The invention provides a photosensitive resin which includes polymer including a group which reacts with an acid to thereby convert a polarity thereof, a photo acid generator which is responsive to radial rays to thereby generate an acid, and a solvent in which the polymer and the photo acid generator is soluble. The polymer is a terpolymer represented by a following general formula (I) wherein n represents a positive integer ranging from 5 to 1000 both inclusive, R.sup.4 is a group selected from a group consisting of a tricyclodecanyl group, a dicydopentenyl group, a dicyclopentenyloxyethyl group, a cyclohexyl group, a norbonyl group, a norbornaneepoxy group, a norbornaneepoxymethyl group and an adamantyl group, R.sup.5 is a group selected from a group consisting of a tetrahydropyranyl group, a tetrahydrofuranyl group, a methyl group, an ethyl group, a propyl group, a tert-butyl group and 3-oxocyclohexyl group, and x+y+z=1 in which x is a variable in the range from 0.1 to 0.9 both inclusive, y is a variable in the range from 0.1 to 0.7 both inclusive, and z is a variable in the range from 0.01 to 0.7 both inclusive. ##STR1##

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a photosensitive resin and a method for patterning a substrate by use of the photosensitive resin, and more particularly to such a photosensitive resin and method suitable when far ultraviolet radiation (FUV) having a wavelength equal to or smaller than 220 nm is to be used as an exposure light.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a field of manufacturing various electronic devices such as VLSI which require minute processing in a sub-micron order, an electric device now must be more highly densified and integrated. Thus, an improved lithography technique is required for forming a minute pattern on a substrate.
One known method for forming a minute pattern is a method in which an exposure light having a shorter wavelength is used for forming a resist pattern. This method is based on Rayleigh's equation representing a resolution R or a line width of an optical system. Rayleigh's equation is EQU R=k.lambda./NA
wherein .lambda. represents a wavelength of an exposure light, NA is a numerical aperture of a lens, and k is a process factor. It can be understood from Rayleigh's equation that a wavelength .lambda. of an exposure light must be shorter in order to accomplish a higher resolution or obtain a smaller R.
For instance, an i-line which has a wavelength of 365 nm and is irradiated from a high-pressure mercury vapor lamp has been used as a light source for manufacturing a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) having an integration equal to or smaller than 64M bits. It is said that the i-line may be replaced as an exposure light source with KrF excimer laser having a wavelength of 248 nm in mass production process of 256 bits DRAM which requires a processing dimension smaller than 0.25 .mu.m. It is being studied presently to use a light source having a shorter wavelength for the purpose of manufacturing DRAM having an integration higher than 1G bit which requires a processing dimension to be smaller than 0.2 .mu.m. For that purpose, an excimer laser such as KrCl having a wavelength of 222 nm, ArF having a wavelength of 193 nm and F.sub.2 having a wavelength of 157 nm, electron beam and X-ray are considered useful according to the book "Short Wavelength Photoresist Material--Minuter Processing for ULSI" authored by Takumi Ueno, Takao Iwayanagi, Saburo Nonogaki, Hiroshi Ito and C. Grant Wilson, 1988, published through Bunshin Shuppan.
However, in view of both a target yield of mass production, in other word, a period of time for an exposure step, and an economical efficiency to be obtained when a novel light source is to be used, a photolithography technique is considered to be most useful because it can expose all objects to light at one time and much experience about the photolithography technique have been accumulated. Thus, it is necessary to develop photolithography technique which uses a light having a shorter wavelength than KrF excimer laser, that is, a light having a wavelength equal to or shorten than 220 nm. It is expected that such a technique will significantly affect a future process of manufacturing electronic devices.
An excimer laser as a light source suffers from many problems, including the short lifetime of gas from which the laser is to be irradiated and the expense of the laser irradiation apparatus. Thus, when an excimer laser is to be used as a light source in mass production of electronic devices, it is necessary to improve cost performance of the laser. Accordingly, resist material for minute processing must have a high sensitivity as well as to have a high resolution in response to more minute processing dimensions.
One known method for enhancing a sensitivity of resist is a chemically amplified resist which utilizes a photo acid generator as a sensitizer. For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Public Disclosure No. 2-27660 has suggested a resist comprising a combination of triphenyl-sulfonium-hexafluoro-arsenate and poly(p-tertbutoxycarbonyloxystyrene-co-.alpha.-methylstyrene). There are many reports about a chemically amplified resist as KrF excimer laser resist, for instance, in American Chemical Society Symposium Series, 1984, Vol. 242, pages 11-23, reported by Hiroshi Ito and C. Grant Willson. A chemically amplified resist is characterized by the steps of transferring proton acid, which is generated by a photo acid generator which is one of constituents of the resist, through a resist solid phase by means of post-exposure heat treatment, and amplifying chemical reaction of a resist resin due to the proton acid in a way like catalytic action up to hundreds of to thousands of times. Thus, a much higher sensitivity can be obtained relative to a prior resist which has an optical reaction efficiency, which is defined by reaction per a photon, smaller than one (1).
Presently, most newly developed resists are chemical amplified resists, and hence a chemical amplification system must be adopted in development of a high sensitive material in response to a shorter wavelength of an exposure light source.
However, if a chemically amplified resist for use with a single layer which is now widely used is to be used with an exposure light having a wavelength shorter than 220 nm for forming a minute pattern, for instance, ArF excimer laser having a wavelength of 193 nm, in general the resist intensively absorbs the exposure light. It is known that a commercially available resist would absorb most of the incident light at a surface thereof to which the light is directed, and hence the light could scarcely reach a substrate, thereby it is impossible to resolve a pattern on a substrate. Such a fact is reported, for instance, in "ArF excimer laser lithography (3)--Evaluation of Resist--", the 35th Applied Physics Institution Conference Manuscripts, 1989, 1p-K-4 by Sasago et al. Thus, in lithography having a light source comprising ArF excimer laser which is expected to be a post KrF light source, it is well known that a presently used resist cannot resolve a pattern at all.
Both a novolac resin which is a polymer in most presently used resists for use with i-line, and poly(p-vinylphenol) which is widely used as a base polymer of chemically amplified resist used for exposing a pattern with KrF excimer laser, have an aromatic ring in their molecular structure. This is because the molecular structure of a resin has to contain a lot of unsaturated bond, which is a quite strong bond, for providing a resist with resistance during a dry-etching step which is to be carried out after a pattern would have been formed in a semiconductor manufacturing process. The aromatic ring functions to achieve that purpose. Poly(p-vinylphenol) widely used in a resist for use with KrF excimer laser is transparent to KrF excimer laser. Specifically, poly(p-vinylphenol) has a transmittance of about 70% when it has a thickness of 1 .mu.m. However, poly(p-vinylphenol) intensively absorbs a light having a shorter wavelength because of an aromatic ring present in a molecular structure thereof. Thus, it is impossible to use poly(p-vinylphenol) as a lithography resist using an exposure light having a shorter wavelength, more specifically a wavelength equal to or shorter than 220 nm.
A resin which is transparent to a light having a wavelength equal to or shorter than 220 nm includes polyacryl family resin and poly(methylmethacrylate), which is hereinbelow to be referred simply as PMMA, both of which have no aromatic rings. For instance, it has been reported that a resolution of 0.13 .mu.m could be obtained by means of a stepper with ArF excimer laser using a thin PMMA film having a thickness of 0.15 .mu.m, in Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, 1988, Vol. B6, page 1, by M. Rothschild et al.
Therefore, a polymer can be transparent to a light having a wavelength shorter than 220 nm by removing aromatic rings out of its resin structure, but, the polymer cannot obtain a sufficient resistance against a dry-etching step. Accordingly, it is impossible to use PMMA not having a sufficient dry-etching resistance as a resist to be used in electronic elements manufacturing process. There has been reported a polymer having an alicyclic alkyl group as an attempt for solving the above mentioned problem.
For instance, there has been reported a copolymer having an adamantylmethacrylate unit which is an alicyclic polymer as a polymer having a transparency to a light having a wavelength of 193 nm and further being dry-etching resistant, in Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, 1992, Vol. 5, No. 3, pages 439-446, by Takechi et al. and Japanese Unexamined Patent Public Disclosure No. 5-265212. For another instance, poly(norbonylmethacrylate) has been reported as a polymer having a transparency to a light having a wavelength of 193 nm and further being dry-etching resistant, in Proceedings of IEDM, 1992, CA14-18, San Francisco by M. Endo et al.
However, these methacrylic polymers both having an alicyclic alkyl group have a high hydrophobic property because an alicyclic group and further a protection group (a polarity converting group) both present in a polymer are hydrophobic. Consequently, a thin film composed of these polymers has a weak adhesion with a silicon substrate, and hence it is quite difficult to repeat the formation of uniform films. Furthermore, it is considered that such a thin film would have three problems as stated below, and hence would be difficult to use in a semiconductor manufacturing process.
1. Since a resist has a weak adhesion with a substrate, a pattern may be peeled off from a substrate or may be collapsed during or after a developing step. Thus, it is impossible to repeat the formation of the same patterns. PA0 2. Since a resin has a strong resistance against a presently used alkaline developing reagent, it is impossible to obtain a sufficient sensitivity required for resolving a pattern. Furthermore, scum tends to be generated. PA0 3. Since the above mentioned methacrylic polymer has a weak affinity with a solvent, (a) it is difficult to form a uniform layer, (b) a resin tends to precipitate out of a resist solvent, and (c) such precipitated materials cause a clean room and a wafer to be contaminated. PA0 1. Monomer having an alicyclic alkyl group such as dicyclopentenyl group and tricyclodecanyl group, and an alicyclic epoxy group such as norbornaneepoxy group. PA0 2. Monomer having a group which is cleaved by an acid to thereby induce polarity-conversion, such as tetrahydropyranyl group. PA0 3. Monomer selected from a group consisting of acrylate carboxylic acid and methacrylate carboxylic acid.
Though some reports have mentioned a polymer for use with lithography in which a light having a wavelength equal to or shorter than 220 nm is to be used, it is difficult for the above mentioned reasons to actually use a resist composed of a resin containing alicyclic alkyl groups therein in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

Photosensitive resin and method for patterning by use of the same


A structural substrate for an aircraft structure and methods are presented. A multi-layer hybrid composite material comprises an outermost layer, an intermediate layer, and an innermost layer. The outermost layer comprises an electrically conductive metal matrix composite that conducts electricity to provide electric heating. The intermediate layer comprises an electrical insulator coupled to the outermost layer. The innermost layer comprises a composite coupled to the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer electrically insulates the outermost layer from the innermost layer.

Airline's current deicing methods are resource intensive. Air carriers can be fined significantly per passenger by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) if domestic departure delays exceed a certain number of hours. Average delay/cancellation costs may be significant per cancellation. Furthermore, snowstorms can cost air carriers millions of dollars a year as delays and cancellations can ripple across flight schedules stranding thousands of passengers in airport terminals.
Ethylene glycol antifreeze is currently used as Aircraft Deicing Fluid (ADF), however, the U.S. environmental protection agency (EPA) has classified glycol as a regulated industrial process (e.g., in wastewater) under NPDES 40 CFR Part 122. Seven billion gallons of aircraft deicing fluid storm water are generally generated per year (according to EPA 821-R-00-016), and capital costs of a glycol recovery system may be a significant cost per airport (according to EPA 832-F-99-043). Glycols can consume oxygen and can lead to non-optimal oxygen levels in aquatic systems, and corrosion inhibitors and surfactants present in deicing fluids may create a non-optimal environment for fish and other aquatic organisms. There is an ongoing industry wide effort to research alternate or complementary methods for deicing aircraft flight surfaces.

Metal matrix composite used as a heating element


A server system includes a database having an identification number and a contact destination number as associated information; a storage device for containing the database; a call-accepting unit for accepting a call designating an advertised telephone number from a user's telephone as well as for extracting the identification number therefrom; a contact destination-extracting unit for extracting the contact destination number associated with the identification number from the database; and a connection-processing unit for connecting the call from a user's telephone to the telephone of an advertiser corresponding to the contact destination number according to the extracted contact destination number.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a call-connecting device, a call-connecting method, a call-connecting program, and a call-accepting server.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, a so-called pay-per-call type of system is known whereby users call advertisers according to advertised information published in magazines or the like, and then the magazine publisher charges the store owners relevant fees according to the frequency of the phone calls.
Advertisements using this type of pay-per-call are provided by publishing telephone numbers used for the advertisements (advertised telephone number) together with the advertised information provided by the advertisers in publications such as Web pages on a Web site on the Internet, newspapers, and magazines. For example, such advertisements are provided by administrators for the Web sites and magazine publishers who act as an agency (e.g., advertising agency) for example, on behalf of the advertiser itself.
Thus, once a user who has browsed such advertised information makes a call to the advertiser at the advertised telephone number that has been published together with the advertised information, the number of calls are tallied, and then the advertising fees are charged to the advertiser according to the number thereof (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-300323 and 2002-312687).
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-300323 discloses that a call made by a user from a user terminal is transferred to an advertiser who provides advertised information corresponding to a push-button signal sent from the user terminal, and then the conversation history for this transferred telephone is recorded. Thereafter, the amount charged for the transfer is calculated according to the conversation history, and this calculated charged amount is recorded per advertiser and charged to the relevant advertiser.
Additionally, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-312687 discloses that a hiring company concludes a contract with an advertising company for registering a contact destination number as a contract number, and the advertising company registers, with a telephone office, a toll-free (free telephone conversation) transfer service in which the contract number is a transfer destination, and then discloses job information, including the public number that is a transfer source number. Once an applicant makes a call to the public number after checking the job information, the telephone office transfers the call to the hiring company and counts the number of conversations, and then charges the hiring company with the information usage fees in addition to the conversation charges. This case adopts a system in which the difference in the amount whereby an agency commission is deducted from the amount of payment made by the hiring company is paid by the telephone office to the advertising company.
The contents of Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-300323 and 2002-312687 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
However, the configuration of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-300323 has the problem that operation is troublesome, because the user needs to specify the advertiser by operating push-buttons according to a voice message made by an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) responding unit until the telephone call between the user and the advertiser is connected.
Additionally, the configuration of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-312687 has the problem that it is impossible to identify which advertisements were effective if the advertiser requests advertisements by a plurality of agencies and if a plurality of advertisements are published on different dates. For example, it is impossible to distinguish the calls made by checking the job information from the calls made to the advertiser with the contract number that has been passed directly from other people without browsing the job information. In addition, in a case in which similar services are received with one contract number from among a plurality of advertising companies, the telephone office cannot identify the adverting companies, so the effectiveness of the advertisement cannot be distinguished per advertising company.

Call-connecting device, call-connecting method, call-connecting program, and call-accepting server


The instant invention relates to a process and method for manufacturing 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene by dehydrohalogenating a reactant stream of 2-chloro-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoropropane that is substantially free from impurities, particularly halogenated propanes, propenes, and propynes.

Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), such as tetrafluoropropenes (including 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO-1234yf)), are now known to be effective refrigerants, fire extinguishants, heat transfer media, propellants, foaming agents, blowing agents, gaseous dielectrics, sterilant carriers, polymerization media, particulate removal fluids, carrier fluids, buffing abrasive agents, displacement drying agents and power cycle working fluids. Unlike chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), both of which potentially damage the Earth's ozone layer, HFOs do not contain chlorine and, thus, pose no threat to the ozone layer. HFO-1234yf has also been shown to be a low global warming compound with low toxicity and, hence, can meet increasingly stringent requirements for refrigerants in mobile air conditioning. Accordingly, compositions containing HFO-1234yf are among the materials being developed for use in many of the aforementioned applications.
One known precursor used to prepare HFO-1234yf is 2-chloro-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoropropane (HCFC-244bb). Indeed, there are numerous gas phase reactions that are known for the production of HFO-1234yf by HCFC-244bb dehydrochlorination. U.S. Pub. No. U.S. 2007/0197842, for example, teaches the synthesis of HFO-1234yf through gas phase HCFC-244bb dehydrochlorination in the presence of a carbon- and/or metal-based catalyst (e.g. nickel or palladium based catalysts). U.S. Pub. No. U.S. 2009/0043136 also teaches the preparation of HFO-1234yf through gas phase HCFC-244bb dehydrochlorination in the presence of a catalyst selected from the group consisting of (i) one or more metal halides, (ii) one or more halogenated metal oxides, (iii) one or more zero-valent metals/metal alloys, or (iv) a combination of two or more of the foregoing.
While the foregoing reactions disclose processes having relatively high conversion levels, such reactions are not without disadvantages. As illustrated herein, known processes for the production of HCFC-244bb often produce only about a 90% yield. Thus, the remainder of the product stream includes undesirable by-products and raw materials. These by-products and raw materials are surprisingly shown herein to have a detrimental impact on the ability to produce high purity HFO-1234yf when used in connection with one or more of the applications mentioned above. As a result, they reduce product yields and increase associated costs.
Based on the foregoing, there is a continuing need for an improved process of preparing high purity HFO-1234yf from HCFC-244bb. The instant invention and the embodiments presented herein addresses at least this need.

Process for producing 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene


Acyclic CB[n]-type compounds, methods of making such compounds, and uses of the compounds. For example, these compounds can be used as nanocontainers to solubilize pharmaceutical agents. Also provided are compositions and methods of using them for therapy or prophylaxis of a wide variety of conditions for which therapy or prophylaxis is desirable.

Only 1 out of 10,000 novel drug candidates makes it through the drug development pipelines to reach the pharmacy shelves. It is estimated that about 40% of novel drug candidates fail due to low bioavailability associated with poor aqueous solubility. Many drug candidates that exhibit high potency are abandoned by pharmaceutical companies because of poor bioavailability. One of the most common problems is that the drug candidates exhibit poor solubility in aqueous solution and therefore are difficult to formulate. One solution that has been employed by the pharmaceutical industry is to encapsulate drugs inside cyclodextrins. However, cyclodextrin-based solubility enhancement is not a universal solution. Therefore, there is an ongoing need for improved compositions for increasing solubility of pharmaceutical agents. The present invention meets these and other needs.

Molecular containers and methods of making and using same


A method and apparatus are disclosed for separating a stamper from a patterned substrate. The method includes providing a substrate having a top and a bottom with an opening therein, providing a support mechanism configured to retain the substrate, providing a stamper having a formed pattern and configured to come in contact with the top of the substrate, wherein a chamber is formed within the opening of the substrate when the stamper is in contact with the substrate, providing a channel directed toward the chamber to introduce pressurized air into the chamber, and directing pressured air through the channel to the chamber to initiate separation of the stamper from the substrate. In certain embodiments, the pressurized air may be directed toward an opening in the substrate, such as a central ID hole in a disk. The disk may be incorporated within a storage device as pattered magnetic media.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for patterning a substrate and more particularly relates to a method and apparatus for separating a stamper from a patterned substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nanoimprint technology has developed rapidly in the past decade and offers promising advancements with regards to the replication of nanometer-scaled structures. The technological improvements have been a boon to several growing industries including integrated circuits (IC), micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), and magnetic storage mediums. Replicating minute structures, however, introduces several problems that must be surmounted in order to refine the imprinting process. Forces such as friction and adhesion, for example, must be overcome in order to achieve optimal results. In addition, inexpensive mechanisms and simplistic methods are needed to advance the imprinting process and to make the process more cost effective.
Imprint (or "nanoimprint") lithography has been proposed as an effective method to generate patterned magnetic media for use in storage devices. Imprint lithography is a method of lithography that uses a mold (stamper) or a mechanical force to pattern a resist. In certain embodiments, a formed pattern is created on a surface of the stamper using electron beam (e-beam) lithography, enabling the formation of high resolution features on the stamper. E-beam lithography is a relatively expensive and prolonged process, however, often requiring months to complete a pattern. The finished stamper, though, may be used repeatedly in a relatively inexpensive process to transfer the e-beam formed pattern onto a substrate surface.
FIGS. 1A-1F depict a series of cross-sectional views illustrating a substrate 100 subjected to a prior art imprint lithography process to create nano-scaled features, such as pillars 108 for creating data recording bits. The substrate 100 includes a resist layer 102 (FIG. 1A). The resist layer 102 is shaped by a stamper 104 and cured to create pillars 106 in the resist (FIG. 1B-1C). The resist layer 102 functions as a mask (FIG. 1D) to resist ions 114 during a reactive ion etching (RIE) process. Pillars 108 are etched into the substrate 100 (FIG. 1E). A magnetic layer 110 is subsequently deposited over the pillars 108 (FIG. 1F) to provide magnetic islands for data recording bits, thereby forming the foundation for patterned magnetic media.
Imprint lithography processes generally require that the resist be cured either by ultra violet (UV) light or by thermal energy. In thermal imprinting, the stamper 104, the sample substrate 100, or both are heated to soften the resist 102 during the imprinting process. Upon cooling, the imprinted resist patterns or features 106 solidify, retaining the imprinted shape after removal of the stamper 104.
In UV-cure imprinting, a transparent stamper 104 is pressed against a substrate 100 coated with a liquid photopolymer resist 102. After exposure to UV light 112 (FIG. 1B), photo initiators in the resist cause the resist 102 to polymerize into a solid, leaving solidified topographic features 106 in the cured resist layer 102 (FIG. 1C). Pressure may be applied to the stamper 104 and/or substrate 100 during the curing process to ensure complete formation of quality features 106 in the resist 102.
In the depicted embodiment, the stamper 104 comprises minute holes 116, which may be patterned to correspond to data recording bits of patterned magnetic media. Patterned media can provide increased bit density and storage capacity with greater thermal stability than conventional multigrain magnetic media. Patterned media can be formed by a variety of methods known to those skilled in the art in addition to the depicted imprint lithography process.
To form patterned media, a highly ordered array of pillars 108, or magnetic islands, is typically formed on the substrate 100 surface. High density is achieved by storing data in tracks just one island wide, rather than tracks wide enough to accommodate multiple (typically on the order of 10) random grains. In one embodiment, the pillars 108 or holes 116 are approximately 20 nm in diameter. Viable data storage densities of around one terabits per square inch may be achievable with patterned media.
Once the features 106 in the resist layer 102 are formed, the stamper 104 must be separated and removed from the substrate 100. Because the holes 116 in the stamper 104 increase the effective surface area of the stamper 104, the surface energy generally causes the stamper 104 to stick to the resist layer 102, requiring a substantial force to decouple the stamper 104 from the substrate 100. Typically, a pin, hook, wedge, or other mechanical device may be used to force the separation.
Directly lifting the stamper 104 requires a large force to achieve separation that may cause mechanical damage to the imprinted features. Direct contact with the substrate 100 surface and/or the stamper 104 surface is generally undesirable because contact can also damage the miniscule features and impair any potential functions, such as data throughput, for example. Furthermore, using a chisel or wedge to propagate a Mode 1 crack from the outside diameter of a disk or the like may reduce the amount of force required for separation, but can also introduce unbalanced forces causing non-uniform separation. To initiate a uniform separation, multiple wedges functioning simultaneously, mechanical tilting, or other mechanical feats that are difficult to achieve may be required.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for a method and apparatus that facilitate separation of the stamper from the substrate. Beneficially, such an apparatus and method would provide a simple force to uniformly separate the stamper from the substrate without causing harm to either the substrate or the imprinted features. In addition, the method and apparatus would be inexpensive, easy to implement and executable in a minimal amount of time.

Method and apparatus for separating a stamper from a patterned substrate

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A photonic crystal guided propagation structure. The structure includes a guide portion Wn, n being a positive real number or zero number, having a first configuration of rows of patterns, and a guide portion Wm, m being a real number, m>n, having a second configuration of rows of patterns, and a transition zone of distance D located between guide portion Wn and guide portion Wm, in which patterns aligned with at least one row of patterns in the first configuration decrease in size over distance D to allow progressive passing from the first configuration of rows of patterns to the second configuration of rows of patterns. The structures can be applied to the area of integrated optics (semiconductor lasers, laser modulators, filters, multiplexors, etc.).

The present invention concerns a photonic crystal structure for mode conversion.
The invention applies to the area of integrated optics.
In known art, the function of a mode converter or transformer is to convert a first optic mode which propagates in a first guided propagation structure into a second optic mode able to propagate in a second guided propagation structure. The two guided propagation structures may either form part of one same photonic integrated circuit, or form part of two separate circuits. A guided propagation structure may, for example, be an optic fibre.
FIG. 1 shows a guided propagation structure with vertical confinement of known art. Light propagates in direction z. In vertical direction y, the light is confined in a layer 1 of material of high index n1 sandwiched between two layers of material 2, 3 of lower index n2 and n3, respectively. In lateral direction x, the light is confined in the medium of index n1 either by a material charge (charged strip) or by another material (etched strip), this other material possibly being air. The materials of indices n1, n2, n3 may be semiconductor, dielectric or metallic materials. The size and shape of the propagation mode or modes borne by the structure in FIG. 1 are dependent upon the geometry of the structure and the value of indices n1, n2, n3.
Another propagation structure is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is an overhead view of a photonic crystal propagation structure.
The photonic crystal structure consists of a set of aligned patterns 4. Patterns 4 may for example be holes etched in a material, or pillars grouped side by side. In a one-dimensional application, the patterns may be parallel grooves etched in the material.
Different types of propagation guides may be made in a photonic crystal structure. A first type of guide consists of a photonic crystal structure in which n rows of neighbouring patterns are missing. In the remainder of the description, this first type of guide shall be called "Wn guide". By way of a non-restrictive example, FIG. 2 shows a structure in which a single row of patterns is missing. The guide is then a W1 guide. Wave propagation is based on the zone devoid of patterns (zone of width d in FIG. 2). Other types of guide are also known such as, for example, photonic crystal structures in which the zone devoid of rows of patterns does not correspond to the absence of an integer number of rows but to the absence of a non-integer number of rows (Wn guides with n real number), or photonic crystal structures in which patterns of different shape and/or size are made, for example holes of different sizes.
A guided propagation structure is optimised to best ensure a given function. It is the geometry of the structure which determines the propagation mode or modes. Mode conversion is very often necessary to pass from a first propagation structure ensuring a first function to a second propagation structure ensuring another function. Ideally; mode conversion makes it is possible to couple almost all the light getting out of the first structure into the second structure, to render negligible both reflection and losses through wave diffusion at the interface between the structures, and to ease alignment tolerances between the functions quite considerably, said alignment often accounting for high fabrication costs.
Examples of mode converters of known art are shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.
The mode converter shown in FIG. 3 is disclosed in the document titled "Spot Size Converter for Low Cost PICs" (K. D. Mesel, I. Moerman, R. Baets, B. Dhoedt, P. Vandaela and J. Stulemeijer, ECIO'92, ThC2).
The converter in FIG. 3 is a converter of lateral type. A medium 5 of index n1 is sandwiched between two media 6 and 7 of respective indices n2 and n3. Mode conversion is achieved by the continuous widening of medium 5 along the direction of wave propagation. Widening of the propagation medium making it possible to pass from a first to a second propagation mode has to be made over a sufficiently long distance to achieve good performance. As an example, distance 1 over which widening is made may lie between 100 μm to 200 μm. The range of the wavelengths concerned is then the near-infrared (wavelengths of between 0.8 μm and 2 μm).
A second example of mode converter of known art is shown in FIG. 4. This second example of converter is disclosed in the document titled "Tapered Couplers for Efficient Interfacing Between Dielectric and Phototonic Crystal Waveguides" (Attila Mekis and J. D. Joannopoulos; Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 19, No 6, June 2001).
The converter in FIG. 4 makes it possible to pass from a propagation mode in a dielectric guide of strip type to a propagation mode in a photonic crystal guide. The strip guide of width W enters the photonic crystal structure over a distance "a" and then tapers to a point over a distance "b".
A third example of mode converter of known art is shown in FIG. 5. This third example of converter is disclosed in the document titled "Observation of light propagation in two-dimensional photonic crystal-based bent optical waveguides" (S. Yamada et al.; Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 89, No 2, 15 Jan. 2001).
The converter in FIG. 5 allows transition between a two-dimensional waveguide and a photonic crystal guide. Here transition is assured by the funnel shape of the region devoid of patterning in the photonic crystal guide. Good matching is only possible if the funnel-shaped region is sufficiently long.
As a general rule, it appears that the mode converters of known art need to be fabricated over sufficiently long lengths in the direction of wave propagation in order to be able to operate properly. These long distances have disadvantages. They are detrimental for example for circuit fabrication, in particular circuits which have to reach good dynamic performance levels. For example, to modulate a laser directly at 10 Gb/s it is preferable that its length should not be more than 100 μm. It is therefore not possible to equip such laser with a mode converter of known art. Also a non-negligible quantity of material is needed to fabricate these converters, which leads to a substantial increase in size and hence the costs of components.
The invention does not have the aforesaid disadvantages.

Photonic crystal structure for mode conversion

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique


Hearing protection combined with head motion tracking for magnetic resonance (MR) procedures is provided. Trackable earplugs include an MR-visible sample combined with a passive resonant circuit. The trackable earplugs act as wireless markers for the MR system. A third wireless MR marker can be disposed on the forehead of the subject to facilitate motion tracking in six degrees of freedom (i.e., 3 rotations, 3 translations). Preferably, the coordinate system for motion tracking is rotated relative to standard MR coordinates to ensure distinct tracking peaks from the two trackable earplugs.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valuable medical imaging technique, both for research and for clinical purposes. MRI is often used for imaging the human brain, largely due to its excellent soft tissue contrast and ability to generate images with many different contrasts. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain is typically performed with the patient lying in a long narrow bore and with their head placed in a coil. The coil receives signal from tissue and, in some cases, transmits radiofrequency (RF) energy, in order to generate signal from the subject.
One challenge in MRI is the acoustic noise that is produced during a scan. The main source of this acoustic noise is the rapidly switching gradient fields in the strong static (B0) field. At 3 T, the noise generated can exceed 125 dB. This can cause anxiety for the patient, temporary hearing loss, and potentially even permanent hearing damage. For these reasons, hearing protection must be worn for every subject undergoing an MRI scan at common clinical field strengths (e.g. 1.5 T and 3 T) and at the higher field strengths (e.g. 7 T) used in research. The hearing protection typically used includes foam earplugs and/or headphones. Earplugs generally provide a higher degree of noise attenuation than headphones; however, they require practice to insert correctly. If not inserted properly, they can become loose over time and are no longer effective.
Another challenge in MRI is that the duration of each scan is on the order of minutes, and a complete examination can require around an hour. Most patients have difficulty remaining perfectly still for this length of time. This is problematic, because even motion of a few millimeters or less results in artifacts in the reconstructed images. In many cases, scans must be repeated, and in some cases, the patient must return to repeat the entire exam. Additionally, there are many patient populations (e.g. young children) who are simply unable to hold still and, as a result, these patients are often sedated. The problem of head motion in MRI therefore incurs a large financial cost, a potential risk to the patient for adverse events relating to the sedative, and inconvenience and stress for the patient and their family. Finally, there is a risk of misdiagnosis through poor quality images, for example, due to lesions obscured by motion artifacts.
In U.S. Patent App. US 2014/0171784 (′Method for 3D motion tracking using inductively coupled microcoils′, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety), Ooi et al. describe a method for tracking head motion in real time using small coils referred to as 'wireless markers'. Given real-time knowledge of head motion, it is possible to adaptively update the MRI scanner to compensate for the motion as it occurs. This general technique is known to those in the field as 'prospective' or 'adaptive' motion correction. Ooi et al. teach that in order to track head motion in the required six degrees of freedom (three translations, three rotations), three wireless markers are required. The three markers must all be attached to the same rigid body and arranged non-collinearly (collinear markers cannot measure rotations around the line that intersects them all). For these reasons, Ooi et al. use a pair of glasses to hold three markers at pre-defined locations. The glasses are worn by the subject during their MRI scan.
A key challenge of the approach described by Ooi et al. is that motion of the glasses is assumed to be equivalent to motion of the head of the subject. While this is often true, there are many head coils that fit extremely closely to the head of the subject. In these situations, it is possible for the glasses to physically contact the head coil and then move relative to the head. This can lead to erroneous motion tracking estimates. In addition, the requirement to wear glasses makes the subject's head larger and thus may not allow some patients to fit in the head coil.
From the above, it is clear that there is a need to both (a) obtain real-time head motion information in cases with a highly enclosed head coil and (b) to monitor hearing protection systems to ensure that they are functioning as intended. Accordingly, it would be an advance in the art to address these issues.

Devices and methods for trackable hearing protection in magnetic resonance imaging

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


High concentration pelletized additive concentration or polymer stabilization agent or blends, and their preparations, used in various polymerization processes to enhance stability.

The invention relates generally to the field of polymer additives and specifically to high concentration pelletized additive concentrates, or polymer stabilization agent or blends, used in various polymerization processes to enhance polymer stability.
Polymer additives and additive blends are typically used to protect polymers from thermo-oxidative degradation, to provide long term resistance to light or heat, to neutralize residual catalyst and to enhance performance properties of the finished product. Polymer additives typically come in powder, granule, or pellet form. These additives can be routinely added to the polymer during post reactor extrusion operations. Numerous techniques may be employed to introduce the additives to the polymer stream. In solution, suspension or slurry phase polymerization processes, additives and additive blends are frequently added to a liquid before being introduced to the post-reactor polymer-liquid slurry. Alternatively, the additives can be added to the final melt stream of polymer via a side arm extruder or other device which can melt the additive and introduce them to the polymer stream. In this case, there will typically be further mixing via an extruder or other mixing device and pumping of the polymer/additive mixture through a die for pelletizing the final polymer. In other polymerization processes such as a gas phase reactor, the polymer exits the reactor as a powdered "reactor granule." In this case, additives can be added to the polymer in several different ways. The additives can be added to the solid "reactor granule" powder stream. This can be packaged off as a final saleable product or it can be further fed to an extruder or other melting device in order to mix and homogenize the polymer and disperse the additives into the molten polymer. When additives are added to the solid "reactor granule" powder stream, the additives can be introduced at this stage via their neat forms, typically powders, or via a concentrate or masterbatch form. This mixture is subsequently pumped through a die for pelletization. Alternatively, in this type of process, the additives can be introduced via a side arm extruder. The side arm extruder melts the additives and feeds them into a molten polymer stream where they are further mixed into the final polymers and pelletized. In all of these techniques, the addition of the additives in powder form can be difficult to handle and feed, and in the case of some additives, they pose a potential health, fire, and explosion risk. If the polymer system requires the addition of several components, the additives must be either pre-blended, or the use of more than one feeder is required. When a side-arm extruder is used, it is not common to feed the powdered additives directly for numerous reasons. In addition to the above mentioned issues with handling and feeding the additives in powder form to the side-arm extruder, the melting and viscosity behaviour of the additives and the additive mixtures are typically not suitable for direct addition via this method. As a result, the powdered additives can be made into a fairly low concentration masterbatch. This type of masterbatch typically is made by extruding a low concentration of additives with a polymer carrier resin that is similar and compatible with the main polymer being produced in the polymerization process. As a result, this masterbatch can be easily fed via a side-arm extruder.
Preparation of non-dusting pellet forms of additive blends solves many of these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,642 entitled "Process for Obtaining Granular Forms of Additives for Organic Polymers" describes a process for making low-dust granules of an additive blend including a phenol antioxidant and an acid neutralizer processed in the amorphous or molten state including using an extruder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,042 entitled "Process for Obtaining Granular Forms of Additives for Organic Polymers" describes granular forms of additive blends prepared by forcing the blend through a die to form strands and then cutting said strands to form pellets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,857, entitled "Low-Dust Granules of Plastic Additives" describes additive pellets comprising 10-100% calcium stearates.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,694B2 entitled "Preparation of Low-Dust Stabilizers" describes using a sub-cooled melt of an additive as a carrier liquid for other additives and as well as amorphous versions of stabilizers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,515,052 entitled "Granular Polymer Additives and Their Preparation" describes using a solvent in a compaction process to improve the yield and quality of a compacted additive blend including a phosphite.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,800,228 entitled "Sterically Hindered Phenol Antioxidant Granules Having Balance Hardness" describes using a solvent for the preparation of compacted additive blends which including a phenol.
The inventions described above provide for low-dusting forms of additive blends that can be more conveniently and accurately fed to post reactor extrusion operations for addition to a polymer when added directly to a polymer stream that is in the solid phase and premixed or fed simultaneously with the polymer stream into an extruder or other melting device whereby the polymer is melted and the additives are then blended into molten polymer. When the additives require addition via a side-arm extruder and fed directly to a molten polymer stream, the above described additive blends are not used. In this case, masterbatches or concentrates of additives or additive blends in a compatible polymer carrier are used. Masterbatches have the benefit of low friability of the pellet, they can be air conveyed, fed, and extruded using conventional equipment and methods by a side arm extruder.
The preparation of masterbatches is well known in the art. Masterbatches simplify the addition of at least one component to the polymer blend. For economic reasons it is desirable to prepare masterbatches with high levels of additives, and minimize the use of the compatible polymer carrier. This minimizes the amount of masterbatch required to achieve a desired effect.
The preparation of high levels of mineral filled masterbatches is well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,545 B2 entitled "Universal Masterbatch" describes a masterbatch of up to 85% filler, plus a viscosity modifier in a universal SBS carrier. A difficulty in the preparation of masterbatches of high filler concentration is wetting out, mixing and dispersing the filler while maintaining an adequately low viscosity to be able to process the masterbatch. The addition of high levels of filler can greatly increase the viscosity of the masterbatch.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,395 B1 to Klosiewicz entitled "Masterbatches Having High Levels of Resin" describes incorporating high levels of hydrocarbon resins into a polymer carrier. The resin preferably has a softening point near or above the softening point of the carrier polymer and has a sufficient viscosity to allow an extruder to put work into the mixture. Preparation of the masterbatches is accomplished above the softening point of the resin.
Many polymer additives, when heated to typical masterbatch processing temperatures, pass through a crystalline melting point or an amorphous phase transition to form low viscosity fluids. Such low viscosity fluids can be difficult to incorporate into a polymer carrier at high levels. Poorly incorporated additive can migrate out of the finished masterbatch pellet. This can cause dusting, stickiness and or agglomeration of the masterbatch pellets. Furthermore the low viscosity additive can substantially decrease the viscosity of the carrier-additive blend, causing difficulties in the pelletization process. For these reasons, masterbatches of polymer additives, with melting points near or below typical masterbatch processing temperatures, are prepared at only low to medium additive levels. It would therefore be advantageous to prepare more economical highly-loaded additive masterbatches of these additives.

High concentration pelletized additive concentrates for polymer


The Internet data defining destinations accessible by a router are partitioned into a portion containing the address search information and a portion containing forwarding option data. The address search information is stored in fast memory in a tree search format and the set of possible next destinations are stored as forwarding option data in slower memory at addresses derived algorithmically from the tree search address information. Internet data packets are received and data therein is compared to determine the best match address in the fast memory to the set of possible best next destinations. The multiple accesses necessary to determine the best match address are confined to high speed memory. An algorithm receives option data from an Internet packet and option threshold data from the best match address of the high speed memory and determines which address of the slower memory has the desired forwarding data using one access.

In networking, Layer 3 refers to the communications protocol that contains the logical address of a client or server station. It is called the "network layer" and contains the address (IP, IPX, etc.) inspected by a router that forwards it through the network. Layer 3 contains a type field so that traffic can be prioritized and forwarded based on message type as well as network destination. Since Layer 3 provides more filtering capabilities, it also adds more overhead than Layer 2 processing.
A Layer 3 switch is a network device that forwards traffic based on Layer 3 information at very high speeds. Traditionally, routers, which inspect Layer 3, have been considerably slower than Layer 2 switches. In order to increase routing speeds, many "cut-through" techniques have been used, which perform an "inspect the first packet at Layer 3 and send the rest at Layer 2" type of processing. Ipsilon's IP Switch and Cabletron's SecureFast switches were pioneers in cut-through switching; however, the MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) protocol is expected to standardize this technique. MPLS is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard for routing packets over the Internet.
The more deeply a packet is examined, the more forwarding decisions can be made based upon type of traffic, quality of service and so on. To get to this information means digging into the packet's headers to ferret out the data, which takes processing time.
The Layer 3 network layer establishes the route between the sending and receiving stations. The node to node function of the data link layer (Layer 2) is extended across the entire Internetwork, because a routable protocol contains a network address in addition to a station address. This layer is the switching function of the dial-up telephone system as well as the functions performed by routable protocols such as IP, IPX, SNA and AppleTalk. If all stations are contained within a single network segment, then the routing capability in this layer is not required. Internet hosts use routing tables to compute the Next Hop for an Internet data packet.
As more routing lookup functions were moved from software into the ASIC chips, Layer 3 switches could inspect each packet just like a router at high speed without using proprietary cut-through methods. If a Layer 3 switch supports packet-by-packet inspection and supports routing protocols, it is called a "routing switch" or "switch router." which simply means "fast router." For example, Cisco, Inc. calls its high-end routers Gigabit Switch Routers.
An Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) routing table comprises a set of routes, which is updated by routing protocols such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP) or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). Each route determines the outgoing interface for a set of IP destination addresses, which is represented by an IP address and a subnet mask. Both the IPv4 addresses and the subnet masks are 32-bit numbers.
Routing tables can take many forms. The following is a simple model that can explain most Internet routing. Each entry in a routing table has at least two fields, IP Address Prefix and Next Hop. The Next Hop is the IP address of another host or router that is directly reachable via an Ethernet, serial link, or some other physical connection. The IP Address Prefix specifies a set of destinations for which the routing entry is valid. In order to be in this set, the beginning of the destination IP address must match the IP Address Prefix, which can have from 0 to 32 significant bits. For example, all IP Address Prefix of 188.8.131.52/16 would match any IP Destination Address of the form 128.8.X.X. The syntax "184.108.40.206" represents four 8-bit bytes where the value of each byte is written in decimal form.
If no routing table entries match a packet's Destination Address, the packet is discarded as undeliverable (possibly with a notification to the sender). If multiple routing table entries match, the longest (prefix) match is preferred. The longest match is the entry with the most 1 bits in its Routing Mask.
To avoid needing routing entries for every possible Internet destination, most hosts and routers use a default route (some routing tables contain nothing but a single default route). A default route has a Routing Address/Mask pair of 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0. In other words, it matches every IP address, but since there are no 1 bits in its Routing Mask, any other match would be selected by the longest match rule. The default route will only be used if there are no other matches in the routing table, thus its name. Default routes are quite common, and are put to best use on networks with only a single link connecting to the global Internet. On such a network, routing tables will have entries for local nets and sub-nets, as well as a single default route leading to the outbound link. However, remember that all Next Hops must be directly reachable, so the default routes won't necessarily point to the same IP address. Also, some networks (large Internet service providers, mostly) use default free routing tables that must be able to match every IP address in the global net.
A router uses the destination address of every incoming packet to decide the proper Next Hop information of the packet. High-speed routers are required to make these decisions at speeds of several million packets per second. Each search finds the longest prefix match of the destination address among all stored prefixes in the router.
An essential task of a router is to find out the outgoing interface of each incoming packet by querying its routing table, which may consist of more than 30.000 entries in a typical Internet backbone router. In the near future, the number of entries is expected to increase by almost an order of magnitude. In today's high end routers, routing table lookup is the performance bottleneck even though the system back plane (or switch fabric) is running at several times the lookup speed. To remove the bottleneck of table lookup a high-performance router is required to perform IP routing table lookup at the speed of the routers back plane throughput, which is translated into more than 4 million lookups per second for a 2 Gigabit per second backplane.
OC(Optical Carrier)48 defines transmission speeds of the SONET specification as 2488.32 Mbps. The newer OC192 specification increases these transmission speeds to 9953.28 Mbps. As speeds on the Internet move to the speeds of OC192 from OC48, it becomes more difficult to do the table lookups in the router at transmission speeds without resorting to higher speed memory (e.g., changing from DRAM to SRAM). As stated earlier, the router forwarding tables are getting increasingly large, therefore, to store all the routing information in high speed memory would add cost to the routers. The memory size may be reduced by using compression techniques and by finding ways to decrease the amount of data store without reducing performance of the high speed routers.
Associated with this increase from OC48 to OC192 speeds are new requirements resulting from the hardware design constraint of being able to access a given DRAM bank only once per frame. Given that a Longest Prefix Match (LPM) tree search may require two memory accesses, one read to obtain the pattern contained in the forwarding data for the "compare at end" operation and a second read to back track to the previous node (sometimes called the "bird") if the compare fails, normal OC48 operation cannot directly scale to the higher OC192 speeds and still maintain wire speed.
This single, simple requirement of maintaining wire speed for Layer 3 forwarding forces a redesign of the Layer 3 data structures to fit into the Tree Search Engine (TSE) memory access budget. To solve this problem, one may take the obvious step of moving to faster memory (e.g. SRAM). However, very fast SRAM requires an unrealistically large amount of memory and is too costly in terms of board real-estate, system power and overall product cost.
There is, therefore, a need for a method and device to improve the performance of the table look-up in high speed routers while minimizing cost.

Method and router for forwarding internet data packets

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for holding lines in a holder secured around an object such as a shaft of garden equipment. The device comprises a hollow body having an outer surface and an inner surface, two opposing end surfaces; a plurality of longitudinal bores passing through the body from the end surfaces, wherein each of the bores is configured to receive and hold an individual line; and at least one fastener to secure the body to an object. Each of the bores has a substantially straight axis so that the individual lines when inserted, remain securely retained, and are conveniently removed when needed. The device body may be further divided into two body segments with one or more flanges on each of the two body segments, and an aperture on each of the one or more flanges for receiving a fastener to securely lock the body to the object.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a device for holding lines for trimming plant life. In particular, there is a device for holding lines in a holder secured around garden equipment.
2. Background
Without limiting the scope of the invention, the present background is described in connection of storing spare grass/weed trimmer lines for the ease of the operator to retrieve. Grass/weed trimmers are the most popular machines used in areas where larger machines such as mowers are not able to go, such as ditches and hillsides. Grass/weed trimmers use a consumable monofilament type of line to accomplish trimming areas of lawn, parks, or any grassy area to be groomed. The trimmer line is constantly being abraded during the operation of the grass/weed trimmer. Many of these grass/weed trimmers require the operator to manually replace the line once the line can no longer cut. In any case, obtaining replacement line is a frequent and inconvenient occurrence which makes the operator unorganized and inefficient.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve this problem through means of a line holder which may be secured around the shaft of the grass/weed trimmer where it would hold a supply of individual strands of replacement trimming line. Further, it is desirable to have a trimmer line holder which enables each line to be measured and cut to a desired length prior to replacing the exhausted trimmer line to the grass/weed trimmer head. This will keep the operator organized and efficient.
Prior devices have attempted to solve the problems discussed above. For example, there are described devices having a tubular housing with two clamps on both ends that would be affixed onto the shaft of a grass/weed trimmer; or containers carrying replacement trim lines that are otherwise attached to weed trimmers. Although the devices may do the job intended, these devices are bulky and in the way of the operator, and further fail to conveniently hold individually retrievable lines, therefore constricting the flow of movement of the operator.
As such, a need does exist for a holding device which provides a means to store a supply of individual replacement line that would be attainable instantly for the use of the operator. There is also a need to secure a holding device in the field both quickly and easily, where the device is not in the way of the operator.

Monofilament line holder for grass trimmers


The present invention discloses a method for building and displaying control and non-interactive, non-control information on a touch panel. The method can include constructing a page for display on the touch panel, configuring one or more graphical display units and one or more sub-pages for display on the page, and displaying the page, graphical display units and sub-pages, selectively, on the touch panel. The method further includes determining whether any of the graphical display units is activated by a touch message applied to a location on the touch panel. Respective graphical display units may be selectively provided with features from a group of features that includes bitmaps, icons, borders and text. Two graphical display units having respective active touch areas may be displayed on the touch panel so that their active touch areas are separated by no more than one pixel.

Touch panels are electronic devices that use liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to display functional information to a user. A touch panel is used to operate various pieces of equipment. For example, touch panels can be used to control the lighting system of a room, electronics equipment such as VCRs, DVDs, stereos, and the like, and video surveillance equipment, such as video cameras, and other similar types of equipment.
A touch panel operates by allowing the user to press a region of the LCD panel to operate an associated piece of equipment. The user knows the region of the LCD to touch because an informational display (sometimes referred to by those in the industry as "buttons") is presented to the user that allows the user to understand the appropriate location or region at which the panel should be touched. These informational displays are usually in the form of icons for the user to press. The icons are typically icons associated with the operation of the device. For example, a VCR may have a button for the play function and a button for the recording function of the VCR. These buttons would be displayed to the touch panel user in manner that would mimic their appearance on the remote control device for the VCR.
A problem arises, however, when multiple buttons are displayed on the touch panel in close proximity to each other. When this occurs, a single touch by a user can activate more than one button. This causes either an error to occur with the touch panel, or the touch panel itself prioritizes the buttons and selects the button with the higher priority to operate, often resulting in misoperation of the touch panel system. Therefore, it is desired to be able to build a touch panel display that allows for informational displays to be placed in close proximity to one another without resultant interference in the operations of the informational displays.
It has also been found advantageous to allow informational displays to be animated. Animation of an informational display enables certain control features to be displayed directly to the user to inform the user that the component associated with the informational display is in continuous operation. For example, an alarm system for a home may have an associated informational display that is a siren with a police light. By allowing animation, the police light can be continuously illuminated in a rotational manner to mimic a police car's lights. It is therefore desirable to have a touch panel capable of building animated informational displays.

Method and system for control system software


A device, method, and computer readable medium are disclosed. In one embodiment the device includes a first network packet storage queue that is capable of storing incoming network packets from a network. The device also includes a second network packet storage queue that is capable of storing incoming network packets from a network. The device also includes flush logic to synchronize a flush of the network packets stored in the first and second network packet storage queues. The flush is triggered by a flush event affecting at least one of the storage queues.

Most modern computer processors have several processor power states available including a fully operational state and one or more sleep states, which allows an idle processor to consume less power. Almost all mobile computer platforms, servers platforms, and desktop platforms offer network connectivity through one or more network communication interfaces. While the communication components utilized by a computer platform to connect to a network consume a relatively small portion of the overall platform power, the impact of network communications usages on total platform power consumption is significant. This is due to the non-deterministic nature of the incoming network traffic which keeps the platform active and in a higher power consuming state more than necessary.

Synchronization of multiple incoming network communication streams


A semiconductor device having a super junction and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device capable of obtaining a high breakdown voltage are provided, whereby charge balance of the super junction is further accurately controlled in the semiconductor device that is implemented by an N-type pillar and a P-type pillar. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; and a blocking layer including a first conductive type pillar and a second conductive type pillar that extend in a vertical direction on the semiconductor substrate and that are alternately arrayed in a horizontal direction, wherein, in the blocking layer, a density profile of a first conductive type dopant may be uniform in the horizontal direction, and the density profile of the first conductive type dopant may vary in the vertical direction.

The inventive concept relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a high-voltage power semiconductor device having a super junction structure and a method of manufacturing the same.
In general, a high-voltage power semiconductor device such as a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) includes a source region and a drain region that are respectively formed on a top surface and a bottom surface of a drift region. Also, the high-voltage power semiconductor device includes a gate insulating layer on the top surface of the drift region, which is adjacent to the source region, and includes a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating layer.
In a turn-on status of the high-voltage power semiconductor device, the drift region provides a conductive path with respect to a drift current flowing from the drain region to the source region, and in a turn-off status of the high-voltage power semiconductor device, the drift region provides a depletion region that expands in a vertical direction due to a received reverse bias voltage. According to a characteristic of the depletion region provided by the drift region, a breakdown voltage of the high-voltage power semiconductor device is determined.
In order to minimize a conduction loss occurring in the turn-on status of the high-voltage power semiconductor device and to assure fast switching speeds, research has been conducted to decrease a resistance of the drift region that provides the conductive path in the turn-on status. In general, it is known that a turn-on resistance of the drift region can be decreased by increasing an impurity density in the drift region.
However, when the impurity density in the drift region is increased, space charges are increased in the drift region such that a breakdown voltage is decreased. Recently, in order to solve this problem, a high-voltage power semiconductor device having a new junction structure referred to as super junction has been presented so as to decrease a resistance in a turn-on status and simultaneously to assure a high breakdown voltage.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 having a super junction structure, according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 has a super junction structure in which an N-type pillar 21 and a P-type pillar 22 alternate with each other in a horizontal direction, wherein the N-type pillar 21 is an N-type impurity region and the P-type pillar 22 is a P-type impurity region which extend in a vertical direction in a semiconductor layer 60 formed on a semiconductor substrate 10. A P-type well region 30 having low density, that is, a body layer, is formed on an upper portion of the super junction structure, and a source region 40 formed of a high density N-type (N+) impurity is formed on an upper portion of the well region 30 on the semiconductor layer 60. A source electrode S is electrically connected to the source region 40. Also, the high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 includes a gate stack 50, including a gate insulating layer 51 and a gate electrode 52 on a top surface of the semiconductor layer 60, which is adjacent to the source region 40. The semiconductor substrate 10 disposed on a bottom surface of the semiconductor layer 60 is connected to a drain electrode D.
When the high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 is turned on, the N-type pillar 21 provides a conductive path to charges flowing from the source electrode S to the drain electrode D via a channel formed below the gate stack 50. When the high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 is turned off, the N-type pillar 21 and the P-type pillar 22 deplete each other due to a reverse bias voltage, so that the high-voltage power semiconductor device 100 has a sufficiently high breakdown voltage characteristic.
In particular, when a charge quantity of the N-type pillar 21 and a charge quantity of the P-type pillar 22 balance, the N-type pillar 21 and the P-type pillar 22 are fully depleted in a turn-off status, so that they may function as ideal insulators. In consideration of a super junction unit U (a region surrounded by dashed lines, and top and bottom solid lines) that is formed of ½ of the N-type pillar 21 and ½ of the P-type pillar 22 adjacent to the N-type pillar 21, they are required to satisfy Equation 1 so as to balance the charge quantity of the N-type pillar 21 and the charge quantity of the P-type pillar 22.Nn×½Wn=Np×½Wp  Equation (1)where Nn and Np respectively indicate impurity densities of the N-type pillar 21 and the P-type pillar 22, and Wn and Wp respectively indicate widths of the N-type pillar 21 and the P-type pillar 22.
When the charge quantity of the N-type pillar 21 and the charge quantity of the P-type pillar 22 balance, as described above, a breakdown voltage may be determined by multiplying a height H of the super junction unit U by an electric field generated between the super junction units U. As a result, although a resistance of a device is decreased by increasing the impurity density of the N-type pillar 21, a specific resistance of the N-type pillar 21 does not affect the breakdown voltage, so that it is possible to obtain a high breakdown voltage.

Semiconductor device having a super junction structure and method of manufacturing the same

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


In a spacer of an intermediate chamber in an electrolysis vessel, a cathode-side hole that is arranged in a cathode-side grid and an anode-side hole that is arranged in an anode-side grid and is positioned side-by-side with the cathode-side hole with each other in a first direction are misaligned with each other in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction. The cathode-side grid and the anode-side grid guide an electrolytic solution flowing into the intermediate chamber from one side of the second direction toward the other side of the second direction while allowing the electrolytic solution to flow along a serpentine course in the first direction by alternately guiding the electrolytic solution to the cathode-side hole and the anode-side hole which are misaligned with each other in the second direction.

There is a known three-chamber electrolytic cell having an interior partitioned into a cathode chamber, an intermediate chamber, and an anode chamber (Patent Literature 1, for example). An electrolytic solution is supplied to the intermediate chamber, and raw water is supplied to the cathode chamber and the anode chamber. When electrolysis takes place in the intermediate chamber, cations are supplied from the intermediate chamber to the cathode chamber, and anions are supplied from the intermediate chamber to the anode chamber.


A system and method for detecting compression of power amplifier circuitry in a wireless terminal and, in response, reducing the output power of the power amplifier circuitry such that linear operation is achieved. In general, the output power of the power amplifier is detected to provide a detect signal. The detect signal is sampled at two predetermined points in time. A ratio of the samples of the detect signal is compared to an expected ratio. Based on the comparison, a decision is made as to whether the power amplifier circuitry is in compression. If so, an adjustable power control signal controlling the output power of the power amplifier circuitry is reduced by one power step, such that the output power of the power amplifier circuitry is reduced by one output power level. The process is repeated until the power amplifier circuitry returns to linear operation.

Wireless terminals, such as mobile telephones, wireless local area network (LAN) devices, and the like, include power amplifiers, such as linear power amplifiers, to amplify radio frequency (RF) signals prior to transmission. Linear power amplifiers rely on constant load impedance in order to reproduce the desired input signal at the output of the power amplifier. In real world environments, the load impedance changes due to factors such as the antenna coming into close proximity to a foreign metal object or the user's body. Consequently, the compression points of the power amplifier change, which leads to premature saturation of the power amplifier and failure of the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and spectral re-growth specifications for the system. Accordingly, saturation of the power amplifier must be avoided in order to provide a linear transfer function between input and output signals of the power amplifier and meet EVM and spectral re-growth specifications for the desired mobile communications system.
Thus, there remains a need for a system and method for detecting compression of a power amplifier, and, in response to detecting compression of the power amplifier, lowering the output power of the power amplifier to achieve linear operation.

System and method for detecting compression of a power amplifier circuit


A method is disclosed for breaking down toxic organic compounds contained in wastewaters and/or waste gases, in which the wastewaters and/or waste gases loaded with toxic organic compounds are first passed into an aqueous basic alkali/alkaline earth solution/suspension bath for destabilization of the toxic organic compounds and then the solution/suspension bath containing the destabilized toxic organic compounds is fed in ascending fashion into a capillary mass arranged above the bath, consisting of a mixture of pulps and peat mixed with bentonite, zeolite and/or lime with a particle size <200 μm.

Biofilters which are used to purify and control the odor of wastewaters and waste gases, are known from the generally known prior art. Such biofilters include a filter layer and an air distribution chamber into which a steam-saturated crude gas is introduced. Different composts such as; bark compost, green compost, ground root wood, chopped wood bark, peat, coconut fibers, etc. as well as mixtures of these materials can be used as traversed filter material. A combination of this type of biofilter with an upstream biowasher is also known in the filtering processes.
Highly toxic organic compounds, dioxins and furans which are contained in waste gases, incineration gases, industrial exhaust, etc., pose greater problems. During disposal or purification of such waste gases, specially developed, expensive high-tech equipment is required.

Method for breakdown of toxic organic compounds contained in wastewaters and/or waste gases

COMMERZIALBANK MATTERSBURG IM BURGENLAND AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT


Disclosed is a slider with an air bearing surface for flying a magnetic transducer on an air lubrication film over a moving recording medium. The air bearing surface allows the slider to fly at a close and substantially uniform height over the disk surface regardless of the skew angle of the air flow. The slider has a pair of nonidentical, nonsymmetrical rails disposed about the longitudinal axis of the slider, which through the viscous effects of the air flow, provide the air lubrication film when the recording medium is in motion.

Computer systems employ a number of storage means to store data. One of these storage means is a disk drive, which is also called a direct access storage device (DASD). A disk drive includes several disks that look similar to 45 RPM records used on a record player or compact disks used in a CD player. The disks are stacked on a spindle, much like several 45 RPM records awaiting to be played. In a disk drive, however, the disks are mounted on the spindle and spaced apart so that the separate disks do not touch each other.
The surface of each disk is uniform in appearance. Nevertheless, in actuality, each of the surfaces is divided into portions, called tracks, where data is stored. These tracks are arranged in concentric circles like rings in a tree. Compact disks have tracks as do the disks in a disk drive. The tracks in either the disk drive or the compact disk essentially replace the grooves in a 45 RPM record. Each track in a disk drive is further subdivided into sectors, which are just sections of one of the concentric tracks.
Disk are made of a variety of materials, such as metal, plastic, or glass. In a plastic disk, such as those used as CD's, a laser stores and retrieves the data. In a metal disk, an electrical magnet, commonly known as a transducer, stores and retrieves the data.
In order to store data on a magnetic disk, the disk surface is magnetized using a small ceramic block, commonly called a slider, that contains a magnetic transducer, called a write head. More specifically, the slider containing the write head is flown at a height of a few millionths of an inch from the disk surface, and the head is energized to various states causing the track below to be magnetized to represent the data.
To retrieve data stored on a magnetic disk, the slider containing a read head is flown over the disk. This time the magnetized portions of the track induce a current in the read head. By analyzing the current output from the read head, the computer system can reconstruct and use the data stored on the magnetic disk. Although some disk drives use a separate read and write head, most current disk drives use a transducer that acts as both the read and write head.
Like a record, both sides of a disk are generally used to store data or other information necessary for the operation of the disk drive. Since the disks are held in a stack and are spaced apart from one another, both the top and the bottom surface of each disk in the stack of disks have their own read and write heads. This is analogous to a stereo that could play both sides of a record at the same time, each side having its own stylus.
There are two types of disk drives, those with rotary actuators and those with linear actuators. Rotary actuators have an actuator arm, which is analogous to a record player tone arm. Like a tone arm, the actuator arm rotates so that the slider containing the read and write heads is moved to locations over various tracks on the disk. In this way, the read and write heads can be used to magnetize a track on the surface of the disk in a pattern representing the data or used to detect the magnetized pattern on a track. For example, the needed data may be stored on two different tracks on one particular disk, so to read the magnetic representations of data, the actuator arm is rotated from one track to another track. This invention is concerned with rotary actuator disk drives.
A linear actuator has a similar actuator arm, however, repositioning is accomplished through linear instead of rotational movement.
The actuator arm of a disk drive has a slider affixed at the end, which holds the read and write heads. Also affixed to the slider are rails. When the disk rotates, air is dragged between the rails and the disk surface causing pressure, which forces the head away from the disk. The head is thus said to fly over the rotating disk. The fly height is the thickness of the air lubrication film, i.e., the distance between the disk surface and the head.
Thus, a rail is an air bearing surface (ABS) that forms and maintains a self-pressurizing air lubrication film between the head and the disk recording surface. This film eliminates the friction and resulting wear that would occur if the head and disk were in mechanical contact during disk rotation.
Previous ABS designs consisted primarily of a two-rail tapered configuration known as taper-flat sliders. The two-rail taper-flat configurations typically had two or more flat rails each having a tapered forward edge. The rails were elongated and the tapered edge faced toward the direction of rotation of the disk surface. These designs worked well in linear actuator disk drives when the flow of air between the disk and the slider was primarily uni-directional along the length of the rails. In other words, these designs worked well when the slider was positioned with respect to the disk such that the flow of air was viscously dragged under the slider from the front of the slider to the back along a longitudinal axis parallel to the rails. The taper-flat design concept dates back to large diameter file designs having relatively low access rates which use linear actuators.
Today's disk drive files are much different from the large diameter disk drives which used linear actuators. Current files are much smaller and feature high-speed access of data. Currently, disk drives have disks with 5.25", 3.50", 2.50" or 1.80" diameters and feature rotary actuators to achieve high-speed access rates. Mainly due to the use of rotary actuators, the air flow under the slider is no longer substantially uni-directional, but varies widely in angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the slider. In addition, high speed seek motion of the actuator during accessing causes angular flow between the head and disk. Therefore, in modern rotary actuator disk drives, the flow of air can no longer be considered as moving from the front to the back of the slider, or even at small deviations from front to back.
The angle of the air flow with respect to the longitudinal axis of the slider is called the skew angle. If the actuator arm is positioned such that the air flow strikes the outside, or rim, edge of the slider, then the skew angle is said to be positive. If the actuator arm is positioned such that the air flow strikes the inside, or hub, edge of the slider, then the skew angle is said to be negative. The taper-flat design is susceptible to a severe reduction of fly height at high positive or negative skew angles and large access speeds because the taper-flat slider was designed for linear actuators rather than for rotary actuators.
Also, the skew angle of the air flow can cause the slider to roll such that the flying height is not uniform under all the rails. Roll of a slider is analogous to the roll of an airplane when it banks into a turn; one wing goes up while the other wing goes down. In a disk drive, a positive roll occurs when the rim rail rolls away from the disk surface, while a negative roll occurs when the rim rail rolls toward the disk surface.
The fly height of a slider in a disk drive is a critical parameter that must be controlled. An increase in fly height can cause a decrease in signal amplitude and a decrease in the signal to noise ratio, thus increasing the error rate. A degradation in fly height can increase the likelihood that the head will come into contact with the disk surface, causing accelerated wear on both the head and disk surfaces, causing reduced reliability, and even causing failure of the disk drive. A severe contact with the disk surface which causes a failure is called a crash and results in the inability to recover data.
Control of the roll of the slider is also important. When roll lowers a corner of the slider, the likelihood is increased that the head will come into contact with the disk surface. Roll that raises one corner of the slider can increase the distance of the read and write heads from the disk surface, causing data errors in the same manner that increasing the fly height of the slider causes data errors. This effect of roll is exacerbated in sliders where the read and write heads are mounted on the corner of the slider that is raised.
A recent patent that allegedly lessons the problems caused by skew angle and roll is U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,519 issued to White on Sep. 26, 1989. White modified the basic taper-flat slider design by adding a longitudinal step to the slider edge. The White invention has numerous disadvantages, including additional manufacturing processes to make the steps. The steps also introduce additional fly height sensitivities, and the steps provide the potential of contamination from debris accumulation.
The present invention is a different solution to the same problems of degraded fly height without the disadvantages of the White patent. The present invention has no stepped or convex edges, so it avoids additional processes, fly height sensitivities, and the potential for contamination from debris accumulation. The present invention also can be manufactured with a single etching mask operation, while the stepped or convex edges of White would require multiple mask operations. It would also be possible to form the slider by other methods such as by grinding the slider.

Slider air bearing surface with angled rail configuration

International Business Machines Corporation


An image processing apparatus of transferring a display image to a client machine, the display image being an image to be displayed on a display device associated with the client machine, the image processing apparatus including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to perform processing, the processing including: executing a first transfer process configured to transfer only moving image data as the display image; executing a second transfer process configured to transfer moving image data and still image data as the display image; and executing a control process configured to select either the executing of the first transfer process or the executing of the second transfer process, by using a frame rate of the display image and a state of a graphics processing unit (GPU) circuitry configured to perform a process related to an image.

In recent years, in order to suppress information leakage and improve security, virtual desktops that cause a virtual machine (server) over a cloud to execute a process are becoming widespread. In the virtual desktop, a screen transmitted from the virtual machine is displayed on a display of a client terminal, and the virtual machine is operated from the client terminal. In the virtual desktop, in order to improve user operability of a client, it is desired to improve a frame rate of screen transfer and reduce a network bandwidth to be used.
The virtual machine may use, for example, a dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU) when encoding the screen to be transmitted to the client.
Technologies related to the virtual desktop are described in the related art below.
Examples of the related art include as follows: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-195629; Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2016-184894; Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-149040; Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-191630; Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-243324; and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2019-083396.
Meanwhile, when the virtual machine performs the process in response to a request from the client, the virtual machine may use the GPU for another process other than screen encoding. The GPU may perform, for example, rendering of 3D CG, an image process such as a still image or a moving image, dedicated computation, or the like.
When the process using the GPU and the encoding of the screen are executed at the same time, a delay occurs in the response of the virtual machine, and the user operability of the client decreases.
One disclosure provides an image processing apparatus and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a screen transfer program that suppress degradation in user operability on a virtual desktop.

Image processing apparatus and computer-readable recording medium storing screen transfer program


A measurement apparatus comprising a serial resistor in series with an element under measurement; a switching section that sequentially selects ends of a serial circuit including the element under measurement and the serial resistor, and ends of the serial resistor; an applying section that applies an application voltage or application current corresponding to a preset setting value, to each of the sequentially selected ends; a measuring section that, for each of the sequentially selected ends, measures current when the applying section applies the application voltage corresponding to the setting value and measures voltage when the applying section applies the application current corresponding to the setting value; and a resistance calculating section that calculates the resistance value of the element under measurement, based on either the setting values set sequentially in the applying section or measured values measured sequentially by the measuring section for each of the sequentially selected ends.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a measurement apparatus and a measurement method.
2. Related Art
A conventionally known method for measuring the resistance value of a resistor under measurement includes measuring the voltage between the ends of the resistor under measurement when a prescribed current is supplied to the resistor under measurement and calculating the resistance value based on a comparison between current and voltage.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H6-123751
However, with the above method, if the applied current value and the measured voltage value are not both accurately acquired, it is impossible to accurately measure the resistance value of the resistor under measurement. Therefore, the application circuit and the measurement circuit must both be highly accurate circuits. Furthermore, since the measurement system approaches a short as the resistance value of the resistor under measurement approaches 0 Ohms, the configuration of the application circuit and the measurement circuit is difficult.

Measuring apparatus and measuring method


A wireless mouse includes a rotatable backdoor, a damper and a clasping member. The backdoor has an engaging element. The damper is mounted onto the lower base and includes a rotary member. When the clasping member is engaged with the engaging element, the backdoor is closed. Due to the rotational resistance provided by the damper, the backdoor can be slowly opened.

Nowadays, mice have become essential peripheral devices of computer system. When the wired mouse is used, the wire linkage is very troublesome and inconvenient because an additional signal wire is employed to connect the computer with the mouse. As a consequence, wireless mice have experienced great growth and are rapidly gaining in popularity because no signal wires are required when they are operated. Especially, the users who often carry the notebook computers favor the wireless mice.
Typically, when the wireless mouse is operated, a corresponding wireless signal receiver is used for receiving the wireless signal issued from the wireless mouse. The wireless signal receiver is usually plugged into a slot of the computer. If the wireless mouse and the wireless signal receiver are separately stored, the probability of losing either the wireless mouse or the wireless signal receiver is increased. For a purpose of solving such a problem, a wireless mouse having a storage structure for storing the wireless signal receiver within the wireless mouse was developed.
As known, most of the wireless mice having the storable wireless signal receiver are designed on account of their storage functions. Furthermore, in views of user-friendliness, the convenience of inserting/removing the wireless signal receiver into/from the storing portion of the wireless mouse should be taken into consideration.
In views of the above-described disadvantages resulted from the prior art, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly to develop an improved wireless mouse according to the present invention through wholehearted experience and research.