A data relay system for relaying data exchange between a server system of a service provider and a client system in accordance with the present invention comprises: a database section which is configured to store identification information for identifying language-dependent data and replacement data corresponding to the language-dependent data in association with each other; a server data receiving section which is configured to receive server data from the server system; a data processing section which is configured to detect the replacement data from the database section on the basis of the identification information contained in the server data; a data generating section which is configured to replace the language-dependent data as contained in the server data by the replacement data; and a client data transmitting section which is configured to transmit the server data as replaced to a client system.

In recent years, along with the advent of the Internet technology, this Internet has increasingly been used for buying and selling goods and services by receiving and transmitting data through the Internet. Such transactions for buying and selling goods and services through the Internet can be made between different countries so that different languages are often used between a server system for selling goods and services and a client system which will buy goods and services on the Internet. Accordingly, the necessity arises of translating languages between a server system and a client system.
An exemplary relay server for the purpose of converting languages is EtoJ Proxy (English-to-Japanese word translation server EtoJ_Proxy- for Web by "DeleGate" Proxy, 1995.11, Yoshihiro Ugawa, Manabu Akimoto, Nobuyuki Fujita and Yutaka Satoh, World Wide Web Conference '95). This relay server is characterized in that a word for word dictionary is provided in order to translate an English response from the server of a client-server system into a Japanese response and transmit the response after conversion. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an implementation of the system.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, this relay server 13 is located between a server system 1 and a client system 2. When a request for the URL of the server system 1 is sent from the client system 2 to the server system 1, the URL is transferred to the Server system 1 as it is through a client message receiving section 133 and a server message transmitting section 131. Then, the relay server 13 receives, through a server message receiving section 135, a WWW hyper text markup language document (HTML) which has been written in English and transferred from the server system 1 while each word of the text data of this HTML is converted into a Japanese word by the use of an EtoJ word for word dictionary 134 in an EtoJ word for word translating section 132 and returned to the client system 2 through a client message transmitting section 136.
This type of the relay server 13 is designed for the purpose of converting a document which has been described in a certain language into another language for reading and therefore it is necessary to provide a word for word dictionary 134 having a sufficient number of entries so that few implementations have been put to practical use at this time. Also, this type of the relay server 13 serves to perform a unidirectional translation process of only the response from the server system 1 and therefore it can not be applied to a bi-directional online system which has to convert one language to another language for the request from the client system 2 and the response from the server system 1.
Meanwhile, pre-arranged accommodation systems, delivery systems and so forth are examples in which a server system is accessed by client systems to refer to and update associated data. In the case of these system, language-dependent information such as customer information and language-independent information such as numerical values are input to the server system 1 while said language-dependent information and said language-independent information are output from the server system to the client system 2.
In the case where it is desired for these system to implement additional functions for providing services in another language corresponding to the existing services in the current language, for example, for providing services in English in addition to in Japanese, the necessity arises of extending the client server system for implementing additional functions. In the prior art technique, such extension of the system has been implemented in the following manner.
At the end of the server system where a system 204 is implemented with data 201 in a current language 1, as illustrated in FIG. 2, server systems (205, 206, . . . ) implemented with data 202, 203 in different languages 2 to n are added anew in order to operate on line together with the system 204 implemented with data 201 in the language 1. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 3, another implementation of an improved system 208 is possible by extending a server system in a language 1 with additional functions required for providing services in different languages 2 to n.
On the other hand, at the end of the client system where an existing system 209 is implemented, as illustrated in FIG. 4, client systems 210, 211, . . . each of which can be operated for adding, updating, deleting or referring to data only in the other language are added anew in order to operate on line together with the system 209 operating in the current language. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the client system can be improved for providing services in different languages by implementing functions 212 therein.
Also, the server/client system can be designed for practical operation by combining the above two types of server systems and the above two types of client systems.
In the case of the implementation as illustrated in FIG. 2 where a server has to be developed anew for the other language, if new systems 205, 206, . . . are to be added without halting the existing system 204, the implementation can be applied only to services in which any one of the systems shall not refer to information in the language of another system, for example, in the form of independent services for the respective languages such as a service for use inside of Japan, a service for use inside of U.S.A., and so forth.
Accordingly, in the case of this kind of server systems, for example, when a hotel in US wants to provide an online booking service in English and in Japanese, it is needed to manage data of language-independent information to be controlled under unified management such as information about available rooms, avoiding data redundancy among the server systems.
Also, in the case of this example, it is impossible to partially provide service(s) in another language on the basis of the existing services in the current language, for example, to provide, in Japanese, only part of the services which have been provided in English while providing the remainder only in English.
Conversely, in the case where a server system is extended as illustrated in FIG. 3 by making use of information in another language together with information in the existing language, the system 208 as operating has to be halted for extension so that stoppage of the service is inevitable while, in the case of a wide-scale and complicated system, development works also become wide-scale and complicated.
Furthermore, in the case where a server system is extended as described above, it is necessary to continue providing services in the current language for current clients and therefore to maintain upward compatibility with the current server system in the current language.
Furthermore, in the case where a server system is implemented in each language to provide services in different languages in addition to the server system in the current language as illustrated in FIG. 2, unified management of language-independent data is required among the server systems. In order to implement this in the configuration as illustrated in FIG. 2, it is needed to provide additional functions for managing the language-independent data among the existing server and all the servers other than its own system or to provide a separate data management system for synchronizing data under unified management among the server systems. Furthermore, there is a problem that it is impossible to provide only part of data in Japanese on the basis of English information.
Also, in the case where an existing system is extended to an multilingual system for providing services in different languages in addition to the current language as illustrated in FIG. 3, stoppage of the service is inevitable and therefore it is difficult to apply to a wide-scale and complicated system. Also after updating the server, it is needed to maintain compatibility with the previous system in order that existing clients can make use of the new system.
In order to solve these problems, it is an object of the present invention to unify management of language-independent information without modifying the existing system for providing online services in a plurality of languages in a client-server system as an online system for selling goods and services through the Internet.
On the other hand, in recent years, contents on the Internet have increasingly been accessed from a plurality of countries along with the advent of the Internet technology.
However, most currently available contents have been provided only in the native language of each contents provider while some contents have been provided in two languages, i.e., in English and in the native language at the best. In other words, it can be said that there are few contents which have been provided in more than two languages.
Such provision of contents having been provided in two languages at the best becomes a factor impeding revitalization of the online electronic transactions and a barrier of the social infrastructure which can be used with fairness to all ages.
In addition to this, it is necessary for providing contents in a plurality of languages to repeat the provision of the same contents in the respective languages and therefore require very troublesome work taking more efforts for creating and updating contents and so forth. Furthermore, while it is inevitable to give users the contract detail and the notabilia with reasonable accuracy in the case of online electronic transactions and so forth, a number of troubles have arisen under the current circumstances.
Another invention has been made in the circumstances as described above in order to provide an information processing method and a program for handling different languages with ease when providing contents in different languages.

Data relay system, data relay method, data relay program, information processing method, and information processing program


A method and computer-readable medium are provided for laying out footnotes. Each footnote includes a footnote reference and corresponding footnote text. According to the method, an attempt is first made to lay out one or more footnotes such that each of the references and the corresponding text all fit completely within one page. If such a layout cannot be made, an attempt is may to lay out each of the footnotes such that all of the reference marks fit on the page and all but one of the corresponding note text fits completely on the page. If such a layout cannot be made, an emergency layout may be generated.

When working in an electronic document, footnotes (also referred to herein as "notes") are utilized to mark certain points in the text stream and to provide explanatory information about those points at a later position in the document. Footnotes typically consist of a footnote reference in the main body and footnote text at the bottom of the page corresponding to each reference. In many cases the footnote text is text that is not desirable to place in the main body of the document but which is of some interest to the reader.
It order to improve the readability of a document, it is desirable for footnote references to appear on the same page as their associated footnote text. However, when working with text layout on finite pages, situations arise when footnote references and their associated footnote text are difficult to place on the same page. When laying out footnotes on a page, there are three possible scenarios. In the first scenario, called the "ideal layout," the footnote reference and all of its footnote text fit on the same page. In the second scenario, the footnote reference and the beginning of its footnote text fit on the same page while the remainder of the footnote text is continued on one or more subsequent pages. Footnotes of this type are called "continued footnotes." In the third scenario, the footnote reference and all of its footnote text are on different pages. Footnotes of this type are called "separated footnotes." The first scenario is the most desirable outcome, the second scenario is acceptable, and the third is considered undesirable and should be avoided if possible. In another scenario, a layout may be generated that includes "broken footnotes." Broken footnotes are footnotes that are formatted in a way that produces an unacceptable layout. For instance, a layout may be generated in which images overlap footnotes, white space may be left on a page where a footnote clearly fits, footnote text may be lost, or footnotes may be laid out in the wrong order. Layouts including broken footnotes are highly undesirable.
Previous document processing applications were capable of laying out footnotes satisfactorily in many simple cases. However, the previous applications had a difficult time providing a satisfactory layout of footnotes in more complex cases. In particular, previous applications often failed to provide a satisfactory layout of footnotes where the document includes images that flow with text and multiple column formatting. In these situations, the previous applications often would generate a layout that included separated or broken footnotes. Improper layout of footnotes in this manner can be extremely frustrating for a user of the application program that expects the footnotes to be laid out properly for them.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.

Method and computer readable medium for laying out footnotes


A memory architecture allows for use of non-addressable NAND memory to be used as boot memory in digital processing systems. NAND memory, which is typically of lower cost and higher density, may displace all memory in processor systems, as particularly useful in low-power processor implementations. During commencement of a boot sequence, a preselected address is provided to a NAND flash memory. This preselected address coincides with that expected by a processor unit during commencement of a boot sequence. Upon completion of a selected duration, the NAND flash increments to a next, sequential memory location and thus outputs a sequence of instructions on its data lines. The data lines of the NAND flash memory are provided as input data lines to a processor unit. The processor unit, during a boot sequence, fetches subsequent boot instructions at a timing that coincides with that which is output from the NAND flash memory.

The subject invention is directed broadly to memory architectures, and more particularly to memory architectures in high-density or low-power applications, and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the subject architecture is useful in any fetch-instruction processor application in which lower cost or higher density is advantageous.
Typical processor architectures employ a central processing unit ("CPU") working in conjunction with both addressable and non-addressable memory. A typical, addressable memory includes two sets of lines to access specified memory locations. Address lines allow for input of a binary number that corresponds to a memory location. In an addressable memory, a particular memory location is specified by placing a binary address as a digital input on the address lines. At this point, access by the data lines is made to the specified memory location. A read-write enable ("RW") input is typically used to signify whether data from the data lines is to be stored into the selected memory location, or read from the selected memory location. Since any address may be placed on the address lines at any given time, access is truly random in nature. Thus, an addressable memory devices is referred to as random access memory, or RAM. A non-addressable memory by comparison does not use address lines to select a particular memory location. Instead, data is written into the memory or read from the memory as a serial stream of information. An early tape drive for storage of data would be one example of a non-addressable memory device.
Low-power or compact CPUs are typically formed as microprocessor units ("MPU"). Data, which is stored in the memory, is communicated in parallel by a plurality of data lines. MPU is used herein insofar as a microprocessor unit as envisioned in the preferred embodiments. However, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the subject architecture is applicable to any digital CPU/memory architecture.
During typical processor operation, a CPU provides an address in the memory device from which a particular data item or instruction is desired. The memory device retrieves the data or instruction from the selected location via the address lines, and provides that data or instruction on the data lines. Thus, the MPU is able to fetch the desired data or instruction from the device. Such an addressable memory architecture works in a random fashion, leading to its designation as random access memory RAM, as noted above.
Other conventional memory devices are not random access in nature. Such data devices may require serial access of data, such as from a tape drive, hard disk, serial data stream or the like. Given the serial nature of such data streams, it is difficult to use a sequential memory device for fetching and processing instructions or data.
Most digital processing systems are prepared to become active from an off or powered-down state. When powering up, a digital device has extremely limited capability, and must at least load a core or kernel of instructions to allow the device to engraft upon the system the functionality necessary to accomplish most conventional, computerized tasks. This is generally accomplished by having a forced memory location from which a processor will commence operation during a power-up sequence. This memory location has a set of instructions which provides the basic functionality necessary for the system. Once this initial application has been loaded and run, the system has enough intelligence to allow it to accomplish more refined tasks, such as addressing peripheral equipment, loading an operating system or commencing operation of other, selected programs.
The operation of a typical boot sequence, as noted above, requires a presence of at least a small core of RAM to allow for sequential addressing of a boot code. Random access memory is relatively expensive and requires a relatively large amount of space to fabricate when compared to serial memory devices. Such a serial memory device, e.g., NAND flash memory, is still used in hybrid RAM/NAND architecture. It would be desirable if a boot sequence could be completed from NAND memory, thus eliminating the requirement of RAM memory with its associated drawbacks.
The subject invention provides a bootable CPU that is able to use code disposed in NAND flash memory. Thus, power applications such as personal digital assistance ("PDA"), cellular phones or other compact and energy efficient electronic devices may utilize NAND flash memory with its associated benefits.
An advantage of the present invention is the provision of a processing system which utilizes less power than those employing RAM memory.
Another advantage of the present invention is the provision of a processor system that is more compact.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is the provision of compact and cooler-memory which allows for selective inclusion on the same chip substrate of that of a processing device.
These and further advantages will become apparent to others upon reading and understanding the subject disclosure.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.


There is provided a transparent solid marker that has high bending strength and low writing resistance as stick-formed goods, is difficult to break or bend, generates few remnants while coating is carried out, and does not cause spreading of a writing surface even if it is coated on a surface which is written on by oily or aqueous writing implements. There is provided a transparent solid marker that is obtained by heating and mixing a composition including a gel forming material that includes an alkali metal salt or ammonium salt of an aliphatic carboxylic acid having 8 to 36 carbon atoms, a transparency agent, a subsidiary transparency agent, hydrogenated glucose syrup, a basic pigment, and oil, and cooling it.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid portrayal material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a transparent solid marker that maintains the sense of smooth writing, is difficult to break or bend, is used for portrayal using a pastel crayon or a pastel, and in particular, is used to mark an important portion since it has a fluorescent color.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, since a pastel crayon uses wax such as paraffin as a solidifying agent, writing resistance is high, and since a coated surface is not cured, defects such as stains or discoloration occur. In addition, it is impossible to make the content thereof transparent.
Meanwhile, a pastel does not include wax and oil and is a low concentration aqueous adhesive component that is obtained by solidifying powders such as pigments and the like to form a stick shape (rod shape). Since it is not attached to paper, it is necessary to fix the color by spraying a specific fixing solution with respect to written lines. In addition, the pastel spreads powder to contaminate the surroundings. Further, it is impossible to make the contents of the pastel transparent.
In order to avoid these problems, an aqueous gel stick solid portrayal material in which an alkali metal salt or an ammonium salt of aliphatic carboxylic acid is used as a gelating agent has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. H05-311107, H04-337372, and H01-217090 disclose related technologies.
However, in the disclosed known solid portrayal material, stick strength is weak as compared to a wax-type crayon, and it is easy to break or bend in use. In this case, if a mixing ratio of the gelating agent is increased, it is possible to increase hardness, but softness as the stick is reduced and it is easily bent. In addition, the sense of smooth writing is reduced and remnants occur after writing. Moreover, fluidity of a sol is reduced and shaping is difficult in manufacturing.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


Described is a machine (5) for making and packaging articles (1) containing infusion product, the machine (5) being of the type defined by a production line (A) comprising a plurality of operating stations located one after the other and designed to make at least one continuous strip (S) by superposing and sealing two webs of filter paper with measured quantities or charges (4) of infusion product interposed between them at regular intervals; and at least one cutting station (6) for dividing up the strip (S) to form a succession of individual articles (1). The machine (5) further comprises at least one built-in packaging station (8, 8a) for packaging groups of the articles (1) in bag-like packets (10). The built-in packaging station (8, 8a) is located immediately downstream of the cutting station (6) and comprises a packaging device (9) for making up stacks (1a, 1b) with the articles (1) and 15 a transfer device (11) which guides the stacks (1a, 1b) of articles (1) along a vertical feed path section (Z) transversal to the production line (A) and feeds them into the bag-like packets (10).

Usually, an automatic machine for making filter-paper pods, containing doses of infusion product comprises a production line having a plurality of operating stations located one after the other along it and at the end of which a continuous strip of pods, that is to say, two superposed webs of filter paper heat sealed to each other and having interposed, at regular intervals, a plurality of infusion product charges, is divided up at a cutting station into individual single-use pods separated by waste material.
Downstream of the cutting station, the pod making machine has an end outfeed station equipped with pick and place means designed for picking up the pods one by one and placing them on conveyors that transport them to packaging units which wrap them in respective heat-sealed overwraps. In another solution, which this invention specifically refers to, the outfeed station comprises handling means for stacking groups of pods and transporting the pod stacks to a packaging unit where each pod stack is picked up and fed by a multiplicity of complex mechanical devices into a forming assembly which packs it into a bag-like packets.
For example, in a prior art solution described in International Patent Application PCT WO 99/37542, the pods are packaged by placing two or more pod stacks in a carriage mounted on a conveyor track. The carriage transports the stacks to a remote packaging station equipped with suitable means for picking up one or more pod stacks from the carriage and placing them in a packet previously opened at the top. The packet is then closed by suitable sealing means and transported to outfeed reservoirs.
In other words, packaging stacked groups of pods requires conveyor means for handling and moving the pods from the machine that makes them to the packaging unit, which is often located some distance away.
Structures of this kind have considerable disadvantages due not only to the presence of the handling/conveyor means required to transport the stacked pods to the packaging units, which greatly increase the overall dimensions of the pod making machines that mount them, but also and above all to the complexity of the components of the packaging units themselves, such as, in the aforementioned international PCT patent application, the conveyor carriages, the guide tracks for the carriages and the pod pick and place means.
Other major difficulties are caused by the handling and positioning of the pod stacks since the pods are gravity fed into the bags leading to their being incorrectly arranged in the bags.
The present invention has for an object to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages by providing an infusion pod making machine equipped with a built-in packaging unit and combining high productivity and quality pod packaging capabilities in a compact structure.

Packaging machine for making and packaging articles containing a product for infusion

I.M.A. Industria Macchine Automatiche S.p.A.


A display apparatus displaying an image includes a light source, a light valve, a light cross-section converter and a light scanning mechanism. The light valve has a screen formed of a plurality of pixels. The light cross-section converter converts light emitted from the light source into illumination light having a cross section enough to illuminate at least one pixel at a time. The light scanning mechanism controls a direction of travel of the illumination light in such a way that the illumination light scans the plurality of pixels. The light scanning mechanism controls at least one of sequence, speed, and number of times of scanning where the illumination light scans the plurality of pixels, so that a desired profile of distribution of illuminance is obtained over an entire surface of the screen for a time period not longer than one frame time of an image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a display apparatus for displaying, for example, a television image. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method of illuminating a miniaturized light valve with light emitted from a light source, and to a display apparatus in which a light valve modulates the illumination light and then emits the modulated light to form an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a conventional projection type display apparatus, light is emitted from a light source and is incident on a light valve and the light valve modulates the incident light in accordance with an image to produce ON-light representative of an image dot. Then, the light valve emits the ON-light to a projection means, which projects the ON-light onto a screen or the like. The illumination light incident on the light valve illuminates the entire surface of the light valve to produce a desired uniform profile of distribution of illuminance across the entire surface of the light valve. In order to obtain a uniform profile of distribution of illuminance, for example, a beam of illumination light emitted from a light source is first directed to transmit through a light integrator in the form of a fly' eye lens sheet or an optical element of columnar structure. This allows the beam of illumination light to have a cross section analogous to the shape of the light valve before forming an image on the light valve.
ON-light emitted from a light valve is, for example, directed to transmit through a projection means to form an image on, for example, a screen. The image formed on the screen is diffused into the eyes of views. Illumination light incident on the light valve and light emitted from the light valve but not projected (referred to as "OFF-light" hereinafter) are unwanted light, i.e., stray light. If such stray light enters the ON-light, the stray light makes the image blurred. For this reason, a means is provided that allows only the ON-light to pass through. If the light valve takes the form of a micro mirror device, then ON-light and OFF-light travel in different paths and therefore a total reflection prism is used in which light is transmitted or not transmitted depending on the direction of travel of light (U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,922, FIG. 1). If the light valve takes the form of a transmission type liquid crystal element or reflection type liquid crystal element, then the ON-light and OFF-light travel in different paths and therefore a polarizing plate or a polarization split prism is employed, thereby allowing only the ON-light to be transmitted onto a projection means (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-38365, pages 5-6, FIG. 1).
When a color image such as television image is to be displayed, one or a plurality of light valves, for example, are used to form images of respective primary colors and combine the respective color images into a full color image. The use of a prism for combining light of the respective colors results in a large overall apparatus size (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-38365, pages 5-6, FIG. 1). For a system that does not require a color-combining prism, illumination light of three primary colors (red, green, and blue) illuminate a sheet of light valve in sequence (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-51633, pages 3-4, FIG. 4). In this case, the apparatus may be miniaturized without difficulty. For micro mirror elements and reflection type liquid crystal elements, display elements operate fast enough in switching between ON-light and OFF-light as compared to the frame time of an image to be displayed, so that the projected light of three primary colors can be switched from one color to another during one image frame and therefore images of the respective colors are sequentially formed in registration.
Another way of combining images of primary colors is implemented by an apparatus in which a single light valve is employed and filters of primary colors are disposed in such a way that a filter of one color is in series with a corresponding path of illumination light and dots of different colors are formed on a pixel-by-pixel basis of the light valve (U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,237, FIGS. 1 and 3). Some the conventional apparatus employ micro mirror elements but do not use a total reflection prism for separating ON-light from the rest (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-268010, Page 4, FIG. 1). Further, some of the reflection type liquid crystal elements use a plate-like reflection type polarization means in place of a polarization split prism (U.S. Patent No. 2003-121922, FIG. 1 and FIG. 4).
Yet another conventional apparatus is of a laser scanning type in which an image signal intensity-modulates light emitted from a laser light source and a scanning means (galvanometer and mirror on page 209-223, FIGS. 5-61 in "Practical Laser Technique", by Toshimitsu Hirai, published by Kyoritsu Shuppan) causes the modulated light to scan on an object (e.g., screen) to form an image.
If conventional display apparatus are to be miniaturized in overall size or reduced in thickness, the apparatus suffer from the problems that the entire surface of a light valve can not be illuminated uniformly and noise enters the image to be displayed. A description will be given of causes of such problems as follows.
A display apparatus that uses a reflection light valve requires a light path for illumination light and a means for removing unwanted light, the light path and the means being provided near the light valve. The illumination light illuminates the light valve uniformly. The means for removing unwanted light allows ON-light to be viewed without noise. In order to implement these functions, glass prisms such as a total reflection prism (U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,922) and a polarization split prism (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-38365) are employed. These glass prisms are useful for telecentric illumination. In order to prevent noise from entering ON-light, it is necessary to prevent stray light from entering the path of the ON-light. For this purpose, a prism should have a volume large enough for enclosing the light path and thus it is difficult to implement a miniaturized display and a thin type display. A glass prism is made of a homogeneous glass material and processed through polishing and bonding, thus being relatively expensive and heavy. A projection type display incorporates a glass prism disposed between a light valve and a projection means (U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,922, FIG. 1 and Japanese Patent Application No. 11-38365, pages 5-6, FIG. 1). Thus, the back focal length of the projection means is long, making it difficult to design a projection means that is capable of projecting an image with a wide field angle while also maintaining good optical characteristics such as chromatic aberration. This is a barrier to a miniaturized display apparatus having a short projection distance. A display apparatus incorporating a plate-like polarization splitting means in place of a polarization split prism has an advantage of having a small weight as compared to apparatus incorporating prisms (U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,120, FIG. 1). However, because a medium that forms a light path from a light valve to a projection means is air except for the polarization splitting means, the effective back focal length of the projection means cannot be short. A conventional display apparatus according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-268010 (FIGS. 1 and 3) incorporates a lens and a mirror in place of a total reflection type prism, and suffers the problem that it is difficult to illuminate a light valve with a required uniform profile of distribution of illuminance.
A display (U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,237) that incorporates a transmission type light valve also requires an optical means such as a fly's eye lens for illuminating a light valve and a path for the light, and is therefore difficult to implement a further miniaturized display apparatus.
With a laser scanning type display, it is required that for displaying individual pixels properly, the image of a light source should be sufficiently small and the light source is sufficiently bright. Such a light source can only be implemented by a large size, expensive laser oscillator.
Image signals have a variety of aspect ratios. For example, a television signal has an aspect of either 16:9 or 4:3. A conventional light integrator is configured to emit illumination light having a predetermined cross-section and therefore a light valve is illuminated with a predetermined profile of distribution of illuminance. If an image to be displayed has an aspect ratio different from the shape of a light valve, some pixel areas on the light valve available for image formation are illuminated by the illumination light but not effectively used to display any image. In this case, such a portion of the illumination light not effectively used is OFF-light and represents about 20% in a total illuminated area, resulting in poor efficiency of light utilization.

Method of illumination and display apparatus


A blood bag system includes: a first bag in which blood containing multiple components is stored; a second bag in which a relative medium-density component is stored; a third bag in which a relative low-density component is stored; a first tube through which the relative low-density component and the relative medium-density component are transported from the first bag to the second bag; and a second tube through which the relative low-density component is transported from the first bag to the third bag. A blood treatment method involves: centrifuging blood containing multiple components in a first bag, transporting a low-density component from the first bag to a third bag through a first tube and transporting a relative medium-density component from the first bag to the second bag through the first tube.

Conventionally, whole blood transfusion in which all the components of blood obtained by blood donation are put to transfusion has been common practice. With the recent progress of technology, blood component transfusion has come to be carried out in which the blood obtained is separated into its components such as red blood cells, platelets and plasma and only the component(s) necessary for a patient is transfused into the patient. Using blood component transfusion, the burden on the patient's circulatory system and side effects can be alleviated, and generally effective utilization of donated blood can be achieved.
The blood (whole blood) obtained by blood donation is centrifuged to be thereby separated into a light supernatant PPP (platelet poor plasma) fraction, a heavy precipitated CRC (concentrated red cell) fraction, and buffy coat therebetween. The buffy coat contains leukocytes, platelets and red cells; especially, as for platelets, the proportion of young fresh platelets is high.
In order to separate whole blood into the three blood components including platelet poor plasma, concentrated red cells and buffy coat, and further to transport the blood components into predetermined storage bags, there has hitherto been used a blood bag system configured by connecting a plurality of bags using a plurality of tubes. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,998.
One conventional example of a blood bag system includes a first bag (combined buffy coat bag and whole blood bag) for storing whole blood, a first tube connected at its one end to an upper portion of the first bag, a second bag (plasma bag) which is connected to the other end of the first tube and in which platelet poor plasma is to be stored, a second tube connected at its one end to a lower portion of the first tube, and a third bag (red cell bag) which is connected to the other end of the second tube and in which concentrated red cells are to be stored. In order to preserve whole blood in the state of being separated into the blood components by use of the blood bag system configured as just-mentioned, the whole blood in the first bag is centrifuged to be separated into platelet poor plasma, concentrated red cells and buffy coat, and, thereafter, the platelet poor plasma is transported to the second bag through the first tube connected to an upper portion of the first bag, and the concentrated red cells are transported to the third bag through the second tube connected to a lower portion of the first bag.
The specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,998 discloses a blood bag system similar to the one conventional example mentioned above.
A centrifuging and transporting apparatus which permits a step of centrifuging whole blood and a step of transporting blood components obtained by centrifugation to be performed by a single apparatus may be configured to include a centrifugal drum having a plurality of unit insertion holes and driven to rotate in a circumferential direction and a plurality of insert units to be inserted in the unit insertion holes. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,998. In this case, the insert unit permits the above-mentioned blood bag system to be mounted thereto.
When the above-mentioned blood bag system is supposed to be mounted to the centrifuging and transporting apparatus configured as above, difficulties can arise. A first bag in the above-mentioned blood bag system has a top-and-bottom (TAB) type bag structure in which a first tube is connected to an upper portion thereof and a second tube is connected to a lower portion thereof. Therefore, in mounting the first tube to the above-mentioned insert unit, the second tube provided at the lower portion of the first bag must be laid around upward from the lower side (bottom side) of the insert unit, and the handling operation is bothersome, so that it is difficult to smoothly carry out the mounting operation. In addition, if the second tube undergoes kinking (torsion or sharp bending) due to the handling of the second tube, the second tube may be closed, possibly making it impossible to transport blood components.

Blood bag system and blood treatment method


A packaging product and a method of closing a packaging product are provided. Closing a packaging product may include providing a first member of the packaging product having an aperture therein and providing a bubble rivet extending through the aperture and having an expanded hollow head portion on one side of the aperture with a neck portion of the bubble rivet being provided in the aperture. The hollow head portion of the bubble rivet is breakable to enable withdrawal of the head portion through the aperture thereby non-reversibly opening the packaging product.

This invention relates to the field of packaging. In particular, the invention relates to a packaging product and method of closing a packaging product.
Many forms of plastic packaging, especially vacuum packaging, is very hard to open. If the packaging has been moulded around the contents, the packaging is even harder to open.
Plastic packaging often has sealed edges which may be pressed closed during manufacture. Opening such packaging can be extremely frustrating and risks the contents and the safety of the user as knives or scissors must be used on very tough plastic.
Other forms of plastic packaging use moulded poppers at the edge of the packaging with a top layer of plastic having protruding poppers and a bottom layer of plastic having corresponding holes into which the protruding poppers fit sufficiently tightly so as to hold the top and bottom layers together. Such moulded poppers are easier to open than a sealed edge and can be re-closed after opening. This risks the packaging being opened in a retail environment and the contents stolen or tampered with.
Yet further known forms of packaging use separate fasteners to hold two members of the packaging together. However, the use of additional items in the packaging increases the cost and complexity of manufacture.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to address the aforementioned problems.

Packaging product and method of closing a packaging product

International Business Machines Corporation


An oxidizing agent useful for oxidative polymerization of high conductive polymers is provided. This oxidizing agent is a kind of organic metal complex formed of metal ion salts having oxidizing capability and nitrogen-containing compound having lone pair electrons with partial π-electron character. This organic metal complex has weak oxidizing strength for monomers at room temperature. As such, a mixture of the organic metal complex and the monomers has long-term stability under room temperature. While, at a high temperature, the organic metal complex provides proper oxidative polymerization capability for the monomers. The conductive polymers synthesized by the organic metal complex have excellent conductivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oxidizing agent useful for polymerization of high conductive polymer, more particularly a kind of metal ion complex formed of metal ion salts having oxidizing capability and one or a plurality of nitrogen-containing compounds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since it was found that doped polyacetylene can exhibit electrical conductivity, considerable efforts have been invested in the development and application of new types of electrically conductive conjugate polymer. Currently most commonly applied conductive polymers include polypyrrole, polyaniline, polythiophene and the derivatives of those compounds and have been used in anti-static coating, electrolytic capacitor, printed circuit board, solar collector and light-emitting display.
Conductive polymers are synthesized mainly by electrochemical polymerization or oxidative polymerization. Electrochemical polymerization is achieved by dissolving monomers in a solution containing electrolytes and passing through current to form conjugate polymer at the anode. The electrolytes in the solution would undergo doping reaction in the process to endow the conjugate polymer with electrical conductivity. Oxidative polymerization entails oxidizing the monomers with oxidizing agent to cause polymerization and subsequently adding in dopant in gaseous or liquid phase to give the resulting polymer electrical conductivity. The electrochemical polymerization process is known to produce polymers with excellent conductivity, and can get free standing films of certain conducting polymers such as polypyrrole. However the application of this method is severely hampered by the requirements of processed object being electrically conductive and having high oxidation potential. Oxidative polymerization does not have such requirements. In this process, monomers, oxidant, dopant and solvent are mixed, and coating or impregnation can be carried out before monomers are massively polymerized into conductive polymer.
The practicality of oxidative polymerization and the difficulty of its processing technology are governed by the stability of monomer-oxidant mixture. The mixing of monomers and oxidant will induce the polymerization of monomers which causes the viscosity of the mixture to rise, making it difficult to be coated or impregnated onto the processed object. Thus how to obtain stable monomer-oxidant mixture and high conductive polymer are the focus in the research of oxidative polymerization.
In the example of making solid-state electrolytic capacitor, to reduce the reaction rate of oxidant-monomer mixture and prolong the processing time of the mixture, Friedrich Jonas et al. in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,645 discloses the use of large amount of solvent to dilute the concentration of monomers to below 10 wt % so as to slow down the reaction rate of monomer-oxidant solution at room temperature. But by impregnating a capacitor element with monomer-oxidant mixture, only small amount of conductive polymer is obtained in one impregnation, while the remaining part consists of residual reactants and large amount of solvent. This proposed process needs to go through 16 cycles of impregnation and polymerization to produce sufficient conductive polymers to fill the gap between the positive and negative foils of capacitor element (U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,176). Thus using conductive polymer as an electrode of solid state electrolytic capacitor has the drawbacks of complex process and high manufacturing cost.
Friedrich Jonas et al. also disclose in U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,430 a thiophene derivative—3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene which has lower polymerization rate after mixing with oxidant under room temperature and the resulting (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) has excellent conductivity and thermal stability. But the polymerization rate of this monomer at room temperature when mixing with oxidant is still controlled by the concentration of oxidant. High oxidant concentration will affect significantly the room-temperature stability of mixture, hence restricting the processing conditions of oxidative polymerization.
Philip M. Lessner et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,899 discloses a complex formed by the mixture of oxygen-containing organic compound with specific low boiling point, e.g. tetrahydrofuran, and Fe (III) oxidizing agent, which reduces the oxidizing power of oxidizing agent so the mixture of monomer and oxidizing agent can be stably preserved for a longer period of time. After the capacitor element is impregnated with this mixture, the low-boiling solvent can be evaporated under high temperature, and monomers and oxidizing agent can react to form conductive polymer. The oxygen-containing compound disclosed in the aforesaid patent, e.g. tetrahydrofuran, acts as a polymerization retardant. But the complex formed of such compound and Fe (III) oxidizing agent does not have much effect on the oxidative capability of ferric ion, hence having limited effect on stabilizing the mixture of monomer and oxidizing agent at room temperature. This process fails to effectively simplify the process for preparing conductive polymer solid state electrolytic capacitor and reduce its cost.
Reuter et al. in US patent 2005/0013094 reveals a polythiophene conductive polymer polymerized by using a thiophene and a metal salt (such as iron(III), copper(II), chromium(VI), cerium(IV), manganese(IV), manganese(VII) and ruthenium(III)) as an oxidizing agent in the presence of a nitrogen-containing compound including the amide compounds (such as methylacetamide, dimethylacetamide, and dimethylformamide) as a solvent. Because the nitrogen-containing compound is used as a solvent, the molar ratio of the nitrogen-containing compound to a metal ion of the metal salt is so high that the monomer for forming the conductive polymer can not be polymerized. Therefore, the metal salt and the nitrogen-containing compound disclosed in US patent 2005/0013094 is not suitable to be used as an oxidizing agent for retarding the polymerization of the monomer for forming the conductive polymer at room temperature. Besides, US patent 2005/0013094 fails to disclose the molar ratio of the nitrogen-containing compound to a metal ion of the metal salt for retarding the polymerization of the monomer for forming the conductive polymer at room temperature.
Luebben et al. in US patent 2003/0088032 reveals block copolymers prepared by polymerization of intrinsically conducting polymer blocks having heteroaromatic monomers and non-conducting blocks of various chemical structures, wherein heteroaromatic monomers may have a urethane residue. Also, it discloses that chemical polymerization can be performed in the presence of an oxidizing agent such as inorganic salt of iron (III), chromium (IV) and copper (II). However, Luebben et al. fails to disclose the molar ratio of the nitrogen-containing compound to a metal ion of the metal salt for retarding the polymerization of the monomer for forming the conductive polymer at room temperature. Moreover, the urethane residue having amide group in US patent 2003/0088032 is used as a polymerizable monomer, not used as a retarder for weakening the oxidizing strength of metal ion at room temperature.
Lellouche, Jean-Paul in US patent 2006/0047067 discloses a novel polymerizable monomer having a residue capable of reacting with a nucleophile group. Said residue may include —NR1R2, wherein R1 and R2 independently represent H, —N-succinimide, —N-phthalimide, pentafluorophenyl, biotin, aromatics, sugars or 1,2-/1,3-amino alcohols. Also, it discloses a nitrogen-containing compound, such as dimethylformamide. Nevertheless, Lellouche, Jean-Paul does not disclose that the nitrogen-containing compound can be combined with a metal salt within specific molar ratio to be used as an oxidizing agent for retarding the polymerization of the monomer for forming the conductive polymer at room temperature.
Thus the focus of efforts on oxidative polymerization is to develop a process that effectively inhibits the room-temperature polymerization rate of monomer-oxidant mixture without at the same time affecting the conductivity of resulting polymer or adding to process difficulty.

Oxidizing agent useful for oxidative polymerization of high conductive polymers

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A process which is capable of forming shallow source/drain regions in a silicon substrate and a doped gate electrode by implantation of cobalt silicide contacts of uniform thickness previously formed on the substrate followed by diffusion of the dopant into the substrate to form the desired source/drain regions, and into the polysilicon gate electrode to provide the desired conductivity is described. The process comprises: first depositing a layer of cobalt over a polysilicon gate electrode and areas of a silicon substrate where source/drain regions will be formed; then forming at least one capping layer over the cobalt layer; then annealing the structure at a first temperature to form cobalt silicide; then removing the capping layer, as well as the unreacted cobalt and any cobalt reaction products other than cobalt silicide; then annealing the structure again at a higher temperature than the first anneal to form high temperature cobalt silicide; then implanting the cobalt silicide with one or more dopants suitable for forming source/drain regions in the silicon substrate and for increasing the conductivity of the polysilicon gate electrode; and then heating the structure sufficiently to cause the implanted dopant or dopants in the cobalt silicide to diffuse into the substrate to form the desired source/drain regions and into the polysilicon gate electrode to increase the conductivity thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the formation of an MOS device of an integrated circuit structures on semiconductor substrates. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for forming an MOS device using cobalt silicide both as a contact and as an implantation media for forming the source/drain regions and the doped gate electrode of the MOS device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the formation of integrated circuit structure, and particularly in the formation of MOS devices using polysilicon gate electrodes, it has become the practice to provide a metal silicide layer or contact over the polysilicon gate electrode, and over the source/drain regions of the silicon substrate, to facilitate electrically and metallurgically connecting the silicon to metal interconnects. Thus, for example, a titanium metal layer is usually blanket deposited over the polysilicon gate electrode and the source/drain regions of the silicon substrate, as well as over the silicon oxide insulation regions of the substrate, e.g., the field oxide regions. The structure is then heated sufficiently to cause the titanium in contact with the silicon to react, thereby forming titanium silicide, e.g., heated to about 650.degree. C., while the titanium over the silicon oxide does not react. The unreacted titanium is then removed, leaving only titanium silicide over the silicon source/drain regions of the substrate and over the polysilicon gate electrode. The resulting titanium silicide is then further annealed at a higher temperature, e.g., about 700.degree.-800.degree. C., to convert the titanium silicide to a more electrically desirable (lower resistivity) phase.
However, as the sizes of integrated circuit structures have continued to become smaller and smaller, problems have arisen with the continued use of titanium silicide, particularly in the formation of narrow lines, because the less acceptable lower temperature phase of titanium silicide tends to predominate on narrower lines, apparently due to the failure of the lower temperature phase to convert to the low resistivity higher temperature titanium silicide phase when the line width approaches the grain size of the lower temperature phase. It has, however, been found that cobalt silicide (usually CoSi.sub.2) is not subject to the same phase problems when used in forming narrow lines.
While the substitution of cobalt silicide for titanium silicide thus solves some of the problems encountered with the use of titanium silicide with very narrow lines, other problems have, in turn, been encountered with this substitution. For example, when forming very shallow source/drain regions in a single crystal semiconductor substrate such as a silicon substrate by implantation, it is difficult to provide the desired control of the depth of the implantation directly into the substrate, thereby resulting in deeper junctions (causing more junction leakage), as well as possible channeling of the implanted dopant into the substrate. However, by forming the titanium silicide layer over the silicon substrate first, i.e., prior to the implantation step, the implantation depth may be controlled to implant the dopant into the titanium silicide layer instead of the underlying substrate. That is, the titanium silicide layer may be conveniently used as a media for the implantation of one or more dopants therein, due to its thicknesses relative to the thickness of the desired source/drain regions to be formed in the substrate. After the implantation step, diffusion of the dopant(s) from the implanted titanium silicide into the silicon substrate may be carried out during a subsequent anneal, resulting in the desired shallow source/drain regions.
However, when cobalt silicide is substituted for titanium silicide, for the reasons discussed above with respect to smaller line widths, problems are encountered with the concurrent use of the cobalt silicide as a media for implantation because the cobalt silicide has been found to form unevenly in thickness, particularly over raised portions of the underlying integrated circuit structure (such as the polysilicon gate electrode) where the edges of the cobalt silicide tend to thin. This is illustrated in the prior art structure of FIG. 1 wherein cobalt silicide contacts 14 and 16 are shown respectively formed over source/drain regions 4 and 6 in the region of silicon substrate 2 bounded by field oxide 8, and cobalt silicide gate contact 18 has been formed over a polysilicon gate electrode 12 and gate oxide 10 between source/drain regions 4 and 6. Oxide spacers 13 are shown conventionally formed on the sidewalls of gate electrode 12. FIG. 1 shows the thinning of cobalt silicide 18 layer at 19, adjacent the edges of the raised portion of gate electrode 12.
While Liu et al., in an article entitled "Mechanisms for Process-induced Leakage in Shallow Silicided Junctions", IEDM 86, pp 58-61, discusses that a semiconductor substrate may be implanted with dopant either before or after forming cobalt silicide thereon, there appears to be no recognition of any problems encountered with the use of cobalt silicide rather than titanium silicide during the implantation. That is, the above-described problem of thinning of the cobalt silicide at the edges of a raised gate electrode is not discussed by Liu et al. (perhaps because they were using a much thicker silicide which can be tolerated for less advanced process technologies).
The formation of cobalt silicide using a capping layer of titanium or titanium nitride formed over the cobalt layer has also been proposed to improve certain properties of the cobalt silicide subsequently formed over the substrate. For example, Berti et al., in an article entitled "A Manufacturable Process for the Formation of Self Aligned Cobalt Silicide in a Sub Micrometer CMOS Technology", published on pages 267-273 of the VMIC Conference held in Santa Clara, Calif. in 1992, state that processing temperature, resistivity, contact resistance, junction leakage, and stress are all lower when using cobalt silicide instead of titanium silicide. However, they report that the difficulty in implementing cobalt silicide in a manufacturing environment has been due to the inability to repeatedly avoid unwanted cobalt silicide overgrowth on the oxide spacers (which can result in electrical shorting) while simultaneously forming thick and uniform cobalt silicide. They reported that the problem of cobalt silicide overgrowth on the oxide portions of the integrated circuit structure could be eliminated by the reactive sputtering of a capping layer of titanium nitride over the layer of cobalt prior to the annealing step to form cobalt silicide.
A later article by Yamazaki et al., entitled "21 psec switching 0.1 .mu.m-CMOS at room temperature using high performance Co salicide process", published on pages 906-908 of IDEM 93, reports that in conventional cobalt salicide (self-aligned silicide), the gate sheet resistance increased below a 1.0 .mu.m gate length because the cobalt layer was oxidized during the first silicidation annealing. They reported that the use of a titanium nitride capping layer over the cobalt salicide effectively avoided the oxidation and drastically improved the gate length dependence of the gate sheet resistance, resulting in the achievement of a gate delay of 21 ps for a 0.1 .mu.m gate length and 19 ps for a 0.075 .mu.m gate length.
It has also been proposed to provide a capping layer of titanium over the cobalt layer prior to the silicidation step. Wang et al., in an article entitled "New CoSi.sub.2 SALICIDE Technology for 0.1 .mu.m Processes and Below", published on pages 17 and 18 of the 1995 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, report that the use of titanium over cobalt in the formation of cobalt silicide provides a much smoother CoSi.sub.2 /poly interface than the conventional process with less sensitivity to pre-sputtering surface conditions and annealing conditions. They also indicate, however, that it is difficult to form thin CoSi.sub.2 on a sub-0.1 .mu.m poly-Si runner using the conventional process, but that the use of a thin titanium capping layer improves both the formation and thermal stability of sub-0.1 .mu.m CoSi.sub.2 /Poly stacks.
However, it would be desirable to provide a process capable of forming shallow source/drain regions of an MOS device in a semiconductor substrate, as well as to form the doped polysilicon gate electrode, by forming cobalt silicide contacts of uniform thickness, and then implanting the cobalt silicide contacts, followed by subsequent annealing of the structure to cause the implanted dopant to diffuse from the cobalt silicide into either the underlying substrate (to form the desired shallow source/drain regions therein), or into the underlying polysilicon gate electrode (to provide the desired conductivity of the polysilicon gate electrode).

Process for forming MOS device in integrated circuit structure using cobalt silicide contacts as implantation media


A electronic device includes an electrical component powered by a battery and a compartment to receive the battery. A low voltage cutoff circuit is configured to couple to the battery. The low voltage cutoff circuit includes a switching device having a control terminal, a current sourcing terminal and current sinking terminal and a resistor coupled between the control terminal and a first terminal of a battery. The circuit has first and second output terminals. The first output terminal is coupled to the first terminal of the battery and the second output terminal is coupled to the current sourcing terminal of the transistor. The first and second output terminals are configured to accept connections to positive and negative terminals of the electrical component.

This invention relates to powering of portable electronic devices.
Portable electronic devices generally use a primary battery or a rechargeable battery to provide power. Many devices powered by a primary battery lack a mechanical power switch to turn the device off relying instead on a soft switch, e.g., an electronic switch to turn the device off. Other devices include a mechanical power switch. Those devices that include such a mechanical switch, a user may inadvertently leave the mechanical switch in the "ON" position. Under such circumstances, the device will continue to drain current from the battery and can deeply discharge the battery causing cell venting and electrolyte leakage. Cell venting and electrolyte leakage from the battery can damage the device that houses the battery and are particular problems with alkaline and zinc-carbon cells. In addition, some re-chargeable cells can suffer cell venting and/or electrolyte leakage.
To prevent deep discharge, devices that lack a mechanical switch will use an embedded microcontroller or voltage comparators to operate an electronic switch to switch the device off. While suitable for more expensive devices, these techniques are complex and costly and generally not suitable for inexpensive devices, especially devices that do not already have a need for an embedded microcontroller or voltage comparators for the main function of the device.


A mounting apparatus is used to mount a hard disk drive to a storage rack. The mounting apparatus includes a supporting frame and two grounding members. The supporting frame includes a handle, and two side brackets extending from opposite ends of the handle, and attached to opposite sides of the hard disk drive. Each grounding member is made of resilient and conductive material, and includes a mounting plate mounted to the side bracket, and two abutting plates extending out from two opposite ends of the mounting plate. A part of each abutting plate is exposed out of the corresponding side bracket. when the mounting apparatus mounting the hard disk drive in a storage rack, the abutting plates are sandwiched between the storage rack and the hard disk drive.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a mounting apparatus for hard disk drives.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices, such as computers, are generally equipped with a data storage device, such as a hard disk drive. Mounting the storage device to the electronic device by traditional screw type fasteners is inefficient and always requires tools, and the hard disk drive cannot be effectively grounded.

Grounding member and mounting apparatus for hard disk drive


A semiconductor device including an insulation film superior in both planarization and water resistance is obtained. In this semiconductor device, a first insulation film including impurities is formed on a conductive layer. A film is formed between the first insulation film and the conductive layer for substantially preventing impurities from entering the conductive layer. Water resistance of the first insulation film is improved since impurities are included in the first insulation film. By using an insulation film superior in planarization as the first insulation film, a first insulation film superior in both planarization and water resistance can be obtained. The film provided between the first insulation film and the conductive layer prevents the impurities of the first insulation film from entering the conductive layer. Therefore, reduction in the reliability of the conductive layer can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having an insulation film on a conductive layer, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
Reducing the size of interconnections and providing multilayers thereof are now required to further increase the integration density of semiconductor integrated circuit devices. It is necessary to insert an interlayer insulation layer between each interconnection to provide a multilayer structure of the interconnections. If the surface of this interlayer insulation layer is not planar, a stepped portion will be generated at the interconnection formed above the interlayer insulation film. This causes defects such as disconnection.
Therefore, the surface of the interlayer insulation film (the surface of the device) must be made as flat as possible. The technique to planarize the surface of the device is called planarization. This planarization technique has become important in reducing the size and providing multilayers of the interconnection.
An SOG (Spin On Glass) film is known as an interlayer insulation film commonly used in planarization. Research of this SOG film is particularly in progress in the planarization technology taking advantage of fluidity of the material of the interlayer insulation film.
An "SOG film" is a generic term of a film mainly composed of a solution in which a silicon compound is dissolved in an organic solvent, and silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) formed from that solution.
In forming an SOG film, first a solution having a silicon compound dissolved in an organic solvent is applied on a substrate in droplets. The substrate is rotated. By this rotation, the solution coating is provided on the substrate formed of interconnections so as to alleviate the stepped portion thereon. More specifically, the coating is formed thick at the concave portion and thin at the convex portion on the substrate. Thus, the solution coating is planarized at the surface.
Heat treatment is then applied to vaporize the organic solvent. Also, polymerization proceeds to result in a planarized SOG film at the surface.
An SOG film is typically classified into an inorganic SOG film that does not include any organic component of a silicon compound, as represented by the following general formula (1), and an organic SOG film including an organic component in a silicon compound, as represented by the following general formula (2). EQU SiO.sub.2 !n (1) EQU R.sub.x SiOy!n (2)
(n, X, Y : integer; R: alkyl group or aryl group)
Inorganic SOG contains a great amount of moisture and a hydroxyl group. The inorganic SOG has a disadvantage that it is more brittle than a silicon oxide film formed by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). For example, a crack is easily generated during heat treatment in an inorganic SOG film when thicker than 0.5 .mu.m.
In contrast, an organic SOG film has the generation of a crack during heat treatment suppressed. The organic SOG film can be formed having a thickness of approximately 0.5-1.0 .mu.m. The usage of an organic SOG film allows the formation of an interlayer insulation film that is greater in film thickness. Therefore, sufficient planarization can be achieved for even a great stepped portion on a substrate.
Although superior in planarization, an inorganic SOG film may adversely affect the metal interconnection and the like since it contains a great amount of moisture and a hydroxyl group. There is a possibility of degradation in the electric characteristics, corrosion, and the like. This problem may similarly be encountered in an organic SOG film including, though smaller in amount than the inorganic SOG film, moisture and a hydroxyl group.
Therefore, when an SOG film is employed as an interlayer insulation film, an insulation film such as a silicon oxide film formed by plasma CVD, for example, having the property of blocking moisture and hydroxyl groups as well as having high insulation and mechanical strength is generally provided above or below the SOG film.
A silicon oxide film formed by plasma CVD is superior in water resistance than an SOG film. However, it was conventionally difficult to obtain satisfactory water resistance effect even when a silicon oxide film formed by plasma CVD is applied. It was therefore difficult to improve reliability of a semiconductor device such as insulation characteristics while also improving planarization in conventional art.

Semiconductor device including an intrusion film layer


A user device may receive information indicating that a universal integrated circuit card has been installed in the user device, where the universal integrated circuit card may store a default table that includes network slice selection assistance information used to route data from the user device to correct slices of a network. The user device may execute an application stored in the user device based on receiving a selection of the application, where execution of the application may cause data to be generated. The user device may identify a slice of the network to which to route the data based on the network slice selection assistance information included in the default table. The user device may cause the data to be routed to the slice of the network identified based on the network slice selection assistance information included in the default table.

Different network services require different service level agreements (e.g. different quality of service (QoS) settings) with a network. Since a fifth generation (5G) network is intended to support a very diverse set of services (e.g., from extremely low latency services to ultra-reliable services), a mechanism is required to allow a 5G network to accommodate different service levels requirements. A 5G network may utilize network slicing as the standardizing mechanism.

Systems and methods for providing network slice selection assistance and route selection policy configurations in a universal integrated circuit card


A reliable, modular, production quality narrow-band KrF excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses at 1000 Hz with a bandwidth of about 0.6 pm or less. The present invention is especially suited to long-term round-the-clock operation in the lithographic production of integrated circuits. Improvements over prior art lasers include a single upstream preionizer tube and acoustic baffles. A preferred embodiment includes reduced fluorine concentration, an anode support bar shaped to reduce aerodynamic reaction forces on blower bearings, a modified pulse power system providing faster pulse rise time, an output coupler with substantially increased reflectivity, a line narrowing module with CaF prism beam expanders, a more accurate wavemeter, a laser computer controller programmed with new and improved pulse energy control algorithm.

KrF excimer lasers are currently becoming the workhorse light source for the integrated circuit lithography industry. A typical prior-art KrF excimer laser in the production used integrated circuits is depicted in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. A cross section of the laser chamber of this prior art laser is shown in FIG. 3. A pulse power module 2 powered by high voltage power supply 3 provides electrical pulses to electrodes 6 located in a discharge chamber 8. The electrodes are about 28 inches long and are spaced apart about 3/5 inch. Typical lithography lasers operated at a high pulse rate of about 1000 Hz. For this reason it is necessary to circulate a laser gas (about 0.1% fluorine, 1.3% krypton and the rest neon which functions as a buffer gas) through the space between the electrodes. This is done with tangential blower 10 located in the laser discharge chamber. The laser gases are cooled with a heat exchanger 11 also located in the chamber and a cold plate 13 mounted on the outside of the chamber. Cooling water for cold plate 13 and heat exchanger 11 enters at water inlet 40 and exits at water outlet 42 as shown in FIG. 3. The natural bandwidth of the KrF laser is narrowed by line narrowing module 18. Commercial excimer laser systems are typically comprised of several modules that may be replaced quickly without disturbing the rest of the system. Principal modules are shown in FIG. 2 and include:
Laser Chamber 8, PA0 Pulse Power Module 2, PA0 Output coupler 16, PA0 Line Narrowing Module 18 PA0 Wavemeter 20 PA0 Computer Control Unit 22
These modules are designed for quick replacement as individual units to minimize down time to the laser when maintenance is performed. Electrodes 6 consist of cathode 6A and anode 6B. Anode 6B is supported in this prior art embodiment by anode support bar 44 which is about 28 inches long and is shown in cross section in FIG. 3. Flow is clockwise in this view. One corner and one edge of anode support bar 44 serves as a guide vane to force air from blower 10 to flow between electrodes 6A and 6B. Other guide vanes in this prior art laser are shown at 46, 48 and 50. Perforated current return plate 52 helps ground anode 6B to chamber 8. The plate is perforated with large holes (not shown in FIG. 3) located in the laser gas flow path so that the plate does not substantially affect the gas flow. Electrode discharge capacitors 54 are charged prior to each pulse by pulse power module 2. During the voltage buildup on capacitor 54 a high electric field is created by two preionizers 56 which produce an ion field between electrodes 6A and 6B and as the charge on capacitors reach about 16,000 volts, a discharge across the electrode is generated producing the excimer laser pulse. Following each pulse, the gas flow created by blower 10 is sufficient to provide fresh laser gas between the electrodes in time for the next pulse occurring 1.0 milliseconds later.
The discharge chamber is operated at a pressure of about three atmospheres. These lasers operate in a pulse mode at high repetition rates such as 1000 Hz. The energy per pulse is about 10 mJ.
At wavelengths below 300 nm there are few optical materials available for building the stepper lens used for chip lithography. The most common material is fused silica. An all fused silica stepper lens will have no chromatic correction capability. The KrF excimer laser has a natural bandwidth of approximately 300 pm (full width half maximum). For a refractive lens system (with NA>0.5)--either a stepper or a scanner--this bandwidth needs to be reduced to below 1 pm to avoid chromatic aberrations. Prior art commercially-available laser systems can provide KrF laser beams at a nominal wavelength of about 248 nm with a bandwidth of about 0.8 pm (0.0008 nm). Wavelength stability on the best commercial lasers is about 0.25 pm. With these parameters stepper makers can provide stepper equipment to provide integrated circuit resolutions of about 0.3 microns.
Electric discharge lasers such as excimer lasers require high voltage power supplies. A prior art typical simplified electric circuit for an excimer laser is shown in FIG. 4. The electric circuit includes a magnetic switch circuit and a power supply for the magnetic switch circuit. Blocks representing a 1 kV prior-art power supply for the laser are shown at 3 in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. A more detailed description of the prior art power supply is shown in FIG. 5A. In the typical prior art laser system, the power supply 2 provides high voltage pulses of about 600 volts lasting about 0.2 milliseconds at frequencies such as 1000 Hz. The magnetic switch circuit shown in FIG. 4 compresses and amplifies these pulses to produce electrical discharges across the electrodes of the laser as shown in FIG. 4. These discharge pulses across the electrodes are typically about 16,000 volts with duration of about 70 ns.
Maintaining constant power supply output voltage when the laser is operating continuously at a specific repetition rate, such as 1000 Hz, is a challenge for laser suppliers. This task is made much more difficult when the laser is operated in a burst mode. A typical burst mode is one in which the laser is required to produce bursts of about 110 pulses at a rate of 1000 kHz during the bursts with the bursts being separated by a "dead time" of a fraction of a second to a few seconds. When operating in a continuous mode, the output voltage variation, to maintain relatively constant output pulse energy, is in the range of about 0.6% (about 3 to 3.5 volts). When operating in the burst mode, the variation during the first few pulses (up to about 40 pulses) is about 2.5% (about 12 to 15 volts) and precise control of pulse energy variation is not as good.
In a typical lithography excimer laser, a feedback control system measures the output laser energy of each pulse, determines the degree of deviation from a desired pulse energy, and then sends a signal to a controller to adjust the power supply voltage so that energy of subsequent pulses are closer to desired energy. In prior art systems, this feedback signal is an analog signal and it is subject to noise produced by the laser environment. This noise can result in erroneous power supply voltages being provided and can in turn result in increased variation in the output laser pulse energy.
These excimer lasers are typically required to operate continuously 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for several months, with only short outages for scheduled maintenance. One problem experienced with these prior-art lasers has been excessive wear and occasional failure of blower bearings.
The prior-art wavemeter module shown in FIG. 2 is described in FIG. 6. The wavemeter utilizes a grating for coarse measurement of wavelength and an etalon for fine wavelength measurement and contains an iron vapor absorption cell to provide an absolute calibration for the wavemeter. This prior art device focuses the coarse signal from the grating on a linear photo diode array in the center of a set of fringe rings produced by the etalon. The center fringes produced by the etalon are blocked to permit the photo diode array to detect the coarse grating signal. The prior-art wavemeter cannot meet desired accuracy requirements for wavelength measurements.
Prior-art lasers such as the one discussed above are very reliable, producing billions of pulses before the need for major maintenance, but integrated circuit fabricators are insisting on even better performance and reliability. Therefore, a need exists for a reliable, production quality excimer laser system, capable of long-term factory operation and having wavelength stability of less than 0.2 pm and a bandwidth of less than 0.6 pm.

Reliable. modular, production quality narrow-band KRF excimer laser


The invention is directed to a method for controlling the fuel quantity for an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter and includes the steps of: determining the air mass flow inducted by the engine; determining a precontrol variable for the quantity of fuel in dependence on current values of operating variables of the engine; presetting a desired lambda value for the air/fuel mixture to be supplied to the engine; checking the actual lambda value of the exhaust gas forward of the catalytic converter; comparing the desired lambda value to the actual lambda value to form a comparison; controlling the fuel quantity in dependence upon the comparison; determining the oxygen actual charge level of the catalytic converter; comparing the determined actual charge level to a desired charge level; and, then, when the actual charge level is greater than the desired charge level, lowering the desired lambda value to below the value one; otherwise, when the actual charge level is less than the desired charge level, increasing the desired lambda value above the value one. This method leads to the condition that very low toxic exhaust gas is produced even for transient operations since the catalytic converter almost always has sufficient storage capacity for further oxygen which occurs temporarily or adequate oxygen for combusting fuel which occurs temporarily. The invention is also directed to an arrangement for carrying out the method.

A method for controlling the quantity of fuel incorporating the following method steps is already known, namely: determining the air-mass flow drawn in by suction by the engine; determining a precontrol variable for the quantity of fuel in dependence upon current values of operating variables of the engine; presetting a desired lambda value for the air/fuel mixture to be supplied to the engine; checking the actual lambda value of the exhaust gas of the engine forward of the catalytic converter; and, controlling the quantity of fuel in dependence upon a comparison of desired and actual lambda values.
It is noted that a desired value is actually pregiven only for continuous controllers and two-step controllers having actual value sensors which measure linearly. In contrast, for two-step controllers having very non-linear sensors, a desired value (here a lambda value) is preset by changing, for example, the switching thresholds, the amplitude of P-jumps or integration speeds and integration times.
An improvement of the above-mentioned method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,056. The improvement of the known method is provided in this patent in that after a transient disturbance, a control to the desired lambda value is not immediately made; instead, a lambda value disturbance is arbitrarily called up which has an effect which precisely compensates for the effect of the disturbance which was caused by the transient operation. If, for example, the mixture was made too lean because of the transient operation, then an especially large amount of oxygen reaches the catalytic converter and the mixture is so controlled after the decay of the transient operation that the mixture becomes enriched temporarily with respect to the actually wanted desired value one. This enrichment takes place for so long and to such an extent that, because of the fuel supplied in excess, just that oxygen stored in the catalytic converter is combusted which had collected there in the previously-mentioned lean phase.
Furthermore, it is known that the general method mentioned initially can be modified by a second lambda probe mounted rearward of the catalytic converter. A method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,348 according to which the signal of the rearward lambda probe is utilized to so compensate the signal of the forward lambda probe that the mean value of the signal from the forward lambda probe corresponds to the mean value of the signal from the rearward lambda probe. This measure is based on the realization that a lambda probe mounted rearward of the catalytic converter deteriorates considerably less than a probe mounted forward of the catalytic converter so that the signal from the rearward probe is more reliable over a longer period of time than the signal from the forward lambda probe.
With a probe mounted rearward of the catalytic converter, it is also possible to monitor the oxygen storage capacity of a catalytic converter. Many methods are known for performing this task. All of the methods are based on the consideration that, starting with a catalytic converter which is empty as to oxygen, some time is required after setting a lean mixture until the catalytic converter is filled with oxygen and a lean mixture is measured not only at the input but also at the output of the catalytic converter. And, proceeding from a catalytic converter filled with oxygen, after adjusting a rich mixture, a corresponding time delay occurs between the time points of the announcement of the rich mixture from the forward probe and then from the rearward probe. The time delay or the mean signal amplitudes associated therewith are a measure for the storage capacity of the catalytic converter. Depending upon this storage capacity, it is advantageous to change the operating parameters of the lambda control.
Notwithstanding this change and further changes of the general method described above, it remains impossible even for a new catalytic converter to optimally hold down the exhaust gas emission from the engine having a catalytic converter in all operating conditions, especially for transient operations. Accordingly, the problem existed to provide a method and an arrangement for controlling the quantity of fuel for an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter which provide still lower emissions of toxic exhaust gas than has previously been possible.

Method and arrangement for controlling the quantity of fuel for an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter


A tissue-implantable sensor for measurement of solutes in fluids and gases, such as oxygen and glucose, is provided. The sensor includes a multiplicity of detectors, constructed and arranged to improve the probability that one or more detectors will have access to a vascular source at points in time sufficient to permit accurate measurements to be taken. Means and methods for calculating solute levels using the sensor device of the invention are also provided.

Regulation of blood glucose is impaired in diabetes by the inability of the pancreas to adequately produce the glucose-regulating hormone insulin and by the insensitivity of various tissues that use insulin to take up glucose. To correct this disregulation requires blood glucose monitoring.
Currently, glucose monitoring in the diabetic population is based largely on collecting blood by "fingersticking" and determining its glucose concentration by conventional assay. This procedure has several disadvantages, including: (1) the discomfort associated with fingersticking, which should be performed repeatedly each day; (2) the near impossibility of sufficiently frequent sampling (some blood glucose excursions require sampling every 20 minutes, or less, to accurately treat); and (3) the requirement that the user initiate blood collection, which precludes warning strategies that rely on automatic early detection. Using the present procedure, the frequent sampling regimen that would be most medically beneficial cannot be realistically expected of even the most committed patients, and automatic sampling, which would be especially useful during periods of sleep, is not available.
Implantable glucose sensors have long been considered as an alternative to intermittent monitoring of blood glucose levels by the fingerstick method of sample collection. The operability of one such sensor has been demonstrated as a central venous implant in dogs (Armour, et al., Diabetes, 39:1519–1526 (1990). Although this sensor provided a continuous recording of blood glucose, which is most advantageous for clinical applications, implantation at a central venous site poses risks of blood clot formation and vascular wall damage. The alternative is to implant the sensor in a solid tissue site and to relate the resulting signal to blood glucose concentration.
Typical sensors implanted in solid tissue sites measure the concentration of polar solutes; such as glucose, in the blood perfusing the microcirculation in the vicinity of the sensor. Glucose diffuses from nearby capillaries to the sensor surface. Because such diffusion occurs effectively only over very small distances, the sensor responds to the substrate supply only from nearby blood vessels. Conversely, solutes that are generated in the locality of the sensor may be transported away from the sensor's immediate vicinity by the local microvasculature. In either case, the local microcirculation may influence the sensor's response.
One problem that has confronted previous attempts to implant sensors in solid tissue is that the pattern of blood vessels in the vicinity of the sensor may be highly variable, and may change with time in response to the implantation procedure and the presence of an implant. In some cases, microscopic blood vessels may be close to the sensing element, resulting in substantial diffusive flux and clear, strong signals. In other cases, blood vessels are more distant and sensors appear not to function, to function weakly, or to function only with substantial delays.
Further complicating the spatial inhomogeneity of the microvasculature are the phenomena of vasomotion and variations in regional blood flow. Vasomotion describes the unsynchronized stop-start blood flow cycles that are observed in individual capillaries in living tissue. This phenomenon is characterized by spatial asynchrony—some capillaries have flow while immediate neighbors do not. Vasomotion does not occur continuously or frequently and may be most common when the tissue is otherwise at rest. But, when it occurs, the frequency is about 2 to 4 cycles per minute, with flow interruption in individual capillaries ranging from partial to complete.
Regional blood flow is also affected by posture and the position of the body, such-that localized surface pressure on a blood vessel may occlude it completely, albeit temporarily. The occurrence of such complete occlusion is, of course, not predictable.
Although using biocompatible materials can minimize the tissue response to the implant, capillary distributions or diffusion resistances may still be affected, altering the diffusive flux to the sensor. As such, there is a compelling need for a sensor designed to accommodate the variability of the microvascular structure of solid tissue.

Tissue implantable sensors for measurement of blood solutes

The Regents of the University of California


A liquid crystal display device includes a first liquid crystal display panel that displays a color image, a second liquid crystal display panel that displays a monochrome image, and a display controller that controls the display of the first liquid crystal display panel and the display of the second liquid crystal display panel. The display controller switches the display of the second liquid crystal display panel between a monochrome display that displays a monochrome image and an all-white display. In a state in which the display of the second liquid crystal display panel is the monochrome display, when a response time between predetermined gradations is greater than or equal to a predetermined first response time, the display controller switches the display of the second liquid crystal display panel from the monochrome display to the all-white display.

In the related art, liquid crystal display devices are known in which a plurality of liquid crystal display panels are stacked to improve contrast ratio. For example, International Publication No. WO2007/040139 describes a liquid crystal display device including a color liquid crystal panel positioned on an observer side and a black and white liquid crystal panel positioned on a side, opposite the surface of the observer side, of the color liquid crystal panel.
With the liquid crystal display device of International Publication No. WO2007/040139, the transmittance is the product of the transmittances of the various liquid crystal display panels and, as such, the transmittance of the liquid crystal display device decreases. However, using negative liquid crystal in a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display panel is known as a method for improving the transmittance of the liquid crystal display panel. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-15146 discloses that rises of liquid crystal molecules can be suppressed and decreases in the maximum transmittance can be suppressed by using negative liquid crystal in a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display panel.
The transmittance of a liquid crystal display device improves when applying the horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display panel that uses negative liquid crystal of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-15146 to the liquid crystal display device of International Publication No. WO2007/040139. However, typically, the response time of a liquid crystal display panel that uses negative liquid crystal is longer than the response time of a liquid crystal display panel that uses positive liquid crystal and, as such, deteriorations (display blurring, image tailing, and the like) in display quality are more likely to occur, particularly at low temperatures at which the response time is longer.

Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd.