Provided a charging member including an electro-conductive substrate and a surface layer. The surface layer includes a binder resin, and a resin particle that roughens the surface layer. A surface of the charging member has a plurality of protrusions each derived from the resin particle. The resin particle has a pore inside thereof, has a porosity Vt of 1.5% by volume or more and 45.0% by volume or less, and has a first and second regions. The first region has a porosity V1, the second region thereof has a porosity V2, and V1 is larger than V2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging member for use in an electrophotographic apparatus, and a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus using the charging member.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic apparatus using electrophotography mainly includes an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a charging apparatus, an exposure apparatus, a developing apparatus, a transfer apparatus and a fixing apparatus. For the charging apparatus, contact charging apparatuses are often used which apply voltage to the charging member disposed in contact with or in the vicinity of the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. Here, only DC voltage, or voltage of DC voltage superimposed with AC voltage is applied to the charging member.
For more stable charging of the electrophotographic photosensitive member by contact charging, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-316112 proposes a charging member for contact charging including a surface layer having a protrusion derived from a resin particle or the like in the surface.
On the other hand, a contact charging apparatus in which DC voltage is applied to a charging member with being superimposed with AC voltage may cause vibration noise generated by resonance of an electrophotographic photosensitive member with the charging member due to charges generated on the surfaces of the electrophotographic photosensitive member and the charging member. For dealing with such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-158437 proposes use of a hollow spherical inelastic particle as a resin particle that roughens a surface layer of a charging member, to thereby enhance vibration resistance, and sound insulation and sound absorption effects.

Charging member, process cartridge and electrophotographic apparatus


An eye treatment apparatus includes a hot and cold eye mask and a recirculating water cooling system. The eye mask includes a water pack to be applied onto human eyes, a thermoelectric cooling device for heating or cooling liquid of the water pack, a heat transfer member interposed between the water pack and one side of the thermoelectric cooling device, and a heat exchanger attached to the other side of the thermoelectric cooling device. The thermoelectric cooling device is configured to heat or cool the water pack through the heat transfer member. The water cooling system includes a water supply container and a conduit connecting the water supply container and the heat exchanger to circulate water from the water supply container to the heat exchanger and to return water from the heat exchanger to the water supply container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eye treatment apparatus and more particularly to an eye treatment apparatus with a thermoelectric cooling device to apply hot or cold to human eyes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices for therapeutic massage of portions of human body are well known, such as evidenced in U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,787. This patent provides an acupressure apparatus for applying vibrational pressure evenly to a plurality of preselected points on a shaped portion of a living body. The apparatus includes a rigid housing and a flexible membrane fixedly secured to said housing so as to form an enclosed chamber between said housing and said flexible membrane for containing a liquid when disposed within, said chamber. Moreover, the apparatus further comprises means for heating said liquid, and therefore the apparatus can simultaneously deliver heat as well as pressure. It is noted that such heating can be accomplished by beating the liquid outside the mask and then supplying the heated liquid to the mask prior to use. This makes it troublesome for the treatment. Alternately, the mask could be filled with the liquid and, and if the mask was constructed of suitable materials, the mask could be placed in a microwave oven for heating. Still another heating means is illustrated in the form of a heater mounted on the mask. The heater is electrically connected to a step down transformer and includes a heating element disposed in the liquid and a thermostat similarly disposed in the liquid. The heater acts in a conventional manner to achieve a preselected temperature for liquid.
While the application of heat is one method for treating the body, it is sometimes necessary that the treatment require the application of cold, rather than heat. It is therefore desirable that the combined massaging and temperature application be tailored to the treatment desired for operating the massaging unit and for the heat or cold.


The high speed rack loader/unloader system uses a two arm loading machine to allow flat pieces of material to be loaded on a horizontal conveyor from a vertical rack or to a vertical rack from a horizontal conveyor. The two arms are mounted on a single input, two output right angle gearbox. The outputs of the gearbox rotate in opposite directions so one arm is rotating up while the other arm is rotating down. The two arms are mounted at a roughly 90 degree angle from each other so one arm is at the conveyor while the other arm is at the rack. Each arm has a mechanism to allow the length of the arms to be positioned to four different lengths. Full extension, long extension, short extension and no extension. At the end of the arms are vacuum cups to hold the flat material during transfer. The rack is loaded on a moveable platform that indexes as pieces of material are added or removed.

Arrangements for loading and unloading articles such as glass sheets between conveyor systems typically are expensive and complex. Generally, an overhead transport arrangement is employed to transfer the articles between the unloading and loading stations. For example, a mechanical gripper engages one or more articles at the unloading station; transports same in a first direction, typically upward, to clear the conveyor, or other mechanisms. The overhead transport then delivers the articles by horizontal travel to a location over the loading station, and transport the articles in a second direction, typically downward, into another conveyor at the loading station. Significant overhead structure sufficient to span both stations, is required in this conventional arrangement.
In other bending, cutting or grinding operations for glass panes, the panes are transferred from a horizontal conveyor with a transfer device that shifts the panes vertically, seizing them on the intake conveyor, lifting them, then releasing and/or bringing them down anew, and laying them on a form which meanwhile was installed beneath the transfer device.
These transfer devices exhibit the inconvenience of adding to a gravity effect. The added effect intervenes with the transfer of the glass pane. An inertia effect takes place because of the difficulty in transferring the glass pane by placing it delicately without making it fall.


A DA converter circuit is provided for use in a ΔΣ AD modulator. The DA converter circuit includes a DA converter of segment switched capacitor type. The DA converter includes an operational amplifier, capacitors as connected in parallel to each other to supply electric charges to the operational amplifier, an electrically charging switch for switching of electrically charging electric charges onto the respective capacitors or not, and an electrically discharging switch for switching or not electrically discharging electric charges from the respective capacitors or not. A switch device performs either one of the electrically charging, the electrically discharging, grounding, and polarity inversion onto the respective capacitors. A controller controls the electrically charging switch, the electrically discharging switch and the switch device to execute a process of second-order DWA algorithm for performing a second-order noise shaping of a non-linearity of the DA converter circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DA converter circuit for use in a ΔΣ AD modulator, and a ΔΣ AD modulator utilizing the same DA converter circuit, and in particular, to a DA converter circuit for use in a ΔΣ AD modulator which is used in apparatuses such as a communication apparatus, a sensor apparatus, an audio apparatus and the like, and a ΔΣ AD modulator utilizing the same DA converter circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A signal processing method as employed in a communication system has been rapidly shifting from an analog system to a digital system. When an AD converter circuit in such a system can be successfully shifted to an analog front end, complicated functions, which were conventionally realized in the analog system, the AD converter circuit can be realized by means of a digital signal processing method so that a level of integration and a performance of the whole system can be improved. In order to realize that, a superior linearity, a large dynamic range, a wide signal band and an image signal eliminating ability may be required for the AD converter circuit.
A ΔΣ AD modulator, which is an AD converter circuit using a ΔΣ modulator, is widely applied not only to sound and instrumentation as in the conventional usage but also to the communication system in order to satisfy the needs resulting from a rapid progress in a higher speed and a wider band. The ΔΣ AD modulator is capable of achieving a high precision using oversampling and noise shaping methods. As an advantageous effect upon using a multi-bit ΔΣ AD modulator to further pursue a higher performance, a higher resolution can be obtained with a lower oversampling ratio (hereinafter referred to as an OSR), and possible problems in the stability can be overcome at the same time (for example, See a first patent document).
Documents related to the present invention are as follows:
(1) Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. JP-10-075177-A (referred to as a first non-patent document hereinafter);
(2) S. R. Norsworthy, et al. (editors), "Delta-Sigma Data Converters, —Theory, Design, and Simulation", IEEE Press, 1997 (referred to as a first patent document hereinafter);
(3) R. Schreier et al., "Speed vs. dynamic range trade-off in oversampling data converters", C. Toumazou et al. (editors), Trade-Offs in Analog Circuit Design, The Designer's Companion, Kiuwer Academic Publishers, pp. 631, 644 and 645, 2002 (referred to as a second patent document hereinafter);
(4) Y. Geerts al., "Design of Multi-bit Delta-Sigma A/D Converters", Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002 (referred to as a third patent document hereinafter);
(5) A. Yasuda et al., "A third-order Δ-Σ modulator using second-order noise-shaping dynamic element matching", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 33, pp. 1876–1886, December 1998 (referred to as a fourth patent document hereinafter);
(6) H. San et al., "An element rotation algorithm for multi-bit DAC nonlinearities in complex bandpass delta-sigma AD modulators", IEEE 17th International Conference on VLSI Design, Mumbai, India, pp. 151–156, January 2004 (referred to as a fifth patent document hereinafter); and
(7) H. San et al., "A Noise-Shaping Algorithm of Multi-bit DAC Nonlinearities in Complex Bandpass ΔΣ AD modulators", IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals, Vol. E87-A, No. 4, pp 792–800 April 2004 (referred to as a sixth patent document hereinafter).
However, in contrast to a one-bit DA converter having a superior linearity, a non-linearity of an internal DA converter of the multi-bit ΔΣ AD modulator is not noise-shaped in the modulator, and this leads to disadvantageous deterioration in the precision of the entire AD converter.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing a configuration of a low-pass ΔΣ AD modulator according to a prior art. FIG. 1B is an equivalent circuit diagram of the low-pass ΔΣ AD modulator shown in FIG. 1A.
Referring to FIG. 1A, the low-pass ΔΣ AD modulator includes a subtracter SU1, a low-pass filter LP1, an AD converter AD1, and a DA converter DA1. An analog input signal Ain is inputted to the subtracter SU1. The subtracter SU1 subtracts a feedback signal, which is outputted from the DA converter DA1, from the inputted analog input signal Ain, and then, outputs a signal having the subtraction result to the AD converter AD1 via the low-pass filter LP1 having a predetermined low-pass characteristic. The AD converter AD1 converts the inputted signal into a digital output signal Dout, and outputs the same digital output signal Dout, which is further outputted to the DA converter DA1. Further, the DA converter DA1 DA-converts the inputted digital output signal Dout into an analog signal, and feeds it back to the subtracter SU1.
In the block diagram of the equivalent circuit of FIG. 1B, X (z) corresponds to the analog input signal Ain, while Y(z) corresponds to the digital output signal Dout. The low-pass filter LP1 has a transfer function H (z). In the AD converter AD1, a quantization noise E (z) is added to an adder SM1. In a DA converter SM2, a non-linearity error δ(z) is added to an adder SM2. In FIG. 1B, M (z) denotes an output signal from the DA converter DA1.
In this case, a relationship between the input signal X (z) and the output signal Y(z) in the low-pass ΔΣ AD modulator of FIG. 1 is represented by the following equation.
                              Y                                (            z            )                          =                                                            H                                                  (                  z                  )                                                            1                +                                  H                                                        (                    z                    )                                                                                [                                                X                                                        (                    z                    )                                                  -                                  δ                                                        (                    z                    )                                                              ]                                +                                    1                              1                +                                  H                                                        (                    z                    )                                                                                E                                            (                z                )                                                                        (        1        )
As clearly shown in the foregoing equation (1)-the quantization noise E (z) of the internal AD converter AD1 is noise-shaped, while the non-linearity error δ(z) of the DA converter is directly outputted without any noise-shaping process, and this obviously makes it difficult to realize the ΔΣ AD modulator with a higher precision. Therefore, in order to noise-shape the non-linearity of the internal DA converter of the multi-bit ΔΣ AD modulator, there was proposed a DWA (Data Weighted Averaging; this means averaging data with weighting) algorithm, in which a digital signal processing circuit is provided at the previous stage of the internal DA converter DA1 so that a dynamic element matching is performed (for example, see the second to sixth non-patent document).
Next, a DA converter of segment switched capacitor type and mismatch of its capacitances will be described below.
FIG. 2A is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of the switched capacitor DA converter of segment type according to the prior art. FIG. 2B is a circuit diagram showing an electrically charging operation of the switched capacitor DA converter of segment type shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2C is a circuit diagram showing an electrically discharging operation of the DA converter of segment switched capacitor type shown in FIG. 2A.
The DA converter of segment switched capacitor type having a resolution of nine levels shown in FIG. 2A includes the followings:
(a) eight unit capacitors C0 to C7 as connected in parallel to each other;
(b) an operational amplifier OPA having a feedback capacitor Cref;
(c) an electrically charging switch SW11 for supplying a predetermined reference voltage Vref to the respective unit capacitors C0 to C7, respectively;
(d) an electrically discharging switch SW12 for electrically discharging the electric charges stored in the respective unit capacitors C0 to C7 to the operational amplifier OPA; and
(e) switches SW0 to SW7 for supplying the reference voltage Vref to the unit capacitors C0 to C7 or grounding the same unit capacitors C0 to C7.
It would be ideal for capacitance values of all of the unit capacitors Ck to be equal to each other, however, the capacitance values are actually different from designed values due to variation in a manufacturing process of an IC chip. The capacitance values are represented by the following equation:Ck≡C+ek (k=0, 1, 2, . . . , 7)  (2),where C≡(C0+C1+C2+ . . . +C7)/8  (3), ande0+e1+e2+ . . . +e7=0  (4).
A symbol ek in the foregoing equation denotes a mismatch value of the capacitance value Ck which is a deviation value from an average capacitance C. As shown in FIG. 2B, when the digital input signal is "m", the electrically charging switch SW11 is turned on, while the switch SW12 is turned off. Further, a number "m" of switches SW0 to SWm−1 are switched over to a contact "a" side thereof so that the unit capacitors C0, C1, C2, . . . , Cm−1 are connected to the reference voltage Vref. On the other hand, only a number "7−m+1" of other switches SWm to SW7 are switched over to a contact "b" side thereof so that the unit capacitors Cm, Cm+1, . . . , C7 are grounded. In this case, the unit capacitors C0, C1, C2, . . . , Cm−1 are supplied with electric charges. Next, after a predetermined time interval, the electrically charging switch SW11 is turned off, while the switch SW12 is turned on, and all of the switches SW0 to SW7 are switched over to the contact "a" side thereof so that the electric charges as stored in the unit capacitors C0, C1, C2, . . . , Cm−1 are discharged to the operational amplifier OPA, as shown in FIG. 2C. At that time, an output voltage Vout of the DA converter of segment switched capacitor type is represented by the following equation:
                              V          out                =                                            -              m                                                                                C                              C                ref                                                                V              ref                                +                      δ            .                                              (        5        )
A non-linearity δ of the foregoing DA converter is obtained by the following equation:
                    δ        ≡                              -                                                            e                  0                                +                                  e                  1                                +                                  e                  2                                +                …                +                                  e                                      m                    -                    1                                                                              C                ref                                                                                V              ref                        .                                              (        6        )
As is apparent from the foregoing equation (3), an output power spectrum of the AD converter based on mismatch values e0, e1, . . . , e7 (which equivalently correspond to the non-linearity δ of the DA converter DA1) is evenly shown in a signal band.
Next, a first-order low-pass DWA algorithm will be described below. FIG. 3A is a block diagram showing a DA converter circuit when the DA converter DA1 according to the prior art is subjected to a first-order noise shape based on a first-order DWA algorithm. FIG. 3B is an equivalent circuit diagram of the DA converter circuit shown in FIG. 3A.
Referring to FIG. 3A, a digital low-pass filter LP11 having the transfer function of(1/(1−z−1)) is inserted at the previous stage of the DA converter DA1 having the non-linearity δ(z), and an analogue high-pass filter HP11 having the transfer function of (1−z−1) is inserted at the next stage of the DA converter DA1. A relationship among a digital input signal A1, non-linearity δ(z) of the DA converter DA1 and analog output signal A4 is represented by the following equation:A4(z)=A1(z)+(1−z−1)δ(z)  (7).
As shown in FIG. 3A, the low-pass filter LP11 of FIG. 3A includes an adder SM11, and a delay circuit DL11 for delaying an output signal from the adder SM11 by a predetermined clock cycle and thereafter feeding back the same delayed output signal to the adder SM11. As is apparent from FIG. 3, the non-linearity δ(z) of the DA converter DA1 is subjected to the first-order noise shape by the high-pass filter HP11 having the transfer function of (1−z−1). As shown in FIG. 3B, the high-pass filter HP11 of FIG. 3A includes a subtracter SU11 and a delay circuit DL21 for delaying a signal inputted to the subtracter SU11 by a predetermined clock cycle and thereafter inputting the delayed signal to the subtracter SU11.
However, it is not possible in reality to realize the circuit described above. For example, when a digital input signal A1 (n) is always an integer 2, an input signal A2 (n) to the DA converter DA1 is infinite in accordance with the increase of a timing "n", leading the DA converter DA1 to exceed its input range, as a result of which the DA conversion becomes impossible. In order to deal with the situation, the first-order DWA algorithm capable of equivalently realizing the circuit of FIG. 3 was proposed (for example, See the second patent document)-the first-order DWA algorithm will be described below.
The followings are assumed for the DA converter of segment switched capacitor type.
(A) Respective capacity cells CSm (m=0, 1, 2, . . . , 7) of the DA converter of segment switched capacitor type are arranged in a ring shape as shown in FIG. 4. Each of the capacity cells CSm includes a capacitor Cm and a switch SWm for connecting the capacitor Cm to a ring connecting line RR. Further, the ring connecting line RR is connected to the reference voltage source Vref via the electrically charging switch SW11 and also connected to a non-inversion input terminal of the operational amplifier OPA having the feedback capacitor Cref.
(B) A pointer for memorizing a position of the capacity cell as turned on is provided in the DA converter. An indicated value of the pointer at a timing "n" is P (n), and at a timing "n+1", the P (n)-th capacity cell is selected in accordance with inputted data, and then, it is turned on. Based on the foregoing configuration, the following operation is carried out.
(C) It is assumed that the input data signal is A1 (n)=αn (n=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ) at the timing "n".
(D) Respective switches of a number αn of capacity cells CS (mod8 (P (n)+1)), CS (mod8 (P (n)+2)), CS (mod8 (P (n)+3)), . . . , CS (mod8 (P (n)+αn)) are turned on so that they are connected to the reference voltage source Vref of FIG. 2B. In the present specification, in place of a general notation "x modulo y" or "x mod y" which represents a remainder as obtained when x is divided by y, a simplified notation "modyz" is used for the description.
(E) The indicated value of the pointer at the timing "n+1" is set to P (n+1)=mod8 (P (n)+αn). As described, when the capacity cell whose switch is turned on is selected, the mismatch value of the capacity cell (that is the non-linearity δ(z) of the DA converter DA1) is subjected to the first-order noise shape.
By the way, the ΔΣ AD converter included such problems that power consumption of the AD converter was relatively large and a chip area unfavorably increased due to its higher OSR. In order to solve the problems, they have paid attention to transformation of the ΔΣ AD modulator into the multi-bit configuration to reduce the OSR. However, the multi-bit DA converter includes a non-linearity resulting from the matching precision of the apparatus as described earlier, and this may unfavorably cause an adverse influence on the performance of the entire AD converter. In particular, the foregoing problem is even worse when fine processing is adopted to promote downsizing and high speed.
In order to overcome such problems, the low-pass element rotation method utilizing the first-order noise shaping was proposed as described above, however, the method can only exert a limited effect in obtaining a higher signal to noise ratio (SNR). On the other hand, the second-order noise shaping method has been proposed, however, it is not suitable for practical use because a required circuit configuration is too complicated.

DA converter circuit provided with DA converter of segment switched capacitor type

Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center


Aspects of the disclosure are directed to interference cancellation and wireless communication including determining the strength of a reference signal; comparing the strength of the reference signal to a first threshold and a second threshold; and performing one of the following: updating at least one coefficient if the strength of the reference signal is above the first threshold; freezing the at least one coefficient if the strength of the reference signal is between the first threshold and the second threshold; or setting an interference cancelation (IC) circuit to OFF if the strength of the reference signal is below both the first threshold and the second threshold.

Advanced wireless devices may have multiple radios (e.g., WWAN, WLAN, WPAN, GPS/GLONASS, etc.) that operate on the same, adjacent, or harmonic/sub-harmonic frequencies. However, some combinations of radios can cause co-existence issues due to interference between the respective frequencies. In particular, when one radio is actively transmitting at or close to the same frequency and at a same time that another radio is receiving, the transmitting radio can cause interference to (i.e., de-sense) the receiving radio. For example, same-band interference may occur between Bluetooth (WPAN) and 2.4 GHz WiFi (WLAN); adjacent band interference between WLAN and LTE band 7, 40, 41; harmonic/sub-harmonic interference may occur between 5.7 GHz ISM and 1.9 GHz PCS; and an intermodulation issue may occur between 7xx MHz and a GPS receiver.
Analog interference cancellation (AIC) cancels interference between a transmitter radio and a receiver radio by matching gain and phase of a wireless coupling path signal and in a wired AIC path, as shown in FIG. 1, where dt is a transmitted signal from a transmitter (aggressor) radio 102, and hc is a coupling channel (wireless coupling path signal) from the transmitter radio 102 to a receiver (victim) radio 104. AIC 106 attempts to cancel the impact of the coupling channel hc as reflected via the negative sign on the output of AIC 106. AIC may be implemented with respect to RF (radio frequency), baseband, or both RF/baseband.

Multi-layer coefficient control for dynamic interference cancellation


Links to references cited in a given electronic document are automatically generated in conjunction with processing of the electronic document. In one aspect, which may be implemented at least in part in an otherwise conventional electronic document reader or an associated preprocessor, a reference citation is detected in a first electronic document, the reference citation is processed to determine a link that provides access to a second electronic document identified by the reference citation, and the link and at least a portion of the first electronic document are displayed to a user. The link may be determined by providing one or more designated portions of the reference citation to a search engine and processing results provided by the search engine to determine the link. For example, a search query may be formulated based on the detected reference citation and the search query provided to the search engine.

Documents are increasingly being stored and processed in electronic form. In a typical scenario, a document that is stored in a designated electronic format can be "opened" and displayed to a user, utilizing a document reader running on a personal computer or other processor-based device. As a more particular example, electronic documents that are stored in a widely-used format known as portable document format (PDF) can be opened and viewed using an Adobe® Acrobat® document reader commercially available from Adobe Systems Incorporated of San Jose, Calif., U.S.A.
Many documents that are of a technical nature, such as journal articles or other publications in technical fields such as science, engineering and medicine, include numerous references to other documents. For example, a given technical publication may include an extensive list of reference citations, typically in a separate "References" section at the end of the publication. Most of these references may be to other documents that are available as PDF files on the Internet.
Unfortunately, the reference citations provided in a given electronic document are often not in the form of respective uniform resource identifiers (URIs) or other types of links that can be used to directly access the corresponding PDF files over the Internet. Instead, a user who wishes to retrieve an electronic copy of a particular cited reference document typically must first perform a manual Internet search using a search engine such as Google® in order to locate the appropriate link to the desired document. This manual approach is time-consuming, tedious, and error-prone, particularly for the researcher who is conducting an extensive search of the prior literature.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved approach to processing electronic documents that include reference citations.

Electronic document processing with automatic generation of links to cited references


In a recording device which performs recording on a recording medium, a transport driving roller which carries out transporting of the recording medium as a medium transport roller is formed by processing a plate member into a cylindrical shape. A bonding portion where the pair of edge portions of the plate material are bonded has a transport region, which is a region where at least the recording medium comes into contact with, extends in a straight line shape in a direction which intersects a circumference line.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a medium transporting roller, which carries out transporting of a recording medium such as paper in a recording device represented by a facsimile, a printer or the like, and a recording device provided with the medium transporting roller.
2. Related Art
In a recording device represented by a facsimile, a printer or the like, a transporting unit which transports a recording medium is provided in an upstream side of the recording unit which performs recording on a recording medium. As a configuration of a transporting unit, there is a transport belt and the like which transport while applying suction to a recording medium, but a configuration using a pair of rollers, which rotate while pinching a recording medium, is typical.
Furthermore, as a configuration of a roller, there is an elastic roller and the like which are formed from rubber or the like, but in ink jet printers in particular, a roller with a shaft shape is used where a high friction layer is formed on a surface of a metallic shaft as shown in JP-A-2001-63862 and JP-A-2001-158544. Here, the high friction layer is formed by holding abrasion resistant particles on an outer circumference surface of the shaft body using an adhesive layer and performs a function of improving a friction coefficient with the recording medium and preventing slipping.
In a case of using a roller with a shaft shape as a medium transporting roller, it is possible to select a solid shaft or a hollow (cylindrical) shaft. While rigidity is high and transport precision is high, a solid shaft results in higher costs and an increase in weight of the device. In regard to this, it is possible for a cylindrical shaft to contribute to reducing the weight of the device and lowering the cost.
Furthermore, the present applicants have proposed a cylindrical shaft structure shown in JP-A-2006-289496 as a structure of a cylindrical shaft. The cylindrical shaft described in JP-A-2006-289496 is a cylindrical shaft formed using a metallic plate material where a pair of opposing end portions has been joined, but a structure of a joining portion is configured as a shape with concavities and convexities (referred to in the specifications below as a "zigzag shape"), and according to this, mechanical joining strength is improved. Furthermore, the concavities and convexities which configure the zigzag shape are not simply concavities and convexities but are configured to join up similar to pieces in a so-called jigsaw puzzle by convexities where the width gets wider toward a top end and concavities which engage with the convexities so as to not easily separate when engaged.
However, while contributing to improving mechanical strength of the roller, the joining portion formed in the jigsaw shape has a negative effect in that it is easy for a front edge of a recording medium to get caught up when transporting the recording medium.

Medium transporting roller and recording device


A method for measuring the wheel inclination or "camber" of a vehicle. In a wheel assembly, e.g. in the front axle and suspension assembly of the vehicle, the wheel planes are somewhat inclined in relation to a plane perpendicular to the floor or base, the inclination representing the so called camber angle. A simple method is proposed for determining the magnitude of the angle, independent of specific operating sites and sophisticated instruments. In a manner known per se, a wheel subject to camber measurement is provided with an axial extension in the form of a pin exactly coaxial with the wheel. The center line of said pin will thus incline in relation to the floor by an angle which equals the camber angle. On the floor, directly in front of the set of wheels, a rod or a like straight member is placed. An instrument provided with two mutually perpendicular levels is placed on the rod. The instrument has a bridge pivotable about an axis perpendicular to the center line of the bar, said bridge, in a first step, being set with its pivot axis truly horizontal and, in a second step, being pivoted so that its own plane becomes truly horizontal. The instrument is moved to the wheel pin and the procedure is repeated. The change of inclination which the bridge is subjected to in step 2 represents the camber angle.

The adjustment of the wheels and wheel axles of a motor vehicle is an intricate but important question, as the driving characteristics of the vehicle will depend greatly on how wheels and axles are aligned and adjusted. When driving straight ahead the rotational planes of the front wheels are inclined in various ways in relationship to a vertical plane, more particularly to a plane parallel with the vertical symmetrical plane of the vehicle. Viewed directly from above the wheels show "toe-in" or "toe-out", that is to say they are set at a slightly oblique angle to the direction of travel, whereas, when viewed directly from the front they tilt somewhat, preferably outwards, in relation to said vertical plane, by an angle designated as the wheel inclination or "camber". How the steering pivot pins or "king pins" of the front wheels are inclined in various vertical planes also have influence on the driving, and for a more detailed description of the wheel alignment angles in the front axle and suspension assembly of a motor vehicle reference is had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,470, where these conditions are discussed at length. In this patent there are also disclosed methods for determining accurately the magnitude of the angles concerned.
The invention has for its object to make available a simplified procedure for measuring, while maintaining accuracy, the most important one of the wheel alignment angles, viz., the said wheel inclination or camber. The object is achieved by providing a straight reference member, such as a rod or bar, which is placed on a base surface in front of and close to the wheels. One end of the reference member constitutes a reference pin which is parallel to the base surface and substantially parallel to a line extending between the wheel centers. The camber angle is determined by measuring the difference between the inclination to the true horizontal plane of the reference pin and the inclination to the true horizontal plane of a wheel pin. Further an arrangement for the implementation of the above method includes a measuring body which pivotably carries a plate-like bridge, with the pivot axis of the bridge being perpendicular to a guide groove located at the underside of the measuring body. The bridge pivots by means of a screw spindle mechanism operable by a knob. The knob is adapted to display the angle of the change in inclination of the bridge.
In order to exercise the invention it is necessary that the direction of the axis of rotation of the wheels subjected to measurement be established accurately, and a very simple so called centering device for this purpose is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,659, to which reference is also made.

Method and means for measuring the wheel inclination or "camber" of a motor vehicle


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions formed on the semiconductor substrate, a recess channel that is formed on the inner surface of a recess region, which is formed on the semiconductor substrate between the source and drain regions, and in an epitaxial semiconductor film in which dopants are doped. The semiconductor device further includes a gate insulating film formed on the recess channel, and a gate electrode that fills the recess region and is formed on the gate insulating film.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device and to a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a recess channel and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As semiconductor devices have become more highly integrated, the size of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices have consequently also been reduced. Further, the length of a channel has been reduced up to the degree of deep sub-micron so as to improve the operational speed and current driving performance of the device.
As the length of the channel has been reduced, depletion regions of a source electrode and a drain electrode may be penetrated into the channel, so that the effective length of the channel is reduced. Consequently, a threshold voltage may be reduced, which in turn may cause a short channel effect in which the MOS transistor is deprived of a gate control function. In addition, a punchthrough effect in which dopants in the source and drain electrodes are diffused to the side during the operation of the transistor may also occur.
In particular, as design rules are reduced, a short channel effect is caused. Further, as the amount of implanted ions is increased, leakage current is also increased. Accordingly, it may be difficult to ensure refresh time.
For this reason, there has been proposed a RCAT (Recess Channel Array Transistor). With the RCAT, a recess channel trench is formed in a region, in which the channel of a transistor is formed, so as to ensure a sufficient length of the channel.
FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor device including a common recess channel. In general, dopants for the formation of the channel exist in a channel region. However, in the case of the recess channel shown in FIG. 1, the concentration of the dopants for the formation of the channel is not uniform in the recess channel that is formed so as to correspond to the profile of a recess region r. In other words, a B region positioned at the lower portion of the gate in the recess channel region has a higher concentration of the dopants as compared to A and C regions positioned at the side portions of the gate. As the recess region r is formed and the dopants for the formation of the channel are then implanted, there may be a difficulty in which each of the side regions (A and C regions) has a lower concentration of the dopants as compared to the lower region (B region). Further, as the concentration of the dopants is not uniform in the channel region, there is a possibility that the characteristic and reliability of the device may deteriorate.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


According to an aspect of the invention, an electronic apparatus including: an outer case; an inner case corresponding to the outer case; an engagement nail having a first nail face directed to a first direction from the outer case toward the inner case and a second nail face directed to a second direction from the inner case toward the outer case, the engagement nail being extend from the outer case; and a resilient wire disposed on a certain position on the inner case along an edge of the inner case, the certain position corresponding to the engagement nail, wherein, at a first state, the resilient wire is movable in a third direction from the edge toward the resilient wire by the first nail face pushing the resilient wire, and wherein, at a second state, the resilient wire is movable in a fourth direction from the resilient wire toward the edge to run on the second nail face.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a cell phone and a jig system and, more particularly, to the structure of fitting portions of an outer case and an inner case of the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many cell phones, a changeable panel is attached to a cell phone main body through fitting using projections and recesses. An example of such cell phones is disclosed in JP-A-2002-125022 (paragraphs [0014] to [0037], FIGS. 1 and 5). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 of JP-A-2002-125022, a detachable decorative panel 14 is formed with first fitting projections 26a and 26b, second fitting projections 27a and 27b, and press-fit bosses 28a and 28b. A display main body 3 is formed with first fitting holes 19a and 19b, second fitting holes 20a and 20b, fixing holes 21a and 21b, and press-fit bushings 22a and 22b.
To attach the decorative panel 14, first, the user inserts the first fitting projections 26a and 26b into the first fitting holes 19a and 19b perpendicularly. Then, the user fits the nail-shaped second fitting projections 27a and 27b into the second fitting holes 20a and 20b in such a manner that a central portion of the decorative panel 14 is bent while the decorative panel 14 is rotated with the above first fitting portions as supporting points. Finally, the user press-fits the press-fit bosses 28a and 28b into the press-fit bushings 22a and 22b. To detach the decorative panel 14, an opposite procedure is followed.
In the cell phone of JP-A-2002-125022, the second fitting projections 27a and 27b are fitted into the second fitting holes 20a and 20b in such a manner that a central portion of the decorative panel 14 is bent. However, depending on how the user bends the decorative panel 14, the second fitting projections 27a and 27b may rub against the second fitting holes 20a and 20b. Since the portions around the second fitting projections 27a and 27b and the second fitting holes 20a and 20b are made of resin, these portions wear as the decorative panel 14 is attached and detached repeatedly. This may result in a disadvantage that reliable fitting will not be secured.

Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications Limited


An exposure apparatus and an exposure method that prevents a decrease in throughput, while maintaining high mask alignment accuracy regardless of frequent mask exchange. When a lot of wafers undergoes an exposure process, the patterns of two reticles are overlapped and exposed on a single shot area of a wafer. In this case, when each reticle is used for the first time, the positions of all alignment marks on the reticle are measured (fine position measurement). The reticle is positioned based on the measurement result. If the reticle is used again, only one set of the alignment marks is measured, the fine position measurement result is corrected based on the measurement result, and the reticle is positioned based on the corrected measurement value.

The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and an exposure method, and more particularly, to an exposure apparatus and an exposure method used in a lithography process for fabricating semiconductor integrated circuits, liquid crystal display device, thin film magnetic heads, or the like.
To fabricate devices, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit, a liquid crystal display device, and a thin film magnetic head, optical lithography is generally employed to form a circuit pattern on a substrate. During optical lithography, a exposure operation is performed, for example, in the following manner. A mask (original plate), on which a circuit pattern is formed, is arranged in an exposure apparatus and illuminated by an exposure light from a light source. The illuminated pattern is projected and the pattern of the mask is transferred onto the substrate, to which the photoresist has been applied, via an optical projection system.
A step and repeat (one-shot exposure) process is an example of such projection transcription. In the step and repeat process, shot areas, defined on the substrate, are moved in a stepped manner (stepping) and the circuit pattern is repeatedly exposed and transferred onto each of the shot areas. A step and scan (scanning exposure) process, in which the mask is moved together with the substrate while repeatedly exposing and transferring the circuit pattern onto the each of the shot areas, is also known.
An exposure apparatus, which projects and transfers a circuit pattern of a reticle onto a wafer, to fabricate a semiconductor integrated circuit will now be discussed.
In the exposure apparatus, the reticle and the wafer are arranged respectively on a reticle stage and a wafer stage. To properly project a pattern image from the reticle to the wafer or onto a circuit pattern already formed on the wafer, fine adjustments to the relative position and direction (rotation) of the reticle and the wafer must be made. In this case, the required position measurement, and subsequently performed position correction, or the required positioning, which includes both position measurement and position correction, are referred to as alignment.
The alignment includes reticle alignment and wafer alignment. The exposure apparatus has a reticle alignment sensor for measuring the position of a reticle alignment mark, which is formed together with the circuit pattern on the surface of the reticle. A wafer alignment sensor, which measures the position of a wafer alignment mark formed together with a circuit pattern on the surface of the wafer, is also provided. An alignment reference plate used to measure the relative position between the projected image of the reticle pattern and each of the shot areas on the wafer (including a base line amount of the wafer alignment sensor) is provided on the wafer stage. The reference plate has a reference mark that is used to perform position measurement with the two alignment sensors.
During reticle alignment, for example, the reticle alignment mark on the reticle surface is projected onto the reference plate, and the positional relationship between the reference mark and the reticle alignment mark is measured by a reticle alignment sensor. During wafer alignment, for example, the position of the reference mark and the position of the wafer alignment mark of at least three, for example, five to ten, shot areas, are measured using the wafer alignment sensor. The base line amount is then determined from the detection result of the reticle alignment sensor and the reference mark detection result of the wafer alignment sensor. Further, based on the wafer alignment detection result of the wafer alignment sensor, the position of each shot area on the wafer to which the reticle pattern is to be transferred is calculated as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-44429 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,617. The information of the relative position between the reticle pattern projection image and each shot area obtained in this manner is used to move the reticle stage and the wafer stage so that the positions of the reticle and the wafer are matched in a two dimensional manner. When each wafer undergoes exposure for the first time, a circuit pattern and a wafer alignment mark are not yet formed on the wafer surface. Thus, the above wafer alignment is not performed. Further, when performing a TTR (Trough The Reticle) process, during which the wafer alignment sensor detects the reticle alignment mark and the wafer alignment mark, the detection of the reference mark, that is, the calculation of the base line amount is not necessary.
In a one shot exposure type exposure apparatus, at least one set of symmetrical reticle alignment marks are provided. In a scanning exposure type exposure apparatus, to reduce the influence of mark writing errors and compensate for mark measurement errors, multiple sets of the symmetrical marks are arranged and the positions of the multiple marks are measured.
Normally, an integrated circuit is formed from plural layers. The fabrication process includes the formation of a field oxide film, the dispersion of impurities, the formation of a gate oxide film, the formation of an insulating layer, and the formation of a wiring layer. The optical lithography process is repeatedly performed especially during the oxide layer formation process and the wiring layer formation process.
Since the pattern formed on the reticle differs for each process, the reticle must be changed when different processes are performed with the same exposure apparatus. After the reticle is changed and prior to exposure, reticle alignment must be performed to position the reticle at its predetermined position. Whenever exposure of the entire surface of a single wafer is completed, the wafer is exchanged with the next wafer, and prior to exposure, the new wafer must undergo wafer alignment to be positioned at its predetermined position.
Especially, during reticle alignment in the scanning exposure type exposure apparatus, the time for measuring the multiple sets of the reticle alignment marks is long. This results in a shortcoming in which the throughput of the exposure apparatus decreases significantly as the frequency of reticle exchanges increases.
Further, in recent years, to finely narrow the line widths of the circuit pattern in accordance with further integration of integrated circuits, for example, double exposure is performed to synthesize two types of patterns formed respectively on two reticles and form a pattern for a single layer of the wafer. Such double exposure inevitably increases the number of times the reticle is exchanged and further decreases the throughput of the exposure apparatus.
As described below, there are multiple types of double exposure.
(A) Exposure is performed by setting different optimal illumination conditions for a first reticle having, for example, an isolated line pattern, and for a second reticle having, for example, an L/S (line and space) pattern.
(B) Exposure is performed by arranging a first reticle and a second reticle, each having only an isolated line pattern, so that the isolated lines of the first reticle and the isolated lines of the second reticle are lined alternately to form an L/S pattern.
(C) A first reticle having an L/S pattern is first exposed, and then, a second reticle having a protection pattern and a thinning pattern is exposed. As a result, the L/S pattern corresponding to the protection pattern remains, and the L/S pattern corresponding to the thinning pattern is thinned thereby forming the isolated pattern.
(D) A first reticle having a phase shifter is first exposed, and then the residual areas at the peripheral portion of the phase shifter is exposed by a reticle and eliminated.
In types (A) and (B), the order of using the first and second reticles can be changed. However, in types (C) and (D), the second reticle must be exposed after the first reticle.
In this manner, during double exposure, the reticle must be exchanged at least once for every wafer and reticle alignment is necessary after exchanging the reticle. However, when a long time is required to exchange the reticle and perform reticle alignment, the throughput of the exposure apparatus decreases significantly. To solve this problem, the reticle exchange speed may be increased and the number of reticle alignment marks that are measured may be reduced. However, if the number of marks are simply reduced, the reticle position measurement accuracy and the mark writing error detection accuracy decreases. This results in another shortcoming and decreases the reticle alignment accuracy.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an exposure apparatus and an exposure method that prevents a decrease in throughput while achieving high mask alignment accuracy when performing an exposure process during which the mask is exchanged frequently.
A first aspect of the present invention provides an exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern formed on a plurality of masks onto at least one substrate. The masks are exchanged within a predetermined time period. The exposure apparatus includes a position sensor that measures relative position information of a plurality of reference marks arranged in correspondence with a plurality of measurement marks on the masks. A measurement controller is connected to the position sensor that controls the position sensor with a first position measurement mode that measures a plurality of first relative position information of the measurement marks and the reference marks and a second position measurement mode that measures second relative position information, the number of which is less than the first relative position information measured by the first position measurement mode. When the mask subsequent to an exchange matches the mask prior to the exchange during the predetermined time period, the second relative position information is measured by the second position measurement mode, the first relative position information associated with the mask subsequent to exchange is corrected using the second relative position information, and position information of the mask subsequent to the exchange is detected based on the corrected first relative position information.
In the first aspect, when the first relative position information of the plurality of reference marks and measurement marks is performed within a predetermined period, the second position measurement mode measures the second relative position information of some of the measurement marks and the reference marks. The first relative position information is corrected based on the second relative position information, and the position of the mask subsequent to exchange is detected based on the first relative position information.
In this manner, a first position measurement of a plurality of measurement marks and reference marks is performed when a mask exposes the first substrate of a lot. However, the number of measured marks may be decreased from the second exposure. This decreases the time required for mask alignment from the second exposure. In addition, the position of the mask subsequent to the exchange is detected by correcting the first relative position information using the second relative position information obtained through simple measurement that is performed from the second exposure. Accordingly, the mask alignment accuracy does not fall from the second exposure.
A second aspect of the present invention provides an exposure method for transferring a pattern formed on a plurality of masks onto a substrate. The masks are exchanged within a predetermined time period. The exposure method includes measuring first relative position information of a plurality of measurement marks arranged on the mask and a plurality of reference marks arranged in correspondence with the plurality of measurement marks. Then, the masks are exchanged for a plurality of times. Second relative position information of the measurement marks and the reference marks, the number of which is less than the first relative position information, is measured when the mask subsequent to an exchange matches one of the masks prior to the exchange during the predetermined time period. Next, the relative first position information related with the mask subsequent to the exchange is corrected using the second relative position information. The position of the mask subsequent to the exchange is then detected based on the corrected first relative position information.
The third aspect of the present invention provides an exposure method for transferring a pattern on at least one substrate in the same exposure apparatus using a plurality of masks that include a first mask and a second mask respectively having a first pattern and a second pattern. First, a plurality of marks formed on the first mask is detected to generate first position information. Next, the first pattern is transferred on a first substrate using the first position information, and the first mask is exchanged with the second mask. Then, the second pattern of the second mask is transferred to the first substrate or the different, second substrate. After exchanging the second mask with the first mask, some of the plurality of marks formed on the first mask is detected to generate second position information. The second position information and at least one piece of first position information are used to transfer the first pattern onto the first and second substrates and a different, third substrate.
In the third aspect, regardless of whether or not the substrate is exchanged, the first pattern of the first mask is transferred, the second pattern of the second mask is transferred, and then the first pattern is retransferred using at least one piece of the first position information and the second position information. Thus, during mask alignment when the first pattern is retransferred, the number of measured marks is decreased, and the time required for mask alignment is decreased.
In an exposure apparatus for a liquid crystal display device or the like, patterns of a plurality of masks are transferred in a continuous manner onto a plurality of shot areas of a substrate. A first pattern of a first mask may be transferred onto a first shot area, next, a second pattern of a second mask may be transferred onto a second shot area, and, then, the first pattern may be transferred again onto a third shot zone. In this case, the measurement marks for mask alignment during retranscription of a pattern on the same substrate is decreased. The time required for mask alignment is decreased not only during multiple exposure in which a plurality of circuit patterns is overlapped on a single shot area but also during exposure of a substrate for a liquid crystal display device in which a plurality of different circuit patterns are arranged along a plane.
A fourth aspect of the present invention provides an exposure method for transferring at least two patterns in an overlapped manner onto a plurality of substrates including a first substrate and a second substrate using a plurality of masks including a first mask and a second mask, which respectively have a first pattern and a second pattern. First, the first pattern of the first mask is transferred onto the first substrate, and the first mask is exchanged with the second mask. Next, the second pattern of the second mask is transferred onto the first substrate in a manner overlapping the first pattern, and the first substrate is exchanged with the second substrate. Then, the second pattern of the second mask is transferred onto the second substrate, and the second mask is exchanged with the first mask. Subsequently, the first pattern of the first mask is transferred onto the second substrate in a manner overlapping the second pattern.
In the fourth aspect, when the first substrate is exchanged with the second substrate, the second pattern is transferred onto the second substrate without exchanging the second mask. Then, the second mask is exchanged with the first mask, and the first pattern is transferred onto the second substrate in an overlapping manner. Thus, when performing multiple exposure on a plurality of substrates using a plurality of patterns, the number of times the mask is exchanged is decreased, and the number of mask alignment is decreased.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.

Exposure apparatus and method for transferring a pattern from a plurality of masks onto at least one substrate


The present invention relates to an electric fireplace flame curtain with flexible simulated charcoal bed, the flame curtain is a structure of vessel, comprises a front wall and a rear wall with transparent structure, an imaging mechanism disposed on the front wall of the vessel, a number of movable light-holding charcoals with a plurality of transparent surfaces disposed in the vessel. The essential effect of the present invention is to solve the monotone flame, dull appearance and poor visual effect of the exiting electric fireplace. Meanwhile, the problems such as constant charcoal flame brightness, lack of reality, bad simulative effect are solved as well. The present invention could simulate a plurality of independent charcoal burning spots, with various styles. The light-spots of the flame are sparkling intermittently with bright and shade, and the flame is of light-holding effect. The visual effect and the authenticity are both perfect.

Conventional fireplace simulator structures are divided into two types by the simulation of the burning substance of the fireplace. One is a simulation of burning flame by projecting varying light onto an image screen with imaging operation. Such as the flame simulator of electric fireplace disclosed in the patent with publication date Sep. 5, 2007 and publication number CN 200944291, comprises a light source, a flame board, a translucent image screen, a light shade with a transparent hole, a simulative fuel bed in front of a housing chamber. The light shade with a transparent hole is disposed at the back of the flame board, and a glass screen is fixed in front of the image screen. The light source cooperates with the light shade, and the light shade cooperates with a transmission mechanism. In the structure described above, the light shade can be disposed either horizontally or vertically to cooperate with the transmission mechanism to achieve a kind of axial and radial move of the light. The light forms the shape of flame after passing through a flame hole disposed on the flame board, and then be projected onto the image screen and the glass screen to carry out the visual effect of flame with vertical rising and horizontal waving. The other one is a simulation of burning charcoal flame in the fireplace by disposing an unchangeable structure with wood-like or charcoal-like figure besides or under the lower portion of the image screen. Such as the artificial wood for electric fireplace disclosed in the patent with publication date Apr. 7, 2004 and publication number CN 2610233, comprises an artificial wood base and a light source. The base is an irregular transparent chamber with artificial wood figure. LED tubes or light bulbs are disposed in the chamber. Each LED tubes or light bulbs are connected in series or in parallel and then lead out of the base by a conducting wire to connect with an external power source. The artificial wood base is of translucent material with pigment layers disposed irregularly on the external surface. The pigment layers can be chosen from various colors according to simulation needs, ordinarily, the dark brown similar to the wood color. The patent described above combines the artificial wood base and the light source. The light source is disposed in the artificial wood base. The base with pigment layer irregularly smeared on the external surface is made of transparent material. Thus, when the light source inside generates light, a kind of artificial burning effect with light and shade stager with each other is achieved, which is similar to the effect of burning charcoals. The structure is simple, realistic, and the figure and realism of which is closely to the natural burning flame. As to the charcoal flame simulated through the similar mode such as the wood or charcoal bed with fixed structure, the change between shade and light of the flame color achieves mainly via the pigment layers smeared irregularly on the external surface of the wood or the charcoal bed. Thus, the figure and the change between light and shade of the charcoal flame of each fireplace are constant and do not change. Thereby, the uniform external figure of the charcoal flame affects the visual effect. In addition, the brightness of the fireplace charcoal flame does not change either. The lack of intermittent light and shade of the spark light-spot and the realism make the simulation effect affected.

Electric fireplace flame curtain with flexible simulated carbon bed


The present invention provides a method for purifying a large amount of human granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (hG-CSFs) from a recombinant E. coli with high yield and purity. According to the method of the present invention, human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, identical to the native form expressed in the human body, can be easily purified with high yield and purity without an additional activation process. In particular, according to the purification method of the present invention, hG-CSF variants expressed in E. coli are efficiently removed to obtain physiologically active hG-CSFs with high purity.

Colony stimulating factors (CSF) are produced by T-cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, and these cells are widely distributed throughout the body. The known CSFs include GM-CSF, M-CSF, and G-CSF. Among them, GM-CSF is a granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor, and acts on stem cells of granulocytes or macrophages to induce their proliferation and differentiation, thereby stimulating colony formation of granulocytes or macrophages. M-CSF (macrophage-CSF) is a macrophage-colony stimulating factor, and primarily functions to stimulate colony formation of macrophages. G-CSF (granulocyte-CSF) is a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, and stimulates colony formation of granulocytes and induces the final differentiation.
Conventionally, in order to isolate and purify G-CSF, cells are cultured and G-CSF proteins are isolated from the culture supernatant. However, this method has a problem of the low yield of G-CSF, and thus is not suitable for mass-production. In addition, Chugai Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (Japan) has developed a method of producing glycosylated hG-CSF in a mammalian cell by employing a genomic DNA or cDNA including a polynucleotide encoding hG-CSF (Korean Patent NOS. 47178, 53723 and 57582). However, it is known that the sugar chain of glycosylated hG-CSF is not necessary for the activity of hG-CSF and the production of glycosylated hG-CSF employing mammalian cells requires expensive materials and facilities, and therefore, such a process is not economically feasible.
There have been attempts to produce non-glycosylated hG-CSF by employing a prokaryotic cell. In these studies, hG-CSFs having a methionine residue attached at the N-terminus thereof due to the ATG initiation codon are produced, but this form is different from the native form. Further, hG-CSF produced in a microorganism may be contaminated with impurities derived from host cells or culture materials, and a complicated purification process is required for application to high-purity medicine. Furthermore, when E. coli is used as a host cell, most of the hG-CSFs are deposited in the cells as insoluble inclusion bodies, and they must be converted to an active form through a refolding process, at a significant loss of yield. During the process, partial reduction, intramolecular disulfide formation or erroneous disulfide formation is induced, and thus a cumbersome process is needed to remove them and loss of potency is caused. One cysteine residue does not participate in forming the disulfide bond, and thus exist in a free form, resulting in additional loss of potency and reduction of stability in a protein solution.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop a method for mass-producing hG-CSFs that have no methionine residue at their N-terminus and thus are identical to the native form even though using microorganisms.
In order to solve the problems, the present inventors have previously reported that a new secretory signal peptide with high expression rate is prepared by modifying the known signal peptide of E. coli thermoresistant enterotoxin II (Korean Patent No. 316347) and used to produce native hG-CSF. Further, the present inventors have prepared an expression vector including a recombinant gene that is prepared by linking the hG-CSF gene, instead of enterotoxin gene, next to the modified signal peptide of E. coli thermoresistant enterotoxin II, and they have transformed E. coli with the expression vector, thereby expressing biologically active hG-CSFs in the periplasm by employing a microbial secretory system (Korean Patent No. 356140).
By using the microbial system of secreting a protein into the periplasm, native hG-CSFs having no methionine residue at the N-terminus can be obtained in a soluble form. Further, the periplasmic proteins are normally less than 10% of the total cell protein and thus, so less extensive purification of the recombinant protein is required than for proteins located in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, a procedure of cell disruption is not needed, and contamination with saccharides and nucleic acids present in the cytoplasm can be minimized. However, because of low expression level in the periplasmic production, its industrialization is difficult. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient method for purifying expressed proteins with high yield and purity.

Method for purifying human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor from recombinant


A shielding device is formed from two unitary pieces, one of which pieces is a generally planar member taking the form of a lid and the other piece takes the form of a side wall member which is adapted for mounting to a substrate surface on which is mounted electric circuit elements. The two pieces together combine to create a shielding device for inhibiting the passage of electromagnetic radiation to and/or from a group of circuit elements disposed on a substrate. The lid may have flanges for connection onto the side wall member and the side wall member may have intersecting dividing walls disposed internally thereof.

This invention relates to a shielding device for use in radio telephones, preferably for the shielding of electronic components on a circuit board.
Radio telephones are required by law to adhere to ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) limits as laid down in Type Approval Specifications for Mobile Phones. EMC is defined as the ability of a device to function properly in its intended electromagnetic environment and not to be a source of electromagnetic pollution to that environment.
To enable electronic apparatus to be electromagnetically compatible, electromagnetic (EM) shielding is often placed within the apparatus to reduce the radiation emissions from radiating sources and to reduce the levels of radiation reaching sensitive components.
In general, EM shields take the form of metal or metallised plastic covers designed to be placed over electronic components on a circuit board. To prevent the passage of radiation towards or away from the electronic components the shields are electrically grounded, typically using the grounding planes present on the circuit board. The most common way of attaching the shields to the circuit board and particularly to the grounding planes is by soldering. This provides a semi-permanent fixing that may only be removed by de-soldering.
Ordinarily, during the production of radio telephones the electronic components are firstly mounted onto the circuit board. EM shields are then placed over the components and secured using soldering techniques that may also provide electrical coupling to ground. The circuit board supporting the electronic components and the shield can then be tested. A percentage of circuit boards inevitably fail the tests and inspection and repair of the electronic components is usually required. Similarly, units which pass the tests and subsequently become faulty for any reason may also require inspection and repair.
Current soldered shield designs have a disadvantage in that the inspection and repair of soldered electronic components is blocked by the presence of the EM shield casings. To inspect and repair the electronic components the shields must be de-soldered, the inspection and repair carried out and then the shields must be re-soldered. De-soldering and re-soldering is laborious and creates a risk of damage to electronic components within the region of the shield.
Other known shielding devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,199 have the EM shield casing attached to the circuit board using one or more gaskets which allow removal of the shield casing during repair. These gaskets are, however, generally complex in structure and have to be mounted individually onto the circuit board during construction of the shield. Consequently manufacturing cost and time are increased using this method.


Off-axis visualization systems are described herein which facilitate the deployment, visualization, and retraction of an imaging element from a catheter. Such a system may include a deployment catheter and an attached imaging hood deployable into an expanded configuration as well as an imaging element, such as a CCD or CMOS imager, which may be deployed from a low profile configuration into a position which is off-axis relative to a longitudinal axis of the deployment catheter and/or imaging hood.

Conventional devices for accessing and visualizing interior regions of a body lumen are known. For example, ultrasound devices have been used to produce images from within a body in vivo. Ultrasound has been used both with and without contrast agents, which typically enhance ultrasound-derived images.
Other conventional methods have utilized catheters or probes having position sensors deployed within the body lumen, such as the interior of a cardiac chamber. These types of positional sensors are typically used to determine the movement of a cardiac tissue surface or the electrical activity within the cardiac tissue. When a sufficient number of points have been sampled by the sensors, a "map" of the cardiac tissue may be generated.
Another conventional device utilizes an inflatable balloon which is typically introduced intravascularly in a deflated state and then inflated against the tissue region to be examined. Imaging is typically accomplished by an optical fiber or other apparatus such as electronic chips for viewing the tissue through the membrane(s) of the inflated balloon. Moreover, the balloon must generally be inflated for imaging. Other conventional balloons utilize a cavity or depression formed at a distal end of the inflated balloon. This cavity or depression is pressed against the tissue to be examined and is flushed with a clear fluid to provide a clear pathway through the blood.
However, such imaging balloons have many inherent disadvantages. For instance, such balloons generally require that the balloon be inflated to a relatively large size which may undesirably displace surrounding tissue and interfere with fine positioning of the imaging system against the tissue. Moreover, the working area created by such inflatable balloons are generally cramped and limited in size. Furthermore, inflated balloons may be susceptible to pressure changes in the surrounding fluid. For example, if the environment surrounding the inflated balloon undergoes pressure changes, e.g., during systolic and diastolic pressure cycles in a beating heart, the constant pressure change may affect the inflated balloon volume and its positioning to produce unsteady or undesirable conditions for optimal tissue imaging.
Accordingly, these types of imaging modalities are generally unable to provide desirable images useful for sufficient diagnosis and therapy of the endoluminal structure, due in part to factors such as dynamic forces generated by the natural movement of the heart. Moreover, anatomic structures within the body can occlude or obstruct the image acquisition process. Also, the presence and movement of opaque bodily fluids such as blood generally make in vivo imaging of tissue regions within the heart difficult.
Other external imaging modalities are also conventionally utilized. For example, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are typical modalities which are widely used to obtain images of body lumens such as the interior chambers of the heart. However, such imaging modalities fail to provide real-time imaging for intra-operative therapeutic procedures. Fluoroscopic imaging, for instance, is widely used to identify anatomic landmarks within the heart and other regions of the body. However, fluoroscopy fails to provide an accurate image of the tissue quality or surface and also fails to provide for instrumentation for performing tissue manipulation or other therapeutic procedures upon the visualized tissue regions. In addition, fluoroscopy provides a shadow of the intervening tissue onto a plate or sensor when it may be desirable to view the intraluminal surface of the tissue to diagnose pathologies or to perform some form of therapy on it.
Moreover, many of the conventional imaging systems lack the capability to provide therapeutic treatments or are difficult to manipulate in providing effective therapies. For instance, the treatment in a patient's heart for atrial fibrillation is generally made difficult by a number of factors, such as visualization of the target tissue, access to the target tissue, and instrument articulation and management, amongst others.
Conventional catheter techniques and devices, for example such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,895,417; 5,941,845; and 6,129,724, used on the epicardial surface of the heart may be difficult in assuring a transmural lesion or complete blockage of electrical signals. In addition, current devices may have difficulty dealing with varying thickness of tissue through which a transmural lesion desired.
Conventional accompanying imaging devices, such as fluoroscopy, are unable to detect perpendicular electrode orientation, catheter movement during the cardiac cycle, and image catheter position throughout lesion formation. Without real-time visualization, it is difficult to reposition devices to another area that requires transmural lesion ablation. The absence of real-time visualization also poses the risk of incorrect placement and ablation of critical structures such as sinus node tissue which can lead to fatal consequences.
Thus, a tissue imaging system which is able to provide real-time in vivo access to and images of tissue regions within body lumens such as the heart through opaque media such as blood and which also provides instruments for therapeutic procedures are desirable.


An integrated circuit (IC) package includes a substrate and an IC die mounted on a first side of the substrate. The IC package also includes a plurality of capacitors mounted on a second side of the substrate. The second side is opposite to the first side. The IC package further includes a plurality of conductive contact pads formed on the second side of the substrate and interspersed among the capacitors. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

As the operating speed of microprocessors continues to increase, the current drawn by the microprocessor tends to escalate. Increasing current tends to amplify the power supply noise which may limit processor performance. High frequency power supply noise or "first droop" is generally proportional to the rate of change of current and is managed by using decoupling capacitors installed in the center of the "land" side of the package substrate at the location of a cavity in the socket on the motherboard. On the other hand, low frequency power supply noise or "third droop" is proportional to the current drawn by the microprocessor and is usually managed by minimizing the total path resistance from the voltage regulator (VR) on the board to the microprocessor die. However, typical die packaging arrangements tend to make it difficult to achieve this goal of minimizing the resistance without resorting to costly measures such as (a) increasing the number of layers in the package substrate; (b) increasing the thickness of the metal layers in the package substrate; (c) increasing the number of socket contacts; and/or (d) increasing the thickness of metal layers in the motherboard.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Integrated circuit package with improved power signal connection


An ionic compound comprising at least one group A.sup.+ X.sup.-, comprising:. a cationic group A.sup.+ selected from the group consisting of biaryliodonium, arylsulfonium, arylacylsulfonium, diazonium and organometallic cations comprising a transition metal complexed with at least one unsaturated cyclic compound comprising 4-12 carbon atoms, said cationic group being part of a polymer chain; wherein PA1 X.sup.- is an imide anion, [FSO.sub.2 NSO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.- or [R.sub.F CH.sub.2 OSO.sub.2 NSO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.- or [(R.sub.F).sub.2 CHOSO.sub.2 NSO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.-, or a methylide anion [FSO.sub.2 C(Q)SO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.-, or a [R.sub.F CH.sub.2 OSO.sub.2 C(Q)SO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.- or [(R.sub.F).sub.2 CHOSO.sub.2 C(Q)SO.sub.2 R'.sub.F ].sup.31 .

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns ionic compounds, their process of preparation and their use as photoinitiators for the cationic polymerization or cross-linking of monomers and prepolymers, or for the modification of solubility parameters of certain polymers which may be used as photoresists.
b) Description of Prior Art
A polymerization which involves a mechanism of the cationic type has many advantages. In particular, it is fast, even at low temperature, the rate of utiliation of the monomer is high and sensitivity towards atmospheric contaminants such as oxygen is low as compared to free radical or anionic polymerizations.
Monomers, prepolymers and polymers containing cycloaliphatic epoxy functions and their vinyl ethers are increasingly used such as in the paint, varnish, inks, glue and anti-adhesive support industries. Moreover, vinyl ethers generally appear free of toxicity contrary to acrylates or methacrylates. Monomers and prepolymers of the epoxy type or of the vinyl ether type may be polymerized by different methods, cationic polymerization being particularly interesting.
Cationic polymerization catalysts are generally considered as acids within the meaning of Bronsted HX (proton donors), or as acids within the meaning of Lewis (receptors of electronic doublets), these operating in the presence of a co-catalyst which is a source of protons. These acids must be sufficiently strong to ensure stability to the cationic species which is either carried by the monomer or by the growing macromolecular chain, which means that the corresponding anion X.sup.- should possess a nucleophilic power which is as low as possible. The Bronsted acids which are most often used as catalysts for cationic polymerization are CF.sub.3 SO.sub.3 H, HClO.sub.4, HBF.sub.4, HPF.sub.6, HAsF.sub.6 and SbF.sub.6. These acids are classified as follows with respect to initiation and propagation speeds, as well as obtention of the highest molecular weights: EQU CF.sub.3 SO.sub.3 H<HClO.sub.4 .apprxeq.HBF.sub.4 <HPF.sub.6 .apprxeq.HAsF.sub.6 .apprxeq.SbF.sub.6
More recently, compounds with acid character such as bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)-imide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,036, Koshar et al) or bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)methane (U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,843, Allen et al) have also been used.
It is known that the preparation in situ of polymerization catalysts has many advantages. The production in situ of an acid which is capable of catalyzing the cross-linking of a monomer enables indeed to prepare a fluid monomer or a prepolymer (thermoplastic or solution) and to give it its final properties, for example by a simple treatment with a radiation. This technique is very much used for inks, paints, adhesive films and anti-adhesive films. It should also be noted that the preparation of the acid in situ from a salt enables in many cases to prevent the storing and handling of acid compounds which are more corrosive than the corresponding salts.
The catalysts may be prepared in situ by heat treatment. For example, ammonium or metal salts of bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)imide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,036, Koshar et al) or ammonium or amine salts of bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)methane (U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,843, Allen et al) have been used to obtain in situ, by heating, the corresponding bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)-imide or bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)methane, which thereafter acts as catalyst. These catalysts, so called "latent", however, only present a limited interest due to the necessity of an extended heating at high temperature to obtain a release of the acid, this release being in addition progressive and not integral with the initiation. On the one hand, the result is a low reaction speed and on the other hand, polymers of mediocre quality with respect to molecular weight, polydispersity and coloring.
The acid catalysts may also be prepared in situ by actinic radiation (such as photons whose wavelength corresponds to ultraviolet, visible, .gamma. and X radiation) or by .beta.-radiation (beam electrons) on a suitable salt. Such a salt which is chemically labile under actinic or .beta.-radiation bringing about the release of the corresponding acid with a strong catalytic activity, is a photoinitiator. The advantages of such a process are numerous: the release of the catalyst by radiation is rapid and practically complete, which causes a simultaneous initiation of the growth of the chains, and therefore a more homogeneous distribution of the masses with a lesser polydispersity, and better mechanical properties. The polymerization may be carried out at a relatively low temperature which prevents decomposition or coloring of materials obtained, as well as the formation of bubbles when a solvent is used or when the reaction mixture contains a volatile additive which is intended to be maintained in the final material and which plays the role of plasticizing agent
U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,664 describes salts which can be activated under the effect of energy in which the cation comprises at least one cation selected from organometallic cations comprising an aromatic compound based on an arene or a pentadienyl ligand and a transition metal and also from iodonium, sulfonium, phosphonium and carbonium cations comprising a transition metal and in which the number of anions is sufficient to neutralize the charge of the cation, the anion being a tris(alkylsulfonylmethylide), a bis(alkylsulfonylimide), a tris(arylsulfonylmethylide) or a bis(arylsulfonylimide) salt in which the alkyl or aryl group is possibly perfluorinated or highly fluorinated. Salts of a simple metal, diazonium salts and ammonium salts are excluded. These salts may be used as photoinitiators for the cationic polymerization of olefins.
It is also known to use acids produced by actinic radiation to degrade the resins contained in a film constituting a photoresist. This technique is particularly efficient for photoresists with chemical amplification, in which a very small quantity of protons catalyzes the decomposition of groups such as esters containing a group derived from a tertiary alcohol (such as, for example, a tertiobutyl group), which is part of a macromolecular chain. This technique thus enables to modify the solubility parameters of a resin exposed to actinic radiation and to carry out operations of selective masking and engraving such as used in microelectronics.

Fluorinated ionic sulfonylimides and sulfonylmethylides, process of preparing same and use thereof as photoinitiators

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique


A closure for sealing the open end of a specimen collection container from the environment is provided. The closure includes a socket mountable on the open end of the collection container for enclosing an interior region of the collection container. The socket includes a ball receiving internal surface having a protrusion thereon. The closure further includes a generally spherical-shaped ball mounted within the socket and at least partially enclosed by the socket. The ball is capable of rotative movement within the socket between an open position and a closed position. The ball includes an external surface capable of interference engagement with the protrusion of the socket upon rotative movement of the ball between the open position and the closed position.

Medical specimens, for example, biological and non-biological fluids, solids and semi-solids, are routinely collected and analyzed in clinical situations for various purposes. In particular, biological fluids such as blood, urine, and the like are typically collected in a specimen collection container which is in the shape of an open-ended tube. Such a tube is generally in the form of an elongate cylindrical member having one end open and an opposing end permanently closed by an integral semi-spherical portion, with the tube defining an interior which collects and holds the specimen.
After a biological sample has been drawn and/or collected in the tube, the tube with the sample is typically transported to a clinical testing laboratory for analysis. For example, blood samples may undergo routine chemistry, hormone, immunoassay or special chemical testing. In order to conduct such testing, the sample is normally transferred from the primary tube in which the sample was collected into one or more secondary tubes for testing and analysis, oftentimes to effect simultaneous testing in two or more different areas. In order to minimize contamination, evaporation and spilling during transportation, analysis and storage, it is important to maintain the open end of the tube with a closure.
The open end of a specimen container is typically sealed by a resilient cap, a removable rubber stopper, or plastic film during transport and analysis. Such closures provide means for sealing the open end of the tube, but are not capable of being efficiently removed, stored and replaced without causing contamination and with the use of one hand, as is often desired in clinical environments. Furthermore, when using analytical testing equipment for testing biological samples, it is typically necessary to maintain the samples in an open container to allow a probe from the testing equipment to be inserted into the container. In view of these needs, it is desirable to have a closure that can be easily and repeatedly opened and closed for manual or automated access.
One particularly useful type of closure for containers is a ball and socket type closure. While a number of ball and socket type closures for various containers are known, none are entirely effective for use in specimen collection containers, where an adequate seal is essential.
Further, it is often desirable to provide closures for containers with a locking mechanism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,032,776 to Van Ness describes a closure for a dispensing container including a valve ball having a bore which sits within a curved boss on a resilient disc having an opening into the container. In one embodiment, the valve ball may include a projection of similar size to the opening of the resilient disc such that, when the ball is in the closed position, the projection sits within the opening of the resilient disc to lock the ball in place.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,246 to Norris discloses a closure for a collapsible tube which incorporates a stationary ball attached to the open end of the tube and including a bore therethrough and a moveable cap covering the stationary ball. The cap includes openings therein which can be aligned with the bore of the stationary ball upon movement of the cap. In one specific embodiment of this invention, the cap includes a detent which snaps into a recess in the ball for providing a locking mechanism for the closure.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a closure for a specimen collection container which can be easily and repeatedly opened and closed and which can effectively provide an adequate seal.

Ball and socket closure for specimen collection container incorporating a dimple locking mechanism