A heat pipe is disclosed, the heat pipe capable of transferring heat to actuate a pressure relief device by heat transfer through either capillary action involving a wicking material and a working fluid, or by a consumable fuse in the case of leakage of the working fluid from the heat pipe.

Presently there are a variety of pressure vessels developed for use in various applications, such as those designed to contain gases for use in fuel cells. Fuel cells have been proposed as a clean, efficient and environmentally responsible power source for electric vehicles and various other applications. One example of a fuel cell is a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In PEM type fuel cells, hydrogen is supplied as a fuel to an anode of the fuel cell and oxygen is supplied as an oxidant to a cathode. Hydrogen is colorless, odorless, burns without producing a visible flame or radiant heat, and is difficult to contain. A common technique for storing hydrogen is in a lightweight, high pressure vessel resistant to punctures.
Traditionally such vessels are divided into four types. A Type I vessel is a metal vessel. A Type II vessel is also a metal vessel, the vessel having an outer composite shell disposed on a cylindrical section thereof. A Type III vessel consists of a liner produced from a metal such as steel and aluminum, for example, and an outer composite shell that encompasses the liner and militates against damage thereto. A Type IV vessel is substantially similar to the Type III vessel, wherein the liner is produced from a plastic. Furthermore, a conceptual Type V vessel may be developed, wherein the vessel is produced from a composite material. Each type of vessel may include a metal boss disposed therein to house a pressure relief device (PRD).
The PRD is in fluid communication with the interior of the vessel and, when actuated, vents the hydrogen in the vessel to decrease the internal pressure therein. A variety of PRD's are known, and can be actuated thermally, by pressure, or by a combination of both. In a fuel cell system, the internal pressure of the vessel rarely builds to beyond containable levels before the structural integrity of the lightweight vessel is compromised. Therefore, a fuel cell has traditionally been fitted with a thermal PRD such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,774, hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Typically, when the ambient air reaches a predetermined temperature, the PRD is actuated. However, where vessels are long, remote portions of the vessel insulated from the PRD can be exposed to localized heat sources without causing actuation of the PRD. Exposure to these localized heat sources can result in a rupture of the vessel. Therefore, to actuate the PRD regardless of exposure to the localized heat source, various pipes, conduits, venting lines, and fuses which actuate the PRD have been positioned along the vessel.
One such pipe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,604. An elongate pressure vessel is disclosed having a single PRD located at one end. The PRD is thermally coupled to a heat pipe. The heat pipe, which extends generally parallel to an axis of the pressure vessel, conducts heat from the localized heat source at the remote location directly to the PRD. The outer casing of the pipe is made from a thermally conductive metal and is lined with a wicking material, which is capable of moving a fluid by capillary action. The inside of the pipe is filled with a vaporizable fluid. When heat is applied to the pipe, the fluid, which has permeated the wicking material, vaporizes and moves through the central core of the pipe, repeatedly condensing and vaporizing as it travels toward the PRD, until it transfers the heat to the PRD and causes the PRD to actuate.
A fuse is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,232. A heat responsive fuse cord is disclosed which is thermally coupled to a PRD. The PRD is in fluid communication with the pressurized contents of a vessel. When ignited, the fuse cord burns to a thermal coupler, transferring the heat to the thermal actuator of the PRD.
Alternatively, multiple PRDs may be positioned at a plurality of locations along a vessel. Each PRD communicates with the interior of the vessel via a common high pressure line extending from the boss.
Since such devices could be damaged or broken during an accident, and multiple PRDs are expensive, it would be desirable to produce a heat pipe wherein the cost thereof is minimized and the reliability thereof is maximized.

Modified heat pipe for activation of a pressure relief device


In one embodiment, a vehicle energy absorber system, comprises: blow molded crush lobes that are open on one side, wherein the energy absorber comprises fillets having a fillet radius of less than 20 mm and a thickness of less than or equal to 1.5 mm; a bumper beam adjacent the open side; and a fascia, wherein the energy absorber is located between the fascia and the bumper beam. In one embodiment, a method for making a blow molded energy absorber comprises: introducing a molten plastic to a first mold cavity; introducing gas into the plastic to conform the plastic to the interior of the first mold cavity and form a first preform; and separating the first preform along a centerline thereof to form open, first preform portions having first crush lobes.

The present disclosure relates generally to energy absorbers for use in a vehicle, for example, to reduce injuries (e.g., to occupant(s), pedestrian(s), etc.) and/or to reduce vehicle damage.
Increased importance has been placed on methods for minimizing the amount of injury suffered by a person in an accident as well as the amount of vehicle damage. Different regulatory committees assess automotive pedestrian and occupant impact performance globally. Depending on the overall performance, vehicles are assigned a cumulative safety rating. Each and every component of the vehicle needs to satisfy the specific impact criteria in order to ensure a good overall rating for the vehicle.
Foam energy absorbers are able to meet the pedestrian regulations, but require increased packaging space (e.g., greater than about 80 millimeters (mm)). Metallic energy absorbers are too limiting in terms of the geometries and thicknesses that can be utilized and thus, are not very efficient for pedestrian safety. Automobile manufactures are continually striving to reduce energy absorber component weight and/or reduce the packaging space of components to allow for increased styling freedom while simultaneously providing high performance energy absorber systems. One approach is to lower the energy absorber component weight to provide a lower cost and lower weight solution. However, merely lowering the energy absorber component weight results in a compromise in performance and styling freedom for the front end of the vehicle. Another approach has been to design an energy absorber with a less expensive material or various material configurations to provide a less expensive energy absorber. These material configurations are often inefficient at providing the desired structural integrity for energy absorbers. Still another approach has been to modify the geometrical configuration of an existing energy absorber design. However, this approach has not resulted in a significant weight change. These existing low performance systems generally require large amounts of packaging space to meet the impact regulations. A large packaging space, however, reduces the vehicle styling freedom.
This generates the need to design an energy absorber that will deform and absorb impact energy to ensure a good vehicle safety rating with a decreased weight and lower amount of packaging space resulting in lower cost and increased design freedom. Different components due to their inherent geometry and assembly requirements require different energy absorber designs to satisfy the various impact criteria. Therefore, the automotive industry is continually seeking economic solutions to improve overall safety rating of a vehicle. Hence, there is a continual need to provide a solution which would enhance a vehicle safety rating and/or reduce vehicle damage, while also providing design freedom.

Blow molded energy absorber and systems and methods of making and using the same


An electrical connector to be connected with an Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF) interface is disclosed, including a base, a plurality of first terminals, and a plurality of second terminals. A plurality of first terminal slots parallel disposed on one side of the base for the first terminals to be plugged thereinto. A plurality of second terminal slots parallel disposed on the other side of the base for the second terminals to be plugged thereinto. The first terminal has a stair-like structure having a first plugging part, a first connecting part, a second connecting, a third connecting part, and a first bonding part. The present invention discloses an improved first terminal structure from having only one abutment piece to having a stair-like structure with a plurality of connecting parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors, and, more particularly, to an electrical connector used to connect with a Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF) interface.
2. Description of Related Art
As the technology for developing electronic products is rapidly growing, many different types of electronic devices have been developed including personal computers, smart phones or tablets. The goal for today's electronic device is centered towards miniaturization, high operational speed, and high functionality.
In recent years, the industry focuses heavily on improving Notebook and Ultrabook by using mSATA as an interface to connect with SSD. However, the function of mSATA in practice does not produce satisfactory results as expected. The advantages of using mSATA are few compared to its price. Besides, the operational speed is no longer sufficient to meet user's requirement.
In view of this, related art in the field is now committed to research in a new interface called Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), or abbreviated as M2. NGFF can support SATA and PCIe interface, which can substitute mSATA interface used today. The specification of NGFF has many advantages including being smaller in size, higher power efficiency and higher transmission speed. Moreover, different standard sizes have been created to accommodate different needs in order to fit to different designs of different purposes.
Taiwanese Patent No. m449368 disclosed a card connector comprising an insulative body, a plurality of first terminals, and a plurality of second terminals. The ends of the first and second terminals are plugged in the insulative body and arranged in an alternate arrangement. Each of the first terminals has a first bonding end that extends to the outer part of the insulative body for bonding with the first bonding end of the circuit board. Each of the second terminals has a second bonding end that extending to the outer part of the insulative body for bonding with the second bonding end of the circuit board, allowing the card connector to be securely positioned on the circuit board.
Nevertheless, according to the drawings of the previously mentioned patent, the part of first terminal which is exposed from the insulative body of the NGFF connector disclosed by the previously mentioned patent is long and each of the first terminals is not securely fastened with any petitioners, such that first terminals can easily become deformed, causing failure to be successfully bonded onto the circuit board, resulting in poor yield.


Systems and methods are described for searching media files using a set-top box (STB), a television receiver, digital video recorder (DVR), placeshifting device or other media device, or any type of network host that communicates with a media device of any sort. Search criteria is received from a user, and the search criteria is identified in listings of media programming available from one or more sources. In some implementations, a combined search result can be provided that identifies instances of the search criteria found in program guide listings, files stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), available on-demand content, or any other sources as desired. Some implementations may prioritize search results using information about files stored on a DVR, user preferences, or any other information as desired.

Media content can now be received from any number of different sources. Broadcast television content, for example, can typically be received at set-top box (STB) or other receiver that receives a direct broadcast satellite (DBS), cable and/or terrestrial broadcast signal. Received content may be stored in a personal or digital video recorder (DVR) or the like for viewing at a later time ("time shifting"). Frequently, live or pre-recorded content can also be "placeshifted" over the Internet or another network to allow viewing at remote locations away from the viewer's primary television set. In addition to the wide variety of options in viewing broadcast media content, even more content is increasingly becoming available "on demand" from any number of file based or streaming sources, including various network-based services that provide access to a wealth of on-demand programming.
As content becomes available from a multitude of sources, however, it can be increasingly difficult to locate desired programming. If a viewer wishes to locate a particular program or episode, for example, he or she would typically conduct separate searches of broadcast program guides, on-demand libraries, DVR contents and/or the like to try and find the desired program. Moreover, the wealth of content available often makes broad searches impractical. That is, conventional searches for broad categories of programming (e.g., "comedy") can be impractical, since the number of results returned from such searches often far exceeds the number of results that can be readily processed by the viewer.
As a result, it is now desirable to create systems and methods for improved searching of media content. Other desirable features and characteristics may also become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.

Systems and methods for searching media content


A device for measuring a total dose of biologically effective radiation is provided, in a specific embodiment, for measuring ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) in the wavelength range of 290-400 nm. X-radiation and high-energy particle radiation are also measurable with this device. The device includes a sample of DNA dried onto a plastic film, and the analysis method includes assaying for damage with the use of polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence techniques. The damage to the DNA is correlatable with dosage via a comparison with standardized calibration data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for quantifying a radiation dosage, and, more particularly, to devices and methods for quantifying a dosage of ultraviolet and x-radiation and high-energy particle radiation.
2. Description of Related Art
As it is known that certain wavelengths of radiation can be harmful to living creatures, it is desirable to be able to measure a "local dose" of incident radiation in order to monitor incident radiation. Physical photometers measure an irradiance, or instantaneous rate; a biologically effective dose must be obtained from these data by integrating with a DNA absorption spectrum. This total dose is important for correlating with a biological response such as cell mortality, mutation, or carcinogenesis.
The biologically effective UV radiation that reaches the Earth's surface is generally in the range of 290-320 nm, and it is known that, presumably owing to the destruction of the Earth's ozone layer, the incident amount in this range has been increasing with time.
It is known to use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as a molecular dosimeter for ultraviolet radiation, since total dose data are provided, and since the peak of DNA absorption is approximately 260 nm. It is also advantageous to use DNA, because the principal target for UV damage in living organisms is DNA.
Naked DNA is known to provide "worst-case" damage data, since DNA in vivo is usually afforded some protection by surrounding structures such as nucleoproteins and can be repaired by intracellular mechanisms. Therefore, a DNA dosimeter records the maximum UV damage sustainable by such a molecule at the place and time it is exposed.
It has been known to use radioactive .sup.3 H-labeled DNA as a solar dosimeter in the ocean; however, a problem associated with this technique is the potential for introducing an undesirable material into the environment.
van Houten et al. (Amplifications 10, 10-17, 1993) have quantified the average lesion frequency in UV-irradiated E. Coli lacZ and lacI genes with the polymerase chain reaction.
It is also known that x-radiation and high-energy particle radiation cause damage to DNA.
At present there exists no convenient, portable, inexpensive, safe, compact device and method for measuring a biologically effective dosage of radiation, specifically, a dosage of UV and x-radiation and high-energy particle radiation, incident upon a selected object or area over a desired time period.

Radiation dosimeter and method of making and using


A puck game system that includes at least two puck striking implements; a least one disk shaped puck; and a two-part hinged game arena assembly; the two-part hinged game arena assembly including identical left and right arena structures, each arena structure including: a substantially rectangular housing having a hinge connecting side secured to three low profile hinge assemblies; two spaced puck transfer openings formed through the hinge connecting side and positioned in a manner such that the two spaced transfer openings of the left arena structure are in registration with the two spaced transfer openings of the right arena structure when the left and right arena structures are pivoted into the fully open position, each of the puck transfer openings being of sufficient size to allow passage of the at least one disk shaped puck therethrough; two transfer opening gasket structures secured about the opening perimeter of each puck transfer opening and to the exterior of the hinge connecting sidewall; a rectangular goal opening centered on and formed through the handle connecting sidewall, the goal opening being of sufficient size to allow passage of the at least one disk shaped puck therethrough; a puck catching net attached to the handle connecting sidewall around the perimeter of the rectangular goal opening; and a handle extending outwardly from the exterior of a handle connecting sidewall.

Many individuals enjoy playing games that require a puck to be driven into an opponents goal area. It would be a benefit to those individuals to have a puck game system that could be easily positioned onto a flat surface before each play session and removed and stored within a closet or beneath a bed after the play session is over. In addition, it would be a further benefit if the puck game system included one or more handles to ease movement of the game system between the storage area and the game site.


The invention relates to a pyridazine derivative of formula (I), wherein the variables are as defined

Metabolic enzymes such as proteases or kinases are enzymes that are widely distributed in the animal kingdom. Non-exhaustive examples that may be mentioned, as bibliographic references for the proteases, include documents: "Methods in Enzymology XLII (1975)" and "Journal of Medicinal Chemistry" Vol. 43, No. 3 (D. Leung, G. Abbenante and D. P. Fairlie), and, for the kinases, include document: "Methods in Enzymology", Vol. 80 (1981) (Academic Press Inc.).
Among the proteases capable of selectively catalyzing the hydrolysis of polypeptide bonds, mention may be made of the four main classes: aspartic protease, serine protease, cysteine protease and metalloprotease.
Aspartic proteases that may especially be mentioned include HIV-1 protease, renin, plasmepsins and cathepsin D.
Serine proteases that may especially be mentioned include thrombin, factor Xa, elastase, tryptase, "convertase complement" and hepatitis C protease NS3.
Among the cysteine proteases, there are three structurally different groups, the papain and cathepsin group, the ICE group (caspases) and the picorna-viral group (similar to the serine proteases, in which the serine is replaced with a cysteine).
Thus, mention may be made especially of cathepsin K, cathepsin B, cathepsin L, cathepsin S, caspases, rhinovirus 3C protease and papains and calpains.
Metalloprotease is that may especially be mentioned include angiotensin conversion enzyme, neutral endopeptidase and a mixture of the two, matrix metalloprotease and also tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme.
These kinases or proteases are involved in catabolization and inter- and intracellular communication processes: they play an important role in a large number of diseases in various fields, such as, especially, the cardiovascular field, oncology, the central nervous system, inflammation, osteoporosis, and also parasitic, fungal or viral infectious diseases. Consequently, these proteins are targets of great interest for pharmaceutical research.

Pyridazine derivative, pharmaceutical composition thereof, its pharmaceutical use, and process for its preparation

Abstract: herein, pharmaceutical composition thereof, process for its preparation, and its pharmaceutical use.


Disclosed is an aluminum negative electrode battery comprising a closed space provided by at least one member including a hydrogen gas permeating member that contains an organic material having a He gas permeability of 2×10−10 (cm3(STP)cm/sec·cm2·cmHg) or more at 30° C., and a power generating element including an electrolyte, a positive electrode and a negative electrode containing at least one of aluminum and aluminum alloy, and the power generating element provided in the closed space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aluminum negative electrode battery comprising at least one of aluminum and aluminum alloy as a negative electrode active material.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, manganese batteries and alkaline batteries are used widely in portable appliances. Manganese batteries and alkaline batteries comprise negative electrodes made of zinc and positive electrodes made of manganese dioxide, and have an electromotive force of 1.5 V. As portable appliances are advanced recently, primary batteries and secondary batteries having high voltage, large capacity and light weight are being demanded.
So far, various battery systems have been proposed, and it has been attempted to develop batteries of higher voltage, larger capacity, and lighter weight, but most of batteries are not developed as commercial products owing to lack of reliability.
Most important problems relating to reliability are liquid leak and heat generation.
For example, the primary battery using aluminum as negative electrode is expected to have higher voltage, larger capacity, and lighter weight as compared with the primary battery using zinc as negative electrode, and has been well researched. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,838,591 discloses a battery comprising a positive electrode made of manganese dioxide, a negative electrode made of aluminum, and an electrolyte made of weak acidic aqueous solution of aluminum chloride. This battery, however, has a problem in reactivity between the aluminum used as the negative electrode and the electrolyte, and is hence large in self-discharge, large in generation of hydrogen gas, and small in capacity.
More recently, a highly practical aluminum negative electrode battery has been proposed, for example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-319662. In this aluminum negative electrode battery, however, even if there is no factor inducing generation of hydrogen gas such as external short-circuit or abnormal high temperature, the negative electrode and electrolyte react with each other usually to generate a large volume of hydrogen gas, and a large discharge capacity cannot be obtained. Aside from generation of a large amount of gas during discharge, leaks may occur due to the osmotic pressure phenomenon, due to dissolution of discharge products of the negative electrode into the electrolyte, thus it is far from commercial production.
On the other hand, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-77996 proposes preventing leakage or scattering of an electrolyte of the battery, while releasing the gas in the battery to the exterior, by arranging a water repellent polymer film having gas permeability but preventing permeation of liquid between the gasket and the negative electrode bottom plate.
However, a large discharge capacity could not be obtained in the battery disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-77996.
On the other hand, claim 1 in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-113871 discloses an alkaline secondary battery having a separator formed from a nonwoven fabric of hydrophilic polyolefin synthetic resin fiber with a contact angle to pure water of 0° to 100°. The definition of the contact angle is defined in paragraph [0015]. That is, a nonwoven fabric of about 2.5×10 cm is placed horizontally, about 10 μL of pure water is dropped on the nonwoven fabric, the fabric is left for 1 minute, and pure water is absorbed in pores of the nonwoven fabric. The contact angle of water drops on the nonwoven fabric surface is measured by an optical microscope such as goniometer type contact angle measuring instrument, and the obtained measurement is the contact angle to pure water. As described in this paragraph [0015], "the nonwoven fabric has an excellent hydrophilic property when the contact angle is small, which means that the nonwoven fabric itself is excellent in the holding performance of electrolyte, and when this value is larger, to the contrary, the nonwoven fabric shows a water repellent property, which means that the holding performance of electrolyte is poor. The contact angle of the nonwoven fabric of polyolefin synthetic resin fiber without hydrophilic treatment is about 120 to 130°."


An electrical switch assembly includes a contact element to be moved towards a further contact element for generating an electrical connection; and a drive for moving the contact element; wherein the drive includes a plunger with a connection member interconnected with the contact element; wherein the plunger includes a mechanical structure with a top side to which the connection member is connection, and a bottom side opposite to the top side; wherein the drive includes a Thomas coil for moving the plunger via an electrically conducting top face, which is provided on the top side and an electrically conducting bottom face, which is provided on the bottom side. The mechanical structure includes at least one channel between the top side and the bottom side, the at least one channel extending transverse to a movement direction of the plunger. Furthermore, the mechanical structure fills less than 50% of a volume between the top side and the bottom side.

One possibility to mechanically disconnect and connect conductors on high and medium voltage are electrical switches based on so called Thomson coil accelerators. Such an electrical switch may comprise a set of paddles that hold the contact elements, which are used for generating an electrical connection. The paddles are connected to an electromagnetic actuator, which may be a plunger that is moved by a Thomson coil.
Upon the action of currents induced in the Thomson coil, the plunger may be accelerated between two possible stable configurations that correspond to the open and closed position of the electrical switch, inducing a switching operation. The movement between the two configurations may be dampened by a bi-stable suspension. In order to enable a switching speeds as high as possible, the plunger and the attached paddles usually have to withstand extreme accelerations.
For example, EP 2 511 928 A1 shows a switch with two sets of contact elements and two drives.
EP 2 546 847 A1 and EP 2 546 848 A1 show electrical switches having a drive with a plunger, which is further provided with at least one cavity, which allows to reduce its weight.
DE 26 53 077 A1 shows a circuit breaker with an electrical conductive ring attached to a side of a plunger.

Thomson coil driven switch assembly with lightweight plunger


Display panel and display device are provided. The display panel includes a display region, a non-display region surrounding the display region, at least one notch, gate lines, data lines, and first compensation parts. The non-display region includes a first non-display region surrounding the at least one notch. The gate lines include first gate lines. Each of the first gate lines includes a second wiring portion in the first non-display region. The data lines include first data lines. Each of the first data lines includes a second sub-portion and a third sub-portion in the first non-display region. Along a direction perpendicular to a plane of the display panel, the third sub-portions overlap the second wiring portions, and the first compensation parts overlap the second wiring portions and the first data lines. Overlapping portions between the first compensation parts, the second wiring portions, and the first data lines form first compensation units.

As display technologies develop, irregular-shaped display panels are more and more widely used. An irregular-shaped display panel is a display panel with an irregular shape based on a regular-shaped display panel. Currently, the irregular-shaped display panel mainly has a fan-shaped, an arc-shaped, a circular, a triangular, or another structural form.
In the irregular-shaped display panel, a display region has an irregular shape and signal lines in the display region have different length. Correspondingly, a number of the pixel units driven by different signal lines in the display region of the display panel is different, and loads of corresponding signal lines are different. A degree of attenuation of signals transmitted on the signal lines is different and display performance of the display panel is affected adversely.
There is a need to solve technical problems to provide a display panel and a display device with good performance.

SHANGHAI AVIC OPTO ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A junction field-effect transistor (JFET) with a gate region that includes two separate sub-regions having material of different conductivity types and/or a Schottky junction that substantially suppresses gate current when the gate junction is forward-biased, as well as complementary circuits that incorporate such JFET devices.

The present invention relates generally to the field of junction field-effect transistors (JFETs), and more particularly to structures for thin-film JFETs.
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) enjoys widespread use in the production of thin-film transistors (TFTs), image sensors, photo-receptors and solar cells. This material is typically grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at temperatures close to 200° C., suitable for low-cost, large-area substrates. Low-cost, large-area processing is highly desirable for applications in large-area electronics, such as the fabrication of TFT backplanes for active-matrix displays.
However, applications requiring large and stable drive currents such as high-resolution active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays pose some challenges to the use of a-Si:H TFTs. Large-area deposition techniques are typically suited for growing non-crystalline materials, but devices constructed from these materials suffer from inferior performance relative to those made from crystalline materials. At the same time, processing single-crystalline devices typically requires a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) foundry, which is too expensive for large-area electronics and displays.
With the advent of various layer-transfer techniques to enable the transfer of thin layers of crystalline silicon (c-Si) onto low-cost substrates such as glass or plastic, thin-film heterojunction field-effect transistor (HJFET) devices with c-Si channels and PECVD contact regions are known.

Normally-off junction field-effect transistors and application to complementary circuits

International Business Machines Corporation


Markup language data applied to text or data is leveraged for providing helpful actions on certain types of text or data such as names, addresses, etc. Selected portions of text or data entered into a document and any associated markup language data are passed to an action dynamically linked library (DLL) for obtaining actions associated with markup language elements applied to the text or data. The text or data may be passed to a recognizer DLL for recognition of certain data types. The recognizer DLL utilizes markup language data associated with the text or data to assist recognition and labeling of text or data. After all applicable text and/or data is recognized and labeled, an action DLL is called for actions associated with the labeled text or data.

Since the advent of the computer and software age, software developers have attempted to provide functionality to users that are contextual in nature. For example, software has been developed for detecting that a user is entering a date into a computer-generated document as the user is typing the date. Before the user can complete the date, the software application pops up today's date to the user and offers to automatically complete the date for the user. Other software has been developed for offering users helpful actions in response to certain data entered by the user. For example, if the user's word processor application recognizes that the user has entered a date, the user may be offered an action that will launch the user's electronic calendar to allow the user to check appointments or to verify information in her calendar for the entered date. It would be helpful to users if such systems could recognize and provide actions for a variety of different types of text strings and data, such as names, dates, stock symbols, book titles, etc. Unfortunately, recognition of such text strings and/or data types may be difficult.
In the case of name recognition, words entered into a text document by a user may be compared against a list of known names to assist in the recognition of a given word as a name. On the other hand, a text string such as a five-digit number that is intended by the user to indicate a zip code may not be readily recognizable and distinguishable from other five-digit numbers included in the text. Accordingly, the five-digit text string entered by the user may not be recognized as a zip code even though the user intends that text string to indicate a zip code.
In recent years, markup languages such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) have been developed to apply structure to text and data where text and data may be tagged with markup language elements to provide contextual structure to the text or data. For example, all person names in a text document may be annotated using Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags to provide structure to the document associated with text or data entered into the document of the type "person name." Subsequently, applications may be created for parsing the document to utilize data annotated with such markup language structure. For example, an application routine may be created to parse a text document and to utilize the XML structure associated with all names contained in the document to extract the names contained in the document for some other use. It would be helpful to leverage markup language annotation of a text or other data document to assist in recognizing text strings or data elements for providing helpful actions on those recognized text strings or data objects.
Because markup languages such as XML allow a wide range of creativity in naming markup language elements to be applied to text or data, it is common for different entities, such as two different companies to use slightly or greatly different XML element naming associated with the same type of text or data. For example, a first company may utilize an XML tag <name> for annotating names in a text or data document, and a second company may utilize an XML tag <personname> for annotating names in a text or data document. The two different entities, for example, companies, may create different sets of actions that may be called on when certain text or data types are recognized in their respective text or data documents. If the two entities decide for some reason to allow utilization of each other's text or data documents, such as the case in contract negotiations or a merger or acquisition between the two entities, or in any case in which one document creator is allowed to use a second document creator's text or data documents, it would be helpful if actions associated with recognized text strings or data objects associated with a first document marked up with XML structure according to a first XML definition used by one entity could be called upon for use in a second document in association with recognized test strings or data marked up with XML elements that are equivalent to differently named XML elements utilized in the first document.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for leveraging markup language structure applied to text strings and data for providing helpful actions based on recognized and labeled text strings and data. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

Leveraging markup language data for semantically labeling text strings and data and for providing actions based on semantically labeled text strings and data


A control server of an apparatus in one example manages a plurality of resource servers that are allocated to handle a load. The control server receives from a first resource server, of the plurality of resource servers, a first status message that comprises a first indicator of a relative availability of the first resource server. The control server receives from a second resource server, of the plurality of resource servers, a second status message that comprises a second indicator of a relative availability of the second resource server. The control server employs a comparison of the first indicator of the relative availability of the first resource server with the second indicator of the relative availability of the second resource server to promote a selected balance of the load between two or more of the plurality of resource servers.

Distributed configurations of servers in one example comprise a control server and a plurality of resource servers that are allocated to handle a load, for example, processing of incoming calls. To prevent a single resource server from becoming overloaded, the control server performs load balancing to distribute the load among the plurality of resource servers. Known methods for load balancing comprise a statically weighted distribution and round-robin distribution.
When the control server employs the statically weighted distribution, a predetermined portion of the load is distributed to each resource server. For example, control server distributes forty percent of the load to a first resource server and sixty percent of the load to a second resource server. When the control server employs the round-robin distribution, the control server alternates between the first and second resource servers for distribution of the load. However, these load balancing methods do not take the load on the resource servers into account. If the first resource server becomes overloaded while the second server is operating at a normal level, the control server will still distribute a portion of the load to the first server. As the first resource server becomes further overloaded, a quality of service level provided by the distributed configuration is reduced.
Thus, a need exists for load balancing based on resource server loads.

Control server that manages resource servers for selected balance of load


Disclosed is a non-polluting high temperature combustion system which comprises in combination a graphite-lined combustion chamber fueled by a controlled-burn thermite fuel, wherein the fuel burns a temperature of up to 6000 degrees Fahrenheit, wherein the resulting gases are essentially pollution free; the system also include a means of passing a substrate into and out of the combustion chamber and/or a turbine powered by gases from the combustion products, means of injecting a working fluid into the combustion gases upstream of the turbine, a heat recovery means that comprises a geo-thermal hot rock bed, a steam generator utilizing heat from the geo-thermal hot rock bed, a working fluid separation means which comprises a condenser, and means of liquefying the remaining gases for commercial use.

In combustion systems which generate heat for industry, power plants, incineration of waste, and the like, fuels such as natural gas, coal, fuel oil, and other fuels are used. To produce the heat from these combustion systems, these fuels are typically burned in compressed air or oxygen enriched compressed air or substantially pure oxygen obtained by gas separation. Because of conservation concerns and the increasing cost of fuel prices and increasingly stringent pollution control, these systems must be thermodynamically efficient and must limit their release of pollutants into the atmosphere within the increasingly stringent control levels. Cost and complexity of the systems and cost of operation are consequently skyrocketing to meet these conditions. A great amount of the cost is when air is used as the oxygen supply. Since air is 75.6% nitrogen, means to remove extremely large amounts of NOx from the emissions such as by scrubbing becomes necessary. When the fuel contain large amounts of contaminants such as sulfur, then removal of those contaminants such as SO2 by utilizing a fluidized bed or by a flue gas desulfurization process such as by absorption is necessary. Equipment for such removal is expensive and its use results in substantial parasitic power loss and inefficiency.
High temperature combustion systems are necessary for industrial applications such as glass, steel, aluminum, paper and pulp industry and cement manufacturing, to name a few industrial applications. Incineration of municipal wastes also require high temperature combustion systems. High temperature is necessary to decompose or at least make molten materials for processing or disposal. Consequently, high temperatures have been used to dispose of waste. Oxygen-enriched air or substantially pure oxygen is sometimes used for multi-staged combustion or high temperature processes which usually result in fuel savings, production increase and reduced waste processing. Oxygen-enriched air increases the adiabatic temperature of the flame thus increasing the local radiative heat transfer. Further, it reduces the mass fraction of nitrogen. and thus reducing NOx emissions. But a large air separation unit which produce gaseous oxygen is expensive or cost prohibitive and the power consumption of this process can represent around 50 percent of the overall production costs. New chemical and refining processes, and the economies of scale of such processes, will require increasing quantities of gaseous oxygen at a single location. Requirements for 15,000 tons per day or more, of gaseous oxygen delivered at pressures of 1,250 psia or higher are anticipated for such processes.
In all of these systems a large amount of heat can be lost in the flue gases. To reduce energy loss, heat recovery systems are used that capture heat of the flue gasses and transfer it to another medium directly or such as through a working fluid to perform useful work as mechanical energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, and the like. One way useful work is achieved is passing the working fluid through a turbine to generate electricity. This working fluid can also be used for other processes. Economy can be achieved by transferring the heat back into the combustion fuel or preheating the load material. In all of these systems there is a remainder of the flue gas that must be extensively and very costly treated for pollutants and exhausted into the atmosphere at pollution levels within governmental controls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,183 issued to Viteri et. al., for example, discloses a stationary power plant which utilizes a semi-closed Brayton Cycle Gas Turbine Power System that can convert an open combined cycle gas turbine into a reduced or zero emissions power system. The system includes a compressor which compresses air and combusts the air with a hydrocarbon fuel. The products of combustion and the remaining portions fo the air from the exhaust is expanded through a turbine. The turbine drives the compressor and outputs power. The exhaust exits the turbine and then is routed through a heat recovery steam generator. A bottoming cycle portion of the system includes a gas generator which combusts a hydrocarbon fuel with oxygen. Water is also entered into the gas generator where it is heated and combined with the products of combustion before entering a bottoming turbine. The water is then separated and routed back to the gas generator after preheating within the heat recovery steam generator. This system depicts the extent of costly equipment and extent of treatment needed to deal with the ordeal of the use of air as the supply of oxygen.
It is desirable to have a combustion system that would be an economical closed combustion system that eliminated pollutants. Avoiding the use of air for the oxygen supply would be necessary. Using contaminant free fuel or means of economically eliminating the contaminant from the fuel will also be necessary. Heretofore, the most pollution free combustion systems have been a closed Brayton cycle using nuclear power, solar or geothermal heat source to heat a working fluid. Because that working fluid is not exhausted, it would not be a source of atmospheric pollution. Those heat sources are renewable non-polluting heat sources so that atmospheric emissions are avoided. However, these systems suffer from drawbacks which have limited their ability to be fully competitive with hydrocarbon fuel combustion systems.

Non-polluting high temperature combustion system


While making it possible to register generation information used to generate a Web page for each topic by sending element information being components of the Web page by an email and add element information to the generation information by an email, it is made difficult for persons other than a person who registered the generation information to add the element information. When a receiver address included in a received email is a first address, an information registration apparatus registers generation information included in the email and transmits an email including a unique second address corresponding to the generation information to a sender of the received email, and when the receiver address is a second address and the receiver address is not the same as receiver addresses included in emails received before, the information registration apparatus adds element information to the generation information corresponding to the receiver address included in the currently received email.

Conventionally, a Web site is known which can automatically generate a Web page even if a user does not create an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) document and the like. For example, a registration screen for inputting various information to be displayed on the Web page is displayed on a terminal apparatus. Information which a user inputs to the screen is transmitted from the terminal apparatus to a server device. The server device registers the received information into a database and generates a Web page including the information as components. Examples of the Web page generated in this way includes a Web page that displays information of a recipe posted by a user and a Web page that displays information of an item put-up for net auction. However, when a user makes a mobile terminal apparatus such as a mobile phone display a registration screen and performs an input operation, it takes time to complete registration because the size of the screen is small and it takes time to input characters and the like.
Therefore, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique where a user sends an email with an image to a server device and the server device automatically generates a Web page. Specifically, the server device decomposes data of the email for each mail item included in the email, divides the decomposed data of each item into image data and information data, constructs databases of the image data and the information data, and generates a source file. When the received email is a first email, the server device generates an individual home page related to a newborn baby by using the source file. When the received email is a second or a later email, the server device additionally writes and posts data content described in the mail item of the second or the later email in a predetermined position on the generated individual home page. Whether the received email is the first email or the second or a later email can be determined by checking a name of a woman who has given birth to a baby, which is one of the mail items of the received email.

Information registration apparatus, information registration method, information registration program, and recording medium


A photosensitive compound, and a chemically amplified photoresist composition containing the photosensitive compound, maintain transparency even when exposed to a short-wavelength light source of 193 nm or below, and exhibit improved adhesion to an underlying film or substrate, improved wettability to a developing solution and improved resistance to dry etching. The photosensitive compound includes a carboxylic acid protected with a protective group capable of being deprotected with an acid and has a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic aliphatic compound or a hydrophillic alicyclic compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive lithocholate derivative and to a chemically amplified photoresist composition containing the same.
This application is a counterpart of, and claims priority to, Korean Application No. 99-39337, filed Sep. 14, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
As semiconductor devices become highly integrated, photolithography processes used in the fabrication of such devices must be capable of forming ultra-fine patterns. For example, a sub-quarter micron or smaller sized pattern is needed in a semiconductor memory device having a capacity exceeding 1 Gbit. As such, a photolithography technology has beery proposed which employs an argon fluoride (ArF) excimer laser as a new type of light source. This is because the ArF laser exhibits a wavelength (193 nm) which is shorter than the wavelength (248 nm) of a conventional krypton fluoride KrF excimer laser. Therefore, a demand has arisen for chemically amplified photoresist polymers and photoresist compositions which are suitable for use with the ArF excimer laser.
In general, a chemically amplified photoresist composition for an ArF excimer laser should exhibit the following characteristics: (1) transparency at a wavelength of 193 nm; (2) high resistance to dry etching; (3) good adhesion to underlying (and overlying) film materials; and (4) easily capable of being developed using developing solutions which are in widespread use in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
However, a terpolymer comprising methylmethacrylate, t-butyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid monomers, which is a widely known chemically amplified photoresist polymer for the ArF excimer laser, does not exhibit all of the above-mentioned characteristics. In particular, the terpolymer has a very low resistance to dry etching, and a low adhesion to underlying film materials.
Recently, attempts have been made to increase the etching resistance of a photosensitive polymer for the ArF excimer laser by introducing alicyclic compounds, for example, isobornyl, adamantyl or tricyclodecanyl group, into the backbone of the polymers. However, these polymers also have several disadvantages. For example, their etching resistance is still not acceptable and their adhesion characteristics to underlying films are still poor, which results in lifting of photoresist patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,131 discloses mono-, di- ortri-protected hydroxy androstane-17-alkylcarboxylate such as t-butyl-3-acetyllithocholate, t-butyl 3-trifluoroacetyllithocholate or t-butyl lithocholate as an additives for increasing the etching resistance of a resist composition having poor etching resistance. While the lithocholate derivatives disclosed in this patent can be used as an additive for increasing the etching resistance of the resist composition, they cannot by themselves be used as a main component of the resist composition since they are brittle and exhibit poor wettability against a developing solution.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a photosensitive compound which maintains transparency even when exposed to a short-wavelength light source of 193 nm or below, and which has improved adhesion to an underlying film or substrate, improved wettability to a developing solution and improved resistance to dry etching.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a chemically amplified photoresist composition containing the photosensitive compound.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photosensitive lithocholate derivative having a carboxylic acid protected with a protective group capable of being deprotected with an acid and having a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic atliphatic compound or a hydrophillic alicyclic compound selected from the group consisting of alken glycol, poly(alken glycol), alken glycol aliphatic hydrocarbon ether and alken glycol alicyclic hydrocarbon ether, poly(alken glycol) aliphatic hydrocarbon ether and poly(alken glycol) alicyclic hydrocarbon ether.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a chemically amplified photoresist composition including a first photosensitive lithocholate derivative, a second photosensitive lithocholate derivative, or a mixture thereof, and a photoacid generator contained in an amount of 1 to 15% by weight based on the total weight of the photosensitive lithocholate, wherein the first photosensitive lithocholate derivative has a carboxylic acid protected with a protective group capable of being deprotected with an acid and having a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic aliphatic compound or a hydrophillic alicyclic compound selected from the group consisting of alken glycol, poly(alken glycol), alken glycol aliphatic hydrocarbon ether and alken glycol alicyclic hydrocarbon ether, poly(alken glycol) aliphatic hydrocarbon ether and poly(alken glycol) alicyclic hydrocarbon ether, and the second photosensitive lithocholate derivative has a carboxylic acid protected with a protective group capable of being deprotected with anacid and has a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic alicyclic compound selected from the group consisting of alken glycol lithocholic ether, alken glycol lithocholate ether, poly(alken glycol) lithocholic ether and poly(alken glycol) lithocholate ether.
The chemically amplified photoresist composition may further include 0.01 to 2.0% by weight of an organic base based on the total weight of the photosensitive compound.
The photosensitive compound according to the present invention maintains transparency even when exposed to a short-wavelength light source, and exhibits improved adhesion to an underlying film or substrate, improved wettability to a developing solution, and improved resistance to dry etching.
A photosensitive compound and a chemically amplified photoresist composition containing the same according to the present invention will now be described. Also, a preferred photolithography process using the chemically amplified photoresist composition will also be described. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms, and these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
A photosensitive compound according to the present invention is a photosensitive lithocholate derivative having a carboxylic acid protected with a protective group capable of being deprotected with an acid and having a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with hydrophillic aliphatic compound or hydrophillic alicyclic compound.
The protective group causes the lithocholate derivative to exhibit insolubility to a developing solution when it is bonded thereto. However, if the protective group is deprotected, that is, decomposed by an acid generated during exposure, a lithocholic acid derivative is generated, thereby exhibiting a greater solubility to a developing solution.
Thus, in consideration of a difference in the solubility of the photosensitive compound before and after exposure, the protective group is preferably t-butyl, 2-methyladamantyl, tetrahydropyranyJ or tetrahyd-rofuranyl.
The photosensitive lithocholate derivative according to a first embodiment of the present invention has a hydroxy at position No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic aliphatic compound or a hydrophillic alicyclic compound selected from the group consisting of alken glycol, poly(alken glycol), alken glycol aliphatic hydrocarbon ether, alken glycol alicyclic hydrocarbon ether, poly(alken glycol) aliphatic hydrocarbon ether and poly(alken glycol) alicyclic hydrocarbon ether.
Here, the alken glycol is preferably C2 to C6 alken glycol, more preferably ethylene glycol or propylene glycol. The number of alken glycols in poly(alken glycol) is determined in consideration of the molecular weight and polarity of the photosensitive lithocholate derivative. Preferably, poly(alken glycol) consists of 2 to 50 alken glycols.
The aliphatic hydrocarbon and alicyclic hydrocarbon substituted for the hydroxy of alken glycol or poly(alken glycol) to form ether is a C1 to C20 hydrocarbon.
The molecular weight and polarity of the photosensitive lithocholate derivative can be adjusted by varying the kind of substituent at position No. 3.
A photosensitive compound according to a first embodiment of the present invention can be represented by the formula (1):
wherein R1 is a protective group, R2 is hydrogen, a C1 to C20 aliphatic hydrocarbon or a C1 to C20 alicyclic hydrocarbon, n is an integer of 1 to 5, and m is an integer of 1 to 50.
A photosensitive lithocholate derivative according to a second embodiment of the present invention has a hydroxy at a position of No. 3 substituted with a hydrophillic alicyclic compound selected from the group consisting of alken glycol lithocholic acid ether, alken glycol lithocholate ether, poly(alken glycol) lithocholic ether and poly(alken glycol) lithocholate ether.
Here, like in the first embodiment, the alken glycol is preferably C2 to C6 alken glycol, more preferably ethylene glycol or propylene glycol. The poly(alken glycol) consists of 2 to 50 alken glycols.
The lithocholate substituted for the alken glycol or poly(alken glycol) to form the ether compound preferably has a protective group which can be deprotected by an acid or a dissolution inhibitor group substituted for a carboxyl group.
The protective group is preferably t-butyl, 2-methyladamantyl, tetrahydropyranyl or tetrahydrofuranyl.
The dissolution inhibitor group is a hydrophobic group which is not decomposed by an acid generated during exposure, and is introduced for preventing an unexposed region from being developed due to a large amount of hydrophillic functional group, e.g., a carboxyl group, in the photosensitive compound in the case of using a general developing solution. Examples of the dissolution inhibitor group include a C1 to C20 aliphatic hydrocarbon or a C1 to C20 alicyclic hydrocarbon.
A photosensitive compound according to a second embodiment of the present invention can be represented by the formula (2):
wherein R1 is a protective group, R3 is hydrogen, a protective group or a dissolution inhibitor group, n is an integer of 1 to 5, and m is an integer of 1 to 50.
The photosensitive compound according to the present invention is transparent even when exposed to a short-wavelength light source of 193 nm or below. Also, since the photosensitive compound has an alicyclic structure, the etching resistance thereof is large. Further, since a hydrophillic aliphatic compound or a hydrophillic alicyclic compound is substituted for a hydroxy at position No. 3, the compound exhibits good adhesion to an underlying film or substrate and excellent wettability to a developing solution. Also, the molecular weight and polarity of the photosensitive lithocholate derivative can be easily adjusted by varying the kind of substituent introduced to a hydroxy.
A chemically amplified photoresist composition of the present invention includes the above-described photosensitive compound and a photoacid generator.
The photoacid generator is preferably contained in an amount of 1 to 15% by weight based on the total weight of the photosensitive compound.
The photoacid generator is preferably a substance that has a high thermal stability. Therefore, suitable photoacid generators include triarylsulfonium salts, diaryliodonium salts, sulfonates or N-hydroxysuccinimide triflates.
Examples of photoacid generators include triphenylsulfonium triflate, triphenylsulfonium antimonate, diphenyliodonium triflate, diphenyliodonium antimonate, methoxydiphenyliodonium triflate, di-t-butyidiphenyliodonium triflate, 2,6-dinitro benzyl sulfonate or pyrogallol tris(alkyl-sulfonates), pyrogalloltris(alkylsulfonates)), norbornene-dicarboximide triflate, triphenylsulfonium nonaflate, diphenyliodonium nonaflate, methoxydiphenyliodonium nonaflate, di-t-butyl diphenyliodonium nonaflate, N-hydroxysuccinimide nonaflates, norbornene dicarboximide nonaflate, triphenylsulfonium perfluorooctanesulfonates, diphenyliodonium perfluorooctanesulfonates, methoxydiphenyliodonium perfluorooctane sulfonates, di-t-butyidiphenyliodonium triflate, N-hydroxysuccinimide perfluorooctanesulfonates, or norbornene dicarboximide perfluorooctanesulfonates.
Preferably, the chemically amplified photoresist composition of the present invention further includes 0.01 to 2.0% by weight of organic base based on the total weight of the photosensitive compound. Suitable organic bases include triethylamine, triisobutylamine, triisooctylamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine or a mixture thereof. The organic base is added for preventing a pattern from being deformed due to the acidolysis of photoresist composition forming unexposed regions, after exposure, which results from diffusion of the acid generated at the exposed regions into the unexposed regions.
Also, the chemically amplified photoresist composition according to the present invention preferably further includes 30 to 200 ppm of an organic or base surfactant. The surfactant functions to allow the photoresist composition to be uniformly coated on a substrate.
Synthesis of Tosylated Hydrophilic Compound
A hydrophilic aliphatic compound or a hydrophilic alicyclic compound (I) is reacted with p-toluene sulfonyl chloride (TsCI) (II) to tosylate the same, as expressed by the following reaction scheme (1):
wherein R2 is hydrogen or a C1 to C20 aliphatic hydrocarbon group or a C1 to C20 alicyclic hydrocarbon group, n is an integer from 1 to 5, and m is an integer from 1 to 50.
Synthesis of Hydrophilic Compound Substituted Lithocholate
A tosylated hydrophilic compound (III) is reacted with a lithocholate (IV) as expressed by the following reaction scheme (2):
wherein R1 is a protective group. Then, a hydrophilic compound substituted lithocholate is formed by SN2 reaction.
Synthesis of Tosylated Hydrophilic Compound
Alken glycol or poly(alken glycol) (V) is reacted with TsCI (II) to prepare a compound (VI) having two hydroxy groups tosylated, as expressed by the following reaction scheme (3):
Synthesis of Hydrophilic Alicyclic Compound Substituted Lithocholate
Tosylated alken glycol or tosylated poly(alken glycol) (VI) is reacted with first lithocholate (VII) and second lithocholate (VIII) to prepare hydrophilic alicyclic compound substituted lithocholate by SN2 reaction, as expressed by the following reaction scheme (4):
wherein R1 is a protective group, R3 is hydrogen, a protective group or a dissolution inhibitor group, n is an integer from 1 to 5, and m is an integer from 1 to 50. Then, a hydrophilic compound substituted lithocholate is formed by SN2 reaction.
The chemically amplified photoresist composition according to the present invention is prepared by dissolving the photosensitive compound prepared in the above-described manner and a photoacid generator, in an appropriate solvent, for example, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), and mixing the same. Here, the photoacid generator is mixed in an amount of 1 to 15% by weight based on the weight of the polymer. Also, it is preferable to complete the photoresist composition by further dissolving 0.01 to 2.0% by weight of an organic base based on the weight of the polymer. Also, 30 to 200 ppm of a surfactant is preferably further included in the composition.
The chemically amplified photoresist composition prepared in the above-described manner can be used for a general photolithography process, and is particularly suitable for forming a fine pattern which satisfies a design rule of 0.20 xcexcm or smaller using an ArF excimer laser as an exposure light source.
First, the photoresist composition is coated on a substrate where a patterning object material layer is formed, to form a photoresist layer having a predetermined thickness, preferably 0.2 to 2 xcexcm. Subsequently, pre-baking is carried out on the photoresist layer. The pre-baking step is performed at a temperature of 70 to 160 xc2x0 C. for 30 to 360 seconds. After the pre-baking step, the photoresist layer is exposed using a mask having a predetermined pattern, using an exposure light source having a wavelength of 248 nm or less, preferably an ArF excimer laser having a wavelength of 193 nm. Acid is generated from the photoacid generator contained in the photoresist layer by exposure. The photosensitive compound is acidolyzed by the catalytic action of the thus-generated acid to form a lot of carboxy groups, as expressed by reaction scheme 5. As a result, a large amount of hydrophilic groups, e.g., carboxy groups, are produced in the exposed region of the photoresist layer. Thus, a noticeable difference in the polarity of the photoresist layer is created between an exposed region and an unexposed region. That is, contrast is noticeably increased.
The parentheses enclosing R3 denote that R3 is not acidolyzed but is retained since it is a dissolution inhibitor group.
After exposure, the photoresist layer is thermally treated for a short time before development, which is referred to as a post-exposure-thermal treatment. The post-exposure-thermal treatment is performed for the purpose of increasing contrast by further activating acidolysis of exposed regions by the acidic catalyst, that is, for the purpose of increasing contrast by acidolyzing a protective group contained in the photosensitive compound in the exposed region.
Next, development is performed using an appropriate developing solution to complete a photoresist pattern. Here, the developing solution used is a developing solution for general development processes, for example, 2.38% by weight of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). Since the photosensitive compound according to the present invention has a polarity, it exhibits excellent wettability against a developing solution. Thus, development is facilitated by using the conventional developing solution.
After forming the photoresist pattern, a patterning object layer is etched to form a desired pattern. The photoresist pattern of the present invention is formed of a photoresist compound having several alicyclic structures, and thus the etching resistance thereof is large. Therefore, a pattern having a good profile, that is, having a precise critical dimension, can be formed.

Photosensitive lithocholate derivative and chemically amplified photoresist composition containing the same