Described herein is a method of controlling the effect of raw materials on manufacturability in which constituents in a product are controlled in a simple and effective manner prior to the constituents being committed to the manufacturing process for that product. This is achieved by deriving the T.sup.2 parameter from a number of important properties of the constituents which are known to impact performance characteristics of a final product, the derived T.sup.2 value being compared with a standard for that product. If the value of T.sup.2 exceeds a predetermined limit, there is an indication that there has been a significant change in the typical properties of the constituents and action can be taken to replace defaulting constituents prior to manufacturing. Replaced constituents can then be used at another time so as to avoid irretrievable loss, for example, waste.

When manufacturing a product from a plurality of constituents, the properties of these constituents may be critical to the manufactured product. If the properties of the constituents are not within specified boundaries, the product may not meet its specified performance characteristics. For example, in a photographic product, such as an emulsion for coating onto photographic film or paper, if the properties of the constituents (gelatin, dopants, dyes etc) are not within predetermined boundaries, the final product, the photographic emulsion, may not meet its performance characteristics such as speed or grain size.
One known method used to minimise variability in manufacturability due to the effect of raw materials over a fixed time frame involves the isolation of batches of critical constituents. This is commonly referred to as `blocking`. In practice, large quantities of these critical constituents are set aside and used specifically for one particular product. This prevents short term variation in the product performance characteristics.

Method of controlling the effect of raw materials on manufacturability


A clip (8) comprises a bush (20) and a pin (10) adapted to be inserted into the bush, wherein the bush has a leg portion to be expanded in diameter so as to fasten a plurality of members together when the pin is pushed into the bush. The pin includes a flange (11), a shank (12) extending downward from the lower surface of the flange, an engagement pawl (13) connected to the shank, and a coupling pawl (14) disposed below the engagement pawl. The bush includes a ring portion (21) and a leg portion composed of a plurality of legs (23) divided by slits (25) to extend vertically downward from the lower surface of the ring portion. The pin and the bush are connected with one another through a notched thin-walled portion (29) formed between the lower end of the pin and the ring portion of the bush. The pin and the bush are assembled together in a positional relationship where the ring portion of the bush is held between the engagement and coupling pawls of the pin.

Heretofore, a two-piece synthetic resin clip having a clip body and a pin has been used to fasten a component such as ornamental parts, to a panel such as body panels for automobiles.
The conventional two-piece clip comprises a bush having a flange and a leg extending from the lower surface of the flange, and a pin having a head and a shank extending from the lower surface of the head. In a fastening operation of this clip, a pair of plate members each formed with a mounting through-hole are first superimposed while keeping the through holes in communication with one another. Then, the leg of the bush is inserted into the mounting holes of the plate members, and the shank of the pin is pressed into the leg, so that the plate members are clamped and fastened by the bush or between the lower surface of the flange and the front end of the leg having an expanded diameter.
However, in the conventional two-piece clip, the pin and the bush are individually formed as separate parts, and then assembled together. Thus, two molding-die sets are required to form the two parts separately. While two parts can be simultaneously formed by use of a single of specific molding-die set (so-called two-part cavity die), the number of parts to be formed in each of the two-part cavity dies is inevitably reduced as compared to the method of forming two parts separately by use of two molding-die sets. In addition, it is required to sort between the pin and the bush and assemble them together in a subsequent process.
In either case of forming the pin and the bush by use of the separate molding-die sets or the single two-part cavity die, after forming the pin and the bush as separate parts, they must be assembled together.
In view of the above problems, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clip comprising a pin and a bush which are capable of being integrally molded in a single molding-die set.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a clip comprising a pin and a bush which are capable of being assembled together in a single molding-die set to eliminate the need for assembling them together in a subsequent process.

Method of forming integrally molded clip


A tonneau cover device comprises a tonneau cover and guide rails. A front end of the tonneau cover is pivotally supported at the vehicle. The tonneau cover comprises plural board members provided in a longitudinal direction and jointly connected to each other. The board member is supported by the guide rails to move vertically. A change of a longitudinal distance between a support pin portion of the board member at the guide rail and a pivot axis portion of the board member when the board member moves upward along the guide rails is absorbed by the joint connections of the tonneau cover. Accordingly, the tonneau cover can be opened widely and the tonneau cover can allow even large baggage to be carried in or out of the baggage compartment smoothly.

The present invention relates to a tonneau cover device, and particularly to the one in which a tonneau cover can be widely opened by utilizing bending of the tonneau cover.
In a conventional tonneau cover, a tonneau cover is configured so that it is opened or closed according to an open-close operation of a back door, and when the back door is opened, the tonneau cover moves to its upper position for allowing any baggage to be carried in or out of a baggage compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,911 discloses a structure in which two panel pieces are provided behind a seat back so as to cover over a baggage compartment, a rear-side panel piece comprises a pair of arm members at its both-side end portions, and rear end portions of these arm members are connected to a back door, whereby the rear-side panel piece can be opened or closed according to the open-close operation of the back door.
In the structure disclosed in the above patent publication, when the back door is opened, a rear end of the rear-side panel piece is pulled up by the arm members and thereby the baggage compartment is opened for the baggage carrying in or out. Meanwhile, when the back door is closed, the rear-side panel piece is lowered and thereby the baggage compartment is closed.
The above-described structure has a problem, however, in that since only the rear-side panel piece is opened according to the back door opening, an opened space over the baggage compartment would not be large enough to carry in or out a relatively large baggage from the baggage compartment smoothly. Also, since the front-side panel piece is fixed to a vehicle body, thereby not opened, the carrying in or out of the baggage to or from a forward space in the compartment, which is below the front-side panel piece, may be too difficult to load lots of baggage.


Compositions comprising a silyl-containing copolymer of a monomer system comprising:                (A) a silyl-containing monomer having a structural formula (A)

The present invention relates to the field of printing with waterborne inks on substrates, especially non-porous substrates, to coating compositions which can condition such substrates for high definition printing with waterborne inks, substrates coated with such compositions capable of receiving aqueous ink, methods of coating the substrates with the coating compositions so as to improve the ability of the substrate to receive waterborne ink, and methods of printing with waterborne inks on coated substrates.
Printing with waterborne inks on non-porous substrates presents well known problems, for example bleeding, which is related to wettability. If the non-porous substrate is too hydrophobic, waterborne inks tend to dewet or retract. If the non-porous substrate is too hydrophilic, waterborne inks tend to spread. In either case, the resultant printing problem will be referred to herein as "bleeding," and is a problem to which the present invention is directed.
In addition, the use of water-based inkjet inks on non-porous substrates such as plastics is known to be very problematic due to wetting problems as well as slow drying, which for non-absorbent surfaces has to occur only by evaporation. Others have suggested using polyvinyl alcohol as a coating for such substrates and including hydrophilic silica gel. Polyvinyl alcohol and pigments such as titanium dioxide for suitable substrate coatings have been suggested. Salts of high molecular weight carboxylic acids which lock the aqueous dye based inks into the surface by ionic interaction have also been suggested.
In spite of all the prior attempts at solving this problem, there remains a long-felt need in this art for a way to condition non-porous surfaces to receive waterborne ink in high definition, with low or no bleeding. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved coatings for substrates to be printed with waterborne ink formulations.
It is a further object of the invention to provide substrates which are suitable for aqueous ink jet printing processes.
Another object is to provide waterborne ink jet printing objects such as paper or plastic.
A further object is to provide a method of printing on hydrophobic media such as polyethylene terephtalate, polyester, polyamide, polypropylene, and the like, with water-based inks.

High definition printing with waterborne inks on non-porous substrates

Abstract: Wherein n=1-20, o=1-5            R=O or NH            R′=H or CH3            R″=C1-C12 alkyl

Abstract: wherein m=1-20;                        (B) a neutral, hydrophilic, ethylenically unsaturated monomer; and (C) a cationic ethylenically unsaturated monomer are disclosed. Aqueous solutions of the silyl-containing copolymer form transparent coatings on substrates which have very high contact angles with aqueous solutions and receive aqueous ink with very low bleeding. Substrates coated with the copolymer, methods for printing images, and methods of forming a portion or all of an electronic feature, are also disclosed.


To provide a thin film integrated circuit at low cost and with thin thickness, which is applicable to mass production unlike the conventional glass substrate or the single crystalline silicon substrate, and a structure and a process of a thin film integrated circuit device or an IC chip having the thin film integrated circuit. A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes the steps of forming a first insulating film over one surface of a silicon substrate, forming a layer having at least two thin film integrated circuits over the first insulating film, forming a resin layer so as to cover the layer having the thin film integrated circuit, forming a film so as to cover the resin layer, grinding a backside of one surface of the silicon substrate which is formed with the layer having the thin film integrated circuit, and polishing the ground surface of the silicon substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device including a flexible thin film integrated circuit having a memory, a microprocessor (central processing unit, a CPU), or the like with a thin thickness like paper. The present invention further relates to a manufacturing method of a non-contact type thin film integrated circuit device including the thin film integrated circuit and an antenna, which is used for a card, a tag, a label, or the like to distinguish human, animals and plants, products, paper money, or the like mainly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, development of a semiconductor device which can transmit/receive data is actively advanced, and such a semiconductor device is called as an IC chip, an RF tag, a wireless tag, an electronic tag, a wireless processor, a wireless memory, or the like. Most semiconductor devices, which have been already put into practical use, are formed with single crystalline silicon substrates (hereinafter, referred to as IC chips in some case). Such semiconductor devices are frequently used in a product form such as a sheet type and a card type, and thus, required to be thin and flexible. Thus, a semiconductor element is thinned by grinding and polishing a backside of a base material.
Generally, the backside polish of a single crystalline silicon substrate including an integrated circuit is accomplished by final polishing with a loose grain after grinding with a whetstone, which is sometimes carried out in combination with etching with acid or alkal. The final thickness of the base material is required to be 100 μm or less to obtain a mirror-polished state, and a thickness of 500 μm or less is required for obtaining a sufficient flexibility. Development of thinner products become possible by polishing a semiconductor element thinner, and production technique is competed.
The element thinned by grinding and polishing is connected to an external antenna and sealed with a film or resin so that products such as a card and tag are manufactured. A built-in antenna type in which an antenna is formed directly over an element is sealed with a film or resin, and various products can be manufactured. In this manner, an IC chip can be used in various ways without limitation on its application, by making its final state thin and flexible.
The step of polishing the conventional IC card is described in the Patent Document 1 below.
It is possible to manufacture a thin semiconductor element by grinding and polishing a base material in order to obtain a non-single crystalline silicon thin film transistor circuit which is manufactured over an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate, in addition to an integrated circuit over a single crystalline silicon substrate. The non-single crystalline silicon thin film transistor can be formed over a large and inexpensive glass substrate, and manufacturing cost can be reduced considerably compared with a semiconductor element using a single crystalline silicon wafer.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei3-87299
However, there are various restrictions on the shape, step, or the like in the case of manufacturing a thin element using a glass substrate as a base material. As a glass substrate used as a base material, a non-polished substrate manufactured by a fusion method is generally used in order to reduce a manufacturing cost. Polishing is necessary for a glass substrate manufactured by a float process; however, only one side is polished for reducing cost. Thus, since there is variation in a thickness in the range from several μm to several ten μm on one or both sides of a glass substrate, variation in the thickness of a substrate surface is generated in thinning process of 100 μm or less with polishing. Thus, yield of the element is lowered.
On the other hand, variation in a substrate thickness is less likely to be generated if a substrate of which both surfaces are polished is used. However, it is difficult to prepare a large apparatus in accordance with a large glass substrate or to polish a large substrate uniformly. Thus, there is a problem such that cost reduction in a step using a small single crystalline silicon substrate or a quartz substrate cannot be achieved.
In the same manner, even if a small substrate of which both surfaces are polished is used, the number of products manufactured per unit area reduces. Thus, cost tends to increase. In addition, a substrate having corners is unsuitable for a grinding and polishing apparatus having a rotational friction structure, and there is a problem such that a corner defect and crack is easily produced. Therefore, a round substrate having an excellent symmetric as a single crystalline substrate is preferable for a rotational friction structure; however, cost tends to increase when a glass substrate is processed into a round shape.
Therefore, it is very difficult to manufacture a non-single crystalline silicon thin film transistor element over a glass substrate having a thickness of 100 μm or less at low cost and high yield. Thus, development of a product with a thin element using an inexpensive glass substrate as a base material cannot be carried out, and a thin element using an expensive single crystalline silicon substrate as a base material is used for a product at present. As a result, expansion of markets is suppressed.
In the case where a glass substrate is used, since its melting point is a rate-controlling point, it is generally manufactured with a low temperature process of 600° C. or less. For example, the temperature is limited for a field effect polysilicon thin film transistor manufactured with a glass substrate, in a process of crystallization and activation of a polysilicon layer to be an active layer and in a process where a high temperature is advantageous for forming a gate oxide film, or the like. Thus, there has been a problem such that electric properties are deteriorated compared with a field effect transistor manufactured with a single crystalline silicon substrate or a quartz substrate.

Semiconductor device having a first base, a thin film transistor, and a second base

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


The invention intends to provide a display control apparatus which can perform the flickerless display at a high precision without changing a construction of the electrodes or the like of a display apparatus even when a display speed in the high precision display of a liquid crystal display apparatus is insufficient for the flickerless display in the non-interlace drawing. The display control apparatus 50 has a VRAM and a partial rewrite display control section. Since a WS (host computer) 1 prevents a flicker of the display in the animation image display, for an object which is drawn at a high speed, when image data stored in the VRAM is partially rewritten by the non-interlace, the partial rewrite display control section adds data indicative of the display position of the portion rewritten by the WS 1 to the image data and sync signal of such a rewritten portion and, after that, supplies the image data to a liquid crystal display apparatus 3 at the timing synchronized with the display to the CRT.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus for a liquid crystal display apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a cold cathode ray tube display apparatus (hereinafter, abbreviated to "CRT") has generally been used as a display apparatus which is applied to a personal computer (hereinafter, abbreviated to "PC") or a work station (hereinafter, abbreviated to "WS"). To improve the understanding by the sense of sight on the basis of the human engineering, the graphic function such as a window function or the like is expanded. A high resolution and a large display screen are needed to realize such an expanded graphic function.
On the other hand, in recent years, a liquid crystal display apparatus (hereinafter, also abbreviated to "LCD") having a TN (Twisted Nematic) or STN (Super Twisted Nematic) structure or the like has been used in a lap-top type PC or the like due to predominance of light weight and thin size according to its construction. As for the LCD having such a TN or STN structure or the like, in the case where the number of scan lines is increased to realize a high resolution, a liquid crystal material having sharp electro/optical characteristics is needed to assure a margin of a display contrast. A ferroelectric liquid crystal having bistability is known as a liquid crystal material of such an LCD.
In case of the ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) which is known at present, when an operation temperature is low, a flickering occurs due to its temperature characteristic because the FLC doesn't have enough high display speed in a high precision display mode. To prevent the flicking, a method of drawing by a high-order interlace (hereinafter, referred to as "multi-interlace") is known.
According to the multi-interlace drawing, when an antimation image is displayed, a flicker occurs in display modes such as pointing device, pop-up menu, scroll, and the like and a display quality is deteriorated. Therefore, to prevent such flicker of the display, a method of partially rewriting a picture plane by a non-interlace for an object which is drawn at a high speed is known.
The above partial writing method, however, is realized by using special hardware and software which are used only for the LCD. Therefore, hitherto, a display control apparatus for the LCD is installed on a mother board or an expansion slot of a host computer and is directly coupled to an address bus, a data bus, and a control signal line of a central processing unit (hereinafter, abbreviated to "CPU") of the host computer and needs a special software driver which is used only for the LCD.
As mentioned above, the display control apparatus for the conventional LCD has a problem such that it needs the special software driver.


Provided are a plasma display apparatus and a driving method thereof. The apparatus comprises a plasma display panel comprising a plurality of scan electrodes, and a scan driver. The scan driver drives the plurality of scan electrodes, divides the plurality of scan electrodes into a plurality of scan electrode groups, and distinguishes a level of reset pulse supplied to at least one of the plurality of scan electrode groups from a level of reset pulse supplied to the others of the plurality of scan electrode groups.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a plasma display panel generally, barrier rib provided between front panel and rear panel forms one unit cell. Main discharge gas, such as neon (Ne), helium (He), or a combination (Ne+He) of neon and helium, and inertia gas containing a small amount of xenon are filled within each cell. Discharge being executed by high frequency voltage, the inertia gas generates vacuum ultraviolet rays and excites a phosphor provided between the barrier ribs, thereby embodying image.
FIG. 1 illustrates a driving waveform for driving a plasma display panel in a related-art plasma display apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the plasma display panel is driven with a subfield divided into a reset period for initializing all cells, an address period for selecting the cell to be discharged, a sustain period for sustaining discharge of the selected cell, and an erasure period for erasing wall charges within the discharged cell.
In a setup period of a reset period, a ramp-up waveform (Ramp-up) is concurrently applied to all scan electrodes. By the ramp-up waveform, a weak dark discharge is generated within the discharge cells of a whole screen. By a setup discharge, positive wall charges are accumulated on an address electrode and a sustain electrode, and negative wall charges are accumulated on a scan electrode.
In a setdown period, after the supplying of the ramp-up waveform, a ramp-down waveform (Ramp-down), which falls starting from a positive voltage lower than a peak voltage of the ramp-up waveform to a specific voltage level of lower than a ground (GND) level voltage, generates a weak erasure discharge, thereby sufficiently erasing the wall charges excessively formed in the scan electrode. By the setdown discharge, the wall charges of an extent generating a stable address discharge uniformly remain within the cells.
In the address period, a negative scan pulse is sequentially applied to the scan electrodes and at the same time, a positive data pulse is synchronized to the scan pulse and applied to the address electrode. A voltage difference between the scan pulse and the data pulse and a wall voltage generated in the reset period being added, the address discharge is generated within the discharge cell to which the data pulse is applied.
The wall charges of the extent generating the discharge at the time of applying the sustain voltage (Vs) are formed within the cell selected by the address discharge. A positive voltage (Vz) is supplied to the sustain electrode so that a voltage difference from the scan electrode is reduced during the address period and erroneous discharge with the scan electrode is prevented.
In the sustain period, the sustain pulse (Sus) is alternately applied to the scan electrodes and the sustain electrodes. In the cell selected by the address discharge, the wall voltage within the cell and the sustain pulse being added, whenever each sustain pulse is applied, the sustain discharge, that is, a display discharge between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode is generated.
After the sustain discharge is completed, in the erasure period, a voltage of an erasure ramp waveform (Ramp-ers) whose pulse width and voltage level are low is supplied to the sustain electrode, thereby erasing the wall charges remaining within the cells of the whole screen.
In the plasma display panel, the driving waveform is supplied every subfield of the frame.
Meantime, a rising ramp (Ramp-up) supplied to the scan electrode in the reset period is generally equal to a high voltage pulse of about 400 V and thus, an amount of light generated depending on discharge caused by the rising ramp relatively gets larger. Accordingly, luminance in an off state of all the discharge cells of the plasma display panel, that is, a black luminance relatively gets larger, thereby deteriorating a characteristic of contrast.

Plasma display apparatus and driving method thereof


A multilayer color-sensing photodetector is fabricated in a semiconductor wafer having a single crystal structure to form a first, second and third layer of single crystal semiconductor material. A dielectric layer is formed that completely surrounds each single crystal region. A blocking layer is applied to prevent ion implantation where not desired. Ions are implanted into a predefined implant area. The semiconductor wafer is heated to create a dielectric layer part way through the single crystal semiconductor region. The second layer of single crystal semiconductor materials is formed by depositing a single crystal or polycrystalline material and annealing it to form a single crystal semiconductor. The deposited semiconductor layer is masked and etched to obtain single crystal regions directly above the previous layer. A blocking layer is applied and an ion implant is performed. After heating, there is left a region of single crystal silicon that has its sides and bottom surrounding by a dielectric border. The third layer of semiconductor material is likewise deposited and processed to form a top layer of single crystal semiconductor material.

This invention relates to Multilayer Color Sensing Photodetectors and the method of fabricating such devices.
Photodetectors are used in a variety of applications such as digital cameras and video cameras. Photodetectors used in applications such as these may be one of a variety of devices including photodiodes, photoresistors, phototransistors and other photosensitive devices.
In both digital still cameras and digital video cameras, information about the color of the incident light is typically obtained through the use of filters that are present above the individual photodetectors. These filters allow light of only a specified color through to the underlying photodetector. If three colors of light are to be detected, three types of filters are required, and three photodetectors are often needed for each pixel.
The deposition of layers of polycrystalline semiconductor material separated by a dielectric layer is routine. In an article entitled Stacked Amorphous Silicon Color Sensors, by Dietmar Knipp et al., IEEE Transactions on Electronics Devices, Vol. 49, No. 1, January 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference, there is described a multilayer photodetector structure used in the prior art. Three layers of semiconductor material are separated by two layers of intervening dielectric material. Other examples of prior art devices include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,073, dated Sep. 7, 1999, and describes, "a photodetector, a photo semiconductor element is covered by a cap with an incident window permitting incident light to penetrate through a translucent member. The photo semiconductor element detects a quantity of incident light penetrating through the translucent member of the incident window. The translucent member of the incident window is made of a material capable of suppressing the transmitting light quantity of incident light components having wavelengths less than 700 nm and larger than 900 nm. A photoelectric current output of the photosensitive semiconductor element is controlled by the incident light penetrating through the translucent member of the incident window. The photosensitive semiconductor element operates in multiple ways as a thermosensing sensor and a photosensing sensor."
U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,710, dated Jan. 23, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes, "a semiconductor waveguide type photodetector, a layered structure is formed on a semiconductor substrate, the layered structure formed by building a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer and a third semiconductor layer in due order, the first semiconductor layer being of one of p-type and n-type, the second semiconductor layer having lower bandgap energy than that of the first semiconductor layer, the third semiconductor layer having higher bandgap energy than that of the second semiconductor layer and having a conductive type opposite to that of the first semiconductor layer, and wherein at least the second semiconductor layer of the layered structure has a semiconductor waveguide having a mesa stripe structure, and at least a side surface and/or a light incidence end face of the second semiconductor layer is curved."
U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,885, dated Jan. 9, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes "a high efficiency color filter process for semiconductor array imaging devices, a microelectronic method is described for optimizing the fabrication of optical and semiconductor array structures for high efficiency color image formation in solid-state cameras. Disclosed is an ordered fabrication sequence in which microlens formation precedes color filter layer formation to enable increased image light collection efficiency, to encapsulate and protect the microlens elements from chemical and thermal processing damage, to minimize topographical under layer variations which would axially misalign or otherwise aberrate microlens elements formed on non-planar surfaces, and, to complete the most difficult steps early in the process to minimize rework and scrap. A CMOS, CID, of CCD optoelectronics configuration is formed by photolithographically patterning a planar array of photodiodes on a silicon or a III–V, II–VI or other compound semiconductor substrate. The photodiode array is provided with metal photoshields, passivated, planarized, and, a first convex microlens array of high curvature or other suitable lenses are formed thereon. A transparent encapsulating material is deposited to planarize the microlens layer and provide a spacer for the successive deposition of one or more color filter layers. The microlens array may be formed from positive photoresist and the spacer from negative resist, with close attention to matching the index of refraction at layer interfaces. A final surface layer comprising a color filter completes the solid-state color image-forming device".

Technique for fabricating multilayer color sensing photodetectors


2-Desmethyl ansamycins having a structure according to formula I, where R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 are as defined herein, and other 2-desmethyl ansamycins are useful as antiproliferative agents

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to 2-desmethyl ansamycin compounds, methods for their preparation, and their use for treating hyperproliferative diseases, in particular cancer.
2. Description of Related Art
Geldanamycin belongs to the ansamycin family of natural products, whose members are characterized by a benzenoid nucleus (typically a benzoquinone or hydroquinone nucleus) connected at two meta positions to form a macrocyclic lactam. Besides geldanamycin, the ansamycins include the macbecins, the herbimycins, the TAN-420s, and reblastatin:

Geldanamycin and its derivatives are the most extensively studied of the ansamycins. Although geldanamycin was originally identified as a result of screening for antibiotic activity, current interest in it is based primarily on its cytotoxicity towards tumor cells and, therefore, its potential as an anticancer agent. It is an inhibitor of heat shock protein-90 ("Hsp90"), which is involved in the folding, activation and assembly of a wide range of proteins ("client proteins"), including key proteins involved in signal transduction, cell cycle control and transcriptional regulation. The binding of geldanamycin to Hsp90 disrupts Hsp90-client protein interactions, preventing the client proteins from folding correctly and rendering them susceptible to proteasome-mediated destruction. Among the Hsp90client proteins are many mutated or overexpressed proteins implicated in cancer: p53, Bcr-Abl kinase, Raf-1 kinase, Akt kinase, Npm-Alk kinase p185ErB2 transmembrane kinase, Cdk4, Cdk6, Weel (a cell cycle-dependent kinase), HER2/Neu (ErbB2), and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). However, the hepatotoxicity and poor bioavailability of geldanamycin have lead to its discontinuation as a clinical candidate.
Nevertheless, interest persists in the development of geldanamycin derivatives or analogs (collectively "geldanamycin compounds") having geldanamycin-like bioactivity, but with a better overall spectrum of properties. Position 17 of geldanamycin has been an attractive focal point, chemically speaking, for the synthesis of geldanamycin compounds because its methoxy group is readily displaced by a nucleophile, providing a convenient entry into 17-substituted-17-desmethoxygeldanamycin compounds. Further, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies have shown that structurally and sterically diverse 17-substituents can be introduced without destroying antitumor activity. For exemplary disclosures relating to 17-substituted geldanamycin compounds, see Sasaki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,989 (1981); Schnur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,566 (1999); Schnur et al., J. Med. Chem., 38, 3806-3812 (1995); Schnur et al., J. Med. Chem., 38,3813-3820 (1995); and Ho et al., WO 00/03737 (2000); the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. The SAR inferences are supported by the X-ray crystal co-structure of the complex between Hsp90α and a geldanamycin derivative (17-DMAG, v. infra), showing that the 17-substituent projects out from the binding pocket and into the solvent (Jez et al., Chemistry & Biology, 10, 361-368 (2003)). (Hsp90 exists in a number of isoforms, with the α-isoform being the most common one. For a review on Hsp90 isoforms, see Sreedhar et al., FEBS Letters 562 (1-3), 11-15 (2004). Herein, where a particular isoform is referred to, abbreviations such as "Hsp90α" or "Hsp90β" will be used, with "Hsp90" reserved for Hsp90 generically.) Thus, position 17 is a choice one for the introduction of property-modulating substituents, such as a solubilizing group.
The best-known 17-substituted geldanamycin is 17-allylamino-17-demethoxy-geldanamycin ("17-AAG"), currently undergoing clinical trials. Another noteworthy 17-substituted geldanamycin is 17-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin ("17-DMAG") (Snader et al., WO 02/079167 A1 (2002), incorporated by reference).

The literature relating to ansamycins wherein the aromatic nucleus is other than a benzoquinone group (e.g., at the hydroquinone or phenol oxidation state) is sparse—not an unexpected outcome considering the benzoquinone group's key role in the activation of the 17-OMe group. There are some disclosures on the isolation of non-benzoquinone natural product congeners such as Macbecin II, TAN-420A, TAN-420B, TAN-420E, and reblastatin. Disclosures of semi-synthetic non-benzoquinone ansamycin derivatives include Rinehart, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,035 (1976); Muroi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,688 (1983); Schnur, U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,584 (1995); Cullen et al., WO 93/14215 A1 (1993); and Sasaki et al., JP 57-163369A (1982); the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference.


Behavior-based associations are extrapolated to items for which the quantity of collected user activity data is insufficient to create meaningful or reliable behavior-based associations (“behavior-deficient” items). The behavior-based associations are extrapolated based on content-based associations, or another type of “substitutability” association, between the behavior-deficient items and other items. The items can be any type of item for which user behaviors (e.g., purchases, accesses, downloads, etc.) can be monitored and analyzed to detect behavior-based associations, and for which item content or other available information can be used to assess item substitutability. For example, the items can be products represented in an electronic catalog, web pages or other documents accessible on a network, or web sites.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data mining methods for discovering and quantifying associations between selectable items, and associations between search queries (or other forms of user input) and selectable items. The selectable items may, for example, be products represented in an electronic catalog, documents, web pages, web sites, media files, and/or other types of items for which behavioral associations can be detected.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of methods are known for detecting behavior-based associations (i.e., associations based on user behaviors) between items stored or represented in a database. For example, the purchase histories or item viewing histories of users can be analyzed to detect behavior-based associations between particular items represented in an electronic catalog (e.g., items A and B are related because a relatively large number of those who purchased A also purchased B). See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,505. As another example, the web browsing histories of users can be analyzed to identify behavior-based associations between particular web sites and/or web pages. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,163 and U.S. Pat. Pub. 2002/0198882.
The detected behavior-based associations are typically used to assist users in locating items of interest. For example, in the context of an electronic catalog, when a user accesses and item's detail page, the detail page may be supplemented with a list of related items. This list may, for example, be preceded with a descriptive message such as "people who bought this item also bought the following," or "people who viewed this item also viewed the following." The detected associations may also be used to generate personalized recommendations that are based on the target user's purchase history, item viewing history, or other item selections.
It is also known in the art to analyze the search behaviors of users to detect associations between particular search queries and particular items. The detected associations may be used to rank search result items for display, and/or to supplement a search result set with items that do not match the user's search query. For example, when a user conducts a search, the matching items having the strongest behavior-based associations with the submitted search query may be elevated to a more prominent position in the search results listing; in addition, one or more items that do not match the search query, but which have strong behavior-based associations with the search query, may be added to the search result listing. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,558.
One problem with relying on behavior-based associations is that the quantity of behavioral data collected for a particular item may be insufficient to create behavior-based associations for that item. This may be the case when, for example, new items are added to an electronic catalog, or when new web pages or documents are added to a data repository. Unfortunately, the problem is self perpetuating because popular items (items with behavioral associations) typically remain popular due to their heightened exposure, while new and generally unknown items remain unpopular due to their lack of exposure. This problem is sometimes referred to as the "cold-start" problem.
One possible way to reduce the cold-start problem is to supplement the behavior-based associations with content-based associations between items. For example, a new item (one for which little or no behavioral data exists) can be associated with other items based on similarities between the attributes or other content of the items. These content-based associations may then be used to increase the new item's exposure in the same way behavior-based associations are used.
Unfortunately, content-based associations tend to be less reliable than behavior-based associations, especially if the item content is not highly consistent in format. In addition, content-based associations frequently are not a good predictor of the items users desire to purchase, view or otherwise select in combination, and thus tend to be less useful. As one example, suppose that an electronic catalog system displays lists of related products on product detail pages, with these lists generated automatically based on aggregate purchase histories. In such system, the detail page for a particular product (e.g., a printer) may desirably list products that are very different from, but complementary of, that product, such as commonly purchased accessories for the product (e.g., an ink cartridge for the printer). If content-based associations were used in place of the behavior-based associations, however, these complementary products likely would not appear since their attributes would typically be dissimilar to those of the featured product.

Extrapolation of behavior-based associations to behavior-deficient items


The multi-plane corneal incision form of this invention includes a frame member in the shape of a segment of a hollow sphere that fits over a patient's cornea. The inner surface of the frame member includes a protuberance that distorts the cornea when the frame member is placed against the patient's cornea. The frame member also includes an aperture adjacent to the protuberance to allow a surgical blade to pass therethrough. By carefully configuring the protuberance and aligning the aperture, a physician can insert a surgical blade into the aperture and through the distorted cornea in a planar fashion that results in a multi-plane incision in the cornea once the frame member is removed from contact with the patient's cornea.

This invention relates to a medical device that is useful in aiding physicians to make complex multi-plane incisions in a patient. More particularly this invention relates to a form that distorts a portion of a patient's body in such a way that allows the physician to make a straight line planar incision in the distorted portion of the patient's body to form a complex multi-plane incision in the patient's body when the form is removed from the patient's body.
In various surgical procedures, the physician typically has to make an incision in the patient in order to remove unwanted tissue, repair damaged tissue, or implant a device to improve the patient's well being. In certain cases, all three of these activities or a combination thereof must be done in a single procedure. For example, in cataract surgery, the physician removes the natural lens that has been clouded by a cataract from the patient's eye and replaces it with an artificial lens that will improve the patient's eyesight. In order to perform this procedure, an incision is made in the cornea or sclera of the eye. This provides the physician with access to the patient's lens. The clouded lens is cut loose and removed. There are a number of different procedures that are used to remove a patient's lens that has a cataract. Two of the more common techniques are known as extracapsular surgery and phacoemulsification. In extracapsular surgery, the physician removes the lens leaving behind the posterior capsule. In phacoemulsification, the physician fragments the lens by ultrasonic vibrations. The lens is simultaneously irrigated and aspirated. After the lens is removed, the physician then inserts an artificial lens known as an intraocular lens (IOL) into the eye behind the iris. Two tiny C-shaped arms connected to the IOL eventually become scarred into the side of the eye and hold the IOL firmly in place.
Although cataract surgery is considered routine, it is not foolproof. For example, the incision through which the devices that are used to perform the procedure are inserted must provide an opening that is substantially the same circumference as the probes and other surgical devices that are used to perform the procedure. This minimizes trauma to the eye and facilitates rapid healing of the eye after the procedure. In addition, in the case of phacoemulsification, if the incision is too small, corneal tissue surrounding the incision may contact the ultrasound probe and be burned. Alternatively, if the incision is too large, leakage from the eye after the procedure may occur causing iris prolapse and subsequently endothelial cell loss.
Another common problem with cataract surgery is suture induced astigmatism. Since an incision is made in the eye to perform the procedure, some mechanism must be used to ensure that the incision remains closed during the healing process to prevent a path for infection into the eye and so that the eye heals properly. In the past, sutures have been used to close the incision. However, the use of sutures in the eye to seal the incision after the cataract surgery may alter the shape of the eye. Such an alteration of the shape of the eye may result in astigmatism. In addition, the use of sutures may cause other complications such as eye irritation, suture abscesses, suture extrusion and foreign body reaction,
In an effort to avoid the use of sutures in cataract surgery, new sutureless techniques have been developed. These sutureless techniques involve the same standard procedures used to remove the cataract and implant the IOL but require the physician to make an incision in the eye having a particular shape or geometry. By making an incision having a particular geometry, the normal internal pressure in the eye pushes against the eye at the location of the incision to keep the incision closed.
One particular sutureless technique that is currently being used is known as the clear cornea approach and requires a particular incision that is self-sealing to be made in the eye. The shape of one particular incision comprises a pair of contiguous circular segments that have their centers of radius on opposite sides of the incision, i.e. the incision has a substantially S shaped geometry. Unfortunately, because of the complex, multi-plane geometry of the incision, it is difficult to form consistently. This problem is especially acute for new physicians and physicians who do not perform this technique often enough to maintain their proficiency. If such incisions are improperly formed, a number of complications can occur. For example, endophthalmitis, induced astigmatism, damage to the cornea, the iris or other intraocular tissue can occur, and impaired intraoperative vision of the physician can result.


This invention relates to methods and systems for determining network connections. It is particularly, but not exclusively, related to methods and systems for determining network connections in sparse networks, and has particular application to EEG data. An aspect of the invention provides a method for identifying, in a network of interacting nodes simultaneously producing signals, connections between said nodes and of estimating connection coefficients between nodes identified as connected which includes the steps of setting to zero connection coefficients where the calculated coherence or partial coherence is below a first predetermined threshold and subsequently setting to zero connection coefficients where the estimated connection coefficients are below a second predetermined threshold, and then re-estimating the connection coefficients for the combinations of nodes for which the connection coefficients have not already been set to zero.

Networks of interacting nodes, each with its own dynamics, are a key mathematical tool for the description of complex systems (Strogatz, 2001). Depending on the particular application, the dynamics of the individual nodes, their coupling structure or their collective behaviour all determine the dynamics of the system. In the neurosciences, for instance, detecting interactions between signals, i.e. the coupling structure among nodes, is of particular interest. Understanding brain networks promises to disclose the biological basis underlying natural behaviour or certain diseases (e.g. Hesse et al., 2003; Tass et al., 1998; Pitzalis et al., 1998; Keyl et al., 2000; Nollo et al., 2005; Bowers and Murray, 2004). Several techniques have been proposed so far to infer the network structure of complex systems from observed signals. These include but are not limited to transfer entropy (Schreiber, 2000; Staniek and Lehnertz, 2008), recurrences in state space (Arnhold et al., 1999; Chicharro and Andrzejak, 2009; Romano et al., 2007), mutual information (Pompe et al., 1998; Palus̆ and Stefanovska, 2003; Palus̆ and Vejmelka, 2007; Vejmelka and Palus̆, 2008; Frenzel and Pompe, 2007), phase dynamics (Rosenblum and Pikovsky, 2001; Rosenblum et al., 2002), coherence (Halliday and Rosenberg, 2000; Dahlhaus, 2000; Nolte et al., 2008), the Fokker Planck formalism (Prusseit and Lehnertz, 2008; Bahraminasab et al., 2009), compressed sensing (Lee et al., 2011), or autoregressive modelling (Dahlhaus and Eichler, 2003; Eichler, 2000; Korzeniewska et al., 1997; Kamiński et al., 1997; Kamiński and Blinowska, 1991; Arnold et al., 1998).
Recent years have seen a large increase in the availability of data. The number of channels that are simultaneously recorded has increased. With respect to network analysis this leads to the challenge of estimating high-dimensional networks. The aim is to estimate only direct connections in the network. Additionally it is desirable to also draw conclusions about the direction of the connections. Approaches to investigate the direction of an influence use the concept of causality. Many methods (e.g. Hesse et al., 2003; Geweke, 1982, 1984; Chen and Wasterlain, 2006; Dhamala et al., 2008; Baccalá and Sameshima, 2001; Sameshima and Baccala, 1999; Eichler, 2006; Kamiński and Blinowska, 1991) are based on Granger's definition of causality (Granger, 1969). Briefly, this definition states that a process x1 is causal for another process x2, if x1 is useful for the prediction of the future of x2. Linear Granger-causality is typically modelled by means of vector autoregressive processes, which are estimated via multivariate Yule-Walker equations or similar approaches (Lütkepohl, 2005). In most large networks the adjacency matrix is sparse. This means that out of all the possible connections only a few are present.
The present inventors have realised how assuming a sparse network can be used to improve parameter estimation of the vector autoregressive process.
Existing commonly used methods which may be used to determine the coupling structure include coherence and partial coherence, which can be estimated as presented in Schad et al. (2009). A further technique is directed partial correlation (Eichler, 2005, 2006). All of these have limitations as set out in more detail below. In particular, existing methods can typically only cope with a maximum of 10 nodes in the potential network before the methods start to significantly lose accuracy and/or become unacceptably long or computationally demanding.
Throughout this document, autoregressive coefficients are estimated according to Lütkepohl (2005), although other methods can be used.
In a first scenario, a 15-dimensional network of coupled white noise processes is analysed. FIG. 1 shows the graph of the simulated network. Using simulated data, the reconstructed graphs for coherence and partial coherence are shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), respectively. Both reconstructed graphs show the same number of sub-graphs but apart from that are very different from the original one.
In a second scenario, the six-dimensional autoregressive process of order one{right arrow over (x)}(t)=A{right arrow over (x)}(t−1)+{right arrow over (ε)}(t)  (1)is considered, where ε is a multivariate Gaussian white noise process and
                    A        =                  (                                                    0.8                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            0                                            0                                            0.4                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                                              -                  0.5                                                            0                                                                    0.6                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            0                                            0.6                                            0                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                            0.8                                              )                                    (        2        )            M=100 realisations of N=200 data points each were simulated. The simulated network is summarized in the graph in FIG. 3. For the estimation, the true autoregressive process order (p=1) is used.
For all 36 coefficients, the absolute value of the difference between the true and the mean estimated coefficient is shown in FIG. 4. Error bars refer to the standard deviation of the mean for 100 realisations. This result shows that all estimated coefficients are very close to their respective true values even though only 200 data points were used in the simulation.
The system investigated here is a sparse system but since it is rather low-dimensional, ordinary parameter estimation can still handle it.
In a third scenario a much higher dimensional system is used. This is a 40-dimensional network of coupled white noise processes. Connections are present either at lag 1 or at lag 2. The graph of the simulated network is shown in FIG. 5. N=10,000 data points of this system were simulated. The estimated networks, based on coherence and partial coherence, are shown in FIGS. 6(a) and (b) respectively. Neither of them yields a meaningful representation of the underlying network.
For directed partial correlation analysis (Eichler, 2005, 2006), the true process order p=2 is used. The resulting estimated network is shown in FIG. 7.
Some additional connections show up in this analysis (shown by dashed arrows in FIG. 7). These are false positive conclusions. They occur because of the great number of coefficients that need to be estimated in this high-dimensional network.
Electroencephalography ("EEG") provides multi-channel data of brain activity from a plurality (usually at least 20) small sensors attached to the scalp of an individual which detect the voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain when brain cells send messages to each other. Due to the plurality of sensors, the data from EEG has a corresponding plurality of channels. EEG is currently used to help diagnose and monitor a number of conditions affecting the brain, particularly epilepsy.
For some time, EEG has been employed clinically as a measure of brain function in the hope of determining and differentiating certain functional conditions of the brain. However, to date, progress has been slow.
The present inventors have realised that the possibility of accurately determining networks of causal relationships within EEG data may allow further interpretation of this data for clinical purposes.
EEG data is multi-dimensional and so susceptible to analysis in a network fashion. Many types of EEG data now have a large number of channels (e.g. 20 or more). Traditional methods of analysis can struggle to provide meaningful information or interpretation of such multi-variate data and so new approaches are required to handle the multi-order systems which are being observed.
In particular in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, it is now being recognised that Alzheimer's disease is a long time (possibly of the order of 20 years) in development before frank symptoms are observed. Accordingly, there is considerable focus on techniques which may provide for reliable early-stage identification of potential suffers or of those exhibiting particular susceptibility or risk factors. These techniques aim to identify the onset of early-stage Alzheimer's disease in the entirely pre-clinical stage (typically 10-20 years before onset) or in the prodromal period.
The use of EEG data to identify early symptoms or warning signs of Alzheimer's disease has particular attractions if suitable methods exist for the robust analysis of the data as it is a standard and widely-used and available technique. It is also available, in certain implementations, in a form which can be effectively self-applied by an individual with little or no training and so is eminently suitable for the primary care setting.
The present invention aims to provide methods and systems which provide accurate and reliable predictions of network connections and coefficients, particularly in sparse networks.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide efficient methods for predicting network connections and coefficients.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide methods and systems for processing EEG data to provide meaningful information and/or interpretation of the data through network overviews of brain activity and to permit subsequent uses of such data.

Method and system for determining network connections


A method for transferring signals from a photoreceiver array to computational circuitry in which parallel transfer amplifiers receive periodic offset correction. In a first embodiment, each transfer amplifier has a differential circuit that can be switched from a reset mode to a readout mode. In the readout mode, the voltage state at the output is responsive to first and second inputs, with the second input being connected to a source of a reference voltage. In the reset mode, the inputs are both connected to the reference voltage and the output is temporarily connected to a source of a fixed reset voltage. An offset adjustment signal is generated in response to detection of a voltage difference between the reset voltage and the actual voltage state at the output after the output has been disconnected from the source of the reset voltage. A single offset circuit is used to periodically and sequentially refresh the various transfer amplifiers.

An accurate determination of the path of a device across a surface is important in a variety of applications. For example, if a faithful representation of an image of a scanned original is to be acquired, there must be accurate information as to the travel of the scanning device along the original. Typically, the captured image provided by a scanner is a pixel data array that is stored in memory in a digital format. A distortion-free image requires a faithful mapping of the original image to the pixel data array.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,980 to Ertel et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes use of a cross-correlation function to determine the relative movement between an original and an array of photoelements in a given direction. The patent notes that the one-dimensional approach can be extended to determine the vector of two-dimensional relative movement between the original and the array, so as to track translation, rotation and scaling in a two-dimensional plane.
The patent to Ertel et al. describes use of an optical sensor array to collect some form of "signature" of an original. The signature may be provided by illuminating and imaging the surface texture or other optical characteristics of the original. The light intensity will vary on a pixel-by-pixel basis with variations in surface texture. By cross-correlating images of the surface of the original, relative movement between the array and the original can be ascertained.
A critical element of the design of a system such as the one described by Ertel et al. is the circuitry which maintains the signal-to-noise ratio of each photoelement at a sufficiently high level to reliably determine the signature of the original. If the signal is the difference in reflectivity from pixel to pixel as a result of slight variations in paper texture of a white paper, the variations in reflectivity may be approximately six percent. If the sample rate objectives and the amount of possible subsequent signal averaging are considered, then noise terms in the signal must be less than the six percent paper reflectivity variation signal if useful information is to be obtained.
Thus, noise is one concern in the processing of signals from photoelements in a photoreceiver array. Another concern is manufacturing-induced variations in the performance of processing circuitry. Operations that rely upon computations of the differences in reflectivity from one pixel to another pixel are susceptible to error if electrically parallel transfer circuits vary in performance. In the ideal, there are no pixel-to-pixel signal differences due to variations in signal transfer circuit performance, so that differences between pixel signals are solely attributable to differences in light reception at the photoelements. However, circuit devices vary in performance, even when the devices are formed by the same fabrication process.
Yet another concern involves reliably obtaining useful information regarding an imaged surface when there are image-affecting considerations that are consistent among pixels in one neighborhood of pixels, but different among pixel neighborhoods. For example, illumination optics may create consistent neighborhood-to-neighborhood variations in the illumination of the surface to be imaged. Non-uniform illumination will cause artifacts. Another example of a consistent localized pattern is one in which a portion of the photoelement array is directed at a surface area having a dark background, while the remainder of the photoelements are directed at an unshaded area of the surface.
What is needed is transfer circuitry for connection to a photoreceiver arrangement, with the circuitry having a reduced susceptibility to errors caused by manufacturing-induced variations of devices and by multiple-pixel patterns of photoelement signal generation and/or processing.

Offset removal circuitry for photoreceiver signals


An inverting apparatus comprises: a DC port; an AC port; five switches; a first capacitor coupled between the first terminal of the second switch and the second terminal of the fourth switch; and a free-wheeling element coupled between the second terminal of the third switch and the second terminal of the fifth switch; wherein the five switches are controlled so that the device can switch among a plurality of operating modes and transmit active or reactive power to a power grid.

The invention relates to an inverter, and specifically to a non-isolated inverting apparatus, a control method thereof and a photovoltaic system having the same.
Thanks to abundant resources and wide distribution, photovoltaic power generation has shown good prospect as renewable energy. In the grid-connected photovoltaic power generation system, a grid-connected inverter plays a role of converting a DC voltage generated by photovoltaic panels into an AC voltage to be connected to a power grid. As an important interface between the photovoltaic panels and the power grid, the grid-connected inverter can be configures as an isolated inverter (or "an isolated inverter system") or a non-isolated inverter (or "a non-isolated inverter system") depending on whether an isolated transformer is implemented in the inverter. In an isolated inverter system, a high-frequency transformer is mounted on a DC side, or a low frequency transformer is mounted on an AC side. The transformer converts the DC voltage of the photovoltaic panels, and also isolates the DC side from the AC side. However, existence of the transformer also causes increased loss, reduced efficiency, more volume and more cost. A non-isolated inverter, however, overcomes the above disadvantages of the isolated inverter system since the transformer can be removed, and thus is widely researched in academia and industry. However, due to the lack of isolation, a non-isolated inverter system has various new issues related to reliability, efficiency, the maximum power point tracking, leakage current and the like.
Moreover, in the photovoltaic grid-connected power system, since a single solar panel has a low output voltage, generally a plurality of solar panels are configured to be in series-parallel connection to form a photovoltaic array, which occupies a large area, thus forms a relatively large parasite capacitance between the photovoltaic array and ground, especially in humid environment. Generally, the non-isolated grid-connected inverter circuit works in high frequency range, and may generate a high-frequency voltage interference signal on the DC voltage output from the photovoltaic array, thereby generating a high-frequency leakage current (which is also called as a common mode current) on the parasite capacitance of the photovoltaic array. The high-frequency leakage current causes undesired conduction and interference, increases harmonic proportion of a grid current and loss of the system, and also threatens safety of relevant equipment and personnel. Therefore, suppression of the common mode current is always the first issue to be solved in the grid-connected non-isolated photovoltaic inverter.
In the prior art, a topological structure of the grid-connected photovoltaic inverter generally is in half-bridge or full-bridge forms. The half-bridge structure can reduce the common mode current effectively, but cannot satisfy requirement on conversion efficiency of the grid-connected photovoltaic inverter due to a low utilization ratio of the voltage on the DC side. The full-bridge topological structure, such as H4 full-bridge structure, Heric full-bridge structure and the like, can also reduce the common mode current effectively. In the H4 full-bridge structure, the common mode current is also small under the condition of bipolar PWM control, but due to a large fluctuation of the inductor during filtering, the resistance of the inductor is required to be increased, so that cost of the photovoltaic power system is further increased, and conversion efficiency of the grid-connected photovoltaic inverter is reduced. Regarding the Heric topology, although the issue of leakage current can be solved effectively, the cost is high, and the conversion efficiency is not optimal.

Non-isolated inverting apparatus, control method thereof and photovoltaic system having the same


A DC-DC converter includes: a high-side switch; a low-side switch coupled to the high-side switch in series; a capacitor configured to be charged while the low-side switch is turned on and to increase a driving voltage for turning on the high-side switch by a charged voltage; a buffer configured to output a control signal for controlling the high-side switch; a latch configured to receive the control signal at a first input terminal, retain the control signal, and output the control signal to the high-side switch; and a switch configured to receive the control signal from the latch and deactivate the buffer.

DC-DC converters reduce or increase an input predetermined DC voltage to transform the input DC voltage into a DC voltage to be used in an electronic device.
Related arts are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2011-10452 and 2006-254577 and V. Pinon, et. al., "A Single-Chip WCDMA Envelope Reconstruction LDMOS PA with 130 MHz Switched-Mode Power Supply," ISSCC International Solid-State Circuits Conference/Session 31/RF & mm-Wave Power Amplifiers/31.4, Dig. Tech. Papers, pp. 564-565, February 2008, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

DC-DC converter and semiconductor integrated circuit


Method of wet cleaning a surface of at least one material chosen from silicon, silicon-germanium alloys, A(III)/B(V)-type semiconductors and epitaxially grown crystalline materials, such as germanium, in which method the following successive steps are carried out:                a) the surface is brought into contact with an HF solution;        b) the surface is rinsed with acidified, deionized water, then a powerful oxidizing agent is added to the deionized water and the rinsing is continued;        c) optionally, step a) is repeated, once or twice, while optionally reducing the contacting time;        d) step b) is optionally repeated, once or twice; and        e) the surface is dried.

The present invention relates to a method of wet cleaning a surface, in particular a surface of a material of the silicon-germanium type, and especially of an Si1-xGex material where x is greater than 0 and less than 1, x preferably lying in the range from 0.1 to 0.9, more preferably from 0.1 to 0.7.
The technical field of the invention can in general be defined as that of the cleaning and decontamination of surfaces, in particular of surfaces of materials used in microelectronics, optics or electronics, especially surfaces of materials of the silicon-germanium alloy type, such as polished and crystalline Si1-xGex. The contaminants that may be on these surfaces may be of any type, namely particulate contaminants, organic contaminants, mineral contaminants, metallic contaminants, etc.
Specifically, the constant development in microelectronic integrated circuits based on CMOS silicon has been achieved thanks to the improvement in their performance and to the miniaturization of their elementary components. However, owing to the ever increasing density of interconnections, silicon would seem, in the near future, to be a major physical limitation. The SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) roadmap has therefore anticipated the use of new materials. One of the materials exhibiting the greatest potential, with many integration options, for architectures of higher performance is germanium in the form of silicon-germanium alloys.
The material SiGe is deposited by epitaxy on silicon substrates. Thin silicon layers, called "silicon-under-tension" layers, may be deposited on these substrates. This silicon-under-tension on SiGe appears to be highly advantageous owing to the electronic properties that it confers on the elementary components, such as MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) or CMOS-type integrated circuit components.
The strained silicon may be a buried layer or a surface layer, and it greatly increases the electron mobility. Various processes have been described for forming this strained silicon on SiGe, using in particular the SOI (Silicon On Insulator) process.
Thus, several processes for fabricating these SiGe relaxed substrates have been described, such as for example in document [1]. One of their main characteristics is the presence of surface cross-hatching. Such cross-hatching stems from the presence of dislocations that form and propagate in a thick graded layer (with a thickness of several microns) at the base of these substrates. They are necessary in order for them to be almost completely relaxed, the purpose being to maintain the lowest possible defect density on the surface. As a result, this structure has, after epitaxy, a high surface roughness (several nm), which increases with the percentage of Ge in the alloy. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) as described in document [2] is then necessary, before transfer of an SiGe layer or re-epitaxy of strained silicon, in order to eliminate this roughness and practically all the surface cross-hatching, so as to obtain a final surface roughness of less than 1 nm.
An optimized wet cleaning method is therefore of paramount importance after the CMP (chemical-mechanical polishing). It must be effective, so as to remove the contamination introduced by the polishing, composed especially of microparticles and nanoparticles, organic contamination and metallic contamination, without thereby degrading the initial surface morphology. This point is particularly important as regards relaxed SiGe substrates, which exhibit different chemical properties towards certain cleaning solutions commonly employed in microelectronics.
Thus, an SC1 (Standard Cleaning 1) solution, which constitutes part of the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) cleaning procedure, the most widely used at the present time on silicon and other materials, causes virulent etching of the SiGe surfaces. Even over short times and at low temperature, this treatment may create a surface microroughness, or even a major resurgence of surface cross-hatching, not compatible with the envisaged electronic applications. This sensitivity to SC1 but also SC2 (Standard Cleaning 2) solutions for germanium contents of greater than 50% depends on the percentage of germanium concentration of the alloy and on the temperature of the solution. The pronounced roughening effect of this type of solution on the surface of Si1-xGex substrates (where x=0.3 to 0.7) has been recently reported in document [3]. The use of such chemistries is here and now unacceptable for technological integration of SiGe materials with a high Ge content (≧30%).
A wet cleaning method aimed at overcoming the drawbacks of the conventional RCA cleaning procedure has been described in the literature in the case of silicon substrates. This is what is called the DDC (Diluted Dynamic Clean) method that relies fundamentally on the use of solutions of dilute chemicals, at room temperature, and combines two chemical baths prepared in quartz tanks, one of these baths, dedicated to the injection of chemicals, being recirculated and filtered.
This method is described in particular in documents [4] and [5] relating the pre-gate cleaning (i.e. gate oxide prediffusion cleaning) and is illustrated in FIG. 1. It employs a bath (1) in a rinsing tank (2), with an overflow (3), in which small quantities of reactants, such as hydrochloric acid or gaseous ozone, are injected together or alternately (at 4) into a stream of deionized water (5) that feeds the tank (6).
In FIG. 1, it should be noted that the reactants, such as HCl or O3, are injected (at 7) into the deionized water feed line (5) of the overflow tank (2), downstream of a static mixer (8) which is used to make the mixture of the deionized water and the reactants homogeneous thanks to the recirculation of the fluids as accomplished by the said static mixer (8).
The excess chemical bath of the tank is generally received by the overflow (3) and is discharged (9). Such a tank makes it possible for the cleaning method and the associated rinsing to be carried out alternately in the same bath. As a result, the space normally occupied by the rinsing bath may be eliminated. If the quantity of chemicals is negligible in the case of cleaning using dilute solutions, the overflow may be discharged directly in such a way that the substrates, for example the cleaned wafers, are always in contact with fresh reactants.
Another tank (10) contains a bath (11) consisting of a dilute solution, generally a 1% solution, of hydrofluoric acid in deionized water. This other tank comprises, so as to limit fluorinated discharges, a recirculation loop generally provided with a pump (12), a filter (13), an oxygen desorption device (14) in order to continuously eliminate the dissolved gases and a chemical purifier (15) in order to eliminate the noble metals. The oxygen collected is discharged via the line (16).
A wet cleaning sequence tailored to gate oxide prediffusion cleaning with silicon substrates therefore comprises the following successive steps:                treatment with deionized water containing 3 ppm O3 [4] or 20 ppm O3 [5], for 5 minutes in order to eliminate the noble metals and the organic compounds;        treatment with a 1% HF solution, acidified by 1% of HCl, for more than 0.5 minutes (overetch treatment) in order to eliminate the sacrificial oxide and the metals;        rinsing for 5 minutes with deionized water (without any other additive);        treatment with deionized water containing 3 ppm O3 for 10 minutes and then with the above-described HF/HCl solution for 1 minute, so as to eliminate the particles;        rinsing for 5 minutes with deionized water acidified by HCl; and        treatment with ozonized water containing 3 ppm O3 and acidified with 0.01% HCl, in order to carry out a final passivation.
The drawbacks of the method of documents [4] and [5] applied to Si substrates are especially the following:
The etching of the silicon is very difficult to control, since silicon is very sensitive to etching by HF/HCl; the deoxidation time must be very accurately adjusted so as to prevent any roughening of the silicon; excessive consumption of silicon results in problems in the subsequent device fabrication process steps, such as alignment and layer deposition problems, and epilayer growth quality problems.
Moreover, the method of documents [4] and [5] is specifically designed for and tailored to gate oxide prediffusion cleaning on silicon substrates and surfaces, and the steps of this method, the succession of these steps, their duration and the specific reactants that are employed during each of the steps have been specifically optimized to eliminate contamination, whether this be of organic, metallic, particulate or other origin, of such substrates, specifically silicon substrates, and the effectiveness of this method has been demonstrated only in the case of silicon surfaces.
There therefore exists a need for a method of wet cleaning surfaces which is of higher performance and greater effectiveness for cleaning silicon substrates, and in particular there exists a need for a method of cleaning surfaces made of silicon-germanium alloy, for example Si1-xGex surfaces (where x is greater than 0 and less than 1, for example x ranging from 0.1 to 0.9) which, while ensuring very effective cleaning and allowing elimination of all contaminations, whether organic, metallic, particulate or of other type, is at least equivalent to that of the conventional RCA cleaning procedure, but does not have the drawbacks of the latter.
In other words, there exists a need for a method of wet cleaning surfaces, particularly surfaces made of silicon-germanium alloys, which is not only very effective and completely eliminates all the contaminants, but does not cause roughening of the substrate and the resurgence of surface cross-hatching.
This method must also be reliable, easy to implement, comprise a limited number of steps, be of relatively short duration, use small quantities of easily available reactants and reduce the amounts discharged into the environment.

Method of wet cleaning a surface, especially of a material of the silicon-germanium type

Abstract: Process for fabricating an electronic, optical or optoelectronic device, such as a CMOS or MOSFET device, comprising at least one wet cleaning step using the said cleaning method.


(Wherein n is an integer of from 0 to 3; R1 is substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, a substituted or unsubstituted alicyclic heterocyclic group, or a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group; R2 is halogen, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, a substituted or unsubstituted alicyclic heterocyclic group, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group, —COR8, or the like; R3 and R4 may be the same or different, and each represents a hydrogen atom, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl, —COR12, or the like)

It is known that adenosine ranges broadly in a living body and exhibits various physiological actions on the central nervous system, the cardiac muscle, the kidney, the lung, the smooth muscle and the like via its receptor. Four subtypes of adenosine receptors, A1, A2A, A2B and A3 have heretofore been known. The respective subtype-selective receptor antagonists and agonists are expected to exhibit their pharmaceutical effects based on the physiological meanings of the subtype and on the biological distribution thereof. Among them, the A2A receptors are localized in the brain, especially in the corpus striatum thereof and as one of its functions, the inhibition of neurotransmitter release is reported (European Journal of Pharmacology, Vol. 168, p. 285, 1989). Accordingly, antagonists to the adenosine A2A receptor may be expected as agents for preventing and/or treating diseases associated with adenosine A2A receptor, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, AIDS encephalopathy, Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's chorea, multiple system atrophy, cerebral ischemia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleep disorder, ischemic cardiopathy, intermittent claudication, diabetes, anxiety disorders (e.g., panic attack and panic disorder, phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety physical symptoms or substance-caused), mood disorders (e.g., depression, dysthymic disorder, mood-circulatory disorder), restless legs syndrome (RLS), drug dependence (e.g., alcohol dependence), eating disorder, epilepsy, migraine and chronic musculoskeletal system pain.
On the other hand, a large number of compounds having thiazole skeleton are known (for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,314,889 and 5,189,049; Japanese Patent Application No. 335680/2003, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 53566/2002, Japanese Patent Application Nos. 209284/1999 and 087490/1998; WO93/21168, WO96/16650, WO97/03058, WO01/52847, WO01/53267, WO01/74811, WO02/053156, WO02/053161, WO02/094798, WO03/000257, WO03/062215, WO03/062233, WO03/072554, WO03/075923, WO2004/002481, WO2004/014884, WO2004/041813 and the like); and as thiazole derivatives having adenosine receptor antagonism, known are thiazole derivatives having adenosine A3 receptor antagonism (see WO99/21555 and Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 114779/2001), thiazole derivatives having adenosine A2B receptor antagonism and adenosine A3 receptor antagonism (see WO99/64418 and US Patent Application Publication No. 2004-0053982), and thiazole derivatives having adenosine A1 receptor antagonism and adenosine A2A receptor antagonism (see WO03/039451).
Further, thiazole derivatives having furyl group at the 4 position thereof are known (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,476; WO02/03978, WO01/47935, WO00/38666, WO00/14095; Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, 2002, Vol. 38, p. 873; Khimiko-Farmatsevticheskii Zhurnal, 1974, Vol. 8, p. 25; Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1970, Vol. 13, p. 638; Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, 1969, Vol. 3, p. 498; Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1962, Vol. 27, p. 1351).
(Wherein R represents phenylmethyl, 2-furyl, 4-fluorophenyl, 2-fluorophenyl, 2,4-dichlorophenyl, 4-nitrophenyl, 2-nitrophenyl, 4-bromophenyl, 3-bromophenyl, 2-bromophenyl, 2-chlorophenyl, 3-bromo-2-methoxyphenyl, 4-tert-butylphenyl, 3-methylphenyl, 4-methylphenyl, 4-methoxyphenyl, 2-methoxyphenyl or phenyl.)
Also, thiazole derivatives represented the above-described general formula (A) are registered as a chemical library in CAS REGISTRY Database (Registry Nos. 341929-13-3, 341929-11-1, 341929-09-7, 341929-07-5, 341929-05-3, 341929-04-2, 341929-02-0, 341929-00-8, 341928-98-1, 341928-96-9, 341928-94-7, 341928-92-5, 341928-90-3, 341928-88-9, 341928-86-7, 341928-84-5, 341928-82-3 and 341928-80-1).

Abstract: For example, provided are adenosine A2A receptor antagonists comprising, as the active ingredient, a thiazole derivative represented by a general formula (I), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and the like.


A method for imaging includes directing a plurality of radio frequency (RF) beams toward a target organ from a plurality of angles. The RF beams include one or more first pairs of the RF beams, each first pair including two of the RF beams that impinge on the target organ from opposite directions. RF signals reflected from the target organ are received responsively to the RF beams, the RF signals including one or more second pairs of the RF signals engendered respectively by the one or more first pairs of the RF beams. Local tissue parameters at multiple points in the target organ are extracted by jointly processing the RF signals in each of the second pairs. Images of the target organ are produced using the extracted local tissue parameters. Other embodiments described herein include methods for passive imaging, motion vector analysis, ablation, local heating and application of electromagnetic pressure.

Medical imaging methods and systems use a variety of imaging modalities. Each modality can be characterized by its typical spatial and temporal resolution. For example, the following table shows typically achievable spatial and temporal resolution values of several known imaging modalities:
Spatial resolutionTemporal resolution(per axis)(three-dimensionalModality[mm]frame refresh rate) [Hz]Ultrasound120-30Single positron emission510computerized tomography(SPECT)Positron emission310tomography (PET)Computerized tomography0.5-110(CT)Magnetic resonance0.5-110imaging (MRI)
Some methods and systems use radio frequency (RF) based imaging. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,471, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a single-frequency three-dimensional (3-D) microwave tomographic device capable of imaging a full scale biological object. The device includes code-division software, which cooperates with a microwave patch system to enable superficial imaging of biological systems. A cluster of antennas and transceivers is used to provide microwave tomography (MWT) and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) integrated in a single 3-D microwave system for examining the biological object from a number of views in real-time.
PCT International Publication WO 03/003907, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system for microwave imaging via space-time beam-forming. Microwave signals are transmitted from multiple antenna locations into an individual to be examined. Backscattered microwave signals are received at multiple antenna locations, to provide received signals from the antennas. The received signals are processed in a computer to remove the skin interface reflection component of the signal at each antenna. The corrected signal data is processed by a beam-former. The beam-former is scanned over a plurality of different locations in the individual by changing time shifts, filter weights and time-gating of the beam-former process. The output power may be displayed as a function of scan location, with regions of large output power corresponding to significant microwave scatterers such as malignant lesions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,788, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method and apparatus for microwave imaging of an inhomogeneous target, in particular of biological tissue. The method compensates for the interactions between active and non-active antennas. Measured electric field data is processed in magnitude and phase form, so that unwrapped phase information may be used directly in the image reconstruction. Initial finite element measurements and calculations are used to determine the perimeter dimensions of the target being examined.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,100, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for imaging an object, such as a diseased human heart or bone, in a non-transparent medium, such as the human body. The method involves placing an array of transmitters and receivers in operational association with the medium. The transmitters generate a harmonic or pulse primary electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagates through the medium. The primary field interacts with the object to produce a scattered field, which is recorded by the receivers. The scattered EM field components measured by the receivers are applied as an artificial EM field to generate a backscattering EM field. Cross power spectra of the primary and backscattering fields or cross correlation between these fields produce a numerical reconstruction of an EM hologram. The desired properties of the medium, such as conductivity or dielectric permittivity, are then derived from this hologram.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High resolution radio frequency medical imaging and therapy system


A table may be sized and configured to nest with another table to reduce a height of a plurality of stacked tables in a nested configuration. The table may include a nesting portion formed in an upper surface and sidewall of the table top. The table may also include a frame with one or more engaging portions sized and configured to be disposed in the nesting portion of an adjacent table when the tables are nested together. In addition, the table top may include a compression edge sized and configured to be disposed in a nesting portion of an adjacent table when the tables are nested together. The compression edge and engaging portions may be sized and configured to be simultaneously disposed in the nesting portion of the adjacent table when the table is nested with the adjacent table.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to structures including at least a portion constructed from plastic and, in particular, to furniture, such as tables and chairs, that may include molded plastic components.
Description of Related Art
Many different types of tables are well known and used for a variety of different purposes. For example, conventional tables may include legs that are pivotally attached to a table top and the legs may be movable between a use position in which the legs extend outwardly from the table top and a storage position in which the legs are folded against the table top. Conventional tables with relatively large table tops and folding legs are often referred to as "banquet tables" and these tables are frequently used in assembly halls, banquet halls, convention centers, hotels, schools, churches and other locations where large groups of people meet. These types of tables can often be positioned in an assortment of different configurations and used in a variety of settings. When the banquet tables are no longer needed, the table legs can be moved into the storage position and the tables may be more easily moved or stored.
Because most banquet tables have a length between six and ten feet and a width between three and four feet, the required storage area for such tables is quite large even with the legs in the collapsed position. This large storage area may be problematic for businesses or facilities such as hotels, schools and churches because a considerable number of these tables may have to be stored.
Conventional tables often include table tops constructed from materials such as wood, particle board or metal. Table tops constructed from wood, particle board or metal, however, are often relatively heavy and this may make the table awkward or difficult to move. Table tops constructed from wood or metal are also relatively expensive and these types of table tops must generally be treated or finished before use. For example, table tops constructed from wood must generally be sanded and painted, and metal table tops must be formed into the desired shape and painted. In addition, because these wooden and metal table tops are relatively heavy, that may increase the cost of shipping and transportation of the tables. The weight of the table top may make the tables more difficult to move and store.
In order to decrease the weight of conventional tables, table tops may be constructed from relatively light-weight materials such as plastic. Disadvantageously, table tops constructed from light-weight materials may require large reinforcing members or other structural parts such as braces, brackets, support members and the like to strengthen the table top. While these additional parts may increase the strength of the table top, the added parts may also increase the weight of the table. These additional parts may result in increased manufacturing costs and require more time to assemble the table. In addition, extra fasteners may be required to assemble and connect these parts to the table, which may require extra time and labor during the manufacturing process. The additional parts and fasteners may further increase the cost of the table and make the table more difficult to manufacture. Moreover, these additional parts and fasteners may have sharp edges that can injure a user's legs or arms.
Conventional tables may include a frame that is connected to the table top. The frame may include a pair of side rails that are connected to sides of the table top using fasteners. Multiple fasteners may be required to securely connect the frame to the table top and transmit forces applied to the table top to the frame. Undesirably, when a large load or force is applied to some known tables, the frame may bend, deform and/or detach from the table top. In addition, the fasteners used to connect the frame to the table top may detach or separate from the table top. The fasteners may even damage and tear through the table top if the load or force exceeds a certain amount. Further, the frames or fasteners of some known tables may collapse in some circumstances.
The table tops of some known tables may undesirably bend or deform if a relatively large load or force is applied to a portion of the table top. For instance, if a load or force is applied to an outer portion of a conventional table top, that portion of the table top may undesirably move or bend. In particular, that portion of the table top may deflect downwardly when a load or force is applied to the upper surface of the table top.
The large size of conventional banquet tables may require a large amount of storage space for manufacturers, retailers and consumers. The large amount of storage space may be particularly problematic for manufacturers, retailers and consumers that have a need to store, transport and/or display large numbers of tables.


Semiconductor diamond is formed by a process comprising irradiating diamond crystal with light having irradiation density of more than 0.1 W/cm.sup.2, annihilating defects in the diamond crystals, and cleaning the surface of the diamond crystals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to formation of semiconductor diamond, and particularly to formation of a semiconductor diamond thin film which exhibits a wide band gap, is durable in a hard environment, and usable in high temperature and high power semiconductor devices and blue light emitting diodes in the semiconductor industry and the electronics industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, diamond films have been formed by the CVD method using hydrocarbon (or carbon monoxide) and hydrogen gases. B doped p-type diamond was reported as semiconductor diamond synthesized by CVD and high pressure, high temperature techniques. Nevertheless, n-type semiconductor diamond with sufficiently low resistivity for semiconductor device applications was not achieved.
It is known that diamond crystals usually contain many of defects which prevent semiconductivity. Furthermore, using ion-implantation to fabricate semiconductor diamond introduces many of defects simultaneously in the diamond crystals. Ion implantation with post annealing techniques have been widely used in silicon device technology for doping with the desired ions in a controlled manner. Nevertheless, it is difficult to anneal out the defects in the diamond without graphitizing the diamond. Thermal annealing usually graphitizes damaged regions of the diamond because the more stable configuration of carbon is not diamond, but graphite, at atmospheric pressure and room temperature.
The conventional processes of forming semiconductor diamond are not well suited for deleting the defects in diamond without graphitizing and making semiconducting electronic conductivities.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.