A method and apparatus for inputting characters in a portable terminal. The method includes displaying on a display unit an arrangement of characters corresponding to a character input mode from among a plurality of arrangements of characters according to various modes, the characters being respectively mapped to combinations of two keys mode; and displaying a character corresponding to the character input mode from among the characters according to the various modes when one of the combinations of two keys is touched.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and method for inputting characters in a portable terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for inputting characters in a portable terminal using a bar-type touch pad.
2. Description of the Related Art
As portable terminals are becoming smaller, lighter, and thinner, their use has risen sharply, in part, because they are very handy to carry. Accordingly, service providers (terminal manufacturers) have been developing terminals with more convenient functions in order satisfy user demands and to secure as many users as possible.
Among various portable terminal functions, users have been preferring additional functions related to messages, such as short messages, multimedia messages, e-mail, broadcast messages, etc., over calling functions. Thus, as the number of character inputs has increased, various methods of efficiently inputting characters have been introduced accordingly.
For example, the CheonJiIn input mode has been conventionally used, as shown in FIG. 1 (CheonJiIn is a Korean word that means heaven, earth, and human). In the CheonJiIn input mode, vowels are categorized into three elements: heaven (•) 103, earth (—) 105, and human () 101. Then, the heaven (•) 103, the earth (—) 105, and the human () 101 are respectively allocated to three keys, and two consonants are allocated to each of the other keys. According to the CheonJiIn input mode, all the vowels can be expressed using combinations of the keys being respectively allocated the above three elements, i.e., the heaven (•) 103, the earth (—) 105, and the human () 101; and all the consonants can be expressed while changing the number of times that each key being allocated two consonants is input.
However, the CheonJiIn character input mode is disadvantageous in that a user must wait for a certain length of time or input a navigation key or a key allocated to a blank character in order to continuously input characters allocated to the same key. Also, since several characters are allocated to one key, the associated key must be continuously pressed three times in order to input a single character.
In the meantime, as portable terminals are becoming smaller and smaller, various methods of minimizing the size of a keypad that normally occupies a considerable space in a portable terminal have been developed and introduced. For example, a touch screen can be included in a portable terminal in order to perform a character input operation in place of a keypad.
However, since a touch screen employs an input mode similar to a keypad, a character adjacent to a desired character may easily and inadvertently be input instead of the desired character. Also, it is impossible to input characters without viewing a screen. Further, when a touch screen is used for a long time, the liquid crystal in the touch screen may likely become damaged.

Apparatus and method for inputting characters in portable terminal


A lumbar support device for adjusting the position of the portion of the seating surface of a seat back corresponding to an occupant""s lumbar region includes a frame member, a plane spring body provided with linear spring elements and supported on the frame member by hanger springs, and an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the position of the plane spring body. The adjusting mechanism adjusts the plane spring body position via torsion springs which has a relatively large spring constant. The load associated with the occupant""s weight is shared by the hanger springs and the torsion springs. The linear spring elements corresponding to the occupant""s lumbar region can be extended by a small outward shift or movement of the plane spring body. Therefore, this lumbar support device imparts a good supporting feeling to the occupant.

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7 119 with respect to Japanese Application No. 2000-094619 filed on Mar. 30, 2000, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention generally relates to vehicle seats. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a lumbar support device in the seat back of a vehicle seat for supporting an occupant""s lumbar region.
UK Patent GB2316604 published in 1998 discloses a lumbar support device for a vehicle seat. The disclosed lumbar support device is accommodated in the seat back of the vehicle seat and includes an approximately inverse or upside down U-shaped seat back frame (a seat frame), a plane spring body disposed within the inverse U-shaped seat frame, and a plurality of wire links stretched between the seat frame and an outer peripheral frame portion of the plane spring body. The wire links suspend the plane spring body with respect to the seat frame for supporting a load from the occupant""s weight.
The lumbar support device also includes a manually operable mechanism for adjusting the tension applied to the wire links that are engaged with the seat frame at a position corresponding to an occupant""s lumbar region. Therefore, the portion of the seating surface corresponding to the occupant""s lumbar region can be adjusted rearward and forward by operation of the adjusting mechanism. When an operation force is applied to outwardly pull the wire links which suspend the plane spring body, the increase in the tension of the wire links causes the wire links to approach a parallel position with the plane spring body. However, by virtue of the construction of the support device, increasing the operation force applied to the wire links increases does not significantly increase the force component for pushing the plane spring body toward the occupant""s lumbar region. Therefore, the lumbar support device is not able to provide a good operational feeling to the occupant at its forward position. Also, due to the construction of the support device, the lumbar support device cannot exert sufficient stiffness for maintaining the seating surface at the forward position.
A need thus exists for an improved vehicle seat lumbar support device for supporting an occupant""s lumbar region.
According to one aspect of the invention, a lumbar support device for a vehicle seat includes a seat back that is adapted to support an occupant of the vehicle seat, a seat back frame provided in the seat back and including a pair of side frames and an end frame portion connected to each side frame, a plane spring body disposed within the seat back frame, a plurality of hanger springs disposed between the plane spring body and the seat back frame to suspend the plane spring body from the seat back frame, a driving device for moving a part of the plane spring body in the rearward and forward directions of the seat back, and a housing secured to at least one of the side frames. A link mechanism that is rotatably supported by a shaft fixed to the housing includes first and second arm portions extending away from the shaft. One end of the first arm portion is pivotally connected to the plane spring body and one end of the second arm portion is engaged with the driving device.
According to another aspect of the invention, a vehicle seat includes a seat cushion, a seat back having a front surface, an outer frame member positioned in the seat back, an inner frame member positioned within the outer frame member and supported on the outer frame member by a plurality of springs, a shaft mounted within the seat cushion, a torsion spring rotatably mounted for rotation relative to the shaft, the torsion spring including an arm that engages one of the side frame members, and a motor operatively connected to the torsion spring to rotate the torsion spring and the arm to cause the inner frame member to move in a direction toward the front surface of the seat back.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a lumbar support device for a vehicle seat includes a frame member positionable in a seat back of a vehicle seat, a spring body supported on the frame member and being comprised of side frame portions and at least one spring element extending between the side frame portions, and an arm rotatably positioned on a shaft that is mounted in a housing, with the arm being connected to one of the side frame portions. A driving device is operatively connected to the arm to rotate the arm and move the spring body in a forward direction to change the degree of lumbar support.


A guide assembly for use in preparing a femur for soft tissue reconstruction is provided. The guide assembly can include a guide shaft member that can extend from a proximal end to a distal end thereof and can include a distal region encompassing the distal end. The distal region can have a first bend in a first direction and a second bend in a second direction different than the first direction.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Current surgical procedures for reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can include reconstructing the torn or otherwise injured ACL with a ligament graft. These procedures often involve forming bone tunnels in the femur and the tibia. Two main categories of procedures for forming the femoral tunnel include a transtibial procedure and a medial portal procedure. In the transtibial procedure, the tibial tunnel can be used to locate the femoral tunnel. While this procedure works for its intended purpose, it is often difficult to position the femoral tunnel entrance at the location of the native ACL footprint. With the medial portal procedure, a guide can be placed through a medial portal rather than the tibial tunnel, which can provide greater freedom to locate the guide relative to the native ACL footprint. While this medial portal procedure also works for its intended purpose, current guide devices, such as with a single plane bend, can require additional manipulation, such as rotation after insertion, as well as may require use of a non-standard medial portal that is "cheated over" toward the medial condyle. Accordingly, there is a need for improvement in the relevant art.


A binder is mixed to alumina powder with a purity of 99.5% or more (step S11), the mixture is granulated (step S12), resultant granule powder is formed with a die (step S13), and a formed compact is sintered in a hot-pressing manner (step S14).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alumina-sintered body, and an associated manufacturing method, as well as to an electrostatic chuck, and an associated manufacturing method, and in particular, to an alumina-sintered body suitable for use in an electrostatic chuck applicable to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and a manufacturing method of the alumina-sintered body, as well as to an electrostatic chuck using the alumina-sintered body, and a manufacturing method associated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Japanese Patent No. 2759288, needle-like aluminum borate is added to alumina powder, and a resultant mixture is sintered to obtain a sintered body with high toughness.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-71168, an oxide of a metal of VA family and SiO2 are added to the mixture, and a resultant mixture is sintered to obtain a sintered body with high strength and toughness due to occurrences of anisotropic growth in alumina crystal particles.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-219569, an oxide of a VA family metal and SiO2 are added to low-purity alumina after an acid cleaning process, and a resultant mixture is sintered at temperatures within 1320 to 1600° C. to obtain a sintered body with high strength and toughness due to occurrences of anisotropic growth in alumina crystal particles.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-154053, an aluminum material containing impurities, such as silicon oxide and calcium oxide, and easily sinterable for high densification at low sintering temperature is used as a raw material, which is calcined within 1000 to 1300° C., and then sintered within 1100 to 1500° C. under unidirectional pressures for deformation, to obtain a sintered body with high strength and toughness.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-18296, a sintered body containing 0.1 to 1.0% by weight of titanium oxide and 1.2% or less by weight of carbon, the rest being substantially composed of alumina, can exhibit a low volume resistivity within 100 to 108Ω·cm without degradation in characteristic of alumina.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Alumina-sintered body and associated manufacturing method, and electrostatic chuck and associated manufacturing method


The shroud can have a wall curved radially outwardly from an axially oriented inlet to an outlet end, a structural member having a flange at the outlet end, and an insert of Greek Ascoloy exposed on an inner face of the wall.

Centrifugal compressors are used in various models and types of gas turbine engines. Centrifugal compressors typically have an axial inlet and a radially outwardly curving shape leading from the axial inlet to a radially-oriented outlet. The compressor rotor is housed in a shroud, and one concern in centrifugal compressor design is to minimize the gap, commonly referred to as tip clearance, between the compressor blades and the shroud, to increase efficiency. Although known centrifugal compressors were satisfactory to a certain extent, there always remains room for improvement.

Centrifugal compressor and shroud therefore


The present disclosure discloses a lighting apparatus, including a lamp body, an optical element connected with the lamp body, a driving power source assembly, a light source assembly and a reflecting device configured to provide a secondary light distribution for the light source assembly which are received in the lamp body; the reflecting device is provided with a light inlet, a light outlet and a reflecting wall located between the light inlet and the light outlet; the reflecting wall is transparent, and includes an internal surface and an external surface; the internal surface includes a plurality of saw-tooth structures, each of the saw-tooth structures includes a first refracting surface and a second refracting surface intersected with each other, two ends of each of the saw-tooth structures extend towards the light inlet and the light outlet; and the light source assembly is disposed at the light inlet of the reflecting device.

Electroplated reflectors are widely applied in commercially used lamps, for example, in illumination lamps such as downlight lamp, spotlight lamp, ceiling lamp and outdoor lamp. The electroplated reflector mainly functions as providing a secondary light distribution for light emitted from a light source. The electroplated reflector generally includes a reflecting surface plated with a layer of metallic film. However, a coating material typically has a relatively higher absorptivity to light, for example, a loss ratio resulted by an electroplated argentum (Ag) film is 5%, a loss ratio resulted by an electroplated aurum (Au) film is 9%, and a loss ratio resulted by an electroplated aluminum (Al) film even reaches up to 12%, which leads to a poor luminous efficiency of the lamp using an electroplated reflector.


Provided is a magnetic encoder which includes plural rows of magnetic encoder tracks. One magnetic encoder track of the magnetic encoder tracks includes magnetic pattern magnetized thereto to generate signals of equal pitch for detection of rotation. The magnetized magnetic pattern includes N poles and S poles arranged in alternate fashion. The magnetic encoder is configured to be employed spaced through an air gap from sensors that read magnetic signals of the respective magnetic encoder tracks. The magnetic encoder track is configured such that the magnetic pattern thereof acting on position of the corresponding sensor is, under the interference of magnetism of the plural rows of magnetic encoder tracks, detected by the corresponding sensor as an equal pitch magnetic pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic encoder which may be used to detect rotation, rotational angles, and linear movements of various devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A technique that belongs to the field of bearing elements is disclosed which makes use of magnetic sensors arranged in the form of a line to obtain interpolated pulse signals (see the Patent Documents 1 and 2 listed below). A technique is disclosed which makes use of a magnetic drum having different numbers of magnetic pole pairs per complete rotation and of a plurality of magnetic sensors to calculate absolute angles (see the Patent Document 3 listed below). A rotational angles detection device is disclosed which makes use of magnetic sensors such as disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2 to obtain phase difference between two different magnetic encoders and which uses the phase difference to calculate absolute angles (see the Patent Document 4 listed below). A technique is disclosed which makes use of a magnetic encoder such as employed in the Patent Document 4 and which interposes a gap between plural rows of adjacent magnetic tracks (see the Patent Document 5 listed below). A technique is disclosed which makes use of a magnetic encoder such as employed in the Patent Document 4 and which interposes a magnetic material between plural rows of adjacent magnetic tracks (see the Patent Document 6 listed below). A technique is disclosed which manufactures a magnetic encoder that includes a plurality of magnetic poles formed thereto (see the Patent Document 7 listed below). A technique is disclosed which relates to, with respect to a magnetic encoder such as disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, plural rows of tracks that are out of phase from each other (see the Patent Document 8 listed below).


Systems and methods for the secure distribution of encryption keys in a network are provided. A Kirchhoff-Law-Johnson-(like)-Noise (KLJN) secure key exchange protocol can be utilized in a network where keys are exchanged between hosts connected by a wire. Such a KLJN secure key exchange protocol provides information security that is information theoretically secure.

Cybersecurity is a very important aspect of signal transfer, and an urgent need exists to protect intelligence, companies, infrastructure, and personal data in an efficient way. Encryption keys can be used to transfer data between two hosts over a network, but the key itself must also be transmitted over the network to provide it from one host to another with any reasonable speed. However, transfer of such a key over a network makes the key potentially vulnerable to an attack by a third party monitoring the network.

Encryption key distribution system and method


A continuous bulk polymerization process for making a high gloss, high impact strength polystyrene based resin having a bimodal particle size distribution containing capsule particles having an average size of 0.2 to 0.6 microns and cellular particles having an average particle size of 1.2 to 8.0 microns. The process comprises three reaction zones in series where styrene and a styrene-butadiene copolymer are fed to the first reaction zone which is maintained at pre-phase inversion conditions and no particles are allowed to form. The capsule particles form in the second reaction zone which is maintained at post-phase inversion conditions. Polybutadiene is introduced into the third reaction zone which is also maintained at post-phase inversion conditions. The cellular morphology particles form in the third reaction zone. The resultant bimodal particle size polymer mixture may be subjected to devolitilization after the third reaction zone or, alternatively, the mixture can be subjected to further polymerization in one or more finishing reactors prior to polymerization.

Homopolymer polystyrene resin is typically a rather brittle resin having a poor impact strength. It has long been known that impact strength of polystyrene can be greatly improved by the addition of rubbery particles dispersed throughout the polystyrene resin. Polystyrene resins of improved strength achieved by addition of rubbery particles is often referred to as high impact strength polystyrene (HIPS). The size of the rubbery particles and the concentration of rubber particles dispersed within the HIPS resin are believed to affect the impact strength of the HIPS resin.
The addition of the rubbery particles to PS to form HIPS tends to result in a reduction of the glossiness of the resin and the products made from the resin. The lack of gloss of conventional HIPS resins is often a disadvantage relative to materials such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin, as ABS generally has both high impact strength and high gloss. Many consumer products require a balance of both gloss and impact strength. Examples of such products include telephones, computers, and other consumer electronics.
Other requirements besides strength and gloss for these products is low cost and availability in large volumes. In particular, cost of the resin must be competitive with alternatives (such as ABS). Also, the resin must be available in large commercial volumes thus a large scale manufacturing process must be viable.
Gloss of conventional HIPS resins has been improved by using relatively small size rubber or elastomer particles, as opposed to large size particles. Further, it has been found that resins that have both small elastomer particles and large elastomer particles, in a bimodal size distribution, have both good gloss and high impact strength. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,282,334; 4,493,922 and 5,039,714. U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,656 also discloses a bimodal resin composition. The '656 resin comprises a styrene matrix containing small-sized particles having a core/shell structure with an average particle size of 0.1 to 0.4 microns, and large-sized particles having a cell structure with an average particle size of 0.8 to 2.0 microns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,658 to Blumenstein et al. discloses a bimodal HIPS resin composition comprising 75 to 97% by weight polystyrene and 3 to 25% of a particulate elastomeric (co)polymer. 40 to 98% by weight of the particulate elastomeric (co)polymer in the form of capsule particles having a mean particle size of from 0.1 to 0.6 microns; and 1 to 60% of the remaining (co)polymer having a particle size of from 0.200 to 1.200 microns and having cell morphology; and from 40 to 99% by weight of the remaining (co)polymer having a mean particle size of from 1.2 to 8.0 microns also having cell morphology. The composition in Blumenstein et al. was made by mixing melts in an extruder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,106 to Schrader et al. discloses a HIPS composition comprising 90 to about 55 wt. % polystyrene and 10 to about 45 wt. % grafted and occluded diene-based rubber particles. The rubber particles are composed of:
25 to about 80 weight percent having a capsule morphology and a volume average size of from 0.1 to 0.4 microns; and PA1 from about 75 to about 20 weight percent of rubber particles having an entanglement morphology and having a volume average particle size of from about 0.25 to 1 micron. PA1 25 to about 80 weight percent of rubber particles having a capsule morphology and a volume average particle size of from 0.1 to 0.4 microns; PA1 75 to about 20 weight percent entanglement particles; and PA1 1 to 25 weight percent of rubber particles having a cellular morphology and a volume average particle size of from about 0.6 to about 1.2 microns. PA1 a. Contacting a first styrene monomer feed and a styrene-butadiene copolymer feed in a first reaction zone under polymerization reaction conditions to form a first mixture; PA1 b. Controlling the reaction conditions in the first reaction zone so there is no phase inversion and no formation of capsule particles; PA1 c. Reacting the first mixture in a second reaction zone to form a substantial amount of the capsule particles and form a second mixture; and PA1 d. Contacting the second mixture in a third reaction zone with a polybutadiene under reaction conditions to form a substantial amount of the cellular particles. PA1 V.sub.Cell,T =V'.sub.Cell /V.sub.T, and V.sub.Cap,T =V'.sub.Cap /V.sub.T ; where PA1 R=V.sub.Cell,T /V.sub.Cap,T =V'.sub.Cell /V'.sub.Cap PA1 V.sub.Cell =V'.sub.Cell /(V'.sub.Cell +V'.sub.Cap)=R/(1+R) PA1 V.sub.Cap =V'.sub.Cap /(V'.sub.Cell +V'.sub.Cap)=1/(1+R)
The examples of this patent disclose making the claimed resin in a continuous, linear three stirred tube reactor system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,195 also to Schrader et al. is a division of the same parent application as U.S. Patent 5,428,106 discussed above. '195 discloses a method of making the resin claimed in the '106 patent. '195 discloses the use of three stirred tube polymerization reactors connected in a series. '195 also discloses a composition comprising 90 to 55 weight percent polystyrene and 10 to about 45 weight percent diene-based rubber particles dispersed within the polystyrene matrix. The rubber particles are composed of:
Blumenstein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,658 does not disclose an in situ process to make bimodal HIPS.
Schrader et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,106 discloses an in situ process to make a high gloss, high impact styrene resin but neither Schrader et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,106 nor U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,195 disclose using such process to make a bimodal resin. The compositions of the resins disclosed in the Schrader et al. patents both comprise large amounts (75 to about 20 weight percent) of entanglement type particles. Schrader et al. '195 also discloses the presence of cellular type particles in the composition but the cellular particles are of a volume average particle size of from about 0.6 to about 1.2 microns.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,589 to Dupre discloses a method for making a bimodal HIPS in a mass polymerization process. Dupre forms a first partially polymerized solution containing rubber particles having an average diameter of about 0.5 to 1.0 microns in a first reaction zone. A second partially polymerized solution containing rubber particles having an average diameter of about 2 to 3 microns is formed in parallel in a second reaction zone. The first and second partially polymerized solutions are mixed together in a third reaction zone. The Dupre method requires two reactor trains in parallel where the rubber particles are formed prior to combining the two streams. The parallel reactor method of Dupre requires at least one additional reaction step than the process of the present invention.

In situ process for making a bimodal HIPS having both high gloss and high impact strength


A method for designing multi-layer electronic circuits includes defining a plurality of circuit blocks in terms of physical boundaries, the plurality of circuit blocks including a first circuit block with at least one port for connecting to a portion of inter-block routing having conducting material external to the first circuit block. The method further provides protective routing for the at least one port of the first circuit block in a region between the block and the inter-block routing, wherein circuitry within the first circuit connected to the at least one port is not in-circuit with the conducting material of the inter-block routing during processing steps involving the conducting material. The protective routing is a conducting layer which is higher in the multi-layer structure than the highest conducting layer used for routing the net containing the at least one port for inter-block routing. The protective routing also bridges the at least one port to inter-block routing connected to the net in a halo region. Software and/or a computer program product that can be used for multi-layer circuit design is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for designing circuits and in particular to a method for designing integrated circuits according to a hierarchical block-based design method.
2. Related Art
As circuit design environments become increasingly competitive there is increasing pressure to bring devices implementing the circuits to market quickly and profitably. Todays sub micron technologies may employ processor cores, general purpose circuit blocks and dedicated functional units designed specifically for the intended applications. Integrated circuit designs frequently also include analog circuit blocks such as analog to digital converters, digital to analog converters and phase locked loops. The resulting circuit may incorporate several million gates and would typically operate at clock speeds above 100 MHz. Unnecessary delays in timing convergence or chip assembly are undesirable and can turn out to be costly. Integrated circuit designers working at sub micron dimensions face challenges in implementing and optimizing working chips of such complexity. Circuit design presents considerable difficulties in managing physical implementation to achieve timing convergence. A conventional design process begins with logic synthesis followed by a physical design phase employing place and route procedures. Problems solved during the place and route procedures often require modifications to be made in a further logic synthesis stage and vice versa. Typically iterations through logic synthesis and physical design stages are required.
The definition of a block varies. However in general a block may be regarded as a circuit element comprising anywhere from an individual cell or several cells upwards to thousands of cells. Block-based design methods have been developed to reduce the number of iterations required between logic synthesis and physical implementation stages of integrated circuit design flow. These design methods might employ automatic software tools to generate candidate floorplans for implementing the integrated circuit. The floorplanning tools are integrated with a range of other software tools for designing detailed circuit implementations within each block. Designers can build a floorplan for the integrated circuit by defining high-level descriptions of the blocks. In practice, this is done either by generating new views of blocks or by re-using proven design blocks from previous designs. Block-based design environments allow integrated circuits to be defined in terms of blocks, sub-block descriptions, or actual layouts with parasitics.
Block-based (or hierarchical) design flows reduce the number of iterations required between logical synthesis and physical implementation stages of chip design. Thus in any given design process, a great deal of the time saved is achieved through the use of these automated software tools for designing and updating floorplans. The advantage is that block-based design flows enable concurrent development of the high level design and the individual blocks which make up that design. A problem with existing block-based design flows is that it is difficult to complete blocks of a chip design and join them together, without knowing the detailed internal physical implementation of each block. One reason for this is that silicon MOS devices can be damaged during their fabrication by what is known as the "antenna effect". Charge which accumulates on exposed metal surfaces (for example during etching processes) can be discharged through MOS gate material which causes yield loss or failures of the silicon product. Circuit design rules include a set of rules which, if followed, protect the circuit from antenna-related problems. Design flows usually include a verification step which checks that these antenna rules have been complied with.
For MOS process technologies, the antenna effect is caused by charge induced sequentially by and in proportion to the amount of exposed metal track connected to a MOS gate at each photo/etch stage. Modern MOS processes use a number of metal interconnect layers and the amount of exposed metal at each metal etch stage is a useful indication of damage probability. Whenever blocks are joined together in block-based design flows, gates within a block can be damaged by antenna effects of the exposed metal external to the block. The charge accumulates at the metal making the internal connection from the port to the MOS gate. Known design flows cannot prevent antenna failures of this type without knowledge of the detailed characteristics of internal and external metal tracking and the amount of gate material connected within a block. Unfortunately this information is not always available early enough in the design process and the result is an antenna failure during high-level design checks. This requires another iteration of the design process, possibly involving an iteration of the sub-block level design. Antenna fails of this type can lead to a significant delay in chip design processes, and due to the random nature of automated place and route flows these iterations may not be convergent towards a solution.
This invention seeks to provide an improved method and apparatus for circuit design with particular applications in integrated circuit design.


A method of replacing a first dispersion medium, in a starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and either terephthalic acid crystals or isophthalic acid crystals, with a second dispersion medium, and apparatus therefore. The starting slurry is tangentially fed to a vertically extending cylindrical portion of a cyclone-shaped nozzle disposed at an upper portion of a replacement tank of a dispersion medium replacement apparatus, from a tangential direction of the cylindrical portion, and moves circularly along an inner wall of the cylindrical portion. The slurry circularly moving is then discharged from an opening which is disposed at a vertically lower end of the cylindrical portion and dispersed in a second dispersion medium which is fed from a lower portion of the replacement tank.

Terephthalic acid is produced by a liquid-phase oxidation reaction of a p-phenylene compound such as p-alkyl benzenes, typically p-xylene. In general, the p-phenylene compound is subjected to a liquid-phase oxidation reaction in acetic acid as a solvent in the presence of a catalyst such as cobalt and manganese or in the presence of the catalyst and an accelerator such as a bromine compound and acetaldehyde to obtain a crude terephthalic acid, and then the resultant crude terephthalic acid is purified to obtain the aimed high-purity terephthalic acid.
However, since acetic acid is used as a solvent in the above reaction and the reaction product contains impurities such as 4-carboxybenzaldehyde (4CBA) and p-toluic acid (p-TOL), a high purification technique is required to obtain the high-purity terephthalic acid.
Similarly, isophthalic acid is produced by a liquid-phase oxidation reaction of m-dialkylbenzenes such as m-xylene. In general, the m-dialkylbenzene is subjected to a liquid-phase oxidation reaction in acetic acid solvent in the presence of a catalyst such as cobalt and manganese or in the co-presence of the catalyst and an accelerator such as a bromine compound and acetaldehyde to obtain a crude isophthalic acid, and then the resultant crude isophthalic acid is purified to obtain the aimed high-purity isophthalic acid.
However, since acetic acid is used as a solvent in the above reaction and the reaction product contains impurities such as 3-carboxybenzaldehyde (3CBA) and m-toluic acid (m-TOL), a high purification technique is required to obtain the high-purity isophthalic acid.
There are known various methods for purifying the crude terephthalic or isophthalic acid obtained by the above reaction, such as a method of dissolving the crude terephthalic or isophthalic acid in acetic acid, water or an acetic acid/water mixed solvent under high-temperature and high-pressure and then subjecting the resultant solution to a catalytic hydrogenation, a decarbonylation, an oxidation or a recrystallization, and a method of subjecting a dispersion partially dissolving terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals to high-temperature immersion treatment.
In both the production of the crude terephthalic or isophthalic acid by the liquid-phase oxidation reaction and the purification thereof, the separation of the terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals from the resultant slurry is finally needed. When the dispersion medium (first dispersion medium) of the reaction product solution obtained by the liquid-phase oxidation reaction is acetic acid and a different dispersion medium (second dispersion medium) such as water is used in the purification, it is required to first separate the crystals from the reaction product solution and then re-disperse the separated crystals in the second dispersion medium. When the first dispersion medium in the reaction product solution is the same kind as the second dispersion medium for the subsequent purification, a substantial part of the impurities such as oxidation intermediate, for example, 4CBA and p-TOL and coloring substances (when forming terephthalic acid), or 3CBA and m-TOL and coloring substances (when forming isophthalic acid) remain in the dispersion medium dissolved after a high-temperature purifying operation of the reaction product solution from the liquid-phase oxidation reaction or the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals. If the reaction product solution from the liquid-phase oxidation reaction or the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals is cooled to about 100° C. while allowing the impurities to be dissolved therein, the impurities are included into the terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals, thereby failing to obtain the aimed high-purity terephthalic or isophthalic acid. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the separation at high temperatures under high pressures to separate a high-purity terephthalic or isophthalic acid from the reaction product solution obtained by the liquid-phase oxidation reaction, the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and terephthalic acid or isophthalic acid crystals or the slurry after the purification treatment.
A centrifugal separation has been most generally used for separating a slurry into crystals and a dispersion medium, which is also extensively used in the separation of the reaction product solution obtained by the liquid-phase oxidation reaction or the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and the terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals.
In the centrifugal separation, the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and the terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals is introduced into a basket which is rotated at a high speed to allow the first dispersion medium to overflow from the upper portion of the basket and the crystals to move downwardly. It has been known that this method involves several problems caused by the limitation in the structures and functions due to the operation at high temperatures under high pressures.
Since the rinsing during the centrifugal separation and the rinsing of the separated crystals are difficult in this method, the amount of the first dispersion medium adhering to the crystal increases. Therefore, the centrifugally separated terephthalic or isophthalic acid crystals are made into a slurry by a further addition of a high-temperature fresh solvent, thereby needing an additional separation into the crystals and the dispersion medium. In addition, the high-speed rotation at high temperatures under high pressures necessitates a difficult and complicated maintenance of the centrifugal separator, to increase the production costs.
There has been recently proposed a method of separating the slurry of terephthalic acid into the first dispersion medium and the crystals and then re-slurrying the separated crystals in a different kind of a dispersion medium by using a single apparatus. In this method, a dispersion medium replacement apparatus utilizing a gravitational sedimentation of the terephthalic acid crystals is used. The starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and the terephthalic acid crystals is introduced into the apparatus from its upper portion, whereas the second dispersion medium is introduced from its lower portion. The replaced slurry composed of the terephthalic acid crystals and the second dispersion medium is mainly discharged from the lower portion of the apparatus, and the first dispersion medium is withdrawn mainly from the upper portion of the apparatus.
As the apparatus for the above method, there have been proposed various apparatuses such as an apparatus equipped with perforated plates (Patent Documents 1 and 2) and an apparatus having no packing structures therein (Patent Document 3).
However, these apparatuses commonly have a problem that the terephthalic acid crystals in the starting slurry are difficult to be uniformly dispersed in the horizontal direction when feeding the starting slurry composed of the first dispersion medium and the terephthalic acid crystals into the upper portion of the apparatuses. If the crystals fail to be uniformly dispersed in a horizontal direction, the mixing in the vertical direction of the replacement apparatus cannot be prevented. The performance of the dispersion medium replacement apparatus is governed by the prevention of the first dispersion medium fed to the upper portion from moving towards the lower portion. Therefore, the mixing in the vertical direction should be prevented.
If the terephthalic acid crystals are non-uniformly fed to the plate of the uppermost stage in the apparatus equipped with the perforated plates, a downward flow to a lower stage is induced particularly through the perforations where the terephthalic acid crystals are concentratedly fed. In contrast, an upward flow is induced through the perforations where the terephthalic acid crystals are not fed. Therefore, the mixing between the upper and lower sides of the plate is enhanced to reduce the plate efficiency. Further, the perforations of plates may be clogged by the non-uniform feed of the terephthalic acid crystals.
In addition, in the apparatus having no packing structure therein, the non-uniform feed of the starting slurry causes a severe mixing in the vertical direction. Therefore, a distributor for dispersing the terephthalic acid crystals more uniformly should be disposed in the apparatus. However, the known distributor having a number of pores suffers from clogging, thereby failing to stably operate the apparatus for a long period of time.
In the method for producing a high-purity isophthalic acid disclosed in Patent Document 4, a crude isophthalic acid obtained by a liquid-phase oxidation is catalytically hydrogenated and isophthalic acid is allowed to crystallize to obtain a slurry which is then brought into contact with a hot water to exchange the dispersion medium. It is reported that the quality of isophthalic acid which is taken out of the bottom of a tower for replacing dispersion medium is increased by discharging a part of fine isophthalic acid crystals together with the mother liquor of slurry from the top of tower. However, Patent Document 4 is completely silent about the uniform dispersion of the isophthalic acid crystals in the tower for replacing dispersion medium.
[Patent Document 1] GB 2014985
[Patent Document 2] JP 57-53431B
[Patent Document 3] JP 8-231465A
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent 3269508

Method of replacing dispersion medium and apparatus therefor


A fuel filter has a filter housing and an annular filter element arranged in the filter housing. Between the bottom of the filter housing and the bottom area of the filter element a water collecting chamber is formed. The filter element has a coalescing element and a particle filter element. Fuel flows radially from the interior to the exterior of the coalescing element and from the exterior to the interior of the particle filter element. A riser tube extends through the clean chamber and the raw chamber from the bottom of the filter housing to the top. The riser tube has a clean channel and a guide channel. A seal on the riser tube separates a clean chamber from a raw chamber of the filter. A water removal tube is arranged inside the guide channel for removing water from the water collecting chamber.

The invention relates to a fuel filter, in particular for internal combustion engines of motor vehicles. The fuel filter comprises a filter housing, a filter element, and a riser tube. The filter element is arranged in the filter housing such that in a bottom area between the filter element and the filter housing a water collecting chamber is formed. The filter element has an annular structure and comprises a coalescing element and a particle filter element, wherein flow passes through the coalescing element from the interior to the exterior and flow passes through the particle filter element from the exterior to the interior. A raw (unfiltered fluid) chamber is formed within the coalescing element and a clean (filtered fluid) chamber is formed within the particle filter element. The riser tube extends through the raw chamber and the clean chamber. The riser tube, on the one hand, forms a clean channel and, on the hand, a guide channel wherein the riser tube has sealing means for sealing the clean chamber and the raw chamber relative to one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,859 discloses a fuel filter that is screwed onto a filter top. The fuel filter has a housing comprised of a housing cup as well as a housing lid. The filter is configured as an exchangeable filter cartridge that cannot be opened. In the housing cup a single-stage filter element is provided that separates seal-tightly a raw side from a clean side. The raw side communicates with fuel inlets that are arranged in the housing lid. The fuel outlet that is also arranged in the housing lid is communicated with clean side. The clean side is enclosed by a filter element that is of a cylindrical hollow configuration. The raw side is formed between the housing cup and the filter element. When filtering the fuel, water that is contained in the fuel is prevented by the filter medium from reaching the clean side. Because water has a higher density than fuel, the water collects in the bottom area of the housing cup. The bottom area of the housing cup is connected by means of a riser tube to the filter top. In this way, the riser tube extends through the clean side wherein between the filter element and the riser tube seals are provided. All components are fixedly connected to one another so that an exchange of the filter medium requires the disposal of the entire fuel filter.


A method for manufacturing an image sensor according to an embodiment includes performing a plasma surface treatment on an oxide film microlens to mitigate high surface morphology. The image sensor can include a passivation layer on a substrate having a pad region and a pixel region and a color filter layer on the passivation layer. A first low temperature oxide can be formed over the substrate including the color filter layer; and an oxide film microlens can be formed on the first low temperature oxide layer. A portion of the first low temperature oxide layer can provide a seed microlens upon which a second low temperature oxide layer is formed to form the oxide film microlenses. The plasma surface treatment can then be applied with respect to the oxide film microlenses.

In general, a microlens of an image sensor device is used to induce light incident from the outside into a photodiode. To this end, a typical microlens is generally manufactured through a photo process using organic-based materials.
However, the related art microlens introduces several sensitivities including contamination of the microlens due to particles generated in a wafer sawing process, and an attack of a pad layer when forming the microlens. These sensitivities degrade manufacturing yield.
Also, in many applications, a zero gap between microlenses is desired to reduce photon loss transferred to a pixel. However, the related art using the existing organic microlens has difficulties realizing a zero gap.
Further, the related art often uses a polymer-based planarization layer to remove a step difference generated upon forming a color filter. However, a vertical scale is increased by the addition of a planarization layer. The increased vertical scale can degrade image characteristics.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for an improved image sensor and method of manufacturing the same.


A valve cover of a internal combustion engine is fixed on the cylinder head by a plurality of screwed joints, preferably with a circumferential gasket inserted in between. At least some of the screwed joints are provided and/or coupled in such a way with a resiliently and/or elastically flexible element (11) on a cold side (3) of the cylinder head (1), which faces away from the at least one exhaust port in the cylinder head (1) and hence faces a cold side of the engine, that the valve cover (2) lifts off from the cylinder head (1) in a defined area of the cover only in the area of said cold side (3) when there is a defined excess pressure in the crankcase.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement of a valve cover on the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
The blow-by gases flowing off in the crankcases of internal combustion engines are generally discharged via a crankcase breather, which is integrated into the cylinder head and is, as a rule, covered by a valve cover. By virtue of their construction, the valve covers are not designed for high pressures such as those which could occur, for example, if there is damage to a piston in one of the cylinders of the internal combustion engine and there is a correspondingly high blow-by rate, with the result that there may be damage to the valve covers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,268 describes an arrangement or fastening for a valve cover for an internal combustion engine, in which helical compression springs are inserted into all of the fastening screws. This is intended to ensure a contact pressure that is as uniform as possible on the circumferential gasket between the valve cover and the cylinder head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,644 furthermore discloses reducing the noise emissions due to structure borne noise by inserting resiliently flexible means into the fastening of the valve cover.
It is an object of the invention to ensure selective blow off of any excess pressure which may occur in the internal combustion engine by means which are simple in terms of design and construction.

Arrangement of a valve cover on the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine


A method for forming a pattern includes providing a resist underlayer film on a substrate using a first composition for forming a resist underlayer film. The first composition includes a polymer having a structural unit represented by a following formula (1). In the formula (1), Ar1 and Ar2 each independently represent a bivalent group represented by a following formula (2). A resist coating film is provided on the resist underlayer film using a resist composition. A resist pattern is formed using the resist coating film. A predetermined pattern is formed on the substrate by sequentially dry-etching the resist underlayer film and the substrate using the resist pattern as a mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a pattern, and a composition for forming a resist underlayer film.
2. Discussion of the Background
In producing elements of integrated circuits, a multilayer resist process has been employed nowadays in order to achieve a higher degree of integration. In brief, according to this process, a composition for forming a resist underlayer film is first coated on a substrate, thereby forming a resist underlayer film, on which a photoresist composition is coated to form a resist coating film, followed by transferring a mask pattern to the resist coating film using a reduced projection exposure system (stepper), etc., and developing with an appropriate developer to obtain a resist pattern. Thereafter, the resist pattern is transferred to the resist underlayer film by dry-etching. Finally, the resist underlayer film pattern is transferred to the substrate by dry-etching to enable a substrate having a desired pattern formed to be obtained.
In the aforementioned multilayer resist process, miniaturization of formed patterns has advanced, and thus further improvement of pattern transfer performances and etching resistance has been demanded for the resist underlayer film. To meet such demands, structures of polymers and functional groups included in polymers and the like contained in compositions for forming a resist underlayer film have been variously investigated (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-177668).

Method for forming pattern, and composition for forming resist underlayer film


Provided are an information transmission method, a terminal device, and a network device. The network device is capable of flexibly using different types of downlink control information according to different situations, and is also capable of effectively controlling the total indication overheads. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving downlink control information of a scheduling paging message, wherein the downlink control information comprises first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating the type of control information carried in the downlink control information; and the terminal device determining, according to the first indication information, the type of the control information carried in the downlink control information.

In a New Radio (NR) system, downlink control information (DCI) carried in Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) may support scheduling of a paging message may carry a short message in addition to normal scheduling information. The short message may be a message such as a system information update indication (systemInfoModification), a commercial alerting indication (cmas-Indication), and an earthquake and tsunami warning indication (etws-Indication). The DCI for scheduling the paging message either carries only the scheduling information or carries the short message, and in the former case, the short message is carried in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carrying the paging message. However, how to make the terminal device determine which one of the above cases the DCI for scheduling the paging message belongs to is a problem that needs to be solved.

Information transmission method, terminal device, and network device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


An electronic device including a first reception band pass filter having a first reception frequency set as a passband; a second reception band pass filter having a second reception frequency set as a passband; a first matching circuit having a first end connected to an antenna terminal; a first switch having a first end connected to a second end of the first matching circuit: a second switch having a first end connected to the second end of the first matching circuit; a second matching circuit connected between a second end of the first switch and the first reception band pass filter; and a third matching circuit connected between a second end of the second switch and the second reception band pass filter, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third matching circuits is a variable matching circuit having a controllable matching constant.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an RF front-end module that performs mobile communication and to a wireless terminal having the RF front-end module.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional mobile communication system that uses a frequency division duplex (FDD) system in which a frequency domain to be used is divided into a domain for transmission and a domain for reception and transmission and reception are carried out concurrently, an uplink (UL) frequency band and a downlink (DL) frequency band have been fixedly paired. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,729,724 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0090974, for example, an RF front end used in an FDD system is disclosed. Conventional mobile communication systems of this type include, for example, a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and a frequency division duplex long term evolution (FDD-LTE).
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of three band pairs, B1, B3 and B4, as an example of pairs of frequency bands (band pairs) in an FDD system. Each band pair is a combination of a frequency for transmission (Tx) equivalent to uplink communication and a frequency for reception (Rx) equivalent to downlink communication.
By contrast, in a next-generation mobile communication system called LTE-Advanced, a technology called carrier aggregation (CA) is used. Carrier aggregation is a technology that combines a plurality of frequency carriers to expand frequency bands and improve communication speeds. In this technology, inter-band carrier aggregation is available which is an operation in which, for example, a frequency band for transmission (Tx) and a frequency band for reception (Rx) that constitute one band pair illustrated in FIG. 1 are combined with another frequency band.
When a plurality of frequency bands are combined as described above, not only can a wide frequency band be allocated but vertically asymmetrical operations become possible by combining split frequency bands or combining isolated frequency bands, enabling frequency bands to be efficiently used.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the structure of an existing RF front-end module that is ready for inter-band carrier aggregation.
The RF front-end module 50, which is placed between an antenna 101 and an RF transceiver 200, is a unit that performs filtering for out-of-band signals of RF signals, filter selection, and the like. The RF front-end module 50 internally includes a switch unit 10, a diplexer 20, and duplexers 131 to 134 (DUP#1 to DUP#4). The switch unit 10 includes RF switches 111 to 113.
The RF switch 111, which is placed between the diplexer 20 and the antenna 101, electrically connects or breaks a route between the diplexer 20 and the antenna 101 by being controlled to be turned on and off. The RF switch 112, which is placed between the duplexer 133 and the antenna 101, electrically connects or breaks a route between the duplexer 133 and the antenna 101 by being controlled to be turned on and off. The RF switch 113, which is placed between the duplexer 134 and the antenna 101, electrically connects or breaks a route between the duplexer 134 and the antenna 101 by being controlled to be turned on and off.
The diplexer 20 functions so as to split a frequency band to be used between the duplexer 131 and the duplexer 132.
Since, in a FDD system, transmission and reception are performed concurrently, the duplexers 131 to 134 each function so as to provide an isolation between the transmission (Tx) frequency band and the reception (Rx) frequency band, which are paired, so that a transmission (Tx) signal and a reception (Rx) signal do not mutually interfere.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the duplexer 131 is formed with, for example, a band-pass filter (transmission BPF) 412 that selectively passes signals in the transmission (Tx) frequency band, a band-pass filter (reception BPF) 413 that selectively passes signals in the reception (Rx) frequency band, and a phase circuit (phase shifter) 411 connected in series with the reception BPF 413. The phase circuit 411 is structured (designed) so that a mutual relationship between frequency characteristics of the two filters becomes appropriate in the setting of a matching circuit and line length. This prevents transmission signals and other unnecessary signals from entering the reception side, enabling transmission and reception signals to be preferably split. The matching circuit may be generally formed with an inductor or a capacitor. The phase circuit 411 may be provided not only on the same side as the reception BPF 413 but also on the same side as the transmission BPF 412.
Referring again to FIG. 2, the RF transceiver 200 has power amplifiers 211 to 214, which are respectively connected to the duplexers 131 to 134. The input ends of the power amplifiers 211 to 214 are respectively transmission ports #1 to #4 of a known transmission circuit (not illustrated) provided in the RF transceiver 200. The RF transceiver 200 also has reception ports #1 to #4, which are respectively connected to the duplexers 131 to 134. Known reception circuits (not illustrated) that include low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) 221 to 224 are connected to the reception ports #1 to #4.
FIG. 4 is a graph used to explain the action of a duplexer. The horizontal axis of the graph represents frequencies [MHz], and its vertical axis represents the amount of signal attenuation [dB]. A waveform Wt indicates frequency characteristics that represent how a signal proceeding from the transmission port of the duplexer to an antenna terminal is attenuated. A waveform Wr indicates frequency characteristics that represent how a signal proceeding from the antenna terminal of the duplexer to a reception port is attenuated.
An area A1 of the waveform Wt indicates a low insertion loss in a transmission frequency band, indicating that the efficiency of transmission electric power is superior. An area A2 of the waveform Wr indicates a low insertion loss in a reception frequency band, indicating that reception sensitivity is superior.
An area A3 of the waveform Wr indicates that a wraparound from the transmission signal to the reception side is suppressed by the duplexer and deterioration in reception sensitivity due to the transmission signal is thereby suppressed. Similarly, an area A4 of the waveform Wt indicates that it is suppressed by the duplexer that noise generated from the power amplifier enters the reception side and reception sensitivity is thereby deteriorated.
In the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, when a single band pair (one transmission frequency band and one reception frequency band) is used, the RF switch 112, which is connected to the duplexer 133 connected to the transmission port #3 and reception port #3, for example, is turned on and the other RF switches are turned off. Alternatively, the RF switch 113, which is connected to the duplexer 134 connected to the transmission port #4 and reception port #4, is turned on and the other RF switches are turned off.
In the structure in FIG. 2, if an operation is performed in inter-band carrier aggregation of two downlink waveforms (2 DL) and one uplink (1 UL), the RF switch 111 connected to the diplexer 20 is turned on and the other RF switches are turned off. At this time, the transmission port #1 is used for transmission and the reception ports #1 and #2 are used for reception, for example.

RF front-end module and mobile wireless terminal


A plant container having a plurality of holes in the bottom thereof, a plurality of legs are detachably connected to certain holes in the bottom thereof, and a length of wick extends through other holes in the bottom of the container.

Conventional plant containers or pots have holes in the bottom for draining excess water or nutrient to prevent plant damage. When the containers are placed in a tray containing water or nutrient, the plant can be easily damaged if over watered. It has been proposed to provide the plant containers with legs so that the bottom of the container is positioned above the surface of the fluid in the tray and a wick extends through the holes in the bottom of the container for drawing fluid from the tray into the container.
While these containers have been satisfactory for their intended purpose, they have been characterized by certain disadvantages. For instance, heretofore, the legs have been integrally formed with the container, thus making the container more expensive to manufacture than a conventional container without the legs, and a fastener was required for holding the wick in the respective hole in the bottom of the container.


An electrostatic discharge device has relatively superior characteristics for protecting a gate insulation layer of an input buffer transistor of a semiconductor device from static electricity while minimizing signal delay. The electrostatic discharge circuit includes a main electrostatic discharge section configured to discharge static electricity inputted to an input/output pad to at least one voltage line, an input impedance section configured to adjust an amount of current flowing from the input/output pad depending upon a frequency of an input signal of the input/output pad, an auxiliary electrostatic discharge section connected to the input impedance section and configured to discharge the static electricity inputted to the input/output pad to the at least one voltage line, and an input buffer connected between the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section and an internal circuit.

The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge device of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to an electrostatic discharge device which is suitable for a semiconductor device operating at a high speed.
In general, electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicates a phenomenon that, when objects insulated from each other come into contact with each other electrically, current momentarily flows due to a considerably large difference in the voltages of the objects.
If a high voltage by ESD current flows to a semiconductor device, an internal circuit of the semiconductor device is likely to be damaged. Therefore, in most semiconductor devices, in order to protect internal circuits, an ESD protection circuit is installed between an input/output pad and the internal circuits.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional electrostatic discharge circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, in order to protect an internal circuit 150 when static electricity is applied to an input/output pad I/O, a main electrostatic discharge section 110, an input resistor 120, an auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130, and an input buffer 140 are formed between the input/output pad I/O and the internal circuit 150.
The main electrostatic discharge section 110 includes a first main electrostatic discharge unit 112 which is formed between the input/output pad I/O and a power voltage (VCC) line and a second main electrostatic discharge unit 114 which is formed between the input/output pad I/O and a ground voltage (VSS) line. The main electrostatic discharge section 110 is mainly constituted by diode chains and discharges static electricity, which is applied to the input/output pad I/O, to the power voltage (VCC) line or the ground voltage (VSS) line.
The input resistor 120 adjusts an on/off ratio. Similarly to the main electrostatic discharge section 110, the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 discharges static electricity to the power voltage (VCC) line or the ground voltage (VSS) line when the static electricity is applied. The auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 functions to prevent the input buffer 140 from being damaged when static electricity is abruptly applied.
The input buffer 140 is composed of a PMOS transistor 142 and an NMOS transistor 144. If excessive voltages are applied to the gates of these transistors 142 and 144, the gate oxide layers of the transistors 142 and 144 are likely to be damaged. In order to prevent this, the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 is used.
The auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 includes a PMOS transistor 132 which is formed between the input/output pad I/O and the power voltage (VCC) line and an NMOS transistor 134 which is formed between the input/output pad I/O and the ground voltage (VSS) line.
In the electrostatic discharge circuit, in order for the input resistor 120 to properly perform its function, the input resistor 120 should have resistance over a predetermined level (usually 100Ω). Consequently, in a semiconductor device operating at a high speed over several GHz, RC (resistance-capacitance) delay increases due to the resistance of the input resistor 120 and the capacitance of the back-end transistors 132 and 134. For example, in the case where a semiconductor device operates at a speed over several GHz, the rising time of a signal has the level of approximately 10 ps. In this regard, when assuming that the input resistor 120 has resistance of approximately 100Ω and the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 has capacitance of approximately 0.1 pF, RC signal delay of an approximately 10 ps level occurs, which is intolerable.
If the resistance of the input resistor 120 is decreased so as to reduce the RC signal delay, when static electricity is produced, the probability of the transistors 132 and 134 of the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 or the transistors 142 and 144 of the input buffer 140 to be damaged increases. That is to say, in the case where the resistance of the input resistor 120 is decreased, since the amount of current flowing through the transistors 132 and 134 of the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 is increased, the transistors 132 and 134 are likely to be damaged unless the size of the transistors 132 and 134 is sufficiently large. Also, as the amount of current discharged through the transistors 132 and 134 increase, a voltage drop occurring due to the current and its path resistance increase. Accordingly, the gate insulation layers of the transistors 142 and 144 of the input buffer 140 are likely to be damaged.
In order to cope with these problems, the sizes of the transistors 132 and 134 of the auxiliary electrostatic discharge section 130 should be increased to a sufficient level. However, in this case, as an increased area of a chip is used, it is difficult to accommodate the trend toward the high integration of a semiconductor device.
Thus, in order to appropriately conform to the high speed operation of a semiconductor device, an electrostatic discharge circuit having relatively superior characteristics for protecting the gate insulation layers of the transistors of the input buffer and capable of minimizing signal delay is desired.


An ink and ink set characterized in that both a combination of a specific wetting agent, penetrating agent, and water-soluble organic solvent and use of surfactant, particularly fluorine surfactant are enabled by using water dispersion in which polymer fine particles contain coloring material. Even when plain paper is printed at high speed by ink-jet recording by using this ink and ink set, the ink and ink set can realize a pigment ink for ink-jet recording, an ink set, an ink-jet recording method, ink cartridge, and recorder which have an excellent ejection stability and excellent preservability, and provide (1) good color tone, (2) high image density, (3) recorded image free of unsharpness near character or image and feathering and high in sharpness, (4) less boundary color bleedings between different colors, (5) image adaptable to both-side printing and causing less strike-throughs, and (6) image fastness such as water resistance and light resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording ink, an ink-jet recording ink set, an ink cartridge, an ink-jet printer, and an ink-jet printing method which use a pigment as a coloring material. Especially, the present invention relates to an ink-jet recording pigment ink and an ink-jet recording pigment ink set which can print on plain paper at high speed a high quality image with good color tone and good chroma, yield a high quality image with good color tone with a minute amount of character feathering and color bleeding, obtain an image excellent in rigidity such as waterproof and light resistance, be excellent in preservability, and excellent in ejection stability without causing head clogging in the printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
From its advantages such as low noise, low running cost and the like, an ink-jet printer is remarkably pervaded, and a color printer capable of printing color image on plain paper is more and more placed on the market. It is, however, very difficult to meet all required properties including color reproducibility of an image, durability, light resistance, image dryness, character feathering, color boundary bleeding (for short, color bleeding), both-side printing property, ejection stability, and the like. With this, the ink used is selected based on a preferential property for a specific application. Especially, meeting the above required properties are difficult for the printer for high-speed plain paper printing.
Generally, with its principle component of water, the ink for the ink-jet printing contains a coloring agent, and further contains a wetting agent such as glycerin and the like for clogging prevention. As the coloring agent, dye has been used in view of its excellent coloring property and stability. An image obtained by using a dye ink does not have good light resistance, waterproof, and the like. The waterproof is improved to a certain extent by improvement of ink-jet record paper having an ink absorbing layer, which improvement does not, however, apply sufficiently to the plain paper.
Recently, for solving the above problems, a pigment ink using as coloring agent an organic pigment, carbon black and the like in place of the dye is taken into account. The pigment is insoluble in water. Thereby, the pigment can be used as an aqueous ink in which the pigment is mixed and dispersed with a dispersing agent for stable dispersion in water. Use of the pigment can bring about waterproof and light resistance, but cannot meet other properties at the same time. Especially, the high-speed printing of the plain paper cannot obtain high image density and high coloring property, failing to sufficiently meet the character feathering, the color bleeding, the both-side printing property and the like.
The pigment ink has, compared with the dye ink, more problems in terms of the coloring property and stability. Especially, with improvement in high-image technology of OA (office automation) printers, the pigment ink is required to have printing quality, hue, chroma, gloss, preservability which are equivalent to those of the dye ink. However, a conventional pigment ink does not necessarily meet the above required properties. For example, it is generally known that especially a magenta ink and a cyan ink used for the pigment ink have respectively C. I. pigment red 122 and C. I. pigment blue 15:3. Compared with the dye ink, the pigment ink has a different color reproduction range. Moreover, the pigment ink carries out color toning for reducing hue error, in this case, however, the chroma is forced to be decreased, thus deteriorating the printing quality.
On the contrary, the pigment itself is more and more improved for changing the hue not by the color toning. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-17207 discloses a phthalocyanine pigment having a specific crystalline structure in which a cyan pigment is proposed which has a hue in the same color range as that of the cyan dye. The above proposal does not meet all the required properties in terms of cost and the like.
JP-A No. 2000-239590 discloses an ink set using a pigment for coloring material of black ink and using a dye for coloring materials of yellow ink, magenta ink, and cyan ink. Although the above proposal is made in so many other disclosures, they are not sufficient for plain paper printing.
In the ink-jet printing, a stable ejection of an ink droplet from a thin nozzle of an ink-jet recording head is needed. For meeting the above, it is necessary that dryness of an orifice of the ink-jet recording head does not cause solidification and the like of the ink. Use of a dispersing agent-contained ink for the ink-jet printing may sometimes cause clogging or ink's ejection failure which may be attributable to a resin and the like (of the dispersing agent) that is not dissolved again after adhering to the orifice and the like. Especially, a long-time stoppage of the printing is likely to cause the clogging of the nozzle and the like, moreover, the long-time stoppage may cause ink's accumulation (the ink with increased viscosity) in a nozzle cap or in a maintenance mechanism such as intake-tube and the like, thus losing function of the maintenance mechanism. A temporary stoppage of printing, or a temporary stoppage of using a nozzle that corresponds to a blanked document or a blanked image may cause a printing failure and the like which may be attributable to disoriented direction of injection of ink droplet (intermittent ejection failure). The above problems occurred so often. An aqueous pigment ink containing the dispersing agent is viscous and causes a resistance in a path to a nozzle's head end in the long-time continuous ejection and a high-speed printing, thus making the ejection unstable and making it difficult to achieve a smooth printing.
JP-A No. 64-6074 and JP-A No. 01-31881 disclose a specific surfactant for the purpose of reducing surface tension of an ink using a pigment as a coloring agent. Each of JP-A No. 64-6074 and JP-A No. 01-31881 disclosing the specific surfactant, however, deteriorates printing quality due to character feathering, the color bleeding and the like, thus making it impossible to obtain ejection stability compatible with printing quality. JP-A No. 05-230409 and the like disclose a technology using a fluorine compound, in which the examples of using the pigment for the coloring agent are rare, failing to obtain a good property.
For solving the above problems, JP-A No. 2000-212486 discloses an ink having specific agents and property such as pigment, pigment density, water-soluble dispersing agent, and penetrating agent; an ink containing polyhydric alcohol alkylether derivatives; and an ink set thereof. The ink disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-212486 has a super permeability, and thereby has a sufficient dryness even at a high-sped printing and has a secured ejection stability. The ink disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-212486 is, however, inferior to a dye ink in terms of image density, color reproducibility and the like when the plain paper is used. Although more improved in character feathering, color bleeding and both-side printing property than a conventional ink-jet print image, a print image disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-212486 is inferior to a print image of an electrophotographic method and the like used for plain paper printing on the market, thereby is in need of more improvement.
For improving durability of the image, an ink is disclosed which contains a coloring agent-encapsulated resin dispersion which encapsulates a coloring agent in an insoluble-and-dispersing resin. However, the above ink does not obtain a sufficient image density when a carbon black is used as the coloring agent. A color organic pigment used as the coloring agent for a conventional ink is inferior to a dye ink in terms of image density, color reproducibility and the like on the plain paper. An ink set of the above coloring agent-encapsulated resin dispersion which set combines a black ink with a color ink cannot bring about a sufficient color boundary bleeding between black and yellow.
Other dispersing methods include a self-dispersion type pigment ink which is capable of making a stable dispersion without a dispersing agent. In terms of a black pigment ink, JP-A No.05-186704 and JP-A No.08-3498 disclose so-called a self-dispersion type carbon black which is capable of making a stable dispersion without a dispersing agent by introducing a hydrophilic group to a surface of carbon. Moreover, in terms of a color pigment ink, JP-A No. 2000-513396 discloses a color pigment which is capable of making a stable dispersion without a dispersing agent.
Combining the above self-dispersion type pigment inks is low in terms of chroma of a color image on plain paper, and deteriorated in terms of friction resistance on special gloss paper. Adding a resin emulsion for improving the friction resistance may decrease dispersion stability of the ink, thus losing ejection stability.
Alternatively, JP-A No. 10-140064 discloses an ink set comprising a black ink and a color ink in which a black ink having a self-dispersion type carbon black and a color ink containing a coloring material whose polarity is opposite to that of a coloring material of the black ink. Furthermore, JP-A No. 2000-191972 discloses an ink set having coloring agent-encapsulated resin dispersion inks having different ionicities. A printed matter printed with the above ink sets are improved in terms of color bleeding, however, still failing to meet other properties of the plain paper.

Ink-jet recording ink, ink-jet recording ink set, ink cartridge, ink-jet printer, and ink-jet printing method


A method for providing, based on an emulation schedule, a reset message to multiple circuits is provided. The reset message associates a reset signal with a selected clock cycle for each circuit, in the emulation schedule. The method includes determining a mask for each of the circuits based on the emulation schedule, providing a clock signal to the circuits, the clock signal comprising the selected clock cycle for each circuit, and tuning the reset signal relative to the clock signal based on a center of the selected clock cycle for each circuit. The method also includes providing the reset signal to the circuits and asserting the reset signal in the circuits based on the mask. A system and a non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions to perform the above method are also provided.

Emulating current integrated circuit devices is a critical step during device design prior to fabrication. With the evolution of highly sophisticated circuitry, the need for a higher number of gate counts in circuit emulators becomes more pressing. Accordingly, multiple commercially available systems attempt to address this problem with varied degrees of success. One of the challenges in multi-circuit emulation is to keep signals synchronized for the multiple FPGAs intervening in the emulation of each netlist. Moreover, systems working on multiple clients (e.g., different integrated circuits) and on netlists that are independent from one another (even within the same circuit design), lack the ability to perform massively parallel, and securely separated, emulation tests.
The description provided in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with the background section. The background section may include information that describes one or more aspects of the subject technology.

Synchronized reset for a circuit emulator


A toner cartridge comprises a toner cartridge main body which houses toner, a discharging opening which supplies the toner housed in the toner cartridge main body to an image forming apparatus, a shutter which opens the discharging opening when the toner cartridge main body is inserted in the image forming apparatus and closes the discharging opening when the toner cartridge main body is removed from the image forming apparatus, and a notifying member which includes a first protrusion provided in the toner cartridge main body, to show that the toner cartridge main body is set in the image forming apparatus by temporary engaging with a second protrusion provided in the image forming apparatus at the same time when the shutter completes the opening of the discharging opening, when the toner cartridge main body is inserted in the image forming apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge for supplying toner to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus has a toner cartridge for supplying toner to the apparatus. The toner cartridge is inserted in the image forming apparatus in a removable manner. In addition, a filling opening is provided in the toner cartridge and the toner is supplied through the filling opening. In the toner cartridge, a mixer is rotated constantly so as to prevent the toner from solidifying inside the toner cartridge.
The toner cartridge is configured such that the user can exchange the toner cartridge himself or herself when toner in the toner cartridge is used up.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 2006-30569 discloses a configuration in which a supplying opening of a toner cartridge is open and closed by a hook provided in an image forming apparatus pressing a movable shutter provided at the supplying opening when the user mounts or removes the toner cartridge.
However the user has been unable to know whether mounting of a toner cartridge has been finished in a state where the supplying opening is fully open.
The present invention is invented in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner cartridge from which it can be judged that the toner cartridge has been inserted to the image forming apparatus.

Toner cartridge having first protrusion that transmits sound by engaging second protrusion on image forming apparatus


The structure and the fabrication methods herein implement a fully depleted, recessed gate silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistor with reduced access resistance, reduced on-current variability, and strain-increased performance. This transistor is based on an SOI substrate that has an epitaxially grown sandwich of SiGe and Si layers that are incorporated in the sources and drains of the transistors. Assuming a metal gate last complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and using the sidewall spacers as a hard mask, a recess under the sacrificial gate reaching all the way through the SiGe layer is created, and the high-K gate stack and metal gate are formed within that recess. The remaining Si region, having a precisely controlled thickness, is the fully depleted channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the manufacturing of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), and more particularly to fully depleted channel transistors fabricated in thin silicon films over a buried insulating layer with improved source drain characteristics, excellent electrostatic integrity and reduced statistical variability.
2. Prior Art
MOS transistors have long been troubled by the adverse effects of their underlying substrates, like parasitic capacitance and area-consuming isolation. In the earliest days of integrated circuit technology, the use of a thin film of silicon on a sapphire substrate was proposed as a solution to these problems. RCA Laboratories was an early proponent of this technology, as in Meyer, J. E.; Boleky, E. J.; "High performance, low power CMOS memories using silicon-on-sapphire technology," Electron Devices Meeting, 1971 International, vol. 17, p. 44, 1971. The basic ideas of this technology have evolved over the years driven by improvements in materials technology, and as less exotic substrates became practical, this technology became known as silicon-on-insulator (SOI). In the earliest implementations, the silicon was simply relatively thin, i.e., less than 1 micron thick, substrate with a conventional level of doping and a depletion layer beneath the transistor's gate thinner than the silicon thickness resulting in 'partially depleted' SOI (PD SOI). The un-depleted doped region beneath the gate of a PD SOI transistor proved to have its own disadvantages, largely caused by its tendency to charge and discharge resulting in step changes in the drain current. These problems became known as a "kink" effect, and it was closely tied to impact ionization in the transistor's channel and electron/hole trapping in the un-depleted part of the silicon under the channel.
The next stage in SOI evolution was the use fully-depleted silicon film (FD SOI). This was achieved by making the silicon beneath the gate so thin that there would be no region where there could be mobile carriers. Some of the early work was done at HP Laboratories and reported as Colinge, J.-P.; "Hot-electron effects in Silicon-on-insulator n-channel MOSFET's," Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 34, no. 10, pp. 2173-2177, October 1987. In this work, the silicon film is thinner by a factor of 10, only 100 nm thick.
The next step in fully depleted SOI technology has been prompted by the emergence of threshold voltage variations that are associated with the uncertainty of the number of discrete doping ions immediately beneath the gate. This uncertainty is similar to shot noise, because it is an irreducible, statistical uncertainty. For large devices, the counting uncertainty, roughly proportional to the square root of the total number of ions, was never a problem. However, in a world where devices have dimensions of the order of 30 nm, the total number of doping ions drops below 100, and the counting uncertainty is about 3%, rising to 10% for smaller devices. These deviations are devastating when billions of transistors are integrated into a single integrated circuit chip. The immediate solution required eliminating all doping from the silicon layer, placing all the responsibility for threshold control on the relative work functions of the gate material, now a metal, and the thickness of the silicon film. This has been done with both planar and FinFET transistor structures. A good review of this work may be found in Kuhn, K. J.; Giles, M. D.; Becher, D.; Kolar, P.; Kornfeld, A.; Kotlyar, R.; Ma, S. T.; Maheshwari, A.; Mudanai, S.; "Process Technology Variation," Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 2197-2208, August 2011.
Planar transistors at 32/28 nm CMOS technology generation made to have good electrostatic integrity and resistance to doping fluctuations have to employ extremely thin silicon layers, of the order of 7 nm or less, and they are fabricated over thin buried oxide layers, roughly 10 nm thick. This is discussed in detail in Maleville, C.; "Extending planar device roadmap beyond node 20 nm through ultra thin body technology," VLSI Technology, Systems and Applications (VLSI-TSA), 2011 International Symposium on, pp. 1-4, 25-27 April 2011. Layers in the sub-10 nm thickness ranges present manufacturing challenges, and the very thin layers affect performance because the parasitic series resistance in sources and drains cuts down on the transistors' gain figures. The limited number of dopants, particularly in the access regions below the spacer, also introduce access resistance and on current variability, S. Markov, B. Cheng, A. Asenov, "Statistical variability in fully depleted SOI MOSFETs due to random dopant fluctuations in the Source and drain extensions," IEEE Electron Dev. Let. Vol. 33, pp. 315-317 (March, 2012).
There have been a variety of publications that address the use of an undoped or lightly doped epitaxial channel region to mitigate the fluctuations associated with random doping variations. The publications include Takeuchi, K.; Tatsumi, T.; Furukawa, A.; "Channel engineering for the reduction of random-dopant-placement-induced threshold voltage fluctuation," Electron Devices Meeting, 1997. IEDM '97. Technical Digest., International, pp. 841-844, 7-10 Dec. 1997; Asenov, A.; Saini, S.; "Suppression of random dopant-induced threshold voltage fluctuations in sub-0.1-μm MOSFET's with epitaxial and δ-doped channels," Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 1718-1724, August 1999; and Thompson; Scott E.; Thummalapally; Damodar R.; "Electronic Devices and Systems, and Methods for Making and Using the Same," U.S. Patent Application 2011/0074498, Mar. 31, 2011. All these publications address the use of epitaxy in the channels of bulk transistors.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of conventional, fully-depleted silicon on insulator transistor. This figure is prior art. The transistor in FIG. 1 is fabricated on a substrate 10, with a buried oxide 11 separating all components of the transistor from the underlying substrate 10. The active region 13 is intentionally undoped or doped at a low level that permits the active region to be totally free of carriers when there is no applied voltage difference between the gate 15 and 16 and the source, one of either region marked 19. This is made possible because a metal gate 15 has been chosen to have a work function which establishes the appropriate electrostatic potentials within the silicon channel region 13. The gate region 16 is a robust material like polycrystalline silicon that permits fabrication of further structures like inter-layer dielectrics and contacts. Normally in the fabrication of such a transistor, there is a protective oxide 17 which is removed and replaced by a thin, high dielectric constant stack identified as 14. On each side of the gate structure comprising elements 14, 15 and 16, there is a spacer 18. Typically, this spacer is a robust dielectric like silicon nitride that has been etched anisotropically to leave walls of finite thickness on each side of the gate structure.
Within the current FDSOI practice there remain problems associated with low and variable access conductance beneath the gate spacers and with thickness control of the active layer. These problems are addressed by the structure and methods described below.

Gate recessed FDSOI transistor with sandwich of active and etch control layers


An improved process for forming multiple coats of finishes on a substrate by sequential (a) applying to the substrate a layer of a color basecoat composition of waterborne coating composition of an acrylic polymer latex contains pigment; (b) applying to the layer of color basecoat composition before it is fully cured a clear coat composition of an acrylic polymer having crosslinkable groups and a crosslinking agent in a volatile organic solvent and (c) subsequently simultaneously curing the basecoat composition and the clear coat composition; the improvement used therewith comprises a solvent based clear coating composition having a binder of about. 40-95% by weight of an epoxy acrylic polymer having at least one alkyl methacrylate having 2-12 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, and glycidyl methacrylate or acrylate and having a weight average molecular weight of about 3,000-10,000 and a glass transition temperature of about -20.degree. to +50.degree. C.; and PA1 5-60% by weight an organic polyisocyanate; wherein the clear coat when cured has a water vapor permeability value of about 1400-3200.

This invention is directed to an improved process for applying a low VOC (volatile organic content) solvent based clear coating composition over a waterborne base coating to form a clear coat/basecoat finish of automotive quality and appearance.
Waterborne coating compositions useful for basecoats for automotive applications are shown in Den Hartog et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,559 issued Sep. 4, 1990. The application of a clear coat to a basecoat in a "wet on wet" application is shown in Kurauchi et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,543 issued Mar. 1, 1988 and Benefiel et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,147 issued Feb. 1, 1972. However, none of the compositions or processes shown in the art form a clear coat/basecoat finish wherein the clear coat is formed from a solvent based composition and the color coat is formed from a waterborne composition and wherein the finish has properties that are required for exterior finishes of automobiles and trucks and the compositions meet desired standards of overall low solvent emissions.
One problem in particular that has been encountered with clear coat/basecoat finishes is the degradation and delamination of the clear coat from a waterborne basecoat upon weathering. Moisture penetration of the clear coat is believed to cause at least a part of the aforementioned problem. The novel process of this invention which uses a particular clear coat forms a clear coat/basecoat finish of automotive quality that is weatherable and durable and the process meets current standards of solvent emissions.

Low VOC clear epoxy acrylic coating composition for basecoat clear coat finish