A process and device for making sputtered films with a linear scanning magnetron, wherein sputtering employs directionally emitting targets and xe2x80x9cballisticxe2x80x9d transport to achieve controlled angular dispersion of incident particles with respect to the normal of the substrate. Sputter films made by this process can exhibit a high degree of step coverage over sub-micron, high aspect ratio substrate features and can fill high aspect ratio substrate features, for example, channels or vias.

The present invention relates to the preparation of thin films by magnetron sputter deposition in which the angular distribution of sputtered particles emitted from the target and arriving (depositing) at the substrate is directional. Directional emission and arrival mean that the angular distribution of flux intensity of sputtered particles emitted from the target, and incident at the substrate are each characterized by a narrow peak or peaks on a low level background angular distribution. In other words, the majority of particles emit and arrive at about the same one or few narrow ranges of angles. The directional emission is preserved by ballistic transport to result in the directional arrival.
One of the most important commercial processes for depositing thin films of a desired material onto a substrate is sputter deposition, also known as sputter coating or sputtering. Sputter deposition is used extensively in many industries including the microelectronics, data storage and display industries to name but a few. Generally, the term sputtering refers to an xe2x80x9catomisticxe2x80x9d process in which neutral, or charged, particles (atoms or molecules) are ejected from the surface of a material through bombardment with energetic particles. A portion of the sputtered particles condenses onto a substrate to form a thin film. The science and technology of sputtering is well known and described for example in Vossen, J. L., Kern, W., Thin Film Processes, Academic Press (1978). Sputtering can be achieved through several techniques. Generally, in xe2x80x9ccathodicxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cdiodexe2x80x9d) sputtering the target is at a high negative potential relative to other components, usually through application of a negative bias from a power supply, in a vacuum chamber system, typically containing an inert gas or mixture of gases at low pressure. A plasma containing ionized gas particles is established close to the target surface and ionized gas particles are accelerated by the action of the electric field towards the target surface. The bombarding particles lose kinetic energy through momentum exchange processes with the target atoms, some of the latter particles gain sufficient xe2x80x9creversexe2x80x9d momentum to escape the body of the target, to become sputtered target particles. Note a sputtered particle may be an atom, atom cluster or molecule either in an electrically neutral or charged state. A flux of sputtered particles may contain any one or any mixture of such entities.
One category of sputtering processes is known as magnetron sputtering. Magnetron sputtering is the most widely used form of sputtering and is the mainstay of commercial sputter deposition processes. In magnetron sputtering, crossed electric and magnetic fields generated by a magnetron assist in the sputtering by concentrating sputtering action.
According to the known art, the sputtered particles from a typical magnetron sputter cathode source emit with a cosine distribution or some variant based upon it. See Wasa, K., Hayakawa, S., Handbook of Sputter Deposition Technology, Noyes Publications, 1992. Film thickness distributions generally reflect that of calculations based upon a cosine emission model. See Vossen, J. L., Kern, W., Thin Film Processes, Academic Press (1978); see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,833 to Harra et al. Typically in many commercial sputter processes, sputtered particles are incident at the substrate at angles far from normal incidence even under ballistic transport conditions. See Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998). This effect is desirable if the substrate features to be coated have low aspect ratios. However, many leading edge technological applications involve, for example, filling deep, sub-micron high aspect ratio trench or via structures or coating high aspect ratio features with a high degree of conformality. However, there are limits on the smallness of the critical dimension of such features that can be conformally covered or filled by PVD.
A directional sputter deposition technology based upon magnetron sputtering (further described below), in which the angular distribution of sputtered particles incident at a substrate/thin film growth surface could be xe2x80x9ctailoredxe2x80x9d to the particular requirements of the thin film application, would be of significant technical and commercial value with a wide scope of technological application. Such a technique may allow the following to be improved: film coverage, engineering and control of thin film microstructure and therefore related functional characteristics of the film. For example, directional deposition would greatly ease step coverage of high aspect ratio features, e.g., channels on patterned surfaces. However, methods proposed to improve directionality, while providing some benefits, need further improvement.
Coating high aspect ratio structures is of critical importance, e.g., in emerging submicron semiconductor interconnect metalization and high density data storage media applications. In such cases the bounds of application of magnetron sputter deposition is approaching its limit. For example, in coating via type structures in microelectronics interconnect applications, it is well known that sputter deposition suffers from film buildout at the upper edges of the via resulting in a trapped void, xe2x80x9ckeyholexe2x80x9d type film defect as well as other film defects. See, for example, Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech.B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998). This effect is exasperated with reducing dimensionality and increased aspect ratio. Proponents of current commercial PVD processes assert they can conformally cover relatively high aspect ratio features, or fill relatively high aspect ratio channels or vias, having a critical dimension of at least 0.18 micron, or perhaps greater than 0.13 micron.
Several sputter PVD techniques, many of them developed commercially relatively recently, attempt to control the directionality of the incident sputtered particle flux at a substrate e.g., physical collimation techniques, hollow cathode sputtering, arc sputtering, self ionized sputtering, ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD) and long throw methods. The latter two techniques probably represent state of the art commercial technologies. The scope, scalability, efficiency and cost considerations of directional sputter technologies have been reviewed by Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech.B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998). The best techniques utilize tooling and/or process attributes to achieve a degree of control over the angular distribution of incident sputtered particles. These methods are in fact expressly designed to overcome what are believed to be inherent deficiencies in basic magnetron cathode sputter deposition characteristics and target materials design which limit control of the substrate incident angular sputtered flux distribution.
For example, in IPVD techniques a coil is located in the vacuum chamber between the sputtering cathode and substrate on which the film is to be deposited. The coil is configured to form a secondary plasma in the region above the substrate. The magnetron sputtered particles pass through a relatively high pressure ambient for creating the desired secondary plasma to undergo significant gas phase scattering, ionization (partial) in the secondary plasma followed by electrostatic deflection towards the substrate surface, generally provided by electrically biasing the substrate. At the substrate, partial resputtering of the growing film by the electrostatically accelerated particles is used to control film characteristics. For example bottom and sidewall coverage in semiconductor interconnect applications. Clearly complex post sputter emission processes are central to the directionality and the degree of conformal coverage achieved by the IPVD technique.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,948,215; 5,178,739; and Patent Cooperation Treaty published application No. WO 98/48444 disclose ionized plasma vapor deposition processes, and are incorporated herein by reference.
Long throw methods utilize ballistic (i.e., collisionless) transport and a long throw path to the substrate to xe2x80x9copticallyxe2x80x9d filter the magnetron cathode emitted flux such that only relatively low angle components of the emitted flux (i.e., those close to the target normal) are incident at the substrate. The long throw process is clearly inefficient through flux dilution and suffers from inherent asymmetries in the incident flux. See Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998).
Directional sputter emission from single crystals, see Werner, G. K. Phys. Rev. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 26, p. 1056 (1955) and ibid., Vol. 102, p. 690 (1956), and polycrystals, see Werner, G. K., Rosenberg, D., Phys. Rev. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 177 (1960), has been known for many years from work in diode sputter systems (not magnetron systems). However, referred emission has remained a laboratory result and has not been put into substantive practical application. This is probably due to several factors e.g., the cost and practical difficulty of producing large single crystal targets, together with problems due to reproducibility of the effect and the dominance of the magnetron sputter cathode in commercial applications of sputtering (The rate of deposition in diode sputtering is generally non-viable for many commercial applications). Initial experiments studying sputter emission from polycrystalline targets using diode sputtering techniques, see Werner, G. K., Rosenberg, D., Phys. Rev. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 177 (1960), did not show directional effects in several elemental systems. Directionality has been observed for sputtering of crystallographically textured polycrystalline targets using angularly collimated, monoenergetic ion beams. See Tsuge, H., Esho, S., J.Appl. Phys., Vol. 52, No.7 (1981), Smith. P. C. et al, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. a 17(6), p. 3443, November/December 1999. Factors inherent in the design and operation of magnetron sputter cathodes differentiate them from diode sputtering and sputtering through angularly collimated, monoenergetic ion or particle beams which affect the sputtered particle emission profile. For example, in contrast to magnetron sputtering there is no racetrack in diode sputtering, neither is the sputtering flux monoenergetic as in ion beam studies, see for example Vossen, J. L., Kern, W., Thin Film Processes, Academic Press (1978). Magnetron sputtering of crystallographically textured targets has been used as a means xe2x80x9cto point the emission distribution in a more normal distributionxe2x80x9d. See Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech.B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998). It has not however been sufficiently developed for technological application as a directional technique as demonstrated by the pre-eminence of IPVD and Long Throw techniques. See Rossnagel, S., J. Vac. Sci. Tech.B., Vol.16, No.5, p. 2585 (1998).
In general, magnetron sputtering uses crossed electric and magnetic field configurations to concentrate the sputtering action. Generally a negative bias is applied to the target, hence the magnetron and target assembly, which form the basic elements of the sputter source, is referred to as the cathode or magnetron sputter cathode. Typically, but not exclusively, magnets are positioned behind the sputter target. Magnetic field lines penetrate the target, threading through the low-pressure gas environment above the target before re-entering the target body. The configuration of crossed electric and magnetic fields are designed to confine electrons emitted through the bombardment of the target by energetic gas phase ions (and/or atoms) and increase the effective path length of ionizing electrons. A drift velocity is imparted on the electron motion. Their net motion describing a closed loop or so called xe2x80x9cracetrackxe2x80x9d. The overall effect is to increase the efficiency of ionizing the process gas and therefore the density of ions in the plasma. The consequent increased target bombardment enhances the efficiency of the sputtering process.
Both fixed and movable magnet structures have been utilized in magnetron sputtering. In one prior art sputtering system utilizing a moving magnet, the target is circular and the magnet structure rotates with respect to the center of the target. In a second prior art sputtering system utilizing a moving magnet, the target is rectangular or square and the magnet structure is scanned along a linear path with respect to the target. In a third prior art sputtering system, the target is rectangular and the substrate is moved in a plane parallel to the surface of the target during sputtering. The second type of sputtering system is known as a linear scan sputtering system and disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,344 to Hosokawa et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,071 to Demaray et al, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Linear scan sputtering systems typically utilize an elongated magnetron assembly that produces a correspondingly elongated closed-loop racetrack plasma profile. The magnetron (magnet) assembly is reciprocally scanned parallel to the target surface and perpendicular to the long dimension of the magnetron assembly. As the magnetron assembly is scanned with respect to the target, the plasma follows the instantaneous position of the magnetron assembly, as a scanning racetrack, and sputters areas of the target. The magnetron is typically behind the target assembly, but other configurations are possible. The target assembly may include a sputter target and backing plate or be of monolithic construction, that is, the sputter target and backing plate are formed from a single piece of material. This assembly may include several possible elements in addition to the sputter target and backing-plate, for example, possibly a heat exchanger assembly. Considerations of the total thickness and magnetic characteristics of these components and the spacing between the magnetron and the target assembly will have a significant impact on the intensity of sputtering produced and therefore deposition rate. Erosion anomalies are typically observed in linear scanning systems at the scan amplitude extremities. Importantly, in conventional linear scanning systems such erosion anomalies are generally undesirably reflected to some extent in the film thickness distribution and also lead to inefficient utilization of the sputter target, reducing its service life through localized enhanced wear. U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,744, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, asserts a system to compensate for the effects of erosion anomalies.
An object of the present invention is to provide a sputtering process having directional sputter emission, ballistic transport, and directional arrival of sputtered particles (ions and/or neutrals) at the substrate/film growth interface.
Another preferred object of the present invention is to provide uniformly homogeneously coated substrates.
Another preferred object of the present invention is to provide devices for use in sputtering.
Another preferred object of the present invention is to sputter from a target such that the maximum angle of peak particle emission from the target is below a prespecified angle with respect to the target normal (on an unsputtered, planar target).
Another preferred object of the present invention is to enhance directional sputter emission by providing a method employing cathode operating parameters to reduce the intensity of the influence of high angle components, i.e., sputtered material emitted from the target at a high angle away from the global maximum of the sputtered material flux, relative to desired low angle components.
The present invention relates to a new sputter deposition technology that offers advanced control over the substrate incident angular sputtered flux distribution with process simplicity. This technology differs from other techniques in that controlled sputter emission from the magnetron sputter source, based upon improved materials and cathode design, is central to the technique. The cathode comprises the target and the magnet assembly of the magnetron. Specifically, the technology is a combination of (1) engineered materials design and preparation of the sputter target to promote directional sputter emission, (2) the nature, design and operation of the sputter cathode, and (3) the process, in which sputtered particle transport is essentially ballistic.
These elements in proper combination and use largely preserve beneficial attributes of the engineered directional emission characteristics of the sputter target materials through ballistic transport of the emitted particles and simple geometric considerations, which promote a high degree of directionality to the substrate incident sputtered particle flux.
Directional emission refers to an angular distribution of as-emitted sputtered particles whose flux intensity is characterized by a distribution of particles in which the majority of emitted particle flux is contained within a narrow peak, or peaks, superimposed upon a low level background angular distribution.
Thus, ideally, most of the flux arrives at the substrate at about the same one or few narrow ranges of angles most characteristic of emission from the target material. In particular, the particles are emitted from the target over a range of angles such that there is at least one local maximum of particles emitted at a respective angle in the range, and the total number of particles emitted within plus or minus 20xc2x0 of the respective angle of each local maximum constitutes a majority (preferably 80% or more preferably 90%) of the emitted particles. Preferably, the particles are emitted from the target over a range of angles such that there is a global maximum of particles emitted at a respective angle in the range, and the total number of particles emitted within plus or minus 20xc2x0 of the respective angle of the global maximum constitutes a majority (preferably 80% or more preferably 90%) of the emitted particles.
For example, the majority of sputtered material (preferably at least 80 or at least 90% of the sputtered material) may be emitted within a distribution of less than plus or minus 20xc2x0 of the first peak plus the sum of the material less than plus or minus 20xc2x0 of the second peak totals to be the majority of the sputtered particles.
Preferably, regardless of whether there are one or more peaks, the majority of the emitted particles are emitted within a total range of at most about 40xc2x0, more preferably at most about 30xc2x0.
For example, the process may be designed such that for a target material designed to have emission at a particular angle, most of the particles will emit at or about that angle. Thus, by properly positioning the substrate relative to the target, the majority of the emitted particles will impact the substrate at or about 90xc2x0. This makes it much easier to uniformly coat high aspect ratio features on the substrate.
The energetics of the majority of incident particles are generally insufficient to cause significant resputtering of the growing film.
The present invention relates to a directional thin film magnetron sputter deposition process for any directionally emitting target material or surface comprising, employing a scanning sputtering device to incrementally sputter material from the target material. The process desirably achieves uniform erosion of the sputter target over the target material life. Thus, an advantage of the process is that directional emission from the target, ballistic transport, and directional arrival at the substrate of sputtered material is effected and maintained.
To facilitate ballistic transport, the substrate is positioned at, or less than, the process free path of the majority of emitted particles from the emitting target surface.
In particular, the substrate is positioned, with respect to the sputter target, such that the majority (preferably at least about 80%, more preferably, at least about 90%) of emitted particles from the directionally emitting target surface experience ballistic transport across the space between the target and the substrate. This results in directional arrival of a majority of the emitted particles at the film growth surface of the substrate.
By applying at least a suitably sufficient power density during sputtering, directional emission can be obtained from a wider variety of target materials. In particular, raising power density can further reduce the intensity of the influence of high angle components relative to low angle components. The high angle components are defined as sputter target material emitted at a high angle, e.g., more than plus or minus 40xc2x0, away from the global maximum peak of flux of material emitted from the sputter target. Preferably, the low angle components are sputter target material emitted within plus or minus 20xc2x0 of the global maximum peak. When the global maximum peak is significantly away from being normal (90xc2x0) to the target surface, the target (or substrate) may be tilted to cause the emitted sputtered material to arrive at a desired angle. Unexpectedly, the high power removes unwanted potential high angle components.
Sputtering may also be through an ionized gas phase target species or so-called self sputtering in which (unlike IPVD with a secondary plasma) a self sustaining sputtering plasma is formed from the target species, requiring little or no plasma support gas once initiated.
The present technique may also be suitable for reactive sputtering. Reactive sputtering is generally described by Vossen, et al, Thin Film Processes, Academic Press (1978), incorporated herein by reference. Typically, in reactive sputtering a reactive gas or gases is added to an inert gas such that the plasma contains reactive species allowing the formation of compound thin films. Reactive gases can include for example oxygen, nitrogen, methane, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, etc. as is well known in the art.
In its device aspects, the present invention provides a device for magnetron sputtering. In particular, the device employs a magnetron housing and its sputtering process housing, the two housings being separated by a target, its backing and a cooling panel, wherein there is a low difference in pressure between the two housings.

Physical vapor deposition targets having crystallographic orientations


A multicolor image-forming material comprises: an image-receiving sheet having an image-receiving layer and a support; and at least four thermal transfer sheets each including a support, a light-to-heat converting layer and an image-forming layer, in which each of the thermal transfer sheets has a different color, wherein a multicolor image is formed by: superposing the image-forming layer in each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets on the image-receiving layer, such that the image-forming layer is opposed to the image-receiving layer; irradiating the image-forming layer with a laser beam; transferring the irradiated area of the image-forming layer onto the image-receiving layer to form an image; and transferring the image on the image-receiving layer onto an actual printing paper, and each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets has a recording area being defined by a product of a length of 515 mm or more and width of 728 mm or more, and each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets is larger in each of a length-wise and a width-wise direction than the image-receiving sheet by 20 mm to 80 mm, and the actual printing paper is larger in each of a length-wise and a width-wise direction than the image-receiving sheet by 5 mm to 100 mm.

In the graphic art field, printing of a printing plate is carried out using a set of color separation films prepared from a color original by use of a lith film. In general, a color proof is prepared from the color separation films for checking errors in a color separation process and necessity of color correction before final printing (actual printing operation). The color proof has been desired to realize high resolving power which enables high reproducibility of a medium image, and to have performances such as high process stability. Further, for obtaining the color proof approximating to actual printed matter, materials used for the actual printed matter such as final print paper (an actual printing paper) as a substrate and a pigment as a colorant are preferably used as materials used for the color proof. As a method for preparing the color proof, a dry method using no developing solution is highly desired.
As the dry method for preparing the color proof, a recording system of directly preparing the color proof from a digital signal has been developed with the recent spread of the electronic system in the preliminary process of printing (prepress field). Such an electronic system is employed for preparing the color proof of particularly high quality, and generally reproduces a halftone dot image of 150 lines/inch. For recording the proof of high image quality from the digital signal, a laser beam which can be modulated by the digital signal and make recording light thin is used as a recording head. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to develop an image-forming material exhibiting high recording sensitivity to the laser beam and showing high resolving power which makes it possible to reproduce highly fine halftone dots.
As an image-forming material used in a transfer image formation method using a laser beam, there is known a heat melt transfer sheet comprising a support having provided thereon a light-heat conversion layer absorbing a laser beam to generate heat and an image formation layer in which a pigment is dispersed in a component such as heat-meltable wax or binder, in this order (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58045/1993). In the image formation method using this image-forming material, heat generated in a laser beam-irradiated region of the light-heat conversion layer melts the image formation layer corresponding to the region to transfer an image onto an image receiving sheet arranged by lamination on the transfer sheet, thereby forming a transferred image on the image receiving sheet.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 219052/1994 discloses a heat transfer sheet comprising a support having provided thereon a light-heat conversion layer containing a light-heat conversion material, a heat release layer having an extremely thin thickness (0.03 μm to 0.3 μm) and an image formation layer containing a colorant, in this order. In this heat transfer sheet, irradiation of a laser beam reduces the bonding force between the image formation layer and the light-heat conversion layer bonded by intervention of the heat release layer to form a highly fine image on an image receiving sheet arranged by lamination on the transfer sheet. In the image formation method using the heat transfer sheet, so-called "ablation" is utilized. Specifically, the heat release layer is partly decomposed to vaporize in a region irradiated with the laser beam, which causes the bonding force between the image formation layer and the light-heat conversion layer in that region to be weakened to transfer the image formation layer of that region onto the image receiving sheet laminated thereon.
These image formation methods have the advantages that final print paper provided with an image receiving layer (adhesive layer) as an image receiving sheet material can be used, and that a multicolor image can be easily obtained by transferring images different in color one after another onto an image receiving sheet. In particular, the image formation method utilizing ablation has the advantage that a highly fine image can be easily obtained, and is useful for preparing a color proof (DDCP: direct digital color proof) or a highly fine mask image.
In the progress of DTP circumstances, an intermediate film taking-out process is removed in the use of CTP (computer to plate), and the need for a proof according to the DDCP system has become strong, rather than the need for proof printing or a proof of the analog system. In recent years, large-sized DDCP having higher quality and stability and excellent in print agreement has been desired.
According to laser heat transfer systems, printing at high resolution is possible, and the systems include (1) a laser sublimation system, (2) a laser ablation system and (3) a laser melt system.
However, all of the above-mentioned respective systems have the problem that the recording halftone dot form is not sharp. The laser sublimation system of (1) has the problems that the approximation to printed matter is insufficient, because a dye is used as a colorant, and that the contour of a halftone dot is blurred, resulting in insufficient resolution, because the colorant is sublimated. On the other hand, the laser ablation system of (2) is good in the approximation to printed matter, because a pigment is used as a colorant, but has the problem that the contour of a halftone dot is blurred, resulting in insufficient resolution, similarly to the sublimation system, because the colorant is scattered. Further, the laser melt system of (3) also has the problem that no clear contour is obtained, because a melt flows.
Furthermore, when the difference in size between the heat transfer sheet and the image receiving sheet is small, a proper vacuum adhesion state can not be maintained in fixing the respective sheets to a recording drum by vacuum suction, so that the degree of vacuum is decreased to deteriorate the transferring properties of the image formation layer. On the other hand, when the difference in size is large, air accumulation is developed between the transfer sheet and the recording drum, resulting in a failure to obtain a good vacuum adhesion state.
In addition, when the difference in size between final paper and the image receiving sheet is small, wrinkles caused by slippage between the samples are liable to be developed. Conversely, when the difference in size is large, there is much waste, resulting in disadvantageous cost.
In the multicolor image-forming material according to the invention, the high process stability has been desired as described above. For example, the image receiving sheet is required to have good conveying properties, and further to have good accumulation properties, because a plurality of recorded cut image receiving sheets need to be accumulated.
In the heat transfer sheet on which a color image is formed, a defect of the image significantly reduces the commercial value. One of the causes of the image defect is that a part of the image formation layer is broken by a scratch, resulting in a failure to transfer that portion of the image, which can cause the defect of the image itself. The reason for this is that a surface of the heat transfer sheet is rubbed with a back face in producing, processing and printing the heat transfer sheet to scratch it. In particular, when the area of the image is large, the probability of occurrence of the image defect increases with the size of the image. Accordingly, in the case of the heat transfer sheet having a large image area, it is required that the image defect is more difficult to develop.
For preventing such an image defect, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 270154/1993 describes a method of using a specific polyester-acrylic styrene copolymer as a binder for an image formation layer. Further, there is also used a method of providing a protective layer on an image formation layer, thereby preventing an image defect.
It is possible to decrease the frequency of occurrence of the image defect caused by the scratch to some degree. However, the number of the image defects in one image plane is proportional to the image area, so that when the image area is increased, a problem is practically encountered. Further, the employment of the method of providing the protective layer on the image formation layer for preventing the image defect has raised the problem that the sensitivity of a heat-transferred image is lowered.

Multicolor image forming material and method for forming multicolor image


Embodiments of chemically defined cell culture media containing nutrients and growth factors free of any serum for culturing cells such as mesenchymal stem cells and methods of using embodiments of the cell culture medium for expanding cell populations such as mesenchymal stem cells while maintaining a pluripotent phenotype and methods of inducing chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells by admixing differentiation factors into embodiments of the cell culture medium.

Bone and cartilage transplantations are performed in reconstruction of bone and cartilage segments in plastic surgery, traumatic surgery or after the removal of neoplastic lesions. Currently, human tissues from an autologous source, or from living or deceased donors have been used for this purpose. With the advance of stem cell research, bone and cartilage cells derived from mesenchymal stem cells are becoming cellular sources for skeletal repair.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be found in certain tissues of the body, such as the bone marrow, blood, dermis and periosteum. They possess the ability to differentiate to other types of cells, and therefore may contribute to the healing of the tissues after injuries. MSCs can be isolated and purified from the bone marrow and culturally expanded in-vitro.
Presently, the in-vitro expansion of MSCs takes place in culture medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum (hereinafter "FBS") or with human autologous serum, or substantially similar or equivalent serum (also referred to as "serum"). However, the presence of animal or human serum in MSC cultures has certain disadvantages and limitations in view of the potential therapeutic applications of these cultures. Firstly, bovine serum, human serum, or other animal serum may contain blood born pathogens, such as viruses and mad cow prions, bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("BSE"), or the like. Secondly, bovine serum invokes antibody generation to xenobiotic proteins which may invoke immune responses in recipient patients. Thirdly, bovine serum exhibits lot to lot variations which can result in inconsistent performance.
Clearly, cell culture media containing only chemically defined substances and free of serum and xenobiotics may be highly desired for the culture of MSCs (and other cells) assuming that the inventive cell culture media and methods of utilizing the inventive cell culture media afford both expansion of cells including MSCs and further affords differentiation of MSCs in culture.

Serum-free chemically defined cell culture medium


A control system for a container chassis latching assembly of a trailer provides for initial pressurization of the latching assembly via the trailer supply line. Once a trailer reservoir is sufficiently charged, pressure is maintained for the latch assembly by the trailer reservoir. A preferred control valve interconnects the supply line with a supply port of the valve to provide the desired pressure at a delivery port. A control port of the valve is connected with the trailer reservoir and shuts off this flow once the trailer reservoir has reached a predetermined pressure. Thereafter, the latch assembly is maintained via air supplied from the trailer reservoir.

1. Field of Invention
This application relates to a latching system, particularly one used on a trailer container chassis, and more particularly to a pneumatic control system for such a latching system.
2. Discussion of the Art
A trailer supply line is provided on a trailer chassis and often used to directly supply compressed air from the compressed air system associated with the tractor for various functions associated with the trailer. For example, the supply line provides air to spring brake chambers and thereby release spring brakes that would otherwise be applied in the absence of the compressed air. Another common function is in association with an air operated latching assembly. Typically, air operated latch chambers are provided with compressed air from the supply line to connect the trailer container to the trailer chassis in a secure manner.
It is also common to employ a separate reservoir system for the trailer. The trailer reservoir system, again, allows a wide array of compressed air systems associated with the trailer to be operated from a reservoir having sufficient capacity to handle multiple tasks. As will be appreciated, the size or volume of the reservoir requires time to charge the reservoir to the desired operating pressure. Thus, compressed air systems on trailers that use the reservoir must account for the possibility that the compressed air will not be immediately available.
Known latching systems used on the trailer container chassis are either supplied by a trailer supply line or, separately, by a trailer reservoir system. Under the first scenario, the supply line feeds the latching network and a loss of the supply line results in the release of the latching mechanism, in addition to a trailer spring brake application. Under the latter system, the trailer reservoir system supplies the compressed air for the latching assembly and could result in an operator inadvertently pulling away with the latching system disengaged. Neither of these scenarios is desirable.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved latching system for a trailer container chassis that overcomes the various inadequacies noted above.
The present invention provides an improved trailer container latching system that advantageously uses compressed air from the supply line and the trailer reservoir system.
A preferred embodiment of the trailer container latching system includes a supply line adapted for connection with the trailer supply line and a separate, trailer reservoir. A trailer container latching assembly is initially in selective communication with the trailer supply line, and subsequently with the trailer reservoir via a valve, the changeover operative at a predetermined pressure being attained in the trailer reservoir.
The control valve includes a first port connected with the supply line, a second port adapted for connection with the trailer reservoir, and a third port that selectively delivers air pressure to the latching assembly. A separate line interconnects the trailer reservoir and the container latching assembly.
A method of controlling the trailer container chassis latching system includes the steps of initially connecting the supply line to the latching assembly, charging the trailer reservoir, and interconnecting the trailer reservoir with the latching assembly once a predetermined pressure level is reached.
A primary advantage of the invention resides in the ability to ensure that the latch is secured initially upon departure.
Another advantage of the invention resides in the ability to use the trailer reservoir to maintain the latch chamber once the trailer reservoir system is adequately charged.
Still another advantage of the invention resides in the ability to maintain an adequate latching should a failure occur in the trailer supply line after the trailer reservoir system is charged.
Still other advantages and benefits of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the following detailed description.

Pneumatic control system for trailer container chassis latching


Photographic radiation-sensitive materials having an improved antistatic property which comprise a nonionic polyoxyethylene surface active agent and at least one of a thiocyanate, iodide, perchlorate and periodate in at least one layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to photographic sensitive materials having an improved antistatic property and, particularly, to photographic sensitive materials having an excellent antistatic property which comprise a nonionic polyoxyethylene surface active agent and at least one of a thiocyanate, iodide, perchlorate and periodate in at least one layer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In photographic sensitive materials, photographic light-sensitive emulsion layers and, if necessary, layers composing the photographic sensitive material, such as an intermediate layer, a protective layer, a back layer and an antihalation layer, etc., are provided on one or both surfaces of a base such as a film of a poly-.alpha.-olefin such as polyethylene or polystyrene, a cellulose ester such as cellulose triacetate, or a polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate, paper, synthetic paper or a paper sheet both surfaces of which are coated with said high molecular materials, through a subbing layer which is provided in order to firmly bond the base to the photographic emulsion layers.
As photographic sensitive materials in which photographic emulsions are applied to both surfaces of the base there are, for example, direct X-ray films. In most other photographic sensitive materials, the photographic emulsions are generally applied to only one surface of the base.
Accordingly, in the latter case, there is one face to which the photographic emulsions are not applied, namely, the base surface which is generally referred to as the back face. Since the photographic sensitive materials are composed of a base having an electrically insulating property and photographic layers, electrostatic charges often accumulate as a result of contact and friction between surfaces of the same or different materials or separation thereof in producing the photographic sensitive materials or upon use.
The accumulated electrostatic charges create many troubles. For example, in the photographic films before development processing, the photosensitive emulsion layers are exposed to light by discharging the accumulated electrostatic charges whereby dot spots or branch-like or feather-like specks are formed when the photographic films are developed. They are so-called static marks by which the commercial value of the photographic films remarkably diminishes and sometimes is completely lost. For example, if they appear on medical or industrial X-ray films they may result in erroneous diagnosis. Since these marks are not revealed until development, it is one of the most troublesome problems. Further, the accumulated electrostatic charges bring adhesion of dust to the surface of the film, by which secondary troubles such as uneven coating at application, etc., result.
Such electrostatic charges often accumulate when the photographic sensitive materials described above are produced or used. For example, the electrostatic charges may be generated by friction due to contact of the photographic film with rolls during production, or by separation of the emulsion face from the base face in the step of winding and rewinding the photographic film. Further, in finished goods, the electrostatic charges may be generated as the emulsion face passes over the base face during rewinding of the photographic film under high humidity conditions sufficient to cause adhesion, or they may be generated by contact or separation of the X-ray film with mechanical parts or a fluorescent sensitizing paper in an automatic camera. Further, charges may be generated by contact with packing materials. Static marks on the photographic sensitive materials induced by accumulation of the electrostatic charges remarkably increase with an increase in the sensitivity or the processing rate of the photosensitive materials.
Though it is believed that charges originating by contact and the charges originating by separation result from an ionic interaction between the molecules of the contacting materials, it is difficult at the present time to surmise what material charges are positive and what material charges are negative. However, it is clear that such charging can be prevented, if the electric pressure is reduced or if conductivity of the surface of the material is increased so as to remove the electrostatic charge in a very short time before the electrostatic charge accumulates and partial discharging occurs.
Therefore, it has been hitherto proposed to increase the conductivity of the base or the coating surface layer of the photographic sensitive materials, and various hygroscopic materials or water-soluble inorganic salts, certain surface active agents and polymers, etc., have been used to this end. For example, polymers described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,882,157, 2,972,535, 3,062,785, 3,262,807, 3,514,291 and 3,615,531, surface active agents described in British Pat. No. 861,134 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,982,651, 3,428,456, 3,457,076, 3,454,625, 3,552,972 and 3,655,387, and zinc oxide, semiconductors and colloidal silica described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,062,700, 3,245,833 and 3,525,621 have been used to increase the conductivity of the base or the surface.
As a method of rendering the base of a photographic film antistatic directly, the above-described materials have been incorporated directly in a polymeric material and used as the base or they have been applied to the surface of the base. In the latter case, the antistatic agent is applied to a back layer alone or together with a polymer such as gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol or cellulose acetate, etc. Further, antistatic agents have been incorporated in a photographic emulsion layer or a surface protective layer and an aqueous solution of the antistatic agent has been applied to the surface of said layer to impart antistatic properties to the material. However, many of these materials are useful with only one kind of film base or photographic composition. Though some of these agents produce good results on a specific film base or photographic emulsion or on other photographic elements, they do not prevent charging on other film bases or photographic elements and sometimes they have a bad influence on photographic properties.
Generally, for high speed emulsions, there are a small number of materials which show a satisfactory antistatic effect under low humidity (30% RH or less), but the antistatic effect deteriorates and adhesion problems result under a high temperature and a high humidity. Particularly, in sensitive materials in which a photographic emulsion is applied to both surfaces of the base, such as direct X-ray sensitive materials, it is difficult to establish techniques for effectively utilizing the antistatic agents. Further, in case of searching for antistatic agents used for photographic sensitive materials, it is necessary to take into consideration not only photographic properties of photographic emulsions (such as sensitivity, fog, granularity or sharpness, etc.), but also coefficient of friction, good camera behavior and a good anti-adhesive property, etc.

Photographic radiation-sensitive materials having improved antistatic property


A compound, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof, having a structure of:

Inflammatory disorders underlie numerous human diseases characterized by a highly activated immune system that leads to secretion of large amounts of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines after infection with virulent pathogens, in response to host cell injury, or related irritants that activate receptors on immune effector cells (T-cells, macrophages, etc.). For example, sepsis results in over 500,000 deaths in the US each year and pneumonia is the leading cause of death from infections. Further, noninfectious illnesses (colitis, arthritis) can also involve cytokines as major mediators of disease pathogenesis. A central feature of these infectious disorders is the burst in cytokine release, i.e. cytokine storm, from pro-inflammatory cells including macrophages, lymphocytes, and PMNs. Under many conditions, the cytokine storm is exaggerated (hypercytokinemia) and results in a fatal immune reaction with constant activation of immune effector cells that produce sustained and supraphysiologic levels of cytokines including TNFα, IL-β, and IL-6 that leads to profound tissue injury. Left, unchecked, this profound inflammatory cascade can have devastating consequences for the host.
Prior efforts on blocking the cytokine storm has focused on the use of systemic corticosteroids or the development of targeted anti-inflammatory agents to specific cytokines, e.g. TNFα and IL-1β that have not improved mortality in sepsis. Other approaches focusing on inhibiting upstream surface receptors within T-cells (e.g. TLR4 receptor) have been inconclusive and similar agents have not succeeded in Phase 3 clinical trials. Many of these approaches are limited as only one target (a receptor or cytokine) is selected for inhibition; however, systematic inflammation and sepsis are intricate disorders whereby a multitude of inflammatory mediators are released from activation of multiple receptors. Agents that are directed against a single molecular target cannot prevent activities of other pro-inflammatory cytokines during the host inflammatory response. These observations underscore the importance of identifying newer targets for intervention that might govern the synthesis and secretion of a wider array of pro-inflammatory biomolecules. Further, the mainstay of therapies for sepsis is antimicrobial agents that do not provide total protection and are limited because of attendant toxicities and the rapid emergence of multi-drug resistance. Thus, the discovery of newer small molecule anti-inflammatory therapeutics with novel targets could have a profound impact on the severity of inflammatory illness such as sepsis.
TNF receptor associated factors (TRAFs) are a family of proteins primarily involved in the regulation of inflammation, antiviral responses, and apoptosis. Six well-characterized TRAF proteins (TRAF1-6) exist and a newer homologue TRAF7 was recently identified. All TRAF members share a highly conserved C-terminal domain that mediates interactions with transmembrane TNF receptors. Identification of TRAF proteins has contributed significantly to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction emanating from the TNFR superfamily and the Toll like/interleukin-1 receptor (TLR/IL-1R) family. TRAF family proteins interact with the IL-1 receptor, TLRs, CD40, RANK, I-TAC, p75 NGF receptor, etc. Specifically, TRAF2, TRAF5, and TRAF6 serve as adapter proteins that link cell surface receptors with downstream kinase cascades, which in turn activate key transcription factors, such as nuclear factor κB (NFκB), resulting in cytokine gene expression. With an exaggerated immune response, TRAF-mediated cytokine release leads to profound effects of edema, multi-organ failure and shock. The TRAF proteins, however, have a central role as they mediate signal transduction to elicit transcriptional activation of several downstream cytokines. These findings suggest that maneuvers designed to selectively modulate the abundance of TRAF proteins might serve as a novel strategy for therapeutic intervention. However, to date, very little is known regarding the molecular regulation of the TRAF family at the level of protein stability. Strategies directed at modulation of TRAF protein concentrations in cells might serve as the basis for the design of a new class of anti-inflammatory agents.
Ubiquitination of proteins brands them for degradation, either by the proteasome or via the lysosome, and regulates diverse processes. The conjugation of ubiquitin to a target protein is orchestrated by a series of enzymatic reactions involving an E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme, ubiquitin transfer from an E1-activating enzyme to an E2-conjugating enzyme, and last, generation of an isopeptide bond between the substrate's F-amino lysine and the c-terminus of ubiquitin catalyzed by a E3-ubiquitin ligase. Of the many E3 ligases, the Skp-Cullin1-F box (SCF) superfamily is among the most studied. The SCF complex has a catalytic core complex consisting of Skp1, Cullin1, and the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating (Ubc) enzyme. The SCF complex also contains an adaptor receptor subunit, termed F-box protein, that targets hundreds of substrates through phosphospecific domain interactions. F-box proteins have two domains: an NH2-terminal F-box motif and a C-terminal leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motif or WD repeat motif. The SCF complex uses the F-box motif to bind Skp1, whereas the leucine-rich/WD repeat motif is used for substrate recognition.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: wherein X is a divalent linking moiety; and        R1-R10 are each individually H, optionally-substituted alkyl, optionally-substituted alkoxy, optionally-substituted aryl, optionally-substituted cycloalkyl, optionally-substituted heterocyclic, halogen, amino, or hydroxy, provided that at least one of R3 or R8 is an optionally-substituted alkyl, a substituted alkoxy, optionally-substituted aryl, optionally-substituted cycloalkyl, optionally-substituted heterocyclic, or halogen.

University of Pittsburgh - Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education

The United States Government as represented by the Department of Veterans Affairs


A device including a holder with a blood sample collection tube-syringe on the one side and a needle on the other side. An exemplary holder includes a set of two valves. The first valve is on the tube-syringe""s side and is a tire valve including an inner needle covered by a tire. The second valve is on the side of the needle and is a membrane valve which has a membrane placed on an under-support with side-inlets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for underpressuring collection and dosage liquid samples, in particular for collection blood samples from a patient""s vein for analytic tests or dosage remedy liquids into a blood vascular system or any body cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
The European patent No. 0191945 discloses a blood sampling device comprising a cylindrical sample tube and slidable therein a plunger and also comprising an end cap on which there is eccentrically disposed an axially directed cone. The device comprises an adapter fitted on the cone and having two cannulae secured thereon, the outer cannula being free for introduction into a vein while the inner cannula is closed by a tyre valve. The device comprises also a non-return valve which is disposed in the end cap and which consists of an elastically deformable diaphragm having a central valve aperture and a cylindrical support ring for the diaphragm, said ring being inserted into the end cap, the diaphragm and the support ring being constructed as a one-piece diaphragm ring and the diaphragm being disposed in the support ring so as to be inwardly offset and being externally formed as a spherical segment such as to project somewhat beyond the edge of its support ring and a circular valve seat integrally formed concentrically on the inside of the end cap.
Further, the publication of the international application No. WO 95/16395 discloses a holding fixture for a blood sample collection tube of a blood-taking device which has a collecting container, with needle carrier, for a front end of the blood sample collection tube, which is closed off by a closure device. Mounted in the needle carrier is a syringe directed toward the opened end of the collecting container and projecting in its direction. A connecting passage formed between the needle carrier and a front wall of the collecting container links a flow channel with a collecting needle of a needle arrangement that is eccentric to a central longitudinal axis of the collecting chamber. As required, an openable valve arrangement is situated between the connecting passage and a collecting chamber. This valve arrangement is formed by a tube valve or flap valve disposed between the syringe and the collecting container and/or the connecting passage. The syringe is preferably set concentric to the collecting container. The flow channel feeds into the connecting passage between the syringe and an outer wall of the collecting container.
According to the present invention, a device for underpressuring collection and dosage liquid samples, in particular for analytic tests, comprises a holder with a blood sample collection tube-syringe on the one side and a needle arrangement on the other side, the holder comprises a set of two valves, the first valve on the tube-syringe""s side being a tyre valve and the second valve on the side of the needle being a membrane valve which has a membrane placed on an under-support with side-inlets.
The device according to the invention further comprises a guide bar of the holder which is open on the one side and on the other side has a conic head for the needle and a seating within the guide bar, the membrane valve being placed on a side of a frontal surface of the seating and on the other side there is placed the tyre valve comprising a inner needle covered by a tyre. The membrane and the under-support are placed in a recess on the frontal surface of the seating.
The device according to the invention has also an under-membrane chamber in the seating under the membrane. The under-support has a form of a sleeve with side-inlets or is formed by a number of separate supports which are distributed in the same distance from the axis of the membrane. The thickness of the membrane is considerably smaller in its periphery than in its central part, in particular, the thickness of the membrane is smaller outside the under-support.
In the present invention the axis of the inner needle is in principle in line with the axis of the membrane and the conic head has on the seating""s side a top-support of the membrane whose position is in line with the position of the under-support.
The holder, in the device according to the invention, has a shield which is placed on the guide bar of the holder and has an opening for the conic head in its top part. The shield is joined with the guide bar by upper latches and lower latches and there is a security container for the needle. The shield has in its upper part an observation window for the observation of collected liquid. Moreover, the shield and the guide bar have in their lower part an opening for the observation of a liquid material in the tube-syringe inserted into the holder, the guide bar has in its lower part a stabilising flange. In a rubber plug of the tube-syringe a cleaning chamber is placed.
In the device according to the invention, between the conic head and the needle, there is placed an opening needle head comprising a conic sleeve having a head part which is formed as the conic head of the holder and a lower part which is placed on the conic head of the holder, wherein inside of the conic sleeve in its lower part is placed an opening needle. The axis of the opening needle passes through the membrane and is in principle in line with the axis of the inner needle.
An advantage of the solution according to the present invention is a fact that after inspection of the correctly performed injection into blood vascular system or any body cavity in the observation window, the liquid material flows into the blood sample collection tube-syringe in an unconstrained manner and it cannot flow back. Moreover, the shield of the holder is a safety container for a used needle. The device according to the invention may be used also for dosage remedy liquids with an added opening needle head.

Device for underpressuring collection and dosage liquid samples, in particular for analytic tests

P. Z. xe2x80x9cHTLxe2x80x9dSpolka Akcyjna


A speech coding method of significantly reducing error propagation due to voice packet loss, while still greatly profiting from a pitch prediction or Long-Term Prediction (LTP), is achieved by limiting or reducing a pitch gain only for the first subframe or the first two subframes within a speech frame. The method is used for a speech class decided by a classification algorithm; the classification algorithm is designed, depending on at least one pitch cycle length compared to one subframe size. Speech coding quality loss due to the pitch gain reduction is compensated by increasing a coded excitation codebook size or adding one more stage of excitation only for the first subframe or the first two subframes within the speech frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of signal coding. In particular, the present invention is in the field of speech coding and specifically in application where packet loss is an important issue during voice packet transmission.
2. Background Art
Traditionally, all parametric speech coding methods make use of the redundancy inherent in the speech signal to reduce the amount of information that must be sent and to estimate the parameters of speech samples of a signal at short intervals. This redundancy primarily arises from the repetition of speech wave shapes at a quasi-periodic rate, and the slow changing spectral envelop of speech signal.
The redundancy of speech wave forms may be considered with respect to several different types of speech signal, such as voiced and unvoiced. For voiced speech, the speech signal is essentially periodic; however, this periodicity may be variable over the duration of a speech segment and the shape of the periodic wave usually changes gradually from segment to segment. A low bit rate speech coding could greatly benefit from exploring such periodicity. The voiced speech period is also called pitch and pitch prediction is often named Long-Term Prediction. As for the unvoiced speech, the signal is more like a random noise and has a smaller amount of predictability.
In either case, parametric coding may be used to reduce the redundancy of the speech segments by separating the excitation component of the speech from the spectral envelop component. The slowly changing spectral envelope can be represented by Linear Prediction (also called Short-Term Prediction). A low bit rate speech coding could also benefit a lot from exploring such a Short-Term Prediction. The coding advantage arises from the slow rate at which the parameters change. Yet, it is rare for the parameters to be significantly different from the values held within a few milliseconds. Accordingly, at the sampling rate of 8 k Hz or 16 k Hz, the speech coding algorithm is such that the nominal frame duration is in the range of ten to thirty milliseconds. A frame duration of twenty milliseconds seems to be the most common choice. In more recent well-known standards such as G.723, G.729, EFR or AMR, the Code Excited Linear Prediction Technique ("CELP") has been adopted; CELP is commonly understood as a technical combination of Coded Excitation, Long-Term Prediction and Short-Term Prediction. Code-Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) Speech Coding is a very popular algorithm principle in speech compression area.
FIG. 1 shows the initial CELP encoder where the weighted error 109 between the synthesized speech 102 and the original speech 101 is minimized by using a so-called analysis-by-synthesis approach. W(z) is the weighting filter 110. 1/B(z) is a long-term linear prediction filter 105; 1/A(z) is a short-term linear prediction filter 103. The code-excitation 108, which is also called fixed codebook excitation, is scaled by a gain Gc 107 before going through the linear filters.
FIG. 2 shows the initial decoder which adds the post-processing block 207 after the synthesized speech.
FIG. 3 shows the basic CELP encoder which realized the long-term linear prediction by using an adaptive codebook 307 containing the past synthesized excitation 304. The periodic information of pitch is employed to generate the adaptive component of the excitation. This excitation component is then scaled by a gain Gp 305 (also called pitch gain). The two scaled excitation components are added together before going through the short-term linear prediction filter 303. The two gains (Gp and Gc) need to be quantized and then sent to the decoder.
FIG. 4 shows the basic decoder, corresponding to the encoder in FIG. 3, which adds the post-processing block 408 after the synthesized speech.
Long-Term Prediction plays very important role for voiced speech coding because voiced speech has strong periodicity. The adjacent pitch cycles of voiced speech are similar each other, which means mathematically the pitch gain Gp in the following excitation express is very high,e(n)=Gp·ep(n)+Gc·ec(n)  (1)where ep(n) is one subframe of sample series indexed by n, coming from the adaptive codebook 307 which consists of the past excitation 304; ec(n) is from the coded excitation codebook 308 (also called fixed codebook) which is the current excitation contribution. For voiced speech, the contribution of ep(n) from the adaptive codebook could be dominant and the pitch gain Gp 305 is around a value of 1. The excitation is usually updated for each subframe. Typical frame size is 20 milliseconds and typical subframe size is 5 milliseconds. If the previous bit-stream packet is lost and the pitch gain Gp is high, the incorrect estimate of the previous synthesized excitation could cause error propagation for quite long time after the decoder has already received the correct bit-stream packet. The partial reason of this error propagation is that the phase relationship between ep(n) and ec(n) has been changed due to the previous bit-stream packet loss. One simple solution to solve this issue is just to completely cut (remove) the pitch contribution between frames; this means the pitch gain Gp is set to zero in the encoder. Although this kind of solution solved the error propagation problem, it sacrifices too much the quality when there is no bit-stream packet loss or it requires much higher bit rate to achieve the same quality. The invention explained in the following will provide a compromised solution.

Speech coding system to improve packet loss concealment


This invention is directed to certain N,N'-dinitroso phenylenediamines useful as polymerization inhibitors for acrylic acids and esters thereof. Also disclosed are compositions containing such compounds, and methods for inhibiting polymerization using such compounds and compositions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compounds and compositions useful as polymerization inhibitors for acrylic acids and esters thereof. It also is concerned with a method for inhibiting polymerization of acrylic acids and esters thereof, particularly on a manufacturing scale, by use of these compounds and compositions.
Acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, and esters thereof have wide application as raw materials for fibers and plastics. Since these compounds have reactive unsaturated bonds in their molecules they are prone to polymerize under the conditions encountered during purification, manufacturing or storage. Commercial processes for the manufacture of acrylic and methacrylic acids and esters typically produce products contaminated with various impuruties. These impurities must be removed in order for the monomer product to be suitable for most applications. Such purification is generally accomplished by distillation.
Polymerization is likely to occur during distillation and may occur as a result of the presence of heat, light, oxygen and other conditions. It is therefore most desirable to minimize or eliminate the tendency of acrylic acids or acrylates to polymerize during manufacturing, thus assuring that the vessels and pipes used to transport the material during production remain clean and the reactors free of build up of high viscosity, high molecular weight, polymerized material.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese patent application 48-35699 is directed to the stabilization of styrene, chloroprene, butadiene, isoprene, or acrylic acid derivatives with various compounds including certain N,N'-dinitroso compounds.
Japanese patent application 48-38399 is directed to stabilization of acrylates or methacrylates with certain N-nitrosoamine compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,267 is directed to inhibition of acrylate polymerization during distillation by the use of a quinone and an enol derivative of a quinone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,162 is directed to the inhibition of vinyl polymerization of a 2-isocyanatoalkyl ester of unsaturated carboxylic acid with certain nitrogen oxides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,358 is directed to polymerization inhibition of acrylate esters by use of an alkyl-substituted phenolic compound.
During distillation of acrylic acids and esters high distillation temperatures are required to achieve a throughput which is efficient and economical. These high temperatures, however, also result in an increased rate of polymerization leading to unacceptable levels of polymer in the distillation apparatus. Accordingly, there exists a strong need for a polymerization inhibitor which will protect the acrylic system from polymerization during distillation at high temperatures.

Polymerization inhibitors for acrylic acids and esters


Electron beam cured siloxane dielectric films and to a process for their manufacture which are useful in the production of integrated circuits. A siloxane polymer having in one aspect less than 40 Mole percent carbon containing substituents, and in another aspect at least approximately 40 Mole percent carbon containing substituents is cured by a wide beam electron beam exposure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cured siloxane dielectric films and to a process for their production by electron beam exposure. Such films are useful in the manufacture of integrated circuits (IC's).
2. Description of the Related Art
A continuing trend in the field of semiconductor technology is the formation of integrated circuit chips having more and faster circuits thereon. Such ultralarge scale integration has resulted in a continued shrinkage of feature sizes with the result that a large number of devices are available on a single chip. With a limited chip surface area, the interconnect density typically expands above the chip substrate in a multi-level arrangement and so the devices have to be interconnected across these multiple levels.
The interconnects must be electrically insulated from each other except where designed to make contact. Usually electrical insulation requires depositing dielectric films onto a surface. It is known in the art that siloxane resins are usefull in the electronic and semiconductor fields to provide a dielectric coating to silicon wafers and other components. Such coatings protect the surface of substrates and form dielectric layers between electric conductors on IC's. Such coatings can be used as protective layers, interlevel dielectric layers, doped dielectric layers to produce transistor like devices, capacitor and capacitor like devices, multilayer devices, 3-D devices, silicon on insulator devices, coatings for superconductors, and the like.
As mentioned above, semiconductor devices often have multiple arrays of patterned interconnect levels that serve to electrically couple individual circuit elements thus forming an integrated circuit. In the past, these interconnect levels have been separated by such insulating dielectric films as a silicon oxide film formed using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) techniques. However, as the size of circuit elements and the spaces between such elements decreases, the relatively high dielectric constant of such silicon oxide films has become a problem.
In order to provide a lower dielectric constant than that of silicon oxide, dielectric films formed from siloxane based resins are becoming widely used. The production of siloxane resins is well known in the art. In this regard, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,615,272; 4,756,977; 5,010,159 and 4,999,397. However, while such siloxane films do provide lower dielectric constants than CVD or PECVD silicon oxide films it has been found that typically the dielectric constants of such films are limited to approximately 3.0 or greater. The dielectric constant of such insulating films is an important factor where IC's with low power consumption, crosstalk, and signal delay are required. As IC dimensions continue to shrink, this factor increases in importance. As a result, siloxane based resin materials that can provide insulating films with dielectric constants below 3.0 are very desirable. In addition, it would be desirable to have a siloxane based resin which have a high resistance to cracking and low stress when formed in thicknesses of approximately 1.0 .mu.m or greater. It has now been found that such crack resistant, low stress films can be produced when the particular organic siloxane resins of the present invention are cured using electron beam exposure.
Another problem with siloxane based resins is that they must be cured to be effective as a dielectric. Specifically, after a semiconductor wafer having metal lines is coated with the siloxane and cured, it must be resistant to oxygen plasmas in subsequent IC production operations. In the prior art, siloxane polymers have been thermally cured. Unfortunately, thermal curing leaves SiOH bonds in the siloxane polymer. When thermally cured siloxanes are then subjected to oxygen plasma, water is produced by the hydration of the SiOH bonds thus poisoning vias cut through the dielectric in a non-etchback process. It has now been unexpectedly found that electron beam curing changes the properties of the siloxane such that essentially no hydrogen remains after exposure. Thus water formation is avoided or significantly reduced. This results in a denser SiO-SiO structure, minimizing formation of a hydrated film and poisoned vias. In addition, electron beam exposure is much faster than thermal curing, thus increasing IC throughput.

Electron beam treatment of siloxane resins


The present invention relates to an oligonucleotide having a novel structure and a method of synthesizing nucleic acid by using the same as a primer. This oligonucleotide is provided at the 5′-side of the primer with a nucleotide sequence substantially the same as a region synthesized with this primer as the origin of synthesis. The present invention realizes synthesis of nucleic acid based on an isothermal reaction with a simple constitution of reagents. Further, the present invention provides a method of synthesizing highly specific nucleic acid on the basis of this method of synthesizing nucleic acid.

An analysis method based on complementarity of a nucleic acid nucleotide sequence can analyze genetic traits directly. Accordingly, this analysis is a very powerful means for identification of genetic diseases, canceration, microorganisms etc. Further, a gene itself is the object of detection, and thus time-consuming and cumbersome procedures such as in culture can be omitted in some cases.
Nevertheless, the detection of a target gene present in a very small amount in a sample is not easy in general so that amplification of a target gene itself or its detection signal is necessary. As a method of amplifying a target gene, the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) method is known (Science, 230, 1350-1354, 1985). Currently, the PCR method is the most popular method as a technique of amplifying nucleic acid in vitro. This method was established firmly as an excellent detection method by virtue of high sensitivity based on the effect of exponential amplification. Further, since the amplification product can be recovered as DNA, this method is applied widely as an important tool supporting genetic engineering techniques such as gene cloning and structural determination. In the PCR method, however, there are the following noted problems: a special temperature controller is necessary for practice; the exponential progress of the amplification reaction causes a problem in quantification; and samples and reaction solutions are easily contaminated from the outside to permit nucleic acid mixed in error to function as a template.
As genomic information is accumulated, analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPS) comes to attract attention. Detection of SNPs by means of PCR is feasible by designing a primer such that its nucleotide sequence contains SNPs. That is, whether a nucleotide sequence complementary to the primer is present or not can be inferred by determining whether a reaction product is present or not. However, once a complementary chain is synthesized in error in PCR by any chance, this product functions as a template in subsequent reaction, thus causing an erroneous result. In practice, it is said that strict control of PCR is difficult with the difference of only one base given at the terminal of the primer. Accordingly, it is necessary to improve specificity in order to apply PCR to detection of SNPs.
On one hand, a method of synthesizing nucleic acid by a ligase is also practically used. The LCR method (ligase chain reaction, Laffler TG; Garrino JJ; Marshall RL; Ann. Biol. Clin. (Paris), 51:9, 821-6, 1993) is based on the reaction in which two adjacent probes are hybridized with a target sequence and ligated to each other by a ligase. The two probes could not be ligated in the absence of the target nucleotide sequence, and thus the presence of the ligated product is indicative of the target nucleotide sequence. Because the LCR method also requires control of temperature for separation of a complementary chain from a template, there arises the same problem as in the PCR method. For LCR, there is also a report on a method of improving specificity by adding the step of providing a gap between adjacent probes and filling the gap by a DNA polymerase. However, what can be expected in this modified method is specificity only, and there still remains a problem in that control of temperature is required. Furthermore, use of the additional enzyme leads to an increase in cost.
A method called the SDA method (strand displacement amplification) [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89, 392-396, 1992] [Nucleic Acid. Res., 20, 1691-1696, 1992] is also known as a method of amplifying DNA having a sequence complementary to a target sequence as a template. In the SDA method, a special DNA polymerase is used to synthesize a complementary chain starting from a primer complementary to the 3′-side of a certain nucleotide sequence while displacing a double-stranded chain if any at the 5′-side of the sequence. In the present specification, the simple expression "5′-side" or "3′-side" refers to that of a chain serving as a template. Because a double-stranded chain at the 5′-side is displaced by a newly synthesized complementary chain, this technique is called the SDA method. The temperature-changing step essential in the PCR method can be eliminated in the SDA method by previously inserting a restriction enzyme recognition sequence into an annealed sequence as a primer. That is, a nick generated by a restriction enzyme gives a 3′-OH group acting as the origin of synthesis of complementary chain, and the previously synthesized complementary chain is released as a single-stranded chain by strand displacement synthesis and then utilized again as a template for subsequent synthesis of complementary chain. In this manner, the complicated control of temperature essential in the PCR method is not required in the SDA method.
In the SDA method, however, the restriction enzyme generating a nick should be used in addition to the strand displacement-type DNA polymerase. This requirement for the additional enzyme is a major cause for higher cost. Further, because the restriction enzyme is to be used not for cleavage of both double-stranded chains but for introduction of a nick (that is, cleavage of only one of the chains), a dNTP derivative such as α-thio dNTP should be used as a substrate for synthesis to render the other chain resistant to digestion with the enzyme. Accordingly, the amplification product by SDA has a different structure from that of natural nucleic acid, and there is a limit to cleavage with restriction enzymes or application of the amplification product to gene cloning. In this respect too, there is a major cause for higher cost. In addition, when the SDA method is applied to an unknown sequence, there is the possibility that the same nucleotide sequence as the restriction enzyme recognition sequence used for introducing a nick may be present in a region to be synthesized. In this case, it is possible that a complete complementary chain is prevented from being synthesized.
NASBA (nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, also called the TMA/transcription mediated amplification method) is known as a method of amplifying nucleic acid wherein the complicated control of temperature is not necessary. NASBA is a reaction system wherein DNA is synthesized by DNA polymerase in the presence of target RNA as a template with a probe having a T7 promoter added thereto, and the product is formed with a second probe into a double-stranded chain, followed by transcription by T7 RNA polymerase with the formed double-stranded chain as a template to amplify a large amount of RNA (Nature, 350, 91-92, 1991). NASBA requires some heat denaturation steps until double-stranded DNA is completed, but the subsequent transcriptional reaction by T7 RNA polymerase proceeds under isothermal conditions. However, a combination of plural enzymes such as reverse transcriptase, RNase H, DNA polymerase and T7 RNA polymerase is essential, and this is unfavorable for cost similarly to SDA. Further, because it is complicated to set up conditions for a plurality of enzyme reaction, this method is hardly widespread as a general analytical method. In the known reactions of amplification of nucleic acid, there remain problems such as complicated control of temperature and the necessity for plural enzymes as described above
For these known reactions of synthesizing nucleic acid, there are few reports on an attempt for further improving the efficiency of synthesis of nucleic acid without sacrificing specificity or cost. For example, in a method called RCA (rolling-circle amplification), it was shown that single-stranded DNA having a series of nucleotide sequences complementary to a padlock probe can be synthesized continuously in the presence of a target nucleotide sequence (Paul M. Lizardi et al., Nature Genetics, 19, 225-232, July, 1998). In RCA, a padlock probe having a special structure wherein each of the 5′- and 3′-terminals of a single oligonucleotide constitutes an adjacent probe in LCR is utilized. Then, the continuous reaction of synthesizing complementary chain with the padlock probe as a template which was ligated and cyclized in the presence of a target nucleotide sequence is triggered by combination with a polymerase catalyzing the strand displacement-type reaction of synthesizing complementary chain. Single-stranded nucleic acid having a structure of a series of regions each consisting of the same nucleotide sequence is thus formed. A primer is further annealed to this single-stranded nucleic acid to synthesize its complementary chain and a high degree of amplification is thus realized. However, there still remains the problem of the necessity for a plurality of enzymes. Further, triggering of synthesis of complementary chain depends on the reaction of ligating two adjacent regions, and its specificity is basically the same as in LCR.
For the object of supplying 3′-OH, there is a known method in which a nucleotide sequence is provided at the 3′-terminal with a sequence complementary thereto and a hair pin loop is formed at the terminal (Gene, 71, 29-40, 1988). Synthesis of complementary chain with a target sequence itself as a template starts at the hairpin loop to form single-stranded nucleic acid composed of the complementary nucleotide sequence. For example, a structure in which annealing occurs in the same chain at the terminal to which a complementary nucleotide sequence has been linked is realized in PCT/FR95/00891. In this method, however, the step in which the terminal cancels base pairing with the complementary chain and base pairing is constituted again in the same chain is essential. It is estimated that this step proceeds depending on a subtle equilibrium state at the terminal of mutually complementary nucleotide sequences involving base pairing. That is, an equilibrium state maintained between base pairing with a complementary chain and base pairing in the same chain is utilized and the only chain annealing to the nucleotide sequence in the same chain serves as the origin of synthesis of a complementary chain. Accordingly, it is considered that strict reaction conditions should be set to achieve high reaction efficiency. Further, in this prior art, the primer itself forms a loop structure. Accordingly, once a primer dimer is formed, amplification reaction is automatically initiated regardless of whether a target nucleotide sequence is present or not, and an unspecific synthetic product is thus formed. This can be a serious problem. Further, formation of the primer dimer and subsequent consumption of the primer by unspecific synthetic reaction lead to a reduction in the amplification efficiency of the desired reaction.
Besides, there is a report that a region not serving as a template for DNA polymerase was utilized to realize a 3′-terminal structure annealing to the same chain (EP713922). This report also has the same problem as in PCT/FR95/00891 supra in respect of the utilization of dynamic equilibrium at the terminal or the possibility of unspecific synthetic reaction due to formation of a dimer primer. Further, a special region not serving as a template for DNA polymerase should be prepared as a primer.
Further, in various signal amplification reactions to which the principle of NASBA described above is applied, an oligonucleotide having a hairpin structure at the terminal thereof is often utilized to supply a double-stranded promoter region (JP-A 5-211873). However, these techniques are not those permitting successive supply of 3′-OH for synthesis of a complementary chain. Further, a hairpin loop structure having a 3′-terminal annealed in the same chain is utilized for the purpose of obtaining a DNA template transcribed by RNA polymerase is utilized in JP-A 10-510161 (WO96/17079). In this method, the template is amplified by using transcription into RNA and reverse transcription from RNA to DNA. In this method, however, the reaction system cannot be constituted without a combination of a plurality of enzymes.


A micro LED display panel includes a plurality of active areas disposed on a substrate and arranged in an array. A plurality of micro LEDs are uniformly arranged in each of the active areas to achieve high-resolution of micro LED display panel. By controlling the number of micro LEDs in each of the active areas, the production cost can be effectively controlled, while a screen door effect can be eliminated to thereby enhance market competitiveness of the micro LED display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of display, and in particular to a micro light-emitting diode (micro LED, μLED) display panel
2. The Related Arts
The panel display device, due to the advantages of high display quality, low power-consumption, thin size and wide application, is widely used in mobile phones, TV, PDA, digital camera, notebook PC, desktop PC, and so on, and becomes the mainstream technology.
The micro LED display device is a display device which utilizes high density micro-scaled LED array integrated on a substrate as display pixels to achieve image display. Similar to a larger-scaled outdoor LED display, each pixel is addressable and individually driven to emit light, and can be viewed as a reduce-sized outdoor LED display by reducing the inter-pixel distance from cm scale to mm scale. Micro LED display device and the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) are both self-luminous, but the micro LED shows the advantages of higher material stability, longer lifespan and no image imprinting as compared to the OLED, and is considered as the major competing technology for OLED display device.
Because of lattice match, micro LED element must be grown on a sapphire-based substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. To manufacture a display panel, the micro LED element must be transferred from the sapphire-based substrate to the receiving substrate for forming the display panel. The micro transfer printing (MTP) is a technology to transfer the micro LED element grown on the sapphire-based substrate to the receiving substrate. Specifically, a laser lift-off (LLO) technology is used to separate the micro LED bare chip from the sapphire-based substrate, and then a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) transfer stamp is used to adsorb to the micro LED bare chip off from the sapphire-based substrate, the PDMS transfer stamp is aligned with the receiving substrate for positioning, and then the micro LED bare chip adsorbed by the PDMS transfer stamp is attached to the pre-set position on the receiving substrate, and then the PDMS transfer stamp is peeled off to accomplish micro LED bare chip transfer to form micro LED array substrate. Moreover, the receiving substrate is silicon substrate already prepared with circuit pattern, which may be rigid or flexible.
At present, the size of the sub-pixel in the flat panel display, such as, LCD panels is relatively large for the micro LED. If a micro LED is used to fill the position of the area equivalent of the existing sub-pixel area, a greater gap will appear between the sub-pixel areas, resulting in the screen door effect. In other words, the display will seem covered with a black mesh overlay on the image, similar to viewing through the screen door. To solve the screen door effect, an approach is to fill the area of the space equivalent to the existing sub-pixel with a plurality of micro LEDs. However, this approach requires a large number of micro LEDs, resulting in high costs.

Micro light-emitting diode display panel

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A method for controlling an urea-SCR system may include a first step for calculating a target urea injection amount, a second step that uses urea injection pressure and urea injection time to calculate a real urea injection amount, a third step that calculates a difference value between the target urea injection amount and the real urea injection amount, and monitors the difference value at a predetermined time interval, a fourth step that accumulates difference values for a determined time when the difference value exceeds a predetermined level, and transfers an alarm signal to a driver when the average value thereof exceeds a predetermined level, and/or a fifth step that starts to accumulate a number of engine starts and driving distance after transferring the alarm signal, and when the number of engine starts is larger than a predetermined value or the driving distance is longer than a predetermined value, if the difference value does not become lower than a predetermined level, executes urea recharging means for a driver to charge a urea tank with a urea solution. The urea consumption amount may be continuously monitored, the remained urea amount may be accurately detected, and the urea recharging may be induced in time such that the nitrogen oxide exhaust is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a urea-SCR system and a control method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, owing to environmental pollution, related investigations have been actively undertaken so as to eliminate nitrogen oxide in exhaust gas, and the post-processing technology such as selective catalyst reduction (SCR) can be divided into two kinds.
First, there is a lean NOx trap (LNT) system in which a nitrogen oxide absorbing material is used. However, in order to use the above LNT system, a diesel engine is to be operated in a condition of less than a theoretical air/fuel ratio.
That is, in order to archive the lean air and rich fuel condition, a post-injection technique is to be used, that is, the fuel is further injected into an exhaust pipe such that the fuel consumption is increased.
Second, in order to eliminate the nitrogen oxide, there is a urea-SCR (urea-selective catalyst reduction system) that injects a urea solution into the exhaust pipe so as to eliminate the nitrogen oxide in the exhaust gas, and the injected urea is vaporized by thermal energy (at about 156° C.) of the exhaust gas or is decomposed by the catalyst to be transformed to ammonia, wherein the Reaction Formula 1 thereof is as follows.Reaction Formula 1(NH2)2CO+H2O→2NH3+CO2  Eq. (1)
The transformed ammonia reduces the nitrogen oxide in the exhaust pipe as in the following Reaction Formula 2 such that nitrogen and water are exhausted as the resultant materials thereof.Reaction Formula 24NH3+4NO+O2→4N2+6H2O  Eq. (2)4NH3+2NO2+O2→3N2+6H2O  Eq. (3)8NH3+6NO2→7N2+12H2O  Eq. (4)2NH3+NO+NO2→2N2+3H2O  Eq. (5)
The above technique that uses the ammonia to reduce the nitrogen oxide was developed about 20 years ago to be commercially available, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.
Different from the final guidance program (distributed on Mar. 30, 2007) of the North American EPA for a vehicle, in which the urea-SCR is used, European laws stipulate that a reducing agent such as urea is to be monitored in a urea-SCR vehicle. Accordingly, in order to correspond to the above program, the control logic thereof needs to be investigated.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Urea-SCR system and control method thereof


Disclosed is an apparatus which attaches to an automatic tissue processor to confine and treat the toxic fumes emanating from solvent containers used in a tissue processor. The apparatus consists of a framework clamped on the tissue processor upon which an adsorbent filter and exhauster/blower assembly are mounted and a transparent flexible cover are placed. The blower sucks the toxic fumes and intake air through the adsorbent filter where the fumes are removed from the air. The clear flexible cover has zippered panels with attached fasteners to observe tissue processor operation and provide the technologist access to the tissue processor for operation and maintenance.

This invention relates to adsorbent enclosures, and more specifically, to an adsorbent enclosure for an automatic tissue processor to filter the toxic fumes produced by the tissue processor during operation.
A pathologist's diagnosis is based upon light microscopy examination of slides of wax penetrated tissues which have been microtomed and stained. Electron microscopy examination requires similar specimen treatment with fixation, dehydration and clearing solvents, but the embedding media is a polymer rather than wax. Companies such as Technicon, Lipshaw, Tissue-Tek, American Optical, and Fisher manufacture automatic tissue processors which sequentially immerse specimens into a plurality of solvent baths. In order to be penetrated with wax, a typical sequence of solvents used on specimens in a tissue processor consists of formalin (an aqueous solution of formaldehyde), isopropyl alcohol and xylene.
Formaldehyde, xylene and isopropyl alcohol vapors which emanate from automatic tissue processors are toxic and thus controlled by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act). The TLV (Threshold Limit Value), the time weighted average concentration a worker can be exposed to in an eight-hour day for formaldehyde is 3 ppm (parts per million), xylene is 100 ppm, and isopropyl alcohol is 400 ppm. Interim toxicological findings indicate that formaldehyde is a suspect carcinogen. Ventilation systems are very expensive especially in retrofitting an old laboratory and in addition cause high energy loss by the discharge of warm room air and result in governmental regulation of the points of emission.
The present invention relates to an improved adsorbent enclosure for treating the toxic vapor emanating by a tissue processor and more particularly to a framework which supports the adsorbent/exhauster blower and a clear flexible impermeable cover with provision for access during operation and maintenance. The volume exhausted from the enclosure is maintained to yield low solvent evaporation from the tissue processor's solvent baths, but with minimal risk of an explosion. The volume exhausted is balanced between high solvent evaporation at high volumetric rates and the potential for an explosion at low volumetric rates.
By way of background, the U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,333 discloses an incubator having a frame which mounts a plastic tent with zippers for access. No fasteners are used to keep the panels open during loading. No space between the tent and frame is provided for inlet air. Oxygen is supplied to the recirculated and treated air within the incubator. The incubator/framework disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,333 does not relate to tissue processors.
By way of further background, U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,987 discloses an isolation apparatus including a tent mounted on a frame carried by a bed. A U-form slide extends around the side and bottom of one side of the enclosure to permit access to the patient. The bottom of the tent-like enclosure is sealed to the bed frame. Canisters connected by conduits to the enclosure clean contaminated air from the enclosure before passing into the room. Air is forced into the enclosure by a pump located elsewhere. The patent does not disclose a space between the bottom of the enclosure and a table or the like for permitting entry of room air, nor are flaps bordered by separate vertical zippers to permit access to the inside of the tent shown. The isolation apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,987 does not relate to tissue processors.

Adsorbent enclosure for automatic tissue processors

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