A method and apparatus are provided for accomplishing virtual deskewing of device-under-test data received by a test system by skewing clock signals instead. In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes a receiver circuit which is capable of operating in a window compare mode to capture a transition of a data signal from either a low data state to a high data state or a high data state to a low data state. The receiver circuit receives a high-level comparator signal and a low-level comparator signal, which when properly deskewed, together indicate what state the data signal is in.

Recent improvements of electronic circuitry with corresponding increases in speed of operation, has created a need for more efficient and faster testing systems. One method for increasing system efficiency and speed is to integrate as much of the system as possible into a single CMOS IC (integrated circuit). Such high-level integration increases speed and efficiency because signals have less distance to travel. A well-designed CMOS chip also increases noise immunity of internal signals.
Prior art test equipment systems must provide an interface from which to send and receive signals. Generally, this interface provides an output driver circuit for driving output signals onto an external line and a receiver circuit for receiving each signal coming from an external device. Typically, the receiver circuits used in a test equipment system must be able to operate in one of at least two modes. In a first mode, the receiver circuit must have the capability of operating in a transparent mode, whereby the data passed on to the test equipment system follows that of the incoming data. In a second mode, the receiver circuit must have the capability to detect whether any transition occurred on an incoming signal. The second mode, which may be called window compare mode, is useful for detecting glitches on a signal which should be constant over a long period of time. For example, if the incoming data signal received by the receiver circuit is a clock signal, window compare mode may be enabled to determine if a glitch occurred on the clock signal and unintentionally clocked another device. To accommodate these two modes, most typical prior art test systems include window latches in their receiver circuits which may operate in either transparent mode or window compare mode.
In a digital test system, a digital signal may assume any one of a defined number of levels, dependent only upon the degree of signal quantization used by the test system. For example, in a binary system, a digital signal represents a "zero" or a "one". FIG. 1 is a graphical illustration of the relationship in a binary digital circuit between the high reference voltage threshold, the low reference voltage threshold, and voltage levels recognized by the digital circuit with respect to these voltages. As shown in FIG. 1, a binary digital signal is detected as a "zero" or "one" when it comes within a defined voltage range which is delineated by defined voltage thresholds. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, a "zero" is detected and said to be in a valid low state whenever the binary digital signal is below a low reference voltage threshold defined by VREFL. A "one" is likewise detected and said to be in a valid high state whenever the signal is above a high reference voltage threshold defined by VREFH. Using this simple voltage range recognition technique, digital circuit components easily classify an input signal as a "zero" or "one" when the signal is within either the range below the low reference voltage threshold VREFL or the range above the high reference voltage threshold VREFH. However, when the input signal is transitioning from one state to the other (i.e., when the input signal is above the low reference voltage threshold VREFL but below the high reference voltage threshold VREFH), the signal is in an intermediate state and said to be "floating". In the intermediate state, the level of the signal recognized by the digital circuit component is indeterminate. In a binary digital system, the specific voltage levels corresponding to the high reference voltage threshold VREFH and the low reference voltage threshold VREFL may both vary depending upon the family of components used or upon the specific application. For example, in transistor-transistor logic (TTL), a commonly used component family, the high reference voltage threshold may be +2.0 volts and the low reference voltage threshold may be +0.8 volts. Likewise, in CMOS components, the high reference voltage threshold may be 3.15 volts and the low reference voltage threshold may be 0.9 volts. For ECL components, the high reference voltage threshold may be -1.105 volts and the low reference voltage threshold may be -1.475 volts. FIG. 1 illustrates a signal in a binary system. Digital test systems, however, may be based on any number of different quantization levels, where each level is associated with a defined voltage range delineated by defined reference voltage thresholds.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example binary digital test system 10 connected to an external device under test (DUT) 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the DUT 20 receives input signals I[0]-I[m] from the test system 10 and provides output signals O[0]-O[n] which are received by the test system 10. As also shown in FIG. 2, the test system 10 generally includes an output driver circuit 18 for each of the input signals I[0]-I[m] generated by system circuitry 30 of the test system 10. The test system 10 also generally includes a receiver circuit 16 for each of the output signals O[0]-O[n] that are received from the DUT 20, decoded and sent to the system circuitry 30. Typical receiver circuits include a high level comparator 12 and a low level comparator 14, which may reside either internal or external (as shown in FIG. 2) to the receiver circuit 16. The high-level comparator 12 generally compares the output signal O[x], where x::0..n, received from the DUT 20 to a high reference voltage VREFH and outputs a high-level comparator signal HLC[x] for use by the receiver circuit 16. Similarly, the low-level comparator 14 generally compares the output signal O[x] received from the DUT 20 to a low reference voltage VREFL and outputs a low-level comparator signal LLC[x] for use by the receiver circuit 16. The defined polarity of each of the high-level comparator signal HLC[x] and the low-level comparator signal LLC[x] may depend on the implementation of the receiver circuit 16. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a sample output signal O[x] which crosses the low reference voltage VREFL and the high reference voltage VREFH, in sequence starting from below VREFL, as follows: above VREFL, above VREFH, below VREFH, back above VREFH, back below VREFH, below VREFL, back above VREFL, back below VREFL, and back above VREFL. Typical receiver circuits expect the same polarity on both the respective high-level comparator signal HLC[x] and low-level comparator signal LLC[x] if the output signal O[x] is above the respective reference voltages VREFH and VREFL. In other words, when the output signal O[x] is above the low reference voltage VREFL, the low level comparator signal LLC[x] will be logically high (or logically low if the receiver circuit 16 is based on the opposite polarity), and when the output signal O[x] is above the high reference voltage VREFH, the high level comparator signal HLC[x] will be logically high (or logically low if the receiver circuit 16 is based on the opposite polarity). So, as shown in FIG. 3, the LLC[x] signal is a high polarity whenever the output signal O[x] crosses above the VREFL threshold, and the HLC[x] signal is a high polarity whenever the output signal O[x] crosses above the VREFH threshold. This is typical when using a similar type comparator for generating both the high-level compare signal HLC[x] and the low-level compare signal LLC[x]. As known by those skilled in the art, utilizing inverting comparators will generate HLC and LLC signals which are the inverted version of those shown in FIG. 3.
Alternatively, the receiver circuit 16 may require HLC[x] and LLC[x] signals which more closely map the location of the signal O[x]. This may be accomplished by utilizing an inverting comparator for the low-level comparator 14 while maintaining a non-inverting comparator for the high-level comparator 12, or vice versa. Thus, the LLC[x] signal shown in FIG. 4 is generated by an inverting comparator and the HLC[x] signal is generated by a non-inverting compartator. As shown in FIG. 4, for an identical output signal O[x] as that shown in FIG. 3, the use of an inverting comparator for low-level comparator 14 results in an LLC[x] signal which is the inverted version of the LLC[x] signal shown in FIG. 3, where a non-inverting comparator is used for low-level comparator 14. The benefit of utilizing an inverting and a non-inverting comparator to generate the LLC and HLC signals respectively as shown in FIG. 4, is that the HLC[x] signal is high (or "asserted") only when the output signal O[x] is valid high, and the LLC[x] signal is high (or "asserted") only when the output signal O[x] is valid low. This scheme simplifies the necessary decoding to determine whether the output signal O[x] is in a valid state or an intermediate state. Again, as known by those skilled in the art, the polarity of the HLC[x] and LLC[x] signals may be reversed if the receiver circuit 16 recognizes asserted low signals instead of asserted high signals. In this case, the high-level comparator 12 would be implemented with an inverting comparator and the low-level comparator 14 would be implemented with a non-inverting comparator.
Regardless of the definition of the polarities of each of the high-level compare signal HLC[x] and low-level compare signal LLC[x], the receiver circuit 16 typically generates a high data signal HD[x], a low data signal LD[x], and an intermediate data signal ID[x], each of which is asserted only when the output signal O[x] is in a respective high voltage range, intermediate voltage range, or low voltage range. Accordingly, only one data signal HD[x], LD[x], or ID[x], is asserted at any given time.
It is known in the art that electrical signals derived from the same source but traveling different paths, even when the paths are theoretically identical, may not arrive downstream at the same time. In other words, with reference to the test system 10 of FIG. 2, even though the high level comparator 12 and low level comparator 14 circuit elements may be identical, and the distance between the initial receipt of an output signal O[x] and the different inputs to the respective comparators 12 and 14 may be identical, the HLC[x] and LLC[x] signals may not switch with the exact delay as the other path. This is known as data skew. Data skew may be introduced by process variations in the fabrication of the circuit, component variations, or by design (typically where one electrical path is longer in distance than another). FIG. 5 is a timing diagram of the example output signal O[x] which shows the uncompensated high-level and low-level comparator signals HLC[x] and LLC[x] where the LLC signal path has a longer delay that the HLC path. For comparison, the ideal timing of the low-level comparator signal LLC[x] is also shown.
Conventional prior art receiver circuits which provide a window compare mode compensate for data skew by introducing delay elements into the data signal paths. FIG. 6 shows a typical prior art receiver circuit 60 which compensates for data skew. The receiver circuit 60 shown in FIG. 6 receives the high-level comparator signal HLC and low-level comparator signal LLC. The HLC signal and LLC signal are each delayed by respective delay elements 61 and 62. The respective delayed signals H and L are logically NOR'd together by OR gate 63 to produce an intermediate signal I. Each of the respective delayed high H, intermediate I, and delayed low L signals are then passed through respective window latches 64, 65, 66. The window latches may be enabled to operate in a window compare mode, which captures a transition from high-to-low or from low-to-high by the respective delayed high H, intermediate I, and delayed low L signals, at any time during which a window compare mode enable signal WIN.sub.-- EN is asserted (high). If the window latches are not enabled (i.e., if WIN.sub.-- EN is low), the window latches operate like transparent latches by simply passing the respective delayed high H, intermediate I, and delayed low L signals to their respective outputs. The window latches 64, 65, 66 produce respective window latch output signals H1, I1 and L1. The receiver circuit 60 also includes a set of edge-triggered flip-flops 67, 68 and 69. One edge-triggered flip-flop 67 receives window latch output signal H1; another edge-triggered flip-flop 68 receives window latch output signal I1; and another edge-triggered flip-flop 69 receives window latch output signal L1. Each of the edge-triggered flip-flops captures the state of its respective input signal H1, I1 and L1 as high data HD, intermediate data ID, and low data LD signals when an active edge of a clock signal CK occurs.
FIG. 7 is a timing diagram illustrating the timing of the prior art receiver circuit 60 of FIG. 6 in both the transparent latch mode (i.e., where signal WIN.sub.-- EN is low) and in window compare mode (i.e., where signal WIN.sub.-- EN is high). As shown in FIG. 7, if a clock occurred at time t1, and it captured the uncompensated HLC and LLC, it would appear that the incoming data signal DATA was both high and low at the same moment in time, which is not valid. The deskewed data has the proper timing relationships so that the clock correctly captures the data as a low at time t1 and an intermediate at time t1'. At time t2, the clock correctly captures the data such that the data was both high and intermediate during some period during the window compare mode (i.e., where WIN.sub.-- EN is asserted). As known by those skilled in the art, multiple values are valid when the receiver circuit is operating in window compare mode.
It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that at a minimum the receiver circuit 60 will utilize one delay element to delay one or the other of the HLC or LLC signals. This is because one of the delay elements 61 or 62 may have a relative delay of zero, if it is known that one of the HLC or LLC paths is always longer, and thus is not needed. It will also be appreciated that the rest of the receiver circuit 60 of the prior art may be implemented in a variety of other ways; however, other prior art implementations generally utilize some type of delay element in the data path as shown in FIG. 6.
With the need for increased speed and efficiency in electrical test systems, it would be desirable from the standpoint of improving power consumption, cost and reliability to integrate more of the test system functionality into a CMOS chip. However, prior art receiver circuits such as that shown in FIG. 6 cannot be integrated into CMOS chips because the typical adjustable CMOS delay element may not have a high enough bandwidth (500 MHZ or more) for these signals, or may have only one precision edge (e.g., only the rising edge), and thus would not be suitable for delaying a data signal.

Means for virtual deskewing of high/intermediate/low DUT data


An etching method, having the step of applying an etching liquid onto a TiN-containing layer in a semiconductor substrate thereby etching the TiN-containing layer, the etching liquid comprising water, and a basic compound and an oxidizing agent in water thereof to be within the range of pH from 8.5 to 14, and the TiN-containing layer having a surface oxygen content from 0.1 mol % to 10 mol %.

The miniaturization and diversification of semiconductor devices has progressed more and more, and a processing method thereof covers a wide range with respect to each of device structures and production steps. With regard to etching of a substrate, for example, a variety of chemical species, processing conditions and the like has been proposed in accordance with kinds and structures of the substrate material in both a dry etching and a wet etching, and further intensive research and development is in progress.
In particular, when a device structure of CMOS, DRAM, and the like is produced, the technique of precisely etching a prescribed material is important, and as an example thereof, a wet etching which uses a chemical liquid is exemplified. For example, a precise etching processing is required in the production of circuit wiring of a microscopic transistor circuit, a metal electrode material, or a substrate having a barrier layer, a hard mask, and the like. However, etching conditions and chemical liquids, which are applied to a substrate having a variety of metal compounds, have not yet been studied sufficiently.
There are examples of studies on chemical liquids for etching titanium nitride (TiN) applied to a device substrate. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a processing liquid which has pH of 6.0 to 8.2 and into which both tetraalkyl ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide are incorporated.

Etching method, and method of producing semiconductor substrate product and semiconductor device using the same


A mill for the comminution of particulate material by impact means including a shell rotating at super critical velocity and a gyrating mandrel. Material introduced to the mill forms a bed on the inner surface of the shell and is then crushed by the impact of the gyrating mandrel. The axis of rotation of the shell is in angularly displaced from the axis of gyration of the mandrel to transport material through the mill.

Grinding of particulate material is commonly performed in rotary mills which rotate at sub-critical speed causing a tumbling action of material as it travels up the inner wall of the mill then falls away to impact or grind against other materials. This results in the reduction of particles by a combination of abrasion and impact. Such mills consume a vast amount of energy.
Mills operating at super-critical speed are also known, such as those disclosed in WO99/11377 and WO2009/029982. These mills include shear inducing members for the reduction of particles and offer improved energy efficiencies over traditional rotary mills. However, these mills still consume significant amounts of energy.
The object of this invention is to provide a mill that uses significantly less energy than contemporary mills, or at least provides the public with a useful alternative.


The present invention has an object of providing a bipolar type ion exchange electrolytic cell which is capable of minimizing the anode-cathode distance by a movable system which has a low electric resistance and which is simple and inexpensive, thereby to substantially reduce the electrolysis voltage. The present invention is a bipolar type ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell comprising an anode compartment frame which comprises an anode plate and an anode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, conductive anode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the anode plate and the anode back plate, and a cathode compartment frame which comprises a cathode plate and a cathode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, and conductive cathode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the cathode plate and the cathode back plate, so that the respective back plates are connected back to back to form a compartment frame unit, a plurality of such compartment frame units being arranged with a cation exchange membrane interposed, wherein at least the cathode supporting members comprise a flexible member, and the cathode plate is movably supported by the function of the flexible member.

The present invention relates to a bipolar type ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell which is suitably useful for the production of e.g. an aqueous alkali metal hydroxide solution.
Heretofore, as an ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell to be used for e.g. production of an aqueous alkali metal hydroxide solution, a filter press type electrolytic cell has been used in many cases. This is one wherein a number of ion exchange membranes and compartment frame units each comprising an anode compartment frame and a cathode compartment frame, are alternately arranged and clamped from both sides by e.g. a hydraulic press. Types of electrolytic cells are generally classified into a monopolar type electrolytic cell (monopolar cell) of a parallel connection type and a bipolar type electrolytic cell (bipolar cell) of a series connection type, which are distinguishable by the difference in electrical connection.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a compartment frame unit (general term for an anode compartment frame and a cathode compartment frame) for a bipolar type electrolytic cell, an anode compartment 15 and a cathode compartment 25 are arranged back to back, and an anode compartment frame 10 constituting the anode compartment 15, comprises an anode plate 30 and an anode back plate 40 arranged in substantially parallel with the anode plate with a spacing therefrom. As such an anode plate, it is common to employ a meshed or porous plate. For example, a conductive meshed plate of e.g. titanium, zirconium or tantalum is used as a substrate, and an oxide of a noble metal such as titanium oxide, ruthenium oxide or iridium oxide, is coated thereon.
Between the anode plate 30 and the anode back plate 40, corrosion resistant conductive anode supporting members (called also as ribs) 50a made of e.g. titanium or a titanium alloy, are arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another to electrically connect the two and to maintain the spacing therebetween. Each anode supporting member 50a may, for example, be made of a plate member and provided with a plurality of through-holes (not shown) so that an electrolyte can flow in the left and right directions in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The construction of the cathode compartment frame 20 for providing a cathode compartment 25 is the same as that of the anode compartment frame 10. Namely, it comprises a meshed or porous cathode plate 60, a cathode back plate 70 and cathode supporting members 80a.
Similarly, between the cathode plate 60 and the cathode back plate 70, corrosion resistant conductive cathode supporting members 80a made of e.g. iron, nickel or a nickel alloy, are arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another to electrically connect the two and to maintain the spacing therebetween, as shown e.g. in FIG. 1.
The anode back plate 40 and the cathode back plate 70 are integrally connected to form a partition wall 9. Between the anode back plate 40 and the cathode back plate 70 constituting the partition wall 9, a conductive interlayer member such as a cladding material (not shown) may be inserted in order to increase the electrical conductivity. A peripheral edge portion of each of the anode back plate 40 and the cathode back plate 70 constituting the partition wall, is bent and fixed to a hollow body 7 by e.g. welding. Reference numeral 11 indicates an ion exchange membrane, and numeral 12 a gasket. The cathode plate is preferably made of an alkali resistant material, such as a substrate made of e.g. a conductive meshed plate of e.g. nickel or stainless steel, coated with a cathode active material such as Raney nickel or a platinum series.
In a case where such a bipolar cell is used for electrolysis of an alkali metal halide such as sodium chloride to produce an alkali metal hydroxide, an almost saturated sodium chloride aqueous solution is supplied as an anolyte to an anode compartment from an anolyte inlet 3 which is usually provided at a lower portion of the anode compartment. In the anode compartment, chlorine gas is generated on the anode plate by electrolysis, and it will be discharged, together with the aqueous sodium chloride solution as the electrolyte, out of the anode compartment frame from an anolyte outlet 4 which is provided usually at an upper portion of the anode compartment.
On the other hand, in a cathode compartment, water or a dilute sodium hydroxide aqueous solution is supplied as a catholyte to the cathode compartment from a catholyte inlet 5 which is provided usually at a lower portion of the cathode compartment. In the cathode compartment, hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide are formed and discharged out of the cathode compartment from a catholyte outlet 6 which is provided at an upper portion of the cathode compartment.
The role of an ion exchange membrane used for this sodium chloride electrolysis, is to let sodium ions pass from the anode compartment side to the cathode compartment side and to shut off movement of hydroxyl ions generated on the cathode side to the anode compartment side.
Usually the anode plate 30 is fixed to e.g. anode supporting members 50a in the anode compartment by e.g. welding. Likewise, the cathode plate 60 is also fixed to e.g. cathode supporting members 80a in the cathode compartment by e.g. welding, and the anode plate 30 and the cathode plate 60 are clamped with an ion exchange membrane interposed via gaskets 12 so that they maintain a prescribed distance. In general, the distance between the anode plate and the cathode plate (the anode-cathode distance) is a factor giving a substantial influence over the electrolysis voltage of the electrolytic cell. As a matter of course, the shorter the anode-cathode distance, the lower the electrolysis voltage, so that the electric power can be saved. On the other hand, if the anode and the cathode are too close to each other, the electrode plates are likely to contact with the membrane, since the membrane itself is flexible, and its position in the electrolyte is not completely fixed. In such a case, as numerous fine irregularities or projections are present on the surface of the electrode plates, if the membrane moves in frictional contact with the electrode plate surface in such a state that these irregularities or projections are forcibly pressed against the membrane, the membrane is likely to be forcibly cut.
If a substantial portion of the membrane is thus damaged, normal operation of the electrolytic cell tends to be finally impossible. Accordingly, heretofore, the operation is obliged to be carried out on a safe side by increasing the anode-cathode distance to such an extent where there will be no possibility of damaging the membrane, even if the electrolysis voltage is sacrificed to some extent.
Some attempts have been proposed in the past not to give a damage to an ion exchange membrane even if the membrane is disposed as close as possible to an anode plate or a cathode plate having such fine irregularities or projections. For example, JP-A-57-108278 discloses a technique wherein a number of conductive spring members are provided between an electrode plate and a partition plate on the anode side and/or the cathode side to make the electrode plate movable. Further, JP-A-1-55392 discloses a technique wherein a partition plate and an electrode plate are electrically connected by a clamp spring mechanism, and at the same time, the electrode plate is made movable by the resilience of the clamp spring mechanism.
These are techniques whereby even if the electrode plate and a membrane are in contact with each other, the pressing pressure can be reduced, but each employs a movable mechanism by springs, whereby there has been a problem such that (1) the electrical resistance at the spring member portions increases, or (2) the production costs tend to increase because of the. complexity in the structure of the spring mechanism. (3) A more serious problem is that since a movable mechanism whereby the spacing between the electrode and the partition wall is maintained solely by the spring members having resiliency, even if it is possible to make the electrode plate movable, it is necessarily impossible from its mechanism to maintain the anode-cathode distance which must be uniformly maintained over the entire electrolytic surface. Therefore, even if it is possible on appearance to reduce the anode-cathode distance by the movable mechanism, in reality, it is impossible to maintain the uniformity of the anode-cathode distance during a steady operation, and from the overall viewpoint, it has been impossible to effectively reduce the electrolysis voltage.
It is an object of the present invention to solve such problems and to provide a bipolar type ion exchange electrolytic cell which is capable of reducing the electrolysis voltage substantially by minimizing the anode-cathode distance by a simple and inexpensive movable mechanism having a low electrical resistance. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bipolar type ion exchange electrolytic cell whereby even if the spacing between the electrode plate and the ion exchange membrane is made to be from 0.1 to 1.0 mm, there will be no danger of damage to the membrane.
Firstly, the present invention provides the following invention.
A bipolar type ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell comprising an anode compartment frame which comprises an anode plate and an anode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, conductive anode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the anode plate and the anode back plate, and a cathode compartment frame which comprises a cathode plate and a cathode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, and conductive cathode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the cathode plate and the cathode back plate, so that the respective back plates are connected back to back to form a compartment frame unit, a plurality of such compartment frame units being arranged with a cation exchange membrane interposed, wherein
(a) at least the cathode supporting members comprise electric current supply rib base portions fixed to the cathode back plate and standing up towards the cathode plate, and a flexible member supported by the adjacent electric current supply rib base portions and extending to reach the cathode plate,
(b) the flexible member and the cathode plate are electrically connected to each other via a connecting portion of the flexible member, and
(c) electric current supply from the cathode plate to the electric current supply rib base portions is carried out through the connecting portion, and the cathode plate is movably supported by the function of the flexible member.
Secondly, the present invention provides the following invention.
A bipolar type ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell comprising an anode compartment frame which comprises an anode plate and an anode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, conductive anode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the anode plate and the anode back plate, and a cathode compartment frame which comprises a cathode plate and a cathode back plate arranged in substantially parallel with each other with a spacing, and conductive cathode supporting members arranged with a prescribed spacing from one another between the cathode plate and the cathode back plate, so that the respective back plates are connected back to back to form a compartment frame unit, a plurality of such compartment frame units being arranged with a cation exchange membrane interposed, wherein
(a) at least the anode supporting members comprise electric current supply rib base portions fixed to the anode back plate and standing up towards the anode plate, and a flexible member supported by the adjacent electric current supply rib base portions and extending to reach the anode plate,
(b) the flexible member and the anode plate are electrically connected to each other via a connecting portion of the flexible member, and
(c) electric current supply from the electric current supply rib base portions to the anode is carried out through the connecting portion, and the anode plate is movably supported by the function of the flexible member.

Bipolar ion exchange membrane electrolytic cell


A fish trap system comprising a support having a lower end and an upper end with a pivot pin therethrough. A fishing rod has a reel end with a reel couplable thereto and an eye end with a first eye coupled thereon with line extendable from the reel through the fist eye to a hook with bait. The fishing rod further having an aperture at its central extent for pivotally coupling to the pivot pin with an end aperture facing downwardly adjacent to the first edge. Also included is a trip rod having an interior end pivotally coupled to the lower end of the support and having an exterior end with a second eye in proximity to the first eye on the side thereof remote from the reel. The trip rod has a supplemental pin adjacent to the exterior end extending upwardly received in the end aperture of the fishing rod. A resilient member is provided in tension coupling the first end of the reel rod and the lower end of the support tending to urge the reel end of the rod downwardly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing trap and more particularly pertains to supporting a fishing pole to automatically set the hook in the mouth of a fish after a strike.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of fishing accessories of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, fishing accessories of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of simplifying the fishing process through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, International Application Number PCT/YU97/00003 to Kobilarov discloses a Three-Armed Fishing Rod Holder With Cartridge, U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,670 to Harpham discloses a Combination Fishing Pole and Reel Holder. U.S. Pat. No. 3,354,573 to Johansson discloses Ice Fishing Tackle For Shelter Use. U.S. Des. Pat. No. Des. 330,753 to Gutirrez discloses a Combined Fishing Rod Holder and Stand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,595 to Chon discloses a Portable Fishing Rod Holder and Stand. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,070 to Lamothe discloses an Ice Fishing Rod.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe fishing trap as disclosed herein. In this respect, the fishing trap according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of supporting a fishing pole to automatically set the hook in the mouth of a fish after a strike.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved fishing trap which can be used for supporting a fishing pole to automatically set the hook in the mouth of a fish after a strike. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


Described are headrest assemblies having at least one moveable member that is movable to reconfigure the headrest between: an opened arrangement in which a recess sized for receiving a ponytail or bun of hair is defined between portions of a head-receiving surface of the headrest; and a closed arrangement in which the recess is reduced or eliminated by edges of two members of the headrest being in abutment or adjacent to one another.

Passenger comfort can be an important consideration in carrier industries, particularly with air carriers. To this end, most seats in commercial passenger aircraft include features such as armrests and headrests to support different parts of a passenger's body when seated. Many headrests may be provided in adjustable versions, for example, which may allow passengers to adjust positioning of the headrest to accommodate differences in passenger height or preference of angled orientation.
However, notwithstanding such adjustability, headrests may often be uncomfortable for passengers in certain situations. For example, a passenger with hair pulled back into a ponytail or bun may experience discomfort when leaning against a headrest due to the gathered hair acting as a pressure point on the rear of the head. The ponytail or bun furthermore can act as an obstruction that prevents the rear of the head from fully resting against the headrest and instead inclines the head forward into an uncomfortable position that may lead to neck pain, especially after a sustained period of time. With this in mind, most passengers that choose to keep a ponytail when settling into a commercial seat opt to re-adjust the ponytail to be gathered at a high point on top of the head (which may feel unsightly) and/or flip the ponytail up over the top of the seat (which may intrude into living space of passengers seated behind). Overall, many passengers simply choose instead to undo the bun or ponytail altogether (even though this may be unwieldly), in view of the commonly-held conclusion that there is no good way to fly in commercial passenger seats with a ponytail in place.

Headrest for accommodating ponytail or bun of hair


The present invention regards a system for transferral of at least one cryogenic fluid between two objects. At least one transfer pipe extending from the installation extends into a receiving room in the vessel, the transfer pipe being connectable with piping on the vessel through a connection in the receiving room. The receiving room is closable, the connection, and or at least a part of the construction forming the receiving room and or other elements in the receiving room are constructed to withstand eventual leakage of the cryogenic fluid and the system also provides for evacuating the receiving room for eventual spilled fluid. The invention also regards a flange for use in the system.

A cryogenic fluid, typically LPG or LNG, has a very low temperature at ambient pressure when stored as a liquid. If this liquid is spilled at or in a vessel all equipment in the vicinity of the spilled liquid will be cooled down to the boiling temperature of the liquid, which for LPG can be typically −50 degrees C. and for LNG typically −164 degrees C. Most vessels and equipment are built of carbon steel that will turn brittle and loose its structural strength at cryogenic temperatures.
Almost all present transfer of LNG from shore to ship or ship to shore or between ships is performed by means of chicksan type loading arms. The arms are located on the quay and the receiving/transfer piping on the manifold located midship on the LNG transportation vessel. The arms and the piping are located outdoor and any spillage will be collected in drip pans underneath the connection point. The main purpose of the drip pans is to collect any liquid spillage and direct it to special storage tanks and to prevent cold liquid to fall onto the steel structure of the vessel. A rapid cool down of the vessels steel structure will cause the steel to be brittle leading to mechanical break-down either due to thermal stress (contraction of part of the part due to low temperature) or mechanical stress (due to reduced strength of the material at low temperature). Any boil off will evaporate to the atmosphere or into a specific system for boil off.
In future transfer systems LNG may be carried through closed spaces inside the ship. This could be for instance in the OCL (Offshore Cryogenic Loading) LNG transfer system, where LNG is received in a purpose built structure in the bow of the ship, in compartments used to transfer LNG to the propulsion or generator motor or in a swivel compartment for instance described in WO 99/38762 or WO 01/34460. There may be further use of transfer of cryogenic fluids from one floating vessel to another floating vessel, by for instance a submerged buoy system, which gives other demands for the transfer system.
The cryogenic liquid is maintained at or close to its boiling point at low temperature and any contact with other material at a higher temperature will result in transfer of heat from the material to the liquid and boil-off of liquid and cool down of the material. The liquid is therefore normally stored in well insulated pipes and tanks and all transfer is carried out with dedicated equipment and according to pre-determined and approved procedures to reduce the risk of spill and accidents.
Another issue in relation to the transfer of cryogenic fluid is that any human exposure to the liquid or cold gas may result in serious injury or death. Protection of personnel can be achieved by either prohibiting personnel to enter the area when cold media is present and can leak out, or by use of adequate protective equipment. At this time protective equipment is limited to space suits and similar clothing which by nature is either prohibitive expensive or not available at such sites. As a general rule unprotected personnel should therefore not be admitted to enclosed spaces where there is a possibility that LNG may escape (from for instance rotating equipment or flanged connections). Equipment inside such space must therefore be remotely operated and monitored and all containers with cryogenic liquid must be drained and inerted before personnel can enter.
Cryogenic liquids are normally not corrosive or destructive to the environment other than by cooling down all exposed material to low temperature and replacing the atmosphere by the product liquid and gas. Cryogenic liquids are normally of a low specific gravity (typically less than 0.5 kg/l) and will float on top of most other liquids. Loose material will tend to sink in the liquid. The boil-off gas will at ambient temperature (+10 degrees C. to say 50 degrees C.) normally be lighter than air and will therefore tend to move upwards and mix with air. However, Boil-off gas at very low temperature will be heavier than air at ambient temperature. A release of cryogenic fluid inside an enclosed compartment will therefore tend to form cold product gas at the bottom and expel the original atmosphere at the top. As the product gas heat up it will tend to rise upwards in the compartment. Removal of product gas should therefore be performed by blowing in air (or inert gas) at as high temperature as practical to evaporate liquid spill and to heat up and expel the cold gas.
As long as liquid cryogenic fluid is present it will exist at its boiling temperature at the actual ambient storage pressure. Any input of heat will result in boil-off and if no heat is added the temperature of all exposed material will fall until the boiling temperature of the liquid has been reached, where after the boil off will be reduced to equalize the heat influx. Equipment inside a compartment can be protected from the low temperature by insulation or by adding heat to the equipment, typically by heating coils or resistance heating elements wrapped around the sensitive parts. Insulation of free standing equipment inside the enclosed space will have a practical limitation in protection time if no heat is added, as it is not possible to insulate any equipment perfectly. With time the equipment inside the insulation will be cooled down to the boiling temperature of the liquid on the outside.
Parts that are insulated on the outside and where heat is added on the inside can be maintained at any desired temperature for any period of time as long as the flow of heat supplied is higher than the heat removed on the exposed side of the insulation. Transfer of heat from one media to another is either done by radiation through vacuum or a gas or by heat flow through the material. Vacuum is the best insulation and reflective material is used together with vacuum, or almost vacuum, to reflect heat radiation. Most insulation principles are therefore based either on vacuum, reflective material or fixed foam, or gas which is a better heat insulator than solid material.
All these measures do not give a satisfactory system for transferal of cryogenic fluid between two units.

Cryogenic fluids transfer system with transfer spills containment


Systems and methods of the present disclosure relate to securing downhole conduits. A system comprises a first conduit comprising teeth extending along a circumference of the first conduit; a second conduit comprising apertures, the first conduit movably disposed within the second conduit; and a retaining clip disposed within the apertures, portions of the retaining clip operable to engage or disengage the teeth while the retaining clip is disposed within the apertures.

In the oilfield, a jumper tube connection may be utilized to fluidly couple conduits by bridging a gap between the conduits. Jumper tubes may be employed to connect various conduits such as wells to manifolds, subsea flowlines to manifolds, or production assemblies. Present techniques to bridge the gap and couple the conduits may be insufficient or impractical in some scenarios.

Variable extension tube assembly with adjustable interlock device


A text display system provides a restricted copy-and-paste operation such that only a limited percentage less than 100% of a source text can be copied. The strategy assumes that a document contains a plurality of words and sentences that a restriction can be placed upon. While it is possible to highlight any amount of text via a typical select function (e.g., mouse drag over text), depending on the number of words at the sentence, paragraph or document level, the present invention limits how much of the selected text can be copied. The system provides the user with instant feedback via visual, tactile or other means, when a selection exceeds the system-imposed limit. The restriction permits the copy-and-paste operation of key ideas from the source text, potentially for further elaboration upon in future writing, and yet discourages indiscriminant copying leading to plagiarism.

In all forms of computerized systems, including forms such as desktop computers, tablets, e-books and smartphones, the cut-and paste and copy-and-paste functionality has become ubiquitous for applications that support text editing. The ease of copying and pasting, however, has lead to excessive copying of copyrighted and pre-existing electronic text, often without citation. As a result, plagiarism has become a major problem, in particular, within the educational system.
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines plagiarism as:                "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source; and to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source."
Students regularly access reference text, in particular, on the Internet or elsewhere, and copy and paste it into their own documents. This is useful for recording reference material in one location. However, while the intent is for students to later paraphrase this material within the final document that they are writing, such as an essay, it is often the case that they simply retain much or all of the copied text. Certainly, wrapping the text within quotations and citing the source addresses one aspect of plagiarism. However, a common situation is that no citation is made and the copied text is presented as the writer's own. The ease of copy and paste is one of the culprits; another is that the student may feel that the copied text is the same as what they might have written or that it could not be written in any other way. Ultimately, schools are responsible for teaching students how to write without plagiarizing. The associated teaching practices are considered by some as arduous to implement.
Nevertheless, there are a number of technical solutions that can reduce plagiarism. Plagiarism related efforts have been primarily directed to detection. Measuring the similarity of a document with a pre-existing document is the most common method of detecting possible plagiarism. In this case, a document is compared to one or more source documents. If it is deemed similar to some source document(s) above a certain threshold, a human reader should be alerted for further investigation via manual inspection. For example, to put the notion of threshold in context, if 20% of a text is considered similar to one or more pre-existing texts, then for a document with 100 pages of content, 20 pages of it are considered "similar."
Another area related to plagiarism in reading digital content, and relevant to the current invention, is the management of the clipboard or the copy-and-paste operation. Typical modern operating systems build in a clipboard management system that allows one to transfer content from one piece of software to another via the cut- or copy-and-paste operation (typically on Microsoft® Windows systems, Ctrl-X for cut, Ctrl-C for copy, then Ctrl-V for paste) with the use of an OS-allocated intermediary memory ("clipboard") where the selected content is placed prior to the actual paste operation.
At one extreme, the capability to copy any text may be prevented altogether within the source application that displays the text. This is most common in e-book computer applications. Some websites attempt to prevent copying anything from their displayed pages. However, this does not prevent the user from manually retyping text.
Alternatively, the copy-and-paste operation may be monitored in a two-step process. A method can be designed to monitor the copy-and-paste operation triggered by a user. The second step depends on the monitoring system to manage the clipboard content. In some approaches, the paste operation has been extended to allow the content in the clipboard to be cleared, allowing one to control what can be placed on or removed from the clipboard. In contrast, other approaches focus on monitoring the content that a user has selected when a cut-and-paste operation is initiated. The system triggers an alert for a human administrator to monitor and manage the selected content for its sensitivity.
Despite the existence of the above kinds of technology, there is a need for some other technology to reduce plagiarism that is both preventative (without being excessive in terms of total blockage of copying) and not "after-the-fact." This is especially needed in the case of supporting literacy development for both emergent writers and writers with advanced skills, where access to a limited amount of text is helpful, without the need for re-typing.
For any writer who intends to reuse content from an existing source text, unless it is a case of direct quotation, it is typically the key ideas, or specialized terminology, and not how they are expressed in the source text that are intended to be reused. The writer should carefully consider the key concepts from a source text useful in their writing instead of blindly copying (or retyping) mass amounts of content for later use (and possible re-tailoring, if at all). It is recognized that while allowing copying of some limited amount of text does not eliminate plagiarism, as citation is still required, it can reduce the aspect of plagiarism involving excessive copying.


A general optical storage system (OSS) contains an optical drive and a fluorescent multilayer disc (FMLD), which can be realized as a multilayer structure with data storage in fluorescent spots like pits or spiral grooves, divided by layers, transparent to reading and fluorescent radiation. The OSS includes a fluorescent signal reception device, capable of reading FMLD, as well as reflective CD and DVD discs (including CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, etc.). Increase of pit width in FMLD and use of microangle mirrors allow increase of the information signal. Elimination of FMLD fluorescence lifetime influence on data pulse duration allows an increase in the data reading rate. The absorption indices of different layers of FMLD are optimized.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical storage system and more specifically to a storage system comprising a fluorescent disc with many information layers and a drive for reading information from such a disc.
2. State of the Art
Single-layer (as well as two-layer) two-dimensional optical storage systems are widely used in existing devices. Most of the previous technical solutions in such systems of optical data storage were based on registering the change of reflected laser radiation intensity in the local spots (pits) of the data carrying layer. These changes could arise from light interference on the relief optical discs like CD ROM, from reversible polarization effects in magneto-optical or photoanisotropic media, as well as from reversible or non-reversible changes of reflection index in phase change media, or from dyes clearing up in "dye-reflection layer" systems, etc.
Three-dimensional (i.e., multilayer) optical memory devices provide higher capacity of recorded or stored data than two-dimensional systems. However, they have certain restrictions and additional requirements for construction and different features for recording media, and ways of recording and reading data, especially in the depth of the registering media.
In the reflection regime, every data-carrying layer of a multilayer optical medium requires a partly reflective covering. The use of such coverings reduces the intensity of both the reading beam and the reflected, data carrying beam as a result of direct and reverse passage through the medium towards the necessary data-carrying layer and back to the receiver. In addition, both coherent beams are subject to difficult-to-estimate diffraction and interferential distortions on the spots (pits and grooves) of the data-carrying layers while being transmitted.

Optical data storage system having combined fluorescent three-dimensional information carrier


An accommodating handle for hexagon spanner includes a box which is approximately a triangle and is assembled by an upper box and a lower box, wherein the three points of the triangle inside the lower box are respectively disposed a pillar, the three edges of the box are concaved inwardly to be arcs, a turning piece is mounted at the edge and one end of the turning piece is a pivoting end for pivoting on the box and the other end is a moving end having wedging points for wedging at the locations adjacent to the three points of the box, plural hexagon spanners in various sizes are sleeved on the pillar of the lower box in size sequence, and the three points of the box are respectively mounted an indentation for penetrating the working end of the hexagon spanners.

Traditionally, the hexagon spanner commonly found in the market, as shown in FIG. 1, always has an L shape, and because the hexagon spanner is used to insert into the hexagonal socket at the top of the screws for tightening or loosing thereof and the hexagonal sockets on the screws have various standards, the hexagon spanners are always sold in a set in which various sizes are included. Some are strung up by a metal circle, and others are packaged in a box, as shown in FIG. 2. However, utilizing a box to package the hexagon spanners actually is not easy for carrying and is easy to lose it. Further, since the hexagon spanner has an L shape and the user utilizes the short section to insert into the socket and the long section to hold and turn, the finer the hexagon the worse the handling. Therefore, the screw is not easy to be tightened and, on the other hand, the highly-tightened screw is not easy to be loosed.
Consequently, because of the technical defects of described above, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly through wholehearted experience and research to develop the present invention, which can solve the problems of accommodation and turn in the conventional hexagon spanner.

Accommodating handle for hexagon spanner


A system and method for detecting PES headers is presented herein. PES headers are detected by a combination of hardware and firmware. Hardware logic is used to detect the PES start codes while multithreaded firmware us used to process the packet.

The output of an MPEG Audio or Video Encoder is called an elementary stream. An elementary stream is a compressed representation of the audio or video source and may be broken into data blocks of manageable size, forming a packetized elementary stream (PES). The data blocks, known as PES packets, include PES header information to identify the start of the packets. Additionally, the packets also include time stamps, known as presentation time stamps (PTS), and decode time stamps (DTS) because packetizing can disrupt synchronization.
For transmission and digital broadcasting, several programs and their associated PES can be multiplexed into a single transport stream. The transport stream differs from a program stream in that the ES packets are further subdivided into short fixed-size packets of 188 bytes. Additionally, transport streams can carry multiple programs encoded with different clocks. The transport stream comprises fixed size data packets containing 188 bytes.
While the PES stream is packetized into 188 byte transport packets, PES packets do not have a fixed length. PES headers can start anywhere and any number of times with a 188-byte transport packet. Additionally, PES headers can also straddle across 188-byte transport packet boundaries. The foregoing makes PES header detection complex.
Some systems implement PES header detection in firmware. Implementation of PES header detection in firmware consumes significant processor bandwidth, thus limiting the bit rate handling capability of the video transport processor.
Alternatively, PES header detection can be handled in hardware. However, PES header detection in hardware is unable to detect PES headers that straddle transport packets. Accordingly, detection of PES headers that straddle transport packets is still handled in firmware.
Further limitations and disadvantages of convention and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A brake apparatus is provided for a water craft that has a rear discharge nozzle and includes a first craft attachment member attached to a portion of the water craft. A hinge assembly is connected to the first craft attachment member. A brake plate assembly is connected to the hinge assembly. A brake plate control assembly is connected to the brake plate assembly. The brake plate control assembly includes a control cable connected to the brake plate assembly. The water craft is a jet ski. When the brake plate member is impinged by water flow from the discharge nozzle of the jet ski, the water flows upward, causing a reactive downward force which pushes the stem of the jet ski into the water, whereby a drag and braking action is created. A rudder member may also be attached to the discharge nozzle to assist in steering the jet ski.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water craft and, more particularly, to devices especially adapted for braking water craft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A type of water craft that is very popular is known as a jet ski. With a jet ski, a stream of water emerges from a nozzle at the rear of the jet ski, and the stream of water provides thrust for the jet ski. As with all water craft, slowing down and stopping a water craft may be difficult to do, especially if the water craft is moving through the water at a relatively high speed. In this respect, throughout the years, a number of innovations have been developed relating to slowing down and stopping water craft, and the following U.S. patents are representative of some of those innovations: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,994,290, 3,209,716, 5,193,478, 5,377,610, and 5,493,990.
More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,290 discloses a retractable drag device for boats which includes a pair of drag plates that are selectively movable from non-drag to drag orientations. In the drag orientation, the drag plates block and reflect the horizontal flow of water impacted by the drag plates as the boat moves through the water. As a result, the drag plates do not provide a force component that forces the stern of the boat deeper into the water. Forcing the stern of the boat deeper into the water would serve to add additional drag from the stem of the boat, to augment the drag offered by the drag plates. In this respect, it would be desirable if a brake for a water craft were provided which increases drag by forcing the stem of the water craft deeper into the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,209,716 discloses a speed reduction device that is placed adjacent to a propeller of an outboard motor of a water craft. The device is attached to a fin of the propeller support. This device operates automatically at certain low speeds and is not under the control of the water craft operator. Operator control is important. Therefore, it would be desirable if a brake apparatus for a water craft were provided that is under the control of the operator of the water craft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,478 discloses an adjustable brake and control flaps for water craft which employs a special water craft having a hull that has a housing area for accommodating the adjustable brake and the control flaps. Instead of requiring a water craft that has a hull with a special brake housing area, it would be desirable if a brake apparatus for a water craft were provided that easily fits onto a water craft having a conventional hull for easy retrofitting of the water craft with the brake apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,610 discloses a sailboat brake apparatus that employs a plurality of drag plates that rotate around a vertical axis and provide horizontally oriented drag for the sailboat when the drag plates are rotated to be facing into the direction of motion of the sailboat in the water. As discussed above with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,290, such drag plates do not provide a force component that forces the stern of the boat deeper into the water to provide added drag from the stern of the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,990 discloses a trolling plate that is attached to an outboard motor of a boat to cover the propeller when the trolling plate is in operation. The trolling plate is on a horizontal hinge that is located above the propeller. As a result, when the trolling plate is in operation, water is directed downward by the trolling plate. The downward directing of the water causes a reactive force to be exerted upward on the stern of the boat, causing the stern of the boat be receive a lifting force as the trolling plate is in operation. As stated above, to maximize braking operation, it would be desirable if a braking device for a water craft caused the stern to be forced downward into the water to make use of increased drag caused by the stern of the water craft.
Still other features would be desirable in a brake apparatus for a water craft. More specifically, in consideration of the popularity of jet skis, it would be desirable if a brake apparatus were provided that is especially adapted for braking jet skis. Aside from braking a jet ski, it would be desirable if a brake apparatus also had features for assisting in the steering of the jet ski as the jet ski is being braked.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use brakes for water craft, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a brake apparatus for water craft which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) increases drag by forcing the stern of the water craft deeper into the water; (2) is under the control of the operator of the water craft; (3) easily fits onto a water craft having a conventional hull for easy retrofitting of the water craft with the brake apparatus; (4) is especially adapted for braking jet skis; and (5) assists in the steering of the jet ski as the jet ski is being braked. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique jet ski brake apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.


A manufacturing method for a square battery includes: a first process in which an outer terminal and an outer side resin member that separates the outer terminal and an outer surface of a lid body are assembled to the lid body; a second process in which a laser beam is irradiated from the outer surface side of the lid body to weld the lid body to the case body by laser after the first process; and a third process in which the outer side resin member is expanded after the second process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for a square battery and a square battery.
2. Description of Related Art
A battery in, a mode that an electrode body including a positive electrode and a negative electrode is housed in an outer case has been known. In one representative configuration of the battery with such a configuration, the above outer case includes a case body and a lid body that is welded to the case body. As a welding method, a laser welding method can preferably be adopted. As technical literature on this type of the battery, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-282847 (JP 2010-282847 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-041752 (JP 2013-041752 A) are raised.
In a battery disclosed in JP 2010-282847 A, an electrode terminal is pulled out of a through hole (a terminal pullout hole) of a lid body, and the electrode terminal and an outer surface of the lid body are separated and insulated from each other by an outer side resin member. Contact portions (that is, weld sections) of the case body and the lid body are provided on a side of the lid body, that is, a side surface side of the case body. When it is assumed that these contact portions are located on an outer surface side of the lid body, laser welding can be performed by irradiating a laser beam to the above contact portion from one direction on the outer surface side of the lid body. This is advantageous from a perspective of improved productivity of the battery and the like.

Manufacturing method for square battery and square battery


A turbine generator utilizing a passive high pressure fluid source such as a natural gas well head. The generator includes a core and lead wires encapsulated in a dielectric medium to isolate current-bearing components from the motivating fluid, thereby preventing carbon bridging and reducing the explosion hazard when the motivating fluid is a hydrocarbon. The turbine generator includes a rotor that utilizes the full length as an impingement surface for imparting momentum to the rotor, thereby maintaining a compact design that reduces the overall footprint of the turbine generator. Fluid exits the generator via horizontal passages that penetrate the lower extremities of the turbine generator, preventing the buildup of condensation in the unit.

Turbine generators that exploit passive pressurized sources such as natural gas well heads have found utility in low power applications (100 watts or less). An example of such a generator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,961 to Gamel and owned by S&W Holdings, Inc., the assignee of the present patent application. The reliability of these units has resulted in a wider variety of applications by relevant consumers, and attendant demands for higher power output.
A challenge with increased power output is the requirement for higher voltage levels. Devices that rely on the spatial separation of electrical connections to provide electrical isolation between the winding terminations may require a larger footprint to accomplish the required isolation. Units that service the petrochemical industry are often powered by high pressure hydrocarbon gases. Increased potential between electrical connections may result in arcing, creating an explosion hazard. Even where an explosion does not result, such arcing may lead to a build up of carbon deposits on the exposed connections that may eventually bridge between the connections, causing the unit to short out and incur structural damage.
One approach to increasing the power is to increase the size of the various components. Exemplary is U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0217259 by Turchetta, which discloses an in-line natural gas turbine that utilizes bevel gears to transmit the rotational power to a generator outside a pipeline. However, in spatially constrained areas (e.g. off shore drilling platforms), the footprint of such an approach may be prohibitive.
Increased power output generally requires a higher mass flow rate through a given unit, which leads to an increase in the amount of condensate that forms and accumulates in the unit. Existing units have been known to become flooded with accumulated condensation to the point of becoming inoperable.
Another issue in certain applications, independent of power level, is the effect of corrosive gases. Natural gas wells, for example, are known to contain hydrogen sulfide (H2S), also referred to as "sour gas." The sour gas has a highly corrosive effect on metals commonly used in electric generators. Another common component indigenous to natural gas wells is water vapor, which is also corrosive and can cause operational problems when condensing out as a liquid.
Certain technologies utilize pressurized liquids to prevent hazardous gasses from entering unwanted portions of an assembly, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,004 to Lefevre et al. Where isolation from electrical machinery is desired, such an approach may require an isolation chamber distinct from the compartment housing the electrical machinery, as the use of liquids may be precluded for reasons of electrical isolation. The need for an isolation chamber will generally add to the required footprint of the generator.
What is needed is a gas turbine generator capable of utilizing a hydrocarbon medium without posing an explosion or carbon forming hazard, is resistive to the corrosive components that may be indigenous to the pressure source, and eliminates the potential of condensation flooding while maintaining a small footprint.


Customization features for providing users with the ability to customize various aspects of a vehicle management system are described. These customization features can include functionality for generating custom reports based on vehicle parameters, including diagnostic codes. The customization features can also include features for customizing alerts based on vehicle parameters and features for customizing nomenclature in the vehicle management system.

Specialized fleet management software is often used to manage fleets of vehicles, such as trucks or taxis. Typical fleet management systems include functionality for mapping and tracking vehicles. Vehicle tracking is facilitated by communicating with tracking devices installed in vehicles, which typically obtain location and speed information using a global positioning system (GPS). The tracking devices can upload the location and speed information to the fleet management system. In turn, the fleet management system generates a user interface accessible by a fleet administrator to determine vehicle locations, routes, speeds, and so forth.
Some fleet management systems provide historical information about vehicle routes. Such historical information can include start and stop information, vehicle locations at given times, and speed information, or the like. A fleet management system typically outputs this historical information in the form of a list. For example, a fleet management system might provide a map display that includes symbols representing vehicles in a vehicle fleet, and user selection of a vehicle symbol can cause a popup window to display a vehicle history list.

Customizable vehicle fleet reporting system


An apparatus is provided which comprises: a multi-bit quad latch with an internally coupled level sensitive scan circuitry; and a combinational logic coupled to an output of the multi-bit quad latch. Another apparatus is provided which comprises: a plurality of sequential logic circuitries; and a clocking circuitry comprising inverters, wherein the clocking circuitry is shared by the plurality of sequential logic circuitries.

Area-efficient designs for modern microprocessors, DSP's (Digital Signal Processors), SoC's (System-on-Chip) in wearables, IoTs (Internet-of-Things), smartphones, tablets, laptops, and servers, etc., are increasingly becoming a critical factor due to the following requirements: reducing silicon cost, decreasing PCB (Printed Circuit Board) footprint, improving time-to-market (TTM), and slower scaling cadence of process technology node. These requirements all need to be met while meeting the stringent frequency and/or performance targets and power/leakage budgets.
The standard cell and fundamental building block of any digital integrated circuit is the latch or flip-flop, which is used to store a state in any sequential logic. Each latch or flip-flop may include testability circuit hooks such as Level-Sensitive Scan Design (LSSD). These extra circuits that are only used for testing (e.g., design for test (DFT)) can consume approximately, for example, 70% of the standard cell size of a latch, therefore are a significant overhead.


A semiconductor device includes a transistor that is used for a charge pump circuit, being configured with a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator transistor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a boost circuit, particularly to the ones suitable for configuration of a charge pump circuit with a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (hereafter "SOI") transistor.
2. Related Art
In common semiconductor devices, field-effect transistors are formed on SOI substrates. This is because these transistors are latch-up free and are easy to isolate devices therein, and have a comparatively small source/drain junction capacitance. Particularly, since fully depleted SOI transistors allow rapid, lower power-consumption operations, researches for achieving the operation of the SOI transistors in a fully depleted mode are very active.
As semiconductor manufacturing processes advance, semiconductor integrated circuits become more multifunctional and highly integrated in a higher density, while the source voltage inside those semiconductor integrated circuits become lower and lower. Various power sources, including high voltage sources, are more often built in, as semiconductor integrated circuits become more multifunctional. For instance, 10V and/or more of high voltage is required for nonvolatile memories such as flash memory and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (hereafter "EEPROM"), and for driver integrated circuits (hereafter "IC") for display devices. In order to generate such high voltages with a boost circuit, a charge pump approach with which building-in the boost circuit to the semiconductor circuit is easy, is employed, instead of a switching regulator approach using coils and the like. Among the charge pump approach, Dickson charge pump circuit is commonly used, as disclosed in JP-A-2004-328901.
However, in common charge pump circuits, ground contact of substrate terminals of transistors needs to be provided in order to deal with the latch-up phenomenon. This involved a problem of conversion efficiency deterioration, since transistors that configure the charge pumps need to be high voltage proof, which increases an internal impedance of charge pump circuits.


Videos are retargeted to a target display for viewing with little to no geometric distortion or video information loss. Salient regions of video frames may be determined using scale-space spatiotemporal information. Video information loss may be a result of spatial loss, due to cropping, and resolution loss, due to resizing. A desired cropping window may be determined using a coarse-to-fine searching strategy. Video frames may be cropped with a window that matches an aspect ratio of the target display, and resized isotropically to match a size of the target display.

Videos are typically made up of a series of video frames that depict scenes and/or objects in a consecutive sequence of frames relative to time. Further, most videos traditionally have a standard aspect ratio designed to accommodate standard video displays for viewing. Additionally, most current videos are captured using a minimal standard for display resolution. Standard video displays for viewing videos have included televisions, projection devices, and other display monitors. Currently, a variety of display screens, having non-traditional display sizes and aspect ratios, are available and are capable of viewing videos.


The present invention provides a detectable heavy duty needle cannula (12) for use in hypodermic syringes and the like. Needle cannula (12) comprises a magnetizable or magnetized stainless steel alloy, which enables needle cannula (12) to be detectable in metal detectors that are commonly used in the meat processing industry to detect broken needle cannulas in the flesh of slaughtered animals. Needle cannula (12) further comprises a sidewall (17) that is thicker than the sidewalls of prior art needle cannulas. The thicker sidewall imparts to needle cannula (12) greater resistance to breakage during the process of injecting animal health products into an animal and greater detectability in a metal detector.

Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detectable heavy duty needle cannula for use in hypodermic syringes and the like. The needle cannula comprises a magnetized stainless steel alloy, which enables the needle cannula to be detectable in metal detectors that are commonly used in the meat processing industry to detect broken needle cannulas in the flesh of slaughtered animals. The needle cannula further comprises a sidewall that is thicker than prior art needle cannulas. The thicker sidewall imparts to the needle cannula greater resistance to breakage during the process of injecting animal health products into an animal and greater detectability in a metal detector.
(2) Description of Related Art
Stainless steel alloys are extensively used in manufacturing needle cannulas for hypodermic syringes for injecting animal health products into animals. From time to time, when these needles are used to vaccinate an animal, particularly the large domestic animals used for meat production, a part of the needle cannula breaks off and remains lodged within the flesh of the animal. Because meat containing a broken piece of needle is unfit for human consumption, any meat that contains a broken needle must be separated from the meat that is safe for human consumption.
The meat processing industry uses metal detectors to detect broken needles lodged within the flesh of the animal. However, because the needle cannulas used for veterinary purposes are made from non-magnetic stainless steel alloys, they are difficult to detect with the metal detectors that are used in the meat processing industry. Detection is particularly difficult when the needle""s length to diameter ratio is low because at such low ratios the orientation of the needle in the meat affects detectability.
In order to improve detection of these needles, the metal detectors are routinely operated at high sensitivity levels. However, at sensitivity levels the frequency of false positives is increased. Therefore, a greater proportion of meat than is necessary is culled.
Therefore, there is a need for a needle cannula that is more resistant to breakage during the process of injecting animal health products into an animal. There is also a need for a needle cannula that can be readily detected in the metal detectors that are commonly used in the meat processing industry to detect broken needle cannula in the flesh of animals after slaughter.
The present invention provides a detectable heavy duty needle cannula for use in hypodermic syringes and the like. The needle cannula comprises a magnetic stainless steel alloy, which enables the needle cannula to be detectable in a metal detector. Particularly in the metal detectors that are commonly used in the meat processing industry to detect broken needle cannulas in the flesh of slaughtered animals. The needle cannula further comprises a sidewall that is thicker than prior art needle cannulas, which imparts to the needle cannula greater resistance to breakage during the process of injecting animal health products into an animal and increases its detectability in a metal detector.
The present invention provides a needle assembly comprising an elongate permanently magnetizable or magnetic stainless steel needle cannula having a proximal end, a distal end and a sidewall therebetween, the cannula having a lumen therethrough wherein the cannula at its proximal end is securely fixed to a mounting hub which is capable of being mounted on a device for injecting a dosage of a material in an animal. In particular, a needle assembly for use in a hypodermic needle and the device is a hypodermic syringe. Preferably, the sidewall has a thickness greater than 0.46 mm, in particular when the lumen has a diameter of about 1.19 mm. In a preferred embodiment, the needle cannula has a circular cross-section and the mounting hub includes projections extending therefrom for threaded engagement with a luer collar.
The present invention also provides a stainless steel-tubular needle defined by at least one wall forming the tube and supported on a hub for mounting on a device for injecting a dosage of a material in an animals, wherein the needle is magnetizable or magnetic to a level which enables detection of the magnetism of the needle when broken off in the flesh of an animal when the animal is slaughtered and processed. Preferably, the needle is a hypodermic needle and wherein the material is a fluid. It is further preferable that the wall have a thickness of greater than 0.018 inch and an inside diameter of about 0.046 inch. It is preferable further still that the needle have a circular cross-section.
The present invention also provides a method of injecting flesh of a living food animal which comprises (a) providing an injection means comprising a tubular needle defined by at least one wall forming the tube and supported on a hub and mounted on a device for injecting a dosage of a material in an animal, wherein the needle is made of stainless steel, which is magnetizable or magnetic at a level that enables detection of the magnetism of the needle if the needle is broken off in the flesh of the living animal during the injection; and (b) injecting the living animal with the dosage using the needle, whereby when the needle breaks in the animal during the injection, the needle can be detected in the flesh of the animal upon slaughter and processing into the food.
The present invention further provides in a slaughtering method for slaughter and processing of animals for food while conveying the flesh of the animal, the improvement which comprises detecting a broken stainless steel tubular needle in the flesh, wherein the needle has at least one wall and is supported on a hub for mounting on a device for injecting a dosage of a material into an animal, wherein the needle is magnetized to a level which enables detection of the magnetism of the needle when broken off in the flesh of an animal when the animal is slaughtered and processed. In the foregoing methods it is preferable that the needle be a hypodermic needle. Particularly, a needle wherein the wall has a thickness of greater than 0.018 inch, and further, wherein the needle has an inside diameter of about 0.046 inch. The method is particularly useful when the animal is a swine.
In either of the above methods, the needle can be the above permanently magnetizable or magnetic stainless steel needle cannula having a proximal end, a distal end and a sidewall therebetween, the cannula having a lumen therethrough defining a cannula longitudinal axis wherein the cannula at its proximal end is securely fixed to a mounting hub which is capable of being mounted on a device for injecting a dosage of a material in an animal.
In any one of the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention, the stainless steel comprises Fe and 0.01-3.0 wt % Si, less than 0.03 wt % P, 4-25 wt % Cr, 0.003-7.0 wt % Al, 0.01-1.0 Mn, 0.001-0.03 wt % S, 0.01-5.0 wt % Mo, 0.01-1.0 wt % Ti, 0.003-0.08 wt % C, 0.01-5.0 wt % Ni, 0.01-0.5 wt % Cu, less than 0.01 wt % Pb, 0.02-0.5 Bi, 0.5-1.0 wt % Nb, 0.02-1.0 wt % Zr, and 0.05-1.0 wt % V. Preferably, a stainless steel alloy comprising Fe and 0.36 wt % Si, 0.20 wt % P, 24.68 wt % Cr, 0.01 wt % Al, 0.90 wt % Mn, 0.009 wt % S, 1.80 wt % Mo, less than 0.01 wt % Ti, 0.08 wt % C, 4.98 wt % Ni, 0.10 wt % Cu, and less than 0.01 wt % Pb.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a needle cannula that is more resistant to breakage during the process of injecting animal health products into an animal.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a needle cannula comprising a stainless steel alloy that is magnetized to facilitate detection of the broken needle cannula in the flesh of the animal using the metal detectors that are commonly used in the meat processing industry.
These and other objects will become increasingly apparent with reference to the following descriptions and the drawings.


A method for creating a complete three-dimensional model of a vehicle, along with a corresponding virtual tour and means for navigating said model is disclosed.

Deciding to purchase a vehicle is a large financial decision for a person to make. There are many different aspects that need to be considered when making such a big purchase that often get overlooked. Many vehicle trading services do not include what is actually important for a trader to be aware of when buying a car. Customers may know the make and model they want, but the model year is also important. Different model years can have varying features that are part of the car. Customers may not always get to see the exact year model they intend to buy until they are ready to pick up their purchased new car.
The market is infiltrated with companies that advertise various cars for sale. The issue is that many of these businesses show photos and graphics of the generic make and model for the car up for sale. Each car has its own story though. A particular car for sale may have had an accident and had the front bumper replaced, or maybe there is a small stain on one of the seats. These details are important for the consumer to be aware of before purchasing the car. A consumer should be able to view the car they are actually intending to purchase. A generic photo does not give an accurate depiction of the actual car.
The automotive industry is notoriously known to try and trick customers looking to purchase a new car. Customers are often sold "lemons" by dealers despite being shown photos of the car, however having an accurate depiction of a vehicle will instill a sense of trust in car dealers. The value of the cars will also increase by having these photos be more representative. Dealers would no longer need to reduce the price due to imperfections the consumer found upon physically seeing the car. All of the car's blemishes will be available for the customer to see beforehand so there are no more surprises that can often associated with car shopping.
Additionally, none of the companies on the market now have a way to view the car as if the consumer was there in person. Even if there are 3D models available, they lack the interactivity and detail that are crucial for a customer to be able to make such a big decision. There is a need for a 3D model that has increased detail as well as a number of perspectives to view the car. A consumer should be able to feel as though they are actually touring the physical car to be able to best evaluate it. This will create more security for the customer as they will know exactly the car they are getting including any imperfections that may exist. Transparency is important for a purchase this large.

Method for creating an exact digital replica of a vehicle


In a method for preparing a sample for electron microscopic examinations, in particular with a transmission electron microscope (TEM),                a) a substrate containing the sample to be prepared on a sample locus is provided in a vacuum chamber,        b) a protective layer is applied onto a surface of the sample locus,        c) the sample located under the protective layer is separated from the substrate by an ion beam, the protective layer acting as a mask, and        d) in the vacuum chamber, the separated sample is removed from the substrate.

With progressive miniaturization in micro- and nanotechnology, and especially in semiconductor technology, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of internal interfaces on ion-thinned cross sections is becoming more and more important. Targeted preparation of a selected object position or site, i.e. a specimen or sample lying on or in a sample position or locus of the substrate, is necessary for this. In future MOS components, for example, samples with the gate lengths of from 10 nm to 100 nm and gate oxide thicknesses of a few atomic layers will need to be prepared in a targeted way for high-resolution TEM.
In many areas of materials science, target preparation is also increasingly required on particular micro-regions, for example phase transitions, structure defects, heat influx zones, crack edges, interfaces etc. There are likewise not yet any suitable methods for the targeted preparation of samples for subsequent TEM in the area of the interface between materials and biological tissue, as occur for example in implants.
In order to prepare samples for such electron microscopic examinations, in particular for examinations with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), it is necessary to separate them from their substrate and mechanically fix them.
To this end, it is known from the prior art to separate the sample from the substrate with the aid of a high-energy focused ion beam (FIB) by physical etching or chemically assisted etching. The sample is subsequently taken from the substrate with the aid of a probe, either under a light microscope or still in the FIB device, and then fastened with the aid of this probe on a sample support; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,538,254 B1.
US 2003/0089860 A1 describes for example a method in which the sample is separated by FIB from a semiconductor substrate, the position where the sample is to be taken being imaged with the aid of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The separated sample is removed with the aid of an electrostatically acting manipulator.
US 2002/0121614 A1 describes a method in which the sample is first fully separated from the substrate in the FIB device, before it is fixed on the probe. The probe may in this case be joined to the sample by ion beam induced deposition (IBID) or electron beam induced deposition (EBID) of material from a so-called precursor, by adhesives or electrostatically. The sample is then, for example, transferred onto a sample support and fastened there by material deposition.
WO 02/095378 also describes a method in which the sample is both imaged and separated from the substrate with the aid of FIB. Before separation, a probe is fastened on the sample position by IBID. With the aid of a micromanipulator, the probe with the separated sample is then removed from the substrate and the sample is placed on a TEM support grid and fixed there by IBID. The probe is subsequently separated from the sample with the aid of the ion beam.
DE 42 26 694 discloses a comparable method, in which the sample position is imaged via secondary electron emission in a scanning ion microscope (SIM). The separated sample is fastened on the probe by IBID and can then be observed under an SEM and further processed with an attenuated ion beam, in order to thin the sample for the TEM. The probe comprises a small thin probe head section on which the sample is fastened, and a thick holding section where it is fastened on a micromanipulator. The tip has a diameter of less than 10 μm and the holding section designed as a plate has a thickness of more than 50 μm.
Overwijk et al., "Novel scheme for the preparation of transmission electron microscopy specimens with a focused ion beam", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 11(6), 1993, pages 2021-2024 disclose a method in which the sample is likewise imaged and prepared in an FIB device. In order to protect the surface of the sample when the sample is being separated by FIB, the sample is provided by IBID with a tungsten layer which also serves as a mask during the separation. After separation of the sample from the substrate, the substrate with the sample, which is contained in a recess produced by FIB in the substrate, is taken from the vacuum chamber and placed under a light microscope. There, the separated sample is then held via adhesion by a needle and placed on a TEM support by careful manipulation.
All the methods described so far, however, have the disadvantage that the sample is damaged (amorphization) or contaminated (ion implantation) by the high ion energy which is conventionally more than 30 keV. It is then only limitedly suitable for an examination by means of TEM.
Moreover, the damage takes place not only when separating the sample from the substrate by means of FIB but already when looking for the sample position, i.e. when imaging the substrate section containing the sample position in the scanning ion microscope. Although the sample damage is reduced with lower ion energies, the resolution of the imaging is nevertheless greatly reduced with a low ion energy, so that targeted finding of an intended sample position is no longer possible.
Mechanical handling of the prepared sample represents a further problem. This is because after preparation, the minute extremely fragile samples have to be manipulated onto a TEM support grid, which often leads to loss of the elaborately prepared and expensive samples. Often, there is also a poor thermal and electrical contact between the sample and the support grid, which leads to imaging artifacts by charging and heating of the sample.
It is also generally known from the article by Matsui and Mori: "New selective deposition technology by electron beam induced surface reaction" in J. Vac. Sci. Technol B4(1), 1986, pages 299-304, to deposit a tungsten layer on a substrate within a vacuum chamber with the aid of an electron beam (EBID), to which end a precursor, here for example WF6, is introduced into the vacuum chamber via a gas nozzle.
The invention therefore relates to a method for preparing a sample for electron microscopic examinations, in particular with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), having the steps:                a) a substrate containing the sample to be prepared on a sample locus is provided in a vacuum chamber,        b) a protective layer is applied onto a surface of the sample locus,        c) the sample located under the protective layer is separated from the substrate by an ion beam, the protective layer acting as a mask, and        d) within the vacuum chamber, the separated sample is removed from the substrate.
Such a method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,068 D1. In the known method, the sample is cut free by FIB and then joined either to a TEM sample support and removed from the substrate using it, or taken using a probe on which the sample is held in a suitable way. The sample is then placed on a TEM sample holder.
The inventors of the present application have recognized that precisely the combination of a protective layer and handling still in the vacuum chamber avoids many problems which are prevalent in the prior art. The protective layer significantly reduces the risk of damage to the sample during separation from the substrate, while handling still in the vacuum chamber avoids mechanical damage. In the vacuum chamber, it is now possible to take the separated sample with great reliability and reproducibility, for example by adhesion. The loss of sample during handling, often to be observed in the prior art, is thus avoided.
Although Overwijk et al. also describe manipulation of the sample by using adhesion on a needle tip, this is nevertheless carried out under a light microscope, i.e. not in a vacuum. The inventors of the present application have now recognized that adhesion can be controlled better in a vacuum and is more reproducible than under atmospheric conditions. According to the inventors' understanding, this is attributable to the varying humidity under atmospheric conditions. In fact, the sample will adhere better or worse on the needle depending on the degree of humidity. In a vacuum, the moisture film required for the adhesion can now be provided in a controlled way without dependence on external influences.
Another advantage with this method is that the protective layer can be used as a mask so that, instead of focused i.e. high-energy ion beams, it is possible to use low-energy ion beams in the manner of an ion shower for the separation, which have a smaller position resolution than the high-energy ions in FIB. The position resolution required for separating the sample is achieved here by the protective layer mask, which has an even higher position resolution than FIB. This electron beam deposition of the protective layer also already avoids many of the aforementioned disadvantages. This is because when the protective layer is being deposited, the surface of the sample is not damaged by the electrons which can be used according to the invention, as is caused by the high-energy ion beams used for this in the prior art.

Method for preparing a sample for electron microscopic examinations, and sample supports and transport holders used therefor