An in-vehicle video system includes cameras that capture rear and side areas of a vehicle body, monitors that display video images captured by the cameras on screens thereof, and an ECU that shapes the video images that are displayed on the monitors. The cameras are accommodated in housings that are provided on left and right sides of a vehicle body, and side turn signal lamps are provided individually on external surfaces of the housings. The ECU controls a video image processing circuit so that the video images of the rear and side areas of the vehicle body are displayed on two portions of the screen of the monitor at different compression ratios and that the compression ratios change according to vehicle information.

A technology has conventionally been known in which a camera and a monitor are used in place of a side rear-view mirror and a video image of a peripheral area of a vehicle body that is taken by the camera is displayed on the monitor disposed in a passenger compartment of a vehicle. For example, JP-A-2003-312359 describes a "vehicle rear view recognition system" in which cameras are set on both left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle body and a monitor is disposed in front of a driver's seat. JP-A-7-223487 describes a "vehicle peripheral situation display system" in which a moving body in a peripheral area of a vehicle is detected and an area including the moving body is highlighted on a screen of a monitor.

Electronic control unit and in-vehicle video system


A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including: an electrode group in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are spirally wound with a separator interposed therebetween; and a non-aqueous electrolyte including a non-aqueous solvent and a lithium salt dissolved in the non-aqueous solvent, the positive electrode including a positive electrode material mixture layer containing a nickel-containing lithium composite metal oxide, wherein a product of A and B equals 150 to 350, A equals 15 to 20%, and B equals 10 to 25%, where A (%) represents a porosity of the positive electrode material mixture layer, and B (%) represents a volume percentage of ethylene carbonate in the non-aqueous solvent.

With the widespread of smaller and lighter weight electronic equipment such as cell phones and notebook computers in recent years, demand is growing for higher capacity secondary batteries as the power sources therefor. Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, which include: a positive electrode whose active material is a lithium cobalt oxide (e.g., LiCoO2); and a negative electrode comprising a carbon material, have been developed for such application and are now widely used.
LiCoO2, however, is very costly since it contains Co. For this reason, as an alternative to LiCoO2, various other metal oxides are proposed and vigorously studied. Examples of such metal oxides include: LiNiO2; LiNi1-xCoxO2 obtained by partially replacing Ni in LiNiO2 with Co; and LiMn2O4.
Particularly, a positive electrode whose active material is a lithium composite oxide containing nickel as an essential element (hereinafter simply referred to as a nickel-containing oxide), such as LiNiO2 and LiNi1-xCoxO2, can offer higher energy density than a positive electrode whose active material is a lithium cobalt oxide. Accordingly, the use of positive electrode comprising a nickel-containing oxide enables low cost production and provides a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery with improved capacity characteristic.
However, the positive electrode comprising a nickel-containing oxide has lower thermal stability than the positive electrode comprising a lithium cobalt oxide, and thus the resulting battery has the disadvantage of poor safety.
As one approach for improving safety, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-195557 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) proposes a battery that satisfies a relation: 0.2<C3/C1<0.8 in a region of 45<P/S, where P (mAh) represents battery nominal capacity, S (cm2) represents battery surface area, C1 (mAh) represents discharge capacity discharged at P (mA), and C3 (mAh) represents discharge capacity discharged at 3×P (mA). This publication also proposes to produce a positive electrode whose active material layer has a density of not less than 3.2 g/cm3 in order to achieve the above relation.
As another approach, although silent on positive electrode active material, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-123870 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) proposes a solvent for non-aqueous electrolyte comprising ethylene carbonate and methyl ethyl carbonate at a volume percentage of not less than 10% and not greater than 30%, and not less than 50% and not greater than 90%, respectively. According to this publication, when the content of ethylene carbonate is less than 10%, the effect of forming a protection film on the surface of negative electrode active material is reduced. When the content of methyl ethyl carbonate, which has low viscosity and a low boiling point, exceeds 90%, the resulting battery may generate heat due to a short-circuit, increasing the possibility of explosion.
It is generally accepted that the positive electrode whose active material is a nickel-containing oxide containing nickel as an essential element lacks safety because the active material has poor thermal stability. If a short-circuit occurs inside a fully charged battery, a large current will flow locally into the shorted area, thereby generating heat due to Joule heat.
In nail penetration test (one of the safety tests) in which a nail is penetrated through a battery, the most dangerous situation occurs when a positive electrode current collector and a negative electrode material mixture layer come into contact with each other. When a nail is penetrated through a battery, the positive electrode active material layer separates from the positive electrode current collector at the penetrated area, allowing the bare current collector to come into contact with the negative electrode active material layer through the nail, causing excessive heat generation.
In a battery comprising a nickel-containing oxide, it is difficult to prevent excessive heat generation under such conditions as in nail penetration test only by increasing the density of the positive electrode active material to a certain level as disclosed by Patent Document 1. Moreover, as described in Patent Document 1, increasing the density of the positive electrode active material results in a decrease in high rate discharge performance.
Likewise, only combining a battery whose positive electrode active material is a nickel-containing oxide with the electrolyte disclosed by Patent Document 2 (i.e., the electrolyte comprising ethylene carbonate and methyl ethyl carbonate at a volume percentage of not less than 10% and not greater than 90%, respectively) cannot prevent excessive heat generation. Nickel-containing oxides have the disadvantage of low thermal stability. Although the cause has not been determined, the following inherent characteristics of nickel-containing oxides are presumed responsible for low thermal stability. Specifically, a high valence metal oxide decomposes at high temperatures and releases oxygen. The thermal decomposition temperature of positive electrode active material tends to be influenced by the charge state of battery (i.e., the amount of lithium contained in positive electrode). In other words, positive electrode active material tends to decompose more easily as the amount of lithium is reduced. In a nickel-containing oxide, because the amount of lithium is small, the crystal tends to be unstable. When a nickel-containing oxide and a cobalt-containing oxide both having an equal amount of lithium are compared, nickel-containing oxide is thermodynamically more unstable and thus easily releases oxygen.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery


A stimulation probe device including a first electrode, a stimulation module, a control module and a physical layer module. The stimulation module is configured to (i) wirelessly receive a payload signal from a console interface module or a nerve integrity monitoring device, and (ii) supply a voltage or an amount of current to the first electrode to stimulate a nerve or a muscle in a patient. The control module is configured to generate a parameter signal indicating the voltage or the amount of current supplied to the electrode. The physical layer module is configured to (i) upconvert the parameter signal to a first radio frequency signal, and (ii) wirelessly transmit the first radio frequency signal from the stimulation probe to the console interface module or the nerve integrity monitoring device.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A nerve integrity monitoring (NIM) system can include a stimulation probe device, sensors, an electrode connection box, and an electromyography (EMG) monitoring device. The stimulation probe device is used to stimulate nerve and/or muscle activity. As an example, a stimulation probe device may include a stimulating electrode tip. A surgeon may touch a location on a patient with the electrode tip to provide a voltage and/or current to a location on the patient and stimulate nerve activity and as a result a muscle response (or muscle activity). A reference patch may be attached to the patient away from (i) the sensors, and (ii) an area being stimulated. An electrode of the reference patch can be at a reference potential. The sensors can include electrodes that are attached to the patient and used to monitor the muscle activity. A voltage potential between the electrode tip of the stimulation probe device and the reference patch and voltage potentials indicated by outputs of the sensors may be provided via wires to the electrode connection box. The wires are plugged into respective jacks in the electrode connection box.
The electrode connection box can have channels respectively for: a voltage potential of the stimulation probe device; a voltage potential of the reference patch; and output voltages of the sensors. The electrode connection box may filter signals received from the stimulation probe device and sensors and provide corresponding signals to the EMG monitoring device. Depending on the surgical procedure being performed, a large number of cables may be used to transmit information between (i) the stimulation probe device and sensors and (ii) the electrode connection box. As an example, 1-32 channels may be used during a surgical procedure. Each of the channels may correspond to a respective twisted pair cable (each cable having a twisted pair of wires). Each of the cables connected to the sensors is secured to a patient via the electrodes of the sensors, extends away from the patient, and is routed outside of a sterile field (or environment) in which the patient is located to the EMG monitoring device.
In one example, a certain type of sensor may be used during thyroid surgery to monitor nerves in intrinsic laryngeal musculature of a patient. Injury to a recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is one of the most serious complications of thyroid surgery. An endotracheal tube can be used during thyroid surgery to open an airway and provide air to lungs of the patient. The endotracheal tube can include electrodes that are designed to contact vocal chords of the patient to facilitate EMG monitoring of the vocal chords during surgery.
As an example, a stimulating electrode may be placed on a vagus nerve in the neck of the patient to deliver continuous low-level stimulation to nerve endings. A baseline of nerve function is obtained and subsequent EMG responses are monitored via the electrodes connected to the endotracheal tube. Electromyographic signals are generated and detected by the electrodes and provided to an EMG monitoring device. The EMG monitoring device monitors changes in the electromyographic signals to detect changes in intrinsic laryngeal musculature of the patient. Between stimulations, nerves can be at risk due to surgical incision, and/or "blind" trauma caused by stretching, heating, compressing, and/or manipulating tissues of a patient during tumor/thyroid removal. The EMG responses are charted in real time to provide feedback with regard to the conditions of the nerves.

Wireless stimulation probe device for wireless nerve integrity monitoring systems


A method of manufacturing a frequency tunable terahertz transceiver including two separate distributed feedback lasers manufactured in one substrate, includes forming a lower clad layer on the substrate, forming an active layer on the lower clad layer, forming an upper clad layer on the active layer. And interposing first and second diffraction grating layers between the upper clad layers. A diffraction grating is manufactured by etching the first and second diffraction grating layers. The active layer is integrated into a passive waveguide. An electrode is formed on the upper clad layer.

The present invention disclosed herein relates to a frequency tunable terahertz transceiver and a method of manufacturing a dual wavelength laser.
A terahertz band (i.e., 0.1 THz to 3 THz) may have a property that transmits nonmetal and nonpolar materials. Furthermore, since a resonant frequency of various kinds of molecules spreads over a terahertz band, by identifying the molecules in real-time through a nondestructive, unopened, and non-contact method, it is expected that unprecedented analytical techniques of new concept will be provided for medical care, medical science, agricultural food, environmental measurement, bio, and advanced material evaluation. Accordingly, in relation to a terahertz wave, its wide variety of applications expand rapidly. The terahertz wave does not affect the human body because of its very low energy of several meV and its demand as essential core technology for realizing human-centered ubiquitous society is drastically increased. However, techniques satisfying real-time, portable and low cost simultaneously have not developed yet.
As a terahertz generating method currently being used, there are diverse techniques such as a frequency doubling technique, a backward wave oscillator, a photomixing technique, a CO2 pumped gas laser, a quantum cascade laser, and a free electron laser. Many studies in development of a wave source operating in a frequency band of 0.1 THz to 10 THz, called a THZ gap region, are in progress but an appropriate wave source technique satisfying ultra-micro, uncooled, and high-output conditions necessary for commercialization is not mature until now. Moreover, there is no technique for turning a terahertz wave at high speed in a broad frequency band. If it is possible for a terahertz wave to vary at high speed in a broad frequency band, various physical phenomena may be monitored in real-time in a terahertz band.
A terahertz device being used most widely until now is a time domain spectroscopy device that projects a femtosecond-level ultra short pulse laser on a semiconductor-based photoconductive antenna having a high-speed response rate to generate and detect terahertz waves. The terahertz device consisting of a femtosecond-level pulse laser and a photoconductive antenna provides a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) but requires a femtosecond-level pulse laser and very accurate optical device. Therefore, in terms of price and size, there are several limitations in developing a terahertz device as a measuring instrument of a portable concept.

Method of manufacturing frequency tunable terahertz transceiver

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A thin film transistor comprises: a first transistor region and a second transistor region defined on a substrate; and a first transistor and a second transistor respectively disposed on the first and second transistor regions, the first transistor comprising: a first semiconductor layer having source, channel, and drain regions defined on the substrate; a first insulating film disposed on the first semiconductor layer; a first transparent electrode disposed on the first insulating film and formed corresponding to the channel region of the first semiconductor layer; and a second insulating film disposed on the first transparent electrode, and the second transistor comprising: a second semiconductor layer having source, channel, and drain regions defined on the substrate; the first insulating film disposed on the second semiconductor layer; a second transparent electrode disposed on the first insulating film and formed corresponding to the channel region of the second semiconductor layer; a second gate disposed on the second transparent electrode; and the second insulating film disposed on the second gate.

1. Field
This document relates to a thin film transistor, a fabricating method of a thin film transistor, and a display device using the same.
2. Related Art
With the development of the information technology, the market of display devices, that is, connection media between users and information has been expanded. In line with this trend, the use of a flat panel display (FPD), such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), and a plasma display panel (PDP), has increasing. Of these, a liquid crystal display, which can implement high resolutions, can be miniaturized and made and can have a large screen size, has been widely used.
Some of the above-mentioned display devices display an image by being driven by thin film transistors formed on a substrate and data stored in capacitors. The thin film transistor may include a gate, a semiconductor layer, a source, and a drain which are formed on a substrate.
Representative display devices driven by thin film transistors include an organic light emitting display and a liquid crystal display. The organic light emitting display is classified as a self-luminous display device, and the liquid crystal display is classified as a light-receiving type display device.
Each of these display devices may have a normal transistor that operates by a voltage supplied to the gate during a thin film transistor formation process and a phototransistor that operates by a channel formed by an external light. Herein, the phototransistor, which is a sensor, is configured circuitally so as to adjust the luminance of a panel by external light.
Conventionally, in a thin film transistor process, an additional process, such as the formation of a doping mask, is performed to dope source and drain regions of a transistor with impurities during the formation of a normal transistor and a phototransistor. In this case, an alignment process for covering a channel region by a mask has to be performed, and this leads to a decrease in production yield in the manufacture of a thin film transistor. Therefore, a solution for this problem is required.


Treatment of poly(tetramethylene ether) glycols with acid catalysts at elevated temperatures leads to a chain coupling with rapid increase in molecular weight. Various alcohols including diols and triols can be incorporated into poly(tetramethylene ether) glycol backbone with modified properties and performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modification of poly(tetramethylene ether) glycols (PTMEG) to improve low temperature flexibility, alter hydrophilic/hydrophobic character, and affect water vapor transmission of the final polymers including polyurethanes, polyureas, polyurethane ureas and polyetheresters made by incorporating the modified PTMEG. In addition, the modified poly(tetramethylene ether) glycols have lower melting points and lower viscosity than PTMEG of corresponding molecular weight, thus making easier handling of these materials in their manufacture and further reactions.
2. Prior Art
Treatment of PTMEG with acid at elevated temperatures is known to lead to depolymerization of the PTMEG with formation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) (P. Dreyfuss, "Poly(Tetrahydrofuran), Gordon & Breach, New York, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,484, M. C. Baker, to Du Pont).

Block copolyethers via oxonium coupling of poly(tetramethylene ether) glycols


According to the method, an aqueous salt solution containing either tin, indium or both, are mixed with an alkali to produce a slurry containing precipitated particles. Then, the slurry is maintained at a predetermined temperature range for a time sufficient to convert the precipitated particles to larger size particles by coagulation or agglomeration. The resulting slurry is then dried and calcined to produce a mixed power. The mixed power is ball milled, press molded and/or cold isostatic press (CIP) molded. The molded body is then sintered to form an ITO sintered body. The ITO sintered body obtained by this process offers superior sinterability whose theoretical density can reach more than 95%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a sintered body of indium tin oxide (ITO), particularly a method of manufacturing an ITO sintered body of improved sinterability characteristics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ITO sintered body is generally employed in manufacturing transparent conductive electrodes of a flat display device, e.g., a liquid crystal display device. The ITO transparent conductive electrode is generally formed by sputtering which employs an ITO sintered body target. The ITO sintered body is manufactured by mixing indium oxide powder with tin oxide powder in a predetermined ratio, pressing and molding the mixed powder to a predetermined shape, and then sintering the mixture in a sintering furnace. The mixture of indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder, or indium tin oxide powder, i.e., the ITO powder, which are used as raw materials for an ITO sintered body, are processed by thermal decomposition of metal hydroxides, organic metal salts or inorganic metal salts, sols or gels of such metals, or calcining ITO precursors obtained by means of coprecipitation, hydrolysis or precipitation under a temperature range of about 400.degree. C. to 1,000.degree. C.
An ITO sintered body is conventionally known to have superior characteristics when the weight ratio of its composition, i.e., indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder, is 90 wt %:10 wt % and when its density approaches its theoretical density (7.15 g/cm.sup.3 ; IN.sub.2 O.sub.3 =10 wt %; SnO.sub.2 =90 wt %).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional method of manufacturing an ITO sintered body based on the method described above.
Steps 10, 15 and 20 in FIG. 1 show a precipitation by adding alkali to the solution of indium salts and tin salts. Step 25 shows an amount of indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder which is mixed by filtering, drying and calcining the hydroxide precipitated in step 20. Step 30 shows ball milling of the mixed powder of indium oxide and tin oxide, i.e., ITO powder, which was produced in step 25. Step 35 shows press molding or cold isostatic press (CIP) molding of the ball-milled powder. Step 40 shows sintering the press-molded or CIP-molded body. Step 45 shows machine working of the sintered body, by which an ITO sintered body target is produced.
However, the density of an ITO sintered body composed of the indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder, which are processed by the conventional method described above, reaches merely 65% (4.65 g/cm.sup.3) of the theoretical density stated above. In other words, an ITO sintered body processed by the manufacturing method illustrated in FIG. 1 possesses low electrical conductivity (specific resistivity), low thermal conductivity and low fracture strength. The reason is because the indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder, which are major constituents of an ITO sintered body, are processed with low density.
Diverse methods have been developed to manufacture a high density ITO sintered body and ITO target by employing the indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder that are processed by the method described above.
Japanese Patent No. 58-136480 discloses a method of manufacturing a high density ITO sintered body and ITO target. This method, known as "A Hot Press Sintering Method", is a method of sintering the ITO powder comprising indium oxide powder and tin oxide powder under a temperature range of about 900.degree. C. to 1,200.degree. C. in a graphite mold either in a vacuum or filled with inert gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,787 discloses a method of manufacturing a high density ITO sintered body by press molding the ITO powder under a pressure of about 1,000 kg/cm.sup.2 and sintering the molded body under 1 to 10 oxygen atmospheric pressure.
Another method of manufacturing a high density ITO sintered body employs a hot isostatic press (HIP).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,071 discloses a sintering method of ITO powder of high density by adding an additive which is liquified at a sintering temperature (e.g., Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 +SiO.sub.2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-17201 discloses a method of manufacturing an ITO sintered body by partially deoxidizing molded ITO powder at a high temperature or by discharging the powder for a pretreatment.
A method of manufacturing ITO powder or indium oxide powder of high sinterability other than a method of improving the sintering process is disclosed in EP 0386932, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,417,816 and 5,401,701 in which an ordinary sintering furnace was used to manufacture a high density ITO sintered body under ordinary atmospheric pressure (1 atmospheric pressure).
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the process of manufacturing an ITO sintered body disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,816. In this process, the addition of alkali and the hydroxide precipitation stop illustrated in FIG. 1 (step 15) are replaced with the precipitation of the solution of indium salts and tin salts by means of In, Sn and In--Sn electrodes (step 16). Other steps in FIG. 2 that are identical to those illustrated in FIG. 1 will be excluded from the present description for the sake of brevity.
The manufacturing methods described above have drawbacks in terms of economy, characteristics of the resulting sintered body, productivity of sputtering, and characteristics of the ITO film. In other words, manufacturing an ITO sintered body according to the conventional method results in sintered bodies of different densities, different production costs and different characteristics of ITO targets depending on the manufacturing method that is applied.

Method of manufacturing a sintered body of indium tin oxide


An anvil cap for providing secure anastomosis in a circular staplers in which the anvil cap has a movable inner shaft, a command wire connected to the movable inner shaft so as to cause a pulling movement to be applied to the movable inner shaft, a plurality of upper wings pivotally mounted to joint points on the movable inner shaft so as to be openable in relation to the movable inner shaft, and a plurality of lower wings cooperative with the plurality of upper wings such that the plurality of lower wings open when the plurality of upper wings apply pressure to the plurality of lower wings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the circular staplers used as automatic suturator in digestive system surgical operations.
The present invention especially relates to a foldable anvil cap of an umbrella type which makes it possible to conduct quick and secure anastomosis in providing the continuity of the circular stapler digestive system.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Currently, the staplers are composed of two parts: to main body (handle) and an anvil attached to the end part of said body. Even said circular staplers which are available in the market make it possible to conduct quick and secure anastomosis, it is very limited for them to be used especially in laparoscopic surgery because of several shortcomings. There are several major shortcomings limiting the area of use in both open and laparoscopic surgery.
First, a separate and large space is required to be formed on the bowel wall in order to locate the anvil into the bowel or stomach lumen that are going to be anastomosed,
Second, it is difficult and time-wasting to close the open end with shining suture even if it is located through the open end of the bowel and the stomach (for instance locating into esophagus following total gastrectomy) in both open and laparoscopic surgery.
Third, in some cases (after esophagus surgery), the anvil is needed to reach the anastomsis line orally by being attached to the end of a catheter, as a result of which the microorganisms in the oral cavity and esophagus spread into the abdomen, and thus the risk of infection increases.
Said applications cause difficulty of use and waste of time, and they limit the area of use. For example, it is not possible to use the available stapler anvils by attaching them onto the endoscope ends, and such an example of usage is not available.
In the research conducted in relation with the prior art, an application numbered CN201782789 has been found. In this application, a trigger mechanism created on a main body, back-pull handle, a modular anvil, and an anvil cap are disclosed. The invention discloses a foldable and movable anvil cap which can pass from the horizontal position to the parallel position.

Anvil cap of a multiple umbrella type for circular staplers


A memory system includes storage cells, a respective one of which is configured to store a fixed charge therein when a write voltage applied thereto is above a predetermined threshold voltage and to discharge the fixed charge therefrom when the write voltage applied thereto is below the threshold voltage. The storage cells may be charged and/or discharged at a latency that is a function of a voltage differential between the write voltage and the threshold voltage. A variable-latency write circuit for the storage cells is configured to dynamically vary the voltage differential between the write voltage and the threshold voltage to provide a variable-latency write operation that stores the fixed charge therein or discharges the fixed charge therefrom. Related methods are also discussed.

Traditionally, semiconductor materials, such as silicon, have been used to implement memory circuits. Typically, the semiconductor materials are used in combination with dielectric and conductive materials to fashion transistors, capacitors, resistors, inductors and other basic circuit elements, which are arranged in various combinations to form memory cells and other components of memory devices.
Other types of materials are currently being investigated to replace semiconductor materials in memory devices and other electronics applications, due to the ongoing desire to produce electronic devices with greater information storage density, lower cost, higher speed, and/or other desirable characteristics. Such new materials may include organic molecular materials that can store information by taking on various oxidation states in response to applied signals. Such materials offer potentially higher component density, response speeds, and/or energy efficiency in memory applications.
A variety of approaches have been proposed for such molecular memory devices. For example, ZettaRAM™ is an emerging technology which may replace conventional dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) in computer and/or other memory systems. In ZettaRAM™, the conventional capacitor in a DRAM cell may be replaced with "charge-storage" molecules to form a molecular capacitor. The amount of charge stored in the molecular capacitor is independent of write voltage. In other words, there is a predetermined threshold voltage above which the device stores a fixed amount of charge, and below which the device discharges the fixed amount of charge. A logical "1" may be written by charging the molecules at a voltage above the threshold voltage, also called programming. A logical "0" may be written by discharging the molecules at a voltage below the threshold voltage, also called erasing. Further description of molecular memory devices can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,093 to Lindsey, U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,038 to Clausen et al., and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0120180 to Rotenberg et al.
Recently, numerous studies have been performed on energy management in memory systems. Low-power memory systems may be desirable for a wide range of computers and other electronics, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable consumer electronics, laptops, and/or other battery-constrained electronic devices. For example, energy management schemes have been proposed based on switching between different device operating modes, such as active, standby, nap, and power-down. Additional description of such energy management schemes can be found in "Scheduler-based DRAM Energy Management" by V. Delaluz, A. Sivasubramaniam, M. Kandemir, N. Vijaykrishnan, and M. J. Irwin, Design Automation Conference, June 2002, and in "Memory Controller Policies for DRAM Power Management" by X. Fan, C. S. Ellis, and A. R. Lebeck, Int'l Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design, August 2001.
Also, techniques have been proposed to reduce row-buffer conflicts and increase row buffer hit rates, such as those described in "A Permutation-based Page Interleaving Scheme to Reduce Row-buffer Conflicts and Exploit Data Locality" by Z. Zhang, Z. Zhu, and X. Zhang, 33rd Int'l Symposium on Microarchitecture, December 2000, pp. 32–41. This in turn may result in fewer bitline state transitions, because data may remain in the row buffer for a longer period of time. As recognized in "Trends in Low-Power RAM Circuit Technologies" by K. Itoh, K. Sasaki, and Y. Nakagome, Proc. of the IEEE, 83(4), April 1995, pp. 524–543, bitline energy consumption may be a major component of total memory system energy consumption, thereby leading to reduced energy consumption in main memory. Further details regarding bitline energy consumption can be found in "VLSI Memory Chip Design" by K. Itoh, Springer Series in Advanced Microelectronics, 2001, pp. 117–123.

Systems, methods and devices for providing variable-latency write operations in memory devices


The invention relates to a process of correction for determining, by a central unit that is provided with a receiver and that equips a vehicle, the longitudinal position, either on the front wheel assembly or on the rear wheel assembly, of emitters that are each mounted on a wheel of said vehicle. This process consists of, in a preliminary phase, determining and storing, for each wheel of the vehicle, a reference field level, received by the receiver and having for an origin an emitter that is combined with said wheel and that exhibits a given mean radiated power. Then, during each start-up of the vehicle and according to the process of the invention, the field levels that are received by the receiver are analyzed, and the location of each of said emitters is deduced therefrom; the analyzed field levels are compared to the reference field levels that correspond to the same location; the deviation between the analyzed field levels and the corresponding reference field levels is derived from this comparison, and the value of each analyzed field level is corrected by a value that is equivalent to the computed deviation, such that said analyzed field level is brought to the same level as the corresponding reference field level.

For safety purposes, an increasing number of motor vehicles have monitoring systems that comprise sensors that are mounted on each of the wheels of the vehicle, dedicated to the measurement of parameters, such as pressure and/or temperature of the tires that equip these wheels, and intended to inform the driver of any abnormal variation of the measured parameter.
These monitoring systems are conventionally endowed with a sensor that is mounted on each of the wheels of the vehicle and that comprises a microprocessor and a radiofrequency emitter (or RF emitter), and a central unit for receiving signals that are emitted by the emitters (whereby this central unit is placed in the vehicle), comprising a computer that integrates a radiofrequency receiver (or RF receiver) that is connected to an antenna and that has an RSSI-type output ("Receiver Signal Strength Indicator" or literally an indicator of the power of the signal of the receiver) that can allow the analysis of the field level received by said receiver.
The major problem that such monitoring systems are required to resolve resides in the obligation of having to combine with each signal received by the receiver information that provides the position, in particular the longitudinal position, with regard to the front wheel assembly or the rear wheel assembly, of the sensor at the origin of this signal, whereby this obligation will last throughout the service life of the vehicle, i.e., having to be respected even after wheels are changed or more simply the positions of these wheels are reversed.
At present, this longitudinal positioning of the front wheel assembly/rear wheel assembly is obtained by comparing the field levels received from each emitter by applying the known power attenuation principle of electromagnetic waves that obey a law of reduction that is proportional to the square of the distance between emitter and receiver.
According to this principle, it was noted that a reliable differentiation between front and rear wheel assemblies requires that a margin be set between the field levels received for the purpose of taking into account:                on the one hand, the power tolerance of the sensors that are used for the purpose of preventing possible power variations during a wheel change,        on the other hand, the level difference required for a detectable differentiation between front wheel assembly and rear wheel assembly from a monitoring system standpoint.
In practice, and as shown in FIG. 2 (in which the antenna appears with reference 9), the required necessary margin proves to be on the order of 10 decibels: 4.5 dB for taking into account the tolerance of the sensors, and 5.5 dB for the front wheel assembly (AV)/rear wheel assembly (AR) differentiation.
Actually, such a margin proves necessary for eliminating, for example, during a wheel change, a reduction in the level difference between front wheel assembly and rear wheel assembly, resulting from the mounting on the new wheel of an end sensor from the power standpoint (i.e., a sensor whose power is close to one of the values, minimum or maximum, of its tolerance margin). By way of example, FIG. 3 illustrates the result that is obtained during the replacement of a left front wheel by a left front wheel combined with a sensor with a high power limit, which justifies the value of margin required.
In practice, however, ensuring such a margin turns out to constitute a limiting factor on the possibilities of use of the corresponding tire monitoring process, because this high margin is very difficult to ensure on all vehicle platforms and leads to significant constraints on the architecture of these vehicles.

Process and device of correction for determining the longitudinal position of an emitter mounted on a wheel of a vehicle


A filter element has a filter body which is closed on at least one end face by an end disc, wherein the end disc is formed from a potting compound, and has a stabilization device which is surrounded at least in some areas by the potting compound. At least one data storage unit is arranged on or in the stabilization device.

DE 10 2008 009 242 A1 describes a filter element for filtering fluids such as hydraulic fluids or gases, wherein the filter element can be accommodated in a filter housing with an inlet point for the fluid to be filtered and an outlet point for the filtered fluid. The filter element features a data storage unit. Data stored in the data storage unit can be read electronically from the data storage unit by means of a reading and/or recording device also referred to as a reader and located outside the filter element. An antenna extending outside the data storage unit is provided for signal coupling between the data storage unit and the reader, wherein the antenna extends sectionwise around a longitudinal axis of the filter element and thereby assuring a signal coupling between the data storage unit and the reading and/or recording device independent of the angular position of the filter element and the data storage unit attached thereto.
Furthermore, WO 2005/113112 A1 describes a filter apparatus which comprises a filter cartridge with filter media and an RFID transponder connected to the filter media. The antenna arrangement is arranged on a filter housing. The antenna arrangement comprises an antenna conductor, which is electrically connected to a male connector. The male connector is intended for the antenna to be electrically connected to a transponder reader, which is located at a distance from the filter housing. A round antenna on the housing side or on the filter head side is provided on the filter apparatus.

Filter element, filter system comprising a filter element, and method for producing a filter element


A showcase where an illumination device is placed outside a receiving chamber to enable effective use of the space in the receiving chamber. The inside of an insulated box body (16) having front glass (18) fitted in a front opening (56) is defined to form a receiving chamber (52). An upper evaporator (34) is placed in an upper insulating layer (54) of the insulated box body (16) so as to be in contact with a cooling plate (62) defining the upper surface of the receiving chamber (52). An opening (64) is formed in that portion of the cooling plate (62) with which the upper evaporator (34) is not in contact, and a receiving space (66) is formed in that portion of the upper insulating layer (54) to which the opening (64) faces. A holder (78) is placed at the receiving space (66), and inside the holder (78) is received and fixed an LED illumination device (70). The opening (64) is closed by a cover (86) with packing (84) in between, and the inside of the holder (78) is maintained in a sealed state.

As a refrigerated showcase which refrigerates goods, such as foods and beverages, for preservation, there is a so-called showcase which is placed on a counter in, for example, a sushi bar, refrigerates and preserves fresh food materials like sushi materials stored therein, while displaying them (see Patent Document 1). As shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, for example, a refrigerated showcase 10 has a storage room 12 to refrigerate goods for preservation, and a machine room 14, provided adjacent to each other. A cooling unit, such as a compressor and an evaporator (neither shown), for cooling the storage room 12 is disposed in the machine room 14. The storage room 12 is defined inside an insulated box body 16 having a heat insulating structure with an insulating material 32, such as urethane foam, filled between an outer covering and an inner covering, and a front glass 18 is fitted in a front opening 56 formed at the front surface of the insulated box body 16 to show the interior of the storage room 12 from the front side.
As shown in FIG. 24, a goods doorway 20 with respect to the storage room 12 is formed at the rear surface of the insulated box body 16, and slide doors 22 are slidably mounted to the goods doorway 20, so that as the goods doorway 20 is opened by sliding the slide doors 22 leftward or rightward, goods are permitted to be taken in or out of the storage room 12.
A cooling plate 30 is disposed under an upper insulating layer 26 formed at the upper side of the storage room 12 in the insulated box body 16. An upper evaporator 34 connected to the cooling unit is disposed inside the upper insulating layer 26 in such a way as to contact the cooling plate 30, so that the coolant which is circulated to the upper evaporator 34 cools the cooling plate 30, thereby intermittently cooling the storage room 12.
A fluorescent lamp 36 as an illumination device is mounted to the upper portion of the storage room 12 by an illumination support 38 secured to the cooling plate 30. This fluorescent lamp 36 is protected by a transparent resin cover 40 to prevent degradation originating from electric leakage or rust which is caused by water splash at the time of washing, and prevent a food material container or the like from being broken by contact with the fluorescent lamp 36 at the time the container is placed in or out of the storage room 12. The fluorescent lamp 36 is set apart from the cooling plate 30 by a predetermined distance by the illumination support 38 to secure the heat exchange area of the cooling plate 30.
[Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 8-327209


An electrorheological fluid of a particulate phase and a continuous phase of a hydrophobic liquid medium, a certain dispersed particulate phase, and a low molecular weight polar material exhibits a broad effective temperature range. The dispersed particulate phase comprises a polar solid material which is capable of exhibiting substantial electrorheological activity only in the presence of a low molecular weight polar material, and an organic semiconductor. The weight ratio of the polar solid material to the organic semiconductor is at least about 2:1.

The present invention relates to particles suitable for use in electrorheological fluids and electrorheological fluids containing such particles.
Electrorheological ("ER") fluids are fluids which can rapidly and reversibly vary their apparent viscosity in the presence of an applied electric field. ER fluids are generally dispersions of finely divided solids in hydrophobic, electrically non-conducting oils. They have the ability to change their flow characteristics, even to the point of becoming solid, when subjected to a sufficiently strong electrical field. When the field is removed, the fluids revert to their normal liquid state. ER fluids can be used in applications in which it is desired to control the transmission of forces by low electric power levels, for example, in clutches, hydraulic valves, shock absorbers, vibrators, or systems used for positioning and holding work pieces in position.
The prior art teaches the use of a variety of fine particles, some with surface coatings of various types. For example, PCT Publication WO93/07244, published Apr. 15, 1993, discloses electrorheological fluid comprising polyaniline. The polymer can be formed in the presence of solid substrates such as silica, mica, talc, glass, alumina, zeolites, cellulose, organic polymers, etc. In these embodiments, the polymerized aniline generally is deposited on the substrate as a coating which may also penetrate into the open pores in the substrate.
Japanese Publication 5 239,482, Feb. 28, 1992,discloses inorganic or organic particles, coated with a polyaniline, and the polyaniline-coated particles dispersed as a dispersed phase. The effect is that an electro-viscous fluid having large electro-viscous effects is obtained.
One of the goals in development of a practical electrorheological fluid is to develop materials which have continually improved combinations of high electrorheological activity and low conductivity, and to retain this desirable combination throughout increasingly broad temperature ranges. The materials of the present invention exhibit such a useful combination of properties.

Electrorheological fluids of polar solids and organic semiconductors


A semi-conducting structure delimits two quantal wells (CP1, CP2) connected across a barrier layer (CB). The application of an electric field to the structure makes possible the transfer of electrons from one of the wells to the other. The electron-hole pairs are created by a wave-pump, or by the doping of one of the wells. This makes possible, in particular, a dual control by means of the wave-pump and the electric field, thus creating an "AND"-function modulator.

The invention concerns an electromagnetic wave modulator equipped with coupled quantal wells. The wave to be modulated may be propagated freely or it may be guided. The invention is applicable, in particular, to the modulation of infrared waves.
It is very difficult to produce modulators which, operating in the infrared region of the spectrum, function rapidly and, at the same time, possess an great depth of modulation.
Some modulators employ injection in a semi-conducting free-carrier structure. However, the transmission band of these modulators is limited by their fairly long recombination time, which may be the result of a radiative and/or non-radiative interaction.
Pockels-effect modulators are also well known. These devices use the change in the index of refraction of the semi-conducting material under the effect of an electrical field. They are, therefore, "electrooptical" modulators. Their index variation is, however, very low, resulting in the fact that, to obtain a significant effect, use must be made of devices which have a considerable length of interaction, and which are, therefore, very large. Although the electrooptical effect is quite fast, since its characteristics times are on the order of several femto-seconds, the desire to obtain a significant depth of modulation will dictate that the size of the device condition the transmission band of the modulator. Furthermore, this is especially critical in the infrared range (in relation to the visible and near-infrared ranges) because the size of the modulator must also increase as the wavelength increases.
Other well-known modulators use the principle of electroabsorption (Franz-Keldysh effect). In this case, an electric control field is applied which, when substantially raised, shifts the absorption threshold of the material (in terms of frequency). In this latter type of modulator, use must be made of semi-conducting materials possessing a forbidden-band energy very close to the energy of the band to be modulated. For example, in the case of an infrared wave having a wavelength of 10 micrometers, materials alloys II-II of Mendeleev's table are used. However, the industrial working of these materials is difficult to master and, given their slight forbidden-band energy gap, they are very sensitive to manufacturing imperfections.
For this reason, other solutions have been proposed, according to which intra-band absorption between, for example, two discrete levels of a quantal well is used. The manufacture of semi-conducting materials used to delimit these quantal wells is much more effectively achieved when III-V semi-conductors from Mendeleev's table are used.
In such a structure, the means of control of the modulation is based on a wave-pump whose amplitude is modulated and which possesses a frequency greater than that of the wave to be modulated. The wave-pump serves to occupy a discrete level of the quantal well. The absorption of the wave to be modulated thus takes place by means of a transition from the electrons (or holes) of this first discrete level of the quantal well to another discrete level. In this way, control is effected over the absorption of a wave whose frequency is equal to the difference between the energies of the two discrete levels divided by Planck's constant.
More precisely, and as shown in FIG. 1, a modulator of this kind may incorporate a structure having a quantal well (1, 2, 3) whose optical characteristics are modified by an optical pumping achieved by means of a control wave (h..nu.1) belonging to the middle infrared band. The command wave h..nu.1 is modulated by means of a conventional modulator. By modulating the amplitude of the control wave h..nu.1, it is possible to modulate the amplitude or the phase of the wave to be modulated h..nu.3.
Although they are very advantageous for certain applications, these modulators have, however, a residual disadvantage: it is impossible to optimize them so as to obtain both a large transmission band and a significant depth of modulation.
In fact, the transmission band of these modulators is limited either by the transmission band of the wave-pump, or by the recombination of the photo-created carriers at the first discrete energy level of the quantal well. In order to restrict these disadvantageous effects to that of the limitation resulting from the transmission band of the wave-pump, short life-spans of the carriers is desirable. In this case, however, for a given wave-pump power, the shorter the life-span of the carriers, the shallower the depth of modulation. It appears, therefore, ultimately that today, it has not yet been possible to obtain optical modulators which are completely satisfactory, especially when dealing with infrared light.
A first purpose of the invention consists in supplying an optical modulator in which a spatial separation of electrons and of holes in two different quantal wells has been achieved, thus making it possible to increase the life of the electron-hole pairs. This makes it, therefore, possible to reduce the power of the wave-pump required for a given intra-band absorption.
Another purpose of the invention is to make available a modulator which may be transparent, or, on the contrary, opaque in normal operation for the electromagnetic wave to be modulated.
A third purpose of the invention is the creation of a modulator which may be controlled by the electric field. Finally, since the modulator can also be controlled by the coexistence of a wave-pump and an electric field, it may be used as an AND element or in applications of the "image-recognition" type.

Electromagnetic wave modulator equipped with coupled quantal wells, and application to an electromagnetic wave detector


A bathtub 12 is supported by a movable unit 14 that vertically moves by the driving power of a motor and by rollers 13 running on a guide slope 15. When not used, the bathtub 12 is stored under a tank 11 in a close to upright position, so that the bathing aid occupies only a small space when not used. To use the bathing aid, the movable unit 14 is lowered and, accordingly, the rollers 13 roll down the guide slope 15. With this motion, the bathtub 12 changes its orientation from a position where the open top of the bathtub 12 is directed obliquely forward to a position where the open top is directed almost upward. The bathtub 12 is automatically driven by the electrical driving power of the motor; the caregiver has only to make some key operations. Thus, the workload on the caregiver is significantly reduced.

Various types of bathing aids have been developed for those who have difficulty in standing up and/or bathing by themselves. Those people include the physically challenged, elderly and invalids, who are generally called "cared persons" hereinafter. Some bathing aids are constructed so that the cared person sitting on a wheelchair can be easily transferred from the wheelchair into a bathtub, into which hot water can be supplied.
An example of such bathing aids is disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 2,628,568. The bathing aid includes a bathtub capable of rotating from a horizontal position where the open top of the bathtub is directed almost upward to a tilted position where its open top is obliquely directed. In the latter position, the front end of the bathtub is located close to the floor. In this position, the bathtub can be locked, allowing the cared person to be slid from the wheelchair into the bathtub, together with the seat unit. After receiving the cared person inside, the bathtub is unlocked, rotated to the horizontal position, and again locked in that position. Then, hot water is supplied into the bathtub to let the cared person bathe in a supine position.
The general situation of nursing care is such that caregivers have to do many jobs that require physical exertion, especially when they assist the cared person in taking a bath, as described above. Therefore, it has been desired to reduce the workload on the caregiver, especially when the work requires physical strength.
In the aforementioned conventional bathing aid, the seat unit of the wheelchair can be slid into the bathtub, as described above, so that the heavy work of manually lifting the cared person and setting her or him into the bathtub is eliminated, and the workload on the caregiver is reduced. For those who are weak in physical strength, however, it is not easy to rotate the bathtub with the cared person inside. Furthermore, it is necessary to transport the bathtub with the cared person into the bathroom to supply hot water into the bathtub. Therefore, to assist the cared person in bathing, the caregiver still has to use a considerable amount of time and labor.
In the bathing aid disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-116745, a commercial product of which is the "CHAIR IN BATH" manufactured by OG GIKEN CO., LTD., the bathtub has a door on one side of its body, and the wheelchair can be separated into the seat unit and the bogie unit. With the door of the bathtub open, when the wheelchair carrying the cared person is pushed close to the bathtub and brought into contact with the bathtub, the seat unit carrying the cared person slides into the bathtub, leaving the bogie unit below the bottom of the bathtub, i.e. in the outside of the bathtub. After that, the door is closed, and hot water is supplied into the bathtub to let the cared person bathe.
The above bathing aid is integrated with a water supply system, which to some extent reduces the workload on the caregiver. However, the above bathing aid is large-sized and requires a sizeable installation space because it is designed for use in nursing care facilities or similar facilities where the installation space can be easily located. Therefore, it is very difficult to install the above bathing aid in ordinary houses for home nursing care. Thus, people have been demanding for a small-size bathing aid that occupies only a limited space and can be used even in an ordinary house. The reduced size will be advantageous also for nursing care facilities because it allows them to use plural sets of bathing aids.
Cared persons who use the bathing aid may often have difficulty in moving by themselves, or sometimes in speaking by themselves. Therefore, with respect to safety, adequate measures are necessary to protect the cared person from dangerous situations during bathing. Conventional bathing aids, however, are designed on the assumption that caregivers would be there to watch the cared person at all times during bathing. Attention has not been adequately paid to the safety under the condition where the caregiver is not watching.
The inherent purposes of bathing aids are to keep the body of the cared person clean, to let the cared person feel relaxed and refreshed by bathing so that she or he can be in good mental condition, and sometimes to expect curative effects on the body from heating or other treatment. In respect of such inherent purposes, it is important to obtain better effects than conventionally obtained.
The present invention addresses the above problems, and the first objective of the invention is to provide a user-friendly bathing aid that reduces the workload on caregivers and can be easily operated even by those who are relatively small in body size and/or weak in physical strength.
The second objective of the present invention is to provide a bathing aid that requires only a small installation space.
The third objective of the present invention is to provide a bathing aid that offers high safety to the cared person, i.e. the bather.
The fourth objective of the present invention is to provide a bathing aid that enables the cared person to have a good feeling of satisfaction, and that provides high bathing effects.


A surgical head support apparatus includes a headrest, a bracket, and a joint member. The headrest includes a first spherical joint and the bracket includes a second spherical joint. The joint member includes a joint lock. The joint member couples the headrest to the bracket. The joint lock moves the joint member between a locked and an unlocked configuration. In the locked configuration, the joint member disallows movement of the headrest relative to the bracket. In the unlocked configuration, the joint member allows movement of the headrest relative to the bracket.

The present disclosure relates to a patient support apparatus, for supporting a patient during surgery. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a surgical head support apparatus for use during a variety of surgical operations such as shoulder surgery, clavicle repair, breast augmentation, or other surgeries.
Often, when a patient is sedated for a surgery, the patient is supported by and secured to braces or supports coupled to a surgical table. Sometimes, while the patient is sedated, it is desirable to move a patient's head to a variety of positions.
Surgical supports known in the art are configured to allow repositioning of the patient's head during surgery. Some such supports have a variety of mechanical joints connecting a head support to a surgical table. Sometimes, surgical supports known in the art require more than one caregiver and several steps to move the patient's head to a desired position.


The invention relates to a method for preparing a brewed beverage, in particular a light-coloured lager or ale beer, (to be) bottled, (to be) stored, (to be) offered, (to be) served or (to be) consumed in a UV-VIS-transmittant bottle, comprising the addition of hulupones and/or reduced hulupones during the brewing process in an effective amount to obtain a brewed beverage, wherein the fraction of hulupones and/or reduced hulupones in the total of isohumulones and (reduced) hulupones is at least 25 mol %, The invention further relates to a brewed beverage, in particular a light-coloured lager beer or ale beer, bottled, (to be) stored, (to be) offered, (to be) served or (to be) consumed in a UV-VIS-transmittant bottle, comprising (reduced) hulupones and wherein the frac-tion of hulupones and/or reduced hulupones in the total of isohumulones and (reduced) hulupones is at least 25 mol %.

Hops are used in beer brewing for multiple purposes. The alpha-acids (also known as humulones; principal analogues are humulone, cohumulone and adhumulone) are the precursors of the characteristic bitter beer taste (provided by iso-alpha-acids obtained by alpha-acid isomerisation, typically during the wort boiling stage of the brewing process), and thus the principal hop compounds and consequently of high value for brewing. The other main hop compounds are the beta-acids (also called lupulones; with as principal analogues lupulone, colupulone and adlupulone) known as bacteriostatic agents (in particular to provide protection against detrimental bacterial infection between the wort boiling stage and the fermentation stage), the polyphenols which can potentially provide protection against oxidative degradation and the oils which optionally provide aroma characteristics (e.g. fruity, citrussy, floral, herbal or spicy) if desired.
In the conventional brewing process, a fraction of the alpha-acids added to the wort (typically by addition of hop pellets or extracts containing alpha-acids next to other hop compounds such as beta-acids and hop oils) are isomerized into the more soluble and bitter iso-alpha-acids (also called isohumulones) during the wort boiling stage (in the brew kettle), with usually concentrations of isohumulones (with a flavor threshold of about 4 ppm) between 5 and 50 mg/L (or 5-50 ppm) in the finished beer (i.e. the beer ready for consumption).
These isohumulones (with a susceptible exocyclic alpha-hydroxy ketone), the typical beer bittering agents, are however prone to photolytic decomposition, induced by irradiation of the beer (containing isohumulones) with ultraviolet (UV, especially UV-A) and/or visible (VIS, especially violet and blue VIS) light, through exposure to sunlight or other (artificial) light sources emitting UV and/or VIS light, which can occur in case the beer is stored, offered, served or consumed in a bottle that allows UV (in particular UV-A) and/or VIS (in particular violet and blue VIS) light, wholly or partly, to pass through, which causes dramatic beer flavor quality loss (as a consequence of the formation of malodorous 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol or 'skunky thiol', considered as the most offending off-flavor known to occur in beer products) and even making the beers unsuitable for consumption (undrinkable) because of this strong 'skunky thiol' off-flavor becoming prominent.
This sensitivity to 'skunky thiol' off-flavor degradation is problematic if beer is exposed to UV and/or VIS light during for example storage or during consumption. This sensitivity is therefore an important product beer flavor quality issue in the case of brewed beverages or beers, (mainly) bittered with isohumulones, stored, offered, served or consumed in bottles (for example made from glass or plastic) through which at least a fraction of the UV and/or VIS light, to which the bottle is exposed, can pass, such as clear or green glass bottles, or clear plastic bottles. It is in particular a beer flavor quality challenge for light-coloured lager beers (typically with an EBC Beer Colour value below 20, particularly below 10), but also for other light-coloured brewed beverages such as light-coloured ale beers, which are more susceptible to this type of photolytic degradation than dark-coloured beers, stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles. Such light-coloured (lager) beers, often stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles, are, apart from (highly) sensitive to 'skunky thiol' off-flavor formation upon exposure to sunlight (or (an)other source(s) of UV and/or VIS light), also often (relatively) low in flavor (taste and/or aroma), and thus the 'skunky thiol' off-flavor (degradation) is perceived earlier compared to more flavourful beers, with generally other aroma features (provided by for example fermentation products and hop oils) that can mask the (initial) 'skunky thiol' formation and 'lightstruck flavor' degradation. Moreover, these more flavourful beers, most often stored (and offered) in brown glass bottles that offer more protection for the beer against exposure to UV and/or VIS light, are moreover often darker in colour (for example with EBC Beer Colour values above 30 or 40). The aforementioned light-coloured lager beers, stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles, usually have alcohol by volume values below 7%, in particular between 4% and 6%.
Upon exposure of beer bittered with isohumulones to sunlight or other (artificial) sources of UV and/or VIS light, the isohumulones undergo detrimental decomposition, either via a direct mechanism caused by UV light (in particular UV-A light) or via an indirect mechanism involving VIS-light (in particular violet and blue VIS light) induced riboflavin (generally present in beer and usually originating from the malt and the yeast) excitation. In both decomposition pathways, 3-methyl-2-butenyl radicals are formed. A fraction of the formed 3-methyl-2-butenyl radicals then recombines with sulfhydryl (or thiol) radicals (derived for example from sulfur containing amino acids such as cysteine) to form 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (MBT) or 'skunky thiol', the cause of the 'lightstruck flavor' of beer with a threshold value of about 4 ppt in beer. Obviously, other hop acids, with a susceptible exocyclic alpha-hydroxy ketone with the ketone functional group part of a 4-methyl-1-oxopent-3-enyl side chain (for example with a molecular structure resembling to isohumulones), that can photolytically decompose to form 3-methyl-2-butenyl radicals can also cause the undesirable 'skunky thiol' formation.
One method to avoid 'lightstruck flavor' degradation of beers stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles is the use of reduced isohumulones as (beer) bittering agents, such as the tetrahydro-isohumulones (in which the C═C bond in the iso-3-hexenoyl side chain of the isohumulones is saturated by catalytic hydrogenation) or the dihydro-isohumulones (in which the C═O bond in the iso-3-hexenoyl side chain of the isohumulones is reduced to a hydroxyl group), in the absence of isohumulones. Such reduced isohumulones are not naturally occurring, and are generally produced by means of chemical reduction processes starting from isohumulones. The use of for example tetrahydro-isohumulones, in the absence of isohumulones, as beer bittering agents indeed prevents the formation of the 'skunky thiol' flavor in beers stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles, as upon degradation of the tetrahydro-isohumulones caused by exposure to sunlight (or (an)other (artificial) source(s) of UV and/or VIS light), the 3-methyl-2-butenyl radical, being the MBT precursor, is not formed. These tetrahydro-isohumulones, characterized by very strong bittering and very strong foam forming and stabilizing properties, are however now usually used in brewing and beers (but not with the specific objective of reducing or avoiding the risk of 'skunky thiol' flavor degradation) at relatively low concentrations for beer foam enhancement purposes, while the beers' bitterness is mainly provided by isohumulones. A currently used method to produce light-coloured beers (with an EBC Beer Colour value mostly below 10), in particular light-coloured lager beers, stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles (such as clear or green glass bottles, or clear plastic bottles) with a low or no sensitivity to 'skunky thiol' degradation is bittering with a combination of dihydro-isohumulones (for their beer bitterness contribution) and tetrahydro-isohumulones (for their foam formation and/or foam stabilization contribution).
Apart from the bacteriostatic activity of lupulones, for example to control detrimental bacterial contamination (by for example lactic acid producing bacteria) of the brew wort to be fermented (prior to or during the fermentation stage), the lupulones can also contribute to beer bitterness upon oxidation to the more bitter hulupones (with as main analogues hulupone, cohulupone and adhulupone; collectively called hulupones), which are oxygenated derivatives of lupulones that can be formed, among various other (oxygenated) lupulone derivatives, during processing and storage of hops in the presence of oxygen (in the present hops processing and storage practice, the presence of oxygen is minimized or at least reduced to avoid hop product degradation) or during the wort boiling stage of the brewing process. However, only a minor part (typically limited to a few percent fraction) of the lupulones is transformed into hulupones during the wort boiling stage (given the low solubility of lupulones (related to their pKa value) and the low oxygen concentration in boiling wort) and consequently their beer bitterness contribution is limited. Moreover, other (oxygenated) lupulone derivatives different from the hulupones, formed during hop processing or storage, or during the brewing process, are linked to i.a. unpleasant bitterness characteristics. According to the scarce literature on the brewing application of hulupones, they are known to be hop acids with an agreeable bitter taste, nonetheless different from isohumulones (in terms of dissimilar bitterness profile and bitterness intensity), and a high solubility, compared to humulones and lupulones, in wort and beer owing to their low pKa value.
These hulupones can also be produced from a beta-acid containing matter, preferably a purified beta-acid containing matter (for example a beta-acid concentrate) not containing alpha-acids and/or iso-alpha-acids, applying specific oxidation processes, using e.g. molecular oxygen, in a solvent medium. Initially, the lupulones were oxidized to hulupones in alcoholic solutions in the presence of for example sodium sulfite. Later, it was found that aqueous alkaline conditions were more convenient. U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,763 describes the lupulone oxidation in an aqueous alkaline medium applying high concentrations of lupulones together with high concentrations of alkali metal ions, with precipitation of the hulupones as alkali metal salts from the process medium which enables simple product separation. This patent shows that by transforming the beta-acids into hulupones, which can be used as beer bittering agents, the economic or brewing value of the beta-acid fraction of hops can be increased, but describes no specific method of using hulupones in the brewing process or in the production of beer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,580 reports an analogous lupulone oxidation process in aqueous alkaline conditions, but at lower concentrations of lupulones and alkali metal cations. The use of hulupones in the brewing process is described in this patent as the combined addition of hulupones and isohumulones after the fermentation stage, thereby improving the bitterness yield by about 15% compared to a brewing process based on bittering with isohumulones only. This patent demonstrates that by combining the bittering potential of humulones (as isohumulones) with that of lupulones (as hulupones) the beer bittering can be economically enhanced. U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,580 also describes multiple fractionation techniques, amongst others to remove the humulones from hop extracts (for separate processing to isohumulones) and to produce purified lupulone and hulupone containing matters.
The prior art does not reveal that the use of (reduced) hulupones as bittering agents in the production of beer offers a possibility to reduce the sensitivity to (or even to avoid) 'lightstruck flavor' degradation of beer, in particular light-coloured (lager) beer, stored, offered, served of consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles, such as a clear or green glass bottle, or a clear plastic bottle. The prior art thus does not reveal that bittering beer, in particular light-coloured (lager) beer, with (reduced) hulupones as bittering agents provides a solution for the 'skunky thiol' off-flavor degradation (which may occur during storage or consumption) challenge of beers, in particular light-coloured (lager) beers, stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles (such as clear glass or green glass bottles, or clear plastic bottles). The prior art does also not describe the use of (reduced) hulupones as bittering agents in the production of beer, in particular light-coloured (lager) beer, stored, offered, served or consumed in a UV-VIS-transmittant bottle (for example a clear or green glass bottle, or a clear plastic bottle), as an alternative for isohumulones as bittering agents, to lower the sensitivity to 'skunky thiol' flavor degradation of the (light-coloured) (lager) beer. The prior art thus does not reveal that a process to brew beer, especially light-coloured (lager) beer, stored, offered, served or consumed in clear or green glass bottles, or clear plastic bottles, using (reduced) hulupones as bittering agents in the absence of isohumulones or with a lowered or low presence of isohumulones, is a method to prevent or reduce the formation of the detrimental 'skunky thiol' off-flavor, upon exposure to sunlight (or another source of UV and/or VIS light), in the beer stored, offered, served or consumed in a clear or green glass bottle, or in a clear plastic bottle. The prior art does also not inform on brewed beverages or beers, especially light-coloured (lager) beers, stored, offered, served or consumed in clear glass, green glass or clear plastic bottles, bittered with (reduced) hulupones having a reduced or no sensitivity, depending on the isohumulones content, to 'skunky thiol' flavor degradation upon exposure of the brewed beverage or beer containing bottles to sunlight or another source of UV and/or VIS light. It has thus also not been disclosed before to substitute the isohumulones in part or in whole as bittering agents in the brewed beverage or (light-coloured) (lager) beer, contained in clear or green glass or clear plastic bottles, by (reduced) hulupones, whereby the resulting brewed beverage, in particular (light-coloured) (lager) beer, contained in clear or green glass or clear plastic bottles, will become less sensitive or even insensitive to 'skunky thiol' flavor degradation upon exposure of the brewed beverage or beer containing bottles to sunlight or another source of UV and/or VIS light. In particular, to the best of the applicant's knowledge, it has not been disclosed or suggested in the prior art to use (reduced) hulupones for such purpose, in the production of a brewed beverage or a (light-coloured) (lager) beer, stored, offered, served or consumed in clear glass, green glass or clear plastic bottles. It has also not been reported before that increasing the fraction of (reduced) hulupones in the total of isohumulones and (reduced) hulupones as bittering agents in a brewed beverage or a beer, especially if the beer is a light-coloured (lager) beer, bottled, offered, served or consumed in clear glass, green glass or clear plastic, is a suitable way to obtain a brewed beverage product, beer product or light-coloured (lager) beer product, (to be) stored, offered, served or consumed in clear or green glass bottles, or clear plastic bottles, that is less sensitive to 'skunky thiol' flavor degradation upon exposure to sunlight or another source of UV and/or VIS light.

Method for producing beers stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles with reduced sensitivity, in particular no sensitivity, to skunky thiol flavor degradation upon exposure to sunlight or other sources of UV and/or VIS light, and beers stored, offered, served or consumed in UV-VIS-transmittant bottles with reduced sensitivity, in particular no sensitivity, to skunky thiol flavor degradation upon exposure to sunlight or other sources of UV and/or VIS light


Methods and apparatuses are provided for use with optical data storage media and related devices.

Optical data storage media, such as, for example, compact discs and digital versatile discs are used to share a wide variety of data content. Music, movies and software are prime examples of the type of data one finds on individually-recorded and mass produced optical discs.
With the proliferation of such media and reading and writing devices there is a need to manage the digital and other rights that certain entities have in the recorded content on the discs. While data protection schemes have been used, there is, unfortunately, a thriving illegal data piracy market to which many of data protection schemes have fallen due to hacking efforts. Moreover, many of the protection schemes that have been used needed to only be broken once by a hacker who then shares the learned secrets of the protection scheme with others.
Consequently, there is a continuing need for improved methods and apparatuses for use in protecting data content stored on optical data storage media.

Optical media protection methods and apparatuses


Methods for forming a device isolating barrier, and methods for forming a gate electrode using the device isolation barrier are disclosed. In an illustrated method, a semiconductor device isolating barrier is formed by forming a pad oxide layer and a first nitride layer on a semiconductor substrate; forming a trench region by etching the pad oxide layer and the first nitride layer; forming spacers at sidewalls of the etched pad oxide layer and the etched first nitride layer; forming a first trench by etching the semiconductor substrate using the spacers and the etched first nitride layer as a mask; and, after forming a liner oxide layer and an oxide layer filling the trench, forming the device isolating barrier by flattening the liner oxide layer and the trench oxide layer to expose the etched first nitride layer.

Conventional methods for forming a semiconductor device isolating barrier include a LOCOS (Local Oxidation of Silicon) method using a nitride layer and an STI (Shallow trench isolation) method which isolates devices by forming a trench on a surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Since the LOCOS method employs a simple process of thermal oxidization of a semiconductor substrate using a nitride layer as a mask, element stress of the oxide layer is small and the generated oxide layer has high quality. However, the device isolating region occupies a large area, thereby limiting the miniaturization of the semiconductor device. On the contrary, in the STI method, after a trench is formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate, the trench is filled with an insulating film which is subsequently flattened. Accordingly, the STI method creates a small device isolating region, thereby having an advantage with respect to miniaturization of the semiconductor device.
FIGS. 1A to 1F are cross-sectional views showing a conventional insolating method in which a trench is formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate. As shown in FIG. 1A, after a pad oxide layer 2 having a thickness of about 150 Å is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1, a nitride layer 3 having a thickness of about 2000 Å is formed on the pad oxide layer 2. After a photoresist layer 4 is coated on the nitride layer 3, the photoresist layer 4 is exposed and developed to form a mask to create a trench, (i.e., a device isolating region), on a surface of the semiconductor substrate 1.
As shown in FIG. 1B, a trench T, (i.e., a device isolating region), is formed by etching the semiconductor substrate 1 to a depth of about 3000 Å to about 7000 Å and a width of about 300 Å to about 500 Å after etching the portions of the nitride layer 3 and the pad oxide layer 2 exposed through developing of the photoresist layer 4.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the trench T is filled by depositing a thick insulating layer 6, (i.e., an oxide layer), on a surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 by performing a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process. Prior to performing the CVD process, a liner oxide layer 5 is formed inside the trench T such that the trench T makes good contact with the filling oxide layer 6 in the process of filling the trench with the insulating layer 6 and such that an edge of the trench is rounded.
Referring to FIG. 1D, after coating the insulating layer 6 with a photoresist layer 7, the photoresist layer 7 is exposed and developed by using a mask. As a result, the photoresist layer pattern 7 remains only on the insulating layer 6 above the trench T. An insulating layer pattern 6a is formed by etching the insulating layer 6 using the photoresist layer pattern 7 as a mask.
As shown in FIG. 1E, after removing the photoresist layer pattern 7, a device isolating barrier 8, (i.e., flattened insulating layer pattern 6a), is formed by polishing and flattening the insulating layer pattern 6a to the height of the nitride layer 3 through a CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) process.
As shown in FIG. 1F, when the exposed nitride layer 3 is removed by wet etching using phosphoric acid, the semiconductor substrate 1 is divided into active regions at both sides of the device isolating barrier 8 and a device isolating region corresponding to the device isolating barrier 8.
In the conventional semiconductor device isolating method, the oxide layer and the nitride layer 3 are flattened, and then the exposed nitride layer 3 is removed by phosphoric acid. During the flattening of layers, an electric field is concentrated on a periphery A of the trench T, as shown in FIG. 1F, thereby causing the Kink effect, (i.e., leakage current generation at the trench T), which deteriorates the reliability and characteristics of the semiconductor device.
Although not shown in the drawings, after a gate electrode including a conducting layer is formed on the active region by using a general gate electrode forming method, drain/source regions are formed employing the gate electrode as a criterion by executing impurity ion implantation.
In this case, a problem occurs in that a device isolation resistance is changed since impurities are also doped inside the trench during the impurity ion implantation to form the drain/source regions.

Methods for forming a device isolating barrier and methods for forming a gate electrode using the same


A testing circuit using ALPG is mounted in a testing board in which sockets for mounting semiconductor memories as devices to be tested in the board is mounted and a volatile memory for storing a data table for generating a random pattern is provided in the testing circuit so that a test using a test pattern having no regularity is performed using the data table in addition to a test using a test pattern having regularity generated by the ALPG.

The present invention relates to a testing board for semiconductor memories, method of testing semiconductor memories and a method of manufacturing semiconductor memories and more particularly to technique effective for application to a testing board in which a testing circuit using an ALPG (Algorithmic Memory Pattern Generator) and sockets used to mount semiconductor memories on the testing board as devices to be tested are mounted, a testing method using the testing board and a manufacturing method of semiconductor memories.
Heretofore, a test for semiconductor memories such as RAMs (Random Access Memories) is carried out by a testing apparatus named a memory tester. The memory tester generates a test pattern (address and data) and supplies the semiconductor memories to be tested with the test pattern to be written in memory cells of the semiconductor memories. Then, data written in the memory cells are read out by the memory tester, so that the read-out data are compared with expected values within the memory tester to judge whether the data are identical with the expected values so that the semiconductor memories are diagnosed.
Procedure from manufacture to shipping of semiconductor memories is generally made as shown in FIG. 11. That is, after a plurality of semiconductor memories have been formed on a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing process, probes come into contact with pads of the semiconductor memories being formed on the wafer to supply test signals thereto and receive output signals in response to the test signals so that the test using the probes is performed (step S11). The semiconductor memories are classified into repairable devices and non-repairable devices on the basis of the test result. With respect to the repairable devices, a redundant circuit provided within each memory is used to replace a defective bit with a spare memory cell (step S12).
Next, the wafer in which the plurality of semiconductor memories are formed is cut into respective chips and each chip is enclosed or sealed by means of resin to be assembled into a package (step S13). The semiconductor memories each assembled into the package are subjected to a high-temperature test (burn-in test) by means of a burn-in apparatus and to a low-speed operation test (long test) by means of a signal such as a clock having a low operation frequency to thereby remove a device having unstable operation on the basis of the test result (steps S14 and S15).
Then, a high-speed memory tester is used to perform a DC test for testing whether the semiconductor memories have a desired DC voltage characteristic by applying a DC voltage to the semiconductor memories, a function test for testing whether circuits are operated normally at usual operation speed with original operation frequency signals, and a timing test for testing whether a set-up time and a hold time of the semiconductor memories satisfy design specification successively (steps S16, S17′ and S18).
The semiconductor memories regarded as non-defective devices are used to assemble a memory module. The memory module is mounted on a mother board of a computer and is subjected to a selection test by means of an actual machine. Only the memory module judged as a normally operated module is shipped as a product (step S19 and S20′).
In the prior art as described above, since the test performed using the memory tester has a lot of test items, there is a problem that the test time is increased and a cost required for the test is increased. In other words, since the number of memories capable of being tested by the memory tester is very small as compared with the burn-in apparatus or the like, the test time is very increased if all of memories are to be tested by means of the limited number of memory testers and since the number of memory testers must be increased if the test is to be completed in a short time, the cost of equipment is very increased.
Further, since the test using the tester is made in accordance with a test pattern having the regularity according to a predetermined algorithm, any defective memory can be sometimes detected even from the memories judged as non-defective devices in the test using the tester if the memories are subjected to the test using a random test pattern. Accordingly, in the conventional test method using the tester, even when the test has been performed using the expensive tester at great pains, it is disadvantageous that the test using the random test pattern must be performed by the actual machine again after the memories have been assembled in a module.
On the other hand, there is proposed an invention that a testing circuit including a test pattern generator named ALPG for generating a memory test pattern in accordance with a predetermined algorithm is mounted in a memory chip to test a memory array by itself so that the frequency in use of the memory tester can be reduced (International Publication WO 98/47152). However, when the ALPG is mounted in the memory chip as in the above invention, it is disadvantageous that the yield is reduced due to a defect of the ALPG itself and the size of the memory chip is increased.
In this connection, the specification of the above invention discloses that the testing circuit having the above-mentioned configuration is structured as a semiconductor integrated circuit separated from the memory chip and the semiconductor integrated circuit and the memory chips are mounted on a board so that the self-test thereof can be realized even in the assembled state in a memory module. However, even the publication of the above invention does not quite disclose the test using a random pattern.

Testing board for semiconductor memory, method of testing semiconductor memory and method of manufacturing semiconductor memory

Renesas Technology Corp & Hitachi ULSI Systems Co., Ltd.


A network services processor includes an input/output bridge that avoids unnecessary updates to memory when cache blocks storing processed packet data are no longer required. The input/output bridge monitors requests to free buffers in memory received from cores and IO units in the network services processor. Instead of writing the cache block back to the buffer in memory that will be freed, the input/output bridge issues don't write back commands to a cache controller to clear the dirty bit for the selected cache block, thus avoiding wasteful write-backs from cache to memory. After the dirty bit is cleared, the buffer in memory is freed, that is, made available for allocation to store data for another packet.

A multi-processing system includes a plurality of processors that share a single memory. Typically, multi-level caches are used to reduce memory bandwidth demands on the single memory. The multi-level caches may include a first-level private cache in each processor and a second-level cache shared by all of the processors. As the cache is much smaller than the memory in the system, only a portion of the data stored in buffers/blocks in memory is replicated in the cache.
If data stored in a buffer/block requested by a processor is replicated in the cache, there is a cache hit. If the requested data is not replicated in the cache, there is a cache miss and the requested block that stores the data is retrieved from memory and also stored in the cache.
When shared data is cached, the shared value may be replicated in multiple first-level caches. Thus, caching of shared data requires cache coherence. Cache coherence ensures that multiple processors see a consistent view of memory, for example, a read of the shared data by any of the processors returns the most recently written value of the data.
Typically, blocks of memory (cache blocks) are replicated in cache and each cache block has an associated tag that includes a so-called dirty bit. The state of the dirty bit indicates whether the cache block has been modified. In a write back cache, the modified cache block is written back to memory only when the modified cache block is replaced by another cache block in the cache.

Method and apparatus for managing write back cache


Methods for fabricating nanoscale features are disclosed. One technique involves depositing onto a substrate, where the first layer may be a silicon layer and may subsequently be etched. A second layer and third layer may be deposited on the etch first layer, followed by the deposition of a silicon cap. The second and third layer may be etched, exposing edges of the second and third layers. The cap and first layer may be removed and either the second or third layer may be etched, creating a nanoscale pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to nanofabrication techniques, and more particularly to a method for fabricating sub-50 nanometer imprint molds.
2. Description of Related Art
Advancements in nanotechnology have generated a need for fabrication of sub-50 nanometer (nm) structures and devices. Generally, techniques used for fabrication the sub-50 nanometer devices and structures include conventional top-down and bottom-up approaches. However, these approaches have significant limitation of patterning the fabricated feature with control.
As such, nanofabrication technique including, for example, nanoimprint lithography, has been used to produce high-throughput, controllable features. Nanoimprint lithography is a technique based on mechanical embossing, i.e., indirect pattern transfer on a target substrate or film. Nanoimprint lithography can give higher resolutions overcoming conventional lithographic light diffraction and beam scattering problems.
Generally, in nanoimprint lithography, a mold is made with the desired feature size and pattern on one side of the mold. The patterned side is subsequently embossed on a polymer coating over a target substrate. This is done under controlled temperature and pressure. After embossing, the mold is removed and the pattern is transferred onto a polymer. Next, a highly selective reactive ion etching is done to create a shallow trench, which eventually creates sub-50 nm features on the desired target.
However, the resolution of nanofabrication using the nanoimprint technique has numerous constraints. For example, fabricating masters with small features using conventional photolithography is not feasible due to the constraints of the wavelengths used. Additionally, problems such as the ability of a material to mold with high repeatability and efficiency may be lacking due to the nature of the materials used. Other examples of deficiencies of current techniques include the distortion of features in the transferred pattern, the swelling of the master by the monomers used or the solvent used to dissolve polymers, and the ability of a molded material to fill a mold completely.
Other techniques such as high resolution patterning are using electron or ion beam lithography, soft pattern transfer, microcontact printing, scanning probe lithography, edge lithography, or self-assembly for nanofabrication. However, all these techniques are still in research and development phases, and thus, may not be feasible for high throughput, commercial usage.
For example, in high-resolution electron or ion beam patterning, to increase resolution requires decreasing the diameter of particle beam, and thus, decreases the beam current. The changes to the particle beam increase the time necessary to achieve the same imaging dose.
Microcontact printing also has constraints such as failing to achieve the minimum size of features in stamps, lateral dimensions, and resolution of the transferred material. Additionally, the preferential adhesion of a printed material on a second surface uses current photolithography techniques, which may cause defects.
Scanning probe lithography is a serial writing process, which is inherently slow. Therefore, the use of scanning probe lithography is mostly research oriented. Also, scanning probe lithography is challenging to generate reproducible structures between scans because of variations in the surface topography of the substrate and differences in the shape of the tip.
Edge lithography can be limited in its ability to pattern arbitrary features due to the characteristics of light. Also, patterning intersecting lines of metal layers using edge lithography is method is a complicated, time consuming process.
Self-assembly techniques are currently unable to produce structures with precise spatial positioning and arbitrary shapes with a low concentration of defects and functionality. It is also unable to generate range patterns required for even simple electron functionality.
Any shortcoming mentioned above is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather is among many that tends to impair the effectiveness of previously known techniques for fabricating nanoscale features; however, shortcomings mentioned here are sufficient to demonstrate that the methodologies appearing in the art have not been satisfactory and that a significant need exists for the techniques described and claimed in this disclosure.

Methods for nanoscale feature imprint molding