In the case where an ultraminiature piezoelectric substrate, which has a resonating portion formed by making a concavity by etching in the surface of the piezoelectric substrate made of an anisotropic crystal material, is mass-produced by batch operation using a large-area piezoelectric substrate wafer, an annular portion surrounding each concavity is formed sufficiently thick to prevent cracking from occurring when the wafer is severed. A piezoelectric substrate 2 of an anisotropic piezoelectric crystal material has a thin resonating portion 4 and a thick annular portion 5 integrally surrounding the outer marginal edge of the resonating portion to form a concavity 3 in at least one of major surfaces of the substrate; the inner wall 5a of the annular portion in the one crystal orientation slopes gently more than the inner wall in the other crystal orientation perpendicular to said one crystal orientation, and the piezoelectric substrate is longer in said one crystal orientation than in the other crystal orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a piezoelectric substrate of a structure having an ultra-thin resonating portion surrounded with a thick annular marginal portion formed integrally therewith, a piezoelectric resonating element having a conductive pattern including excitation electrodes and so on formed on the piezoelectric substrate, a piezoelectric resonator having the piezoelectric resonating element hermetically sealed in a package, a piezoelectric oscillator using the piezoelectric resonator, and a piezoelectric substrate wafer; more particularly, the invention concerns a technique which in the case of forming the resonating portion profiled with a concavity formed by etching in the surface of a piezoelectric substrate of an anisotropic crystal material, implements the optimum configuration of the resonating portion in conformity to ultraminiaturization of the piezoelectric substrate through utilization of an unetched portion (gentle slopes) on an inner wall of the annular marginal portion, and a technique which increases mass productivity by batch production while maintaining quality. Furthermore, the invention pertains to a method suitable for fine adjustments to the thicknesses of the resonating portions formed by the bottom portions of a plurality of concavities prepared by one operation in a piezoelectric substrate wafer, and a technique for providing the widest possible area for the resonating portion in a limited narrow piezoelectric substrate.
2. Background Art
[First Prior Art Example]
Surface-mount piezoelectric devices of the type having a crystal resonator or similar piezoelectric resonating element hermetically sealed in a package are used as a reference frequency source, a filter and so forth in communication equipment such as a portable telephone and a pager, and in electronic equipment such as a computer; and as these pieces of equipment become miniaturized, there is also growing a demand for miniaturization of the piezoelectric devices.
Furthermore, a piezoelectric oscillator for use as a surface-mount piezoelectric device has a structure in which a piezoelectric resonating element and parts forming an oscillation circuit are housed in a concavity formed in the top surface of the package body as of ceramics material and sealed therein by covering the open top of the concavity with a metal cover.
As the piezoelectric resonating element for use in such a piezoelectric device as mentioned above, there has been known a piezoelectric resonating element composed of: a piezoelectric substrate which has, for high-frequency operations, a thin resonating portion formed by the bottom of a concavity formed by removing part of the substrate surface and surrounded with a thick annular marginal portion integral therewith; input/output electrodes and a grounding electrode formed on top and bottom surfaces of the resonating portion (Pat. Laid-Open Gazette No. 9-055635).
FIGS. 15(a) and (b) are a perspective and a sectional view showing the configuration of an AT-cut crystal resonating element as an example of such a piezoelectric resonating element. The crystal resonating element, denoted generally by 100, is provided with: a crystal substrate 101 formed of an AT-cut crystal as an anisotropic piezoelectric crystal material; excitation electrodes 110 formed on both major surfaces of the crystal substrate; lead electrodes 111 extending from the excitation electrodes 110; and connecting pads 112 forming respective lead electrode terminating ends. The crystal substrate 101 has a construction in which an ultra-thin resonating portion 103 is formed by the bottom of a concavity 102 made by etching in one of two major surfaces of a rectangular, flat-shaped substrate body longer in the x-axis direction and the outer marginal edge of the resonating portion 103 is integrally held by a thick annular portion 104. That one side 104A of the annular marginal portion 104 lying in the x-axis direction is extended a predetermined length in the x-axis direction to form a jut-out portion 105. On one surface of the jut-out portion 105 the lead electrodes 111 are route thereto and the connecting pads 112 are disposed at the ends of the lead electrodes 111.
The reason for making the AT-cut crystal substrate 101 longer in the x-axis direction as mentioned above is that the propagation velocity of waves in the x-axis direction during excitation is approximately 1.2 times higher than the propagation velocity of waves in the x-axis direction; it is customary in the art to adopt such an x-axis long structure which is longer in the x-axis direction.
In the case of using chemical etching to form the concavity 102 in the crystal substrate 101, gentle slopes 104a and 104b of small inclination angles θ are left unetched on inner walls of the annular marginal portions 104 lying in the z-axis direction due to the property of the crystal as an anisotropic crystal material.
FIG. 15(c) is a sectional view showing the state in which the crystal resonating element 100 of the above-described structure is mounted in a surface-mount package 120, wherein the connecting pads 112 of the crystal resonating element 100 with the concavity 102 facing downward are electrically and mechanically fixed by conductive adhesive 122 to pads 121 disposed on the inner bottom of the package 120. The top opening of the package 120 is hermetically sealed with a metal cover 123.
Incidentally, in the case of mass-producing such crystal substrates 101 (or crystal resonating element 100) by batch production through use of a large-area piezoelectric substrate wafer, arrays of individual crystal oscillating elements 100 are laid out as shown in FIG. 16. That is, plural straight dicing grooves (dividing grooves) 131 are cut in a wafer 130 in a grid pattern so that they cross one another at right angles, and rectangular areas defined by the grooves ultimately become individual crystal substrates 101. Through etching of the wafer 130 by use of a predetermined etchant with a mask (a resist film) through which is exposed the crystal substrate surface where the concavity 102 will ultimately be formed, the gentle slopes 104a and 104b are left unetched on the inner walls lying in the z-axis direction corresponding to the crystal orientation in which the etching rate is low, as shown. Thereafter, the excitation electrodes 110, the lead electrodes 111 and the connecting pads 112 are formed in the individual substrate regions as by vapor deposition, after which the wafer is severed along the dicing grooves 131 into individual crystal resonating elements 100.
Incidentally, the crystal substrate to be housed in an ultraminiature package measuring 2.5×2.0 mm needs to be further shrunk to a size of less than 1.3×0.9 mm. On the other hand, in batch production using the wafer 130 it is necessary that the individual crystal substrates be closely spaced to enhance mass productivity by increasing the number of crystal substrates obtainable from each wafer, but in the fabrication of such ultraminiature crystal substrates as mentioned above the spacing w between the dicing groove 131 and each of three marginal edges of the concavity 102 is extremely narrow, making it difficult to provide a sufficiently broad and sufficiently strong annular marginal portion 104. Accordingly, in the case of cutting the wafer along the dicing grooves 131 by means of a dicing blade or similar cutting means, cracking readily occurs in the annular marginal portion 104 and the resonating portion 103, giving rise to a problem of sharp reduction in productivity.
Moreover, since the lead electrodes 111 extending from the excitation electrodes 110 formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the resonating portion 103, respectively, need to be routed along the inner wall of the steeply sloped one side 104A of the annular marginal portion 104 located in the x-axis direction as depicted in FIG. 15(a), the conductive traces are readily broken at sharp marginal edges.
Besides, as shown in FIG. 15(c), the connecting pads 112 are formed on the jut-out portion 105 contiguous to the side 104A with the steeply sloped inner wall and bonded to the pads 121 on the inner bottom of the package by use of the conductive adhesive 122, and consequently, the entire crystal resonating element structure is supported in a cantilever fashion; in this case, however, since the distance between the position where the connecting pads are bonded by the conductive adhesive 122 and the resonating portion 103 is short, stress due to the weight of the crystal resonating element is likely to be applied to the resonating portion 103 to distort it, causing resonance frequency variations.
[Second Prior Art Example]
FIGS. 17(a) and (b) are a sectional view of another conventional surface-mount crystal resonator and a sectional view taken on the line A—A, the resonator having a configuration in which the package 120 having housed therein the crystal resonating element 100 held in a cantilever fashion is hermetically sealed with the metal cover 123. On both sides of the jut-out portion 105 of the crystal substrate 101 there are formed two connecting pads 112a and 112b, respectively. In this instance, the connecting pad 112a facing toward the inner bottom of the package can easily be connected electrically and mechanically to the pad 121a opposite thereto by the conductive adhesive 122, but the connection of the other connecting pad 112b to the corresponding pad 121b in the package requires double coating of the adhesive since the former is formed on the flat surface of the crystal substrate. The double coating of the adhesive involves first coating of the adhesive between the pad 121b and the underside of the crystal substrate and second coating of the adhesive to interconnect the upper connecting pad 112b and the adhesive coated first.
When coated twice, however, the adhesive 122 partly protrudes upward of the connecting pad 112b, and to prevent it from contacting the underside of the metal cover 123, it is necessary to increase the height of the outer peripheral wall of the package 120. This constitutes an obstacle to a reduction in profile of the package and ignores the demand for miniaturization.
As a solution to this problem, it is conventional to employ such a structure as shown in FIG. 17(c), in which a concave notch 140 (140a, 140b) deposited over the entire area of its inner wall with a conductive film is formed in the edge face of the substrate adjacent the marginal edge of the upper connecting pad 112b to establish electrical connections between the conductive film on the inner wall of the concave notch 140b and the connecting pad 112b on the top of the substrate, whereas on the underside of the substrate there is formed a connecting pad 112b′ for electrical connection with the conductive film on the inner wall of the concave notch 140b. With this structure, the lower connecting pad 112b′ and the pad 121b on the inner bottom of the package are connected via the conductive adhesive 122, establishing electrical connections between the upper connecting pad 112b and the pad 121b by single coating of the adhesive.
Such a concave notch as mentioned above is formed using the procedure as shown in FIG. 17(d): making small rectangular holes in each crystal substrate 101 from both of its top and underside surfaces by chemical etching using a mask (resist film) for the large-area piezoelectric substrate wafer 130; interconnecting the both small rectangular holes to form a through hole 140H; depositing the conductive film all over the inner wall of the through hole; and severing the wafer along the dicing grooves 131 into individual crystal substrates. However, the diameter (width) of each through hole 140H to be formed within the width of the connecting pad 112b on the ultraminiature crystal resonating element measuring, for instance, less than 1.3×0.9 mm inevitably becomes as small as on the order of μ—this causes frequent occurrence of insufficient etching that does not completely interconnect the small rectangular holes made in each crystal substrate from its top and underside surfaces. On the other hand, since the through hole 140H forming the concave notch 140 is formed in a narrow area of the connecting pad 112b of a limited area, the diameter of the hole is also limited accordingly. It is particularly difficult to form two through holes in one marginal edge face of each piezoelectric substrate of an extremely small area.
Accordingly, there has been a strong demand for solving the problem of low yields of ultraminiature crystal resonating elements caused by insufficient chemical etching of the large-area piezoelectric substrate wafer 130 to form therein the through holes 140H which are ultimately used as the concave notches 140.
Incidentally, the reason for providing the pair of concave notches 140 in the edge face of each crystal substrate 101 is that the one concave notch 140b is to establish electrical connections between the upper connecting pad 112b and the pad 121b on the package as referred o above, whereas the other concave notch 140a is to provide on the top surface of the crystal substrate the upper connecting pad 112a′ electrically connected to the lower connecting pad 112a. With such an arrangement, measurement of characteristics of each individual crystal resonating element formed on the wafer 130 can be done with probe pins of a measuring instrument held from the same direction against the two connecting pads 112b and 112a′ on the top of the crystal substrate or the two connecting pads 112a and 112b′ on the underside of the substrate. The reason for this is that it is most efficient to conduct the measurement with the probe pins held against the two connecting pads on the same surface of the substrate.
Besides, the crystal resonating element 100 is not always mounted in the package with the concavity oriented downward as shown in FIG. 17(a), but it may also be held upward. Hence, the provision of the two connecting pads on either side of the substrate enables one crystal resonating element 100 to be mounted in the package in an arbitrary orientation.
[Third Prior Art Example]
In the formation of concavities by chemical etching in individual piezoelectric substrate regions on a sheet-like piezoelectric substrate wafer with a plurality of piezoelectric substrates arranged in a matrix form, it is difficult to make uniform the thicknesses of all ultrathin resonating portions formed by concavity bottom portions. To obviate this problem, it is customary in the prior art to premeasure the depth of each concavity, that is, variations in the thicknesses of the resonating portions in the respective concavities, and to conduct an adjustment operation using an etchant for each concavity to make fine adjustment to the thickness of the resonating portion having not reached a predetermined value.
FIGS. 18(a) and 18(b) are diagrams for explaining a conventional fine adjustment method for each concavity, according to which the concavities 102 are formed by simultaneously etching only those wafer surface areas exposed through apertures of a mask (resist film) covering the one major surface of the piezoelectric substrate wafer 130, though not shown. Since such one operation by etching does not make uniform the thicknesses of the resonating portions 103 formed by the bottom portions of the concavities 102, the thicknesses of the resonating portions 103 of the concavities 102 are premeasured, and then etching is carried out for each concavity after a guide mask with apertures arranged in a grid pattern, such as denoted by reference numeral 150, is mounted on the wafer 130 and held in close contact with the wafer surface areas between adjacent concavities. That is, the guide mask 150 has a plurality of apertures 152 of a rectangular or some other shape formed through a sheet of resin, for instance, with a predetermined pitch; the apertures 152 of the shape matching the plan configuration of the concavities 150 are defined by adjacent partitioning parts 151 intersecting in a grid pattern. The guide mask 150 is fixed to the wafer 130 all over it with the partitioning parts 151 held in close contact with the wafer surfaces around the concavities 102 as shown in FIG. 18(b). Then, the concavities are sequentially filled with proper amounts of etchant 155 for different periods of time precalculated therefor in decreasing order of thickness of the resonating portion. At a point in time all the resonating portions have been etched to a predetermined thickness, the entire wafer assembly is cleaned up to remove therefrom the etchant.
Incidentally, miniaturization of the apertures 152 of the guide mask 150 is limited due to limitations imposed on machining techniques; and an achievable minimum size is such as depicted in FIG. 18(b). Accordingly, in order to make fine adjustments to the thicknesses of the resonating portions of miniature concavities 102 in the wafer 130 having more miniature piezoelectric substrates by individual etching as shown in FIG. 18(c), there is no choice but to use the guide mask 150 prepared for large concavities. Alternatively, to permit accurate dropwise filling of the concavities with the etchant, the apertures 152 need to be of such a size as shown in FIG. 18(b) at minimum. When such a guide mask is used, the concavities 102 and the dicing grooves 131 are exposed through the apertures 152 defined by adjacent partitioning parts 151, as depicted in FIG. 18(b). In this instance, when each aperture 152 is filled with the etchant, excess etchant overflowing the concavity penetrates into the dicing grooves 131 and unnecessarily etches away those regions undesired to etch, incurring a decrease in the mechanical strength of the regions concerned. Moreover, there is a fear that the surface tension of the etchant 155 filling the concavity 102 prevents it from making full contact with the entire area of the bottom of the concavity, leaving therein unetched portions 156 as shown in FIG. 18(d), and hence resulting in the individual etching becoming unsuccessful.
As described above, in the case of individual etching of the concavities to remove variations in the depths of the concavities formed by batch operation in the wafer, the limitations on the size of the apertures of the guide mask 150 incur the possibility of unnecessary etching or poor etching of the resonating portion.
[Fourth Prior Art Example]
FIG. 19 is a sectional view showing the configuration of an AT-cut crystal substrate as an example of the piezoelectric substrate. The crystal substrate 101 is made of an AT-cut crystal as an anisotropic piezoelectric crystal material, and the crystal substrate 101 has formed in both major surfaces thereof concavities 102a and 102b that are symmetrical about a point to each other. That is, the crystal substrate 101 has the concavities 102a and 102b formed therein by etching a rectangular flat-shaped substrate body through masks (resist) 160 covering its both major surfaces in such a manner that the bottom panel common to the concavities 102a and 102b form an ultrathin resonating portion 103 integrally with the thick marginal portion 104. Due to a difference in etching rate between the z- and x-axis directions, the inner walls 104a and 104b of two sides of the annular marginal portion 104 lying in the z-axis direction slope more gently than the other inner walls lying in the x-axis direction. In addition, the both inner walls 104a and 104b differ in inclination angle.
In etching, however, when the masks 160 having the apertures of the same shape are mounted on both sides of the crystal substrate 101 in alignment with each other, the z-axis side inner walls 104a and 104b of the concavities 102a and 102b bear such symmetric positional relationship as shown, in consequent of which edges 102′ and 102b′ of the bottom surfaces of the respective concavities 102a and 102b are not in aligned relation. Since the edges 102a′ and 102b′ of the bottom surfaces of the concavities 102a and 102b are thus displaced in the z-axis direction relative to each other, the bottom surfaces of the two concavities are not directly opposite, decreasing the area of each resonating portion 103 and consequently the effective thin region (the effective vibrating region). This raises a problem of deteriorated characteristics of the crystal resonating elements with electrodes and so forth formed on such crystal substrates. In particular, further miniaturization of the piezoelectric substrate will increase the severity of such a glitch.
[Fifth Prior Art Example]
A description will be given of, with reference to FIGS. 20 and 21, of a conventional method for manufacturing the crystal resonating element with an ultrathin resonating portion. This is the manufacturing method that the inventor of present invention disclosed in Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan, "UHF-Band Crystal Resonator Using Fundamental Wave," (Technical Report of IEICE US98-27, EMD98-19, CPM98-51, OME98-49 (1998-07), Corporation-Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan).
FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a crystal resonator manufacturing process, and FIGS. 21(a) to (d) are longitudinal-sectional views showing the crystal resonator in an etching process, the chain double-dashed lines X in FIGS. 21(a) to (d) being imaginary lines indicating the thickness of the resonating portion at the end of four stages of the chemical etching process.
In a crystal resonator for fundamental wave vibration in the UHF or higher band, for instance, since the amount of change in frequency with respect to the amount of change in wafer thickness is large, the thickness of the crystal wafer is adjusted by four-stage chemical etching steps 203 through 206 to obtain the resonating portion 103 that is excitable at the desired fundamental-wave resonance frequency.
The manufacturing process begins with polishing the major surface of the crystal wafer (step 200), followed by vacuum depositing a gold/chromium film on the polished major surface (step 201). In view of a tradeoff between the mechanical strength of the wafer and the amount of etching, let it be assumed that the crystal wafer is 80 micrometers (m) thick. The gold/chromium film is selectively removed by photolithography to form a mask pattern for etching (step 202).
Thereafter, first main etching (step 203) through second fine-adjustment etching (step 206) processes are performed as described below. In the first main etching process (step 203), as depicted in FIG. 21(a), a crystal wafer 221 with a mask pattern for etching 224 formed thereon is subjected to wet etching to etch away the regions of the wafer underlying apertures of the mask pattern to form concavities as resonating portions 222a and 223a that resonate in the VHF band, for example, at 155 MHz. In practice, however, since the thicknesses of the resonating portions 222a and 223a differ due to wafer etching errors or the like, the resonance frequencies of the resonating portions 222a and 223a are measured.
And, in the first fine-adjustment etching process (step 204) shown in FIG. 21(b), an etchant is added dropwise to the respective concavities for different periods of time based on the measured resonance frequencies, by the technique disclosed, for example, in Pat. Laid-Open Gazette No. 6-021740, by which the thicknesses of the resonating portions 222a and 223a are individually adjusted so that their resonance frequencies be come as desired. Moreover, as depicted in FIG. 21(c), in second main etching process (step 205) the wafer is further subjected to wet etching to form resonating portions 222c and 223c each having a thickness of about 2.2 μm that corresponds to a resonance frequency in the desired UHF band, for instance, at 760.9 MHz. Then the resonance frequencies of the resonating portions are measured again, and in second fine-adjustment etching shown in FIG. 21(d) dry etching is carried out for each of the resonating portions 222c and 223c based on their measured frequencies so that they resonate at desired frequencies. After this, gold/chromium is vacuum deposited all over both major surfaces of the wafer (step 207), then electrode patterns are formed thereon (step 208), and the wafer is severed into the crystal resonating elements 100 (step 209). The crystal resonating elements 100 are each mounted in a package, then connected thereto by bonding or bumps (step 210), and sealed therein after being subjected to final frequency adjustment (step 211, 212).
The second fine-adjustment etching process (step 206) 114 is performed by dry etching of low etching rate for high-precision individual adjustment to obtain the thickness of approximately 2.2 μm which corresponds to the desired resonance frequency of 760.9 MHz.
FIG. 22 is a longitudinal section view showing the working of the resonating portion; when the afore-mentioned four-stage (step 203 through step 206) chemical etching for forming a resonating portion 232d from only one direction (indicated by the arrow), that is, from the direction of the opening of the concavity, the area of the resonating portion 232a on the side of the opening of the concavity gradually decreases and the area of the resonating portion 232d becomes extremely small due to the dependence of the etching rate on the crystal orientation, and consequently, a vibrating region 232h of the resonating portion 232d becomes extremely narrow than a desired value. For example, in the case of obtaining a resonator whose fundamental frequency is 760.9 MHz, the thickness of the resonating portion is about 2.2 μm, and if the thickness of the crystal wafer is set at 80 μm from the viewpoint of its mechanical strength, then it is etched to a depth of around 77.8 μm to form a concavity. Then, even if the opening of the concavity is 0.7×0.55 millimeters (mm), the area of the vibrating region 222h is approximately 0.25×0.15 mm that is smaller than the desired area. For example, when the oscillation frequency is 622.3 MHz, the desired size of the vibrating region 222h is required to be in the range of 0.5 to 0.75×0.3 to 0.45 mm that is twice to three times (taking into account variations caused during manufacturing process) larger than the size of the electrode to be formed in the vibrating region 232h (an ellipse of a size measuring a longer diameter 0.25×a shorter diameter 0.15 mm).
Furthermore, the slope between the top surface of the annular marginal portion 232b and the vibrating region 232h becomes so wide that a lead (not shown) formed on the slope becomes long, giving rise to a problem that the resistance or parasitic impedance of the lead increases.
In the second main etching process (step 205) the etchant used is a low-temperature ammonium hydrogen fluoride saturated solution, which prevents overetching but is low in working efficiency because of low etching rate; since the second fine-adjustment etching (step 206) is performed by dry etching of low etching rate for implementing high-precision adjustment, there is a problem of etching damage by crystal defects, contamination with an impurity, or the like.
Furthermore, supply control (flow rate and pressure) of an etching gas for dry etching has so high a correlation with uniformity of etching that the number of etching gas supply holes and their size must be changed for each operation; hence, it is difficult to obtain the optimum conditions for etching.
Besides, since the etching process shown in FIG. 20 is followed by the gold/chromium vapor deposition step 207 for vapor depositing the conductive film that will ultimately form a main electrode film 110 and then by the final frequency adjustment process (step 211) for making high-precision frequency adjustments by vapor deposition or sputtering, the thickness adjustment by the etching process needs only to make adjustments to such an extent as to allow compensation in the final frequency adjustment process (step 211), and hence the etching scheme in this process is more than required.
Furthermore, the combined use of wet etching and dry etching inevitably leads to complication of the manufacturing process and an increase in capital investment, constituting an obstacle to bringing down costs of UHF-band crystal resonators.

Piezoelectric resonator and method for manufacturing the same


An intelligent store system and an intelligent store method are provided. The method includes: sensing, by a proximity sensor, whether there is a first customer approaching the proximity sensor; sensing, by an image sensor, a movement trajectory of the first customer; and determining whether the first customer is entering or leaving a store in response to the first customer approaching the proximity sensor sensed by the proximity sensor. If the first customer is entering the store, a first virtual identity and a first virtual shopping cart corresponding to the first virtual identity are generated for the first customer, and a first product list of the first virtual shopping cart is updated according to the movement trajectory. If the first customer is leaving the store, a first operation of the first customer is received by a human machine interface, and the first product list according to the first operation is updated.

In order to save labor costs, the related technologies of an intelligent store system are gradually being developed. In the existing intelligent store systems, identification on items and customers are unilaterally performed by the store system. When the identification is incorrect, there is no mechanism for correcting the error based on the customer's feedback. Based on this, an improved intelligent store system needs to be proposed.

Intelligent store system and intelligent store method

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means for generating quality data associated with an option limit order are provided. In some embodiments, an option limit order is received, the option limit order including information identifying a customer, information identifying a desired option, and information that indicates a limit price for said option limit order. A substantially real time feed of option market date is received and the option market data is used in real time to identify at least one of a trade-through and a trade-at transaction relevant to the option limit order. Alerts may be generated based on the identified trade-through or trade-at transaction. Trade-at or trade-through data may be tabulated and analyzed to evaluate option limit order trading activity. Analysis to generate trade-at or trade-through data may be performed on a batch processing basis relying entirely or in part on data received in real time or on a batch basis.

In the United States, exchange-trading of options has existed in a standardized, regulated marketplace since the 1970's. An option is essentially a contract giving a buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell shares of an underlying security at a specific price for a specific time. Since the 1970's a number of exchanges have been formed, including the Chicago Board Options Exchange (the "CBOE"), the American Stock Exchange (the "AMEX"), the Pacific Stock Exchange (the "PCSE"), the International Securities Exchange (the "ISE"), and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (the "PHLX"). In general terms, four specifications describe an options contract: the type of the option (e.g., a put or a call), the premium (or the initial amount paid on the contract), the underlying security (or the security, such as an equity, which must be delivered or purchased if the option is exercised), and a contract expiration date. As is the case for other types of market-traded securities such as stocks and bonds, a customer's order to buy or sell options may be a "market order" or a "limit order". A market order does not specify the desired price, but rather obligates the broker to obtain the best available price as determined by market conditions. A limit order specifies the price (the "limit price") at which the customer desires the transaction to be executed, and obligates the broker to execute the transaction at the specified price or better if market conditions allow, and not to execute the transaction if market conditions do not allow execution at the specified price.
An order to buy or sell options typically also specifies the number of contracts to be bought or sold. In the case of a limit order, a "partial fill" occurs when it is possible to execute at the limit price some portion but less than all of the number of contracts specified in the limit order.
Unlike other exchange-traded securities, which can generally be traded on equal terms at any exchange, many options trade differently at different exchanges. The variations can include differences in price, execution time, liquidity, etc. For example, an option whose underlying security is IBM Corp. stock may be traded on several exchanges. However, at any given time, there may be slightly different order pricing and execution characteristics associated with trades at different exchanges. Because the various options trading exchanges are not linked, situations known as "trade-throughs" and "trade-ats" may occur. In these situations a limit order remains unfilled at one exchange, even though a transaction occurred at another exchange at a better or equal price.
In the future, it is possible that each of the different exchanges will enter into linkage agreements; but until then this fragmented market continues to make it difficult for options customers to obtain best execution of their orders and to assess the performance of their brokers in executing their orders. It would be desirable to provide a system to monitor and evaluate trading activity in option limit orders which overcomes deficiencies associated with existing trading systems.

Method and apparatus for monitoring and evaluating limit order trading


Metallated compounds can be used to extract or precipitate proteins from solution. The compounds can be polymers, such as polyalkylene glycols, which can be mono- or bimetallated or smaller bis-metal chelates, such as ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)tetraacetic acid. The monometallated polymers are preferred in the extraction process whereas the bimetallated compounds are preferred in the precipitation process. In addition, new PEG compounds which are capable of chelating a variety of metals are described. Both mono- and bi-metallated forms are set forth. The new metallated compounds are very effective in extracting or precipitating proteins from solution.

The use of multiple-phase aqueous systems for the extraction of proteins has been disclosed in the prior art. Affinity ligands have been used to increase the selectivity of protein partitioning in these systems. For example, the affinity partitioning of phosphofructokinase from fresh baker's yeast in PEG 6000-bound Cibracron blue F3G-A/dextran is reported in Trends in Biotechnology, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1984, pp. 31-35, "Large-scale affinity purification--state of the art and future prospects." The article notes the high cost of one of the most frequently used polymers, dextran. Similarly, the large-scale purification of formate dehydrogenase from C. boidinii by partitioning with PEG-6000-Procion Red HE3b was reported in "Process Design for Large-Scale Purification of Formate Dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii by Affinity Partition, " Journal of Chromatography, Vol. 376, pp. 375-384, 1986. The feasibility of recycling the PEG-ligand was demonstrated. An enzyme yield of 74% was reported for the largest-scale separation from 220 kg of Candida boidinii cells.
In general, the prior art aqueous two-phase extractions that do not employ affinity ligands have resulted in poor selectivity. On the other hand, the prior art systems that used affinity ligands had very specific applicability and could not be applied to a very wide variety of proteins.
Many of the prior art affinity liquid-liquid extraction systems require the use of dextran, which is expensive. While the use of PEG/salt systems would greatly reduce the expense, high salt concentrations disrupt most affinity interactions. High concentrations of certain salts, however, are known to promote metal binding. In the present invention, the interaction between the protein and the metal held by the PEG-chelate is not disrupted by high concentrations of the salts used to form aqueous two-phase systems. These salts include alkali metal and alkaline earth metal citrates, carbonates, silicates, sulfates, formates, succinates, tartrates and phosphates. They are generally used in concentrations between 5 and 15% (w/w) of the total solution for forming two phases. The concentration appropriate for any specific system is determined by the phase diagram of the particular system.
Metals have been immobilized by chelates attached to resins for purification of proteins by chromatography and fixed-bed adsorption. This was first demonstrated in 1975 by Porath (Nature, Vol. 258, pp. 598-599). Although U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,834 discloses the use of aqueous multiphase systems for the recovery of metals, metal-chelating polymers have not been used for extraction or precipitation of proteins.
There have been some reports of affinity precipitation of enzymes in the prior art. For example, lactate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase have been precipitated with Bis-NAD; Analytical Biochemistry 133, pp. 409-416 (1983). Bis-NAD was used to precipitate both lactate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase whereas yeast alcohol dehydrogenase required the presence of salt to enhance its precipitation; liver alcohol dehydrogenase did not precipitate. A Procion Blue analog of NAD was used to precipitate rabbit muscle lactate hydrogenase; ibid, 158, 382-389 (1986). Bis-Cibacron Blue has been used to precipitate 90% of lactate dehydrogenase, 50% bovine serum albumin, and 20% chymosin from solution; Journal of Chromatography, 376, 157-161 (1986). The ability of salts of metals such as zinc and copper to precipitate proteins is known. None of the prior art descriptions of protein precipitation, however, suggest the use of chelated metals for this purpose.

Immobilized metal aqueous two-phase extraction and precipitation


Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) antagonists of formula I or II:

Corticotropin releasing factor (herein referred to as CRF), a 41 amino acid peptide, is the primary physiological regulator of proopiomelanocortin(POMC)-derived peptide secretion from the anterior pituitary gland [J. Rivier et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 80:4851 (1983); W. Vale et al., Science 213:1394 (1981)]. In addition to its endocrine role at the pituitary gland, immunohistochemical localization of CRF has demonstrated that the hormone has a broad extrahypothalamic distribution in the central nervous system and produces a wide spectrum of autonomic, electrophysiological and behavioral effects consistent with a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator role in brain [W. Vale et al., Rec. Prog. Horm. Res. 39:245 (1983); G. F. Koob, Persp. Behav. Med. 2:39 (1985); E. B. De Souza et al., J. Neurosci. 5:3189 (1985)]. There is also evidence that CRF plays a significant role in integrating the response of the immune system to physiological, psychological, and immunological stressors [J. E. Blalock, Physiological Reviews 69:1 (1989); J. E. Morley, Life Sci. 41:527 (1987)].
Clinical data provide evidence that CRF has a role in psychiatric disorders and neurological diseases including depression, anxiety-related disorders and feeding disorders. A role for CRF has also been postulated in the etiology and pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as they relate to the dysfunction of CRF neurons in the central nervous system [for review see E. B. De Souza, Hosp. Practice 23:59 (1988)].
In affective disorder, or major depression, the concentration of CRF is significantly increased in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of drug-free individuals [C. B. Nemeroff et al., Science 226:1342 (1984); C. M. Banki et al., Am. J. Psychiatry 144:873 (1987); R. D. France et al., Biol. Psychiatry 28:86 (1988); M. Arato et al., Biol Psychiatry 25:355 (1989)]. Furthermore, the density of CRF receptors is significantly decreased in the frontal cortex of suicide victims, consistent with a hypersecretion of CRF [C. B. Nemeroff et al., Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 45:577 (1988)]. In addition, there is a blunted adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) response to CRF (i.v. administered) observed in depressed patients [P. W. Gold et al., Am J. Psychiatry 141:619 (1984); F. Holsboer et al., Psychoneuroendocrinology 9:147 (1984); P. W. Gold et al., New Eng. J. Med. 314:1129 (1986)]. Preclinical studies in rats and non-human primates provide additional support for the hypothesis that hypersecretion of CRF may be involved in the symptoms seen in human depression [R. M. Sapolsky, Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 46:1047 (1989)]. There is preliminary evidence that tricyclic antidepressants can alter CRF levels and thus modulate the numbers of CRF receptors in brain [Grigoriadis et al., Neuropsychopharmacology 2:53 (1989)].
There has also been a role postulated for CRF in the etiology of anxiety-related disorders. CRF produces anxiogenic effects in animals and interactions between benzodiazepine/non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics and CRF have been demonstrated in a variety of behavioral anxiety models [D. R. Britton et al., Life Sci. 31:363 (1982); C. W. Berridge and A. J. Dunn Regul. Peptides 16:83 (1986)]. Preliminary studies using the putative CRF receptor antagonist a-helical ovine CRF (9-41) in a variety of behavioral paradigms demonstrate that the antagonist produces "anxiolytic-like" effects that are qualitatively similar to the benzodiazepines [C. W. Berridge and A. J. Dunn Horm. Behav. 21:393 (1987), Brain Research Reviews 15:71 (1990)]. Neurochemical, endocrine and receptor binding studies have all demonstrated interactions between CRF and benzodiazepine anxiolytics providing further evidence for the involvement of CRF in these disorders. Chlordiazepoxide attenuates the "anxiogenic" effects of CRF in both the conflict test [K. T. Britton et al., Psychopharmacology 86:170 (1985); K. T. Britton et al., Psychopharmacology 94:306 (1988)] and in the acoustic startle test [N. R. Swerdlow et al., Psychopharmacology 88:147 (1986)] in rats. The benzodiazepine receptor antagonist (Ro15-1788), which was without behavioral activity alone in the operant conflict test, reversed the effects of CRF in a dose-dependent manner while the benzodiazepine inverse agonist (FG7142) enhanced the actions of CRF [K. T. Britton et al., Psychopharmacology 94:306 (1988)].
The mechanisms and sites of action through which the standard anxiolytics and antidepressants produce their therapeutic effects remain to be elucidated. It has been hypothesized however, that they are involved in the suppression of the CRF hypersecretion that is observed in these disorders. Of particular interest is that preliminary studies examining the effects of a CRF receptor antagonist (α-helical CRF9-41) in a variety of behavioral paradigms have demonstrated that the CRF antagonist produces "anxiolytic-like" effects qualitatively similar to the benzodiazepines [for review see G. F. Koob and K. T. Britton, In: Corticotropin-Releasing Factor: Basic and Clinical Studies of a Neuropeptide, E. B. De Souza and C. B. Nemeroff eds., CRC Press p221 (1990)].
Several publications describe corticotropin releasing factor antagonist compounds and their use to treat psychiatric disorders and neurological diseases. Examples of such publications include DuPont Merck PCT application US94/11050, Pfizer WO 95/33750, Pfizer WO 95/34563, Pfizer WO 95/33727 and Pfizer EP 0778 277 A1.
Insofar as is known, [1,5-a]-pyrazolo-1,3,5-triazines, [1,5-a]-1,2,3-triazolo-1,3,5-triazines, [1,5-a]-pyrazolo-pyrimidines and [1,5-a]1,2,3-triazolo-pyrimidines, have not been previously reported as corticotropin releasing factor antagonist compounds useful in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and neurological diseases. However, there have been publications which teach some of these compounds for other uses.
For instance, EP 0 269 859 (Ostuka, 1988) discloses pyrazolotriazine compounds of the formula:
where R1 is OH or alkanoyl, R2 is H, OH, or SH, and R3 is an unsaturated heterocyclic group, naphthyl or substituted phenyl, and states that the compounds have xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity and are useful for treatment of gout.
EP 0 594 149 (Ostuka, 1994) discloses pyrazolotriazine and pyrazolopyrimidine compounds of the formula:
where A is CH or N, R0 and R3 are H or alkyl, and R1 and R2 are H, alkyl, alkoxyl, alkylthio, nitro, etc., and states that the compounds inhibit androgen and are useful in treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostatic carcinoma.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,907 (ICI, 1975) discloses pyrazolotriazines of the formula:
where R1 is CH3, C2H5 or C6H5, X is H, C6H5, m-CH3C6H4, CN, COOEt, Cl, I or Br, Y is H, C6H5, o-CH3C6H4, or p-CH3C6H4, and Z is OH, H, CH3, C2H5, C6H5, n-C3H7, i-C3H7, SH, SCH3, NHC4H9, or N(C2H5)2, and states that the compounds are c-AMP phosphodiesterase inhibitors useful as bronchodilators.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,039 discloses pyrazolotriazines of the formula:
where R1 is H or alkyl, R2 is H or alkyl, R3 is H, alkyl, alkanoyl, carbamoyl, or lower alkylcarbamoyl, and R is pyridyl, pyrimidinyl, or pyrazinyl, and states that the compounds are useful as bronchodilators.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,887 discloses pyrazolotriazines of the formula:
where R is lower alkoxy, and teaches that the compounds are xanthine oxidase inhibitors and are useful for treatment of gout.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,576 discloses pyrazolotriazines of the formula:
where X is O or S, Ar is a phenyl, naphthyl, pyridyl or thienyl group, R6–R8 are H, alkyl, etc., and R9 is H, alkyl, phenyl, etc. The patent states that the compounds are useful as herbicides and plant growth regulants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,760 and WO 92/10098 discloses herbicidal compositions containing, among other things, a herbicidal compound of the formula:
where A can be N, B can be CR3, R3 can be phenyl or substituted phenyl, etc., R is —N(R4)SO2R5 or —SO2N(R6)R7 and R1 and R2 can be taken together to form
where X, Y and Z are H, alkyl, acyl, etc. and D is O or S.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,907 and Senga et al., J. Med. Chem., 1982, 25, 243–249, disclose triazolotriazines cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitors of the formula:
where Z is H, OH, CH3, C2H5, C6H5, n-C3H7, iso-C3H7, SH, SCH3, NH(n-C4H9), or N(C2H5)2, R is H or CH3, and R1 is CH3 or C2H5. The reference lists eight therapeutic areas where inhibitors of cAMP phosphodiesterase could have utility: asthma, diabetes mellitus, female fertility control, male infertility, psoriasis, thrombosis, anxiety, and hypertension.
WO95/35298 (Otsuka, 1995) discloses pyrazolopyrimidines and states that they are useful as analgesics. The compounds are represented by the formula:
where Q is carbonyl or sulfonyl, n is 0 or 1, A is a single bond, alkylene or alkenylene, R1 is H, alkyl, etc., R2 is naphthyl, cycloalkyl, heteroaryl, substituted phenyl or phenoxy, R3 is H, alkyl or phenyl, R4 is H, alkyl, alkoxycarbonyl, phenylalkyl, optionally phenylthio-substituted phenyl, or halogen, R5 and R6 are H or alkyl.
EP 0 591 528 (Otsuka, 1991) discloses antiinflammatory use of pyrazolopyrimidines represented by the formula:
where R1, R2, R3 and R4 are H, carboxyl, alkoxycarbonyl, optionally substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, or phenyl, R5 is SR6 or NR7R8, R6 is pyridyl or optionally substituted phenyl, and R7 and R8 are H or optionally substituted phenyl.
Springer et al, J. Med. Chem., 1976, vol. 19, no. 2, 291–296 and Springer U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,021,556 and 3,920,652 disclose pyrazolopyrimidines of the formula:
where R can be phenyl, substituted phenyl or pyridyl, and their use to treat gout, based on their ability to inhibit xanthine oxidase.
Joshi et al., J. Prakt. Chemie, 321, 2, 1979, 341–344, discloses compounds of the formula:
where R1 is CF3, C2F5, or C6H4F, and R2 is CH3, C2H5, CF3, or C6H4F.
Maquestiau et al., Bull. Soc. Belg., vol. 101, no. 2, 1992, pages 131–136 discloses a pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine of the formula:

Ibrahim et al., Arch. Pharm. (weinheim) 320, 487–491 (1987) discloses pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines of the formula:
where R is NH2 or OH and Ar is 4-phenyl-3-cyano-2-aminopyrid-2-yl.
Other references which disclose azolopyrimidines inclued EP 0 511 528 (Otsuka, 1992), U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,940 (Dow, 1991), EP 0 374 448 (Nissan, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,556 (ICN, 1997), EP 0 531 901 (Fujisawa, 1993), U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,263 (BASF, 1986), EP 0 662 477 (Isagro, 1995), DE 4 243 279 (Bayer, 1994), U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,774 (Upjohn, 1995), EP 0 521 622 (Upjohn, 1993), WO 94/109017 (Upjohn, 1994), J. Med. Chem., 24, 610–613 (1981), and J. Het. Chem., 22, 601 (1985).

Abstract: and their use in treating anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric, neurological disorders as well as treatment of immunological, cardiovascular or heart-related diseases and colonic hypersensitivity associated with psychopathological disturbance and stress.


This invention relates to an imaging element comprising an imaging layer having associated therewith a compound of Structure I:

In conventional color photography, films containing light-sensitive silver halide are employed in hand-held cameras. Upon exposure, the film carries a latent image that is only revealed after suitable processing. These elements have historically been processed by treating the camera-exposed film with at least a developing solution having a developing agent that acts to form an image in cooperation with components in the film. Developing agents commonly used are reducing agents, for example, p-aminophenols or p-phenylenediamines.
Typically, developing agents (also herein referred to as developers) present in developer solutions are brought into reactive association with exposed photographic film elements at the time of processing. Segregation of the developer and the film element has been necessary because the incorporation of developers directly into sensitized photographic elements can lead to desensitization of the silver halide emulsion and undesirable fog. Considerable effort, however, has been directed to producing effective blocked developing agents (also referred to herein as blocked developers) that might be introduced into silver halide emulsion elements without deleterious desensitization or fog effects. Accordingly, blocked developing agents have been sought that would unblock under preselected conditions of development after which such developing agents would be free to participate in image-forming (dye or silver metal forming) reactions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,599 to Reeves discloses the use of Schiff-base developer precursors. Schleigh and Faul, in a Research Disclosure (129 (1975) pp. 27-30), describes the quaternary blocking of color developers and the acetamido blocking of p-phenylenediamines. (All Research Disclosures referenced herein are published by Kenneth Mason Publications, Ltd., Dudley Annex, 12a North Street, Emsworth, Hampshire P010 7DQ, ENGLAND.) Subsequently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,915 to Hamaoka et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,418 to Waxman and Mouming describe the preparation and use of blocked p-phenylenediamines in an image-receiving sheet for color diffusion transfer.
All of these approaches have failed in practical product applications because of one or more of the following problems: desensitization of sensitized silver halide; unacceptably slow unblocking kinetics; instability of blocked developer yielding increased fog and/or decreased Dmax after storage, lack of simple methods for releasing the blocked developer, inadequate or poor image formation, and other problems. Especially in the area of photothermographic color films, other potential problems include poor discrimination and poor dye-forming activity.
Recent developments in blocking and switching chemistry have led to blocked developing agents, including p-phenylenediamines, that perform relatively well. In particular, compounds having "β-ketoester" type blocking groups (strictly, β-ketoacyl blocking groups) are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,492. With the advent of the β-ketoester blocking chemistry, it has become possible to incorporate p-phenylenediamine developers in film systems in a form from which they only become active when required for development. The β-ketoacyl blocked developers are released from the film layers in which they are incorporated by an alkaline developing solution containing a dinucleophile, for example hydroxylamine.
In addition to the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,915, blocked developing agents involving β-elimination reactions during unblocking have been disclosed in European Patent Application 393523 and kokais 57076453; 2131253; and 63123046, the latter specifically in the context of photothermographic elements.
The incorporation of blocked developers in photographic elements is typically carried out using colloidal gelatin dispersions of the blocked developers. These dispersions are prepared using means well known in the art, wherein the developer precursor is dissolved in a high vapor pressure organic solvent (for example, ethyl acetate), along with, in some cases, a low vapor pressure organic solvent (such as dibutylphthalate), and then emulsified with an aqueous surfactant and gelatin solution. After emulsification, usually done with a colloid mill, the high vapor pressure organic solvent is removed by evaporation or by washing, as is well known in the art. Alternatively, solid particle (ball-milled) dispersions can be prepared using means well known in the art, typically by shaking a suspension of the material with zirconia beads and a surfactant in water until sufficiently small particle size is produced.
There remains a need for blocked photographically useful compounds with good keeping properties, which at the same time exhibit good unblocking kinetics. With respect to developing agents, it is an object to obtain a film incorporating blocked developing agents that provide good dye-forming activity and which, at the same time, yield little or no increased fog and/or provide little or no decrease in Dmax after storage.
In one application of the invention, it is a further object to obtain blocked photographically useful agents for use in photothermographic color films. With respect to developing agents, there is a continuing need for photothermographic imaging elements that contain a developing agent in a form that is stable until development yet can rapidly and easily develop the imaging element once processing has been initiated by heating the element and/or by applying a processing solution, such as a solution of a base or acid or pure water, to the element. A completely dry or apparently dry process is most desirable. The existence of such a process would allow for very rapidly processed films that can be processed simply and efficiently in photoprocessing kiosks. Such kiosks, with increased numbers and accessibility, could ultimately allow for, relatively speaking, anytime and anywhere silver-halide film development.
Similarly, there is a need for incorporating other photographically useful compounds into a photothermographic element such that they remain stable until processing and are then rapidly released. Such photographically useful compounds include, couplers, dyes and dye precursors, electron transfer agents, development inhibitors, etc., as discussed more fully below. The blocking of other photographically useful compounds, besides developing agents, are disclosed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,162 to Kapp et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,073 to Bergthaller disclose blocked development inhibitors, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,962 to Lau discloses blocked couplers wherein the blocking group in turn comprises a photographically useful group.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Imaging element containing a blocked photographically useful compound

Abstract: In the above Structure I, the substituents are as defined in the application. Such compounds have good reactivity and can by used to block photographically useful compounds such as developing agents until thermally activated under preselected conditions. Compounds according to the present invention are especially useful in color photothermographic imaging elements.


A plasma arc torch includes a torch body and a nozzle mounted relative to an electrode at a first end of the torch body to define a plasma chamber. The torch body includes a plasma gas flow path for directing a plasma gas from a plasma gas inlet to a plasma chamber in which a plasma arc is formed. The nozzle includes a hollow, body portion defining a cavity and a substantially solid, head portion formed integrally with the body portion defining an exit orifice extending from the chamber. The exit orifice has a converging inlet and an outlet, where the inlet has a radius of curvature, and the exit orifice has a length to diameter ratio of greater than 2.5.

Plasma arc torches are widely used in the cutting of metallic materials. A plasma arc torch generally includes an electrode mounted therein, a nozzle with a central exit orifice mounted within a torch body, electrical connections, passages for cooling and arc control fluids, a swirl ring to control fluid flow patterns in the plasma chamber formed between the electrode and nozzle, and a power supply. The torch produces a plasma arc, which is a constricted ionized jet of a plasma gas with high temperature and high momentum. Gases used in the torch can be non-reactive (e.g. argon or nitrogen), or reactive (e.g. oxygen or air).
In operation, a pilot arc is first generated between the electrode (cathode) and the nozzle (anode). Generation of the pilot arc may be by means of a high frequency, high voltage signal coupled to a DC power supply and the torch or any of a variety of contact starting methods.
One objective in the design and development of plasma arc torches is to improve the cutting speed of the torches. Several factors influence cutting speed including: cutting current; standoff height; plasma plenum pressure; and swirl strength. Another factor which influences the cutting speed is the shape and size of an exit orifice of the nozzle through which the plasma arc exits the torch.
The nozzle includes a hollow, body portion defining a cavity and a substantially solid, head portion formed integrally with the body portion. The head portion defines an exit orifice extending from the chamber. The exit orifice has an inlet and an outlet. The diameter of the cavity is typically several orders of magnitude larger than the diameter of the exit orifice. The inner profile of the cavity typically corresponds to the outer configuration of the electrode, which generally has a cylindrical or conical configuration. In prior art plasma torches, the inlet of the exit orifice is typically characterized by a sharp or square edge. In addition, the exit orifice typically has a length to diameter ratio of less than about 2.4. For example, a plasma arc torch manufactured and sold by Hypertherm, Inc. under the product name POWERMAX800 includes a nozzle having an exit orifice with a length to diameter ratio from about 1.8 to about 2.4. The POWERMAX800 torch has a maximum cutting speed of about 30 ipm (inches per minute). The nozzle in the POWERMAX800 torch has an exit orifice with a sharp edged inlet.
One consideration in designing a plasma arc torch involves minimizing the potential for "double arcing" which damages the electrode and the nozzle of the torch. Double arcing is the creation of two arcs, one between the electrode and the nozzle and a second arc between the nozzle and the workpiece. The likelihood of double arcing increases as arc constriction, which increases the temperature and voltage of the plasma arc, increases.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved nozzle design for a plasma arc torch, which increases the maximum cutting speed of plasma arc torches without increasing the likelihood of double arcing during torch operation.

Nozzle for a plasma arc torch with an exit orifice having an inlet radius and an extended length to diameter ratio


A semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure that includes a cap layer composed of a boron-rich compound or doped boron nitride located between a top semiconductor layer and a buried insulator layer is provided. The cap layer forms a conductive path between the top semiconductor layer and the buried insulator layer in the SOI structure to dissipate total ionizing dose (TID) accumulated charges, thus advantageously mitigating TID effects in fully depleted SOI transistors.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structures, and particularly to SOI structures in which a cap layer comprising a boron-rich compound or doped boron nitride is located between a top semiconductor layer and a buried insulator layer.
Semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology is currently being considered for a variety of aerospace/military electronic applications. In space systems, exposure to high fluxes of electrons and protons can significantly reduce system lifetime due to total ionizing dose (TID) effects. Ionizing radiation can induce significant charge buildup in oxides and insulators leading to device degradation (e.g., threshold voltage shifts) and failure. This radiation effect has become one of the most important issues affecting the reliability of integrated circuits (ICs) in near earth orbits.
In SOI ICs, a thin semiconductor layer such as, for example, silicon is formed over an insulator layer, such as silicon oxide, which in turn is formed over a substrate. This insulator layer is often referred to as a buried oxide (BOX) layer or simply as a BOX. Total dose response of SOI circuits can be very complicated due to the presence of the buried oxide in an SOI substrate. Total dose radiation-induced back-channel leakage can occur as positive charge trapped in the buried oxide of SOI ICs near the silicon/oxide interface and can cause large increases in IC static power supply leakage current. For a fully-depleted SOI transistor, such as a FinFET and a trigate device, where a top-gate transistor is electrically coupled to a back-gate transistor, radiation-induced charge buildup in the buried oxide will directly affect the top-gate transistor characteristics. In view of the above, there remains a need for providing improved SOI structures and methods to mitigate TID effects.

Boron rich nitride cap for total ionizing dose mitigation in SOI devices

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An apparatus for controlling a stereo video display with non-stereo video source includes a memory, a read/write controller and a motion analyzer. The memory stores a current frame, a previous frame of the current frame, and a next frame for the current frame that is in preparation. The current frame and the previous frame are for a dextral image and a sinistral image of a stereoscopic image respectively. The read/write controller controls the addresses to write the current frame and the next frame into the memory, and the reading order of the current frame and the previous frame. The motion analyzer calculates an overall motion direction of the next frame in relation to the current frame, and compares the next overall motion direction to a previous overall motion direction of the current frame in relation to the previous frame, to control the action of the read/write controller to read from or write into the memory, so that when the horizontal relation between the next overall motion direction and the previous overall motion direction is changed, the corresponding relation between the current and the next frames and the dextral and the sinistral images is also changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a display and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling a stereo video display with non-stereo video source.
2. Description of the Related Art
The reason why human being has stereoscopic vision is that both human eyes have individual perceptions of the outside world. That is, the left eye sees the scenery on the left; the right eye sees the scenery on the right, and there exists some angle diversities between the two. After a spontaneous fusing process of the brain, it shows stereoscopic scenery in the brain.
Stereoscopic images can be generated by applying a similar principle. By way of showing images for the left eye and the right eye independently, a stereo video display can show different images for each eye of the observer. For example, images for left and right eyes can be alternately played on the display and, in coordination with a synchronized shutter viewer (SSV) such as an LC shutter glasses, the right eye is covered when the display is playing left-eye images, and the left eye is covered when the display is playing right-eye images. That is, the left eye sees only images for the left eye, and the right eye sees only images for the right eye. Continuously repeating the process of displaying images alternately at a speed faster than human vision suspension, the stereo video display enables observers to perceive stereoscopic images.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional technique for displaying stereoscopic images provides in a memory 1 with two memory blocks B1 and B2 for storing data for sinistral images and data for dextral images. A display 8 shows the sinistral and dextral images stored in the memory blocks B1 and B2 alternately. As shown in FIG. 1, the display 8 shows the sinistral image stored in the memory block B1. As shown in FIG. 2, the display 8 shows the dextral image stored in the memory block B2. When displaying different images, a synchronized shutter viewer (SSV) 9 performs a switching function simultaneously, so that the sinistral image only gets into the observer's left eye, and the dextral image only gets into observer's right eye.
Referring to FIG. 3, when the video source is a non-stereo video source, the stereo video display can make two consecutive frames as a sinistral image and a dextral image, respectively, to display a stereoscopic image. Similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, the memory 1 shown in FIG. 3 also has two memory blocks B1 and B2 as buffers. However, each of the buffers B1 and B2 stores two frames. When showing images stored in the memory block B1, frames F1 and F2 are alternately displayed on the display 8 as the sinistral image and dextral image. When showing images stored in the memory block B2, frames F2 and F3 are alternately displayed on the display 8 as the next sinistral image and dextral image.
Due to little differences existed between two consecutive frames, the stereo video display can provide different image perceptions for each eye of the observer through the above-mentioned method and in coordination with an SSV. When the preparation for the next frame (that is, frame F3) in the memory block B2 is completed, the stereo video display can switch to the memory block B2 and alternately display frames F2 and F3 on the display 8. At the same time, a next frame is being prepared in the memory block B1. By this, stereoscopic images can be played continuously after reading the non-stereo video source.
However, one problem of the above-mentioned method for displaying stereoscopic images is that, when the movement direction of an object in the image is changed, the observer may experience a sudden change in the stereoscopic effect. For example, an object was moving formerly from left to right, and the observer's perception of the object location was at the "front" of the display. When the object changes its moving direction and moves from right to left, the observer will experience a sudden change in the perception of the object location as at the "back" of the display. This problem may result in that the observer is not able to experience a consistent stereoscopic effect, and thus causing confusions to the observer.

Method and apparatus for controlling a stereo video display with non-stereo video source


An electronic device includes a battery capacity computing unit configured to compute a current full-charge capacity of a currently inserted battery apparatus having secondary cells. The battery capacity computing unit acquires at least information on a full-charge capacity of the battery apparatus in a brand-new state and information on the battery charge/discharge cycle count from the battery apparatus, retains a correction coefficient used when computing the current full-charge capacity of the battery apparatus, and calculates the current full-charge capacity of the battery apparatus using the information on the full-charge capacity of the battery apparatus in a brand-new state, the information on the battery charge/discharge cycle count, and the correction coefficient.

The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a battery pack, and a method of computing battery pack capacity.
Recently, portable electronic devices such as digital video cameras, for example, have proliferated, and much importance is placed on the performance of secondary cells installed in such electronic devices. Batteries of the lithium-ion type are one example of such secondary cells.
Also, portable electronic devices such as the above which use secondary cells as a power source are often equipped with battery charge level display functions. Particularly, since with lithium-ion secondary cells the battery cell voltage is gradual and has the property of decreasing linearly except immediately after beginning discharge and immediately before ending discharge, the battery charge level can be predicted comparatively accurately and displayed.
Additionally, battery packs are being sold which house components such as battery cell voltage and current detector circuits as well as microcontrollers, which conduct various correction processes, etc. like the above in the same package as the battery cells in order to more accurately predict the battery capacity. Such battery packs are provided with functions for communicating with a device that acts as the discharge load and outputting various internally detected values to the device. Having received such detected values, the device is able to compute and display the battery charge level (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-44895, for example).

Electronic device, battery pack, and method of computing battery pack capacity


A process is described for producing fatty acid alkyl esters for both diesel fuel and non-fuel uses. The feed material includes whole oleaginous seeds slurried in a liquid triglyceride oil containing at least two weight percent free fatty acid, wherein oil from inside the seeds is first extracted with concurrent esterification of free fatty acids from all sources in an acidic environment. Following sufficient free fatty acid reaction, the intermediate product is subjected to base-catalyzed concurrent extraction and transesterification. Decanting of the byproduct glycerin is followed by water washing. Subsequently, the fatty acid ester product is concurrently purified and fractionated into a biodiesel fuel stream and a non-fuel fraction, each of which undergoes post treatment as needed. The process is optionally integrated with glycerin purification and/or methanol recovery.

For processes that produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) for biodiesel fuel or other purposes, the predominant triglyceride feeds have been virgin refined vegetable oils and less expensive feeds such as waste cooking oils or yellow grease. Reactions to make the methyl or other alkyl esters typically follow the preferred base-catalyzed transesterification process. Such processes have been described in numerous publications including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,494,366 and 4,695,411. If significant concentrations of free fatty acids are present in any feed to a base-catalyzed process, they will neutralize at least a portion of the base catalyst thereby wasting catalyst and potential product. The free acids are generally removed as part of the refining process for virgin vegetable oils creating a significant amount of soap stock. This constitutes a yield loss of material otherwise readily converted to FAME. In the case of waste oils and greases, these free fatty acids are commonly esterified with an alcohol, and the water of reaction must be removed to very low concentrations to drive the reversible reaction to nearly complete conversion of the acids. Otherwise, consumption of the base, typically sodium or potassium methoxide, will be excessive in the subsequent transesterification step as will be organic acid salt formation. For example, Kawahara et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,506 discloses blowing methanol vapor into the reaction mix to compensate for methanol entrained out with the water of reaction.
The esterification of free fatty acids may be accomplished by operating in the presence of a mineral acid catalyst and often slightly higher temperatures than for transesterification. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,186, Jeromin et al discuss esterification processes employing either an acidic ion-exchange catalyst or toluene-sulfonic acid. Jackam et al in U.S. Patent Application 2007/0277432 teaches a method for converting the free fatty acids in triglyceride feedstocks utilizing glycerolysis of the fatty acids to glycerides which are then fed to a conventional transesterification step. Jackam discloses a reactive distillation step to recover and remove alcohol and glycerin from the FAME. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0261294 teaches the use of a water immiscible alcohol and a very low concentration of sulfonic acid catalyst to accomplish the esterification such that very little of the subsequent base catalyst is consumed in neutralizing it.
A process for producing biodiesel from oleaginous seeds fed into a transesterification reactor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,229. The are several notable features of this process: 1) the process is tailored toward castor bean feed and ethanol as the preferred alcohol, 2) the seeds are ground or chopped (communited) to a much smaller size, 3) the communited seeds are slurried only in alcohol initially, 4)transesterification with a basic catalyst is the only reaction step, hence no significant amount of free fatty acids from any source can be tolerated, and 5) distillation of the liquid crude product is necessary prior to glycerin decanting. These features present numerous drawbacks for the process of the U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,229 patent, although it does provide some evidence of the feasibility of starting with a seed feed in a biodiesel production process.
Wimmer in U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,279 discloses a process for reacting raw uncleaned oils or fats to a FAME using two steps of base-catalyzed transesterifcation with intermediate re-addition of separated glycerin. However, in the examples, the feeds contain at most 1.4 wt. percent free fatty acids, and since these feeds are subjected to a base-catalyzed reaction first, there cannot be any reaction of the free fatty acids to anything other than sodium or potassium salts of these acids. Hence, there is no yield advantage realized from the contained free fatty acids. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,109,363, Brunner discloses a process for production of fatty acid esters wherein a raw or waste oil undergoes an esterification with a water-free alcohol, followed by contact with a crude glycerin stream recycled from a downstream separation, and, following a phase separation, base catalyzed transesterification is effected, followed by another phase separation. Brunner does not acknowledge or disclose the disposition of the water of reaction that is necessarily formed in the esterification of free fatty acids. Furthermore, the Brunner process has the disadvantage of two steps in between the esterification and transesterification process.

Fatty acid alkyl ester production from oleaginous seeds


A comparator circuit includes a reference generator connecting to a first source providing a first voltage. The reference generator is operative to generate a reference signal and includes a control circuit selectively operable in at least a first mode or a second mode in response to a first control signal, wherein in the first mode the reference signal is not generated, and in the second mode the reference generator is operative to generate the reference signal. The comparator circuit further includes a comparator connecting to a second source providing a second voltage, the second voltage being less than the first voltage. The comparator is operative to receive the reference signal and an input signal, and to generate an output signal which is a function of a comparison between the input signal and the reference signal. A hysteresis circuit is included in the comparator circuit for selectively controlling a switching threshold of the comparator, relative to the input signal, as a function of the output signal of the comparator. The comparator circuit includes a voltage clamp operative to limit a voltage applied to one or more devices in the control circuit, the comparator, and/or the hysteresis circuit to less than the second voltage.

Analog comparators are well known in the art. A comparator is a circuit which compares an analog signal with another analog signal, and outputs a binary signal based on the result of the comparison. What is meant here by an analog signal is a signal that can have one of a continuum of amplitude values at any given point in time. In many applications, it is desirable to provide a binary output signal indicating when an analog input signal is above or below a predefined reference level. In this scenario, a substantially fixed reference voltage is applied to one of the inputs of the comparator, and the other input of the comparator receives the analog input signal to be compared. The output signal generated by the comparator will be a binary signal representing whether the input signal is greater than or less than the reference voltage level.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a conventional comparator circuit 100 in which an input signal A is applied to a non-inverting (+) input of a comparator X1, and a reference voltage VREF is applied to an inverting (−) input of the comparator. An output signal Z of the comparator will be a logical "1" whenever the voltage level of signal A is above VREF and a logical "0" whenever signal A is below VREF. In the comparator circuit 100, the reference voltage is generated by a simple voltage divider comprising resistors R1 and R2 connected together in series between a positive voltage supply VDD, which may be, for example, 3.3 volts, and a negative voltage supply VSS, which may be ground. Assuming VSS is equal to zero, the value of VREF will be dependent upon the value of resistors R1, R2, and the value of voltage supply VDD, according to the following relation:
  VREF  =      VDD    ×          R2              R1        +        R2
Often, a comparator is employed in a noisy environment in which it must detect signal transitions at or near a threshold region of the comparator. In order to prevent glitches from being generated in the output signal during noisy transitions of the input signal as the input signal passes through the threshold region of the comparator, the conventional comparator circuit 100 may be modified by adding hysteresis. Hysteresis is generally a characteristic of the comparator circuit in which the input threshold changes as a function of the input (or output) signal level. There are numerous known techniques for adding hysteresis to a comparator circuit, one of simplest being the use of an additional resistor and transistor, as illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram depicting a standard comparator circuit 200 including hysteresis. Comparator circuit 200 is essentially the same as comparator circuit 100 shown in FIG. 1, with the addition of a resistor R3 and an n-type metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistor M1 having a gate terminal (G) for receiving the output signal Z of the comparator X1, a drain terminal (D) connected to a first end of resistor R3 at node n1, and a source terminal (S) connected to a second end of R3, which is coupled to VSS. The operation of the comparator circuit 200 is such that when input A is much less than VREF, output signal Z will be low, and thus transistor M1 will be turned off. Assuming VSS is zero, the value of VREF will then be determined according to the relation:
  VREF  =      VREF1    =          VDD      ×                        R2          +          R3                          R1          +          R2          +          R3                    As input signal A rises above VREF1, output signal Z will go high, thus turning on transistor M1. Assuming M1 has an on-resistance that is substantially less than the resistance of R3, a new reference voltage level VREF2 will be established for the comparator circuit 200 according to the relation:
  VREF  =      VREF2    =          VDD      ×              R2                  R1          +          R2                    The new reference voltage level VREF2 will be lower than VREF1. Thus, when the input signal A passes a switching threshold of the comparator, set primarily by VREF, the output signal Z changes state and the threshold level is subsequently reduced, so that the input signal A must return beyond the previous threshold point before the output of the comparator will change state again.
Unfortunately, the comparator circuits shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 employ a voltage reference that always consumes direct current (DC) power, at least through the series resistor string (assuming the supply voltage VDD is greater than VSS). Consequently, although a resistance of the resistor string can be made substantially high (e.g., on the order of mega ohms) so as to help minimize power consumption, these comparator circuits may not meet low-power specifications for some applications, including, for example, portable applications utilizing battery-powered devices. Moreover, certain specifications, such as, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) On-The-Go (OTG) specification (see, e.g., "On-The-Go Supplement to the USB 2.0 Specification," Rev. 1.0a, USB Implementers Forum, Inc., June 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein), may require a comparator circuit fabricated using a lower voltage (e.g., 3.3 volts) integrated circuit (IC) process technology to be able to work reliably with input signals referenced to a higher voltage source (e.g., 5 volts). To accomplish this, the voltage VREF, which is used to control the switching threshold of the comparator X1, should be referenced to the higher voltage source. This higher voltage source, however, often exceeds a specified maximum voltage level for the IC process, which can undesirably reduce the reliability of the comparator circuit by overstressing transistor devices in the comparator circuit. Previous attempts to address this problem have typically involved including a precision voltage reference in the comparator circuit for providing a well-controlled (e.g., plus or minus one percent) reference voltage source, thus adding significant cost to the comparator circuit.
A need exists, therefore, for an improved comparator circuit having hysteresis and reduced power consumption, which does not suffer from one or more of the problems exhibited by conventional comparator circuits.


Methods and devices are provided for retracting tissue. In one exemplary embodiment, a retractor is provided that includes a base and a plurality of blades configured to removably and replaceably mate to the base. One or more of the plurality of blades can be configured to mate to the base in one of a plurality of available positions. In use, one or more adjustment mechanisms can be actuated to move one or more of the blades, thereby forming a pathway through tissue. The retractor can be formed from one or more radiolucent materials.

In surgical procedures, it is preferable to minimize or reduce trauma to the patient and damage to tissue. To achieve this result, surgeons try to keep incisions as small as possible. However, it is usually necessary that the surgeon have a clear view of the operating field.
A variety of retractors are available to keep an incision open and provide a clear view of the operating field. Retractors are used in surgical operations to reposition muscular tissue, vessels, nerves, and other tissue with the aid of retractor blades, thereby providing access to the site of the operation. Surgical retractors are particularly important in performing surgical procedures that involve the spinal column, where access to the surgical site can be obtained, for example, through a posterior, posterior-lateral, anterior, lateral, or an anterior-lateral approach.
Retraction can be performed in a variety of ways. In some embodiments, a step-wise dilation of the surgical incision can be performed to gradually dilate the muscles and tissues to the required size to insert the retractor. Step-wise dilation can involve the use of a series of dilators or cannulae with successively larger diameters. This method involves first inserting the smallest dilator or cannula into an incision. Then a second dilator or cannula, with a slightly larger diameter, is slid over the smaller dilator or cannula and into the incision, thereby causing the incision to expand to the slightly larger diameter of the second dilator or cannula. This process can be repeated using a series of dilators or cannulae with successively larger diameters, until the incision is large enough to allow for insertion of the retractor. Once positioned, the retractors produce a small surgical site or window.
In some embodiments, a retractor can include multiple blades attached to a frame. The blades can be inserted into tissue and moved apart from one another to retract the tissue. However, moving the blades apart from one another can be cumbersome depending on where access to the surgical site is obtained, e.g., awkward positioning of the surgeon relative to the retractor during lateral approach to a spine. It can also be difficult to adjust the blades to a particular desired position without moving the blades apart from one another too much, thereby causing problem(s) such as harming nearby tissue or pushing against a nerve.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods and devices for tissue retraction.

Methods and devices for tissue retraction


A plurality of end devices are coupled via a shared port to an asynchronous network in which traffic is carried in cells. A cell multiplexer is disposed between the devices and the port and is adapted to multiplex cells from the devices to the port in the order in which they are received by the multiplexer. The multiplexer broadcasts cells received from the network to all of the devices. Each said device is allocated a respective VCI so that it can identify its own cells from the broadcast cells.

Distributed data processing systems are widely used e.g. in networked computer applications. In such systems a plurality of workstations can access one or more servers to utilise data and or applications stored thereon. The network interconnecting the various system elements may comprise a dedicated network, or, more advantageously, a non-dedicated telecommunications network having appropriate bandwidth for carrying data traffic. A recent development in telecommunications technology has been the introduction of the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) transmission protocol. In an ATM system, digitised traffic is packed into cells each containing a header portion containing ATM virtual channel information indicative of the desired packet destination. This virtual channel information is mapped to an ATM address by the ATM switching network. The cells are routed across the ATM network and are subsequently unpacked to recover the data. Because the cells are assembled in an essentially asynchronous manner, the process is particularly advantageous for the transport of data or other information that is of a non-uniform or `bursty` nature.
Attempts to introduce ATM technology to distributed data processing systems have not been entirely successful for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is the problem of initial attachment of an end system to the network. In a conventional ATM network, every end system requires a unique address for receiving cells and must also access the network management system so that the launch of completed cells into the network from that end system can be controlled. This discovery and booting of an end system currently requires manual intervention which is slow and costly for a network operator and is inconvenient for the customer. Secondly, there is a requirement for an interface between the end system and the ATM network. In current systems this requires the provision of a network interface for every end system requiring access to the network. Building a full ATM interface on each end system is expensive as a large volume of software is required on the end system.
In an attempt to address these problems it has been proposed that a proxy signalling provision in the ATM UNI version 4.0 Standard would allow a third party to perform Q.2931 signalling on behalf of an end system. However, this proposal still requires manual intervention to set up this feature as a special service and it requires manually provisioning a virtual channel (VC) from the proxy to the end system to instruct the end system on which virtual channel indicator (VCI) it should respond to. A further proposal requires the use of established addresses and ILMI protocols to discover a newly connected end system. However, this requires that the end system is self booting and has a Q.2391 protocol stack thus resulting in a relatively complex and costly arrangement.

Providing access to a distributed data processing system


An array substrate includes a base substrate including a plurality of pixel regions arranged in an array, a plurality of thin film transistors distributed within respective ones of the plurality of pixel regions, each of the thin film transistors including an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode, the drain electrode including a first portion located in a second via, a passivation layer located on the source electrodes and the drain electrodes. The passivation layer is on the first portions of the drain electrode. A plurality of pixel electrodes are distributed within respective ones of the plurality of pixel regions and located on the passivation layer. Each of the pixel electrodes are electrically connected to a respective one of the drain electrodes through a respective third via that extends through the passivation layer.

An array substrate generally includes a base substrate and a plurality of pixel units disposed on the base substrate and arranged in an array. Each of the pixel units includes a thin film transistor (TFT) and a pixel circuit electrically connected to the TFT.
The TFT generally includes an active layer, a drain electrode disposed above the active layer with respect to the base substrate, and an insulating layer between the active layer and the drain electrode. The drain electrode may be electrically connected to the active layer through a via in the insulating layer. In the case of a liquid crystal display, the pixel circuit includes a pixel electrode that forms one of the two electrodes of the liquid crystal capacitor. In the case of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, the pixel circuit also includes a pixel electrode (e.g., an anode electrode of an OLED device) on which a pixel defining layer is typically disposed. In either case, the pixel electrode can be electrically connected to the drain electrode of the TFT through the via.

Array substrate, display panel and display device