A chemical mechanical polishing process in a wafer is polished with slurry under selected operating conditions for a first time period that avoids overpolishing; and then polished with DI water under the selected operating conditions for a second time period until the surface of the wafer is substantially planar and dishing is minimized. The process can be used in conjunction with a damascene or dual-damascene process in which tungsten is polished with respect to BPSG.

A semiconductor chip is typically a silicon die which incorporates a number of active/passive devices interconnected by a pattern of metal wires to form the desired circuit. In VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) chips, these metal patterns are multilayered and each layer of metal wires is separated from one another by a layer of an insulating material. Interlevel contacts between two planes of metal wires are made by metal studs filling via-holes which are etched through said insulating layer. Cost reduction and circuit performance increase continue to place considerable demand on the manufacturing process to add supplementary wiring levels. However, the above described via-hole based technique, although widely used today, has multiple limitations and drawbacks as the number of wiring levels increases. With three or four levels of wiring levels being the current state of the art, it is absolutely mandatory to planarize the wafer surface at least after the first level of metallization (M1) has been completed. As a matter of fact, to reduce surface topography related problems associated with a non-planar surface, planarization has become a requirement. There are a number of planarization techniques, but chem-mech polishing (CMP) has demonstrated superior performance and results and as a consequence, it has become a widely accepted planarization technique for multilevel interconnects. CMP is a surface planarization method in which a wafer is rotated against a polishing pad in the presence of an abrasive and chemically reactive slurry while applying pressure. Among a number of advantages, CMP is perfectly adapted to produce planarized tungsten studs or lands according to the so-called dual damascene process of extensive use to date.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor structure 10 at five different stages of a classic dual-damascene process. In FIG. 1-1, a P type silicon substrate 11 has different field recess oxide (ROX) regions 12 that are used to isolate the devices formed in the substrate. In FIG. 1-1, only a single NFET 13 is shown for sake of simplicity. NFET 13 includes two diffused regions 14, typically the source and the drain regions, and a doped polysilicon gate electrode 15. Gate electrode 15 is isolated from substrate 11 by a thin dielectric layer 16. Typically, a layer of titanium di-silicide (TiSi.sub.2) is deposited on the diffused regions of the NFET 13 to reduce the contact resistance of the ohmic contacts to be subsequently formed therewith. A conductive doped polysilicon land 17 is formed atop a ROX region 12 as shown in the left hand part of FIG. 1-1. Spacers 18 are provided on the sidewalls of gate electrode 15 and polysilicon land 17 and total isolation thereof is achieved by an insulating cap (not shown). Insulating layers of Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 19 and borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) 20 conformally coat the surface of structure 10.
The irregular surface of BPSG layer 20 is then planarized using a conventional CMP step adapted to polish the BPSG material. The structure 10 with a planar main surface 21 is shown in FIG. 1-2. Next, two different sized openings 22 and 23 are etched through Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer 19 and BPSG layer 20 to expose the top portion of polysilicon land 17 and polysilicon gate 15 respectively. Narrow opening 22, comprised of parts 22a and 22b, will be used as a via-hole for an electrical contact, while wide opening 23, comprised of parts 23a and 23b, is designed for receiving a conductive line or conductor. At this stage of the dual damascene process, the resulting structure is shown in FIG. 1-3. To that end, a two-step etch process is used, to ensure that each opening is comprised of these two parts. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 1-4, a titanium nitride (TiN) liner layer 24 and a tungsten layer 25 are conformally deposited in sequence onto the structure 10 top surface, for instance by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). As apparent from FIG. 1-4, the structure 10 surface is bumpy and therefore needs to be planarized again to remove the tungsten material in excess with respect to BPSG layer 20 main surface 21. This operation is also generally achieved by a CMP process. A detailed description of optimized operating conditions of a conventional CMP process for tungsten planarization will be given hereinbelow. The structure at the final stage of the dual damascene process, after tungsten planarization, is shown in FIG. 1-5. The remaining portions of tungsten layer 25 that fill openings 22 and 23 will be referred to as tungsten studs and will bear numerals 26 and 27 respectively. For consistency, stud 26 is comprised of parts 26a and 26b, while stud 27 is comprised of parts 27a and 27b as a result of the dual damascene process. Tungsten studs 26 and 27 form an electrical contact with the top surface of polysilicon land 17 and polysilicon gate 15 respectively. Tungsten studs 26 and 27 represent the M1 level of metallization. As apparent from FIG. 1-5, the width Wb of the upper part 27b of stud 27 is greater than the width Wa of the upper part 26b of stud 26 at the structure 10 surface. This is because part 27b will be used as a conductor as mentioned above, unlike part 26b which will be used as a contact. For convenience, upper parts 26b and 27b will be referred to hereinbelow as the narrow and wide tungsten lands. Unfortunately, at this ultimate stage of the dual damascene process, the surface of structure 10 is not as flat as it should be, but rather irregular as a result of the CMP process for tungsten planarization. As is clear from FIG. 1-5, the structure 10 surface exhibits a typical depression or cusp 28 so that the wide tungsten land 27b is not perfectly coplanar with the main surface 21 of the BPSG layer 20.
There are two causes to that cusp formation. First, the center region of the wafer is etched faster than the edge (or periphery) region and second, the wide tungsten lands (e.g. 27b) are etched faster than the narrow tungsten lands (e.g. 26b) irrespective of their location at the surface of the wafer. The problem is thus more acute for the wide tungsten lands situated at the center of the wafer. This erosion phenomena is referred to in the technical literature as the "dishing" effect. The cusp 28 (FIG. 1-5) produced during the conventional CMP process results from an undesired thinning of the thickness E of the wide tungsten land 27b. The dishing thus reflects an over-polishing of the wide tungsten lands which is detrimental to the sheet resistance thereof. As a matter of fact, the sheet resistance Rs linearly increases as the land thickness E decreases according to equation Rs=.rho./E wherein .rho. is the tungsten resistivity and may reach values outside the upper limit that is acceptable. The increase of the sheet resistance, in turn causes an increase of the land electrical resistance R which finally may lead to an unacceptable degradation of the overall device/circuit performance. However, over-polishing is necessary because under-polishing would even be a worse case with potential electrical shorts between adjacent wide tungsten lands. Therefore, the sheet resistance Rs of the wide tungsten lands and more particularly of those located at the center of the wafer, is an essential parameter of the specifications at this stage of the CMP process. If the sheet resistivity is too high, the wafer must be rejected. It is thus highly desired to have the sheet resistance of the wide tungsten lands maintained around the nominal value and it must be less than the acceptable limit given by the specifications to avoid wafer waste. As a consequence, from a production standpoint, the uniformity of the wide tungsten land sheet resistance around the nominal value, wafer to wafer in a same lot, and the reproducibility of this uniformity, lot to lot, are therefore important requirements.
Accordingly, much effort has been directed so far to modify the CMP processes and equipment in a continuous attempt to reduce the dishing effect and its negative impact on the wide tungsten land sheet resistance uniformity, in particular by optimizing the polishing rate. But, because the polishing time is determined by polishing a sample wafer, it significantly varies with a number of process parameters such as the tungsten deposition uniformity, so that the results of the CMP process vary from one wafer to another even in a same lot. As a result, in the case of tungsten planarization with a conventional CMP process, the tolerance (so-called the process window) on the polishing time is close to zero. The wafers are either under-polished (thus they require a new CMP pass to avoid the potential shorts between lands mentioned above) or over-polished which may cause a sheet resistance increase and in turn lead to the rejection of the wafer. The nominal sheet resistance value is very seldom attained on an uniform basis.
The experimental results given below illustrate the consequences of the dishing effect with a conventional CMP process. The wafers to be polished include the structure 10 of FIG. 1 wherein the BPSG layer 20 has a nominal thickness of 2000 nm and the tungsten layer 25 has a nominal thickness of 1600 nm (final thickness E remaining in land 27b: 1100 nm). The aim is to have a land 27b with a sheet resistance Rs of about 0.12 ohms/sq, the upper acceptable limit being of about 0.20 ohms/sq. The wafers were polished with a slurry consisting of alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) and ferric nitrate (Fe.sub.2 (NO.sub.3).sub.3) diluted in de-ionized (DI) water. The table/carrier speed ratio which is a key parameter of the CMP process was selected as 25/75 rpm as the best compromise for an optimized process. Nine lots of 25 wafers were processed according to the following operating conditions. The polishing time was determined using a sample wafer of the lot.
The conventional CMP process described below is in reality comprised of a preliminary step and a main step.
Preliminary step (slurry: Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 /Fe.sub.2 (NO.sub.3).sub.3 /DI water)
(1) Table/carrier speed: 25/75 rpm PA0 (2) Backside air: 1 psi PA0 (3) Arm oscillation: 10 mm PA0 (4) Oscillation speed: 10 mm/min PA0 (5) Slurry flow rate: 300 cc/min PA0 (6) Polish pressure: 2 psi PA0 (7) Pad temperature: 20.+-.5.degree. C. PA0 (8) Polishing time: 5 s PA0 (1) Table/carrier speed: 25/75 rpm PA0 (2) Backside air: 3 psi PA0 (3) Arm oscillation: 10 mm PA0 (4) Oscillation speed: 10 mm/min PA0 (5) Slurry flow rate: 100 cc/min PA0 (6) Polish pressure: 3.5 psi PA0 (7) Pad temperature: 20.+-.5.degree. C. PA0 (8) Polishing time: 600 s
Main step (slurry: Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 /F.sub.e 2(NO.sub.3).sub.3 /DI water)
FIG. 2 provides a physical representation of the thinning of a wide tungsten land 27b having a width Wb equal to 600 .mu.m caused by the dishing effect when measured with a profilometer for a wafer randomly selected among the nine lots. A profilometer allows an indirect measure of the dishing effect through a simple electrical resistance measurement. This measurement is based on equation R=.rho..multidot.L/S wherein .rho. is the tungsten resistivity, L and S are respectively the length and the section of the tungsten land 27b, because section S is a function of the land thickness E subject to thinning. Model DEKTAK sold by SLOAN TECHNOLOGY Corp., Santa Barbara, Calif., U.S.A. is adequate in all respects. As apparent from curve 29 in FIG. 2 which illustrates the depression 28 of FIG. 1-5, the thinning is not negligible in the center of the tungsten land 27b. In this particular case of this selected wafer, the height H of the depression is approximately equal to 350 nm. This value has to be compared with the thickness of 1100 nm of tungsten land 27b. More generally, from a number of experiments, it was observed that this height was varying between 350 and 550 nm.
In FIG. 3, curves 30 and 31 show the extreme variations of the average tungsten sheet resistance Rs of a few wide tungsten lands situated at different locations on the wafer (center/edge) for each wafer of these nine lots. The nominal value given by the specifications is equal to 0.12 ohms/sq. These sheet resistance variations between wafers of a same lot and between wafers of different lots are clearly not acceptable in the manufacture of advanced ICs. As apparent from FIG. 3, except for lots bearing numbers 7 and 9, all other runs have some wafers whose sheet resistance is above the upper limit given by the specifications which is 0.20 ohms/sq in this case. These wafers must be rejected which has a non-negligible cost.
In essence, although CMP is the most commonly polishing technique used today for planarizing semiconductor wafers at the final stage of the dual damascene process, the sheet resistance non uniformity of the wide tungsten lands at the center of the wafer, wafer to wafer and lot to lot (i.e. the reproducibility), remains a major concern.

Chemical-mechanical polishing of semiconductor wafers

International Business Machines Corporation


A package structure of a directly modulated laser in a photonics module includes a thermoelectric cooler including multiple conductor traces formed in a cool surface. The package structure further includes a directly modulated laser (DML) chip having a first electrode being attached with the cool surface and a second electrode at a distance away from the cool surface. Additionally, the package structure includes an interposer having a plurality of through-holes formed between a first surface to a second surface. The first surface is mounted to the cool surface such that each through-hole is aligned with one of the multiple conductor traces and the second surface being leveled with the second electrode. Moreover, the package structure includes a driver disposed on the second surface of the interposer with at least a galvanically coupled output port coupled directly to the second electrode of the DML chip.

The present disclosure is related to a photonic package structure, more particularly, to a package structure for disposing a flip-chip driver directly on a substrate or via an interposer to have a galvanically coupled output directly connected to a directly modulated laser (DML) chip with minimized inductance in a photonics transceiver module.
As science and technology are progressing rapidly, processing speed and capacity of the computer increase correspondingly. The communication transmission or reception using the traditional cable is limited to bandwidth and transmission speed of the traditional cable, but the mass information transmission required in modern life causes the traditional communication transmission overload. To address such requirements, the optical fiber transmission system replaces the traditional communication transmission system gradually. The optical fiber transmission system does not have bandwidth limitation, and also has advantages of high speed transmission, long transmission distance, its material is impervious to electromagnetic waves. Therefore, the electronics industry performs research toward optical fiber transmission which will become the mainstream in the future. Said optical communication is a technology in that light waves function as signal carriers and transmitted between two nodes via the optical fiber. Field of optical communication can be divided into optical communication side and electric communication side according to transmission medium. A key component of the optical communication side is optical transceiver which is configured to receive optical signals coming from optical fibers and convert to electrical signals capable of being processed by an IC, or to use a modulated laser chip to generate optical signals based on electrical signals and transmit the optical signals via optical fibers.
A state-of-art optical transceiver module is integrated with silicon photonics technology and packaged in a compact photonics module. In the photonics module, a directly modulated laser (DML) chip is usually coupled with a driver chip to receive control signals for generating optical signals to be transmitted into the optical fibers. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a driver chip being coupled with a DML chip via wirebonds according to a conventional packaging scheme. The wirebond, however, has high inductance, which distorts the current signal flowing into the DML. For example, a mere 200 pH inductance caused by a wirebond can substantially distort PAM-4 signal eye diagrams for ≥25 Gbaud rate data transmission. Therefore, an improved packaging technique is desired for coupling the driver chip with the DML chip. This does also potentially lower the power dissipation since electric circuitry required for signal conditioning might be omitted.

Packaging of a directly modulated laser chip in photonics module


This disclosure provides a system for obtaining genetically altered primate pluripotent stem (pPS) cells. The role of the feeder cells is replaced by supporting the culture on an extracellular matrix, and culturing the cells in a conditioned medium. The cells can be genetically altered with a viral vector or DNA/lipid complex, and then selected for successful transfection by drug-resistant phenotype in the transfected cells. The system allows for bulk proliferation of genetically altered pPS cells as important products for use in human therapy or drug screening.

Recent discoveries have raised expectations that stem cells may be a source of replacement cells and tissues that are damaged in the course of disease, infection, or because of congenital abnormalities. Various types of putative stem cells differentiate when they divide, maturing into cells that can carry out the unique functions of particular tissues, such as the heart, the liver, or the brain. A particularly important discovery has been the development of pluripotent stem cells, which are thought to have the potential to differentiate into almost any cell type.
Early work on pluripotent stem cells was done in mice (reviewed in Robertson, Meth. Cell Biol. 75:173, 1997; and Pedersen, Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 6:543, 1994). Mouse stem cells can be isolated from both early embryonic cells and germinal tissue. Desirable characteristics of pluripotent stem cells are that they be capable of indefinite proliferation in vitro in an undifferentiated state, retain a normal karyotype, and retain the potential to differentiate to derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers (endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm). Mouse ES cells can be kept in the undifferentiated cells simply by having leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in the medium (Williams et al., Nature. 15:684, 1988). Thus, they can be genetically altered and drug selected in culture systems not containing feeder cells.
The development of preparations of human pluripotent stem cells has involved overcoming a number of technical difficulties, which makes them more challenging to grow and manipulate than mouse cells.
Thomson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,780; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:7844, 1995) were the first to successfully isolate and propagate pluripotent stem cells from primates. They subsequently derived human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines from human blastocysts (Science 282:114, 1998). Gearhart and coworkers derived human embryonic germ (hEG) cell lines from fetal gonadal tissue (Shambloff et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:13726, 1998; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,622). Both hES and hEG cells are capable of long-term proliferation in vitro without differentiating, they have a normal karyotype, and they remain capable of producing a number of different cell types. Because of this, they hold considerable promise for use in human therapy, acting as a reservoir for regeneration of almost any tissue compromised by genetic abnormality, trauma, or a disease condition.
Thomson et al. teach that human ES cells require culturing on feeder cells in order to prevent them from differentiating. This represents a significant challenge to the usual methods of making genetically altered cells.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Human embryonic stem cells having genetic modifications


A lipid-improving agent containing a triglyceride(s) where a poly-unsaturated fatty acid is bonded to 2-position of a triglyceride(s).

Fat is an important nutrient the same as protein and saccharide and it is particularly useful as a high energy source. However, because fat is high in calories (9 kcal/g), it promotes obesity and is a cause for problems such as lifestyle-related illnesses. Actually, when hyperlipemia (hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia) is found, a diet therapy is adopted as a first method of treatment and, when appropriate dietetic therapy and movement therapy are applied, the condition often improves and may become normalized. However, since fat enhances appetite, people today often eat foods containing large amounts of fat, and in advanced countries, where food is plentiful, excess fat intake is becoming a problem.
Most often, hypertriglyceridemia is a result of over eating, insufficient movement, obesity and excessive consumption of alcohol, and therefore, there are many cases where hypertension and diabetes mellitus occur as complications at the same time. Therefore, in many cases where there are multiple risk factors or where it is hard to improve daily lifestyle habits, in order to prevent the onset of ischemic heart diseases, a positive drug therapy is carried out.
With regard to drugs for hypertriglyceridemia, there are drugs of a fibrate type (in Japan, bezafibrate) (Bezatol SR® and Bezalip®) and fenofibrate (Lipantil®) are known as fibrate type drugs of the second generation. The main action of mechanism of the fibrate type drugs is mediated by activation of transcription factor α of an intranuclear receptor type (PPARα: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α).
Therefore, β-oxidation of fatty acid is promoted and production of hepatic triglyceride(s) lowers, and as a result, production of VLDL-TG is suppressed. In addition, activation of PPARα enhances an LPL activity and catabolism of triglyceride(s)-rich lipoprotein is accelerated. Further, an increase in the production of apo A I and A II and suppression of production of apo C III are induced. In addition, it has been noted that drugs of a fibrate type act to suppress cholesterol synthesis in the liver, promote sensitivity to insulin and promote discharge of cholesterol in bile. As a result, drugs of a fibrate type lower a triglyceride(s) concentration in serum by 20-50% and increase HDL-cholesterol by 10-15%.
As to other drugs, preparations of nicotinic acid (niceritrol (Perycit®) and nicomol (Cholexamin®)) have been found to be useful for hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia of a mixed type (accompanied by hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia and hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia). The main action mechanism of drugs of a nicotine type is that hepatic triglyceride(s) is lowered by inhibition of fatty acid synthesis, suppression of mobilization of fatty acid to the liver and suppression of esterification of hepatic fatty acid. At present, drugs of a fibrate type are used as the first choice, but in drug therapy, side effects such as hepatic function disorder, renal function disorder and myopathy must be noted. In addition, most side effects of drugs are expressed within six months after initiation of administration, and therefore, it is important to watch for the onset of side effects when the effectiveness of the drug is tested during the period of six months or, at least three to four months, after the administration is started or the dosage is increased. Accordingly, very careful attention is necessary during the administration of drugs, and it is not possible to administer such drugs for the purpose of prevention.
At present, as a preventive means, development of substitutes for fat/oil and non-absorbing fat/oil has been carried out, an example being sucrose fatty acid polyester (U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,186). Since it is discharged without being absorbed in vivo, the amount of calories derived from fat/oil is 0 kcal/g. However, absorption of fat-soluble vitamins is inhibited, and essential fatty acids are not supplied, and therefore, it is unable to be used as a commonly-used fat/oil. Under the circumstances, diacylglyceride has been developed in recent years as a source for supplying essential fatty acids.
In diacylglyceride, fatty acids are bonded mostly to 1,3-positions of a triglyceride(s), and upon being absorbed, fatty acids are cut out by a pancreatic lipase which is specific to 1,3-positions and the resulting glyceride and fatty acids are absorbed from the intestine. However, they are not reconstructed to a triglyceride(s) in epidermal cells of the small intestine but are absorbed with the portal vein and carried to the liver directly. Accordingly, accumulation of fat is suppressed. (In the case of a triglyceride(s), 2-acylmonoglyceride and fatty acid are absorbed in the intestine, reconstructed to a triglyceride(s) in epidermal cells of the small intestine, incorporated with chylomicron, secreted into lymph and circulate through the peripheral tissues.)
However, none of the developed fat/oil substitutes have the effect of drugs to burn fat in vivo (β-oxidation) and the effect is limited as well. Although inhibitors for pancreatic lipase to suppress absorption have been developed as well, their effect is also limited.

Lipid-improving agent and composition containing lipid-improving agent


To provide an excimer laser device and method in which the frequency of full gas exchange within the laser chamber is reduced, and more preferably full gas exchange is made unnecessary.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an excimer laser device and method in which the frequency of full gas exchange within the laser chamber is reduced, and more preferably full gas exchange is made unnecessary.
2. Description of the Related Art
Deterioration of Laser Gas and Countermeasures Against It
In excimer laser devices, a mixture of halogen gas, noble gas, and buffer gas is enclosed within the laser chamber for generating laser oscillations. As the excimer laser device is operated, the halogen gas enclosed in the laser chamber is consumed, and the reduction in halogen gas causes the output light energy of the excimer laser to reduce. In the following, explanations are provided as examples for a KrF excimer laser and an ArF excimer laser, which use fluorine gas as the halogen gas.
The main reason for the reduction in fluorine gas is parts within the laser chamber in contact with the fluorine gas reacting with the fluorine gas to form fluorides. Also, besides reduction in fluorine gas due to the generation of these fluorides, the output light energy is reduced by various impurities (oxygen and water) from the outside atmosphere passing the O-ring and becoming mixed with the laser gas.
Hence conventionally Japanese Patent No. 2701184 has disclosed technology to prevent the reduction of output light energy. The following is a summary of the method. As the laser device is operated, when the measured value of laser output light energy falls below a target value, the charging voltage value of a condenser is increased. The charging voltage value is gradually increased, and when it reaches a predetermined upper limit value, the laser chamber is replenished with a small amount of new gas. Then a part of the laser gas, corresponding to the amount of the pressure rise due to replenishment, is exhausted. Gas exchanging by replenishing with a small amount of gas in the laser chamber and then discharging part of the gas is called "partial gas exchange". The timing of partial gas exchange can be based upon parameters other than the charging voltage value (for example, the Japanese Patent No. 2701184 refers to the number of laser pulse oscillations).
Replenishing with a small amount of new gas replenishes the reduction in fluorine gas due to generation of fluorides, and restores the original partial pressure of fluorine gas. Also, discharging part of the laser gas exhausts part of the fluorides and impurities that entered the laser chamber from outside. In addition, the total gas pressure in the laser chamber is restored to the original total gas pressure. In other words, by partial gas exchange the concentration of impurities in the laser chamber is reduced, and the laser output light energy is increased (restored) corresponding to the amount by which the concentration of impurities is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to continue operating the excimer laser device while maintaining the output light energy at the required level and the charging voltage value within the appropriate range.
Laser Gas Control Device
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the device that controls the replenishment of laser gas as described above. Laser gas is enclosed within a laser chamber 1. An ArF excimer laser is shown in the figure, so the laser gas is a mixture of fluorine gas, Ar gas, and Ne gas. If the partial pressure ratio (molar concentration ratio:unit %) of fluorine gas, Ar gas, and Ne gas is a:b:c, the partial pressure ratio a:b:c is for example 0.1:3.5:96.4. Also, to stabilize operation of the laser about 10 ppm of Xe gas is also sometimes added.
The power supply 2 includes mainly a charger, a condenser, and a magnetic compression circuit. The power supply 2 provides a pulsed high voltage between exhaust electrodes, which are not shown in the drawings, in the laser chamber 1. The laser gas between the electrodes generates light due to electrical exhaust when dielectric breakdown voltage is reached, and laser oscillations start. In accordance with the laser oscillations, output laser light 6 is emitted from the laser chamber 1.
The various operation parameters of the laser (total gas pressure within the laser chamber 1, output light energy, oscillation frequency, etc.) are input to a controller 3, which controls the laser based upon these values. The controller 3 outputs the charging voltage value of the charger to the power supply 2 as the instruction value.
The total gas pressure in the laser chamber 1 is measured by a pressure monitor 4, and the output light energy is measured by an output monitor 5. Each measured value is transmitted to the controller 3.
A first gas supply source 7 and a second gas supply source 8 are cylinders filled with laser gas to be supplied to the laser chamber 1. The partial pressure ratio of the gas within the first gas supply source 7 is F2:Ar:Ne=n×a:b:c (n>1). The partial pressure ratio of the gas within the second gas supply source 8 is Ar:Ne=b:c. The gas supply sources 7, 8 and the laser chamber 1 are connected by gas piping 10, 12, and valves 9, 11 are provided on the piping 10, 12. Also, the laser chamber 1 and an exhaust pump 13 are connected by a gas piping 14, and a valve 15 is provided on the piping 14.
The controller 3 controls the opening and closing of valves 9, 11 to carry out partial gas exchange. In a partial gas exchange, first a prescribed amount of laser gas is supplied to the laser chamber 1 from the gas supply sources 7, 8. Then laser gas corresponding to the amount by which the gas pressure has risen due to the replenishment is exhausted from the laser chamber 1 using the exhaust pump 13.
Example of Control of Partial Gas Exchange
FIG. 2 shows an example of partial gas exchange control flow. First, output light energy target value Et, the optimum control charging voltage range Vmin to Vmax (minimum value to maximum value), the threshold value Np of the pulse oscillation number N (timing frequency of carrying out partial gas exchange), and the amount of gas exchanged in one partial gas exchange process ΔG are input (Step S1). The optimum control charging voltage is the voltage range for which the output light energy variation is small and laser operation is stable. The optimum control charging voltage range is determined from tests.
Laser oscillation is started using the initial charging voltage Vinit (>Vmin), and for each pulse the output light energy E, the charging voltage instruction value V, and the pulse oscillation number N is measured (Step S2). The pulse oscillation number N is reckoned from when the laser gas is totally exchanged or from when latest partial gas exchange is carried out. In other words, when the laser gas is exchanged, N is cleared and the count starts again from one.
Also, the output light energy measured value E is compared with the output light energy target value Et (Step S3). If E<Et, the charging voltage value used for the next pulse oscillation is increased so that the output light energy E approaches the target value Et. In other words, to the charging voltage in the previous pulse oscillation VN a prescribed voltage value ΔV=g×(Et−E) corresponding to the energy difference (Et−E) is added, and this value is used as the charging voltage VN+1 in the next pulse oscillation (Step S4). Here g is a proportional constant. If E≈Et, then VN+1=VN (Step S5). If E>Et the charging voltage value used in the next pulse oscillation is reduced so that the output light energy approaches the target value Et. In other words, to the charging voltage in the previous pulse oscillation VN a prescribed voltage value ΔV2=g×(E−Et) corresponding to the energy difference (E−Et) is subtracted, and this value is used as the charging voltage VN+1 in the next pulse oscillation (Step S6). Also, the charging voltage VN+1 is compared with the charging voltage upper limit value Vmax (Step S10), and if VN+1<Vmax the procedure returns to Step S2 and a similar process is repeated. When VN+1≧Vmax the excimer laser device stops operating (Step S11). Thereafter all the gas in the laser chamber is exchanged, for example.
In parallel with the output light energy control in Steps S3 to S6, Step S10 and Step S11, the measured pulse oscillation number N is compared with the threshold value Np (Step S7). If N<Np, the procedure returns to Step S2 and a similar control is repeated. If N=Np, the partial gas exchange control explained in FIG. 1 is carried out (Step S8, Step S9), the procedure returns to Step S2, and a similar control is repeated.
As the pulse oscillation number N increases the concentration of fluorine gas in the in the laser gas reduces. Also the concentration of impurities increases, so in order to maintain the output light energy target value Et, the necessary charging voltage is gradually increased. If partial gas exchange is not carried out the charging voltage instruction value V will reach the upper limit value Vmax, at which point a full exchange of the laser gas is carried out. In other words, partial gas exchange is a control that reduces the frequency of full exchange of laser gas by reducing the charging voltage instruction value V by restoring the partial pressure ratio of fluorine gas to the original value before the charging voltage instruction value V increases to reach the upper limit value Vmax, and by discharging part of the impurities in the laser chamber. Nonetheless the impurities are not completely exhausted, so eventually the charging voltage instruction value V will reach the upper limit value Vmax, and a full exchange of laser gas must be carried out.
Next the meaning of the mixing ratios of the gas in the first gas supply source 7 and the second gas supply source 8 is explained. The partial pressure ratio a:b:c within the laser chamber 1 is determined based upon the range for which the laser operates well. Good operation means the output light energy is high (oscillation efficiency is high), variation of output light energy is small, the oscillation spectrum width is narrow for narrow spectrum excimer lasers for semiconductor lithography, and so on.
The partial pressure ratio of the halogen gas, noble gas, and buffer gas in the mixed gas of the first gas supply source 7 is n×a:b:c (n>1). The partial pressure ratio of the noble gas and buffer gas in the mixed gas of the second gas supply source 8 is b:c. Therefore, by replenishing the laser chamber 1 with gas from the two gas supply sources 7, 8 in any proportion, the partial pressure ratio of noble gas and buffer gas in the laser chamber 1 is maintained at b:c. Also, the concentration of fluorine gas in the first gas supply source 7 is n×a (n>1), which is higher than the target value a for partial pressure ratio in the laser chamber 1. Therefore, by adjusting the gas supply ratio from the two gas supply sources 7, 8 it is possible to approach the target value of partial pressure ratio a for fluorine gas in the laser chamber 1. The supply ratio may be obtained by directly measuring the partial pressure ratio of fluorine and determining the deficit, or by determining in advance the correlation between fluorine gas reduction amount and pulse oscillation number N, and obtaining the supply ratio using this correlation.
In the partial gas exchange disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 2701184, partial gas exchange can be carried out while the laser is operating. Therefore there is no necessity to stop the semiconductor lithography process, and by supplying new gas the frequency of full laser gas exchange can be reduced.
However, in the Japanese Patent No. 2701184 when the charging voltage instruction value V reaches the upper limit value Vmax, a full laser gas exchange is carried out. To fully exchange the laser gas, laser operation is stopped, so for example the semiconductor lithography process is stopped, which has the problem that production throughput is reduced.

Excimer laser device, laser gas exchange method and partial gas exchange quantity calculation method

Abstract: The gas supply device and gas exhaust device are controlled so that the laser gas in the laser chamber is partially exchanged in a gas exchange quantity that maintains the quantity of impurities in the laser chamber at or below a fixed level. Also, the gas exchange quantity is obtained using the total quantity of output light energy reduction A, the total gas pressure in the laser chamber P, and output light energy reduction quantity per unit time k, for the case where partial gas exchange is repeated infinitely in the laser chamber.


A flexible display device (10) is disclosed. The flexible display device comprises a flexible substrate (12), a number of display pixels (14) arranged in a form of rows and columns on the surface of the substrate, a number of grooves (16) in the surface of the substrate each of which is formed in between adjacent two rows or columns of the display pixels (14), and connection lines (18) for electrically interconnecting the plurality of display pixels (14), thereby providing flexibility to the display device and, at the same time, minimizing the propagation of mechanical stress caused when the display device is bent or rolled. A method of manufacturing the display device is also disclosed.

In general, a display panel device consists of a substrate layer, a number of display pixels disposed on the surface of the substrate, and pixel switching circuitry. The display pixels are arranged in a form of plural rows and columns.
Conventionally, flexible substrates such as a plastic substrate have been utilized to provide a mechanical flexibility to display devices. However, there has been a limitation to the degree of flexibility since the flexibility of the display panel relies on only that of the plastic substrate. In addition, the mechanical stress caused by bending or flexing is propagated throughout the whole displaying area, particularly the display pixels. Therefore, the display performance characteristics of the pixels are adversely affected so that it can not work properly as a display device, especially when excessively bent or severely flexed.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve the conventional problems noted above and to provide a novel flexible display device in which its flexibility can be maximized and the propagation of mechanical stress can be minimized, without damaging the display performance.


A micro-actuator of the invention includes a support frame having a base, a moving plate, a leading beam to connect the base with the moving plate; and two slider holding arms extending from both sides of the moving plate; at least one piezoelectric element bonding to the support frame to connect a free end of the base with the moving plate; wherein the moving plate sways in a first direction or in a second direction when the at least one piezoelectric element is actuated. The invention also discloses a head gimbal assembly and a disk drive unit using the micro-actuator.

Disk drives are information storage devices that use magnetic media to store data. A traditional disk drive includes a magnetic disk and a drive arm for driving a HAG with a slider mounted thereon. The disk is mounted on a spindle motor which causes the disk to spin. A primary actuation, such as voice-coil motor (VCM) is provided for controlling the motion of the drive arm and, in turn, controlling the slider to move from track to track across the surface of the disk, thereby enabling the slider to read data from or write data to the disk. In operation, a lift force is generated by the aerodynamic interaction between the slider and the spinning magnetic disk. The lift force is opposed by equal and opposite spring forces applied by the suspension of the HAG such that a predetermined flying height above the surface of the spinning disk is maintained over a full radial stroke of the drive arm.
However, Because of the inherent tolerance (dynamic play) resulting from VCM that exists in the placement of the slider, the slider cannot achieve quick and fine position control which adversely impacts the ability of the slider to accurately read data from and write data to the disk. As a result, a secondary actuation so called dual stage micro-actuator is provided in the HAG in order to improve positional control of the slider.
FIG. 1a illustrates a traditional HAG 277 of a conventional disk drive with such a dual stage micro-actuator 205. The dual stage micro-actuator 205 corrects the displacement of a slider 203 on a much smaller scale, as compared to the VCM, in order to compensate for the resonance tolerance of the VCM and the HAG. The micro-actuator 205 enables, for example, the use of a smaller recording track pitch, and can increase the "tracks-per-inch" (TPI) value by 50% for the disk drive unit, as well as provide an advantageous quickly seeking and/or settle action for HDD and reduction in the head seeking and settling time. Thus, the micro-actuator 205 enables the disk drive device to have a significant increase in the surface recording density of the information storage disks used therein.
Referring to FIGS. 1a and 1b, the micro-actuator 205 has a ceramic U-shaped frame 297 that comprises two ceramic beams 207 with two PZT pieces (not labeled) on each side thereof. The micro-actuator 205 is physically coupling to a suspension 213, and there are three electrical connection balls 209 (gold ball bonding or solder bump bonding, GBB or SBB) to couple the micro-actuator 205 to the suspension traces 210 in one side of the ceramic beam 207. In addition, there are four balls 208 (GBB or SBB) to couple the slider 203 to the suspension 213 in the slider training edge for electrical connection. FIG. 2 shows a detailed process of inserting the slider 203 into the micro-actuator 205. The slider 203 is bonded with the two ceramic beams 207 at two points 206 by epoxy dots 212 so as to make the motion of the slider 203 independent of the drive arm.
When power supply is applied through the suspension traces 210, the PZT micro-actuator 205 can expand or contract to cause the U-shaped frame 297 deform and then make the slider 203 move along a radial direction on the disk 101. Thus a position fine adjustment can be attained.
However, the HAG 277 with the micro-actuator 205 is very difficult to manufacture. At first, inserting and bonding the slider 203 to the micro-actuator 205 is difficult. Secondly, the epoxy dot 212 is very difficult to control, that is, the length and height of the epoxy dot 212 must be controlled in a suitable range for ensuring a good working performance of the HAG 277.
Additionally, the micro-actuator 105 has an additional mass (the U-shaped frame 297), which not only influence the static performance, but also influence the dynamic performance of the suspension 213, such as the resonance performance, so as to reduce resonance frequency and increase the gain of the suspension 213.
Also, because the U-shaped frame 297 of the micro-actuator 205 are very brittle so as to produce a not perfect shock performance. In addition, it is also a other problem that no effective solution to identify the potential micro crack of the U-shaped frame 297. Furthermore, during the voltage applied to the PZT micro-actuator or normal operation, the back and forth bending of the brittle micro-actuator 205 may probably generate the particle and then influence the work performance of the micro-actuator 205.
In the manufacture process of HAG 277, since the HAG 277 has a complex configuration, the slider 203 must tilt during bonding the slider 203 to the U-shaped frame 297, and the U-shaped frame 297 must tilt during bonding the U-shaped frame 297 with the slider 203 to the suspension 213. Both will influence the static attitude of the HAG 277 and accordingly increase the difficulty of manufacturing the HAG 277.
It is well known that polishing is a more effective and widely used cleaning method for the micro contamination in the air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider. However, this cleaning method cannot be used in the above-mentioned HAG 277 because there is a potential danger to damage the U-shaped frame 297 of the micro-actuator 205.
At last, since the slider 203 is supported by the ceramic U-shaped frame 297, it is difficult to ground the slider 203 and suspension to get an electro static discharge (ESD) protection.
Hence it is desired to provide a micro-actuator, head gimbal assembly, disk drive which can overcome the foregoing drawbacks of the related art.

Sway-type micro-actuator with slider holding arms for a disk drive head gimbal assembly


A method of winding fibers on a mandrel, the wound fibers being in tension, includes providing a source of fibers, imposing a torque on the source that resists dispensing the fibers from the source to exert a tension on the fibers, adding ultra-violet sensitive material that is polymerized by exposure to ultra-violet light to a resin matrix, impregnating dispensed fibers with the additive containing resin matrix, rotating a mandrel to wind the impregnated fibers on the mandrel, the rotation of the mandrel acting to overcome the torque on the source and putting the fibers in tension, and in situ, quasi instantaneously polymerizing the additive containing resin matrix on the mandrel by means of exposing the additive containing resin matrix to ultra-violet light for a selected period of time, such polymerization acting to lock in the tension in the fibers at the time of polymerization. A rail gun fabricated by means of the above method is further included.

Filament winding is a well-known process that has been used in various industries to manufacture products having high structural efficiency in terms of strength and stiffness. Filament winding generally involves winding a fiber bundle that is impregnated with a thermosetting or, less generally, a thermoplastic resin matrix onto a suitably shaped mandrel or mold. Frequently, in this process, the mandrel is a body of revolution, but this does not have to be the case. The fiber bundle typically referred to as "tow" in the case of carbon or graphite or "roving" in the case of glass, is applied to the mandrel under tension. During filament winding, tension is applied to both maintain fiber collimation and to create radial stress ("prestress") in the component being wound. Once the mandrel is covered to the desired thickness, the mandrel is often heated in an oven autoclave to cure or set the resin. Following curing, the mandrel may be removed from the wound fiber and a hollow, high-efficiency structure remains. Alternatively, the prestressed fiber is left in place to provide a prestressed layer on the mandrel. Such is the case when the mandrel forms a rail gun or a gun barrel.
Prestressing has been used for centuries dating back to times of the Napoleonic Wars when wire was wrapped under tension onto cast cannon barrels to improve barrel life. This process generally was referred to as "autofrettaging" for metallic structures. Prestressing materials this way is known as an important process for manufacturing parts requiring substantial fatigue strength and structural integrity. Today, prestressing is used in a variety of industrial and military applications.
Wet filament winding is one type of filament winding. In wet filament winding, a thermoset resin is impregnated into dry fibers during the filament winding operation. However, during this process, radial stress created by fiber tension causes the resin to flow or migrate. When the resin migrates this way, tension begins to be lost. This problem is exacerbated during curing (polymerization) under heat, which typically causes a reduction in the viscosity of the resin.
In some instances, to prevent loss of tension, the curing is carried-out in stages in which layers were successively cured. However, staged winding generally requires time intensive manufacture.
Alternatively, in some instances, the use of a thermoplastic matrix in filament winding has been utilized to achieve the 'locking-in' of the applied fiber tension. This is typically done by instantaneously cooling-down the pre-heated resin 'in situ', as the fibers are being laid down. However, using such materials is generally unsuited for many applications, involving relatively high material costs and complex processing equipment.
The use of a thermosetting resin and 'in situ' curing using a combination of fast reacting resin matrix accelerators and the application of heat has also been proposed for continuously curing during the filament winding process. While high prestress components can be produced in this manner, the process is relatively difficult to carry out, requires cumbersome equipment and machines, does not provide much flexibility in operation, and utilizes a cure that is not truly "instant" and therefore permits some undesirable resin migration and lost tension.
It would be advantageous to improve upon present processes to enhance the functionality, reliability and safety associated with use of filament wound devices that require radial prestress to be present. Therefore, what is needed is a filament winding process which allows for an easily implemented and cost effective means for maintaining significant radial prestress by suppressing resin flow and the consequent loss of tension and radial pressure.

Method for quasi-instantaneous polymerization of filament wound composite materials


An optical engine for use in a bench top flow cytometer, the optical engine comprising a set of lasers; a different set of beam shaping optics for each laser, wherein each set comprises two lenses to adjustably focus light horizontally along an x-axis to a same horizontal position and vertically along a y-axis to a different vertical position along a same plane; collection optics for collecting fluorescence from the flow cell; filtration optics that filter the collected fluorescence from the flow cell into different detection channels according to wavelength ranges; and a detector for each detection channel that converts the filtered fluorescence to electrical signals, wherein electrical signals are processed so that the fluorescence from each laser at the different vertical positions is distinguished at the same detector.

Flow cytometry is a laser-based, biophysical technology where fluorescent molecules coupled to cells are passed through a flow cell and excited by a set of lasers. The fluorescence is collected and separated into different channels with specific detection wavelength, converted to electrical signals, and analyzed using a computer. Multi-color flow cytometry, such as three color flow cytometry uses fluorophores with different excitation and emission wavelengths for identification of different staining of the biological samples. More specifically, the excitation light is delivered to the flow cell by beam-shaping, steering, and guiding optical components. Conventionally, such components are arranged so that light from all lasers pass through a same set of beam shaping, steering and guiding components before reaching the flow cell. Such beam shaping optics can include, for example, achromatic lenses (cylindrical or spherical) to accommodate different wavelengths of different lasers. In addition, the beam-steering/guiding components direct all light beams to the center of the flow cell, either at a same position or at different positions along the flowing direction of the sample. However, a limitation of this approach is that by providing a same set of optics for the set of lasers, the beam shaping and beam guiding components are compromised in that they shape and steer light beams of different wavelengths for somewhat sub-optimum beam sizes to sub-optimum focus-locations. Thus, there is a need for an approach to optical illumination that improves beam size and focusing point. In addition, the beam size and focusing point should be able to be adjusted independently for each laser.
In addition to fluorescence, two other types of light scatter are measured in flow cytometery, namely side scatter and forward scatter. Forward scatter (FSC) is considered a low angle scatter and is roughly proportional to the diameter of the cell. Therefore FSC is useful in identifying certain cell subpopulations from others based on cell size. Since forward scatter is typically measured along a same path as beam propagation, an optical beam obscuration bar is conventionally added behind the flow cell but along the optical path of laser beam propagation to block the unscattered, high-intensity raw laser beam. A challenge in obscuration bar design is that it should block the unscattered raw laser beam but permit passage of low angle forward scattered light for detection. Conventionally, the obscuration bar is either rectangular or cross-shaped. Such geometry is generally designed empirically, with some geometries blocking too much forward scatter light yet other designs lacking sufficient blocking of unscattered light. Therefore, there is also a need for an improved optical beam obscuration bar that improves the balance of blocking unscattered light while permitting passage of forward scatter light.
In another flow cytometer, fluorescent light is collected from the particles (e.g. cells) flowing through the center of the flow cell. Complex design including multiple-lenses positioned at accurate locations relative to each other and relative to flow cell is employed to collect fluorescent light from the particles. Such collection optics is expensive to make, difficult to align and adjust. For many situations, the light collection efficiency is limited. Therefore, there is also a need for an improved collection optics that is simple in design, comprising fewer optic components and has high light-collection efficiency.

Optical engine for flow cytometer, flow cytometer system and methods of use


A wellhead system for supporting at least one section of a casing in a borehole for use with a conductor pipe and a method for installing a wellhead system upon a conductor pipe are disclosed. The wellhead system may include a wellhead housing having a central interior bore with a diameter that is smaller than the interior diameter of the conductor pipe and a blowout preventer having an interior bore having a diameter which is less than the diameter of the conductor pipe. The method may include securing a wellhead housing having a central interior bore with a diameter that is smaller than the interior diameter of the conductor pipe and associating with the wellhead housing a blowout preventer having a central interior bore with a diameter that is smaller than the interior diameter of the conductor pipe.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to the field of drilling of wells for producing oil and/or gas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil and/or gas wells which are drilled for the production of oil and gas are typically begun by driving, or otherwise disposing or installing, a conductor pipe, or drive pipe, at the desired location where a borehole for the well is to be drilled. Typically, the conductor pipe is a large diameter conductor pipe, such as a 20 inch diameter conductor pipe.
Oil and/or gas wells typically include one or more pipe strings extending downwardly through the borehole into the Earth from its surface. The strings are disposed one within the other and serve various purposes, such as maintaining the structural integrity of the well and for controlling fluid flow and fluid pressures within the well. A pipe string, or "string" is typically referred to as a casing if there is at least one other string disposed within that string, and the inner-most string is typically referred to as tubing. A wellhead system is provided for suspending the various strings of casing within the borehole. Initial drilling operations are generally conducted through a large diameter diverter assembly, as is known in the art, and the large diameter diverter assembly has the same diameter as the large diameter conductor, or drive, pipe.

Wellhead system and method for installing a wellhead system


A fully integrated circuit configuration that can be used to control the slew rate of a PMOS load switch is described. The circuit also integrates a multichannel temperature sensing system which can be coupled to an external set of temperature sensors, preferably non-linear PTC (positive temperature coefficient) sensors to provide both current inrush control as well as thermal overload protection. A communications data bus, such as an I2C bus, is employed to provide temperature feedback for the system controller so that the system can better control the temperature of its own environment.

Temperature control of modern electronic equipment has always been a concern for anyone designing any system involving electronics. From portable devices to computing systems to automobiles, the operating temperature range of the system is always of concern.
With respect to systems that include an integrated circuit chip, most traditional design schemes involve either integrating a thermal monitor on the chip itself which will protect that chip from damage or, in a system environment, placing a separate temperature sensor somewhere on the PC board. Both of these approaches have limitations. The internal on chip temperature sensor simply responds to the localized heating of the die itself, however, if the temperature problem is being caused by some other device located on the PC board, the on-chip temperature sensor may take too long to respond based upon the board thermal resistance and therefore provide no thermal protection at all. The stand-alone temperature sensor is similarly limited by the thermal resistance on the PC board. The board designer must place the temperature sensor where the designer initially feels is the best location based upon experience in designing systems. However this methodology usually results in having to re-spin the PC board because, after being assembled and tested, the hot spots on the board are usually different from the original assumptions. This can lead to unnecessary expense and delay time in the project development. Furthermore, the hot spots on the PCB can further change when the PCB is enclosed in a system case with a fan and air vents for cooling the system. This can require the PCB to be yet again redesigned for proper placement of the temperature sensor.

Programmable rise time controlled load switch and integrated temperature sensor system with interface bus


A flush lever operated control reservoir and toilet flush system for toilet water storage tanks, for preventing continued flow from a water supply as a result of a flush valve leak or a tank leak, the fill valve is responsive to a water level in a separate reservoir filled by a flood level of storage tank water to shut OFF the fill valve, a drain in the form of a syphon from the reservoir is responsive to operation of a flush handle to empty the reservoir to turn ON said fill valve and simultaneously discharge the storage tank, and a flood preventor refilling the reservoir in the event of a system failure.

This invention relates to a water closet or toilet which is conventional in every respect except for the fill valve control that prevents any continued flow of water from the storage tank. A characteristic feature of this invention is the provision of a reservoir in which the water level responsive fill valve operates independent from the water storage tank water level. Accordingly, a conventional toilet bowl and trap (not shown) supports a conventional storage tank equipped with the usual overflow pipe and flush valve unit heretofore referred to as the "Douglas valve", and the usual level control means heretofore referred to as the "ball-cock". The level control means restores the storage tank water to a ready to flush level after each flushing, and the flush valve releases the stored water at a rapid rate for flushing the toilet bowl. State of the art level control fill valve units and flush units are shown herein, it beings understood that there is a wide variety of such valves as they are supplied as replaceable units.
It is a general object of this invention to prevent storage tank leakage when the flush valve unit deteriorates and water flow cannot be stopped thereby. However, the fill valve level control means is far more reliable and its failure, if at all, is taken care of by the overflow pipe of the flush valve unit. In practice, deterioration of the flush valve results in gradually increased leakage which lowers the water level in the storage tank, or sudden breakage can occur, and with a conventional installation this wasteful failure is automatically compensated for by the level responsive fill valve unit which continuously discharges water into the storage tank. It is this automatic wasteful compensation that is eliminated by this invention, in that no water can be continuously discharged into and drained from the storage tank. A one-time-only discharge of a full tank of water can occur, this reservoir fill valve control preventing any further drainage from the storage tank which then remains dry until repair is made.
It is an object of this invention to isolate the fill valve from the storage tank and make it responsive to a separate water level that changes according to the normal flushing cycle of the toilet and not affected by a leaking flush valve or flush valve failure that results in an empty storage tank.
It is an object of this invention to provide a control reservoir with a fill means and a reservoir drain means whereby 1) storage tank water fills said reservoir so that the fill valve shuts OFF the water supply and maintains a FULL level thereof in both the reservoir and the storage tank, and 2) reservoir water discharges upon manual operation of the flush valve handle when flushing the storage tank water, so that the fill valve opens to refill the storage tank and reservoir. In the passive ready-to-flush condition the storage tank and control reservoir have a common water level, the reservoir having been filled by overflow water from the storage tank. In and during the flush condition the reservoir drain means is operated to deplete the water level in the reservoir for response by the fill valve to discharge supply water into the. storage tank. At the end of the fill condition the high level of storage tank water overflows into the control reservoir to raise the water level therein and shut OFF the fill valve. And, in the event of a leaking storage tank or flush valve failure the control reservoir water level remains high so that the fill valve is shut OFF. In its preferred form, the reservoir drain means is a syphon that is submerged in the control reservoir and fully primed and dormant when the flushing system is in the passive condition, syphoning of the control reservoir being simultaneously initiated with opening of the flush valve during a normal flushing operation.
Another object of this invention is to provide a restart means for the flushing system. For example, if the storage tank is empty and the control reservoir full, the fill valve will be shut OFF. In order to fill the storage tank in a normal manner, I have provided the reservoir drain means, preferably a syphon with a movable leg that discharges the control reservoir so that the fill valve responds to turn ON the water supply to the storage tank. The movable leg of the syphon is operated manually by the toilet flush handle.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for inherent filling of the control reservoir in the event of a catastrophic failure in the flushing system. For example, the storage tank may be rendered incapable of filling, in which case the conventional fill valve would normally remain open or ON. However, the conventional "refill tube" of the fill valve is employed herein to discharge into said control reservoir and is metered to fill the same within a determined short length of time. There are flush toilets wherein the fill valve inherently refills the toilet bowl and trap with seal water so as to prevent escape of gas from the sewer system. And there are flush toilets wherein the aforesaid "refill tube" is required by Code to ensure refill of the toilet bowl trap. And also, there are flush toilets wherein the toilet bowl trap is inherently refilled with seal water, with no Code requirement for the trap refill tube function. Accordingly, there are flush toilets wherein the "refill tube" function is redundant and therefore unnecessary.
Since the "refill tube" is a feature present in many conventional fill valve units, it and its function is advantageously employed to ensure refilling of the control reservoir R as disclosed herein. In practice, the refill tube can simultaneously refill both the control reservoir and the toilet bowl trap.

Flush lever operated reservoir toilet tank control


Increasing the effective aperture of an ultrasound imaging probe by including more than one probe head and using the elements of all of the probes to render an image can greatly improve the lateral resolution of the generated image. In order to render an image, the relative positions of all of the elements must be known precisely. A calibration fixture is described in which the probe assembly to be calibrated is placed above a test block and transmits ultrasonic pulses through the test block to an ultrasonic sensor. As the ultrasonic pulses are transmitted though some or all of the elements in the probe to be tested, the differential transit times of arrival of the waveform are measured precisely. From these measurements the relative positions of the probe elements can be computed and the probe can be aligned.

In order to insonify the body tissues, a beam formed either by a phased array or a shaped transducer is scanned over the tissues to be examined. Traditionally, the same transducer or array is used to detect the returning echoes. This design configuration lies at the heart of one of the most significant limitations in the use of ultrasonic imaging for medical purposes; namely, poor lateral resolution. Theoretically, the lateral resolution could be improved by increasing the aperture of the ultrasonic probe, but the practical problems involved with aperture size increase have kept apertures small and lateral resolution poor. Unquestionably, ultrasonic imaging has been very useful even with this limitation, but it could be more effective with better resolution.
In the practice of cardiology, for example, the limitation on single aperture size is dictated by the space between the ribs (the intercostal spaces). For scanners intended for abdominal and other use, the limitation on aperture size is not so obvious, but it is a serious limitation nevertheless. The problem is that it is difficult to know the exact position of the elements of a large apparatus with multiple and separate physical points of contact ("footprints") on the patient. For optimum performance, all of the separated transmit and receive elements should be in the same scan plane. In addition, each element position must be known to within 1/10 wavelength (for example, 0.03 mm at 3 MHz). With conventional ultrasound probes, regardless of array vertical displacement or integration (e.g., 1.5D or 2D), there has never been a need to solve alignment and position issues between multiple arrays or multiple individual elements. The methods and apparatus included here teach how to solve these problems for Universal Multiple Aperture ultrasound probes.
In constructing and maintaining a Universal Multiple Aperture Probe using a combination of two or more individual arrays, attention must be paid to each array's ultrasound beam displacement relative to a central array Z axis. The displacement or rotational axes referred to are X, Y and Z. X varies about the longitudinal array axis, Y varies about the central array axes, also termed twist, and Z varies about the transverse or lateral array axis. A fixture and method for measuring the variation of each array was developed and implemented.
Element position is equally important as displacement from the central array Z axis. The positional relationship of each array element to every other element needs to be established within an individual array and from array to array.
The type of crystal used in each array is irrelevant. That is, any one, one and a half, or two dimensional crystal arrays (1D, 1.5D, 2D, such as a piezoelectric array) and all types of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT) can be utilized in multi-aperture configurations.

Multiple aperture ultrasound array alignment fixture


Expression-enhancing nucleotide sequences for expression in eukaryotic systems are provided that allow for enhanced and stable expression of recombinant proteins in eukaryotic cells. Enhanced expression and stability regions (EESYRs) are provided for expression of a gene of interest in a eukaryotic cell. Chromosomal loci, sequences, and vectors are provided for enhanced and stable expression of genes in eukaryotic cells.

Field of the Invention
The invention provides for expressing recombinant proteins in eukaryotic cells. In particular, the invention includes methods and compositions for improved expression of proteins in eukaryotic cells by employing expression-enhancing nucleotide sequences. The invention includes enhanced expression and stability region (EESYR) sequences that facilitate enhanced and stable expression of recombinant proteins in eukaryotic cells, and methods of using such sequences.
Description of Related Art
The development of expression systems is an important goal for providing a reliable and efficient source of a given protein for research and therapeutic use. Recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells is often preferred for manufacturing therapeutic proteins due to, for example, the ability of mammalian expression systems to appropriately post-translationally modify recombinant proteins.
Several vectors are available for expression in mammalian hosts, each containing various combinations of cis- and, in some cases, trans-regulatory elements to achieve high levels of recombinant protein with short incubation times. Despite the availability of numerous such vectors, the expression of a recombinant protein achieved in mammalian systems is often unacceptably low or otherwise unsatisfactory. Moreover, developing a cell line that reliably expresses sufficiently high levels of a desired protein often requires time consuming cloning and amplification steps. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved mammalian expression systems.


Methods and apparatus are provided for wavelength control of multiple independent laser sources to reduce relative wavelength drift between the different laser sources. According to some aspects, multiple laser wavelength control is provided using a multi-line source as a wavelength reference. According to other aspects, multiple laser wavelength control is provided using a single wavelength sensing device. The multiple independent laser sources could generate the constituent optical channels of a super-channel. Benefits could include reduced guard band width and increased spectral efficiency within the super-channel.

In some optical networks, for example wavelength division multiplex (WDM) systems, a plurality of channels are multiplexed. The term channel is used to refer to an optical carrier modulated by its data. A channel may also be referred to as an optical channel or a wavelength channel. A channel may be produced by a laser source, for example.
In WDM systems, different channels are separated in the wavelength/frequency domain. A guard band is often implemented between any two adjacent channels to mitigate an optical filtering effect and adjacent channel crosstalk. Adjacent channel crosstalk is caused by spectrum overlap between two adjacent channels. One source of adjacent channel crosstalk is optical carrier wavelength drift. Optical carrier wavelength drift may be caused by drift in the wavelength of a corresponding laser source.
For improved spectral efficiency, it is desirable to reduce the wavelength drift in laser sources, and therefore reduce the guard band implemented between two adjacent channels. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved method and system for multi-laser wavelength control.

Systems and method of multi-laser wavelength control


A shift shock reduction system comprises a first section that causes an engine to produce a normal engine torque in accordance with an existing operation condition of a vehicle; a second section that changes an output rotation of the engine to an output rotation of an automatic transmission in accordance with an existing gear ratio derived from a rate between a rotation speed of an input member of the transmission and that of an output member of the same; a third section that corrects the engine torque upon sensing start of a shift shock reduction operation; a fourth section that detects completion of the correction of the engine torque; and a fifth section that returns the corrected engine torque to the normal engine torque upon sensing the completion of the engine torque correction. The fourth section detects the completion of the engine torque correction by making reference to a change rate per time of the existing gear ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to shift shock reduction systems of an automatic transmission, and more particularly to the shift shock reduction systems of a type that reduces a shift shock of the automatic transmission by correcting an engine torque.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, various shift shock reduction systems have been proposed and put into practical use in automotive automatic transmissions. One of them is disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application (Tokkaisho) 61-135831 (or Examined patent application publication (Tokkohei) 5-005688). In the shift shock reduction system of this published application, an engine torque is reduced during a gear change.

Shift shock system of automatic transmission


The present invention concerns methods and compositions for diagnosing and/or treating vascular diseases including cancer, cardiac diseases, vascular diseases of the eye, and inflammatory diseases. The methods involve measuring the levels of one or multiple miRNAs in patient samples and using the test results to diagnose and/or predict an optimal treatment regimen for the patient. Compositions described in the invention include nucleic acids that function as miRNAs or miRNA inhibitors that can be introduced to a patient to reduce or increase vascularization as needed.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of molecular biology and medicine. More particularly, it concerns methods and compositions involving microRNA (miRNAs) molecules and disease treatment. Certain aspects of the invention include applications of miRNA therapy for diseases or conditions that involve neovascularization and/or angiogenesis.
II. Background
Pathologic neovascularization refers to the proliferation of blood vessels in tissue not normally containing them, or proliferation of blood vessels of a different kind than usual in a tissue. It includes angiogenesis in tumor growth, diabetic retinopathy, haemangiomas, arthritis, and psoriasis to name a few.
Angiogenesis is the process of forming new blood vessels from pre-existing capillaries. Angiogenesis is tightly regulated and normally does not occur except during development, wound healing, and the formation of the corpus luteum during the female reproductive cycle. This strict regulation is manifested by a balanced production of positive and negative factors, which keep angiogenesis in check. However, this balance becomes abrogated under various pathological conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), resulting in the growth of new blood vessels. It is now well accepted that the progressive growth and metastasis of many solid tumors and loss of vision with diabetes are dependent on the growth of new blood vessels.
Vascular diseases of the eye and tumors of the central nervous system, such as retinoblastoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs), have significant neovascular components. Some tumors of the central nervous system and ocular vascular diseases share similar pathogenesis having a choroidal neovascularization and/or retinal neovascularization component.
Vascular diseases of the eye comprise a major cause of blindness. These diseases include various retinopathies and macular degeneration. Existing treatments include laser ablation of various regions of the retina; vitrectomy or removal of the cloudy vitreous humor and its replacement with a saline solution; and administration of antioxidant vitamins E and C, but none of these methods can cure the disease. Further, existing invasive treatment methods often result in significant loss of vision. Non-invasive methods of treatment are experimental and have not been shown to substantially reduce the risk of blindness or loss of sight.
There is a need for additional compositions and/or methods for treatment of diseases associated with neovascularization and angiogenesis.

Compositions and methods related to miRNA modulation of neovascularization or angiogenesis


A clothes washing machine is specially adapted to protect pocket-portable electronic devices from damage. A basket is aligned with an opening for receiving clothes to be washed. A door covers the opening during washing of clothes. An electromagnetic loop is positioned at the periphery of the opening so that all clothing loaded into the clothes washing machine passes through the electromagnetic loop. The electromagnetic loop is also positioned so that no permanent ferrous structures of the clothes washing machine are located between the electromagnetic loop and the opening. A detector circuit is coupled to the electromagnetic loop for generating an electronic detection signal in response to a predetermined change in an electromagnetic characteristic sensed across the electromagnetic loop corresponding to a pocket-portable electronic device being present at the opening. A washing machine controller coupled to the detector circuit responds to the detection signal to generate an alarm and to inhibit a washing cycle (e.g., introduction of water into the basket) until a user provides a manual override signal to the washing machine controller.

The present invention relates in general to clothes washing machines, and, more specifically, to electronic circuits for clothes washing machines for protecting sensitive electronic consumer devices in the event that they are accidentally placed into a washing machine.
Advances in electronics have led to the proliferation of many consumer electronic devices carried for personal use by their users. These devices include cellular phones, digital cameras, multimedia players such as MP3 players, and personal digital assistance (PDAs). The miniaturization of these devices has made them "pocket portable" whereby a consumer carries them in a shirt or pants pocket.
Although these consumer electronic devices can normally withstand the environmental stresses experienced while the clothing is being worn, most are very likely to be damaged if accidentally left in the pocket of clothes being washed. Due to the large number of personal cell phones in service, damage to such devices from being left in the laundry has become a rather common occurrence. Unless a load of laundry is thoroughly checked before loading into a washing machine, it is quite easy to accidentally ruin expensive electronic equipment.

System and method for protecting pocket-portable electronic devices


A device under test (DUT) may be tested using a test station having a test host, a non-signaling tester, and a test cell. During testing, the DUT may be placed within the test cell, and the DUT may be coupled to the test host and the tester. In one suitable arrangement, the DUT may be loaded with a predetermined test sequence. The predetermined test sequence may configure the DUT to transmit test signals using different network access technologies without synchronizing with the tester. The tester may receive corresponding test signals and perform desired radio-frequency measurements. In another suitable arrangement, the tester may be loaded with the predetermined test sequence. The predetermined test sequence may configure the tester to generate test signals using different network access technologies without establishing a protocol-compliant data link with the DUT. The DUT may receive corresponding test signals and compute receive signal quality.

This relates generally to wireless electronic devices and, more particularly, to testing of wireless electronic devices.
Wireless electronic devices typically include transceiver circuitry, antenna circuitry, and other radio-frequency circuitry that provide wireless communications capabilities. During testing, wireless electronic devices under test (DUTs) can exhibit different performance levels. For example, each wireless DUT in a group of DUTs can exhibit its own output power level, gain, frequency response, efficiency, linearity, dynamic range, downlink sensitivity, etc.
The performance of a wireless DUT can be measured using a radio-frequency (RF) test station. A radio-frequency test station typically includes a test host, a tester (i.e., a signal generator), and a test cell. The signal generator is connected to the test host. Connected in this way, the test host configures the signal generator to transmit downlink radio-frequency signals during test operations.
In conventional radio-frequency test arrangements, a wireless DUT having, for example, a cellular telephone transceiver is placed into the test cell. The DUT is connected to the test host via a control cable or a wireless waveguide or antenna system. A protocol-compliant communications link is established between the signal generator and the DUT (i.e., an active telephone call is established between the signal generator and the cellular telephone transceiver). Protocol-compliant testing has a tendency to drop calls between the DUT and tester when the tester output power level falls below the DUT's downlink sensitivity. Reestablishing the protocol-compliant connection in order to complete testing can add significant time and cost to the test process.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide ways for performing non-protocol-compliant testing.


A microprocessor apparatus is provided that enables exclusive allocation and renaming of a block of cache lines. The apparatus includes translation logic and execution logic. The translation logic translates a block allocate and rename instruction into a micro instruction sequence that directs a microprocessor to allocate a first block of cache lines in an exclusive state and to copy the contents of a second block of cache lines into the first block of cache lines. The execution logic is coupled to the translation logic. The execution logic receives the micro instruction sequence, and issues transactions over a memory bus that requests the first block of cache lines in the exclusive state. Upon granting of exclusive rights, the execution logic copies the contents of the second block of cache lines into the first block of cache lines.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of microelectronics, and more particularly to an apparatus and method that enable a programmer to direct a microprocessor to rename a block of cache lines within in its internal cache.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a present day microprocessor, the speed at which data can be transferred between internal logic blocks is an order of magnitude faster than the speed that external memory accesses exhibit. For example, in an x86 desktop computer configuration, the bus which interfaces to system memory operates at speeds on the order of hundreds of megahertz while internal microprocessor clock speeds are approaching the tens of gigahertz. Consequently, a hierarchy of cache structures has evolved over more recent years to allow high-performance microprocessors to run at speed without having to stall while transactions are executed over a slow memory bus every time data is to be read or written.
An on-board, or local, cache in a pipeline microprocessor is a stand-alone unit by design that operates in a manner transparent to the flow of instructions in the microprocessor pipeline to ensure that data which is going to be required by instructions in an application program is resident within the cache and can hence be accessed at pipeline speeds rather than at memory bus speeds. Cache architectures vary in the art, some consisting of multiple hierarchical levels of cache: a first level cache very near to a processor's execution logic, a second level cache which may be on-chip or off chip where less frequently accessed data are stored, third-level caches which may be on a memory card itself, and so on. Regardless of which architecture is employed however, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the overall objective of a cache is to preclude situations where instructions in a microprocessor pipeline are stalled while waiting for bus transactions over a slow memory bus to complete in order to obtain data that is needed by a pending read or write operation. When this happens, program execution comes to a grinding halt until the data arrives.
To complicate matters, present day computer systems also share regions of memory between devices. For instance, a primary microprocessor communicates with a communications microprocessor by reading data from and writing data to a specified region of memory. It is also very common to find areas of memory known as video buffers that are shared between a primary microprocessor and a microprocessor on a video card that is responsible for displaying data to an operator on a video device.
In an shared memory system, the possibility exists that data from a shared region can exist concurrently in the local caches of two different microprocessors or other devices connected to a memory bus. And as long as all of the devices do nothing other than read the data, then no harm is done by allowing both of them to have the data in their local cache structures. But unpredictable consequences could result if they were both allowed to modify the data that is locally cached.
To prevent this from happening, system designers have developed cache consistency protocols that indicate that status of data in a cache. The most prevalent protocol is known as MESI. Maintaining a local cache according to MESI ensures that two copies of the same data cannot be modified at the same time. A MESI shared state indicates to a local cache whether or not a particular block of data is shared. If it is shared, then the local processor cannot modify the block of data without first conducting transactions over the slower memory bus to obtain exclusive permission to modify the data. To modify data, a processor must first obtain exclusive ownership of the data.
The problem addressed by the invention described herein concerns the delay that is incurred in an application program when data is written to memory. One skilled in the art will appreciate that a cache has no reasonable way of knowing when a particular area of memory will first be required, and so memory bus delays are generally experienced when the particular area of memory is first loaded into local cache. Recognizing this fact, designers have developed a prefetch instruction that can be programmed into an application program for execution by a microprocessor. The prefetch instruction, however, does not operate on operands in the program flow. Rather, the prefetch instruction directs a local cache to load operands from memory into the cache that will be required in the future by subsequent instructions. And since cache units interact with memory in a manner that is transparent to instruction flow in a microprocessor pipeline, it is prudent to issue a prefetch instruction prior to needing data so that the cache can fetch the data from memory before it is needed in parallel with the execution of other instructions in the primary program flow. Then when a subsequent instruction is executed that requires access to the prefetched data, the data is readily accessible from cache and program execution is not stalled while waiting for it to be fetched from memory. Prefetched data is readily accessible in cache, that is, so long as it is going to be read. If the data is to be modified by a subsequent instruction, then program execution may have to be delayed while a cache unit goes to the bus to request exclusive ownership of the data.
As alluded to above, shared memory regions are widely employed in present day computing systems to allow for communication of information between devices. One very common operation that is encountered in virtually all present day applications is known as a memory copy. A memory copy operation copies the contents of one memory location to another memory location. For example, a video buffer that is to be transferred for display is often built up from a number of smaller buffers. Contents of a first smaller buffer are configured for display and then copied to a second memory location that is, say, one of four screen quadrants. After the screen quadrant is configured, contents of its memory locations are copied to third memory locations where the entire screen contents reside. One skilled in the art will appreciate that generation of video buffer data is only one example of the many different tasks that application programs perform where data is copied from one location to the next.
Memory copy operations appear to be straightforward, but in view of the employment of hierarchical cache architectures within today's microprocessors, such operations actually become quite problematic. Consider that a first data structure, SRC, has been allocated and modified in a present day cache, then the operations necessary to complete a memory copy operation are 1) to allocate and secure exclusive ownership of a second data structure, DEST, to which the contents of SRC are to be copied, and 2) to modify the contents of DEST so that its contents match the contents of SRC. Yet, as has been described above, if the DEST has not been previously allocated in cache, or if DEST has been allocated, but its contents are shared, then to secure exclusive ownership of DEST requires that the application program be stalled while appropriate bus transactions are issued over the memory bus. This is a problem.
Moreover, the problem above is exacerbated in proportion to the size of the area of memory that is to be copied. To obtain exclusive ownership of, say, 100 cache lines will stall a program much longer than the time it takes to obtain exclusive ownership of a single cache line.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method that enable a programmer to direct a microprocessor to obtain exclusive ownership of a first block of cache lines and to copy data into the first block of cache lines from a second block of cache lines, where the data is copied in parallel with execution of subsequent programmed instructions.
In addition, what is needed is an apparatus and method that enable a programmer to direct a microprocessor write back data to memory from the first block of cache lines.

Apparatus and method for renaming a data block within a cache


A camera includes a first processing device, a second processing device, and an image sensor that has a first plurality of ports connected to the first processing device and a second plurality of ports connected to the second processing device. A method includes providing first data from the first plurality of ports of the image sensor to the first processing device, and providing second data from the second plurality of ports of the image sensor to the second processing device. Another camera includes a first memory, a second memory, and an image sensor having a first plurality of ports connected to the first memory and a second plurality of ports connected to the second memory. A method includes providing first data from the first plurality of ports to the first memory and providing second data from the second plurality of ports to the second memory.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to cameras and methods and, in specific embodiments, to cameras and methods with an image sensor, data processing, and memory.
2. Related Art
Cameras have found wide application as consumer and industrial devices, and the development of image sensors has enabled an explosion in a number of digital cameras used for work and entertainment. FIG. 1 illustrates the architecture of a related art high speed camera 60 with an image sensor 62, a high-end Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) 64 configured to perform on-the-fly image pre-processing, a memory 66, and output interfaces 68. The image sensor 62 samples light intensity of a scene being imaged and outputs digital pixel values from output data ports 63.
High speed digital Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors typically have multiple output data ports. An example of a high speed CMOS image sensor is the AM41V4™ image sensor by Alexima, which has 4 ports in each sensor corner that are 10 bits each for a total of 16 ports at 10 bits each or 160 digital outputs. The AM41V4™ image sensor is described in the document entitled "AM41V4, AM41V4ZC 4MPIX 500FPS CMOS Image Sensor," by Alexima, dated Jun. 5, 2012. Some image sensors may have digital output ports on only one side of the image sensor, while other image sensors may have digital output ports split between two sides of the image sensors, and yet other image sensors may have digital output ports in each corner (as in the image sensor 62 in FIG. 1). Some image sensors may have as many groups of ports as there are memory blocks in the image sensors.
Each of the ports 63 of the image sensor 62 is connected to a corresponding pin of the high-end FPGA 64. In a typical implementation of the high speed camera 60, all data from all of the parallel sensor ports 63 are imported into the one large, wide interface, high processing power, high cost, high-end FPGA 64, which may be, for example, a Virtex-6™ FPGA by Xilinx Inc. or a Stratix IV™ FPGA by Altera Corporation. The high-end FPGA is also connected to the memory 66 by a connection 65 and to the output interfaces 68 by a connection 67. During an image capture operation of the camera 60, high speed image data from the image sensor 62 is written by the high-end FPGA 64 into the memory 66 up to its full capacity. Then, after the image has been captured, a retrieving of the data from the memory 66 by the high-end FPGA 64 may be done at slow speed to be provided to the output interfaces 68, as the commercially available output interfaces 68 from the camera, such as Gigabit Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB)-2, or USB-3, are relatively slow interfaces.

Cameras and methods with data processing, memories, and an image sensor with multiple data ports