The present invention provides a novel baculovirus vector which can provide a desired protein not requiring infectivity to insect cells, on the viral particle surface; method of producing thereof; and method of gene transfer using the baculovirus vector. A method of producing a baculovirus vector including; a process of cotransfecting at least a plasmid containing a gene coding a protein capable of being expressed on a cell surface and one of wild-type, mutated-type form, and recombinant baculovirus DNAs into insect cells, wherein a pseudotyped baculovirus which includes at least one part of the baculovirus DNA and is coated with the protein capable of being expressed on a cell surface, is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a baculovirus vector which is suitable for use in gene therapy, etc., a method of constructing the baculovirus vector and a method of gene transfer using the baculovirus vector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ten years have passed since clinical studies of gene therapy started. Until now, a satisfactory outcome has not been achieved; however, this therapy, without doubt, will be at the center of advanced medical treatment in this century. Whether or not gene therapy will successfully advance depends on the development of gene transfer vectors which enable introduction of genes into target cells safely and efficiently and which have a large integration capacity.
Retroviruses, adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, etc. have been the main vectors used in gene therapy. However, there have been safety problems, such as the emergence of self-propagating virus and the activation of cancer genes due to random integration of genetic material, and satisfactory gene transfer efficiency and improvement of specific gene transfer methods has not been achieved. Further, there have been problems such as cytotoxicity, induction of undesirable immune reaction, and inactivation due to neutralizing antibodies.
Baculovirus, an insect virus, was thought to infect only insects until recently and had been utilized as a large-scale expression system of transgenes in insect cells.
Baculoviruses are entomopathogenic viruses which infect insects such as lepidopteran, hymenopteran and diptera and have circular double-stranded DNA. Of the viruses, a group of viruses called Nuclear Polyhedorosis Virus (NPV) produce a large amount of inclusion bodies called polyhedrins in the nucleus of the infected cell during the late phase of infection. The amount of the inclusion body reaches as much as 40 to 50% of the total cell protein and the inclusion body includes a large number of viral particles (FIG. 1). Thus, even if the host is killed by infection, viruses in this polyhedrin inclusion body are protected from inactivation by, for example, ultraviolet radiation and heat, thus enabling the viruses to remain infectious for a long time (FIG. 2).
Thus, polyhedrins are essential for viruses to survive in nature, but they are not required for propagation of viruses in vitro. Therefore, if a foreign gene intended to be expressed is introduced in place of a polyhedrin gene, infection and propagation of the virus will occur and a large amount of foreign gene products will be produced without any difficulties. Until now, two viruses, Autographa californica NPV (AcNPV) and Bombyx mori NPV (BmNPV) of silkworm, have been used as vectors, but in most cases, expression is carried out using AcNPV.
The present inventors have previously succeeded in the development of the vector pAcYM1 which has the highest expression efficiency in the world among baculovirus vectors (e.g. Matsuura, Y., Possee, R. D., Overton, H. A., and Bishop, D. H. L. (1987), "Baculovirus expression vectors: the requirements for high level expression of proteins, including glycoproteins," J. Gen. Virol. 68, 1233-1250). They developed the expression of hepatitis C virus structural protein using the vector and succeeded in the development of an early stage antibody diagnosis system using it as an antigen. Due to the introduction of this diagnostic system, the incidence of post-tranfusion hepatitis C is almost conquered in Japan.
In recent years, gene transfer into mammalian cells using baculovirus has been reported (e.g. Hofmann, C., Sandig, V., Jennings, G., Rudolph, M., Schlag, P., and Strauss, M. (1995), "Efficient gene transfer into human hepatocytes by baculovirus vectors," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 10099-10103, and Boyce, F. M., and Bucher, N. L. R. (1996), "Baculovirus-mediated gene transfer into mammalian cells," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 2348-2352). At first, it was thought gene transfer using baculovirus was specific to hepatocytes; however, the present inventors demonstrated the capability of gene transfer into a wide variety of animal cells (e.g. Shoji I., Aizaki H., Tani H., Ishii K., Chiba T., Saito I., Miyamura T., and Matsuura Y. (1997), "Efficient gene transfer into various mammalian cells including non-hepatic cells by baculovirus vectors," J. Gen. Virol. 78, 2657-2664).
In this way, it has been demonstrated that baculovirus vectors infect a wide variety of mammalian cells and can express foreign genes efficiently without replication. Therefore, the baculovirus vectors have attracted attention as a potential gene therapy vector.
Baculovirus vectors have extraordinary properties as a gene transfer vector into humans for the following reasons: 1) the virus gene is as large as 130 kbp, which allows insertion of large (<15 kbp) foreign genes, 2) since the virus gene is not expressed in mammalian cells, it hardly causes cytotoxicity and a harmful immune response is not induced, 3) recombinant virus can be prepared in a short time, 4) there exists no neutralizing antibody against baculovirus in the human, etc.
In order to improve the infection efficiency in mammalian cells, an attempt has been made to provide other virus envelope proteins such as vesicular stomatitis virus G protein in baculovirus (e.g. Tani, H., Nishijima, M., Ushijima, H., Miyamura, T., and Matsuura, Y. (2001), "Characterization of cell-surface determinants important for baculovirus infection," Virology 279, 343-353) (FIG. 3 left). This remarkably improved the gene transfer efficiency into mammalian cells.
Further, another attempt has been made to completely replace the baculovirus gp64 protein with the envelope protein of another virus, and it is reported that the recombinant virus can replicate in insect cells when the gp64 protein is replaced by envelope proteins of closely related virus or vesicular stomatitis virus G protein, (e.g. Mangor J. T., Monsam S. A., Johnson C. M., and Blissard G. W. (2001), "A gp64-null baculovirus pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus G protein." J. Virol. 75, 2544-2556).
However, in these conventional methods, viruses are required to be infectious to insect cells to obtain a high titer of stock virus. Thus in these prior methods, proteins having no infectivity to insect cells could not be selected.
Therefore, it is impossible to make infection of these vectors specific and a baculovirus vector capable of conferring specificity has not been reported. The development of a baculovirus vector which has the above-mentioned excellent properties and which is capable of conferring the desired infectiousness was strongly desired.

Baculovirus vector, method of producing thereof and method of gene transfer


A character recognition system employs a "hashing" technique of imaged pixels wherein a digital image constituting an array of pixels is divided into a series of sub-arrays. The sub-array digital signal patterns themselves correspond directly to addresses in associated system memories. Each memory address indicates a predetermined set of the possible characters. There is an apparatus for combining the list of possible characters so that signals corresponding to only one character are output.

Character recognition systems are well known in the art and are characterized by an apparatus which decodes received optical signals corresponding to characters or geometric figures into electrical signals which can be manipulated in word processors or the like.
An example of known systems is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,972. Disclosed therein is a character recognition system which employs analytic techniques to develop a set of codes representative of the geometry of a character by means of a two-dimensional matrix of digital video pixel elements. Codes are used to identify types of segments and groups of segments in each row or column of the matrix, sequences of such segments and the durations and orientations of sequences. The '972 system further includes an apparatus that operates in a learn mode to relate the codes to known characters and a process mode to recognize unknown characters from previously learned codes.
Another example of a known character recognition technique is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,856. The '856 method identifies a presented character after optical scanning of a substrate to yield an array of voltages representative of the information content of incremental elements that collectively form the presented character. The array of voltages are quantized at plural quantization levels whereby a corresponding plurality of data field geometric configurations are developed. The data field geometric configurations are presented by binary signals and are in approximate conformity with the geometric pattern of the presented character. Each data field geometric configuration represents a normalized scan pattern, thereby compensating for non-uniformities in the presented character. The information content of discreet areas of the plural data field the geometric configurations is compared in sequential matter with predetermined characters and the compared discreet area is characterized as one of the predetermined characters in response to a favorable comparison. The presented character is identified as a known type when a sequence of characterizations is obtained in a preestablished order associated with that known type.
Prior art systems as exemplified by those set forth above are characterized by a method and apparatus which attempts to identify the specific character, element or geometric figure that has been received. In that regard they seek to determine character or geometric features such as edge transitions, and assemble therefrom a sequence of segments each having a geometric relationship to other segments. Initially, known systems must be taught through a training algorithm what each sequence of segments and/or curves correspond to which characters or geometric figures. Consequently known prior art systems require an intermediate step of recognition achieved by an analysis of code segments edge transitions, etc.
It would advantageous to have a character recognition system which would directly correlate a received pixel pattern with a character or geometric figure without an intermediate step of analyzing component or segment parts. The present system is drawn toward such an invention.


A separator method and apparatus that includes a rotatable drum defining an annular passageway therein, a plurality of blades coupled to the rotatable drum and located in the annular passageway, each of the plurality of blades including a leading section, a trailing section, a concave surface, and a convex surface, the concave and convex surfaces extending from the leading section to the trailing section, each of the plurality of blades disposed circumferentially adjacent to at least another one of the plurality of blades so as to define blade flowpaths therebetween, and a housing at least partially surrounding the rotatable drum and defining a fluid collection chamber fluidly communicating with the annular passageway.

In many industrial processes where it is desired to compress a process fluid, the process fluid includes both lower-density and higher-density components, for example, gases and liquids, respectively. Liquids, however, can potentially damage, corrode, reduce the efficiency of, and/or wear on the compression equipment; therefore, it is generally desirable to remove as much of the liquid from the process fluid as possible, prior to compression. This is balanced against avoiding significant increases in materials and operating expenses, along with retaining a sufficient throughput rate. One way to remove such liquid is to channel the process fluid through a density-based separator, such as a rotary separator, thereby separating and expelling the higher-density components from the lower-density components of the process fluid. To achieve a desired separation efficiency, the axial length of rotary separators is typically dictated by the axial velocity of the process fluid, the radial velocity of the liquid that is induced by the rotational motion of the rotary separator, and the radial distance the liquid must travel before reaching the drain. These factors limit the ability to reduce the axial length of these rotary separators and equipment in which the separators may be included. What is needed, therefore, is a rotary separator that can efficiently separate the process fluid at a high axial velocity over a shorter axial distance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system and method for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment is disclosed. A status report periodically received from each of a plurality of network appliances is recorded. Each status report contains health and status information and application-specific data for each network appliance. Configuration settings for each network appliance progressively assembled concurrent to providing installable components are maintained. A catalog listing currently installable components for each network appliance based on the configuration settings is dynamically provided.

Enterprise computing environments generally include both localized intranetworks of interconnected computer systems and resources internal to an organization and geographically distributed internetworks, including the Internet. Intranetworks make legacy databases and information resources available for controlled access and data exchange. Internetworks enable internal users to access remote data repositories and computational resources and allow outside users to access select internal resources for completing limited transactions or data transfer.
Increasingly, network appliances, or simply "appliances," are being deployed within intranetworks to compliment and extend the types of services offered. As a class, network appliances have closed architectures and often lack a standard user interface. These devices provide specialized services, such as electronic mail (email) anti-virus scanning, content filtering, file, Web and print service, and packet routing functions.
Ideally, network appliances should be minimal maintenance devices, which are purchased, plugged into a network, and put into use with no further modification or change. Analogous to a cellular telephone, a network appliance should ideally provide the service promised without requiring active management by individual users or administrators.
Nevertheless, regular maintenance of networks appliance is necessary to ensure continued optimal performance. Operating system and application programs must be installed upon appliance installation and following any type of crash or abnormal service termination. As well, each appliance must be configured, preferably automatically, to comply with applicable security and administration policies. Moreover, as bug fixes and enhancements become available, installed programs must be updated with patches, which must first be obtained from the appropriate sources and then installed on each individual device.
One common problem in maintaining network appliances is the increased workload imposed on individual servers to support appliance maintenance. The health and status of each appliance must be regularly monitored by a server to ensure proper performance and function. Accordingly, individual server loads increase with the addition of each new appliance. The tracking and management of configurations of individual appliances can become resource intensive, particularly in a large scale network environment containing numerous network appliances.
In the prior art, "push" solutions have been used to manage individual network appliances, whereby changes in configurations and programs are sent to individual appliances from a centralized server as necessary. The server stores each appliance configuration and lists names and versions of programs installed. Periodically, the server polls the pool of appliances to ascertain status and health and pushes new updates out to individual appliances as necessary. However, push solutions are resource intensive and can exact a high performance load on each server. Moreover, servers can fail to detect misconfigurations of appliances erroneously tracked with incorrect configurations.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to providing autonomous network appliance configuration and management without requiring an active centralized server. Preferably, such an approach would utilize "pull" downloads of needed updates and would further lodge configuration and management responsibilities on individual appliances.
There is a further need for an approach to maintaining the health and status of individual appliances through periodic client-centric reporting. Preferably, such an approach would use a secure "heartbeat" automatically generated by individual appliances to report configuration and status information. As well, each responsible server would preferably generate an alert whenever a heartbeat report was not timely received.
There is a further need for an approach to providing distributed staging of program updates for network appliances. Preferably, such an approach would provide centralized component download management with the capability to instruct requesting appliances to redirect and download software updates from proxy component servers.

System and method for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment


A waveguide converter includes a waveguide including a hollow section through which a signal is transmitted and a first opening formed on a cross section of the hollow section in a direction orthogonal to a transmission direction of the signal, and a circuit board including on a same surface a signal line, a conductor patch connected to the signal line, and a second opening surrounding the conductor patch. The waveguide is fixed onto the circuit board. The first opening surrounds the second opening. The conductor patch includes a rectangular section which has short sides in parallel with short sides of the first opening, and has a first long side and a second long side connected to the signal line in parallel with long sides of the first opening, and protruding portions which are provided so as to touch the short sides near both ends of the second long side, respectively.

When a signal whose band has a short wavelength, such as millimeter waves or microwaves, which is typically used for car radar and high-seed wireless communication system, is transmitted from and received at an antenna by using a transmitter-receiver circuit, a waveguide may be connected between the transmitter-receiver circuit and the antenna.
The transmitter-receiver circuit is integrated, for example, as a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), and a planar transmission line such as a microstrip line and a coplanar line is used for a transmission line on the transmitter-receiver circuit side. The transmission mode of a signal is different between such a transmission line on a transmitter-receiver circuit side and a waveguide. Thus, when a waveguide is connected between a transmitter-receiver circuit and an antenna, a waveguide converter is used to convert the transmission mode so as to be suitable for the transmission line on a transmitter-receiver circuit side and the waveguide, respectively.
In regard to waveguide converters, the following related art is known. That is, a microstrip line—waveguide converter is comprised of a waveguide, a first conductor layer, a dielectric substrate, and a ground conductor layer. The first conductor layer is comprised of a microstrip line that has a patch pattern formed on an end, a ground conductor pattern that surrounds the patch pattern, and via holes that connect the ground conductor pattern and the ground conductor layer. Then, the waveguide, the first conductor layer, the dielectric substrate, and the ground conductor layer are stacked from the top in the listed order at a position where the center of the opening of a waveguide and the center of the patch pattern overlap with each other. A number of via holes are formed so as to surround the periphery of the opening of the waveguide.
Moreover, the following related art is also known. That is, a waveguide/strip line converter is provided with: a dielectric substrate having a first surface that closes the rectangular opening of a waveguide; a shorting plate formed on a second surface of a dielectric substrate to short the waveguide; a matching element formed on a first surface of the dielectric substrate; and a strip line that is formed in an incision of the shorting plate and is electromagnetically coupled to the matching element. The matching element is shaped so as to surround a non-formation area, and has an asymmetrical shape with reference to a direction parallel to the long sides of the opening.
Furthermore, the following related art is also known. That is, a waveguide/strip line converter is comprised of a rectangular waveguide and a dielectric substrate. An aperture for guiding an electromagnetic wave is arranged on one end of the rectangular waveguide, and an end surface is arranged on the other end. The dielectric substrate is inserted into the rectangular waveguide from the side of the dielectric substrate in such a manner that the dielectric substrate exists in a direction orthogonal to the end surface of the rectangular waveguide and the mounted position viewed from the opening is at approximately the center of the aperture. Moreover, an approximately cross-shaped conductor pattern is arranged on the dielectric substrate, and one side of the conductor pattern is extended as a pattern to draw out a signal to the outside of the rectangular waveguide. The pattern to draw out a signal is formed as a strip line outside the rectangular waveguide. The electric field of an electromagnetic wave that is guided into the rectangular waveguide is coupled to the conductor pattern, and is converted to an electric signal by the conductor pattern and transmitted to the strip line.
The waveguide converter includes a conductor patch. The conductor patch has the function of emitting a signal that is transmitted through the transmission line on a transmitter-receiver circuit side to the waveguide, and has the function of emitting a signal that is transmitted through the waveguide to the transmission line on the transmitter-receiver circuit side.
It is necessary for the size of the conductor patch to be smaller than the opening of a waveguide that is determined according to an active frequency band. In order for the waveguide converter to achieve a good signal conversion performance in a desired frequency band, it is necessary to determine the shape and size of the conductor patch according to the wavelength of a signal determined by the dielectric constant or the like of the dielectric substrate that composes the transmission line on the transmitter-receiver circuit side.
When a rectangular-shaped conductor patch is provided for a waveguide converter, the waveguide converter may perform signal conversion in a desired active frequency if the length of sides of the conductor patch that is parallel with the transmission direction of a signal of the transmission line on the transmitter-receiver circuit side are set to be half the wavelength of the signal. However, half the wavelength of a signal that is transmitted through the dielectric substrate may be greater than the short sides of the opening of the waveguide when, for example, a low-level side of a recommended frequency band of the waveguide is used or when, for example, a dielectric substrate of a low dielectric constant is used. In order to achieve a good signal conversion performance in such a case by using a rectangular-shaped conductor patch, it is necessary for the shape of a conductor patch to be rectangular and longer in a direction of the long sides of the opening of the waveguide. However, depending on the length of the long sides of a conductor patch, a resonance that degrades the pass characteristic of a signal between the waveguide and the transmission line is caused near the active frequency band. For this reason, it is necessary to design the waveguide converter such that a resonance frequency that degrades the pass characteristic of the waveguide converter will not be caused near the active frequency band.
Moreover, when a resin whose pattern precision is poor is used, for example for the purpose of cost reduction, as a substrate material instead of ceramics, a pattern misalignment may be caused when a waveguide converter is manufactured.
FIG. 1 depicts the deterioration of a pass characteristic caused due to a pattern misalignment.
In FIG. 1, pass characteristics T1 and T2 of a waveguide converter are depicted with a scattering parameter S21 where a port 1 is on a waveguide side and a port 2 is on a transmission line side to which a transmitter-receiver circuit is connected.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the pass characteristic T2 where pattern misalignment was caused when the waveguide converter was manufactured deteriorates at the center frequency of an active frequency band fc in comparison with the pass characteristic T1 where no pattern misalignment was caused. A resonance frequency fr2 that degrades the pass characteristic T2 is closer to the center frequency of an active frequency band fc in comparison with a resonance frequency fr1 that degrades the pass characteristic T1.
As described above, when a pass characteristic deteriorates at the center frequency of an active frequency band due to the pattern misalignment that was caused when the waveguide was manufactured, or when a resonance frequency that degrades the pass characteristic is misaligned and gets close to an active frequency band, a signal conversion performance of the waveguide converter deteriorates. Thus, it is necessary to design a waveguide converter in such a manner that the deterioration of a pass characteristic will be minimized and a required signal conversion performance will be secured even if the pattern precision of the waveguide converter at the time of manufacture is poor.


Disclosed is a coating apparatus, comprising: a first stream-combining valve communicating with each of a first solvent tank and a resist solution tank, a first pump for supplying an initial resist solution from the resist solution tank toward said first stream-combining valve, a second pump for supplying a solvent from said first solvent supply toward said first stream-combining valve, a first mixer for mixing under stirring the initial resist solution flowing out of said first stream-combining valve with a solvent, a second stream-combining valve arranged downstream of said first mixer and communicating with each of the first mixer and said second solvent supply, a third pump for supplying the solvent from said second solvent supply toward the second stream-combining valve, a second mixer for mixing under stirring said primary mixed liquid material coming out of said second stream-combining valve with a solvent so as to prepare a final mixed liquid material, a nozzle equipped with a liquid spurting port for spurting said final mixed liquid material prepared in said second mixer toward the substrate, and a controller for controlling each of the first, second, third pumps and the first and second stream-combining valves so as to control the mixing ratio of the initial resist solution to the solvent and to control the mixing ratio of the primary mixed liquid material to the solvent.

The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD (liquid crystal display) substrate with a chemical solution such as a resist solution.
A photolithography technology is employed in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device. In the photolithography technology, a surface of a semiconductor wafer is coated with resist, followed by exposing the coated resist layer to light in a predetermined pattern and subsequently developing the light-exposed pattern. As a result, a resist film of the predetermined pattern is formed on the wafer. Then, a conductive film is formed over the entire surface of the wafer, followed by selectively etching the conductive film so as to form a predetermined circuit pattern. A coating-developing system as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,254 is used in such a series of resist processing.
In recent years, the line width of a semiconductor device circuit is required to be on the order of sub-microns. In this connection, severer demands are being directed to further improvements in the uniformity and thickness of the resist film. To meet these requirements, a spin coating method is mainly employed nowadays for coating a surface of a wafer with a resist solution. In the spin coating method, the thickness of the resist film is controlled by adjusting the rotating speed of the wafer. Where, for example, it is desired to decrease the thickness of the resist film, the wafer is rotated at a high speed during the coating step.
In the conventional resist coating apparatus, however, it is mechanically impossible to increase as desired the rotating speed of a spin chuck supporting the wafer. Naturally, the rotating speed of the wafer is limited by the rotating speed of the spin chuck, with the result that it is impossible to make the thickness of the resist film smaller than a certain level. Particularly, in coating the surface of a large wafer having a diameter of, for example, 8 inches or 12 inches, the spreading speed of the resist solution tends to be lowered on the wafer surface, making it more difficult to form a thin resist film on the wafer surface.
Further, immediately after change in the process conditions such as a desired thickness of the resist film and the kind of the resist solution, the resist film formed on a first substrate after the change tends to be nonuniform in thickness, resulting in failure to meet a target value. In such a case, it is necessary to remove the coated resist film from the wafer and to coat again the wafer with a resist solution.
To overcome the above-noted difficulty, used is a resist solution having a suitable viscosity. The viscosity of the resist solution is determined by, for example, a mixing ratio of a solvent such as a thinner, which is added to the resist solution. A resist solution having the viscosity adjusted appropriately is put in a tank, and the tank is incorporated in the resist coating-developing system. In this fashion, the thickness of the resist film is made variable over a wide range.
However, the resist solution is poor in its compatibility with a thinner, with the result that, if a mixture of the resist solution and the thinner is left to stand within the tank over a long period of time, these resist solution and thinner are separated to form an upper layer and a lower layer, respectively, within the tank. This makes it necessary to use a relatively large apparatus for stirring the resist solution-thinner mixture within the tank, which is contradictory to the miniaturization of the apparatus.
It should also be noted that it is impossible to coat uniformly a surface of a large wafer with a resist solution by simply controlling the viscosity of the resist solution. Where, for example, a mixing ratio of the solvent is excessively increased in an attempt to increase the flowability of the resist solution on the wafer surface, the thickness of the resultant resist film is rendered unduly thin. In conclusion, with increase in the diameter of the wafer, it is very difficult to determine appropriately the viscosity of the resist solution for obtaining a desired thickness of the resist film.
As described above, the conventional resist coating apparatus is not satisfactory in that it is difficult to rotate the wafer at a desired high speed in the resist coating step, making it difficult to form a uniform resist film of a desired thickness particularly when a resist film is formed on a wafer having a large diameter. It is also difficult to form a uniform resist film of a desired thickness by means of controlling the viscosity of the resist solution.
In order to decrease the thickness of the resist film formed on the wafer surface, used is a resist solution advantageous in flowability on the wafer surface. As described previously, the viscosity of the resist solution is determined by, for example, the mixing ratio of a solvent such as a thinner. Also, a tank housing a resist solution having the viscosity adjusted appropriately by controlling the mixing ratio of the solvent is incorporated in the coating system, making it possible to control as desired the thickness of the resist film over a wide range.
However, as already pointed out, a resist solution is not compatible with a thinner. If a resist solution-thinner mixture is allowed to stand within the tank, the resist solution and the thinner are separated to form upper and lower layers. This makes it necessary to use a relatively large apparatus for stirring the solution-thinner mixture housed in the tank, which is clearly contradictory to miniaturization of the apparatus.
It should also be noted that it is necessary to replace the tank itself housing a resist solution every time the target thickness of the resist film is changed. It is also necessary to prepare in advance a plurality of tanks housing resist solutions differing from each other in viscosity in order to comply with the change in the target thickness of the resist film. Naturally, it is highly troublesome to take care of such a group of tanks. What should also be noted is that, even if a resist solution of the same viscosity is used, the thickness of the resist film formed is not necessarily the same because the thickness in question is affected by, for example, the daily differences in the environmental conditions. In such a case, it is desirable to use a resist solution having a slightly different viscosity. However, a tank housing a resist solution of a desired viscosity is not necessarily included in the group of tanks incorporated in the system.
To reiterate, in the conventional resist coating apparatus, a tank housing a resist solution having a desired viscosity must be newly used every time the target thickness of the resist film to be formed is changed, making it necessary to prepare in advance a plurality of tanks housing resist solutions differing from each other in viscosity in order to comply with a change in the target thickness of the resist film. Also, it is difficult to cope with a slight change, which is caused by the daily change in the environmental conditions, in the thickness of the resist film formed.


Method and apparatus for providing erasing and programming protection of an EEPROM (22) to significantly reduce the possibility of unintentional erasing or programming of the EEPROM (22). In one embodiment, a read access of a block protect value (111) is a requirement for enabling the EEPROM charge pump (78). The block protect value (111) may be located in the EEPROM array (22) itself. In one embodiment, an externally provided signal (24) must be provided to an integrated circuit (10) in order to enable a write access to modify the block protect value (111). In one embodiment, a charge pump enable value (103) is provided to enable or disable operation of the charge pump (78). Thus, a combination of hardware and software protection is provided for an EEPROM (22), including protection for enabling of a charge pump (78).

Non-volatile memories are commonly used in data processing systems. Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) is one type of non-volatile memory which is commonly used. In this document, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, Electrically Erasable PROM, and EEPROM will all be used interchangeably to include all types of non-volatile memory that may be electrically erasable, including byte erasable, block erasable, bulk erasable, and flash memories, each of which may store any type of information.
Unfortunately, EEPROM which is electrically alterable by way of an on-chip charge pump circuit may be subject to being altered unintentionally. That is, one or more cells within the EEPROM array may be unintentionally and/or unknowingly altered. This unintentional altering may occur as a result of a brown-out condition or noise in a system. If the brown-out condition or noise causes the system to malfunction and enable the charge pump while addressing a portion of the EEPROM which is not meant to be altered, unintentional altering of the EEPROM may occur. For example, where an EEPROM is located on the same integrated circuit as a processor (e.g. a microcontroller), the microcontroller may malfunction due to low power or noise and may inadvertently enable the charge pump while addressing a portion of the EEPROM which is not meant to be altered.
Any unintentional altering of EEPROM may be completely unacceptable for some applications which use EEPROM. For example, smart card applications which use EEPROM to store the current amount of money available for use with the card may not be able to tolerate any unintentional altering of EEPROM. In some smart card applications, the unintentional altering of EEPROM may result in a significant loss of money to the bank or telephone company supplying the smart card.
There are several prior art approaches to providing erasing and programming protection to an EEPROM. For example, the MC68HC11E9 microcontroller, available from Motorola, Inc. of Austin, Tex., incorporates a type of EEPROM block protection which uses a one-time writeable register to protect the contents of certain address ranges within the on-board EEPROM. The problem with this approach is that it relies on the use of a volatile register to maintain the protection. Under conditions which can cause the processor to malfunction, this register's contents could also be corrupted. The MC68HC05B8 microcontroller, available from Motorola, Inc. of Austin, Tex., uses a similar form of protection which uploads protection information from a location in the EEPROM on reset. However, after reset, the information is still maintained in volatile register bits. The block protect location itself can be altered under normal circuit operation. In addition, at least one prior art microcontroller has a bit in the EEPROM that blocks further programming of the array. Unfortunately, however, this bit can be erased by a bulk erase of the array.
Due to the pressing requirements of some applications using EEPROM, an approach was needed that would even more significantly reduce the possibility of unintentionally altering the EEPROM.

Method and apparatus for providing erasing and programming protection for electrically erasable programmable read only memory


Provided are a power consumption controlled boosting apparatus, a power-boosting system that determines boosting according to an amount of power consumption using a small number of capacitors, and a power-boosting method. The power-boosting system generates a boosting voltage without using a voltage regulating circuit and determines boosting according to the amount of power consumption.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power system, and more particularly, to a power-boosting system and method.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate voltages for driving a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD). For example, FIG. 1A illustrates a circuit model for driving a pixel in a TFT LCD, and FIG. 1B is a waveform showing the relationship among the voltages used in the circuit model of FIG. 1A. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a TFT is turned on by a voltage VGH output from a gate driver and is turned off by a voltage VGL output from the gate driver. A liquid crystal CLC and a storage capacitor CST are driven by common voltages VCOMH and VCOML that are periodically inverted. While the TFT is being turned on, pixel data represented by a voltage between VDH and VDL is stored in the liquid crystal CLC and the storage capacitor CST.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the voltage VGH that turns on the TFT is much larger than the voltage (between the voltages VDL and VDH) of the pixel data to rapidly charge the pixel data. In addition, the voltage VGL that turns off the TFT is much smaller than the voltage (between the voltages VDL and VDH) of the pixel data to prevent the occurrence of cross talk and reduce leakage current. To drive a TFT LCD, for example, a mobile video graphics array-class (VGA-class) TFT LCD, a TFT turn-on voltage of 20V and a TFT turn-off voltage of −20V are used. The TFT turn-on/off voltages vary with the type of TFT used in an LCD (e.g., an amorphous-silicon low temperature polysilicon (a-Si, LTPS), or continuous grain silicon TFT (CGS TFT)), and panel size. Because a voltage of about 3V is provided from a battery of a portable device, there is a need for a boosting circuit that steps the voltage of 3V up to 20V or down to −20V to drive the mobile VGA-class TFT LCD.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional boosting voltage providing circuit. Referring to FIG. 2, the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit includes a reference voltage generating circuit 210, a buffer 220, a positive voltage boosting circuit 230 that uses first and second capacitors CA and CB, a positive/negative voltage boosting circuit 240 that uses a plurality of capacitors CC, CD, and CE1 through CE4, a positive voltage regulating and buffering circuit 250, and a negative voltage regulating and buffering circuit 260. In addition, the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit includes capacitors CL1, CL2, and CL3 that regulate output voltages.
In FIG. 2, the positive voltage boosting circuit 230 outputs a voltage DDVDH that is obtained by boosting an input voltage VCI1 twice by using the capacitors CA and CB. The positive/negative voltage boosting circuit 240 outputs a positive boosting voltage VLOUT2 that is four, five, or six times the input voltage VCI1 by boosting the voltage DDVDH using the plurality of capacitors CC, CD, and CE1 through CE4 or outputs a negative boosting voltage VLOUT3 that is minus three, minus four, or minus five times the input voltage VCI1 by dropping the voltage DDVDH using the plurality of capacitors CC, CD, and CE1 through CE4. The positive boosting voltage VLOUT2 and the negative boosting voltage VLOUT3 are regulated by the positive voltage regulating and buffering circuit 250 and the negative voltage regulating and buffering circuit 260 and are then output as a TFT turn-on voltage VGH and a TFT turn-off voltage VGL, respectively. Voltage regulators and unit gain buffers that are used in the positive voltage regulating and buffering circuit 250 and the negative voltage regulating and buffering circuit 260 are implemented as operational amplifiers.
FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional voltage boosting circuit. Boosting circuits 230 and 240 of FIG. 2 can be configured with the voltage boosting circuit of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, when a first switch SW1 and a second switch SW2 are closed and a third switch SW3 and a fourth switch SW4 are opened, the first capacitor CA is charged to a voltage VCI1. When the third switch SW3 and the fourth switch SW4 are closed and the first switch SW1 and the second switch SW2 are opened, the voltage DDVDH, which is two times the input voltage VCI1 by charge pumping, is output through the second capacitor CB.
The conventional boosting voltage providing circuit of FIG. 2, however, uses the capacitors CL1, CL2, and CL3 for regulating output voltages and the capacitors CA, CB, CC, CD, and CE1 through CE4 for voltage boosting. The large number of passive elements mounted in a module, which includes the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit of FIG. 2, outside an LCD panel, for example, increases the failure rate, and the volume of the module. Thus, the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit of FIG. 2 is not conducive for mobile products requiring compactness and lightweight. In addition, in the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit of FIG. 2, the boosting circuits 230 and 240, which are operated by a dynamic switching circuit that operates with a predetermined clock signal, constantly operate without regard to the amount of power used by an LCD panel, thus consuming considerable power during operation. As a result, the conventional boosting voltage providing circuit of FIG. 2 is typically unfavorable for use in mobile products requiring low power consumption.


A lighting arrangement (100), comprising a first group of light sources (102) comprising at least one LED providing white light having a first color temperature; a second group of light sources (110) comprising at least one LED providing white light having a second color temperature; and a third group of light sources (116) comprising at least one LED providing a light having a predetermined dominant wavelength; wherein the third group of light sources (116) is configured to receive a light converting device (200, 400) comprising a phosphor (208, 208′, 208″, 208′″, 414), the light converting device (200, 400) configured for converting light from the third group of light sources (116) to white light having a third color temperature, wherein the light converting device (200, 400) is configured to have electrical connection means (120) for providing an electrical connection between one of the first (102) and the second (110) group of light sources and the third group of light sources (116).

Light emitting diodes, LEDs, are employed in a wide range of lighting applications. LED light sources are, for example, used to produce white light, and different light qualities are required for different applications. For some applications there is a desire to provide white light having a colour temperature of e.g. approximately 2700K, i.e. a warm white light, while for other applications there is a desire to provide white light having a colour temperature of e.g. approximately 6000K, i.e. a cool white light.
In order to provide white light, one approach is to coat blue LED(s) with a phosphor. A fraction of the blue light from the blue LED is thereby being transformed by the phosphor from shorter wavelengths to longer wavelengths, thereby producing so-called phosphor based white LEDs. The characteristics of the white light, e.g. the colour temperature, can be changed or varied by providing different phosphor materials. The white light characteristics may also be varied by providing different thickness and/or coating of the phosphor. Furthermore, in order to provide a white light having a desirable colour temperature, LEDs providing white light of different temperature are often used and mixed with each other. For example, an LED providing a cool white light may be combined and mixed with an LED providing a warmer white light.
Due to the various applications requiring different kind of white light characteristics and inherent variation of performance in relation to manufacturing of semiconductor products, such as LEDs, quite a number of combinations are possible if e.g. a tunable white colour temperature is required. Therefore, a problem with the above mentioned approach of combining LEDs having different white light is that many light modules have to be available for achieving a desired combination.


A variable attenuator for electronically controlling dual beam intensity comprising a laser source for emitting a light beam, a twisted nematic liquid crystal for exposure control of the light beam, a double-sided multi-layer dielectric thin film coated polarization plate for decreasing the s-component of the light beam to less than or equal to 0.0001 of the light beam emitted from the laser source, and a beam splitting crystal for separating said light beam into two beams of equal intensity.

This invention relates to a variable attenuator for raster output scanners, and more particularly, to a variable attenuator with a liquid crystal cell and a double-sided polarization plate for electronically controlling dual scanning beam intensity in raster output scanners.
Raster output scanners create or write images in accordance with the image content of an image signal. Typical present day raster output scanners are xerographic based and the images are written on a photoreceptor. The moving photoreceptor, having been previously charged, is exposed line by line by a high intensity beam of electromagnetic radiation, such as a laser, that has been modulated in accordance with input image signal. The modulated beam is focused by suitable optical elements to a point on the photoreceptor and scanned across the photoreceptor by a scanning element such as a rotating multi-faceted polygon. As a result, latent electrostatic images representative of the input image signal are created on the photoreceptor and thereafter developed by the application of a suitable toner thereto. The developed images are then transferred to copy sheets and fixed to provide permanent copies.
Much higher copy output speeds will be needed for future raster output scanners along with better and higher image resolutions. As an answer to this need, scanning systems employing dual scanning beams are contemplated with the intent of minimizing the rotational speed requirements imposed on the scanning element such as a polygon. This would allow the life of the scanning element shaft bearings, a critical and limiting factor to the speed at which the scanning element can safely and reliably operate, to be extended. For dual beam applications, however, a unitary or one piece modulator rather than two separate modulators is considered to be desirable. Unitary modulators consist of a single modulator crystal of suitable size having two separate sets of drive electrodes such that two separate and distinct channels are formed on the same crystal. This reduces cost and optical alignment problems since only a single modulator need be located and fixed in the optical path rather than two. The problem, however, is that for this type of modulator, two very accurately positioned and balanced intensity input beams are essential since the ability to move and adjust a separate modulator for each beam is sacrificed to obtain the advantages offered by the one piece dual modulator design.
Control over the light exposure level at the xerographic photoreceptor is required in all laser printers if acceptable prints and copies are to be produced. Indeed, imaging beam intensity is critical if the proper exposure level for the particular photoreceptor used is to be assured, and if variations in intensity across the scan line and from scan line, and in the laser output power, and in the transmittance, reflectance, and throughput efficiency of the various optical components are to be compensated for. Exposure control takes on added importance and criticality with increased print resolution, half-toning, single-pass highlight color, and other developments where an intensity variation of no more than +/-1 percent is desired.
Where gas lasers are used as the scanning beam source, light intensity is not directly variable at the source. In the past, if intensity control were to be provided, the drive power to the acousto-optic modulator was typically controlled. This allowed the diffraction efficiency of the modulator to be adjusted which in turn controlled the intensity of the scanning beam and provided the exposure levels desired. Uniform exposure across the photoreceptor together with other performance factors requires that the modulator be operated at saturating drive power levels, precluding control over beam intensity by controlling modulator drive power.
Since exposure control through adjustment of the modulator drive power is no longer an available option, other control techniques have been considered and tried but without success. These control techniques include the addition of neutral density filters to the scanner optical system or supporting the entire laser tube assembly for rotation, so as to permit the laser to be turned for optimum polarization with respect to the modulator. Unfortunately, the use of neutral density filters and adjustment of the laser tube assembly can only be implemented manually, greatly limiting their desirability. Furthermore, the use of neutral density filters can induce flare light and cause beam aberrations, while permitting adjustment of the laser tube assembly can result in pointing errors in the laser beam and require subsequent realignment of the optical components following each adjustment.
A twisted nematic liquid crystal can provide controlled rotation of the plane of polarization of the laser beam, such control being in response to beam intensity monitored at the photoreceptor. A liquid crystal twist cell can be disposed between a linear polarizer and a guest/host-type liquid crystal cell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,364 to Andrews et al., assigned to the same assignee as the present application and incorporated herewithin by reference, discloses a variable attenuator for controlling scanning beam intensity having a twisted nematic liquid crystal for rotating the beam polarization and a polarization analyzer to block out the polarization component normal to the analyzer polarization axis, thereby resulting in beam intensity attenuation.
If a liquid crystal cell is used in the variable attenuator, the liquid crystal rotates the polarization of the light transmitted through the crystal. As the voltage applied to the liquid crystal varies, the amount of polarization rotation of the light transmitted through the crystal also varies.
Sheet polarizers have been suggested to remove the varying polarization of the light caused by the liquid crystal. Sheet polarizers transmit the optical polarization component (P-component) which lies along the polarization axis of the material and absorb the optical polarization component (S-component) normal to the polarization axis of the material. However, this absorption of the S-component is not infinite and a portion of the S-component is transmitted with the P-component. Additionally, the absorption of optical energy results in a local temperature increase of the sheet polarizer which then leads to beam shape distortion.
Polarizers can be optical plates coated on a single side with a multi-layer dielectric thin film coating designed such that when tilted close to the Brewster angle, the polarizer plate will transmit over 95 percent of the P-component and reflect over 99 percent of the S-component. Again however, a portion of the S-component of less than 1 percent will be transmitted through the polarizer plate.
Because of this seemingly negligible transmittance of the S-component, if the polarization of the input beam to the polarizer is rotated, the polarization of the output beam from the polarizer will also rotate away from the polarizer axis instead of being exactly along the polarizer axis, which is a main function of a polarizer in the first place, namely output polarization exactly aligned with the polarizer axis. A polarizer is often used to obtain a highly linear polarization in a controlled direction indicated by the polarizer axis.
If the input beam is to be used to create a dual beam by using polarization sensitive optics, still further problems arise. When the output polarization rotates by just a few degrees, large intensity variations are created between two beams generated, for example, in a beam splitting crystal.
However, the physical quantities of the optical beam most effected in the beam splitting crystal by the S-component transmittance are the amplitude of the optical field, i.e. the electric field magnitude and direction of the optical field. Optical intensity is proportional to the square of the electric field amplitude. Therefore, even though a less than one percent (0.01) intensity transmittance of the S-component seems negligible, its amplitude is a significant 0.1.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, an incident beam would have an input polarization, E.sub.in, at an angle .theta. with respect to the polarization plate P-component axis. Decomposing along the S and P directions, the beam would have EQU S-comp=E.sub.in sin .theta. [Equation 1] EQU and EQU P-comp=E.sub.in cos .theta. [Equation 2]
If the S-component intensity transmission, T.sub.s, is very small and the P-component intensity transmission, T.sub.p, is large ( 95%). The emerging E fields amplitudes (S-comp.sub.out and P-comp.sub.out), since the amplitude is proportional to the square root of the intensity, will be EQU S-comp.sub.out =.sqroot.T.sub.s E.sub.in sin .theta. [Equation 3] EQU and EQU P-comp.sub.out =.sqroot.T.sub.p E.sub.in cos .theta. [Equation 4]
This square root effect also affects the polarization angle out of the polarizer. Instead of having the output polarization almost entirely in the P direction, it is at an angle .epsilon., where EQU Tan .epsilon.=(S-comp.sub.out /P-comp.sub.out)=.sqroot.(T.sub.s /T.sub.p) tan .theta. [Equation 5]
If the polarization plate has an S rejection ratio of 100:1 for the S-comp, then T.sub.s =0.01, and .sqroot.T.sub.s =0.1.
The light incident to a beam splitting crystal is normally at an input angle, .theta. of 45.degree., to produce dual beams of equal intensity. The incident beam from the polarizer with a T.sub.p of 0.95 and T.sub.s of 0.01, the angle .epsilon. off of the polarizer axis is found to be 5.85.degree.. An angle .epsilon. of 5.85.degree. will cause the two beams produced by the beam splitter to differ in intensity by 44 percent, which is outside the parameters of producing dual beams of equal intensity for a raster output scanner.
Polarization plates are also difficult to manufacture. The angle of incidence has been found to be unpredictable. To obviate this, the polarization plate may be supported in an adjustable cylindrical housing or barrel in order to permit fine adjustment in the orientation of plate to be made.
An expensive solution would be to add a liquid crystal cell to compensate the polarization rotation back. It would basically be an electronic substitute to the barrel rotation. However, it would involve a feedback mechanism similar to the one in U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,364.
It is an object of this invention to provide a variable attenuator for electronically controlling dual scanning beam intensity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a variable attenuator with a single liquid crystal and a double-sided polarization plate for producing dual beams of equal intensity from a beam splitter.


A method for simultaneously forming a flat display panel and bonding to a printed circuit board is disclosed in which a silicon wafer is first supplied and then coated with an alignment layer, a multiplicity of spacers are then mounted to the wafer before it is severed into a multiplicity of dies. A frame seal is then applied to the periphery of the die, while a multiplicity of metal leads is formed on the die for electrical communication with a multiplicity of thin film transistors. A glass plate is then assembled to the silicon substrate by the frame seal, while simultaneously bonded to a printed circuit board in a bonder apparatus under pressure by utilizing a conductive material such as silver paste, an anisotropic conductive film or an isotropic conductive adhesive. The bonding of the printed circuit board to the flat panel display module occurs simultaneously with the formation of interconnections between the printed circuit board and the multiplicity of metal leads on the silicon substrate through a multiplicity of transparent electrodes formed on the glass plate of the flat panel display. The present invention novel structure allows the use of a conventional alignment apparatus such as CCD for optical alignment and a conventional bonder apparatus since a glass substrate is completely exposed and optical transmission can be achieved through the flat panel display module.

The present invention generally relates to a method for interconnecting a flat panel display and a device formed and more particularly, relates to a method for interconnecting a liquid crystal display panel to a printed circuit board wherein the display panel has a non-transparent substrate and a device formed by the method.
In recent years, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels have been used widely in place of cathode ray tubes (CRT) in electronic display applications. The LCD panel is first assembled together by filling a liquid crystal material in-between a LCD substrate and a transparent glass cover plate. The LCD substrate consists of a multiplicity of switching, or electronic turn-on and turn-off devices for operating the multiplicity of pixels formed on the LCD panel.
After the assembly of a LCD panel is completed, the panel must be connected to an outside circuit for receiving electronic signals such that images may be produced in the panel. The electronic connections to the LCD panel can be provided by different techniques. A conventional technique for providing electronic signals to a LCD panel is by using a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) which contains various electronic components welded thereto for providing signals to the LCD. The flexible printed circuit board is frequently manufactured of a conductive copper layer sandwiched between two flexible polyimide cover layers. The flexibility of FPCB is advantageous in the installation of a LCD panel. FIG. 1A is a graph illustrating a conventional design of LCD panel 10 connected by a FPCB 12 to a printed circuit board (PCB) 14 which has a surface mount technology (SMT) type IC chip 16 mounted on top.
In another conventional technique for bonding a LCD to a PCB, as shown in FIG. 1B, a tape automated bonding (TAB) technique is used. In the TAB bonding technique, a TAB section 20 is used to connect LCD 10 and PCB 14. The TAB section 20 consists of a TAB tape 22 which has an IC chip 16 connected to it through bonding sites 24. The TAB bonding technique provides the benefit of a compact package so that circuit density can be improved resulting in a lead pitch as low as 60 xcexcm. The TAB, also known as TCP (tape carrier package) utilizes finely patterned thin metal, i.e., copper foil plated with Au or Sn, in place of wires and connects the metal tips metallurgically to corresponding gold plated bumps that are formed on the aluminum pads on the chip. TAB is preferred in smaller-pitch interconnects for high I/O ULSI devices because it enables smaller pitch and longer span bondings than those available by wire bonding. However, the TAB bonding technique is normally conducted at a higher fabrication cost.
In still another technique for bonding a LCD to a PCB, as shown in FIG. 1C, a chip on glass (COG) technique is used. In the COG technique, an IC chip 16 is mounted directly on a LCD 10 by utilizing solder bumps 24 and an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) 26. Detailed cross-sectional views of an ACF 26 is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. As shown in FIG. 2A, a TAB tape 22 which has conductive pads 28 formed on top is positioned over an ACF tape 30 which contains electrically conductive particles 32 embedded an insulative compound 34. Positioned under the ACF 30 is a LCD substrate 10 which has conductive elements 36 formed on top. After the TAB tape 22, the ACF 30 and the LCD substrate 10 are pressed together under heat, as shown in FIG. 2B, the conductive particles 32 provides electrical communication between the conductive pads 28 and the conductive elements 36 and therefore allowing the TAB tape 22 to electrically communicate with the LCD substrate 10. It should be noted that, electrical communication between the conductive pads 28 and the conductive elements 26 is only established where the conductive particles 32 are compressed, i.e., only established anisotropically and selectively. The conductive elements 36 on the LCD substrate 10 is normally formed of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin films.
As shown in FIG. 1C, the COG technique may further connect the LCD substrate 10 to a printed circuit board (not shown) by a flexible printed circuit board (not shown). The COG technique therefore relies on bonding with solder bumps 24 formed on an IC chip and the ACF for electrical communications.
Each of the three conventional techniques for forming a TFT-LCD assembly has its benefits and disadvantages. For instance, in the first technique of using SMT/FPCB, the circuit density can be increased to achieve a compact package at the expense of using difficult TAB technology and high material costs. In the TAB and COG method, a rework of the assembly such as the removal of a defective IC from a LCD substrate is extremely difficult, if not impossible. For instance, the only possible means for removing an IC chip that is bonded to a LCD substrate is by using a shear force for pushing an IC chip and breaking its bond with the LCD substrate. This is a difficult process and frequently results in the destruction of the entire assembly.
In the present fabrication process for TFT-LCD assemblies, the SMT/FPCB method is frequently used in fabricating lower priced assemblies such as those utilizing small LCD panels. In large LCD panel applications, i.e., such as those used in notebook computers, the TAB bonding method is normally used. The COG method, due to its difficulty in reworking and repair, is also limited to small LCD panel display applications. The TAB process and the COG process are therefore the two major assembling methods used for TFT-LCD assemblies. To sum up, the TAB method can be easily reworked and repaired by removing an IC chip from the TAB tape and furthermore, it is compact in size which allows the achievement of high density packages of up to 60 xcexcm pitch. However, the TAB process requires complicated fabrication steps which include IC bonding, tape fabrication, inner lead bonding, encapsulation, outer lead bonding and the ACF process. Another drawback for the TAB process is, during the ACF processing, there is a thermal expansion problem which may lead to misalignment between the leads. The TAB tape may further absorb moisture and contribute to its dimensional instability. Elaborate equipment may also be required for the TAB process and therefore increasing its fabrication costs.
In the COG process, while the fabrication steps required are simpler, i.e. only IC bumping and ACF processes are required, and furthermore, there is no thermal expansion problem and smaller pitch such as 50 xcexcm can be achieved, the fabrication of an LCD package of compact size is nevertheless difficult. This difficulty is illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In FIG. 3A, a cross-sectional view of an LCD package 40 which consists of an LCD substrate shown as a lower glass panel 10, an upper glass panel 42, an IC chip (or a driver chip) 16, an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) layer 26, and a printed circuit board (or a flexible printed circuit board) 14 is shown. The driver chip 16 is equipped with a multiplicity of solder bumps 44 formed on an active surface of the chip 16 for making electrical connection with a second multiplicity of conductive leads 46 (such as ITO leads) formed on the top surface 48 of the lower glass panel 10. The electrical communication is established by using the anisotropic conductive film layer 26 which is loaded with electrically conductive particles 50. In order to communicate with the outside circuits, such as circuits on the PCB 14, electrical communication through a third multiplicity of conductive pads 52 is provided between the PCB 14 and the lower glass panel 10. A plane view of the LCD package 40 is further shown in FIG. 3B.
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the lower glass panel 10 of the LCD package 40 is normally provided with a larger area than the upper glass panel 42 and thus leaving an exposed edge area 60 necessary for mounting of the driver chip 16 and the PCB 14. The excess edge portion 60 therefore cannot be reduced which results in excessively large LCD packages that are not suitable for certain applications that require a compact LCD package. The technology of connecting driver chips and external PCB circuits to an LCD package therefore must be improved in order to produce compact LCD panels.
More recently, a flat panel display package has been developed wherein one of the glass panels is replaced by a non-transparent panel such as a silicon substrate. The display module formed is known as a liquid crystal on silicon, or LCoS in abbreviation. In a typical liquid crystal on silicon module, the interconnection between the liquid crystal and a printed circuit board is by wire bonding or by an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) placed on silicon. A typical liquid crystal on silicon module 70 is shown in FIG. 4. The liquid crystal on silicon module 70 is constructed by a glass substrate 54 and a silicon substrate 56 with a liquid crystal material 58 filled therein-between. Spacers 62 are utilized to keep a constant space between the two substrates. An adhesive bead 64 is used along a perimeter of the glass substrate 54 for sealing and retaining the liquid crystal material 58. When the liquid crystal display panel 66 is used to interconnect to a substrate such as a printed circuit board 68, the silicon substrate 56 is adhesively bonded to the printed circuit board 68. IC chips 72 are mounted on top of the printed circuit board 68 for providing driver circuits to the liquid crystal panel 66. The electrical interconnections are thus made by wire bonds 74 between the liquid crystal panel 66 and the printed circuit board 68. Bond pads 76 and metal traces 78 are further provided for accomplishing such interconnections.
In the liquid crystal on substrate module 70 shown in FIG. 4, while the wire bonding technology has matured and can be used reliably in producing liquid crystal display modules in an automated process, the throughput of the process is low due to the time consuming wire bonding process. Other processing and design difficulties such as the module cannot be aligned in an existing alignment equipment which is designed for aligning modules that have a transparent base plate, or the poor heat dissipation since a heat sink cannot be directly attached to the silicon substrate. These processing and design limitations greatly limit the application potential of the liquid crystal on silicon modules.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate without the drawbacks or shortcomings of the conventional interconnecting method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate without using the wire bonding technique.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate by using a glass panel that is larger than the non-transparent panel in forming the liquid crystal panel.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate by utilizing anisotropic conductive film in interconnecting the liquid crystal panel to a printed circuit board.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate to a flexible printed circuit board by utilizing an anisotropic conductive adhesive in-between the circuit board and the liquid crystal panel.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a flat display module formed by a flat panel electrically connected to a printed circuit board without any wire bonds.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display module formed by a flat panel electrically connected to a printed circuit board by utilizing an anisotropic conductive film or an anisotropic conductive adhesive in-between the flat panel display and the printed circuit board.
It is yet another further object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display module formed by a flat panel electrically connected to a printed circuit board that can be processed in a conventional bonder and an alignment equipment.
In accordance with the present invention, a method for interconnecting a flat panel display that has a non-transparent substrate to a printed circuit board and a flat panel display module formed by such method are disclosed.
In a preferred embodiment, a method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate can be carried out by the operating steps of first providing a flat display panel that is formed of a glass panel, a silicon substrate and a liquid crystal material filled therein-between; the glass panel has a length larger than a length of the silicon substrate resulting in an overhang on at least one side of the glass panel in a longitudinal direction; providing a multiplicity of metal leads on an edge portion of the silicon substrate not covered by the liquid crystal material in electrical communication with a multiplicity of thin film transistors; providing a multiplicity of transparent conductive traces on the overhang of the glass panel; providing a printed circuit board that has a multiplicity of conductive pads formed on an edge portion of the board; positioning the flat display panel with the glass panel facing downwardly and the silicon substrate juxtaposed to the PCB; positioning an electrically conductive adhesive in-between the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces, the multiplicity of metal leads, and the multiplicity of conductive pads; aligning the flat display panel to the PCB optically from an underside of the panel through the glass panel; and compressing the PCB against the overhang of the glass panel such that the multiplicity of conductive pads on the PCB is electrically connected to the multiplicity of metal leads on the edge portion of the silicon substrate through the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces on the glass panel and the electrically conductive adhesive positioned therein-between.
The method for interconnecting a flat display panel that has a non-transparent substrate may further include the step of curing the electrically conductive adhesive by UV radiation from the side of the glass panel, or the step of selecting an electrically conductive adhesive from the group consisting of silver paste, electrically conductive elastomer, anisotropic conductive film, anisotropic conductive adhesive, metal bumps and solder balls. The method may further include the step of providing a multiplicity of transparent conductive traces that is formed of indium-tin-oxide, or the step of providing a printed circuit board that is a flexible printed circuit board, or the step of aligning the flat panel display to the PCB optically by a charge coupled device (CCD).
The present invention is further directed to a method for simultaneously forming a flat display panel and bonding to a printed circuit board which can be carried out by the operating steps of providing a silicon wafer that has a multiplicity of thin film transistors each formed on a multiplicity of dies; coating and buffing an alignment layer of a polymeric material on top of the silicon wafer achieving a preferred orientation of the material; mounting a multiplicity of spacers each having a preset thickness on top of the wafer; singulating the multiplicity of dies from the wafer and testing for reliability; positioning a frame seal along a periphery of one of the multiplicity of dies; forming a multiplicity of metal leads on an edge portion of the die electrically connecting to a multiplicity of thin film transistors; positioning a glass plate that has a larger area than the die resulting in an overhang on the die; forming a multiplicity of transparent conductive traces in the overhang on the die; providing a printed circuit board that has a multiplicity of conductive pads formed on an edge portion of the board; positioning the die and the glass plate with the frame seal therein-between in an upside-down position with the glass plate facing downwardly and the die juxtaposed to the PCB; positioning an electrically conductive material in-between the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces and the multiplicity of metal leads, the multiplicity of conductive pads; aligning the glass plate to the die and the PCB from an underside of the glass panel; compressing the PCB against the overhang of the glass plate such that the multiplicity of conductive pads on the PCB is electrically connected to the multiplicity of metal leads on the die through the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces on the glass plate and the electrically conductive material positioned therein-between; and filling a liquid crystal material between the glass plate and the die contained by the frame seal.
The method for simultaneously forming a flat display panel and bonding to a printed circuit board may further include the step of annealing the electrically conductive material by UV radiation applied from the side of the glass plate, or the step of providing the printed circuit board in a flexible printed circuit or the step of aligning the glass plate to the die and the PCB by a charge coupled device. The method may further include the step of compressing the PCB against the overhang of the glass plate between an upper platen and the glass plate, or the step of mounting a heat sink to the die for enhanced heat dissipation, or the step of providing the frame seal in a UV curable polymeric material. The method may further include the step of selecting the electrically conductive material from the group consisting of silver paste, electrically conductive elastomer, anisotropic conductive film, anisotropic conductive adhesive, metal bumps and solder balls.
The present invention is still further directed to a flat panel display (FPD) module formed by a flat panel electrically connected to a printed circuit board that includes a flat panel formed of a glass plate, a silicon substrate and a liquid crystal material filled therein-between, the glass plate has a length larger than a length of the silicon substrate resulting in an overhang on at least one side of the glass plate in a longitudinal direction; a multiplicity of metal leads on an edge portion of the silicon substrate not covered by the liquid crystal material in electrical communication with a multiplicity of thin film transistors; a multiplicity of transparent conductive traces on the overhang of the glass plate; and a printed circuit board that has a multiplicity of conductive pads formed on an edge portion of the board; the flat panel with the glass plate facing downwardly and the silicon substrate juxtaposed to the PCB is bonded to the PCB by an electrically conductive material placed in-between the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces, the multiplicity of metal leads, and the multiplicity of conductive pads; such that the multiplicity of conductive pads on the PCB is electrically connected to the multiplicity of metal leads on the edge portion of the silicon substrate through the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces on the glass plate and the electrically conductive material.
In the flat panel display module formed by a flat panel electrically connected to a printed circuit board, the multiplicity of transparent conductive traces may be formed of indium-tin-oxide (ITO). The electrically conductive material for bonding the flat panel to the PCB may be selected from the group consisting of silver paste, electrically conductive elastomer, anisotropic conductive film, anisotropic conductive adhesive, metal bumps and solder balls. The printed circuit board may be a flexible printed circuit. The electrically conductive material may be a UV curable material. The flat panel display module may further include a heat sink that is mounted to the silicon substrate for enhanced heat dissipation.

Method for interconnecting a flat panel display having a non-transparent substrate and devices formed

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A glucose meter module integrated into a holster device that can securely accommodate another device such as a portable server device or an insulin pump is described. The glucose measuring module and the health device communicate with each other by a short range wireless modality. In the case in which the accommodated device is a server, such as personal digital assistant or cell phone, the device stores data in a memory, displays data on a visual display, and can wirelessly transmit such data to other devices within a personal area network. In the case where the accommodated device is a cell phone, the phone can further transmit data to remote sites. In the case where the accommodated device is an insulin pump, wirelessly received data are stored in a memory, are available for visual display on the insulin pump, and can be incorporated into the electronic processes that regulate the performance of the pump.

The number of diagnosed cases of diabetes continues to increase in the U.S. and throughout the world, creating enormous economic and public health consequences. One area in which recently developed technologies have been able to improve the standard of care has been in the maintenance of tight control over the blood glucose levels. It is well known that if a diabetic patient's blood glucose values are maintained within the normal range of from about 80 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) to about 120 mg/dL, the physiologically damaging consequences of unchecked diabetes can be minimized.
Recent technological and commercial development in the two areas of glucose monitoring and of insulin administration have each contributed significantly to improving the ability of diabetic people to maintain better control over their blood glucose level, and thereby enhance their quality of life.
With better blood glucose information, diabetic patients can better exercise tight control of their blood glucose level through a variety of means, including diet, exercise, and medication. A common type of glucose measuring device is represented by hand-held electronic meters which receive blood samples via enzyme-based "test strips". In using these systems, the patient lances a finger or alternate body site to obtain a blood sample, the sample is applied to the strip, the strip is inserted into a port in the meter housing where it engages the meter's internal electronics, and the electronics convert a current generated by the enzymatic reaction in the test strip to a blood glucose value. The glucose value is then typically displayed on the meter's liquid crystal display (LCD), which is generally relatively large in size in order to accommodate the eyesight capability of older adults and diabetic people, who often have deteriorating vision.
Some diabetic patients require insulin administration in order to maintain tight control of their glucose level. Insulin administration to these insulin-dependent patients has traditionally been by self-injection, but a more recently available technology is represented by insulin pumps. These pump devices offer significant therapeutic value over self injection, as the pumps deliver insulin in a more physiological manner, with measured doses of insulin being infused slowly, over an extended period of time. Further, the rate at which insulin is delivered can be programmed to follow standard or individually-modified protocols, to give the user even better glucose control over the course of a day. Insulin pumps have commercially evolved to become small in size, which offers easier portability and unobtrusiveness, and with electronic advances, they have evolved to become more fully-featured, and thus capable of enhanced and individualized performance. These various advantages in terms of health care quality and user convenience have supported the growth of the insulin pump market.
It has been recognized that combining the newer technologies of insulin administration with the newer technologies of glucose measurement could significantly improve user convenience, resulting in a greater ability to comply with frequent testing, and greater ability to effect individually appropriate schedules of insulin administration.
Such an integrated combination of a glucose measuring device and insulin pump is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,065, which teaches the inclusion of a mechanism for measuring blood glucose within the housing of an insulin pump. While the advantages of such a glucose measuring/insulin pump combinations has been known for many years, in fact, no such device has become commercially available. Various practical and market-based factors may contribute to the absence of a combination device in the market. Insulin pumps, though expensive, have become well established and stabilized in the market; and pump users tend to remain with their initial choice. Glucose meters, in contrast, are presently evolving more quickly and are inexpensive for users; indeed they are often provided to users by manufacturers without charge, as a loss leader in an overall business strategy. At least in part as a consequence of the low price, glucose meter users have lower brand loyalty, and will switch among brands. As another consequence, there is intense manufacturing cost pressure on glucose meters, which, in turn, encourages efficient product design by the meter manufacturers. From the perspective of a pump manufacturer in designing such a physically integrated combination device, the manufacturer would need to commit to a particular blood glucose measuring technology in the face of the concern that such technology could become less competitive or even obsolete during the normal life of the pump product.
It is known that hand-held glucose meters can advantageously be manufactured to include short range wireless communication capability, through which data from the glucose sensor can be transmitted to another health device, such as a computer, cell phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA); such wireless communication between two portable devices is shown in the PCT publication WO03005891A1. This wireless data transfer relieves the glucose sensor user of the need to record such data by hand, and allows for accumulation of data points within a larger database for longer term health monitoring and intervention. In spite of the benefits of wireless communication, the inconvenience of handling separate devices to achieve the patient's singular goal of maintaining glucose control remains unsolved by wireless communication alone.
Devices that provide for secure personal portability of various communication and health-related electronic devices, and ease of use while being carried are also well known. Holsters and cases for electronic devices that attach to belts or other articles of clothing are never far from where mobile telephones are being sold, and are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,664,292 and 5,833,100, and 6,081,695. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,317 describes an apparatus that provides for a belt-clip mounting for a medication infusion pump.
In view of these various problematic factors associated with the actual physical integration of a glucose measuring device with an insulin pump, it would be desirable to provide an insulin pump user the benefits and performance of functionally combined glucose measuring device and insulin pump. Such a combined device would desirably be in a portable configuration that, in fact, maintains physical distinctness of the devices, gets past the market-based barriers that accompany physical integration, and yet offers a combination which for all practical purposes is used as a single integrated device. It would be further desirable for this functionally integrated device to be fully enabled to interact with other devices within a personal area network.

Glucose measuring device integrated into a holster for a personal area network device


An electrochemical cell design is disclosed for the particular application of the electrochemical treatment of contaminants in water. The cell is designed to allow the treatment of low concentrations of contaminants in low conductivity water efficiently, and to be simple to fabricate. The design incorporates tapered inlet and outlet fluid flow manifolds so that the cell pressure drop will be almost entirely due to fluid contacting the electrodes, thus maximising the effective use of the system pump power. A short anode to cathode distance and thin working electrodes are used to minimise resistive electrical power losses. The parallel slacked arrangement of the electrodes and the smooth inlet and outlet designs leads to relatively even distributions of current density and mass transfer resulting in maximal utilisation of the entire active electrode surface area. The electrodes are connected internally in parallel in monopolar stack modules, and the modules are then connected externally in series, with insulating baffles to minimise current by-pass problems. This provides a simple cell construction (a minimum number of simple insulating baffles) while still simplifying the cell wiring and reducing the cell current demand (allowing lighter wiring to be used).

For water treatment systems running in acidic or poorly buffered neutral solutions, anodes which are stable in acid are required. Such stable anodes are typically fabricated as active coatings on a corrosion resistant valve metal substrate (for example, but not limited to: titanium, tantalum, and zirconium. See, for example, G. P. Vercesi, J. Rolewicz, Ch. Comninellis, E. Plattner, and J. Hinden, "Characterization of DSA-Type Oxygen Evolving Electrodes. Choice of Base Metal", Thermochimica Acta, vol. 176, pp. 31–47, (1991). The coatings used (for example, but not limited to: platinum, iridium dioxide, mixed platinum and iridium dioxide, doped tin dioxide, lead dioxide (with and without doping), and doped diamond) are expensive. Therefore it is important when using such anodes, that the cell design ensures that the entire electrode area is effectively used in order to minimise the electrode area required to treat a given volume of contaminated water. Specifically this means that one desires a design that allows for a high and even current density from the anode, and a corresponding high and even mass transport to deliver the solution contaminants to the anode surface at a sufficient rate. It should be understood, however, that while this design provides the greatest advantage with expensive electrode materials such as those described above, it still also provides some advantage for applications with lower cost electrodes (anodes or cathodes) and/or in alkaline solutions.
To treat solutions with low concentrations of contaminants requires good mass transport to deliver the contaminants to the electrode surface. Mass transport is proportional to momentum transport and therefore linked to pressure drop. Thus a cell with high rates of mass transport will also have a high pressure drop. A good cell design must therefore be able to operate with high inlet pressures, and to cause little or no "non-useful" pressure drops in the cell inlet and outlet to avoid wasting pump power. In other words, ideally all the cell pressure drops would be "useful"; due to the interaction of the fluid flow with the working electrodes (i.e. the electrodes at which the desired reaction or reactions are occurring). In order to operate with a high inlet pressure while being inexpensive to fabricate, a cell design must have minimal openings and gaskets, which might leak at high pressure. In order to minimise "non-useful" pressure drops the cell inlet and outlet must avoid abrupt changes in flow velocity or direction (i.e. minimal flow constrictions or corners).
As well as minimising the electrode area required to treat a given volume of contaminated water, the design should also minimise the cell size to minimise the fabrication costs. This requires maximising the electrode area per cell volume. Thus the goal of this cell design is to provide the cheapest possible system while retaining optimal performance.

High volumetric efficiency electrochemical cell design for treatment of low concentrations of contaminants in low conductivity water


A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus has a first space and a second space in a process chamber in which a semiconductor wafer is accommodated, the first and second spaces being separated by the semiconductor wafer. A process gas port opens into the first space adjacent to the obverse surface of the semiconductor wafer, and an infrared light transmission window is formed in a wall of the chamber at the second space facing the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer. No layers are deposited on the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer and the infrared light transmission window so that the emissivity at the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer is not changed during layer deposition. The temperature during processing can therefore be monitored accurately with a pyrometer, and a reduction in the transmissivity of the window is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device manufacture apparatus for rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) utilizing a short-time heat treatment.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, e.g., an RTCVD apparatus. A semiconductor wafer 2 is accommodated in a process chamber 1 and supported by a susceptor 3. A door 4 for introduction of a semiconductor wafer is provided at an end of the process chamber 1, and a process gas introduction port 5 and a discharge port 6 are provided at the other end. Tungsten halogen lamps 7 for heating the semiconductor wafer 2 and apyrometer 8 for measuring the temperature of the semiconductor wafer 2 are provided at the periphery of the process chamber 1.
The thus-constructed conventional semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus is used as described below. First, the door 4 is opened, semiconductor wafer 2 is introduced into the process chamber 1 and is placed on the susceptor 3, and the door 4 is thereafter closed. Next, the interior of the process chamber 1 is evacuated through the discharge port 6, and a desired process gas is introduced into the process chamber 1 through the process gas introduction port 5. After a predetermined gas flow rate and a predetermined pressure have been reached and stably maintained, the tungsten halogen lamps 7 are energized to heat the semiconductor wafer 2. Then, the temperature of the semiconductor wafer 2 is monitored by the pyrometer 8, and RTCVD is effected at the set temperature for the set time.
This semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus entails problems described below. The first problem is temperature measurement. To measure the temperature with accuracy by using the pyrometer 8, it is necessary to know the emissivity of the wafer 2 at the measurement wavelengths at the measured surface, i.e., the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer 2 in this case. This emissivity is a sensitive function of the condition of the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer 2. For example, in the conventional RTCVD apparatus, the emissivity at the reverse surface of the semiconductor wafer 2 changes with time because a layer is also deposited on this surface. It is therefore impossible to monitor the temperature with the pyrometer 8.
Second, at least part of the process chamber 1 is made of a material capable of transmitting infrared rays, e.g., quartz as a window, since the tungsten halogen lamps 7 are used for the light source to heat the semiconductor wafer 2 with infrared rays. Since such a window material does not completely transmit infrared rays, the window member itself is also heated up, and the temperature thereof is increased. Therefore a layer is also deposited on the window member, so that the infrared ray transmissivity is reduced. A vicious cycle thereby arises; the temperature of the window member is further increased and the layer deposition proceeds. Ultimately, infrared rays cannot reach the semiconductor wafer 2 which is to be heated.

Semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus