A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided including: forming a groove in an insulation film; forming a lower electrode material film on the insulation film and in the groove; forming a ferroelectric material film on the lower electrode material film, on the insulation film and in the groove; forming an upper electrode material film on the ferroelectric material film, on the insulation film and in the groove; forming a capacitive element within the groove by removing the upper electrode material film and the ferroelectric material film from the insulation film and leaving the upper electrode material film and the ferroelectric material film within the groove by CMP-polishing the insulation film and the groove.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing thereof. The present invention, in particular, relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing for promoting miniaturization. Further, the present invention, in particular, relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing for restraining short circuiting among electrodes and wirings.
2. Related Art
FIG. 6 shows a sectional view of a conventional semiconductor device. This semiconductor device includes a nonvolatile memory (ferroelectric random-access memory, Fe RAM) using a ferroelectric capacitor as a capacitive element and is manufactured by the following method (See Unexamined patent publication 2003-133522), for example.
Firstly, a MOS transistor is formed on a silicon substrate 101. Namely, an element isolation film 102 is formed on the silicon substrate 101 by a LOCOS method and a gate oxide film 103 in the element region located between mutual points of element isolation film 102 is formed by thermal oxidization. Next, polysilicon film is deposited on a region including the gate oxide film 103 and patterned so as to form a gate electrode 104 on the gate oxide film 103. Next, impurity ions are ion-implanted to the silicon substrate with the gate electrode as a mask. Next, a sidewall 105 is formed at the side of the gate electrode 104 and impurity ions are ion-implanted with the sidewall and the gate electrode as masks and a given thermal treatment is completed. Therefore, a low concentration diffusion layer 106 is formed in a lightly doped drain (LDD) region of the silicon substrate 101 and an impurity layer 107 as a source diffused region and a drain diffused region are formed in the source/drain region in the silicon substrate 101.
Next, a first conductive layer, a ferroelectric layer and a second conductive layer are deposited in this order on all surfaces of the MOS transistors and the element isolation layer 102 and patterned so as to form a capacitive element including a lower electrode 110, a ferroelectric material film 111 and an upper electrode 112.
Next, an interlayer insulation film 113 is deposited on all surfaces including the capacitive element and the MOS transistor. Next, a contact bore or hall located on the impurity layer 107 and a contact hall located on the upper electrode 112 are formed on the interlayer insulation film 113. Next, an aluminum alloy film is deposited within the contact hall and on the interlayer insulation film 113 and patterned. Hence, an aluminum alloy wiring 114 connected to the impurity layer 107 and the upper electrode 112 is formed on the interlayer insulation film 113.
In the capacitive element, the upper electrode and the lower electrode require heat resistance so heat resistant metal such as platinum is used. Platinum has high resistance to reaction and corrosion as well as heat resistance. Hence, when the lower electrode, the ferroelectric electrode and the upper electrode are patterned in the same process, etching having physical strength such as ion milling is needed instead of common reactive ion etching (RIE).
However, a taper is easily formed if etching having physical strength is used. Thus, it is difficult to promote miniaturization for a capacitive element. Further, particles are easily formed when etching so that the upper electrode 112 and the lower electrode 110 are short-circuited and the aluminum wiring is also short-circuited. In view of the above situation, the present invention is intended to provide a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing to promote miniaturization. Further, the present invention is intended to provide a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing for restraining short circuiting.

Semiconductor device for restraining short circuiting and method of manufacturing thereof


A light guide plate used for an LED backlight source. The LED backlight source comprises a plurality of LED lamps. The light guide plate comprises a light guide plate body (24). The light guide plate body (24) is provided thereon with a plurality of dots (242), and there is a light guide region in the light guide plate body (24). In the light guide region, the diameters of the dots in the same dot row progressively increase from the middle to either side, and diameters of the dots in the same dot column progressively increase in the direction away from the LED lamps.

The light-emitting diode (LED) luminescence technique has become popular due to the advantages of energy saving, non-radiation, long service life and the like. Particularly in the manufacturing industry of LCD devices, backlights of the LCD devices have gradually applied LEDs instead of the previously applied cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL). Currently, the types of the LED backlight sources are mainly divided into direct-lit type and side-lit type, wherein side-lit type LED backlight sources are applied by more and more LCD device manufacturers due to the advantages of a small number of adopted LEDs, advantageous heat dissipation, low thickness and the like.
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a side-lit type LED backlight source in the prior art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the side-lit type LED backlight source comprises: a light bar 10, a plurality of LED lamps 11 mounted on the light bar, and an LGP (Light Guide Plate) 13 corresponding to the LED lamps 11, wherein a plurality of dots 131 arranged at intervals are disposed on the light guide plate 13 and configured to change the direction of light emitted by the LED lamps 11 at a side by means of reflection, scattering and the like, so that the light can enter a display screen of an LCD device.
The light guide plate 13 is a necessary component of the side-lit type LED backlight source as the light guide plate 13 affects the subjective effect for the side-lit type LED backlight source: the brightness uniformity. Whether the LCD device has hotspot (brightness unevenness) and the uniformity degree of the screen brightness of the LCD device after the light guide plate 13 is applied are important evaluation criteria for the quality of the light guide plate 13.
The inventor found that: only the longitudinal distance between the LEDs and the dots 131 is considered in the diameter design of the dots 131 disposed at different positions of the traditional light guide plate 13. Since the light emitted from LEDs is weaker and weaker in the direction away from the LEDs and dots 131 with larger diameter exhibit better light-educing performance, dots 131 with larger diameter are provided more far away from the LEDs, and hence the uniformity of light emitted from the light guide plate 13 can be guaranteed as much as possible.
The schematic diagram of a light-emitting region of the LED lamp 11 as shown in FIG. 2 is obtained based on the result of the light-emitting test of the LED lamp 11 made by those skilled in the art, wherein the vertical up direction represents the 0° light-emitting direction; the horizontal left direction represents the 90° light-emitting direction; and the horizontal right direction represents the −90° light-emitting direction. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the light-emitting region of the LED lamp 11 includes a −90°-0° area A and a 0°-90° area B, and the main light-emitting region of the LED lamp 11 is ranged from −50° to 50°, wherein the intensity of the light in the 0° direction is the strongest; the intensity of the light at the angle ranges of −90° to −50° and 50° to 90° is weaker; and the 0° direction can be referred to as the central light-emitting direction of the LED lamp. However, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in the existing light guide plate 13, with regard to an LED lamp 11, as transversely arranged dots 131 on the light guide plate 13, with the same vertical distance from the LED lamp 11, have the same diameter, the intensity of the light transmitted onto dots 131 at the angle ranges of −90° to −50° and 50° to 90° of the LED lamp 11 is obviously lower than that of the light transmitted onto dots at the angle range of −50° to 50° of the LED lamp 11, thus resulting nonuniformity of the light emitted form the light guide plate 13.
Therefore, how to provide a light guide plate, a backlight source and an LCD device, with high uniformity of emergent light, is a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

Light guide plate, backlight source and liquid crystal display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A fuel-cell system is provided, which includes a fuel cell, a reactive-gas supply unit and a control unit. The reactive-gas supply unit supplies the reactive gases to the fuel cell. The control unit includes an average stoichiometric flow-ratio calculation part and a reactive-gas reduction part. The average stoichiometric flow-ratio calculation part calculates an average stoichiometric flow ratio by averaging stoichiometric flow ratios. A stoichiometric flow ratio is a ratio of an amount of the reactive gases supplied to the fuel cell with respect to a required amount of the reactive gases of the fuel cell in accordance with a required amount of power generation. When the average stoichiometric flow ratio is equal to or greater than a first predetermined value, the reactive-gas reduction part reduces the amount of the reactive gases supplied to the fuel cell so as to lower the stoichiometric flow ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel-cell system and a method of controlling a fuel cell, and more particularly, to a fuel-cell system and a method of controlling a fuel cell mounted on automotive vehicles.
2. Related Art
In recent years, fuel-cell systems gain the spotlight as a new power source of automotive vehicles. For example, a fuel-cell system includes a fuel cell for generating power by chemical reaction of reactive gases, a reactive-gas supply unit for supplying the reactive gases to the fuel cell through a reactive-gas passage, and a control unit for controlling the reactive-gas supply unit.
The fuel cell has a stack structure in which tens to hundreds of cells are stacked, for example. Each cell has a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) interposed by a pair of separators. The MEA includes two electrodes, i.e., an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, and a solid high-polymer electrolyte membrane interposed by the electrodes.
When supplying hydrogen gas as a reactive gas to the anode electrode and air containing oxygen as a reactive gas to the cathode electrode, the fuel cell generates power by electrochemical reaction. Since only harmless water is fundamentally produced during this power generation, the fuel cells gain the spotlight from the viewpoint of influence on the environment and efficiency.
In the fuel-cell system, the reactive gases such as hydrogen gas, air, etc. are supplied to one end of a casing in which the cells of stacked structure are accommodated, and are discharged from the other end. Therefore, when supplying an amount of reactive gases required for power generation, a sufficient amount of reactive gases is supplied to the cells in the vicinity of an inlet of the reactive gases, but not to the cells in the vicinity of an outlet of the reactive gases, leading to possible occurrence of variation in the power-generation efficiency of the cells.
In order to efficiently generate power in all the cells, a greater amount of reactive gases than a theoretical amount required for power generation is supplied to the fuel cell.
Specifically, assuming that a minimally required amount of reactive gases calculated in accordance with a required amount of power generation is a required amount of reactive gases, a rate of an amount of reactive gases supplied to the fuel cell with respect to the required amount of reactive gases is set as a stoichiometric flow ratio. The reactive gases are supplied so that the stoichiometric flow ratio has a constant value.
However, even if the stoichiometric flow ratio is set to a constant value, variation may occur in the power-generation efficiency of the cells due to influence of operation loads and secular changes.
In order to solve this problem, a system is proposed wherein when variation occurs in the generated voltage of the cells constituting the fuel cell, it is determined whether the cause lies in deviation of the distribution of reactive gases in the fuel cell or the degradation of the cells, and a target stoichiometric flow ratio of reactive gases is set in accordance with the result of this determination (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-207029 (Patent Document 1)).
With the fuel-cell system proposed by Patent Document 1, when the cause of variation in generated voltage of the cells lies in deviation of the distribution of reactive gases, a slightly greater stoichiometric flow ratio than an optimal stoichiometric flow ratio is set as a target value in consideration of safety factors. With this, a sufficient amount of reactive gases can be supplied to the fuel cell, achieving stabilization of the generated voltage and an enhancement in fuel consumption.
With the system of Patent Document 1, however, since the stoichiometric flow ratio is slightly greater than the optimal stoichiometric flow ratio that can stabilize the generated voltage, power consumption of a compressor for supplying air to the cells increases, leading to a possible reduction in fuel efficiency of the fuel cell.
In order to solve this problem, a fuel-cell system is desired in which the stoichiometric flow ratio can be reduced as much as possible to allow a further enhancement in fuel consumption. Therefore, a fuel-cell system is proposed in which the stoichiometric flow ratio of reactive gases is changed dynamically, and the voltage of the fuel cells is detected to determine whether or not a current stoichiometric flow ratio is appropriate to stably maintain the voltage of the fuel cell (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-093218 (Patent Document 2)).
According to the fuel-cell system proposed by Patent Document 2, whether or not the stoichiometric flow ratio is appropriate is determined in accordance with the voltage of the fuel cell when the stoichiometric flow ratio of reactive gases is changed. Therefore, by reducing the stoichiometric flow ratio while observing the stability of power generation of the fuel cell, it is possible to maintain the stability of power generation and reduce the stoichiometric flow ratio as much as possible, leading to an increase in the fuel efficiency of the fuel cell.
However, in order to reduce the stoichiometric flow ratio as much as possible, the stoichiometric flow ratio should frequently be lowered to such an extent that power generation becomes unstable, resulting in an unstable power-generation capacity of the fuel cell.

Fuel-cell system and method of controlling fuel cell


Determining a match between the subjects of first and second images as a function of decimal-number representations of regions of the first and second images. The decimal-number representations are generated by performing discrete transforms on the regions so as to obtain discrete-transform coefficients, performing local-bit-pattern encoding of the coefficients to create data streams, and converting the data streams to decimal numbers. In one embodiment, the first and second images depict periocular facial regions, and the disclosed techniques can be used for face recognition, even where a small portion of a person's face is captured in an image. Subspace modeling may be used to improve accuracy.

Face recognition is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks in computer vision, partly because of large variations in human faces; this is particularly true when only a portion of a face is available for analysis. Researchers have been developing technologies for face recognition based on partial-face images due to the demands of many real-world operating scenarios that require accurate, efficient, uncooperative, and cost-effective solutions. Some of these technologies identify local binary patterns (LBP) in raw pixel intensities but nonetheless fail to achieve accurate, efficient, uncooperative, and cost-effective solutions, largely due to the minimal amount of useful data that can be provided by a partial-face image.
To achieve an accurate, efficient, uncooperative, and cost-effective solution to the problem of face recognition in situations where only a portion of a face is available for analysis, it becomes necessary to extract as much unique information as possible from each image in question and to use such information in an exhaustive comparison. However, these methods are known to be computationally expensive and may require special tweaking in order to generate meaningful results. More accurate and efficient face recognition methods are desired in numerous applications, which demand near real-time computation and do not require user cooperation. Applications include automated face recognition in surveillance images and access control, among others.

Image matching using subspace-based discrete transform encoded local binary patterns


A vehicular muffler is configured and arranged to smoothly introduce exhaust gas into a sound-absorbing material disposed inside of an outer case which has a plurality of relatively short inner sleeves therein. The muffler includes a porous plate which is disposed inside of the outer case, and which is connected to an exhaust pipe, and the porous plate is operatively connected to an outlet pipe which discharges an exhaust gas to the outside environment through an opening formed in an outlet side of the outer case. In one embodiment, the inner sleeves are arranged substantially parallel to each other, and are fluidly connected to a joint exhaust feed pipe disposed inside the outer case. The inner sleeves are connected to the outlet pipe on the outlet side of the outer case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mufflers used in a vehicle to filter engine exhaust in order absorb sound from an engine of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Background Art
A motorcycle muffler is known having a structure in which an inner sleeve is disposed inside of an outer case. A large number of holes are formed in the inner sleeve, and during operation, an exhaust gas from the engine enters the inner sleeve, and is discharged into the outer case through these holes. A large part of engine noise from the exhaust gas stream is absorbed by a sound-absorbing material in the outer case. Thereafter, the exhaust gas is discharged to the outside (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2006-307793
However, in the above-mentioned conventional motorcycle muffler, although the exhaust gas can be smoothly introduced into the sound-absorbing material disposed inside of the outer case from the inside of the inner sleeve by forming the large number of holes in a peripheral surface of the inner sleeve, the number of holes which can be formed in and arranged on the inner sleeve is limited and hence, only the limited number of holes can be formed. Accordingly, there is a limit with respect to the smooth discharge of the exhaust gas into the sound-absorbing material. To cope with such a limit, it is necessary to increase the number of holes by elongating the inner sleeve. As a result, the muffler is elongated, thus giving rise to a drawback that the degree of freedom in designing a muffler is lowered.

Vehicular muffler and motorcycle incorporating same


An ink cartridge for ink-jet printer where the ink cartridge comprises an ink supply adjusting valve, air vent valve, and ink storage chamber. Ink supply adjusting valve includes an ink inlet communicates in ink fluid communication with the ink storage chamber and an ink outlet connected with ink-supply port of ink storage chamber and a valve body constructed of a film and holder thereof and in which at least two small ink chambers are partitioned and both of the small ink chambers are communicated through a small ink channel. Air vent valve is a normal-closed one-way valve controlled by elastic valve cap under the level of ink fluid inside the ink storage chamber. Under static equilibrium during operation, suction of print head causes higher negative pressure inside the ink storage chamber and air vent valve is opened by atmosphere pressure, and ink flows into the ink supply adjusting valve.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an ink supply device, and more particularly to an ink cartridge for supplying ink to the print head of ink-jet printer.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, ink cartridge inside an ink-jet printer has a cartridge body filled with ink. The ink is printed on the surface of paper through the ink outlet of ink cartridge. Known ink cartridge can be substantially classified into two types: ink cartridges with absorption material and ink cartridges without absorption material. Most of the conventional ink cartridges possess absorption material, such as a sponge or the like, but such the absorption material not only occupies the space of ink storage chamber of ink cartridge, but also left therein large amount of ink. Once discarded, the environment will be polluted. In addition, due to that it is difficult to recycle, works on environmental protection become complicated. Ink cartridge without absorption material can avoid the said defects. For example, Chinese Patent No. 0326813.9 discloses an printer's ink cartridge with valve in which a negative pressure on the ink outlet of the ink cartridge is kept by means of a pressure regulator mechanism which is comprised of a front valve body, a rear valve body, a valve film, a spring etc. Even though such a mechanism may continuously and uniformly supply the ink and assure printing quality, it is complex in structure and high in manufacturing cost. Also, it is difficult to assure the quality of the pressure regulator mechanism.


A computer activity-based challenge may be posted by a computer system to a social network associated with a user of the computer system. A notification may be received from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge. A result obtained by each subscriber who accepted the challenge may be recorded by the computer system after receiving the result from the social network. In some implementations a value associated with the challenge may be updated using dynamic scoring.

Currently, many computer game platforms allow users to communicate with each other over a network. Several users may compete against each other in an online multiplayer setting. Users may also send messages to each other on a one-to-one basis (i.e., can only send one message to one user at a time; no mass messaging). These messages may involve challenges, wherein a user challenges another user to achieve a particular status in a game. These challenges may involve beating high scores, beating best times, or attaining other achievements. However, these challenges are limited in their reach. A challenge may be issued to only a single challenger at a time. A user who wishes to challenge multiple users may only do so by sending each potential challenger a separate message. An additional challenge faced by a user may be a limited reach within the gaming network. The user may only be aware of a few friends who are active on his gaming platform's network, and as such may be limited to issuing challenges to those friends or other random users connected to the network.
Another limitation faced by current computer game activity-based challenges, is a lack of a universal and accurate scoring system. Currently, computer game activity-based challenges are not associated with a value, or are associated with arbitrary values that fail to reflect the difficulty of the challenge. Thus, the desire for a challenger to engage in a particular computer game activity-based challenge stems from his relationship with the issuer of the challenge. The desire for a challenger to accept a challenge issued by a random user is diminished, because the challenger receives no added benefit (e.g., higher ranking, points to be used within a gaming platform, etc.) from winning the challenge.
It is within this context that embodiments of the present invention arise.

Implementing computer activity-based challenges


A drag reduction mean which consists a duct and a support mean which duct can reflect passed through flows and which is mounted on one end of the support mean which another end can be mounted on an object which can move in a fluid; the length of the support mean being able to be altered by a mechanical mean; the ratio of the cross-sectional areas of the entrance and the exit of the duct being able to be altered; the normal directions of the exit of the duct being able to be altered; the algorithms of using the drag reduction means being revealed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to means and methods to reduce drags and particularly to means and methods to guide flows to create a region in front and/or behind a moving object (body) to make the moving body a fluid dynamically desirable object to reduce the drags.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
No prior art related to means and methods to reduce drags was found.


A metal to metal seal (10) is provided that comprises an annular seat (66), a seal member (90) having annular metal skirt (91) adapted to engage the annular seat (66), an undercut section behind the skirt (91), and an annular retainer member (78) disposed in the undercut section behind the skirt (91), the skirt (91) being adapted to deflect toward the retainer member (78) when pressured against the annular seat (66), the amount of deflection being limited by the angular distance between the skirt (91) and the retainer member (78). An annular stop member is provided (144) for optionally transferring excess bearing load around the skirt (91) and an adjustment member is provided (176) for selectively controlling the portion of the bearing load carried by the skirt (91) and to limit deflection of the skirt. Use of the subject metal to metal seal is (10) as a piston seal in surface controlled subsurface safety valves (38) employed in the oil and gas industry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to metal to metal seals, and more particularly, to metal to metal piston seals for surface controlled subsurface safety valves used in the oil and gas industry. One aspect of the invention relates to an improved metal to metal piston seal comprising a seal member adapted to provide sealing engagement with a cooperating annular stop at both low and high pressures.
2. Description of Related Art
Surface controlled subsurface safety valves having pistons with conventional metal to metal piston seals are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,993, which is incorporated by reference herein. Such valves typically comprise a housing having a longitudinal bore communicating with a well tubing string, a valve closure means biased to seal off the bore, and an operator tube adapted to open the valve closure means in response to control fluid pressure. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,993, the control fluid pressure acts on a piston means comprising a seal assembly and a cylindrical rod that are slidably disposed in a small diameter longitudinal bore offset from the main valve bore. The operator tube and piston means are upwardly biased by means such as a coil spring annularly disposed around the operator tube. When control fluid pressure in the small diameter bore is decreased below a preselected value, the biasing means moves the operator tube upward to allow the valve closure means to return to its closed position.
The seal assembly of the piston means comprises seal members adapted to prevent control fluid from leaking past the piston in the small diameter bore and seal members adapted to prevent well fluids from flowing back into the control line. A seal member is desirably provided at the top of the seal assembly to block the leak path from the well bore back into the control line. Because of the high pressures and hostile environments in which the piston seal assemblies must often operate, metal to metal seals are preferred for use as the blocking seals.
Conventional metal to metal seals are generally designed for either low or high pressure applications. In a low pressure environment, less contact stress is provided between the sealing elements, and one must rely on precision machining and fit or else use a material such as an elastomer, a non-elastomer, a softer metal, or the like, that will deform to make the necessary seal. Similarly, in a high pressure environment, precision machining and fit are particularly important with conventional seal designs because softer metals will deform and cannot withstand the contact stresses needed to make the seal.
In the past, piston seal assemblies used in subsurface safety valves such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,993 have been provided with upwardly facing seat inserts similar to machined bolts. Such seat inserts have had hemispherical or chamfered sealing surfaces adapted to provide metal to metal sealing engagement with a downwardly facing annular shoulder in the small diameter bore. With the prior art metal to metal seals, however, leakage has sometimes occurred due to surface imperfections, loose tolerances, and the like.
A metal to metal piston seal is therefore needed that can be satisfactorily used at either low or high pressures, and that will accommodate imperfections of fit or finish.

Metal to metal seal for well safety valve


An electronic device and an operating method therefor, according to various examples, can be configured to: detect an activation signal generated by the electronic device; activate a predetermined communication function in response to the activation signal; and receive a reference signal through the activated communication function.

Generally, as digital technologies have recently developed, various types of electronic devices are widely utilized, such as a mobile communication terminal, a smart phone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an electronic organizer, a notebook, a wearable device, or the like. The above electronic devices have arrived at a mobile convergence stage of managing even the functions of other devices. For example, an electronic device may provide a call function such as a voice call, a video call or the like, a message transmission/reception function such as a Short Message Service (SMS)/Multimedia Message Service (MMS), an e-mail, or the like, an electronic organizer function, a photographing function, a broadcasting program reproduction function, a video reproduction function, a music reproduction function, an Internet function, a messenger function, a game function, a Social Network Service (SNS) function, or the like. An electronic device has been designed in various types.

Electronic device and operating method therefor


A pixel driving circuit includes a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a forth transistor, a switching circuit, a first voltage generator, a second voltage generator, and a light emitting element. The source of the first transistor is electrically connected to the drain of the second transistor. The gate of the third transistor is electrically connected to the gate of the first transistor. The drain of the forth transistor is electrically connected to the source of the third transistor, and the gate of the forth transistor is electrically connected to the gate and the drain of the second transistor. The first voltage generator is coupled to the source of the second transistor and of the forth transistor. The light emitting element is coupled to the drain of the first transistor via a first electrode, and to the second voltage generator via a second electrode. The switching circuit is electrically connected to the drain and the gate of the third transistor.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving circuit of a pixel of an active display, and the driving circuit is capable of reducing the kink effect.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
An active matrix organic electroluminescent display (AMOLED) employs organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) as light source, and thin film transistors (TFT) as switch or driver. The brightness of the organic light emitting diode is controlled by the current density. The current density of the organic light emitting diode is affected by the drain current of the thin film transistor, because the organic light emitting diode is usually connected to the drain electrode of the thin film transistor. However, the drain current is often influenced by the threshold voltage drift and the kink effect of the thin film transistor.
In an ideal case, the drain current (ID) is independent of the voltage (VDS) between the drain electrode and the source electrode. However, when the voltage (VDS) is larger than the pinched-off voltage, a depletion region is formed in the interface between the channel and the drain electrode so that the electrical distance between the drain and the source electrode, referred to as the "effective channel length", is less than the physical channel length. When the differential voltage between the drain electrode and the source electrode is increased, the effective channel length is reduced. Because the effective channel length is inversely proportional to the drain current, as the differential voltage between the drain electrode and the source electrode is increases, so does the drain current. That is referred to as channel length modulation, or kink effect. The following illustrates that the influence of kink effect on the pixel.
FIG. 1A is a traditional driving circuit of a pixel of an active matrix organic electroluminescent display. The organic light emitting diode 101 has a cathode connected to a reference voltage generator VSS, and an anode connected to a drain electrode of a p-channel thin film transistor 102. The source electrode of the transistor 102 is connected to a display voltage generator VDD, and its gate electrode is connected to the gate electrode of another p-channel thin film transistor 103. The gate electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor 103 are connected to a drain electrode and a source electrode of a n-channel thin film transistor 105, respectively. The drain electrode of the transistor 103 is, moreover, connected to the drain electrode of another n-channel thin film transistor 106. The source electrode of the transistor 106 is connected to a data line 107. The transistors 105 and 106 act as switches, and their gate electrodes are connected to the scan line 108 and the data line 109, respectively.
When transistors 105 and 106 are opened, both transistors 102 and 103 act as a current mirror. The current IOLED flowing through the transistor 102 and the organic light emitting diode 101 is dependent on the current IDATA flowing through transistor 103. If the transistors 102 and 103 have the common property, the threshold voltage Vtp1 of the transistor 103 is equal to the threshold voltage Vtp2 of the transistor 102. The parameter μ pCox relating to their hole mobility is the same. The gate-source voltage VGS1 of the transistor 103 is equal to the gate-source voltage VGS2 of the transistor 102. Thus, the relationship is expressed as the equation (1):
                                          I            OLED                                I            DATA                          =                                            (                              W                /                L                            )                        2                                              (                              W                /                L                            )                        1                                              (        1        )
Furthermore, if the channel length-width ratio of the transistor 102 is the same as that of the transistor 103, there is an ideal relationship expressed as IOLED=IDATA.
When the transistors 105 and 106 are opened, the equivalent circuit is shown as FIG. 1B. After opening the transistor 105, the gate electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor 103 are shorted, expresses as VDS1=VGS1.
Considering the influence of the kink effect, a factor λ is provided to multiply by the operating voltage VDS. If the transistor 102 and transistor 103 have the common property, such as the same μ pCox, Vtp1=Vtp2, VGS1=VGS2, and VDS1=VGS1, then IOLED and IDATA have the relationship expressed as the equation (2):
                                          I            OLED                                I            DATA                          =                                                            (                                  W                  /                  L                                )                            2                                                  (                              1                +                                  λ                                                                                V                                          DS                                                                                2                                                                                )                                                                          (                                  W                  /                  L                                )                            1                                                  (                              1                +                                  λ                                                                                V                                          GS                                                                                1                                                                                )                                                          (        2        )
Even if the channel length-width ratio of the transistors 102 and 103 are the same, but VDS2≠VGS1, then IOLED≠IDATA.
When the channel length-width ratio W/L is 6/6 in the transistors 102 and 103, the result as FIG. 1C is obtained by simulating the equivalent circuit shown in FIG. 1B. The abscissa is time (sec), and the ordinate is current (A). The line 110 represents the current flowing through the transistor 103, associated with the current IDATA of the data line 107. The line 111 represent the current IOLED flowing through the organic light emitting diode 101. FIG. 1C shows that IOLED is different from IDATA in the current mirror, which is indeed affected by kink effect.
FIG. 1D is ID-VDS curve of a p-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) including the low temperature poly silicon (LTPS). The value of W/L is shown as legend. In an ideal case, it should be horizontal at the right end of each curve, but in FIG. 1D, it turns upward. That illustrates the kink effect is possible to happen in PMOS so as to increase the drain current. Besides, as the PMOS has less physical channel length, its ID-VDS curve is more crooked. That represents it is affected by kink effect more apparently. Likewise, it also happens in an n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS).
For reducing the kink effect, it needs to increase the voltage level of the display voltage generator VDD. As shown in FIG. 1D, take the curve of WIL=6/6 as an example, when the operating voltage VDS is larger than 2V, the transistors is operated in the saturation region of the ID-VDS curve. It is observed that they are affected by kink effect, because the slope of the curve is not zero between 2V and 4V. The slope of the curve is approach to zero between 4V and 6V in which the drain current of the transistors is controlled more easily. Therefore, it is necessary to rise the display voltage VDD a little, for example, to increase the operating voltage VDS from 2-4 V to 4-6 V. According to the prior art, IOLED is not still equal to IDATA even if rising the display voltage VDD.

Organic electroluminescent display and pixel driving circuit thereof for reducing the kink effect


A human transporting system for efficiently removing an injured person out of water. The human transporting system generally includes a handle, a pair of straps attached to the handle, a pair of sliding loops attached to the straps forming looped portions for receiving the wrists of an injured human, and a pair of biasing members attached between the handle and the sliding loops. The looped portions receive the wrists of the injured human and the user pulls the injured human from the water by pulling upon the handle which tightens the looped portions upon the wrists. Once the injured human is pulled out of the water, the handle is lowered thereby allowing the biasing members to loosen the looped portions about the wrists.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to human transport devices and more specifically it relates to a human transporting system for efficiently removing an injured person out of water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
When a human is injured (e.g. unconscious) in water, they are difficult to remove from the water because of various factors including slippery wet skin, increased weight of water soaked clothing and maneuvering in water. It typically requires at least two individuals to remove an injured person from water which can be detrimental if more than one human is injured in the water. If only one individual is available to rescue the injured human, it can take a significant amount of time to remove the injured human.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved human transporting system for efficiently removing an injured person out of water.


The invention relates to a device for use with the inhalation of powdered materials contained in rod-shaped capsules, having two parts (2, 3) which may be pivoted one relative to the other, and provided with a mixing chamber (7) having substantially tangentially directed air inlet openings, said mixing chamber having one end in communication with a mouth piece (6) and the other end in communication with a capsule receiving cavity (26), the latter being formed in conformity with the longitudinal sectional shape of a capsule and having at at least one longitudinal end a passage opening (27) for a transversely (=in the longitudinal direction of the capsule receiving cavity) reciprocating piercing needle, and wherein the part (2) of the device comprising the mouth piece (6) is mounted to pivot relative to the capsule receiving cavity comprising part (3) of the device between a closed ready for use-position and an opened position permitting the insertion of a capsule. In accordance with the invention the mouth piece (6) is integrally formed with the mixing chamber (7), whereas the capsule receiving cavity (26) is provided in a bottom section (25) which closes the mixing chamber (7) in the closed or ready for use-position and is making part of said other part (3) of the device.

Such devices are already known in various embodiments. A typical example of such a well-known device is disclosed in NL-A-176837 and NL-A-179345.
With this well-known device the mouth piece comprising part of the device is rotatably mounted--about an axis that is positioned excentrically to its longitudinal axis--relative to the other part of the device, which comprises the mixing chamber, the capsule-receiving cavity and the piercing needle(s).
The insertion of a capsule in the receiving cavity is rather difficult, because this is to take place via the end of the mixing chamber facing the mouth piece. The removal of an emptied capsule may also be difficult.
Another typical example of a well-known device of the type above referred to is disclosed in EP-A-0041783. With this well-known device the mouth piece forms a part which may be removed from the rest of the device, so that the device may be loaded with a fresh capsule and an emptied capsule may be removed therefrom by taking the mouth piece off. Moreover there are provisions with this well-known device to jammingly hold a capsule within the receiving cavity. For this purpose the walls of the capsule receiving cavity are provided with ribs. The piercing of the capsule is effected automatically when the device is closed by placing the mouth piece, whereby the mouth piece actuates the piercing needle(s) and moreover--upon retraction of the piercing needle(s)--actuates an ejecting member. This means that when the device is closed upon placing a capsule, the latter will be automatically pierced and then, for direct use, ejected into the mixing chamber. Thus the closed position is also the use-position. Consequently it is not possible to place a capsule for later use i.e. to postpone piercing of the capsule until the moment at which the device is actually used.

Device for use with the inhalation of powdered materials contained in rod-shaped capsules


A pillar structure is provided. The pillar structure includes a plurality of pillars. Each of the pillars include a capping material layer formed in a pit etched into a template wafer, a conductive plug formed on the capping material layer, a base layer formed on the conductive plug, and an attach material layer formed on the base layer. The pillars are joined vertically together to form the pillar structure.

The present disclosure relates to the electrical, electronic and semiconductor device fields. In particular, the present disclosure relates to transferrable pillar structures, and methods of forming pillar structure, for a fanout package or interconnect bridge for an article, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chip.
Typical semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips have layers stacked such that layer features overlay one another to form individual devices and connect devices together. ICs are mass produced by forming an array of chips on a thin semiconductor wafer. Each array location is known as a die and each die may harbor a multilayered structure, such as an IC chip or a structure for test or alignment.
As transistor technologies have evolved, chip features and devices have gotten smaller and smaller and have minimum dimensions that typically are well below one micrometer (1 μm) or 1 micron. Smaller chip features and devices allow IC manufacturers to integrate more function in the same chip real estate. A typical IC can include billions of transistors wired together into circuits providing chip function. IC circuits may also include micro-machine structures such as micro-sensors or other micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) structures. A typical MEMS structure, such as a cantilever and membrane formation, has been formed by stacking multiple layers of interlevel vias beneath a surface wiring structure and undercutting the surface wiring without damaging surrounding features.
The surface layer of each completed chip or die is typically populated by probe-able off-chip pads for connecting to chip power and input/output (I/O) signals. Packing more function on each die typically means providing more and more I/O signals for each die, on one (top), or for a three dimensional (3D) chip structure, both (top and bottom) sides. Each die has at least one surface pad for each I/O signal and a number of power (supply and ground) connection pads. Providing these I/O signals and supply as die are shrinking in size, therefore, driving more stringent off-chip I/O connection requirements, i.e., increasingly dense I/O pad arrays. On a typical state of the art IC wafer, for example, the surface layer of each die may be populated by several thousand connection pads. To achieve this requires ultra-fine pitch pads on very tight a pitch less than 50 microns (<50 μm).
For heterogeneous integration of multiple chips in a package, it is often desired to incorporate a silicon bridge structure above the laminate to provide fine-pitch wiring connecting two or more active die. This structure may require electrical interconnections of two different heights, and possibly different lateral sizes. Some interconnections may require high-aspect ratio structures (i.e., a large height-to-pitch ratio). Moreover, face-to-face interconnections may be needed between two different pitches.

Transferrable pillar structure for fanout package or interconnect bridge

International Business Machines Corporation


An intersection of a cut plane with a proxy geometry representing a scan volume is determined with a processor. The intersection is simplified, such as identifying a quadrilateral or triangle most closely enclosing the intersection. The vertex processor of a GPU deforms a reference grid and determines Cartesian coordinates and the texture coordinates for grid points of the reference grid as a function of the input intersection. The vertex processor provides coordinates for data for subsets of cut planes. The fragment processor inputs the texture coordinates and retrieves the data from the texture memory. The data is blended. The blended subsets are then blended together in the frame buffer of the GPU.

The present invention relates to three-dimensional imaging. In particular, three-dimensional (3D) imaging uses data acquired in a different format than the display format, such as 3D imaging from data for a medical scan.
Volume rendering generates two-dimensional images from three-dimensional data volumes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound scanning use volume rendering for three-dimensional imaging. Data representing a volume, such as data representing a plurality of two-dimensional planes spaced within the volume or as data representing a plurality of different lines spaced within a volume, is obtained. The 3D representation is rendered from this data. Typically, software that is computationally expensive and time consuming implements volume rendering.
Ultrasound data formatted in a display Cartesian coordinate grid are volume rendered using graphic accelerators, such as graphic accelerators for general purpose personal computers. The data is interpolated or scan converted along a Cartesian coordinate 3D grid before volume rendering. Three-dimensional texturing using application programming interfaces, such as OpenGL or DirectX, is used to render the three-dimensional data set.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,852,081 discloses volume rendering three-dimensional data sets in an acoustic or other non-Cartesian grid in real time using graphics accelerators. For example, commercially available graphic accelerators cards using 3D texturing may provide 256×256×128 8 bit volumes at 25 volumes per second or better for generating a display of 512×512 pixels using ultrasound data. By rendering from data at least in part in an acoustic grid, the amount of scan conversion processing is reduced or eliminated prior to the rendering. A processor provides texture coordinates and corresponding vertices for quadrilaterals or triangles defined in a Cartesian space to a graphics processing unit (GPU). The GPU identifies the appropriate texture data and renders the 3D representation.

Volume rendering processing distribution in a graphics processing unit


A new writing instrument attachment for attaching to a common writing instrument. The inventive device includes a case having opposite first and second ends, The first end of the case has a first bore therein and the second end of the case has a second bore therein. The second bore is designed for receiving a writing tip of a writing instrument therein. A receiving member is inserted into the first bore such that a hole provided in the receiving member faces away from the first end of the case. One end of an insert member is inserted in the hole of the receiving member. The other end of the insert member has a generally cylindrical marking compound outwardly extending therefrom. The marking compound is designed for making a mark on a writing surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pencils and other writing instrument attachments and more particularly pertains to a new writing instrument attachment for attaching to a common writing instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of pencils and other writing instrument attachments is known in the prior art. More specifically, pencils and other writing instrument attachments 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 pencils and other writing instrument attachments include U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,918; U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,202; U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,299; U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,384; U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,121; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 353,621.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new writing instrument attachment. The inventive device includes a case having opposite first and second ends, The first end of the case has a first bore therein and the second end of the case has a second bore therein. The second bore is designed for receiving a writing tip of a writing instrument therein. A receiving member is inserted into the first bore such that a hole provided in the receiving member faces away from the first end of the case. One end of an insert member is inserted in the hole of the receiving member. The other end of the insert member has a generally cylindrical marking compound outwardly extending therefrom. The marking compound is designed for making a mark on a writing surface.
In these respects, the writing instrument attachment 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 attaching to a common writing instrument.


The device exploits the energy of waves (32) of an open water body (30). It comprises at least one fixed float (34), at least one extendable pumping element (10) and one pressure medium (24). The pumping element (10) attached to float (34) has at least one gas- and/or fluid-impermeable hose (12) which expands radially while shortening in the longitudinal direction and which has one inlet and/or outlet opening for at least one hydraulic and/or pneumatic pressure medium (24). On each hose (12) lie flexible longitudinal fibers (14) of high tensile strength, which run preferably parallel when extended. The fibers (14) have an upper force attachment (16) connected to the float (34) and a lower force attachment (18) connected to a fixing (38). The tensile force (Z) is applied in the longitudinal direction of the pumping element (10) and never to a hose.. Ideally the fibers (14) are arranged in guide rings (20) at regular intervals.. The device is used for example as an energy source for an electric power station, water supply, water storage, mixing and aeration of standing water and the desalination of sea water.

The invention relates to a device for the generation of hydrodynamic power by conversion of the energy of waves of an open body of water, with at least one fixed float, at least one extendable pumping element and one pressure medium.
Waves of open bodies of water, in particular sea waves, have a high energy content, are practically inexhaustible, can be used without charge and processed without any ecologically harmful residue. Use of wave energy on an industrial scale is not yet known, mainly because of corrosion problems.
The energy content of waves is transferred by the circular oscillations of the water. These cause a float to lift, leading to a corresponding energy loss of the wave. Obviously a higher wave can give more energy than a low wave.
The power obtained from the wave movement can be converted to energy in the physical equation EQU Work=Energy=Force.times.Distance.
DE,A1 3419565 lists numerous devices and processes which exploit the energy of sea waves. A device is described for the generation of hydraulic or electrical energy from sea waves using a floating body, an energy converter and a connecting element to the sea floor. The length of the connecting element can be changed, controllable by the working limits of the energy convertor and adaptable to the sea depths. The connecting element is also fitted with a device or guided via a device which increases the acting force or the path of the force. This increase is given via a lever ratio or a block and pulley device. It also shows how the float can develop its maximum lifting force in a specific immersion depth.

Device for generation of hydrodynamic power


A stabilizer for an archery bow includes an exterior tube, with end caps at each end, with a central shaft supported within the tube between the end caps, and projecting beyond an end cap for threaded attachment to the bow. Various piston weights and resilient dampening elements are provided and slidably mountable on the shaft within the tube; the number and sequence of weights and/or dampening elements may be selected to customize the stabilizer to a particular bow or the preference of the archer. The assembly of weights and/or dampening elements are held on the shaft between collars, which may be moved along the shaft to adjust the center of gravity of the stabilizer. The collars may be adjusted to apply compression against the assembly to adjust the vibration dampening characteristics.

The present invention relates to archery and more particularly a bow stabilizing device which in preferred embodiment is characterized by a cylindrical housing fitted with a pair of threaded end caps for disassembly and attaching the stabilizer in a threaded receptacle located in the bow handle. Internal piston or pistons move longitudinally at the release of the bow string and ejection of an arrow from the bow to dampen the vibrations and arrow forces. The present invention allows the user to internally adjust the relative center of gravity, with weights and buffers. Other types of bow stabilizers for increasing bow accuracy by reducing such detrimental actions as slapping, vibration, recoil hand torque and shooter fatigue, in nonexclusive particular, are well known in the art. Many of these devices are hydraulic in design, wherein a central piston-like member reciprocates in pool of hydraulic oil or other viscous fluid within a housing to effect the desired dampening of bow string and arrow release vibration and forces acting on the bow when an arrow is released from the bow. A disadvantage of many of these devices is excessive weight, coupled with a variation in effectiveness to use the desired dampening due to variations in temperature, which variation affects the viscosity of the fluid used as a dampening medium. These devices are not known for their silence. The present invention uses an energy absorbing medium that is not effected by temperature changes under normal conditions and also energy absorption upon arrow release from the bow string. Noise reduction is achieved with this device by use of the internal material's capacity to absorb the sound energy produced by the bow upon release of the string. This invention also shall provide the user with a multitude of custom adjustments to tune his bow to his own liking and shooting efficiency, another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved use on single and dual cam bows; due to the adjustability of the stabilizer it can be tuned for radical and soft shooting bows.
The use of bow stabilizers is known as prior art. More specifically, bow stabilizers are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements in the archery field. By way of background U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,078 to Dunlap discloses a bow stabilizer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,793 to Findley discloses yet another bow stabilizer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,719 to Haggard discloses a hydraulic bow stabilizer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,327 to Saunders discloses a resiliently mounted stabilizer. And lastly U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,608 to Masterfield discloses an Archery Bow stabilizer and vibration dampener.
Although there are many examples of prior art this internally adjustable bow stabilizer differs from the conventional designs in that the Center Of Gravity, the Total Mass Weight and the efficiency of the energy buffer can be adjusted together or individually internally by disassembling the stabilizer and rearranging the internal components. Therefore it can be appreciated that there exists continuing need for improving the efficiency of a bow stabilizer, and this invention substantially fulfills this need. With existing stabilizers of this type no internal mass adjustments are capable, what you see is what you get.


This invention is a countersink, counterbore or spotface, external pilot guide 98 which aligns a countersink cutter's edges 170, 171 and 172 into the center of a pre-drilled hole 15. The pilot guide indexes and attaches by lock down screw 165 to the countersink cutter 18 external body hole 160, three pilot legs 100 are recessed into the countersink cutter 18's flute pockets 150 and allows the cutting edges 170, 171 and 172 to extend through the pilot countersink cut-outs 140. Button nose 110 outside diameter comes in a range of sizes dependent on the pre-drilled hole 15 size (example: Pre-drilled hole size 0.375", button nose size 0.372") this allows clearance for friction expansion. All button nose 110 outside diameter's fit the same countersink cutter 18 and all have a hole in the center which allows the flare tube shaft 14 to move freely during the countersinking operation.

The present standard method of countersinking large diameter holes in aircraft manufacturing operations is a highly regulated operation. Very close tolerances are held with countersink fastener hole diameters, surface perpendicularity, surface flushness, and surface angularity to hole. Therefore it is necessary to maintain a proper attitude of a countersink with respect to all of these measurements and tolerances. Repairing a mis-aligned countersink requires a larger size hole, larger countersink and a larger fastener to be installed. This adds time, cost, and weight to the manufactured product. The tolerances for workpiece surface flushness of 100 degree countersink fasteners may be -0.005 to +0.002 inches. Pre-drilled hole angularity must be held within 2 degrees because of aerodynamic flushness considerations.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/788,727 is entitled "Blind Hole Self-Collet Countersink" and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this patent application. For convenience, this patent application Ser. No. 08/788,727 will hereinafter be referred to as the '727 system. L. D. Rissler is the sole inventor of the '727 system. Rissler is also the sole inventor of the invention described in this patent application. The '727 system attaches to a pre-drilled hole and countersinks perpendicular to the front side material or workpiece surface. The '727 system is fully automatic, but it lacks an improved externally indexing countersink pilot guide apparatus, hereinafter "external pilot guide", of this invention and is therefore dependent on a conventional countersink grind configuration to center the countersink cutter. Conventional countersink operations use an internal countersink pilot, which indexes to the center bore of the countersink. The internal countersink pilot allows no means for a hole large enough to accommodate the flare tube 14 '727. The unique external pilot guide of this invention substantially improves the performance of the '727 system and other systems of countersinking, counterboring, or spotfacing.

Externally indexing countersink pilot guide


In a digital video surveillance system, a number of processing stages are employed to identify foreground regions representing moving objects in a video sequence. An object tracking stage 5 is also provided in order to identify a correspondence between candidate objects in a current frame and those that have already been identified in one or more previous frames. In this way, it is possible to calculate the path taken by the or each foreground object and to record this path information in a trajectory database. In order to improve tracking performance, the object tracking stage 5 employs a state transitional object management scheme which determines whether or not a particular object is to be tracked. As part of the object management scheme, spurious objects, which are identified on the basis of their motion characteristics, are deleted from the system. This ensures that valuable processing resources are not wasted tracking unwanted artifacts which may represent, for example, noise or random motion.

1. Field
This invention relates to a method and system for identifying spurious regions in a video frame, particularly a video frame comprising part of a video sequence.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital video processing is used in a wide range of applications. For example, modern video surveillance systems employ digital processing techniques to provide information concerning moving objects in the video. Such a system will typically comprise a video camera connected to a computer system via a direct or network link. The computer system runs software arranged to process and analyse video data supplied from the camera.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the software-level stages of such a surveillance system. In the first stage 1, a background model is learned from an initial segment of video data. The background model typically comprises statistical information representing the relatively static background content. In this respect, it will be appreciated that a background scene will remain relatively stationary compared with objects in the foreground. In a second stage 3, foreground extraction and background adaptation is performed on each incoming video frame. The current frame is compared with the background model to estimate which pixels of the current frame represent foreground regions and which represent background. Small changes in the background model are also updated. In a third stage 5, foreground regions are tracked from frame to frame and a correspondence is established between foreground regions in the current frame and those tracked in previous frames. Meanwhile a trajectory database is updated so that the tracking history of each foreground region is available to higher-level applications 7 which may, for example, perform behavioural analysis on one or more of the tracked objects.
After processing each video frame, a validity check 9 is performed on the background model to determine whether it is still valid. Significant or sudden changes in the captured scene may require initialisation of a new background model by returning to the first stage 1.
A known intelligent video system is disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0053659 A1. A known foreground extraction and tracking method is disclosed by Stauffer and Grimson in "Learning Patterns of Activity using Real-Time Tracking", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Volume 22, No. 8, August 2000.
In the foreground extraction stage 3, it is common for some image regions to be classified as foreground objects when, in fact, this is not the case. For example, if a video scene contains repetitive motion, such as leaves waving back and forth on a tree, the foreground extraction stage 3 may classify the moving region as foreground when, in fact, the leaves form part of the background scene. In addition, the process of capturing, encoding and decoding video data will inevitably introduce noise to the system. It is possible that this noise will be detected as foreground by the inherent operation of the foreground extraction stage 3. Such incorrectly classified image regions are considered, and referred to herein, as spurious regions.
It is desirable to identify such spurious regions in video frames. In this way, it is possible to disregard these regions for the purposes of subsequent processing steps intended to be performed on true regions of interest. For example, it is desirable for the object tracking stage 5 to operate on real foreground regions only. By attempting to track regions representing repetitive motion or noise, the video processing system wastes valuable processing and memory resources on data which is of no interest to a user.

Identifying spurious regions in a video frame

British Telecommunications public limited company


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor optical device includes the steps of growing a stacked layer including lower and upper core layers, a first upper region including a non-doped layer, a second upper region including a p-type layer, and a cap layer; forming an upper mesa by etching the stacked layer; selectively etching the cap layer in the upper mesa on the first and second regions; forming a mask on the upper mesa in the second and third regions; and etching the upper mesa using the mask so as to form first to fourth mesa portions. The first and fourth mesa portions are formed by etching the first and second upper regions, and the second upper region and the cap layer, respectively. The second and third mesa portions are formed by etching the first and second upper regions, and the second upper region and the cap layer, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor optical device and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor optical device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-039262) discloses a semiconductor optical modulator. Patent Literature 2 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,310,995) discloses a spot size converter (SSC).
Patent Literature 1 discloses a structure in which an electrical isolation groove is disposed in a semiconductor optical modulator. The isolation groove is formed by removing a portion of a cladding layer in the semiconductor optical modulator. At an end of the isolation groove, the cladding layer has a tapered portion. In the SSC disclosed in Patent Literature 2, two waveguides are stacked one on top of the other in a vertical direction. These waveguides have a two-stage mesa structure. The upper waveguide has a taper structure.

Semiconductor optical device and method for manufacturing semiconductor optical device


A multi-particulate, modified-release pharmaceutical composition for the oral administration of an active ingredient to the colon, wherein said particles comprise:                (a) a core comprising an active ingredient or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof, and optionally one or more excipients;        (b) a first coating applied to the surface of the core, wherein said first coating is insoluble in gastric juice and in intestinal juice below pH 7, but soluble in colonic intestinal juice; and        (c) a second coating applied to the surface of the first coating.

In the treatment of diseases or ailments of the colon or rectum administration of the pharmacologically active agent to the affected site may be required. Orally administrable pharmaceutical compositions however have frequently been found ineffective in this respect as a result of the absorption of the pharmacologically active agent in the digestive tract before the colon or rectum is reached. Consequently, the delivery of pharmacologically active agents to the colon or rectum has conventionally been achieved by rectal administration, by the use of either suppositories, aerosols, or enemas. However, rectal administration generally is less convenient and less acceptable to a patient than oral administration. Further, said rectal administration is not suitable for treating the right side of the colon. In particular, suppositories are only effective for the rectum and enemas rarely reach beyond the left side of the colon.
Several "delayed-release" forms of orally administrable pharmaceuticals have been proposed. UK Patent No. 1219026 describes to a method to embed individual particles of a pharmacologically active agent in a slowly-disintegrating or slowly-dissolving resin having a particular dissolution profile to provide an orally administrable pharmaceutical composition for selectively administering the agent to the large intestine. The resin is selected such that the agent remains substantially protected by the resin while the particles travel through the stomach and small intestines of a patient and that the agent is substantially completely exposed at the time the particles reach the large intestine.
UK Patent No. 2021409 describes sustained or controlled release compositions containing 5-aminosalicylic acid in the form of particles or granules which are coated with a slowly soluble or digestible or semi-permeable layer of material, such as beeswax, carnauba wax, stearic or palmitic acids or cetyl alcohol. Reference also is made to coating tablets of the coated or uncoated 5-aminosalicylic acid with a continuous film of a material, such as shellac or cellulose acetate phthalate, which is resistant and impermeable to gastric secretions but susceptible to intestinal secretions.
International Patent Application WO 81/02671 describes sustained-release tablets prepared from granules containing 5-aminosalicylic acid which are coated with a cellulose derivative, such as ethyl cellulose.
European Patent Application No. 40590A describes a method for coating a core of 5-aminosalicylic acid with a coating material comprising at least: (a) 10-85% by weight of an anionic carboxylic polymer soluble only above pH 5.5; and (b) 15-90% by weight of a water-soluble, quaternary ammonium substituted acrylic polymer. It is stated that the coating normally will be 3-60 microns, preferably 10-30 microns thick and that partly methyl esterified methacrylic acid polymers are suitable anionic carboxylic polymers for use as component (a). In the Examples, Eudragit® L and a mixture of Eudragit® L and Eudragit® S constitute the component (a) and in all cases the coatings dissolved at below pH 7.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,170 describes an orally administrable pharmaceutical composition for selectively administering 5-aminosalicylic acid, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof, to the large intestine, comprising a solid oral dosage form containing a pharmaceutically effective amount for the treatment of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease of the colon of said 5-aminosalicylic acid, salt or ester, said solid oral dosage form being coated with a layer which is insoluble in gastric juice and in intestinal juice below pH 7, but soluble in colonic intestinal juice, whereby the dosage form releases the 5-aminosalicylic acid, salt or ester to the right side of the colon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,171 describes a non-sustained release orally administrable pharmaceutical composition for selectively administering 5-aminosalicylic acid or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof to the large intestine, the composition comprising a solid oral dosage form containing a pharmaceutically effective amount for the treatment of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease of said 5-aminosalicylic acid, ester or salt and said oral dosage form is coated with a 60-150 micron thick layer of an anionic co-polymer of methacrylic acid and methacrylic acid methyl ester in which the ratio of free carboxyl groups to ester groups is about 1:2 and which is insoluble in gastric juice and in intestinal juice below pH 7, but soluble in colonic intestinal juice, whereby the oral dosage form remains intact until it reaches the colon and releases 5-aminosalicylic acid to the right side of the colon.


A phase error correction circuit includes a complex phase rotator for multiplying an input VSB (vestigial-sideband) signal by a phase correction signal and outputting a resultant signal, a specific frequency component elimination filter for eliminating a specific frequency component from the signal output from the complex phase rotator and outputting a resultant signal, a waveform equalizer for performing waveform distortion correction to the signal output from the specific frequency component elimination filter and outputting a resultant signal and a phase correction signal generator for detecting a phase error based on the signal output from the waveform equalizer and outputting a complex signal corresponding to the detected phase error as the phase correction signal.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a known phase error correction circuit (for example, see Patent Reference 1). The circuit of FIG. 4 includes a waveform equalizer 82, a complex phase rotator 84 and a specific frequency component elimination filter 86.
The waveform equalizer 82 corrects a waveform distortion of a VSB signal VS which is a baseband signal and has been analog-digital converted, and outputs the VSB signal to the complex phase rotator 84. The complex phase rotator 84 multiplies, in terms of a complex signal representation, an output of the waveform equalizer 82 by a complex conjugate signal CP1 of a detected phase error. Thus, the output signal of the waveform equalizer 82 is reversely rotated by an amount corresponding to the phase error, thereby reconstructing an original VSB baseband signal. The specific frequency component elimination filter 86 eliminates a specific frequency component included in a NTSC (national television system committee) signal and the like from the signal which has been phase corrected and output from the complex phase rotator 84, and outputs a resultant signal.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another exemplary configuration of a known phase error correction circuit. The circuit of FIG. 5 includes, in addition to components described in FIG. 4, a Hilbert transformer 92, a phase error detector 94, a low pass filter 96 and a complex signal generator 98.
The specific frequency component elimination filter 86 eliminates a specific frequency component from the VSB signal VS and outputs a resultant signal. The waveform equalizer 82 corrects a waveform distortion of the VSB signal from which the specific frequency component has been eliminated and a resultant real signal to the Hilbert transformer 92. The Hilbert transformer 92 generates a complex signal from an output of the waveform equalizer 82 and outputs a resultant signal to the complex phase rotator 84.
The complex phase rotator 84 multiplies, in terms of complex signal presentation, an output of the Hilbert transformer 92 by a complex conjugate signal CP2 of a detected phase error and outputs a complex signal RP2 from which a phase error has been eliminated. The phase error detector 94 detects a phase error of the complex signal RP2. The detected phase error is smoothed by the low pass filter 96 and then, based on a resultant smoothed signal, the complex signal generator 98 generates the complex conjugate signal CP2.
(Patent Reference 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-242394


A snap relieving device includes a first movable part, a second movable part, an inclining guiding groove, a guiding piece, and a snap. The first movable part moves along a first direction. The second movable part moves along a second direction, wherein the first direction is substantially orthogonal to the second direction. The inclining guiding groove is disposed on the first movable part. The guiding piece is coupled with the inclining guiding groove and disposed on the second movable part. The snap is connected to the first movable part or the second movable part.

1. Field of Invention
The invention is related to a snap device, more particularly, to a snap relieving device.
2. Description of Related Art
A snap structure is widely meant to fix two parts. For example, the process of manufacturing electronic apparatus usually includes combining sheet parts. The sheet parts are combined with each other by means of the snap positioned on them.
However, when a user wants to disassemble the aforesaid parts, the snap usually suffers from being fractured due to inappropriate direction and magnitude of force.
Therefore, to reduce the possibility of fracturing the snap, it is desired to design a snap relieving device, such that the snap may be dislocated from the fixed parts and prevent the snap from fracturing.

Snap relieving device and electronic apparatus with the snap relieving device


A pass gate circuit includes a pass transistor and a body bias control circuit for biasing the body of the pass transistor to reduce body effect. The body bias control circuit includes one or more control transistors arranged to selectively connect the substrate (body) of the pass transistor to the drain or gate of the pass transistor when predetermined voltages are applied to the drain and gate of the pass transistor. As a result, the pass transistor exhibits a reduced body effect in the on-state. In one embodiment, the body bias control circuit includes a first control transistor having a drain and gate connected to the gate of the pass transistor, a gate connected to the drain of the pass transistor, and a source. The body bias control circuit also includes a second control transistor having a drain connected to the source of the first control transistor, a source connected to a body of the pass transistor, and a gate connected to the drain of the pass transistor. The bodies of the pass transistor, first control transistor and second control transistor are electrically interconnected. With this arrangement, the body of the pass transistor is biased "high" by the gate of the pass transistor only when both the gate and drain of the pass transistor are at a high voltage level.

Pass transistors are extensively used in programmable integrated circuit (IC) devices to selectively control signal transmission between two nodes. One type of programmable IC device utilizing pass gate transistors in this manner is field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) manufactured by Xilinx, Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified diagram of a conventional NMOS pass transistor 100 typically utilized in an FPGA manufactured by Xilinx, Inc. Pass transistor 100 includes a drain D connected to the output terminal of a first inverter 110, a source S connected to the input of a second inverter 120, a gate G connected to an SRAM cell 130, and a body B which is grounded. First and second inverters 110 and 120 serve as buffers for transmitting reliable signals along the path through pass transistor 100. SRAM cell 130 is depicted in a simplified form as a pair of inverters 132 and 134 connected in a loop. The programmed state of SRAM cell 130 determines the conductive state of pass transistor 100.
In operation, if a user's circuit requires the transmission of signals along the path through pass transistor 100, then SRAM cell 130 is programmed to apply a high signal to gate G, thereby turning on pass transistor 100. Subsequent signals transmitted from first inverter 110 are passed through pass transistor 100 to second inverter 120 and to subsequent circuitry on the FPGA.
A problem associated with pass transistor 100 is that the source-body bias often causes the "body effect" to increase the threshold voltage and thereby reduce the switching speed and transmission speed of pass transistor 100. This problem is described with reference to FIG. 1B, which compares drain-to-source current I.sub.DS versus gate-to-source voltage V.sub.GS. As indicated in the solid line on FIG. 1B, when the body-to-source voltage V.sub.BS equals zero, the threshold voltage V.sub.T1, of pass transistor 100 is relatively low (e.g., 0.5 volts), and the source voltage V.sub.S applied to the input of inverter 120 is the drain voltage V.sub.D minus V.sub.T1. However, when a (logic) high voltage is transmitted across pass transistor 100, source S achieves a higher voltage level than body B (which is grounded), thereby producing a negative V.sub.BS (e.g., -1 volts). When this occurs, the resulting "body effect" causes the threshold voltage to shift to the right, as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 1B, resulting in a relatively high threshold voltage V.sub.T2. The higher V.sub.T2 causes pass transistor 100 to turn on at a slower rate because more time is required for gate G to reach V.sub.T2 (as compared to the time necessary to reach V.sub.T1) . In addition, the higher V.sub.T2 causes a higher V.sub.DS and a lower V.sub.S. This becomes particularly important at low operating voltage levels because V.sub.T is essentially fixed.
The above-described "body effect" can be reduced using various methods such as lowering substrate doping, or lowering the source-body bias by connecting the substrate (body) to a voltage source (such as V.sub.G). However, lowering the substrate doping leads to higher off-state leakage currents and more severe short channel effects. Further, lowering the substrate doping typically requires fundamental changes to the device technology utilized to produce the IC device incorporating the pass transistors. Further, lowering the source-body bias requires a positive substrate voltage which may forward bias several PN junctions and cause high leakage and latch-up.

Pass gate circuit with body bias control


An apparatus for the recording and dispensing of medication has an electronic device having a screen and a base electronic unit with a space designed to allow insertion of a cassette housing medication to be dispensed. A first input device is coupled to the electronic device to send data to the electronic device to verify a particular user of the electronic device. A dispensing device is coupled to the electronic device for dispensing medication to the particular user once the electronic device has verified the particular user.

Securing access to, and thereby ensuring accuracy in the dispensing, monitoring and tracking of prescription medications, addresses a significant medical and health cost concern, as does assuring the timely recording and communicating the administering of medication to the patient. According to the World Health Organization, each year the improper dispensing of prescribed medications results in harm to approximately 1.5 million people. This has led to significant medical costs in treating such patients. For example, in the year 2000 alone, such errors resulted in nearly $1 billion in added medical costs. Also, in the HHS and CMS Report of 2006, it was stated that over $170 billion was paid out by insurance carriers for unnecessary and/or wasted prescription medications in the United States.
It has been found that many patients do not comply with proper usage of prescription medications for a variety of reasons. In some instances, it may be a consequence of a patient knowingly taking medication for which that patient does not have a prescription, and which, for example, may instead have been prescribed to another patient. In other instances, a patient may inadvertently take too much or too little medication, as a consequence of not clearly understanding the dosing instructions or because of forgetfulness or confusion. Improper usage of prescribed medications can also occur as a consequence of a patient not realizing a risk of a harmful interaction with another medication being taken at the same time by the patient, or by a patient continuing to take a medication without realizing that he or she is experiencing a harmful side effect.

Apparatus, system, and method for accurate dispensing of prescription medications


A nozzle plate of a fluid ejection head for a fluid ejection device, a fluid ejection head containing the nozzle plate, and a method for making the fluid ejection head containing the nozzle plate. The nozzle plate contains two or more arrays of nozzle holes therein and a barrier structure disposed on an exposed surface of the nozzle plate between adjacent arrays of nozzle holes, wherein the barrier structure deters cross-contamination of fluids between the adjacent arrays of nozzle holes.

In the medical field, in particular, there is a need for automated sample preparation for analysis. The analysis may be colorimetric analysis or require the staining of samples to better observe the samples under a microscope. Such analysis may include drug sample analysis, blood sample analysis and the like. In the analysis of blood, for example, blood is analyzed to provide a number of different factors that are used to determine the health of an individual. When there are a large number of patients that require blood sample analysis, the procedures for preparing the samples for analysis may be extremely time consuming. Also, there is a need for accurate preparation of the samples so that the results can be relied on. There are many other situations that require sample preparation in the medical field and in other fields that can benefit from the use of analytical instruments that provide accurate and reproduceable results, such as micro-titration of multiple samples.
Well plates, slides and other substrates are used for many experiments and laboratory procedures. The process of filling the wells or spotting is often performed manually or using expensive lab equipment. A relatively inexpensive fluid ejection device has been developed for rapidly and accurately filling wells in a micro-well plate and for preparing slides. The device includes an ejection head that may contain one or more fluids to be dispensed into wells of a micro-well plate or to slides to perform analysis of the samples. One problem associated with the use of a fluid ejection head that dispenses multiple fluids is the likelihood of cross-contamination of fluids on the surface of the ejection head resulting in the ejection of contaminated fluid into the wells of the micro-well plate or onto the slide. Cross-contamination of fluids may cause specific tests to be invalidated or provide false positives and/or negatives. Accordingly, what is needed is a fluid ejection head for a fluid ejection device that reduces or eliminates cross-contamination of fluids ejected from the fluid ejection head.
In view of the foregoing, an embodiment of the disclosure provides a nozzle plate of a fluid ejection head for a fluid ejection device. The nozzle plate contains two or more arrays of nozzle holes therein and a barrier structure disposed on an exposed surface of the nozzle plate between adjacent arrays of nozzle holes, wherein the barrier structure deters cross-contamination of fluids between the adjacent arrays of nozzle holes.
Another embodiment of the disclosure provides a method for making an improved fluid ejection head for fluid ejection device. The method includes applying a first negative photoresist layer to a device surface of a semiconductor substrate, wherein the first negative photoresist layer is derived from a composition comprising a multi-functional epoxy compound, a first di-functional epoxy compound, a photoacid generator devoid of aryl sulfonium salts, an adhesion enhancer, and an aryl ketone solvent. A plurality of flow features are imaged in the first photoresist layer and the imaged photoresist layer is developed to provide the plurality of flow features therein and a substantially planar thick film layer surface. A second negative photoresist layer is applied to the thick film layer surface. The second negative photoresist layer has a thickness ranging from about 10 to about 30 microns and is derived from a second photoresist formulation that includes a second di-functional epoxy compound, a relatively high molecular weight polyhydroxy ether, the photoacid generator devoid of aryl sulfonium salts, the adhesion enhancer, and an aliphatic ketone solvent. A plurality of nozzle holes are imaged in the second photoresist layer to provide at least two arrays of nozzle holes in the second negative photoresist layer. The imaged second photoresist layer is developed to provide a photoresist nozzle plate on the thick film layer. A third negative photoresist layer is applied to an exposed surface of the nozzle plate. The third negative photoresist layer is imaged and developed to provide a barrier structure between adjacent arrays of nozzle holes, whereby cross-contamination of fluids between the adjacent arrays of nozzle holes is deterred.
Another embodiment of the disclosure provides a fluid ejection head for a fluid ejection device. The fluid ejection head includes a nozzle plate having two or more arrays of nozzle holes therein and a barrier structure disposed on an exposed surface of the nozzle plate between adjacent arrays of nozzle holes. The barrier structure deters cross-contamination of fluids between the adjacent arrays of nozzle holes.
In some embodiments, the nozzle plate is made of a photoimageable layer.
In some embodiments, each barrier structure is a single wall imaged in a photoimageable layer laminated to the nozzle plate.
In some embodiments, each barrier structure is made of a plurality of walls imaged in a photoimageable layer laminated to the nozzle plate.
In some embodiments, the barrier structure has a height orthogonal to the nozzle plate ranging from about 25 to about 100 microns.
In some embodiments, the barrier structure is a dry film photoresist layer laminated to the exposed surface of the nozzle plate. In some embodiments, the dry film photoresist layer is a negative photoimageable material layer.
In some embodiments, the exposed surface of the nozzle plate is treated with an oxygen plasma surface treatment and/or alkoxysilane compound prior to laminating a negative photoresist layer to the exposed surface of the nozzle plate, to improve adhesion between the nozzle plate and the negative photoresist layer laminated to the nozzle plate.

Photoimageable nozzle member for reduced fluid cross-contamination and method therefor


The invention provides a method for producing a corrosion-resistant article, where the article is conductive and subject to hydrogen uptake during electroplating of a coating. The method comprises electroplating a zinc/nickel coating on the article in an aqueous, basic plating solution containing zinc and nickel ions. The method uses an electrolyte in the form of a soluble hydroxide salt with the weight ratio of zinc ions to nickel ions in the solution being sufficient to provide the coating comprising from about 85% to about 95% by weight zinc, and about 5% to about 15% by weight nickel. The plating solution is substantially free of brightening agents which retard hydrogen bake-out.

High strength steels are employed on commercial aircraft components such as landing gears, flap tracks and other high load items. Conventionally, special purpose coatings such as chrome deposits for wear or cadmium deposits for corrosion protection are deposited electrolytically from aqueous electroplating baths. Electroplating tends to liberate hydrogen from the cathode, which can lead to hydrogen embrittlement unless removed through controlled baking after plating.
High-strength low alloy steels are sensitive to delayed, brittle failures at certain low stresses. Such failures have been attributed to the presence of hydrogen in the steel microstructure. The hydrogen can be introduced into the microstructure by reaction with water or aqueous solution, or, by electrochemically discharging hydrogen at the surface of the steel. Since high-strength steels have corrosion-resistant coatings that are applied by electroplating techniques, hydrogen is discharged onto the steel surface along with the corrosion-resistant coating. Therefore, the quantity of hydrogen deposited at the coating steel interface must be carefully monitored and controlled.
In order to bake out hydrogen from these steels, a plate deposit of specific structure and morphology is required in order to allow the hydrogen to pass through the plating. For this purpose the aircraft industry and others have used low embrittlement processes such as BAC5709, "Hard Chromium Plating" and BAC5804, "Low Hydrogen Embrittlement Cadmium-Titanium Alloy Plating".
Cadmium-titanium electroplating of high strength low alloy steels provides suitable resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. A Cd—Ti alloy is electroplated onto high-strength steels under carefully controlled conditions. The resulting plated product is then heat treated at elevated temperatures to achieve an acceptable low hydrogen embrittlement level. It is believed that the porosity of the electroplated cadmium-titanium alloy is the key to the removal of the hydrogen during a subsequent heat treatment operation. It must be noted that the cadmium-titanium plating bath is sensitive to contamination, so care must be taken to achieve acceptable embrittlement characteristics. And toxic components in the bath lead to health and environmental problems. For example, the cadmium-titanium alloy plating bath contains cadmium and cyanide, which create disposal problems unless expensive waste treatment equipment is employed.
Zinc/nickel alloys have been suggested for electroplating onto steels to render them corrosion-resistant. Such zinc/nickel baths are free of cadmium and cyanide free and contain relatively non-toxic components. Some have provided acceptable corrosion protection, but most have disadvantages such as difficulty in controlling the process, and unacceptably short bath life.
There continues to be a need for an improved coated product having corrosion resistance, low hydrogen embrittlement and which is non-toxic, especially as it relates to high strength low alloy steels for the aerospace industry.

Low hydrogen embrittlement zinc/nickel plating for high strength steels