An electrophotographic imaging member including a charge generating layer and a heterogeneous charge transport layer, the charge transport layer having regions of charge transport and inactive regions and the charge transporting regions are in contact with each other. This imaging member has characteristics that enable high quality and high contrast imaging.

This invention relates to electrophotographic imaging members and more specifically, to imaging members having characteristics that enable high quality and high contrast imaging.
Electrophotographic photoreceptors typically include a photoconductive layer formed on a conductive substrate. The photoconductive layer is a good insulator in the dark so that electric charges can be retained on its surface. But upon exposure to light the charge is dissipated.
A latent image is formed on the photoreceptor by first uniformly depositing electric charges over the surface of the photoconductive layer by a conventional means. The photoconductive layer acts as a charge storage capacitor with charge on its free surface and an equal charge of opposite polarity (the counter charge) on the conductive substrate. A light image is then projected onto the photoconductive layer. On those portions of the photoconductive layer that are exposed to light, the electric charge is conducted through the layer reducing the surface charge. The portions of the photoconductive surface not exposed to light retain their surface charge. The quantity of electric charge at any particular area of the photoconductive surface is inversely related to the illumination incident thereon, thus forming a latent electrostatic image.
The photodischarge of the photoconductive layer requires the layer to photogenerate conductive charge and to transport this charge through the layer thereby neutralizing the charge on the surface. Two types of photoreceptor structures have been employed: Multilayer structures wherein separate layers perform the functions of charge generation and charge transport, respectively, and single layer photoconductors which perform both functions. These layers are laminated onto a conducting substrate and may include an optional charge blocking and an adhesive layer between the conducting and the photoconducting layers. Additionally, they may contain protective overcoatings and the substrate may consist of a non-conducting mechanical support with a conductive layer. Other layers to provide special functions such as incoherent reflection of laser light, dot patterns for pictorial imaging or subbing layers to provide chemical sealing and/or a smooth coating surface may be employed.
One common type of photoreceptor is a multilayered device that comprises a conductive layer, a blocking layer, an adhesive layer, a charge generating layer, and a charge transport layer. The charge transport layer can contain an active aromatic diamine molecule, which enables charge transport, dissolved or molecularly dispersed in a film forming binder. This type of charge transport layer is described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,990. Other charge transport molecules disclosed in the prior art include a variety of electron donor, aromatic amines, oxadiazoles, oxazoles, hydrazones and stilbenes for hole transport and electron acceptor molecules for electron transport. Other charge transport layers have been developed that employ a charge transporting polymer wherein the charge transporting moiety is incorporated in the polymer as a pendant or in the chain or may form the backbone of the polymer. This type of charge transport polymer includes materials such as poly N-vinylcarbazole), polysilylenes, and others including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,551, 4,806,443, 4,806,444, 4,818,650, 4,935,487, and 4,956,440.
Charge generator layers employed include amorphous films of selenium and alloys of selenium and arsenic, tellurium, germanium and the like, hydrogenetated amorphous silicon and compounds of silicon and germanium, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and the like, fabricated by vacuum evaporation or deposition, inorganic pigments of crystalline selenium and its alloys, III-V and II-VI compounds and organic pigments such as quinacridones, polycyclic pigments such as dibromo anthanthrone pigments, perylene and perinone diamines, polynuclear aromatic quinones, azo pigments including bis-, tris- and tetrakis-azos, and the like dispersed in a film forming polymeric binder and fabricated by solvent coating.
Phthalocyanines have been employed as photogenerating materials for use in laser printers with infrared exposures. Infra red sensitivity is required for low cost semiconductor laser diodes used as the light exposure source. The absorption spectrum and photosensitivity depend on the central metal atom. Many metal phthalocyanines have been reported and include, oxyvanadium phthalocyanine, chloroaluminum phthalocyanine, copper phthalocyanine, oxytitanium phthalocyanine, chlorogallium phthalocyanine, magnesium phthalocyanine and metal-free phthalocyanine. The phthalocyanines exist in many crystal forms which have a strong influence on photogeneration.
Single layer photoreceptors commonly employed include photoconducting layers laminated onto a conducting substrate and may also include an optional charge blocking and/or an adhesive layer between the conducting and the photoconducting layers. The photoconducting layer materials include amorphous selenium and alloys of selenium and arsenic, tellurium, germanium and the like, hydrogenetated amorphous silicon and compounds of silicon and germanium, carbon, oxygen nitrogen and the like fabricated by vacuum evaporation or deposition, inorganic pigments of crystalline selenium and its alloys, II-VI crystals such as ZnO, CdS, III-V pigments and the like and organic pigments such as quinacridones, polycyclic pigments such as dibromo anthanthrone pigments, perylene and perinone diamines, polynuclear aromatic quinones, azo pigments including bis-, tris- and tetrakis-azos, metal phthalocyanines and the like dispersed in a film forming polymeric binder fabricated by solvent coating. Other organic photoconductor materials are electron donor and acceptor charge transfer systems such as polyvinyl-carbazole (PVK), 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenone (TNF) and the like. The pure pigment photoconducting layers, such as amorphous selenium and silicon, both photogenerate and transport a charge. But when the pigment in is a binder layer, charge transport may take place entirely within the pigment while the binder is substantially insulating, as for example in the ZnO photoreceptor. Alternatively, charge transport may occur in a binder which is either (a) an insulating polymer doped with (i) an electron donor or (ii) acceptor molecules or (b) a charge transporting polymer as described above.
Charge generation controls the discharge (both photo and dark) of all the dual layer and nearly all the single layer photoreceptors. Restated, the amount of charge neutralized, as measured by the voltage across the photoconducting layers, is proportional to the light exposure (e.g., ergs/cm.sup.2). The photodischarge curve is linear with a negative slope from the maximum (dark or zero exposure) voltage to the minimum voltage. The minimum voltage is referred to as the residual voltage. Light exposure beyond that required to reach the residual voltage does not produce any further discharge. In such photogeneration limited discharge, the ideal discharge is a linear discharge down to zero (residual) voltage with the slope being a measure of the photosensitivity. However, because the photogeneration rate in practical materials is electric field dependent, and decreasing with field, the discharge slope decreases and the discharge curve at low voltages increasingly departs from the linear discharge, requiring increasingly more light exposure to the same voltage discharge, as shown in FIG. 1. Because dark discharge, which is undesirable, also is generation limited, albeit thermal generation limited, dark discharge has the same electric field dependence, being high at high voltages (electric fields) and low at low voltages (electric fields).
Generation limited discharge is undesirable because it contributes to undesirable image quality variation through variations in electricals, that is, the voltages on the photoreceptor. Highest image quality in a xerographic system requires the voltages corresponding to the same image density or white background be constant, both spatially across the entire copy or print and temporally (or cyclically) from print to print. The generation limited discharge contributes to electrical variation in two ways. First, small variations at low light exposure result in large variations in the high (dark) voltage. Secondly, small variations in thermal generation also cause variation in the high (dark) voltage. The previous solutions have been to improve the materials and coating technologies to reduce the electrical variation of photoreceptors and improve the optics and electrical controls in the xerographic imaging machines.
Digital imaging provides an improvement in image quality. Digital systems have been used where gray or tone scales are produced by area coverage at constant local image density. Thus it is desirable to have a discharge curve (both photo and dark discharge if possible) that appears as a switch, with negligible voltage discharge until a critical exposure is reached, followed by complete discharge to residual voltage. This type of discharge is called S shaped hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 2. Such a binary discharge curve permits variation in both the off (or dark) and on (or fully exposed) light exposure with negligible voltage variation. Additionally, dark charge generation does not cause a dark voltage variation contributing to stable electricals.
One approach is to fabricate a single-layer, heterogeneous, particle-contact device in which photoconductor pigments are dispersed in insulating binders. The concentration of the charge generating and transporting pigment particles is high enough to maintain particle contact and thus a conducting path through the layer.
The key to an S shaped photodischarge curve is a heterogeneous structure which provides a connected but convoluted path for charge transport or conduction. At high electric fields, after the sample is charged, any charge generated at the surface is directed in a straight line through the layer, encounters a barrier in the insulating region and hence causes negligible voltage discharge. After nearly all the surface charge is injected, the local electric field normal to the surface is negligible and the remaining charge is able to move in other directions and follow the connected path to a depth below where the initial charge was stopped. At this deeper level the charge again sees the full electric field and encounters the insulating barrier. But because the motion of the previous charge reduced the electric field in the first level, more charge follows the convoluted path down to the next level. Thus by such a cascade total discharge occurs after a light exposure corresponding to the generation of enough charge required for total discharge, resulting in a step-like or S shaped discharge curve. By a similar argument, the dark discharge also has an S shaped time dependence, enabling very stable dark potentials.
The earliest such devise with an S shaped photodischarge curve is the single layer ZnO electrophotographic layer.
Another single layer device with S shaped photodischarge is described by J. W. Weigl et al. in "Current Problems in Electrophotography", pages 286-300, edited by W. F. Berg and K. Hauffe and published by Walter de Gruyter, Berlin in 1972. The layers consist of microcrystalline dispersions of X-metal free phthalocyanine in suitable binders. The X-metal free phthalocyanine, which are observed as needle like crystals, provides both the photogeneration and the hole transport in this device.
Another single layer particle contact device is discussed in articles "An aggregate Organic Photoconductor Part 1 and 2" by Dullmage et al. and Borsenberger et al. and is published in the Journal of Applied Physics, Vol 4, pages 5555-5564, 1978. The device described is a two phase aggregate photoconductor containing a co-crystalline phase of a thiopyrylium dye and a polycarbonate polymer in an amorphous phase of a triphenylmethane derivative in polycarbonate. An S shaped discharge shape is observed when the device is charged negatively and discharged by highly absorbed light. When charged positively, the normal generation limited discharge is observed. The photogeneration is attributed to the thiopyrylium and the discharge proceeds by hole transport through the amorphous phase of the triphenylmethane hole transport molecules in polycarbonate. When charged negatively, the discharge proceeds by electron transport through the co-crystalline phase, which form a dendritic network.
In the prior art, the S shaped discharge is observed in single layer devices which suffer from inflexibility in design. The same material, a pigment, is employed to photogenerate and transport the charge.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved electrophotographic imaging member which overcomes the above noted disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic imaging member whose discharge shape is controlled by the heterogeneous properties of the transport layer.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic imaging member which exhibits an S shaped, high contrast discharge in a multi layer photoconductor.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a multilayer photoreceptor in which the transport layer has a structure in which charge transporting regions are surrounded by non-transporting regions and the charge transporting regions are in contact with each other, forming a convoluted path across the layer.

Dual layer switch photoreceptor structures for digital imaging


As a company expands its businesses to include digital products and services in addition to more traditional telecommunications and media offerings, digital consumption data may be used along with telecommunications consumption data and other customer-centric information in order to create a more comprehensive data model and make better predictions. A customer-centric data model identifies entities with data from diverse locations and product sectors associated with a single customer. Customer analytic records aggregate existing data into base variables and store it for each customer along with additional variables generated by performing calculations on exiting data. Both the data model and the customer analytic records can be used by the company to make more accurate business and marketing decisions.

Telecommunications companies now offer a wide variety of services to their customers, including providing digital content. Digital content includes applications, downloading and streaming media, and online purchases. At the same time that telecommunication companies are expanding to cover digital content, media companies offering digital content are now expanding to include telecommunications services. These companies, which have traditionally offered one of these products but now have expanded to include both, can be thought of as convergent companies.
Because digital content sales and services have often been managed separately from telecommunications sales and services, the data has also been managed separately. Although a single customer may have activity on both the telecommunications and digital content products lines in addition to other lines of the company's business like IPTV, the customer's activities and strategies for dealing with that customer would typically be handled in a segregated fashion. The different product lines of these convergent companies operate, in effect, as multiple distinct business entities rather than as a unified business.

Digital consumer data model and customer analytic record


A bonding tool having a round pointed end smaller than the bonding pad for the semiconductor element is urged with a bonding force F.sub.1 and pressed down into the inner lead of a TAB tape such that the bonding tool end and inner lead come in close contact with each other. Then, the bonding force F.sub.1 applied to the tool is reduced to F.sub.2, while at the same time ultrasonic vibration 17 is applied to the tool, thus effecting bonding of the inner lead to the bonding pad with applied heat and pressure. Unlike the prior art, no bump has to be formed on the bonding pad for the semiconductor element or on an end of the inner lead. It is thus possible to simplify the bonding process and also to reduce the cost of bonding. Further, a highly reliable bond can be realized without causing crack or other damage to the pad structure.

This invention relates to a method of bonding an inner lead of a TAB (tape automated bonding) tape carrier used for the mounting of a semiconductor element and an electrode thereof, an also to bonding tools used for the bonding methods.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional method of bonding an inner lead 13 of a tape carrier with a bonding pad 12 for a semiconductor element 15. In this method, a projection or bump 20 is formed on either the inner lead end 13 or the bonding pad 12, and the two members are bonded together via the bump 20. The bonding is effected using a bonding tool 21 as shown in FIG. 2A or 2B. The bonding tool 21 has a flat free end face, which has a size usually greater than the width of the inner lead 13 and almost equal to the size of the bonding pad 12. FIG. 2A shows a typical bonding tool 21a having a flat free end face, and FIG. 2B shows another typical bonding tool 21b having a flat free end face with a small raised cross portion.
In the prior art method of bonding the TAB inner lead, the bump is necessary for the following two major reasons. Firstly, the edges of the semiconductor element bonding pad 12 is covered by a passivation film 14, which is raised with respect to the bonding pad 12 surface, as shown in FIG. 3A. Therefore, it is very difficult to make the inner lead 13 directly contact with the bonding pad 12 when using the prior art bonding pad. Although the inner lead 13 is not held in contact with the passivation film 14 in its orthogonal direction (not shown), because the aperture or window of the passivation film 14 which is exposed through the electrode surface 12 is usually made greater than the width of the inner lead 13, the inner lead 13 is held in contact with the passivation film 14 in its longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. 3A. Therefore, it is very difficult to place the inner lead 13 in direct contact with the bonding pad surface 12 by using the prior art bonding tool 21, which has an end face with equal level in size to the bonding pad. For this reason, it is necessary to provide either individual bonding pads 12 or individual inner lead 13 with projections or bumps 20.
The second reason is that even if the contact of leads 13 with bonding pads surface 12 could be obtained as shown in FIG. 3B, the method of directly connecting the inner lead 13 to the bonding pad 12 is liable to cause cracking or damage in the pad structure 12 during bonding process. The inner lead 13 is usually comprised of a copper core surrounded by a gold or tin covering. Copper is hard and less capable of deformation compared to gold, which is a regular material of the bump. Therefore, when a bonding force is applied, it causes excessive stress concentration in the neighborhood of the contact area between the inner lead 13 edge and the bonding pad surface as shown in FIG. 3C. When ultrasonic vibration 18 is applied to a bonding tool 21 in this state, damage in the pad structure is liable to be produced in the neighborhood of the inner lead 13 edge where excessive stress concentration is produced.
Therefore, the bonding is normally effected via a bump 20 as shown in FIG. 1, which is soft like a gold bump to thereby avoid stress concentration, thus obtaining the bonding with sufficient strength without generation of any damage in the electrode or pad structure 12. This is so because the soft bump 20 is deformed before the applied pressure reaches a great value able to generate cracking in the pad structure 12.
The bumps may be formed on the bonding pads for a semiconductor element by various ways. For instance, a projection or bump is formed directly on the bonding pad by using electroplating technique, as disclosed in "ISHM'87 Proceedings", 1987, pp449-456 or "ISHM'88 Proceedings", 1988, pp117-124, or by a pedestal process using photoengraving techniques, in which the inner lead is half etched while masking a bump area, thus forming a raised portion or bump with a height of 30 to 40.mu., as disclosed in "1991 JAPAN IBMT SYMPOSIUM", WB2-02, 1991, pp81-84, or by a transfer bump process, in which a bump is formed on a glass substrate and then transferred onto a bonding pad, as disclosed in "IMC 1988 Proceedings", 1988, pp440-443.
In a further conventional process as shown in FIG. 4, an inner lead 13 is directly connected to a bonding pad for a semiconductor element 12 without formation of any bumps but by a thermosonic process like wire bonding process, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,662. The process of directly bonding the inner lead to the bonding pad for the semiconductor element without formation of any bumps will hereinafter be referred to as direct bonding process. In the prior art direct bonding process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,662, the bonding is effected by using a bonding tool having a greater end face than the width of the inner lead and applying ultrasonic vibration thereto in the longitudinal direction. Further, the passivation film aperture over the bonding pad for the semiconductor element 12 is greater than the width of the inner lead 13.
As shown above, in the prior art method of bonding the TAB inner lead, it is normally necessary to form a bump on either a bonding pad for a semiconductor element or an inner lead. The bump formation usually requires a complicated electroplating method or like process as well as expensive equipment. Besides, it is difficult to attain 100 per cent bump formation yield rate. Further, in the bump formation process, damage to expensive semiconductor element or expensive TAB tape is liable. For the above reasons, the prior art TAB inner lead bonding process requiring the bump formation process leads to high assembly cost.
Furthermore, the other prior art of direct bonding process, using a bonding tool whose head is greater in end size than the width of the inner lead, is prone to cause any cracking in the pad structure, such as passivation cracking and substrate cracking under the bonding pad. This is thought to be attributable to the following cause. Referring to FIG. 3C, the P.sub.min value is defined as the minimum pressure value on the bond area, which can attain bonding an inner lead directly with a bonding pad, and the P.sub.max value is defined as the maximum pressure value on the bond area, which would not cause any cracking in the pad structure but could attain bondly an inner-lead directly with a bonding pad. In order to avoid crack or like damage to the pad structure 12, it is necessary to apply a bond force to the bonding tool 21 such that the effective pressure in the bond area 17 is lower than P.sub.max. The bonding is not effected in a region under a pressure lower than P.sub.min, because the inner lead 13 and the bonding pad 12 is in poor contact with each other. For obtaining the bonding while avoiding the generation of cracking in the pad strucutre, it is necessary that the actual pressure between the inner lead and the bonding pad is lower than P.sub.max and also that the region under pressure of P.sub.min is as small as possible. To this end, it is important that the pressure distribution over the bond area is as uniform as possible. In the prior art direct bonding process, however, stress concentration occurs in the neighborhood of the inner lead 13 edge and it leads to crack generation. To prevent the crack generation, it is necessary to reduce either the bond force or the ultrasonic energy applied to a bond tool. However, it has been difficult to obtain bonding with sufficient strength without causing any cracking in the pad structure.
Moreover, in the prior art direct bonding process, it is difficult to obtain good bonding properties, such as strong bond strength with all over the connections, in case of a semiconductor element having all the four sides thereof formed with bonding pads. The prior art bonding can be effected with a semiconductor element having only few opposed sides formed with bonding pads by applying ultrasonic vibration in the longitudinal direction thereof.

Method of bonding tab inner lead and bonding tool


Embodiments relate to the layout of photonic integrated circuits using fixed coordinate grids. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a request to place a first photonic component within a layout of a photonic integrated circuit. Positionings of components within the layout are represented in a design database utilizing a grid with fixed coordinates. The method further includes calculating, by a processor, precise coordinates and snapped coordinates for positioning of the first photonic component. The snapped coordinates have a precision consistent with the fixed coordinate grid and the precise coordinates have a higher precision than the snapped coordinates. The method further includes, in a design database, representing the positioning of the first photonic component utilizing both the precise coordinates and the snapped coordinates.

A photonic integrated circuit is a device that integrates multiple photonic components on a single device and processes the information signals in the form of light waves. Photonic integrated circuits are designed and fabricated using tools and processes based on the semiconductor electronics industry. For example, design flows analogous to those used to design electronic integrated circuits may be used to design photonic integrated circuits. Software tools for the physical layout of the devices and for the generation of masks used in fabrication may also be similar to those used in the electronics industry. Semiconductor processes used to fabricate electronic devices may be used or adapted to fabricate photonic devices.
In many cases, photonic integrated circuits may combine photonics and electronics on the same device. For example, some functions may be performed by photonics and others by electronics. Devices such as lasers and other types of optical transmitters may be used to convert signals from electrical to optical form, and devices such as sensors and other types of optical receivers may be used to convert signals from optical to electrical form. Electrical signals may also be used to control photonic devices, such as electro-optic modulators and optical amplifiers.

Layout of photonic integrated circuits using fixed coordinate grids


The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field of communications, and discloses a method of using a base station signal to quickly set call forwarding and a mobile communication terminal. The method comprises the following steps of: A. carrying out setting of call forwarding, and saving a base station information of a wireless network where the call forwarding is set; and B. reading a call forwarding target phone number that is set, sending a call forwarding request to the wireless network, and after a confirmation is obtained from the wireless network, activating a check timer to complete the setting of call forwarding.

Nowadays, use of mobile phones has become more and more widespread, and almost every person has a mobile phone. On the other hand, hand-free telephones have also become widely used, so it is often the case that both a hand-free telephone and a mobile phone are available for communication in some places. To meet many people's demands, a call forwarding function is defined in mobile phones. However, a user who has enabled the call forwarding function might forget to cancel the call forwarding function later for some reasons, and this will cause a loss to the user due to missing of the call.
Accordingly, there is still room for improvement and development of the prior art.

Method of using base station signal to quickly set call forwarding and mobile communication terminal

HUIZHOU TCL MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.


The present disclosure relates, generally, to a semiconductor substrate with a planarized surface comprising mixed single-crystal orientation regions and/or mixed single-crystal semiconductor material regions, where each region is electrically isolated. In accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure CMOS devices on SOI regions are manufactured on semiconductors having different orientations. According to another embodiment, an SOI device is contemplated as having a plurality of semiconductor regions having at least one of a different semiconductor material, crystalline lattice constant or lattice strain. Methods and processes for fabricating the different embodiments of the invention is also disclosed.

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor ("CMOS") technology is widely used for realizing semiconductor-based electronic circuits. CMOS circuits use both NMOS (electrons) and PMOS (holes) devices. Since a CMOS device-pair consumes power only during switching, CMOS chips require less power than chips using just one type of transistor. CMOS has been particularly attractive for use in battery-powered devices, such as portable computers.
CMOS technology integrates both n-type and p-type MOS devices on the same wafer chip. The current of a field effect transistor ("FET") is proportional to the carrier mobility. PFET carrier mobility is known to be 2.5 times higher on a 110-oriented silicon (Si) wafer than on a 100-oriented Si wafer. Hence, it is desirable to create a hybrid substrate comprising 100-oriented Si where NFETs would be formed and 110-oriented Si where PFET would be formed.
The concept of using different orientations on the same semiconductor may be extended to using different semiconductor materials, since it may be advantageous to fabricate a hybrid substrate with different semiconductor compounds. For example, the bulk hole mobility of germanium (Ge) and the bulk electron mobility of gallium arsenide (GaAs) are, respectively, 4.2 and 5.7 times higher than that of 100-oriented silicon. Thus, a hybrid substrate comprising Ge regions where PFET's would be formed, and GaAs regions where NFET's would be formed may lead to a substantial improvement in FET currents.
Yet another example is related to monolithic integration of optoelectronic devices with CMOS technology. Since silicon has an indirect bandgap, it does not emit light as efficiently as semiconductor materials with a direct bandgap such as GaAs, InP, InGaAs, etc. It would therefore be desirable to fabricate a hybrid substrate comprising silicon regions where CMOS circuits would be formed and InP regions where optoelectronic devices would be formed.

Mixed orientation and mixed material semiconductor-on-insulator wafer

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for the preparation of pipe ends, prior to jointing them together using an inserted close-fitting spool and an external close-fitting sleeve, consists of a plain cylindrical mandrel (10) adapted to be firmly fixed centrally inboard of an end zone of the bore of a pipe (12) so as to project from the end of the pipe, a hydraulic cylinder (46) adapted to be removeably mounted co-axially on the projecting end of the mandrel, and a piston (48) in the cylinder slideable along the mandrel and adapted to carry an interchangeable annular tool, whereby the tool can be force fed axially along the mandrel into the pipe to modify the bore thereof.

The pipes concerned are plastics pipes now being introduced in preference to metal pipes, for reasons of corrosion resistance and relative ease of jointing, for the transportation of liquid or gaseous fluids, for example petrol or drinking water. However, plain plastics pipes can allow substances in the pipe material itself or from outside the pipes to percolate into and contaminate the fluids, or conversely allow the fluids to percolate to the outside and pollute the environment. To prevent any such percolation, plastics pipes are being provided with thin metallic liners, but these complicate their jointing together.

Device for preparing pipe ends for jointing


This invention relates to human galactokinase and the identification of galactokinase mutations, a missense and nonsense, as well as isolated nucleic acids encoding same, recombinant host cell transformed with DNA encoding such proteins and to uses of the expressed proteins and nucleic acid sequences in therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

There are numerous inherited human metabolic disorders, most of which are recessive. Many have devastating effects that may include a combination of several clinical features, such as severe mental retardation, impairment of the peripheral nervous system, blindness, hearing deficiency and organomegaly. Most of the disorders are rare. However, the majority of such disorders cannot be treated by drugs.
Galactokinase deficiency is one of three known forms of galactosemia. The other forms are galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase deficiency and UDP-galactose-4-epimerase deficiency. All three enzymes are involved in galactose metabolism, i.e., the conversion of galactose to glucose in the body. Galactokinase deficiency is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait with a heterozygote frequency estimated to be 0.2% in the general population (see, e.g., Levy et al., J. Pediatr., 92:871-877 (1978)). Patients with homozygous galactokinase deficiency usually become symptomatic in the early infantile period showing galactosemia, galactosura, increased galactitol levels, cataracts and in a few cases, mental retardation (Segal et al., J. Pediatr., 95:750-752 (1979)). These symptoms usually improve dramatically with the administration of a galactose free diet. Heterozygotes for galactokinase deficiency are prone to presenile cataracts with the onset during 20-50 years of age (Stambolian et al., Invest. Ophthal. Vis. Sci., 27:429-433 (1986)).
Galactokinase activity has been found in a variety of mammalian tissues, including liver, kidney, brain, lens, placenta, erythrocytes and leukocytes. While the protein has been purified from E. coli, the purification of the protein from mammalian tissues has proven difficult due to its low cellular concentration. In addition, the molecular basis of galactokinase deficiency is unknown.
This invention provides a human galactokinase gene. The DNAs of this invention, such as the specific sequences disclosed herein, are useful in that they encode the genetic information required for expression of this protein. Additionally, the sequences may be used as probes in order to isolate and identify additional members, of the family, type and/or subtype as well mutations which may form the basis of galactokinase deficiency which may be characterized by site-specific mutations or by atypical expression of the galactokinase gene. The galactokinase gene is also useful as a diagnostic agent to identify mutant galactokinase proteins or as a therapeutic agent via gene therapy.
The first clinical trials of gene therapy began in 1990. Since that time, more than 70 clinical trial protocols have been reviewed and approved by a regulatory authority such as the NIH's Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC), see, e.g., Anderson, W. F., Human Gene Therapy, 5:281-282 (1994). The therapeutic treatment of diseases and disorders by gene therapy involves the transfer and stable insertion of new genetic information into cells. The correction of a genetic defect by re-introduction of the normal allele of a gene has hence demonstrated that this concept is clinically feasible (see, e.g., Rosenberg et al., New Eng. J. Med., 323: 570 (1990)).
These and additional uses for the reagents described herein will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this specification.

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A gas analyzer system uses an ionization source, which can be a hot cathode ionization source. A magnet assembly is positioned to define a magnetic field, which permits separation of ion components based on their mass to charge ratio. An ion beam deflector is used, such as a pair of deflector plates, which can scan ion components across a detector. The ion beam deflector defines a deflection electric field across the magnetic field and across a direction of travel of the ions emitted from the ionization source.

There is an ongoing need to facilitate trouble shooting in high vacuum processes. High vacuum processes typically follow a workflow that starts with a pump down of a vacuum chamber from atmospheric pressure. The user tracks the pressure of the vacuum chamber during the pump down and, when the total pressure meets a target pressure, the vacuum process or experiment can start. There is generally an expectation that the target pressure will be met within a pre-specified time range. If the target pressure is not reached after an expected period of time, or it takes longer than usual to reach it, the vacuum system user needs to troubleshoot the vacuum chamber. Often, troubleshooting requires not only using an ionization gauge, but also the need to break vacuum to use a helium leak detector, and sometimes, to use an expensive Residual Gas Analyzer to measure water levels.
There is, therefore, an ongoing need to provide equipment that reduces the time and expense involved in troubleshooting high vacuum processes. In addition, there is a need for improved systems for helium leak detection, water percentage determination, magnetic sectors, quadrupole mass filters and other systems that use an ionization source.


A system for emulating mobile network communications can include one or more wireless nodes configured to variably adjust signal reception sensitivity and signal transmission strength; at least one mobile node configured to wirelessly communicate with selected ones of the wireless nodes; and a network emulator communicatively linked to each wireless node. The network emulator can replicate attributes of a wired communications network. The system also can include a controller communicatively linked with the wireless nodes and configured to control signal reception sensitivity and signal transmission strength of each said wireless node, as well as a home agent configured to interact with at least one mobile node via selected ones of the wireless nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of network emulation and, more particularly, to emulation of wireless networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile computing networks provide environments and scenarios that challenge current computing paradigms. Current network protocols frequently are unable to efficiently deal with mobility issues regarding both nomadic data and devices. In consequence, various software-based tools, referred to as simulators, and hardware-based tools, referred to as emulators, have been developed by the research community to study and improve the performance of network protocols, determine data restriction points in networks, and reduce the cost of hardware implementation.
While software-based simulation tools do provide researchers with the ability to model various networking scenarios, such systems have disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the duplication of the software development process for purposes of simulation, for example to support new operating system platforms and/or newly introduced wireless technologies, is costly, time consuming, and oftentimes impractical. As an example, to support a new network technology, each component used by a software-based network simulator, from traffic generators, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) implementation, to application level interfaces, would have to be developed and implemented as an object file within the simulator library. Further development efforts would be required to use these objects or software components across different computing platforms.
Another disadvantage is the amount of time simulators require for performing different simulations. Typically, simulators required an amount of time that is several orders of magnitude larger than the amount of time that is being simulated. For example, on average, several hours of simulation time are needed to simulate several minutes of a given real-time network scenario. As software simulators already require a significant amount of time to model wired and/or wireless networks, the introduction of rapid mobility conditions and complex propagation models relating to mobile networks further challenges the utility and suitability of software-based simulators. Unfortunately, efforts to improve software-based simulator performance by simplifying modeling tasks through the reduction of the number of modeling parameters used during a simulation can lead to misleading, if not erroneous results.
Wire-line emulators provide researchers with a faster and more efficient alternative than software-based simulators. Several different wire-line emulators have been developed to replicate the conditions of end-to-end network delays. For example, the End-to-End Emulator as described in C. Bolot, End-to-End Packet Delay and Loss Behavior in the Internet, ACM Computer Communication Review, Vol., 23, No. 4, pp. 289–298 (October 1993), seeks to imitate the Internet by providing end-to-end network delay using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets as a real time traffic source. The Ohio Network Emulator (ONE) as described in M. Allman, A. Caldwell, S. Ostermann, ONE: The Ohio Network Emulator, TR-19972, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ohio University (August 1997), is able to emulate transmission, queuing, and propagation delay between two computers interconnected by a router.
Presently, however, wire-line emulators do not account for characteristics of rapid mobility networks or complex signal propagation models. As such, conventional wire-line emulators are not available or are unable to model mobile networks.

Rapid mobility network emulator method and system

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A communication receiver includes a front end, which is arranged to receive a Radio Frequency (RF) signal, which includes modulated symbols carrying data that have been encoded by a block Forward Error Correction (FEC) code. The front end converts the RF signal to a sequence of soft received symbols, wherein the soft received symbols are subject to distortion by at least first and second noise components having respective at least first and second statistical distributions. A metric calculation unit is arranged to process the soft received symbols so as to extract parameters indicative of the at least first and second statistical distributions, and to compute FEC metrics based on the extracted parameters. A FEC decoder is arranged to accept the FEC metrics as input, and to process the metrics in an iterative FEC decoding process so as to decode the FEC code and reconstruct the data.

Many communication systems use Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes to improve their performance in the presence of noise and distortion. Some block FEC codes are commonly decoded using iterative decoding processes. Iterative decoding methods are described, for example, by Worthen and Stark in "Unified Design of Iterative Receivers using Factor Graphs," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, (47:2), February, 2001, pages 843-849, and by Richardson and Urbanke in "An Introduction to the Analysis of Iterative Coding Systems," Proceedings of the 1999 Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) Summer program: Codes, Systems and Graphical Models, Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 2-6, 1999, which are incorporated herein by reference. Iterative FEC decoding processes often accept as input metrics of received bits and/or symbols. Some FEC metrics are bit-related, such as, for example, likelihood ratios (LRs) or log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) of individual bits in the received symbols.
Two families of codes that are commonly decoded using iterative processes are Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes and turbo codes. LDPC codes were first introduced by Gallager in "Low-Density Parity Check Codes," IRE Transactions on Information Theory, Volume 7, January, 1962, pages 21-28, which is incorporated herein by reference, and are also described by Ryan and Vasic in "An Introduction to LDPC Codes," GlobeCom 2003, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 5, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In many Radio Frequency (RF) communication systems, the received signal is distorted by phase noise. Phase noise may be contributed, for example, by Local Oscillators (LOs) and other frequency and clock sources in the transmitter and/or receiver, by analog-to-digital and digital-to analog converters, as well as by other sources. Some communication receivers and reception methods, and in particular methods for decoding FEC codes, are designed for receiving signals in the presence of phase noise.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0107179, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method in which a magnitude metric of received signals is amplified during iterative decoding of LDPC code and LDPC coded modulation. The method selects a metric coefficient value that is used to calculate the initial conditions when decoding LDPC coded signals, depending on the particular Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) at which the communication system is operating. By adjusting the metric coefficient value according to the given LDPC code, modulation, and noise variance, the convergence speed of the decoding process is slowed down so that the decoder will not converge to the wrong codeword. The range of the outputs of the decoder is restricted so that the output will not oscillate, and will eventually converge to the correct codeword.
Colavolpe et al. propose iterative decoding algorithms for channels affected by strong phase noise in "Algorithms for Iterative Decoding in the Presence of Strong Phase Noise," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, (23:9), September, 2005, pages 1748-1757, which is incorporated herein by reference. The proposed algorithms apply the sum-product algorithm to the factor graph representing the joint a-posteriori probability mass function of the information bits, given the channel output. Problems caused by the presence of continuous random variables in the factor graph are addresses by applying canonical distributions. Two proposed algorithms are based on a Fourier series expansion of the phase probability density function, and on the Tikhonov canonical distribution.

Decoding of forward error correction codes in the presence of phase noise


A food container thermoformed from co-extruded polyethylene terephthalate sheet, a portion of which contains a nucleating agent. The food container comprises an opaque or colored tray formed from nucleated polyethylene terephthalate in a crystalline state so that the tray remains rigid at elevated temperatures. The food container also comprises a substantially transparent cover formed from non-nucleated polyethylene terephthalate in an amorphous state. The food container also comprises a hinge that integrally connects the cover to the tray. The method for producing this food container comprises the steps of co-extruding nucleated and non-nucleated polyethylene terephthalate into a continuous sheet; independently controlling the temperature of the mold portions for the cover, tray and hinge components of the food container; thermoforming the polyethylene terephthalate sheet; maintaining the tray component of the container at a temperature sufficient to crystallize the polyethylene terephthalate in the tray component; and cooling the cover component of the container to a temperature sufficient to produce polyethylene terephthalate in an amorphous state.

This invention relates to a food container having a tray with excellent heat distortion characteristics and an integrally hinged clear plastic cover. The tray is formed from crystallized polyethylene terephthalate resin and remains rigid even when in physical contact with food products at high temperatures. The cover is formed from amorphous polyethylene terethphalate and remains substantially clear so as to allow the display or inspection of food products within the container. This cover is integrally hinged to the tray to facilitate refuse collection and disposal. This invention also relates to a method for producing this new food container.


Systems and methods for efficient data transfer in a data processing system that includes saving and restoring residual data of a write gather facility. Specifically, a method is provided for data processing that includes writing an address to a register. The method further includes initiating a save operation of residual data within the write gather facility. The writing of the address to the register causes the initiation of the save operation. The residual data is one byte to any number of bytes less than a predetermined number of bytes gathered in the write gather facility.

It has been recognized in the art that the overall performance of conventional data processing systems depends not only upon the individual performance of the constituent components of the data processing system, but also upon the efficiency of data transfer between the components. For example, in a conventional data processing system including a processor and a memory system, many strategies have been proposed and implemented in order to improve the efficiency of data transfer between the processor and the memory system. One such strategy is referred to as store gathering.
Store gathering typically refers to a strategy of data transfer from the processor to the memory system in which the processor is equipped with a write-gather or store-gather facility that collects data associated with a number of smaller (e.g., two byte) store operations associated with multiple memory addresses in a defined address range and then outputs all of the collected data in a single larger (e.g., eight byte) store operation. More specifically, the write-gather or store-gather facility collects together multiple individual store operands so as to efficiently transfer the store operands to memory as a group. One particular such facility is a write gather pipe, which is designed for efficient transfer of noncacheable data from the processor to the external memory.
One implementation of a write gather pipe may comprise a 128-byte circular first-in, first-out (FIFO) buffer (WPB) and a special purpose register, a Write Pipe Address Register (WPAR). For a non-cacheable store instruction to the address specified in WPAR, the operand is stored sequentially in the buffer. When there are at least 32 bytes of data in the buffer, the write gather pipe executes a 32 byte burst transfer of data to the external memory. At any given time, the WPB holds from 0 to 31 bytes of data that cannot yet be written to memory. When a thread that is using the write gather pipe is interrupted, that data must be preserved so that the thread can resume from its interrupted state when control returns to it. This can be done conventionally, for example, by allowing only one thread to reserve the write gather pipe at any given time, so that the state of the WGB is maintained for that one thread across interruptions. However, since the conventional write gather pipe is configured to maintain the state of the WPB across interruptions of a thread, the facility cannot be time shared among threads.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

Systems and methods to save and restore a write gather pipe

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


According to the present invention, there is provided a pesticidal resin composition that contains (A) at least one resin selected from polyamide resins and polyacetal resins, (B) at least one compound selected from sulfone amide derivatives, sulfonic acid ester derivatives, phosphoric acid ester derivatives, phosphazene derivatives, carboxylic acid amide derivatives, carboxylic acid ester derivatives, and (C) a chemical agent having a pesticidal property. With the pesticidal resin composition containing the above ingredients, it is possible to obtain a pesticidal product that has such a strength, heat resistance and chemical resistance as to render the product usable as a structural member, as well as being capable of exhibiting the pesticidal activity for a prolonged period of time.

There exists a problem in that intrusion of insects or the like into electric equipment or transport equipment causes malfunctions or disorders thereof. For example, a TV receiver causes heat inside thereof, which may attract pests such as insects or spiders, which intrude into the inside of the TV receiver through small holes on a rear side thereof, and cause malfunction through short-circuit of a circuit, or the like. Such intrusion of insects or the like causing disorders sometimes occur in computers, telephone switchboards, industrial robots or the like.
To address the above problem, it is conceivable to prepare a pesticidal substance carried on a resin material used for structural member, exterior member, fluid transferring pipe, drive member or the like of the instruments.
As a resin material having a pesticidal property, there have been proposed a soft resin such as a low molecular weight straight-chain polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin or polyvinyl chloride resin that is blended as a matrix resin with an insecticide or the like. These resins are of the type that is capable of holding a large volume of a chemical agent such as an insecticide, but has a drawbacks, namely a poor strength, poor heat resistance and poor chemical resistance. Therefore, a product which is formed by using such a resin composition itself as a forming material is greatly limited in its application, and therefore is only applicable to such as a cat collar for which little strength is required (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Numbers Hei-6-315332, 5-284871, and 6-141724).
A so-called engineering plastic has an excellent heat resistance and chemical resistance. However, it usually exhibits a poor capability in carrying the chemical agent mentioned above. As a result, such a plastic mixed with the chemical agent exhibits no sustained release, produces no pesticidal effect or loses the pesticidal effect in a short period of time even if the initial effect can be produced, or poses any other drawbacks.

Pesticidal resin compositions and pesticidal products formed from the same


An unbalanced-balanced multiband filter module comprising three high-frequency switches each comprising a switching element, and two unbalanced-balanced bandpass filters having different transmitting frequency bands, a first high-frequency switch being connected to an unbalanced port of the module, an unbalanced port of the first unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter, and an unbalanced port of the second unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter; a second high-frequency switch being connected to a first balanced port of the module, a first balanced port of the first unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter, and a first balanced port of the second unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter; a third high-frequency switch being connected to a second balanced port of the module, a second balanced port of the first unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter, and a second balanced port of the second unbalanced-balanced bandpass filter; and the first to third high-frequency switches being switched depending on a passing high-frequency signal, whereby a high-frequency signal input into an unbalanced port of the module is output from the first and second balanced ports, or a high-frequency signal input into the first and second balanced ports is output from an unbalanced port of the module.

There are various access systems in mobile phones in the world, and pluralities of access systems are simultaneously used in the same areas. One of the access systems mainly used at present is, for instance, a TDMA (time division multiple access) system. Main communications systems using this TDMA system include PDC (personal digital cellular) in Japan, GSM (global system for mobile communications) and DCS1800 (digital cellular system 1800) mainly used in Europe, PCS (personal communications service) mainly used in the U.S., etc.
Another access system that has recently become popular in the U.S., Korea and Japan is a CDMA (code division multiple access) system. IS-95 (interim standard-95) is mainly used in the U.S. as a typical standard in the frequency band of PCS (personal communications service). In addition, W-CDMA (wideband CDMA), a third-generation communications system, which can achieve high-speed data transmission, has been put into practical use. Various communications systems are thus utilized in countries in the world.
Conventional mobile phones are designed for one communications system, for instance, GSM. However, because of recent increase in the number of users and for the convenience of users, pluralities of communications or access systems applicable to dual-band or triple-band mobile phones were proposed, and there is also demand to quatro-band mobile phones. If high-frequency parts were simply mounted in every communications systems in the high-frequency circuits of such multiband mobile phones, the high-frequency circuits would be inevitably large. For miniaturization, common high-frequency parts have been used more and more in different communications systems. One example thereof is a diplexer circuit comprising a common high-frequency part for different communications systems. For instance, JP 8-321738 A discloses a two-frequency diplexer 250 having passbands of 950 MHz and 1.9 GHz, which comprises bandpass filters 20a, 20b and phase shifters 40a, 40b, 70a, 70b, as shown in the equivalent circuit of FIG. 20.
However, it has been found that the use of such high-frequency parts for the high-frequency circuits of multiband mobile phones causes several problems. A high-frequency circuit for a multiband mobile phone is constituted by conventional high-frequency parts 250 in a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit, as shown in FIG. 21. FIG. 21 shows a high-frequency circuit for a dual-band mobile phone applicable to two communications systems of GSM850 (transmitting frequency: 824-849 MHz, receiving frequency: 869-894 MHz) and GSM900 (transmitting frequency: 880-915 MHz, receiving frequency: 925-960 MHz).
To reduce a noise index and increase a receiving sensitivity, the receiving circuit comprises balanced high-frequency parts (low-noise amplifier 266, mixer 268, etc.) comprising two signal lines. Accordingly, the connection of said high-frequency parts to a low-noise amplifier needs a balanced-to-unbalanced transformer. In addition, the input impedance of said low-noise amplifier 266 is set at about 50 to 300 Ω, needing an impedance conversion circuit. It is thus considered to use balanced-to-unbalanced transformers (baluns) 262, 263 as circuit elements having the functions of a balanced-to-unbalanced transformer and an impedance conversion circuit. However, this increases the number of circuit elements in the high-frequency circuit, and an insertion loss of about 1 dB is added from the balun in a frequency band of the operating high-frequency signal. As a result, to obtain a desired gain in the low-noise amplifier 266, an excess bias current should be added to the amplifying element, resulting in increase in the battery consumption of mobile phones.
In a high-frequency circuit of a TDMA system, the switching of connection between an antenna 269 and transmitting/receiving circuits is generally conducted by a switch circuit 264. In this switch circuit 264, GaAs FETs and diodes are used as switching elements. In such switch circuit, a high-frequency signal leaks to the level of about 20-30 dB (isolation) between the transmitting circuit and the receiving circuit. Accordingly, there is the leak of a high-frequency signal to the other circuits, if slightly.
For instance, when extremely close frequency bands are used in different communications systems, for instance, of GSM850 and GSM900, or DCS1800 and PCS, a receiving frequency band and a passband partially overlap as shown in FIG. 22. When communications are carried out by GSM900, part of the high-frequency signal is leaked from the transmitting circuit to the receiving circuit via a switch circuit, and input into the low-noise amplifier 266 via a bandpass filter 252 handling the receiving signal of GSM850. Also, when communications are carried out by GSM850, the receiving signal of GSM850 from the antenna is input into the amplifier 265 via a bandpass filter 251 handling the transmitting signal of GSM900. In any case, the communications quality is deteriorated.

Unbalanced-balanced multiband filter module


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the steps of: forming an etching layer (17) formed of silicon on a semiconductor substrate (10); forming a mask layer (20) with a pattern on the etching layer (17), which includes an intermediate layer (22) as a silicon oxide film and a top layer (24) as a polysilicon; and etching the etching layer (17) using the mask layer (20) as a mask, and eliminating the top layer (24).

The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device generally includes the step of etching an etching layer. For example, reduction of the interval between word lines serving as a gate electrode is important for miniaturizing a flash memory. Japanese PCT Patent Publication No. 2005-522029 discloses the process for forming the word line by etching the polysilicon layer as illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 10. More specifically, an intermediate layer and a top layer (serving as an antireflective film) are formed on the polysilicon, which are etched while using a photoresist as a mask (FIG. 6 in Japanese PCT Patent Publication No. 2005-522029). A side wall layer is formed on the side surfaces of the top and the intermediate layers, and the polysilicon layer is etched to form the word line (FIG. 8 in Japanese PCT Patent Publication No. 2005-522029). The side wall layer allows the interval between the thus formed word lines to be reduced. In the publication, an oxide film and a nitride film are employed as the intermediate layer and the top layer, respectively.
In the aforementioned method, the use of the nitride film as the top layer serving as the antireflective film increases the film thickness of the top layer. As the intermediate layer and the top layer are formed of different materials, the step of eliminating the top layer is required.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device


A nanoparticle ion detector includes an ion trap that receives charged particles ejected from a mass selection device. A laser beam illuminates the particles to induce fluorescence, which is detected by the photon detector. Particles are periodically dumped from the ion trap. A mass spectrum of the charged particles can be obtained by comparing signals from the photon detector with the particle ejection characteristics of the mass selection device.

This description relates to nanoparticle ion detection.
Mass spectrometers can be used to determine the identities and quantities of components that make up a solid, gas, or liquid sample. A mass spectrometer may use the mass (m) to charge (z) ratios of ions to separate and analyze the ions. The ion charge represents the number of electric charges of the ion The ion mass may be expressed in atomic mass units or Daltons (Da). One type of mass spectrometer is the quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (QITMS), which can be used to analyze the masses of atomic, molecular, and cluster ions. A QITMS typically has a ring electrode and two end-cap electrodes. In operation, a time-varying voltage is applied between the ring electrode and the end-cap electrodes to create a time-varying electromagnetic field to confine the ions within a confinement region (a trap). By varying the frequency and/or amplitude of the time-varying voltage, the ions are selectively ejected from the ion trap based on their charge-to-mass ratios. To detect the ions that are ejected from the ion trap, a laser beam is directed towards the ions, and a photodetector detects light reflected from the ions.


Programmable network intelligence approaches as disclosed herein provide apparatus, methods and tools to achieve programmable interfaces to a device, or group of devices or a network where native programmable interfaces are not available.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical computer network consists of various devices such as routers, switches, wireless access points, firewalls, etc. FIG. 16 illustrates an example network that includes such elements.
A typical network device provides a command interface that is accessible using the telnet protocol, a secure shell (SSH) connection, or serial port interface to create, update, retrieve and store management information relating to the device. A network management station (NMS) can deliver commands through such an interface to provide a higher level or enhanced management capability to the network operator or administrator.
To interoperate with a network device, the NMS must have knowledge of what commands the device supports, so that the NMS can deliver commands that are compatible with the device's command interface and that produce desired results. One way to provide such knowledge to an NMS is by adding command definitions to the NMS manually, either through a programmatic approach by updating the computer program code that forms the NMS, or by changing a separate device data table that is used by the NMS. However, this approach is slow and error-prone, especially when the NMS supports a large number of different devices.
Further, whenever a change occurs in the set of commands that a particular device type supports, a change is required to the NMS. Thus, this approach requires ongoing software development efforts to keep the NMS compatible with the commands that devices recognize or support.
Therefore, there is a need for a better way to provide knowledge about commands that a network device supports.
A typical network device, such as a router or a switch as used in packet-switched networks, provides a command line interface (CLI) that is accessible through Telnet, Secure Shell (SSH) and serial port interface for changing the device status or configuration. Each configuration command for the device has an associated syntax. A Network Management Station (NMS) can use the configuration commands to provide a higher level or enhanced management capability to the network operator. The NMS requires knowledge of the device configuration commands and the syntax of the commands to perform changing the configuration of a device.
One disadvantage with a CLI is that it is suitable for a human operator, but not for programs that can configure and control the device. A programmable API is required for such tasks. The devices can be built with programmable APIs, but providing a programmable interface on already existing systems and devices can be very expensive, if not impractical. It would be beneficial to have an automated approach for generating a programmable interface for an existing device or for devices that are already deployed at operating sites.
The NETCONF network device configuration protocol under development by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) provides mechanisms to install, manipulate, and delete the configuration of network devices. It uses an Extensible Markup Language (XML) based data encoding for the configuration data as well as the protocol messages. The NETCONF protocol operations are realized on top of a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) layer. NETCONF is an emerging standard, and many network devices do not presently support it. Further, many network devices cannot directly execute commands that are delivered in XML, and many network management applications cannot interoperate with XML documents that conform to NETCONF.
Certain past approaches have attempted to implement a configuration interface layer on top of the CLI supported by Cisco IOS Software from Cisco Systems, Inc. These approaches have supported a narrow range of device types and configuration. These implementations also have required manual coding of the CLI rules, and since the data model is custom, have also required manual coding of processes for transformation of the model to the CLI and CLI to the model.

Method and apparatus providing programmable network intelligence


An organic EL device has a layer containing a polyimide having a triphenylamine derivative (TPD) unit. The use of the polyimide as a polymer layer material can ensure solvent selectivity in coating the light-emitting layer and the organic EL device exhibits good luminance efficiency even after a prolonged period use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device comprising a polymer layer containing a polyimide (PI) having a triphenylamine derivative (TPD) unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic electroluminescent (EL) device is an active drive type emission display device that operates under the principle that when current is applied to fluorescent or phosphorescent organic compound layers (referred to as "organic layers" hereinafter), electrons and holes are combined in the organic layers to then emit light. Organic EL devices have various advantages including being lightweight, simple components, having a simplified fabrication process, and offering a wide viewing angle. Also, organic EL devices can enable moving picture display perfectly with high color purity, and the devices have electrical properties suitable for portable electronic devices at low power consumption and low driving voltage.
A general organic EL device is constructed such that an anode is formed on a substrate, a hole transport layer, an emissive layer, an electron transport layer, and a cathode are sequentially formed on the anode. Here, the hole transport layer, the emissive layer, and the electron transport layer are organic layers made of organic compounds. The electroluminescence mechanism of a general organic EL device will now be described. When a voltage is applied between an anode and a cathode, holes are moved from an anode to an emissive layer via a hole transport layer, and electrons are moved from a cathode to the emissive layer via an electron transport layer. The electrons and holes meet in the emissive layer for recombination, forming excitons. The excitons are subjected to radiative decay, producing light having a wavelength corresponding to a band gap of an emissive layer forming material.
To date, there have been made various attempts to enhance emission efficiency and lifetime characteristics of the organic EL device, including the followings: 1) facilitating injection of electrons and/or holes; 2) increasing electron and/or hole mobility; 3) facilitating recombination of electrons and holes; and 4) increasing photo conversion efficiency.
To achieve the above stated goals, the following techniques are provided: 1) minimizing an energy barrier between an electrode and a transport layer; 2) increasing electron and/or hole mobility through cascade transport; 3) inducing a balanced current using a hetero-junction structure or a low mobility emitter; and 4) using a phosphorescent material and fluorescent/phosphorescent hybrid materials as light-emitting layers.
Another method of enhancing emission efficiency and lifetime characteristics of the organic EL device which has an organic layer structure comprised of a hole transport layer, a light-emitting layer, and an electron transport layer is to control injection, movement and recombination of electrons and holes by providing an polymer interlayer between the hole transport layer and the light-emitting layer.
In other words, the polymer interlayer serves as a buffer layer that prevents migration of sulfur from the hole transport layer, usually a stacked layer of PEDOT/PSS(poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophen)/polystyrene sulfonate), and prevents a PEDOT/PSS layer, which is a strongly acidic layer, from directly contacting with the light-emitting layer. In addition, the polymer interlayer prevents electrons and exitons from being induced into the PEDOT/PSS layer, thereby enhancing life characteristics of the organic EL device.
Cho, et al. proposed a polymeric EL device having a hole blocking layer into which PMDA-ODA type polyimide (PI) is injected to various thicknesses in various packing densities, as described in Thin Solid Films 417(2002) 175-179, "The role of PI interlayer deposited by ionized cluster beam on the electroluminescence efficiency" between an ITO electrode and a light-emitting layer made of BEH-PPV polymer using ionized cluster beam (ICB). Here, the PMDA-ODA type polyimide serves as a hole injection barrier that prevents impurities of the ITO electrode from being diffused into the inside of the polyimide layer, causing balanced recombination of holes and electrons. The above-referenced document discloses a PI layer serving to reduce a hole tunneling probability, rather than serving as an electron blocking layer, in order to provide an organic EL device with enhanced efficiency using balanced charge carriers.
Kim, et al. proposed a polymeric EL device (PLED) having a thin polymer interlayer between an PEDOT/PSS and a light-emitting layer, as described in Applied Physic Letter 87(2005), 023506, "Spin-cast thin semiconducting polymer interlayer for improving device efficiency of polymer light-emitting diodes". The thin interlayer blocks the radiative exitons from direct quenching by PEDOT-PSS and thus removes a nonradiative decay channel introduced by PEDOT-PSS. This exciton blocking property of conjugated polymer interlayer significantly improves the efficiency and lifetime of PLEDs. As a thin conjugated polymer interlayer, triphenylamine-based conjugated polymers, such as poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N′-(4-butylphenyl)-bis-N,N′-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) (PFB) and poly(9,9′-dioctylfluorene-co-N-(4-butylphenyl)diphenylamine) (TFB) can be used, since such polymers are semiconductors having a wide band gap, low ionization potential, and high hole mobility due to their triphenylamine groups in the polymer backbone. However, these conjugated polymers are readily soluble in the common organic solvents, such as toluene and xylene, which are also used for light emitting polymer process. Therefore, when the light-emitting polymer was spin-coated, the underlying spin-cast polymer interlayer was partially dissolved and then washed out by the solution of light emitting polymer, or intermixed with light emitting polymer. The thickness control of a thin conjugated polymer interlayer is, thus, fundamentally difficult, which is a serious problem for the practical use.

Organic electroluminescent device comprising a polymer layer containing a polymide having triphenylamine derivative unit


A pressure sensing system positions a microelectromechanical (MEMS) diaphragm of a MEMS pressure sensor die in a housing to indirectly sample pressure state of a fluid being measured. A second housing diaphragm is used to make direct contact with the fluid being measured. Pressure state of the fluid being measured is transferred from the housing diaphragm through an electrically insulating intermediary fluid to the MEMS diaphragm thereby allowing the MEMS pressure sensor die to indirectly sample pressure state of the fluid being measured. Electrically conductive support members and electrically conductive solid vias are used to electrically couple circuitry of the MEMS pressure sensor die to external wires outside the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to pressure sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Versions of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can determine pressure levels of a fluid being measured and can be especially useful due to their small size. MEMS pressure sensor dies typically have a MEMS diaphragm fabricated to be integrated in the MEMS die and are typically positioned to directly contact the fluid being measured. In some situations, a MEMS diaphragm may not be compatible with the particular environment and/or the fluid being measured. In other cases the MEMS pressure sensor die may be part of other components sharing a common package. These situations can reduce the desirability of the MEMS diaphragm directly contacting the fluid being measured.

MEMS pressure sensor and housing therefor


Integrated circuit memory devices include a gate oxide insulating layer on a surface of a semiconductor substrate containing a bulk region of first conductivity type and spaced source and drain regions of second conductivity type therein extending to the surface. First and second separate control gates are also preferably provided in each unit cell and extend opposite the surface. A ferroelectric insulating layer is provided between the first and second control gates and acts as a nonvolatile data storage medium when it is polarized in a predetermined state. A floating gate is also provided having a preferred C-shape when viewed in transverse cross-section. In particular, the floating gate is provided to have a first extension disposed between the first control gate and the first electrically insulating layer and a second extension disposed between the first control gate and the ferroelectric insulating layer. The first control gate is also electrically insulated from the floating gate by a second electrically insulating layer disposed between the first control gate and the first extension and a third electrically insulating layer disposed between the first control gate and the second extension. According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the second electrically insulating is greater than a thickness of the third electrically insulating layer, however, the dielectric constant of the third electrically insulating layer is preferably greater than the dielectric constant of the second electrically insulating layer.

Random access memory (RAM) devices containing ferroelectric regions therein that can be polarized to provide nonvolatile data storage are typically referred to a ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) devices. FRAM devices possess certain unique advantages over many conventional memory devices because they typically have high read/write operating speed, retain data in a nonvolatile state and have high reliability and durability. One such FRAM device having ferroelectric transistor (FT) unit cells therein is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,596 to Hoshiba, entitled Semiconductor Storage Device With A Ferroelectric Transistor Storage Cell. However, to prevent inadvertent read operations when a FT is programmed into a normally-on state, a switching transistor (ST) is also provided in each unit cell, in series with each FT. Unfortunately, the addition of a switching transistor to prevent inadvertent read operations increases the unit cell size and reduces the integration density of the memory device. To address this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,871 to Nishimura et al. entitled Nonvolatile Ferroelectric-Semiconductor Memory, discloses a single ferroelectric transistor unit cell having a control gate (CG) and a memory gate (MG) disposed opposite a channel region 26.
Notwithstanding these attempts to develop improved FRAM devices, there continues to be a need for improved memory devices which are reliable, can be read nondestructively and have reduced unit cell size.

Integrated circuit memory devices having nonvolatile single transistor unit cells therein


Disclosed is a side pumping type DPSS (Diode Pumped Solid-State) laser having a high efficiency of pumping light together with a large output of the laser power. The DPSS laser includes a first laser chip for generating a pumping light, a second laser chip provided at a predetermined degree to be slightly slanted, although being parallel with the first laser chip, so as to avoid a contact with the pumping light, a first and second focusing lens for focusing the pumping lights, and a side pumping medium for forming the focused pumping lights in a beam mode so as to output as a lasing light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state laser, and more particularly, to a DPSS (Diode Pumped Solid-State) laser.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a DPSS laser has high efficiency and a large output-power in a relatively small size compared to a regular laser. Accordingly, there is an increasing trend of applying the DPSS laser to an industrial technology such as marking or cutting. Furthermore, recently, the DPSS laser is in a process of development as a display light source owing to characteristics of a small size, high efficiency, and the large output.
The DPSS laser is divided into an end pumping type and a side pumping type. Hereinafter, the DPSS laser will be described in more detail referring to appended drawings. FIG. 1 is a drawing of an end pumping type of DPSS laser. As illustrated in FIG. 1, when a pumping light radiated from a laser diode (LD) 110 is incident upon a laser material 140 after passing through a focusing lens 120, the DPSS laser forms the pumping light in beam mode at the laser material 140 so as to output a lasing light through an output coupler 150.
In this case, PR (partial reflection) coating 130 for the lasing wavelength is formed on a front surface of the laser material 140 for transmitting only a part of the radiated pumping light.
The end pumping type of DPSS laser has efficiency and an advantage in forming the radiated light in beam mode because the lasing area of the laser material 140 overlapping the radiating area of the laser light is large.
However, the end pumping type of DPSS laser has a predetermined limitation in a large output of the laser power owing to a heat lens phenomenon.
FIG. 2 illustrates a drawing showing a side pumping type DPSS laser in accordance with a related art. As illustrated in the drawing, when the pumping light radiated to the two laser diodes 210_A and 210_B provided at both sides of the laser material 240 is transmitted through the laser material 240, the pumping light is formed in the beam mode at the laser material 240 so as to output the lasing light through the output coupler 250 in the DPSS laser.
In this case, only the part of the PR (partial reflection) coating for a lasing wavelength is formed on a front surface of the laser material 240. On a rear surface of the laser material 240, the lasing light proceeds in one direction because HR (high reflection) coating 260 for the pumping wavelength is formed and totally reflected.
Although the DPSS laser of the side pumping type is advantageous for a large output owing to a prolonged lasing area, efficiency of the pumping light is lowered and there is a disadvantageous problem in forming the beam mode.
If the laser is employed as a display light source, a condition for the large output of the laser power, efficiency of the pumping light, and a small size production needs to be satisfied.
Therefore, a development of the laser is needed for enabling lasing with a large output and improving the efficiency of the pumping light by elongating a length of the laser material.


A tool-carrying turret for lathes includes a fixed support body provided with a fixed toothed rim a rotatable toothed rim which has a tool-carrying plate (4) fixed to it and rotatable rigidly with an index disc mounted on a coaxial drive shaft of the turret, a stopping device operated by actuating devices and designed to cause stoppage in rotation of the index disc and relative centering of the toothing of the fixed rim and rotating rim at the end of the tool changing phase.

Various mechanical operations for machining of a large number of workpieces can involve the use in succession, for the same workpiece, of several tools in a programmed and automatically controlled sequence.
For this purpose, the workpiece is usually mounted on a lathe or similar machining center which is provided with an auxiliary apparatus consisting of a turret carrying several tools which are arranged radially and/or frontally on a rotating plate, the controlled rotation of which brings the tool, pre-selected in each case, into the working position for carrying out the required machining of the workpiece.
A fundamental requirement which arises during such machining operations is the reduction in the idle time in particular due to the time required for changing the tool and resuming machining of the workpiece.
This idle time referred to herein as "cycle time" is substantial which is necessary for allowing the turret to perform all the movements designed to bring the new tool into the working position.
For this purpose, in fact, the turret requires a first "opening phase" for releasing itself from the fixed working position, a "rotating phase" for rotating in either direction, along the shortest path, until the new tool is arranged in the working position, and a "stopping and closing phase" for stopping and returning into the locked position.
These operations are performed, in the known turrets, using mechanical devices which transmit the rotation of an actuating motor to the rotating tool-carrying plate and perform at the same time actuation of the locking and release means which comprise, among other things, an index disc provided with radial seats which define the different positions which can be assumed by the tool-carrying plate, and two toothed rims, one fixed to the structure and one rotating with the tool-carrying plate, but axially fixed. The rims are locked together or released during the workpiece machining or tool changing rotation phases by means of a third toothed rim facing the other two, which, moving in an axial direction engages or disengages its own toothing with or from the toothing of the other two rims, causing relative locking or releasing thereof.
It is also known that, during the turret closing phase, the teeth of the two rims to be locked are not perfectly aligned since the devices of the traditional type provided inside the turret for stopping the rotating rim have a certain amount of play necessary for correct operation thereof in order to stop rotation of the tool-carrying plate.
Consequently, front coupling between the toothing of the locking rim and the toothing of the facing rims causes rotational driving of the rotating rim, which terminates when the locking rim is totally engaged on the fixed rim. Correspondingly, engagement of the rotating rim against the teeth of the stopping rim causes an impact which is transmitted to the structure, generating noise and the possibility of damage to the turret.

Tool-carrying turret with stopping devices performing automatic centering of the means for locking the turret itself


An audible signaling device uses one or more digital signal processors to modify the shape of a sound field to put high sound pressure levels only in a predetermined pattern, thus minimizing undesirable high volume levels in adjacent areas. Using digital signal processing techniques, and a plurality of high power amplifiers and loudspeakers mounted in an array on a moving vehicle, a carefully engineered sound field can be produced. The shape of this sound field is controlled by the frequencies amplitudes, and phases of the signals, as well as the characteristics and placements of the speakers in the array.

In today's society, there are many conflicting social goals that can rarely be reconciled. Specifically, safety and noise pollution frequently come into conflict. Emergency vehicle sirens and train whistles are examples of such diverse goals. While it is clearly necessary that pedestrians and drivers are audibly alerted to the approach of one of these vehicles, these sirens and whistles have had to become louder to be heard over the background noise of traffic; and thus these devices also are clearly heard by others who need not be aware of the presence of the vehicle. For purposes of describing this invention, trains and train crossings will be used as an example, however, the invention is much broader than this area, as will be apparent to one skilled in the art after reading this specification.
As a train approaches a grade crossing (railroad tracks intersecting a road at the same level), the engineer is required by law to give four whistle blasts to alert motorists on the road of its approach. Whistle is used herein to mean horn or other warning device. People living and working near the grade crossing are often disturbed by the loudness of these blasts, especially at night. New, tougher safety rules mandate minimum loudness levels that must be used even at night, causing political backlash from citizens living near the tracks. The sound energy generated by the standard air horns disperses in a roughly hemispherical pattern, so much of the energy is wasted on regions that are nowhere near the grade crossing area that the alert is intended for.

Audible signaling device with determinate directional radiation


A novel electric energy storage system having an increased storage energy. This system includes a plurality of electrodes, an organic electrolyte including a solvent and a solute and a separator inserted between the electrodes for preventing a contact between the electrodes. According to the present invention, an organic electrolyte is used to increase the storage amount of the energy and to improve an electric conductivity. A capacitor having various designs can be manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor employing metal oxide as an electrode, and more particularly, to a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor employing an organic electrolyte.
2. Description of the Related Art
Much attention is paid onto a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor as a new energy storage system, because this system retains a large energy storage capacitance when is compared with the conventional electrolytic capacitors. Metal oxides such as nickel oxide (NiO), ruthenium oxide (RuO2), cobalt oxide (Co3O4), manganese dioxide (MnO2), etc. and electrolytes such as aqueous hydrosulfuric acid, aqueous kalium hydroxide, etc. are utilized for the conventional metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor.
The metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor possesses many common technical parts included in a lithium secondary battery and EDLC (electric double layer capacitor). For example, most of the metal oxides and the electrolytes utilized for the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor have been utilized as a cathode material for the lithium secondary battery. However, the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor shows different electrochemical characteristics with those of the lithium secondary battery. For example, they have different cyclic voltammograms. In the cyclic voltammogram, the battery shows a large peak, however, the capacitor including the psedocapacitor shows a quadrilateral shape. In addition, in a charging/discharging behavior, the battery shows a plateau portion, however, the capacitor shows a decreasing straight line of a voltage along with time.
When compared with the EDLC, the psedocapacitor shows the same electrochemical behavior of a common capacitor. However, EDLC employs an activated carbon as an electrode, while the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor employs a metal oxide as the electrode.
An aqueous electrolyte has been used for the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor. However, the aqueous electrolyte has a limitation of exhibiting an electrochemically stable region of 1.0V or less. Accordingly, the energy amount stored by the capacitor is disadvantageous. An energy storage capacitance can be represented by the following equation of (1).
E=xc2xd CV2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
In the equation (1), E represents the possible amount of the electric energy, C represents a capacitance and V represents an operating voltage of the capacitor.
According to the equation (1), the possible amount of the electric energy which can be stored in the capacitor is proportional to the square times of the voltage of the capacitor. When the aqueous electrolyte is used for the capacitor, the maximum voltage is 1.0V. Therefore, E=xc2xdC. However, when an organic electrolyte is used for the capacitor, the operational voltage becomes 2.3V or more. Therefore, E=xc2xd Cxc3x972.322 and E=xc2xd Cxc3x975.3. This means that the amount of the electric energy can be increased by 5.3 times or more according to the electrolyte. The EDLC having the same objective with that of the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor utilizes both the aqueous and organic electrolyte.
However, the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor utilizes only the aqueous electrolyte because this system stores the electric energy in a different manner with that of the EDLC. The EDLC utilizes a physical separation phenomenon of a charge by an electrical double layer formed at an interface of an electrode and the electrolyte. Accordingly, the velocity of charging and discharging is very fast and receives not much effect by the electric conductivity of the electrolyte. However, the metal oxide psedocapacitor utilizes an electrochemical faradaic reaction at an electrode as an energy storage system and proton included in the electrolyte is regarded as a working ion. Accordingly, the organic electrolyte containing a minute amount of the proton is regarded as not exhibiting a good performance in the psedocapacitor.
As for an electrochemical energy storage system utilizing an organic solution and salt as an electrolyte, various methods has been reported by journals and patents for the lithium secondary battery and EDLC. However, the same methods applied for the lithium secondary battery and the EDLC cannot be applied for the metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor which is a different electric energy storage system from them. The following two researches seem have a little concern with a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor utilizing the organic electrolyte.
First, S. Passerini, J. J. Ressler, D. B. Le, B. B. Owens and W. H. Smyrl, xe2x80x9cV2O5 Arogel-conducting substrate composites characterization and use as supercapacitor electrodesxe2x80x9d, in the proceedings of the symposium on electrochemical capacitors, F. M. Delnick and M. Tomkiewicz, Editors, The Electrochemical Society Proceedings Series PV 95-25, P. 86(1995), can be illustrated. According to this report, PC is used as an organic solvent and LiClO4 is used as a salt for the organic electrolyte. Also, vanadium oxide (V2O5) aerogel is used as an electrode material. The performance of the electrode disclosed in this report shows a different performance with that of the capacitor. For example, a graph of CV does not show an ideal quadrilateral shape of a capacitor.
Next, Kuo-Chuan Liu and M. A. Anderson, xe2x80x9cThe effects of electrolytes on nickel oxide-based electrochemical capacitorsxe2x80x9d, in the proceedings of the symposium on electrochemical capacitors II, F. M. Delnick, D. Ingersoll, X. Andriue and K. Naoi, Editors, The electrochemical society proceedings series PV 96-25, P. 97(1996), can be illustrated. In this report, LiClO4-PC system is used as for the organic electrolyte as in the previous report and nickel oxide (NiO) is used as for the electrode material.
Accordingly, it is an object in the present invention to provide a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor which can employ an aluminum current collector and has a wide and stable electrochemical region and an increased amount of electric energy by using an organic electrolyte instead of an aqueous electrolyte which has been used for the conventional metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor having a narrow and stable electrochemical region.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric energy storage system having an improved electric conductivity by employing an organic electrolyte including both a lithium salt and an ammonium salt.
To accomplish the object, there is provided in the present invention a metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor comprising a plurality of electrodes, an organic electrolyte including a solvent and a solute and a separator inserted between the electrodes for preventing a contact between the electrodes.
The preferred solvent is PC (propylene carbonate) and AcN (acetonitrile) and a preferred solute is a lithium salt and an ammonium salt. A preferred mixing ratio of the lithium salt and the ammonium salt is in a range of 4:6-6:4 in a molar ratio.
As for the lithium salt, LiBF4 (lithium tetrafluoroborate), LiClO4 (lithium perchlorate), LiPF6 (lithium hexafluorophosphate), etc. can be advantageously utilized and as for the ammonium salt, Et4NBF4 (tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate), Et4NPF6 (tetraethylammonium hexafluorophophate), Et4NClO4 (tetraethylammonium perchlorate), MeEt3NBF4 (triethylmethylammonium tetrafluoroborate), etc. can be advantageously utilized.
The other object of the present invention can be accomplished by an electric energy storage system comprising a plurality of electrodes, an organic electrolyte including an organic solvent, a lithium salt and an ammonium salt and a separator inserted between the electrodes for preventing a contact between the electrodes.

Metal oxide electrochemical psedocapacitor employing organic electrolyte