Embodiments describe high-efficiency optical waveguide transitions—i.e., creating heterogeneous transitions between Si and III-V semiconductor regions or devices with minimal reflections. This is advantageous for III-V device performance, e.g. for an on-chip lasers achieving lower relative intensity noise (RIN) and lower phase noise by avoiding reflections, higher gain and reduced gain-ripple from an semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) by avoiding internal reflections in the SOA. Furthermore, in some embodiments, generated photocurrent can be used as a monitor signal for control purposes, thereby avoiding the use of separate tap-monitor photodetectors, which provide additional link loss.

Optical devices may be formed from heterogeneous materials—i.e., two or more different semiconductor materials. The efficiency of coupling light between these semiconductor materials is limited by the fabrication processes associated with each material. These limitations introduce loss and other operations inefficiencies, such as reflections, into an optical device comprising heterogeneous materials.
Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview of embodiments of the disclosure is provided below, followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.

High-efficiency optical waveguide transitions


Improved apparatus and method for the dialysis of blood. The improved apparatus comprises a subcutaneous port and catheter assembly comprising a connector portion comprising a subcutaneous port element, and a catheter portion comprising a catheter element. The improved apparatus also comprises a novel percutaneous catheter assembly comprising a catheter portion comprising a catheter element, and a connector portion comprising an extracorporeal connector element.

1. End Stage Renal Disease
A healthy kidney removes toxic wastes and excess water from the blood. In End Stage Renal Disease ("ESRD"), or chronic kidney failure, the kidneys progressively stop performing these essential functions over a long period of time. When the kidneys fail, a patient dies within a short period of time unless that patient receives dialysis treatment for the rest of that patient's life or undergoes transplantation of a healthy, normal kidney. Because few kidneys are available for transplantation, the overwhelming majority of patients with ESRD receive dialysis treatment.
Hemodialysis therapy is an extracorporeal (i.e., outside the body) process which removes toxins and water from a patient's blood. A hemodialysis machine pumps blood from the patient, through a dialyzer, and then back to the patient. The dialyzer removes the toxins and water from the blood by a membrane diffusion principle. Typically, a patient with chronic kidney disease requires hemodialysis three times per week for 3-6 hours per session. Removing blood from the body requires a vascular access to the patient's blood system. This vascular access can be accomplished by surgically modifying the patient's own blood vessels or attaching an artificial device to the vessels. If the vascular access site is entirely beneath the skin, the skin and the vascular site must be punctured by a needle attached to blood tubing. This needle and tubing is typically called a "set".
This vascular access must remain patent (i.e., unblocked) and free from medical complications to enable dialysis to take place. It must allow blood to flow to the machine at a sufficiently high rate to permit dialysis to take place efficiently. And it should allow the patient to carry on a normal life.
2. Hemodialysis Vascular Access
A. Vascular Access--A Major Medical Need
Vascular access is widely called the "Achilles heel of dialysis" because high morbidity and mortality among dialysis patients is associated with complications of vascular access. Vascular access complications are believed to be the single greatest cause of morbidity and to account for approximately one-fourth of all admissions and hospitalization days in the hemodialysis population.
The financial impact to the health care system of these vascular access problems is enormous. By way of illustration, an analysis of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) codes for the U.S. for 1993 showed over 91,000 procedures for the three codes dealing with (1) "Revise Renal Dialysis Shunt", (2) "Remove Renal Dialysis Shunt", and (3) "Complications of Renal Dialysis Device". More than 450,000 days of hospital stay days were involved for just these three codes alone. Clearly, the complications of the current methods of vascular access are costly, whether measured individually for a single event or aggregately for the whole patient population.
Thus, the need for improved vascular access is great.
B. Three Major Methods of Vascular Access
The major advances in vascular access for hemodialysis are listed below:
______________________________________ Year ______________________________________ Scribner shunt 1959 AV (arterio-venous) fistula 1966 Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft 1977 Percutaneous catheter assembly 1983 implanted in jugular vein ______________________________________
1. The Scribner Shunt
The Scribner shunt was the breakthrough percutaneous device which enabled patients with chronic kidney disease to be treated with the primitive, already-existing hemodialysis machines. The Scribner shunt suffered from major infection and clotting problems and is no longer used.
2. The AV (Arterio-Venous) Fistula
The first of the three major methods of permanent vascular access currently in use is the native AV (arterio-venous) fistula. The AV fistula is a surgical construct connecting a patient's major artery to a major vein subcutaneously in the arm. With this new blood flow path, most blood will bypass the high flow resistance of the downstream capillary bed, thereby producing a dramatic increase in the blood flow rate through the fistula. Furthermore, although it is not medically feasible to repeatedly puncture an artery, formation of the fistula "arterializes" the vein. The arterialized vein can be punctured repeatedly, and the high blood flow permits high efficiency hemodialysis to occur. Two fistula needles, connected to blood tubing leading to and from the hemodialysis machine, are used to puncture the skin to gain access to the arterialized vein. Blood is withdrawn from the arterial side of the vein, passes through the machine, where it is cleansed, and returns to the venous side of the access.
3. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Graft
The PTFE graft is an artificial, tubular, vascular graft made from polytetrafluoroethylene, a Teflon-type material. Implanted in a surgical procedure, the graft 5 (see FIG. 1) connects an artery 10 to a vein 15 in the arm, forming a bypass which can be punctured by fistula needle sets in the same way a normal AV fistula is accessed.
4. Percutaneous Catheter Assembly Implanted in Jugular Vein
The third method of vascular access for hemodialysis is a central venous percutaneous catheter assembly inserted into a major vein, such as the femoral, subclavian or jugular vein. For long term maintenance dialysis, the jugular vein is the preferred insertion site. These catheter assemblies are percutaneous, with one end external to the body and the other end dwelling in either the superior vena cava or the right atrium of the heart. The external portion of these catheter assemblies has connectors permitting attachment of blood sets leading to and from the hemodialysis machine.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show the traditional manner of positioning a central venous percutaneous catheter assembly 20 within the body. More particularly, percutaneous catheter assembly 20 generally comprises a catheter portion 21 comprising a catheter element 22, and a connector portion 24 comprising an extracorporeal connector element 25. The assembly's extracorporeal connector element 25 is disposed against the chest 30 of the patient, and the distal end 35 of catheter element 22 is passed into the patient's internal jugular vein 40 (FIG. 3) and then down into the patient's superior vena cava 45. More particularly, the distal end 35 of catheter element 22 is positioned within the patient's superior vena cava 45 such that the mouth 50 of suction line 55, and the mouth 60 of return line 65, are both located between the patient's right atrium 70 and the patient's left subclavia vein 75 and right subclavia vein 80. In this respect it is to be appreciated that, since mouth 60 of return line 65 is located distal to mouth 50 of suction line 55, mouth 60 of return line 65 will be located closer to right atrium 70 than is mouth 50 of suction line 55. Thus, mouth 60 of return line 65 is located downstream of mouth 50 of suction line 55. The percutaneous catheter assembly 20 is then left in this position relative to the body, waiting to be used during an active dialysis session.
When hemodialysis is to be performed on the patient, the assembly's extracorporeal connector element 25 is appropriately connected to a dialysis machine (not shown), i.e., suction line 55 is connected to the input port (i.e., the suction port) of the dialysis machine, and return line 65 is connected to the output port (i.e., the return port) of the dialysis machine. The dialysis machine is then activated (i.e., the dialysis machine's blood pump is turned on and the flow rate set), whereupon the dialysis machine will withdraw relatively "dirty" blood from the patient through suction line 55 and return relatively "clean" blood to the patient through return line 65. In this respect it is to be appreciated that, inasmuch as mouth 50 of suction line 55 is positioned upstream from mouth 60 of return line 65, the possibility of a hemodialysis "short circuit" (i.e., of suction line 55 collecting the relatively clean blood being returned to the patient's body by return line 65) will be reduced. In practice, it has generally been found desirable to separate the assembly's two mouths 50 and 60 by a distance of about 2 inches or so in order to avoid such undesired blood recirculation.
In some prior art applications, the distal end 35 of catheter element 22 may be positioned in the patient's right atrium 70 rather than in the patient's superior vena cava 45.
In one prior art construction, and looking now at FIG. 4, the construction of the distal end 35 of catheter element 22 is modified from that shown in FIG. 3. More particularly, in this alternative construction, the locations of the mouths 50 and 60 are reversed from that shown in FIG. 3, i.e., so that suction mouth 50 is disposed distal to return mouth 60. However, this design has not been favored, inasmuch as it presents the apparent risk of a hemodialysis "short circuit", i.e., where suction line 55 collects a substantial portion of the just-cleaned blood being returned to the patient's body by return line 65.
C. Benefits and Limitations of Each Method
FIG. 5 is a summary comparison of the benefits and limitations of each of the three currently-used major methods of hemodialysis vascular access.
1. Benefits and Limitations--the Native AV Fistula
The "gold standard" for vascular access is the native AV fistula. Because of its comparatively longer survival time and relatively lower level of major problems, it is the widely preferred choice of nephrologists. However, data from the 1997 U.S. Renal Data System Report indicates that only about 18% of all hemodialysis patients currently get a native AV fistula, while about 50% receive a PTFE graft and about 32% receive a percutaneous catheter assembly after two months of starting hemodialysis therapy.
The main reason that the AV fistula is not widely used is that the surgically-created AV fistula must "mature". Maturation occurs when high pressure and high blood flow from the connected artery expand the downstream system of veins to which it is surgically connected. Surgeons have found that successful AV fistula maturation is not possible in most patients because of the greatly increasing number of diabetic and older hemodialysis patients who have cardiovascular disease which prevents the maturation. Since surgeons have failed so often to achieve fistula maturation after performing the costly AV fistula surgery, they often no longer even try.
The other reason that AV fistulas are seldom used is that, even when fistula surgery is successful, maturation of the fistula generally takes approximately one to three months. Since about half of all prospective patients present with an immediate and urgent need to start hemodialysis, they cannot wait for AV fistula maturation to occur. They must undergo costly temporary procedures inserting percutaneous catheter assemblies to enable dialysis to take place.
2. Benefits and Limitations--the PTFE Graft
Given that AV fistulas are largely not possible, a PTFE vascular graft is implanted into the overwhelming majority of hemodialysis patients because, in spite of the relatively severe limitations to the PTFE graft, there is simply no better alternative.
The major disadvantages of the PTFE graft are stenosis (i.e., closing of the lumen) and thrombosis (i.e., clotting), both of which block the flow of blood. This dysfunction occurs in almost all graft patients several times in their lives and, because it interferes with life-sustaining dialysis, must be corrected quickly. Interventional procedures include angioplasty to open the stenosis and infusion of thrombolytic agents such as urokinase to dissolve the clots. Clinical studies report that the mean time of the operational use of the graft progressively decreases after each such corrective procedure until the operational time is so short that the surgeon decides to replace the graft. The survival time of the graft, including all repairs necessary to maintain its function, currently averages only about two years.
Medical interventions to maintain PTFE grafts and treatment for patient complications are expensive. Furthermore, declotting is required every 9 months or so on average. Also, because only three sites exist in each arm for placement of the graft, current practice is to perform additional screening procedures in an attempt to extend the survival time of the graft. These additional procedures add cost and inconvenience but have yet to significantly improve upon the mean time between interventional repair, although they may improve graft survival life.
PTFE grafts are structurally weakened, and the flow boundary is impaired, by the frequent (i.e., six times per week) puncturing with large gauge fistula needles. This degradation can lead to several complications and dysfunction, including post-dialysis bleeding, aneurysms and increased stenosis and thrombosis causing flow obstructions. Furthermore, a rough surface on the graft's exterior can become a place for bacteria to be protected from the body's defenses and antibiotic treatment. This further necessitates intervention and increases costs for access maintenance.
A PTFE graft (as well as an AV fistula) can also cause death in patients with heart problems. This is because the graft allows blood to bypass the lower circulation in the arm, which greatly reduces blood flow resistance in the arm as well as the whole body. The heart, which is a pump, recognizes lower system flow resistance and automatically adjusts to a higher cardiac output (i.e., a higher blood flow rate through the heart). Patients Who are older and with weak hearts may not adapt to this and can incur a cardiac arrest. Physicians considering this possibility currently screen out about 6% of all hemodialysis patients from acquiring a graft or fistula.
An additional disadvantage to PTFE grafts is that they take time to mature before they can be used. About 50% of patients present with a need for immediate hemodialysis and the surgeon must place a temporary access (i.e., a central venous percutaneous catheter assembly) for immediate use while the graft is maturing. This usually takes several weeks. The cost to place an additional vascular access for hemodialysis further consumes medical resources.
Another limitation of PTFE grafts is that the Teflon-type material does not seal as well as a native vein after removal of the fistula needle. Also, pressure in the graft is higher than venous pressure. This typically results in blood spurting out of the hole created by the needle puncture upon withdrawal of the needle. Achieving hemostasis requires that the puncture site be held with a finger or other means for a considerable period of time (usually 10 to 20 minutes) while maintaining pressure until the blood clots and bleeding stops.
3. Benefits and Limitations--Central Venous Percutaneous Catheter Assembly
The third method of permanent vascular access is a percutaneous central venous catheter assembly inserted through the skin into a major vein, with the distal tips of the catheter element advanced into the right atrium of the heart or the superior vena cava, a major vein leading into the right atrium. Percutaneous catheter assemblies have been used in hemodialysis since the early 1960's but were for many years considered "temporary" vascular access because of major infection and stenosis problems. Because they can be easily and quickly inserted, they were used only when emergency vascular access was needed to permit hemodialysis. For many years, potentially life-threatening infection complications were so great that the percutaneous catheter assemblies were withdrawn after each dialysis session and re-inserted before the next session so as to minimize the risk of infection.
Two important developments were made in the 1980's that have led some nephrologists to consider percutaneous catheter assemblies as "permanent" vascular access. The most important of these developments was a 1983 paper reporting the insertion of percutaneous catheter assemblies into the jugular vein rather than the subclavian vein. Jugular vein insertion essentially eliminated the problem of subclavian vein stenosis associated with up to 50% of subclavian vein catheter insertions. Subclavian vein stenosis not only blocks blood flow, making it impossible to conduct hemodialysis, but also, catastrophically, can destroy all potential vascular access sites in one or both arms. Given the short survival time for all vascular access sites, preservation of vascular access sites is a major imperative of artificial kidney treatment.
The second major development was the attachment of a dacron "cuff" to the assembly's catheter element, near the proximal end, under the skin, about an inch from the incision site where the assembly exits the body. This cuff permits tissue in-growth to occur which fastens the catheter element to the tissue, thereby reducing movement of the percutaneous catheter assembly at the incision site as well as in the blood vessel. In addition, such tissue in-growth is believed by many to retard bacterial travel along the outer surface of the percutaneous catheter assembly, although it does not prevent it entirely. While numerous reports suggest that the cuff has reduced the infection rate, infections remain a major problem with the use of cuffed percutaneous catheter assemblies.
Because of these developments, a series of papers published in the 1990's reported positively on the long term survival of percutaneous catheter assemblies, thereby permitting their use in "permanent" vascular access. It is anticipated, however, that PTFE grafts will continue to be preferred to percutaneous catheter assemblies because PTFE grafts permit longer use without intervention (see FIG. 5).
The principal factor limiting percutaneous catheter assembly survival, and time without incidents requiring medical intervention, is infection, which continues to occur at a high rate. Clinical experience indicates that about 82% of all percutaneous catheter assembly failures and complications are attributable to infection.
To make percutaneous catheter assemblies a widely accepted form of permanent vascular access, one must resolve infection complications. However, as long as the percutaneous catheter assembly breaks through the skin, which is the body's barrier to infection, the pathway for bacteria from outside the body to the subcutaneous tissue exists. It should be noted that the PTFE graft, which is entirely subcutaneous, has a much lower rate of infection than the percutaneous catheter assembly. With a PTFE graft, the skin and the graft are in contact only with sterile fistula needles during the dialysis session.
Another limitation to percutaneous catheter assemblies compared to PTFE grafts is that, historically, permissible blood flow rates are much lower with percutaneous catheter assemblies because the pressure drop through the percutaneous catheter assembly is higher than through a PTFE graft. As a result, it has been difficult to conduct the high efficiency (i.e., the short time) dialysis protocols used in for-profit dialysis centers with percutaneous catheter assembly access.
Percutaneous catheter assemblies also have problems with flow obstructions. More particularly, when a percutaneous catheter is left in the body for a significant period of time, fibrin sheaths can form about the distal end of the catheter element, and these fibrin sheaths can obstruct the flow of blood into the mouth of the suction line. In addition, blood clots can also obstruct the flow of blood into the mouth of the catheter assembly's suction line. Furthermore, if the distal tip of the catheter element engages the side wall of the host blood vessel, the catheter element can irritate the side wall of that blood vessel, causing tissue to grow about the distal tip of the catheter element. This tissue can also obstruct the flow of blood into the mouth of the catheter assembly's suction line.
Also, at high dialysis flow rates, suction line 55 of catheter element 22 can sometimes draw the side wall 85 (FIG. 6) of superior vena cava 45 inward, toward mouth 50 of suction line 55, due to its aggressive suction action. When this occurs, side wall 85 may interfere with the flow of blood into mouth 50 of suction line 55. In addition, this inward movement of side wall 85 also acts to narrow the internal diameter of superior vena cava 45, thereby reducing the rate at which blood may be withdrawn from, or returned to, that host blood vessel. Both of these effects can reduce the throughput of the dialysis machine, thereby increasing the patient's dialysis time and reducing the total number of patients who may be treated with that particular dialysis machine. On the other hand, if the level of suction is lowered so as to reduce the possibility of drawing side wall 85 into mouth 50 of suction line 55, then the overall flow of blood through the percutaneous catheter assembly will also be reduced, thereby again decreasing the total throughput of the dialysis machine.
Also, patient acceptance of percutaneous catheter assemblies has always been low due to self-image concerns and limitations on life style. The percutaneous catheter assembly exiting the body from the neck or chest is a visible reminder (both to the patient and others) of the patient's hemodialysis-machine-dependent illness. Patients also tend to dislike percutaneous catheter assemblies because bathing and other normal activities generally have to be restricted to protect the percutaneous catheter assembly.
In addition to the foregoing, it has also been found that air embolisms can be accidentally introduced into the patient when using percutaneous catheter assemblies.
Also, it has been found that the percutaneous catheter assembly's extracorporeal connector element can be damaged by undesired contact during the periods between dialysis sessions.
Percutaneous catheter assemblies do have certain inherent advantages, however. For one thing, they can be quickly, easily, and inexpensively inserted into the patient. In addition, there is no detrimental physical effect to the device from frequent use because, unlike PTFE grafts, it is not necessary to repeatedly puncture the device with large gauge fistula needles. Furthermore, there are few post-dialysis bleeding problems at the access site because the blood conduit is not punctured with fistula needles.
D. Subcutaneous Infusion Port Assemblies
Subcutaneous infusion port assemblies are currently in use in the field of oncology, to facilitate the repeated and regular delivery of chemotherapy agents to cancer patients. Such subcutaneous infusion port assemblies generally comprise a needle-receiving septum and a fluid line extending out of the needle-receiving septum. The subcutaneous infusion port assembly is surgically implanted in the patient's body on a semi-permanent basis, with the needle-receiving septum being disposed subcutaneously in the chest area of the patient, and with the fluid line leading from the needle-receiving septum into the vascular system of the patient. During a chemotherapy session, medical personnel pass a needle through the skin of the patient and into fluid engagement with the subcutaneous needle-receiving septum. This arrangement allows the desired chemotherapy agents to be delivered from a location outside the body into the subcutaneous needle-receiving septum, whereupon the chemotherapy agents can flow into the patient's vascular system so as to effect the desired treatment.
Only one known prior art attempt has been made to use chemotherapy infusion port assemblies in hemodialysis applications. This attempt was not satisfactory, for a variety of reasons.

Apparatus and method for the dialysis of blood


In optical line width measurement performed using the scatterometry technique, the present invention measures the line width formed on a substrate more accurately than in the prior art. After a predetermined pattern is formed in a resist film on a substrate, the refractive index and the extinction coefficient of the resist film are measured. Based on the measured values, calculation is performed to obtain calculated light intensity distributions of reflected light reflected from a plurality of virtual patterns. The calculated light intensity distributions are stored, and their library is created. The substrate for which the refractive index and so on are measured is irradiated with light, and the light intensity distribution of its reflected light is measured. The light intensity distribution is collated with the calculated light intensity distributions in the library, so that the line width of the virtual pattern having a matching light intensity distribution is regarded as the line width of the real pattern. Since the library of the light intensity distributions of the virtual pattern is created based on the actually measured refractive index and so on after the formation of the pattern, an accurate line width matching the pattern state at the time of measuring the line width is measured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a line width measuring method for measuring the line width of a pattern formed in a resist film on a substrate, a substrate processing method, a substrate processing apparatus, and a substrate cooling processing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photolithography step in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a predetermined pattern is formed in a resist film on a wafer by sequentially performing a plurality of treatments and processing, for example, a resist coating treatment to form the resist film by applying a resist solution onto the wafer surface, exposure processing to expose the wafer to light by applying light through the predetermined pattern onto the resist film on the wafer, a developing treatment to selectively dissolve the exposed resist film by a developing solution, and so on.
After the pattern is formed on the wafer, line width measurement of measuring the line width of the pattern is performed to check whether the pattern is properly formed.
For the line width measurement, an optical line width measuring method of measuring the line width using light is used in recent years. The optical line width measuring method is excellent in that it can restrain shrinkage of the pattern on the wafer because electrons never strike against the wafer, unlike an electron line width measuring method conventionally performed.
The above-described optical line width measurement is performed using the so-called scatterometry technique (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-260994 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-209093).
The scatterometry technique means that calculation is performed to obtain a plurality of calculated light intensity distributions for a pattern in an arbitrary shape to create their library in advance, so that at the time of measurement of the line width, light is applied onto a real pattern that is an object to be measured and the intensity distribution of reflected light reflected from the pattern is measured, and the measurement result is matched to the calculated light intensity distributions in the library, whereby the line width of the pattern in the library having a matching light intensity is estimated to be the line width of the real pattern on the wafer.
In the above-described scatterometry technique, to calculate the light intensity distributions for an arbitrary pattern and create their library, optical constants such as a refractive index, an extinction coefficient, and so on of the resist film that is the material of the wafer surface are required. Therefore, in the conventional optical line width measurement, a standard refractive index and extinction coefficient of a resist material, for example, provided from a material manufacturer or the like have been used to calculate the light intensity distribution for an arbitrary pattern.
However, when the resist material is actually applied onto the wafer and a plurality of treatments and processing are performed on the wafer, the property of the resist film on the wafer to light changes. In addition, the change also differs among wafers due to slight variations in processing states. Accordingly, the optical constants of the resist film onto which light is applied when the line width is actually measured differ from those before the processing and also differ among wafers. Therefore, the light intensity distributions in the library are calculated based on values different from the optical constants of the resist film at the time of actual measurement, and accordingly the line width of the pattern decided through matching to the light intensity distributions in the library is far from accurate.
Unless the line width of the pattern is accurately measured, even if there occurs a case in which the line width of an actually formed pattern is not proper, that case cannot be detected. This may lead to manufacture of a large amount of defective wafers. Especially, in recent years, very fine pattern shapes are demanded, and defective wafers cannot be detected without more accurate line width measurement.

Line width measuring method, substrate processing method, substrate processing apparatus and substrate cooling processing unit


An integrated slurry hydrocracking process and apparatus are described. The process includes introducing heavy residual hydrocarbon oil and a hydrogen stream into a slurry hydrocracking zone. The hydrocarbon feed is cracked to form a slurry hydrocracking effluent. At least a portion of the shiny hydrocracking effluent is introduced to a distillate hydrotreater along with make-up hydrogen. The slurry hydrocracking effluent is hydrotreated to form a hydrotreated effluent. The hydrotreated effluent is separated into a liquid stream and a gas stream containing hydrogen. The gas stream containing the hydrogen is recycled to the slurry hydrocracking zone forming the hydrogen stream introduced into the slurry hydrocracking zone.

Slurry hydrocracking (SHC) is used for the upgrading of heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks to produce distillate products. In SHC, these feedstocks are converted in the presence of hydrogen and solid catalyst particles (e.g., as a particulate metallic compound such as a metal sulfide) in a slurry phase. Representative slurry hydrocracking processes are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,955 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,977.
The distillate products produced using SHC include naphtha, jet fuel, diesel, and vacuum gas oil (VGO) range materials that are high in contaminants such as sulfur, nitrogen, olefins, and aromatics. In order to meet product specifications such as for example, low sulfur, low nitrogen, and cetane, the distillate products need further upgrading by hydrotreating. The hydrotreater is typically a stand-alone distillate hydrotreater to upgrade liquid products. This requires additional capital to construct the hydrotreater, requiring additional compressors, vessels, heat exchangers and the like.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved process for upgrading heavy hydrocarbon feeds.

Integrated hydrotreating and slurry hydrocracking process


A high temperature optical probe for an optical gas temperature sensor includes a support, a generally conical hollow tip, and a joint physically interconnecting the support and the tip. The tip includes as an electromagnetic radiation emitter a sapphire-free ceramic selected from the group consisting of silicon carbide and silicon nitride.

The present invention relates to an optical gas temperature sensor, and more particularly to a high temperature probe therefor.
Optical gas temperature sensors are well known in the art. Such a sensor is conventionally used by immersing the probe (and more particularly the conical tip of the probe) in the hot gas stream to be measured, and allowing the probe to remain until it is heated to approximately the temperature of the hot gas stream. At that temperature, infrared light (typically 1.0 to 1.7 microns in wave length) is emitted from the inner surface of the probe tip (which may contain a separate emitter), selected by a lens, and focused by the lens onto a fiber optic or light guide for transmission to a photodiode. The photodiode converts the focussed light into an electrical current, amplifiers in an opto-electronic unit condition the analog signal, and a program in a computer or microprocessor converts the analog signal into usable engineering units of temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,544 describes an optical gas temperature sensor having a high temperature probe formed of a single crystal sapphire rod divided into a wave guide region and a cavity region. The cavity region is generally conical and is coated with an infrared radiation emitter having a high melting temperature, such as sputtered iridium. The iridium coating is in turn being covered by a protective coating, such as sputtered alumina. The nature of the materials used to form the high temperature probe of an optical gas temperature sensor may vary considerably. Some materials require the use of a separate emitter in order to provide infrared radiation in response to the sensed temperatures, while others do not. Many of the probes utilize materials such as refractory materials (including oxides of aluminum, silicon, zirconium and yttrium), black bodies formed of finely dispersed carbon and a silicon adhesive, quartz or glass, noble metals, steel, luminescent materials, and the like.
While a variety of different materials have been used for the probes, as noted above, the most common probes are sapphire probes provided in various shapes and with various coatings. However the sapphire probes have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. The probe tips are subjected to extreme thermal shock (on the order of 1,000.degree. F. per second), high temperature stress, oxidizing and salt atmospheres at high temperatures (e.g., those found in aircraft engines), and the like. The sapphire probes tend to fracture quickly when cooled from 2500.degree. F. to 70.degree. F. by air nozzles in tests that approximate an engine environment. Sapphire probes under a 5000 psi bending stress can creep or deform at 2500.degree. F. and are not well suited for meeting 5000-hour life requirements. Where the emissivity of the sapphire is supplemented by an emitter coating (such as iridium) or fitted with an insert of emitting material, the coating or emitted insert tends to erode within several hours of exposure to engine gas, with substantial temperature errors resulting. Accordingly, the need remains for a high temperature probe for an optical gas temperature sensor having a high flexural strength (defined as exceeding 50,000 psi at 2,500.degree. F. on a four-point bending test), a low creep rate (defined as a creep rate of 5.times.10.sup.-10 sec.sup.-1 with up to 5,000 psi stress at 2,500.degree. F. which produces 1% strain over a 5,000 hour life), a high oxidation resistance (defined as less than 1% weight loss for a 5,000-hour life at 2,500.degree. F. and as assessed during a 3,500-hour thermal cycling test using exhaust gases), and a high thermal shock resistance (defined as the capacity to withstand repeated cycling shocks from 2,500.degree. F. to 1,000.degree. F. within 3 seconds or 500.degree. F./second, as could be applied with a high velocity torch and air gun). Additionally, the probe must exhibit a low thermal response time constant so that it responds rapidly to variations in the temperature of the gas stream. A one-second time constant under engine air flow conditions is generally acceptable and is the current practice with conventional thermocouple and engine control designs. Thin walls are required at the probe tip to insure adequately fast thermal response.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved high temperature optical probe for an optical gas temperature sensor for measuring the high-temperature, high-velocity of gases, and especially the high-temperature, high-velocity exhaust gas stream from an engine.
Another object is to provide such a probe which has a high flexural strength, a low creep rate, a high oxidation resistance, and a high thermal shock resistance.
A further object is to provide such a probe which has a low thermal response time constant.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a probe which is of simple and economical construction, easy to maintain, and easy to use.


Agglomerates with a carbonaceous material incorporated therein and a process for producing reduced metal using the agglomerates are provided. The agglomerates are prepared with high-VM coal, which is widely and abundantly produced and is less expensive, and they provide high strength after reduction without the need for finer metal oxide particles. The agglomerates are made of a carbonaceous material and a raw material to be reduced that contains a metal oxide, such as iron ore. The carbonaceous material used is a high-VM coal containing 35% or more by mass of volatile matter. The agglomerates are formed at a pressure of at least 2 t/cm2 so that the porosity thereof is reduced to 35% or less. The reduction in porosity is effective in promoting heat transfer inside the agglomerates in a rotary hearth furnace in a high-temperature reduction step so that the sintering of reduced metal proceeds efficiently in the overall regions of the agglomerates to produce a reduced metal having high crushing strength.

According to a known process for producing reduced iron, fine ore or lump ore is reduced in the solid phase in a counter-flow shaft furnace using a reducing gas prepared by reforming natural gas to produce reduced iron. This process, however, requires a large supply of natural gas, which is expensive as a reducing agent, and generally has limitations such as plant siting limited to regions where natural gas is produced.
Accordingly, processes for producing reduced iron using coal as a reducing agent, instead of natural gas, have recently attracted attention. Coal is relatively less expensive and eases geographical limitations on plant siting. Such processes for producing reduced iron using coal as a reducing agent are exemplified by a known process described below. A raw material containing a metal oxide such as iron oxide is mixed with a carbonaceous material. The mixture is then dried and agglomerated under such conditions as to generate volatile matter. For the volatile matter to function as a binder, the dried mixture is heated and compressed to prepare green compacts. The green compacts are charged into a rotary hearth furnace and are reduced by heating at 2,150° F. to 2,350° F. (1,177° C. to 1,288° C.) for 5 to 12 minutes to produce reduced iron.
According to this process, if the content of the volatile matter, which functions as a binder, in the coal is less than 20% by mass, the green compacts require an additional organic binder. If the content of the volatile matter is 20% to 30% by mass, the green compacts require compression above 10,000 lb/in2 (703 kg/cm2) and heating at 800° F. (427° C.). If the content of the volatile matter exceeds 30% by mass, the green compacts only require compression above 10,000 lb/in2 (703 kg/cm2). The carbonaceous material used is preferably a coal having a high fixed carbon content and a volatile matter content of about 20% by mass or more, such as bituminous coal.
If the reduced iron discharged from the rotary hearth furnace has an excess carbon content of 2% to 10% by mass, the excess carbon advantageously increases the rate of reduction to promote complete reduction. In addition, the excess carbon may be utilized as carbon for steelmaking in an electric furnace.
Because the green compacts (hereinafter also referred to as agglomerates with the carbonaceous material incorporated therein) are porous, they have insufficient contact between the carbonaceous material and the metal oxide, such as iron ore, and thus exhibit low thermal conductivity and a low reduction rate. A process has been attempted in which a carbonaceous material that exhibits lower maximum fluidity in softening melting is used for the agglomerates with the carbonaceous material incorporated therein in combination with a higher content of fine iron oxide particles having a particle size of 10 μm or less in the metal oxide (namely, iron ore) to increase the number of contacts between the iron oxide particles. According to this process, even if the carbonaceous material exhibits lower maximum fluidity in softening melting, the contact area between the iron oxide particles can be increased to enhance the thermal conductivity inside the agglomerates with the carbonaceous material incorporated therein. This results in a larger number of contacts between particles metallized by heating reduction so that the sintering thereof is promoted to provide high-strength reducing iron.
If, however, a reduced iron containing about 2% to 10% by mass of residual carbon is produced at about 10,000 lb/in2 (703 kg/cm2), a carbonaceous material having a high fixed carbon content must be generally used for increasing the content of elemental iron to ensure sufficient reduced iron strength. The above process for producing reduced iron therefore seems to require a high-grade bituminous coal having a high fixed carbon content and a volatile matter content of up to 35% by mass.
Such a high-grade bituminous coal, which has high quality with a high fixed carbon content, poses the problem of high cost due to small reserves and limited sources. On the other hand, coals having low fixed carbon contents, including subbituminous coal and other ranks of coals with lower degrees of coalification than subbituminous coal, are potential raw materials for steelmaking because of large reserves, unlimited sources, and low cost. If, however, subbituminous coal, which has a low fixed carbon content, or a coal with a lower degree of coalification, such as lignite, is used, the mixing ratio of the carbonaceous material to iron oxide, namely iron ore powder, must be increased; fixed carbon contributes greatly to the reduction of metal oxide such as iron oxide.
An increase in the content of coal with a low degree of coalification results in a relative decrease in the content of elemental iron in a green compact. This decreases bonding strength due to, for example, sintering by reduction, and thus decreases the strength of reduced iron. A reduced iron with decreased strength powders on impact when, for example, discharged from a rotary hearth furnace with a discharger. The powdered reduced iron, which has an increased specific surface area, is readily reoxidized by contact with oxidizing gases such as carbon dioxide and steam in the rotary hearth furnace. The resultant reduced iron is therefore less valuable as a semi-finished product, and exhibits poor handling properties because of its powdered form. Unfortunately, additionally, the powdered reduced iron, which has low bulk density, cannot be melted in a melting furnace because the powder floats over a slag layer.
On the other hand, a decreased content of carbonaceous material with a low fixed carbon content provides higher reduced iron strength. In this case, however, a metal oxide such as iron oxide cannot be sufficiently reduced because of the insufficient content of fixed carbon contributing to the reduction. If, for example, a reduced iron having a low residual carbon content is melted to produce hot metal, a carbonaceous material must be added to the hot metal to achieve the required carbon content. The addition of carbon to the hot metal increases the consumption of carbonaceous material because of its low yield, and may fail to achieve a target carbon concentration.
According to the process in which the proportion of fine iron oxide particles with a particle size of 10 μm or less is increased, the content of fine iron oxide particles with a particle size of 10 μm or less must be increased as the maximum fluidity of carbonaceous material is decreased. This process requires an additional step for providing finer particles. The use of coarse iron oxide particles with a particle size exceeding 10 μm alone cannot provide reduced iron with high strength.
The present invention focuses on the above problems in the related art. An object of the present invention is to provide agglomerates with a carbonaceous material incorporated therein that are prepared with high-VM coal, which is widely and abundantly produced and is less expensive, and that can provide high-strength reduced metal without the use of finer metal oxide particles, and also provide a process for producing reduced metal using the agglomerates.

Process for producing reduced metal and agglomerate with carbonaceous material incorporated therein


A motor vehicle door having a basic body (2; 22) and respectively an inside and an outside panel (4, 3; 23, 21; 27, 26), wherein the window-side circumferential edge (9) of the outside panel (3; 21; 26) is provided at least partially with an undercut (10) engaged by the corresponding regions of the circumferential edge of the basic body (2) or the inside panel (4), and wherein the outside panel (3) is provided with a folded section (16) at least at the end (15) of the circumferential edge (8) disposed opposite the window-side circumferential edge. To accomplish easy, quick and cost-advantageous mounting or replacement of the outside panel, the basic body (2; 22) or the inside panel (4; 23; 27) is connected by way of fastening means (18; 24; 28) to the wall region (20) of the folded section (14) of the outside panel (3; 21; 26), which wall region faces the door sill (14) of the corresponding motor vehicle. Clips, expanding rivets, screws, Velcro connections, foam adhesives, snap hooks, securing hooks, snap hinges, detent hooks, etc. may be used as the fastening means.

The invention relates to a motor vehicle door having an inside and an outside panel wherein the window-side circumferential edge of the outside panel is provided at least partially with an undercut engaged by the corresponding regions of the circumferential edge of the basic door body or the inside panel, and wherein the outside panel is provided with a folded section at least at the end of the circumferential edge disposed opposite of the window-side circumferential edge.
Such a motor vehicle door is known, for example, from EP 0 424 760 A2. To ensure easy mounting or replacement of the outside panel (door leaf), the panel is provided on at least one side of its circumferential edge with an undercut with which it is slid onto or threaded (inserted) into the window-side circumferential region of the basic body or of the inside panel. The sides of the door leaf as well as of the corresponding edge region of the basic body or of the inside panel which are respectively opposite the first undercut are provided with groove-shaped recesses facing one another, which recesses are engaged by a tough and elastic profiled strip which connects and seals the recesses.
The biggest drawback of this known motor vehicle door is the complexity connected with the insertion of the elastic profiled strip because, on the one hand, this process is relatively time-consuming and, on the other hand, it requires specialized additional assembly devices.
It is the object of the invention to provide a motor vehicle door of the type specified at the outset, wherein the panels can be mounted or replaced easily, quickly and cost-advantageously.


A tower construction for a wind turbine is proposed. The tower construction has a number of axially disposed hollow cylindrical tower sections. Each of the axially disposed hollow cylindrical tower sections has a number of circumferentially disposed first tower section segments and a number of circumferentially disposed second tower section segments. The first tower section segments and the second tower section segments are alternated with each other.

Tower constructions, particularly for wind turbine towers, are large-scaled constructions regarding diameter and height. Thereby, many different tower constructions for on- and offshore applications are known differing in their constructive design, that is for example in the type of the connection to the foundation structure, their basic shape, which may be straight, conical or stepwise conical for instance, number and size of respective hollow cylindrical axially aligned tower sections, connecting means, etc.
Particularly in the field of wind energy, the growing interest in renewable energies has resulted in increased dimensions of wind turbines and accordingly, respective tower constructions have also become larger, so that the tower construction nowadays represents a considerable economical factor of the total costs of a wind turbine both regarding material use and makespan. Further, with increased dimensions difficulties may occur regarding manufacture, transport and handling of the components of respective tower constructions.


An apparatus includes a mold machine and a part catcher. The mold machine is configured to mold a part and to discharge the part from the mold machine. The part catcher is arranged to catch the part discharged from the mold machine.

The present disclosure relates to apparatus for use with mold machines. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to apparatus adapted to handle parts discharged from mold machines.
Mold machines are used to mold material (e.g., plastics material) into parts. Once formed, the parts may then be discharged from the mold machine for further processing.


A method of forming a pre-molded lead frame having increased stand-offs includes the steps of attaching a first tape to a first side of the lead frame and a second tape to a second side of the lead frame. The taped lead frame is placed in a mold and a first flow of mold compound is initiated. The first flow of the mold compound fills a space between the first tape and an upper mold chase of the mold. A second flow of the mold compound then is initiated. The second flow of the mold compound fills the spaces between a die pad and leads of the lead frame. The first and second tapes then are removed from the lead frame. Improved stand-offs are provided because the first tape was depressed by the first flow of the mold compound.

The present invention relates to the packaging of integrated circuits (ICs) and more particularly to a method of forming a pre-molded lead frame used to form a semiconductor package.
A lead frame is a structure that provides electrical interconnections to a semiconductor die. That is, a die is attached to a lead frame and then bonding pads of the die are electrically connected to leads of the lead frame, typically with wires via a wire bonding process. The die, lead frame and wires are then encapsulated with a plastic mold compound. Exposed areas of the leads provide the electrical interconnection to the die.
In order to provide good electrical connection to other devices, certain portions of the leads must be adequately exposed. If this lead area is covered with mold compound or otherwise not well exposed or easily contactable then issues can arise such as solderability of the leads to a substrate or printed circuit board (PCB).
FIGS. 1-4 illustrate steps in a semiconductor packaging process. FIG. 1 shows a pair of lead frames 10 including half-etched portions 12. Integrated circuits 14 are attached to flags 16 of the lead frames 10. The integrated circuits 14 are electrically connected to leads 20 of the lead frames 10 with wires 18, typically via a wire bonding process. In the drawing, the two lead frames 10 are part of a strip of lead frames. The strip of lead frames is secured to a tape 22. FIG. 2 shows the lead frames 10 located inside a mold chase 24. The arrows indicate a direction of mold flow. FIG. 3 shows a mold compound 26 that has been injected into the mold chase 24. The mold compound 26 covers the lead frames 10, the integrated circuits 14 and the wires 18.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a contact area of one of the lead frames 10, particularly, the half-etched portions of the flag 16 and lead 20. Note that the mold compound 26 fills the space between the flag 16 and the lead 20, and further, the mold compound 26 and the bottom surface of the lead frame are planar. It would be advantageous to be able to increase the stand-off between the lead frame and the mold compound.


The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for detecting burst noise. The system and method are described in the exemplary context of a cable modem system and can be used in such a system to specifically detect upstream burst noise. Once detected, the system and method can adjust the upstream receiver that receives data corrupted by the upstream burst noise to reduce the potentially deleterious effects that the burst noise can have on, for example, the packet error rate and/or data rate of the upstream receiver.

In a communication system, a transmitter transmits data to a receiver over a communication medium in the presence of noise. The noise alters the data and, if the alteration is severe enough, the receiver may be unable to recover the data as originally transmitted. Two major types of noise that are common to communication systems include Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and burst noise.
AWGN is characterized by the fact that it is stationary in time and contains equal power within any frequency band with a fixed width. Because of these attributes, the energy level of AWGN can be predicted fairly accurately and used to tune parameters of a receiver to compensate for its corruptive effects to a signal received by the receiver. Burst noise, on the other hand, may be non-stationary in time and typically lasts only for a short period of time (e.g., less than 100 microseconds). During the short period of time that it typically occurs, burst noise may be significantly stronger than AWGN. The non-stationary nature and strong noise level of burst noise during short periods of time make it difficult to tune parameters of a receiver to compensate for its corruptive effects to a signal received by the receiver. However, in order to provide a required performance level in terms of, for example, data rate and packet error ratio, a receiver may need to detect burst noise so that errors in the data it receives that are caused by burst noise can be corrected.
The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.


Method of forming a thin film consisting of a silicon-based material includes a first step of setting a substrate subjected to formation of a thin insulating film consisting of the silicon-based material in a chamber having high-frequency electrodes for receiving a high-frequency power while the substrate is kept heated at a predetermined temperature, a second step of supplying a process gas to the chamber, a third step of applying a high-frequency power to the high-frequency electrodes to generate a plasma, a fourth step of depositing an insulator consisting of the silicon-based material on the substrate to a predetermined thickness while gas supply in the second step and supply of the high-frequency power in the third step are kept maintained, and a fifth step of cooling the substrate on which the insulating film is formed and unloading the substrate from the chamber. In the fourth step, the substrate is kept heated within the temperature range of 230.degree. C. to 270.degree. C., and the high-frequency power is controlled to be supplied so that an RF discharge power density falls within the range of 60 to 100 mW/cm.sup.2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming silicon-based thin films such as a silicon nitride (SiN) film and a silicon oxide (SiO) film, and a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor (TFT) using these silicon-based thin films.
2. Description of the Related Art
Silicon-based thin films are used as insulating films for TFTs, MOS transistors, and integrated circuits using the MOS transistors.
TFTs using these silicon-based thin films are of a staggered type, an inverted staggered type, a coplanar type, and an inverted coplanar type. A structure of a conventional inverted staggered type TFT will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
Referring to FIG. 1, a gate electrode 2 consisting of a metal such as tantalum or chromium is formed on an insulating substrate 1 made of glass or the like, and a gate insulating film 3 is formed on the gate electrode 2. An i-type semiconductor film 4 consisting of i-type amorphous silicon (i-a-Si) is formed on the gate insulating film 3 so as to oppose the gate electrode 2. Source and drain electrodes 5 and 6 made of a metal such as chromium are formed on the i-type semiconductor film 4, respectively, through n-type semiconductor layers 7 and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance to form a channel region. Each n-type semiconductor layer 7 consists of n-type amorphous silicon (n.sup.+ -a-Si) doped with an impurity. A protective layer (not shown) is formed to cover the entire structure.
FIG. 2 shows an improvement of the inverted staggered type TFT shown in FIG. 1. This TFT includes a blocking layer 8 consisting of an insulating film in a region constituting the channel region of the i-type semiconductor layer 4. Other portions of this TFT are the same as those in FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 2.
In these TFTs, silicon nitride (SiN) films are used as the gate insulating films 3 and the blocking layer 8 (only the TFT shown in FIG. 2), and a silicon oxide (SiO) film is used as the protective film (not shown).
In each of these conventional TFTs, a silicon-based thin film such as an SiN film and an SiO film is formed by a plasma CVD method. This plasma CVD method is a method of supplying a process gas to a chamber in which a substrate heated to a predetermined temperature is set, causing a high-frequency glow discharge (RF discharge) upon supply of an RF current so as to set the process gas in a plasma state while the pressure of the process gas is controlled to a predetermined value, and depositing a silicon compound on the substrate, thereby forming a silicon-based thin film.
The process gas consists of a main reaction gas serving as a source gas for a film to be formed and a carrier gas for diluting the main reaction gas to obtain the plasma state. In order to form the SiN film, monosilane (SiH.sub.4) gas and ammonia (NH.sub.3) gas constitute a main reaction gas, and nitrogen (N.sub.2) gas is used as a carrier gas. In order to form the SiO film, monosilane (SiH.sub.4) gas and the laughing (N.sub.2 O) gas constitute a main reaction gas, and nitrogen (N.sub.2) gas is used as a carrier gas.
Formation of the above silicon-based thin film is performed by the following steps as indicated by supply of the process gas and the RF discharge timings in FIG. 3.
A substrate heated to a predetermined temperature is set in a chamber, and the chamber is evacuated. The process gas as a gas mixture of the main reaction gas and the carrier gas is supplied and controlled to have a predetermined pressure. When about 15 minutes for stabilizing the pressure of the process gas and the substrate temperature elapse, an RF current is supplied to start an RF discharge, thereby generating a plasma and starting deposition of a silicon-based thin film. When a period of time required for depositing this thin film to a predetermined thickness elapses, supply of the RF current is stopped to interrupt the RF discharge. With a lapse of a few seconds, supply of the process gas is stopped.
In order to obtain a dense silicon-based thin film (especially a silicon nitride thin film) which is free from defects and has a high breakdown voltage, the silicon nitride thin film is formed at a substrate temperature of about 350.degree. C. and an RF power of 120 to 130 mW/cm.sup.2.
A composition ratio (Si/N) of the number of silicon (Si) atoms to the number of nitride (N) atoms of the resultant silicon nitride film has a value close to a stoichiometric ratio (Si/N=0.75) of the chemically stablest silicon nitride (SiN). The obtained silicon nitride film is dense, is free from defects and has a high breakdown voltage.
Since film formation is performed while the substrate temperature is kept maintained at 350.degree. C., the substrate must be gradually heated not to cause defects such as distortion and cracks of the substrate. In addition, the substrate must be cooled over a long period of time longer than the heating time so as to prevent the silicon nitride film from being cracked by a stress caused by a difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the substrate and the silicon nitride film. Therefore, according to the conventional film formation method, heating and cooling periods of the substrate are prolonged to degrade the formation efficiency of silicon-based thin films, resulting in low productivity.
The above method of forming the silicon-based thin film is used in the fabrication step of the TFT shown in FIG. 2. Steps in manufacturing this TFT will be described below.
A metal film consisting of chromium (Cr), tantalum (Ta), molybdenum (Mo) or the like is formed on a substrate 1 by a sputtering apparatus and is patterned by a photoetching method, thereby forming a gate electrode 2 and a gate line portion connected to this gate electrode 2.
A gate insulating film 3, an i-type semiconductor layer 4, and a blocking insulating film 8 are sequentially formed on the substrate 1 by a plasma CVD apparatus.
The blocking insulating film 8 is patterned by a photoetching method to leave the blocking insulating film 8 in only the channel region of the i-type semiconductor layer 4.
An n-type semiconductor layer 7 is formed on the i-type semiconductor film 4 by a plasma CVD apparatus and a metal film made of chromium, tantalum, or molybdenum serving as source and drain electrodes 5 and 6 is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer 7 by a sputtering apparatus. The metal film and the i-type semiconductor layer 7 are patterned by a photoetching method to form source and drain electrodes 5 and 6.
The i-type semiconductor layer 4 is patterned in the form of a transistor to finish a thin film transistor or TFT.
During the manufacturing process of the above TFT, the gate insulating film 3 and the blocking layer 8 are made of SiN films, and the i-type semiconductor film 4 comprises a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film. The n-type semiconductor film 7 comprises an n.sup.+ -type a-Si film. The SiN films are formed at a substrate temperature of 350.degree. C. and an RF discharge power density of 120 to 130 mW/cm.sup.2 so as to obtain dense films having high breakdown voltages. The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (i-a-Si) film is formed at a substrate temperature of about 250.degree. C. and an RF discharge power density of 40 to 50 mW/cm.sup.2 to as to prevent a decrease in hydrogen content. The n.sup.+ -type a-Si film is formed under the same conditions as those of the i-a-Si film. In this manner, when a plurality of films are continuously formed on one substrate at different substrate temperatures during film formation, a plasma CVD apparatus having a schematic arrangement shown in FIG. 4 is used. FIG. 4 shows the plasma CVD apparatus for continuously forming the gate insulating film 3, the i-type semiconductor film 4, and the blocking layer 8.
This plasma CVD apparatus comprises a substrate loading chamber 11, a silicon nitride formation chamber (to be referred to as a gate insulating film formation chamber hereinafter) 12 for forming the gate insulating film 3, a substrate cooling chamber 13, an amorphous silicon formation chamber (to be referred to as an i-type semiconductor formation chamber hereinafter) 14 for forming the i-type semiconductor film 4, a substrate heating chamber 15, a silicon nitride film formation chamber (to be referred to as a blocking layer formation chamber hereinafter) 16 for forming the blocking layer 8, and a substrate unloading chamber 17. These chambers are continuously formed.
The gate insulating film 3, the i-a-Si layer 4, and the blocking layer 8 are formed by this plasma CVD apparatus in the following manner.
A substrate is loaded in the substrate loading chamber 11 and is heated to an SiN film formation temperature (about 350.degree. C.). The heated substrate is transferred to the gate insulating film formation chamber 12, and the gate insulating film 3 is formed under the above film formation conditions.
The substrate is then transferred to the substrate cooling chamber 13, and the substrate temperature is decreased to an i-a-Si layer formation temperature (about 250.degree. C.), and the cooled substrate is transferred to the i-type semiconductor film formation chamber 14, and the i-type semiconductor film 4 is formed under the above conditions.
The substrate is then transferred to the substrate heating chamber 15 to heat the substrate to an SiN film formation temperature (about 350.degree. C.). The heated substrate is transferred to the blocking layer formation chamber 16, and the blocking layer 8 is formed under the above conditions.
The substrate is then transferred to the substrate unloading chamber 17 and cooled to an ambient temperature (room temperature). The cooled substrate is removed outside the substrate unloading chamber 17.
In this case, it takes a long period of time to gradually heat the substrate in the loading chamber 11 and the substrate heating chamber 15 and to gradually cool the substrate in the substrate cooling chamber 13 and the substrate unloading chamber 17 so as to prevent cracks caused by a heat stress acting o the SiN film and the i-a-Si layer formed on the substrate.
When the inverted staggered type thin film transistor having no blocking insulating layer 8 shown in FIG. 1 is to be formed, the n-type amorphous silicon layer (to be referred to as an n.sup.+ -a-Si layer hereinafter) serving as the n-type semiconductor layer 7 is formed immediately after the i-type semiconductor film 4 is formed. The film formation conditions of the n.sup.+ -a-Si layer can be the same as those of the i-a-Si layer. Therefore, the gate insulating film, the i-type semiconductor layer, and the n-type semiconductor layer of the TFT in FIG. 1 are formed by a plasma CVD apparatus arranged such that the substrate heating chamber 15 and the blocking layer formation chamber 16 are eliminated from the plasma CVD apparatus in FIG. 4, and an n.sup.+ -a-Si layer formation chamber is arranged between the i-type semiconductor film formation chamber 14 and the substrate unloading chamber 17.
In this staggered type thin film transistor, after the source and drain electrodes and the n.sup.+ -a-Si layer formed thereon are sequentially formed, the i-a-Si layer and the gate insulating film are sequentially formed, and a gate electrode is formed thereon. Therefore, the i-a-Si layer and the gate insulating film of this staggered type TFT can be formed by a plasma CVD apparatus having contiguous chambers, i.e., a substrate loading chamber, an i-type semiconductor film formation chamber, a substrate heating chamber, a gate insulating film formation chamber, and a substrate unloading chamber.
According to the above conventional method of manufacturing a thin film transistor, the gate insulating film is formed at a film formation temperature of about 350.degree. C., and the i-type semiconductor film is formed at the film formation temperature of about 250.degree. C. For this reason, for example, in the manufacture of the inverted staggered type thin film transistor, the substrate on which the gate insulating film is formed in the gate insulating film formation chamber 12 is adjusted to a temperature at which the i-type semiconductor film can be formed, and the temperature-adjusted substrate must be transferred to the i-type semiconductor film formation chamber 14. For this reason, the conventional plasma CVD apparatus includes the substrate cooling chamber 13 formed between the gate insulating film formation chamber 12 and the next i-type semiconductor film formation chamber 14 to cool the substrate having the gate insulating film thereon to an i-type semiconductor film formation temperature. Since the substrate must be gradually cooled over a long period of time, as described above, it takes a long period of time to cool the substrate having the gate insulating film formed at a temperature of about 350.degree. C. to a temperature of about 250.degree. C.
The above problem is also posed by the manufacture of the staggered type thin film transistor. In this case, the substrate having the i-a-Si film formed in the i-type semiconductor film formation chamber is heated to the gate insulating film formation temperature in the substrate heating chamber, and the heated substrate must be transferred to the gate insulting film formation chamber. Since this substrate heating must be slowly performed over a long period of time, it takes a long period of time to heat the substrate having the i-a-Si layer formed at the film formation temperature of about 250.degree. C. to the temperature of about 350.degree. C.
For this reason, the conventional TFT manufacturing method cannot manufacture thin film transistors with high efficiency.

Method of forming silicon-based thin film and method of manufacturing thin film transistor using silicon-based thin film


An air induction system for a power source including a first compressor and a second compressor is disclosed. The air induction system includes an air feed passageway that directs compressed air from the second compressor to an area between a compressor wheel and a center housing in the first compressor to reduce oil consumption in the first compressor.

Internal combustion engines may be equipped with a turbocharged air induction system to improve the power output generated by the engine. The turbocharged air induction system increases engine power by forcing more air into the combustion chambers than would otherwise be possible. This increased amount of air allows for enhanced fueling that further increases the power output generated by the engine.
Turbochargers typically mount a turbine wheel and a compressor wheel onto a rotatable shaft. The shaft is typically rotationally supported within a housing by bearings that are lubricated by engine oil. Shaft seals are employed at both the compressor and turbine ends of the housing to prevent the high pressure gases from entering the housing (and then into the engine crankcase) as well as to prevent oil entering the compressor and turbine areas.
Even with shaft seals, under some conditions, oil can leak into the compressor area and get carried into the engine intake. To prevent or reduce the likelihood of oil leaking by the shaft seals, some manufacturers direct compressed air from the compressor to the seal area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,077 to Meyerkord et al. ("the '077 patent"), for example, discloses a seal system from a four cycle engine turbocharger. The turbocharger includes a turbine wheel and a compressor wheel mounted on an oil-lubricated rotor shaft. Labyrinth seals at both the compressor and turbine end of the shaft are employed to limit oil leakage into the turbine area and the compressor area. In addition, air pressure from the output of the compressor wheel is conducted through internal passages in the bearing housing to the labyrinth seals to further prevent the passage of oil toward the compressor and turbine wheels.
Though the system in the '077 patent may help limit oil leaking into the compressor area, the multiple internal air passages add complexity to the system and the air pressure directed into the seals is unregulated and limited to the output pressure of the compressor.
The disclosed exhaust system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

System for reducing compressor oil consumption


Lift attachment devices are described for detachably connecting an item to be lifted (e.g., a lawn mower) to lift apparatus (e.g., the type which includes an elevatable tool bar). The attachment devices each include a hanger for attaching the device to the tool bar and a clamp to detachably connect to the item to be lifted. The clamp support can be rotated relative to the hanger and then selectively locked in a desired position. The attachment devices enable a variety of items to be elevated by a conventional lift so that servicing and repair of the items can be performed efficiently. Lift apparatus is also described for connecting an item to be lifted to an elevatable tool bar.

Golf course mowing equipment and other commercial mowing devices typically require frequent (e.g., daily) inspection, adjustment, servicing, or repair of various components. It is very difficult to access all of the components of the equipment without lifting the equipment or crawling under it. Conventional chain hoists are not suitable for lifting most types of power equipment because there normally aren't readily accessible portions of the frame to which several chains can be connected for lifting. Also, the equipment may not be stably supported with chains.
Conventional automobile hoists and lifts are also not adaptable to lifting equipment such as commercial mowers or various other types of equipment which do not have a frame which can be readily engaged by conventional hoist lifting arms. Conventional hoists or lifts do not include the types of adaptability which would be required in order to permit lifting of various types of power equipment. Those hoists which include arms which extend under a vehicle to be lifted require that the arms reach and engage the frame of the vehicle. Although this is possible when lifting conventional automobile vehicles, it is difficult or impossible to do this when attempting to lift various types of power equipment.
Furthermore, most types of power equipment such as commercial mowers or snowblowers cannot be easily attached to a conventional hoist or lift of the type intended for lifting automobiles. As a result, many types of power equipment (e.g., greens mowers) must either be serviced or repaired on the floor or they must be disassembled in order to enable various components to be accessed for servicing or repair.
Hoists, jacks and other types of apparatus have previously been used for various lifting purposes. See, for example, the hoists described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,099,636; 2,564,267; 3,734,466; 4,058,293; 4,196,887; and 4,856,618. Other lifting devices are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,793,593; 4,540,329; and 2,840,248.
None of such prior hoist and lifting devices are entirely suitable or practical for lifting and supporting odd-shaped vehicles and certain types of power equipment (e.g., greens mowers or snowblowers, etc.). Conventional lift apparatus either cannot engage items such as greens mowers, or the weight of the item is not properly balanced on the lift mechanism. This condition can be very dangerous because the item could slip or fall off the lift, causing damage to the item and injury to any workmen who may be under or near the item.
Some of the conventional hoist systems are also unsuitable because they include rails, platforms, or other lifting structure which extends underneath the item to be lifted. Such structure can interfere with required access to the underside of the item for inspection, servicing, or repair purposes.
Although ramps are sometimes used to support an item in an elevated position, this can be very dangerous. Also, the amount of elevation obtained with ramps is limited.
There have not heretofore been provided lift means which are suitable or practical for safely and efficiently lifting outdoor power equipment (e.g., greens mowers) to enable servicing and repair.


A variable dimension vector quantization method that uses a single "universal" codebook. The method can be given the interpretation of sampling full-dimensioned codevectors in the universal codebook and generating subcodevectors of the same dimension as input data subvector, which dimension may vary in time. A subcodevector is selected from the codebook to have minimum distortion between it and the input data subvector. The subcodevector with minimum distortion corresponds to the representative, full-dimensioned codevector in the codebook. The codebook is designed by inverse sampling of training subvectors to obtain full-dimension vectors, then iteratively clustering the training set until a stable centroid vector is obtained.

Formulation
Vector Quantization (VQ) is a well known method to quantize a fixed dimensional random vector. (see A. Gersho and R. Gray, "Vector Quantization and Signal Compression", Kluwer Press, 1992). Vector Quantization is a block matching technique. Given an instance of the input random vector, a VQ encoder simply searches through a collection (a codebook) of predetermined vectors called codevectors that represents the random variable and selects one that best matches this instance. The selection is generally based on minimizing a predetermined measure of distortion between the instance and each codevector. The selected vector is referred to as the "quantized" representative of the input. The codebook may be designed off-line from a "training set" of vectors. The performance of a VQ scheme depends on how well the codebook represents the statistics of the source. This significantly depends on the training ratio or the ratio of the size of the training set to that of the codebook. Higher training ratios generally lead to better performance. Typically, VQ outperforms other methods including independent quantization of individual components of the random vector (scalar quantization). The improved performance of VQ may be attributed to its ability to exploit the redundancy between the components of the random vector.
In many signal compression applications, however, a signal evolving in time, may be well represented by a sequence of random vectors with a varying dimensionality L. Each such vector can often be modeled as consisting of a random subset of the components of an underlying, and possibly unobservable, A dimensional random vector, X. FIG. 1 illustrates a model of the generation of such a random vector, S, called a subvector, from the vector X by a sub-sampling operation. The random sub-sampler function, g(X) can be represented by a K dimensional random binary selector vector Q. The non-zero components of Q specify the components of X that are selected, i.e., sub-sampled. We assume that Q takes on one of N vector values. For example, if K=4, X=(x.sub.1,x.sub.2,x.sub.3,x.sub.4) and Q=(0,1,0,1), then S=g(X)=(x.sub.2,x.sub.4). Clearly, since Q is random, S is a variable dimensional quantity. Since the dimension of S, L, varies from one occurrence to another, conventional VQ is not useful since a fixed dimension codebook is not applicable here. Efficient quantization of the subvector S is a challenging problem. The problem is to find a digital code or binary word with a particular number of bits that can be generated by the encoder to represent any observed instance of S so that a suitably accurate reproduction of S can be regenerated by a decoder from observation of the digital code.
Previously Adoul and Delprat (J-P. Adoul and M. Delprat, "Design algorithm for variable-length vector quantizers," Proc. Allerton Conf. Circuits, Systems, Computers, pp. 1004-1011, October 1986.) have studied variable dimension VQ. However, in their formulation, a separate codebook is required for each possible dimension that the input vector might have. This method will require an extraordinarily large amount of memory to store a very large number of codebooks. Furthermore, the design of each of these codebooks requires an astronomic amount of training data that is entirely impractical for many applications. Our invention offers an entirely different solution that requires the storage of only a single codebook.
A related problem that is also solved by our invention is the digital compression of a large fixed dimension vector X of dimension K from observation of a L-dimension subvector S obtained from X by a sub-sampling operation with a variable selection of the number and location of indices identifying the components to be sampled.
Our formulation of variable dimensional vector quantization and the invention described herein to solve this problem has not been found in the prior art. However, the problem is relevant to some applications in speech coding and elsewhere and our invention results in considerable performance improvements in speech coding systems that we have tested.
An important extension of the VDVQ formulation is the design of a pattern classifier for variable dimensional vectors. No direct method can be found in prior art, some work has been done in speech recognition context using indirect methods such as Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) (see chapter 11 of "Discrete Time Processing of Speech Signals", by Proakis, et, al, MacMillan, 1993). Our invention offers a direct and efficient way to classify variable dimension feature vectors.

The Regents of the University of California


Display data read out from a picture display memory region within a UMA memory is written in a FIFO, and display data is transferred from the FIFO at a timing required by a liquid crystal panel, wherein a timing of reading out display data from the UMA region and a timing of transferring display data to the liquid crystal panel are made asynchronous to each other. Also, upon detection of writing in a display data region, display data for one picture frame is transferred to the liquid crystal panel, whereby the reduction in the bandwidth for CPU's memory accesses to the UMA is prevented, and the reduction in the overall power consumption of the display system is realized.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus using a so-called unified memory architecture (UMA), which shares a display memory and a memory for storing execution code and data for a CPU. More particularly, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus that adopts a UMA as a display memory of a device that transfers display data to the liquid crystal display panel.
2. Conventional Technology
There are some conventional liquid crystal display apparatuses that use a UMA structure as shown in FIG. 1, but they have to transfer display data in synchronism with refreshing of the liquid crystal display, and therefore occupy a band of the bus connected to the UMA memory to some degree. An arrow shown in FIG. 1 indicates a flow of data relating to display.
A CPU 1 uses a UMA memory 3 for executing a program and also as an area for storing display data. A liquid crystal controller 5 accesses the UMA memory 3 through a CPU interface 2 to read out display data, and transfers the same to a liquid crystal line driving driver 7. A liquid crystal panel 9 performs a display operation using the line driver 7 and a common driver 8.
In this instance, the liquid crystal controller 5 must write data in synchronism with a timing required by the line driver 7. For memory accesses for display, a memory bus 4 is used just as does the CPU and other bus masters. However, unless the display is given a first priority, the display flickers, and therefore the CPU and other bus masters are put in a standby state. Such timing is shown in FIG. 2.
A timing chart 20 indicates periods in which the CPU 1 can access the UMA memory 3. A timing chart 21 indicates timings in which the liquid crystal controller 5 makes periodical accesses to the UMA memory 3. When the liquid crystal display is refreshed at 50 Hz, accesses to the display data occurs at 20 nm intervals. As a result, the period in which the CPU 1 can access to the UMA memory 3 are divided into segments.
In other words, in a display apparatus using a conventional UMA memory, the bandwidth used by the CPU and other band masters is restricted, and the operation of an application in which frequent memory accesses are made, such as in a process of moving pictures, is often hindered.
It is an object of the present invention to reduce the influence of reduction of bandwidth of a memory bus, effectively perform a display operation and reduce the overall power consumption for the display operation.


Systems and procedures for transforming video into a condensed visual representation. An example procedure may include receiving video comprised of a plurality of frames. For each frame, the example procedure may create a first representation, reduced in one dimension, wherein a visual property of each pixel of the first representation is assigned by aggregating a visual property of the pixels of the frame having the same position in the unreduced dimension. The example procedure may further form a condensed visual representation including the first representations aligned along the reduced dimension according to an order of the frames in the video.

Some systems that analyze video recordings allow forward and backward navigation within the recording. The most elaborate of those systems even allow single stepping through video frames. In the case where the recordings are long, the task of keeping an overview of the position inside the video recording becomes challenging. A user can easily lose track of where they are, relative, for example, to the beginning of the recording. Thus, navigation within the recording would be easier if video analyzing systems could allow the user to identify the location of the frame he is analyzing, within the entirety of the recording and additionally allows the user to identify scene or material transitions within the recording.
Existing systems that analyze recordings with multiple difference segments aid the user in recognizing a specific segment by displaying, for example, a sequence of representative frames at the segment transition points, i.e. the beginning of each segment. For example, for a McDonald's commercial within a video recording, the system would display one or more frames of the commercial with the McDonald's logo that would help the user recognize that the following segment is a McDonald's commercial. Therefore, these header frames provide a summary of the following video segment. A full frame is displayed and it is recognizable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for representing long video sequences


A method of manufacturing a surface mounted (crystal) device comprising: the steps of providing an aggregated sheet material having a plurality of container main bodies lengthwise and crosswise, accommodating at least a crystal piece inside the concavities of the plurality of container main bodies formed in the aggregated sheet material, and then parting the aggregated sheet material into individual container main bodies. The method further includes: the steps of providing annular grooves on outer perimeters between the container main bodies of the aggregated sheet material; positioning an outer peripheral edge of an electrode roller having an inclined face of a seam welder inside the annular groove; abutting the inclined face against a metal cover tacked to the container main body; bonding the metal cover to an aperture end face of the container main body, by seam welding; and then parting the aggregated sheet material into individual container main bodies.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a surface mounted crystal device (hereunder "surface mounted device") and an aggregated sheet material used for this method. In particular, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a surface mounted device in which a metal cover is jointed to each container main body by seam welding, while they are in a state of an aggregated sheet material, and an aggregated sheet material used for this method.
Since surface mounted devices, for example surface mounted resonators or oscillators are small and lightweight, they are accommodated and used especially in portable electronic equipment, as a frequency or time reference source. In recent years, due to these becoming smaller and lower cost, there is a requirement for the planar outside dimensions to be for example less than 3.2 mm×2.5 mm, and for productivity to be high.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 6 is a drawing for describing a conventional surface mounted device, for example a surface mounted resonator. FIG. 6A is its cross-section view, FIG. 6B is a plan view without a cover, and FIG. 6C is a plan view of a crystal piece accommodated inside a container main body.
In this surface mounted oscillator, a crystal piece 2 is accommodated inside a container main body 1 which has a concave cross-section, and is covered with a metal cover 3 and sealed-encapsulated. The container main body 1 comprises a laminated ceramic substrate made up of a planar first layer 1a, and a frame shape second layer 1b which has an aperture area 1c. Moreover, both sides of one edge portion of the inside bottom surface of the container main body 1 have a pair of crystal terminals 4, the four corners of the outside bottom surface have mounting terminals 5 (5a, 5b), and the aperture end face has a surface electrode 6 for sealing.
The pair of crystal terminals 4 is electrically connected for example to the mounting terminals 5 (5a, 5b) of the diagonal pair through the lamination surface of the first layer 1a and the second layer 1b. The mounting terminals 5 (5a, 5b) of the other diagonal pair are connected to a metal ring 7 comprising a thick metal film that is provided on the surface electrode 6 on the aperture end face, via an annular groove (not shown in the figure) and the lamination surfaces.
The crystal piece 2 has excitation electrodes 8 on both main surfaces, and for example, lead out electrodes 9 are extended on both sides of its one end. The both sides of one end of the crystal piece 2 are fastened to the pair of crystal terminals 4 positioned on the container main body 1, with a conductive adhesive 10, and connected electrically to one pair of mounting terminals 5 (5a, 5b). The metal cover 3 is connected by seam welding to the surface electrode 7 on the aperture end face of the container main body 1, and is electrically connected to the other pair of mounting terminals 5 (5a, 5b) serving as ground terminals.
In order to manufacture these kinds of surface mounted devices, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, in a state of an aggregated sheet material 12 with several container main bodies 1 partitioned by lengthwise and crosswise V-grooves (parting grooves) 11, at first the aggregated sheet material 12 is parted into individual container main bodies 1 along the lengthwise and crosswise V-grooves 11. Next a crystal piece 2 is accommodated inside each container main body 1. Finally the metal covers 3 are respectively bonded to the individual container main bodies 1.
Here, the aggregated sheet material 12 comprises a planar first layer 12a made of a ceramic sheet, and a second layer 12b that has a plurality of apertures 12c. Furthermore, for each of the container main bodies 1 comprising the first layer 12a and the second layer 12b, there is printed for each of the layers, an underlay pattern of an electrode pattern that includes the aforementioned (FIG. 6) crystal terminals 4, mounting terminals 5, annular grooves, and surface electrodes 6. The underlay pattern (underlay electrode) is composed of for example, tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo).
Then, after laminating the first layer 12a and the second layer 12b, and integrally baking, the underlay electrodes of the crystal terminals 4, the mounting terminals 5, and the surface electrode 6 that are exposed on the external surface of the aggregated sheet material 12, are formed by electro plating or electroless plating nickel (Ni) or chrome (Cr), and then gold (Au).
For example, in the case of electro plating, the underlay electrodes of the respective container main bodies 1 are commonly connected electrically through an underlay circuit 13 (refer FIG. 7) provided on the lamination surface. Then, after connecting the underlay circuit 13 to the cathode (−), the aggregated sheet material 12 is immersed in an electrolyte, and nickel (Ni) (or chrome (Cr)) and then gold (Au) are deposited by electro plating onto the exposed underlay electrodes of the respective container main bodies 1.
When seam welding the metal cover onto the container main body 1, as shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, for example, the individual container main bodies 1 that have a crystal piece 2, are accommodated in an aperture part 14a of a carrier plate 14. Then the carrier plate 14 is moved in a direction for seam welding, and the container main body 1 and the metal cover 3 are image recognized, the metal cover 3 is positioned on the container main body 1, and is tacked at two places for example.
Then after tacking, the carrier plate 14 is further moved, a movable rod 15 is raised, and the container main body 1 is pushed up, so that the opposite sides of the metal cover 3 are abutted against a pair of electrode rollers 15a and 15b. Then between the pair of electrode rollers 15a and 15b is electrified, and while moving the container main body 1 and the metal cover 3, the abutted pair of opposite sides are welded by Joule heat. Next the movable rod 15 is rotate through 90 degree, and the electrode rollers 15a and 15b are abutted against the other pair of opposite facing sides, and similarly welded.

Method for manufacturing a surface mounted crystal device


A unique system and method that facilitates synchronizing data across multiple accounts at about the same time is provided. The system and method involve configuring an intelligent set of synchronization rules that can apply to various data types from one or more user accounts or storage locations. In addition, the system or method can leverage off of existing search folders or search queries to configure the synchronization rules.

Consumers are on average very demanding of their electronic devices. They often desire smaller, more compact dimensions for greater portability and discreteness coupled with more power and more capabilities. Unfortunately, the amount of storage space available on a mobile device compared to a server and the high cost and slower bandwidth of existing cellular data connections tend to make it less feasible or impracticable to store more than a small subset of a user's data on a mobile device. Existing solutions typically address these limitations with simple filters by synchronizing only the most recent data (e.g., last n days) or only a certain amount of each item (e.g., download x bytes) to the device. Alternatively, only certain types of data may be synchronized. In conventional devices, these settings are often fixed and uncontrollable by the user. Thus, the user is restricted to a small subset of information that may in large part lack importance or even interest to the user. Furthermore, the synchronized information may be only a partial amount of the information that the user needs.

Rich set of synchronization rules across multiple accounts with multiple folder and consent types