The present invention provides a method and apparatus for fabricating piezoresistive polysilicon on a substrate by low-temperature metal induced crystallization by: (1) providing the substrate having a passivation layer; (2) performing, at or near room temperature in a chamber without breaking a vacuum or near-vacuum within the chamber, the steps of: (a) creating a metal layer on the passivation layer, and (b) creating an amorphous silicon layer on the metal layer, wherein the metal layer and the amorphous silicon layer have approximately the same thickness; (3) annealing the substrate, the passivation layer, the metal layer and the amorphous silicon layer at a temperature equal to or less than 600° C. and a period of time equal to or less than three hours to form a doped polysilicon layer below a residual metal layer; and (4) removing the residual metal layer to expose the doped polysilicon layer.

Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with the deposition of silicon films by aluminum induced crystallization.
Recently there has been an increasing interest in sensors on flexible substrates towards the development of a 'smart-skin' for simultaneous and real-time sensing of various mechanical, biological and chemical elements. A smart skin would combine multi-sensory arrays with polymer electronics or silicon thin film transistors to sense and process a variety of stimuli. One challenge in fabricating sensors on flexible substrates is the low thermal budget of the flexible substrates, dictating low temperature processing. Polysilicon is widely used as a piezoresistive material for force/pressure sensing applications.
The need for low-temperature deposition of thin films for sensing and other applications is dictated by the trend of shifting from conventional silicon substrates to lower weight, low profile, structurally robust and lower cost flexible substrates. These flexible substrates easily conform to non-planar objects, could be batch fabricated at lower cost and enable multilayer construction. This would eventually evolve into seamless assimilation of sensors for various stimuli onto a single flexible substrate for applications in robotics, prosthetics, surgical instrumentation and industrial diagnostics to name a few.
The sensitivity of the piezoresistive material is defined by its gauge factor (GF), given by [1]:
                              G                                                              F                =                              Δ                                                                                R              /              R                                ɛ                                    (        1        )            where ΔR/R is the change in resistance of the material when experiencing a unit strain of ε. The gauge factor of the piezoresistive material is highly dependent on its grain size [1]. Larger grain sizes result in higher gauge factors. In order to obtain good quality polysilicon films, LPCVD requires higher deposition temperatures in excess of 600° C. and even higher temperatures for dopant diffusion, to make the resultant film less resistive [62]. These temperatures are too high to be used with flexible polyimide substrates. Although, PECVD provides a low-temperature solution for the problem, the film obtained using this method requires post-deposition annealing temperatures in excess of 700° C. to increase the grain size and improve conductivity [28]. Alternatively, laser ablation is also used to obtain polysilicon films. However, this technique has issues with film contamination and uniformity when trying to deposit over large surfaces.
Different metals and semiconductors have been utilized as piezoresistive materials. Platinum resistors have been placed in series with indium tin oxide (ITO) as a piezoresistive material, achieving GF of 20.9, designed for elevated temperature sensors operating up to 1560° C. [2]. Thin gold films of thickness 40 nm have also been employed as piezoresistors with a GF of 2 to 4 on a SU-8 based mechanical sensor [3]. In addition, thick film resistors comprising of ruthenium oxide powder and glass frit in paste form have been used as a piezoresistive sensing material and GF of 2 to 30 have been achieved [4]. Single crystal diamond shows a very high GF of 2000 but for most applications it is prohibitively expensive. Alternatively, polycrystalline diamond thin films deposited by chemical vapor deposition showed GF of 100. In a particular case, 0.5 micron thick boron doped polycrystalline diamond resistors were implemented to achieve a GF of 22 [5]. For nickel-silver (Nix—Ag1-x) thin films, a GF of 2.2 to 2.4 was demonstrated when x=0.35 [6]. Nichrome (Ni:Cr=80:20) thin film resistors embedded on polyimide showed a lower GF of 1.3 [7]. GF of 4 to 5 have been realized by tantalum nitride-copper (TaN—Cu) nanocomposite thin film resistors with a near zero temperature coefficient of resistance [8]. Strained Si0.9Ge0.1 resistors of thickness of 200 nm deposited by MBE showed 30% increase in their piezoresistive coefficient π66 compared to π44 of silicon for the doping concentration of NA=1018 cm−3, thus making it more sensitive than silicon thin film piezoresistors [9]. Thin germanium films were evaporated on Kapton as substrate at low temperatures to achieve a GF of 33 to 42 and as high as 100 [10]. Amorphous carbon layers sputter-deposited at low temperatures (<150° C.) have also been used as strain gauges with a GF between 36 and 46 [11]. Giant piezoresistance effect has been observed in p-type Si nanowires grown along <111> and <110> directions compared to bulk p-type Si enabling its use in nano-electromechanical systems on flexible substrates [12].
Polycrystalline silicon is one of the most widely used piezoresistive thin film materials as well as in other MEMS applications and CMOS technology. In particular, its relatively high gauge factor (GF) value compared to metals, combined with its CMOS process compatibility and availability at a reasonable cost make it very attractive as a piezoresistive material for force and pressure sensing applications. Since polysilicon film constitutes of grains of various sizes separated by grain boundaries. P. J. French et al. [1] gave the GF for a single polysilicon grain as follows:
                              G                                                              F                =                  1          -                      ∑                                                            S                  ij                  ′                                                  S                  ii                  ′                                                                          (                                  1                  -                                      δ                    ij                                                  )                                              +                                                    ρ                g                            ×                              π                lg                                                                    ρ                g                            +                                                                    (                                                                  2                                                w                                            +                      δ                                        )                                                                          ρ                    b                                                                    [                                      L                    -                                          (                                                                        2                                                    w                                                +                        δ                                            )                                                        ]                                                              +                                                    ρ                b                            ×                              π                lb                                                                    ρ                b                            +                                                                    [                                          L                      -                                              (                                                                              2                                                        w                                                    +                          δ                                                )                                                              ]                                                                          ρ                    g                                                                    (                                                            2                                            w                                        +                    δ                                    )                                                                                (        2        )            where:                Sij′ and Sii′ are compliance coefficients for Si obtained from its elastic coefficients [13];        δ is the boundary thickness (nm);        δij is the Kronecker delta function;        ρg and ρb are grain and barrier resistivities, respectively;        πlg and πlb are grain and boundary piezoresistive coefficients;        L is the grain size; and        w is the barrier width created due to depletion of carriers inside the grain.Eq. (2) shows that GF is higher for large grain sizes. Hence the sensitivity of the polysilicon film to applied strain increases with increase in its grain sizes.
Fabrication of piezoresistor-based pressure sensors on flexible polyimide substrates is limited by the glass transition temperature of the specific polyimide used, which sets the value for the maximum deposition and/or annealing temperature of the piezoresistive thin film such that the integrity of flexible polyimide substrate is maintained.
Earlier work on polysilicon piezoresistive pressure sensors on silicon substrates involved deposition of polysilicon by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) at temperatures of 620° C. and above [14,15,16,17], followed by doping by ion-implantation or diffusion, to achieve specific resistivity Annealing at high temperatures is carried out to activate the dopant, stabilize the polycrystalline material by increasing the grain size and removing lattice damage during doping [18]. However, due to thermal budget restrictions of the flexible substrate material, polysilicon films deposited by LPCVD can not be used.
Another commonly used polysilicon deposition technique is Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD). Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon film at temperature below 400° C. is obtained by PECVD [19]. As the substrate temperature during PECVD deposition is further reduced, the quality of the film degrades and film obtained is amorphous in nature [20]. The resultant film requires silicon dehydrogenation step and crystallization at higher temperatures. In-situ doping of the amorphous silicon is required to obtain conductive layers, followed by annealing at temperatures around 750° C. for electrical activation [20]. This condition also restricts the use of PECVD for deposition of polysilicon on flexible substrate. However, RF-biased RF-inductively coupled PECVD tubular system provides an attractive option for depositing polysilicon with grain sizes up to 80 nm without any post-heat treatment and at temperatures below 77° C. has been reported [21].
Excimer laser annealing [22,23,24,25,26] of amorphous silicon films results in a defect free polysilicon film with large grains. Although this technique is compatible with low-temperature substrates, it has the disadvantages of being expensive, and highly susceptible to variations in the laser beam, which affect the film quality. It also has a narrow operating window dependent on the laser beam spot-size [27] which reduces throughput, and possibly introduces contamination due to the molten silicon layer from the substrate [28,29]. Another method of low-temperature deposition of polysilicon is by laser ablation [30,31]. However, preliminary tests on pulsed laser ablated polysilicon gave a non-uniform film with clusters of silicon islands, which made the patterning of the film difficult.
Another method of depositing amorphous silicon is by conventional DC magnetron sputtering [32,33], which can be a low-temperature process. Nevertheless, in order to obtain a polycrystalline film, the sample is to be subsequently annealed at a higher temperature (>500° C.) which makes this technique incompatible with a plastic substrate or any material with a lower thermal budget. Different methods of annealing such as laser annealing, furnace annealing or rapid thermal annealing can be used for the recrystallization step. [18] However, they require annealing temperatures in excess of 900° C. with anneal times ranging from 15 secs to few hours depending on the method used. RF sputtering at 13.56 Mhz was used to deposit microcrystalline silicon (μcSi:H) with grain sizes of 20 nm at the substrate temperature of 100° C. with argon (Ar) and with partial pressure of less than 40% of hydrogen (H2) gas. The film showed incorporation of hydrogen [34]. Polysilicon was also deposited at substrate temperatures of 470° C. to 490° C. using ultra-high vacuum sputtering system with RF (100 MHz) and sputter gas mixture of Ar+H2. The polysilicon grain sizes obtained were 40 nm. Lower substrate temperature of 300° C. gave the polysilicon grain size of 26 nm. Low temperature deposition of polysilicon was also achieved by a bias-sputtering process in presence of Ar gas, in addition to H2 and mix of H2O, CO and CO2 gases with individual partial pressures of 1.0×10−8 Torr or less, and at substrate temperatures ranging from 400° C. to 700° C. The average grain size obtained in this case was 80 nm at the deposition temperature of 550° C. [36]. Y. H. Jang et al. [37] described the deposition of polysilicon at 300° C. using a very high frequency (182.5 MHz) sputtering by capacitively-coupled parallel plate electrodes using Ar and H2 sputter gases. The polysilicon grain sizes obtained in this case was 20 nm. J. Joo described the use of a 2 MHz inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source based ionized magnetron sputtering with optimized Ar:H2 gas flow ratio of 10:6 to obtain polysilicon films at a substrate temperature of 250° C. with grain sizes of 50-70 nm [38]. Pulsed DC magnetron sputtering was used by P. Reinig et al. to deposit poly-Si thin films at the substrate temperature of 450° C. in only Ar environment. The maximum polysilicon grain size obtained was 60 nm [39]. K. Xu et al. deposited polysilicon films at a substrate temperature of 200° C. on thin gold-coated glass and at 140° C. on polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) substrate using DC magnetron sputtering with 5% H2, 10% Kr, and 85% Ar. The polysilicon grain sizes obtained were (95±5) nm [40,41].
None of the cited works above evaluated the piezoresistive properties of the resultant polysilicon films. As a result, there is a need for a low temperature method for fabricating silicon piezoresistors that has a short anneal time, does not require additional annealing or doping and is suitable for flexible substrates.

Method and apparatus for fabricating piezoresistive polysilicon by low-temperature metal induced crystallization

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A bowl assembly is described having a bowl and lid and a masher. The lid has an embedded suction cup that is adapted to secure the bottom of the bowl when the lid is placed inverted on a flat surface. The bowl has interior ridges which serve to help mash up food when the masher is pressed down. The masher is ring-shaped and has a wider handle and food contacting surface.

Feeding infants and toddlers is a never-ending task for parents and caretakers. Because of the young child's limited teeth or potential digestion issues, often the food is mashed, pureed, or otherwise ground down or blended to make chewing and digestion easier, and prevent a choking hazard. Whether at home or away, a parent may take food and mash or puree it to a state that is palatable for the young child. If at home, then a blender or chopper or other small appliance may be used. However, when traveling outside the home, there is no easy access to these small appliances so that parent often has to try to mash or cut up the food pieces manually using a fork or other available utensil. This is not an effective or efficient way to mash food for young children and the resultant uneven or large food pieces may cause chewing problems for a child with few teeth, or a choking hazard or digestion difficulties because the food was not pre-mashed.


An object of the present invention is to provide a black ink composition by which a recorded matter in which a fine surface defect on a recorded matter is effectively suppressed, can be obtained. For this object, the present invention is a black ink composition containing water, carbon black, and a water-soluble polyurethane resin, wherein when a content of carbon black is not less than 0.4% by weight and less than 1.5% by weight, a content of a solid matter of the water-soluble polyurethane resin is not less than 0.67-fold and not more than 2.5-fold a content of the carbon black and, when a content of the carbon black is less than 0.4% by weight, a content of a solid matter of the water-soluble polyurethane resin is not less than 7.5-fold a content of the carbon black.

For the purpose of obtaining a better monochromatic image or a gray scale by an ink jet recording method or the like, an ink set comprising two kinds or three kinds or more of black inks having different carbon black concentrations is used in some cases. As this kind of black ink, a black ink composition defining a carbon black concentration, and a solid matter concentration of a prescribed amount of a fine particle emulsion corresponding to the carbon black concentration is disclosed (JP-A-2004-225036, JP-A-2004-225037). Among such the black ink compositions, in a black ink composition having a low pigment concentration, a resin content is higher than that of a normal aqueous ink composition. According to these black ink compositions, phenomenon in which reflected light generated by reflection of a fluorescent lamp or natural light from an image recorded using a dilute black ink composition produces golden gloss, and phase shift in an image recorded using a black ink composition for intermediate gradation (phenomenon in which, by changing an observation angle of an observer relative to a recorded image printed on a recorded medium or by changing an irradiation angle of a light source, original lightness of gray is observed to be shifted to a black side or a white side, at a part of a recorded region) can be suppressed.
In addition, as an ink used in an ink jet printer or the like, an aqueous ink composition using a pigment is known, and a pigment is excellent in light resistance and water resistance as compared with a dye, and is utilized as a coloring agent of an ink which allows for the better color developed state for a longer period of time after recording. Since the pigment is generally insoluble in water, when the pigment is used in an ink, it is necessary to mix the pigment with a dispersant such as a resin, to stably disperse this in water. For stably dispersing the pigment in water, it is necessary to study a kind and a particle diameter of the pigment, a kind of a resin used, and a dispersing means, and many dispersing methods and ink compositions for ink jet recording have previously been proposed. JP-A-2000-1639 describes that the discharge stability and the film physical properties such as friction resistance can be improved using a polyurethane resin as an aqueous resin in an aqueous ink composition.

Aqueous ink composition and urethane resin composition for aqueous ink composition


An optical fiber transmission system adapted to provide a remote passive identification of components deployed in said transmission system, wherein each component comprises an associated passive optical identification unit adapted to provide identification of a component type of the respective component on the basis of a received optical identification signature carried in an optical identification signal to said component.

The invention relates to a method and a system to provide remote passive identification of components deployed in an optical fiber transmission system.
Optical fiber transmissions typically have a central office acting as a traffic hub for all telecommunication channels supported on the passive optical network. Further, the passive optical network comprises the network nodes which form the end points for the communication channels. Each remote node of the passive optical network can comprise a transponder or transceiver which terminates a data channel which originates or terminates in the central office at the other end of the optical link. The passive optical network add/drop optical filters are provided corresponding to each channel wavelength. These add/drop optical filters of the passive optical network can be placed at the same or at a different location as the transceivers of the remote nodes. The add/drop filter is spliced along the length of a network fiber of the passive optical network and forms an integral part of the passive optical network. The add/drop optical filters can remain in place during an operation lifetime of the passive optical network, while the transponders or transceivers of the remote nodes are added, removed or replaced according to the needs of the network operator at the remote locations. The network operator of the passive optical network needs to have access to inventory and topology information regarding components and modules available in the respective optical network at any point in time. While the equipment located at the remote nodes of the passive optical network can provide such inventory information, there is currently no method available to remotely detect the type of add/drop filters available in the passive optical network and their location along the network fiber of the passive optical network. Accordingly, network operators cannot determine a location of filters, in particular add/drop filters across such a conventional network. In conventional systems network operators rely on the installer to have connected the correct filter at each side and on inventory documentation manually entered or written by the respective installer. As a consequence, errors during installation can occur in this process and information, in particular inventory information concerning the add/drop filters can be lost. The only possible remedy involves dedicated visits by the network operator to the remote nodes or remote sites which is time-consuming and cumbersome for the respective network operator.
Filter networks with dedicated communication channels between the nodes such as an optical supervisory channel OSC can derive inventory information about filter placement provided that the filters are equipped with an ID chip. Further, this conventional network requires that an electrical power is available at the filter add/drop location. However, in a passive optical network PON most filters, in particular add/drop filters, are not provided with electrical power so that a network operator cannot retrieve inventory information regarding the filters, for instance via a dedicated communication channel such as an optical supervisory channel.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and a method that allows remote passive identification of channel add/drop filters deployed in an optical fiber transmission system.


A blowout preventer having a body and bonnets hinged thereto with throw latches for securing the bonnets to the body, wedges between the body and the hinges for adjusting the tilt of the bonnet and the position of the hinge side of the bonnets when closed and wedges between the body and the latches for adjusting the position of the latch side of the bonnets when closed.

Blowout preventers often are opened in the field to change the rams if a different pipe size is to be used and also to inspect the rams. The bolts used to secure bonnets to the blow-out preventer body are generally large and require a high torque for seating the bonnet on the body. These factors make the removal and replacement of blowout preventer bonnets a difficult and time consuming operation.
It has long been a practice to pivotally mount the bonnet, such bonnets then being secured to the body by a ring of bolts (Shaffer Tool Works, page 4564 et seq. 1962-63 Composite Catalog of Oil Field Equipment and Services, published by World Oil). This structure assists in the movement of the bonnets once the high torque bolts have been disconnected but the removal and replacement of the blowout preventer bonnets is still a difficult and time consuming operation.


A process for the manufacture of a Coriolis rate-of-rotation sensor with oscillatory support masses spring-suspended on a substrate as well as driving means for the excitation of the planar oscillation of the oscillating masses and evaluation means for the determination of a Coriolis acceleration. Oscillating masses, driving means and integrated stops are structured in a common operation by means of plasma etching from a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer.

Sensors designed as Coriolis rate-of-rotation sensors are known. These sensors have deflectable oscillating (e.g., resonator) masses, spring-suspended (or resiliently-suspended) on a substrate, which support evaluators for the determination of Coriolis accelerations.
It is know to structure such Coriolis rate-of-rotation sensors through the plasma etching of the substrate structure (resonator or vibrating structure) using a bulk silicon membrane previously produced through time-controlled wet etching of the back side. A disadvantageous aspect of this approach is that exact process conditions must be maintained as a result of the time-controlled wet etching of the membrane, since otherwise membrane thicknesses, and thus structure heights, that is, the etching times required in the plasma etching process for etching-through from the front side, cannot be controlled.

Process for producing a speed of rotation coriolis sensor


A digital storage oscilloscope capable of acquiring and displaying input signals over a wide range of frequencies, and automatically establishing, by menu setups or user selection, any of a number of cycles of an input signal for viewing. An input analog electrical signal is sampled at a constant rate and then stored in a fast-acquisition memory. A DSP and a CPU combine to provide an automatic time base which maintains constant width of displayed signals without changing the sampling rate. The time period of one cycle of signal is measured, and the number of digitized samples is reduced or increased by the DSP to provide constant number of samples in order to maintain a constant-width display despite any changes in the input signal frequency. Additionally, the oscilloscope horizontal display axis may be expressed in degrees per division as well as time per division. Thus, an oscilloscope user can select one or more cycles, or portions of cycles, for viewing, and the oscilloscope will automatically establish the desired display.

This invention relates generally to digital storage oscilloscopes, and in particular to a digital storage oscilloscope with an automatic time base which automatically establishes displays of a selected number of cycles, or portions of cycles, and provides the appropriate scaling information for the waveform of an input electrical signal.
In a conventional digital storage oscilloscope, input analog electrical signals are sampled at a known rate to acquire digital representations of instantaneous signal amplitudes (samples). The samples, now in the form of digital data, are stored in a memory having a finite record length which is typically equivalent to one screen width of displayed waveform. Thereafter, the digital data may be recalled from the memory, processed and converted back to analog values, and displayed at a known display-clock rate to reconstruct and replicate graphic waveforms of the original input analog signals.
A common problem associated with digital oscilloscopes is establishing a stored image of the signal of interest, particularly if the signal waveform is complex and only a small portion of it is of interest, or if the frequency of the input signal is changing. It has become commonplace to utilize the computing power available in more sophisticated oscilloscopes to analyze an input signal and provide event recognition for triggering and automatic time base adjustments to aid the user in obtaining a usable display. A setup procedure is carried out by software wherein through a time-consuming, iterative acquire, analyze and adjust procedure, the triggering and time base sweep rate are established to provide an intelligible display. In actual practice, however, such automatic setup and ranging has its failures and shortcomings. For example, in addition to being very slow and time consuming, this approach for use in digital storage oscilloscopes is prone to errors and may miss signals entirely, particularly if the amplitudes and frequencies of the input signal are changing, or if the signals are occurring at a very low frequency or repetition rate.
One measurement situation in particular that does not lend itself to conventional automatic setup procedures is the waveform analysis of rotating machinery such as internal combustion engines because the area of interest may occur at a specific crank angle that is related to other factors. For example, in a four-stroke diesel engine wherein one complete engine cycle requires two revolutions of the crankshaft (or 720 degrees), the area of interest may be signals related to needle lift, ignition pulses, or fuel pump signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,407 to Kling et al. teaches an engine analyzer in which the period of a single engine cycle is measured, and a computer uses the measurement to vary the sample clock rate of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) during signal or waveform acquisition so that the ADC always produces a constant number N of samples in the form of digital data. This allows relatively simple circuitry to store and display the N samples representing a single cycle in a constant screen width. For this system to operate properly, a variable clock is required, and new clock rates continually must be computed before a signal can be acquired. For the relatively slow signals of an engine analyzer, the time delays between acquired signals may be tolerated.
Other measurement situations not suitable for conventional automatic setup procedures include frequency-response and variable-phase signal testing and measurements associated with voltage-controlled oscillators and variable frequency transducers. In such situations, it would be desirable to specify the number of cycles to be acquired for viewing.
Another measurement situation that has been cumbersome and difficult in the past is measuring degrees along the horizontal axis. For example, The typical method of measuring the injection timing of internal combustion engines is to put markers on one trace which represent the angular position of the crankshaft. Such markers are manually aligned with graticule scale lines on the oscilloscope display by adjusting the variable time base and horizontal position controls. The oscilloscope user must mentally convert the scale to a number of degrees per division to interpret the measurement. A small change in engine speed means the manual screen calibration must be repeated.
What is desired is a general purpose digital storage oscilloscope capable of acquiring and displaying input signals over a wide range of frequencies, and automatically establishing, by menu setups or user selection, any of a number of cycles of an input signal for viewing, and an oscilloscope that is capable of rapidly adapting to changes in signal frequency automatically in order to maintain a fixed display despite the changes. Additionally, for such applications, it would be desirable to provide an oscilloscope horizontal display axis which could be expressed in degrees per division as well as time per division.

Digital storage oscilloscope with automatic time base


A wireless communication terminal roaming from a current access point (AP) to a destination AP within a plurality of APs includes various functional modules. The wireless communication terminal detects a current service quality parameter of each of the plurality of APs, a roaming frequency, and a packet retransmission rate of the wireless communication terminal in a predetermined detection period. Furthermore, the wireless communication terminal calculates a value of an RQI according to the current service quality parameter of each of the plurality of APs, the roaming frequency, and the packet retransmission rate of the wireless communication terminal, and regulates a roaming threshold of the current AP according to the value of the RQI and determines the destination AP that has satisfied a roaming condition corresponding to the value of the RQI.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to wireless communication terminals, and particularly, to a wireless communication terminal and roaming method.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication terminals can communicate with an access point (AP) over a wireless local area network (WLAN). Usually, each AP can connect to a certain number of wireless communication terminals. If a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of a current AP becomes weak due to connections with too many wireless communication terminals, or the WLAN is significantly blocked, communications between the current AP and the wireless communication terminals may be interrupted. Currently, wireless communication terminals may connect to other APs that have better communication quality than that of the current AP to maintain normal data transmission. This process is known as roaming.
If available, wireless communication terminals will select a destination AP that has a stronger RSSI and better communication quality to roam. However, in reality, a plurality of wireless communication terminals may simultaneously roam to the same destination AP. Therefore, loading of the destination AP is increased, which may result in unsuccessful roaming and abnormal communication between the wireless communication terminals and the destination AP.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless communication terminal and roaming method


There is disclosed a planar antenna for very low frequencies. The antenna has a high impedance and can be matched to 50 ohm or higher impedance stages. The antenna may be used for applications which require a short range such as a wireless peripheral. The antenna operates only in its near-field and does not require a complex lossy impedance matching network, since the input impedance is large.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to radio frequency antennas and, more particularly, to planar antennas for very low frequency, short range (near field) applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Antennas which function at low radio frequencies (RF) are now required for wireless devices, such as wireless peripherals. One example of a proposed application for a low frequency antenna is a wireless keyboard for a computer workstation. Such a keyboard eliminates the cable interconnecting a conventional keyboard with the system unit, providing the user with more freedom of placement of the keyboard. Infrared (IR) transmitters have been used for wireless keyboards, but while eliminating the cable, these require that there be a clear optical path between the keyboard and the system unit. Other peripherals which are candidates for wireless interconnections are printers, modems and local area networks (LANs), all of which would benefit from an elimination of the cabling usually associated with such devices and systems.
These wireless applications are all characterized by low power output and, therefore, low range (typically near field) communications. At frequencies such as 49 Mhz, the wavelength is 6.12 meters in free space. A monopole can be designed with many windings in order to create a quarter wavelength antenna. However, this may not be a desirable form factor from an aesthetic sense. Generally, it is desirable to conceal the antenna in the device packaging so that it is not visible. Furthermore, a monopole antenna can break off easily, making it undesirable from a reliability point of view. If an electrically small antenna were used, the input impedance would be capacitive, and the real part of the impedance would be very small. A matching network would have to be designed to match the previous stage, and much of the power would be lost in the matching network.

Low frequency planar antenna with large real input impedance


An Internet advertising method using a Web page according to the present invention is performed between a Web server and a client terminal in the Internet. The Internet advertising method includes an advertisement location searching step of searching in a Web page transmitted from the Web server to the client terminal for a location into which new advertising content is to be inserted, a space information identification step of identifying a size and coordinates of a found location, an advertising content searching step of searching for new advertising content corresponding to the identified location size and coordinates, and a Web page editing step of inserting found new advertising content into the location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Internet advertising method and system, which provide the advertisements of enterprises to a plurality of clients in an Internet environment in which the clients can access a server for providing online services through terminals capable of performing Internet communication, and exchange data with the server.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of Internet communication networks has produced new advertising media using the Internet. In particular, as main consumers ranging from teenagers to persons in their thirties, who are the main targets of advertisements, have been concentrating on Internet communications, the Internet has evolved into an advertising medium exceeding newspapers or broadcasting, which had been the conventional advertising media.
Generally, an advertising scheme using Internet communications as an advertising medium is operated so that a banner advertisement or an image advertisement is displayed on a Web page such as a portal site and/or an electronic commerce site for providing email service, search service or electronic commerce service, respectively, and the client can access the server of an advertiser linked to a corresponding advertisement if the client clicks the advertisement.
Therefore, the client using the Internet must compulsorily view a banner advertisement or an image advertisement so as to be provided with the above-described Internet service.
Meanwhile, such a conventional advertising scheme is limited in that, since a corresponding Web page is uniformly transmitted to client terminals after advertising content and images have been fixedly arranged in advance using HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the advertising content is always arranged at the same location, so it is difficult to attract the attention of the client who frequently accesses the corresponding Web page. Further, the reason for the client to access a specific Web site over the Internet is to use the service provided by the corresponding Web site. Accordingly, it is undesirable that the area occupied by the service information provided by the Web page is smaller than that of advertising content in view of the purpose of the client to use the service.
As a result, space capable of accommodating advertising content is limited, and such limitation becomes the cause of instigating competition between advertisers for occupying a specific location on a Web page, thus increasing advertisement costs.
Meanwhile, recently, as the number of Web sites for providing various types of Internet services or electronic commerce sites has excessively increased, there is a tendency that Internet users have concentrated on specific Web sites due to the qualitative difference in the content contained on the various Web sites. Therefore, as advertisers then also concentrate on these specific sites, advertising orders have greatly decreased in unpopular sites having a relatively low viewing rate. Consequently, such a tendency also instigates competition between advertisers, thus increasing advertisement costs.
Moreover, since the conventional advertising scheme using the Internet uniformly provides only the same advertisement regardless of the residential district, age or preferences of Internet users, local advertisements or target advertisements, which have been widely conducted by local newspapers or local broadcasting, cannot be applied to Internet advertisements, thus exhibiting limitations in advertising effectiveness.

Internet advertising method and system using Web page


The invention provides a printer, a printer head, and a method of producing the printer head. In particular, the invention is applied to a printer which makes use of a process in which ink drops are caused to flow out by heating using a heater, so that an orifice plate can be bonded by sufficiently bringing it into close contact with what it is to be bonded to. In the invention, by disposing first, second, and third wiring patterns below partitions of corresponding ink chambers, thickness-direction stepped portions are prevented from being formed at least at the partitions of the corresponding ink chambers.

The present application claims priority to Japanese Application(s) No(s). P2000-344233 filed Nov. 7, 2000, which application(s) is/are incorporated herein by reference to the extent permitted by law.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a printer head, and a method of producing the printer head. In particular, the present invention is applicable to a printer which makes use of a process of which causes ink droplets to fly out as a result of heating by a heater. The present invention makes it possible to, by preventing a thickness-direction stepped portion from being formed at least at a partition of an ink chamber as a result of disposing a wiring pattern below the partition of the ink chamber, bring an orifice plate sufficiently into close contact with what it is to be bonded to and bond it thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of image processing and the like, there has been an increasing need for color hard copies. To respond to this need, there has been conventionally proposed a sublimation thermal transfer process, a fusion thermal transfer process, an inkjet process, an electrophotographic process, a thermally processed silver process, and the like.
In the inkjet process, a dot is formed by causing small drops of recording liquid (ink) to fly out from a nozzle of a recording head and causing them to adhere to what is to be subjected to a recording operation. This makes it possible to output a high-quality image using a simple structure. The inkjet process is classified into, for example, an electrostatic attraction process, a continuous vibration generation process (piezo process), and a thermal process, depending on the method used to cause the ink to fly out.
In the thermal process, air bubbles are produced by heating localized portions of the ink in order to push out the ink from a discharge opening by the air bubbles, thereby causing the ink to fly out to what is to be subjected to printing. This makes it possible to print a color image using a simple structure.
A printer which operates by this thermal process is constructed using what is called a printer head, which has mounted therein a heating element which heats ink, a drive circuit based on a logic integrated circuit which drives the heating element, and other component parts.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view partly showing a thermal head of the prior art. In forming a printer head 1, an isolation area 3 (LOGOS: local oxidation of silicon) which isolates transistors is formed on a P-type silicon substrate 2, and, for example, a gate oxide film is forced at a transistor formation area remaining between portions of the isolation area 3, thereby forming MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) switching transistors 4 and MOS transistors 5 and 6 forming a drive circuit.
Next, in forming the printer head 1, after placing, for example, an insulating film, a contact hole is formed in order to form a first-layer wiring pattern 7. By the first-layer wiring pattern 7, the MOS transistors 5 and 6, forming the drive circuit, are connected to each other, thereby forming a logic integrated circuit.
Next, in forming the printer head 1, after, for example, the insulating film has been placed, sputtering is carried out in order to deposit heating element materials, such as tantalum, tantalum aluminum, or titanium nitride, in order to form resistance films in localized portions. By the resistance films, heating elements 8 which heat ink are formed.
Next, in forming the printer head 1, a contact hole is formed to form a second-layer wiring pattern 9. By the second-layer wiring pattern 9, a connection portion between the switching transistors 4 and the heating elements 8, a connection portion between the heating elements 8 and a power supply, a ground line, and the like, are formed.
Next, in forming the printer head 1, an insulating material, such as SiO2 or SiN, is deposited in order to form a protective layer 10, after which a Ta film is formed on localized portions of the heating elements 8. By the Ta film, a cavitation resistance layer 11 is formed. Next, a dry film 13 and an orifice plate 14 are successively placed upon each other. Here, the dry film 13 is formed of, for example, carbon resin. After placing it by contact bonding, portions thereof situated in correspondence with an ink chamber and an ink path are removed, after which a hardening operation is carried out. On the other hand, the orifice plate 14 is formed of a plate-shaped material which is processed into a predetermined shape so that a nozzle 15, which is a very small ink discharge opening, is formed above the heating elements 8. The orifice plate 14 is supported on the top portion of the dry film 13 as a result of adhering it thereto. When the above-described operations are carried out, the nozzle 15, an ink chamber 16, a path for guiding ink into the ink chamber 16, etc., are formed at the printer head 1.
In the printer head 1, the ink is guided to the ink chamber 16, and, by a switching operation of the switching transistors 4, the heating elements 8 generate heat in order to heat localized portions of the ink. By the heating, core air bubbles are produced at side surfaces of the heating elements 8 of the ink chamber 16. These core air bubbles combine to form film air bubbles. When pressure is increased by the air bubbles, the ink is pushed out from the nozzle 15 and flies out to what is to be subjected to printing. As a result, in a printer using the printing head 1, intermittent heating by the heating elements 8 causes the ink to successively adhere to what is to be subjected to printing, so that a desired image is formed.
Further, in the printer head 1, the switching transistors 4, which drive the heating elements 8 are controlled by the same logic integrated circuit formed by the MOS transistors 5 and 6. Therefore, the heating elements 7 are disposed very closely together, thereby making it possible to reliably drive them by their corresponding switching transistors 5, 6.
In other words, in order to obtain a high-quality printed result, the heating elements 8 need to be disposed very close to each other. More specifically, in order to obtain, for example, a 600 DPI printed result, the heating elements 8 need to be disposed at intervals of 42,333 xcexcm. It is extremely difficult to dispose individual drive elements at the heating elements 8 disposed very close to each other. Therefore, in the printer head 1, for example, switching transistors are formed on the semiconductor substrate and are connected to the corresponding heating elements 8 by an integrated circuit technology. Then, by the drive circuits similarly formed on the semiconductor substrate, the corresponding switching transistors are driven in order to make it possible to simply and reliably drive each of the heating elements 8.
However, the printer head 1 having such a structure has a problem in that it is difficult to bring the orifice plate 14 sufficiently into close contact with the dry film 13 and to bond it thereto.
More specifically, in a commonly used semiconductor integrated circuit, the first-layer wiring pattern 7 is formed with the minimum thickness required, and the second-layer wiring pattern 9, which forms a power supply line and a ground line, is made thick in order to obtain a desired current capacity.
In contrast to this, in the printer head 1, the situation is reversed with respect to the case of the commonly used semiconductor integrated circuit, so that the first-layer wiring pattern 7 is made thick, whereas the second-layer wiring pattern 9 is made thin, in order to obtain good covering property at the silicon nitride film forming the ink protective layer 10 and the tantalum cavitation resistance layer 11, which are formed above the heating elements 8.
In the printer heat 1, by virtue of such a structure, the second-layer wiring pattern 9 is formed with a thickness of the order of 1 xcexcm when an aluminum wiring pattern is used, and a stepped portion having a size of the order of 1 xcexcm is formed at the second-layer wiring pattern 9. In this way, when the stepped portion having a size of the order of 1 xcexcm is formed at the second-layer wiring pattern 9, very fine recesses and protrusions are formed at the surface of the protective layer 10, which is formed on top of the wiring patter 9, and the surface of the dry film 13. Because of the very fine recesses and protrusions, it becomes difficult to bring the orifice plate 14 sufficiently into close contact with the dry film 13 and to bond it thereto. In this connection, when the surfaces of the protective layer 10 and the dry film 13 become very uneven, ink leakage may occur.
FIG. 9A is a plan view of the printer head 1 in FIG. 8 in which the dry film 13 has been removed, and FIG. 9B is a sectional view of the printer head 1, with the sectional view being formed by cutting a plane at a base-side partition of the ink chamber in a direction perpendicular to the illustration shown in FIG. 8. In the printer head 1, when a stepped portion of a size of the order of 1 (m is produced by the wiring pattern 9, a gap is correspondingly produced between the dry film 13 and the orifice plate 14. The gap may cause ink to leak from the partition of the ink chamber. In particular, as shown in FIG. 9A, at an endmost ink chamber 16A of a heater 8, the wiring pattern 9 is not disposed at all at the partition of the ink chamber beside it, so that the area of the gap becomes large, thereby causing the ink leakage to become noticeable at this portion. The structure shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B is a type in which ink is supplied from an edge of the semiconductor substrate. In FIGS. 9A and 9B, the lamination materials other than the second-layer wiring pattern 9 are not shown, and the external shape of the dry film 13 is shown by dotted lines in FIG 9A
In view of the above-described points, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer in which an orifice plate can be bonded by bringing it sufficiently into close contact with what it is to be bonded to, a printer head, and a method of producing the printer head.
To overcome such problems, the present invention is applied to the printer, the printer head, or the method of producing the printer head, and, by disposing a wiring pattern below a partition of an ink chamber, a thickness-direction stepped portion is prevented from being formed at least at the partition of the ink chamber.
According to the structure of the present invention, by preventing a thickness-direction stepped portion from being formed at least at the partition of the ink chamber by disposing a wiring pattern below the partition of the ink chamber, it is possible to, by using a simple structure, prevent formation of a gap between a material forming the partition of the ink chamber and a plate-shaped material, which is an orifice plate, disposed above the material forming the partition of the ink chamber. This makes it possible to prevent ink leakage, so that the orifice plate can be bonded by bringing it sufficiently into close contact with what it is to be bonded to.

Printer, printer head, and method of producing the printer head


Focus monitoring for a photolithographic applications is provided by illuminating a photoresist layer with a light beam transmitted through a first binary mask to define a circuit pattern on an underlying substrate and then illuminating the photoresist layer with an unbalanced off-axis light beam transmitted through a second binary mask. The second mask contains a shifting feature configuration in one portion, while another portion blocks light transmission to the chip design area of the photoresist. After development of the photoresist layer, the pattern formed by illumination of the second mask can be compared with a predefined reference feature on the photoresist layer to determine whether a shift, if any, is within acceptable focus limits.

The present disclosure relates to fabrication of semiconductor devices having accurately formed designed features, more particularly to monitoring focus for die patterns formed during the fabrication process.
The formation of various integrated circuit (IC) structures on a wafer often relies on lithographic processes, sometimes referred to as photolithography, or simply lithography. As is well known, lithographic processes can be used to transfer a pattern of a photomask (also referred to herein as a mask or a reticle) to a wafer. Patterns can be formed from a photoresist layer disposed on the wafer by passing light energy through a reticle mask to form an image of the desired pattern onto the photoresist layer. As a result, the pattern is transferred to the photoresist layer. Such pattern formations are performed by devices well known as optical steppers or scanners. Conventional photomasks, commonly referred to as chrome on glass (COG), consist of chromium patterns on a quartz plate. Light of a specific wavelength is projected through the spaces between the chromium patterns onto the wafer. As the chromium portions block light transmission, such photomasks are known as binary masks.
In areas where a positive type photoresist is sufficiently exposed, after a development cycle the photoresist material can become soluble such that it can be removed to selectively expose an underlying layer (e.g., a semiconductor layer, a metal or metal containing layer, a dielectric layer, a hard mask layer, etc.). Portions of the photoresist layer not exposed to a threshold amount of light energy will not be removed and will serve to protect the underlying layer during further processing of the wafer (e.g., etching exposed portions of the underlying layer, implanting ions into the wafer, etc.). If a negative type photoresist is used, unexposed portions are selectively removed. After the wafer fabrication process for this pattern is performed, the remaining portions of the photoresist layer can be removed from the underlying substrate.
There is a continuing objective to increase the density with which various integrated circuit structures are arranged. To this end, feature size, line width, and the separation between features and lines are being made smaller. Fabrication in the sub-micron range incurs limitations on the faithful reproduction of reticle patterns as exposed images on the photoresist layer. Yield is affected by factors such as mask pattern fidelity, optical proximity effects, photoresist processing and tool precision. These concerns are largely dependent on local pattern density and topology. In describing the lithographic yield, exposure latitude and depth of focus are two critical elements that describe allowable margin of exposure light dose and defocus amount that can print the circuitry without generating a failure in functionality of the chip. As the required pitch continues to be reduced, the depth of focus of the projected light has significantly decreased.
In current photo-lithography technology, application of off-axis illumination of shorter wavelength has become necessary to provide appropriate process margin for minimum pitch. In order to obtain maximum process window, it is thus imperative to determine the best focus plane so that the position of the photoresist can be adjusted to a critical dimension to place the focus within the process margin. One known approach is by exposing a matrix field through a range of focus settings, then inspecting the resultant pattern for the best-focused images. This procedure is time consuming and subject to error.
Another approach employs a phase shift mask that includes a transparent substrate, a light-shielding film having a predetermined pattern, and a phase shifter formed on the predetermined pattern. As a result of the phase shifter, an image pattern is formed on the photoresist that shifts along its surface plane as the substrate wafer is moved in the direction of the illumination axis. Measurement of the amount of shift of the pattern image in a direction along the surface enables correlation with a position in the axis direction, thereby providing a measurement of focus. The phase shift mask is a complex structure which presents greater difficulty in forming patterns on both sides of the mask than formation of a binary mask.
Other phase shift mask focus monitoring methods employ a plurality of phase shift masks, each requiring a separate exposure at a special aperture stop. The photoresist additionally must be exposed at the aperture used for chip fabrication.
Phase shift monitoring thus adds a significant manufacturing cost as well as lengthening the entire process. A need thus exists for a monitoring method and system that can provide accurate focus detection, more simply and efficiently, and at less manufacturing cost, than systems currently available.

In-die focus monitoring with binary mask


A parallel drive shaft arrangement for rail vehicles wherein the output shaft of the electric motor is arranged parallel to the axle. The electric motor effects a driving of the axle through a gear arrangement and a toothed coupling. One side of the gear arrangement is supported on the axle and both the gear arrangement and the motor are connected through pivot levers to the vehicle frame. The electric motor is secured to the gear housing through a rubber-ring spring device surrounding the toothed coupling.

The most known and most used parallel shaft drives are the so-called nose-suspended drive and the so-called frame drive. In the case of the first one, the electric motor is supported at one end by means of at least one correspondingly designed arm on the driving axle driven thereby through a gear drive arrangement, while it is connected at the other end to the vehicle or bogie frame. Thus, the motor and the gear arrangement belong only in part to the spring-loaded masses. In the case of the so-called frame drive, the motor is fixedly connected to the vehicle or bogie frame and thus is part of the spring-loaded part of the vehicle. For this reason the interpositioning of an all around movable coupling is needed between the motor and the driving axle.
Both drive systems have certain disadvantages. In the case of the nose-suspended drive, it is the support on the driving axle which presents problems in servicing and during a removal of the driving axle. In the case of the frame drive, it is the coupling that is considered to be disadvantageous because of both the need for space and also because of the plurality of individual parts which have a partly complicated form.
In order to avoid the known disadvantages of the conventional parallel shaft drive, drives have been developed lately which have the following structure: The motor is secured at the back thereof to the gear housing supported on the driving axle through roller bearings. The bearings can thereby be positioned either directly on the shaft or, however, on the lateral hubs of the driven gear fixedly connected to the drive shaft. Both the end of the gear arrangement, which is opposite the drive shaft, and also the free end of the motor are connected to the vehicle or bogie frame. It is obvious that in this arrangement provisions must be made in order to permit a limited amount of relative movement between the gear arrangement and the motor.
Therefore the basic purpose of the invention is to develop a parallel shaft drive of the above-described type, in which the connection between the electric motor and the gear arrangement can absorb large forces, which for example stem from the weight of the motor (radially acting) and from the torque (acting in the peripheral direction), however, at the same time permits with simple means angular deflections between these two aggregates while remaining substantially rigid in axial direction or in peripheral direction.

Resilient railway truck articulated shaft housing


A two piece garment for collecting bodily discharges is disclosed. The garment has a belt and a disposable assembly which are detachable and reattachable. The belt is intended to be reused, while the disposable assembly is intended to be discarded when soiled. The two components are attached to one another by hook and loop type fastening material, providing for adjustment to fit a wide range of wearer sizes.

Garments and related articles which protect against incontinence are well known in the art. These garments typically have a body portion which holds or otherwise positions an absorbent core against the body of the wearer and an attachment means which retains the garment in position as the wearer moves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,508, issued Feb. 16, 1982, to Bolick discloses a garment suspension system including two elastic strips. The suspension strips are disposed on either side of the garment and provide self-centering and a vertical vector force for maintaining the garment in place. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,618,608, issued Nov. 9, 1971, to Brink and 4,051,854 issued Oct. 4, 1977, to Aaron disclose diapers having integral belts secured with hook and loop type fasteners. France Pat. No. 2,612,770 published Sept. 30, 1988, in the name of Motte discloses disposable pants having integral straps which encircle the waist of the wearer and are secured by fasteners. The pants are drawn between the legs of the wearer and fastened to the outside of the integral straps.
The prior art does not, however, teach an absorbent garment having detachable components which may either be durable and reusable or, alternatively, disposed of if soiled and not suitable for reuse. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a garment for the collection of bodily discharges and capable of having clean and reusable components detached and laundered or restored as necessary. Further, it is an object of this invention to provide a garment having detachable components which may be disposed of if unsanitary or otherwise not suitable for reuse. Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a garment in which not all components need to be repurchased by the consumer every time the garment is worn and soiled.


The invention is directed towards an indicator circuit. The indicator circuit includes a ground plane; an antenna; a decoupler component; and an integrated circuit. The antenna includes at least one antenna trace; a first antenna terminal; and a second antenna terminal. The decoupler component includes a first decoupler component terminal and a second decoupler component terminal. The integrated circuit is electrically coupled to the first antenna terminal and the second antenna terminal. The integrated circuit is electrically coupled to the first decoupler component terminal. The second decoupler component terminal is electrically connected to the ground plane.

Wireless communications, including radio frequency identification (RFID) and other near field communication (NFC) protocols, are gaining in popularity for applications such as security, inventory management, access control, and the like. The number of smart phones that include RFID or NFC protocols is growing along with the various applications of passive or active transponders, such as RFID indicator circuits and NFC indicator circuits. Such indicator circuits include an antenna that modulates, and in some instances emits, a wireless communication signal that can be read by a reader, such as a smartphone. A parasitic capacitance, however, may form between the antenna and a ground plane. Parasitic capacitance, for example, may be particularly problematic when the antenna is placed on or near metal. The parasitic capacitance may reduce the antenna voltage of the antenna within the indicator circuit. As a result, the read range of the antenna may be reduced. In addition, the parasitic capacitance may detune the antenna from the antenna's specified frequency, such as 13.56 MHz. The antenna may need to be re-tuned and the re-tuning could be impracticable in certain situations.
Electrochemical cells, or batteries, are commonly used as electrical energy sources. A battery contains a negative electrode, typically called the anode, and a positive electrode, typically called the cathode. The anode contains an active material that can be oxidized. The cathode contains an active material that can be reduced. The anode active material is capable of reducing the cathode active material. A separator is disposed between the anode and cathode. An electrolyte is also included within the battery. The aforementioned components are generally disposed in a metal can.
Battery testers may be used to determine characteristics of a battery, such as the remaining battery capacity. An exemplary type of a common battery tester that is placed on batteries is known as a thermochromic-type tester. In a thermochromic battery tester, a circuit may be completed when a consumer manually depressing one or two button switches. Once the switch is depressed, the consumer has connected the battery to the thermochromic tester. The thermochromic tester may include a silver resistor, e.g., a flat silver layer that has a variable width so that the electrical resistance also varies along its length. As current travels through the silver resistor, the dissipated power generates heat that changes the color of a thermochromic ink display that is placed over the silver resistor. The thermochromic ink display may be arranged as a gauge to indicate the relative capacity of the battery. However, it is typically necessary for the consumer to inconveniently hold the battery and/or remove the battery from the device in order to test the battery using the battery tester.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an indicator circuit for wireless communication, for example RFID and/or NFC applications, that is decoupled from a ground plane. A communications system including such an indicator circuit may reduce or eliminate shorting between the antenna and the ground plane. In addition, the communications system including such an indicator circuit may eliminate any need to re-tune the antenna. In addition, the communications system including such an indicator circuit may reduce or eliminate interference from other metal parts that may function as the ground plane. An indicator circuit for wireless communications that is decoupled from a ground plane may also be incorporated within a battery tester. Any parasitic capacitance that may form as a result of the metal housing of the battery or other metal components, such as those within the device, may be reduced or eliminated. In either instance, the read range of the antenna within the indicator circuit may not be adversely affected by the ground plane/metal components when the antenna is near the ground plane/metal components.

Indicator circuit decoupled from a ground plane


A semiconductor or nonconductor vapor is generated by sputtering targets 11U, 11D in a first sputtering chamber 10, while a metal vapor is generated by sputtering targets 21U, 21D in a second sputtering chamber 20. The semiconductor or nonconductor vapor and the metal vapor are aggregated to clusters during travelling through a cluster-growing tube 32 and injected as a cluster beam to a high-vacuum deposition chamber 30, so as to deposit composite clusters on a substrate 35. The produced composite clusters are useful in various fields due to high performance, e.g. high-sensitivity sensors, high-density magnetic recording media, nano-magnetic media for transportation of medicine, catalysts, permselective membranes, optical-magnet sensors and low-loss soft magnetic materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing composite clusters, wherein a metal is lamellarily compounded with a semiconductor or nonconductor, useful as various functional elements, and also relates to an apparatus for production of such composite clusters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aggregate of fine particles are useful as functional elements, e.g. gas sensors and permselective membranes, in various industrial fields due to its big specific surface area and good affinity with an atmospheric gas.
Various methods have been proposed so far for producing aggregate of fine particles. For instance, starting material is evaporated and condensed to fine particles in vapor-phase synthesis. According to a colloidal process, fine particles are precipitated from an electrolytic liquid and stabilized with a surfactant. An aerosol process for spraying and pyrolysis of a metal ion-containing liquid, a gas-atomizing process for spraying a mixture of molten metal with an inert gas through a nozzle, and a milling process for mechanically crushing solid material are also proposed for production of such aggregate.
The aerosol process, the milling process and the gas-atomizing process are advantageous for mass-production of clusters but unsuitable for production of clusters, which have particle size conditioned to nanometer order for performance originated in nano-sized particles. The colloidal process can not avoid inclusion of impurities in a product, although clusters of several nanometers in particle size can be mass-produced. The inclusion of impurities degrades quality of the product.
On the other hand, the vapor-phase process promotes growth of clusters in a clean vacuum atmosphere without invasion of impurities. The clusters produced by the vapor-phase process has a chemically active surface effective for improvement of functionality. However, the active surface causes unfavorable oxidation and coalescence of clusters, when fine particles are deposited on a substrate. The oxidation and coalescence impede realization of the functionality originated in nano-sized particles, regardless of very fine clusters.

Method and device for manufacturing semiconductor or insulator-metallic laminar composite cluster


A magnetic display assembly includes a plurality of magnetic display cards and a metallic display panel for receiving the display cards thereon. The display cards preferably include a face portion, upper and lower arm portions which extend rearwardly from the upper and lower edges of the face portion, a flange portion extending upwardly from the upper arm portion, and a magnetic strip on the rearwardly facing surface of the flange. The face portion includes suitable openings for receiving a jewelry article, such as a pair of earrings, therethrough. The display panel comprises a flat metallic surface which is operative for attracting a magnet. The display cards are positioned against the display panel whereupon they are magnetically retained thereon. The arm portions cause the face portion of the display card to be maintained in spaced relation from the display panel when the card is received thereon.

The instant invention relates generally to display means and more particularly to a magnetic jewelry display assembly comprising a magnetic display card and a display panel.
Jewelry displays typically comprise a vertical display panel having a plurality of horizontal hanger means thereon, such as bars or rods, and a plurality of display cards each of which includes a J-shaped hanger portion that is adapted to be received over the rods or bars. While these conventional jewelry displays have met with considerable success, there are several drawbacks which make them less than ideal. The most obvious drawback is the fact that sales personnel are limited in the ways they may creatively group and display the jewelry articles. The horizontally arranged rods or bars limit potential groupings of jewelry articles to horizontal rows or vertical columns. Another obvious drawback is the fact that the J-shaped hanger cards are often difficult to maneuver in and out of the display panel. This is because the hanger portion of the card may inadvertently become bent or damaged, or may become entangled with another article of jewelry.
The instant invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a magnetic display assembly including a magnetic display card. Briefly, the magnetic display assembly includes a magnetic display card and a display panel for magnetically receiving the display card thereagainst. The display card preferably includes a face portion, upper and lower arm portions which extend rearwardly from the upper and lower edges of the face portion, a flange portion extending upwardly from the upper arm portion, and a magnetic strip on the rearwardly facing surface of the flange. The face portion includes suitable openings for receiving a jewelry article, such as a pair of earrings, therethrough. The display panel may comprise a flat metallic surface or any other surface which is operative for attracting a magnet. The display cards are positioned against the display panel whereupon they are magnetically retained thereagainst.
Accordingly, it is an object of the instant invention to provide a magnetic display card for displaying jewelry or other similar retail articles.
It is another object to provide a jewelry display assembly comprising a magnetic display card and a metallic display panel.
It is still another object to provide a display assembly which allows retail sales personnel to arrange retail articles in various groupings and arrangements unhindered by the physical configuration of conventional display panels.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.


Lithium intercalation compounds suitable for use in high capacity secondary battery electrodes are prepared by reacting together at a temperature in the range of about 800.degree. to 900.degree. C. lithium and manganese compounds in a stoichiometric ratio resulting in a Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 compound wherein x is within the range of about 1.00 to 1.20. The resulting compound is annealed at a temperature in excess of about 800.degree. C. and cooled to at least about 500.degree. C. at the rate less than about 10.degree. C. per hour before being finally cooled to ambient working temperature. Intercalation electrodes comprising these lithiated compounds are used in secondary batteries to yield stable, extended capacities in excess of 110 AHr/Kg.

This invention relates to secondary, rechargeable lithium and lithium ion batteries, and more particularly relates to the synthesis of Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 intercalation compounds adapted for use as battery electrodes which provide extended high capacity.
On the basis of their economy, electrochemical efficacy, and environmental acceptability, Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 intercalation compounds have shown exceptional promise as electrode materials in secondary batteries for all manner of portable electrical power needs. Such materials have been used with outstanding success in positive electrodes for batteries comprising lithium metal, as well as in positive lithium source intercalation electrodes for lithium ion batteries comprising, for example, intercalatable carbon electrodes.
Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 electrode compounds have for some time generally been synthesized in a simple endothermic reaction between stoichiometric quantities of a lithium salt and a manganese oxide. Common precursors are, for example, the Li.sub.2 CO.sub.3 and MnO.sub.2 compounds discussed by Hunter in U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,253. The spinel in which the lithium content, x, nominally approximates 1 is shown by Hunter to be readily obtained by heating a 2:1 mole ratio mixture of Mn:Li at 800.degree.-900.degree. C. for a time to ensure thorough reaction, and then cooling to ambient working temperature, usually room temperature. Although Hunter's intent was the further acidifying reaction of the resulting LiMn.sub.2 O.sub.4 to derive a new .lambda.-MnO.sub.2 compound, the simple thermal reaction has been widely utilized to prepare the spinel, LiMn.sub.2 O.sub.4, for use in various types of battery electrodes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,834, Nagaura et al. noted the limited charge capacity exhibited by battery cells comprising electrodes fashioned of LiMn.sub.2 O.sub.4 prepared by Hunter's high-temperature method. The invention disclosed by Nagaura et al. was intended to improve the charge capacity of such batteries at the 3.2V intercalation plateau and entailed a variation in the Hunter process to essentially limit the reaction, or sintering, temperature of the Li- and Mn-source compound mixture to about 500.degree. C. The resulting unique material was, however, only partially crystallized at these lower temperatures and could not provide the higher potential capacity of the fully-crystallized spinel phase electrode. This is apparent from Nagaura's broad 2.degree. x-ray diffraction peak as compared with the approximately 0.1.degree. peaks observed in true crystalline spinel materials such as prepared by Hunter, or according to the present invention.
Thus there remained the dilemma of restricted choice between significant, but the short-lived capacity of Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 intercalation compounds synthesized at high temperature, or the more stable, but lesser initial capacity of such compounds processed at temperatures below their effective crystallization range.

Method for synthesis of high capacity Li.sub.x Mn.sub.2 O.sub.4 secondary battery electrode compounds


A lead acid battery life extender for the battery of an internal combustion engine includes a multivibrator circuit electrically connected across the terminals of the battery for delivering high frequency electrical pulses to the battery, thereby removing lead sulfate from the plates of the battery and increasing the life of the battery, and a thermoelectric power source for providing electrical energy to the multivibrator circuit, thermally coupled to heat emitted from the internal combustion engine and electrically connected to the multivibrator circuit.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of lead-acid battery life extension. The invention addresses the problem of reduced lifetime of secondary lead-acid batteries that are used intermittently. The invention has widespread military and non-military applications.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Present lead-acid battery life extension systems such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,612 to Campagnuolo, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,341 to Gali, employ solar panels, which provide a voltage to a multivibrator (electronic oscillator). The multivibrator in turn provides a small energy pulse to the battery plates so that small amounts of lead sulfate are removed from the plates of the battery and go back into the electrolyte. In doing so doing the battery is rejuvenated or cleansed.
The problem with this technique is that one must use a solar panel which must be placed outside the battery compartment, i.e. on the roof of a vehicle, on the dashboard or in other areas where the sunlight can be collected and transformed into electrical energy to power the multivibrator. Wires must be routed from the solar panel through the vehicle cabin to the battery location. Other vehicles and equipment have two sets of batteries in parallel each set located on either side of the engine compartment. In this case wires to connect the two batteries in parallel must be routed through the engine compartment. In addition, solar panels are expensive and for a system such as a system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,341 can account for more than half of the cost of the pulse system.
It is the purpose of the present invention to bring forth a system, which does not use solar panels to power the multivibrator. This system is not only low cost, but it is free of the problems mentioned above. The system will be placed under the hood of the vehicle adjacent to the battery compartment, or near the batteries when used in mechanized vehicles or power equipment.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A pulse motor rotation phase adjusting system for a sewing machine includes a pulse motor operative for positioning a needle of the sewing machine in accordance with the predetermined stitch coordinates of a selected pattern. The pulse motor is adapted to be set to one of the stepping rotation phases in dependence upon the predetermined combinations of the magnetic forces generated by the windings of the pulse motor. A light interrupting arrangement is provided in the system which is connected to the output shaft of the pulse motor and serves for detecting the respective rotation phases of the pulse motor within a range of the maximum needle swinging amplitude and to produce a signal corresponding to predetermined combination of the magnetic forces, which signal is read out by a control circuit operatively connected to the pulse motor to rotate and reset the same to its initial position in accordance with said predetermined stitch coordinates when the electric power is applied to the sewing machine.

The invention relates to a sewing machine and more particularly relates to a system for adjusting the rotation phase of a pulse motor of a sewing machine, which is used to control the movement of the pattern utilized to adjust instrumentalities of the sewing machine in response to the control signals from the control circuit.
A pulse motor used as a pattern generator receives a driving pulse from the control circuit and is periodically driven within a predetermined drive range to actuate the needle bar, the feed controlling device and others so as to produce stitch patterns.
However, there will be chances of erroneous operation of the pulse motor at the starting time, since a stopping phase of the pulse motor is not correctly set when the electric power is supplied. Further in case the pulse motor steps out of normal adjustment during its operation due to some events, it must be recovered to the normal operation so as to prevent the subsequent wrong operations thereof.
For preventing the above mentioned erroneous operation of the pulse motor, there have been the methods of detecting the stopping phase of the motor or of once resetting the motor to a predetermined phase at the time of the initial power supply. The former is sufficient to use the potentiometer but this is problematical in the durability and cost. The latter is to drive the pulse motor to one direction until it is stopped by a stopper. But this latter case has the problems of shock, sound and durability, and may cause the disordered stepping movement of the motor during the operation which cannot be corrected by the above-mentioned methods.
This invention has been devised to eliminate the above mentioned defects involved in the prior art.

Pulse motor rotation phase adjusting system of a sewing machine


A paste transfer apparatus for a filter cigarette manufacturing system includes a movable guide roller and a fixed guide roller separated from each other in the traveling direction of tip paper, and a paste transfer roller is arranged between these guide rollers and disposed in rolling contact with the tip paper. A rocking arm having the movable guide roller mounted thereon is always urged in one direction by a spring, and can also be swung in the opposite direction by a rotary actuator through a swing arm and a cam follower. During operation of the manufacturing system, the rotary actuator is driven in accordance with the tip paper traveling speed under the control of a control unit, and thus the rocking arm turns to bring the movable guide roller to a position closer to or farther from the paste transfer roller, whereby the contact angle over which the tip paper is brought into contact with the paste transfer roller is varied to maintain the thickness of paste transferred to the tip paper at a required thickness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter attachment machine for a filter cigarette manufacturing system, and more particularly, to a paste transfer apparatus incorporated in the filter attachment machine for applying paste to tip paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years tobacco with mild taste has been in demand. To meet the demand, filter cigarettes each having a filter at one end of a cigarette are on the market. Filters are attached to respective cigarettes in a filter attachment machine of a cigarette manufacturing system, by wrapping a piece of tip paper around a cigarette and a filter. To this end, typically a wrapping section provided in the filter attachment machine is supplied with filter plugs each interposed between two cigarettes, as well as pieces of tip paper applied with paste.
In connection with the supply of pieces of tip paper applied with paste, the filter attachment machine has a transport path for guiding the tip paper unrolled from a paper roll to the wrapping section, and a paste applicator is arranged so as to face the transport path for applying paste to one side of the tip paper. On the downstream side of the paste applicator, a cutter is arranged for cutting the tip paper, which has been applied with paste, into pieces with a predetermined length. The pieces of tip paper thus cut by the cutter are supplied to the wrapping section, where each piece of tip paper is wrapped around two cigarettes with a filter plug therebetween. Double-length filter cigarettes obtained in this manner, each connected by a piece of tip paper, are cut in the center of the filter plug, thereby obtaining individual filter cigarettes.
A paste transfer apparatus known in the art as the aforementioned paste applicator comprises a paste supply roller which rotates while being supplied with paste, and a paste transfer roller disposed in rolling contact with both the paste supply roller and the surface of tip paper to be applied with paste. Paste adhering to the paste supply roller is transferred via the paste transfer roller to the tip paper in the form of a layer. In order for the tip paper to be properly wound around cigarettes and filter plugs in the wrapping section of the filter attachment machine, the thickness of the paste layer transferred to the tip paper must be within a suitable range.
Conventionally, therefore, the contact angle over which the tip paper is brought into contact with the paste transfer roller is fixed so that the paste layer may have a suitable thickness when the tip paper is traveling at a set speed. Thus, while the operating conditions of the cigarette manufacturing system including the tip paper traveling speed remain the same, the paste layer formed on the tip paper by transferring paste adhering to the paste supply roller to the tip paper via the paste transfer roller has a constant thickness.
However, the operating conditions of the cigarette manufacturing system are not always the same; for example, the traveling speed of the tip paper can change. In such cases, in the conventional paste transfer apparatus in which the paste transfer roller and the tip paper are always in rolling contact at a fixed contact angle, the amount of paste transferred to the tip paper from the paste transfer roller varies. Specifically, when the tip paper traveling speed decreases below the set speed, excessive paste is transferred to the tip paper. In this case, if the paste used has high adhesive strength, the tip paper may possibly be entwined round the paste transfer roller. Conversely, when the tip paper traveling speed increases above the set speed, the paste is insufficiently transferred, possibly causing defective wrapping of the tip paper around cigarettes and filter plugs.

Paste transfer apparatus for a filter cigarette manufacturing system


Herbo-mineral formulation for the treatment of cancer and method of preparation are disclosed herein. The disclosed formulation includes a combination of herb and mineral components that facilitate in controlling abnormal cell proliferation. The formulation can thus be used in treatment of cancer and related mobidities.

Cell proliferation is a highly regulated activity. Most cells are in a non-proliferative state unless they are stimulated. The loss of proliferative control leads to undesired abnormal cell proliferation and accumulation. Such accumulation of abnormal cells, commonly referred to as tumor, is a main characteristic of Cancer. Cancer can be of various types such as sarcoma, lymphoma, leukemia, melanoma, etc, depending on the type of cell that may be affected.
Cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases. It is considered to be a leading cause of death worldwide. For years, pharmaceutical industries and research institutes have been making best efforts in finding an effective treatment for cancer.
Modern medicine offers various methods for treating cancer including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy etc. The type of treatment opted depends on location and stage of cancer. Although, evolutionary changes have occurred over the years in finding a treatment for cancer, these methods have been observed to have drawbacks. These commonly used treatment methods tend to affect healthy tissue, in addition to cancer tissues, thereby resulting in side effects such as Alopecia, Lymphedema, Pain, Bleeding, Bruising, Edema, Skin and Nail changes, Fertility problems, etc. These side effects in turn have adverse effects on patients, at a physical, mental, emotional and social level.
Alternatively, ayurvedic medicine has also been used to treat cancer. With the knowledge of the anti-tumor properties of herbs such as Silybum marianum, Aloe barbadensis, Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, Hydrastis canadensis, Annona muricata, etc, numerous herbal formulations including such herbs have been developed. However, the effectiveness of such formulations is arguable and inconsistent. There exists a need for an effective method of treating abnormal cell proliferation leading to cancer.

Herbo-mineral formulation for the treatment of cancer and method of preparation thereof