A rolling cutter drill bit has at least one roller cutter mounted on a cantilevered bearing shaft with a sealed bearing and lubrication system, lubricant pressure balancing means, lubricant pressure relief means, and a volume compensating rigid face seal assembly axially movable through an operating range. The face seal assembly comprises two cooperating face seal rings, one ring mounted on the bearing shaft and the other ring mounted in the cutter; a first energizer for the seal ring mounted on the bearing shaft, having a stiffness K1; and a second energizer for the seal ring mounted in the cutter, having a stiffness K2. In order to minimize the variation in the sealing face force as the assembly moves through its operating range, the stiffness K2 is less than half, and preferably less than 0.2, of the stiffness K1.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to earth boring bits used in the oil, gas, and mining industry and in particular to rolling cone drill bits with lubricant systems sealed by volume compensating rigid face seals.
Modern sealed and lubricated earth boring drill bits (also called rock bits) have very limited space available for their dynamic lubricant seal. Furthermore, rigid bearings are not practical in these bits and axial and radial cutter movements with respect to the bearing shaft occur frequently during operation. Most sealed rock bits are designed to have some of this bearing play, resulting in some amount of axial displacement of the rolling cutter onward and offward the cantilevered bearing shaft during operation. An early, commercially successful Belleville type bearing seal for rock bits is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,508. This patent describes how movements of the rolling cutter cause volume changes in the lubricant which can generate large pressure differentials at the dynamic seal in the cutter. Later, when elastomeric packing ring type seals were developed for rock bits in the late 1960's, they were more tolerant of the pressure differentials and quickly replaced the Belleville spring seal in premium rock bits.
In spite of the limited space and extreme environment, there are many potential benefits in providing rigid face seals in rock bits. Therefore, there are many rigid face seal designs for rock bits which strive to minimize the effects of these pressure fluctuations of the lubricant near the seal caused by the bearing play. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,624 a large channel connects between the seal cavity and the pressure balancing diaphragm to minimize these pressure differentials. In another design, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,304, the geometry of the seal and bearing cavity is arranged such that lubricant volume changes next to the rigid face seal are minimized, thus minimizing pressure differentials caused by bearing play. In addition, there are many face seal designs that allow lubricant to be expelled from the bit in response to these pressure spikes.
Other similar rigid face seals for rock bits are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,370,895; 3,529,840; 4,176,848; 4,178,045; 4,199,156; 4,249,622; 4,306,727; 4,344,629; 4,359,111; 4,394,020; 4,516,640; 4,613,005; 4,747,604; 4,762,189; 4,822,057; 4,824,123; 4,838,365; and 5,009,519.
A common characteristic of all the above rigid face seal designs is that they cannot displace an effective volume of lubricant near the bearing to limit the pressure fluctuations caused by the bearing play. The above designs either have very limited axial movement and therefore are prevented from sweeping through a volume, or they are arranged in a manner where they do not displace a volume as they move. None of these designs have had widespread commercial success, due in part to this inability to effectively compensate for lubricant volume changes caused by bearing play. These seal designs are known as non-volume compensating type face seals, and the above patents are listed primarily for background information.
One of the above non-compensating face designs, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,365, is the ancestor of the present invention. Several bits with this particular non-volume compensating face seal were field tested. However, the non-volume compensating metal face seals in these bits did not meet expectations due to sealing face overload and excessive slippage of the shaft ring energizer. It is doubtful that these bits would perform even as well as bits with elastomer seals if run in a severe drilling environment.
In 1985 a volume compensating rigid face seal for rock bits was invented by Burr and granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,641. Burr designed a rigid face seal assembly for rock bits which moved axially within a groove in response to local lubricant volume changes near the bearing caused by axial displacement of the cutter. The axial movement of this seal minimized the pressure differentials caused by axial displacement of the cutter. Therefore, as axial and radial cutter movement occurred due to bearing play, there was minimal net lubricant volume change adjacent to the seal within the cutter. This design is known as a volume compensating seal because it is a rigid face seal assembly which moves axially in either direction from an equilibrium position in response to local lubricant volume changes.
There is enough clearance in each end of the seal cavity to accommodate the axial travel of the seal anticipated within the cutter during normal operation. The pressure variations generated during volume compensation are relatively small and are related to the stiffness of the seal's energizers and the effective area swept by the seal. Other rigid face seals for rock bits which could be considered volume compensating are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,713,707; 4,306,727; 4,466,622; 4,666,001; 4,671,368; 4,753,303; 4,903,786; 4,923,020; 5,295,549; and 5,360,076.
Although many of these seal designs are successful, they are not without problems. One weakness of these prior art volume compensating face seals is unintended rotation of the bearing shaft seal and energizer ring upon the cantilevered bearing shaft. This rotation often leads to destruction of the shaft energizer. Unintended rotation of the seal ring mounted on the bearing shaft is a well documented problem in prior art volume compensating rigid face seals. Means to prevent this rotation are addressed in previously referenced U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,306,727; 4,466,622; and 5,295,549.
A second problem in these prior art rigid face seal designs is that the force on the seal face can vary during operation as the seal assembly moves in response to lubricant volume changes. If the sealing face force were to drop significantly, lubricant could be lost from, or drilling fluid could enter, the bearing cavity, leading to rapid bearing degradation of the bit. Also, a large increase from the initial sealing face load can cause excessive heat generation and adhesive wear at the sealing faces, leading to failure of the seal.
Another problem with all rigid face seals in rock bits is abrasive wear of the sealing faces caused by intrusion of fine abrasives from the drilling fluid. Typically a 0.040 inch to 0.060 inch wide, smooth and flat sealing band is formed upon the sealing faces. The sealing band on these seal faces is placed as closely as possible to the outer periphery of the seal rings to minimize the intrusion of abrasive particles. This slows abrasive wear of the sealing faces, but does not prevent it.
Adhesive wear of the seal faces is caused by asperity contact of the mating seal faces. If the seals are made from materials which resist adhesive wear, the abrasives can still intrude into the edge of the seal face, cause abrasive wear, and slowly cause the sealing band to become ever narrower until there is no flat sealing band left to seal. At this point, abrasive laden drilling fluid may enter the bit and cause bearing failure.
Consequently, a common strategy is to make the seal rings with a material and a geometry so that normal material loss from the sealing faces from adhesive wear will cause the sealing band to widen. As abrasive wear reduces the width of the seal band from the periphery, the adhesive wear causes the seal band to expand toward the inside diameter of the seal ring. If everything is properly designed, the arrangement maintains an equilibrium seal band width. The end result is a sealing band that stays about 0.040 inches to 0.060 inches wide and slowly precesses toward the inside diameter of the seal ring. Variations in sealing face load can profoundly affect this equilibrium and unexpected wear patterns can still lead to premature seal failure.
Finally, the prior art does not address the problem associated with differential pressurization of the lubricant with respect to the drilling fluid. Pressure balancing diaphragms in rock bits are typically used in association with a lubricant pressure relief means. These devices typically allow the lubricant to become differentially pressurized to 100 to 200 PSI greater than the drilling fluid under some types of drilling conditions before they expel lubricant into the drilling fluid to limit the pressure buildup. A volume compensating rigid face seal in a rock bit may be moved within its cavity by this sustained pressure differential leading to the same type of sealing face force variations described earlier. Under extreme conditions the seal assembly could move so far that it contacts the end of the seal groove. When this happens, the seal loses its ability to compensate for lubricant volume changes--possibly causing very rapid seal failure.
The present invention provides a volume compensating rigid face seal which mitigates the above problems. The invention provides a rigid face seal for a rock bit which minimizes the variation in face loads as the seal assembly moves in response to lubricant volume changes. Another feature of the invention is that slippage of the shaft energizer is also minimized. Finally, a bit made in accordance with the present invention has a volume compensating rigid face seal which better tolerates differential pressurization of the lubrication with respect to the drilling fluid.

Different stiffness energizers for MF seals


A cutting tool for use on earth working and land clearing equipment includes a working body portion having a cavity disposed therein which begins at a peripheral edge of a first end and extends inwardly towards a second end of such working body portion. The cavity is provided with a cutting portion disposed at an acute angle about such peripheral edge. A mounting shank extends outwardly from and is attached to the second end of the working body portion for enabling attachment of the cutting tool to a tool holder used on such earth working and land clearing equipment. At least one pin member engaging the complimentarily aligned grooves within an aperture of the tool holder and an outer surface of the shank portion is used to securely retain the cutting tool within the tool holder.

As is generally well known, one style of cutting tool for use on earth working and land clearing equipment includes a conical pointed working end and an axially extending shank portion for securely mounting such cutting tools within an aperture of a tool holder which is welded to a chain attachment or a rotatable drum of such earth working and land clearing equipment.
Contact of the working end with material to be cleared or removed generally shatters such material and produces small pieces or shredded remnants that can be easily removed or left on the ground surface for natural decomposition. The shank portion of such pointed cutting tool is secured to the support block either with external retaining clips engaging the rear surface of such tool holder or with retaining pins engaging a groove formed within the aperture and a complimentary groove formed in the shank portion. The use of internally disposed retaining pins facilitates ease of replacement of such cutting tool during use. Furthermore, a rotatable attachment of the cutting tool is preferred for extending its life by utilizing the entire cutting surface.
Another style of cutting tool presently used includes a shallow concave cutting surface formed within a working end typically having a larger diameter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,219 issued to Morrell et al teaches one type of such concave cutting tool for a non-percussive excavation machine wherein the concave cutting surface is part of an insert which is attached to the shank portion either by mechanical means or by brazing. Additionally, the shank portion is secured to the support block with external retaining clips.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,938 issued to Gale illustrates the insert having a concave cutting surface with an axially disposed hollow bearing and which is attached with a fastener extending through such hollow bearing into the support block.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,522 issued to Beach teaches a rotatable cutting tool wherein the concave cutting surface is formed by a plurality of carbide inserts brazed to the cutting tool body and wherein the shank portion is secured to the support block with external retaining clips.
It has been found that in applications of clearing land having lush vegetation with small diameter trees and brush and where disturbance of the ground surface is prohibited, the cutting tools with the pointed working end were bending such vegetation and were leaving remnants of six inches and longer sticking from the ground surface. Such situation is undesirable, as it requires additional clearing effort to reuse the land.
The disadvantage of presently available cutting tools with concave cutting surface is an increased cost due to the design of such cutting tools and due to their replacement effort during use.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved cutting tool that is better suitable for economical clearing of lush vegetation in close proximity to the ground surface.


A pressure sensor apparatus includes a reception container for receiving a pressure sensor, the reception container having an opening on one side. Furthermore, the pressure sensor apparatus includes a protective membrane closing the opening, a pressure sensor arranged in the reception container, and a gel arranged between the pressure sensor and the protective membrane.

In surface micromechanical pressure sensors, an active, i.e. sensitive, chip side is exposed to a medium the pressure of which is to be measured. Moisture present in the medium as well as aggressive constituents, such as acids, lyes, oxidizing media, salts, and organic solvents, may attack the chip surface and render the sensor completely or partly non-functional. This is a problem especially in the automobile area, where such sensors have to function within tight tolerance boundaries for years.
Existing solutions count on the protection of the sensor surface by a combination of normal chip passivation (e.g. silicon nitride) and mechanical protection of a low-viscous gel. But since the gel is permeable for gasses and partly also for ions, this solution has disadvantages. Humidity may diffuse through the gel in unhindered manner. If there are places of bad adhesion or contaminations between gel and chip surface, moisture may condense there and lead to surface currents or to a change of the dielectric constant. Particularly in voids in the passivation, this may lead to complete failure of the device. A further problem is the solubility of gasses in the gel. At pressure release, this leads to a sudden formation of bubbles in the gel (sparkling effect). By these bubbles, the gel may tear open and the protective function is lost. Moreover, offset errors may arise in the pressure signal. There is not yet a satisfactory solution for the bubble formation at pressure changes. This problem of bubble formation in gels, however, only occurs in applications with pressures greater than 3 bar (e.g. in the tire pressure measurement). Furthermore, gel is not environment-resistant, for example with reference to organic solvents such as gasoline, whereby the gel then dissolves for example on contact with such organic solvents. A pressure sensor or protection of a pressure sensor using gel can thus, under certain circumstances, not be used in the automotive industry, since pressure sensors to be applied in the automobile area have to withstand extreme environmental conditions. Among these extreme environmental conditions are for example high temperature variations (e.g. of a variation range of about 80° C. between summer and winter) as well as compatibility with substances acting organically as solvents, such as gasoline or similar fuels.
Another existing solution for the protection of the active chip side or the sensor surface, which obviates the above-mentioned problems, is the use of a housing with a metal membrane and an oil filling. The flexibility of the metal membrane is achieved by embossed, concentric grooves. This solution, however, is technically intensive and expensive and therefore not suited for mass production. In particular, this results from such an oil-filled pressure sensor container having to be produced from a special material (such as stainless steel), in order to prevent deformation of the container at temperature-induced expansion of the oil and thus possible arising leakage of such an oil-filled pressure sensor housing. Moreover, an oil-adapted membrane for balancing the (e.g. temperature-induced) oil pressure change and thus for compensating for possible offset-bearing measurement results has to be welded onto the oil-filled housing in a first weld with the housing. Furthermore, the oil has to be filled in a state in which the housing is already provided with the membrane, and the (stainless steel) housing has to comprise special capillary roles to enable the oil to be filled in the housing uniformly and without air inclusions. Furthermore, this requires evacuating the housing to again minimize the probability of air inclusions occurring in the oil filling, since such air inclusions in the oil lead to flawed pressure transfer between the membrane and the pressure sensor due to the compressibility of gasses. Furthermore, the housing has to be welded a second time when the oil has been filled in, whereby such an oil-filled pressure sensor housing proves cost-intensive due to the materials to be used and the production steps necessary for fabrication (with two weld connections).

Housing structure of a pressure sensor apparatus and method of producing the same


A powered cart for moving heavy objects. The cart has a container portion that is elevated and lowered under power with a floor of the container portion capable of being lowered onto a surface supporting the cart. The floor has an inclined edge that provides a ramp for loading items onto the cart. The cart is propelled by a steerable wheel and the wheel is provided with a braking system. A removable gate is provided for securing the open side of the chassis and is provided with an automatic latch mechanism that locks the gate in position when the container portion is elevated off the supporting surface.

The use of forklifts and electric jacks are well known and have been extensively used for many years. Heavy loads are stacked on pallets and the fork lifts and/or electric jacks are provided with lifting forks that slide into the pallets and lift the loaded pallets off the floor. The loaded pallets are then maneuvered by the operator to a desired location and lowered back to the floor and the lifting forks withdrawn. The fork lifts and electric jacks are designed for warehouse type of use and can be found in most manufacturing and distribution facilities.
The lifting forks of the fork lifts and electric jacks are not so conveniently used for moving objects not loaded on pallets. Consider for example a refrigerator having little or no clearance between the cabinet and the floor (although often supported on rollers). There is insufficient room for a lifting fork to be inserted under a refrigerator and in any event, if lifted, the load would be unwieldily with a high probability of causing damage. Refrigerator dollies are typically used to transport refrigerators (the refrigerators being tilted to permit a dolly plate to slide under the refrigerator, the refrigerator lowered back onto the plate, the refrigerator strapped to the dolly and then tilted back onto a pair of wheels and then maneuvered manually to a desired location). However, the present invention is concerned with the transport of such items as main frame computers that although posing the same kind of transport problem as a refrigerator can weigh five to ten times what a refrigerator weighs and has a value that is 100 to 1000 times that of a refrigerator.
Fork lift trucks, electric jacks or refrigerator dollies are not acceptable transportation devices for moving heavy fragile articles, e.g., main frame computers that weigh upwards of 1200 pounds and are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.


A method of creating a menu for a handheld digital device in a development environment includes selecting a target device which has an associated operating system available to the development environment. An editor is called for creation of the menu. The editor uses the constraints of the associated target device operating system so that actual behavior of the target device can be viewed as the development occurs. The developer defines functionality for the menu and can verify its operation. The menu editor can be customized for new digital devices with new operating system. Code may be generated as a result of completing the development process and saving the design. The resulting code is assured to run properly on the target device operating system.

An increasing number of portable computer devices are available in the market. These devices include handheld or pocket sized computers, phones and personal digital assistants of various form factors and capabilities. As the computing power and memory capabilities of the handheld devices increase, users are demanding access to more powerful software applications.
Given the multitude of variations of interfaces, screen sizes, and resolutions among the handheld devices, it can be very difficult for a programmer to ensure that a particular chosen graphical user interface (GUI) of the handheld will appear and work correctly on multiple devices. For example, the display and functionality of the target handheld device is often not well reflected in the capabilities of the development system.
Typically, programmers of handheld devices alternate between first programming on a desktop development system and then running the newly developed software on an emulator of the handheld device, or the actual device, to see if the handheld GUI operates as expected. This can be time consuming and inefficient, especially if a programmer wishes to port the application to a wide variety of portable devices. In one aspect of programming, the typical development environment may allow a handheld device programmer to generate a function, such as a handheld menu, which cannot be realized in a controllable fashion in the target handheld device.
Thus, there is a need for a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) development system for a handheld device which properly emulates the target handheld device such that the software look and feel of the target handheld device can be emulated on a single development system. It would also be advantageous if the development system could be extensible so that it can work with future devices. The present invention addresses the aforementioned needs and solves them with additional advantages as expressed herein.

Method and system for a digital device menu editor


A terminal treatment method is for a coaxial cable which includes a core member in which an inner conductor is covered with an insulator, an outer conductor provided around the core member and formed of a plurality of wires, and a sheath covering an outer circumference of the outer conductor. The method includes exposing the outer conductor by removing the sheath on an end portion of the coaxial cable, separating the wires of the outer conductor from an outer circumferential surface of the core member by gripping and moving an end portion of the outer conductor to loosen the exposed portion of the outer conductor, extruding the core member having the inner conductor from gaps formed in the wires of the outer conductor to extract the core member from the outer conductor, and intertwining the outer conductor by gripping and twisting the end portion of the outer conductor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a terminal treatment method and a terminal treatment apparatus of a coaxial cable having an inner conductor and an outer conductor.
2. Background Art
As electric cables having a shielding function, coaxial cables covering an outer peripheral of an inner conductor have been used from the past (for example, see JP-A-2004-171952 and JP-A-2007-66825).
Also, a technique for terminal-treating such coaxial cables, in which an inner conductor in a terminal portion thereof is separated from an outer conductor, has been known (for example, see JP-A-H1-081608). According to this terminal treatment, an outer conductor 1 formed of fine wires is untwisted as shown in FIG. 23 and then the outer conductor 1 is separated from a center conductor 3 by air from an air knife 2 as shown in FIG. 24. Next, the separated outer conductor 1 becomes upright and a bundle of fine wires of the outer conductor 1 is sandwiched and then stretched and twisted by a gripping tool 4 as shown in FIGS. 25A to 25C.
However, there is a case that a coaxial cable, in which an outer conductor disposed on an outer circumference of an inner conductor is intended to be used as a lead like the inner conductor, not as a shielding use, is employed for a wire harness wired in a vehicle, such as an automobile. In a case of such a coaxial cable, the inner conductor in a terminal thereof is separated from the outer conductor and then each of the inner conductor and the outer conductor is connected to a respective connector.
In the coaxial cable used as this application, because the outer conductor does not have a small diameter as in the shielding use, when the outer conductor is untwisted, a sheath and the outer conductor of the coaxial cable chucked are slipped relative to each other, thereby causing insufficient untwisting.
Further, in a case of an outer conductor having a large wire diameter, it is difficult to separate the outer conductor by air of the air knife. In addition, when the separated outer conductor is bundled, if a bundle of wires of the outer conductor is sandwiched and then stretched and twisted, the outer conductor can be damaged or broken and thus deterioration of electrical and mechanical properties is worried.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a terminal treatment method and a terminal treatment apparatus for a coaxial cable, in which an outer conductor and an inner conductor can be easily branched from each other.

Terminal treatment method and terminal treatment apparatus for coaxial cable


The present invention provides a bonding pad structure for integrated circuit devices which allows the active circuits to be placed under bonding pads of the device without affecting the performance of the active circuits. The bonding pad structure is composed of at least two metal layers overlying the active circuits so that the bonding pad may be subjected to thermal and mechanical stresses without damaging the underlying active circuits. The metal layer underlying the bonding pad is patterned and etched forming an array of openings in the metal that may take any shape, e.g. slots, grid, circles. The present invention enables a reduction in the chip area and eliminates the parasitic resistance due to long interconnection wires between bonding pads and active regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuit devices, and more specifically, to the design of a bonding pad structure for such devices.
2. Background Information
Integrated circuit chips (dice) are manufactured by fabricating a plurality of identical circuits on a semiconductor wafer, scribing the wafer between the circuits, and subsequently breaking apart the wafer into individual chips. The chips are then mounted on lead frames or substrates for packaging and wire bonded for chip external connections. The bonding wire connects the bonding pads on the chip with the lead frame. IC chips can be bonded using thermocompression or ultrasonic techniques. In thermocompression bonding, heat and pressure are applied to the pad and to the underlying substrate in order to achieve the bond. In ultrasonic bonding, sufficient energy is supplied by ultrasonic vibration to achieve the bond.
Active circuit elements, including transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and the like, are generally located in the central portion of the semiconductor device, while bonding pads have been located around the periphery of the active region on the chip. Bonding pads are generally not located above the active circuits in order to protect the active circuit elements during bonding processes.
In many instances, it may be desirable to place active circuits beneath the bonding pads. For example, it may advantageous to place active circuits under bonding pads in order to decrease die area and to reduce parasitic resistance due to long interconnection wires between bonding pads and active regions. However, due to thermal and mechanical stresses occurring during the bonding process, the underlying circuits may become damaged. For example, as the wire and the die are heated during the process of connecting the wire to the bonding pad, the bonding wire is pressed onto the bonding pad. Additional energy may be supplied by ultrasonic vibration in order to form the bond. When pressure or vibration is exerted upon the bonding pad, the bonding pad can be perforated and the underlying circuits may crack which degrades device performance.
Therefore, what is needed is a method for fabricating a bonding pad structure which allows the placement of active circuits beneath a bonding pad, without damaging or otherwise affecting the performance of the active circuits, and a method that enables the manufacture of semiconductor devices with smaller die sizes.

Method for placing active circuits beneath active bonding pads


A power management unit accurately measures and controls charging current. The power management unit may be implemented more efficiently than prior designs, leading to cost savings in the implementation of the power management unit as well as in the implementation of the device that incorporates the power management unit. The power management unit incorporates a model of an external charge control device (e.g., a transistor) and uses that model in a way that allows the power management unit to eliminate external device pins and other circuitry.

Immense consumer demand for electronic devices of every variety has been driven in part by low cost manufacturing and ever increasing device functionality. Today, it is not unusual for a person to own multiple cell phones, portable gaming devices, music players, tablet computers, or GPS devices, and other devices. One common feature of these devices is that they depend heavily and sometimes exclusively on a rechargeable power source, such as a rechargeable battery. Improvements in battery charging will continue to make such devices attractive options for the consumer.

Charger external power device gain sampling


A laminate comprising a soft polyolefin resin layer, an ethylene-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester-maleic anhydride terpolymer resin layer, and a soft urethane foam resin layer is disclosed. The laminate is produced by a process comprising co-extruding a soft polyolefin resin and an ethylene-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester-maleic anhydride terpolymer resin to prepare a two-layer sheet and continuously laminating a soft urethane foam fabricated in a stratiform state on the ethylene-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester-maleic anhydride terpolymer resin layer by hot pressing. The laminate has a satisfactory appearance, toughness, a soft touch, and a cushioning effect.

Laminated products obtained by bonding a soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film or sheet and a urethane foam by heat or with an adhesive have a satisfactory appearance, toughness, a soft touch, and a cushioning effect and have been widely used as cushioning materials for furniture, outer covering materials for bags and shoes, automobile linings, e.g., door liners and ceiling coverings, and the like.
However, soft PVC of these laminates involves various problems arising from a plasticizer used therein for softening. For example, when soft PVC is in contact with other materials such as plastics, copied or printed matters, etc., the plasticizer migrates thereto to cause contamination of both soft. PVC and the contacting materials. Further, the plasticizer is scratched out on contact with human bodies or clothing, which results in hardening or cracking of the soft PVC. When soft PVC is used for a long time especially in a high temperature as in car interiors, the plasticizer is evaporated to cause hardening or cracking of the PVC sheet. Moreover, soft PVC undergoes deterioration by heat or light and is liable to change its color to yellowish brown.
In the light of these defects of conventionally employed soft PVC, soft polyolefin resins have been extending use in place of soft PVC. .
Cushioning covering materials-.comprising a soft polyolefin resin have been produced by molding a soft polyolefin resin into a film or a sheet by means of a T die extruder or a calendering machine simultaneously with heat bonding with a 10 to 40-fold expanded sheet of a polyolefin resin, e.g., polyethylene or polypropylene.
However, covering materials having a highly expanded polyolefin sheet have the following disadvantages:
(1) Since an expanded foam of polyolefins, e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene, undergoes compression set, it does not completely recover even on relieving a compressive force when it is deformed to a great degree, or for a long time, or repeatedly. For example, compression set of a polyolefin foam as measured in accordance with JIS-K6767 (Method of Compression Set Test, deformation: 25%) is shown in Table 1 below in comparison with that of a urethane foam.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Compression Set Plastic Foam (%) ______________________________________ Polyethylene foam 3-10 Polypropylene foam 5-15 Urethane foam 0-1.5 ______________________________________
(2) Production of polyolefin foams requires at least a step of mixing a blowing agent with a polyolefin resin and extruding, a step of crosslinking, and a step of expansion and winding and thus entails a high cost.
On the other hand, a soft urethane foam which has been used in soft PVC laminates is superior to polyolefin foams in the following points.
(1) A soft urethane foam, even when deformed to a great degree, or f or a long time, or in a repeated manner, nearly 100% recovers due to its small compression set.
(2) Production is completed simply by mixing liquid materials including a polyfunctional polyol, a diisocyanate, a catalyst, water, additives, etc. Solidification by crosslinking and expansion simultaneously proceed and, after completion of expansion, the expanded body is required only to be fabricated into a sheet. Therefore, an expanded body having a higher degree of expansion can be obtained through a smaller number of steps as compared with polyolefin foams. The cost per unit volume is about half the cost of the highly expanded polypropylene foam and about 1/1.5 that of the highly expanded polyethylene foam.
Accordingly, lamination of a soft urethane foam and a soft olefin resin film or sheet would provide the best cushioning material. These two materials, however, are not at all compatible with each other so that they cannot be laminated by application of heat but by using an adhesive. Namely, a laminate is produced, without any other alternative, by a process comprising first preparing a soft olefin resin sheet, re-heating the sheet with a two-pack crosslinkable urethane adhesive applied thereon, and then adhering a soft urethane foam thereto. Such a process not only entails an increased number of steps and an increased cost but also finds difficulty in obtaining a perfect laminate free from layer separation.

Laminates and process for producing the same


A card edge connector includes a connection part and a position guider. The connection part includes a plurality of terminals disposed in parallel to electrically connect to contacts of a daughter board. The position guider disposed inside the connection part includes a guiding structure formed at two opposing lateral sides of the position guider. The guiding structure includes two slant surfaces extending respectively away from the left and right sides of the position guider. The slant surfaces are used to align the daughter board into a desired position to reduce a misalignment shift between the terminals of the connection part and the contacts of the daughter board.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a card edge connector and, in particular to a card edge connector with a position guider. The card edge connector can be used on a mother board of an electronic device for electrically connecting with a daughter board.
2. Related Art
The conventional card edge connector is normally comprised of a connection part, at least one position guider, and a fixing device. The connection part is provided with several terminals for electrical contacts with the contacts on the inserted daughter board. The position guider prevents incorrect insertion of the daughter board. The fixing device fixes the card edge connector on the circuit board.
In light of technological advances and environmental protection, all devices are made smaller. Therefore, the card edge connector and daughter boards have to be reduced in size too. The gaps between the terminals inside the card edge connector and the gaps between the contacts on the daughter board have to be reduced too.
Take a conventional card edge connector and a daughter board as an example. The width of each terminal inside the card edge connector is about 0.2 mm. The terminals are disposed at a pitch of 0.5 mm. Thus, the gap between each two adjacent terminals is 0.3 mm. Normally, the allowed error for a position guider is ±0.1 mm. The width of each connecting point on the daughter board is 0.33 mm. If they are disposed at the same pitch of 0.5 mm, the gap between each two adjacent contacts is 0.27 mm.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the ideal matching between a card edge connector and a daughter board happens when there is no misalignment shift. The middle line of the crack 420 on the daughter board aligns with the middle of the position guider 200 of the card edge connector. Therefore, the middle line of the terminal 310 can align with the middle line of the connecting point 410 on the daughter board. Each terminal 310 inside the connection part 300 thus aligns well with each connecting point 410 on the daughter board 400, forming a good electrical connection.
As shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D, even though each of the card edge connector and the daughter board are satisfactory in measures, accumulated tolerance may result in mismatching or difficulty in practical uses. For example, suppose the left side of the position guider 200 of the card edge connector has an error of −0.1 mm and the left width of the crack 420 has an error of +0.05 mm. If the left side of the position guider 200 aligns with the left side of the daughter board crack 420 (their middle lines misalign with each other), then the misalignment shift between them is 0.15 mm when the daughter board 400 is inserted. The middle line of the terminal 310 misaligns with the middle line of the connecting point 410 by 0.15 mm. Therefore, the terminal 310 misaligns with the connecting point 410, contacting with each other by a tiny area. This will result in unstable electrical connections. Moreover, there is a tolerance between two adjacent contacts 410 on the daughter board. When accumulated tolerance happens, the accumulated misalignments of the contacts 410 and terminals 310 far from the base line will be big. This may eventually result in no conduction between a terminal 310 and a connecting point 410 or a short circuit because one terminal 310 simultaneously overlaps with two contacts 410. This is more likely to happen when the terminals 310 and the contacts 410 have a fine pitch or high density.
In FIGS. 1C and 1D, the gap between the left side of the position guider 200 and the left side of the daughter board crack 420 is to ensure the positions and shapes of the position guider 200 and the daughter board crack 420. In practice, the left side of the position guider 200 and the left side of the daughter board crack 420 stick to the same plane with no gap.
Moreover, since there is a gap between the daughter board crack 420 and the position guider 200 of the card edge connector due to the tolerance, vibrations or any other external forces may result in relative horizontal shifts between them when the daughter board 400 is inserted into the connection part 300 of the card edge connector. Therefore, the terminals 310 and the contacts 410 have a misalignment shift that causes imperfect contacts or short circuits.

Card edge connector with position guider


The present invention provides a system and method that provides for call completion of VoIP telephone calls. The method of the present invention comprises receiving a telephony advertisement packet comprising addressing information and storing the telephony advertisement packet. The stored telephony advertisement packet is used to complete a call.

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to facilitating electronic communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and method for allowing a plurality of IP telephony devices to communicate with each other without requiring the use of a telephony gateway or similar call set up service.
Many modern corporate telecommunications systems implement what is referred to as a private branch exchange or PBX. An organization implements a PBX system, typically comprising various hardware and software components, to switch calls between organization users on a series of internal lines, each terminating at the PBX. The PBX switches calls between these internal users over the local lines, thereby eliminating the need for calls to connect over external lines to a switch on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), e.g., over a plurality of locals loops connected to a switch that the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) maintains.
The PBX, in addition to connecting users within an organization over a plurality of local lines, is connected to a LEC via one or more external lines. Most modem digital PBX systems utilize software to multiplex a number of calls from internal users to destinations outside the organization over significantly fewer external lines. For example, one or two digital Ti lines may provide sufficient bandwidth to carry the voice and data traffic for an organization of several hundred employees. Organizations realize significant financial gains from using the PBX through elimination of the need to maintain a line for each user in the organization to the telephone company's central office.
In IP telephony networks that provide Voice over IP (VoIP) communications, an IP telephony gateway is attached to the organization's PBX system. The gateway is also attached to an IP network over which it communicates with IP telephony devices, such as an IP telephone handset. The gateway receives the voice data (which may or may not be digitized), significantly compresses it, encodes the data as 1P packets for transport over the network and routes it to a destination, e.g., another IP telephony device on the gateway's local network or to the PBX to transport over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The gateway also provides translation between communication protocols or formats, as well as call setup and cleanup on both its LAN and switched circuit interfaces.
Because IP telephony devices are typically "dumb" devices, they are unable to send or receive calls to or from PBX based telephone or telephones otherwise connected to the PSTN without the presence of a gateway on the LAN to which the IP telephony device connects. Moreover, the IP telephony devices will not be able to communicate with other IP telephony devices on the local network as the telephony gateway provides address resolution functionality, e.g., between a SIP URL and IP address. Thus, systems and methods are required that that provide PBX functionality on an IP telephony network, e.g., routing calls between local IP telephony devices, in the event that a network's gateway or similar call setup service fails.

System and method for internet protocol telephony advertisement protocol


A multiprocessor computing system has memory shared by all processors of the computing system and includes an symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) operating system and at least one external device controlled by a device driver. The device driver is typically written to run in a uniprocessor environment. A method for protecting the execution state of the device driver uses a pair of "collaborative" spinlocks, an interrupt time spinlock and a task time spinlock. At task time, prior to calling the device driver, the task time spin lock is acquired by the operating system. The operating system then waits until the interrupt time spinlock is in an "unowned" state before calling the device driver. Upon return from the device driver, the operating system releases the task time spinlock. At interrupt time, prior to calling the device driver's interrupt handler, the interrupt time spinlock is acquired by the operating system. The operating system then determines if the task time spinlock is owned. If it is owned, the operating system then issues an interprocessor interrupt (IPI) to the processor owning the task time spinlock, thus placing that processor into a predetermined "spin" state. The receiving processor remains in the spinning state until return of the device driver execution.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to multiprocessor (MP) computer systems and more particularly to the use Of collaborative "spinlocks" in a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP)-based operating system to prevent concurrent access to an operating system kernel extension such as a device driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device driver is a known operating system kernel extension. Most device drivers in use today in multiprocessor (MP) computer systems were written for uniprocessor operating systems rather than a symmetric multiprocessor-based operating system. Consequently, the writers of these drivers never envisioned a situation where two processors would request the services of the driver concurrently.
Such known device drivers include a "task time" component and an "interrupt time" component. The task time component is used to request services of a device managed by the device driver. The request typically completes asynchronously and, thereafter, the device driver is notified of such completion via external interrupt. Mutual exclusion to data structures shared by the task time component and the interrupt time component is typically provided by using the Intel CLI (disable interrupt) and STI (enable interrupt) instructions. In particular, issuing the CLI instruction prevents external interrupts, thus protecting the data structures from the interrupt time component.
The use of the Intel CLI instruction to provide mutual exclusion to data structures will not work in a MP environment, however. In particular, an Intel CLI instruction executed from one processor in the system will not disable interrupts on every processor; therefore, the interrupt time component may be executing on one processor while the task time processor is executing on another processor. Ultimately, the data structures will be corrupted.
One possible method to solve this problem would be to force execution of both the task time and interrupt time components of all device drivers to a single processor. Such an approach, in effect, would emulate the environment for which the device driver was originally designed. The performance of the MP system using this approach is quite unacceptable. Another approach would be to use a single "spinlock" to protect both the task time and interrupt component of the device driver. As is known in the art, a spinlock is a software mechanism involving a shared memory location having a set of known states that imply "ownership" (or the lack thereof) with respect to a given resource associated with the spinlock. A single spinlock has been used in an MP environment to provide external interrupt serialization, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,018 to Macon, Jr. et al., which patent is assigned to the assignee of this application. This approach, while satisfactory, does not provide optimal performance, in part because of the increased interrupt latency which is introduced while waiting for the device driver to release the single spinlock.
Understandably, authors of existing device driver code are not interested in rewriting the driver simply to adapt it to a multiprocessor operating system. Therefore, another means of allowing the efficient use of these existing device drivers must be developed. The present invention addresses this important problem.

Method of using collaborative spinlocks to provide exclusive access to a resource in a multiprocessor computer system

International Business Machines Corporation


The disclosure provides an asynchronous FIFO circuit that includes a data memory which is coupled to a write data path and a read data path. The data memory receives a write clock and a read clock. A FIFO write pointer counter receives a write enable signal and the write clock. The FIFO write pointer counter provides a FIFO write pointer signal to the data memory. A FIFO read pointer counter receives a read enable signal and the read clock. The FIFO read pointer counter provides a FIFO read pointer signal to the data memory. A control circuit receives the write enable signal, the read enable signal, the FIFO write pointer signal, the FIFO read pointer signal, the write clock and the read clock. The control circuit generates a memory full signal when the data memory is full and a memory empty signal when the data memory is empty.

Digital logic circuits associated with a memory storage unit can record the transfer of data, commands, or any other information (referred to as "data packets") with one or more other devices. Data transfer rates can differ between inserting data packets into a memory storage unit and extracting data packets from the memory storage unit.
Asynchronous FIFO (first-in-first-out) circuits provide an important data buffer function for reading and writing operations between two discrete machines of widely differing operating frequency. Asynchronous FIFO circuits are widely used for synchronization of data transfers where transmitter and receiver are working on different frequency and timings.
A FIFO circuit has a data memory that has a plurality of addressable locations. Read and write operations in the FIFO circuit are performed with read and write pointers respectively. The write pointer increments and points to a subsequent address location of the memory storage unit after each data packet insertion into the data memory. The read pointer similarly increments and points to a subsequent address location of the data memory after each data packet extraction from the memory storage unit.
The read and write pointers are compared to track the occupancy of the data memory. Based on the comparison, a signal such as a "memory full" or a "memory empty" is generated to indicate whether to continue with a data packet insertion or extraction operation respectively. If the data memory is full, the data packet insertion operation by an associated circuit will stop its write operation/data packet insertion. Similarly, if the data memory is empty, the associated circuit will stop the read operation/data packet extraction.
In conventional asynchronous FIFO circuits, comparators are used to compare the read and write pointers. The FIFO circuits which have a larger "depth" of the data memory, the sizes of the read pointers, write pointers and comparators increase proportionally. With the increase in comparator size, the insertion and extraction data rates are further reduced. This decreases the operating frequency (frequencies of read clock and write clock) thereby reducing the throughput of the system.
The generation of 'memory full' and 'memory empty' signals requires synchronization of the write and read pointers in the read and write clock domain respectively. Binary to Gray code and Gray to Binary converters are used to minimize the failures or avoid metastability condition in synchronization of the write and read pointers. Whenever there are setup and hold time violations in any flip-flop, it enters a state where its output is unpredictable; this state is known as metastable state. Metastability state presents potential failure conditions when the read clock and the write clock are very close in operating range.

Method and apparatus for asynchronous FIFO circuit


ESR imaging probe, system, and method are described. The probe is an ex-situ probe, the system comprises the probe and configured for operating the probe, and the method comprises detecting ESR from outside a resonator of the probe. An exemplary embodiment of a probe according to the invention comprises a cooled dielectric resonator, and one sided gradient coils. An exemplary embodiment of the system comprises source current that is configured to supply to the gradient coils currents of up to 100 A in pulses shorter than 1 μsec.

Electron spin resonance imaging (ESR imaging) is a technique for obtaining spatially resolved ESR-based data from samples. ESR-based data is data obtained by applying on the sample a static magnetic field, exciting electron spins in the sample by electromagnetic waves, and detecting irradiation created by the electron spins as a result of their excitation.
The spatially resolved ESR-based data can, for example, provide information about chemical structure, eluci date biological functions, enable non-invasive medical diagnosis, and be used to solve material science problems.
In classical ESR detection method, termed "induction detection", the imaged specimen is put inside a microwave resonator, and is subjected to a static magnetic field and to microwave radiation. Within the framework of "induction detection", there are two possible schemes to obtain the ESR-based data, pulsed and continuous wave ESR. In pulsed ESR, a specific set of microwave pulses are induced upon the sample and after a short while the spins in the sample create microwave radiation of their own, termed "echo", which is concentrated by the resonator and analyzed. In continuous wave (CW) ESR, the sample is irradiated with a continuous microwave irradiation, and the ESR signal is detected by monitoring the microwave signal reflected from the resonator.
To obtain spatial information on the location of the spins that create the ESR signal, one can make use of the fact that the frequency of the ESR signal changes with the intensity of the magnetic field. Specifically, a combination of static and time varying magnetic field gradients are applied across the specimen, such that each point (voxel) in the specimen is exposed to a magnetic field with different intensity at different times. This way, spins from each voxel irradiate in a different frequency or with different phase, and the frequency or phase is used to determine the location of the spins that created the signal.
The magnetic field gradients are usually applied with gradient coils. The stronger is the gradient provided by the gradient coils, the better is the spatial resolution of the obtained ESR image.
An imaging device, designed to image a specimen when the specimen is inside the imaging device, is said to have in-situ geometry. An imaging device, designed to image a specimen when the specimen is outside the imaging device is said to have an ex-situ geometry. In the context of induction ESR, a specimen is said to be inside the imaging device if it is inside the smallest is convex volume that includes the resonator, the gradient coils, and the static magnetic field source. Applicant is not aware of any ESR imaging device, which operates in the induction detection method and has ex-situ geometry.
One drawback of the in-situ geometry is the need to insert the specimen into the imaging device. This limits the size of the specimen, or requires a large device.
A drawback of induction detection is its notoriously low Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR), which requires, under ambient conditions, to sense at least 107 spins per voxel. These SNR limitations are also reflected by the limited image resolutions currently achievable with induction detection-based electron spin resonance imaging.
The best available resolution for induction detection was achieved in a system described in US patent application publication No. 2006-0022675 (hereinafter US '675), wherein the present inventor is a co-inventor. This publication describes room temperature in-situ ESR imaging probe, for biological applications, having a resolution of the order of (1 μm)3.
In recent years, new ESR detection methods were introduced, which, under extreme physical conditions, or for unique samples, can greatly improve the sensitivity and the image resolution of magnetic resonance. These methods include, for example, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy-ESR (STM-ESR), Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM), Hall detection, Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance, quantum dot spin detection, and electrically detected magnetic resonance.
This wide variety of techniques, however, has very limited spectroscopic and 3D imaging capability, and often requires very complicated sample preparation procedures, which makes its practical use very difficult.
WO2005/073695 describes an on-chip magnetic resonance spectroscopy in ex-situ geometry, but does not provide imaging possibilities, and does not operate in the induction detection method.
WO02/21147 describes an ex-situ microwave microscope capable of detecting ESR signals using induction detection, but at very low resolution and without ex-situ static magnetic field source and gradients.

Probe and system for electron spin resonance imaging

Technion Research & Development Foundation Ltd.


A composite body includes a semiconductor substrate having an oxide layer formed thereon and a nitride layer formed over the oxide layer. First and second deep trench configurations are formed in the composite body. To form a shallow isolation trench between the first and second deep trench configurations, intrinsic polysilicon upper layers of the first and second deep trench configurations and the nitride layer are planarized. A titanium layer is formed over the planarized composite body and caused to react with the intrinsic polysilicon upper layers to form first and second titanium silicide caps over the first and second deep trench configurations. A masking layer is formed over the composite body such that an opening exposes the region between the first and second deep trench configurations. An etching step that is selective to titanium silicide is then performed with the first and second deep trench caps serving as masks. Accordingly, a shallow trench is formed in the region between the first and second trench configurations. The masking layer and the first and second deep trench caps are removed, and oxide and nitride linings are formed over the first and second deep trench configurations and over the surfaces of the shallow trench to prevent oxidation.

Deep trench configurations are commonly used in semiconductor devices, for example, as storage capacitor components for memory cell devices. In such a case, each discrete memory cell device may include a deep trench configuration coupled to a planar device, such as a switching or gate transistor which controls the charge held by the deep trench configuration. In order to form an electrical connection between a portion of the planar device formed at the planar semiconductor substrate surface and an interior of the deep trench configuration, material that can be made conductive is formed between the deep trench configuration and the planar device. This material is commonly referred to as a strap.
The memory cell device described above represents information based upon whether or not the deep trench configuration is charged. In general, shallow trench isolation (STI) may be used to isolate discrete memory cell devices to prevent interference therebetween. Accordingly, shallow isolation trenches are formed between adjacent deep trench configurations to ensure that they operate independently. However, shallow trench isolation of two closely located deep trench configurations, as well as individual strap formation for each of the deep trench configurations, requires meticulous adjustment of pertinent fabrication processes such as lithography and etching, especially when the closest distance between trenches falls below 0.25 .mu.m. As a result, the fabrication process tolerance is narrowed and stringent quality control of each processing step is required. Therefore, the memory cell devices are difficult to manufacture. Some of these problems associated with device manufacture will be illustrated by the following example.
FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a composite body 100 including a semiconductor substrate 110 having a pad oxide layer 120, for example, SiO.sub.2, formed thereon. The semiconductor substrate 110 may be formed of, for example, crystal silicon. A layer 130 is formed over the pad oxide layer 120. The layer 130 may be formed of a nitride, such as Si.sub.3 N.sub.4. Of course, other silicon nitride compounds, e.g. Si.sub.3.+-.x N.sub.4.+-.y, may be used depending on the characteristics desired. The oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 serve as masks for pertinent fabrication processes such as etching, oxidation, and/or chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), for example. First and second deep trenches 140, 150 are formed in the nitride layer 130, the oxide layer 120, and the semiconductor substrate 110. A nitride region 135, an oxide region 125, and a semiconductor substrate region 115 are disposed between deep trenches 140, 150. First and second deep trench configurations 142, 152 are constructed in first and second deep trenches 140, 150, respectively.
Each of first and second trench configurations 142, 152 includes a thin insulator film 144, 154 formed on the interior surface of the trench 140, 150, a thick insulator film 146, 156 formed over the thin insulator film 144, 154 at a middle portion of the trench 140, 150, and storage node material 147, 157 formed to fill the inside of the respective deep trenches 140, 150 to the height of the thin insulator film 144, 154 and the thick insulator film 146, 156. However, filling the deep trenches 140, 150 is difficult because of their high aspect ratios. As a result, voids 148, 158 are formed in the storage node material 147, 157. Strap material 149, 159 is formed on top of the thin insulator film 144, 154, the thick insulator film 146, 156, and the storage node material 147, 157 to fill the interior of the deep trenches 140, 150 to a level somewhere below the surface of the semiconductor substrate 110. Therefore, the strap material 149, 159 directly contacts with both the semiconductor substrate 110 around the deep trench configurations 142, 152 and the top of the storage node material 147, 157 as illustrated in FIG. 1.
The thin insulator films 144, 154 may be formed of silicon nitride, for example, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, and serve to form a capacitance between the storage node material 147, 157 and the semiconductor substrate 110. The thick insulator films 146, 156, which may be formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) Si(OC.sub.2 C.sub.5).sub.4, isolates the storage node material 147, 157 from the surrounding semiconductor substrate 110. Storage node material 147, 157 serve as storage nodes, and may be formed of, for example, n+ polysilicon. The strap material 149, 159 may be formed from intrinsic polycrystalline silicon.
When the composite body 100 is constructed as a part of memory device, STI is used to electrically isolate deep trench configurations 142, 152 from one another and to delineate the regions on which planar devices are formed. It should be noted that before STI formation processes are initiated, all storage nodes are connected to the semiconductor substrate 110 by the straps 149, 159. After shallow trench formation, insulating material is used to fill the shallow trenches up to the surface of the composite body 100. Thus, after completion of STI formation processes, straps as well as deep trenches are completely buried beneath the insulating film. This type of strap formation, i.e. buried strap, is advantageous because it allows subsequent processes to be completed on a planar surface. Flat topography is critical to produce excellent resolution in lithography. Planar devices, including switching transistors coupled to the respective deep trench configurations 142, 152, are then fabricated using surface device fabrication techniques currently known in the art.
Conventionally, portions of the first and second deep trench configurations 142, 152 are etched together with nitride region 135, oxide region 125, and semiconductor substrate 115 in a region indicated by 160 in FIG. 1. This ensures isolation between adjacent deep trench configurations despite slight misalignment and poor resolution in the lithographic stage of the STI process. In addition, capacitive coupling between the storage node of a deep trench configuration and gate material running above it can be reduced. To effect the etch, a resist layer is formed over the composite body 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 and developed to form a pattern for etching. FIG. 2 illustrates a shallow trench 210 formed between the first and second deep trench configurations 142, 152 by etching the composite body 100 through opening 220 in resist layer 230 according to conventional techniques. However, several disadvantages and difficulties exist when the shallow trench is formed by such conventional technique.
First, as can be seen most clearly in FIG. 1, the upper surface of the composite body 100 has recesses 170, 180 resulting from the different levels of the upper surfaces of pad nitride layer 130 and strap layers 149, 159. The recesses 170, 180 include step portions 171, 172, 181, and 182 formed at the respective edges between the upper surface of the pad nitride layer 130 and the upper surfaces of the strap layers 149, 159 of the first and second deep trench configurations 142, 152. The step portions 171, 172, 181 and 182 may have a height of, for example, about 2000 Angstroms. In order to have a desired pattern or shallow trench etching mask, resist should be developed as shown in FIG. 2, with a definitive edge at the middle of the strap layer, which is recessed from the surface level of the semiconductor substrate 110. However, when resist is applied to a surface that has step formations, light passes through the resist and reflects from both the substrate surface and the recessed surface. The light reflected from the recessed surface interferes with incoming light differently than the light reflected from the substrate surface thereby causing an undesirable resist profile after development. The interference pattern and, as a consequence, the resist profile are dependent on the height of the step. Thus, resolution at the edge of the resist profile is poor and very sensitive to variations in step height. Accordingly, the process window for lithography is narrow and repeatability of the process is impaired.
Furthermore, etching the shallow trench is itself difficult because the semiconductor substrate region 115, portions of the intrinsic polysilicon strap layers 149, 159, portions of the thin nitride insulator 144, 154, portions of thick oxide insulator 146, 156, portions of n+ polysilicon storage node material 147, 157, the pad nitride region 135, and the pad oxide region 125 must all be removed. While the pad nitride region 135 and the pad oxide region 125 may be etched using a process selective to silicon, a simultaneous, multi-material etch of polysilicon, nitride, and oxide is required. The problem is compounded by the fact that the polysilicon, nitride, and oxide do not form a planar surface. Therefore, an extremely non-selective etching technique is required.
Moreover, as noted above, lithography produces poor resolution of the edges of resist above the deep trench configurations 142, 152. Because etching processes for forming tapered trenches are more susceptible to inaccuracies caused by resist profile variation, shallow trenches are formed by etching processes that produce highly vertical trench profiles. In addition, tapered shallow trenches are more vulnerable to misalignment. To minimize the adverse effect of poor resolution of lithography and misalignment, vertical etching is required.
The requirement of a vertical trench profile conflicts with the requirement of non-selective etching. This imposes severe restrictions on the etching procedure. For example, a deposition-type etching process that forms a deposition film on the vertical plane cannot be used because the film also deposits on the horizontal plane of each material differently and thus induces etching rate disparities between materials. Accordingly, the resulting etch becomes selective which is inconsistent with the requirement of non-selectivity. However, it is difficult to control the trench profile without an etching process that also forms a deposition film. Due to the rigid restrictions placed upon the etching procedure, even a slight variation in etching conditions produces a relatively large decrease in etching performance.
Further, there is at least one problem inherent in transistors delineated and isolated by shallow trenches having a highly vertical profile. Sharp corners formed by the shallow trench sidewall and the semiconductor substrate surface modify the local electric field distribution so as to reduce the local threshold voltage. Accordingly, the threshold voltage of the channel region adjacent to the shallow trench sidewall has a lower value than that at the center of the channel region. The lower threshold at the corner is detrimental to the cut-off characteristics of the transistor and may cause leakage current. For peripheral circuitry, which contains relatively large transistors having relatively large currents, the leakage current produces significant power dissipation. The leakage current in switching transistors, which are connected to the storage nodes, leads to the discharge of the storage nodes and thus a loss of information.
In order to obtain a good quality interface between the silicon and the shallow trench sidewall, thermal oxidation of the shallow trench interior surface is preferable. However, during this oxidation step, oxidant diffuses through the exposed thick oxide insulator and induces undesired oxidation of silicon in its vicinity. In addition, the interior surface of the storage node voids 148, 158, which may be formed of n+ polysilicon, as noted above, may be oxidized. Oxidation of silicon causes a volume expansion. Stress resulting from the expansion can lead to crystal defects such as dislocations in the crystal silicon semiconductor substrate. Such crystal defects modify the electrical properties of the semiconductor and cause junction leakage currents. Consequently, the retention time of a memory cell device, as well as other important characteristics, may be impaired. Accordingly, there exists a need to provide a method for forming a shallow trench between deep trench configurations that is easily implemented and that avoids the difficulties and disadvantages of conventional methods.

Shallow trench isolation formation with deep trench cap


A watch includes a control member capable of managing a primary function of the watch, such as a rotating crown or a push-piece, as well as a magnetic ball that can be manually pivoted by the user about the centre thereof. A 3D magnetic sensor is arranged in the watch to detect the orientation of the magnetic field emitted by the magnetic ball, in addition to a processor for converting an electric signal generated by the magnetic sensor into an instruction for managing one or more other electronic functions of the watch. The magnetic ball is partially arranged inside the control member such that it is accessible to a user. The watch can further comprise a proximity sensor for detecting the axial position of the control member relative to the middle of the watch.

Mechanical or electromechanical watches conventionally comprise a stem-crown that allows the position of the hands to be set by rotating the crown, as well as the barrel to be wound in the case of a mechanical watch. In most cases, the crown is located in a rest position close to the case of the watch, and it must be pulled into a setting position to adjust the time and, where appropriate, the date.
Watches are increasingly provided with additional features, such as an electronic display for personal and/or geographic information, for example an agenda, fitness data and geolocation data. This is also the case for watches equipped with a mechanical movement, for example by adding an electronic module comprising a digital screen arranged over a part of the dial.
The presence of the aforementioned additional features generally requires specific control means allowing, for example, a function to be selected or a menu to be browsed, etc.
Electronic watches have been developed with a control member of the 'joystick' or 'trackball' type. Examples of these solutions are respectively shown in the European patent documents EP 1168113 and EP 0582150. However, it should be noted that these solutions are not intended for a mechanically-wound watch. The European patent document EP 0582150 further discloses a watch provided with a stem-crown as well as a 'trackball' device. The drawback of the latter solution is that the presence of two control members separated from one another in space is not always ideal from an aesthetic and/or economic standpoint, given that the watch case is more complex to machine. It should also be noted that good sealing of the watch case is more difficult to achieve with the control members of the 'joystick' or 'trackball' type disclosed in the aforementioned prior art.

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd


A utility distribution system is provided for modular furniture of the type comprising individual furniture units which are juxtaposed to form one or more workstations. A signal conductor is positioned in each furniture unit, and extends generally between opposite sides thereof. Quick-disconnect connectors are provided at the opposite ends of each of the signal conductors, and mate with like quick-disconnect connectors in adjacent furniture units to create a communications network through the workstations. Each furniture unit has a signaler physically associated therewith, which is connected with an associated signal conductor at a coupler. A network controller is operably connected to the network to evaluate the network and/or the associated furniture units. The furniture units may be equipped with one or more utility ports, which are connected with the coupler, and service utility appliances, such as personal computers, telephones, facsimile machines, switches, power outlets, data receptacles, and the like. The utility appliances preferably have memory capability to internally store operating instructions for the same, which are transmitted to the network controller when the utility appliance is initialized.

The present invention relates to the distribution of utilities in modular furniture systems and the like, and a control arrangement therefor.
Modern offices are becoming increasingly complicated and sophisticated due largely to the ever increasing needs of the users for improved utilities support at each workstation. These "utilities," as the term is used herein, encompass all types of resources that may be used to support or service a worker, such as communications and data used with computers and other types of data processors, electronic displays, etc., electrical power, conditioned water, and physical accommodations, such as lighting, HVAC, security, sound masking, and the like. For example, modern offices for highly skilled "knowledge workers" such as engineers, accountants, stock brokers, computer programmers, etc., are typically provided with multiple pieces of very specialized computer and communications equipment that are capable of processing information from numerous local and remote data resources to assist in solving complex problems. Such equipment has very stringent power and signal requirements, and must quickly and efficiently interface with related equipment at both adjacent and remote locations. Work areas with readily controllable lighting, HVAC, sound masking, and other physical support systems, are also highly desirable to maximize worker creativity and productivity. Many other types of high technology equipment and facilities are also presently being developed which will find their place in the workplaces of the future.
One important consequence of the advent of sophisticated electronic offices is the increased need and desirability for distributing utilities throughout the various offices in a manner which can be readily controlled. For example, both personal security and information security are ever-growing concerns in today's office environment, particularly as more and more sensitive business data is being transmitted electronically. Complex video and computer systems have been developed which have a central location from which all workstations in any given grouping and/or building can be continuously monitored, and the security of each associated piece of electronic equipment connected with a communications network can be checked. Related alarms and electronic locking mechanisms are typically integrated into such security systems to provide improved effectiveness. These types of security systems must presently be hard-wired in place in the building and the associated workstations. This serves to increase the cost of the office space, and severely limit its ability to be readily reconfigured.
Another example of the increasing need to control the distribution of utilities in offices relates to energy management. Electrical power is clearly an essential element of the modern office. From an energy management standpoint, it is desirable to minimize peak power consumption, as unit costs can thereby be reduced, and energy conservation realized. Also, when power supplies are disrupted, such as due to a black out, a brown out, or another similar type of power disturbance, it is very important to be able to marshal the use of all available power and/or route emergency power to critical equipment, such as emergency lighting, security systems, communications equipment, etc. Some industries, such as financial brokerages, telemarketing firms, mail order sales, and others have become so dependent upon electrically powered computers and communication devices that even very minor power variations can create major problems that result in significant business losses. Hence, the ability to control the distribution of electrical power in office environments, and other similar settings is of utmost importance.
Signaling and/or communications is another essential utility in modern offices which must be effectively distributed and controlled. In addition to state-of-the-art telephone communications, interactive computers, electronic mail, facsimile messages, remote banking, computer stock trading, and many other similar activities, electronic information transfers are now becoming a part of everyday business practice. As these new forms of communications become well entrenched, our dependence upon them increases proportionately, such that even temporary signal overloads or interferences can result in significant reductions in worker productivity.
Other important utilities also need to be distributed and controlled in modern office settings. These utilities generally relate to physical ambient controls, such as building and local HVAC, ceiling lighting, task lighting, audio information such as music, alarms, sound masking, etc., video information, including cable TV, electronic display boards, and the like. The ability to provide the office worker with ready access to all of these utilities, as well as those other utilities discussed above, is clearly advantageous in the quest to promote worker well-being and effectiveness. Since many of today's utility devices are readily portable, such as lap-top PCs, wireless telephones, etc., the difficulties experienced in keeping track of these facilities and managing their use is greatly exacerbated.
The efficient use of building floor space is also an ever-growing concern, particularly as building costs continue to escalate. Open office plans have been developed to reduce overall office costs, and generally incorporate large, open floor spaces in buildings that are equipped with modular furniture systems which are readily reconfigurable to accommodate the ever-clanging needs of a specific user, as well as the divergent requirements of different tenants. One arrangement commonly used for furnishing open plans includes movable partition panels that are detachably interconnected to partition off the open spaces into individual workstations and/or offices. Such partition panels are configured to receive hang-on furniture units, such as worksurfaces, overhead cabinets, shelves, etc., and are generally known in the office furniture industry as "systems furniture." Another arrangement for dividing and/or partitioning open plans involves the use of modular furniture, in which a plurality of differently shaped, complementary freestanding furniture units are positioned in a side-by-side relationship, with upstanding privacy screens available to attach to selected furniture units to create individual, distinct workstations and/or offices. All of these types of modular furniture systems have been widely received due largely to their ability to be readily reconfigured and/or moved to a new site, since they are not part of a permanent leasehold improvement.
In order to gain increased efficiency in the use of expensive office real estate, attempts are now being made to try to support highly paid knowledge workers with these types of modular furniture systems in open office settings, instead of conventional private offices. However, in order to insure peak efficiency of such knowledge workers, the workstations must be equipped with the various state-of-the-art utilities and facilities discussed above. Since such workstations must be readily reconfigurable to effectively meet the ever-changing needs of the user, the distribution and control of utilities throughout a comprehensive open office plan has emerged as a major challenge to the office furniture industry.
At present, some types of modular furniture systems, such as selected portable partition panels and freestanding furniture units, can be equipped with an optional electrical powerway, which extends along the entire width of the unit, and has quick-disconnect connectors adjacent opposite ends thereof to connect with adjacent, like powerways, and thereby provide electrical power to an associated furniture group or cluster. Outlet receptacles are provided along each powerway into which electrical appliances can be plugged. Cable troughs or channels are also provided in most such furniture units, so as to form a system of interconnected raceways into which signal and communications wires can be routed. Such cabling is normally routed through the furniture system after the furniture units are installed, and is then hard-wired at each of the desired outlets. While this type of distribution system has proven somewhat effective, the types of utilities provided are rather limited, their distribution is not wholly modular, thereby resulting in higher installation and reconfiguration costs, and there is little or no control for those utilities available, at least on an overall systems level.
The inherent nature of modular furniture systems, which permits them to be readily reconfigured into different arrangements, makes it very difficult to achieve adequate utility distribution and control. To be effective, not only must the furniture units have built-in utility capabilities, but the distribution system should also be able to determine the location of each particular furniture unit within a system of multiple workstations, monitor its utility usage, and then control the same, all at a relatively low cost and readily adaptable fashion, which will function effectively, regardless of where the individual furniture unit is positioned or how it is configured.

Furniture unit having a modular communication network


A pole clip for arranging wires and/or tubing around the circumference of a pole. The clip comprises a resilient, flexible, generally C-shaped body adapted for a snap fit on the pole, and at least one resiliently-flexible arcuate arm extending in generally concentric relationship relative to the C-shaped body. The arm defines an arcuate wire-and-tube-retaining area between the C-shaped body and the arm. The wire-and-tube-retaining area is concentric with the C-shaped body, and is configured to visibly retain wires and/or tubes in side-by-side relationship around the pole. The arm has a free end closely spaced from another portion of the clip such that wires and/or tubes can be manually introduced into or released from the wire-and-tube-retaining area by flexing the arcuate arm but the arm normally retains the wires and/or tubes.

Medical wiring and tubing are commonly tied to poles with plastic tie strips. The tie strips have an undulating surface along their length, and a small opening at one end through which the other end of the strap is introduced. The small opening includes a spring mechanism that interacts with the undulating surface to provide a rachet mechanism permitting tightening the strap around the wires, tubing and pole but which cannot be released. Frequently, the wires and tubing are clamped by the strap over one another so that it becomes difficult to follow any one wire or tube, and replacement of a single wire may require cutting the strap and using a new strap to tie the wires and tubing back on the pole.
The shortcomings of the conventional tie strap described above have been particularly noticeable when used in the medical environment, in particular when used in connection with complicated extracorporeal heart/lung equipment and patient monitoring equipment. This equipment requires a multiplicity of wires and tubing, some of which is used on a semi-permanent basis for more than one surgery and some of which is disposable between surgeries. It can be difficult to determine which tie straps need to be cut to remove some wires or tubes without removing others. Moreover, visual inspection of the wires and tubing before or during surgery is difficult when they are clamped over one another by the tie strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,465 (Rhodes et al.) describes a retainer apparatus including a pair of sponges mounted between a pair of supports, which can be connected by hinges, for securing devices or objects. That apparatus includes a flexible strap for mounting on a pole or other object.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,069 (Clark) discloses an inlet tube stabilizer for a flexible container, such as a plastic bedside drainage container, on a bed member or other support. That stabilizer comprises a strap having a gripper member including spaced apart lips forming enclosures of different diameters for retaining tubes of different sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,793 (Shillington) relates to a pole clip needle cap holder which can be mounted on an IV support pole for holding one or more tubes close to the IV pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,792 (Huber) discloses clamping means for physiological fluid infusion systems, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,696,963 (Shepherd) discloses a portable intravenous fluid carrier.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,372,683; 3,322,381; 3,521,332; 3,594,682; 3,778,537; 4,406,042; 4,673,153 and 4,864,697 show wire or tubing clips, or other retaining devices.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A system for implementing computer security is provided. The system includes a computer processor and an application configured to execute on the computer processor, the application implementing a method that includes creating a token and populating a payload section of the token with key material and selecting a wrapping method that specifies how the key material is securely bound to key control information. A structure of the key control information in the token is independent of the wrapping method. Implementing computer security also includes wrapping the key material and binding key control information to the key material in the token. The key control information includes information relating to usage and management of the key material.

The present invention relates to data processing, and more specifically, to cryptography structures to enhance security of keys.
Layouts for secure data structures, called tokens, are used to contain secret key material and may also include descriptors of the token contents. The token structure changes based on a type of wrapping method used to protect the key material.
What is needed, therefore, is a data structure that does not change based on the type of wrapping method used to protect the data structure contents.

International Business Machines Corporation


A strained-channel semiconductor structure and method of fabricating the same. The strained-channel semiconductor structure comprises a substrate composed of a first semiconductor material with a first natural lattice constant. A channel region is disposed in the substrate and a gate stack is disposed over the strained channel region. A pair of source/drain regions are oppositely disposed in the substrate adjacent to the channel region, wherein each of the source/drain regions comprises a lattice-mismatched zone comprising a second semiconductor material with a second natural lattice constant rather than the first natural lattice constant, an inner side and an outer side corresponding to the gate stack, and at least one outer sides laterally contacts the first semiconductor material of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor structure. More particularly, it relates to a strained-channel semiconductor structure and method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Size reduction of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), including reduction of gate length and gate oxide thickness, has enabled continuous improvement in performance, reduced density, and cost per unit of integrated circuits.
In order to further enhance transistor performance, strain can be introduced in the transistor channel to improve carrier mobility and device scaling. There are several existing approaches to introducing strain in a transistor channel region.
In one conventional approach, as described in the paper entitled "NMOS and PMOS transistors fabricated in strained silicon/relaxed silicon-germanium structures", by J. Welser et al., published at the December 1992 International Electron Devices Meeting held in San Francisco, Calif., pp. 1000-1002, a relaxed silicon germanium (SiGe) buffer layer 110 is provided beneath channel region 126, as shown in FIG. 1A.
In FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C, a simple model of different lattice constants is used to show the intersection between relaxed SiGe layer 114 of buffer layer 110 and strained-Si layer 130. In FIG. 1B, model 135 shows the natural lattice constant of Si, smaller than that of SiGe shown by model 115. In FIG. 1C, when a thin layer of epitaxial Si (model 135) is grown on the relaxed SiGe layer 114 (model 115), unit cell 136 of Si shown in model 135 is subject to biaxial tensile strain by lateral stretching. The thin layer of epitaxial Si becomes strained-Si layer 130 shown in FIG. 1A.
In FIG. 1A, a transistor formed on the epitaxial strained-Si layer 130 has a channel region 126 under biaxial tensile strain. In this approach, relaxed SiGe layer 114 is a stressor that introduces strain in channel region 126. The stressor, in this case, is placed below channel region 126. Significant mobility enhancement has been reported for both electrons and holes in bulk transistors using a silicon channel under biaxial tensile strain. In the aforementioned approach, the epitaxial silicon layer 130 is strained before forming the transistor.
Hence, there are concerns about possible strain relaxation resulting from subsequent high temperature CMOS processes. Further, the approach is very expensive as the SiGe buffer layer 110 with a thickness on the order of micrometers must be grown. Numerous dislocations exist in relaxed SiGe layer 114, some of which propagate to the strained-Si layer 130, resulting in high defect density, thereby negatively affecting transistor performance.
Moreover, another approach is disclosed in U.S. patent application No. 2003/0080361 by A. Murthy et. al., entitled "Semiconductor transistor having a stressed channel", and an approach with strain in a channel region by stressors disposed on adjacent sides of the channel region is introduced.
In addition, a pMOSFET with a SiGe source/drain and a SiGe quantum well channel is described in detail in a paper disclosed by Ouyang et. al., entitled "Two-dimensional bandgap engineering in a novel Si/SiGe PMOSFET with enhanced device performance and scalability", published in pp. 151-154 of the Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices (SISPAD).
In FIG. 2, the cross section of the semiconductor transistor with a gate structure G is shown and the elements of the gate stack 203 thereof are omitted for simplicity. In FIG. 2, the gate stack 203 is disposed over the surface of a semiconductor substrate, for example a silicon substrate 200, between two isolation regions 202 formed in the silicon substrate 200. In addition, two doped regions 204a and 204b are disposed in the silicon substrate 200 between the isolation regions 202 and located on opposing sides of the gate stack 203. A channel region 208 is further formed in the silicon substrate 200 between the doped regions 204a and 204b. Films 206a and 206b including silicon, germanium and boron are epitaxially formed in the respective region above the doped regions 204a and 204b disposed on opposing sides of the gate stack 203 and act as stressors.
In such a semiconductor transistor, the outer sidewall of the film 206a or 206b corresponding to the channel region 208 entirely contacts the adjacent isolation region 202 and the strain caused by each stressor (referring to the film 206a and the film 206b) to the channel region 208 is partially buffered by the adjacent isolation region 202 thereof such that the magnitude of a strain in the channel region 208 is not optimized and can thus be reduced.
Photon area 210 in FIG. 2 is further enlarged and shown in FIG. 3 to illustrate the atomic arrangement of the isolation region 202 and portions of the channel region (referring to the doped region 204a and the adjacent channel region 208) adjacent to the stressor (referring to the film 206a) therein. At this point, the doped region 204a comprises the same material as the silicon substrate 200 and the atomic arrangement thereof is an atomic arrangement of silicon atoms 210, having a lattice constant in nature. In the film 206a, the atomic arrangement is an atomic arrangement of material such as epitaxially formed silicon germanium (SiGe) 212 here, having another lattice constant in nature greater than that of silicon atoms 210 of the adjacent doped region 204a.
In addition, the film 206a also contacts the isolation region 202 on the left side. The isolation regions 202 are usually filled with the amorphous material such as silicon oxide 214 and a hetero-junction of proper atomic arrangements cannot be constituted between the amorphous material of the isolation region 202 and the film 206a. Thus, the amorphous material, for example silicon oxide 214, in the isolation region 202 does not force the atoms of material of the stressor to be arranged in any specific way.
Further, the silicon oxide 214 filled in the isolation region 202 has a smaller Young's modulus (about 69 GPa) than that of the silicon material (about 170 GPa) in the channel region (referring to the doped region 204a and the channel region 208) and results in a lager strain under a fixed stress. Thus, the isolation region 202 filled with silicon oxide is more compressive or stretchable than the channel region of the silicon material and the magnitude of a strain in the channel region 208 close to the doped region 204a provided by the stressor (referring to the film 206a here) can be partially buffered by the silicon oxide of the adjacent isolation region 202 such that the strain in the channel region 208 is not optimized and can thus be reduced.
Thus, the present invention provides a strained-channel semiconductor structure to enhance the strain in the channel region by improving the location and design of the stressors therein.

Strained-channel semiconductor structure and method for fabricating the same

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.