A method and system for manufacturing radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antennas is described. A casting surface is provided having at least one raised antenna pattern extending therefrom. The casting surface is coated at least in an area other than the at least one raised antenna pattern with a coating solution. The casting surface is applied to a target sheet thereby depositing the coating solution onto the target sheet. The coating solution is cured to form at least one depression corresponding to the at least one raised antenna pattern. The at least one depression is filled with a conductive material to form at least one antenna on the target sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to radio frequency identification technology, and more specifically to radio frequency identification tag antennas.
2. Background Art
Currently, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antennas are manufactured using the following techniques: (1) subtractive etching processes; (2) additive electroplating processes; and (3) silk screen printing processes. Subtractive etching processes typically start with a metal plane attached to a substrate. An antenna design is printed on the metal plane with a photo resist material. Portions of the metal plane not covered with photoresist material are etched away using a caustic bath to leave a final antenna pattern on the substrate. In a typical electroplating process, a light coating of silver, or other metal, is printed on a substrate to form an antenna design. Copper, aluminum, or other metal, is electroplated onto the silver, to form the final antenna pattern. In a silk screen printing process, silver ink is screen printed on a substrate in the form of an antenna design, and the ink is dried to end up with the final antenna pattern.
All three processes are costly, do not achieve desired resolution, have inherent process variability, and in the case of silk screen printing, lack the capability to deliver the desired caliper (i.e., metal thickness). Furthermore, all three processes are environmentally unfriendly.
Thus, what is needed is a method and system for manufacturing RFID antennas that provides the necessary resolution, has acceptable process variability, delivers the desired caliper, and is environmentally friendly.

Method and system for manufacturing radio frequency identification tag antennas


Particles counts and concentrations are reduced from the backside of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer or flat panel display with the invention, to improve precision and uniformity in subsequent operations, including lithography operations. A semiconductor substrate is placed on a chuck (10) in a track system (30), such as a resist coater, a developer, or other form of spin coater. The substrate is processed accordingly to conventional practice and the substrate is removed. The chuck is then cleaned by dispensing a solvent, for example using EGMEA or PGMEA, through a dispense nozzle (38) of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, a brush (36) or sponge which is at least partially saturated with a solvent (39) is moved across the chuck to remove particles. The chuck cleaning can occur between every wafer, every wafer lot, or less periodically, such as between shifts, as the chuck particle accumulation dictates.

In forming semiconductor devices, substrates typically are processed through a number of different pieces of equipment, including resist coating and developing tracks. As the substrates are processed through the equipment, particles from the equipment chucks can accumulate on the backsides of the substrates. These particles can cause problems in subsequent processing steps, including lithography or other imaging steps. Depth of focus in lithography is critical. The particles on the backside of a substrate can cause a substrate to bow beyond the depth of focus as vacuum is applied.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 can be referenced to better understand the above particle problem. FIG. 1 is a top view of a chuck 10 which is typical of those currently used in semiconductor substrate handling equipment, such as track systems. Chuck 10 includes a plurality of raised portions in the form of concentric rings 12, a vacuum port 14, and a plurality of recessed vacuum channels 16. A substrate (not shown) is positioned on the chuck, ideally centered, and a vacuum is applied through vacuum port 14. Segmented vacuum channels 18 connect the concentric vacuum channels 16, and enable a vacuum to be drawn with adjacent concentric rings 12 by a single, centralized vacuum port 14. Once vacuum is applied, the substrate is processed. For example, a resist is dispensed on the substrate and spun on the chuck to fully coat the front side of the substrate. During the spin cycle, particles of resist are generated and become suspended in the air around the wafer due to turbulence of air flow within a spinner cup of the spin track system. These particles eventually build up on the chuck, particularly during the period between removing the substrate from the chuck and positioning the next substrate on the chuck.
FIG. 2 is a representation of a typical particle distribution on the backside of a semiconductor substrate 20 when using the chuck illustrated in FIG. 1 in a resist coater. Particles 22 correspond to isolated particles which are not introduced as a result of using chuck 10, but simply are the result of particles landing on the backside of the substrate while the substrate is mounted on the chuck. Particles 24 correspond to the outer edge of the chuck, and particles 26 correspond to the inner concentric rings 12 of the chuck. (It is noted that in FIG. 2 the size of chuck 10 is smaller than as illustrated in FIG. 1. In practice, the substrate is likely to be quite a bit larger than the chuck holding the substrate.) As is evident from FIG. 2, the most dense particle distribution corresponds to the raised areas of the chuck (i.e. those portions of the chuck in direct contact with the substrate, such as raised portions 12 which separate adjacent concentric vacuum channels 16). In these areas, the particle density will likely lead to subsequent processing problems due to the severity of bowing of the substrate once mounted on another chuck.
One prior art attempt to solve the problem of backside particles uses an edge bead removal system. However, edge bead removal typically does not remove particles that are introduced onto the substrate by the chuck. In edge bead removal processes, typically a solvent is directed to the edge of the substrate to remove resist on or near the edge of the substrate. In some edge bead removal processes, the solvent is also directed to the backside of the substrate near the edge. However, when directing the solvent to the substrate backside, the area of the backside of the substrate in contact with the chuck and the area immediately surrounding the chuck cannot be exposed to the solvent and thus is not cleaned.
Another prior art attempt to solve the problem is to mismatch or offset the contact areas between the chuck and the substrate in subsequent processing steps. For example, the contact area pattern for a chuck in a resist coater is made to be different than the contact area pattern for a chuck in a stepper. Particles on the backside of the substrate as a result of resist coating are thus designed to lie within vacuum channels of the chuck in the stepper. However, even optical inspection methods cannot always confirm if the positioning of the particles are within a "safe" area for chucks used in subsequent processing or if the density of particles is acceptable.
Still another attempt to fix the particle problem is the use of pin chucks at processing steps subsequent to the processing step wherein the particles are introduced onto the backside of the substrate. Although the amount of surface contact between the pin chuck and the substrate is reduced, there still can be a location where the pin chuck contacts a particle on the backside of the wafer. Over time particles can accumulate on the pins and require cleaning. The cleaning of a pin chuck is difficult due to the number of pins. Cleaning of the pins can also affect pin planarity, leading to critical substrate focus shifts.
Particles on the backside of a substrate can lead to problems at processing steps other than lithography, including ion implantation and plasma etching steps. In the case of ion implantation, a substrate is heated by an ion beam that is being used to introduce dopant into the substrate. This heat can cause the resist to reticulate and make removal of the resist during subsequent steps, such as a plasma ash resist strip, nearly impossible. Within a plasma etching chamber, the particles can be transferred from one substrate to another. Eventually, particles are transferred out of the equipment and placed into a piece of processing equipment that is sensitive to contamination, such as a diffusion furnace. Furthermore, backside particles on a substrate can lead to non-uniform etching of the substrate due to temperature gradients across the substrate surfaces.
Therefore, a need exists to reduce the amount of particles being introduced onto the backside of a substrate from a chuck, particularly when liquids are being dispensed onto the substrate. A need further exists to reduce the probability that the particles will permanently remain on the substrate, particularly for more complex process flows that have upwards of twenty-five masking steps.

Method for reducing particles on a substrate using chuck cleaning


A tube plate for exhaust heat exchangers, with punched openings to hold the tube ends of a tube bundle, wherein the openings are arranged grid-like with a web width b, and each of the openings has a shear surface with a height h produced by punching, and a bevel of depth t, that is manufactured before punching, and wherein the height h is roughly the same as or smaller than the web width b, is disclosed.

The exhaust heat exchanger according to German Patent No. DE A 199 07 163 includes a housing in which a tube bundle is located, the tube ends being welded in two tube plates that are in turn welded to the housing. The exhaust flows through the tubes and the tubes are cooled on the outside by coolant drawn from the coolant cycle of an internal combustion engine. During operation of this kind of exhaust heat exchanger, damage, particularly breaks or cracks to the tube plate or to the welded tube plate joints, may occur, due to the very high alternating temperature stresses on the exhaust side. The tube plate of the known exhaust heat exchanger has a wall thickness on the order of 1 mm. Roughly rectangular openings are provided in this relatively thin tube plate, and they have a rather small separation, i.e., a relatively narrow web between neighboring openings. The web width is chosen to be relatively small in order to achieve a compact tube arrangement for the exhaust heat exchanger. For manufacturing reasons, however, the web width cannot be significantly less than the wall thickness of the plate. As a result, the web width, and thus, the spacing between the tubes, must increase to maintain manufacturability when tube plates with increased wall thicknesses are used. However, a larger web width reduces the efficiency of the exhaust heat exchanger and increases the spacing between the tubes, thus reducing their mutual support.
The present invention provides a tube plate for an exhaust gas heat exchanger that overcomes the limitations of known devices, as described above. These and other advantages of the present invention, as well as other inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.


A recording system that enables single authorized recordings of protected broadcasts be made. Subsequent unauthorized copies are prohibited by encoding a signal that causes the broadcast to be obscured during playback of the unauthorized copies. A broadcast is encoded to indicate that a single copy is authorized. If a copy is authorized, a control signal is input to the recording device wherein the signal is conditioned for recording and prior to placement of the conditioned signal on the recording medium the copy protect signal is encoded. Thus, if a second copy (which is unauthorized) is made, the copy protect signal will cause the recorded second copy to be obscured making the copy of little value to the unauthorized copier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the recording of copy protected broadcast, more particularly, the present invention relates to the implementation of copied-once protection of broadcast.
2. Art Background
Today there is a number of different broadcast media in which users can view a variety of types of programming. Certain types of programming such as "Pay Per View" are typically a surcharge over what a user pays to receive a particular broadcast. An example of this is found in cable television as well as in satellite transmission broadcast (STB). To protect from unauthorized copying of certain programming, different techniques have been developed that encode information into the broadcast signal that enables a user to view the broadcast, but when an attempt is made to record the broadcast, the data is obscured.
FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a conventional setup of a home system. The system includes a broadcast receiver, such as a television or satellite broadcast receiver shown. The receiver 10 typically includes circuitry 15 to perform some initial signal processing, such as a Domodulation, Error Correction, a decoder 20 to decode the transport layer of the broadcast data packet, circuitry 25 to decompress the video and a controller 30 to control the receiver. In addition, the receiver may include copy protect circuitry 35 that encodes a signal into the received broadcast such that the broadcast can be displayed by the display device 40 but not recorded. If the broadcast is recorded, the copy protect signal encoded into the broadcast causes the recorded broadcast signal to be corrupted. One example of a copy protect process is described in Ryan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,810.
A recording device, such as a video cassette recorder 45, is typically connected to the output of the receiver 10. As is well known in the art, the signal input to the recording device 45 is typically conditioned prior to recording on the recording medium. An automatic gain control process is performed by circuit 50 to place the video signal within acceptable signal ranges for recording. A circuit 52 is used to separate out the sync signals used to broadcast. Subsequently the luminance and chrominance are separated, circuit 55, for processing, circuits 60, 65, and recombined, circuit 70, for output to the recording medium 75.
It would be advantageous to provide the user the opportunity to select a one-time recording capability for a certain broadcast ("Pay-Per-Record"). This is envisioned to eliminate the need to travel to a store to purchase a video. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a one-time copy capability such that after the one copy is made, subsequent copies are prohibited.

Copy protect recording and playback system that enables single authorized recording of protected broadcasts be made


A semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip provided with a bonding pad disposed over a surface thereof; a through electrode passing from the surface to a second surface opposing the first surface and connected electrically with the bonding pad; and a redistribution disposed at the second surface and connected electrically with the through electrode. An embodiment of the present invention is capable of significantly reducing the thickness and volume of the semiconductor package. It is also capable of high speed operation since the path of the signal inputted and/or outputted from the semiconductor package is shortened. It is capable of stacking easily at least two semiconductor packages having a wafer level, and it is capable of significantly reducing parasitic capacitance.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor package and a method for fabricating the same.
Recently, a development in a semiconductor manufacturing technology has allowed the manufacture of a semiconductor package having a semiconductor device adapted to process more data within a short time.
Generally, a semiconductor device is fabricated through a semiconductor chip fabrication process which includes fabricating semiconductor chips over a silicon wafer formed of high purity silicon, a die sorting process for testing electrically the fabricated semiconductor chips, and a packaging process for packaging a good semiconductor chip.
Recently, due to technical developments in a packaging process, a chip scale package having a size of no other than 100% to 105% of a semiconductor chip size and a stacked semiconductor package in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are stacked as an attempt to enhance data storage capacity and data processing speed.

Semiconductor package with a reduced volume and thickness and capable of high speed operation and method for fabricating the same


A writing pattern data generating method for, in order to form a first photomask for use in a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device which including forming a first resist pattern on a mask film formed on a first film using the first photomask, forming a first mask pattern by etching the mask film, removing the first resist pattern, forming a second resist film on the mask film, forming a second resist pattern on the mask film, forming a second mask pattern by etching the mask film, removing the second resist pattern, and forming a first film pattern by etching the first film, the generating method comprising correcting a first pattern data in accordance with a difference between the first film pattern and the second mask pattern and a difference between the first resist pattern and the first mask pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo mask correcting method for use in a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using a double transfer method and to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using a corrected photo mask.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the manufacture of a semiconductor memory device, continued progress has been made to obtain a higher integration density unit including elements and connection lines in a circuit and attain more microminiaturization of a pattern involved. In the manufacture of an RISC processor, etc., used as a CPU for an engineering work station (EWS) and personal computer (PC), a demand has been made for attaining a pattern whose transistor gate width is below 100 nm for the year 2002.
Recently, a method has been disclosed in which, in order to obtain more microminiaturized gate, a vary small gate is formed relative to a resist pattern (See paragraphs [0032] to [0049], FIGS. 1 to 6 of JPN PAT APPLN KOKAI PUBLICATION 2002-359352). Here, the method disclosed in this KOKAI PUBLICATION is called as a double transfer method.
First, a first resist pattern is formed using an alternating phase shift mask and, with this used as a mask, an underlying film is made slimmer. After the first pattern is removed, a resist is again coated on a surface and, by directing exposure light to a trimming mask, a second resist pattern is formed. After this, no slimming processing is applied to the underlying film or processing is done to a more slimming extent and, finally, a gate is formed. However, there is no disclosure in this KOKAI PUBLICATION as to how to very accurately form such an electrode of any desired dimensional width.

Photomask correcting method and manufacturing method of semiconductor device


A sealed single-dose break-open package (1) having: a first sheet (2) of semirigid plastic material; a second sheet (3) of flexible plastic material superimposed on and sealed to the first sheet (2) of semirigid plastic material to define a sealed pocket (4) containing a dose of a product (5); and an incision (6) formed in the first sheet (2) of semirigid plastic material to guide controlled breakage of the first sheet (2) along the incision (6) and form an outlet opening for the product (5) through the first sheet (2); the incision (6) varies in depth lengthwise to break the first sheet (2) gradually along the incision (6).

A sealed single-dose package normally comprises a sealed sachet defining a sealed inner pocket containing a dose of a liquid product (e.g. sauce, such as ketchup, or liquid detergent) or a cream (e.g. sauce, such as mayonnaise, or skin cream). The sachet is torn open and, for this reason, has a small incision to tear it open easily.
It is extremely difficult, however, to achieve tear-open sachets that are both easy to open (i.e. with little effort) and yet strong enough to prevent them from being torn open accidentally (thus resulting in severe soiling, given the type of products contained in the sachets). The problem is further compounded in the case of sachets of detergents (soap, shower or bath foam, shampoo) which are normally opened with wet hands, thus reducing grip. Moreover, tear-open sachets of the above type are unhygienic, on account of the product, once the sachet is torn open, invariably coming into contact with the outer surface of the sachet close to the tear line (this obviously only applies to food products).
To eliminate the above drawbacks, a break-open as opposed to tear-open package has been proposed. One example of a sealed single-dose break-open package is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,930B1, which describes a package formed from a sheet of semirigid plastic material and a sheet of flexible plastic material superimposed and sealed to each other to define a sealed pocket containing a dose of the product; and the sheet of semirigid plastic material has a straight central incision for guiding controlled breakage of the sheet of semirigid plastic material. In actual use, to open the package, the user simply grips the package with the fingers of one hand, and bends the package to break the sheet of semirigid plastic material along the incision. By so doing, the product flows smoothly and hygienically out of the package, by not coming into contact with the outer surface of the package.
In a sealed single-dose break-open package of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,930B1, however, the product flows out extremely fast, with no possibility of regulating flow, particularly in the case of a liquid (i.e. low-density) product. This drawback is substantially due to the sheet of semirigid plastic material being broken instantaneously along practically the whole incision, thus forming a very large outlet.
By way of a solution to the problem, i.e. to permit more controllable outflow of the product, a V-shaped incision has been proposed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,391B2. In this case, breakage of the sheet of semirigid plastic material should be limited initially to the central part of the incision (i.e. the tip of the "V") and then extend along the rest of the incision, so that the user should be able to form a break, and hence a small outlet, limited to the central part of the incision. Various tests, however, show the solution proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,391B2 also fails to effectively solve the problem of controlling outflow of the product easily and intuitively, particularly in the case of a liquid product.
To produce a sealed single-dose break-open package, U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,930B1 proposes a packing machine, in which a strip of semirigid plastic material and a strip of flexible plastic material are unwound off respective reels and superimposed at a first longitudinal sealing station, where a metering device feeds the product between the two strips, which are then immediately sealed laterally and longitudinally (i.e. parallel to the strips) to form a tube containing the product. Downstream from the longitudinal sealing station, a further transverse sealing station seals the strips transversely (i.e. perpendicular to the strips) to form along a tube a number of pockets, each containing a dose of product. And finally, downstream from the transverse sealing station, a cutting station cuts the two strips transversely to separate the sealed single-dose packages successively.
The sealed single-dose packages produced on the packing machine described above, however, are of poor quality, by having weak transverse seals and containing a large amount of air. It is important to note that a large amount of air inside a sealed single-dose package seriously affects the appearance of the package and, in the case of a food product, greatly reduces the shelf lie of the product.


An improved roll belt guide mechanism for directing movement of a plurality of side-by-side belts in a round baler wherein adjacent belts are staggered to create opening through which trash mass pass to prevent trash accumulation behind the belts. A pair of offsetting rolls is positioned between two guide rolls defining the normal belt path. The offsetting rolls are aligned on axes that are parallel to the normal guide roll axes and arranged so that one offsetting roll is positioned generally forward of the other. One or more belts are directed around the forward offset roll while the remainder of the belts is directed around the rearward offsetting roll. The alignment and separation of the offsetting rolls is configured to allow roll belts of equal lengths to be used regardless of routing around the offsetting rolls. Trash removal may be improved by the addition of an auger in the space between the offset belts to urge the trash laterally, generally along the length of the offsetting rolls.

The present invention relates generally to agricultural round balers and more particularly to a method for staggering routing of adjacent side-by-side belts to reduce debris collection behind the belts.
Round balers have become quite prevalent for their capability of producing a conveniently sized cylindrical bale, very often automatically wrapped with a sheeting material such as net or film. Prior art round balers generally have a bale-forming chamber defined by a pair of spaced-apart side walls and a series of parallel belts trained around a series of rolls spanning between the side walls. A pick-up mechanism picks up crop material, such as hay, from the ground as the baler travels across the field, and is fed into a fixed or expandable chamber where it is rolled up to form a compact cylindrical hay package. While still inside the bale-forming chamber in its compacted form, the outer surface of the package is wrapped with twine or other wrapping material, such as film or net, prior to ejection of the wrapped bale from the chamber onto the ground for subsequent handling.
Round balers typically include a series of parallel rolls mounted between spaced sides, with a series of side-by-side belts trained about the rolls. The belts extend across a crop inlet defined between a pair of spaced rolls, and a pick-up mechanism feeds crop rearwardly to the crop inlet as the baler is moved along a windrow of crop material. As crop material is forced into the inlet, the belts deform inwardly into a rotating bale-forming chamber which compresses the crop material to form a round bale. The belts are trained about a tensioned take-up mechanism, which accommodates bale growth while maintaining tension on the belts. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,870,812 and 5,367,865 issued to Jennings et al., disclose such prior art round balers having an expandable bale chamber defined by a pair of fixed sidewalls, and a plurality of side-by-side belts cooperating with a series of transverse rolls, mounted between a pair of pivotally mounted arms commonly known as a sledge. The chamber includes an inlet opening in the front through which crop material is fed. Also included is a pair of take up arms pivotally mounted on the main frame, between which arms a pair of guide rolls are journalled. A biasing force on the take up arms urges the outer surfaces of the guide rolls against the belts to maintain tension and thereby prevents slack from occurring in the belts during expansion and contraction of the chamber.
In a round baler of this type, it is important that the belts remain in contact with the rolls in order to ensure proper belt tracking and advancement. In the past, it has been known for crop material to adhere to the belts as the belts exit the bale-forming chamber. This material, which is commonly known as "trash" because it is not incorporated into the bale, can build up on the rolls and adjacent the sides of the baler, causing belt driving and tracking problems which hinder the performance of the baler and which, in severe cases, may actually stop operation of the baler. Known methods for reducing trash build-up behind the belts is to stagger adjacent belts in order to create openings through which trash can pass and be directed to a desired location for recovery in the baler. The stagger in the belts is caused by providing an offset roll around which some of the belts travel and routing belts around different contact points on the rolls (e.g., some travel across the front, while others travel across the back of the roll). These known methods require the use of belts having differing lengths to accommodate the different belt paths, use of additional offset roll assemblies, and/or adjacent co-axial roller sections that rotate opposite directions, all of which increase manufacturing complexity of the baler.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism for guiding the roll belts in a round baler which staggers adjacent belts thereby creating openings through which trash can be directed while retaining a relatively simple roll drive mechanism and allowing use of a plurality of equal-length drive belts. Additional advantages would be realized in a mechanism for guiding the roll belts in a round baler that minimizes bends in the belt path.

Method of staggering belts in a round baler


A medical device including a sheath having an inner liner and an outer layer attachable to a coil independent from each other to allow the inner liner and the outer layer the freedom to move coaxially independent from each other. The coil can be closely wound at a predetermined coil spacing sufficient to inhibit portions of the outer layer from entering into voids between the adjacent coil windings. Intermediate layers for bonding between the coil and the inner liner and/or the outer layer may also be provided. A filler material can be disposed within the voids between the adjacent windings of the coil. The filler material has a dimension sized to bridge the void between adjacent coil windings in order to inhibit portions of the outer layer from bonding to the inner liner. The filler material can be in the form of a ribbon.

Among the most important advances in modern medical practice has been the adoption of a variety of minimally invasive procedures. Examples of such minimally invasive procedures include angioplasty, endoscopy, laparoscopy, arthroscopy and the like. Minimally invasive surgical procedures such as these can be distinguished from conventional open surgical procedures. In these minimally invasive procedures, access to a target site within the body of a patient is achieved through a relatively small incision, into which a tubular device (including a tube of a device) is inserted or introduced. The tubular device maintains the patency of the incision, while permitting access to the target site via the interior (lumen) of the device.
In order to reach the target site, the tubular devices are often required to traverse tortuous pathways having sharp bends and angles. In some instances, and particularly when traversing such tortuous pathways, the tubular devices exhibit a tendency to kink. Kinking reduces, and often collapses, the effective inner diameter of the tubular device, thereby typically rendering the tubular device unsuitable for its intended use. Once a tubular device kinks, fluid cannot pass through the lumen of its shaft, and it becomes essentially useless, e.g., preventing inflation of balloon catheters and fluid delivery in diagnostic, infusion and drainage catheters for their satisfactory use. As a result, the initially introduced tubular device must be removed, and another tubular device must then be introduced into the patient and once again advanced through the vascular system to the narrowed site. This wastes time and increases the potential for trauma to the patient.
The tendency of a tubular device to kink is increased when the tubular device is used to introduce an interventional device into one of the many smaller vessels that branch off from major vessels. In this event, the tubular device may have insufficient flexibility at the very point where flexibility is most desired in order to enable proper positioning of the interventional device. In order to traverse the narrow confines of, e.g., the vascular system, the tubular device is typically formed of thin-wall construction. However, thin walled tubular devices often have difficulty tracking narrow vessels, and exhibit an increased propensity to kink. Increasing the thickness of the sheath tube can minimally improve the level of kink resistance, as well as the trackability of the tubular device, but limits the ability of the sheath to enter a narrow vessel, and reduces the diameter of the lumen when compared to the lumen of an otherwise similar thin-walled sheath.
To inhibit kinking, some tubular devices include a coil embedded in the wall of the catheter shaft, while other tubular devices include both a coil and a braid to take advantage of these features. One such device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,337, assigned to the assignee herein, which discloses a tubular medical device that includes a coil, such as a flat wire coil, in a stressed radially expanded condition, and a braid that extends over at least part of the coil. A bonding layer, formed from a polymer such as nylon or polyurethane, is positioned over and contacts the coil, or both the coil and the braid. The polymeric bonding layer maintains the coil in the stressed radially expanded condition, and is bonded to an inner liner, such as PTFE. By providing both a coil and a braid, the tubular device achieves some advantages attainable from each of these reinforcements. For example, the coil enables the device to better resist collapse, necking and kinking during use. The braid provides the device with enhanced pushability, trackability and torqueability. The '337 patent is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Although the device of the '337 patent represents an improvement over prior art devices, it is desired to make still further improvements to such tubular devices to enhance their utility to an even greater degree than presently available. For example, FIG. 1 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a wall 10 of a prior art tubular medical device 11 having outer and inner layers 12, 13 directly bonded to one another between spacings 14 of the windings of a coil 15 so that the two layers cannot axially move independently of each other. Because of a lack of independent movement, there can be a reduction in the overall bending flexibility of tubular medical device. Besides improving the bending flexibility of the tubular medical device, it would also be advantageous to further reduce kinkability in order for a physician to access more tortuous anatomy. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an arrangement of a coil in a tubular device that is highly resistant to kinking during use. It would also be desirable if the tubular device has a greater bending flexibility, i.e., a smaller bending radius, without kinking.


A method of determining a correction for a process parameter related to a lithographic process, wherein the lithographic process includes a plurality of runs during each one of which a pattern is applied to one or more substrates. The method of determining includes obtaining pre-exposure metrology data describing a property of a substrate; obtaining post-exposure metrology data comprising one or more measurements of the process parameter having been performed on one or more previously exposed substrates; assigning, based on the pre-exposure metrology data, a group membership status from one or more groups to the substrate; and determining the correction for the process parameter based on the group membership status and the post-exposure metrology data.

A lithographic process is one in which a lithographic apparatus applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate, after which various processing chemical and/or physical processing steps work through the pattern to create functional features of a complex product. The accurate placement of patterns on the substrate is a chief challenge for reducing the size of circuit components and other products that may be produced by lithography. In particular, the challenge of measuring accurately the features on a substrate which have already been laid down is a critical step in being able to position successive layers of features in superposition accurately enough to produce working devices with a high yield. So-called overlay should, in general, be achieved within a few tens of nanometers in today's sub-micron semiconductor devices, down to a few nanometers in the most critical layers.
Consequently, modern lithography apparatuses involve extensive measurement or 'mapping' operations prior to the step of actually exposing or otherwise patterning the substrate at a target location. So-called advanced alignment models have been and continue to be developed to model and correct more accurately non-linear distortions of the wafer 'grid' that are caused by processing steps and/or by the lithographic apparatus itself. Not all distortions are correctable, however, and it remains important to trace and eliminate as many causes of such distortions as possible.
Modern lithographic process and products are so complex that issues due to processing are difficult to trace back to the root cause. Overlay and alignment residuals typically show patterns over the wafer (of the process and/or litho tool). This may be interpreted as a non-correctable quantity with respect to a predefined model, while visual inspection and detailed analysis of the fingerprint may give an indication of causes and correction strategies. The spatial pattern in the fingerprint is not used to quantify the fingerprint, nor the observation that multiple causes may show up simultaneously in the apparent fingerprint. Overlay measurements are not generally available for each individual wafer, and the relation to the processing history and context is not generally known or used. Furthermore, it is difficult and time-consuming to make a list of all possible sources of spatial variation for the machine and process at hand.
Aside from the problem of identifying causes of processing errors, process performance monitoring systems have been implemented which allow measurement of performance parameters to be made from processed products, which then are used to calculate corrections for use in processing subsequent products. A limitation with current performance monitoring systems is that there is a compromise between the amount of time and equipment dedicated to performance monitoring, and the speed and accuracy with which corrections can be implemented. In a "run-to-run" control strategy historic performance measurements are fed back to calculate new process corrections using (e.g., in-line) metrology performed between and/or during "runs", which may comprise one or more lots. In previous run-to-run control strategies, each run comprised a "lot" of, typically 25 substrates. Improved lithographic apparatus hardware has enabled wafer level control, whereby a run may comprise a single substrate. However, performing a full overlay measurement on each substrate to take advantage of such wafer level control would be prohibitive in term of time and throughput.

Methods of determining corrections for a patterning process, device manufacturing method, control system for a lithographic apparatus and lithographic apparatus


In a job management device: a request reception unit stores job-input information in a storage device on receipt of a job-execution request; and an execution instruction unit sends to one or more job-assigned calculation nodes a job-execution instruction together with execution-resource information, and stores job-assignment information in the storage device in association with a job identifier. When the contents of the job database are lost by a restart of the job management device, a reconstruction unit collects the job-input information and the job-assignment information from the storage device, collects the execution-resource information from the one or more job-assigned calculation nodes, and reconstructs the job information in the job database.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a job management device which instructs a plurality of calculation nodes to execute a job, a cluster system in which the job is managed by the job management device, and a computer-readable medium storing a job management program which is to be executed by a computer so as to realize the functions of the job management device. In particular, the present invention relates to a job management device in which high reliability against failure in the functions of the cluster system is ensured, a cluster system in which jobs are managed by such a job management device, and a computer-readable medium storing a job management program which realize high reliability against failure in the functions of the cluster system.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In order to perform advanced scientific calculation, a number of computers are bundled and used as a single computer system. Hereinafter, such a computer system is referred to as a cluster system, and each computer constituting the cluster system is referred to as a node. Each user uses another computer and inputs a request for calculation to the cluster system. Hereinafter, processing executed in response to such a request is referred to as a job. The job may be a parallel job or a sequential job. The parallel job is executed by a plurality of nodes, and the sequential job is executed by a single process on a single node.
When the cluster system receives a job, the cluster system is required to make one or more nodes execute the job. Therefore, a node which assigns the job to one or more other nodes and manages the operational status of the job at each node is provided. Hereinafter, such a node is referred to as a management node, and the nodes other than the management node are referred to as calculation nodes.
In the cluster system, the management node is aware of the assignment of jobs to the calculation nodes and the operational status of the calculation nodes. Therefore, when the management node fails, information on the assignment of jobs to the calculation nodes and the operational status of the calculation nodes will be lost.
In the case where the cluster system does not have a function of ensuring high reliability against failure in the management node (which is hereinafter referred to as the reliability-ensuring function), even the information on the existence of the job is lost when the management node fails. In this case, it is necessary to re-input the job into the cluster system, and complete jobs currently executed in the calculation nodes before the re-input of the job. However, if the reliability-ensuring function is not provided, there is no way to know the jobs which the cluster system has received before the failure, so that it is necessary to restart all the calculation nodes.
Consequently, the reliability-ensuring function is used. In the conventional reliability-ensuring function, information on the status of the jobs is stored in a file in a job database (DB), which is constructed on a hard disk drive (HDD). Even when the management node fails, it is possible to recognize the currently executed jobs by reading the one or more files from the job database on startup of the management node.
Incidentally, there are two job states, the job-input state and the job-execution state. The cluster system receives a request from another computer in the job-input state, and the job is assigned to and executed by one or more calculation nodes in the job-execution state.
If only the job-input state is managed in the job database, it is possible to recognize each job which should be executed, even after the management node fails. Therefore, the re-input of the job by the user is unnecessary. However, in this case, the operational status of each job is unknown, so that it is necessary to once stop execution of jobs currently executed by the calculation nodes, and restart the jobs from the beginning. Therefore, the operational efficiency of the system decreases. In particular, the scientific calculation needs jobs which take much time to execute, so that re-execution of such jobs from the beginning is extremely inefficient.
Thus, conventionally, both of the job-input state and the job-execution state are managed in a file in the job database constructed on a hard disk drive. In this case, it is possible to recognize the job-execution state, as well as the job-input state, even after the management node fails. Therefore, it is unnecessary to re-input each job into the cluster system, and it is possible to continue the jobs currently executed by one or more calculation nodes as they are. In addition, even when the management node fails, it is unnecessary to execute each job from the beginning. However, in order to store the job-execution state, delay occurs in reflecting information in the hard disk drive as explained below.
According to the ordinary OS (operating system), even when writing of information in a file is instructed, information is written in only a memory in order to increase the operational speed of the system. Thereafter, the updated information in the file is actually written in the disk at predetermined times. That is, the information written in the memory is not immediately reflected in the disk, so that delay can occur all the times. Thus, conventionally, the job-execution state in the disk is not necessarily updated, and the ensuring of the reliability is impeded.
In order to solve the problem of the delay caused by the writing operation, it is possible to consider to reflect in the file in the disk the information written in the memory at the same time as the writing in the memory. However, in this case, since the writing in the hard disk drive is far slower than the writing in the memory, the processing in the system is delayed.
In order to solve the above problem, a technique for ensuring the reliability without using the job database is considered. For example, it is possible to store information on the job-execution state and the environmental settings (which are held by the management node) in the calculation nodes as well as in the management node. When the management node fails, one of the calculation nodes is raised to a management node, so that the calculation node has both the functions of the calculation node and the functions of the management node. Then, the above calculation node collects the job-execution states in the other calculation nodes and executes the functions of the management node. (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-96041, which is hereinafter referred to as JPP6-96041.)
However, the technique for ensuring the reliability disclosed in JPP6-96041 has the following problems (i) to (v).
(i) JPP6-96041 discloses no way of coping with parallel jobs. In the case of the parallel job, it is necessary that a plurality of calculation nodes execute the parallel job in corporation with each other. In order to realize the corporation, one of the plurality of calculation nodes which execute the parallel job becomes a job master, and manages details of the job-execution state. In this case, it is difficult to cope with the parallel job unless information unique to the parallel job (such as the information indicating which one of the calculation nodes is the job master) can be restored.
(ii) It is necessary that the calculation nodes store all the information on the parallel job (i.e., all the information necessary for execution of the parallel job). Therefore, in some cases, a great amount of information is required to be transmitted.
(iii) The technique disclosed in JPP6-96041 cannot cope with double failure. That is, when the management node and one or more of the calculation nodes concurrently fail, information indicating the existence of one or more jobs executed by the one or more failed calculation nodes is lost, so that external re-input of the one or more jobs is required. Therefore, it is necessary to externally check whether or not information on jobs which have already been inputted is lost. In other words, unless the information indicating whether or not the information on the jobs which have already been inputted is lost is externally managed, it is impossible to reproduce the lost information on the jobs, so that the reliability of the cluster system deteriorates.
(iv) In order to collect necessary information, access to all the calculation nodes is required. Therefore, processing for the communication becomes inefficient. In particular, in the systems used in scientific calculation, the number of the calculation nodes tends to be great. Thus, when information for managing all the calculation nodes is transferred to a calculation node, the amount of transferred data becomes extremely great.
(v) According to the technique disclosed in JPP6-96041, an attempt to protect information is made by using only the calculation nodes. Therefore, when one or more calculation nodes fail, it is impossible to re-execute one or more jobs which have been executed by the one or more calculation nodes before the failure.
If all or parts of the above problems are solved, it is possible to prevent decrease in processing efficiency while ensuring the reliability of the cluster system.

Job management device, cluster system, and computer-readable medium storing job management program


A method for performing fast base station switching in an mobile station capable of using multiple frequency assignments in a wireless communication system are provided, in which initial network entry to a base station managing at least two frequency assignments is performed in one of the at least two frequency assignments, overlay mode support information and FA information about the at least two frequency assignments are acquired by the initial network entry, the overlay mode support information indicating whether the base station supports multiple frequency assignments, the base station is notified that the mobile station will operate in an overlay mode using multiple frequency assignments based on the acquired information, and signals are transmitted and received to and from the base station in the at least two frequency assignments.

Along with the development of wireless communication systems, more services and more service data are required. To meet the demands, a broadband wireless mobile communication system has emerged. However, due to limited frequency resources, the wireless mobile communication system has limited frequency bands. Accordingly, there exists a need for increasing frequency bands available for providing broadband services.
FIG. 1 illustrates a single-frequency band supporting structure and a two-frequency band supporting structure in a conventional wireless mobile communication system.
In a wireless mobile communication system, especially based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16, a base station (BS) manages one or more frequency assignments and provides a service to a mobile station (MS) in at least one of the frequency assignments.
Referring to FIG. 1, a mobile station (MS) 100 can switch from a first frequency assignment (FA) 120 (FA1) to a second frequency assignment (FA) 140 (FA2). If the MS 100 is limited to only one FA or different base stations manage the two FAs 120 and 140, the MS 100 receives a service in FA2 by an inter-FA handover.
If an MS 150 can operate in two or more FAs or the same base station (BS) manages two FAs 160 and 180 (FA1 and FA2), the MS 150 can receive a service in the FAs 160 and 180. In this manner, signal transmission and reception between an MS and a BS in multiple FAs is favorable for high-speed, large-data transmission and reception. However, a procedure for using multiple FAs between the MS and the BS is yet to be specified. Also, a technique for enabling the MS to fast switch from a current FA to a new FA or from a serving BS to another BS is to be developed.

Method for supporting fast base station switching in a wireless communication system using multiple frequency bands


A method for producing an airtight container includes preparing an assembly having a first substrate and a frame member, the first substrate having an electron-emitting element formed on a first surface thereof, the frame member mounted on the first surface outside an area where the electron-emitting element is formed; forming a temporary assembly having the assembly and a second substrate by bringing the second substrate into contact with the frame member via a joining member such that an inner space is formed; melting the joining member by irradiating the joining member with a laser beam transmitted through the second substrate; and solidifying the melted joining member. The laser beam is applied such that an incident direction at an irradiation position on the joining member does not include components toward the interior of the frame member while the laser beam moves relative to the temporary assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for producing airtight containers, and in particular, relates to methods for producing vacuum-tight containers including electron-emitting elements thereinside.
2. Description of the Related Art
So-called field-emission displays (FEDs) including cold-cathode electron sources and phosphors capable of cathodoluminescence serving as image-forming members are well known. Vacuum-tight containers applicable to the FEDs need to maintain a constant high vacuum so as to maintain the electron-emission function for a long period of time. In order to maintain the vacuum in the vacuum-tight containers, the containers need to be hermetic. Thus, methods for producing airtight containers with high vacuum-tightness are required.
A method using frit glass as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-94102 (equivalent to European Patent Laid-Open No. 0609815) is well known as an example of a method for producing high-vacuum containers. An electron-source substrate with electron-emitting elements, a front substrate with a phosphor, and a frame member are joined to each other using frit glass, and the frit glass is fired so as to form an airtight container. Subsequently, the container is evacuated to a vacuum via an exhaust pipe connected to the airtight container. Finally, the exhaust pipe is chopped off, and the container is sealed. In this manner, production of a vacuum-tight container is completed.
However, the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-94102 requires the temperature of the container to rise up to the softening and melting temperature of the frit glass during firing of the frit glass. This causes effects such as sublimation, oxidation, and reduction on electron sources on the electron-source substrate and the like in a marked manner, thereby causing variations in characteristics of the electron-emitting elements.
In order to mitigate the effects caused by the heating, a method in which an airtight container is disposed in a vacuum atmosphere throughout the production thereof, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-229828 (equivalent to European Patent Laid-Open No. 1126496), is well known. In this case, effects such as oxidation on electron-emitting elements can be suppressed by using a metal with a low melting point as a joining member. However, when high-definition and large-panel displays are required, there are issues such as accuracy in alignment during a bonding process in a high-temperature vacuum and cycle time for an evacuating process.
To resolve these issues, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-149783 describes a sealing and bonding method using local heating by scanning high-density energy beams. This method includes alignment performed in an atmosphere of normal temperature and normal pressure and local heating. Therefore, thermal effects on electron-emitting elements are minimized, and a highly airtight and, at the same time, highly accurately aligned container can be produced at low cost. U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,937 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-313630 (equivalent to European Patent Laid-Open No. 0978489) also describe the joining methods using emission of high-density energy beams.
When joining members are softened and melted by scanning laser beams, the scanning speed also needs to be increased so that large-size or low-cost displays are produced. In this case, energy density of the laser source per unit time needs to be increased. However, some of the laser beams are reflected, and are not directly used for heating of the joining members. In addition, the reflected beams become stray light beams that may exert thermal effects on other members. In particular, when metal is used as a joining member so that more minute joining interfaces are obtained, the thermal effects of the stray light beams during the laser joining process may be enhanced due to the high reflectivity. When airtight containers are applied to FEDs and the like, it is not preferable in view of emission characteristics that the surface shapes and compositions of emitting portions of electron-emitting elements inside the FEDs vary.


A pressure gauge flange assembly for connection to pressure equipment and a pressure gauge. The pressure gauge flange assembly has a flange housing with a flange at a lower portion that connects to pressure equipment such as a BOP. Within the flange housing a chamber is provided that is separated into two chambers by a piston. The piston is moveable to balance pressure in the two chambers. Fluid from the pressure equipment may be dirty. On the other side of the piston, clean fluid is provided so that any dirty hydraulic fluid from the pressure equipment does not impair operation of the pressure gauge.

A Bourdon pressure gauge is considered reliable and robust although any blockage of the piping leading to the open end of the Bourdon tube will render the gauge inoperable or unreliable. Repairing the gauge is rarely possible unless using specialist equipment. While Bourdon gauges are relatively inexpensive, it is often times difficult to replace gauges that are used in subsea environments.
Oil field pressure equipment, such as a subsea BOP, may possibly have contaminated fluid that could present problems for the pressure gauge. Filters between the pressure equipment and pressure gauge may cause problems with inaccuracies and plugging.
Accordingly, those of skill will appreciate the present invention that makes the pressure gauge used with pressure equipment more reliable.


An instruction address that is referred to by a microprocessor unit is inputted over an instruction address bus and is stored. While counting the number of times a clock is fed to the microprocessor unit, a comparison is made between the stored instruction address and an instruction address that the microprocessor provides onto the instruction address bus. A clock count value, obtained at the time when the aforesaid instruction addresses agree, is stored. If a stored instruction address and an instruction address on the instruction address bus agree for every stored clock count value, then the microprocessor is judged to repeatedly execute a sequence of instructions and the loop count value is incremented by one. When the loop count value exceeds a predetermined value, the microprocessor is judged to be placed in an idle state and the clock frequency is lowered.

This invention pertains to a detector capable of detecting the existence of an idle state of the microprocessor unit (MPU) for power saving.
Recently various, portable-type communication devices have been commercialized. Such a portable-type communication device is usually battery-driven and therefore lower power dissipation achieves longer battery life and continuous use.
Although reduction in the clock frequency (i.e., the operating frequency of the MPU) produces the advantage that a less amount of power is dissipated, such results in the performance loss. Therefore, low-power communication devices may not be obtained by simply reducing their operating frequency.
Observing a way of how the user actually operates a communication device shows that the MPU is frequently placed in the key-entry wait state or in the mouse-entry wait state. In such a wait state, the MPU just waits for a command to come from the outside, in other words the MPU is in the idle state.
FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing a sequence of operations of an MPU which is placed in the idle state, more specifically, in a key-entry wait state.
At STEP S1, INSTRUCTION A is read from at ADDRESS #a. At STEP S2, data held by a keyboard input interface is transferred to a register according to INSTRUCTION A. At STEP S3, INSTRUCTION B is read from at ADDRESS #b. At STEP S4, the data of the register is checked as to whether it indicates the presence of a key entry. If STEP S4 says YES, then a process of accepting a following key entry is executed. On the other hand, if STEP S4 says NO, the program returns to STEP S1. In other words, the MPU repeatedly executes a series of steps, namely STEP S1 through STEP S4, until a new key entry is inputted.
As can be seen from FIG. 9, a drop in the operating frequency may not make the operator feel inconvenience. Therefore, the power consumption of communication devices can be reduced by lowering the operating frequency when the MPU is detected to be in the idle state.
FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram useful in understanding the organization of a prior art idle state detector. 61 is a storage space for use by the MPU. Storage space 61 corresponds to a memory area for storing a program for use in executing operations, to a key entry interface, and to the like element. 62 is a detection element. Each detection element 62 is assigned a respective memory space and sets a flag when an address indicative of the assigned memory space is referred to by the MPU. Storage space 61 is a 1M-word storage space, and a single detection element 62 is provided for every 2K words. Therefore, the number of detection elements 62 is 512.
When the MPU is placed in an idle state and operates according to the flow diagram of FIG. 9, referred-to addresses by the MPU are only those, i.e., ADDRESS #a, ADDRESS #b, and ADDRESS of the key entry interface. At this point in time, only detection elements 62, indicated in FIG. 10 by circles with oblique lines, set respective flags.
NIKKEI ELECTRONICS (No. 585, pp. 171-178, 5 Jul. 1993) reports a technique. In accordance with this technique, flag status information of detection element 62 as to an MPU idle state is prestored in an idle state detecting circuit. The idle state detecting circuit is able to detect the existence of an MPU idle state by watching the flag status of detection element 62.
The prior art idle state detector, however, suffers the following problems. In a conventional idle state detector, a memory space assigned to a single detection element 62 has a specific memory space size, so that it is most likely that the state of the MPU is detected wrongly, in other words, even when the MPU repeatedly performs usual arithmetic operations in a non-idle state, the MPU is misjudged to be in an idle state.
Larger number of detection elements 62 achieves better results of the idle state detection. Theoretically, it is possible to detect an MPU idle state at 100% accuracy if one detection element 62 is provided for every memory space address. This, however, increases the amount of hardware. As a result, more device area is required and more power is consumed. To sum up, in the prior art idle state detector the accuracy of detecting the existence of an idle state and the amount of hardware are in a tradeoff relationship.

Idle state detector and idle state detecting method for a microprocessor unit for power savings


A Passive Optical Network, PON, comprising an Optical Line Termination, OLT, connected to one or more Optical Network Terminals, ONT, over an Optical Distribution Network, ODN, is monitored by a monitoring device. The monitoring device comprises an Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometer, OFDR, and is arranged to monitor the optical power received by the OLT and the ONTs of the PON, and to perform transceiver analysis of the OLT and the ONTs, combined with an OFDR analysis of the ODN, based on the monitored optical power violating a threshold.

A broadband access may be implemented by a passive fiber optical access network, e.g. by a B-PON (Broadband Passive Optical Network or a G-PON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network). A passive optical network comprises an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) and one or more ONTs (Optical Network Terminations) and/or ONUs (Optical Network Units) connected by an ODN (Optical Distribution Network), which includes optical fibers and passive optical power splitters, since a PON does not require active electrical components for splitting the optical signals.
The OLT is located at a Central Office, CO, associated with a service provider (e.g. an operator), and the CO provides an interface for delivery of services, e.g. telephony, Ethernet data or video, to subscribers/end-users over the PON. Each ONT/ONU terminates the PON and converts the optical signals into electrical signals for delivery of the services to terminals of the subscribers/end-users, via a suitable user interface.
Typically, a single optical fiber of the PON carries the traffic from the OLT to a Remote Node, RN, in which the traffic signal may be split by passive optical splitters into a number of separate optical fibers (drop links), each one being terminated by an ONU or an ONT, in an optical point-to-multipoint link. However, the traffic signal from the OLT could also be connected to only one ONT/ONU in a point-to-point link.
A so-called high-loss budget PON may involve an OLT that is connected to a comparatively large number of ONTs/ONUs via a point-to-multipoint link, which comprises a Remote Node with a high split ratio, typically larger than 1:32.
The above-mentioned terms ONU and ONT both indicate a device that terminates any one of the distributed (leaf) endpoints of an ODN, implements a PON protocol, and adapts PON PDU (Protocol Data Units) to a subscriber-service interface. The term ONT may typically indicate a single subscriber device, e.g. in a home, and the term ONU may indicate a device that could be provided with additional functionality.
However, the term ONT will hereinafter be used as a generic term in this disclosure and in the appended claims, and will refer to any of an ONU or an ONT.
Since faults may occur in a PON, e.g. due to break in an optical fiber or due to a deteriorating or non-functioning OLT or ONT, a PON has to be monitored, and failures detected and located.
The optical fibers and the optical components of the PON may be characterized e.g. by the use of Optical Time Domain Reflectometry, OTDR. When characteristics of an optical fiber are determined using a conventional OTDR, a series of optical pulses are injected into the fiber. The optical pulses, i.e. an OTDR signal, travels through the fiber, and the OTDR signal is reflected and received, e.g. by the device that injected the optical pulse into the fiber. The amplitude of the reflected, or backscattered, OTDR signal is measured, and may be used e.g. for estimating the length and the attenuation of the fiber, or for locating faults, e.g. a break in the fiber.
A monitoring of a passive optical network using OTM (Optical Transceiver Monitoring) and the above-described OTDR, with a detection and localization of faults with high sensitivity and without requiring upgrading of the ONT, is described e.g. in Urban et. al: "WDM-PON Fiber-Fault Automatic Detection and Localization with 1 dB Event Sensitivity in Drop Links" Conference paper, National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC), Mar. 4, 2012.
The OTDR may provide an accurate localization of a failure in a point-to-point link. However, the dynamic range of OTDR is limited to around 40 dB, and misinterpretations may arise when one of the drop links after a Remote Node with a high split ratio is faulty, since the received backscattered signal is a superposition of the optical power returning from all drop links.
In order to provide a localization of faults in a point-to-multipoint link, the OTDR may e.g. be assisted by a reflective component installed in each drop link, wherein a decrease of the reflection peak in the reflectogram will point out the faulty drop link. However, an introduction of a new component in an ONT will increase the complexity and the costs, e.g. since the equipment is located at customer premises.
Thus, it is desirable to enable an improved monitoring of a passive optical network, also of a point-to-multipoint link with a high split ratio, in order to detect and locate faults in an optical fibre, in an OLT at the Central Office, or in an ONT at customer premises, in a short time frame and in a cost-efficient way.

Monitoring of a passive optical network (PON)


An analog-to-digital converter device capable of measuring inputs beyond a supply voltage including: an N bit analog-to-digital converter powered by a supply voltage and a reference voltage; a range resolution stage capable of receiving inputs at higher voltages than the supply voltage, providing an input to the analog-to-digital converter, and outputting a logic value of one for the N+1th bit in response to an input signal higher than the reference voltage; and a bootstrapped input multiplexer stage for connecting low voltage input signals directly to the analog-to-digital converter and for connecting input signals that can exceed the supply voltage to the range resolution stage.

Highly integrated power management applications often require the ability to measure voltage quantities that exceed the supply voltage in magnitude. This is primarily due to a basic need to maximize efficiency by running the power management IC on as low a supply voltage as possible, while still maintaining the ability to sample and measure quantities from the surroundings that could well exceed the battery voltage.
The problem can be defined as follows: Assume that there is a low power N bit SAR ADC working from a supply voltage Vdd and with a reference voltage equal to Vref. Vref is usually equal to or slightly less than Vdd to maximize the input signal range of the ADC. The objective is to create an N+1 bit ADC which is capable of converting an input signal range from 0V to 2Vref. If 2Vref happens to be greater than Vdd then this would present a problem. First of all, a reference voltage equal to 2 Vref has to be generated from Vdd. This would mean that a power-hungry charge pump would have to be built to create a high enough voltage from which this new reference voltage can be derived. Furthermore, the charge pump would have to bias all the complementary switches (transmission gates) to eliminate the forward biasing of any body diodes in the transmission gate switches. Building a charge pump also increases the noise on this desired 2Vref reference, and an extra pin might be required for the charge pump's storage capacitor. Furthermore, the charge pump approach does not increase the effective number of bits (ENOB) by an additional bit and doubling the input signal range does not buy you an increase in ENOB, an often-desired thing when the input signal is increased. Other solutions that might involve resistor based voltage division to divide the input signal down to the 0 to Vref range would mean loading the input and possibly slowing down the conversion rate for resistor values that are high. This attenuation mechanism would render difficult an increase in the dynamic range, since the input signal gets divided down by the attenuation factor.

Analog-to-digital converter with input signal range greater than supply voltage and extended dynamic range


A method of forming a SOG insulation layer of a semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming the SOG insulation layer on a substrate having a stepped pattern using a solution containing a polysilazane in an amount of less than 20% by weight in terms concentration of solid content, performing a pre-bake process for removing solvent ingredients in the insulation layer at a temperature of 50 to 350xc2x0 C., and annealing at a temperature of 600 to 1200xc2x0 C. The method of the invention further includes performing a hard bake process at a temperature of about 400xc2x0 C. between the pre-bake process and the annealing step. Also, the polysilazane is desirably contained in an amount of 10 to 15% by weight.

This application relies for priority upon Korean Patent Application No.2000-82829, filed on Dec. 27, 2000, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to a method of forming an insulation layer, and more particularly to a method of forming an insulation layer of a semiconductor device using a spin-on-glass (SOG) layer.
As the elements incorporated into a semiconductor device are increasingly integrated, the sizes of the elements is gradually decreasing, and the semiconductor devices are becoming increasingly multi-layered. Thus, in highly integrated semiconductor devices, problems such as increase in the aspect ratio of contact or via holes which penetrate a given region between the interconnect lines or the circuit elements and enlargement of the step coverage are more intensified. That is, as the aspect ratio of the contact holes is increased, it becomes more difficult to form deep and narrow holes in certain layers of the device and to fill the narrow holes with conductive material to interconnect the multiple layers. Also, undesirable step coverage at a lower part of the device results in a problem when an upper part of the device is patterned to form the interconnects (wires) or elements by means of photolithography. To reduce these problems, a technique using an interlayer insulation layer such as a method of filling gaps between the elements such as gate lines with the interlayer insulation layer and planarizing the upper part of the interlayer insulation layer has been developed and used.
As an example of the technique using an interlayer insulation layer, there has been proposed a method of forming a boro-phospho silicate glass (BPSG) layer and then performing a heat treatment process at a high temperature of about 830xc2x0 C. However, since width between gate lines is designed below a critical dimension (CD) of 0.2 xcexcm with the semiconductor device highly integrated, the heat treatment at the high temperature for forming the interlayer insulation layer may result in a problem damaging the elements, for example reduced transistors in the semiconductor device.
To solve the problem due to the heat treatment at the high temperature, there has been another method of using an O3 tetra ethyl ortho silicate undoped silicate glass (O3 TEOS USG), or high density plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) oxide layer. However, these layers also present a problem of generating voids or seams when the width between gate lines is designed below a CD of 0.2 xcexcm, for example about 0.18 xcexcm.
To solve the problems described above, there has been used another method of using a spin-on glass (SOG) layer as an interlayer insulation layer. SOG materials are advantageous to fill the gaps between the gate lines and to reduce the step coverage since it. is first in a state of liquid or sol.
As one of the SOG materials, hydro silsesquioxane (HSQ) material is used. After the HSQ material is applied to a substrate, a soft bake process is carried out at a low temperature of 100 to 300xc2x0 C. to remove solvent ingredients. Then, a hard bake process is carried out at a temperature of about 400xc2x0 C. for several, e.g., ten, minutes to harden the formed HSQ layer.
However, even though the HSQ layer is annealed under an oxidative atmosphere through the hard bake process, a curing of forming silicon dioxide-crystallized structures is not accomplished well. Particularly, in case of using the SOG layer to fill deep and narrow gaps of the pattern, it is difficult to make oxygen and elements combined thereto diffuse. Also, since the curing is carried out at relatively low temperature and begins from the surface of the SOG layer to interfere with the diffusion of oxygen, the HSQ layer is not cured very well.
When the curing of the HSQ layer is not accomplished well, impurity ingredients such as hydrogen and the like may not be removed completely and remain in the HSQ layer. The impurity ingredients may result in a problem such as forming a porous crystallized structure in the HSQ layer. When the following etching and cleaning process is carried out to a portion of the SOG layer having the porous crystallized structure, an etch rate at the portion of the SOG layer comes to be faster than that at other portions without the porous crystallized structure therein.
For example, in case the interlayer insulation layer is formed of the HSQ layer after forming a metal oxide silicon (MOS) transistor structure on a substrate, the porous structure is apt to be formed in a lower part of the interlayer insulation layer between the gate lines. Therefore, when the pads for bit line contacts or storage node contacts are formed by means of a self-aligned method, the lower part of the SOG layer having the porous structure is exposed. The exposed lower part of the SOG layer is easily etched by a very small amount of etchant contained in a detergent such as a mixture of NH4OH, H2O2, and de-ionized water called SCl, or buffered oxide etcher (BOE). As a result, pipe line shaped bridges can be formed between the adjacent pads through the exposed lower part of the SOG layer. These bridges may cause a short circuit between wires such that the semiconductor device operates abnormally.
Also, in the portion of the SOG layer having the porous structure, a difference in the stress or tension is generated according to the thermal expansion and the like as compared with other portions without the porous structure, to deteriorate reliability of the elements and thereby cause generation of devices of inferior quality.
Among the SOG materials, silazane series is a material indicated as a structural formula xe2x80x94[SiR1R2NR3]nxe2x80x94 having an average atomic weight of 1000 to 2000. The silazane series usually uses perhydro-polysilazane wherein all of R1,R2, and R3 is hydrogen, or organic polysilazane wherein R1,R2, and R3 are alkyl radicals, an aryl radical, and an alkoxyl radical, respectively, containing 1-8 carbon atoms. The perhydro-polysilazane or organic polysilazane which is usually called polysilazane is used in a type of a solution in which it is melted as much as a given % by weight by a solvent such as dibuthyl ether, toluene, or xylene. The polysilazane can be treated by a process of higher temperature as compared with silicate or siloxane series, so that more complete curing can be accomplished. Also, the polysilazane has a high resistance to a wet etching, so that it is easy to apply to the real fabrication process compared with the HSQ layer. Also, when a polysilazane layer is formed to be relatively thick, a plane state of the whole surface of the substrate can be improved enough to carry out the subsequent process steps such as a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) without forming a capping oxide layer on an upper part of the polysilazane layer.
The polysilazane layer is generally baked by performing a bake process for removing solvent ingredients, and an annealing process for curing the baked polysilazane layer at a high temperature of more than 600xc2x0 C., for example 700xc2x0 C., after the polysilazane is applied to a substrate. An example of a method of baking and annealing the polysilazane layer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Applicant No. 97-044,132 filed by Nippon Denki Co., Ltd.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the process steps of a conventional method of forming a SOG insulation layer of a semiconductor device. The method comprises forming a pattern on a surface of a substrate (10), applying a SOG layer on the surface of the substrate (20), performing a pre-bake process to the substrate (30), performing a high temperature annealing process to the substrate (40), and performing the subsequent process steps (50).
However, in the method, silane (SiH4) gases which generally begin to discharge from the SOG layer in the vicinity of a temperature of about 400xc2x0 C. are generated in a large quantity during the high temperature annealing process and easily combined with other discharged ingredients such as nitrogen and hydrogen, and an atmosphere gas such as oxygen. Consequently, a plurality of particles composed of silicon oxides or silicon nitrides having magnitudes of several hundred angstroms (xc3x85) are formed on the surface of the substrate and/or in the inside of the equipment. These particles may result in particle defects of the corresponding substrate and/or other substrates in the equipment.
Also, if the particles, for example a particle 21 exists in the substrate before applying the polysilazane, the SOG layer 23 is thickened in the vicinity of the particle 21, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 2. After the high temperature annealing, the thickened portion of the SOG layer 23 is strengthened. Also, a difference in the stress is partially generated according to thermal expansion and the like, so that a crack 25 may be formed in the thickened portion of the SOG layer 23. If the particle or crack occurs in the manufacturing process, the production rate of the semiconductor device will not only be reduced, but also the reliability of the elements will be deteriorated.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of forming an insulation layer of a semiconductor device which when a SOG layer of silazane series is used as the insulation layer, can restrain particles from forming on a surface of a substrate during a high temperature annealing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method of forming an insulation layer of a semiconductor device which when a SOG layer of silazane series is used as the insulation layer, can prevent cracks from forming due to particles which exists in a substrate before applying the SOG layer.
It is other object of the present invention to provide an improved method of forming an SOG insulation layer of a semiconductor device which can prevent side walls of contact holes from being damaged when a wet cleaning process is carried out after forming the contact holes in the SOG insulation layer.
These and other objects are provided, according to an aspect of the present invention, by a method of forming a SOG insulation layer of a semiconductor device. An SOG insulation layer is formed on a substrate having a stepped pattern using a solution containing polysilazane in an amount of less than 20% by weight in terms of concentration of solid content. A pre-bake process is performed at a temperature of 50 to 350xc2x0 C. to remove solvent ingredients in the insulation layer. The resulting structure is annealed at a temperature of 600 to 1200xc2x0 C.
In one embodiment, the pre-bake process comprises increasing a temperature continuously for 2 to 7 minutes. Alternatively, the pre-bake process can comprise heating at temperatures of 75xc2x0 C., 150xc2x0 C., and 250xc2x0 C. for several minutes, preferably 1 to 2 minutes, each. The pre-bake process is carried out by means of an in-situ method.
In the embodiment, the annealing step is carried out at the temperature of 600 to 1200xc2x0 C. for 10 to 120 minutes, preferably at 700 to 900xc2x0 C. for 30 to 60 minutes. Generally, the more the annealing temperature and time are increased, the more curing is enhanced.
In one embodiment, the solution includes only a polysilazane polymer of a structural formula xe2x80x94[SiR1R2NR3]nxe2x80x94 as the solid content. When the solution includes an addition except the polymer and solvent ingredients, an atomic weight of the polymer can be changed to have influence on the viscosity, so that the thickness and flatness of the SOG layer formed by spin coating can be influenced. Accordingly, it is desirable that the solid content in the solution use only the polysilazane without the additional influence on the viscosity. Preferably, the polysilazane is contained in the solution in an amount of 5 to 15% by weight in terms of concentration of the solid content. When the amount of the polysilazane is below 5% by weight, it is difficult to adjust the thickness of the SOG layer. Particularly, in this case, since the SOG layer is apt to be shallowly formed, it is difficult to apply to the real process. The polysilazane desirably uses a perhydro-polysilazane indicated as a structural formula xe2x80x94[SiH2NH]nxe2x80x94.
The method of the invention can further include forming a CVD insulation layer such as an oxide layer on the SOG layer by means of a CVD method such as a HDP CVD in order to obtain an interlayer insulation layer having a sufficient thickness. Also, the method of the invention can include planarizing the CVD insulation layer by means of a CMP. Thus, in the present invention, the interlayer insulation layer having required characteristics can be formed of the SOG layer and the CVD insulation layer. The SOG layer acts to fill gaps of the pattern and remove the step coverage due to the pattern, and the CVD insulation layer acts to obtain required thickness and reduce the step coverage.
Alternatively, the method of the invention can include performing a hard bake process at a temperature of 350 to 500xc2x0 C. between the pre-bake process and the annealing step. The hard bake process is preferably carried out at a temperature of 400 to 450xc2x0 C. for 30 to 60 minutes under an inert gas or vacuum atmosphere. In the inert gas or vacuum atmosphere, even though gases are generated from the SOG layer, a chemical reaction which forms particles is not activated, so that particles can be restrained from forming during the annealing process. Also, the hard bake process can be carried out under an oxidative atmosphere. In the oxidative atmosphere, since a concentration of the gases which generates during the hard bake process is low, formation of particles is minimal.

Method of forming a spin-on-glass insulation layer


A package includes a top panel, a bottom panel, a first side panel connecting the top panel and the bottom panel to each other and a second side panel also connecting the top panel and the bottom panel to each other. The bottom panel, the first side panel, the top panel and the second side panel form a sleeve having a cross-section essentially formed as a rectangle. The sleeve is adapted to slidably receive an insert along a sliding direction normal to the rectangle. The package includes a locking member which includes an arch-shaped portion extending into the rectangular cross section to releasably retain the insert. The present disclosure also relates to a blank for forming the package.

EP 1 002 744 A1 discloses a two-piece paperboard container that houses a unit dose product on an internal slide card within an outer paperboard shell. This package has two internal locks that prevent the slide card from being pulled out without triggering a lock release mechanism. This package is focused around providing a child resistant, senior-friendly unit dose package that can be opened and closed numerous times and then finally disposed of.
The paperboard shell is formed by folding a blank consisting of three major panels connected by two narrow panels. The centre major panel of the blank is adapted to form a bottom surface of the package, whereas one of the two outer major panels of the blank is adapted to form a top surface of the package. The other outer panel is adapted to form an inner top surface of the package. The inner top surface and the top surface are glued to each other.
The panel forming the inner top surface is provided with a through-going opening or cut-out. The panel forming the top surface is provided with a score line formed as an oval. The panel is cut through along this score line. The oval score line and the through-going opening are positioned on the two outer panels in such a manner that when forming a package the oval score line will be positioned on top of the through-going hole. The portion of the panel being within this oval score line may be pushed as a push-button.
The internal slide card is provided with a tab, which is formed at the leading edge (leading when the slide card is inserted into the package) and refolded backwards over the slide card. When the slide card is inserted completely inside the shell, the refolded tab will due to its spring-back properties enter into the through-going opening of the panel forming the inner top surface.
When a user pulls the slide card the tab will be forced into the through-going opening and thus block the slide card from being pulled out of the package. However, if the user pushes the push-button the tab will be pushed out of the through-going opening and the slide card may thus be pulled out of the package.
At the opening, through which the slide card is inserted into the package, the package is provided with an inwardly folded tab, which interacts with the refolded tab of the slide card to prevent the slide card from being pulled completely out of the package.
However, this package does not represent a satisfactory design. Already when a refolded tab looses only a portion of its spring-back properties (after being pushed inwardly a few times) it will not make a complete spring-back movement. The design of the package disclosed in EP 1 002 744 A1 relies on the thickness of the panel forming the inner top surface. The locking function is thus made dependent upon the selection of sufficiently thick material for the package. Consequently, already minor short-comings of the spring-back of the refolded tab will result in that the refolded tab will not enter the through-going opening and the locking function is not accomplished. Moreover, any lack of spring-back of the push-button will result in that the push-button will occupy a space in the through-going opening and thus exert a force onto the refolded tab being counterproductive to the spring-back of the refolded tab.
WO 02/38454 A1 discloses a package made of cardboard, comprising a sleeve and an insert, the sleeve being provided with at least one catch tab located on the inside of the sleeve and provided with at least one projection, so that the catch tab forms an angle with the upper wall of the sleeve. At least one locking tab is provided on the insert, which is arranged so as to be at least in part inserted between the catch tab and the upper wall. At least one operating tab is provided, in addition to which the sleeve is provided with at least one cut-out next to the operating tab, the operating tab being arranged so as to be pressed by a user against locking tab, movement of the insert in the sliding direction towards the opening being made possible. Although it has been found that this design offers a satisfactory locking function it has been proven difficult to use this design for so-called flat-laid, pre-glued distribution of a package.
WO 03/101840 A1 discloses a package comprising a sleeve of essentially parallelepipedal shape, and an insert, which can be inserted into and withdrawn from the sleeve in a sliding direction through an opening in the sleeve, the sleeve comprising four longitudinal walls, which are essentially parallel to the sliding direction. The package is characterized in that the sleeve is provided with a first stop tab which extends from a first to a second of the longitudinal walls, the tab being at least partly separated from the first longitudinal wall and the second longitudinal wall in that the insert has a first locking edge, the insert being prevented, upon contact of the first locking edge with the first stop tab, from moving out of the sleeve, and in that the first locking edge can, by elastic deformation of a part of the insert by means of manoeuvring by a user, be moved so that its movement past the first stop tab is made possible.
Although it has been found that this design offers a satisfactory locking function it has been proven difficult to use this design for so-called flat-laid, pre-glued distribution of a package.

Locking sleeve package and blank therefor


An apparatus for providing a signal indicative of a property of an earth formation includes: a carrier conveyable through a borehole; a neutron source disposed on the carrier and configured to emit neutrons into the earth formation; a radiation detector disposed on the carrier and configured to detect radiation from the earth formation due to interaction of emitted neutrons with the earth formation and to provide the signal indicative of the property; and a neutron shield configured to shield the radiation detector from emitted neutrons that did not interact with the earth formation; wherein the radiation detector shield includes a glass ceramic material having a plurality of nano-crystallites, each nano-crystallite in the plurality having a periodic crystal structure with a diameter or dimension that is less than 1000 nm that includes Li and/or Boron and a rare-earth element that have positions in the periodic crystal structure of each nano-crystallite.

Earth formations may be used for various purposes such as hydrocarbon production, geothermal production and carbon dioxide sequestration. The earth formations are typically accessed by drilling boreholes that penetrate the formations or reservoirs in the formations. In order to efficiently use expensive resources for drilling and production, it is important for petro-analysts and engineers to acquire accurate and detailed information related to the earth formations of interest.
One way to acquire the needed information is by performing measurements with tools or instruments that are conveyed through a borehole such as for example by a wireline, referred to as wireline logging, or by a drill string, referred to as logging-while-drilling (LWD) or measurement-while-drilling (MWD). In wireline logging, the tool may be required to operate in a borehole filled with drilling mud or other fluids. In LWD and MWD applications, the tools or instruments are attached to a drill string that is used to drill a borehole. The measurements are generally performed while the drill string rotates to turn a rock disintegrating device. Challenges may arise due to effects of the borehole fluids in wireline logging and drill string operation in LWD and MWD. Hence, improvement in the accuracy of wireline, LWD or MWD measurements would be well received in the drilling and production industries.

Nanostructured glass ceramic neutron shield for down-hole thermal neutron porosity measurement tools


The present invention is related to a communication device which includes a ground element and an antenna system. The ground element includes a main ground plane and a protruded ground plane. The antenna system includes a first antenna and a second antenna. The first antenna includes a metal radiation element and is adjacent to the main ground plane of the ground element. The second antenna is a slot antenna and is formed in the protruded ground plane of the ground element. The protruded ground plane is adjacent to the first antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to a communication device, and more particularly, relates to a communication device comprising a dual-antenna system with high isolation characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
When mobile technology transmission rates increase, more and more antennas are required to be designed into mobile devices in order to increase data transmission amounts. Accordingly, a general antenna system (e.g., a dual-antenna WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) system which has functions of dual-SIM (Subscriber Identity Module), dual-standby, and dual-talk) is preferably disposed at one end of a handheld device (e.g., the bottom of a mobile phone) so that the bandwidth and the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of the antenna system can easily meet requirements. However, it is difficult to improve the isolation of the antenna system for WWAN high bands (e.g., a GSM1800/1900 band). The main reason is for this, is that mutual coupling between antennas increases since surface currents on a ground plane of a mobile device are easily excited along an antenna system operating at high bands. Thus, maintaining a high amount of isolation and reducing mutual coupling and interference between antennas in a limited space of a mobile device are critical challenges for antenna designers.

Communication device and antennas with high isolation characteristics