A multiple coloring composition system is disclosed whose coloring effect is changed upon treatment with a second coloring composition, once the second coloring composition has been deposited over the undercolor coloring composition. The multiple ink system comprises:. (a) an undercolor aqueous coloring composition comprising an undercolor dye whose coloring ability is destroyed in the presence of a pH of about 10 or greater and/or by a reducing agent; and PA1 (b) an overcolor aqueous coloring composition comprising a colorant capable of maintaining its characteristic color in the presence of a pH of about 10 or greater and/or a reducing agent, a base in an amount sufficient to yield a pH of the overcolor composition of about 10 or greater, and/or a reducing agent.

Children enjoy various drawing and coloring activities using a variety of mediums. Useful in such activities are markers containing inks, crayons, pencils of various colors, and various paints including water colors, oil paints and acrylic paints. However, children would often like to change the color of a mark after they have made the mark. One instance would be the desire to add a yellow sun over a previously colored blue sky.
Changing the color of a mark is not readily done with the typical children's coloring instruments such as those described. In the past, children changed the marks by placing the mark of one color over the mark of another color. When performing this using traditional marking pens, the marks produced are often not the desired colors and the tips of the markers get soiled with the other inks, rendering the marker useless. If attempted with traditional children's paints, the colors tend to bleed together resulting in undesirable color smears. Therefore, there has been a long felt need for coloring compositions, including paints, inks, and markers containing such compositions, which produce marks of a first color that can be readily changed into a wide variety of second colors. Especially needed is such a group of compositions which may be used in markers without soiling the nib of the second used marking instrument.
Coloring compositions generally are mixtures of a coloring matter dispersed or dissolved in a carrier fluid. The colorant, if readily dissolving in the carrier fluid, is termed a dye. An insoluble coloring material is termed a pigment. Pigments are finely ground solid materials and the nature and amount of pigment contained in an ink determines its color.
In one available marker application, a child is able to change a specific initial mark laid down to a second specific color by applying a reducing agent to the first mark yielding a change in color. The marker inks used in these markers are typically prepared by blending a reducing agent (sometimes termed a bleaching agent) or pH sensitive dye with a dye that is stable in reducing agent or high pH. For example, German Patent Specification No. 2724820, (hereinafter "the German Patent"), concerns the combining of a chemically stable dye and a chemically unstable dye in an ink formulation. Once a mark using this combination of stable and unstable dyes is laid down, the mark may be overwritten with a clear reducing agent solution, eliminating the color contribution of the unstable dye. The resulting mark of the stable dye, with its characteristic color, remains.
There are several drawbacks to such a marking system. First, there are strict limitations on the number of color changes which may be produced. Specifically, in formulations made according to the German Patent, the particular ink composition may only be changed from a first color to a fixed second color. For example, a green mark may only be changed to a violet color as the inks are described in the practice of the German Patent. In addition, since one of the required pair of markers contains only the reducing agent, that reducing agent marker cannot render a visible mark and may only be used in combination with the base color marker. Once the base color marker is used up, the reducing agent marker is of no use. Or, once the reducing agent marker is used up, the base color marker may only be used for the color which it initially marks with. A further disadvantage of the marking process of the German Patent is that the nib of the reducing agent marker tends to get soiled by picking up the colors of the base coloring composition, thus tainting the color of subsequent marks.
Coloring composition may also optionally include such ingredients as humectants, preservatives, and drying agents. Humectants function to improve freeze/thaw stability and to control drying out of the tip when the coloring composition is used as a marker ink. Preservatives serve the obvious function of preventing spoilage of the ink during the expected shelf life of the marker product. Drying agents speed drying of a mark laid down by a marker.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coloring composition system which is capable of enhanced multiple color changing abilities.
An additional object of the present invention is to produce a coloring composition system which includes at least two different coloring compositions each of which may be used independently or which may be used in combination to provide color changing ability.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a coloring composition system in the form of inks which prevents a nib of a color changing marker from becoming visibly soiled from contacting a base color composition.
These and other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.


A process for recrystallizing a semiconductor layer including the steps of forming a polycrystalline or amorphous semiconductor layer on a substrate and scanning energy beam on the semiconductor layer, wherein the energy beam is vibrated substantially in parallel to the direction of advance of the scanning of the energy beam. For carrying out the process, the apparatus includes a sample stage for holding a sample having a polycrystalline or amorphous semiconductor layer, an energy beam source for generating energy beam, a scanning means for scanning the energy beam on the semiconductor layer, and a beam-vibrating means for vibrating the energy beam substantially in parallel to the direction of advance of the scanning of the energy beam.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for the preparation of a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process and apparatus for recrystallizing polycrystalline or amorphous silicon.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In the semiconductor industry, a three-dimensional structure has attracted attention as a means of increasing the degree of integration and the operating speed, and as a means of realizing this structure, there has been proposed an SOI (semiconductor-on-insulator) technique of forming a recrystallized silicon layer capable of forming an element thereon on an insulating film.
In this SOI technique, the recrystallized silicon is formed by melting and recrystallizing polycrystalline silicon deposited on an insulating film by energy beams, but often the melted silicon is peeled from the insulating film. Accordingly, the development of a process for eliminating this defect is desired.
When a substrate having an SOI structure, which is used for a three-dimensional IC or the like, is prepared, an interlaminar insulating film, for example, silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2), is formed on a silicon (Si) substrate having semiconductor elements formed thereon, a polycrystalline Si layer is deposited on this SiO.sub.2 film by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and energy beams, for example, laser beams, are vertically scanned over the polycrystalline Si layer so that the end portions of the beam-irradiated regions are overlapped, whereby the polycrystalline silicon is melted and recrystallized in sequence and a recrystallized Si layer having a single crystal region covering a broad area sufficient to form semiconductor elements thereon is formed on the SiO.sub.2 film.
In the conventional technique, the incident angle of the laser beams having a predetermined beam spot diameter to the substrate is fixed, and scanning is carried out in sequence at a predetermined constant speed.
In the conventional beam annealing method and apparatus where the polycrystalline Si layer is melted and converted to a single crystal in sequence, where the recrystallization is carried out under the conditions of an efficient melting of the polycrystalline Si and giving an efficient treatment, for example, a power density of 10.sup.6 to 10.sup.7 W/cm.sup.2 and a scanning speed of about 2 to about 3 mm/sec, a peeling of the melted Si from the surface of the SiO.sub.2 film often occurs, whereby holes exposing the SiO.sub.2 film are formed in the Si surface at a high density and only a recrystallized Si layer that cannot be practically used is formed.
According to the conventional technique, this peeling is controlled by reducing the beam intensity, i.e., the power density of laser beams, but this conventional method is defective in that the melting width is narrowed by a reduction of the power density, with the result that the crystal quality is lowered and the treatment time is greatly prolonged.

Process and apparatus for recrystallization of semiconductor layer


A connector (10) to be mounted on ends of wires (W1) to be installed in a vehicle includes female terminals (20) that are to be connected to the ends of the wires, a housing (30) in which the female terminals (20) are accommodated and from which the wires (W1) are drawn out, and a shield bracket (40) that fixes the housing (30) to a case of a device installed in the vehicle. The shield bracket (40) includes a wire fixing portion (54) between a wire draw-out part (P1) where the wires (W1) are drawn out from the housing (30) and a vibrating part (P2). The wire fixing portion (54) fixes the wires (W1) extending in a direction intersecting an extending direction of the wires (W1) in the vibrating part (P2) where the wires (W1) vibrate as the vehicle vibrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,349 discloses a connector to be mounted on an end of a wire. This connector includes a terminal fitting connected to the end of the wire and a housing formed with a cavity. The terminal fitting is fit into the cavity from behind. The housing has a front stop to limit forward movement of the terminal into the housing and a locking lance to retain the terminal fitting in the housing.
A clearance is unavoidable between the terminal fitting and the inner wall of the cavity and hence the terminal fitting shakes slightly in the cavity. A connector mounted to a wiring harness installed in a vehicle is subject to vibration as the vehicle runs. Thus, terminal fittings shake in forward and backward directions in the cavity even after the connector is connected to a mating connector. As a result, sliding abrasion occurs between connecting parts of the terminal fittings and connection reliability is reduced.
The invention was completed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to suppress sliding movements between terminal fittings and improve connection reliability between the terminal fittings by preventing the shaking of wires.


An imaging system includes a transfer belt that is rotatable, a transfer roller that contacts the transfer belt, and a conductive device that contacts a surface of the transfer roller, to supply a bias to the transfer roller. The transfer roller has a hollow portion.

An imaging apparatus includes a transfer unit which transfers a toner image to a printing medium. The transfer unit may include a transfer belt which carries a toner image, a transfer roller which contacts the transfer belt, and a power supply roller which supplies a transfer bias to the transfer roller. The transfer roller includes a shaft that functions as a conductive shaft core. An ionic conductive agent such as epichlorohydrin rubber is used for the transfer roller. The transfer belt is connected to a ground and the power supply roller is connected to a power source. A transfer current is supplied from the power source to a shaft of the transfer roller through the power supply roller.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A semiconductor arrangement includes an isolation structure having a first electrical insulator layer in a trench in a semiconductor substrate and a second electrical insulator layer in the trench and over the first electrical insulator layer.

Semiconductor arrangements are used in a multitude of electronic devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, desktops, tablets, watches, gaming systems, and various other industrial, commercial, and consumer electronics. Semiconductor arrangements generally comprise semiconductor portions and isolation portions formed adjacent to the semiconductor portions. Shallow trench isolation (STI) has become an important isolation technology in semiconductor devices. One of the purposes of STI is to prevent carriers, such as electrons or electron-holes, from drifting between two adjacent semiconductor elements.

Semiconductor arrangement including a first electrical insulator layer and a second electrical insulator layer and method of making

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, ltd.


A method for fabricating a monolithic fluid injection device. The method includes providing a substrate with a patterned sacrificial layer thereon. Next, a patterned support layer and a patterned resistive layer, as a heating element, are formed on the substrate sequentially. A patterned insulating layer having a heating element contact via and a first opening is formed on the support layer. A patterned conductive layer is formed on the support layer and fills the heating element contact via as a signal transmitting circuit. A patterned protective layer having a signal transmitting circuit contact via and a second opening corresponding to the first opening is formed on the substrate. A manifold is formed by wet etching the back of the substrate to expose the sacrificial layer. A chamber is formed by removing the sacrificial layer in the wet etching process. Finally, an opening connecting the chamber is formed by etching the support layer along the second opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thermal ink-jet (TIJ) technology, and more particularly, to a method for fabricating a monolithic fluid injection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional fabrication technique of a monolithic fluid injection device typically includes standard integrated circuit (IC) technology and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology for both front-end and back-end processes. The front-end process comprises formation of wafer driving circuits and heating elements in an IC foundry. The subsequent back-end process forms fluid chambers and orifices on said wafer in a MEMS foundry.
Both the IC and MEMS processes require one or several thin-film processing techniques, such as metal deposition, dielectric deposition, or etching of dielectric openings. Production costs and the probability of defects, however, increase with repeated thin-film processes.
Conventionally, a monolithic fluid injection device with various components, such as a fluid chamber, a heater, a driving circuit, and an orifice, is formed on a silicon wafer using a MEMS process without requiring packaging and thus results in higher yield and lower cost.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic illustrations of a conventional monolithic fluid injection device fabrication process, wherein FIG. 1A shows the front-end IC process and FIG. 1B shows the back-end MEMS process. Referring to FIG. 1A, a substrate 10 (e.g., silicon wafer) having a first surface and a second surface is provided, and a monolithic fluid injection device is formed thereon. In a typical processing sequence, a patterned sacrificial layer 20 is formed on the first surface of the substrate 10. A patterned structure layer 30 is formed on the first surface of the substrate 10 and covers the patterned sacrificial layer 20. A patterned resistive layer 40 is formed on the structure layer 30 as a heater. A patterned insulating layer 50 having a heater contact opening 45 is formed over the structure layer 30. A patterned conductive layer 60 is formed overlying the structure layer 30 and fills the heater contact opening 45 as a signal transmitting circuit 62. A patterned protective layer 70, having a signal transmitting circuit contact opening and covering the insulating layer 50 and the conductive layer 60, is formed overlying the substrate 10.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the IC processed wafer is then subjected to wet etching. A fluid channel 80 is formed in the second surface of the substrate 10 and exposes the sacrificial layer 20. The sacrificial layer 20 is then removed to form a fluid chamber 90. Thereafter the protective layer 70, the insulating layer 50, the structure layer 30, an orifice 90 connecting the fluid chamber 95 are formed sequentially by lithographic etching. Thus, formation of a monolithic fluid injection device is complete.
The above described formation of the orifice 90 minimally requires etching of the protective layer 70, the insulating layer 50, and the structure layer 30. The front-end process, however, also requires etching of the protective layer 70 and the insulating layer 50 to form an electrical connection between the signal transmitting circuit 62 and the heater 40 to form a signal transmitting contact.
A monolithic fluid injection device combining IC and MEMS processes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,530. In this method, a structure layer is suspended over the fluid chamber; hence, the process must be precisely controlled to improve production yield and reliability.

Method for fabricating a monolithic fluid injection device


In one example, a method is provided for detecting the relative position of a transducer head with respect to a storage medium utilizing existing or previously written data structures on a magnetic storage tape and optically diffractive media. The method includes generating a read signal from a read element associated with a transducer head, the read signal generated from a reference data track stored on a magnetic storage medium, and determining a relative position of a first diffractive medium with respect to a second diffractive medium, wherein the first diffractive medium is associated with the storage medium. The transducer head is repositioned relative to the storage medium in response to the read signal and the relative position of the first diffractive medium and the second diffractive medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to magnetic tape storage devices and systems, and more particularly to methods and systems for head positioning servo systems for detecting misalignment between a read/write head and a magnetic storage tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital tape-recording remains a viable solution for storage of large amounts of data. Conventionally, at least two approaches are employed for recording digital information onto magnetic recording tape. One approach calls for moving a magnetic tape past a rotating head structure that reads and writes user information from discontinuous transverse tracks. Interactive servo systems are typically employed to synchronize rotation of the head structure with travel of the tape. Another approach is to draw the tape across a non-rotating head at a considerable linear velocity. This approach is sometimes referred to as linear "streaming" tape recording and playback.
Increased data storage capacity, and retrieval performance, is desired of all commercially viable mass storage devices and media. In the case of linear tape recording a popular trend is toward multi-head, multi-channel fixed head structures with narrowed recording gaps and data track widths so that many linear data tracks may be achieved on a tape medium of a predetermined width, such as one-half inch width tape. To increase the storage density for a given cartridge size the bits on the tape may be written to smaller areas and on a plurality of parallel longitudinal tracks. As more data tracks are recorded on a tape, each track becomes increasingly narrow. The tape therefore becomes more susceptible to errors caused from the tape shifting up or down (called lateral tape motion or "LTM") in a direction perpendicular to the tape travel path as the tape passes by the magnetic head. LTM may be caused by many factors including, tape slitting variations, tension variations, imperfections in the guiding mechanism, friction variations mainly at the head, and environmental factors such as heat and humidity. These factors affect LTM in various ways. Some may cause abrupt momentary jumps while others may cause a static shift. Generally, LTM is unpredictable and unrepeatable.
In multi-head, multi-channel magnetic tape storage systems, random lateral tape motion is generally a limiting factor in achieving higher track densities and thus higher user data capacity per tape. In order to maintain proper alignment of the head with the storage tape and data tracks on the tape, the tape is generally mechanically constrained to minimize LTM and data retrieval errors. Miss-registration between the head and data tracks can cause data errors during readback and data loss on adjacent tracks during writing.
Various techniques for increasing the track density on magnetic tape employ recording servo information on the tape to provide positioning information to a tape drive system during writing and/or reading processes. Some systems magnetically record a continuous track of servo information which is then read and used as a position reference signal. For example, a variety of techniques have been used including dedicated and embedded magnetic servo tracks, time and amplitude magnetic servo tracks, and the like. Other systems may intersperse or embed servo information with user data. These examples, however, reduce data capacity of the tape by using a portion of the tape capacity for servo information.

Servo methods and systems using existing data structures and optical masks


A method of encrypting an object includes generating a cryptographic key, using the cryptographic key to initialize a cryptographic algorithm, and applying the algorithm to the object. Accordingly, an encrypted object is formed. The key is generated by combining key splits derived from different sources. One of the key splits is a biometric value derived from and corresponding to a particular person.

The present invention is a cryptographic key management system that uses pre-positioned key splits to build cryptographic keys when needed. This paper describes an architecture that provides a complete cryptosystem for today's large distributed networks. The management system of the present invention will be referred to herein as "CKM".
Keys are an essential part of all encryption schemes. Their management is a critical element of any cryptographic-based security. The true effectiveness of key management is the ability to have keys created, distributed, and maintained without requiring user interaction and without penalizing system performance or costs.
As symmetric, also called public-key, cryptography has received significant attention in recent years. The public-key method includes separate public encryption and private decryption keys that provide a measure of difficulty in deriving the private key from the public key. Public-key management was developed to establish cryptographic connectivity between two points in a communications channel after which a symmetric cryptogen, such as DES (Data Encryption Standard), was to be executed. Over the years public-key implementations have demonstrated their effectiveness to authenticate between entities. However, public-key methods have not been able to successfully handle the requirements of today's global networks.
Many of the recent public-key implementations allow users to create their own keys. This can leave an organization vulnerable, and in some cases liable, if users leave and fail to identify their private keys. Also, to ensure the integrity of public keys, third party infrastructure designs have been proposed. A Certificate Authority process confirms that a certain public key was issued to a specific user. The exchange of certificates with a third party can significantly impact the performance of a network.
The public-key process is also associated with high computation times. In many instances, hardware solutions have compensated for these high computational requirements. Since public-key architectures have been historically point-to-point designs, moving to a distributed network with group sharing of information can create higher transmission costs and greater network impact. While public-key management systems work well for point-to-point communications and one-to-one information transfer, they are too time consuming for a single file placed on a server and decrypted by thousands of users. As the trend toward work groups and complex communications infrastructures continues, the need for a more efficient information and communications key management technology becomes paramount.
Shared secret keys used with symmetric key cryptosystems is the earliest key management design and pre-dates public-key management. Early symmetric key designs suffered from the "n-squared" problem since the number of keys required becomes very large and unmanageable as the number of users increase. In addition, these designs did not have effective authentication. Symmetric encryption does have significantly better processing performance than public-key implementations.
CKM builds on the advantages, and takes into account the disadvantages, of both public-key and symmetric key implementations. CKM combines an encryption process based on split key capability with access control credentials and an authentication process based on public-key techniques. CKM is most effective in modern distributive information models where information flow and control can be defined, where the information encrypted may need to be recovered, and where authentication using public-key technology and a physical token can be implemented.
This paper emphasizes the encryption of data-at-rest as opposed to data-in-transit. Data-at-rest refers to data encrypted as logical units (objects) and includes the creation, processing, transfer, and storage of these objects. Data-in-transit refers to the stream encryption of data moving through a physical or logical communication channel during a certain period of time. CKM can perform both types of encryption. The data-in-transit capability will be emphasized in a future release of this paper.

Encryption process including a biometric unit


A compliant balloon having an outer reflective surface which is positioned next to a transparent window which has an opaque element thereon, the reflection of the opaque element from the outer reflective surface of the balloon being visible when the outer reflective surface is not forced very near or against said opaque element on said transparent window, but prevented when said front reflective surface is forced very near or against the opaque element.

It is first noted that U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,865 and 5,131,887 to Traudt, titled "Pressure Controlled Fresh Air Supply Ventilation System Using Soil Gas Pressure As A Reference, And Method Of Use" describe a particularly relevant, although non-limiting, application for the present invention system. Said 865 and 887 Patents are incorporated by reference herein as they provide insight to the utility provided by the present invention system in a ventilation system for air pressure control in an enclosed space. As general interest, it is noted that the 865 and 887 Patents describe a ventilation system which utilizes soil gas pressure below an enclosed space as a reference pressure, to which enclosed space inside air pressure is compared by the system, during operation. The inlet supply air into the enclosed space is controlled by a device based upon an initial user set value, which set level of supply air, under normal conditions, then adjusted by ventilation system action to counteract changes in a signal derived by comparison of said soil gas pressure and inside enclosed space air pressure, by a differential pressure detecting device. While the 865 and 887 Patents describe utility providing systems, it has become apparent that a more accurate, reliable and economical differential pressure detecting device would optimize their operation.
Additionally, said 865 and 887 Patents further disclose that the quality of air in enclosed spaces such as houses and other buildings is subject in an Environmental Protection Agency Report titled "EPA Report to Congress on Indoor Air Quality", released Aug. 4, 1989. In that report reference is made to the so called "Sick Building Syndrome" and a program of increased research and information dissemination regarding the dangers of poor indoor air quality is recommended. Health effects attributed to air contaminants accumulating in poorly ventilated houses and other buildings range from eye, ear, nose and throat irritation, to full scale respiratory and neurological diseases, genetic mutations and cancer. Contaminants such as radon, asbestos, tobacco smoke, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, chlorinated solvents, biological contaminants and pesticides etc., and the synergistic effects of multiple contaminants are cited as causes of health problems. The report suggests that reducing the sources of contaminants is the most direct and dependable option in overcoming the problem, and that while air cleaning equipment can compliment air quality improvement, there is no substitute for providing an adequate supply of fresh air into an enclosed space.
Further, said 865 and 887 Patents disclose that in recent years, the high cost of energy has led many people to strive to make their houses and buildings more tightly sealed, hence, in combination with the use of insulation, more energy efficient. Said efforts have included sealing cracks and other air leaks and/or openings in their houses and/or buildings to prevent heated or cooled air from escaping, and outside air which requires heating or cooling, from randomly entering at an excessive rate. In effect, such houses and buildings become, to various degrees, closed systems. In such structures the fresh air supply rate is often reduced to far below the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. Engineers presently recommended minimum fresh air volume supply rate of 7.5 Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) per inhabitant, plus 1.0 cubic foot per minute for every square foot of usable floor area, whichever is greater, (see ASHRAE Standard 62.2, 2004, titled "Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-rise Residential Buildings"). The result of an insufficient fresh air supply into, and stale air removal from such tight enclosed spaces is that contaminants accumulate inside same to dangerous health affecting levels. To emphasize this point, it is estimated by some health care researchers that presently more than 20,000 persons per year, in the United States alone, contract lung cancer as a result of contact with radon in poorly ventilated houses and other buildings.
A search of existing Patents during preparation of the 865 and 887 Patents showed that numerous inventors have proposed systems, and methods of their use, which provide controlled ventilation to enclosed spaces such as houses and buildings. The various approaches basically utilize a means to cause air flow, such as a motor driven blower, to force fresh air to move into and stale air to move out of an enclosed space. The fresh air volume supply rate is typically, but not necessarily in the most basic schemes, controlled based upon signals developed by sensing air pressure differences between the inside and the outside of a house or building, from signals derived from sensed rates of air flows in various parts of a system, or by sensing the velocity of the wind outside the house or building.
The most basic schemes simply provide a large fresh air supply into a house or building sufficient to raise the air pressure inside the house or building to a large positive value with respect to that outside the house or building. In such a scheme the fresh air supply must be large enough to maintain the large positive indoor air pressure no matter what active or passive exhaust air flows develop. As an example, operating a clothes dryer or fireplace will actively exhaust air from a house, and opening a door to the outside of the house or building on the downwind side can passively increase exhaust air. One problem with such simple large excessive positive pressure systems is that they are wasteful of energy. The large volume of fresh air which flows into a house or building equipped with such a system must be heated or cooled at times. Another problem with excessively positive indoor air pressure is that humid indoor air will be forced out through openings and pores in the building envelope. During cold weather, moisture condensation within roof and outer-wall cavities enables growth of molds. As a very large fresh air supply rate is not necessary to keep contaminant concentration levels low enough for health maintenance reasons, there is no valid reason to provide it to a tight house or building.
It should now be obvious that ventilation in buildings and houses etc. should be carefully controlled so that an adequate oxygen supply is assured, contaminants in the air are flushed out, and excess air leakage into and out of enclosed spaces is minimized. To do so, however, requires a precise means for monitoring the air pressure difference between the enclosed space and a reference pressure such as outdoor air pressure or soil gas pressure. The present invention differential pressure detecting system precisely monitors the pressure difference between first and second environments.
While the said 865 and 887 Patents provided a ventilation control system which identifies and utilizes a reference pressure, (which is compared to air pressure in an enclosed space controlled environment), so a signal can be derived and variation in the signal can be used to control the fresh air supply rate into, and stale air exhaust rate out of an enclosed space controlled environment, a need remains for a reliable and economical differential pressure detecting system for monitoring very small pressure differentials between first and second environments.
Continuing, U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,647 to Traudt teaches a Pressure Differential Detecting System, and Method of Use comprising a differential pressure detecting system comprised of a first environment accessing substantially compliant first chamber contained within a second environment, or within a second environment accessing substantially rigid second chamber; said differential pressure detecting system being in combination with a sensor means for monitoring change in shape of said substantially compliant first chamber without significantly affecting said shape. In use the internal volume of said substantially compliant first chamber is caused to access a first environment so that pressure differences between said first and second environments can be detected via monitoring of change in shape of the substantially compliant first chamber.
Said 647 Patent thus focuses on monitoring of a change in the shape of a compliant means based on a pressure difference, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Additional Patents of which the inventor is aware are:                U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,664 to Coulbourne et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,047 to Nakagawa;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,847 to Sullivan;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,747 to Hould;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,557 to Johnson;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,724 to Onuma et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,890 to Frick;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,936 to McIntire et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,865 to Traudt;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,329 to Sahagen;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,887 to Traudt;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,227 to Pandorf;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,919 to Brandt Jr.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,462 to Briefer et al.        U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,557 to Johnston
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,865 and 5,131,887 to Traudt, titled "Pressure Controlled Fresh Air Supply Ventilation System Using Soil Gas Pressure As A Reference, And Method Of Use" describe a particularly relevant, although non-limiting, application for the present invention system.
In addition, a Product Information for the Henry G. Dietz Co. Model LPS 100-5, Pressure Transducer is disclosed. Said Pressure Transducer is advertised as capable of detecting an air pressure differential of 0.005 inches of water column by using gold-coated contacts to close an electric circuit.
Finally, it is noted that the U.S. EPA recommends sealing air leaks in the shells of buildings to reduce energy costs, allow for improved environmental control, and minimizing the amount of outdoor air needed to maintain a slight positive indoor pressure. "Measurements in existing schools show that a slight positive air pressure equal to the pressure of as little as 0.001 inches of water column (0.25 Pascals) relative to sub-slab and outdoor air pressure, reduces indoor radon levels by preventing radon entry", (see "Radon Prevention in the Design and Construction of Schools and Other Large Buildings", January 1993, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington D.C. 20460, EPA/625/R-92/016, P25).
A need remains for an affordable and visually monitorable system which enables easy monitoring of pressure in an enclosed space, and which enables reliable detection of an air pressure differential near 0.001 inches of water column (ie. 0.25 Pascals).

System for visually monitoring pressure in an enclosed space


A wave energy converter (10) is capable of floating on a body of water (BW), moving in response to waves (W) occurring in the body of water (BW), and includes a hull (12) connected to a heave plate (14). The wave energy converter (10) is characterized in that the hull (12) is formed from reinforced concrete, a plurality of connecting tendons (16) extend between the hull (12) and the heave plate (14), and a power take off (66) is attached to each connecting tendon (16).

This invention relates in general to wave energy converters (WECs). In particular, this invention relates to an improved hull for a WEC and an improved method of manufacturing and assembling a hull for a WEC.
Wave power in the earth's oceans is abundant and reliable, and has long been considered a promising renewable energy source. WECs have been conceived to convert this abundant wave power into electricity. Although attempts to effectively convert wave power into usable energy have been made for over a century, wave power is currently not widely employed by the energy industry.
Over the past three or more decades, many different wave energy concepts have been investigated by companies and academic research groups around the world. Although many working designs have been developed and tested, such as through modeling and wave tank-tests, only a few concepts have progressed to testing at sea.
WECs suitable for commercial use are under development and designed to be deployed in open water locations that experience waves (W), such as in oceans. The electric power produced by the WEC may then be transmitted to a location, such as on shore location, where the electric power may be used. The transmission of the electric power is typically via an undersea cable.
Known WECs often consist of two or more connected floating bodies or one floating body connected to a fixed point such as the sea bed. The relative motion and loads generated between the two floating bodies, or between the one floating body and the sea bed, is used to generate electric power through a power take-off system such as though pumping a hydraulic fluid through a motor or through a direct drive system, such as a power take off (66). Early WEC designs were capable of producing power up to several hundred kW. It is envisioned however, that WECs with a capacity of multiple MW possible. Known types of WECs include wave activated bodies, oscillating water columns, overtopping devices, point absorbers, and point attenuators.
Typically, the floating bodies, also called hulls, are constructed using ship-building methods of steel. Steel hulls have been in use for many years for ships, oil and gas platforms, and early WECs. Steel poses some challenges for renewable energy structures where cost targets are extremely low for both initial construction and maintenance. Steel hulls can be very expensive to build and maintain and are likely to be produced in low labor cost areas away from the ocean.
WECs need to be optimized to effectively extract wave energy under most wave conditions and be constructed from materials capable of withstanding the known problems experienced by marine technologies, including corrosion, fatigue, biofouling, impact loading, and fractures. The typical means of protecting against fouling and corrosion of steel structures is regular maintenance and repainting. But this is time-consuming and costly. In addition, the use of antifouling paints may be detrimental to the marine environment and require the WEC to be removed from service, thus causing reductions in power availability.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved hull for a WEC and an improved method of assembling a hull for a WEC.

Segmented concrete hull for wave energy converters and method of constructing

University of Maine System Board of Trustees


A watercraft of the “float boat” type, including spaced apart inflatable pontoons interconnected by a platform structure having a chair thereon and a front ramp and support rail movable between a stowed out-of-the way position to a use position and including a removable wheel for moving the float boat over land.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pontoon craft and particularly to such craft as are commonly referred to as "float boats". Lightweight pontoon boats of the type known generally as float boats, with inflatable pontoons have become increasingly more popular for use by fishermen and others. Float boats are smaller and lighter in weight than many other types of watercraft and are more easily handled by a single individual during launching, retrieval and use on water.
Float boats are often propelled using oars, or by kicking of the wader covered feet of a user, or by both feet movement and oar operation.
2. Prior Art
Existing float boats generally include a pair of spaced apart inflatable pontoons interconnected by a platform structure. The pontoons are air filled and usually constructed as reinforced, rubberized tubes, with upturned front and rear ends.
The platform structure supports a chair, including a seat upon which a user sits and a seatback for supporting the back of a user. The seatback may pivot to fold down over the seat when the watercraft is not in use, or the seatback can be rigidly attached to the seat.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that forms laminate layers includes the steps of reducing contamination containing the single bond of carbon on at least one part of a surface on which the laminate films are formed by activated hydrogen before the laminate films are formed, and forming the laminate films on the surface on which the laminate films are formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process which is not capable of preventing a carbon contamination such as a process which is conducted within a clean room using a hopper filter, a semiconductor device providing a clean semiconductor interface with the removal of that contamination. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thin-film semiconductor device providing a clean semiconductor interface and a gate insulating film low in carbon density by removing a carbon contaminator on the interface between an active layer and the gate insulating film; as well as by removing carbon impurities in the gate insulating film which is formed using an organic silane source in a method of manufacturing a thin-film transistor (TFT) using a thin-film semiconductor such as a liquid-crystal display field.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, in the method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, various contamination removing manners have been established for the removal of the contaminator on its surface as well as for the prevention of contamination as a problem. For the removal of heavy metal, there have been remarkably widely known methods in which heavy metal is removed by adding hydrochloric acid to hydrogen peroxide solution, and so on. Also, for the removal of a physical absorber, there have been well used a cleaning method using the cavitations of supersonic waves, a cleaning method using a brush, and so on. Moreover, even in the liquid-crystal display field where a large number of thin-film transistors are formed on an insulating substrate, using normal tetraethyl silicate chemical formula Si(OC2H5)4 (so-called TEOS) as a source gas, a so-called stepping of a thin-film transistor wiring and so on are reduced utilizing the excellence of the step coating property of the gas. Further, in the liquid-crystal display field using a process which is-not at a high temperature used in a silicon wafer process but at 600° C. or lower, TEOS has been used for a gate insulating film or an under layer in addition to an inter-layer insulating film. In the thin-film transistor (so-called TFT) which is applied to the liquid-crystal display or the like, an under film formed on an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate, a gate insulating film, an interlayer insulating film and so on are formed through the heat CVD method, the plasma CVD method or the like with normal tetraethyl silicate as a source gas. However, this suffers from a problem on the oxide film characteristic because a large amount of carbon remains.
For the removal of organic substances such as carbon that adheres to the surface, there have been well known a cleaning method using solvent where sulfuric acid is added to hydrogen peroxide solution, a dry ashing method using oxygen plasma, and so on. However, from the research of the inventors, it has been found that the removal of carbon is under more complicated circumstances. The cause of the mixture of carbon contaminations is that a photo-resist used for forming an intended pattern in a photolithography process is of a photo sensitive organic that causes a carbon contamination. Also, in the method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, the thin-film process is now essential, and a vacuum device for the thin-film process is also essential. However, there exists a vacuum pump in the vacuum device for making vacuum, yet using oil. This causes carbon contamination. In addition, the contamination is caused by a vapor pressure generated from teflon (PFA), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), ethylene trifluoride covalent resin (ECTFE), ethylene tetrafluoride covalent resin (ETFE), polyethylene (PE) tetrafluoride, or the like, which is used as a substrate carrier, a floor material within a clear room, a wall material, a filter, and so on.
A conventional method is that a dry ashing is conducted after a photolithography process, and a solvent in which sulfuric acid is added to hydrogen peroxide solution at a rate of 1:1 is heated at 80° C. immediately before the respective processes, and then used, to thereby remove an organic substance, (hereinafter referred to as "wet ashing"). Immediately after then, a succeeding process is conducted. Conventionally, it has been thought that all of the organic substances can be removed by the dry ashing and the wet ashing. However, it has been found as a result of estimating the carbon contamination on the substrate surface through the known XPS measurement, that only C—C bonds (single bond of carbon) are hardly removed.
FIG. 2 shows a substrate surface 21 (indicated by a dotted line graph in FIG. 2) which has been subjected to a photo-resist coating, pre-baking, light-exposure, development, post-baking, and photo-resist peeling, and a surface 22 of the substrate (indicated by a solid line graph in FIG. 2) which has been further subjected to dry ashing and wet ashing, which have been measured using XPS. Under the measuring condition where the angle of a detector is set to 15° in order to obtain the information of the surface as much as possible, an area 1 mm Φ on the substrate surface was measured. A horizontal axis represents a bonding energy with an unit of eV whereas a vertical axis represents the intensity of the detector with an arbitrary unit.
It is found from the graph of FIG. 2 that a peak in the vicinity of 284.8 eV is increased in both the cases of before (dotted line) and after (solid line) the substrate surface is subjected to dry ashing and wet ashing, and all of other peaks are decreased. The peak of 284.8 eV shows the existence of C—C single bond.
This shows that the removal of single bond of carbon is very difficult in the conventional dry ashing and wet ashing and almost impossible. Because carbon remains on the substrate surface as impurities, if, for example, an oxide film or the like is formed on the substrate surface, carbon remains on the interface between the oxide film and the substrate surface and forms a recombination center on the interface. Also, this develops charge capture and lowers the electric characteristic of a semiconductor such as the mobility of the thin-film transistor. Further, because the bonding state is not stabilized, an electric field continues to be applied, whereby the interface state is changed in time with a lost reliability.
Also, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei 4-177735 by the present applicant discloses that a bias is applied to a substrate using hydrogen of 100% to conduct plasma hydrogen cleaning on the semiconductor surface before forming a film by a sputtering unit. However, at the time of filing a Japanese Patent Application of the above Publication, because it has not been found that hydrogen radicals are effected on the single bond of carbon, a bias has been applied to the substrate to use the sputtering effect due to hydrogen ions, thereby cleaning the semiconductor surface.
For that reason, in order to make the interface characteristic excellent, because a balance of the effect obtained by removing the impurities and the damage caused by sputtering must be kept, the process margin cannot be increased so much. For that reason, processes which are capable of utilizing the plasma hydrogen cleaning have been limited.
Furthermore, not only the carbon contamination on the surface but also the carbon contamination in the film, using an organic silane source causes serious problems. A method of forming a film using normal tetraethyl silicate which has been well used is stated below. As the plasma CVD method, a substrate on which a film is formed is disposed within a chamber which has a parallel flat electrode and is capable of creating a vacuum in the chamber. In this situation, the one end of the parallel flat electrode is connected to the high-frequency source, connected to so-called cathode. The other one of the electrode is connected to the earth, and the substrate is disposed on the earth side electrode, that is, the anode side. Normal tetraethyl silicate is heated and increased in vapor pressure because it is liquid at room temperature, before being introduced into the chamber, or normal tetraethyl silicate bubbles with a carrier gas within a tank, and is then introduced together with the carrier gas into the chamber. Normal tetraethyl silicate resolved in plasma is characterized in that it forms a precursor and moves fluidly, thereby being capable of forming a film excellent in the step coverage property. The precursors that move on the substrate collide with each other, and also oxide ions, oxide radicals and ozones, and create an abstraction reaction to form SiOx. If a large amount of oxygen is introduced into the chamber, then the abstraction reaction from the precursor which is made of normal tetraethyl silicate on the surface facilitates, to form a film which is reduced in the amount of carbon but low in step coverage property.
When the amount of introduction of oxygen is slightly small, the step coverage property is improved, but the bond of carbon or oxygen and hydrogen exists much, thereby forming a film high in hygroscopicity. As a result of the measurement due to infrared absorption, the film is formed such that the absorption in the vicinity of 3660 cm−2 is increased much as a time elapses. This exhibits that the absorption in the vicinity of 3660 cm−2 is mainly caused by the Si—OH bond, and the formed film is hygroscopic.
As another method of forming a film using normal tetraethyl silicate, there is the atmospheric CVD method using ozone and heat. This is that normal tetraethyl silicate contained in a tank is bubbled with N2 on a substrate heated at 300 to 400° C. and then heated in a reaction chamber, or oxygen is used for generating ozone through an ozonizer and then introducing it in the chamber. Since this method is high in step coverage property and also high in film forming rate, it is also used for an interlayer insulating film or the like, required for a multi-layer wiring such as LSI or DRAM memory. Thereafter, a so-called flatting operation is conducted in combination of etchback, SOG (SPIN ON GLASS), CMP (CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING), etc.
Among carbon contaminations on the substrate surface in a process of manufacturing the thin-film semiconductor device, particularly the impurities caused by a single bond (C—C) of carbon which can be hardly removed by the conventional wet ashing or dry ashing are reduced, thereby reducing the deterioration of the electric characteristic caused by the impurities of carbon on the boundary where a variety of semiconductors are formed, the lowering of the reliability, and so on. In particular, the carbon contamination on the interface between the active layer semiconductor and the gate insulating film is reduced. Also, in the case of forming a film with an organic gas such as normal tetraethyl silicate as a source, the hygroscopicity and the content of carbon are increased with an improvement in step coverage property, resulting in a lack of the reliability and the no-good property of the semiconductor characteristic. Moreover, a large amount of oxygen is added to the organic silane gas such as normal tetraethyl silicate in order to reduce the content of carbon, to thereby lower the step coverage property, disconnect a wiring, etc., resulting in a lack of the reliability and the no-good property of the semiconductor characteristic.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An incinerating furnace, such as a cremation furnace or other batchwise chargeable furnace, is arranged with a main combustion chamber (1), from which the fumes are adapted to be led away through a following chamber arrangement (6-17) connected with a flue. The furnace is characterized in that the chamber arrangement is equipped with at least one additional source of heat (9) adapted to increase the temperature of the fumes, that beyond a passage or gate (7) in a free flow preventing partition wall or the like (8) is arranged a turbulator plate device (10) having means for blowing in air in a direction opposite to the predominant flow direction of the fumes or combustion gases, that the through-flow area of the gate of the partition wall is in a defined relation to the total fumes through-flow area between the turbulator plate device (10) and the adjacent chamber portion walls (and preferably comparable thereto), and that, seen in the flow direction, beyond the turbulator plate device (10) and the through-flow area surrounding same is a further gate or passage (14) having an adjustable cross-section area.

Present furnaces for cremation and like purposes are, with extremely few exceptions, based on old technology, hardly meeting the functional demands of today, especially concerning smoke emission. Apart from older constructions having electrical heating, in some instances supplemented with wood-firing, which are passed over here, cremation furnaces normally have a supporting source of heat in the form of an oil or gas burner which sees to that necessary combustion temperature is reached in the furnace chamber.
On incinerating biological material including cremation, as well as on incinerating other materials temporarily generating large smoke volumes, an efficient final burn-out of the fumes before any flue gas cleaning takes place is necessary. However, such efficient final burn-out is not achievable in existing constructions. On the contrary and as a result of the dimensioning of the combustion chamber and flue chamber for an average combustion value, heavy smoke emission through the funnel may occur on charging the furnace and on the disintegration of the burning material.
The supporting heating mentioned above is necessary as the material to be burned and especially the biological material has a low combustion supporting energy content.
One problem with incineration of the present kind is that the combustion has a very un-even progress with a high load during the initial phase and and a progressively subsiding load towards the end with corresponding gas generation.
The un-even progress of combustion and the associated un-even energy demand/consumption of present constructions result in varying temperatures of the fume or combustion gases, which in turn, have a tendency for forming streaks of streams resulting in un-allowable emissions of non burned out gases and of un-desired materials, e.g. toxic combines, mercury vapours and the like.
The main problem, technically seen, at cremation furnaces resulting in an un-even combustion load, is the batchwise charging of the furnace--cremations are executed one after the other--and this amplies that one can not, as in furnaces for continuous and even charging of material to be burned, keep up a continuous and essentially invariable progress of combustion.


A printing and paper delivery system includes at least two printers disposed adjacent to one another. A first conveyor is coupled to a first printer of the at least two printers such that the first conveyer is configured to receive media output from an output chute of the first printer. A second conveyor is coupled to a second printer of the at least two printers such that the first conveyor is configured to receive media output from an output chute of the second printer. A controller is in signal communication with the first and second conveyors to facilitate the transfer of media from at least one of the at least two printers to a delivery location.

The present invention generally relates to paper handling systems, and more particularly to a printer and paper delivery system.
Paper handling conveyor systems are used to transport individual thin sheets of paper for use in various types of commercial and industrial processes. Such conveyor systems generally include a moveable belt conveyor on which the paper travels and roller guides which engage and maintain contact between the sheets of paper and the belt. Since belt conveyors may transport the sheets of paper at relatively high speeds, the roller guides function to guide and provide positive feeding of the sheets of paper to various process delivery points.
One application for a paper transport belt conveyor systems is in the industrial printing and provision of individual paper labels. Industrial printing systems include one or more printers which print various indicia and/or images on a paper label, which may be provided with a water soluble dry adhesive backing in some embodiments. The individual labels may be of any size. After printing, the labels are fed one-by-one in serial fashion from the printer onto the belt conveyor for transport to a process delivery point where the label is affixed to various types of articles including without limitation large rolls of paper such as produced in a paper mill. Optimally, the labels are delivered to process delivery point with precise timing and placement to allow proper fixation to the article.

Continuous printer and paper delivery system


Techniques are provided herein for secure display device communications. In one example, a video communications device provides, to a display device over a first connection, communication information that enables the display device to contact a server over a second connection. The video communications device further provides, to the display device over the first connection, a command configured to initiate an interaction with the server. The server obtains, from the display device over the second connection, a message initiating the interaction in response to the command based on the communication information.

Video communications system are often built with parts/devices from multiple manufacturers, and the manner in which these parts/devices interact can impact the overall user experience. One common scenario involves a third-party display used with a video communications device (e.g., the Cisco Webex™ Room Kit). Third-party displays often have firmware/software with built-in intelligence that is designed by the display manufacturers. There can be tens or even hundreds of different settings that control the behavior and user experience of the displays.

Secured communications with display device


Process for reinforcing a plastic fuel tank comprising a wall defining an internal closed volume, according to which a structural member is fixed to the wall of the tank outside the closed volume, in at least two points being located in two different portions of said wall where a deflection induced when the tank is filled with fuel, is low; and said structure having at least one contact point with the tank wall in a portion of said wall where the deflection is high.

Typically, fuel vapors are generated inside of the fuel tank due to temperature and fuel movement and are stored in a charcoal canister to prevent evaporative emissions of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. These vapors are periodically purged out of the canister and sent to the engine where they are consumed during the normal combustion process. On a standard gasoline engine vehicle this can occur whenever required to prevent the canister from becoming stuffed and bleeding hydrocarbons into the environment. However, this cannot occur on a hybrid vehicle when it is operating in electric mode. A "plug in hybrid" vehicle may go many driving cycles without ever running the gasoline engine. Therefore, there becomes a need for the fuel system to contain vapor for long periods of time by keeping the system sealed and under pressure in order to limit fuel evaporation. At elevated temperatures, the pressure build inside of the tank will be substantially higher than a conventional fuel system.
Currently, some solutions have been provided to the problem, which are namely:    1. To replace the current polymer tank with a steel equivalent capable of holding the pressure.    2. To optimize the tank shape for instance by providing tack-offs (also called "kiss points"), where during the molding of the tank, the top and bottom are dimpled to create a mechanical link between the two.    3. To use (generally metallic) straps as reinforcement.    4. To mold or mechanically lock into the tank surface, structural ribs which create additional rigidity.    5. To use a plastic bladder inside of a steel tank to control vapor generation and associated pressure.
However, each of these solutions has at least one drawback:    1. A metallic tank has a significant weight penalty over a polymer tank based on the properties of material density. The density of steel is ˜8 times higher than that of HDPE while conventionally tank walls are only 3-4 times thicker than steel tank equivalents. It is also cost prohibitive to make a small volume of steel tanks, due to the high cost of the stamping dies. The alternative is to make the conventional vehicle volume in steel as well, resulting in a potential degradation in corporate average fuel economy that offsets the gains made by the small volume of plug-in hybrids.    2. Shape optimization can only add so much additional pressure resistance while maintaining the properties required by the vehicle manufacturer. Tack-offs for example use a significant amount of available volume in the tank due to their inherent shape. They also reduce the impact resistance of the tanks And most of the time, they will not by themselves provide the required pressure resistance.    3. Strap reinforcement can be achieved but it can be difficult to manage as the underbody of a vehicle has complex shapes, and clearances to the underbody and ground are strictly enforced by the manufacturer. In addition, as straps are added, the additional weight of the straps begins to negate the weight savings of the polymer tank. Additionally, as the straps are generally not laminated to the tank surface, they do not offer significant structural advantages.    4. Solutions that are molded or mechanically locked to the tank surface are generally inserted prior to cooling of the tank, resulting in molded in stresses in the tank shell that could be detrimental to the performance of the tank shell.    5. Integration of the flexible bladders has been industrialized for conventional plastic tanks, however such technology has been abandoned, due the problem of fixing and sealing the bladder inside of the tank.

Process for reinforcing a rigid plastic fuel tank

INERGY AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS RESEARCH (Société Anonyme)


A pointing device that is ergonomically designed is shown and described. In a preferred embodiment designed for children aged 2-6, a relatively large ball is provided in a housing which has a gripping area or handle for each hand of a user, a portion of the ball extending from an upper surface of the housing. A button is provided in a front region of the housing, the placement, shape and size of the button being configured to optimize the target area and activation of the button by the user. The size of the ball and the configuration of the housing provide a pointing device that is easy and comfortable for a child aged 2-6 to use, the pointing device being designed to accommodate the hand size, motor control, and postural needs of young children.

Pointing devices for entering commands into a computer or other interactive system are well known in the art. Some pointing devices include a rotatable ball and one or more depressible keys, sometimes referred to as buttons. Electronic encoders sense rotation of the ball, and generate a signal indicative of the ball's rotation to control movement of a cursor on a screen of the computer. Depressing the keys permits a user to enter various commands into the computer, based on the location of the cursor and the software that is being used.
In a mouse-type pointing device, the rotatable ball extends from a bottom surface of the pointing device for contacting a work surface, such as a tabletop. The movement of the pointing device across a work surface causes rotation of the ball and the desired movement of the cursor on the screen.
In a trackball-type pointing device, the rotatable ball extends from a top surface of the pointing device and the ball is moved through contact with a user's hand. The movement of the trackball against the hand causes the desired movement of the cursor on the screen.
Many of the currently available pointing devices are designed for adults. As such, a child may have difficulty positioning the cursor and then depressing the keys; a child may not be able to control the movement of the pointing device with the level of precision typically required to accurately position the cursor; or a child may not be able to reach the desktop to move and use the pointing device. A need therefore exists for a pointing device that is easy for children to use.


An improved method for detecting small leaks in underground pressurized piping systems is disclosed. In particular, the method comprises the steps of taking pressure measurements over identical time intervals from a product line at a pressure above the pump discharge pressure while the product pump is running. Thereafter, the absolute value of the difference between successive pressure decays is calculated and compared to an acceptable value. Next, the value of the latest pressure decay value is compared to acceptable and unacceptable values reflecting acceptable and unacceptable tightness of the product line.

A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for detecting leaks in pressurized piping systems and, in particular, to a method for detecting very small leaks of hydrocarbons, or like materials, in underground pressurized piping systems.
B. Background of the Invention
In gasoline service stations, it is common practice for automotive fuels to be stored in large underground tanks and pumped through underground product lines to various dispensing systems. In recent years, many steps have been taken to monitor and detect leakage from underground storage tanks and the associated product lines carrying the product to the dispensing systems. In that regard, the industry is continuously searching for new methods and technologies to enhance the ability to detect underground leakage from such systems in order to comply with regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other regulatory authorities.
In the past, serious problems have been created by leaks in underground piping, especially small but significant leaks of combustible explosive fluids which might go undetected for long periods of time. These problems are particularly critical in service stations, since the leakage of gasoline creates a serious hazard to life and property. Financial loss due to the escaping fluids is also a major problem. For these and other reasons, there has been a need within the industry for a simple, economical, and dependable system for detecting even minor leaks from underground product lines.
There have been several attempts in the prior art to provide a reliable, accurate, and economical method for detecting leaks from underground product lines based upon changes in flow rates, and/or measuring pressure within the product line. However, unlike the present inventive method, none of the prior art methods or techniques provided an economical system for detecting minor leaks while the product line was maintained at an elevated pressure due to continuous operation of the product pump. In addition, many of the prior systems are incapable of determining whether a product line is "tight", i.e., that the line does not have a leakage rate in excess of the minimum acceptable values set by various regulatory agencies.

Method for detecting leaks in underground product lines


A method for electronic transaction monitoring and reporting includes: determining whether the received transaction request is encrypted, upon determining that the received transaction request is not encrypted, sending a failure alert to the merchant, determining a receiving acquirer processor for the transaction request, and transmitting the transaction request to the determined acquirer processor.

Processing of electronic transactions typically involves the transmission of electronic transaction request messages across computer networks from a merchant to an acquirer processor and to a financial institution. In order to protect sensitive consumer information contained in the electronic transaction request message, such messages are typically encrypted. Merchants, acquirer processors, and financial institutions seeking assurances that the encryption applied to an electronic transaction request message is robust may rely on a previously validated encryption solution, such as a point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution validated through the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards.
Such a P2PE solution provides significant value to merchants as it may eliminate the risk of payment card data compromise within a merchant's retail environment. However, the benefits of P2PE are only realized if a P2PE solution is properly implemented. Good technologies implemented poorly may result in a false sense of security. Point of interaction (POI) devices that do not encrypt data and send unencrypted, or "clear," data to their acquirer processor may present a data breach risk to merchants.
Many such breaches occur over days or months before being detected. If critical security control failures alerts are not quickly and effectively responded to, attackers may use this time to insert malicious software, gain control of a system, or steal data from the merchant's, acquirer processor's, or financial institution's environment. The ability to quickly detect an incident is beneficial for protection of a merchant's assets and brand reputation. However, merchants may lack the technical expertise or infrastructure to prove the preventative measures are working, or to detect an encryption failure in, for example, the merchant's point of sale (POS) systems. Thus, merchants may wish to implement a security policy that meets these challenges but may not have the resources or capabilities to support real-time event detection.
In addition, in order to achieve a PCI P2PE Validated Solution, a service provider must implement alerting and detection controls for the merchants using their services. Service providers may wish to offer a P2PE validated solution, but either cannot be eligible because of deficiencies in their decryption environment or because they lack the resources to build their own monitoring, reporting, as alerting solution.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of these above-referenced challenges.

Systems and methods for encryption and decryption service for electronic transaction monitoring and reporting


A flash memory device and related method of operation are provided. The device generally comprises a word line voltage generator circuit configured to generate a word line voltage based on incremental step pulse programming; and a word line voltage controller circuit that controls the word line voltage generator circuit so that either the unit program time or the increment size of the word line voltage is varied according to the number of program data bits among the set of input data bits that the device will store in memory cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a semiconductor memory device, and, in particular, a NOR flash memory device.
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-105622, filed Dec. 14, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor memory devices are a vital microelectronic component commonly found in digital logic systems, such as computers, and microprocessor-based applications ranging from satellites to consumer electronics. Therefore, advances in the fabrication of semiconductor memory devices, including process enhancements and circuit-design-related developments that allow scaling to higher memory densities and faster operating speeds, help establish performance standards for other digital logic families. Semiconductor memory devices generally include volatile memory devices, such as random access memory (RAM) devices, and nonvolatile memory devices. In RAM devices, data is stored by either establishing the logic state of a bistable flip-flop such as in a static random access memory (SRAM), or by charging a capacitor in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In both SRAM and DRAM devices, data remains stored and may be read as long as the power is applied, but data is lost when the power is turned off.
In contrast, nonvolatile memories are capable of storing data even when the power is turned off. Nonvolatile memory data storage modes include permanent and reprogrammable modes. Nonvolatile memories are commonly used for program and microcode storage in a wide variety of applications including computers, avionics, telecommunications, and consumer electronics. A combination of volatile and nonvolatile memory devices and related storage modes are available in devices such as nonvolatile SRAM (nvRAM) devices. These devices are used, for example, in systems that require fast, reprogrammable nonvolatile memory.
Mask read-only memory (MROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM) and erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) nonvolatile memory devices are not readily writeable or erasable, so it is not easy to update the contents of the memory. On the other hand, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) nonvolatile memory devices are electrically erasable and writable, and may, thus, be readily applied to auxiliary memories or system programming memories that require continuous update.
Flash memory, which is a type of EEPROM, is one example of a nonvolatile memory device. While standard EEPROM can only erase or write one byte of data in a single programming operation, flash memory can erase or write multiple bytes, or "blocks", of data in a single programming operation.
Flash memory devices store data on a silicon chip in such a way that even if the power to the chip is turned off, the data is retained on the chip. The two general types of flash memory are NOR flash memory and NAND flash memory. NOR flash memory uses a NOR logic gate in each cell while NAND flash memory uses a NAND logic gate in each cell. In flash memory devices, each cell can typically store one bit of data, though there are also multi-bit flash memory devices in which each cell can store two or more bits of data. In flash memory devices, cells are arranged in rows and columns to form an array of cells.
The following is an exemplary configuration of a flash memory cell. In a flash memory cell, a bit line and a word line are connected to the cell, which comprises a control gate, a floating gate, a substrate with a source and a drain, and two oxide layers. The cell is arranged so that the word line is connected to the control gate, and the bit line is connected to the substrate, with the floating gate between the control gate and the substrate. Between the control gate and the floating gate is the first oxide layer, and between the floating gate and the substrate is the second oxide layer.
The data state of the cell is determined by the threshold voltage of the cell. A cell having a low threshold voltage corresponds to the data state "1", or "erased", for the data bit held in the cell, and a high threshold voltage corresponds to the data state "0", or "programmed", for the data bit held in the cell. The cell is brought from the erased state to the programmed state using a process called Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. To program the cell using Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, the word line supplies the control gate with a high voltage, while the bit line supplies the substrate with a low voltage, creating a voltage difference between the control gate and the substrate strong enough to pull electrons out of the substrate towards the floating gate. The electrons are then trapped between the control gate and the first oxide layer creating a barrier between the control gate and the floating gate and raising the threshold voltage of the cell to a value associated with the programmed state. Cells can typically be programmed by the byte or by the word.
To erase the cell, the bit line supplies a high voltage to the substrate and the word line supplies a low voltage to the control gate causing a voltage difference between the control gate and the substrate that causes the trapped electrons to be pulled back across the first oxide layer and into the substrate, removing the barrier that the electrons formed and reducing the threshold voltage of the cell to a value associated with the erased state. Cells cannot be erased individually, but rather the cells are erased by the block.
To read the state of the cell, a voltage is applied to the control gate and the cell will either provide a relatively high voltage to the bit line, which the flash memory device reads as the cell having a programmed state, or a relatively low voltage, which the flash memory device reads as the cell having an erased state.
NOR flash memory devices perform programming operations within program loops, each of which consists of a program interval and a program verify interval. In each program loop, the device programs memory cells during the program interval and checks whether or not memory cells are programmed during the program verify interval. A time period (hereinafter, referred to as "programming time") of sufficient duration to execute each program interval is provided during each program loop. Programming time is defined as the time required to program memory cells as described above when each bit in the set of input data bits has a logical value "0". The voltage level applied to a bit line is a critical consideration in the determination of programming time. This consideration arises from the fact that the applied bit line voltage is generally lower than a defined threshold voltage during this period of programming operations. Hence, the programming time of each program loop is set to the maximum programming time required to program the memory cells, under the condition that each bit in the set of input data bits has a logical value "0". Hereinafter, a data bit having a logical value "0" is called a "program data bit" and a data bit having a logical value "1" is called a "program-inhibit data bit".
Conventionally, a programming time has been determined by the above condition and used for all inputs, even when some of the input bits in the input are program-inhibit data bits rather than program data bits. Maintaining a constant programming time regardless of the number of program data bits actually apparent in the input data slows the performance of the NOR flash memory device.
Accordingly, a technique capable of improving the programming performance of the NOR flash memory device is required.

Flash memory device capable of reduced programming time


Systems and methods are disclosed for monitoring the health of a home area network. An example system includes multiple devices communicatively coupled via a home area network and a gateway device communicatively coupled to the devices via the home area network. The home area network is configured for communicating information regarding a resource consumed at a geographical area serviced by the home area network. The gateway device includes a processor and a computer-readable medium. The processor can execute instructions embodied in the computer-readable medium to perform operations. The operations include monitoring communication metrics describing communications among the devices via the home area network. The operations also include monitoring application-level events generated by applications executed by the devices. The operations also include generating a status indicator for the home area network based on the communication metrics and the application-level events. The status indicator describes a health of the home area network.

A home area network may be used to communicate information between devices that consume resources in a home or other dwelling (e.g., electricity) and devices that monitor and/or manage the consumption of resources. Utility companies and other resource providers may use home area networks to monitor consumption of the resources by consumers. Using home area networks to monitor consumption of the resources by consumers in a home may allow a utility company or other resource provider to identify distribution issues and other problems.
Previous solutions for providing home area networks may lack metrics or other information for measuring the performance of home area networks and/or resolving malfunctions in home area networks. Accordingly, systems and methods are desirable for monitoring the health of a home area network.

Monitoring the health of a home area network


An atomic absorption photometer with a hollow cathode lamp and a deuterium lamp uses for each a power source which receives a variable current and switches it on and off so as to output a constant voltage.

This invention relates to an atomic absorption photometer and in particular to an atomic absorption photometer containing power source circuits for its light sources.
Atomic absorption photometers use a hollow cathode lamp (HCL) as a source of light for observing atomic absorption. The HCL is a discharge tube, adapted to start discharging if a DC voltage above its starting voltage is applied thereto and to generate light by exciting the gas which is sealed inside. Once the discharge is started, it can be continued and the light-emitting condition can be maintained by a voltage which is lower than the starting voltage while it should still be above its discharge maintaining voltage. The starting voltage is 170-350 V and the discharge maintaining voltage is 120-240 V but these values vary, depending on the kind of the sealed element, individual characteristics of the lamp and the age of the lamp. Although the discharge maintaining voltage is lower than the starting voltage, the difference therebetween is small, and the starting voltage is usually applied continuously to maintain the discharge thereafter. The discharge current is about 4-40 mA.
As the power source of an HCL, a commercial power source is usually used after its voltage is changed by means of a transformer for commercial frequencies and the current is subjected to rectifying and smoothing processes.
In order to obtain stable data in atomic absorption measurements, it is important to stabilize the brightness of the HCL. For this purpose, it is necessary to control the discharge current, and it has been common to make use of a steady current circuit which is a combination of an operational amplifier and a transistor or a field effect transistor (both being herein referred to as "the current-steadying transistor").
In many situations in atomic absorption photometry, a heavy hydrogen (deuterium) lamp (D2L) is also used as the light source for a background correction, that is, for making corrections on undesired absorption. In order to start the discharge of a D2L, a DC current is passed first through its filament to heat it and a DC voltage greater than its starting voltage is applied after a specified length of time. Immediately thereafter, the applied voltage is lowered to a level which is still above its discharge maintaining voltage to maintain the discharge so as to maintain the lamp in the light-emitting condition. For a D2L, the starting voltage is 350-400 V and the discharge maintaining voltage is 75-95 V but these values also vary, depending on individual characteristics and the age of the lamp. The discharge current is usually about 300 mA. Once the discharge is started, the voltage for heating the filament is also lowered in order to reduce the heat production from the lamp and hence to improve its useful lifetime. The voltage and the current through the filament are, for example, 2.5 V and 4A at the time of starting the discharge and 1.0 V and 1.8A after the lamp is lit. As the power source of an D2L, it has also been customary to use a commercial power source after varying its voltage by means of a transformer for commercial frequencies and subjecting the current to rectifying and smoothing processes. In order to obtain stable data in atomic absorption photometry, it is also important to stabilize the brightness of the D2L. For this purpose, it is necessary to control its discharge current and it has been common also to make use of a steady current circuit which is a combination of an operational amplifier and a current-steadying transistor.
The prior art technology described above has several problems. With a transformer for commercial frequencies; for example, the input voltage and the output voltage change in a mutually proportional relationship and hence its output voltage becomes lower if the voltage of the commercial power source serving as its power source becomes lower. For this reason, the prior art power source for the lamp has been designed by taking into consideration in particular the possibility of the input voltage dropping to a lower level. In other words, the output voltage of transformers for commercial frequency has been set such that a sufficiently steady current operation would be possible even when the input voltage has dropped to the lowest level within a specified range and the discharge maintaining voltage of the lamp was at its highest level.
In a power source circuit, the voltage (Vsi) applied to its steady-current circuit is determined by the following formula: EQU Vsi=Vmo-Vlm (1)
where Vmo represents the output voltage of a discharge maintaining power source and Vlm represents the discharge maintaining voltage of the lamp. Since the power source is designed for the case of a lowest input voltage, as explained above, a somewhat higher voltage is applied to the steady-current circuit when a standard input voltage is applied to the power source circuit. If the voltage applied to the power source circuit is at its highest level, the voltage applied to the steady-current circuit becomes undesirably high. This is particularly so if the discharge maintaining voltage of the lamp is low.
In the steady-current circuit, the voltage (Vti) applied to its current-steadying transistor is nearly equal to the voltage applied to the steady-current circuit, that is: EQU Vti.apprxeq.Vsi (2)
In other words, the voltage applied to the steady-current circuit is nearly entirely applied to the current-steadying transistor. Thus, the power (Wt) consumed by the current-steadying transistor is give as follows: EQU Wt.apprxeq.(Vmo-Vlm).times.(Discharge current of the lamp) (3)
Because the power Wt given by (3) eventually becomes heat, the current-steadying transistor keeps generating heat at a significant rate even if the input voltage is at a standard level. Since the generation of heat not only implies a waste of useful energy but also affects the reliability of the current-steadying transistor adversely, it is necessary to make use of a large transistor and a heat radiator, but this brings in an additional problem that the steady-current characteristics become unstable during the transitory period before a thermal equilibrium is reached. This is a particularly serious problem when the input voltage approaches the upper limit of the specified range.
The HCL, in particular, is usually designed in accordance with the largest values of the discharge starting and discharge maintaining voltages for all of the target elements to be used for the atomic absorption photometer. Thus, the heat production from the current-steadying transistor according to Formula (3) becomes particularly large while the HCL for an element with a low discharge maintaining voltage is lit, making the aforementioned problems even more serious.
Since the discharge starting voltage of the D2L is a little higher than that of the HCL, it may be tempting to use a common power source for both of them. As explained above, however, variations are large in the output voltage of a discharge starting source for an HCL using a transformer for commercial frequencies. When the output voltage of the discharge starting source for the HCL is low and the starting voltage of the D2L is high, in particular, there is a possibility that the D2L may fail to start the discharge. For this reason, it has been customary to provide separate power sources for these two lamps.
A constant voltage source is used for the filament of a D2L and since it may be directly connected to the filament, there is no problem of heat generation by the current-steadying transistor. If the input voltage is outside a specified range, however, emission of light from the D2L may become unstable or the light may even be extinguished. If the voltage applied to the filament is to be reduced after the discharge is started, furthermore, there are two voltage levels that are required. This means that two kinds of secondary coil for the transformer must be provided and that a switch capable of passing a large current for the filament is required.
If the product is to be internationally marketed, furthermore, it must be usable with different commercial power voltages such as AC100 V, AC 120 V, AC220 V and AC240 V. If a single power source for light source is to be directly used under all these different circumstances, a very large current-steadying transistor and a heat radiator will have to be selected for the aforementioned reason of large heat production. According to a prior art technology, terminals with suitable coils were provided on the primary side of the transformer for commercial frequencies and a commercial power source was connected to one of the terminals so as to switch among different voltages. This, however, gives rise to additional problems such as the cost of a switching device and the time it takes to carry out the switching.
The effective sectional area of the core of a transformer is inversely proportional to its operating frequency. Since transformers for commercial frequencies operate at a relatively low frequency such as 50 and 60 cycles per second, the effective sectional area of their core must be relatively large. This means that such a transformer is bulky and heavy and prevents the atomic absorption photometers incorporating it from being made compact. Transformers for commercial frequencies require many metallic materials such as silicon steel plates and copper wires. If a transformer for commercial frequencies is used, furthermore, a relatively large current-steadying transistor and radiator are required, as explained above. This has been one of the reasons for the increased cost of an atomic absorption photometer.
Because the general specification for current and voltage applies to power sources for the digital and analog circuits within an atomic absorption photometer, it is relatively easy to form a switchable power source and there are many such sources that are commercially available. For power source for a light source, however, there has not been any which was commonly available and it has not been possible to dispense with transistors for commercial frequencies.