The method includes indentifying the beer keg to a brewery which fills the keg and for identifying the date on which the beer keg is filled. A sensor system is attachable to or built into the beer keg for identifying the temperature of the beer and for locating the keg. A communication system directly transmits information between the brewery and the sensor system on the keg.

Draft beer is typically provided in beer kegs, with the kegs having a typical volume in the range of 15.5 gallons. However, it has been difficult, if not impossible, heretofore, to ensure proper handling of draft beer kegs to ensure quality of the beer. Temperature, age and light are the highest risk factors that affect quality of draft beer. The lack of an ability to provide quality control and monitoring produces an economic loss to the owner. Estimates indicate that the lack of control over handling results in a 4-7%, or even more, reduction in sales. Poor handling includes exposure to even moderate heat as well as excessive time in storage, even storage which is temperature controlled. Further, even with refrigerated trains and trucks, there is no automated system to ensure overall proper handling of the individual kegs. While most kegs do a suitable job for protecting beer from the effects of light, other factors such as temperatures to which the keg has been exposed and age of the beer significantly affect the quality of the beer over its lifetime in a keg.
Once a filled beer keg leaves the producer, i.e. the brewer, there is no reliable way for the brewer to know the conditions the keg encounters, or whether it was ever subjected to conditions which could affect quality. Further, there is no verification of the travel of the individual beer keg and no knowledge of the location of a keg. Typically, many kegs go missing, and are never returned to the source. It has been estimated that in excess of 20 million kegs are used each year with 500.00 kegs lost and 100 million dollars in economic loss.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a monitoring system/method which can correct one or more of the disadvantages encountered by beer kegs during use thereof.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image capture device which is capable of reducing the load exerted on window glass to which a bracket is adhered, when an on-vehicle camera is attached to the bracket. The present invention is characterized by being provided with: an image capture unit for capturing an image; and a holding part for holding the image capture unit. The present invention is further characterized in that: the image capture unit is provided with a part to be supported provided with a short part having a prescribed length, and a long part having a longer length than the short part; the holding part is provided with a support part which supports the part to be supported, and a pressing part which is provided facing the support part, and which generates a pressing force in the direction of the support part; and, when positioned between the support part and the pressing part, the part to be supported can be switched between a first state in which the short part is positioned in a direction linking the support part and the pressing part, and a second state in which the long part is positioned in the direction linking the support part and the pressing part, and receives a stronger pressing force than that in the first state from the pressing part.

With increased awareness of preventive safety in recent years, there has been increased attention to stereo cameras that can be mounted on vehicles to determine the distance to an object such as a preceding vehicle or a pedestrian. In view of necessity to be able to measure the distance with high accuracy in application to avoid collision with an object, the stereo camera is to be secured desirably at a prescribed position of a vehicle.
Furthermore, there is a growing need to mount a stereo camera not only on large and medium-sized vehicles but also on small vehicles such as mini-vehicles. In particular, as a structure for installing the stereo camera on a small vehicle, a structure of mounting the camera on the windshield is becoming a mainstream in consideration of loading efficiency in vehicle compartment.
For example, JP 2012-144115 discloses a structure in which a bracket is attached beforehand to a windshield of a vehicle, and then an on-vehicle camera such as a stereo camera is attached to the bracket.


An intra-ruminal, slow release bolus for supplying a biologically beneficial substance to a ruminant animal, wherein the beneficial substance, in the form of a relatively high density particulate such as copper oxide, is incorporated in a cylindrical block of a solid, non-toxic binding substance such as salt or sugar which in use dissolves and/or disperses within at most a few hours in the ruminant stomach, leaving the beneficial substance retained in the ruminant stomach for slow release over a period of months.

Particulate materials of high density, for example rods or filaments of oxidised copper, are administered by mouth to ruminant animals for the purpose of nutritional supplementation or medicinal treatment, more especially for the treatment of trace element deficiencies.
Such orally administered high density particulate material is employed because particles of appropriate size and density lodge for prolonged periods in the ruminant stomachs. Slow solution of the active substance, e.g. trace element or trace elements, takes place. The duration for which the active substance remains effective can extend to several months and, for example, up to one year in the case of a copper oxide particulate.
Oral administration of these high density particulate materials is especially suitable for ruminant animals grazed extensively, handled infrequently and not receiving supplementary feeding.
Material such as particulate copper oxide rods or filaments is normally administered in the form of individual doses. The appropriate dose is commonly contained within a capsule of gelatin, which dissolves rapidly in the ruminant stomach. The filled gelatin capsule is of high relative density, usually 2 or more, which prevents it from being regurgitated. The gelatin typically dissolves within about 15 minutes, when in contact with the aqueous contents of the rumen or reticulum, and the released particles, being of high density, tend to sink to the bottom of whichever part of the ruminant stomach they are in. The particulate character and weight of the beneficial material causes very delayed passage through the parts of the ruminant stomach, lasting up to several months, thus giving prolonged effective treatment from a single administered dose.
Existing boluses are relatively expensive, mainly due to the high cost of the gelatin capsules when compared with the cost of the material to be administered.
The present invention therefore has as a principal object to provide an alternative and less expensive bolus for administration to ruminant animals. Moreover, increasingly strict control of animal-derived substances such as gelatin, to prevent spread of disease, make it desirable to provide a means of administration of particulates such as copper oxide rods or filaments for which gelatin is not required.

Bolus for supplying biologically beneficial substances to ruminant animals

Animax Limited, Shepherds Grove West, Stanton, Bury St. Edmunds


Systems and methods for managing a large number of multi-stage switches in a data center are provided. In one aspect, a plurality of first stage switches in a switch cluster may be configured to function as a proxy switch for a given number of second stage switches in the switch cluster. Each of the first stage switches may thus receive, via a first set of networking links, inbound control plane management traffic destined for respective ones of the given number of second stage switches. The first stage switches may then route the control plane management traffic to the appropriate second stage switches via a second set of bidirectional links. In addition, each of the second stage switches may be further configured to route outbound data traffic originating from the second stage switches using all available uplinks in the second set of bidirectional links.

In a data center, a network of servers forming a Control Plane Network ("CPN network") provide services for deploying and managing a set of clustered switches that may be interconnected with a number of host machines such as web and database servers. In order to provide such management services, one or more of the CPN management components (such as a central CPN manager or controller, a CPN installer, and a CPN link installer) may be interconnected to an Out-Of-Band ("OOB") management interface provided on each of a large plurality of Top of the Rack ("ToR") switches via uplink and downlink ports of one or more CPN edge switches. While such configuration provides connectivity between the ToR switches and the CPN, a large scale data center that includes hundreds or thousands of ToR switches can be expensive and difficult to implement and manage, as it typically requires each of the ToR switches to be physically and directly interconnected to one or more CPN edge switches.

Inband management in a multi-stage CLOS network


Apparatus for connecting the bore through a diverter assembly with the bore through a blowout preventer stack beneath an offshore drilling rig include an upper tubular member adapted to be connected to the diverter assembly to form a lower continuation of the lower end of its bore, a lower tubular member adapted to be connected to the blowout preventer stack to form an upper continuation of the upper end of its bore, and a tubular body extending between and pivotally and sealably connected to the upper and lower tubular members to connect their bores.

The purpose of so-called diverter systems is to provide low pressure control over the well during the preliminary stages of drilling, and, for this purpose, the system includes a housing supported with its bore beneath the rotary table on the platform and having one or more side outlets from the bore for connection with drilling mud return lines on the platform. A diverter assembly comprising a tubular body adapted to be lowered into a supported position in the bore of the housing has a port aligned with each side outlet from the bore, and a spool having packing at its lower end is suspended from the body for lowering over the upper end of a conductor extending upwardly from the preventer stack as the body is landed in the bore of the housing. More particularly, the tubular body carries means which seals between it and the housing bore to confine flow within the body into the side outlets with flow normally returning to the rig mud system from which it may be recirculated into the drill string. Packers are adapted to be lowered into and landed in the diverter body to seal about a drill string extending downwardly from the rotary table and through the tubular body leading to the conductor, whereby the drilling fluid returns about the string can be "diverted" into overboard lines connected to the outlets in the housing with reservoirs on the platform.
In prior systems of this type, a packer extending from the diverter body closes around a mandrel and allows for some height adjustment depending on the height of the stack. More particularly, the length of the spool is such that it is able to accommodate some misalignment of the bores of the diverter assembly and stack, as may occur, for example, due to movement of the stack relative to the platform. However, larger and thus taller stacks, necessitating correspondingly shorter spools, make it difficult if not impossible to maintain this essentially fixed connection between the diverter assembly and stack. Also, when the stack is at a substantial depth below water level, the stack experiences even greater movement with respect to the platform. Furthermore, even if the connection is able to flex the required amount under these conditions, there is no way to disconnect and reconnect the lower end of the diverter assembly, as may be required under adverse weather conditions.
There is therefore a need for and the primary object of this invention is to provide apparatus for so connecting the diverter assembly and blowout preventer stack which is of such construction as to accommodate such movement of the stack regardless of its depth, and, more particularly, to provide apparatus of this type which is easily connected to or disconnected from the stack irrespective of the extend of misalignment of the bores of the diverter assembly and stack.

Apparatus for connecting a diverter assembly to a blowout preventer stack


A photolithographic etching process for accurately and uniformly fabricating wire screen disks of varying complex geometries for cryogenic cooler regenerators. The photolithographic etching process includes the steps of applying a photoresist to a sheet of wire screen, developing the photoresist in the form of one or more desired disk shapes, and then etching the developed sheet of wire screen to form the wire screen disks. The etching process of the present invention produces wire screen disks with solid edges, thus ensuring that the wire screen disks fit properly in the regenerator. Also, these edges have no loose or bent wires which can break off and potentially damage the compressor and other moving parts of the cryogenic cooler. The etching process of the present invention can be used to fabricate wire screen disks with varying complex geometries, thus allowing for the construction of cryogenic coolers having complex, but more efficient, configurations.

This invention relates generally to cryogenic coolers and, more particularly, to methods for fabricating wire screen disks for cryogenic cooler regenerators.
Regenerative cryogenic coolers, such as Stirling and pulsed tube cryogenic coolers, have been developed for cooling space-based infrared detectors to very low temperatures to provide greatly improved infrared detection sensitivities as well as a variety of ground based applications including cryopumps for high vacuum systems. Stirling and pulse tube cryogenic coolers are closed-cycle expansion coolers which produce cooling through an alternating compression and expansion of a gas, such as helium or hydrogen, with a consequent reduction of gas temperature. For example, a typical pulse tube cryogenic cooler utilizes a compressor to generate a continuous pressure wave which produces an alternating mass flow through the pulse tube cooler. The alternating pressure and mass flow is a pressure/volume work which causes a regenerator to pump heat from a cooling load through a cold end heat exchanger to an aftercooler, where the heat is rejected to a heat sink. Meanwhile, the pressure/volume work travels down the pulse tube, where it is also rejected as heat to the heat sink by a hot end heat exchanger.
The efficiency of a cryogenic cooler, which is largely determined by the efficiency of the regenerator in regenerative type cryogenic coolers, is particularly important in space applications. The regenerator is typically a stack of a thousand or more wire screen disks which act as a thermal sponge, alternately absorbing heat from the gas and then rejecting the absorbed heat to the gas as the pressure wave oscillates back and forth. For good thermal efficiency, the heat transfer between the regenerator and the gas must occur with minimum energy loss. Also, the regenerator must have a large heat capacity compared with that of the gas, as well as have low thermal conductivity along its length to minimize conduction loss. To achieve good thermal efficiency and prevent blow by, as well as provide low thermal conductivity along its length, the wire screen disks must fit properly in the regenerator, preferably with a slip fit.
Wire screen disks are typically fabricated with mechanical punches which are hand or machine driven. However, mechanical punches wear easily and must be frequently sharpened and calibrated. Also, mechanical punches cause frayed edges which prevent the disks from fitting properly in the regenerator. In addition, these frayed edges have loose and bent wires which can break off, potentially causing severe damage to the compressor and other moving parts of the cryogenic cooler. Furthermore, it is difficult to fabricate wire screen disks having complex varying geometries with mechanical punches. Accordingly, there has been a need for an improved method for fabricating wire screen disks for cryogenic cooler regenerators. The present invention clearly fulfills this need.

Photolithographic etching process for fabricating wire screen disks for cryogenic cooler regenerators


With a magnet arrangement for an electromechanical drive with a cylindrical armature guided in a pole tube, the position of the armature is transformed into an electrical signal. Provided for this is a displacement sensor which is connected to the armature and has a fixed part and a movable part. One side of the armature is formed such that it transfers the movement of the armature, and the other side of the armature is connected to the movable part of the displacement sensor. The pole tube is provided with a closure part on the side of the displacement sensor. A pressure tube is led to the outside through an axial clearance of the closure part. The movable part of the displacement sensor moves in the pressure tube. The pressure tube is enclosed by the fixed part of the displacement sensor. In order to prevent the displacement sensor from being damaged by vibrations, the fixed part of the displacement sensor is arranged in a clearance of the closure part. Such type magnet arrangements of this type are preferably used for electrical position feedback in fluidic valves.

The invention relates to a magnet arrangement for an electromechanical drive, especially for a fluidic valve with a cylindrical armature guided in a pole tube and with a magnetic coil enclosing the pole tube and with a displacement sensor which transforms the position of the armature into an electrical signal and has a fixed part and a movable part, in which arrangement one side of the armature is formed for transferring the movement of the armature and the other side of the armature is connected to the movable part of the displacement sensor, the pole tube being provided with a closure part on the side of the displacement sensor.


A transmitter providing a wide output control variable width with high efficiency is provided. Saturation mode operation is performed in the vicinity of the maximum transmission power and the input level of a large power amplifier is enlarged and fixed. When the large power amplifier is operated in a saturation state, the amplitude component of a modulation signal is input to an R input terminal in the range responsive to an output power control level and power supply voltage of a power supply terminal is amplitude-modulated, whereby highly efficient polar coordinate modulation is performed. In smaller transmission power, linear mode operation is performed, the input level of the large power amplifier is lessened for operating the large power amplifier in the linear mode, and the power supply voltage of the power supply terminal is made variable in response to the output power control level, whereby transmission power control is performed.

For a transmitter whose output can be controlled variably, the power efficiency and the linearity in a transmission function are evaluated as indicators for measuring the performance of the apparatus. The power efficiency and the linearity in the transmission function are the most important indicators to represent the performance of the apparatus particularly in a high-frequency modulation transmission machine such as a mobile telephone.
An amplifier of class A operation is widely used as an amplifier at the last stage of such a high-frequency modulation transmission machine. The class A amplifier has small distortion, namely, is excellent in linearity, but provides small power efficiency because it consumes power accompanying a DC bias component at all times.
Then, designed as a method of operating a power amplifier with a high degree of efficiency is a method of changing drain voltage or collector voltage (power supply voltage) in response to the amplitude component of a baseband signal for amplification using the saturation region of the input/output power characteristic of a transistor. For example, when average output power is changed, the above-mentioned power supply voltage is changed in proportion to any desired average output power. As this kind of apparatus, for example, an output variable transmitter disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3044057 (patent document 1) is available.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram to show the configuration of an output variable transmitter in a related art example. This output variable transmitter includes modulation input terminals 101 and 102, a carrier oscillator 104, a quadrature modulator 103 for performing quadrature modulation of outputs of the modulation input terminals 101 and 102 at the output frequency of the carrier oscillator 104, a high-frequency power amplifier 105, a transmission output terminal 106, an envelop generation circuit 107 for generating an envelope from the outputs of the modulation input terminals 101 and 102, a specification signal input terminal 112, a multilevel DC signal generation circuit 108 for inputting a signal for setting the average output level of the power amplifier 105 from the specification signal input terminal 112 and generating a DC signal corresponding to the input value of the signal, a multiplication circuit 109 for multiplying the output envelop of the envelop generation circuit 107 by output of the multilevel DC signal generation circuit 108, a voltage control circuit 110 for controlling drain voltage of the power amplifier 105 in response to output of the multiplication circuit 109, and a power supply terminal 111.
The quadrature modulator 103 modules the carrier supplied from the carrier oscillator 104 according to an I signal input from the modulation input terminals 101 and 102 and a Q signal orthogonal to the I signal. The envelop generation circuit 107 calculates an amplitude signal R of the I and Q signals. An output level specification signal corresponding to the transmission output level to output to the transmission output terminal 106 is input to the specification signal input terminal 112. The multilevel DC signal generation circuit 108 generates a DC signal in accordance with the output level specification signal from the specification signal input terminal 112.
The multiplication circuit 109 multiplies the output of the envelop generation circuit 107 by the output of the multilevel DC signal generation circuit 108. Accordingly, a signal proportional to the envelop of the modulated wave is obtained in the output of the multiplication circuit 109 and moreover the average value changes with transmission output. The voltage control circuit 110 changes drain voltage Vo of the power amplifier 105 in response to the output of the multiplication circuit 109. Consequently, the drain voltage of the power amplifier 105 is proportional to the envelop of the modulated wave and the average value changes with transmission output. Therefore, using the configuration of the polar coordinate modulation system as described above, the power amplifier 105 can perform linear amplification while holding the saturation state of high efficiency, and moreover transmission output can be made variable.
However, in the output variable transmitter in the related art example shown in FIG. 11, both amplitude modulation and transmission output control are always performed collectively as drain voltage control and thus the output control variable width of the transmission power is limited by the characteristic of the power amplifier 105. To install the output variable transmitter in the related art example in an actual mobile telephone, finite control voltage range (for example, 0.3 V to 3.0 V) and power amplifier gain variable width (for example, 20 dB/dec) can only be secured. Thus, the necessary transmission output level range cannot sufficiently be secured in a communication apparatus requiring a wide output control variable width as in a recent mobile telephone standard (for example, about 43 dB+α in EGPRS of European mobile telephone standard).
The frequency at which a mobile telephone operates with the maximum transmission output is comparatively low. This is caused by the fact that the transmission power is set low by a command of a base station to avoid interference and enhance the cell use efficiency. Therefore, to prolong the conversion-possible time of a mobile telephone, suppressing the power consumption not only at the maximum transmission output time, but also at the low transmission output time is an important problem.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3044057 (p1-p20, FIG. 1)
Patent document 2: JP-A-2003-18026
Patent document 3: JP-A-2003-51751
Patent document 4: JP-A-2004-104194
Patent document 5: JP-A-2004-173249
Patent document 6: JP-A-3-276923

Transmitter apparatus and wireless communication apparatus


A D/A conversion circuit includes a plurality of resistors that are formed on a semiconductor substrate and that are connected in series to each other and a plurality of switches that are connected to the plurality of resistors, respectively, in which the plurality of resistors are configured using resistive element and a plurality of contacts that are provided to the resistive element, in which the plurality of switches are arranged side by side along a first direction when the semiconductor substrate is viewed from above, in which distances in the first direction between the plurality of contacts are equal to each other, and in which lengths in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, of the plurality of resistors are unequal to each other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a D/A conversion circuit, an oscillator, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
In a case where a D/A conversion circuit that is a type of resistor-caused voltage division is formed on a semiconductor substrate, for example, along a longitudinal direction of a resistive element with a predetermined width, a plurality of MOS switches are arranged adjacent to a resistive element, at the minimum distances allowed by a layout design rule, and distances (contact pitches) in a longitudinal direction of a plurality of contacts that are provided to the resistive element in order to form a plurality of division voltage resistors that have equal resistance values are set to be constant in accordance with arrangement of the plurality of MOS switches. Thus, each of the division voltage resistors and the MOS switch can be efficiently wired and a reduced area can be realized.
On the other hand, in the D/A conversion circuit that is the type of resistor-caused voltage division, in a case where a relationship between digital data that is input and an analog voltage that is output is desired to have intentional nonlinearity, because resistance values of the division voltage resistors are not equal to each other, there occurs a need to change a contact pitch for every division voltage resistor in order to form a plurality of division voltage resistors having different resistance values on the resistive element with the predetermined width. In such a case, the plurality of MOS switches cannot be arranged at the minimum distances and an unnecessary area occurs in an arrangement area of the MOS switch. Alternatively, when the plurality of MOS switches are arranged at the minimum distances, a wiring area for connecting between each contact and each MOS switch on the resistive element increases and a reduced area is difficult to realize. Particularly, the greater a difference (a ratio) between each of the division voltage resistors, the greater a difference in distance between the contacts on the resistive element. Thus, the unnecessary area or the wiring area that is described increases.
In contrast, JP-A-2014-59620 discloses a voltage division circuit, which results from arranging a plurality of resistive elements, each of which constitutes a unit resistor, side by side in a unidirectional manner, connecting the resistive elements (the unit resistors) in parallel or in series to each other and thus forming a plurality of division voltage resistors that have different resistance value. Because, with this configuration of the division voltage resistor in the division voltage circuit, lengths in the longitudinal direction, of all resistive areas can be shortened by lengthening lengths in the transverse direction, if the configuration of the division voltage resistor is applied to a nonlinear D/A conversion circuit, a difference in contact pitch between the division voltage resistors can be reduced.
However, in the division voltage circuit disclosed in JP-A-2014-59620, because a plurality of unit resistors are arranged side by side in a unidirectional manner, an unnecessary area almost does not occur in the resistive area, but the difference in contact pitch between the division voltage resistors cannot be set to be zero. Therefore, although the configuration of the division voltage resistor is applied to the voltage division circuit, with a characteristic of the nonlinear D/A conversion circuit, an occurrence of the unnecessary area described above or an increase in the wiring area cannot be suppressed sufficiently, and, in some cases, a reduced area cannot be realized.

D/A conversion circuit, oscillator, electronic apparatus, and moving object


Aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward a system for managing the migration of extents on tiered systems. The system can include receiving a space reservation request for one or more requested extents on a first storage tier of a storage system. The system can also include releasing a first storage tier reserve space that includes one or more first tier reserved extents in response to the first storage tier reserve space being insufficient for the reservation request. The system can also include migrating the one or more requested extents to the first storage tier reserve space.

The present disclosure relates to data storage systems, and more specifically, to migrating data within data storage systems.
A data storage system can have one or more storage tiers in one or more storage devices. Tiered storage is a data storage environment consisting of two or more kinds of storage delineated by differences in at least one of these four attributes: price, performance, capacity and function. Any significant difference in one or more of the four defining attributes can be sufficient to justify a separate storage tier.
Extents can be managed on tiered storage. An extent is a contiguous area of storage in a computer file system, reserved for a file. When a process creates a file, file-system management software allocates a whole extent. When writing to the file again, possibly after doing other write operations, the data continues where the previous write left off. This can reduce or eliminate file fragmentation and possibly file scattering too. An extent-based file system (i.e., one that addresses storage via extents rather than in single blocks) need not require limiting each file to a single, contiguous extent.

Management of extent migration on tiered storage

International Business Machines Corporation


A catheter has a proximal end and a distal end and comprises an outer tube having a proximal end, an inner sheath slidingly received within the outer tube and extending distally from the outer tube, and a rotatable shaft extending from the proximal end of the outer tube to within the inner sheath. The rotatable shaft is axially fixed with respect to the outer tube and axially moveable within and with respect to the inner sheath. The rotatable shaft includes a proximal substantially rigid section and a distal flexible section. The catheter further includes a working element carried on the distal flexible section of the rotatable shaft.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheters provide a means of imaging internal structures in the body. Coronary IVUS catheters are used in the small coronary arteries of the heart to visualize coronary artery disease (CAD). There are other non-IVUS invasive imaging systems and catheters, such as optical coherence tomography OCT and Optical Frequency Domain Imaging (OFDI), that also provide a means of imaging internal structures within the human body. IVUS catheters (see FIG. 1) use transducers 46 to create pressure waves, other imaging systems use different imaging energy sources. Both OCT and OFDI use laser light as the imaging source.
There are two type of coronary IVUS catheters: mechanically scanned and electronically scanned. Mechanically scanned IVUS catheters mechanically spin the ultrasonic beam to sweep across a region of interest in the body. There are two generally accepted ways to do this. One is to mechanically rotate the transducer (FIG. 1) that generates the ultrasound beam. The other is to mechanically rotate a reflective surface or mirror that directs the beam from a stationary transducer into the desired swept pattern.
The preferred method is to rotate the transducer for the following reasons: Mirror based systems have additional imaging artifacts in their images as the beam is swept past mechanical supporting structures. Mirror based systems are generally larger then rotating transducer systems.
Electronically scanned catheters utilize a transducer array that electronically steers the ultrasound beam. In order to maximize the size of the transducer array, electronically scanning IVUS catheters locate the transducer array on the outside of the sheath. Mechanically scanning IVUS catheters locate the transducer on the inside of a sheath.
Mechanically scanning IVUS catheters FIG. 1 have two key advantages over electronically scanning IVUS catheters. Mechanically scanning IVUS catheter transducers 46 can operate at higher frequency then electronically scanning transducers. Therefore they have higher resolution. Mechanically scanning imaging catheters operate within an ultrasonically transparent sheath 28. The sheath prevents rotating components 33 and 34 from coming into contact with the patient's tissue and causing trauma. In addition, the sheath provides a lumen 49 that facilitates the movement of the imaging element along a portion of the distal length of the imaging catheter. Therefore, with a sheathed mechanical scanning IVUS catheter a volume of image data can be acquired over a region of interest without physically moving the catheter sheath 27 and 28 within the body.
Mechanically scanning IVUS imaging catheters contain drive cables 33 to "spin" the transducer 46 within the sheath 26 and 28. Drive cables are currently assembled by winding multiple strands of metal wire on a mandrel to create a long spring containing a repeating series of concentric rings, or windings, of the wire. Two, or more, springs are wound for each drive cable sized one to fit over the other. Adjacent springs are wound in the opposite direction of each other so that the grooves between the windings do not line up and lock together. During assembly, the inner spring is inserted into the outer spring still on its winding mandrel and then released so that it expands into the outer spring. In this way, the drive cable is extremely flexible in order to navigate small tortuous distal coronary anatomy while still providing some degree of torsional rigidity between the proximal driving end and the distal end containing the transducer.
Proximal housing 25 contains engagement pins 38 (×2) that mechanically mate to the imaging system catheter interface port. Within proximal housing 25 is a connector 30 which couples in mechanical energy to the drive cable 33 and electrical energy into the transmission line 47 within the drive cable. Connector 30 is fixedly connected to drive shaft 31, such that when rotated by the imaging system, drive shaft 31 is similarly rotated. Internal drive shaft 31 has a smooth bearing surface 37 which provides the running surface for rotational bearing 36 and snap ring 35. Snap ring 35 is fixedly held in place by the groove in proximal housing 25. A fluid seal 39 prevents fluids from the lumen 49, which runs the length of the catheter, from getting into the connector 30. The distal end of internal drive shaft 31 is connected via solder, brazing, welding or gluing bond joints 32 to the drive cable 33, such that when drive shaft 31 is rotated, drive cable 33 is similarly rotated.
Connector 30 within proximal housing 25 contains an electrical interface to couple in rotating electrical energy into the transmission line 47 that is disposed within drive cable 33 and runs its entire length. Transmission line 47 couples transmit energy from the system via connector 30, through the drive cable 33, and to the transducer 46 located within the distal housing 34. The electrical excitation energy causes transducer 46 to generate a pressure wave into the lumen 49 which is filled with saline via flushing port 40. The ultrasonic energy is coupled via the saline into the ultrasonically transparent portion of the sheath 28 and into the body. Objects in the body having acoustic impedance variations reflect back a portion of the ultrasonic pressure wave which is received by the transducer 46 after passing through sheath 28 and the saline filled lumen 49. Transducer 46 converts the received pressure signals into electrical signals which are coupled via transmission line 47 back to connector 30 and into the imaging systems' receiver. The system converts a series of scan lines acquired in the polar (R, θ) coordinate system, (similar to a beam from a lighthouse) into a slice or frame of image data by converting the polar scan lines into the Cartesian (X,Y) coordinate system for display on a X-Y scanning monitor, thus completing one rotation of the connector 30, drive shaft 31, drive cable 33, and distal housing 34.
In order to move, or translate, the rotating transducer 46 along the distal portion of the length of the lumen 49, a telescopic section is added at the proximal end of the catheter. The telescopic section contains inner proximal tubular element 26, outer distal tubular element 50, and anchor housing 29. The distal end of inner proximal tubular element 26 contains an end stop 51 to prevent the inner proximal tubular element 26 from disengaging from the outer distal tubular member 50 when the telescope is fully extended. Fluid seal 41, inside anchor housing 29 prevents fluids from lumen 49 from leaking out via the space between inner proximal tubular element 26 and outer distal tubular element 50. Groove 52 in anchor housing 29 provides a connection point for motorized (controlled) movement of the distal outer tubular element relative to the proximal housing 25.
Due to the flexible nature of the drive cable 33, the telescope 26, 29, and 50, and sheath 27 and 28 must provide a running surface to support drive cable 33 when it is rotating. It is also important to note that drive cable 33 is of a fixed length, so that when the outer distal tubular element 50 is translated relative to the inner proximal tubular member 26, the transducer 46 is translated relative to the distal sheath 28. In this way, the transducer 46 is moved along the length of the sheath 28 to acquire a volume of image data.
Current telescopic devices on IVUS catheters have several shortcomings. The current telescopes design is based on a proximal inner tubular member 26 that has an inside diameter sized to accommodate the drive cable 33 and provide sufficient clearance for flushing fluid. Flushing fluid is injected into flushing port 40 to fill lumen 49, in order to couple ultrasound energy from transducer 46, through the fluid to sheath 28 and thereby into the patient's body. The wall thickness and therefore the outer diameter of proximal inner tubular element 26 is sized in order to provide adequate structural integrity to support the forces occurring during the movement of the telescopic section in order to reduce the likelihood of any kinking or collapsing of the inner lumen onto the spinning drive cable 33. If the inner lumen of inner proximal tubular element compresses and catches drive cable 33 while it is spinning, the electrical connections of transmission line 47 will be severed and the imaging catheter will no longer function. A competing requirement to keep the wall thickness as thin as possible exists in order to reduce the gap between the outside diameter of drive cable 33 and the inside diameter of outer distal tubular member 50, which will be further elaborated in the description of the current design shortcoming below.
The outer distal telescopic tubular member 50 is attached at its proximal end to anchor housing 29 which contains fluid seal 41. Fluid seal 41, applies pressure to inner proximal tubular member 26. For this reason, inner proximal tubular member 26 must have a smooth outer surface along its entire length in order to form a fluid seal. The distal end of the outer distal tubular member is bonded via glue 43, to strain relief 44 and proximal shaft 27, which is part of the catheter sheath 28. The inside diameter of the outer distal tubular member 50, is sized to accommodate the outside diameter of end stop 51 which must be larger than the outside diameter of the inner proximal tubular member 27. Therefore, the inside diameter of the outer distal tubular member 50 is larger then the outside diameter of the inner proximal tubular member 26. This creates a significant gap between the outside diameter of drive cable 33 compared to the inside diameter of the outer proximal tubular member 50.
This gap is a major deficiency of the current design. When the telescope is fully extended, the transducer is in its most proximal location within sheath 28. Since the lumen 49 is filled with saline, the distal housing 34 and drive cable 33, must displace this fluid as the telescope is retracted and the transducer 46 is advanced into the sheath 28. This creates a backward force on drive cable 33. Due to the gap between drive cable 33 and the outer proximal tubular member 50 and the flexible nature of drive cable 33, drive cable 33 is compressed into an "S" curve as shown in FIG. 2. This "S" curve pulls the location of transducer 46 inward, thereby scanning the incorrect region of the anatomy and often leads to the drive cable 33 folding back over onto itself. When the drive cable 33 folds back over onto itself, the electrical connections of transmission line 47 are severed and the imaging catheter is rendered inoperative. Approximately 1% of all IVUS catheters used are returned as defected units as a result of this failure mechanism.
Another short coming of existing telescope designs is that the telescope is not straight, which makes it difficult to extend and retract the telescope. This occurs because the telescope is made of polymers for cost reasons, and the inner proximal tubular member's 26 wall thickness is kept thin to keep the outside diameter of the outer telescope member as small as possible. The resultant thin wall polymer is then coiled into its packaging and during sterilization and normal shelf aging, the polymer takes a set in the coiled (non-straight) position.
Another short coming of existing telescopes is the fluid seal 41 and inner proximal tubular member 26 outer running surface. The fluid seal must prevent saline from escaping during catheter flushing operations. This fluid seal is subject to pressures up 150 PSI. Current telescopic sections are made from polymers that do not have a smooth running surface for the fluid seal to slide against during telescopic action. As a result, the pressure on the fluid seal is increased to insure the seal holds against the flushing pressure. This in turn increases the friction that must be overcome when the telescope is extended or retracted. As a result, the existing telescope design is difficult to extend and retract. Another failure mechanism occurs when the user forces the outer distal tubular member 50 downward onto the inner proximal tubular member 26 which is not straight and the inner tubular member is kinked. This results in either a failed electrical connection or a mechanical defect in the drive cable which manifests itself in a non-uniformed rotation of the transducer and the associated image artifact.
Another short coming of existing telescope design is the cost. The current design contains three separate tubular members which need to be individually bonded to form the telescope and this adds unnecessary cost to the assembly. The three components are the inner proximal tubular member 26, the outer distal tubular member 50 and the proximal shaft 27 of the catheter which is bonded to the distal end of the outer proximal tubular telescopic member.
A short coming of the existing drive cable 33 design is that it is flexible its entire length. This results in several shortcomings. The drive cable 33 can fail by folding back on itself as described above. The drive cable can fold back in the above S shape, while not failing, it pulls back the transducer 46 proximally so that it is pointing at a more proximal region of the artery then it should. This results in errors in length measurements on the system which is not aware of the fold hack condition. The flexible drive cable lacks torsional stiffness which can results in erratic rotational velocity of the imaging element. Erratic rotational velocity of the imaging element produces distortions in the image.

Silicon Valley Medical Instruments, Inc.


A half-tone phase shift film 2 and a light-shielding film 3 are stacked on transparent substrate 1. The light-shielding film 3 has a monolayer structure or a multilayer structure. At least one layer is formed by film-formation with a chromium-containing material including tin. The half-tone phase shift film 2 is made of a molybdenum silicon nitride oxide. The layer made of a chromium-containing material including tin can cause a significant increase in the etching rate at the time of chlorine-containing dry-etching including oxygen. Thus, burden on the resist pattern or hard mask pattern at the time of transferring a pattern on the light-shielding film is reduced, and therefore it is possible to carry out pattern transfer with high precision. The present invention provides a novel technique that can increase a dry-etching rate of a light-shielding film made of a chromium-containing material while assuring various characteristics required for the light-shielding film.

In the field of semiconductor technology, research and development for further refinement of patterns have been progressed. In recent years, particularly, with high integration of a large scale integration circuit, refinement of circuit patterns, wiring patterns, or contact-hole patterns for wiring between layers forming a cell has been progressed, and a request for microfabrication technology has been increased.
In connection with this, even in the field of technology for photomask production to be used in the process for photolithography in microfabrication, a technique for forming fine and correct circuit patterns (mask patterns) has begun to be demanded.
Generally, reduction projection is performed when forming a pattern on a semiconductor substrate by photolithographic technique. The size of the pattern formed on the photomask is therefore approximately four times larger than the size of the pattern formed on the semiconductor substrate. However, this does not mean that the desired precision of the pattern formed on the photomask is smaller than the pattern formed on the semiconductor substrate. Rather, the precision of a pattern formed on the photomask as a master is desired to be higher than an actual pattern obtained after exposure.
In today's photolithography technical field, the size of a circuit pattern to be drawn is considerably smaller than the wavelength of light to be used for exposure. Thus, in the case of forming a photomask pattern with a just four-times larger circuit pattern, light interference or the like, which is generated under exposure, influences the transfer of an original shape. As a result, the original shape cannot be transferred onto the resist film of a semiconductor substrate.
In some cases, therefore, a pattern formed on the photomask is made more complicated than an actual circuit pattern to reduce an effect of the above light interference or the like. The shape of such a pattern may be, for example, an actual circuit pattern subjected to optical proximity correction (OPC).
Hence, along with a decrease in size of a circuit pattern, a higher precision processing technique has been also desired in a lithographic technique for forming photomask patterns. Although lithography performance may be expressed in limiting resolution, a pattern formed on a photomask as a master desires higher precision than an actual pattern formed after exposure as described above. Thus, limiting resolution required for formation of a photomask pattern is almost equal to or higher than one required in lithography for forming a pattern on a semiconductor base.
In general, when forming a photomask pattern, a resist film is formed on the surface of the photomask blank in which a light-shielding film is mounted on a transparent substrate, and a pattern is then drawn (exposed) on the resist film by an electron beam. Subsequently, after obtaining a resist pattern after developing the exposed resist film, the light-shielding film is etched by using this resist pattern as a mask to obtain a light-shielding (film) pattern. The light-shielding (film) pattern thus obtained is served as a photomask pattern.
In this case, the above resist film should be thinned depending on the degree of fineness of the light-shielding pattern. This is because, when forming a fine light-shielding pattern while keeping the thickness of the resist film, the ratio (aspect ratio) of the thickness of the resist film to the size of the light-shielding pattern becomes large and causes troubles of failed pattern transfer, falling down or peeling off of the resist pattern, or the like due to deterioration of the shape of the resist pattern.
As a material of the light-shielding film mounted on the transparent substrate, many kinds of materials have so far been proposed. Among them, however, a chromium compound has been practically used because of much know-how on etching, for example.
Dry etching of a chromium-containing material film is generally performed by chlorine-containing dry etching. In many cases, however, chlorine-containing dry etching has a certain level of ability to etch an organic layer. Thus, in the case that a resist pattern is formed on a thin resist film and then used as a mask to etch a light-shielding film, the resist pattern is also etched too much to ignore by chlorine-containing dry etching. As a result, the proper resist pattern, which should be transferred to a light-shield film, cannot be correctly transferred to the light-shielding film.
In order to avoid such inconvenience, a resist material having excellent etching resistance has been requested. However, such a resist material has not been known yet. For this reason, to obtain a light-shielding (film) pattern having high resolution property, a light-shielding film material having higher processing accuracy is required.
For a light-shielding film having higher processing accuracy as compared with a conventional material, there is a report of an attempt to increase the etching rate of a light-shielding film by allowing a chromium compound to contain only a certain amount of a light element.
For example, Patent Literature 1 (WO 2007/74806 A) discloses a technique for reducing resist film loss at the time of chlorine-containing dry etching by using a material mainly containing chromium (Cr) and nitrogen (N) and having an X-diffraction peak of substantially CrN(200) as a light-shielding film material to enhance a dry-etching rate.
Patent Literature 2 (JP 2007-33469 A) discloses the invention of a photomask blank where the composition, film thickness, and laminated structure thereof are suitably designed to obtain desired transmittance T and reflectance R while attaining an increase in the rate of dry-etching by providing the light element with rich content of a light element and low content of chromium.

Half-tone phase shift mask blank and method for manufacturing half-tone phase shift mask


Disclosed is a tri-mode connector module comprising a module main body, a serial/parallel connector and a bus connector seat. The serial/parallel connector comprises a slot and groups of connection terminals, each including a first contact piece and a second contact piece. A foreign object enters the slot to change the connections of the first and second contact pieces, to establish serial or parallel connections. The bus connector seat comprises a rail to accommodate a bus connector and a slide clip to clip a bus rail. The connector module may further include a bus connector to connect a bus structure provided in the bus rail.

In industrial control applications, various control circuits are formed in functional modules and a plurality of control modules is removably installed in a control system, to provide the system with different control functions. In order to satisfy such needs, i.e., the need of adding or removing particular module from time to time, each functional modules is provided with necessary connector modules, with a same number of electrical contacts at identical positions among all connector modules. In particular, the various functional modules form a flat cassette, with their electrical contacts formed in both sides of the flat cassettes at respectively corresponding positions, so that a cassette can establish electrical connections with another adjacent to either side of the other at the electrical contacts, in order to exchange signals or power.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,241 disclosed an "I/O Device for a Data Bus" including a connector module having such modularized connectivity. The connector module is accommodated in a module cassette.
In order to support connections of function modules, the industry has developed a connector module. The connector module has main body in the shape of a flat cassette, with a same number of contact pins at corresponding positions in its both sides, such that one other connector module, also in the shape of a cassette, can establish electrical connections at either side of the cassette. The contact pins of a pair form a T shape, with two pins respectively extended to both sides and a third pin extended in a perpendicular direction. As a general design, the third pin includes two elastic legs configured to clip an external connector, such as one of the goldfingers provided in a circuit board having a functional module. When the external connector is inserted in the third connector, the functional module in connection with the external connector establishes electrical contact with the T-shaped connector piece. That is, when no external connector is inserted, the T-shaped connector piece conducts laterally, called short circuit; when the external connector is inserted, the T-shaped connector piece additionally conducts the functional module in connection with the external connector. With such a connector structure, the functional module may form a "series" or "parallel" connection with other functional modules, depending on the design of the functional modules.
WO 00/62376A1 disclosed an "Input/Output Device Having Removable Module" that has a connector module provided with such function. A T-shaped connector piece for use in the connector module is also disclosed.
US 2013/0027890 disclosed a "Connection Module Being Capable of Serving a Bus" that uses a plurality of connector modules to form a bus structure. This connection module enables the so-called "bus" connection of the functional modules.
Providing a multiple modal connection function and changing the interconnection among contact pins by inserting a foreign object in a group of connectors were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,402,058, "Plug Connector with Short Circuit Contacts."
In response to the urgent needs for multiple modal functional modules in the industry, connector modules that support multi-modal connection functions are developed. The multi-modal connector modules provide a plurality of connection modes, for the functional module suppliers' selection. The multi-modal connector modules may be used in most functional modules, to connect other functional modules where varies electrical connection modes are used.

Connector module with multiple connection modes


The invention involves a TAB (tape automated bonding) tape which includes an electrically conductive layer and a supporting layer. Significantly, the supporting layer includes at least one peeling-prevention slit adjacent a part of the electrically conductive layer which is apt to peel off from the supporting layer when the TAB tape is subjected to stresses, such as thermally-induced stresses and bending stresses.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a TAB (tape automated bonding) tape having a peeling-prevention structure which achieves increased peeling strength at the interface between, for example, an electrically conductive layer of the tape, such as a copper layer, and an electrically insulating, supporting layer of the tape, such as a polyimide layer. This structure serves to prevent peeling of the electrically conductive layer which would otherwise occur as a result of the application of external stresses such as the thermal stress applied during the chip mounting process and the bending stress applied during the lead frame forming process.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, in conjunction with increased integration of semiconductor integrated circuit devices (hereinafter called semiconductor chips), conventional wire bonding methods for mounting semiconductor chips onto chip packages are being replaced by wireless connection methods such as the combination of TAB (tape automatic bonding) and the flip chip method. The latter connection methods are now increasingly preferred because they achieve both significant reductions in connection time and enhanced connection reliability.
In a semiconductor chip connecting process combining the TAB technique and the flip chip method, a chip having solder bumps is to be mounted onto a TAB tape which includes, for example, two layers. One of these layers is an electrically insulating support layer of, for example, polyimide, while the other layer is an electrically conductive layer of, for example, copper. This copper layer is deposited onto, and bonded to, the polyimide layer using conventional sputtering techniques or electroless plating, without an intermediate bonding layer. The copper layer is also patterned, using conventional photolithographic techniques, to form copper circuit lines, contact pads and test pads. During mounting of the chip, the solder bumps on the chip are brought into contact with copper circuitry, e.g., contact pads or circuit lines, of the TAB tape and heated and reflowed so as to achieve bonding. The bonded chip and TAB tape are washed, and a liquid resin sealant is applied to the chip, and dried. Electrical conductivity tests are then performed on the resin encapsulated chip via the test pads, which are subsequently cut off.
During the above-mentioned reflow process, the heating temperatures employed often exceed 300.degree. C. Because the copper layer and the polyimide layer have significantly different coefficients of thermal expansion, the temperatures employed during the reflow process result in substantial stresses at the interface between the copper layer and the polyimide layer, causing the copper layer to peel off from the polyimide layers. This tendency to peel off is particularly prevalent in TAB tapes where the area of contact between the polyimide layer and the copper layer is large. This tendency is even more prevalent at the tail end of the copper layer containing the test pad section, after the test pad section has peeled, because any peel control exerted on the adjacent portion of the copper layer is lost.
FIG. 7 depicts a conventional TAB tape having a copper layer which has peeled off from the supporting polyimide layer. Numeral 7 represents the test pad section used in the electrical conductivity test. It is formed at the end of copper layer 1. No adhesive layer is interposed between copper layer 1, which includes the test pad section 7, and polyimide layer 2, which supports copper layer 1. As shown, test pad section 7 has warped in a direction separating it from the polyimide layer 2 due, for example, to thermal stress produced at the interface between the two layers.
The test pad section thus peeled off produces problems, as follows:
(1) Contact failures can be caused in the electrical conductivity test process, leading to the entire product being discarded. PA0 (2) In the process of cutting-off the test pads, the cutting mold may be broken because a cut-off remnant of the test pad section, which peeled off from the polyimide layer, may get caught in the cutting mold. PA0 (3) By losing the support of the polyimide layer, the quality of the chip circuit product itself is deteriorated.
The peeling of copper layer 1 from the polyimide layer 2 caused by the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients is further aggravated when an external bending stress is applied to a portion of the copper layer 1, to form a lead frame, as depicted in FIG. 8.

Tab tape with a peeling-prevention structure for the conductive layer


The present invention provides methods and apparatus for freeze drying in which a solution, which can be a radioactive salt dissolved within an acid, is frozen into a solid on vertical plates provided within a freeze drying chamber. The solid is sublimated into vapor and condensed in a cold condenser positioned above the freeze drying chamber and connected thereto by a conduit. The vertical positioning of the cold condenser relative to the freeze dryer helps to help prevent substances such as radioactive materials separated from the solution from contaminating the cold condenser. Additionally, the system can be charged with an inert gas to produce a down rush of gas into the freeze drying chamber to also help prevent such substances from contaminating the cold condenser.

The present invention relates to a freeze drying method and apparatus for freeze drying a substance within a freeze drying chamber in which vapor produced by sublimation is condensed within a condensing chamber. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a freeze drying method and apparatus in which the condensing chamber is pressurized prior to the condensation of the moisture in order to help prevent the substance being freeze dried from contaminating the condensing chamber. Even more particularly the present invention relates to such a method and apparatus in which the substance is contained within a solution freeze dried in a bulk freeze drying process involving the freezing of the solution on an array of vertical plates located within the freezing chamber. Still even more particularly, the present invention relates to such a freeze drying method and apparatus that is applied to the decontamination of a solution containing radioactive materials.
Waste disposal problems involving reduction and disposal of radioactive or toxic wastes such as nuclear wastes, wastes containing heavy metals and etc. have long presented an environmental hazard. Such wastes are often processed by dissolving the waste in an acidic solution, for instance nitric acid, and then storing the resultant solution in containers that present a risk of leakage and in any event take up a great deal of storage space. Freeze drying techniques have been applied to such waste disposal problems in order to more properly contain such wastes in a safe and efficient manner. For instance, in U.K. Patent Application GB 2178588, a method and apparatus for treatment for radioactive liquid waste is disclosed in which the radioactive liquid waste is freeze dried to sublimate the solvent and thereby to produce the radioactive solute as a dried deposit.
In any freeze drying process, a substance is frozen within a freeze drying chamber. he substance is then subjected to a reduced pressure while being heated to cause frozen solids to sublimate into vapor. The vapor is condensed within a condensing chamber. In waste disposal applications of freeze drying, it is necessary that the condensing chamber be separated from the freeze drying chamber during the freeze drying process so that condensation chamber does not become contaminated. If such contamination were allowed to occur, radioactively contaminated water would then become a problem which would defeat the whole purpose of the freeze drying process. In order to overcome this problem, in the above referenced U.K. Patent Application, the condensation chamber is segregated from the freeze drying chamber by means of a filter. A filter can, however, limit the size of the freeze dryer because it will reduce the flow of vapor to the condensation chamber.
In the foregoing U.K Patent Application, the freeze drying element located within the freeze drying chamber is a set of pipes. A problem involved with such freeze drying elements is that pipes present a limited surface area and therefore, present another limitation on the size of the freeze drier. Furthermore, any freeze drying element, in addition to presenting a sufficient surface area, must be amenable to removal from the freeze drying chamber for replacement and cleaning purposes.
Although a motivating factor of the present invention is waste treatment, aspects of the present invention have broader applications involving the segregation of the freeze drying process from the environment and the bulk freeze drying of substances within solutions. As will be discussed, the present invention can be generally said to provide a freeze drying method and apparatus in which segregation of the condensation chamber from the freeze drying chamber does not primarily depend on filters. Additionally, freeze drying elements are provided that have sufficient surface area and flexibility for large scale freeze dryer setups.


In one embodiment, devices, such as metal-insulator-metal tunneling diodes, are fabricated by forming a cavity in a substrate having a top surface, conformally depositing a thin film of material in the cavity so as to form a thin layer of material on walls of the cavity, and depositing a layer of material to fill the cavity, wherein a top edge of the thin film is exposed and is flush with the top surface of the substrate.

A tunneling diode is a type of semiconductor diode that is capable of femtosecond operation. This fast operation is made possible by the use of the quantum mechanical effect called tunneling. Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunneling diodes are micro-scale or nano-scale devices that include a very thin layer comprising one or more dielectric materials that is sandwiched between two metal electrodes having different work functions.
MIM tunneling diodes having a response time of less than a picosecond hold great promise to outperform their semiconductor counterparts (e.g., Schottky diodes) in mixing and detection of terahertz and infrared radiation. The most significant limitation on the speed of operation of an MIM tunneling diode is its junction capacitance. To a large extent, the junction capacitance of such a diode is determined by the size of the tunnel junction. Therefore, one method of reducing the capacitance of an MIM tunneling diode is to reduce the size of the diode's junction.
To achieve a response time in the femotosecond range, the junction needs to have a nanoscale size, in which case the area of the junction must be on the order of 0.01 μm2. While such small junction sizes have been achieved using e-beam lithography, e-beam lithography is a slow "direct-write" nanolithography method that is not suitable for low-cost, high-volume, production. In order to be able to manufacture MIM tunneling diodes in a commercial context, an alternative fabrication method is required.

Devices having nanoscale structures and methods for making same


A light source apparatus includes a light source unit that supplies light having a first wavelength, a wavelength conversion element that converts the light having the first wavelength into the light having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and a wavelength separator that separates the first-wavelength light from the second-wavelength light. The wavelength separator directs the second-wavelength light from the wavelength conversion element in the exit direction and the first-wavelength light from the wavelength conversion element in a direction other than the exit direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light source apparatus and a projector, and particularly to a technology for a light source apparatus used in a projector.
2. Related Art
In the field of a light source apparatus for a projector, there has been recently proposed a technology using a laser light source that supplies laser light. A light source apparatus using a laser light source, as compared to a UHP lamp currently used as the light source apparatus for a projector, has various advantages including excellent color reproducibility, quick start, and a long life. Known examples of the light source apparatus using a laser light source include the one that directly supplies fundamental wave laser light from a laser light source and the one that supplies wavelength-converted fundamental wave laser light. As a wavelength conversion element that converts the wavelength of the fundamental wave laser light, for example, a second-harmonic generation (SHG) element is known. Use of a wavelength conversion element along with a general-purpose laser light source easily available allows laser light having a desired wavelength to be supplied. It is also possible to employ a configuration capable of supplying a sufficient amount of laser light. There is a known light source apparatus using an SHG element configured in such a way that the SHG element is disposed in a resonator structure in which the laser light resonates (see JP-A-5-235441, for example). Among the fundamental wave laser light resonating in the resonator structure, extracting laser light having a desired converted wavelength allows laser light to be supplied at high wavelength conversion efficiency.
The resonator structure includes a wavelength selective mirror that reflects the fundamental wave laser light. It is difficult even for a wavelength selective mirror to reflect all fundamental wave laser light, but part of the fundamental wave laser light disadvantageously passes through the mirror. In the configuration proposed in JP-A-5-235441, the fundamental wave laser light that exits from the resonator structure directly leaks out of the light source apparatus. Intense laser light may cause uncomfortable feeling in the human body, particularly in the eyes. A laser light-based apparatus needs to be configured to reliably avoid laser light-related troubles.
A light source apparatus for a projector is, in general, configured to use an SHG element to convert infrared light, which is the fundamental wave laser light, into visible light. It is difficult for the eyes to respond and avoid infrared light compared to visible light. It is therefore necessary to reliably prevent leakage of infrared light, particularly when it is intense. To prevent the leakage of infrared light, it is conceivable to use an infrared light blocking glass member that absorbs infrared light. In the configuration using an infrared light blocking glass member, however, a broken part of the infrared light blocking glass member easily causes the leakage of infrared light to the outside. The related art thus poses a problem of difficulty reliably preventing troubles from occurring in the configuration capable of achieving high wavelength conversion efficiency.

Light source apparatus and projector having a wavelength separator


Optical Mach-Zehnder interferometers and related devices, systems that have at least one fiber integrated or engaged to a substrate fabricated with one or more grooves.

This application relates to optical signal multiplexers, and in particular, to optical signal multiplexers based on evanescent coupling through a polished fiber coupling port.
Optical waves may be transported through optical waveguiding elements or xe2x80x9clight pipesxe2x80x9d such as optical fibers, or optical waveguides formed on substrates. A typical fiber may be simplified as a fiber core and a cladding layer surrounding the fiber core. The refractive index of the fiber core is higher than that of the fiber cladding to confine the light. Light rays that are coupled into the fiber core within a maximum angle with respect to the axis of the fiber core are totally reflected at the interface of the fiber core and the cladding. This total internal reflection provides a mechanism for spatially confining the optical energy of the light rays in one or more selected fiber modes to guide the optical energy along the fiber core. Optical waveguides formed on substrates can also be designed to provide spatial optical confinement based on total the internal reflection. Planar waveguides, for example, may be formed by surrounding a slab or strip of a dielectric material with one or more dielectric materials with refractive indices less than that of the dielectric slab or strip.
Optical fibers may be used in transmission and delivery of optical signals from one location to another in a variety of optical systems, including but not limited to, fiber devices, fiber links and fiber networks for data communications and telecommunications. Optical waveguides on substrates may be used in integrated optical devices where optical elements, opto-electronic elements, or MEMS elements are integrated on one or more substrates.
The guided optical energy in the fiber or waveguide, however, is not completely confined within the core of the fiber or waveguide. In a fiber, for example, a portion of the optical energy can xe2x80x9cleakxe2x80x9d through the interface between the fiber core and the cladding via an evanescent field that essentially decays exponentially with the distance from the core-cladding interface. The distance for a decay in the electric field of the guided light by a factor of e≈2.718 is about one wavelength of the guided optical energy. This evanescent leakage may be used to couple optical energy into or out of the fiber core, or alternatively, to perturb the guided optical energy in the fiber core.
This application includes optical signal multiplexers that have at least one fiber integrated on or engaged to a substrate fabricated with one or more grooves. One portion of the cladding of this fiber is removed and polished to form a fiber coupling port through which optical energy can be evanescently coupled into or out of the fiber core via evanescent fields. At least two such fiber coupling ports may be formed at different positions in the fiber such that this fiber can be coupled with two coupling ports of another fiber or planar waveguide to form a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for signal multiplexing or demultiplexing in an integrated device configuration.
The fiber may be mounted and engaged to one or more grooves formed in a substrate in a fiber device. One embodiment of the fiber device includes a substrate that is formed with an elongated groove on one substrate surface, and at least one opening located at one end of the groove and formed through the substrate to extend between the two sides of the substrate. An optical fiber is engaged to the substrate by passing through the opening to lay a portion in the groove. The fiber cladding of the portion in the groove may be partially removed to form a fiber coupling port to allow for evanescent coupling.
The optical coupling between a fiber in a first substrate in one of the above fiber devices and a waveguide formed in a second substrate may be implemented by positioning the first and the second substrates relative to each other so that a coupling port of the fiber is adjacent to the waveguide to allow for evanescent coupling between the fiber and the waveguide. A single fiber may be optically coupled to two or more waveguides through its different coupling ports located in grooves of the first substrate.

Mach-Zehnder inteferometers and applications based on evanescent coupling through side-polished fiber coupling ports


A system and method for securing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transactions is provided. An exemplary method includes using a random number in an authentication tag and authorizing an RF transaction in response to verifying the authentication tag. The method may also involve variously validating an RFID device authentication tag and an RFID reader authentication tag. Additionally, a system and method is disclosed for verifying an RFID transaction device and RFID reader operable with an RF transaction system. The method involves presenting an RFID device to an RFID reader, receiving a random number, creating an RFID transaction device authentication tag using the random number and a counter value, providing the RFID transaction device authentication tag to an RFID reader, creating an RFID reader authentication tag using the counter, random number, and RFID authentication tag, and providing the RFID reader authentication tag and RFID transaction device authentication tag for authentication.

Like barcode and voice data entry, RFID is a contactless information acquisition technology. RFID systems are wireless, and are usually extremely effective in hostile environments where conventional acquisition methods fail. RFID has established itself in a wide range of markets, such as, for example, the high-speed reading of railway containers, tracking moving objects such as livestock or automobiles, and retail inventory applications. As such, RFID technology has become a primary focus in automated data collection, identification and analysis systems worldwide.
Of late, companies are increasingly embodying RFID data acquisition technology in portable devices identifiable by hand. For example, RFID modules are being placed in a fob or tag for use in completing financial transactions. A typical fob includes a RF transponder and is typically a self-contained device which may be contained on any portable form factor. In some instances, a battery may be included with the fob to power the transponder, in which case the internal circuitry of the fob (including the transponder) may draw its operating power from the battery power source. Alternatively, the fob may exist independent of an internal power source. In this instance the internal circuitry of the fob (including the transponder) may gain its operating power directly from a RF interrogation signal provided by a RF reader. U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,774, issued to Schuermann, describes a typical transponder RF interrogation system which may be found in the prior art. The Schuermann patent describes in general the powering technology surrounding conventional transponder structures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,328 discusses a method by which a conventional transponder may respond to a RF interrogation signal. Other typical modulation techniques which may be used include, for example, ISO/IEC 14443 and the like.
In the conventional fob powering technologies used, the fob is typically activated upon presenting the fob in an interrogation signal. In this regard, the fob may be activated irrespective of whether the user desires such activation. These are called "passive" RFID devices. Alternatively, the fob may have an internal power source such that interrogation by the reader to activate the fob is not required. These RFID devices are termed "active" RFID devices.
One of the more visible uses of the RFID technology is found in the introduction of Exxon/Mobil's Speedpass® and Shell's EasyPay® products. These products use transponders placed in a fob or tag which enables automatic identification of the user when the fob is presented at a Point-of-Sale (POS) device. Fob identification data is typically passed to a third-party server database, where the identification data is referenced to a customer (e.g., user) credit or debit account. In an exemplary processing method, the server seeks authorization for the transaction by passing the transaction and account data to an authorizing entity, such as for example an "acquirer" or account issuer. Once the server receives authorization from the authorizing entity, the authorizing entity sends clearance to the point-of-sale device for completion of the transaction.
Minimizing fraud transactions in the RFID environment is typically important to the account issuer to lessen the loss associated with fraudulent RFID transaction device usage. One conventional method for securing RFID transactions involves requiring the device user to provide a secondary form of identification during transaction completion. For example, the RFID transaction device user may be asked to enter a personal identification number (PIN) into a keypad. The PIN may then be verified against a number associated with the user or the RFID transaction device, where the associated number is stored in an account issuer database. If the PIN number provided by the device user matches the associated number, then the transaction may be cleared for completion.
One problem with the conventional method of securing an RFID transaction is that the time for completing the transaction is increased. This is true since the RFID device user must delay the transaction to provide the alternate identification. The increased time for completing a transaction defeats one real advantage of the RFID transaction device, which is to permit expedient completion of a transaction since the account information may be passed to a reader without merchant involvement.
Another problem associated with conventional securing methods is that the customer identifying information (e.g., customer name, address, customer demographics, etc.) is susceptible to theft when transmitted from the RFID device to the RFID reader. Merchants often print the customer identifying information on a receipt for billing purposes. Alternatively, merchants store the customer identifying information for record keeping purposes, such as if the customer identifying information is needed to settle a transaction dispute. Typically, the merchant receives the customer identifying information from the RFID reader which receives the information from the RFID device as unencrypted data ("in-the-clear data"). The unencrypted data therefore may be intercepted by unscrupulous eavesdroppers bent on using the customer's identifying information for fraudulent purposes.
As such, a need exists for a method of securing a RFID transaction which does not increase the time needed to complete the transaction, and which method may be used without device user intervention. A further need exists for a system that secures customer identifying information transmitted in-the-clear.

RF transaction authentication using a random number


A beamforming method based on broadband antenna is provided, comprising: detecting the frequency of input signals of an antenna; determining the effective antenna aperture between elements of the antenna array according to the detected frequency; computing the weight vector of each element of the antenna array to the signals according to the determined effective antenna aperture and the transmission function of the antenna array; multiplying the input signals with said weight vector of each element of the antenna array to the signals, combining them and outputting the beam signals. By performing weighting operation respectively to the input signals after a series of delaying operation, and then combining them, the single digital signals can be acquired. This effectively reduces the odds produced by the antenna between transmitting signals and receiving signals, and thus dramatically improves the communication quality.

In common mobile communication environment, signals communicated between the base station and the mobile terminal are transmitted along several paths between the receiver and the transmitter. Due to difference in propagation paths, the same signal may arrive at the receiver via different paths with different propagation delays and DOAs (directional angle of arrival), thus multi-path interference and signal fading are caused.
By taking full advantage of the space property of signals, array antenna techniques can reduce multi-path interference and signal deterioration effectively, improve system capacity and QoS markedly, and thus won wide applications in real life.
For the array antenna, beamforming is a basic function. That is, the array antenna can perform operations like delaying, weighting and combining to the signals received by the antenna elements, to form antenna beams whose major lobe aims at the direction of the user signals and null at that of the interference signals, so as to suppress the interference. Thereby the beams formed by the array antenna have significant effect on system performance.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a one-dimension linear array antenna comprising M elements. As shown in FIG. 1, θ is the incident signal elevation, d is the space between elements (geometrical aperture), and all elements are assumed to have the same space. The half-power beam width of the array antenna, θ0.5, is approximately:
                              θ          0.5                ≈                              50.8            ·            c                                M            ·            d            ·            f                                              (        1        )            wherein M is the number of antenna elements, f is the carrier frequency of the signals, and c is velocity of light which equals to 3×108 m/s.
The geometrical aperture d, and the number of antenna elements M, are generally constant, which means the length of the antenna array, M·d, is constant too.
As it can be seen from equation (1), if the length of the antenna array M·d, is fixed, the antenna can form beams with different width when receiving signals with different frequencies. The higher the frequency is, the narrower the beam width is. Researches indicate that the beam width is in inverse ratio to the signal frequency. When broadband signals are received not in the direction to which the beam heads, the beam width of the antenna is relatively narrow for HF (high frequency) signals, so part of HF signals will fall to the null of the antenna pattern, thus the energy of these signals will be lost by the beam output. Accordingly, the output of the antenna is distorted.
To deal with the above-mentioned problem of antenna output distortion, the present invention provides a beamforming method based on broadband antenna.

Method and apparatus for beamforming based on broadband antenna


A lens module (800) includes a lens barrel (20), a base (10), and a temperature compensation module (30). A first lens (201) is disposed in the lens barrel. The lens barrel is disposed in the base. The temperature compensation module is detachably installed in the base, and the temperature compensation module includes a temperature compensation lens (302). The temperature compensation lens is configured for compensating for deformation of the first lens caused by temperature changes.

Currently, digital camera modules are included as a feature in a wide variety of portable electronic devices. Most portable electronic devices are becoming progressively more miniaturized over time, and digital camera modules are correspondingly becoming smaller and smaller. Nevertheless, in spite of the small size of a contemporary digital camera module, consumers still demand excellent imaging.
Most digital camera modules contain lens modules for taking high quality photos. Aspheric lenses are typically used in lens modules for miniaturizing digital cameras. Plastic aspherical lenses have low cost, and are widely used in lens modules. However, plastic aspherical lenses may become deformed at high or low temperatures. Thus, plastic aspherical lenses have a lower optical stability at high or low temperatures, and the digital camera has a lower image quality when using plastic aspheric lenses in extreme conditions.
Therefore, a lens module for a digital camera which can overcome the above-described problems is desired.


Disclosed is a cathode ray tube, comprising a panel of which outer surface is substantially flat and inner surface has a designated radius of curvature, a funnel connected to the panel, an electron gun housed in the funnel, emitting electron beams, a deflection yoke for deflecting the electron beams, and a shadow mask for discriminating the electron beams in colors, wherein a ratio (%) of a corner portion of the panel to a thickness at a central portion of the panel is in a range of 150%˜230%, and design sizes of the panel satisfy a relation of

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on patent application No(s). 10-2003-0043287 filed in Korea on Jun. 30, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode ray tube, more particularly, to a cathode ray tube an improved panel structure, in which the thickness of a panel is reduced to an appropriate level, resulting in minimization of cost of manufacture and panel damages during a manufacture process, and improved brightness.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a related art cathode ray tube.
Referring to FIG. 1, the cathode ray tube includes a panel 1 having a fluorescent screen 4 formed on an inner surface thereof, a funnel 2 connected to the panel 1, an electron gun 8 housed in the funnel 2, emitting electrons, a deflection yoke 9 for deflecting the electron beams in horizontal and vertical directions, a shadow mask 3 with a color selecting function of the electron beams 11, a mask frame 5 for supporting the shadow mask 3, and an inner shield 7 for shielding the influence of a geomagnetic field on the operation of the cathode ray tube.
As to the operation of the related art cathode ray tube with the above structure, the electron beams 11 emitted from the electron gun 8 housed in the funnel 2 are deflected by the deflection yoke 9, and collided with the fluorescent screen formed on the inner surface of the panel 1, displaying a desired image.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate a panel for use in the related art cathode ray tube.
For example, FIG. 2 illustrates a panel 1 whose inner and outer surfaces have designated radii of curvature, and FIG. 3 illustrates a panel 10 whose outer surface is substantially flat while inner surface has a designated radius of curvature.
FIG. 4 is a comparative view of panels illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. From the center, the left side shows the panel 10 of FIG. 3 of which outer surface is substantially flat and inner surface has a designated radius of curvature, and the right side shows the panel 1 of FIG. 2 of which inner and outer surfaces have designated radii of curvature.
In recent years, the panel 10 of FIG. 3 having the substantially flat surface has been a mainstream of cathode ray tubes mainly because when the outer surface is flat, image distortions occur much less and there is little reflection from an external light, overall providing a high quality picture image.
Referring to FIG. 4, it is noticed that the panel 10 of FIG. 3 has a greater OMH (a distance from a mold match line to a seal edge line) than that of the panel 1 whose inner and outer surfaces are both curved at designated curvatures.
Because of the above, a total thickness of the panel 10 having the substantially flat outer surface is increased, and thus, a total weight thereof is naturally increased as well.
Besides, a maximum thickness of an end portion 6 between a skirt portion of the panel and an effective surface of the panel is increased, and this in turn causes a difference in thermal conductivity inside a furnace. As a result thereof, the glass of the panel is damaged.
In addition, compared to the panel 1 having curved inner and outer surfaces at designated radii of curvature, the panel 10 with the substantially flat outer surface exhibits a structural weakness especially related to implosion-proof properties. To complement such weakness, manufacturers made the panel 10 thicker. However, this only degraded brightness of the screen.
Therefore, as the thickness of the panel 10 having the substantially flat outer surface is increased, damages are more likely to be made on the glass, and material cost and manufacturing cost are increased.

Cathode ray tube with improved thickness profile

Abstract: CFT    ×          USD      IBRD        ×    100    ≤      1100                          mm  (wherein, CFT denotes a thickness at the central portion of the panel, USD denotes a diagonal length of an effective surface of the panel, and IBRD denotes 2×a distance from the center of the panel to the center of a radius of curvature from the corner portion of the panel).


Methods of forming metal silicide layers in a semiconductor device are provided in which a first metal silicide layer may be formed on a substrate, where the first metal silicide layer comprises a plurality of fragments of a metal silicide that are separated by one or more gaps. A conductive material is selectively deposited into at least some of the gaps in the first metal silicide layer in order to electrically connect at least some of the plurality of fragments.

Highly integrated semiconductor devices having rapid data transfer rates are in demand. However, certain characteristics of a semiconductor device may degrade as the semiconductor device becomes more highly integrated. For example, the width of transistor gate electrodes and impurity regions such as transistor source and drain regions are typically made smaller as the level of integration is increased. Such reductions in the line width of gate electrodes and impurity regions may degrade various characteristics of a transistor through an effect that is widely known as a short channel effect.
When a conventional polysilicon layer is formed on a contact area of a highly integrated semiconductor device, the contact resistance or sheet resistance may become very high, which can result in increased power consumption and/or decreased device operating speed. Consequently, a metal silicide layer is often formed on the gate electrode and source/drain regions to facilitate reducing the contact resistance or the sheet resistance, thereby improving the conductivity of the contact in the semiconductor device.
To form such a metal silicide layer, a metal such as, for example, titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni) or cobalt (Co), is deposited on an underlying layer that includes silicon, to form a metal layer on the underlying layer. The device is then heated, and silicon (Si) in the underlying layer reacts with metal in the metal layer to form a metal silicide layer on the underlying layer such as a titanium silicide, a nickel silicide or a cobalt silicide layer. Cobalt silicide layers are widely used because cobalt silicide may be less influenced by a critical dimension (CD) of a gate electrode of the semiconductor device having a design rule of about 200 nm.
To form a cobalt silicide layer for the semiconductor device having a design rule of about 200 nm, cobalt is deposited on a silicon substrate or a silicon pattern by, for example, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to form a cobalt layer on the silicon substrate or pattern. A heat treatment is performed on the cobalt layer, and the cobalt and the silicon react with each other to form the cobalt silicide layer on the silicon substrate or the silicon pattern.
However, when the design rule for the semiconductor device is reduced below about 100 nm, it may become more difficult to provide a relatively high quality cobalt silicide layer. For example, the cobalt silicide may partially agglomerate in some areas, and may fail to form in other areas, resulting in a cobalt silicide layer that may include broken areas and/or be formed discontinuously along the gate electrode and source/drain regions due to a non-uniform distribution of the cobalt silicide. The agglomeration and discontinuities in the cobalt silicide layer may be caused by intrinsic properties of metal silicide.
Examples of methods of forming transistors including metal silicide layers are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1988-233371 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,070.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional method for forming a metal silicide layer.
Referring to FIG. 1, a gate electrode and source/drain regions for a transistor are formed on a substrate (step S10). Then, a cobalt layer and an anti-oxidation layer such as a titanium nitride (TiN) layer are sequentially formed on the gate electrode and the source/drain regions (step S20). A first heat treatment is performed on the cobalt layer and the anti-oxidation layer to form a preliminary cobalt silicide (CoSi) layer on the source/drain regions and on the gate electrode by a chemical reaction of cobalt (Co) and silicon (Si) (step S30). The anti-oxidation layer and residual cobalt (Co) that did not react with the silicon (Si) are removed from the substrate, thereby exposing the preliminary cobalt silicide layer (step S40). A tungsten layer is formed on the preliminary cobalt silicide layer (step S50), and a second heat treatment is performed on the tungsten layer, thereby transforming the preliminary cobalt silicide layer into a cobalt silicide layer that has a very stable electrical resistance (step S60). Then, an insulation interlayer is formed on the resultant structure.

Method of forming relatively continuous silicide layers for semiconductor devices