An object of the present invention is to identify sequence features of the 5′ UTR, which are involved in changes in the translational state of plants under environmental stresses, and to provide a recombinant DNA molecule, an expression vector, a transformant, and the like, having the above sequence features. The present invention provides a recombinant DNA molecule encoding mRNA containing the 5′ UTR (a) or (b) defined below, a vector obtained by ligating the recombinant DNA molecule to a site immediately downstream of the transcription initiation point of a promoter, and a transformant comprising the vector:

As is the case with other eukaryotes such as animals and yeast, the rate of protein synthesis in plants is also usually controlled by the initial translation reaction (NPL 1).
The initiation of translation is one of the important control stages for plants to control gene expression in quick response to changes in the external environment. For example, translation of the majority of mRNAs to proteins is repressed under various stresses such as temperature, osmotic pressure, and anaerobic conditions (low-oxygen). However, the translation of mRNA is not entirely repressed. The translation of some mRNAs, i.e., protein synthesis, is maintained. Such knowledge suggests the presence of a gene expression control mechanism, which selectively and quickly synthesizes necessary proteins while repressing the majority of protein synthesis, at the translational level in response to external environmental stresses.
In recent years, attempts have been made to exhaustively analyze changes in the translational state of each mRNA induced by various environmental stresses. These attempts are to exhaustively understand the translational state of each gene by subjecting mRNA fractionated according to the degree of ribosomal binding to microarray analysis (NPL 2 to 5). Because of these attempts, the presence of numerous mRNA species whose translation is not repressed even under stress has become evident, and it has become clear that changes in the translational level in response to stress are not digitally determined to be repressed or not repressed depending on the mRNA species, but such changes occur in a continuous manner as a whole.
At the same time, a relationship between changes in the translational state caused by stress and the 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR) has been suggested. For example, it has been reported from an analysis in which the 5′ UTR of corn Hsp 101 or ADH or Arabidopsis thaliana HSP 81-3 was linked to a reporter gene, that the 5′ UTR is important for the escape from stress-induced translational repression (NPL 6 to 8). However, a detailed mechanism thereof has not been clarified.
Based on the above-described relationship, which became clear by polysome/microarray analysis, between the translational state of each mRNA species and the features of the 5′ UTR of Arabidopsis thaliana plants under dehydration stress, Kawaguchi et al. made an attempt to search for an intrinsic factor of the 5′ UTR, which regulates translational control under stress, and reported that there is a correlation between the translational state under dehydration stress and the features of the 5′ UTR such as the length of the 5′ UTR and low GC content in the 5′ UTR. However, important sequence features have not been found even in this report, and Kawaguchi et al. themselves state that the length of 5′ UTR and the rate of GC content are not considered to be determining factors of the translational state under stress (NPL 4).

Recombinant DNA molecule encoding 5′ UTR capable of preventing inhibition of translation under environmental stresses

Abstract: (a) 5′ UTR in which a sequence of bases 1 to 7 and a sequence of bases 12 to 32 from the 5′ end are, respectively, a sequence of bases 1 to 7 and a sequence of bases 12 to 32 of SEQ ID NO: 4, 6, 20, 36, or 60; and

Abstract: (b) 5′ UTR in which one or more bases in the base sequence of the 5′ UTR of (a) are replaced, and which escapes translational repression induced by at least one environmental stress selected from the group consisting of heat stress and salt stress.

National University Corporation Nara Institute of Science and Technology


Systems and methods are presented for providing updated VOIP terminal location information to emergency call service providers, in which RFID tags are positioned at various locations within an enterprise and coded with unique tag data. A database is provided with a mapping of RFID tag data and tag locations in the enterprise, and the VOIP phone terminals are equipped or otherwise connected with RFID tag readers. The VOIP phones read the tag data upon initiation of a 911 or other an emergency call and report the tag data to a network server that determines the VOIP phone location according to the tag data and provides the phone location to the emergency call service provider.

Telephone users have been provided with a vast array of different types and forms of communications services in recent years. In addition to traditional wireline telephones, wireless phones and the Internet have become widely accepted as mediums for telecommunications services in modern society. For instance, wireless communications systems and networks have been constructed and interconnected with the wire-line telephone networks to allow mobile devices to communicate with other mobile devices as well as with ordinary stationary telephones. The wireless systems include various infrastructure to service a wide geographic area divided into regions or "cells" with base stations serving one or more such cells and networked mobile switching centers (MSCs) serving one or more base stations, where the MSCs are operatively coupled with one another and other systems by a wireless network and one or more MSCs may be coupled to a wire-based network to provide communications among and between wireless and/or wireline devices. In common cellular communications systems, the communication path is established through various MSCs and intervening networks and the data is sent in digital form over the same path throughout the call session. Wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems have also become popular, in which the telephone communications data is transferred in packets, wherein the transfer path may change during a call, whereby different packets may travel along different routes, with the received packets being reassembled at the recipient device for conversion to analog audio for provision to the subscriber or user.
In addition to traditional wire-line and wireless telecommunications, the Internet has proliferated in recent years to become a popular communications medium in which data is transferred in packets between devices connected to the network. With respect to telecommunications, moreover, the Internet and other packet-switched (e.g., IP-based) networks are now being employed as a medium for telephone traffic, in which voice information is provided in a packetized data stream along with other data streams being used for data transfer, a technology referred to as voice-over-IP (VOIP), wherein IP refers to the Internet Protocol for the data link layer. VOIP telephones and other VOIP terminals can be operatively connected to the Internet by cables using Ethernet cards or other network interfaces, as well as through IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) Wifi networks, in order to provide telephone service regardless of the point of connection with the IP-based network. In this regard, such VOIP terminals are essentially mobile devices that retain the same phone number at any location, whereby users can originate and receive calls and also interface to other services provided over the Internet and IP-based networks generally, regardless of the current terminal location.
911 and other emergency services have been available for some time through conventional telephone systems, wherein a caller dials "911" or other designated number to connect with emergency service providers in the immediate area. In conventional wire-line systems, each telephone is connected to a telephone line in a known location, whereby the providers of 911 emergency services can ascertain the telephone number of a calling party and consult an automatic location identifier (ALI) database or other suitable data store to translate the telephone number to street address and subscriber name information. When a 911 emergency operator or dispatcher receives a call, it may be essential to direct service providers (e.g., fire department, ambulance, police, etc.) to the correct street address quickly to aid the caller, particularly where the caller is unable to vocally provide the address information to the dispatcher. Thus, for conventional fixed-location telephones, the ALI database provides valuable information in the context of 911 calls. However, since VOIP telephones or terminals can be moved, there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for locating VOIP terminals and providing the terminal locations to emergency service providers.

Methods and systems for locating VOIP terminals for improved 911 service


A speaker device includes a housing body, a speaker driver and a passive radiator. The housing body is formed with a first sound hole and a second sound hole respectively opening in two opposite directions. The speaker driver is disposed in the housing body, is located adjacent to the first sound hole, and is adapted to generate sound. The passive radiator is disposed in the housing body, is located adjacent to the second sound hole, and is adapted to generate sound. The first sound hole and the second sound hole are adapted for respectively allowing the sound generated by the speaker driver and the sound generated by the passive radiator to travel out from the housing body respectively in two opposite directions therethrough.

With increasing adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies by entertainment industry, head-mounted displays are being designed to be smaller and smaller in order to meet the market demand for portability, and so are conventional speaker devices on the head-mounted displays.
However, a relatively small size of the conventional speaker device may lead to poor low-frequency audio performance of the conventional speaker device. Furthermore, even though some conventional speaker devices may be equipped with a passive radiator to improve the low-frequency audio performance and to provide mounting position variations for a speaker driver thereof, phase cancellation that adversely affects the low-frequency audio performance may still occur.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first interlayer insulating film over a semiconductor substrate; forming a first opening in the first interlayer insulating film; forming a second interlayer insulating film on the first interlayer insulating film such that the first opening is not filled; and forming a second opening in the second interlayer insulating film such that the second opening is connected to the first opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of Related Art
With miniaturization progressing, there has been a demand for an increase in the surface area of a capacitor electrode for each memory cell in a memory device, for example, a DRAM in a generation with a 50-nm design rule (F value) or any subsequent generation. A common method for forming a capacitor electrode with a large surface area includes forming a conductive film in a small opening with a high aspect ratio and processing the conductive film into a capacitor electrode.
However, a higher aspect ratio makes the controllable formation of a small opening more difficult. That is, an attempt to form an opening with a high aspect ratio by normal dry etching may result in a phenomenon called etch stop. In this case, forming a hole with a desired shape is difficult particularly at the bottom of the opening.
In case of forming a contact plug with a high aspect ratio, a similar problem may occur when an opening (contact hole) with a high aspect ratio is formed.
A proposed method for forming a contact plug includes forming a lower layer-side plug and forming an upper layer-side plug on the lower layer-side plug to produce a plug stack structure. Such a plug stack structure is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2005-332978 and 2004-311918.
As described above, disadvantageously, forming an opening with a high aspect ratio is not easy. Furthermore, the method of forming a stack structure as described above may increase the number of steps required to form the target structure. This may prevent semiconductor devices from being inexpensively manufactured.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device


An optical recording/reproducing apparatus includes an optical pickup recognizing information of an optical disc; a main shaft and a sub-shaft oppositely installed on a base plate, for supporting the optical pickup; a fixing portion for movably supporting one end of the main shaft; a support portion installed on the base plate at a certain distance from the fixing portion, for elastically supporting the other end of the main shaft; a prop portion installed on the base plate, for supporting a bottom middle surface of the main shaft; and a skew adjustment screw rotatably installed at the base plate, for upwardly pushing an end of the main shaft supported by the support portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording/reproducing apparatus, and particularly, to an optical recording/reproducing apparatus capable of adjusting a skew of an optical pickup within a range that the optical pickup can accurately recognize an optical disc.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, mobile communication devices such as a personal information terminal, a picture phone or the like have been generalized according to development of a multimedia environment, popularization of a personal computer and generalization of a data transmission network and advancement of a wireless communication technology. Such generalization of mobile communication devices has brought about a considerable increase in a capacity of information to be processed and stored in those devices.
In order to cope with the situation, researches are ongoing to increase a record density of an optical recording medium such as a CD or a DVD, in crease a resolution of an optical pickup unit and implement small optical components.
Since the advent of an early optical recording/reproducing apparatus for a CD-ROM, an optical disc has been improved to obtain a rapid access speed and high density and as a result, a large capacity of optical disc has been developed, which can reproduce simple information and also can record information.
An optical recording/reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing an optical disc requires a high level of signal processing techniques. Especially, reducing a slant error, that is, a skew error between an optical axis of an optical pickup and the optical disc is required as a core technique for accomplishing accuracy in recording/reproducing information.
In the optical recording/reproducing apparatus requiring the advanced signal processing technique, if a skew error occurs since an optical beam of the optical pickup is not accurately made incident vertically on a signal record face of the optical disc, that is, if a skew error occurs, a signal is distorted and thus the signal cannot be accurately processed.
Because a fine assembly error occurs due to a tolerance of the optical disc and smoothness of a mounting surface of a spindle motor installed at a base plate supporting the optical pickup, even after the optical pickup is assembled at the base plate, adjustment of a skew of an optical pickup (adjustment of a tilt of an optical pickup) should be necessarily performed.
In order to reduce a skew, development of an optical pickup skew adjustment unit capable of mechanically adjusting the optical pickup skew adjustment unit is considered as the most effective way to improve a signal processing performance.
FIG. 1 is a plane view showing a conventional optical recording/reproducing apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional optical recording/reproducing apparatus 1 includes a spindle motor 20 installed on a base plate 10, a turn table 40 rotatably installed on the spindle motor 20, for mounting an optical disc 30 thereon; an optical pickup 50 installed on the base plate 10, for irradiating an optical beam irradiated from an optical system (not shown) to a surface of the optical disc 30; a main shaft 60 installed on the blase plate 10, for supporting one side of the optical pickup; a sub-shaft 70 positioned parallel with the main shaft 60 at a certain distance therebetween and installed on the blase plate 10, for supporting the other side of the optical pickup 50.
Arms 51 are respectively formed at both sides of the optical pickup 50 in order to couple the optical pickup 50 itself to the main shaft 61 and the sub-shaft 70.
Skew adjustment units 80 for adjusting a skew are respectively installed at both ends of the sub-shaft 70 and one end of the main shaft 60, and a fixing unit 90 is installed at the other end of the main shaft 60.
In the skew adjustment unit 80, a support portion 82 having a spring 81 is formed on the base plate 10, a screw hole 82a is formed at an upper portion of the support portion 82, and a skew adjustment screw 83 is threaded to the screw hole 82a.
One end of the main shaft 60 is inserted in an insertion hole 82b formed at the side of the support portion 82 and supported by the spring 81. The other end of the main shaft 60 is rotatably coupled to a fixing unit 90 by a hinge 91.
When the optical recording/reproducing apparatus constructed as above adjusts a skew of the optical pickup 50, one of the four ends of the main shaft 60 and the sub-shaft 70 is set as a standard, and the skew adjustment screw 83 is rotated to adjust the height, so that an optical axis (S) is accurately vertically made incident to the optical disc 40 and thus a skew is corrected.
However, in the conventional optical recording/reproducing apparatus, if the skew adjustment screw 93 is excessively rotated, a distance (D) between the optical disc 30 and the optical pickup 50 becomes too far. Namely, the optical pickup 50 is so distanced from the optical disc 30 that the optical pickup 50 goes beyond its operation range. Then, the optical pickup 50 cannot read a signal of the optical disc 30 accurately.


A high cis-1,4-polybutadiene is produced, with reduced gel formation, by preparing a catalyst from (A) a cobalt compound, (B) a trialkyl (C.sub.1-10) aluminum compound, (C) a halide compound selected from those of formulae (1) and (2): (1) AlR.sup.2.sub.m X.sub.3-m, and (2) R.sup.3 --X, wherein R.sup.2 =C.sub.1-10 hydrocarbon, X=halogen, m=0 to 2, R.sup.3 =C.sub.1-40 hydrocarbon, and (D) water in an amount of 0.77 to 1.45 moles per mole of total Al in components (B) and (C); and polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of the resultant catalyst in a polymerization medium including an alkane, cycloalkane and/or olefin hydrocarbon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a polybutadiene having a high cis-1,4-structure content with reduced gel formation, by catalytically polymerizing 1,3-butadiene.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that various types of catalysts have been provided for the polymerization of 1,3-butadiene. Particularly, since a high cis-1,4-polybutadiene, namely a polybutadiene having a high content of a cis-1,4-structure, has excellent thermal and mechanical properties, a variety of polymerization catalysts for the production of high cis-1,4-polybutadiene have been developed.
For example, Canadian Patent No. 795,860 discloses a process for producing a high cis-1,4-polybutadiene by polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst prepared by fully mixing a hydrocarbylaluminum compound with water, aging the mixture, and mixing the aging product with cobalt dioctoate, in a medium containing at least 20% of benzene.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 38-1243 discloses a process for the production of a high cis-1,4-polybutadiene by polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst comprising a cobalt compound, an acid metal halide, an alkylaluminum compound and water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,814 for P. Bernemann et al. discloses a process for polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst including diethylaluminum chloride, water and cobalt octoate in a polymerization medium consisting of a straight chain or branched chain aliphatic hydrocarbon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,426 for J. Odor discloses a process for producing a high cis-1,4-polybutadiene by polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst comprising a cobalt compound, at least one organic aluminum compound and water. In this process, a polymerization medium comprising a C.sub.5 to C.sub.8 cycloalkane is mixed with an alkyl-substituted benzene in an amount of 0.1 to 2% based on the weight of the cycloalkane. This type of polymerization medium is contributory to causing the process control of the polymerization to be easy and the resultant polymerization product to be a substantially linear high cis-1,4-polybutadiene and to contain substantially no gel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,851 for T. Knauf et al. discloses a process for polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst consisting of divalent cobalt salt, alkylaluminum chloride and two different types of trialkylaluminums in a polymerization medium consisting of a mixture of an organic solvent free from aromatic compounds with water.
Polym. Commun., Vol. 32, 514 1991! discloses a process for polymerizing 1,3-butadiene in the presence of a catalyst comprising cobalt acetylacetonate and methyl alumoxane.
However, the above-mentioned conventional catalysts for the polymerization of 1,3-butadiene are disadvantageous in that in the case where the polymerization medium contains no aromatic solvent, the resultant polymer contains a fraction having double bonds and thus gel formation easily occurs, or the catalysts exhibit a low catalytic activity. Accordingly, there has been a strong demand for an improved catalyst.
The high cis-1,4-polybutadiene having a low degree of branching in the polymer chain (namely a high degree of linearity of the polymer chain) is excellent in wear resistance, resistance to exothermic phenomenon and resilient elasticity. However, when the polymerization is carried out in a polymerization medium system containing no aromatic compound, the resultant high cis-1,4-polybutadiene has a higher degree of branching of polymer chain than that produced in a polymerization medium system containing an aromatic compound. Accordingly, there has been a strong demand for a process capable of producing a high cis-1,4-polybutadiene having a low degree of branching of polymer chain even in a polymerization medium system containing no aromatic compound.


A parallel bit counter for counting the number of bits having a particular level in parallel input data. The counter includes a 2-bit sorter adapted to sort "high" and "low" bit fields of parallel input data in accordance with a bit sort method, and a caster adapted to detect a boundary between the sorted "high" and "low" bit fields and to code the resultant signal obtained after the detection, indicative of the number of "high" bits included in the input data, into its equivalent binary form. Accordingly, the counter can prevent a degradation in the counting speed resulting from a multiple adder operation and a carry set-up time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parallel bit counter using bit sorters, and more particularly to a parallel bit counter in which bits of a particular level in data input in parallel are counted at a high speed, using a bit sorter system and a caster.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Counting bits of a particular level in parallel data of n bits externally input may be achieved by use of a serial counter, adapted to count every one bit, or an adder.
However, where a serial counter is used, n clock pulses corresponding to the n bits of the input data should be used. Where the adder is used, log.sub.2 n clock pulses should be used. As a result, the entire counting time is considerably lengthened.

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device can include forming a tunnel oxide layer on a substrate, forming a floating gate on the tunnel oxide layer and forming a dielectric layer pattern on the floating gate using an ALD process. The dielectric layer pattern can include a metal precursor that includes zirconium and an oxidant. A control gate can be formed on the dielectric layer pattern. The semiconductor device can include the dielectric layer pattern provided herein.

A flash memory device is generally known as a type of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and may include a tunnel oxide layer, a floating gate, a dielectric layer and a control gate.
The flash memory device may be programmed by injecting electrons into the floating gate while applying a predetermined voltage to the control gate. The dielectric layer may transfer the applied voltage to the floating gate and may hold the electrons in the floating gate. Furthermore, the flash memory device having the dielectric layer may have a high coupling ratio so as to prevent a loss of the applied voltage. Thus, the loss of the applied voltage may be reduced in accordance with an increase of the coupling ratio of the flash memory device.
The coupling ratio (R) is may be represented by the following equation (1).R=C1/(C1+C2)  (1)
In the above equation (1), C1 represents the capacitance of the dielectric layer, and C2 represents the capacitance of the tunnel oxide layer. Additionally, the capacitance of the dielectric layer C1 may be obtained by the following equation (2).C1=(∈×A)/T  (2)
In the above equation (2), ∈ denotes a dielectric constant of the dielectric layer, and A represents an area of the dielectric layer. Additionally, T indicates a thickness of the dielectric layer.
To increase the coupling ratio of the flash memory device, the dielectric layer may have a high dielectric constant ∈, a large area A and/or a thin thickness T. High coupling ratios may be achieved by employing a dielectric material formed using a high-k dielectric material such as tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), yttrium oxide (Y2O3), hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), barium titanate (BaTiO3) or strontium titanate (SrTiO3).
When the dielectric layer of the flash memory device is formed using hafnium oxide, ingredients in the dielectric layer may crystallize at a temperature of above about 300° C. thereby generating a leakage current from the dielectric layer. Thus, the use of hafnium oxide to form the dielectric layer of the flash memory device may not be advantageous.
Considering the above-mentioned problem, the dielectric layer of the flash memory device may be formed using zirconium oxide since zirconium oxide may have a relatively high crystalline temperature and/or a relatively thin equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). Examples of methods for forming a dielectric layer using zirconium oxide are discussed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0043637, U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,066 (issued to Cheung et al.) or U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,108 (issued to Forbes). U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,066 discusses a dielectric layer having a thickness of about 10 Å to about 200 Å using zirconium oxide.

Methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a dielectric layer including zirconium


A polycarbonate copolymer contains aromatic carbonate units; optionally siloxane units; and resorcinol arylate ester units. The resorcinol arylate ester units of the polycarbonate copolymer are derived from a resorcinol composition having a hydroquinone content of 50 to 1200 parts per million, a catechol content of 5 to 29 parts per million, and a phenol content of 0 to 2400, each as determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and further comprising an acid stabilizer.

This disclosure generally relates to polycarbonate copolymers, and more particularly, to poly(carbonate-arylate)s and poly(carbonate-siloxane-arylate)s, methods of manufacture, and uses thereof.
Polycarbonates are useful in the manufacture of articles and components for a wide range of applications, from automotive parts to electronic appliances at least in part because of their good balance of properties, such as moldability, heat resistance and impact properties, among others. The properties of polycarbonates may be further adjusted by the inclusion of discrete, compositionally different polymer units. For example, copolymers comprising ester, carbonate, and optionally siloxane units can exhibit additional advantageous properties in toughness, weatherability, and flame retardance.
Polycarbonate copolymers can be manufactured by different methods such as solution polymerization, interfacial polymerization, and melt polymerization. Currently the synthesis of the polycarbonate copolymers is based on using monomers having a very low impurity profile because it is believed that impurities in the monomers may have detrimental effects to the properties of the copolymers. Reliance on monomers having extremely low impurity presents challenges in terms of material supply and cost. There accordingly remains a need for processes of making polycarbonate copolymers from monomers having a less stringent purity profile. It would be a further advantage if the polycarbonate copolymers derived from less pure monomers could have comparable or even improved properties as compared to the polycarbonate copolymers derived from monomers having a higher purity.

Polycarbonate copolymers, articles formed therefrom, and methods of manufacture


The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a method comprises: transmitting the number of antenna panels equipped at a user equipment (UE), transmitting the number of panel groups (PGs), transmitting PG information indicating which antenna panel is grouped into which PG, transmitting the number of coherent PGs (CPGs), and transmitting CPG information indicating which PG is grouped into which CPG.

Wireless communication systems are widely known in which base stations (also known as eNBs or gNBs, depending on the network type) communicate with mobile devices (also known as user equipments (UEs)) which are within range of the base stations. Each base station divides its available bandwidth, such as frequency and time resources, into different resource allocations for different UEs. For example, UE can be configured with one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources for uplink (UL) transmission.
MIMO is one technique used for data transmission in wireless communication systems. A MIMO communication system can employ multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or at the receiver (often at both) to enhance the data capacity achievable between the transmitter and the receiver. Every transmit (TX) antenna in a MIMO system is usually provided with at least one RF or TX chain, which may have separate or shared transmitters or TX components. However, there will be different coherent transmission capabilities among different TX chains. This leads to different UL coherent transmission capabilities, such as full/non/partial-coherent transmission between SRS ports of one or more SRS resources.
Thus, there is a need for providing coherent transmission capabilities of the TX chains of the UEs to the base station to facilitate the configuration of the codebook or coherent transmission for the UEs.

Method and apparatus for MIMO transmission


Compounds, compositions and methods for the treatment of malignancy are disclosed.

Tumors characteristically express atypical, potentially immunoreactive antigens that are collectively referred to as tumor antigens. Accumulating evidence suggests that the failure of the immune system to mount an effective response against progressively growing tumors is not attributable to a lack of recognizable tumor antigens. Immunosuppression by tumors is poorly understood and mechanisms by which tumors may escape immune surveillance have been poorly explored. Recently, it has been shown that cytotoxic T cells become tolerized by a reduction in local concentrations of tryptophan that are elicited by indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity.
IDO is an oxidoreductase that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in tryptophan catabolism. This enzyme is structurally distinct from tryptophan dioxygenase (TDO), which is responsible for dietary tryptophan catabolism in the liver. IDO is an IFN-γ target gene that has been suggested to play a role in immunomodulation (Mellor and Munn (1999) Immunol. Today, 20:469-473). Elevation of IDO activity depletes the levels of tryptophan in local cellular environments. Induction of IDO in antigen-presenting cells, where IDO is regulated by IFN-γ, blocks the activation of T cells, which are especially sensitive to tryptophan depletion. T cells must undergo 1-2 rounds of cell division to become activated, but in response to tryptophan depletion they arrest in G1 instead. In this way, IDO has been proposed to inhibit the TH1 responses that promote cytotoxic T cell development.
The main evidence for the role of IDO in immunosuppression is demonstrated by the ability of 1-methyl-tryptophan (1MT), a specific and bioactive IDO inhibitor (Cady and Sono (1991) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 291:326-333), to elicit MHC-restricted and T cell-mediated rejection of allogeneic mouse concepti (Mellor et al. (2001) Nat. Immunol. 2:64-68; Munn et al. (1998) Science. 281: 1191-93). This effect is consistent with the high levels of IDO expression in placental trophoblast cells (Sedlmayr et al. (2002) Mol. Hum. Reprod. 8:385-391).
Significantly, IDO activity has been shown to be elevated frequently in human tumors and/or in cancer patients (Yasui et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 83:6622-26; Taylor and Feng (1991) FASEB J. 5:2516-22). Since IDO can modulate immune responses, one logical implication is that IDO elevation in cancer may promote tumor immunosuppression (Mellor and Munn (1999) Immunol. Today, 20:469-473; Munn et al. (1999) J. Exp. Med. 189:1363-72; Munn et al. (1998) Science. 281:1191-93). This possibility is supported by the observation that many cancers, including breast cancer, are characterized by a loss of beneficial immune functions that can limit malignant development. For example, TH1 responses (of which IFN-γ production is a hallmark) that promote the production of cytotoxic T cells are suppressed during cancer progression. A resultant hypothesis from this data was that if IDO drives cancer progression by blunting T cell activation, then IDO inhibition in animals should blunt tumor growth by reversing IDO-mediated immunosuppression. However, delivery of the IDO inhibitor 1-methyl-tryptophan (1MT) only retarded and did not prevent tumor growth in a mouse model (Friberg et al. (2002) Int. J. Cancer 101:151-155; U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,416).
Cellular signal transduction, i.e., the series of events leading from extracellular events to intracellular sequelae, is an aspect of cellular function in both normal and disease states. Numerous proteins that function as signal transducing molecules have been identified, including receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinases, phosphatases and other molecules with enzymatic or regulatory activities. These molecules generally demonstrate the capacity to associate specifically with other proteins to form a signaling complex that can alter cellular proliferation.
Aberrant signal transduction can lead to malignant transformation, growth, and progression. Accordingly, inhibitors of signal transduction pathways have been used to treat cancer. During the past few years, a number of signal transduction inhibitors (STIs) have been developed and their ability to suppress tumor growth is currently under investigation.


A flash-memory-card reader reads and writes multiple types of flash-memory cards, including CompactFlash, and the smaller SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and Memory Stick. A converter chip converts the different card signals for transfer to a host personal computer (PC). Serial-to-parallel data conversion is performed for the smaller card formats with serial data interfaces, but not for CompactFlash with a parallel-data interface. A signal slot has a 50-pin connector for CompactFlash cards or passive adapters. The passive adapters have the CompactFlash form factor and a smaller connector fitting smaller flash cards. Passive adapters have no components but simply wire the smaller connector to the CompactFlash connector. A pin mapping allows card-type detection by sensing the LSB address pins of the CompactFlash interface. A larger CompactFlash reader has multiple slots for each card type. The reader is connected to the PC by a cable, or located within the PC chassis in a drive bay. A stand-alone reader copies images from the flash-memory card to a removable disk media. Pressing a button initiates image transfer.

Digital cameras have become one of the most popular of electronic devices. In a recent year, more digital cameras were sold than traditional film cameras. Images from digital cameras can be downloaded and stored on personal computers. Digital pictures can be converted to common formats such as JPEG and sent as e-mail attachments or posted to virtual photo albums on the Internet. Video as well as still images can be captured, depending on the kind of digital camera.
Digital cameras typically capture images electronically and ultimately store the images as bits (ones and zeros) on a solid-state memory. Flash memory is the most common storage for digital cameras. Flash memory contains one or more electrically-erasable read-only-memory (EEPROM) integrated circuit chips that allow reading, writing, and block erasing.
Early digital cameras required the user to download or transfer the images from the flash memory within the digital camera to a personal computer (PC). A standard serial cable was most widely used. However, the limited transfer rate of the serial cable and the large size of the digital images made such serial downloads a patience-building experience. Serial downloads could easily take half an hour for only a few dozen images.
Digital camera manufacturers solved this problem by placing the flash memory chips on a small removable card. The flash-memory card could then be removed from the digital camera, much as film is removed from a standard camera. The flash-memory card could then be inserted into an appropriate slot in a PC, and the image files directly copied to the PC.
FIG. 1A shows a flash memory card and adapter for transferring images from a digital camera to a PC. A user takes pictures with digital camera 14 that are stored in image files on flash memory chip(s). The flash memory chip is contained in CompactFlash card 16, which can be removed from digital camera 14 by pressing a card-eject button. Thus CompactFlash card 16 contains the image files.
While some smaller hand-held computers or personal-digital-assistants (PDA) have slots that receive CompactFlash cards, most PC's do not. Laptop or notebook PC's have PC-card (earlier known as PCMCIA, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) slots that can receive PCMCIA cards. Many functions have been placed on PCMCIA cards, such as modems, Ethernet, flash memory, encryption keys, and even miniature hard drives.
CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 is a passive adapter that contains an opening that receives CompactFlash card 16. FIG. 1B shows CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 with CompactFlash card 16 inserted. Such CF-to-PCMCIA adapters 10 sell for as little as $5-10. CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif.
FIG. 1C shows a PC connected to a PCMCIA reader. Most laptop and notebook PC's contain one or two PCMCIA slots 22 that CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 can fit into. Then the user merely has to copy the image files from CompactFlash card 16 to the hard disk of PC 20. Since high-speed parallel buses are used, transfer is rapid, about the same speed as accessing the hard disk. Thus a half-hour serial-cable transfer can be reduced to less than a minute with the $5 CF-to-PCMCIA adapter.
Desktop PC's usually do not have PCMCIA slots. Then PCMCIA reader 12 can be used. PCMCIA reader 12 accepts CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 and connects to PC 20 through a parallel or high-speed Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable.
Multiple Flash-Card Formats
Although the CompactFlash card format is relatively small, being not much more than an inch square, other smaller cards have recently emerged. FIG. 2A illustrates various formats of flash-memory cards used with digital cameras. Many digital cameras still use CompactFlash card 16, which can be inserted into CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 for transfer to a PC. Other smaller, thinner formats have emerged and are used with some manufacturer's digital cameras. For example, SmartMedia card 24 is less than half an inch long, yet has enough flash memory capacity for dozens of images. SmartMedia-to-PCMCIA adapter 10′ is available commercially for about $60. The higher cost is believed to be due to a converter chip within adapter 10′. Also, different adapters 10′ are required for different memory capacities of SmartMedia card 24. SmartMedia is a trademark of the SSFDC Forum of Tokyo, Japan.
Other kinds of flash-memory cards that are being championed by different manufacturers include MultiMediaCard (MMC) 28 and the related Secure Digital Card (SD) 26. MMC is a trademark of SanDisk Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. while SD is controlled by the SD Group that includes Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., SanDisk Corporation, Toshiba Corp. Another emerging form factor from SONY is Memory Stick 18. Memory Stick has a PCMCIA/Floppy adapter while MMC has a floppy adapter.
The different physical shapes and pin arrangements of cards 24, 26, 28 and Memory Stick 18 prevent their use in CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10. Indeed, most of these cards 24, 26, 28 have less than a dozen pins, while CompactFlash card 16 has a larger 50-pin interface. Furthermore, serial data interfaces are used in the smaller cards 24, 26, 28 while a parallel data bus is used with CompactFlash card 16.
FIG. 2B shows a Memory Stick-to-PCMCIA adapter using an active converter chip. Memory Stick 18 fits into an opening in Memory Stick-to-PCMCIA adapter 15, allowing adapter 15 and the Memory Stick to be plugged into a standard PCMCIA slot on a PC. However, adapter 15 has an integrated circuit (IC) converter chip 11 within it. Converter chip 11 may be needed to convert the serial data format of Memory Stick 18 to the parallel data format of a 68-pin PCMCIA slot. Inclusion of converter chip 11 in adapter 15 significantly increases the cost and complexity of adapter 15 compared to CF-to-PCMCIA adapter 10 which is a passive adapter without a converter chip.
While the advances in flash-memory card technology are useful, the many different cards formats present a confusing array of interface requirements to a PC. Different adapters are needed for each of the card formats. PCMCIA card reader 12 can be replaced with other format readers, such as a SmartMedia Card reader, and even some multi-standard readers are available, such as a universal reader from Lexar Media that reads CompactFlash or SmartMedia in addition to PCMCIA.
What is desired is a universal adapter for flash-memory cards of several different formats. An adapter that accepts SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and Memory Stick cards is desired. A flash-card reader with a single slot that accepts any format card using the adapter is desired. Special detection logic on the flash reader is desired to distinguish between the many flash-card formats is desirable. A low-cost passive adapter is desired that does not need an expensive converter chip. A multi-format reader is desired for a PC. A stand-alone flash reader is desired that can copy image files from flash cards without a PC is also desired.

Flashtoaster for reading several types of flash-memory cards, with or without a PC


A stereoscopic image projector has a light valve controlled by two image signals. The light valve produces a polarized raster image in which some rasters are modulated by the first image signal and other rasters by the second image signal. A polarization switch changes the polarization of rasters modulated by the second image signal, thereby creating a stereoscopic image, which is projected through a projection lens onto a screen, and viewed through polarizing eyeglasses. A color stereoscopic image is obtained by using three light valves and three polarization switches, one for each of the three primary colors, and combining their images for projection through a single projection lens. The projection lens is preferably a telecentric zoom lens consisting of three lens groups.

This invention relates to a stereoscopic image projection apparatus such as a color stereoscopic projection television set, and to a telecentric zoom lens for use in such apparatus.
Stereoscopic projection can be achieved by using light with one type of polarization to project an image for the left eye onto a screen, and light with another type of polarization to project an image for the right eye onto the same screen. The viewer wears eyeglasses that transmit light of the appropriate polarization to each eye, and thereby sees the image stereoscopically, as if it were three-dimensional.
A convenient way to project a polarized image is to employ a projector comprising a liquid-crystal panel and a projection lens. One prior-art color stereoscopic projection apparatus employs six such projectors, three for the three primary colors in the left-eye image, and three more for the three primary colors in the right-eye image. With this type of apparatus, however, aside from the problems of size, weight, and cost occasioned by having six projectors, there is the problem of image registration: the six images must be accurately positioned with respect to one another on the screen. This makes the apparatus difficult to set up and adjust.
Another prior-art stereoscopic color projection apparatus avoids these problems by employing two color liquid-crystal panels, one forming the left-eye image and the other forming the right-eye image, and combining the two color images by means of a polarizing beam splitter (functioning as a beam combiner) for projection through a single lens. With this type of apparatus, however, new problems arise. A color liquid-crystal panel employs red, green, and blue filters to produce the three primary colors, but these filters necessarily absorb at least two-thirds of the light: hence the projected image lacks adequate brightness. Moreover, only one-third of the pixels are available for each color: hence the projected image lacks adequate resolution.
Further problems relate to the projection lens. For a variety of reasons, which will be explained in the detailed description of the invention, a telecentric zoom lens is desirable, but such lenses are scarcely to be found in the prior art. Conventional zoom lenses suitable for use in projection display apparatus of the present type generally comprise four or five lens groups, making the structure of the lens barrel complex. They also require cam-driven compensators to maintain correct focus at different magnifications.

Stereoscopic image projection apparatus and telecentric zoom lens


A seat weight sensor for detecting the load upon a vehicle seat. The seat weight sensor includes a seat rail positioned under the vehicle seat. A lever arm is mounted to the vehicle seat. One end of the lever arm has one or more stationary fingers and a free finger. The stationary fingers are rigidly mounted to the seat rail. The lever arm bends in relation to the force placed upon the seat that in turn places the free finger in motion. A sensor is mounted to the seat rail and is configured to measure the change in motion of the free finger when a force is placed upon the seat.

The present invention relates generally to the field of vehicle occupant systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to an occupant seat weight sensor.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,323,444 and 6,069,325 describe seat weight monitoring devices and are herein incorporated by reference. Both patents teach the use of a load monitoring device and a plurality of arms that are horizontally supported by pivots. The load monitoring device uses the arms movement to derive information useful in determining the load placed on a vehicle seat.
Current seat weight sensor ("SWS") technology generally includes an apparatus that is configured in a U-shaped rail. Typically, the U-shaped rail contains two sensors or strain gauges. In a vehicle, two rails are mounted under each seat. Accordingly, the SWS measures the total seat weight under each corner of the seat. Other design features of the current SWS include the ability to carry structural loads so that the sensor and lever are not damaged during a vehicle crash.
Unfortunately, strain gauges can be difficult to implement because they are very sensitive to forces that are not intended to be measured. In addition, strain gauges are expensive and therefore increase production costs. Thus, an inexpensive seat weight sensor is needed that is effective at detecting and isolating the specific forces related to the load placed upon a vehicle seat.


A water-in-oil emulsion composition and method of production is disclosed. The composition may comprise a monomer phase, an organic phase, at least one initiator, and an inverting phase. The monomer phase may further comprise at least one monomer, water, ammonium chloride, sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate, tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate, and at least one water soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomer. The organic phase may further comprise at least one hydrophobic solvent, lecithin, and a polyoxyethylene derivative of a sorbitan ester. The at least one monomer may be selected from the group consisting of an acrylic monomer, an acrylamide monomer, and combinations thereof.

Inverse emulsion polymerization is a process that produces high molecular weight, water-soluble polymer in a convenient package for application. In the process an aqueous monomer solution is emulsified within an inert hydrocarbon phase containing surfactants that promote water-in-oil ("w/o") emulsions. The resulting droplets are polymerized yielding polymer particles that are dispersed throughout the hydrocarbon phase and stabilized by surfactant.
Over time various emulsification systems have been discovered and utilized. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,393, Vanderhoff and Wiley espouse the use of conventional w/o emulsifiers such as, sorbitan monooleate, sorbitan monostearate, hexadecyl sodium phthalate, cetyl or stearyl sodium phthalte, and metal soaps.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,771, to Anderson and Frisque, also teaches the use of conventional w/o emulsifiers, showing the use of sorbitan monostearate in all of the examples.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,097, to Slovinsky and Hurlock, introduced partially esterified lower N,N′-dialkanol substituted fatty amides, salts of fatty tertiary amines, quaternary salts of fatty tertiary amines, alkali metal salts, and alkyl or alkyl aryl sulfates and sulfonates as w/o emulsifiers that yielded lattices with smaller particle size distributions and improved storage stability.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,681, to Lim et al., w/o emulsifiers with a HLB of at least 7 were used and many examples were cited. Lim and U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,090, to Chan, made use of a system comprising a polyoxyethylene derivative of a sorbitan ester, sorbitan monooleate, and alkanolamide.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,701, to Clark, an inverse emulsion system utilizing polyoxyethylene sorbitol esters, polyoxyethylene fatty alcohols with a HLB of 7-9, and glycerides was revealed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,316, to Chuang, revealed the use of nonionic oil-soluble surfactant and a compound selected from, N-alkyl lactams, and an alkylated polymer of a N-vinyl lactam.
With this in mind, it was desired to create an environmentally friendly oil phase system useful for making inverse emulsion polymers. The adopted definition of environmentally friendly are the rules that govern offshore chemical use in the North Sea. The environmental impact of a chemical is defined by three tests: bioaccumulation, biodegradation and toxicity. In order for a chemical to be used without restriction offshore in the North Sea it must satisfy two of the following three criteria:                1. Biodegradation must be greater than 60%, if less than 20% it is automatically marked for substitution.        2. Bioaccumulation as measured by octanol/water partitioning coefficient (log Po/w) must be below 3 (or have a molecular weight>700).        3. Toxicity to the most sensitive marine species (typically Skeletonema) must be greater than LC50 or EC50 of 10 ppm.
One of the most popular and conventional w/o emulsifiers, sorbitan monooleate, does not pass the biodegradation and bioaccumulation protocols that govern offshore chemical use in the North Sea. For the initial assessment procedure, one must use marine biodegradation data as outlined in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Procedure OECD 306 or BODIS. Sorbitan monooleate has a BODIS result of 32%, which coupled with log P>3 prevents sorbitan monooleate from passing the test. Other governing bodies allow the use of other types of biodegradation data such as the OECD 301 series (freshwater) to prove a chemical's non-harm to the environment, but not for use in offshore applications. This prompted an investigation into other w/o surfactant systems that could be used to produce inverse emulsion polymers.
Lecithin is well known as an emulsifier and has been used in w/o emulsion technology in explosives. A number of publications illustrate this application including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,535,174; 4,308,081; 4,357,184; 4,473,418; 4,507,161; and 4,602,970. Of particular interest, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,943,389 and 5,008,037 indicate that lecithin can be an inferior emulsifier for w/o emulsions. The patents teach that lecithin can be made into a better w/o emulsifier after subjection to a thermal process. Although inverse emulsions using lecithin are well known in the literature, not all inverse emulsions can go through the polymerization process and provide usable product.
Accordingly, there is a need for an environmentally friendly, oil phase system used for making water-in-oil emulsion polymers. Desirably, the oil phase system is biodegradable according to current environmental standards. More desirably, the oil phase system is comprised of substances recognized worldwide as generally safe for use.

Environmentally friendly dispersion system used in the preparation of inverse emulsion polymers


One embodiment disclosed relates to a method of compiling a program to be executed on a target microprocessor with multiple execution units of a same type. The method includes selecting one of the execution units for testing and scheduling the parallel execution of program code and diagnostics code. The diagnostic code is scheduled to be executed on the selected execution unit. The program code is scheduled to be executed on remaining execution units of the same type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to microprocessors and compilers.
2. Description of the Background Art
One conventional solution for providing fault tolerance in digital processing by central processing units (CPUs) involves a computer system with multiple CPUs. For example, the multiple CPUs may be operated in full lock-step to achieve a level of fault-tolerance in their computations. Such lock-stepping may be implemented using highly complex voting schemes. Substantial extra system hardware is required (for example, typically three times that needed for a non-redundant solution). Hence, the lock-step solution disadvantageously requires additional system hardware and support infrastructure.
Another conventional solution for providing fault tolerance in digital processing by central processing units (CPUs) involves the use of software verification. The software verification may be performed either by executing the program multiple times on the same computer or on different computers. Typically, the program is re-run at least three times, resulting in effective execution times that are three times greater than they are without the software verification. As such, the software-verification solution disadvantageously requires a longer run-time or requires multiple computers.
Another conventional solution is to perform system self-test or off-line diagnostics. Such testing may provide quality verification of CPU execution units. However, the computer system needs to be shut down to run these programs. This requires undesirable system downtime.
The above-discussed conventional solutions are expensive in terms of cost and/or system performance. Hence, improvements in systems and methods for providing fault tolerant digital processing by CPUs are highly desirable.

Runtime quality verification of execution units

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method for calibrating the temperature of an epitaxy reactor includes the steps of preparing a reference wafer having undergone on at least one of its surfaces an implant of a doping followed by an activation annealing to form a diffused layer; measuring the sheet resistance of the diffused layer at one point on the surface of the wafer; placing the reference wafer in the epitaxy reactor, the reactor being set at a desired temperature and having a neutral gas flowing therein; and measuring the sheet resistance at the same point and calculating the difference between the two values of sheet resistance, this difference representing the thermal cycle undergone by the reference wafer during its stay in the epitaxy reactor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the calibration of epitaxy reactors, and more specifically, to reactors likely to be used in the solid-state component industry.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Solid-state components are being manufactured on wafers having larger and larger diameters. For example, wafers having diameters of 20 centimeters are used industrially, and there are ongoing projects to develop machines adapted to process wafers having still larger diameters. With wafers having such large diameters, processing of the wafers becomes difficult, especially processings involving vapor phase depositions, for example, depositions of epitaxied layers.
Since it is generally desirable to obtain a great number of identical components on the same layer, it is of major importance that the depositions performed have the same characteristics across the entire wafer. For this reason, the temperature at which the wafer is brought must notably correspond to a selected temperature and be uniform across the whole wafer.
FIGS. 1A and 1B very schematically show a side view and top view, respectively, of an example of an epitaxy reactor. This reactor includes a quartz chamber 1 with a cross-section generally shaped as a rectangle, with its height b being small with respect to its width l. For example, if it is desired to process wafers 10 with a diameter of 20 cm, the width clearly must be greater than 20 cm while the height need only be of a few centimeters. The top view of the chamber also has a generally rectangular shape. Gases are introduced at an injection flange 2 having an inlet nozzle 3 and are drained off at an exhaust flange 4 having an exhaust nozzle 5. Closing plates 7 and 8 can be opened to access the inside of the tube, for example, to introduce and retrieve samples to be processed. These various elements are mounted together under pressure, using O-rings 9 therebetween. The sample 10 to be processed, for example, a silicon wafer, is laid on a tray or susceptor 11. This tray generally is a rotating tray that is rotated during the processing to enhance the uniformity of the deposition.
A system for heating, for example, heating lamps 13 and 14, is arranged so as to expose to radiation the upper surface of the sample and the lower surface of the tray on which it is laid. The lamp sets 13 and 14 each are divided into several lamp subsets, for example, ten subsets. Each of the lamp subsets is adjustable independently, in order to be able, by an appropriate setting, to obtain a uniform temperature throughout wafer 10.
Of course, FIGS. 1A and 1B are extremely simplified and an actual reactor will be more complex than the system shown. Closing plates 7 and 8 preferably will be associated with robotized inlet chambers. Complex gas supplying systems also generally will be provided, and an accurate mass flowmeter will be connected in series between nozzle 3 and the source of the reaction gas(es). To ensure that the gas circulation within the chamber is uniform, several injection slots 15 extend widthwise across the chamber.
The reactor shown and described hereinabove is shown and described only as an example. Chambers made of quartz or other materials or of different shapes, for example, with a cylindrical symmetry, also may be used.
A problem that arises with such epitaxy reactors is the inability to obtain a proper temperature setting of the lamps or other means for heating silicon wafer 10.
A ring 18 often is provided around rotating tray 11, having its inner edge extremely close to the circumference of the silicon wafer and its upper surface substantially in the same plane as the silicon wafer. This ring typically supports several temperature sensors, for example, three thermocouples TF, TS and TR, which are located, respectively, upstream of the wafer (i.e. on the surface first receiving the gas flow), on one surface, and downstream of the wafer with respect to the gas flow. Moreover, a central thermocouple (not shown) generally is installed in susceptor 11. However, these thermocouples do not give an exact image of the wafer temperature. Rather, they are brought to temperatures that are different from those of the wafer. These temperatures therefore may be used only as information for correcting and regulating the temperature. Also known in the art are epitaxy reactors with temperature sensors arranged differently and/or of different types, for example, optical pyrometers. Systems for differentially controlling the power injected into the different heating areas also are used.
Conventionally, in the different existing devices for processing silicon wafers, to perform an initial calibration of a parameter such as temperature, as well as a periodical setting of the parameter, a reference wafer is placed in the device and is submitted to a specific processing (which is one of the processings usually performed by the device), and the possible setting defects of the parameter considered are inferred from the structure resulting from the processing. For example, in a device for chemical vapor deposition enabling the performance of silicon oxide depositions, the thickness of the oxide layer is analyzed in different locations on the wafer and the fluctuations of the parameter considered are inferred from the variations in this thickness. Similarly, in a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) device, which usually is used to perform activation annealings on implanted layers, a reference wafer having undergone an implant in the device is placed therein and is submitted to a high temperature rapid annealing, after which, the resistance of the activated layer is measured at different locations on the layer. The existence of thermal variations is inferred from the variations in this sheet resistance.
However, in a device for performing epitaxial depositions, that is, in devices wherein the working environment is non-oxidizing, if a thin layer is deposited epitaxially, for example, in a polysilicon deposition, the potential inhomogeneity (i.e., a variation in thickness and/or doping) of the deposition will depend only partially on the temperature, and also will depend on many other parameters, such as the composition of the deposition gas and the distribution of the gas flow across the surface of the layer. It therefore is not possible to isolate the action of the temperature parameter by these means.
In practice, it has been found that if the temperature of a silicon wafer during an epitaxial deposition is unequal while operating at high temperatures, the existence of inhomogeneities will cause crystalline defects, commonly called striplines, to appear in the wafer.
Accordingly, a method currently used to test the uniformity of the temperature in an epitaxy reactor consists of inserting a reference silicon wafer therein, submitting the wafer to a thermal cycle up to a desired temperature (for example 1050.degree. C.), and removing the wafer from the reactor and analyzing the crystalline defects. The disadvantage of this method is that, even though the occurrence of crystalline defects reveals the existence of thermal inhomogeneities, there is no simple correlation between these thermal inhomogeneities and the crystalline defects. For example, when a strip-line is seen to appear, it can only be inferred therefrom that the temperature of the layer on both sides of this line is unequal and that the setting of the lamps needs to be modified. But, it is not known whether this modification should entail an increase or a decrease in temperature. This technique thus requires to a long trial and error process before a setting enabling the suppression of the striplines can be found. Even when this result has been achieved, however, the setting remains non-ideal. Indeed, the crystalline defects may seem to disappear as soon as the setting merely approximates the optimal setting, i.e., without actually being optimal. Further, certain types of thermal inhomogeneities do not generate crystalline defects. For example, linear temperature variations will not be detectable.
The other known methods of obtaining a uniform temperature setting also are not very satisfactory. They essentially consist of performing tests with an increased number of thermocouples attached to a reference wafer 10 and to the tray 11 receiving the wafer. For, even if these methods can obtain an accurate initial setting, they are poorly adapted to periodical resettings and are not compatible with the rotating of the wafer.

Method for calibrating the temperature of an epitaxy reactor


A picture decoding device (100) comprises a decoding unit (30), a frame memory (40), a deblocking filter (50), a macro block memory (60), and a control unit (70). The macro block memory (60) stores an unfiltered picture data, for which deblock-filtering is not performed, of the macro blocks adjoining a slice boundary. Decoding and deblock-filtering are performed for the macro blocks of each slice in a manner of pipeline processing, and the decoded picture data for the macro blocks is stored in the frame memory (40). After the pipeline processing for all of the macro blocks is completed, the second deblock-filtering is performed to the slice boundary-adjoining macro blocks, and the pixel values of the slice boundary-adjoining macro blocks already stored in the frame memory (40) are replaced. Thereby, the encoded picture data of arbitrary slice order can be completely decoded.

MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) of ISO/IEC JTC 1 has recommended MPEG-4 Part 10: Advanced Video Coding (in the following, it is called MPEG-4 AVC for short) as a standard for the latest technology operable to encode moving picture data and to decode encoded picture data thereof. In the MPEG-4 AVC, in order to improve image quality at a low bit rate, an in-loop filter (it is also called a deblocking filter) is adopted to remove block distortion from a decoded picture. Due to the in-loop filter, it is possible to prevent occurrence of unfavorable situation such as block distortion of a picture is included in a reference picture and spreads to a decoded picture, thereby making it possible to acquire a decoded picture with good image quality.
The MPEG-4 AVC adopts a "slice" as a fundamental unit of encoding/decoding. A plurality of slices constitutes one picture. Regarding an arrangement of the slices within a picture, there is provided a function of ASO (arbitrary slice order). When using the ASO function, a plurality of slices within a picture can be transmitted in arbitrary order.
For example, when encoding a picture by dividing the picture into a plurality of slices, the picture is usually encoded and transmitted from a slice at the upper left of the picture, in a raster scan order. However, when using the ASO function, it is possible for the picture to be encoded and transmitted in order of importance of a slice, even if the slice is located in the middle of the picture.
Examples of practicing the ASO function are mentioned in the following. When the throughput of a decoder is insufficient, a picture is divided into a plurality of slices by an encoder, a slice of the important part in the picture is encoded earlier than the other slices within the same picture, and the encoded picture data is transmitted first. A decoder decodes only the encoded picture data of the important slice that is received first, and may perform skip processing without decoding the encoded picture data of the other slices. Thus, even when the throughput of the decoder is insufficient, the important part of the picture is decoded for certain and is provided for viewing.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a conventional picture decoding device 1 that is disclosed in Document 1 (Published Japanese patent application 2003-304538). The conventional picture decoding device 1 shown in FIG. 14 comprises a decoding unit 2, a frame memory 8, and an in-loop filter 9. The decoding unit 2 comprises a variable length decoding unit 3, a motion compensating unit 4, an inverse-quantizing unit 5, an inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6, and an adding unit 7.
The outline of operation of the conventional picture decoding device 1 is explained. The variable length decoding unit 3 decodes inputted variable length encoded picture data, and outputs quantized picture data and a motion vector. The inverse-quantizing unit 5 inverse-quantizes the quantized picture data, and outputs the inverse-quantized picture data. The inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6 performs inverse orthogonal transformation for the inverse-quantized picture data, and outputs a difference image. The motion compensating unit 4 generates a motion compensated picture (predicted picture) using the motion vector, which the variable length decoding unit 3 has outputted, and the decoded picture, which is already decoded and stored in the frame memory 8. The adding unit 7 adds the difference image outputted by the inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6 and the predicted picture outputted by the motion compensating unit 4, and generates a reconstructed picture. The in-loop filter 9 obtains a decoded picture by performing deblock-filtering to the reconstructed picture, and outputs the decoded picture to an output terminal while storing in the frame memory 8.
The in-loop filter 9 performs the deblock-filtering for the reconstructed picture. The deblock-filtering according to the MPEG-4 AVC is explained referring to FIG. 15. FIG. 15 shows a macro block boundary and a macro block arrangement. In the deblock-filtering for pixels belonging to a macro block A with the upper edge adjoining the macro block boundary, the pixel value is filtered using the pixel value of pixels belonging to a macro block B with the lower edge adjoining the macro block boundary. In the deblock-filtering for pixels belonging to a macro block C with the left side edge adjoining the macro block boundary, the pixel value is filtered using the pixel value of pixels belonging to a macro block D with the right side edge adjoining the macro block boundary. Therefore, when performing the in-loop filtering to a certain target macro block, decoding for a macro block located on the top of the target macro block and for the macro block located on the left of the target macro block has to be completed at that time. The art regarding the deblock-filtering is disclosed in Document 2 (Published Japanese patent application 2000-59769).
However, if the ASO function is adopted in the conventional picture decoding device 1 shown in FIG. 14, when a first slice, which is going to be transmitted in arbitrary order, starts in the middle of the picture, macro blocks located on the top of and on the left side of the boundary of the first slice are not yet decoded at a time when a macro block adjoining the boundary of the first slice is decoded, since the macro blocks located on the top of and on the left side of the boundary are included in a different slice. Therefore, when adopting the ASO function for the conventional picture decoding device 1, proper deblock-filtering to the macro block boundary cannot be performed. In other words, the conventional picture decoding device 1 cannot perform decoding of the encoded picture data of arbitrary slice order appropriately.


An information processing device and a control method applied to the information processing device is described. The information processing device includes a display unit configured to display images; an input unit configured to receive inputs from a user; a motion detecting unit configured to detect motion of the information processing device and to generate data related to the motion; and a processing unit connected to the display unit, the input unit and the motion detecting unit. The processing unit is configured to receive the motion-related data from the motion detecting unit, and enable/disable of the display unit and/or the input unit based on the data related to the motion.

This application claims priority to International Application No. PCT/PCT/CN2011/078571 filed Aug. 18, 2011; and to Chinese Patent Appln. CN201010262091.8 filed on Aug. 24, 2010, the entire contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an information processing device and a control method thereof.
With continuous development of mobile communication technology, mobile communication terminals such as cell phones are more and more popular. When using a mobile communication terminal to make a call or answer a voicemail, a user usually puts the mobile communication terminal near his ear. In this case, the user's ear is likely to inadvertently contact keys or touch-sensors provided on the mobile communication terminal. Therefore, it may result in misoperations of the mobile communication terminal, such as light of the screen, or hanging-up of the phone, etc., which generally increases power consumption and makes users feel inconvenient.

Information processing device and control method thereof


A new method is disclosed for providing wireless fixed access from an array of service antennas to a population of local terminals. In implementations, a service transceiver station (STS) performs beamform precoding using channel state information (CSI) obtained from transmissions by the local terminals, and the STS performs power allocation using slow fading coefficients which are static over the service antenna positions and over a frequency range spanning at least some carriers used for downlink transmission.

In rural areas and generally in developing countries, it is expensive to rely on fiber or cable to provide broadband internet service to households and other user premises because in rural areas the user premises are usually widely separated and because developing countries generally suffer a paucity of existing broadband communication infrastructure.
For a lower-cost alternative, traditional wireless technologies such as EVDO or LTE have been proposed for providing access and/or backhaul transport in support of broadband services. However, these technologies may be too limited in spectral efficiency to assure satisfactory levels of service.
Hence, there remains a need for alternative wireless technologies that can provide access and/or backhaul transport in support of broadband services.

System and method of wireless fixed access using a multiple antenna array


A method of a secure transaction without physical support of a security identifier and without a token includes recording on a biometric server a biometric profile linked intrinsically to a unique user, the profile being associated with at least one service identifier, recorded on a server distinct from the biometric server, the service identifier being accessible by the user, and during a transaction, acquiring the biometric profile of a user, in transmitting it to the biometric server for comparison with the biometric profiles recorded and in searching for a service associated with the profile and activating it on the service server. The step of recording a new user includes the time of receipt by a central server of a profile, the execution of a step of generating a temporary master random key.

In the prior art the international application WO 1998/015924 is known, describing a means and method designed to enable a customer to use a computer system to enter a personal identification number (PIN), one or more biometric registration samples, and one or more of his bank accounts. During an initiation step, the customer initiates access to his account from an automatic teller machine (ATM), a personal computer or any other device for access to a financial file, entering the information relating to his authentication, which comprises a PIN and at least one session-initiation biometric sample. No portable artificial memory device, such as a chip card or a magnetic card, is necessary in this step.
During a transmission step, a message requesting access to the account, comprising the information relating to the authentication of the customer and other data, is sent from the ATM to the computer system. After the computer system has received the information relating to the personal authentication contained in the message requesting access to the account, the information relating the personal authentication is compared with the biometric samples entered, in order to accept or refuse identification of the customer during a customer identification step.
If this identification is accepted, a bank account number of the customer is extracted during an extraction step. The client is finally authorised to access his bank account after his identification has been accepted. With the present invention, a customer may have access to his bank accounts without requiring the use of a token recorded on portable memory devices, for example chip cards or magnetic cards. This solution enables the customers to quickly choose one account among various bank accounts.
The patent WO 2001/027723 is also known, describing a method for authenticating a user by means of a computer platform containing a tested component containing a secure process protected against any physical and logic interference. This method consists of:                for the secure processor, authenticating a biometric reader and authenticating a secure token containing the authentic biometric data of the user;        entering the biometric data of the user by means of a biometric reader, and transferring the biometric data of the user thus entered into the secure processor;        transferring the authentic biometric data of the user into the secure processor;        comparing the authentic biometric data of the user with the entered biometric data of the user;        and, for the secure processor, authenticating the user on the basis of the comparison of these biometric data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,879 describes a method for access, without a biometric token, to the financial accounts in an establishment using an automated teller machine. This method comprises a step of registration of the user, in which a user registers himself with an electronic identifier associated with one or more registrations of biometric samples and one or more user accounts. During an initiation step, the user proceeds with access to the account at an automated teller machine by submitting at least one biometric sample. The electronic identifier associated with the biometric sample in the message requesting access to an account with a biometric registration sample is processed in order to produce either a successful identification or failed identification of the user. With successful identification of the user, at least one financial account of the user is recovered and, in an access step, after a successful identification of the user and the successful recovery of the financial account, the user is authorised to access the financial account of the use.
The international patent application WO 2006/111205 is also known, which relates to a data storage system that makes it possible to protect private life and to guarantee security. This system comprises a plurality of nodes in a network architecture, said nodes being designed to communicate and cooperate in complete security with each other so as to allow storage and extraction of data. A single biometric data item is associated with a blind divided identifier, in a secure fashion, through at least one node, for the storage of data. The data themselves and the link with the original individual, from whom the biometric data are acquired, cannot be obtained without cooperation with at least two nodes. The article "JIANG PENG et al: An anonymous and efficient remote biometrics user authentication scheme in a multi server environment", which appeared in FRONTIERS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, vol. 9, no. 1, 20 Dec. 2014, ISSN:2095-2228, XP035435864, is also known.
Firstly, the solutions of the prior art have failings with regard to the identification and/or authentication protocol. An attacker can perform malevolent operations (the example of the "Yes Card") by passing himself off as the authorised user. Other attacks exist at the server storing the transactional information such as the card number the cryptogram, the identity of the bearer, etc. The solutions of the prior art are generally based on the use of use of a single digital item of information constituting an identifier, associated with other digital information, in particular biometric, for authenticating the identifier. The solutions of the prior art have a major technical problem since they do not allow the storage of biometric data in a form that ensures both their security and their anonymisation.
One of the sources of vulnerability lies in the question of the identifiers. Knowledge of the identifier makes it possible to pass a first step of the procedure for authorisation to a service, the biometric information being used at the following step, which is the authentication of the user who transmitted—licitly or fraudulently—a valid identifier. The security of the identifier depends on the measures taken by the user to keep the character secret, and where applicable the electronic means provided on the physical medium of the identifier when it is recorded on a key, a card or portable equipment such as a telephone.
The solutions of the prior art have a second drawback that relates to the security of the authentic biometric data recorded when an account of a user is created. These data are generally recorded in a secure zone DMZ of the server but, in the case of a computer attack, it remains possible to recover all the biometric data associated with the identifiers of the users. A third drawback lies in the risk of interception of the biometric data and fraudulent reuse of these data. A fourth drawback lies in the risk of the creation of a false account in order to access services of a third-party user.
Moreover, all these solutions of the prior art are based on an identification step using digital information attributed arbitrarily to the user, and verified by a first protocol distinct from the authentication protocol and where applicable from the certification protocol. It is implicitly accepted that identification is vulnerable and requires little computing power on the equipment of the user, since security will come from the robustness of the authentication and optionally certification protocol, requiring more powerful processing resources, made mutual at a server.

Method of transaction without physical support of a security identifier and without token, secured by the structural decoupling of the personal and service identifiers


Disclosed is a molten metal submersible pump system which includes a unitized body which acts as its own jig during assembly to precisely align the motor mount framework, the pump body, the pump base, and the pump shaft. Further disclosed is such a pump system which provides greater than normal surface area and heat sink mass, which has resulted in an increased useful life of the pump system between required maintenance and replacement of parts.

This invention pertains to a unitized body submersible pump system for use in pumping molten metal.
Molten metal may be one of the more difficult environments in which to maintain a pump due to the heat and the corrosive factors within the molten metal. The submerged components of these pumps are typically made of graphite or similar materials due to the ability of these types of material compositions to withstand the heat and corrosive effects of the molten metal environment. While references may be made herein to molten aluminum, this is only used to give an example and not to limit the invention to aluminum pumps since the pump system disclosed herein may be used for pumping other molten metals.
Despite its positive properties for this application, graphite still corrodes and deteriorates over time and the pump must be maintained and replaced. The replacement or servicing of a pump operating submersed in molten metal is a time consuming exercise. First, the pump must first be removed from the molten metal, which causes down time of the metal furnace if that is the application. Then the pump along with the molten metal contained thereon must be allowed to sufficiently cool to allow it to be disassembled.
Once the deteriorated components are sufficiently cool, the molten metal built up on the various pump surfaces must be sufficiently removed to allow disassembly and/or re-use of the pump components. Then the pump must be re-assembled with the combination of old components or parts, along with the replacement parts. The downtime of a molten metal line may be as much as three to four days before it is operational again, which illustrates the importance of increasing the useful life of the pumps.
The useful life of a pump submersed varies greatly with the conditions of use, but it may be from twenty to sixty days for example.
The combination of the configuration and the number of components of typical prior art pumps make them difficult to efficiently and quickly assemble. A typical prior art pump is shown in FIG. 1, and includes a motor 2, a motor mount framework 3, a motor mount bracket 4, a rotating pump shaft 6 attached to an impeller housed in pump base 5, which is driven by the motor 2.
The prior art pump as shown in FIG. 1 further includes an output conduit which is formed in an output conduit body 7 (sometimes referred to as the riser tube), which is typically made of graphite and generally cylindrical with the internal conduit for the pumped molten metal to be pushed through by the impeller. The output conduit is placed through an aperture in the motor mount framework 3.
It is very important that motor 2, the shaft 6, the pump base 5 and the output conduit body 7 be accurately aligned in order for the pump system to work efficiently.
In the old or prior art way of providing a molten metal pump system, a special jig must be used to align the motor mount framework 3, the pump base 5, the pump shaft 6 and the output conduit body 7. The combination of the components is very heavy and because there are four components which must be accurately aligned and then secured to one another, substantial time must be taken to assemble the pump system in the precise manner required by the application. Hence the need for a jig to assemble the prior art pumps.
The four basic components of the prior art pump more or less form a parallelogram and it is important that it be a right angle type of parallelogram to enable the pump system, and especially the pump shaft 6 rotating the impeller in the pump base 5, to be accurately aligned.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a molten metal pump system which eliminates the need for using a separate jig to assemble or reassemble the pump components.
It is also an object of this invention to increase the useful life of the pump in the molten metal.
These objects and others are accomplished by this invention by the features more fully disclosed below, but including without limitation, the providing of an pump body which acts as the jig for the pump assemble, and which provides additional and differently configured graphite material around the output conduit, to increase the useful life of the pump.


A plastic fishing bait coupling tool for fusing plastic fishing baits together to form a unique fishing bait. The tool includes a base with a heating rod outwardly extending from a perimeter side wall of the base. The heating rod has an elongate inner portion extending into the base and an elongate outer portion outside of the base. A coiled heating element for providing heat is provided in the base and disposed around the inner portion of the heating rod. The heating rod has an outer end adjacent the outer portion of the heating rod. A heating head is coupled to the outer end of the heating rod. The heating head is generally triangular in configuration and has a bottom side and a pair of upper sides converging together at an upper vertex.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tools for coupling and repairing fishing baits and more particularly pertains to a new plastic fishing bait coupling tool for fusing plastic fishing baits together to form a unique fishing bait.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of tools for coupling and repairing fishing baits is known in the prior art. More specifically, tools for coupling and repairing fishing baits heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,933; U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,857; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 120,116; U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,951; U.S. Pat. No. 2,166,585; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,038,127.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new plastic fishing bait coupling tool. The inventive device includes a base with a heating rod outwardly extending from a perimeter side wall of the base. The heating rod has an elongate inner portion extending into the base and an elongate outer portion outside of the base. A coiled heating element for providing heat is provided in the base and disposed around the inner portion of the heating rod. The heating rod has an outer end adjacent the outer portion of the heating rod. A heating head is coupled to the outer end of the heating rod. The heating head is generally triangular in configuration and has a bottom side and a pair of upper sides converging together at an upper vertex.
In these respects, the plastic fishing bait coupling tool according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of fusing plastic fishing baits together to form a unique fishing bait.


A speech processing apparatus includes a spectrum envelope extracting unit which extracts the spectrum envelope of an input speech signal, a spectrum envelope deforming unit which applies deformation to the spectrum envelope to generate a deformed spectrum envelope, a spectrum fine structure extracting unit which extracts the spectrum fine structure of the input speech signal, a deformed spectrum generating unit which generates a deformed spectrum by combining the deformed spectrum envelope with the spectrum fine structure, and a speech generating unit which generates an output speech signal on the basis of the deformed spectrum. This apparatus emits a disrupting sound based on the output speech signal to prevent a third party from eavesdropping on a conversation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech system which prevents a third party from eavesdropping on the contents of a conversational speech and a speech processing method and apparatus and a storage medium which are used for the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
When people have a conversation in an open space or a non-soundproof room, the leakage of conversation may be a problem. Assume that a customer has a conversation with a bank clerk or an outpatient has a conversation with a receptionist or doctor in a hospital. In this case, if a third party overhears the conversation, it may violate secrecy or privacy.
Under the circumstances, there have been proposed techniques of preventing a third party from eavesdropping on a conversation by using a masking effect (see, for example, Tetsuro Saeki, Takeo Fujii, Shizuma Yamaguchi, and Kensei Oimatsu, "Selection of Meaningless Steady Noise for Masking of Speech", the transactions of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, J86-A, 2, 187-191, 2003 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-22391). The masking effect is a phenomenon in which when a person hearing a given sound hears another sound at a predetermined level or more, the original sound is canceled out, and the person cannot hear it. There is available, as a technique of preventing a third party from hearing an original sound by using such the masking effect, a method of superimposing pink noise or background music (BGM) as a masking sound on an original sound. As proposed by Tetsuro Saeki, Takeo Fujii, Shizuma Yamaguchi, and Kensei Oimatsu, "Selection of Meaningless Steady Noise for Masking of Speech", the transactions of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, J86-A, 2, 187-191, 2003 band-limited pink noise is, in particular, regarded as most effective.

Speech processing method and apparatus, storage medium, and speech system

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


The present invention discloses a trench capacitor formed in a trench in a semiconductor substrate. The trench capacitor comprises a bottom electrode positioned on a lower outer surface of the trench, a dielectric layer positioned on an inner surface of the bottom electrode, a top electrode positioned on the dielectric layer, a collar oxide layer positioned on an upper inner surface of the trench, a buried conductive strap positioned on the top electrode, and an interface layer made of silicon nitride positioned at the side of the buried conductive strap. The bottom electrode, the dielectric layer and the top electrode form a capacitive structure. The collar oxide layer includes a first block and a second block, and the height of the first block is larger than the height of the second block. The interface layer is positioned on a portion of the inner surface of the trench above the second block.

(A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a trench capacitor and a method for preparing the same, and more particularly, to a trench capacitor for a dynamic random access memory and a method for preparing the same.
(B) Description of the Related Art
A memory cell of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) includes an access transistor and a storage capacitor, wherein the source of the access transistor is electrically connected to a top electrode of the storage capacitor, and a bottom electrode of the storage capacitor is biased to a positive voltage. Particularly, the more the electric charges being stored in the storage capacitor, the less the occurrence of the error generated from the interpretation of data by a sensing amplifier due to the influence of noise. Therefore, current memory cells of the DRAM use 3-D capacitors, such as stacked capacitors or trench capacitors, to increase electric charges of the storage capacitor.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor wafer 10 for DRAM. The semiconductor wafer 10 comprises a substrate 12, two trenches 14 positioned in the substrate 12, a bottom electrode 16 positioned on the outer surface of the trench 14, a dielectric layer 18 positioned on the inner surface of the trench 14, an top electrode 20 positioned on the surface of the dielectric layer 18, a collar oxide layer 22 positioned on the inner surface of the trench 14, a buried conductive strap 24 positioned on the top electrode 20 and a shallow trench isolation (STI) 26 filled with dielectric material. A conductive diffusion region 28 is formed at the side of the buried conductive strap 24 to electrically connect the buried conductive strap 24 to a drain electrode/source electrode 32 of the access transistor. The bottom electrode 16, the dielectric layer 18 and the top electrode 20 in each trench 14 form a capacitive structure 30. The shallow trench isolation 26 is used to prevent two neighboring capacitive structures 30 from being a short circuit.
To avoid the two capacitive structures 30 being a short circuit and to ensure that an identical contact area between the buried conductive strap 24 and the corresponding top electrode 20 is achieved so as to obtain identical contact resistance, the position of the shallow trench isolation 26 must be precisely controlled. In addition, as the integration density of integrated circuit increases rapidly, the interval between the two capacitive structures 30 reduces correspondingly, i.e., the lateral width of the shallow trench isolation 26 must be reduced. However, the lithographic process, which is used to define the position and the size of the shallow trench isolation 26, tends to generate misalignment as the size shrinks. Consequently, the position of the shallow trench isolation 26 deviates from the predetermined position due to the misalignment of the lithographic process, which results in the occurrence of short circuit between the two capacitive structures 30. That also leads to different contact area (contact resistance) between the buried conductive strap 24 and the corresponding top electrode 20 for the two capacitive structures 30.

Trench capacitor and method for preparing the same