The invention is a formed article including a gas barrier layer, the gas barrier layer including a surface layer part that is formed of a material that includes at least a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, and a silicon atom, the surface layer part having a carbon atom content rate of more than 0 and not more than 70%, an oxygen atom content rate of 10 to 70%, a nitrogen atom content rate of 0 to 35%, and a silicon atom content rate of 20 to 55%, based on a total content rate of carbon atoms, oxygen atoms, nitrogen atoms, and silicon atoms; a method for producing the formed article; an electronic device member including the formed article; and an electronic device comprising the electronic device member. The formed article of the invention exhibits an excellent gas barrier capability, excellent transparency, and excellent bending resistance. The method for producing a formed article of the invention can efficiently, safely, and conveniently produce the formed article of the invention. The electronic device member of the invention may suitably be used for electronic devices such as displays and solar cells.

A polymer formed article (e.g., plastic film) that is inexpensive and exhibits excellent workability has been provided with a desired function, and used in various fields.
For example, a gas barrier plastic film that does not allow water vapor and oxygen to pass through has been used as a food/drug packaging film in order to suppress oxidation and denaturation of proteins, oils, fats, and the like to keep taste and freshness.
In recent years, use of a transparent plastic film as an electrode substrate instead of a glass plate has been studied for displays (e.g., liquid crystal display and electroluminescence (EL) display) in order to implement a reduction in thickness, a reduction in weight, an improvement in flexibility, and the like. However, since a plastic film tends to allow water vapor, oxygen, and the like to pass through as compared with a glass plate, a deterioration in elements provided in a display may easily occur.
In order to solve the above problem, Patent Document 1 proposes a flexible display substrate in which a transparent gas barrier layer formed of a metal oxide is stacked on a transparent plastic film.
However, since the transparent gas barrier layer formed of a metal oxide is stacked on the surface of the transparent plastic film by deposition, ion plating, sputtering, or the like, cracks may occur in the gas barrier layer when the substrate is rolled up or bent, so that the gas barrier capability may deteriorate.
Patent Document 2 discloses a gas barrier laminate that includes a plastic film, and a resin layer that contains a polyorganosilsesquioxane as the main component and is stacked on at least one side of the plastic film.
However, since it is necessary to further stack an inorganic compound layer in order to obtain a gas (e.g., oxygen and water vapor) barrier capability, the process becomes complex, the production cost increases, or toxic gas may be used during the production process.
Patent Document 3 discloses a method that forms a polysilazane film on at least one side of a film, and subjects the polysilazane film to a plasma treatment to produce a gas barrier film.
When using the method disclosed in Patent Document 3, however, a sufficient gas barrier capability cannot be obtained unless the thickness of the gas barrier layer is reduced to a micrometer level. For example, Patent Document 3 states that a water vapor transmission rate of 0.50 g/m2/day is obtained when the gas barrier layer has a thickness of 0.1 μm.
Patent Document 4 discloses a film obtained by mixing an acrylic resin into a polysilazane film. However, the film disclosed in Patent Document 4 does not exhibit a sufficient gas barrier capability.

Molding, production method therefor, part for electronic devices and electronic device


A touch-input device and an electronic device and a cell phone are described and include a touch acquisition module with an input area to execute touch acquisition operations. The input area includes a first area and a second area. A pointing object location module is used to determine the start location of the touch operation according to the data acquired by the touch acquisition module. A process module is used to calculate a first result indicating the coordinate of the pointing object according to the data acquired by the touch acquisition module when the start location of the touch operation is in the first area, and to calculate a second result indicating the movement of the pointing object according to the data acquired by the touch acquisition module when the start location of the touch operation is in the second area.

The touching technique has been applied to various electronic devices widely, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a notebook computer, etc.
More and more electronic devices (for example, the mobile phone) may have realized a completely touch input now, that is, all of the operation instruction (such as RETURN (or BACK), EXIT, MENU) are implemented by a touch input device.
In the prior art, in order to perform operations by a touch screen, not only a locating process is needed, but also actions of a pointing object have to be determined. For example, sliding upwards on the input surface of the touch input device by the pointing object may represent enlarging the current image, while sliding leftwards on the input surface of the touch input device by the pointing object may represent that the user needs to see the next picture. There is more than one similar example, so their details are omitted.
Since both gestures of the user and coordinates of the pointing object have to be determined at the same time, resource is wasted and even mis-operations may occur. Such examples are as follows.
When the user wants to click an icon in an operation interface, only a location operation is needed, however, a CPU would perform calculations continually on the operation actions before the pointing object slides to a target location on the touch screen because the CPU does not know whether the user wants to click one icon or perform other operations. Obviously, calculations at this time is unnecessary because what the use wants to do is just to click the icon and results in a waste of the calculation resource and the power resource.
Additionally, the electronic devices having a touch screen in the art generally are disposed with physical keys in other regions outside of the display screen of the electronic device so as to complete operations of corresponding shortcut-keys, if they desire to realize certain shortcut-key functions (such as a function of main interface key (generally referred as a home key). For example, referring to FIG. 1, a mobile phone having a touch screen is disposed with several physical function keys in a shortcut-key operation area B below a display screen A, and the key or the identified area of the key must be clicked to trigger corresponding operation instruction if one wants to implement the operation instruction of the corresponding function key. In addition to the case in FIG. 1, there are many other cases to implement the corresponding shortcut-key function, such as disposing the shortcut-keys on one side of the mobile phone, and so on.
The physical keys must be disposed in order to implement the shortcut-key functions in the prior art, and in turn the click area is limited when implementing the operation of the corresponding function, which causes the way of operation to be inflexible and brings inconvenience to users.

Electronic device and method, cell phone, program to achieve preset operation command thereof


A corrosion resistant member has a portion to be exposed to a corrosive gas. The portion to be exposed to the corrosive gas is formed of a ceramic sintered body. The mean width (Rsm) of profile elements of a surface of the ceramic sintered body is 25 μm or less, and the ratio (Rsm/Ra) of the mean width (Rsm) of the profile elements to the arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of the surface of the ceramic sintered body is 4,000 or less.

In conventional semiconductor manufacturing devices, when a thin film is formed on a surface of a substrate through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or is subjected to fine patterning by etching, a plasma gas is introduced into a reaction vessel housing the substrate. A gas nozzle etc., which are members for introducing the plasma gas, are required to have high corrosion resistance to a halogen gas such as a fluoride gas, in a plasma state.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. H10-236871 discloses a technique for reducing corrosion of a surface to be exposed to a halogen-based corrosive gas. Specifically, the surface is formed of sintered yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) having a porosity of 3% or less, and the center line average roughness (Ra) of the surface is adjusted to 1 μm or less.
PCT International Publication No. WO2013/065666 discloses a technique for improving the corrosion resistance of a gas nozzle. Specifically, the gas nozzle is formed of, for example, sintered yttria or sintered spinel, and the mean width (Rsm) of profile elements of one end face on which gas discharge holes are formed is tuned to be equal to or more than five times the average crystal grain size of the sintered body.
However, even when the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-236871 or PCT International Publication No. WO2013/065666 is employed, the corrosion resistance is unsatisfactory, and the service life of a relevant corrosion resistant member is short. In particular, a local increase in surface roughness causes a reduction in service life.
The present disclosure has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a corrosion resistant member having an extended service life.


Provided is a micro-mechanical structure and method for manufacturing the same, including a hydrophilic surface on at least a part of a surface of the micro-mechanical structure, so as to prevent generation of an adhesion phenomenon in the process of removing a sacrificial layer to release the micro-mechanical, wherein the sacrificial layer comes into contact with the surface of the micro-mechanical structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a micro-mechanical structure and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a micro-mechanical structure, of which at least a part is configured of a hydrophilic surface in contact with a sacrificial layer to be removed, in order to prevent the micro-mechanical structure from being stuck in the step of removing the sacrificial layer to release the micro-mechanical structure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Conventionally, micro-mechanical elements are produced by forming a micro-mechanical structure through a surface micro-machining process, that is, through repetitive vapor-deposition and selective etching processes of a structural layer and a sacrificial layer, and then removing only the sacrificial layer to form an air-gap, thus releasing the micro-mechanical structure.
The micro-mechanical structure is vulnerable to an interfacial force and the resulting adhesion, because of a relatively wide surface area in comparison with its volume, and a relatively narrow gap from the neighboring surface. Thus, there occurs a problematic adhesion phenomenon in the process of removing the sacrificial layer to release the micro-mechanical structure. For this reason, preventing such an adhesion phenomenon is very important for improvement of characteristics and yield of the element [References: Tas et al., "Stiction in surface micro-machining," J. Micromech. Microeng., vol. 6, pp. 385-397, 1996; and Maboudian et al., "Critical Review: Adhesion in surface micro-mechanical structures," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, vol, 15, no. 1, pp. 1-20, January/February. 1997]. Especially, water produced in the process of etching the sacrificial layer to release the micro-mechanical structure is known to cause the adhesion phenomenon of the micro-mechanical structure. This problem will be described below in detail, taking the most general case of using silicon oxide for the sacrificial layer and etching the sacrificial layer with hydrogen fluoride (HF) by way of an example.
In the case of etching the silicon oxide sacrificial layer through a chemical etching process employing HF, the process can be subdivided into a liquid-phase etching process and a vapor-phase etching process according to the state of HF. The vapor-phase etching process, which is developed posterior to the liquid-phase etching process, has much larger industrial utility because of the advantages of: 1) less occurrence of the adhesion phenomenon; 2) high productivity caused by omission of de-ionized water rinsing and drying processes followed in the liquid-phase etching process; and 3) low cost due to use of small amount of a high purity of HF which is expensive and causes environmental pollution.
In the vapor-phase etching process employing HF, a mixture of a HF gas as a reacting gas, and a water vapor or alcoholic gas serving as a catalyst for chemical reaction is generally used [References: U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,580 B1, filed on December 1999, Cole et al.; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0058422 A1, filed on December 2000, Jang et al.]. Methyl alcohol having an evaporation point (64.5° C.), lower than that (100° C.) of water vapor is more used than the water vapor, because the former is effective to prevent the adhesion phenomenon.
On the other hand, the reaction of the silicon oxide sacrificial layer and the HF gas results in silicon fluoride (SiF4) and water (H2O), as in Formula 1. In this case, silicon fluoride having a low evaporation point (−94.9° C.), is discharged in a gas state, while, in the case of water having a high evaporation point (100° C.), some x is discharged in a vapor state, and the remnant 2−x is condensed and left behind in a liquid state [Reference: Helms et al., "Mechanisms of the HF/H2O vapor phase etching of SiO2."].SiO2(s)+4HF(g)→xH2O(g)+(2−x)H2O(L)  Formula 1.
FIGS. 1 to 3 are conceptual views for explaining a micro-mechanical structure where an adhesion phenomenon occurs in the conventional process of removing the silicon oxide sacrificial layer through the HF vapor-phase etching process.
A sample is prepared by forming, on a substrate 11, a silicon oxide sacrificial layer 22 and micro-mechanical structures 31a and 31b taking a cantilever shape. A HF vapor-phase etching process is performed to the sample, so that an air-gap g is formed by removal of the silicon oxide sacrificial layer 22. At this point, water in a liquid state is formed in a shape of islands 24 at a contact angle of θc<90° on surfaces of the substrate 11 and the micro-mechanical structures 31a and 31b, both of which are formed of a hydrophilic material. Some of the water islands 24 get in contact with each other, thereby building up a water bridge 25 connecting the substrate 11 and the micro-mechanical structures 31a and 31b. In this situation, the water bridge causes a capillary force F, as expressed in Equation 1, to be exerted between the substrate and the micro-mechanical structure.
                    F        =                              2                        A                                                                                γ              la                                    cos                                                                                θ              c                                g                                    Equation                                                  1
wherein, g is the height of the water bridge, namely, the thickness of air-gap, γ1a is the surface tension of water in the air, and θc is the contact angle of water on a solid surface.
In this case, the capillary force has a positive value, that is, serves as an attractive force, because θc is less than 90°. If the capillary attraction becomes larger than the co-efficient of elasticity which is required to deform the micro-mechanical structure, the micro-mechanical structures 31a and 31b are bent to the substrate, thereby sticking temporarily to it. Then, even when all the liquefied water is evaporated, no air-gap g remains between the substrate 11 and the micro mechanical structures 31a and 31b. Accordingly, both of them are permanently stuck by a van der Waals force acting between them.
As described above, the liquefied water, which remains on the substrate and the micro-mechanical structure, causes a problem that the micro-mechanical structure sticks to a base structure such as the substrate [References: Offenberg et al., "Vapor HF etching for sacrificial oxide removal in surface micromachining, Electrochemical Soc. Fall Meet., vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 1056-1057, October 1994; Lee et al., "Dry release for surface micromachining with HF vapor-phase etching," J. MEMS, vol. 6, no 3, September 1997]. To prevent the liquefied water from being generated, the temperature of the substrate should be increased, while the pressure of reaction should be decreased. However, this remarkably reduces an etching speed of silicon oxide, which results in great reduction in productivity.

Micro-mechanical structure and method for manufacturing the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The present disclosure describes various systems and methods for measuring environmental parameters. In one embodiment, such as system comprises a pole that is equipped with various instruments (sensors) at various heights along the length of the pole. With such an instrumented pole, a local vertical profile of parameters that relate to wind conditions and air quality can be obtained. These parameters can include one or more of wind speed and direction, air turbulence, air temperature and humidity, concentrations of pollutant gases within the air, and concentrations of pollutant particles within the air. In some embodiments, the system can further measure other parameters that are relevant to the migration of the air and, therefore, the pollutants it contains.

It is important to measure and track local values of air quality and wind conditions as pollutants within the air can cause allergies, diseases, and even death to humans. In addition, airborne pollutants can cause harm to other living organisms, including animals, plants, and food crops.
Currently, air quality and wind conditions are typically monitored using meteorological towers. While such towers are effective in collecting certain desired parameters, they are extremely expensive and stationary. Because they are stationary, they can only provide information about the local wind conditions and air quality in the vicinity of the tower. Simple, handheld devices are also available, which are much less expensive and portable. While such devices provide greater convenience, they are often inaccurate and, therefore, of relatively little benefit.
Needed are systems and methods that can be used to measure environmental parameters relevant to air quality and local wind conditions that are inexpensive, accurate, mobile, and that can be accessed remotely. If such systems and methods existed, the relevant environmental parameters could be acquired at multiple locations around a given area, such as a city or other population center, so as to provide a highly accurate indication as to important information that affects humans, animals, and the environment.

Systems and methods for measuring environmental parameters

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A moving conveying device is provided which extends in a planar manner, such as a conveyor belt or a mat top conveyor, for conveying piece goods or bulk goods and which lies in a conveying apparatus. A rolling element including a plurality of rollers is arranged between the conveying device and a support element. The conveying device moves relative to the rolling element, wherein the rollers roll on the conveying means and on the support element, and the rollers are interconnected at a distance from each other by way of a flexible connecting element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of conveying technology. It relates to a conveying apparatus and to a supporting device for a conveying apparatus according to the preamble of the corresponding independent patent claims.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known for conveying material to be conveyed as individual entities, e.g. goods, people or animals, or as bulk material in conveying apparatuses with planar conveying means. Such conveying means either are conveying belts or have interlinked, typically rigid elements which can be displaced in relation to one another in order to be able to negotiate curves. The elements form an essentially flat surface, on which the conveying material is conveyed. These interlinked conveying means are known, for example, as mat-top chains, flat-top chains, plate-top chains (flexbelts, chain belts, carrier chains). They are referred to jointly hereinbelow as mat-top chains (flexbelts).
Depending on the type of conveying means, the ways of mounting same differ: mat-top chains are supported, for example, two-dimensionally and slide on sliding rails or sliding surfaces. Depending on the loading by the conveying material, this results in high frictional forces and corresponding motive forces for moving the mat-top chain, and also in wear. Other embodiments of mat-top chains have, as part of the mat-top chain itself, rollers which run along therewith and roll on a surface. Conveying belts, in contrast, usually roll on fixed rollers, i.e. ones which are mounted such that they can be rotated at a fixed location. The rotatable mounting of the rollers results in wear and limits the loading capability of a conveying apparatus.
FR 2 309 433, furthermore, describes a conveying apparatus for conveying individual entities. The conveying apparatus contains a chain conveyor made of movable chain links, which is driven and on which items are transported. The chain conveyor is supported by a supporting device. The supporting device comprises circulating rollers, which are connected to one another via chains arranged laterally on the rollers. The rollers are retained on the lateral chains such that they can be rotated via axial shafts.
DE 26 124 68 describes a conveying apparatus with a transporting belt which is supported by a grating arrangement. The grating arrangement comprises two parallel roller chains, which together carry cylindrical transverse bars. The roller chains contain rollers which are mounted such that they can be rotated via slide bearings and over which the grating arrangement rolls.
EP 0 978 465, in turn, describes a device for moving components linearly. The transporting device contains a transporting belt, which is fixed in a frictional manner between carriages and rolling bars. The rolling bars are mounted on rolling bodies.
All the known devices have the disadvantage that they have a complicated construction and comprise a large number of individual parts. They are therefore expensive to produce and to maintain. Many devices, in addition, have mechanical bearings with shafts, rolling-contact bearings, etc., which render the device susceptible to disruption and wear.


A method for manufacturing magnetic metal powder is provided. In the method, a powdered magnetic metal oxide is supplied to a heat treatment furnace with a carrier gas composed of a reducing gas. The heat treatment furnace is maintained at temperatures above a reducing action starting temperature for the powdered magnetic metal oxide and above a melting point of the magnetic metal in the powder. The powdered magnetic metal oxide is subject to a reducing process, and then magnetic metal particles, the resultant reduced product, is melted to form a melt. The melt is re-crystallized in a succeeding cooling step, to obtain single crystal magnetic metal power in substantially spherical form.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magnetic metal powder and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of Related Art
The manufacturing method of metal powder can be classified by its starting raw material. In other words, metal powder can be manufactured from its gaseous phase, liquid phase and solid phase. And, as a specific method for manufacturing metal powder from the gaseous phase, the known methods are a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, sputtering method and vacuum deposition method. As for methods of manufacturing metal powder from the liquid phase, the known methods are a co-precipitation method, gas or water atomization method, spray method and spray pyrolysis method. As for making metal powder from solid phase, there is a pulverizing method that uses a crusher to pulverize metal nuggets into particles of appropriate sizes or administering a prescribed process on the pulverized powder.
Various parts used in the electronics field will be more frequently and widely used in the high frequency range. The same can be said about printed circuit boards. Substrates with various characteristics will be in demand such as those with high or low dielectric constant, high magnetic characteristics or those that absorb radio waves. To obtain these substrates, magnetic powder with excellent high frequency characteristics are being mixed and dispersed into printed circuit boards according to its needs. Some of the magnetic powders being used are ferrite powder and carbonyl iron powder for high frequency use. In areas other than printed circuit boards, there is the packaging category where radio wave absorbing powders are mixed and dispersed within resin. In the field of conductive pastes, conductive particles are mixed and dispersed in thick film pastes to manufacture electronic circuits, resistors, capacitors and IC packages. Moreover, in soft magnetic materials, magnetic powder is used widely for making coil materials for power supplies like choking coils. As for magnetic materials, there are core materials for motors. Magnetic powder is also used in magnetic resistors and magnetic sensors.
A technique for creating metal powder for thick film paste using the spray pyrolysis method is known. This technique entails spraying a solution containing metal salts to create liquid droplets, and heating the droplets at a temperature higher than the metal salt decomposition temperature and at a temperature higher than the metal melting point, but if the metal forms an oxide at temperature below its melting point, at a temperature higher than the oxide decomposition temperature, in order to thermally dissolve the metal salt and melt the metal particles thus created.
According to the spray pyrolysis method, the metal powder thus obtained is spherical with excellent crystallization properties and with high dispersant characteristics. According to the spray pyrolysis method, for example, Ag powder can be formed with the maximum particle size of 1.7 μm and the minimum particle size of 0.5 μm using a solution containing AgNO3; Ag.Pd alloy powder is formed with particle sizes ranging from 2.5 μm (max) to 1.5 μm (min) by using a solution containing AgNO3 and Pd (NO3)2, and Au powder is formed with particle sizes ranging from 1.0 μm (max) to 0.5 μm (min) using a solution containing HAuCl4. Also, these powders are said to have excellent crystalline characteristics.
In this manner, metal powder with particle sizes ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 μm and excellent crystalline characteristics can be obtained. Metal powder with these properties is suitable as conductive paste.
However, the examples described above pertain to Ag, Ag.Pd alloy and Au, but not to metal powder, especially Fe powder, that is suitable for using the mixing and dispersing of magnetic powder.
Prior art teaches methods of manufacturing metal powder by the spray pyrolysis method, and suggests the possibility of manufacturing Fe powder or Fe alloy powder. However, we have not as yet seen an example of actually manufacturing Fe powder or Fe alloy powder. In other words, it can be said that metal powder that can be manufactured by the spray pyrolysis method had imposed considerable restrictions on the types of metal powder.
It is noted that Fe powder or Fe alloy powder can be manufactured from gaseous phase and solid phase as explained above. However, the particle size of metal particles formed by the gaseous phase manufacturing method is very small, and thus, unsuitable to be mixed with resin. Also, metal powder formed from the solid phase manufacturing method has poor particle distribution and the shape of the powder particles is not spherical because crushing machines are used.
Thus, magnetic metal powder, especially Fe or Fe alloy powder with properties suitable to be mixed with resin were unavailable from conventional metal powder manufacturing methods.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for manufacturing magnetic metal powder, and magnetic metal powder


A thin film magnetic head capable of preventing unintentional erasing of information during non-recording, ensuring its magnetic operating characteristics with stability. A top read shield layer extends rearward relative to a back gap (or a back-gap rear-end position), and a write shield layer also extends rearward relative to the back gap. Thus, a stray external magnetic field generated from a voice coil motor or the like is more likely to be taken in by not only the top read shield layer but also the write shield layer; the stray external magnetic field is less likely to converge on the top read shield layer. This reduces the likelihood of an undesired magnetic closed loop being formed between the top read shield layer and magnetic pole layer and a recording medium, and thus reduces the likelihood of unintentional overwriting of information taking place during non-recording due to the undesired magnetic closed loop.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a thin film magnetic head including at least an inductive magnetic transducer for use in recording, and a magnetic recording apparatus equipped with the thin film magnetic head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an improvement in performance of a thin film magnetic head has been sought in accordance with an increase in an areal recording density of a magnetic recording medium (hereinafter simply referred to as "a recording medium"), such as a hard disk. As recording modes of the thin film magnetic head, known are, for example, a longitudinal recording mode which involves orienting a signal magnetic field in the in-plane direction of the recording medium (i.e., the longitudinal direction thereof), and a perpendicular recording mode which involves orienting a signal magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the recording medium. Although the longitudinal recording mode is widely used at present, the perpendicular recording mode rather than the longitudinal recording mode can be regarded as promising in the future, allowing for market trends incident to an increase in the areal recording density. The reason is as follows. The perpendicular recording mode has not only the capability of ensuring a high linear recording density, but also the advantage that the recording medium having information recorded thereon is resistant to thermal fluctuations.
For instance, the thin film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode includes a thin film coil which generates a magnetic flux for use in recording, a magnetic pole layer which emits the magnetic flux generated by the thin film coil to the recording medium, and a write shield layer which prevents divergence of the magnetic flux emitted from the magnetic pole layer. As this type of thin film magnetic head, there is known, for example, the thin film magnetic head including the magnetic pole layer and the write shield layer disposed on the trailing side with respect to the magnetic pole layer (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-250204 and European Patent Application No. 0360978). The thin film magnetic heads disclosed in these patent literatures have the advantage of increasing the recording density because of the presence of the write shield layer which prevents the magnetic flux from diverging during recording and thus reduces a write track width on the recording medium.
To improve the reliability of the thin film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode, it is necessary to ensure the magnetic operating characteristics of the thin film magnetic head with stability. However, the conventional thin film magnetic heads have the following problem: when an undesired magnetic field (i.e., a stray external magnetic field) is generated from an external magnetic field source such as a voice coil motor, unintentional writing (i.e., overwriting) may take place and result in unintentional erasing of information recorded on the recording medium, depending on the effect of the stray external magnetic field, during non-recording, more specifically in state where a current for use in recording is not fed through the thin film coil. To ensure the magnetic operating characteristics of the thin film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode with stability, an urgent necessity is to establish a technique for minimizing the above-mentioned unintentional erasing of information during non-recording.

Thin film magnetic head and magnetic recording apparatus


A sliding member including an overlay capable of realizing good fatigue resistance while preventing interlayer peeling. The sliding member includes an overlay formed of an alloy plating film of Bi and Sb. The overlay contains Bi, Sb, and unavoidable impurities. The concentration of Sb on the surface of the overlay is 0.92% by mass or more and 13% by mass or less.

There is known a sliding member including an overlay that includes a coating layer of Bi and an intermediate layer of Ag (see Patent Literature 1). In Patent Literature 1, the interlayer adhesion of the overlay is improved by adjusting the size of the crystal grains of Ag in the intermediate layer. Furthermore, by adjusting the size of the Bi crystal grains in the coating layer, the adhesion and fatigue resistance of the film of the overlay are improved.


A semiconducting wafer has an active area and first and second field oxide regions adjacent opposite sides of the active area. A first poly layer is deposited to form a first landing pad member electrically contacting the active area and overlapping the first field oxide region. Then an insulating oxide layer is deposited, followed by a second poly layer to form a second landing pad member overlapping the first landing pad member and the second field oxide region. A contact etch is performed with the landing pad members acting as an etch stop. A contact is deposited to electrically contact the landing pad members.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention in general relates to fabrication of integrated circuits and more particularly to the structure and process of fabricating landing pads for contacts in such circuits.
2. Statement of the Problem
As is well-known, integrated circuits, sometimes called semiconductor devices, are generally mass produced by fabricating hundreds of identical circuit patterns on a single semiconducting wafer, which wafer is subsequently sawed into hundreds of identical dies or chips. While integrated circuits are commonly referred to as "semiconductor devices" they are in fact fabricated from various materials which are either electrically conductive, electrically nonconductive, or electrically semiconductive. Silicon, the most commonly used semiconductor material, can be used in either the single crystal or polycrystalline form. In the integrated circuit fabrication art, polycrystalline silicon is usually called "polysilicon" or simply "poly", and shall be referred to as such herein. Both forms of silicon may be made conductive by adding impurities to it, which is commonly referred to as "doping". If the doping is with an element such as boron which has one less valence electron than silicon, electron "holes" become the dominant charge carrier and the doped silicon is referred to as P-type silicon. If the doping is with an element such as phosphorus which has one more valence electron than silicon, additional electrons become the dominant charge carriers and the doped silicon is referred to as N-type silicon. Silicon dioxide is also commonly used in integrated circuits as an insulator or dielectric. Its use is so common that in the art is generally referred to as "oxide" without ambiguity.
CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology is currently the most commonly used integrated circuit technology, and thus the present invention will be described in terms of silicon-based CMOS technology, although it is evident that it will find uses in other integrated circuit technologies. The term CMOS is now loosely applied to mean any integrated circuit in which both N-channel and P-channel MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) are used in a complimentary fashion. CMOS integrated circuit fabrication may begin with a lightly-doped P-type silicon substrate, a lightly-doped N-type silicon substrate, or lightly-doped epitaxial silicon (deposited crystalline silicon) on a heavily doped substrate. For the sake of simplicity, the invention will be described using lightly-doped P-type silicon as the starting material, although it may be implemented with other materials as the starting point. If other materials are used as the starting point, there may be differences in materials and structure as is well-known in the art, e.g. with N-type silicon as the starting point dopant types may be reversed, or P-type wells may be introduced.
The advantages of building integrated circuits with smaller individual circuit elements so that more and more circuitry may be packed on a single chip are well-known: electronic equipment becomes less bulky, reliability is improved by reducing the number of solder or plug connections, assembly and packaging costs are minimized, and improved circuit performance, in particular higher clock speeds. However, the smaller the size, the more difficult it is to fabricate and locate individual parts, such as contacts, within the specifications and tolerances required. SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) is one of the most densely-packed integrated circuits commonly manufactured today. Thus the problems associated with small size are especially acute in SRAM.
An area in a integrated circuit to which electrical connection is to be made is generally called an active area (AA). Current integrated circuit technology often includes an intermediate doped semiconductor layer between an AA and the metal contact which connects the active area to an electrical source. This intermediate layer is called a contact landing pad or landing pad. In memories and other structures requiring densely packed contacts, landing pads are conventionally fabricated by creating a photolithographic mask containing the pattern of the parts to be fabricated, coating the wafer with a light-sensitive material called photoresist or resist, exposing the resist-coated wafer to ultraviolet light through the mask to soften or harden parts of the resist depending on whether positive or negative resist is used, removing the softened parts of the resist, etching the wafer to remove the part unprotected by the resist, and stripping the remaining resist. In each of these steps from mask, to photoresist, to etched wafer, critical dimension loss (CD loss) may occur. For example, in CMOS 4M SRAM with 0.8 .mu.m contacts and 0.2 .mu.m misalignment tolerance, a typical landing pad must be 1.2 .mu.m.times.1.2 .mu.m. When CD loss due to the etch of the landing pad material is factored in, the CD in resist may go to 1.4 .mu.m.times.1.4 .mu.m, assuming 0.1 .mu.m loss per edge. In a cell requiring 1.8 .mu.m contact pitch, this leaves a 0.4 .mu.m space between landing pads. This is very difficult with some conventional steppers Thus there is a need for a structure and fabrication process that can provide landing pads large enough to handle the required contacts that can be fabricated close enough together to meet the contact pitch requirements for state-of-the-art SRAM, and yet can be consistently fabricated with conventional steppers.
The business of fabricating semiconductor devices is a very competitive, high-volume business. Thus manufacturing efficiency is highly important. Product quality and reliability are also highly important. It is well-known in the art that increasing the number of levels in the integrated circuit not only increases manufacturing costs and time but also generally decreases the quality and reliability of the end product, since the opportunities for disabling defects to occur are increased. This in turn feeds back into further increased manufacturing costs since scrapped product is increased at the same time as the cost of individual scrapped pieces is increased. Thus, a structure and process that not only permits small contact pitch landing pads to be fabricated with conventional equipment, but also does not add to the number of levels in the fabrication process, would therefore be highly desirable.
3. Solution to the problem
The present invention provides an integrated circuit design in which two different levels in the fabrication process are "teamed" together to form the landing pads. The invention uses two fabrication levels or layers that may already be available in the integrated circuit fabrication process.
According to the invention first landing pad members are formed in one fabrication layer, and second landing pad members are formed in another layer. Each of the first landing pad members is smaller than the desired size for the whole landing pad, thus the members can be sufficiently separated so that they can be formed using conventional fabrication equipment. Likewise for the second landing pad members. The landing pad members are patterned so that each of the second landing pad members overlaps and "teams" with a first landing pad member to form the larger desired landing pad.

Integrated circuit device with bi-level contact landing pads


A robot controller is a controller which controls, via a hand control device, a robot hand that grips an article with two or more gripping portions. The robot controller includes, a size information acquisition unit which acquires size information about the article based on an image obtained by a visual sensor for detecting the article, and a gripping adjustment unit which changes, in response to the size information, a gripping distance, which is the space between the gripping portions, in a gripping state or a gripping force of the gripping portions in the gripping state.

Robots have been known that pick articles having a metallic luster, such as bolts, using robot hands provided on the distal ends of the robots (for example, see PTL 1). As such, robot hands have conventionally been used for the task of picking articles that are not easily deformed, thereby increasing work efficiency.


A pipe spinning power drill accessory a stem, shaft, first knurled assembly, second knurled assembly, first state, and second state. The first knurled assembly and the second knurled assembly are each cylindrically shaped. The first knurled assembly is centrally affixed to the stem. The shaft is centrally affixed to the first knurled assembly opposite the stem. The second knurled assembly is centrally affixed to the shaft opposite the first knurled assembly. The first knurled assembly and the second knurled assembly each selectively expand laterally. In the first state, the first knurled assembly and the second knurled assembly are each not laterally expanded. In the second state, at least one of the first knurled assembly and the second knurled assembly are laterally expanded. The stem is configured to be inserted into a chuck of a power drill. The stem is cross-sectionally hexagonally shaped and includes a region of decreased diameter.

In present society, there has been a copper piping is a common facet in many aspects of modern homes and buildings. Often time, there are specific means to prepare a copper pipe. This can primarily include using a tube cutter to reduce the copper pipe to a desired length. This can also include reaming the inner edge of the copper pipe where the length of the pipe was cut. Finally, the copper pipe must be sanded in order to remove copper oxide. All of these tasks are often involved in the preparation of a copper pipe. However, although necessary, the current means of performing these tasks can be laborious and time-consuming. Mainly, in performing these tasks, the user primarily has to repeatedly rotate or spin the copper pipe by hand in order to cut the length of the pipe, ream the inside edge of the pipe, and/or sand the pipe. These tasks can even prove more insurmountable if the copper pipe needed is too long and/or large for the user to handle on their own. These issues and tasks are not just limited to copper pipes but can also be applied to pipes of other materials.


Data storage systems and methods for writing data into a memory component and reading data from the memory component are disclosed. By utilizing a high-speed data controller, the systems and methods transfer data at a fast data transfer rate. In one implementation, the memory component comprises a memory controller for managing data within the memory component. The memory controller comprises the high-speed data controller and a data manager. The data manager comprises a compression/decompression engine that compresses and decompresses data and a storage device interface.

Developers have manufactured different types of solid-state memory devices for storing digital data. These memory devices can be packaged into what is known as memory cards, which have increased in popularity in recent years. Memory cards are used in a variety of applications, such as in digital cameras and camcorders, music players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal computers, etc. These memory cards are typically very small in size and have specific physical specifications, or form factors. Typical memory cards have a data storage capacity in a range from about 2 megabytes (MB) to about 1 gigabyte (GB).
Although many memory cards provide large volumes of memory, the data transfer rate for storing large files into memory and retrieving files from memory are sometimes rather slow. For instance, if a photographer uses a digital camera that is capable of taking 5 pictures per second and if each picture includes about 5 MB of data, the memory card must be capable of storing data at a rate of at least 25 MB per second. Existing memory cards are not capable of such transfer rates. In another example, suppose the photographer stores about 100 pictures in memory and each picture is about 5 MB. Although the pictures may be stored on a 512 MB memory card, with a slow data transfer rate, it may take up to 20 minutes to upload the pictures into a computer.
One solution to the slow data transfer rate has been to supply the host devices (such as digital cameras) with large amounts of static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM). SRAM and DRAM are volatile memory and may act as data buffers for non-volatile memory devices. These data buffers temporarily store data as it is being written to the memory devices or read from the memory devices so that the data is not lost. However, because of the slow data transfer rate into the non-volatile memory devices, data may get backed up in the data buffers, preventing the user from storing additional information until the data is eventually stored in the non-volatile memory. Another problem with this solution is that SRAM and DRAM are relatively expensive and tend to drive up the cost of the host devices. Thus, a need exists in the industry to provide a higher performance, faster data transfer rate, and lower cost alternative to the SRAM and DRAM solution and to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.


A method of reducing power of a circuit is described. The method includes determining at least one unused selection input associated with stages of a multiplexer tree; pulling the at least one unused selection input to a constant value; and assigning predetermined values to unused data inputs of the multiplexer tree associated with the at least one unused selection input.

Integrated circuits are an integral part of any electronic device. A variety of integrated circuits are often used together to enable the operation of the electronic device. While integrated circuits are typically designed for a particular application, one type of integrated circuit which enables flexibility is a programmable logic device (PLD). A PLD is designed to be user-programmable so that users may implement logic designs of their choices. One type of PLD is the Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). A CPLD includes two or more "function blocks" having a two-level AND/OR structure connected together and to input/output (I/O) resources by an interconnect switch matrix. Another type of PLD is a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In a typical FPGA, an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) is coupled to programmable input/output blocks (IOBs). The CLBs and IOBs are interconnected by a hierarchy of programmable routing resources according to a routing configuration. For both of these types of programmable logic devices, the functionality of the device is controlled by configuration data bits of a configuration bitstream provided to the device for that purpose. The configuration data bits may be stored in volatile memory (e.g., static memory cells, as in FPGAs and some CPLDs), in non-volatile memory (e.g., FLASH memory, as in some CPLDs), or in any other type of memory cell.
PLDs typically exhibit greater static power consumption than dedicated logic devices such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). One reason for the PLD's high power consumption is because only a subset of the available resources of a PLD may be used for any given design, and the unused resources still consume static power. That is, while the unused resources are necessary for providing greater mapping flexibility to the PLD, these unused resources still consume static power in the form of leakage current. PLDs also have a significantly higher dynamic power consumption than standard ASICs having dedicated logic because of the hardware overhead required to make PLDs programmable by the end-user.
Accordingly, there is a need for reducing the power consumed by circuits such as programmable logic devices.


A process for manufacturing a BiCMOS integrated circuit is implemented by adapting the masking and doping steps used in forming CMOS devices. Thus simultaneous formation of both CMOS and bipolar device structures eliminates the need for any additional masking or process steps to form bipolar device structures. Collector regions 20 of NPN transistors are formed simultaneously with N-wells 18. Collector regions of PNP transistors, if required, are formed simultaneously with P-wells 16. Base regions 24 of the bipolar transistors are formed using threshold voltage implant steps and/or lightly doped drain implant steps of PMOS transistors. Emitter regions 59 are formed, when using a single polysilicon CMOS process, simultaneously with the CMOS gates 72, 74. When employing a double polysilicon CMOS process, the emitter regions 59 are formed concurrently with the second polysilicon layer interconnect structure and/or source/drain regions 50,52 of NMOS transistors. For single polysilicon CMOS process, the buried layer regions 66 are formed during buried contact formation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for fabricating semiconductor devices. More specifically it relates to processes for forming BiCMOS devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor integrated circuits that have both bipolar and CMOS device structures are known as BiCMOS circuits. These BiCMOS circuits can often combine the advantages of the high speed bipolar device structures with the high power performance of CMOS device structures to result in a solution neither technology could offer alone.
However, when fabricating such a BiCMOS integrated circuit, it is often found necessary to insert bipolar processing steps at various points into the CMOS process flow to realize the desired device characteristics. Thus, a typical BiCMOS integrated circuit process will have more process steps than either a bipolar or CMOS process taken singly. For example, Embabi et al. in "Digital BiCMOS Integrated Circuit Design", Kluwer Academic Publishers p. 32-38 (1993), summarize BiCMOS processes as falling into one of three categories, Low Cost; Medium Performance; and High Performance. Low Cost processes are described as requiring only one additional masking step and produce bipolar devices with low cut-off frequencies (f.sub.T) and poor current drive. Medium Performance processes are described as requiring only three additional masking steps and produce devices having f.sub.T approaching 5 gigahertz (GHz) with better current drive. Finally, High Performance processes are described as requiring at least four additional masking steps and produce devices having f.sub.T in excess of 5 GHz.
These additional process steps, required to integrate bipolar devices into a CMOS process, undesirably increase the complexity and cost of the fabrication process. In some cases, this increase in complexity and cost outweighs the advantages in circuit performance realized by the BiCMOS structure. For example a process yielding bipolar NPN transistors with a cut-off frequency in excess of 10 gigahertz (GHz), could require more than four additional masking and doping steps rendering its use commercially infeasible, whereas a circuit produced without additional steps would be a commercial success.
Furthermore, the typical high performance BiCMOS process requires the formation of an epitaxial layer which may be problematic. Modern fabrication techniques allow the thickness of the epitaxial layer to be controlled only to within approximately 0.05 to 0.1 .mu.m. Thus, where it is desired to form an epitaxial layer of 0.5 .mu.m, a processing error of approximately 10 to 20% is introduced. Additionally, the surface cleaning required before epitaxial growth, and the annealing of the buried layer, not only increases costs but also consumes valuable time.
Therefore, it would be desirable to form high performance BiCMOS structures without requiring any additional masking and/or doping steps beyond those typically used in forming CMOS devices. In addition, it would be desirable to form high performance BiCMOS structures without requiring formation of an epitaxial silicon layer. In this manner, process complexity is minimized and cost reduced.

Method of manufacturing a BiCMOS integrated circuit fully integrated within a CMOS process flow


An automotive speedometer drive apparatus is disclosed that replaces an existing speedometer cable of the type used to drive mechanical speedometer instruments. The drive being an electronically controlled motor made to rotate at the correct rate to give an accurate speed indication, taking into consideration the specific tire size and specific speedometer involved. The drive may also be easily installed and field-calibrated by the user without the need of any special knowledge or equipment.

1. The Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of automotive instrumentation, and more specifically to an apparatus and method for accurately driving any mechanical cable-driven speedometer instrument, as is typically found on older vehicles.
2. General Background
For the purposes of this application, the terms "processor", "microprocessor", "controller", "microcontroller" or equivalent terminology are meant to be synonymous unless otherwise stated. Likewise, the terms "automobile", "truck", "vehicle", or equivalent terminology are meant to be interchangeable unless otherwise stated. References made in the English measurement system are hereafter assumed to include their metric equivalent values and vice versa.
One of the principal instruments in all motor vehicles is the speedometer. It is universally recognized that knowing how fast one is driving is an important aspect of operating the vehicle. To that end, the mechanical speedometer, a wonderfully clever instrument, was invented. Patent office records indicate the first speedometer patent, patent number 1,335,833, was issued in 1920.
It should be noted that speedometer instruments typically display two different measurements: road speed displayed on the speedometer proper and total distance driven displayed on the odometer. Though housed in the same housing, the odometer and the speedometer are actually two separate and distinct measuring devices. The odometer measures distance traveled, and the speedometer measures the rate of speed at which the distance is currently being traversed. To avoid confusion, when speaking of the speedometer instrument as a whole, including both the speed-measuring "speedometer" and the distance measuring "odometer", the phrase "speedometer instrument" will be used. Either measuring device, taken independently of one another, will be referenced by "speedometer" or "odometer" as appropriate, unless prefaced by a descriptive phrase such as "mechanical speedometer" or "electronic speedometer", in which case the entire speedometer instrument is meant, not just its speed-measuring portion.
In a properly functioning speedometer instrument, the speedometer and odometer are calibrated such that the two measuring devices concur and cohere with one another and with the actual road speed of, and distance traversed by the vehicle. An example will help to clarify: if the vehicle is in fact driven at a constant 60 mph for one hour, the properly calibrated speedometer should read a constant 60 mph during that one hour of travel time, and at the end of the hour the odometer should show that the total mileage driven has indeed incremented by 60 miles; likewise, if the odometer registers an increment of 1 mile, and if that mile happened over the course of one minute, and if the vehicle in question has been driven at a constant speed for one minute, then the speed should have displayed as a constant 60 mph for the duration of the minute. As 60 mph is equivalent to one mile per minute the vehicle will therefore have actually traveled exactly one mile during the one minute.
In addition to being physically located in the same housing, the speedometer and the odometer typically also operate off of the same input. "Input" for speedometer instruments reduces in the end to information about the rotation rate of the road wheel, whether detected directly, or as is more usually the case, detected indirectly by means of a physical or other (e.g. electronic) connection to some part of the drive train that rotates at a rate proportional to the rotation rate of the road wheel.
For the mechanical speedometers, the "input device", that is, the means by which the speedometer instrument receives information about the rotation rate of the road wheels, is the speedometer cable, which is a mechanically rotating sheathed cable. The speedometer cable physically attaches to and rotates an input shaft on the back of the speedometer instrument. The other end of the speedometer cable physically attaches to and is rotated by a set of gears called the "drive gear set" or "gear set", which is usually (but not necessarily) physically located in the vehicle transmission. The drive gear set is operatively (but not usually directly physically) connected to the road wheels, so that the gears in the drive gear set rotate at a rotation rate proportionate to the rotation rate of the road wheels. The relative size of the gears in the gear set (otherwise referred to as the "speedometer drive gear ratio") determines the rotation rate of the speedometer cable relative to the rotation rate of the road wheels.
With mechanical speedometers, typically, the odometer portion of the instrument is mechanically connected to the instruments rotating input shaft. This is generally accomplished by the use of small gears inside the speedometer instrument. These gears are driven by the input shaft, which in turn is driven by the speedometer cable. Whereas the "odometer" is mechanically coupled, the "speedometer" portion of the instrument, is typically magnetically coupled to the same rotating input shaft. The effective amount of coupling is determined by a spring that counter-balances the driven magnet inside the instrument.
By design, all mechanical speedometers require a specific number of revolutions of the input shaft (via the speedometer cable) to register an increment of one mile on the speedometer instrument's odometer (assuming the instrument in question was designed to display British Imperial or U.S. measurement units). This odometer-specific number of revolutions of the input shaft (via the speedometer cable) is known as the "odometer constant", which for the mechanical speedometer is expressed in "revolutions per unit distance", specifically, for instruments using British Imperial or U.S. measurement units, "revolutions per mile".
The "speedometer proper," that is, the speed-measuring device inside the speedometer instrument, is calibrated such that the speed displayed on the speedometer instrument concurs and coheres with incremental changes in the odometer reading. Specifically, it is calibrated such that when the speedometer reads 60 mph, the speedometer cable is driving the speedometer instrument input shaft at a rotation rate per minute numerically equal to the odometer constant. This calibration factor is expressed as the "speedometer constant", which, to turn the definition around, is the number of revolutions per minute of the input shaft (and hence the speedometer cable) at which the speedometer indicates a speed of 60 mph.
Although the odometer constant is measured in revolutions per mile (distance) and the speedometer constant is measured in revolutions per minute (time), the odometer and speedometer constants will be numerically equal in any given speedometer instrument if the instrument is working properly. It is known and understood that it takes a specific number of revolutions of any given speedometer instrument input to cause the odometer to register a one-mile change in distance. Since this is a "distance only" measurement, the time it takes to accomplish it is immaterial. It is also known that the speedometer portion of the instrument that measures miles/hour (distance per unit time) is time dependent. Since both are simultaneously measuring the rotation of the same input shaft, we can see that the action of the two parts of the instrument must correlate if it is deemed "calibrated". For example, the same number of input revolutions that causes the odometer to register a one-mile change must happen in exactly one minute in order to cause the speedometer to register 60 mph (1 mile/minute). More or less time will result in a higher or lower indication on the speedometer. Modifications of this brief explanation of speedometer and odometer constants for instruments manufactured using metric or other measurement units are straightforward matters of unit conversions.
As the speedometer and odometer constants are numerically equal, the term "speedometer constant" will be used unless a clear distinction needs to be made between "revolutions per minute" and "revolutions per mile". Tire circumference and the speedometer constant are the two main factors involved when designing a vehicle speed measuring system. The interposing "speedometer cable drive gear set" ratio is chosen such that every rotation of the fitted tire will cause the input to the speedometer to turn the appropriate amount. Thus, neither the tire circumference nor the speedometer constant determines what the other must be. However, the example below is accurate if one assumes a 1:1 "speedometer cable drive gear set" ratio.
An example of the relationship between tire circumference, speedometer constant and speedometer drive gear ratio follows: If the speedometer constant is 1026 rev/mile, the tire must travel one mile every 1026 turns of the speedometer cable, which means that the tire circumference must be 1/1026 mile or .00975 mile, or as more usually measured, 61.75 inches, and hence the tire diameter must be 61.75/"pi" or 19.7 inches. As there are 63,360 inches in one mile, a 61.75-inch circumference tire will rotate 63,360/61.75 or 1026 rotations in one mile. Hence the 1:1 drive gear ratio. Changes to either tire size or speedometer constant are generally compensated for by changes in the speedometer drive gear ratio. In the 1970s a new variation on the speedometer instrument appeared, typically referred to as an "electronic speedometer", whose pointer was made to move in response to a train of electronic pulses generated by a pulse generator, which pulse generator is usually located inside the transmission of the vehicle. The "electronic speedometer", of which there are many varieties and which is in use on many current production vehicles, has no need for the mechanical speedometer's rotating cable. The speedometer and odometer constants remain applicable for the electronic speedometer, but the relevant units are impulses per minute and per mile, rather than revolutions per minute and per mile. Another recent innovation in speedometer technology is the digital speedometer. Digital speedometers are electronic speedometers that display speed using an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) instead of a mechanically driven pointer. None of these technologies employ the mechanical speedometer's rotating cable.
Despite the newer variations on speedometer instrumentation, many vehicles on the road today, and even some of the more recent production vehicles, still use the mechanical speedometer with its rotating cable drive. Something as simple as a change in tire size when replacing worn tires will render inaccurate the speed and odometer readings of not just the mechanical speedometer, but also the other types of speedometer outlined above. There exist various ways of addressing this problem for each type of speedometer instrumentation.
Throughout the world many individuals derive great pleasure from restoring, rebuilding, or otherwise customizing motor vehicles. A universal problem facing owners of vehicles with mechanical speedometers is keeping the speedometer instrument readings accurate in the face of vehicle repairs, upkeep, or custom modifications involving the various components of the drive train. Although there are methods to regain the accuracy of the speedometer instrument in any given situation, the means to do so is labor-intensive, time-consuming and generally expensive, involving the services of specialists who maintain facilities and equipment specifically designed for this purpose. Even if these expensive and time-consuming methods are employed, further modifications to the vehicle's drive train components may and likely will again render the speedometer inaccurate; and will require yet another investment of time and money to, yet again, correct the problem. Many people choose to live with speedometers that are mildly to grossly inaccurate simply because of the difficulty and expense in keeping them accurate. The present invention addresses this problem.
Although accurate aftermarket speedometer instruments are available as replacement units, very often vehicle owners find it aesthetically or otherwise desirable to keep the original mechanical instrumentation with their vehicle. The present invention has been created in light of the need to circumvent this problem and other problems highlighted herein.


A virtually-addressed local texture memory stores selected regions (a sparse representation) of a texture for use by a graphics processor. The graphics processor requests a texel of the texture by referencing a virtual address of the texel. A memory interface references an address map to determine whether the requested texel is in one of the regions of the texture that is resident in the local texture memory. If so, the texel is retrieved from the local memory and used in the rendering operation; if not, an alternative texel that is resident in the local memory is retrieved and used in the rendering operation. Non-resident regions that include requested texels are retrieved from a primary texture data store at regular intervals (e.g., once per frame) and stored in local texture memory for use in a subsequent rendering operation.

The present invention relates generally to a virtual memory subsystem and more specifically to the representation of textures in a virtual memory space.
In many three-dimensional (3D) graphics applications, texture is used to model surface features of an object. A texture can be used to represent attributes that may vary across a surface, e.g., color, brightness, surface normal, transparency, reflectivity, and the like. Once a texture is defined, the texture may be mapped to any three-dimensional object, e.g., by associating texture coordinates with each vertex of the object and interpolating to determine texture coordinates for points between the vertices. The texture coordinates map to data values ("texels") that represent the attribute at a particular point in the texture coordinate space. The texel for a particular point (pixel) on the surface can be used directly or blended with other information descriptive of pixel attributes (including other textures) to generate a final pixel value. For faster rendering, texture data is stored in memory local to the graphics processor, allowing the graphics processor to access the data when needed.
Achieving increased realism in rendered images involves, among other things, using larger and more complex textures to model surface features in finer detail. The texture data required often exceeds the capacity of the local memory in a graphics subsystem. Consequently, textures may need to be stored in a texture database, which is usually maintained on disk or other high-capacity storage media. However, most graphics processors cannot access data stored in such storage media without intervention by the application program (which can be triggered, e.g., using a CPU interrupt); thus, rendering operations are slowed or made impossible.
The problem of storing and accessing large textures is exacerbated in the case of mip-mapping. A mip-map is a texture map that includes multiple copies of a texture at different resolutions (levels of detail, or LOD). For instance, an initial texture of 1024×1024 texels (the highest LOD) might be filtered to 512×512, 256×256 and so on down to 1×1 (the lowest, or coarsest, LOD). When an object is rendered, texels at a level of detail commensurate with the size of the fragment in texture space are obtained by selecting the appropriate LOD map (or in some cases maps), rather than by performing filtering of large kernels on the original high-resolution texture. Mip-mapping thus reduces the need to perform filtering at runtime, at the cost of additional space required to store the mip-map. For instance, in typical mip-maps, each higher (finer) LOD has four times as many texels as the previous (coarser) LOD. Thus, the amount of memory required increases rapidly with increasing detail. Where local graphics memory is at a premium, it is often not possible to store an entire mip-map in local memory. Further, as the number of texels in a particular LOD map increases, the likelihood that all of them will be used in rendering decreases; thus, storing the entire mip-map in local memory can be wasteful.
To avoid storing the entire mip-map, "clip-map" techniques have been developed. A clip-map is a partial mip-map in which some (or all) levels of detail are clipped to a specified size. The standard, full-size mip-map is stored in a remote memory or other less expensive storage area. The clip-map, representing a subset of the complete mip-map and therefore requiring less memory, can be stored in local memory so that it can be accessed by the graphics processor. However, the clip-map is limited to representing only a single rectangular region per mip-map level; texels outside this region are only available from the remote memory. As noted above, access to the remote memory may require intervention by the application program, and such intervention may be too slow for real-time rendering.
It would therefore be desirable to provide techniques for efficient access to needed portions of texture data.

Deferred page faulting in virtual memory based sparse texture representations


The invention describes an injector device specifically designed for the injection of an alternative fuel such as LPG, methane, hydrogen or others, in an internal combustion engine. In the injector device, the shutter ensuring sealing in closing condition is separated with respect to the metering means with gauged hole, which perform the function of metering fuel during injection, and it is arranged downstream from said metering means. The shutter is controlled by a solenoid, which is again arranged on the downstream side with respect to said metering means.

The present invention relates to fuel injector devices for internal combustion engines using an alternative fuel with respect to petrol or diesel oil, such as for instance methane, LPG, hydrogen or other fuels, either in gaseous or liquid state.
In internal combustion engines using alternative fuels such as those referred to above, the fuel is introduced into the intake manifold or engine cylinders by means of injector devices. Said injector devices are currently obtained from petrol injector devices. This is because engines using alternative fuels are not so widespread yet as to justify huge investments that would be required to back up designing activities dedicated to a new type of injector device. As a consequence, injector devices used until today in methane or LPG engines are the result of a compromise and therefore do not meet in an optimal way the specific requirements related to the injection of said alternative fuels. Namely, a main requirement is to adjust the injector device to working pressures related to the use of such fuels, which are far higher than the pressure at which petrol and diesel oil injectors work. For instance, a common petrol injector device injects petrol at a pressure of about 3–4 bars, whereas working pressures of LPG and methane are certainly above 10 bars. On the other hand, an injector device for a fuel such as LPG or methane does not have to meet other requirements that are specific for petrol injection, such as the one related to the particular shape of the injected spray (spray pattern) and to its granulometry. In the case of LPG or methane injection, adulterations of petrol injector devices aiming at obtaining shape and granulometry are useless, being it sufficient to meter the correct amount of fuel during injection.

Fuel injector device for an internal combustion engine


Systems and methods are disclosed for ensuring execution of multiple inter-dependent transactions in an electronic data transaction processing system in which a plurality of data items are transacted by one or more hardware matching processors associated therewith that match a combined electronic data transaction request comprising a conditional execution instruction and a plurality of component electronic data transaction request messages, each for transaction of a different data item of the plurality of data items.

Computer processing speeds depend in large part on the amount of data being processed and the complexity of the operations and processing being performed on the data. Reducing or minimizing the number of data sets and/or operations performed thereon can increase processing efficiency. One exemplary environment where optimizing computer processing is desirable is in financial markets, and in particular, electronic financial exchanges, such as a futures exchange, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME).
A financial instrument trading system, such as a futures exchange, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), provides a contract market where financial instruments, e.g., futures and options on futures, are traded using electronic systems. "Futures" is a term used to designate all contracts for the purchase or sale of financial instruments or physical commodities for future delivery or cash settlement on a commodity futures exchange. A futures contract is a legally binding agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a specified price at a predetermined future time. An option contract is the right, but not the obligation, to sell or buy the underlying instrument (in this case, a futures contract) at a specified price within a specified time. The commodity to be delivered in fulfillment of the contract, or alternatively the commodity for which the cash market price shall determine the final settlement price of the futures contract, is known as the contract's underlying reference or "underlier." The terms and conditions of each futures contract are standardized as to the specification of the contract's underlying reference commodity, the quality of such commodity, quantity, delivery date, and means of contract settlement. Cash settlement is a method of settling a futures contract whereby the parties effect final settlement when the contract expires by paying/receiving the loss/gain related to the contract in cash, rather than by effecting physical sale and purchase of the underlying reference commodity at a price determined by the futures contract, price. Options and futures may be based on more generalized market indicators, such as stock indices, interest rates, futures contracts and other derivatives.
An exchange may provide for a centralized "clearing house" through which trades made must be confirmed, matched, and settled each day until offset or delivered. The clearing house may be an adjunct to an exchange, and may be an operating division of an exchange, that is responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining performance bond funds, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data. One of the roles of the clearing house is to mitigate credit risk. Clearing is the procedure through which the clearing house becomes buyer to each seller of a futures contract, and seller to each buyer, also referred to as a novation, and assumes responsibility for protecting buyers and sellers from financial loss due to breach of contract, by assuring performance on each contract. A clearing member is a firm qualified to clear trades through the clearing house.
The clearing house of an exchange clears, settles and guarantees matched transactions in contracts occurring through the facilities of the exchange. In addition, the clearing house establishes and monitors financial requirements for clearing members and conveys certain clearing privileges in conjunction with the relevant exchange markets.
Traders trading on an exchange often desire to trade multiple financial instruments in combination. Each component of the combination may be referred to as a leg. Traders may submit orders for individual legs or in some cases may submit a single order for multiple financial instruments in an exchange-defined combination or a trader-defined combination. Such orders may be called a combination order, a strategy order, a spread order, or a variety of other names.
Legging risk is the risk of not being able to fulfill a particular leg of a combination order (two or more related orders) at the price desired. This may occur when the trader is not trading an exchange-offered strategy such as a spread order, i.e. a single product offered for trading by the exchange that comprises multiple component products, but has determined a combination composed of legs that are individually tradable instruments in a market or across markets. The trader may attempt to trade all of the combination's legs at the same time by submitting individual transaction requests therefore. However, as each transaction is individually processed by the Exchange along with transactions received from other traders that may be competing for the same opportunities, as soon there is a significant possibility that one or more of the trader's transactions will not be transacted as expected. If less than all of the leg transactions are traded, the trader is exposed to legging risk, i.e. the risk that overall goal, e.g. a particular hedge position, of the combination of the transactions will not be achieved. If the price at which a leg is executed is different from what the trader expected or if a leg fails to trade because an expected resting offer has been filled by another order, the desired risk of the overall position the trader was trying to achieve, as it was calculated, may no longer be valid, and the trader is "legged out". This may not only eliminate any benefit, but also leave the trader with an adverse position.

Execution of co-dependent transactions in a transaction processing system


When information is transmitted among a plurality of devices connected through a network, an information opening data storage section for opening predetermined information is set to devices connected through the network, the information opening data storage section is formed in a descriptor format having a predetermined hierarchical structure, predetermined information is stored in a board 910 set in the descriptor format, the position at which the predetermined board 900 is stored is directly instructed by the highest-order descriptor 900 having the hierarchical structure, and information concerning a predetermined information is stored in information areas 921, 922, 931, 932 instructed when the hierarchical structure is retrieved from the highest-order descriptor 900.

Heretofore, there have been developed AV devices which are capable of transmitting information with each other through a network using an IEEE 1394 serial data bus prescribed by the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), for example. In this network, a user is able to control the AV devices connected to the above network with each other by using a predetermined command (AV/C Command Transaction Set: hereinafter abbreviated as an "AV/C command"). The details of the IEEE 1394 system and the details of the AV/C command are described in the AV/C Digital Interface Command Set General Specification which is laid open in the 1394 Trade Association.
As shown in FIG. 1, when an IEEE 1394 serial data bus 51 (hereinafter referred to as a "bus 51") is used, video data received by an IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) 52, which is a digital satellite receiver for receiving and decoding a digital satellite broadcasting, for example, can be recorded by a DVCR (Digital Video Cassette Recorder) 53 connected to the integrated receiver decoder via the bus 51. Further, video data can be recorded by these IRD 52 and DVCR 53 in a so-called timer-activated recording fashion under control of the AV/C command.
When video data is recorded by this apparatus in a timer-activated recording mode, the IRD 52 and the DVCR 53 are controlled by a controller 54 provided within the IRD 52, for example. In this case, the setting (channel, start time, etc.) of the timer-activated recording is effected on the IRD 52. At the set start time, the controller 54 outputs a command to a digital tuner 55 provided within the IRD 52 so that the digital tuner may select the set channel and that a video signal or the like received by the digital tuner 85 from signals received at an antenna 56 is output to the bus 81.
At the same time, a recording start command is transmitted from the controller 54 through the bus 51 to a recorder 57 provided within the DVCR 53. Consequently, the recorder 57 obtains the video signal or the like selected and received at the digital tuner 55 from the bus 51 and records the same on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape. The timer-activated recording is made in this manner. Further, the DVCR 53 also includes a controller 58 to effect a control such as recording a video signal or the like received at an analog tuner 59 incorporated therein by the recorder 57.
When the AV/C command, which controls the devices connected to the network by the remote controller, shares information within the devices with other devices as described above, it has been customary that information is shared by setting lists to the control target subunit such as a VCR subunit and a tuner subunit. However, according to the above method, the contents of the shared information are limited to those relating to the respective subunits. In accordance with the development of the future network system, there is a possibility that the contents of shared information will not be limited to those unique to the subunits but a demand of handling information of various contents will increase.
On the other hand, the assignee of the present application has previously proposed an AV/C Bulletin Board Subunit (AV/C Bulletin Board Subunit: hereinafter abbreviated as a "BBS") as a space for sharing information independent of subunits (see the 1394 Trade Association Board Subunit General Specification, Rev. 0.38). According to this system, the BBS can share arbitrary information thereby to control arbitrary devices with each other.
However, in the previously-proposed BBS, a method required when boards of a plurality of types should coexist and a list structure required when a plurality of boards of the same type should exist are not definite, and hence a variety of data cannot be stored efficiently. Accordingly, when data is read out from another device or data is written in another device, data should be processed after all data had been read out from the BBS, for example, with the result that processing becomes complicated. Therefore, there is an increasing demand of efficiently writing and reading data by using the BBS.

Information processing method, information processing system and information processing apparatus


A canting device adjusts the angle of a shoe and/or a pedal in an upward and inward direction to position a bicyclist's foot to maximize the muscle power to be applied by the foot. The device has a tapered thickness and in one instance, is inserted between the sole of the shoe and a cleat, the larger of the tapered thickness being positioned toward the inside of the foot.

Those involved in physical fitness and competitive physical activity, in conjunction with medical professionals, recognize the importance of proper body alignment during any form of physical exertion. Proper body alignment makes all motion more efficient by focusing the energy in the desired direction and eliminating wasted motion. Further, proper body alignment reduces the stress and strain on the body caused by repetitive misaligned motion.
The foot, in its most naturally relaxed position, is not flat footed. For example, if a person takes the weight off of the foot, it has been found that it cants up to various degrees on the inside. It is well known that flat-footed people can develop knee problems since the leg becomes out of alignment when the ankle is unnaturally twisted and the knee has to twist to compensate for this situation.
Many sporting activities involve repetitive forceful exertion of energy through the legs and feet, for example, in bicycling and skiing. Bicycling requires that the foot be attached to some apparatus, such as a pedal on the bicycle, that is used in the translation of human energy (i.e., muscle power) into forward motion. However, it has been recognized that when the foot is attached to a flat surface, the leg is forced into an unnatural position. An observation of the foot in its natural state reveals that it prefers to be in an angled position with the inside of the foot higher than the outside. When the foot is forced to be flat it causes a misalignment of the entire leg, from the ankle, through the knee to the hip joint.
Many serious bicycle riders wear bicycle shoes which have a cleat which is attachable to the bicycle shoe. Many modern day bicycle pedals provide a coupling device for the cleat to snap in very positively to the pedal. This cleat/pedal combination provides the ability for the rider to not only push down but to also pull up without his foot in the shoe coming off the pedal unless he specifically twists the cleat out of the coupling device. The twist out process enables the cleat to be released from the pedal, for example, if the rider needs to jump off the bicycle in the event of a crash.
There are various styles and shapes of cleats which affix to the bicycle shoe, each cleat typically having holes therethrough to allow the cleat to be attached to the shoe, such as by screws which engage a series of threaded holes which are formed into the sole of the shoe. Each of the various styles of cleats do exactly the same thing, namely, they clamp onto the pedal coupling device arrangement, as basically a spring trap-like mechanism that holds the shoe in place so that the bicyclist does not lose his footing on the pedal. When a bicyclist uses presently known shoe/cleat/pedal attachment devices, misalignment inherently occurs, essentially rendering the bicyclist's relationship to the pedals a flat-footed one. There are several ramifications of this misalignment for the bicyclist. First, the pedaling motion is made less efficient because less power is being delivered to the pedal since misalignment in any power delivery system causes a loss of power delivered to its final intended point. Second, the strain on the joints via tendons, ligaments and muscles is increased. Finally, the knees tend to wobble from side to side on the up and down or forward and back strokes, a further indication that an out-of-alignment situation exists with its resulting decrease in power delivery. It therefore becomes more difficult, due to these losses and strain, to apply muscle power by the foot to the pedal. And, it is particularly more difficult to pedal the bicycle at higher speeds, such as in bicycle racing conditions.
Orthotic devices have been developed to attempt to remedy problems of foot misalignment and custom made and production orthotic devices have been developed for use in the field of bicycling. However, such orthotic devices are limited to the alignment of the bicyclist's foot from the instep rearward to the heel in a neutral position. Orthotic devices do not affect the forefoot and indeed only extend from the bicyclist's heel forward to just past the arch of the foot. While these devices do place the foot from the ball to the heel in its natural position, they do not affect the position of the forefoot. It is, however, through the forefoot (i.e., the ball of the foot) that the bicyclist delivers his power. In fact, the attachment of a bicycling shoe to a pedal is standardly made under the ball of the foot. A discontinued commercially available device made by Marresi shoes of Italy, is a shoe wedge built into the extreme forward position on the sole. It was to be used in conjunction with the old toe clip and toe strap systems. The wedge was non adjustable and angled the foot such that the inside of the foot was forced to be in a lower position than the outside of the foot. However, when the foot was placed on the pedal of the era, the ball of the foot was ultimately in a flat position.
Custom foot bed designs placed inside the bicyclist's shoe have also been made in an attempt to improve foot pedaling efficiency. While these custom foot bed designs are intended to improve the bicyclist's power delivery to the pedals and increase comfort, they are not intended to change the angular position of the forefoot. Their effect is limited to changing angular positions of the heel and ankle relative to the sole of the foot. Some commercially available devices are the DIADORA POWER BED (trademark) and SUPERFEET (trademark) both of which are custom molded footbeds for users. The latter is intended for use in skiing and bicycling while the former is for bicycling only.
Other approaches involve shoes which are contoured to the feet. However, these approaches merely attempt to address the problem of supporting the foot in the shoe, e.g., adding arch support. Such support does not address the problem of the foot being held down in an unnatural position, i.e., locked flat on the pedal.
Another approach which attempts to improve foot pedaling efficiency, involves a rotational pedal system wherein a pedal/shoe/cleat combination provides what is known as "float". The BIO-CLEAT II (trademark) pedal system and the TIME BIOPERFORMANCE (trademark) pedal systems, among others, give the shoe/cleat a certain amount of rotation on the pedal to compensate for misalignment of the ankle, knee and hip when forced into the unnatural situation of the foot/shoe being attached to the pedal. However, these "floating" pedal systems are merely an attempt to cure the symptom rather than the cause in that these systems merely allow the hip, knee, ankle and foot to oscillate while the bicyclist completes each 360.degree. rotation of the pedals following the abnormal positioning and ensuing movement of the foot.
In the field of downhill skiing, a rather primitive and then sophisticated canting mechanism was once used. In an attempt to keep a flat ski for the skier, the age-old practice was to place a flat wooden popsicle stick between the toe and heel of the ski bindings and the ski. Thus, the stick extended along the length of the foot to cant the inside portion of the foot upwardly to counteract the effect of the ski boot and inward pronation by the individual. The hoped-for effect of this was to cause the ski to be in a flattened position to equalize the ability to turn in any direction. It was also believed to deter catching ski edges when skiing, and to prevent riding the edge of the ski. The stick was thought to enhance the skier's control of the skis and therefore, the ability to ski well.
Subsequently, sophisticated metal and plastic wedges were manufactured to be used instead of popsicle sticks. These wedges required a professional to fit them to the user and then to install them between the ski binding and the ski to lie along the foot length and bias the inside portion of the foot upwardly. The wedges were adjusted to counteract the undesirable canting brought about by the ski boot for that particular wearer and to counteract undesirable pronation tendencies of the user. Today, with ski boots being adjustable along numerous planes to cant the foot in various different and combined directions, this age-old system is seldom used. The boots are better able to adjust the foot cant to attend to various issues than the stick and the wedges, and the boots can be adjusted by the user without the need of a professional or amendment of the ski by a professional. Of course, the concerns of a skier are not those of a bicyclist, tennis player, walker or other shoe user. For the bicyclist, the positioning of the body and legs with respect to a bicycle pedal when riding differ significantly from the positioning of the body and legs with respect to a ski when skiing. The same can be said for a runner, tennis player, and walker. Necessarily, different muscles are used in different ways and are affected by different equipment used in the sport and the base or terrain on which the equipment is used. A device that maximizes one's power and control in one sport does not necessarily do so in another. In particular, the bicyclist is largely interested in affecting the ball of the foot as opposed to the entire length of the foot. With a skier, affecting primarily the ball of the foot to the exclusion of the remainder of the foot could worsen one's ability to practice the sport.
Finally, there is available an orthotic pedal device BIOPEDAL (trademark) designed by Dr. Harry Hlavac and Mr. B. Koski of Marin County, Calif. This pedal is an adjustable orthotic device constructed in three planes for angling the foot when placed thereon and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,915 for use with bicycles including toe straps. Orthopedic devices, outside wedges and lifts connected to the shoe, according to the inventors, are not viable devices because of the tight fit of the shoe, their positioning in the arch and heel areas, and their potential for interfering with the cleat mechanism of the shoe. Accordingly, these inventors have invented an adjustable pedal that can be lifted; pivoted about a radial axis perpendicular to the axis of the shaft to provide toe-in, toe-out positions; tilted about that same axis to provide inverted and everted foot positions; and set in a fixed position with respect to the shaft. The device is best adjusted after consultation with a podiatrist or other specialist to attend to the specific needs of the user. In 1988, the device sold for $170 and an evaluation of one's particular needs to properly adjust the pedal was available through Biolab in Mill Valley, Calif. for $150.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a simple method and apparatus that permits the foot to be in its natural position when engaging in activities that require it to be attached to a device that, generally, would otherwise force the foot into a flat and unnatural position, such as a bicycle pedal. In particular, there is a need for a method and apparatus that permits the front part of the foot to be in its natural position, namely a method and apparatus that ensures that the foot and leg will be properly aligned when muscle power is applied by a bicyclist through his legs into the pedal, thereby improving the efficiency of his power delivery. There is also a need for a device of this nature which can be used for professional bicyclists and hobbyists, which is: inexpensive, may be used by the user without the need of a professional evaluation, and may be used on old and new model bicycles and professional and non professional shoes used for biking.

Device for holding one's foot at an angle