An electrical distribution box for a vehicle has a body defining an accommodation space, and a casing inserted into and located in the accommodation space. A plurality of first electrical terminals are mounted in the casing, having been carried into the body by the casing. Holding members on the body and the casing cooperate to hold the casing in the accommodation space, and locking members on the casing act to lock the terminals in position in the casing at least when the casing is inserted into and located in the accommodation space. Thus the terminals can be easily inserted to the correct positions, without risk of damage.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical distribution box which is used as a fuse box or the like, especially an electrical distribution box for use in a vehicle, e.g., an automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an electrical distribution box for a vehicle is used as a fuse box, a relay box, a junction box, or the like, typically having fuses which are used as circuit protection members mounted in the distribution box. The box includes electrical circuit members connected to the fuses via terminals which receive the fuses.
An electrical distribution box is disclosed in JP-A-6-46519 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,951. The electrical distribution box was devised to make it easy to mount terminals to be connected to fuses and prevent the removal of the terminals from the electrical distribution box. The double locking member of the electrical distribution box disclosed in these documents is used to check whether each terminal has been mounted at a predetermined position and to prevent the removal of the terminals. The double locking member is laterally inserted into the slight gap between the terminals and the casing in which the terminals have been mounted. The penetration of the double locking member into the slight gap allows an operator to confirm that each terminal has been mounted at the predetermined position. Further, when the double locking member has penetrated a predetermined distance into the slight gap, the double locking member is engaged by the terminals, thus preventing them from being removed from the electrical distribution box. But in this construction, there is a possibility that the operator forgets to insert the double locking member into the slight gap. Further, it is troublesome to insert the double locking member into the slight gap, and in addition, the double locking member is required to have a high size accuracy. That is, the double locking member is required to have a high degree of strength as well as a high degree of size accuracy so that it is not deformed, which leads to a high manufacturing cost.


An integrated circuit (IC) device includes a first and a second fin-type active region protruding from a first region and a second region, respectively, of a substrate, a first and a second gate line, and a first and a second source/drain region. The first fin-type active region has a first top surface and a first recess has a first depth from the first top surface. The first source/drain region fills the first recess and has a first width. The second fin-type active region has a second top surface and a second recess has a second depth from the second top surface. The second depth is greater than the first depth. The second source/drain region fills the second recess and has a second width. The second width is greater than the first width.

Inventive concepts relate to an integrated circuit (IC) device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an IC device including a field-effect transistor (FET) and a method of manufacturing the same.
Due to the development of electronic technology, IC devices have lately been downscaled at a rapid speed. Since semiconductor devices may require not only a high operating speed but also the accuracy of operations, a wide variety of pieces of research has been conducted into methods of optimizing structures of transistors included in the semiconductor devices.

Integrated circuit device and method of manufacturing the same


Two transistors of a class D output stage are driven by complementary, variable duty cycle signals PWM+ and PWM−. When the pulse width of the PWM+ signal becomes too narrow for reliable operation of prior art over-current protection circuits sensing the drain to source voltage of FET1 driven by PWM+, a Narrow Pulse Detector generates a signal indicative of this narrow pulse condition. A Negative Current Sense circuit measures the drain to source voltage across FET2 during the much longer conduction time of FET2 driven by PWM−. Because of the energy stored in the series inductor coupled to the output of the class D stage, a negative current flows through this FET2 during its conduction time. The resulting drain to source voltage of FET2 is measured and compared to a threshold. If the voltage indicative of current is over the threshold, and the Narrow Pulse Detector output indicates a narrow pulse condition, then an inhibit signal is generated which reduces current. A second Negative Current Sense circuit is utilized to similarly detect over-current conditions when the pulse width of PWM− becomes too narrow for reliable operation of prior art over-current protection circuits, thus protecting both FETs in the class D output stage from excessive current.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to over-current sensing and protection of electronic circuits, and more specifically to sensing an over-current condition in a transistor of a half-bridge class D power output stage when its PWM gate drive pulse is so narrow that normal over-current sensing is too slow to detect the over-current condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electronic circuits employ power output stages having bipolar or field effect transistors (FETs) in a half-bridge configuration, often referred to as a class D output stage. In a class D topology, the collector or drain of a first transistor is coupled to the supply voltage PVDD, the emitter or source of a second transistor is coupled to ground, and the emitter or source of the first transistor is coupled to the collector or drain of the second transistor and also to a first terminal of an inductor. The second terminal of the inductor is coupled to a load resistance to ground and to a filter capacitor to ground. Hereinafter, the term FET will be used to refer to a transistor, recognizing that the circuits described may also be realized with bipolar transistors. The FET coupled to PVDD shall be referred to herein as the high side FET, and the FET coupled to ground shall be referred to as the low side FET.
By driving the gates of the FETs of a class D output stage with complementary pulse-width-modulated (PWM) signals sometimes referred to as PWM+ and PWM−, one or the other FET is turned on, coupling either PVDD or ground through the very low resistance of that FET to the load through the inductor. The opposite FET is turned off by its complementary gate drive signal. The filtering action of the inductor and capacitor smooth the pulsating current to the load. By varying the pulse width of the gate drive pulses, the resulting voltage applied to the load may be varied.
One type of circuit using this output stage is a switching voltage regulator, which measures the voltage present at the output, compares it to a desired reference voltage, and adjusts, by use of a feedback loop, the duty cycle of the PWM gate drive signal so as to drive the output voltage to the desired value even as load current and PVDD change. Another application for such an output stage is in Class D audio amplifier circuits, which operate in a manner similar to a switching voltage regulator but which cause the output voltage to follow an input AC audio signal rather than a DC reference voltage. Such amplifiers are typically very efficient, since the output FETs are either off or fully on, dissipating little power in either state.
Various methods for sensing excessive current flowing in the "on" FET have been developed, which typically trigger over-current shutdown of the output circuits to prevent damage to the FETs or other portions of the circuitry. The positive current flowing in a FET is typically measured during the time the gate drive pulse turns on the FET. If an over-current condition during the on time is detected, succeeding pulses may be skipped to allow the current to decrease below the over-current threshold. In the context of this document, positive current shall refer to current flowing from PVDD through the high side FET to the output, or flowing from the output to ground through the low side FET. Negative current shall refer to current flowing in the opposite direction through either FET. Known over-current sensing typically occurs during the time of positive current flow.
However, because of the limited speed of sensing and operation of some of these over-current protection circuits, they may operate unreliably or not at all when the gate drive pulse becomes very narrow. An apparatus and method for providing over-current sensing and protection even with very narrow gate drive pulses is therefore desirable, and is an object of the present invention.

Over-current sensing during narrow gate drive operation of class D output stages


A receiver utilizes an array of complex accumulation registers to form an image of the average chip shape or, as appropriate, chip edge shape, of the received signal over a specified period of time as a time series of complex power measurements. The receiver divides the length of the chip into a plurality of ranges, or bins, and, as appropriate, extends the bins to cover additional chips or portions thereof. When a sample is taken, the receiver enables the respective registers that are associated with the corresponding bin or bins, and the respective registers then accumulates the associated power measurement. The receiver uses the accumulated measurements from selected registers and/or selected groups of registers, to produce the correlation values that are needed to perform one or more correlation techniques and/or one or more multipath mitigation techniques. As appropriate, the sizes and/or starting points of the bins, and/or the selections of the bins for the various groupings may be altered, to change the spacings, locations, and so forth to which correlation values correspond.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to systems for making correlation measurements using broadcast spread-spectrum signals and, in particular, to systems that make correlation measurements using pulse shape measurements.
2. Background Information
One example of a system that utilizes broadcast spread-spectrum signals is a global positioning system, such as, GPS, GLONASS or GALILEO systems. The system receivers determine their global positions based on the signals they receive from associated satellites. The broadcast spread-spectrum signal consists of a carrier that is modulated by at least one pseudorandom code, such as a binary PRN code that consists of a pseudo-random sequence of ones and zeros that periodically repeat. The ones and zeros in the PRN code are referred to as "code chips," and the transitions in the code from one to zero or zero to one, which occur at "code chip times," are referred to as "chip transitions." Each satellite uses a unique PRN code, and thus, a receiver can associate a received signal with a particular satellite by determining which PRN code is included in the signal.
The receiver calculates the difference between the time a satellite transmits its signal and the time that the receiver receives the signal. The receiver then calculates its distance, or "pseudo-range," from the satellite based on the associated time difference. Using the pseudo-ranges from at least four satellites, the receiver determines its global position.
To determine the time difference, the receiver synchronizes locally-generated PRN codes with the PRN codes in the received signal by aligning the code chips in respective local codes with the chips in the corresponding satellite generated PRN codes. It then determines how much the locally-generated PRN codes are shifted, in time, from the known timing of the satellite PRN codes at the time of transmission, and calculates the associated pseudoranges essentially by multiplying the measured time shifts by the speed of light. The more closely the receiver aligns the locally-generated PRN code with the PRN code in the received signal, the more precisely the receiver can determine the associated time difference and pseudorange and, in turn, its global position.
The code synchronization operations include acquisition of the satellite PRN code and tracking the code. To acquire the PRN code, the receiver generally makes a series of correlation measurements that are separated in time by, for example, a code chip, to determine when the locally-generated code aligns with the received code to within one code chip. To thereafter track the PRN code, the receiver generally makes correlation measurements that are associated with the received PRN code and early and late versions of the locally-generated PRN code. Using the early and late correlation measurements, the receiver produces an associated error signal that is proportional to the misalignment between the local PRN code and the received PRN code. The error signal is used, in turn, to control the clocking speed of the local PRN code generator, which essentially shifts the local PRN code to minimize the error signal.
The receiver also typically aligns the satellite carrier with a local carrier using correlation measurements associated with a punctual version of the local PRN code. To do this the receiver uses a carrier tracking phase lock loop.
The receiver receives not only line-of-sight, or direct path, satellite signals but also multipath signals, which are signals that travel along different paths and are reflected to the receiver from the ground, bodies of water, nearby buildings, etc. The multipath signals arrive at the receiver after the direct-path signal and combine with the direct-path signal to produce a distorted received signal. This distortion of the received signal adversely affects code synchronization operations because the correlation measurements, which measure the correlation between the local PRN code and the received signal, are based on the entire received signal—including the multipath components thereof. The distortion may be such that the receiver attempts to synchronize to a multipath signal instead of to the direct-path signal. One way to more accurately synchronize the received and the locally-generated PRN codes is to use the "narrow correlators" discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,101,416; 5,390,207 and 5,495,499. It has been determined that narrowing the delay spacing between early and late correlation measurements substantially reduces the adverse effects of noise and multipath signal distortion on the early-minus-late measurements. The narrow correlators are essentially spaced closer to a correlation peak that is associated with the punctual PRN code correlation measurements than the contributions of many of the multipath signals. Accordingly, the early-minus-late correlation measurements made by these correlators are significantly less distorted than they would be if they were made at a greater interval around the peak.
Another correlation technique makes non-zero correlation measurements near chip transitions in the locally-generated PRN code and zero valued correlation measurements otherwise. This technique, which is referred to herein as "blanked correlation," is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,409.
Yet another way to more accurately synchronize the received and the locally-generated PRN codes is to use a multipath mitigation processing technique that iteratively produces estimates of the direct path signal and one or more of the multipath signals. One such technique, which uses multiple correlators arranged on either side of the correlation peak is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,615,232 and 5,692,008. Another technique that uses multiple correlators is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,729. Yet another multipath mitigation technique is discussed in Weill, "Multipath Mitigation Using Modernized GPS Signals: How Good Can It Get," ION GPS 2002, Portland, Oreg., Sep. 24-27, 2002.
The receivers and, in particular, the correlation hardware used for signal acquisition and tracking are constructed to operate with selected correlation and multipath mitigation schemes. Thus, a receiver that operates with conventional parallel early, punctual and late correlators positioned about the correlation peak includes the three correlators and associated circuitry that provides the corresponding early, punctual and late versions of the local PRN code. If the receiver instead uses multiple early and late correlators, the receiver includes a sufficient number of the correlators and the circuitry required to produce the associated versions of the local code. If a different correlation and/or multipath mitigation technique is to be used, the receiver hardware must typically be re-designed to include the necessary correlators and/or the circuitry required to produce the corresponding local versions of the PRN code.
Also, a receiver using the narrow correlation technique discussed above may require an additional set of more widely spaced correlators for use in re-acquiring the GPS code if the narrowly spaced correlators should lose lock during tracking. Thus, such a system requires two sets of early and late correlators as well as the associated circuitry to produce the corresponding versions of the GPS code.

System and method for making correlation measurements utilizing pulse shape measurements


A method for placing material onto a target board by means of a transfer board comprising a plurality of blind holes, the method comprising the steps of immersing the transfer board in a material bath, wherein a first pressure acts on the material bath and a second pressure acts in the blind holes, and wherein the first pressure and the second pressure are substantially equal; generating a pressure difference between the first pressure and the second pressure, so that the blind holes of the transfer board are filled at least partially with the liquid material; extracting the transfer board from the material bath; and positioning the transfer board opposite to the target board, the material being expelled from the blind holes, such that the material touches the target board.

Present day integrated circuitry frequently requires precise and well-defined placing of material onto a target board. Usual respective materials include, for example, electrically conducting materials, such as metallic solders, as well as optically or electronically functionalized materials, such as luminescent substances or organic semiconductor solutions. Furthermore, relevant target boards may include substrates, integrated circuits, microchips, or packages for contacting and/or housing integrated circuits.
In the case of methods for placing material, it is essential to steadily reduce the volume of a single material portion as well as to reduce the distance between adjacent material portions (pitch), both for the purpose of progressive integration and an increased performance of a ready device.
If the spatial dimensions of the material portions are reduced to micrometers, a reliable and reproducible dense placing of material becomes increasingly difficult. On the one hand, it has to be guaranteed that a material portion is reliably placed at a predefined location with a sufficient precision, on the other hand, contact between two adjacent material portions is to be avoided. Not only if solder materials are used, physical contact between two adjacent portions may lead to coalescing and thus to a short circuit or malfunction of a device.
Precise methods make use of a template in the form of a transfer board that comprises recesses at the predefined respective positions for placing the material. Material portions are firstly deposited, often more or less serially by means of a dispenser, into these recesses. Subsequently, a correct filling of the recesses with material may be verified by inspection, and the material portions can then be placed onto the target board simultaneously in one step by a adequate positioning of the transfer board opposite the target board.
It is a conventional method to fill such a transfer board by means of a portioning device, a form of a dispenser, wherein such a portioning device comprises a number of nozzles and is scanned over the transfer board. While the portioning device travels over the transfer board, the nozzles are activated in such a way that material portions are ejected from the nozzles at the correct moment and are deposited in the corresponding recesses of the transfer board. The precision and reliability of such a procedure strongly depends on the precise drive and alignment of the portioning device with regard to the transfer board, and on the correct activation of the nozzles. Furthermore, scanning of the portioning device requires time, which usually renders such procedures slow and error-prone.

Method for placing material onto a target board by means of a transfer board


A motor control device includes a rotation speed control circuit, a voltage transforming circuit, a buffering circuit and a driving circuit. The rotation speed control circuit provides a rotation speed control signal. The voltage transforming circuit is electrically connected to the rotation speed control circuit and transforms the rotation speed control signal to a speed control voltage signal. The buffering circuit, electrically connected to the voltage transforming circuit, receives the speed control voltage signal and delays or buffers output of the speed control voltage signal. The driving circuit, electrically connected to the buffering circuit, receives the speed control voltage signal from the buffering circuit and generates a driving signal according to the speed control voltage signal so as to control the operation of the motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor control device, and more particularly to a motor control device for reducing the generation of the noises and surge currents when the rotation speed control signal acutely varies.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional motor control device for a motor. The conventional motor control device 1 includes rotation speed control circuit 11, voltage transforming circuit 12, and driving circuit 13. The rotation speed control circuit 11 provides and transmits a rotation speed control signal to the voltage transforming circuit 12. The voltage transforming circuit 12 transforms the rotation speed control signal to a direct current (DC) voltage signal and transmits the DC voltage signal to the driving circuit 13. When receiving the DC voltage signal, the driving circuit 13 drives the motor 2 to start so as to allow the fan 3 to rotate.
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, when the rotation speed control signal acutely varies, some unwanted problems occur. For example, when the duty cycle of the rotation speed control signal changes from 40%, such as that indicated by A in FIG. 2, to 100%, the rotation speed of motor is also changed from a low speed to a high speed, such as that shown by B in FIG. 2, it causes some issues. Firstly, the acute change of the rotation speed causes large noises. Secondly, when the rotation speed control signal acutely varies, a surge current occurs, shown in FIG. 3, which could damage the motor. FIG. 3 shows the current variation schematic diagram when the rotation speed control signal acutely varies, wherein the maximum current is 3.88 (A). The vertical axis in FIG. 3 means the amount of current which flows through the coil in the motor.


This invention relates to a polymer blend comprising in weight percent:. A. from about 55% to about 90% of a polymer composition comprising: (i) 75% to about 100% of a homopolymer or a copolymer of polypropylene; and (ii) from about 0% to about 25% of a vinyl aromatic polymer; PA1 B. from about 0.5% to about 9% of at least one block polymer of a vinyl aromatic monomer and an aliphatic conjugated diene, a selectively hydrogenated derivative thereof, or a selectively hydrogenated derivative thereof to which has been grafted an unsaturated carboxylic reagent, wherein the block copolymer contains up to 50% by weight bound vinyl aromatic monomer; PA1 C. from about 2% to about 12% of at least one block polymer of a vinyl aromatic monomer and a conjugated diene, a partially hydrogenated derivative thereof, or a selectively hydrogenated derivative thereof to which has been grafted an unsaturated carboxylic reagent, wherein the block polymer contains greater than 60% by weight bound vinyl aromatic monomer; PA1 D. from about 0.75% to about 8% fiber; and PA1 E. from about 10% to about 40% calcium carbonate.

Polymer blends comprising polypropylene are well-known in the prior art. Examples of such blends may be found, for example, in Fasulo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,495 which discloses a blend comprising 10-90% by weight of a vinyl aromatic polymer, 5-50% by weight of a polyolefin such as polypropylene and 5-40% by weight of a vinyl aromatic monomer-conjugated diene star block radial copolymer. Additional examples of blends comprising polypropylene may be found in Chundury et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,280 which discloses various blends for use in forming thermoformable structures comprising 50-80% by weight of a polyolefin, such as polypropylene, and various combinations of vinyl aromatic compounds.
The present invention provides a unique polymer blend comprising polypropylene which has been found to be useful in replacing conventional acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer resins. The blended polymer compositions of this invention may be used in a variety of applications and are useful in preparing parts for the automotive industry; communication devices such as telephones, radios, televisions, cassettes, etc.; power tools; appliances; floor care products; business machines; toys; furniture; etc.


The present invention relates to a chewable soft capsule shell and a chewable soft capsule, and to a filled jelly sweet and a process for preparing a chewable soft capsule shell or filled jelly sweet, wherein the chewable soft capsule shell comprises gelatin 10%-50%, water retention agent 10%-40%, thickening agent 2%-20%, water 6%-20%, and said soft capsule shell has a thickness of 0.3-1.2 mm.

In comparison with common swallowable soft capsules in industries of food or pharmaceutics, chewable soft capsules (chewing type soft capsules) have improved chewiness of capsule shell so that they can be bitten and chewed in mouth, and have no poor taste of contents in common soft capsules.
At present, some chewable soft capsules and methods for preparing the same have been reported. For example, The patent application CN101590027A discloses a chewable soft capsule and a method for making the same, in which a sweetener layer is formed at the outside of soft capsule shell by crystallization so that the sweetener layer felt by mouth hides the taste of raw materials of capsule shell during administration. The patent application US20050136104 discloses a chewable soft capsule, in which a relatively high water content is maintained to provide the capsule with a certain softness, in which the water content of capsule shell is up to 27%. Chinese patent ZL200480021784.0 discloses a chewable capsule and a method for making the same, in which a part of crystal precipitating agent is exposed on the surface of shell as a crystal to enhance the cooling feeling in eating and to reduce the adhesion between capsules. In addition, some soft capsule products in market have an increased plasticizer proportion to get softer capsule shell.
Although the above soft capsules in the prior art have solved some problems, still there are many aspects to be further improved: (1) the chewiness of capsule shell is unsatisfactory and the stability is poor. Although the softness and chewiness of capsule shell can be improved by increasing plasticizer content or maintaining a relatively high water content, like those in US20050136104, soft capsules may be out of shape or adhered because of extrusion between each other thereby shortened the shelf-life thereof; (2) common soft capsules are not chewable after cracking, and in order to avoid reaction between liquid hydrophilic substance and capsule skin, the content is usually a liquid or suspended oil phase or filed with drug, while the poor odor of drug and greasy taste of oil and fat render the capsule can hardly be swallowed.
Filled jelly sweets are favorite products for many consumers. At present, filled jelly sweets (sandwich type gel sweets) are prepared by a process (for example, as shown in FIG. 1) shown as follows: (1) swelling gelatin with water, then heating to dissolve gelatin to form a gelatin solution which is maintained at 60-65° C. for standby use; (2) heating white granulated sugar, glucose syrup and water for dissolution, then boiling to reach a certain sugar degree, mixing with the gelatin solution (adjusting acidity, color and taste), casting and adding contents.
However, the existing production processes are complicated, and during the process, the sweet shell should have a thickness sufficient for uniformly encapsulating the contents, and the sweet body casting temperature determines and limits the material properties of the contents and the proportion of filled content, otherwise, series problems such as syrup explosion, decentration, leakage may occur, so that the fill should be hydrophilic materials, and the content of the fill of the product would be merely 8-15%. Since the thickness of the shell of filled jelly sweet is usually far greater than 2 mm, the mouth feel of product is also limited. In addition, due to the limitations of device, process conditions on the fill system, the taste can be modified merely by regulating flavors so that the filled products are lack of innovation.

Chewable soft capsule shell and chewable soft capsule

HANGZHOU YANGSHENGTANG HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS CO., LTD.

HAINAN YANGSHENGTANG PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD.

NATURAL MEDICINE INSTITUTE OF ZHEJIANG YANGSHENGTANG CO., LTD.


An available bandwidth estimating device 300 is equipped with: a transmission rate acquiring part 301 configured to acquire a transmission rate, which is the amount of data transmitted by a transmitting device per unit time to a receiving device connected so as to be capable of communicating via a communication network; and an available bandwidth estimating part 302 configured to estimate the available bandwidth based on a mathematical model constructed by representing a relation between an available bandwidth, which is a communication bandwidth available in a communication path between the transmitting device and the receiving device, and the transmission rate by a dynamic model including a mobile body movable in a preset moving direction and an elastic body transforming in the moving direction by a movement amount of the mobile body having moved in the moving direction, and based on the acquired transmission rate.

When a transmitting device transmits data to a receiving device via a communication network, part of the data may be lost in the communication network (data loss occurs, e.g., packet loss may occur in a case that the communication network is the IP (Internet Protocol) network). Moreover, a delay time, which is a time before the receiving device receives data after the data is transmitted from the transmitting device, may become excessive.
Particularly in a case that the transmitting device transmits data representing multimedia that the real time property of video, audio or the like is high, when data loss occurs and/or when a delay time becomes excessive, the quality of experience relatively largely decreases.
Therefore, it is thought to be preferred to accurately estimate an available bandwidth, which is a communication bandwidth available in a communication path between the transmitting device and the receiving device, and properly determine a transmission rate based on the estimated available bandwidth. Here, a transmission rate is the amount of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device per unit time.
Accordingly, a technique for estimating an available bandwidth has been developed. As this type of techniques, "Pathload" described in Non-Patent Document 1, "pathChirp" described in Non-Patent Document 2, "IGI" described in Non-Patent Document, and so on are known.
An available bandwidth estimating device to which these techniques are applied is configured to estimate an available bandwidth based on an equation 1 and an equation 2. At first, this available bandwidth estimating device estimates an available bandwidth Ai(t) in a section i that is one of a plurality of sections configuring a communication path from the transmitting device to the receiving device, based on the equation 1.Ai(t)=Ci(1−ui)  [Equation 1]
The available bandwidth estimating device described above uses, as Ci×ui, an average value in a preset period of a communication bandwidth already used in the section i. Next, the available bandwidth estimating device estimates an available bandwidth A(t) in a communication path based on the equation 2.A(t)=min{Ai(t)}  [Equation 2]
Thus, the available bandwidth estimating device described above calculates a value as the result of subtracting an already used communication bandwidth from a physical bandwidth for each of the sections configuring the communication path, and estimates the minimum value of the calculated values as an available bandwidth for the communication path.    [Non-Patent Document 1] M. Jain, C. Dovrolis, "End-to-End Available Bandwidth: Measurement Methodology, Dynamics, and Relation with TCP Throughput," Proc. SIGCOMM 2002, the Association for Computing Machinery, Vol. 32, pp. 295-308, October 2002    [Non-Patent Document 2] V. J. Ribeiro, R. H. Riedi, R. G. Baraniuk, J. Navratil, L. Cottrell, "pathChirp: Efficient Available Bandwidth Estimation for Network Paths," Rice University, [searched on Dec. 3, 2009], Internet <URL: http://www.spin.rice.edu/Software/pathChirp/>    [Non-Patent Document 3] N. Hu, P. Steenkiste, "Evaluation and Characterization of Available Bandwidth Probing Techniques," Proc. IEEE journal on selected areas in communications, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 879-893, August 2003.
Data transmitted by a target device will be referred to as self-traffic. Moreover, data transmitted by another device by using a communication path that shares at least one section with a communication path from the target device to the receiving device will be referred to as cross traffic.
As a communication bandwidth used in a certain section increases, a data loss ratio and delay time relating to data flowing through the section increase. Therefore, in a case that the target device increases a transmission rate (a communication bandwidth to be used) relating to self-traffic, a data loss ratio and delay time relating to cross traffic increase.
On the other hand, in a case that the other device transmits data in compliance with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), the other device is often configured to control to change the transmission rate depending on a data loss ratio, which is a ratio of occurrence of data loss, and/or a delay time.
Therefore, when the target device increases the transmission rate relating to self-traffic, the other device decreases the transmission rate relating to cross traffic. On the other hand, when the target device decreases the transmission rate relating to self-traffic, the other device increases the transmission rate relating to cross traffic. Thus, when the target device changes the transmission rate relating to self-traffic, the other device changes the transmission rate relating to cross traffic.
Therefore, the available bandwidth estimating device described above has a problem that it is impossible to estimate, with high accuracy, an available bandwidth when the transmission rate relating to self-traffic is changed.


The invention is directed to an iron series sintered alloy superior in abrasion resistance, preferably usable for slipping parts such as valve seats used in internal combustion engines, vanes in compressors and so forth. The sintered alloy is of base matrix of a mixed structure comprising the primary phase of in area ratio 30.about.95% mainly of Fe having a hardness of 400 Hv or above with precipitated fine carbide of 10 .mu.m or smaller, and the secondary phase of in area ratio 5.about.70% softer than said primary phase, consisted of pure iron or carbon steel or low alloy steel. This base matrix will include in area ratio 1.about.20% infiltrated or previously added Cu phase or Cu alloy phase, or will include dispersed therein in area ratio 1.about.20% hard particles having average diameter of 20.about.100 .mu.m and a hardnessof 700.about.1500 Hv such as Fe--Mo paricles, Cr--Mo--Co intermetallic compound particles, C--Cr--W--Co particles, etc.

Sintered alloy is produced in a process in which alloy powder is combined and blended, filled into a mould, press-formed, and then sintered in a determined atmosphere and at a determined temperature. According to such sintering method, metals and alloys which are hardly obtained by usual melting and casting method, can be easily produced, and a plurality of functions can be easily obtained together, which enables to produce parts having peculiar function or functions. Also, sintered alloy is adapted for production of porous materials, hard-machining materials and complicated mechanical parts. In recent years, such sintered alloy has been used for valve seats for which high abrasion resistance is required.
Concerning sintered alloys used for valve seats, there was seen Japanese Publication Gazette No.51-13093/1976 of which the entire disclosure is expressly incorporated herein by reference, which discloses an iron series sintered alloy used for valve seats having a high abrasion resistance as well as a heat resisting, anti-corrosion property even under usage of leadless gasoline. This sintered alloy includes a lot of C, Ni, Cr, Mo,Co and W,and also ferromolybdenum particles and special alloy particles consisted of C-Cr-W-Co dispersed in pearitic structure, these particles being accompanied with Cu and Ni dispersed therearound. For such reasons, this sintered alloy needs in particular a lot of W and Co annexed thereto in order to effect the characteristics of high heat resistance, abrasion resistance, anti-corrosion, etc. Therefore, the valve seats made of this sintered alloy will be expensive and thus accompanied with drawbacks at cost.

Abrasion resistant valve seat made of sintered alloy for internal combustion engines


A flow conditioning system includes a flow randomizing section for receiving an input fluid stream and for increasing the uniformity of the streamwise velocity components of the input fluid stream while randomizing the non-streamwise velocity components, so as to provide a randomized fluid stream; a flow expansion section for receiving the randomized fluid stream and damping the non-streamwise velocity components therein, so as to provide a damped fluid stream; and a flow straightening section for receiving the damped fluid stream and for dividing the damped fluid stream into multiple, parallel output substreams so as to provide a laminar flow profile in an output fluid stream.

Instruments which rely upon accurate control of a fluid stream are commonly employed in a wide variety of applications, such as chromatography, chemical analysis, clinical assay, sample purification, and industrial processing. Such instruments typically function through devices that operate by initiating, maintaining, halting, or reversing a fluid stream through the instrument. Such instruments can employ one or more fluid streams in respective flow paths. The various flow paths are provided in a flow system that combines flow-through components, such as channels, sorbent columns, and connective tubing, with terminal components, such as needles, pumps, and drains. Selected flow paths are frequently employed to, for example, isolate a component from the flow system, attach a component into the flow system, or rearrange the order of certain components in the flow system. For many systems, an extensive and complex array of channels, tubing, fittings, and the like are employed to provide the many flow paths that are necessary for optimum operation.
Certain characteristics of a fluid stream may be expressed as a function of both time and space. Both density and velocity of a fluid stream may be dependent on the time or the location of plural fluid elements that comprise a fluid stream within a channel. Thus it is generally useful in fluid mechanics to choose a convenient origin of coordinates and to study only the velocity field of the fluid stream as a function of time is known as the eulerian formulation of motion. The eulerian velocity vector field can be defined in the following Cartesian form: EQU V(x, y, z, t)=iu(x, y, z, t)+jv(x, y, z, t)+kw(x, y, z, t)
wherein t is time, u, v, w are scalar variables and x, y, and z are coordinates in the Cartesian coordinate system.
In what is known as the steady flow of a fluid, the velocity and density of the fluid in a channel are observed to be independent of time, although each characteristic may vary from point to point from within the fluid stream. In an unsteady flow, the velocity and/or density are variable with time. An unsteady flow often develops in a fluid stream that encounters an abrupt transition, such as a step, corner, restriction, or other discontinuity in the channel that bears the fluid stream.
According to boundary-layer theory, the state of a fluid stream in a channel is most likely to be affected by at least two length dimensions. Viscous effects at the boundary walls of the channel are found to retard the fluid. A distance into the fluid stream, known as the boundary layer, represents the decelerating effects of wall friction. As the length of the flow path increases, the thickness of the boundary layer also increases, and with sufficient length of the flow path, the boundary layer will fill the channel completely. One application of boundary-layer theory is the determination of the streamwise component of a fluid stream 100 entering a channel 102, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The velocity profile in a well-rounded entrance 104 is nearly uniform. Then, at x=0, a shear layer 106 begins. Due to continuity requirements, a retardation of flow near the channel wall 112 causes the so-called potential core 108 to accelerate and the boundary-layer growth 110 is thinned. At some finite distance downstream, the shear layers meet, and the duct is filled with boundary layer. Shortly thereafter, at x=x.sub.L, the flow is within approximately 1 percent of its final unaccelerated flow profile 114, e.g., the Poiseuille parabola. The flow thereafter is said to be fully developed and follows Poiseuille's law. The region 0<x<x.sub.L is known as the entrance section and x.sub.L is known as the entrance length.
The velocity of a fluid stream is denoted by a figure of merit known as the Reynolds number, or Re. At a low velocity (i.e., a low Reynolds number), the fluid stream tends to continue its flow in an orderly, laminar, manner. When the velocity is increased, there is a transition point (the critical Reynolds number) at which a fluid stream will not maintain laminar flow and instead becomes unsteady. For example, critical Reynolds numbers of 25 are found in fluid flow that encounters a sharp discontinuity or transition.
It is desirable to maintain a steady or laminar flow of a fluid stream in certain flow systems. The provision of a steady fluid stream in a pneumatic assembly becomes exceedingly problematic when the assembly is operated at a flow rate that exceeds the critical Reynolds number, or when the flow system is reduced in size (which tends to lower the critical Reynolds number). In particular, there is an unfulfilled need to provide a pneumatic assembly that is compact, easily manufactured, inexpensive, and reliable, yet also is capable of operating at a critical Reynolds number that is higher than otherwise possible.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flow conditioning system for providing a steady fluid stream in one or more flow paths. Further, because such flow systems are sometimes provided in the form of a compact pneumatic assembly having short flow paths that are subject to abrupt transitions, wherein one or more of the fluid streams are likely to become unstable, there exists the practical problem of providing such a flow conditioning system for achieving steady or laminar flow in a compact pneumatic assembly.
Further, there may be a need to sense certain characteristics of the fluid stream at certain points in one or more of the flow paths in a pneumatic assembly. Examples of such sensed characteristics include the pressure, flow rate, and temperature of the fluid, or the presence or absence of a certain component of the fluid stream, such as an analyte or contaminant. Such needs are typically addressed by the integration of one or more sensors in a given flow path. However, most (if not all) of such sensors are designed to be exposed to steady or laminar flow. A sensor positioned in a fluid stream that is subject to unsteady flow is likely to provide false or inaccurate sense data. Some sensors, such as those having a nonlinear response, are accurate only when subjected to a laminar fluid stream. Accordingly, a need exists for integrating a flow conditioning system into a pneumatic assembly for providing steady or laminar flow to a sensor.


A transparent high density polyethylene (HDPE) sheet is disclosed. The sheet has a thickness greater than or equal to 0.05 mm and a bulk haze less than 2%. The HDPE resin is converted into a sheet by thermal processing and the sheet is then uniaxially oriented at a temperature above the melting point of the HDPE resin. The transparent HDPE sheet of the invention can be used for windows and plastic containers.

Transparent plastic sheets are particularly valuable. For instance, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC) sheets are widely used in windows and glass lenses. However, PMMA and PC sheets are expensive. High density polyethylene (HDPE) sheets, like PMMA and PC sheets, have high physical strength, rigidity, and impact resistance. But HDPE sheets are translucent and therefore they cannot be used in windows.
JP 10323892 discloses a method for improving transparency and mechanical strength of polyolefin sheets. The method involves biaxially stretching an HDPE sheet and subsequently compressing the sheet at a temperature within the range of 25° C. below the melting point of the HDPE to 5° C. above the melting point of the HDPE.
JP 53130768 discloses HDPE cups. An HDPE resin is extruded at 210° C. into a sheet of 400 mm wide and approximately 0.9 mm thick, drawn 200% at 122±0.5° C. to give a sheet of 305μ thick and molded to give a cup with Haze value of 16-22%.
JP 51034956 discloses a transparent polyethylene container. A polyethylene sheet containing 70-99.9% of HDPE and 0.1-30% LDPE is heated to a temperature within the range of 5° C. to 35° C. below the melting point of the HDPE and molded with a plug at a temperature below the melting point of the HDPE at a rate less than 500 mm/sec to a draw ratio of 5-15 to give a transparent container.
Although many efforts have been made to increase the transparency of HDPE sheets, highly transparent HDPE sheets which can be used for windows are not available.

Preparation of transparent high density polyethylene sheets


The present disclosure provides for a method and an apparatus that enables a collection of media files to be rapidly searched for segments or sub-segments of media content. A graphical user interface is rendered on a display under control of a processor. The interface includes a file-view window configured to display representative images of the media files. In one mode of operation, the processor displays representative images of segments of a selected media file an expanded-view window in response to a sensed user input on the representative image of the media file. A segment may be further expanded or selected for processing in response to a sensed user input on the representative image of the segment in the expanded-view window. Expansion, contraction and selection of a media file, or segments of the media file, are provided.

Portable electronic devices such as tablet computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), portable media players and the like, often have relatively small displays screens to make them more portable. This limits the number and size of graphical display elements that can be displayed at any one time on the display screen. As a consequence, user interfaces must be simplified.
Consider, for instance, a user interface for the selection of videos for display from a collection of videos. One approach is to display representative frames, or "thumbnails," of available videos and then select a video of the available videos in response to a user's touch on a displayed thumbnail. However, this action causes the video to be played from the start and does not allow selection of a portion of the video, such as a favorite scene. To access a desired scene, a user must then interact with a displayed scroll bar or a scrubber bar to search through the video. This approach may be very inefficient for longer videos.
In video editing on a larger screen, a single video may be split in multiple segments and thumbnails from each segment displayed in one or more rows, together with scroll bars to enable selection of a segment for editing. However, on a small screen, the scroll bars may be too small for easy manipulation, or, if enlarged, leave little screen space for additional information to be displayed. This problem is exacerbated when the graphical user interface is displayed on a touch-sensitive screen and is controlled by a touch of a user's fingertip rather than by a computer mouse.
It would be useful to provide a way to easily select a segment of video or other media from a plurality of media files displayed for selection on a display screen of an electronic device.

Method and apparatus for media searching using a graphical user interface


An apparatus to electrically and optically characterize a multijunction solar cell. The apparatus can have as many light sources as there are subcells in the multijunction solar cell. Each light source has an optical spectrum that falls within the bandgap energy of a corresponding subcell. Each light source has a controllable intensity level.

Photovoltaic solar cells are used to convert sunlight energy into electricity by absorbing, using semiconductor materials, photons having an energy larger than the semiconductor bandgap, the absorption of photons causing the generation of photocarriers (electrons and holes).
The electrons and holes are separated across a p/n junction that has been formed by doping adjacent regions of the semiconductor. Single junction solar cells have one p/n junction. It is well-known that the solar energy conversion efficiency of single-junction solar cells is limited due to the fact that the Sun emits photons in a broad range of wavelengths/energies, whereas the one p/n junction of a single junction solar cell has only one fixed bandgap energy. The solar photons with an energy equal or slightly greater of the bandgap of the semiconductor are absorbed and converted into electricity efficiently. However, photons with excessive energy compared to the bandgap of the single junction solar cell waste their excess energy and, photons with less energy than the bandgap of the single junction solar cell are not absorbed.
It is also known that higher conversion efficiencies can be obtained with photovoltaic solar cell devices that have multiple p/n junctions electrically connected in series. Such devices are typically referred to as multijunction solar cells. A multijunction solar cell can have any number of p/n junctions; typically, it will have has 2, 3, or 4 p/n junctions, which can be referred to as subcells. In addition to the p/n junction itself, a high-efficiency subcell will typically incorporate other functional elements such as a window layer and a back surface field layer.
As a particular example, a three-junction solar cell (also referred to as a solar cell device or, simply as a device) has three subcells, which can be referred to as a top cell (TC), a middle-cell (MC), and a bottom cell (BC). The three subcells are typically electrically connected to each other in series using tunnel-junctions, metal layers, or other equivalent components. Each subcell has a respective bandgap, which is chosen in accordance with the solar spectrum of interest and with the goal of optimizing the conversion efficiency of the three-junction solar cell (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 7,863,516 incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
The subcells can be grown monolithically by epitaxy or assembled mechanically. In either case, the subcells generating the least photocurrent will be limiting the overall current that the multijunction solar cell can generate because the subcells are connected in series. As such, when measuring the performance metrics (e.g., the electrical, optical, electro-optical characteristics) of multijunction solar cells, the individual performance metrics of the constituent subcells are often concealed and/or not easily quantifiable with currently available test apparatus.
As will be understood by the skilled worker, the measurement and characterization of all the performance metrics of each individual subcell is desirable and can be important in order to better optimize the performance of multijunction solar cells.
In the prior art, a technique exists for determining the spectral response of a multijunction solar cell. The technique is typically referred to as the quantum efficiency (QE) measurement, also known as internal quantum efficiency (IQE) or external quantum efficiency (EQE) depending on whether or not the light reflected from the device or other shadowing effects are taken into account. The QE measurement for a single junction device is straightforward and the prior art technique is typically adequate for single junction cells. In that case, monochromatic light illuminates the solar cell and the solar cell's response is measured for the spectral range of interest. However, for the QE measurement of multiple-junction cells, the monochromatic light is absorbed by only one of the subcells while the other subcells generate no photocurrent due to the mismatch between the probe photon energy and the absorption characteristics of other subcells.
This results in no overall photocurrent due to the series connection of the subcells, and it is therefore not possible to measure the QE of the individual subcells by simply scanning the wavelength of the probe light in such a multijunction configuration. Instead, in order for the QE of the different subcells of a multijunction device to be measured, a light bias and/or a voltage bias needs to be applied to the other subcells that are not being probed optically (see for example Woodyard et al, Proceedings 25th PVSC, May 13-17, 203-206, 1996). However, the choice of the intensity of light used to bias the other subcells in the QE measurement, or the choice of the voltage bias used simultaneously can affect the results unpredictably. Subjective choices of light and voltage bias settings during the QE measurement of multijunction cells can lead to erroneous results which can negatively impact the design cycle and deployment time of the multijunction solar cells.
Other techniques have also been developed in the past for multijunction cells to try to account for the spectral mismatch corrections of Sun simulators. An example of such a technique is described in Adelhelm et al. (Solar En. Mat. and Sol. Cells, 1998; 50: 185-195). Occasionally, such techniques involve mathematical procedures to evaluate the spectral mismatch correction, as described for example in Meusel et al. (Prog. Photovolt: Res. and Appl, 2002; 10:243-255). Typically, these techniques attempt to characterize the devices of interest with a Sun simulator, which attempts to match the overall Sun spectrum for spectral conditions typical close to AM1.5 direct, AM1.5 Global and/or AM0. Or the Sun simulator is adjusted to compensate for spectral corrections for the different subcells, such that each subcell generates the photocurrent that would be expected under the reference spectra of interest.
An effective irradiance can also be defined to characterize the spectra fidelity of the Sun simulator and the effective irradiance can be normalized or compared to the effective irradiance of the reference spectrum of interest to define measurement conditions that can help the interpretation of the performance data measured under such conditions. However, trial attempt measurements and multiple adjustments of the light and bias settings during the QE measurement, or other similar optical characterization techniques attempting to mimic spectral conditions close to a reference spectrum in the assessment of the performance of multijunction cells are time consuming and can still lead to erroneous results given that several combinations of light and voltage biases are possible.
As shown in the prior art above, it is particularly complicated because of the fact that precisely reproducing a reference spectrum is difficult and might still require additional characterization and mathematical procedures to evaluate the spectral mismatch correction. The corrections and adjustments are typically attempted without the full characterization of each constituent subcells of the multijunction cell, measured under well controlled illumination conditions, and without sweeping large enough ranges of illumination intensities in the subcells of interest. This is especially of concern in the cases of particular interest when the properties of some of the subcells are non-ideal due to material and/or fabrication issues.
Therefore, an apparatus capable of properly characterizing the individual performance metrics of the constituent subcells of multijunction photovoltaic solar cells is desirable.

Apparatus and method to characterize multijunction photovoltaic solar cells


A semiconductor device includes a silicon carbide semiconductor body. A first shielding region of a first conductivity type is connected to a first contact at a first surface of the silicon carbide semiconductor body. A current spread region of a second conductivity type is connected to a second contact at a second surface of the silicon carbide semiconductor body. A doping concentration profile of the current spread region includes peaks along a vertical direction perpendicular to the first surface. A doping concentration of one peak or one peak-group of the peaks is at least 50% higher than a doping concentration of any other peak of the current spread region. A vertical distance between the one peak or the one peak-group of the current spread region and the first surface is larger than a second vertical distance between the first surface and a maximum doping peak of the first shielding region.

Technology development of SiC semiconductor devices, e.g., insulated gate field effect transistors (IGFETs) including field effect transistor cells, aims at reducing an area-specific on-state resistance RDS(on) without adversely affecting a blocking voltage capability VDS between load terminals, e.g., source and drain. Although one device characteristic may be improved by varying a certain device parameter, this may lead to deterioration of another device characteristic. As an example, the area-specific on-state resistance RDS(on) may be improved by, for instance, increasing a drift zone doping concentration, which may, however, lead to deterioration of the blocking voltage capability VDS between source and drain. Thus, device parameters are designed during technology development based on a number of tradeoffs to be met in view of target device specifications.
There is a need to improve semiconductor devices based on silicon carbide.

Semiconductor device including current spread region


A communication system base station improves uplink coverage on a time slot by time slot basis. The coverage is improved by allocating diversity and non-diversity time-slots based on received signal quality of an RF link between a mobile station and a base station. The diversity time-slots are time slots during which information is received by more receiver branches than during the non-diversity time-slots.

This invention generally relates to the field of communication systems and, more particularly, to the improvement of receiver sensitivity, adjacent-channel and co-channel rejection in a communication system that sub-divides RF channels into time slots.
Time division multiple access (TDMA) communication systems, such as those based on GSM, PDC, D-AMPS communication standards, subdivide one or more radio frequency (RF) channels into a plurality of time slots during which mobile stations within the system engage in voice and data communication. By transmitting and receiving bursts of information during allocated time slots, the mobile stations communicate through a plurality of scattered base stations, which cover corresponding communication cells. Within each cell, a base station communicates with the mobile stations over a number of RF channels by transmitting bursts of downlink data to the mobile stations over downlink RF channels and receiving bursts of uplink data from the mobile stations over uplink RF channels.
To avoid co-channel interference, neighboring cells are allocated different RF channels. Because of the relatively low power RF transmissions within a particular cell, another cell spaced two or more cells apart may typically reuse the same frequency. The farther the cells reusing the same frequencies are from each other, the lower the co-channel interference between them. Therefore, lowering co-channel interference of the uplink channels increases system capacity by allowing a tighter frequency reuse cell pattern in a dense communication network.
It is also very important to provide wide coverage using fewer number of base stations, to reduce implementation cost of the network. One factor that is directly related to a base station's coverage is its sensitivity to received signals on the uplink channel. Some conventional systems equip the base stations with low noise amplifiers, which are positioned at close proximity to base station antennas.
Another conventional method to improve both co-channel interference and receiver sensitivity uses receiver diversity under which two or more spaced apart antennas that are coupled to corresponding receiver branches receive uplink signals from the mobile station. Based on well known principles that relate to combining non-coherent noise and desired signals, received signal quality is improved by combining received signals from the receivers. For example, some conventional GSM systems combine uplink signals received by two receiver branches at the base station, to improve uplink received signal quality on a continuous basis. Other systems combine received signals from two or more receiver branches, when the received signal strength from a mobile station at a single receiver drops below a predefined threshold.
Conventional methods, however, do not improve co-channel interference and receiver sensitivity on a time-slot by time-slot basis. Because TDMA systems sub-divide RF channels into time slots, the received signal quality may be degraded during a time slot of the uplink channel that is assigned to a particular mobile station. For example, the receiver sensity of a signal received from a mobile station at the fringes of a communication cell may be well below a desired level, requiring improvement during its allocated time-slot. Although conventional TDMA systems use receiver diversity continuously when receiving uplink RF signals, they do not provide for receiver diversity on a time-slot by time-slot basis. Therefore, there exists a need to improve received signal quality of an uplink RF channel that is subdivided into time slots during a selected time slot.

Radio communication system with diversity reception on a time-slot by time-slot basis


In a method of forming a pattern, a sacrificial layer pattern and a stop layer pattern for preventing or reducing an epitaxial growth may be formed on a substrate. The sacrificial layer pattern may have a first hole therethrough, and the first hole partially exposes a top surface of the substrate. At least one active pattern may be formed on a bottom and a sidewall of the first hole by performing a selective epitaxial growth process on the top surface of the substrate and a sidewall of the sacrificial layer pattern. The sacrificial layer pattern and the stop layer pattern for preventing or reducing the epitaxial growth may be removed from the substrate. The at least one active pattern formed by the above method may have a finer size and an improved shaped compared to a conventional active pattern formed by directly patterning layers using a photoresist pattern. Damages in a photolithography process may be prevented or reduced from being generated.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to methods of forming a pattern and methods of manufacturing a memory device using the same. Example embodiments relate to methods of forming an active pattern by an epitaxial growth process and methods of manufacturing a memory device using the method of forming the active pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, non-volatile memory devices are classified into floating gate type memory devices and/or floating trap type memory devices. A silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor (SONOS) memory device may serve as the floating trap type memory device. The SONOS memory device may include a tunnel insulation layer formed on a semiconductor substrate, a charge trapping layer, a blocking insulation layer and a gate electrode. The tunnel insulation layer may include silicon oxide, the charge trapping layer may include silicon nitride, the blocking insulation layer may include silicon oxide, and the gate electrode may include a conductive material. The SONOS memory device may perform programming tasks by storing electrons in a trap site formed in the charge trapping layer, which is disposed between the gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate, and erasing tasks by storing holes in the trap site formed in the charge trapping layer.
The tunnel insulation layer may be formed to have a relatively small thickness because the electrons and/or the holes may be stored in the trap site of the charge trapping layer. The SONOS memory device may be operated even by a lower operation voltage so that a structure of a peripheral circuit may be simplified. The SONOS memory device may have an increased integration degree.
Recently, a width between isolation regions for isolating memory cells has been decreased as a design rule of the memory cells is reduced. The isolation regions may be formed by forming a photoresist pattern on a substrate, etching the substrate using the photoresist pattern as an etching mask to form a trench at upper portions of the substrate, and filling the trench with an insulator.
Forming the isolation regions using the photoresist pattern may become a challenging task because the design rule of the memory cells has become smaller. As a critical dimension (CD) of the photoresist pattern gets finer, a thickness of the photoresist pattern may get smaller, and thus etching the substrate using the photoresist pattern may result in being more difficult. The photoresist pattern may be fine enough that the photoresist pattern may be broken. Accordingly, a roughness of a side face of the photoresist pattern may not be uniform, thereby disfiguring a shape of the trench that may be successively formed by the etching process.

Methods of forming a pattern and methods of manufacturing a memory device using the same


A liquid crystal panel includes a liquid crystal layer sandwiched by first and second substrates, wherein a transparent film is adhered on at least one of the first and second substrates by an intervening adhesive layer, such that the adhesive layer fills defects formed on a surface of the substrate with a material having a refractive index close to the refractive index of the substrate. Further, a liquid crystal projector having an improved cooling efficiency is disclosed.

The present invention generally relates to liquid crystal display devices and more particularly to a liquid crystal panel for use in a liquid crystal projector for modulating an optical beam, wherein defects in the projected image, caused by defects on the liquid crystal panel, are reduced. Further, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal projector in which efficiency of cooling is improved.
Liquid crystal panels are used extensively in compact, portable information processing devices such as laptop computers, as a display device. On the other hand, liquid crystal panels are important also in liquid crystal projectors that project an image on a screen with large magnification. In such liquid crystal projectors, a liquid crystal panel is used for spatially modulating an optical beam passing therethrough.
In a typical full color liquid crystal projector, a white optical beam is divided into three color beams each corresponding to one of the three primary colors by a dichroic mirror, and the three color beams thus produced are caused to pass through corresponding one of three liquid crystal panels for spatial modulation. The three color beams having thus experienced a spatial modulation are then synthesized to form a single optical beam which is projected on a screen. Further, there is a full color liquid crystal projector in which a single optical beam is modulated by a single color liquid crystal panel that carries thereon color filters.
FIG. 1 shows a typical full color liquid crystal projector that uses three liquid crystal panels.
Referring to FIG. 1, a white optical beam produced by a light source 1 impinges upon a dichroic mirror 2, wherein the dichroic mirror 2 separates one of the three primary colors and reflects the same to a first liquid crystal panel 4 via a mirror 3 in the form of a first color beam. On the other hand, the optical beam that has passed through the dichroic mirror 2 impinges upon a next dichroic mirror 8, wherein the dichroic mirror 8 separates the next of the three primary colors and reflects the same to a second liquid crystal panel 9 in the form of a second color beam. Further, the optical beam passed through the dichroic beam 8 impinges upon a third liquid crystal panel 10 in the form of a third color beam.
Thereby, the first color beam experiences a spatial modulation upon passage through the first liquid crystal panel 4, while the second color beam experiences a spatial modulation upon passage through the second liquid crystal panel 9. The first and second color beams having thus experienced respective spatial modulations are merged with each other at a third dichroic mirror 5 that passes the first color beam from the liquid crystal panel 4 to a fourth dichroic mirror 6, while the dichroic mirror 5 reflects the second color beam to the foregoing dichroic mirror 6.
Further, the third color beam experiences a spatial modulation upon passage through a third liquid crystal panel 10, wherein the third color beam having thus experienced the spatial modulation impinges upon the dichroic mirror 6 after reflection by a mirror 11. Thereby, the first through third color beams are synthesized at the dichroic mirror in the form of a single color beam, and the single color beam thus produced is projected upon a screen by a projection lens 7.
Each of the liquid crystal panels 4, 9 and 10 has a construction in which a liquid crystal layer of a twist-nematic (TN) type, a super twist-nematic (STN) type or a polymer dispersion type is sandwiched between a pair of transparent glass substrates. As usual in liquid crystal panels, each of the liquid crystal panels 4, 9 and 10 includes pixel electrodes provided on one of the glass substrates for switching on and off the transmission of the optical beam through the liquid crystal layer. Further, the dichroic mirrors 2, 3 and 8 are formed to have a multilayered structure adapted such that each of the dichroic mirrors separates one of the three principal colors.
In the fabrication process of liquid crystal panels including those for use in such a liquid crystal projector, the glass substrate forming the liquid crystal panel is subjected to various processes such as cleaning, deposition, patterning, and the like, while such processes generally include the step of holding the glass substrate by a vacuum chuck mechanism or a similar holding process that includes a mechanical contact of a hard element or member to the glass substrate.
Thus, as indicated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is a substantial risk that the glass substrate is scarred or damaged as a result of such a mechanical contact.
Referring to FIG. 2A showing the liquid crystal panel in a cross sectional view, a liquid crystal layer 11 is sandwiched by a glass substrate 12 and a glass substrate 13, wherein it will be noted that the glass substrate 12 includes a defect 14 on the outer surface thereof as a result of mechanical contact at the time of chucking, and the like. Similarly, the glass substrate 13 carries a defect 15 on the outer surface.
Thus, when the liquid crystal panel is used for modulating the optical beam impinging thereto as indicated in FIG. 2B, the defects 14 and 15 cause a scattering or disturbance of polarization in the optical beam as it passes through the liquid crystal panel vertically to the plane of drawing in FIG. 2B, while such a scattering or disturbance of polarization of the optical beam causes various unwanted effects on the image projected on the screen. For example, when a scattering occurs in the optical beam as a result of such defects, the projected image may include dark spots in correspondence to such defects. When the defects 14 and 15 cause a disturbance in the polarization, on the other hand, there appear dark or bright spots in the projected image due to insufficient transmittance or interruption of the optical beam. Further, when the liquid crystal projector is a color projector, the defects 14 or 15 generally cause a formation of colored spots in the projected image in which the color is changed unwantedly.
Meanwhile, conventional liquid crystal projectors, which use a powerful light source for increased visibility of the projected images, have suffered from the problem of degradation of polarizer or analyzer in the liquid crystal panel because of the heat applied thereto by the high power optical beam. When the polarizer or analyzer is deteriorated as such, the contrast of the projected image is inevitably deteriorated and hence the quality of the projected image.
In order to suppress the temperature rise of the polarizer and analyzer as much as possible, conventional liquid crystal projectors generally use a compulsory cooling system including a cooling fan for cooling the polarizer and analyzer. In liquid crystal projectors, on the other hand, it is essential that the power consumption is small and the size of the projector is compact. Further, the noise level of the cooling fan is required to be as low as possible.
FIG. 3A shows a conventional liquid crystal projector 20 disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication 5-249411.
Referring to FIG. 3A, the liquid crystal projector 20 includes a housing 21 on which a projection lens 22 is mounted. Further, the housing 21 includes therein a light source 23 for producing a white optical beam and a dichroic mirror system 23A similar to the one explained with reference to FIG. 1, wherein the dichroic mirror system 23A separates the optical beams of the three primary colors from the white optical beam produced by the light source 23. Thus, an optical beam of the first primary color is supplied to a first spatial optical modulator 24A including a liquid crystal panel similar to the liquid crystal panel 4 of FIG. 1 for spatial modulation. Similarly, an optical beam of the second primary color is supplied to a second spatial optical modulator 24B including a liquid crystal panel similar to the liquid crystal panel 9 of FIG. 1 for spatial modulation. Further, an optical beam of the third primary color is supplied to a third spatial optical modulator 24C including a liquid crystal panel similar to the liquid crystal panel 10 of FIG. 1 for spatial modulation. The optical beams thus modulated by the spatial optical modulators 24A-24C are synthesized into a single beam by a dichroic mirror system similar to the one explained in FIG. 1, and the optical beam thus synthesized is projected to a screen via the projection lens 22.
In the liquid crystal projector 20 of FIG. 3A, it should be noted that three, separate compulsory cooling systems 25A-25C are provided in cooperation with the respective spatial optical modulators 24A-24C.
FIG. 3B shows the construction of the spatial optical modulator 24A and the cooling system 25A cooperating therewith in detail. It should be noted that the spatial optical modulators 24B and 24C as well as the cooling systems 25B and 25C have essentially the same construction.
Referring to FIG. 3B, the cooling system 25A includes a turbo fan 25a driven by a motor M and a duct 25a' for guiding the air flow caused by the turbo fan 25a. The spatial optical modulator 24A, on the other hand, includes a condenser lens 31 defined by a flat surface at the exit side of an optical beam directed to the spatial optical modulator 24A and a polarizer 32 provided on the foregoing flat surface, in addition to a liquid crystal panel 33 and an analyzer 34, wherein the analyzer 34 is provided on the exit side of the liquid crystal panel 33. Thereby, the condenser lens 31, the polarizer 32, the liquid crystal panel 33 and the analyzer 34 are disposed along a path 35 of an optical beam 30 in a traveling direction of the optical beam 30 with a parallel relationship, such that each of the condenser lens 31, the polarizer 32, the liquid crystal panel 33 and the analyzer 34 intersects the path 35 perpendicularly.
In the construction of FIG. 3B, it should be noted that, while the condenser lens 31 and the polarizer 36 are provided with an intimate contact and the liquid crystal panel 33 and the analyzer 34 are provided with an intimate contact, the polarizer 32 and the liquid crystal panel 33 are spaced apart by a gap 36 having a size W.sub.1 of typically several millimeters in the direction of the path 35, such that the cooling air flow caused by the fan 25a enters into the gap 36 from an inlet part 39. Thereby, the guide 25a' is formed such that the cooling air flow enters the gap 36 in the form of a cooling air flow 38 that forms a small angle .THETA. with respect to a major surface 33a of the liquid crystal panel 33, Thereby, the cooling air flow 38 removes the heat from the foregoing major surface 33a of the liquid crystal panel 33. As a result of such a cooling of the liquid crystal panel 33, the analyzer 34 is also cooled. Further, the cooling air flow 38 forms an air flow 40 directed to the polarizer 32 after reflection at the foregoing major surface 33a. Thereby, the polarizer 32 is cooled by such a reflected air flow 40.
In such a spatial optical modulator, it should be noted that the angle .THETA. between the air flow 38 and the major surface 33a cannot be increased as desired, because of the limited size of an inlet part 39 through which the cooling air 38 is introduced into the foregoing gap 36. As a result, there is a possibility that most of the cooling air may escape straight from the other side of the gap 36, without cooling the liquid crystal panel 33 or the polarizer 32. When this occurs, a part of the polarizer 32 as well as the analyzer 34 may experience an unwanted temperature rise, which eventually reduces the lifetime of the polarizer 32 or the analyzer 34.
Further, when the cooling is not uniform in the polarizer 32 or analyzer 34, the projected image may experience unwanted inhomogeneity.

LC panel with reduced defects having adhesive smoothing layer on an exterior surface of the substrate(s)


A fixing structure for use in a combination tap having a water discharging device, an engaging seat, a big fixing nut, a combination tap, a bolt, a nut, and two ring washers. The water discharging device is provided with a three-staged section at one end wherein three consecutive small, mid, and large stages are arranged from top to bottom defining the interior wall thereof. The upper section of the engaging seat having a protruding ring flange, two locating rib plates and two water stopper rings disposed thereon can be mounted onto the three-staged section of the water discharging device with the two water stopper rings being abutted against the small stage, the two locating rib plates against the mid-stage, and the protruding ring flange against the large stage of the three-staged section of the water discharging pipe. The outer wall of the mid-stage of the three-staged section thereof has a bolt hole through which the bolt is led and screwed up via the nut to be abutted tightly there-between the two locating rib plates of the engaging seat. In addition, the lower section of the engaging seat is provided with an outer thread section, a thread end of smaller diameter, and an inserting post whereby the lower section thereof can be engaged with the tap combination to complete the assembly of the present invention. Via the bolt and nut which can be released to loosen the abutment thereof, the water discharging device can be adjusted in any direction before being screwed up against to suit the need of different users. Moreover, the water discharging device can be of either table-type or wall-type.

The present invention is directed to a faucet for use with a combination tap, having a water discharging spout, an engaging seat, a big fixing nut, a combination tap, a bolt, a nut, and two ring washers. The water discharging spout has a three-staged section disposed at one end wherein three consecutive large, mid, and small stages are arranged from top to bottom defining the interior wall thereof, to which the upper section of the engaging seat is mounted. The lower section of the engaging seat is engaged to the combination tap. The bolt screwed up with the nut is adapted to locate and secure the engaging seat and the water discharging spout. The abutment of the bolt and the nut can be released to adjust the water discharging spout into a desirable direction before the bolt and the nut are screwed up again to relocate the water discharging spout and the engaging seat. In addition, the water discharging spout can be of either table-type or wall-type.
There are several disadvantages to a conventional fixing structure of a combination tap. For one, the assembling parts are numerous, which not only cause the difficulty of assembly but also boost the cost of production. For the other, a water discharging pipe is mounted to a housing and a base plate into one piece wherein the whole assembly must be dismantled before it is possible to adjust the direction of the water discharging pipe. It is thus quite troublesome to use such a conventional fixing structure with a combination tap.

Faucet facilitating easy installation on a wall or table top


An airspace awareness and warning system (“AAWS”) provides input to an airspace alert (“AA”) processor from at least one real-time aircraft system or sensor, a navigation system, and an airspace database containing three-dimensional delineations of defined airspace; the processor determines an airspace clearance surface and an aircraft airspace alert surface, and if one surface penetrates the other, the processor generates an alert signal and provides an alert signal to a crew alerting system. The two surfaces are determined by the processor by executing an algorithm(s) embedded in software containing the disclosed embodiments and methods. At least one criterion used to define an aircraft airspace alert surface is programmed to include real-time and/or static input factor data provided by at least one system or sensor input from an aircraft. Such input factor could be used to define an airspace clearance surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of alert signals being provided to the pilot of an aircraft, where such signals are generated by an airspace awareness and warning system.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an aviation regulatory authority or organization possesses the authority of designating and defining airspace. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") establishes and provides the defined dimensions of airspace. Such airspace could be designated as regulatory and non-regulatory special use airspace, where regulatory special use airspace could include prohibited areas and restricted areas and non-regulatory special use airspace data could include military operations areas, alert areas, warning areas, and national security areas. Prohibited areas contain airspace of defined dimensions identified by an area within which the flight of aircraft is prohibited. Such areas are established for security or other reasons associated with the national welfare. Restricted areas contain airspace within which the flight of aircraft, while not wholly prohibited, is subject to restrictions. Activities within these areas must be confined because of their nature or limitations imposed upon aircraft operations that are not a part of those activities or both. Restricted areas denote the existence of unusual, often invisible, hazards to aircraft such as artillery firing, aerial gunnery, or guided missiles. Penetration of restricted areas without authorization from a using or controlling agency may be extremely hazardous to the aircraft and its occupants.
An airspace is invisible to the pilot but may be identified by a depiction on aeronautical charts or discussed in other publications which provide aeronautical information. The boundaries of an airspace may be delineated by vertical and horizontal limits. The vertical limits of airspace may be designated by altitude floors and ceilings expressed as flight levels or other appropriate measures such as feet or meters above mean sea level (MSL). The horizontal limits of an airspace may be measured and defined by geographic coordinates or other appropriate references that clearly define their perimeter. An airspace may be in effect for one or more designated time periods or run continuously.
The complexity with which an airspace is defined ranges considerably. On one side of the spectrum, the definition of the prohibited airspace of Washington, D.C. is highly complex, irregularly shaped, and defined, in part, by numerous physical landmarks and latitude/longitude points. On the other side of the spectrum, a restricted airspace of Flagstaff, Ariz. is relatively simple, cylindrically-shaped, and defined, in part, by a constant radius extending outward from the center of the airspace which is defined by a latitude/longitude point. In between, the restricted airspaces of Fort Sill, Okla. and Huntsville, Ala. are defined, in part, using four sets of latitude/longitude points. The definitions of each of these exemplary airspaces are presented and discussed below in detail.
Airspaces may present safety of flight issues to the pilot of an aircraft. A safety of flight issue could arise in the instance where a pilot's attention is diverted from flying the aircraft to looking down from the aircraft in an attempt to identify the physical landmarks that demarcate the boundaries of the complex Washington, D.C. airspace. Not only are the boundaries complex but the pilot could lose his or her focus on flying the aircraft and accidentally place the aircraft in an unsafe flight condition. Also, if the aircraft is flying in meteorological conditions that obscure the pilot's ability to see outside of the aircraft, a pilot may unknowingly and unintentionally penetrate such airspace; the same could occur during nighttime flight operations. Invisible hazards to aircraft such as artillery firing, aerial gunnery, or guided missiles may be present, making the penetration of such airspace extremely hazardous to the aircraft and its occupants. Moreover, if a missile defense system is employed to protect the airspace from unauthorized intrusion, a pilot penetrating the airspace could experience tragic consequences should such system be activated and the missiles engage the aircraft.
The embodiments disclosed herein present novel and non-trivial systems and methods which address safety of flight issues related to accidental or inadvertent penetration of defined airspace.

Systems and methods for generating alert signals in an airspace awareness and warning system


A cleaning solution for use in removing a damaged portion of a ferroelectric layer, and a cleaning method using the solution. The cleaning solution includes a fluoride, an organic acid with carboxyl group, an alkaline pH adjusting agent and water.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cleaning solution for use in removing a damaged portion of a ferroelectric layer, and a method for removing a damaged portion of a ferroelectric layer using the cleaning solution.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) can retain its contents without power for years. FRAM capacitors are kept in a charged state while the supply of power is suspended. During a patterning process for forming a FRAM capacitor, active components of etching gases used for the patterning, such as argon (Ar), fluorine (F) or chlorine (Cl), react with electrode materials or ferroelectric materials, thereby resulting in byproducts such as PbO2, ZrO2, TiO2 or TiO3, on the surface of a ferroelectric layer. As a result, the ferroelectric layer is damaged by the byproducts. The damaged ferroelectric layer serves as a leakage current path between upper and lower electrodes, thereby degrading the electrical properties of the FRAM capacitor.
In the manufacture of the FRAM capacitor, annealing is carried out so as to provide the FRAM capacitor with a stable perovskite structure. However, even after the annealing is completed, a pyrochlore structure, which is a semi-stable phase, appears from the top of the ferroelectric layer to a predetermined depth. If an upper electrode layer is deposited over the ferroelectric layer having the pyrochlore structure, a desirable FRAM capacitor having superior performance cannot be obtained. In this aspect, the ferroelectric layer having the pyrochlore structure is regarded as a kind of damaged layer, relative to the whole ferroelectric layer with the perovskite structure.
Thus, there is a need to perform a cleaning step for removing such a ferroelectric layer having the semi-stable pyrochlore structure and a portion of the ferroelectric layer that is damaged during an etching process in the manufacture of the FRAM capacitor. A conventional cleaning solution used in the cleaning step includes hydrogen fluoride (HF) diluted with an alcoholic solvent, such as methanol, ethanol or isopropyl alcohol, in a predetermined ratio. However, because the alcoholic solvent of the cleaning solution is highly volatile, the alcoholic solvent evaporates with time, hence the cleaning (etching) capability of the cleaning solution cannot be kept constant, thereby shortening the lifetime of the cleaning solution. Another disadvantage in using the conventional cleaning solution lies in that after the cleaning is completed, a further rinsing step with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is needed before a rinsing step with deionized water. This is because the rinsing step with deionized water is insufficient to completely remove the cleaning solution from the surface of the substrate, which causes corrosion of the substrate.
Therefore, a need exists for providing a cleaning solution capable of selectively removing a damaged portion of a ferroelectric layer, and has a consistent cleaning capability for a longer period of time.
A method is also needed for selectively removing a damaged portion of a ferroelectric layer using the cleaning solution.

Cleaning solution for removing damaged portion of ferroelectric layer and cleaning method using the same