A process for forming a salt, such as sodium tungstate, using a pyrometallurgical operation is provided. A slagging operation is performed in which a metal-containing material is melted in the presence of slag formers such as sodium metasilicate and silica. The metal predominantly reports to a denser metal-containing phase. The denser metal-containing phase may then be subjected to gas sparging with a carbon-containing gas in order to form metal carbide, preferably tungsten carbide.

Two stage processes for producing tungsten carbide (WC) are known. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,097 entitled "Method For Separation Of A Metal-Containing Halide Phase From A Gangue-Containing Silicate Phase and Electrolysis of Halide Phase To Obtain The Metal" by Gomes et al., issued Mar. 12, 1968, a process for producing tungsten carbide is disclosed. The process involves a molten phase separation employing sodium chloride (NaCl) in which the tungsten reports to a less dense upper halide phase while impurity elements such as calcium, manganese and iron are recovered in a denser lower silicate phase. The separation is effected by heating a mixture of halide salts, concentrates of either scheelite (CaWO.sub.4) or wolframite ((Fe,Mn)WO.sub.4), and a slag former such as sodium silicate to 900.degree. C. to 1,100.degree. C. After fifteen minutes to an hour at the elevated temperature, the phase separation is completed and the halide phase is decanted for processing by molten salt electrolysis.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,044 entitled, "Formation Of Tungsten Monocarbide From A Molten Tungstate-Halide Phase By Gas Sparging" by Gomes et al., issued Dec. 18, 1984, reissued as Re 32,612 on Feb. 23, 1988, discloses a process for producing tungsten carbide. The process involves the formation of a sodium chloride/sodium tungstate (Na.sub.2 WO.sub.4) phase by molten phase separation, similar to the process described above. The tungsten monocarbide is produced by sparging the melt of sodium chloride and sodium tungstate with a hydrocarbon gas, particularly methane (CH.sub.4) or natural gas. According to the disclosure, other alkali halides can be substituted for sodium chloride.
In May, 1985, Gomes, Raddatz and Caranahan made a presentation at the Third Tungsten Symposium in Madrid, Spain (May 13-17, 1985) regarding a two step technique for producing a granular tungsten carbide powder directly from scheelite or wolframite concentrates. The concentrates were first reacted at 1,050.degree. C. with a sodium chloride/sodium metasilicate (Na.sub.2 SiO.sub.3) melt. The reaction produces two immiscible liquids: a lighter tungstate-halide (NaCl--Na.sub.2 WO.sub.4) phase containing 99 percent of the input tungsten and a denser silicate slag phase containing 90 to 96 percent of the iron, manganese and calcium oxides. After phase separation, the tungstate-halide phase is sparged with methane gas in a second step to yield granular tungsten carbide. The tungsten carbide is recovered from the reactor by decanting excess salt, cooling, water leaching and scraping. See "Preparation of Tungsten Carbide by Gas Sparging Tungstate Melts", Gomes et al., Journal of Metals, December 1985, pps. 29-32.
The processes described above all include an initial slagging operation in which a tungsten concentrate is combined with a siliceous flux and sodium chloride (other halide sources can be substituted). The tungsten compounds contained in the concentrate (e.g., calcium, iron, or manganese tungstates) react with the sodium chloride and the sodium silicate to produce two immiscible phases: a molten salt and a molten silicate slag. The tungsten preferentially reports to the molten salt phase, while the majority of the impurities are rejected to the slag phase. The viscous slag is more dense than the salt and settles to the bottom of the furnace crucible. The salt phase, which chiefly consists of sodium chloride and sodium tungstate, is forwarded to a second stage for processing into tungsten carbide.
A problem with the methods described above is that the lower density tungsten-containing phase also includes a halide salt (e.g., sodium chloride). During subsequent sparging operations, this halide salt volatilizes and deposits within various components of the gas handling system. This accretion of salt eventually leads to downtime in order to clear the obstructions. The sodium chloride also represents an operating cost. Additionally, the sodium chloride is extremely corrosive and its presence increases the cost of the materials due to the need to employ corrosion resistant materials and results in higher operating costs due to the corrosion. Furthermore, the sodium chloride dilutes the sodium tungstate in the sparging operation, effectively reducing the chemical activity of the tungstic oxide (WO.sub.3).
It would be advantageous to provide a method for forming metal carbide (e.g., tungsten carbide) from a metal-containing mineral using a pyrometallurgical process. Additionally, it would be advantageous to form metal (e.g., tungsten) carbide without the need for forming a fused metal-halide salt. It would be advantageous to provide a process in which a majority of the tungsten input to the system is converted to tungsten carbide. It would be advantageous to provide a process in which tungsten carbide can be formed efficiently and economically without a large amount of system downtime.

Pyrometallurgical process for forming tungsten carbide

International Carbitech Industries, Inc.


In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, system and method for modeling and application of interproximal reduction (IPR) of teeth to facilitate orthodontic treatment is provided. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a system and method for modeling and application of IPR are configured within a treatment methodology that initially determines whether stripping is needed for two neighboring teeth. If stripping is necessary, the exemplary method for modeling and application of IPR is conducted. In an exemplary embodiment, a stripping plane or other surface is constructed to determine the amount and region of stripping for two neighboring teeth, in other words, the volume to be removed between two neighboring teeth. After stripping of the tooth, the tooth geometry can be reconstructed to enable application of the IPR tooth model, such as enabling the clinician to utilize the IPR tooth model for teeth movement planning.

One problem experienced during orthodontic treatment is the residual crowding of adjacent teeth due to insufficient interproximal reduction (IPR). The ability to resolve the crowding of teeth to create sufficient space and IPR during treatment is an important issue in the growing field of computational orthodontics. To create such spacing, stripping and/or other trimming processes are most often utilized, but the determination of such stripping and trimming can be very difficult.
For example, clinicians generally do not know in what particular region or area to strip a particular tooth if the stripping is needed. Clinicians generally do not know where the stripping region is located as current quantifying collision functions only output a collision amount. Such processes for determining a stripping region are reactive in nature, rather predicative. Such limitations often mislead the clinician to strip or trim more from a tooth than is necessary, thus resulting in gaps occurring between two neighboring teeth after treatment. Moreover, such limitations may mislead the clinician to strip or trim less from a tooth than is necessary, and/or strip or trim in the wrong region, thus resulting in insufficient space is generated, which hinders tooth to be moved to its target position. In addition, after stripping of the tooth, the stripped IPR tooth geometry cannot be readily visualized in the virtual treatment. Moreover, after such stripping, a clinician cannot be adequately assured whether a stripped or trimmed tooth has sufficient spacing or is still in collision with adjacent teeth, making further adjustment difficult. Since the stripped geometry for the teeth is not adequately represented, the incorrect computation of the collision between teeth during treatment results.

System and method for modeling and application of interproximal reduction of teeth


Provided is a portable cylinder including a tank having an upper portion having a valve port, a mounting collar coupled to the upper portion of the tank, and a handle attached to the mounting collar. The mounting collar has an upwardly extending portion surrounding the valve port and a plurality of circumferentially spaced tabs extending radially outwardly from the upwardly extending portion, wherein a respective gap is formed between adjacent ones of the plurality of circumferentially spaced tabs. The handle includes a shroud portion including a plurality of circumferentially spaced ledges for abutting an underside of a respective one of the plurality of circumferentially spaced tabs, and at least one tab for engaging the mounting collar in one of the gaps, and a handle portion extending from the shroud portion and having one or more areas for grasping the handle.

A variety of pressurized gas cylinders have been used for storage and transportation of pressurized gas products for household and industrial. For example, the cylinders may be used for the storage of gas for cooking appliances such as stoves or grills, for the storage of refrigerant, for the storage of helium, etc. Many of these cylinders have traditionally been fabricated of steel with a steel cylindrical body having a valve at the top for controlling the flow of gas from the cylinder, a footing at the bottom to provide stability for the cylinder upon a supporting surface, and a handle at the top to assist in transporting the cylinder and for protecting the valve.


A dental prosthesis for periodontal integration is disclosed. Furthermore a customized dental prosthesis for osseointegration is disclosed having a first manufactured portion shaped to substantially conform to the three-dimensional surface of a root of a tooth to be replaced and a second manufactured portion shaped to substantially conform to the three-dimensional surface of a crown of a tooth to be replaced. Furthermore a customized manufactured splint is disclosed to position and fixate a tooth-shaped prosthesis. Furthermore a CAD/CAM based method of and a system for manufacturing a customized dental prosthesis replacing an extracted tooth is disclosed, where the extracted tooth is scanned regarding its three-dimensional shape and substantially copied using (a) an imaging system in-vitro like a 3D scanner or in-vivo like a cone beam CT system, (b) CNC machinery and (c) biocompatible material that is suitable to be integrated into the extraction socket and at least partially adopted by the existing tissue forming the socket.

Human teeth serve a variety of functions. Not only are they important for chewing food, but they also necessary to properly pronounce certain consonants, especially fizzle- and S-sounds. Furthermore, teeth play a major role in our personal appearance. White, healthy and well aligned teeth are an ideal of beauty and appear as a cosmetic sign of youth and success.
Although various preventive measures, like frequent tooth brushing and flossing, and drinking fluoridized or iodized water are widely accepted and used, the great majority of people are sooner or later challenged with dental fillings, restorations implants, and/or prostheses.
The major goal in dentistry is to postpone loss of teeth as long as possible. Another goal is certainly to provide comfortable prostheses with a broad scope/indication and a long lasting life-time.
Generally, the number of available restorative and prosthetic options is limited. Typically fillings, inlays, and crowns are used if the root and its embedding periodontal structure are healthy, and sufficient as support for such restorative partial prostheses. Traditionally, if the original tooth can no longer be used; the use of bridges or non-customized osseointegrated implants is indicated. In this context, several negative aspects are to be endured. In order to provide the support structure for a bridge, adjacent teeth are ground, and healthy enamel is partially destroyed. Osseointegrated implants are drastically invasive and the gingiva-implant interface is often the cause of chronic local infection. Additionally, all the aforementioned restorative and prosthetic options have a limited average lifetime. Removable dentures are certainly the final prosthetic option.
When a tooth is partially damaged, either by caries or mechanical impact, the missing portion should in most cases be replaced. As long as a tooth provides enough structural strength to support a prosthesis, for example, an inlay or a crown, this will typically be the preferred solution. However, if the loss of tooth substance is severe, this may not be applicable. In these cases, a bridge can be applied, enduring the aforementioned negative consequences. Another option is to replace the tooth with an implant.
There are many methods or options for replacing missing teeth. Off-the-shelf or pre-shaped osseointegrated dental implants are one of the options. Osseointegration means the direct contact of the implant surface with the bone without a fibrous connective tissue interface (natural teeth are typically not in direct contact with the bone, but are connected to the bone by ligaments). The use of such dental implants includes a wide variety of implant designs and materials, use of implants in different locations in the mouth and use of a variety of surgical protocols.
Endosteal implants are placed into the bone, like natural tooth roots. They can provide an anchor for one or more artificial teeth. They are the most commonly used type of implants. There are various types of endosteal implants, for example, screws, cylinders, cones, plates and blades. The generic screw, cylinder and cone types of implants are sometimes called "root-form" type. Such generic root-form implants that replace a single tooth generally consist of three parts, the actual implant-root for osseointegration, an abutment and the artificial crown. The interfaces between the three aforementioned parts are critical in respect to the sealing quality between said three parts. Bacterial infections can be caused if the sealing is compromised in regards to its short, mid and long-term stability.
Sometimes implant designs that actually consolidate two of said three parts, for example, the implant-root to be osseointegrated and the abutment, are referred to as one-piece implants. Contrary hereto, the term "one-piece" implant as used hereinafter is meant to refer to the integration of all three parts: the implant root, the abutment, and the crown. The term "immediate placing" of an implant is used if the integration of the implant into the bone occurs a short term after the extraction of a tooth. If such implants have a reasonable initial contact stability with the bone directly after being inserted, the so called primary stability, then such implants are called "immediately loaded", which means that the osseo-integrative stability, the so called secondary stability, does not need to be developed before performing the following process steps: making an impression of the abutment part of the implant in conjunction with the gingiva and the adjacent teeth situation, then fabricating the crown, implementing the crown and actually allowing the patient to use the implant for mastication.
Subperiosteal implants are implants that are placed over the bone in cases where the bone has atrophied and jaw structure is limited. Subperiosteal implants are customized metal frameworks, providing the equivalent of multiple tooth roots. They can be applied in a limited area or in the entire mouth. After application, natural tissue membrane or bone will grow back around the implant, thus providing more stability. Posts protrude through the gum to hold the prosthesis.
Traditionally, osseointegrated dental implants are placed in bone and covered by mucosa during the immediate post-operative healing period. At four to eight months, a second surgical procedure is performed to expose the implant so it may be loaded with various types of dental crowns. In recent years, immediate implant placement following tooth extraction and immediate crown loading after surgical placement has become more common.
However, the success rate and the in-vivo life time of osseointegrated dental implants are limited, and the surgical procedure is heavily invasive, because the bone needs to be drilled or ground in order to be adapted to the shape of the non-customized implants. Furthermore, osseointegrated implants are a limiting factor in a later orthodontic treatment. Problems relating to nerve transposition, osseous grafting, ridge augmentation, and sinus augmentation of osseointegrated dental implants, and/or to tissue health adjacent to dental implants have also been reported. Patients often complain about chronically infected periodontal structure caused by osseointegrated implants.
In cases where a tooth is not severely damaged, and would be ready to receive a partial restoration, but an intra-oral repair is impossible due to access problems, or a reverse root canal treatment is required, an alternative method is the intentional re-implantation. The tooth is extracted, repaired, and re-integrated into the existing periodontal structure of a dental patient. Nuzzolese et al write in the Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice, Volume 5, No. 3, Aug. 15, 2004: "It is well known dental reimplantation is indicated following traumatic avulsion by the preservation of cellular vitality in the periodontal ligament and under conditions of asepsis. The rate of endodontic success at five years reported in the literature ranges between 70% and 91%. However, intentional dental reimplantation is an effective strategy for the treatment of teeth that would be difficult, if not impossible, to treat using traditional root canal therapy. Different prognoses exist for intentional dental reimplantation and trauma-related reimplantation. This is due to such important variables such as the level of cellular vitality in the periodontal ligament; the degree of trauma to surrounding tissues, and the degree of asepsis when a tooth is removed. Surgical extraction is more favorable in this regard compared to a traumatic avulsion scenario." Although this method is not yet widely used, the reported success rates are noteworthy. Reported are also autogenous and allogenic transplantation of a healthy natural tooth into the extraction socket for parodontal/periodontal integration. A disadvantage relating to all such techniques is certainly that the specific tooth to be reimplanted or transplanted still needs an overall reasonable condition and prognosis to justify an intentional re-implantation and that only certain root and root canal deficiencies can be repaired this way.
Various publications reporting that the prognosis of intentional reimplanted or transplanted teeth is significantly better than the reimplantation after a traumatic extraction, since the extraction is surgically controlled and relatively aseptic techniques are utilized. Spouge writes in his Oral Pathology, Mosby, Saint Louis 1973; "The majority of reimplantations however are clinically successful, and the teeth are retained firmly in the socket for the appropriate 5 year period. However, despite the apparent success, most of them show localized ankylosis and gross resorption of the root at the end of this time. The fibrous attachment that develops in the new periodontal ligament area often involves the formation of an immature type of connective tissue whose fibers remain tangential to the root surface rather than becoming physiologically oriented. There is experimental evidence to suggest that formation of a physiologic periodontium is more easily achieved in condition where the viability of the original periodontal ligament is maintained . . . . In keeping with this, the prognosis for clinical successin a reimplanted tooth fall rapidly if is have been completely dislocated from its socket for more than 24 hours." Wong suggests in Quintessence International, Vol. 33. No. 2, 2002 a surgical "exarticulation" method, where the removal of the tooth from its socket is achieved "(after the incision of the crestal periodontal ligament fibers with micro-blades) with a combination of luxation and gentle, rotary, reciprocating movements" in order to minimize physical trauma to the excising periodontium. Goerig et al recommends in Quintessence International, Vol. 19, No. 8, 1988 a sectioning procedure where a molar tooth is cut in half dividing the roots in order to minimize the damage of the existing periodontal ligament. The Ögram System (www.ogramsystem.com) provides a tooth removal protocol promising no or very little trauma of the surrounding tissue.
El-Bialy et al from the University of Alberta, Canada report the stimulation of jaw growth and tissue healing by directly applying ultrasound vibes to the tooth of interest. In this context it is known to those skilled in the art that the alternating "load" of dental structures in patients' day-to-day use of their dentition activates healing processes while a protection against or the avoidance of such alternating load causes resorption of roots, bone and soft tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,450 references as prior art the German application DE 27 29 969 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describing the osseintegration of an implant that is substantially a copy of an extracted human tooth fabricated by a process involving copy milling. In order to be successfully osseointegrated the connective tissue (e.g. ligament) remaining in the extraction socket needs to be removed by being scraped out or curetted. The '450 patent recognizes the need to create a compression pressure between the bone and the implant in order to reach reasonable primary stability of the implant and teaches therefore to dimensionally enlarge the anatomical shape of the implant over the extracted tooth to fill the extraction socket.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,313 discloses a dental implant for osseointegration having a bone-contact section which is root-shaped with an apical extension and an abutment described as a build-up section for fastening a crown.
All such restorative and prosthetic options and methodologies are deficient being heavily invasive and/or limited in their respective scope. There has not been recognition, until now by the Applicant, of the need for a product, systems, and methods related to the integration of dental prosthesis such as artificial tooth, bridges, or segments of the dentition that includes (a) custom-shaped root structures to be osseointegrated as one piece, (b) custom-made positioning and fixation splint for achieving primary stability, and (c) even more beneficial, parts to be integrated into the existing periodontal structure of an individual patient, having the desirable broad scope and reduced invasive requirements. There is also no prior recognition of fabricating the root-shaped custom portions of the prosthesis based on anatomical imaging data prior to the extraction of the tooth or of the teeth of interest or directly of the alveolar situation.
The product, and related systems and methods provided by the present invention comprise several independent inventive features providing substantial improvements to prior art. The greatest benefit will be achieved for dental treatments especially for patients requiring tooth replacement.

Customized dental prosthesis for periodontal- or osseointegration, and related systems and methods


A method for applying a magnetic shielding layer to a substrate is provided, wherein a first magnetic shielding layer is adhered to a first surface of the substrate. A first film layer is adhered to the first magnetic shielding layer and the first magnetic shielding layer is more adherent to the first surface than the film layer to the first magnetic shielding layer.

Magnetic semiconductor memories such as field switching MRAM or STT-MRAM devices often need an effective shielding to prevent data loss due to external magnetic fields.
Shielding can be done by applying soft-magnetic layers to the upper surface and/or to the bottom surface of the semiconductor die.
In contrast to existing solutions, which are rather complicated and expensive, an easy-to-use and cost efficient approach is provided herewith.

Method for applying magnetic shielding layer, method for manufacturing a die, die and system


Alignment is performed with a high degree of accuracy by detecting an offset in the Z position of a wafer mark. A focal position detecting system of a multipoint type is provided which irradiates spot beams on a plurality of measurement points substantially equally distributed on the exposure field of an projection optical system and detects the heights or levels of the irradiated positions. An alignment illumination beam for detecting the position of the wafer mark is irradiated as a slit beam from an alignment sensor, and the spot beams are set so as to be overlaid with the irradiated position of the slit beam. A sample shot where the measured value of a level at the irradiated position of the spot beam exceeds an allowable range of the measured value of a level at another measurement point is excluded from alignment data, and the coordinate positions of each shot area on a wafer are calculated by an EGA method.

The present invention relates to an alignment method used when patterns on a mask are transferred on a substrate such as a wafer in the lithographic process for fabricating, for example, semiconductor devices, charge coupled devices (CCDs), liquid crystal display devices, or thin-film magnetic heads and also relates to an exposure apparatus that uses the alignment method. The invention is particularly adapted to be applied to and suitable for the case where patterns on a mask are aligned with shot regions on a wafer, based on array coordinates predicted by using a statistical method.
A semiconductor device, for example, is formed by overlaying or superimposing a multilayer circuit pattern on a wafer. Therefore, when the second circuit pattern and the circuit patterns thereafter are exposed and transferred on the wafer, the alignment between patterns on the mask (or reticle) which are going to be exposed and each shot region or area on which a circuit pattern has already been defined, that is, wafer alignment has to be performed with a high degree of accuracy.
As an alignment sensor for wafer alignment, there is an alignment sensor of a laser step alignment (LSA) type in which a laser beam is irradiated on an alignment mark in the form of a dotted line (a row of a plurality of dots) on a wafer and the position of the mark is detected by using the beam diffracted or scattered by the mark, or a field image alignment (FIA) type in which the image data of an alignment mark, illuminated and imaged with light having a wide waveband width and emitted from a light source consisting of a halogen lamp, is processed and measured, or a laser interferometric alignment (LIA) type in which laser beams having identical frequencies or slightly different frequencies are irradiated on alignment marks in the form of diffraction grating on a wafer in two directions, two diffracted beams generated interfere with each other, and the position of the alignment mark is measured from the phase difference.
FIG. 1 shows the schematic structure of a projection exposure apparatus equipped with a conventional alignment sensor of the LSA type. In the figure the pattern of a reticle R is transferred on each shot region or area on a wafer W through an projection optical system PL. The wafer W is placed on a wafer stage (not shown) through a wafer holder (not shown). It is assumed that a Z-axis is taken parallel to an optical axis of the projection optical system PL, and a rectangular or orthogonal coordinate system on a plane perpendicular to the Z-axis is represented by an X-axis and a Y-axis. Alignment illumination light beams LX and LY from the LSA and through-the-lens (TTL) types of X-axis and Y-axis alignment sensors 11X and 11Y are irradiated as slit beams SBa and SBb on the edges of an exposure field IAR of the projection optical system PL through the projection optical system PL from the lower portion of the reticle R. With respect to an image formation plane of the projection optical system PL, a best focal plane of the alignment sensors 11X and 11Y is set at the same focal position.
In addition, a focal position detecting system of oblique incidence type which comprises a light emitting system LES and a light receiving system LRS is disposed. Measuring beams LE from the light emitting system LES are irradiated, in an oblique direction, as spot beams on a plurality of measurement points on the substantially central portion of the exposure field IAR, and the reflected beams from the plurality of measurement points are received by means of the light receiving system LRS. The plurality of spot beams are imaged again in the light receiving system LRS, and a plurality of focal signals corresponding to the lateral offset quantities of the images formed again are output. If the position (Z-position) of the wafer W in the direction of the optical axis of the projection optical system PL is changed, the lateral offset quantities in images which are again formed will change and therefore the Z-positions of the wafer W at the plurality of measurement points will be measured from the plurality of focal signals.
FIG. 2 shows the concrete dispositions on the exposure field IAR of the spot beams by means of the measuring beams LE emitted from the focal position detecting systems LES, LRS. As shown in FIG. 2, spot beams 5a through 5e are irradiated on five measurement points equally spaced on approximately the diagonal line of the exposure field IAR of the projection optical system PL of FIG. 1. The slit beams SBa and SBb created by the alignment illumination light beams LX and LY emitted from the alignment sensors 11X and 11Y of FIG. 1, are irradiated substantially on the centers of the edges in -Y and +X directions of the exposure field IAR.
An X-axis wafer mark WMa of LSA type and a Y-axis wafer mark WMb of LSA type are formed on the edge in the -Y direction (in FIG. 2 the lower edge) and edge in the +X direction (in FIG. 2 the right edge) of a shot region or area 8 enclosed by dotted lines on the wafer W, respectively. At the time of alignment, the wafer W is moved through a wafer stage (not shown) so that the wafer mark WMa crosses the slit beam SBa in the X direction and then it is moved through the wafer stage so that the wafer mark WMb crosses the slit beam SBb in the Y direction. With the movement of the wafer W, the X and Y coordinates of the wafer marks WMa and WMb are detected. Thereafter, at time of exposure, the center of the shot area 8 on the wafer W is aligned with the center (center of exposure) of the exposure field IAR and, based on the focal signals from the focal position detecting systems LES and LRS, the average Z-position of the shot area 8 is aligned with the image formation plane (previously obtained) of the projection optical system PL. In this way, the pattern images on the reticle R are exposed and transferred onto the shot area 8.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional focal position detecting system of oblique incidence type is contemplated to detect the average Z-position of the shot region at the time of exposure. For this reason, only five spot beams 5a through 5e are irradiated on the diagonal line on the exposure field IAR.
In the aforementioned prior art when the alignment of the shot area 8 on the wafer is performed, none of the five spot beams 5a through 5e are irradiated near the wafer marks WMa and WMb in the state where the wafer marks WMa and WMb have crossed the alignment slit beams SBa and SBb. Therefore, the Z-positions on the wafer marks WMa and WMb have not been detected at the time of alignment. For example, in the case where foreign substances such as resist dust particles exist between the wafer and the wafer holder, the Z-positions of the wafer marks WMa and WMb do not always match the best focal positions of the alignment sensors 11X and 11Y and therefore there is the fear that a focus offset will occur at the time of alignment. If the telecentric properties of the alignment sensors 11X and 11Y are lost when an offset such as this occurs, the disadvantage that errors (jump of data measured) will be contained in measured values will exist.
On the other hand, an autofocus device disposed in the conventional exposure apparatus is structured to perform focus measurement (a measurement of a location of a projection optical system on a wafer surface in a direction along an optical axis) within a range on the order of an exposure field size and adjust the position or level of the wafer surface in the direction along the optical axis to an average focal position within the range. Flatness of substrates such as wafers to be exposed can be measured using focus measurement results obtained with the autofocus device.
A degree of roughness of a wafer surface is changed by exposure and subsequent processes, and a step between an alignment mark (wafer mark) and a surrounding base may differ depending on a layer on the wafer. To perform accurate alignment by detecting a position or level of the alignment mark accurately, it is therefore necessary to align a detection region of the alignment sensor with a focal plane of an objective lens thereof (bring the objective lens into focus).
However, the conventional autofocus device which performs focus measurement within the range of the exposure field size and focuses to the average focal position within the exposure field size can hardly measure a true defocus quantity within a minute region on the order of a detection region of the alignment sensor and perform an accurate focus adjustment within this minute region.
Further, an exposure apparatus of a step-and-repeat type (or a step-and-scan type) adopts an enhanced global alignment method (hereinafter referred to as an EGA method), which in order to perform alignment between a projected image of a pattern on a reticle and a chip pattern on the shot region or area of a wafer, measures positions of alignment marks attached to a plurality of specific shots (sample shots) on a wafer such as those disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 61-44429 using an alignment sensor and determines array coordinates of all the shots on the wafer by statistical processing using the method of least squares on the basis of actually measured values and a design value of each shot array.
However, the conventional autofocus device can hardly measure a true defocus quantity within the minute region on the order of the detection region of the alignment sensor and adjust a focal position accurately within this minute region. Therefore, there may be caused an undesirable situation that, shot areas within which foreign matter such as dust adheres to surfaces thereof and shot areas having remarkable steps formed between marks (in case of multiple marks) within the alignment marks due to roughness on a surface of a wafer are selected as the sample shots. In such a case, the conventional autofocus device is inconvenient in that it involves errors in positional measurements of the alignment marks, thereby resulting in errors in shot array coordinates determined by the EGA method.


A suspension system having a four bar linkage system including an angled arm for adjustable and positionable vertical and horizontal support of a video monitor or the like. A weight counterbalance adjustment mechanism adjustably compensates for various weights of a load held by the angled arm. Gas springs provide for vertical support of the angled arm. Configured slots in which the upper ends of the gas springs position provide for minimal manual positioning effort and a linear counterbalance throughout the entire range of vertical adjustment. An arm bent at an angle of 120.degree. overcomes the traditional interference of the load with movement of the arm beyond 45.degree..

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is for a suspension system, and more particularly, pertains to a video monitor support system incorporating supporting gas springs in alignment with predetermined arced slots or tracks. A four bar linkage system is incorporated to maintain parallel geometry of the supported video monitor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art support systems have not provided for movement of a video monitor over a wide range of angles, such as between eyesight level for reading of a video monitor to above head level for storage of a video monitor.
In some applications or environments, such as in a hospital, it is important to have a wide range of movements for a video monitor. In the past, video monitors have been fixed in one position or secured to an arm with no or very limited movement.
The present invention provides a video monitor suspension system which suspends a monitor or monitor support caddy with a wide latitude of movement and overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

Suspension system for video monitor or other equipment


A semiconductor device includes a plurality of conductive layers that are formed on the substrate. Two electrically intercoupled sections of a read-only storage element, such as a fuse element, which together compose the storage element, are each formed in a different one of the conductive layers. The storage element has a storage state, and each section has a conductivity. One can change the storage state of the storage element by changing the conductivity of one of the sections. Additionally, multiple storage elements may be coupled in parallel to form a storage module. Each of the storage elements of the storage module may include multiple storage sections that are each formed in a different conductive layer. The storage elements may store the version number of the mask set used to form the semiconductor device. Alternatively, a conductive layer is formed on a substrate, and one or more read-only storage elements are formed in the conductive layer. Each of the storage elements is formed in a predetermined state such that they collectively store a digital value that identifies a mask used to form the conductive layer.

Many of today's integrated circuits, i.e., semiconductor devices or "chips", have stored thereon electronically readable identification information or data, such as a device's date of manufacture or the version number of the mask set used to form the device. This information is typically stored or encoded onto the semiconductor device after the formation of its integrated circuitry and its detachment from the wafer in which it was formed, but before it is packaged.
One technique for storing identification data on a semiconductor device is to encode the data in a bank of laser fuses. Typically, such a bank of laser fuses is formed in an exposed polysilicon layer of the semiconductor device. After the formation of a passivation layer, which is typically the last layer formed on the semiconductor device, portions of a passivation layer covering the bank are etched away to expose the laser fuses. Next, selected ones of the laser fuses, which are typically formed in a closed, i.e., conducting state, are cut with a precision laser to put them in an opened, i.e., nonconducting, state. Typically, each fuse stores one bit of data. For example, a closed fuse may store a logic 1, and an opened fuse may store a logic 0. Thus, the encoded laser fuses store the desired identification data on the device. After the semiconductor device is packaged, one can electrically access and read the identification data that is stored by the laser fuses.
Another technique for storing identification data on a semiconductor device is to encode a bank of electrically alterable fuses. These fuses, like the laser fuses, are formed on the semiconductor device. Because these fuses need not be accessed by a laser, however, they may be formed in any of the layers of the semiconductor device. Typically, such electrically alterable fuses are either formed in an opened state and electrically alterable to a closed state, or formed in a closed state and electrically alterable to an opened state. To encode the identification data, selected ones of the fuses are altered using a conventional semiconductor testing apparatus or another type of conventional electronic programming equipment. Like the laser fuses, each electrically alterable fuse typically stores one bit of data. After the semiconductor device is packaged, one can electrically access and read the stored identification data with a conventional device.
A circuit and a method for encoding laser or electrically alterable fuses with identification data are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,143, entitled "Method For Identifying A Semiconductor Die Using An IC With Programmable Links", which issued to Ohri et al. on Apr. 5, 1994 and is incorporated herein by reference.
A problem with both the laser fuse and the electrically alterable fuse techniques is that they are prone to inaccuracies. For example, a slight misalignment of the semiconductor device with respect to the laser during the encoding process may cause the wrong fuses to be cut, and thus may cause the laser fuses to be encoded with erroneous identification data. Similarly, a software error may cause the wrong electrical fuses to be altered, and thus may cause the electrically alterable fuses to be encoded with erroneous identification data. Once erroneous information has been encoded, it is often difficult or impossible to correct such an error. Furthermore, with either of these techniques, there may be intermittent glitches that cause errors. The sources of these intermittent glitches are often difficult to find and eliminate.

Structure and a method for storing information in a semiconductor device


A door roller includes a carriage member comprising a plurality of bores, and a plurality of roller assemblies connected to the carriage member, each roller assembly of the plurality of roller assemblies including a pivot bearing rotatably disposed within a bore of the plurality of bores and a pair of rollers coupled to the pivot bearing. Each wheel assembly is configured to pivot relative to the carriage member.

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Certain tiltrotor aircraft, such as the Bell Helicopter Valor V-280 tiltrotor aircraft, employ a nacelle propulsion system on a wing member with a fixed portion that encloses an engine and a movable (rotatable) proprotor gearbox (PRGB) system that drives the rotor blades. The PRGB system is rotatable relative to the fixed portion of the nacelle to convert between a vertical flight mode and a forward flight mode and vice versa. A PRGB door is connected at one end to the PRGB system by one or more hinge fittings that permit rotation thereof and is connected at another end to a door roller mechanism (sometimes called a door bogie) and roller track assembly in a manner that the PRGB door moves between closed and open positions in response to rotation of the movable PRGB system. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0252263 discloses such a prior roller track system and is incorporated herein by reference.
In operation of such tiltrotor aircraft, down wash from the rotors in the vertical flight mode, or in a conversion mode, as well as vibrations transmitted from the PRGB can cause unwanted lateral vibrations and movement of the PRGB door. In some instances, the forces acting upon the door bogie cause the door bogie to pitch or lean in such a way that can cause accelerated wear to the roller track assembly.


A method of controlling output pulses of a pulse laser device (100) including thin-disk laser medium (10), in particular controlling a carrier-envelope phase and/or an intensity noise of the output pulses, includes pumping thin-disk laser medium (10) of pulse laser device (100) with multiple pump laser diodes (21, 22, 23), having at least one modulated laser diode (21, 22) powered by current source (31, 32) with modulation capability, and controlling the output pulses by modulating the output power of the at least one modulated laser diode (21, 22), which is modulated by controlling a drive current thereof, wherein the pump laser diodes further include at least one stable laser diode (23), having constant output power, and the output power of the at least one modulated laser diode (21, 22) is smaller than the whole output power of the stable laser diode(s) (23). A pulse laser device (100) is also described.

For illustrating background art in the field of pulse laser technique, reference is made to the following prior art documents.    [1] D. Bauer et al. in "Opt. Express", vol. 20, 2012, p. 9698;    [2] C. Saraceno et al. in "Opt. Express", vol. 20, 2012, p. 23535;    [3] O. Pronin et al. in "Opt. Lett.", vol. 36, 2011, p. 4746;    [4] S. A. Meyer et al. in "Eur. Phys. J. D", vol. 48, 2008, p. 1926;    [5] T. Balcunias et al. in "Opt. Lett.", vol. 36, 2011, p. 3242    [6] H. R. Telle et al. in "Appl. Phys. B", vol. 69, 1999, p. 327;    [7] U.S. Pat. No. 7,474,457;    [8] D. Noordegraaf, "Fused combiners for photonic crystal fibers" Ph.D. Thesis 2012;    [9] EP 1 081 819;    [10] U.S. Pat. No. 6,785,303 B1; and    [11] U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,543 B2.
Various applications of pulse laser devices (pulse laser oscillators), e. g. in non-linear spectroscopy and high field applications require a stabilization of the laser output. Intensity fluctuations may be caused by a noisy oscillator, e. g. due to an intrinsic mode-locking behavior or cooling of the laser medium. Furthermore, in the fields of femtosecond and sub-femtosecond physics and frequency comb generation, wherein laser pulses are used in measurements with the demand for maximal temporal and/or spectral resolution, a carrier envelope phase (CEP) control is required for minimizing effects of CEP noise. Depending on the application of the pulse laser device, each of the intensity stabilisation, in particular intensity noise reduction, and CEP stabilisation can be implemented alone, or both can be provided in parallel.
It is generally known that thin disk (TD) laser technique allows creating sub-ps pulses with high average powers and high energies [1, 2]. A pulse laser oscillator is described e. g. in [3], wherein 45 W, 1.1 μJ and 250 fs output pulses are created with a pump power of about 220 W. Low power solid state oscillators and fiber oscillators can be CEP stabilized by controlling a supply current of a pump diode[4, 5].
According to [4], a bulk laser crystal of a pulse laser oscillator is pumped with two Bragg grating stabilized pump laser diodes. The pump laser diodes are arranged with a standard geometry wherein the bulk crystal is end-pumped from both sides for increasing the pump power. One of the pump laser diodes is stabilized by modulating the supply current thereof in dependency on CEP of the output pulses. However, the stabilization effect obtained by Meyer et al. is limited due to a very noisy operation of the oscillator, which results from a mutual interaction of the laser diodes pointed towards each other. Moreover, this geometry is not applicable to high-power thin-disk lasers due to the low single-pass-absorption in a disk medium.
Applying the concept of [4] to high power solid state oscillators would be highly desirable. However, this requires fulfilling the following crucial criteria for a constant current power supply for CEP stabilization:
a) high current stability;
b) analogue control of drive current; and
c) broad bandwidth (more than several tens of kHz) of the analogue control.
Practical test of available high power constant current power supplies (>400 W) have shown that they do not satisfy all three criteria a) to c). It is very difficult to steer high currents on the one hand with a high stability and on the other hand with high dynamics. It has been found that this problem cannot be solved by combining low power current supplies connected in parallel or in series. It is difficult to avoid crosstalk between the devices, and this approach would by expensive and bulky.
Optically combining the output of many laser diodes is inherent to the operation of diode bars and diode stacks, resp. It has been proposed to combine the output of the diodes into a single fiber, e. g. using a monolithic all-fiber combiner [8]. The conventional fiber combiners have limitations in terms of the capability of combining beams with different properties, e. g. different power. Furthermore, a free space combination of the diode output has been described [9].

Method and device for controlling a carrier-envelope phase and/or an intensity of output pulses of a pulse laser device

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaften e.V.


The present invention relates in part to the discovery that benzodiazepines can be used to reactivate latent HIV-1 virus that is integrated into human genome. In other embodiments, the benzodiazepine is used in combination with a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), such as but not limited to SAHA (also known as N-hydroxy-N-phenyl-octanediamide, Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, Vorinostat). In yet other embodiments, the combination of benzodiazepine and the HDACi synergistically reactivates latent HIV-1 virus that is integrated into human genome, with minimal or no significant toxicity associated with the dose of either agent.

The major challenge for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) treatment is the viral reservoir harbored by resting memory CD4+ T cells, which is established early during infection. These cells have a very long half-life and resist apoptosis. In these cells, integrated proviral genome undergoes transcriptional silencing and persists for many years, cannot be detected by the immune system, and are not reached by traditional therapies. Once HIV-1 patients quit highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the virus can be activated in a patient's body.
Recent studies propose a way to eradicate HIV-1 through activation of the silenced virus in resting memory CD4+ cells through a "shock and kill" approach. In this approach, HIV-1 virus would be activated using latency reversing agents (LRAs), and infected cells would then be depleted by viral cytopathic effect, host immune response, and/or a second intervention. At the same time, new infection to other cells would be controlled using HAART. Various LRAs have been proposed, but thus far they have failed to eradicate the HIV-1 reservoir in the clinical trials. These LRAs work through interfering with cellular mechanisms that are involved in maintaining HIV-1. The current commonly targeted mechanisms that researchers investigate to purge HIV-1 viral reservoir include (i) histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors such as panopinostat, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA; Vorinostat) and Trichostatin-A; (ii) bromodomain-containing proteins inhibitors such as JQ1, and (iii) PKC agonists, which work through activation of NF-kβ such as prostratin, bryostatin and ingenol. Some HDAC inhibitors, such as SAHA, are FDA approved and have been used as anticancer therapeutic agents. However, SAHA and all other suggested treatments are unsuccessful in decreasing the size of the latent HIV-1 pool. Therefore, there is a need to find other therapeutic agents that can synergize with SAHA to enhance its efficiency and minimize its side effects.
An important transcription factor necessary for T cell development and differentiation is Runt-related transcription factor1 (RUNX1), also known as acute myeloid leukemia 1 protein (AML1) or core-binding factor subunit alpha-2 (CBFA2). It is one of three RUNX family proteins that possess a highly conserved 128 amino acid Runt DNA-binding domain at the N-terminus. The Runt domain is important for binding with consensus sequence (PyGPyGGTPy) in DNA and with core binding factor subunit beta (CBF-β). CBF-β heterodimerizes with RUNX1 and enhances RUNX1 affinity to the DNA 10 fold and stabilizes RUNX proteins against proteolytic degradation. RUNX proteins contain a nuclear localization signal that allows the transport of the CBFβ-RUNX complex to the nucleus and regulates gene expression. The RUNX proteins are highly similar and share a common DNA binding site. However, they share different physiologic functions. RUNX1 and CBFβ knockout in mice is embryonic lethal. RUNX1 plays an essential role in hematopoiesis and the development of cell types such as lymphoid cells, erythroid cells, granulocytes, and macrophages. Moreover, RUNX1 is necessary for the development of CD8+ T cells. RUNX1 is downregulated during the development of thymocytes from double negative (CD4− and CD8−) to double positive (CD4+ and CD8+) lymphocytes. RUNX1 is also downregulated when naïve CD4+ T cells are stimulated through T cell receptor (TCR) to become effector CD4+ T cells. Down-regulation of RUNX1 contributes to the production of IL-2.
According to its posttranslational modifications and the context in which it is recruited, RUNX1 functions to activate or repress gene transcription. It can initiate transcription through recruitment of p300 histone acetyltransferase. On the other hand, it may repress transcription through recruitment of repressive factors such as mSin3A, Suv39H1, and histone deacetylases. Furthermore, RUNX1 physically interacts with the STATS transcription factor and this interaction serves to regulate either RUNX1 or STATS function. The U3 region of HIV-1 contains a potential binding site for RUNX1 protein. Interestingly, overexpression of RUNX1 and/or CBF-β inhibits HIV-1 transcription. Moreover, inhibition of RUNX1 or CBF-β with siRNA significantly increases HIV-1 transcription. Furthermore, the benzodiazepine, Ro5-3335, an inhibitor of RUNX-1/CBFβ function, synergizes with SAHA, an HDAC3 inhibitor, in activating HIV-1 transcription. Ro5-3335 is a benzodiazepine with demonstrated potency and safety in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a mouse model.
There remains a need in the art for compositions and methods for treating HIV-1 infection. In certain embodiments, such compositions and methods should treat HIV-1 by reactivating latent HIV-1 lying dormant in CD4+ T cells. The present invention addresses these needs.

Compositions and methods for reactivating latent HIV-1 infections


A nozzle for continuous casting which is prevented from clogging due to alumina deposition is disclosed, wherein the inner wall member is made of a refractory material having a carbon content of 1% to 10% by weight; a material other than carbon in the refractory material has a grain size of not more than 420 .mu.m; the inner wall member is integrally molded with the outer nozzle body to form an integral structure; and said inner wall member has a thickness of 2 mm to 12 mm.

Conventional nozzles for continuous casting of steel are often made of alumina-graphite refractories. Nozzles for continuous casting include a long nozzle and an air seal pipe which are used between a ladle and a tundish and a submerged nozzle used between a tundish and a mold. These nozzles are strictly required to have corrosion resistance against molten steel or slag and spalling resistance in nature of the condition of their use. For the time being, alumina-graphite materials have been of wide use to cope with these requirements.
Where a nozzle made of alumina-graphite materials is used, particularly for casting aluminum killed steel having a high aluminum content, alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) resulting from oxidation of aluminum deposits on the inner wall of the nozzle to cause clogging.
Multiple continuous casting has recently been spreading for improving productivity. If a nozzle is clogged due to alumina deposition (adhesion) in multiple continuous casting, the flow of molten steel can no more be controlled, making it difficult to continue casting.
The clogged obstruction sometimes comes off the inner wall of the nozzle during casting. In this case, the obstruction enters the mold and is incorporated into cast steel to cause casting defects.
It seems that deposition of alumina onto a nozzle proceeds through the reactions between aluminum in molten steel and the refractories constituting a submerged nozzle, represented by the following reaction formulae. EQU (1) SiO.sub.2 (s)+C (s)=SiO (g)+CO (g) EQU (2) 3SiO (g)+2Al=Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (s)+3Si EQU (3) 3CO (g)+2Al=Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (s)+3C
At first, the reaction represented by formula (1) takes place between SiO.sub.2 (s) and C (s) present in the refractories to generate SiO (g) and CO (g). Subsequently, the reactions represented by formulae (2) and (3) occur between Al in molten steel and the produced SiO (g) and CO (g) to form Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (s), which is deposited (adhered) on the surface of the inner wall of a nozzle. Alumina in molten steel is gradually accumulated on the thus produced alumina seed, finally blocking the nozzle.
Various methods have been studied and proposed as a means for preventing such nozzle clogging. For example, gas blowing is generally adopted as an effective means for preventing nozzle clogging.
Gas blowing is a method in which the inner wall of, e.g., a submerged nozzle is made of porous refractories, and gas (e.g., argon) is blown through the open pores to inhibit alumina from depositing on the inner wall. This method is effective on prevention of nozzle clogging and is adopted in many steel works.
However, while gas is made to flow in a sufficient amount enough to prevent nozzle clogging, fine gas bubbles tend to enter the mold to cause casting defects. Further, the gas causes the bath level of molten steel to vary considerably. As a result, the molten steel tends to take up inclusions which will cause defects of cast steel.
In addition to gas blowing, use of CaO-containing zirconia clinker is also known as a countermeasure to clogging as disclosed in JP-B-2-23494 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined published Japanese patent application"). According to this method, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 particles precipitated in molten steel are reacted with CaO present in zirconia clinker to produce CaO--Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -based low-melting compounds, which are removed along with the flow of molten steel, thereby to prevent alumina deposition.
The method of using zirconia clinker is considered effective on prevention of alumina deposition. In fact, a submerged nozzle whose inner wall is made up of a material containing CaO-containing zirconia clinker is used in a large number of continuous casting machines.
However, a nozzle using CaO-containing zirconia clinker is inferior in spalling resistance because CaO-containing zirconia clinker has a large thermal expansion coefficient and, being laid on the inner side of the nozzle, generates a great thermal stress on the outer side of the nozzle in the initial stage of casting.
On the other hand, JP-A-3-243258, JP-A-5-154628, JP-A-8-57601, and JP-A-8-57613 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") mention that clogging of a nozzle can be prevented by making the inner wall and other parts of the nozzle which come into contact with molten steel by using an oxide material having no or, if any, less than 1% by weight of, carbon. The publications describe that use of oxides, such as alumina or magnesia, at the parts coming into contact with molten steel is effective in preventing alumina deposition or carbon pickup.
However, since any of the materials used in the above-described methods contains substantially no carbon source, it necessarily has a high thermal expansion coefficient, resulting in poor spalling resistance.
Referring to the poor spalling resistance of these materials, JP-A-8-57601 and JP-A-3-243258 supra propose molding the inner wall part and other parts coming into contact with molten steel separately from the nozzle body of the nozzle and, after completing the nozzle body, laying the inner wall part, etc. by slip casting or injecting the oxide material or inserting a sleeve brick made of the oxide material. However, the separate molding method for producing a nozzle for continuous casting is very complicated, involving an increased number of steps and incurring a high cost of production.
JP-A-51-54836 also discloses a submerged nozzle whose inner wall part is made up of a carbon-free material. The material used here contains 90% by weight or more of SiO.sub.2 and therefore suffers a considerable corrosion in casting.
JP-A-63-203258 discloses a material having a carbon content of not more than 20% by weight. In the publication, however, no consideration is given to the grain size distribution of the raw materials used and the thickness of the inner wall part, and the material disclosed is unsatisfactory in thermal shock resistance.
Additionally, application of materials other than oxides to a nozzle is disclosed in JP-A-56-139260, in which a material containing 5% to 80% by weight of boron nitride is used.
In brief, conventional techniques for preventing clogging of a nozzle due to deposition of alumina include (1) gas blowing, (2) reaction between alumina in molten steel and the content (CaO content) in the nozzle material to form a low-melting compound, (3) molding the inner wall part by slip casting or injecting a carbon-free refractory material, but they have their several disadvantages.


A user terminal reports a group radio quality of each of radio resource groups to a base station at a first frequence. The base station reports an allocated radio resource group to be allocated for radio communication with the user terminal to the user terminal. The user terminal reports unit radio qualities of radio resource units contained in the allocated radio resource group to the base station at a second frequence that is higher than the first frequence. The base station performs radio resource scheduling on the basis of the unit radio qualities.

Technologies to allocate radio resources on the basis of measured qualities of radio resources have been known (e.g., radio connection destination selecting and frequency scheduling). However, receiving qualities are not uniform over all radio resources; for instance, receiving qualities could change in every time period or with respect to each frequency. Thus, a technology in which a radio quality of each radio resource unit (e.g., if a radio resource is a predetermined frequency band, then a partial frequency band contained in the frequency band is a radio resource unit) contained in radio resources is measured and reported to a base station by a user terminal has been suggested (e.g., Patent Document 1).

Radio communication system, base station, user terminal, and communication control method


The invention disclosed herein relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a carrier and an active ingredient, wherein the carrier is fish gelatin and the composition is a fast-dispersing dosage form designed to release the active ingredient rapidly on contact with a fluid. In one embodiment, the composition is designed for oral administration and releases the active ingredient rapidly in the oral cavity on contact with saliva. The fish gelatin can be obtained from cold water fish sources and is preferably the non-gelling, non-hydrolyzed form. A process for preparing such a composition and a method of using fish gelatin in a fast dispersing dosage form are also provided.

Fast-dispersing dosage forms which are designed to release the active ingredient in the oral cavity are well known and can be used to deliver a wide range of drugs. Many such fast-dispersing dosage forms utilize gelatin as a carrier. Gelatin B. P., which is normally utilized in such formulations, is defined as a protein obtained by partial hydrolysis of animal collagenous tissues such as skin, tendons, ligaments and bones, with boiling water. However, such mammalian derived gelatin has an unpleasant taste and thus necessitates the use of sweeteners and flavors in such fast-dispersing dosage forms to mask the taste of the gelatin in addition to any sweeteners and flavors which may be required to mask the taste of the active ingredient. Moreover, when conventional mammalian derived gelatin is used in the production of such fast-dispersing dosage forms, it is necessary to heat the gelatin solution to 60° C. in order to effect solution. This heating step increases processing times and incurs heating costs thereby increasing the overall costs of the process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,549 to Gole et al. discloses a fast-dispersing matrix system which is prepared by first solidifying a matrix-forming system dispersed in a first solvent and subsequently contacting the solidified matrix with a second solvent that is substantially miscible with the first solvent at a temperature lower than the solidification point of the first solvent, the matrix forming elements and active ingredient being substantially insoluble in the second solvent, whereby the first solvent is substantially removed resulting in a fast-dispersing matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,018 to Ecanow discloses a fast-dispersing dosage form which comprises a porous skeletal structure of a water soluble, hydratable gel or foam forming material that has been hydrated with water, rigidified in the hydrated state with a rigidifying agent and dehydrated with a liquid organic solvent at a temperature of about 0° C. or below to leave spaces in the place of the hydration liquid.
Published International Application No. WO 93/12769 (PCT/JP93/01631) describes fast-dispersing dosage forms of very low density formed by gelling, with agar, aqueous systems containing the matrix-forming elements and active ingredient, and then removing water by forced air or vacuum drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,261 to Pebley et al. discloses fast-dispersing dosage forms which comprise a partially collapsed matrix network that has been vacuum dried above the collapse temperature of the matrix. However, the matrix is preferably at least partially dried below the equilibrium freezing point of the matrix.
Published International Application No. WO 91/04757 (PCT/US90/05206) discloses fast-dispersing dosage forms which contain an effervescent disintegration agent designed to effervesce on contact with saliva to provide rapid disintegration of the dosage form and dispersion of the active ingredient in the oral cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,761 to Allen Jr. et al. discloses a particulate support matrix for use in making a rapidly dissolving tablet, comprising a first polypeptide component having a net charge when in solution, e.g. non-hydrolyzed gelatin; a second polypeptide component having a net charge of the same sign as the net charge of the first polypeptide component when in solution e.g. hydrolyzed gelatin; and a bulking agent, and wherein the first polypeptide component and the second polypeptide component together comprise about 2% to 20% by weight of the particulate support matrix and wherein the bulking agent comprises about 60% to 96% by weight of the particulate support matrix; and wherein the second polypeptide component has a solubility in aqueous solution greater than that of the first polypeptide component and wherein the mass to mass ratio of the first polypeptide component to the second polypeptide component is from about 2:1 to about 1:14; and wherein when the support matrix is introduced into an aqueous environment the support matrix disintegrates within less than about 20 seconds.
EP 0 690 747 B1 to Nguyen et al. describes particles comprising an excipient forming a matrix and at least one active ingredient uniformly distributed in the mass of the matrix which are prepared by a process comprising the steps of preparing a homogenous pasty mixture with a viscosity below 1 Pa·s measured at room temperature (15-20° C.), at least one active ingredient, a physiologically acceptable hydrophilic excipient and water; extruding the resulting homogenous mixture and cutting the extrudate to give moist particles; freezing the resulting particles as they fall under gravity through a stream of inert gas at a temperature below 0° C.; and drying the particles by freeze drying.
Australian Patent No. 666,666 discloses a rapidly disintegratable multiparticulate tablet having a mixture of excipients in which the active substance is present in the form of coated microcrystals or optionally coated microgranules. Such tablets are thought to disintegrate in the mouth in typically less than 60 seconds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,437 to Ecanow discloses a porous carrier material having sufficient rigidity for carrying and administering an active agent which is capable of rapid dissolution by saliva. The porous carrier material of Ecanow is formed by freezing a liquified ammonia solution comprising liquid ammonia, liquid ammonia soluble gel or foam material, and a rigidifying agent for the gel or foam material selected from the group consisting of a monosaccharide, a polysaccharide and combinations thereof, and deammoniating the frozen material thus formed, by causing material transfer of ammonia from the frozen state to the gas state thereby leaving spaces in the carrier material in place of the frozen ammonia.
Published International Application No. WO 93/13758 (PCT/US92/07497) describes tablets of increased physical strength which are prepared by combining and compressing a meltable binder, excipients and a pharmaceutically active agent into a tablet, melting the binder into the tablet and then solidifying the binder. In one embodiment, a disintegrating agent is utilized to increase the disintegration rate of the tablet after oral intake. In another embodiment, a volatizable component is used to form porous tablets. Some embodiments disintegrate in the mouth in less than 10 seconds.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,026 to Heinemann et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,943 to Knitsch et al. also disclose fast-dispersing porous tablets and a method for increasing their physical strength by first compressing the tablet and then volatilizing a readily volatilizable solid adjuvant incorporated in the tablet to attain the desired porosity.
Published International Application No. WO 94/14422 describes a process for drying frozen discrete units in which the solvent is removed under conditions whereby the solvent is evaporated from the solid through the liquid phase to a gas, rather than subliming from a solid to a gas as in lyophilization. This is achieved by vacuum drying at a temperature below the equilibrium freezing point of the composition at which point the solvent (such as water) changes phase.
While the prior art is replete with methods and techniques for the preparation of rapidly dispersing dosage forms, it has failed to consider the benefits associated with the use of fish gelatin, especially non-gelling, non-hydrolyzed fish gelatin, in such dosage forms. The pharmaceutical industry would be able to avoid the use of mammalian derived gelatin due to taste considerations. Thus, there exists the need for improved fast-dispersing dosage forms which are designed to quickly release the active ingredient in the oral cavity that avoid the use of mammalian derived gelatin.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fast-dispersing dosage forms containing fish gelatin


A detecting system and method of compression-related noise levels is provided to produce a compressed index of an image. A line buffer temporarily stores a pixel (i, j) and neighboring pixels. An edge filter calculates an edge index for the pixel (i, j). A line filter calculates a line index for the pixel (i, j). A first determination device produces an edge signal according to the edge index and the line index for indicating whether the pixel (i, j) locates at an edge. A first buffer temporarily stores edge signals of the pixel (i, j) and left and right pixels. A second buffer temporarily stores line indexes of the pixel (i, j) and associated pixels. A second determination device produces a ringing signal for the pixel (i, j) according to the edge signals temporarily stored in the first buffer and the line indexes temporarily stored in the second buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of image processing and, more particularly, to a detecting system and method of compression-related noise levels.
2. Description of Related Art
With the advance of digital compression technologies, more and more current TV images are digitally compressed before storage or transmission, and decompressed before play. Such a way can increase the capacity of transmission data and reduce the analog noises. A typical digital compression is an MPEG compression. For the reconstructed images that are distorted after the MPEG compression, some digital defects become obvious when the compression rate is high. In addition, due to the different quantitative levels in compression, certain noises may be produced. For example, when a high quantification is applied to a block-based compression, the boundaries between the blocks may present discontinuous, and the blocking artifacts may be produced on a display image.
To overcome the aforementioned problem, a post-processing technique such as de-blocking or de-ringing at the decompression side is typically applied. Such a post-processing basically assumes that the boundaries between the blocks are known. Accordingly, the correlation parameters obtained by analyzing a compressed image are used to detect the possible blocking artifacts for further performing the post-processing in different levels respectively. In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,295, it discloses an MPEG block detection that is applied at the display side, without needing the information at the decompression side. At first, the brightness gradient information of an image is found. Next, the block locations possibly presented are analyzed and counted. Thus, the boundary locations of the original compressed blocks are detected. However, when the compression rate is increased to thus reduce the image quality, the edges with higher image space frequencies typically present ringing. Blocking presents when a wide range of motion occurs. Generally, only analyzing the image content, without using the compression-related data, is hard to properly separate the compressed noises from the original images completely. For producing a preferred estimation index, a span of measure is used in reference to a coincidence of the degree of compressing a same signal source. However, since blocking presents only when the wide range of motion occurs, the noises caused by compressing the images are easily underestimated for a less motion scene.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved detecting method and system to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Detecting method and system of compression-related noise levels


A method of joining substrates at their lateral edges uses an elongated stiffening member to provide the requisite rigidity and strength for the application in which the joined substrate is to be used. The joining method is useful in any type of application that shares three functional requirements: The joined substrate sections must produce a unitary substrate construction with sufficient rigidity and strength to maintain the substrate sections in a joined position during a subsequent processing operation on the unitary substrate and thereafter when a completed assembly composed of joined substrates is installed as a component of another apparatus. Secondly, if components are formed on a substrate prior to joining, the integrity of those components must remain intact and uncontaminated during the joining process in a manner that would permit a subsequent operation to successfully use the components. Thirdly, the joint between the abutting lateral edges of two substrate sections must be both of sufficient strength for the intended purpose of the unitary substrate construction and have a width controllable within a range of widths comprising an acceptable tolerance allowed for a distance between two adjacent components that occur at the joint. The method is illustrated in the context of a writing head for use in an electrographic marking device, where the writing head may be manufactured to any desirable width by using the method of the present invention to join head member sections to form a working substrate, prior to attaching the conductors thereto that form the nib line.

The present invention relates generally to a method for joining rigid substrates at abutting lateral edges to form a unitary substrate. Though not restricted to any particular use, the method is illustrated herein in the context of manufacturing a writing head for use in an electrographic marking device; the writing head has a head member comprised of multiple joined sections that are joined according to this method.
In an electrographic marking device, an exemplary writing head comprises a plurality of writing electrodes physically positioned to electrically address a dielectric surface of the medium as the medium travels through the writing station. An aligned series of backup electrodes is positioned opposite to the writing electrodes of the writing head in a manner that leaves a small gap, and the medium on which the image is to be formed passes through this gap. When the potential difference between the addressed writing electrodes and the opposed backup electrodes is raised to a threshold level of several hundreds of volts, referred to as the Paschen breakdown point, an electrostatic charge is deposited on the dielectric portion of the medium as that medium is moved through the gap. The timing and sequencing of energization of the electrodes provides for electrical charging of selected areas of the medium to form a desired latent image as the medium is moved through the writing station.
When the image to be formed on the medium is considered to be structured as a two-dimensional array of rows and columns of image spots, the latent image is typically formed row by row (or column by column), requiring the writing head to contain a writing electrode, referred to as a "nib" herein, for each spot to be formed in a row (or column) of the image. Thus, the writing head must be as wide as the visible image desired, which is typically related to the width of the medium, and the nibs must be as closely spaced as necessary to form a visible image having the desired resolution while still being able to be independently controlled. The closely spaced nibs form a line referred to as the "nib line" of the writing head; each row of the latent image produced by the nib line is referred to as a "scan line" of the image.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,693,185 and 3,793,107, issued to Lloyd, (hereafter also referred to as the Lloyd patents) disclose a method of construction of an electrostatic writing head that involves winding a length of wire about a mandrel to form uniformly laterally spaced convolutions of wire. An elongated strip of insulating material that is coated with a hardenable adhesive material extends transversely to the plane of the uniformly spaced wire convolutions and is positioned beneath them. This coated strip, which ultimately forms a first head member of the writing head, is then moved radially outwardly of the convolutions to urge the adhesive material against portions of the convolutions. Then another strip of insulating material is adhered to the convolutions in confronting relation to the first named strip so as to sandwich portions of the convolutions between the confronting strips. The strips are then compressed tightly together and after permitting the adhesive material to harden, the convolutions and strips are severed by cutting through both the strips and the convolutions along a line extending lengthwise of the strips; each of the two lines of wire tips exposed by the cutting operation forms the nib line of a writing head.
Writing heads may be made in a variety of widths using this process, which provides flexibility for producing multiple smaller-width writing heads from a single winding. For wide image marking requirements, however, such as for devices that support engineering, architecture and graphic arts applications, the writing heads are typically made in single, full-width units. The maximum width of a nib line is subject to the capabilities of the winding apparatus, and considerable retooling of equipment would be required to enlarge the width.
Thus, it is apparent that there is a manufacturing limitation with respect to producing writing heads of varying widths according to the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,693,185 and 3,793,107 and having the structural configuration shown therein.

Method for joining rigid substrates at abutting lateral edges


A horizontal remote mining system comprising a water jet cutting head, down hole crusher, jet pump, and guidance system for orchestrating select excavation of a horizontal borehole. The system is assembled on the end of a drill string comprised of multiple compartments accommodating various water pressures and functions in association with the remote excavation process. Selective tubing is also utilized to facilitate movement of air and ventilation of the borehole. In this manner, relatively thin coal seams can be economically mined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to drilling and mining processes and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a mining system incorporating hydraulic, borehole mining techniques particularly adapted for the recovery of coal from relatively thin coal seams.
2. History of Related Art
The recovery of coal from coal seams has been the subject of technical development for centuries. Among the more conventional mining techniques, hydraulic mining systems have found certain industry acceptance. Hydraulic mining typically utilizes high pressure water jets to disintegrate material existing in strata or seams generally disposed overhead of the water jets. The dislodged material is permitted to fall to the floor of the mining area and is transported to the mining surface via gravity and/or water in a flume or slurry pipeline. Along these lines, certain developments in Russia included a series of hydro monitors capable of extracting a strip of coal 3 feet wide and 30 to 40 feet in depth within a matter of minutes. The units were designed to be conveyed on a track to the advancing coal face for extracting the coal. The coal would flow downwardly and be transported to the surface via a flume. Similar techniques to this have found commercial acceptance in China, Canada, and Poland, but with only limited attempts in the United States.
Although not as widely accepted in the United States, hydraulic mining methods have been the subject of numerous U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,736 to Anderson describes a hydraulic method of mining coal employing hydraulic jets of water of unusually small diameter to cut the coal. Such techniques would be particularly applicable to steeply dipping coal seams. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,052 Huffman describes a hydraulic mining method permitting coal removal from a steeply dipping coal seam by utilizing a vertical well drilled at the lowest point of the proposed excavation. Another slant borehole is drilled at the bottom of the coal seam to intersect with the vertical well. High pressure water jets are then used to disintegrate the coal in a methodical fashion with the resulting slurry flowing along the slant borehole into the vertical well. Once in the well, this coal slurry could be pumped to the surface of the mine. While effective in steeply dipping coal seams where gravity would allow the slurry to flow to the vertical well, other techniques would be necessary for more horizontal mining systems. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,712 to Wang teaches the use of water jets to remove horizontal slices of coal within a seam. Through the sequential mining of layers in this manner from top to bottom, the entire seam of coal can be extracted and the mine roof subsides onto the floor without need for artificial roof support.
Another technique for extracting minerals from subterranean deposits is the above referenced borehole mining. Such techniques create minimal disturbance at the mining surface while water jets are used to cut or erode the pay zone and create a slurry down hole. A sump is created below the pay zone to collect the produced cuttings and slurry, which is transported to the surface via a jet or slurry pump. A wide variety of minerals, primarily soft rock formations, may also be mined utilizing this technique. A more recent borehole mining technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,177 to Fly wherein a process for under reaming a vertical well and a hydrocarbon reservoir is shown. The technique illustrated therein utilizes electric motors to convert the apparatus from drilling to under reaming.
More conventional techniques are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,671 and 4,077,481 to Bunnelle which describe methods of and apparatus for drilling and slurry mining with the same tool. A related borehole mining technique is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,590 to Archibald which teaches the concept of completely drilling the vertical well through the portion of the strata to be mined. Separate lines are used for water jet cutting and slurry removal. A progressive cavity pump is used to transport slurry to the surface. In the later improvement (U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,345) the cutting tool is moved independently from the pumping unit. Later developments are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,970 which describes the use of various types of rock crushers at the inlet of the jet pump. A feed screw on the bottom of the drill string is used to meter the flow of slurry into the orifice of a venturi in association with the rock crusher. In a subsequent development (U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,728), it is suggested to use a tri-cone bit assembly on the end of the tool to reduce the particle size to allow slurry transport. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,783 an extensible arm assembly is incorporated to allow the water jet cutting mechanism to extend outwardly from the borehole mining tool to provide more effective cutting in the water filled cavity.
Complementing some mining techniques is the J. H. Fletcher & Co. Model LHD-13 long hole drill unit. This unit consists of a drilling system disposed upon a four wheeled tender car having a drill boom and carriage. Roof jacks are also included and the system is generally used to install in-mine methane drainage boreholes in advance of gassy coal mines.
The above described mining techniques present methods of and apparatus for mineral excavation for sites with specific geological characteristics. In the main such characteristics include steeply dipping coal seams and/or gravity to facilitate transport of the coal to the surface. Transport of the coal, however, is not the only design problem. The distance between the cutting face and the water jet unit increases as material is eroded away. Cutting effectiveness therefore decreases until the unit is moved. These specific design points have been referred to above and are areas of continued technical development. This is particularly true due to the fact that in borehole mining, cutting effectiveness of the water jets also decreases as the cavity becomes larger in size. When the cavity reaches a point that cutting effectiveness diminishes, either another vertical well must be installed to initiate another cavity or the cutting unit needs to be moved closer to the coal face. Also, when a cavity is created in unconsolidated material, subsidence may be created and the cavity may collapse. Borehole mining is, therefore, referred to as a selective mining technique and may not always be suitable for low cost extraction on a large scale basis. Borehole mining is also generally constrained by the ability to remove material from the sump as described above. It would be an advantage therefore to overcome the problems of the prior art by providing a system for horizontal remote mining capable of addressing low cost and effective mineral excavation while effectively utilizing cutting techniques that are consistent with material removal methods therewith.
The present invention provides such an advance over the prior art by utilizing a continuously advancing horizontal remote mining unit that may be disposed within a coal seam close to the face of the coal being eroded. In this manner, a horizontal remote mining unit may develop a horizontal in-seam excavation with improved cutting and slurry removal effectiveness.

Horizontal remote mining system, and method


A vertical split gate memory formed in a trench of a semiconductor substrate comprises a first doping region, a second doping region, a conductive line, a conductive spacer and a conductive plug, wherein the conductive line, conductive spacer and conductive plug serve as a select gate, a floating gate and a control gate of the vertical split gate memory cell, respectively. The first doping region of a first conductive type is underneath the bottom of the trench, whereas the second doping region of the first conductive type is beside the top of the trench. The conductive line serving as the select gate is formed at the bottom of the trench and in operation relation to the first doping region. The conductive spacer is formed beside the sidewall of the trench and above the conductive line. The conductive plug is insulated from the conductive spacer and the conductive line and in operation relation to the conductive spacer.

(A) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a non-volatile memory cell and the manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a vertical split gate memory cell and the manufacturing method thereof.
(B) Description of the Related Art
With the development of a high degree integration on a substrate, scaling down a non-volatile memory cell is rather hindered due to inherent dimensions of source, drain and gate channel thereof, so the roadmap of high density non-volatile memory may slow down significantly. Accordingly, development of small memory cell is crucial for the next generation, and thus vertical memory cells have been attracting much attention recently.
Wong et al. disclosed a non-volatile memory cell of vertical floating gates in U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,567. FIG. 1 shows a vertical memory cell 500 disclosed by Wong et al., where channel regions 503 are formed on top of a source region 502, and drain regions 504 are formed on the top of the channel regions 503. Floating gates 505 are formed on the sidewalls 506 of a trench 507. A gate dielectric film 508 is formed between the floating gate 505 and the source region 502, the drain region 504, as well as the channel region 503. A control gate 509 formed adjacent to the floating gate 505 in the trench 507 covers the floating gate 505. The control gate 509 is insulated from the floating gate 505 and the source region 502 by a layer of dielectric film 510. The cell 500 is programmed by conventional hot electron injection and is erased by electron tunneling from the floating gates 505 to either the source region 502 or the drain regions 504. The drain regions 504 and source region 502 are at different heights, and the gate dielectric films 508 are located vertically. Obviously, the gate channels do not occupy any space in horizontal, so a high degree integration can be attained.
Further, a conventional non-volatile memory cell normally needs high currents to operate, e.g., 200 microamperes (μA), for hot electron programming, so it is not satisfactory for low power devices that comply with the tendency for chip development. Therefore, a split gate technology has been developed to obtain the high efficiency and low current programming, where the programming current can be diminished to, for example, 10 μA. In view of the consideration of a high degree integration and low power, the skill to integrate the vertical cell and split gate has come into existence.
For high power consumption concern during hot electron programming, as shown in FIG. 2, Wong et al. further disclosed a split gate architecture 900 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,132 to achieve the capability of low current programming. There are two transistors formed in series, in which a transistor 921 is formed in a trench 907 and a transistor 922 is formed in a trench 920. In comparison with the conventional vertical memory cell 500 as shown in FIG. 1, the transistor 922 is integrated into the split gate cell structure by adding another trench 920 adjacent to the trench 907. The transistor 921 is the floating gate transistor with a channel length 912 determined by the edge of the drain 904 and the bottom of the trench 914 and with the channel width determined by the perimeter of the trench 907. A control gate 909 is insulated from a floating gate 905 and a channel region 903 by oxide layers 910 and 924, respectively, and gate dielectric films 908 are located vertically. The transistor 922 is the series select transistor with a channel length 923 determined by the distance between the bottom of trench 914 and source region 902, and with the channel width determined by the perimeter of the second trench 920. Accordingly, a second deep trench is formed to modulate a second portion of the channel and form a series transistor, which really leads to a rather complex process.
As shown in FIG. 3, Lin et al. disclosed a split gate memory cell of another type in U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,222. A memory device 100 is established in trenches of a substrate 101, in which the source region S and drain regions D are formed at different heights, and a tunnel oxide 102, a polysilicon layer 108, an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer 103 and another polysilicon layer 105 are sequentially formed. In addition, spacers 104 are formed beside the polysilicon layers 105. The polysilicon layers 108 and 105 act as a floating gate and a control gate, respectively. As a result, there are a series of transistors between the source region S and the drain region D. The control gate, i.e., the polysilicon gate 105, is operative to couple a voltage to the floating gate 108 in the light of a coupling ratio, and further acts as a split gate. However, the split gate voltage is not operated independently, despite the fact that the control gate voltage can turn on the floating gate and split gate transistors effectively, electrons may jump into the floating gate as well as the control gate owing to high bias voltages generated both in the floating gate and in the control gate. Accordingly, although this approach may reduce process complexity, electron injection efficiency during programming may not be optimized. Since gate voltage of the select transistors is always coupled from control gate and cannot be independently adjusted, low programming efficiency or electrons trapped in the ONO layers may be created instead. Thus, it is necessary to develop a split gate vertical memory transistor with simple process and high programming efficiency.

Vertical split gate memory cell and manufacturing method thereof