The invention features RF plasma generation systems, methods for operating the systems, methods for calibrating the systems, and calibration apparatus. One RF plasma generation system includes an impedance matching network having an input port to receive an RF signal from an RF generator, and an output port to deliver the RF signal to an input port of a plasma vessel associated with a load. The system includes an RF signal probe in electromagnetic communication with the input port of the impedance matching network to detect at least one RF signal parameter associated with the RF signal at the input port of the impedance matching network. The system can include a calibration storage unit that stores calibration data. The calibration data includes an association of values of the RF signal parameter with values of at least one characteristic of the load.

Radio frequency or microwave (hereinafter "RF") plasma generation equipment is widely used in semiconductor and industrial plasma processing. Plasma processing supports a wide variety of applications, including etching of materials from substrates, deposition of materials onto substrates, cleaning of substrate surfaces, and modification of substrate surfaces. The frequency and power levels employed vary widely, from about 10 kHz to 2.45 GHz and from a few Watts to as much as 100 kW or greater. For semiconductor processing applications, the range of frequencies and powers presently used in plasma processing equipment is somewhat narrower, ranging from about 10 KHz to 2.45 GHz and 10 W to 30 kW, respectively.
Plasma processing equipment typically requires a precision RF signal generator, a matching network, cabling, and metrology equipment. In addition, precision instrumentation is usually required to control the actual power reaching the plasma. The impedance of loads associated with a plasma can vary considerably in response to variations in gas recipe, plasma density, delivered RF power, pressure and other parameters.
An RF supply, including a signal generator and matching network, can deliver power to the plasma in a number of ways, for example, via an antenna or sample holder. An antenna typically has a primarily inductive load impedance, with a smaller resistive component. In contrast, a sample holder (a "chuck" or "bias") typically presents a primarily capacitive impedance, also with a smaller resistive component.
Matching networks are typically positioned between the output of the RF generator and the input of the process chamber. The matching network provides a means of matching the output impedance of the generator to the input impedance of the process chamber. A matching network often includes elements such as variable capacitors and variable inductors to permit dynamic impedance matching of an RF generator to a changing load.
Most RF generators for plasma processing equipment are designed to have a standard fifty-ohm output impedance. A matching network can accommodate mismatches in impedance between the standard fifty-ohm output impedance of the RF generator and the input of the load. The mismatch can be exacerbated by a process chamber and plasma whose associated load can fluctuate over a large range of values.
The impedance mismatch can cause inefficient power deliver. The mismatch can also cause the power delivered to the plasma to vary, which can cause process inconsistency both within a chamber for successive substrates and among similar chambers. Thus, use of an impedance matching network can improve the efficiency of power transfer from a signal generator to a plasma vessel.
Components used in some plasma generation systems can present further difficulties in process characterization and control. For example, many systems utilize coaxial cables to connect an RF generator to an impedance matching network.
Determination of the power delivered to a reactive load (i.e., as presented by the plasma vessel) can be difficult and of limited accuracy. A standard operating method entails holding power delivered to the plasma vessel load constant. The power, however, is generally not well known because, for example, power is lost in the matchbox; the lost power is a complicated function of, for example, the positions of the vacuum variable capacitors in a matchbox plus a plasma vessel load having a nonlinear behavior.
An impedance probe can be placed between the matchbox and the plasma vessel to obtain a measure of power delivered to the plasma vessel. This approach has at least two disadvantages. First, an impedance probe can be very inaccurate when the phase angle between current voltage waveforms is high. A high phase angle typically is encountered for a highly reactive plasma vessel load. Second, impedance probes are typically too costly for production systems.

Methods and apparatus for calibration and metrology for an integrated RF generator system


An electronic device, in response to detecting a touch input on a touch-sensitive surface, determines an intensity of the touch input. In accordance with the intensity of the touch input on the touch-sensitive surface and one or more preselected intensity thresholds, the device determines an intensity stage of the touch input and one or more intensity-based progress values of the touch input, based on an intensity range associated with the determined intensity stage. The device sends touch information to a first software application stored by the electronic device, including the one or more intensity-based progress values of the touch input and information identifying the intensity stage of the touch input, and processes the touch input based on the one or more intensity-based progress values of the touch input and the intensity stage of the touch input.

The use of touch-sensitive surfaces as input devices for computers and other electronic computing devices has increased significantly in recent years. Exemplary touch-sensitive surfaces include touchpads and touch-screen displays. Such surfaces are widely used to manipulate user interface objects on a display.
In addition to the presence or absence of a contacts (or touches) on the touchpads and touch-screen displays, intensity of contacts can be used to manipulate user interface objects on a display.
However, processing intensity of contacts can be cumbersome and inefficient. For example, processing intensity of contacts require complex instructions, which can lead to increased computational load, increased size of software applications, and increased power consumption. These create a significant burden on the use of intensity of contacts in electronic devices.

Device, method, and user interface for processing intensity of touch contacts


An endoscopic surgical instrument assembly including a support sheath, a miniature medical implement member, and a securing mechanism for securing the support sheath and the medical implement member together in fixed relationship. The securing mechanism is adapted for securing the miniature medical implement member and the support sheath to one another when the miniature medical implement member is advanced axially through the support sheath so that the implement member and the support sheath form a co-axial unit. As a result, the support sheath provides rigid support for the miniature medical implement member and prevents the elongated portion thereof from breaking during an endoscopic medical procedure.

Endoscopic procedures gain access to the inside of a human or veterinary body by using a cutting instrument to pierce or puncture bodily tissues (i.e., skin, muscles, membranes, or the like), and then a narrow cannula is inserted through the puncture wound as a guideway for access to the body interior. The cannula is narrow as the area in which the surgeon must perform procedures incorporating endoscopic medical instrumentation is smaller than that normally encountered when conventional surgical techniques are employed. As a result, endoscopic medical procedures are minimally invasive and leave minimal scarring for the patient.
More particularly, in endoscopic procedures, various implements are inserted through the skin and body wall into the body, wherein surgical procedures are to be undertaken. The interior operating site is "visualized" by employing an endoscope or viewing port that also extends into the body. While the surgeon may view the interior of the body directly through the endoscope, usually, the endoscope is connected to a camera and television monitor that presents a magnified view of the body interior for the surgeon to view. By viewing the interior, the surgeon can conduct operative procedures by employing different narrow implements.
To allow for better visualization of the body interior and easier access to the operative site, an insufflation procedure may possibly be employed depending on the specific operative site. During insufflation, a gas, typically carbon dioxide, is injected into the body to initiate enlargement of the area where surgery is to be performed and maintain that area in enlarged form. To achieve insufflation, a first puncture or stab wound is made and then a narrow pneumoperitoneum insufflation needle (called a Veress-type needle) is used to puncture the body wall and the gas is introduced through the needle. Insufflation is especially used when the surgical area is the abdominal cavity, and the endoscopic procedure is a laparoscopic procedure. However, it is to be kept in mind that endoscopic procedures are increasingly being employed for surgery in various other body areas, such as for arthroscopic surgery on joints or for insertion of breast implants. One method of placing these implants is by way of the bikini line below the patient's waist so that any scars from the breast enlargement surgery are at the bikini line instead of at the breast area.
After a pneumoperitoneum is adequately established (or in the event of surgery such as on a knuckle joint where there is no pneumoperitoneum) and the endoscope is in place, additional puncture or stab wounds may be made for the narrow endoscopic implements. A tubular sheath (commonly called a cannula) is inserted through the puncture wound while a cutting instrument (commonly called a trocar) is disposed inside of the sheath with the cutting edge of the trocar protruding past the end of the sheath. The cannula and trocar are gently advanced into the body under direct visualization. The sharp cutting tip of the trocar cuts the way for the cannula to be advanced into the body, and sometimes only a cannula (without any trocar) having a sharp cutting tip for advancement into the body is used.
The sheath is left in place (advanced through the puncture wound in the body) in order to gain access within the body. Thus, the sheath keeps the puncture wound open, and then the trocar (if one has been used) is removed so that now the sheath provides an access channel or guideway for narrow endoscopic implements other than a trocar to be inserted through the tubular hole of the sheath so that surgery can be performed inside the body.
For instance, forceps (commonly called graspers) may be placed through the sheath so that the bowel may be grasped, the liver retracted, or the peritoneal surface grasped with the working end of the forceps. Next, the forceps may be removed from the sheath and a cautery placed therethrough so that micro-hemostasis can be achieved using electrocautery.
As noted hereinabove, endoscopic medical implements are small so that instrumentation is smaller than that encountered with conventional surgical techniques. As a result, endoscopic procedures result in significantly less trauma than that from conventional invasive surgery and also lead to typically much shorter recovery time for the patient. Of course, the smaller the endoscopic implements are, then the less invasive the endoscopic procedure is.
For current commercial implements, the elongated, cylindrical portion of an endoscopic medical implement is typically about 5 mm to about 10 mm in cross-sectional diameter, and the tubular cannula to provide guidance therefore typically has an internal diameter of about 11 mm in cross-section. Such endoscopic medical implements are made of plastic or metal, and a limiting factor in the smallness of the diameter has been found because if they are manufactured too thin and narrow, they would be fragile and would easily snap or break inside of the body, leaving the working end of the implement inside of the body. Then, conventional invasive surgery with a large cut area would have to be performed in order to remove from the body the working end that had broken off of the endoscopic medical implement.
To date, no satisfactory way has been found to employ extremely small diameter endoscopic implements and thus make endoscopic procedures even less invasive than they currently are without having the danger of the working end of the implement breaking off inside of the body. Nevertheless, the following patents are of general background interest vis-a-vis endoscopic implements and/or sheaths (cannulas) for insertion of implements therethrough and into the body either through a puncture wound or a body orifice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,871 to Hurley et al., assignors to Dexide, Inc., involves a cylindrical housing as a guideway for an endoscopic surgical instrument. The instrument is concentrically disposed interior of the housing and movable between first and second positions. The housing includes a flexible, dome-like portion that is located for engagement by the thumb and forefinger of a human operator and overlies a portion of the endoscopic surgical instrument. As the flexible portion is grasped and compressed with the thumb and forefinger, the endoscopic surgical instrument is held in place inside of the cylindrical housing. A drawback is that if the human operator should inadvertently loosen the grip of the thumb and forefinger, the endoscopic surgical instrument will slide and move to a different position inside of the cylindrical housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,365 to Wortrich, assignor to Surgin Surgical Instrumentation, Inc., discloses an elongated surgical instrument for penetrating into a body cavity. The instrument has an obturator with a cutting cannula. The obturator is spring-mounted so that it will retract within the cannula when the cannula encounters a body wall, but also so that it will move to an extended distal position inside the body cavity. The obturator can be locked in an axial position when it is in the extended distal position so that the instrument can be used in a surgical procedure without danger of cutting internal tissue or organs. Thus, the obturator is a safety device that facilitates use of instruments during laparoscopic surgery.
Various needle assemblies that include an introducer needle having another member movable therein between different positions are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,375 to Gurmarnik (no assignee); U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,310 to Yoon (no assignee); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,085 to Kopans, assignor to Medical Device Technologies, Inc. In the patent to Gurmarnik, the other member is a spinal needle. In the patent to Yoon, the other member is a safety probe. In the patent to Kopans, the other member is a trocar. Each of the devices in these three patents is provided with a set screw for locking in place the member that moves from a first position to a second position within the introducing needle.
Also, of some relevance vis-a-vis an assembly with an outer sheath and a removable instrument located there-within is U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,280 to Baumgartner (no assignee). This patent involves a method for medical treatment of the prostate area with a urethrally inserted apparatus assembly. The apparatus assembly has an outer sheath and a removable obturator located within the sheath during insertion of the assembly into the urinary tract by way of the urethral orifice in the penis. One end of the sheath is configured to retain the tip of the obturator, and the other end of the sheath is rigidly retained in a mounting member and extends through the mounting member and a locking member of conventional construction. The mounting member retains the locking member so that it will rotate relative to the mounting member in order to align slots for receiving the obturator. When the obturator is inserted into the sheath, projecting pins engage those slots and the locking member can be rotated to retain the obturator securely in position. Once the sheath is in position in the selected area, the obturator is removed from the sheath and a sampling implement having a harpoon-blade working end is inserted into and through the sheath to a location adjacent the selected area of the prostate. The harpoon end has both a tip (which is used to puncture the tissue to be sampled) and a pocket behind the tip (which is used for collecting the tissue sample).
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,391 to Wilk (no assignee) discloses a laparascopic instrument assembly comprising a rigid sleeve and a multiplicity of laparascopic instrument shafts inserted inside the sleeve. The instrument assembly is intended to be inserted through a laparascopic cannula during surgery to provide an increased number of available instruments without increasing the number of abdominal perforations in a patient. However, the instrument assembly does not provide for affixing a surgical instrument to the sleeve for enhanced performance as a new unitary mechanism, but merely provides a locking mechanism to remove the working end of selected instruments from the surgical field when another instrument is being used.

Miniature endoscopic surgical instrument assembly and method of use


A blanking panel is provided for blocking an aperture in a rack for mounting multiple hardware components. The panel includes: a frame having a first pair of parallel sides connected orthogonally to a second pair of parallel sides, where at least one of the pairs of parallel sides is adjustable in length; an attachment means provided on at least one of the pairs of parallel sides for removable attachment of the blanking panel to the rack; and a screen formed of a flexible and stretchable material extending between at least one of the pairs of parallel sides where the flexible and stretchable material stretches as the pair of parallel sides are moved apart thereby blocking the aperture.

This invention relates to the field of blanking panels for datacentre racks. In particular, the invention relates to an adjustable blanking panel for datacentre racks.
Datacenters are reliant on appropriate airflow to keep servers and infrastructure cool and operating within known system limits. Some servers have to run within certain temperature thresholds otherwise system degradation may occur.
Datacenters typically use rows of racks with cold and hot aisles, whereby at the front of the rack, cold air is blown up from a raised floor into the path of the fans of the servers contained within the rack. The cold air is sucked through the server, heated (via the natural process of the internal components) and then pushed out the rear of the rack into the hot row.
In order for devices to work efficiently, the air supplied needs to be at a constant temperature. Currently hot and cold air can mix in any unfilled spaces between devices in the racks, warming the cold air supplied to the devices. The temperature of the cold air rises forcing devices to work harder to maintain a constant temperature. In turn, this affects the efficiency of the datacentre (as described in the points below) as well as the local environment due to extra power usage and the site carbon footprint. The cost of running a room with set temperatures and humidity is high as air conditioning and fan speeds all add to the general electrical use of the room. This is now a global problem with datacenters often measured on a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) scale and CO2 based levels.
Higher supply temperatures are also a factor in causing the following problems:                Premature component failure;        Reduced processing power by going into a state of degradation;        Hotter exhausts which the room air conditioning handlers (computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units) have to try lower to maintain room environment, potentially exceeding room capacity;        More electrical usage by a server to ramp-up fans and cooling technologies; and        More electrical usage by datacenter air handlers to ramp-up fans to supply suitable temperatures.
To prevent air mixing, rack panels (also known as blanking panels) are used to fill any voids within the rack to prevent air circulation or mixing. There are several versions typically supplied by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Current blanking panels are typically of standard sizes and do not fill non-standard spaces and thus cannot reduce mixing within these spaces. The term "U" is an industry set space within a typical rack.
Existing known blanking panels have the following problems:                Blanking panels are traditionally fixed 1 U or 3 U sizes, and cannot combat odd spaces, for example, a third of a U, or at the side of a system.        They are solid, made with thick plastic, metal or other solid material, which causes issues with storage when they are not installed in the rack, often resulting in many datacenter owners throwing them out, later finding they should have installed the panels.        Existing blanking panels only block the horizontal spaces and leave any vertical spaces empty.        They cannot bend round shapes, for implementations of rack furniture that do not use standard installations.        All prior art blanking panels require connections on both sides of the rack.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to address the aforementioned problems.

Adjustable blanking panel for datacentre racks

International Business Machines Corporation


Technologies are disclosed for migrating large amounts of data objects, e.g., billions of data objects, from a distributed data store to another data store or computing device. A method includes generating an inventory of the data objects in the distributed data store and dividing the inventory into multiple listings of data objects. Each data object is identified in only one corresponding listing. Manifests are generated based upon the listings. Each manifest is assigned to a corresponding portable storage device of a plurality of portable storage devices, and the data objects and listings are transferred, based at least in part, upon the manifests to the plurality of portable storage devices. The inventory of the data objects and the plurality of portable storage devices are provided to an entity associated with the another data store or computing device. The data objects are transferred from the plurality of portable storage devices to the another data store or computing device using the inventory.

Distributed data stores may be implemented across multiple servers. Such distributed data stores may store user accounts made up of a large number of data objects. For example, a particular user account may include a billion or more data objects spread across multiple servers. Thus, migrating such user accounts from the data store to another entity, e.g., another data store, may take a large amount of time, e.g., months. Thus, the migration of such a large amount of data objects, in addition to being time consuming, generally incurs a large amount of computing costs associated with the computing resources involved in the migration.
Currently, in one situation, the large amount of data objects are sequentially transferred to portable storage devices, which are then utilized to transfer the data to its new location. However, the large amount of data objects can easily exceed the capacity of a single portable storage device. Thus, it is not uncommon to need to split the data across multiple (e.g., dozens) portable storage devices. Doing a simple key/value pair listing of every data object and then trying to split up the data objects into multiple portable storage devices is slow, sequential and makes it extremely difficult to deal with changing objects. For example, if the key/value pair listing generation and transferring of data objects onto a portable storage device is started, it is difficult to account for new data objects or data objects that have changed once they have been copied onto a portable storage device. For example, transferring inconsistent data objects can result in errors, which can result in degraded performance, as well as additional computing costs and time in correcting the inconsistencies.
The disclosure made herein is presented with respect to these and other considerations.

Migrating data objects from a distributed data store to a different data store using portable storage devices


An apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes a treatment chamber in which a working substrate is disposed; a plurality of lamps provided above the treatment chamber; and a reflector provided behind the lamps relative to a direction towards the working substrate, spatially controlling an in-plane distribution of reflection rate of light beams from the lamps, and irradiating the working substrate with light from the lamps.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing semiconductor devices
2. Description of the Related Art
As performance of large scale integrated circuits (LSI) improves, a density of component integration or a finer design of components included in LSI has been increased. In order to realize finer components, it is necessary not only to reduce an area of an impurity diffusion region in a plane pattern but also to reduce a depth of the impurity diffusion region. Therefore, it has been increasingly important to optimize ion implantation and following thermal treatment (annealing) when creating an impurity diffusion region such as a source/drain region and a functional region such as a channel region that is immediately below a gate insulator.
Annealing has been conducted under conditions of, for example, 1000 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes. However, annealing in such high-temperature and long-period conditions causes both activation and diffusion of an impurity at the same time. Hence, a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method using a tungsten (W) halogen lamp or the like under conditions of 1000 degrees centigrade for about 10 seconds has been introduced as a treatment method in a minimum duration to achieve activation of an impurity while minimizing impurity diffusion. However, even with RTA, impurity diffusion still happens after annealing, and therefore it is difficult to obtain a desired impurity profile.
Laser annealing has been considered as a method for instantaneously supplying energy which is necessary for activation. However, since laser is highly directive light, a multi-photon process or interference occurs. Moreover, an energy density of a laser beam per unit time and unit area becomes too high. As a result, a surface of a semiconductor substrate (wafer) melts, and a situation which is almost like evaporation or laser ablation is induced, thus deteriorating surface morphology of a semiconductor substrate after activation.
Apart from RTA and laser annealing, flash lamp annealing (FLA) in which the lamp is filled with gas such as xenon is attracting a great deal of attention as means for improving an activation ratio in an extremely short period. For example, conditions for flash lamp annealing are, an annealing time of 10 milliseconds or smaller, and radiant energy density of 100 J/cm2 or smaller. With FLA, diffusion of an impurity is suppressed, and at the same time, an impurity is activated. Moreover, there are no secondary deterioration effects which occur during laser annealing. Therefore, FLA has been attracting attention as a new annealing technique which forms an extremely shallow junction.
However, in a full-field exposure type annealing, typified by FLA, performed by millisecond, it is difficult to anneal the entire surface of a wafer with even temperature. For example, for FLA, one or more stick-shaped lamps are arranged to face a substrate. Light beams emitted from each lamp reach the substrate directly or indirectly via a reflection plate, and are absorbed. Light beams from the lamps radiate in every direction about the lamps. Therefore, in order to obtain an uniform light intensity over a substrate surface, it is necessary to optimize a distance between lamps and a substrate, a reflection power of a reflection plate provided on the opposite side of a substrate relative to the lamps, a distance between lamps and the reflection plate, and the like, and then arrange the lamps, substrate, and reflection plate accordingly.
However, since lamps have unavoidable variation in quality due to manufacturing processes thereof, they also vary in the conversion efficiency, in which electric power is converted into light power. Hence, even if arrangement of lamps and a substrate is designed in an ideal manner, in reality, uniformity of light intensities on a substrate is deteriorated, or, when a lamp is replaced as it reaches the end of its life, lamps lose uniformity. Pre-heating a substrate to some hundreds degrees centigrade before being exposed to light by placing the substrate on a hot plate or the like is one of effective methods for improving stability during a super-short optical thermal treatment process. However, if the hot plate fails to have high uniformity of temperature, temperature that the substrate reaches as a result of light irradiation loses uniformity. In a manufacturing process for a fine semiconductor device, if temperature of thermal treatment for forming a source/drain diffusion layer is not uniform, resultant properties of manufactured transistors do not become uniform. In a semiconductor device manufacturing process where productivity is guaranteed by mass-manufacturing of a large number of chips out of a single wafer, variation in properties on the same substrate means the number of non-defective products gained from a single wafer is reduced, and as a result, this will be a factor of an increase in manufacturing costs for semiconductor devices.
In optical thermal treatment equipment which takes a few seconds or more for thermal treatment, in order to compensate variation in intensity of light from lamps, a wafer, or a substrate may be rotated while being heated. Even if there is two-dimensional irregularity of light intensity in a direction of rotating a substrate (wafer), the irregularity can be applied to each section of the semiconductor evenly by rotating the substrate. Therefore, deterioration of uniformity can be suppressed in the rotation direction of the substrate (wafer). Also employed is means for monitoring a plurality of points of a substrate and, from the monitored temperature of each point, controlling light intensities of corresponding lamps using closed-loop feedback.
However, in a case of FLA where light is emitted at millisecond, it is in fact difficult to rotate a substrate once within an extremely short period like a millisecond, and this method of substrate rotation cannot be used. Moreover, since duration of light emission is extremely short, irradiation time is not sufficient for feedback control of lamp intensity even if temperature is monitored. Therefore, it is impossible to monitor temperature with high accuracy. Moreover, even if rotation or feedback control is feasible, variation in temperature of a hot plate cannot be cancelled.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing semiconductor devices


A radar system (10) uses independent, adaptive modulation controls for the local oscillators (16, 40) in the transmitter (24) and receiver (26) portions. The adaptive modulation enables the radar to filter out any repeater jammer signal while maintaining a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the target. The radar system (10) provides a SNR that is sensitive to the target range and minimizes the SNR at the jammer range and maximizes the SNR at the target range. A communication system (60) similarly uses independent, adaptive modulation controls (66, 84) to provide a communication system resistant to jamming.

In a typical radar system, a radar antenna outputs a modulated signal in the direction of an object which is the subject of the radar inquiry. The object reflects the emitted signal back toward the radar system and the returned signal is compared against a saved version of the originally emitted signal. Based on correlations between the emitted and returned signals, various information regarding the target can be determined. For example, in relatively simple systems, the relative velocity between the object and the radar system can be determined in accordance with the Doppler shift between the emitted and returned signals. In more complex radar systems, signal processing techniques performed on the reflected signal yield data regarding the size, shape, range, and direction of the object.
In some radar applications, a radar defeat system, such as a standoff jammer, attempts to defeat the radar system by detecting the emitted signal, copying the emitted signal, and returning a modified version of the copied signal so that the modified signal deceives the radar system. Where the radar signal periodically repeats, the radar defeat system may simply copy and send a delayed version of the copied radar signal to deceive the radar system.
A radar signal having an easily detected and repeatable modulation scheme is more easily copied. For example, a conventional radar system may yield the range, velocity, and bearing to a target. In such applications, standoff jammers store the incoming radar signal in memory and determine the repeat interval of the signal. The standoff jammer then emits a signal replicating the return signal expected by the radar system. The signal emitted by the standoff jammer is delayed so that the return signal emitted by the standoff jammer arrives before the return signal would normally arrive for a given distance between the radar system and the object. This signal deceives the radar system into determining that the object is at a different range, velocity, and bearing than it actually is.
Existing radar systems often use repetitive waveforms to enable range determination. A pseudo-random noise sequence provides one example of a modulation waveform. In the pseudorandom noise sequence, the radar system emits binary sequences characteristic of a noise waveform, but which is repeated after a predetermined timed interval. Another modulation format is frequency modulation continuous wave (FM/CW), also referred to as swept-frequency or chirp waveforms. Yet another modulation format is medium pulse repetition. In medium pulse radar, the transmit waveform modulation is a train of pulses, and the range to an object is determined by the delay between transmission and reception of the pulse.
The above-described modulation waveforms are deterministic. The deterministic characteristic enables intelligent standoff repeater jammers to store the radar signal, modify the signal, and retransmit the delayed signal back toward the radar system so that the target appears other than it actually is. Thus, the radar system receives and interprets a return signal which does not properly indicate the object.
A radar system may also have multiple radio frequency phases. For example, a 255-bit or 511-bit, maximal-sequence, pseudo-random waveform modulation may be used to detect the range from the radar to the target. This code bi-phase modulates the radio frequency (RF) carrier using a binary sequence. The modulation of the signal returned from the target is correlated with delayed images of the originally emitted 255-bit code. A correlation occurs when the delay is equivalent to the target range. Samples of the correlated output are then processed by standard signal processing techniques so that the target is detected.
For example, assume an approximate signal propagation velocity of one foot per nanosecond and a straight line two-way travel path. If the time delay of a single bit of the code modulation is ten nanoseconds (ns) then a delay of one bit in the returned signal would indicate a distance to the target of five feet. Similarly, five bits or 50 nanoseconds of delay indicates a range of 25 feet, and a 255-bit delay indicates a range of 1275 feet. This range for a 255-bit, 1275 feet, is called the unambiguous range. Delays beyond 255-bits fall into an ambiguous range. For example, a delay of 256-bits indicates a range of five feet because the periodic nature of the 255-bit code. Thus, if a standoff radar jammer can store the repetitive waveform, amplify it, and transmit the waveform back with the proper delay, the target carrying the jammer can be made to look closer in range than it actually is.
In addition to radar systems, electronic communication can similarly be disrupted by jammer units. For example, when a communication jammer unit detects a communication signal, the jammer unit can search for repetitive waveforms within the communication signal, duplicate those waveforms, and transmit a modified copy of the signal. This modified signal no longer contains the same information as the originally emitted signal.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems which emit and receive an electromagnetic signal which is substantially immune from standoff jamming.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems which send and receive modulated electromagnetic signals having information encoded therein.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems which emit an electromagnetic signal modulated by a local oscillator and receive an electromagnetic signal which may be demodulated by a similar local oscillator.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems which use independent, adaptive modulation controls for local oscillators in the transmitter and receiver to filter out a repeater jammer signal while maintaining a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the radar target or communication signal.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems having anti-jam capability which adjust the transmit and receive modulation signals to minimize the signal-to-ratio at the jammer range while maximizing the signal-noise-ratio at the radar target range or to the communication system range.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide radar and communication systems having anti-jam capability in which the anti-jam modulations are sufficiently flexible to continue tuning to the radar and communication signal while the range to the jammer and to the target or other communication system are both changing.


An object of the present invention is to provide a light reflective substrate capable of achieving high optical reflectance even though fine particles are not used as a material, and a light emitting device using the same. The light reflective substrate according to the present invention comprises: a glass matrix; and RNb2O6 crystal and/or R4Nb2O9 crystal (R is at least one of Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) in the glass matrix.

LED and an organic EL device consume less electricity, and recently attract the attention as a new lighting device. In a device for lighting, a substrate and a package material, having high optical reflectance are required in order to effectively utilize light emitted from a luminous body. For example, alumina ceramic having relatively high optical reflectance, or a substrate having provided on the alumina ceramic an light reflective film comprising a metal has been used as the conventional package material of LED element. However, optical reflectance of a substrate and a package material is required to be further improved in order to obtain sufficient quantity of light as automotive lighting, display lighting and general lighting.
To achieve the above object, Patent Document 1 describes a light reflective substrate obtained by sintering a mixture of a glass powder and a ceramic powder, as a substrate having relatively high optical reflectivity. Specifically, the light reflective substrate described in Patent Document 1 comprises glass-ceramic containing a glass powder and a ceramic powder, wherein in a cross-section of the glass-ceramic, an area occupied by particles having a particle diameter of from 0.3 to 1 μm of the ceramic particles is from 10 to 70%. Thus, in Patent Document 1, high optical reflectivity is achieved by containing a large amount of ceramic particles having very fine particle size in the substrate.

Light reflective substrate and light emitting device using the same


A system for protecting storage tank soil side bottoms against corrosion includes a pipe system comprising non-perforated inlet pipes and perforated pipes connected thereto. A sleeve container having solid VCI compounds therein is inserted into the perforated pipes. The sleeves are permeable to vapors emitted by the solid VCI compounds and flow through the pipe to a perforation where they are admitted into an area beneath a storage tank so that they can contact the tank bottom (soil side) and protect the same from corrosion. Alternatively, solid SCI compounds can be used in combination with VCI compounds. The corrosion protection system is designed to be used with aboveground storage tanks. This includes, but is not limited to, single bottom tanks: newly installed or existing tanks undergoing bottom replacement or installation of double bottoms. These tanks are located on substrates such as the compacted soil/sand or hard substrates such as concrete, bitumen mixtures and asphalt where channels can be cut into the substrate for installation of the pipe system.

In aboveground storage tanks, corrosion of soil side bottoms and double bottoms is unpredictable and can reduce the thickness of the tank bottom up to about 5 mm/year. A typical corrosion protection method, i.e., cathodic protection system (CPS), in most cases is not effective by itself due to inherent dry soil conditions at least during some part of a year as well as issues with tank design and geometry that creates holidays in the cathodic protection. The use of SCI, as with CPS, is only viable in fully saturated sand or soil and it is generally difficult to obtain such saturated conditions. Protective coatings cannot be applied to existing soil side tank bottoms. Any protective coatings applied to the soil side tank bottoms will be destroyed in the weld zones and may actually accelerate corrosion in those areas.
In summary, soil side corrosion of aboveground storage tanks either with a single bottom or a double bottom is a major worldwide problem. Such tanks face unpredictable application and environmental conditions that often cause the bottoms to leak. Moreover, dangerous operating conditions occur when the leaking product is volatile or flammable. Another disadvantage is that repair of tank bottoms generally requires down time.

Storage tank bottom corrosion protection system

Northern Technologies International Corporation


A method and apparatus for x-ray fluorescence measurement in object (1) are disclosed. The method includes (a) producing x-ray beam (2) using source device (10), wherein beam extends through object parallel to a first projection direction, (b) irradiating object with beam at scan positions in first projection plane, which are set by scanning device (20) such that source device and object are moved relative to one another, (c) detecting x-ray radiation emitted from object using detector array device (30) securely connected to source device and including spectrally selective detector elements (31) arranged to detect radiation, and stop lamellas (32) extending in radial directions relative to beam direction shielding detector elements from radiation scattered in object and arranged such that detector elements are able to detect radiation from all locations, and (d) processing detector signals to capture x-ray fluorescence of target particles in radiation and to localize target particles in object.

The invention relates to a method for an X-ray fluorescence measurement, more particularly for X-ray fluorescence imaging, wherein it is detected, whether fluorescing target particles are present in an object to be examined, more particularly in the body of an examined test subject, and wherein target particles present in the object are localized. The invention relates also to an X-ray fluorescence measuring apparatus, more particularly an X-ray fluorescence imaging apparatus, for performing such a method. Applications of the invention exist in X-ray fluorescence imaging, more particularly for medical purposes and in this connection more particularly for objects with size scales as in respect of humans.
Tasks of medical imaging are the detection, characterizing and monitoring of pathological changes of the body being examined and/or the pharmacokinetics, whereby the distribution of medications in the body is measured in vivo. In order to improve these methods, techniques of what is known as "molecular imaging" are being developed, for example in order to allow early tumor diagnosis and better characterizing of the tumor tissue or pharmacokinetic examinations. In this connection the characterizing allows stratified approaches to treatment, in order thus to increase the chances of healing. Molecular imaging in medicine is aimed more particularly at the localization of biomarkers in the body, e.g. antibodies in the tumor tissue, and allows the in-vivo measurement of the distribution of medications in the body, in order to examine what proportion of the applied medication quantity is present in what place at what time. This could test the effectiveness of new medications more quickly already in the trial phase, as medications that are not present in sufficient quantity at the target site are unable to have a clinical effect.
To date, in the field of molecular imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) has been established, though as a nuclear medicine method it has crucial disadvantages for the patient. These include the relatively high dose, the exposure of unaffected organs, the short lifetime of radiopharmaceuticals, such that follow-up examinations require a new injection, the low spatial resolution at 4 to 6 mm, and the limited temporal resolution, such that relevant processes in tumor care or therapy cannot be examined. More particularly pharmacokinetic examinations over a longer period are thus effectively impossible. If medications are to be brought to the target site by drug carrier and released there, the "diagnostic time window" of PET is too short.
With X-ray fluorescence imaging (XRF imaging), which has been discussed for many years now as an alternative to PET, the disadvantages of PET can be avoided. In XRF imaging the biomarkers are bound e.g. to gold nanoparticles, which are excited by a scanning X-ray beam to emit X-ray fluorescence. The detecting of the X-ray fluorescence allows the localization of the biomarkers. Because the XRF imaging signal lies in narrowly limited energy ranges in the measured spectrum of the X-ray radiation emitted from the body, the detection of the biomarkers by means of an energy-selective detection of the X-ray fluorescence is supported. Conventional XRF imaging methods are however characterized by the disadvantages described below, such that to date they could only be tested on small-animal models (mice, small-animal phantoms) with relatively low sensitivity and with radiation doses much too high for medical applications, while there have been no examinations to date for examined objects of the size of a patient.
A main disadvantage of the XRF imaging method is that, in contrast to PET, it is not background-free and the amplitude of the background increases sharply with the size of the object being examined. Conventional XRF imaging methods would therefore have much too low a sensitivity in respect of large objects, such that these techniques would be out of the question for clinical use on patients. While the expected concentrations of e.g. gold nanoparticles are known from small-animal models (see e.g. N. Manohar et al. (2016) "Quantitative imaging of gold nanoparticle distribution in a tumor-bearing mouse using benchtop X-ray fluorescence computed tomography" in "Sci Rep" 6:22079), such XRF imaging methods could not detect these gold nanoparticle quantities in the human, because the sensitivity would then no longer be sufficient.
The XRF imaging background grows with the size of the object, because at the same time the probability increases, that the irradiated X-ray photons experience multiple Compton scatterings. As a result of the scatterings the energy of the photons can be reduced, such that the scattered photons are detected in the same energy range as the fluorescence photons. Because these cannot be distinguished as signal photons from the background photons in the common energy range, the sensitivity of the detection of biomarkers is limited. Without a reduction in the background e.g. 1000 signal photons can be lost in a background in the questionable XRF imaging energy range of around 1 million photons, as the signal would not be statistically significant. To date, to reduce the XRF imaging background, collimator geometries have been proposed, the functioning of which however requires advance information on where the volume with the enriched contrast agent lies in the object. Furthermore, conventional collimators restrict the field of view of the detector elements, as a result of which signal is lost, which can be compensated for only by means of a higher dose of radiation.
Finally, X-ray fluorescence imaging has been examined to date only either on large synchrotron installations or with conventional compact X-ray tubes. However neither method is suitable for clinical applications, as synchrotron installations are too large and conventional X-ray tubes typically emit radiation with too large a divergence and/or too low an intensity in rays with small divergence and have too large an energy bandwidth.
Described in DE 10 2012 023 344 A1 is the X-ray fluorescence analysis of a contrast agent dispersion in an object using a collimated X-ray source filtered in the lower energy range. Here the X-ray radiation generated through X-ray fluorescence is separated with collimator leaves from multiply scattered X-rays and thereafter measured energy-selectively with monochromator crystal layers and an X-ray detector. Through rotation and displacement of the measuring apparatus about the object a computerized tomography imaging is facilitated. Although a medical imaging on large objects is to be achieved with the technique according to DE 10 2012 023 344 A1, application in practice is limited owing to the following disadvantages. Firstly, with the monochromator crystal layers only fluorescence photons emitted perpendicular to the excitation beam direction can be detected, as the Bragg condition for reflection on the monochromator crystals is not fulfilled for any other directions. That means more particularly that a photon that is emitted e.g. at the start of the beam volume in the object, though not perpendicular to the beam direction, can pass through the leaves, but is not reflected on the monochromator crystals, because the Bragg condition is not fulfilled from this photon direction. Thus this photon, even though it is a signal photon, does not contribute to the measured signal, such that the technique described in DE 10 2012 023 344 A1 is extremely inefficient. Secondly, owing to the low signal yield there is a substantial disadvantage due to a low signal-to-noise ratio. The objective of the invention is to provide an improved method for X-ray fluorescence measurement, more particularly for X-ray fluorescence imaging, and/or an improved X-ray fluorescence measuring apparatus, with which disadvantages of conventional techniques are avoided. The invention should more particularly make it possible to detect the X-ray fluorescence of target particles in an object with an increased sensitivity, to suppress the background more efficiently, to lower the radiation intensity and/or to improve the spatial resolution. The invention should moreover more particularly allow the previously impossible examination of larger objects and facilitate a clinical X-ray fluorescence imaging, more particularly on humans.
These objectives are achieved by means of a method for X-ray fluorescence measurement and an X-ray fluorescence measuring apparatus of the invention.

Method and measuring apparatus for an X-ray fluorescence measurement


Systems and methods are disclosed for amplifying optical signals in the 850 nm window. In one embodiment, an amplifier system includes a span of Thulium-doped fiber (TDF) and two pump systems. The TDF span receives and transports optical signals in the 850 nm window. A first pump system pumps the TDF span at a wavelength in the range of 1390 nm to 1430 nm, and a second pump system pumps the TDF span at a wavelength in the range of 670 nm to 720 nm. The pumping generates gain in the optical signals in the 850 nm window. In another embodiment, the amplifier system includes a single pump system. The pump system pumps the TDF span at a wavelength in the range of 1390 nm to 1430 nm to generate gain in the 850 nm window.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of optical communication networks, and in particular, to systems and methods for amplifying optical signals in the 850 nm window.
2. Statement of the Problem
The evolution of fiber optics has provided multiple communication windows for optical fibers. The initial communication window was the 850 nm window that was first recognized as a low loss window. Network engineers then discovered a 1310 nm window and a 1550 nm window that are lower loss than the 850 nm window. Therefore, network design and network component design in the fiber optics area have been focused on the 1310 nm window and the 1550 nm window.
As optical signals travel over a length of optical fiber, the optical signals experience some degradation due to attenuation along the fiber. After traveling over 10 km or more of fiber, amplifiers are needed to recover the signal strength of the optical signals. The 1550 nm window and the 1310 nm window each have rare-earth doped optical amplifiers that can recover signal strength. For the 1550 nm window, an Er-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) is used to amplify the optical signals. For the 1310 nm window, a Pr-Doped Fiber Amplifier (PDFA) is used to amplify the optical signals. Unfortunately, there are no suitable rare-earth doped optical amplifiers for the 850 nm window.
An article by S. P. Dye, M. Fake, and T. J. Simmons entitled "Fully engineered 800-nm Thulium-doped fluoride-fiber amplifier" (referred to herein as the Dye article) describes an optical amplifier in the 800 nm range. The amplifier includes a span of Thulium-doped Fluoride fiber and two pump lasers on single wavelength. One of the pump lasers backward pumps the Thulium-doped Fluoride fiber at 780 nm, and the other pump laser forward pumps the Thulium-doped Fluoride fiber at 780 nm. The Dye article does not provide what gain this amplifier configuration actually produces, but does state that the configuration may provide useful amplification levels between 795 nm and 820 nm. The 850 nm window is commonly known to be between 830 nm and 860 nm. Therefore, the configuration in the Dye article does not amplify signals in the 850 nm window, and does not solve the problem of an amplifier for the 850 nm window.
Also, the configuration in the Dye article is optimized to amplify optical signals around 1480 nm, and the amplification of optical signals between 795 nm and 820 nm is a secondary consequence of the dual pumping at 780 nm. Thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFA) are commonly used for gain in the S-band. Gain is also generated in the 800 nm region according to the configuration in the Dye article. The gain at 1480 nm would be between 25 dB and 30 dB, while the gain in the range of 795 nm to 820 nm would only be about 3 dB. This low of a gain in the range of 795 nm and 820 nm would not provide any useful amplification as desired by network engineers.
Thus, a problem remains to provide adequate amplification for the 850 nm window.
Because of the lack of amplifiers, the 850 nm window is used only for short reach applications that are less than about 10 km. The recent development of photonic crystal fibers, which have zero-dispersion wavelength around 850 nm, makes it desirable to solve the problem of amplification in the 850 nm window so that the 850 nm window may be used for other applications, such as long haul applications.

Optical amplification in the 850 nm window


An aircraft door, an aircraft region and an aircraft with an aircraft door. The aircraft door through which passengers enter and leave the aircraft and is held towards the outer side by stops and is locked exclusively on a hinge side opposite the stops. Also, an aircraft region and an aircraft with such an aircraft door.

During the closing of an opening in the aircraft outer skin, conventional aircraft doors are customarily placed onto the opening (by parallel displacement) and are subsequently moved downwards in order to bring door stops on at least two sides of the door or door frame into an overlapping position such that the door cannot be pushed open outwards. In addition, a lock at least on a side of the door or the door frame opposite a hinge is actuated in order to lock the door.
In order to open said aircraft doors manually, large forces have to be applied, in particular in order to move the aircraft door upwards so as to bring the door stops into a free position. Hand levers and an associated mechanism and/or motor drives are necessary for this purpose.
In the event of an accident of the aircraft, the door frame may be displaced, and therefore the aircraft door can be difficult to open, if it can be opened at all. In particular, displacement of the door frame may cause a door stop to possibly not pass into a free position during the raising of the door, or the freedom of movement for raising the door is already blocked.
The invention is based on an object of providing an aircraft door which securely closes an opening in an outer skin of an aircraft, but at the same time can easily be opened and has a simple design. Furthermore, an aircraft region and an aircraft with such an aircraft door are to be provided.

Aircraft door, aircraft region and aircraft with an aircraft door


A “drop-in” style bar top gaming machine that includes a support frame having at least two opposed support walls, and a top panel assembly supporting a display device. The top panel assembly is further configured to cooperate with the support frame for movement between a closed position and an open position, enabling access to the support frame. An illumination assembly is provided for interior illumination of the gaming machine.

Casinos are typically crowded environments where difficulties in locating available gaming machines at bars, keno lounges, restaurants, sports book areas, etc are often encountered by patrons. In order to maximize the available floor space of a gaming establishment, gaming operators have resorted to installing gaming machines at a variety of different locations within a casino including, for example, restaurants, bars and/or other more non-conventional locations. For example, it is now quite common now, in gaming jurisdictions, to see bar tops with "drop-in" installed gaming machines mounted directly into them.
Generally, these bar top, or "drop-in" installed gaming machines are compact designs that mount into a specially designed counter top of a restaurant, bar and/or other facility. Typically, such gaming machines are literally "dropped-in" through an opening in the top of the table or bar top, wherein a substantial portion of the gaming machine components/hardware is located within or under the tabletop of the bar cabinet.
Often the opening in the tabletop is sized just slightly larger than the vertical footprint of the gaming machine. Such close tolerances between the gaming machine peripheral footprint and tabletop opening minimizes any gaps therebetween, increasing usable tabletop surface area and/or increasing the density of gaming machines per table or bar top.
Unfortunately, maintenance access to the internals of these "drop-in-bar" machines is difficult due to such tolerance issues, and due to the fact that often, side mounted service door may not be available due to its placement with in the tabletop or bar top. Maintenance access to the internal component, thus, may sometimes only be available through a hinged top panel of the "drop-in-bar" machine, and/or may require complete removal thereof.
Coupled with the conventional practice in the gaming industry of reducing the overall dimensions of the gaming machine frames by eliminating non-essential components of gaming machines (e.g., carrying handles), handling of these relatively heavy and bulky "drop-in-bar" machines is cumbersome at best. As mentioned, these relatively bulky units are literally "dropped-in" through the top opening in the tabletop. Without the addition of unsightly handles upstanding from the face of the gaming machine, handling of these relatively heavy units has proven problematic.
One common installation technique is to lift the machine onto the bar with the top panel open, and have a technician (which is standing on the bar top surface) pick the machine up by the open sides of the top panel, and lower the machine into the cavity. Typically, because the gaming machine has no additional space to accommodate handles, the top panel is often used as a handle. These top panels, of course, were not designed to be used as such, and can sometimes be damaged.
Accordingly, it is desirable to improve the handling and installation of these "drop-in" installed gaming machines by providing repositionable handle assemblies that are stout and secure when affixed to the gaming machine, yet can be easily removed with minimal effort.

Repositionable handle assemblies for drop-in-bar gaming machines


A substrate with reduced substrate warpage and a semiconductor package utilizing the substrate are revealed. The substrate primarily comprises a core where a wiring layer and a first solder mask are formed on one surface of the core, and a second solder mask and a die-attaching layer are formed on the other surface of the core. The first solder mask has a thickness difference with respect to the second solder mask in a manner to reduce the warpage of the substrate caused by thermal stresses due to temperature differences can be well under control. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the substrate can be lower without adding extra stiffeners to achieve substrate warpage control during semiconductor packaging processes.

Recently, printed circuit boards as chip carriers for semiconductor packages have developed toward substrates with higher density, higher performance, and smaller form factor. In conventional semiconductor packaging processes, substrates have to be pre-baked before disposing die-attaching materials. Since substrates will experience different thermal heat treatments during semiconductor packaging processes such as post cure of die-attaching materials, reflow of solder bumps, or curing of molding compound, substrates will be easily warpaged due to CTE, Coefficient of Thermal Expansion, mismatched between substrates and other packaging materials utilized in semiconductor packages leading to handling issues during semiconductor packaging processes.
As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate 100 for a conventional semiconductor package is formed by lamination, normally comprising a core 110, a first solder mask 120, a second solder mask 130, a first wiring layer 140, and a second wiring layer 160. The core 110 is a reinforced glass fiber mixed with resins and is used as the base of the substrate 100. Symmetrically, a first wiring layer 140 is laminated on the bottom surface of the core 110 and a second wiring layer 160 is laminated on the top surface of the core 110. The wiring layers 140 and 160 are made of copper to form a plurality of conductive traces. To be more symmetrical, a first solder mask 120 and the second solder mask 130 are disposed on the bottom surface and the top surface of the substrate 100, respectively where the thicknesses of the solder masks 120 and 130 are the same. The solder masks 120 and 130 are dielectric materials to cover and protect the conductive traces with a plurality of external pads 141 and a plurality of bonding fingers 161 exposed as electrical terminals for connecting solder balls and for wire bonding, respectively. Since the conventional substrate 100 has a plurality of symmetrical laminated layers, therefore, the substrate warpage is minor during semiconductor packaging processes.
As shown in FIG. 1, during semiconductor packaging processes, an electronic device such as a semiconductor chip 11 is disposed on the top surface of the substrate 100 by a die-attaching material 12. The chip 11 has a plurality of bonding pads 11A which are disposed on its active surface and are electrically connected to the bonding fingers 161 of the substrate 100 by a plurality of electrical connecting components 13 such as bonding wires. Then, an encapsulant 14 formed by transfer molding or by dispensing is disposed on the top surface of the substrate 100 to encapsulate the chip 11 and the electrical connecting components 13 to provide better protections. Then, a plurality of external terminals 15, normally solder balls, are disposed on the bottom surface of the substrate 100 to form a BGA semiconductor package.
However, during semiconductor packaging processes such as disposing of die-attaching materials, curing of molding compound, placing of external terminals, or thermal cycle testes, substrates 100 will experience thermal heat treatments leading to substrate warpage issues, especially pre-forming the die-attaching materials 12 on the substrate 100. If the CTE of the die-attaching material 12 is different from the one of the substrate 100 or from the ones of the other packaging materials, or the die-attaching materials 12 has a larger curing shrinkage, the substrate 100 will experience unbalanced thermal stresses causing substrate warpage leading to handling issues during semiconductor packaging processes.

Substrate and semiconductor package for lessening warpage


Embodiments of the present invention feature novel Bryoid compositions, methods of making and methods of treating disease.

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Hutchinson's Disease, Parkinson's disease, Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other spongiform encephalopathies remain major health problems. Currently there are very limited means to treat these diseases. With respect to Alzheimer's, Hutchinson's and Parkinson's diseases, these diseases tend to manifest themselves in older individuals and as the diseases progress; the afflicted individuals are less able to care for themselves. The neurogenerative diseases are associated with the formation of beta amyloid plaques. Bryostatin 1 stimulates the production of certain isoforms of protein kinase C (PKC) that increase the production of alpha-secretase which makes soluble amyloid precursor protein, thus inhibiting the formation of beta amyloid plaques, With respect to cancers such as prostate cancer, Bryostatin 1 inhibits phorbol ester-induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells by differentially modulating protein kinase C (PKC) delta translocation and preventing PKCdelta-mediated release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha. With respect to virus latency diseases such as HIV latency, Bryostatin-1, as well as many PKC agonists, activates cellular transcription factors such as NF-kB that binds the HIV-1 promoter and regulates its transcriptional activity. In HIV-1 latency the viral promoter is less accessible to cellular transcription factors because nuclear histones surrounding the viral promoter are deacetylated (compacted chromatin). Thus HDAC inhibitors may increase the aceytation of histones (relaxed chromatin) and then transcription factors may have an easy access to the HIV promoter.
Bryoids consist of a family of bryostatins that are complex cyclic macrolide molecules. Bryoids were originally isolated from the marine bryozoan, Bulgula neritina, in small quantities. Methods of synthesis are awkward and costly. About twenty Bryoid compositions, known as bryostatins and numbered 1-20, have been identified. Many of the bryoids are known to possess anti-cancer properties.
It would be useful to have new Bryoid compounds that possess high potency and activity.

Bryoid compositions, methods of making and use thereof


A seat attaching means for connecting a non-rigid push chair seat to a push chair frame said attaching means including an elongate member, attachable to at least one of the side edges of the seat, and the seat attaching means including a corresponding groove in the frame, into which the elongate member is inserted. The elongate member includes a planar part and an enlarged part, the planar part being attachable along at least one of the side edges of the seat and the enlarged part being insertable in the corresponding groove in the frame. The elongate member is insertable in a first corresponding groove in the frame and in a second corresponding groove in the frame, the first and second corresponding grooves being separated by a hinge. The first and second grooves are co-linear.

The conventional construction of a push chair consists of two A frames linked by cross struts, the frames having a seat located between them. The seat fabric is usually attached to the forward bars of the side frames, by wrapping each side edge of the seat fabric around the outside of the forward bar of the seat frame and pinning the wrapped fabric to the forward bar or onto the main part of the seat fabric.


Disclosed herein is a device and method for lowering the content of NOX and N2O in gases. The device comprises a container having therein two reaction steps connected in series. The first step removes NOX (DeNOX stage) by reducing NOX with a nitrogen-containing reducing agent. Downstream thereof, the second step removes N2O by catalytic decomposition of N2O to N2 and O2 (DeN2O stage). Each step comprises one or more catalyst beds through which flows gas to be purified. The catalyst bed of the DeNOX stage containing zeolites doped with transition metals, including lanthanides. The at least one catalyst bed of the DeN2O-stage contains one or more catalytically active compounds of elements selected from groups 5 to 11 of the Periodic Table, but not iron-doped zeolites. A device for introducing a nitrogen-containing reducing agent into the stream of the NOX and N2O-containing gas is further disposed upstream of the DeNOX stage.

Many processes, for example combustion processes or the industrial production of nitric acid or caprolactam, result in an offgas laden with nitrogen monoxide NO, nitrogen dioxide NO2 (referred to collectively as NOX), and dinitrogen monoxide N2O. While NO and NO2 have long been known as compounds of relevance for environmental toxicology (acid rain, smog formation) and global limits have been fixed for the maximum permissible emissions thereof, dinitrogen monoxide has also gained increasing attention in the field of environmental conservation in the last decade, since it contributes to a not inconsiderable degree to the degradation of stratospheric ozone and to the greenhouse effect. For reasons of environmental conservation, there is therefore an urgent need for technical solutions for eliminating dinitrogen monoxide emissions together with the NOX emissions.
There are already numerous known means of eliminating N2O on the one hand and NOX on the other hand.
In the case of NOX reduction, the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOX by means of ammonia in the presence of vanadium-containing TiO2 catalysts should be emphasized (cf., for instance, G. Ertl, H. Knözinger, J. Weitkamp: Handbook of Heterogeneous Catalysis, vol. 4, pages 1633-1668, VCH Weinheim (1997)). According to the catalyst, this can proceed at temperatures of about 150 to about 450° C., and is conducted on the industrial scale preferably between 200 and 400° C., especially between 250 and 350° C. It is the most commonly used variant for reducing NOX levels in offgases from industrial processes and, given appropriate dimensions of the catalyst beds, enables an NOX decomposition of more than 90%.
There are also processes for reducing NOX that are based on zeolite catalysts, which proceed using a wide variety of different reducing agents. As well as Cu-exchanged zeolites (cf., for example, EP-A-914,866), iron-containing zeolites in particular appear to be of interest for practical applications.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,387 and EP-A-756,891 describe processes for selective catalytic reduction of NOX with NH3 over iron-exchanged zeolites, which work preferentially at temperatures between 200 and 550° C., especially around 400° C.
In contrast to reducing NOX levels in offgases, which has been established in industry for many years, there exist only comparatively few industrial processes for N2O elimination, which are usually aimed at a thermal or catalytic decomposition of the N2O. An overview of the catalysts, which have been demonstrated in principle to be suitable for decomposition and for reduction of dinitrogen monoxide, is given by Kapteijn et al. (Kapteijn F. et al., Appl. Cat. B: Environmental 9 (1996) 25-64). The catalytic decomposition of dinitrogen monoxide to N2 and O2 offers the advantage over catalytic reduction with selected reducing agents, such as NH3 or hydrocarbons, that no costs arise for the consumption of reducing agents. However, an effective reduction in N2O levels based on a catalytic breakdown, in contrast to reduction of N2O or else NOX, can be achieved effectively with the customary breakdown catalysts only at temperatures greater than 400° C., preferably greater than 450° C.
Again, transition metal-laden zeolite catalysts appear to be particularly suitable for catalytic breakdown of the N2O to N2 and O2 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,553).
Iron-laden zeolite catalysts are described as especially advantageous (for example in EP-A-955,080 or WO-A-99/34,901). The activity of the Fe-zeolite catalysts for N2O breakdown is enhanced considerably by the simultaneous presence of NOX, as demonstrated scientifically, for example, by Kögel et al. in Catalysis Communications 2 (2001) 273-276 or by Perez-Ramirez et al. in Journal of Catalysis 208 (2003) 211-223.
This property appears to apply exclusively to iron-doped zeolites. Zeolites doped with other transition metals such as copper or cobalt do not show this behavior.
In many cases, N2O breakdown is actually inhibited by the presence of NOX, as known, for example, from Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 9 (1996) 25-64 [ch. 5.1], Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 12 (1997) 277-286 and from Catalysis Today 35 (1997) 113-120. This relates, for example, to Cu-, Co- and Rh-containing catalysts, which, in the absence of NOX, exhibit a very high activity for N2O breakdown, but in the presence of NOX have a distinctly reduced activity. Catalysts of this kind are referred to hereinafter as "NOX-sensitive".
As well as the aforementioned catalysts and methods for NOX reduction and for N2O breakdown, the patent literature also describes combined methods for elimination of NOX and N2O. These are, for example, methods based on a catalytic reduction of NOX with NH3 (in a deNOX stage) and a catalytic breakdown of N2O to N2 and O2 over iron-containing zeolite catalysts (in a deN2O stage).
For example, WO-A-01/51,182 describes a method for eliminating NOX and N2O from the residual gas from nitric acid production, wherein the offgas to be cleaned is passed first through a deNOX stage and then through a deN2O stage with iron-laden zeolite catalysts. In the upstream deNOX stage, the NOX content is reduced to such an extent that an optimal NOX/N2O ratio of 0.001 to 0.5 is established, which leads to accelerated N2O decomposition in the downstream deN2O stage. Details of the apparatus configuration of this method are not disclosed.
The sequence of process stages described in WO-A-01/51,182 is very advantageous from a process or chemical engineering point of view, since the method is arranged in a rising temperature profile in the residual gas from the nitric acid production, between the absorption tower and residual gas turbine; in other words, the residual gas at first, prior to entry into the deNOX stage, has a low inlet temperature of <400° C., preferably <350° C., such that it is also possible to use conventional deNOX catalysts based on V2O5—TiO2. After the deNOX stage, prior to entry into the deN2O stage, there is then a (single) heating operation of the residual gas up to 350 to 500° C., such that effective catalytic N2O breakdown is possible. The offgas is then sent to a residual gas turbine in which the heat content of the offgas is recovered with decompression and cooling of the offgas.
A reverse connection of the two method stages, i.e. in a sequence in which first the N2O decomposition is envisaged, and then the NOX decomposition is effected, is also possible, as taught in WO-A-97/10,042, WO-A-01/51,181, WO-A-03/105,998 and WO-A-2006/119,870. WO-A-01/51,181 gives a detailed description not just of the method but also of an apparatus for conduction thereof. The latter is characterized by a sequence of two series-connected catalyst beds, with radial flow of the gas through at least one of them, and with the obligatory presence, between the catalyst beds, of an apparatus for introduction of a gaseous reducing agent into the gas stream leaving the first catalyst bed. In this method, the offgas is passed typically at a homogeneous temperature of <500° C. through two reaction zones containing iron-laden zeolite catalysts, which may be spatially separate from one another or connected to one another. In this method, N2O breakdown is effected first in the deN2O stage at an unreduced NOX content, i.e. with full exploitation of the co-catalytic NOX effect on the N2O breakdown, and then, after intermediate addition of ammonia, catalytic NOX reduction is effected. Since the NOX reduction should preferably proceed at the same temperature as the N2O breakdown, Fe-zeolite catalysts are likewise used in the deNOX stage, these catalysts, in contrast to conventional SCR catalysts, for example V2O5—TiO2-based catalysts, also being operable at higher temperatures >400° C. Intermediate cooling of the process gas is therefore not required.
Finally, JP-A-06/126,177 discloses the combined elimination of NOX and N2O based on a catalytic reduction of the NOX with NH3 (in a deNOX stage) and a catalytic breakdown of N2O to N2 and O2 (in a deN2O stage). The sequence of stages according to this document may be as desired. For the breakdown of the N2O, a supported catalyst is proposed, containing 0.001 to 2% by weight of metallic platinum or rhodium or metallic rhodium and copper. As well as these metals, iridium, ruthenium, iron, cobalt and nickel are also proposed. Support materials mentioned are aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide and zirconium dioxide, and also zeolites. Details of the selection of the catalysts for the reduction of NOX are not disclosed here.
The parallel chemical reduction of NOX and N2O has also already been described. In this context, it is known that the NOX reduction proceeds considerably more quickly than the N2O reduction. In this reduction method, a nitrogen-containing reducing gas, for example ammonia, is typically used for the NOX reduction, while the same reducing gas, such as ammonia, but also hydrogen, a hydrocarbon or carbon monoxide, is typically used for the N2O reduction. Examples of such methods can be found in WO-A-03/84,646 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,326. The method according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,326 can also be conducted in one catalyst bed or in a sequence of a plurality of catalyst beds. Because of the relatively rapid reduction of the NOX, two zones form when one catalyst bed is used, with reduction principally of NOX in the first zone and reduction principally of N2O in the downstream, directly adjoining zone. This variant is shown, for example, in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,329. FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,329 shows a sequence of two catalyst beds; these directly adjoin one another and form a zone in which principally NOX is reduced, followed by a zone in which principally N2O is reduced. Catalysts used for the N2O reduction are selected iron- or hydrogen-doped zeolites.
US-A-2002/0127163 describes a method for selective catalytic reduction of N2O with ammonia. Catalysts used are zeolites, which have preferably been doped with metals. This reduction method can be combined with an NOX reduction. FIG. 10 of this document demonstrates that methods of this kind can be conducted in one catalyst bed, or in a sequence of a plurality of catalyst beds. Accordingly, it is possible to conduct either a simultaneous reduction of NOX and N2O or else a first reduction of N2O followed by a reduction of the NOX. For catalytic reduction of N2O, a minimum amount of 0.5 mol of ammonia per mole of N2O is required. According to the description, the sequence of the reduction stages is controlled by the selection of the catalysts. A catalytic breakdown of the N2O to nitrogen and oxygen is explicitly not the subject of the invention disclosed.
The patent literature discloses reactors for a wide variety of different gas phase reactions including a sequence of at least two catalyst beds.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,855 describes a reactor for catalytic endo- or exothermic reactions, with a plurality of radial catalyst beds in the interior thereof. These are arranged separately from one another and have an axial line in which reactants are supplied to the catalyst and flow through it radially. The reverse flow direction is also possible. The reactor is used, for example, in the catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,920 describes a reactor for heterogeneously catalyzed gas phase reactions, likewise with a plurality of radial catalyst beds in the interior thereof. These are arranged separately from one another and likewise have an axial line. The reactants flow axially through parts of the individual catalyst beds and radially through other parts of these catalyst beds. The reactor can be used, for example, for synthesis of ammonia or of methanol.
EP-A-1,022,056 describes a reactor for the treatment of fluids, comprising two directly adjoining beds of adsorbents or catalysts in a vessel. The beds consist of granules of different particle size, the lowermost bed having the coarser particle size. Arranged in between is a perforated plate, the holes of which have diameters greater than the diameter of the particles in the upper bed and smaller than the diameter of the lower bed. The reactor can be used for filtration, cleaning, separation and catalytic conversion of fluids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,181 describes a reactor for the catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides and for the catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons and of carbon monoxide from offgases. The reactor comprises a combination of two concentric beds of catalysts for the two reactions, through which the offgas is passed in succession. Between the two beds, air is supplied to the offgas to be treated.
EP-A-967,006 discloses an apparatus for performance of catalytic reactions of a fluid in the gas phase. This comprises, in a reactor, an arrangement of two catalyst beds directly adjoining one another, each in essentially cylindrical form, with radial flow through one and axial flow through the other. This apparatus can be used, for example, in the desulfurization of natural gas.
To date, in commercial methods for combined reduction of NOX and breakdown of N2O in gases in the low to moderate temperature range at about 200 to 600® C., principally iron-doped zeolites are used. As described above, catalysts of this kind are notable in particular firstly for a very high activity for NOX reduction by means of ammonia and secondly for a high activity for breakdown of N2O, which is distinctly enhanced in the presence of NOX.
Other catalysts for the breakdown of N2O which are deactivated by the simultaneous presence of NOX can be used only under special conditions in industrial practice, i.e. in gases containing both NOX and N2O. It would be desirable if the use spectrum of such catalysts could be broadened, such that these catalysts could likewise be used in the removal of nitrogen oxides from offgases.
On the basis of the information available to date about catalysts other than iron-doped zeolites which would be usable for catalytic breakdown of N2O, a combined process for removal of nitrogen oxides from gases would be envisaged for these other catalysts, in which very substantial NOX reduction with ammonia, for example, takes place in a first stage, and then the remaining N2O would be broken down or reduced in a downstream stage. Such a more or less complete removal of the NOX in the first stage could be effected by the addition of appropriately large amounts of ammonia. In this case, however, when conventional SCR catalysts are used, for example those based on V2O5—TiO2, there is the risk that, in the case of limited amounts of catalyst, not the entire amount of added ammonia will in fact react with NOX, thus resulting in unwanted slippage of ammonia. This is problematic in the case of combined NOX reduction and N2O breakdown because the ammonia then gets into the downstream deN2O stage and, when zeolites not doped with transition metals are used, is oxidized at least partly to NOX, i.e. to NO and NO2. This in turn leads to partial inhibition or deactivation of the deN2O catalyst.
Moreover, it is known that the conventional SCR catalysts are generally usable only at temperatures of up to 400° C. In order to avoid stepwise heating of the gas stream to be treated and to enable a simple apparatus configuration, both stages of the nitrogen oxide degradation, i.e. the deNOX stage and the deN2O stage, should be operated at approximately equal temperatures.


A motorized cart collector for pulling two rows of carts in a forward direction over a surface includes a mobile body having a frame and a cart connector assembly. The cart connector assembly is pivotally connected to a rear end of the frame for pivotal movement about a vertical axis that is approximately perpendicular to the surface. The cart connector assembly includes first and second cart connectors that respectively configured to simultaneously attach to first and second lead carts. Also disclosed is a method of pulling two rows of carts using the cart collector.

The process of collecting and moving carts in parking lots is a tedious task. Motorized cart collectors have been developed to assist in the cart collection process. Such cart collectors typically push a single line of nested carts. When the line of nested carts gets long, the operator often must assist the cart collector by pointing the leading carts in the desired direction making maneuvering the line of carts cumbersome. The reduced control of the long line of nested carts increases the likelihood of accidents. Additionally, the long line of nested carts often blocks pedestrian and vehicle traffic leading to customer frustration.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.


A containment structure (1) for storage of nuclear fuel or liquids which have been in contact with nuclear fuel includes a concrete wall (3) and a concrete floor (2) with a corrosion resistant liner (5) fixed to and in contact with the walls and floor except at the junctions of the walls and floor at which the liner is curved to provide "soft corners" (7) to permit movement of the liner relative to the concrete walls and floor.. The term "soft corner" as used in the context of the present specification denotes a region providing a gap or empty space or collapsible or compressible material, eg foam, between the stainless steel liner and the concrete walls and floor. Any collapsible or compressible material employed needs to be stable to the radioactive environment and for this reason it is preferred that a gap or empty space is employed.. The containment structure may be a cooling pond for nuclear fuel elements or a dry secondary structure built around or beneath parts of a liquid-containing process plant for nuclear fuel elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns containment structures for storage of nuclear fuel or containment of liquids which are or have been in contact with nuclear fuel and includes ponds and containment structures for the storage of irradiated nuclear fuel elements under water and structures housing nuclear fuel processing plant which, in an emergency, might be required to act to contain liquid discharged from the processing plant.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Nuclear fuel elements such as those discharged from a nuclear reactor are stored under water in ponds for a period prior to reprocessing in order to allow radioactivity to decay acceptable levels. As the water is radioactive it is essential to avoid leakage resulting in contamination of the ground and the risk of pollution of the water table. For this purpose the concrete floor and walls of the pond can be lined eg with stainless steel sheets. It is important that such a lining is not stressed beyond predetermined allowable limits during both normal operating conditions and extreme hazard conditions. Extreme hazards are considered to be those with a low probability of occurrence (typically 10.sup.-4) generating forces in the lining significantly beyond working conditions, eg earthquakes.
Where dry structures house processing plant secondary containment can be provided by a stainless containment structure having a steel lining. The secondary containment would in the event of a rupture of the primary containment, eg a liquid-containing process pipe or vessel, serve to contain the liquid in a manner similar to containment of liquid in a pond. This secondary lining is therefore required to resist the same extreme hazard conditions which can affect fuel storage ponds.
Various means have been provided in the prior art for resisting such hazards. None has proved entirely satisfactory.


A semiconductor device capable of efficiently recognizing images utilizing a neural network is provided. The semiconductor device includes a shift register group, a D/A converter, and a product-sum operation circuit. The product-sum operation circuit includes an analog memory and stores a parameter of a filter. The shift register group captures image data and outputs part of the image data to the D/A converter while shifting the image data. The D/A converter converts the part of the input image data into analog data and outputs the analog data to the product-sum operation circuit.

A neural network is an information processing system modeled on a biological neural network. With the use of the neural network, computers with higher performance than conventional von Neumann computers are expected to be achieved, and in recent years, a variety of researches for building neural networks have been carried out.
The neural network has a circuit configuration that resembles a biological neural network composed of neurons and synapses. Two or more pieces of data are input to each of the neurons and multiplied by a "weight coefficient", which represents the strength of connection, and the multiplication results are added. When the product-sum operation result obtained in this manner exceeds a threshold, the neuron outputs a high-level signal; this phenomenon is called "firing".
The neural network is utilized, for example, in the field of image recognition.
In the image recognition field, convolutional operation is performed, i.e., image data is multiplied by parameters of a filter which is shifted, so that a feature of the image data is extracted. The convolutional operation is performed more than once: image edges and the like are extracted in early convolutional operation; and more complicated features such as the shape and pattern of the image are extracted in later convolutional operation.
Also in the image recognition field, pooling operation is performed, i.e., image data is divided into small areas, and for example, the maximum value is extracted from each area. The pooling operation enables an object to be recognized even when its position changes, and allows for changes in position of features and the like extracted by the convolutional operation. The pooling operation is usually performed after the convolutional operation, and for example, a combination of the convolutional operation and the pooling operation is performed more than once.
In the case where the neural network is utilized in the image recognition field, the image data and the parameters of a filter in the image recognition field correspond to two or more pieces of data input to a neuron and a weight coefficient, respectively, in the neural network. That is, the convolutional operation in the image recognition field is a product-sum operation; and operation by a product-sum operation circuit, capturing of image data in the product-sum operation circuit, pooling operation after the product-sum operation, and the like need to be performed quickly and efficiently.
Patent Document 1 discloses an example in which machine learning through a neural network is performed with the use of a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and handwritten character recognition is performed.
In recent years, transistors using oxide semiconductors or metal oxides in their channel formation regions (Oxide Semiconductor transistors, hereinafter referred to as OS transistors) have attracted attention. The off-state current of an OS transistor is extremely low. Applications that employ OS transistors to utilize their extremely low off-state currents have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses an example in which an OS transistor is used for learning in a neural network.

Semiconductor device having neural network

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An in-cloud wake-up method and system, a terminal and a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium are provided. The in-cloud wake-up method includes: receiving wake-up voice input by a user, and transmitting the wake-up voice to cloud; performing an decoding operation on the wake-up voice in cloud to generate a wake-up text; identifying wake-up characters in the wake-up text; and providing a wake-up instruction according to an identification result. With the in-cloud wake-up method, voice can be identified in cloud, and a smart device can be waken up in cloud according to the identified voice, so that resource consumption and power loss of the terminal device are reduced in the case of ensuring the quality of wake-up.

With the development of science and technology, smart devices such as home appliances can be manipulated by user's voice. That is, it is necessary to wake up smart devices by voice.
Currently, local wake-up is applied in existing wake-up solutions. For the local wake-up, in fact, there are great requirements on both power consumption and resource occupation of terminal devices. Moreover, it is needed to compress the wake-up model, since the memory space of the terminal device is limited. However, once the wake-up model is compressed, it may cause an impact on the wake-up effect, and may generate wake-up mistake, thereby degrading the wake-up quality.
Therefore, it is an issue of great concern how to reduce resource consumption and power loss of the wake-up model without reducing the quality of wake-up.

In-cloud wake-up method and system, terminal and computer-readable storage medium

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.