A lens having at least one oxidized layer is provided. Numerous structures for the lens are discussed. Additionally, methods for manufacturing the lens are also discussed. The methods include: 1) variation in thickness of oxidizable layers; 2) variation in thickness of non-oxidizable layers; 3) variation in Al concentration of oxidizable layers; 4) variation in Al concentration of non-oxidizable layers; 5) variation in doping concentration of oxidizable layers; 6) use of interdiffusion between oxidizable and non-oxidizable; 7) local variation in ion implantation dose; and 8) variation in mesa diameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to light emitting devices, and more particularly to an improved vertical-cavity light emitting device having an improved intra-cavity lens structure formed by selective oxidation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Surface Emitting Lasers (SELs) or Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are becoming increasingly important for a wide variety of applications including optical interconnection of integrated circuits, optical computing systems, optical recording and readout systems, and telecommunications. Vertically emitting devices have many advantages over edge-emitting devices, including the possibility for wafer scale fabrication and testing, and the possibility of forming two-dimensional arrays of the vertically emitting devices. The circular nature of the light output beams from these devices also make them ideally suited for coupling into optical fibers as in optical interconnects or other optical systems for integrated circuits and other applications.
VCSELs or Surface Emitting Lasers SELs whose current flow is controlled by lateral oxidation processes show the best performances of any VCSELs in terms of low threshold current and high efficiency. In oxidized VCSELs the oxidation occurs in the lateral direction from the sides of etched mesas in the VCSEL wafers, typically under the conditions of 425.degree. C. temperature with high water-vapor content. VCSELs or any other vertical light emitting devices employing laterally oxidized layers have been strictly limited only to structures which have been grown upon gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. For further details, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,577, by Choquette et al.
Generally, oxide apertures are utilized to control current flow and thus function as current apertures. The appreciation of the use of an oxide aperture for its ability to function as a lens is quite new. It is now known that a lensing aspect of the oxide structure greatly reduces diffractive losses in VCSEL cavities and that this reduction is largely responsible for the greatly improved efficiencies. It is also known that the lens formed by a simple oxide aperture is far from ideal. Light scattered from the abrupt oxide/semiconductor interface is lost from the cavity oscillation. Similarly, optical aberrations in the lens result in cavity losses. Thus it follows that an oxidized structure which more closely resembles an ideal aberration-free lens may form the basis for VCSELs with still greater efficiencies and lower thresholds.
Since VCSELs are presently the subject of intense research and development, a great deal of results and advancements are published monthly. The following is a summary of the prior art documents which are relevant to the problem of utilizing oxide apertures.
The lens-like behavior of oxide-defined apertures are described by Coldren et al. in Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, pp. 313-315 (1996) and in Hegblom et al. in Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, pp. 1757-1759 (1996). Only single layers are used and the publication describes the importance of minimizing the scattering at the inner boundary of the aperture. Means for minimizing the scattering are the use of a thin oxidized layer, e.g. 200 .ANG., and a tapering of the oxidation in the aperture. Tapering of the aperture has been accomplished by varying the Al concentration within the oxidizable layer, the oxidation proceeding further inward into the aperture for the portion of the layer with higher Al concentration. The tapering is calculated to reduce scattering significantly.
The oxidation rate of materials such as AlGaAs is a sensitive function of the Al concentration as described by Choquette et al. in Electronics Letters 30, pp. 2043-2044 (1994). It is therefore possible to control the extent of oxidation for multiple layers in a single process by having the layers be of different material compositions. It has also been found however, that the precise composition of a pre-oxidized layer may have a profound effect on the reliability of the oxidized structure. For example, oxidized Al.sub.0.98 Ga.sub.0.02 As layers appear to be much more reliable than oxidized AlAs layers. Thus, it is preferred that all oxidizable layers in the structure have nominally the same material composition.
Variation of thickness in thin layers of oxidizable material, e.g. AlGaAs, also results in variation of the rates of lateral oxidation. This variation with thickness is described somewhat inaccurately by Dallesasse et al., in Applied Physics Letters 57, 2844-2846 (1990) as a variation with the coarseness of an AlGaAs "alloy." It was observed that the oxidation process occurred much more slowly in a fine scale alloy represented by a superlattice having 70 .ANG. thick AlAs and 30 .ANG. thick GaAs layers as compared to a coarser "alloy" comprising 150 .ANG. AlAs and 45 .ANG. GaAs layers. The variation in oxidation rate with oxidizable layer thickness (when the layers are sufficiently thin, e.g. 300 .ANG.) may be used for the creation of optical and electronic structures comprising multiple oxidized layers in which the layers oxidize at different rates and to different extents.
Related to the use of thin oxidizable layers is the control of the oxidation process by layer interdiffusion which is described by the present inventor in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/574165. The present invention does not require layer interdiffusion but may be combined with it.
The oxidation rate of AlGaAs is also sensitive to the doping type, e.g. p-type or n-type, as reported by Kish et al. in Applied Physics Letters, vol. 60, pp. 3165-3167 (1992). They show that Al.sub.0.6 Ga.sub.0.4 As etches more than 3 times faster when p-doped at a concentration of 9.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 as compared to Al.sub.0.6 Ga.sub.0.4 As which is n-doped at 4.times.10.sup.17 cm.sup.-3. For a given dopant type, the variation does not depend specific dopant used. The variation is explained by a variation in the Fermi level of the semiconductor which varies with the concentration of charged defects from the dopant.
A thorough discussion on how the oxidation rate varies with temperature is described by Ochiai et al. in Applied Physics Letters, vol. 68, pp. 1898-1900 (1996). The authors show that for low oxidation temperatures and small oxidation depths, the oxidation depth varies linearly with time. For higher oxidation temperatures and/or large oxidation depths, the depth varies as the square root of time.
MacDougal et al. in Photonics Technology Letters 8, pp. 310-312 (1996) describe electrically pumped VCSELs in which both mirrors are oxidized throughout their entire lateral extents and which further comprise oxide-defined current apertures above and below the active region. All the oxidized layers are a quarter-wave thick at the emission wavelength of .about.9940 .ANG.. The refractive index of 1.6 for the oxidized layers implies a physical thickness >1500 .ANG.. To produce oxidized layers which are completely oxidized in the mirrors and similar oxidized layers which form apertures above and below the active region, multiple etches and oxidation processes are performed with a silicon nitride capping between the oxidation processes to prevent further oxidation of the aperture layers.

Lens comprising at least one oxidized layer and method for forming same


Flash analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion is performed with an n-bit converter using a resistive-divider string in which tap points are taken between each pair of adjacent resistors of the string as one input to each of a respective plurality of 2.sup.n -1 comparators. Each of the comparators has a second input in common with all of the other comparators at which an analog input voltage to be converted to digital form is applied. A transition point occurs at one of the tap points at which immediately adjacent ones of the comparators exhibit outputs of different binary states for a given a sample of the analog input voltage, signifying the transition point is occurring at the highest-order digital output at which the sampled analog input voltage exceeds a reference voltage. The transition point is detected during each sample, at a location within a group of consecutive ones of the comparators of preselected number considerably less than the total number of comparators in the converter. All of the comparators in the converter except those in the group containing the transition point are deactivated to conserve power during the conversion process for the given sample.

The present invention relates generally to analog-to-digital conversion methods and devices, and more particularly to improvements in flash analog-to-digital conversion.
Analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion serves to transform a measured analog quantity to digital form, typically for such purposes as computer processing, digital display, or storage in data memory. Of the many different techniques available for A/D conversion, flash A/D conversion is among the fastest. The flash converter performs a simultaneous comparison that enables generating all of the bits in the binary output in parallel, unlike, for example, a successive approximation A/D converter in which the operation is performed in sequence so that a serial output is obtained running from most significant bit (MSB) to least significant bit (LSB).
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical prior art flash A/D converter 10 includes a resistor string or resistor ladder 12 which consists of a plurality of resistors that are seriesconnected between a positive voltage source (V.sub.R +) and a negative voltage source (V.sub.R -). In the circuit of FIG. 1, the resistor string is connected between +V.sub.REF and circuit ground. At taps between each pair of the resistors a circuit connection is made to the negative input of a respective comparator of a plurality of operational amplifier comparators 15 numbering one less than the number of resistors in the string, the string thus constituting a resistive voltage-divider circuit. The negative input to each comparator is therefore a reference voltage whose value depends on the position or connection of the respective comparator in the resistor string.
In general, the number of comparators required for conversion to an n-bit binary code is equal to 2.sup.n -1, i.e., 2.sup.n -1 intermediate states exist for 2.sup.n binary states, and for every intermediate state there is an associated comparator which must be used for evaluation of the analog quantity. Thus, an 8-bit flash A/D converter offers extremely fast conversion time, but requires 2.sup.8 -1=256-1=255 comparators, which represents a considerable challenge in implementation from the standpoint of device size. In the flash A/D converter 10 depicted in FIG. 1, n=3 so that only 8-1=7 comparators are needed.
The positive input to each comparator is the analog input voltage to be converted to digital format, and is common to each of the comparators. When the analog input voltage exceeds the reference voltage for a particular comparator the comparator will generate a high. The output of each of the comparators 15, representing the eight bits to be converted, is connected to a respective input of a binary encoder 17, according to the position of the comparator along the resistive divider. Thus, comparator 18, which is positioned in the voltage divider circuit to receive the largest percentage of reference voltage +V.sub.REF relative to the other comparators, is connected to input 7 of encoder 17, while comparator 20, which has the smallest percentage of the reference voltage applied to it, is connected to input 1 of encoder 17.
Encoder 17 is a "priority" encoder, so-called because its parallel 3-bit binary output code is determined by the highest order input that is a high (i.e., a "1"). For example, if the analog input voltage exceeds the reference voltage at comparator 21 but not at any comparator above 21 on the resistive divider at the time a sampling pulse is applied to the enable input EN of encoder 17, then comparator 21 and every comparator below 21 on the resistive divider will generate a high. But no comparator above 21 will go high. In this example, then, encoder 17 will generate a binary code of 101 (i.e., equal to 5 in the decimal system), because the 5 input attributable to comparator 21 is the highest order input with a high output.
Not only is the A/D conversion of the flash converter extremely fast, but an analog signal can be converted to digital format with relatively high resolution if the sampling rate is high. These advantages tend to offset to some degree the disadvantage of the large number of comparators required for a high accuracy readout. But the device suffers from another significant drawback, namely, its relatively heavy power consumption with the multiplicity of comparators and encoder which are typically implemented on a semiconductor integrated circuit chip, for which low power dissipation is the desired status.
It is therefore a principal aim of the present invention to provide a flash A/D converter that affords considerable power saving over converters of that type heretofore available.


A device for increasing the rate of fire of a firearm is described herein. The inventive device includes pneumatic components having a cylinder having a rod therein. A controller is also included for activating the extension of the rod from the cylinder and a switch is present for monitoring the location of the firearm's trigger. A canister of compressed gas is provided to power the cylinder and the rod therein.

Many recreational shooters and firearms enthusiasts would like the opportunity to fire automatic firearms. However, private citizens cannot, legally own automatic firearms produced after a certain date, resulting in a finite and dwindling number of legal automatic firearms. The finite supply of legally transferrable automatic firearms and their growing demand has lead to extremely high prices. Most of the consuming public cannot afford to own such weapons. This has lead to an increasing demand for rapid fire semi-automatic attachments and modifications, often referred to as trigger activators, which can be legally owned and used by members of the general public.
Many prior attempts to provide rapid fire firearm attachments make use of external springs to supplement the force of the trigger return spring during the process of resetting the trigger after each round is fired in order to allow the user to pull the trigger more rapidly. These solutions, however, alter the shooting experience by increasing the force required to pull the trigger and fire a round. Other similar attempts to improve the speed of semi-automatic fire also require the use of special fire techniques, or the attachment of special parts to the firearm that are not readily removed and can cause awkward and inaccurate shooting.
It is therefore an unmet need in the prior art for an apparatus that may be readily attached to a firearm, thereby increasing its firing rate without altering the shooting experience.

Rapid fire apparatus for semi-automatic firearms


The infectivity of a population of enveloped viruses which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membrane can be reduced by employing certain toxins such as aerolysin, alpha toxin of Clostridium septicum, or enterolobin. Toxins which bind to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins inactivate such viruses. The toxins can be used to produce attenuated viral vaccines, to purge blood products, cells, or tissues of such viruses, and to detect viruses in samples.

The invention is related to the area of antiviral agents. In particular it is related to the fields of channel-forming toxins and enveloped viruses.
The channel forming toxin aerolysin has been shown to bind GPI-anchored proteins with high affinity (Kd approx. 10xe2x88x929 M for Thy-1; Cowell et al., 1997; Nelson et al., 1997, Diep et al., 1998). The glycosyl portion of the anchor is a binding determinant for the toxin (Diep et al., 1998). Aerolysin is secreted as an inactive 52 kDa precursor called proaerolysin by members of the bacterial genus Aeromonas (see Parker et al., 1996, for a recent review). Binding of aerolysin to GPI-anchored proteins promotes oligomerization of the toxin by concentrating it on the cell surface. As a result, cells displaying GPI-anchored proteins are far more sensitive to the toxin than those that do not (Nelson et al., 1998; Brodsky et al., 1999). The heptameric oligomers that are formed following binding are able to insert into the membrane, forming stable 1 nm channels that destroy the permeability barrier and cause cell death.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the pathogenic agent that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Efforts to cure HIV have yielded temporary and incomplete effects. There is a continuing need in the art for new therapeutic methods for treating human viruses, particularly those such as HIV which cause chronic infections.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of treating a population of enveloped viruses which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membrane.
It is another object of the invention to provide an attenuated viral vaccine.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of purging a blood product, cell suspension, or tissue of enveloped viruses which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membrane.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method of detecting the presence of an enveloped virus in a sample.
These and other objects of the invention are provided by one or more of the embodiments below.
In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for treating a population of enveloped viruses which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membrane. The method comprises the step of contacting the population of enveloped viruses with a toxin which binds to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchors. The toxin is present in an amount sufficient to reduce infectivity of the population of viruses by at least 50%.
In another embodiment of the invention, an attenuated viral vaccine is provided. The vaccine comprises a population of enveloped virus particles which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membranes. The vaccine further comprises an oligomerized toxin bound to the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein. The oligomerized toxin forms a channel. The infectivity of the population of enveloped virus particles is reduced by at least 50% compared to a population of the enveloped virus particles without the oligomerized toxin.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for purging a blood product, cell suspension, or tissue of enveloped viruses which comprise a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein in their membrane. The method comprises the step of contacting the blood product, cell suspension, or tissue with a toxin which binds to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchors. The amount of the toxin is sufficient for the toxin to bind to at least 50% of the virus present in the blood product, cell suspension, or tissue.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for detecting the presence of an enveloped virus in a sample. The method comprises the steps of contacting a cell-free extract of a sample with a a toxin which binds to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchors, allowing enveloped virus in the sample to bind to the toxin, and detecting the toxin which bound to the virus. The presence of toxin bound to virus indicates enveloped virus in the sample.
These and other objects of the invention provide the art with new methods and reagents for detecting, treating, and preventing the spread of enveloped viruses.

Channel forming toxins as antiviral agents


An integrated circuit, a circuit system and method of manufacturing such is disclosed. One embodiment provides a circuit chip including a first contact field on a chip surface; and an insulating layer on the chip surface. The insulating layer includes a flexible material. A contact pillar is coupled to the first contact field and extends from the chip surface through the insulating layer. The contact pillar includes a conductive material.

Integrated circuit systems include integrated circuits having circuit chips arranged on a semiconductor substrate coupled to a circuit board. Circuit systems, integrated circuits, and circuit boards may be subjected to temperature variations. A difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the constituent materials and components may result in mechanical stress or even a rupture of electrical connections and/or components of the circuit system.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.

Integrated circuit, circuit system, and method of manufacturing


An SOI layer is provided in a buried oxide film and a source and a drain are provided on the upper surface of the SOI layer so that they are kept from contact with the buried oxide film. A depletion layer formed by the source, the drain, and the SOI layer extends to reach the buried oxide film, so parasitic capacitance is reduced. This structure achieves an SOIMOS transistor capable of reducing junction capacitance at low drain voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silicon-on-insulator metal-oxide semiconductor transistor (hereinafter referred to as an SOIMOS transistor), more particularly relates to a technique for suppressing a floating-body effect in the transistor.
2. Description of the Background Art
Great attention is now focused on SOIMOS transistors as high-speed, low-power devices and their application to LSI for portable equipment for example is expected.
A conventional SOIMOS transistor, however, has its body in a floating state, thus producing a parasitic bipolar effect that one type of carriers which are produced by impact ionization in the vicinity of the drain (e.g., holes for n-type SOIMOS transistors and electrons for p-type SOIMOS transistors) are accumulated in the vicinity of the source, whereby a parasitic bipolar transistor comprised of source, body, and drain enters into its active state. This produces a kink effect of reducing a threshold voltage of the SOIMOS transistor and thereby causing a sudden local change in drain current in the vicinity of certain drain voltage (voltage applied between source and drain) and causes a problem of reducing a drain breakdown voltage. If impurity concentration in the channel region is increased to suppress reduction in the threshold voltage of the SOIMOS transistor due to the parasitic bipolar effect, current driving capability and speed performance of the transistor are degraded.
To suppress the parasitic bipolar effect, various techniques for preventing the accumulation of carriers in the vicinity of the source of an SOIMOS transistor have been proposed. In the following description, an n-type SOIMOS transistor is taken as an example, but the same applies to a p-type SOIMOS transistor.
FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional SOIMOS transistor. On a buried oxide film 2 formed on a semiconductor substrate 1, an SOI layer 4, which is to be a body along with a channel region, is formed and a source 51 and a drain 52 are formed through the SOI layer 4. The source 51 and the drain 52 have for example LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) structures. The SOI layer 4 sandwitched between the source 51 and the drain 52 is opposed to a gate electrode 7 with a gate oxide film 6 including sidewalls in between. On the outer side of the source 51 and the drain 52, a trench isolation oxide film 31 is provided through the SOI layer 4.
For such an SOIMOS transistor, a first conventional technique for preventing the accumulation of holes in the vicinity of the source 51 is to implant argon ions in the vicinity of the boundary between the source 51 and the buried oxide film 2 to thereby produce lifetime killers. This technique is introduced for example by T. Ohno et. al. in the article entitled xe2x80x9cSuppression of the Parasitic Bipolar Effect in Ultra-Thin-Film nMOSFETs/SIMOX by Ar Ion Implantation into Source/Drain Regions,xe2x80x9d Tech. Dig. IEDM, 1995, pp.627-630.
FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view showing the case where a salicide (self-aligned silicide) structure is applied to the structure of FIG. 22. In contrast to the structure of FIG. 22, silicide layers 58, 59, 79 are formed on the source 51, the drain 52, and the gate electrode 7, respectively.
FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view showing another structure of a conventional SOIMOS transistor. In contrast to the structure of FIG. 22, the source 51 and the drain 52 include germanium-implanted regions 81 and 82, respectively, which are formed in the surface (upper surface) of the SOI layer 4 on the opposite side of the buried oxide film 2. The source 51 and the drain 52 are for example formed of silicon and thus the components of the regions 81 and 82 are Sixe2x80x94Ge. in a second conventional technique presenting such a structure, distortion of the band structure occurs between source and body. This technique is introduced for example by M. Yoshimi et. al. in the article entitled xe2x80x9cSuppression of the Floating-Body Effect in SOIMOSFET""s by the Bandgap Engineering Method Using a Si1xe2x88x92xGex Source Structure,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 44, 1997, pp. 423-429.
In either of the first and second conventional techniques, however, the source 51 and the drain 52 reach the buried oxide film 2 through the SOI layer 4, so a problem of the impracticability of suppressing a xe2x80x9cdiffraction electric fieldxe2x80x9d still remains. Similar structures are also disclosed in other references such as Japanese Patent Laid-open No. P08-130315A.
FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a xe2x80x9cdrain electric field through the buried oxidexe2x80x9d. When a predetermined voltage is applied to the gate electrode 7 and a higher potential than that on the source 51 is imposed on the drain 52, a depletion layer 91 is formed and an electric field 101 is generated from the drain 52 through the buried oxide film 2 to the channel region 4. Hereinafter, this is called the xe2x80x9cdiffraction electric fieldxe2x80x9d.
With the xe2x80x9cdiffraction electric field,xe2x80x9d a drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) effect becomes noticeable. This DIBL effect is a kind of short channel effect that a source-side potential barrier varying with drain voltage reduces the threshold value of a transistor. The occurrence of the xe2x80x9cdiffraction electric fieldxe2x80x9d should preferably be prevented especially in an element with the buried oxide film 2, such as an SOIMOS transistor.
There is also proposed a structure in which neither the source 51 nor the drain 52 reach the buried oxide film 2 through the SOI layer 4. FIG. 26 is a cross-sectional view showing still another structure of a conventional SOIMOS transistor. In contrast to the structure of FIG. 22, the source 51 and the drain 52 are formed within the SOI layer 4 so that their bottoms are kept from contact with the buried oxide film 2. This allows drawing of holes from the opposite side of the gate electrode 7 with respect to the source 51, through the remaining SOI layer 4 between the source 51 and the buried oxide film 2. Such a third conventional technique is introduced for example by Y.-H.Koh et al. in the article entitled xe2x80x9cBody-Contacted SOI MOSFET Structure and Its Application to DRAM,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 45, 1998, pp. 1063-1070, and also in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. P05-67785A.
This structure, however, requires a body terminal for drawing holes and the formation of a body terminal may cause an area penalty. Further, effects achieved by the method for drawing holes through a body terminal vary according to the location of a body contact region; therefore, a problem of pattern dependence arises.
In FIG. 26, the ends of a depletion layer 92 are within the SOI layer 4, failing to reach the buried oxide film 2 since drain voltage is small. If the drain voltage is more than a predetermined value, the ends of the depletion layer 92 would reach the buried oxide film 2, causing a voltage drop across the depletion layer along with reduction in junction capacitance. This may lower voltage across the buried oxide film 2, thereby reducing the intensity of the xe2x80x9cdiffraction electric fieldxe2x80x9d. Junction capacitance in the source also needs to be reduced because it is to be the cause for reduction in the operating speed when the source potential is lowered.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device comprising: an insulating layer; a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type provided on the insulating layer; first and second impurity layers of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type, which are provided apart from each other in an upper surface of the semiconductor layer so as to be kept from contact with the insulating layer; and an electrode opposed to a portion of the upper surface of the semiconductor layer which is sandwiched between the first and second impurity layers, with an insulation film in between, wherein a depletion layer formed by the first impurity layer and the semiconductor layer extends to the insulating layer without application of voltage from outside.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the semiconductor device of the first aspect, the first impurity layer is formed by introducing impurities of the second conductivity type into the semiconductor layer; and the following equation holds:
                              (                      2                        ϵ                                      xe2x80x83                                                  s              /              q                                )                ·                  (                                                    (                                  Ne                  +                  Nb                                )                            /              Ne                        ·            Nb                    )                ·                  (                      kT            /            q                    )                                  ln                          (                      Ne            ·                          Nb              /                              ni                2                                              )                      ≥  t
where t is the thickness of the semiconductor layer between the insulating layer and the first impurity layer; Nb is the impurity concentration of the semiconductor layer; Ne is the impurity concentration of the first impurity layer; q is the elementary charge; k is Boltzman""s constant; T is the absolute temperature; and ni, ∈s are the intrinsic carrier concentration and the dielectric constant of the semiconductor layer and the first impurity layer, respectively.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor device of the first aspect further comprises: a lifetime killer formed in the semiconductor layer between the first impurity layer and the insulating layer.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device comprising: an insulating layer; a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type provided on the insulating layer; first and second impurity layers of a second conductivity type opposed to the first conductivity type, which are provided apart from each other in an upper surface of the semiconductor layer so as to be kept from contact with the insulating layer; an electrode opposed to a portion of the upper surface of the semiconductor layer which is sandwiched between the first and second impurity layers, with an insulation film in between; and a lifetime killer formed in the semiconductor layer between the first impurity layer and the insulating layer, the lifetime killer not existing in the semiconductor layer between the first and second impurity layers.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor devices of the third and fourth aspects further comprise: a metal compound layer formed on a surface of the first impurity layer.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the semiconductor device of the fifth aspect, a distance from a surface of the metal compound layer to the insulating layer is smaller than a thickness of the semiconductor layer between the insulation film and the insulating layer.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the semiconductor devices of the fifth and sixth aspects, the first impurity layer is made with silicon; the metal compound layer is a compound of cobalt with silicon; and a thickness of the first impurity layer ranges from 15 to 40 nm.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the semiconductor devices of the fifth and sixth aspects, the first impurity layer is made with silicon; the metal compound layer is a compound of titanium with silicon; and a thickness of the first impurity layer ranges from 50 to 100 nm.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor devices of the first and second aspects further comprises: a third impurity layer provided apart from the semiconductor layer in an upper surface of the first impurity layer, the third impurity layer causing distortion of a band structure of the first impurity layer which is sandwiched between the third impurity layer and the semiconductor layer.
A tenth aspect of the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device comprising: an insulating layer; a semiconductor device of a first conductivity type provided on the insulating layer; first and second impurity layers of a second conductivity type opposed to the first conductivity type, which are provided apart from each other in an upper surface of the semiconductor layer so as to be kept from contact with the insulating layer; an electrode opposed to a portion of the upper surface of the semiconductor layer which is sandwiched between the first and second impurity layers, with an insulation layer in between; and a third impurity layer provided apart from the semiconductor layer in an upper surface of the first impurity layer, the third impurity layer causing distortion of a band structure of the first impurity layer which is sandwiched between the third impurity layer and the semiconductor layer.
An eleventh aspect of the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device comprising: an insulating layer; a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type provided on the insulating layer; first and second impurity layers of a second conductivity type opposed to the first conductivity type, which are provided apart from each other in an upper surface of the semiconductor layer; an electrode opposed to a portion of the upper surface of the semiconductor layer which is sandwitched between the first and second impurity layers, with an insulation film in between; and an insulation film containing nitrogen, which is formed through the semiconductor layer to be adjacent to the first impurity layer on the opposite side of the second impurity layer.
The semiconductor device of the first aspect can suppress diffraction electric field through the insulating layer while reducing junction capacitance between the first impurity layer and the semiconductor layer. The device can thus reduce parasitic capacitance and suppress a drain-induced barrier lowering effect.
In the semiconductor device of the second aspect, the depletion layer formed by the first impurity layer and the semiconductor layer extends to the insulating layer without the application of voltage from outside.
Unlike the structure in which the first impurity layer is in contact with the insulating layer, the semiconductor device of the third aspect includes lifetime killers over a wide range, thereby suppressing unnecessary carrier remaining and the parasitic bipolar effect.
The semiconductor device of the fourth aspect can suppress accumulation of carriers (holes for an NMOS) in the vicinity of the source, thereby suppressing the parasitic bipolar effect without reducing punch-through resistance.
In the semiconductor device of the fifth aspect, the presence of a metal compound layer allows lifetime killers to be formed in the semiconductor layer between the first impurity layer and the insulating layer.
In the semiconductor device of the sixth aspect, it is easy to bring the depletion layer in contact with the isolating layer while reducing the thickness of the first impurity layer.
The semiconductor devices of the seventh and eighth aspects can enhance the effect of the semiconductor device of the sixth aspect.
Unlike the structure in which the first impurity layer is in contact with the insulating layer, the semiconductor devices of the ninth and tenth aspects include distortion of the band structure over a wide range. This suppresses accumulation of carriers (holes for an NMOS) in the vicinity of the source and the parasitic bipolar effect.
In the semiconductor device of the eleventh aspect, lifetime killers such as crystal defects, crystal distortion, point defects, and recombination centers are produced at the interfaces and its vicinity between the insulating layer and each of the semiconductor layer and the first impurity layer. This suppresses the parasitic bipolar effect.
In view of the still remaining problems in the conventional first through third techniques, an object of the present invention is to provide an SOIMOS transistor having small junction capacitance even with low drain voltage and capable of suppressing the floating-body effect.


A pant type absorbent article such as a pant diaper, a sanitary pant or incontinence pant, said article having a core region (3) comprising an absorbent core (2) and a chassis region (4) surrounding the core region. The chassis comprises front, back and waist regions (5, 6 and 7). The article in at least a part of the chassis region (4) comprises an outer coversheet (10) in the form of an elastic web material (11) constituting the sole component of the chassis (4) in at least 20% of the total surface area of the article (1), said elastic laminate having an opacity of at least 40% and a basis weight of no more than 100 g/m2.

Absorbent articles having defined core regions and chassis regions are supposed to have a comfortable fit about the wearer. For pant articles like pant diapers, sanitary pants and incontinence pants it is also desirable that the articles are capable of being pulled up and down over the hips of the wearer to allow the wearer or caregiver to easily put on and remove the article when it has been soiled. It is known to make such absorbent pants with elasticized stretchable side panels and waist portion, usually comprising elastic members, such as elastic threads, contractably affixed between the backsheet and the topsheet.
It is further known to make portions of the chassis of absorbent articles of an elastic material, such as stretch-bonded laminates. Such laminates may include a layer of meltblown elastomeric fibers which have been stretched and sandwiched between outer layers of spunbonded webs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,245 discloses an extensible outer cover for an absorbent article which provides a certain permanent deformation when subjected to a tensile force. The extensible outer cover comprises a necked laminate in the form of one layer of a necked non-elastic film and one layer of an elastic film. The films may be breathable.
WO 03/047488 discloses an elastic laminate comprising an elastic film which on opposite sides is bonded to first and second non-elastic fibrous layers. The laminate is made by bonding the non-elastic fibrous layers to the elastic film layer and subsequently stretching the composite material, causing the non-elastic materials to break. The elastic film material may be of a breathable material. The laminate may be incorporated in an absorbent article.
US2003/0022582 describes a laminate in which an elastomeric film is bound between two or more layers of nonwoven webs. The laminate is said to be particularly useful in elastic diaper "ears" that can be stretched to accommodate variously sized wearers.
Further examples of absorbent articles which in part are made of elastic laminates are found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,289 and JP 10043235.
WO03/19714 discloses a polymeric multilayer film having a high percentage of fillers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,261 describes an opaque polyolefin film comprising five layers which is advantageously used for packaging purposes. WO99/32164 describes disposable absorbent articles comprising a microporous backsheet upon which graphics can be printed. The backsheet of WO99/32164 is advantageously whitened with additives.
International applications PCT/SE2004/001004 and PCT/SE2004/001005 refer to absorbent articles comprising an outer coversheet in the form of an elastic laminate having improved cloth-like feel and puncture resistance.
There is however still room for improvement with respect to the properties of absorbent articles comprising an elastic web material, for example an elastic laminate, as an outer coversheet, particularly their cloth-like appearance. The comfort, fit and soft feel of absorbent articles of the above mentioned type is also important. The cost aspect is further important for disposable articles, which are discarded after one single use.

Absorbent article comprising an elastic web material


A secure online dating support system and method requires potential members to submit personal information regarding themselves as a predicate to becoming a member of the dating system. This personal information is provided in a manner, either in-person at an information receiving center, or submitted to an information collector, or submitted directly to an online dating service, that permits its verification. Preferably, authorization is also provided by the potential member for further investigation, resulting in an investigator conducting an investigation, and communicating the results to the online dating service, so that the information revealed by the investigation can be displayed to members of the online dating service and/or to individuals outside of the dating service who have been given access by the participating member.

The online (or Internet) dating service industry has grown significantly in recent years. ComScore Media Medtrix has provided recent user information for a number of the larger personals/dating web-sites (there are over 200 on-line dating sites), as follows:
Number of Unique Users (as ofWeb-siteJuly 2002)Match.com5,665,000Yahoo! Personals4,412,000Date.com2,295,000Matchmaker.com1,522,000Someonelikesyou.com1,237,000Dreammates.com983,000In addition, a recent Jupiter Research study stated that more than 34 million people have visited online personal ad sites, and that the average user spends 13 hours a month on such sites.
Despite its growth, the online dating/personals industry continues to be plagued by the problem of users either misrepresenting themselves (e.g., as younger, more attractive (via outdated pictures or through misrepresentation of height/weight), more successful, etc.), or concealing important information (e.g., a criminal record, a drug or alcohol addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, a marriage, etc.). As of Dec. 11, 2002, there have been over 17,900 online dating horror stories, and some have ended tragically.
Accordingly, a need exists for a support system and method for online dating that provides participants with the security of knowing that participants are representing themselves accurately, and further that potentially harmful information is fully disclosed. The system and method needs to provide a convenient vehicle for persons to submit information and to provide the online dating support service with the needed permission and information to conduct a further background examination. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides other, related advantages.

Secure online dating support system and method


A pesticide volume meter for a pesticide spray system comprises a flow sensor, which measures a flow rate of a pesticide dispensed by the pesticide spray system. The pesticide volume meter also comprises a memory and a control unit. The control unit determines a volume of pesticide dispensed by the pesticide spray system based on the measured flow rate, and stores the determined volume in the memory.

Pesticide is typically applied by a pest control professional, who may in the course of a day visit a large number of customer sites.
The pesticide may be dispensed from a pesticide spray system 200, which is shown in FIG. 8. The pesticide spray system comprises a tank 210 storing a liquid pesticide, and a spray applicator (e.g. a spray wand 220) in fluid communication with the tank 210 via a hose 230. The tank 210 is pressurised, usually with a hand pump 240 that forces air into the tank 210, thereby pressurising the head space above the liquid pesticide in the tank 210. When the tank 210 is pressurised, a valve is then opened on the spray applicator 220, and the pressurised liquid is forced from the tank 220.


An approach to authentication, provisioning, and/or access control makes use of a user performing prescribed motion of their body and/or particular limbs (e.g., a prescribed number of steps in one or more directions), for example, as part of a challenge-response protocol. The motion may be detected using the radio frequency reflection techniques. Applications of this approach may include provisioning of equipment that monitors motion within an environment. In some examples, the environment is defined as part of the user performing the prescribed motion (e.g., the user walks around a boundary of their house).

This invention relates to security protocols for motion tracking systems.
Recent years have seen new technologies that can track human motion without requiring the monitored person to carry or wear a sensor on his or her body. Hence these devices do not require the consent of the monitored user or even awareness of the monitoring. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,753,131 describes a system that permits monitoring of a person's 3D location using RF reflections off a subject's body. It does this through walls and obstacles. U.S. Pat. Pub. 2017/0042432 describes a system that can track a person' breathing and heartbeats without body contact and through walls and obstacles.
Because such devices can operate even when the monitored person is oblivious to their presence, there is a need to ensure privacy and/or authority to perform such monitoring.

Security protocol for motion tracking systems


A customizing equipment for individualized contact lenses comprises an uniform illumination system, a gray image generation system, a projection optical system, a stage system and an alignment system, among which the uniform illumination system generates uniform parallel illuminative light, which generates gray images through the gray image generator controlled by a computer after going through the gray image generation system according to detection results of aberration of human eyes, and images on the image plane of given radius of curvature with photoresist on the samples' surface, which is fixed on the stage system and adjusted to the correct position through the alignment system, after the gray images are zoomed and the curvature of the image field is corrected through the projection optical system, so that the photoresist on the samples' surface will be exposed according to the gray levels of the gray images, after which the exposed samples are developed and etched to obtain the device with continuous embossment microstructure on the sphere. After the checking and post-processing, this device will result in the individualized contact lenses, which can be worn. This current invention can realizes fast customization of individualized contact lenses.

It has long been recognized that the normal human eye is not a perfect dioptric system, where there exists aberration to some extent, which degrades retinal imaging quality and limits visual sensitivity. Except that spherical mirror and cylindrical mirror can be corrected by some devices, such like spectacles, contact lenses, etc, the higher-order aberration, such as coma, spherical aberration, etc, still can't be corrected accurately and effectively by devices.
In 1962,Smirnov advanced higher-order aberration features of eyes firstly, and indicated that the aberration of human eyes could be corrected by individualized lenses. David Williams Lab has done some related experiments on the higher-order aberration correction of human eyes, which proved that if the higher-order aberration had been corrected, it would be helpful for improving image subjective quality ("Visual Performance after correcting the monochromatic and chromatic aberrations of the eye" Geun-Young Yoon and David R. Williams, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A/Vol. 19, No. 2/February). In 1994, Liang et al were firstly reported to measure the general aberration of dioptric system of human eyes with the use of a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor. ("Objective measurement of wavefront aberrations of the human eye with the use of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor" J. Liang, B. Grimm and S. Goelx, et al, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, 1994, 11:1949-1957). In 2005, the Adaptive Optics Lab of the Institute of Optics and Electronics the Chinese Academy of Science applied the patent, "Vision simulation system for binocular stereoscopic higher-order aberration correction" (Publication number CN 1689538A), in which they made out a device that can measure the higher-order aberration of human eyes exactly and established the foundation of higher-order aberration correction of human eyes. Subsequently, the Institute of Optics and Electronics the Chinese Academy of Science proposed a method of higher-order aberration correction of human eyes in the patent, "Correction method for higher-order aberration of human eyes" (Publication number CN 1702494A). Based on the analysis of various previous methods on higher-order aberration correction of human eyes, the method of aberration correction of human eyes in the way of individualized lenses is without doubt the securest, most convenient, and most economical.
However in the practical applications, there are still some problems in the manufacture of the individualized lenses which can be marketized.
(1) Based on the detected contribution of each order aberration to correction, continuous embossment microstructure needs to be made on the materials, which requirement is not easy to satisfy by the ordinary manufacturing means;
(2) The higher-order aberrations are different greatly from various human eyes, so higher-order aberration correction has no such generalization as lower-order aberration correction. Correction for higher-order aberration needs to detect the contribution of each order aberration to correction corresponding to different individual human eyes, and on the system with the corrected lower-order aberration, creates continuous embossment microstructure in the way of optical lithography, and compensates the detected aberration to make the system be an individual one, which can correct low-order and higher-order aberration at the same time. However, the construction of the mask of traditional lithography is fixed, poorly flexible, and costly, so that it can't satisfy the requirements of devices on individualization.
So in the manufacture of individualized lenses, maskless lithography technology has great superiority without doubt. Besides, in the aspect of maskless lithography technology, in 2005, ASML Ltd. in Netherlands won the invention patent, "System and method for maskless lithography using spatial light modulator array" ( publication number CN 1573561A), in which Spatial Light Modulator Array is applied, and the incidence uniform light is amplitude modulated, and the corresponding gray images is obtained, which is projected to planar object (including semiconductor wafer, glass substrate, and so on), and then the exposure is completed. However, since the made-out contact lenses needs to be worn close to eyeball and the correction of general diopter must be considered, this kind of lenses have to be spherical. That means continuous embossment microstructure should be etched on a sphere, not on an ordinary lithographic plane. But the technology in the patent of ASML can't resolve this problem of projection lithographic on the spherical surface.

Customizing equipment for individualized contact lenses

Institute of Optics & Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences


A system (200) and method (300) provide an efficient communication system for distributing digital multimedia/HDTV signals to multimedia units in a cellular pattern. The method includes: 1) using at least a first primary wide area-antenna for, where selected, transmitting a digital multimedia/HDTV signal per frequency allocation over at least a portion of a predetermined reception area, wherein a plurality of patterns of cells tesselates the predetermined reception area; and 2) using cell-site antennas having transmitters, each located in a cell, for, where selected, transmitting, when the primary wide area-antenna is deselected, at least a first preselected digital multimedia/HDTV signal over an area of the cell, for providing the HDTV signal to a plurality of digital receivers in accordance with a predetermined scheme, wherein the digital multimedia/HDTV signal is associated with a predetermined frequency allocation.

Cellular digital communication systems include cellular telephone systems and mobile communication systems for transmission and reception of wireless digital signals. A service area of a cellular system is generally divided into a large number of cell sites. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, numeral 100, a cellular system may be divided into a plurality of adjacent hexagonal cell sites. In the system of FIG. 1, a channel plan is utilized to allow cell site A (108) to transmit on a frequency different from the frequency of the adjacent six cell sites (102, 104, 106, 110, 112, 114).
Typically, cellular systems have been utilized for efficient transmission of wireless telephone signals. Also, transmission of wireless telephone signals has been accomplished with the use of a wide-area antenna. A wide-area antenna is typically higher than a cell-site antenna and typically covers a larger area than a cell-site antenna. However, due to the large bandwidth requirement for digital multimedia signals, cellular systems have not been utilized to transmit digital multimedia signals. Thus, there is a need for a method and system for efficient distribution of digital multimedia signals in a cellular pattern.

Method and system for distribution of wireless digital multimedia signals in a cellular pattern


A system for controlling and monitoring portable tools at a particular work cell remotely by R-F communication to provide error proofing of various parameters including that the correct tool is to be used at a work cell, the tool is properly calibrated for the operation to be performed, that it is being used a proper number of times per part being assembled or inspected, and that the tool has been calibrated within a selected service interval. The tools will be made actuable only by R-F communication with specific factory apparatus whereby theft of such portable tools will be inhibited.

Many assembly lines require some way to determine that the tools being used to perform assembly or operations requiring various parameters including predetermined magnitudes of torque, force, pressure, etc. at a particular work cell and are the correct make and model that have been properly set up, configured, calibrated and maintained. They then may require further error proofing to assure that the operations have been correctly performed by the technicians with the pre-approved tool that is used the proper number of times per part being assembled or inspected. They may also require, over time, a constant verification that the tools have been properly maintained, calibrated, and/or certified per a documented procedure or company quality policy. For example, a quality policy can place requirements for tool maintenance and recalibration to be based on the number of times the tool is used (cycle count) and/or by elapsed time between maintenance and recalibration. In traditional applications some such error proofing has been done by non-portable tools which are directly connected by hard wired cables or hoses with hard wired cables to a work cell controller whereby they can derive electric, pneumatic or hydraulic power through these cables or hoses and various ones of those parameters noted being monitored via the hard wired cables. However, this cannot be done with portable tools such as battery operated tools or tools electrically operated by a simple cord connection to an electrical outlet. The present invention provides a system for controlling and monitoring portable tools at a particular work cell by remote communication to prevent them from being used it they are not configured properly, not calibrated properly, not the specified tool for this work cell, have an unacceptably high amount of use without being calibrated or serviced and have some other unacceptable feature being monitored. The present invention further provides a means to disable a tool such that it cannot be actuated when not in the presence of operatively related equipment at the assembly factory thereby establishing anti-theft initiatives.

Error proofing system for portable tools


One embodiment may include a bushing (100, 300) and a seal member (102, 104, 200, 302). The bushing may be located in a cavity (56) of a stationary body (46) of an engine breathing system valve (12). The bushing may be located around a moveable stem (48) of the engine breathing system valve in order to facilitate movement of the valve. The seal member may be located in the cavity and around the stem. The seal member may substantially prevent fluid-flow between an outer diametrical surface (76) of the stem and a confronting inner diametrical surface (120, 128, 202, 308) of the seal member.

Automotive internal combustion engines are often equipped with breathing systems to decrease emissions and increase engine efficiency. The breathing systems may include one or more turbochargers, one or more exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) assemblies, and other components. Valves and passages are commonly located throughout the breathing systems to regulate fluid-flow between the breathing system components.


A method of forming a transistor with self-aligned source and drain extensions in close proximity to a gate dielectric layer of the transistor comprises forming a gate stack on a substrate, implanting a dopant into regions of the substrate adjacent to the gate stack, wherein the dopant increases the etch rate of the substrate and defines the location of the source and drain extensions, forming a pair of spacers on laterally opposite sides of the gate stack that are disposed atop the doped regions of the substrate, etching the doped regions of the substrate and portions of the substrate subjacent to the doped regions, wherein an etch rate of the doped regions is higher than an etch rate of the portions of the substrate subjacent to the doped regions, and depositing a silicon-based material in the etched portions of the substrate.

Increased performance of circuit devices on a substrate (e.g., integrated circuit (IC) transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc. on a semiconductor substrate) is usually a major factor considered during design, manufacture, and operation of those devices. For example, during design and manufacture or forming of, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor semiconductor devices, such as those used in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), it is often desired to increase movement of electrons in N-type MOS device (NMOS) channel regions and to increase movement of positive charged holes in P-type MOS device (PMOS) channel regions.
One method of reducing the overall resistance of a MOS device is to dope the area between the source/drain regions and the channel region, known as the tip regions of a MOS device. For instance, a dopant may be implanted in the source/drain regions and an anneal may be carried out to diffuse the dopant towards the channel region.
Because an implant and diffusion method is used, the ability to control the dopant concentration and location is limited. Furthermore, the size of other parts of a MOS device, such as the thickness of its offset spacers, can also have a great impact on the location of the tip regions. All of this, in turn, affects the ability of the tip regions to maximize dopant concentration and come into close proximity of the channel region. Accordingly, improved methods or structures are needed to overcome the limitations of conventional tip regions.

Semiconductor device having self-aligned epitaxial source and drain extensions


Modified nucleotides and polynucleotides which are useful in hybridization assays for the detection of target genes are provided. The modified polynucleotides contain at least one boronic acid moiety which is attached to a nucleotide base in a position which does not interfere with the hydrogen bonding capabilities of that base during duplex formation. The modified polynucleotides are typically formed from naturally occurring nucleotides and one or more modified nucleotides.

Nucleic acid hybridization tests for the detection of specific DNA and RNA sequences are now common in research and are becoming common in diagnostic applications. These hybridization tests typically involve the use of a labeled nucleic acid probe in such assay formats as dot blots, Southern blots, Northern blots, in situ hybridization, plaque hybridization and colony hybridization. A variety of labels have been used in these assays including, for example, radiolabels, chemiluminescent compounds, enzymes and fluorescent compounds.
Almost as diverse as the labels are the methods of attaching the label to the nucleic acid probe. Briefly, the attachment of labels to a nucleic acid probe can be accomplished by either direct or indirect methods. Direct labeling is the result of attaching a label to a nucleic acid probe via a covalent linkage, typically prior to formation of a duplex. Alternatively, the label can be incorporated noncovalently into a duplex via intercalation. For indirect labeling, a hapten is attached to the nucleic acid probe, and later detected using a labeled specific binding protein.
One example of an indirect labeling system is the biotin-streptavidin system described in Langer, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:6633-6637 (1981), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In this system, a biotin moiety is attached to a nucleic acid probe and detection is carried out using a labeled avidin or labeled streptavidin. Methods for the attachment of biotin to the 5-position of a pyrimidine (e.g., uridine), the 8-position of a purine (e.g., guanidine) and the 7-position of a deazapurine (e.g., 7-deazaguanidine) have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,955, 5,241,060, 5,328,824, 5,449,767 and 5,476,928, each of which is incorporated herein by reference. While the biotin system is characterized by high sensitivity, an endogenous ubiquitous vitamin, vitamin H, is used as the modification group. This results in extraneous background signals, especially with biological samples.
Another indirect method involves the use of the hapten digoxigenin (see, Kessler, et al., Biol. Chem. Hoppe-Seyler 371:917-965 (1990)). This system uses the digoxigenin and antibody fragments derived from sheep polyclonal antibodies against digoxigenin. This method is also characterized by subpicogram sensitivity, and circumvents the problem of extraneous background signal by using the cardenolide digoxigenin which occurs only in Digitalis plants. Nevertheless, digoxigenin is an expensive reagent.
What is needed in the art are new methods of indirect labeling of probe:nucleic acid hybrids which have broad applicability, do not suffer from extraneous background signals and which provide modified duplexes which can be rapidly purified by affinity methods. Surprisingly, the present invention provides such methods, as well as the monomers and modified nucleic acids which are employed therein.

Use of boron-containing polynucleotides as diagnostic agents


A method for suppressing a water line in an acquired magnetic resonance spectra (MRS) y, the method including receiving (800) the acquired MRS spectra y; estimating (802) a water peak ywp for the acquired MRS spectra y using squared eigenfunctions (ψ) of a Schrödinger operator H; and removing (804) the water peak ywp from the acquired MRS y to obtain a suppressed water MRS spectra yws. The suppressed water MRS spectra yws includes a signature of one or more metabolites.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy spectra provides information about tissue metabolism and helps to characterize neurological and metabolic diseases, and improve tumor treatment. Different post-processing pipelines have been developed to get optimal biomedical signals from the acquired data (MRS spectra) with sophisticated data fitting, peak suppression and denoising protocols. A large number of biomedical signals consist of pulses, which reflect biological activities and chemical properties of the human body. These signals allow the detection and quantification of highly concentrated brain metabolites, such as N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA), phospho-creatine (Cr) and Choline (Cho). In the case of abnormalities or in specific clinical conditions, some other metabolites can arise such as lactate (Lac).
However, the quantification of these metabolites is usually hampered by the presence of a large water peak, which is of the order of 10,000 compared to the metabolite resonances. Thus, the water peak obscures the signals of interest, making this method limited in its application. Various techniques have been developed for suppressing the water line for an appropriate metabolic quantification. The suppression can be achieved either before or after data acquisition, using either pre-processing or post-processing techniques, respectively.
In the pre-processing scheme, water-suppression is performed by a combination of frequency-selective saturation Radio-Frequency (RF) pulses and subsequent magnetic field gradients, which are played to saturate the water spins before the acquisition of the metabolic signals. Among these techniques are Chemical Shift Selective (CHESS) methods, multiple pulses with optimized flip angles (WET), variable power RF pulses with optimized relaxation (VAPOR) delays, and hyperbolic secant (HS) waveform as a 90 saturation pulse. Although these pre-processing techniques are widely used, they still suffer from spectral distortion, which may affect data analysis. Moreover, the relevance of non-water-suppressed acquisition for intra-scan motion correction has been proven to avoid artifacts, which are induced due to the motion of the patient inside the scanner. In addition, studies have shown that collecting the water signal may be used as a reference to correct the line-shape distortion caused by eddy currents, as an internal reference for absolute data quantification, or as an indication of the normal mammary tissue in breast cancer.
Therefore, post-processing techniques, based on signal-processing methods, might be considered as a good alternative to the pre-processing methods. Several signal analysis methods have been proposed as MRS post-processing techniques. An example is the well-known Hankel-Lanczos Singular Value Decomposition (HLSVD) method [1] and the Hankel Lanczos squares Singular Values Decomposition with Partial Re-Orthogonalization (HLSVD-PRO) [2], [3].
The HLSVD-based methods decompose the unsuppressed water MRS signal into a set of exponentially decaying components, and select those with frequencies close to the frequency of the water to reconstruct the water resonance. The method has faced several modifications to achieve a better performance. Other types of MRS water-suppression methods include Gabor transform, Wavelet transform, Fourier-based method that uses a convolution difference of the time-domain to remove the water peak, and FIR based filters (MP-FIR).
Optimization-based techniques have also been introduced to remove the water peak in MRS signals. Such methods include the Advanced Method for Accurate, Robust, and Efficient Spectral fitting (AMARES), the Automated Quantization of Short Echo time MRS Spectra (AQSES), and the semi-parametric approach using regularization. Despite the efforts in developing efficient water-suppression post-processing methods, there are still several challenges to be addressed. For instance, the shape of the estimated water line may easily deviate from the theoretical Lorentzian model, which leads to non-efficient water removal. In addition, the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the output signal, once the water line is removed, may affect data quantification.
Thus, there is a need to provide a new method that more accurately removes the water line and produces an output signal with a high SNR.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy water suppression method and device

KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A safety syringe includes a tubular barrel having a bottom formed with an opening and a top formed with a neck portion, a plunger configured to be slidably fitted in the barrel and provided with a rubber piston 21 at an inner end thereof and a thumb plate 22 at an outer end thereof, a cylindrical connector having a bottom formed with a flange, a first annular projection above the flange, and a second annular projection above the first annular projection, and a needle including a tubular pin and a conical base at a lower end of the tubular pin, whereby the risk of contracting dieseases from accidental sticks with dirty needles can be totally avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to a safety syringe and in particular to one for avoiding accidental sticks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been found that the risk of contracting diseases from accidental sticks with dirty needles is a potentailly deadly hazard for medical professionals. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional syringe includes a barrel 10, a plunger 20, a needle 30 and a cover 40. The barrel 10 is a tubular member having an opening at the lower end so that the plunger 20 can be fitted into the barrel 10. The upper end of the barrel 10 is formed with a neck 12. The plunger 20 has a cross-shaped section and is provided with a rubber piston 21 at the upper end and a thumb plate 22 at the lower end. The needle 30 is a tubular member having a pointed end with a small opening 31. The other end of the needle 30 has an annular portion 32 dimensioned to fit over the neck 12 of the barrel 10. The cover 40 is used for enclosing the needle 30 when the syringe is not in use. However, the cover 40 is easily disengaged from the needle 30 thereby often causing the risk of contracting dieseases from accidental sticks.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety syringe which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.


An improved semiconductor device that reduces reverse bias junction leakage in a photodiode by using a junction isolation region to isolate the photodiode from a trench isolation region. The improved semiconductor device improves image quality for different applications such as stand-alone digital cameras and digital cameras embedded in other imaging devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices that isolate a photodiode in a solid-state image sensor to lower junction leakage to thereby improve image quality.
2. Background
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology has made significant strides in competing with charge coupled device (CCD) technology as the solid-state image sensor of choice for use in various applications such as stand-alone digital cameras and digital cameras embedded in other imaging devices (e.g., cellular phones and personal digital assistants). The principle advantages of CMOS sensor technology are lower power consumption, higher levels of system integration and the ability to support very high data rates.
To remain competitive, CMOS technology must improve in various areas, including the area of image quality. One source of image quality problems is known as "dark current" from junction leakage in a reverse-biased photodiode used in CMOS image sensors. Junction leakage remains a problem in sub-micron CMOS process technology since this technology has generally not been optimized for low junction leakage, but rather has been optimized for digital logic speed. This optimization for high switching speed results in shallow source/drain junctions that have higher junction leakage. Thus, imager devices have been typically constructed in a process technology that was originally optimized for digital logic, not low junction leakage. In the image sensor area, the leakage of charge from a reverse-biased photodiode is conventionally known as "dark current" since the charge leakage produces a signal in the absence of light. When this dark current is too high, the variance in the dark current degrades image quality and can also limit the maximum integration time for light collection. There is therefore a need to reduce the dark current in the CMOS fabrication process for forming image sensors.
One source of dark current is from the shallow trench isolation process methods for typical CMOS logic and analog process flows that have not yet been optimized for extremely low reverse bias junction leakage. As is well known in the art, shallow trench isolation is used for various metal oxide semiconductor circuits to address common problems associated with standard LOCOS isolation (e.g., bird's beak problems where oxide grows under the edge of the blocking silicon nitride layer to increase the size of the semiconductor device). In standard shallow trench isolation, a shallow trench is etched between elements in a semiconductor and filled with a deposited dielectric. After sidewall oxidation and dielectric fill of oxide, a CMP step typically occurs.
The source of the dark current in shallow trench isolation methods for typical CMOS process flows usually stems from damage to the silicon surface that occurs during etching of the shallow trench. This damage increases the density of traps and other imperfections in the silicon substrate and causes increased junction leakage, which, in turn, degrades image quality in CMOS image sensors. CMOS imagers perform best if the junction leakage is very low and preferably less than 2.0×10−17 amps per pixel. Standard methods can result in reverse bias junction leakage which are one or two orders of magnitude higher than the goal for CMOS imagers.
A need therefore exists to reduce reverse-bias junction leakage to levels suitable for high performance imaging applications using the CMOS sensor. This solution also should be easily integrated in a common CMOS process flow with little additional manufacturing costs.

Semiconductor device for isolating a photodiode to reduce junction leakage and method of formation


In a core drive apparatus for an injection molding machine, a servomotor is used as a drive source to drive movable cores which, in conjunction with mold parts, define molding cavities. The servomotor is connected to a control device for controlling the drive of various injection molding machine units including the servomotor. The servomotor is connected to the movable cores by a driven shaft, gears, and screw shafts formed integrally with the movable cores, by attaching a movable mold body to a movable mold mounting section supporting the driven shaft. One end of the driven shaft is fitted on an output shaft of the servomotor attached to a movable platen so that attachment of a mold to the molding machine is facilitated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an injection molding machine with a core drive apparatus for driving a movable core of a mold used in molding a product having an undercut portion, and more particularly, to a core drive apparatus capable of being easily connected with a movable core and accurately driving the movable core.
2. Description of the Related Art
In injection molding operation, a molding cavity of a mold is filled with a molten resin, and the filler resin is cooled and solidified in the molding cavity, whereupon a product is obtained. If the shape of the product is simple, the product can be taken out of the mold by only separating a movable-side mold half from a stationary-side mold half and pushing the product out of the movable-side mold half. If the product has an undercut portion, thread portion, or hollow portion, however, it sometimes cannot be taken out of the mold. For example, the movable-side mold half may be prevented from moving away from the stationary-side mold half by the undercut portion of the product, or the product may be prevented from being pushed out of the movable-side mold half, due to the engagement between the thread portion or hollow portion of the product and its corresponding portion of the movable-side mold half.
In molding the product of this type, therefore, a mold is used in which a mold portion (movable core) corresponding to the undercut portion or the like of the product is movable with respect to the remaining portion of the mold. The movable core is separated from the movable- and stationary-side mold halves by being driven by means of a mechanical core drive mechanism, such as an angular pin, angular cam, etc., or a fluid-operated core drive mechanism, such as a hydraulic cylinder apparatus or pneumatic motor, whereby the movable-side mold half can be moved away from the stationary-side mold half, or the product can be released from the mold.
In molding a product which has indentations (undercut portion) on its outer peripheral surface, for example, a mold is used which includes a slide core attached to a movable-side mold half so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the mold opening and closing direction and used to mold the indentations of the product. In this case, a molten resin is filled into a molding cavity and solidified in a manner such that the slide core is locked in a molding position by means of a locking block. Subsequently, the movable-side mold half is moved away from the stationary-side mold half after the slide core is unlocked, whereby the slide core is disengaged from the product along an angular pin, which extends at an angle to the mold opening and closing direction and has one end fixed to the stationary-side mold half, so that the product can be pushed out of the mold.
Although the mechanical core drive apparatus of this type has a simple construction, it can only linearly move the movable core. The movable core must be rotated, on the other hand, in drawing the product out of the movable core having a thread portion corresponding to the thread portion of the product. Accordingly, the mechanical core drive apparatus is not fit for the molding of the product having the thread portion.
The fluid-operated core drive apparatus, which requires a working fluid source and a tube for connecting the working fluid source and the core drive apparatus, is complicated in construction. Thus, the connection between the movable core and the core drive apparatus costs much labor, so that attaching the mold to the injection molding machine takes much time, resulting in lower operating efficiency. Further, a control device for controlling the drive of the fluid-operated core drive apparatus is provided separately from a control device which is conventionally provided for the injection molding machine in order to control the operations of an injection unit, mold clamping unit, product takeout unit, etc. Depending on the core drive apparatus which operates under the control of the former control device, therefore, the operating timing, operating speed, or operating stroke of the movable core sometimes cannot be accurately controlled in association with molding cycles executed by means of the various units under the control of the letter control device.

Injection molding machine with a mold core drive apparatus


An optical device for focusing synchrotron radiation light source is disclosed according to the present invention, so as to improve the uniformity of the light intensity of the emergent light, to increase the divergence the emergent light, and to restrain the synchrotron radiation higher harmonics. An outline generatrix of the optical device is a quadratic curve segment or a combination of a plurality of quadratic curve segments, the opening orientations of which are the same, and the optical device includes: a plurality of capillary bodies made of transparent material, wherein the capillary bodies in a center region have a solid construe; the capillary bodies in a periphery region located outside of the center region have a hollow structure.

The synchrotron radiation light source becomes an important tool for revealing material structure and Biological Phenomena as its specific characters such as high brightness, collimation and energy continuity, and is applied to subject fields, such as material field, geology field, biological field, environment field and archaeology field and the like. With the development of the synchrotron radiation technology, X-RAY microbeam analysis technology with X-RAY focusing optical device has become a mainstream analysis technology for a synchrotron radiation application.
The synchrotron radiation devices are distinguished from each other according to constructions, performances and usages thereof, and have developed to the third generation. The first and second generation of the synchrotron radiation are characterized in that the size of the light source point is relative large and the divergence thereof is relative high. So far, a toroidal mirror is generally adapted in the first or second international generation of the synchrotron radiation device, by which a beam with a diameter of tens millimeters in a horizontal direction and a beam with a diameter of a few millimeters in a vertical direction are one-time focused, and the focused beam therein, either in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction are a few submillimeters. The light intensity of each one-time focused beam is distributed in a manner of Gaussian distribution with high light intensity in the center and low light intensity at the edge. However, when conducting a research and analysis to an X-Ray diffraction and fluorescence, the light intensity distribution of the incident light is as uniform as possible.
High pressure absorption spectrum is an important future development direction of the X-Ray absorption spectrum, which is used to research changes of a local structure and an electron structure of a sample, and to dynamically and in situ reveal a few of dynamic properties of the sample by applying a pressure to the sample through diamond Anvil Cell. Due to a crystal structure of diamond, when performing high pressure absorption spectrum measurement, the normal measurement of the absorption spectrum is significantly influenced by diffraction signals generated by the diamond.
Additionally, a monochromatic light emerged by a monochromator from a synchrotron radiation of a continuous spectrum includes higher harmonics which seriously impacts a light source, a prober and calibration accuracy of the optical device, and a deviation of experiment data is increased due to the interference of the harmonics, even leading to an inaccurate experimental conclusion. Therefore, restraining higher harmonics in the light source to improve the quality of the light source is important to improve the accuracy of the experiment conclusion.

Optical device for focusing synchrotron radiation light source


A well site communication system for providing communication from downhole devices to surface systems and from surface system to downhole systems, and methods of using are presented. The communication system is particularly applicable for use with spooled conveyances disposed on a reel. The communication system comprises a communication assembly that may be provided in the reel. The communication assembly may be used to process data or information received from devices disposed in a wellbore and the communication assembly may communicate wirelessly with surface or downhole devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for communication for well site operations. It is particularly useful for well site communications in which a reeled or spooled conveyance is used.
2. Description of the Related Art
On many occasions in well site operations, and for a variety of purposes it is desired to convey tools, sensors, or other apparatuses into a wellbore. Reeled or spooled conveyances, such as coiled tubing, wireline, and slickline commonly are used. Coiled tubing is useful particularly for conveying such devices in highly deviated or horizontal wells. While spooled conveyances offer several operational advantages in handling, transport, and deployment, the transition between a stationary surface system and the rotating reeled or spooled conveyances can be difficult. Typically collectors disposed on the reel or spool plus associated wiring are used to accommodate this transition to connect the reeled conveyance to surface systems. This wiring can be physically cumbersome in a work location. In addition, collectors may become unreliable or break.
A typical configuration for the surface handling equipment for coiled tubing is shown generally in FIG. 1. The surface handling equipment includes an injector system 20 on supports 29 and coiled tubing reel assembly 10 on reel stand 12, flat, trailer, truck or other such device. The tubing is deployed into or pulled out of the well using an injector head 19. The equipment further includes a levelwind mechanism 13 for guiding coiled tubing 15 on and off the reel 10. The coiled tubing 15 passes over tubing guide arch 18 which provides a bending radius for moving the tubing into a vertical orientation for injection through wellhead devices into the wellbore. The tubing passes from tubing guide arch 18 into the injector head 19 which grippingly engages the tubing and pushes it into the well. A stripper assembly 21 under the injector maintains a dynamic and static seal around the tubing to hold well pressure within the well as the tubing passes into the wellhead devices which are under well pressure. The coiled tubing then moves through a blowout preventor (BOP) stack 23, a flow tee 25 and wellhead master valve or tree valve 27. A quick connect fitting is placed between the BOP and the stripper above.
When coiled tubing 15 disposed on a coiled tubing reel 10 is deployed into or retrieved from a borehole 8, the coiled tubing reel 10 rotates. In typical communications in coiled tubing operations as shown in FIG. 2, a collector 30 is fitted to the reel 10 and used to connect and provide communication between the downhole system and the surface data acquisition equipment 36. Commonly the collector 30 has a slip ring configuration that maintains the power and signal connection regardless of reel orientation. The communication element may be truncated in a feed-through pressure bulkhead 32 with wired telemetry signal path 34 continuing through the reel axle and out the collector ring. In coiled tubing operations, the signal path 34 commonly exits through the reel axle on the opposite side from the fluid swivel. From the reel or spool, the signal path 34 is connected to a surface data acquisition system 36. In this way, data signals may be passed uphole to or control signals may be passed downhole from the borehole communication element through the collector ring on the reel assembly to the surface data acquisition components. This prior art method of establishing communication in coiled tubing operations requires a physical connection, such as wiring, for the signal path. This physical connection can be disadvantageous as it restricts the possible spatial configuration of components, limits placement of equipment, and adds a wire line to be avoided by personnel during well site operations. In addition the use of a collector 30 adds expense to the system and requires maintenance.
A typical coiled tubing communication system comprises a surface acquisition system linked via a downhole telemetry system to a downhole acquisition system in which information is sensed downhole. Various methods of downhole telemetry to link downhole acquisition systems to surface acquisition systems are known and include mud pulsing, mechanically generated signal events, wireline cables, and slickline. Often during wellbore operations it is beneficial to have real-time knowledge of the actual downhole conditions. One method of accomplishing this in coiled tubing operations is to dispose a communication element, such as wireline, in the coiled tubing. Wireline provides the functionality of permitting communication in both uphole (e.g. sensed data from borehole apparatuses) and in downhole (e.g. operational commands) direction. Typically the wireline communication element is linked to a surface acquisition system such as a wireline truck.
While providing wireline in cable may permit real-time transmission of downhole data to the surface, using wireline inside coiled tubing presents some disadvantages. It reduces the cross-sectional area available for fluid flow in the tube. It incurs a large friction against the fluid flow owing to the relatively large diameter of the wireline compared to the fluid flow path within the coiled tubing, as well as the typical multi-stranded nature of the wireline. As a result, large friction and turbulence factors may be introduced. Another difficulty with electrical cables is the weight of the cable; it can increase the system weight by up to 25%, making it difficult to manipulate and install in the field.
A system to communicate information about downhole conditions to the surface and surface information downhole is desirable. In particular, a communication system to sense, control and verify the status of the wellbore operations using reeled or spooled conveyance is desirable. While described in the context of a coiled tubing conveyance system, the present invention is well suited for use with any reeled or spooled conveyance system. Thus, a method and apparatus for well bore communication is needed that is capable of transmitting downhole information to the surface and communicating that data to the surface acquisition system in real time without the disadvantages of using a surface collector.