A corpuscle/plasma separating part is disposed at the lower end of the substrate, and a sensor part connected to the corpuscle/plasma separating part is disposed at the upper end of the substrate, with a calibration solution reservoir being disposed on the lower side of the sensor part, and a calibration solution waste reservoir being disposed on the upper side of the sensor part. A first centrifugal axis is located upper to the corpuscle fraction storing part and lower to the plasma fraction storing part of the corpuscle/plasma separating part, while a second centrifugal axis is located within or close to the sensor part. Conveyance and discharge of the calibration solution can be carried out by performing centrifugation around the first centrifugal axis which is distant from the sensor part at a low speed of rotation, so that the centrifugal force exerted on the sensors would be small. During the centrifuge operation at a high speed of rotation for the separation of blood corpuscles, centrifugation can be performed around the second centrifugal axis so that the centrifugal force exerted on the sensors is small. Centrifuge operation allows separation of the blood corpuscles and blood plasma, and conveyance of the blood plasma and the calibration solution, as well as certain discharge of the calibration solution from the sensors, thereby allowing precise analysis. Any damage in the sensors due to strong centrifugal force during the separation of blood corpuscles and blood plasma can be prevented.

Physical examination or diagnosis of disease states has been conventionally carried out by collecting a large amount, such as several cubic centimeters, of blood from a patient, and using the measurement values obtained from large scale automated blood analysis apparatuses in the analysis of the collected blood. In general, such automated analysis apparatuses are available in medical institutions such as hospitals, and are large in size, and their operation is limited to those who are technically qualified.
However, in recent years, there is a growing tendency for the development and practicalization of a new device which can instantly inform the health status of an examinee, by arranging various analytic apparatuses such as sensors on a substrate having a size of a few millimeters to a few centimeters at maximum at each side of rectangle, as a result of application of the microprocessing technique used in the production of highly advanced semiconductor devices, and introducing a body fluid of the examinee, such as blood. Development of such low-priced devices allows an attempt to reduce the ever-increasing health insurance benefits by enabling daily health management of aged people at home in the on-coming aging society, and so on. Further, such devices are expected to have various social effects, such as that in the field of emergency medicine, if the presence or absence of any infectious disease (hepatitis, acquired immune deficiency, etc.) in an examinee, etc. could be quickly judged by using the device, appropriate action would be possibly taken in response; thus, much attention is being paid to this technical field. As such, instead of the conventional automated analytic apparatuses, small scaled and convenient blood analysis method and blood analysis apparatus, which are aimed at performing blood analysis personally at home, are under development (See, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 2001-258868
FIG. 1 shows an example of the micromodularized blood analysis apparatus described in Patent Document 1. Symbol 101 represents a lower substrate of the blood analysis apparatus, on which at microgroove flow channel (microcapillary) 102 formed by etching is formed. Over this lower substrate 101, an upper substrate (not shown in the figure) of almost the same size is glued together to seal the groove flow channel 102 from the outside.
Along the flow channel 102, there are sequentially formed a blood collecting means 103, a plasma separating means 104, an analyzing means 105 and a transporting means 106, from the uppermost stream part to the lowermost stream part. The blood collecting means 103 at the forefront part of the flow channel is equipped with a hollow blood collecting needle 103a, and this blood collecting needle 103a is pricked into the body and is used as an inlet for blood into the substrate. The separating means 104 is a bend formed in the middle of the flow channel 102 and consists of, for example, a U-shaped microcapillary. The collected blood is led to this U-shaped microcapillary, and then the substrate is subjected to acceleration in a certain direction by a centrifuge, thereby the blood corpuscle component being precipitated at the lowest part of the U-shape, and the blood plasma being separated as supernatant. The analyzing means 105 are sensors for measuring the pH value and the respective concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, sodium, potassium, calcium, glucose, lactic acid and the like in the blood.
The transporting means 106 which is disposed at the lowermost stream of the flow channel is intended to transport the blood in the microcapillary by electroosmotic flow, and consists of electrodes 107 and 108, and a portion of flow channel 109 connecting the two electrodes. The electroosmotic flow which is generated when voltage is applied between the electrodes, transports the buffer solution that has been preliminarily filled in the flow channel, to the downstream side of the flow channel, and the suction force generated thereby allows uptake of the blood from the collecting means 103 at the forefront part of the flow channel 102 into the substrate. This suction force also drives the blood plasma obtained by centrifuge into the analyzing means 105.
Symbol 110 represents an output means for taking out information from the analyzing means, and consists of electrodes and the like. Symbol 111 represents a control means for controlling the collecting means, plasma separating means, analyzing means, transporting means and output means, as necessary.
The blood collected from the collecting means 103 is separated into the plasma component and the corpuscle component at the separating means 104, and this blood plasma is led to the analyzing means 105, where the pH value and the respective concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, sodium, potassium, calcium, glucose, ureic nitrogen, creatinine, lactic acid and the like in the blood plasma are measured. The transportation of blood between the respective means is carried out by the transporting means 106 having an ability for pumping, such as by means of electrophoresis or electroosmotic phenomenon or the like. In FIG. 1, the downstream region of the flow channel 102 is branched into 5 subregions, and each of these subregions has the analyzing means 105 and the transporting means 106 formed therein.
In many cases, glass materials such as quartz have been used for the substrate of such blood analysis apparatus. However, in consideration of their suitability for mass production of the apparatus at low costs, and the ease of disposal after use, resin materials have been recently put to use.
The conventional blood analysis apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 requires a transporting means such as an electroosmotic pump 106 for introducing a blood sample into the apparatus. In every substrate, after obtaining blood plasma by centrifuging the introduced blood, it is required to re-operate the electroosmotic pump 106 in order to transport the blood plasma to the analyzing means 105. Furthermore, when the analyzing means are, in particular, sensors established on the basis of the principles of electrochemistry, these sensors need to be calibrated in advance using a calibration solution. That is, before leading the blood plasma into the sensors, these sensors should be immersed in the calibration solution to carry out calibration of the sensors, and the calibration solution should be discharged from the analyzing means after calibration. Such transportation of the calibration solution also requires the transporting means such as a pump.
For the transporting means, it can be considered to use electroosmotic pumps formed on the same substrate as shown in FIG. 1, or negative pressure pumps installed outside the substrate. These transporting means allow transportation of the blood, or the blood plasma, calibration solution and the like, by pneumatic transportation or suction. Here, in order to transport a desired liquid to a desired site in the blood analysis apparatus, it is necessary to precisely control the suction force of the transporting means and the like. In this regard, sensors for liquid position should be newly installed in the blood analysis apparatus or outside the apparatus, but addition of such controlling instruments or position sensors has been causing a problem of making the apparatus expensive.
When the analyzing means are sensors established on the basis of the principles of electrochemistry, the sensors should be calibrated with a calibration solution (reference solution) containing the components to be tested at known concentrations, and then this calibration solution should be discharged from the analyzing means. However, even after discharging the calibration solution, there may be residual calibration solution remaining on the surface of the analyzing means or flow channel means, depending on the wettability of the surface. As described above, since the blood analysis apparatus being presently discussed is intended to analyze the concentrations of various chemicals present in a trace amount, such as about a few microliters, of blood, the size of the means constituting the apparatus, such as the flow channel means, is diminished. In general, when the size of an object is decreased, the ratio S/V of the surface area (S) and volume (V) increases, and this implies that the effect of the surface is significantly exhibited. Therefore, there has been a problem that even though the amount of the calibration solution remaining on the surface of the flow channel means or analyzing means is a trace amount, that amount of the residual calibration solution has an impact on the fluctuation of the concentrations of measured chemicals in an analysis apparatus in which the amount of the blood plasma introduced is minimal. To this end, it is required that only after the calibration solution is certainly discharged out of the analyzing means, the blood plasma is introduced to the analyzing means.
In consideration of the above-described circumstances, the present inventors have suggested a blood analysis apparatus for performing plasma separation in the flow channel by centrifuge operation, which enables conveying of the blood, blood plasma and calibration solution in the apparatus without using pumps or the like, and which enables precise analysis by certainly discharging the calibration solution from the sensor part (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-040481
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the blood analysis apparatus described in Patent Document 2 (unpublished). Symbol 201 represents an upper substrate in which a flow channel is formed, and symbol 202 represents a lower substrate in which sensor electrodes 203 or electrode terminals 204 for taking the sensor signals out of the system are formed. The upper substrate 201 is equipped with a blood collecting needle 205, and the collected blood is transported from an opening for suction and pneumatic transportation 208 to a blood reservoir 207 through a guiding flow channel 206 by means of an external pump (not shown in the figure). A flow channel 209 and flow channel 210 are connected to opening holes 211 and 212, respectively, which are formed on a side wall of the upper substrate 201. However, upon the suction of blood, the opening holes 211 and 212 are closed by a holder (not shown in the figure) on which the blood analysis substrate is mounted. Likewise, a calibration solution reservoir 213 stores a calibration solution introduced from the opening for suction and pneumatic transportation 208.
Exemplary operation of this already-suggested blood analysis apparatus substrate will be described in the following. First, when the blood analysis apparatus substrate is centrifuged around the central axis of the first centrifugal force 214, the calibration solution in the calibration reservoir 213 is taken into a plurality of sensor grooves 217 housing a plurality of sensors 203, through guiding flow channels 215 and 216. After calibration of the sensors 203, the blood analysis apparatus substrate is rotated 90 degrees clockwise and mounted on the centrifuge. That is, when the substrate is centrifuged around the central axis of the second centrifugal force 218 which is located on the left side of FIG. 2, the calibration solution filling the sensor grooves 217 flows through guiding flow channels 216 and 219 and is stored in a calibration solution waste reservoir 220.
Then, the blood analysis apparatus substrate is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise and mounted on the centrifuge. That is, when the substrate is centrifuged around the central axis of the first centrifugal force, 214, the blood from the blood reservoir 207 is conveyed to the sensor grooves 217 through a guiding flow channel 221. When the centrifugal force is continuously applied as such, the corpuscle component in the blood is fractionated in the direction to which gravity is applied, that is, down to the lower side of the sensor grooves 217, and the plasma component is separated to the upper side of the sensor grooves 217 as a supernatant. A group of sensors 203 are disposed in this region, so that the pH value and the respective concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, sodium, potassium, calcium, glucose, lactic acid and the like in the blood are measured by an external measuring instrument through a plurality of electrode terminals 204 connected to the respective sensors.
This already-suggested blood analysis apparatus can be subjected to centrifuge operation in two different directions, and allows conveyance of the calibration solution in the calibration solution reservoir to the sensor part by centrifuge operation in the first centrifugal direction, and after the calibration of sensors, certain discharge of the calibration solution from the sensor part by centrifuge operation in the second centrifugal direction. After the discharge of the calibration solution, centrifuging in the first centrifugal direction allows conveyance of the blood in the blood reservoir to the sensor part, as well as separation of the blood into the corpuscles and the plasma.
However, even with these advantageous, the blood analysis apparatus was found to have unignorable problems in carrying out blood analysis in short time due to the use of centrifugal force.
It is definitely critical that the measurement time to be taken by a blood analysis apparatus chip should be as short as possible. In the present blood analysis apparatus, the distance from the central axis of centrifugal force to the center of the chip is 5 cm, and the time normally required for infusion or discharge of the calibration solution is about 1 second, even with a small centrifugal force of 3000 rpm or less. However, in order to separate the corpuscles and the plasma in the blood in a few seconds to a few minutes, a centrifugal force of at least 4000 rpm or greater is required at the region of corpuscle separation. FIG. 12 shows the relationship between the speed of rotation (rpm) and the acceleration (G) at this time, in which 3000 rpm corresponds to application of gravitational acceleration of 500 G, and 4000 rpm corresponds to application of gravitational acceleration of 1000 G.
It was found that the output of the sensors is reduced by the centrifuge operation upon the separation of blood corpuscles and blood plasma. For example, when a calibration solution (containing 137 mM sodium ions) was measured with a sodium ion sensor, the output voltage was affected by the speed of rotation (rpm) during centrifuge, as shown in FIG. 3. The sensor output indicated a stable value of about 200 mV up to a speed of rotation of about 3000 rpm; however; at a higher speed of rotation, the sensor output showed a tendency to decrease, and at the same time, the distribution of the value increased. In the present measurement, sensors exhibiting a stable value of about 200 mV up to 1000 rpm were provided and used for the respective rotation tests. Although not particularly mentioned, the same tendency was observed in the measurement of potassium ions.
In a sodium ion concentration measuring sensor, bis(12-crown-4) of the ion sensing membrane capturing sodium ions, and an anion scavenging agent which takes the role of preventing anions in the blood plasma from penetrating into the sensing membrane are mixed with PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and this mixture is immobilized on a carbon electrode to be used as the sensor. Here, in order to make it easier to introduce sodium ions into the sensing membrane, a large amount of plasticizer is mixed into the PVC. When the centrifugal force at 7000 rpm is estimated from the weight of one sensor, the force exerted on the sensor is in the order of pico-newtons. However, it is conjectured that the cause of such reduction in the sensor output at the high speed of rotation might involve deformation of the PVC membrane, which includes the ion sensing membrane and contains the plasticizer, on the carbon electrode due to the strong centrifugal force, thereby a part of the PVC membrane delaminating from the carbon electrode and allowing water penetration. It can be considered to harden the membrane by altering the membrane composition and to strengthen the immobilization of membrane onto the carbon electrode; but, hardening of the membrane may lead to loss of the original characteristics of the electrochemical sensor.

Blood analysis apparatus and blood analysis method

National Institute for Materials Science


This invention provides novel methods of stabilizing peptides and peptides so stabilized. In certain embodiments the methods involve providing a peptide containing at least two S bearing residues within the peptide; and reacting the peptide with a di-halogen-aryl-compounds to form a bis(thioether)-aryl-bridge between said two residues.

For a long time, peptides were perceived as a poor drug candidates. They are prone to proteolytic degradation and rapid clearance in vivo through renal filtration. In addition, most of them are unable to maintain a well-defined three-dimensional structure, which is critical for their bioactivity, existing instead as a vast ensemble of conformational isomers (especially true for short, conformationally unrestricted analogues). Usually, they do not penetrate cells easily, hampering their use for intracellular targets. Over the years various strategies were employed to address these drawbacks, such as head-to-tail cyclization, lactam bridges, introduction of unusual-, α,α-disubstituted-, and (D)-amino acids, retro-inverso approach, lipidation/cholesterylation, multimerization, concatenation, development of targeted delivery systems, application of cell penetrating peptides (CPP), etc. Despite all shortcomings however, peptides possess advantages, chief among them is their practically unrestricted variability that can be tailored for specific needs. If relatively short, they may be also efficiently synthesized and purified using existing methodology. Due to various technological advances, new lead compounds may be relatively easy accessible through computer-aided rational design as well as randomization-based discovery methods utilizing solid-support-grafted peptide arrays and phage display. Recently, stapling has a prominent method in the development of peptide-drug candidates.
The peptide stapling strategy for stabilizing of peptide α-helices utilizes a ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reaction. The "staple" is efficiently created in a two-step process between strategically positioned olefin functionalized non-natural amino acid side chains. The first step, catalyzed by Grubbs catalyst, results in olefin containing bridge that is subsequently catalytically reduced to saturated hydrocarbon (alkane), effectively locking the peptide into a stable α-helix conformation. Such helix stabilization had been shown to dramatically increase the helicity, potency resistance to proteolytic degradation and cell permeability of α-helical peptides. However, the use of stapling technology is limited, especially in academic settings due to relatively high cost of olefin-containing amino acids.

Modification of peptides using a bis(thioether)arylbridge approach

The Regents of the University of California


A web comprising a matrix fiber containing a non-elastic polyester based short fiber and an elastic composite fiber which is made of a thermoplastic elastomer having a melting point of at least 40° C. lower than a melting point of a polyester polymer constituting the short fiber and a non-elastic polyester, with the former being at least exposed on a surface of the fiber, and optionally a hygroscopic and exothermic fiber is heat molded such that the fibers are aligned in a thickness direction thereof, thereby obtaining a mat layer, onto which is then stuck a surface skin material to form an internal material of shoe, and a shoe insole and a boot are obtained by using the internal material of shoe.

As an internal material which is used as an internal material in the inside of a shoe, for example, there have hitherto been known materials resulting from sticking a canvas onto wool and materials mainly composed of polyurethane foam (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, when a shoe insole is configured of such an internal material of shoe, there was involved such a problem that in using the shoe insole, the weight is heavy and the air permeability is so bad that a stuffy feeling is produced. Also, in materials using a natural fiber such as wool, there was involved such a problem that when washed with water, the cushioning properties are lowered.
For that reason, there have been demanded proposals of an internal material of shoe having excellent lightweight properties, cushioning properties and air permeability. Also, there have been demanded proposals of an internal material of shoe also having heat retaining properties to be used in the winter season or low-temperature environment.
Incidentally, as fiber products having heat retaining properties, there have hitherto been proposed a material using an acrylate based hygroscopic and exothermic fiber (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4), an internal material of shoe having a hygroscopic and exothermic organic fine particle attached thereto (see, for example, Patent Document 5).
[Patent Document 1] Registered Utility Model No. 3066533
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-6-14190
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-2000-265365
[Patent Document 4] JP-A-2001-112578
[Patent Document 5] JP-A-2003-105657

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Internal material of sole, shoe insole and boot


A substrate processing method and a substrate processing apparatus are provided to remove a processing liquid from a substrate without using an organic solvent. Upon completion of liquid treatment to dip the substrate W in the processing liquid 30, when exposing a substrate W out of a processing liquid 30 for its removal, the liquid 30 is subjected to an electric field to generate an electric current on the liquid surface and also a magnetic field B. With the arrangement of the electric field and the magnetic field, an electromagnetic force F is produced and applied on the liquid 30 in a direction to leave from a surface of the substrate W.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to substrate processing method and apparatus for cleaning substrates to be processed, for example, semiconductor wafers, LCD glass substrates, etc. by immersing the substrates in cleaning liquids, e.g. chemicals, rinsing liquids, etc. and subsequently drying the cleaned substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, there is a widely-adopted cleaning method by which the substrates to be processed, for example, the semiconductor wafers, the LCD glass substrates, etc. (called xe2x80x9cwafers etc.xe2x80x9d hereinafter) are successively immersed in a cleaning bath filled up with a processing liquid, for example, the chemical, the rinsing liquid, or the like.
Further, such a cleaning apparatus is equipped with a drying unit which exposes the surfaces of the cleaned wafers etc. to dry gas of volatile organic solvent, such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol). In this unit, the vapor of dry gas is condensed or absorbed on the waters"" surfaces so that the moisture can be removed from the wafers etc.
As the conventional cleaning and drying apparatus of this kind, there is a known cleaning/drying apparatus which includes a cleaning bath (cleaning chamber), a drying section and moving means, for example, a wafer boat. In this apparatus, the cleaning bath stores and accommodates the rinsing liquid (cleaning liquid), for example, the chemical of hydrofluoric acid, pure water, etc. in order to immerse the substrates, such as semiconductor wafers W, in the stored liquid. The drying section is positioned above the cleaning bath. The wafer boat carries the plural number (e.g. 50 pcs.) of wafers W to bring them to the interior of the cleaning bath and the drying section.
While, as the conventional drying method, there are known techniques disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2-291128 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 6-103686.
In the publications, the drying technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2-291128 is embodied in a process flow shown in FIGS. 10A-10E. That is, wafers W are firstly dipped in a treatment bath 2 overflowing with cleaning liquid, for example, pure water. During the immersion, inert gas, such as N2 gas, is charged into a processing chamber 3 for atmospheric interchange (FIG. 10A).
Next, dry gas 4 of volatile solvent vapor, such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol), is charged into the processing chamber 3 to form an IPA membrane on the surface of pure water (FIG. 10B). Then, the wafers W are pulled up from the treatment bath 2 into the processing chamber 3 by wafer carrying means, for example, a wafer boat 5.
Consequently, the withdrawn wafers W are brought into contact with the IPA gas and therefore, owing to the Marangoni""s effect (difference in surface tension), the vapor of dry gas 4 is condensed or absorbed on the waters"" surfaces to remove moisture from the wafers W for dry (FIG. 10C). Thereafter, N2 gas is supplied into the processing chamber 3 for removal of IPA gas in the chamber 3 (FIG. 10D) and furthermore, the interior of the processing chamber 3 is depressurized to progress the evaporation of residual moisture and IPA adhering to respective grooves of the wafer boat 5, completing the drying process (FIG. 10E).
As mentioned above, according to the conventional drying method of this kind, the removal of moisture on wafers and sequential drying are completed by the following steps of: dipping the wafers in the pure water for cleaning; moving the wafers and the pure water relatively thereby to allow the IPA membrane on the pure water surface and dry gas (IPA gas) to contact with the wafers"" surfaces; and condensing or absorbing the vapor of dry gas.
In the above drying method using the vapor of volatile organic solvent, such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol), it is preferable in aspect of drying effectiveness. However, it is troublesome to discharge or drain the organic solvent while causing the undesirable situation against the environment. Additionally, in order to ensure the safety, it is necessary that the processing apparatus is equipped with a CO2 extinguisher or the like.
Further, in the moisture removing method utilizing the Marangoni""s effect (difference in surface tension), the drying efficiency is not satisfactory so much.
Accordingly, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing method and a substrate processing apparatus, by which it is possible to remove the processing liquid from the substrate without using such an organic solvent, appropriately.
The first feature of the invention resides in a substrate processing method for processing a substrate, comprising the steps of: immersing the substrate in processing liquid; and exposing the substrate out of the processing liquid, while the processing liquid is subjected to both electric field and magnetic field in order to apply an electromagnetic force to the processing liquid; whereby the processing liquid is removed from the surface of the substrate.
That is, the present invention provides the substrate processing method utilizing the electromagnetic force (Lorentz""s force) brought by the formation of both magnetic field and flow of electric current in the vicinity of the water surface, the method being different from the conventional substrate processing method, for example, the conventional cleaning/drying method. With the adoption of the xe2x80x9csurface-dryxe2x80x9d system without using any organic solvent, the present invention has merits to facilitate the handling of the substrate processing apparatus employing the above system and reduce the number of particles sticking to the substrate.
The second feature of the invention resides in that the processing liquid is subjected to the electric field and the magnetic field so that the resultant electromagnetic force has a downward component.
It is supposed that, for example, if drawing up the semiconductor wafer W (as the substrate) from the cleaning chamber (as the processing chamber) to the drying chamber, then the cleaning liquid (as the processing liquid) adheres to the substrate""s (wafer W) surface up to its portion somewhat higher than the level of the cleaning liquid due to the inherent surface tension, as shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, when the downward electromagnetic force F is applied perpendicularly or obliquely to the surface of the cleaning liquid by the adoption of magnetic field B and current I of FIG. 3, it is possible to eliminate the cleaning liquid adhering to the surfaces of the substrate effectively.
The third feature of the invention resides in that the processing liquid is subjected to the electric field and the magnetic field so that the resultant electromagnetic force has a downward component and horizontal component which directs from a reverse face to a pattern face of the substrate.
Thus, it is possible to give the processing liquid adhering to the substrate""s pattern face a force in a direction to separate the liquid from the face thereby to perform the removal of the processing liquid effectively.
The fourth feature of the invention resides in that the processing liquid is subjected to the electric field and the magnetic field so that the direction of the resultant electromagnetic force is changed as the substrate moves in relative to the surface of the processing liquid.
Therefore, in spite of irregularities on the substrate""s surface, it is possible to vary an operative direction of the electromagnetic force in accordance with the profile of the substrate""s surface, accomplishing the removal of the processing liquid sufficiently.
The fifth feature of the invention is bringing gas which ionizes the processing liquid to facilitate the flowing of an electric current therein into contact with the processing liquid.
Thus, in spite of pure water as the processing liquid, it is possible to provide the pure water with fine conductivity, so that the electromagnetic force can be produced more effectively.
The sixth feature of the invention resides in that the above gas contains either CO2 gas or mixed gas of CO2 and N2.
The seventh feature of the invention resides in that at least one of magnitude of the electric field and magnitude of the magnetic field is changed so as to vary the resultant electromagnetic force.
According to the feature, the variation in magnitude of the downward electromagnetic force allows the processing liquid to be vibrated to eliminate the processing liquid effectively.
The eighth feature of the invention resides in that the electric filed and the magnetic field are synchronized so as to produce the electromagnetic force in a regular direction. This feature allows pulsating currents or alternating currents to be employed for respective sources for electrical field and magnetic field.
The ninth feature of the invention resides in that warm water is employed as the processing liquid.
The tenth feature of the invention resides in that the substrate is coated with an protective oxidation film in the immersing step. Thus, owing to the positive formation of protective oxidation film on the substrate before the drying process, it is possible to protect the substrate from the subsequent drying process etc.
The eleventh feature of the invention resides in that before forming the protective oxidation film on the substrate, the substrate is subjected to a chemical process using hydrofluoric acid to removing the natural oxidation film which should be removed.
It is noted that the surface of the wafer, of which natural oxidation film has been already eliminated, is so activated that a natural oxidation film is easy to be formed on the surface. Nevertheless, according to the eleventh feature, since the substrate is positively coated with a clean protective oxidation film after deleting the previous natural oxidation film, it is possible to restrict the formation of the natural oxidation film.
The 12th feature of the invention resides in the substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising: a processing bath for storing a processing liquid in which the substrate is to be processed;
exposure means for exposing the substrate out of the processing liquid in the processing bath; electrodes arranged in the vicinity of a surface of the processing liquid stored in the processing bath for generating an electric current in the processing liquid in the processing bath; and magnetic poles arranged for generating a magnetic field in a direction different from the flowing direction of the electric current.
The 13th feature of the invention resides in that the magnetic poles each include a core and a magnetic coil wound about the core and also connected to an alternating current power source, while the electrodes are also connected to an alternating current power source.
With the above-mentioned constitution, when drawing up the substrate out of the processing chamber, there is produced a force between the surface of the substrate and processing liquid, which causes the processing liquid to adhere to the substrate due to the surface tension. This force is restricted by the downward electromagnetic force (i.e. Lorentz""s force) produced by the electrode plates and the electromagnetic coils. Thus, the above force is weakened in appearance to complete the appropriate removal and drying. Owing to the adoption of the xe2x80x9csurface-dryxe2x80x9d system without using any organic solvent, the present invention has merits to facilitate the handling of the apparatus and reduce the number of particles sticking to the substrate.
The 14th feature of the invention resides in that the exposure means includes a moving mechanism for moving the substrate from the processing bath upward while carrying the substrate. Additionally, the 15th feature of the invention resides in that the exposure means includes a drain port formed in the bottom of the processing bath, a drain pipe connected to the drain port and an opening-closing valve interposed in the drain pipe. Thus, any element would be applicable to the exposure means if only it can move the substrate in relation to the surface of the processing liquid.
The 16th feature of the invention resides in that the electrodes and the magnetic poles are arranged so that an electromagnetic force generated in the processing liquid by the electric current and the magnetic field possesses a downward component.
It is supposed that, for example, if drawing up the substrate from the cleaning chamber to the drying chamber, then the cleaning liquid adheres to the substrate""s surface up to its portion somewhat higher than the level of the cleaning liquid due to the inherent surface tension. Therefore, when the downward electromagnetic force is applied perpendicularly or obliquely to the surface of the cleaning liquid, it is possible to eliminate the cleaning liquid adhering to the surfaces of the substrate effectively.
The 17th feature of the invention resides in that the electrodes include a pair of electrode parts which are arranged in the processing bath so as to oppose each other in the vicinity of a surface of the processing liquid stored in the processing bath; the magnetic poles include a pair of magnetic pole parts which are arranged so as to oppose each other in the vicinity of a surface of the processing liquid stored in the processing bath; and the opposing direction of the electrode part s in pairs a nd the opposing direction of the magnetic pole parts in pairs intersect with each other.
Accordingly, it is possible to exert the downward electromagnetic f orce on the surface of the processing liquid, accomplishing the removal of the liquid from the surface effectively.
The 18th feature of the invention resides in that the electrodes include a pair of electrode parts which are arranged in the processing bath so as to oppose each other in the vicinity of a surface of the processing liquid stored in the processing bath; the magnetic poles include a pair of magnetic pole parts which are arranged so as to oppose each other and also arranged so that the opposing direction of the magnetic pole parts intersects with the opposing direction of the electrode parts; and the magnetic poles are arranged so that the magnetic polar parts can occupy an optional rotating position around the opposing direction of the electrode parts, as a rotational axis.
Therefore, it is possible to rotate the direction of the magnetic field around the opposing direction of the pair of electrodes, as the rotational axis.
The 19th feature of the invention resides in that the substrate processing apparatus of the above 12th feature further comprises a pipe for supplying the processing liquid into the processing bath and at least either one of ozone water generating means interposed in the pipe, for generating ozone water and water heating means interposed in the pipe, for heating water to be a warm water.
According to the constitution, it is possible to form a clean oxidation film on the substrate easily and positively before drawing up the substrate.
The 20th feature of the invention resides in that the substrate processing apparatus of the above 12th feature further comprises a cover which closely surrounds the upside of the processing bath thereby to define a drying chamber above the processing bath and that the drying chamber is provided, at an interior thereof, with a gas supply port which is connected to a gas supply source.
The above constitution allows either CO2 gas or the mixture of CO2 and N2 to be supplied to the processing liquid, so that it can be ionized to facilitate the formation of electric current or liquid flow.
The above and other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent, and the invention itself will best be understood, from a study of the following description and appended claims, with reference had to the attached drawings showing preferred embodiments of the invention.

Method and apparatus for processing substrate


A method for operating a transport device in a laboratory sample distribution system, comprising: providing a transport device in a laboratory sample distribution system, the transport device having an arrangement of transport modules, wherein each transport module is provided with a transport surface; a drive device configured to move sample vessel carriers on the transport surface; a module control device configured to control operation of the drive device; and a module network interface connected to the module control device and configured for data communication in a control network; a transport plane; and a controller device connected to the control network through a controller network interface; and assigning a network address to each of the transport modules in the control network; for each transport module, in the module control device storing its own network address and the network address of neighboring transport modules located adjacent to the transport module.

In-vitro diagnostic systems are applied for analyzing samples of a bodily fluid. The samples are received in sample vessels or containers which are processed in an in-vitro diagnostic system. The sample vessels may be handled by a sample vessel handling or distribution system, for example for locating the sample vessel in sample vessel carriers and for picking up the sample vessels from the sample vessel carriers.

Method for detecting and reporting an operation error in an in-vitro diagnostic system, a transport device for a laboratory sample distribution system, and a laboratory sample distribution system


A light-weight face mask can heat and humidify inhaled air with previously-exhaled air by passing the air through a highly-effective and highly-efficient heat exchanger disposed within the mask. The heat exchanger has a multitude of layers of metallic mesh through which the air passes generally linearly. The warm exhaled air heats the mesh which in turn heats the incoming air before it is inhaled. Moisture from the exhaled air condenses on the relatively-cool heat exchanger and humidifies the incoming air. Inhaled air enters the mask generally upwardly, and exhaled air exits it generally downwardly.

.Iadd.I. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a respiratory mask. The mask is useful in cold weather for heating and humidifying inhaled air with exhaled air through a heat exchanger.
II. Description of Known Art .Iaddend.
The detrimental effects of breathing cold air, particularly for people with medical problems such as cardiac conditions, angina, and asthma, and the benefits of heating inhaled air have been recognized for many decades and are described in various publications including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,835,853; 4,325,365; 4,601,287; 4,793,343; and 4,829,997. Inhaled air has been heated with electrical elements as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,626,343; 3,249,108; 4,601,287; 4,620,537; and 4,793,343.Iadd., .Iaddend.and with heated water as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,766. Inhaled air has been heated also by devices that obtain heat from portions of the human body rather than external power sources as described ..is.!. .Iadd.in .Iaddend.U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,269,183, 4,473,071, 4,671,268, and 4,683,869. The advantage of heating the inhaled air with humid exhaled air has been recognized for many decades. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,326,214, 3,333,585, 3,814,094, and 4,136,691, .Iadd.and .Iaddend.4,478,215 teach heating and humidifying inhaled air through exhaled air by passing the air through an exchanger fabricated from either foil, a nonwoven resilient porous fibrous organic polymeric material, a foraminous ..heat conductive.!. .Iadd.heat-conductive .Iaddend.material, or a continuous strip of wire netting wound helically. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,150,671, 4,196,728, 4,200,094, 4,325,365, and 4,458,679 teach heating inhaled air with ..one of.!. the following: a conduit having heat-exchanging fins; a flexible curved horn of expanding cross section, having a flared internal chamber containing metal mesh; a spool-like member having a series of transverse notches which leave integral fins; an elongated curved housing in which is disposed a plurality of pairs of spaced-apart vanes; or a counter-current medium such as a metal sponge. U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,853 teaches an improved device for heating inhaled air with exhaled airs which avoids ice formation at very low temperatures by bypassing a portion of the inhaled air with an automatic valve. Some of these patents, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,215, teach that the inhaled air is humidified as well as heated by the exhaled air.
None of the disclosed devices for heating air for breathing is in widespread use. Generally.Iadd., .Iaddend.the effective devices are heavy and bulky. In addition, many are relatively costly to produce.
.Iadd.Furthermore, these additional U.S. patents are cited:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,381,568--Gas Mask. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,246--Gas Masks. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,114--Humidity-retaining Mask. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,594--Dampening Mask for Use in Aircraft. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,192--Breathing Mask having a Cellulose Heat and Moisture Exchanger Formed Therein. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,173--Rehumidification Filter for Ventilation Mask. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,299--Respiratory Mask.

Heating and humidifying respiratory mask


Example embodiments are in a form of a system, corresponding electronics card (or apparatus), or corresponding method. Some embodiments include a multi-channel optical layer system. According to some embodiments, the system may include a network interface layer, an adapter layer, and an optical function layer. The adapter layer may learn functions and/or corresponding specifications from the function layer. The adapter layer may configure the adapter layer itself to interoperate between the network interface layer and the optical function layer. The adapter layer may provide flexibility in the size of configured functionality. The adapter layer may reduce cost of configuration (or reconfiguration) because functions may be discretized. New markets may be reached because of this reduced cost, as well as due to smaller size configurations (of hardware and software), reduced electronics, reduced power, and improved thermal cooling requirements for lesser-developed network configurations.

An optical communications network may allow a large group of widely-distributed users to inter-communicate with each other. An optical network may comprise of a variety of devices, which may be connected together through a variety of media types that may operate in conjunction to form connections between network users.
Generally, a user may receive and/or transmit data using a wired and/or wireless medium. The data from various users may then be aggregated and transported through optical network and/or other methods of optical communications. An optical network may comprise various nodes, including, but not limited to, optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs). The OADMs may receive traffic from the network and may select wavelengths to be demultiplexed and/or dropped. Relevant data in selected wavelengths may be forwarded to local users. In the other direction, data from local users may be optically transported through selected wavelengths, and selected wavelengths may be multiplexed onto the optical network.
At least two types of nodes may be used in optical networking. The first type of node may allow for a card (e.g., line card) on a shelf to concentrate on a given task. For example, for an existing OADM node, one card may have optical supervisory channel (OSC) functionality, another card may have wavelength selective switches (WSS), another card may have pre-amplifiers, another card may have boosters, another card may have optical channel monitor (OCM) functionality, and yet another card may have other functionality. Such an architecture may provide flexibility, since cards may be added and/or removed to configure the node as desired.
The second type of node may use a card that has various different functionalities built in. For example, an OADM card may have functionality including one or more of OSC, WSS, pre-amplifiers, boosters, OCM, and/or other functionality. While this type of equipment may provide OADM functionality at a reduced cost, a drawback exists in that the node configuration is not as flexible as the first type.

Method and apparatus for modular ROADM and remote DWDM wavelength add/drop


In a plasma processing method, a substrate is processed by placing the substrate on an electrode in a vacuum chamber, introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber while discharging gas from inside vacuum chamber, applying a high frequency voltage to a spiral discharge coil while keeping the vacuum chamber internally at a pressure to generate a plasma inside the vacuum chamber. At least one of the control parameters of gas type, gas flow rate, pressure, magnitudes of high frequency powers applied to the coil and the electrode, and their high frequency power frequencies is varied while the substrate is processed. The method includes a step of allowing a plasma density in-plane distribution to be controlled in accordance with the timing of varying any of the control parameters.

The present invention relates to plasma processing method and apparatus used for dry etching and plasma CVD etc.
In recent years, to effect processing or the like on a semiconductor element at a high aspect ratio by dry etching technique or effect embedding or the like at a high aspect ratio by plasma CVD technique coping with developing dimensional fineness of semiconductor elements, it has been required to effect plasma processing in higher vacuum.
For instance, in the case of dry etching, when a high density plasma is generated in high vacuum, there is a reduced possibility of collision between ions and ions or other neutral gas particles in an ion sheath formed on a substrate surface, and therefore, directions of the ions are aligned toward the substrate surface. Furthermore, because of a high degree of electrolytic dissociation, there results a high incident particle flux ratio of ions arriving at the substrate to neutral radicals. For the above-mentioned reasons, etching anisotropy is improved by generating a high density plasma in high vacuum, thereby allowing processing to be achieved at a high aspect ratio.
Furthermore, in the case of plasma CVD, when a high density plasma is generated in high vacuum, an effect of embedding and flattening a fine pattern can be obtained by a sputtering effect with ions, thereby allowing embedding to be achieved at a high aspect ratio.
As one of plasma processing apparatuses capable of generating high density plasmas in high vacuum, there is a high frequency induction type plasma processing apparatus which generates plasma inside a vacuum vessel by applying a high frequency voltage to a discharge coil. The plasma processing apparatus of this type generates a high frequency magnetic field inside the vacuum vessel and accelerates electrons by generating an induction field inside the vacuum vessel by the high frequency magnetic field to generate plasma.
A known high frequency induction type plasma processing apparatus, has a planar spiral discharge coil 13 as shown in FIG. 15. The planar spiral discharge coil 13 is fixed on a surface opposite to a substrate 14. In FIG. 15, when an appropriate gas is introduced from an introduction inlet 20 into a vacuum vessel 15 while gas inside the vacuum vessel 15 is discharged from a discharge outlet 21 and a high frequency voltage is applied to the planar spiral discharge coil 13 by a discharge coil connected to high frequency power source 16 with the vacuum vessel 15 kept internally at an appropriate pressure, a plasma is generated inside the vacuum vessel 15 to allow the substrate 14 placed on a lower electrode 17 to be subjected to plasma processing such as etching, deposition, and surface improvement. In this case, as shown in FIG. 15, an ion energy reaching the substrate 14 can be controlled by additionally applying a high frequency voltage to the lower electrode 17 from a lower electrode using high frequency power source 18.
However, with the system shown in FIG. 15 a plasma density in-plane distribution is hardly controlled since the planar spiral discharge coil 13 is fixed on the surface opposite to the substrate 14. This will be described in detail below.
As a principal control parameter with regard to the generation of plasma, there can be enumerated gas type, gas flow rate, pressure, high frequency powers, and high frequency power frequencies. In a case where an identical discharge coil is used, the plasma density in-plane distribution varies when these control parameters are varied. An example of the above is shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B. FIG. 16A shows a measurement result obtained by measuring a plasma density distribution on a line parallel to the substrate by a Langmuir probe in the case where the gas type is argon, the gas flow rate is 30 SCCM, the pressure is 5 mTorr and the high frequency power is 1000 W. Uniformity within a range in diameter of 200 mm was a satisfactory value of .+-.2.3%. However, the plasma density distribution in the case where the pressure is 50 mTorr and the other conditions are same results as shown in FIG. 16B, when the uniformity within the range in diameter of 200 mm was .+-.8.8%.
In the case of dry etching, it is sometimes desired to etch a variety of thin films by means of an identical plasma processing apparatus. In such a case, the control parameters such as the gas type and pressure also differ depending on the thin film that is desired to be etched. In the prior art plasma processing apparatus, a certain thin film can be uniformly etched, however, the etching uniformity cannot always be obtained for other thin films. In regard to plasma CVD, the same issue exists.
Furthermore, in the case of dry etching, are varied the control parameters in the course of processing when processing one substrate. For example, in polysilicon etching, there is a process of etching a natural oxide film formed on a surface of polysilicon, and this is followed by a process of etching the polysilicon. These two processes are performed within an identical plasma processing apparatus. However, they have different control parameters, and normally the gas type is changed. In such a case, there arises the issue that no substrate in-plane uniformity of etching characteristics such as etching rate and etching form cannot be obtained when varied plasma density in-plane distributions are provided in the first process and the second process. Not limited to the polysilicon etching, it has been known to change the control parameters in the course of processing one substrate in many plasma processing cases by dry etching and plasma CVD. However, when such a process is performed by means of the prior art plasma processing apparatus as shown in FIG. 15, the substrate in-plane uniformity of the plasma processing cannot be obtained.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A changeable pipette tip includes a first end having a fluid opening and a second end having a pipe elastic in the radial direction having an orifice. The orifice and the fluid opening are in fluid connection. The first end is designed to be coupled to a matching coupling unit of a pipetting unit such that liquid may be sucked into the fluid area through the orifice by an actuating unit in the pipetting unit. In order to eject liquid as free-flying droplets or as a jet from the orifice of the pipe elastic in the radial direction, a volume change of a portion of the pipe elastic in the radial direction is effected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a changeable pipette tip, a pipetting device, a pipette tip actuating device and a method for pipetting which allow to take in liquid and to eject liquid volumes in the nanoliter range.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to prior art, pipetting methods with changeable tips only allow to dose volumes in the range of some microliters (10−9 m3) to milliliters (10−6 m3).
A typical hand pipette 10 with a changeable pipette tip 12 is illustrated in FIG. 5. The hand pipette 10 includes a coupling means 14 onto which the rear part of the pipette tip 12 may be plugged so that there is a fluid connection of the internal fluid areas of the pipette tip with internal fluid areas of the hand pipette 10 via the fluid opening 16. The hand pipette 10 includes means (not shown) for generating a negative pressure and/or a positive pressure in its internal fluid areas so that liquid may be sucked into the pipette tip and/or ejected therefrom through an orifice opening 18 in the pipette tip 12.
Automatic pipetting devices generally provide a moveable mount 20 (FIG. 6) comprising coupling means 22 for receiving one or more pipette tips 24. Here, the pipette tips 24 are connected to the pipetting means comprising the moveable mount 20 such that liquid is sucked in and/or ejected through the orifice openings of the pipette tips 24 by corresponding actuating means in the pipetting means. For this purpose, fluid areas in the pipette tip are generally in fluid connection with fluid areas in the pipetting means.
In such automatic pipetting devices, the pipette tip 24 is taken from a carrier and clamped into the moveable mount 20. For aspirating, the orifice opening of the pipette tip is then immersed in a vessel. After the liquid has been taken in, which is achieved by means of negative pressure in the pipette, the pipette tip is moved over the target where then, by means of a positive pressure in the pipette, either its whole contents or a small part thereof is released into the target vessel. In the case of large volumes, this may be done in a free jet, in the case of small volumes there may have to be a contact between target and pipette tip since there will be no drop break due to adhesion forces at the pipette tip.
On the one hand, the above process limits the minimum volume to be released, on the other hand, there may also occur a carry-over of substances already present in the target. Once the dosing is completed, the pipette tip is released into a waste box by means of an automatic ejection mechanism. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the automatic pipetting device, as it is used by the company Eppendorf, for example, includes coupling means for eight pipette tips.
For the release of liquid volumes of less than one microliter, the prior art knows free jet methods, as described in DE 19802367 C1 and DE 19802368 C1. There, a pressure chamber is respectively bounded by a membrane on one side, so that liquid droplets may be ejected from an ejection opening fluidically connected to the pressure chamber by deflecting the membrane.
A method allowing to release liquid amounts in the range of some 10 nanoliters is known as so-called "mosquito" method by the company TP Labtech, wherein here, however, the part to be exchanged in fluid contact involves a lot of manufacturing effort and is correspondingly expensive. Other systems, such as one described in EP 1093856 A1, are based on adapted pipettes into which a membrane is inserted. By means of an actuator pushing it, it allows higher dynamics than air cushion pipettes, whereby smaller release amounts may be achieved.
Finally, a method for dosing liquids in the nanoliter range is known from the German application 10337484.1, which was not prepublished. Such a method is schematically shown in FIGS. 7a to 7c. As shown in FIG. 7a, a flexible tube 30 includes an end 32 on the inlet side serving for the connection to a liquid reservoir, and an end 34 on the outlet side at which micro drops and/or micro jets may be released. Respective walls 36 of the elastic tube 30 are illustrated by dashed lines. An actuating means 38 is provided in the form of a displacer, which comprises a connecting part 40 with which the displacer 38 may be attached to an actuating member for driving the displacer 38.
The elastic tube may, for example, have a substantially constant cross-section, which will generally be circular, from its inlet end 32 to its outlet end 34. An area 42 arranged below the displacer 38 may be referred to as dosing chamber area and is defined by the position of the displacer with respect to the elastic tube. An area 44 essentially starting at the right end of the displacer 38 represents an outlet channel, while an area 46 essentially starting at the left end of the displacer 38 represents an inlet channel. The displacer 38 may comprise a displacer surface 50 extending in an inclined way with respect to the wall 36 of the flexible tube 30, which, during operation of the micro dosing device, allows the generation of a preferred direction in the direction of the outlet opening 34.
Assume that, in the state shown in FIG. 7a, the flexible tube 30 is filled with a liquid, wherein such a filling may be done, for example, by capillary forces. Starting from this state, the displacer 38 is moved quickly downwards in the direction of the arrows 52, so that a reduction of the duct volume between inlet opening and outlet opening is caused. This results in a liquid flow 54 towards the outlet end 34 and a liquid flow 56 towards the inlet end 32. Due to the forward flow 54, there is a liquid ejection in the form of a micro drop 60 and/or micro jet at the outlet opening 34. The portion of the liquid released through the outlet opening 34 as jet and/or drop depends on the position, type and dynamics of the volume change. Furthermore, the amount of liquid released as drop depends on the size of the displacer and on the stroke of the displacer 38, i.e. how much the tube is compressed.
After the ejection process, there is a refilling phase in which the displacer 38 is moved away from the tube in the direction of arrow 61 so that the volume of the inlet opening 32 and the outlet opening 34 is increased again and thus liquid flows through the inlet channel 46, see arrow 64 in FIG. 7c.
The details regarding this dosing method are described, as mentioned above, in the German application 10337484, whose related disclosure is incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,343 discusses a micro pipette tip for locations that are hard to reach. For this purpose, the front portion of the micro pipette tip is extended and ultra thin. This causes flexibility allowing the placement of the pipette tip at locations that are hard to reach. The opposing end of the pipette tip is rigid and allows to attach the pipette tip to conventional tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,061 discusses a cartridge pump and dispensing arrangement for applications in which cartridges containing liquid reagents are changed frequently. The cartridge pump includes a reservoir in which there is arranged a moveable piston. A lower open end of the reservoir empties directly into a dosing chamber in the form of a flexible pipe line. An actuating means in the form of a rubber mallet is provided by which the volume of the dosing chamber may be reduced to thereby cause an outflow of liquid through a nozzle connected to an end of the dosing chamber on the ejection side. Two valves are further arranged in the dosing chamber which allow only a unidirectional flow from the end on the reservoir side to the end on the nozzle side of the dosing chamber.
WO 02/092228 A2 discusses a dispensing means in which a conventional syringe pump is used to eject liquid volumes of less than 5 μl. According to this document, there is provided a syringe pump that is connected to a dispenser 2 via a tube line. The dispenser includes a system liquid reservoir separated from a sample liquid reservoir by an elastomer membrane. A nozzle comprising a nozzle bore is connected to the sample liquid reservoir. The system liquid reservoir is connected to the syringe pump via the tube line so that, by actuating the syringe pump, the membrane may be deflected via the system liquid to thereby eject sample liquid through the nozzle. Sample liquid may also be sucked in through the nozzle, wherein, in order to disconnect a droplet hanging at the nozzle after sucking in the sample liquid, an electric field is applied between the nozzle and a suitably arranged counterelectrode. One embodiment alternatively provides an actuating means to cause an axial expansion and/or compression of the nozzle to thereby disconnect droplets adhering to the tip after the sucking.
EP 0028478 B1 discusses a pipetting means in which an elastic pipe line is housed in a block such that a pipe-shaped recess in the block has a larger diameter than the outer diameter of the elastic pipe line. An end of the elastic pipe line on the ejection side is connected to a connection piece which, in turn, is connected to a pipette tip. Sucking in and ejecting liquid through the pipette tip is done by applying a positive pressure or a negative pressure to the internal bore of the block to cause corresponding volume changes of the elastic pipe line. In one embodiment, an end of the described squeeze tube means spaced apart from the pipette tip is connectable to a syringe via a three-way valve so that sample liquid and a diluting agent that was drawn into the syringe beforehand may be ejected into an outflow vessel through the pipette tip by actuating the syringe and by pressurizing the internal bore of the block.

Pipette tip, pipetting device, pipette tip actuating device and method for pipetting in the NL range


A method for use in a simplified login system, involving operating a computer to identify user name, password and submit fields on a remote website. The method comprises identifying a password field on a webpage, defining a first area around the password field for a user name field and a second area around the password field for a submit field, locating a field for user text entry in the first area and locating a field for a user click entry in the second field. There is also described a computer programmed to carry out the method, a data carrier containing program data by which a computer may be programmed to carry out the method, and a secure password storage and login system comprising a central server and a number of user computers, and which operates using the method.

Many websites require users to register a user name and password. It is common for even a casual user to have dozens of such accounts, and keeping track of one's user names and passwords becomes onerous. Many users for this reason use a single password on many accounts, which is detrimental to security.
A number of attempts have been made to address this problem, either by providing a secure storage area within the user's computer or by providing secure storage on a website. There have also been attempts to provide a system in which the relevant user name and password can be called from secure storage and automatically entered in the appropriate fields on the webpage. One such system is available as "Passpack". However, in known systems of this kind the user has to train the system by manually locating the user name, password and submit fields when first using a new website.
One object of the present invention is to provide a means for automatically locating these fields without user intervention. This is preferably done as part of a system providing secure storage and use of multiple user names and passwords, but may be applicable in other contexts.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to obviate, or at least mitigate, at least some of the drawbacks associated with the prior art.


An LED lamp protection circuit comprising: a driving circuit, a rectifier circuit coupled with the driving circuit, an LED luminous component circuit coupled with the rectifier circuit, and an arcing protection circuit coupled between the rectifier circuit and the LED luminous component circuit. The arcing protection circuit and the LED luminous component circuit are connected in parallel. When the LED lamp works under a normal condition, the arcing protection circuit is in blocking state. When at least one circuit between the rectifier circuit and the LED luminous component circuit opens, the arcing protection circuit is turned on, the driving circuit and the arcing protection circuit form a loop circuit to extinguish arc.

LED lighting has seen rapid growth in recent years owing to its energy efficiency, long service life, compact size, and environmental friendly advantages. The time to replace traditional incandescent and fluorescent lighting with LED lighting is here.
In the process of replacing a fluorescent lamp with an LED lamp, the electronic ballast of the fluorescent lamp is usually not replaced in order to save cost. Generally, it is required that the driving circuit of the LED lamp is able to take power from the output of the electronic ballast, thereby allowing the replacement of the LED lamp by simply removing the old fluorescent lamp. LED lamps nowadays are able to use the electronic ballast of the original fluorescent lamp as the driver of the LED lamp. When modifying the lamp, not only can this bypass the additional configuration of special LED drivers, but it also saves a lot of labor. This is especially true in expensive countries or regions.
Existing LED lamps generally comprise a lamp, a circuit board configured within the lamp and having a light source, and a cap configured at an end of the lamp. A power source is provided in the cap, the light source and the power source are electrically connected through the circuit board. However, there is sometimes poor soldering in the circuit board of the LED lamp or poor soldering between the light source of the LED lamp and the circuit board, which causes the LED lamp circuit to open. If the LED lamp circuit is open, the electronic ballast will generate a continuous high voltage at the point of the LED lamp circuit that is open, so that an arc, that is, an arcing phenomenon, is easily generated. The generated arc can easily cause the rectifier circuit of the LED lamp to be damaged. If the arc is significant, the high temperature generated may cause the circuit board of the LED lamp to be carbonized or overheat. In severe cases, it may emit smoke or even catch fire, which is a serious safety hazard (electric shock or fire) for the user.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a novel protection circuit for an LED lamp which can solve at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems.


Provided is a capacitor, and more preferably a hybrid capacitor, and a method of making the capacitor. The capacitor comprises an anode, with a dielectric on the anode, and a cathode with a barrier layer on the cathode. A separator, conductive polymer, liquid electrolyte and stabilizer are between the anode and cathode.

Hybrid aluminium capacitors are a complex system comprising an anode covered with a dielectric, a cathode and a separator between the dielectric and cathode. A conducting polymer between the dielectric and cathode assures electrical connection between the anode and the cathode through the dielectric to create a capacitive couple. An electrolyte fills the available volume in the separator/polymer structure to facilitate self-healing if there are defects in the dielectric.
There are three main interfaces in a hybrid capacitor of importance herein. The interfaces are the interface between the dielectric and polymer, the interface between the cathode and polymer and the interface between the electrolyte and polymer. The interface between the dielectric and polymer has little impact on the conductivity of the polymer. Direct contact between the polymer and metal of the cathode surface, in combination with the interface of the electrolyte and polymer, allows electrochemical reactions which can transform the polymer to a non-conducting state. Practically, one can observe the conducting polymer reduction when a high leakage current is applied, or a high cathode polarization happens, during surge voltage overloading. A high cathode polarization is a significant negative potential which results in enough DC current to electrochemically reduce a significant portion of the polymer.
The most common conducting polymers are conjugated polymers such as polyaniline (PANI), polyacetylene (PA), polypyrole (PPy), polythiophene (PT), polyparaphenylene (PPP) and polyparaphenylene vinylene (PPV). Conjugated polymers demonstrate higher conductivity in the positive bipolaron state wherein the polymer is oxidized from the neutral state to the bipolar state as illustrated in FIG. 1A for 3,4-polyethylene dioxythiophene (PEDOT), FIG. 1B for PPy and FIG. 1C for PANI. The polaron state is formed by chemical or electrochemical oxidation of the neutral polymer chain with further oxidation leading to the bipolaron state.
The bipolaron state corresponds to a high degree of p-doping since the Fermi energy level is closer to the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) energy level. For some conducting polymers a neutral chain can turn to a polaron or bipolaron through protonation, such as by treatment with low pH solutions, however this must be considered as an intramolecular oxidation by protons. With PAN and PPY polymers electrons have to be accepted from low energy electron levels for a proton to be involved in the reaction and therefore the concentration should thermodynamically allow the process of "hole" generation from the accepted proton. If a proton is not involved, as in PEDOT, the polymer doping can be conducted only through intermolecular oxidation.
The oxidation is a reversable process. Therefore, to reduce a bipolaron back to a lower conductivity polaron state, and almost non-conducting neutral state, the Fermi level should be increased, or electrochemical potential decreased, for the polymer. Furthermore, for reduction a source of electrons should exist and ionic exchange must be allowed to maintain the overall electroneutrality. The reduction process can occur through chemical or electrochemical mechanisms.
In the absence of electrolyte the reduction process is significantly suppressed since the activation barriers are high and a strong reducing agent is required. However, in a hybrid capacitor comprising electrolyte the activation barriers are reduced due to solvation of the reagents, adsorption and ionic mass transfer.
Electrochemical reduction may also take place when the polymer is in a direct electronic contact with a metal electrode and the Fermi level in the electrode is high enough to assure electron tunnelling to the bipolaron or polaron bands. When the bipolaron band is filled out with electrons the gap between the Fermi level and highest unoccupied molecular orbit (HUMO), or the valence band, gets larger resulting in overall polymer conductivity decrease.
The present invention provides structural components capable of mitigating reduction of the conductive polymer thereby providing improved performance, particularly, with regards to ESR at high temperatures and voltages.

Hybrid capacitor with improved ESR stabilization


A plane thin-type polymer actuator is provided with a conductive active member serving as a first electrode layer, and a second electrode layer, with at least a first electrolytic layer made in contact with the active member layer. The first electrolytic layer being sealed between the two electrode layers so that, by applying an electric field between the two electrode layers, the active member layer is expanded and contracted. In this structure, the first electrolytic layer is a solid-state electrolyte having a specific elastic modulus, or a liquid-state electrolyte. A holding member is provided to maintain the thickness between the active member layer and the second electrode layer.

The present invention relates to a flexible light-weight polymer actuator that is deformed upon receipt of an electrical stimulus, and applicable to home-service robots and the like.
With respect to a driving source for a joint driving mechanism used for conventional industrial robots, devices such as an electromagnetic motor, a hydraulic actuator, and a pneumatic actuator are used. The joint driving mechanisms using such driving sources include a mechanism using an electromagnetic motor and a reduction mechanism mainly made of metal as well as a mechanism using a hydropneumatic cylinder made of metal, and are made of a hard heavy material, and used under control at a specific place in a factory.
In contrast, with respect to the driving source used for apparatuses such as robots that are expected to be actively operated closely to people for jobs, such as house chores and work assist jobs as well as nursing assist jobs for the aged and physically-challenged person, in homes, offices, and hospitals, there have been demands for allowing the driving source itself to be small-sized, light-weight and flexible, and also to be used safely. With respect to such an actuator, among the pneumatic actuators, a pneumatic actuator made from rubber, which is highly flexible, has been proposed; however, in order to drive this, auxiliary machineries such as a compressor and a controlling valve are required, with the result that the weight-reducing attempt for the entire system has a limitation. Here, artificial muscle actuators using various polymer materials that are light-weight and highly flexible have been proposed, and the practical use thereof has been desired.
With respect to the polymer actuators that are operated by an electric stimulus, Non-Patent Document 1 has described those as a key-note lecture. With respect to a polymer gel, a metal composite ion polymer, an inherently conducting polymer, a polymer having a carbon-based material dispersion-type conductivity, carbon-nano-tubes, and dielectric elastomers, polymer actuators that are driven by an electric stimulus have been examined. Among these, the inherently conducting polymer has been highly expected as an actuator which can be driven with a comparatively low voltage, provides a generated stress that exerts a capability exceeding a biological muscle, and has light-weight and flexible features.
Moreover, a polymer material having conductivity with a carbon-based material dispersed therein, for example, a polymer material having conductivity with carbon-nano-tubes dispersed therein have also been highly expected as actuators that exert a high generated force.
Conventionally, most of these polymer actuators are operated in an electrolytic solution. With respect to an example of an actuator that can be operated in the air, Patent Document 1 has disclosed a bent type actuator in which a solid-state electrolyte is sandwiched between two films made of an inherently conducting polymer, which are compatibly used as electrodes and active member layers. Moreover, with respect to another example of the same type of actuator that can be operated in the air, Patent Document 2 has disclosed an actuator of a translation type in which an electrolytic layer is sandwiched between a conductive polymer layer to form an active member layer and an opposing electrode.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-169394
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-51949
Non-Patent Document 1: S G. Wax, R. R. Sands, Smart Structures And Materials 1999: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 3669, pp. 2-10, 1999
In the structure of the bent type actuator shown in Patent Document 1, however, the movement of the actuator is limited by deflection, with the result that, although a comparatively large displacement can be obtained, the actuator fails to exert a great force due to low deflection rigidity.
Moreover, Patent Document 2 has disclosed, for example, the actuator in which, with respect to an actuator operable in the air, a conductive polymer is expanded and contracted to be deformed in the longitudinal direction, which is different from the deflection deformation, and string-shaped inherently conducting polymer materials, which are compatibly used as an electrode and an active member layer, are placed in the center of a column-shaped solid-state electrolyte, with electrodes facing the periphery of the column-shaped solid-state electrolyte being formed; however, the conductive polymer portion that is expanded and contracted as the actuator has a cylinder shape, and the resulting issue is that, when bundled, the effective cross-sectional area of the active member layer, which contributes to driving, becomes smaller.
In contrast, Patent Document 2 has disclosed the translation type actuator having laminated layers, which is capable of increasing the effective cross-sectional area of the active member layer, and also exerts a great force. In the actuator of this type, however, in the case when the electrolytic layer is made softer so as not to disturb the expansion and contraction of the active member layer, after repetitive operations with a large distortion generated in the active member layer, an interlayer separation tends to occur.
Here, with respect to the driving source used for apparatuses such as robots that are expected to be actively operated closely to people for jobs, such as house chores and work assist jobs as well as nursing assist jobs for the aged and physically-challenged person in homes, offices, and hospitals, there have been strong demands for achieving a small-size, light weight, and flexible driving source for an actuator and for consequently realizing a safe actuator.
In order to solve the above-mentioned issues, the present invention relates to a safe actuator using such a small-size, light weight, and flexible driving source, and its objective is to provide a polymer actuator using a polymer material, which can generate a great force, and is operated at high speeds, easily manufactured and in particular, highly resistant to deformation.

Polymer actuator having active member layer that expands or contracts upon application of electric field


A signal processor acts upon a stream of incoming musical performance data including note-on signals and outputs a stream of musical performance data including note-on and note-off signals. The incoming performance data is dispatched to a multiplicity of output channels depending on the time interval between successive incoming note-on data. Notes played in very rapid succession are identified as chords and are performed with identical musical parameters such as duration and instrumental timbre. Notes played in slow succession are identified as polyphonic and are performed with the same instrumental timbre. Notes played at an intermediate speed are identified as melodic and are performed with the same instrumental timbre and a variable staccato or legato effect. A variable legato effect is achieved by controlling the overlap of successive pairs of notes, adjusting the release of the first note with respect to the onset of the second note as a function of the time interval between their onsets, and limiting the number of notes that can sound simultaneously. A variable staccato effect is achieved by controlling the duration of each note as a function of the time interval between the note and its predecessor, and limiting the number of notes that can sound simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to the field of electronic musical instruments, electronic tone generators, and electronic musical controllers. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling expressive musical articulation by controlling the duration, overlap, and timbre assignment of successive tones as a function of playing speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic musical instruments comprise two distinct systems: a tone generator and a controlling interface (controller). The two systems can be embodied in a single device or as two entities that are interconnected. A controller transduces the physical gestures of the performer and sends performance data to one or many tone generators. At a minimum, the performance data includes a pitch and a note-on signal, with optional additional data representing other musical parameters such as velocity. Some controllers sense and transmit note-off data. Typical controllers are a piano-like keyboard, an array of drum pads, or a keyed wind instrument. Another type of controller is a sequencer, which is a program that stores performance data (either recorded from another controller or entered by hand) and replays the data automatically. Further, a controller can be a computer that computes performance data and transmits the performance data over a data transmission line (e.g., a dedicated data transmission line, a data transmission line within a network system, or the Internet) to a tone generator.
Traditionally, a performer controls articulation by varying musical attributes relating to the perceived "connectedness" of a sequence of notes. There are two main ways to control this effect. One method is to control the time when notes begin and end, thereby controlling the duration of each note and the degree of overlap or detachment among successive notes. Another method is to vary the shape of the amplitude envelope of a note, particularly the speed of the attack (ramp-up in volume from silence or the previous note upon a new note-on action) and release (ramp-down to silence upon note-off action).
One attribute of articulation is the degree of overlap between successive tones. A continuum ranging between "legato" and "staccato" can be used to characterize the articulation of tones. Legato is characterized by slow attack and perceivable overlap between successive tones. Staccato is characterized by fast attack and an interval of silence between tones.
The ability of a performer to control legato/staccato depends on the particular capabilities of the tone generator and controller combination employed. In particular, the degree of legato overlap effect cannot be controlled unless the player can manipulate the controller so as to send separate note-on and note-off signals to the tone generator and the tone generator has the ability to sustain a tone indefinitely and to produce many tones simultaneously.
Continuous controllers, like piano or organ keyboards transmit note-on messages on key depress and note-off on key release. This permits great flexibility in articulation, but can also work to the disadvantage of some players, who may have difficulty performing fast passages where notes "smear" because the keys are not released quickly enough.
Percussive controllers, such as drum pads/triggers or marimba-like arrays of pads respond only to the initial stroke and note duration is controlled indirectly by automatically sending a note-off after some time interval has elapsed. The interval is either fixed or velocity-sensitive (i.e., the duration of the note is a function of the speed at which the drumstick strikes the pad), and is determined at the time of initial gesture and unchangeable thereafter. Fast musical passages can result in blurred sound where many notes of fixed duration overlap.
In current practice, it is common to achieve a legato effect by controlling the attack and decay rates of the amplitude envelope, or by connecting notes in a monophonic fashion, allowing only one tone to sound at a time.
Many continuous and percussive controllers can measure the velocity of the initiating note-on gesture (speed of key-down or mallet stroke, puff of air) and the tone generator can use this data to control rate of attack. Some keyboard controllers can sense the speed of note release and use this information to control release rate. In both cases, the effect is determined at the time of the initiating gesture and applies only to the note associated with that gesture.
The duration of a tone depends on the player's ability to control the moment of note-off (i.e., when the release segment of the envelope begins) and is limited by the affordance of the particular controller being used. In particular, keyboard-like controllers send a note-off signal upon key release, and percussive controllers predetermine note duration at the time of note-on.
Current practice either imposes no constraints on the number of notes with legato envelopes that can sound simultaneously or limits legato to strictly monophonic mode where one tone sounds at a time. When a legato passage is played it is useful to allow only two notes to be sounding at the same time in order to have some amount of overlap while avoiding a blurred effect. The amount of overlap should be adjusted to account for the speed of consecutive notes in a musical passage.
When an electronic instrument allows variable articulative control over envelope and duration, it is always on a note-by-note basis. This can be a problem when a group of notes is performed together in a chord. Individual notes may have different envelopes resulting in an unpleasant balance, or the duration of notes may differ so that the chord is released in a ragged way, each note at a different time.
The Studio Vision sequencer program from Opcode has a legato mode operation that can be applied to a selected range of notes in a sequence. This program will change the duration of each selected note so that it extends a given percentage of the way to the next note. This feature is an editing operation that must be applied to a recorded sequence out of real time; it cannot be used while actually playing.
The Kurzweil K2500 tone generator has a "Legato Play" mode. In this mode a note will play the attack segment of its amplitude envelope only when all other notes have been released. The K2500 also has a legato switch which causes the instrument to behave in a monophonic fashion: whenever a new note is begun, the previously sounding note is immediately terminated.
The "malletKAT" is a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) controller that resembles a xylophone. It has a mono mode overlap feature which provides a fixed overlap interval between successive notes; when a new note is started the previous note is terminated after the fixed interval has elapsed. The overlap interval does not change and the feature is available only when the controller is in monophonic mode; thus, chordal or polyphonic performance of many simultaneous tones is impossible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,960 describes a keyboard instrument that produces a legato-type envelope depending on a predetermined playing style and instrument timbre. The legato effect is strictly monophonic; it is produced when a new note-on is received and another note its still sounding. The release of the old note and attack of the new note are forced to be coincident and shaped by a predetermined amplitude envelope with relatively small attack for the new note. No overlapping of the two notes occurs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,183 describes a keyboard instrument which distinguishes between two states, legato and non-legato, depending on the speed of successive key-down signals, and applies legato or non-legato ADSR envelopes on a note-by-note basis. The duration of notes is not controlled, the overlapping of successive legato notes is not controlled, and the number of simultaneously sounding legato notes is not constrained. All non-legato notes are treated the same, whether they are part of a chord or a polyphonic passage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,731 describes a device for selecting one of two fixed durations for percussive tones such that when many keys are played in quick succession the duration is set shorter to avoid excessive overlap. This device concerns percussive tones with fixed durations and which are incapable of being sustained indefinitely.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,019 describes a touch controller that adjusts the note-on velocities according to playing speed. The time interval from the immediately preceding note-off or note-on is used to adjust the touch velocity so that the degree of responsiveness to force of touch varies with playing speed. The disclosed device includes means for altering the touch effects of a new note when a note-on is received. It does not control the duration of a tone or affect any attributes of previous notes.
Changing the attack and release rates of amplitude envelopes modifies the timbre of a note slightly, but the tone is still recognized as a variant of the same instrument. Some electronic musical instruments provide mechanisms for selecting and mixing multiple instrumental timbres for each note or a range of notes.
One such feature is known as "keyboard split", whereby a predetermined contiguous range of pitches is played in a particular timbre while another disjunct range is played in a different timbre (e.g., C2-B3 bass, C4-C6 piano). The ranges and timbre assignments are preset and cannot be changed during performance.
Another timbre selection method is "velocity mapping", whereby a pair of timbres is assigned to a range of pitches. A mix of the two timbres is controlled by the force of the player's note-on actions, (e.g., at soft levels 100% timbre A and 0% timbre B, at medium levels 50/50 mixture of the two timbres, at loud levels 0% timbre A and 100% timbre B). This sort of timbre selection is subtle and difficult to control, since it is hard to reliably reproduce the same force on repeated key strokes.

Method and apparatus for automatic variable articulation and timbre assignment for an electronic musical instrument


A compound of formula (A):

A liquid crystal display device generally has a liquid crystal cell and a polarizing plate. A polarizing plate is comprised of a protective film and a polarizing film, and is obtained by a process including: dyeing a polarizing film composed of a polyvinyl alcohol film with iodine, orienting or stretching the resultant film, and laminating a protective film on each of both sides of the thus-oriented film. In a transmissive-type liquid crystal display device, such a polarizing plate is attached to each of the both sides of a liquid crystal cell, and optionally one or more optical compensation film(s) is further provided. In a reflective-type liquid crystal display device, a reflective plate, a liquid crystal cell, one or more optical compensation film(s), and a polarizing plate are arranged in this order. A liquid crystal cell is comprised of a liquid crystalline molecule, two substrates for enclosing the molecule, and electrode layers for applying voltage to the liquid crystalline molecule. Such a liquid crystal cell carries out displaying the state of ON/OFF, depending on difference in the alignment or orientation state of the liquid crystalline molecule. There are proposed display modes, applicable to each of the transmissive-type and reflective-type displays, such as TN (twisted nematic), IPS (in-plane switching), OCB (optically compensatory bend), VA (vertically aligned), and ECB (electrically controlled birefringence) modes.
An optically anisotropic layer is used for various liquid crystal display devices, in order to eliminate image coloration or widen viewing angle. As the optically anisotropic layer, oriented birefringent polymer films have been used. It has been proposed to use an optically anisotropic layer formed of a liquid crystalline molecule on a transparent support, in place of the optically anisotropic layer of the oriented birefringent film. Since liquid crystalline molecules provide various alignment forms, the use of liquid crystalline molecules has made it possible to realize optical properties that are not achievable using conventional oriented birefringent polymer films.
The optical properties of the optically anisotropic layer are determined depending on the optical properties of liquid crystal cells, specifically depending on difference in display mode as mentioned above. The use of liquid crystalline molecules allows the production of optically anisotropic layers having various optical properties depending on various display modes of liquid crystal cells. Rod-like liquid crystalline molecules or discotic liquid crystalline molecules are generally used as liquid crystalline molecules. Optically anisotropic layers using liquid crystalline molecules have already proposed for various display modes.
There is a report of a method of producing an optically anisotropic material in which a low-molecular bifunctional liquid-crystal acrylate compound is used (JP-A-03-014029 ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application)). This technique includes aligning a low-molecular bifunctional liquid-crystal acrylate compound or composition in twisted nematic alignment, and then photopolymerizing the compound or composition such that the alignment state would be fixed.
On the other hand, in recent years, it has become essential to form a liquid crystal cell into a thin film in order to reduce the weight and manufacturing costs of liquid crystal display devices. Consequently, it has become necessary to achieve a desired optical anisotropy by the use of a thinner film as an optically anisotropic layer. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to increase the refractive index anisotropy (Δn) of liquid crystal compounds to form optically anisotropic layers.
Known examples of polymerizable liquid crystal compounds with large Δn include compounds having a tolane moiety in the molecule, as disclosed in JP-A-2002-128742 and JP-A-2002-265475. However, a tolane-series compound has an absorption in a longer wavelength side, and thus it is feared that it may be difficult to proceed radical polymerization of the compound and that the compound may cause coloration of optically anisotropic layers. Further, since a tolane compound is low in stability to light, it is not necessarily preferred in view of film stability.

1,3,5-triazine compound, composition, and optically anisotropic material composed of the same

Abstract: A compound of formula (A):

Abstract: wherein L1 and L2 each independently are a single bond or a divalent linking group, R1 and R2 each independently are a hydrogen atom or a substituent, and R is a group having a polymerizable group; and a composition, containing at least one of the compound; an optically anisotropic material, containing the compound or the composition; and a liquid crystal display device, containing the optically anisotropic material.