A closed loop combustion system for the combustion of fuels using a molten metal oxide bed.

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is generally characterized by 2 fundamental stages. In the first stage a solid material, typically desirably sized solid particles of metal oxide, are contacted with a carbon containing fuel such that the metal oxide gives up its oxygen to the fuel, forming carbon dioxide and a reduced state material. Depending on the materials and fuels, this step may generate or consume heat. In the second stage, the reduced state material is regenerated in the absence of fuel by exposing it to air where the oxygen oxidizes the reduced state material to regenerate a fully oxidized species. In conventional CLC, this step always results in the release of heat. The regenerated metal oxide is then available to repeat the cycle with more fuel. Typical metal oxides used for CLC include nickel oxide, calcium oxide, iron oxide, copper oxide, manganese oxide, and cobalt oxide.
Traditionally, a CLC system employs a dual fluidized bed system (circulating fluidized bed process) where a metal oxide is employed as a bed material providing the oxygen for combustion in the fuel reactor. The reduced metal is then transferred to the second bed (air reactor) and re-oxidized before being reintroduced back to the fuel reactor completing the loop. Isolation of the fuel from air reduces the number of discrete process steps needed to capture the CO2 generated from fuel combustion.
Many methods have been developed for purposes of CO2 capture: amine scrubbing, oxy-combustion, and/or pre-combustion decarbonization. In amine scrubbing, flue gas is typically treated with an organic amine that selectively traps the CO2 then the CO2 is subsequently released in pure form as the amine is regenerated. Oxy-combustion uses purified oxygen during combustion to generate a flue gas that is predominantly CO2. Alternatively, pre-combustion decarbonization also called gasification, when used for CO2 capture, converts the fuel to a mixture of predominantly CO2 and H2. The CO2 can be separated from the H2 prior to combustion of the H2, thus resulting in only H2O being produced from combustion. Unfortunately these clean combustion methods require large supplemental energy for CO2 capture greatly reducing their overall combustion efficiency. CLC generates clean energy from a carbonaceous fuel without an air separation unit, without a thermal regeneration step, and without the need to separate CO2 from H2, all of which require both expensive capital and require large amounts of electrical, thermal and/or mechanical energy.
Prior research has shown that CLC can be used to generate power. Ishida, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,024, use a metal oxide (MO) oxygen carrier including nickel oxide (NiO), yttrium-stabilized zirconium (ZrO2), as well as iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) oxides to combust fuel (RH) including methane (CH4) while moistened air is used to regenerate the metal oxide carrier. This process uses low temperature fuel combustion and generates heat when the MO is regenerated with moistened air. Van Harderveld, U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,305, oxidize liquid and solid contaminants in diesel exhaust by passing contaminated exhaust gas through a particulate separator with serially-arranged catalytic plates arranged so that there is no net gas flow in the space between two adjacent vertical plates. The catalytic plates contain a mixture of metal salts and metal oxides including vanadium, molybdenum, molybdenum oxide, iron, platinum, palladium and alkali metals that oxidize soot. Although van Harderveld discloses the metal salt and metal oxide mixtures may become molten at reaction temperatures, a solid metal or ceramic support is required to maintain catalytic activity for these metal mixtures with low melting points. Lyon, U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,496, uses cyclic exposure of a catalytic reaction bed including metal oxides to a reducing gas and molecular oxygen to reduce and oxidize a fuel on the combustion catalyst. Lyon uses silver/silver oxide, copper/copper oxide, iron/iron oxide, cobalt/cobalt oxide, tungsten/tungsten oxide, manganese/manganese oxide, molybdenum/molybdenum oxide, strontium sulfide/strontium sulfate, barium sulfide/barium sulfate, and mixtures thereof for a catalytic reaction bed.
Yao and associates, (Yao, 2008) use a transition-metal carbide including Cr2O3, MoO3, V2O5, Nb2O5 and TiO2 with cementing-metal oxides CO3O4 and NiO, and carbon black as composite powders such as Cr3C2—Co, Mo2C—Co, VC—Co, NbC—Co and Tic-Ni, for direct reduction and carburization. CO3O4 and NiO improved carbothermal properties for a direct reduction and carburization process.
The main problem with solid oxygen carriers is that they undergo mechanical degradation while being cycled from a reduced state to an oxidized state over and over again, from attrition, erosion, fatigue, crystalline changes, irreversible and side reactions, etc. The result is that the solid carriers turn into ever finer particles, making moving and managing solids quite difficult, and making the useful lifetime of the oxygen carriers uneconomically short. Moreover, continuously moving hot solid particles from one reactor to another is complicated. A simpler system is required that mitigates the movement of the metal/metal oxide at very high temperatures. In addition to mechanical degradation, chemical degradation of the solid oxygen carrier also occurs with each cycle, such that the fraction of the total oxygen carrier available to take part in chemical reactions continuously decreases with use. In practical applications, a small amount of the degraded oxygen carrier is continuously removed from the reaction process and a small amount of fresh oxygen carrier is continuously added, but an improved process would offer an oxygen carrier with an extended useful lifetime.

Liquid-phase chemical looping energy generator


A box is provided with a number of holders (1, 2, 3, 4), all of which have a bottom, end walls and side walls, with always at least two adjacent holders having a pivoting connection (9, 10) at their bottom. The holders (1, 2, 3, 4) are of such dimensions that when they are in the folded state, an earlier folded holder will close off an adjacent outside holder. At least the first holder is connected with two adjacent other holders, such that the pivoting connections are positioned at right angles to each other.

The present invention relates to a box provided with a number of holders, all of which have a bottom, end walls and side walls, with always at least two adjacent holders having a pivoting connection at their bottom and the holders being of such dimensions that when they are in the folded state, an earlier folded holder will close off an adjacent outside holder, and wherein the pivoting connections of each of these two holders with adjacent holders are positioned at right angles to each other, such, that in the unfolded state two adjoining rows of holders are provided.
Such a box is known from Dutch patent application 7810935 (U.K. patent application GB 2034 669B). This known foldable box is used for many purposes such as for storing screws, nuts and other small technical parts, as a sewing box, cigar and cigarette box, but also as a box for storing make-up articles and with provisions for storing eye-shadow and the like. GB-A-168531, in particular FIGS. 18 and 19 disclose a box as described at the outset.
In order to obtain access to the various holders of the known box, the box can be folded out into a flat extended position in which the holders are connected in series forming a long row. The disadvantage of this is that, if the box is provided with a great number of holders, it takes up much space when extended. This is detrimental to its ease of use. A further drawback of the known box is that the holders, if they are part of a rectangular box, may have greatly varied dimensions. Especially the holders that are on the inside, when the box is in its folded state, often have an impractical narrow shape, while the holders positioned more on the outside are more square of shape. In view of practicability, such a great variety of holder shapes is not always desirable.


An OFET includes a thick dielectric layer with openings in the active region of a transistor. After the field dielectric layer is formed, semiconductor ink is dropped in the active region cavities in the field dielectric layer, forming the semiconductor layer. The ink is bounded by the field dielectric layer walls. After the semiconductor layer is annealed, dielectric ink is dropped into the same cavities. As with the semiconductor ink, the field dielectric wall confines the flow of the dielectric ink. The confined flow causes the dielectric ink to pool into the cavity, forming a uniform layer within the cavity, and thereby decreasing the probability of pinhole shorting. After the dielectric is annealed, a gate layer covers the active region thereby completing a high performance OFET structure.

A standard top-gate OFET is formed by depositing a layer of semiconductor followed by a layer of dielectric on conductive source/drain electrodes. A conductive layer is then deposited on top of the dielectric between the source and drain electrodes to form an OFET structure. Two important determinants of OFET performance are: (1) the semiconductor layer must be deposited between the source and drain electrodes, but must minimize the overlap over the source and drain electrodes, and (2) the dielectric should be as thin as possible without resulting in short circuits.
One problem with the standard fabrication method described above, particularly with respect to the top-gate OFET structure, is that the semiconductor ink tends to flow far beyond the edge of the source and drain electrodes, causing the semiconductor layer to extend beyond desirable boundaries, thereby introducing undesired capacitance between the gate and the drain. This increased capacitance is responsible for significant loss of transistor switching speed, thereby causing circuits built with this structure to run more slowly. Another problem with the above OFET structure is that, when making the dielectric layer thin to increase transistor performance, there is an increased probability of shorting between the gate and the source/drain through pinholes in the dielectric, created in large measure by non-uniform ink flow of the dielectric.
What is desired, therefore, is a novel OFET structure in which at least the boundaries of the ink in the dielectric layer are tightly controlled to substantially improve switching speeds and to reduce pinhole shorting associated with the prior art structures.

Performance improvements of OFETs through use of field oxide to control ink flow


Methods and apparatus for sensing the presence of a transmission signal type within a wireless channel in a wireless communication system, such as those including the use of wireless microphones, are described. Sensing the transmission signal type includes calculating a spectral density estimate of a signal on the wireless channel. A first test value, derived from the calculated spectral density estimate, is compared to a first threshold. A preliminary determination of the presence of the transmission signal type is made if the first test value exceeds the first threshold. Sensing the presence of the signal type after preliminary determination of the presence of the signal type is made by determining that an observed spectral density of a prescribed signal added to the signal on the wireless channel matches a model estimate of the spectral density of the prescribed signal to a sufficient degree.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to methods and apparatus for sensing the presence of a transmission signal in a wireless channel, and more particularly to spectrum sensing of a particular transmission signal type in the wireless channel.
2. Background
In particular wireless networks including cognitive radio technology operating according to IEEE standard 802.22, as an example, unlicensed wireless operation is permitted in unused television channels. In order to prevent operation in channels that are currently used by licensed wireless devices at a given time, user devices in such networks preferably need the ability to observe the spectrum and identify channels that are occupied by licensed users or other users. As an example, it is noted that the licensed users may be Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital television transmissions, National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) analog television transmission or licensed wireless microphone transmissions. The process of observing the wireless spectrum and identifying occupied and unoccupied TV channels is referred to as "spectrum sensing." This spectrum sensing capability is often one of the capabilities of cognitive radio devices in order to identify unused frequency bands in the RF spectrum that may be used by the devices.
Presently the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing a standard for unlicensed wireless networks (e.g., working group IEEE 802.22) that operate in the television bands. This standard will utilize cognitive radio techniques for sensing the presence of particular signals, such as wireless microphone signals, in order to identify unused TV channels, for example. It is noted that there are several possible licensed transmissions that may occupy a TV channel, such as analog TV, and Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital TV, as well as professional wireless microphones.
Licensed wireless microphones operating in the television bands, in particular, are typically analog FM devices. The bandwidth of these devices is limited to less than 200 kHz, with a typical bandwidth being even narrower at approximately 100 kHz. Since these devices utilize FM modulation, the bandwidth of the transmission depends on the amplitude of the audio signal. Accordingly, it known that some manufacturers of wireless microphones add a high-frequency tone into the audio signal before modulation to assist intended receivers of that signal in identifying the wireless microphone transmission given the relatively narrow-band signal. This high-frequency tone is referred to as a "tone-key," allows the receiver to squelch the audio signal when no signal is present.
Devices within the above-described systems may scan a frequency spectrum of the wireless channels in order to attempt to identify unused spectrum. Certain types of transmissions may not be accurately detected by merely scanning the frequency spectrum. With wireless microphones, in particular, because the volume of an attendant audio tone-key signal causes fluctuations in the bandwidth of the particular wireless microphone signal, frequency scanning may be difficult. As such, benefits may be realized by methods and apparatus with improved accuracy in detecting the presence of a particular transmission signal in a wireless channel.

Methods and apparatus for sensing the presence of a transmission signal in a wireless channel


An electronic component package includes: a main body including a plurality of layer portions that are stacked and that have their respective side surfaces, the main body having a side surface including the side surfaces of the layer portions; and wiring disposed on the side surface of the main body. Each of the layer portions has at least one electronic component chip and a plurality of electrodes disposed on the side surface of the layer portion. A method of manufacturing the electronic component package includes the steps of: fabricating a main body aggregate including a plurality of pre-main-body portions each of which is to become the main body later, the pre-main-body portions being arranged in one direction orthogonal to the direction of stacking of the plurality of layer portions; forming the wiring for each of the pre-main-body portions of the main body aggregate; and cutting the main body aggregate after the formation of the wiring so as to separate the plurality of pre-main-body portions from each other so that each of them becomes the main body and a plurality of electronic component packages are thereby formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electronic component package including a plurality of layer portions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reduction in weight and an improvement in performance have been desired for mobile apparatuses represented by cellular phones and notebook personal computers. Higher integration of electronic components used for mobile apparatuses have been sought, accordingly.
A system large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) and a multi-chip module have been known as highly integrated electronic components. The system LSI is a single integrated circuit (IC) in which functions of various electronic components are incorporated. The multi-chip module is a module made up of a plurality of chips integrated through the use of a wiring board, for example.
The system LSI has a benefit of enabling higher integration density and minimizing wiring. On the other hand, the multi-chip module has a benefit that it facilitates the implementation of a single module having desired functions by integrating a plurality of chips having different functions.
A description will now be given of a conventional method of manufacturing an electronic component package including at least one chip and a plurality of external connecting terminals, such as a system LSI or a multi-chip module. In a typical conventional method of manufacturing an electronic component package, at least one chip is mounted on a base such as a wiring board prepared for a single electronic component package, a terminal of the chip is connected to an external connecting terminal, and the connecting portion between the terminal of the chip and the external connecting terminal is sealed. The terminal of the chip and the external connecting terminal are connected to each other by wire bonding or flip-chip, for example. In the case where flip-chip is employed, the terminal of the chip and the external connecting terminal are connected to each other through wiring inside the wiring board. Wiring among chips in the multi-chip module is also performed by wire bonding or flip-chip, for example.
JP 2001-035993A discloses a multi-chip module in which a bonding pad connected to a chip is connected to a lead that is an external connecting terminal by wire bonding. JP 2001-035993A further discloses a technique of forming inter-chip wiring and the bonding pad through a wire-forming process. According to this publication, the wire-forming process includes a film forming step, a lithography step and an etching step, for example.
JP 2001-244403A discloses a technique wherein inter-chip wiring and pads for external connection of a multi-chip module are formed through a wafer process. According to this publication, the wafer process includes a series of steps of forming an insulating layer, forming via holes, embedding plug metals, flattening, forming films by sputtering, and forming a wiring pattern through photolithography techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,380 discloses a method of manufacturing a chip-size semiconductor package as will now be described. In this method, first, a lead frame is bonded to the top surface of a wafer in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are formed, the semiconductor chips being aligned with chip partition lines and each having a plurality of pads on the surface thereof. Next, leads of the lead frame and the pads of the semiconductor chips are connected to each other by wire bonding. Next, the top surfaces of the leads closer to the base ends are exposed and the top and bottom surfaces of the wafer are molded. Next, conductive metallic plating is performed on the exposed top surfaces of the leads closer to the base ends. Next, the wafer and the lead frame are cut to complete the semiconductor packages.
In the typical conventional method of manufacturing an electronic component package, a series of steps, such as mounting of at least one chip on the base, connection of the terminals of the chip to external connecting terminals, and sealing of the connecting portions between the terminals of the chip and the external connecting terminals, are performed for each electronic component package. This typical method has a disadvantage that it is difficult to mass-produce electronic component packages at low costs in a short period of time.
The method of manufacturing a chip-size semiconductor package disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,380 makes it possible to mass-produce chip-size semiconductor packages at low costs. In this method, however, to alter the specifications of semiconductor chips, it is required to start with design of a wafer including a plurality of semiconductor chips. Therefore, the method has a disadvantage that it is difficult to respond to alterations to the specifications flexibly and quickly. In addition, it is impossible to manufacture multi-chip modules through this method.
A method of manufacturing a layered electronic component package as described below is disclosed by Keith D. Gann, "Neo-Stacking Technology", HDI Magazine, December 1999. In this manufacturing method, first, a plurality of circuits each including one or more chips are formed on a single wafer to fabricate a structure called "Neo-wafer". Next, the Neo-wafer is diced so that the plurality of circuits are separated from each other to thereby form a plurality of structures each of which is called "Neo-die". Next, a plurality of Neo-dice are laminated into a stack, and a plurality of stacks are laminated to fabricate an aggregate of the stacks. Next, a plurality of buses are formed on two sides of each of the stacks that the aggregate includes. Next, the individual stacks are separated. Each of the individual stacks thus formed is an electronic component package.
The above-described manufacturing method enables mass production of layered electronic component packages capable of achieving higher integration. However, this method has a disadvantage that it requires a large number of steps including a series of steps of laminating a plurality of stacks each made up of a number of Neo-dice stacked to thereby fabricate the aggregate of the stacks, forming a plurality of buses for the stacks in the state of aggregate, and then separating the individual stacks. The method has another disadvantage that, since a plurality of buses are to be formed for the stacks in the state of aggregate that is formed by laminating a plurality of stacks, it is required to precisely align the plurality of stacks that the aggregate includes, but it is difficult to perform this alignment with high precision.

Method of manufacturing electronic component package


A process for producing a sintered ceramic wire, particularly a superconducting wire, by the steps of filling a metal pipe with a material powder of ceramic, wire drawing the metal pipe filled with the material powder by means of roller dies and then subjecting a composite of the metal pipe and the material powder to a heating operation to sinter the ceramic powder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing an elongated wire material of sintered ceramics; more particularly, it relates to an improvement in a process for producing a wire material which permits the use of a sintered body composed of superconducting compound oxide which exhibits a higher critical temperature of superconductivity.
2. Description of the related art
Under the superconducting condition, the perfect diamagnetism is observed, and no difference in potential is observed so that an electric current of a constant finite value is observed internally, and hence, a variety of applications of superconductivity has been proposed in a field of electric power transmission as a mean for delivering electric power without loss.
The superconductivity can be utilized in the field of power electric applications, such as MHD power generation, power transmission, electric power reservation or the like; in the field of transportation, such as magnetic levitation trains or magnetically propelling ships; a highly sensitive sensors or detectors for sensing very weak magnetic field, microwave, radiant ray or the like; in the medical field such as high-energy beam radiation unit; in the field of science, such as NMR or high-energy physics; or in the field of fusion power generation.
In addition to the above-mentioned power electric applications, the superconducting materials can be used in the field of electronics, for example, as a Josephson device, which is an indispensable switching device for realizing a high-speed computer which consumes very reduced power.
However, their actual usage has been restricted because the phenomenon or superconductivity can be observed only at very low cryogenic temperatures. Among known superconducting materials, a group of materials having so-called A-15 structure shows rather higher Tc (critical temperature of superconductivity) than others, but even the top record of Tc in the case of Nb.sub.3 Ge, which showed the highest Tc, could not exceed 23.2K at most. This means that liquidized helium (boiling point of 4.2K) is only one cryogen which can realize such very low temperature of Tc. However, helium is not only a limited costly resource but also requires a large-scaled system for liquefaction. Therefore, there has been a strong demand for another superconducting materials having higher Tc. But no materials which exceeded the above-mentioned Tc had been found in studies for the past ten years.
It has been known that certain ceramics material of compound oxides exhibits the property of superconductivity. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,315 discloses Ba-Pb-Bi type compound oxide which shows superconductivity, and Japanese patent laid-open No. 60-173,885 discloses that Ba-Bi type compound oxides also show superconductivity. These type superconductors, however, possess a rather lower transition temperature of about 10k, and hence usage of liquidized helium (boiling point of 4.2K) as cryogen is indispensable to realize superconductivity.
Possibility of existence of a new type of superconducting materials having much higher Tc was revealed by Bednorz and Muller who discovered a new oxide type superconductor in 1986 [Z. Phys. B64 (1986)189]
This new oxide type superconducting material is [La, Ba].sub.2 CuO.sub.4 or [La,Sr].sub.2 CuO.sub.4 which is known as the K.sub.2 NiF.sub.4 -type oxide having a crystal structure which is similar to known perovskite type oxide. The K.sub.2 NiF.sub.4 -type oxides show is much higher Tc as 30K than the known superconducting materials, and hence it becomes possible to use liquidized hydrogen (b.p.=20.4K) or liquidized neon (b.p.=27.3K) as a cryogen which bring them to exhibit the superconductivity.
It was also reported in the newspaper that C. W. Chu et al discovered in the United States of America another type of superconducting material having the critical temperature of in the order of 90K in February 1987, and hence possibility of existence of high-temperature superconductors has burst on the scene.
However, the above-mentioned new type of superconducting materials just born has been studied and developed only in a form of sintered bodies as a bulk produced from powders but has not been tried to be shaped into a wire form. The reason is that the new type superconductors are ceramic materials of compound oxide which do not possess enough plasticity or process-ability in comparison with well-known metal type superconducting materials such as Ni-Ti alloy, and, therefore, they cannot or are difficult to be shaped or formed into an elongated article such as a wire by a conventional technique, such as wire-drawing, in which superconducting metal is drawn directly or in embedded condition in copper into a wire form.
It is proposed in Japanese patent laid-open No. 61-131,307 a method for manufacturing a superconducting wire from a metal type superconducting material which is apt to be oxidized and very fragile such as PbMo.sub.0.35 Sg, comprising charging the material metal powder in a metal shell, extruding the metal shell filled with the material powder at a temperature of higher than 1,000.degree. C., and then drawing the extruded composite. This metal working technique, however, cannot apply directly to ceramic material consisting of compound oxide, because the compound oxide type superconducting materials cannot exhibit the superconductivity if the specified or predetermined crystal structure is not realized. In other words, a superconducting wire which shows higher critical temperature and higher critical current density and which is useable in actual applications cannot be obtained outside predetermined optimum conditions. In particular, if the shell is not selected from proper materials, the resulting compound oxide will be reduced due to chemical reaction with the metal of the shell, resulting in poor or inferior properties of superconductivity.
In addition, the above-mentioned sintered ceramic materials must be shaped into an elongated structure when they are used as a superconducting wire. However, the above-mentioned superconducting materials obtained in a form of a sintered body are very fragile and are apt to be broken or cracked even under very weak mechanical stress. And hence, when they are shaped into a wire, special attention must be paid to their handling to insure that they will not be broken.
Further, although a variety of new ceramics such as AlN, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 or the like are utilized in many applications because of their superior heat resistance and mechanical properties, it has not been easy to produce a wire of ceramic. It has been the general practice of ceramic molding for manufacturing an elongated article such as wires or rods to add an organic binder to the material powder of ceramic so that a mixture of the powder material and the organic binder is shaped into a rod by means of an extruder or a press machine and then the shaped rod is passed directly or through a trimming or cutting stage to an intermediate sintering stage to remove the organic binder before it is fed to the final sintering stage.
The combination of the above-mentioned press-molding and trimming or cutting operations would result in the loss of great amounts of expensive ceramics material, and a dimensional ratio of longitudinal direction to cross sectional direction of the rod would not be increased. Therefore, this process cannot be used in practice because of waste of material and lower productivity.
The extrusion technique is much better than the press-molding technique in the economy of material and productivity but requires great quantities of organic binder added to the powder material. This organic binder is difficult to be removed completely during the intermediate sintering stage and hence remains in the finally sintered article, resulting in a cause of defects of the product which will lower the strength and the resistance to flexion.
A polycrystal having completely uniform crystal structure cannot be obtained from particles having superconducting properties along. Furthermore, the phenomenon of superconductivity is apt to be easily broken in a stronger magnetic field and under the fluctuation or unhomogeneous distribution of temperature in the sintered body, as well as the above-mentioned oxide type superconducting materials possessing rather higher specific resistance and lower heat-conductivity above the critical temperature. Therefore, if the phenomenon of superconductivity breaks locally, the sintered body produces Joule heat caused by the superconducting current preserved therein, and explosive evaporation of cryogen is induced when the heated portion of the sintered body comes in contact with the cryogen. In order to avert this danger, in conventional metal type superconducting material, superconducting metal is shaped in a form of a fine wire or filament, a plurality of which is embedded in electroconductive metal which plays a role of a by-pass of electric current when superconductivity breaks.
The oxide type superconducting materials are, however, difficult to be shaped or formed into such filaments, because they contain insufficient plasticity or processability in comparison with well-known metal type superconducting materials such as Ni-Ti alloy.
In order to realize a reliable and practical superconducting structure, it is essential that the structure possess enough strength and tenacity to sufficiently to endure bending force during usage and which also has a finer cross sectional dimension in such manner that it can transmit currency at higher critical current density and at higher critical temperature. However, conventional techniques cannot or are difficult to produce wire shaped ceramic articles possessing satisfactory mechanical strength and tenacity as well as a higher dimensional ratio of length to cross section.
Taking the abovementioned situation into consideration, the present inventors have proposed processes for producing sintered ceramic wires having a practically usable higher dimensional ratio of length to cross section without using organic binder, which is a cause of deterioration of strength and tenacity in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 152,713 titled "Process for Manufacturing a Superconducting Wire of Compound Oxide-Type Ceramic" filed Feb. 5, 1988 and Ser. No. 161,480 titled "Process for Manufacturing a Compound Oxide-Type Superconducting Wire" filed Feb. 28, 1988 in which a metal pipe filled with material powder is subjected to plastic deformation such as a wire-drawing technique by means of a die, and then is sintered.
These solutions are in themselves satisfactory but remain such problems that the resulting wire has a tendency to be broken due to relatively lower strength. The present inventors have continued to develop an improved wire-drawing process which can produce a ceramic wire possessing higher strength and no breakage which will complete the present invention.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technique and to provide an improved process for producing a superconducting wire which has a higher Tc and higher stability as superconductor and which also has a higher degree of freedom in configuration so that it can be applicable to a practical use.

Process for producing sintered ceramic wire


The present invention provides an input device for positioning a cursor on a computer screen by movement of a ball whose rotary movements are transformed into electronic signals, which is unique in that the angular rotations of the ball can be detected by an optical detection means by use of substantively coherent light in such a manner that the rotation of the ball is converted into data values with respect to an x-axis and a y-axis, said axes being preferably perpendicular to each other. This provides a compact detecting device which is suitable for the construction of a computer mouse with the shape of a ball-point pen.

The present invention relates to an input device for positioning a cursor on a computer screen by movement of a ball relative to a substrate, and that these rotary movements of the ball are transformed into electronic signals.
The generally known input devices, such as computer mice, for the operation of a computer have certain drawbacks. The computer mouse requires some space available within the range of the computer user. Another requirement for the substrate of the mouse is that it must be a firm and plane as well as essentially horizontal substrate of a certain extent to enable the user to orient the screen projection of the mouse relative to the entire extent of the computer screen. It may sometimes be difficult or even impossible to place the computer such that the space required for the operation of the mouse is always available. Moreover, the known computer mouse solutions frequently give rise to pain in fingers and wrists after extended use.
Several attempts have been made to overcome these drawbacks, inter alia with several proposals for constructing the computer mouse as a ball-point pen. Such a xe2x80x9ccomputer penxe2x80x9d will be extremely convenient, easy and more precise to operate, it being possible to utilize the fact that the fine motor function of the fingers is considerably better developed than that of the arms. Further, no strict requirements are made with respect to the substrate on which the mouse is used.
A computer mouse constructed as a ball-point pen will also be able to expand the general use of computers.
Thus, it is conceivable that the future use of computers will inter alia comprise xe2x80x9chand-writtenxe2x80x9d letters or memos in electronic form. It will hereby be possible to impart a personal touch to the user of the computer, and to reduce the use of the keyboard completely or partly.
However, it has been found that the traditional embodiment of the arrangement for recording and transforming the movements of the ball into electrical signals requires a good deal of space particularly around the ball, which sets a limit to how small dimensions a pen-shaped computer mouse may be given. It is common to the know structures of xe2x80x9ccomputer pensxe2x80x9d that the external dimensions of the pen itself and of the ball are larger, and the computer pen hereby becomes more unhandy than ordinary ball-point pens.
The German Auslegeschrift No. DE 39 00 622 A1 describes a pen-shaped computer mouse, in which the recording of the movements of the ball is performed in that two rollers are in constant contact with the ball. The rollers rotate as a consequence of the rotation of the ball. A sensor unit is provided in connection with each of the rollers and records the rotation of the roller. The two rollers are arranged such that the movements of the ball in two directions relative to an x-axis and a y-axis may be recorded. This solution, which requires much space, resembles the normal rotation recording of the ball in an ordinary xe2x80x9cbox-shapedxe2x80x9d computer mouse, but with the difference that space is just available behind the ball in the ball-point pen structure. Thus, the tubular computer mouse according to DE-39 00 622 A1 cannot be manufactured with a very small cross-sectional diameter, as the tube, directly behind the ball, must be able to accommodate the entire space-requiring recording arrangement.
Another embodiment of a pen-shaped structure of a computer mouse is moreover known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,594. Here, the recording arrangement and the ball suspension are made in the same manner as in an ordinary xe2x80x9cbox-shapedxe2x80x9d mouse. The result is a computer mouse of such a structure that only to a limited extent can it be said to provide the expected advantages which are desired in connection with a pen-shaped computer mouse.
EP-A-0 413 606 describes a combined ball-point pen and computer mouse. It operates in that a flow meter is arranged directly above the ball, said flow meter measure the direction in which the ink moves as a consequence of the movement of the ball. This solution does not appear to be very reliable and only works as long as ink is present in the pen.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,993 a track-ball device is known in which the ball is provided with randomly distributed speckles in contrasting colors, and light-sensitive sensor means, so that the movement of the ball can be detected. This detection concept takes up a considerable amount of space underneath and beside the ball and is for this reason alone not suitable for use in a pen-type solution. Furthermore, this device requires a ball of a diameter of at least 5 mm.
From WO94/22071 another optical solution is known. This device comprises photo-coupler means that can detect the movement of the ball of a golf ball type that is provided with concave reflectors (dimples). This device also takes up a considerable amount of space around the ball and requires a relatively large diameter that makes the solution unsuitable for a proper pen-type solution.
A similar solution is also shown from Xerox Disclosure Journal, Vol. 10, no. 3 pages 123-125, where a ball-point pen having a ball with dots in a contrast colour is described. The angular rotation of this ball is detected by use of LEDs or incandescent lamps. The xe2x80x98golf ballxe2x80x99 type solution is also mentioned in this disclosure.
Accordingly, the object of the invention is to provide an input device for a computer with a recording arrangement which requires considerably less space than the known solutions, thereby making it possible to construct a pen-shaped computer mouse in dimensions corresponding to a ball-point pen or similar writing utensil.
The invention comprises an input device of the introductory mentioned kind, wherein, said optical detection means comprising at leas. one source of substantially coherent electromagnetic radiation, at least one lens and one or more detectors.
This provides a recording arrangement for an input device which just contains few spacious components, and thus is advantageous in terms of space, as he optical detection means may be arranged at the rear side of the ball and only take up little room. This makes this principle suitable for the design of a computer pen, as it may be manufactured with a relatively small cross-sectional diameter since the detection means can be built with an elongated shape.
In a first preferred embodiment of the invention the optical detection means is adapted to detect the movement of the speckle pattern generated by the electromagnetic radiation scattered from the granular structure of the surface of the ball.
This is a particular simple way to carry out the detection, as the detection means according to this embodiment of the invention does not set out any special requirements to the surface of the ball.
The speckles arise when coherent light is scattered off the surface and made to interfere, constructively or destructively, as it propagates in free space. At a distance from the illuminated surface a strong intensity modulation is observed, which is usually named a xe2x80x9cspeckle patternxe2x80x9d. The coherent light is provided by a laser preferably of a VCSEL-type (VCSEL: Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser), which is advantageous in that it has a very low electrical power consumption and a lower beam divergence.
The ball of a computer input device according to this first embodiment of the invention can be designed with a relatively very small diameter, as no special surface structure is required. A method of determining angular rotation of a cylindrical object by illuminating a spot of the object surface with coherent light is in general known from EP-B1-0 671 007.
In the first preferred embodiment the optical detection means comprises a first and a second sets of detectors and a common laser source, and each set of detectors are adapted to detect the angular rotation in a first and a second direction. In addition, comprises each set of detectors comprises two detectors that are arranged in such a way that a speckle pattern arising from the surface of the ball successively is detected by a first detector and then by a second detector by an angular rotation of the ball. Also, the transit time between the detected speckles can be determined by electronic means. Hereby a reliable measurement of the angular rotation of the ball in two directions can be carried out. Alternatively, the detectors could be arranged as a quad detector or similar detector arrays.
In an alternative embodiment, the surface of the ball is formed with optically detectable markings for the optical detection of movement. The reflection of the electromagnetic radiation or laser beam(s) from the surface is detected by the detectors and/or the CCD cameras, following which these signals are converted in an electronic signal processing unit into an electronic signal giving the direction in which the ball rotates. Reading of the markings is also performed in an optical system, which basically resembles the known code call systems from the compact disc technology and other forms of optical measuring devices.
The detectors according to this embodiment could also be arranged as quad detectors or as an array of detectors.
The optically detectable markings may advantageously be embedded in an information layer, either direct on the surface of the ball or on two shafts which are oriented preferably perpendicularly to each other, and to which the rotations of the ball are transferred, said marking layer being provided on these shafts. To protect the information layer, a preferably transparent protection layer may finally be applied to the information layer, as is known e.g. from compact discs.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device is constructed as a computer pen comprising a tubular housing in which the ball is rotatably arranged at one end. Further, at the opposite end the computer pen may be connected to a computer either in the form of a cable connection or a wireless connection. In this embodiment, the pen will be provided with a transmitter and a power supply, such as a normal rechargeable battery. Keys may be arranged on the side of the substantively tubular housing to generate additional control signals for the connected computer. These keys as well as the substantively tubular housing are shaped and arranged in an ergonomically correct configuration.
In an embodiment, it is moreover conceivable to split the laser beam from the laser into two or more beams. As a supplement to the detectors or in substitution for one or more of the detectors, the detection means may moreover comprise one or more CCD cameras.
The electronic signal processing unit may be an integrated part of the pen, alternatively the optical signals just processed partly in the pen, following which the final signal processing is performed by an electronic signal processing unit which is incorporated in the transmission receiver in or attached to the computer.
The optically detectable markings may advantageously be embedded in an information layer, either directly on the surface of the ball or on two shafts which are oriented preferably perpendicularly to each other, and to which the rotations of the ball are transferred, said marking layer could be provided on these shafts. To protect the information layer, a preferably transparent protection layer may finally be applied to the information layer, as is known e.g. from compact discs.
The input device could further comprise a battery and associated battery capacity measuring means that can generate signals displaying the remaining capacity and transmit these signals to the computer. This means, that the user will have the possibility to monitor the status of the input device during use.


A heat engine, includes at least one Liquid Ring Rotating Casing Compressor (LRRCC) having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, a combustion chamber in fluid communication with the output of the LRRCC, and at least one expander having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The fluid inlet communicates with the combustion chamber.

Heat engines usually use piston drives and crankshafts to convert linear motion to rotating motion. There were many attempts to convert gas turbines, which dominate the aviation industry, into a compact vehicle engine. In these attempts, the small turbine rotate at rpm or so, which requires expensive transmission or electric power generation that reduces shaft work efficiency.
Liquid ring machinery are simple, reliable and low noise compressors and vacuum pumps, which convert the shaft work to radial compression without utilizing pistons and crankshafts. Analysis of the different components of shaft work in liquid ring compressors indicate that close to about 50% dissipate at the Liquid Ring-Casing boundary. With the LRRCC, the boundary friction is replaced by frictional bearing, which is less than 10% of the liquid ring dissipation. This makes the LRRCC a competitive partner in the compressor's and the expander's machinery.
Efficient LRRCC compressors/turbines are known from European Patent number 0,804,687, the teachings of which are herein incorporated by reference.


An engine cooling system includes: an engine system including an engine having a plurality of combustion chambers that generate a driving force by combustion of fuel; a power electronics (PE) device that assists engine torque of the engine system in accordance with a driving state of the vehicle; a main radiator connected to the engine system by an engine coolant line and discharging heat generated in the engine system by engine coolant flowing in the engine coolant line, a sub-radiator connected to the PE device through a PE coolant line and discharging heat generated in the PE device by PE coolant flowing in the PE coolant line; a 2-way valve connecting the engine coolant line and the PE coolant line to each other; and a controller for controlling opening and closing of the 2-way valve according to a temperature of the engine coolant and a vehicle driving condition.

A vehicle in general has an engine cooling system, which prevents an engine from overheating, and has a structure that releases the heat of the engine to outside the engine.
In order to remove the heat of the engine, the coolant circulates through an engine block and a cylinder head, and the heated coolant flows through a radiator disposed in front of the vehicle, and the radiator releases the heat of the coolant to the outside. This cooling system uses a variety of valves and constitutes an engine cooling circuit.
Such a cooling system is employed not only in a conventional internal combustion engine but also in a hybrid electric vehicle which uses engine power and battery power together. The hybrid electric vehicle uses an efficient combination of the engine power and the motor power. Hybrid electric vehicles can be classified into mild type and hard type depending on a power sharing ratio between the engine and the motor. The hybrid vehicle of the mild type is provided with a mild hybrid starter & generator (MHSG) that starts the engine instead of an alternator or is generated by the output of the engine.
The mild hybrid vehicle can assist the engine torque according to driving conditions using the MHSG and can charge the battery (for example, a 48 V battery) through regenerative braking. As a result, fuel efficiency of the mild hybrid vehicle can be improved.
The mild hybrid vehicle has a power electronics (PE) device including a mild hybrid starter & generator, a hybrid electric power control unit, and a hydraulic pump control unit. This power electronics device must be cooled through a power electronics cooling circuit, separate from the engine cooling circuit for cooling the engine.
The engine cooling circuit and the power electronics cooling circuit are provided with a coolant passage, a radiator and a coolant pump, respectively, and perform integrated cooling or individual cooling through opening and closing of a three-way valve.
However, there is a limitation in increasing the size of each coolant passage based on the engine coolant flow rate by connecting the respective radiators in series while the coolant capacities required for the engine cooling circuit and the power electronics cooling circuit are different. In addition, considering the temperature limiting factor in the power electronics device, if high temperature engine coolant is supplied to the power electronics device, there is a risk of damage to the power electronics device components. Further, there is a problem in that, in the case of separate cooling from the integration, an additional power electronics device cooling circuit must be operated through a separate coolant pump to cool the high temperature coolant remaining in the power electronics device.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure, and therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


In an internal combustion engine, a catalyst monitor includes a resistive type oxygen sensor positioned between the engine and the catalyst and a temperature sensor positioned proximate to the catalyst. The oxygen sensor measures an oxygen concentration of the engine emissions and the temperature sensor monitors a temperature of the catalyst and detects a light off time of the catalyst. The magnitude of resistance of the oxygen sensor is measured and compared to a predetermined threshold level. The catalyst light off time is compared to a predetermined time value. In addition, a lifetime temperature profile of the catalyst is generated and compared to a predetermined threshold temperature level. The results of the comparisons are used to establish whether the catalyst is operating efficiently.

The present invention relates to a method of monitoring a catalyst and an apparatus therefor. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method of predicting the efficiency of an automotive catalyst based on a catalyst lifetime temperature profile and a contamination measurement.
The efficiency of automotive catalysts must be known in order to indicate when a given vehicle exceeds allowable exhaust emission levels. As regulations become more stringent, reducing allowable exhaust emission levels, the accuracy for determining catalyst efficiency must be improved. At present, catalyst efficiency is measured using two oxygen sensors positioned before and after the catalyst. The difference in the oxygen content of the exhaust gas is then measured to determine the oxygen storage capacity of the catalyst, which is related to catalyst efficiency. Although this system is presently sufficient to measure catalyst efficiency, more stringent emissions standards will require improved sensor resolution and improved system accuracy.
A catalyst is a passive device which could function indefinitely under ideal conditions. The catalyst has two primary aging factors, thermal aging and contamination aging. Additionally, the lambda control frequency of the motor management system must be maintained above a threshold level in order to provide the optimum efficiency of the catalyst. If the parameters of temperature, time, lambda, and contamination are recorded over the life of the catalyst, the efficiency of the catalyst can be predicted with very high accuracy.
The present invention recognizes that the loss of efficiency in a catalyst is caused primarily by thermal aging and poisoning of the catalyst by exhaust contamination. With the use of an accurate exhaust gas temperature sensor, the time that the catalyst is operated above a predetermined threshold temperature may be recorded and weighted according to how far and how long above the threshold temperature the catalyst operates. This measurement may be used to create a lifetime temperature profile. Based on the known thermal aging characteristic of the catalyst, the catalyst efficiency can be accurately determined by comparing the measured lifetime temperature profile of the catalyst to its known thermal aging characteristic.

Catalyst monitor utilizing a lifetime temperature profile for determining efficiency


Systems and methods for human hand gesture recognition through a training mode and a recognition mode are disclosed. In the training mode, a user can move a handheld device with a hand gesture intended to represent a command. Sensors within the handheld device can record raw data, which can be processed to obtain a set of values corresponding to a set of discrete features, which is stored in a database and associated with the intended command. The process is repeated for various hand gestures representing different commands. In the recognition mode, the user can move the handheld device with a hand gesture. A computer system can compare a set of values corresponding to a set of discrete features derived from the hand gesture with the sets of values stored in the database, select a command with the closest match and displays and/or executes the command.

A hand gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible hand actions allow an individual to communicate messages. Hand gesture recognition is being increasingly used in computer technology, with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. Hand gesture recognition technology enables humans to interface with a computer and interact naturally without any mechanical devices. For example, using the concept of gesture recognition, it is possible to point a finger at the computer screen so that the cursor will move accordingly.
The hand gesture recognition concept is also being increasingly used in the video game technology, in which a player's hand gestures are communicated to a computer system by way of a handheld device. For example, Wii, a home video game console made by Nintendo Co. Ltd. uses a wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect movement in three dimensions. The Wii remote can study changes in acceleration over time to represent gestures.
There are many challenges associated with the accuracy and usefulness of conventional gesture recognition computer systems and software. Conventional systems are not highly accurate because they generally rely on linear sensors, whereas human hand gestures largely include angular movements. Thus, conventional systems can only properly recognize large hand movements and are unable to properly differentiate between hand gestures that are only slightly different from each other. It would be desirable to have recognition systems that can differentiate between similar hand gestures.

Handheld computer systems and techniques for character and command recognition related to human movements


A rapid assay concentration device. In one form, the device includes a substrate and a plurality of elongated membranes on the substrate. At least one capture zone is formed in each membrane. Each capture zone is responsive to the presence of a target chemical in the fluid. Capture zones on different membranes have different threshold levels of response to the chemical. In a method for monitoring temporal changes of analyte levels in a source multiple test devices are provided, with each device including a plurality of regions. Each region is responsive at a different sensitivity level to indicate presence of the analyte. A source sample is brought into contact with a first of the test devices to determine whether the source contains a level of analyte sufficient to induce a response thereto in one or more of the test unit regions. A different sample from the source is brought into contact with a second of the test devices to determine whether the source contains a level of analyte sufficient to induce a response thereto in one or more regions of the second test device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to monitoring changes in chemical levels and, more specifically, to methods and devices for determining such changes. By way of example, the invention may be used to monitor temporal changes of analyte levels in a source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tracking of variable concentrations in, for example, fluids, is important for monitoring the status of physical, biochemical and biological systems. Such monitoring is useful to assess health, environmental conditions and medical concerns. Generally, it is desirable to monitor concentrations to identify trends indicative of certain conditions. For example, prompt awareness of an adverse condition is often essential to enable timely intervention. This is critically important when life and health are in jeopardy.
In the past, systems and methodologies for assessing chemical conditions, e.g., based on concentrations of representative species, have included conventional laboratory analyses and, to a lesser extent, portable assay methodologies. Assay methodologies are relatively complex and normally require analytical or quantitative procedures in order to observe features indicative of a desirable or undesirable condition. Accordingly, at least limited training is needed because the procedures entail, for example, mixing of fluids in predetermined proportions. Common examples of such procedures include analyses of water to determine whether concentrations of certain constituents, e.g., toxins in drinking water, have exceeded safe limits, or whether certain other constituents, e.g., swimming pool chemicals, have fallen below recommended levels.
While it is desirable to provide simplified assay procedures for a wide range of assessments, relatively few methods of performing an analysis have been found suitable for monitoring of chemical concentrations by non-specialists. It is especially desirable to provide simplified analysis procedures in the fields of environmental protection, health monitoring and medical diagnosis. The value of providing such procedures is evidenced by the disadvantages present in contemporary methodologies. Consider, for example, the medical field, wherein determination of chemical concentrations, such as hormone levels, may be indicative of disease or another medical concern. Typically, these types of quantitative assays require time-intensive laboratory analysis of blood or another body fluid.
A well-known case in point is the assessment required to confirm a healthy pregnancy. To effect that assessment, blood levels of chorionic gonadotrophin (commonly referred to as hCG) must be periodically monitored to confirm that hCG levels are rising rapidly during the first trimester of pregnancy. In particular, during the progression of a normal pregnancy, early hCG levels will typically double every two to three days. Studies show that among 85% of normal pregnancies such doubling occurs at least every 72 hours. Observation of this doubling is commonly used as an indication of a healthy pregnancy. On the other hand, in those circumstances when a consistent increase in the hCG level is not observed, there is a correlation with miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies.
A generally accepted method of monitoring temporal shifts in hCG levels requires a series of serum beta hCG quantitative tests. Typically, a Solid Phase Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is performed at designated time intervals to monitor changes in hCG concentration. Each ELISA test requires adding serum to an hCG antibody microtiter well. If hCG is present, it will bind to the antibody in the well. When another antibody, i.e., a label, is added it binds to the antibody-antigen complex. This labeling allows for development into a colored complex. This color is then analyzed spectrophotometrically such that the hCG concentration can be determined by the color intensity in order to indicate quantitative shifts in levels of hCG. The test is in common use because a measured decrease in the hCG level may be an early warning sign of a pregnancy complication.
While ELISA test results are highly accurate, the series of ELISA tests cannot be performed in a home environment or by an unskilled person. Rather, they require a laboratory analysis performed by trained technicians and, normally, a physician's approval. Further, the patient must make multiple visits to have the blood drawn. The results for each ELISA test will usually take at least 24 hours, necessitating an undesirable delay in obtaining important results. In addition, the time-consuming nature of the laboratory analysis renders this type of testing very expensive. Examples of ELISA tests for pregnancy are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,198,366 and 5,182,216, each incorporated herein by reference.
Another example of periodic monitoring of an analyte level in a human sample is the routine screening for Prostate Specific Antigen, PSA. The level of PSA in a man's blood generally increases with age. However, a sudden or rapid rise, particularly in males with increased risk factors, may be an early warning sign of cancerous development within the prostate gland. Also, a slowly increasing level of PSA over time can also be indicative of potentially cancerous growth.
The American Cancer Society recommends that all men over the age of 50 be routinely screened by their doctor for any signs of prostate cancer. The PSA test is a blood test performed by a doctor that will give a quantitative determination of PSA level in the blood. A normal PSA level for the average man ranges from 0 to 4 ng/mL, while levels from 4 to 10 ng/mL are slightly elevated, and anything above 10 ng/mL can be considered abnormally elevated. During an annual physical, a man may opt to have the PSA test performed. If the results of the test show moderate levels, the man will generally not be retested further, at least until the next annual physical. The lengthy time period in between tests may be of concern for certain men with high risk factors. Additionally, in that time period, a sudden rapid rise may occur, but would not be apparent without more frequent testing.

Portable diagnostic device and method for determining temporal variations in concentrations


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a mask layer on a first-conductivity-type semiconductor substrate, etching the semiconductor substrate using the mask layer as a mask, thereby forming a projecting semiconductor layer, forming a first insulating layer on the semiconductor substrate to cover a lower portion of the projecting semiconductor layer, doping a first-conductivity-type impurity into the first insulating layer, thereby forming a high-impurity-concentration layer in the lower portion of the projecting semiconductor layer, forming gate insulating films on side surfaces of the projecting semiconductor layer which upwardly extend from an upper surface of the first insulating layer, and forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating films and on the first insulating film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device and the semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) provided on a projecting semiconductor layer, and the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of system large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs), to further enhance their performance, microfabrication of MOSFETs forming system LSIs is now being developed. In a fine MOSFET, unless the power supply voltage is low, the reliability of the MOSFET is reduced. However, when the power supply voltage is reduced, the current driving ability is reduced. To maintain the current driving ability, it is necessary to reduce the threshold voltage of the MOSFET in accordance with the reduction of the power supply voltage.
In general, when the threshold voltage is reduced, the off leakage current is increased and the gate length is reduced. In accordance with the reduction of the gate length, the short-channel effect is increased. Moreover, in accordance with the microfabrication of a MOSFET, a punch-through can easily occur between the source and drain regions of the MOSFET, thereby increasing the leakage current and degrading the cutoff characteristic.
As a MOSFET free from these problems, a fin MOSFET is known in which a projecting semiconductor layer (fin) is formed on a substrate and the opposite sides of the fin are used as channel.
In fin MOSFETs, fins are formed thin to enhance the characteristics. In these elements, the lower portion of each fin with no gate electrode thereon, which is close to the junction of each fin and substrate, is liable to be used as the current passage of a punch-through. Accordingly, it is important to suppress the forming of the punch-through.
It is desirable that fins should have an impurity profile in which the bottom portion has a high impurity concentration to suppress the leakage current, and the other portions, i.e., the channel region, contain a low concentration impurity to increase the degree of movement of carriers. It is also desirable that the substrate provided on the bottom of the fin has a low impurity concentration. This is because if the substrate has a high impurity concentration, the junction leakage current between the source/drain regions and the substrate is increased, thereby increasing the parasitic capacitance in accordance with an increase in the junction capacitance.
When impurity ions are implanted into a fin, they are implanted in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. If ions are implanted vertically, the probability of the ones of the implanted ions scattered to the ambient atmosphere being returned therefrom to the fin is low. Further, since no substances exist in the ambient atmosphere, the probability of the impurity ions scattered to the ambient atmosphere being implanted into the fin is low, too. Accordingly, the impurity concentration of the fin is inevitably lower than that of the flat portion.
Also, to make an arbitrary portion of the fin have a peak impurity concentration, impurity ions must be implanted into that portion by a high acceleration voltage. In this method, it is difficult to control the position in which the peak impurity concentration is detected, and only a gentle impurity profile is acquired.
Furthermore, it is possible to implantations into the substrate before forming the fin. In this case, however, the post process of forming the fin makes the impurity profile be gentle. Further, since ions are also implanted into the substrate, a high-impurity-concentration layer is formed in the substrate. Thus, this cannot impart an ideal concentration profile to the fin or substrate.
In addition, if two gate electrodes provided on the opposite sides of the fin are electrically disconnected from each other, the top of the fin may not be controlled by the gate electrodes, depending upon the positions of the electrodes. To avoid this, it is necessary to also form a punch-through stopper on the top of the fin. In the conventional manufacturing method, however, when a punch-through stopper is formed on the top of the fin, the impurity concentration of the channel region becomes high.
Concerning a technique related to a Fin FET, see Masaki et al., "A Fin FET Design Based on Three-Dimensional Process and Device Simulations", Toshiba Corporation, IEEE, 2003.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor device


The present invention is directed to a learning clock for assisting teachers to teach students how to tell time and learn the correspondence between the time of day according to a traditional clock face or "analog" and the time of day according to strictly numerals or "digital." The clock includes a traditional clock face having an hour hand and a minute hand which are manually rotatable about the clock face and numerals about the clock face for both the hours of the day and the minutes of the hour. The clock also includes a pair of disks for establishing a time of day using strictly numbers. The methods of establishing a time of day operate independent of each other, allowing for a student to match one method to the other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to educational devices. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a device for teaching children or those with learning disabilities to tell time.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
It is well-known that teaching one to tell time is one of the more difficult concepts to instill upon young people. As such, the need for devices which can make such a task easier is great. Human beings are a very visual species and therefore any method for teaching which brings a visual component will more likely speed the learning process. Further, the use of multiple avenues which bring home the same idea will also decrease the time it typically takes one to learn a particular topic.
The difficulty with teaching a child to tell time relates to the concept of motion of the clock's hands and the corresponding numerals on the clock face. Further the concept of a "little" hand and a "big" hand and the corresponding hours and minutes can be difficult to grasp. Several devices have attempted to relate the two concepts by providing a teaching device which links the hands of a clock face with corresponding numerals and or words. Such a device is believed to assist the child in understanding the relationship between the clock face and the time of day. These devices operate such that as the hands on the clock face are rotated, the corresponding numerals or words necessarily change. Such a method prevents a child from thinking independently with regard determining correspondence between the hands of the clock and the numbers which represent the hour and minute of the day.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,346 to Ogasawara discloses a teaching device for learning the manner in which a clock indicates time. This device includes a clock face having the hours of the day disposed thereon and an hour and a minute hand. The device also includes means for displaying numerals which are representative of the hour and minute of the day. As the clock hands are rotated means associated with the device automatically rotate the numerals to the corresponding hour and minute of the day. This device does not allow for independent movement of the clock hands and the means for displaying numerals which would correspond to the time indicated by the clock hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,599 to Polsky discloses an educational device for teaching time. The device includes three disc elements arranged one on top of the other. The bottom two discs are rotatable relative to each other and the top disc. The discs include various indicators of the time of day, including a clock face, numerals corresponding the hours and minutes of the day and words which also correspond to hours and minutes of the day. As the discs are rotated the hands of the clock are directed to different times of the day. At the same time, numerals and words corresponding to the clock hands are automatically displayed. As such, this device does not allow for independent display of the clock hand and other manners of indicating a time of day. Further, this device does not allow for separately changing the time according to the clock hands and according to the numerals representing the time of day.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,115 to Friday discloses an educational clock. This device includes an element which serves as the clock face. The clock face is imprinted in a conventional manner and carries an hour and minute hand. The device also includes an hour dial and a minute dial. The hour hand and the minute hand are mechanically connected to the hour dial and minute dial, respectively, such that as each hand is rotated the associated dial also rotates. As such, this device does not allow for rotation of the clock hands without associated rotation of the means for displaying numeric representation of the time of day and vice versa.
While these known devices provide a system for displaying the hours of the day as shown on the face of a clock and corresponding numerals or words which represent the time of day, such is done automatically. These devices do not allow for independent display of a time of day on the clock face and by way of numeric display. Such a device prohibits a teacher from requesting a student display a numeric display which corresponds to a clock face display and vice versa. These devices have the further drawback that mechanically linking the clock face to the numeric display requires a complex system which makes the device difficult to manufacture and prone to break.

Learning clock featuring coordinated color clock face numbers, hour and minute hands, and hour and minute hand learning displays


A guide groove including a groove section extending from the vicinity of an entrance of a main passage to a side opposite the entrance is formed on the inner circumferential surface of a main passage. The groove section is provided in an inclined fashion with respect to the axial direction such that lubricating oil inside the groove section is sent towards the side opposite the entrance by rotation of a rotary shaft in a predetermined direction. Of a plurality of subsidiary passages, the entrance of a subsidiary passage that is most distant from the entrance of a main passage is disposed in the guide groove. In a lubrication structure for a transmission, insufficient lubrication is effectively prevented in parts requiring lubrication corresponding to the subsidiary passages, irrespective of the positions of the subsidiary passages in the axial direction, while avoiding increase in the size of the transmission.

A transmission mounted in a vehicle is provided with a rotary shaft for transmitting drive power as represented by an input shaft by which drive power output from a drive source, such as an engine or electric motor, or the like, is input, and an output shaft which outputs drive power transmitted from the input shaft, to a differential device, or the like. Transmission gears are provided on these rotary shafts, and in the case of a manual transmission, a synchronization device which synchronizes the rotary shaft rotation and the transmission gear rotation is also provided.
Furthermore, in the case of a manual transmission, lubricating oil is supplied to parts requiring lubrication, such as the gaps between the rotary shafts of the transmission and the gears which fit freely on the rotary shafts, the coupling portion (indexing section) between the hub and the synchronizer ring in the synchronization device, and the like, in order to reduce friction and suppress abnormal noise. In a known lubrication structure for supplying lubricating oil to these parts requiring lubrication, lubricating oil inside the transmission case taken up by rotation of a ring gear of the differential device which is provided in an integrated fashion with the transmission, and some transmission gears, is received in an oil path, and passes from the oil path and through an in-case oil passage, or the like, to an oil passage inside the rotary shaft, from where the lubricating oil is supplied to the parts requiring lubrication outside the rotary shaft.
In a lubrication structure of this type, a main oil passage extending in an axial direction from one end of the rotary shaft of the transmission, and a plurality of subsidiary oil passages extending in radial directions and communicating with the main oil passage and an outer circumferential section of the rotary shaft, are formed inside the rotary shaft. Furthermore, the positions of the subsidiary oil passages in the axial direction are set in accordance with the positions of the parts requiring lubrication. According to this lubrication structure, it is possible to supply lubricating oil that has been introduced into the main oil passage, to the respective parts requiring lubrication on the outside of the rotary shaft, via the subsidiary oil passages.
However, in a lubricating structure of this type, since the distance from the entrance of the main oil passage to the entrance of the subsidiary oil passage differs, for each subsidiary oil passage, then there is a problem in that a relatively large amount of lubricating oil is supplied to the subsidiary oil passages which are relatively close to the entrance of the main oil passage, and the amount of lubricating oil supplied becomes less in subsidiary oil passages which are relatively distant from the entrance of the main oil passage. Consequently, in some driving states, insufficient lubrication is liable to occur in parts requiring lubrication corresponding to subsidiary oil passages which are distant from the entrance of the main oil passage. One example of a state where a problem of insufficient lubrication of this kind can readily occur is a state where the transmission is in neutral, so the ring gear of the differential device does not rotate and hence taking up of the lubricating oil due to the rotation of the ring gear cannot be expected to occur.
In view of this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure for guiding lubricating oil to a plurality of subsidiary oil passages extending in radial directions from a main oil passage extending in an axial direction, inside a rotary shaft of a manual transmission, wherein lubricating oil is also supplied satisfactorily to subsidiary oil passages which are distant from an entrance of the main oil passage.
More specifically, in the technology in Patent Document 1, a tubular resin member constituting a main oil passage is fitted into an oil hole extending in an axial direction formed inside the rotary shaft of the transmission, in such a manner that lubricating oil introduced into an entrance section at one end portion of the resin member is guided via an inclined oil passage formed in a circumferential wall section of the resin member to a subsidiary oil passage provided in the rotary shaft so as to extend in a radial direction. A plurality of subsidiary oil passages of the rotary shaft are provided at mutually different positions in the axial direction, and an inclined oil passage is provided in the resin member respectively for each of the subsidiary oil passages. The respective inclined oil passages are provided so as to be inclined outwards in radial directions, towards the downstream side in the axial direction. Furthermore, the entrances of the inclined oil passages are provided in a circumferential edge section of the entrance section of one end portion of the resin member, and the exits of the inclined oil passages are provided on an outer circumference surface of the resin member, at positions communicating with the entrances of the subsidiary oil passages.
According to the technology of Patent Document 1, the lubricating oil introduced into the entrance section at one end portion of the resin member is guided to the entrances of the inclined oil passages by the centrifugal force created by the rotation of the rotary shaft, and by utilizing the inclination of the inclined oil passages and the centrifugal force created by the rotation of the rotary shaft, the lubricating oil introduced into the inclined oil passages is guided to the exits of the inclined oil passage and is introduced into the subsidiary oil passages of the rotary shaft which are communicated with the exits of the inclined oil passages. Consequently, the lubricating oil is supplied individually to the subsidiary oil passages via the respectively corresponding inclined oil passages, and therefore it is possible to supply the lubricating oil in substantially uniform fashion to the subsidiary oil passages and hence to the respective parts requiring lubrication corresponding to the subsidiary oil passages, irrespective of the positions of the subsidiary oil passages in the axial direction.
However, in the technology in Patent Document 1, it is, necessary to form the inclined oil passages in the resin member so as to be inclined outwards in radial directions towards the downstream side with respect to the axial direction, as described above, in order to guide the lubricating oil to the subsidiary oil passages of the rotary shaft, and therefore the entrances of the inclined oil passages are disposed towards the inner side in the radial direction, compared to the exits of the inclined oil passages.
Accordingly, the entrance sections at the end portion of the resin member are narrow, and therefore the amount of lubricating, oil introduced into the entrance sections is decreased. Consequently, the amount of lubricating oil supplied to the parts requiring lubrication via the subsidiary oil passages is also decreased, and there is a drawback in that the effect in suppressing insufficient lubrication described above is not necessarily adequate.
Conversely, in the technology in Patent Document 1, if it is sought to maintain the introduced amount of lubricating oil by maintaining the internal diameter of the entrance sections in one end portion of the resin member, then it is necessary to increase the outer diameter of the resin member. Consequently, in this case, the increase in the diameter of the rotary shaft gives rise to an increase in the size of the transmission.
Furthermore, this problem is not limited to a manual transmission but also occurs similarly in an automatic transmission or continuously variable transmission, provided that the transmission has a plurality of parts requiring lubrication at different positions in the axial direction on the outer circumferential section of a rotary shaft.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-52649


A collision detection unit corrects a threshold value to a larger value, which a collision check unit uses to compare an output value of a collision detection unit, in case of a rough road surface than in case of a flat road surface. Thus, it becomes possible to suppress erroneous detection on the rough road surface while detecting a collision sensitively on a flat road surface. The rough road is detected by a vibration detection unit provided in a tire side device.

Pop-up hood systems are conventionally proposed for reducing an impact on a head or the like at the time of collision of a vehicle with a collision object such as a pedestrian or a cyclist. In this system, an engine hood of the vehicle, that is, a rear end side of the hood is raised at the time of detection of the collision of the vehicle with the collision object so that the hood is easily dented by providing a space in an engine compartment. As a result, even in a vehicle in which the hood is low and a space provided in the engine compartment is small, the impact on the collision object can be mitigated by denting of the hood.
In such a system, the collision between the vehicle and the collision object is detected using, for example, an acceleration sensor as a collision sensor. When it is detected that an acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor provided in the vehicle exceeds an on-threshold value, which is predetermined to detect that the vehicle has collided with the collision object, it is detected that the vehicle has collided with the collision object.


An electroluminescent phosphor comprising ZnS-based phosphor core particles and a coating layer provided on the individual core particles, the core particles having a mean particle size of 0.1 to 15 μm with a coefficient of variation of particle size distribution less than 35% and containing at least 30%, based on total particles, of particles having at least 10 stacking faults with an interplanar spacing of 5 nm or less.

The state-of-the-art electroluminescent (hereinafter EL) devices are known to have the problem of deterioration in brightness of the EL phosphor by moisture. Countermeasures taken against this problem include packaging an EL device in a moisture proof film such as a fluoropolymer film or a polymer film laminated with an oxide barrier coat as disclosed in JP-B-4-51571. However, the moisture proof films are expensive. Another approach is to form a coating layer of a moisture proof inorganic material on EL phosphor particles by fluidized bed coating technology as proposed in JP-A-11-204254. The problem of this technique is that coated EL phosphor particles suffer from reduction of luminescence efficiency by the action of oxygen, water vapor, heat, etc. during formation of the coating layer. A method of forming a coating layer on EL phosphor particles in a solution is disclosed in JP-A-2001-185358 and JP-A-2002-226845, which has a disadvantage, as compared with the above-mentioned fluidized bed coating, that the coating layer is inferior in continuity, resulting in a failure to exhibit sufficient moisture resistance.

Electroluminescent phosphor, process for producing the same, and electroluminescent device containing the same


A planar micro-coil is provided for use with an optical head. The optical head is preferably a flying magneto-optical head. The micro-coil cooperates with a yoke assembly so to as to permit an optimal magnetic flux density to be formed at a surface of a magneto-optical storage location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to magnetic coils and more particularly to magnetic coils used with optical and magneto-optical heads.
2. Background Art
Hard disk technology has historically been limited by conventional magnetic head designs. A typical prior art Winchester magnetic storage system includes a magnetic head that has a slider element and a magnetic read/write element and is coupled to a rotary actuator magnet and coil assembly by a suspension and actuator arm so as to be positioned over a surface of a spinning magnetic disk. In operation, lift forces are generated by aerodynamic interactions between the magnetic head and the spinning magnetic disk. The lift forces are opposed by equal and opposite spring forces applied by the suspension such that a predetermined flying height is maintained over a full radial stroke of the rotary actuator assembly above the surface of the spinning magnetic disk.
Flying head designs have been proposed for use with magneto-optical (MO) storage technology. One motivation for using magneto-optical technology stems from the higher areal density capabilities of magneto-optical storage disks. However, despite the historically higher areal storage density available with MO storage technology, the prior art MO disk drive volumetric storage capacity has generally not kept pace with the volumetric storage capacity of magnetic disk drives.
One factor that continues to limit MO disk drives is the physical size of the head necessary to hold the various components required for accessing magneto-optical information. Magneto-optical information access requires the use of polarized laser light for reading and writing information on a MO disk. In the case of reading information, MO technology makes use of a magneto-optical effect ("Kerr" effect) to detect a modulation of polarization rotation imposed on a linearly polarized incident laser beam by a recorded surface. The polarization rotation (representing the information stored at recorded marks on the recorded surface or in the edges of the recorded marks) is embodied in a reflection of the linearly polarized laser beam and is converted by optics and electronics for readout.
During conventional writing of information in MO disk drives, an incident laser beam heats a selected spot of interest on the MO disk to approximately the Curie point. A time varying vertical bias magnetic field is used to define a pattern of "up" or "down" magnetic domains in a recording layer. Subsequently, as the selected spot of interest cools, information is recorded on the MO disk. The size of the magnetic field that is generated provides a limit on a maximum data density that may be recorded on the MO disk. One prior art approach for generating the necessary magnetic field for writing of information has relied on second surface recording techniques. With the second surface recording method, the magnetic field is applied to the spot of interest on the MO disk from a direction opposite that of the incident laser beam. With this approach, only one side of a MO disk may be used.
Other conventional magneto-optical heads, while presently providing access to magneto-optical disks with areal densities on the order of 1 Gigabit/in.sup.2, have been based on relatively large optical assemblies, which make the physical size and mass of the head rather bulky (typically 3-15 mm in a dimension).
A number of flying MO head designs incorporating magnetic and optical elements are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,122 by Murakami, including: use of free-space alignment of a laser beam with a dynamically moving target, and a number of different configurations of the magnetic and optical elements that are required for reading and writing using the magneto-optical Kerr effect. The large size, mass, and number of elements limits the minimum head size and, therefore: the speed at which information from the MO disk may be accessed, the tracking bandwidth, and the data density that may be read or written. In the prior art, the large physical size of MO flying heads also limits the spacing between magneto-optical disks to a finite minimum value. Consequently, because the volume available in standard height disk drives is limited, magneto-optical disk drives for use with magneto-optical flying heads have generally not been available as high capacity multi-platter commercial products.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method that improves upon prior art data densities that may be recorded on a storage media, data density access, data recording rates, and the number of storage media that may be operated within a given volume.


Techniques for extending operating system subsystems are provided. The techniques involve receiving a library that provides functions that extend an application program interface of the subsystem of the operating system. The techniques dynamically add a set of local procedure call ports or system call numbers corresponding to functions provided by the library and provide a known local procedure call port for receiving requests to identify a dynamically added local procedure call port or system call number. When a function of the library is requested, the subsystem determines the dynamically added port or system call number corresponding to the function, and provides an indication of the determined port or system call number to a requester of the function. The requester of the function may then invoke the function using the indicated dynamically added port or system call number.

An operating system performs various tasks relating to a computer system, including managing its hardware and software resources. Hardware resources include processors, primary storage (e.g., memory), secondary storage (e.g., hard disk or optical disk), printers, display adapters, network interface cards, input/output ports, etc. Software resources include application programs, user interfaces, device drivers, network protocol stacks, etc. The operating system manages and coordinates these resources to complete various tasks, such as under the direction of an application program.
Operating systems may provide functionality to application programs using subsystems. A subsystem is an operating system component that implements an operating system's application program interfaces ("APIs"). A subsystem generally provides APIs relating to a specific implementation of the operating system.
Multiple implementations of operating systems may exist. As an example, the UNIX operating system has a variety of implementations including, e.g., POSIX, BSD, LINUX, SCO, XENIX, SOLARIS, and others. These implementations may be referred to as "flavors" of UNIX. An API relating to a flavor of UNIX may be different than an API relating to another flavor of UNIX. As an example, a command available in one flavor may be unavailable in the other flavor. Furthermore, although a command is available in both flavors, a result of the command may be different in the flavors. Thus, an application designed for a flavor of UNIX may function in an unexpected manner when used on another flavor of UNIX. When an administrator attempts to migrate a complex application from a flavor of UNIX, such as BSD, to another flavor of UNIX, such as POSIX, the application may behave unexpectedly.
One approach to changing a flavor of an operating system is to modify the operating system, such as by modifying a subsystem of the operating system. For example, a POSIX subsystem may be modified to emulate another flavor of UNIX. However, this could lead to multiple incompatible versions of an operating system. Furthermore, customers of such modified operating systems may be unable to receive benefits of using a standard operating system, such as commonly employed tools, robust testing, or having a dependable supplier of the operating system. It would thus be highly desirable to provide a facility for extending operating system subsystems without requiring modification of the operating system subsystems.


Provided are novel Building Integrable Photovoltaic (BIPV) modules having one or more connectors that are movable between extended and retracted positions. Connector adjustment may be performed in the field, for example, during installation of a module. In certain embodiments, a connector includes a connector body and extension body. The extension body flexibly attaches the connector body to the module and allows the connector body to move with respect to the module edge. In an extended position, the connector body is positioned closer to the edge and is configured to make electrical connections to a joiner connector for interconnecting with an adjacent module. In a retracted positioned, the connector body is positioned further from the edge and is configured to make electrical connections to a jumper for interconnecting the conductive elements of the connector. In certain embodiments, a jumper does not protrude beyond the edge when connected to the connector body.

Photovoltaic cells are widely used for electricity generation, with one or more photovoltaic cells typically sealed within in a module. Multiple modules may be arranged into photovoltaic arrays used to convert solar energy into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Arrays can be installed on building rooftops and are used to provide electricity to the buildings and to the general electrical grid. Photovoltaic modules are often interconnected in such arrays. For example, adjacent modules positioned in the same row are typically connected to each. However, occasionally, adjacent modules are not connected to each other and some other connections are provided at the interface of the two modules.

Flexible connectors of building integrable photovoltaic modules for enclosed jumper attachment

BEIJING APOLLO DING RONG SOLAR TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.