A method for determining a pixel output value of an imager; the imager having a plurality of pixels, a reset switch associated with each pixel and a select switch associated with each pixel; due to incident illumination upon a pixel of the imager after a reset period. The method captures a first pixel output value when the reset switch is OFF during a reset period and the select switch is ON during a reset period and captures a second pixel output value when the select switch is ON near an end of an integration period. If the second pixel output value is captured when the select switch is ON near an end of a first integration period, the first pixel output value may be captured when the reset switch is OFF during a reset period preceding the first integration period and the select switch is ON during a reset period preceding the first integration period. Moreover, if the second pixel output value is captured when the select switch is ON near an end of a first integration period, the first pixel output value may be captured when the reset switch is OFF during a reset period immediately following the first integration period and the select switch is ON during a reset period immediately following the first integration period.

CMOS image sensors are attractive for use in a wide range of applications, such as still photography and video imaging products, due to their compatibility with VLSI circuit design and fabrication processing. Since low-cost, large-scale CMOS design and fabrication technologies that have been developed for large-volume VLSI circuits can be directly employed in the production of CMOS imagers, CMOS imagers are, in general, much more cost effective than imagers produced based on CCD technologies. As a result, for many applications, and particularly for consumer products, a CMOS imager is preferred over a corresponding CCD imager.
In comparing the performance of CMOS and CCD imagers, it is found that CMOS imagers are typically characterized as introducing into an imaged scene a level of fixed-pattern noise that is higher than that introduced by CCD imagers. Fixed-pattern noise in an image is here meant to refer to image noise that is substantially constant over time; i.e., fixed pattern noise does not substantially vary from frame to frame in a sequence of images, and any variation of the noise over time due to, e.g., temperature and aging effects, is so slow as to be undetectable in a sequence of image frames.
CMOS fixed-pattern noise is generally due to mismatches in the threshold voltages of the MOS transistors of a CMOS pixel, as well as being due to feedthrough of electronic charge, associated with the MOS pixel transistors, to the output of a pixel. Such threshold voltage mismatch and charge feedthrough effects can vary from pixel to pixel in a CMOS imager array. As a result, a pattern of noise is produced across an image, corresponding to the spatial variation of noise levels from pixel to pixel across the pixel array. A grainy image is the typical manifestation of the noise.
Beyond fixed pattern noise, charge feedthrough across CMOS pixel transistors is also found to produce a fixed offset in the lowest intensity limits of a CMOS imager. This fixed offset, also known as a dark offset, is generally constant across a CMOS pixel array. The dark offset reduces the available voltage swing of pixels, thereby limiting the dynamic range of the imager. Double-sampling of a CMOS pixel output, i.e., sampling of the pixel output at different times, e.g., during a pixel reset period and then again during an integration period, is a well-known technique often employed for correcting for the fixed pattern noise caused by MOS transistor threshold voltage mismatch. This technique enables a determination of the extent of a pixel output that is due to fixed pattern noise, in the manner described below. This double-sampling technique suffers, however, in that it does not enable the determination and/or correction of feedthrough of electronic charge across the pixel MOS transistors to the pixel output.
One method known for partial compensation of the impact of charge feedthrough is a calibration technique in which the dark offset and fixed pattern noise of an imager are determined under dark conditions, at a selected temperature, with a corresponding compensation factor then being applied to images once they have been collected. Although this technique does enable some amount of correction of the dark offset and fixed pattern noise caused by charge feedthrough, it requires the application of a calibration factor to the post-processing of images, typically by the end user of the imager.
Moreover, due to the calibration factor application's complexity, the calibration factor application is typically enabled only in very high-end imager designs and is not practical for general commercial imagers. But even when a calibration factor is employed, the calibration factor is determined only at one selected operating temperature at a single point in time; and therefore, the calibration factor does not account for temperature-dependent changes in dark offset and/or fixed pattern noise and further does not account for aging effects on the imager.
In summary, the double-sampling and dark offset compensation techniques conventionally employed in CMOS image processing are not fully effective and not optimally efficient in eliminating the effect of charge feedthrough on pixel output measurements.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a non-complex process for compensating for both CMOS fixed pattern noise and electronic charge feedthrough across CMOS pixel transistors. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a non-complex compensation process that accounts for temperature-dependent changes in dark offset and/or fixed pattern noise and further accounts for aging effects on the imager.

Method for cancellation of the effect of charge feedthrough on CMOS pixel output


A tread profile has a tread profile section which is in the center of the tire in the axial direction, and in each case one shoulder profile section. The central tread profile section is composed of profile belts, and the shoulder profile sections each have a second profile belt. A circumferential groove is arranged in each case between a first profile belt of the central section and the profile belt of the shoulder section. The groove is formed with a web which is radially raised from the groove base and which divides the groove into a narrow first and a wider second section which has, at the groove base, a linear section of extent which merges, with a curvature radius R3 and R2, with the edges of the profile belt or of the web, wherein R3>R2. The linear section of extent is at an angle of inclination >0°.

Such vehicle pneumatic tires are known. For example, such utility vehicle tires having circumferential ribs separated by circumferential grooves are known. In such utility vehicle tires there is a possibility of cracking in the area of the groove base, which is counteracted by various tire design measures. In the case of some particularly demanding tire sizes, which in operation are exposed to exceptionally high stresses, however, the formation of cracks in the groove base is still possible in the transitional area between the shoulder ribs and the adjacent rib of the central tread portion, due to the high stresses acting. To reduce cracking it has already been proposed, on occasion, to form a web in the groove base of the circumferential groove separating these two ribs from one another, so as to divide this circumferential groove in an axial direction A of the tire into two circumferential groove portions, the web extending over the entire circumference but not up to the shell surface of the tire in a radial direction R of the tire. Nevertheless, in such tires cracking in the groove base of this circumferential groove divided by means of the web is still possible in particular applications.

Tread profile of a pneumatic vehicle tire for utility vehicles


A method to self-align a lithographic pattern to a workpiece, the method including the steps of obtaining a workpiece having a predetermined pattern of features; modifying at least some of the features so that when a photoresist material is applied to the pattern, there is a substantial difference in reflectivity between two adjacent features, at least one of which has been modified; applying a photoresist material; masklessly exposing the photoresist material; developing the photoresist material, the substantial difference in reflectivity of the two adjacent features causing the developed photoresist material to reveal one adjacent feature but not the other.

The present invention relates to optical lithography, such as used in the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly, to methods to self-align a lithographic pattern to a semiconductor wafer without an exposure mask.
In a typical optical lithography system, optical radiation from an optical source propagates through a mask or reticle onto a photoresist layer located on the top surface of a semiconductor wafer. In this manner, the mask pattern is focused on the photoresist layer. Depending upon whether this photoresist is positive or negative, when it is subjected to a developing process the material of the photoresist is removed or remains at areas where the optical radiation was incident. Thus, the pattern of the mask is transferred to (or printed on) the photoresist. Subsequent etching processes, such as wet etching or dry plasma etching, remove selected portions of the semiconductor wafer or of layers of material located between the top surface of the wafer and the bottom surface of the photoresist layer, or of both the substrate and the layers. Portions of the substrate or of the layers of material thus are removed from the top surface of the wafer underlying areas where the photoresist was removed by the developing process but not underlying areas where the photoresist remains. Thus, the pattern of the mask is transferred to layers of material overlying the semiconductor wafer, as is desired, for example, in the art of semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication.
In fabricating such circuits, it is desirable to have as many devices per wafer as is possible. Hence, it is desirable to have as small a transistor or other feature size as possible.
A critical process step is the alignment of the mask to the semiconductor wafer for printing images on the semiconductor wafer itself or on overlying layers. Errors in the placement of one pattern with respect to another are called overlay errors. For purposes of mask alignment, each mask contains specially designed and placed registration marks which allow the alignment of a subsequent mask. The art is replete with various techniques for mask alignment so as to minimize alignment errors.
Alignment errors can be significant and can amount to as much as 50% of the minimum feature size. As device dimensions become smaller, it is desirable to eliminate mask alignment errors. In this regard, it would be advantageous to develop technology to self-align the pattern to the existing pattern on the semiconductor wafer.
Shiraishi U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,320, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses an alignment mark on a semiconductor wafer having a recessed or projecting portion as a function of the wavelength used for the alignment of a mask to the semiconductor wafer.
Garofalo et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,083, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a method to make a phase shifting mask by a self-aligned technique in which the first level formed, a silicon dioxide layer, serves as a phase shifting layer.
Nakata et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,852, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, disclose a projection alignment method and apparatus for aligning a mask and a semiconductor wafer through optical imaging. The method and apparatus use a stepped pattern on the semiconductor wafer and a flat portion of the semiconductor wafer and an optical interference system for making the stepped and the flat portions interfere with each other.
Nakata et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,261, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, disclose a reduction projection system for exposing a circuit pattern through a mask. The system has apparatus for detecting an interference pattern caused by the reflection from a mark on the semiconductor wafer and a reference mirror. The semiconductor wafer mark is under the photoresist and is stepped in the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
Makosch U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses the alignment of a semiconductor wafer and a mask using an etched grating pattern on the wafer surface and a corresponding grating on the mask.
Heimer U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a mask alignment system wherein the alignment between successive masks uses alignment targets formed on the semiconductor wafer. The alignment targets on the semiconductor wafer are covered by one or more highly reflective films. To enable the target to be viewed, a phase contrast microscope is used to view the alignment target.
Imahashi U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,028, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, disclose a method and an apparatus for registering a pattern on a mask with a pattern already formed on a semiconductor wafer. There are reflector groups on the semiconductor wafer and passthrough windows on the mask. Shifting of the mask in the X-Y direction would cause the transmitted light to go from a maximum to a minimum.
None of the above references relate to the image enhancement on a semiconductor wafer by using the existing pattern on the semiconductor wafer. It would be desirable to use the existing pattern on the semiconductor wafer for image enhancement so as to be able to dispense with the use of a mask, alignment marks and all the other apparatus and equipment necessary for mask alignment.
Accordingly, it is one purpose of the present invention to have a method to create a self-aligned resist pattern by using the existing pattern on a semiconductor wafer without using a mask.
It is another purpose of the present invention to have a method to create a self-aligned resist pattern by using the existing pattern on a semiconductor wafer and the pattern of the reticle.
These and other purposes of the present invention will become more apparent after referring to the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanying Figures.
The purposes of the invention have been achieved by providing, according to a first aspect of the invention, a method to self-align a lithographic pattern to a workpiece, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a workpiece having a predetermined pattern of features;
modifying at least some of the features so that when a photoresist material is applied to the pattern, there is a substantial difference in reflectivity between two adjacent features, at least one of which has been modified;
applying a photoresist material;
masklessly exposing the photoresist material;
developing said photoresist material, said substantial difference in reflectivity of said two adjacent features causing said developed photoresist material to reveal one adjacent feature but not the other.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method to self-align a lithographic pattern to a workpiece, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a workpiece having a predetermined pattern of features;
modifying at least some of the features so that when a photoresist material is applied to the pattern, there is a substantial difference in reflectivity between two adjacent features, at least one of which has been modified;
applying a photoresist material;
flood exposing the photoresist material such that the area flood exposed corresponds to at least the two adjacent features in the predetermined pattern of features;
developing said photoresist material, said substantial difference in reflectivity of said two adjacent features causing said developed photoresist material to reveal one adjacent feature but not the other.

Method to self-align a lithographic pattern to a workpiece

International Business Machines Corporation


A solid-state lighting (SSL) system having dimming capability includes an SSL driver having a current control circuit configured to control current flow and, consequently, the brightness of light emitted by a light-emitting load. The magnitude of current flowing through the light-emitting load is set and controlled depending on a dim control signal, which is generated based on the value of a scaled alternating current (AC) power signal. The scaled AC power signal is generated by an AC scaling unit, which scales an input AC power signal provided by an AC power source. The extent to which the input AC power signal is scaled determines the value of the dim control signal and, consequently, the magnitude of current flow and resultant dimming of the light-emitting load. Pulse-width modulation of the light-emitting load current may be optionally combined with the current-control-based dimming to widen the overall dimming range.

Solid-state lighting (SSL) is rapidly becoming a dominant lighting technology and is expected to largely displace most other conventional lighting technologies, such as incandescent and fluorescent lighting, in the not too distant future. SSL is a superior lighting technology since it employs light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are energy efficient, long-lasting, and durable.
Although SSL technology is superior to conventional lighting technologies in many respects, one well-known problem with its use relates to the ability to dim the light produced by the LEDs. Dimming is desirable since it helps conserve energy. It also allows the ambiance of an environment to be altered. Unfortunately, because LEDs are nonlinear devices, the conventional analog dimmer switches commonly found in homes and offices to control dimming of conventional incandescent lighting sources cannot be used to directly control dimming in SSL systems.
Another approach which has proved to be useful in controlling dimming in SSL systems is pulse-width modulation (PWM) based dimming. In PWM-based dimming periodic control signals containing sequences of pulses are generated and modulated to control how often the LEDs in the SSL system conduct and thereby produce light. By reducing the durations (i.e., "widths") of the pulses in the control signals, the ratio of time in which the LEDs are configured in a conducting/light-producing state to the time they are configured in a non-conducting/no-light-producing state (this ratio often being referred to as the "duty cycle") is reduced. This duty cycle reduction is perceived by the human eye and brain as a dimming of the light.
PWM-based dimming can be a useful approach to dimming LEDs in SSL systems. However, under some circumstances it can undesirably produce flicker and electromagnetic interference (EMI). Flicker, is particularly perceptible when the duty cycles of the control signal are low, and it can cause or induce headaches, blurred vision, eyestrain and other health-related discomforts and disorders. EMI can also be problematic since it can interfere with reception in radios and degrade the performance of other electronic devices. Additionally, PWM-based dimming is capable of dimming only over a limited dynamic range. The ability to dim over a wide dynamic range and to very low dim levels requires the ability to adjust the PWM control signals so that they have very narrow pulses. However, generating very narrow pulses and designing driver circuitry capable of responding to very narrow pulses is difficult and in some circumstances even impracticable.


Introduction of sample stream air into argon inductively coupled plasma permits continuous monitoring of hazardous air pollutant metals in combustion flue gases. In addition to entrained particulates, various molecular components of flue gas are in the plasma. These species, and reaction products thereof, such as CN species, also undergo excitation resulting in complex emission spectra of appreciable intensity. Serious spectral interference arises for several metal elements, from molecular emission bands associated with the stable CN radical, and other poly-atomic species, such as NO. Failure to account for these interferences can significantly degrade accuracy of monitoring particularly at low metal concentrations in the flue gas. This invention corrects spectral interferences arising from airborne molecular species in the argon plasma even when the magnitudes of spectral interferences encountered during the analysis of airborne metals in flue gases, are of such considerable magnitudes that, if not directly accounted for, would otherwise compromise the quality of measurements of the airborne metals. This method measures and corrects spectral interferences attributed to CN and NO that affect on-line detection of hazardous air pollutant metals. The method incorporates conventional spectrometer hardware and existing instrument software to achieve effective real-time correction of these interferences.

Conventional atomic emission spectrometry, where samples to be analyzed are usually liquids or solids, has had to deal with spectral interferences that most often arose from light emitted by other metals present at high concentrations in the sample. The spectral interference most often results in an erroneous analysis for the element of interest due to spectral contributions from the interfering element at the detection wavelength of the element of interest. If the source (element) of the interfering emission can be identified, certain steps can be taken to account for the interference and minimize or eliminate any attendant effects.
However, continuous emissions monitoring for hazardous air pollutant metals is an emerging technology. Prior to this time, there has been no documentation reporting a satisfactory solution to correcting the problems associated with this monitoring. This is primarily because performance limitations of existing instrumentation did not permit detection of airborne metals at sufficiently low concentrations where molecular gas emissions would be considered a problem. The goals of developing a continuous emissions monitor for airborne metals having low sensitivity and accurate measurements at these low levels have not been met heretofore. One approach used by the applicant was to apply post measurement calculations in an attempt to correct for the type of molecular gas spectral interferences described above. This approach is neither accurate nor does it support real-time measurement. No other prototype technology for continuous monitoring of airborne metal emissions is sufficiently sensitive so that the issue of molecular gas spectral interference must be contended with.
Several prototype technologies have been attempted in recent years to address the need for instrumentation and methodology capable of continuous, real-time measurement of hazardous air pollutant (HAP) metals in the flue gases of large scale combustors such as waste incinerators, cement kilns, and coal-and-oil-fired power plants. Among these, however, a noteworthy continuous emissions monitor (CEM) has evolved that is based on the introduction of sample stream air into an argon inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and has been most successful in fulfilling the requirements of this demanding application. This CEM is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,405 and monitors hazardous air pollutant metals. In summary, the patent describes a sample air stream that is extracted from an incinerator stack or other duct to be monitored, and introduced into an ICP spectrometer via a device henceforth referred to as a sampling interface. The ICP in this case serves as the actual metal analyzer and is capable of differentiating between various metal pollutants and determining directly, their concentration in the sample air stream. In the plasma, metal atoms are vaporized and excited. This excitation could take place in any number of sources including, but not limited to, inductively coupled argon plasmas, inductively coupled plasma sustained on gases other than argon, microwave-induced plasmas, electrical spark plasmas, arc-induced plasmas, laser-induced plasmas and analytical combustion flames. Once the metal atoms are vaporized and excited by one of the above sources the emission of characteristic wavelengths of light results. A suitable spectrometer is used to differentiate between the various light wavelengths while at the same time, discriminating against background emission of light from the plasma itself. Most metal elements emit light at several wavelengths simultaneously due to the multiplicity of atomic energy levels associated with a given element. The patent adopts a customary practice and selects the most intense emission wavelength for each element for the purpose of obtaining maximum measurement sensitivity. The patented method involves continuous extraction of sample air from a smokestack under strictly isokinetic conditions and frequent, periodic injection of aliquots of that sample air directly into the argon plasma using a plasma torch specifically designed for this application. As presently configured, the CEM of the patent is capable of sensitive, simultaneous analysis of all of the HAP metals at 1-2 minute intervals. Detection limits less than 1 microgram per dry standard cubic meter (DSCM) are routinely achieved for many of the HAP metals. Detection limits are achieved for all HAP metals, well below present or proposed regulatory compliance emission limits for incinerators and cement kilns, see "Revised Standards for Hazardous Waste Combustors, Proposed Rules," Federal Register, Apr. 19, 1996, Vol. 61, No. 77, p 17357-17536. Because, any monitors must comply to these regulations for this technology, a particularly high value is placed on measurement accuracy. Spectral interferences can easily compromise accuracy in any spectrochemical technique, and this, unfortunately, was found to be especially true in the patented monitor. The reason for the compromise in accuracy was primarily due to fact that the flue gases of furnaces and incinerators typically contain elevated levels of water vapor, molecular species, such as CO.sub.2, CO, NO.sub.x, and other products of incomplete combustion in addition to metallic and organic pollutants. Introduction of these molecular species into the argon plasma was an unavoidable consequence of air sampling in the patented monitor. In addition, introduction of molecular species into an inductively coupled plasma often resulted in complex thermodynamic perturbation of the plasma, see Trassy, C. C., Diemiaszonek, R. C., J. Anal. Atomic Spectrosc., 9, 661 (1995). During the development and initial field evaluation of the patented CEM, the effects of molecular species on the argon plasma, including spectral interferences and suppression of atomic excitation, have been observed.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a method of monitoring air borne atomic metals by which spectral interferences due to molecular species are corrected to result in accurate measurement of the affected metals.

Correction of spectral interferences arising from CN emission in continuous air monitoring using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An apparatus and a method for processing liquid, light-activatable silicone materials of low viscosity by way of injection-molding technology, and an injection-molding machine operating in accordance with the method, in which the cross-linking of the silicone material is activated by the effect of ultraviolet and/or visible radiation.

Injection-molding machines require unambiguously reproducible production conditions for a smooth, fully automated production sequence. In the case of the liquid silicone technology (LSR=liquid silicone rubber) known since approximately 1980, the low-viscosity silicone rubber components are admixed with one another using suitable dosing and mixing units and vulcanized in the injection-molding method at elevated temperature in the mold cavity. This technology allows high cycle rates due to the short cross-linking duration. However, this technology has the disadvantage that there is a high power demand for the temperature increase for the vulcanization.
A further disadvantage results from the circumstance that many thermoplastic materials tend to deform at elevated temperature because of their nature and due to this circumstance, heretofore connecting a hard, thermoplastic plastic with a soft, permanently elastic silicone plastic by way of injection-molding methods was not possible without quality losses. Due to the development of light-activatable LSR materials, for which a separate temperature supply is not necessary for the cross-linking thereof in the mold cavity, novel possibilities have now resulted for solving the previous problems in the injection-molding processing of LSR materials.
Light-activatable polymer compositions, in particular silicone compositions, have been known for some years. Thus, for example, DE 10 2008 000 156 A1 describes a hydrosilylation reaction activatable by radiation, in which silicone products which can be cross-linked by radiation using UV light or using visible light are produced. Furthermore, EP 1 817 372 describes a siloxane composition activatable by irradiation with light, which allows the production of thick-walled molded articles containing fillers and/or pigments. Further silicone compositions which can be cross-linked by irradiation with visible light or with UV rays are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,802, EP 0 146 307, U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,569 and WO 92/10544.
Furthermore, devices having transparent windows for irradiation of light-activatable polymers are known from the prior art. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,155 describes a metal mold having a light-transmissive window, which is arranged perpendicularly to a light source. A two-part mold for the production of lenticular plastic products from light-curing polymer material, in which one mold half consists of light-transmissive material, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,124. WO 2011/101269 describes a mold cavity made of two transparent walls having UV lamps arranged behind each of them.
Activating light-activatable silicone rubber compositions using UV light immediately before they are injected into the mold cavity is also known, wherein the light dose and the irradiation time, and also the remaining transport distance and the transport speed have to be adapted in such a manner that the curing only occurs in the mold cavity, but not already before the silicone rubber composition enters this mold cavity.
All of these methods, however, have the disadvantage that the irradiated plastic composition is carried out without any monitoring of the temperature control. However, the reaction profile of photoactivated cross-linking processes is always dependent on the temperature of the starting material at the point in time of the photoactivation or the beginning of the cross-linking, respectively, wherein the temperature dependence of the cross-linking speed is dependent on the specific composition of the starting material and its additives, of course.

Method and apparatus for processing of liquid silicone compounds in injection moulding machines and tools

ELAST KUNSTSOFFVERABEITUNGS-GMBH & CO. KEG


Polybenzazole polymer dopes are spun into fibers at high speed by passing through a spinneret with proper selection of hole geometry, followed by spin-drawing to a spin-draw ratio of at least 20, washing, taking up and drying. The take up speed is at least about 150 meters per minute, and the fibers are spun in at least 10 km lengths without a break.

The present invention relates to improved processes for spinning fibers that contain polybenzoxazole or polybenzothiazole polymer.
Lyotropic liquid crystalline polybenzoxazole and polybenzothiazole are not thermoplastic. They are typically made into fibers by dry-jet, wet-spinning techniques, in which a dope that contains the polybenzazole polymer and an acid solvent is spun through a spinneret, drawn across an air gap, and coagulated by contact with a fluid that dilutes the solvent and is a non-solvent for the polymer.
It is economically desirable to spin fibers at the highest speed possible, because the spinning equipment is very expensive. It is also desirable to spin individual filaments with as small a diameter as possible (low denier), because fibers that contain a large number of low denier filaments usually have better and more consistent physical properties than fibers that contain a small number of high denier filaments.
Unfortunately, at high speeds and low deniers, the filaments frequently break. It is desirable to develop techniques that will allow spinning of low-denier fibers at high speeds without frequent breakage of the filaments.

Method for spinning a polybenzazole fiber


A medical/care support method is provided, which enables medical or care workers having different special fields such as physicians and nurses to share the medical or care information of each patient or care-needing person while protecting the privacy of the patient or care-needing person, and to support the provision of better-quality medical or care service to the patient or care-needing person based on the medical or care information shared. A patient ID, a disease ID, and a medical facility ID are associated and stored, thereby generating a group G11. A patient P1 designated by patient group registration participates in the group G11 after the patient's approval of an invitation request. Medical workers M1 and M2 and patient-related persons R1, R2, and R4 participate in the group G11 as supporters in response to respective invitation requests.

In recent years, due to the declining birthrate and aging population, the number of people (medical service users) who utilize a variety of medical services in medical facilities (e.g., hospitals, clinics, home-visit nursing stations) in the same time period has kept increasing. Medical services are provided by specialists such as physicians, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists and so on (which will be termed "medical specialists" hereinafter) who have different special fields, such as internal medicine, surgery, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and dentistry and thus, many specialists who belong to multiple occupation categories are involved in medical services. Moreover, it is often that medical services which belong to different special fields are provided in medical facilities which are located at different positions. Therefore, currently, medical information about individual medical service users (i.e., patients) are independently stored and utilized in the respective medical facilities which are located at different positions without relevance.
Incidentally, it is much preferred if a patient can utilize the result of diagnosis, treatment, examination, and/or operation for a specific disease which he or she has already undergone in a medical facility, when the same patient undergoes diagnosis, treatment, examination, and/or operation for the same disease or a different one in a different medical facility later. This is because the medical specialists have an advantage that the diagnostic accuracy and curative effects are raised due to the increased medical information which is available to diagnosis and/or treatment, and because the patient has an advantage that the expenses and labor on attending medical facilities are saved due to cancellation of duplicated diagnosis, treatment, and/or examination. In addition, the government also has an advantage that the medical expenses which the government pays to the medical facilities decreases.
In this way, it is highly beneficial if the situation where the medical information about each patient can be shared by medical specialists who are involved with medical treatment of the same patient in different medical facilities can be realized with an information system. However, since the medical information about each patient is personal information of the patient, it is necessary to obtain the patient's approval of sharing his/her medical information. Moreover, it is also necessary to obtain the approval of the medical specialists (physicians) who possess the medical information about each patient. Accordingly, it is necessary to incorporate the approval process of both the patient and the medical specialists into the information system.
The aforementioned circumstances are applicable to long-term care services. This is because not only care supporters (caregivers) such as care managers and helpers but also physicians and nurses may be stationed in care-related facilities, and because even if they are not stationed in care-related facilities, the care-related facilities are in cooperation with external medical facilities in such a way that medical services can be quickly received periodically or according to necessity. In this case, care-needing persons utilize medical services along with care services and thus, the medical information and the care information about the care-needing persons (who are patients also) will be shared by the medical facilities and the care-related facilities. If the aforementioned information system capable of sharing the medical information is applied to such the case, the problem about information sharing which occurs in the cooperation among the specialists belonging to multiple occupation categories, which is regarded as a challenge in home care, can be solved; this is highly effective.
As a prior art relevant to the present invention, for example, there is a care support system disclosed in Patent Literature 1. This care support system supports all groups and/or persons relevant to long-term care, such as community general support centers, caring enterprises, and the families of care-needing persons, in such a way that the groups and/or persons can share the care information and that the care-needing persons can utilize suitable care services and the care staff can provide the said care services based on the care information thus shared.
With this care service system, a user information table, a staff information table, and a long-term care insurance information table are provided; an attribute judgment section judges whether or not the information received from a user terminal or a care staff terminal is in accordance with the information included in the staff information table or the long-term care insurance information table. Then, if the information received from the user or care staff terminal is in accordance with, a registration section assigns a new user information ID to the user or care staff who has sent the information and generates a new user information table to store the said table based on the user information ID thus assigned, a user ID associated with the information which has been judged in accorded with, and the information received. If the information received from the user or care staff terminal is not in accordance with, the registration section assigns a new user information ID and a new user ID to the user or care staff who has sent the information and generates a new user information table and a new staff attribute table or a new long-term care insurance information table and stores these tables based on the user information ID and the user ID thus assigned and the information received. Subsequently, a service providing section transmits the care service information which has been requested by the user or staff terminal to the said terminal by way of a network based on the stuff information table and the long-term care insurance information table.
In this way, the care support system of Patent Literature 1 makes it possible for all the groups and/or persons relevant to long-term care such as community general support centers, caring enterprises, and the families of care-needing persons to share the "care information".

Medical/care support method, medical/care support system, and medical/care support program


System and method for semantic segmentation. The system includes a computing device. The computing device has a processor and a non-volatile memory storing computer executable code. The computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: receive an image of a scene; process the image by an encoder to form an encoder feature map; process the encoder feature map by a pyramid pooling module (PPM) to form an PPM feature map; and process the PPM feature map by a decoder to form a segmentation feature map.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the invention. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
Image semantic segmentation is a fundamental problem in computer vision. Its main task is to perform dense predictions over all pixels and output categories belonging to each. Semantic segmentation has been in the long run treated as a crucial part in achieving deep understandings of the image, with topics include, but not limited to instance segmentation, scene parsing, and human object interactions etc. [12, 17, 25]. In the past years, deep learning approaches [1, 3, 14, 16, 18, 28] have made fruitful progress in semantic segmentation, with the development of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and many emerging technologies related to it.
However, recent advances in semantic segmentation with CNNs largely depend on those deep and wild backbones, with dedicated designs of various bottlenecks and many other meta-architectures. Taking those sophisticated designs results in a large amount of redundant overhead, regarding to the number of operations in order to make dense predictions. In FIG. 6F, we show the accuracy of state-of-the-art methods on Cityscapes dataset [7], in addition to their runtime speed. By increasing network complexity, most research [1, 3, 4, 14, 16, 18, 28, 30] in the past few year has focused on generating high-quality predictions, and thus inevitably slower the inference speed to a great extent. Several works in the literature have been proposed to overcome the speed issue, including SQ [26], ENet [19], ICNet [29] and the most recent ERFNet [21]. They aim at improving the inference speed while attempting to maintain comparable accuracy. Nonetheless, as shown in FIG. 6F, few of these methods have achieved real-time speed with satisfactory performance (i.e. around or above 65% mIoU on Cityscapes). Under such circumstances, real-time semantic segmentation on embedded systems (mobile platforms, NVIDIA Jetson TX1/TX2, etc.) has become a fundamentally crucial, but very challenging task.
Therefore, an unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

ThunderNet: a turbo unified network for real-time semantic segmentation

Beijing Jingdong Shangke Information Technology Co., Ltd.

JD.com American Technologies Corporation


The present invention provides a transgenic mouse comprising a disrupted hepsin gene. In particular, the invention provides methods of making the transgenic mouse comprising the disrupted hepsin gene by utilizing a hepsin targeting vector for homologous recombination in mouse embryonic stem cells. Also, nucleotide and amino acid hepsin sequences are disclosed.

Proteases participate in a variety of developmental and metabolic processes (Stroud R, Sci. Am. 231:74-88 (1974) and Neurath H, Science 224:350-357 (1984). Molecular defects that alter enzyme function often lead to serious human diseases, such as bleeding, thrombosis, and atherosclerosis. Hepsin is a novel serine protease of the trypsin family and contains a transmembrane domain near its amino-terminus, Kurachi et al., Methods in Enzymology, 244:100-114 (1994). This structural feature distinguishes hepsin from most other serine proteases. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, another transmembrane serine protease, Stubble-stubbloid, has been reported that has similar structural features as that of hepsin. Stubble-stubbloid protein plays an important role in epithelial morphogenesis and development in Drosophila. Defects in Stubble-stubbloid gene cause malformation of legs, wings and bristles, Appel et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:4937-4941 (1993).
The human hepsin cDNA was initially isolated from a liver cDNA library screened with a mixture of oligonucleotides based on a consensus sequence of serine proteases, Leytus et al., Biochemistry 27:1067-1074 (1988). Biochemical studies indicate that hepsin is a type II transmembrane serine protease expressed mainly on the surface of hepatocytes, Tsugi et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266:16948-16953 (1991). Lower levels of hepsin mRNA are detected in other tissues including lung, kidney, pancreas, stomach, thyroid and prostate. In addition, hepsin mRNA is present in several human tumor cell lines, such as hepatoma cells HepG2 and PLC/PRF/5, mammary cancer cells MCF784 and T470, and epitheloid carcinoma cells HeLa S3, Tsuji et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266:16948-16953 (1991) and Torres-Rosado et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:7181-7185 (1993).
Hepsin has a number of reported activities. In an in vitro study, recombinant human hepsin expressed on the cell surface activated blood coagulation factor VII but not factors IX, X, prothrombin or protein C, all of which share significant structural and sequence similarities with factor VII. The activation of factor VII by hepsin was shown to be sufficient to initiate the coagulation pathway leading to thrombin formation, Kazama et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:66-72 (1995). Elevated plasma factor VIIa activity has been known to be a significant risk factor for ischemic heart disease and cardiovascular death, Hultin, Prog. Hemostasis Thrombosis 10:215-241, (1991) and Mann, Arteriosclerosis 9:783-784 (1989). Factor VIIa/tissue factor complex also contributes to tumor-related hypercoagulability and intravascular thrombosis, Edwards et al., Thromb. Haemostasis 69:205-213 (1993).
In addition to blood coagulation, hepsin was reported to be critical for cell growth. In a cell culture system, addition of anti-hepsin antibodies or hepsin-specific antisense oligonucleotides to the culture medium significantly inhibited growth of hepatoma cells Torres-Rosado et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 90:7181-7185 (1993). This observation is quite interesting in light of the expression of hepsin mRNA in a number of tumor cells. The growth factor-like activities of serine proteases have been known for many years. For example, thrombin is a potent mitogen for vascular fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells, Fenton J, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 485:5-15 (1986). Furthermore, serine proteases also participate in processing of growth factors, Massague J, J. Biol. Chem., 265:21393-21396 (1990). The hepsin-dependent tumor cell growth indicates a mechanism in which hepsin functions either directly as a growth factor or indirectly as an enzyme that processes certain growth factors essential for cell growth.

Knockout mice and their progeny with a disrupted hepsin gene


A validation/correction method is provided for design data or mask data by which a pattern which becomes critical in a process is extracted in advance so that the pattern can be corrected. Consequently, the process spec is achieved in a short period of time after OPC or process proximity effect correction (PPC).

In recent years, integration of LSI has become more intensive, and the element sizes are being vastly reduced. In a lithography process directly related to element microfabrication, a photoresist is formed on a processing layer (semiconductor layer or a metal layer), and the photoresist is exposed via a mask followed by development, so that the photomask pattern is transferred onto the photoresist. The layer is then subjected to microfabrication through etching using as an etching mask the photoresist on which the pattern is transferred, before finally the photoresist is removed. In a recent lithography process for element microfabrication, the exposure wavelength is greater than the size of transfer pattern (photomask), and therefore there is a problem of faultiness of the pattern transfer linearity (accordance of the pattern before transfer and the pattern after transfer). This is called an optical proximity effect. The optical proximity effect is a phenomenon in which the 90° corner (corner section) rounds and the line end on the pattern transfer decreases due to diffraction of light caused by the exposure wavelength greater than the transfer pattern. Further, similarly, the optical proximity effect appears as a phenomenon in which the line width, which is supposed to be the same, varies depending on the density.
The optical proximity effect is, as it is obvious, mainly caused by a proximity effect of light; however, it is also affected by the resist process (pre-exposure bake, post-exposure bake (PEB), development) or by the underlayer (shape, structure, material etc. of the underlayer). The optical proximity effect may make the product circuit pattern to fall outside the spec (design size).
To prevent unwanted effects of optical proximity effect upon the exposure (may be called "photo", hereinafter), a mask used for exposure is generally subjected to a correction process in advance so that the predicted shifting (displacement) amount due to optical proximity effect is modified. This correction is called optical proximity effect correction (may be referred to as "OPC" hereinafter).
In recent years, a phenomenon called etching shift, which occurs in the OPC due to proximity effect of pattern in the etching process after exposure, has become a problem. Unlike the optical proximity effect, in the proximity effect in the etching process, the reaction of the circuit material to the etching changes depending on the space to the proximal pattern or the pattern density in the neighborhood. To accurately analyze the reaction, it is necessary to analyze radical reaction of etching including the shape of the neighborhood portion. A recent general practical method of finding the etching shift is not calculation of an accurate reaction formula, but a fitting calculation using an empiric formula (or a rule) on the basis of the space to the proximal pattern or the pattern density in the neighborhood. A correction of the etching proximity effect based on this fitting calculation (or a rule) is called an etching proximity effect correction (Etching-PC, hereinafter). The Process Proximity Effect Correction; (may be referred to as "PPC" hereinafter) including a proximity effect correction (Etching-PC) to the etching shift is now considered more important.
With the recent complication of process technologies, the circuit pattern set by the designer and the mask pattern used in the exposure process greatly differs. This prevents easy estimation of the shape of the resist pattern formed on a wafer based on the mask pattern. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether the mask pattern is appropriate (whether the mask pattern is capable of forming the desired circuit pattern) using a simulator (of lithography or etching).
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-121943) discloses a method of extracting the difference between (i) anticipated value pattern data generated through estimation of the photomask pattern at the time of exposure transfer onto a wafer and modification of the CAD pattern data, and (ii) the pattern data resulted from the simulation denoting a result of light intensity simulation to the CAD pattern data, and determines whether the difference is not more than a predetermined allowable value. In this way, the reasonability of the pattern image on a wafer is examined. Note that, the OPC data examination tool using this technology has been commercially available via some EDA (Electronic Design Automation) vendors.
Further, a non-patent Document 1 (J. Kim, L. Wang, et al. "Model-Based Full-chip Validation for 65 nm Lithography Process Development", SPIE BACUS Symposium, Yokohama, Vol. 5853-42, pp. 599-606, 2005/April) discloses a method of examining the reasonability of the pattern image on a wafer through estimation of the shape of photomask pattern at the time of transfer onto a wafer through lithography simulation, extracting the difference between the target CAD pattern data and the simulation result, and determining whether the difference is not more than a predetermined allowable value. The OPC data examination tool using this technology has been commercially available via some EDA vendors. The non-patent Document 2 (A. Sezginer, F. X. Zach, et al. "Process-window-aware-RET and OPC", SPIE Symposium, San Jose, Vol. 6156, No. 615613, recently completed volumes, 2006) is a specific example of PPC of this technology.
With reference to FIG. 4(a) and FIG. 4(b), the following explains a concrete example of a method of examining the reasonability of the OPC photomask (the photomask created by OPC) for forming a circuit pattern of a memory cell (SRAM), i.e., for examining whether the mask pattern is capable of forming a desired circuit pattern, by way of lithography simulation. First, the exposure pattern on a wafer is found by lithography simulation based on the OPC photomask pattern data of FIG. 4(a). FIG. 4(a) shows the exposure pattern on the wafer as a simulation result. Next, the distance between the edges of the exposure pattern on the wafer is checked and the two edges (in this example, see the part indicated by the broken line of FIG. 4(a)) with a distance (about 110 nm) significantly smaller than the designed value (170 nm) is determined as a part of short-circuit. The OPC photomask is modified to increase the distance between the edges determined as a part of short-circuit of the exposure pattern on the wafer to 166 nm. As a result, the distance between the edges determined as a part of short-circuit of the OPC photomask is increased from 110 nm to 118 nm. FIG. 4(b) shows an exposure pattern on the wafer (shown as a simulation result in the figure) found by the lithography simulation based on the modified OPC photomask, and the data thereof.
Examples of the method of producing photomask patterns using the OPC are disclosed in many Patent Documents, such as the Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-134520.
The method disclosed in Patent Document 2 first carries out proximity effect correction with respect to the design pattern data (photomask pattern data), and then extracts a part where the process margin decreases using the light intensity simulation (light intensity calculation under best focus, optimal exposure state, out of focus, improper exposure amount). In this way, the pattern is corrected to keep the margin of the part where the extract process margin decreases.
On the other hand, the Patent Document 3 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-181636 prepares a desired pattern and a mask pattern corresponding to the desired pattern, and carries out proximity effect correction with respect to the mask pattern, and then sets evaluation points to the edges of the desired pattern, and calculates position errors from the evaluation points and the amount of statistics of the position errors for plural combinations of the process parameters in the variable range of process parameter value previously set. In this way, the mask pattern is corrected according to the amount of statistics.
In recent years, examples of typical production method for photomask pattern data using the OPC (or PPC) include a method of estimating the shift amount of proximity effect using a calculation formula or simulation, and a method of creating a process model for estimating a transfer pattern of the mask pattern in a predetermined process including exposure using the design data of the mask pattern as the input data. Further, in a method of producing photomask pattern data using OPC (or PPC), a designed test pattern is formed on the test mask, and the design data of the test pattern rearranged according to measurement result of length of the test pattern on the test mask is fitted to a result of length measurement of the test pattern on the test mask (Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2004-157160). Since the fitting accuracy becomes higher in this fitting (experimental) model than the conventional theoretical model, the fitting (experimental) model is the main stream of the existing commercially-available tool (provided by EDA vendor).
Examples of recent PPC are disclosed in Patent Documents 3 and 4, Patent Document 5 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-99765) and Patent Document 6 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2003-57801).
The Patent Document 4 relates to a method of finding an estimation model of proximity effect of a highly-accurate process, such as a method of finding an unknown parameter using the test pattern made of the repetitive pattern group and the predetermined repetitive pattern group such as a memory cell. Further, the Patent Document 5 relates to a method of effectively carrying out measurement of SEM length and pattern correction by linking the steps (in parallel) by a computer. This method accurately finds addition correction amount (difference) to the optical proximity effect correction. With these methods, it is possible to greatly reduce huge work, burden and time for the conventional (correction) simulation in consideration of calculated many unknown parameters regarding mask reproduction, re-evaluation on the wafer, etching condition etc.
Note that, in LSI designing, application of restriction of critical pattern to the design rule to improve production reliability and process yield is broadly called a DFM (Design for Manufacturability). The necessity of the DFM tends to increase with the recent development of micro-sized (90 nm, 65 nm) LSI (non-patent Document 3: "DFM: beginning of entire revision of semiconductor cost" Nikkei Micro Device Magazine, Nikkei B P, May 2005, p. 25 to 41 (published on May 1, 2005, Page 36)).
The following explains problems of typical conventional technologies.
The biggest problem of the production and validation method of photomask pattern data using a general conventional PPC model is extraction and validation of PPC model. For the recent complication of LSIs as a result of the development of micro LSI elements, a demand of micro-size processing of circuit pattern has come to the front. However, decrease in exposure wavelength of an exposure device is becoming more difficult, and therefore increase in resolution by the decrease in exposure wavelength is not practical. The insufficient resolution has been solved by the super-resolution technology, an (immersion) exposure device, or mask design, but such methods have finally come to the limit in these years. Even with the circuit pattern according to the design rule, it is not so rare that the products include a pattern (critical pattern with a insufficient process margin) causing line-breakage or short-circuit when subjecting the target wiring pattern (layout pattern before modification) to a PPC process to create a photomask and carrying out exposure, development, and etching using the photomask.
FIG. 25 shows a flow of typical conventional PPC process (non-patent Document 2 etc.). As shown in FIG. 25, in the typical conventional PPC process, the mask data is created through etching correction and OPC process with respect to the design data of the circuit pattern. Next, the simulation validation is performed with respect to the mask data. If a problem such as line-breakage is found as a result of the simulation validation, the design data of the circuit pattern is modified, and the etching correction and OPC process is carried out again, or the mask data is corrected. The etching correction is performed with an Etching-PC model or an Etching-PC rule extracted in advance by using the model/rule extraction TEG pattern. Further, the OPC process is performed with an OPC model or an OPC rule extracted in advance by using the model/rule extraction TEG pattern.
FIGS. 26 to 30 show examples of model/rule extraction TEG pattern used for extraction of OPC model, OPC rule, Etching-PC model or Etching-PC rule in the typical conventional PPC process. Another example of mask pattern correction flow is a method of detecting a part where the process margin is reduced by simulation or the like after the PPC process, and then correcting the part, as disclosed in the Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-134520), in the Patent Document 3 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-181636), or in the Patent Document 6 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2003-57801).
The inventors of the present invention studied a circuit pattern (photomask pattern before correction) of a metal wire layer (hereinafter referred to as a "MR layer") of Cu or Al constituting a 130 nm flash memory (hereinafter referred to as a "flash") and found out that the specific pattern among the circuit pattern (layout pattern before correction) serves as a critical pattern (hereinafter referred to as "line-breakage risk pattern") which may cause line-breakage when subjecting the pattern to a simulation-based PPC process to create photomask and carrying out exposure, development, and etching using the photomask of said pattern. FIG. 3(a) to FIG. 3(e) show five concrete examples of line-breakage risk pattern in a MR layer of a 130 nm Flash. Note that, the MR layer is a wire layer (hereinafter referred to as "L/S layer" as appropriate) with a line and space circuit pattern.
The line-breakage risk pattern shown in FIG. 3(a) is a H-type crosslinking pattern at least constituted of a first rectangular section, and two first polygon sections (rectangular sections in this example) between which the first rectangular section is caught. The two first polygon sections are in contact with the respective two short-length sides of the first rectangular section. The two ends of the respective sides of the first polygon section in contact with the short-length sides of the first rectangular section each extend outward the short-length sides of the first rectangular section. The length l1 and the width w1 of the first rectangular section satisfy the following conditions.l1<280 nm−2×ES(l1j)w1<240 nm−2×ES(w1j)
In the foregoing conditions, ES(l1j) and ES(w1j) respectively indicate estimated etching shift amounts (amount of size variation due to the etching shift) of the length l1 and width w1 of the first rectangular section of the H-type crosslinking pattern. In this case, the values of ES(l1j) and ES(w1j) are found by back calculation (calculation of finding the length l1 and width w1 of the H-type crosslinking pattern which becomes critical in the etching based on the measurement result of the length l1 and width w1 of the H-type crosslinking pattern which are measured after etching). The etching shift amount depends on the etching process, particularly on the distance to the proximal pattern and the pattern density in the neighborhood. The values l1j and w1j are etching shift variables dependent on the space to the proximal pattern and the pattern density in the neighborhood. The ES(l1j) and ES(w1j) can be found by a rule based on variables l1j and w1j dependent on the space to the proximal pattern and the pattern density in the neighborhood. The rule is determined based on a pattern size of circuit material after the etching using an evaluation mask including the critical pattern. The pattern size of circuit material after the etching using an evaluation mask is specifically found by exposing/developing a resist using an evaluation mask, etching the circuit material using the resist, and measuring the pattern size of the circuit material after the etching. If the rule is applied, the ES(l1j) and ES(w1j) are several discontinuous constituents. Functions or models may be applied instead of the rule. FIG. 31 and FIG. 32 show concrete examples of the etching shift amount. FIG. 31 shows variation in etching shift amount depending on the space to the proximal pattern in a 130 nm process GP layer. The following shows an example of calculation formula (two-dimensional L/S pattern) of etching shift ES in the case of FIG. 31.ES=C0+C1×Space−2+C2×Space−1+C3×Log(Space)
where C0, C1, C2 and C3 are constant values depending on the etching process. FIG. 32 shows an etching shift amount (residual error) dependent on the space of the L/S pattern (line-width after lithography). This is an example of a simple L/S pattern, but it is necessary to consider a long proximal pattern up to 3 or more μ meter in the etching correction, unlike the optical proximity correction (in which a proximal pattern of about 1 to 2 μm is considered).
The line-breakage risk pattern shown in FIG. 3(b) is an opened rectangular pattern at least constituted of a third rectangular section and two third polygon sections (rectangular sections in this example) between which the third rectangular section is caught. One side of the two third polygon sections are in contact with the respective two short-length sides of the third rectangular section. One end of the respective sides of the third polygon sections in contact with the short-length sides of the third rectangular section each extend outward the short-length sides of the third rectangular section. The ends extend outward are opposed without having the third rectangular section inbetween. The length l4 and the width w4 of the third rectangular section satisfy the following conditions.l4<280 nm−2×ES(l4j)w4<240 nm−2×ES(w4j)
In the foregoing conditions, ES(l4j) and ES(w4j) respectively indicate estimated etching shift amounts (amount of size variation due to the etching shift) of the length l4 and width w4 of the third rectangular section of the opened-rectangular crosslinking pattern. In this case, as with the values of ES(l1j) and ES(w1j), the values of ES(l4j) and ES(w4j) are found by back calculation (calculation of finding the length l4 and width w4 of the opened-rectangular crosslinking pattern which becomes a critical pattern by etching, based on the measurement result of the length l4 and width w4 of the opened-rectangular crosslinking pattern measured after etching). The etching shift amount depends on the etching process, particularly on the distance to the proximal pattern and the pattern density in the neighborhood. FIG. 31 and FIG. 32 show concrete examples of the etching shift amount.
The line-breakage risk pattern shown in FIG. 3(c) is a crank-type crosslinking pattern at least constituted of a second rectangular section and two second polygon sections (rectangular sections in this example) between which the second rectangular section is caught. One side of the two second polygon sections are in contact with the respective two short-length sides of the second rectangular section. One end of the respective sides of the second polygon sections in contact with the short-length sides of the second rectangular section each extend outward the short-length sides of the second rectangular section, to be opposite to each other with respect to the second rectangular section. The length l2 and the width w2 of the second rectangular section satisfy the following conditions.l2<280 nm−ES(l2j)w2<240 nm−2×ES(w2j)
In the foregoing conditions, ES(l2j) and ES(w2j) respectively indicate estimated etching shift amounts (amount of size variation due to the etching shift) of the length l2 and width w2 of the second rectangular section of the crank-type crosslinking pattern as with the above case. In this case, as with the values of ES(l1j) and ES(w1j), the values of ES(l2j) and ES(w2j) are found by back calculation (calculation of finding the length l2 and width w2 of the crank-type crosslinking pattern which becomes a critical pattern by etching, based on the measurement result of the length l2 and width w2 of the crank-type crosslinking pattern measured after etching).
The line-breakage risk pattern shown in FIG. 3(d) is a crank-type crosslinking pattern at least constituted of a second rectangular section, two second polygon sections (rectangular sections in this example) between which the second rectangular section is caught and another section. One side of the two second polygon sections are in contact with the respective two short-length sides of the second rectangular section. One end of the respective sides of the second polygon sections in contact with the short-length sides of the second rectangular section each extend outward the short-length sides of the second rectangular section, to be opposite to each other with respect to the second rectangular section. The length l5 and the width w5 of the second rectangular section satisfy the following conditions.l5<280 nm−2×ES(l5j)w5<240 nm−2×ES(w5j)
In the foregoing conditions, ES(l5j) and ES(w5j) respectively indicate estimated etching shift amounts (amount of size variation due to the etching shift) of the length l5 and width w5 of the second rectangular section of the crank-type crosslinking pattern as with the above case. In this case, as with the values of ES(l1j) and ES(w1j), the values of ES(l5j) and ES(w5j) are found by back calculation (calculation of finding the length l5 and width w5 of the crank-type crosslinking pattern which becomes a critical pattern by etching, based on the measurement result of the length l5 and width w5 of the crank-type crosslinking pattern measured after etching).
The line-breakage risk pattern shown in FIG. 3(e) is a projection pattern at least constituted of a rectangular projection section and a polygon main body in contact with one of the short-length sides of the projection section. Two ends of the side of the polygon main body in contact with the short-length side of the projection section each extend outward the short-length side of the projection section. The length l3 and the width w3 of the third rectangular section satisfy the following conditions.l3<280 nm−ES(l3j)w3<240 nm−2×ES(w3j)
In the foregoing conditions, ES(l3j) ES(w3j) respectively indicate estimated etching shift amounts (amount of size variation due to the etching shift) of the length l3 and width w3 of the projection pattern, as with the above case. As with the values of ES(l1j) and ES(w1j), the values of ES(l3j) and ES(w3j) are found by back calculation.
Generation of such critical patterns is caused by improper PPC processes of the conventional PPC model due to development of micro LSIs. This circumstance has raised necessity of modification of extraction of PPC model or an approach (help) from the designer.
However, those critical patterns cannot be detected by a check process based on the conventional light intensity simulation (with varied defocus values and exposure amounts). FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show concrete examples.
FIG. 5 shows results of photo evaluation of photomasks including critical patterns, performed by the inventors of the present invention. These photomasks are used for a practical process, and has been modified by OPC correction. More specifically, FIG. 5 shows images (upper SEM photo) of the upper surfaces of positive type photoresist patterns captured by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Each of the positive type photoresists has been subjected to exposure and development on a wafer using the photomask under an exposure amount=33.5 mJ/cm2 and a defocus value=+0.15 μm. The narrow portion of the upper SEM photo is a portion with a risk of line-breakage. The photo evaluation determines, according to a SEM photo such as the one shown in FIG. 5, a positive type photoresist without a top (resist top) in the narrow portion (there is a risk of line-breakage in the etching process) as "NG", and determines a positive type photoresist with a top in the narrow portion (there is no risk of line-breakage in the etching process) as "GOOD". The target photomargin in this process (target exposure margin and focus margin) is a range in which the exposure margin (the width of exposure amount ensuring a good result of photo evaluation) is not less than ±3.3%, and the focus margin (the width of defocus value ensuring a good result of photo evaluation) is not less than ±0.18 μm. However, all patterns of photomask in FIG. 5 are evaluated as "NG". Generation of a positive type photoresist without a top in the narrow portion, which causes a risk of line-breakage in the etching process, is induced by depression in the narrow portion of the positive type photoresist. This derives from light leakage in the narrow portion due to its light intensity contrast less than the other parts.
FIG. 6 shows a light intensity simulation result of a mask including a critical pattern having been modified by OPC correction, corresponding to the positive resist pattern of FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 6, the light intensity simulation result shows that the width of the narrow portion (width of the resist bottom (bottom section)) is 165 nm, that means there is no risk of line-breakage. Thus, in the mask pattern check by light intensity simulation, risk of line-breakage is not concerned in the etching process, and therefore the narrow portion is not detected as a critical pattern. Therefore, the mask pattern check only by the light intensity simulation causes a possibility of line-breakage at the stage of production of a trial circuit pattern model through exposure, development and etching by using the actual mask created according to the mask pattern. When the occurrence of line-breakage is found, a new mask pattern needs to be produced. This increases development cost and development period.
Further, with the development of micro-sized LSI, high accuracy of PPC model has become a large demand. In the conventional PPC model, a simulation model is created based on a light intensity calculation result obtained by lithography simulation with a limited threshold (variable threshold or fixed threshold) for avoiding short-circuit of simulation pattern and a limited threshold (variable threshold or fixed threshold) for avoiding line-breakage, and the various sizes (line width etc.) of the circuit pattern obtained by exposure, development, and etching of a resist using the mask are calculated according to the simulation model (variable threshold model or fixed threshold model). Further, in a conventional PPC model, a simulation model is created based on a light intensity calculation result obtained by lithography simulation, with a simplified estimation of effect of photoresist development and etching effect. Therefore, to obtain a highly accurate PPC model, the estimation of photoresist shape by way of exposure calculation and development calculation can be performed with higher accuracy. However, the process time of pattern correction increases, and a load of device performing pattern correction calculation increases.
Further, in the case of creating mask pattern data from the design data of a semiconductor circuit, complex data processes such as PPC or auxiliary pattern production are required because of recent development of micro semiconductor. Therefore, after the data processes, a pattern validation (check) process is required to assess adequacy of data results. There are various pattern validation methods. For example, the validation method after PPC may be performed by a method of checking the pattern data after PPC according to the PPC rule, or a method using an empirical model of checking the pattern resulted from exposure whether the pattern satisfies the target size. The pattern validation is becoming more important with the further development of micro semiconductor element. This has caused a demand for a validation technology with high accuracy.
The following explains the problems of Patent Documents of 2, 3, 5 and 6 which are the features to be addressed by the example embodiment presented herein.
FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a mask pattern data creation process according to the Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2005-134520).
In the mask pattern data creation process of the Patent Document 2, the design pattern is modified first to satisfy the process margin (S111), and then is modified into a proximity effect correction pattern for realizing the design pattern modified in S111 (S112). Next, the process margin is examined to check whether it is not less than the reference value (S113). Then, any part with process margin out of the reference value is subjected to pattern correction (S114). After output of mask data, a mask is created (S115).
FIG. 1, FIG. 3, and Paragraphs [0017], [0019], [0021], and [0023] of the Patent Document 2 describe conversion of design data into a desired pattern ensuring a desired process margin in S111 before the optical proximity effect correction by changing the pattern of amount delta corresponding to the pattern width L and the pattern gap S, based on the conversion table (table of rules) of FIG. 3. Specifically, the paragraph [0021] of Patent Document 2 reads "the conversion amount delta . . . for maintaining a process margin can be determined by an exposure test using masks of varied parameters of a line width or a space width of the Lines & Space pattern, or by light intensity simulation".
More specifically, the Patent Document 2 describes that a correction rule for maintaining a process margin is determined by an exposure test using masks of varied parameters of a line width or a space width of the Lines & Space pattern, and the correction is carried out according to the correction rule before and after the optical proximity effect correction.
However, the method of Patent Document 2 carries out correction so as to maintain the process margin of the pattern after the optical proximity effect correction, that is, the method is not to detect and correct a pattern which becomes a critical pattern in the optical proximity effect correction. Therefore, in the method of the Patent Document 2, the area of a local margin degradation point of the design pattern in the optical proximity effect correction cannot be removed before the optical proximity effect correction. This is written in Paragraph [0025] of the Patent Document 2 as "At the stage after the proximity effect correction section S12, a local margin degradation point remains". Further, in the Patent Document 2, only a mask including Lines & Space pattern is disclosed as a mask for the exposure test, and there is no teaching of a mask including a pattern which becomes critical in the optical proximity effect correction, such as a H-type crosslinking pattern.
Further, paragraph [0024] of the Patent Document 2 reads "the desired pattern may be formed on a portion where the process margin decreases in a two-dimensional manner. For example, . . . in the case where the design pattern 105 is constituted of large-area rectangle and narrow-line patterns, the width 102 of the large-area pattern is a narrow line". However, a method of detecting a pattern which becomes critical in the optical proximity effect correction before performing the optical proximity effect correction is not found in this description.
Further, Paragraphs [0026] to [0029], and [0035] of the Patent Document 2 disclose pattern correction with respect to an extracted pattern whose process margin is equal to or less than the reference value after the optical proximity effect correction.
However, in the Patent Document 2, the extraction of the part (pattern) whose process margin is equal to or less than the reference value after the optical proximity effect correction is performed by comparison with the distribution form of light intensity obtained by a light intensity simulation. As described above, the conventional check process based on the light intensity simulation is not capable of detecting a pattern which becomes critical in the optical proximity effect correction (shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6). Therefore, detection and correction of a pattern which becomes critical in the optical proximity effect correction (shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) is not possible even by a method of pattern extraction and pattern correction after the optical proximity effect correction disclosed in the Patent Document 2.
In conclusion, the OPC process in Patent Document 2 is inadequate, as it is not capable of detecting and correcting a pattern (FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) which becomes critical in the optical proximity effect correction. Therefore, if a lithography process is performed with a photomask which is formed based on the photomask pattern of the Patent Document 2 having been through the OPC process, the process spec (such as process margin) is not achieved in the entire area. Consequently, it becomes necessary to check whether the process spec is satisfied, and correct the layout as required after the photolithography process by way of photo evaluation (evaluation based on an image captured by an electron microscope). That is, it is necessary to correct the design data of photomask after the photolithography process, create a new photomask, and subjects the new mask to photo evaluation again. This brings a great waste of cost and a great delay of development. In view of this problem, there is a demand for a validation technology capable of detecting the critical pattern such as the ones shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, so as to realize a highly-accurate OPC process with which the layout correction after the photolithography process is not necessary.
The Patent Documents 3, 5, and 6 describe existing OPC process flow or PPC process flow. For example, in Patent Document 3, the difference between the target pattern and the estimation (simulation) value is found using the mask pattern data after the OPC process, and the difference is used as an index of mask pattern correction. In Patent Document 5, an unknown parameter is found using a mask including a test pattern. Various test patterns produced from a base pattern or a repetitive pattern with varied biases and pitches are used. In Patent Document 6, the measured length by a SEM and a mask pattern coordinate are associated to find the difference of them, and the difference is used as an index of mask pattern correction. However, these methods carry out validation, extraction, and correction to resulting mask pattern data, that is, carry out validation, extraction, and correction of mask pattern data after creation of mask pattern data. Those methods thus do not allow mask pattern data correction before creation of mask pattern.

Correction method and correction system for design data or mask data, validation method and validation system for design data or mask data, yield estimation method for semiconductor integrated circuit, method for improving design rule, mask production method, and semiconductor integrated circuit production method


An electrical connector (20) includes a dielectric housing (22) having a mating face (24) and a pair of contacts (44,54) disposed therein. Each contact (44,54) has a contact section (46,56) exposed at the mating face (24). The first contact section (46) is associated with a forwardly extending shroud (26) spaced from and circumscribing the first contact section (46). The second contact section (56) is associated with a forwardly extending silo (28) closely surrounding the second contact section (56). The second contact section (56) is complementary to the first contact section (46) and the silo (28) is complementary to the shroud (26), whereby the connector mating face (24) is hermaphroditic.

In many instances it is desirable to connect an electrical cable to a substrate, such as a circuit board, a panel, or a bulkhead or other structure that is exposed to environmental conditions of temperature, moisture and dirt. Additionally, the cable and connectors may need to withstand physical shock and vibration.
It is desirable, therefore, to have a rugged connector to meet the various physical requirements and, in addition, to be cost effective to manufacture.


An emergency lighting system that can be used on any vehicle where the standard lighting system installed on the vehicle is malfunctional, especially at the rear of the vehicle, due to shorting out or other causes. The emergency lights consist of units having various colored lights therein, such as red, white or yellow that are normally recognized in any traffic pattern. The lights can be operated from the standard battery of the vehicle or can be switched to a battery system contained in the light units. This is especially true in vehicles towing a boat or a trailer. When the boat is launched into the water, the lights on the trailer may be submerged into the water thereby shorting out the electrical system. This renders the towed vehicle illegal in traffic on the highway because the rear lights are not functioning. The inventive concept of this invention solves the above noted problem.

This invention discloses and claims an emergency light system to be installed on a trailer that is towing a boat. It is a well known fact that when a boat is being launched into the water on a ramp that the rear end of the trailer with the boat thereon is being submerged in the water until the boat can float. The reverse is true also when the boat is being retrieved from the water whereby the trailer is being submerged again until it is located under the boat. Once the boat is fastened to the trailer the towing vehicle can now pull the trailer with the boat thereon from the water. The problem is that when the trailer is repeatedly submerged in the water, the electrical system may get water soaked thereby short out the rear lights that are used to establish rear lights, brake lights or flasher lights which would render the vehicle illegal to be driven on the highway. The present invention is designed to elevate the above noted problems.


Aluminosilicate glass, chemically strengthened glass, and an application are provided. After the aluminosilicate glass is chemically strengthened, a glass substrate featuring a good mechanical strength and high chemical stability can be obtained, thereby meeting a requirement of cover glass for a glass material. The aluminosilicate glass does not include a B element and a P element, and includes at least silicon oxide, aluminium oxide, alkali metal oxide, and gallium oxide. The alkali metal oxide is at least one of lithium oxide and sodium oxide. The glass is used for production of the cover glass.

In recent years, with development of a mobile device, a shipment rate of cover glass is becoming higher. Especially, with development of modern display and touchscreen technologies, advanced intelligent products, such as a mobile phone, a liquid crystal display television, a liquid crystal display, a cash machine, and a print advertisement media machine, with flat-panel displays emerge in endlessly. Many functions and transactions are completed by touching a display screen by using a finger or a pen. This imposes a higher requirement on touchscreen cover glass. To be specific, the touchscreen cover glass is required to feature a high mechanical strength, a high Young's modulus, a low density, low costs, excellent bubble quality, and the like.
Cover glass manufacturers are constantly improving cover glass performance by improving glass composition. Some manufacturers add a boron (B) element or a phosphorus (P) element to aluminosilicate glass to meet a performance requirement of the cover glass. However, because the boron element and the phosphorus element are relatively active, when they are applied to the cover glass, chemical stability is poor, there is still a problem such as a low mechanical strength, and it is difficult to meet a requirement of the cover glass for a glass material.

Aluminosilicate glass, chemically strengthened glass, and application


A vertical alignment liquid crystal display device includes: a pair of substrates which are arranged opposite each other; a liquid crystal layer which is interposed between the paired substrates; an interlayer insulating film which is formed on at least either the first substrate or the second substrate and provided with an aperture which is rectangular when viewed in plan and opened toward the other substrate; a transmissive region provided within the periphery of the aperture and performs transmissive display; and a reflective electrode which is arranged along the periphery of the aperture. The liquid crystal display device further includes a light shield for preventing light from passing through discontinuity regions which are included in a portion of the liquid crystal layer corresponding to the aperture and where liquid crystal molecules are oriented in a discontinuous manner.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vertical alignment liquid crystal display device including transmissive regions for transmissive display.
(b) Description of Related Art
So far, there have been known semi-transparent liquid crystal display devices including reflective regions for reflective display and transmissive regions for transmissive display (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-195329). Now, an explanation is given of a semi-transparent liquid crystal display device with reference to the drawings.
One of pixels in a vertical alignment semi-transparent liquid crystal display device is shown in a plan view of FIG. 30 and a sectional view of FIG. 31. The semi-transparent liquid crystal display device includes a TFT substrate 51 on which a plurality of thin film transistors (hereinafter referred to as TFTs) 10 have been formed one by one in every pixel and a counter substrate 52 which is arranged opposite the TFT substrate 51 with a liquid crystal layer 4 interposed therebetween. The vertical alignment liquid crystal display device achieves visual display with wide viewing angle and high contrast.
The TFT substrate 51 includes a glass substrate 2 on which the TFTs 10 and wires 11 are formed and a protective insulating film 17 made of silicon nitride or the like is stacked. A transparent electrode 14 is stacked on the protective insulating film 17. An interlayer insulating film 22 is formed also on the protective insulating film 17 to cover part of the transparent electrode 14 and a reflective electrode 15 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 22. More specifically, the interlayer insulating film 22 is provided for adjustment of a liquid crystal cell gap at the reflective region and made of a resin or the like. The reflective electrode 15, transparent electrode 14 and interlayer insulating film 22 are covered with a vertical alignment film 18 (e.g., polyimide).
As shown in FIG. 30, part of the pixel region where the interlayer insulating film 22 is not formed is a transmissive region T, while the other part of the pixel region provided with the interlayer insulating film 22 and the reflective electrode 15 is a reflective region H.
The reflective electrode 15 is made of aluminum having high reflectance, for example. The transparent electrode 14 is made of ITO (indium tin oxide) having high transmittance, for example. The electrodes 14 and 15 are physically and electrically in contact with each other and connected to a drain electrode of the TFT 10. When the TFT 10 is driven, a certain voltage is applied to the transparent electrode 14 and the reflective electrode 15 through the drain electrode.
The counter substrate 52 includes a glass substrate 1 provided with a color filter 21 and a transparent electrode (e.g., ITO) which serves as a counter electrode 19. The counter substrate 52 further includes structures 16 (hereinafter referred to as rivets) for controlling the orientation of liquid crystal molecules 3 when a voltage is applied. The rivets 16 are formed on parts of the counter electrode 19 corresponding to the transmissive region T and the reflective region H, respectively, and covered with a vertical alignment film (e.g., polyimide) together with the counter electrode 19.
The liquid crystal layer 4 is made of a liquid crystal composition introduced in a gap between the TFT substrate 51 and the counter electrode 52. Though not shown, polarizers and phase difference compensation films are adhered to the outer surfaces of the glass substrates 1 and 2.
In the semi-transparent liquid crystal display device including the thus configured pixels, the orientations of the liquid crystal molecules 3 located in the reflective region H and the transmissive region T are controlled by driving the TFT 10 in each pixel. The quantity of light passing through the polarizer is changed by the electrooptic effect of the liquid crystal, thereby achieving visual display. In the vertical alignment liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal molecules 3 are oriented in the direction substantially vertical to the glass substrate 2 as shown in FIG. 31 when no voltage is applied. Therefore, the vertical alignment liquid crystal display device is allowed to realize wider viewing angle and higher contrast as compared with a liquid crystal display device in which the liquid crystal molecules 3 are oriented parallel to the glass substrate 2 when no voltage is applied.
Now, a detailed explanation is given of the configuration of the transmissive region T. The interlayer insulating film 22 is given with an aperture 53 which is rectangular when viewed in plan. In general, the transmissive region T is provided within the aperture 53. In particular, the transmissive region T shown in FIG. 30 is in the square form. Along the sides of the square-shaped transmissive region T, the interlayer insulating film 22 forms sloping faces 55. That is, part of the liquid crystal layer 4 existing in the transmissive region T is surrounded by the sloping faces 55 of the interlayer insulating film 22. Further, as shown in FIG. 31, the reflective electrode 15 is formed on the surface of the interlayer insulating film 22 such that the edge thereof slightly extends toward the center of the transmissive region T. The edge of the reflective electrode 15 is physically and electrically in contact with the transparent electrode 14.
The liquid crystal molecules 3 are oriented in the direction vertical to the vertical alignment film 18 as shown in FIG. 31 when no voltage is applied. On the other hand, when a voltage is applied, the liquid crystal molecules 3 existing in the transmissive region T show twisted orientation around the rivet 16 as shown in FIG. 32.