A semiconductor device includes surface-mountable external contacts on an underside of the semiconductor device, wherein the external contacts are arranged on external contact pads and surrounded by a solder-resist layer. The external contacts of the outer edge regions include external contact pads that merge into inspection tags, wherein the inspection tags can be wetted by solder and are not covered by the solder-resist layer.

As the number of surface-mountable external contacts on an underside of a semiconductor device increases, there is the risk that larger areas of external contacts will not be fixed reliably onto corresponding contact pads of a parent circuit board during surface mounting. The rising number of external contacts per semiconductor device and relentless miniaturization of the external contact sizes increase this risk. In particular for semiconductor devices manufactured using the WLP process (wafer level package process), the size of the surface-mountable external contacts are reduced to such an extent that an inspection using x-rays, for example, to check for reliable bonding or surface mounting is costly and time-consuming.
Even using visual systems such as a stereo microscopic examination to inspect from the side is time-consuming and not suitable for mass production. The problem with visual inspection of reliable electrical bonding is exacerbated by the external contacts not being arranged immediately at the lower outer edges of the semiconductor device; instead, they tend to be positioned at an edge offset from the lower outer edges of the semiconductor device. This makes visual inspection more difficult, for example checking whether a meniscus of solder has been formed between an external contact pad of a semiconductor device and a contact pad of a parent circuit board.
This is illustrated in FIG. 17, which shows a schematic cross-section through a semiconductor device arrangement 28 with a surface-mountable semiconductor device 4 according to the prior art. This semiconductor device 4 is mounted by its surface-mountable external contacts 5 on contact pads 29 of a parent circuit board 17. Visual inspection of the lower outer edges 18 and 20 of the semiconductor device 4 is extremely difficult, especially as the external contact pads 13 for the external contacts 5 in the outer edge regions 9 and 11 are not arranged immediately at the lower outer edges 18 and 20. This makes visual inspection of a solder meniscus, which is formed in a reliable solder connection of the external contacts 5 onto the contact pads 29 of a parent circuit board 17, more difficult, and in many cases this is only possible in the outer edge regions 9 and 11 using highly complex technology and equipment.
FIG. 18 shows a schematic plan view of the semiconductor device arrangement 28 of FIG. 17. The external contacts 5 arranged in rows 34 and columns 35 on the external contact pads 7 and 13 are not visible in this plan view and are hence identified by dashed lines. Thus examining or inspecting a reliable electrical connection between the parent circuit board 17 and the semiconductor device 4 when viewed from above is only possible by a technically complex X-ray examination of the semiconductor device 4 and the circuit board 17 in this semiconductor device arrangement 28.

Semiconductor device with surface-mountable external contacts and method for manufacturing the same


A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system and method for applying an aluminide coating constituted by two or more extrinsic metal components on a jet engine component. The aluminide coating is capable of forming a protective complex oxide upon subsequent heating in an oxidizing environment. At least one of the extrinsic metals in the aluminide coating is provided as a first vapor phase reactant from a receptacle coupled by a closed communication path with the reaction chamber of the CVD system and free of a carrier gas. The aluminide coating is formed by the chemical combination of the first vapor phase reactant with a second vapor phase reactant either created in situ in the reaction chamber or supplied by a carrier gas to the reaction chamber from a precursor source.

Superalloy jet engine components are exposed to extreme operating conditions that can deleteriously affect the surface thereof. In order to protect the surface, a sacrificial intermetallic layer is applied to the surface and forms a protective oxide layer while the jet engine component is in use. After the sacrificial intermetallic layer has worn thin during use, it is removed and a new sacrificial intermetallic layer is provided. This process is repeated as many times as possible to prolong the useful life of the jet engine component.
The intermetallic layer is commonly provided by a simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process in which the cleaned jet engine component is exposed to an oxygen-depleted environment of a reaction chamber. Inside the reaction chamber is typically an activator material and a donor material including at least one metal to be integrated into the intermetallic layer. The reaction chamber is purged of atmospheric gases and evacuated. The activator material and donor material are heated to generate vapor phase reactants that cause metal to be transported from the donor material to the jet engine component. The intermetallic layer formed on the jet engine component may include intrinsic metal diffused outwardly from the alloy forming the jet engine component. However, the intermetallic layer must also include at least one extrinsic metal originating from the donor material.
The most common extrinsic metal used in the intermetallic layer is aluminum. To that end, typical donor materials include aluminum such that aluminum forms the bulk of the intermetallic layer. It is desired, however, that there also be a meaningful concentration of a second, extrinsic metal in the intermetallic layer. Current techniques for integrating a second, extrinsic metal into the intermetallic layer are costly and cumbersome, and often result in less than desirable intermetallic layers.
For example, typical donor material may comprise powder or chunklets of a chromium aluminum alloy in which chromium is present in the alloy for raising the material's melting point. During the CVD process, it is believed that little if any of the chromium will actually be transported from the donor material to the jet engine component and, even if the chromium reaches the jet engine component, it may be incorporated into the intermetallic layer in a non-uniform manner. Indeed, as the aluminum is more chemically active than chromium, chromium from the donor material may not integrate in a significant concentration into the intermetallic layer until the aluminum from the donor material is exhausted. The result can be intermetallic layers characterized by inferior properties and/or unduly long cycle times. In certain applications, the inability to release chromium from the donor material may prevent the achievement of beneficial effects derived from the presence of chromium in the coating forming on the jet engine component.
Other approaches for integrating two extrinsic metals into the intermetallic layer suffer from comparable drawbacks. By way of example, it has been proposed to first coat the jet engine component with chromium or platinum by, for example, electroplating, before placing it into the reaction chamber of the simple CVD system and forming the intermetallic layer. While the result can be intermetallic layers containing chromium or platinum and aluminum, the latter originating from the donor material, the process involved is quite time-consuming and costly, and also uses significantly more chromium or platinum than required. Coatings formed by electroplating also suffer from non-uniformity due to the natural tendencies of electroplated coatings to be thicker at and near sharp edges.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved CVD apparatus and method for applying an aluminide layer having two extrinsic metals to superalloy jet engine components and other types of superalloy components.

Simple chemical vapor deposition system and methods for depositing multiple-metal aluminide coatings


To provide a power window apparatus which can reliably actuate an anti-pinching mechanism even in a window provided with a side visor, a cord switch operable in response to a specific external force is mounted in a joining part of a side visor between a window frame and the side visor. The cord switch senses the external force acting on the side visor, reliably detecting a foreign object pinched between a window glass and the side visor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side visor and a power window apparatus for vehicles using the same for an anti-pinching mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
A power window apparatus having an anti-pinching mechanism, disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. Sho 64-53389 for instance, is provided with a sensing member, such as a pressure-sensitive tube sensor for sensing an external force, along the inside periphery of a window frame. This sensing member senses an external force applied when a foreign object is caught between a window glass and the window frame, to thereby stop a driving motor for moving the window glass up and down.
A conventional sensing member as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-260054 for instance, has a predetermined space with band-like electrodes of conducting rubber formed face to face and with elastic members of insulating rubber arranged on both ends in the direction of width intersecting at right angles the longitudinal direction of the band-like electrodes. A specific voltage is applied between the band-like electrodes to sense the external force with the voltage thus applied between the band-like electrodes.
In a vehicle mounted with a side visor for shading the peripheral edge of the window opening, the upward or downward movement of the window glass will not stop if a foreign object is caught between the window glass and the side visor as shown in FIG. 32. A foreign object 7 comes in contact with the top end portion 2a of a window glass 2, the edge portion 5a of a side visor 5, and a weatherstrip 8 closing a clearance between the window glass 2 and the window frame (vehicle body) 3. An external force F acting on the sensing member 4 acts on the point of action f at a contact point between the weatherstrip 8 and the foreign object 7; therefore the larger the size h of the outside dimensions of the side visor 5 in a direction in which the window glass 2 is opened and closed, the more the point of action f moves toward the vehicle interior.
Accordingly if the size h exceeds a specific value, the point of action f will be positioned out of the sensible range of the sensing member 4. In this state the sensing member 4 can not sense the external force, causing the occurrence of the above-described trouble.
Furthermore, because the edge portion 5a of the side visor 5 is positioned on the closed side of the window glass 2 off the location of the sensing member 4, the foreign object 7 will be caught between the window glass 2 and the side visor 5 before it contacts the sensing member 4 particularly when the foreign object 7 comes in from above toward the vehicle interior as shown by two-dot chain line in FIG. 32, thus resulting in the aforesaid trouble.
In a vehicle not provided with the side visor 5, on the other hand, the foreign object 7 is caught only between the window glass 2 and the window frame 3; therefore there will occur no trouble resulting from the aforesaid cause.

Power window side visor sensing switch arrangement


A method used in fabrication of integrated circuitry comprises forming metal material outwardly of a substrate. At least a majority (i.e., up to and including 100%) of the metal material contains ruthenium in at least one of elemental-form, metal compound-form, or alloy-form. A masking material is formed outwardly of the ruthenium-containing metal material. The masking material comprises at least one of nine specifically enumerated materials or category of materials. The masking material is used as a mask while etching through an exposed portion of the ruthenium-containing metal material to form a feature of integrated circuitry that comprises the ruthenium-containing metal material.

Memory is one type of integrated circuitry and is used in computer systems for storing data. Memory may be fabricated in one or more arrays of individual memory cells. Memory cells may be written to, or read from, using digitlines (which may also be referred to as bitlines, data lines, or sense lines) and access lines (which may also be referred to as wordlines). The digitlines may conductively interconnect memory cells along columns of the array, and the access lines may conductively interconnect memory cells along rows of the array. Each memory cell may be uniquely addressed through the combination of a digitline and an access line.
Memory cells may be volatile, semi-volatile, or non-volatile. Non-volatile memory cells can store data for extended periods of time in the absence of power. Non-volatile memory is conventionally specified to be memory having a retention time of at least about 10 years. Volatile memory dissipates and is therefore refreshed/rewritten to maintain data storage. Volatile memory may have a retention time of milliseconds or less. Regardless, memory cells are configured to retain or store memory in at least two different selectable states. In a binary system, the states are considered as either a "0" or a "1. In other systems, at least some individual memory cells may be configured to store more than two levels or states of information.
A capacitor is one type of electronic component that may be used in a memory cell. A capacitor has two electrical conductors separated by electrically insulating material. Energy as an electric field may be electrostatically stored within such material. Depending on composition of the insulator material, that stored field will be volatile or non-volatile. For example, a capacitor insulator material including only SiO2 will be volatile. One type of non-volatile capacitor is a ferroelectric capacitor which has ferroelectric material as at least part of the insulating material. Ferroelectric materials are characterized by having two stable polarized states and thereby can comprise programmable material of a capacitor and/or memory cell. The polarization state of the ferroelectric material can be changed by application of suitable programming voltages and remains after removal of the programming voltage (at least for a time). Each polarization state has a different charge-stored capacitance from the other, and which ideally can be used to write (i.e., store) and read a memory state without reversing the polarization state until such is desired to be reversed. Less desirable, in some memory having ferroelectric capacitors the act of reading the memory state can reverse the polarization. Accordingly, upon determining the polarization state, a re-write of the memory cell is conducted to put the memory cell into the pre-read state immediately after its determination. Regardless, a memory cell incorporating a ferroelectric capacitor ideally is non-volatile due to the bi-stable characteristics of the ferroelectric material that forms a part of the capacitor. Other programmable materials may be used as a capacitor insulator to render capacitors non-volatile.
Ruthenium has been proposed as a conductive material for use in electronic components and as parts thereof. Ruthenium may be formed into desired shape(s) by forming a patterned masking material there-over and then anisotropically etching away the unmasked portion(s) of the ruthenium. In such instances, common masking material comprises carbon and the etching chemistry comprises oxygen. Unfortunately, oxygen-containing etching chemistries etch carbon in addition to ruthenium. Accordingly, need remains for alternate or additional masking materials when etching ruthenium.

Methods used in the fabrication of integrated circuitry


A cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter includes a sample/hold module, a sub-analog/digital converting module, and an alternate digital/analog converting module. The sample/hold module generates a sample signal according to an analog-input signal and a residue signal. The sub-analog/digital converting module generates a first control signal and a second control signal alternately in different time according to the converting result of the sample signal. The alternate digital/analog converting module decides to receive a first reference signal and a second reference signal separately according to the first control signal and the second control signal. The alternate digital/analog converting module generates a first transfer signal according to at least the sample signal among the sample signal, the first reference signal and a first feedback signal, and generates a second transfer signal according to at least the sample signal among the sample signal, the second reference signal and a first feedback signal. The alternate digital/analog converting module generates the first feedback signal and the residue signal according to one of the first transfer signal and the second transfer signal.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter, and more particularly to a cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter with highly enhanced accuracy.
2. Related Art
Analog to digital converters have been widely used in various digital electrical products, such as digital cameras, digital voice recorders, and the like. In the conventional converters, the pipeline analog to digital converter and the cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter are frequently used now.
Referring to FIG. 1, the pipeline analog to digital converter 1 includes a sample/hold module 11, a converting module 12 and a delay digital correction module 13. The sample/hold module 11 samples an input signal 111 and then generates a sample signal 112. The converting module 12 includes N-th stages of sub-converting units 121 to 129. The first stage of sub-converting unit 121 generates a first transfer signal 121T and a first output signal 121P according to the sample signal 112. The second stage of sub-converting unit 122 generates a second transfer signal 122T and a second output signal 122P according to the sample signal 121P. Similarly, the (N−1)-th stage of sub-converting unit 12N generates an (N−1)-th transfer signal 12NT and an output signal 12NP according to a previous stage of output signal, wherein (N−1) is a positive integer greater than 1. The N-th stage of sub-converting unit generates an N-th transfer signal 129T only according to a previous stage of output signal. Finally, the delay digital correction module 13 properly corrects each stage of transfer signal 121T to 129T and thus generates a digital signal 131. However, each stage of sub-converting unit of the pipeline analog to digital converter 1 has similar functions, so the stages of sub-converting units may be integrated into a single stage of cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter by way of cyclic design.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter 2 includes a sample/hold module 21, a sub-analog/digital converting module 22, a digital/analog converting module 23 and a delay digital correction module 24.
The sample/hold module 21 samples an input signal 211 and generates a sample signal 213 according to the input signal 211 and a residual signal 212. The sub-analog/digital converting module 22 generates a digital conversion signal 221 to 223 according to the sample signal 213. The digital/analog converting module 23 firstly receives the sample signal 213, and then decides to receive reference signals 251 to 253 according to the digital conversion signals 221 to 223, respectively. Finally, the updated residual signal 212 is generated, and the sample/hold module 21 updates the sample signal 213 according to the updated residual signal 212 in the cyclic processing manner until the designed cyclic number of the converter 2 is reached. Then, the delay digital correction module 24 properly corrects the digital conversion signals 221 to 223, which are generated at different time during the cyclic process, and thus generates a digital signal 241.
Referring to FIG. 3, the digital/analog converting module 23 includes a plurality of switches 231 to 236, a capacitor 237, a capacitor 238 and an amplifier 239. The switches 234 and 235 are simultaneously ON to make the capacitors 237 and 238 receive the sample signal 213 and be charged, respectively. At this time, the switches 231 to 233 and the switch 236 are OFF. Then, the switches 234 and 235 are simultaneously OFF to make the capacitors 237 and 238 output a transfer signal 237A and a transfer signal 238A to the amplifier 239, respectively. Meanwhile, one of the switches 231 to 233 and the switch 236 are simultaneously ON to make the amplifier 239 and the capacitor 238 become a feedback circuit. At this time, the switches 231 to 233 are decided to be ON to input one of the reference signals 251 to 253 to the capacitor 237 and to charge the capacitor 237 according to the digital conversion signals 221 to 223, respectively. The amplifier 239 generates the residual signal 212 according to the transfer signals 237A and 238A. At this time, the voltage relationship among the feedback signal of the amplifier 239 and the capacitor 238, the sample signal 213 and one of the reference signals 251 to 253 is described by Equation 1:
                              V          feedback                =                                            (                                                                    C                    237                                    +                                      C                    238                                                                    C                  238                                            )                                                  V              213                                +                                    (                                                C                  237                                                  C                  238                                            )                                                  V              25                                                          (                  Equation                                                              1                )
Wherein, Vfeedback is the voltage of the feedback signal, V213 is the voltage of the sample signal 213, V25 is the voltage of one of the reference signals 251 to 253, C237 and C238 are capacitances of the capacitor 237 and the capacitor 238, respectively, and the voltage of the residual signal 212 is the same as the voltage Vfeedback of the feedback signal.
The cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter 2 can rapidly convert an analog signal into a digital signal. As shown in Equation 1, however, the matching between the capacitor 237 and the capacitor 238 may influence the generation of the residual signal 212, the residual signal 212 may influence the generation of the sample signal 213, the sample signal 213 may influence the processing results of the sub-analog/digital converting module 22 and the digital/analog converting module 23, and then influence the residual signal 212 in the digital/analog converting module 23. Such a vicious circle deteriorates the precision of the converter 2.
Consequently, it is an important subject of the invention to provide a cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter in order to ease the influence of the element matching in the digital/analog converting module, and thus enhance the precision of the analog to digital converter.

Cyclic pipeline analog to digital converter with enhanced accuracy


One embodiment of the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a light emitting diode. The method includes forming an insulating layer on an area, not covered by a seed layer, of at least one of a p-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer, wherein the impurity concentration varies on the surface of the area; and immersing at least part of the seed layer into an electrolyte having metal ions which tend to reduce and deposit on the seed layer under no bias voltage.

In a known method of making a light-emitting diode, several epitaxial layers, on which a bond pad is formed, are formed on a growth substrate. The epitaxial layers include an n-type semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductor layer. The electrons and the holes recombine to emit light provided the active layer is under a bias voltage. The active layer can be classified into categories including as single heterostructure (SH), double heterostructure (DH), double-side double heterostructure (DDH), and multi-quantum well (MQW) etc. The epitaxial layers are formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD).
The bond pads usually electrically connect to the n-type and p-type semiconductor layers by wire-bonding or flip-chip. Therefore, metal is chosen to be the material of the bond pad in principle because it can bear the impact of wire-bonding when the thickness is sufficient. In general, the bond pads are formed on a wafer settled on a spinner by metal deposition. Owing to the omni-directional characteristic of deposition, the material tends to cover the area not designated for the bond pad, and then needs to be removed. From the top view of a chip, the bond pad occupies only 10%˜20% of the chip area. In other words, the material covering 80%˜90% of the chip area, the spinner, and the chamber of the equipment is redundant and needs to be removed. Even we recycle the redundant material, only 50%˜70% of it can be recycled.

Method for making a light emitting diode by electroless plating


The contour vectors of an image are stored in a small storage capacity, and are enlarged/reduced in correspondence with a desired variable-magnification factor to be faithful to an input image. For this purpose, when a binary image is input from a binary image input unit (11), a contour vector extraction unit extracts contour vectors, and detects the positions of isolated points. The contour vectors are enlarged/reduced by a vector variable-magnification/smoothing unit (13), and a binary image is reproduced by a binary image reproduction unit (15). On the other hand, each of the isolated points is subjected to variable-magnification processing by an isolated point variable-magnification processing unit (14), so that its position is converted into a position corresponding to the variable-magnification factor, and points corresponding in number to the variable-magnification factor form the isolated point. Thus, the storage capacity of the isolated points can be reduced, and the isolated points are subjected to variable-magnification processing at an appropriate variable-magnification factor corresponding to the desired variable-magnification factor.

Conventionally, an image processing technique of extracting the contour lines of a raster-input binary image, and storing the binary image as contour vector data expressed by the contour lines has been proposed.
Furthermore, for a pseudo halftone image including many isolated points, a technique of avoiding an increase in memory capacity by separately storing position information of each isolated point on an image in place of storing the contour of each isolated point as vector data one by one has also been proposed as a technique to be added to the above-mentioned one.
In the above-mentioned technique which separately handles isolated points in a pseudo halftone image, when an input image is to be output in an enlarged or reduced scale, each isolated point is finally output by merely increasing the number of pixels to an integer multiple approximate to a desired variable magnification factor. For this reason, if the variable magnification factor is not an integer multiple like .times.2.5, the density of a pseudo halftone portion of the output image becomes different from that of the input image.
An image processing technique of extracting the contour lines of a raster-input binary image, and storing the binary image as contour vector data expressed by the contour lines has been conventionally proposed. In association with a technique of this type, the present applicant has already filed Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-157578. Furthermore, a technique of converting a binary image stored as contour vector data into a raster format as a standard data format has also been conventionally proposed. For example, the present applicant filed Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-40831, 5-20466, 5-20467, and 5-20468. Also, as a technique of obtaining a satisfactory enlarged/reduced image using contour vector data of a binary image, Japanese Patent Application No. 3-345062 has been proposed.
With the above-mentioned technique of converting a binary image into contour vector data, geometric modification processing such as enlargement/reduction, rotation, and the like can be easily attained. However, a binary image includes components constituted by characters and line images, and pseudo halftone components which express a density pattern, and it is often preferable to adaptively perform processing operations of different algorithms for these components depending on the modification processing contents.
In particular, when the conversion technique is applied to variable-magnification processing like in the technique proposed by Japanese Patent Application No. 3-345062, a satisfactory enlarged/reduced image can be obtained based on an image constituted by character/line image components. However, when the technique of this proposal is directly applied to an image constituted by pseudo halftone components, the image quality suffers. For this reason, adaptive variable-magnification processing must be performed for these two different types of components.


A computer-implemented method and system for configuring a mobile device is provided. The method includes detecting location information for a location of a mobile device, determining if the detected location information is associated with a location based profile, wherein the location based profile defines a set of one or more applications for display on a homepage of the mobile device based on the location of the mobile device, selecting the location based profile associated with the detected location information when the detected location information is associated with a location based profile and configuring the mobile device based on the selected location based profile, such that activation icons of the set of one or more applications are provided for display on the homepage of the mobile device.

The present disclosure generally relates to mobile device configuration profiles and, in particular, to configuring a mobile device using profiles based on the location of the mobile device.
The applications that a user most frequently accesses on a smart phone or other mobile device can change depending on where the user is located. For example, a user may tend to more frequently access one set of applications at work, another set of applications at home, and yet another set of applications when traveling. The user may access calendar, email, and research applications more frequently at work. The user may access television control, music, and entertainment applications more frequently at home. When traveling, the user may access airline and traffic update applications more frequently. A user may tend to access other applications more frequently when they are in other locations.


A spark plug has a center electrode and an earth electrode. The center electrode is faced to the earth electrode so that a spark discharging gap is formed between the center electrode and the earth electrode. An electrode chip is formed on at least one of the center electrode and the earth electrode. The electrode chip has a composition containing 40 to 60 mol % of aluminum and iridium as a remainder thereof. In the composition of the electrode chip, it is possible to replace part of the iridium with 1 to 20 mol % of at least one metal selected from nickel, iron, cobalt, platinum and rhodium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to spark plugs for use in internal combustion engines of motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Internal combustion engines mounted to motor vehicles use various types of spark plugs in order to ignite a fuel in a combustion chamber. For example, a spark plug has a conventional structure in which a spark discharging gap is formed between a center electrode and an earth electrode. Spark discharge is generated in the spark discharging gap formed between the center electrode and the earth electrode in order to ignite a mixture gas composed of air and a fuel in the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. There is another type of a spark plug having a structure in which an electrode chip is formed on the center electrode or the earth electrode in order to increase an ignition capability, etc.
Recently, there is a demand for improving a wear resistance of an electrode chip used in a spark plug in view of a temperature increase in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine because the internal combustion engine has a high performance, etc. There are spark abrasion or spark wear and oxidation abrasion or oxidation wear which abrades an electrode chip in a spark plug. In the spark abrasion, a surface of the electrode chip is instantaneously melted by the spark discharge. On the other hand, in an occurrence of oxidation abrasion, a surface of an electrode is oxidized and vapored when the spark plug is used in a high temperature environment. For example, a Japanese patent laid open publication No. JP H09-298083 has disclosed a spark plug having a conventional structure in which an electrode chip is made of iridium Ir having a high melting point and a superior spark abrasion resistance capability. In addition to iridium, the electrode chip contains platinum Pt and rhodium Rh having a superior oxidation resistance.
However, because the conventional electrode chip used in the spark plug disclosed in JP H09-298083 is made of noble metals such as iridium, platinum and rhodium, this increases a manufacturing cost of the electrode chip and the spark plug. So, there is a demand for providing a spark plug having a superior spark discharging wear resistance capability, a superior oxidation resistance and a long life with a low manufacturing cost.

Spark plug for internal combustion engine of motor vehicles


Improvement in peanut clip limiter cap holder, wherein the clip spring legs are interconnected by a spring web that flexes to accommodate flexing of the clip legs free ends during insertion of the associated limiter caps into the retaining clip, and prolongs the effective friction grip service life of the clip. Optional detent dimples on the clip spring legs and cooperative limiter cap grooves enhance yieldable retention of the caps in the clip and the clip on the needle valves. When the peanut clip is used to install only a single limiter cap on a single needle valve, a dummy stud is mounted to the carburetor in the vacant needle valve position and the stud head occupies the vacant limiter cap position in the clip. An improved needle valve is made as an assembly of a lathe-turned tip/shank part and a separate precision die cast head part. The head part has the needle spring stop flange, the fluted spline portion, the limiter cap barb retention structure, and a cavity telescopically receiving a shank stem to rotationally drive couple the shank and head parts in assembly. The shank stem is press fit or cast into the head cavity to permanently join the shank and head parts in fixed relationship, or preferably the head cavity cooperates with the shank stem and a cross arm thereof to form a releasable, telescopic, quarter-turn bayonet coupling. The needle valve spring biases the bayonet coupling to fully locked condition. Coupling axial lost motion insures lock-on of cap retention barbs on the head of the "shorter" needle, and thus final installation lock-on of both limiter caps while being held by the clip. "Side-play" between head and shank parts isolates the needle shank part from adverse needle bending moments.

In response to relatively recent federal and state "clean air" regulations, carburetor limiter caps have been used to restrict carburetor fuel flow metering valve adjustment to prevent the excessive emission of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons from internal combustion engine. Primarily, limiters have been used with conventional float bowl carburetors to control automobile exhaust emissions. More recently their use has been extended to diaphragm-type carburetors in small engines simply to prevent gross misadjustment of fuel flow. However, future emissions regulations are expected to extend the role of limiter caps to control engine emissions.
Fuel flow within a carburetor is commonly metered during no load or idle engine operation by an "idle" or "low speed" needle valve and during part of full load operation by "main" or "high speed" needle valve. Typically, each valve has a threaded cylindrical body with an enlarged knurled head at one end and a conical or needle shaped valve control surface at the opposite end which is received within an opening in the carburetor body. To calibrate fuel flow, each valve is rotatively adjusted to axially extend or retract the valve control surface within a fuel passage in the carburetor until optimum fuel flow through the passage is achieved. Pre-calibration of the carburetor on a flow test bench may be performed prior to being assembled to an engine. After assembly to an engine, it is customary to adjust the metering valves, if needed, to fine tune fuel flow to actual engine demand. Subsequent improper over adjustment (either too rich or too lean) of fuel flow by the engine-powered-appliance-end-user is prevented by affixing a limiter cap over the head of each valve.
These limiter caps generally consist of a cylindrical body having an opening at one end for axially receiving the valve head in tight fitting engagement to prevent removal and ensure rotation of both in unison. A recess in the opposite end of the cap is provided to enable an adjustment tool to engage the valve directly or the cap alone to rotate both in unison to make fuel flow adjustments. Projecting radially outwardly from the cap body is an arm for abutting against a fixed stop extending from the carburetor to limit valve rotation. Stop members such as an integrally cast projection of the carburetor or the body of another cap press-fit on an adjacent needle valve may be used to limit valve and cap rotation and hence adjustment. Removal and reorientation of the limiter cap, after calibration with the cap secured to the valve, is intentionally made impractical, if not impossible, for the end user by tamper proof cap construction that requires the application of considerable force to remove the limiter, possibly damaging or destroying the cap.
In the case of two-stroke cycle engines such limiter caps prevent the fuel flow adjustment range to be incorrectly set by the subsequent end-user, preventing over adjustment toward rich, that could increase emissions above clean-air standard, and also preventing over adjustment toward lean that could deprive the engine of lubrication entrained in the fuel flow, thereby leading to overheating or even catastrophic failure. However, the limited adjustment range permitted by the limiter cap does enable a user or operator of the power tool to adjust the necessary range of fuel flow to keep the engine efficiently operating under the full range of temperature, humidity, altitude or other engine operating conditions which may be encountered.
During manufacture of the carburetor, and also during subsequent assembly of the carburetor to the engine by the engine manufacturer, assembly and proper orientation of these limiter caps is difficult and requires considerable dexterity. If improperly oriented, its tamper proof construction virtually prevents removal without damaging the cap and disturbing the optimum fuel flow setting of the valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,634 Hammett et al ('634) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,645 Hammett et al ('645), both assigned to Walbro Corporation (assignee of record herein), disclose and claim improvements in limiter caps and methods of adjusting fuel flow which successfully overcome such problems, and are incorporated herein by reference.
The limiter caps of the '634 and '645 patents have operated successfully in commercial use to restrict adjustment of a valve to prevent excessive engine exhaust emissions and engine overheating or failure. They facilitate quick and easy assembly of the cap to a needle valve or a carburetor body and final calibration of the carburetor while operating on an engine without requiring the removal of the grommet and engine shroud after final carburetor calibration. These limiter caps may be individually installed after initial calibration of an assembled carburetor on a flow test bench and prior to performing final engine factory calibration of the carburetor on an engine.
They also allow assembly of the limiter cap onto a needle valve of the carburetor to enable rotational adjustment of each valve during carburetor calibration, simple and accurate positioning of the arm of each cap relative to the final adjusted positioned of the valve and carburetor stops, and easy assembly of the cap into secure locking engagement with the valve to allow rotation of the cap and valve only in unison while limiting rotational adjustment of the valve in either direction.
After being locked on they allow limited fuel flow adjustment to enable a user of an engine powered tool to adequately adjust carburetor performance to fine tune engine operation under a variety of operating conditions while preventing fuel flow over adjustment which otherwise could cause excessive exhaust gas emissions or engine overheating. The prepositioning feature allows quick and easy limiter arm orientation, after the caps are mounted in a freely rotating position on the valve, to expediently, yet accurately, fix the allowable range of valve rotation. Another advantage is that the cap may be carried on the valve during assembly without dislodging or vibrating free.
Despite the numerous features and advantages of the limiter cap and methods of adjusting fuel flow of the invention as disclosed and claimed in the aforementioned '634 and '645 patents, there nevertheless remained the longstanding and ongoing need to further reduce manufacturing and material costs of both the limiter caps and associated needle valves, to further simplify, facilitate and render more economical the handling, shipment, storage and installation of such caps on the associated needle valves as well as the adjustment of fuel flow using the needle valve, all without substantially modifying the outer shape and configuration of the type of limiter caps of the '634 and '645 patents. There was also an ongoing need to improve the function and operation of the limiter cap in association with the needle valve and to render the same more versatile as to choice of material usable in constructing the limiter cap. In addition there was the longstanding and overriding need to improve the construction of such limiter caps to enhance their tamper proof characteristics to meet present and proposed governmental and industry standards in this regard. There was also a need to be able to remove the caps, but only by authorized personnel, and without damaging the caps/or needle valves.
The improvements disclosed and claimed in the aforementioned parent application Ser. No. 08/696,693, filed Aug. 14, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,148 also assigned to Walbro Corporation (assignee of record herein), and which application is also incorporated herein by reference, provide improved limiter cap, needle valve, and cap orientor constructions and improved methods of utilizing the same, in the form of various alternative and/or cooperatively combinable embodiments, which satisfy the aforementioned needs, while still satisfying most if not all of the objects and retaining the describe features and advantages of the limiter cap embodiments and methods of the aforementioned '634 and '645 patents.
The improved limiter cap of the aforesaid parent application is of two-piece construction comprising a hollow cylindrical outer body carrying the limiter arm and a spring material retainer clip telescopically received within the outer body. The retainer clip is in the form of a hollow sleeve provided with inwardly and outwardly protruding resilient barbs reversely oriented relative to one another to respectively engage the cap body and the needle valve shank to respectively prevent, on the one hand, retrograde relative telescopic motion between the clip and the body, and on the other hand, between the clip and valve shank. Preferably the clip sleeve is split lengthwise to define a parting gap therein, and the sleeve has a free state diameter greater than that of the body so as to be readily compressible to ensmall the sleeve diameter to facilitate telescopic insertion of the sleeve into the cap body passage.
Due to this two-piece construction the limiter cap retainer clip can be made of spring metal material whereas the cap body can be made of either relatively rigid plastic material or metal. By transferring the resilient, spring locking function from the cap body plastic material to the metal retainer clip, less press-on force is required to telescope the limiter cap subassembly onto the needle valve shank, but the limiter cap can not be removed from the needle, except by authorized personnel using a special tool, without destroying the cap. Moreover, if the cap body is made of metal material, even destructive removal is forestalled.
The foregoing two-piece limiter cap construction is provided in one embodiment as a single stage cap for installation only to a locked-on position after engine factory fine tune adjustment with the cap off. In other embodiments a two stage type cap is provided for preassembly to the needle valve to a first position, allowing presetting paired caps to a rich-rich position, while permitting rotational adjustment of the needle valve during engine fine turning. After such adjustment the cap or caps are then pushed further onto the needle to lock the caps and needle for co-rotation to thereby define a predetermined and more limited end-user range of rotational adjustment of the needle valves. The seating of the single or two-stage caps in their locked first and/or second stage positions is made apparent to the installer by an audible click as the inwardly protruding spring barb(s) snap into a needle shank groove after riding over the needle head, and with a two-stage cap, subsequently riding over a second stage retaining shoulder on the needle shank.
To further facilitate engine customer installation of paired low and high speed limiter caps (of both the '634/'635 patent type as well as those of the aforesaid parent application) on the associated side-by-side carburetor installation of low and high speed needle valves, the invention of the parent application further provides various embodiments of "peanut clip" cap orientors and retainers. Both of the cap bodies are individually telescopically inserted into the peanut clip so that it encircles the cap bodies and spans a space therebetween to securely and conveniently hold the caps in a paired side-by-side subassembly for storage, shipment and/or telescopic installation and rotational orientation of the caps simultaneously on their respective needle valve shanks while still held by the peanut clip. The peanut clip then may be removed from the caps once the same are installed in final position, or the clip may be permanently retained on the caps as by orienting the cap limiter arms to capture the peanut clip therebetween by a flanking relationship to the cap limiter arms. The peanut clip is constructed to permit individual limited-range rotation of the caps for end-user engine tuning adjustment while also sufficiently restraining cap rotation so that needle settings are retained by clip restraint of the caps, either supplemental to or in lieu of the usual needle springs, to thereby prevent undesired rotation of the needles induced by engine operation vibration.
Preferably, for use with two-stage type limiter caps, one embodiment of the aforesaid peanut clip is constructed with a stop leg that ensures that initial push-on assembly of the subassembly of peanut clip and paired cap bodies held therein onto the needle ends is automatically stopped at the first stage installation position. After engine fine tuning adjustment by the engine manufacturer with the caps in their first stage position, the caps are directly pushed further within the clip into their locked second stage position while the clip is maintained in its initial position by its stop leg continuing to abut the carburetor body. The stop leg clip also has cap limiter arm entrapment extensions for locking the caps angularly in rich-rich orientation both prior to and after installation of the cap/clip subassembly to its first stage needle-installed position. When the caps are pushed further into the clip, from first to second stage position, the cap limiter arms are then clear of the clip extensions so that the caps (and associated needle valves) can be rotated through their limited adjustment range established by operation of the cap limiter arms.
The peanut clip may be a continuous loop of resilient but non-elastic material in which the clip peanut shape provides individual cap body gripping action for holding the caps in spaced parallel and pre-aligned relationship but also enables flexible deformation of the clip to accommodate unlocking override of orienting ribs and/or interengaging splines of the clip and cap body. In one form of the stop leg clip embodiment a parting gap is provided in the clip opposite the stop leg to thereby form cantilever spring legs to impart resilient deformability to the clip.
Improved forms of needle valves with shank grooves and cooperating barb retaining shoulders are also disclosed and claimed in the parent application that cooperate with the aforesaid improved limiter caps. These needle valves also have a cap abutment conical shoulder against which the inner end of the cap seats in the fully installed position to thereby hinder any improper attempt to pry off the cap with a screw driver blade.
Despite the numerous features and advantages of the several embodiments of the improved two-piece limiter caps, cooperative one-piece shouldered head needle valves and orientor peanut clips as disclosed and claimed in the aforesaid parent application, there nevertheless again remained the longstanding need to even further reduce manufacturing, material, installation and inventory costs of the improved one-piece shouldered head needle valves that cooperate with the improved two-piece limiter caps. It has also been found that there is a need to enhance the performance of the improved stop leg peanut clip embodiment that is used with the aforementioned two-stage needle valves and caps.

Carburetor needle valve and limiter cap installation and adjustment apparatus


The present invention discloses bispecific antibodies comprising two antibody variable domains on a single polypeptide chain, wherein a first portion of the bispecific antibody is capable of recruiting the activity of a human immune effector cell by specifically binding to an effector antigen on the human immune effector cell, the first portion consisting of one antibody variable domain, and a second portion of the bispecific antibody specifically binding to a target antigen other than the effector antigen, the target antigen on a target cell other than the human immune effector cell, the second portion comprising one antibody variable domain.

A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of antibodies. Specifically, the invention relates to a bispecific antibody comprising two antibody variable domains on a single polypeptide chain. The invention further relates to the use of such a bispecific antibody for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition. The invention further relates to a method for the prevention, treatment or amelioration of a disease comprising administration of an effective amount of such a bispecific antibody. Finally, the invention relates to a kit comprising such a bispecific antibody.
B. Related Art
Unifying two antigen binding sites of different specificity into a single construct, bispecific antibodies have the ability to bring together two discreet antigens with exquisite specificity and therefore have great potential as therapeutic agents. This potential was recognized early on, leading to a number of approaches for obtaining such bispecific antibodies. Bispecific antibodies were originally made by fusing two hybridomas, each capable of producing a different immunoglobulin. The resulting hybrid-hybridoma, or quadroma, was capable of producing antibodies bearing the antigen specificity of the first parent hybridoma as well as that of the second parent hybridoma (Milstein et al. (1983), Nature 305:537). However, the antibodies resulting from quadromas often exhibited undesired properties due to the presence of an Fc antibody portion.
Largely due to such difficulties, attempts later focused on creating antibody constructs resulting from joining two scFv antibody fragments while omitting the Fc portion present in full immunoglobulins. Each scFv unit in such constructs was made up of one variable domain from each of the heavy (VH) and light (VL) antibody chains, joined with one another via a synthetic polypeptide linker, the latter often being genetically engineered so as to be minimally immunogenic while remaining maximally resistant to proteolysis. Respective scFv units were joined by a number of techniques including incorporation of a short (usually less than 10 amino acids) polypeptide spacer bridging the two scFv units, thereby creating a bispecific single chain antibody. The resulting bispecific single chain antibody is therefore a species containing two VH/VL pairs of different specificity on a single polypeptide chain, wherein the VH and VL domains in a respective scFv unit are separated by a polypeptide linker long enough to allow intramolecular association between these two domains, and wherein the thusly formed scFv units are contiguously tethered to one another through a polypeptide spacer kept short enough to prevent unwanted association between, for example, the VH domain of one scFv unit and the VL of the other scFv unit.
Bispecific single chain antibodies of the general form described above have the advantage that the nucleotide sequence encoding the four V-domains, two linkers and one spacer can be incorporated into a suitable host expression organism under the control of a single promoter. This increases the flexibility with which these constructs can be designed as well as the degree of experimenter control during their production.
Remarkable experimental results have been obtained using such bispecific single chain antibodies designed for the treatment of malignancies (Mack, J. Immunol. (1997), 158:3965–70; Mack, PNAS (1995), 92:7021–5; Kufer, Cancer Immunol. Immunother. (1997), 45:193–7; Löffler, Blood (2000), 95:2098–103) and non-malignant diseases (Brühl, J. Immunol. (2001), 166:2420–6). In such bispecific single chain antibodies, one scFv unit is capable of activating cytotoxic cells, for example cytotoxic T cells, within the immune system by specifically binding to an antigen on the cytotoxic cells, while the other scFv unit specifically binds an antigen on a malignant cell intended for destruction. In this way, such bispecific single chain antibodies have been shown to activate and redirect the immune system's cytotoxic potential to the destruction of pathological, especially malignant cells. In the absence of such a bispecific single chain antibody construct, malignant cells would otherwise proliferate uninhibited.
However, bispecific single chain antibodies must fulfil additional requirements. In order to achieve the desired activity, each scFv unit of a bispecific single chain antibody should remain properly folded, something which often proves unrealisable in conventional bacterial expression systems such as E. coli. The need to use less conventional, more cumbersome and more costly eukaryotic—even mammalian—expression systems often complicates the production of bispecific single chain antibodies and/or reduces the amount of product obtainable to levels lower than desired for therapeutic application.
In the event that a bispecific antibody is intended for therapeutic use, it is desirable to produce high amounts of this antibody solubly and in the desired functional form. The production of functionally active antibody becomes especially critical when producing bispecific antibodies of which one portion is able to activate and recruit the cytotoxic potential of human immune effector cells. For example, a produced antibody devoid of functional activity will not lead to the desired activation of human immune effector cells, while a bispecific antibody which is functionally active, albeit not in the desired manner, as for example may be the case when the bispecific antibody is produced in a heterogeneous form containing multiple isomers, may activate and recruit the cytotoxic potential of human immune effector cells in unforeseeable and/or unintended manners.
One example of the sort of unintended activation mentioned above is the possibility of activation of human immune effector cells to exert an effect on other human immune effector cells instead of on a target cell intended for destruction. This type of immune effector cell fratricide may jeopardize the effectiveness of a regimen of therapy depending on the activity of human immune effector cells.
However, reliable production of large amounts of functional single chain antibody, especially large amounts of functional bispecific single chain antibody, from prokaryotic expression systems such as E. coli is often limited, necessitating costly optimization (Baneyx (1999), Curr. Opinions Biotechnol. 10:411–21).
In summary, bispecific antibody constructs can be of great therapeutic use in redirecting the powerful potential of the body's own immune system to achieve the destruction of diseased cells. By the same token, however, the activation of such a powerful means of eradicating or neutralizing unwanted cells requires that this power be controlled as precisely as possible so that the cytotoxic potential of the immune system is recruited and applied only in the direction intended and no other.
Clearly, when one specific binding arm of a bispecific single chain antibody is to recruit the activity of a human immune effector cell, for example a cytotoxic T cell, there exists an especially heightened and, as yet, unmet need for bispecific single chain antibodies which overcome limitations as described above.


An electronic component, preferably in the form of a laminated ceramic capacitor, which suppresses the growth of whiskers and has excellent solderability, includes an electronic component element in the shape of, for example, a rectangular parallelepiped. External electrodes of terminal electrodes are located on first and second end surfaces of the electronic component element. First plated films including plated Ni are located on the surfaces of the external electrodes. Second plated films are located on the surfaces of the first plated films. The second plated films have stacked structures including first plated layers and second plated layers. The second plated layers have lower degrees of densification than the first plated layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component, and more particularly, to an electronic component such as, for example, a laminated ceramic capacitor, which includes plated layers with different degrees of densification.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional technique involves forming an Sn plated film free of the influence of underlying metal without causing whiskers under severe conditions of a thermal cycle test (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-239076).
Sn—Pb alloy plating has been used to provide a solution, because Sn plated layers cause needle-like whiskers over time. However, from the standpoint of recent environmental protection, the demand for Pb-free solder has been increased remarkably due to tightened restrictions on the use of Pb. Therefore, the Sn—Pb alloy plating has been completely avoided, in place of solder, Sn materials have been reconsidered which are also excellent in terms of solderability, and Sn plated layers have been used for the formation of current-conducting connections such as terminals of electronic components. However, as described above, the formation of films made of such Sn plated layers makes the films likely to have needle-like Sn whiskers. If whiskers occur and grow, electrical failures due to short circuits are likely to be caused between adjacent electrodes. In addition, if the whiskers become detached and fly away from the films, the flying whiskers will cause failures due to short circuits inside and outside the system.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-239076, which is aimed at providing a member including a film which can suppress the development of such whiskers, provides a Sn plated film obtained by electrolyzation of an Sn plating solution, and the Sn plated film includes compressive stress therein, which is characteristically 1 MPa or more when measured by a spiral method.
While in general, Sn whiskers are known to be grown when compressive stress is applied to Sn films, in the Sn plating film disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-239076, the Sn plated film already includes compressive stress therein, and thus, has an environment in which whiskers are likely to extend because of having no room to relax the stress. In addition, the actual evaluation of a plating bath disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-239076 has failed to confirm the fact that whiskers are less likely to extend as compared with other plating baths.


An optical waveguide type iontophoresis sensor chip has a substrate having a first hinged plate and a second hinged plate, an optical waveguide plate connected to the first hinged plate and positioned over a first opening delineated in the first hinged plate, and a gel layer fixed on the second hinged plate and covering a second opening delineated in the second hinged plate and configured to contact with the optical waveguide plate through the first opening in case that the substrate is folded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a specific molecule contained in body fluid and in particular to an optical waveguide type iontophoresis sensor chip and a method for packaging a sensor chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
A planar lightwave circuit sensor using optical waveguide phenomenon is widely spread as the sensor to measure the amount of the bio molecules existing in body fluid such as blood. The planar lightwave circuit sensor has a light source, a substrate receiving a light from the light source, and a pair of diffraction gratings disposed on the substrate. Between the pair of diffraction gratings, a single optical waveguide membrane is disposed on the substrate so as to transmit the incident light. Further, an analyzing membrane is disposed on the optical waveguide membrane. The analyzing membrane identifies the bio molecules and transforms the information about the amount of the identified bio molecules to a change of an optical intensity.
An existing method for analyzing the bio molecules contained in the blood by the planar lightwave circuit sensor is as follows. At first, the blood is collected from vein with a syringe. The collected blood is dropped on the analyzing membrane. The laser light is emitted and diffracted by a diffracting grating. The diffracted light penetrates the optical waveguide membrane. The evanescent wave is generated at the interface between the optical waveguide membrane and the analyzing membrane. The intensity of the evanescent wave changes by reaction between the dropped bio molecules contained in the blood and reagent contained in the analyzing membrane. By detecting the changes of the evanescent wave intensity, the bio molecules contained in the blood is analyzed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Hei9-61346.
On the other hand, a reverse iontophoresis method has also been studied recently. By the reverse iontophoresis method, the specific molecule is extracted from the living body through the skin with an electric current. Also, applying the reverse iontophoresis method to extract glucose from the living body without injury is attempted. By decomposing the extracted glucose with enzyme and detecting the amount of electron during the chemical reaction as the change of electric current, the enzyme electrode method is applied to develop an apparatus for measuring the glucose as disclosed in published Japanese Patent Application 2000-227 and published Japanese Patent Application 2002-191582.
However, the planar lightwave circuit sensor requires pricking part of the body with a needle and squeezing the body part. Though the enzyme electrode method does not require pricking the body, the result may be affected by the amount of enzyme contained in the extracted body fluid. Also, existing the enzyme electrode method using an electrode and immobilized glucose oxidase (GOD) can't continue the measurement after enzyme is exhausted.

Optical waveguide type iontophoresis sensor chip and method for packaging sensor chip


A method includes: introducing a gas including gallium, an ammonia gas, and a gas including a p-type impurity to a reactor and forming a first p-type nitride semiconductor layer on a first light-emitting layer in a state in which the reactor has been heated to a first temperature; lowering a temperature of the reactor from the first temperature to a second temperature; introducing an ammonia gas with a first flow rate to the reactor and increasing the temperature of the reactor from the second temperature to a third temperature; and introducing a gas including gallium, an ammonia gas with a second flow rate, and a gas including an n-type impurity to the reactor, and forming a second n-type nitride semiconductor layer on the first p-type nitride semiconductor layer in a state in which the reactor has been heated to the third temperature.

The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a light-emitting element.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-513474 discusses a semiconductor light-emitting diode in which an np-type tunnel junction portion is provided between two photoactive regions, and the np-type tunnel junction portion is made of a doped layer of the n+-type and a doped layer of the p+-type adjacent to the n+-type doped layer. In such a semiconductor light-emitting diode, it is desirable to form the tunnel junction portion while maintaining good crystallinity of the n+-type layer and the p+-type layer of the tunnel junction portion that are doped with high impurity concentrations. There is a risk that degradation of the crystallinity of the semiconductor layer in the tunnel junction portion may cause degradation of the crystallinity of the semiconductor layers stacked on the tunnel junction portion.

Method for manufacturing light-emitting element


Method and apparatus for fracturing hard deposits such as urinary and biliary stones and atherosclerotic plaque in the human body. A flexible guide having a hard mass capping an end is adapted for insertion through a fluid passage in a living body. An energy source creates a rapid vapor expansion adjacent to the cap causing it to undergo a pulse like movement, imparting a high-velocity impulse to an adjacent deposit, thereby fracturing it. The energy source may be a laser with a fiber optic delivery system in the guide terminating adjacent to the cap to cause vaporization of the mass cap to create the vapor expansion. The energy source may be a spark generator with a conductor associated with the guide to deliver a fluid vaporizing spark adjacent to the mass cap. Other forms of rapid energy delivery such as chemical detonations or ballistic impact may also be applicable.

Calciferous and similar deposits occur in body fluid passages of various types. Of particular interest are kidney and gall stones as well as arterial plaque.
Radiation in various forms has been used for destroying or removing such deposits from the internal passages of the body. In one form of laser therapy, radiation is directed onto a light-receiving surface of a heat-generating element. The element is then placed in contact with the target deposit, melting it. This approach has several drawbacks which include:
1. thermal damage to surrounding tissue;
2. only fatty plaques readily melt;
3. more advanced fibrous and calcified plaques form char and debris; and
4. the hot element adheres to the tissue rupturing it when the element is removed.
In another approach, laser radiation is applied directly to the target deposit to ablate it or produce shock waves that induce fragmentation. Direct lasertripsy has several disadvantages. Laser energy often damages healthy tissue surrounding the target deposit by direct absorption or by acting as a general heat sink for the high temperature plasma. Some deposits only weakly absorb radiation thereby requiring greater radiation exposure and damage. A sharp laser delivery fiber can cause damage if inadvertently jabbed into healthy tissue.


The present invention provides a novel pressure-sensitive adhesive label which curls little even under the coldest conditions and which has as a surface material a microporous stretched resin film obtained by stretching a crystalline polyolefin resin film containing an inorganic fine powder, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on one side of the surface material and a release paper provided on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, where the microporous stretched resin film satisfies the following physical properties (1) and (2):. (1) the linear thermal expansion coefficient in a machine direction at -10.degree. C. (JIS K-7197) is from 10 to 70 .mu.m/m.multidot..degree.C.; and PA1 (2) the linear thermal expansion coefficient in the machine direction at 0.degree. C. is from 10 to 75 .mu.m/m.multidot..degree.C.

A pressure-sensitive adhesive label can be used in many environments, e.g., it can be used as a merchandise display label to be stuck on a motor oil can, a kerosene can, it can be used as a label or emblem with characters printed thereon as gift to be attached to children's confectionery and it can be used as an air baggage tag. Such a label typically comprises a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on a back side of a sheet such as pulp paper, aluminum foil, synthetic paper and a biaxially-stretched polyethylene terephthalate film and a release paper provided on the adhesive layer. Characters or images are printed or typed on a front side of the sheet as necessary.
As the release paper, there is often used a laminated paper comprising a pulp paper coated with a polyolefin resin film on one or both sides thereof, glassine paper, resin-coated paper and a release paper comprising a paper substrate coated with a release agent such as a silicone compound or a fluorine compound on one or both sides (front and back) thereof, or the like.
In applications requiring that the adhesive label has pencil writability or water proofness, a synthetic paper is used as the sheet material which forms the surface material as disclosed in JP-B-50-29738 (The term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), JP-B-U-2-45893 (The term "JP-B-U" as used herein means an "examined Japanese utility model publication") and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,963,851 and 5,318,817.
As such a synthetic paper there is used a microporous stretched polyolefin film obtained by stretching a polyolefin film such as polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene containing an inorganic fine powder such as calcined clay, calcium carbonate, talc, mica, titanium oxide and diatomaceous earth.
At present, pressure-sensitive adhesive labels comprising as a surface material the foregoing polyolefin synthetic paper which have been put into practical use are excellent in water proofness, abrasion resistance, printability and typability, but they have been recognized to tend to drastically curl at a temperature of 0.degree. C. or below, e.g., in the winter.
Such a pressure-sensitive adhesive label may not be able to be fed or discharged when it is subjected to printing or typing under a bad condition of 0.degree. C. or less. When one tries to stick such a pressure-sensitive adhesive label to an adherend (such as a container) by means of an automatic labeler under such low temperature conditions, when the release paper is peeled off the label, the synthetic paper curls more than it does in the Spring, Summer and Fall seasons. This causes the label to be stuck to the adherend in a position which deviates from the desired predetermined position. Therefore, the distance between the adherend and the label needs to be rather large, which slows the label sticking rate.
It has further been recognized that when used as a address printing label to be stuck on an envelope, such a pressure-sensitive adhesive label is liable to be misfed into or misdischarged from a printer, misarrangement on the envelope and misregistered printing.
The reason why such a polyolefin synthetic paper is curled more in the coldest season is believed to be that the release paper and the synthetic paper have different thermal expansion coefficients and the pulp paper which constitutes the release paper can shrink more easily when it is dried in the winter than in other seasons. Therefore, in order to minimize curling, procedures such as printing, typing and sticking should be carried out under the same condition as are encountered in Spring, Summer and Fall (10.degree. C. to 40.degree. C.). However, this is obviously impractical for all possible users.


An aquaculture system is disclosed in which feeding and aeration are provided by a bottom mounted piping system. In addition, floating surface panels may provide thermal insulation. The bottom mounted piping system allows a food and oxygen slurry to be injected into a pond even when the floating surface panels cover the pond. The floating surface panels may allow an air bubble to form between the pond surface and the panel to aid in thermal insulation. The aquaculture system is particularly adapted for use as a shrimp farm system.

Shrimp and certain fish species such as Redfish require warm water in order to live and grow. This has limited the growth of such species to the warmer months, typically when the water temperature does not go below about 68.degree. F. One attempt to expand the growing season has involved the construction of a greenhouse roof over a pond to capture solar heat. However, it was found that such a roof would not withstand strong storms and did not provide the necessary reliability and efficiency. The use of a greenhouse type system presumably was tried because it allows typical shrimp farm feeding and aeration approaches to be utilized. These approaches involve feeding by throwing tiny food pellets onto the surface of a pond, and aerating the pond by a paddle wheel device that floats on the surface and vigorously splashes the water. These feeding and aeration methods however, are inefficient and are thought to actually reduce the potential yield. There is accordingly a continuing need for shrimp and warm water fish farming methods and aquaculture systems which can provide a longer growing season and more efficient feeding and aeration methods.


Inner or outer cylindrical worked surfaces of powder metal components are bearingized by orbiting tapered rollers against them using a tapered mandrel having points for impacting the rollers against the worked surface.

There are many metalworking processes that improve the dimensional accuracy of a metal product. There are also processes that improve the smoothness of a metal surface. These methods include the traditional metal cutting techniques known as turning, milling, honing, and grinding for dimensional accuracy, and polishing, lapping, and burnishing for surface smoothness.
Of particular interest for both dimensional and smoothness quality is burnishing, and an extension of this technique called bearingizing. Most commonly, these two techniques are applied to cylindrical surfaces, such as the surfaces of a cylinder or tube.
Burnishing, in its most common form, uses many conical hard steel rollers to roll the product surface smooth. A typical form of a burnishing tool is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1A-E for inner diameters and FIGS. 2A-E for outer diameters. Throughout the prior art figures, the following elements are labeled as follows: workpiece-W; worked surface-S; mandrel-M; mandrel force-P; rollers-R; roller cage-C; and support ring-L. Downward pressure is exerted on the mandrel M as indicated by the arrows P by any suitable means such as a spring or pneumatic or hydraulic pressure, as the mandrel M is rotated. The mating conical surfaces of the mandrel M and rollers R result in the rollers R being pressed against the worked surface S of the workpiece W (which is held stationary), resulting in densification and hardening of the surface S. The design is such that a burnishing tool will accommodate a substantial range of component diameters, for example a range of 0.040 inches (2 mm) in diameter of the surface S.
Bearingizing differs from burnishing in that it uses cylindrical rollers, and instead of only rolling the surface, the rollers also impact indent and thereby "peen" the surface. This is illustrated in FIGS. 3A-E and is accomplished with a parallel flat-sided mandrel M which is rotated inside of the roller cage C so that its points T (FIGS. 3A-E) impact the rollers R The rollers may be spring biased by the cage C against the outer surface of the mandrel M or not, but in any event are permitted sufficient radial movement by the cage C so as to impact the surface S when a point T passes by a roller R The result is that greater local pressure is applied to the metal surface S, and so the process is faster. It is also more accurate than burnishing. However, the bearingizing tools will only accommodate a diametral range of 0.004 inches (0.1 mm) and only applies a 0.002 inch (0.05 mm) change in diameter.
Recent developments in powder metallurgy require a different tool to achieve a different end result. In the case of powder metallurgy, great benefit in component functional properties can be gained by raising the density of the surface layer which rubs, rolls, or bounces against another component. In particular, bearing surfaces which must withstand rolling and rubbing stresses suffer from a failure mode called "rolling contact fatigue". This failure mechanism can be minimized by raising the surface layer density of a powder metallurgy bearing surface to near full density. In order to achieve this, a substantial amount of surface metal must be radially compressed. While this can be accomplished to some degree by roller burnishing, the hammering or peening action in bearingizing is more effective, and can produce a deeper layer of densification, which is beneficial in resisting higher surface stresses. It also can produce compressive residual stresses in the densified surface which further raises resistance to rolling contact fatigue.
The limited radial depth of movement of known bearingizing tools cannot accommodate this need. It would be necessary, for example, to use five separate bearingizing units to achieve a 0.010 inch (0.25 mm) diametral reduction. This is both very costly in equipment, and slow in process to the point of being impractical. What is needed for surface densification of powder metallurgy product, therefore, is a bearingizing tool with a practical range of diametral reduction.

Progressive densification of powder metallurgy circular surfaces


Detector circuit for measuring relatively strong currents including a main current transformer (1) and two substantially identical auxiliary current transformers (2, 3) where a main current (I1) induces magnetomotive forces in said main current transformer (1), said magnetomotive forces being counteracted by magnetomotive forces induced by a compensating current (i1) while at the same time the two auxiliary transformers (2, 3) are magnetised in antiphase by means of a square wave/modulation signal. Furthermore the detector circuit includes a synchronous rectifier for generating an adjusting signal for the compensating current (i1). According to the invention a compensating current is used for measuring current in a common winding (L3) surrounding the main transformer as well as the auxiliary transformers while at the same time a possible error signal in the shape of a voltage difference between the auxiliary transformers is used to adjust the compensating current (i1) by means of a negative feedback loop.

Danish Patent No. 149238 discloses a zero-flux current transformer for measuring the current for an electromagnet in a particle accelerator. As very high current values are involved, viz. several hundred amperes, the main current is advantageously converted into a comparatively weaker measuring current which is easy to handle, and which is passed through a measuring resistor. As a result the voltage drop across the measuring resistor is a measurement representing the value of the main current.
The known zero-flux current transformers are formed by a second harmonic magnetic modulator combined with a magnetic integrator. In principle a magnetic integrator includes a ring core of a ferromagnetic material, said ring core being provided with a primary winding, a secondary winding and a sensing winding. The sensing winding communicates with the inlet terminals of an amplifier driving the secondary current through a measuring resistor. Therefore an alteration of the magnetic flux in the ring core induces a voltage in the sensing winding, and this voltage effects the amplifier in such a manner that said amplifier generates a compensating current which counteracts the alteration of the flux caused by the primary current. As a result the magnetomotive forces generated by the current through the primary winding are equalized by the magnetomotive forces generated by the current trough the secondary winding in such a manner that a specific relationship exists between the current value in the primary winding and the current value in the secondary winding.
However, the magnetic integrator cannot handle DC and very low frequencies, and accordingly a separate circuit is required for this function. Such a circuit is formed by a magnetic modulator including two identically wound ring cores and a driver circuit. The ring cores are driven in saturation, and at a balance equaling zero flux the current curves are symmetrical in relation to zero. As a result the contents of equal harmonics are zero. Therefore it is possible to use either a direct, symmetrical detection by means of a window comparator/Schmitt trigger or a second harmonic detector using synchronous rectification of the current signal presenting the double frequency of the modulation signal. In both cases an output signal is obtained which is zero at a balance between the primary and the secondary ampere winding number. An imbalance in the ampere winding number results in a voltage of an amplitude and a polarity which depend on the degree and polarity of said imbalance. One core suffices for carrying out the latter detector function, but two cores in antiphase are necessary in order to prevent the compensating circuit from suppressing the detection and in order to prevent the modulation signal from interfering with the magnetic integrator at magnetic coupling.
Furthermore Danish Patent Application No. PA 2003 01752 discloses a detector circuit of the above kind. However, the circuit described therein is relatively complicated.

Liaisons Electroniques-Mecaniques LEM S.A.


A failure tolerant tire inflation system for supplying pressurized air from an onboard source to the vehicle tires in the event of a pressure drop in one or more of the tires below a predetermined level. The system includes a tire inflation valve communicable with the source of pressurized air, a tire selector valve assembly for selectively communicating air from the tire inflation valve with the vehicle tires, a plurality of valve assemblies each communicating with at least one tire and selectively communicating with the tire selector valve assembly. A controller selectively activates and deactivates the tire inflation valve and valve assemblies to sequentially check the pressure in the tires and direct air to any underinflated tire. A transducer is provided for detecting the tire pressure levels upon the opening of the valve assembly communicating with that tire and communicating the underinflated condition to the controller.

The present invention relates to onboard tire inflation systems for automatically maintaining the inflation pressure of the pneumatic tires on both non-powered and powered axles of moving vehicles such as tractor trailers and tractors.
Onboard automatic tire inflation systems are currently available for use on trucks and other vehicles. Such systems have been successfully used in non-powered vehicle axle assemblies such as on tractor trailers (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,105,645 and 7,418,989) and more recently on powered axle assemblies (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,045). Such systems deliver make-up air to a vehicle tire in the event that the tire is punctured or begins to lose air for other reasons. The disclosures of the above identified patents are incorporated herein by reference.
By way of example, an onboard system for maintaining a predetermined pressure in each of the tires of a non-powered truck tandem axle assembly is currently available from Airgo, Inc. of Edmond, Okla. The Airgo unit includes a tire inflation system which delivers compressed air from an onboard compressor (e.g., the compressor used for supplying air to the truck brakes) to the tires through the interior of the tandem axle, or a tube extending through the axle, in the event that a leak occurs in any of the four tandem axle tires. The Airgo unit also includes: a pair of rotary seals provided proximate the outer ends of the non-powered tandem axle; a set of air lines extending from the rotary seals for delivering air from the interior of the axle, through the rotary seals, to each of the four tires; check valves provided in the air lines for preventing reverse air flow from the tires to the axle; and an indicator light which alerts the operator that a leak has developed. The system controls the make-up air flow in accordance with the operating pressure required by the tires. For most tandem truck axles, the automatic inflation system will typically be operable for providing a sufficient make-up air flow to maintain a tire pressure of at least 90 psig and more preferably at least 95 psig. Automatic tire inflation systems of this type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,105,645 and 7,418,989 identified above.
Automatic tire inflation systems are susceptible to failures, however, which may result in deflation of one or more of the tires served by the system. A failure of a pressure regulator utilized in the system or of a valve or air conduit between the regulator to the tires can result in a loss of air at the failure and through the pneumatic conveyance. The installation of a check valve at the tire would prevent flow from the tire in the event of such a failure, while allowing the tire to be inflated as necessary. Such a valve, however, would prevent the tire from being deflated when necessary and the ability to deflate a tire in automatic tire inflation systems is a desirable feature. Tires may be inflated to the proper pressure when cold, but warming of the tire after inflation can result in pressures that are too high. A similar effect occurs when the vehicle undergoes changes in altitude. Tires inflated to proper pressures at low altitude result in excessive tire pressures when a vehicle travels to a high altitude. Deflation of tires to the proper inflation level prevents the operation of the tires in an over-inflated condition and may be useful in balancing loads or adjusting to wind or, if off road, adjusting to soil conditions.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to be able to develop an automatic tire inflation system that would prevent the tires from being fully deflated in the event of a system failure while allowing for regulated tire deflation to maintain the tires at their proper operating pressure. Such a system is provided by the present invention.


A ladder includes legs (10, 20) and a tread (50). The ladder tread (50) is mounted between two legs (10, 20) and includes a plastic step (52) and a metal support bar (51). The plastic step (52) is supported and connected by the metal support bar (51).

Conventional ladder rung has to satisfy two requirements of enough support strength and large enough area of surface. So far there are two kind of ladder rungs, one of which is ladder rung of aluminum alloy, the other one of which is ladder rung of plastic. However, they both have shortages, for example because the ladder rung is made of aluminum alloy, the cost of it is too high; because the ladder rung is made of plastic, the plastic ladder rung is difficult to connected to legs of the ladder.


A method is described for forming capacitor plates with extended surface area using polysilicon hemispherical grains or HSG polysilicon. The HSG polysilicon is formed on the top surface and sidewalls of first capacitor plates. A vertical anisotropic etching step forms an irregular top surface of the first capacitor plates and an anneal step provides good adhesion between the grains of HSG polysilicon and the sidewalls of the first capacitor plates. A timed etchback of the dielectric between the first capacitor plates insures good electrical insulation between adjacent first capacitor plates.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the formation of high capacitance capacitors on integrated circuit wafers and more particularly to capacitor plates using etchback of polysilicon hemispherical grains.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Polysilicon hemispherical grains, HSG polysilicon, are used to increase surface area of capacitor plates used to form integrated circuit capacitors, particularly for DRAM circuits. The HSG polysilicon is formed on a conductor, usually polysilicon, used to form capacitor plates. Etchback of the HSG polysilicon using vertical anisotropic etching forms an irregular top surface of the capacitor plates. HSG polysilicon is also used on the sidewalls of the capacitor plates however adhesion of the HSG polysilicon to the sidewalls can be a problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,587 to Jun et al. describes methods of forming capacitor plates using a hemisphere particle layer having hills and valleys on a layer to be etched. The hemispherical particle layer is used on the top surface of the capacitor plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,503 to Kenny describes the use of sub-lithographic relief images to increase the surface area of the top surface of capacitor plates. Polysilicon and porous silicon can be used to form the sub-micron relief pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,797 to Chan et al. describes the use of a texturized polysilicon structure to increase the area of capacitor plates. A polysilicon structure is subjected to a wet oxidation followed by a wet oxide etch to form the texturized polysilicon structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,878 to Park et al. describes the use of an HSG polysilicon layer of form extended surface area on both the top and the sidewalls of capacitor plates, however an anneal step after the formation of the HSG polysilicon layer and an timed oxide back etch is not described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,848 to Lur et al. describes the use of silicon nodules formed on the top surface of capacitor plates to increase surface area.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,086 to Ahn describes exposing a first polysilicon layer, an oxide layer, and a second polysilicon layer consisting of grains to an oxide etchant. The oxide etchant penetrates the grain boundaries of the second polysilicon layer and etches the oxide layer at the grain boundaries. The etching forms an irregular surface which increases surface area. The irregular surface area is on the top surface of the capacitor plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,888 to Ahn et al. describes the use of polysilicon hemispherical grains to form an irregular surface on the top surface of capacitor plates.
A paper entitled "A CAPACITOR-OVER-BIT-LINE (COB) CELL WITH A HEMISPHERICAL-GRAIN STORAGE NODE FOR 64 Mb DRAMs", by Sakao et al., IEDM, 1990, pages 27.3.1-27.3.4 describes using etchback of HSG polysilicon to increase the surface area of capacitor plates. The use of an anneal step or a timed oxide etchback step is not described.
This invention describes the use of HSG polysilicon along with an anneal step and a timed oxide etchback step to form an irregular surface on the top and sidewalls of capacitor plates thereby increasing surface area and capacitance. The method of this invention prevents individual grains from breaking away thereby resulting in improved chip yield.

Method to improve yield for capacitors formed using etchback of polysilicon hemispherical grains

Vanguard International Semiconductor Manufacturing


There is provided an association analysis method and apparatus. An original database is divided into projection databases, each not contributing to a support count of a frequent item set of another. The projection databases are used for sequential-pattern association analysis performed respectively by nodes corresponding to the projection databases. Local frequent item sets and corresponding support counts obtained by the nodes are combined. Since an established projection database does not contribute a support count of a frequent item set of another projection database, different nodes can perform association mining, including pruning, on different projection databases respectively.

Association analysis is an analytical technology in data mining. It is mainly used to find an association between items based on a large amount of data. A typical example of association analysis is shopping basket analysis. The association analysis is performed based on shopping data to find a correlation between different products that customers put into shopping baskets. Then, the association obtained from the association analysis reflects purchasing habits of the customers. Retailers can develop marketing strategies by understanding the purchasing habits.
Sequential-pattern association analysis is different from association analysis of other patterns. In the sequential pattern, the time of occurrence of the items is also taken into account, so that the items are sequential. The sequential-pattern association analysis is usually used to analyze a super large-scale database. Therefore, it is not suitable to use a single machine for data processing due to the heavy computational load. Conventionally, it is common to simply fragment data in a database and perform separate association analysis on each piece of fragmented data at each node to obtain candidate frequent item sets and their support counts. The candidate frequent item sets and the support counts are merged to obtain global support counts of the candidate frequent item sets. Then, global frequent item sets are obtained after pruning according to a preset screening condition.
However, data expansion occurs in the process of performing association analysis to generate a candidate frequent item set. As a result, the data volume of the candidate frequent item sets is exponentially more than that of the fragmented data. Therefore, when the candidate frequent item sets and their support counts generated by the nodes are combined in order to perform a merge operation, an excessively large volume of data is transmitted, resulting in low execution efficiency.

Association analysis method and apparatus