A cyano-substituted compound containing an ether bond is described, which is represented by formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R represents a straight-chain alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; X represents a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom; n represents an integer of 2 to 8; m represents 1 or 2; and the cyclohexane ring is arranged at a trans-configuration.

Typical liquid crystal display cells include TN-LCD (twisted nematic liquid crystal display devices) which are utilized in the fields of clocks, watches, electronic calculators, electronic notebooks, pocket computers, word processors and personal computers. The information density on one display has been increased with an increase in information to be processed by OA apparatuses in recent years. Conventional TN-LCD can no longer meet requirements of high multiplex drive systems, particularly word processors and personal computers with respect to the quality level of visual field angle and contrast.
Under such circumstances, STN (super twisted nematic) -LCD have been developed by Scheffer et al (SID'85 Digest, p. 120 (1985)) and Kinukawa et al (SID'86 Digest, p. 122 (1986)) and are beginning to widely spread for use in display of high information processing in word processors and personal computers.
As one of a useful liquid crystal compound in a STN-LCD, there is a compound represented by ##STR2## (wherein R represents a straight-chain alkyl group) (hereinafter referred to as PCH).
PCH is a useful P-type liquid crystal compound having positive dielectric anisotropy. But the dielectric anisotropy value (.DELTA..epsilon.) of PCH is not so large, as much as about +12 to 13. Thus there is disadvantageous in that when PCH is mixed with widely employed nematic liquid crystal materials, decrease in the threshold voltage of the liquid crystal material is small.

Cyano-substituted compound containing ether bond


An optical glass having a refractive index (nd) and Abbe number (νd) within a range enclosed with a border line consisting of straight lines connecting point A (nd being 1.75 and νd being 50.0), point B (nd being 1.80 and νd being 46.0), point C (nd being 1.80 and νd being 50.0) and point D (nd being 1.75 and νd being 56.0) in the order of the point A, the point B, the point C, the point D and the point A in x-y rectangular coordinates in which x coordinate represents Abbe number (νd) and y coordinate represents refractive index (nd), including refractive index (nd) and Abbe number (νd) on the border line except for the straight line connecting the point A with the point D and the straight line connecting the point B with the point C, containing, as essential components, SiO2, B2O3, La2O3, Gd2O3, Li2O and F, and being substantially free of As2O3.

This invention relates to an optical glass and, more particularly, to an optical glass having a low glass transition temperature (Tg) and high refractive index and low dispersion characteristics, having excellent internal quality of glass and being suitable for reheat press molding or precision press molding.
One of characteristics required for an optical glass is an excellent internal quality (striae, bubbles and inclusions). The internal quality depends upon a glass composition in some cases and, in other cases, upon conditions of manufacturing the glass. For producing a highly homogeneous optical glass with a good yield in manufacturing an optical glass, a melting apparatus in which a part or whole of a portion which comes into contact with glass melt is made of platinum or platinum alloy is generally used. For example, a crucible, tank, stirring blade and axis made of platinum or platinum alloy are generally used. When melting of glass raw materials is made with such melting apparatus at a high melting temperature or over a long period of melting time, the amount of platinum melting out into the glass increases with the result that platinum or platinum alloy is recrystallized to precipitate in the glass as inclusions (crystals or devitrification) after supersaturation state, or platinum or platinum alloy comes off from the wall of the melting apparatus and becomes inclusions in the glass.
An optical glass which contains a large amount of rare earth oxides such as lanthanum oxide generally has a poor defoaming property and hence there is general tendency toward taking a long period of melting time for defoaming. As described above, inclusions in the glass increase under such melting condition. Accordingly, optical glasses containing a large amount of rare earth oxides such as lanthanum oxide tend to have insufficient internal quality such as bubbles and inclusions.
For overcoming the above described problem in the composition of glass, it is possible to add, as a refining agent, As2O3 which is very effective as a refining agent so as to defoam the glass at a relatively low temperature and thereby reduce the amount of inclusions. Since, however, As2O3 is a material which is detrimental to the environment, As2O3 has not been used recently.
There are spherical lenses and aspherical lenses as lenses used for constituting an optical system. Many spherical lenses are produced by lapping and polishing glass pressings obtained by reheat press molding glass materials. On the other hand, aspherical lenses are mainly produced by precision press molding, i.e., the method according to which lens performs which have been softened by heating are press molded with a mold having a high precision molding surface and the shape of the high precision molding surface of the mold is transferred to the lens performs.
In producing glass pressings by reheat press molding, a very high temperature is required and, therefore, a heat treating furnace is deteriorated in a relatively short period of time with resulting adverse effect to a stable production. Hence, the lower the viscous flow temperature of glass materials, i.e., the lower the glass transition temperature (Tg), the lower the temperature at which reheat press molding can be made with resulting reduction in the load to the heat treating furnace. It is well known in the art that "viscous flow temperature" is about the same as the glass transition temperature.
In obtaining glass moldings such as aspherical lenses by precision press molding, it is necessary to press lens performs which have been softened by heating in a high temperature environment for transferring the shape of the high precision molding surface of the mold to the lens performs and, therefore, the mold used for such precision press molding is subjected to a high temperature and, moreover, a high pressing force is applied to the mold. Hence, in heating and softening the lens performs and press molding the lens performs, the molding surface of the mold tends to be oxidized or eroded, or a release film provided on the molding surface tends to be damaged with the result that the high precision molding surface of the mold cannot be maintained or the mold itself tends to be damaged. In such a case, the mold must be replaced and, as a result, frequency of replacement of the mold increases and production of products at a low cost in a large scale thereby cannot be achieved. Accordingly, glasses used for precision press molding and glasses for glass performs used for precision press molding are desired to have the lowest possible glass transition temperature (Tg) from the standpoint of preventing such damage to the mold, maintaining the high precision molding surface of the mold for a long period of time and enabling precision press molding at a low pressing force.
For the above described reasons, there has been a strong demand in the industry for an optical glass which has, from the standpoint of usefulness in the optical design, high refractive index and low dispersion characteristics, a low glass transition temperature (Tg) and excellent internal quality.
Particularly, there is a strong demand for an optical glass with high refractive index and low dispersion characteristics having a refractive index (nd) and Abbe number (νd) within a range enclosed with a border line consisting of straight lines connecting point A (nd being 1.75 and νd being 50.0), point B (nd being 1.80 and νd being 46.0), point C (nd being 1.80 and νd being 50.0) and point D (nd being 1.75 and νd being 56.0) in the order of the point A, the point B, the point C, the point D and the point A in x-y rectangular coordinates in which x coordinate represents Abbe number (νd) and y coordinate represents refractive index (nd), including refractive index (nd) and Abbe number (νd) on the border line except for the straight line connecting the point A with the point D and the straight line connecting the point B with the point C (hereinafter referred to as "the specific range").
Since an optical glass having high refractive index and low dispersion characteristics is useful from the standpoint of the optical design, various glasses have been proposed for a long time in the past.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2002-128539 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion B2O3—Ln2O3 optical glass (where Ln is one or more metal selected from the group consisting of Y, La and Gd). Since, however, glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 53-4023 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion B2O3—La2O3—HfO2 optical glass. Since, however, this glass contains very expensive HfO2 as an essential component, the production cost of the glass is so high that it is not commercially practicable.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 8-217484 discloses a B2O3—La2O3—Lu2O3 optical glass. Since, however, this optical glass contains very expensive Lu2O3 as an essential component, the production cost of the glass is so high that it is not commercially practicable. Further, since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 55-3329 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion SiO2—B2O3—La2O3—Yb2O3—SnO2 optical glass. Since, however, SnO2 which is an essential component becomes metal tin when the melting atmosphere becomes a reduction state and is alloyed with platinum used in the melting apparatus thereby causing erosion which is likely to lead to leaking of glass. Hence, this glass is not commercially practicable. Further, since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 56-78447 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion SiO2—B2O3—La2O3—Yb2O3 optical glass. Since, however, this glass requires a high melting temperature of 1350° C. to 1600° C. in refining and homogenizing the glass, inclusions tend to occur in this glass. Further, although there are examples containing alkali oxides which can be melted at a relatively low temperature among specifically disclosed glasses in this publication, these glasses of the specific examples contain As2O3 which is detrimental to the environment. Furthermore, since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 52-14607 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion SiO2—B2O3—La2O3—Gd2O3—ZrO2—Ta2O5 optical glass. Since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 59-169952 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion SiO2—B2O3—ZnO—ZrO2 optical glass. However, all glasses but one that are specifically disclosed in this publication contain As2O3 which is detrimental to the environment.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 57-34044 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion B2O3—La2O3—Yb2O3 optical glass. Since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range which are disclosed specifically in this publication do not contain, or contain only a small amount of alkali components, ZnO or fluorine which is effective for making the glass transition temperature low, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of these glasses is high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 8-259257 discloses a high refractive index, low dispersion SiO2—B2O3—Li2O—ZnO—La2O3 optical glass. Since glasses having optical constants within the above described specific range disclosed specifically in this publication contain As2O3 and, therefore, this glass is not desirable from the standpoint of environmental protection. Moreover, this glass has the disadvantage of producing inclusions.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 8-26765, No. Hei 6-305769, No. Sho 60-221338 and No. Sho 56-169150 disclose optical glasses which have a low glass transition point (Tg). However, glasses specifically disclosed in these publications do not have optical constants within the above described specific range and, therefore, cannot satisfy requirements for the optical design described above.
As described above, the known technical literature discloses only glasses which have a low glass transition point (Tg) but fail to satisfy the optical constants within the specific range or glasses which satisfy the optical constants within the specific range but have a high glass transition point (Tg) and, therefore, an optical glass which can satisfy an object of the present invention does not exist.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an optical glass which has comprehensively overcome the disadvantages of the prior art optical glasses and has optical constants within the specific range, a low glass transition temperature (Tg), excellent internal quality and is suitable for reheat press molding or precision press molding.


In a bipolar static induction transistor (BSIT) with increased input impedance, gate-voltage control is used for switching operations. The BSIT includes a collector region, a base region, an emitter region, and a source region in the base region. For enhanced turn-off, an auxiliary base region is included; alternatively, a drain region is provided in the base region.

The invention relates to a static induction or field-effect bipolar transistor with voltage control, suitable for high-voltage or high-current operations.
A conventional bipolar transistor has a three-layer structure such as NPN or a PNP structure in which an emitter-collector current is controlled by a base current. The current-amplification factor, a measure for the transistor's control performance, is determined by the base width, i.e., the thickness of the base layer along the current-flow direction. The current-amplification factor can be increased by narrowing the base width, thereby enhancing the control performance. By incorporating a base having substantially zero width, and by using a static induction or magnetic field effect, control performance is greatly improved over the conventional bipolar transistor; see IEDM Technical Digest, 1978, p. 676; Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 17 (1978), p. 245; and IEEE Electron Device Letters EDL-6 (1985), p. 522. These articles variously describe transistor structures designated as BSIT, DBT and EMFET. As used in the following, the designation BSIT stands for bipolar static induction transistor.
Basic structure and operation of a conventional BSIT are briefly explained hereunder with reference to FIG. 4. A semiconductor body 10 for the BSIT 30 consists of an n-type epitaxial layer 12 several tens of micrometers thick as a collector region on an n.sup.+ -type substrate 11, for example. Two p-type base regions 13 are formed by diffusion at the surface of the collector region 12, with the thickness of the base regions 13 being greater than in earlier conventional structures, as shown in FIG. 4. An n.sup.+ -type emitter region 14 is diffused at the surface of the collector region 12, between the two base regions 13. A collector terminal C, an emitter terminal E, and a base terminal B are respectively connected, via electrode films 25, to the substrate 11, the emitter region 14, and the base regions 13.
For the sake of exposition, FIG. 4 shows a hypothetical base region 13a below the emitter region 14. If a base region 13a were actually present, the structure of a vertical NPN transistor would be realized. Substantially lacking a base region 13a, the BSIT 30 has minimized base width (which is the thickness of the base region 13a), and a static induction effect is utilized by which the collector region 12 is influenced by the two surrounding base regions 13.
When the BSIT 30 is turned off, a depletion region extends from a p-n junction between the collector region 12 and the base regions 13, mainly towards the collector region 12, because of a positive voltage applied to the collector terminal C. When a base current flows into the base regions 13 from the base terminal B, a hole current h flows into the emitter region 14 from the base region 13 through the p-n junction in the forward direction. An electron current e is generated from the emitter region 14 in correspondence with this current flow. Part of this current e flows into the base region 13 through the p-n junction, but most of the electrons flow into the collector region 12 because of the static induction or electric field effect of the collector region 12. As a result, there is conduction between the collector and the emitter. To switch from this on-state to the off-state, a reverse bias is applied between the base region 13 and the collector region 12 via the base terminal B, thereby expanding the depletion region, with the current in the collector region 12 from the p-n junction generated from both sides of the p-n junction.
In a BSIT 30 with the aforementioned basic structure and operation, because the width of the hypothetical base region 13a is infinitesimally small, a high current-amplification factor can be realized. The vertical construction allows increased thickness of the collector region 12 and extension of the depletion at turn-off, thereby allowing the transistor to withstand high voltages. If this BSIT 30 is compared with a field-effect transistor, the collector, emitter and the base correspond to drain, source and gate, respectively.
As described, a BSIT has an advantageously high current-amplification factor. However, in a BSIT, the current between the collector and the emitter, or the on-off states, are controlled by the base current. Thus, from the point of view of circuit control, a BSIT more closely resembles a bipolar transistor than a field-effect transistor. The low output impedance of the BSIT is an advantage, but the low input impedance is a disadvantage. Furthermore, to increase the current-carrying capacity, a plurality of unit structures (per FIG. 4) are connected in parallel on a common substrate, for example. In this case, as the current tends to concentrate on particular unit structures, such structures may be damaged due to overcurrent.


The present invention provides a bonus scheme that has more than one and preferably at least three bonus games contained in one bonus scheme. Each bonus game provides excitement and enjoyment to the player via creative visual and audio displays. Each bonus game also has its own theme and may or may not be based upon schemes already known in the art of gaming devices. While the individual bonus games are not necessarily related to each other, the overall bonus scheme, preferably in the initial screen, ties the bonus games together in a master theme that provides flexibility for the individual bonus games to have their own themes. The preferred embodiment of the present invention automatically activates the bonus scheme upon a bonus triggering event. The game selects for the player one of three bonus games contained in the bonus scheme. The player plays the selected game and receives an award and the game returns the player to the base game.

Gaming machines currently exist with bonus schemes in which a player has one or more opportunities to obtain bonus awards or credits. Typically, gaming machines employ a single bonus game such that whenever the bonus round begins, the gaming device displays the same bonus game. While playing these bonus games may last for a relatively short or long time and may provide small or large bonus awards, the variety provided by the bonus scheme is limited. Over time, player excitement and enjoyment begin to erode in part because the player may play the same bonus game several times. Therefore, it is desirable to have more than one bonus game contained in a bonus scheme of a gaming device to provide players with a variety of bonus games, displays and outcomes.
Known gaming machines include schemes that have a plurality of different games from which the player chooses a game to play. After playing each of the games, the player likely becomes accustomed to the games, prefers one or more of the games over the others, and selects to play only the preferred games whenever a bonus triggering event occurs. The player's control over the game selection and the preference of one or more games over the others negate the variety of having multiple games. Consequently, when the player tires of the preferred games, the player will in many cases discontinue playing the gaming machine altogether.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, it is desirable to provide players with new bonus schemes in which the players have multiple opportunities to play different bonus games. In particular, as provided by the present invention, a gaming machine that randomly selects a bonus game for the player from a number games that have different features, payouts, and difficulty levels provides the player with a variety that increases and maintains player enjoyment and excitement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Gaming device having a weighted probability for selecting a bonus game


A connector mechanism is utilized to connect with a portable electronic device with a receptacle connector and a guide pin structure. The guide pin structure includes a first portion and a second portion. The connector mechanism includes a base, a plug connector and a guide hole structure. The plug connector and the guide hole structure are disposed on the base. A length of the guide hole structure is greater than a length of the plug connector. The guide hole structure includes a first area and a second area. A width of the first area is greater than a width of the second area. Width difference between the plug connector and the receptacle connector is greater than width difference between the second portion and the second area, and is greater than width difference between the first portion and the second area and between the second portion and the first area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a connector mechanism, and more particularly, to a connector mechanism with special design for preventing the plug and the receptacle from structural interference.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A docking connector is usually applied to set between the portable electronic device and the external transmitter. A datum can be transmitted from a storage device to the portable electronic device via the external transmitter, or the portable electronic device can be charged by the commercial power via the external transmitter. The docking connector includes a male terminal and a female terminal, respectively disposed on the portable electronic device and the external transmitter. Due to difference position of the two terminals, the external transmitter may be difficult to connect with the portable electronic device because of assembly tolerance. For avoid the above-mentioned drawback, a conventional docking connector may dispose a guiding pin and a guiding hole respectively on the male terminal and the female terminal, to utilize assembly of the guiding pin and the guiding hole to connect the two terminals. However, movements of the male terminal and the female terminal are constrained when the guiding pin inserts into the guiding hole, and the conventional docking connector has drawbacks of motion deadlock and linking paralysis generated by structural interference. Design of a docking connector capable of improving assembly inaccuracy of the guiding pin and the guiding hole is an important issue in the mechanical industry.

Connector mechanism with a guide hole structure, connector mechanism with a guide pin structure and related electronic device assembly


A device to detect magnetic resonance in the time domain that includes a radiofrequency (RF) source (46), having an output connected to a transmitter (47), wherein the output of the transmitter (47) is fed to a probe-preamplifier (48). The signal output of the probe-preamplifier (48) is connected to the input of a filter (49), being connected to the input of a phase sensitive detector (50). Another input of the phase sensitive detector (50) is connected to a second output of the RF source (46), with the output of the phase sensitive detector (50) being connected to the input of a digitizer (51). the putput of the digitizer (51) is connected to a computer (52).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved device to detect magnetic resonance in the time domain. This would lead to an optimal receiver for detecting magnetic resonance signals.
2. Description of Related Art
Time Domain Magnetic Resonance signals are excited by bursts or pulses of resonant radiofrequency (RF) or microwave radiation and subsequently detected by phase sensitive receivers. These are then Fourier transformed to produce the corresponding frequency spectra. In operating in pulsed mode, two basic factors need to be kept in view:
(i) Efficient use of available transmitter power; and PA1 (ii) Efficient use of detector bandwidth.
The first factor implies that one normally prefers to operate the transmitter from the middle of the spectral window of interest, so that the transmitter field, symmetrically irradiates spectral features on either side of its frequency. The second factor implies that one normally prefers to operate the detector (receiver) from the middle of the spectral window as well, so that the detector filter bandpass just covers the desired spectral window.
Following demodulation by phase sensitive detection (psd), signals that occur originally at distinguishable frequencies (.omega.+.DELTA.) and (.omega.-.DELTA.) are down-converted to frequencies (.+-..DELTA.) which are identical in magnitude and differ only in sign. In meeting the objective of efficient excitation, therefore, the need arises to distinguish signals at equal but opposite frequencies. This problem does not arise when the transmitter is positioned to one side of the spectral window, so that all signal frequencies are to one side of the transmitter frequency .omega.. However, this mode of operation, which is standard in single detection mode, is wasteful of the available transmitter power. The problem of frequency sign discrimination has been solved by quadrature detection. When quadrature detection is employed, a given transmitter power level may be used to irradiate twice the spectral width that would be possible in single detection mode. At the same time, the receiver filter bandwidth may be reduced by a factor of 2 compared to single detection, resulting in noise reduction by a factor of .sqroot.2.
The essential idea in quadrature detection is to detect two components of the signal that are in phase quadrature with each other (eg. the sine and cosine components), so that the desired frequency sign discrimination is achieved, eg. by a complex Fourier transformation. The standard realization of such a system involves the implementation of two identical receiver channels that get reference inputs which are in phase quadrature with each other and simultaneously detect two signals that are in phase quadrature and are paired to form a complex signal. Such a system typically involves two receiver and digitizer channels. A practical limitation of this approach is that a mismatch in the phase and amplitude characteristics of the two channels results in the generation of artifacts known as image peaks. Image peaks are minimized by a careful adjustment and matching of the two receiver channels, and are further suppressed by special phase cycling procedures such as the Cyclically Ordered Phase Sequence (CYCLOPS). A block diagram of this general approach is shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings accompanying this specification.
It essentially consists of two Phase Sensitive Detectors (5, 8), two filters (6, 9) and two digitizers (7, 10), one set for each receiver channel. An RF source (1) feeds a transmitter (2) and a phase splitter (4); the transmitter (2) delivers pulses to a probe-preamplifier (3). The probe houses the sample whose Magnetic Resonance is being investigated. The signal output of (3) is fed to (5) and (8), which get reference inputs from (4) which are in phase quadrature. The output of (5) and (8) is filtered by (6) and (9) and then digitized by (7) and (10) before finally feeding to the computer (11).
Single detection with crystal filter has also been developed as an alternative to quadrature detection. The block diagram of this scheme is shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings accompanying this specification and essentially comprises an RF source (12) that feeds a transmitter (13) and a Phase sensitive Detector (16); the transmitter (13) delivers pulses to a probe-preamplifier (14). The probe houses the sample whose Magnetic Resonance is being investigated. The signal output of 14 is fed to the crystal filter (15), then to 16 and finally to the Digitizer (17) and Computer (18). This scheme typically gains the .sqroot.2 sensitivity advantage of quadrature detection by avoiding noise foldover from the side that is opposite to the spectral window with respect to the receiver reference frequency; however, this scheme cannot avoid positioning the transmitter at one end of the spectral window. The typical crystal filter is a four-pole Butterworth crystal filter, with Quality-factor Q of the order of 10.
Yet another scheme acquires quadrature phase shifted signals on alternate scans in a single detection receiver--by phase shifting the excitation pulse appropriately--and synthesizes the quadrature information by pairing together successive scans to produce a complex signal. Sensitivity is lost in this implementation, while the transmitter may be positioned in the center of the spectral window. A schematic diagram of this implementation is shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings accompanying this specification and essentially comprises an RF source (19), phase splitter (20), transmitter (21), probe-preamplifier (22), Phase Sensitive Detector (23), Filter (24), Digitizer (25) and computer (26).
Still another scheme uses two quadrature phase receivers, but generates a single real signal by routing alternate points of the signal respectively into the two receiver channels, accompanied by sign alternation in the computer after every two sampling points. This scheme, which is shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings accompanying this specification, also suffers from the mismatch of the two receiver channels noted above, resulting in image artifacts. Various components of the device, as shown in FIG. 4 with numerals, are described below:
27 refers to an RF source. PA0 28 refers to the transmitter. PA0 29 refers to the probe-preamplifier. PA0 30 refers to the phase splitter. PA0 31 and 34 refer to Phase Sensitive Detectors. PA0 32 and 35 refer to Filters. PA0 33 and 36 refer to Digitizers. PA0 37 refers to the Computer.
Yet another scheme uses a single receiver channel whose phase reference is incremented by 90.degree. for every successive point of the signal that is acquired. This last scheme, shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings accompanying this specification, essentially comprises an RF source (38), transmitter (39), probe-preamplifier (40), a phase splitter (41) with four reference frequency outputs of phase 0.degree., 90.degree., 180.degree., and 270.degree. respectively, a Phase sensitive Detector (42), Filter (43), Digitizer (44) and computer (45). This modus operandi also gives rise to artifact image peaks arising from the continual jump in receiver reference phase. Further, it suffers from a loss of signal detection sensitivity, owing to the periodic discrete phase jumps that result in sidebands.
Almost all practical quadrature detection systems that are currently in use employ one of the two two-channel receiver/digitizer implementations. Most recently, two-channel receiver/digitizer systems are employed with oversampling followed by signal decimation and digital filtering to produce quadrature detected spectra with improved dynamic range and baseline characteristics. The two-channel receiver systems require careful matching of the two receiver channels, as any mismatch results in artifacts. The single channel receiver systems is susceptible to either low sensitivity or low excitation efficiency or artifacts due to phase splitters.

Device to detect magnetic resonance in the time domain

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method is provided for generating an image having a plurality of bands. A page description representative of elements of the image is received from an external source. A display list buffer is then built that has a plurality of display list elements (DLE) derived from the page description, each display list element being representative of a corresponding graphic item. A banded display list is then built that is representative of the plurality of bands of the image. For each band of the plurality of bands, a set of templates is stored in the banded dismay list in which each template points to a DLE in the display list buffer for each corresponding graphic item that is spawned within the band. Each band is then rendered by using the set of templates stored for that band to access a corresponding set of DLEs from the display list buffer. In one embodiment, a printer includes a microprocessor with on-chip memory. All of the sets of templates for each of the plurality of bands can be loaded together into the on-chip memory along with a band buffer for rendering a band due to the relatively small size of the banded display list.

Current printers, particularly printers adapted to connect to a local area network and service plural network users, employ a page description language. PostScript is an example of such a page description language. Page description languages are programming languages that allow compact, flexible and device independent description of a page. A print file in a page description language lists the text and graphics to be printed on the page described. The description of the objects to be printed must be rendered into a raster bitmap in a process called rasterization in order to be printed. Rasterization is the process of converting the page description into the individual dots making up the lines of the page in the order to be printed. This process enables the page to be printed by the print engine, which generally prints the page line by line from one edge to an opposite edge. The page rasterizer typically consists of an interpreter and a rasterizer. The interpreter parses the input data stream and creates drawing primitives, termed display list elements. The rasterizer does scan-conversion of these primitives.
Many objects in computer graphics applications and page description languages are described through polygons. Even curved shapes are generally approximated to nearest polygons and then rendered. To be printed or displayed these polygons must be converted into the scan technique used by the output device. Polygon scan conversion may be invoked thousands of times to render a graphics image into a print buffer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,724 entitled "Clipping and trapezoid decomposition of polygons for printing files in a page description language" describes techniques for doing this.
A page description language (PDL) such as PostScript, developed by Adobe Systems, is primarily a language for printing documents on laser printers, but it can be adapted to produce images on other types of devices. PostScript is the standard for desktop publishing because it is supported by image-setters, the very high-resolution printers used by service bureaus to produce camera-ready copy.
A PDL is generally an object-oriented language, meaning that it treats images, including fonts, as collections of geometrical objects rather than as bit maps. PostScript fonts are called outline fonts because the outline of each character is defined. They are also called scalable fonts because their size can be changed with PostScript commands. Given a single typeface definition, a PostScript printer can thus produce a multitude of fonts. In contrast, many non-PostScript printers represent fonts with bit maps. To print a bit-mapped typeface with different sizes, these printers require a complete set of bit maps for each size.
The principal advantage of object-oriented (vector) graphics over bit-mapped graphics is that object-oriented images take advantage of high-resolution output devices whereas bit-mapped images do not. Thus, an object-oriented graphics drawing looks much better when printed on a 600-dpi printer than on a 300-dpi printer. A bit-mapped image looks the same on both printers. In order to evaluate an object-oriented graphic object for printing, a printer contains a built-in interpreter that executes instructions that parses each object and prepares a rendered image. Interpreters of page description language typically process a page in a banded mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,200, entitled "Memory Management Method, Printing Control Device and Printing Apparatus" describes a prior art printer that uses banding and further describes a method to prevent memory overrun and deadlock from occurring.

Printer with unified display list and banded display lists


A gaming device and method having a selection award revealing bonus game, where during the primary game the player is awarded indicators. The gaming device reveals the values associated with selections in the bonus game, and the bonus game is initiated upon the player accumulating a predetermined combination of indicators. The player is allowed to pick the selections which the associated values have been previously revealed to the player and the gaming device provides awards associated with the picked selections to the player.

Gaming machines currently exist with mechanical or video reels having symbols thereon and bonus games in which a player has one or more opportunities to choose one or more particular symbols from a group of masked symbols. After the player selects a symbol, the game removes the mask and either awards the player with a bonus value or terminates the bonus round with a bonus terminator. The outcome depends upon whether the player selects an award or a bonus game terminator.
In the above game, the controller of the gaming device randomly places a predetermined number of masked awards and terminators in a pattern at the beginning of the bonus round and maintains the positioning until the bonus round terminates. When the player receives the value of the award, the game typically displays a message that the player may continue and enables the player to select another masked award, and the process continues until the player selects a masked terminator.
Since players seek more entertainment and enjoyment, it is therefore desirable to provide players with gaming devices with new and different bonus games.

Gaming device having a selection award revealing game


A conveyor device is installed opposite to a recording head in a recording apparatus. The conveyor device includes a conveyor belt and a suction section. The conveyor belt conveys a recording medium. The suction section includes a guide member having first through holes within a first region and second through holes outside of the first region. The guide member has a surface that is located opposite to the recording head with the conveyor belt therebetween and that has first grooves and second grooves therein. The first region includes at least a head facing region located directly opposite to the recording head. The first through holes are located inside of the first grooves. Each of the first grooves is shorter than the recording head. The second through holes are located inside of the second grooves. The suction section sucks on the recording medium through the conveyor belt and the guide member.

The present disclosure relates to a conveyor device provided in a recording apparatus and an inkjet recording apparatus including the conveyor device.
An inkjet recording apparatus is a commonly known type of recording apparatus. Inkjet recording apparatuses are widely used in machines such as printers, copiers, and multifunction peripherals due to their compactness, low cost, and low operating noise. Inkjet recording apparatuses are broadly classified as being either a line head or a serial head type.
A line head inkjet recording apparatus includes a conveyor device for conveying a recording medium. The conveyor device typically includes a conveyor belt. The conveyor device is located opposite to a recording head and holds a recording medium on the conveyor belt while conveying the recording medium. The recording medium is held on the conveyor belt by using static electricity to attract the recording medium or negative pressure to suck the recording medium.
A conveyor device that creates negative pressure includes a suction section that sucks on the recording medium through the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt has a plurality of suction holes perforated therein. The suction section includes a guide member that supports the recording medium through the conveyor belt. The guide member has a plurality of grooves into a surface thereof that faces the recording head. Through holes that run through the guide member in a thickness direction thereof are located inside of the grooves into the guide member. The suction section creates negative pressure and thereby sucks air through the suction holes in the conveyor belt and through the through holes and the grooves in the guide member. Through the above, the recording medium is sucked onto the conveyor belt. Unfortunately, a conveyor device having the configuration described above suffers from the following problem.
Namely, when a recording medium having paper dust attached thereto is conveyed to a position opposite to the recording head, the paper dust may be stirred up by suction air flow (air current) and may become attached to the nozzle orifice. As a consequence, the nozzle orifice may unfortunately become clogged by the attached paper dust. The suction air flow is created by the negative pressure that is used to hold the recording medium on the conveyor belt. Clogging of the nozzle orifice makes it difficult for the nozzle orifice to eject ink droplets and may result in formation of an image that has white lines along a conveyance direction of the recording medium.
In one example of an inkjet recording apparatus, air is blown against a recording medium prior to image formation in order to remove paper dust from the recording medium.

Conveyor device and inkjet recording apparatus


Methods of filling high aspect ratio trenches in semiconductor layers are provided. The methods utilize HDP-CVD processes to fill trenches with trench filling material. In the methods, the gas flow and RF bias are selected to provide a high etch to deposition ratio, while the trenches are partially filled. The gas flow and RF bias are then selected to provide a low etch to deposition ratio while the trenches are completely filled. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that is will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

The present invention relates to a method for improving dielectric deposition and trench fill in semiconductor substrates or layers utilizing high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD). More particularly, the present invention is directed toward a method and system for improving the trench fill in trenches having high aspect ratios such as shallow trench isolation (STI) structures and intermetal dielectric (IMD) structures.
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been used extensively to deposit dielectric material in trenches. During deposition, dielectric material will collect on the corners of the trenches, and overhangs will form at the corners. These overhangs typically grow together faster than the trench is filled, and a void in the dielectric material filling the gap is created. Many techniques have been utilized in attempts to solve the trench fill problem.
One technique which attempts to solve this problem is deposition and simultaneous etch back of the dielectric layer. This technique may be accomplished using high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD). Typically, HDP-CVD is carried out in a process chamber. Precursor gases such as silane and oxygen are flowed into the chamber along with an inert gas. A plasma is formed in a reaction zone proximate to the surface of the substrate by the application of radio frequency (RF) energy. The deposition gases disassociate and react to form a silicon dioxide layer. The relatively non-reactant inert gas is ionized and used to etch the silicon dioxide layer during deposition to keep the gaps open. The flow rates, RF power and other parameters are typically controlled to produce the desired rate of deposition and etch. In this manner, trenches in a semiconductor substrate may be successfully filled.
However, such techniques do not always produce a void free trench fill for high aspect ratio trenches. For example, one technique for high aspect ratio trenches involves depositing the silicon dioxide layer in a two-step fashion. In the first step, the silicon dioxide is deposited using a low etch to deposition ratio. In the second step, the silicon dioxide is deposited using a high etch to deposition ratio. However, this approach may not be successful because the first layer of silicon dioxide may be too thin and be etched away during the second step. Alternatively, the first layer of silicon dioxide may be too thick and may narrow or close the trenches causing the formation of voids that are not deeply buried. These voids may be opened in later chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processing steps. Additionally, these HDP-CVD processes can cause nitride liner layer erosion because the nitride portion of STI trenches may be undesirably etched.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of HDP-CVD that can produce high quality trench fill for trenches having a high aspect ratio in semiconductor layers. Additionally, there is a need for a method of HDP-CVD that does not cause substantial erosion of layers in or around high aspect ratio trenches.

Methods for filling high aspect ratio trenches in semiconductor layers


An apparatus, system and method optimize antenna performance using tunable parasitic elements by changing antenna characteristics based on signal quality parameters of electromagnetic signals exchanged through the antenna. The tunable parasitic elements are responsive to control signals to modify current flowing through a counterpoise of the antenna. Based on signal quality parameters received from a communication system, transmission characteristics are optimized by increasing the transmission gain in the direction of the receiving base station. Signal quality parameters measured at the antenna are used to change reception characteristics by minimizing reception gain in the direction of a jamming transmitter.

The invention relates in general to antennas and more specifically to an apparatus and method for adjusting antenna characteristics using tunable parasitic elements.
Electromagnetic signals are transmitted and received through antennas. The selection or design of an antenna for a particular device may depend on a variety of factors including signal frequencies, antenna performance, and available space. In conventional antenna systems, an antenna is selected and optimized to account for a wide variety of possible situations. Conventional techniques may utilize parasitic elements, sometimes referred to as "brackets", to manipulate antenna characteristics. The selection and adjustment is often a compromise to minimize the susceptibility to anticipated situations such as changes in signal strength, operating frequencies, interference, antenna radiation patterns, and the effects of objects and user body parts when positioned near the device. As a result, maximum performance is rarely achieved for any particular situation.
Accordingly, there is need for an apparatus and method for adjusting antenna characteristics using tunable parasitic elements.

Apparatus, system, and method for adjusting antenna characteristics using tunable parasitic elements


A semiconductor device including a contact etch stop layer and contact hole formation method for reduced underlying material loss and improved device performance, the method including providing a semiconductor substrate including an active region including a CMOS device, STI structures, and metal silicide regions; forming a fluorine doped amorphous carbon layer over the active region; forming a PMD layer on the fluorine doped amorphous carbon layer; dry etching contact holes in the PMD layer to expose the fluorine doped amorphous carbon layer; and, removing the fluorine doped amorphous carbon layer according to a dry stripping process.

In the integrated circuit industry today, millions of semiconductor transistors are built on a single chip. As CMOS transistors, also referred to as MOSFETs, are scaled down in size, one of the most important challenges facing a device designer are short channel effects (SCE) in reduced gate length devices. It is well-known that short channel effects of MOSFET devices include VT roll-off, drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL), subthreshold swing degradation, gate-to-drain overlap capacitance and gate-induced-drain-leakage (GIDL) current. Short channel effects (SCE) are a function of several processing parameters including width and depth of S/D regions and S/D region dopant concentration profiles. For example, since SCE is related to the junction depth (xj), shallower S/D junction depths with lighter doping can improve transistor operating characteristics.
The formation of contact holes to form electrical connections to source/drain regions and/or gate electrodes in a typical CMOS process flow include depositing nitride contact etch stop layers over the process surface after the formation of silicided source/drain regions and/or gate electrodes. A pre-metal dielectric (PMD) layer is then deposited and followed by formation of a contact hole to the source/drain regions and/or gate electrodes by masking and dry etching process steps.
One problem in the prior art process is unintentional yet difficult to avoid removal of underlying critical material layers during dry etching process step in a uniform manner, such as silicide regions and (shallow trench isolation (STI) oxide regions, for example at the STI edge. As a result, the formation of shallow source/drain junctions is increasingly problematical due to the difficulty in controlling overetch phenomenon in nitride etch stop layers. For example overetching underlying silicide and STI oxide regions leads to increased junction leakage and even shorts to substrate, thereby compromising device reliability, performance and yield. Moreover, conventional nitride material formation processes have been found to contribute to the presence of hydrogen which can form charge carrier traps in nearby gate dielectric by diffusive transport leading to degraded reliability and performance including hot carrier induced degradation, Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.
These and other shortcomings demonstrate a need in the MOSFET integrated circuit manufacturing art for improved contact etch stop layers and methods for forming the same including contact hole formation to improve CMOS device performance, reliability, and yield.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved contact etch stop layers and methods for forming the same including contact hole formation to improve CMOS device performance, reliability, and yield, in addition to overcoming other shortcomings of the prior art.

Amorphous carbon contact film for contact hole etch process

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


The invention provides an array of oligonucleotide probes immobilized on a solid support for analysis of a target sequence from a human immunodeficiency virus. The array comprises at least four sets of oligonucleotide probes 9 to 21 nucleotides in length. A first probe set has a probe corresponding to each nucleotide in a reference sequence from a human immunodeficiency virus. A probe is related to its corresponding nucleotide by being exactly complementary to a subsequence of the reference sequence that includes the corresponding nucleotide. Thus, each probe has a position, designated an interrogation position, that is occupied by a complementary nucleotide to the corresponding nucleotide. The three additional probe sets each have a corresponding probe for each probe in the first probe set. Thus, for each nucleotide in the reference sequence, there are four corresponding probes, one from each of the probe sets. The three corresponding probes in the three additional probe sets are identical to the corresponding probe from the first probe or a subsequence thereof that includes the interrogation position, except that the interrogation position is occupied by a different nucleotide in each of the four corresponding probes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides arrays of oligonucleotide probes immobilized in microfabricated patterns on silica chips for analyzing molecular interactions of biological interest. The chips are employed for diagnoses useful in the rational therapeutic management of AIDS patients.
2. Description of Related Art
Oligonucleotide probes have long been used to detect complementary nucleic acid sequences in a nucleic acid of interest (the "target" nucleic acid). In some assay formats, the oligonucleotide probe is tethered, i.e., by covalent attachment, to a solid support, and arrays of oligonucleotide probes immobilized on solid supports have been used to detect specific nucleic acid sequences in a target nucleic acid. See, e.g., PCT patent publication Nos. WO 89/10977 and 89/11548. Others have proposed the use of large numbers of oligonucleotide probes to provide the complete nucleic acid sequence of a target nucleic but failed to provide an enabling method for using arrays of immobilized probes for this purpose. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,202,231 and 5,002,867 and PCT patent publication No. WO 93/17126.
The development of VLSIPS.TM. technology has provided methods for making very large arrays of oligonucleotide probes in very small areas. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854 and PCT patent publication Nos. WO 90/15070 and 92/10092, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. U.S. patent application Serial No. 08/082,937, filed Jun. 25, 1993, describes methods for making arrays of oligonucleotide probes that can be used to provide the complete sequence of a target nucleic acid and to detect the presence of a nucleic acid containing a specific nucleotide sequence.
Microfabricated arrays of large numbers of oligonucleotide probes, called "DNA chips" offer great promise for a wide variety of applications. The present invention provides inter alia suitable chips and methods for analyzing human immunodeficiency virus strains and coparasitizing microorganisms.

Array of nucleic acid probes on biological chips for diagnosis of HIV and methods of using the same


An otoscope retrofit speculum extension with a sidearm thereon connectable to a vacuum source to pull a vacuum in the interior of said retrofit extension to pull and to hold a foreign body against an end of said extension to allow removal of foreign bodies from an ear or a nose by removal of the otoscope.

An otoscope is an instrument normally designed to allow a physician to peer inside an ear or into a nose through a lighted pathway. At times, particularly in infants, there are foreign bodies such as a bead within an ear or nose that necessitate removal. The objectives of this invention include low cost retrofitting of an otoscope to allow removal of foreign material from a nose and ear in a rapid patient comfortable manner.
The invention includes about one eighth inch diameter flexible plastic tubing with a first end connectable to a controllable vacuum source and a second end leading to and connectable to a sidearm on the speculum in one embodiment and connectable to a sidearm on speculum extensions or retrofits in other embodiments. An insufflation port on the head of the otoscope may be partially or totally closed using finger pressure to engage or disengage the vacuum source. Normally with no external vacuum source the physician uses a small air bulb and finger pressure to vibrate the tympanic membrane in the inner ear to determine if there is fluid behind the tympanic membrane. In the invention size of the insufflation port and control of the vacuum source are such that with the insufflation port totally open there is essentially no vacuum in the otoscope. The invention includes embodiments of the retrofitting units for attachment to the speculum receptacle or holder of the otoscope wherein the user may controllably pull vacuum through the retrofit units to hold a foreign body against the retrofit unit for removal and prevent foreign material from entering the otoscope head.
In all embodiments the speculum or the foreign body remover extensions are so formed with sidearm projections or ribs (not shown in the drawings) as to prevent in use sealing of the retrofitted speculum against the outer ear and to prevent subsequent tympanic membrane damage from the vacuum.
Minor changes to the speculum or the speculum retrofit units of the otoscope would be easily made but would be within the purview of the invention. We wish to be limited only to the spirit and purpose as outlined in these specifications and claims.

Otoscope retrofit to allow multipurpose use


An apparatus for affecting air includes a housing. The apparatus includes a treatment layer disposed in the housing for treating air. The apparatus includes a fan. The apparatus includes a gas powered motor mechanically engaged with the fan to operate the fan which forces the air through the treatment layer. The apparatus includes a compressed gas tank in fluid connection with the gas powered motor to provide gas to the motor to power the motor. A method for affecting air.

As is well known, trees and plants through the process of photosynthesis naturally convert CO2 into oxygen. When nature cannot do its job, chemistry takes over. In maimed, enclosed atmospheres such as rescue chambers, dive devices or submarines, two chemical technologies have historically been employed to scrub the CO2 from the environment: lithium hydroxide and soda lime. Below are the pros and cons of both materials.
Soda Lime w/ ScrubberLithium Hydroxide CurtainsCO2 Absorption:150 liters CO2 per kg402 liters CO2 per kgPackaging:20 kg (44 lb) sealed kegs8 curtains per box; 5.72 lbs ofLiOH per box.96 Hr Requirements:1 keg per man2.75 boxes per manPer MSHA: (.244 lbs/man − hr) * 96 hr/5.72 lbs/box = 4.1 boxesApprox Cost/unit:$135/keg$487/boxCost/man for 96 hrs:$135/man$1339/man$1997/man per MSHAShelf Life:5 years5 yers; must be discardedHeat Generated:32 Btu's per man per hour130 Btu's per man per hour;curtains actually hot to the touchDeployment:Simple; new keg addedComplicated; curtains must bewhen color changeshung at a set schedule and spacingEffectiveness:good air circulation fromonly works in small, confined areas;Air driven fannot effective in large areasPower Requirements:None; air/oxygen driven fanNone; passive system relies onlocalized natural convective currents


An adjustable masking mechanism for use in connection with the exposure of a sample to a beam of analytical radiation and a beam of viewing radiation that facilitates aligning the movable elements of the mask with the edges of the sample. Whereas the prior art mechanisms utilize materials that are opaque to both the analytical radiation and the viewing radiation, the present invention uses one or more movable elements that are substantially opaque to the analytical radiation and at least partially transmissive to at least a portion of the spectral range of the viewing radiation.

The present invention relates to techniques for providing visual inspection of samples that have analytical radiation incident thereon.
When making a sample measurement either in transmission or in reflectance, it is important to know the exact portion of the sample exposed to the measuring beam. This is especially critical where high spatial resolution is required, as for example in an optical microscope. In the case of measurements made through a microscope in particular, the means by which the desired area of the sample is identified and positioned for measurement depends, in general, on the ability of the operator to see the entire sample, either directly in the microscope eyepiece or indirectly on a television monitor screen or other remote viewing device. For this purpose, such microscopes are provided with an illuminator whose radiation is in the visible portion of the optical spectrum, and are designed to transmit that radiation to the operator along a path which assures virtual coincidence with the path of the analytical radiation, which may be from a region of the spectrum which is not visible.
In the general case, the sample area of interest is smaller than the field of view of the measuring system, and is mounted on a support whose optical characteristics are different from those of the sample itself, or are unknown. It is therefore desirable that the measured region be restricted to the sample alone. However, the sample area may be quite small in both absolute and relative terms. Since the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement is proportional to the area of the sample measured (because the noise is independent of the sample area while the signal is directly proportional to it), it is desirable that all of the sample be included.
A typical prior art approach is to place an adjustable mask in a viewable image plane. The mask typically includes a number of opaque elements (typically blackened metal sheets) that can be moved in the image plane relative to the image of the sample so as to block selected portions of the field of view. In use, the area of sample to be measured is centered in the measuring field of view by visual means, and the mask is adjusted, also by visual means, to just exclude all the non-sample background.
The mask may be of the adjustable diaphragm type whose geometry is restricted to a circle of adjustable radius, in general greater than zero, although double-diaphragm designs can provide extinction. Alternatively, the mask may be a four-blade device in which pairs of opposed blades are arranged orthogonally in parallel displaced planes. This device is more generally useful, because it will go to complete extinction, and its rectangular geometry can be adjusted to more nearly match the geometry of most samples, which are not usually circular in projection.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to adjust the mask to be just tangent to the side of a sample. This is a particular problem if the sample is dark, in which case, it may be almost impossible to determine the point at which the mask is just tangent to the sample.
Several prior art microscope designs, such as that of Horiba, partially solve the problem by providing a separate visual pathway around the mask. The visual images of the sample both through and around the masking device are combined in the eyepiece focal plane by means of a complex arrangement of beamsplitters and mirrors, while the measurement beam is restricted to pass through the mask assembly only. This solution allows the operator to see the open region of the mask superimposed on the sample, and should, in principle permit exact adjustment of the mask to tangency with the outline of the desired sample area. However, in practice it is not possible to align all of these extra optics, some of which must be moved out of the way of the measuring beam, so that perfect virtual coincidence with the measuring beam is assured. As a result, even though the mask appears to be perfectly aligned with the sample, either some sample area is excluded from the measuring beam, or some background is included in the measuring beam.
Thus, the prior art provides a choice between a relatively straightforward system that may be difficult or impossible for the user to adjust, and a more complicated and expensive system that is apparently easy for the user to adjust, but may give spurious results.

Sample masking using wavelength-selective material


A device includes an integrated circuit device having a sensor to measure an operating characteristic of the device. The sensor provides information based on the measured operating characteristic to a trigger module. In response to the information indicating the measured operating characteristic meets a threshold associated with a device failure, the trigger module provides an indication to a storage element, which stores information indicating the threshold has been met. In the event of a failure of the integrated circuit device, the storage element can be accessed by a device analyzer to retrieve the stored information to determine the cause of the device failure.

Failure of an integrated circuit device can result from exposure of the device to one of a number of operating characteristics outside a specified range. Further, combinations of operating circuit conditions can lead to device failure, even when the operating characteristics individually are within specified tolerances. Accordingly, determining the cause of integrated circuit device failure can demand a detailed analysis of the failed device, but such an analysis can be undesirably time-consuming and expensive. A device and methods for measuring the operating characteristics of an integrated circuit device would therefore be useful.

Operating characteristic measurement device and methods thereof


A method of analyzing a circuit comprising a plurality of interconnects is disclosed herein. The method may comprise analyzing at least one electrical property associated with a first interconnect, wherein the first interconnect has at least one first physical dimension. The electrical property may then be stored. A second interconnect having the at least one first physical dimension may then be located and the at least one electrical property is applied to the second interconnect.

Integrated circuits are becoming increasingly complex. These complex integrated circuits may include thousands or millions of interconnects that serve to connect thousands or millions of electronic components located on or etched into the integrated circuit. The interconnects may serve to transmit different electronic signals including DC voltages and high frequency signals throughout the integrated circuit. Due to the small size of the interconnects and their close proximity to one another, their physical dimensions significantly affect their electrical properties. These affects become more pronounced when the interconnects are used to transmit high frequency signals.
Fabricating a very large quantity of such integrated circuits may be relatively inexpensive. However, the individual costs of fabricating a small number of complex integrated circuits tends to be very expensive. Furthermore, changing the design of an integrated circuit is very expensive and time consuming. Accordingly, it tends to be very expensive and time consuming to fabricate a small number of integrated circuits for testing, then change their design and fabricate a second small number of integrated circuits for further testing.
In order to reduce the cost of designing and redesigning integrated circuits, the integrated circuits can be simulated by a computer program. This simulation may involve entering the physical characteristics of the interconnects along with the components of the integrated circuit into a computer program. The computer program may then simulate and analyze the integrated circuit. If the integrated circuit needs to be modified and retested, it may be done simply by editing the computer program.
The computer program may take a long time to accurately analyze a complex integrated circuit. For example, many integrated circuits operate at high frequencies. Thus, the electrical properties, such as inductance and capacitance, associated with each interconnect becomes very relevant. In order to accurately analyze the circuit, each interconnect may have to be analyzed in great detail. When the computer program analyzes each interconnect in great detail, the time required to run the analysis increases significantly.

Method and device for analyzing circuits

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of providing an internal lining in a pipeline. The method comprises inverting a tubular liner within said pipeline, said liner having a cementitious coating on a surface thereof. This brings the cementitious material into contact with the wall of the pipeline.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for pipeline renovation, and more particularly to the internal renovation of liquid-carrying pipelines.
It is well known that, over a period of time, liquid-carrying pipelines can suffer internal corrosion and breakdown which can result, for example, in leaks and in contamination of the liquid passing therethrough. Since complete replacement of a pipeline can be extremely expensive, attempts have been made to renovate older pipelines by providing an internal lining therein to cover the internal wall and keep the liquid out of contact therewith. In the water industry, linings have been provided in a number of ways.
In one technique, a process known as inversion is used. An inverted lining is formed by allowing a flexible cylindrical liner to be turned inside out within the pipeline, and pressed radially outwardly against the inside wall of the pipeline. The inverted liner has a resin coating on its outer surface, and as the inverted liner is pressed against the inside wall of the pipeline, the liner becomes bonded by the resin to the inner wall of the pipeline. Inversion of the cylindrical liner can be effected by air or water, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. These linings, when cured, are semi-structural.
Whilst the inversion technique has proved satisfactory, there is a disadvantage especially when lining water mains in that organic compounds from the resin can permeate the liner and contaminate the water supply. Because of this, inverted linings require lengthy and expensive testing before their safety for use in contact with potable water can be ensured.

Apparatus and method for pipeline renovation


A ball bearing stack which includes more than one bearing arranged in face to face relation and sharing a common rotational axis. Each bearing has an inner ring and a concentric outer ring. The inner ring defines an inner race. The outer ring defines an outer race. A plurality of ball bearings are captured within an annular space defined between the inner race and the outer race. Each of the more than one bearing has a ball bearing contact surface on the outer race which is radiused from face to face about a common centre point positioned on the common rotational axis.

In drive shaft applications, an outer race of a bearing engages a housing and an inner race of the bearing engages a drive shaft. Many of the popular rotary steering tools used for directional drilling, initiate directional changes by creating a bend in the drive shaft while drilling. The resulting angular displacement between the shaft and the housing axis, corner loads the traditional radial support bearings leading to premature seal deterioration and catastrophic bearing failure.


A controlled deflection roll has a roll shell which is hydrostatically radially supported by internally disposed hydrostatic shoes. In order to axially position the roll shell, a mechanical locating link is provided which is disposed externally of the roll shell. The link is coupled at one end to an element attached to the roll shell, and is coupled at an opposite end to a fixed support, such as a floor stand. The end of the roll at which the locating link is disposed is thus axially fixed, while the opposite end of the roll remains free to float. The locating link can be connected to an oscillator to oscillate the roll shell axially during operation so as to distribute any non-uniformities in the roll shell and thus to mitigate their effect on the sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a hydrostatic self-loading controlled deflection roll, and specifically to an apparatus for axially locating the shell of such a roll.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pairs of rolls forming a nip through which a traveling web passes are used at many locations in a papermaking machine, particularly in the press section to mechanically remove water from the web. In such nips, one or both rolls are loaded, i.e., the roll is mechanically forced toward the nip in order to exert a desired amount of pressure on the web as it travels through the nip. It is also necessary to be able to mechanically retract the rolls of a nip away from each other, so as to open the nip. Such retraction is necessary not only to be able to control the nip pressure, but also as part of the start-up procedure for the papermaking machine either at the beginning of a new production run, or after a sheet break. The start-up procedure involves the cutting and threading of a "tail" through the machine at a speed which is sometimes significantly slower than the normal operating speed of the machine. However, the tail threading procedure can also be accomplished at full machine speed. During this start-up procedure, a nip will not be loaded at its normal operating pressure. For many years in the papermaking industry, loading of rolls was accomplished by suitable mechanisms disposed at one or both ends of the roll shaft about which the roll rotates. Such mechanisms moved the entire roll on its shaft toward and away from the mating roll in the nip.
In order to provide uniform processing of the entire width of the web in the cross-machine direction as it travels through a web, it is desirable to have the line of contact between the two rolls forming the nip be as straight as possible or, if one of the rolls has a contour which is not a straight line, to have the other roll follow that contour as closely as possible. As improving technology in the papermaking industry permitted papermaking machines to be made increasingly wider in the cross-machine direction, as well as to operate at increasingly faster speeds, the sheer weight of the roll or the roll shell, supported only at its opposite ends, resulted in a slight "sag" of the roll in a central region of the nip, thereby causing the line of contact between the two rolls in a nip to exhibit a non-uniform distance between the rolls along the cross-machine direction.
Controlled deflection rolls were developed in response to this problem. The first generation of such controlled deflection rolls were intentionally loaded at their opposite ends so as to cause the roll shell to exhibit a slight outward bow in opposition to the aforementioned sag, so that the distance between the two rolls in the nip would be uniform along the entire cross-machine width of the nip.
More recently, so-called self-loading controlled deflection rolls have been developed, wherein a number of hydraulically operated shoes are carried on a center shaft disposed inside the roll shell, the shoes being actuatable to move toward and away from the axis of rotation of the roll, so as to push against the inner surface of the roll shell, thereby achieving the desired deflection of the outer surface of the roll shell. The need to provide complicated mechanisms at the opposite ends of the roll to move the roll toward and away from the nip is thereby avoided, and only mechanisms for rotating the roll need to be provided at one or both ends, typically only at one end. Examples of such self-loading controlled deflection rolls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,193,258, 5,127,141, 5,111,563 5,060,357 and 4,821,384.
Known hydrostatic self-loading controlled deflection rolls, such as described in the above-noted U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,821,384 and 5,060,357, make use of hydrostatic bearing pads which take the form of hydrostatic side or guide shoes. Such hydrostatic bearing pads locate the roll shell axially in a fixed location at one end of the roll, while allowing the position of the roll shell to float at the opposite end, thereby permitting differential thermal expansion between the roll center shaft and the shell to be accommodated.
The use of such hydrostatic bearing pads to axially locate the roll shell, however, requires extra pumping horsepower in order to supply these bearings with hydraulic fluid, and adds costs to the manufacture of the side shoes and the center shaft. The use of such pads also create additional chances for roll failure, because the relatively small diameter capillary tubes which throttle oil flow through the bearing pads are prone to clogging. Moreover, since the side shoes are located inside the roll shell, if maintenance is needed on the bearing pads, access to the interior of the roll shell must be gained.


A gate on array driver unit, a gate on array driver circuit, and a display device. The gate on array driver unit comprises an input sampling unit, an output unit, a reset unit, and a storage capacitor. The storage capacitor is connected at a first end thereof to a gate electrode driving signal output end of the present stage. The input sampling unit is connected to a second end of the storage capacitor, and, under the control of a gate electrode driving signal of a previous stage of the gate on array driver unit, precharges the storage capacitor and allows the gate driving signal of the present stage to sample the input signal. The output unit is connected to the second end of the storage capacitor, and, when the input sampling unit completes the precharging of the storage capacitor, controls the output of the gate electrode driving signal of the present stage. The reset unit, under the control of the gate electrode driving signal of the gate on array driver unit of a next stage, resets the gate electrode driving signal of the present stage. Employment of the gate on array driver unit allows for reduced circuit layout area for the gate on array driver circuit.

An Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) has been applied to displays with a high performance more and more because of its advantages such as a high luminance, a wide angle of view, a rapid response speed and so one. Traditional passive matrix OLED requires shorter driving time for a single pixel as its display size becomes bigger, therefore an instantaneous current is increased and a power consumption is also increased. Further, an application with a big current would cause a voltage drop on an ITO line too great and an operation voltage at the OLED too high, which may decrease its efficiency in turn. As compared, an active matrix OLED may settle these problem well by scanning input OLED currents progressively with switching transistors.
A gate driver on array (Gate on Array) integrates a gate switching circuit into the array substrate to realize a high integration degree of the driving circuit, and may reduce a cost on two sides of saving materials and reducing process steps.

Gate on array driver unit, gate on array driver circuit, and display device


A preparation process of a bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound represented by the formula: ##STR1## wherein X is a direct bond, divalent hydrocarbon having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms or a divalent group selected from --C(CF.sub.3).sub.2, --CO--, --S--, --SO--, SO.sub.2 --or --O--, which comprises reacting 4,4'-bisphenol with m-dinitrobenzene in the presence of an alkali metal carbonate or alkali metal hydrogen carbonate having a particle size of 250 .mu.m or less while removing generated water from the reaction system during the reaction. In one embodiment of the process, the reaction is carried out while simultaneously adding 4,4'-bisphenol and m-dinitrobenzene to a reaction vessel which was previously charged with the base and an aprotic polar solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved process for preparing a bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound represented by the formula (II): ##STR2## wherein X is a direct bond, divalent hydrocarbon having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms or a divalent group selected from --C(CF.sub.3).sub.2 --, --CO--, --S--, --SO--, --SO.sub.2 -- and --O--.
The bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compund is an important compound used as a material for preparing a monomer which is in turn used in the preparation of heat resistant high molecular weight polymers, polyamides and polyimides in particular. For example, ether diamine obtained by reducing the compound can be used as a diamine component of polyimide which can provide adhesive having excellent heat resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
A process for the condensation of 4,4'-bisphenols represented by the formula (I) : ##STR3## wherein X is a direct bond, divalent hydrocarbon having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms or a divalent group selected from --C(CF.sub.3).sub.2 --, --CO--, --S--, --SO--, --SO.sub.2 -- and --O--, with m-dinitrobenzene to prepare a bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound represented by the formula (II): ##STR4## wherein X is the same as in the formula (I), has already been known in Japanese Laid-Open Patent SHO 61-194050(1986) and 62-45563(1987).
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent SHO 61-194050, the condensation reaction can be carried out in an aprotic polar solvent in the presence of a base.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent SHO 62-45563, the condensation reaction can be further accelerated by using a phase transfer catalyst under the same conditions.
These processes can provide the desired bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound without using an expensive reaction accelerator such as crown ethers. These processes, however, have the following problems.
(1) Alkali metal carbonate on alkali metal hydrogen carbonate used as a base is required in an excessive amount such as 2.0 to 2.6 moles per mole of 4,4'-bisphenol and hence is disadvantageous in industry.
(2) When the reaction is carried out according to these processes, reproducibility of the reaction is poor and consistent results cannot be obtained even though the reaction is conducted under the same conditions. Consequently, the products cannot maintain consistent quality.
(3) The reaction cannot be completed unless m-dinitrobenzene is used in an amount of from 2.3 to 2.6 moles per mole of the bisphenol. When the reaction is conducted by using a smaller amount, bisphenol is reacted with only one mole of m dinitrobenzene and the resultant mononitrophenoxy compound remains in a large amount after finishing the reaction which causes a reduction in the yield.
(4) Excess m-dinitrobenzene causes decomposition by itself or partly leads to decomposition after reacting with the bisphenol to form tarry materials or 3,3'-dinitroazobenzene, or partly remains unreacted. The desired bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound can be separated from these by-products with relative ease and is obtained in a good purity. However, in the distillation for recovering the solvent containing these impurities unreacted m-dinitrobenzene and tarry materials derived from dinitrobenzene are concentrated at the bottom of the distillation vessel and hence lead to a danger of explosion. Consequently, efficient recycle of the reaction solvent cannot be performed, which is disadvantageous in industry.

Preparation of bis(3-nitrophenoxy) compound


A heat-dissipation structure includes a first carbon nanotube layer and a thermal interface material layer. The first carbon nanotube layer and the thermal interface material layer are stacked on each other. The first carbon nanotube layer includes at least one first carbon nanotube paper, and the density of the first carbon nanotube paper ranges from about 0.3 g/cm3 to about 1.4 g/cm3. An electronic device applying the heat-dissipation structure is also disclosed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to heat-dissipation structures and electronic devices using the same and, more particularly, to a heat-dissipation structure employing carbon nanotube paper and an electronic device using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As high power chips (such as CPU and DRAM) used in electronic and microelectronic devices are becoming increasingly dense and compact, there is a need for smaller and more efficient heat-dissipation structure due to the excessive on-chip heat generation. Take Intel Core i7 860 processor as example, whose thermal design power is 95 W, and its power density is higher than 30 W/cm2. In comparison, a 60 W light bulb's power density is about 0.5 W/cm2. Such power density leads to highly localized heating of chips in areas known as "hot spots." As the power density of chips increases, the number of "hot spots" on the surface of chips increases accordingly. Cooling chips are necessary to prevent degradation of the electronic and microelectronic devices and achieve the best possible device performance.
Some related art uses a heat-dissipation channel as the heat-dissipation solution, which includes heat-dissipation material film, thermal silicon grease, heat-dissipation material pipe and fan. The heat-dissipation material used in said heat-dissipation channel is mainly metal, such as copper and aluminum. However, using metal as heat-dissipation material in electronic devices has some disadvantages such as high material density and complicated manufacturing process.
Other related art has shown to use heat-dissipation material film as the heat-dissipation solution. The heat-dissipation material may be graphite-containing composites. However, using graphite-containing composites as heat-dissipation material in smart phone has drawbacks such as low thermal conductivity and uneven heat-dissipation.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a heat-dissipation structure which has better heat-dissipation properties, and suitable for application in smaller and lighter electronic devices.

Heat-dissipation structure and electronic device using the same