An image forming apparatus is constituted so as to be equipped with transfer apparatus(es) having transfer roller(s) electrostatically transferring development image(s) from photosensitive drum(s) to transfer medium/media, and so as to be provided with transfer medium guide unit disposed downstream in transfer medium transport path(s) from location(s) at which photosensitive drum(s) oppose transfer roller(s), and such that transfer medium guide location(s) of transfer medium guide means is/are variable.

The present invention relates to a copier, printer, facsimile machine, or other such image forming apparatus employing electrophotographic image forming method(s); more particularly, the present invention pertains to an image forming apparatus equipped with transfer apparatus(es) transferring, onto transfer medium/media, development image(s) formed on image carrier(s).
In an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic photosensitive body (hereinafter "photosensitive body") as image carrier, the surface of the photosensitive body is first uniformly charged by a charging apparatus, and the surface of the photosensitive body is then exposed by an optical write device to form a an electrostatic latent image. At a development apparatus, the electrostatic latent image is then developed by means of developer (toner), and at a transfer apparatus, the electrostatic latent image is transferred onto transfer medium/media (e.g., recording paper) that has been transported thereto; following which, the electrostatic latent image is fused onto transfer media by means of a fusing apparatus and is provided to a user or the like as media on which an image has been formed.
Transfer methods in which transfer roller(s), transfer brush(es), transfer block(s), and/or other such transfer body or bodies is/are pressed against and/or is/are brought in proximity to photosensitive body surface(s) have in recent times frequently come to be employed during transfer operation(s) in which development image(s) (toner image(s)) is/are transferred. This is because such methods are among those which are more considerate of the environment in that ozone emissions are generally reduced as compared with conventional electrostatic transfer methods making use of electric discharge from a corona discharge wire.
However, when employing the aforementioned transfer methods in which transfer roller(s), transfer brush(es), transfer block(s), and/or other such transfer body or bodies is/are brought in proximity to and/or is/are pressed against photosensitive body surface(s), spatial tolerances for transport of transfer medium/media are reduced, requiring increased transport accuracy, as compared with conventional electrostatic transfer methods employing corona discharge wire.
That is, unless transport accuracy is increased, this will invite problems in which transfer medium/media deviate from transport path(s), increasing likelihood of contact with nearby component(s) and/or transfer medium/media fold and/or jam, as well as problems in which development image(s) on transfer medium/media is/are disturbed as a result of contact and/or in which residual toner remaining on photosensitive body surface(s) and/or toner that has been scattered thereabout and/or the like adheres to transfer body surface(s), adversely affecting transfer action. Moreover, due to the fact that a wide variety of circumstances can be envisioned with respect to ambient conditions such as humidity and the like as well as transfer medium stiffness and so forth, there would be difficulty in achieving proper transport over a broad range of conditions.
As one specific example, after the trail edge portion of the transfer medium has passed through the region at which the photosensitive body opposes the transfer body, it is possible that the trail edge portion of the transfer medium will press against or come in contact with the surface of the transfer body and that toner will adhere to the transfer body. If the trail edge portion of a subsequent transfer medium similarly presses against or comes in contact with the transfer body, then toner adhering to the transfer body can adhere to the trail edge portion of the subsequent transfer medium. And there has been the problem that when fusing of the transfer medium takes place with toner adhering to the trail edge portion thereof, the trail edge portion of the transfer medium becomes dark and soiled.
Image forming apparatuses have therefore been proposed, for example, in which the trail edge portion of the transfer medium is prevented from coming in contact with the transfer body as a result of provision of transfer medium guide member(s) downstream in the transfer medium transport direction from the transfer body (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2002-278310).
However, the image forming apparatus indicated in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2002-278310 has had problems such as the following. Where attempts have been made to provide transfer medium guide member(s) at location(s) such as would permit sufficient distance to be maintained between the photosensitive body and the trail edge portion of the transfer medium, there has been the problem that the transfer medium is improperly guided as the lead edge portion of the transfer medium is made to advance toward the fusing operation which is subsequent thereto, impairing ability to achieve proper transfer medium transport characteristics. In contrast, where attempts have been made to ensure proper transport medium transport characteristics, there has been the problem that it has not been possible to maintain sufficient distance between the photosensitive body and the trail edge portion of the transfer medium, meaning that there has been inadequate effect with respect to prevention of soiling of the trail edge portion of the transfer medium.
The present invention was conceived in light of the foregoing problems in the conventional art, it being an object thereof to adequately ensure proper transfer medium transport characteristics and completely prevent contact between photosensitive body or bodies and transfer medium trail edge portion(s), and to therefore provide an image forming apparatus permitting satisfactory image formation.

Device for preventing contact between transfer body and transfer medium tail edge portion in image forming apparatus


A hoisting machine, such as a cable block, includes a support frame having at least two face plates, which are detachably joined together and spaced apart by at least two longitudinal members. The support frame includes a simple structural design, in which the longitudinal members are detachably joined to the face plates such that the ends of the longitudinal members are pressed against a bearing surface of the face plates in the direction of their lengthwise axis, transversely to the longitudinal member.

A motor cable winch for lifting chores in the theater is known from German patent application DE 43 10 770 A1. This motor cable winch is operated by an electric drive motor, which acts on a cable drum via a gearing. The gearing is arranged together with two brakes inside the cable drum. The cable drum is mounted at both ends in a support frame, which essentially consists of two face plates which are spaced apart and oriented parallel to each other, which are fastened together by four rods oriented parallel to the lengthwise axis of the cable drum. The rods are fashioned as spacing tubes, each of them being joined to the face plates by means of a tie rod laid inside the spacing tube and threaded nuts screwed onto its ends. The planar end surfaces of the spacing tubes lie against the inside of the face plates in the region of continuous boreholes for the tie rods.
Furthermore, lifting machines, such as electric cable winches, are described in the introduction to the specification of German patent application DE 196 02 927 A1, having a modular design made up of the subassemblies including electrical, motor, gearing, cable drum, supporting means and support frame. The individual subassemblies can be assembled detachably, which provides for a plurality of combinations. The main subassemblies of the hoisting machine are fastened to the support frame; in particular, the cable drum is mounted there. The support frame consists of at least two face plates, arranged parallel to each other and spaced apart. The face plates are joined together by longitudinal members. Each face plate is provided with at least three screw connection points to attach the longitudinal member.
German patent application DE 196 02 297 A1 pertains to a support frame for cable winches, and claims to be characterized by less installation expense and lower weight. The support frame essentially consists of the two face plates, which are joined together only by an upper and a lower U-shaped longitudinal member and a tension element parallel thereto, which coincides with the axis of rotation of the cable drum. The tension element is made of solid material, with opposite ends at which threaded rod segments are arranged to form a shoulder. At one side, the tension element is screwed by its threaded rod segment into an inner thread located centrally in one face plate. Its annular shoulder abuts against the planar inside of the face plate via a washer. At the opposite face plate, a central continuous borehole of step shape is provided to form an annular bearing surface to receive the shoulder of the tube at the start of the threaded rod segment. The threaded rod segment is led through the continuous borehole and is tightened against the outside of the face plate from the outside via a threaded nut. The two U-shaped longitudinal members are inserted into suitable recesses in the inside of the face plates, where they are held by the clamping force between the face plates exerted by the tension means.
In these embodiments of the prior art, the connection elements between the face plates are fashioned as profiles with solid round or tubular cross sections, the ends of which project into corresponding boreholes or appropriately machined bearing surfaces in the mutually facing surfaces of the face elements or thrust against them. A fastening is then accomplished by a screw connection, which tightens the profiles in their lengthwise direction against the face plates. These connection points between the profiles and the face plates can transmit both axial forces in the direction of the lengthwise axis of the connection elements or the cable drum, as well as so-called corner torques. Here, corner torques refer to torques which arise, for example, from a twisting of the support frame at the connection points between face plates and connection elements. At the same time, the exact spacing and parallelness between the two face plates is produced within the desired tolerances via the length of the profiles.
In connection with the above-described screw fastening, each end surface of the profiles is clamped against a corresponding shoulder surface of the face plate or in a borehole of the face plate. For such connections with axial clamping, the end surfaces of the profiles and the bearing surfaces at the face plates must fulfill certain requirements. Close tolerances must be held in terms of being perpendicular to the axis of the borehole, since the clamping is occurring against these surfaces and the axial pressure should be distributed as evenly as possible over the circumference of the end surfaces.
In addition to the bearing surface at the inside of the face plate, yet another planar bearing surface needs to be made against its outside, so that the bearing surfaces for the threaded nut and/or bolt of the connection also lie perpendicular to the axis of the borehole.
The shape stability of the connection when the support frame is subjected to torque will depend on the size of the annular end surfaces, since a slight gap must be present between the inner surface of the borehole in the face plate and the outer diameter of the profiles, for installation reasons.
The structural elements of the hoisting machine, previously referred to as face plates, can also be housing parts, fulfilling various functions of the hoisting machine. For example, they may serve to fasten the lift drive, to stow the cable drum, to mount on cross arms for the cable reeving parts, to accommodate the electrical equipment, to secure the base of the hoisting machine or to mount the running gear parts.
Therefore, the threaded nuts or bolts for fastening the profiles to the face plates are often poorly accessible; for example, they are arranged inside the housing. Also, the connection points must often be removed from the housing to gain access, which makes installation difficult. In addition, the housing, namely, the face plates, must be needlessly enlarged.


Methods and systems are provided for an exterior covering capable of withstanding extreme wind loads. In one embodiment, a wind resistant exterior covering includes a first panel fastened to a substrate and a second panel fastened to the substrate. The second panel engages the first panel, and a clip fastened to the substrate is adapted and located to laterally restrain movement of the second panel with respect to the first panel. In another embodiment, a method of engaging panels of a modular exterior covering system includes coupling a protruding portion of a first panel with a respective receiving portion of a second panel. The coupling is such that the first panel is laterally restrained by the second panel and a clip, and the first panel is outwardly restrained by the receiving portion of the second panel.

Modular panels arranged in an abutting relationship to form the walls and/or roof of a building have been used for years as exterior coverings in the construction of structures, typically in commercial structures. Panels are either vertically oriented and arranged side-by-side, or horizontally oriented and arranged one on top of another. Preferably, panels are interconnecting with one another, so that each panel has a male side and a female side. The male side of one panel engages the female side of an adjoining panel, joining the panels. The profile of the male and female sides may be such that a friction fit is created between the two panels, strengthening the joint.
Examples of prior art construction panels and methods of joining the panels are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,007 to Oehlert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,233 to Harter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,520 to Ting, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,078 to Porter, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,623 to Taylor, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Conventional panels and panel systems are overly complex and lack the ability to stay in place in extreme wind and other weather conditions. Therefore, there is a need to provide for a relatively simple system that can perform in extreme weather conditions.


A thermal system (100) includes a main pump (104) which pumps refrigerant to a device under test evaporator cluster (124). A system condenser (130) converts the gaseous refrigerant into liquid and the condenser liquid return is provided to a vapor/liquid separation and storage column (142). The thermal system (100) further includes a sump vaporizer (118) which forms part of a sump discharge line loop.

Designing systems to test large numbers of semiconductor or electronic devices in a factory environment where each individual device under test generates significant thermal load is not a trivial task. Examples of such devices include but are not limited to high-speed microprocessors, laser diodes, and linear high-power amplifiers.
From a semiconductor manufacturers standpoint, factory floor space often comes at a premium. A testing system that is capable of testing the largest number of semiconductor devices in the smallest factory floor footprint is therefore highly desirable. Removing large amounts of heat from high-dissipation devices in a very small footprint is problematic, however. Air-cooling devices undergoing testing require large heat sinks with a corresponding large surface area and size. Water-cooling devices undergoing testing require a lower corresponding heat exchanger area than air, but is still not the smallest solution possible and also has the intrinsic risk of damaging sensitive electronics in the test system should a leak develop.
One solution for cooling heat generating devices utilizes a dual-phase refrigerant where the physical process of evaporation (latent heat of vaporization) absorbs significantly more heat than air or fluid can alone for the same corresponding heat exchanger size. Cooling schemes that depend on either a refrigerant cycle or Carnot heat cycle have long been in existence. Various semiconductor test system manufacturers have used refrigerant cycles wrapped around gas compressors for their central plants.
A key difference between a true refrigerant cycle and a Carnot heat cycle is nothing more than the thermodynamic direction that heat moves: low to high versus high to low. In a refrigerant cycle a compressor takes low pressure gas, compresses it generating high-pressure gas and heat, and then removes the heat in the condenser on the high-pressure side of the system. A Carnot heat cycle on the other hand, uses a fluid pump to pressurize liquid refrigerant into the evaporators. Heat then flashes the liquid refrigerant into gas and then a water sub-cooled condenser downstream condenses refrigerant gas on the low-pressure side of the system to complete the cycle. A classic example of a Carnot heat cycle is a fossil or nuclear-fueled steam power plant generating electricity.
Some of the common problems experienced by current thermal systems used in semiconductor testing environments include refrigerant leaks, poor chiller mean-time-before-failure (MTBF) and inconsistent thermal performance as the device-under-test (DUT)/system thermal load parameters changes. Other problems associated with some thermal systems include the inability to charge the thermal system while the system is operational and the inability to control suction pressure to increase cooling temperature differential.


A sink construction for use in a kitchen, bathroom or any other facility in which an attractive sink would be normally installed. The sink construction includes a sink bowl bottom combined with a vertical wall, with the vertical wall and counter top preferably constructed of the same material. The vertical wall includes at least one seam with connection including a tongue and a groove. The vertical wall is connected to the counter top assisted by laterally extending support members beneath the counter top. The sink bowl is secured within a downwardly and inwardly opening recess on the lower inner edge of the vertical wall by a filler material that engages a lateral flange at the top of the sink bowl.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to utilitarian and aesthetic sink constructions for use in a kitchen, bathroom or any other facility in which an attractive sink would be normally installed. The sink construction includes a stainless steel bottom combined with a counter top and vertical wall constructed from a polymer based solid surface sheet material. More particularly, the invention relates to the manner in which the components of the solid surface sheet material are connected to each other and the stainless steel bottom is secured to the solid surface sheet material wall in order to provide a secure mounting and a positive seal, together with a very attractive appearance. The present invention is an improvement over the sink construction disclosed in International Industrial Design Reg. No. DM 033,437, dated Jul. 3, 1995, and published in the International Design Bulletin (Issue No. July 1995).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sink constructions including a rigid bowl of stainless steel, porcelain and various other materials are well known and are normally installed in a counter top constructed of solid surface sheet material in order to support the sink from the solid surface sheet material and also to seal the periphery of the bowl or bottom of the sink to the solid sheet material. FIGS. 4 and 5 in the accompanying drawings, illustrate the prior art sink construction disclosed in the aforesaid International Industrial Design Reg. No. DM 033,437, dated Jul. 3, 1995, and published in the International Design Bulletin (Issue No. July 1995). This prior art sink construction includes a stainless steel bowl secured to the bottom edge of a vertical wall constructed of polymer based solid surface sheet material, in particular a thermoplastic sheet material available from DuPont under the name CORIAN.RTM..
The periphery of the bowl in this prior art construction is provided with an outwardly extending horizontal flange and an upstanding vertical flange at its outer edge for engaging the bottom edge and lower outer surface of the vertical wall. The vertical wall comprises two segments interconnected by butt type vertical joints adheringly sealed together to form the vertical wall. A sealant and adhesive material is disposed between the contacting surfaces of the flanges on the sink bowl and the abutting contacting vertical edge and horizontal bottom surfaces of the vertical wall components in order to seal and connect the bowl to the bottom of the vertical wall.
The prior art does not disclose, however, a sink structure having the desired strength and sealing characteristics of the present invention. More specifically, the prior art does not include a sink structure in which the components of a polymer based vertical wall are interconnected by a tongue and groove joint combined with an appropriate adhesive and sealant. The prior art also does not disclose a connection between a stainless steel, or other type metal, bottom or bowl and the lower edge of a polymer based vertical wall of the sink construction which ensures an anchored interconnection and seal.


Provided is a method of forming a seed layer as a seed of a thin film on an underlayer, which includes: forming a first seed layer on a surface of the underlayer by heating the underlayer, followed by supplying an aminosilane-based gas onto the surface of the heated underlayer; and forming a second seed layer on the surface of the underlayer with the first seed layer formed thereon by heating the underlayer, followed by supplying a disilane or higher order silane-based gas onto the surface of the heated underlayer.

In a semiconductor integrated circuit device, silicon, for example, an amorphous silicon is used in filling a contact hole or line, or as a thin film material for forming a device or structure. There is known a technique for forming an amorphous silicon film by decomposing disilane at a temperature ranging from 400 to 500 degrees C., trisilane at a temperature ranging from 350 to 450 degrees C., or tetrasilane at a temperature ranging from 300 to 400 degrees C.
However, when a miniaturized contact hole or line is filled with the amorphous silicon, a film formed by the amorphous silicon has poor coverage in the contact hole (or line), which results in large voids. These large voids may cause, e.g., an increase in resistance. Also, this may cause degradation in accuracy of surface roughness of the amorphous silicon film.
In order to avoid a degradation of the accuracy of the surface roughness of the amorphous silicon film, there is also known an approach for supplying, before the formation of the amorphous silicon film, an aminosilane-based gas onto a surface of an underlayer such that a seed layer is formed on the surface.
In recent years, in addition to improving the accuracy of the surface roughness of the silicon film (e.g., the amorphous silicon film), further reduction in temperature of a film forming process is desired.
The aforementioned approach is capable of achieving an improvement to the accuracy of the surface roughness, but is mainly applied to a case where a temperature of the film forming process is equal to or more than 400 degrees C. For example, if the approach is applied to a film forming process having a temperature of less than 400 degrees C. (e.g., 350 degrees C.) as an upper limit, an incubation time of the amorphous silicon film that is formed on the seed layer is slightly increased.
This may result in a slight deterioration in the accuracy of the surface roughness. Such deterioration, although is not problematic as it now stands, may be elevated to an unacceptable level as the development of an electron device advances.
Accordingly, taking into account the further reduction in temperature of the film forming process, it is difficult to maintain or improve the accuracy of the surface roughness of the thin film formed on a seed layer, and to achieve further improvement of in-plane uniformity.

Method of forming seed layer, method of forming silicon film, and film forming apparatus


A dry insect trap for capturing male and female frugivorous pest insects for detecting, monitoring, and/or controlling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for monitoring and/or controlling tephritid fruit flies using chemical and visual stimuli.
2. Description of the Art
Control of frugivorous pest flies is of considerable economic importance for fruit and vegetable production and export. Quarantine and regulatory agents expend substantial efforts to detect newly introduced species of economically important fruit flies. The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata is a major frugivorous pest due to its wide distribution and large host range (Enkerlin et al., World Crop Pests, Vol. 3A; Fruit Flies, Their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1989). Because of its threat and the potential for its introduction into the United States, much emphasis has been placed on detection and eradication of C. capitata. The development of improved lures is needed to monitor and suppress populations of this and other pest fruit flies, and to prevent establishment of populations in areas that are currently without these pests.
Methods developed for monitoring, controlling, and eradicating frugivorous fruit flies (Tephritidae) have relied extensively on the use of chemical attractants. Methyl eugenol plus dibrom; cuelure plus dibrom; ammonium salts; and a mixture of 1,7-dioxaspiro5.5!undecane with .alpha.-pinene or n-nonanal; and spiroacetal are used as lures for species of Dacus. A composition of hexyl acetate, (E)-2-hexen-lyl acetate, butyl 2-methylbutanoate, propyl hexanoate, hexyl propanoate, butyl hexanoate, and hexyl butanoate is used as a lure for species of Rhagoletis. Trimedlure (Beroza et al, J. Agric. Food Chem. 9: 361-365, 1960) is used to attract male Mediterranean fruit flies. Although trimedlure is effective in attracting male Mediterranean fruit flies, it is either only weakly active in attracting or is completely ineffective in attracting female Mediterranean fruit flies (Nakagawa et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 63: 227-229, 1970). Conventional lures currently used to survey and detect frugivorous pests are protein baits such as fermenting yeast hydrolysate (Greany et al., Ent. exp & Appl. 21: 63-70, 1977) and protein hydrosylate (McPhail, J. Econ. Entomol. 32: 758-761, 1939). The problem with protein lures is that they capture large numbers of nontarget insects. Furthermore, the only lures that are available for attracting both female and male fruit flies are protein baits.
Adult fruit flies require sugar to survive (Christenson & Foote, Annual Review of Entomology 5: 171-192, 1960), and honeydew secreted by homopterous insects is recognized as an important food source for adult tephritids (Christenson et al., Annual Review of Entomology 5: 171-192, 1960). Female fruit flies also require protein to ensure fecundity, and this protein requirement is the primary basis for traps for detection of female fruit flies. McPhail traps, bell-shaped glass traps with a water reservoir (Newell, Journal of Economic Entomology 29: 116-120, 1936), baited with protein bait are currently used for monitoring fruit flies throughout fruit growing areas of the world. McPhail traps are cumbersome and use of these traps have numerous disadvantages. Servicing the trap requires that water and bait be added in a somewhat maladroit manner in which the trap is turned upside down, bait added and then the trap returned to an upright position. This process often results in bait spillage, and the spilled bait becomes a food source for flies outside the trap. Removal of insects trapped also requires considerable effort as the contents of the trap have to be filtered through a mesh screen to separate the insects from the bait solution. Protein bait solutions capture a large number of non-targeted insects and considerable time is required to sort the pest fruit flies from the non-targeted insects. The fruit flies recovered from these traps are often severely decomposed with parts missing. This increases the difficulty of differentiating marked sterile flies from unmarked fertile flies when these traps are used in conjunction with sterile insect release programs. Other factors that contribute to the difficulty in the deployment of McPhail traps include the size and weight of the trap and the fragile nature of glass.
Hundreds of compounds are known to be released from protein baits (Morton & Bateman, Aust. J. Agric. Res. 32: 905-916, 1981). Examples of some volatile components of commercial hydrolyzed protein insect baits are phenylacetaldehyde, acetic acid, furfuryl alcohol, 2-acetylfuran, benzaldehyde, methanol, 2-acetylpyirole, furfural, 5-methyl-2-phenyl-2-hexenal, 5-methyl-2-(methylthio)methyl!-2-hexenal and ammonia. Ammonia (Bateman & Morton, Aust. J. Agric. Res. 32: 883-903, 1981; Mazor et al., Entomol. Exp. Appl. 43: 25-29, 1987), acetic acid (Keiser et al., Lloydia 38: 141-152, 1976), and various other volatiles (Buttery et al., J. Agric. Food Chem. 31: 689-692, 1983) have been investigated as attractants for fruit flies. These reports, however, do not provide information regarding released amounts or ratios of the compounds tested or the effectiveness of these chemicals as compared to McPhail traps.
A number of tephritid fruit flies are known to be attracted to certain colors and shapes as visual mimics of foliage or fruit. It has been reported that tephritid species such as the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew); the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh); the European cherry fruit fly, R. cerasi (L.); the Mediterranean fruit fly, and the olive fruit fly are attracted to yellow rectangular panels, i.e. two-dimensional visual cues mimicking foliage (Greany et al., Entomol. Exp. Appl. 21: 63-70, 1977; Prokopy, Environmental Entomology 1: 720-726, 1972; Prokopy & Boller, Journal of Economic Entomology 64: 1444-1447, 1971; Prokopy & Economopoulos, Z Ang. Entomol. 80: 434-437, 1976). Painted spheres, i.e., three-dimensional visual cues mimicking host fruit, have been reported to be attractive to the apple maggot fly (dark red spheres); the walnut husk fly, R. completa Cresson, (green spheres); and the Mediterranean fruit fly (black or yellow spheres) (Prokopy, Canadian Entomologist 109: 593-596, 1977; Riedl & Hislop, Environmental Entomology 14: 810-814, 1985; Nakagawa et al., Entomol. Exp. Appl. 24: 193-198, 1978). Currently all traps using visual cues either singularly or in combination with chemical attractants rely on the use of sticky materials to retain the captured insects. These materials are difficult to use and the traps need constant maintenance to remove numerous non-targeted flies captured as well as need to replenish the sticky material.
Some species of fruit flies have been trapped with a combination of visual stimuli of fruit or foliage mimics and non-pheromonal chemical lures. Reissig et al., Environmental Entomology 11: 1294-1298, 1982, disclose trapping apple maggot flies using red spheres baited with synthetic apple volatiles. Riedl & Hislop, supra, reported that the addition of ammonium carbonate as a food-based stimulus enhanced the response of walnut husk flies to yellow rectangles and green spheres but there was-a loss of selectivity for the walnut husk fly. Nakagawa et ale, supra, reported that the addition of the chemical lure trimedlure to yellow rectangles or black spheres enhanced attraction for male Mediterranean fruit flies. Combinations of pheromone-based lures with visual mimics have been reported. Successful field testing of sex pheromone baited traps for males of the olive fruit fly, Dacas oleae (Gmelin) has been demonstrated using the female-produced pheromone (Jones et al., Bulletin of Entomological Research 73: 97-106, 1983; Mazomenos & Haniotakis, Journal of Chemical Ecology 11:397-405, 1985). Trapping of female fruit flies based on male-produced pheromone in combination with a sphere as a visual cue has been reported for the Mediterranean fruit fly (Heath et al., Journal of Chemical Ecology 17: 1925-1940) and the papaya fruit fly, Toxotrypana curvicauda Gerstaecker, (Landolt et al., Environmental Entomology 21: 1154-1159, 1992). Attraction of female fruit flies to male pheromone occurs only when the female fly is physiologically ready to mate. Thus, female fruit flies may be attracted to male-produced sex pheromone for only brief periods of their adult life span, and none are currently in use for standard trapping procedures
To date, there is no food-based attractant system for both male and female fruit flies that does not use either aqueous bait solution in glass traps or synthetic chemicals in traps with sticky material to capture these fruit flies. Thus more convenient methods are needed to provide a "dry" insect trap for monitoring the Mediterranean fruit fly.

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


A method and system for controlling vehicle functions using a walkie-type cellular phone is provided. A cellular phone is used to make a walkie-talkie type connection with a device disposed within a vehicle. The cellular phone sends a message to a receiver of the device disposed with the vehicle. The message instructs the device on how to control the vehicle. The device is electrically connected to one or more vehicle controls of the vehicle.

The present invention relates to controlling of vehicle functions using a cellular telephone. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to the controlling of vehicle functions using a cellular telephone having a walkie-talkie mode.
It is becoming more common for cellular telephones to include a walkie-talkie type function also known as a push-to-talk function. This type of functionality is present in phones offered by various service providers, including Nextel, Sprint, and Verizon. One of the advantages of this type of feature is that it can more quickly establish a connection and does not require that the receiving party answer the phone. Instead the phone call can be immediately received and broadcast over a speaker of the phone.
The present invention recognizes that this same type of walkie-talkie functionality can be used to control vehicle functions. Thus, one need not remove their keys from their car. Instead, they can simply use their cell phone to lock doors, turn on lights, perform a remote start, open a trunk or hood, activate an alarm system, or perform other vehicle functions.

Method and system for vehicle control using walkie-talkie type cellular phone


A multivalued memory device which includes a first multivalued memory transistor and a second multivalued memory transistor, wherein each transistor has a channel made from at least one carbon nanotube or nanowire, wherein data is stored by varying the number of carbon nanotubes or nanowires used in the channel, wherein the channel is the at least one carbon nanotube or nanowire which allows current to flow through it.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, e.g., to memory devices and, in preferred embodiments, to a multi-valued memory device using carbon nanotube and nanowire FET.
2. Background Discussion
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art. Throughout this disclosure, the phrases carbon nanotube (CNT) and nanowire (NW) will be used interchangeably. For the purposes of this disclosure, both CNTs and NWs can be used interchangeably.
Traditionally a memory cell stores only 1 bit (binary) of information, i.e., either '0' or '1'. However, if the memory cell is capable of storing more values besides '0' or '1' (known as a multi-valued memory cell), the overall memory size can be significantly reduced compared to a memory consisting of 1 bit cells for storing a similar amount of information. That is, traditionally the storage capacity of a memory cell has a direct relationship with the amount of area that memory cell occupies.
For example, using a 2 bit multi-valued cell, capable of storing any of 4 (22) values, the memory size can be reduced by two times compared to a memory consisting of 1 bit cells. Similarly, a three times reduction in size of the memory device can be achieved by using 3 bit cells; a four times reduction in size of the memory device can be achieved by using 4 bit cells and so on.
Previously, multi-valued ROM (read only memory) has been implemented through various different means. For example, a multivalued ROM has been implemented by engineering different threshold voltages of the cell transistor, representing different memory values through implantation. However, introducing various levels of implantation is a complex process and is not cost effective.
The problem has also attempted to be solved by varying the width of the transistor, however this solution has the disadvantage of providing unreliable operation. Also, varying the transistor size substantially contributes to a larger memory cell size, thereby severely limiting the advantages of the multi-valued ROM.
FIG. 1(a) shows a schematic diagram of a conventional field effect transistor (FET) with a channel consisting of CNTs/NWs. This is known as a carbon nanotube field effect transistor (CNFET). Conversely, a nanowire field effect transistor is known as an NWFET. The ON current of the transistor is determined by the characteristics and number of the CNTs/NWs. The ON current in these kinds of transistors vary linearly with the number of CNTs/NWs comprising the channel.
That is, the more CNTs/NWs are used as the transistor channel, the greater the ON current will be. A CNFET/NWFET works by applying a voltage to the gate of the electrode. This voltage induces an electric field which envelopes the CNTs/NWs. When the CNTs/NWs are in an electric field, their internal resistance decreases. This reduced internal resistance allows current to flow through the CNTs/NWs. The more CNTs/NWs are used as the transistor channel, the higher the ON current will be when a voltage is applied to the gate.

Multi-valued ROM using carbon-nanotube and nanowire FET


A stacked semiconductor package includes a first semiconductor package having a first semiconductor chip having a first pad and a through-hole passing through a the portion corresponding to the pad; a second semiconductor package disposed over the first semiconductor package, and including a second semiconductor chip having a second pad disposed at a portion corresponding to the first pad and blocking the through-hole; and a through-electrode disposed within the through-hole, and having a pillar shaped core supported by the second pad, a through-electrode unit disposed over a surface of the core and electrically connected with the second pad, a first metal layer interposed between the core and the through electrode unit, and a second metal layer interposed between an inner surface of the first semiconductor chip formed by the through-hole and the through-electrode unit.

The present invention relates generally to a through-electrode, a circuit board having the same, a semiconductor package having the same and a stacked semiconductor package having the semiconductor package. In recent, a semiconductor chip that stores and processes massive data and a semiconductor package including the semiconductor chip have been developed.
The efforts are on-going to develop a stacked semiconductor package having at least two electrically connected semiconductor chips stacked therein for further enhancement of data storing capacity and data processing speed.
Conductive wires are conventionally used for providing electrical connection between the stacked semiconductor chips in a package; however, electrical connection by the conductive wires in a package leads to various undesirable problems such as signal delays in the package, the stacked package volume increase, etc.
Accordingly, there is a need for providing a semiconductor package having two or more semiconductors chips stacked therein, where the requisite electrical connections are securely made between the stacked semiconductor chips without the undesirable problems evidenced in the conventional semiconductor packages utilizing conductive wires or other conventional electrical connection techniques.

Through-electrode, circuit board having a through-electrode, semiconductor package having a through-electrode, and stacked semiconductor package having the semiconductor chip or package having a through-electrode


Point-of-gaze of a user looking at a display is estimated, taking into account rotation of the user's head or rotation of the display. An image of an eye of the user is captured. The image is processed to determine coordinates in the image of defined eye features, sufficient to determine the eye's optical axis. At least one angle is determined, the at least one angle proportional to an angle between (i) a line coincident with an edge of the display and (ii) an intersection of the sagittal plane of the user's head with a plane of the display. An intersection of the eye's line-of-sight with the plane of the display is estimated using the eye's optical axis, and using the at least one angle to account for rotation of the user's head or the display.

Estimation of a person's point-of-gaze (also referred to as point-of-regard) has become an important tool in a variety of applications, including, for example, the study of visual and oculomotor systems, the study of reading behavior, marketing/advertising research, and the control of device user interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces) using eye movements.
Methods of estimating a person's point-of-gaze using estimates of an eye's optical axis determined from images of the eye are known. Examples of such methods include: S.-W. Shih, Y.-T. Wu, and J. Liu, "A calibration-free gaze tracking technique," in Proceedings of 15th Int. Conference on Pattern Recognition 2000, pp. 201-204 (hereinafter, "Shih 2000"); S. W. Shih and J. Liu, "A novel approach to 3-d gaze tracking using stereo cameras," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, vol. 34, pp. 234-245, February 2004 (hereinafter, "Shih 2004"); E. D. Guestrin and M. Eizenman, "General theory of remote gaze estimation using the pupil center and corneal reflections," IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 53, pp. 1124-1133, June 2006 (hereinafter, "Guestrin 2006"); E. D. Guestrin and M. Eizenman, "Remote point-of-gaze estimation requiring a single-point calibration for applications with infants," presented at the Proc. of the 2008 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications, Savannah, Ga., USA, 2008 (hereinafter, "Guestrin 2008"); J. G. Wang and E. Sung, "Study on eye gaze estimation," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, vol. 32, pp. 332-350, 2002 (hereinafter, "Wang 2002"); J.-G. Wang and E. Sung, "Gaze determination via images of irises," Image and Vision Computing, vol. 19, pp. 891-911, 2001 (hereinafter, "Wang 2001"); E. Trucco, T. Anderson, M. Razeto, and S. Ivekovic, "Robust correspondenceless 3-d iris location for immersive environments," in Image analysis and processing—ICIAP 2005. vol. 3617, F. Roli and S. Vitulano, Eds.: Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, 2005, pp. 123-130 (hereinafter, "Trucco 2005"); Amir et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,962, "Calibration-free eye gaze tracking" (hereinafter "Amir"), E. D. Guestrin, "Remote, non-contact gaze estimation with minimal subject cooperation," PhD Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2010; and D. Model, "A Calibration Free Estimation of the Point of Gaze and Objective Measurement of Ocular Alignment in Adults and Infants", PhD Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2011, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
As is understood, although the optical axis is an axis of symmetry of the eye-ball, a person's line-of-sight is not directed along the optical axis. Specifically, the human retina does not have a uniform density of photoreceptors. Instead, there exists an area on the retina with a pronounced peak in the density of photoreceptors. This area is known as the fovea and subtends approximately a solid angle of one degree of the visual field. In order to see an object in detail, the eye is oriented such that the image of the object is projected onto the fovea. Thus, line-of-sight may be modeled, for example, as a line that extends from the fovea and through, e.g., the center of curvature of the cornea. This line-of-sight deviates from the optical axis by an angular offset (see, e.g., Guestrin 2006 and Guestrin 2008 noted above, and R. H. S. Carpenter, Movements of the eyes, London, UK: Pion, 1977). This line-of-sight will also be referred to herein as the visual axis; it may also be referred to as the foveal axis, the eye-gaze vector, or the gaze vector.
While the optical axis can be readily estimated from an image of the eye (e.g., based in part on the location of the pupil center in such an image), the visual axis cannot be directly estimated from an image of the eye (e.g., because the fovea is not observable in such images). As such, prior art methods have relied simply on the optical axis of the eye as a proxy for the line-of-sight (see, e.g., Amir), or have estimated the visual axis indirectly by applying estimates of the angular offset between the optical and visual axes to estimates of the optical axis (see, e.g., Guestrin 2008). As will be appreciated, methods that take into account the angular offset between optical and visual axes generally provide more accurate estimates of point-of-gaze than methods that do not take into account this angular offset.
Unfortunately, existing methods of estimating point-of-gaze that take into account the angular offset between optical and visual axes are intolerant to substantial rotations of a person's head relative to an estimation device, or substantial rotations of the estimation device relative to the head, and thus fail to provide accurate estimates of point-of-gaze when such head/device rotations occur. This has, for example, inhibited the implementation of point-of-gaze estimation on mobile devices for which substantial rotations are commonplace.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved point-of-gaze estimation methods and devices.

Point-of-gaze estimation robust to head rotations and/or device rotations


The present invention offers a device for rendering CMP polishing pads easily and temporarily removable from and replaceable upon the platen of a CMP polishing apparatus comprising two sheets, the upper sheet attached to the said CMP polishing pad and the lower attached to the said platen, the said two sheets held together by pegs, pins or protrusions fitted to matching holes in the upper surface of the lower sheet and the lower surface of the upper sheet, said pegs or pins attached to either the upper or lower sheet and able to enter the hold on the adjoining sheet when the sheets are brought together and hold the sheets together by means of the sliding friction attendant upon a tight fit with the said holes. The device allows far easier metrology and storage of CMP polishing pads at different stages of use with no damage to the CMP pad, which may be put back into service at any time. The transparency of the upper sheet further allows users to prevent formation of bubbles in the adhesive holding the CMP pad to the upper sheet, thereby avoiding significant degradation of CMP performance.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a removable CMP polishing pad, devices using the same and a method for chemical mechanical polishing.
(2) Description of Related Art
Polishing Pads together with slurry and diamond conditioner disks form the key components of the equipment used to carry out CMP processes in recent years. These pads have been produced and marketed by several vendors to standards of reliable quality and effectiveness. The function of the polishing pad is to provide the base upon which the mechanical action of the slurry on the wafers may be carried out by limiting the space between the pad and the wafer and thereby forcing the abrasive components of the slurry into contact with the wafer surface in a manner that renders regular and suitable mechanical abrasion. For this purpose it has long been known in the art that the surface of the pad should maintain a certain roughness not only for direct mechanical abrasive action at a desirable pace but also to provide certain spacing on the surface of the pad for transport of the slurry. If the surface of the pad becomes too smooth, these objectives are not met and the CMP process is not effective.
To overcome this problem, CMP processes employ a diamond conditioner disk that continually roughens the surface of the polishing pad to counteract the gradual flattening of the pad surface that occurs due to abrasion and plastic deformation from the slurry and wafer. This roughening or conditioning results both in the desired effect of continued effective mechanical abrasion of the wafer and gradual reduction of the polishing pad thickness. The ability of the conditioning disk to maintain roughness is clearly important because if the pad is not rough enough, mechanical abrasion will not occur at the desired pace. Moreover, the wearing away of the pad thickness is important because it eventually leads to the replacement of the pad.
Needless to say different processes have certain desirable degrees of roughness and other surface characteristics and acceptable rates of wear and these can be adjusted by the manner in which the pad is manufactured, the material it is manufactured from and the manner of its use.
One of the problems presently encountered in CMP processing is that to be economically effective the pad needs to be in use for long continuous periods of time. In present practice the pad is attached to the CMP polishing platen using a double-sided adhesive film and CMP processing is done for long periods of time. In general the characteristics of pad wear are known but as slurries and wafer characteristics and the materials that are polished are changed it can be expected that surface characteristics and wear rates can be affected. It is of considerable economic importance to gain an accurate understanding at the start or modification of each CMP process of specifically how the pad is going to wear, how rough it is going to be and how fast it is going to wear.
Presently the polishing pad in either a production or research environment is used for what is considered a suitable length of time (up to several tens of hours) and then stripped from the platen, a process that irreversibly deforms or damages the pad and its adhesive layer and usually precludes further use. A new pad is then installed, broken in with the conditioner, seasoned with slurry, and qualified for polishing product wafers. A pad changeover can require several hours of tool down time and loss of productivity. For some CMP work where conditions change after exhausting a relatively small amount of pad the loss in productivity can be significant. In addition to productivity loss, several kinds of surface measurements that could be useful for monitoring the condition of the pad during break-in and processing must be deferred until the pad is removed, or else a sample must be physically cut from the pad for such monitoring, a practice that often deforms the sample and always damages the pad. It is desirable that there be a process or device making it possible to easily and cost effectively perform measurements on the pad surface without having to irreversibly remove the pad or a sample of the pad, without having to wait for the end of the process and without engendering a significant amount of lost time or use of resources.
To date, no effective method has been disclosed by manufacturers for facilitating the taking of measurements of and exchange and storage of pads during operation and users have had to rely shutting the CMP process down and either removing the pad or a sample of the pad and measuring it, which is neither cost effective from the standpoint of time nor conducive to desired levels of quality control. Removal of the pad or a sample has meant distortion or irreversible damage of the pad surface and the pad making measurements of the pad surface of questionable use and validity and generally rendering the pad unusable thereafter. The alternative is to wait for the end of the process to conduct measurements, in which case wastage may have occurred during the initial run and which in any case will not provide information about wear during the initial stages of use of the pad. Even in this case it is generally true that pad removal will damage and put at risk any measurement data that might have been obtained.
Methods to solve this problem have included, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,921 which describes a method for detaching the CMP pad by means of the use of an adhesive t. However in the method taught the pad can be softened by heating it to the point where the platen will release the pad so that it can be removed.
However, this method, although it allows the pad to be removed more easily that before, is limited by the fact that considerable additional equipment is needed to make it possible, the fact that temperature and other conditions of CMP must be limited to avoid the risk of the CMP pad coming loose when it is not desired that it be removed and finally, this method does not solve the problem of deformation of the CMP pad surface when it is removed from the platen.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,722 (filed Oct. 28, 2005) describes a removable platen that is affixed by a vacuum apparatus. However, although this application describes a method and apparatus where the platen can be removed intact, it is not clear that the vacuum supporting detachable part of the platen is easily suitable for introduction into large stage measuring devices, the vacuum must be created, maintained and released which add considerable additional complexity to the operation of this type of method and apparatus, conditions must be more carefully maintained to prevent material from entering areas that would create a problem for reestablishing the vacuum seal, the apparatus will clearly involve significant additional cost and once removed from the CMP apparatus, the pad must still be removed from the detachable portion of the platen before a new pad can be used.
Additionally, the XCEDA tool of Novellus Systems is a detachable upper surface on which the pad rests that can be removed and strictly speaking, allows the advantages of being able to remove a pad for metrology or storage and then later returning it to use for polishing. However, the pad and detachable upper surface are relatively high cost, the means of detachment, while it is not destructive of the pad is not particularly convenient, the pad is opaque which does not allow inspection of the lower side to determine if the pad is well seated with no bubbles or not and the system cannot be retrofitted to fit any tool or polisher.
Users of CMP Polishing Pads need to know that they are receiving the same quality of product from the polishing pad manufacturers from the standpoint of process effectiveness on a consistent basis and such a device or method would allow users to better determine specifications for what they require. Users also want to know, as stated above, how well their pads are faring under certain operating conditions and a method or device that will allow them to an accurately determine pad surface conditions and wear will provide them with useful information in that regard. Finally, from a research and development standpoint, the results of such a test would provide makers of CMP polishing pads with more useful information about how to improve existing manufacturing processes for CMP Polishing pads and provide better technical support to specific users and in the general development of new CMP and related processes.
As observed, above removable pad systems have been known in the prior art but they were not design for the purpose of providing secure and accurate replacement of the pad on the platen once it has been removed. The inventor of the present invention was unable to find in the prior art any method or device to suitably overcome this problem. More particularly, the inventor of the present invention was motivated by the fact that when pad samples were removed for optical interferometry, they were often visibly distorted after being cut and pried from the pad. This distortion had to be modeled and removed mathematically from the data. When subtle surface changes were likely to be present, samples cut and analyzed in this way were often of questionable value. The problem of how to accomplish a removable and replaceable pad for regular use on the CMP platen in a way that would maximize the ease and speed of removal, the integrity of the pad surface anticipating further use of the pad in CMP and the secure and essentially immobile condition of the two sheets with respect to each other, the platen and the pad once they were secured together were the object of sustained and focused investigation by the inventor of the present invention.
The present invention seeks to provide a useful device and an accurate and consistent method for allowing the simple, time saving and cost effective removal of CMP pads permitting the easy measurement and determination of surface characteristics of the CMP pad during use, exchange with other CMP pads and storage of used CMP pads with remaining useful life. These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Removable polishing pad for chemical mechanical polishing


A process for forming a beta-phase nickel aluminide (NiAl) overlay coating that is suitable for use as a bond coat for a thermal barrier coating (TBC). The overlay coating is deposited by a method that produces a generally columnar grain structure in which grains extend through the coating such that at least some grain boundaries are open at the coating surface. The coating is then peened with a particulate media, followed by heating the overlay coating to a temperature sufficient to cause the overlay coating to recrystallize and form new grain boundaries that are not open to the outer surface of the coating and significantly less susceptible to accelerated oxidation than the original grain boundaries. The particulate media is formed of a composition containing nickel and aluminum, such that an oxide scale that forms on the surface of the coating after the peening operation is substantially free of deleterious oxide compounds, notably iron-containing spinels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protective coating systems for components exposed to high temperatures, such as the hostile thermal environment of a gas turbine engine. More particularly, this invention is directed to a beta-phase nickel aluminide overlay coating and to a process for modifying the grain structure of the coating to improve its oxidation resistance and promote the formation of a protective oxide scale on the coating that is substantially free of spinels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Components of the turbine, combustor and augmentor sections of gas turbine engines are often protected by a metallic environmental coating and/or a thermal barrier coating (TBC), the latter of which is typically a ceramic material bonded to the component surface with a metallic bond coat. Coating materials that have been widely employed as environmental coatings and bond coats include diffusion aluminide coatings and MCrAlX overlay coatings (where M is iron, cobalt and/or nickel, and X is yttrium or another rare earth element). The aluminum content of these materials provides for the slow growth of a strong adherent and continuous aluminum oxide layer (alumina scale) at elevated temperatures, which protects the coating and its underlying substrate from oxidation and hot corrosion. When the coating serves as a bond coat for a TBC, the alumina scale also chemically bonds the ceramic topcoat to the bond coat.
Other types of environmental coatings and bond coats that have been proposed include beta-phase nickel aluminide (NiAl) overlay coatings. In contrast to the aforementioned MCrAlX overlay coatings, which are metallic solid solutions containing intermetallic phases, the NiAl beta phase is an intermetallic compound that exists for nickel-aluminum compositions containing about 30 to about 60 atomic percent aluminum. Notable examples of beta-phase NiAl coating materials are disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,852 to Nagaraj et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,084 to Darolia et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,313 to Rigney et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,001 to Darolia. These NiAl compositions, which preferably contain a reactive element (such as zirconium and/or hafnium) and/or other alloying constituents (such as chromium), have been shown to improve the adhesion of a ceramic TBC, thereby increasing the spallation resistance of the TBC.
In addition to modifying the chemistry of NiAI-base environmental coatings and bond coats, investigations have been undertaken to determine the effect that the surface finish of beta-phase NiAI overlay coatings has on their oxidation resistance and their ability to adhere a ceramic coating. Commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,922 to Spitsberg et al. discloses a process by which the grain structure of a beta-phase NiAI overlay bond coat can be modified to improve the spallation resistance of a ceramic TBC deposited on the bond coat. The NiAI overlay coating is deposited by methods that produce a generally columnar grain structure, e.g., physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques, with the result that open grain boundaries are typically present at the coating surface, with the grains physically separated thereby being referred to as leaders. For NiAI coatings of the type taught by the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,153,313, 6,255,001 and 6,291,084, leaders are characterized by both a physical separation and chemical differences, and has been associated with reduced oxidation and spallation resistance as a result of providing a pathway for oxidation. To reduce the presence of deleterious leaders, Spitsberg et al. recrystallize the NiAI coating during or after deposition, resulting in the formation of new surface grain boundaries. Recrystallization is achieved by depositing the coating on a substrate maintained at a sufficiently high temperature so that recrystallization occurs during deposition, or by cold or warm working the coating surface and then heat treating the coating at a temperature sufficient to cause recrystallization.
A particular technique disclosed by Spitsberg et al. for cold or warm working the coating surface is shot peening. In practice, stainless steel shot peening media has been used. However, NiAl overlay coatings peened in this manner have been found to form an iron-containing spinel scale that can promote the spallation of a ceramic coating deposited on the coatings.

Process for a beta-phase nickel aluminide overlay coating


A method of playing a wagering game based broadly on the "war" game is played where an ante bet is first made by each player and a card is then dealt to each player and to the dealer. It is then determined whether the card of the dealer has a greater value, a lesser value or an equal value to that of each player. The ante bet is then immediately paid off to each player with a higher value card than the dealer and to the dealer for each player with a value less than or equal to the dealer. Additionally, if the dealer ties a player, each tied player then (optionally) wagers a further bet (whose payoff odds are in favor of the player) which is followed by the dealing of at least one further card to each tied player and to the dealer to see who wins the further bet(s). The paying off of the further bet also preferably includes in the event of a further tie either a win to the dealer, a win to the player, or a further deal to the player and dealer. A tie bet that the player and dealer will tie can also be made by any player at the same time that the ante bet is wagered.

The card game "war" is well known and played with great frequency. However, this game is not suited for use as a wagering game since the outcome is generally not determined for a long time after the commencing of the game. Further, the game is not suited for use as a casino type game which foremost requires a house advantage and which also generally requires fast-paced action and frequent betting.


A brisket barrier for milking parlors includes a transverse bar mounted for sliding movement on vertical supports. The bar has a release position at floor level, a retaining position at brisket level, and an index position where it presses rearward against the brisket. The arrangement provides for uniform positioning of cows in standard stalls, regardless of the cows' size. The cows simply step over the lowered bar to exit the stall.

This invention relates to a brisket barrier for milking parlors.
In modern dairies, cows are milked in standard stalls using automated equipment. The milking process depends on accurately locating the cows in the stalls, so that the equipment will be properly positioned with respect to the udder in each case.
The stall is not much larger than the cow. The rear of the stall is defined by a butt plate that the cow can back up to. The front is defined by some sort of movable barrier: the type of barrier contemplated by this invention is a brisket barrier, that is, a transverse bar which engages the animal just in front of its shoulders.
One prior patent disclosing a brisket barrier for use in a milking parlor is U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,768. It shows an arrangement in which the brisket barrier pivots down from above the cow, against the brisket, forcing the cow back toward the butt plate or splash shield.


The present invention provides a hand sanitizer system that includes a proximity detector, a dispensing system and an alarm feature, and is operative to provide an indication corresponding to a person in proximity of the system failing to dispense antiseptic or other solution from the dispenser within a predetermined period of time after moving within a predetermined range of the detector.

Approximately 10% of patients who are admitted to hospitals acquire an infection while in the hospital. These infections are typically more serious due to problems with antibiotic resistant strains. These infections not only dramatically increase the cost of care, but more importantly are a cause of substantial morbidity and mortality. The most common method for the spread of nosocomial infections is from direct contact with health care providers' hands. As a result, the CDC has issued recommendations that healthcare providers wash their hands or use an instant hand sanitizer before and after all patient's contacts.
At the present time nearly all hospitals have installed instant hand sanitizer dispensers in all patient rooms and strategically placed signs reminding health care workers to use the dispensers. Despite this improvement, there is at best 50% compliance among health care workers. In most cases the providers are distracted with other responsibilities and simply forget.
Although there are devices designed to monitor sanitization compliance, these devices tend to be impractical in hospital settings, are prohibitively expensive to use on a large scale, and/or would require substantial renovation to implement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems for monitoring hand sanitization


A composition includes an artificial construct having (a) a reporter-containing portion chemically coupled to (b) a cleavage site. The cleavage site interacts with an investigational substance in a manner that cleaves the reporter-containing portion from a remainder of the construct. The cleaved portion is destroyed or otherwise degraded by the local environment, and presence of an investigational substance is evidenced by reduction in signal from the reporter. The investigational substance is preferably a Botulinum toxin (BoTN), and the cleavage sequence is all or part of a SNARE protein. The cleavable reporter-containing portion is preferably Yellow Fluorescent Protein (YFP), Citrine, Venus, or a YPet protein.

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are produced by Clostridium botulinum, and are among the most potent toxins known. These toxins are a well-recognized source of food poisoning, often resulting in serious harm or even death of the victims. There are seven structurally related botulinum neurotoxins or serotypes (BoNT/A-G), each of which is composed of a heavy chain (˜100 KD) and a light chain (˜50 KD). The heavy chain mediates toxin entry into a target cell through receptor-mediated endocytosis. Once internalized, the light chain is translocated from the endosomal vesicle lumen into the cytosol, and acts as a zinc-dependent protease to cleave proteins that mediate vesicle-target membrane fusion ("substrate proteins").
These BoNT substrate proteins include plasma membrane protein syntaxin, peripheral membrane protein SNAP-25, and a vesicle membrane protein synaptobrevin (Syb). These proteins are collectively referred to as the SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) proteins. Cleavage of SNARE proteins blocks vesicle fusion with plasma membrane and abolishes neurotransmitter release at neuromuscular junction. Among the SNARE proteins, syntaxin and SNAP-25 usually reside on the target membrane and are thus referred to as t-SNAREs, while synaptobrevin is found exclusively with synaptic vesicles within the synapse and is called v-SNARE. Together, these three proteins form a complex that is thought to be the minimal machinery to mediate the fusion between vesicle membrane and plasma membrane. BoNT/A, E, and C1 cleave SNAP-25, BoNT/B, D, F, G cleave synaptobrevin (Syb), at single but different sites. BoNT/C also cleaves syntaxin in addition to SNAP-25.
Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints, and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.
Due to their threat as a source of food poisoning, and as bioterrorism weapons, there is a need to sensitively and speedily detect BoNTs. Currently, the most sensitive method to detect toxins is to perform toxicity assay in mice. This method requires large numbers of mice, is time-consuming, and cannot be used to study toxin catalytic kinetics. A number of amplified immunoassay systems based on using antibodies against toxins have also been developed, but most such systems require complicated and expensive amplification process, and cannot be used to study toxin catalytic activity either. Although HPLC and immunoassay can be used to detect cleaved substrate molecules and measure enzymatic activities of these toxins, those methods are generally time-consuming and complicated, some of them require specialized antibodies, making them inapplicable for large-scale screening. Therefore, there is a need for new and improved methods and compositions for detecting BoNTs.
In the last few years, researchers have started investigating use of FRET assays to detect BoNTs. In FRET assays, two fluorigenic amino acid derivatives are used to replace two native amino acids in a short synthetic peptide (12-35 amino acids) that contain toxin cleavage sites. The fluorescence signal of one amino acid derivative is quenched by another amino acid derivative when they are close to each other in the peptide. This mechanism is called "Förster resonance energy transfer" (FRET). Cleavage of the peptide separates the two amino acid derivatives, such that a decrease in FRET can be detected.
FRET assays have been successfully used for detecting BoNTs. (See e.g., US Pat. App. No. 2004/0191887 to Chapman, filed Oct. 28, 2003, US Pat. App. No. 2006/0134722 to Chapman, filed Dec. 20, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 7,208,285 to Steward (April 2007), U.S. Pat. No. 7,183,066 to Fernandez-Salas (February 2007), and application US2011/0033866 (publ. February 2010),
Although some success has been demonstrated in applying FRET assays to detection of BoNTs, the sensitivity and specificity are still undesirable for many purposes.
In FRET assays for the localization of BoNT substrate proteins, for example, measurements relative to the loss of FRET emission upon cleavage of the peptide can suffer from severe interferences, such that in some cases there is no difference between cells treated with no BoNT versus cells treated with saturating concentrations of BoNT. Therefore, it can be said that methods based on the loss of FRET report BoNT induced changes very poorly and thus its low statistical performance and reproducibility render it a non-reliable methodology. The US application 2009/0191583 to Ester Fernandez-Salas claims a non-FRET BoNT assay using only a single fluorophore. The assays disclosed in this document use cells which are capable of efficient Clostridial toxin uptake and which include a membrane localized Clostridial toxin substrate containing a fluorescent marker.
As an example, a cell useful in this paper can express a SNAP25206-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fusion protein that localizes to the plasma membrane. Upon BoNT/A treatment of this cell, cleavage of the membrane localized SNAP25206-EGFP substrate occurs, releasing the EGFP containing fragment into the cytoplasm. Upon excitation of the treated cell with a 484 nM laser, the EGFP is excited and emits light at 510 nM. However, because a portion of the EGFP is now cytoplasmic, a distribution change between the uncleaved, membrane localized SNAP25206-EGFP toxin substrate and the cleaved, cytoplasmic localized EGFP fragment can be observed in BoNT/A treated cells. The assay might therefore work for qualitative analysis, but the presence of EGFP emitting portions in both the membrane and the cytoplasm renders this method undesirable for quantitative analysis.
Thus, improved apparatus, systems and methods are therefore still needed which overcome the drawbacks and the limits of the prior art relative to both FRET and non-FRET assays.


Systems and methods for content tagging and creation within an information system are described herein. Content tagging may include the processing of unstructured data as input and the transformation of the unstructured data into structured data that has context relative to a user or a group of users. The content may include an action statement suggesting at least one action for the user to perform. The tagging process may associate the action statement with a tag provided from a hierarchy of tag classifications, the tag being relevant to motivating the user to perform at least one action contained in the action statement (for example, the performance actions facilitating the user's achievement of a health goal). The content and associated tagging data may then be stored in the information system for consumption by the content suggestion engine. Further techniques for tagging and accessing tagged data are also described.

Various data services select or recommend content for display to users. For example, in the self-help setting, a variety of existing data services provide tips, recommendations, and focused content to assist a subject human user with goal-based outcomes such as weight loss, smoking cessation, medical therapy, exercise goals, and the like. Some of these data services provide recommended content to a user in response to user-indicated preferences, user-indicated activity history, or manual user requests for content. Other data services rely on an expert human user to determine which content is most appropriate for delivery to the subject human user to achieve a certain outcome.
To the extent that existing data services provide automated recommendations or selections of content, the timing, delivery, and substance of the content is determined by complex predetermined rules and attributes, or other selections influenced by manual human intervention. For example, recommendations may be hard-coded in a content delivery system to deliver suggestive content in a particular fashion responsive to some detected condition. A human user must manually designate and select content from such content delivery systems for display at appropriate times. Existing systems and techniques do not provide adequate structures, categorizations, or rules for retrieving or displaying stored content without extensive programming or oversight.

Methodology for building and tagging relevant content


A non-volatile memory system adjusts the speed of a memory operation for a subset of non-volatile memory cells. For example, during a GIDL based erase process, the GIDL generation can be dampened for a subset of memory cells (e.g., for a set of NAND strings, or one or more sub-blocks).

The present disclosure relates to non-volatile storage.
Semiconductor memory is widely used in various electronic devices such as cellular telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, medical electronics, mobile computing devices, servers, solid state drives, non-mobile computing devices and other devices. Semiconductor memory may comprise non-volatile memory or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory allows information to be stored and retained even when the non-volatile memory is not connected to a source of power (e.g., a battery). One example of non-volatile memory is flash memory (e.g., NAND-type and NOR-type flash memory).
Users of non-volatile memory can program (e.g., write) data to the non-volatile memory and later read that data back. For example, a digital camera may take a photograph and store the photograph in non-volatile memory. Later, a user of the digital camera may view the photograph by having the digital camera read the photograph from the non-volatile memory.
All or portions of the non-volatile memory can also be erased. For example, if data becomes stale or is no longer needed, the portion of the non-volatile memory storing the stale or no-longer-needed data can be erased so that the portion of the non-volatile memory can be available for storing new data. Alternatively, the erasing can be used to write data; for example, program from a first state to a second state and erase back to the first state (or between more than two states). The erase process used by the memory should be accurate so that data is not lost and should be fast enough so that users of the memory system do not experience an unreasonable delay.


Fuel cell stacks comprising stacked separator/membrane electrode assembly cells in which the separators comprise a series of stacked thin sheet platelets having individually configured serpentine micro-channel reactant gas humidification, active area and cooling fields therein. The individual platelets are stacked with coordinate features precisely aligned in contact with adjacent platelets and bonded to form a monolithic separator. Post bonding processing includes passivation, such as nitriding. Preferred platelet material is 4-25 mil Ti in which the features, serpentine channels, tabs, lands, vias, manifolds and holes, are formed by chemical or laser etching, cutting, pressing or embossing, with combinations of depth and through-etching being preferred. The platelet manufacturing process is continuous and fast. By employing CAD based platelet design and photolithography, rapid change in feature design to accommodate a wide range of thermal management and humidification techniques. 100 cell H.sub.2 --O.sub.2 /Air PEM fuel cell stacks of this IFMT platelet design will exhibit outputs on the order of 0.75 kW/kg, some 3-6 times greater than current graphite plate PEM stacks.

Fuel cells for direct conversion of hydrogen or carbonaceous fuels to electricity have shown great theoretical promise, but have not become widely used in commerce because of technical problems and economic reasons. In the field of hydrogen-air/O.sub.2 fuel cells, power density, that is kilowatts of power generation per pound has been marginal, and the lifetime has been unsatisfactorily short. Prior art cells have experienced dropoff in power with age due in part to poisoning of catalysts or electrolyte membranes, and the poor distribution of fuel gases internally has led to thermal hot spots leading to cell failure and the like.
A particularly important class of fuel cells with promise for stationary and mobile electricity generation is the low temperature H.sub.2 /O.sub.2 fuel cell employing solid polymeric proton exchange membrane having a noble metal catalyst coated on at least one side thereof, which membrane is located between the fuel cell electrodes. These fuel cells employ H.sub.2 as fuel, whether directly supplied as such or generated in association with the cell by chemical reaction, such as electrolysis or from metal hydrides. The oxidant is O.sub.2 or air, and water is required both for cooling and for humidification of the membrane to keep it from drying out and becoming inefficient or structurally weakened through cracking. Typically, the anode side dries out first for a variety of reasons, including electrosmotic pumping from anode to cathode, the supply of gases in excess of the electrochemical reaction rate, and the air or oxygen flow on the cathode side purges both the product water and the water vapor passing through the membrane from the hydrogen anode side. Accordingly, the fuel gases are humidified in the fuel cell stack to reduce the dehydration effect. The cooling water removes excess heat generated in the slow combustion of the catalyst-mediated electrochemical reaction in the cells, and is conducted external of the stack for heat exchange. In some designs the cooling water is used to humidify the reactant gases.
There are several suitable electrode membrane assemblies (EMAs) available for such low temperature fuel cells. One is from H Power Corp of Bellville, N. J. which employs a Pt catalyst coated on a polymer film, such as duPont NAFION.RTM. brand perflourinated hydrocarbon as the membrane. Alternatively, Dow Chemical provides a perflourinated polymer which has been reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,869 as permitting current densities on the order of 4000 amps/s.f. with cell voltages in excess of 0.5 V/cell, for a cell stack power density in excess of 2 kw/s.f.
A typical design of currently available stacks is the Ballard Fuel Cell Stack of 35 active electrochemical cells, 19 thermal management cells, and 14 reactant humidification cells employing a Pt on NAFION N117 EMA in stacks of 1/4" thick graphite plates. The stack is reported to have an overall volume of 0.5 cu. ft. with a weight of 94 lbs and a 3 kw output from H.sub.2 and O.sub.2.
However, the graphite plates must be relatively thick to provide structural integrity and prevent reactant crossover since they are brittle and prone to crack as the cell stacks must be placed under compression to effect intra and inter-cell sealing to prevent gas leakage. They have low thermal and electrical conductivity which gives rise to hot spots and dead spots. They are also difficult to manufacture, especially the gas distribution channels. The output is relatively low, on the order of 0.5 kw/lb.
In the example cited above, the number of inactive cooling and humidification almost equals the number of active electrochemical cells. This effectively doubles the number of gasketed seals required in a stack thereby decreasing stack reliability and performance.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,869 does not offer a solution to graphite plate cell stack design as it is concerned with microprocessor control of a closed loop system external to the stack.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved fuel cell design, and methods of producing the fuel cells and operation thereof which overcome limiting problems of the prior art.

Fuel cells employing integrated fluid management platelet technology


Disclosed are methods for producing immortalized antigen-specific plasma cells and antibodies which include depleting an immunized cell population of CD138-positive cells and activating the depleted cells. The methods may be used to improve the efficiency of obtaining immortalized antigen-specific plasma cells.

The presently disclosed methods relate generally to the field of antibody development or production. In particular, the methods relate to the field of in vitro monoclonal antibody production.
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are highly specific affinity reagents used for detecting and treating diseases. For example, mAbs may be used in localizing biomarkers in tissue, purifying biomarkers from complex substances, and measuring markers leading to diagnosis of diseases cancer in clinical samples (e.g., cancer). The need for mAbs as affinity reagents is continually growing with the advent of multi-analyte detection platforms such as protein microarrays. The advancement of these platforms has yielded the potential for fast, high-throughput analysis of complex samples for small molecules and proteins of interest. The next few years will likely see rapid advancement in the use of these platforms for cancer biomarker discovery and the early-stage diagnosis of different cancers.
Despite the advancement of multi-analyte platforms, the overall performance and usefulness of these approaches depends on the quality of the mAbs used to capture and detect molecules of interest on the microarray surface. Successful development of a microarray requires the screening of many mAbs for affinity, specificity, cross-reactivity, and platform compatibility. For a given target, dozens of mAbs may need to be screened, and thus the techniques used to generate the mAbs must be able to generate a panel of highly diverse antigen-specific (Ag-specific) mAbs. Currently, the means to develop mAbs are limited to a few different strategies, each with limited abilities to generate clonally diverse panels of Ag-specific mAbs.
The standard method for creating monoclonal antibodies to an antigen involves the creation of a fused cell called a "hybridoma." A hybridoma is produced by fusing together an established tumor cell line, such as a myeloma cell line, and an antibody-producing cell (e.g., a B-lymphocyte) from an animal that has previously been immunized with the antigen. Antibody-producing cells typically are obtained from the animal's spleen, lymph nodes, or lymph tissue (e.g., splenocytes or lymphocytes). These fused cells or "hybrid cells" then are selected and screened to obtain a hybridoma that produces the desired antibody (i.e., a "hybridoma").
Hybridoma technology has significant disadvantages. Typically, one hybridoma clone may be generated per 105-106 splenocytes fused, thus most of the Ag-specific cells contained within the splenocyte population may be lost. In addition, many of the clones generated may not produce mAbs that recognize the antigen of interest. Furthermore, hybridoma cell lines of interest must be separated through screening and subcloning. The frequency of successful, Ag-specific B cell hybridomas may be on the order of one per 106-108 starting cells. Finally, hybridomas are polyploid and chromosomally unstable. As a result, months of in vitro culture may be required to stabilize each clone and ensure strong mAb production.
An alternative to traditional hybridoma technology is phage display. Phages are viruses that infect bacteria such as E. coli. The phage genome is replicated within the bacteria, translocated to the cytoplasm and packaged into rod-shaped particles, which are then released into the media upon bacterial lysis. The particle coats can be engineered to "display" ligands such as antibodies. Thus large phage libraries containing billions of different antibody genes can be generated, with each phage containing a single antibody gene. These libraries can be screened for binding against any antigen of interest and the desired clone selected. A major advantage of phage display is that it does not require animal immunization. This also may be a primary drawback, because antibodies developed using naïve antibody phage libraries may have affinities that are generally two to three orders of magnitude lower than those of antibodies produced using traditional fusion technology. Increasing the probability of obtaining high-affinity antibodies with phage display requires additional mutagenesis upon clone selection, greatly increasing the naïve library size, or generating libraries from immunized animals. Each option requires extensive development time and expense.
Plasmacytoma technology may be used as an alternative to hybridoma technology and phage display technology. Plasmacytomas are immortalized, antibody producing cells. Plasmacytomas have been obtained by infecting B cells with an immortalizing retrovirus. For example, the ABL-MYC retrovirus has been used to produce plasmacytomas. ABL-MYC is a replication-defective retrovirus, which contains v-abl from the Abelson Murine Leukemia virus (Ab-MuLV) and murine c-myc. ABL-MYC infection stably transforms Ag-specific B cells into plasmacytomas that produce an antibody to a specified target antigen. Antigen-specific plasmacytomas may be obtained by infecting splenocytes from immunized mice with ABL-MYC and then subsequently injecting the infected splenocytes into recipient mice for plasmacytoma and ascites development. This process may provide antibodies against a wide range of antigens. However, clonal diversity may be limited by in vivo clonal selection, plasmacytoma development, and plasmacytoma propagation. For example, one disadvantage of plasmacytoma technology is that clonal diversity may be limited by in vivo ascites development. During plasmacytoma development, many Ag-specific clones may be lost to other clones with more aggressive growth characteristics. In addition, successful Ag-specific plasmacytoma development may depend on strong immune responses from the immunized mice upon antigen challenge. Antigens that elicit weak to moderate immune responses may be unlikely to develop Ag-specific plasmacytomas.
Thus, new methods for obtaining antigen-specific B-lymphocytes are desirable. In particular, new methods for selection and clonal expansion of antigen-specific B-cell populations to produce stable hybridomas and plasmacytomas are desirable.

Methods for developing and producing antigen-specific antibody-producing cells

NeoClone Biotechnology International, LLC


The present invention discloses a voltage control method. First, the load voltage of the load is divided to generate a feedback voltage. Then, an absolute value of a periodic triangular wave signal is retrieved to generate a positive feedback signal, which and the feedback voltage are then combined to produce a sum signal. The sum signal is then compared with a target voltage and when the sum signal is less than the target voltage, a control signal is generated and thus the load voltage is updated and stabilized using an input voltage. In an alternative method, the feedback voltage and the periodic triangular wave signal are combined to generate a sum signal, which is compared with the target voltage. When sum signal is less than the target voltage, a control signal is generated and thus the load voltage is for updated and stabilized using an input voltage.

The circuit design for voltage/current control utilizing high-side FET and Low-side FET have many applications involving regulation of electrical power supplies of the integrated circuit. In such application, current flows from the junction between the source of high-side FET and the drain of low-side FET to the load. This load is connected in series with an inductor and in parallel with a capacitor. When the cycle of operation starts, the high-side FET is turned on and the low-side FET is turned off allowing current to flow from high-side FET to inductor, capacitor and load. This current increases as the capacitor charges. When the voltage across the load reaches the target level, the high-side FET is turned off and the low-side FET is turned on, and this current decreases as the capacitor discharges. Hence by switching the high side FET and low side FET alternatively between on and off, the output voltage will not changed due to the increase or decrease of the inductor current.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional switching controller consists of a comparator 10, a high-side FET 12 and a low-side FET 14. The drain of the high-side FET 12 is electrically connected to the input voltage VIN, and the source of the high-side FET 12 is connected to the drain of the low-side FET 14. The source of the low-side FET 14 is connected to ground. The gate of the high-side FET 12 and that of the low-side FET 14 are respectively connected to the comparator 10. When sufficient voltage is applied to the transistor gate electrode, corresponding current will flow between the drain and the source of the transistor. Through voltage/current control operation, the gate of high-side FET and that of low-side FET are alternately switched on and off. Furthermore, an inductor 16 is connected to the junction connecting the source of high-side FET 12 and the drain of the low-side FET 14. A load 18 is connected in series with the inductor and to ground, and the voltage across the load 18 is the output voltage Vo.
When the high-side FET 12 and the low-side FET 14 is about to switch from on to off or vice versa, the gate of the transistors will remain in the original state of on or off for some time. As such, a feedback voltage F is generated from the output voltage VO using a voltage divider 20. Furthermore, the adder 26 receives a periodic triangular wave signal from the source of the low-side FET and one end of the inductor 16. Adder 26 combines the feedback voltage F and the triangular wave signal together to generate a sum signal S. Comparator 10 compares this sum signal S with a target voltage T generated by a target voltage generator 22. When the sum signal S is equal to the target voltage T, comparator 10 generates a trigger signal to switch the high side FET 12 to off and low side FET 14 to on. In addition, a capacitor 24 is connected in parallel with load 18.
During load transient condition, for example when load 18 changes from overload to light load, the current in load 18 will decrease rapidly, and consequently the current in the inductor 16 will also decrease at the same time. Also when the high side FET 12 is turned off and the low side FET 14 is turned on, the voltage drop across the drain and the source of the low side FET 14 results in a trapezoidal wave signal. If the switching of the high side FET 12 and the low side FET 14 is cyclical, the trapezoidal wave signals are also cyclical. Since the triangular wave signal is formed by subtracting the end voltage of the trapezoidal wave of the previous cycle from the trapezoidal wave of the current cycle, and also because the absolute value of the end voltage of trapezoidal wave of the previous cycle is greater than the absolute value of the trapezoidal wave of the current cycle, the triangular wave will generate a negative voltage, thereby resulting in the sum signal S being less than the target voltage T, thus turning the high side FET on and providing energy to load 18, as such the output voltage increases. At the same time, because the load current 18 decreases rapidly, current will flow from the inductor 16 through the capacitor 24 to ground, causing the output voltage Vo to climb continuously resulting in an unstable phenomenon.
It is within this context that embodiments of the present invention arise.

Voltage control method and apparatus for achieving and maintaining a targeted voltage on a load

Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (Cayman), Ltd.