A method for manufacturing a MOSFET equipped with a silicide layer over shallow source and drain junctions without leakage generation is provided. By restricting the temperature of manufacturing steps after the silicide formation below a critical temperature Tc, which is defined below as a function of a junction depth Dj from 20 nm to 60 nm, leakage generation is practically suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. In particular, the present invention relates to a high-speed miniaturized field effect transistor including silicide source and drain electrodes, and a method of manufacturing such a transistor.
2. Background Art
In order to further achieve a high-speed and highly-functional semiconductor circuits, demand for the miniaturization and the larger scale integration of individual semiconductor devices is continually growing. However, shrinking the dimensions of MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors), i.e., main components of such semiconductor circuits induces various kinds of problems.
For example, as the channel length (i.e., the length of a gate electrode) of a MOSFET is decreased, the threshold voltage thereof decreases accordingly (short-channel effect). Due to high sensitivity of the threshold voltage of the small size MOSFETs on the channel length, even a slight variation of channel length (i.e., the gate length) leads to undesirable change of a threshold voltage from the value intended at the time of the designing of the semiconductor circuit and eventually impairs the entire function of the circuit. It entails that, since the value of the threshold voltage strongly depends on the size of the gate electrode, a slight process variation may not be tolerated to obtain an intended electronic function and extremely tight control of the process conditions is necessitated to achieve successful manufacturing. This is very inconvenient for the manufacturing of a semiconductor circuit, such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), which requires a large number of highly uniform elements.
Such a short channel effect is caused by the distortion of the electric fields originated from the source and drain electrodes of the MOSFET reaching the central area of the channel region as the channel length decreases. Such an influence of the electric fields of the source and drain electrodes can be avoided by bringing up the pn junction positions of the source and drain regions closer to the surface of the semiconductor device (i.e., to make the pn junction portions shallower). However, shallower pn junctions leads to an increase in the electric resistance of the source and drain electrodes, which hinders the high-speed transmission of electric signals.
In order to solve such a problem and to reduce the electric resistance of the source and drain electrodes, upper parts of the source and drain electrodes are made to react with a certain metal (silicidation). Metal elements such as Co, Ti, Ni, etc., are used to form a silicide (i.e., chemical compound between Si and the metal). Among them, Co and Ni are the most suitable for the use in miniaturized LSIs, since no increase in electrical resistance (thin line effect) is observed even when the silicides thereof are formed on very thin silicon lines. However, at the time of the silicidation reaction or during a heat treatment performed thereafter, a part of metal atoms drifts away from the reaction surface or silicide/silicon interface and migrates deep into the silicon substrate, where the source and drain regions are formed. Thus, when the pn junctions are made shallow, the diffused metal atoms would easily reach the junction depth, thereby causing a severe junction leakage current.
Actually, in the case of Co, a rapid thermal annealing at a temperature of 800° C. for 30 seconds is required in order to form a low-resistance phase of silicide, CoSi2. However, since the diffusion of Co atoms is extremely fast, the Co atoms reach 150 nm in depth even with the aforementioned short heat treatment. FIG. 18 shows the junction leakage current as a function of n+/p junction depth after 35 nm-thick CoSi2 formation. For comparison, the junction leakage currents of reference samples without silicide formation are also plotted. Clearly, additional leakage generation is already evident at the depth of 150 nm, which is far deeper than the depth of the silicide layer. This is caused by the diffusion of Co atoms into the substrate.
When Ni is used, the leakage current can be reduced due to lower reaction temperature and smaller silicon consumption of Ni silicidation reaction as compared to the case of using Co. Also, for Ni silicidation, formation of an iridium intermediate layer between a silicon substrate and a nickel silicide layer is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-367929, in order to decrease the junction leakage current further. The technique claims that the formation of the iridium intermediate layer increases the phase transition temperature from NiSi to NiSi2, resulting in leakage suppression even at a temperature of 850° C.
However, without such a special treatment, a rapid diffusion of metal atoms is unavoidable at the interface between a metal and silicon, as described above. The metal atoms deeply diffused into the silicon substrate form gap states in the silicon forbidden band. Naturally, the gap states formed at the source and drain junctions generate leakage currents.
When leakage currents flow through the source and drain junctions, the performance of the device is degraded. In the case of a storage element such as a DRAM, the information stored therein is erased, and the primary function of the semiconductor device is lost.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, an elevated source drain method has been utilized. In this method, semiconductor layers are selectively and additionally formed (for example, silicon is grown) on surface portions of a semiconductor substrate where source and drain electrodes are to be formed. Because the surfaces of this additionally formed semiconductor layers are higher than the original semiconductor surface (i.e., the surface where a channel is to be formed), pn junction depths of the source and drain are shallow relative to the original semiconductor surface, but deep relative to the newly formed surfaces, securing the enough depth of the electrode while suppressing the short channel effects. Such a selective silicon growth can be achieved by using an epitaxial growth method.
In this method, however, the depth of the pn junction of the source and drain must be precisely set to the same level as the original semiconductor surface or kept slightly deeper than this level. If the junction depth does not reach the channel surface, the drivability of the MOSFET is severely compromised. On the other hand, when the junction depth is considerably deeper than the channel surface, a short-channel effect becomes a problem.
However, the epitaxial growth technique is very sensitive to the surface conditions where the selective growth is to be performed. For example, the thickness of the silicon layer to be grown strongly depends on the surface states (such as roughness, asperity, impurity, and residual damages) and the crystal structure of the substrate. Furthermore, the quality of the layer (i.e., the presence of crystal) also depends on the surface condition as well. Thus, due to the influence of a natural oxide layer on the substrate or residual damage caused at the time of the gate electrode processing, the thickness and the quality of the silicon layer formed on the individual source and drain regions may change significantly. When the thickness of the additional silicon layer is not uniform, it is impossible to adjust the pn junction depth of all devices precisely to the original semiconductor substrate surface (i.e., the surface where a channel is formed). This is because, since the impurities used to form the source and drain are implanted through the surface of the additionally formed silicon layer, the junction depth need to be targeted in reference to the distance from this newly formed surfaces. Non-uniform thickness means variable positions of the original semiconductor surface relative to the additionally formed silicon surfaces, thus no way of accurate ajustment.
In addition, when the quality of the additionally formed silicon layer are not uniform, it becomes difficult to accurately position the pn junction at the intended location. Since the speed of the diffusion of impurities is modified (transient enhanced diffusion) depending on the quality of the layer, if the quality of the silicon layer are not uniform, even when a predetermined thermal diffusion of impurities is applied in order to position the junction portions at the channel surface, the diffusion would proceed in an unexpected manner for each regions, resulting in non-uniform junction depths.
The same applies to the diffusion of metal atoms at the time of silicidation. Even with the additional silicon layer, when the thickness or quality of the layer is not uniform, the metal atoms can easily penetrate the junction depth at a position of thin thickness or poor quality, thereby causing a junction leakage current.
Furthermore, the speed of the diffusion of metal atoms itself is very high. Accordingly, the thickness of the additionally formed silicon layer should be very thick to block the diffusion amounting to 150 nm. However, for the aforementioned reasons, it is practically impossible to achieve a uniform and selective silicon growth of 150 nm-thickness. Moreover, the additional layer of 150 nm-thickness would have almost the same height as the gate electrode. Accordingly, with such a thickness, it becomes difficult to secure the electric isolation between the gate and the source and drain electrodes when silicidation reaction is made to proceed on these electrodes at a time (self-aligned silicidation, or salicide process).
Moreover, the thickness of the selectively grown silicon layer becomes thinner adjacent to the gate electrode. Accordingly, the shortest distance between the additional surface (where the metal is to be deposited) and the junction depth is determined at this portion. Thus, no matter how thick the selectively grown silicon layer is made at the other portions, its ability to block the leakage generation is not enhanced.
As described above, shrinkage of the MOSFET's dimensions requires commensurate shallowing of the source and drain junctions. At the same time, to secure high speed operation, silicidation of the source and drain regions is necessary. However, for silicidation of shallow junctions, the high-speed diffusion of metal atoms from the silicide induces substantial junction leakage current.
In order to suppress the leakage by an elevated source drain structure, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the selectively grown silicon layer nearly to the thickness of the gate electrode. However, formation of such a thick selective silicon layer of uniform thickness and uniform quality has been very difficult.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a silicide layer having an NiSi phase provided on source and drain regions

Abstract: Tc      =                        a          ×          Dj                +        b              ,                      where              a      =                        6.11                                (                          20              <              Dj              ≤              26                        )                          =                  1.60                                (                          26              <              Dj              ≤              60                        )                                ,                            b      =                        290.74                                (                          20              <              Dj              ≤              26                        )                          =                  408                                (                          26              <              Dj              ≤              60                        )                                ,  Dj is a junction depth (nm) measured from the lower surface of the silicide layer, and Tc is a critical temperature (° C.) during a heat treatment.


Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating a set of linked rotational views of a model object. A modeling client can host modeling logic and an application programming interface (API) to create, access, manipulate, and import/export modeling objects used in modeling applications, such as engineering, medical, financial, and other modeling platforms. The source data accepted into the modeling client can include consumer or business-level applications, whose spreadsheet, database or other content can be extracted and encapsulated in object-oriented format, such as extensible markup language (XML) format. A set of layers of the model objects can be associated via a set of linkages. A rotator widget or other interface object can be presented to allow a user to traverse the linkages and rapidly rotate through layers in a view, without having to switch tabs, planes, database dimensions, or manually operate other dimensional control, enhancing viewing efficiency of large layers.

A spectrum of modeling platforms and options exist today for engineers, managers, developers and other professionals. In the case of engineering, medical, technical, financial, and other advanced modeling resources, a range of platforms are available for users interested in setting up, running and maintaining financial modeling systems. For example, organizations interested in relatively sophisticated modeling applications, such as geophysical models for detecting oil reserves or other geologic features or equity market analysis based on Black-Sholes option pricing models, a company or other organization may choose to install advanced modeling software on mainframe-class computers to run those classes of models and obtain various projections, reports, and other results. Such mainframe platform, data center and related installations, however, can involve costs on the order of millions of dollars or more, and may require the full time attention of highly skilled professionals, including programmers and managers with advanced training. As a consequence, putting a mainframe-based modeling operation into place may not be practical or possible for many organizations or users.
On the other end of the spectrum, managers, engineers and others may employ widely available entry-level applications to capture operational data and attempt to develop predictive models for engineering, financial, medical, and other applications. That class of applications can include, for example, consumer or business-level spreadsheet, database, or data visualization programs for technical, financial, and other purposes. For instance, a manager of a manufacturing facility may use a commercially available spreadsheet application to enter production numbers, schedules, and other details of that site. However, attempting to extract useful modeling outputs from those classes of applications can be difficult or impossible. For one, spreadsheet, database, and other widely available applications are typically built to produce reports based on already existing data, but not to generate modeling outputs or objects that represent predictive outputs or scenarios. For another, existing spreadsheet, database, and other applications typically involve limitations on cell size, number of dimensions, overall storage capacity, and other program parameters which, in the case of large-scale modeling operations, may be insufficient to operate on the data sets necessary to produce and run meaningful models. For another, the data structures and outputs of existing spreadsheet, database and other entry-level or commonly available applications are typically arranged in proprietary format, rather than a widely interoperable object-based or other universal format. As still another drawback, the cells, rows, columns, and other data elements within commonly available spreadsheets, databases, and other entry-level programs cannot be extracted as separate units and exported to other modeling or analytic tools.
In further regards, conventional tools fail to permit a user to transition through various views of data sets, including to rapidly rotate or transition from one sheet to another in a spreadsheet, one plane or dimension in a database to another, or to transition through other layers without repetitive selection operations. The case of spreadsheet or database view on model objects, attempting to locate, compare, or otherwise transition through various layers can therefore be cumbersome, especially with large data sets such as can be associated with large or sophisticated modeling operations. In short, the use of conventional spreadsheet, database, and other consumer or business-level applications to conduct modeling operations involves significant shortcomings, due in part to the fact that those classes of platforms are not designed to reliable handle modeling functionality. At present, therefore, a manager, developer, engineer, or other professional or user with modeling requirements is faced with a choice between installing a large and expensive mainframe-based solution with its attendant infrastructure, a spreadsheet or database-based entry level solution with its attendant limitations on power and data handling, or a combination of those two types of platforms. It may be desirable to provide object-based or object-compatible modeling platforms capable of generating a set of linked rotational views of model objects, permitting rapid pivoting, rotation, and transition through layer views of a model object.

Generating a set of linked rotational views of model objects


A method for the production of water absorbent polymer beads which retain a bead like shape after the absorption of water, wherein the absorbent beads are used in the manufacturing of concrete/mortar.

This invention relates to a production method for fine grain ice or dry clathrate water for manufacturing of concrete/mortar, a production method of concrete/mortar by using fine grain ice or dry clathrate water and concrete/mortar products manufactured by the production method of concrete/mortar. Fine grain ice and dry clathrate water for manufacturing the concrete/mortar of this invention are used when the concrete/mortar is manufactured by use of a small amount of water.
It is possible that concrete/mortar is easily manufactured by making use of fine grain ice or dry clathrate water at a place where it is difficult to supply with water.
In the case where concrete/mortar is manufactured in a conventional method, much more water is used than the amount of water necessary for hydration of cement in order to uniformly mix and temper cement and water and to keep good flowability as well. However, there is an inconvenience in this method in that the strength and durability of concrete/mortar after solidification are lower than the concrete/mortar prepared by use of the amount of water close to theoretical hydration quantity.
For this reason, the technique to mix cement or cement and aggregate with fine grain ice instead of water has been studied and is known. The features are as follows.
1) Since powder mixture can be performed with cement, mixing can be performed in low water cement ratio.
2) Loss in slump in proportion to the passage of time is small after mixing.
3) The control of temperature for mass concrete can be easily performed.
In the case where this concrete mixing technique is actually applied, however, it is necessary to manufacture fine grain ice and this method is in question. In a conventional method, fine grain ice is obtained by crushing cubed ice. In the case where fine grain ice is obtained by crushing cubed ice, the defects are as follows.
1) In case where a large amount of fine grain ice is fed, a big plant equipped with special devices such as an ice crusher and a slicer is necessary.
2) Fine grain ice must be kept at a low temperature until it is used and an ice storing unit is necessary to do so. Therefore, the control of the manufacturing process is troublesome and the cost is high.

Water absorbent polymer keeping absorbed water therein in the form of independent grains

Oosaka Yuuki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


For improved sampling, an x-ray detector system for a computed tomography scanner is provided. In an embodiment, the x-ray detector system includes at least one detector row which includes a plurality of detector modules each having a plurality of detector elements. Along the at least one detector row, a first portion of the detector elements is arranged in a grid at a first grid spacing in relation to its respective neighboring detector elements, and a second portion of the detector elements is arranged in a grid at a second grid spacing in relation to its respective neighboring detector elements.

In modern computed tomography imaging, in order to improve sampling in the image plane (in the β direction, where β is what is termed the fan angle, see e.g. FIG. 1; the fan angle denotes an angular distance of a detector element from a central ray 12; the central ray is the centermost x-ray of the beam, connecting a focal spot 10 of a utilized x-ray source to the center of a utilized x-ray detector 11), either a so-called quarter detector offset is set or a technique known as the flying focal spot technique is used for the x-ray source. In the case of the quarter detector offset, the x-ray detector and the focal spot of the x-ray source are adjusted relative to one another such that the central ray of the focal spot is not directed precisely into the center of the detector and precisely between two detector elements, but is incident offset relative thereto by a quarter of the grid spacing of the grid of the x-ray detector (=distance between the center points of neighboring detector elements). Accordingly, the central ray also does not run through the center of rotation of the computed tomography scanner, but is offset relative thereto by a quarter of a grid spacing a of the detector elements of the x-ray detector that is projected onto the center of rotation.
The reasoning behind the quarter offset is that direct measurement rays (fan angle β, projection angle α) and measurement rays complementary to the direct measurement rays, which complementary measurement rays were received after approximately one half-revolution of the image acquisition system (x-ray source and x-ray detector) and in which the x-ray detector and the x-ray source have swapped their position (fan angle β′=−β, projection angle α′=α+π+2β), are offset relative to one another by exactly half a grid spacing. As a result, during the reconstruction into a projection, direct and complementary measurement rays can be interleaved by means of an "effective" sampling grid a/2 and consequently realize an improvement in sampling. If no quarter offset is set, the positions of the complementary measurement rays coincide with and overlay the positions of the direct measurement rays, resulting in an effective sampling grid that is equal to the grid spacing of the x-ray detector and consequently achieving no improvement in the sampling.
Alternatively, a technique referred to as flying focal spot can also be employed for improving the sampling in the image plane. Through electromagnetic deflection of the focal spot in the x-ray source (x-ray tube assembly) the position of the focal spot on an anode plate is controlled so as to produce a displacement by half a grid spacing between successive projections.
A prerequisite for the use of flying focal spot technology is an x-ray tube assembly equipped with a corresponding electromagnetic deflection means, the deflection of the focal spot having to be precisely synchronized with the readout of the x-ray detector. Setting a quarter detector offset also requires the x-ray detector and the position of the focal spot in the x-ray tube assembly to be finely adjustable. Toward that end, it is either necessary for an electromagnetic focal spot deflection device which moves the focal spot to the desired position on the anode plate to be present in the x-ray tube assembly, or else for the x-ray tube assembly and the x-ray detector to be provided with precision adjustment mechanisms. These solutions are all more or less complicated, resource-intensive and expensive. In particular, a precondition for electromagnetic focal spot deflection (for the flying focal spot or even just for setting the position of the focal spot) is an x-ray tube assembly equipped with corresponding complex and costly deflection electronics.

X-ray detector system for a computed tomography scanner and computed tomography device


The optical element includes photonic crystals respectively having different optical characteristics. These photonic crystals are formed in a plurality of regions on a single substrate. The optical element has a structure in which two or more kinds of media are nearly periodically deposited on one-dimensionally periodical grooves. Further, the grooves are different in direction according to locations on the deposited surface. A variety of optical elements each having different dependencies on polarization according to locations can be obtained. That is, portions or zones different in optical characteristics can be integrated on a single substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated optical element with a plurality of regions that differ in optical characteristic according to locations, wherein said regions each are of a structure with a two-dimensional or three-dimensional periodicity in refractive index and are combined together so that the periodicities in refractive index of said regions are different in direction from each other, and a method for making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical materials that have been used up to now are materials existing in the natural world, and they are classified into amorphous materials and crystalline materials. An amorphous material has no dependency on direction in optical characteristic. A crystalline material is anisotropic in relation between its crystal axes and the traveling direction or polarization direction of light. However, such a direction is specifically determined in a crystalline material of one kind. Therefore, in case of either amorphous materials or crystalline materials, realizing different optical characteristics in a single optical element has only been possible by combining different materials with one another by means of an adhesive agent and the like.
Since the present invention covers a very wide range of applications related to an optical element, a polarizer is taken as an example of them. Polarizers in use at present in order to obtain a specific polarization state can be classified on the basis of their action manners into (1) a polarizer to absorb unnecessary polarized waves and (2) a polarizer to separate polarized waves into separate optical paths.
A polymer film containing dichroic molecules such as iodine and the like is common as a polarizer performing the action of item (1) described above. This provides an inexpensive and large-area polarizer but has a disadvantage of being low in extinction ratio and inferior in temperature characteristic.
In order to solve this problem, a polarizer using a material that is high in stability has been developed. That is to say, this is formed by arranging an absorber such as metal, semiconductor or the like in the shape of fine lines or thin films in one direction inside a transparent body of glass or the like. A polarized wave component parallel with fine lines or thin films is absorbed or reflected and a polarized wave component perpendicular to them is transmitted.
Since a drawing process is used for any one of the above-mentioned polarizers, it is impossible to make a transmitted polarized light have the dependency on location. Therefore, in order to make it have the dependency on location, it is necessary to stick together a plurality of sheets of materials that are different in polarization direction of transmitting.
On the other hand, for a polarizer using doubly refracting crystal as a polarizer of item (2), a material large in double refractive index such as calcite and the like is used. A structure formed by sticking two triangular prisms together or a wedge-shaped structure is used, and thereby divides polarized lights into different optical paths. Since they each use a natural crystal, its crystal axes are specifically determined and it is impossible to realize crystal axes with different directions at optional locations in a single crystal. Therefore, in case of attempting to make different polarized lights pass through different regions, it is necessary to combine crystals with crystal axes of different directions.
As a polarizer using Brewster's angle of a transparent body, there is mentioned a polarization beam splitter using a dielectric multilayer film. This has a dielectric multilayer film located obliquely to the incident direction of light. Therefore, in case of attempting to make its polarization characteristic have the dependency on location, it is necessary to arrange a plurality of multilayer films in different directions, and it is apparent that this cannot be realized by means of a single element.
Another example is a wave plate. A wave plate generally in use utilizes the double refractivity of a crystallized quartz plate. Therefore, the material itself is expensive and a high-accuracy thickness control is required for making a wave plate act as a ¼-wavelength plate or a ½-wavelength plate. Further, making the optical characteristic of a single element have the dependency on location can only be realized by arranging a plurality of wave plates.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, realize a structure with an optional optical characteristic at an optional location in it and thereby realize an optical element with a high functionality not obtained from the natural world.


A sleeve fits in a through-hole in a carriage to provide a return passage which makes sure of both the flexibility and the stiffness of the sleeve. The sleeve is constituted with fore and aft circular ends, a pair of columns and a pair of flexible columns lying lengthwise between the fore and aft circular ends to guide the roller, lengthwise slits lying between the flexible columns and the columns, and complementary ends made on the terminals of the fore and aft circular ends. The flexible columns have raised lands having curved outer surfaces, and recessions flanked by the raised lands and having rolling wall surfaces or the return passage. The raised lands and the recessions are arranged alternately in the lengthwise direction of the sleeve to give the sleeve the capability of elastic deformation.

Recently advanced machines and instruments including semiconductor fabricating equipment, precision machines, measurement/inspection equipment and so on are increasingly envisioned to be compact in construction from many aspects of conserving energy as well as keeping high efficiency benefits. Accordingly, the linear motion guide units incorporated in the relatively sliding parts in a diversity of machines are also needed to be compact in construction and large in load-carrying capacity enough to allow smooth relative sliding movement of a slider along a guide rail. Meanwhile, cylindrical rolling elements rather than balls are preferred for making the liner motion guide unit larger in load-carrying capacity and, among the liner motion guide units using the cylindrical rolling elements or rollers, the slider needs to be compact in construction, especially shorter in length or traveling direction.
In the commonly assigned prior patent document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H09-72 335) which will be referred below, there is disclosed the linear motion guide unit in which a carriage in a slider has a return-bore where a sleeve fit to provide a return passage. The sleeve is made to suffer elastic deformation to alleviate the sliding resistance which would be encountered when rolling elements roll through the sleeve, thereby making sure of smooth rolling movement of the rolling elements. With the prior linear motion guide unit constructed as stated earlier, the sleeve fits in the return-bore to provide the return passage extending across the overall length of the return-bore with leaving a circular space between an inside circular wall around the return-bore and an outside circular surface around a radially reduced zone of the sleeve, the circular space being prepared for relieving the elastic deformation of the sleeve. The sleeve is provided in lengthwise direction thereof with a slit and held at fore-and-aft ends thereof to the return-bore, but allowed at the middle zone thereof to alleviate the frictional resistance which would be encountered when rollers roll through the sleeve, thereby making sure of smooth sliding movement of the slider on the guide rail.
In the commonly assigned prior patent document 2 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-105 310) there is disclosed a linear motion guide unit in which the return passage is formed with a pipe improved in rigidity or stiffness to make sure of steady application of lubricant around the rolling elements, thereby realizing maintenance-free lubrication. With the linear motion guide unit constructed as stated just earlier, the return passage is defined with a through-hole inside a pipe extending through a lengthwise hole in the carriage. The pipe has windows into which a porous member fits snugly. Lubricant is applied around the rolling elements when the rolling elements roll through the return passage while coming in to engagement with the porous member.
In the commonly assigned prior patent document 3 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2013-92 236) there is disclosed a linear motion guide unit in which a return passage is constituted with a sleeve which fits into a return-bore in a carriage of a slider. With the prior linear motion guide unit made lengthwise short and compact in construction, a cylindrical member to provide the return passage is inserted into a lengthwise bore in the carriage in the slider to make sure of smooth rolling though the return passage. More especially, the cylindrical member to provide the return passage is inserted the lengthwise bore in the carriage with leaving a clearance between them. The cylindrical member has two members susceptible to elastic deformation, one of the members is a bridged beam portion supported at both lengthwise ends thereof and another of the two members is a cantilevered beam portion. Both types of the beam portions are allowed to undergo the elastic deformation under an impact force caused by the rolling elements. The bridged beam portion is born at end support sections formed around the outside peripheries of the cylindrical member and the cantilevered beam portion is fastened or retained at a one end thereof and freed at another end thereof to bend or warp.


A fuel cell comprises a single cell including a membrane assembly electrode unit comprising a fuel electrode to which an aqueous methanol solution is supplied as a fuel, an air electrode to which an oxidizing gas is supplied, and an electrolyte membrane interposed between the electrodes, a fuel separator and an oxidizing gas separator disposed at both sides of the membrane assembly electrode unit, and seal members respectively disposed between the membrane assembly electrode unit and the fuel separator and between the membrane assembly electrode unit and the oxidizing gas separator. The seal member includes a specific copolymer of a monomer containing a metal element.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a fuel cell, and more particularly to a fuel cell with an improved seal member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell, for example, a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) of the active type has a structure provided with a single cell comprising: a membrane assembly electrode unit including a fuel electrode to which an aqueous methanol solution is supplied as a fuel, an air electrode to which an oxidizing gas is supplied, and an electrolyte membrane interposed between the electrodes; a fuel separator and an oxidizing gas separator disposed at both sides of the membrane assembly electrode unit; and seal members respectively disposed between the membrane assembly electrode unit and the fuel separator and between the membrane assembly electrode unit and the oxidizing gas separator.
The seal member to be assembled in the single cell is required to have the following properties in order to fulfill its functions.
(1) High resistance to the aqueous methanol solution supplied to the fuel electrode.
(2) Excellent impermeability to the oxidizing gas (for example, air) supplied to the air electrode.
(3) High resistance to radical seeds generated by an electrode reaction or radical seeds generated by an electric field in a battery.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-39341 discloses that the seal member (gasket) is composed of a rubber material such as silicone rubber.
Such a seal member made of rubber has an excellent impermeability to the oxidizing gas mentioned in (2). However, the seal member expands, shrinks and deteriorates in the presence of the aqueous methanol solution. The seal member also deteriorates due to the effects of radical seeds generated by the electrode reaction or radical seeds generated by the electric field in the battery. As a result, the original elasticity of rubber for composing the seal member is lowered, and the sealing performance of the membrane assembly electrode unit and passage plates is lowered. A decline in the sealing performance leads to leakage of a fuel and oxidizing gas, or disintegration of the stack structure of the single cell, thereby lowering the output or lowering the long-range reliability of the fuel cell.


An apparatus (e.g., a user equipment (UE)) maps a plurality of mutually orthogonal sequences to each of a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) within an interlace. The apparatus then performs a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission in a New Radio unlicensed spectrum (NR-U). The apparatus also receives an assignment of a set of sequences for each PRB of the plurality of PRBs from a wireless network. In response, the apparatus performs an uplink control information (UCI) transmission via the PUCCH in the NR-U.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
In NR-U, PUCCH formats are mapped to an interlace. Additionally, in NR-U, there is a spectral power distribution (SPD) limitation of 10 dBm/MHz by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for all PUCCH transmissions. Regarding PUCCH formats supported in NR-U, both enhanced PUCCH format 0 (e-PF0) and enhanced PUCCH format 1 (e-PF1) are for small uplink control information (UCI) payloads, and both enhanced PUCCH format 2 (e-PF2) and enhanced PUCCH format 3 (e-PF3) are for moderate to large UCI payloads. With respect to resource utilization efficiency, in NR, PUCCH format 0 (PF0) occupies 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain. In contrast, in NR-U, e-PF0 would be carried by an interlace that has 120 subcarriers. In non-power-limited operating scenarios, it would make sense to allow larger payload size and/or support larger user equipment (UE) multiplexing capability for e-PF0. Therefore, there is a need for a solution that introduces increased UE multiplexing capability to existing PUCCH formats. Moreover, there is also a need for a mapping method for interlace to achieve improved maximum coupling loss (MCL).

Enhanced PUCCH format 0 and format 1 design for new radio unlicensed spectrum operation


In a quick-release fixing structure for an electronic equipment, the electronic equipment includes a plurality of holes and a snap slot, and the quick-release fixing structure includes a substrate, a turning element and a plurality of fixing elements. The substrate includes a plurality of grooves and a port, and each groove includes a first groove hole and a second groove hole interconnected to the first groove hole, and the second groove hole is greater than the first groove hole. The turning element is coupled to the substrate and includes a bump exposed from the port and snapped into the snap slot. Each fixing element is passed through each first groove hole and fixed to each hole. The turning element can be turned to push the electronic equipment to move each fixing element into each second groove hole, and separate the electronic equipment from the substrate.

Present electronic equipments sometimes have to be installed on a wall or a rod. For example, when an antenna case is installed indoors, the antenna case is usually adjusted to the best position for receiving signals, so that the installation positions of the antenna case may be bizarre; and when the antenna case is installed outdoors, the antenna case is usually installed at a high place for receiving the signals, so that most antenna cases are installed at positions such as a street lamp pole, an attic wall or a railing.
Since the antenna cases are installed at places without a specific regularity regardless of its installation indoors or outdoors, therefore users have to fix the antenna case to a desired place on their own. In general, most antenna cases are fixed by using a string to tie the antenna case onto a rod or using a nail or an adhesive tape to fix the antenna case onto a wall.
However, if the antenna case fails to receive signals and it is necessary to switch the position of the installed antenna case, or inspect, maintain or repair the antenna case, then users have to cut the string in order to remove the antenna case. Even worse, the users require much effort to remove nails or adhesive tapes in order to remove the antenna case, if the antenna case is fixed by nails and adhesive tapes. In addition, the fixing holes may be expanded and the adhesiveness may be insufficient at the original positions of the removed nails or adhesive tapes, so that the antenna case cannot be reinstalled, and the marks of the nails and adhesive tapes ruin the aesthetic look of the environment. Obviously, users are unwilling to use these methods to fix the antenna case.
In view of the aforementioned problems, the inventor of the present invention based on existing technologies to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed a quick-release fixing structure for electronic equipments in accordance with the present invention to overcome the problems of the prior art.

Quick-release fixing structure for electronic equipments


A conductive paste is provided which is prepared by kneading a composition comprising silver metal powder, an organic vehicle, and a silver-titanium alloy powder contained in an amount of 0.1 to 6.0% by weight based on the amount of the silver metal powder.

This invention relates to a conductive paste, particularly to a metallic paste for forming internal electrodes used in stacked ceramic capacitors.
A stacked ceramic capacitor is generally produced by blending a mixed ceramic powder with an organic binder, forming the resulting mixture into a sheet, and printing internal electrodes on the sheet using a conductive metallic paste, followed by stacking of such printed sheets, press bonding, cutting, sintering and formation of external electrodes which are connected to the internal electrodes. Such conductive metallic paste to be used for forming internal electrodes is prepared by blending metal powders such as of silver, palladium, etc. with a vehicle consisting of an organic binder and a solvent and kneading the resulting mixture over a triple roll mill and the like.
The ceramic powder particles react with one another to undergo shrinkage during sintering in the process of producing such stacked ceramic capacitor, and thus the ceramic portion is densified. The metal powders contained in the conductive paste applied to the sheets also undergo shrinkage during the sintering to form internal electrodes. Since no chemical bond can be formed between the ceramics and metals, however, adhesion between the ceramics and the internal electrodes is so weak that the internal electrodes separate from the ceramic portions (delamination) due to the difference in the level of sintering shrinkage or of thermal expansion coefficient in the ceramics and that of the metals contained in the internal electrode, and that cracking occurs due to the internal stress in the ceramic portions.


A rear suspension system for a land vehicle comprising a single generally centrally mounted structure in a middle portion of the rear suspension system. The suspension system comprises a pair of inclined primary suspension means, and a pair of inclined primary oscillating arms for pivotally connected to a pair of laterally spaced longitudinal slides at an underside area of the chassis of the land vehicle. Each of the primary oscillating arms comprise a distal end, which are further coupled to a horizontal bar adjacent a distal end of the primary suspension means, such as a shock absorber, and a proximal end which are individually mounted a horizontal bar adjacent a front end of the primary suspension means at an underside portion of the chassis. The suspension system further comprises a Weight Transfer Dynamic Compensator for raising a front tip portion of the longitudinal slides each time there is a transfer of weight in the vehicle. The Weight Transfer Dynamic Compensator is beneficial during acceleration and cornering of the vehicle by allowing the front end of the vehicle to remain close to the ground, thereby providing improved traction and control of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a single generally centrally mounted structure in a rear suspension system for a land vehicle, and more particularly to a weight transfer system for providing an adjustment between alternative riding conditions.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Rear suspension systems in land vehicles conventionally comprise apparatus which are mounted to the chassis of the vehicle in a plurality of locations. Typically, the rear suspension systems are heavy due to the number of components in the system, and the impact of the energy absorbed during the ride of the vehicle is absorbed by the driver.
Several rear suspension systems for snowmobile vehicles have been patented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,260 to Plourde discloses a suspension system for an endless track vehicle, such as a snowmobile. The suspension system comprises a shock absorber unit being pivotally connected to a forwardly located crank arm, a strap and a retainer rod. The retainer rod extends across and is fixed to a front portion of a pair of lateral slides. The strap limits the downward movement of the front portion of the lateral slides by means of coil springs and a shock absorber unit. Furthermore, the shock absorber unit exerts a downward force on both the front and rear portions of the slides.
Another example of a rear suspension system for a snowmobile vehicle is U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,386 to Yasui et al. This patent discloses a suspension unit comprising a first shock absorber in a front portion of the rear suspension system, and a second shock absorber in a rear portion of the rear suspension system. The first shock absorber is connected to a proximal end of a guiderail by means of a cross tube, which is pivotally supported to the vehicle by means of bolts. The second shock absorber is connected to a distal end of the guiderail by means of bellcranks and arms. The bellcranks are pivotally supported on an axle which is journaled in the body of the snowmobile vehicle. Furthermore, the rear portion of the rear suspension system comprises a strap for limiting the maximum vertical travel of the guiderails with respect to the body of the vehicle at such time as the vehicle is vertically lifted off the ground. Accordingly, this patent limits the vertical lift of the guiderails by means of a two sets of shock absorber units, inc combination with springs, a strap, bellcranks and arms.
Other examples of patented rear suspension systems for land vehicles and snowmobiles include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,572 to Zulawski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,470 to Badsey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,842 to Yasui, U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,692 to Lohr et al, Japanese document 62-214065, and Japanese document 3-157283.
While each of the above described and cited rear suspension systems for land vehicles function adequately, they each have certain drawbacks. The major drawback is that the rear suspension systems are mounted to the underside of the chassis at both a front and rear portions thereof. The dual attachment of the prior art suspension systems in some circumstances add increased weight to the vehicle, reduce travel of the suspension, and increase the drag on a returning section of an endless track thereby decreasing the maximum speed achievable.
Therefore, what is desirable in a rear suspension system for a land vehicle is a generally centrally mounted rear suspension system capable of providing improved acceleration and cornering, an increase in the maximum speed achievable, a reduction in the weight of the vehicle by reducing the number of components in the suspension system, and an improved shock system for decreasing the workload of the components of the suspension system.

Rear suspension system for a land vehicle


A sealing element for a tubular member such as an endotracheal tube which includes a circular collar portion and a pliable flange or gill. One or more of the sealing elements are positioned on a tubular member such as an endotracheal tube. When the tubular member is inserted into a lumen such as a trachea, the pliable flange(s) or gill(s) forms a seal between the outer wall of the tubular member and the inner wall of the lumen. In the case of endotracheal tubes the sealing elements replace conventional inflatable cuffs and allow for tubes having diameters less than 5 mm.

Endotracheal tubes are widely used in anesthesia and critical care medicine. In use, endotracheal tubes provide access to the upper airways for controlled, assisted ventilation or spontaneous unassisted ventilation with positive end expiratory pressure.
One of the drawbacks of inserting an endotracheal tube into an upper airway of a patient results in the reduction of the lumen of the airway. One cause by which the lumen is reduced is the inability to use the largest possible endotracheal tube for a given patient without subjecting the patient to increased risks. Generally, it is not advisable to insert the largest possible endotracheal tube in a patient since such an attempt will entail many trials and errors which may take additional time which should be avoided especially in critical care or emergency situations.
In addition, the wall thickness of an endotracheal tube needs to be such to provide sufficient strength so as to be safely handled by the using physician or technician during insertion and to maintain the tube stable after insertion. At present, adult endotracheal tubes range between 7 to 9 millimeters in internal diameter with a total wall thickness ranging between 1.4 and 1.5 millimeters. For newborn endotracheal tubes, the decrease in lumen internal diameter as a result of the required wall thickness amounts to approximately 0.5 millimeters or more.
Any decrease in the lumen due to wall thickness of an endotracheal tube has a profound effect on the airway resistance, since the resistance to air flow is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the radius.
As a result of the deficiencies in prior art endotracheal tubes, a need has developed to provide an endotracheal tube having reduced airway resistance so as to facilitate establishment of artificial airways other than those using mechanical ventilators.
Conventional technology used in the fabrication of blood catheters uses either extrusion or dip coating onto mandrels. Extrusion technology has the advantage of low cost, but has little flexibility. With extrusion, the resulting thin wall catheters are rather stiff and are liable to kink or bend and thus obstruct the inner passageway. The dip coating technique used for currently available catheters and tubes is not reproducible in thin wall gauges and, therefore, wall thickness remain substantial.
For successful use, it is important to provide a good seal between the outer wall of an endotracheal tube and the tracheal into which it is inserted. Conventionally, such a seal is provided by using an inflatable cuff attached to the endotracheal tube. Such inflatable cuffs utilize either low or high pressure fluids to cause them to inflate and thus require additional fluid passageways that are connected to the inflatable cuffs.
Unfortunately, the use of inflatable cuffs is sometimes injurious to the tracheal, causing pressure necrosis, bleeding, fistula formation, etc. Following removal of endotracheal tubes having inflatable cuffs, particularly following long term use, there is a significant potential for scar formation with resultant tracheal stenosis. Because of the above sequelae, the use of inflatable cuffs is frowned on in conjunction with newborns and small children, because such adverse effects oftentimes are far more debilitating were they to occur in patients other than adults.
As a result of the above problems and concerns and design limitations, endotracheal tubes up to size 5 mm do not presently employ inflatable cuffs. As an adverse side effect to this accepted design which lacks a sealing means, there is likely to be a significant air leak that can at times be very troublesome.
The present invention provides an ultra thin walled wire reinforced endotracheal tube which provides reduced airway resistance to permit easier breathing by a patient. The ultra thin walled endotracheal tube comprises a polymer having incorporated therewith a stainless steel spring material to form a continuous tubing. The combination of the polymer and stainless steel spring material provides an ultra thin wall of the tubing which permits the use of an endotracheal tube having similar diameters as prior art tubings but with increased internal diameters and resultant reductions in airway resistance.
The present invention further provides a novel sealing means which avoids the use of inflatable cuffs, and which is applicable to endotracheal and similar tubes of all sizes including those having an outside diameter which is less that about 5 mm.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services


An extrusion apparatus for processing, mixing and extruding thermoplastic and rubber materials includes a feed hopper feeding two barrier type extruders. Extrusion rotors include diagonal grooves with a barrier that has a restrictive clearance or gap relative to the extruder barrel bore. Fine material can pass through this gap, but larger material is led to a downstream end of the grooves. An abrasive barrel surface opposite the downstream end of the grooves grinds this larger material until it can pass or lead off through the smaller gap. Stationary knives located downstream of the abrasive section cut the exiting material into flakes. The barrel and barrier sections are conical and the size of the gap can be changed by relative movement between the barrel and the barriers. The extruders can operate adiabatically so that there is no change in extrusion temperature with speed and the volume of process flow.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process and an apparatus, particularly to an apparatus of the rotor and barrel type for the factory processing of thermoplastic and rubber like or polymeric materials up to the quality obtained by the small laboratory equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The normal two roll factory size two roll mill produces a bank of material between the two rolls into which arriving process material must push its way into the bank. This action wastes the work that was used to extrude the material. Massed material in the bank is sheared by the action of the two rolls, an action referred to as turbulent flow and considered excellent. However, the imposed shear is directed to the path of least resistance, the already worked material and increases the non-uniformity of the processing. Additional working tends to hide the unequal processing, but can never equal the quality of uniformity processed material. Mills following a #27 internal mixer varies from two to seven mills, which complete the processing. Also, even if one mill was used, a mill man had to be in attendance to start and stop the feed strips as required.
This was the start of the art at the time of change over to radial ply tires. A massive millroom study was made in which all compounds were measured at each step of the mixing process. After hundreds of complete tests it became evident that a certain minimum of power, regardless of the equipment used, was required to obtain designed quality. Additional mixing with added power input was shown not to be cost effective. Thus the millroom state of the art made it cost effective to change over to radial ply tires.
Now, some forty years later, it is time to modernize the mixing process.


A compression-type drop wire clamp assembly for use in suspending and directing cables and wires relative to supporting structures, such as a poles or buildings, is provided. More specifically, the improved drop wire clamp assembly is designed for use in suspending and directing sensitive cables and wires, such as fiber optic cables and wires. The drop wire clamp assembly includes a tapered housing, a mating tapered slide assembly, a hanger portion for securing the assembly to the supporting structure, and a shim. The housing and the shim each include a longitudinal groove, as well as gripping surfaces. The fiber optic cable, or other electrical cable, is sandwiched between the housing and the shim within the longitudinal grooves of the housing and shim. The gripping surfaces of the housing and shim engage the cable in such a way as to prevent damage to the cable or wire caused by the compressive force or pressure exerted thereto, while allowing the drop wire clamp assembly to sufficiently secure the cable thereto. That is, the compressive force exerted on the cable is exerted on the more durable support portions of the cable and little or no compressive force is exerted on the signal-carrying portion of the cable. Thus, damage to the signal-carrying portion of the cable, and the attenuation of the signal caused by such damage, may be prevented.

Various types of clamps are employed to support and direct cables extending between supports and/or structures, such as from a utility pole to a building. One common type of clamp used for such a purpose is conventionally referred to as a drop wire clamp. A drop wire clamp allows a cable or wire, such as a telephone wire or coaxial cable, to be supported and attached to a building, pole, or other support wire in a manner that lessens the potential for compromising the signal transmission capability of the cable or wire. The drop wire clamp also is used because the clamp supports the weight of the cable or wire and maintains tension on the line, while relieving stress on the attachment points of the cable or wire, such as the attachment structure on a pole or building.
Drop wire clamps generally fall into one of two categories: (1) a wire wrap-type drop wire clamp; or (2) a compression-type drop wire clamp. With wire wrap-type drop wire clamps, a wire, such as a portion of a messenger strand, is wrapped around the drop wire clamp to secure the signal carrying cable therein. With compression-type drop wire clamps, the cable or wire is secured to the clamp through pressure exerted on the cable or wire by the clamp. In either type of drop wire clamp, it is important that the clamp does not degrade the quality of the signal carried by the cable or wire by damaging the signal-carrying cable or wire or the insulation of the cable or wire and does not otherwise damage the cable or wire, thereby increasing the likelihood of failure of the cable or wire.
More specifically, compression-type drop wire clamp secures the cable or wire with a compressive force. Compression-type designs may or may not use a trough to accept the cable or wire, but the distinguishing feature of the compression-type drop wire clamps is that the cable or wire is typically held within the clamp through some type of compressive force or pressure on the cable or wire.
With compression-type drop wire clamp designs, one known shortcoming is that the their designs may damage the cable through the pressurized contact used to secure the cable or wire to the drop wire clamp. This shortcoming becomes particularly evident when compression-type drop wire clamps are used in conjunction with cables or wires that are relatively fragile or are more apt to suffer damage due to the compressive forces or pressure exerted on the cable or wire by the drop wire clamp. Due to the damage caused by the pressurized contact used to secure the cables, the signal carried by the cable is attenuated, disrupted, or interfered with, making prior art compression-type drop wire clamps unsuitable for use with such fragile cables or wire.
While a variety of different types of cables and wires have been found to be more fragile and more likely to be damaged when used with compression-type drop wire clamps, one type of cable or wire which has thusfar been generally found to be unsuitable for use with compression-type drop wire clamps has been fiber optic-based cables and wires. This shortcoming of compression-type drop wire clamps has become more pronounced in recent years, as the use of fiber optics in cables and wires has greatly increased, particularly in connection with the communications industry.
Fiber optic cables or wires may be constructed in a variety of ways, but generally comprise: (1) optical fibers; (2) a loose fitting tube or buffer coating; (3) a protective strength member; and (4) an outer jacket. The optical fiber or optical fibers are generally located at the core of the fiber optic cable. The fiber optic core is surrounded by a loose fitting tube or is covered in with a buffer coating. If a loose fitting tube is used, a plastic buffer tube having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the fiber optic core surrounds the core. The plastic tube is sometimes filled with another material, such as silicone gel, to prevent the buildup of moisture between the loose fitting tube and the core. If the buffer coating is used, a thick coating of a plastic-type material is applied directly to the outside of the fiber optic core. The use of the buffer coating generally allows the final fiber optic able to be smaller in diameter and more flexible, but the cable is less resistant to external forces. A protective strength member generally surrounds, or is located adjacent to but not surrounding (for example, in the form of strength members which run coextensive with the fiber optic core), the loose fitting tube or the buffer coating. The protective strength member gives strength to the final fiber optic cable and helps the cable resist damage. Finally, the outer jacket is generally made of a PVC material, or some other similar material, and surrounds the other components of the fiber optic cable in order to protect the components from exposure to the elements.
Although the construction of fiber optic cables lessens the potential for damage to the fragile fiber-optic core in general uses, the construction of the fiber optic cables does not protect the fiber optic core from damage from compression-type drop wire clamps. As a result, the use of conventional compression-type drop wire clamps with fiber optic cables damages the cables, typically by crushing or damaging the fiber optic core through the increased compressive force and pressure subjected on the cable by the drop wire clamp. Thus, conventional compression-type drop wire clamps have been found to be ill-suited to use with fiber optic cables. This limitation upon the use of compression-type drop wire clamps has become significant, as fiber optic cables and wires have become more common and often must be connected to supporting structures, such as poles and buildings.


Disclosed is a liquid jetting device which includes: a liquid chamber for containing a liquid to be jetted out; an energy generation element for imparting energy to the liquid in the liquid chamber; and a nozzle for jetting out the liquid in the liquid chamber as a droplet by the energy generation element. In the liquid jetting device, a plurality of the nozzles are arrayed to constitute a head, and a plurality of the heads are arrayed in a direction orthogonal to the array direction of the nozzles to constitute a head array. In addition, the droplet jetted out from each of the nozzle in the head array is deposited on a recording medium to form a dot. Further, the jetting direction of the droplet jetted out from the nozzle can be deflected by controlling the manner in which the energy is imparted to the liquid by the energy generation element. Furthermore, an error in the deposition position of the dot due to an error in the position of the head in the head array is corrected.

The present invention relates to a technology for improving image quality by correcting errors in the deposition positions of droplets in a liquid jetting device and a liquid jetting method for depositing the droplets on a recording medium to form dots.
Further, the present invention relates to a technology for enhancing the image quality concerning the resolution of record dots by intentionally shifting the deposition positions of the droplets.
Conventionally, an ink jet printer, which is one of liquid jetting devices, generally includes a head in which nozzles are arranged rectilinearly. Minute ink droplets are jetted out from each of the nozzles of the head toward a recording medium, such as a printing paper, disposed opposite to the nozzle surface, to form roughly circular dots in column direction and row direction, thereby expressing images and characters as dot pictures.
Here, as one of ink jetting systems, there has been known the thermal system for jetting out an ink or inks by use of thermal energy.
The jetting device of the thermal system includes ink chambers for containing an ink as a liquid, heat-generating resistors as energy generation elements provided in the ink chambers, and nozzles for jetting out the ink as droplets. The ink is rapidly heated by the heat generation element, to generate a bubble in the ink on the heat generation element, and an ink droplet is jetted out from the nozzle by the energy at the time of bubble generation.
From the viewpoint of head structure, further, the ink jetting devices are classified into the serial system for printing while moving the head in the width direction of the recording medium, and the line system in which a multiplicity of heads are arrayed in the width direction of the recording medium to constitute a line head corresponding to the width of printing.
In the line system, a technological approach in which the head extending over the entire width of the recording medium is integrally formed by use of a silicon wafer, a glass or the like is impractical, due to the presence of various problems as to manufacturing method, yield, heat generation, cost, etc.
Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-36522 or the like, there has been known a technology in which a plurality of small heads (they also involve various limitations, and a practical limit of the length in the array direction of nozzles is no more than about 1 inch) are aligned so that their ends become continuous with each other, and an appropriate signal processing is applied to the individual heads, thereby recording images continuous with each other over the entire width of the recording medium at the stage of printing on the recording medium.
However, the above-mentioned related art involves the following problems.
First, an ideal condition will be described. FIGS. 8A and 8B schematically illustrate a head array formed by arraying heads in a direction orthogonal to the array direction of nozzles, and the dots formed by droplets jetted out from the nozzles of the heads.
Specifically, FIG. 8A shows that four heads 11A, 11B, 11C and 11D each constructed by arraying nozzles 18 in a row are arrayed in the direction orthogonal to the array direction of the nozzles 18 to constitute a head array including the four heads. Four color inks, i.e., yellow, cyan, magenta, and black inks are individually contained as liquids in ink chambers (not shown), and energy generation elements (not shown) for imparting energy to the liquids in the ink chambers are provided, whereby the four different-colored inks are jetted out as droplets from the nozzles 18 on the basis of each of the heads 11A to 11D.
Here, for convenience, X direction and Y direction are defined as shown in FIG. 8A (hereinafter, this applies also to other figures).
Therefore, in the case of the line system, the heads 11A to 11D are arrayed in respective lengths comparable to the width (in the X direction) of the recording medium, and, without moving the head array composed of the heads 11A to 11D arrayed in the Y direction, the recording medium is fed in the Y direction, whereby printing can be conducted over the whole surface area of the recording medium.
In addition, while the heads arrayed in the Y direction can respectively jet out the four different-colored inks to print color images in this case, more than four colors are used in some other cases.
Incidentally, the nozzles 18 are schematically treated as to number and size, for easier understanding of the illustration.
Besides, in some cases, the inks are jetted from the nozzles not at the same timing but at appropriately staggered timings at the time of printing. In such a case, for preventing errors from being generated in the deposition positions on the recording medium, the positions of the nozzles in the Y direction may be preliminarily corrected according to the jetting timing sequence. For easier understanding of the illustration, here, an example in which the nozzle positions in the Y direction are all on straight lines is illustrated as a representative example.
Incidentally, in the case of the serial system, the head array composed of the heads 11A to 11D performs printing in the width direction (the Y direction) of the recording medium while being moved in the Y direction in FIG. 8A. Then, when the head array has been moved by a one-pass distance, the recording medium is moved by a predetermined amount in the X direction, and the head array repeats the same operation, thereby printing over the whole surface area of the recording medium.
Next, FIG. 8B illustrates the dots D formed by the ideal head array shown in FIG. 8A.
Whether the head array may be of the line system or the serial system, if there is no deflection in the jetting directions at the time of jetting out the ink droplets from the nozzles 18 of the heads, the deposition positions of the droplets correspond to the nozzles 18, so that the dots D aligned in the X direction on the recording medium are also formed in correspondence with the nozzles 18.
Where there is no deflection in the jetting directions, the forming positions of the dots D in the Y direction are determined by the feeding velocity of the recording medium and the jetting timings of the droplets from the nozzles 18 in the line system. In the serial system, the forming positions of the dots D in the Y direction are determined by the moving velocity of the head array and the jetting timings of the droplets from the nozzles 18.
For easier understanding of illustration, here, the dots are schematically treated as to position and size so that they touch each other both in the X direction and in the Y direction.
In response to printing data, the ink droplets are jetted on an on-demand basis independently for each color, and the dots D deposited on the recording medium such as a printing paper are superposed on each other, whereby color printing can be achieved.
In some cases, color printing can be realized by changing not only the color of droplets but also the concentration of droplets, the number of droplets jetted, the amount jetted, the deposition positions of droplets, the deposition area of droplets, or the like. For simplification of description, however, it is assumed here that the dots D formed by the droplets in four colors are equal in size and the number of the droplets jetted from one nozzle in one operation is one.
Then, in the ideal head array shown in FIG. 8A, the dots D formed by the droplets jetted out from the corresponding nozzles 18 (the n-th nozzles as viewed in the X direction) of the heads 11A to 11D are exactly superposed on each other if their positions in the Y direction coincide with each other, as shown in FIG. 8B.
In other words, it is ideal to configure the head array so that the dots D as shown in FIG. 8B will be formed.
In practice, however, it is difficult to constitute the ideal head array as shown in FIG. 8A, due to the problems concerning scattering on a production basis, yield, cost, and the like.
For example, in the head array shown in FIG. 9A, only the head 11C among the heads 11A to 11D has a positional error in the X direction. Due to the positional error, the dots DC formed by the droplets jetted out from the nozzles of the head 11C show positional errors in the X direction as shown in FIG. 9B.
With the head array including such a mispositioned head, intrinsic printing conforming to given printing data cannot be achieved, so that a lowered print quality results.
In addition, as a means for coping with an increase in resolution of record dots desired, it has been practiced to enhance the density of the nozzles arrayed in the heads. However, there is a limitation to the narrowing of the nozzle pitch.
In view of this, in some cases, as shown in FIG. 10A, a plurality of heads (two heads 11A and 11B, in the case of FIG. 10) equal in the pitch of nozzles 18 are aligned, with their pitches staggered from each other (by half pitch, in the case of FIG. 10), i.e., the heads are arranged in a staggered manner, to enhance (in the case of FIG. 10, to double) the resolution.
If the head array is an ideal head array as shown in FIG. 10A, the dots DA and DB formed by the droplets jetted out from the nozzles 18 of the heads 11A and 11B are staggered from each other by half pitch when their positions in the Y direction coincide, as shown in FIG. 10B. In practice, however, it is difficult to realize such an ideal head array, due to the scattering on a production basis and the like.
Accordingly, as represented by the head array shown in FIG. 11A, the nozzle pitches would be staggered halfway and, as a result, the dots DA formed by the droplets jetted out from the nozzles of the head 11A and the dots DB relevant to the head 11B would overlap with each other, as shown in FIG. 11B.
With such a head array, intrinsic printing conforming to given printing data cannot be achieved, so that a lowered print quality results.

Liquid jetting device and liquid jetting method


A dipole antenna for a wireless communication device, which includes a first conductive element superimposed on a portion of and separated from a second conductive element by a first dielectric layer. A first conductive via connects the first and second conductive elements through the first dielectric layer. The second conductive element is generally U-shaped. The second conductive element includes a plurality of spaced conductive strips extending transverse from adjacent ends of the legs of the U-shape. Each strip is dimensioned for a different center frequency λ0. The first conductive element may be replaced by a coaxial feed directly to the second conductive element.

The present disclosure relates to an antenna for wireless communication devices and systems and, more specifically, to printed dipole antennas for communication for wireless multi-band communication systems.
Wireless communication devices and systems are generally hand held or are part of portable laptop computers. Thus, the antenna must be of very small dimensions in order to fit the appropriate device. The system is used for general communication, as well as for wireless local area network (WLAN) systems. Dipole antennas have been used in these systems because they are small and can be tuned to the appropriate frequency. The shape of the printed dipole is generally a narrow, rectangular strip with a width less than 0.05 λ0 and a total length less than 0.5 λ0. The theoretical gain of the λ/2 dipole (with reference to the isotropic radiator) is generally 2.15 dBi and for a dipole antenna (two wire λ/4 length, middle excited, also with reference to the isotropic radiator) is equal to 1.76 dBi.
The present disclosure is a printed dipole antenna for a wireless communication device. It includes a first conductive element superimposed on a portion of and separated from a second conductive element by a first dielectric layer. A first conductive via connects the first and second conductive elements through the first dielectric layer. The second conductive element is generally U-shaped. The second conductive element includes a plurality of spaced conductive strips extending transverse from adjacent ends of the legs of the U-shape. Each strip on a leg is dimensioned for a different center frequency λ0 than another strip on the same leg.
The first conductive element may be L-shaped and one of the legs of the L-shape being superimposed on one of the legs of the U-shape. The first conductive via connects the other leg of the L-shape to the other leg of the U-shape. Alternatively, the first conductive element may be connected to the ends of the strips by individual vias.
The first and second conductive elements are each planar. The strips may have a width of less than 0.05 λ0 and a length of less than 0.5 λ0.
The antenna may be omni-directional or directional. If it is directional, it includes a ground plane conductor superimposed and separated from the second conductive element by a second dielectric layer. A third conductive element is superimposed and separated from the strips of the second conductive element by the first dielectric layer. A second conductive via connects the third conductive element to the ground conductor through the dielectric layers. The first and third conductive elements may be co-planar. The third conductive element includes a plurality of fingers superimposed on a portion of lateral edges of each of the strips.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosure, when considered in conjunction with accompanying drawings.

Modified printed dipole antennas for wireless multi-band communications systems


There is disclosed an improvement to a system, apparatus, method, and computer program product relating to a novel events-notification activity occurring within computer network environments including SAN, NAS and client server environments. A user at a convenient, single user-interface location in a network is enabled to establish such activity by creating and deploying template software objects which are configurable with respect to both events of interest and genre of notifications of such events. Accordingly, such user, operating at the user-interface at a client or head-end station and employing such templates, can select: (1) which particular network-failure events (from complete failures to measured degradations), such as those occurring in peripherals including disk array storage devices, are to be reported; (2) to whom such events shall be reported, worldwide; and, (3) the mode of communication by which such events shall be reported such as email, telephone, pager, etc. In those instances where certain databases in storage devices of servers employed throughout the network may contain templates which present name/content conflicts with client database templates the events-notification activity is less effective than it otherwise would be. There is disclosed a system, apparatus, method, and computer program product for handling such conflicts and thereby enhancing the effectiveness of the events-notification activity. An alternative embodiment of this solution handles the scenario where multiple networks having multiple clients sharing particular servers create template name/content conflicts.

Computer networks are pervasive in our society and virtually all human activity is now influenced at least to some extent by existence and usage of these networks. Therefore, the more reliable these networks are, the better for all concerned. Accordingly, substantial effort is being invested in improving reliability and long-term operability of these networks. One current approach to improving computer network reliability is to continuously monitor events or operating states of peripheral devices on an individual basis in the network to determine if those states reflect normal or failing peripheral-device operation. Each peripheral device or group thereof has its own individually dedicated server for performing at least that monitoring function. If such monitoring allows for sufficiently early notification of an event such as a failing device or portion thereof, (e.g., in a disk drive peripheral, failure-events such as cooling-fan failure, bad fuse, ac power failure, invalid data sector read, checksum error, inconsistent time stamps, incoherent stripe, etc. can occur), then action can be undertaken in an attempt to avoid or mitigate effects of the particular failure mechanism(s) involved. Accordingly, overall system or network reliability is generally enhanced by such timely event-notification and response thereto. But, setting-up the notification system on an individual basis, and monitoring and reporting events on an individual basis is problematic as discussed further below.
Typically, in the aforementioned prior art, operating states of hardware peripheral devices, such as, for example, disk drives, are monitored and software is utilized as the avenue by which such monitoring is performed. Distributed management software running in client server networks is available now for these purposes. In this prior art, as noted, a server-host computer is normally associated with, or dedicated to, a group of peripherals including disk drives and is tasked with monitoring events (such as failures) associated with those peripherals and reporting such events to its client. However, since each such group of peripherals has its own server for that purpose, each such server operates in this events notification arena independently of all other servers in the network. Thus, there is a one-to-one relationship between any disk array and the server computer monitoring it. This arrangement necessitates the programming and set-up of each such server on an individual basis to monitor a particular peripheral or group of peripherals. In other words, in the prior art, methodology for handling this peripheral device state information, or system event configuration information, involves a manual set-up on a per-host basis (one server at a time). This set-up is accomplished by editing a text-based configuration file which is very time consuming and error-prone. And this arrangement offers further complexity if changes or upgrades are required: for example, if a new computer network service person hires-on with a new pager number, it is a non-trivial challenge to travel to each separate storage system on a network of, for example, a thousand or more disk drive peripherals scattered geographically around the nation (or, even worse, around the globe) in order to properly upgrade the pager number for each peripheral device cluster. Additional challenge is presented in the events-notification arena by pre-existing network state conditions wherein portions of a client's database contain data in conflict with other data contained in portions of one or more of its servers' databases. These complexities, limitations and challenges of the prior art are addressed and overcome while further enhancing reliability of network operation, by the welcome arrival of the present invention.

Ambiguity-purging and template-conflict-resolution in computer network events-notification


The present invention describes a novel apparatus for adjusting the lateral spacing between conveyor system guide rails so as to accommodate articles of various sizes. The invention utilizes a series of guide rail mounts which are moved laterally by an internal cam mechanism. The cams are rotated by a drive shaft that runs parallel to the conveyor and is rotatably mounted in a series of bearing assemblies secured adjacent to the conveyor. The drive shaft may be rotated by way of a simple hand wrench, which simultaneously shifts all of the guide rail mounts an equal distance, thus maintaining their parallel configuration. The shaft is then locked in position, thereby fixing the position of the guide rails until further adjustment is desired. The invention may be used on curved conveyor systems as well as straight systems.

It is well known in the conveyor system art to provide guide rails positioned on opposite sides and along the length of a conveyor system to provide support for the articles traveling upon the conveyor. When the conveyor system is to be utilized for articles of a different size, it then becomes necessary to adjust the lateral position of these guide rails to provide an increased or a decreased lateral spacing between the guide rails. In most systems in use today, the guide rails are supported by a plurality of longitudinally spaced brackets fixed along the length of the conveyor system. When the guide rail spacing is to be adjusted, each of the brackets must be loosened and then repositioned. Not only is this a very time consuming procedure, but it is also quite difficult to reset the guide rails such that they are parallel with each other. Various mechanical systems have been developed to attempt to overcome some of these problems, but these have met with limited success. Lathrop, U.S. Pat. No. 2,156,020, teaches a conveyor apparatus for articles of varying dimensions, but the device is adapted for use with only a single guide rail, and further is extremely complex. Perry, U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,228, is suitable for use with multiple rails, but is also an extremely complex system. Snyder et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,229,605, while also suitable for use with multiple rail systems, is limited to straight line conveyors and cannot be adapted for use with curved conveyor systems.

Adjustable guide rail apparatus for conveyor systems


Viewing of a program is enabled at optimum image quality. A correspondence table of an image signal processing parameter and a combination of TMCC information and transmission errors is stored in a RAM. A CPU reads out an image signal processing parameter corresponding to a combination of TMCC information supplied from an IF demodulator and transmission errors supplied from the IF demodulator, a demultiplexer and an MPEG video decoder from the correspondence table stored in the RAM, and controls signal processing in an image signal processing portion and display processing in an image display portion based on the image signal processing parameter.

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a recording medium, and particularly to an image processing apparatus and method, and a recording medium in which a program of a received television broadcast can always be displayed at optimum image quality.
In recent years, digital television broadcasting has begun in earnest. In digital broadcasting, the content broadcast consists of a variety of picture images, such as a still image and a character figure, in addition to a normal moving image.
In a conventional television receiver, although the function of adjusting image quality according to the taste of a user is available, the adjustment is performed by a manual operation while the user observes a displayed image with the naked eye. As a result, where a variety of images are displayed as in a digital television broadcast, there has been a problem that, for example, the user must adjust the picture quality by himself for each content, which is difficult and time-consuming.

Image processing apparatus and method, and recording medium


In this REID card issuing system, manual operations are required only in two steps of: inputting personal information of an RFID card holder to register it in database; and pushing a shutter button of a camera when a photograph is being taken. Also, software controls are employed for the steps of: copying an image file of a computer COM4 from the camera CAM, changing the file name to a suitable name, and registering the name in the database to associate it with the personal information; printing the image file and personal information on a new card NC; and reading an ID number from an inlet stuck to a rear surface of the new card NC during the printing and registering the ID number in the database to associate it with the personal information and image file. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the issuing time and simplify the issuing process of the RFID card.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-132330 (patent document 1) discloses an RFID label printer in which antennas of a reader/writer of the RFID label printer are disposed along a label carrier on an upstream side and a downstream side of a printing part, so that RFID labels in which an electrical read/write error occurs after the printing by a thermal head are detected and the detection is notified.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-211170 (patent document 2) discloses a delivery label in which a sticking label and a delivery label-cum-receipt label are provided in parallel on a front surface of an adhesion base material having an adhesive agent coated with a release paper on a rear surface thereof so that respective delivery information writing surfaces are exposed, the delivery label-cum-receipt label is provided so as to be detachable to the adhesion base material, and an IC tag having a non-contact type IC chip provided at a position where the writing of the delivery information is not hindered and a rewrite layer formed on its front surface is detachably provided, whereby the printing by a printer can be executed to the delivery label provided with the IC tag.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-245870 (patent document 3) discloses a technology for continuously forming identification labels from raw labels by feeding a single carrier tape in which a plurality of raw labels embedded with the RFID are laminated so as to be peelable, reading attribute information relating to a printing condition of the raw label from the RFID, executing a printing of an image on each of the raw labels based on the read attribute information, and writing the identification information of the identification label on each of the RFID.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-207984 (patent document 4) discloses a printer provided with means for determining a level of a printing content, means for sticking an RFID tag to a label, means for performing the printing on the label, and means for encoding to the RFID tag, and it also discloses a system and a printer which determine the level of the printing content inputted by a host system, stick the RFID tag based on a set value of the level, print on the label and encode to the RFID tag if the RFID tag is stuck, thereby sticking the RFID tags only to the necessary labels without wasting the expensive RFID tags.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-140548 (patent document 5) discloses a technology for executing the communication with the RFID tag and the printing, by calculating a feeding speed of the continuous label paper based on a printing condition or a communication condition or both thereof and feeding the continuous label paper at the calculated feeding speed, in the printer provided with means for printing information on a front surface of a continuous label paper to which RFID tags are attached and means for executing a communication with the RFID tag attached to the continuous label paper and writing the information.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2003-132330    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2002-211170    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2004-245870    Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2002-207984    Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2003-140548


A packaging system for a single ammunition includes a cylindrical metal container and a cap therefore. A locking mechanism locks the cap to the top end of the container and a guiding mechanism guides the cap onto the top end of the container before the locking mechanism is locked to assure proper alignment. A plurality of impact rings are located laterally about the container and the cap to provide impact protection therefore. A stacking mechanism for each container allows a plurality of the containers to be securely stacked adjacent one another. The stacking mechanism includes a first top member and a second top member located adjacent the top ring and located 180° from one another about the cap such that the first top member of one cap interlocks with the second top member of an adjacent cap, and a similar arrangement on the bottom ring of the container.

The present packaging system for 120 mm mortar tactical rounds consists of two fiber tubes in an overpacked metal container. In order to unpack the rounds, the user has to unpalletize the metal container, remove the fiber tubes and load the fiber tubes in a mortar carrier rack. The total weight of the packaging materials is 35 lb., with the metal container weighing 23 lb. and each fiber tube weighing 6 lb. Thus, the current packaging system requires two people to carry it even a short distance. This current packaging system is thus very heavy, bulky and has three layers, so that it is undesirable in terms of weight and ease of handling.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A thermoelectric element material according to the present invention includes a quantum dot portion including a large number of quantum dots. The quantum dot portion includes carriers therein, the carriers serving to carry an electric current. Of the large number of quantum dots, adjacent quantum dots are separate from each other and are close to each other to an extent allowing the carriers to move between the quantum dots.

A thermoelectric element generates electric power when temperature difference exists between both ends thereof. One indicator that indicates the performance of the thermoelectric element is the power factor, S2σ.
Here, S is a Seebeck coefficient (V/K) representing a ratio of a potential difference to temperature difference. Specifically, S is ΔV/ΔT when a potential difference ΔV occurs between both ends of a thermoelectric element at a temperature difference ΔT therebetween.
Furthermore, σ is the electrical conductivity (1/resistivity) (with unit S or siemens, which is 1/Ω) of the thermoelectric element.
A thermoelectric element material including quantum dots (nanocrystals) is described for example in Non-Patent Literature (NPL) 1 below. According to NPL 1, a semiconductor nanocrystal PbS and a metallic nanocrystal Ag are blended to produce a nanocomposite. This nanocomposite has a Seebeck coefficient S of up to about 400 (μV/K), and a power factor of up to about 2 (μW/cm·K2) at room temperature and up to about 17 (μW/cm·K2) at 850 K.

Thermoelectric element material and method for manufacturing the same


An end-of-arm tool and corresponding system and method for automated de-palletization of a stack of totes include resilient guide arms that extend outwardly in a cascading relationship, with the lower guide arm extending farther than higher arms. The cascading relationship of the guide arms enables totes in a stack to be engaged and aligned sequentially from lowest to highest.

This invention is related to container transport, and more particularly to machinery and methods for moving and de-stacking containers, such as totes.
A great number of containers are moved in modern commerce. For example, in a modern fulfillment center, items are placed into open-top containers referred to as totes for movement within a fulfillment center.
Often, totes or like containers are placed on a pallet for transport to another facility. The objects loaded in totes take many shapes and are loaded in many combinations, and sometimes the objects settle or move during shipment. Totes can be bowed at the sidewalls by over-large objects or can be partially crushed or broken if over-loaded. A stack of totes can lean even if properly stacked, depending on the location or orientation of the objects. And a tote in a stack can be misaligned in an x-y orientation and/or in a z orientation (that is vertically) such as when an upper tote is not located within the frame of the lower tote, but rather rests in the lip of the lower tote.
Any of the above issues can inhibit the application of automation to unloading totes on a pallet, requiring human intervention and problem solving.

End of arm tool and system for tote de-palletizing