Biologically active peptides that are derived from or are similar to sequences identical with the N-terminus of the oS1 fraction of milk casein. These peptides are capable of stimulating and enhancing immune response, protecting against viral infection, normalizing serum cholesterol levels, and stimulating hematopoiesis. The casein-derived peptides are non-toxic and can be used to treat and prevent immune pathologies, hypercholesterolemia, hematological disorders and viral-related diseases.

Bioactive Molecules from Nutrients:
In addition to the nutritional value of many foods, certain fractions and products of digestive pathways possess the ability to influence physiological processes. Some of these "extranutritional" constituents are present in their active form in the whole nutriment, such as the immunoglobulins in mother's milk and colostrums, phytoestrogens found in soy-based foods, polyphenolic antioxidants from fruits and vitamins. Others are encrypted within nutrient molecules, and are released in an active form during digestion or food processing, for example antihypertensive peptides from lactoglobin [Kitts, D. D. (1999), Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 72:4; 423-434].
Biological Activity in Milk Proteins:
Casein, the predominant milk protein, has been traditionally defined as composed of three fractions, o, β and γ, according to their electrophoretic mobility [N. J. Hipp, et al. (1952), Dairy Sci., 35:272]. Today casein is defined according to the amino acid sequences of each of the subgroups oS1, oS2, β and κ [W. N. Engel et al. (1984), J. Dairy Sci. 67: 1599].
In the course of digestion, the casein proteins are subjected to proteolytic cleavage by acid proteases such as chymosin (rennin), trypsin and pepsin, producing shorter peptides and causing curdling and calcium sequestration by the resultant protein fragments. A few studies with milk compounds demonstrated casein-related bacteriocidal activity. U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,670 discloses proteolytic casein digests possessing antibiotic properties against microorganisms. Israel Patent No. 42863 describes a casein-derived peptide consisting of 23 amino acids of the N-terminus of casein, possessing anti-bacterial activity. In addition, other physiologically active properties, such as opioid and growth factor-like activities have been proposed for casein or its derivatives [Kitts, D. D., (1999), ibid.].
Immune modulating activity has also been observed in casein peptides. Coste et al. (1992, Immun. Lett. 33: 41-46) observed enhancement of rat lymphocyte proliferation following treatment with a peptide derived from the C-terminus of β casein. However, none of these studies have determined the specific sequences in these casein peptides which confer their "extranutritional" properties.
Hematopoiesis in Cancer Therapy:
Following high-dose chemotherapy, especially following myeloablative doses of chemoradiotherapy supported by autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), patients are at high risk due to pancytopenia. Granulocytopenia may lead to development of serious, occasionally fatal infectious complications from common bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic agents in the immediate post transplant period. Similarly, thrombocytopenia frequently results in bleeding tendency and occasionally, in long lasting platelet dependence. Whenever resistance to platelets develops, bleeding episodes can be life threatening and hemorrhagic complications are frequently lethal. The risk due to granulocytopenia can be partially overcome by supportive measures and most effectively by administration of recombinant human cytokines that can enhance reconstitution of granulocytes, particularly granulocyte colony stimulation factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). These agents are extremely expensive (approximately $200-400/day/patient) and infrequently cause side effects due to hypersensitivity reactions, fever, bone pain and occasionally vascular leak syndromes, including pericarditis and pleuritis. Some of the side effects may be due to other cytokines that may be intrinsically released by these hematopoietic growth factors. Moreover, the use of these hematopoietic growth factors may be prohibitive in patients with tumor cells bearing G-CSF or GM-CSF receptors such as in acute and chronic myeloid leukemias and in myelodysplastic syndromes. Whereas major progress in treating patients at risk of pancytopenia has been achieved from the use of hematopoietic cytokines, no progress has been made in the treatment of thrombocytopenia. Following high dose chemotherapy and especially following ASCT, patients are at risk for thrombocytopenia which may last for many months even up to 3 years and some thromboctyopenic patients may never recover. Many patients previously treated with multiple blood products become platelet resistant and hence thrombocytopenia may be impossible to overcome, even transiently, despite intensive and frequent platelet transfusions from a single donor. Resistance to platelets and protracted thrombocytopenia represent a common cause of death at ASCT centers worldwide.
Currently, several new recombinant cytokines such as recombinant human interleukin-3 (rhIL3) and recombinant human interleukin-6 (rhIL6) are being investigated as potential agents for enhancing megakaryocytopoiesis and platelet reconstitution. Unfortunately, preliminary clinical trials showed that although rhIL3 and rhIL6 may enhance platelet reconstitution, such effects are by no means dramatic and may take considerable time.
Clearly, protracted thrombocytopenia represents a major problem in clinical Bone Marrow Transplant centers today, for which no satisfactory solution has yet been found.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have a safe, inexpensive, rapidly effective and well-defined stimulator of hematopoiesis, and specifically megakaryocytopoiesis, devoid of the above limitations.
Thrombopoetin (TPO) in Regulation of Hematopoiesis and Platelet Function:
TPO appears to be the major regulator of platelet production in vivo, although increase in the kidney- and liver-derived growth factor in platelet deficiencies is not caused by adaptation of TPO biosynthesis in these organs. Rather, a "feed-back loop" seems to exist in which the number of circulating platelets determines how much of the circulating TPO is available to the bone marrow for platelet production. In addition, it has been demonstrated that TPO is an early acting cytokine with important multilineage effects: TPO alone, or in combination with other early acting cytokines, can (i) promote viability and suppress apoptosis in progenitor cells; (ii) regulate hematopoietic stem cell production and function; (iii) trigger cell division of dormant multipotent cells; (iv) induce multilineage differentiation and (v) enhance formation of multilineage colonies containing granulocytes, erythrocytes, macrophages, and megakaryocytes (MK, CFU-GEMM). Moreover, TPO stimulates the production of more limited progenitors for granulocyte/monocyte, megakaryocyte and erythroid colonies, and stimulates adhesion of primitive human bone marrow and megakaryocytic cells to fibronectin and fibrinogen. Thus, TPO is an important cytokine for clinical hematologists/transplanters: for the mobilization, amplification and ex vivo expansion of stem cells and committed precursor cells for autologous and allogeneic transplantation (von dem Borne, A. E. G. Kr., et al., (1998) Thrombopoietin: it's role in platelet disorders and as a new drug in clinical medicine. In Bailliers Clin. Hematol. June:11(2), 427-45.
In addition to TPO effects in hematopoiesis, this potent growth factor primes platelets for various agonists and modulates platelet-extracellular matrix interactions. Although it does not itself cause platelet aggregation, TPO upregulates ADP-induced aggregation, especially on the second wave of aggregation, upregulates granule (ADP, ATP, serotonin, etc.) release and production of thromboxane B2, increases platelet attachment to collagen and potentiates shear-induced platelet aggregation. TPO also stimulates PMN activation, inducing IL-8 release and priming oxygen metabolite production, likely enhancing antimicrobial defense.
Clinical studies suggest TPO's value in understanding and treating a variety of hematological conditions. In patients with idiopathic aplastic anemia (AA), elevated TPO levels persist even in remission following immunosuppressive therapy, indicating a hematopoietic defect. TPO is elevated in other forms of aplastic thrombocytopenia as well, but not in conditions of increased platelet destruction. Apparently, the reactive increase in TPO production is insufficient in cases of destructive thrombocytopenia. Thus, TPO is not only a therapeutic option for aplastic, but also for destructive thrombocytopenia.
Thrombopoietic agents are of great clinical interest, for prevention and/or treatment of pathological or treatment-induced thrombocytopenia, and as a substitute for platelet transfusions. Of the cytokines evaluated, all but the marginally potent IL-11 have been deemed unacceptable for clinical use. TPO is widely believed to become the cytokine of choice for throbocytopenia treatment. Recombinant human TPO (Genentech) has recently become available, enabling accurate pharmacokinetic determinations and clinical trials. Thus, TPO's potential applications encompass the realms of supportive care (post chemo/radio-therapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation), hematological disease (AA, myelodysplasia, congenital and acquired thrombocytopenia), liver diseases, transfusion (expansion, harvest, mobilization and storage of platelets) and surgery (including liver transplantation). Of particular interest is the potential use of TPO/EPO/G-CSF cocktail for myelodysplasia, G-CSF and TPO combination for peripheral stem cell mobilization and TPO in harvesting CD 34+ cells and ex vivo expansion of megakaryocytes for superior platelet reconstitution. However, similar to other hematopoietic agents under consideration for clinical application, TPO is costly and potentially antigenic at therapeutically effective levels. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a safe, inexpensive and readily available stimulator of thrombopoiesis capable of augmenting TPO activity.
The oS1 Fraction of Casein:
The oS1 fraction of casein can be obtained from milk proteins by various methods [D. G. Schmidth and T. A. J. Paynes (1963), Biochim., Biophys. Acta, 78:492; M. P. Thompson and C. A. Kiddy (1964), J. Dairy Sci., 47:626; J. C. Mercier, et al. (1968), Bull. Soc. Chim. Biol. 50:521], and the complete amino acid sequence of the oS1 fraction of casein was determined by J. C. Mercier et al. (1971) (Eur. J. Biochem. 23:41). The genomic and coding sequences of bovine oS1 fraction of casein have also been cloned and sequenced employing recombinant DNA techniques [D. Koczan, et al. (1991), Nucl. Acids Res. 19(20): 5591; McKnight, R. A., et al. (1989), J. Dairy Sci. 72:2464-73]. Proteolytic cleavage and identification of N-terminal fragments from the oS1 fraction of casein has been documented [J. C. Mercier, et al. (1970), Eur. J. Biochem. 16:439; P. L. H. McSweeney et al. (1993), J. Dairy Res., 60:401], as has the intestinal absorption and appearance of this fragment in mammalian plasma following ingestion of whole milk proteins [Fiat, A. M., et al. (1998) Biochimie, 80(2):2155-65]. Meisel, H. and Bockelmann, W. [(1999), Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, 76:207-15] detected amino acid sequences of immunopeptides, casokinins and casomorphins in peptides liberated by lactic acid bacteria digests of o and β casein fractions. Of particular interest is the anti-aggregating and thrombolytic activity demonstrated for C-terminal portions of the o- and κ-casein fractions [Chabance, B. et al. (1997), Biochem. Mol. Biol. Int. 42(1) 77-84; Caen J. et al. (1993), J. Dairy Sci. 76(1): 301-310]. Previous studies documented potential bioactive peptides encrypted in the N-terminal oS1 amino acid sequence, but no mention was made of use of these protein fragments, specific sequences or defined synthetic peptides to enhance hematopoiesis, prevent viral infection or modulate the development of autoimmune diseases.

Casein derived peptides and uses thereof in therapy


A motor control system providing at least seventeen speed settings using industry standard control signals and an industry standard five pin speed connector. One speed monitoring pin transmits an output signal for monitoring the speed of the motor, and four speed setting pins receive input signals for setting the speed. One of the speed setting pins receives and decodes two binary states and two frequency states, thereby providing a total of thirty-two speed settings. A non-regulated isolated winding is added to an internal transformer to provide an internal isolated flyback power supply for the motor, thereby liberating a pin on the industry standard five pin speed connector to provide the fourth speed setting input pin. Transmission circuitry is associated with the speed monitoring pin, and the non-regulated isolated winding is used to provide a direct current bias to the transmission circuitry.

Manufacturers of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems desire to increase the number of discrete speed settings available on blower motors from the five settings currently available. Additional speed settings are desirable in order to increase comfort for end-users, allow installers to better control torque for improved airflow, and allow manufacturers to reduce the number of different products they provide and support. However, the ability to accept multiple speed inputs is limited by the number of input and output pins on the industry standard five pin speed connector. Currently, only three of the five pins are available for speed inputs, which limits the maximum number of speed settings to eight.
This background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.

Motor control system providing single output signal and high number of speed settings


A mode conversion apparatus including a dynamic waveguide section associated with a plurality of control elements that, when activated, are able to produce a periodic refractive-index perturbation pattern in the dynamic waveguide section, wherein the periodic refractive-index perturbation pattern is able to convert at least a fraction of an input signal from a first guided mode of the dynamic waveguide section into a second guided mode of the dynamic waveguide section.

In the field of integrated optics, there may be a need to use a mode conversion device, such as a mode converter (MC).
European Patent Application EP-0513919-A1 to Van Der Tol describes a passive device for mode conversion of a first mode into a second pre-defined mode. The device is described to include a periodic geometrical structure consisting of a periodic sequence of two wave-guiding subsections within each period, wherein the lengths of the subsections and the number of periods being matched to a pre-determined conversion fraction may be designed to allow coupling of a first pre-defined guided mode to a second pre-defined guided mode. Similar devices are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,977 to Pedersen et al and in European Patent Application EP0645650A1 to Van Der Tol. In such passive devices, the fraction of light being converted is pre-determined by the geometry of the device and, therefore, the activation and operation of such devices cannot be selectively adjusted or controlled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,808 to Van Der Tol et al describes a mechanism for activating and de-activating a mode-conversion device. The described device is activated by activating an electrode designed to disrupt the coupling between guided modes of the device, thereby to convert the coupling of a signal from a first guided mode to a second guided mode.

Method and apparatus for optical mode conversion


A print control device connects via a network to an information processing device that sends an instruction and data thereto. The print control device includes: a receiver for receiving from the information processing device editing information created by an editing application which edits data layout indicating printable data; and a controller for controlling the data layout based on editing information received by the receiver, wherein said data layout is displayed on an operation part of the print control device so that a user of the print control device selects one of the data to be printed by the print control device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print control device connectable via a network to an information processing device that sends an instruction and data thereto and the information processing device connectable via the network to the print control device that receives an instruction and data therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
A network administrator can access a file structure of the network using PC (personal computer) on the network and modify a data layout of the file structure by adding new files and deleting old files. And when a user wants to print desirable documents of a file stored in one of PCs on the network, a print instruction will be sent to MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) from the PC that the user is using now and the desirable document data will be sent to MFP from a memory of the PC storing it.
Recently it has been possible to upload configuration files to MFPs in order to change the user interface of the operation panel at runtime as disclosed in U.S. Patent application 20030011633. And also some modern MFPs have a mailbox function to store data from PCs on the network. The user can select at least one of data received by the MFP using an operation panel displaying the status of the mailbox function on the MFP and print it.
However, the user cannot provide a file structure on the operation panel that allows the printing of documents stored on the device's hard disk (HD). It is not possible to edit the data layout of the mailboxes to provide easy access to the relevant documents.

Print control device, information processing device, method of print control device, method of information processing device and computer program


An eye ball detecting device includes a light-receiving unit on which a plurality of regions each including of a plurality of pixels are set, and which receives a reflected image from an eye ball of a user or a person to be examined, Furthermore, the device includes a determination unit for determining the approach of the eye ball of the user to the device when the output from the light-receiving unit satisfies a predetermined condition. The light-receiving unit outputs only one luminance value for each region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eye ball detecting device which can detect the presence/absence of an observer's eye and, more particularly, to an eye ball detecting apparatus which detects the presence/absence of an observer's eye on the basis of an eye ball image.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,354 discloses a camera which uses a switch arranged in the grip portion of the camera, and a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element arranged in the finder portion, and turns on the switch in the grip portion when a user holds a camera to look into a finder. On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,774 discloses a camera which can detect the approach of a user's face to a finder by utilizing a technique for detecting the approach of an object by receiving light emitted from a light-emitting element and reflected by the object. Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-192338 filed by the present applicant discloses an observation apparatus which can discriminate, based on a received image signal, if an approaching object is an eye ball.
However, in the cameras disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,138,354 and 5,200,774 as the prior art, the grip switch cannot be correctly operated depending on the holding state of the camera, and the grip shape is considerably limited so as to reliably operate the grip switch.
On the other hand, since the approach or proximity detection technique for detecting the presence/absence of light reflected by an object responds to any object present near the finder, operation errors often occur in response to an object other than the eye ball.
In the eye ball detection technique which is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Pat. Application No. 3-192338 and can detect the eye ball on the basis of a received image, whether or not an approaching object is an eye ball can be discriminated based on an image signal, and operation errors can be eliminated. However, in order to obtain a detection result by processing an image obtained by an area sensor, a large-capacity memory for storing the data of a large number of two-dimensionally distributed pixels, and calculation means for calculating data at high speed are required. The consumption power of the calculation means becomes inevitably large.


An optical adjusting apparatus having a composite pattern structure is described. The optical adjusting apparatus include a substrate layer, at least one first pattern module and at least one second pattern module. The substrate has a first optical surface and a second optical surface opposite to the first optical surface. The first pattern module positioned on the first optical surface, wherein the first pattern module has a first structure unit along a first arrangement direction. The second pattern module which is adjacent to the first pattern module and positioned on the first optical surface. The second pattern module has the second structure unit along a second arrangement direction. The first structure unit of the first pattern module is connected to the second structure unit of the second pattern module. Therefore, the convergent angle of a light module is adjusted and the brightness of the light module is increased along specific direction.

Conventionally, a brightness enhancement film (BEF) is widely used in a light module to concentrate a light beam generated by a light source. Specifically, the brightness enhancement film (BEF) is applicable to the display monitor to meet the requirement for higher luminance or to the display supplied with a battery set. Such an application attempts to reuse the light outside the visual angle of the user by reflecting the light beam along the direction of the user in order to increase the usage efficiency of the light source.
The brightness enhancement film (BEF) is composed of prism sheets for centralizing the light beam and the prism sheets are arranged by an array of prisms in single direction. The arrangement of the array prisms is regular and monotone. Since the array prisms are only positioned in a simplex direction, the visual angle of the user cannot be properly changed to meet the requirement of the display standards. In addition, the availability of the concentration of the light beam is decreased due to the regular arrangement along single direction, thereby downgrading to the usability of the light module. Consequently, there is a need to develop an optical adjusting apparatus for solving the aforementioned problems.

Optical adjusting apparatus with composite pattern structure


A pre-expanded cover unit for an electrical cable includes a cold-shrinkable, tubular, elastomeric cover sleeve, a removable holdout, and a positioning device. The cover sleeve defines a cover sleeve through passage configured to receive the electrical cable. The holdout is mounted within the cover sleeve through passage and configured to be withdrawn therefrom. The holdout maintains the cover sleeve in an expanded state in which the cover sleeve is elastically expanded and, when withdrawn from the cover sleeve through passage, permits the cover sleeve to radially contract to a contracted state about the electrical cable. The positioning device is secured to the cover sleeve and includes a cable clamp. The cable clamp is configured to secure the positioning device to the electrical cable such that, when the holdout is withdrawn from the cover sleeve, the positioning device axially constrains the cover sleeve relative to the cable to axially align the contracted cover sleeve with the electrical cable.

In the electrical utilities industry, maintaining cable integrity may be critical. A loss of cable integrity, for example, a short circuit in a high voltage cable, may result in a crippling power outage or, even worse, a loss of life. One everyday task that may pose a great threat to cable integrity is the formation of electrical connections.
When electrical connections are formed, a bare metal surface may be exposed such as a splice connector. These bare metal surfaces may be particularly hazardous when formed in the field where they are exposed to the environment. This environment may include rocks and other sharp objects as well as moisture when the connection is to be buried under ground and rainfall when the connection is to be suspended in the air. Thus, there is a need to protect such electrical connections from the environment.
Also, electrical stress concentrations in cable terminations can cause degradation of cable insulation. To address this problem, terminations are commonly provided with stress control elements (e.g., a stress cone or high-K layer). However, in practice such terminations may be installed improperly in such a manner that the stress control element is rendered ineffective or less effective.

Positioning device for cable accessories and methods and assemblies including same


In a liquid crystal display, an enclosure is formed by detachably fitting a synthetic resin-made front enclosure including a liquid crystal panel with a synthetic resin-made rear enclosure, and the enclosure is fitted upright to a stand by drilling a substantially U-shaped stand hole in the middle of a bottom plate of the rear enclosure. Further, the stand is attached to the exterior casing of the liquid crystal panel by screws, the stand in the stand hole is removably formed on the outside of the rear enclosure through the cutout portion by forming the cutout portion reaching the stand hole from the edge of the bottom plate at the bottom plate of the rear enclosure 1B, and a sealing plate for sealing the cutout portion integrally protrudes from the central portion of the edge of the bottom plate of the front enclosure.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, which can be repaired or inspected easily; reduce manufacturing cost; and cost little for a mold.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional liquid crystal display is disclosed in JP-A-2003-015542. Hereinafter, an example of the technologies will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 14. An enclosure 1 is formed by detachably fitting a synthetic resin-made front enclosure 1A including a liquid crystal panel E with a synthetic resin-made rear enclosure 1B by screws 2; a substantially U-shaped stand hole 4 is drilled in the middle of a bottom plate 3 of the rear enclosure 1B; four bosses 6 (front and rear in each of right and left) integrally protrudes from the lower portion of a rear plate 5 of the rear enclosure 1B toward the stand hole 4; an extending plate 8 extending from the lower end of a metal board 7 attached to the rear plate 5 is inserted between the right and left bosses 6; a pair of reinforcing plates 9 (left and right) bent like, substantially, capital 'L' from both side ends of the extending plate 8 is arranged with the stand hole 4 interposed therebetween and faces bottom plates 6a of the bosses 6 individually with predetermined gaps t from the bottom plates 6a; a pair of L-shaped connecting rods 11a extending upward from both side ends of a stand 11 tiltably supported by a base 10 passes through the stand hole 4 and is inserted into the gaps t between the bosses 6 and the reinforcing plate 9; screws 12 are tightened into screw holes 9a of the reinforcing plate 9 through the bottom plates 6a of the bosses 6 and through holes 11b of the connecting rods 11a; as a result, the enclosure 1 is fitted upright to the stand 11. Meanwhile, reference numeral 13 represents a printed board attached to the rear surface of an exterior casing 14 of the liquid crystal panel E.
Hereinafter, the repairing or inspecting sequence of the liquid crystal display will be described. The stand 11 is removed from the bosses 6 and the reinforcing plate 9 by loosening the screws 12 and then lifting the enclosure 1 as shown in FIG. 15A, the screws 2 are loosened, and the rear enclosure 1B is separated from the front enclosure 1A attached with a liquid crystal panel E as shown in FIG. 15B.
After that, as shown in FIG. 16, the front enclosure 1A attached with the liquid crystal panel E, which is not yet tested, is put on stock yard S1 on a table 15, another liquid crystal panel E-attached front enclosure 1A is leaned against supporting rods 16 in test yard S2 adjacent to test yard S1, a screen of the liquid crystal panel E is observed with eyes from the front side of the front enclosure 1A, and the liquid crystal panel E and the printed board 13 are operated at the rear side of the front enclosure 1A when the liquid crystal display is repaired, fine-tuned or the like.
In the above configuration of the related art, since the front enclosure 1A attached with the liquid crystal panel E cannot stand alone, the front enclosure 1A attached with the liquid crystal panel E needs to be leaned against the supporting rods 16 or the like when the liquid crystal display is repaired or inspected at a test yard S2, which requires time and effort for repairing or inspecting. In addition, since the front enclosure 1A attached with the liquid crystal panel E is laid on a stock yard S1 when stocked, the required area should be wide, and thus the cost rises.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, since the stand hole 4 is formed at the rear enclosure 1B in the shape of, substantially, a capital letter "U", a substantially U-shaped sliding mold (not shown), which can slide in a direction c and d perpendicular to the fitting direction a and b of a male and female molds, needs to be incorporated into the male and female molds (not shown), which are used to mold the rear enclosure 1B, in order to form the stand hole 4; consequently, the mold structure becomes complicate and the cost for mold rises.


The present invention relates to small molecule modulators of melanin expression and methods of making the small molecules. Also disclosed are methods of increasing pigmentation in a cell which involve providing compounds of the present invention and contacting a cell with the compounds under conditions effective to induce melanin expression in the cell, thereby increasing pigmentation. The present invention also relates to compositions containing compounds of the present invention and a carrier.

Melanin is a complex biopolymer that is synthesized in organelles called melanosomes that are a unique feature of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that reside in the basal layer of the epidermis and transfer melanin to neighboring keratinocytes. In melanin synthesis, early oxidative steps in which phenolic and catecholic precursors are oxidized to orthoquinones occurs. Regulation of melanin production occurs at multiple points that primarily involve, but are not exclusive to, the regulation of tyrosinase, which is the key enzyme in melanin synthesis (Wang et al., "Tyrosinase Maturation Through the Mammalian Secretory Pathway: Bringing Color to Life," Pigment Cell Res. 19:3-18 (2006); Wang et al., "Regulation of Tyrosinase Trafficking and Processing by Presenilins: Partial Loss of Function by Familial Alzheimer's Disease Mutation," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103:353-8 (2006)). However, because over 100 genes are implicated in control of pigmentation, other regulatory targets are likely to exist.
Melanin is important for disease prevention, because it absorbs ultraviolet light in the UVB and UVA spectrum. This protects keratinocytes from the mutagenic effects of sunlight. In addition, melanin has a social function, because it determines skin and hair color. Cutaneous cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma are directly linked to exposure to ultraviolet irradiation, and it is widely accepted that people with light skin are at much higher risk to develop skin cancer due to a comparative lack of melanin compared with dark skinned individuals (Gallagher et al., "Adverse Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation: A Brief Review," Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 92(1):119-31 (2006)).
Agents that increase melanin synthesis are of interest, because of their potential use as "natural sunscreens" that stimulate the skin's resident melanocytes to produce and transfer more melanin to epidermal keratinocytes, thus decreasing the incidence of skin cancer. There is a significant need to identify new compounds with improved ability to induce melanin production and transfer. The development of libraries of compounds that can be rapidly screened for their ability to modulate melanin production would facilitate drug discovery that could have a profound impact on the incidence of skin cancer.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.

Small-molecule modulators of melanin expression


The disclosure relates to a pectin-adriamycin conjugate, and discloses a preparation method and use of the conjugate above. The pectin-adriamycin conjugate of the disclosure has a completely new chemical structure and can be accumulated in a malignant tumor tissue for a long time with a high concentration in a targeting manner so as to achieve the purposes of enhancing effects and reducing toxicity, and the indications are chemotherapies of various solid malignant tumors.

A "pectin-adriamycin conjugate" targeted drug delivery system (PAC) is based on a great amount of preliminary work and literature studies, in which pectin is selected as a carrier for polymeric anti-cancer prodrugs, and the structure of pectin is modified so that it can be covalently bonded to a polypeptide-adriamycin to form a water-soluble pectin-adriamycin conjugate with a high drug loading.
PAC is a polymeric conjugate having a particle diameter of about 200 nm, and some drugs that enter the circulatory system after injection can be accumulated in a tumor tissue by use of the enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR) of the tumor tissue to the macromolecular substance so as to achieve the purpose of passive targeting. PAC is gradually phagocytized by tumor cells in the tumor tissue and hydrolyzed in lysosomes to release adriamycin so as to exert a tumor-killing effect. The existing pectin-adriamycin conjugates are all formed by directly bonding pectin to adriamycin via an amide bond or an acylhydrazone bond, and thus are hardly soluble in water, and must be prepared into a nano-suspension or lyophilized powder for injection, which can only be locally administrated; if being systemically administrated, they are easily phagocytized by the reticuloendothelial system, have a limited targeting effect, cannot be accumulated in a malignant tumor tissue for a long time with a high concentration, and thus have a an inefficient anti-tumor effect.

Pectin-adriamycin conjugate as well as preparation method and use thereof

SICHUAN YINGRUI PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY


The embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device and a driving method thereof, wherein the display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of pixels a voltage transmitting line transmitting a first voltage to a first pixel among the plurality of pixels, a data line transmitting a data voltage to the first pixel, and a plurality of sensing units including a first sensing unit connected to the voltage transmitting line, wherein the first pixel includes a first switching element including an input terminal connected to the voltage transmitting line and a second switching element including an input terminal connected to the data line, and the first sensing unit includes a control switching element including an input terminal connected to the voltage transmitting line.

(a) Technical Field
The embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device and a driving method thereof, and in detail, to a display device including a sensing unit positioned at a display panel and a driving method of the display device.
(b) Discussion of the Related Art
Flat panel displays include liquid crystal displays and organic light emitting devices. A display device includes a display panel having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of signal lines connected to the pixels. The signal lines include a plurality of gate lines through which gate signals are transmitted, a plurality of data lines through which data voltages are transmitted, and a voltage transmitting line transmitting at least one predetermined voltage. The predetermined voltage includes a driving voltage of the display device. Each pixel includes a switching element, such as a thin film transistor, connected to the gate line and the data line and a pixel electrode connected to the switching element and receiving a data voltage.
Among the display devices, a liquid crystal display includes two display panels formed with two field generating electrodes and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two display panels. The liquid crystal display applies a voltage between the field generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer such that liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are aligned in a predetermined direction, thereby displaying images. One of the two field generating electrodes is applied with a predetermined voltage through the voltage transmitting line.
A sensing unit may be included in the display device. When touched by a user's finger, a touch pen, or a light source, such as a laser, the sensing unit outputs a sensing signal. The display device recognizes contact information, such as the existence and position of the contact from the sensing signal.
No image is displayed at the region where the sensing unit is formed, resulting in a loss of aperture ratio and transmittance of the display device.

Display device and driving method thereof


A method and apparatus is provided for acquiring document data from additional input sources to a DSM system. In an embodiment, a DSM computing device includes a remote image receiver service configured to connect to a remote image source via a network connection, receive configuration information and image data from the remote image source, and determine post scan processing instructions based, at least in part, on the configuration information. In another embodiment, a DSM computing device includes an input selection service configured to identify one or more input sources available at the computing device, receive input source information identifying a particular input source of the one or more input sources, receive image information identifying the particular image data residing on the particular input source, retrieve the particular image data from the particular input source, and make the particular image data available to a distributed scan management service.

An enterprise scanning system implements protocols that allow for entities to easily route documents that enter the system via a scanning device according to rules determined by system administrators and/or users of scanning devices. An example enterprise scanning system is Distributed Scan Management (DSM) implemented by Microsoft and deployed in Windows 7/Windows 2008 Server R2.
An enterprise scanning system that is implemented using DSM (a "DSM system") allows a user to authenticate user data via a DSM scanning device and to select from one or more sets of post scan processing instructions that are made available to the user. A set of post scan processing instructions (PSP) contains instructions for routing acquired documents, including one or more destinations to which acquired document data should be sent. For example, a PSP may indicate that acquired document data should be emailed to one or more email addresses, copied to one or more specified file servers, uploaded to one or more specified websites, etc. A PSP may also include, among other things, settings for scanning data such as color style, scan resolution, file format type, etc.
After a user is authenticated and has selected a PSP, the user may scan document data into the system at the DSM scanning device. The DSM system processes the scanned document data according to the selected PSP.
DSM systems do not allow data acquisition in manners other than via scanning. This limitation of the manner of introducing data into a DSM system limits the usefulness of processing document data using the DSM system. It would be advantageous for a DSM system to allow users to introduce document data for processing by the DSM system from both scanners and other types of input sources external to the DSM system.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Additional input sources for data acquisition at distributed scan management systems


Apparatus 1 for evaluating catalyst performance according to the invention comprises a reaction vessel 2 in which a plurality of catalysts S are disposed at a distance, supply pipes 3 for supplying a reactant gas into the reaction vessel 2, a plurality of measuring instruments 7 provided with gas sensors 71 for sensing the gas formed by the contact of the reactant gas with a plurality of catalysts S, and outputting signals according to the kinds and concentrations of the formed gas, and a calculating unit 8 for receiving the output signals from the plurality of measuring instruments 7 and identifying the kinds of the formed gas and calculating the concentrations thereof. With such a constitution, performance evaluation on a plurality of catalysts can be made concurrently, quick and in simple steps.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for evaluating the performance of catalysts by determining the kinds and concentrations of the gases formed in a reaction of starting materials in the presence of the catalyst.
To evaluate the performance of a solid catalyst in the gas phase chemical reaction, gas chromatography has been used for analyzing reaction products. The gas chromatography process comprises a gaseous mobile phase for carrying a multi-component product and a stationary phase for retaining the components of the product for separation, and separates the product into components by the differences in characteristics of each component relative to the stationary and mobile phases. The separated components are identified by a qualitative detector such as a mass spectrometer, and/or the concentrations or masses are determined by a quantitative detector such as an flame ionization detector.
Catalyst performance is evaluated by the gas chromatography, measuring the temperature of the catalyst at which the gaseous chemical reaction starts or determining the relative amounts of the useful and useless products.
The gas chromatography is an excellent method in that multi-component products can be precisely analyzed. However, it requires at least several ten minutes for a single analysis step due to theoretical restriction, and it is impossible to evaluate plural catalytic products concurrently with a single apparatus. Accordingly, on evaluation of the performance of a plurality of catalysts, it is necessary to carry out a time-consuming analysis and evaluation for each catalyst, which is extremely laborious.
Combinatorial chemistry is a procedure for developing a new material or product and is receiving attention in the field of pharmaceuticals and other functional materials. Tn the catalyst-related field, a catalyst-developing procedure which utilizes the concept of combinatorial chemistry has recently been noted. In the combinatorial chemistry, a large amount of catalyst candidate is prepared at a time and evaluated. The most important requirement in the application of the combinatorial chemistry to this field is the quick analysis and quantitative determination of the compounds formed by the catalytic reaction. Since the gas chromatography so far widely used as the procedure for analyzing the gas formed by reaction is expensive and requires relatively a long time for analysis, it cannot meet the time requirement essential in the combinatorial chemistry.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above drawbacks of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an apparatus with which evaluation of catalyst performances of plural catalysts can be made concurrently, quickly and in simple steps.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides an apparatus for elvaluating catalyst performance comprising:
a vessel in which a plurality of catalysts are disposed at a predetermined distance;
a supply device for supplying a reactant gas into the vessel;
a plurality of measuring instruments provided with at least one gas sensor for each of the catalysts, each gas sensor detecting the formed gas individually by the contact of the reactant gas with the catalysts, and outputting signals according to the kind and concentration of the formed gas; and
a calculating unit for identifying the kind of the formed gas and calculating the concentration thereof based on the output signal of the plurality of the measuring instruments.
Since the apparatus of the present invention brings the reactant gas into a plurality of catalysts at a time and detects the formed gas on each catalyst, it is possible to evaluate the performance of the plurality of catalysts concurrently. Further, since the gas sensors used for sensing formed gases have quick response, cheap price, and simple structure, the evaluation of performance of catalysts can be made quickly and in simple steps. Accordingly, analysis and quantitative determination of a large amount of catalyst candidate materials by combinatorial chemistry can be performed in a short time. Consequently, the catalyst development, which had hitherto required a long time, can be accelerated.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of measuring instruments are respectively provided with a plurality of gas sensors, and the calculating unit calculates the concentration of the formed gas by comparing the output values of the gas sensors taken by a preliminary measurement of a plurality of gases whose kinds and concentrations are known, with the output values of the gas sensors taken by a measurement of the formed gas.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of measuring instruments are respectively provided with a plurality of gas sensors, and the calculating unit identifies the kinds of the formed gas and calculates the concentration thereof by comparing the patterns of output values of the gas sensors taken by a preliminary measurement of a plurality of gases whose kinds and concentrations are known, with the patterns of output values of the gas sensors taken by a measurement of the formed gas.
According to the above preferred embodiment, a plurality of gas sensors are used to identify the kind of the formed gas by the comparison With the output values of the gas sensors taken by measurement of gases whose kinds and concentrations are known or by the matching with the patterns of the output values and calculate the concentration of the formed gas, analysis precision can be improved in comparison with the analysis using a single gas sensor. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the kind of the formed gas is identified and the concentration of the formed gas is calculated by the comparison with the known amount as in the pattern matching process, the analysis of the formed gas can be performed quickly.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for evaluating catalyst performance further comprises a plurality of suction apparatuses, provided in the vicinity of each of the plurality of catalysts, for sucking the formed gas and leading the formed gas to the measuring instruments
According to the above embodiment, the gas formed under each of the catalysts is sucked immediately after the formation by a suction apparatus provided in the vicinity of each catalyst, the possibility for the formed gas to be mixed with the gas formed under other catalysts and led to the measuring instrument in mixture is reduced, and the analysis precision can be improved.
The other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description accompanied by drawings. It is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the following embodiments but be modifiable in various manners within the scope of the claims.

Apparatus for evaluating catalyst performance

Agency of Industrial Science and Technology


Disclosed are photo-masks for use in two exposure steps to be effected for forming a ground metal layer on the back surface of a substrate in manufacture of a two-layer: TAB in which a metal layer is formed on one surface or both surfaces of an insulating resin substrate without an adhesive, determined metal leads are formed on the top surface of the substrate, via holes are formed on the determined positions of the substrate, a ground metal layer is formed on the back surface of the substrate, and a part of the leads as formed on the top surface of the substrate are electrically connected with the ground metal layer as formed on the back surface of the same via the via holes; the photo-masks being characterized in that the photo-mask to be used in the first exposure step for forming the via holes to the back surface of the substrate is provided with alignment marks in the determined plural positions thereof and that the photo-mask to be used in the second exposure step for forming the ground metal layer on the back surface of the substrate is provided with alignment marks in the positions corresponding to the positions of the alignment marks made in the first photomask.

Recently, development of multi-functional devices which are low-priced but have a high reliability has noticeably progressed in electronics industries. Accordingly, high-function and high-density devices and elements have been realized and a demand for light-weighed, thin-formed and small-sized devices having a high reliability and a multi-function is increasing. As such, development of a novel and improved technique for fitting such devices and elements in electronics apparatus has become increasingly important. In particular, development of small-sized and diversified IC package parts is an especially important theme in this technical field. With progress of the technique of fitting electronic devices and elements, formation of fine pin pitches capable of satisfying the demand for multi-pin structure in small-sized IC packages is desired.
TAB is one having a plurality of bonding fine metal lead patterns as formed on an electrically insulating tape-shaped synthetic resin film substrate such as polyimide tape substrate. Since TAB has test pads, it is possible to find out any bonding failure or chip disorder after bonding of chips but before fitting of substrate to TAB. Additionally, the size of the IC pad to be applied may be much small-sized as compared with wire bonding and therefore formation of a more multi-pined structure is possible. That is, TAB is characterized by the noted advantages.
TAB is classified into three kinds: one-layer TAB, two-layer TAB and three-layer TAB. One-layer TAB is composed of only a patterned metal tape such as a patterned copper foil tape. Such a one-layer TAB has a poor mechanical strength since the thickness of the metal layer itself is at most about several ten microns. Additionally, the number of pins to be applied to the one-layer TAB is limitative. Therefore, the one-layer. TAB is not suitable for large-scaled IC or the like devices. In order to overcome the drawback of the one-layer TAB, a three-layer TAB has been developed in which a metal foil is laminated on a synthetic resin film via an adhesive and the metal foil is patterned. However, the three-layer TAB has a drawback that insulation between pins could not sufficiently be ensured even through a highly insulating synthetic resin film such as a polyimide resin film is used as a substrate, because of the influence of the adhesive to be used as the interlayer.
Two-layer TAB is manufactured by directly forming a metal layer on the surface of an insulating synthetic resin film substrate by sputtering, vapour deposition, plating or the like metal-coating method without using an adhesive followed by patterning the thus-formed metal layer. As the two-layer TAB does not use any adhesive in forming the metal layer on the surface of the substrate, it is free from problems of electric insulation and can be used stably. Therefore, the use of the two-layered TAB is considered hopeful.
Formation of leads on the surface of the two-layer TAB can be effected by an additive method in which a photo-resist is coated on a subbing metal layer as coated on the surface of an insulating synthetic resin substrate such as a polyimide resin substrate by dry surface-treatment such as sputtering or vacuum evaporation coating or by wet surface-treatment such as chemical plating, as mentioned above, the thickness of the photo-resist being larger than the thickness of the leads to be formed, then a specifically defined resist is formed by exposure and development, and thereafter leads are finally formed by electric plating. The leads can also be formed by a subtractive method in which a metal layer is previously formed on the above-mentioned subbing metal layer in the same thickness as leads, then a resist pattern is formed on the layer, and thereafter the intended leads are finally formed by etching.
For continuously bonding such two-layer TAB's to IC chips, it is necessary to form holes for conveying the tape (hereinafter referred to as a "sprocket hole"), holes for exposing the top of the lead so that the exposed lead is bonded to an IC chip (hereinafter referred to as a "device hole"), holes for connecting the bottom of the lead to an external circuit (hereinafter referred to as an "OLB" hole), and further holes for inserting a guide pin thereinto in order that the top of the lead may accurately be bonded to an IC chip (hereinafter referred to as a "tooling hole), these holes being provided through the insulating chemical resin substrate by chemical dissolution.
For dissolution of the insulating resin, there may be employed a wet method of dissolving the resin with an insulating resin-dissolving liquid as well as an optical method of using laser rays.
It has already been confirmed that such two-layer TAB's manufactured by combination of the above-mentioned various methods have a high-level potency as mentioned above. However, because of further elevation of the fitting density of electronic parts and further elevation of the performance speed of electronic apparatus, development of further high-leveled two-layer TAB's having a function of preventing errors by cross talk and a function of impedance matching is desired. As one example of two-layer TAB's provided with such functions, there has been proposed a two-layer TAB in which a ground metal layer is formed on the opposite surface to the surface having leads thereon and via holes are holed through a resin substrate so that a part of the leads are electrically connected with the ground metal layer via the via holes.
A method of preparing the proposed two-layer TAB will be briefly mentioned below. First, a metal layer such as a copper layer is formed on both surfaces or one surface of an insulating resin substrate such as a polyimide substrate without using an adhesive. For forming the metal layer, conventional methods which include a dry metal layer-forming method such as a sputtering method and a wet metal layer-forming method such as a chemical plating method are used. Next, a photo-resist layer is formed on the both surfaces of the substrate; a photo-mask having a pattern corresponding to the determined leads is applied to the top surface of the substrate while a photo-mask corresponding to the determined via holes is applied to the back surface of the same; and thus the substrate is exposed and developed so as to form the determined resist patterns on the both surfaces.
Formation of the leads may be effected, using either the above-mentioned additive method or the above-mentioned additive method in accordance with the thickness of the metal layer as previously formed on the back surface of the substrate. Formation of the via holes may be effected by dissolving and removing the exposed parts of the insulating resin as exposed in accordance with the resist pattern on the back surface of the substrate, using a dissolving liquid, when the metal layer has previously been formed on only one surface of the substrate. On the other hand, where the metal layer has previously been formed on both surfaces of the substrate, formation of the via holes may be effected in such a way that a metal layer pattern in which only the parts corresponding to the intended via holes are exposed is formed on the back surface of the substrate by resist pattern treatment, and thereafter the parts where the insulating resin is exposed are dissolved in the same manner as mentioned above to form the intended via holes.
Next, a thin metal layer is formed on all the back surface of the substrate including the side surfaces of the formed via holes by a dry or wet metal layer-forming method, and thereafter a resist layer is formed on the thin metal layer either immediately or after lamination of a metal plate layer on the thin metal layer by electric plating or the like. Then, a photo-mask having a desired hole pattern, including device holes, OLB holes, sprocket holes, and tooling holes is applied to the back surface of the substrate as coated with the resist layer, and the substrate is thereafter exposed and developed to form the desired resist pattern.
Where the resist layer has been formed immediately after formation of the thin metal layer on the back surface of the substrate, the above-mentioned additive method may be employed to form a ground metal layer having the desired pattern. On the other hand, where the resist layer has been formed after lamination of the metal plate layer over the thin metal layer formed on the back surface of the substrate, the above-mentioned subtractive method may be employed to form the same.
The above-mentioned process of forming the two-layer TAB having the above-mentioned construction has two exposure steps. In the second exposure step, in particular, it is necessary to effect accurate alignment between the resist layer as formed on the back surface of the substrate and the photo-mask to be applied to the resist layer. However, provision of alignment marks for attaining accurate alignment between the positions of the formed via holes and the relative positions of other various holes in the photo-mask is generally unknown.
Under the situation, development of a method for attaining accurate alignment between the positions of the via holes as formed on the back surface of a substrate and the relative positions of other various holes to be formed after formation of the via holes is desired. The object of the present invention is to provide photo-masks capable of easily effecting such accurate alignment in manufacture of a two-layer TAB.

Photo-mask for manufacture of two-layer tab


In one example, a system and method for replication and recovery of protected resources may include one or more vendor neutral components that identify a corresponding vendor specific replication and/or recovery tool. The vendor specific tool is then executre to obtain replication data related to the protected logical entity. The replication data is formatted in a vendor neutral format, and forwarded to a target site over a data transport mechanism. The target site can then reformat the replication data into the appropriate vendor specific formats required on the target site (which may not be the same vendor or vendor formats on the source site), and proceed to recover and/or replicate the protected resources.

This patent application relates to information technology and in particular to replication and recovery techniques.
Recovering a set of Information Technology (IT) systems can become a relatively complex problem. This is due at least in part to the fact that the underlying infrastructure it not always implemented with disaster recovery in mind. Disaster recovery solutions may not even be implemented at all, even where business criticality would otherwise dictate the necessity of such solutions.
One common disaster recovery approach protects the individual computer systems. These operate by capturing system state information and then re-creating the system state on a recovery computer. In the case of a disaster event, this approach can bring up that recovery computer in the desired state.
Disaster recovery operations are in many installations a primarily manual operation. For highly virtualized environments and cloud-based applications, some vendors provide available tools that leverage automation procedures. However those solutions are specific to particular vendors. In addition, a large portion of enterprise IT is still not virtualized. For such environments, the only option is to manually codify recovery procedures for each and every application in each and every data center scenario. This becomes very labor-intensive, time-consuming and error-prone process.
In other instances, different vendor solutions are chosen depending upon specific implementation needs. However this approach can also require much manual intervention to choose the right replication solution and to ensure it remains operational when configurations change.


Disclosed is a substrate processing method capable of preventing an etching rate from being deteriorated when a high aspect ratio hole or trench is formed on an oxide film. When a high aspect ratio hole or trench is formed on an oxide film by etching the oxide film formed on a wafer using a hard mask layer having an opening and made of silicon, the oxide film corresponding to the opening is etched using plasma generated from a processing gas containing a C4F6 gas and a methane gas. Subsequently, a reactive product generated by the etching and deposited on an inner surface of the hole of the oxide film is ashed with plasma generated from a processing gas containing an oxygen gas, and the etching and the ashing processes are repeated in sequence.

When a hole or a trench is formed with a high aspect ratio by performing a plasma etching process on an oxide film made of an oxide such as silicon dioxide, a fluorocarbon-based gas or a particle fluorocarbon-based gas which easily generates a reactive product is used (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-206444). The generated reactive product is deposited on a mask layer or an inner surface of the hole or trench, but the reactive product deposited on the mask layer suppresses etching of the mask layer and thus contributes to improving a selection ratio of the oxide film to the mask layer in etching. The reactive product deposited on the inner surface of the hole or trench, in particular, the side of the hole or trench suppresses etching of the side to prevent bowing, which is a phenomenon in which a cross-sectional shape of the hole or trench is expanded, from being generated.
However, when the high aspect ratio hole or trench is formed by the plasma etching, the duration of the plasma etching becomes longer, and as a result, the amount of the generated reactive product increases until the end of plasma etching process. When the amount of the generated reactive product increases, the amount of the reactive product deposited on the bottom of the hole or trench also increases, and as a result, etching of the hole or trench is impeded in the end of plasma etching time, thereby deteriorating an etching rate.

Substrate processing method and storage medium


A DCE sends a first command to a DTE if data transmission from the DCE has not ended at a predetermined timing after the end of data transfer from the DTE to the DCE. The DTE sends a second command to the DCE at an arbitrary timing upon reception of the first command. Upon reception of the second command, the DCE sends to the DTE the first command if data transmission has not ended, or a third command if data transmission has ended. The DTE and DCE execute a post-data transmission procedure after they exchange the third command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communication by a class-2 service.
2. Description of the Related Art
The communication sequence of the class-2 service is known as, e.g., an ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication sector) recommendation T.32.
The class-2 service asynchronously executes data transfer from a data terminal equipment (to be referred to as DTE hereinafter) to a data circuit-terminating equipment (to be referred to as DCE hereinafter), and data transmission from the DCE to the circuit. That is, the class-2 service can end data transfer from the DTE to the DCE regardless of the execution status of data transmission from the DCE to the circuit.
The ITU-T recommendation T.32 stipulates that the DTE waits for a command from the DCE after the end of image data transfer to the DCE. The recommendation T.32 also stipulates that the DCE should send to the DTE a command representing the end of data transmission to the circuit after the DCE receives data transferred from the DTE.
Hence, the DTE must wait for a command from the DCE until the DCE ends data transmission to the circuit and sends a command representing the end of data transmission.

Communication sequence, data circuit-terminating equipment, data terminal equipment, and storage medium storing communication control program


Tunable external cavity lasers are used in applications such as interferometry, FM spectroscopy, and optical communications equipment testing. Mode hop free high bandwidth frequency modulation operation is desired in a tunable external cavity laser. This application describes new and novel techniques for controlling the output wavelength of a tunable external cavity laser while suppressing mode hop.

A tunable external cavity laser is a device that allows a user to select the output wavelength of light from a range of wavelengths available from the device. Each tunable external cavity laser has a range, 1500 to 1620 nm for example, of adjustable wavelength selection. The user has an ability to select any one wavelength within the range to amplify and emit from the system.
By rapidly selecting successive wavelengths of light, wavelength modulation of the light is achieved. This wavelength modulation is very useful for spectroscopy (used in chemistry and biochemistry) and optical communication equipment testing. By using wavelength modulation, low frequency noise is eliminated from a test signal. Accordingly, higher rates of wavelength modulation in a tunable external cavity laser are almost always desirable.
The tunable external cavity laser is centered around a gain medium. The gain medium amplifies light in a given wavelength range for a given device and is well known in the art. A commonly used gain medium for an external cavity laser is a laser diode with an antireflective coating. The antireflective coating reduces residual reflections, which encourages single mode operation. A mode refers to a single wavelength of light. A laser diode emits many different wavelengths of light, which are tightly clustered together, 1500 to 1620 nm for example. Laser diodes are sometimes characterized by the center wavelength, which is the wavelength in the center of the wavelength range that the laser diode emits. Other commonly known gain mediums, such as gas, can also be used, but their large size may not be desirable.
In order to amplify a specific wavelength of light, that specific wavelength should be reflected back into the gain medium. In a system where a single output wavelength is desired, it is necessary to select a single wavelength of light to be directed back to the gain medium. One technique is to use a diffraction grating and a retroreflector. This arrangement is known as a Littman configuration.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art example of a tunable external cavity laser 100. A beam 140 of light with multiple wavelengths leaves the gain medium 110 at point A and strikes the diffraction grating 120 at point B. Each wavelength of light diffracts off the diffraction grating 120 at a different angle. A retroreflector 130 is rotated relative to the diffraction grating 120 to select the wavelength of light that is desired to be amplified. Only the light which diffracts off of the diffraction grating 120 at point B and hits the retroreflector 130 at point C such that its path B–C is perpendicular to the retroreflector 130 is reflected by the retroreflector 130 such that its return path is C-B-A. The returning light gets amplified when it traverses again through the gain medium 110. The wavelength of the light that experiences amplification through multiple reflections is determined by the angle between the retroreflector 130 and the diffraction grating 120. The path A–B–C forms the cavity of the tunable external cavity laser 100.
Because only one wavelength of light is reflected back into the gain medium 110, only that wavelength of light is amplified. The light emitted from the gain medium 110, therefore, has one dominant wavelength with insignificant amounts of all of the other wavelengths created by the gain medium 110.
Some of the light emitted from the gain medium 110 reflects off of the diffraction grating 120 and exits the system toward point D. This light comprises the output of the tunable external cavity laser 100. It should be apparent that changing the angle of the retroreflector 130 relative to the diffraction grating 120 results in the amplification, and, therefore, output of a different wavelength of light.
One important aspect of a tunable external cavity laser is that the cavity length should be a constant multiple of the selected wavelength of light. As the output wavelength is tuned from one wavelength to another, the cavity length needs to be changed such that the number of wavelengths in the length of the external cavity laser 100 remains constant. If not, mode hop can occur. Mode hop is an unintended switch from the desired wavelength to a nearby wavelength. The minimization or elimination of a mode hop is highly desired.
FIG. 2A shows a prior art example of a tunable external cavity laser 100 where wavelength selection and cavity length adjustment is achieved in one physical movement. The retroreflector 130 rotates about a pivot 210. The retroreflector 130 rotates relative to the diffraction grating 120 and the distance B–C (hence the cavity length) changes as the retroreflector 130 rotates about the pivot 210. Proper placement of the pivot 210 is critical. Unfortunately, manufacturing costs may be relatively high due to the tight tolerances. In addition, it may be difficult or impossible to ideally match the cavity length to all possible wavelengths emitted by the gain medium 110. Furthermore, the effects of wear during the life of the system and the effects of thermal fluctuation can cause undesired changes in the cavity length, which can lead to mode hop.
Prior art tunable external cavity lasers have used DC servo motors, stepper motors, and rotary voice coil actuators to rotate the retroreflector relative to the diffraction grating. DC servo motors and stepper motors often require transmissions to achieve the desired amount of movement resolution. Unfortunately these transmissions wear out, require significant power to move, and have limited positional accuracy. In addition, DC servo motors and stepper motors do not have the desired speed to attain high frequency modulation. Rotary voice coil actuators, such as those used in hard disc drives, work very well, but they are quite large and limit miniaturization of the device.
FIG. 2B shows an example of a prior art tunable external cavity laser with a rotary voice coil actuator, the type that may also be used in a hard disk drive. The voice coil actuator arm 220 rotates around pivot 210. The retroreflector 130 is attached to the actuator arm 220. The voice coil 230 is also attached to the actuator arm 220. The voice coil 230 interacts with the magnets 240, 242 to control the position of the actuator arm 220.
There is a need for a tunable external cavity laser with a high frequency modulation, excellent wavelength selection accuracy, mode hop free operation, long life, low-cost, and small form factor.

Tunable external cavity laser with adjustable cavity length and mode-hop suppression


A folding or collapsible bicycle includes a bifurcated solid frame defining a first storage space and a second storage space. The front and rear wheels are held by pivoting forks that can be selectively moved from an operational position to a closed position in the closed position, the front wheel is disposed in the first storage space and the rear wheel is disposed in the second storage space.

a. Field of Invention
This application pertains to a bicycle that has a solid frame and several members, including front and rear wheels, handle bars, and foot pedals that fold into a cavity formed in the frame to thereby provide a compact package.
b. Description of the Prior Art
The modern bicycle has been invented in the 19th century and is still very popular as a means of transportation and recreation all over the world. While various improvements have been made over the years making the bicycle faster, lighter, easier to use, and safer, its basic shape, structure and operation has not changed. One basic problem that still remains with the standard bicycle is that even if it is made of light materials, it is relatively large and difficult to store and carry.
While folding bicycles have been made in the past, none of them are really popular (especially with a younger crowd). One problem with known folding bicycles is that they are clumsy and difficult to fold. Another problem is that they require a lot of space to open and close. A further problem is that they are difficult to operate. Yet another problem with most folding bicycles is that they use either a non-standard structure and frame, or have a frame that is folded or otherwise distorted. Inherently, a bicycle with a folding frame is unstable and overly complicated.


The present invention relates to an improved slip film composition for use in manufacturing flexographic printing plates. The improved slip film composition of the invention comprises one or more solvents, one or more polymeric binders, a layered silicate, and optionally, a surfactant. The use of the layered silicate as a filler in the slip film composition produces an slip film composition with improved release properties and improved imaging. The slip film of the invention can be used with flexographic printing plates that are solvent developed or thermally developed.

Flexographic printing is widely used in the production of newspapers and in the decorative or functional printing of packaging media. Photosensitive printing plates have been developed to meet the demand for fast, inexpensive processing and long press runs.
The photosensitive printing element generally comprises a support layer, one or more photosensitive layers, a slip film release layer, and a protective cover sheet. The protective cover sheet is formed from plastic or any other removable material that can protect the plate or photocurable element from damage until it is ready for use. A slip film may be disposed between the protective cover sheet and the photocurable layer(s) to protect the plate from contamination, increase ease of handling, and/or act as an ink-accepting layer.
The photosensitive resin composition is deposited onto the support layer to later form a printing element. The photosensitive resin composition can be deposited onto the substrate in a variety of ways, e.g., by extrusion, roll coating, heat processing, solvent casting, and the like. These techniques can be readily carried out by those skilled in the art.
The desired image is produced on the printing plate by exposing selected portions of the photosensitive resin to actinic radiation, which is traditionally accomplished in one of three related ways. In the first alternative, a photographic negative with transparent areas and substantially opaque areas is used to selectively block the transmission of actinic radiation to the printing plate element. In the second alternative, the photopolymer layer is coated with an actinic radiation (substantially) opaque layer, which is also sensitive to laser ablation. A laser is then used to ablate selected areas of the actinic radiation opaque layer creating an in situ negative, and the printing element is then flood exposed through the in situ negative. In the third alternative, a focused beam of actinic radiation is used to selectively expose the photopolymer. Any of these alternative methods produces an acceptable result, with the criteria being the ability to selectively expose the photopolymer to actinic radiation thereby selectively curing portions of the photopolymer. The unexposed and therefore unhardened portions of the resin are then developed.
The support sheet, or backing layer, can be formed from a suitable transparent or opaque material such as paper, cellulose film, plastic, or metal. Preferred substrate materials include steel, copper or aluminum sheets, plates, or foils, paper, or films or sheets made from synthetic polymeric materials such as polyesters, polystyrene, polyolefins, polyamides, and the like.
The photosensitive layer(s) can include any of the known photopolymers, monomers, initiators, reactive or non-reactive diluents, fillers, and dyes. The term "photocurable" refers to a solid composition which undergoes polymerization, cross-linking, or any other curing or hardening reaction in response to actinic radiation with the result that the unexposed portions of the material can be selectively separated and removed from the exposed (cured) portions to form a three-dimensional or relief pattern of cured material. Preferred photocurable materials include an elastomeric compound, an ethylenically unsaturated compound having at least one terminal ethylene group, and a photoinitiator. Exemplary photocurable materials are disclosed in European Patent Application Nos. 0 456 336 A2 and 0 640 878 A1 to Goss, et al., British Patent No. 1,366,769, U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,375 to Berrier, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,153 to MacLahan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,705 to Allen, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,323,636, 4,323,637, 4,369,246, and 4,423,135 all to Chen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,765 to Holden, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,188 to Heinz, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,759 to Gruetzrnacher, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,088 to Min, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,827 to Bohm, et al., the subject matter of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. If a second photocurable layer is used, i.e., an overcoat layer, it typically is disposed upon the first layer and is similar in composition.
The photosensitive materials generally cross-link (cure) and harden in at least some actinic wavelength region. As used herein, actinic radiation is radiation capable of effecting a chemical change in an exposed moiety. Actinic radiation includes, for example, amplified (e.g., laser) and non-amplified light, particularly in the UV wavelength regions. Preferred actinic wavelength regions are from about 250 nm to about 450 nm, more preferably from about 300 nm to about 400 nm, even more preferably from about 320 nm to about 380 nm. One suitable source of actinic radiation is a UV lamp, although other sources are generally known to those skilled in the art.
The slip film is a thin sheet, which protects the photosensitive layer from dust and increases its ease of handling. In a conventional plate making process, the slip film is substantially transparent to UV light. In this process, the printer peels the cover sheet off the printing plate blank, and places a negative on top of the slip film. The plate and negative are then subjected to flood-exposure by UV light through the negative. The areas exposed to the light cure, or harden, and the unexposed areas are removed (developed) to create the relief image on the printing plate. The slip film typically comprises a polymer resin that is compatible with the underlying photopolymer of the photosensitive layer and is easily removable during the development step. The polymer resin may be selected from the group consisting of polyacetals, polyacrylics, polyamides, polyimides, polybutylenes, polycarbonates, polyesters, polyethylenes, cellulosic polymers, polyphenylene ethers, polyethylene oxides, and combinations of the foregoing. Preferred polymer resins include polyamides, and cellulosic polymers, such as hydroxypropyl cellulose.
It is often desirable to use a slip film layer in a photosensitive printing element because the surface of the photosensitive composition tends to be sticky and, when an original film is applied thereon, bubbles are formed between the composition surface and the original film. When the photosensitive printing element is then exposed to actinic radiation, irregular deflection of light may occur, hindering the light exposure and curing of the photosensitive layer. Consequently, the reproducibility of the relief is deteriorated and the original film applied on the photosensitive layer becomes difficult to reuse. By adhering the slip film to the photosensitive resin layer, the adhesion of the original film to the photosensitive resin composition surface is mitigated and the original film can be reused.
In "digital" plate making processes, a laser is guided by an image stored in an electronic data file, and is used to create an in situ negative on a digital (i.e., laser ablatable) masking layer, which is generally a modified slip film. Portions of the laser ablatable layer are ablated by exposing the masking layer to laser radiation at a selected wavelength and power of the laser. The laser ablatable layer can be any photoablative masking layer known in the art. Examples of such laser ablatable layers are disclosed for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,500 to Yang, et al., and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,262,275 and 6,238,837 to Fan, the subject matter of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The laser ablatable layer generally comprises a radiation absorbing compound and a binder. The radiation absorbing compound is chosen to be sensitive to the wavelength of the laser and is generally selected from dark inorganic pigments, carbon black, and graphite.
After imaging, the photosensitive printing element is developed to remove the masking layer and the unpolymerized portions of the layer of photocurable material to create a relief image on the surface of the photosensitive printing element. Typical methods of development include washing with various solvents or water, often with a brush. Other possibilities for development include the use of an air knife or heat plus a blotter
Washing may be accomplished by a variety of processes, including brushing, spraying, or immersion. The resulting surface has a relief pattern that reproduces the image to be printed. The printing element is mounted on a press and printing commences.
In the case of heat or thermal development, the composition of the photopolymer is such that there exists a substantial difference in the melt temperature between the cured and uncured polymer to allow the creation of an image in the photopolymer when heated. Photocurable compositions that are thermally developable are described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/353,446 filed Jan. 29, 2003, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Other suitable compositions would also be known to those skilled in the art. The difference in melt temperature allows the uncured photopolymer to be selectively removed thereby creating an image. The uncured photopolymer (i.e., the portions of the photopolymer not contacted with actinic radiation) melts or substantially softens while the cured photopolymer will remain solid and intact at the temperature chosen. Then, uncured photopolymer can be melted or removed by contacting the heated printing element with a material that will absorb or otherwise remove the softened or melted uncured photopolymer (i.e., "blotting").
While many slip film compositions are described in the prior art, there remains a need in the art for further improvements to the slip films in the manufacture of flexographic printing plates to improve various processing characteristics of the printing plate.
The inventors have surprisingly discovered that the addition of a layered silicate material as a filler, more preferably a montmorillonite clay, into a slip film composition, produces a slip film composition with improved release properties for negative artwork and improved thermal processing characteristics as compared to slip film compositions of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,592 to Umeda, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety describes a slip film composition that contains a dyestuff, especially a photobleaching dyestuff to control the amount of incident light and reflected light from the support at a relatively upper portion of the photosensitive layer and give a better quality image at a shadow area of the printing plate. However, Umeda do not describe any improvements in either the release properties of the slip film or the thermal processing characteristics of the slip film.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,086 to Van Zoeren, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes a material capture sheet having one or more layers which assist in the capture of debris resulting from laser irradiation of an infrared sensitive layer. Optionally, the layer or layers on the material capture sheet can include a matte agent to create a separation gap between the infrared sensitive layer and the material capture sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,635 to Kaylo et al., the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, generally describes compositions comprising an exfoliated silicate material (i.e., a montmorillonite clay) to enhance properties such as appearance, crater resistance, and rheology control. Kaylo et al. suggest that the compositions are particularly useful as color and/or clear coatings in color-clear composite coatings. However, Kaylo et al. do not suggest that the compositions are usable as slip film compositions for a flexographic printing plate.

Slip film compositions containing layered silicates


A composition for converting asbestos-containing material to environmentally benign components is provided. The composition comprises a flouro acid decomposing agent which can be applied to either amosite-containing thermal insulation or chrysotile-containing fire-proof material or to any asbestos-containing material which includes of chrysotile and amosite asbestos. The fluoro acid decomposing agent includes FP(O)(OH).sub.2, hexafluorophosphoric acid, a mixture of hydrofluoric and phosphoric acid and a mixture of hexafluorophosphoric acid and phosphoric acid. A method for converting asbestos-containing material to environmentally benign components is also provided.

Asbestos is a commercial term applied to a group of silicate minerals which occur in fibrous form. There are six principal asbestos minerals. Of these six minerals, only one, chrysotile asbestos, belongs to the group classified as serpentine asbestos, that is, minerals characterized by long fibers that are serpentine in shape. The chemical composition of chrysotile asbestos may be represented as: Mg.sub.3 (Si.sub.2 O.sub.5)(OH).sub.4 or 3MgO.2SiO.sub.2.H.sub.2 O. The crystalline structure of chrysotile asbestos consists of altering layers of silica and magnesium oxide/hydroxide bound to each other through covalently shared oxygen. These layers are transverse to the fiber axis.
The other varieties of asbestos are silicates of magnesium, iron, calcium, and sodium. These varieties of asbestos belong to the amphibole (straight fiber) group of minerals. About 95% of world production is the chrysotile form of asbestos.
Due to the unique properties of the asbestos minerals, many different kinds of products were developed during the 1940's through the early 1970's that incorporated asbestos fibers for fire resistance, moisture control, and thermal insulation. Many building products, for example, friable thermal insulation, asbestos-cement pipe, asbestos-cement sheet, floor and roof shingles, transite tiles, acoustical plaster, insulation and fire-retardant paper products, and high-temperature insulation, include asbestos fibers. In the overwhelming majority of cases, these products contain the chrysotile form of asbestos.
For a number of years now it has been recognized that many chronic diseases are associated with the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers. these diseases include lung cancer, chronic fibrosis of the lung lining, and mesothelioma, a rare but fatal cancer of the lungs.
Government agencies have banned the use of certain products containing both chrysotile and amosite asbestos in building construction. There still remains, however, the continuing presence of chrysotile and amosite asbestos-containing materials in many existing buildings as well as the disposition of chrysolite and amosite asbestos-containing materials which were removed from buildings.
Many building owners have chosen to employ additional measures to ensure that asbestos fibers do not enter occupied space. A temporary and inexpensive method is spraying a surface-coating encapsulating material onto chrysotile and/or asbestos-containing materials to lock-in asbestos. This method, however, provides only a temporary remedy.
Another method employed by building owners is to remove completely all chrysotile and/or amosite asbestos-containing materials. However, this method involves a significant amount of time and expense because it requires the buildings to be sealed off, all chrysotile and amosite asbestos-containing materials to be debrided, and all of the debrided chrysotile and/or amosite asbestos-containing materials to be disposed. In addition, many safeguards must be employed to prevent inhalation of airborne asbestos by workers and others in the vicinity of the working area. Furthermore, the disposal of the debrided chrysotile and/or amosite asbestos-containing materials also remains costly.
A number of methods have been proposed for rendering asbestos-containing material less harmful. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,041,277, 5,258,562 and 5,264,655 to Mirick and Mirick et al. are directed to method and products for converting asbestos to a non-asbestos material. The method of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,277 patent requires wetting the asbestos-containing materials with weak organic acids and subsequently rewetting the asbestos-containing materials with additional weak organic acids. This method, although effective, is not efficient in time and cost because it requires successive wetting of asbestos-containing materials.
The methods of the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,258,562 and 5,264,655 patents require wetting asbestos-containing with an aqueous solution consisting of weak organic acid, such as trifluoroacetic acid, and optionally fluoride ions. Again, although the methods of the Mirick et al. patents may be effective, they are not efficient in cost and time because the disclosed technology requires the conversion process to be repeated as frequently as possible so that the asbestos-containing materials are subjected to successive spraying with acid solution.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a composition and method for converting chrysotile and/or amosite asbestos-containing materials to benign materials which overcome the above difficulties generally associated with the prior art.

Use of super acids to digest chrysotile and amosite asbestos in simple mixtures or matrices found in building materials compositions


An architecture for a ribbon ion beam ion implanter system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the architecture includes an acceleration/deceleration parallelizing lens system for receiving a fanned ribbon ion beam and for at least parallelizing (and perhaps also accelerate or decelerate) the fanned ribbon ion beam into a substantially parallel ribbon ion beam, and an energy filter system downstream from the acceleration/deceleration parallelizing lens system and prior to a work piece to be implanted by the substantially parallel ribbon ion beam. The acceleration/deceleration parallelizing lens system includes lenses for at least parallelizing (and perhaps also accelerate or decelerate) the fanned ribbon ion beam and acceleration/deceleration lenses for accelerating or decelerating the substantially parallel ribbon ion beam. The parallelizing lens allows delivery of a high current ribbon ion beam to the work piece with energy that can extend down to as low as approximately 200 eV. The energy filter system provides a substantially parallel ribbon ion beam that is substantially free of energy contamination.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to ion implantation, and more particularly, to architecture for a ribbon ion beam ion implanter system.
2. Background Art
Ion implantation is a standard technique for introducing conductivity altering impurities into, or doping, semiconductor wafers. A typical ion implantation process uses an energetic ion beam to introduce impurities into work pieces, i.e., semiconductor wafers. As is well known, introducing the impurities at a uniform depth and dose into the wafers is important to ensure that semiconductor devices being formed operate properly.
FIG. 1 shows schematically, in three dimensions, a conventional implantation of ions into a wafer. X-Axis and Y-Axis constitute a transverse ion beam scan plane. An ion beam is delivered (desirably) parallel to the Z-Axis and strikes the planar surface of the wafer. The X-Axis is horizontally perpendicular to the Z-Axis. In a ribbon ion beam system, the ion beam is a ribbon along the X-Axis. The Y-Axis is vertically perpendicular to the ion beam plane (i.e., the XZ-coordinate plane). The wafer is scanned up and down along another scan path parallel to the Y-Axis by moving the wafer up and down.
Transport of a low energy (high current) ion beam through an ion implanter system is difficult due to the large defocusing effect of the ion beam's space-charge. This can be alleviated by extracting, and mass-analyzing the beam at a higher energy (e.g., >approximately 10 kV), and then decelerating the beam to a final energy, which can be as low as approximately 200 eV when the ion beam is close to the wafer. However, any ions that get neutralized just before and during deceleration, will not be decelerated fully, and will impinge on the wafer at the higher energy, resulting in harmful energy contamination.
For systems that involve the mass analysis of a ribbon ion beam by dispersion in the plane of the ribbon, resulting in a fanned ribbon ion beam, it is also necessary to parallelize the ion beam, which is currently performed by a sector electromagnet. Controlling the parallelism or angle of an ion beam is important for the proper operation of various different types of devices and processes. The depth at which impurities are implanted depends in part upon the parallelism of an ion beam along a desired direction, typically perpendicular, to the crystal structure of the semiconductor. Therefore, it is important to control the angle of the ion beam during implantation to maintain a desired parallelism (i.e., desired direction) of the ion trajectories relative to a wafer's crystal structure. In particular, in order to achieve repeatable implant results, the angle of the ion beam should be known and controlled to a range of error of less than 1° from parallel to the desired direction, especially for high energy implants and channeled implants. In terms of a fanned ribbon ion beam, if the parallelizing is completed after the deceleration lens, then transport length is added to the system, which further impairs the delivery of the low energy beam to the wafer. Note that such a sector parallelizing lens is quite large, and can add as much as 1 m to the beam transport after deceleration.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a way to provide acceleration/deceleration and parallelizing of a ribbon ion beam without adding length to an ion implanter system.

Architecture for ribbon ion beam ion implanter system

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.