A data transaction system allows performing a transaction related to a data unit, where the data unit can be independently saved and retrieved, from an upper layer to a storage layer without causing a database deadlock related to the data unit in the storage layer. The data transaction system uses a first stage for transferring the data unit from the upper layer to the storage layer, and a second stage to save the transferred data unit independent of the upper layer. The data transaction system guarantees data consistency in applications using multiple layer architecture and at the same time avoiding cost and inefficiencies related to a database deadlock scenario.

Computers and computer software make a very important part of modern life and business. Specifically, for any business organization to stay competitive, it is imperative that it uses various computer based software to manage data, customers, employees, etc. Businesses use a number of different software for virtually every function of their daily operations, including payroll, customer relation management, accounting, inventory management, etc. Each of these various software generally use one or more underlying database to store data and a number of graphical user interface (GUI) based forms to interact with the computer user. Depending on the business model, there may also be one or more intermediate layers operating between such database and the forms presented to the end user. This is especially true in the case of software using the Internet or other similar platform to provide applications.
For example, various accounting systems, customer relation management systems, human resource management systems, etc., operate as multilayer applications that run in network environment, allowing multiple users to access the system from multiple locations. These applications use a storage layer or a data layer to store data that may be accessed by the various locations over the network. For example, a database server or a collection of database servers may be used to store data used by such an application. Each of the various locations use an upper layer, such as a presentation layer or an interaction layer, to present the data from users or other application, to interact with users and other applications to receive, provide and change data, etc.
An example of such an upper layer may be an Internet browser, a spreadsheet application, an active server pages (ASP) application, etc., where such an upper layer may query data for one or more users, receive data from one or more users, and communicate data to the storage layer for storage. Quite often it is possible that one or more of the multiple users may need to transfer data to the storage layer at nearly the same time. In such a situation, it is imperative that the consistency of data passed to the storage layer is guaranteed. For example, for an accounting system using such multiple layer architecture, one user of the upper layer may be posting a transaction involving a bank account, while at the same time, another user may be querying the storage layer to get information related to the same bank account. Such an attempt by multiple users to access the bank account form the storage layer may cause a database deadlock, either denying access to both users, or in a worse case, communicating erroneous information to one or more of such multiple users. Therefore, these is a need to ensure that users interacting with multiple layer applications via an upper layer are able to initiate and commit transactions between such upper layer and the storage layer without causing database deadlock.

Method and apparatus for two stage transaction handling


A solid electrolyte capable of securing grain boundary resistance even when sintering is performed at a relatively low temperature and a lithium ion battery using the solid electrolyte are provided. The solid electrolyte includes a first electrolyte which contains a lithium composite metal compound containing one kind of first metal element selected from group 13 elements in period 3 or higher, and a second electrolyte which contains Li and at least two kinds of second metal elements selected from group 5 elements in period 5 or higher or group 15 elements in period 5 or higher.

As a solid electrolyte for battery, for example, PTL 1 discloses a silicon-containing lithium lanthanum titanate composite solid electrolyte material and a method of manufacturing the same. According to PTL 1, amorphous silicon (Si) or a Si compound is introduced to a grain boundary between lithium lanthanum titanate crystal particles by adding a lithium lanthanum titanate complex compound to a silicon precursor solution, heating and drying the mixture thereof, and then pelleting and firing the mixture. This indicates that the grain boundary ion conductivity is markedly improved.
In addition, for example, PTL 2 discloses a method of forming a titanium oxide type solid electrolyte by heating and firing a precursor solution containing water and a water-soluble titanium compound. According to PTL 2, since the precursor solution can contain each element supply source such as titanium, lithium (Li), and lanthanum (La) at a relatively high concentration, titanium oxide type solid electrolyte having a desired volume can be formed by reducing the number of times of applying and firing of a solution as compared with a sol-gel method using alcohol as a solvent.

Solid electrolyte and lithium ion battery


A piping structure and a process, with which it is possible to form an opening in a pipe while preventing shavings produced from cutting from entering the pipe. A process for forming an opening in a pipe, including: a step of enclosing the pipe with a case divided in a circumferential direction R of the pipe; a skin formation step of cutting an outer surface of the pipe with a cutting tool arranged in the case, thereby forming a bottomed groove, which is formed as a skin, on the pipe; a suction step of sucking shavings produced from cutting, together with a gas in the case in order to remove the shavings; and breaking the skin to form the opening after performing the skin formation step and the suction step.

There are conventional processes well known in the art, in which an existing pipe is cut by a cutting tool to form an opening without disrupting the flow of a fluid through the existing pipe, and a gate valve body is inserted into the line of the existing pipe through the opening (see first and second patent documents).

Piping structure and process and pipe construction method


Range tuning for open access small cells may be achieved, for example, by determining a likelihood of handoff for a mobile device around a small cell coverage area, and adjusting a range of the small cell coverage area by controlling a transmit power level of the small cell based on the likelihood of handoff.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of another telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in base station coverage. One avenue that is currently under development is the use of smaller cells to extend the coverage area or otherwise work in conjunction with larger, macro cells. However, there remains a need in the art for improved systems and methods relating to small cell deployment.


Systems and methods for determining and reducing drift in inertial navigation systems (INS). One method includes receiving images and drifted positions associated with a plurality of INS. The method includes detecting, from the plurality of images, a plurality of objects associated with the plurality of INS. The method includes determining, relative positions for the objects. The method includes generating a plurality of avatars, each having a virtual position, and associating each of the plurality of objects to one of the plurality of avatars. The method includes, for each of the INS, calculating a relative drift based on the relative position of the object and the drifted position of the INS. The method includes calculating a drift correction factor for at least one of the INS, and transmitting the drift correction factor to an electronic device associated with the INS.

Public safety personnel (for example, first responders, investigators, and the like) may be equipped with electronic devices that record video and provide augmented reality displays to assist them in the performance of their duties. Such systems provide a live view of a physical, real-world environment that is augmented by computer-generated input such as sound, text, other video, graphics, and the like.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments illustrated.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Determining and reducing inertial navigation system drift


Rotational hardstop assemblies that provide greater than 360 degrees of non-continuous rotation for rotating mechanisms are provided. In certain embodiments, an assembly is used to provide 630 or more degrees of rotation for the shoulder axis of a robot, such as a wafer transfer robot. The rotational hardstop assemblies include opposing magnets as springs. According to various embodiments, the opposing magnets provide non-contact engagement and produce no contact noise nor have any wear over time. The rotational hardstop assemblies provide the ability to location from either direction of rotation of a robot cylindrical coordinate system.

Cylindrical robots are used for picking and placing objects in a variety of applications including in wafer transfer systems in semiconductor processing. Their axes form a cylindrical coordinate system with the robot arms having radial, rotational and vertical motion. Robots that have greater than 360° rotation improve throughput by allowing objects to be picked and placed using a minimum or reduced number of moves than required with robots that have a range of motion of 360° or less.
Continuous rotation functions well for optimized robot motion and throughput but requires an electrical and pneumatic slip ring assembly. Standard cables through the shoulder also cannot be used, as rotating over 360° will lead to breakage and or entanglement of the cables. Hardstop assemblies are used to prevent over-rotation of the arm, so that cables and tubings through the shoulder are not over-rotated past their functional limit. To prevent rotation over 360°, a structural feature is provided to engage with another structural feature that rotates along with the arm. By engaging, the arm is prevented from over-rotating in either direction. As a result, it may be necessary to reverse course and travel longer paths (e.g., to get from 260° to 10°, it is necessary to travel 250°, rather than 110°). This also limits a robot's accessible range within an environment. Moving hardstops may be used to provide non-continuous rotation over 360°.


One method disclosed includes forming a gate structure of a transistor above a surface of a semiconducting substrate, forming a sidewall spacer proximate the gate structure, forming a sacrificial layer of material above the protective cap layer, sidewall spacer and substrate, forming an OPL layer above the sacrificial layer, reducing a thickness of the OPL layer such that, after the reduction, an upper surface of the OPL layer is positioned at a level that is below a level of an upper surface of the protective cap layer, performing a first etching process to remove the sacrificial layer from above the protective cap layer to expose the protective cap layer for further processing, performing a second etching process to remove the protective cap layer and performing at least one process operation to remove at least one of the OPL layer or the sacrificial layer from above the surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the manufacture of sophisticated semiconductor devices, and, more specifically, to various methods of forming semiconductor devices while preventing or reducing loss of active area and/or isolation regions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPU's, storage devices, ASIC's (application specific integrated circuits) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of circuit elements in a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein so-called metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs or FETs) represent one important type of circuit element that substantially determines performance of the integrated circuits. A FET is a planar device that typically includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region that is positioned between the source region and the drain region, and a gate electrode positioned above the channel region and separated therefrom by a gate insulation layer. Current flow through the FET is controlled by controlling the voltage applied to the gate electrode. If there is no voltage applied to the gate electrode, then there is no current flow through the device (ignoring undesirable leakage currents, which are relatively small). However, when an appropriate voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the channel region becomes conductive, and electrical current is permitted to flow between the source region and the drain region through the conductive channel region.
To improve the operating speed of FETs, and to increase the density of FETs on an integrated circuit device, device designers have greatly reduced the physical size of FETs over the years. More specifically, the channel length of FETs has been significantly decreased, which has resulted in improving the switching speed of FETs. However, decreasing the channel length of a FET also decreases the distance between the source region and the drain region. In some cases, this decrease in the separation between the source and the drain makes it difficult to efficiently inhibit the electrical potential of the source region and to prevent the channel from being adversely affected by the electrical potential of the drain. This is sometimes referred to as a so-called short channel effect, wherein the characteristic of the FET as an active switch is degraded.
In contrast to a FET, which has a planar structure, a so-called FinFET device has a three-dimensional (3D) structure. More specifically, in a FinFET, a generally vertically positioned fin-shaped active area is formed and a gate electrode encloses both sides and an upper surface of the fin-shaped active area to form a tri-gate structure so as to use a channel having a three-dimensional structure instead of a planar structure. In some cases, an insulating cap layer, e.g., silicon nitride, is positioned at the top of the fin and the FinFET device only has a dual-gate structure. Unlike a planar FET, in a FinFET device, a channel is formed perpendicular to a surface of the semiconducting substrate so as to reduce the physical size of the semiconductor device. Also, in a FinFET, the junction capacitance at the drain region of the device is greatly reduced, which tends to reduce at least some short channel effects.
For many early device technology generations, the gate structures of most transistor devices, whether a planar device or a 3D device, have been comprised of a plurality of silicon-based materials, such as a silicon dioxide and/or silicon oxynitride gate insulation layer, in combination with a polysilicon gate electrode. However, as the channel length of aggressively scaled transistor elements has become increasingly smaller, many newer generation devices employ gate structures that contain alternative materials in an effort to avoid the short channel effects which may be associated with the use of traditional silicon-based materials in reduced channel length transistors. For example, in some aggressively scaled transistor elements, which may have channel lengths on the order of approximately 10-20 nm or less, gate structures that include a so-called high-k dielectric gate insulation layer and one or more metal layers that function as the gate electrode (HK/MG) have been implemented. Such alternative gate structures have been shown to provide significantly enhanced operational characteristics over the heretofore more traditional silicon dioxide/polysilicon gate structure configurations.
Depending on the specific overall device requirements, several different high-k materials—i.e., materials having a dielectric constant, or k-value, of approximately 10 or greater—have been used with varying degrees of success for the gate insulation layer in an HK/MG gate electrode structure. For example, in some transistor element designs, a high-k gate insulation layer may include tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), titanium oxide (TiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), hafnium silicates (HfSiOx) and the like. Furthermore, one or more non-polysilicon metal gate electrode materials—i.e., a metal gate stack—may be used in HK/MG configurations so as to control the work function of the transistor. These metal gate electrode materials may include, for example, one or more layers of titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), titanium-aluminum (TiAl), aluminum (Al), aluminum nitride (AlN), tantalum (Ta), tantalum nitride (TaN), tantalum carbide (TaC), tantalum carbonitride (TaCN), tantalum silicon nitride (TaSiN), tantalum silicide (TaSi) and the like.
There are two well-known processing methods for forming a planar or 3D transistor with a high-k/metal gate structure: (1) the so-called "gate last" or "replacement gate" technique; and (2) the so-called "gate first" technique. In the replacement gate technique, a so-called "dummy" or sacrificial gate structure is initially formed and remains in place as many process operations are performed to form the device, e.g., the formation of doped source/drain regions, performing an anneal process to repair damage to the substrate caused by the ion implantation processes and to activate the implanted dopant materials. At some point in the process flow, the sacrificial gate structure is removed to define a gate cavity where the final HK/MG gate structure for the device is formed. In general, using the "gate first" technique involves forming a stack of layers of material across the substrate, wherein the stack of materials includes a high-k gate insulation layer, one or more metal layers, a layer of polysilicon and a protective cap layer, e.g., silicon nitride. Thereafter, one or more etching processes are performed to pattern the stack of materials to thereby define the basic gate structures for the transistor devices.
FIGS. 1A-1D depict one illustrative prior art "gate first" technique that will be discussed in connection with some problems that may arise when using the gate first technique. As shown in FIG. 1A, the integrated circuit product 10 includes an illustrative PFET device 10P and an NFET device 10N that are formed in active regions of a semiconducting substrate 12. An illustrative trench isolation region 14 electrically isolates the devices 10P, 10N from one another. At the point of fabrication depicted in FIG. 1A, the gate structures 16P, 16N have been formed for the PFET device 10P and NFET device 10N, respectively. In the depicted example, the isolation region 14 has an uneven or gouged upper surface due to the undesirable consumption of some of the isolation regions 14 during previous processing operations. The gate structures 16P, 16N are generally comprised of a high-k gate insulation layer 18, one or more metal layers 20P, 20N, a layer of polysilicon 22 and gate cap layers 24P, 24N. Also depicted in FIG. 1A are illustrative sidewall spacers 26, e.g., silicon nitride. The number of metal layers and the types of metal layers employed in the PFET device 10P and NFET device 10N may be different. In general, the gate cap layer 24N on the NFET device 10N tends to be thicker than the gate cap layer 24P on the PFET device 10P. This situation typically occurs because an additional hard mask layer is formed on the NFET device 10N when silicon/germanium material (not shown) is grown in cavities (not shown) that were formed in the substrate 12 adjacent the gate structure 16P for the PFET device 10P.
The protective cap layers 24P, 24N and the spacers 26 were formed to protect the gate structures 16P, 16N from subsequent processing operations after the gates were patterned. At the point of processing depicted in FIG. 1A, the protective cap layers 24P, 24N must be removed so that a metal silicide region may be formed in the polysilicon gate material 22 so as to thereby reduce its contact resistance. But, it is also desirable that the spacers 26 remain in place so as to protect the gate structures 16P, 16N. Unfortunately, the spacers 26 and the gate cap layers 24P, 24N are typically made of the same material, e.g., silicon nitride, due to the effectiveness of that material in terms of being able to withstand many common processing operations and thereby provide good protection to the gate structures 16P, 16N. Thus, it is desirable that the gate cap layers 24P, 24N be removed while leaving in place the sidewall spacers 26.
As shown in FIG. 1B, a relatively thin layer of silicon dioxide 28 is deposited across the product 10. The purpose of the layer 28 is to protect the sidewall spacer 26 when the gate cap layers 24P, 24N are removed.
FIG. 1C depicts the device 10 after a dry, anisotropic etching process has been performed to remove all of the horizontally positioned portions of the layer of silicon dioxide 28. This results in the formation of spacer-type layers of silicon dioxide 28A on the sidewall spacer 26. This etching process operation exposes the upper surface 25 of the cap layers 24P, 24N so that they may subsequently be removed. Unfortunately, the etching process that is used to remove portions of the layer of silicon dioxide 28 also etches undesirable recesses 30 in the active regions of the substrate 12 and consumes additional portions of the isolation region 14. The depth of the recesses 30 may vary depending upon the particular application, e.g., the recesses may have a depth that falls within the range of about 7-21 nm. Loss of material in the active region can result in performance loss for the device, e.g., the extension implants for the device may be located deeper in the substrate due to the loss of active region material, which may lead to different electrical behavior for the device. FIG. 1D depicts the device 10 after an etching process was performed to remove the gate cap layers 24P, 24N. The etching process also recesses the spacers 26 to a limited degree.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods of forming semiconductor devices while preventing or reducing loss of active area and/or isolation regions that may avoid, or at least reduce, the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.

Methods of forming a semiconductor device while preventing or reducing loss of active area and/or isolation regions


A polishing composition that can not only achieve high polishing speed, but also can improve the surface smoothness (surface quality) of a polished substrate and reduce defects is provided. That is, provided is a polishing composition comprising silica particles and a water soluble polymer, wherein the contained silica particles satisfy the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) the primary particle diameter based on the specific surface area is 5 to 300 nm; (b) the coefficient of variation in the particle diameter is 10% or less; and (c) the Sears number Y is 10.0 to 12.0.

Silica particles used for polishing silicon wafers and the like are required to have a high purity. For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose highly-pure colloidal silicas with a low content of metal impurities, obtained by hydrolyzing an alkyl silicate.
Also, for example, Patent Literatures 3 to 5 disclose the use of compact silica particles with reduced residual silanol groups as polishing compositions.
In case of obtaining a dispersion liquid containing such silica particles to be used for polishing, in general, a method is employed in which an alkoxysilane is hydrolyzed and polycondensed using an alkali catalyst such as ammonia, and the solvent and the by-product, an alcohol, are removed and replaced with water (see, for example, Patent Literatures 6 and 7).

Dispersion liquid of silica particles, polishing composition, and method for producing dispersion liquid of silica particles


A method for managing a communication session includes receiving a request to perform a task. The task is divided into one or more steps. One or more user devices are identified that can be used to perform one or more of the steps. One or more communication channels are identified that are available to the one or more user devices. The communication session is permitted to switch from one or more of the user devices and communication channels to complete the one or more steps of the task while maintaining a continuity of the communication session.

Individuals commonly have access to a plurality of electronic computing devices, such as smartphones, desktop computers, laptop computers and tablet computers. The individuals can use these electronic computing devices in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes.
Some of the electronic computing devices are better suited to some purposes than others. For example, desktop computers have larger screens than smartphones and may be better suited to viewing and editing documents. Smartphones typically are smaller than tablet computers, are easier to carry around and may be better suited to some mobile applications than tablet computers.

Continuous task-based communication sessions


The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. A device isolation film has a shape of an insulating spacer at an interface of active regions composed of a epitaxial silicon layer in a device isolation region of a semiconductor substrate and active regions composed of a semiconductor substrate, thereby minimizing a size of the device isolation region, maximizing a size of the active regions, and achieving a high integration of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and in particular to an improved method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which can achieve a high integration of the semiconductor device by minimizing an area occupied by device isolation film for defining active regions, and use the device isolation film for a unit cell and a switching device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional device isolation film is a trench type and positioned along the word line between active regions formed at both sides of a word line.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional semiconductor device, wherein active regions are formed in I or Z shape, and a trench type device isolation film is formed therebetween.
Referring to FIG. 1, a device isolation film 13 defining active regions is formed on a semiconductor substrate 11.
Here, the device isolation film 13 is formed by depositing a pad oxide film (not shown) and a nitride film (not shown) on the semiconductor substrate 11, etching the nitride film, the pad oxide film and a predetermined thickness of semiconductor substrate 11 via a photo-etching process using a device isolation mask (not shown) to form a trench, and filling the trench.
Thereafter, a gate electrode 17 is formed in the active regions of the semiconductor substrate 11. Here, a gate oxide film 15 is formed in the interface of the gate electrode 17 and the semiconductor substrate 11.
A low concentration impurity junction region (not shown) is formed by ion-implanting a low concentration impurity into the semiconductor substrate 11 using the gate electrode 17 as a mask.
An insulating spacer 19 is formed on the sidewalls of the gate electrode 17, and a high concentration impurity junction region (not shown) is formed by ion-implanting a high concentration impurity into the semiconductor substrate 11 using the gate electrode 17 and the insulating spacer 19 as masks, thereby forming a source/drain region (not shown).
An interlayer insulating film (not shown) is formed on the entire surface of the resultant structure, and a source region contact plug 21 and a drain region contact plug 23 are formed to contact the source/drain region through the interlayer insulating film.
As described above, the conventional method for manufacturing the semiconductor device has a disadvantage in that it cannot achieve a high integration of the device because the trench type device isolation film occupies large area. To overcome the above problem, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device has been proposed wherein step difference is generated in the device isolation region and the insulating spacer is formed on the boundaries of the step difference. However, the proposed method fails to provide a contact margin.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device wherein two different types of active regions are alternately arranged to have a shape of a matrix for minimization of a device isolation region by forming device isolation films defining the active regions on a semiconductor substrate in a form of a spacer to turn most of the conventional device isolation regions into the active regions.
In order to achieve the above-described object of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including the steps of: (a) forming a stacked structure of a pad oxide film and a nitride film on a semiconductor substrate; (b) forming trenches by etching the stacked structure and the semiconductor substrate by a predetermined depth, wherein trenches are alternately arranged in a form of a matrix in the semiconductor substrate so that the trenches do not adjoin each other; (c) forming a first insulating spacer on the sidewalls of the trench; (d) selectively forming an epitaxial silicon layer in the trenches to fill the trenches and extrude upward higher than the nitride film; (e) planarizing the epitaxial silicon layer using the stacked structure of the pad oxide film and the nitride film as an etch stop layer; (f) removing the stacked structure of the pad oxide film and the nitride film to expose the semiconductor substrate to make the planarized epitaxial silicon layer extruded upward; (g) forming a second insulating spacer on a sidewall of the extruded epitaxial silicon layer so that the epitaxial silicon layer can be electrically isolated with an adjacent semiconductor substrate; (h) forming gate oxide film patterns on the epitaxial silicon layer and the semiconductor substrate, respectively; (i) forming a gate electrode on the each gate oxide film patterns; and (j) forming a source and a drain on the both sides of the gate electrode by an impurity implantation process using the gate electrode as a mask.
In addition, the first insulating spacer comprises a stacked structure of an oxide film and a nitride film.
The second insulating spacer comprises a stacked structure of an oxide film and a nitride film.
The step of planarizing the epitaxial silicon layer is performed by a chemical mechanical polishing process.
The semiconductor device is used as a display conversion device using a transistor as an individual unit system.
There is also provided a semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate, as a first active region, on which rectangular trenches are alternately formed in a form of a matrix; an epitaxial silicon layer, as a second active region, filling the trenches and extruding upward so that the surface of the epitaxial silicon layer is higher than the surface of the substrate, wherein the epitaxial silicon layer in the trenches is electrically isolated with the substrate by a first insulating spacer interposed therebetween and the extruded epitaxial silicon layer is electrically isolated with the substrate by a second insulating spacer formed on both sides of the extruded epitaxial silicon layer; a gate electrode pattern formed on the first and the second active regions interposing a gate oxide; and source and drain regions on the both sides of the gate electrode pattern in the first and the second active regions.
The first insulating spacer comprises a stacked structure of an oxide film and a nitride film.
The second insulating spacer comprises a stacked structure of an oxide film and a nitride film.
On the other hand, the principle of the present invention will now be explained.
Trenches are formed by etching rectangular device isolation regions defining rectangular active regions on a semiconductor substrate, and a selective epitaxial-growth layer filling the trenches is grown using the semiconductor substrate at the bottom of the trenches as a seed. Here, an insulating spacers are formed between the device isolation region and the active region before and after forming the selective epitaxial-growth layer.
As a result, the insulating spacer is positioned on the boundaries of the active regions composed of the selective epitaxial-growth layer in the device isolation region and the active regions composed of the semiconductor substrate, thereby forming the active regions in a matrix shape so that the active regions can separately adjoin each other and the same active regions cannot adjoin each other. Accordingly, a size of the device is minimized, and each of the transistors can be used as individual unit systems such as display conversion devices.
Here, one side of a word line passing through the respective active regions is used as a source, and the other side of the word line is used as a drain. The drain is used as a source of the adjacent word line.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device


An anemometer transducer wind set with no moving parts for determining both wind speed magnitude and wind direction components having an omnidirectional wind speed resultant thermal anemometer transducer and a directional orthogonal or right angle ducted thermal anemometer transducer. Omnidirecitonal single-ended element design configuration is disclosed that is used to control thermal anemometer resultant wind element spatial response to wind flow together with a wind set array configuration that combines the resultant wind measurement transducer with an orthogonal dual component ducted thermal anemometer wind direction sensing transducer.

The use of electrically self-heated resistors, hot wires, and hot films as thermal anemometer transducers is well known in the prior art. In such devices, a heated resistive element serves as a sensing element, and its physical geometry is used to define its spatial response to impinging airflow. The sensing transducer has a non-zero temperature coefficient of resistance and is maintained at feedback controlled constant resistance. Transducer element pairs are used to determine direction and in some cases they are used to determine both speed and direction.
In a well-executed paired-element directional thermal anemometer, where speed and direction are both differentially read out, advantage is taken of common-mode rejection of unwanted spurious input signals such as those caused by rain, snow, drizzle, fog, salt accretion and the like. Examples of such anemometers are those made in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,279,147 and 4,794,795.
Earlier directional anemometers such as those taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,352,154, 3,900,819, 4,024,761, and 4,206,638, use single-ended thermal anemometer sensing element pairs where the velocity or speed component is taken as the sum of the element signals with respect to ground, and direction sign sense information is taken as the difference signal between the two elements.
A bounded pipe or conduit enclosed tandem hot wire transducer is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,085 wherein a method for taking electrical differences from transducer side to side is taught.
A somewhat different approach is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,127, wherein an orthogonal set of paired sensing elements is used to drive a cathode ray indicator displaying speed and direction.
An entirely different approach to directional anemometry takes advantage of the wake vortex that is shed from an obstruction or bluff body that is placed in an air stream. When an obstructing strut or bar is placed across a tube, vortices are shed in rapid succession on opposite sides of the obstruction where the vortex frequency is proportional to fluid velocity through the tube. Directivity is determined by the shape of the tube inlet and direction sign sense is determined by which side of the bluff body leads the shed vortex. Customarily, an ultrasonic method is used to detect the shed vortex. Vortex-Shedding meters are briefly described on pages 262-263 in a book entitled "Fluid Mechanics Measurements", edited by Richard J. Goldstein and published in 1983 by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, New York, ISBN 0-89116-244-5.
Yet another method that has been widely used in directional anemometry takes advantage of the pressure distribution around a circular cylinder, with pairs of opposing pressure ports being used to determine local pressure differences that are a function of cylinder rotation in the flow field. A detailed description of the technique is presented in Chapter V, "Flow Direction Measurements", pages 97-110 in "Aerodynamics Measurements", edited by Robert C. Dean, Jr., Gas Turbine Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published in 1953 by the M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass. Reference is also made to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,153.
Multi-component anemometers are generally used out-of-doors at unattended or isolated locations and are openly exposed to the surrounding environment. In particular, it has been observed that thermal anemometers may accumulate dirt and contamination and their performance can deteriorate unless routine periodic cleaning is employed or naturally occurring rainfall cleanses the anemometer. Often, they are operated where varying amounts of oil fog and unburned hydrocarbon vapors are present, as at airports, offshore drilling and production platforms, near power plants, and near ship and naval vessel exhaust stacks. Regardless of configuration and how thermal element pairs are used, dirt and oil vapor condensate accumulation adversely affects directional anemometer calibration and, in the long term, measured component wind speed will decrease as anemometer sensitivity becomes impaired, while wind direction sensing is little affected. The differential paired-element anemometers, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,279,147 and 4,794,795, provide a composite wind speed and direction component output and see little if any change in direction sensing precision since dirt and oil accumulation is random, is fairly uniform, and occurs as a common-mode phenomenon. Wind component output is decreased as the elements become coated, while element cosine response is virtually unchanged. The single-ended element pairs, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,352,154, 3,900,819, 4,024,761, and 4,206,638, will see a more drastic change in sensitivity since their wind speed output is taken as the sum of two sensing element signals for each component.
Historically, the weather services of the World use wind data in polar form (rho-theta) for wind speed and wind direction, and most mechanical and electromechanical wind sets are configured accordingly. World-wide gathering and transmission of wind data are handled in polar form. For thermal anemometer planar wind measurement, as well as vortex shedding and differential pressure anemometers, two Cartesian components are customarily sensed, indicating North-South and East-West wind, or headwind and crosswind. Generally, wind direction, theta, is determined from two anemometer orthogonal components by computing the arc tangent or arc cotangent function, and the magnitude of the wind resultant, rho, is found by taking the square root of the sum of the squares of the orthogonal wind components.
Allowed patent application Ser. No. 07/568,425 is incorporated by reference to further define background art.


The present invention relates to novel green tea water soluble film composition comprising a) green tea extract, b) water soluble polymer mixture consisting of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and sodium alginate, and c) additives. Green tea is conveniently prepared by dissolving the novel water soluble green tea film of the said invention in hot water.

Green tea herb has been used for preparing green tea for many years, since it contains various ingredients for good health, for example inorganic ingredients, vitamins, anti-oxidants or anti-bacterial components as functional ingredients.
Recently various green tea type products such as dried green tea leaf itself, granule type green tea, disposable green tea bag, have been developed and marketed conventionally.
Generally, the conventionally marketed green tea products have various disadvantages, for example inconvenience to clean the un-used green tea leaf or disposable green tea bag soaked in remaining water, which cause difficulty in handling and cleaning. Moreover, such disposable tea bag may burst and give rise to other disadvantages, for example, difficulty in controlling proper brewing time to obtain most palatable taste.
In order to overcome the above disadvantages of green tea leaf or disposable green tea bag, inventors of PCT Publication No. WO2015/088221 have developed a water soluble film type herb tea preparation comprising a water soluble polymer, an herb extract and a plasticizer. The inventors of WO '221 Publication have developed a green tea film comprising a water soluble polymer selected from pullulan or pectin and mixtures thereof comprising of about 2% w/w to about 40% w/w of total composition of the film. The films as disclosed in WO '221 patent are brittle, fragile in nature and have bitter taste. Therefore, there exists a need to develop the water soluble film comprising green tea extract, and a water soluble polymer that have better film forming properties, faster disintegration time and pleasant taste.
The inventors of the present invention have intensively investigated to improve the film formation and disintegration time of water soluble film comprising green tea extract, as a result of investigation, the inventors have surprisingly discovered a novel water soluble film composition comprising green tea extract and water soluble polymer mixture consisting of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and sodium alginate that have the advantages of better film forming properties, faster disintegration time, flexibility, pleasant taste and faster disintegration rate etc.


The present invention provides a resin molding method for fuel cell separator. The fuel cell separator includes: a resin mold region formed inward a predetermined distance from an edge; a through hole formed at the resin mold region; and a front end region formed between the through hole and the edge at the resin mold region. The resin molding method includes: a die set process that the resin mold region of the fuel cell separator is set in the die such that the front end region is held by a pair of anti-deformation pins of the die; and a resin filling process that a resin is filled in the die, wherein the resin is molded on the resin mold region of the fuel cell separator so as to be filled in the through hole, and a resin member is thereby molded on the resin mold region so as to extend outward from the edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a separator of solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, and it relates to a resin molding method for a portion of the separator.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, fuel cells are known as driving sources for automobiles or the like. In typical fuel cells, separators are applied to both sides of a plate-shaped electrode (MEA: Membrane Electrode Assembly) so as to form a, layered structure (cell) as a unit, and plural units are stacked to form a fuel cell stack. The MEA is a three-layered structure that a polymerized electrolytic membrane, which is made of an ion-exchange resin or the like, is held by a pair of gas diffusion electrode plates (positive electrode plate (cathode) and negative electrode plate (anode)). The gas diffusion electrode plate is structured such that a gas diffusion layer is formed on the outside of a catalytic layer which contacts the polymerized electrolytic membrane. The separator is layered so as to contact the gas diffusion electrode plate of the MEA. Gas passages for circulating a gas and coolant passages are formed between the gas diffusion electrode plate and the separator. In the fuel cell, for example, hydrogen gas as a fuel is supplied to the gas passages facing the gas diffusion electrode plate at the negative electrode plate side, and an oxidizing gas (oxygen, air, or the like) is supplied to the gas passages facing the gas diffusion electrode plate at the positive electrode plate side, and electricity is thereby generated by electrochemical reaction.
The separator should have characteristics that electrons generated by the catalytic reaction of the hydrogen gas at the negative electrode plate side are supplied to an external circuit, while electrons from the external circuit are supplied to the positive electrode plate side. Electrically conductive materials such as carbon-containing materials or metal-containing materials are used as the separator. In particular, the separator made of the metal-containing materials is superior in mechanical strength, and the weight reduction and the size reduction thereof can be performed by the thickness reduction. Thus, the separator made of the metal-containing materials is advantageous. The separator made of the metal-containing materials is produced such that thin plates of stainless steel used as a material are formed so as to have a corrugated cross section by press forming, and grooves formed on the surface and the rear surface thereof are used as the gas passages and the coolant passages.
In separators, a resin member is partially provided at a peripheral edge portion of separator as a positioning member used in layering, a guarding and reinforcing member for movement prevention of the cell due to collision, or the like. In this case, the resin member may be connected to the peripheral edge portion of separator by using an adhesive. However, in this method using the adhesive, since the resin member is separately produced, and it is applied to the separator by using the adhesive, the production cost is higher. In addition, hardening of the adhesive is time-consuming, and it is difficult to obtain a high connection strength. Since the adhesive is used for the connection of the resin member and the separator, there are limits for improving size accuracy.
In order to solve the above problems, a method has been proposed in which a resin is molded at a peripheral edge portion of separator so that molding and connection are performed simultaneously. For example, as a technique in which a resin is molded to a thin parts of metal or the like, a resin molding method has been known in which a parts is set in a die, and a resin is injected to the die (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-58442).
In the resin molding method in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-58442, the overall of the parts (which is an electronic substrate in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-58442) is provided in the die, the resin is injected in the die, so that almost overall of the parts is molded by the resin. When this method is used such that the resin is molded at only the peripheral edge portion of separator, the peripheral edge portion of separator is held between two dies, and the resin is injected. In this method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-58442, the resin molding is not performed on the overall of the parts which is the separator. Due to this, when force is applied from the peripheral edge portion of separator to the outside, a resin member formed by this method may be separated from the separator, and it may be fallen down. That is, it is difficult to secure the connection strength of the separator and the resin member.

Fuel cell separator and molding method for fuel cell separator


A method and apparatus for forming an absorbent core assembly containing a batt of particulate material which may be used in an absorbent article. The apparatus may include a laydown drum having a plurality of vacuum zones, a plurality of fence zones, and a plurality of blow-off zones. The vacuum zones may be substantially permeable to permit air to pass through and into the laydown drum. The fence zones may be substantially impermeable to inhibit air from passing through. The blow-off zones may be substantially permeable to permit air to pass out of and through said laydown drum. The apparatus may also include a deposition chute for depositing particulate material on a web of material in close proximity to the laydown drum. A shield may also be attached to the deposition chute in order to prevent the particles from bouncing off of the laydown drum.

Absorbent articles having absorbent core assemblies for use in absorbing body fluids are well known in the art. For example, disposable diapers are often constructed having an absorbent core assembly positioned between layers of materials. Said absorbent core assemblies often comprise a mixture of particulate materials (e.g., fluff material and superabsorbent polymer) which are formed into a batt. Said batt may be positioned between two or more layers of materials. One such layer may be adapted to face the wearer's body, such as a dusting layer. Another such layer conveniently may be adapted to face away from the person's body, such as a core wrap. Said batt is intended to extended longitudinally inboard of the end edges of the diaper (i.e., batt does not extend entire length of diaper).
In the manufacturing of said absorbent core assemblies, a variety of techniques are well known. For example, discrete batts may be formed by the use of vacuum zones within a laydown drum. However, such current techniques and apparatus experience problems with superabsorbent polymer being inadvertently deposited substantially along the entire length of the diaper. Said problem presents issues with the superabsorbent polymer being free from the fluff material and subsequently piercing through the topsheet, causing said superabsorbent polymer to be deposited on the wearer's skin and thereby create a negative aesthetic perception on the part of the consumer. Additionally, another problem may exist when fluff material is inadvertently deposited substantially along the entire length of the diaper, thus interfering with an end seal necessary to contain the absorbent core assembly.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for forming a batt of particulate material (e.g., fluff material and superabsorbent polymer) for use as a component in an absorbent core assembly.

Method and apparatus for forming a batt of particulate material for use as a component in an absorbent core assembly


The present invention is directed to a process for making bas-relief surfaces applied to downy fabrics such as bedspreads, carpets and blankets, the proposed process being part of the proper logical sequence of the steps for making a downy fabric through the use of silk screen techniques and the equipment known as xe2x80x9ctufting machinexe2x80x9d and shredding machine, the proposed process being basically defined by the replacement of ink in at least one of the silk screen printing frames with a glue solution homogenized with a dye and the insertion of an intermediate step for drying the thus-printed fabric in the dryer after it leaves the vaporizer and before it is moved to the washer.

The present invention is related to a process for making bas-relief surfaces applied to downy fabrics such as bedspreads, carpets and blankets.
Downy fabrics can be obtained from a large variety of manufacturing processes, as well as the creation of bas-relief surfaces applied to such fabrics. The present manufacturing process defines differentiated manufacturing steps in a process for making downy fabrics that employs equipment technically known as xe2x80x9ctufting machinexe2x80x9d or tuft-making machine, into which drawings or graphics are incorporated in printing step though silk screen techniques, which comprises basically the passage of ink through screens laid on the fabric and conveniently perforated in places where it is desired to apply ink to the fabric.
The creation of bas-relief areas in downy fabrics through conventional processes follows basically the following steps: heat seaming the areas through hot rollers; use of special scissors; change in the regulation of the tuft-making machine in order to create needle reading bands; flocking. Any of these solutions presents a number of inconveniences that range from the need of skilled workers for operating the equipment to the huge demand of time required for creating bas-relief areas, thus making the manufacturing process excessively expensive.

Process for making bas-relief surfaces applied to downy fabrics

Av. Humberto Castelo Branco, 670-Sxc3xa3o Bernardo Do Campxc3x3

Av. Humberto Castel Branco, 670-Sxc3xa3o Bernardo Do Campxc3x3


This document describes techniques and apparatuses for implementing a mood-actuated device. In various embodiments, mood information corresponding to a current mood of a user is received. An emotional state of the user is determined based on the mood information, and a mood-actuated device is controlled to react based on the emotional state of the user. In some embodiments, the mood-actuated device includes a flexible material that is configured to react by changing to a shape based on the emotional state of the user.

Stress has a wide range of negative impacts on people, ranging from declines in real-time task performance to development of chronic health conditions. Despite the increasing availability of sensors and methods for detecting stress, there are very few existing stress intervention applications. Further, gaps still exist between what a person perceives as stress, and what is actually going on in the person's body.


An oil level detector includes a circular holder base installed in an oil tank of a vehicle to hold an insulative sleeve in a bottom tube thereof, a float floating with the level of oil along the bottom tube, and a circuit board mounted in the insulative sleeve to detect the elevation of the float, wherein the tube which holds the insulative sleeve inside the holder base is an anticorrosive close-end tube; the insulative sleeve has both ends sealed with a respective sealing cap, the sealing cap which seals the top end of the sleeve being forced into tight engagement with the inner diameter of the tube when the sleeve is installed in the tube, causing the top end of the tube to be water-tightly sealed.

The present invention relates to an oil level detector for use in an oil tank of a vehicle to detect the level of oil, and more particularly to such an oil level detector which has means to effectively prohibit oil from passing to its inside.
FIG. 4 illustrates an oil level detector according to the prior art. This structure of oil level detector comprises a flat, circular holder base 5 having a tube 52 at the bottom side and a top block 51 at the top side, a top cover 6 covered on the top block 51, a float 53 mounted around and moved vertically along the tube 52, a detecting circuit board 8 mounted in the bore 521 of the tube 52, and a screw cap 7 mounted with a rubber ring 71 and threaded into the inner thread 522 at the bottom end of the tube 52. The lead wires 81 of the detecting circuit board 8 are extended out of a hole 511 at the top block 51 and a hole 61 at the top cover 6, and connected to power source. This structure of oil level detector is still not satisfactory in function. Because oil may permeate through the gaps between the inner thread 522 of the tube 52 and the threaded periphery of the screw cap 7, the detecting circuit board 8 tends to be damaged by oil leaked in the tube 52. Further gas or moisture may permeate through the holes 61,511 to the inside of the tube 52 to damage the detecting circuit board 8. There is known a similar oil level detector in which the tube which holds the detecting circuit board on the inside is a close-end tube directly injection-molded from plastics. Because the bottom end of the tube is a closed end, oil is prohibited from leaking in the tube. However, the plastic material property of the tube will be damaged a certain period of time after dipping in oil, causing oil to leak in the tube through damaged structure of the tube.

Oil level detector for detecting the oil level in the oil tank of a vehicle


A double-sided display which can suitable carry out black display both in a well-lighted place and a dark place is provided. The following members are disposed in the B direction: a first polarizing plate (14) which allows only a linearly polarized light component to pass through; a liquid crystal layer (13) which, when a voltage is applied thereto, optically rotates and causes linearly polarized light in one direction to be linearly polarized light in the other direction, while, when no voltage is applied, does not alter the direction of the linearly polarized light; a polarizing selective reflector (16) which reflects the linearly polarized light in one direction while allows the linearly polarized light in the other direction to pass through; and a second polarizing plate (15) which absorbs the light in one direction while allows the light in the other direction to pass through. The polarizing selective reflector (16) is disposed only in the B direction of the liquid crystal layer (13). Double-sided image reproduction is realized by carrying out reflective image reproduction on the side in the A direction and carrying out transmission image reproduction on the side in the B direction.

Among various types of displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) adopting liquid crystal have been most commonly used thanks to low power consumption. There have been two types of display modes and driving methods of the liquid crystal displays, namely a passive matrix system and active matrix system. In an age of multimedia, there have been growing demands for the improvements in resolution, contrast, gradation (multicolor, full color), and angle of view of displays. Considering that the passive matrix system is hardly capable of meeting the demands, the active matrix system has been contrived. In this system, a switching element (active element) is provided in each pixel so that the number of scanning electrodes to be driven is increased. In these days, the improvements in resolution, contrast, gradation, and angle of view have been achieved by adopting the active matrix system. An active matrix liquid crystal display is arranged in such a manner that pixel electrodes provided in a matrix manner are electrically connected to scanning lines provided around the pixel electrodes, through the intermediary of active elements. Examples of the active elements includes a two-terminal nonlinear element and three-terminal nonlinear element, and a currently dominating type of the active elements is a three-terminal thin-film transistor (hereinafter, TFT).
In recent times, mobile devices typified by mobile phones are commonly equipped with liquid crystal displays adopting the active element system. Such mobile devices are required to have good visibility both in the open air and in doors. Conventional transmission liquid crystal displays can reproduce images with high quality in doors, but the quality of the images significantly deteriorates when used in intense outside light. To reproduce images with sufficient quality in all kinds of settings both in and outside of doors, a system (front-light system) in which an auxiliary light source is provided in a reflective liquid crystal display and a semi-transmissive liquid crystal display in which each pixel has a reflective display area and transmissive display area have actively been developed.
In the field of mobile devices such as mobile phones, devices having two displays, namely a display for main information and a display for simple information, have become mainstream. The display for main information adopts an active matrix panel in order to display large-sized data such as visual images. The display for simple information has a screen smaller than that of the display for main information and displays small-sized data such as a clock, and thus adopts a passive matrix panel. The double-sided display is realized by disposing these liquid crystal displays in a back-to-back manner. However, the use of two liquid crystal displays has been accompanied with various problems typified by the impediment of the reduction of thickness, weight, and costs.
To overcome these problems, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-193956 (Tokukai 2000-193956; published on Jul. 14, 2000) discloses a liquid crystal display which realizes double-sided display by incorporating one liquid crystal display with two reflective polarizers.
FIG. 15 shows a liquid crystal display 110 of this patent application. In the liquid crystal display 110, a first reflective polarizer 118 is provided on one side of a liquid crystal cell 122, and a second reflective polarizer 142 is provided on the opposite side of the liquid crystal cell 122. Furthermore, on the outer surface of the first reflective polarizer 118, i.e. on the surface not facing the liquid crystal cell 122, a first absorbing polarizer 114 is disposed. Between the liquid crystal cell 122 and second reflective polarizer 142, a scattering layer 138 is disposed. On the outer surface of the second reflective polarizer 142, a second absorbing polarizer 146 is disposed, and on the outer surface of the second absorbing polarizer 146, a light absorbing layer 150 is disposed in a detachable manner. Further, on the outer surface of the first absorbing polarizer 114, a substantially transparent light guiding plate 152 is provided for emitting light toward the liquid crystal cell 122, and light sources 166 are provided for emitting light towards the light guiding plate 152.
The directions of the following axes are determined as illustrated in FIG. 5: a transmission axis 114T and absorption axis 114A of the first absorbing polarizer 114, a transmission axis 118T and reflection axis 118R of the first reflective polarizer 118, a transmission axis 142T and reflection axis 142R of the second reflective polarizer 142, and a transmission axis 146T and absorption axis 146A of the second absorbing polarizer 146.
With the arrangement above, in a dark place, the liquid crystal display 110 can operate as a reflective display viewed from the outer surface of the light guiding plate 152, by causing the light emitted from the light sources 166 to be reflected on the second reflective polarizer 142. On the contrary, in a dark place, the liquid crystal display 110 can also function as a transmissive display viewed from the outer surface of the second reflective polarizer 142, by causing the light emitted from the light sources 166 to pass through the second reflective polarizer 142 and second absorbing polarizer 146.
However, since the liquid crystal display 110 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-193956 performs double-sided display using the reflective polarizers for both the front and back displays, the following problems occur: In a well-lighted place, when the liquid crystal display 110 is used as a transmissive display and viewed from the outer surface of the second reflective polarizer 142, the direction of polarizing the linearly polarized light incident on the liquid crystal cell 122 from the light guiding plate 152 is altered for 90 degrees in the case of the arrangement in FIG. 15, for carrying out black display. In this case, if outside light enters from the outer surface of the second reflective polarizer 142, the light incident on the liquid crystal cell 122 is reflected on the first reflective polarizer 118, so as to return towards the outer surface of the second reflective polarizer 142. For this reason, the black display is not properly carried out so that the quality of displayed images deteriorates.
In this manner, the conventional double-sided liquid crystal display 110 cannot properly carry out black display only either in a dark place or in a well-lighted place.
The present invention is done to solve the above-identified problem. The objective of the present invention is to provide (i) a double-sided display which can properly carry out black display both in a dark place and in a well-lighted place, and (ii) a device including the same.


Container structure provided at the bottom, on its front and back side, with small beams and with beams mounted in a lateral direction, whereby at least on the neighborhood of twistlocks, which are provided on four corners of a container, at least on small cross-beams, a reinforcement profile is provided, whereby said reinforcement profile is substituted by a buffer block, which at the under side and following a vertical cross-section, has at least one inclined plane, in such a manner that by a setting down of a container on another container, said twistlock of a container slides along said inclined plane of said container to be set down without deforming said inclined plane.

The invention relates to a container provided with small beams at the bottom, on its front and back side, and with beams mounted in the longitudinal direction, whereby at least in the neighbourhood of the twistlocks, which are provided on the four corners of the container, at least on the small cross beams a reinforcement profile is provided.
By the shipping of containers, particularly by piling up the containers on each other, it often happens that the twistlock head, which has the shape of a mushroom, crushes in and deforms the reinforcement profile of a container which has to be piled up on the first container.
This due to the fact that, notwithstanding the trend of automatising the setting down or piling up of the containers, it is not possible to execute this operation without any errors.
It also seems that more than 25% of the repairing costs on containers is due to damages on the above described reinforement profile.


A differential transmission cable includes at least one pair of inner conductors arranged in parallel and extending parallel to each other, and a foamed insulating material formed on the inner conductors by a collective extrusion coating and molding of a resin material by using a chemical foaming method and have a variation of foaming degree of not more than 1%. The variation of foaming degree is defined as a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value among foaming degrees (%) of the foamed insulating material at 20 positions at intervals of 50 cm in a longitudinal direction in an arbitrary part of 10 m cut out from the differential transmission cable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a differential transmission cable and a method of manufacturing the differential transmission cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of manufacturing a differential transmission cable, for example, there is a method configured such that a foamed insulating material is disposed directly above a dual core conductor by a collective extrusion for coating, particularly, such as a method described in JP-A-2001-035270. In the foam molding by a conventional single screw extruder such as that being used in the JP-A-2001-035270, the screw is composed of only metal and temperature control is mainly carried out in the cylinder part.

Differential transmission cable and method of manufacturing the same


A method for the metered application of a biochemical analytical liquid to a target, wherein the liquid is ejected in small quantities on to the target through a jet from a jet chamber by a procedure in which a partial volume of the liquid in the jet chamber is evaporated and expanded for a short time whenever a quantity of the liquid is to be ejected. The invention further relates to a device with a disposable jet element which contains prepackaged analytical liquid.

In clinical chemistry, it is frequently required to carry out the metered application of an analytical liquid to a target. The liquid can be for example a sample fluid, especially blood or serum, a liquid reagent or a calibrating liquid. As a general rule, these liquids contain proteins or other macromolecules participating in biochemical processes.
The target to which the liquid is to be applied can be a reaction vessel, very small plastic reaction vessels being used predominantly in automatic analyzers at the present time. The microtitre plates often used in microbiology are a further example. One case which is of particular importance for the invention is the application of the analytical liquid to an analysis element (frequently also referred to as a test carrier or as a solid state analysis element). In terms of the present invention, this concept includes both discrete analysis elements and bands, strips or other forms of continuous analysis elements which can be passed continuously through a metering station where the analytical liquid is applied.
Traditionally, various forms of plunger-barrel constructions (dispensers and diluters) were used for the application of analytical liquids in automatic analyzers. Reagents were predominantly applied to analysis elements in such a way that a carrier matrix, for example made of paper, was immersed in a liquid reagent or, in a layering method, a reagent film was produced from a film-forming liquid containing polymers. If a spatially delimited reagent domain had to be produced specifically on a base layer, it was recommended to use various printing techniques.
EP-A-119 573 and EP-A-268 237 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,745) deal with methods and devices of the type indicated at the outset. Their technique is based on the ink-jet technology originally developed for computer printers (ink-jet printers). Both patent specifications contain more detailed illustrations of the previously known state of the art, to which reference is made here.
EP-A-119 573 deals especially with the problem of providing a cost-effective "pump element" designed as a disposable (single-use) component. The jet chamber here is formed essentially by a section of an elastic tube which is part of the pump element. Directed at its lateral surface is an electromagnetically actuated cylindrical rod which is moved against the tube every time a drop is to be ejected.
EP-A-268 237 describes a device in which the jet chamber consists of a length of tube which is surrounded by a coaxial piezoelectric actuating element, also of tubular design, and which is compressed when a drop is to be ejected.

Method for the metered application of a biochemical analytical liquid to a target


Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a color-controlled sapphire, comprising: vaporizing a metal material, irradiating the vaporized metal material with electron beams or high-frequency waves to form the vaporized metal material into a plasma state, and then implanting the metal ions into a sapphire by extracting the metal ions from the plasma and accelerating the metal ions (step 1); and heat-treating the sapphire implanted with the metal plasma ions in an oxygen atmosphere or in air (step 2). According to the method of manufacturing a sapphire of the present invention, a sapphire, which can exhibit various colors, can be manufactured by implanting the ions, which can cause optical band gap changes into the sapphire, and a sapphire, which cannot be damaged by radiation and can exhibit colors uniformly, can be manufactured by conducting heat treatment under an oxygen atmosphere. Further, according to the present invention, a sapphire, which cannot be damaged by radiation and can be made to exhibit uniform colors, can be manufactured by performing the above processes repeatedly.

Sapphire is a single-crystalline aluminum oxide transparent to the visible light. Natural sapphire may include various impurities according to the environment, and thus the energy band gap of the single-crystalline aluminum oxide is influenced by the impurities. For this reason, sapphire may have peculiar colors, such as blue, green, red, yellow, etc., depending on the species of the impurities, and can be used as gemstones. Generally, the colored sapphire is produced in nature in large quantities. Since the amount and kind of the impurities included in sapphire are predetermined, the ability to improve the value of sapphire is limited even when the sapphire is post-treated in order to use the sapphire as a gemstone. Unlike diamond, the colored sapphire has a several times higher value than the transparent sapphire. Therefore, the present invention provides a method—enabling sapphire to exhibit various colors by doping various metallic impurities into the transparent sapphire.
As conventional gemstone coloring methods, a radiation method, a surface diffusion method, and an ion implantation method are used.
First, the radiation method employs a principle in which high-energy particles, such as α-rays or γ-rays, are applied on the surface of a gemstone, so that lattice defects are induced, thereby enabling the jewel to exhibit colors. That is, when sapphire is irradiated with radioactive rays, lattice defects are induced, and the lattice defects act as color centers. From this principle, sapphire can exhibit various colors according to the kind of the radiation and the intensity of the radiant energy. However, the radiation method, in which lattice defects are induced temporarily, is problematic in that, since sapphire is stabilized in combination with oxygen, even when the sapphire is left in the atmosphere for a certain period or is heated slightly, the sapphire is combined with oxygen, so that lattice defects disappear, with the result that the color of the sapphire returns to its original color. Further, this radiation method is problematic in that the radioactive rays applied to sapphire are continuously emitted from the sapphire, and it takes 10 years or more to make the sapphire, which is contaminated with radio-active radiations.
Meanwhile, the surface diffusion method is a method of diffusing impurities into the sapphire by coating the materials on the surface of the sapphire and then heat-treating. Compared to the above the radiation method, this surface diffusion method can solve the problem in which the color of the sapphire returns to its original color and the problem in which radioactive rays are emitted from the sapphire, but is problematic in that a long period and high-temperature treatment conditions are required in order for the impurities to diffuse deeper into the sapphire, and thus the production cost of the sapphire is relatively high.
Further, the ion implantation method is a method of implanting ions into a sapphire by accelerating the ionized elements in a vacuum and is advantageous in that its energy band gap is changed after a post-implantation annealing depending on the kind of ion, and thus various colors are exhibited. However, the ion implantation method is problematic in that the kinds of ions and the chemical reactivity must be considered. Further, this ion implantation method is problematic in that, when the ion energy is excessively high at the time of implanting ions into a sapphire, the surface of the sapphire is damaged by radiation, and when energy is excessively weak, ion implantation occurs only on the surface of the sapphire, so that the sapphire using this ion implantation method is not different from the sapphire using the above surface diffusion method.
Meanwhile, the coloring effects of sapphire due to the addition of elements are different from those of other gemstones. For example, since diamond is composed of carbon, when nitrogen or boron is added to the diamond, the diamond exhibits yellow and blue colors. In contrast, sapphire does not exhibit peculiar colors even when nitrogen or boron, which are non-metallic elements, are added thereto, but can exhibit peculiar colors when metallic elements are added thereto. The reason for this is that the energy band gap (about 9.0 eV) of sapphire is far larger than that (about 5.5 eV) of diamond.
However, not all metallic elements addition exhibits valuable colors by the sapphire when doped by a post-implantation annealing. For example, it was reported in the paper "Nuclear Instrument and Methods in Physics Research b 59 (1991)1173-1176", written by C. Marques, et al., that when gold (Au) is added to sapphire, the sapphire exhibits a dark black color. However, when heat treatment is conducted, sapphire and gold are not reactive with each other and thus cannot be bonded with aluminum and oxygen, and are thus isolated from the bulk sapphire, resulting in no color change. Therefore, the reason why the sapphire exhibits a dark black color is that the sapphire is only damaged by the energy irradiated in the sapphire.
Meanwhile, it was reported in the paper "Nuclear Instrument and Methods in Physics Research b 218 (2004)139-144", written by C. Saito, et al., that cobalt ions are added to sapphire, and then the sapphire is heat-treated at 800° C. and 1000° C., thus obtaining sapphire exhibiting a green color or a light blue color. Here, since the ion energy used is 20 keV, which is low, the depth of the ions implantation into the sapphire is very shallow. However, due to the heat treatment, the ions implantation into the sapphire only to a very shallow depth, exhibiting the sapphire a green color or a light blue color.
Further, Alves, et al. reported in the paper "Nuclear Instrument and Methods in Physics Research b 207 (2003) 55-62" the phenomena occurring in heat treatment after the addition of titanium and cobalt ions to sapphire. As a result, aluminum in sapphire is substituted with titanium and cobalt, and the sapphire remains stable up to a temperature of 1000° C. They also reported that, when heat treatment is conducted under a reducing atmosphere or when a large amount of ions is added to sapphire, the added Ti or Co ions are bonded with each other, and thus they exist in a metallic state. Therefore, the amount of ions added to the sapphire and the heat treatment atmosphere are important factors in the ion implantation method for the sapphire coloration.
Therefore, the present inventors have conducted research in order to manufacture sapphire which is not damaged by radiation and in which colors are uniformly distributed. As a result, they have found that when sapphire is irradiated with a predetermined amount of metal ions having a predetermined energy level, the metal ions are implanted into the sapphire, and when the sapphire is heated in an oxidizing atmosphere, the radiation damage caused by the ion implantation is removed, and simultaneously the metal ions are uniformly diffused into the sapphire. Based on these findings, the present invention was completed.

Method for manufacturing the color controlled sapphire


In a computing system, various components/devices communicate with each other. For example, a microprocessor may communicate with memory or may communicate with another microprocessor over a link. Various factors such as the frequency and transmission speed of a signal can distort what is being communicated over a link. The problem becomes more pronounced as the transmission speed increases. To address this problem, devices on both ends of a link can cooperate to equalize the link. Equalization involves configuring the transmitting device to alter the signal being transmitted so that certain distortions introduced during transmission are negated by the time the signal arrives at the receiving device. Given that each link can have slightly different characteristics, appropriate equalization parameters need to be ascertained for each link. Introduced herein are improved techniques for performing equalization that are quick yet provide equalization parameters that are stable even in a noisy high-speed link.

A link is a communication channel that connects devices of a single or multiple computing systems and allows them to communicate with one another. Various factors such as the frequency components of the signal, the speed of the transmission, and the types of chips, link and channels, can affect the signal quality and, in some instances, make the signal illegible for the devices at the receiving end. One technique to combat this has been to "equalize" the channel so that the frequency domain attributes of the signal at the input end are faithfully reproduced at the output end, resulting in fewer errors. High-speed interconnects, such as PCIe (especially gen5), USB, and NVLink™ provided by NVidia® Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., use equalizers to prepare data signals for transmission.

Techniques for improving high-speed communications in a computing system


A method for designing a system on a target device is disclosed. The system is synthesized. The system is partitioned into a plurality of logical sections utilizing information derived from synthesizing the system and prior to performing placement of the system on the target device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Electronic designs for large systems may include millions of gates and megabits of embedded memory. Of the tasks required in managing and optimizing electronic designs on a target device, synthesis, placement, and routing utilizing available resources can be among the most challenging and time consuming. The complexity of large systems often requires the use of electronic design automation (EDA) tools to manage and optimize designs. EDA tools perform the time-consuming tasks of synthesis, placement, and routing on a target device.
The physical design process of modern high-density, high performance digital circuits in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) technologies requires the ability to iterate rapidly during design and debugging stages. State of the art designs which integrate together hundreds of design modules may require many hours of time to compile. Since designs are recompiled frequently during development and debugging, it is highly desirable to reduce compilation times. Additionally, EDA tools use heuristic algorithms that can produce different results given a different set of conditions. This is known as the "seed effect". To mitigate this seed effect, which can cause large variations in circuit quality, designers often compile the same version of their design multiple times using slightly different input conditions to meet performance requirements.
EDA tools have responded to these challenges by integrating incremental design features into their computer aided design (CAD) flows. Incremental design reuses results from previous compilation for unmodified portions of the design. Incremental design can reduce overall design time by 1) speeding up individual compilation, and 2) preserving the performance of unmodified portions of the design.
In order to perform incremental design, an existing design must be divided into partitions. For many EDA tools, dividing a system design into partitions is done manually by the designer. Since modern designs may have hundreds or thousands of modules to partition, the task of partitioning a design could be time consuming for a designer. In addition, poor partitioning choices can degrade circuit quality significantly and often negates the benefits of using incremental design.

Method and apparatus for automatic hierarchical design partitioning


Various exemplary embodiments relate to an integrated circuit (IC) including: an inventoried flag configured to indicate whether the integrated circuit has been inventoried in a current inventory round; and an event detector configured to detect a tag event at the integrated circuit and reset the inventoried flag based on the tag event. In various embodiments, the IC further includes a timer circuit configured to measure a predetermined time since the inventoried flag was set and to prevent the reset of the inventoried flag until the predetermined time has expired.

RFID tags provide a convenient means for identifying physical objects. An RFID tag can be placed on or incorporated into an object. An RFID reader can wirelessly read multiple RFID tags within range of the reader. Passive RFID tags may not include a power source, instead drawing power from the radio signal of the RFID reader. Given these properties, RFID tags can be used for inventory management. An RFID reader may periodically poll RFID tags within its field to determine which physical objects are present.


Transaxial radionuclide imaging is implemented without relative rotation between detectors and a patient by employing a collimator comprising segments sharing a common central axis, each segment having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, wherein the segments are angularly displaced from one another about the common central axis. Embodiments include SPECT systems comprising a polygonal detector having a collimator on at least two sides thereof. Embodiments further include collimators comprising six segments, each offset by an angle of 7 to 9°.

Medical radionuclide imaging, commonly referred to as nuclear medicine, is a significant diagnostic tool that involves the use of ionizing radiation to obtain accurate, three-dimensional (3D) maps of an in vivo patient. Typically, one or more biologically appropriate radiopharmaceuticals are administered to a patient, as by ingestion, inhalation, or injection. Tracer amounts of these radioactive substances emanate gamma quanta while localizing at specific organs, bones, or tissues of interest (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "study area") within the patient's body. One or more radiation detectors are then used to record the internal spatial distribution of the radiopharmaceutical as it propagates from the study area.
As the information is aggregated, it may be processed to create "static" 3D images of the study area. Temporal changes in the distribution's flux may be recorded to generate "dynamic" 3D images. When appropriately interpreted, these "maps" of the patient provide trained physicians insight into the patient's ultimate clinical diagnosis and/or treatment. Known applications of nuclear medicine include: analysis of kidney function, imaging blood-flow and heart function, scanning lungs for respiratory performance, identification of gallbladder blockage, bone evaluation, determining the presence and/or spread of cancer, identification of bowel bleeding, evaluating brain activity, locating the presence of infection, and measuring thyroid function and activity.
In order to screen out undesired, "background" radiation, conventional radionuclide imagers typically provide some means to restrict the ionizing paths of detected gamma quanta to those modes of propagation lying within a predefined range of acceptance angles. Such means typically comprise a set of barriers located in the direction of the ionizing source to substantially exclude gamma quanta not emanating along the direct paths from the study area to the radiation detector. Collimators, including an array of apertures, are customarily employed for this purpose.
Collimators are typically positioned so that undesired radiation is substantially absorbed before it can be detected. The direction (or incident angle) of unabsorbed gamma quanta is controlled by way of collimating aperture arrays that filter a radiation field before gamma quanta is detected. Collimators are typically manufactured from relatively dense (or high atomic number) materials so that undesired radiation is adequately stopped (or absorbed) before reaching the imaging detector. A variety of collimators exist, such as parallel-hole, converging (or diverging) hole, slant-hole, fan-beam, and pin-hole, as well as arrays thereof. These collimators come in a variety of materials, aperture diameters, aperture shapes, and thicknesses of aperture partitions, i.e., septa thicknesses.
One such radionuclide imaging technology that incorporates collimators is the gamma camera utilized in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning. In SPECT scanning, a subject (or patient) is infused with a radioactive substance that emits gamma rays. Conventionally, a gamma camera includes a transducer to receive the gamma rays and record an image therefrom. In order for the image to be a true representation of the subject, a collimator having collimating apertures is positioned between the transducer and the subject to screen out all of the gamma rays expect those directed along a straight line through the collimating apertures between a particular part of the subject and a corresponding particular part of the transducer. Traditionally, the collimator is made of radiation opaque material, such as tungsten, tantalum, or lead, and collimating apertures have been formed therein.
For SPECT imaging to be realized, system designs generally require the gamma cameras to be supported on gantries that rotate the detectors through a specific angular range about the patient, usually covering one hundred eighty to three hundred sixty degrees of rotation. A drawback associated with this requirement, however, is that such gantries are relatively expensive subsystems of the diagnostic tool, because they must be capable of providing rapid rotation of large, heavy camera heads through very precise orbits about the patient.
Therefore, there exists a need for simplified medical radionuclide imaging apparatuses that can be economically and efficiently manufactured. There exists a particular need for such apparatuses that provide high image quality without camera head rotation.

Non-rotating transaxial radionuclide imaging


A plastic closure has a tamper-evident band with a 2-tier bridge arrangement comprising upper and lower bridges that are staggered circumferentially of the band. The upper bridges are spaced along an upper line of weakness and connect the tamper-evident band to the side wall of the closure, while the lower bridges are spaced along a lower line of weakness and connect a lower portion of the tamper-evident band to an upper portion of the band. The lower portion has an internal locking bead for engaging an external locking shoulder on the neck of a container. When the closure is moved in a direction to remove it from the container, the upper portion of the band is deformed into a zig-zag shape. Eventually upper bridges, which are weaker than the lower bridges, break, so that at least a top part of the closure can be removed from the container.

This invention is concerned with tamper-evident closures, and more particularly with improved plastic closures having a 2-tier bridge arrangement in a tamper-evident band.
Plastic closures of the type used on oil containers or beverage containers are commonly provided with a tamper-evident band that breaks away from an upper part of the closure, either partially or completely, as the closure is moved to remove it from the container. For example, when a closure is unthreaded from a bottle, bridges that connect an upper part of the closure to a tamper-evident band constituting a lower part of the closure are designed to break, so as to give an indication that the bottle has been opened.
Most closures of the foregoing type employ a single tier or row of bridges spaced along a circumferential line of weakness, but closures employing a 2-tier bridge arrangement are also known. Those closures usually have axial lines of weakness in addition to upper and lower circumferential lines of weakness in their tamper-evident bands, and the closures are designed so that as they are moved to remove them from containers, a portion of the tamper-evident band between the upper and lower lines of weakness is either broken into separate pieces or tears away as a long strip..
In general, prior tamper-evident closures have bridges that may break prematurely -when the closure is applied to a container. Axial lines of weakness provide other sources of premature breakage. Strong bridges may avoid the problem of premature bridge breakage but tend to make the closure removal operation difficult to perform. Moreover, prior tamper-evident bands are subject to undesirable cocking or tilting during closure removal.

Tamper-evident plastic closure with 2-tier bridge arrangement