Antifouling materials are used to provide first and second layers or coatings on a submersible object. The first and second layers are visually distinct from each other, such as being made of two distinct colors, so that the ablation of an outer layer will be evident when an inner layer is exposed to show a different color in the regions of ablation. The materials for the first and second layers can be chemically active to cause the antifouling nature of the materials or can be electrically conductive to permit their use in the creation of either chlorine bubbles on the wetted surface or a change in ionic characteristic of water in contact with the wetted surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a submersible object, such as a marine drive unit, and, more particularly, to a configuration of layers of an antifouling substance which is applied in two steps to provide an indicative arrangement of visually distinct appearances that facilitate the detection of missing portions of an outer layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Those skilled in the art of marine propulsion systems are aware of many different methods for discouraging the growth of marine organisms on surfaces of boats, marine drives, and other submerged devices such as grates and pipes used to conduct the flow of liquids below the surface of a body of water. Some systems use electrically energized surfaces to induce the creation of chlorine bubbles in sea water applications or induce changes in the ionic characteristics of water near surfaces in fresh water applications. In addition, many different types of antifouling paints and chemical coatings have been used to discourage the growth of marine organisms, such as barnacles, on submerged surfaces. In addition, combinations of different colors have been used as visual indicators in various applications where the wear or degradation of an outer surface can be detected by comparing the color of the outer surface to a different color of an underlying surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,742, which issued to Chamblin on Feb. 21, 1978, describes an indicator for tire wear patterns. A multilayer adhesive strip is adhered to the tread of an automobile or other vehicle tire transversely of the tread and generally axially of the wheel. Each layer has a different color and wear on one part of the strip faster than another will expose a different color or colors that will indicate the wear pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,574, which issued to Matossian et al. on Apr. 19, 1994, describes an evaluation of the extent of wear of articles. An article, such as a piece of manufacturing tooling, is modified prior to use by treating a portion of its surface to be worn so that the treated surface worn more than a preselected amount has a different appearance than the treated surface worn less than the preselected amount, using a treatment process in which the treated surface is at least as wear resistant as the untreated surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,390, which issued to Spera et al. on Apr. 4, 1995, describes a cuprous sulfide marine antifouling paint. The paint includes the ingredient of cuprous sulfide or cupric sulfide, both of which offer a hostile surface to chelating algae while retaining a repellant effect on barnacles and mollusks. The antifoulant coating results in a colorfast surface and the preferred embodiment has been devised to have a stable black color.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,532, which issued to Ho et al. on Nov. 21, 1995, describes a multilayer graphic article with color layer. The article comprises a substrate, at least one color layer disposed on the substrate, and a protective surface layer that overlies the substrate and the color layer. The color layer is visible through the surface layer and comprises a color agent in a copolymeric binder. The binder comprises the copolymerization product of an olefinic monomer and a second monomer having a pendant carboxyl group.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,161, which issued to Welsh on Feb. 18, 1997, describes a wear indicating shaving strip and blade assembly for a shaver. The indicator may incorporate a shaving aid, such that the visual wear indicator corresponds to releasing shaving agents, wear or oxidation of a cutting edge. The visual wear indicator may include a shaving aid composite which exhibits a first color to the user during an initial use and a different color during a subsequent use, wherein the transition from the first color to the second color is designed to correspond to a predetermined parameter of the shaver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,329, which issued to Bell et al. on Dec. 16, 1997, describes a color coded safety belt or harness to indicate the age thereof. The harness is to be worn by a person to protect the person from a fall. The belt or harness is formed of first fibers of a predetermined first color and also includes at least one color coded indicator fiber woven therein to indicate the year of the manufacturer of the belt or harness.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,723, which issued to Salsman on May 29, 2001, describes a quick check brake indicator. A visual brake wear indicator gauge for a vehicle's disc brake system is described. A mounting bracket is fixed to the existing brake's caliper with a hollow housing extending from the bracket. The visual gauge has an indicator bar with straight length and a right angled indicator foot on one end that contacts an inside disc pad. This indicator bar extends through and within the gauge housing and is normally biased by a housing spring to contact the brake's disc pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,916, which issued to Potter on Aug. 2, 2005, describes footwear with outsole wear indicator. The wear indicator includes a plurality of strata that each have different properties, such as color. As portions of an individual stratum are worn away, corresponding portions of an underlying stratum are revealed. The underlying strata may be worn away in a similar manner to reveal further strata, thereby providing a wearer with the ability to determine the amount of wear that has occurred in an outsole.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,313, which issued to Nakamura on Mar. 28, 2006, describes a sprocket with wear limit indication. In a sprocket for use with a roller chain, a wear limit marker, having a different color from that of the base material of the sprocket, is provided on a side surface of a sprocket tooth adjacent to a keyway. The wear limit marker is disposed on an imaginary line extending in the direction of the pressure angle, and is located in a hole or groove provided in a side surface of the sprocket tooth. The marker makes it possible to determine easily and reliably whether or not wear at the location at which wear of a sprocket tooth proceeds most rapidly is within a predetermined limit, and the location of the marker makes it possible to evaluate wear conditions even when the sprocket is installed in a machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,341,777, which issued to Takahashi et al. on Mar. 11, 2008, describes a coating for inspection of cracking in a structure. The coating layer has dispersed therein microcapsules with a visualizing liquid sealed therein. It is formed on the surface of the structure and when a crack is developed in the structure and propagated to the coating layer, the microcapsules dispersed in the coating layer are ruptured and the visualizing liquid flows out from the ruptured microcapsules and reaches the surface of the coating layer along the crack in the coating layer. This makes it possible to detect the occurrence of the crack in the structure.
The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the present invention.
When a submersible object, such as a marine drive unit, is provided with an antifouling surface, two problems can occur. First, during manufacture, it is sometimes very difficult to determine whether or not the entire surface of the submersible object is properly coated with the antifouling substance. Secondly, after the submersible object is used, it is difficult to determine when the effectiveness of the antifouling surface has decreased sufficiently to require repair or recoating. It would therefore be significantly beneficial if an antifouling coating system could be provided in which, during manufacture, it is easy to tell whether or not the entire submersible surface of the object is adequately coated with the antifouling material and also make it possible, when in use, to determine if the submersible surface remains effectively coated with the antifouling material.

Submersible object with antifouling paint configuration


Processes comprising providing a layer composite comprising a layer of photopolymerizable material and a removable substrate film disposed on one side of the layer of photopolymerizable material, wherein the photopolymerizable material comprises an elastomeric binder, an ethylenically unsaturated monomer and a photoinitiator; and (a) miter-cutting two edges of the layer composite to be joined, to form two miter-cut ends; (b) providing a hollow cylinder on a rotatably mounted support cylinder, wherein the hollow cylinder has an outer surface and is in a temporarily locked position relative to the support cylinder; (c) applying an adhesion-promoting layer to the outer surface of the hollow cylinder; (d) applying the layer composite to the hollow cylinder bearing the adhesive-promoting layer, wherein the layer composite is disposed on the hollow cylinder such that the removable substrate film faces away from the hollow cylinder and the two miter-cut ends lie substantially one on top of the other, but not overlapping; (e) removing the substrate film from the layer of photopolymerizable material to provide an exposed surface of the layer of photopolymerizable material; (f) contacting the exposed surface of the layer of photopolymerizable material with a rotating calender roll with heating to join the two miter-cut edges and form a processed hollow cylinder, wherein heating comprises a locally-acting heat source moved in an axial direction relative to the hollow cylinder along the entire width of the layer of photopolymerizable material such that the exposed surface is heated; and (g) removing the processed hollow cylinder from the support cylinder.

The invention relates to a process for the production of photopolymerizable cylindrical, continuous seamless flexographic printing elements by applying a layer of a photopolymerizable material to the outer surface of a hollow cylinder and joining the edges by calendering. The invention furthermore relates to an apparatus suitable for carrying out the process.
Cylindrical flexographic printing plates are known in principle. In a cylindrical flexographic printing plate, the printing cylinder of the printing press is provided over the whole circumference with a printing layer or a print relief. Cylindrical printing plates are of considerable importance for the printing of continuous patterns and are used, for example, for the printing of wallpapers, decorative papers or gift-wrapping papers.
In principle, the actual printing cylinder of the printing press can itself be provided with a printing layer which completely surrounds it. However, this procedure has the disadvantage that the entire printing cylinder has to be replaced in certain circumstances on changing the printing plate. This is extremely complicated and accordingly expensive.
The use of so-called sleeves is therefore customary. Sleeves comprise a cylindrical hollow body which has been provided with a printing layer or a print relief. The sleeve technique permits very rapid and easy changing of the printing plate. The internal diameter of the sleeves corresponds to the external diameter of the printing cylinder, so that the sleeves can easily be pushed over the printing cylinder of the printing press. Pushing on and moving the sleeves works according to air cushion principle: for the sleeve technology, the printing press is equipped with a special printing cylinder, a so-called air cylinder. The air cylinder has a compressed air connection at the end face, by means of which compressed air can be passed into the interior of the cylinder. From there, it can emerge again via holes arranged on the outside of the cylinder. For mounting a sleeve, compressed air is passed into the air cylinder and emerges again at the outlet holes. The sleeve can now be pushed onto the air cylinder because it expands slightly under the influence of the air cushion, and the air cushion substantially reduces the friction. When the compressed air supply is stopped, the expansion declines and the sleeve fits firmly on the surface of the air cylinder. Further details of the sleeve technique are disclosed, for example, in "Technik des Flexodrucks", page 73 et seq., Coating Verlag, St. Gallen, 1999.
However, high-quality round printing plates cannot be produced by simply surrounding the printing cylinder or a sleeve with a flexographic printing plate processed ready for printing. In fact, a fine gap which always also intersects printing parts of the plate in the case of a true continuous motif remains at the abutting ends of the printing plate. This gap leads to a clearly visible line in the printed image. In order to avoid this line, only nonprinting depressions may be present at this point. Thus, it is not possible to print any desired patterns. Moreover, there is in this technique the danger that the solvent present in the printing ink may penetrate into the gap and may detach the ends of the printing plate from the printing cylinder. This leads to even greater defects in the printed image. Even when the ends are adhesively bonded, clearly visible traces still remain in the printed image.
For the production of high-quality round printing plates, it is therefore necessary to provide the printing cylinder or a sleeve with a completely surrounding, relief-forming, photopolymerizable layer by means of suitable techniques. Only in a second step is the cylindrical photopolymerizable flexographic printing element as such processed to give the final round printing plate. Apparatuses for processing cylindrical flexographic printing elements are commercially available. The application of a continuous seamless, photopolymerizable layer can be effected, for example, by coating from solution or by ring extrusion. However, both techniques are extremely complicated and therefore correspondingly expensive.
In general, maximum precision is important when applying the photopolymerizable layer: modern photopolymerizable flexographic printing elements permit production of flexographic printing plates having substantially higher resolution than was the case in the past. Flexographic printing is therefore also increasingly making inroads into those areas which were previously the preserve of other printing processes. At higher resolution, however, defects in the printing surface of the flexographic printing plate are also more rapidly visible. Differences in thickness in the relief-forming layer have a considerable adverse effect on the true running of the printing cylinder and hence on the print quality. In the case of high-quality flexographic printing plates, the thickness tolerance should usually be not more than ±10 μm.
If the thickness tolerance of the photopolymerizable layer of the sleeve is not sufficient, the surface of the sleeve has to be refinished. DE-A 31 25 564 and EP-A 469 375 disclose processes for improving the print quality, in which the surface of the cylindrical flexographic printing element is first ground and then smoothed with a suitable solvent, and remaining irregularities are, if appropriate, filled with binder or with the material of the photosensitive layer. Such a procedure is of course extremely complicated and tedious. Accordingly, it is therefore absolutely essential to avoid it in an economical process.
There are also known techniques in which a prefabricated, thermoplastically processable layer of photopolymerizable material is wound around the printing cylinder or the sleeve, and the abutting edges of the photopolymerizable layer, also referred to as a seam, are closed as well as possible by means of suitable techniques. It has been proposed, for example by DE 27 22 896, to bond a commercial, sheet-like, photopolymerizable flexographic printing element together with the substrate film adhesively to a printing cylinder or a sleeve so that the cut edges abut one another. The adhesive bonding is preferably effected by means of a double-sided adhesive film. The cut edges are straight and are subsequently welded to one another under pressure and at elevated temperatures. The welding can be effected with the aid of a heated calender roll. The use of a plate having a substrate film is, however, extremely problematic. Typical substrate films have a thickness of from 0.1 to 0.25 mm. If the substrate film does not completely cover the circumference and, owing to a small error in mounting or in cutting to size, leaves even only a minimum gap, the empty space present between the film ends fills with polymeric material during calendering, and an impression of this gap remains on the surface of the photopolymerizable layer and leads to visible defects in the print. It is therefore also necessary as a rule to regrind and smooth such a flexographic printing element.
DE-A 29 11 908 discloses a process in which a photosensitive resin film is wound around a printing cylinder without a substantial distance or a substantial overlap being present between the plate ends. The application to the cylinder is preferably effected with the use of a doubled-sided adhesive film. The seam is closed by bringing the printing cylinder into contact with a rotating calender roll and joining the cut edges to one another by melting. For heating, DE-A 29 11 908 proposes either heating the calender roll from the inside or heating the photosensitive resin film by means of an IR lamp from the outside. Regarding the temperature, the publication states that the photosensitive material should soften but preferably should not flow.
The commonly assigned, as yet unpublished DE 103 18 042.7 application discloses a process for the production of cylindrical flexographic printing elements wherein a photopolymerizable layer is applied to a sleeve and the seam is joined by means of a calender roll while heating. For this purpose, the total calender roll is preferably heated from the inside. The heating may be supplemented by an IR lamp. The edges to be joined are cut as required by means of miter cuts.
In all documents cited, the photopolymerizable layer is heated in its entirety. As a result of this, however, the sleeve or the printing cylinder, too, and hence also the double-sided adhesive tape which is used for adhesive bonding of the photopolymerizable layer heats up with increasing calendering time. However, the adhesive force of the adhesive tapes decreases with increasing temperature so that the photopolymerizable layer is fixed on the sleeve only with a relatively small force and may slip. This results in a less smooth surface, so that the surface once again has to be refinished. Furthermore, a layer may also undergo plastic deformation in an undesired manner in the case of an excessively high temperature.
In addition to the problem of a high-quality seam closure and the obtaining of a layer thickness which is as constant as possible, preexposure from the back prevents a further problem of sleeve technology. Flexographic printing elements are usually preexposed before the actual main exposure from the back through the substrate film for a short time span. As a result of this, the relief background is prepolymerized and better anchoring, in particular of fine relief elements, in the relief background is achieved.
In the case of sleeves, preexposure from the back is as a rule not possible since the conventional sleeve materials, such as, for example, glass fiber-reinforced plastic or metal, are not transparent to UV radiation. EP-A 766 142 has proposed the use of transparent sleeves, in particular sleeves of polyesters, such as PET or PEN, in a thickness of from 0.25 mm to 5 cm. However, these are expensive. Furthermore, special exposure units for uniform exposure of the sleeve from the inside are required. Moreover, the person skilled in the art is faced with a typical dilemma in the case of transparent sleeves. The mechanical stability of the sleeve increases with increasing thickness of the sleeve whereas the transparency of the sleeve to actinic light decreases with increasing thickness of the sleeve. The problem of efficient exposure of sleeves from the back without reducing the stability of the sleeve is still unsolved.
It is possible in principle to preexpose a solid photopolymerizable layer from the back even before application of the sleeve. However, layers preexposed in this manner could not to date be welded as satisfactorily as would be expedient and necessary for the production of high-quality continuous seamless printing plates, because, as is known, only the uncrosslinked polymer layer, but not the exposed, crosslinked polymer layer, can be satisfactorily welded. Furthermore, the effect of the preexposure is frequently lost again as a result of the welding of the layer ends at elevated temperatures. Consequently, in particular fine relief dots are poorly anchored.
For solving this problem, DE-A 37 04 694 has therefore proposed firstly applying a first layer of photopolymer material to a sleeve, welding the seam and then polymerizing the photopolymeric layer from the front by exposure to light. In a second process step, a photopolymeric layer is applied to the first, already crosslinked layer and the seam thereof is also welded. This two-stage process is, however, inconvenient and expensive.

Processes and apparatus for producing photopolymerizable, cylindrical, continuous, seamless flexographic printing elements


Provided is a surface emitting laser manufacturing method, etc., which reduces process damage occurring to a surface relief structure, enabling stable provision of a single transverse mode characteristic. Provided is a method including a surface relief structure for controlling a reflectance in a light emitting portion of an upper mirror, the surface relief structure including a stepped structure, includes: forming a resist pattern including a pattern for forming a mesa structure and a pattern for forming a stepped structure, on or above the upper mirror, and performing first-phase etching for etching the surface layer of the upper mirror to determine the horizontal position of the stepped structure; forming a current confining structure after the performing first-phase etching; and performing second-phase etching for further etching the area that the first-phase etching has been performed, to determine the depth position of the stepped structure, after the forming a current confining structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface emitting laser manufacturing method, a surface emitting laser array manufacturing method, a surface emitting laser, a surface emitting laser array, and an optical apparatus including a surface emitting laser array.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (hereinafter referred to as "VCSEL"), which is one of the surface emitting lasers, enables light to be extracted in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, and thus, a two-dimensional array can easily be formed merely by changing a mask pattern for element formation. Parallel processing using a plurality of beams emitted from this two-dimensional array enables an increase in density and speed, and thus, application of such two-dimensional array in various industries, e.g., optical communication, has been expected. For example, use of a surface emitting laser array as an exposure light source for an electrophotographic printer enables the printing density and speed to be increased by means of a plurality of beams.
Such electrophotographic printing requires formation of stable and minute laser spots on a photosensitive drum, and thus, stable operation in a single transverse mode and/or a single longitudinal mode is required as a laser characteristic.
In recent years, for surface emitting lasers, the method of forming a current confining structure using a selective oxidization technique to inject current only to a necessary region has been developed.
In this method, for higher performance, an AlGaAs layer with a high Al proportion, for example, an Al proportion of 98%, is provided in a multilayer reflecting mirror and selectively oxidized in a high-temperature water vapor atmosphere to form a current confining structure so that current is injected only to a necessary region.
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional diagram illustrating a surface emitting laser according to a related art example in which a current confining structure is formed using the above-described selective oxidation technique.
In a surface emitting laser 200 in FIG. 2, a vertical cavity structure is formed on a substrate 2104.
In the vertical cavity structure, an active layer 2110 that emits light upon current being injected thereto, and a lower spacer layer 2108 and an upper spacer layer 2112, which are provided to adjust the cavity length, are interposed between a lower mirror 2106 and an upper mirror 2114.
Here, each of the mirrors is configured as a multilayer reflecting mirror. In the vertical cavity structure, at least a portion of the upper mirror 2114 is etched to form a mesa structure.
In a high Al proportion layer 2115 in the upper mirror 2114, a current confining structure 2116 is formed by selective oxidation performed from the side wall of the mesa structure.
Also, the surfaces of the mesa structure are partially electrically passivated by an insulating film 2124.
A predetermined potential difference is provided between a lower electrode 2102 that is in contact with the rear surface of the substrate 2104 and an upper electrode 2126 that is in contact with an upper portion of the mesa structure. Consequently, the active layer 2110 emits light upon current being injected thereto, the light is subjected to laser oscillation by the cavity, and then, laser light is emitted from a light exit region 2140 in an aperture of the upper electrode 2126.
However, this selective oxidation is undesirable from the viewpoint of single transverse mode.
In other words, an excessively-large refractive index difference occurs because of the existence of the oxidized layer, resulting in generation of high-order transverse mode components.
Therefore, as a countermeasure for that, the method of, e.g., providing single transverse mode lasing by reducing the light emitting region to around a diameter of 3 μm by means of the current confining structure to prevent the high-order transverse mode components from being confined has been employed.
However, in such method of constraining the light emitting region, the output per element is substantially lowered because of the size reduction of the light emitting region.
In view of such circumstances as described above, conventionally, the method of enabling single transverse mode lasing while a light emitting region with a certain largeness being kept has been studied, rather than the above-described method of providing a single transverse mode by means of the current confining structure alone by narrowing the light emitting region.
In other words, the method of intentionally introducing the loss difference between the fundamental transverse mode and a high-order transverse mode to enable single transverse mode lasing while a light emitting region with a certain largeness being kept have been studied.
As one example of such method, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-284722, H. J. Unold et al. (Electronics Letters, Vol. 35, No. 16 (1999)), and J. A. Vukusic et al. (IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, Vol. 37, No. 1, (2001) 108) discloses a method called "surface relief".
In this method, a stepped structure for controlling the reflectance is provided to a light exit surface of a surface emitting laser element (the light exit region 2140 in FIG. 2) to increase the loss of high-order transverse mode components over the loss of fundamental transverse mode components.
In this specification, hereinafter, a stepped structure provided in a light exit region of a light exit surface of a reflecting mirror for reflectance control as described above is referred to "surface relief structure".
Next, a surface relief structure according to the aforementioned prior art examples will be described using FIGS. 3A to 3D. For a VCSEL mirror, in general, a multilayer reflecting mirror including a plurality of pairs of two layers having different refractive indexes alternately stacked, each layer having an optical thickness that is one fourth of the lasing wavelength (hereinafter, it may be abbreviated to "¼ wavelength" unless otherwise specified), is used. Normally, this multilayer reflecting mirror is terminated by a high refractive index layer, and thus has a high reflectance of no less than 99% using reflection by the low-refractive-index terminal interface with the air as well.
Here, first, a protruded surface relief structure illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B will be described. Unold et al. also discloses such a protruded surface relief structure.
Like a low reflection region 2204, which is illustrated in FIG. 3A, when the final layer of high refractive index layers 2206 (which has an optical thickness of the ¼ wavelength) is removed, the multilayer reflecting mirror is terminated by a low refractive index layer 2208. Consequently, a protruded surface relief structure can be obtained.
With such protruded surface relief structure, the phase of light reflected by the interface between the low refractive index layer 2208 and the air, which has a refractive index lower than that of the low refractive index layer 2208, is shifted by π from the phase of light totally reflected by the multilayer reflecting mirror, which exists below the interface.
Accordingly, the reflectance of the low reflection region 2204 is lowered down to, e.g., no more than 99%, and the reflectance loss can be increased up to around five to ten-fold.
In order to provide a loss difference between the fundamental transverse mode and a high-order transverse mode using this principle, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, the low reflection region 2204 is formed only around the light emitting portion so that the low reflection region 2204 and a high-order transverse mode optical distribution 2212 largely overlap with each other.
Meanwhile, a high reflection region 2202 is left in the center part of the light emitting portion so that a fundamental transverse mode optical distribution 2210 and the high reflection region 2202 in which the final layer of the high refractive index layers 2206 is left largely overlap with each other.
Consequently, the reflection loss of high-order transverse mode components is increased to suppress high-order transverse mode lasing, enabling provision of the fundamental transverse mode lasing only.
Also, like the low reflection region 2204 illustrated in FIGS. 3C and 3D, a recessed surface relief structure can be provided by further adding a low refractive index layer (which may also be a high refractive index layer) with an optical thickness of the ¼ wavelength over the final layer of the high refractive index layers 2206 (or performing etching only for the high reflection region 2202 with the low reflection region 2204 remaining as it is).
A recessed surface relief structure such as described above is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-284722. This structure also enables lowering the reflectance by the same principle as that of the protruded surface relief, enabling provision of single mode lasing in the fundamental transverse mode only.
When control is performed by providing a loss difference between optical modes of a VCSEL by means of a surface relief structure, the alignment in the horizontal direction of the surface relief structure and the current confining structure is important. In other words, when trying to provide lasing in the fundamental transverse mode only, if the current confining aperture center and the surface relief center are misaligned from each other, extra loss will be caused in the components of the lasing mode intended to be provided (for example, the fundamental transverse mode).
As a method for manufacturing a surface relief structure, for example, the method of processing the surface by means of, e.g., FIB (Focused Ion Beam) after completion of the element is disclosed in L. M. A Plouzennec et al. (Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 3946 (2000) 219).
However, it is difficult to align the relief position and the light emitting region (current injection region) at that stage.
In particular, in the case of manufacturing a VCSEL array device, the aforementioned process, in which the amount of the aforementioned misalignment may vary depending on the element, causes a decrease in the array device yield rate. As a relief alignment technique that solves that problem, Unold et al. discloses a method called a self-alignment process.
Hereinafter, the aforementioned self-alignment process in Unold et al. will further be described using FIGS. 4A to 4E.
As illustrated in FIG. 4A, a first resist 2410 is applied onto an upper mirror 2114 of a VCSEL wafer, and patterning for a surface relief structure and patterning for a mesa structure are simultaneously performed on the resist.
Here, a protruded pattern is illustrated as a surface relief.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, the semiconductor is dry-etched using the patterned resist 2410 as a mask.
As a result of this etching, a surface relief structure 2150 is formed.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4C, a second resist 2420 is applied and patterned so as to protect the surface relief structure 2150. Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4D, wet etching is performed so as to form a mesa structure, making a high Al proportion layer 2115 be exposed at the side wall of the mesa.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4E, the high Al proportion layer 2115 is selectively oxidized to form a current confining structure 2116.
Although Unold et al. does not disclose whether or not to remove the resists 2410 and 2420 before performing the selective oxidation, here, illustration is provided supposing that they are removed. Subsequently, according to Unold et al., formation of contacts in the device, passivation, and pad bonding are performed by means of standard processes.
In this process, the positioning patterning of the mesa structure and the surface relief structure is performed using one and the same mask.
Since the current confining structure reflects the mesa structure, this process enables highly-accurate horizontal alignment of the current confining structure and the surface relief structure.

Surface emitting laser manufacturing method, surface emitting laser array manufacturing method, surface emitting laser, surface emitting laser array, and optical apparatus including surface emitting laser array


This disclosure relates to methods and systems for automatically securing and validating multi-server electronic communications over a plurality of networks, without requiring additional physical or programmatic infrastructure on the intermediary servers. A processor-executable component can be transmitted from a first server to a compute device, where it generates a pair of asymmetric cryptographic parameters. The first server uses one of those parameters to verify subsequent communications from the component and respond with tagged privacy communication strings, which the component can provide to a second server as part of a secure communication exchange. The first server can then receive secure communication exchange approval request from a third server, and analyzes the request to determine a validity metric. If the validity metric meets a specified threshold, the first server transmits a validation of the secure communication exchange approval request to verify and complete a secure data exchange between the compute device and the second server.

As awareness of the security and privacy concerns associated with conducting online communications increases, it is evident that a large number of unsophisticated entities that conduct communications online are susceptible to attack from bad actors, like computer hackers. An increasing number of entities are being comprised, leading to data breaches and exposure of consumer data. Websites, services, and merchants access and store critical consumer data, and so data breaches resulting from, for example, a merchant's poor, incomplete, or non-existent security practices, allows sensitive consumer data to be available and distributed to anyone who cares to exploit that data.

Systems and methods for automatically securing and validating multi-server electronic communications over a plurality of networks


An improved chromatographic method for the separation, identification and quantification of contaminants associated with Eosinophelia-Myalgia Syndrome (EMS) includes a high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method which utilizes a silica-based column and a gradient mobile phase. The method provides for effective, efficient, and economical quantitative and qualitative identification of 1,1′-Ethylidenebis L-tryptophan (EBT), 2,3-indolymethyl L-tryptophan (Peak 200), and 2-anilino-L-alanine (Peak 1).

L-Tryptophan is an important amino acid that is marketed across America as a dietary supplement in the form of tablets, capsules, and powders. Although L-Tryptophan is legally defined as a dietary supplement by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), L-Tryptophan is primarily sold in the U.S. as a prescription drug. As a drug, L-Tryptophan is used to treat restlessness, insomnia, depression, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) among other conditions. L-Tryptophan received widespread international attention in 1989 when tainted batches of L-Tryptophan dietary supplements caused Eosinophelia-Myalgia Syndrome (EMS) in a large number of people, ultimately leading to death in some cases.
Medical professionals related the syndrome to consumption of L-Tryptophan that was manufactured by using a bacterial fermentation process by Showa Denko K. K., Japan. Further investigation into the tainted batches revealed the contaminant to be trace chemicals identified as peak "X" on the monograph. The source of the contaminants was reported to have originated from specific strains of the bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens used in the production process. Approximately 60 trace contaminants were identified in the tainted L-Tryptophan associated with the EMS outbreak. However, three compounds, namely, EBT (1,1′-Ethylidenebis L-tryptophan), Peak 200 (2,3-indolymethyl L-tryptophan), and Peak 1 (3-anilino-L-alanine) are considered as EMS-causing contaminants. All three of these compounds are collectively referred to as peak "X."
L-Tryptophan continues to be commercially manufactured using bacterial fermentation; a process which may inadvertently result in trace chemical compounds, which are components of the collective EMS contaminant. Although effective purification methods are in place to separate and remove contaminants, the presence of potential EMS causing contaminants is not comprehensively documented or standardized.
In view of the above, there is a need and a demand for a standard method for the separation, identification, and quantification of contaminants in L-Tryptophan associated with EMS.
There is further need and demand for a method for the separation, identification, and quantification of EMS-associated contaminants in L-Tryptophan that is economical and/or straightforward to implement in a manufacturing setting.

Identification and quantitative determination of major chemical contaminants associated with L-Tryptophan


The invention provides a chemical-mechanical polishing composition comprising an abrasive, metal ions (M) having a M-O—Si bond energy equal to or greater than about 3 kcal/mol, and water. The invention further provides a method for polishing a substrate using the aforementioned chemical-mechanical polishing composition.

Integrated circuits are made up of millions of active devices formed in or on a substrate, such as a silicon wafer. The active devices are chemically and physically connected onto a substrate and are interconnected through the use of multilevel interconnects to form functional circuits. Typical multilevel interconnects comprise a first metal layer, an interlevel dielectric layer, and sometimes a third and subsequent metal layers. Interlevel dielectrics, such as doped and undoped silicon dioxide (SiO2) and/or low-κ dielectrics, are used to electrically isolate the different metal layers.
The electrical connections between different interconnection levels are made through the use of metal vias. U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,626, for example, describes a method for preparing dielectric TaN layers. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,648 describes a method for preparing multiple metallized layers and metallized vias in insulator films. In a similar manner, metal contacts are used to form electrical connections between interconnection levels and devices formed in a well. The metal vias and contacts may be filled with various metals and alloys, such as, for example, titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), aluminum copper (Al—Cu), aluminum silicon (Al—Si), copper (Cu), tungsten (W), and combinations thereof (hereinafter referred to as "via metals").
The via metals generally employ an adhesion layer (i.e., a barrier film), such as a titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), tantalum (Ta), tantalum nitride (TaN), tungsten (W), or tungsten nitride (WN) barrier film, to adhere the via metals to the SiO2 substrate. At the contact level, the barrier film acts as a diffusion barrier to prevent the via metals from reacting with SiO2.
In one semiconductor manufacturing process, metal vias and/or contacts are formed by a blanket metal deposition followed by a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) step. In a typical process, via holes are etched through an interlevel dielectric (ILD) to interconnection lines or to a semiconductor substrate. Next, a barrier film is formed over the ILD and is directed into the etched via hole. Then, a via metal is blanket-deposited over the barrier film and into the via hole. Deposition is continued until the via hole is filled with the blanket-deposited metal. Finally, the excess metal is removed by chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) to form metal vias. Processes for manufacturing and/or CMP of vias are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,671,851, 4,910,155, and 4,944,836.
CMP combines a chemical treatment of a substrate with a mechanical removal of the chemically treated layer. Typical CMP systems contain a chemical-mechanical polishing composition which is applied to a substrate between the substrate and a polishing pad that is moved relative to the substrate to effect the polishing of the substrate. CMP is becoming a more important process in the manufacture of semiconductor surfaces because more active devices are being packed into smaller areas in substrates and because unconventional metals, such as copper, are being used in order to improve the over-all performance of the circuits. More active devices in a given area on a semiconductor substrate require better planarization techniques due to the unevenness of the topography formed by the active devices themselves or of the topography of the layers formed over the active devices. Because many layers of metals and ILDs are formed successively one on top of another, each layer needs to be planarized to a high degree if higher resolution lithographic processes are to be used to form smaller and a higher number of active devices on a layer in a substrate.
The mechanical kinetics of CMP for a blanket deposited metal into vias in an ILD is explained by the Preston equation given by:(ΔH/Δt)=Kp(L/A)(Δs/Δt),where ΔH/Δt is the removal rate of the material in terms of change in height per unit time of polishing, L is the load imposed over a surface area A, Δs/Δt is the relative velocity of the pad to the substrate, and Kp is Preston's coefficient. The equation predicts that, for a given (L/A), the weight loss of the polished material is proportional to the amount of travel, and it remains invariant with time. The polishing rate increases with the pressure (L/A) and velocity. In other words, the removal rate is a linear function of pressure, so that high points are polished more rapidly, and the surface quickly becomes planar.
A CMP system ideally results in a polished planar surface without residual metal films on the polished surface of the ILD, and with all of the vias having metal at heights that are even with the level of the polished surface of the ILD. However, once the high points are quickly polished, the load is shared by lower points which are now within reach of the pad, thereby resulting in a relatively lower polishing pressure. After total removal of the metal layer from the surface of the ILD, the polishing is shared between the metal layer that is level with the ILD surface and the ILD itself. Since the polishing rate of the metal is different from that of the ILD, and, in the case of copper, greater than that of the ILD, metal is removed from further below the level of the ILD, thus leaving spaces. The formation of these spaces is known in the art as dishing.
Severe dishing in large metal active devices is a source of yield loss, especially when it occurs at lower levels of the substrate, where dishing causes trapped metal defects in the above lying layer(s). Furthermore, the longer time needed to remove the thicker metal overburden on the narrowest metal vias is one of the main culprits responsible for the low throughput and yield loss in the CMP process.
Typical metal CMP compositions contain an abrasive material, such as silica or alumina, suspended in an oxidizing, aqueous medium. U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,534, for example, discloses a chemical-mechanical polishing composition containing alumina, hydrogen peroxide, and either potassium or ammonium hydroxide, which is useful in removing tungsten with little removal of the underlying insulating layer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,816 discloses a chemical-mechanical polishing composition useful for polishing aluminum that comprises perchloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and a solid abrasive material in an aqueous medium. U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,370 discloses a tungsten polishing composition comprising potassium ferricyanide, potassium acetate, acetic acid, and silica. U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,258 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,606 disclose chemical-mechanical polishing compositions for polishing a composite of metal and silica which includes an aqueous medium, abrasive particles, and an anion which controls the rate of silica removal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,095 discloses polishing compositions comprising an oxidizing agent, a chemical agent, and an etching agent selected from aminoacetic acid and amidosulfuric acid. Other polishing compositions for use in CMP applications are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,956,313, 5,137,544, 5,157,876, 5,354,490, and 5,527,423.
Barrier films of titanium, titanium nitride, and like metals, such as tungsten, are chemically active in general. Thus, such barrier films are similar in chemical nature to via metals. As a result, a single polishing composition can be used effectively to polish both Ti/TiN barrier films and via metals at similar rates. Ta and TaN barrier films, however, are significantly different from Ti, TiN, and like barrier films. Ta and TaN are relatively inert in chemical nature as compared to Ti and TiN. Accordingly, the aforementioned polishing compositions are significantly less effective at polishing tantalum layers than they are at polishing titanium layers (e.g., the tantalum removal rate is significantly lower than the titanium removal rate). While via metals and barrier metals are conventionally polished with a single composition due to their similarly high removal rates, joint polishing of via metals and tantalum and similar materials using conventional polishing compositions can result in undesirable effects, such as oxide erosion and via metal dishing.
In many CMP operations, silicon dioxide is utilized as the underlying dielectric material. Examples of such operations are: Shallow Trench Isolation (STI), Cu/Ta damascene metal polish, and tungsten plug formation. For all of these CMP operations, erosion of the underlying dielectric material can lead to an excessive localized removal of the material being polished (e.g., nitride for STI, Cu for Cu/Ta polishing, and tungsten for tungsten plugs). In addition, changes in the thickness of the dielectric material can result in an unpredictable electrical performance and can also reduce planarity of the polished layers and/or subsequently deposited layers. As dimensions decrease and wafer sizes increase, these undesirable effects can limit yields. Therefore, there is a need for a composition and method of reducing dielectric material polish rates in an economical fashion. A composition that demonstrates self-stopping behavior on the dielectric layer is particularly desirable.
The invention provides such a composition and method. These and other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Metal ion-containing CMP composition and method for using the same


A transformer wiring method and apparatus for fluorescent lighting are described. The fluorescent lighting apparatus includes a transformer and a ballast. An installer is easily able to balance the system load because each fluorescent lighting apparatus includes its own transformer and may be connected directly to a facility's three phase power distribution while still operating at rated voltages. Moreover, the ballast is protected from surges and stray voltages thereby reducing the frequency of ballast failures.

The following background is provided simply as an aid in understanding the disclosed apparatus and method and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art.
In large commercial or industrial buildings (e.g. facilities, plants, etc.), electricity costs for lighting can be more than half of the total energy budget. Consequently, considerable economic benefits can be obtained through more efficient lighting techniques. Lighting technologies improve in performance and efficiency over time such that many existing commercial buildings will eventually consider some form of lighting retrofit or redeployment. In many cases, fluorescent lighting is the most desirable technology from the standpoint of the quality and quantity of light generated per unit cost.
Existing commercial or industrial buildings vary widely in age, construction, and intended use; hence, the electric power sources used in any given plant may vary. Typically, lighting is provided through high intensity discharge lighting that runs on single phase 120 Volts-Alternating Current (VAC), 208 VAC, 240 VAC, 277 VAC, or 480 VAC. However, three phase power, often 480 VAC, is what is most common at many large industrial, commercial, or manufacturing sites in the U.S.
Fluorescent lamps provide one of the most efficient forms of lighting. The fluorescent lamps in a fluorescent light fixture are powered by a ballast that converts line voltages to a high frequency, high voltage output. The type of ballast in a particular fixture determines, for example, the power consumption and optimal type of lamp to be used in the fixture.
Ballasts for fluorescent light fixtures are typically designed to receive single phase electrical power at a voltage level of 120 VAC or 277 VAC. Where a facility has a 480/277 Wye setup, ballasts can be run directly from a leg of the Wye. However, in this case, a dedicated 277 V circuit must be wired from the transformer throughout the facility. Additionally, the dedicated circuit must be load balanced on the Wye. Alternatively, a transformer can be used to adjust a plant 480 VAC single phase voltage to the 277 VAC voltage suitable for a typical ballast. However, creating 277 VAC single phase voltage for a large plant involves expensive transformers, wiring a dedicated circuit, and careful load balancing.
For example, in a grounded 480V Wye system, a plant would typically create a dedicated single phase 277V circuit for lighting. A centralized 480/277 step-down transformer, the primary of which is wired to two legs of the Wye, is typically installed at the main distribution panel. The lighting fixtures in the plant are then wired to this 277V circuit. Three main challenges are introduced using this method. First, there is considerable energy loss at the large centralized transformer and line loss over the wiring. Second, a dedicated circuit is expensive to wire throughout a plant. Third, the load on the Wye circuit must be balanced. Lights, in aggregate, draw a considerable amount of power; therefore, good electrical design practice requires that the lighting load be equally apportioned amongst the three legs of the Wye. Optimizing balancing requires careful load planning, which is difficult in a plant, or often requires the expense of additional transformers. Hence, a need exists for efficient methods of directly powering fluorescent lamps from a three phase power source.
Additionally, the ballast is typically hard wired inside the fixture, making ballast failures much more costly to repair than, for example, a lamp failure; hence, there is a need for techniques that reduce ballast failures.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a transformer wiring method and apparatus for fluorescent lighting that provides any one or more of these advantageous features.

Transformer wiring method and apparatus for fluorescent lighting


The present invention provides an orally-disintegrating solid preparation such as a tablet produced by tabletting fine granules showing controlled release of a pharmaceutically active ingredient and an additive, and the like, and the orally-disintegrating solid preparation containing fine granules coated with a coating layer containing a polymer affording a casting film having an elongation at break of about 100-about 700%. With the preparation, breakage of fine granules during tabletting can be suppressed in the production of an orally-disintegrating solid preparation containing fine granules showing controlled release of a pharmaceutically active ingredient.

With an aging population and their changes in life environment, it is desired to develop an orally-disintegrating solid preparation capable of being administered without water, retaining the convenience for use which is a characteristic of a tablet, and being administered on demand easily, anytime and anywhere, without water.
When the pharmaceutically active ingredient has a bitter taste, masking of the bitter taste by coating is preferable for drug compliance. When the pharmaceutically active ingredient is easily decomposed by an acid, it is necessary to coat the ingredient to prevent decomposition by the gastric acid and ensure sufficient delivery to the intestine. To solve these problems, coated tablets, capsules and the like are generally used.
To meet these requirements, tablets containing coated fine granules have conventionally been developed. For example, JP-A-6-502194 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,632) discloses a rapidly disintegratable multiparticular tablet comprising a pharmaceutically active ingredient in the form of coated fine particles and the like. In addition, JP-A-2000-281564 and JP-A-2000-103731 disclose orally-disintegrating tablets containing coated fine granules.
During the production of solid preparations such as tablet containing coated fine granules and the like, however, fine granules may be broken during tabletting as evidenced by partial destruction of a coating layer of fine granules and the like, resulting in problems such as a decreased masking effect on the aforementioned bitter taste, acid resistance and the like.
patent document 1: JP-A-6-502194
patent document 2: JP-A-2000-281564
patent document 3: JP-A-2000-103731


A method for printing an ink-jet image, including the step of: ejecting droplets of an ink on an ink-jet recording media,

Ink jet recording is carried out in such a manner that minute ink droplets are ejected, employing various working principles and are deposited onto a recording sheet to achieve recording of images and text. The aforesaid ink jet recording exhibits advantages such as relatively high speed, low noise, and easy application to multicolor formation.
Particularly, recently, printers have been improved to produce high image quality approaching conventional photographic quality. As a result, recording sheets are also required to mimic photographic quality as well as to result in reproduction of the feel (such as glossiness, smoothness, and stiffness) of conventional silver salt photography. However, problems still remain with regard to lightfastness, waterfastness and moisture resistance.
In order to overcome problems due to the use of the aforesaid water-soluble dye ink, a method has been known in which, for improvement of waterfastness or lightfastness, resinous micro-particles (being a latex) are incorporated into water-soluble dye ink so that the printed portions are covered (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1–4).
On the other hand, as one of the methods for reproducing the feel of silver salt photography, known is a method which employs a so-called swelling type recording sheet which is prepared by applying hydrophilic binders such as gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol onto a support. However, the aforesaid method causes problems in which the rate of ink absorption is low, the surface tends to be sticky after printing, and images tend to bleed while affected by humidity during storage. Specifically, due to the low rate of ink absorption, ink droplets mix with each other to tend to result in bleeding between different colors as well as beading between the same color due to mixing of ink droplets prior to absorption, whereby it is extremely difficult to achieve the desired silver salt photographic quality.
In order to overcome the aforesaid problems, so-called void type recording sheets have played a main role while replacing the aforesaid swelling type recording sheets. Void type recording sheets are characterized in their high rate of ink absorption due to the absorption of ink into micro-voids. However, when the void type ink jet recording media (hereinafter also referred to simply as recording media) capable of achieving higher image quality and a water-soluble dye ink are combined, image fading, due to gases in the storage ambience, has been realized as a great problem. Image fading mechanism due to the aforesaid gases is not yet completely understood. However, it is assumed to be as follows. Gases in a storage ambience, especially oxidizing gases easily reach, via the void structure, dyes which have penetrated into a void type ink jet recording medium and decompose dye molecules, resulting image fading.
In order to minimize fading due to such oxidizing gases, it is possible to use a method in which after printing images on a recording medium, the resulting surface is subjected to a lamination treatment, or an image printed recording medium is stored in a frame capable of shielding from such gases. However, each of these methods necessitates post-treatment. As a result, processing becomes more complex and induces an increase in cost due to additional preparation of apparatuses for that.
In order to overcome such drawbacks, it is proposed that by printing on a recording medium employing a water-soluble dye ink comprised of resinous micro-particles, such particles remain on the surface of the aforesaid recording medium and subsequently is subjected to film formation which serves as a gas barrier, whereby the penetration of oxidizing gases into the aforesaid recording medium is minimized (refer, for example, to Patent Document 5). Film formation, as described herein, refers to a process in such a manner that the void structure portion of the uppermost surface of the recording media is filled with resinous micro-particles and immediately, the resulting resinous micro-particles are fuse with each other. Further, by achieving the film formation on the uppermost layer, surface roughness of the recording medium varies between prior to and after the deposition of ink droplets, resulting in more smoothness after printing.
In the aforesaid method, specifically when silica micro-particles are employed as inorganic micro-particles which form the void structure, the aforesaid silica particles exist together with cationic binders in the form of micro-particles and contribute to achieve compatibility between bleeding resistance and high glossiness. However, in the aforesaid constitution, electric properties of micro-particles incorporated into ink largely affect the layer properties. Namely, when ink comprised of anionic micro-particles is printed on the highly cationic surface of the recording medium, anionic micro-particles tend to aggregate on the surface of the recording medium, whereby glossiness is degraded due to formation of a roughness structure.
The above-described aggregation may affect ink absorption property resulting in deterioration of ink absorption.
Further, when image recording is achieved employing a water-soluble dye ink, problems occur during storage in which bleeding tends to occur. As a result, urgently sought is a means to improve storage stability of images prepared employing dye inks.
(Patent Document 1)
Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as JP-A) No. 55-18412 (claims)
(Patent Document 2)
JP-A No. 3-6270 (claims)
(Patent Document 3)
JP-A No. 3-160068 (claims)
(Patent Document 4)
JP-A No. 3-163175 (claims)
(Patent Document 5)
JP-A No. 2001-187852 (claims)

Abstract: wherein the ink contains nonionic resinous micro-particles, a water-soluble dye, water and an organic solvent; and the ink-jet recording media contains a support having thereon at least one ink absorbing layer and the outermost layer of the ink-jet recording media contains a porous structure containing a cationic polymer and inorganic pigment micro-particles.


Disclosed herein is a system to minimize power leakage. The system is configured to include a system-on-chip (SOC). The SOC is configured to include a Universal Serial Bus (USB) physical subsystem and system firmware, wherein the system firmware conveys USB related events to the SOC. The system is configured to include a power management apparatus, where the power management apparatus includes USB wake functionality and USB On-the-Go (OTG) functionality.

A system on chip (SOC) integrates multiple functions on an integrated circuit of a device, thereby providing higher performance, lower memory requirements, higher system reliability, and lower consumer costs. However, one key design constraint for an SOC is its tendency to dissipate large amounts of power. Specifically, input/output (I/O) power leakage from a device, including an SOC, is a form of power dissipation that affects the battery life of the device during standby modes.
In some cases, the SOC may include a Universal Serial Bus (USB) subsystem. The USB subsystem may also include a physical layer (PHY) that requires a high voltage rail (e.g., 3.3 V) and a continuous power-ON status, even in a stand-by mode, in order to detect any USB port state change events, e.g., the attachment or detachment of a USB cable. This combination of a high-pad voltage and a continuous power-ON requirement on the USB PHY subsystem lends to one of the highest I/O power leakage contributors on the SOC.
The same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and the figures to reference like components and features. Numbers in the 100 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 1; numbers in the 200 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 2; and so on.

Block partition to minimize power leakage


A furnace for reflowing solder on a wafer having a heating chamber with an entrance, an exit, and top, bottom, side, and end walls formed of sheets of porous insulation. The furnace has a first belt extending from a loading position into and through. the heating chamber. The furnace has a second belt coupled to the first belt, the second belt extending through the exit of the heating chamber to an unloading position. The heating chamber also has infrared lamps positioned below the first belt, the infrared lamps heat the first belt, such that the first belt heats the wafer situated on the first belt.

xe2x80x9cWafer bumpingxe2x80x9d refers to a semiconductor packaging technology that prepares microchips for flip chip attachment onto an integrated circuit package or other electronic assembly. There are numerous different methods of wafer bumping, but the process typically involves placing tiny amounts of electrically conductive material onto the input/output pads of a wafer and then subjecting the wafer assembly with the electrically conductive material to a thermal process known as mass solder reflow. Controlling the wafer temperature is critically important to allow the solder to reflow while at the same time preventing damage to the wafer.
One prior art method of performing a solder reflow process is known in the industry as hot-plate technology. Hot-plate technology utilizes conduction, where the wafer is placed on a flat thermal mass precisely maintained at a given temperature. Conduction heating of the type employed in hot-plate technology is beneficial because the temperature of the wafer will not go higher than the temperature of the thermal mass (hot-plate) on which the wafer is sitting. Traditionally, hot-plate technology requires a system having multiple isolated hot plate stages and a means of moving the wafer to be reflowed from stage to stage to achieve proper heating.
There are several disadvantages to the prior art hot-plate type reflow system. First, because of their thermal mass, hot plates are slow to heat up and to cool down. Therefore, a lot of production time is lost when it is necessary to change set point temperature for a high temperature solder alloy to a lower temperature for a low temperature solder. Second, a pusher bar is typically used to push wafers from stage to stage. Spacing between pusher bars are established for a particular sized wafer, for example, eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers, etc. If the equipment is used with smaller wafers than it was designed for, production capacity is lost. Third, fluxes residues are formed from the wafers as they are heated, and the fluxes residues accumulate on plate surfaces. One source of flux is an organic acid that is put on a wafer to provide viscosity and to remove oxides on metal surface that inhibit good electrical connections. When passing through the various hot plates, the wafers get dirty from being pushed through the condensed fluxes, and have to be cleaned in an additional, costly step.
Fourth, commercially available hot plate equipment does not provide a controlled atmosphere surrounding the reflow and cooling areas that is capable of maintaining an inert atmosphere or reactive gas atmosphere that contains less than five parts per million oxygen molecules, and so allowing oxidation to occur. Fifth, the gas that is used in the prior art systems to control atmosphere causes wafer movement which makes in line processing using cassette to cassette loading equipment more difficult to use. Sixth, the condensed fluxes must frequently be manually removed from numerous parts of the hot-plate equipment causing significant lost production time and considerable expense.
The present invention is directed to a furnace for reflowing solder on a microchip. The furnace has a heating chamber with top, bottom, side, and end walls formed of sheets of porous insulation. The heating chamber has an entrance and an exit.
A first belt extends from a loading position through the heating chamber. A second belt is coupled to the first belt, the second belt extending through the exit of the heating chamber to an unloading position.
Within the heating chamber, below the first belt, infrared lamps are positioned. The infrared lamps heat the first belt, such that the first belt heats a microchip situated on the second belt.
In another embodiment the furnace has a housing with walls defining a heating chamber disposed between an entrance and an exit. Each wall of the housing includes a porous insulative inner panel and a non-porous outer panel.
The first conveyor moves an object from the loading position through the entrance of the heating chamber and through the heating chamber between the entrance and the exit. The second conveyor moves the object from the first conveyor through the exit of the heating chamber to an unloading position.
In an embodiment, the furnace has a pressurized gas inlet between the inner and outer panels to induce gas flow through the inner panel to the heating chamber. An area below the first conveyor is divided into stages transverse to the first conveyor. Each stage has at least one infrared lamp to heat the first conveyor.

Continuous-conduction wafer bump reflow system


Provided are a display apparatus and a method of controlling the display apparatus, the method including providing one or more input windows for receiving an input of identification (ID) values from a user, determining whether one or more ID values respectively input to the one or more input windows match with pre-registered registration values, and changing an error input window from among the one or more input windows by applying an animation effect to the error input window in which an ID value from among the one or more ID values does not match with the registration values.

With advances in electronic technologies, various types of display apparatuses are being developed. Based on such advances, display apparatuses such as a television (TV), a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet PC, an MP3 player, or the like are popular and a display apparatus is used in almost every home.
Recently, in order to satisfy needs of a user who wants new and various functions, there are many efforts to develop a display apparatus having a new form. For example, an interface for a user to easily select his/her-desired information from among a plurality of pieces of information is provided in various forms.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A kit having instructions for use for performing uterine lavage in a female patient includes a uterine lavage catheter configured for insertion into a woman's uterus to remove viable blastocysts from the uterus, and one or more first containers having a sufficient dosage amount of a GnRH antagonist to cause desynchronization of the endometrium of the patient prior to, during and/or following recovery of viable blastocysts from the uterus.

Uterine lavage for recovery of human embryos was developed and reported in human subjects by the applicant three decades ago. A University of California Los Angeles team, directed by the applicant, recovered and transferred in vivo fertilized embryos from fertile to infertile recipient women. This technique produced donor-to-recipient transplanted human pregnancies, reported in 1983 and delivered in 1984.

Recovery and processing of human embryos formed in vivo


The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling safety-critical processes, such as the monitoring of protective doors, emergency stop switches, light curtains and the like. A control unit is connected to a plurality of I/O units via a data transmission link. The I/O units transmit process data to the control unit, with the process data being protected against transmission errors by means of a diversitary multiple transmission. The process data are encoded using a variable keyword in order to generate variably encoded process data. The variably encoded process data are transmitted to the control unit as part of the diversitary multiple transmission.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling a safety-critical process. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and an apparatus for an improved process data transmission in safety-critical process control.
Safety-critical processes within the meaning of the present invention are technical sequences, relationships and/or events for which faultless operation needs to be ensured in order to avoid any risk to people or material objects of value. In particular, this involves the monitoring and control of operations taking place automatically in the field of mechanical and plant engineering in order to prevent accidents. Classic examples are the safeguarding of a press brake installation, the safeguarding of automatically operating robots, or ensuring a safe state for maintenance work on a technical installation. For such processes, European standard EN 954-1 classifies safety categories from 1 to 4, where 4 is the highest safety category. The present invention particularly relates to safety-critical processes for which at least category 3 from EN 954-1 or a comparable standard needs to be met.
The control of safety-critical processes requires the devices and components involved in the control to have intrinsic failsafety. This means that even if the safety-related device fails or develops a fault the required safety, for example of the operating personnel on the mechanical installation, needs to be maintained. For this reason, safety-related installations and devices are usually of redundant design, and in a large number of countries require appropriate approval from competent supervisory authorities. As part of the approval process, the manufacturer of the safety-related device usually has to prove that the required intrinsic failsafety is in place, which is very complex and expensive due the extensive fault considerations.
DE 197 42 716 A1 discloses a prior art apparatus in which the control unit is connected to physically remote I/O units via what is called a fieldbus. The I/O units have sensors connected to them for receiving process data and also actuators for initiating control operations. Typical sensors in the field of safety technology are emergency stop switches, protective doors, two-hand switches, rotational speed sensors or light barrier arrangements. Typical actuators are contactors, which are used to deactivate the drive mechanisms in an installation which is being monitored, or solenoid valves. The I/O units in such an arrangement are essentially used as physically distributed signal pickup and signal output stations, whereas the actual processing of the process data and the generation of control signals for the actuators take place in the superordinate control unit. In many cases, the superordinate control unit used is what is known as a programmable logic controller (PLC).
To be able to use such a fieldbus-based system to control safety-critical processes, the data transmission from the I/O units to the control unit needs to be made failsafe. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that a dangerous state cannot arise in the whole installation as a result of corruption of transmitted process data and/or as a result of a fault in a remote I/O unit.
In the known system from DE 197 42 716 A1, this is done by providing "safety-related" devices both in the superordinate control unit and in the remote I/O units. This involves all signal pickup, signal processing and signal output paths being of redundant design, for example. The redundant channels monitor each other, and when a fault or an undefined state occurs the installation is transferred to a safe state, for example is disconnected. In addition, the process data are transmitted to the controller several times. In the case of the known apparatus, this is done by transmitting the binary process data once in unchanged form, a second time in negated form and a third time in the form of a checksum derived from the process data. The different manner of transmission is referred to as diversitary.
The fact that safety-related devices in the known installation are present both in the control unit and in the remote I/O units means that the actual data transmission can take place via a single-channel fieldbus. The process data are checked for safety both by the sender and by the receiver. A drawback of this approach, however, is that for all remote I/O units the required intrinsic failsafety needs to be proved as part of the approval processes. This is complex and expensive.
One alternative approach involves designing the remote I/O units to be "non-failsafe" and instead producing the data transmission link in two-channel form, i.e. with two separate signal paths. In this case, the superordinate control unit, which is of failsafe design, has the option of accessing the process data using two channels and of carrying out the necessary fault check. A drawback of this approach is that the entire data transmission link needs to be in two-channel form, which means increased wiring complexity.
DE 37 06 325 A1 discloses an apparatus in which remote I/O units are connected to the superordinate control unit via a separate disconnection path in addition to the actual fieldbus. However, this document does not reveal the extent to which the transmission of the process data from the I/O units to the controller is in failsafe form.

Method and apparatus for controlling a safety-critical process


A light emitting device which is able to suppress power consumption while a balance of white light is maintained is provided. According to the present invention, either the potential level of the Hi video signal or Lo video signal which is given to a gate electrode of a transistor, and the potential level of the power source lines are changed by the respective corresponding colors. Concretely, the potential level at the side of Lo and the potential level of the power source line are made to be changed by the respective corresponding colors when a transistor which controls current supplied to a light emitting element is a p-channel type. Conversely, the potential level at the side of the Hi and potential level of the power source line are made to be changed by the respective corresponding colors when a transistor which controls current supplied to a light emitting element is an n-channel type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device in which a unit for supplying current to a light emitting element and a light emitting element are provided in each of plural pixels, and more particularly a device substrate corresponding to a form of a light emitting element which is not yet completely fabricated in the process of manufacturing the light emitting device in which a unit for supplying current to a light emitting element is provided in each of a pluralities of pixels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Next, a pixel structure of a general light emitting device and the drive thereof will be described briefly. A pixel shown in FIG. 10A has TFTs 80 and 81, a storage capacitor 82 and a light emitting element 83. Note that, a storage capacitor 82 need not always be formed.
In the TFT 80, a gate electrode is connected to a scanning line 85, one of a source region and a drain region of the TFT 80 is connected to a signal line 84 and the other is connected to the gate electrode of the TFT 81. In the TFT 81, a source region is connected to a power source line 86, and a drain region is connected to an anode of the light emitting element 83. The storage capacitor 82 is provided so as to retain voltage between the gate electrode and the source region of the TIT 81. The power source line 86 and the cathode of the light emitting element 83 are respectively applied with predetermined potential from the power source and have mutual potential difference.
Note that, a connection means an electrical connection in this specification, if there is no specific description.
When the TFT 80 is turned on by potential of the scanning line 85, potential of a video signal input to the signal line 84 is given to the gate electrode of the TFT 81. In accordance with the potential of the input video signal, a gate voltage (a voltage difference between the gate electrode and the source region) of the TFT 81 is determined. Then, drain current that flows in accordance with the gate voltage is supplied to the light emitting element 83 and the light emitting element emits light in accordance with the supplied current.
A pixel structure in general light emitting device, which is different from FIG. 10A is shown in FIG. 10B. The pixel shown in FIG. 10B has TFTs 60, 61 and 67, a storage capacitor 62, and a light emitting element 63. It is noted that the storage capacitor 62 is not necessarily provided.
In the TFT 60, a gate electrode connected to a first scanning line 65, one of a source region and a drain region is connected to a signal line 64, and the other is connected to a gate electrode of the TFT 61. In the TFT 67, a gate electrode is connected to a second scanning line 68, one of a source region and a drain region is connected to a power source line 66, and the other is connected to a gate electrode of the TFT 61. In the TFT 61, a source region is connected to the power source line 66 and a drain region is connected to an anode of the light emitting element 63. The storage capacitor 62 is provided in order to keep voltage between the gate electrode and the source region of the TFT 61. The power source line 66 and the cathode of the light emitting element 63 are respectively applied with predetermined potential from the power source and have mutual potential difference.
When the TFT 60 is turned on in accordance with potential of the first scanning line 65, potential of a video signal input to the source line 64 is given to the gate electrode of the TFT 61. In accordance with the potential of the input video signal, a gate voltage (a voltage differnce between the gate electrode and the source region) of the TFT 61 is determined. Then, drain current of the TFT 61 that flows in accordance with the gate voltage is supplied to the light emitting element 63 and the light emitting element 63 emits light in accordance with the supplied current.
In addition, in the pixel shown in FIG. 10B, when the TFT 67 is turned on in accordance with potential of the second scanning line 68, potential of the power source line 66 is given to the both the gate electrode and the source region of the TFT 61, and therefore the TFT 61 is turned off and the light emitting element 63 is forced to finish emitting a light.
Now, in many electroluminescence materials in which electroluminescence can be obtained by impressing electric field, luminance of red luminescence is generally low, compared with luminance of blue or green luminescence. In the case of applying a light emitting element using an electroluminescence material with such a characteristic to a light emitting device, luminance of red in a displayed image is likely to be naturally low.
Especially, in the case of a color display method of forming three kinds of light emitting elements corresponding to R (red), G (green), and B (blue) respectively, it is difficult to control a balance of white color.
It has been conventionally carried out the way to use orange light with a little wavelength than red light as red light. However, with this way, an image to be displayed as red image is displayed as orange as a result and then, the purity of red light is low and.
Then, as a means for controlling the balance of luminance of red, blue, and green luminescence, it is generally employed to make current supplied to a pixel different from each other in displaying RGB (red, green, and blue). Specifically, it is possible to make the current supplied to a pixel different and keep the balance of white light when potential difference between a power source line and cathode of a light emitting element is made different for each of RGB. (ref. Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2001-159878. 5th page)

Light emitting device and driving method thereof

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Methods and apparatus are provided for reporting fragment filling in storage systems. An exemplary method comprises obtaining at least one compressed allocation unit of data in a storage system; reserving space for the at least one compressed allocation unit in a compressed segment based on a greater of (i) a size of the at least one compressed allocation unit, and (ii) a minimum target fragment length specified for at least one write operation class; and writing the at least one compressed allocation unit to the reserved space. An attempt is optionally first made to fill the at least one compressed allocation unit of data in a free extent and/or a hidden fragment of at least one compressed segment prior to reserving the space. The reserving the space is optionally only performed if the attempt to fill the at least one compressed allocation unit of data is not successful.

Some data storage systems employ data reduction techniques, such as compression, to improve storage efficiency. Compression may result in fragmentation when overwriting previously compressed blocks and the new compressed data does not fit into existing fragments. When the new compressed data cannot be written to a previously allocated slot, the new compressed data must be written to a new location, causing fragmentation and reduced space efficiency. A need exists for improved techniques for filling fragments with newly compressed data.

Fragment filling for storage system with in-line compression


A method includes: generating a plurality of individuals of a current generation in accordance with a plurality of individuals of a previous generation to acquire values of an objective function for individuals each representing a variable by evolutionary computation; calculating, for each of partial individuals of the plurality of individuals of the current generation generated by the generating processing, a first value of the objective function by a predetermined method; approximately calculating, for each of the plurality of individuals of the current generation, a second value of the objective function with lower precision than the predetermined method; computing a fitness difference representing a difference between the plurality of individuals of the current generation in accordance with the first value or the second value; and controlling the precision of the approximate calculation based on the fitness difference and a precision difference between the first value and the second value.

In the past, an approximate value output device has been known that outputs a value approximate to a true value depending on a combination of input data. The approximate value output device has a cerebellar model including a plurality of layer models each having a granular cell value for each combination of sections acquired by dividing a possible range of a kind of data into a plurality of parts. The approximate value output device has a calculating unit that identifies granular cell values of combinations of corresponding sections based on a plurality of kinds of input data, adds the granular cell values of the layers and calculates an approximate value. The division positions of the cerebellar model unit in the approximate value output device is defined to be proper with an evolutionary algorithm within a range of specified number of divisions.
An optimization design apparatus applying a genetic search method has been known that allows acquisition of an optimum solution by performing automatic calculation on a real design problem with an enormous number of design variable data. The optimization design apparatus includes an approximate optimization calculating device using an approximate expression of discrete design variable data such as dimensions of sections of a frame member and a detail optimization calculating device using the design variable data. These two calculating devices are coupled to configure the optimization design apparatus for a frame construction. The optimization design apparatus automatically and continuously executes optimization calculations in two stages by using the approximate optimization device and the detail optimization device using the approximate expression of the design variable data.
Examples of the related art include Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-109732 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-134628.

Arithmetic processing apparatus, arithmetic processing method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing arithmetic processing program


A method and system are herein disclosed for registering a member at a targeted web-based information management system using a reduced amount of member and system interaction to confirm and establish the member's contact information. Generally, the method may communicate permission to solicit a potential member to the information management system. In one embodiment, the member previously communicated permission to receive solicitations from other systems to another web-based information management system. The method may communicate the permission from another web-based system to the present system. The permission may include member identification and/or demographic data. The method may communicate a solicitation message from the system to the member, the solicitation message comprising at least a portion of the member identification data. The member may then communicate a confirmation message to the targeted web-based information management system, wherein the confirmation message is in reply to the solicitation message and includes the portion of the member identification data. Using the confirmation, the system may then match the portion of the member identification data from the confirmation message to the portion of the member identification data from the confirmation message.

Users of the World Wide Web distributed computing environment may freely send and retrieve data across long distances and between remote computing devices. The Web, implemented on the Internet, presents users with documents called "web pages" that may contain information as well as "hyperlinks" that allow the users to select and connect to related web sites. The web pages may be stored on remote computing devices, or servers, as hypertext-encoded files. The servers use Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or other protocols to transfer the encoded files to client users. Many users may remotely access the web sites stored on network-connected computing devices from a personal computer (PC) through a browser application running on the PC.
The browser application may act as an interface between user PCs and remote computing devices and may allow the user to view or access data that may reside on any remote computing device connected to the PC through the World Wide Web and browser interface. Typically, the local user PC and the remote computing device may represent a client and a server, respectively. Further, the local user PC or client may access Web data without knowing the source of the data or its physical location. Publication of Web data may be accomplished by simply assigning a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to data that refers to the local file. To a local client, the Web may appear as a single, coherent data delivery and publishing system in which individual differences between other clients or servers may be hidden.
A system may provide web site proprietors with web site user demographics information and is generally described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/080946, "DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION GATHERING AND INCENTIVE AWARD SYSTEM AND METHOD" to Bistriceanu et al. and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/416593, "ROBUST SILO BASED SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE" to Bohannon, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Generally, the system may include users, web site proprietors, and an enterprise system hosting a central web site. The users may register with the central web site and may earn "points" for performing specific on- or off-line tasks in exchange for disclosing their demographic information during registration. On-line activity may be described in e-mails that are sent to the user by his consent during a registration process. For example, users may earn points by selecting hyperlinks embedded in e-mails The users may then redeem their earned points at participating proprietors for merchandise or services. Generally, the central web site manages the system by performing a number of tasks including: maintaining all user demographic information, tracking user point totals, and awarding points according to specific, proprietor-defined rules. Proprietors may market their products or services to specific users based on the provided demographic information.
Typically, users register with web-based services by a "double opt-in" process. Two interactions by the user are required to complete a double opt-in registration. First, the user must be solicited, for example, by an unsolicited e-mail or through another service to which he is a member and has given consent for solicitations. The solicitation will allow the user to submit required registration information to complete a first "co-registration" step. The user is considered "single opted in" after submitting the information requested from a solicitation. Upon receipt of the registration information, the service sends another e-mail to the user to confirm that the e-mail address given during the co-registration step is actually associated with the user. By responding to the confirmation, the user demonstrates their desire to be a member of the service and gives permission to the service to begin sending information to the user. Thus, only upon receipt of a user's registration information, either in response to a solicitation e-mail or from a registration website accessed by the user, and submission and receipt of a confirmation e-mail, will a web service user be fully registered. Because there are two steps a user must complete before registration in the double opt-in process, twice as many opportunities exist for the process to fail either through user inaction, user disinterest, or data errors.


Dolby AC-3 and MPEG-2 audio permit the transmission of audio signals in packet form, via more than two independent audio channels. If a reproduction device has only a two channel audio decoder an external multi channel audio decoder may be used for multi channel audio reproduction. In this instance, packetized signal is received by a first decoder and is decoded for a first mode of reproduction and applied to a reproduction device. The received signal is unpacked in the first decoder and stored in memory. The stored signal is reformatted for application to a second decoder for decoding and reproduction according to a second mode of reproduction.

Audio coding systems like Dolby AC-3 and MPEG-2 Audio permit the transmission of high quality audio signals, especially the transmission of multi channel audio. Defining the possible configurations for reproduction by "x/y", wherein x is the number of the front channels and y is the number of the surround channels, then e.g. with Dolby AC-3 the following configurations for reproduction are possible: 3/2, 3/1, 2/2, 3/0, 2/1, 2/0, 1/0. In addition a low frequency channel can be transmitted.
In order to make possible such a multi channel sound reproduction the transmitted audio data stream has to be decoded by an appropiate multi channel audio decoder. In case, however, the device designated for reproduction contains only a two channel audio decoder then a multi channel audio reproduction can be performed only by using an external multi channel audio decoder. The audio data are output therein via a serial digital interface from the reproduction device to the multi channel decoder. In case the output of the audio signals shall occur in companying a video signal as for example for reproduction of a movie stored on a DVD, a method for synchronization is needed in order to achieve a lip synchronization between reproduction of picture and multi channel sound.

Synchronous decoding of packetized audio for different reproduction modes