polarized so that the upward spin angular momentums and the downward spin angular momentum are different from each other in number.
If electrons reach the other magnetic material before the thickness of the nonmagnetic layer 104 is sufficiently thin so that spin polarization is relaxed and electrons are placed in the non-polarized state (upward spin angular momentum and downward spin angular momentum are the same in number) of the ordinary nonmagnetic material, then since the directions of the magnetic moments of the magnetization fixed layer 103 and the storage layer 105 are anti-parallel to each other and signs of degree of spin polarization are opposite to each other, a part of electrons is inverted, the direction of the spin angular momentum is changed in order to decrease energy of the system. At that time, since a total angular momentum of the system should be preserved, reaction equivalent to the total of angular momentums changed by electrons of which directions are changed is given to the magnetic moment of the storage layer 105.
When there are few electric currents, that is, electrons passed at the unit time, there are a small total number of electrons whose directions are to be changed so that the change of the angular momentum generated in the magnetic moment of the storage layer 105 is small. However, when an electric current is increased, many changes of the angular momentums can be given to the electrons within the unit time. The time change of the angular momentum is torque. When torque exceeds a threshold value, the magnetic moment M112 of the storage layer 105 starts to be inverted and it is stabilized after it was rotated 180 degrees owing to its uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. That is, the magnetic moment is inverted from the anti-parallel state to the parallel state.
On the other hand, when the directions of the magnetic moments are parallel to each other in the magnetization fixed layer 103 and the storage layer 105, if an electric current flows through the direction to transfer electrons from the storage layer 105 to the magnetization fixed layer 103, then torque is applied to the magnetization fixed layer 103 and the storage layer 105 when electrons spin-inverted after they were reflected on the magnetization fixed layer 103 enter the storage layer 105 with the result that the magnetic moments can be inverted from the parallel state into the anti-parallel state.
However, an amount of an electric current required to invert the magnetic moments from the parallel state to the anti-parallel state is increased more as compared with that required when the magnetic moments are inverted from the anti-parallel state to the parallel state.
As described above, information ("0" information and "1" information) is recorded on the storage layer 105 with application of electric currents higher than a certain threshold value corresponding to the respective polarities in the direction from the magnetization fixed layer 103 to the storage layer 105 and vice versa.
Also, information can be read out from the storage layer 105 by using a resistance change dependent on a relative angle between the magnetic moments of the storage layer 105 and the magnetization fixed layer 103, that is, a so-called magnetoresistive effect in which the minimum resistance is obtained when the magnetic moments are parallel to each other and in which the maximum resistance is obtained when the magnetic moments are anti-parallel to each other. The magnetization direction of the magnetization fixed layer 103 becomes the standard of the magnetization direction of the storage layer 105 and hence the magnetization fixed layer 103 is referred to as a "reference layer".
Specifically, when a substantially constant voltage is applied to the storage element 110 and a magnitude of an electric current flowing at that time is detected, information can be read out from the storage layer 105.
In the following description, a relationship between the resistance state of the storage element 10 and information will be prescribed in such a manner that a low resistance state is presented as "1" information, a high resistance state being prescribed as "0" information, respectively.
Also, an electric current to transfer electrons from the capping layer 106 shown in FIG. 1 to the underlayer 101, that is, from the upper layer to the lower layer is prescribed as a positive polarity electric current. At that time, when a positive polarity electric current flows through the storage element 101, electrons are transferred from the capping layer 106 to the underlayer 101, that is, from the storage layer 105 to the magnetization fixed layer 103 so that the direction of the magnetization M111 of the magnetization fixed layer 103 and the direction of the magnetization M112 of the storage layer 105 are placed in the anti-parallel state, thereby resulting in the storage element 101 being set to the high resistance state as mentioned hereinbefore.
Accordingly, an electric current to write "1" information (low resistance state) becomes negative in polarity and an electric current to write "0" information (high resistance state) becomes positive in polarity.
If the memory is constructed by using the magnetization inversion based on the above-mentioned spin transfer, when information is written in the storage layer (when information is rewritten based on "0" information and "1" information), a polarity (positive polarity or negative polarity) of an electric current should be changed.
To this end, in order to select the memory cell, a memory cell is constructed by using a transfer gate consisting of a p-type transistor and an n-type transistor.
FIG. 2A is a plan view showing the portion of the layer lower than the interconnection layer of the first layer of one memory cell of the memory in which the memory cell is constructed by using the storage element 110 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2B is a top view thereof.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, an NMOS transistor 119N and a PMOS transistor 119P are electrically connected at their sources and drains through an interconnection layer 116A of a first layer, thereby resulting in a selection transistor being constructed.
Thus, a so-called transfer gate is composed of these NMOS transistor 119N and PMOS transistor 119P.
Then, by these transfer gates, the memory cell can be switched so that an electric current may flow through the storage element 110 and that an electric current may be inhibited from flowing through the storage element 110.
A gate electrode 114 of the PMOS transistor 119P is connected through a contact layer 115G to a word line WL formed of the interconnection layer 116A of the first layer. The gate electrode 114 of the NMOS transistor 119N is connected through the contact layer 115G to the word line WL. In response to ON and OFF of an electric current flowing through the storage element 110, a control signal is supplied to one of the word line WL of the PMOS transistor 119P side and the word line WL of the NMOS transistor 119N side and a control signal which results from supplying the same control signal to an inverter is supplied to the other of the above-mentioned two word lines WL.
In this memory cell, when a positive or negative potential difference is applied to the bit line BL and the sense line SL and a voltage is applied to the word line WL to turn the transfer gate ON, an electric current can flow through any one of the lamination directions of the storage element 110.
However, when the memory cell is constructed by using the transfer gate consisting of the two transistors 119N and 119P, it is unavoidable that its structure and its circuit become complicated as compared with other memory of so-called 1Tr type.
Also, since an extra space is required for each memory cell, it becomes difficult to make the memory become high in density and large in storage capacity.

Storage element and memory including a storage layer a magnetization fixed layer and a drive layer


A superjunction semiconductor device is disclosed which has, in the active section, a first alternating-conductivity-type layer which makes a current flow in the ON-state of the device and sustains a bias voltage in the OFF-state of the device. There is a second alternating-conductivity-type layer in a edge-termination section surrounding the active section. The width of a region of a second conductivity type in the second alternating-conductivity-type layer becomes narrower at a predetermined rate from the edge on the active section side toward the edge of the edge termination section. The superjunction semiconductor device facilitates manufacturing the edge-termination section which exhibits a high breakdown voltage and a high reliability for breakdown voltage through a process that exhibits a high mass-productivity.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices having a superjunction structure, exhibiting a high breakdown voltage and a high current capability, and applicable to MOS-type field-effect transistors (hereinafter referred to as "MOSFET's"), insulated-gate bipolar transistors (hereinafter referred to as "IGBT's"), and bipolar transistors. Hereinafter, the semiconductor devices having a superjunction structure will be referred to sometimes as the "superjunction semiconductor devices."
B. Description of the Related Art
In the following descriptions, a superjunction semiconductor device is a semiconductor device that includes an alternating-conductivity-type layer including a column-shaped or layer-shaped p-type region and a column-shaped or layer-shaped n-type region adjoining each other repeatedly in parallel to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. In other words, the alternating-conductivity-type layer is a drift layer that includes pn-junctions extending in perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. The drift layer that includes an alternating-conductivity-type layer makes a current flow in the ON-state of the device and sustains a bias voltage in the OFF-state of the device.
Generally, the semiconductor devices may be classified into a lateral semiconductor device and a vertical semiconductor device. In the lateral semiconductor device, the electrodes are formed on one major surface of a semiconductor substrate and a main current flows along the major surface. In the vertical semiconductor device, the electrodes thereof are distributed onto the major surfaces of a semiconductor substrate and a main current flows between the electrodes on the major surfaces.
In the vertical semiconductor device, the direction of a drift current flowing in the ON-state of the device is the same as the direction of a depletion layer expansion by a bias voltage in the OFF-state of the device. For example, the high resistivity n− drift layer in the usual planar-type n-channel vertical MOSFET works as a region that makes a drift current flow vertically in the ON-state of the MOSFET and is depleted to sustain a bias voltage in the OFF-state of the MOSFET.
If the current path in the high resistivity n− drift layer is short, the drift resistance will be low in the ON-state of the MOSFET. Therefore, the short current path is effective to lower the substantial ON-state resistance of the MOSFET. However, if the current path in the high resistivity n− drift layer is short, the width, for which the depletion layer extending from the pn-junction between the p-type base region and the n− drift layer expands in the OFF-state of the MOSFET, will be narrow, causing a low breakdown voltage. In order to obtain a semiconductor device with a high breakdown voltage, the n− drift layer should be thick. A thick n− drift layer causes high on-resistance and loss increase inevitably. In other words, there exists a tradeoff relationship between the on-resistance and the breakdown voltage. It is well known that the tradeoff relationship holds in the semiconductor devices such as IGBT's, bipolar transistors and diodes. The tradeoff relationship also holds commonly in the lateral semiconductor devices where the direction of the drift current flowing is different from the direction of the depletion layer expansion.
One way of solving the tradeoff relationship issue is to increase the impurity concentrations in the drift layer and to provide the drift layer with a superjunction structure that includes an alternating-conductivity-type layer including a n-type semiconductor region and a p-type semiconductor region arranged alternately. The superjunction semiconductor device forms the drift layer thereof of the alternating-conductivity-type layer described above to reduce the on-resistance and to deplete the drift layer quickly in the OFF-state further to make the depleted drift layer sustain a bias voltage. Therefore, the superjunction semiconductor device facilitates improving the tradeoff relationship described above.
The superjunction semiconductor device is different from the usual planar-type n-channel vertical MOSFET in that the drift layer in the superjunction semiconductor device is not a uniform layer of one conductivity-type but rather an alternating-conductivity-type layer including a column-shaped or layer-shaped n-type drift region and a column-shaped or layer-shaped p-type partition region adjoining each other repeatedly in parallel to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a pn-junction therebetween and to extend the pn-junctions in perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. The impurity concentrations in the drift layer including n-type drift regions and p-type partition regions are set to be higher than the impurity concentration in the drift region in the usual vertical MOSFET exhibiting an almost equivalent breakdown voltage. The widths of the n-type drift region and p-type partition region are controlled to be narrow enough so that they are depleted by a lower bias voltage.
To provide a semiconductor device with a high breakdown voltage, it is necessary to form an edge-termination section that surrounds circularly the active section, in which the main current flows. If the edge termination section is not formed, the breakdown voltage will be low due to a high electric field in the edge area of the drift layer and it will be difficult to obtain a high breakdown voltage. Moreover, even if an initial high breakdown voltage is maintained by the provision of the edge termination section, it will be difficult for a semiconductor device that exhibits low robustness against induced charges to guarantee a long-term reliability for the breakdown voltage.
In a semiconductor device that exhibits low robustness against surface charges, the space charges induced onto the insulator film surface on the edge termination section affect the depletion layer expansion adversely and lower the breakdown voltage with the passage of time. In the following descriptions, the semiconductor device that exhibits high or excellent robustness against induced charges is a semiconductor device that facilitates suppressing the adverse effects of the charges, induced from the outside onto the insulator film surface on the edge termination section, on the depletion layer expansion in the edge termination section and keeping the initial breakdown voltage even after the passage of a predetermined operating time. In other words, the semiconductor device that exhibits high or excellent robustness against induced charges is a semiconductor device that exhibits a high reliability for breakdown voltage.
As a semiconductor device that improves the reliability for breakdown voltage thereof, a semiconductor device that includes guard rings in the edge termination section is known. In the semiconductor device, the guard rings are connected electrically to the electrically conductive field plates connected in the forward and reverse voltage directions. Even if positive and negative charges exist on the edge termination section, the semiconductor device that includes the edge termination section as described above will weaken the adverse effects of the positive and negative charges on the depletion layer expansion in the vicinity of the device surface. As a result, the breakdown voltage is prevented from varying and the robustness against induced charges is improved.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-204065 (Paragraph 0038) describes a superjunction semiconductor device which includes, in the edge termination section, a field plate on an alternating-conductivity-type layer and a guard ring in the surface portion of the alternating-conductivity-type layer. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-203565 (Paragraph 0013) describes a superjunction semiconductor device which includes a field plate on the alternating-conductivity-type layer in the edge termination section. The superjunction semiconductor device disclosed in these two documents exhibit a high breakdown voltage.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-224273 (Abstract) describes a first superjunction semiconductor device as described below. In the edge termination section around the first alternating-conductivity-type layer in the active section, the pitch and impurity concentrations in the second alternating-conductivity-type layer are set to be the same as the pitch and impurity concentrations in the first alternating-conductivity-type layer in the active section. Lightly doped p- and n-type regions are formed in the surface portions of the respective p- and n-type regions in the second alternating-conductivity-type layer in the edge termination section.
In a second superjunction semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-224273, a third alternating-conductivity-type layer is formed on the second alternating-conductivity-type layer in the edge termination section. The direction of the alternating arrangement of the lightly doped p- and n-type regions in the third alternating-conductivity-type layer is perpendicular to the direction of the alternating arrangement of the p- and n-type regions in the second alternating-conductivity-type layer and heavily doped p-type regions are formed in the surface portion of the third alternating-conductivity-type layer.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-115589 (Abstract) describes a superjunction semiconductor device as described below. In the edge termination section around the first alternating-conductivity-type layer in the active section, the pitch and impurity concentrations in the second alternating-conductivity-type layer are set to be the same as the pitch and impurity concentrations in the first alternating-conductivity-type layer in the active section. A lightly doped n-type region is formed in the surface portion of the second alternating-conductivity-type layer and heavily doped p-type regions are formed in the surface portion of the lightly doped n-type region.
The structures described above relax the surface electric field in the edge termination section in the vicinity of the active section and hold a high breakdown voltage. Although the designed breakdown voltage is maintained initially, the breakdown voltage will lower gradually sometimes, if positive charges (positive ions) are induced on the edge termination section in the superjunction semiconductor devices disclosed in these latter two documents due to the reason described below.
Next, a device that includes a lightly doped alternating-conductivity-type layer arranged in the surface portion of the edge termination section is considered. Since a depletion layer expands easily in the surface of the alternating-conductivity-type layer and the electric field is relaxed, it is possible to obtain a higher breakdown voltage. However, as positively-charged ions are induced on the insulator film in the edge termination section, the depletion layer tends to hardly expand gradually, the electric field becomes higher around the field plate edge and the breakdown voltage lowers with passage of time. Therefore, it is considered that robustness against induced charges has not been taken yet.
Moreover, for holding the breakdown voltage characteristics, it is necessary for the superjunction semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-115589 to form a uniform lightly-doped n-type surface region straddling the alternating-conductivity-type layer. Due to the additional steps for forming the n-type surface region, the manufacturing costs of the superjunction semiconductor device increase. It is necessary to dope the n-type surface region more lightly than the n-type drift region in the active section. However, it is difficult to controllably dope the n-type surface region more lightly than the n-type drift region in the active section.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to solve the issues described above. It would be also desirable to provide a superjunction semiconductor device that facilitates manufacturing the edge termination section thereof exhibiting a high breakdown voltage and a high reliability for breakdown voltage through a process that exhibits a high mass-productivity. The present invention is directed to overcoming or at least reducing the effects of one or more of the problems set forth above.

Semiconductor device with superjunction structure


A rotary scanning device of a magnetic tape recording and playback equipment, which carries a set of recording heads and a set of playback heads on its periphery is provided with one rotary transformer in addition to the number equal to the number of recording heads and to the number of playback heads of said sets. The additional rotary transformer is used for cyclically connecting its rotor to the respective playback heads during a recording operation by means of a controlled transfer switch, so that a fraction of the signals recorded by each of the recording heads is made available for an after-check which can be performed without visual display because of the digital nature of the recorded signals, which are evaluated by error recognition and word count circuits.

Such a tape equipment is known from British Patent 2,191,327. In these known magnetic tape equipments controlled switching stages are provided in the rotary body of a tape scanning device for connecting and disconnecting the rotor windings of rotary transformers to recording heads and playback heads located on the periphery of the rotary body. In this device, in order to provide an after-check of what has just been recorded, it is necessary to have twice as many rotary transformers as are needed merely for recording and playback.

Magnetic tape recording and playback equipment for automatic check of recorded data


Stacked devices and methods of fabrication are provided. Die-to-wafer (D2W) direct-bonding techniques join layers of dies of various physical sizes, form factors, and foundry nodes to a semiconductor wafer, to interposers, or to boards and panels, allowing mixing and matching of variegated dies in the fabrication of 3D stacked devices during wafer level packaging (WLP). Molding material fills in lateral spaces between dies to enable fan-out versions of 3D die stacks with fine pitch leads and capability of vertical through-vias throughout. Molding material is planarized to create direct-bonding surfaces between multiple layers of the variegated dies for high interconnect density and reduction of vertical height. Interposers with variegated dies on one or both sides can be created and bonded to wafers. Logic dies and image sensors from different fabrication nodes and different wafer sizes can be stacked during WLP, or logic dies and high bandwidth memory (HBM) of different geometries can be stacked during WLP.

Conventional microelectronic packaging technologies dice wafers into individual integrated circuit microchips ("dies") and then package the dies, or arrange the dies onto horizontal substrates and into vertical stacks that make up microelectronics packages, such as 3-dimensional ICs ("3DICs). Separately, the fabrication processes that form the IC dies on semiconductor wafers in the first place use fabrication technologies in foundry environments that differ from the packaging environments and associated packaging techniques used in micropackaging houses. Micropackage design is a somewhat different science than wafer fabrication design, each using respective processes and materials. Conventional wafer level packaging (WLP) creates some packaging of the dies while still on the wafer, before dicing into individual micropackages, while conventional fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) places a layer of known-good-dies on a carrier wafer or panel and creates a fan-out area around the dies with molding material. A redistribution layer then fans the leads of the dies out onto the larger footprint of the molding material around the dies in the single layer, and may array connective solder balls on the larger footprint.
Both fabrication of dies and micropackaging of the fabricated dies into 3DICs and interposers seek to be more efficient and cost effective, while providing more electronic circuits and more computing power in smaller and smaller packages. Constructing a microelectronics package can adopt novel structures not constrained by the usual planarity of semiconductor fabrication on horizontal surfaces of wafers. Thus, micropackaging often uses a wider variety of materials in the construction of 3DICs and interposers, such as plastic encapsulants, polymers, and structural substrate materials that are not limited to silicon and other semiconductors. Despite their common theme of making and using IC dies, the practices of conventional semiconductor fabrication and conventional microelectronics packaging are traditionally distinct and separate, albeit related, technologies.


A technique with which a nanofibrous resin spun by electrospinning can be introduced into inner parts of fibers. The process for fiber composite material production is a process which comprises spinning a nanofibrous resin toward split fibers continuously conveyed along a given conveyance route and thereby combining the split fibers with the resin to produce a fiber composite material. The process involves a resin spinning step in which the nanofibrous resin spun with an electrospinning device is flown toward the split fibers. In the resin spinning step, the direction in which the nanofibrous resin proceeds is made to be the same as the conveying direction of the split fibers by blowing an air stream from a blower on the nanofibrous resin.

In recent years, as a structural material, there has been widely used a fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), which is a fiber composite material having a strength improved by combining fibers with a resin. Examples of the fibers used therein include glass fibers, carbon fibers, aramid fibers, and polyethylene fibers.
Attention has also been paid to a technique that uses a nanofibrous resin, as a resin to be a base material (matrix) of the fiber composite material, having a fiber diameter in the order of nanometers, spun by spinning methods such as electrospinning. The electrospinning is a method of discharging a polymer dissolved in a solvent or a molten polymer into an electric field to which a high voltage is applied, thereby extending the polymer by Coulomb force to form a nanofibrous polymer.
For example, JP 2008-303521 A discloses a technique of stacking a nanofibrous polymer resin produced by electrospinning on fibers having a given surface resistivity, thereby producing a fiber composite material.
However, in JP 2008-303521 A, a resin 102 is shaped and spun toward fibers 103 by the electrospinning, there are problems as described below.
First, as illustrated in FIG. 8(a), the resin 102, which is a nanofibrous resin continuously spun by the electrospinning of JP 2008-303521 A, is stacked on the fibers 103 in the state where the resin 102 is oriented at random (the resin is not regularly arranged, but has irregular and arbitrary directivities). Thus, there is a problem in that the resin 102 is not introduced into inner parts of the fibers 103.
Secondly, it is known that a fiber bundle used as the raw material has a fiber-splitting (or fiber-bundle-splitting) limit, and split fibers made from the fiber bundle have such a layer form that multiple monofilaments pile up on each other. In an ordinary fiber-bundle splitting step, the monofilaments are made into a state that multiple layers are stacked on each other.
For this reason, in the case of using carbon fibers split from a fiber bundle, as the fibers 103, when the nanofibrous resin 102 is stacked on the fibers 103, the resin 102 functions merely as a bridge between monofilaments arranged in the topmost surface of a monofilament group 106 that is the split fibers 103, and the resin 102 is not introduced into the inner parts of the fibers 103 (see FIG. 8(b)).
For the reasons as described above, when a conventional technique is used to spin a nanofibrous resin and to combine the nanofibrous resin with split fibers, there is a problem in that the resultant fiber composite material is lacking in strength and stability.

Process for producing fiber composite material


Methods of treating patients with dyskinesias, by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a dual-action μ-opioid receptor antagonist/κ-opioid receptor agonists or prodrug thereof to a subject in need thereof, sufficient to mitigate the dyskinesia. Alternatively, a combination of both a μ-opioid receptor antagonist or prodrug thereof, and a κ-opioid receptor agonist or prodrug thereof can be administered, either together or separately.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder afflicting 1.5 million individuals in the US and 6.3 million worldwide. The incidence of PD is expected to double by the year 2040. In the US, 50,000 new cases are diagnosed per year, and 1% of the population over the age of 55 is afflicted. The annual societal cost of PD is above $25 billion in the US alone.
The most common treatment for PD is 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (levodopa or L-DOPA). While it remains the most effective therapy for the motor disability caused by PD, the vast majority of patients suffering from PD eventually develop a side effect characterized by abnormal involuntary movements known as L-DOPA induced dyskinesias (LID), which substantially compounds patient disability. Thus, LID is a common, devastating complication of the most efficacious therapeutic agent for PD. Dyskinesia is a disorder characterized by the presence of involuntary movements that are often uncontrollable. These movements are often choreiform (dance-like) in appearance but can also be more jerky and abrupt. They can affect any body parts including the arms and legs, muscles of the torso, chest, pelvis, face, lips, tongue, eyelids, and neck. It can even affect respiratory muscles. Some of these movements can be strong and violent that can lead to injuries including to the cervical spine (neck). Thus, dyskinesia is a major source of disability. Therefore, although L-DOPA is the gold standard in the management of PD, long-term treatment with L-DOPA is problematic. L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia affects 50% of treated PD patients by 5 years, and >90% by 10 years, which translates to an increase of approximately 10% per year. There are approximately 200,000 cases of LID in the US alone. Currently, amantadine (1-adamantanamine hydrochloride) is the only drug available that can modestly reduce LID, representing a deficient treatment with significant side effects of its own. Amantadine has an anti-dyskinetic effect likely due to its NMDA glutamate receptor antagonism, and it remains the only marketed agent with such a property. Several other experimental compounds targeting various transmitter systems have been tested, all with negative clinical trial outcomes. Moreover, in PD patients, LID is the main indication for the invasive and costly brain surgery known as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), an extreme option with the potential for serious neuropsychiatric side effects as well as the usual risks associated with invasive brain surgery. As a result, many patients are deemed poor candidates for this surgery, leaving their LID inadequately controlled.
Opioid receptors and LID
Central to the development of LID appear to be changes in neuronal networks that are modulated by glutamatergic, adenosinergic, adrenergic, dopaminergic, serotoninergic, endocannabinoid and opioid mediated neurotransmission, all of which have been characterized to be altered in disease. Of these, opioid receptor mediated neurotransmission is of particular interest as opioids are co-transmitters that modulate basal ganglia function. Through this action, opioid drugs may help blunt the negative effects of pulsatile stimulation with L-DOPA therapy that is pathogenically related to LID. In LID, precursors of endogenous opioid receptor ligands are massively upregulated, with preproenkephalin levels increased in the striatum in animal models, as well as being observed in postmortem studies of patients. Additionally, enkephalin, dynorphin and alpha-neoendorphin are elevated significantly in the dyskinetic state, but not in normal or nondyskinetic Parkinsonian state. Therefore, it has been proposed that opioid receptor antagonism may be of benefit. However, the complexity of the basal ganglia circuitry, the presence of opioid receptors both pre- and post-synaptically, and on both excitatory and inhibitory neurons, significantly compound the intricacies of the response to opioid receptor ligands that must be considered. There are three major relevant classes of opioid receptors with differential distributions in the basal ganglia and with different functions:
Delta (δ)—Expressed predominantly in striatum and subthalamic nucleus, with lower levels in Globus Pallidus (GP) segments. These receptors regulate glutamate and acetylcholine release in the striatum.
Kappa (κ)—Expressed in all basal ganglia regions (striatum, GPe, GPi, STN, SN) & thalamus.
Mu (μ)—Expressed in all basal ganglia regions and thalamus.
Further complexity arises as expression of opioid receptors change in the Parkinsonian state. For example, kappa receptors are decreased in substantia nigra, and kappa and mu receptors are decreased in GPi in LID, likely secondary to alterations in opioid ligand expression. This complexity in distribution and function is probably the reason why non-selective antagonists have shown extremely varied efficacy in LID, worsening, not affecting, or ameliorating symptoms in animal models, and have not been effective in small clinical trials. Therefore, a level of specificity is believed to be required, but the precise nature of this specificity appears to be complex. The effects of more compounds can be summarized as follows:                The μ-opioid receptor selective antagonist cyprodime significantly reduces peak-dose LID. However, the selective p-opioid receptor antagonist ADL5510 reduces LID but with a U-shaped dose response curve        The κ-opioid receptor selective agonist U50,488 reduces LID but worsens parkinsonism in MPTP-treated primates. However, the κ-opioid receptor selective antagonist nor-BNI moderates levodopa-induced hyperkinesias in the 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rat model.        Lower doses of the selective δ-opioid receptor antagonist naltrindole reduce levodopa-induced rotations in hemiparkinsonian marmoset monkeys.        Morphine (nonselective opioid receptor agonist) reduces dyskinetic movements in Parkinsonian primates and patients        Naloxone and Naltrexone (nonselective opioid receptor antagonists) have been tested with variable effects in monkeys and humans reporting no change, increases or decreases in LID.

Collectively, the compounds tested to date indicate potential for modulating opioid receptors, but also indicate great complexity. Even those that are efficacious at some doses may display U-shaped dose response curves as non-specificity becomes an issue such as occurs with ADL5510. Consideration of these studies indicates that the most efficacious anti-dyskinetic agent acting on the opioid receptor system would have an as yet undiscovered mixture of pharmacological actions on different opioid receptors.
Safety Considerations of Opioid Drugs
Activation of opioid receptors is achieved by a number of widely used and abused opiates such as morphine and codeine. Despite the clear beneficial effects that these compounds can have in analgesia and other indications, they can have severe addictive and sedative effects, while antagonists can precipitate withdrawal symptoms in patients on opiates. Therefore, doses relevant for LID need to be considered in light of these side effects. The major specific side effects relevant to mu-antagonists are related to the gastrointestinal tract and dysphoria, while for kappa-agonists are sedation, worsening parkinsonism and dysphoria for example.
In summary, in LID there are increases in the release of opioid peptide precursors, therefore, modulation of opioid receptors is an attractive therapeutic approach. The complexity of how different opioid receptors regulate signaling at different sites within the circuitry of the basal ganglia dictates the selectivity profile that will be efficacious to modulate. The broad spectrum opioid receptor antagonists, such as Naloxone and Naltrexone, have been proposed as possible therapeutics, but have not been clinically successful. Selective agents for specific opioid receptor isoforms may offer limited benefits, but also demonstrate opposing dose-dependent effects that can substantially reduce their utility with significant dose-limiting adverse effects.
Thus, there remains a significant need for a therapeutic agent to treat L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, since LID is a critical condition affecting a large and increasing population of PD patients. Further, there are other orphan diseases that exhibit dyskinesias for which treatments are unavailable or inadequate; these diseases include Huntington's disease, Tourette's syndrome and tardive dyskinesia. The present invention addresses these unmet needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey


A system such as for sensing strain or temperature of an aircraft and for transmitting information in communication systems. A sensor array includes a first light responsive Bragg grating sensor having a first operating bandwidth and a second light responsive Bragg grating sensor having a second operating bandwidth. Each sensor modifies light provided to it at a wavelength indicative of changes in strain or temperature. The second sensor operates within a bandwidth which is different from the operating bandwidth of the first sensor. A tunable light source such as an LED and tunable etalon provides light for illuminating the first and second sensors, the provided light having a wavelength which varies within a band including the first and second bandwidths. A detecting circuit provides signals representative of light modified by the first and second sensors. A processor processes the representative signals to determine the strain and/or temperature.

Fiber optic intracore Bragg gratings have been used in prior sensing systems as reliable, localized sensors of strain, temperature and other physical parameters. The wavelength encoding of strain and temperature in these Bragg grating sensors make them suited for monitoring structures to track strain and temperature over periods of time. Such sensors are not affected by electrical interference as compared to electrical based sensors. However, the prior systems which have employed such sensors have been very expensive and inflexible in their ability to detect different parameters. In addition, such prior systems were high in volume and weight (e.g., large and heavy) which made them unacceptable in mobile applications.
An example of such a prior art two channel system employing Bragg grating sensors is illustrated in FIG. 1. Each channel includes a sensor array SA1, SA2 which is embedded in or attached to the structure to be monitored, such as within a concrete deck support girder for a bridge. Each sensor of each array reflects light of a particular bandwidth which is different from the bandwidth of the other sensors in the array. For example, a first sensor of array SA1 may be detecting strain and reflecting light within a bandwidth having a wavelength of 1295-1297 nanometers (nm) whereas a second sensor of sensor array SA2 may be detecting temperature and reflecting light within a bandwidth having a wavelength of 1329-1331 nanometers (nm), the specific wavelength of reflection being related to the strain or temperature of the sensor with changes tracking generally linearly. Consequently, the sensors of each array of each channel must be illuminated by light from a different, separate broad band light source BBLS1 which emits light corresponding to the sensor's reflective operating bandwidth.
Optical fibers transmit the light from the source via a 2.times.1 coupler to the sensor array and transmit the reflected light from the sensors of the array via the coupler to a tunable filter TF1, TF2 driven by a waveform generator WG which is scanned to detect a narrow band of reflected light. A peak detector PD1, PD2 detects the peak of any reflected light within the narrow band of the filter for each channel. Each peak detector generates a digital pulse representative of the peak of the reflected light. The digital pulses generated during scanning are used as a trigger for the A/D converter and thus are converted to a value which is proportional to a particular wavelength. Knowing the tunable filter's response, the converted values can be identified as an exact wavelength. Using a model of the sensor's relationship of wavelength to a particular parameter, a value based on this parameter can be made.
Such systems have been found to be very expensive, primarily because of the cost associated with the various light sources needed to illuminate each sensor array with light of the appropriate bandwidth and multiple tunable filters to locate the sensors. In addition, the need for various or multiple light sources tends to add the significant weight and volume of such prior art systems which limit the applicability of the system for use in mobile applications or other environments in which a light weight or compact monitoring system is needed or desired.
There is a need for an improved optical fiber sensor system which avoids these prior art deficiencies and would be useful in mobile systems such as systems which monitor the structural integrity of aircraft and systems by monitoring parameters indicating safe conditions such as structural monitors for bridges. In addition, there is a need for an improved optical fiber sensor system which could be used in telecommunications.


A measuring gauge for error compensation of a measured characteristic of a moving sheet measures X, Y lateral displacement of the upper and lower transducer heads of a moving scanner in a cross direction across the paper. This is accomplished by the use of two pairs of eddy current sensors centered on a target on the opposed transducer head. Such eddy current transducers sense the pairs of edges of an aperture in the opposed transducer. Alternatively, slope portions of the lower transducer head are sensed. Other correction inputs are provided by measuring the distance from each transducer head to the moving sheet to provide a "Z" correction. All of the foregoing are then utilized along with caliper measurements, if necessary, to provide a corrected characteristic.

In measuring basis weight or moisture of moving sheet material a radiation source of either, for example, ionizing radiation or infrared is mounted on one side of the sheet material and opposite on the other side is a receiving transducer. The pairs of transducers are then scanned in a cross-direction (perpendicular to the moving or machine direction of the sheet material) to provide a cross-direction profile of that particular characteristic. Due to mechanical imperfections of the transverse mechanisms and the sensitivity of the measuring transducers themselves, a constant positional relationship both in a Z direction, which is perpendicular to the moving sheet, and X, Y directions which are in the plane of the moving sheet are not always maintained. Thus, the characteristic measurements are affected by these relative movements of the transverse mechanisms.
One form of correction is illustrated in Davis U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,103 where screws are preset for each zone or slice of the sheet material to compensate for expected errors. FIG. 2 of Davis illustrates a pair of scanning heads 13 and 14 having a pair of transducers mounted in opposed heads; namely, a radiation source and ionization chamber for determining basis weight. FIG. 5 of the present invention shows similar units 31 and 32. As Davis points out, a change in the positional relationship of the source and the chamber will cause measurement error (Column 1, lines 23-27).
In Watson U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,480 changes in relative relationship are sensed by measuring the distance of the transducer to a reference, such as a taut metal tape.
Finally, Dahlquist U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,915 utilizes an electromagnetic signal transmitted through the sheet material for sensing the distance between traversing transducers. X and Y displacement in the plane of the moving sheet is apparently compensated for but not measured directly.


A drawing apparatus performs drawing overlaid with a shot formed on a substrate with a plurality of charged particle beams based on a plurality of drawing stripe data that constitute drawing data. The apparatus includes a charged particle optical system configured to generate the plurality of charged particle beams; and a controller configured to generate a plurality of intermediate stripe data as data of a plurality of intermediate stripes, adjacent ones of the plurality of intermediate stripes overlapping with each other, to obtain information on distortion of the shot, and to transform the plurality of intermediate stripe data based on the information on the distortion to generate the plurality of drawing stripe data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus that performs drawing overlaid with a shot formed on a substrate based on drawing stripe data that constitute drawing data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electron beam drawing apparatus performs drawing by superimposition on shots on the substrate, so that coordinates of a plurality of shots (sample shots) on the substrate are measured. The measurement may be performed using an alignment mark formed for every shot. Further, based on an assumption that a coordinate of a design shot and a coordinate of an actual shot have a predetermined geometric conversion relationship, a parameter (coefficient) of the transformation may be determined by the measurement. In addition, the coordinate of the actual shot may be obtained based on the parameter and the coordinate of the design shot. Further, for example, if a coordinate (x, y) is measured for each of a plurality of marks at every shot, not only a position (for example, a coordinate of a center of each of the shots) of each of the shots but also a distortion (expansion and contraction or rotation) of each of the shots may be obtained.
Further, an electron beam drawing apparatus that performs drawing on a substrate based on drawing stripe data that configures drawing data is known (see Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7970 79701A-1 (2011)).
The distortion of the shot may occur during an exposure process to form the shot or other processes including a heating process.
FIG. 10A is a view illustrating nine (3×3) shots on a wafer (substrate) when an expansion and contraction distortion is applied to the shots. A solid line indicates an actual shot and a broken line indicates a design shot (in this case, a center of the "actual" shot matches with a center of the "design" shot).
FIG. 10B illustrates an aspect when the expandable and contractable shot is drawn by a drawing apparatus discussed in Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7970 79701A-1 (2011). FIG. 10B illustrates initial positions B1 to B8 of the electron beam. The wafer moves upwardly while the electron beam scans the wafer left and right to draw a drawing area with a stripe shape (stripe drawing area) on the wafer. Stripe drawing areas S1 to S8 are drawn by electron beams.
Beam blanking is performed on each of the beams by control data according to the drawing data to draw the corresponding stripe drawing area. Control data of each of the beams may be generated by dividing drawing data of the shot in the unit of a stripe (drawing stripe data). Here, if the shot has an expansion and contraction distortion, even though the shot (design shot) represented by the broken line of FIG. 10B is drawn by the control data, an error may occur in the superimposition.
FIG. 10C is a view illustrating nine (3×3) shots on a wafer when the shots have a rotation distortion. In a case where the shot has the rotation distortion, an error occurs in the superimposition, which is illustrated in FIG. 10D. The usage of the solid line and the broken line is the same as in FIGS. 10A and 10B.
In order to reduce such an error, a method that distorts the drawing data based on the distortion of the measured shot and then divides the drawing data in the unit of a stripe to generate control data for every beam is considered. However, this method is inappropriate because this method requires enormous processing time.

Drawing apparatus, drawing method, and method of manufacturing article


Trialkylgallium is purified of group II B p-type impurities, particularly Zn, Hg, and Cd, by contacting the trialkylgallium with a metallic gallium-containing melt. Also, trialkylgallium can be produced by contacting a dialkyl group II B compound with a metallic gallium-containing melt.

Trialkylgalliums are commonly used gallium sources in the fields of epitaxial semiconductor growth and/or processing, vapor or plasma etching, plasma deposition or thin film deposition, e.g., metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Trialkylgalliums are most commonly synthesized from gallium trichloride, which often results in zinc being present in the form of dialkylzinc up to a few ppm level. Zinc is a p-type impurity and even a few ppm may be detrimental in semiconductor applications. Dialkylzinc can be very difficult to remove from trialkylgallium by common methods, such as distillation, due to the close proximity of their boiling points. For example, trimethylgallium boils at 56.degree. C. and dimethylzinc at 46.degree. C.
It would be desirable to remove substantially all zinc from a trialkylgallium supply, and this constitutes a primary object of the present invention. It is a further object of the present invention to synthesize trialkylgallium in a novel manner.

Purification of trialkylgallium, synthesis of trialkylgallium


A driver controls a switch inserted in a current path between a secondary battery and an inverter that drives a motor. A first abnormality detector instructs the driver to turn off the switch when an abnormality of the secondary battery is detected. A second abnormality detector is disposed in parallel with the first abnormality detector, and instructs the driver to turn off the switch when the abnormality of the secondary battery is detected. The first abnormality detector suspends an instruction to turn off the switch to the driver, even when the abnormality of the secondary battery is detected, in cases where an ECU instructs discharge-stop prohibition of the secondary battery. The second abnormality detector instructs the driver to turn off the switch after a lapse of a certain time from when the abnormality of the secondary battery is detected, regardless of an instruction from the ECU.

In recent years, an electric vehicle (EV) and a hybrid vehicle have been widely used. A lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery have been widely used as a vehicular secondary battery. The secondary battery needs management of a voltage, a current, and a temperature, and particularly the lithium ion battery demands strict management. When overvoltage or overcurrent is occurred, a burden is imposed on the battery, thereby shortening battery life. Accordingly, when detecting these abnormalities, a battery management device controls such that the secondary battery is electrically disconnected from a vehicle side by opening a contactor, to protect the secondary battery (refer to PTL 1, for example).
To more reliably make control for opening the contactor in detection of overvoltage, a redundant configuration in which two overvoltage detection circuits are provided in parallel is often used.

Battery management device and power supply system

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A computer-implemented method of extracting data from a document in an electronic format. The method includes the steps of accessing a file in an electronic format from a memory module; extracting data from the file corresponding to a plurality of keys contained within a mapping structure stored in the memory module; organizing the extracted data into values, wherein each value maps to one of the plurality of keys to form a hash map; storing the hash map in a database; and providing a user access to the database via an output device. The output device allows the user to view a customizable document whose content is derived from the values and keys stored in the database.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-implemented system and method for culling relevant information from an electronic file. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system and method for extracting relevant data from an electronic file and populating a database with the relevant data to allow a user or another program to further analyze and manipulate the data.
2. Description of Related Art
Tools for converting between document formats are well known in the art. For example, a conventional document format converter might take a portable document format (PDF) file and convert the file into a document that can be opened, read, and edited by a word processing program. The aim of these conventional converters is to allow a user access and possibly edit the content of the document in its current form, without adding any value to the content of the document. Conventional converters are designed to convert text, images, and other elements of a document from one format to another format while maintaining the look and feel of the original document as much as possible. The conventional converters are designed to simply recreate the text from the converted document; they do not categorize or index the text to make it more useful.
There is a need for a system that culls relevant data from documents stored in various electronic formats and converts the data into a form that can be indexed, manipulated, and stored in a database, allowing the data to be used by analytical programs that interpret the data and that are able to create reports based on the interpreted data. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to systems and methods of extracting data from an electronic document that meet these needs.

Systems and methods for extracting data from a document in an electronic format


A watch type mobile terminal may be provided that includes a display, a band coupled to a main body, and a support member having a first portion provided at an outer perimeter of the window hole and a second portion that extends from the first portion toward the central area of the window hole to cover the edge of the window hole. The mobile terminal may also include a window having a first surface facing an exterior of the main body and a second surface formed on an opposite side of the window, and at least a portion of the first surface of the window is covered by the second portion of the support member. A ring member may also be provided between the first portion of the support member and the window.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention may relate to a watch type mobile terminal that includes a window and that can be put on a user's wrist.
2. Background
A mobile terminal is a device that can be carried around and has one or more functions such as voice and video call communication, inputting and outputting information, storing data, and/or the like.
As functions become more diversified, the watch type mobile terminal may support more complicated functions such as capturing images or video, reproducing music or video files, playing games, receiving broadcast signals, and/or the like. By comprehensively and collectively implementing such functions, the watch type mobile terminal may be embodied in the form of a multimedia player or device.
In order to implement various functions of such multimedia players or devices, the multimedia player may require sufficient support in terms of hardware or software. For example, a user interface allowing users to easily and conveniently search for and select one or more functions may be provided.
Mobile terminals may be considered a personal mobile object that can express users' personality. Such demand on designs may include a watch type mobile terminal that can be put on a users' wrist.


Artificial foliage is described for use in camouflaging underwater structures, and/or for serving as cover vegetation which attracts aquatic life. A preferred version of the artificial foliage includes an elongated stem having shoots (e.g., leaves and/or branches) extending therefrom, a ballast weight connected to one of the stem ends, and a float and/or tensioning line connected to the opposite stem end for supporting the stem at least partially upright in the water above the ballast. The ballast may take a variety of forms, such as a conventional fishing sinker, sinkable structures such as bait traps or anchors, or an underwater camera.

Fishermen, researchers, and nature watchers often wish to attract fish and other aquatic life. Various types of attractants are known, including food and/or scent-emitting devices, and devices which emit light, sounds, and/or motion which are intended to simulate prey for fish, or which are otherwise intended to attract aquatic life. Unfortunately, many such devices do not work, or work selectively: some types of aquatic life may be attracted to the devices, but others tend to be scared away owing to the unnatural appearance and/or performance of the devices.

Artificial foliage for underwater camouflage and decoy purposes


A method of permanent assembly between at least a first part formed of a first material on the one hand, and at least a second part formed of a second material on the other hand which is configured to confine the first part in the permanent assembly.

The present invention concerns the assembly of two parts to each other, so as to obtain two parts assembled by clamping or conversely two parts that can move relative to each other.
To achieve a moveable assembly (for example a rotating bearing), it is known to have several manufacturing steps consisting, first of all, in very precisely machining at least three parts to be moveably mounted. Next, at least two of these parts must be assembled by screws, bonding, welding or other means, in order to partly confine the third part which is to remain moveable. Making this moveable assembly requires that the final play between the two parts is sufficient to allow them to be able to move in relation to each other. This play must not be too large, otherwise there is a risk of one part being shifted in relation to the other which is not ideal. It is thus complex and expensive to make this type of assembly.
To make immobile/sealed assemblies, it is possible to form a thread for the assembly or to bond, braze, weld or rivet the parts to each other.
Certain problems may appear. Indeed, sometimes the aforementioned known means cannot be used. Firstly, these methods cannot be used because they are not possible. For example, it is not possible to make a thread in a fragile material without breaking the part.
Secondly, these methods cannot be used because undesirable effects occur, for example the degassing of the adhesive material.

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd