A microscope includes optics configured to direct beams onto an object including a reflective material, a detector configured to receive a field spectrum formed by beams reflected by the object, and a calculator configured to reconstruct an image of the object from the field spectrum detected by the detector.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a microscope and a method of providing image data using the microscope. More particularly, embodiments relate to a microscope providing high resolution image data of a reflective material mask and a method of providing the image data using the microscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transmissive scattering microscopes may be used with beams, e.g., X-ray beams, which may be transmitted through an object. Beams scattered by the object are detected by a detector. When the beam is wider than the object, a central blockage may be provided to prevent beams that do not interact with the object from being incident on the detector. However, 0th order or low order light among the scattered beams may also be blocked by the central blockage. The 0th order or low order light provides information regarding an outline of the object. This information may be supplied using a longer wavelength, lower resolution microscope, e.g., a visible microscope, or may be supplied in advance. While transmissive microscopes may be applied to objects through which the beams may pass, they cannot be applied to a reflective material, e.g., an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask.
A microscope for use with an EUV mask may provide an incoherent EUV beam passing through illumination optics onto the EUV mask. The beam scattered from the EUV mask forms a field spectrum, and a detector images the scattered beam through imaging or projection optics, which convert the field spectrum into an image. However, use of imaging optics may give rise to aberration errors, misalignment, and defocus in the image data.

Microscope and method of providing image data using the same


An apparatus for forming a toner image on both sides of a sheet, includes a photoreceptor on which a first toner image and a second toner image are formed by toner image forming devices; a second image carrying belt onto which the second toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor; a first transferring device to transfer the first toner image from the photoreceptor to a first side of the sheet; a second transferring device to transfer the second toner image from the second image carrying belt to a second side of the sheet; a fixing device having a first fixing roller for fixing the first toner image onto the first side of the sheet and a second fixing roller for fixing the second toner image onto the second side of the sheet, the first fixing roller coming in contact with the second fixing roller so as to form a nip section therebetween; the second image carrying belt having a flat belt surface on which the sheet is conveyed from the photoreceptor toward a separating section at which the sheet is separated from the second image carrying belt, and the second image carrying belt arranged in relation to the fixing device in such a manner that an extended plane from the flat belt surface crosses the first fixing roller at a point between the nip section and a rotation axis of the first fixing roller.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system which forms images by transferring onto a transfer material toner images formed on an image carrier and by fixing them on the transfer material in a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile machine, and in particular, to an image forming apparatus capable of forming images on any of the obverse side and the reverse side of a transfer material by transferring toner images formed on an image carrier onto the obverse side of the transfer material, or by transferring the toner images onto the reverse side of the transfer material after transferring them temporarily onto a toner image receptor.
In the case of two-sided copy, there has been employed a method wherein an image for one side of a transfer material formed on an image carrier is transferred and fixed on the transfer material, then the transfer material is stored temporarily in an intermediate tray, and then is fed out of the intermediate tray in synchronization with an image formed again on the image carrier so that the image may be transferred and fixed on the other side of the transfer material.
This two-sided copy apparatus has been less reliable in conveyance of a transfer material and has caused a paper jam because the transfer material needs to be fed into and fed out of an intermediate tray and it needs to pass through a fixing unit twice. In contrast to the foregoing, TOKKOSHOs 49-37538 and 54-28740 and TOKKAIHEIs 1-44457 and 4-214576 disclose a technology wherein fixing is conducted only once after forming toner images on both sides of a transfer material, and in particular, TOKKAIHEIs 1-44457 and 4-214576 disclose a method wherein a plurality of image forming means each being composed of an image carrier, a charging means, an image writing means and a developing means are arranged in parallel on a toner image receptor to form a two-sided copy of color images.
However, in two-sided color image forming disclosed by TOKKAIHEIs 1-44457 and 4-214576 mentioned above, image deteriorations such as color doubling or scattering and rubbing of toner are easily caused because color toner images each being different in color are superposed one by one on a toner image receptor, although conveyance of a transfer material is improved.
In contrast to this, inventors of the invention are studying, as they propose in TOKKAIHEIs 8-70322 and 8-70323, an image forming apparatus wherein a toner image formed on the first image carrying means (photoreceptor drum) is transferred onto the second image carrying means (toner image receptor) temporarily, then a toner image is formed again on the photoreceptor drum, and the toner image on the toner image receptor is transferred as a reverse side image onto the reverse side of the transfer material conveyed on the toner receptor, while the toner image formed again on the photoreceptor is transferred as an obverse side image onto the obverse side of the transfer material, and then the transfer material is separated from the toner image receptor and toner images on the both sides of the transfer material are fixed by a fixing means to form two-sided images. This method, however, has a problem that a crease is caused on a transfer material which enters a nip portion of a fixing means when the transfer material is conveyed to the fixing means, and thereby the toner images on both sides of the transfer material can not be fixed satisfactorily. There is further caused a problem that the transfer material is lifted to touch the second transfer means and a transfer material separating means when it is separated from the second image carrying means in a belt shape and is conveyed to the fixing means, resulting in disturbed toner image on the obverse image.
The first object of the invention is to solve the problems mentioned above and to provide an image forming apparatus wherein a transfer material is caused to enter a fixing means without being creased and is less brought into contact with the second transfer means or with a transfer material separating means when the transfer material is conveyed from the second belt-shaped transfer means to a fixing means.
Another problem to be solved by the invention will be explained as follows. Namely, the second image carrier (toner image receptor) is provided to be adjacent to or to be in contact with a photoreceptor drum, a driving roller is provided at the downstream side and a driven roller is provided at the upstream side both from the position where the toner image receptor is provided to be close to or to be in contact with the photoreceptor drum in the rotary direction of the toner image receptor, respectively to be inscribed, and a transfer material charging means (paper charging unit) which makes a transfer material to be attracted to the toner image receptor and the second image carrying means cleaning blade (toner image receptor cleaning blade) of the second image carrying means cleaning means which comes in contact with the toner image receptor to remove the toner remaining thereon after transferring are provided so that they face the driven roller through the toner image receptor. However, the shock caused when the toner image receptor cleaning blade comes in contact with or leaves the toner image receptor makes the toner image receptor to have uneven rotation which causes a blurred image on a toner image of the obverse image or a reverse image to be transferred onto a transfer material that is conveyed by the toner image receptor, which is a problem.
There is further caused a problem that a paper charging unit arranged in the vicinity of the toner image receptor cleaning means is contaminated by toner spattered from the toner image receptor cleaning means.
The second object of the invention is to solve the problems mentioned above and to provide an image forming apparatus wherein uneven rotation of the second image carrying means caused by the shock generated when the second image carrying means cleaning blade comes in contact with or leaves the second image carrying means is prevented, and contamination of a transfer material charging means caused by toner spattered from the second image carrying means cleaning means is prevented.

Apparatus for forming an image on both sides of an image receiver


This invention discloses a semiconductor device including an insulating film having a recess therein; an electric conductor formed inside the recess; a manganese silicate film formed on an upper surface of the conductor, the manganese silicate film being formed of a reaction product of a manganese with a silicon oxide insulating film. A method for manufacturing such a semiconductor device is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device which permits easy reduction in interwiring capacitance and also to a method for manufacturing same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the damascene structure of copper (Cu) wiring, as shown in FIG. 20, a barrier film 213 is formed on the inner surfaces of a wiring recess 212 formed in an oxide film 211 for the purpose of preventing copper from diffusing into the oxide film 211. In general, for the barrier film 213 formed at side walls and a bottom portion of the wiring recess 212, there are frequently used metal materials such as tantalum (Ta), tantalum nitride (TaN), titanium nitride (TiN), tungsten nitride (WN) and the like, and for an insulating film 215 on the upper surface of a copper wiring 214 formed inside the wiring recess 212 through the barrier film 213, silicon insulating film materials are frequently used including materials for chemical vapor deposition such as, for example, silicon nitride (SiN), silicon nitride carbide (SiCN), silicon carbide (SiC), SiCON and the like.
The properties necessary as the barrier film 215 formed on the upper surface of the copper wiring 214 include, aside from the barrier property for suppressing diffusion of copper, a dielectric constant of the barrier film 215 itself, adhesion between the barrier film and interfaces thereof, and processing flexibility of the barrier film 215, which are considered as important parameters for robust process establishment. Especially, with a 65 nm generation and subsequent devices, an influence on working speeds of circuits is occupied largely by wiring units. The barrier film on the upper surface of the copper wiring 214 is required to have such characteristics as mentioned above while lowering the dielectric constant.
For the barrier insulating film suppressing copper diffusion, a difficulty is involved in satisfying such characteristics as mentioned above (e.g. a barrier property for suppressing copper diffusion, adhesion between the barrier film and interfaces thereof, film stress, and processing flexibility and the like) while satisfying a requirement for dielectric constant of 65 nm generation and subsequent devices. An instance of the relationship between the dielectric constant of a barrier insulating film and various characteristics has been introduced in literature (e.g. Z. C. Wu, T. J. Chou, S. H. Lin, Y. L. Huang, C. H. Lin, L. P. Li, B. T. Chen, Y. C. Lu, C. C. Chiang, M. C. Chen, W. Chang, S. M. Jang, and M. S. Liang, "High Performance 90/65 nm BEOL Technology with CVD Porous Low-K Dielectrics (K˜2.5) and Low-K Etching Stop (K˜3.0)" International Electron Device Meeting Tech. Dig., December 2003, p. 849-852, 2003), and the dielectric constant and various characteristics of the barrier insulating film are in trade-off relation.
A technique of forming a barrier insulating film for copper by so-called self-forming is known using a copper-manganese (CuMn) alloy seed layer as a barrier insulating film for copper (see, for example, T. Usui, H. Nasu, J. Koike, M. Wada, S. Takahashi, N. Shimizu, T. Nishikawa, M. Yoshimura and H. Shibata, "Low resistive and Highly Reliable Cu Dual-Damascene Interconnect Technology Using Self-Formed MnSixOy Barrier Layer", International Interconnect Technology Conference 2005, p. 188-190, 2005).

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same


The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing yield related traits by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a BET1-like polypeptide. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding this BET1-like polypeptide, which plants have enhanced yield-related traits relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

1. BET1-Like Polypeptides
Gregorio Hueros et. al. (Plant Cell, Vol. 7, 747-757, 6/1995 Am. Soc. Plant Physiol.) disclosed a cDNA clone, BET1 (for basal endosperm transfer layer), isolated from a cDNA bank prepared from 10-days after pollination (DAP) maize endosperm mRNA. BET1 mRNA showed to encode a 7-kD cell wall polypeptide. Both the mRNA and protein were restricted in their distribution to the basal endosperm transfer layer and were not expressed elsewhere in the plant. BET1 expression commenced at 9 DAP, reached a maximum between 12 and 16 DAP, and declined after 16 DAP. The initial accumulation of the BET1 polypeptide reached a plateau by 16 DAP and declined thereafter, becoming undetectable by 20 DAP. The antibody raised against the BET1 protein reacted with a number of polypeptides of higher molecular mass than the BET1 monomer. Most of these were present in cytosolic fractions and were found in nonbasal cell endosperm extracts, but three species appeared to be basal cell specific. This result and the reactivity of exhaustively extracted cell wall material with the BET1 antibody suggest that a fraction of the protein is deposited in a covalently bound form in the extracellular matrix. It was proposed that BET1 protein plays a role in the structural specialization of the transfer cells. In addition, BET1 provides a new molecular marker for the development of this endosperm domain.
2. Calreticulin Polypeptides
Calcium plays an essential role in multiple signal transduction pathways both in plants and in animals. Cytoplasmic calcium concentrations are tightly regulated at 100-200 nM but higher levels, in the range of micro- and milli-molar are found in subcellular organelles. In plants calcium is an also a micronutrient.
Calreticulin (CRT), a protein involved in the modulation of the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) Ca2+(Calcium)-ATPase, is found in all eukaryotes. Studies in mammalians filed have elucidated the structure of the CRT proteins and a number of key physiological functions, including control of cell adhesion and signal transduction through calcium-binding and quality control of protein folding and posttranscriptional modifications (Michalak. Biochem J. 2009 417(3):651-66).
Structurally CRT proteins are characterized by three distinct domains: a globular neutral N-domain, a proline-rich P-domain, and a polyacidic C-domain. CRT also has an N-terminal signal peptide sequence and an ER retention motif in the C-domain. The P-domain is responsible for the high-affinity (in the order of Kd 1.6 micromolar) and low-capacity Ca2+ binding while the C-domain is responsible for the low-affinity (in the order of Kd 0.3-2 mM) and high-capacity Ca2+ binding. CRT polypeptides include an N-terminal signal sequence and an ER-retention motif in the C-domain. Within the P-domain, there are two types of triplicate repeated motifs that are highly conserved among various animal species. However, the C-domain is less conserved than other domains of CRT. Four amino acid residues at the tip of the "extended arm" of the P-domain are critical in the chaperone function of CRT. The C-domain is involved n the Ca2+ storage in the lumen of the ER (Michalak. Biochem J. 1992, 285 (Pt 3):681-92.).
In plants, CRT proteins share same structural features and similar Ca2+ binding proteins as their animal counterparts. Phylogenetic studies revealed that plant CRT fall into two evolutionary related groups, the so called CRT1/2 and CRT3. CRT1/2 are often localized to the plasmodesmata of the cell. Plant CRT have been proposed to play a role in regeneration, gravitropism, signal transduction, and regulation of stress tolerance (Christensen et al. 2008, Plant Cell Physiol. 49(6): 912-924).
BrCRT1, a CRT form Brassica rapa when expressed in transgenic tobacco plants displayed no obvious phenotypic differences in appearance, time of flowering, or seed production when grown to maturity in soil and a weak growth inhibition of seedlings (Jin at al. 2005 Transgenic Res. 14(5):619-26).
3. tRNA Dihydrouridine Synthase 1-Like Polypeptides (DUS1L Polypeptides)
In translation, transfer RNA is the central adapter molecule as it physically links the genetic information of messenger RNA, and the addition of correctly ordered amino acids to a growing polypeptide chain. One of the structural features of tRNA is the presence of a wide variety of post-transcriptionally modified RNA bases. Dihydrouridine is one of the most abundant modified tRNA bases in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. It differs from uridine only by the reduction of uridine's carbon-carbon double bond (non-aromatic base), and is found almost exclusively at preferred positions in the D-loop of tRNA, which can further contain varying numbers of dihydrouridine residues (Bishop et al. (2002) 277(28): 25090-25095). The most likely chemical role of dihydrouridine is to enhance the conformational flexibility of tRNA, and thus improve the translational efficiencies.
The family of dihydrouridine synthase (DUS) enzymes, which catalyze the modification of uridine to dihydrouridine, has been identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and E. coli (Bishop et al, supra). DUSs comprise a discrete gene family (3 members in E. coli YjbN, YhdG, and Yohl, at least 4 members in yeast YML080w or DUS1, YNR015w, YLR405w, and YLR401c), allowing putative DUS genes from other organisms to be proposed based on sequence homology. Such homologs have been found for example in human, chimpanzee, dog, cow, mouse, hicken, zebrafish, fruit fly, mosquito, C. elegans, rice, and P. falciparum. In the Arabidopsis genome, at least 3 genes have been identified as potentially encoding DUS enzymes (AT3G49640, AT4G38890, AT5G67220 or DUS1 like). One of these genes encodes a polypepyide with higher similarity to the DUS1 enzyme, and is therefore called DUS1 like (DUS1L) enzyme.
In international application WO 02/66660 "Method for identifying herbicidally active substances" a nucleic acid sequence is described encoding a DUS1L polypeptide (SEQ ID NO: 84), and constructs comprising this sequence. Transgenic plants lacking the gene product present significantly delayed growth and/or completely stunted growth at the embryonic stage of Arabidopsis thaliana. The invention relates to the use of said genes and the gene products coded thereby for discovering novel herbicides.
Surprisingly, it has now been found that increasing expression in a plant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a DUS1L polypeptide as defined herein, gives plants having increased yield-related traits relative to control plants.
According to one embodiment, there is provided a method for increasing yield-related traits in plants relative to control plants, comprising increasing expression in a plant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a DUS1L polypeptide as defined herein. The increased yield-related traits comprise one or more of: increased aboveground biomass, increased seed yield per plant, increased number of filled seeds, and increased total number of seeds.
4. ES43-Like Polypeptides
The BAH (bromo-adjacent homology) family contains proteins such as eukaryotic DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferases, the origin recognition complex 1 (Orc1) proteins, as well as several proteins involved in transcriptional regulation. The BAH domain appears to act as a protein-protein interaction module specialised in gene silencing, as suggested for example by its interaction within yeast Orc1p with the silent information regulator Sir1p. The BAH module might therefore play an important role by linking DNA methylation, replication and transcriptional regulation (FEBS Lett. 1999 March 5; 446(1):189-93).
PHD domains are protein Zinc finger domains that fold into an interleaved type of Zn-finger chelating 2 Zn ions in a similar manner to that of the RING and FYVE domains (Pascual et al. J Mol Biol 2000; 304:723-729). Zinc finger (Znf) domains are relatively small protein motifs that bind one or more zinc atoms, and which usually contain multiple finger-like protrusions that make tandem contacts with their target molecule. Their binding properties depend on the amino acid sequence of the finger domains and of the linker between fingers, as well as on the higher-order structures and the number of fingers. Znf domains are often found in clusters, where fingers can have different binding specificities. There are many superfamilies of Znf motifs, varying in both sequence and structure. They display considerable versatility in binding modes, even between members of the same class (e.g. some bind DNA, others protein), suggesting that Znf motifs are stable scaffolds that have evolved specialised functions. For example, Znf-containing proteins function in gene transcription, translation, mRNA trafficking, cytoskeleton organisation, epithelial development, cell adhesion, protein folding, chromatin remodelling and zinc sensing. Zinc-binding motifs are stable structures, and they rarely undergo conformational changes upon binding their target.
The PHD (homeodomain) zinc finger domain which is a C4HC3 zinc-finger-like motif found in nuclear proteins is thought to be involved in chromatin-mediated transcriptional regulation. The PHD finger motif is reminiscent of, but distinct from the C3HC4 type RING finger (Aasland et al. Trends Biochem Sci. 1995 February; 20(2):56-9).
A number of plant proteins comprising both BAH and PHD finger domains have been described. For Example the ES43 protein of Balery (Speulman and Salamini Plant Sci.
106, 91-98 (1995), SHL (Mussig et al. Mol Gen Genet. 2000 November; 264(4):363-70) and EBS (Pi{umlaut over (n)}eiro et al. Plant Cell. 2003 July; 15(7):1552-62) of Arabidopsis thaliana. EBS has been implicated in the transcriptional repressor complex that modulates chromatin structure and is required to repress the initiation of flowering in short days. Overexpression of EBS caused early flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana plants (Pi{umlaut over (n)}eiro et al. 2003).
5. HON5-Like Polypeptides
High-mobility-group (HMG) proteins are small and relatively abundant chromatin-associated proteins, biochemically defined as small proteins typically around 30 KDa, having a relatively high proportion of basic and acidic amino acids, and capable of solubilising in dilute perchloric or trichloroacetic acid.
Plants and animals possess a family of HMG proteins that are similar on the basis of a shared motif known as the AT-hook, a domain that preferentially recognizes and binds to DNA with certain structural features, such as those imparted by AT-rich DNA. Since these proteins recognize chromatin and/or DNA structure (such as the structure imparted by AT-rich DNA) rather than as specific DNA sequence, they have been named architectural transcription factors.
Much of the information available on the function of the animal HMGA family has been inferred to the plant HMG-1/Y family of AT-hook proteins.
In plants, two groups of chromosomal HMG proteins have been identified, namely the HMGA family, typically containing four A/T-hook DNA-binding motifs, and the HMGB family, containing a single HMG-box DNA-binding domain. Both plant and animal AT hook proteins bind AT-rich tracts of DNA in the minor groove, induce DNA bending, and function in the regulation of gene expression. By orchestrating multiple protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions, the HMGA proteins assist the formation of higher-order transcription factor complexes, regulating gene expression (Klosterman et al; Plant Science 162 (2002) 855—866).

Plants having enhanced yield-related traits and a method for making the same

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for improving various plant growth characteristics by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a CRT (Calreticulin). The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding a Calreticulin, which plants have improved growth characteristics relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides hereto unknown Calreticulin polynucleotides, polypeptides and constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for increasing various plant yield-related traits by increasing expression in a plant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a tRNA dihydrouridine synthase 1-like (DUS1L) polypeptide. The present invention also concerns plants having increased expression of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a DUS1L polypeptide, which plants have increased yield-related traits relative to control plants. The invention additionally relates to nucleic acid sequences, nucleic acid constructs, vectors and plants containing said nucleic acid sequences.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing yield-related traits by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ES43-like polypeptide. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ES43_like polypeptide, which plants have improved growth characteristics relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides hereto unknown ES43-like polynucleotides and polypeptides and constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing various economically important yield-related traits in plants. More specifically, the present invention concerns a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an HON5-like polypeptide. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding an HON5-like polypeptide, which plants have enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants. The invention also provides hitherto unknown HON5-like-encoding nucleic acids, and constructs comprising the same, useful in performing the methods of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants by modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding a glutamate-1-semialdehyde aminotransferase (GSA1) polypeptide. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding a GSA1, which plants have enhanced yield-related traits relative to corresponding wild type plants or other control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.


An image sensor comprises a pixel array, and a control unit which performs, in a first period, a control operation of an electric potential of a signal line to turn off a MOS transistor while the electric potential of a charge-voltage converter in a selected pixel is maintained at an electric potential of a selected state, and, in a second period subsequent to the first period, performs a control operation of the electric potential of the signal line to turn on the MOS transistor while the electric potential of the charge-voltage converter in the selected pixel is maintained at an electric potential of the selected state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image sensor, an imaging system, and an image sensor control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging systems such as a digital cameras and video camcorders sometimes adopt a MOS image sensor. In some cases, a MOS image sensor S will have an arrangement as shown in FIG. 10.
The image sensor S includes a pixel array PA, a vertical scanning circuit 15, noise reduction circuits 10-1 to 10-m, horizontal transfer switches 16-1 to 16-m, a horizontal scanning circuit 14, and an output amplifier 17.
In the pixel array PA, a plurality of pixels P11 to Pnm are arrayed two-dimensionally (in the row and column directions).
The vertical scanning circuit 15 scans the pixel array PA in the vertical direction via row control lines. The row control lines include selection row control lines 101-1 to 101-n, reset row control lines 102-1 to 102-n, and transfer row control lines 103-1 to 103-n. The vertical scanning circuit 15 selects a row of the pixel array PA.
The noise reduction circuits 10-1 to 10-n read out N and S signals at different timings via column signal lines 8-1 to 8-n from the pixels of respective columns on a selected row. The noise reduction circuits 10-1 to 10-n execute CDS processing to generate the difference signals between N and S signals, obtaining noise-free signals.
The horizontal scanning circuit 14 sequentially turns on the horizontal transfer switches 16-1 to 16-n to sequentially transfer the difference signals of the pixels of respective columns on a selected row to the output amplifier 17.
The output amplifier 17 amplifies the difference signals, and outputs them from an output terminal 18.
The arrangement of each pixel P11 to Pnm in the pixel array PA will be explained with reference to FIG. 11. Although the arrangement of the pixel P11 will be exemplified, the arrangements of the remaining pixels P12 to Pnm are also equivalent to that of the pixel P11.
The pixel P11 includes a photodiode 1, amplification MOS transistor 2, selection MOS transistor 3, reset MOS transistor 4, transfer MOS transistor 6, and floating diffusion (FD) 7.
The photodiode 1 generates and accumulates charges corresponding to incident light. Upon receiving an active-level transfer signal from the vertical scanning circuit 15 via the transfer row control line 103-1, the transfer MOS transistor 6 is turned on to transfer the charges of the photodiode 1 to the FD 7. The FD 7 converts the transferred charges into a voltage in accordance with its own parasitic capacitance. Upon receiving an active-level selection signal from the vertical scanning circuit 15 via the selection row control line 101-1, the selection MOS transistor 3 is turned on to select the pixel P11. Upon receiving an inactive-level selection signal from the vertical scanning circuit 15 via the selection row control line 101-1, the selection MOS transistor 3 is turned off to deselect the pixel P11. In the selected state, the amplification MOS transistor 2 performs a source follower operation together with a constant current source 5 connected to the column signal line 8-1, outputting a signal corresponding to the voltage of the FD 7 to the column signal line 8-1. Upon receiving an active-level reset signal via the reset row control line 102-1, the reset MOS transistor 4 is turned on to reset the FD 7. The drains of the reset MOS transistor 4 and amplification MOS transistor 2 are connected to a power supply line SL for supplying constant power.
Recently, there has been a need to increase the number of pixels in pixel array of an image sensor. To increase the number of pixels in a predetermined area which is required for the pixel array, the pixel size is sometimes decreased. In each pixel P11 to Pnm, if the gate width and gate length of the amplification MOS transistor 2 are decreased along with this, random noise in a signal output from the amplification MOS transistor 2 in each pixel P11 to Pnm to each column signal line 8-1 to 8-n specifically increases as shown in FIG. 12.
FIG. 12 shows the distribution of random noise in the pixel array PA that is obtained by processing the dark outputs (N signals) of a plurality of frames. In FIG. 12, the abscissa axis represents the magnitude (standard deviation of dark outputs) of random noise of each pixel, and the ordinate axis represents the number of pixels.
FIG. 12 shows that, in region A, the first component, which exhibits almost a normal distribution, is contained in the random noise. The first component fluctuates randomly between pixels in each frame.
FIG. 12 shows that, in region B, the second component, which exhibits an exponential distribution, is contained in the random noise. The second component will be called flicker noise. As shown in FIG. 13, a specific pixel generates flicker noise (second component) with a specific magnitude (much larger than the first component).
FIG. 13 shows temporal fluctuations of a dark output from a specific pixel in region B. As shown in FIG. 13, flicker noise tends to repeat two, H-and L-level values at random.
Flicker noise is associated with 1/f noise depending on the driving frequency, and often generated from a MOS transistor in a pixel. More specifically, flicker noise depends on the product (gate area) of the gate length L and gate width W of the MOS transistor. In the amplification MOS transistor 2 in which the gate area is set small, flicker noise of a specific pixel increases specifically in the plurality of pixels. Accordingly, random noise including the flicker noise in a signal output from the amplification MOS transistor 2 of a specific pixel to the column signal line sometimes increases specifically in the plurality of pixels.
Flicker noise of a specific pixel stands out as a white spot in an image obtained upon low-illuminance shooting. In particular, a white spot becomes very conspicuous in an image obtained by movie video shooting at low illuminance.
To solve this problem, a reference "M. F. Snoeij, et al., "The Effect of Switched Biasing on 1/f Noise in CMOS Imager Front-Ends", (US), 2005 IEEE Workshop on Charge-Coupled Devices and Advanced Image Sensors, June 2005, pp. 68-71" (to be referred to as non-patent reference 1 hereinafter) proposes switching an amplification MOS transistor in the pixel of an image sensor between two, ON and OFF states by a switched basing method. More specifically, before the amplification MOS transistor of a pixel outputs a signal to a column signal line, a switching circuit connected to the column signal line turns off the amplification MOS transistor by increasing the electric potential of the column signal line to VDD once. According to the non-patent reference 1, 1/f noise of the amplification MOS transistor can be reduced, reducing flicker noise.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-322901 proposes a method of controlling the substrate electric potential of an amplification MOS transistor in an image sensor to change the amplification MOS transistor in a pixel to an accumulation mode and turn it off, and then change the amplification MOS transistor to a strong inversion mode and turn it on. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-322901, before turning on the amplification MOS transistor, trapping of charges in the substrate surface can be inactivated, reducing flicker noise.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-060500 proposes a method of changing the electric potential of an FD to the ground electric potential before turning on an amplification MOS transistor in an image sensor. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-060500, before turning on the amplification MOS transistor, it can reliably change to an accumulation state, reducing flicker noise.
The technique described in the non-patent reference 1 may not be able to reduce flicker noise when the number of pixels in the pixel array increases. More specifically, as the number of selection MOS transistors connected to each signal line increases, their parasitic capacitances become non-negligible. As a result, it becomes difficult to quickly increase the electric potential of the column signal line to the electric potential VDD or quickly decrease it to a predetermined electric potential by a switching circuit connected to a column signal line. This provides a possibility that no amplification MOS transistor can be turned off/on quickly and that thereby no flicker noise may be reduced.
Also, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-322901 may not be able to reduce flicker noise if the number of pixels in the pixel array increases. More specifically, as the number of amplification MOS transistors in the pixel array increases, their substrate capacitances become non-negligible. It becomes difficult to increase the substrate electric potential of the amplification MOS transistor from low level to high level or decrease it from high level to low level quickly. This provides a possibility that no amplification MOS transistor can be turned off/on quickly and that thereby no flicker noise may be reduced.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-060500 turns off/on an amplification MOS transistor by controlling the electric potential of an FD to the ground electric potential/power supply electric potential. This provides a possibility that a signal containing flicker noise generated after changing the amplification MOS transistor from the OFF state to the ON state is sometimes output to a signal line and that thereby no flicker noise may be reduced.
For example, when reading out an S signal from a pixel, the amplification MOS transistor changes from the OFF state to the ON state by controlling the electric potential of the FD from the ground electric potential to the power supply electric potential. Then, the transfer MOS transistor is turned on to transfer the charges of the photodiode to the FD. The amplification MOS transistor outputs a signal (S signal) corresponding to the voltage of the FD to the column signal line. That is, after the amplification MOS transistor is turned on to transfer the charges of the photodiode to the FD, it outputs a signal corresponding to the voltage of the FD to the signal line. This provides a possibility that the signal output to the signal line highly likely contains flicker noise.

Image sensor, imaging system, and image sensor control method


An LED-based color measurement instrument including an illumination system and a sensing system. The illumination system includes modulated LEDs and a temperature control system for regulating the temperature of the LEDs, thereby improving the consistency of their performance. The sensing system includes a photodiode, a transimpedance amplifier, and an integrator in the first stage to cancel the effect of ambient light on the output of the first stage. The sensing system also includes a lens system for imaging a target area of the target sample onto the photo sensor in a manner so that the product of the target area times the solid angle captured by the lens system is generally uniform over a selected range of distances, thereby reducing the positional sensitivity of the instrument with respect to the target sample.

The present invention relates to color measurement instruments, and more particularly to color measurement instruments that include modulated LEDs as illumination sources.
A variety of color measurement instruments are well known and widely used in a variety of applications to measure color. Some of these instruments illuminate the target sample sequentially with a plurality of monochrome illuminators, measure the light reflected by the target sample to each of the monochrome illuminators, and determine the color of the target sample based on all of the measurements.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been used as the monochrome illuminators. Original instruments included red, green, and blue LEDs. More recent instruments include more than three LEDs; and some include as many as eight.
In such instruments, the LEDs are typically modulated at predetermined frequencies so that the sensing circuit can discriminate between light reflected from the LEDs, which is of interest, and light reflected from ambient light, which is not of interest. The sensing circuit can ignore the ambient component by looking only at reflected light received at the predetermined frequencies.
Several problems exist in current LED-based instruments. A first problem is that the output of the LEDs varies with the temperature of the LEDs. Specifically, the output changes in terms of intensity, spectral energy distribution, and the spatial distribution of the output. The temperature changes are attributable both to the ambient temperature and the amount of time that the LEDs are illuminated. Unfortunately, this variation in LED output adversely impacts the accuracy of the color measurement.
A second problem is that the ambient light component can saturate the transimpedance amplifiers in the sensing circuit and thereby limit dynamic range, particularly in the first stage. Prior artisans have addressed this problem by placing a shunt element in opposition to the photodiode, integrating the output of the transimpedance amplifier at a frequency less than the ambient light frequencies, and using the integrated signal to control the shunt to act as a current sink for the frequencies of the ambient light. While this is an effective way to cancel the effects of an extremely wide dynamic range of ambient light, it also is inherently noisy and sensitive to loop gain and bandwidth issues. Consequently, measurements include errors of an undesirable magnitude.
A third problem is that the distance between the instrument and the sample is a critical factor that must be precisely controlled. This critical factor is known as positional sensitivity. Because the optics of such instruments are typically tuned to a precise distance, variations in that distance typically detract from the accuracy of measurements. Unfortunately, positional accuracy is not a practical possibility in industrial applications, where positional repeatability varies to some degree because moving components, such as robotics, cannot always be positioned precisely.


The present invention proposes a method for fabricating a high-density shallow trench contactless nonvolatile memory. First, a stacked pad oxide/silicon nitride layer is deposited on the substrate and the buried bit line region is defined by a photoresist. An anisotropic etching follows to etch the silicon layer and then the n+ impurity ions are implanted to form the source and drain. After stripping the photoresist, a high temperature steam oxidation process is used to grow a thick field oxide, and the doped ions are active and driven in to form the buried bit lines simultaneously. The silicon nitride layer and the pad oxide layer are then removed, and the silicon substrate is recessed by using the field oxide as an etching mask. After rounding the trench corners by using thermal oxidation and etching back processes, a thin silicon oxy-nitride film is regrown. An in-situ doped polysilicon film is deposited to refill the trench region and then etch back by using a CMP process to form the floating gates. Next, the interpoly dielectric such as ultra-thin ONO film, and, the control gate formed of n+ doped polysilicon film, are sequentially built. After the word lines are defined, the nonvolatile memory is thus finished.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a nonvolatile memory, and more especially, to a method for fabricating high density shallow trench contactless nonvolatile memories.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nonvolatile memories, including mask- read-only memories (Mask ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM or E.sup.2 PROM) and flash memories, retain their memory data whenever the power is turned off, and have wide applications in the computer and electronic industry. In recent years, the portable computers and telecommunications market develop rapidly and become a major driving force in semiconductor integrated circuit's design and technology. As stated by A. Bergemont, et al., in "Low Voltage NVG.TM.: A New High Performance 3 V/5 V Flash Technology for Portable Computing and Telecommunications Application" (in IEEE Trans. Electron Devices Vol. 43, p. 1510, 1996), it creates a great need for low power, high density, and electrically re-writable nonvolatile memories. That is, the memories programmable and erasable as EPROM, E.sup.2 PROM or flash memories are required for aforementioned systems to store operating systems or applications software. The basic storage cell of these programmable and erasable memories contain a double polysilicon storage transistor with a floating gate isolated in silicon dioxide and capacitively coupled to a second control gate which is stacked above it. The E.sup.2 PROM cell further comprises an access, or select, transistor. These memories execute the program and erasure by charging or discharging their floating gates. For example, the EPROM is programmed by hot electron injection at the drain to selectively charge the floating gate and erased by discharging the floating gate with ultraviolet light or X-ray, which the latter has never been commercially applied for this purpose. The E.sup.2 PROM and most of the flash memories are programmed by hot electron injection or cold electron tunneling named Flower-Nordheim tunneling, and erased mostly by Flower-Nordheim tunneling from the floating gate to the source, with the control gate ground. Herein the Flower-Nordheim tunneling, or cold electron tunneling, is a quantum-mechanical effect, which allows the electrons to pass through the energy barrier at the silicon-silicon dioxide interface at a lower energy than required to pass over it.
H. Shirai, et al., developed a method for fabricating 256 Mbit Flash memories with self-aligned, hemispherical grained polysilicon floating gate in their paper "A 0.54 .mu.m.sup.2 Self-Aligned, HSG Floating Gate Cell (SAHF Cell) for 256 Mbit Flash Memories" (in IEDM Tech. Dig. Vol. 95, p. 653, 1995). In this work, the hemispherical grained (HSG) polysilicon is applied to a floating gate to extend the upper surface area and double that of the floating gate in comparison with the conventional one. And, a high capacitive-coupling ratio of 0.8 and buried N+ diffusion layer which are self-aligned to the floating gate silicon, are realized. With contactless array and Flower-Nordheim program/erase scheme, a cell structure for achieving a high density and low power flash memory is proposed.
On the other hand, to achieve high density means to decrease the device dimensions, and it is accompanied with the problem of the short channel effect. The short channel effect may affect the electrical performance due to the reduction and degradation of the threshold voltage, that in turn increase the subthreshold current level and power dissipation. P. H. Bricout, et al., suggest in their article titled "Short-Channel Effect Immunity and Current Capability of Sub-0.1-Micron MOSFET's Using a Recessed Channel" in IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. 43, p. 1251, 1996, that the recessed channel structure nearly keeps the same threshold voltage for all channel length. This behavior is attribute to a "coupling" of the potential barrier created at both corners at the recessed floating gate. Due to this corner effect, the short channel effect can be suppressed by the appropriate geometry of the interface of the recessed channel. In addition, for equal noise margin, it is possible to use a lower concentration than in planar devices, and thus the degradation of the current device capability is limited. Furthermore, because the nonequilibrium transport is mainly located in the drain region, the magnitude of the hot carrier phenomena should be reduced compared to planar one.

Method for forming a high density shallow trench contactless nonvolatile memory


A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes an electrode group prepared by winding spirally or in a flattened shape a laminate structure including a separator interposed between positive and negative electrodes, and a nonaqueous electrolyte held by the electrode group, wherein an edge portion of the separator in a direction perpendicular to a winding direction protrudes outward from edges of the positive and negative electrodes in the direction perpendicular to the winding direction, and the separator satisfies conditions given by formulas (1) to (3) given below:0≦X1≦(Y1/1.5)≦10  (1)X2≦10  (2)X2≦Y2≦20.  (3)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the battery, a shutdown mechanism utilizing a separator, a current breaking element, etc. was used as the means for securing the safety in the case where the battery was over-charged.
In the shutdown mechanism utilizing a separator, the porous film used as the separator is melted when the battery temperature is elevated by the over-charging so as to close the pores of the porous film, thereby breaking the current passageway. On the other hand, when it comes to the current breaking element, the electrical resistance of the current breaking element is increased by the elevation of the battery temperature so as to break the current passageway. The current breaking element of this type includes, for example, a PTC thermistor and a fuse.
In addition to the shutdown mechanism and the current breaking element, a current breaking rupture is employed in a battery for securing the safety in the case where the battery is over-charged. The current breaking rupture is designed such that a rupture is opened by the increase in the inner pressure of the battery so as to prevent the rupture of the battery. Alternatively, the current breaking rupture is designed such that the current passageway is broken by the deformation of, for example, the rupture.
However, the energy of the battery has been increased in recent years so as to make it more and more difficult to secure the safety of the battery when the battery has been over-charged. It should be noted in this connection that, with increase in the energy of the battery, the battery is caused to generate heat rapidly when the battery is over-charged. In addition, the amount of the generated heat is increased. Further, the thermal stability of the battery has been lowered, with the result that the thermal runaway of the battery is brought about under temperatures lower than those in the prior art. In the thermal runaway, it is difficult for the current passageway to be broken by the conventional shutdown mechanism utilizing the separator or the conventional current breaking element, with the result that it is possible for the battery to be ignited or ruptured. Such being the situation, it is difficult to secure the safety of the battery when the battery is over-charged.
What should also be noted is that, in the case of employing the current breaking element or the current breaking rupture, the number of parts required forming the battery is increased so as to increase the cost of the parts and to make complex the manufacturing process of the battery. It follows that the manufacturing cost of the battery is increased.
Incidentally, a secondary battery comprising a separator formed of a porous polyolefin film is disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 2000-348706. The separator used in this secondary battery has (a) a thickness of 5 to 50 μm, (b) a porosity of 40 to 80%, (c) a peak pore diameter of 0.05 to 0.2 μm, (d) an electric resistance of the electrolytic solution of 0.3 to 2.5 Ω·cm2/25 μm, (e) a pin-piercing strength of 300 gf/25 μm or more, (f) a tensile strength of 300 kg/cm2 or more, and (g) a thermal shrinking rate at 110° C. of 10% or less. It is taught that the separator for the battery described above permits improving the permeability of the electrolytic solution through the separator and also permits improving the discharge rate characteristics of the secondary battery.
However, a serious problem is left unsolved in the separator for the battery disclosed in the patent document quoted above. In general, an electrode group is manufactured by spirally winding in a flattened shape a laminate structure comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. If the separator disclosed in the patent document quoted above is used for manufacturing the electrode group of the construction described above, a serious problem is generated in the secondary battery comprising the particular electrode group. Specifically, the separator included in the electrode group is thermally shrunk by the elevation of the battery temperature, if the secondary battery is over-charged. Because of the shrinkage of the separator, the positive electrode and the negative electrode are caused to be brought into contact with each other in the peripheral region of the electrode group. In other words, an internal short circuit is brought about within the electrode group so as to give rise to the problem of ignition of the secondary battery.

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery


The invention relates to a method of improving the precision of a medical nuclear SPECT or PET image in which notably a nuclear sectional image (n) can be superposed on a two-dimensional ultrasound image (u). For the superposition that nuclear sectional image (n0) which exhibits the best correspondence with a free-hand ultrasound image (u) is chosen from a three-dimensional nuclear image (2). In order to determine this sectional image, an evaluation index f(n,u) is calculated, on the basis of an estimated value (1), for differently situated nuclear sectional images (n). This index assigns a positive value to positions of structures (heart muscle tissue etc.) which correspond in the two images, a neutral value to structures which are represented only in the ultrasound image (u) and a negative value to structures which are represented only in the nuclear sectional image (n). The nuclear sectional image (n0) having the highest value of the evaluation index is subsequently displayed so as to be superposed on the ultrasound image. In a generalized form the method can also be carried out in conjunction with three-dimensional ultrasound images.

The invention relates to a method of improving the resolution of a medical nuclear image of a body volume by combining it with an ultrasound image of the same body volume. The invention also relates to a device which includes a memory and a data processing unit and is suitable for carrying out such a method.
Medical nuclear methods have become very prominent in medical diagnostics, because they enable the visualization of body functions via observation of the absorption of radioactive marker substances. Hereinafter SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) will be considered by way of example. These methods yield three-dimensional representations of the metabolic activity of the heart muscle, but these images have a comparatively poor spatial resolution so that an exact diagnosis of the heart function is impeded in many cases.
On the other hand, it is known that sectional images of the heart can be acquired with a favorable resolution by means of ultrasound methods. In the case of ultrasound operation in the so-called B mode, a sound wave having a pronounced directional characteristic is applied to the tissue. The echo signal reflected by the tissue is demodulated, logarithmated and stored. Subsequently, a new sound wave is applied along a different trajectory which, like all previous sound wave trajectories, however, is situated in the plane to be imaged. After the plane has been sufficiently densely scanned in this manner, the demodulated and logarithmated echoes are encoded as grey values and arranged in the image plane in such a manner that an image of the objects in the scanned plane is obtained which is faithful in respect of length and angle. The described scanning of the plane can be performed by means of a fan-shaped, parallel or other configuration of the sound wave trajectories. An ultrasound image of a volume can be obtained by selecting the trajectories of the sound waves to be such that they are not situated in one plane but scan a volume (for example, conically or by parallels). It is a common aspect of the ultrasound images that they represent only the anatomy and not the function of the heart muscles.
Furthermore, from literature (J. P. Caravel et al., Fusion d'images anatomique (échographie) et fonctionnelles (tomoscintigraphie) rénales, MÉDECINE NUCLÉAIRE, 1995, Elsevier) a method is known for the imaging of the kidneys of a patient; according to this method first a three-dimensional scintigraphic image and subsequently a two-dimensional ultrasound image are formed of the kidneys. In that case the ultrasound apparatus is provided with position markers (light-emitting diodes) which are detected by a camera system so as to be related to a stationary reference system. The position in space of the ultrasound apparatus or the ultrasound image as well as the position of the scintigraphically imaged body volume are then determined by way of appropriate calculations; subsequently, a sectional image corresponding to the ultrasound image can be calculated from the three-dimensional scintigraphic image so as to be superposed on the ultrasound image. Such a method has the drawback, however, that a large amount of work is required for the optical sensing of the position of the ultrasound apparatus and the scintigraph. Furthermore, the precision of the method is limited by the precision of the optical position sensing. Moreover, a systematic error effect is introduced by the fact that a motion of the patient, for example, due to respiration, may take place between the image acquisitions, so that imaging may be based on incorrect assumptions in respect of position.

Method of improving the resolution of a medical nuclear image


A liquid control apparatus 30 controls a spread mode of a liquid. The liquid control apparatus 30 includes a main body 31 having an upper surface 31c to which the liquid is supplied, and a mesh 47 woven in a net-like shape and provided to be in contact with the upper surface 31c. An inhibiting groove 41 is provided in the upper surface 31c in a portion that is in contact with the mesh 47. An introducing port 33b for introducing a gas from the inside of the main body 31 into the inhibiting groove 41 is provided in the main body 31. The introducing port 33b is formed such that the gas is introduced into the inhibiting groove 41 substantially parallel to the upper surface 31c.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid control apparatus for controlling a spread of a liquid contacting a surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a liquid control apparatus of such type, a mesh (net-shaped body) is disposed on the upper surface of a heat storage plate, thereby forming fine protrusions and depressions on the heat storage plate. According to the description of Japan Patent Publication No. 4673449, a liquid supplied between the upper surface of a heat storage plate and a mesh spreads due to interface tension, thereby making it possible to supply the liquid to a wide surface area of the mesh.
However, in the configuration described in Japan Patent Publication No. 4673449, although the liquid can be spread over the upper surface of the heat storage plate by using the interface tension created by the fine protrusions and depressions, there remains room for improvement in terms of preferentially spreading the liquid that is in contact with the surface in the desired direction.


Methods and systems for detecting and responding to an engine disturbance are described. The method comprises monitoring a rate of change of a combustor pressure of an engine, detecting an engine disturbance when the rate of change of the combustor pressure falls below an event detection threshold, initiating an engine recovery sequence in response to detecting the engine disturbance, confirming a surge event when the rate of change of the combustor pressure increases above a surge confirmation threshold within a flameout confirmation time period after having crossed the event detection threshold, applying a surge recovery sequence in response to confirming the surge event, confirming a flameout event when the flameout confirmation time period expires and the rate of change of the combustor pressure remains below the surge confirmation threshold after having crossed the event detection threshold, and applying a flameout recovery sequence in response to confirming the flameout event.

A disturbance in a gas turbine engine may be the result of an instability in the engine's operating cycle. The disturbance may be caused by various factors, such as weather, foreign object damage, and engine deterioration. An engine controller should be able to detect abnormal engine operation and to react promptly in order for the engine to recover rapidly from any adverse effects that such events may have. While existing methods for detecting engine disturbances are suitable for their purposes, improvements are desired.


Systems and methods for controlling a micro electromechanical device using power actuation are disclosed. The disclosed micro electromechanical systems comprise at least one electrostatically actuatable micro electromechanical device and an actuation device. The micro electromechanical device comprises a first conductor and a second conductor having a moveable portion which in use may be attracted by the first conductor as a result of a predetermined actuation power. The actuation device comprises a high frequency signal generator for generating at least part of the actuation power by means of a predetermined high frequency signal with a frequency higher than the mechanical resonance frequency of the moveable portion of the micro electromechanical device.

Micro Electromechanical devices (MEMS) are devices with moveable portions such as switches that can be electrostatically or piezoelectrically actuated. In the case of an electrostatically actuated MEMS device, an electrostatic force is induced by applying a voltage between the actuation-electrode and a movable bridge (thereby moving the bridge). One type of MEMS device is an RF switch. One drawback of RF switches is that an RF signal may produce an electrostatic force pulling down the switch which causes it to switch at an undesired time. This condition is known as parasitic self-actuation. Parasitic self-actuation is undesirable in many applications. Earlier efforts have focused on avoiding parasitic self-actuation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,042,308 describes a MEMS switch where a resistor is coupled to an actuation electrode to avoid self-actuation when the switch is open.

Self-actuating RF MEMS device by RF power actuation


An organic electro luminescence element includes a substrate, an anode isolating film formed of an insulator on the substrate, an anode conductive layer formed on an upper surface of the substrate in an area partitioned by the anode isolating film, and an element isolating film formed of an insulator to enclose the anode isolating film and to be wider downward. Further, on the upper surface of the anode isolating film, a conductive film of the same type as the anode conductive layer is formed, which conductive layer is also covered by the element isolating film. Preferably, the anode isolating film has its upper surface made larger than the lower surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electro luminescence element (also referred to as an "organic EL element").
2. Description of the Background Art
A general active matrix type organic EL element has a bottom emission structure in which light is taken out from the side of a TFT array substrate. This structure has a disadvantage that part of the light to be emitted is shielded by a pixel circuitry, that is, numerical aperture becomes smaller, which problem becomes more serious as the definition becomes higher. To address this problem, a top emission structure has been proposed, in which the light is taken out from the top surface that is opposite to the TFT array substrate, in order to improve the numerical aperture of the organic EL element.
By way of example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-43980 discloses an organic EL element having the top emission structure formed by placing an organic EL layer including a light emission layer, a hole transporting layer and the like, between an anode that reflects light and a cathode that transmits light. In this organic EL element, a metal belonging to group 5 or 6 of the periodic table, such as Cr, is used as a material of the anode. Here, it is indicated that work function of the anode is as low as less than 4.8 eV. When holes are to be injected to the hole transport layer having ionization potential of 5.0 eV or higher, the anode that has such a small work function causes a problem that injection efficiency decreases and that driving voltage increases.
As an improvement of the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-43980 mentioned above, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-198182 discloses a structure in which Au, which is a material having high work function, is deposited to the thickness of 1 to 10 nm as a hole injecting thin film layer, on a light-reflecting anode portion. This is to increase the hole injection efficiency, and to have the anode portion bear the role of reflecting light, by increasing transmittance of the Au film. This structure, however, has a problem that a metal such as Au having high work function described as a thin film layer for hole injection is not suitable for fine processing such as lithography. A metal having high work function such as Au is chemically stable, and it is difficult to remove by etching. This is the main reason why such metal is not suitable for fine processing. In view of the foregoing, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-198182 mentioned above, a shadow mask is employed for selective vapor deposition at an opening only, when the thin film layer for hole injection is vapor-deposited, so that a pattern of a metal film having high work function is formed. Even in this manufacturing method, however, pattern-processing accuracy is low and insufficient for attaining higher definition. Further, this manufacturing method has a problem that highly accurate alignment of the shadow mask becomes necessary to manufacture the element having the above described structure, which leads to lower productivity. After all, there still remains the problem that fine processing of a metal film having high work function is difficult for forming the thin film layer for hole injection, and a solution has not been found.
As described above, in the conventional top emission structure, such an anode structure that enables higher efficiency of hole injection to the organic EL layer, having light reflection characteristic for taking out light from the organic EL layer to the front surface and allowing formation of a high definition pattern has not been found. Therefore, there has been an essential problem that even when the numerical aperture could be improved by the adoption of the top emission structure, general performance could not be enhanced.

Organic electro luminescence element and manufacturing method thereof


A cache architecture for a multiprocessor data processing system. The cache architecture includes multiple first-level caches, two second-level caches, and main storage that is addressable by each of the processors. Each first-level cache is dedicated to a respective one of the processors. Each of the second-level caches is coupled to the other second-level cache, coupled to the main storage, and coupled to predetermined ones of the first-level caches. The range of cacheable addresses for both of the second-level caches encompasses the entire address space of the main storage. Each of the second-level caches may be viewed as dedicated for write access to the set of processors associated with the predetermined set of first-level caches, and shared for read access to the other set of processors. The dedicated and shared nature enhances system efficiency. The cache architecture includes coherency control that filters invalidation traffic between the second-level caches. The filtering of invalidation traffic enhances system efficiency and is accomplished by tracking which second-level cache has the most recent version of the cached data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to cache architectures for data processing systems and more particularly to a shared memory multi-processor data processing system having a plurality of second level caches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior multi-processor data processing systems have used multi-level caching to enhance system performance. A popular configuration includes first level caches, a respective one coupled and dedicated to one of the processors, a second level cache that is shared by the processors, and a main memory that is above the second level cache in the storage hierarchy and which is shared by the processors. Data access time is reduced for data that is resident in a lower level in the storage hierarchy.
Two common types of second level caches that are found in the prior art are a centralized second level cache that maps to all of addressable memory, and a second level cache that is divided into multiple portions with each portion mapping to a predetermined address range of addressable memory. U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,232 to Gannon et al. and entitled, COHERENCE CONTROL BY DATA INVALIDATION IN SELECTED PROCESSOR CACHES WITHOUT BROADCASTING TO PROCESSOR CACHES NOT HAVING THE DATA, (hereinafter, Gannon) illustrates the centralized second level cache approach, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,016 to Tsuchiya et al. entitled, BLOCK BUFFER FOR INSTRUCTION/OPERAND CACHES, (hereinafter Tsuchiya) illustrates the non-centralized approach. The cache architecture of the co-pending patent application is similar to Tsuchiya.
In the system described by Gannon, there are multiple processors, each having a dedicated store-through first level cache. A centralized second level cache is shared by the plurality of processors and is mapped to all of the addressable memory. The second level cache has a priority control for selecting which memory request to process. Thus, all memory requests are funneled through the second level cache.
The cache architecture of Tsuchiya has a second level cache with multiple segments, where each segment is mapable to only a portion of the addressable memory. Each segment is dedicated to caching a predetermined range of the addressable memory space. A memory request is routed to a respective one of the second level cache segments depending upon the address range in which the memory request falls. As compared to Gannon, Tsuchiya reduces contention between the processors for access to the second level cache segments because there are multiple second level caches. However, the tradeoff is that there may be extra overhead in routing the memory requests to the proper second level caches.
In a multiprocessor system, a data coherency strategy must be implemented to ensure that each of the processors has a consistent view of the cached data. If each of two processors has the same addressable data unit in its first level cache and one of the processors modifies the data unit, the other processor must be notified that the corresponding data unit in its first level cache is invalid. Gannon uses a centralized directory for coordinating data coherency between the processors and their respective first level caches. In the co-pending patent application, duplicate-directories of the first level cache directories (hereinafter "duplicate tags") are used for coordinating data coherency.
The centralized directory of Gannon is built upon the concept of exclusive and public ownership of a data unit by the processors. Before a processor is allowed to modify a data unit, it must first obtain ownership of the data unit. The ownership of a data unit is maintained in the first level cache directory (hereinafter "tag") and in the centralized cache directory, thereby eliminating the need for duplicate tags. The concept of exclusive ownership eliminates the need to search and invalidate first level cache tags of the other processors when a data unit is modified. However, when a processor does not have exclusive ownership of a data unit and the processor needs to modify the data unit, the first level cache tags of all the other processors must first be searched and appropriate data units invalidated, thereby interrupting and adversely impacting all the other processors.
The duplicate tags of the co-pending patent application are used to filter invalidation requests to the first level cache tags. When a processor modifies a data unit in its first level cache, an invalidation request is broadcast to all the duplicate tags. The duplicate tags are searched for the address of the referenced data unit. If the address is found in a duplicate tag, the address is marked invalid and the corresponding address entry in the first level cache tag is also marked invalid. If the address of the referenced data unit is not present in the duplicate tag, the respective processor is not interrupted to invalidate an entry in its first level cache tag.

Multi-processor data processing system with multiple second level caches mapable to all of addressable memory


A stator (100) of an electric motor includes a coil (12), a stator core (10) which supports the coil, and covers (22a, 22b) which are attached to the stator core so as to surround coil ends (13a, 13b) of the coil, wherein the covers have outside diameters which are at least partially smaller than the outside diameters of the stator cores, the covers have coefficients of linear expansion which are larger than the coefficient of linear expansion of the stator core, and the covers expand due to heat whereby the covers closely contact the housing which is arranged around the stator.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a stator of an electric motor. In particular, the present invention relates to a stator of an electric motor which has covers which cover coil ends which stick out from end faces of a stator core.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, high output electric motors are being sought. However, to increase the output of electric motors, it is necessary to efficiently discharge the heat which is generated from the coil. For this reason, in the past, various electric motors have been proposed which efficiently discharge the heat which is generated from the coil to the outside.
Japanese Patent No. 3262716, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-178190, and Japanese Patent No. 3775348 disclose to insert a stator of an electric motor into a tube member and to fill an insulating resin with a high heat conductivity into the clearance between the stator and the tube member. In this case, however, the stator is increased in outside diameter by the amount of the tube member, so there is a possibility that the stator which is inserted into the tube member is not able to be placed in an existing housing.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-68699 discloses a configuration where two covers surround the coil ends. In this case, the stator does not change in outside diameter, so the above-mentioned problem does not arise. Further, it is sufficient to prepare just covers, so the result is cheaper than with the case of using a tube member.
However, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-68699, a material with a high heat conductivity is used to prepare the covers, so there is the problem that the covers more easily rise in temperature compared with the stator core.
Further, a stator is often fastened to a housing by shrink fitting. Therefore, if the stator is inserted into a heated housing etc, the covers are heated more rapidly than the stator core. As a result, sometimes the covers expand by heat and are tightly fit to the housing.
The present invention was made in consideration of such a situation and has as its object the provision of a stator of an electric motor which is provided with covers which are never tightly fit with the housing.


A process for preparing a product from a pulse crop as a starting material and a food containing the product prepared from a pulse crop as a starting material are disclosed according to the present invention, thereby enabling a food, a livestock feed, an aquacultural feed or the like to be efficiently prepared, which is made from a leguminous crop or a defatted product thereof or the like, which has excellent carcinopreventive and carcinostatic activities, osteoprosis therapeutic effect and immunosuppressive effect, and which can be ingested in a sufficient amount, and thereby enabling a wholesome food such as a biscuit having the above-mentioned excellent pharmacological activities. Any conventional product made from a pulse crop does not have such excellent pharmacological activities and a process for preparing the same is poor in efficiency. Significant characteristic feature of the present invention resides in that glycosidic saccharides are hydrolytically separated from isoflavone compounds contained in a pulse crop to form isoflavone compounds containing aglycones in a large amount and that phytic acid contained in a pulse crop is removed to obtain a product having excellent pharmacological activities.

In general, soybean which is one of the pulse crops contains isoflavone compounds including daidzin, daidzein, genistin and genistein.
The isoflavone compounds are represented by the following formula and Denotative Table.
______________________________________ ##STR1## Denotative Table R1 R2 ______________________________________ daidzin H glucose daidzein H H genistin OH glucose genistein OH H ______________________________________
Of these isoflavone compounds, daidzein is an aglycone of daidzin having its glucose as a glycosidic saccharide hydrolytically separated therefrom, and genistein is an aglycone of genistin having its glucose as a glycosidic saccharide hydrolytically separated therefrom. With respect to the isoflavone compounds, contents thereof and percentages between daidzin and daidzein and between genistin and genistein in a defatted soybean are as shown in the following Table 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ daidzin daidzein genistin genistein ______________________________________ defatted soybean 100 3.2 180 4.2 (96.9%) (3.1%) (97.7%) (2.3%) ______________________________________ (unit: mg/100g)
It is understood from Table 1 that, in soybean, daidzin and genistin are contained in larger amounts while daidzein and genistein which are aglycones thereof are contained in smaller amounts.
On the other hand, it has been reported that a glycosidic saccharide is hydrolyzed from an isoflavone compound contained in soybean to form an aglycone in the course of soy sauce or miso (fermented soybean paste) preparation see Sho-Ken (Soy-research) by Kiyoshi Kihara, vol.16, No.5, page 190 (1990)!.
According to this report, however, although hydrolysis of a glycosidic saccharide proceeds to some extent by cooking of a defatted soybean or in a koji preparation step, most of the saccharide has already hydrolytically been separated in soy sauce sediment or soybean miso. Accordingly, it is difficult to employ these for a process for preparing a product from a pulse crop as a starting material.
Further, many reports have been made on pharmacological activities of aglycones derived from hydrolysis of glycosidic saccharides from isoflavone compounds.
For example, genistein has been ascertained to be a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TK inhibitor). Since tyrosine kinase is essentially responsible for cancer-induction by an onocogene, carcinostatic activities of genistein as a TK inhibitor are confirmed and the effect thereof has drawn attention Akiyama et al.: Biochemistry, vol.59, No.9, page 1016 (1987)!.
Further, estrogenic activities of an isoflavone compound have also attracted attention and have been confirmed to have osteoprosis therapeutic effect and immunosuppressive effect. In particular, genistein which is an aglycone of an isoflavone compound has notable estrogenic activities, and this activities enable osteopenia (bone resorption) to be suppressed.
Accordingly, many proposals concerning isoflavone compounds contained in soybean have been made in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.126,186/1987, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.258,669/1989, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.170,756/1993, and so on.

Process for preparing a product from a pulse crop as a starting material and a food containing the product prepared from a pulse crop as a starting material


Embodiments of the present invention pertain to reducing a probability of an organic ring forming on an air bearing surface of a slider while manufacturing the head stack assembly. According to one embodiment, clean dry air is received. The clean dry air is blown at a location on a suspension for the slider to vaporize at least a portion of a solution that potentially causes the organic ring to form on the air bearing surface of the slider.

Manufacturing disk drives is a very competitive business. People that buy disk drives are demanding more and more for their money. For example, they want disk drives that are more reliable and have more capabilities. One way to provide more capabilities is to make the various disk drive parts smaller and to have the slider glide closer to the disk's surface.
Typically a hard disk drive (HDD) uses an actuator assembly for positioning read/write heads at the desired location of a disk's surface to read data from and/or write data to the disk's surface. The read/write heads can be mounted on what is known as a slider. Generally, a slider provides mechanical support for a read/write head and electrical connections between the head and the drive.
The rotation of a disk around the spindle causes air to move beneath a slider. The slider can glide over the moving air at a uniform distance above the surface of the rotating disk, thus, avoiding contact between the read/write head and the surface of the disk. It is important that the air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider is smooth so that it glides properly.

Reducing a probability of an organic ring forming on an air bearing surface of a slider while manufacturing the head stack assembly

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


Disclosed is a metal complex having a partial structure represented by the following Formula (I-0) or a tautomer thereof: formula (I-0) Cy is a 5 to 7 membered heterocyclic ring, preferably a 6-membered ring, which may be aromatic, non aromatic or partially aromatic and which coordinates to the metal atom through a carbon atom; A is a nitrogen atom a is an integer equal or superior to 1; D is an electron donor group; and b is an integer equal or superior to 1.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) contain an organic emissive layer (EML) that emits light by fluorescence or phosphorescence. OLEDs exhibiting highest luminance efficacy and power conversion efficiency are fabricated using electroluminescent materials containing heavy metal atoms. Therefore electroluminescent materials based on transition metal complexes attract widespread attention and enormous amount of research is conducted worldwide in order to improve existing devices. For example, electroluminescent materials comprising complexes with platinum group metals such as platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), ruthenium (Ru) and iridium (Ir) can be used to form an electroluminescent layer in OLEDs, wherein the iridium complexes exhibit the highest efficiency and widest color tuning capability. Iridium complexes exhibiting high luminance efficiency typically have an octahedral structure with the iridium center in a +3 oxidation state. The mechanism of light emission of these iridium complexes is based on a triplet metal to ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) transition between the metal and the ligand, or a triplet ligand-centered (3π−π*)transition. Most often the transition responsible for the light emission in transition metal complexes is of mixed LC-MLCT character. The strong spin-orbit coupling induced by the heavy metal center produces high phosphorescence efficiency by efficiently mixing the singlet and triplet states rendering possible and efficient the formally forbidden transition from the triplet-excited state to the singlet-ground state.
One of the best known triplet-state blue phosphorescent complex is the iridium(III) complex Bis(4,6-difluorophenylpyridinato-N,C2)picolinatoiridium (FIrpic), which is already described in various prior references, such as WO 02/15645 and Appl. Phys. Lett. 2001, 79, 2082. However, FIrPic is not sufficiently stable under the operation conditions of typical OLED devices to allow practical commercial applications.

Some references disclose derivatives of FIrpic. In the specification of PCT Publication No. WO05097943 A1, several iridium complexes are disclosed, e.g., complexes I-74 to I-78 on page 32 of the reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,534,506 and EP Publication No. EP2036907 A1 also relate to metal complexes for organic electroluminescence devices which are substituted by various electron donating and withdrawing groups.
US 2006/0014047 relates to luminescent devices comprising an organic compound layer comprising a metal coordination compound of the formula

wherein M may be Ir, Rh or Pd.
EP 2036907 relates to organoluminiscent devices and discloses Pt-complexes of formulae

However, none of the above-disclosed materials meets all the requirements necessary for OLED application, particularly thermal/environmental stability which can affect the whole life time of OLED devices, as well as high phosphorescent efficiency. Thus, there has been a need to develop new emissive materials, which are capable of satisfying all of the requirements indicated above.

Metal complex comprising a ligand having a combination of donor-acceptor substituents


A method of fabricating a battery package. The battery package (5) is made using a two-piece plastic housing (16, 18, 20), with one or both of the pieces having one or more apertures (30). Cylindrical-shaped batteries (10) are electrically connected to each other and situated in the housing so that the cylinder wall (32) of each battery is co-located with an aperture, and so that the cylinder wall is substantially tangent to the exterior surface (33) of the housing. The battery package has positive and negative terminals (22, 24) on the housing that are connected to the batteries. A cover, comprising a film (34) and an adhesive material (36), is placed on the exterior surface of the housing. The assembly is ultrasonically welded so that the two pieces of the housing are joined. The ultrasonic energy also forms an adhesive bond between the co-located battery cylinder walls, the cover, and the housing by heating the adhesive material to form a unitized battery package.

Portable electronic devices, such as two-way radios, typically use an energy source, for example a battery, to derive power necessary for operation. A battery can comprise a single battery cell or a plurality of battery cells arranged in various fashion, for example, in series, parallel, or a combination of series and parallel.
When an electronic device, such as a radio, is subjected to shock or vibration, for example when dropped, any movement of the battery cells created by the impact of the drop can cause a momentary loss of power and result in unpredictable operation of the radio. During the drop, a physical connection of one battery cell to another (or to the radio) can become momentarily broken or opened, causing a dysfunction or total loss of power to the device. An important point which must be considered in the case of some portable communication devices, such as radios, is the mass of the energy source is a large proportion of the total mass of the device. This creates problems in the design of a system to effectively retain the battery and cells in a consistent position during operation in all possible orientations and modes.
Battery cells are typically cylindrically- or rectangularly-shaped and include positive and negative electrical contact surfaces at their ends. Consequently, the battery cell is generally located in a cylindrical or rectangular chamber formed within a battery housing. Typically, the inter-cell connections are provided by welding metal tabs between the cells.
In order to make an energy source having the highest energy density in the smallest package, all of the interior volume of the housing should be filled with the battery cells. This has led to the development of prismatic or rectangular battery cells that efficiently fill cubic- or square-shaped housings. However, these cells are rather expensive and not readily available on the mass consumer market. Typically, cylindrical battery cells are used and a significant portion of the housing interior volume is wasted due to the attempt of placing round cells in a square housing. However, this loss of energy density or efficiency is typically offset by the lower cost of the cylindrical cells versus the prismatic cells. When using cylindrical cells, special techniques must be used to maintain the cells in position during drop, requiring even more space in the housing. These positioning devices reduce the overall volume utilization of the package, degrading the efficiency and increasing the package size.
In the prior art, the battery cells are typically held in place and kept from moving by dispensing a bead of hot-melt adhesive in the channel in between the neighboring cells. This method of dispensing hot-melt is messy and slow and results in an inconsistent battery package which does not provide the high degree of reliability desired.
Clearly, what is needed is a method of providing a high-efficiency, high-energy density package at a low cost.


A reactor for accommodating high contaminant feedstocks includes a reactor vessel having an inlet for introducing a feedstock containing contaminants into an interior of the reactor vessel. A basket is located within the reactor vessel interior and contains a particulate material for removing contaminants from the feedstock to form a purified feedstock that is discharged to a purified feedstock outlet. A catalyst is located within the reactor vessel and in fluid communication with the purified feedstock outlet of the basket for contacting the purified feedstock to form a desired product.

In hydroprocessing, refiners encounter many feedstocks that contain high levels of a variety of impurities or contaminants. These contaminants may include gums, resins, metals, etc., commonly found in feedstocks such as petroleum resids, heavy vacuum gas oil (VGO), bunker fuel, distillers corn oil (DCO), tallow, vegetable oils, including used cooking oils, etc. These contaminants pose a problem for refiners because in high concentrations these contaminants are extremely detrimental to catalysts. Catalyst deactivation, poisoning, plugging, coking, and sintering are chief concerns for refiners because of the great cost involved and the enormous impact of catalyst activity on product outcomes.
In conventional hydroprocessing, trickle-bed reactors distribute a liquid reactant evenly over the surface of a catalyst bed, or through a layer of trap, support material, or grading placed over a catalyst bed for the purpose of removing contaminants. The cross-sectional area of catalyst bed, layer of trap, support material, or grading available to contact the reactants is equal to the cross-sectional area of the reaction vessel, generally a circle, such that the effective contact area, Ac, is represented by Equation (1) below:Ac=πr2  (1)where r is the radius of the reaction vessel, equal to Dr/2, where Dr is the interior diameter of the reaction vessel.
Because the reactant must flow from the top down through the catalyst bed, the removed contaminants are concentrated at the top region of the catalyst bed or layer of trap, support material, or grading. This causes plugging to occur because the level of contaminants in the top region of the catalyst bed or layer of trap, support material, or grading becomes so high that the entire process is compromised, even though the catalyst, trap, support material, or grading in the middle or lower regions of the reactor have full functionality. Plugging, at any location in the reactor, causes pressure drop inside the reactor, making it difficult to control the reaction and greatly affecting product outcomes. The process must be halted, and fresh catalyst or support material must be added. With high contaminant feedstocks, catalyst plugging can occur in a matter of days or weeks, rather than months or years. Replacing catalyst this frequently is not economically feasible. As a result, there is a great need for a reactor design that will more fully utilize the entire volume of catalyst, and any optional layers of support material, to extend the usable life of the catalyst and increase process run times, especially for high contaminant feedstocks. There is also a need for a reactor design that will minimize pressure drop within the reactor, whether due to normal operating conditions or as a result of plugging in the reactor.

Hydroprocessing reactor to lower pressure drop and extend catalyst life


The present invention encompasses an acceleration sensor which is capable of detecting the magnitude or the azimuth of acceleration. For this purpose, a ball 2 is set onto a bottom 1b of a tapered housing. A light emitter 3 is disposed thereunder and a light receiving unit 4 is disposed thereabove. The light receiving unit 4 comprises four light receiving elements 5A-5D which are disposed about the optical axis 10. When acceleration force is exerted on the ball 2 and the ball 2 is moved, light spot 20 of the ball 2 is moved also and output signals produced by receiving elements 5A through 5D are changed, thereby acceleration can be detected.

The present invention relates to an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration in the horizontal direction which is suitable for movable object, such as a vehicle, and more particularly to an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration in the horizontal direction by detecting the movement of a ball in the lateral direction.
A retractor of a seat belt device for a vehicle is provided with an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration given on the vehicle. One of such acceleration sensor comprises a ball, a ball seat on which the ball is placed and which permits the ball to move in the lateral direction when the external force is applied to the ball in the lateral direction, and a detecting means for detecting the movement of the ball from the ball seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,286 discloses an acceleration sensor in which a concentric conductive detection ring is disposed around a concentric conductive ball seat ring. The conductive ball moves from the ball seat ring due to the external force applied in the horizontal direction and comes in contact with the detection ring so that the rings are conducted through the ball, thereby outputting an acceleration detection signal.
British Patent No. 1,531,973 discloses an acceleration sensor in which a ball is placed on a ball seat whereby a micro switch is pushed. As the ball is moved, the pushing force exerted on the micro switch is released so that a signal is outputted from the micro switch.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-54362 (the convention priority was claimed based on West German Patent Application No. 3725758.7) discloses an acceleration sensor comprising a light emitter disposed on either one of upper or lower sides of an inertia member having a spherical bottom and a light receiver disposed on the other side of the inertia member which is provided with a through hole in the optical axial direction for communication between the light emitter and the light receiver. As the inertia member tilts due to an acceleration in the lateral direction, the through hole deviates from the optical axis so that the optical communication between the light emitter and the light receiver is blocked, thereby outputting a signal.