A passive-matrix pixel light emitting display structure and a method of making same. The display structure includes display area formed on a substrate. A set of busses is provided over the substrate that extends from an edge of the substrates across a predetermined portion of the substrate. An insulating layer is provided over the busses so that only the electrode pad and the end adjacent the edge of the bus is exposed. At least three sets of first electrode segments are located over the entire display area, each set of first electrode segments extending for only a portion of the length of the substrate and each of the first electrode segments designed to be active in a different portion of the display area. One or more layers of materials wherein at least one of which comprises light-emissive materials, is located over the first electrode segments. At least three sets of second electrode segments are located over the one or more layers of organic materials and entire display area and each set of the second electrode segments being designed to be active in a different portion of the display area. One of the three sets of second electrode segments being in contact with the exposed electrode busses, each of the first set of first electrode segments being associated with one set of the three sets of second electrode segments so as to form a plurality of display segments in the display area.

Electronic display systems are commonly used to display information from computers. Typical display systems range in size from small displays used in mobile devices to very large displays visible to thousands of viewers. Large displays are sometimes created from tiling smaller display devices together. For example, video walls using multiple video displays are frequently seen in the electronic media and flat-panel displays are tiled to create larger displays. Multiple projector systems used to create a large, tiled, high-resolution display are also available.
Tiled displays are well known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,665B1 issued Jan. 27, 2004 describes tile structures wherein each tile has a display portion and an electronics portion. The tiles are fastened together into an array with the use of a frame. Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,592 issued Dec. 24, 2004 describes the use of a single substrate with electrical devices and a display. However, as disclosed, these designs require the use of vias through the substrates and are problematic for displays requiring a hermetic seal for the display components, for example in an OLED display. Vias in glass substrates are difficult to construct and the use of alternative substrates are not well suited to sealing the display materials. Moreover, the design requires an additional frame and is not well suited to roll-to-roll manufacturing.
Another technique that relies on overlapping the display tiles is described in WO 03/042966 entitled "Display for a Large Panel Display Consisting of Tiled Displays". The method disclosed uses a complex support structure and a plurality of printed circuit boards. Moreover, tile seams may be visible when the display is viewed off angle.
A display may be formed on a single substrate but utilize a tiled control structure. Display elements are formed in a regular pattern across the substrate. Since each display element requires two electrodes to provide current to the display element, each display element has two electrical connections to the element. In order to conserve space on the substrate, these connections are shared wherever possible. A conventional, prior-art passive-matrix connection scheme forms a horizontal array of electrodes in one dimension and a vertical array of electrodes in a second dimension. The display elements are formed where the horizontal and vertical electrodes overlap with the light-emitting or light-controlling elements formed between the electrodes.
Using this connection scheme, only one row or column of display elements can be illuminated at once. This limitation requires that the display elements be refreshed frequently and, consequently, driven at a high frequency and with high current. The driving requirements, in turn, limit the size of the display, since electrodes that are too long or refresh frequencies that are too high, require expensive driver circuits.
A simple, well-known approach to dealing with this limitation is to divide the display elements on a single substrate into four groups, each group having its own electrode connections. For example, referring to FIG. 10, a tiled, passive-matrix, flat-panel display is formed on a single substrate 12 and divided into four groups 50, each group having a set of control signals 52. In this fashion, a larger display element matrix can be formed. However, this approach is limited to four groups and also requires the use of connections on all four sides of the substrate 12 rather than only two sides.
There is a need therefore for an improved tiled display system that overcomes the problems noted above.


A substrate holding device includes a vacuum supplying device for supplying a vacuum to a holding surface to hold a substrate, a hollow member surrounding at least a portion of the holding surface and movable between a position in which the holding member protrudes from the holding surface and a position in which the hollow member does not protrude from the holding surface, and a moving mechanism for relatively moving between the hollow member and the holding surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to a substrate holding device in an exposing apparatus for exposing a substrate such as a wafer and an exposing apparatus using the same.
2. Related Background Art
The higher integration of semiconductor integrated circuits has been advanced more and more in recent years, and higher accuracy has been required of an exposing apparatus for making them.
Accordingly, highly accurate positioning is also required of a substrate such as a wafer to be exposed (hereinafter referred to as the "substrate"), and as an example, like the six-axis drive substrate stage described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2-202031, there has been developed a substrate stage of which the movement is adjustable to any position by reciprocal movement along three axes orthogonal to one another and the angles of rotation about respective ones of said three axes are adjustable. A conventional substrate holding device supported on such a substrate stage, as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 of the accompanying drawings, has a disc-like vacuum clamping plate 106 formed with a groove 106b in the surface thereof for vacuum clamping a substrate (not shown), the vacuum clamping plate 106 being formed with a plurality of holes 106g-106i extending in a direction perpendicular to the surface thereof (hereinafter referred to as the "Z axis direction"), and hollow delivering pins 104a-104c are inserted into the respective holes 106g-106i. The delivering pins 104a-104c are studded in an intermediate plate 103 disposed just beneath the vacuum clamping plate 106, and the intermediate plate 103 supports a plurality of double acting cylinders 105 for moving the vacuum clamping plate 106 back and forth in the Z axis direction.
Also, the intermediate plate 103 is rotatably supported on a base plate 101 by bearings 101a, and is rotated by a drive motor 107 through a worm gear 107a. The base plate 101 has on the upper surface thereof an L-shaped mirror 108 provided integrally therewith, the mirror 108 has mirror surfaces 108a and 108b parallel to two axes orthogonal to each other (hereinafter referred to as the "X axis and Y axis"), and reflects a length measuring laser beam applied to the mirror surfaces 108a and 108b toward a laser interference length measuring machine, not shown. The base plate 101 is formed integrally with a bed plate 102 through resilient hinges 102a, and is reciprocally movable in the Z axis direction or rotatable about the Z axis by an actuator 102b such as an electrostrictive element or a voice coil for fine movement adjustment within a range allowed by the resilient hinges 102a. The bed plate 102 is supported on a conventional six-axis drive substrate stage (not shown).
The delivery and positioning of the substrate (not shown) are effected as follows.
With the double acting cylinders 105 driven to retract the vacuum clamping plate 106, a vacuum clamp force is created in the delivering pins 104a-104c by a vacuum line 104d, and a substrate carried in by a hand (not shown) is adsorbed on the upper ends of the delivering pins 104a-104c. The double acting cylinders 105 are then reversely driven to move the vacuum clamping plate 106 forward, and a vacuum clamp force is created in the groove 106b of the vacuum clamping plate 106 by a vacuum line 106c to thereby adsorb the substrate to the vacuum clamping surface 106a of the sucking plate 106. Thereby, the substrate is firmly held and the flatness thereof is corrected. Further, the positional deviation of the substrate about the Z axis relative to a mask or the like is detected by an alignment scope or the like, not shown, and the motor 107 is driven to rotate the vacuum clamping plate 106, thereby eliminating the aforementioned positional deviation.
An exposing apparatus using a radiation beam of a shorter wavelength has recently been developed, and particularly in an exposing apparatus using charged particle accumulation ring radiation (hereinafter referred to as an "SR-X-ray") as a radiation beam, it is necessary that the substrate in an exposure chamber be held vertically and the exposure chamber be maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere to prevent the attenuation of the SR-X-ray.
The above-described conventional substrate holding device, however, cannot be used in the exposing apparatus using the SR-X-ray as a radiation beam. The reasons are as follows:
(1) The vacuum clamp force alone created at the upper ends of the delivering pins is insufficient as the vacuum clamp force for effecting the delivery and holding of the vertically held substrate in the pressure-reduced exposure chamber.
(2) In the pressure-reduced exposure chamber, the heat transfer from the substrate to the subatmosphere is small as compared with the atmospheric pressure condition and therefore, the temperature rise of the substrate holding device is remarkable. As a result, positional deviation occurs from the distortion created by the difference in thermal expansion between the base plate and the vacuum clamping plate, and the position of the reflecting surface of the mirror for reflecting the length measuring laser beam fluctuates and a great error occurs to the measurement of the position of the substrate holding device by the laser length measuring machine.
In addition, recently, the substrate is in a tendency toward a larger size and along therewith, a vacuum clamping plate of a large area is required, but a larger size of a mechanism for rotating it is not desirable.
Also, the substrate holding device receives the substrate carried in by the hand and effects the predetermined positioning of it, adsorbs the substrate to the vacuum clamping surface of the vacuum clamping plate and corrects the degree of planarity thereof, and in order that such a correction of the degree of planarity may be effectively effected, the sizes and numbers of the grooves and holes formed in the vacuum clamping surface of the substrate may desirably be small.
Further, to circulate temperature control fluid through the internal piping of the substrate holding device to thereby effectively adjust the temperature of the substrate, it is desirable that the numbers and sizes of grooves and holes for reducing the area of contact between the substrate and the vacuum clamping surface be small. However, if the delivering pins for receiving the substrate carried in by the hand are made too thin or too much reduced in number, a sufficient vacuum clamp force for the delivery of the substrate cannot be created and there will arise a difficulty such as the substrate being inclined during the delivery work or great positional deviation being caused.

Substrate holding device and exposing apparatus using the same


The mechanism comprises longitudinal rails and, for each door, a double slide assembly of which a first slide slides along the rails and a second slide, constrained to the door, moves at right angles to the first slide between a retracted position in which the door is closed and an extracted position in which the door is opened, at a distance from said first position at least equal to the thickness of the door or a multiple thereof. A longitudinal traverse of the slide assembly is allowed only when the second slide is in the extracted position with respect to the first. The retracted position is forced by spring means between the second slide and the first slide. The width of the slide assembly is smaller than the width of the door, generally being half, a third or a quarter thereof. In a wardrobe with a plurality of doors, the mechanism allows any one of the doors to be opened with exactly the same extracting and sliding movement; it also allows more than one compartment to be opened at the same time, in practice as many as all the doors of wardrobe but one, in front of which the doors are disposed parallel to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of furniture with so-called "coplanar" doors.
Furniture with so-called "coplanar" doors, in which opening of the doors takes place not by rotation around hinges with a vertical axis but by sliding of the doors one over the other, have recently met with considerable commercial success. This furniture has advantages as regards the space required for opening and especially aesthetic advantages. Various mechanisms currently exist to allow the sliding movement of the doors one over the other. These mechanisms generally comprise a slide running on longitudinal rails for one of the doors, which therefore is movable in a first plane, and a swinging support mounted on a sliding slide for a second door, which can therefore be swung and position itself for movement on a second plane parallel to said first plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
All these wardrobes have the disadvantage that the user must know which of the doors can be moved by sliding directly and which must be moved outwards to be able to slide. In practice, the operation that must be carried out for opening and therefore for closing differs from one door to the other.
A further drawback that is encountered in known wardrobes lies in the fact that, when a wardrobe has three or more compartments with the relative doors, the mechanisms allow access to only one compartment at a time, the other compartments remaining closed by their respective doors.


A film forming apparatus includes: a processing container; a substrate holder that holds the substrate in the processing container; and a target assembly disposed in an upper side of the substrate holder. The target assembly includes: a target made of metal, including a main body and a flange provided around the main body, and emitting sputter particles from the main body; a target holder including a target electrode configured to supply power to the target, and holding the target; a target clamp that clamps the flange of the target to the target holder; and an anti-deposition shield provided around the main body of the target to cover the flange, the target clamp, and the target holder, and having a labyrinth structure in which an inner tip end thereof is disposed to enter a recess between the main body of the target and the target clamp.

Sputtering that deposits sputter particles from a target on a substrate has been used as a technique for forming a metal film. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-033244 discloses that sputter particles from a metal target are deposited on a substrate provided in a processing container to form a metal film such as Mg. Further, it is also disclosed that, after forming the metal film, oxygen is supplied into the processing container so as to oxidize the metal film to form a metal oxide film. It is also disclosed that such a metal oxide film is applied to, for example, a metal oxide film used in a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM).
Further, Japanese Patent No. 6095806 discloses a sputtering apparatus including an anti-deposition member that suppresses sputter particles from being directly attached to an inner surface of a vacuum container.


A method for making a low embodied energy cementitious mixture by blending a variety of post-consumer wastes, post-industrial wastes, as well as renewable, organic and recyclable materials with Portland cement or a material having similar cementitious properties. The primary materials are recycled concrete, coal-fired fly ash waste, silica fume, post-industrial waste, organic or inorganic waste fibers. Glass, brick, ceramics, ground tires and other waste products can also be included.

Concrete is one of the most ubiquitous materials found in the modern world. It is one of the primary materials used to build almost every durable structure, large or small, comprising our cities and towns, including: sidewalks; roads; bridges; retaining walls; skyscrapers; building foundations; sewers; and hundreds of other structures. In short, concrete is used in every corner of the Earth and our way of life depends on its continued use.
Although concrete can be made in many ways with many additives and various methods for its creation and use, it is generally made with four parts gravel, two parts sand, one part Portland cement and water. These ingredients are mixed, poured into forms and allowed to set. This process has been repeated thousands of times every day for decades and decades.
Unfortunately, the manufacture of concrete's constituent parts creates an enormous amount of environmental havoc, which must be addressed. Huge quantities of sand, limestone and gravel must be mined or dredged each year to satisfy the requirements of concrete manufacture. These processes scar the Earth and must be performed using large machines, which burn a tremendous amount of fossil fuels, which also contribute to global warming. However, the carbon dioxide created by these processes pales in comparison to that required to manufacture Portland cement. The manufacture of one pound of Portland cement creates almost one pound of carbon dioxide due mostly to the decarbonation of limestone and the fuel burned to heat kilns to the required temperature of nearly 1500 degrees Celsius. International studies have shown that the manufacture of concrete leads to 5-8% of total CO2 emitted worldwide.
To be more cost effective and to prevent excessive waste, concrete mixtures have been developed which use recycled materials to reduce any unnecessary environmental impacts. Recyclable materials exist in many manufacturing industries such as coal-generated electricity, various metal purification processes, silica production and cement and lime kilns to name a few. These mixtures generally consist of either the addition of an aggregate mixture, made of recycled concrete or the addition of fibers, such as plant fibers, carpet fibers, or rubber fibers. The recyclable materials that can be used in the concrete mixtures exist in many manufacturing industries such as coal-generated electricity, various metal purification processes, silica production and cement and lime kilns to name a few.
What is needed is a concrete mixture that uses all of the commonly available types of recycled materials, thus requiring little or no Portland cement, and full recycled aggregate replacement to reduce landfill and destruction of our natural resources. Additionally, the concrete formed must have comparable strength, viscosity, and other characteristics comparable to that of standard concrete created from virgin materials.


A GMR angle sensor for vehicles includes a GMR element in which the element resistance is changed in response to an external magnetic field, lead conductors connected to either end of the GMR element, and a protective layer that seals the GMR element and the lead conductors, wherein the protective layer has a laminated structure including an oxidation-resistant inorganic film that ensures that the GMR element and the lead conductors are sufficiently insulated and a silicone-based organic film laminated on the inorganic film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) angle sensor for vehicles that includes a GMR element showing a significant change in resistance in response to a change in an external magnetic field.
2. Description of the Related Art
A GMR angle sensor is an angle sensor including a giant magnetoresistive element (GMR element) whose resistance significantly changes in response to a change in an external magnetic field. As is generally known, such a GMR element has a laminated structure of free magnetic layer/nonmagnetic conductive layer/pinned magnetic layer/antiferromagnetic layer. The magnetization direction of the pinned magnetic layer is pinned in one direction by an exchange coupling magnetic field generated at the interface with the antiferromagnetic layer. The magnetization direction of the free magnetic layer facing the pinned magnetic layer, with the nonmagnetic conductive layer provided therebetween, is rotated in response to an external magnetic field, and the resistance is changed in accordance with the angle formed by the magnetization direction of the pinned magnetic layer and the magnetization direction of the free magnetic layer. This GMR angle sensor includes an electrode layer connected to either end of the GMR element. When a certain amount of current is provided to the GMR element through the electrode layer, a change in resistance of the GMR element is detected as a change in voltage. The GMR element and the electrode layer (except for electrode pads) are sealed with a protective layer, and the protective layer is generally composed of an inorganic film such as a SiO2 film.
Since the above GMR angle sensor can detect angles without being in contact with a movable portion (rotating portion), reliability and durability thereof are significantly higher than those of a contact-type angle sensor using sliding resistance. Therefore, application of the GMR angle sensor to an angle sensor for vehicles, for example, for detecting the steering angle of a steering wheel has been expected.
It is assumed that GMR angle sensors for vehicles are used in an environment in which the temperature varies over a wide range of at least about −40 to 160 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it is desired that the output characteristics of a GMR element do not fluctuate with change in the temperature in the operating environment, that is, the value of element resistance of the GMR element is stable regardless of the temperature in the operating environment. Examples of patent documents in the related art include Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 8-70148, 8-264861, 11-287669, 2002-107433, 2000-213957, 2000-180524, and 7-63505.
However, although an inorganic film such as a SiO2 film, which is used in known sensors, has excellent heat resistance, such an inorganic film does not satisfactorily meet the levels of moisture resistance and corrosion resistance required in the environment in which GMR sensors for vehicles operate. Therefore, in order to improve moisture resistance and corrosion resistance, it is believed that the use of an organic film is necessary.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 11-287669, 2002-107433, and 7-63505 describe that an organic film may be used as a protective film provided on a wafer. In these patent documents, a polyimide resin is used for the organic film.
However, since the curing temperature of polyimide resins is high, i.e., 300° C. or higher, if a polyimide resin were used to protect a GMR element, the GMR element would be exposed to a high temperature during curing of the resin after the formation of the film. Accordingly, characteristics of the GMR element may be degraded, and thus polyimide resins cannot be used to form protective films for GMR elements.
In order to improve heat resistance, moisture resistance, corrosion resistance, adhesiveness, and the like, not only the type of material of the protective film but also the structure of the protective film is important. However, the above patent documents do not describe the structure of such protective films in detail.


A connector including a housing, a magnet, and a holder. The holder is accommodated in the housing in a floatable manner and configured to hold the magnet. The holder includes a mounting wall. The mounting wall is disposed around and in spaced relation to the magnet and bonded to the magnet.

Technical Field
The invention relates to a connector and an electronic device having the same.
Background Art
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 57-125488 discloses a conventional connector. This connector includes a housing, a magnet, and a pair of terminals. The housing holds the magnet and the terminals. The magnet is attractable to a magnetic body of a connection object. The connector can be connected to a connection object by bringing the terminals into contact with terminals of the connection object with the magnet attracted to the magnetic body.

Connector having a floatable holder with a magnet


A cleaning appliance such as a vacuum cleaner includes a main body housing a motor and fan unit for generating a fluid flow. The main body also houses a removable pre-motor filter located upstream of the motor and fan and a removable post-motor filter located downstream of the motor and fan. It is beneficial to permit the user to be able to monitor the condition of both the pre-motor filter and the post-motor filter, and to remove and replace them as required, and so access to both filters may be provided. It is more important that the user checks the pre-motor filter as it gets dirtier than the post-motor filter. Therefore, the post-motor filter is not accessible or removable from the main body until the pre-motor filter is removed from the main body, by removing its housing.

Vacuum cleaners are designed to separate dirt and dust from an airflow. In a typical vacuum cleaner an airflow generator (for example, a motor and fan unit) generates an airflow which draws dirt- and dust-laden air into the vacuum cleaner through a dirty air inlet. The airflow then passes through a form of separating apparatus to remove dirt and dust from the airflow. Some vacuum cleaners make use of a porous bag through which the dirty air is sucked so that the dirt and dust is retained in the bag while cleaned air is exhausted to the atmosphere. In other vacuum cleaners, cyclonic separators are used to separate dirt and dust from the airflow.
Irrespective of the type of separating apparatus used, there is a risk of a small amount of dirt and dust passing through the separating apparatus and being carried to the airflow generator. It is undesirable for dirt and dust particles to pass through the fan of an airflow generator because the fan may become damaged or may operate less efficiently. In order to reduce this problem, some vacuum cleaners include a fine filter in an airflow path between the separating apparatus and the airflow generator. This filter is commonly known as a pre-motor filter and is used to extract fine dirt and dust particles remaining in the airflow after it has passed through the separating apparatus.
During normal operation of a vacuum cleaner, fine dirt and dust may be deposited on the pre-motor filter and, after a period of time, it could become blocked. Blockages reduce the efficiency at which a vacuum cleaner operates. Therefore, the pre-motor filter will occasionally need to be replaced or cleaned in order to maintain the performance of the vacuum cleaner. In order to allow cleaning or replacement of the pre-motor filter, it is common for such filters to be removable from a vacuum cleaner.
It is also known to provide a filter downstream of the airflow generator. This is known as a post-motor filter, and is typically employed to filter carbon dust which may be generated by brushes on the motor, as well as allergens and any microscopic particles of dirt and dust remaining in the airflow. After a period of use, the post-motor filter may need to be cleaned or replaced. Typically, the post-motor filter will need such attention much less frequently than does the pre-motor filter.
It is beneficial to permit the user to be able to monitor the condition of both the pre-motor filter and the post-motor filter, and to remove and replace them as required. To this end, access to both of the filters may be provided. However, it is more important that the user checks the pre-motor filter as it gets dirtier than the post-motor filter. By providing access to both filters, there is a risk that the user will check only the post-motor filter and neglect the pre-motor filter. This could lead to detrimental performance of the cleaner, and possibly even damage to the motor and fan.


Connecting device for a fluid supply system including a female connecting part and a male connecting part, wherein the female connecting part has a back support plate; a middle support plate; a front support plate; wherein the front support plate comprises a fluid outlet port intended to be connected to a corresponding connecting element of the male connecting part, and the back, middle and front support plates each comprising an outlet hole connected to the outlet port, wherein the middle support plate is fastened to the back support plate and the front support plate is fastened to the middle support plate; wherein the front support plate is configured to be able to move along a first axis, wherein the middle support plate is configured to be able to move along a second axis, the second axis being transverse to the first axis.

To supply air to a pneumatic device of an assembly station in the automotive industry, it is well-known to connect the pneumatic device to the air supply using a tube, the nozzle of which is connected to a fluid outlet port of the air supply. To that end, it is required to align the nozzle with the port. Such an alignment is usually performed by a human operator that can manually place the nozzle in front of the port with enough precision, controlling the alignment with his eyesight.
However, in the context of the automotive industry, most of the assembly work is now performed in an automated way, using robots or other remote-controlled devices, in an effort to increase productivity. It is therefore desirable to avoid requiring the input of a human operator to connect the nozzle to the port. To that end, the port should be configured so that the insertion of a nozzle can be performed without requiring a high level of precision in the alignment of the nozzle with the port.
To invention aims to solve this problem by providing a connecting device for a fluid supply system comprising a female connecting part and a male connecting part,
characterized in that the female connecting part comprises:                a back support plate;        a middle support plate;        a front support plate;
wherein said front support plate comprising a fluid outlet port intended to be connected to a corresponding connecting element of the male connecting part, and said back, middle and front support plate each comprising an outlet hole connected to the outlet part,
wherein the middle support plate is fastened to the back support plate and the front support plate is fastened to the middle support plate;
wherein the front support plate is configured to be able to move along a first axis,
wherein the middle support plate is configured to be able to move along a second axis, the second axis being transverse to the first axis.
Owing to the fact that the front and middle support plate can move along two axes that are transverse to each other, they become floating plates that can be displaced relative to the back support plate in two different directions, i.e. they can be twisted and/or slightly displaced so that the male part can be inserted in the fluid outlet port without requiring a precise alignment between them. In other words, a tolerance in the alignment is thus provided. This allows for a robot or a remote-controlled device to insert the male part in the fluid outlet port and perform the connection, making the involvement of a human operator unnecessary.


A plasma display panel that is capable of reducing power consumption and improving exhaust efficiency. The plasma display panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a plurality of discharge cells partitioned between the first substrate and the second substrate, a plurality of phosphor layers arranged within the plurality of discharge cells, a plurality of address electrodes extending in a first direction on the second substrate and a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes extending in a second direction that crosses the first direction, arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, arranged apart from the plurality of address electrodes, and protruding in a third direction away from the second substrate, wherein the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes face each other with a space therebetween, wherein each of the plurality of first electrodes and each of the plurality of second electrodes respectively include a plurality of expanded portions corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of discharge cells and extending in the third direction, and a plurality of connecting portions connecting ones of the plurality of expanded portions.

1. Field of the Invention
A plasma display panel (PDP) having a structure of opposed discharge and that is capable of reducing power consumption and improving exhaust efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
A PDP displays an image by using visible light generated when vacuum ultraviolet rays radiating from plasma generated by a gas discharge excite a phosphor material. The PDP enables extra-large screens of larger than 60 inches to be thinner than 10 cm. In addition, the PDP is a self-emissive display device like a cathode ray tube (CRT), and has excellent capacity for reproducing colors and without distortion at various viewing angles. The PDP has advantages of greater productivity and lower cost due to a simpler method of manufacturing than for a liquid crystal display (LCD), and is spotlighted as the next generation industrial flat panel display and home TV display.
The structure of the PDP has been developed for many years, since the 1970s, and the generally-known structure now is a three-electrode surface discharge PDP. The three-electrode surface discharge PDP includes one substrate that includes two electrodes arranged on the same surface, and another substrate that is arranged at a certain distance therefrom and includes address electrodes extending in a perpendicular direction. A discharge gas is filled in the space between the pair of substrates and the substrates are sealed against each other.
Generally, whether or not the discharge occurs is determined by the discharge of scan electrodes that are connected to each line and independently controlled, and address electrodes facing the scan electrodes. In addition, sustain discharge that displays brightness is generated by two electrode groups, namely sustain electrodes and scan electrodes, that are located on the same surface.
When a discharge occurs between the sustain electrodes and the scan electrodes, a voltage distribution between the sustain electrodes and the scan electrodes shows a distortion due to a space charge effect that occurs at dielectric layers around the sustain electrodes and the scan electrodes. More specifically, in an AC three-electrode surface discharge PDP, a sustain electrode and a scan electrode operate alternately as an anode and a cathode, and thus a voltage distribution between the anode and the cathode becomes distorted.
That is, a cathode sheath is formed around the cathode, an anode sheath is formed around the anode, and a positive column is formed therebetween. Most of the voltage that is applied between the anode and the cathode is consumed by the cathode sheath, part of the voltage is consumed in the anode sheath, and little voltage is consumed in the positive column. It is known that electron heating efficiency in the cathode sheath depends on a secondary electron emission factor of a protective layer (typically a MgO layer) formed on the surface of a dielectric layer, and most voltage that is applied is consumed to heat electrons in the positive column.
Vacuum ultraviolet rays that collide with phosphor and produce visible light are generated during a transition of xenon (Xe) gas in an excited state into a stable state, and the excited state of xenon is provided by collision of xenon gas with electrons. Therefore, in order to increase a ratio of voltage generating visible light to voltage applied (that is, radiation efficiency), the ratio of voltage contributing to a discharge of xenon gas to voltage applied (that is, discharge efficiency) should be improved, and in order to improve the discharge efficiency collisions of xenon gas with electrons, electron heating efficiency should be improved.
Although most of the applied voltage is consumed in the cathode sheath, the electron heating efficiency is low. In the positive column, little of the applied voltage is consumed and the electron heating efficiency is very high. In addition, the cathode sheath and the anode sheath occupy a nearly constant space regardless of a distance between the sustain electrode and the scan electrode. Therefore, in order to accomplish high discharge efficiency, the positive column should be enlarged, and in order to enlarge the positive column, a PDP that has an opposed discharge structure and that is capable of increasing the distance and the opposing area between the sustain electrode and the scan electrode is needed.
A typical PDP has low exhaust efficiency and thus has various problems. In other words, when the exhaust efficiency is low, impurities generated during a discharge continue to remain in discharge spaces. Therefore, what is needed is a design for a PDP that improves discharge efficiency and exhaust efficiency while being easy to make.

Plasma display panel and manufacturing method of the same


A method for forming a plurality of thin films from a microtechnological donar substrate with a view to recycling of the donor substrate, the method including exposing a face of the donor substrate by fracturing the donor substrate along a layer weakened by implantation and placing the exposed face in a bath and applying ultrasound with a frequency of between 10 kHz and 80 kHz under conditions suitable for causing cavitation along the exposed face. In the case of a silicon donor substrate, the bath is exposed to an ultrasound power per unit volume of greater than 5 W/I, at a power of greater than 10 W with a duration of greater than 1 minute, and at a temperature between 1° C. and 100° C.

The formation of thin layers from a donor substrate is a conventional step in microtechnology. Among the main techniques for such formation, the method known by the name "Smart Cut™" may be mentioned.
The method "Smart Cut™" makes it possible to detach a thin film and transfer it onto a stiffener by the following steps:                1. bombarding a face of a donor substrate with gas species (H or a rare gas) in order to implant these ions in a sufficient concentration to cause the creation of a buried layer weakened by the presence of microcavities,        2. placing this face of the substrate in intimate contact with a stiffener and        3. fracturing the layer of microcavities by applying a heat treatment and/or a detachment stress (for example inserting a blade between the two substrates and/or traction and/or flexion and/or shear forces, and/or the application of ultrasound or microwaves with an expediently selected power and frequency).
Conventionally, in order to form a plurality of thin layers from such a donor substrate, the remainder of the substrate obtained at the end of a cycle is recycled by using this remainder as the donor substrate for a new cycle of steps 1-3 above. Thus, using the same donor substrate, a plurality of thin films are transferred onto different stiffeners.
In practice, the thickness of the thin layer (the term thin film is sometimes used) is so small, typically less than a few microns, that its detachment from the donor substrate resembles peeling.
In fact, the presence of a stiffener is not always required; in particular, a stiffener may be omitted when the thickness of the thin layer is sufficient for it to be self-supporting. In other words, the presence of a stiffener serves mainly to facilitate the handling of a thin layer which has just been detached from a donor substrate.
However, with the trend to constantly reduce the thickness of thin layers, the presence of a handle substrate (used for stiffening or handling) is more and more desirable.
It will be understood that the remainder obtained by applying an aforementioned cycle to a donor substrate can be recycled only on condition that the surface of the face uncovered during the preceding cycle has a sufficient quality to allow it to be fixed to a new handle substrate.
For various reasons, however, the step of fracture along the buried weakened layer leads to detachment of only a part of the thin film; this is because the film locally remains integral with the donor substrate in zones referred to as non-transferred zones, thus forming elevations with a thickness varying between 10 and 1000 nm (in general substantially equal to the thickness of the thin film). Recycling of the donor substrate then requires particular steps of planarization by mechanical polishing and/or chemical attack.
The existence of such non-transferred zones is due to the fact that, ideally, step 2 of placing the donor substrate (previously implanted) in intimate contact with the stiffener should be carried out on plane and perfectly clean surfaces. The problem is that, when carrying it out, this intimate contacting cannot be achieved over the entire surface of the substrates:                1) first, the donor substrate (as well as the handle substrates forming stiffeners) are typically wafers whose edges are chamfered. This problem of wafer edge non-bonding is encountered for all the materials used in microtechnology (Si, Ge, GaAs, GaN, sapphire, SiGe, LiTaO3, LiNbO3, SiC, InP, and the like) and for all wafer diameters (typically from 5 cm to 30 cm, in particular from 2 to 12 inches),        2) furthermore, in the case of substrates or layers which are structured intentionally (for example with hollow/relief patterns produced by photolithography) or unintentionally (for example by growth defects in the case of epitaxial layers, or by defects associated with the deposition of a layer on the initial substrate), the patterns or defects "hollowed" on the surface locally give rise to non-bonded zones (abbreviated to NBZ),        3) lastly, in the event of ineffective cleaning, the presence of particles on the bonding surface also gives rise to non-bonded zones.
During the fracture step, when the dimension of the NBZs is large compared with the thickness of the film to be transferred (for example a ratio [lateral NBZ dimension]/[film thickness] of the order of 10), the thin film locally remains integral with the initially implanted substrate. These are referred to as non-transferred zones (abbreviated to NTZ).
FIG. 1 schematically represents a donor substrate 1 which is attached by molecular adhesion to a handle substrate 2.
The bonding of the two substrates 1 and 2 is carried out by means of bonding layers 11 and 21 formed on the free faces of the two substrates.
These two substrates (here "wafers") are chamfered at their peripheries denoted 12 and 22. Furthermore, as a consequence of cleaning which has not been completely effective, a particle 3 is trapped in the interface S between the bonding layers so that, at the position of this particle, the two substrates are not bonded to one another (of course, depending on the materials selected for the two substrates, it is possible to omit the bonding layers); in the example considered, the two substrates are made of silicon and the bonding layers are made of silicon oxide (this may involve the thermal oxide layer naturally present on the surface of the substrate, but it may also involve a thicker layer formed intentionally).
The donor substrate has been weakened beforehand by implanting gas species in a layer 13 buried at a depth, under the surface belonging to the interface, which determines the thickness of the future thin layer which is intended to be transferred from the donor substrate to the handle substrate; the reference 14 denotes the layer lying between the buried layer and the bonding interface, detachment of which will give the thin layer.
FIG. 2 schematizes the fact that, owing to the lack of bonding at the edges of the substrates (because they are chamfered) and at the position of the particle, the layer 14 is not detached everywhere from the donor substrate 1: there remain edge portions A and A′ and an island B, corresponding to the position of the particle. In these FIGS. 1 and 2, of course, the thickness of the layer 14 is highly exaggerated in comparison with the dimensions of the particles or chamfered edges.
In practice, these non-bonded zones lead to very local lifting or detachment (over dimensions of a few μm2) of the thin layer, in the form of blisters or exfoliated zones.
The dimensions of the non-transferred zones depend not only on the dimensions of the non-bonded zones but also on the adhesion force (this force depends in particular on the properties of the surfaces placed in contact, but also on the operating conditions of a possible heat treatment during or after the implantation).
FIG. 2 clearly demonstrates the need, for recycling, to provide a treatment of the surface of the substrate which has been uncovered by detaching the layer 14 in order to give the thin layer 4, this treatment aiming to planarize this surface in order to eliminate the elevations formed by the non-transferred zones from it.
Examples of planarization steps are described particularly in the published European Patent Application Nos. EP1427002 and EP1427001 in relation to the periphery of the substrates where a neck remains, consisting of the peripheral part of the layer which has to form the thin layer. It is thus recommended, in particular, to apply a planarization treatment localized at the periphery, comprising polishing or the application of a mechanical pressure, or a selective chemical attack or an ion attack (for example by an ion beam). As a variant, it is recommended to separate the neck by spraying a jet of fluid onto this neck, or by projecting a laser beam onto this neck, preferably parallel to the exposed surface, or by applying a shock wave to the rear face of the substrate. This treatment localized at the periphery may be followed by a planarization treatment applied to the entire surface.
It will, however, be understood that such localized treatments may be complex to carry out.

Method for the ultrasonic planarization of a substrate, from one surface of which a buried weakened layer has been uncovered by fracture

Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives


A wireless patient monitoring apparatus uses an optical signal to transmit information from a transducer to a photodetector of an optical receiver. The photodetector converts the optical signal to an electrical signal which is then provided to monitoring and analysis instrumentation. Signals which are indicative of physiological functions are modulated onto a carrier, and the resulting modulated signal is provided, in turn, to the optical source, which may be a light-emitting diode (LED) which emits in the infrared band. A self-contained portable transducer assembly which is strapped or otherwise secured to the patient may house the transducer, modulator and optical source, and is adapted for underwater use. Optionally, the optical source can be positioned remote from the assembly. In a fetal monitor implementation, both wireless ultrasound and tocodynamometer transducers are provided.

The present invention relates to patient monitoring apparatus such as fetal monitoring apparatus, and more particularly to a novel wireless patient monitoring apparatus that uses optical signals such as those within the infrared band.
Apparatus for the real-time monitoring of physiological conditions in medical patients is well known. Examples of such apparatus include electrocardiogram recorders, heart rate monitors, electroencephalograph apparatus, maternal uterine activity monitors, and various other noninvasive medical instrumentation. Technology for monitoring such physiological functions includes ultrasound and tocodynamometer (TOCO) transducers. One type of instrumentation that benefits from the use of both ultrasound and tocodynamometer transducers is a fetal monitor, such as the Model IM77 Intrapartum Fetal Monitor manufactured by Advanced Medical Systems, Inc. of Hamden, Conn., U.S.A. This fetal monitor measures and records maternal and fetal activity during pregnancy through labor and delivery. Data on the fetal heart rate (FHR) and uterine activity (UA) is displayed on a front panel and simultaneously recorded on a trace (strip chart) recorder. FHR can be measured externally using Doppler ultrasound. Uterine activity can be measured externally using a TOCO transducer that incorporates, e.g., a strain gauge.
A disadvantage with prior patient monitoring systems, such as fetal monitors, is that the various transducers used to detect physiological functions required electrical cables in order to communicate the transducer signals to a console containing the user interface, analysis circuitry and output devices (e.g., strip chart recorder) used by medical professionals. Often, such cables become tangled, interfere with other medical procedures, and typically get in the way of the patient wearing them. Moreover, the need to be connected by cables limits the mobility of the patient and can cause discomfort. Additionally, wired transducers which are connected to a console that contains potentially dangerous electrical currents cannot be used in underwater deliveries or aqua therapy due to safety concerns. Water therapy is becoming increasingly common as it is believed to be beneficial to the laboring mother in alleviating some of the pain, and in speeding infant descent.
Past attempts to overcome the problems inherent with cabled transducers have focused on using telemetry (i.e., radio frequency signals) to provide wireless transducers. Although RF telemetry is advantageous in certain respects (such as a long range of operation which facilitates patient mobility), it also has various disadvantages in certain applications. For example, where different patients are being monitored in the same hospital, each monitor will have to operate at a different frequency to avoid conflict. Telemetry is also relatively costly to implement due to various transmitter and receiver requirements and the fact that government approval (e.g., by the Federal Communications Commission--FCC) is typically required. Telemetry fetal monitoring systems are also not well suited for aqua therapy.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a wireless patient monitoring system that avoids the disadvantages of cabled transducers. Such apparatus should be compact, compatible with fetal monitors, easy to use, and reliable.
The present invention provides a wireless patient monitoring system enjoying the aforementioned and other advantages.

Wireless optical patient monitoring apparatus


A protective cover for the head of a golf club having a main body formed a single piece cut from a sheet of foam rubber material, and a stretchable nylon or polyester fabric is bonded to the opposing surfaces of the foam rubber sheet. The single piece of sheet foam rubber material is folded along a substantially straight first edge and stitches along second and third edges to form a cover having a profile similar to that of the club head which it is to cover. The cover has an opening at the top thereof. The opening can be expanded in size to fit over the head of a club. The cover is also preferably equipped with a pocket. The pocket is sized to received a turf comb, which can be used to dress the grass on which the participants ball rests. The turf comb may be connected with a line or string to an anchor point within the pocket to reduce the possibility that the comb may fall from the pocket and become lost. In addition the cover may also be equipped with a male snap fastener which mates with a female snap fastener attached to the pocket.

This invention relates to equipment used for the sport of golf and, more particularly, to covers used to protect the heads of golf clubs of both the putter and driver types.
The use of padded covers for the protection of the striking heads of golf clubs is well known. The use of such covers is particularly desirable for xe2x80x9cironsxe2x80x9d, as they are particularly susceptible to mutually-inflicted scratches and nicks which occur as multiple clubs are transported together. Though the ideal cover should be easily installed on the club head, remain securely in place once installed, be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and fit a wide range of different sized club heads, the many club head covers available in the marketplace reflect tradeoffs among those ideal characteristics.
Certain club head cover designs have focused on the various methos of retaining the cover in place on the head of the club. Some designs, such as those of U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,815 to Ashlin and U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,222 to Gaffney, rely on hook and loop fasteners. Each of these covers is somewhat complex, requiring the assembly of multiple components.
Certain club head covers and related innovations have been designed to address a particular problem, such as that of identifying a particular club while the cover is installed on the head thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,338 to Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,293 to Serpa, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,050 describe club head covers that are typical of this genre. The Jones head cover is equipped with a label plate holder into which label plates may be releasably locked therein. The Serpa head cover includes an uncovered aperture for viewing club head identification markings. The Suk cover includes a transparent window for viewing the club head identification markings.
Several club head covers have been fabricated from a resilient material such as neoprene. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,195,568 and 5,105,863, both to Cirone, disclose such a covers. The snug fit provided by the elastic material secures the covers to the club head.
Another cover design, described by Spears in U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,769, uses a fastener attached to a flexible flap-like cover. Another cover, disclosed by Borenstein in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,655, utilizes snaps to retain the cover on the head.
One-piece molded covers are disclosed in both U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,799 to Hoyt and U.S. Pat. 5,415,213 to Diener, et al.
Other club head covers have incorporated functions and/or accessories related to the game of golf. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,559 discloses a head cover which incorporates a rake which can be used to groom the surface of a sand trap.
The present invention provides a protective cover for the head of a golf club. The design, though applicable to all types of golf clubs, is primarily designed for use on putter clubs. The cover has a main body formed from a single piece cut from a sheet of foam rubber material. Because of its great elasticity, strength, stability and resistance to damage from ultraviolet radiation and weathering, neoprene rubber is the preferred compound from which the foam is manufactured. Nevertheless, polybutadiene rubber, a highly elastic rubber having characteristics similar to natural rubber, may be substituted for neoprene. For a preferred embodiment of the invention, a stretchable nylon or polyester fabric is bonded to the opposing surfaces of the foam rubber sheet. The single piece of sheet foam rubber material is folded along a substantially straight first edge and stitched along opposite second and third edges to form a cover having a profile similar to that of the club head which it is to cover. Generally speaking, the cover has somewhat the same profile as a baby bootie. Like the bootie, the cover has an opening at the top thereof. The opening can be expanded in size to fit over the head of a club. Because of the elasticity of the material from which the cover is made, and because the cover is slightly smaller than the head which it covers, the cover will conform to the shape of the club head.
The cover may also be equipped with a pocket. The pocket may be formed from the same type of material as the cover, and may be either adhesively bonded or sewn to the cover. The pocket is sized to receive a turf comb, which can be used to dress the grass on which the participants ball rests. The turf comb may be connected with a line or string to an anchor point within the pocket to reduce the possibility that the comb may fall from the pocket and become lost. In addition, the cover may also be equipped with a ball marker. For a preferred embodiment of the invention, the marker is a male snap fastener which mates with a female snap fastener that is attached to the pocket.


A defibrillation electrode apparatus which provides defibrillating, pacing, and sensing functions with the use of fewer conductors. Conductor requirements are minimized by solid-state multiplexing that is accomplished at the distal end of the apparatus.

This invention relates to electromedical apparatus and particularly to implantable, transvenous catheter-type electrode devices. The apparatus of this invention is particularly useful for cardiac defibrillation in conjunction with an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD).
Defibrillating the human heart is accomplished by applying an electrical waveform to the cardiac muscle with appropriate electrodes, causing the cessation of the rapid uncoordinated contractions of the heart (fibrillation), and a restoration of normal beating of the heart. In the past, various electrode devices and/or methods have been used and proposed for defibrillation. However, these devices are generally complex, difficult to construct and utilize, and are inefficient to use.
A well-functioning, unitary defibrillation electrode catheter should accomplish three functions. The first is that it should provide a high surface area, low impedance current path for the high energy defibrillation pulse, which may be up to 750 volts. Secondly, it should provide a pair of pacing electrodes which have a small surface area to also deliver a low energy pacing pulse of approximately 5 volts. The small surface area is desired so that pacing may be accomplished at a high local current density resulting in lower overall energy usage. The low energy usage of the pacing function is of concern since pacing may be required to proceed uninterrupted for many years. The third function of the defibrillation electrode is sensing. A pair of small surface area electrodes, commonly referred to in the art as a bipolar pair, is used to sense a local differential voltage representing the electrogram in the ventricle of the heart. Ideally, the bipolar pair of electrodes additionally serve as pacing electrodes.
Besides providing for the above three basic functions, the unitary electrode lead must also prevent possible detrimental interactions. Thus, the electrode lead must keep the pacing pulse from being shunted by the defibrillation electrodes. The electrode catheter must also keep the sensed electrocardiographic signals from being corrupted by signals from the large defibrillation electrodes. Finally, the electrode lead must keep high defibrillation currents from flowing through the smaller pacing and sensing electrodes which could polarize them and interfere with their ability to properly sense the electrogram after a defibrillation pulse.
The current state of the art includes electrode apparatus having four separate electrodes, distally disposed, each linked to a separate conductor or lead, and each of which runs the length of the apparatus to a proximal connection end. Both co-axial and multi-lumen configurations of such leads exist. However, all of such four lead configurations present limitations in terms of minimizing apparatus diameter or profile. And, since such large apparatus are used intravascularly in human beings, this limitation is critical.
Despite the need for a electrode apparatus which overcomes the limitations and problems of the prior art, none insofar as is known has been proposed or developed. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which overcomes the limitations and short comings of the prior art. Particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved transvenous alefibrillation catheter apparatus which is safe, reliable, and inexpensive to manufacture. A further object of this invention is to provide a low profile, minimal diameter electrode apparatus. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a full function defibrillation electrode apparatus which utilizes not more than three, and preferably two conductive leads. A final object of this invention is to provide and electrode apparatus in which lead conductor requirements are minimized by solid state multiplexing which is accomplished at the distal end of the apparatus.

Multiplexed defibrillation electrode apparatus


A method and system of recovering a system that has experienced a fault includes a backup device to enable access of a network through the interface in response to the fault. The system includes a main operational portion that controls operation of the system under normal conditions. However, if a fault occurs, then the backup device can be selected to take over control of the system so that data can be retrieved from a backup storage to recover the system. The backup device includes software and/or hardware components to enable the system to access a network even though the main operational portion may not be functioning properly.

Improvements in technology have provided users with a wide variety of devices to perform various tasks. Examples of such devices include desktop computer systems, portable computer systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, and so forth. The devices are relatively sophisticated devices that include processing elements (e.g., microprocessors or microcontrollers) and storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives, dynamic random access memorys or DRAMs, and so forth).
A typical device includes an operating system (e.g., a WINDOWS® operating system, a UNIX operating system, a LINUX operating system, etc.) that is loaded when the device is started. Application software is also loaded into the device to provide useful functions for users. Example applications include word processing applications, electronic mail applications, web browsing applications, calendar and address book applications, and so forth.
Despite improvements in technology, failures in various components of a device remains a persistent problem. When a component of a device, such as a hard disk drive, fails, the user may be left with an inoperational device. One option for the user is to take the device to a repair shop where an attempt may be made to recover the failed component, such as the failed hard disk drive. In some cases, data on the hard disk drives may be recovered so that loss of data is minimized. However, in many other cases, the data stored on the hard disk drive is lost, unless the user has diligently backed up the data.
Conventionally, recovery of the failed component such as the hard disk drive is an arduous process that often is frustrating for the user. A need thus exists for an improved method and apparatus for recovering a device to an operational state after a failure has occurred.

Recovering a system that has experienced a fault


A method of polishing semiconductor wafers. The method includes spacing the polishing pad from the center of the wafer by a selected offset distance (406) and translating the polishing pad in a manner wherein the translation speed varies as the pad is moved across the surface of the wafer (414). A method (FIGS. 7 and 9) for calibrating a polishing apparatus includes iteratively selecting an offset distance, performing a polish, inspecting the resulting removal profile, and repeating until a desired characteristic (FIG. 6C) in the removal profile is attained.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of electronic devices. More particularly, the invention provides a technique including a method and device for planarizing a film of material of an article such as a semiconductor wafer. However, it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability; it can also be applied to flat panel displays, hard disks, raw wafers, and other objects that require a high degree of planarity.
The fabrication of integrated circuit devices often begins by producing semiconductor wafers cut from an ingot of single crystal silicon which is formed by pulling a seed from a silicon melt rotating in a crucible. The ingot is then sliced into individual wafers using a diamond cutting blade. Following the cutting operation, at least one surface (process surface) of the wafer is polished to a relatively flat, scratch-free surface. The polished surface area of the wafer is first subdivided into a plurality of die locations at which integrated circuits (IC) are subsequently formed. A series of wafer masking and processing steps are used to fabricate each IC. Thereafter, the individual dice are cut or scribed from the wafer and individually packaged and tested to complete the device manufacture process.
During IC manufacturing, the various masking and processing steps typically result in the formation of topographical irregularities on the wafer surface. For example, topographical surface irregularities are created after metallization, which includes a sequence of blanketing the wafer surface with a conductive metal layer and then etching away unwanted portions of the blanket metal layer to form a metallization interconnect pattern on each IC. This problem is exacerbated by the use of multilevel interconnects.
A common surface irregularity in a semiconductor wafer is known as a step. A step is the resulting height differential between the metal interconnect and the wafer surface where the metal has been removed. A typical VLSI chip on which a first metallization layer has been defined may contain several million steps, and the whole wafer may contain several hundred ICs.
Consequently, maintaining wafer surface planarity during fabrication is important. Photolithographic processes are typically pushed close to the limit of resolution in order to create maximum circuit density. Typical device geometries call for line widths on the order of 0.5 xcexcM. Since these geometries are photolithographically produced, it is important that the wafer surface be highly planar in order to accurately focus the illumination radiation at a single plane of focus to achieve precise imaging over the entire surface of the wafer. A wafer surface that is not sufficiently planar, will result in structures that are poorly defined, with the circuits either being nonfunctional or, at best, exhibiting less than optimum performance. To alleviate these problems, the wafer is xe2x80x9cplanarizedxe2x80x9d at various points in the process to minimize non-planar topography and its adverse effects. As additional levels are added to multilevel-interconnection schemes and circuit features are scaled to submicron dimensions, the required degree of planarization increases. As circuit dimensions are reduced, interconnect levels must be globally planarized to produce a reliable, high density device. Planarization can be implemented in either the conductor or the dielectric layers.
In order to achieve the degree of planarity required to produce high density integrated circuits, chemical-mechanical planarization processes (xe2x80x9cCMPxe2x80x9d) are being employed with increasing frequency. A conventional rotational CMP apparatus includes a wafer carrier for holding a semiconductor wafer. A soft, resilient pad is typically placed between the wafer carrier and the wafer, and the wafer is generally held against the resilient pad by a partial vacuum. The wafer carrier is designed to be continuously rotated by a drive motor. In addition, the wafer carrier typically is also designed for transverse movement. The rotational and transverse movement is intended to reduce variability in material removal rates over the surface of the wafer. The apparatus further includes a rotating platen on which is mounted a polishing pad. The platen is relatively large in comparison to the wafer, so that during the CMP process, the wafer may be moved across the surface of the polishing pad by the wafer carrier. A polishing slurry containing chemically-reactive solution, in which are suspended abrasive particles, is deposited through a supply tube onto the surface of the polishing pad.
CMP is advantageous because it can be performed in one step, in contrast to past planarization techniques which are complex, involving multiple steps. Moreover, CMP has been demonstrated to maintain high material removal rates of high surface features and low removal rates of low surface features, thus allowing for uniform planarization. CMP can also be used to remove different layers of material and various surface defects. CMP thus can improve the quality and reliability of the ICs formed on the wafer.
Chemical-mechanical polishing is a well developed planarization technique. The underlying chemistry and physics of the method is understood. However, it is commonly accepted that it still remains very difficult to obtain smooth results near the center of the wafer. The result is a planarized wafer whose center region may or may not be suitable for subsequent processing. Sometimes, therefore, it is not possible to fully utilize the entire surface of the wafer. This reduces yield and subsequently increases the per-chip manufacturing cost. Ultimately, the consumer suffers from higher prices.
It is therefore desirable to maximize the useful surface of a semiconductor wafer to increase chip yield. What is needed is an improvement of the CMP technique to improve the degree of global planarity that can be achieved using CMP.
According to the present invention, a technique for improving chemical mechanical polishing (xe2x80x9cCMPxe2x80x9d) is provided. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention provides a polishing method for providing uniform removal of material from the surface of a substrate.
In accordance with the invention, a method for polishing semiconductor wafers includes selecting a pad offset distance and positioning a polishing pad relative to a wafer on the basis of the pad offset distance. The wafer is then polished by contacting the pad against the wafer and translating the pad across the wafer surface. The pad is translated along a curvlinear path defined by the traversal of the pad axis. The path has a minimum separation distance from the axis of rotation of the wafer substantially equal to the offset distance. The path can be arbitrary, so long as the offset distance is not violated. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the path follows a linear path parallel to a line through the center of the wafer; the linear path being separated from the centerline by the offset distance. During the polish operation, the translational velocity of the pad is varied in accordance with a velocity profile corresponding to the selected offset distance. The wafer and the pad each is rotated in a direction opposite the other.
Further in accordance with the invention, the pad offset distance is determined by selecting a first offset distance. The pad is positioned relative to a test wafer based on this first offset distance. A polish of the test wafer is performed. The pad is translated at a constant velocity across the wafer. A removal profile of the resulting polished test wafer is then produced. Based on the characteristics of the removal profile, a second offset distance is selected and the process is repeated on a second test wafer. The subsequent pad offset distance may be greater than or less than the previous offset distance. When the desired removal profile is achieved, the corresponding offset distance is stored. A velocity profile is then generated based on the shape of the removal profile. Thus, in a subsequent polish of a production wafer, the polishing pad is positioned based on the offset distance and translated across the wafer in accordance with the velocity profile to produce a high quality polish exhibiting global uniform planarity of the wafer surface.
The present invention achieves these benefits in the context of known process technology and known techniques in the mechanical arts. However, a further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the latter portions of the specification and attached drawings.

Method for chemical mechanical polishing


An inline transfer system and method are provided for the secure transport and efficient processing of substrates such as glass substrates or semiconductor devices. A rotary conveyor is provided that includes a plurality of air nozzles which inject air to move a substrate above the plurality of air nozzles without the plurality of air nozzles making contact with the substrate. At least two independent processing units are operably coupled to the rotary conveyor. Advantageously, because a plurality of substrates may be processed in parallel, greater efficiency and flexibility are provided. Because the substrate can be moved without physical contact between the structure of the air nozzles and the substrate, the transfer is secure, clean, and efficient.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inline transfer system and method, and more particularly to an inline transfer system and method for processing glass substrates.
(b) Description of Related Art
In general, a transfer system operates to move a transfer body by placing the transfer body onto a conveyor and sliding the conveyor using an operating roller connected to an operating motor. The conventional conveyor system uses a motor for power to move a body and a chain, a gear, or a belt for the purpose of power transfer.
The transfer system can be utilized to transfer glass substrates in manufacturing liquid crystal displays ("LCDs") in one example. An LCD is one of the most popular flat panel displays, which includes two panels provided with two kinds of electrodes generating an electric field and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by controlling light transmittance, and the control of the light transmittance is performed by applying voltages to the electrodes to generate electric fields which change the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules.
The two panels of an LCD are transferred to the processing device of each manufacturing process using the transfer system to complete an LCD.
Conventionally, a plurality of glass substrates is transferred to the processing device of each manufacturing process using a cassette, a stocker, and an indexer. In other words, the transfer system for a LCD manufacturing process receives a plurality of glass substrates to the cassette, stores them in the stocker, and carries them in and out to the processing device of each manufacturing process using a robot indexer.
However, as glass substrates are increasing in size, a transfer system using the cassette, stocker, and indexer becomes more difficult to use because a typical cassette, stocker, or indexer transfers a plurality of glass substrates, and thus an existing cassette, stocker, or indexer must be made larger to transfer substrates of a larger size. Furthermore, several disadvantages occur in a typical transfer system with larger glass substrates, such as inefficiency, lower yield due to breaks and contamination, and lack of flexibility. Thus, there is a need in the art for an efficient and flexible system and method for processing substrates.


A modular assembly for a heat exchanger is provided. The modular assembly includes a support assembly configured to couple to a base section of a hood structure of the heat exchanger. The support assembly includes a first slant surface and a second slant surface configured to provide support to at least a portion of the heat exchanger. The support assembly also includes a fluid reservoir integrated with and extending from the support assembly, the fluid reservoir is configured to store a fluid circulated through the heat exchanger.

A heat exchanger, such, as a radiator is associated with a cooling system of an engine. A size of the radiator of the engine increases with an increase in size of the engine. The cooling system also includes a tank that may store cooling water. Further, large sized radiators require a sturdy support structure in order to hold the radiator and the tank. The tank is generally externally attached and bolted onto the support structure of the radiator.
In some applications, for example in a locomotive, it is desirable that the radiators are able to drain completely into the tank in order to prevent freeze damage. Thus, the tank has a large volume that occupies considerable compartment space. Additionally, in such systems, a weight of the tank is considerably high, owing to the tank adding to an overall weight of the system.
U.S. Published Application Number 2004/0025813 describes a front end structure and radiator support of a vehicle incorporating a sight glass for a reserve tank. The front end structure of the vehicle comprises a radiator support fixed on a vehicle body at the front end of the vehicle and to which at least a radiator is attached, a tank which is arranged in the front end of the vehicle, and behind the radiator support and accumulates fluid inside. Sight glasses by which a worker can see the level of cooling water, or the like, remaining in the tanks from the front side of the vehicle is also mounted on the radiator support.


Systems and methods for remotely verifying an identity of a minor to open an account at a financial institution for the minor are provided. A method includes receiving, by a financial institution computing system associated with the financial institution, a request from an adult computing device associated with the adult to open the account; remotely verifying, by a verification circuit, an identity of the adult based on received information regarding the adult; receiving, by the financial institution computing system, information relating to the minor from a minor computing device associated with the minor; remotely verifying, by the verification circuit, the identity of the minor based on the received information relating to the minor; and opening, by an account opening circuit associated with the financial institution computing system, an account on behalf of the minor.

Know your customer, also known as know your client or, "KYC," is the process of an entity (e.g., a business) verifying the identity of its clients to prevent the business from being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by fraudsters. Know your customer processes are employed by companies of all sizes for the purpose of ensuring their customers, agents, consultants, or distributors are for example anti-bribery compliant, and are actually who the person/customer claims to be. Banks, insurers, export creditors and other financial institutions are increasingly demanding that customers provide detailed identity information to fulfill KYC requirements. Providing of this information is usually required to be done in-person with a representative of the financial institution. This may be potentially burdensome to some individuals.

Systems and methods for digitally knowing and verifying youths


Organic group modified silica particles modified by at least one of an alkyl group of a carbon number of 1-6 and a substituted alkyl group of a carbon number of 1-6; a method of producing such modified silica particles comprising the steps of preparing an alcohol solution containing an alkoxy silane having at least one of an alkyl group of a carbon number of 1-6 and a substituted alkyl group of a carbon number of 1-6, and ethylsilicate, mixing an alcohol ammonia water solution into this alcohol solution under stirring, and allowing the alkoxy group to hydrolyze completely; and a resin composition consisting of such modified silica particles and a resin.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to silica particles modified by at least one type of organic group.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Silica particles are widely used as filler in resin compositions employed as sealants in integrated circuit devices (ICs) and other electronic components.
The steady increase in the packing density of ICs in recent years has led to demand for sealants with outstanding thermal shock resistance and toughness. In response to this demand, efforts have been made to improve the quality of the silica particles used as filler in these sealants. Attempts have also been made to improve the toughness and other properties of silica particles for use as filler in various types of resin-type composite materials other than sealants. Up to now, however, no pronounced improvement in the properties of resin compositions has actually been realized through improvement of the properties of the silica particles used as filler therein.
Through his studies in connection with a particular process used for the production of spherical silica particles, namely the sol-gel process, the inventors discovered that the addition of an alkoxy-silane having a specific organic functional results in the production of silica particles having a specific organic modifier group and that these silica particles dramatically improve the properties of resin products in which they are used as filler.

Method of producing organic group modified silica particles

Agency of Industrial Science & Technology

Ministry of International Trade & Industry


A media substrate for imaging includes a front and back surface defining a thickness. The front receives imaging fluid and absorbs it. The back has scoring lines extending into the thickness that limit curling of the media substrate as the absorbed fluid dries on the front. Patterns and locations of scoring lines as well as their depth into the thickness are noted. Imaging and scoring stations in an imaging device are still other embodiments as are cutting features for scoring.

The art of printing with micro-fluid technology is relatively well known. A permanent or semi-permanent ejection head has access to local or remote supplies of fluid (e.g., ink). The fluid ejects from an ejection zone to a print media in a pattern of pixels corresponding to images being printed. Fluid absorbed in the media dries. It is known to cause curling.
In simple terms, curling is a distortion in which the edges or corners of the media roll or migrate toward the printed side of the media and away from the non-printed side. It results in a tube or scroll shape that prevents convenient stacking of multiple sheets. It also makes difficult the reading or displaying of images on the sheets. It can also make it difficult to print precisely, if the curling begins during printing; changing the print gap before printing is complete.
Remedies to prevent curling are plentiful in the art. They include double-sided printing, steaming, and hot plates to iron curls. Other remedies include formulating anti-curling inks. All, however, add complexity and/or expense to imaging devices and ink formulas.
A need exists to more simply prevent curling. The need extends not only to keeping simple the imaging device and its ink, but to inexpensively and quickly minimizing curling during the imaging process. Additional benefits and alternatives are also sought when devising solutions.

Scored media substrate and curling remedy for micro-fluid applications


Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for minimizing latency in a implementation where a peripheral device is used as a capture device and a compute device such as a GPU processes the captured data in a computing environment. In embodiments, a peripheral device and GPU are tightly integrated and communicate at a hardware/firmware level. Peripheral device firmware can determine and store compute instructions specifically for the GPU, in a command queue. The compute instructions in the command queue are understood and consumed by firmware of the GPU. The compute instructions include but are not limited to generating low latency visual feedback for presentation to a display screen, and detecting the presence of gestures to be converted to OS messages that can be utilized by any application.

A computing device generally includes a processing unit (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), accelerated processing units (APU), or the like), system memory controlled by an operating system (OS), and a display device. Users of the computing device demand high quality graphics and real-time (i.e., ideally zero latency) interactions to be rendered on a display and increasingly faster performance of application programs executed on the computing device. The computing device may be embodied in a traditional personal computer (desktop or notebook), mobile device (tablet, smart phone, e-reader) or embedded in a larger system (e.g., a kiosk, vehicle, etc.)
A peripheral device (e.g., a camera module) connected to the computing device relies on the CPU and system memory to interact with the rest of the computing environment. A peripheral device driver is a software application program running on the CPU that is specific to each peripheral device, and allows the peripheral device to communicate with the rest of the computing device.
In one implementation a peripheral device is used as a capture device and a compute device processes the captured data in an APU environment. An application program executed on the computing device in the implementation incurs significant latency or time delay, e.g., in rendering an image on the display. In some usage scenarios, the latency experienced by users may not meet users' expectations for a real-time, low-latency performance. The excessive latency is not acceptable to users, and needs to be reduced.
One existing solution of a peripheral device with reduced latency, is a mouse device. Mouse-device data (i.e., user movement as input) is input to the computing device and the response in the form of a cursor is output to a display. To meet user expectations, specialized motion input-device support is added to display hardware which can be used within an OS to reduce the latency perceived by a user on the display. Nonetheless, the actual processing of motion input activities by software applications occurs with higher latencies.

Minimizing latency from peripheral devices to compute engines


A system for waste system pressure management is disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the system includes an electronically controlled valve and a controller communicatively coupled to the electronically controlled valve. The electronically controlled valve is coupled to a suction path of an aircraft waste system. The controller is configured to determine a pressure differential between an aircraft cabin and a vacuum source for the suction path. The controller is further configured to generate one or more signals to actuate the electronically controlled valve from a first position to a second position to regulate a pressure in the suction path when the pressure differential between the aircraft cabin and the vacuum source exceeds a threshold pressure differential. In embodiments, the electronically controlled valve is configured to allow more airflow through the electronically controlled valve in the second position than in the first position.

Aircraft vacuum waste systems are often large centralized systems that use the differential pressure between the interior of an aircraft cabin and the atmosphere outside of the aircraft cabin to generate suction during flight. On ground, these systems may employ a vacuum blower for suction. Noise generated during a toilet flush increases when pressure differential across the toilet increases. This increased flush noise may be markedly increased when an aircraft is at cruising altitudes (i.e., when the waste system relies on a pressure differential between the aircraft cabin and the exterior atmosphere for suction) versus when the aircraft is on ground (i.e., when the waste system relies on a vacuum blower for suction). The increased flush noise may be unpleasant and/or disruptive to passengers. Thus, systems for waste system pressure management are needed so that the suction pressure, hence the flush noise, can be controlled.


A lubricating distribution apparatus for a rotating shaft assembly has a shaft member rotatably supported in a pair of spaced housings. Each housing has formed therein a pocket in which a dam member is secured. A tube member has ends thereof secured to each dam member and extends axially through a passage formed in the rotating shaft. Lubrication fluid is introduced into the system between at least one of the housings and one of the dam members for lubrication fluid flow through said tube member to the other dam member. Lubrication flow between the dam members and the housings is distributed to other portions of the mechanism as well as through restricted passages toward the rotating shaft member.

Lube systems or lubrication systems, which are used in many gear mechanisms, require rotating seals to prevent oil from the lube system escaping into areas where lube is not required and, in some instances, for preventing free flow of high pressure fluid back into the lube system unintentionally. While these systems operate quite well, the use of rotating type oil seals is not a desired method of preventing oil interchange between two parts of the system.


Cognitive and heuristics-based emergent financial management is provided. A method includes obtaining data related to an individual, an organization, a process, or combinations thereof. The data is obtained from internal sources, external sources, or combinations thereof. The method also includes creating data sets from the data based on determined classifications of the data. Further, the method includes establishing relationships between the data sets and determining a conclusion based on the relationships. The conclusion is based on a hypothesis that has undergone a test process.

The term "big data" has been used to describe sets of data that are of such a very large size and/or complexity that traditional data processing applications are not capable of adequately handing the sets of data. Further, the term also refers to the use of data for various types of analytics, including user behavior analytics, predictive analytics, or other advanced forms of data analytics that are designed to extract value from the data. Since data is captured by many devices and in many forms (e.g., computing devices, cameras, microphones, radio-frequency identification readers, and other forms of computing devices and/or data capturing devices), there is an ever growing amount of data that is being gathered by a multitude of sources (e.g., individuals, businesses, corporations, governments, and so on).


A fishing lure is provided which includes a jig, a hook integrally formed within the jig, and a number of pellets retained within the jig. The jig includes a male portion and a female portion, each of which has a blind cavity formed therein. The male portion and the female portion are press-fitted together such that the blind cavities form a single, internal cavity within the jig which is configured to retain the number of pellets. The male portion of the jig also includes a groove configured to accept the hook therein. The groove is configured such that the hook is retained within the jig when the male portion and the female portion are press-fitted together. The groove includes a bend portion configured to retain the hook in tension. The groove also includes an exposed portion that is in fluid communication with the internal cavity.

Fishermen use a variety of hooks, baits, lures, casting styles and rods to angle for specific varieties of fish based on what is believed to be most successful at attracting each type of fish. Accordingly, a wide array of equipment and techniques has been developed to aid in angling and catching fish. In general, a lure is a device coupled to the fishing hook, away from the point of the hook, to entice the fish to bite the hook and become ensnared on the point of the hook. Lures have a variety of shapes and sizes, colors and attached accessories believed to be attractive to a specific type of fish. One type of lure is a jig, which is generally a rounded body having a hook molded therein and often including a tail constructed of feathers or hair. The combination of the rounded body of the jig and the attached tail are meant to mimic a large bug or a smaller fish or some other sort of prey to attract the fish. When the fish bites on the lure, he also bites the hook, and then is caught.
Another feature often incorporated into fishing lures is a rattle which produces vibrations to attract the attention of fish. The rattle is meant to imitate the vibrations produced by certain prey and has enough amplitude to attract the attention of nearby fish. Some rattles are provided as an external attachment coupled to the jig, but this can make the amplitude of the rattle vibrations too large to correctly mimic the vibrations of prey. Additionally, external rattles are another piece of equipment that the fisherman must purchase and attach to his hook, adding expense and inconvenience. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a rattle for use with a jig that produces vibrations having an amplitude that can mimic the vibrations of prey, that is inexpensive and convenient for a fisherman to use, that is easy to produce and to integrate into smaller lures and that can be tailored to mimic different types of prey and to accommodate different fishing conditions.


A vehicle headlamp includes a shade having a diagonal edge, an upper horizontal edge, and a lower horizontal edge. The intersection of the diagonal edge and the upper horizontal edge is horizontally deviated from a first reference position, i.e., an elbow point of a conventional shade, or a vertical reference axis to an opposite side with respect to the intersection of the diagonal edge and the lower horizontal edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle headlamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projector-type vehicle headlamps have been available. For example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. H6-15206 discloses a conventional vehicle headlamp. The conventional vehicle headlamp is explained below. The conventional vehicle headlamp includes a light source, a reflector that reflects light from the light source, a projection lens that projects the reflected light from the light source forward, and a shade that blocks a part of the reflected light directed toward the projection lens from the reflector to form a light-distribution pattern having a cut-off line.
When the light source is turned on, light from the light source is reflected by the reflector toward the projection lens, and a part of the reflected light is blocked by the shade. The remaining light is irradiated from the projection lens to the front of a vehicle in a light-distribution pattern having a cut-off line.
In the conventional vehicle headlamp, as shown in FIG. 4, an elbow point E10, which is an intersection of a diagonal edge 110 and an upper horizontal edge 130 of a shade 500, is located on a vertical reference axis VU-VD. As shown in FIG. 6, an elbow point E20, which is an intersection of a diagonal cut-off line CL10 and a lower horizontal cut-off line CL30 of a passing-light-distribution pattern P0, is located on the vertical reference axis VU-VD. Accordingly, in the conventional vehicle headlamp, as shown in FIG. 8, lighting (light/dark) difference substantially of a left-right reversal or inverted Z-shape (hereinafter, "Z-shape") appears in a far area (eye point in a circle of two-dot chain line in FIG. 8) IP of an own driving lane 15 which a driver looks at. Therefore, there is a problem in far visibility due to a dark spot in the Z-shape, and there are a sense of incompatibility and trouble due to the Z-shaped lighting difference.