A method of applying a coating material to two surfaces of a plate includes the steps of applying the coating material to the two surfaces simultaneously such that holding areas in the absence of the coating material are provided on the two surfaces in proximity of side ends of the plate with respect to a travel direction of the plate, and conveying the plate by holding the holding areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for applying and/or drying a coating material, and particularly relates to a device and a method for applying a coating material to and/or drying a coating material on printed-circuit boards or plates of sheet-metal work.
2. Description of the Related Art
An increasing demand for low-cost printed-circuit boards which are miniaturized in multiple thin layers and high-density wiring patterns calls for methods which can form low-cost and high-quality circuits with high precision.
In the field of sheet-metal work, also, methods which can achieve high precision while incurring low costs are demanded. Thus, a chemical milling method which can form complex patterns at fast speed has been increasingly used.
A method of putting dry films on printed-circuit boards to form circuits incurs high costs. Also, a device for putting the dry films on the printed-circuit boards must be stopped when replenishing the dry films, thereby disturbing a flow of a manufacturing line. On the other hand, a method of applying liquid photosensitizer to printed-circuit boards incurs relatively low costs, and there is no need to stop a device when replenishing the photosensitizer. Thus, it is preferable to use the liquid photosensitizer for printed-circuit boards.
In order to produce printed-circuit boards with high precision, a photosensitizer which is highly sensitive and yet stable is required. When a highly sensitive photosensitizer is used, however, applying he photosensitizer to each surface of a printed-circuit board consecutively results in a photosensitizer on one surface being exposed to more heat in a drying process than a photosensitizer on the other surface. Thus, a difference in a sensitivity of the photosensitizer will develop between the two surfaces. Because of this, it is preferable to apply photosensitizer to both surfaces simultaneously, which is also preferable for a process-time reduction. Also, installing one device for applying and drying a coating material for both surfaces requires less investment than installing two devices for only one surface and connecting the two devices in a series. Thus, it is preferable to use a device for applying a coating material to both surfaces simultaneously.
When various types of printed-circuit boards are manufactured in a small quantity, a direct-drawing method is often used, instead of using a number of master films corresponding to these various types. The direct-drawing method uses a laser beam directly controlled by a CAD (computer-aided design) system. The direct-drawing method is suited to manufacturing of products of various types, and can speed up the entire production process. The direct-drawing method uses a high-sensitivity photosensitizer so that an applying process must be conducted in a darkroom.
In the chemical milling method used for a low-cost and high-precision metal-sheet work, a coating material (photosensitizer) is required to be applied to both surfaces simultaneously as in the case of the printed-circuit boards.
In the related art, a method employing rolls is used to apply photosensitizers to both surfaces. In this method, a photosensitizer is provided on a cylindrical roll having a surface of a resin type, and the cylindrical roll is rolled on a surface of a place to apply the photosensitizer to the plate.
In the method using the rolls of the related art, however, a coating material is applied to the entirety of both plate surfaces, thus providing no space to hold the plate when the coated plate is conveyed. Thus, human hands are required which are pushed against side edges of a plate to hold and carry the plate to a drying machine. In this method, however, an automation of the manufacturing process cannot be achieved, thus resulting in an inefficiency. When plates are conveyed by holding edges of the plates through a V-shape fixture, a conveyer, or the like, a coating material is bound to attach to these conveying devices. When a coating material is accumulated on surfaces of these conveying devices, the accumulated coating material might damage the coated surface of the plates. Also, such accumulation may result in a malfunction of the applying device or the drying device.
In the method using the rolls of the related art, a solution concentration of a coating material is increased when the coating material needs to be applied thicker. However, a thicker coating material is more likely to develop cracks. Also, when a thick coating material on both surfaces of a plate is dried, the coating material on either surface may be affected by gravity to develop draping of the coating material. Thus, applying a thick coating material makes it difficult to obtain a coated surface of a good condition.
Also, related-art devices using the rolls have a structure such that rolls for applying a coating material are difficult to be exchanged. When these rolls need to be exchanged because of defects or wearing, a manufacturing line must be stopped for a long time. When these rolls are cleaned by rolling them, chances of having an accident such as getting hands caught in the rolls cannot be eliminated.
Also, as the related-art devices for applying a coating material do not have light shields, a room where the devices are installed should be turned into a darkroom. This leads to an increase in investment, and makes it difficult to move the facility.
Also, when a solder resist is applied or a build-up method is used, it is necessary to apply an insulating resin or a photosensitizer to an irregular surface of a previously formed circuit. The related-art devices which use rolls having a relatively hard surface made of a vinyl type, a polyurethane type, or the like are suited to an application of a coating material to a flat plate, but are not suited to an application of a coating material to an irregular surface. When a hard surface of rolls of the related-art devices is used, an applied coating material becomes thin on peaks of the surface, and becomes thick in valleys of the surface.
Stabilization of the sensitivity of a photosensitizer requires the control of the thickness of a coating material. In the related-art devices, the control of the concentration of a coating material is conducted by adjusting a pressure of the rolls pushed against the plates or by adjusting the amount of a solution and a photosensitizer based on the measurement of the thickness of an applied coating material after it is dried. As noted before, an applied coating material becomes thicker as the concentration of the coating material becomes higher. In these devices, however, a continuous control of the thickness cannot be achieved so that it is difficult to obtain a constant thickness.
With regard to a drying process of a coating material, the problems are as follows. Related-art methods of drying a coating material applied to both surfaces of plates include a method of drying the coating material while conveying the plates by using the V-shape fixture, and a method of drying the coating material while conveying the plates by hanging the plates with clamps. The method of drying a coating material while conveying plates by using the V-shape fixture cannot eliminate a possibility that the plates bend to touch the V-shape fixture when thin plates are used. Here, thin plates are often used for forming circuits of inner layers.
In the method of drying the coating material by hanging the plates, the plates bend due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the plate and the coating material. When bending is developed, a distance between the plates and a heat source is changed so as to bring about an irregularity in the dryness of the coating material. Also, a process of correcting the bending is required at a later stage. In this method, when plates of a regular shape and size are used, these plates can be set to an operating position for hanging the plates automatically. However, when plates of an irregular shape and size are used, human hands are required to set the plates to the operating position.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and a device for applying a coating material which can apply the coating material to both surfaces of plates except for a holding area provided on the surfaces so as to enable the plates to be easily conveyed.
Also, there is a need for a method and a device for applying a coating material which can apply the coating material in a constant thickness through a continuous control of the thickness.
Furthermore, there is a need for a method and a device for drying a coating material which do not bring about the bending of plates.

Method of applying a coating material to a plate with conveying rollers clamping side edges of the plate


Provided is a skin or hair cleanser composition having an excellent foaming property and making a good feeling upon use available from cleansing until after drying, which comprises:                from 0.2 to 20 wt. % of (A) a compound represented by the following formula (1):R1O-(AO)n—R2  (1)wherein R1 represents a straight-chain or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having from 8 to 10 carbon atoms, AO represents an alkyleneoxy group having from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, n is the number of the alkyleneoxy group and stands for a number from 0.5 to 3.5 on average, and R2 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group,        from 5 to 60 wt. % of (B) a surfactant other than the component (A), and        from 0.1 to 10 wt. % of (C) at least one of silicones and monohydric alcohols having from 15 to 28 carbon atoms.

Cleanser compositions are required to have various functions, such as emulsifying or solubilizing power acting on contaminants (e.g. oil) and cleansing power. Among them, a skin or hair cleanser composition, contrast to any industrial cleanser composition, is required to provide a good feeling upon use such as high foaming and good touch of foam during cleansing, good skin or hair sensation during rinsing or after drying, smooth finger combability or softness of the hair when it is applied to the hair, and easy rinsability or moisturized sensation on the skin after drying when it is applied to the hair. In order to meet such requirements, the skin or hair cleanser composition contains various silicones and oil ingredients. However, such ingredients cause many problems, when used in combination. For example, the performances of foam, such as foaming power and foam quality, worsen.
In order to improve the foaming property and viscosity adjustment of cleanser compositions, various foam boosters/thickening agents have been developed so far, and fatty acid alkanolamides, fatty acid amidopropylbetaines and the like are used as the general-purpose boosters/thickening agents. However, these nitrogen-containing compounds could invite the time-lapse change of color tone under some conditions. Specifically, fatty acid diethanolamide is suspected of carcinogenicity, where it is a nitroso compound. For these reasons, nitrogen-free thickening agents/foam boosters are in great demand.
Patent Document 1 describes, as a nitrogen-free thickening agent/foam booster, a cleanser composition excellent in foaming property, which composition is obtained using a monohydric alcohol having from 8 to 12 carbon atoms as a starting material and using, in combination therewith, a (poly)ethylene glycol alkyl ether with 1 to 3 moles of ethylene oxide and an anionic surfactant and/or an amphoteric surfactant.
Patent Documents 2 and 3 also describe an alkylene oxide adduct of a higher aliphatic alcohol having short-chain ethylene oxide or propylene oxide introduced therein and they show examples of improving a foaming property or low-temperature stability.
The compositions described in these patent documents, however, are not capable of satisfying a good feeling upon use, albeit with their foaming property. Moreover, these compositions have not been able to provide a sufficient feeling upon use required for skin or hair cleanser compositions.
As mentioned above, none of the prior documents describe a skin or hair cleanser composition that can meet requirements for an excellent foaming property and an excellent feeling upon use alike. Thus there has been a demand for the development of a skin or hair cleanser composition capable of satisfying both an excellent foaming property and a good feeling upon use from the outset of cleansing until after drying.    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2004-277685    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-11-12594    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-07-53991

Skin or hair cleanser composition comprising an alkoxylated C8-C10 alcohol and a siloxane


An all-optical logic gates comprises a nonlinear element such as an optical resonator configured to receive optical input signals, at least one of which is amplitude-modulated to include data. The nonlinear element is configured in relation to the carrier frequency of the optical input signals to perform a logic operation based on the resonant frequency of the nonlinear element in relation to the carrier frequency. Based on the optical input signals, the nonlinear element generates an optical output signal having a binary logic level. A combining medium can be used to combine the optical input signals for discrimination by the nonlinear element to generate the optical output signal. Various embodiments include all-optical AND, NOT, NAND, NOR, OR, XOR, and XNOR gates and memory latch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical devices functioning as all-optical logic gates. More specifically, digital optical signals are combined and provided to nonlinear elements such as optical resonators or cavity switches whose resonance frequencies are tuned to produce desired logic output signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electronic devices, logic gates composed of transistors comprise the basic elements of digital circuits. Voltage-based inputs are received by the gates, resulting in voltage-based output signals corresponding to the desired logical function.
Interest has begun to emerge in recent years toward development of an optical device that behaves analogously to electronic logic gates. The reason for this interest is that optical signals can potentially travel faster in integrated circuits than electrical signals because they are not subject to capacitance which slows switching speed between logic states. Given the ever increasing demand for faster switching, it is expected that in the future, absent a major technological advance in electronics, use of digital optical devices will become increasingly desirable if not essential.
However, use of optical devices to form integrated logic circuits presents unique challenges. By its nature light propagates and cannot be stored. The ability to represent a logic level stably for as long as may be required becomes an issue. It would thus be desirable to provide optical logic gates that can be used to represent logic states stably using optical signals.
Moreover, there is an established industry using optical components which use primarily amplitude-modulated optical signals in which the amplitude or intensity of light pulses represents digital logic states. Any solution able to store and process data optically should also ideally be compatible with existing optical telecommunications infrastructure.
In some optical modulation schemes, data is represented by more than two amplitude levels. The problem with such an approach is that it requires very stringent control on the amplitudes of the optical signals on which logic operations are performed. For example, in an AND gate, if two pulses are both at high or "1" logic levels represented by an amplitude of "1" in this example, then the output will have an amplitude that is the linear sum of these two levels, or "2". A "2" is then passed on to the logic gate of the next stage, which must be configured to account for a "2" representing a high logic level and a "1" or "0" representing a low logic level. Thus, the problem of two or more high levels adding becomes more complicated and compounds as logic gates are cascaded. It would therefore be desirable to provide an optical circuit that avoids this problem.
As signals propagate through optical devices, propagation losses become a significant problem that usually inhibits the cascading of optics. Moreover, providing gain to optical signals in a densely integrated substrate currently has technological and practical barriers to being achieved. If restoration of digital optical signals could be managed in another fashion, cascading several optical logic gates would be possible.
Nonlinear optical cavities are typically used to perform all-optical switching. The term 'nonlinear' specifically refers to a resonator comprised of a material(s) whose index of refraction depends upon the intensity or power inside the resonator. The incident power depends upon the combination of the input signals, which in turn determines the index of refraction inside the resonator. The resonator's resonance frequency depends upon its index of refraction as follows:
      f    =          qc              2                                                  nL              ,in which f is the resonator's resonant frequency, c is the speed of light, L is the resonator's length, q is any positive integer, and n is the index of refraction. The resonator's unloaded index and length can be adjusted to a slightly different resonant frequency than the input carrier frequency so that only light of sufficient power can increase or decrease the resonator's index of refraction enough to shift the resonator's resonant frequency to equal the incoming carrier frequency. Once the input light resonates within the resonator, the photons have much higher resonator lifetimes and a larger percentage of the input is transmitted through the resonator as an output. The ability of the resonator to readily switch from an opaque state to a transparent state based on a designed amount of input power is why nonlinear cavities are the most common form of all-optical switches.
Although sufficient power can switch a nonlinear resonator to transmit, even greater amounts of input power will further shift the resonator's resonant frequency until it no longer matches the carrier frequency, switching the output off. This behavior has always been considered undesirable, for conventional digital design requires a constant output level regardless of the input level once a threshold is reached. The current thinking and state of the art in research and industry fails to recognize that this behavior could instead be used to a designer's advantage in a way that implementing all-optical logic would be considered much more favorably than it is today.
A nonlinear resonator can also function as the inverse of the detuned resonator described above by having its unloaded resonance frequency equal the input carrier frequency. Inputs with relatively low power will then be transmitted, while inputs of relatively high power will shift the resonator out of resonance and switch the output off. It has not been heretofore recognized that this inverting functionality of a nonlinear resonator is useful if properly utilized in conjunction with other features described above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

All-optical gates using nonlinear elements-claim set III


A system and method for online detection of a droplet deposition amount of a spraying operation of a plant protection machine, wherein the system is composed of parts such as a data processing module, a data collector, a temperature sensor, a spatial interdigital capacitive sensor, a communication module, a positioning module, a power supply module, and a control terminal, and wherein the spatial interdigital capacitive sensor is capable of outputting voltage data directly proportional to the droplet deposition amount; and provides a specific method and steps for detecting parameters of the droplet deposition amount, comprising: by the data processing module of the system for the online detection of the droplet deposition amount, acquiring the voltage data output from the spatial interdigital capacitive sensor via the data collector and processing the voltage data, and transmitting the processed voltage data to the control terminal via the communication module.

With the research and development of intelligent precision agriculture technology, precision pesticide application technology has been widely used in the prevention of crop diseases and insect pests. In spraying operation in environments such as field, forest and orchard, the deposition characteristics of a pesticide liquor on the plant surface directly affect the control effect of diseases and insect pests. The measurement of droplet deposition effect is generally completed by traditional detection methods such as water-sensitive paper and vessel sampling, so as to evaluate the spray effect.
At present, the methods for measuring the droplet deposition amount include coloring method, elution method, water-sensitive paper method, collecting method, image processing method and the like. In recent years, some researchers have combined the detection method using the water-sensitive paper with the image processing technology, including the following main process steps: attaching the water-sensitive paper to the front and back of the leaves of the plants, and then collecting the water-sensitive paper after the spraying operation, and analyzing and calculating the droplets deposited on the water-sensitive paper using the image processing method. However, this method has many problems, such as high measurement cost, slow layout speed and great disturbance to droplet motion. Moreover, Fox et al. (2003) investigated and compared two detection methods, image processing detection method and visual detection method, based on water-sensitive paper, and the comparison results showed that when the droplet coverage was more than 40%, the measurement results were undesirable.
The patent document with Publication Number CN106442235A discloses a device and method for detecting pesticide droplet deposition and evaporation. The detection device includes a coplanar interdigital capacitor, a high-frequency oscillator, a signal instantaneous period detection module and a data processing module. The detection method using the device for detecting the pesticide droplet deposition and evaporation includes tracking the coplanar interdigital capacitor and outputting a high-frequency oscillation signal with a variable frequency by using the high-frequency oscillator, collecting the high-frequency oscillation signal by the signal instantaneous period detection module and sending it to the data processing module for processing. Compared with the above patent, the present invention designs and adopts a novel spatial interdigital capacitive sensor with high adaptability, fast response and high accuracy, which can obtain more accurate data of the droplet deposition amount. Moreover, the method for detecting the reference voltage, ambient temperature, and droplet deposition amount provided by the present invention can eliminate the effects caused by different droplet sizes, different dosage forms of pesticide liquor, and ambient temperatures.
The patent document with Publication Number CN104596567A discloses a method and system for measuring uniformity of ground deposition of pesticide liquor. By combining sensor node devices with ad-hoc wireless sensor networks, the measuring system realizes automatic real-time collection of a droplet deposition amount of the pesticide liquor in a sprayed area, and achieves the evaluation of the uniformity of the deposition of the pesticide liquor in the sprayed area by statistical analysis of the droplet deposition amount with a computer. However, this patent does not provide a detailed structural design of the sensor for sensing the droplet deposition. The present invention designs a spatial interdigital capacitive sensor with high adaptability, fast response and high accuracy, which can obtain more accurate data of the droplet deposition amount, and provides a detailed method for detecting the reference voltage, ambient temperature, and droplet deposition amount.
Although the operation modes of small spray plant protection machines are being developed day by day, the above several methods for measuring the droplet deposition amount have disadvantages, such as cumbersome operation, heavy workload, and no real-time detection. At the same time, they would also be affected by various external environmental factors, resulting in a large error in the measurement results.

System and method for online detection of droplet deposition amount of spraying operation of plant protection machine


The coherent interference effect between two beam is used with one light beam delayed by a controllably variable time delay with respect to another analogous beam to obtain a convolutional profile of the oscillatory component of the interference amplitude as a function of the time delay, having a peak value representing the performance clearance between a zero-bit and a one-bit. The convolutional profile is represented by a diamond diagram (DD) of the interference amplitude, within the coherence length. The peak value and the size of DD openings are used for characterizing pulsed optical signals by determining at least one of a predefined set of signal parameters, including signal degradation, optical chromatic dispersion, signal coherence length, type of signal modulation, and signal-to-noise ratio. The two-beam interference effect is optionally provided by a free-space Mach Zehnder interferometer, an integrated Mach Zehnder interferometer, a Michelson interferometer, or combinations thereof.

In newer digital optical communication systems operating at higher speeds of bit rates at 10 Gbits/sec or more, monitoring the signal quality deterioration becomes more problematic with increasing bit rates. Conventional methods involving the electronic measurement and subsequent processing of the optical signal eye diagram will be limited by the inherent difficulties in performing electronic processing at very high bit rates, rendering such methods to be prohibitively expensive for bit rates in excess of about 10 Gbits/sec.
Examples of typical eye diagram measuring techniques, which involve regenerating an optical signal to monitor signal quality, are disclosed by Harman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,697 and by Tremblay et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,360.
It is also known from H. Takara et al, "Eye-diagram measurement of 100 Gbit/s optical signals using optical sampling": 22nd European Conference on Optical Communication—ECOC 1996 Oslo, vol. 4 pages 7-10, that eye diagrams of very high-speed optical signals can be obtained by optical sampling using an organic non-linear crystal. The ability to use optical sampling before conversion to electronic signal facilitates the use of less sophisticated electronic processing: Reliance upon the organic non-linear crystal, however, has inherent disadvantages such as the difficulty of integrating this optical component in a sensor system. A further major disadvantage of this method is that sampling pulses are required to be generated at excessively high power, i.e. in excess of 200 watts.
It is further known from Idler et al, "10 Gb/s Wavelength Conversion with Integrated Multiquantum-Well-Based 3-Port Mach-Zehnder Interferometer": IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996, pages 1163-1165, that inversion of a single optical signal in addition to wavelength conversion can be provided by means of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in which semiconductor optical amplifiers are utilised to set an interference condition between optical components of an input signal transmitted through first and second arms of the interferometer. A continuous wave optical signal propagated equally through the first and second arms is recombined to form an interference signal which is modulated according to the interference condition and a pulsed optical signal is counter-propagated through only one of the arms so as to modulate the phase of one of the component signals by cross-phase modulation due to the non-linear characteristics of the semiconductor optical amplifier in that arm.
More recently, Roberts disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,837 a technique for monitoring signal deterioration of an optical by obtaining eye measurement data, using an interferometer for optical sampling of the optical signal. Sampling optical pulses are propagated equally through the two interferometer arms, where each arm includes semiconductor optical amplifiers. The monitored optical signal is counter-propagated through one arm of the interferometer, thereby setting an interference condition of the interferometer by cross modulation in one of the semiconductor optical amplifiers. The sampled interference signal is detected and converted to electrical signals to be processed for obtaining eye measurement data. Again the use of semiconductor devices in this disclosure may present practical limitations with optical signals at very high bit rates.
In view of the limitations in the prior art reviewed above, there still remains a clear need for simplified means for characterizing signal quality deterioration of high-speed digital optical signals having bit rates of 10 Gbits/sec or more without having to rely on the use of semiconductor devices.

Apparatus and method for characterizing pulsed optical signals


A process for the preparation of optically pure R (−) salbutamol of formula (6) and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts by using a (+) 4-nitro tartranilic acid as the resolving agent and a binary solvent system comprising alkyl acetate and C1 to C4 branched or normal chain alcohol for dissolution of the racemic mixture and resolving agent and purification of the 4-nitro tartranilic acid salt of R (−) salbutamol. 4-nitro tartranilic acid salt of R (−) salbutamol is converted into formic acid salt of R (−) 4-benzyl salbutamol followed by basification and debenzylation to form optically pure R (−) salbutamol. Optically pure (R)-salbutamol is obtained in good yield and high purity. The optically pure R (−) salbutamol is optionally converted into pharmaceutically acceptable salts.

Hartley et al (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Vol. 14, 895-896) discloses a method for resolution of salbutamol precursor by using tartaric acid derivatives such as di p-toluoyl tartaric acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,765 discloses a process for the preparation of optically pure (R)- and (S)-isomers by the resolution of a mixture of enantiomers of albuterol precursor, methyl 5-[2-[(1,1-dimethylethyl)amino]-1-hydroxyethyl]-2-hydroxy benzoate using a chiral acid as the resolving agent. The chiral acid is selected from the group consisting of (−) di-toluoyl-L-tartaric acid and (+)-di-toluoyl-D-tartaric acid. The process results into diastereomeric salt having 80-99% enantiomeric excess (e e) of desired enantiomers of albuterol, which on treatment with base liberates desired enantiomers of albuterol. The process is not cost-effective as the yield of optically pure R- and S-isomer is in the range of 21-43%.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,118 disclose a process for the preparation of optically pure (R)- and (S)-isomers of albuterol and similar ethanol amines by the asymmetric reduction of iminoketones with borane as reducing agent, such as borane-dimethyl sulfide or borane-tetrahydrofuran, in the presence of a chiral 1,3,2-oxazaborole catalyst. The process uses costly reagents and gives low optical purity of the order of 93-95% ee.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,756 discloses a process for the production of optically enriched (R)- or (S)-albuterol by first preparing a novel ketal derivative of albuterol, namely 2-(N-t-butylamino)-1-(+2,2-dimethyl-1,2-benzodioxin-6-yl)ethanol. The resolution is carried out with a chiral tartaric acid derivative such as (+) or (−) di-O-benzoyl tartaric acid or di-toluoyl tartaric acid. The process is a complicated multistage process involving resolution of the ketal derivative. The process also results into low enantiomeric excess of the order of 65% (based on the values given in the examples) and reduces its economic viability. This process also requires additional crystallization thereby lowering the overall yield.
WO2002/048090 discloses a process for the preparation of optically pure (R)- and/or (S)-salbutamol by resolving a racemic or optically impure mixture of enantiomers of salbutamol or its precursor by using chiral acid, (L)- or (D)-tartaric acid. The process results into good enantiomeric excess. The resolving agent is not recovered and reused. The undesired (S)-isomer salbutamol is also not converted into desired (R)-isomer.
WO2005/113481 discloses a process for the preparation of (R)-Salbutamol. A mixture of racemic salbutamol is treated with D-di-benzoyl tartaric acid, in the ratio of 1:0.5 to 1.3 mol and in the presence of C1 to C4 alcohol to obtain (R)-Salbutamol.D-di-benzoyl tartaric acid. The crude product is crystallized by seeding with (R) Salbutamol. D-di-benzoyl tartaric acid. The product is further recrystallized in methanol. The process results into high enantiomeric excess but low overall yield (based on the values given in the examples) and is not therefore, economically viable.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,049,469 discloses a process for preparing (R)-salbutamol. The process comprises of asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral salbutamone in the presence of Rhodium and a chiral bidentate phosphine ligand as catalyst system. The process utilizes very costly catalyst and results into low enantiomeric excess. Costly reagent and low enantiomeric excess reduce the feasibility of the process on industrial scale
Most of the prior art processes in general do not recover and reuse the resolving agent, thereby rendering them costly. Despite the many attempts of the prior art to prepare optically pure salbutamol, there is still need to develop processes, which are cost-effective without sacrificing the optical purity of Salbutamol.

Process for the preparation of optically pure R (−) salbutamol and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts


A photovoltaic device comprising a photovoltaic cell is provided. The photovoltaic cell includes an emitter layer comprising a crystalline semiconductor material and a lightly doped crystalline substrate disposed adjacent the emitter layer. The lightly doped crystalline substrate and the emitter layer are oppositely doped. Further, the photovoltaic device includes a back surface passivated structure coupled to the photovoltaic cell. The structure includes a highly doped back surface field layer disposed adjacent the lightly doped crystalline substrate. The highly doped back surface field layer includes an amorphous or a microcrystalline semiconductor material, wherein the highly doped back surface field layer and the lightly doped crystalline substrate are similarly doped, and wherein a doping level of the highly doped back surface field layer is higher than a doping level of the lightly doped crystalline substrate. Additionally, the structure may also include an intrinsic back surface passivated layer disposed adjacent the lightly doped crystalline substrate, where the intrinsic back surface passivated layer includes an amorphous or a microcrystalline semiconductor material.

The invention relates generally to photovoltaic devices. More particularly, the invention relates to surface passivated photovoltaic devices having improved conversion efficiency and light confining properties.
Photovoltaic devices, such as solar cells, convert incident electromagnetic radiations into electrical energy. The performance of these devices is measured in terms of their efficiency to convert these incident radiations into electrical energy.
Photovoltaic devices are an environmentally friendly way of producing energy. As such, these devices may provide an increasingly useful option for supplying energy in the future. However, due to the high cost that is often involved in making solar cells, production of such devices may not always provide a viable option to meet all customer demands.
High efficiency solar cells offer an alternative method of cost reduction. In other words, the more power a solar cell can generate, the fewer number of cells are needed to produce the same amount of power. Thus, the overall cost of an efficient and viable photovoltaic device will be reduced. However, various factors, such as recombination of charge carriers, cause a significant loss of energy and only a small amount of incident radiation is effectively converted into electrical energy. Accordingly, cell efficiency may be diminished.
Although, solar cells having a heterojunction structure made by combining crystalline silicon (c—Si) and amorphous silicon (a—Si) have displayed improved efficiencies, there is a need to further enhance the efficiency of these devices while maintaining a low processing cost to make these devices a viable energy source. Accordingly, there exists a need for a photovoltaic device having a relatively high efficiency, which can be processed at low cost.


A heat transfer arrangement for heat exchange between an inside of an electronic component housing and an ambient environment. The heat transfer arrangement comprises a refrigerant circuit with an evaporator a condenser and conduits (202). A refrigerant is arranged to self-circulate in a refrigerant flow in the refrigerant circuit. A flow control device (124) comprises a movable member (206) adapted to control the refrigerant flow. The movable member (206) affects a through flow area of one of the conduits (202). The movable member (206) is adapted to move in response to a pressure change inside the refrigerant circuit by being affected from a first side by a refrigerant pressure inside the refrigerant circuit and from a second side by a spring force such that the refrigerant flow is changed.

Heat transfer systems utilizing a refrigerant circulating through an evaporator and a condenser are well known. A heat transfer system wherein the refrigerant self-circulates, i.e. gravity and buoyancy are forces driving the circulation of the refrigerant, is sometimes referred to as a thermosiphon.
Many electronic component housings need to be cooled due to the heat generated by the electronic components inside the housing. WO99/60709 discloses a method and an apparatus for cooling electronic components of radio base stations installed at elevated locations. An evaporator of a thermosiphon cooling system is in thermal contact with heat-generating electronic components to be cooled. A condenser of the thermosiphon cooling system is arranged above the evaporator. The condenser is constructed and arranged for natural convection of ambient air.
Generally, a modern radio communication system comprises a radio access network and a number of communication devices. The radio access network is built up of several nodes, in particular, radio base stations. The primary task of a radio base station is to send and receive information to/from the communication devices within a cell served by the radio base station. In many cases, the base station is run 24 hours a day. Therefore, it is of particular interest and importance to ensure that the base station is operable predictably and reliably. The radio base station comprises an electronic component housing. Inside the electronic component housing there are arranged electronic components and circuitry for performing different tasks of the radio base station. For example, the circuitry may comprise a power control unit, a radio unit comprising a radio amplifier, and a filtering unit for performing corresponding tasks.
Heat generated in the circuitry of the base station, in particular the radio unit, may not always dissipate naturally to a sufficiently high degree. Instead, heat is accumulated in the circuitry and the temperature of the circuitry increases. The increased temperature of the circuitry may impair the performance of circuitry within the radio base station. Consequently, unpredicted interruptions in operation of the base station may occur.
This is clearly not desired and a thermosiphon cooling system as disclosed in WO99/60709, mentioned above, could be used to cool the electronic component housing. WO99/60709 does however not disclose how cooling may be controlled in a thermosiphon cooling system. Under certain conditions it is namely desirable to not cool the electronic component housing in order to avoid a too low temperature inside the electronic component housing, which also could harm the electronic components and circuitry inside the electronic component housing.

Heat transfer arrangement and electronic housing comprising a heat transfer arrangement


A cardiac rhythm management (CRM) system includes a programming device that determines parameters for programming an implantable medical device based on patient-specific information including indications for use of the implantable medical device. By executing an indication-based programming algorithm, the programming device substantially automates the process between the diagnosis of a patient and the programming of an implantable medical device using parameters individually determined for that patient.

Implantable CRM devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, and other cardiac disorders by delivering electrical energy to the heart. Advances in biomedical technology have provided implantable CRM devices with increasingly sophisticated features and operational modes treating more types of disorders while being more adaptive to a patient's changing physiological conditions and individual lifestyle. As a consequence, programming an implantable CRM device is an increasingly complicated task. To maximize the extent to which the patient can potentially benefit from the implantable CRM device, the programming needs to be substantially patient-specific.
To operate after implantation into a patient, an implantable CRM device is programmed by a physician or other caregiver using an external programming device. The programming device allows the physician or other caregiver to program the implantable CRM device by entering or selecting values for programmable parameters. Such programmable parameters include, but are not limited to, therapy modes and quantitative parameters required for operating in each therapy mode, special features and quantitative parameters required for utilizing each special feature, and various therapy activation or feature activation criteria. These parameters are determined by the physician or other caregiver for each patient based on the patient's indications for use of the implantable CRM device as well as other patient-specific data obtained during various diagnoses and tests. The increasing number of programmable parameters that accompany the increasingly sophisticated features and operational modes makes the parameter determination increasingly difficult. Additionally, implantable CRM devices of different types, as well as some devices of the same type, require different programmable parameters and/or different programming procedures. Physicians and/or other caregivers may have to receive extensive training on how to program each specific type of implantable CRM devices for an individual patient and how to optimally utilize many advanced features for the benefit of that patient. Introductions of new device features, while providing the users with additional power in treating cardiac disorders, tend to make the programming of implantable CRM devices more difficult and intimidating. One undesirable consequence is underutilization of available device features and capabilities. If properly utilized, such underutilized device features and capabilities will potentially provide substantial additional benefits to many patients who have already benefited from implantable CRM devices.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for facilitating the process of optimally programming an implantable CRM device for each individual patient.

Method and apparatus for indication-based programming of cardiac rhythm management devices


An active balun with a stacked structure includes: a first amplification unit including a first transistor having a first terminal connected with a first input terminal, a second terminal connected with a power voltage terminal, and a third terminal connected with an output terminal; a second amplification unit including a second transistor having a first terminal connected with a second input terminal, a second terminal connected with the output terminal, and a third terminal connected with a ground; and a capacitance matching unit connected between the first terminal and the third terminal of the first transistor and having a pre-set matching capacitance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active balun with a stacked structure and, more particularly, to an active balun with a stacked structure capable of compensating for an imbalance in parasitic capacitance of a common drain (CD) MOS transistor and that of a common source (CS) MOS transistor included in the stacked structure, to thereby prevent signal distortion and guarantee linearity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an analog transmitter receives an in-phase (I) signal and a quadrature-phase (Q) signal which has been generated by converting a digital signal received from a modem into an analog signal by using a digital analog converter (DAC). This means that the digital signal carrying information is divided into an analog signal of a real number part and an analog signal of an imaginary number part, which are then transmitted. The transmission signals are transferred in the form of differential signals including I and Q signals to a circuit constituting a transmitter system.
Recently, in a direct conversion scheme most commonly used for the structure of the transmitter system, a differential-to-single circuit is largely disposed between an up-mixer and a drive amplifier or behind the driver amplifier, so as to be used. When the differential-to-single circuit is used between the up-mixer and the drive amplifier, the driver amplifier can be implemented as a single-ended type driver amplifier, advantageously reducing power consumption, and when the differential-to-single circuit is used behind the drive amplifier, the number of baluns used as external elements and other components can be halved to advantageously lower product unit cost.
With regard to this configuration, however, in the former case, the gain, linearity and oscillation performance of the transmitter may deteriorate, and in the latter case, the drive amplifier must be implemented as a differential type amplifier, consuming a great deal of current as compared with the former case. The differential-to-single circuit is positioned at the rear side among unit blocks constituting the transmitter system, so it must be designed to satisfy the performance required by the transmitter even if performance in areas such as linearity is degraded as mentioned above.
The related art active balun, which converts a differential signal into a single signal, has a structure in which the differential signal is converted into the single signal by circuitry within a chip as well as a structure in which the balun, an external element, is used outside a chip. In the case of the active balun having a stacked structure including a common drain MOS transistor and a common source MOS transistor, two input signals are combined into a single signal after respectively passing through the single-ended amplifier, so wideband frequency characteristics can be obtained while reducing current consumption.
However, the related art active balun having the stacked structure including the common drain MOS transistor and the common source MOS transistor has a problem in that the parasitic capacitances of the respective input transistors viewed from the single output are different, making the two input signals have different levels.


A work vehicle includes a travelling vehicle body; a work machine mounted on a rear portion of the travelling vehicle body to be capable of being lifted and lowered; a control unit for controlling lifting and lowering of the work machine; and a rear sensor provided on the rear portion of the travelling vehicle body and configured to detect an object present behind the travelling vehicle body. The control unit may be configured to set a regulation height based on a height where the rear sensor detects the work machine while the work machine is lifted and then regulate lifting of the work machine during work in such a manner that a height of the work machine is kept less than or equal to the regulation height.

The present disclosure relates to a work vehicle.
Conventionally, in the field of work vehicles (e.g., agricultural tractors), there is known a work vehicle having a positioning device mounted on a machine body and that can autonomously travel while measuring a position of the machine body. Also, there is known a work vehicle that can autonomously travel, which has an obstacle sensor for detecting an obstacle and a sensitivity adjusting means for adjusting a sensitivity of the obstacle sensor (e.g., see JP-A-2015-191592). In this case, the sensitivity of the obstacle sensor is adjusted to be high inside a set work area and to be low outside the set work area, thereby preventing an object that is not associated with the work from being detected as an obstacle (mis-detecting).


A fixed-position, but manually adjustable, video camera mounting assembly employs frictional bearing elements in place of ball bearings that are present in a corresponding motor-driven remotely controllable movable mounting assembly. The frictional bearing elements are endless toroidal coil springs which provide durability and satisfactory performance over a wide range of temperatures. The endless coil springs are fashioned from linear springs which have an open end and an opposed reduced-diameter end which is pluggable into the open end.

It is known to provide a housing and other support components for a video camera and lens assembly so as to permit the camera and lens assembly to be rotatable about first and second (vertical and horizontal) axes. In this sort of camera supporting structure, the camera and lens assembly can be caused to undergo a panning motion (i.e., rotation about the vertical axis) and a tilting motion (i.e., rotation about the horizontal axis) so as to completely scan a location of interest. Motors are provided for carrying out the panning and tilting motion, and the motors are subject to remote control through known signalling equipment.
A particularly advantageous type of video camera support structure is described in application Ser. No. 08/892,042, filed Jul. 14, 1997. The '042 patent application has a common assignee with the present application, and the disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference.
A number of the key components of the camera mounting structure of the '042 patent application are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present application and will now be briefly described.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a main housing for the video camera support structure of the '042 patent application. Installed within the main housing 10 is a panning assembly 12 which includes an outer race member and an inner race member, which are not shown separately in FIG. 1. The outer race member is fixedly mounted to the main housing 10 and the inner race member is free to rotate relative to the outer race member about a vertical axis. The two race members of the panning assembly define therebetween a toriodal race plenum (not shown) in which ball bearings are disposed so as to provide for minimal resistance to the rotation of the inner race member relative to the outer race member. A panning motor 14 is also disposed within the housing 10. The panning motor 14 engages a gear (not separately shown in FIG. 1) on the inner race component of the panning assembly 12 and selectively rotates the inner race component about a vertical axis to cause a panning motion.
FIG. 2 shows, in an exploded view, additional portions of the camera support structure, including a yoke bracket formed of bracket-halves 16 and 18. The bracket formed of bracket halves 16 and 18 is mounted to the inner race component of the panning assembly 12 for rotation with the inner race component.
Part-spherical housing sections 20 and 22 are respectively mounted to the bracket halves 16, 18. The housing sections 20, 22 respectively have part-spherical bearings 24, 26 mounted therein. Each of the bearings 24, 26 has a portion which defines the outer boundary of a toroidal ball-bearing race plenum; only the race-defining portion 28 of bearing 26 is shown in FIG. 2. A respective inner race-defining part is mated with the race-defining portions of the bearings 24, 26, so that a complete toroidal bearing race plenum is defined at each of the bearings. (Only the inner race-defining part 30 which corresponds to the bearing 26 is shown in FIG. 2.)
Ball bearings, which are not shown in the drawing, are disposed in the toroidal races defined by the bearings 24, 26 and inner race-defining parts (including part 30), so that the inner race-defining parts are easily rotatable about a horizontal axis.
A camera mounting yoke 32 is in the form of a cage, and is mounted on the inner race-defining parts for rotation therewith about the horizontal axis.. The camera mounting yoke 32 defines an enclosure in which a video camera (not shown) is mounted, so that the camera is rotated about the horizontal axis for tilting motion. It will also be recognized that the yoke 32 rotates about the vertical axis with the yoke bracket for panning motion.
Also shown in FIG. 2 are a motor 34 which drives the yoke 32 for tilting operations and a circuit board 36 which is mounted for movement with the camera yoke 32.
The camera mounting structure disclosed in the above-referenced '042 patent application, and illustrated in part in FIGS. 1 and 2, has advantages in comparison to previous camera dome assemblies, including compact size and ease in assembling and disassembling. This device is being manufactured and distributed by the assignee of the application, Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, under the trademark "Speed Dome Ultra". However, for many surveillance applications a camera that is moveable by remote control is not required, even though it may be desirable that a support structure for mounting a camera in a fixed position be arranged so that the camera's position can be changed easily by hand to adjust the direction of view of the camera.

Video camera mounting assembly with friction bearings for inhibiting pan and tilt movements

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A diverter valve assembly is used in a material handling system and may include a diverter valve, an actuator, a chute, and a material handling line. The diverter valve has a body that defines an inlet bore and a pair of outlet bores. A rotor is located within the body and rotates, depending on factors, between the pair of outlet bores. The actuator is connected to the rotor in a way that it can rotate the rotor. The chute communicates with the inlet bore. And a material handling line communicates with each of the pair of outlet bores.

Material handling systems can be used to, among other things, sort material and transport material from one area to the next. Oftentimes, it may be necessary to multiplex transported material, meaning that material being transported in multiple material lines is combined into a single material line; and it may be necessary to demultiplex transported material, meaning that material being transported in a single material line is separated into multiple material lines. For example, an injection molded part can be transported from an injection molding machine and to a part discriminator system by a vacuum conveyer. The part discriminator system scans and inspects the injection molded part and determines whether the part is good and acceptable (e.g., no imperfections) or bad and unacceptable. Usually, the good and bad parts need to be separated without cross-contaminating, or otherwise mixing the parts, such as can occur by part bounce.


A controller (20) estimates an internal cylinder pressure of an engine (1) on the basis of the operating conditions of the engine (1), torque variation in the engine (1) is calculated on the basis of the estimated internal cylinder pressure, and an opposite phase torque of the torque variation in the engine (1) is calculated as a torque correction amount. The controller (20) then calculates a torque command value for a motor generator (2) by adding the torque correction amount to a basic torque value for driving the motor generator (2) to rotate, and performs torque control such that the torque of the motor generator (2) equals the torque command value.

In a hybrid automobile in which the vehicle is driven by a combination of an engine and a motor, an idle stop, in which the engine is halted temporarily while the vehicle is stationary, is performed to reduce fuel consumption. When the vehicle is started up again after executing an idle stop, the engine is cranked by the motor and thereby restarted. However, when the engine is restarted, torque variation is generated as intake air is compressed and expanded, leading to resonance in the engine mounting system and resulting in heavy vibration.
If torque variation of an opposite phase to the torque variation is generated from the motor at this time, the torque variation can be canceled out, enabling a reduction in vibration, and hence in JP11-336581A, the torque variation in the engine is approximated by a crank angle-related third order sine wave, and torque variation of the opposite phase thereto is applied by the motor.

Engine vibration suppression device and suppression method thereof


A game system can implements a multiplayer game. The game system includes: a union event processing section that disposes a united object in an object space instead of player objects respectively operated by a plurality of players when a union event has occurred, and sets the plurality of players to a cooperative play state; an individual play processing section that controls the player objects respectively operated by the plurality of players based on input information input by each of the plurality of players; and a cooperative play processing section that controls the united object based on the input information input by the plurality of players, the union event processing section determining a relative advantage of positions of the player objects respectively operated by the plurality of players before occurrence of the union event, and determining a placement position of the united object based on determination results.

The present invention relates to a game system, an information storage medium, and a game processing method.
An online multiplayer battle game has been known, such as a game that allows a plurality of players to enjoy match play by operating their respective player characters (e.g., a vehicular character such as an automobile) in a single virtual space using a game device to fight against each other, and a game that allows a plurality of players to enjoy cooperative play by fighting against a computer character (enemy character) in cooperation. For example, the game systems disclosed in JP-A-2000-342855 and Japanese Patent No. 3643512 are known.
However, such cooperative play is normally designed so that each player operates only his character, and fights against the enemy character within its ability instead of employing a configuration in which the player characters are united to generate a single united character. Therefore, the strength of each character is reflected in the game, and the players cannot sufficiently enjoy cooperative play.
It is difficult to apply cooperative play to a competitive game such as a racing game, and only a limited number of games have been proposed in which a skilled player assists an inexperienced player.

Game system, information storage medium and game proecssing method


A recording medium and manufacturing method thereof, the recording medium comprising a control data area in which control data is prerecorded; and an information data area in which information data is to be recorded. The control data has a basic portion and an extension portion. The basic portion has a length corresponding to the information data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an optical recording medium and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a user recordable optical recording medium and a manufacturing method thereof wherein unauthorized recording and reproduction of information data is disabled.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, a write-once DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disc—Recordable) has been commercially produced as a user recordable optical recording medium having a recording capacity of several gigabytes (Gbytes), and a rewritable DVD-RW (DVD—Rewritable) is under development. In addition, a large amount of high quality copies can be made without substantial degradation with the significantly improved performance of such large capacity digital optical recording media and recording/reproducing apparatus.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a layout of a physical sector in a radial direction of a recording surface on a DVD-RW which is taken as an example. An information area for recording information data is made up of a lead-in area, a data area, and a lead-out area in this order from the starting point of the information area (i.e., starting point of the physical area) outwardly in the radial direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, the lead-in area contains data for use in reproducing the disc such as a reference code, control data, and so on. A control data region is comprised of 192 ECC (Error Correction Code) blocks. In FIG. 2, ECC blocks within the control data region are indicated using relative sector numbers in a range of 0 to 15. Each of the ECC blocks has the same contents. In other words, 192 ECC blocks having the same contents are recorded in succession. One ECC block is comprised of 16 sectors in which recorded are physical format information, disc manufacturing information, and contents provider information. Thus, data related to the reproduction of such information data is recorded in the control data region in the lead-in area upon recording information data on the disc. Upon reproduction of the disc, a reproducing apparatus reads these data to reproduce recorded information data such as video data based on the read information. In this way, the disc is recorded and reproduced.

Optical recording medium including a divided track with basic portion and extension portion


The present invention provides an electro-optical device capable of achieving an increased light emission efficiency and an enhanced visibility. An organic electroluminescents (EL) display device has a plurality of material layers including a luminescent layer. In a plurality of material layers layered in the direction of light emission from the luminescent layer, first and second insulating interlayers are disposed between a substrate, which is positioned at the outermost surface, and the luminescent layer. The first and second insulating interlayers have a refractive index lower than that of the substrate. Accordingly, by forming predetermined materials having a low refractive index, the resulting low refractive index layers have a low dielectric constant, and consequently, the capacity between wires can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device capable of efficiently transmitting light emitted or modulated by an electro-optical element and to a method for manufacturing the electro-optical device. The present invention also relates to electronic apparatuses and a circuit board, including the electro-optical device, and to a method for manufacturing the circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, some related art electro-optical devices, such as liquid crystal devices and organic EL (electroluminescence) devices, have a plurality of circuit elements, electrodes, and liquid crystal or EL elements layered on a substrate. For example, an organic EL device has luminescent elements, each including electrode layers serving as an anode and a cathode and a luminescent layer containing a luminescent material disposed between the electrode layers. The organic EL device uses a phenomenon in which holes injected from the anode side and electrons injected from the cathode side are recombined in the luminescent layer capable of emitting light and the luminescent layer emits light when an excited state is deactivated.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing electro-optical devices


A capacitor for a memory device is formed with a conductive oxide for a bottom electrode. The conductive oxide (RuOx) is deposited under low temperatures as an amorphous film. As a result, the film is conformally deposited over a three dimensional, folding structure. Furthermore, a subsequent polishing step is easily performed on the amorphous film, increasing wafer throughput. After deposition and polishing, the film is crystallized in a non-oxidizing ambient.

The present invention relates to integrated semiconductor memory cell capacitors. In particular, the present invention relates to a memory cell capacitor fabricated with conductive metal oxides and high dielectric constant materials and a method for manufacturing such a capacitor.
A memory cell in an integrated circuit, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) array, typically comprises a charge storage capacitor (or cell capacitor) coupled to an access device, such as a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET). The MOSFET functions to either apply or remove charge on the capacitor, thus affecting a logical state defined by the stored charge. The amount of charge stored on the capacitor is proportional to the capacitance, C=kk0A/d, where k is the dielectric constant of the capacitor dielectric, k0 is the vacuum permittivity, A is the electrode area and d is the spacing between the electrodes.
As the packing density of memory cells continues to increase, each capacitor must still maintain a certain minimum charge storage to ensure reliable operation of the memory cell. It is thus increasingly important that capacitors achieve a high stored charge per footprint or unit of chip area occupied.
An integrated capacitor generally has a bottom electrode plate, or a storage electrode, and a top electrode plate, or a reference electrode, separated by a dielectric layer. Several techniques have recently been developed to increase the total charge capacity of the cell capacitor without significantly affecting the chip area occupied by the cell. These techniques include increasing the effective surface area of both the storage and reference electrodes by creating folding structures such as those in trench, stack or container capacitors. Such structures better utilize the available chip area by creating three-dimensional shapes to which the conductive electrodes and capacitor at dielectric conform. The surface of the electrodes may be further increased by providing a roughened surface to the bottom electrode over which the capacitor dielectric and the top electrode are conformally deposited.
A container capacitor, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, can be formed on top of a semiconductor substrate 100, over MOS transistors 101, 103 fabricated with and upon the substrate 100. A layer of dielectric material 107 is deposited on top of the transistors 101, 103, and a conductive plug 108 is formed through the dielectric. After a process of chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), another layer of dielectric material 110 is deposited. A container-shaped opening 112 is then formed through the layer 110 to expose the conductive plug 108. A layer of conductive material 114 is then deposited onto the structure to serve as the bottom electrode plate of the capacitor. The material 114 is then polished by another CMP process to isolate capacitors across the array from each other, leaving the film 114 inside the container. A capacitor dielectric layer 116 is then formed, followed by deposition of a top electrode plate 118.
In order to further increase the capacitance of the capacitors, other techniques concentrate on the use of new dielectric materials having a higher dielectric constant xe2x80x9ckxe2x80x9d, often referred to as high-k materials. Such materials include tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), barium strontium titanate (BST), strontium titanate (ST), barium titanate (BT), lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and strontium bismuth tantalate (SBT). The effective dielectric constants of these materials are significantly higher than conventional dielectrics (e.g., silicon oxides and nitrides). For example, the dielectric constant of silicon oxide is about 3.9, and the dielectric constant of the new materials can range from 20 to 40 for Ta2O5, up to 300 for BST; the dielectric constants of some materials can be even higher (600 to 800). Using such materials enables the creation of much smaller and simpler capacitor structures for a given stored charge requirement, enabling the packing density dictated by current and future circuit designs.
Difficulties have been encountered, however, in incorporating these materials into fabrication process flows. For example, Ta2O5 is deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) employing organometallic precursors in a highly oxidizing ambient environment. After deposition, the material is typically annealed to remove carbon. This annealing process is typically conducted in the presence of oxidizing agents, such as oxygen (O2), ozone (O3) or nitrous oxide (N2O or NO), while volatile carbon complexes are driven out.
Due to the volatility of the reactants and by-products of processes for forming high k materials, surrounding materials are subject to degradation. For example, when the bottom electrode plate is made of metal or polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon), which is connected by a polysilicon or tungsten plug to the silicon substrate, all these materials can be oxidized during the deposition and anneal of the high k material. Although electrodes can be made of noble metals, such as platinum, where the noble metals are not easily oxidized, oxygen can still diffuse through the metal electrodes. Therefore, the surrounding oxidizable materials, including the polysilicon plug and the silicon substrate below, are still subject to degradation.
Oxidation of the electrode, the underlying polysilicon plug or the underlying substrate reduces conductivity of these electrical elements, while oxidation of electrode surfaces adjacent the dielectric reduces cell capacitance due to the formation of a layer of oxide with a relatively low dielectric constant. These problems have been viewed as major obstacles to incorporating high k materials into integrated circuits. Past efforts have therefore focused on using highly conductive diffusion barriers as the bottom electrode plate between the high dielectric material and the oxidizable elements, such as polysilicon plugs.
In order to solve the above problems in making a high-k capacitor, highly conductive metal oxides, such as ruthenium oxide (RuOx) and iridium oxide (IrOx) have been used to form the electrode plates. Such oxides are not corroded by oxidizing atmospheres, making them favorable candidates in avoiding the aforementioned electrode oxidation problem. At the same time, their barrier function can prevent the oxidation of underlying conductive plugs.
However, existing processes for fabricating RuOx/high-k container capacitors with the structure of FIG. 1 has some disadvantages. FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate conventional process steps, and, for the purpose of simplicity, the drawings only show the capacitor container without showing the underlying devices, such as the substrate, the transistors and the conductive plugs.
Referring to FIG. 2A, a crystallized RuOx film 214 is normally deposited onto the container shaped structure 112 and 110 by using chemical vapor deposition or sputtering deposition. The film 214 can be deposited at high temperatures to form a crystalline film 214 with high conductivity. Unfortunately, a high temperature deposition reduces conformality, as shown in FIG. 2A, where the RuOx film 214 is thicker at the top rim 220 of the container and thinner at the bottom comer 222. This undesirable configuration will often cause discontinuities in the film 214. Thus, the process margin is limited, especially for circuit designs in which conformal dielectrics are needed.
Referring to FIG. 2B, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is carried out to polish off the portion of RuOx film overlying the dielectric 110, leaving a portion 214xe2x80x2 inside the container 112. The CMP process, however, can not be efficiently carried out due to the extreme hardness of the crystallized RuOx film 214. The difficulty of the CMP adversely affects the throughput of the fabrication. Also, because of the non-uniformity of the film deposition, CMP leaves a sharp comer 220xe2x80x2 at the top portion of the film. Thus, when the next layer of a high-k dielectric material 216 is deposited, as shown in FIG. 2C, the non-ideal conformality of the structure can cause a fatal defect of the device, especially at the thinning point 224. If the dielectric layer is too thin at this point, the capacitor can be leaky, or even shorted.
Referring to FIG. 2D, a top electrode layer is then deposited on the high-k dielectric. Again, due to imperfect conformality in the previously formed dielectric, there may be a void left inside the container. As is known in the art, such voids can trap moisture and thereby reduce device lifespan.
There is thus a need for a fabrication method of a high-k/metal oxide container capacitor with improved structure conformality and uniformity, which will increase the total capacitance while minimizing leakage of the capacitor.
One object of the current invention is to provide a new process of fabricating a bottom electrode for an integrated capacitor with a more conformal structure, thereby improving the uniformity and reliability of the capacitor, and also the process window to facilitate integration.
Another objective is to increase the etching efficiency during patterning of a conductive oxide film, particularly by polishing processes.
Another objective is to provide a structure of a container capacitor with a lower electrode plate having less sharp comers, to improve the reliability and decrease the leakage of the capacitor.
In order to achieve the above objectives, the preferred embodiments focus on an improved film deposition process and a film crystallization process for a conductive oxide film. Desirably, the process deposits a metal oxide film, in the preferred embodiment RuOx, under a relatively low temperature, such as will produce an amorphous film. As a result, the metal oxide film is more conformally deposited over a three-dimensional folding structure, uniformly covering the structure. Furthermore, since the amorphous metal oxide film is much softer compared to the crystallized film, subsequent patterning steps can be more efficient so as to increase the manufacturing efficiency and throughput.
In order to increase the conductivity of the metal oxide films, a post-deposition high temperature anneal crystallizes the metal oxide film, desirably in a non-oxidizing ambient. Preferably, this annealing process is conducted after the CMP polishing. As mentioned earlier, the metal oxide film is easier to etch, and particularly easier to polish, in an amorphous state. Moreover, the rim or edge area of the metal oxide film that serves as a bottom electrode plate of the capacitor is made less sharp due to a more conformal deposition. Consequently, the formation of more rounded comers of the bottom electrode plate reduces field strength and the risk of current leakage during operation of the circuit.
A high k capacitor dielectric layer is then formed on top of the bottom electrode plate, followed by formation of a top electrode plate. This top electrode plate, according to another aspect of the invention, is preferably made with the same conductive metal oxide as used for making the bottom electrode, and by a similar process. Accordingly, the top electrode plate is preferably also formed by depositing an amorphous film at a low temperature, and the film is later annealed to crystallize under a high temperature, non-oxidizing environment. The top electrode is preferably patterned (e.g., by conventional photolithography and dry etch) before the annealing step. In other arrangements, the top electrode can be crystalline as deposited, and can be formed of alternative materials.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the Detailed Description below, and from the appended claims.

Integrated capacitors fabricated with conductive metal oxides


The subject invention overcomes the problem of electrical interference in signals taken during an MRI procedure by using a long cable and a unity gain buffer amplifier near the patient, with a low output impedance to drive the cable and thus greatly reduce the capacitively coupled interference. Passive low pass filtering is incorporated prior to the buffer amplifier to attenuate high frequency interference from the MRI system. Since the buffer amplifier requires no digital signals and does not emit high frequency signals, it does not interfere with the MRI system.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a medical technique for creating cross-sectional images of the body which are then used to diagnose injury or disease. A typical MRI system will use powerful radio waves and cylindrical magnets to manipulate the natural magnetic properties of the human body. Essentially, an MRI system monitors resonant movements of hydrogen atoms as they are alternately magnetized and bombarded with radio waves. The state of hydrogen in diseased or injured tissue is different than in normal tissue and so they are more readily detected under a typical MRI procedure.
When patients are undergoing an MRI procedure to obtain information about their internal tissue structure, it is sometimes beneficial to simultaneously obtain electrophysiological data, to further aid in the patient's diagnosis or to monitor the patient's condition. For example, it may be beneficial to utilize electroencephalograms (EEG) or electrocardiograms (ECG) in conjunction with an MRI system. However, obtaining electrophysiological data via prior art devices may create electromagnetic interference that corrupts the MRI procedure. Alternatively, the MRI device may create electromagnetic interference which corrupts electrophysiological data transmitted via prior art approaches.
For example, modern EEG machines normally use high speed digital switching signals to acquire the EEG waveforms in a digital format suitable for viewing and processing by a computer. This requires an analog to digital converter (ADC) to transform the EEG into a binary representation, typically 8 to 24 bits, of the original analog signal. This binary signal is then readily transferred to a computer through a standard interface such as the USB, Parallel port or Ethernet port. Digital signals have very fast switching edges which can generate interfering harmonics in the tens of megahertz frequency range even though the fundamental digital signal frequency may be only a few kilohertz. A major problem is that these high frequency harmonics can radiate from equipment located near the MRI machine and interfere with the imaging process. Consequently, major sources of high frequency emissions such as computers and conventional electrophysiological records must be located outside the MRI room.
In the prior art, if the patient's EEG or ECG is to be recorded the electrode signals are sent via a long cable to the EEG machine located outside the MRI room. However, using the long cable for EEG signals allows electrical interference from the MRI system or nearby power mains to be capacitively coupled to the electrophysiological signal. The amplitude of such interference may severely degrade the EEG signal. A typical EEG signal is only 10 to 100 microvolts peak to peak and is therefore easily contaminated by main power cables which have voltages in the order of 250 to 550 volts peak to peak.
Consequently, there is a need for a method and apparatus which minimizes the amount of electromagnetic interference generated during an MRI procedure wherein a patient is concurrently being monitored.

Method and apparatus for buffering electrophysiological signals during an MRI procedure


A book wherein one or more of the covers or pages or binding is provided with a track, and a toy figure is movably coupled to the track. For this purpose, the cover(s) or page(s) which attach the toy figure have sufficient structural integrity to support the toy figure and the movement of the toy figure along the track. Preferably, the track is provided along the edge or periphery of a cover or page so that the toy figure may be moved around the periphery of the book even when the book is closed. The toy figure preferably takes the shape of an animal or other creature which is the subject of a story in the book. In this way, a young reader can easily correlate the movable toy figure with the story. The book is particularly useful in encouraging children to read.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of children's books in general, and more particularly to children's story books.
2. Description of Related Art
As a way of inducing children to learn to read, persons have created stories about creatures engaged in human endeavors. For example, stories about animals, insects, and even plant life have been created wherein these creatures speak and behave like humans and wherein they engage in human-like activities. Stories of this nature have been found to attract the interest of children, thereby encouraging them to read more often.
In addition to the subject matter of the story, it has been found that illustrations play an important role in attracting a child's interest. Hence, children's story books have been provided with large, colorful pictures illustrating the subject matter or the background thereof.
The prior art has been somewhat successful in creating books which teach children to read. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,963 teaches a book which is sculptured in the shape of a fish or other form, apparently for the purpose of gaining the interest of children. However, it would be desirable to further attract the interest of children in order to even better encourage their learning to read.

Reader's Digest Children's Publishing Inc.


A method that solves the problem of suppressing disturbing effects of transition and alkaline earth metal compounds during bleaching of chemically digested lignocellulosic pulp in a sequence with oxygen bleaching prior to oxidative stages with introduction of for instance ozone, superoxides, hydrogen peroxide and peroxy acids. The conditions during the oxygen bleaching are chosen so that the properties of these metal compounds are changed and the compounds removed from the pulp during the oxygen bleaching under such conditions that the attack on the cellulose is small and the fluctuations of the pulp quality due to fluctuating amounts of these metal compounds decrease markedly.

The process can be applied to pulps from alkaline digestion, e.g. by kraft, counter-current kraft, polysulfide, soda and alkaline sulphite digestion or from digestion at low alkalinity and in acid media, e.g. processes in which sulphite is employed. Before the process according to the invention, the pulp can be screened and the liquor from the digestion removed by known techniques, such as pressing, filtration and washing, more or less completely depending on the starting material, the end-use of the pulp and the envisioned emission of organic solutes which all must be considered also in the choice of the bleach sequence. The end-use can vary from semibleached pulp for packages to almost lignin-free dissolving pulps produced with a large decrease in viscosity which is in this document applied as a measure of the depolymerization of the cellulose. The process is well suited for production of paper pulps of high viscosity, brightness, and brightness stability with less chlorine content and water pollution than comparable pulps produced by previously known processes, e.g. those with Cl.sub.2 and with a large addition of chlorine dioxide.
It is well known that metal compounds from the wood, water and employed chemicals can catalyse the depolymerization of the cellulose and hemicellulose. The amounts of harmful metal compounds introduced into the oxygen bleaching depend on the wood, water and other materials and on corrosion. Metal determinations in the raw materials are used to adjust the conditions, e.g. before wood from new suppliers are employed. Magnesium compounds are widely used to suppress the depolymerization of the cellulose. A theory confirmed experimentally by many researchers is that harmful transition metal ions such as iron, copper, cobalt and manganese are coprecipitated with magnesium hydroxide in the alkaline medium and in this way deprived of their catalytic activity.
Soaking of the unbleached pulp with acid to remove harmful metal ions such as manganese before the oxygen bleaching has been applied (Rerolle et al., Pulp and Paper Intern., July 1969, pp 29-31; Smith et al., French Pat. 1 601 408, filed 1970).
Similarly, complexing agents such as aminopolycarboxylic acids EDTA, DTPA and related aminophosphonic acids have been employed, Per G. Lundgren et al. Swedish patent No. 8902058-0. Industrial applications have been reported in publications by Basta et al., (Tappi J. April 1990, 155; Proceed. Appita 1991, Symp. Wood and Pulping Chem., Vol. 1, p. 237) and by Bryant and Edwards (Proceed. Intern. Non-Chlorine Bleaching Conf. March 1994, Xmelia Island, Florida). The cost for environmentally acceptable applications of these techniques can be very high, unless the release of the complexing agents is accepted. Serious problems by the presence of manganese during oxygen bleaching were reported in the patent by Smith et al., while D'Ans et al. (Angew. Chem. 63, 368(1951); 65, 368 (1953), Abbot et al. (J. Pulp Paper Sci. 17, J10 (1991), and Colodette et al. (J. Pulp Paper Sci. 15, J45 (1989) report on problems with manganese catalysis during peroxide bleaches.
Extractions with both acids and complexing agents of these types in separate stages can be used to prepare pulps with extremely low metal contents. No industrial application of this method before bleaching with oxygen or active-oxygen containing compounds seems to have been published. In addition to the high cost for the chemicals and the abatement of the water pollution the pulps are extremely sensitive towards trace amounts of iron compounds. Pulps extracted under conditions leading to very low contents of transition metal compounds such as those of manganese, cobalt, copper and iron are attacked in an irreproducible manner during bleaching in chlorine-free stages. Hence, small variations in the transition metal contents can give rise to serious variations in the degree of delignification (decrease in kappa number), the brightness and viscosity after treatments in stages with oxygen and other active-oxygen containing compounds. These variations are extremely serious for the quality of e.g. viscose pulps and paper pulps for fine paper of extremely high brightness, brightness stability, strength and viscosity and at the same time low carbonyl contents. The reported viscosities refer to intrinsic viscosity, dm.sup.3 /kg, according to SCAN 15:88. The decrease in viscosity during the oxygen bleaching is used as a measure of the depolymerization of the cellulose. The kappa numbers were determined according to SCAN 1:77.

Method for suppressing undesired effects of transition and alkaline metal compounds during bleaching


An apparatus for restraining a mobility aid in the interior of a vehicle includes two or more retractor spools contained within a common housing. The retractor spools carry flexible webbed belts, and are operated by common actuator mechanism having a direct mechanical attachment to the spools. The various elements of the apparatus are contained within a common housing which is easily mounted to a bulkhead or under a foldable seat. A third retractor is mounted in opposition permitting both the front and rear of the mobility aid to be easily secured by the occupant of the mobility aid without assistance of the operator of the vehicle. The operative portions of the retractor are designed to be positioned so as not to present an obstacle to other users of the vehicle in which the apparatus may be installed. A timing mechanism is provided for at least one of the retractor spools to allow at least one of the retractor spools to be freely manipulated during a predetermined time interval.

Accommodation of mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, in public transit vehicles is now commonplace. For the convenience of all of the passengers, methods and equipment have been developed for quickly and easily securing wheelchairs in mass transit vehicles. However, a recognized problem in accommodating such mobility aids in buses, train cars, and the like, is the need for reliably securing the mobility aid to prevent its unwanted movement while the vehicle is in motion.
It is desirable in mass transit vehicles to have mobility aid securement systems which are versatile, i.e., that may be positioned so as not to interfere with the use of the vehicle by ambulatory passengers. Preferably, wheelchair restraint systems should be readily stowable so as not to present any obstacle, intrusion or tripping hazard when the restraint systems are not in use. It is also desirable that such systems be readily convertible so that they may be integrated with conventional seating systems in such a way that conventional seating systems may still be used when the wheelchair restraint systems are not needed. It is also desirable to have the restraint systems physically retracted or stowed so as not to present any undue hazard to other passengers when the wheelchair restraint system is not in use.
At the same time, a wheelchair restraint system should be readily accessible to the wheelchair-using passenger, and operable by the vehicle operator, or by the passenger without the need for the assistance of the vehicle driver or any other party. Further, a wheelchair restraint system should be convenient for use, preferably allowing one-handed operation. Preferably, during the positioning and securement of a wheelchair in the vehicle, various elements of the restraint system should be readily manipulatible without the requirements for complex movements, such as the activation of a release with one hand and the activation of a portion of the restraint with the other.
To accomplish these goals, a number of prior art devices have been suggested and, in some cases, developed.
One such class of systems is disclosed by Gresham in U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,403. The system therein disclosed utilizes a plurality of floor-mounted tracks to which are releasably attached one or more seat belts and one or more ratcheting spool assemblies. While this type of system provides some measure of safety to the wheelchair occupant, these systems are difficult to use for a number of reasons. First, the belt assemblies are separate and must be retrieved and appropriately located in and secured to the track and to the wheelchair, and they must be manually tensioned by operation of a ratchet handle or crank.
A more desirable system is disclosed by Kiernan, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,564, in which a plurality of belt retractor assemblies are permanently secured to the four corners of a wheelchair station, eliminating the requirement for retrieval and mounting of portions of the restraint system. However, each belt assembly is separate and separately operable, requiring the assistance of an operator. Similar limitations are found in the operation of systems such as that taught by Kraft in U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,254 and Ditch, U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,038.
A somewhat better approach is disclosed by Magnuson, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,039, which discloses the use of a pair of retractor assemblies which can be controlled by a common actuator. However, this invention suffers from one of the limitations of the previously described prior art, in that it uses separate exposed retractor bodies which can easily snag or catch other passengers in the vehicle. Further, Magnuson, et al. relies upon a complicated system of cables for interconnecting the remote actuator to the retractors, which is expensive, complicated to install and maintain, and unreliable after repeated use.
All of the prior art systems, however, are limited in that they require the simultaneous activation of a control, usually to release a belt retractor, coupled with movement of the belt to a securing position on a wheelchair. Once the belt has been secured to the wheelchair, the release mechanism may need to again be activated to effect locking. In Magnuson, for example, a release lever is operated with one hand, while the operator extends belts from the retractor with the other hand. Then, once the belts are attached to the wheelchair, the operator releases a lock allowing the belts to retract.
The present system, however, contemplates a timed release mechanism which allows the spools of the retractor mechanism to be freely extended and retracted for a predetermined time interval after actuation of a mechanical or electromechanical control. This system allows for single-handed operation, thereby greatly simplifying the securement and removal of the restraint system from a wheelchair.

Compact wheelchair restraint system with housing and release