Provided is an imprint method that includes the steps of softening resist in an object to be processed, by using compressed gas or supercritical fluid, the object including a substrate and the resist applied onto the substrate, and transferring a predetermined pattern onto the resist by pressing a mold that forms the predetermined pattern against the resist in the object.

The present invention relates to an imprint manufacture method and apparatus, a magnetic recording medium, and its manufacture apparatus.
The fine patterning technology for semiconductor manufacture has developed remarkably. The currently required and available critical dimension processing accuracy is 100 nm or smaller. Fine patterning technologies onto resist on a silicon wafer have used photolithography, direct imaging using an electron beam, and the like. Photolithography has improved the resolution with a shortened wavelength of a light source, but the exposure apparatuses are very expensive and transferring a pattern of 100 nm or smaller is difficult. On the other hand, the direct imaging using an electron beam has superior resolution but poor mass-productivity.
The nanoimprint lithography ("NIL") has been proposed (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905) as a solution for the problem of poor mass-production technology of fine patterned devices. The NIL presses a mold having a nano-scale fine structure against the resist on a silicon wafer, and transfers the fine pattern onto the resist.
A description will be given of a NIL process with reference to FIGS. 9A-9E. A mold 3 uses, for example, a silicon thermal-oxide film patterned with electron-beam direct imaging, etc. First, as shown in FIG. 9A, a thin film 5 is formed as a resist with poly (methyl methacrylate) ("PMMA") as thermoplastic resin etc. on a silicon wafer 4. Next, as shown in FIG. 9B, the mold 3 held by a mold support 20 is pressed against the resist 5, and a fine pattern on the mold 3 is transferred onto the resist 5. The resist 5 is subject to compressive transferring while heated above the glass transition temperature (Tg) and softened. After the transfer completes, it is cooled and hardened, and the mold 3 is peeled off from the resist 5. Next, as shown in FIG. 9C, oxygen etching 21, etc. removes the remaining film to expose a silicon surface, as shown in FIG. 9D. As shown in FIG. 9E, after etching removes the resist, it is used as a single silicon device.
This manufacture method can transfer a pattern of 10 nm or smaller and has attracted attentions as the next generation for fine processing, only if the mold is available through time-consuming processing, fine patterns can be mass-produced using a more cost-efficient apparatus than a conventional processing machine.
In order to soften the resist and improve the transfer rate, some imprint methods have been proposed including one that uses supercritical fluid (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-270540) and one that transfers a pattern under low pressure at room temperature (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-184718).
Magnetic recording media called patterned media have been proposed recently (see Japanese Patent No. 1,888,363). Japanese Patent No. 1,888,363 discloses a base structure of the patterned media that arranges ferromagnetic particulates along a track at regular intervals, and records every bit on each ferromagnetic particulate. An application of the patterned media has been also proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-110050). A description will be given of the manufacture flows with reference to FIGS. 10A-10F and FIGS. 11A-11F.
First, as shown in FIG. 10A, a sputtering process arranges an amorphous carbon matrix thin film 5600 between a substrate 1000 and a resist 2000. Then, as shown in FIG. 10B, the electron-beam images the resist 2000, and a reactive ion etching ("RIE") process using fluoro-carbons and the resist as a mask, patterns amorphous carbon matrix thin film 5600, as shown in FIG. 10C. As shown in FIG. 10D, a magnetic layer 5700 is made by a sputtering process, and subjected to a lift-off process that dissolves and removes the resist mask 2000, as shown in FIG. 10E. As shown in FIG. 10F, a sputtering process forms a lubricating layer 5800 as an amorphous carbon layer, as shown in FIG. 10F.
A description will now be given of the manufacturing process disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-110050 with reference to FIGS. 11A-11F. First, resist 2000 is formed on a glass substrate 1000, as shown in FIG. 11A. As shown in FIG. 11B, electron-beam exposure and development follows. RIE then forms the mask pattern 2000 as shown in FIG. 11C. As shown in FIG. 11D, the magnetic thin film 5700 is made by a sputtering process, followed by the lift-off as shown in FIG. 11E. The surface lubricating layer 5800 is formed to form a patterned media, as shown in FIG. 11F.
However, the manufacture method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905 needs to heat the resist above Tg and press at a high pressure. For example, the experiment conducted by inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905 heated the resist with Tg of 105° C., up to 200° C. or higher, and applied a pressure of 13 MPa. An example report states that the applied pressure of 87 MPa at 170° C. is required to transfer a convex pattern with a critical dimension of 2 μm and a height of 340 nm onto PMMA resist. These conventional methods require an application of high pressure, and disadvantageously destroy the mold and the pattern on it.
A high strength diamond or SiC mold has been proposed as one solution for the above problem. However, the manufacture of such molds becomes disadvantageously expensive.
The conventional NIL method has had difficulties in alignment between a mold and a silicon wafer since the mold does not transmit light. Therefore, this method has been inapplicable for semiconductor manufacture processing due to poor pattern alignment when forming multiple layers. A mold made of a transparent material, such as quartz, would be easily destroyed and be unfeasible.
Conventional semiconductor manufacture processing also leaves fine defects, mainly in organic material(s) on minutely patterned resist, requiring cleansing of the resist surface. Use of an organic solvent, such as a rinse, for cleansing fluid in this cleansing step would disadvantageously destroy a pattern on the resist due to the surface tension at the interface between the gas and liquid phases. The above problem has become serious as the pattern becomes finer and the aspect ratio becomes higher.
Also disadvantageous is a high temperature of a wafer substrate at the time of pressing. This weakens the adhesion between the resist and the substrate, cause partial stripping of a polymer membrane after pressing, and cause difficulties in forming a large-scale fine pattern. Cooling of the substrate temperature below Tg of the resist when peeling off the resist from the mold would disadvantageously lower the throughput.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-270540 presses a mold against a resist that contains softener for transferring in a chamber that receives supercritical fluid. This method hardens the resist by extracting the softener in the resist with supercritical fluid. Maintenance of pressing is required until the extraction is completed. In order to extract the softener, the supercritical fluid should infiltrate through a minute aperture corresponding to the resist's thickness between the mold and substrate. Therefore, because it takes time to infiltrate into the resist, a large-scale pattern was hard to be mass-produced.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-184718 selects chemical amplification resist, holds acid chemicals on convex portions on the mold, and provides a heat treatment to the substrate after pressing it, thereby causing the resist to exhibit an insolubilization or solubilization reaction only at acid filtrated portions. Thereafter, the development of the resist forms convex and concave patterns corresponding to the mold pattern. However, it is anticipated that this method has difficulty in selectively infiltrating acid only into the convex portions on large-scale mold patterns. In particular, it is difficult to infiltrate chemicals only into the convex pattern portions and to accurately form fine patterns, such as those below 200 nm.
A method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-110050 can increase the capacity of a magnetic disc, but the electron-beam imaging causes low throughput. A mass-productive imprinting manufacture method has been proposed (for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-157520) which provides a process for manufacturing patterned media, and efficiently equalizes press pressure by arranging a buffer layer that has an area corresponding to a recording area and narrower than a substrate and a mold area, between the upper and lower pressing surfaces and one of the mold pattern and the substrate. An application of press pressure above 500 bars would form a pattern at a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the resist, and achieve high throughput. This method, however, has a problem because high press pressure damages the mold and the substrate. Therefore, one mold cannot manufacture many patterned media.


Generally discussed herein are systems, devices, and methods for providing a therapy (e.g., stimulation) and/or data signal using an implantable device. Systems, devices and methods for interacting with (e.g., communicating with, receiving power from) an external device are also provided. A system can include an external power source that propagates a field within tissue and an at least partially implantable device configured to receive the propagated field from the external power source, the implantable device including circuitry, a first antenna electrically coupled to the circuitry, a second antenna electrically coupled to the first antenna, and an electrode electrically connected to the circuitry.

Most of the known wireless powering methods for implantable electronics are based on the nearfield coupling method, and these and other suggested methods suffer from a number of disadvantages. The power harvesting structure in the implanted device is typically large (typically on the order of a centimeter or larger). The coils external to the body in near-field coupling methods are also typically bulky and inflexible. This presents difficulties with regard to the incorporation of the external device into daily life. The intrinsic exponential decay of the near field limits miniaturization of the implanted device beyond superficial depths (greater than 1 cm). On the other hand, the radiative nature of the far field severely limits the energy transfer efficiency.

Devices, systems, and methods for stimulation therapy


A coupler for managing communication between a portable data medium and a data exchange device. The coupler includes bistable control circuitry (25) input-activated by at least two control signals (DTR, RTS) delivered by the data exchange device in one of two first and second predetermined input sequences, and arranged to output at least one power supply signal (VCC) and a data medium reset signal (RST) in a predetermined output sequence, such that the portable data medium is activated only when one specific input sequence of the two input sequences is received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coupler for managing communication between a portable data medium and a data exchange device, which communication uses, on the data exchange device end, at least one data transmission signal and two control V signals delivered by the data exchange device in one of two first and second predetermined input sequences, and on the data medium end, at least one data medium power supply signal, one data medium reset signal, and one data transmission signal.
This coupler can be used for example to limit access to a computer network to authorized persons who hold for this purpose a portable data medium such as a chip card incorporating a microprocessor or micro-wired logical circuits which define areas to which access is controlled and can therefore contain secret information such as cryptographic keys (see for example the portable object described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,919).
2. Description of Related Art
The protocol for data exchange with a chip card is codified by international standard ISO7816-3, which defines the sequence for generating the signals applied to the chip card, namely a power supply signal VCC, a power supply signal for the memories VPP, a reset signal RST, a clock signal CLK, and a data exchange signal I/O. The standard very precisely defines the order in which these signals must appear and then disappear.
A coupler of this type can, in a known way, comprise a microprocessor which controls the interface with the portable data medium and is controlled by the data exchange device which constitutes the central processor. This microprocessor slows down the exchange process between the asynchronous data exchange device and the portable data medium.
In order to avoid the use of a microprocessor in the coupler, it has been suggested that some of the signals supplied by a serial port of the data exchange device, typically a port according to the standard RS 232, namely a "clear to send" signal CTS, a request to send signal RTS, a "data carrier detect" signal DCD, a "data terminal ready" signal DTR, a data transmission signal TX and a data reception signal RX, be used to generate the signals applied to the portable data medium.
A coupler of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,945. The sequencing of the signals supplied to the chip card is defined exclusively by the data exchange device, without the coupler's being able to intervene in this sequencing so as to allow for particular operating situations on the chip card end.
One consequence is that the above-mentioned standard is not always met, particularly when the chip card is reinserted after having been removed during a communication with the data exchange device, since the chip card is powered up again immediately, without allowing the data exchange device the necessary time to react in so as to impose a re-powering up in accordance with the standardized sequence.
However, it appears to be desirable for the coupler to be able to intervene in the sequencing of the signals delivered by the data exchange device in order to supply a wider range of modes for controlling or testing the chip card.

Coupler for managing communication between a portable data medium and a data exchange device, and data exchange device therefor


A combination shipping container and dispenser is described herein. A regular slotted container (RSC) is modified to include at least a first and second dispensing feature such that the RSC can dispense product when it is configured in either a horizontal or in a vertical orientation.

The invention relates to packaging for shipping and dispensing products. More particularly, the invention relates to packaging for dispensing cylindrical product, preferably core paper based items such as paper towels and toilet tissue, in a combination shipping and dispensing container.
Manufacturers typically ship products, especially paper products or products packaged in small boxes, in light weight cardboard containers, known as regular slotted containers (RSCs). These are very common, and a visit to almost any retail store indicates how ubiquitous these containers are. RSCs are manufactured from many different types of paperboard materials, each with their own load carrying characteristics. Additionally, these RSCs can be printed with decorative printing, operating as advertisement for the products contained within.
The end users of RSCs, the store owners, desire to maximize usage of their floor and storage space. Storage space is valuable real estate that does not directly earn the store owner money. While having excess inventory on hand can be important, especially if demand is high, all the product stored in storage areas represents an investment in money by the store owner. This inventory is typically not immediately available to the consumer to provide sales opportunities to the store owner. Indeed such excess inventory can actually cause the store owner to incur additional cost to store the inventory and then move the merchandise from the storage area and onto the floor where consumers can encounter it. Therefore, store owners have taken to storing product on the floor in their original RSCs to be immediately accessed by the consumer. For example, in some industries, there are free standing floor displays that utilize 15 count RSC designs. This means that the RSCs are stacked 15 units high. Unfortunately, presently available RSCs are not specifically designed to efficiently and effectively dispense the product they contain. The RSCs of the prior art must have their flaps opened, which does not present an aesthetically pleasing display for the consumer. These flaps or portions of the RSC can be cut-away with a knife to allow the product contained therein to be retrieved. Cutting away portions of the RSC may lead to loss of product through accidental knife-cutting damage to the product. The acts of opening closed flaps and cutting away portions of the RSC and the loss of product through damage are deficiencies that represent monetary losses to the store owner. It can even lead to future lost sales where consumers are not pleased with the shopping environment and begin to frequent other stores to purchase items shipped in such RSCs.
Other industries that use RSCs include the hotel industry and the commercial cleaning industry. In the hotel industry, there are small storage spaces, and the cleaning personnel must move products to multiple locations easily and without distraction. The same requirements apply to commercial restroom facility cleaners. The personnel whose task it is to clean restrooms need to get small carts in the restrooms to clean them while minimizing the possibility of dropping supplies on the floor. Similarly, it would be beneficial if personnel could store certain supplies in limited areas adjacent to the restrooms so that users of the restroom facilities could easily access certain products, without the hotel or commercial restroom facility owner having to pay the additional personnel costs to restock these items in the restrooms. Moving product in the original RSC, in both the hotel and cleaning industries, appears to save time and make the operation more efficient. This is somewhat deceiving because use of the prior art RSCs in this manner suffers some of the same deficiencies that those in the retail outlet industry experience, plus additional difficulties. For example, cleaning and hotel industry personnel will also open the RSC with a knife that can lead to product damage and waste. Furthermore, even if the product is not damaged, spillage from carts is possible with prior art RSCs as they are clumsy and inefficient in dispensing product. These deficiencies lead to inefficiencies in completing the tasks, leading to larger labor costs.
As an alternative to the RSC described above, another commonly used shipping/containment material is poly-propylene wrap (poly-wrap). Poly-wrap does not maintain its shape and integrity without the influence of the contained product. Therefore, after the poly-wrap material is opened and product is retrieved from the poly-wrap material, the poly-wrap material loses its ability to contain the product initially wrapped in the material making the product remaining in the poly-wrap material difficult to store and retrieve.
The foregoing problem with poly-wrap material is a problem that generally, though not exclusively, occurs to users in their home. Product such as paper towels and toilet tissue can be packaged in large quantities in poly-wrap material. This is a convenience and cost-savings for the consumer. However, it is difficult for consumers to store these large quantities of product in their home because of the shortcomings of the poly-wrap material noted above. After the first few products are removed from the poly-wrap material, the remaining products may spill out from the area where the consumer has stored the initial package requiring the consumer to remove all of the product from the poly-wrap material in order to maintain the storage area in some semblance of organization. At a minimum, the storage area can become unsightly and disorganized once the poly-wrap material loses its ability to adequately contain the product therein.
Therefore, there is a need to design an RSC, that allows a dispensing feature for use in homes, stores, the hotel industry, the commercial restroom facility cleaning industry and other locations and industries that does not suffer the deficiencies noted above.

Combination shipping container and dispenser


A compounding agent for rubber vulcanization comprising an amine salt compound of a carboxylic acid group-containing disulfide having the formula (I):

In general, as a vulcanization accelerator of rubber, a thiuram-based, sulfonamide-based, mercaptobenzothiazole-based or other accelerators are used. A sulfonamide-based vulcanization accelerator is a delayed action type accelerator, which is believed to produce mercaptobenzothiazole and amine by dissociation of the N—S bonds by heat during vulcanization. It is known that the produced mercaptobenzothiazole acts as a vulcanization accelerator, while the amine plays an important role in accelerating the vulcanization reaction by coordinating with zinc oxide to activate the vulcanization system and by reaction with the vulcanization intermediate (see Non-Patent Document 1).
As opposed to this, the disulfide-based vulcanization agent, dibenzothiazole disulfide, produces mercaptobenzothiazole by dissociation of the S—S bonds due to heat, but has no ability to stimulate the vulcanization by amines, and therefore, it is reported to vulcanization is slow and vulcanization accelerating capability is inferior to sulfenamides. It may be considered to jointly use amines for the purpose of improving the vulcanization accelerating ability of dibenzothiazole disulfide, but in such a case, since the reactivity of the free amines is high, there is the problem that they would react with the sulfur and other vulcanization agents even at a low temperature whereby a detrimental effect on the scorch time occurs.
Further, Patent Documents 1 to 6 describe various types of amine salts of carboxylic acid disulfides, but these documents described examples of using a quaternary ammonium salt of a carboxylic acid group-containing disulfide as a static electricity suppressant for a color toner for electrostatic charged image development (Patent Document 1), using a disulfide-containing amine salt as an aqueous ink composition for a ball point pen (Patent Document 2), using a mono- or di-amine salt of a dithiodipropionic acid or dithiodiglycolic acid as a rust preventing agent (Patent Document 3), a method for producing a quaternary ammonium salt of a carboxylic acid group-containing disulfide (Patent Document 4), using a quaternary ammonium salt of a carboxylic acid-containing disulfide as a toner for electronic photograph recording and a charge suppresser for a developer (Patent Document 5), and using a 3-mercaptopropionic acid disulfide as a water-soluble additive for a water-soluble functional fluid (Patent Document 6), but the art of introducing these salt compounds as a rubber vulcanization use compounding agent was not known. In particular, in the case of the quaternary ammonium salt of a carboxylic acid group-containing disulfide used in Patent Documents 1 and 4, since the amine ingredient acting to accelerate the vulcanization reaction is a quaternary amine, no substantial role of accelerating the vulcanization reaction can be expected.
Further, Patent Documents 7 and 8 disclose using a carboxyl group-containing disulfide as a vulcanization agent for rubber, but these are both carboxylic acid-containing disulfide compounds and not salt compounds containing an amine component having the role of accelerating the vulcanization reaction.
Further, a method for producing an amine salt of a polythiopolycarboxylic acid having 2 to 14 sulfur atoms is described in Patent Document 9. Patent Document 9describes, as prior art, European Patent Publication EP-A-0,780,429 (Patent Document 10) describing a method for producing di-, tri- and tetra-thiodipropionic acids. This production method has the defects that the content of the bonded sulfur is narrowly limited. Mixtures containing about 70% of dithiodipropionic acid and only about 30% of tri- and tetra-thiodipropionic acids are produced. As opposed to this, Patent Document 9 discloses a method for producing particularly pure polythiopolycarboxylic acid which enables the production of a compound containing a relatively high content of bonded sulfur. The examples of Patent Document 9 also disclose methods for producing polythiodipropionic acids having averages of four sulfur atoms and 3 to 11 sulfur atoms.
In general, sulfur compounds are classified by the number of sulfur atoms into mono- (one sulfur atom), di-(two sulfur atoms) and poly- (three or more sulfur atoms) sulfide compounds. This is because the dissociation energy of the sulfur bonds is about 70 kcal/mol in the case of disulfide and 45 kcal/mol in the case of trisulfide (three sulfur atoms) and, therefore, greatly differs according to the number of sulfur atoms and, when the number of sulfur atoms becomes 3 or more, the sulfur bonds easily dissociate (see Non-Patent Document 1). Therefore, a polysulfide compound is inferior to a disulfide compound in the heat stability, and, therefore, has the problem that it easily reacts with sulfur and other vulcanization agents or rubber etc. even at a low temperature and provides a detrimental effect on the processing process such as scorching of the rubber during mixing and shortening of the scorch time.
The bonding performance of the metal belt and rubber in a pneumatic tire is, of course, important from the viewpoint of the tire being a composite material. If this bonding performance is low, it leads to tire separation or other trouble. As a measure against this, the introduction of cobalt (Co) salts and changes in the vulcanization accelerator to make the bonding reaction better have been attempted (see Non-Patent Document 2), but this has the problem of a deterioration in the heat buildup property.
Non-Patent Document 1: Chapman, A. V., Porter, M.: "Sulphur Vulcanization Chemistry" in Natural Rubber Science and Technology, Roberts, A. D. Ed., Oxford Science Publications, London (1988).
Non-Patent Document 2: Journal of the Society of Rubber Industry of Japan, vol. 65, page 70 (1992)
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2004-354708
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2004-115684
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 11-92979
Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 4-264063
Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 6-501566
Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 63-284294
Patent Document 7: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2002-224244
Patent Document 8: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 9-262318
Patent Document 9: Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2001-89440
Patent Document 10: European Patent Publication EP-A-0.780, 429

Compounding agent for rubber vulcanization containing amine salt compound of carboxylic group-containing disulfide, method for producing the same, rubber composition containing the same and pneumatic tire using the same as rubber for belt coat and/or belt edge cush

Abstract: wherein R1, R2 and R3 are independently hydrogen or a C1-C20 organic group which may have a heteroatom and/or a substituent group, and X is a C2-C20 organic group which may have a heteroatom and/or a substituent group, a method for producing the same and a rubber composition containing the same, capable of improving the vulcanization rate and vulcanized rubber physical properties, without having a detrimental effect on the scorch time.


A sealing member of this substrate housing container has: a base part-side deformation part that couples the base part and the container contact tip part and is elastically deformable to allow the container contact tip part to oscillate relative to the base part; and a protruding part that is present in the portion of the container contact tip part connected to the base part-side deformation part and that protrudes from the outer surface of the container contact tip part. The thickness of the container contact tip part in the oscillating direction of the container contact tip part is configured to be greater than the thickness of the base part-side deformation part.

A substrate housing container configured to be provided with a container body and a lid body is conventionally known as a substrate housing container for housing and transporting a substrate including a semiconductor wafer and the like.
An opening peripheral edge section where a container body opening is formed is provided at one end part of the container body. A blocked tubular wall section is provided at the other end part of the container body. A substrate housing space is formed in the container body. The substrate housing space is formed by being surrounded by the wall section and is capable of housing a plurality of substrates. The lid body is detachable with respect to the opening peripheral edge section, has a seal member attachment section, and is capable of blocking the container body opening. A sealing member is attached to the seal member attachment section of the lid body, is capable of being in contact with the opening peripheral edge section, and blocks the container body opening in an airtight state with the lid body by being interposed between the opening peripheral edge section and the lid body and in contact in close contact with the opening peripheral edge section (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
A front retainer is provided in the portion of the lid body that faces the substrate housing space when the container body opening is blocked. The front retainer is capable of supporting the edge sections of the plurality of substrates when the container body opening is blocked by the lid body. In addition, a back-side substrate-supporting part is disposed in the wall section to make a pair with the front retainer. The back-side substrate-supporting part is capable of supporting the edge sections of the plurality of substrates. The back-side substrate-supporting part holds the plurality of substrates, in a state where the adjacent substrates are in parallel at a predetermined interval, by supporting the plurality of substrates in cooperation with the front retainer when the container body opening is blocked by the lid body.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2005-256958


An overcurrent sensing circuit for sensing an overcurrent flowing through a power MOS transistor is described. A voltage drop equal to the voltage across the drain and source of a power MOS transistor that changes due to change in a load current is generated in a sensing resistor that is connected between the source of a sensing MOS transistor having its gate and drain connected in common with those of the power MOS transistor and the source of the power MOS transistor due to current that flows through the sensing MOS transistor. This voltage is inputted to a comparator that has an added offset voltage, and the comparator judges that the power MOS transistor is in an overcurrent condition when this inputted voltage exceeds an input offset voltage value that is set inside the comparator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and particularly to an overcurrent sensing circuit that senses an overcurrent flowing in a power MOS field effect transistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor elements are vulnerable to irregular conditions, i.e., to overheating or overcurrents in excess of the rated current value, such conditions tending to bring about degradation of characteristics. Protection circuits for protecting semiconductor elements against irregular conditions have therefore been necessary to prevent degradation of characteristics as semiconductor elements, and a variety of overcurrent sensing circuits have been disclosed in the prior art for the purpose of protecting semiconductor elements.
FIG. 1 shows one example of such a circuit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,084. Power MOS transistor 30 is a transistor comprising 3,000 or more cell transistors, the gates, drains, and sources of each being connected in parallel, and has its source connected to ground 25 and its drain connected to power supply 29 by way of load 31. MOS transistors 24 and 27 are both of a single-cell structure and, similarly to the drain of MOS transistor 30, both have their drains connected to load 31. MOS transistors 24 and 27 also have their sources connected to ground 25, MOS transistor 24 by way of constant-current source 26 and MOS transistor 27 by way of sensing resistor 28. Comparator 33 has its first input terminal 34 connected to the source of MOS transistor 24 and its second input terminal 35 connected to the source of MOS transistor 27, and the output of comparator 33 is connected to output terminal 36. A gate drive (not shown) controls the gates of these MOS transistors 30, 24, and 27 in common by way of gate terminal 37. When the resistance of the cell-unit MOS transistors is 1500 ohms, the resistance of power MOS transistor 30 is approximately 0.5 ohms, and the resistance value of sensing resistor 28 is 30 ohms.
Here, when a current of 10 amperes flows from power supply 29 to power MOS transistor 30 by way of load 31, the current flowing through MOS transistor 27 is approximately 3 milliamperes, and accordingly, the voltage drop of sensing resistor 28 of approximately 100 millivolts is supplied to terminal 35 of comparator 33. Consequently, the current flowing in sensing resistor 28 is insignificant and its voltage drop is also small and has almost no effect on the load current. Moreover, the voltage drop of this sensing resistor 28 is proportional to the value of the current flowing, and this current value is proportional to the load current value flowing through power MOS transistor 30. Accordingly, the current flowing through sensing resistor 28 can be used for sensing the overcurrent of the load current flowing through power MOS transistor 30. Comparator 33 is used to detect whether or not the current is equal to the current flowing through constant-current source 26. When the current is equal to or below this value, the output of comparator 33 is 0. If the current of sensing resistor 28 exceeds the current of constant-current source 26, comparator 33 outputs a high-level signal warning of an overcurrent. The current of constant-current source 26 that serves as the alert standard can be set arbitrarily.
FIG. 2 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of the principal components of a semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model No. 32543/92.
Power MOSFET 41 of this example of the prior art is composed of a large number of MOSFET elements arranged in parallel similar to power MOS transistor 30 of the first example of the prior art described hereinabove, and each of the sources, gates, and drains of the unit elements are coupled in parallel to form a source, gate, and drain as for a single element. This example is characterized by forming, within the same element as output power MOSFET 41, an overcurrent sensing circuit section that senses an overcurrent flowing through output power MOSFET 41 and load 47 by sensing the voltage drop across both ends of source wiring resistor 42 of this power MOSFET 41.
When a normal current flows across the source and drain of power MOSFET 41, the voltage generated at both ends of source wiring resistor 42 is equal to or less than a threshold value and the output of comparator 43 that inputs this voltage is low-level. Next, when an overcurrent flows across the source and drain, the above-described voltage exceeds the threshold value and the output becomes high-level. The absence or presence of an overcurrent is thus detected by sensing circuit 44 based on the output of comparator 43. In addition, ON/OFF control of power MOSFET 41 is effected from a sensing signal using logic circuit 45 and drive circuit 46.
In the case of the above-described U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,084, variance occurring in sensing resistor 28 exerts a direct effect on variance in overcurrent sensing. In other words, voltage drops due to sensing resistor 28 are compared at comparator 33 with a reference value set by constant-current source 26, but the occurrence of any variation in the resistance at the time of manufacture result in a proportional variation in voltage drop, and accordingly, variation in the overcurrent sensing value, and this results in the drawback that accurate overcurrent sensing is prevented.
Further, the use of source wiring resistor 42 in the sense resistance in Utility Model 32543/92 imposes a limit on the resistance that can be set, resulting in the drawback that variation in the resistance value exerts a direct influence on variation in the overcurrent sensing, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,084.

Overcurrent sensing circuit for power MOS field effect transistor


A drive device and a valve including the drive device. The drive device senses the pressure of a working medium and generates a drive force to control the flow of the working medium. The drive device includes a sensing part with a chamber and a drive shaft. Vents and an air exhausting device are arranged on the chamber. The drive device and the valve including such a drive device can exhaust air entering the chamber along with the working medium out of the chamber by the vents on the chamber thereby optimizing the performance of the drive device and the valve and helping to keep the valve operating in a stable manner.

At present, a drive device and a valve including the drive device, such as actuator and adjusting valve comprise a sealing chamber; when the working medium is charged in the chamber, the air in the working medium can enter the chamber; it always exists the state of mixing the air and the working medium is in the chamber; if the working medium is the liquid, the compressed air and uncompressed liquid exit in the drive device together. Although the drive device can work, it is not stable.
Specifically, with reference to FIG. 1, a valve 1 includes a drive device 10 and a sensing chamber 13 formed by the shell 11 and the membrane 12 of the drive device. The membrane 12 is connected with a drive shaft 14. The membrane 12 can sense the pressure in the chamber and drive the drive shaft 14; the drive shaft 14 further drives the valve core component 15 to control the working medium. When the air in the working medium enters the valve, the working medium can enter the sealed chamber of the drive device so that the air in the chamber cannot be discharged; it is always the mixed state of air and working medium in the chamber: the greater of the volume of the chamber, the more of the air, which means that the chamber has less and less of the working medium held in the chamber. As the capacity of the working medium in the chamber is small, the pressure of working medium sensed by the membrane is not accurate, which results in an unstable valve.

Drive device and valve comprising the same

EMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT REGULATOR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.


A submergible vessel for use in shallow-water oil drilling includes a pair of spaced pontoons selectively submergible and raisable in water by the admission and expulsion of water, a main deck, a frame supporting the main deck over the pontoons, and a jacking system for horizontally and vertically translating a packaged drilling rig positioned thereon. The jacking system includes a pair of parallel cantilever beams positioned on the main deck adjacent the stern, vertical jacks for selectively translating the cantilever beams in a vertical direction above the main deck, and horizontal jacks for selectively translating the cantilever beams in a horizontal direction along their longitudinal axes. The deck has an inwardly extending slot formed therein at the stem, and the cantilever beams are positioned on either side of the slot, with their longitudinal axes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the deck. The cantilever beams are spaced apart to support the packaged drilling rig, the jacking system being operable to move the packaged drilling rig either outward over the slot or outward and upward to the edge of the deck of a fixed drilling platform. The cantilever beams are retained on guide shoes, each of which includes rollers which can be raised to permit horizontal movement of the cantilever beams relative to the guide shoes. In use, the vessel can be towed out to a well site and the pontoons are submerged stem first so as to rest on the sea floor. The jacking system can then be used to move packaged drilling rig to the drilling platform deck.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and a method for the drilling and re-entry of oil and gas wells in shallow, offshore waters. More specifically, the invention relates to a bottom-setting vessel incorporating a jacking system and a method of using such a vessel and jacking system for transporting and positioning packaged drilling rigs and production facilities.
2. Related Art
Oil and gas wells in shallow offshore waters (that is, water between about 10 feet and 150 feet deep) were initially drilled by means of platform drilling rigs, jack-up rigs, or submersible rigs. In all cases, the wells were outfitted employing a well for operational or safety purposes. Single-caisson, well-protect structures or platforms were employed in the drilling and production operations.
Presently, the re-entry and drilling of offshore prospects are in demand. Early production platforms or "first oil" systems are being employed to eliminate the need to drill new wells, and thus to reduce the time for sales of oil. Because the platforms no longer have drilling rigs, packaged drilling rigs must be brought out to the platforms in order to achieve the desired re-entry. Jacking systems may be used to jack the platform out of the water by using the ocean bottom as the jack base.


A back-light module with an improved light projecting assembly for an image scanning device is disclosed. The light projecting assembly includes a light projecting window having two symmetric or asymmetric opposite edges, incorporated with the back-light module. A light guide plate is mounted in the back-light module with a shape corresponding to that of the light projecting window. Two tubular lamps with a shape corresponding to the edges of the light guide plate. Light transmitted from the tubular lamps are guided by the light guide plate for spreading over and projecting from the light guide plate onto a diffusion plate arranged under the light guide plate. The light is further distributed by a diffusion plate and projected to the optical scanning module of the scanner via the light projecting window.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a back-light module for image scanning devices, and in particular to a back-light module with an improved light projecting assembly for projecting a uniform light to the image scanning devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Document scanners are generally classified in two types for respectively handling a reflective original document which comprises an opaque substrate and a transmissive original document which comprises a transparent substrate. A transmissive original document scanner comprises a back-light module for generating light projecting the image formed on an original document onto an image sensor system of the document scanner.
A conventional back-light module comprises a movable line-type light source which is movable in a given direction from one end of the original document to an opposite end. A driving system is required to move the light source, which complicates the overall structure of the back-light module.
Another conventional back-light module comprises a surface-type light source which requires no movement of any parts of the back-light module. FIG. 1 is a perspective view that shows an image scanning device 1 equipped with a back-light module 2 comprising a surface-type light source.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional scanner 1 for transmissive original documents comprises a housing (not labeled) having a transparent document supporting plate 10 thereon for supporting an original document to be scanned (not shown). A back-light module 3 is pivotally mount ed on the scanner 1 for selectively covering the document supporting plate 10. An optical scanning module 11, comprising a sensor system, is movably supported inside the housing of the scanner by a pair of guide rails 12, 13 for scanning the original document supported on the transparent document supporting plate 10. At scanning of a transparent original document, the back-light module 2 is covered on the document supporting plate 10.
The back-light module 2 includes a casing 21 having an open bottom closed by a bottom plate 22. Within the inner space formed by the casing 21 and the bottom plate 22, there are two tubular lamps, a reflective sheet, a light guide plate, and a diffusion plate. Commonly, the tubular lamps are arranged parallelly along two opposite sides of the light guide plate. Light transmitted from the tubular lamps are guided by the light guide plate for spreading over and projecting from the light guide plate onto the diffusion plate. The light is further distributed by the diffusion plate to uniformly project toward and through the light projecting window 23 to the optical scanning module 11.
The light projecting window 23 mounted on the bottom plate 22 of the back-light module 2 is a light transmissible window. Conventionally, various geometrical patterns of light projecting window are designed according to different requirements, such as rectangular shape light projecting window 23 as shown in FIG. 1 or long rectangular light projecting window 24 as shown in FIG. 2. In scanning operation, a mask with an identical window corresponding to the shape of the original transparent document to be scanned is needed to be placed on the document supporting plate. Therefore, user must prepare a number of masks with different shapes, which is very inconvenient in practice.
Thus, it is desired to provide an improved light projecting assembly for the back-light module for overcoming the above discussed problems.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved light projecting assembly of a back-light module for providing various illumination requirements at scanning different transmissive original documents.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light projecting assembly for providing a uniform projecting light to the optical scanning module of a scanner. The light projecting assembly is provided with a light projecting window having two symmetric or asymmetric opposite edges.
To achieve the objects above, the back-light module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided with a light projecting window having two symmetric or asymmetric opposite edges, incorporated with the back-light module. A light guide plate is mounted in the back-light module with a shape corresponding to that of the light projecting window. Two tubular lamps with a shape corresponding to the edges of the light guide plate. Light transmitted from the tubular lamps are guided by the light guide plate for spreading over and projecting from the light guide plate onto a diffusion plate arranged under the light guide plate. The light is further distributed by a diffusion plate and projected to the optical scanning module of the scanner via the light projecting window.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment and the best mode of operation thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Back-light module with improved light projecting assembly for image scanning device


An aircraft propeller blade including an airfoil-profile structure. The airfoil-profile structure includes at least one fiber reinforcement obtained by three-dimensional weaving of yarns and densified by a matrix, and a shaping part made of cellular rigid material of determined shape, the reinforcement including at least two halves linked together by continuous weaving in the leading edge of the propeller blade, the two halves fitting tightly around the shaping part.

The present invention relates to the field of propeller blades for aircraft, such as the blades present on turboprops.
Propeller blades for turboprops are generally made of a metal material. Although propeller blades made of metal material present good mechanical strength, they nevertheless present the drawback of being relatively heavy.
In order to obtain propeller blades that are lighter, it is known to make propeller blades out of composite material, i.e. by making structural parts out of fiber reinforcement with a resin matrix.
The technique generally used consists in forming a stack of preimpregnated unidirectional sheets or plies (draping) that is placed in a mold with the successive plies being given different orientations, prior to compacting and polymerizing in an autoclave. An example of how a propeller blade can be made by that technique is described in particular in document U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,651.
That technique is very difficult and requires the ply stacking operations to be performed manually, which is lengthy and expensive. In addition, the stratified structure is not optimal, in particular concerning shocks or impacts that may give rise to delamination.
Document EP 1 526 285 describes a more effective method of fabricating a turbine engine blade out of composite material, the blade being fabricated by three-dimensionally weaving a fiber preform and densifying the preform with an organic matrix. That method makes it possible to obtain blades that present very great mechanical strength, in particular against shocks or impacts, without any risk of delamination. Nevertheless, propeller blades of large dimensions made using that technique still present relatively great weight. Unfortunately, in order to improve the performance of turboprops, in particular in terms of fuel consumption, it is desired to reduce weight.


A method for managing power data includes determining an amount of power used for a system running an application over a first time period from an operating system. An amount of power used for the system in a baseline state over a second time period is determined from the operating system. A net power consumption of the application is determined from the amount of power used for the system running the application and the amount of power used for the system in the baseline state.

Continuing efforts have been made on several fronts to better manage power in computer systems in order to conserve electricity and extend battery life. Solutions for power conservation include improving designs of hardware components such as microprocessors, displays, and storage devices to make them more energy efficient. Solutions for power conservation also include the development of mechanisms in operating systems to allow computer users to adjust power to the display and hard disk as well as configure standby and hibernation modes of computer systems.
More recently, software developers have also taken the initiative to assess the effect of certain applications on power consumption on a computer system platform. In order for software developers to gather power data on applications, the computer system platform needed to be tested in a lab where measurement devices could be physically connected to the computer system platform to take accurate readings. This required additional resources that increased the cost and time of product development. The introduction of the smart battery has allowed some products to provide power consumption data for a computer system platform. These products, however, do not have the capability to determine the quality nor check the accuracy of the information supplied by the smart battery, nor do the products provide net power consumption information for an application being run on the computer system.
Thus, there exists a need for an efficient and effective method for determining the net power consumption of an application on a computer system platform.

Method and apparatus for measuring absolute and net power consumption for computer systems


This invention is directed to a substrate treating apparatus in which a treatment is performed upon a top surface and a bottom surface of a substrate to be carried on a substrate carrying plane inclined at a certain angle to a horizontal plane in a direction normal to a substrate carrying direction. The substrate treating apparatus includes a guide plate provided below a substrate carrying plane along which a bottom surface of the substrate is to be carried; and treating liquid supply means having a first treating liquid supply member for supplying a treating liquid to a clearance defined between the bottom surface of the substrate carrying plane and the guide plate.

The present invention relates to a substrate treating apparatus for use with glass substrates (base plates) for liquid crystals and photomasks, etc. on the surfaces of which thin films, such as of a photoresist coating solution, a photosensitive polyimide resin and dyestuffs for color filters, are to be formed. The apparatus supplies a given treating liquid to the principal planes of those substrates for desired treatment.
It has been known as conventional technology in treating apparatus for a substrate that has been subjected to certain treatment in a preceding step to be treated with a chemical and then carried to the next step after being cleaned with cleaning water. Such a substrate treating apparatus generally comprises an apparatus body including a chemical treatment station, a water cleaning station and a drying station arranged in series, and substrate carrying means provided to extend through the chemical treatment station, water cleaning station and drying station. A substrate is treated while being carried by the carrying means through the chemical treatment station, the water cleaning station and the drying station in the order named.
Specifically, certain chemical treatment is first performed on the substrate in the chemical treatment station by supplying various chemicals such as alkaline cleaning chemical, developer, etchant and remover to the top and bottom surfaces of a substrate. Then, after removing the chemical, a water cleaning process is performed on the substrate in the water cleaning station. Finally, a drying process is performed in the drying station by e.g., spraying air to the substrate.
When the substrate is carried from the chemical treatment station to the water cleaning station, there is the possibility that the substrate subjected to certain chemical treatment in the chemical treatment station is not completely free of the chemical on the top and bottom surfaces thereof. If such substrate is carried to the water cleaning station without incomplete removal of the chemical, chemical residuals are introduced to in the cleaning water in the water cleaning station, thereby contaminating the cleaning water which is circulated along a circulation passage for repeated use. As a result, usability of the cleaning water is reduced.
To avoid such a problem, an air knife is provided on a boundary between the chemical treatment station and the water cleaning station to allow gas in the form of an air curtain to be sprayed onto the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate. With this arrangement, chemical residuals on the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate are removed therefrom to such an extent that chemical residues do not dry on the surfaces of the substrate. Thus, intrusion of chemical into the water cleaning station is prevented.
In the water cleaning station, to perform a water cleaning process completely, such process is performed at two stages, i.e., in a first water cleaning section and a second water cleaning section.
When treating large sized substrates, it is often the case that a cleaning process in the first cleaning section and a cleaning process in the second cleaning section proceed simultaneously while the same substrate is being carried through the first and second water cleaning sections. That is, cleaning water (first cleaning water) is supplied to an upstream portion of the substrate carried in the first water cleaning section with respect to the substrate carrying direction (or simply referred to as a F-direction), while at the same time, another type of cleaning water (second cleaning water) is supplied to a downstream portion of the substrate carried in the second water cleaning section with respect to the substrate carrying direction (F-direction).
In such case, since the first cleaning water and the second cleaning water are supplied to the substrate at the same time, it is unavoidable that the first cleaning water mixes with the second cleaning water on the principal planes of the substrate. As a result, although desirable accurate replacement of the cleaning water is not executed on a boundary between the first water cleaning section and the second water cleaning section.
To solve the above drawback, space (intermediate zone) is provided at the boundary between the first water cleaning section and the second water cleaning section, and in this intermediate zone no process is performed on the substrate being carried by the carrying means. When the intermediate portion of the substrate passes through the intermediate zone, supplying of the first and second cleaning water is temporarily suspended. However, to make this arrangement, it is necessary to extend the water cleaning bath constituting the water cleaning station by the space corresponding to the intermediate zone, thus extending the whole length for the water cleaning bath. This leads to another problem, increasing cost of the facility.
To solve the drawback resulting from supplying the first and second cleaning water, simultaneously an air knife is provided at the boundary between the first and second water cleaning sections to spray gas toward the substrate being carried on the boundary. In this case, however, there is the possibility that the surface of the substrate will be dried partially by the gas ejected from the air knife. When the surface of the substrate is dried a certain part, stains are liable to be generated on the dried part, and such stains cannot be removed even by the water cleaning process. Accordingly, after the substrate is subjected to drying, it is highly likely that particles are generated from the stains, thus making it difficult to produce substrates free of contaminants.
To solve the above drawbacks, the applicant of this invention has proposed a substrate treating apparatus, see Japanese Patent Application No. HEI 8-88247 wherein cleaning water is ejected toward the top and bottom surfaces of a substrate from a water ejector comprising a pair of top and bottom ejectors arranged at one lateral end of the substrate in a direction normal to the substrate carrying direction (the F direction).
With this arrangement, streams of cleaning water ejected from the water ejector at a high fluid rate across the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate from the one lateral end to the opposite lateral end. This increases the effect of cleaning and smooth removal of the cleaning water from the surfaces of the substrate. Thus, this arrangement is effective in replacing cleaning water at the boundary between the first and second water cleaning sections without necessitating a larger sized water cleaning bath. This arrangement is also effective in suppressing generation of stains on the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate since there is no need for providing an air knife. However, in the apparatus of Japanese Patent Application No. 8-88247, water pressure for ejecting cleaning water is set at a relatively high level because the rear side ejecting means has an eject port oriented upward with a certain inclination angle to eject cleaning water toward the rear surface of the substrate. Due to the upward directing eject port of the rear side ejecting means, a phenomenon is likely to occur that cleaning water ejected toward the rear surface of the substrate drips down therefrom, due to the gravity, while running down the bottom surface, so the cleaning of the entire bottom surface is incomplete. To prevent such phenomenon, a high pressure cleaning water supply system must be provided.


An image capturing apparatus performs rough detection through high-speed focus detection targeting on a face contour portion and then performs focusing through high-precision focus detection targeting on a face-included portion set inside the face contour.

1. Field of the Invention
One disclosed aspect of the embodiments relates to an image capturing apparatus including a focus detection unit using a contrast evaluation value and an image capturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 4,536,248 discusses a focus detection apparatus configured to detect a focal position while performing contrast evaluation on a plurality of predetermined focal point detection areas. The focus detection apparatus performs face detection and limits focal point detection areas according to the position of the detected face.
The focus detection apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent No. 4,536,248 has first and second focusing control modes. In the first focusing control mode, a human eye area is intensively and selectively set as a focal point detection area. In the second focusing control mode, the focus detection apparatus performs focus detection using autofocus (AF) control that is different from the first focusing control mode.
In the focus detection, first, for example, an image area such as a screen center is targeted as a focal point detection area, and focus control is performed on the image area in the second focusing control mode. Then, after the focus control is performed on an area near an focusing position, an eye area is targeted as a focal point detection area, and the focus control is performed on the eye area in the first focusing control mode, whereby the focus is controlled onto a final focusing position. By the foregoing operation, the face especially the eyes can be focused.
Further, Japanese Patent No. 4,974,812 discusses an image capturing apparatus that focuses on a specific object such as a face without being disturbed by a background subject. In Japanese Patent No. 4,974,812, there are first and second areas. In the first area, a focal point detection area is set to cover a contour of a specific object such as a face. In the second area, a focal point detection area that is smaller than the first area is set inside the contour of the specific object.
In each of the first and second areas, spatial frequency components of a plurality of bands in the focal point detection areas are detected. If a difference between the bands of the spatial frequency components detected in the first area is larger than that in the second area, there may be a possibility of perspective conflict, so that the range of focus movement for the focus detection is limited to be narrow. The foregoing operation is performed so that if a perspective conflict is detected between the specific object and the background subject, the range of focus movement for the focus detection is limited to be narrow enough to exclude the background, whereby the perspective conflict can be avoided.
In the case of the image capturing apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent No. 4,536,248, if the shooting distance is long, the size of a face sometimes becomes so small that an image of an eye area is shot in significantly small size. In this case, it is sometimes impossible to detect a sufficient contrast, which results in focus determination at a wrong focusing position when making a focus determination or makes the focusing impossible. This problem becomes especially conspicuous under the conditions such as backlight and overexposure/underexposure that make the contrast evaluation difficult.
In the image capturing apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent No. 4,974,812, a wide focal point detection area is set to cover a contour of a specific object such as a face. If the focal point detection area is set in such a way, the focal point detection area is likely to include subjects showing various exposure amounts such as a face and a background. As a result, the contrast of a main subject is not sufficiently obtained, making it impossible to detect a focal point with high precision.

Image capturing apparatus and image capturing method


A solar cell module comprises a solar cell soldered to a mounting element, such as a ceramic substrate. The solder bond can comprise a void. A method of reducing a solder void comprises reflowing the solder using a vacuum source and a heat source in a sealed chamber. The chamber is formed, at least in part, by a cowling into which the solar cell module is mounted. A system for reducing voids in a solder bond comprises a heat source and a vacuum source coupled to the sealed chamber into which a solar cell module is placed. The system can optionally include a control system that automates the execution of methods of reducing solder voids. The system can further include a pressure source to aid in reducing the solder void and reflowing the solder after the void is reduced.

A solar cell module comprises a solar cell die soldered to a substrate. A known defect in the manufacturing of solar cell modules is the presence of voids in the solder between the solar cell die and the substrate. Voids in the solder can introduce at least two problems in a solar cell module. First, the solder contact area between the solar cell die and the substrate is reduced by the sum total of all void areas in the solder. The reduction in contact area increases the current density present in the solder that electrically couples the solar cell die to the substrate. Second, in concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems, light is focused onto a solar cell die to maximize solar energy conversion. In CPV systems, the concentration of light also concentrates substantial heat onto the solar cell die, through the die to the solder, from the solder to the substrate, and to an underlying sheet metal plane. A solder void comprises an atmosphere that reduces the thermal heat transfer area and increases the junction temperature. The increased junction temperature requires the use of heat sinks to keep the solar cell cool, otherwise the operating efficiency of the solar cell will drop significantly. The reduction in contact area further exacerbates the heating due to increased current density and can result in solar cell module failure.
To address these problems, it is preferable to control the area of any single solder void to less than 1% of the total solder area between the solar cell die and the substrate. It is further preferable to control the total area of voids to less than 5% of the total solder area between the solar cell die and the substrate.


A resist material has a base polymer containing a compound including a copolymer of a first unit represented by a general formula of the following Chemical Formula 1 and a second unit represented by a general formula of the following Chemical Formula 2:

The present invention relates to a resist material or a chemically amplified resist material suitably used in refinement technique and a pattern formation method using the resist material.
In accordance with recent increase of the degree of integration and the operation speed of an LSI, there are increasing demands for refinement of an interconnect pattern rule.
The refinement of the interconnect pattern rule has been rapidly developed because of increased NA of a projection lens, improved performance of a resist material, a reduced wavelength of exposing light and the like.
With respect to increase of resolution and sensitivity of a resist material, a positive chemically amplified resist material using, as a catalyst, an acid generated through irradiation with exposing light exhibits high performance and hence has become a leading resist material particularly in the field of deep UV lithography (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-27660 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-27829).
Also, reduction of the wavelength of the exposing light from i line (of a wavelength of a 365 nm band) to KrF excimer laser (of a wavelength of a 248 nm band) has brought a large technical innovation, and a resist material for the KrF excimer laser was applied to 0.30 μm process at first and to a 0.18 μm rule in the course of time and is now applied to mass-production employing a 0.15 μm rule.
Furthermore, a 0.13 μm rule has already been studied. Thus, the speed for development in the refinement has been increasing, and hence, it is necessary to further improve transparency and substrate adhesiveness of a resist material.
It is expected that the design rule can be further refined to 90 nm or less by using ArF excimer laser (of a wavelength of a 193 nm band) as the exposing light. However, a conventionally used resin such as a Novolac resin or a poly(vinylphenol)-based resin has strong absorption in the vicinity of the wavelength of the 193 nm band, and hence cannot be used as a base polymer for a resist film in this case.
Therefore, for attaining transparency and dry etching resistance, use of an acrylic resin or a cycloolefin-based alicyclic resin as a base polymer has been examined (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 9-73173, 10-10739 and 9-230595 and International Bureau pamphlet numbered WO97/33198).
The other references related to the background of the invention are Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2000-330289 and 2002-250215; Tsuyohiko FUJIGAYA, Shinji ANDO, Yuji SHIBASAKI, Mitsuru UEDA, Shinji KISHIMURA, Masayuki ENDO and Masaru SASAGO, "New Photoresist Material for 157 nm Lithography-2", J. Photopolym. Sci. Technol., 15(4), 643-654(2002); and Polymer Handbook 4th Edition, 11-309, Wiley-Interscience.
An acrylic resin has, however, a problem that a resultant resist pattern is in a poor shape when it is used as a base polymer because it swells in development, and an alicyclic resin has a problem that solubility in a developer and substrate adhesiveness are degraded when it is used as a base polymer because it has a strong hydrophobic property.
On the other hand, F2 laser (of a wavelength of a 157 nm band) is expected to attain refinement of the design rule to approximately 65 nm or less, but it is difficult to attain sufficient transparency of a base polymer. It has been found that an acrylic resin that is used as a base polymer in using ArF excimer laser does not transmit the F2 laser at all, and that a cycloolefin-based resin having a carbonyl bond has strong absorption against the F2 laser. Furthermore, poly(vinylphenol), which is used as a base polymer in using KrF excimer laser, has an absorption window (namely, a region that has high transparency because exposing light is not absorbed therein) in the vicinity of a wavelength of a 160 nm band, and hence the transmittance is slightly improved when it is used, but it has been found that the transmittance is still far from practical level (that is, transmittance of 40% or more).

Resist material and pattern formation method

Abstract: wherein R1, R2, R3, R7, and R8 are the same or different and are a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, or a straight-chain alkyl group, a branched or cyclic alkyl group or a fluoridated alkyl group with a carbon number not less than 1 and not more than 20; R4 is a straight-chain alkylene group or a branched or cyclic alkylene group with a carbon number not less than 0 and not more than 20; R5 and R6 are the same or different and are a hydrogen atom, a straight-chain alkyl group, a branched or cyclic alkyl group or a fluoridated alkyl group with a carbon number not less than 1 and not more than 20, or a protecting group released by an acid; and R9 is a fluorine atom, or a straight-chain alkyl group, a branched or cyclic alkyl group or a fluoridated alkyl group with a carbon number not less than 1 and not more than 20.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for correcting a named entity word in a speech input text. The method includes recognizing a speech input signal from a user, obtaining a recognition result including named entity vocabulary mark-up information, determining a named entity word recognized incorrectly in the recognition result according to the named entity vocabulary mark-up information, displaying the named entity word recognized incorrectly, and correcting the named entity word recognized incorrectly.

When voice recognition is used as an intelligent text input method, i.e., when speech input is converted to text, e.g., in a mobile terminal, an incorrectly recognized word in speech input text is correctable in post-processing. Specifically, speech input by a user is recognized and then the recognition result is examined to detect a word that may be incorrectly recognized. A correction mode is then provided for the user to correct the detected word that may be incorrectly recognized.
Currently, to detect an incorrectly-recognized word, a confidence degree between the input speech and the recognition result is measured through a confidence measure, and when a word with a low confidence degree is detected, that word is identified as possibly being recognized incorrectly. To correct an incorrectly recognized word, a correction mode is provided for a user to re-input the correct word through a number of different methods. For example, the user may choose a correct word from a local communication log, may re-choose a correct word from candidate words with similar pronunciations to the incorrectly-recognized word, may re-input speech through re-speaking, may enter a correct word through handwriting recognition, may directly enter a correct word through keyboard, etc. The word re-input by the user is used for correction.
However, this conventional type of correction mode has a number of defects.
For example, in the conventional correction mode, the same confidence measure is used to analyze every word input by speech recognition. However, word recognition accuracy in recognizing continuous speech in a specific domain can reach 90%, while a word that tends to be incorrectly recognized is an Out-Of-Vocabulary (OOV) word; meaning the word is not included in a speech recognition system vocabulary.
In voice inputting a short message, an email, a query entry, etc., nouns usually carry the main idea of the input content. Among all the nouns, named entity vocabulary, which mainly includes person names, place names, and organization names, has a large proportion. Because the named entity vocabulary is a constantly growing vocabulary set and is continuously updated, many named entity words are OOV words to a speech recognition system, which will tend to cause incorrect recognition. The conventional methods do not focus on locating such named entity vocabulary that often carry the main idea of input content, and tend to be incorrectly recognized.
Further, when correcting an incorrectly recognized word, the conventional methods only focus on providing correction methods for the user by re-inputting a correct word, but do not consider richer or more convenient correction ways.

Method and apparatus for correcting a word in speech input text


A device for sorting coins in at least four coin tubes of a coin changer that leave a coin testing device, the coin tubes being located in a common plane, the device comprising a housing having a substantially vertical wall, a first gate element including a first runway inclined relative to a horizontal level and a barrier portion at the lower end of a first runway, the first gate element being supported for movement approximately perpendicular to wall and actuable by a first electro magnet between two positions, in the first position the first runway projecting from wall and the first barrier portion together with wall forming a passage whereby a coin may roll along the first runway through the passage while in the second position the runway extends into wall and the first barrier portion is adjacent to wall.

It is generally known to provide money changers for coin-operated machines with so-called coin tubes which receive coins of certain denominational values in an upright position. The coin tubes stack the coins in columns, and a pay-out device associated with the lower ends of the coin tubes delivers coins from the tubes in correspondence to the small change which is to be given out. Prior to this, a coin testing device tests the coins for genuineness. Coins which are found to be genuine either get into a cash-box or sorting device which sorts the coins into the individual tubes according to their denominational values. More recent money changers have a maximum of six coin tubes for coin storage.
From EP 0 957 457 B1, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, a sorting device for coin-operated machines has become known in which coin tubes arranged in a row are allotted the coins via four sorting flaps. From EP 0 622 763 B2, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, a sorting device has become known in which sorting gates are provided in three superposed planes to route coins to four coin tubes.
From EP 0 576 436 B1, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, a sorting device has become known which also feeds four coin tubes. A first V-shaped gate element leads incoming coins to one side or the opposite one. For this purpose, the two legs of the V-shaped gate element are either in the plane of the arriving coins or outside the same. The first gate element is operated by a first solenoid. Either side of the first gate element has disposed thereon gate portions which can be pivoted about a vertical axis. When in one position, they pass arriving coins on to another runway and, when in the other position, they direct the coins to a coin tube which is disposed underneath. Here, the disadvantage is that the coins require to be deflected in a vertical direction from the plane in which they drop into the sorting device.
It is the object of the invention to provide a device for sorting coins in which the coins are moved and deflected in one plane only.


A fuel system of an engine is provided with a venting assembly to vent air that accumulates within a fuel filter of the fuel system and provides anti-drainback of clean fuel back toward the fuel filter when the engine is turned off. In one embodiment, the venting assembly includes a piston valve that provides both the vent and anti-drainback. The valve is actuatable by fluid pressure to a first position that restricts drainback, a second position that restricts venting, and intermediate positions between the first and second positions which permit venting.

FIG. 1 provides a schematic illustration of a fuel system 10 in a diesel engine. The fuel system 10 is shown to include a fuel tank 12, a low pressure fuel pump 14 pumping fuel from the tank 12, a fuel filter 16 that filters the fuel from the pump 14, and a high pressure fuel pump 18 that increases the fuel pressure and feeds the fuel to a fuel reservoir 20. From the fuel reservoir 20, the fuel is distributed to a number of fuel injectors 22 where the fuel is injected and combusted in the engine.
During operation of a diesel engine, air can accumulate within the fuel system, for example within the fuel filter. In addition, air can enter the fuel system as a result of changing the fuel filter. Regardless of how air enters the fuel system, it is desirable to provide means to vent the air from the fuel system because air can interfere with the smooth and continuous delivery of fuel to the engine, decease engine performance and possibly lead to engine damage.
A number of means to vent air from a fuel system have been provided in the past. One such means includes a vent line that connects to the flow line connecting the low pressure pump to the fuel filter, the venting line connecting to the fuel tank so that air is vented into the fuel tank. Another known method is to provide an air vent mechanism on or near the fuel filter. Manually operated mechanical venting valves and venting screws associated with the fuel filter have been often used. These mechanisms can be difficult for a person to actuate, and can lead to fuel spills if they are not actuated properly. To avoid these difficulties, automatic venting has become more common. One automatic venting method is to provide a small orifice in the fuel filter that allows air to flow out of the fuel filter and back to the fuel tank through a vent line.
FIGS. 2A-C illustrate another version of a known automatic venting mechanism 24 associated with a fuel filter. The mechanism 24 is disposed adjacent to, but downstream from, the fuel filter to receive clean fuel via an inlet port 26. A clean fuel exit port 28 leads to the engine and an air vent passage 30 connected to the fuel tank is provided for air venting. A valve mechanism is provided for controlling the flow of air and fuel through the mechanism 24. The valve mechanism includes an inner valve 32 and an outer valve 34 which cooperate together to control the flow.
The valves 32, 34 are actuated by fluid pressure generated by the upstream fuel pump, or in the absence of fuel pump pressure, by gravity. FIG. 2A shows the valves 32, 34 in a position when the engine is turned off, where the valves 32 and 34 are at their lowermost positions with the valve 32 blocking the inlet port 26 and the valve 34 blocking the exit port 28 in an effort to prevent backflow of clean fuel from the exit port 28 back through the inlet port 26. Upon starting of the engine, pressure generated by the fuel pump acts on the lower end of the valve 32, thereby lifting the valve 32 upward as shown in FIG. 2B. In this position, air is able to flow past a gap between the valve 32 and the inside of the valve 34 in which the valve 32 is disposed, through a hole in the top of the valve 34, and out the air vent passage 30 back to the fuel tank. FIG. 2C illustrates the positions of the valves 32, 34 in a topmost position once the air is vented and liquid fuel starts flowing. The fuel acts on the ends of the valves 32, 34 to lift the valves 32, 34 upward. The top of the valve 32 is lifted up to close the hole through the top of the valve 34 and prevent further venting. The valve 34 is lifted upward until a reduced diameter section thereof intersects the exit port 28. Fuel can then flow past the valve 34 between the side of the valve 34 and the interior of the valve housing to the exit port 28.
The mechanism 24 illustrated in FIGS. 2A-C uses two valves 32, 34 that cooperate together in an effort to achieve air venting and prevent backflow of clean fuel. Since two valves are used, the mechanism is somewhat complicated, and the operation of one or both of the valves 32, 34 could be impaired as a result of particulate mater or other contamination accumulating on or in the valves. In addition, the fuel must flow through a relatively narrow opening between the outside of the valve 34 and the interior of the valve housing to reach the exit port 28. This reduces the amount of fuel that can reach the exit port and increases the pressure requirements for the fuel pump for pumping the fuel. Further, an increased differential pressure from filter inlet to outlet will effectively decrease the service interval (i.e. longevity) of the filter.
An improved automatic venting means in a fuel filter system would be beneficial that permits automatic venting and prevents drainback of clean liquid fuel.

Fuel system with air venting and fuel anti-drainback


A converter circuit for an inductive load, such as the phase windings of a switched reluctance motor, uses only n-switches for n-phases. In a four phase machine, each of three of the phases is serially connected with a switch across one voltage source. The remaining phase is serially connected with a switch across another voltage source which receives the inductive energy returned by the other three phases. This returned energy is used to energize the fourth phase. A generator converter is also disclosed in which the energy in the fourth phase is used to provide the excitation for the other three phases.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a converter circuit for a polyphase switched inductive load. The invention is particularly, though not exclusively, applicable to a converter circuit for a switched reluctance machine.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic elements of a typical four-phase switched reluctance machine. It has eight salient poles on the stator and six salient poles on the rotor. Both the stator and the rotor are laminated. Each stator pole carries a simple exciting coil, and opposite coils are connected to form the north and south poles of one `phase`. Only one phase winding is shown for the sake of clarity, excited from a d.c. supply.
Torque is developed by the tendency of the magnetic circuit to adopt a configuration of minimum reluctance, i.e., for a pair of rotor poles to be pulled into alignment with an excited pair of stator poles, maximizing the inductance of the exciting coils. Continuous rotation (in either direction) is achieved by switching the phases in the appropriate sequence, so that torque is developed continuously in the desired direction. The larger the current supplied to the coils, the greater the torque.
When a pair of rotor poles are fully aligned with a pair of stator poles, the effective air gap between them is at a minimum and the inductance is at a maximum so that the flux linking the coils is also at a maximum for a given current. Excitation of the winding coils creates the magnetic forces that tend to attract the rotor to this orientation of minimum reluctance. By timing and sequencing the switching of each phase as the rotor poles approach pairs of stator poles, continuous rotation of the rotor can be achieved.
Similarly, the same switched reluctance machine can be arranged as a generator by mechanically driving the rotor past the stator poles and timing and sequencing the switching of the coils as the rotor poles are leaving the position of minimum reluctance so that the mechanical work on the rotor is converted into a current flowing in the windings.
A conventional converter circuit is designed to receive a d.c. or rectified mains a.c. supply and to apply it to a load according to a switching strategy. Converters for switched reluctance machines are described in the paper `The Characteristics, Design and Applications of Switched Reluctance Motors and Drive` by J. M. Stephenson and R. J. Blake delivered at PCIM '93 at Nurnberg, Germany, Jun. 21-24, 1993. This paper discloses the typical two-switches-per-phase circuit shown in FIG. 1. In this kind of converter circuit, the voltage drop across both of the switches is significant when the supply voltage is low, e.g., around 12 volts as would be found in an automotive electrical system.
To reduce the number of switches and yet maintain efficient energy conversion, the so-called `C-dump` circuit was developed. This uses n+1 switches, where n is the number of phases of the load switched by the converter. One form of the C-dump circuit is illustrated in FIG. 2. The circuit operates by "dumping" stored magnetic energy at the end of a switching cycle into a capacitor (C.sub.0 in FIG. 2) which operates at a voltage above the main dc link. To regulate this voltage, a down converter is required (L.sub.0 /D.sub.0 /T.sub.0 in FIG. 2) to return energy to the dc link. It will be appreciated that, even though the C-dump circuit realizes a reduction in the component count over the two-switches-per-phase converter there is still an inductor/diode/switch arrangement that does not contribute to the motor switching function but is essential to the circuit operation as the means to return electrical energy back to the supply.
The C-dump converter circuit and other converter topologies are described in the paper `A Modified C-Dump Converter for Variable-Reluctance Machines` by A. Hava, V. Blasko and T. A. Lipo, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 28, No. 5, Sept/Oct 1992, and in the paper `SRM Inverter Topologies: A Comparative Evaluation` by S. Vukosavic & V. R. Stefanovic, IEEE Trans on Ind. Appl., Vol. 127, No. 6, 1991, p. 1034-47.
In a polyphase switched reluctance machine for a mass-produced article, such as a washing machine, the cost of the switching devices is significant. Therefore, if any further saving on the component count in the converter circuit can be realized, significant cost and space benefits may be achieved.

Converter circuit for a polyphase switched inductive load


A method which constructs, in each transmitter/receiver of a mobile body or vehicle, information tables recording the changes undergone by a radio channel by memorizing, during consecutive time intervals of a determined duration dT that are smaller than the period of recurrence T, of the statuses of the radio channel, namely "in collision", "busy" or "free". The method then sets fixed transmission instants in each transmitter/receiver, these fixed transmission instants being temporally spaced out at intervals equal to the recurrence period T, to predict the status of the channel for each fixed transmission instant as a function of the status of the channel memorized at the instant preceding it with a temporal shift equal to the period T, and in deciding to transmit at this instant if the predicted status of the channel is not a status of collision or to transmit at an instant deferred with respect to the predicted instant if the opposite is the case.

The present invention relates to a method for the transmission of data among mobile or autonomous vehicles having no absolute time reference and communicating with one another by radio link on a single channel with a limited range such that the propagation time remains negligible as compared with the reaction time t.sub.r of the receivers.
With a method such as this, if it is assumed that a vehicle is within effective range when the signal-to-noise ratio at reception remains at an appropriate level, then the only risk that a message will not be received arises out of the fact that it collides with another message transmitted at the same instant in a same perimeter by another vehicle.
The collisions take place notably when two vehicles B and C, within range of one and the same third vehicle A, transmit simultaneously towards this vehicle. There are then two possibilities depending on whether or not the two transmitting vehicles B and C are linked (i.e. are within radioelectrical range of each other) or are not linked and are concealed from each other by a third vehicle interposed between them.
In the former case, procedures known as CSMA or Carrier Sense Multiple Access procedures (i.e. listening for the freedom of the channel before transmission) enable the collisions to be greatly reduced.
However, in the latter case, there is no access procedure by which these collisions can be prevented, and this is detrimental to many applications such as, for example, those relating to road safety in inter-city or urban areas when it is imperative to make accurate transmission of at least one message during determined periods of time that are relatively short (for example 100 ms) to other mobile bodies or vehicles within effective range.

Method for the transmission of data among mobile bodies or autonomous vehicles


A microwave oven includes a cavity formed by a plurality of plates with inner surfaces thereof forming a cooking chamber, outer surfaces of the plates forming a casing of the microwave oven, a shielding plate forming a machine chamber underneath the cavity to provide therein a magnetron and a high voltage transformer, and a door attached to a side surface in the cavity and opening/shielding the cooking chamber to/from an exterior thereof. The microwave oven minimizes the size while maximizing the capacity of the cooking chamber, thereby decreasing the required plate number and production cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave oven, and more particularly, to an improved microwave oven which increases a cooking chamber capacity thereof while minimizing the oven size.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the composition of a conventional microwave oven, and FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line I-I' in FIG. 1 to show a cavity structure of the conventional microwave oven.
The conventional microwave oven includes a cavity 1 formed by a plurality of plates 3, 4, 5, 6. The cavity 1 is completed by covering an outer case 8.
The formation of the cavity 1 will now be described.
First, the front plate 3 is installed at the front part of the cavity 1. The back plate 4 is installed at the rear part of the cavity 1.
Also, the lower plate 5 is installed to form a lower surface and both side surfaces of the cavity 1. An upper plate 6 is provided to serve as a ceiling. A base plate 7 is provided to form a lower surface of the mechanical room is disposed underneath the lower plate 5 to thereby form a lower surface of a machine chamber 9.
The cooking chamber 2 formed in the interior of the cavity 1 has several unnecessary vacant spaces which serve to decrease the capacity thereof: one between the upper plate 6 forming the ceiling of the cooking chamber 2 and the outer case 8 forming the outer casing of the microwave oven; another the lower plate 5 forming the bottom surface of the cooking chamber 2 and the base plate 7; and still another between a side surface of the lower plate 5 and a side surface of the outer case 8.
Although a turntable rotating motor (not shown) or an additional heater (not shown) can be furnished in such vacant spaces as described above, most of the spaces are left over unemployed.
As described above, the conventional microwave oven has a disadvantage in that the size of the microwave oven tends to be unnecessarily large when compared to the capacity of the cooking chamber formed within the cavity.


An apparatus includes an upper portion, a sole and a fin. The upper portion is configured to at least partially cover a foot. The sole is coupled to the upper portion and defines a cavity. The fin has a first portion and a second portion. The fin is movable between a first configuration and a second configuration. When in the first configuration, the fin is substantially within the cavity defined by the sole, and the first portion of the fin at least partially overlaps the second portion of the fin. When in the second configuration, the fin extends substantially outside the cavity defined by the sole.

Swim fins commonly used in water sports, such as, for example swimming and scuba diving, function to increase the propulsive force of the legs by substantially increasing the surface area of the foot. Although numerous styles of swim fins are known, most swim fins are cumbersome and impractical for walking and may even present potential danger to the wearer. To overcome such deficiencies, various types of swim fins and shoe combinations, including designs capable of folding or rotating between a swimming mode and a walking mode, have been developed.
Known swim fin and shoe combinations include, for example, amphibious shoe-like structures with fin blades having a swimming mode and a walking mode. When in the walking mode, the swim fin can rest adjacent to a wearer's instep. When in the swimming mode, the swim fin can extend from the shoe-like structure. In such a device, the expandable fin blade can move between the swimming mode and the walking mode by rotating the fin blade towards the instep of the shoe about a pivoting point such as a rivet, pin, screw or nut and bolt assembly.
Other known swim fin and shoe combinations allow the fin to move between the swimming mode and walking mode through a cut-out in the toe of a hollow sole. Such know devices, however, require folding or bunching up the fin into the sole of the shoe when the fin is in the walking mode. Such folding can create an uneven shoe sole which can cause discomfort when the fin is in the walking mode.
Other know swim fin and shoe combinations include flippers that are extensible through cut-outs in the toe of the hollow sole by means of springs and pins. Such a device requires a separate guard piece to restrain the flipper within the hollow sole. Still other known fin and shoe combinations include fins that can be detached from the shoe and secured to the shoe in a different position by separate screws. Such devices can be cumbersome to move between the swimming mode and the walking mode. Additionally, such devices have hardware that can be lost and/or can corrode.
Therefore a need exists for an amphibious shoe, which can be used for walking and swimming, having convenient, relatively inexpensive and secure means for converting between a walking mode and a swimming or diving mode and maintaining the amphibious shoe in the desired mode. There also exists a need for an amphibious shoe that is comfortable for the wearer and does not restrict the activities of the wearer when in the walking mode. Additionally, a need exists for a swim fin and shoe combination that can be fabricated from moldable thermoplastic materials without corrosion-prone hardware. Further, a need exists for a swim fin and shoe combination with a reliable, reversible retaining mechanism and a minimum of mechanical parts.