An automated measuring system includes an application server (2), a database server (1), and client computers (4) and measurement apparatuses (5) linking to the application server through a network (3). The application server includes a measurement information receiving module (21) for receiving measurement information; a procedure encoding module (23) for encoding all required measurement procedures for objects to be measured; a measurement apparatus assigning module (24) for assigning a suitable measurement apparatus to each of dimensions of the objects; a measuring module (25) for running the encoded measurement procedures to measure all the dimensions of the objects through the assigned measurement apparatuses; a tolerance calculating module (26) for obtaining measured data and a design value of each dimension, and for calculating an actual upper tolerance and an actual lower tolerance for each dimension; and a report generating module (28) for generating measurement reports. A measuring method is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring, and more particularly to an automated measuring system and method which can encode required measurement procedures for an object to be measured and assign a suitable measurement apparatus to each dimension of the object.
2. Background of the Invention
Product quality is a crucial factor in a manufacturing enterprise's success. In order to seize potential markets and improve competitiveness, most manufacturing enterprises continuously strive to improve product quality and corresponding services.
It is standard practice for an enterprise to take samples from its own manufactured products and measure dimensions of the samples in order to determine whether the products are acceptable. Traditional measuring methods use length measurement tools such as calipers to measure all dimensions of the samples one by one. Then corresponding statistical calculations are performed manually. These measuring methods are prone to error, because of the low accuracy of manually operated measurement tools and because of human error in the statistical calculations. The accuracy of the final data obtained may be very low. Further, these measuring methods are generally time-consuming, and the corresponding labor costs can be high.
With the ongoing development of computer science, computers are now in widespread use in the art of measuring products. The conventional means adopted is to link automated measurement apparatuses to a computer. The computer obtains measured data from the measurement apparatuses, and runs corresponding application software programs (statistical procedures) in order to perform statistical calculations based on the measured data. Thus human error in the statistical calculations is greatly reduced. However, the location where the actual measurements are performed must generally be the manufacturing site of the products.
In recent years, multiple users of a typical enterprise's computer system have been able to store electronic data on a closed client/server architecture, such as a local area network or a wide area network. Further, with the recent rapid expansion of the Internet, the opportunity for collaborative efforts has greatly increased, and professional measuring departments are now found in many enterprises. Measurement workers and customers of an enterprise may be scattered around the world, yet they can rapidly transmit measurement information and measured data through a variety of networks. The measurement information provided by a customer usually comprises design drawings of an object to be measured and drawing specifications. The professional measuring department then receives the object, and proceeds to measure all the dimensions of the object according to the measurement information. All these apparatuses and procedures overcome the traditional restriction that the location where the actual measurements are performed must be the manufacturing site. However, the above-described means can-not provide encoding of required measurement procedures for the object, and can-not provide automatic assigning of suitable measurement apparatuses for measurement of each dimension of the object.
What is needed is a system and method that can overcome the foregoing shortcomings.


A flexible transparent electrochromic device, which includes the following components, each of which is a flexible film: a working electrode comprising a transparent conducting substrate supporting an working electrode active material; a counter electrode including a transparent conducting substrate supporting a counter electrode active material; a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) including a solution of a lithium salt in a polymer solvent. A method for preparing an electrochromic device includes the steps of: preparing a working electrode film, preparing a counter electrode film, preparing a polymer electrolyte film, and assembling the electrodes and the electrolyte, the method being implemented continuously.

An electrochromic device (ECD) typically comprises a conducting substrate coated with a working electrode material, a conducting substrate coated with a counter electrode material, and an electrolyte placed between the electrodes and facing the electrode active material coatings, each of these elements being in the form of a film.
The conducting substrate can be made of a non conducting sheet coated by a conducting film. The non conducting substrate can be made for instance of glass. It can also be made of a non conducting polymer e.g. polyethylene terephthalate PET) for flexible ECD's. The conducting film may be a film of a transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The TCO may be ITO, or a doped zinc oxide (AZO, GZO, SZO), or a fluorine doped oxide (FTO) (WO2008/064878). The conductive film may also be a film of a conducting polymer, such as for instance a PDOT.
The electrolyte can be in liquid, gel or solid (polymer) form.
The active material of the working electrode may be an organic or an inorganic oxide, or polymers obtained from monomers derived from alkylene dioxythiophenes (PDOT). A number of active materials, in particular polymers, are disclosed in WO2008/064878.
The active material of the counter electrode may be Prussian Blue (PB) LiFePO4, NiOx, a conductive polymer (such as polyaniline, polythiophene or polypyrrole), or HxIrO2. See for instance WO2009-098415.
A. J. Widjaja, et al. [Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 92 (2008) 97-100] teach a method for preparing an ECD where at least one element is prepared by a R2R method. However, Widjaja teaches the use of R2R in a general way, the only material which is illustrated being WO3, and concludes that it might not be obvious for the skilled person to use the R2R method for any material which is part of an ECD.
The known methods allow production of ECD's having good performance. However, they generally do not allow continuous manufacturing of ECD's of large dimensions.
The aim of embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide a method for producing large dimension mechanically flexible transparent ECD's possibly by a continuous method.

Flexible transparent electrochomic device, and a method for the preparation thereof

FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.

CONSORZIO INTERUNIVERSITARIO NAZIONALE PER LA SCIENZA E TECNOLOGIA DEI MATERIALI INSTM

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA


A lamp changing system is an LCD projector, comprising a reflective facet, a rotary plate having a plurality of arc-tubes and blocks disposed thereon, and a cam member having an upper cam and a lower cam, whereby upon rotating the cam member, an old arc-tube is separated from and new arc-tube is replaced for the old arc-tube as a light source for the LCD projector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lamp changing system in a liquid crystal display (hereinafter "LCD") projector and more particularly, to a replaceable arc-tube as a light source with a reflective facet attached to a lamp in a front projection type LCD projector
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of front projection LCD projectors are known in the art. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one such front projection LCD projector, includes first dichroic mirrors 2, 3 and 4 for separating red, green and blue from white light illuminated from a lamp 1, LCDs 5, 6 and 7 for displaying respective image signals of the colors, and condenser lenses 9, 10 and 11 disposed on the light source side of the LCDs 5, 6 and 7. The front projection LCD further includes second dichroic mirrors 12, 13 and 14 for synthesizing the three colors from the LCDs 5, 6 and 7, and a projection lens 8 for projecting the displayed images from the LCDs 5, 6 and 7 onto a screen. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the first dichroic mirrors 2, 3 and 4 are color separation devices and the second dichroic mirrors 12, 13 and 14 are color synthesis devices.
As shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, the lamp 1 as a light source includes reflective facet 1a, an arc-tube 1b as a luminous body, and an electric wire 1c for supplying an electric source. The lamp 1 has a useful life of several thousands hours and its lifetime depends on the arc-tube 1b. Therefore, the lamp 1 has to be replaced when the arc-tube 1b burns out. Further, it is expensive to replace the high priced reflective facet 1a in the lamp 1 and it is difficult to handle the reflective facet 1a manually.


The present invention relates to a synbiotic product composition comprising a blend or mixture of a prebiotic carbohydrate and a probiotic spore-forming Bacillus bacteria. Examples of prebiotic carbohydrates useful in synbiotic product include arabinoxylan, arabinoxylan oligosaccharides, xylose, soluble fiber dextrin, soluble corn fiber, and polydextrose. The present invention also relates to human foodstuffs and animal feed comprising such synbiotic products and methods of increasing the titer of spore-forming bacteria in the intestinal tracts of mammals by administration of symbiotic products.

The present invention relates to novel synbiotic products comprising a combination of spore-forming probiotic bacteria with prebiotic compounds capable of providing nutrients to the probiotic bacteria and/or capable of encouraging the growth of resident beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium, present in the gastro-intestinal tract. Such synbiotic product compositions may enhance the health benefits of food products containing such synbiotic compositions.
There is increasing demand for functional food ingredients, both for human and animal consumption, that deliver health benefits in addition to nutrition. One class of such health-related food ingredients are known as "prebiotic" compounds. Representative examples of prebiotic compounds that are currently used in food products include a wide variety of carbohydrates, such as various sugars and starches. Many carbohydrates that have caloric value are digested to monosaccharides or short-chain oligosaccharides in the human upper gastro-intestinal tract (e.g., the mouth, the stomach, and the small intestine) and are readily absorbed into the blood stream. In addition to such readily metabolized carbohydrates, some carbohydrates act as dietary "fiber" in food products. Fiber compounds are generally not broken down, or only partially digested, in the upper gastro-intestinal tract and substantial amounts pass into the colon relatively intact. The benefits of fiber to human health are well established and recognized by nutrition scientists worldwide, such as, for example, in US government dietary recommendations. Studies have suggested that diets rich in dietary fiber can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, gastrointestinal problems, and obesity. See Campos et al., Nutr Hosp. 2005 January-February; 20(1):18-25 (suggesting a link between the occurrence of colorectal cancer and low fiber diet); Kendall et al., Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2004 November; 6(6):492-8 (suggesting that a diet rich in fiber can reduce LDL cholesterol); Kendall et al., J AOAC Int. 2004 May-June; 87(3):769-74 (suggesting that a diet high in fiber can reduce the risk of chronic disease); Cernea et al., Acta Diabetol. 2003 40 suppl 2:S389-400 (suggesting that a diet high in fiber can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease).
There is increasing evidence that many of the health-promoting effects of dietary fiber are due to fermentation of these carbohydrates by a complex consortia of microorganisms (the microbiota) in the large intestine (Gibson, Glenn, "Dietary modulation of the human gut microflora using prebiotics," Journal Of Nutrition, 80(2):S209-S212 (1998)). A sub-class of carbohydrate fibers, "prebiotic" carbohydrate compounds, have been reported to be especially beneficial in promoting and maintaining health in normal humans. Representative examples of dietary fiber carbohydrates with established prebiotic activity are inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides (Roberfroid, et al., "The Bifidogenic Nature of Chicory Inulin and Its Hydrolysis Products," Journal of Nutrition, 128, 1, 11-19, 1998. Gibson, "Dietary Modulation of the Human Gut Microflora Using the Prebiotics Oligofructose and Inulin," Journal of Nutrition, 129, 7 Suppl., 1438S-1441S, 1999); lactulose (Tuohy, et al., "A human volunteer study to determine the prebiotic effect of lactulose on human colonic microbiota," Micro. Ecol. Health Disease 14, 165-173 (2002)); and soluble corn fiber (SCF) (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/124,364).
In addition to "prebiotic" ingredients, there is a growing market for foodstuffs and animal feeds that are formulated with "probiotic" bacteria. For example, there is increasing interest in the use of probiotic organisms as feed additives for animals, primarily as possible replacements for antibiotics. Many bacteria that are considered to have beneficial probiotic properties are normal commensal bacteria present in the healthy human or animal gut microflora. The most frequently used human probiotics include the Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. However, use of either of these bacterial groups as probiotic food or feed additives is fraught with difficulties. In order to be of benefit, the bacteria must survive the manufacturing process as viable cells, and be formulated as stable products (i.e., no significant loss of viability on storage for long periods and sometimes under adverse conditions). In addition, the bacteria must survive passage through the extreme acidity of the stomach and exposure to bile salts in the upper small intestine. It is hypothesized that the beneficial effects of probiotics are due to brief colonization of the small intestine and/or the colon which entails successfully competing with the existing microbiota that number some 107 to 1011 living bacteria per gram of luminal contents.
Several types of spore-forming Bacillus are currently sold as probiotics for both human and animal applications. For example, it has been reported that B. subtilis is sold over-the-counter for a variety of intestinal problems (Casula and Cutting (2002), Applied Environmental Microbiology, May 2002, pp. 2344-2352; Green, DH, et al. (1999) Appl. Env. Microbiol. 65, pp. 4288-4291) and for the treatment of diarrhea (Mazza, P (1994) Boll. Chim. Farm. 133, pp. 3-18). Studies of commercial preparations of B. clausii have also been reported, for example, by Marseglia, et al. (2007), and Canani, et al. (2007). Marseglia, GL, et al. (1997) Ther. Clin. Risk Manag. 3, pp. 13-17; Canani, RB, et al. (2007) BMJ, August 18, 335(7615): 340.
One of the probiotic strains with the longest history of human use is Bacillus coagulans, which was first described in the 1930's as Lactobacillus sporogenes ((Devechihi, E. and Drago, L. (2006) Int. J. Probiotics Prebiotics 1, pp. 3-10)). This strain(s) is of particular interest as it is one of the few studied spore-forming strains that produce large amounts of lactic acid from sugars without the production of gas. B. coagulans probiotic strains are reported to produce terminal spores and the vegetative cells are facultative anaerobes and motile (Devechihi and Drago, 2006).
Duc et al. evaluated five commercial products that consisted of strains of Bacillus spores. Three strains of B. cereus were shown to persist in the gastro-intestinal tracts of mice for 18 days, which was taken as evidence of colonization (Duc, L H, et al. (2004) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70, pp. 2161-2171). Leser et al. describe the feeding of B. subtilis and B. licheniforms spores to pigs (Leser, TD, et al. (2008) J. Appl. Microbiol. 104, pp. 1025-1033). Within two weeks of the start of feeding these probiotics, spores were found in all regions of the pig gastrointestinal tract. It was estimated that 70-90% of the spores germinated and there was limited and transient vegetative growth in the gastro-intestinal tract.


A power tailgate system for a vehicle includes an actuator for moving a tailgate of the vehicle between an open position and a closed position. The power tailgate system also includes a spring spaced apart from the actuator for counter-balancing a weight of the tailgate and a coupler assembly for removably coupling the tailgate to the power tailgate system.

Pick-up trucks commonly have a tailgate, which can be opened or closed by a user to access a box or bed of the pick-up truck. Such tailgates are manually operable and often can be heavy or difficult to safely open and close when the user is holding one or more objects. Some tailgates are removable to provide additional functionality to the truck in accordance with the user's needs. Removal of the tailgate from the truck, however, can be cumbersome and time consuming because one or more tools are required by the user to facilitate removal of the tailgate from the truck.


A semiconductor device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of first and second memory cells each comprising a variable resistance element that establishes an electrical resistance that changes in response to an application of a write voltage after a forming voltage has been applied, the first memory cell to which the forming voltage is applied, and the second memory cell to which the forming voltage is not applied, and the second memory cell being configured to store one of first and second logic values constituting first information, the first and second logic values being different from each other.

Nowadays, flash memory is widely used in nonvolatile semi con doctor devices. For the purpose of replacing the flash memory, various memory cells are being developed. Particularly known are variable resistance memory cells that store the information of logic 0 and logic 1 using a variable resistance element according to the resistance state thereof.
Variable resistance elements include, for instance, a Re-RAM (Resistive-Random Access Memory) using a metal oxide, sod an STT-RAM (Spin-Transfer Torque Random Access Memory) that performs spin, transfer torque writing using an MTJ (Magnetic Tunnel Junction) element.
The variable resistance element of a ReRAM is initially in a insulated state after being manufactured, and a predetermined voltage (i.e., forming voltage) must be applied to the manufactured variable resistance element to form a filament path inside therein so as to be able to switch between two states: high resistance and low resistance states. This process of forming a filament path is called "forming." After the forming, the high and low resistance states can be stably switched in response to application of a write voltage different from the forming voltage, achieving a stable memory operation.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a semiconductor memory device comprising a ReRAM as a variable resistance element. A forming is performed on the semiconductor memory device before shipped from tire factory. After the forming, product-specific information for each product (for instance redundancy relieving information if redundancy has been relieved, defect block address information, and product information such as a product number) is acquired as initialization data at a test stage.
Patent Literature 1:
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2012-79367A, which corresponds to US Patent Application Publication No. US2012/081946A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,411,488B2.


Devices and methods to enable a fuser heater within a printing device. The heater includes conductive traces and a resistive trace having a first end and a second end. The resistive trace is connected to the conductive traces at each of the first end and the second end and forms an electrical connection between the conductive traces and the resistive trace. The resistive trace further includes a tap between the first end and the second end, connecting the resistive trace to one of the conductive traces and forming an electrical connection between the one of the conductive traces and the resistive trace. The tap comprises multiple branches extending out of the resistive trace. A gap is formed between each of the branches.

Devices and methods herein generally relate to machines such as printers and/or copier devices and, more particularly, to heater elements in the device.
In electrostatographic printing, commonly known as xerographic or printing or copying, a process step is known as "fusing". In the fusing step of the xerographic process, dry marking making material, such as toner, that has been placed in imagewise fashion on an imaging substrate, such as a sheet of paper, is subjected to heat and/or pressure in order to melt, or otherwise fuse the toner permanently on the substrate. In this way, durable, non-smudging images are rendered on the substrate.

Tap for a solid resistive heater element


A bathtub platform insert is described herein (e.g., a footrest, backrest, or table). For example, a bathtub footrest insert herein allows a bather to adjust the length of the “sitting portion” of the bathtub, by securely inserting the bathtub footrest to establish a customizable distance between a backrest of the bathtub to the footrest, such that a bather of shorter height may comfortably stay above the water while soaking in a bathtub. In one embodiment, an example bathtub platform insert herein may comprise: a support surface; adjustable securing members extending outwardly widthwise from the support surface; and gripping end pieces on each end of the adjustable securing members; wherein the adjustable securing members are adjustable to extend an overall width of the bathtub platform insert between opposing pairs of gripping end pieces to secure the opposing pairs of gripping end pieces against a wall of a bathtub.

Though bathing in tubs has been a part of human culture for thousands of years, it is only within the past 150 years that the modern style of bathtubs has truly become widespread. From late 1800's clawfoot tubs to today's contemporary designs and materials, however, the overall dimensions of a typical bathtub is generally based on a "one-size-fits-most" consideration.
Many individuals, however, have a hard time soaking and relaxing in bathtubs because their feet do not reach the end of the tub. Such bathers are continually having to prop themselves up or not fill the bathtub up all the way in order to keep their head above the water level. As an alternative, people simply just do not take baths.


In a foreign matter inspection apparatus comprising: irradiating unit for irradiating inspection light to an inspection area of an article to be inspected; intensity detecting unit for detecting intensity of either reflected light or scattered light, which is generated from the inspection area by irradiating thereto the inspection light; position detecting unit for detecting a position of either the reflected light or the scattered light within the inspection area; and deciding unit for deciding whether or not a foreign matter is present within the inspection area; the foreign matter inspection apparatus is comprised of: display unit capable of displaying thereon both a threshold image in which the threshold value is indicated over an entire area of the inspection area, and a detection sensitivity image indicated by being converted from the threshold image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a foreign matter inspecting method and a foreign matter inspection apparatus, capable of detecting foreign matters, scratches, defects, contaminations, and the like (these items will be referred to as "foreign matters" hereinafter), which are present on surfaces of inspection matters such as semiconductor wafers (wafers). More specifically, the present invention is directed to a foreign matter inspecting method and a foreign matter inspection apparatus, capable of judging whether or not the foreign matters are present by employing threshold values.
2. Description of the Related Art
In foreign matter inspection apparatuses capable of detecting foreign matters of semiconductor wafers, optical beams such as laser light are irradiated onto surfaces of these semiconductor wafers, and then, either reflected light or scattered light, which are generated from the surfaces of the semiconductor wafers, are detected in order that foreign matters present on the surfaces of semiconductor wafers can be detected.
In such a case where patterns which constitute respective chips have been formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer, an image signal is formed from intensity of either reflected light or scattered light which are detected; image signals of adjoining chips are compared with each other, or the formed image signal is compared with an image signal as to a good chip which has been previously prepared; and then, when a difference between these image signals is larger than, or equal to a threshold value, it is normally so decided that the detected chip has a foreign matter.
The threshold value is calculated in such a manner that images of all of chips which are arranged along an X-coordinate direction and are detected by a sensor are overlapped with each other, and then, the threshold value is calculated from variations (standard deviation) of images at the substantially same positions within the chips. As a consequence, a judgement is made whether or not a foreign matter is present based upon a lower threshold value at a small variation, and based upon a higher threshold value at a large variation.
An adjustment of the threshold values is related to a yield of products. The yield aspect is described in, for instance, JP-A-2001-160572 and JP-A-9-74056.
Also, a foreign matter inspection apparatus for detecting a foreign matter of a wafer contains a foreign matter detecting system, and a surface detecting system. In the foreign matter detecting system, while an optical beam such as laser light is irradiated onto a surface of a semiconductor wafer, either reflected light or scattered light, which are generated from the surface of the semiconductor wafer, are detected, so that foreign matters present on the surfaces of semiconductor wafers can be detected. The surface detecting system keeps a distance of the wafer surface with respect to the foreign matter detecting system constant.
Conventionally, a distance between an objective lens of a foreign matter detecting system and a surface of a wafer has been assembled and adjusted in such a manner that this distance may becomes a focal distance based upon a designing specification of this objective lens.
Then, while this adjusted condition is continuously maintained under the same condition even in such a case where sorts of wafers to be inspected are different from each other, and manufacturing process steps of semiconductor devices are changed, the inspections have been carried out.
However, as to focal point positions of foreign matter detecting systems, these focal point positions of the foreign matter detecting systems are different from each other depending upon sorts of wafers to be inspected and manufacturing process steps of semiconductor devices. As a consequence, the conventional foreign matter inspection apparatuses have such problems that the detection performance owned by the foreign matter detecting systems cannot be sufficiently reflected, but the detection performance is different from each other, depending to the sorts of wafers and the steps.

Foreign matter inspection method and foreign matter inspection apparatus


A guidewire providing imaging and light for photoactivation of therapeutic agents. Using optical fibers with Bragg gratings, electromagnetic waves are coupled to photoacoustic materials thereby providing acoustic energy for imaging tissues. The reflected acoustic waves can be sensed with photoreflective materials coupled to different optical fibers. Additional optical fibers allow photoactivated therapeutics to be activated in proximity to the imaged tissues. The photoactivated therapeutics may be administered intravenously or with a drug-delivery catheter.

The effectiveness of a therapeutic agent, i.e., a drug, is limited by the ability to deliver the therapeutic to a targeted tissue at an effective concentration. For example, certain chemotherapeutic agents are very effective at halting the growth of rapidly dividing cells (e.g., malignant tumors) but the same drugs attack other "normal" rapidly dividing cells. Accordingly, the agents cannot be administered intravenously at the maximum effective dose because this dose will also irreparably harm healthy systems, such as the small intestine. Other classes of therapeutics based on biological molecules (e.g., interfering ribonucleic acids RNAi), are metabolized by the body upon administration, making it difficult to deliver the therapeutic to targeted organs or tissues at a concentration sufficient to be effective. Still other types of agents are difficult to deliver because they are not water soluble, or are otherwise incompatible with biological systems.
Drug delivery advances have overcome many of these problems, however, there is still a need for improved methods of delivering therapeutic agents. For example, the chemical structure of some therapeutics can be modified to improve the solubility or metabolic characteristics, making it possible to deliver the therapeutic orally or intravenously. Yet, in some cases, modifying the chemical structure deactivates the therapeutic or increases the toxicity. In the instance where the active cannot be modified, a delivery formulation may be created for administration, e.g., a lipid formulation, however, the formulations can interfere with the effectiveness of the drug.
One alternative to modifying or reformulating therapeutics is to directly deliver the therapeutic to the tissue, i.e., not administering the therapeutic orally or intravenously. For certain tissues, this is rather straightforward. For example, the therapeutic can be directly administered to the skin, mouth, intravaginally, etc. For other tissues, direct administration requires an open surgical field to access the tissue and administer the therapeutic. While techniques such as chemotherapy organ baths have been used, these techniques are experimental and only used as last resort when conventional methods have failed. In addition to the possible complications of the surgical procedure, organ baths can actually spread the cancer by dislodging cells that can start new tumors on other tissues.
In the field of cardiology, drug delivery catheters have been used for some time to deliver therapeutics, e.g., thrombolytic drugs, directly to tissues needing treatment. Drug delivery catheters allow more concentrated dosing of thrombolytics in proximity to the thrombus while reducing the risk of damage to healthy tissues. Nonetheless, these techniques are limited by the size of the catheters and the functions that must be performed prior to and after delivery of the therapeutic.
Conventionally, a thrombus is identified using a contrast agent and fluoroscopy. Once identified, the distal end of a guidewire is placed in proximity to the thrombus and the drug delivery catheter is moved to the distal end of the guidewire whereupon the thrombolytic is administered. After administration the catheter is removed, and the treatment site is re-imaged, either with angiography or with a separate imaging catheter. Based upon the imaging, the drug-delivery procedure may need to be repeated. Thus, the conventional method takes a fair amount of time and the patient may be exposed to greater amounts of contrast and x-ray radiation due to post-procedural angiography. Additionally, drug delivery catheters can only be used to administer therapeutics to vasculature of a size sufficient to accept the catheter. Thus, if the site to be treated is occluded with plaque or if the vessel is a peripheral vessel, it may not be possible to deliver the therapeutic to the tissue.

Imaging guidewire with photoactivation capabilities


Traditional climbing is being sought out by more indoor climbers, however the issue that has arisen is that the only way to learn the method is through trial and error in the outdoors on real rock. An indoor-traditional climbing device (I-TCD) makes it possible to learn how to climb Traditionally in a safe environment with hands on instruction. Provided herein is a cover/shield for an I-TCD that allows not only for the placement of multiple kinds of gear within the I-TCD body, but it allows the climber to fall on that gear placement safely to determine the quality of their gear placement, without the risk of falling upon the I-TCD body. Therefore, the cover/shield provides an angled feature to reduce direct impact injuries while increasing the opportunity for climbers who wish to learn how to climb traditionally.

Traditional Rock Climbing (also referred to as "Trad" Climbing, is normally only accessible in outdoor environments at a great risk of life and limb to the learner, who relies solely on a training that never allowed the trainee to safely fall test their gear placement to determine whether their placement was proper or adequate. However, as the sport of rock climbing progresses and indoor traditional climbing devices are developed, such as those disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 15/485,489 incorporated herein by reference, the need has arisen for a covering of these devices, or a manner by which to "blend" these devices into indoor climbing walls.
Indoor climbing gyms have made great progress in teaching other forms of climbing indoors to include: bouldering (Low Wall climbing up to 30 feet, no rope required), top-roping (the most common form of indoor climbing whereby a climber is tethered into a harness, which is attached to a rope, which is attached to the highest point of the climb, the opposite end of which is attached to a belayer on the ground who will become responsible for the safety of the climber. Ensuring their ascent and descent is controlled by tensioning of the rope through an ATC, Smart Device, Gri-gri, or other form of belay device); sport climbing (whereby the climber is belayed in line with their belayer while the climber maintains placement of the rope through specific anchor points (bolt hangers) by clipping first a quick draw into the anchor point and then the rope into the quick draw), ice climbing (is equitable to sport climbing only the rock is a mixture of rock and ice or only ice and the probability exists that the climber must either place their own anchor points, climb by axe and crampon, or top-rope) and aid climbing (which consists of using set anchor points to allow for a rope ladder type of climb to transition between each anchor point). The great barrier with bringing Traditional Climbing into a gym environment is the need for a feature that can withstand a substantial tensioning and impact force simultaneously, whilst not defeaturing the surface of the climbing wall, nor endangering the life of the climber and belayer, or other gym patrons.

Indoor-traditional climbing device cover


An optical mode coupling apparatus includes an Erbium-doped optical waveguide in which an optical signal at a signal wavelength propagates in a first spatial propagation mode and a second spatial propagation mode of the waveguide. The optical signal propagating in the waveguide has a beat length. The coupling apparatus includes a pump source of perturbational light signal at a perturbational wavelength that propagates in the waveguide in the first spatial propagation mode. The perturbational signal has a sufficient intensity distribution in the waveguide that it causes a perturbation of the effective refractive index of the first spatial propagation mode of the waveguide in accordance with the optical Kerr effect. The perturbation of the effective refractive index of the first spatial propagation mode of the optical waveguide causes a change in the differential phase delay in the optical signal propagating in the first and second spatial propagation modes. The change in the differential phase delay is detected as a change in the intensity distribution between two lobes of the optical intensity distribution pattern of an output signal. The perturbational light signal can be selectively enabled and disabled to selectively change the intensity distribution in the two lobes of the optical intensity distribution pattern.

OPTICAL FIBER
An optical fiber is an optical waveguide having a central core surrounded by an outer cladding. The refractive indices of the core and cladding are selected so that optical energy propagating in the optical fiber is well-guided by the fiber.
As is well known in the art, a single optical fiber may provide one or more propagation paths under certain conditions. These propagation paths are commonly referred to as the normal modes of a fiber, which may be conceptualized as independent optical paths through the fiber. Normal modes have unique electric field distribution patterns which remain unchanged, except for amplitude as the light propagates through the fiber. Additionally, each normal mode will propagate through the fiber at a unique propagation velocity.
The number of modes which may be supported by a particular optical fiber is determined by the wavelength of the light propagating therethrough. If the wavelength is greater than a "second-order mode cutoff" wavelength (i.e., the frequency of the light is less than a cutoff frequency), the fiber will support only a single mode. If the wavelength is less than cutoff (i.e., the frequency is greater than the cutoff frequency), the fiber will begin to support higher order modes. For wavelengths less than, but near cutoff, the fiber will support only the fundamental, or first-order mode, and the next, or second-order mode. As the wavelength is decreased, the fiber will support additional modes, for example, a third-order, fourth-order, etc.
Each of the normal modes (e.g., first-order, second-order, etc.) are orthogonal, that is, ordinarily, there is no coupling between the light in these modes. The orientation of the electric field vectors of the modes defines the polarization of the light in the mode, for example, linear vertical or linear horizontal. A more complete discussion of these modes, and their corresponding electric field patterns, will be provided below.
A number of devices have been constructed to utilize the orthogonality of the modes of an optical fiber to provide selective coupling between the modes. For example copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 884,871, now. U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,851, entitled "Fiber Optic Modal Coupler," assigned to the assignee of this invention, describes a device which couples optical energy from the first-order mode to the second-order mode, and vice versa. U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 820,513 and 909,503, both abandoned in favor of Ser. No. 048,142, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,437, entitled "Fiber Optic Inter-Mode Coupling Single-Sideband Frequency Shifter," and assigned to the assignee of this invention, disclose frequency shifters which couple optical energy from one propagation mode to another propagation mode while shifting the frequency of the optical energy. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 820,411, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,350 entitled "Fiber Optic Mode Selector," assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a device which separates optical energy propagating in one of the first-order and second-order propagation modes from the other of the first-order and second-order propagation modes.

Nonlinear optical coupler using a doped optical waveguide

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford University


An aquaculture system including an upper support for disposition at the surface of a water body of an aquaculture farm; a cage having a side wall portion and a bottom wall portion, the side wall portion having an upper edge secured to the upper support so as to project below the surface of the water body and the side wall portion being formed out of vertically contractible, non-buoyant mesh; and a lower support disposed between a bottom edge of the side wall portion and an outer edge of the bottom wall portion.

This invention relates generally to an aquaculture method and apparatus and, more particularly, to an aquaculture method and apparatus employing a cage formed out of a vertically contractible, non-buoyant mesh material.
Aquaculture is a rapidly expanding industry providing increasing quantities of various fish products. In comparison to conventional commercial fishing techniques, aquaculture offers the advantages of a predictable harvest and reduced labor and equipment cost. However, present systems are plagued with a variety of serious problems.
Typical aquaculture systems utilize weighted, fiber mesh nets suspended in a suitable water body by floatation rings. After a given growth period, the cage is lifted to the surface of the water body for harvest of a retained fish crop. Serious losses are caused in such aquaculture systems by large aquatic predators such as sharks, tuna and seals that easily penetrate the fiber mesh nets and feed upon the resident fish. Further losses occur when remaining fish escape through the openings created in the net by the predators.
To alleviate the predator problem, many aquaculture systems provide an auxiliary net that surrounds and is spaced from the fish retaining primary net. However, such protective netting also is subject to penetration by predators. Other disadvantages of currently employed fiber mesh nets are a requirement for extensive anchoring and a tendency for the flexible nets to be displaced by tidal flows and thereby undesirably crowd resident fish.
The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved aquaculture system that reduces problems inherently present in existing systems.


A semiconductor apparatus comprising a vertical type semiconductor device having a first conducting type semiconductor substrate, a drain layer formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, a drain electrode formed on the surface of the drain layer, a second conducting type base layer selectively formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate opposite to the drain layer, a first conducting type source layer selectively formed on the surface of the second conducting type base layer, a source electrode formed on the first conducting type source layer and the second conducting type base layer, and a gate electrode formed in contact with the first conducting type source layer, the second conducting type base layer and the semiconductor substrate through a gate insulating film and a lateral semiconductor device having an insulating layer formed in a region of the surface of the semiconductor substrate different from the second conducting type base layer, and a polycrystalline semiconductor layer formed on the insulating layer and having a first conducting type region and a second conducting type region, wherein the first conducting type source layer of the vertical semiconductor device and the first conducting type region of the polycrystalline semiconductor layer are simultaneously formed.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor apparatus which is capable of preferably manufacturing an integrated circuit having a lateral polycrystalline silicon device formed on an insulating film on a vertical power device and which can be manufactured by a simple manufacturing process.
Hitherto, integrated circuits have been manufactured by using single-crystalline silicon. In recent years, development in a technique for precisely forming a device has realized large scale integration. Thus, a trend of integrating various circuits and integrating a system on one chip has been made apparent. Under the circumstance above, there has been required to integrally form circuits of different types, such as high voltage devices, power devices, analog circuits and digital circuits.
In general, a structure in which a control circuit for a vertical power device is formed on the vertical power device satisfactorily improves the characteristic of the device.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are structural views of an inverter apparatus for rotating a DC motor. The apparatus has power devices each comprising an IGBT. The inverter apparatus has six IGBTs 401 to 406 forming a three-phase inverter, six diodes 411D to 416D respectively connected to the IGBTs 401 to 406 in parallel and a drive circuit IC 420 for operating the IGBTs 401 to 406. However, the foregoing inverter apparatus composed of the IGBTs 401 to 406, diodes 411D to 416D and the drive circuit 420, which are disposed individually, involves an excessively large number of elements. Thus, the cost of the apparatus cannot be reduced.
Referring to FIG. 2, a portion of the drive circuit 420 surrounded by a dashed line is an upper drive circuit 420a for operating the upper IGBTs 401 to 403. The structure of the upper drive circuit 420a will now be described. When an ON-state signal has been supplied to a high voltage MOSFET 421, which is a level shifter, constant currents flow to operate the upper CMOS drive circuit 422 comprising a CMOS inverter and the like so that the upper IGBTs 401 to 406 are operated.
As the power source for the upper drive circuit, a capacitor 424 electrically charged by a high voltage diode 423 are employed. However, if a control circuit, such as the drive circuit 420, is fabricated on a high voltage and high-current device (the IGBT), noise generated by the high-current device arises a risk that the control circuit encounters a malfunction. To prevent the malfunction, it is preferable that the control circuit and the power device be completely be isolated from each other by, for example, an oxide film.
As pn junction isolation technique is insufficient to satisfactorily electrically isolate the power device and its appendix circuit from each other, dielectric isolation or a SOI (Silicon On insulator) substrate as shown in FIG. 3 have been usually employed. Since the dielectric isolation process of the foregoing type includes a step of joining two substrates and a step of forming an embedded isolation region, a structure having a voltage resistance exceeding 600 V excessively raises the cost. However, an alternative low cost technique has not been available at present. Moreover, the cost of the single crystalline silicon for forming the substrate, as well as the cost of the dielectric isolation technique, enlarges the cost of the semiconductor device.
If the lattices are not aligned to the film allowed to grow on the single crystalline substrate, displacement takes place in the grown film and, thus, there arises a problem in that leak current are generated and the characteristic of the device deteriorates. Since the single crystalline substrate must satisfy the requirement of the lattice alignment as described above, combinations of various materials are limited. Therefore, selection of materials cannot freely be performed.
In order to reduce the cost of a transistor, which is the basic device for the semiconductor circuit, the following attempts (1) to (3) have been made such that various transistors are manufactured by using polycrystalline silicon formed on the insulating film in an amorphous state in place of the conventional and expensive single crystalline silicon. The transistor of the foregoing type has a characteristic that the polycrystalline silicon on the insulating film can easily be insulated and isolated from each other by a trench (a groove).
(1) Since a MOS transistor using the amorphous silicon can easily be formed at relatively low temperatures, it has been widely used as TFT (Thin Film Transistor) in a liquid crystalline display apparatus using a glass substrate or the like. However, the polycrystalline silicon MOS transistor has an original problem of non-uniform characteristics. PA1 (2) A technique using a polycrystalline silicon bipolar transistor has been disclosed by, for example, K. Throngnumchai ("An Intelligent Discrete Power MOSFET with Shorted Load Protection Using Thin-Film Bipolar Transistor", Proceedings of 1992 International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & ICs, Tokyo. pp. 144 to 149). According to the thesis above, a lateral thin film bipolar transistor made of polycrystalline silicon formed by a double diffusion self-alignment technique has been reported. PA1 (3) As another device required to be manufactured by using the polycrystalline silicon, an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) for controlling electric power can be available. However, the IGBT is a device requiring storage of carriers and conductivity modulation and the polycrystalline silicon having a small life time is considered that carriers cannot easily be stored. Therefore, the IGBT cannot easily be formed. Moreover, since the polycrystalline silicon having a multiplicity of grains has a great resistance and a low mobility, the ON-state resistance is enlarged unintentionally. Therefore, the polycrystalline silicon is considered to be not suitable to manufacture the IGBT which is a high voltage and high current device. Furthermore, the polycrystalline silicon having great ON-state resistance is considered to be not suitable to manufacture another transistor except the IGBT.
The above-mentioned thesis discloses a contrivance using the lateral bipolar transistor to serve as a protective circuit. In order to apply the foregoing structure to an accurate analog circuit, a high-performance polycrystalline silicon bipolar transistor equivalent to the single crystalline bipolar transistor has been required. If a vertical polycrystalline silicon bipolar transistor is realized, combination with a polycrystalline silicon CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) circuit is expected to realize an accurate BiCMOS circuit. Thus, an intelligent power device can be manufactured with a low cost.
If a low cost and high performance MOS transistor, bipolar transistor or an IGBT can be manufactured by using the above-mentioned polycrystalline silicon, it might be considered to manufacture a CMOS transistor, a bipolar transistor or a lateral IGBT by forming a polycrystalline layer on a power device, such as the vertical MOSFET or the vertical IGBT. The above-mentioned method is able to considerably reduce the manufacturing cost as compared with the method for manufacturing a device by the dielectric isolation or the SOI. The foregoing method has an advantage that an active layer of transistors forming the appendix circuit can be formed by a polycrystalline silicon on the vertical MOSFET.
The appendix circuit of the foregoing type will now be described.
CMOS
In recent years, excellent polycrystalline silicon can be manufactured by annealing amorphous silicon or by laser-annealing polycrystalline silicon. However, if ion implantation is performed as shown in FIG. 4A after the polycrystalline silicon layer has been formed, the crystallinity of the polycrystalline silicon layer is ruptured and it is formed into amorphous state when impurities are doped to form channels. Thus, the characteristic deteriorates.
If the thickness of the active layer is large, the crystallinity can be recovered in the following thermal process by using the polycrystalline portion left in the bottom of the active layer. However, since the characteristics of the device can be improved in inverse proportion to the thickness of the active layer, the thickness is required to be reduced as much as possible.
If ions are implanted to form the channels in the amorphous silicon film before the amorphous silicon is formed into a polycrystalline state by the solid-phase growth, polycrystalline silicon exhibits excellent crystallinity.
However, the method in which the amorphous is allowed to grow to the polycrystalline silicon and which involves the n-channel and the p-channel being formed adjacently as shown in FIG. 4B encounters a problem in that the diffusion of impurities cannot be controlled in the solid-phase growth step in a case where, for example, a CMOS consisting of nMOS (n-channel MOS) and pMOS (p-channel MOS) is formed.
Hetero Junction Transistor
In a case where a thin film transistor is manufactured by using the polycrystalline silicon, there arises a problem in that the mobility of the channel is unsatisfactorily low. To overcome the foregoing problem, a method for raising the mobility may be employed in which, for example, a thin polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited on a polycrystalline silicon germanium layer followed by distorting the polycrystalline silicon layer.
An energy band of a p-channel thin film transistor is as shown in FIG. 5A. As can be understood from FIG. 5A, a two-dimensional electron gas layer is generated in the interface between the polycrystalline silicon layer and the polycrystalline silicon germanium layer, thus causing the mobility of the channel to be raised.
In a case of an n-channel, the energy band becomes as shown in FIG. 5B.
As can be understood from FIG. 5B, no 2DEG (Two Dimensional Electron Gas) layer is generated in the interface between the polycrystalline silicon layer and the polycrystalline silicon germanium layer. In this case, the mobility of the channel cannot be improved considerably.
In order to improve the mobility in the n-channel thin film transistor, the polycrystalline silicon germanium layer is distorted in place of the polycrystalline silicon layer. Although the mobility of the n-channel can be improved in this case, the mobility of the p-channel cannot be improved satisfactorily.
Therefore, three or more polycrystalline semiconductor layers are required for the CMOS to simultaneously improve the mobility of the p-channel and that of the n-channel. Thus, the manufacturing process and manufacturing system becomes too complicated.
Lateral MOSFET
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view showing the structure of a high voltage MOSFET. The high voltage MOSFET has an n-type drift region 3 formed on an oxide film 2 formed on a polysilicon substrate 1, the n-type drift region 3 being made of polysilicon. In the n type drift region 3, an n-type drain region is selectively formed to have a depth to reach the oxide film 2. A drain electrode 5 is formed on the n-type drain region 4.
Similarly, p-type (or n.sup.-) base region 6 is selectively formed from the surface of the n-drift region 4 to the oxide film 2. An n.sup.+ source region 7 is selectively formed from the surface of the p-type base region 6 to the oxide film 2.
A source electrode 8 is formed on the n.sup.+ source region 7.
A gate insulating film (not shown) is formed on a portion of the p-type base region 6, a portion of the n-type source region 7 and a portion of the n-type drift region 3. A gate electrode 9 is formed on the gate insulating film.
Since the foregoing regions 3, 4, 6 and 7 of the foregoing high voltage MOSFET are made of polysilicon, a potential barrier exists in each grain boundaries. The barrier is, just below the gate, lowered attributable to the application of the gate voltage so that the passage of electrons through the grain boundary is permitted. However, the drift region having no gate results in the mobility of the bulk. That is, the drift region 3 must be applied with voltage when an electric current flows through the grain boundary in order to pass the barrier existing in the grain boundary. Therefore, a method of lowering the barrier of the grain boundary is an essential fact.
As a technique for lowering the barrier of the grain boundary, a method using a MOS gate to form a channel is available as described above. However, a channel cannot easily be formed by the MOS gate in the drift region because a great electric field is applied.
Thus, the high voltage polysilicon MOSFET has a problem in that voltage of a certain level must be applied between the source and the drain to cause an electric current to flow. Since a high voltage level of about 10 V is usually required, a critical problem arises when a high voltage IC is manufactured by using the polysilicon. As a result, there arises a problem in that the ON-state voltage is raised unintentionally. Lateral MOSFET.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the structure of the lateral MOSFET. The MOSFET shown in FIG. 7 has a field oxide film 12 formed on a p-type high voltage silicon substrate 11. A polycrystalline silicon layer 13 serving as a p-channel MOSFET and an n-channel MOSFET is selectively formed on the field oxide film 12. In the polycrystalline silicon layer 13 of the p-channel MOSFET, there are sequentially formed a p-type source region 14, an n-type base region 15, a p-offset region 16 and a p-type drain region 17. On the p-type source region 14, there is formed a source electrode (not shown). On the n-type drain region 17, there is formed a drain electrode (not shown).
A gate electrode 19 is, on a gate oxide film 18, formed on a region from an end of the p-type source region 14 to the p-offset region 16 through the n-type base region 15.
Similarly, the polycrystalline silicon layer 13 of the n-channel MOSFET has an n-type source layer 21, a p-type base region 22, an n.sup.- offset region 23 and an n-type drain region 24 formed in parallel in this sequential order. On the n-type source layer 21, there is formed a source electrode (not shown). On the n-type drain region 24, there is formed a drain electrode (not shown).
A gate electrode 26 is, on a gate oxide film 25, formed on a region from an end of the n-type source layer 21 to the n.sup.- offset region 23 through the p-type base region 22.
Since the MOSFET of the foregoing type has an offset region, the voltage resistance can be improved. In the case of the N channel MOSFET, the n.sup.- offset region 23 has a high potential and the silicon substrate 11 has a low potential. Therefore, the n.sup.- offset region 23 is, from the oxide film 12, depleted when the gate is turned off. Therefore, even if impurities by a quantity of about 2.times.10.sup.12 cm.sup.-2 are doped into the n.sup.- offset region 23, high voltage resistance can be realized. Moreover, a required voltage resistance can be obtained by adequately determining the length of the offset region.
However, the p-channel MOSFET having the silicon substrate 11, which is a low potential, and the active layer side which is a high potential, involves the depletion layer being not expanded toward the p-offset region 16. The depletion layer expands from the n-type base region 15. If voltage resistance of, for example, 60 V is obtained in this case, the impurity density in the p-offset region 16 must be lowered. This results in high-resistance in the p-offset region 16 when the gate is turned on, thus causing a problem to arise in that the ON-state resistance is enlarged excessively. In the case of the P channel MOSFET in which the silicon substrate 11 is the low potential and the n-type base region 15 is the high potential, there arises a problem of leakage because the bottom surface of the n-type base region 15 is inverted also when the gate is turned off. Since each of the n-channel and p-channel MOSFETs has a restrained mobility of carriers as compared with a MOSFET on a single crystalline silicon, there arises a problem that the MOSFET of the foregoing type has greater ON-state resistance as compared with the MOSFET on the single crystalline silicon.
In addition to the above-mentioned structures, some lateral MOSFETs have structures as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10. FIG. 8 is a plane view showing the structure of the MOSFET of this type. FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along line 9--9 shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along line 10--10 shown in FIG. 8. The MOSFET has, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, an n-channel structure in which a polycrystalline silicon layer is formed on the oxide film 12.
Lateral High Voltage Diode
FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view showing a lateral and high voltage diode manufactured by using dielectric isolation. An n silicon layer (an active layer) 33 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 31 through an isolation insulating film 32. A dense n.sup.+ layer 34 is formed in the bottom portion of the active layer 33. In the active layer 33, a p-type anode layer 35 and an n-type cathode layer 36 apart from the p-type anode layer 35 are formed. Each of the p-type anode layer 35 and the n-type cathode layer 36 has an anode electrode 37 and a cathode electrode 38.
With the lateral diode having the above-mentioned structure, an inverted bias state is considered in which, for example, the anode electrode 37 and the semiconductor substrate 31 are grounded and positive voltage is applied to the cathode electrode 38. At this time, the voltage applied to the cathode electrode 38 is applied to a depletion layer formed in the active layer below the n-type cathode layer 36.
Therefore, if the thickness of the active layer portion of the n-type cathode layer 36 is large or if the active layer is too thin and thus the n-type cathode layer 36 does not reach the isolation insulating film 32, a required voltage resistance cannot be realized.
The appendix circuit has the above-mentioned structure.
However, it is considered that the thickness of the polycrystalline silicon for forming the gate is required to be 0.5 .mu.m or greater to satisfactorily lower the gate resistance of the vertical MOSFET. When a transistor is manufactured from a polycrystalline silicon, the thickness of the polycrystalline layer is required to be reduced as much as possible because the characteristic of the device can be improved in a case where the polycrystalline layer has a small thickness. Therefore, when the polycrystalline silicon gate used for the vertical MOSFET and the polycrystalline silicon transistor are integrally formed, excellent characteristics cannot be realized from the two elements. Thus, an integrated circuit in which the vertical MOSFET and the appendix circuit are integrated has not been realized yet.
Thickness
If the active layer has a large thickness, a structure, for example, V-shape groove, for isolating devices in the lateral direction must be formed. Therefore, the area of the isolating groove region is enlarged. Thus, the machining process cannot easily be performed and the effective area of the device is reduced. As a result, the cost of the integrated circuit of the high voltage device is enlarged.
If directly bonded substrates are employed to obtain a substrate comprising an active layer having a small thickness, the isolating oxide film can be thickened because it is formed by heat oxidation. Since a wafer portion, which is formed into the active layer, is formed by polishing, the thickness of the wafer cannot easily be uniformed in a case where a thin film wafer is required. Although SIMOX (Separation by Implanted Oxygen) enables a thin active layer to be obtained, the thickness of an isolating oxide film cannot be enlarged in the case where the voltage resistance is strengthened.
Note that SIMOX is a method of forming an oxide film in, for example, a silicon substrate to perform complete dielectric isolation. Specifically, oxygen ions are implanted with a density of 10.sup.18 ions/cm.sup.2 or denser into a silicon substrate so that oxygen atoms are distributed into a predetermined depth. Groups of oxygen atoms in the island configuration are allowed to grow into a layer shape in a process for restoring the crystallinity of the surface of the substrate by a predetermined heat treatment. As a result, an oxide film having a thickness of about 200 nm is formed in the substrate.
Since SIMOX has the process for allowing the groups of oxygen atoms from the island configuration into the layer shape to form the oxide film as described above, SIMOX suffers from a problem in that the thickness of the oxide film cannot be reduced to be smaller than a certain thickness. That is, although a satisfactory voltage resistance can be realized if the internal oxide film has a large thickness, the oxide film distorts the upper polycrystalline silicon layer. Thus, the polycrystalline silicon layer is formed into fine crystalline grains, thus there arises a problem of crystalline defects. As a result, the mobility of, for example, the nMOS channel is lowered to about 100 cm.sup.2 /Vs and dispersion becomes excessive as compared with the CMOS formed on a bulk.
Difference in Manufacturing Process
The vertical power devices, such as the vertical MOSFET, are mainly manufactured by a method having the steps of forming a polycrystalline silicon gate electrode; and using an end of the gate electrode as a mask to form the channel region and the source region by the double diffusion self-alignment method. It is preferable for a lateral MOS transistor using the polycrystalline silicon that predetermined impurities be introduced into the channel region before the gate electrode is formed. Therefore, when an appendix circuit comprising the polycrystalline silicon is formed on the vertical power device, manufacturing processes cannot easily be shared. Thus, there arises a problem in that the manufacturing cost cannot satisfactorily be reduced.
As described above, a low-cost semiconductor apparatus having excellent performance cannot easily be realized by using the polycrystalline semiconductor.
If the vertical power device and an appendix circuit are integrally formed, there arises a problem in that the characteristic of the power device or that of the appendix circuit deteriorates excessively.

Method of manufacturing vertical power device


The invention relates to a thorax airbag device without housing which is mounted between a guide yoke and a tearing thread. The invention also relates to a seat which is provided with a thorax airbag device without housing which is mounted by a guide yoke and a tearing thread.

Most thorax airbags, or "thorax bags" for short, are housed in a seat back according to examples that have become known in practice. Here one distinguishes among several types:
Manufacturers of OPEL brand cars, CITROEN brand cars, and other manufacturers of cars position the airbag module in a visible container, whose cover opens in a crash. This looks cheap and the container is heavy and expensive.
Other manufacturers, primarily luxury-car manufacturers install an "invisible"airbag under the covering material. Because the covering materials with their different elasticity values counteract the unfolding with different amounts of resistance, and thus prolong the unfolding time, the manufacturers provide various measures. The manufacturer of VW brand cars, for example, uses only low-stretch materials. The manufacturer of FORD brand cars sews a woven packing for the tearing seam of the covering with a hard material in the bursting area. The manufacturer of RENAULT brand cars has a divided side wall with an inserted frame through which the bag is deployed.
The inventor himself has already solved the problem of low-stretch materials with the "run technique," which is disclosed in the already granted U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,197 and the parallel, laid-open German Patent Application No. 198 60 840.3. The complete disclosure contents from these earlier applications, especially in terms of the triggering and deployment of the thorax airbag from a seat through a seat covering, are incorporated completely into the present document through this reference, to avoid simple repetition.

Thorax airbag device, seat provided with the same and method for activating said thorax airbag


Apparatus and method for the production of seamless capsules comprising a shell material encapsulating a center-filled core material in which a heated carrier liquid or air is cooled by a heat exchanger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a seamless capsule comprising a shell material encapsulating a center-filed core material, wherein the shell material is formed of a carbohydrate in glassy state, and especially to methods and apparatus for making the seamless capsules for producing food products and topically applied products employing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally, seamless capsules formed of a shell material encapsulating a core material have been made by using as the shell material film-forming materials such as gelatin and gums. These shell materials present two disadvantages. First, they are formed from an aqueous solution. Consequently, when the capsules are formed, large amounts of water must be removed, requiring great amounts of energy and long drying times. Second, these shell materials dissolve slowly when the capsules are being consumed, thereby leaving a distasteful plastic film-like residue in the mouth.
Seamless capsules are usually made by simultaneously extruding the shell material and the core material through concentrically aligned nozzles such that the extruded shell material and the extruded core material exit the nozzles as a coaxial jet with the shell material surrounding the core material into a stream of cooled carrier fluid that is flowing downward. While descending in the cooled carrier fluid, the coaxial jet breaks into droplets with the shell material encapsulating the core material. The droplets then solidify in the cooled carrier fluid to form seamless capsules. Such methods are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,251,195 and 4,695,466. However, when the shell material is a material that solidifies quickly, this prior art method is disadvantageous in that the shell material in the coaxial jet may solidify prior to encapsulation. As a result, seamless capsules could not be formed, and any capsules that were formed were not spherical and did not have uniform size and shape.
An attempt to overcome this problem was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,985, which describes a method that modifies the prior art method by introducing a coaxial triple jet consisting of a heated circulating liquid surrounding the shell material which in turn surrounds the core material into the cooled carrier liquid to allow encapsulation to take place. In this method, since capsule formation must still take place in the cooled carrier liquid, if any solidification of the shell material occurs prior to entering the cooled carrier liquid, encapsulation will not occur.
Other methods used for making capsules typically involve using a screw extruder to extrude an emulsion containing the shell matrix and the material to be encapsulated. However, in such a process, it is difficult to make a capsule formed of a shell material encapsulating a center-filled core material. Instead, the encapsulated material is often in the form of globules that are distributed within the matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,857,281 describes a process for making a solid flavoring composition in the form of globular particles by extruding an emulsion containing a sugar base and flavor oil into droplets.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,852 describes a process for encapsulating oil in a cellular matrix that is formed of polyhydroxy and polysaccharide compounds. The oil is in an emulsified state with the cellular matrix, and the resulting emulsion is spray dried as droplets of the emulsion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,900 discloses a process for encapsulating volatile and/or labile components with extruded glassy matrices, wherein the encapsulated material is distributed in the glassy matrices.
European Patent Application No. 0339958 discloses an antifoaming composition containing an outer shell of a meltable sugar in its crystalline state with an organo-polysiloxane antifoaming composition imbedded therein. This composition is formed by melting a sugar base and dispersing the organopolysiloxane antifoaming composition in the sugar melt as the discontinuous phase. The melt is then solidified, thereby imbedding and entrapping the antifoaming composition, which is dispersed in the melt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,305 relates to microcapsules that provide long lasting breath protection.
An effective means of forming seamless capsules comprising a shell material encapsulating a core material in accordance with the present invention enable the production of a wide variety of products for consumption or application to the human body.

Methods and apparatus for making seamless capsules


A semiconductor device has a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface, a through electrode penetrating through the semiconductor substrate and having a protrusion protruding from the second surface, and an insulation layer on the second surface, which covers the side surface of the protrusion, has an opening through which to expose the end surface of the protrusion, and has a thickness greater than the length of the protrusion.

Conventionally, a semiconductor device in which a plurality of semiconductor substrates having an element layer is laminated is used.
In order to increase speed, reduce power consumption, etc., of an electronic device, a three-dimensional packaging technique for laminating a plurality of semiconductor substrates having an element layer for accommodating the semiconductor substrates in one package has been proposed.
In the three-dimensional packaging technique, an electrode that penetrates through a semiconductor substrate is used in order to electrically connect semiconductor substrates to be laminated.
FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a conventional semiconductor device.
A semiconductor device 101 is formed by laminating a first semiconductor substrate 11 having a first element layer 12 and a second semiconductor substrate 31 having a second element layer 32. The first element layer 12 and the second element layer 32 are electrically connected via through electrodes 120a and 120b penetrating through the first semiconductor substrate 11, bumps 42a and 42b, etc.
The first semiconductor substrate 11 has a first surface 11a on which the first element layer 12 is formed and a second surface 11b on the opposite side of the first surface 11a. The through electrodes 120a and 120b penetrate through the first semiconductor substrate 11 from the first surface 11a toward the second surface 11b and part thereof protrudes from the second surface 11b. The side surfaces of the through electrodes 120a and 120b are coated with barrier layers 23a and 23b and electrode insulation layers 24a and 24b.
On the second surface 11b of the first semiconductor substrate 11, a first insulation layer 114 is laminated so as to embed the side surfaces of the through electrodes 120a and 120b. The first insulation layer 114 has openings 117a and 117b through which the through electrodes 120a and 120b are exposed. End surfaces 121a and 121b on the side of the second surface 11b of the through electrodes 120a and 120b are exposed through the openings 117a and 117b.
The thickness of the first insulation layer 114 is less than the length of the portions of the through electrodes 120a and 120 protruding from the second surface 11b. The thickness of the portion of the first insulation layer 114 between the through electrode 120a and the through electrode 120b is less than that of the portions covering the side surfaces of the through electrodes 120a and 120b.
On the first element layer 12 of the first semiconductor substrate 11, a first wire layer 13 is laminated. To the end parts on the side of the first surface 11a in the lengthwise direction of the through electrodes 120a and 120b, contacts 22a and 22b arranged within the first wire layer 13 are connected. The through electrodes 120a and 120b are electrically connected with the first element layer 12 via the contacts 22a and 22b. On the contacts 22a and 22b, bumps, not depicted, are arranged.
On the second element layer 32 of the second semiconductor substrate 31, a second wire layer 33 is laminated. On the second wire layer 33, a second insulation layer 34 is laminated.
Within the second wire layer 33, contacts 40a and 40b electrically connected to the second element layer 32 are arranged. On the contacts 40a and 40b, pads 41a and 41b are arranged. On the pads 41a and 41b, the bumps 42a and 42b are arranged.
Part of the pads 41a and 41b and the bumps 42a and 42b is embedded within the second insulation layer 34.
The end surfaces 121a and 121b on the side of the second surface 11b of the through electrodes 120a and 120b are in contact with the bumps 42a and 42b.
Between the first insulation layer 114 and the second insulation layer 34, a filler layer 15 is filled in so as to embed the bumps 42a and 42b.
The first element layer 12 on the first semiconductor substrate 11 and the second element layer 32 on the second semiconductor substrate 31 are electrically connected via the contacts 22a and 22b, the through electrodes 120a and 120b, the bumps 42a and 42b, the pads 41a and 41b, and the contacts 40a and 40b.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-12024
As described above, the through electrode 120a protrudes from the second surface 11b and the length of the protruding portion is greater than the thickness of the first insulation layer 114. Consequently, when the bump 42a and the through electrode 120a are joined, there is a case where a part 42c of the molten bump 42a flows out to the lateral side of the through electrode 120a. If the electric conductor forming the bump 42a extends onto the first insulation layer 114, there is a possibility that a current leak path is formed.
As described above, with the conventional three-dimensional packaging technique of a semiconductor device, there is a possibility that a failure may occur in joining of the bump and the through electrode.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of semiconductor device


A catheter is provided for insertion into the blood vessel of a patient for ultrasonically imaging the vessel wall. The catheter includes a tubular element and an internally housed drive cable for effective a circumferential scan about the catheter of an ultrasonic generating means. Both the tubular element and the drive cable are of a size and flexibility sufficient to permit their introduction into the vessel and subsequent advancement through the vessel to the location of the vessel wall where imaging is desired.

This invention relates to a catheter apparatus, system and method for intravascular two-dimensional ultrasonographic imaging and more particularly to such an apparatus, system and method for guiding and monitoring interventional therapy to reduce vascular stenosis.
Ultrasonic two-dimensional imaging apparatus and systems have heretofore been provided for use in endoscopy for examining the gastrointestinal tract. Such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,549. Such devices, however, have been relatively large and inflexible and are completely unsuitable for use within the vascular system of the human body. In addition, there is no provision for guiding such devices into specific branches of blood vessels.
There is therefore a need for a new and improved catheter apparatus, systems and methods which can be utilized for performing intravascular two-dimensional ultrasonographic imaging. It would be particularly desirable if such imaging apparatus and methods could be combined with a variety of intravascular therapeutic modalities, such as angioplasty atherectomy, laser ablation, and the like, in order to provide simultaneous imaging and recanalization procedures.

Method and apparatus for intravascular ultrasonography


Energized body jewelry including alternative embodiments designed to be worn by persons who have piercings in their bodies, as well as for those who do not have piercings. In one embodiment, the jewelry may be worn by a person with a piercing by attaching the jewelry with a barbell style piercing including a drilled retainer sized to carry the jewelry. In an alternative embodiment, through the use of a drilled elastomeric band, the jewelry may be worn by a person who does not have a piercing. The jewelry is energized such that it may vibrate, illuminate, or perform other functions requiring energy from some extracorporeal source such as a battery.

The present invention relates generally to body jewelry including alternative embodiments designed to be worn by persons who have piercings in their bodies as well as for those who do not. Although body piercing in today ""s society has been shifting from a counterculture dominated practice to an increasingly popular activity, a substantial number of persons who could be inclined to join the body piercing community are not quite ready to take that leap. The present invention provides unique energized body jewelry that can be worn by members of the piercing community, but also provides an alternative embodiment that can be worn by those who have not had their bodies pierced.
In one embodiment, the jewelry may be worn by a person with a piercing by attaching the jewelry with a standard barbell stud style piercing including a drilled retainer sized to carry the jewelry. In an alternative embodiment, through the use of a drilled elastomeric band, the jewelry may be worn by a person who does not have a piercing. The jewelry is energized such that it may vibrate, illuminate, or perform other functions requiring energy from some extracorporeal source such as a battery.
The energizing feature of the invention provides for many alternative uses ranging from the primarily ornamental aspect of an embodiment including an illuminating light source, to the more functional aspects provided through the preferred embodiment including a vibrator. A further embodiment of the invention includes accessories comprising sheaths with alternative configurations designed to cover at least a portion of the body jewelry and provide varying surface features for the jewelry.
The objects and potential uses of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following description, and various other features and attendant advantages will become more fully appreciated as the invention becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views.


The present invention provides a photocatalyst sterilizer (200) which draws thereinto water, contained in a water tank (120) and polluted by bacilli and various organic substances, regardless of a water level in the water tank (120) and sterilizes the polluted water using violet rays and through a photocatalyst reaction, thus enhancing a sterilizing ability thereof, and which is easily installed and efficiently used in various appliances, which are necessary to execute sterilizing processes, for example, hot and cold water generators, hot and cold water purifiers, tap water purifiers to be directly coupled to faucet pipes, edible water purifiers, and aquariums.

As examples of edible water purifiers which have been widely used in home or office, there are tap water purifiers which filtrate city water with solid or organic materials using a plurality of purifying filters to supply clean water to users, hot and cold water purifiers which purify water and selectively cool or heat the purified water to supply edible water to the users, and hot and cold water generators on which large-sized water bottles containing therein raw water are put so that the raw water supplied from the large-sized water bottles into water tanks of the water generators is selectively cooled or heated for the users.
In the above-mentioned edible water purifiers, the tap water purifiers to be directly coupled to faucet pipes each include a base which has both a water feed hole and a clean water discharging hole, a cylindrical housing which is provided on an upper part of the base, a purifying filter which is provided in the housing, and a filter cartridge with a head provided on an upper part of the housing. The conventional tap water purifiers are individually coupled at the feed water hole thereof to a faucet pipe. Thus, the city water fed from the faucet pipe is purified by the plurality of purifying filters prior to being discharged through a clean water discharging hole to the outside.
However, with the passage of time, a great quantity of impurities are deposited on the purifying filters. Thus, the filtering abilities of the conventional water purifiers are deteriorated. Therefore, the conventional purifiers force the users to periodically change filter cartridges with new ones. Due to frequent replacements of the filter cartridges, the conventional water purifiers cause inconvenience to the users and impose additional expenses on the users.
The hot and cold water generators and the hot and cold water purifiers each include a water tank which has a structure enabling storage of raw water or clean water of about 10˜20 liters. Each of both the hot and cold water generator and the hot and cold water purifier draws thereinto air from the outside to smoothly discharge the water.
However, in each of both the conventional hot and cold water generator and the conventional hot and cold water purifier, the water contained in the water tank may be processes by passing through a purifying filter, which is not changed with a new one even after a predetermined period is passed. In the above state, the processed water may be polluted by the contaminated purifying filter used for the long period. Furthermore, even though the city water is processed by passing through a fresh purifying filter, or the raw water is sanitarily processed, the water contained in the water tank may be contaminated by various harmful bacilli, because the bacilli along with the air may be drawn into the water tank through an air inlet. Thus, the water discharged from the conventional water generators or purifiers may not be suitable for drinking. In case of the conventional hot and cold water generators, the user can observe a state of the contaminated water tank with the naked eye. Thus, the user can periodically clean the water tank or put a germicidal agent in the water tank However, in case of the conventional hot and cold water purifiers, the water tank is typically installed in a casing of the water purifier. Thus, most users use the water purifiers without cleaning the interiors of the water tanks before the purifying filters are changed with new ones. Therefore, the hot and cold water purifier used for a long period is more seriously contaminated by the bacilli. In the above state, the water, processed by the conventional hot and cold water purifier used for a long period, may be worse in quality by the bacilli than the water which is not purified, thereby the processed water may be bad for the health
In an effort to overcome the problem in that the water is contaminated by the bacilli, a technique in that an ultraviolet sterilizer is provided in the water tank of an edible water purifier to prevent the bacilli from being generated and propagated was proposed.
The conventional ultraviolet sterilizer includes a quartz tube with an UV (ultraviolet) lamp, a sleeve which has therein the quartz tube, a holder which fastens thereon both ends of the sleeve and supports thereon the quartz tube, and a housing which has therein the sleeve and provides both a water inlet and a water outlet. The conventional ultraviolet sterilizer can sterilize bacilli by ultraviolet rays having wavelengths of 254 mm, but is problematic as follows.
First, because the ultraviolet rays penetrate water to 1˜2 mm, only water, placed around an outer surface of the quartz tube having therein the UV lamp, is sterilized. Thus, the conventional ultraviolet sterilizer cannot sterilize the whole of the water contained in the water tank.
Second, the edible water purifier with the conventional ultraviolet sterilizer may supply water of a state, in which the water sterilized by the sterilizer is mixed with the water which is not sterilized, to the users. Thus, the user may be injured.
Third, in case that the water level in the water tank is low, the sterilizing ability of the ultraviolet sterilizer is deteriorated.
Fourth, the conventional ultraviolet sterilizer is problematic in that the ultraviolet rays cannot dissolve or eliminate various organic materials, such as environmental hormone, etc.


A tonneau cover that includes a first panel and a second panel. The first panel is arranged rearward of the second panel in vehicle position when the tonneau cover is in a first position, each of the first panel and the second panel comprise a top surface and an opposing bottom surface. The first panel and the second panel are movable into a second position where the bottom surface of the first panel is juxtaposed with the bottom surface of the second panel.

Some vehicles, like pick-up trucks, have an open-topped bed or cargo area that may be used for storing or transporting cargo. A cover, such as a tonneau cover, may be placed over the cargo area. The cover may be opened to access the cargo and/or the inside of the cargo area and closed to conceal the cargo from view and/or to prevent fluid and/or debris from entering the cargo area.
Some covers include one or more panels that can be moved or repositioned to access the cargo and/or the inside of the cargo area. Some of these panels are heavy and large, which can make them unwieldy and difficult to move. Some of these panels may also be moved or stacked against the forward end of the cargo area, which may reduce the amount of the space available in the cargo area for storing and/or transporting cargo. Accordingly, it may be desirable to have a cover that overcomes at least some of the aforementioned limitations.
For example, it may be desirable to have a tonneau cover with hard or rigid panels that are enabled to fold between open and closed positions. It may be desirable to have a tonneau cover with plural hard panels that can be stowed near a forward section of the cargo area. It may be a desirable to have a tonneau cover with mechanisms that can be actuated to fold and unfold the panels between the open and closed positions.


There are provided a radically curable adhesive composition maintaining adhesiveness thereof even in high-humidity environments, and a polarizing plate including the radically curable adhesive composition. The radically curable adhesive composition includes: a compound represented by Formula 1; a vinyl ether-based compound; a carboxylic acid compound having at least one unsaturated double bond; and a radical initiator.

Recent liquid crystal displays have features such as low power consumption, low operational voltages, light weight, and reduced thicknesses, and thus are used as various display devices. Liquid crystal displays are made up of many elements such as liquid crystal cells, a polarizing plate, a retardation film, a light collecting sheet, a diffusion film, a light guide plate, and a reflection sheet. Therefore, many efforts have been made to achieve objects such as productivity improvements, weight reductions, and brightness improvements by reducing the number or thicknesses of films or sheets.
Current polarizing plates have a stacked structure in which a protective film or protective films are attached to one or both surfaces of a polarizer formed of a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based resin generally dyed with a dichroic dye or iodine, by an adhesive. In the related art, triacetyl cellulose (TAC)-based films have mainly been used as protective films for polarizing plates. However, TAC films are easily deformed in high-temperature, high-humidity environments. Therefore, protective films made of various materials have recently been developed to replace TAC films. For example, methods of using films such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films, cycloolefin polymer (COP) films, and acrylic films individually or in combination have been suggested.
Aqueous adhesives usually formed of PVA-based resin solutions have been used as adhesives for attaching protective films to polarizers.
However, if aqueous adhesives are used for protective films other than TAC films, such as acrylic films or COP films, the adhesiveness of the aqueous adhesives becomes poor. Therefore, the use of aqueous adhesives is limited to kinds of film materials. In addition to the poor adhesiveness of aqueous adhesives to some materials, if protective films formed of different materials are attached to both surfaces of a polarizer by using an aqueous adhesive, curling may appear on a polarizing plate after a drying process of the aqueous adhesive, and initial optical properties of the polarizing plate may be worsened. Furthermore, since aqueous adhesives inevitably require a drying process, the defect rate may be increased because of differences in water permeability and thermal expansion rates during the drying process. To address these problems, methods of using nonaqueous adhesives instead of aqueous adhesives have been proposed.
Nonaqueous adhesives that have been proposed as adhesives for polarizing plates may be classified into a radically curable type and a cationically curable type according to curing methods. Although cationically curable adhesives have high degrees of adhesiveness with respect to various films, the curing rate and curing degree thereof are low, and thus it is disadvantageous to use cationically curable adhesives in a manufacturing process. To overcome theses demerits of cationically curable adhesives, radically curable adhesives including an acrylamide-based compound as a main ingredient have been proposed. Radically curable adhesives including an acrylamide-based compound as main an ingredient can be cured more rapidly than cationically curable adhesives. However, the curing rate and adhesiveness of radically curable adhesives having an acrylamide-based compound as a main ingredient are lowered in high-humidity environments. In addition, since polarizing plate manufacturing processes include a wet process in which PVA films are swelled, dyed, and stretched in an aqueous solution, polarizers contain a large amount of moisture, and thus an additional pretreatment preprocess for drying polarizers with hot air or treating surfaces of polarizers with plasma is necessary for manufacturing polarizing plates using such acrylamide-based radically curable adhesive composition adhesives.
Therefore, there is a need for a radically curable adhesive maintaining a curing rate and adhesiveness thereof, even in high-humidity environments and thus which is applicable to polarizing plates without having to perform an additional process.

Radically curable adhesive composition and polarizing plate including the same


The objects of the invention are to prevent the backflow of slurry by first enclosing it in a closed space and then using air to force it along a discharge channel, and at the same time to ensure the smooth throughput of the slurry by causing any foreign bodies in the slurry to be broken up en route. To this end, the invention is provided with a casing enclosing a circular cross-section rotor chamber and a rotor which fits inside said rotor chamber and which is caused to rotate by a drive means. The rotor is also fitted with blades en bloc which extend radially from the rotating center section and which form moving chambers that rotate along with the rotor inside the rotor chamber. The casing is also provided with an intake port that connects with the moving chambers at the slurry intake point and a discharge port and air supply port, each of which connects, with the moving chambers at the slurry discharge point.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a slurry removal device which makes use of air for the purpose of said removal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a slurry made of, for example, earth and sand, generated during the course of underground excavation work, has normally been brought up to the surface with the help of a screw conveyer.
When this sort of slurry is being removed, however, there is always the risk that, if the slurry does not contain much water or if the flow of the slurry is not regular, a backflow may occur.
There is a further danger that, if the slurry also contains empty cans, for example, the cans may get caught in the blades of the conveyer and impair its subsequent operation.