Novel tricyclic-bis-enone derivatives (TBEs) as well as the process for the preparation of such TBEs are provided. Also provided are methods for prevention and/or treatment of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotropic lateral sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and all other diseases whose pathogenesis is believed to involve excessive production of either nitric oxide (NO) or prostaglandins or the overexpression of iNOS or COX-2 genes or gene products. Further, methods for the synthesis of the TBE compounds of the invention utilize cheap commercially available reagents and are highly cost effective and amenable to scale-up. Additional high efficiency synthetic methods that utilize novel intermediates as well as the synthesis of these intermediates are also provided. Furthermore, the invention also provides methods for designing novel and water-soluble TBEs.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides novel tricyclic-bis-enone derivatives (TBEs), as well as the process for the preparation of such TBEs, for prevention and/or treatment of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotropic lateral sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other diseases whose pathogenesis is believed to involve excessive production of either nitric oxide (NO) or prostaglandins.
II. Description of Related Art
One of the major needs in clinical oncology is the development of effective and safe new agents for chemoprevention. In particular, there is a need for chemopreventative agents targeted at mechanisms known to be involved in the process of carcinogenesis. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of mechanisms of inflammation that relate to carcinogenesis and in the use of such mechanisms as the basis for development of new chemopreventative agents.
The concept that inflammation and carcinogenesis are related phenomena has been the subject of many studies that have attempted to link these two processes in a mechanistic fashion (Sporn and Roberts, 1986; Ohshima and Bartsch, 1994). The enzymes that mediate the constitutive synthesis of NO and prostaglandins from arginine and arachidonate, respectively, have relative little significance for either inflammation or carcinogenesis. In contrast, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and inducible cycloxygenase (COX-2) both have critical roles in the response of tissues to injury or infectious agents (Moncada et al., 1991; Nathan and Xie, 1994; Tamir and Tannebaum, 1996). These inducible enzymes are essential components of the inflammatory process, the ultimate repair of injury, and carcinogenesis. While physiological activity of iNOS and COX-2 may provide a definite benefit to the organism, aberrant or excessive expression of either iNOS or COX-2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many disease processes, particularly in chronic degeneration of the central nervous system, carcinogenesis, septic shock, cardiomyopathy, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The need for new agents to prevent and treat cancer is readily evident from the continuing high mortality rates for the common forms of epithelial cancer, such as carcinoma of the lung, colon, breast, and prostate. As methods of genetic testing can identify increasing numbers of people who are at high risk for the development of cancers, it becomes increasingly important to discover new pharmacologic agents that can be used interventionally to prevent this outcome, well before the occurrence of malignant invasive disease. The same is true for degenerative diseases, inflammatory diseases and immune diseases that involve increased NO or prostaglandin production. Therefore, the art lacks compounds for the chemoprevention of cancer and the other diseases or conditions described above that can be produced by efficient and cost effective methods and are also easy to administer.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tricyclic-bis-enone derivatives and methods of use thereof


Service level agreement (SLA) based monitoring and configuration of a path for transmission of data is achieved by identifying an SLA associated with the data and determining transmission requirements associated with the SLA. A status of a network element in the path, such as data occupancy of a data queue included in the network element, may be determined and used to select one of a high bandwidth portion or a low bandwidth portion of the pathway. The occupancy of the queue may be used to estimate a transmission delay, and the estimated transmission delay is used to select between the high bandwidth portion and the low bandwidth portion. The data may be directed to the selected bandwidth portion by changing a quality of service (QoS) value or other attribute associated with the data.

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a part of a service contract where a service is formally defined. The SLA may specify the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, operation, or of other attributes of the service. Each level may also be specified as "expected" or "minimum," which allows customers to be informed what to expect (the minimum), while providing a measurable (average) target value that shows the level of organization performance. As an example, an Internet service provider may include SLAs within the terms of their contracts with customers to define the level(s) of service being sold. In the case of the Internet service provider, an SLA may include terms related to, for example, a mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair or mean time to recovery (MTTR), various data rates; throughput, jitter, or similar measurable criteria.

Service level agreement (SLA) based provisioning and management


An apparatus and method for automatically placing a fixed-site transceiver into service once installed in a wireless communication network, such as a cellular communication network. Configuration data is stored at a memory device. When the fixed-site transceiver is powered-on, the configuration data stored at the memory device is retrieved, and downloaded to set the parameters required for operation of the base station.

Utilization of wireless communication systems to communicate telephonically has achieved wide popularity in recent years. Because a wireline connection is not required to effectuate telephonic communication, communication by way of a wireless communication system is possible at a location to which formation of a wireline connection would be impractical or impossible.
A cellular communication system is a type of wireless communication system. When the infrastructure, hereinafter referred to as the network of the cellular communication system, is installed in a geographical area, a subscriber to the cellular system is generally able to communicate telephonically in the system when positioned at any location in the geographical area encompassed by the system.
Cellular communication networks, have been installed throughout significant portions of the world. Large numbers of subscribers to cellular communication systems formed of such cellular networks are able to communicate telephonically when positioned in areas encompassed by such cellular networks. Telephonic communication of both voice and data is typically permitted.
As increased numbers of subscribers make greater usage of cellular networks, during certain time periods and in certain areas, utilization of existing cellular networks has reached their maximum capacities. Capacity problems are sometimes first evident in areas of the cellular network positioned along highly-traveled roadways, particularly during morning and evening rush periods and in urban areas of significant population densities.
When a cellular network is operated at its maximum capacity, additional users desiring to utilize the cellular network are sometimes prohibited from accessing the network until those utilizing the cellular network terminate their communications therethrough.
Various measures have been proposed and implemented by which to increase the capacities of existing cellular communication networks.
For instance, some networks have been converted to permit their usage in an analog, narrowband, cellular system. In a narrowband system, the bandwidths of the transmission channels upon which signals are transmitted between a fixed-site transceiver and a remotely-positioned mobile terminal (i.e., the cellular phone) are reduced relative to the bandwidths of the transmission channels of a conventional, cellular communication network. Due to the reduced bandwidths of the transmission channels, a greater number of transmission channels are defined within the frequency band allocated for cellular communications.
To implement a narrowband system, however, the circuitry of the fixed infrastructure of a conventional, cellular communication network must be converted to permit its operation in a narrowband system. Mobile terminals (i.e., the cellular telephones) operable in the conventional network must similarly be converted to permit their usage in a narrowband system. Such conversion is relatively costly and typically requires substitution or replacement of existing circuitry with circuitry operable in the narrowband system.
Some other networks have been converted to permit the transmission and reception of digitally-modulated signals transmitted pursuant to a digital modulation technique in a digital, cellular system.
Use of a digital modulation technique permits efficient utilization of the transmission channels of the frequency band allocated for cellular communications. By utilizing a digital modulation technique, a single frequency channel can be used, e.g., by utilizing a time division multiplexing technique, to transmit more than one signal upon a single transmission channel. A several-fold increase in the capacity of a cellular communication network operable in a digital system over that of a conventional, cellular communication system is typically possible. To implement a digital system, however, the circuitry of the fixed infrastructure of a conventional, cellular communication network must be converted to permit its operation in the digital system. Mobile terminals operable in the conventional network must similarly be converted to permit their usage in the digital system. Such conversion is also relatively costly and typically requires the replacement of existing circuitry.
While both of such aforementioned manners by which to increase the capacity of a cellular communication network are well able to provide a significant increase in the capacity of the cellular communication network, the aforementioned manners by which to increase the capacity of the network permits such increase only at significant expense.
As mentioned previously, the density of usage of a cellular communication network is typically not uniform, but rather varies, for instance, according to the time-of-day and the position at which usage of the network is attempted.
When the capacity problems are primarily localized at particular portions of the geographical area encompassed by the cellular network, another manner by which to increase the capacity of the cellular communication network is sometimes utilized. By adding an additional fixed-site transceiver to the network, the capacity of the network is effectively increased.
By appropriate selection of the position at which the additional, fixed-site transceiver is located, areas of the cellular communication network which exhibit the greatest densities of usage, the capacity of the communication network can be most effectively increased. By including a plurality of additional, fixed-site transceivers to the cellular network, the capacity of the network can, at times, be correspondingly increased.
When an additional, fixed-site transceiver is added to an existing, cellular communication network, the transceiver is installed by making appropriate physical, or other, connections with the other infrastructure of the network. After installation, the fixed-site transceiver can be placed into service. To place the additional, fixed-site transceiver into service, however, the transceiver must be initialized with configuration data. For instance, various parameters of the transceiver must first be set. Parameters pertaining to, e.g., power levels at which signals generated by the transceiver are to be transmitted, bit rates of the transmitted signals, and received signals, all must be set.
Conventionally, to place the additional, fixed-site transceiver into service, technically-trained, operating personnel have been required to set the parameters of the personnel have been required to set the parameters of the additional, fixed-site transceiver. The need to utilize skilled personnel to set the parameters of the base station is, typically, fairly-costly. The personnel required to set the parameters must be technically-skilled, and the costs of such personnel can be quite significant.
A manner by which to place a fixed-site transceiver into service without requiring technically-skilled personnel to manually set the transceiver parameters would therefore be desirable.
It is in light of this background information related to wireless communication networks that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

Method and apparatus for placing a fixed-site transceiver into service in a wireless communication network


A processing execution apparatus has an update management program and a reference limiting program. The update management program manages whether or not A- to C-data update programs are performing data update, and shows an update status indicating that update is being performed or a standby status indicating that update is not being performed. Then, the reference limiting program refers to the status of the update management program. If it is in the update status, the program does not notify an X-program including data reference processing of the received event. That is, execution of the X-program is controlled by notification/non-notification of the event. However, regarding a Y-program not including data reference processing, it directly operates in accordance with event.

In an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted on a vehicle, it is necessary in its control program to execute predetermined processing in a real-time manner for ensuring control response, safety and the like. For this purpose, programs are defined for tasks with priorities. More particularly, plural programs as execution units are separately defined as a program belonging to a high priority task, a program belonging to an intermediate priority task, a program belonging to a low priority task, and the like. By this definition, execution priority is substantially set for each program, and selection is performed in task units and executing the corresponding program, thereby a relatively high-priority processing program is executed prior to (interrupting) a relatively low-priority processing program, and real-time execution is ensured.
A problem occurs when a series of data requiring simultaneousness is handled in a program (lower-order program) which may be interrupted by another program (higher-order program). Such a case may occur, for example, when three data P, Q and R are updated in the lower-order program. At this time, if the higher-order program interrupts the lower-order program in a status where only the data P is updated and then the three data P, Q and R are referred to, only the data P is updated but the remaining data Q and R are not updated. Thus, a status occurs in which simultaneousness is unensured.
Accordingly, the interrupt processing by a higher-order program is inhibited during a period in which a series of data is handled by a lower-order program, such that the data is not referred to by the higher-order program in the middle of the handling of the series of data. It is noted that the inhibition of interrupt processing in the present specification includes inhibition of task selection based on the task level, i.e., inhibition of a task dispatch, as well as inhibition of all the interrupt on the computer level.
However, if interrupt processing is inhibited, execution of high-order program which does not refer to a series of data as a subject of operation, i.e., program which does not cause any program even if it is executed, is uniformly inhibited. Accordingly, especially when there is a large amount of series of data as a subject of operation, as time of interrupt inhibition increases, execution of processing highly requiring real-time execution is delayed. Thus, the possibility of ill effect on control performance increases.
For example, as a series of data handling, initialization of failure code (DTC) or freeze frame data (FFD) can be given as an example. As a vehicle control program especially requires high reliability, the reliability is improved by providing the program with a self diagnostic function. That is, operation statuses of computer and sensors are automatically checked at appropriate periods, and upon occurrence of failure, the DTC as failure information or FFD as vehicle information upon occurrence of failure is stored in a nonvolatile memory such that a repair person or the like can obtain the content of the failure.
Regarding this diagnostic processing, it is required to realize service called "mode 04" for initializing stored DTC or FFD by legal regulation (OBD2). To realize this service, parameters of logic to perform failure detection must be initialized at the same time of initialization of the DTC or FFD stored in the nonvolatile memory, since the operation of the system becomes unstable if there is no consistency between the information and the parameters.
However, the number of failure detection subjects is presently about 200, and further it is increasing. Accordingly, an enormous number of data are subjects of initialization. In such a case, especially time of interrupt inhibition increases, and execution of processing highly requiring real-time execution is delayed. As a result, the possibility of unwanted effect on control performance increases.

Processing execution apparatus having data reference limiting function


Compositions and methods of preparing a bimetallic alloy having enhanced electrocatalytic properties are provided. The composition comprises a PtNi substrate having a surface layer, a near-surface layer, and an inner layer, where the surface layer comprises a nickel-depleted composition, such that the surface layer comprises a platinum skin having at least one atomic layer of platinum.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
As the global demand for energy has increased, alternative energy generation systems have become an increasingly important component in the worldwide energy generation scheme. Similarly, as the focus on air pollution and energy generation emissions has increased, much attention has focused on fuel cells as a clean and portable source of energy. A primary hindrance to widespread commercial use, however, is that fuel cells require a costly platinum (Pt) catalyst for operation. Therefore, reducing the amount of Pt required will increase the economic viability of fuel cells.
The foreground of sustainable energy is built on a renewable and environment-compatible scheme of chemical-electrical energy conversion. One of the key processes for such energy conversion is the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen, which is the cathode reaction in fuel cells and metal-air batteries where an electrocatalyst is used to accelerate the course of ORR. Current electrocatalysts used for this reaction are typically in the form of dispersed Pt nanoparticles on amorphous high-surface-area carbon. Considering the high cost and limited availability of Pt, large-scale applications of these renewable energy technologies demand substantial improvement of the catalyst performance so that the amount of Pt needed can be significantly reduced. For example, a five-fold improvement of catalytic activity for the ORR is required for the commercial implementation of fuel cell technology in transportation.
The advancement of heterogeneous catalysis relies on the capability of altering material structures at the nanoscale. Such alteration is particularly important for the development of highly active electrocatalysts with uncompromised durability. This disclosure reports the design and synthesis of a Pt-bimetallic catalyst with multilayered Pt-skin surface that provides superior electrocatalytic performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This novel structure was first established on extended thin film surfaces with tailored composition profiles and then implemented in nanocatalysts by organic solution synthesis. Electrochemical studies for the ORR demonstrated that, after elongated exposure to reaction conditions, the Pt-bimetallic catalyst with multilayered Pt-skin surfaces exhibits an improvement factor in activity of more than one order of magnitude versus conventional Pt catalysts. This substantially enhanced catalytic activity, as well as improved durability, indicate great potential toward improving the material properties by fine tuning of the nanoscale architecture.
Prior work on well-defined extended surfaces has shown that high catalytic activity for the ORR can be achieved on Pt-bimetallic alloys (Pt3M, M=Fe, Co, Ni, etc.), due to the altered electronic structure of the Pt topmost layer and hence reduced adsorption of oxygenated spectator species (e.g., OH−) on the surface. It was also found that in acidic electrochemical environment the non-noble 3d transition metals are dissolved from the near-surface layers, which leads to the formation of a Pt-skeleton surface. Moreover, the thermal treatment of Pt3M alloys in ultra high vacuum (UHV) has been shown to induce segregation of Pt and formation of distinctive topmost layer that was termed Pt-skin surface. However, the same treatment did not cause Pt to segregate over PtM alloys with high content (≦50%) of non-Pt elements. More recently, the surfacing of an ordered Pt(111)-skin over Pt3Ni(111) single crystal having 50% of Ni in the subsurface layer was further demonstrated. This unique nanosegregated composition profile was found to be responsible for the dramatically enhanced ORR activity.
Based on these findings, it could be envisioned that the most advantageous nanoscale architecture for a bimetallic electrocatalyst would correspond to the segregated Pt-skin composition profile established on extended surfaces. Much effort has been dedicated, but it still remains elusive, to finely tune the Pt-bimetallic nanostructure in order to achieve this desirable surface structure and composition profile. Major obstacles reside not only in the difficulty for manipulation of elemental distribution at the nanoscale, but also in the fundamental differences in atomic structures, electronic properties and catalytic performance between extended surfaces and confined nanomaterials. For example, in attempt to induce surface segregation, high-temperature (greater than 600 degrees Celsius) annealing is typically applied for Pt-based alloy nanocatalysts. While improvement in specific activity is obtained, such treatment usually causes particle sintering and loss of electrochemical surface area (ECSA). Besides that, the surface coordination of nanomaterials is quite different from that of bulk materials, i.e., the surface of nanoparticles is rich in corner and edge sites, which have smaller coordination number than the atoms on long range ordered terraces of extended surfaces. These low-coordination surface atoms are considered as preferential sites for the adsorption of oxygenated spectator species (e.g., OH−), and thus become blocked for adsorption of molecular oxygen and inactive for the ORR. Additionally, due to strong Pt—O interaction these low-coordination atoms are more vulnerable for migration and dissolution, resulting in poor durability and fast decay of the catalyst. The latter effect is even more pronounced in Pt-bimetallic systems, considering that more low-coordination sites are present on the skeleton surfaces formed after the depletion of non-precious metals from near-surface regions.

Bimetallic alloy electrocatalysts with multilayered platinum-skin surfaces


Embodiments of the present invention disclose a capacitive in-cell touch panel, a driving method thereof and a display device. Touch sensing electrodes extended along the row direction of pixel units are arranged on a color filter substrate; a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate adopts a dual gate structure, that is, two gate signal lines are disposed between every two adjacent rows of pixel units; every two adjacent columns of pixel units are taken as a group of pixel unit columns and share a data signal line disposed between the two pixel unit columns, so that the positions of a part of data signal lines can be saved; and touch driving electrodes for achieving the touch function are arranged at the saved positions of the data signal lines.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a capacitive in-cell touch panel, a driving method thereof and a display device.
With the rapid development of the display technology, touch screen panels have been gradually widespread in people's lives. Currently, the touch screen panels, based on the structure, can be divided into add-on mode touch panels, on-cell touch panels and in-cell touch panels. The add-on touch panel is to separately produce a touch screen and a liquid crystal display (LCD) which are then bonded together to form an LCD with touch function, and has the disadvantages of high production cost, low light transmittance, thick module and the like. The in-cell touch panel is to embed touch electrodes of a touch screen into an LCD, so that not only the overall thickness of a module can be reduced but also the production cost of the touch panel can be greatly reduced. Therefore, the in-cell touch panels are favored for the major panel manufacturers.
In order to maximize the aperture ratio of a touch display screen, a pixel structure in a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate of the touch screen may adopt a dual gate structure when designed. As illustrated in FIG. 1, two gate signal lines are disposed between every two adjacent rows of pixel units on the TFT array substrate, for instance, Gate 1 and Gate 2, Gate 3 and Gate 4, or Gate 5 and Gate 6; and every two adjacent columns of pixel units are taken as a group of pixel unit columns and share a data signal line Data 1, Data 2 or Data 3 disposed between the two pixel unit columns. The dual gate structure reduces the number of data signal lines and source driver ICs by doubling the number of the gate signal lines, and hence reduces the overall cost of the display. But there is no capacitive in-cell touch panel based on the dual gate structure currently.

Capacitive in cell touch panel and driving method thereof, display device

Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A spectroscopic ellipsometry system directs a near infra-red (NIR) probe beam at a test sample to allow metrology to be performed on vertical structures within the test sample. Because silicon is relatively transparent to NIR light, structural information can be determined from the polarization effects produced by the test sample, in a manner similar to that used with IR spectroscopic ellipsometry systems. However, unlike IR light, which requires delicate and costly optical and measurement components (e.g., vibration-sensitive Fourier transform sensors), NIR light can be directed and detected using more robust and inexpensive components (e.g., array-based detectors), thereby making a NIR spectroscopic ellipsometry system much more affordable and usable than conventional IR spectroscopic ellipsometry systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of semiconductor metrology, and in particular to a system and method for characterizing small trenches formed in silicon.
2. Related Art
Traditionally, semiconductor devices such as metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors have been formed as essentially planar devices (sometimes referred to as "bulk" devices). Specifically, the gate dielectric and gate elements in such devices have been flat structures formed on the surface of a silicon wafer. However, in modern semiconductor devices, the need to achieve higher device performance in reduced die areas has led to the development of device designs that make greater use of the vertical dimension. For example, a "tri-gate" transistor can be formed by etching parallel trenches into a silicon wafer, thereby creating a "fin" of silicon between the trenches. A gate dielectric layer and a gate layer can then be formed that wrap over the surface of the fin, thereby creating a gate and channel structure for the transistor. Because the gate can apply an electric field to three surfaces of the channel region, control over current flow through the fin can be enhanced over similarly-sized bulk transistors.
Unfortunately, this trend towards vertical structures within increasingly miniaturized devices can significantly complicate measurements performed on those devices. For example, forming an array of tri-gate transistors requires that a series of trenches be formed in the silicon substrate. To provide the greatest device performance in the smallest die area, the trenches are relatively deep and narrow, which makes interior inspection of individual trenches extremely difficult, particularly because the trench dimensions are typically smaller than the wavelengths of light used in conventional optical metrology tools.
One approach to overcome this measurement difficulty is to use an infra-red (IR) spectroscopic ellipsometry technique to measure an array of trenches as a whole. For example, FIG. 1 shows an IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100 that includes a stage 110 for supporting a test sample 190, an IR beam generator 120, focusing optics 130, output optics 140, and a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) 150. Test sample 190 includes an array of trenches 191, with each trench having a width W and a depth D. The remaining material between each trench 191 has a width T. Typical trench dimensions for current dynamic random access memory (DRAM) designs could be depths D between 2 μm and 15 μm, and widths W of less than 0.5 μm.
To perform a metrology operation on test sample 190, IR beam generator 120 generates an IR probe beam 121 that focusing optics 130 directs onto test sample 190. IR probe beam 121 includes light from the short to long IR regions having wavelengths across the range of 2 to 20 μm. IR probe beam 121 is reflected by test sample 190 as an output beam 122 that is directed by output optics 140 onto FTS 150. A polarizer 131 in focusing optics 130 and an analyzer 141 in output optics 140 allow polarization changes caused by test sample 190 to be measured by FTS 150.
To analyze the data gathered by FTS 150, the array of trenches 191 is modeled as a "fictitious" film of a material having characteristics falling somewhere between those of air and those of pure silicon. This fictitious film modeling can be performed due to the fact that silicon is essentially transparent to IR light, so that any reflection that occurs (i.e., output beam 122) is a function of the geometry of trenches 191. Furthermore, because the wavelengths of IR probe beam 121 will generally be much larger than the width of trenches 191, output beam 122 will include contributions from many trenches 191. Therefore, the resulting measurements will be representative of the array of trenches as a whole.
Once the characteristics of the fictitious film are determined, those characteristics can be used to generate measurement values for trenches 191. For example, the thickness of the fictitious film can be provided as the measured value for the depth D of trenches 191. Likewise, the index of refraction for the fictitious film can be used to determine a volumetric ratio for the trench (air) and silicon regions, thereby allowing an average width W for trenches 191 to be determined. In this manner, IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100 can enable characterization of the array of trenches 191 on test sample 190.
Unfortunately, IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100 is faced with several issues that limit its applicability and effectiveness as a metrology tool. First, due to the low reflectivity of silicon to IR light, it is desirable for IR probe beam 121 to have a high intensity to maximize the signal provided by output beam 122. However, the relatively long wavelengths of light in IR probe beam 121 (i.e., low to high IR wavelengths) can make generation of a high intensity difficult. Furthermore, those long wavelengths can also prevent measurements from being taken in small regions of a test sample (e.g., in the scribe line of a wafer), thereby limiting the flexibility of IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100.
Finally, the main issue affecting the feasibility of IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100 as a production tool is the high cost and complexity of the components required for IR signal processing. For example, due to chromatic aberration effects that increase with increased wavelength, high-precision mirrors must generally be used in focusing optics 130 and output optics 140, rather than more inexpensive lenses. In addition, because typical CCD (charge coupled device) and diode arrays are unable to sense wavelengths above roughly 900 nm, IR spectroscopic ellipsometry system 100 requires the use of FTS (Fourier transform sensor) 150. FTS 150 incorporates beam splitting optics 151 and an interferometer 152 that allows a Fourier transform to be performed on output beam 122 to generate a spectrum of intensities for the range of wavelengths in output beam 122. FTS 150 is a very complex and expensive sensor that is also very delicate and extremely sensitive to vibrations, and is therefore not particularly well-suited for a production environment.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a robust, reliable, and low-cost system and method for performing metrology on trenches in a silicon substrate.

Method and system for measuring deep trenches in silicon


This invention relates to a radioactive patch/film and process of preparation thereof. The radioactive patch/film containing radioactive material can irradiate on skin directly. The radioactive patch/film is prepared by the process, wherein, various forms of the patch/film containing stable nuclide is prepared and irradiated with neutrons. The patch/film is very effective to treat various kinds of cancers, and dermal diseases.

There are two kinds of radiation therapy; one is the internal radiation therapy that radioactive material is administered into the lesion to emit radiation in the human body, and the other is the external radiation therapy that radiation is emitted from the outside of the body through special equipments.
In the internal radiation therapy, radioactive materials are administered orally, intravenously or by injecting directly into the body. But the internal radiation therapy has not yet been utilized widely on the reason that a radioactive material administered to the lesion may be leaked out and spread to the whole body through blood flow, and accumulated to other organs or tissues, and it results in a fatal damage to other organs, especially bone marrow very sensitive to radiation. Therefore, most malignant tumors have been treated by the external radiation therapy.
The external radiation also has many problems. For the external radiation therapy, radionuclides with high penetrative radiation should be used, since the rays are emitted out of the body, and it results in the irradiation of adjacent normal tissue as well as the lesion. And it is not convenient to use the external radiation on account of expensive equipments, hospitalization and the like.
The inventors have conducted intensive research in order to find the way of irradiating the lesion conveniently and invented the new therapeutic type for irradiation to patients. That is, radioactive material is prepared in a form of patch/film which makes irradiation easy and irradiates lesion site specifically.

Radioactive patch/film and process for preparation thereof


The same water-repellent process is provided on a nozzle forming part and the outer circumferential part of a nozzle formation member. A first water-repellent layer is formed through a first water-repellent process on the surface of a nozzle forming part (which forms nozzles on a surface of a nozzle plate, and a second water-repellent layer is formed through a second water-repellent process different from the first water-repellent process on the surface of the outer circumferential part (outer portion of surface) of the nozzle plate.

As an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, and a composite machine thereof, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus is known. The ink jet recording apparatus with the liquid drop ejecting head as a recording head performs recording (image formation, character printing, image printing, and printing may be used as synonyms) by ejecting ink as recording liquid onto a medium to be recorded (hereinafter it is called paper form which is not limited to a paper as a material but it may be also called a recording medium, a transfer paper, a transfer material and recorded material).
However, since the liquid drop ejecting head performs recording by ejecting the liquid drop from a nozzle, a nozzle forming and precision have big influence on a jet characteristic of an ink drop. Also, it is known that surface properties of a nozzle formation member forming a nozzle hole affect the jet characteristic of an ink drop. When ink adheres to a circumference part of nozzle hole of the nozzle formation member surface and uneven ink gathering occurs, for example, it is known that inconvenience occurs such that an ejection course of an ink drop is changed, and variation occurs to size of an ink drop, and flight speed of an ink drop becomes unstable.
For the conventional liquid drop ejecting head, it is known that not only water-repellent processing to repel the ink (ink-repellent processing) on the surface of nozzle formation member forming a nozzle is given but also a collection of the wiped ink after cleaning of the nozzle surface is accumulated and there is a problem that the paper surface is touched the collection of the wiped ink and pollute the paper surface, a water-repellent processing is provided on the opposite surface facing a surface and the side of a nozzle cover, also the water-repellent processing is provided on a head base to fix the head when the nozzle cover which covers outer parts of the nozzle formation member is provided.
Patent Document 1: JP 3457458
Patent Document 2: JP 2001-310476,A
Patent Document 3: JP 2002-067288,A

Liquid drop ejecting head and image forming apparatus, liquid drop ejecting apparatus, recording method


Disclosed herein is a compressor case assembly that includes a compressor case section having an assembly track and a set of stator portions that are insertable in the assembly track, the compressor case section and the set of stator portions are configured such that the set of stator portions only assembles to the compressor case section in a single configuration.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to axial compressors. More particularly, the subject relates to the installation of stator vanes in an axial compressor.
An axial compressor consists of both rotating and stationary components. A shaft drives a central drum, which has a number of annular rotors. Rotor sections rotate between a similar number of stationary stator sections, each stator section attached to a stationary outer tube case. Each of the sections of rotors and stators include a plurality of vanes around which airflow passes. Compressors often utilize complex non-uniform vane schemes or other asymmetric vane arrangements for various reasons both within each section, and between different sections. Non-uniform vane schemes utilize differently shaped vanes in addition to differently angled vanes. In the case of each stator vane section, these non-uniform schemes must be assembled in specific circumferential locations along the compressor case section in order to have the desired effect. The art would therefore be receptive to a method and apparatus for insuring the proper installation of stator vanes.

Method and apparatus for insuring proper installation of stators in a compressor case


In various embodiments, a method for processing a wafer may include: providing a wafer having at least one die region and at least one metallization disposed over the at least one die region; covering the at least one metallization with a protecting layer; plasma etching the wafer to form at least one die.

Today, fabrication of semiconductor dies or chips commonly includes so-called dicing, i.e. separation of the individual dies or chips from a substrate, typically a wafer substrate or, short, wafer. In the production lines, dicing currently is achieved by means of mechanical sawing of the substrate. Recently, plasma dicing has appeared for the separation of the dies of a wafer, especially for dicing of very small chips on a wafer. Plasma dicing generally involves etching of the wafer.
However, during the etch process, metallizations provided on the wafer, such as, for example backside metallizations of the chips may be slightly etched or impurities may diffuse into the metallizations, metal material may be "kicked out" from the metallization during etching and contaminate the etch chamber, or an uncontrolled polymerization may occur, which may lead to changed etching rates and/or stability characteristics.

Method for processing a wafer and method for dicing a wafer


A method for preparing hydroxylamine is provided that includes the steps of (i) pretreating an acidic buffer solution; and (ii) reducing nitrate ions in the acidic buffer solution with hydrogen to give hydroxylamine in the presence of catalysts, wherein the pretreatment is performed by adding a precipitant represented by formula (I) to the acidic buffer solution,[(A)aM(CN)6.xH2O]  (I)allowing the metal impurities in the acidic buffer solution to react with the precipitant to form metal complex, and then to remove the metal complex. The metal complex is formed and separated by pretreating the acidic buffer solution with a specific precipitant without adjusting pH and changing the composition of the acidic buffer solution prior to hydroxylamine synthesis, thus enhancing the selectivity of the hydroxylamine production.

Industrial preparation of hyroxylamine is usually carried out under a recycling system by combining with other processes, for example, the hydroxylamine-oxime reaction system. In this system, nitric acid and hydrogen are used as starting material, and phosphate salt is used as an inorganic processing solution. Nitrate ions are reduced to hydroxylamine in the presence of catalysts. The hydroxylamine obtained is subjected to a condensation reaction with cyclohexanone to give cyclohexanone oxime. After oxime is produced, nitric acid is added to the phosphate processing solution or nitrous gases is introduced and absorbed to form nitric acid, so as to increase the required amount of nitrate ions. Thereafter, the phosphate inorganic processing solution is introduced to a hydroxylamine reactor to generate hydroxylamine. These reactions are shown as follows:
Preparation of Hydroxylammonium Phosphate by the Reduction of Nitrate IonsNH4NO3+2H3PO4+3H2→NH3OH.H2PO4+NH4H2PO4+2H2OPreparation of Cyclohexanone Oxime by Condensation with CyclohexanoneNH3OH.H2PO4+C6H10O→C6H10NOH+H2O+H3PO4Supplement of Nitrate Ions into the Phosphate Inorganic Processing SolutionHNO3+H2PO4−→NO3−+H3PO4
Since the inorganic processing solution containing phosphate salt is recycled during the processing, the quality of the obtained hydroxylamine is directly affected by the quality of the inorganic processing solution. In the inorganic processing solution, phosphoric acid and phosphate salts are used as an acidic buffer solution. The metal impurities formed through the corrosion of apparatuses or other causes will be dissolved in the acidic buffer solution during the recycling processing and will decrease the selectivity of hydroxylamine production.
To illustrate, U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,758 describes that an inorganic processing solution containing molybdenum, rhodium or ruthenium causes a decrease of the selectivity of hydroxylamine production. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,927 discloses that when hydroxylamine is prepared by reduction of nitrate ions or nitrogen monoxide with hydrogen in an acidic solution, the acidic solution can corrode apparatuses or facilities, and thus causes the contamination with heavy metal. Among the heavy metal contaminants, molybdenum contaminants can cause 5˜15% decrease of the selectivity of hydroxylamine production. Therefore, the molybdenum contaminants are removed from the acidic solution by coprecipitation of the molybdenum contaminants together with the ion-ammonium phosphate precipitate.
However, the coprecipitation requires a pH of over 3.5 to give precipitates, and a basic solution is required to adjust the pH of the acidic inorganic processing solution used in the hydroxylamine-oxime recycling system. However, this treatment will increase the cost and the complexity of processes, and the selectivity of the hydroxylamine production is only promoted up to 83%.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a simple process with high selectivity for the preparation hydroxylamine.

China Petrochemical Development Corporation


[Problem] To provide a group III nitride semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same in which dislocation density in a semiconductor layer can be precisely reduced.

There has been known an LED element containing a GaN-based semiconductor layer formed on an SiC substrate (e.g. see Patent Literature 1). The LED element uses a fluorescent SiC substrate having a first SiC layer in which B and N are doped and a second SiC layer in which Al and N are doped and releases near-ultraviolet light from a multiple quantum well active layer. Near-ultraviolet light, which is absorbed in the first SiC layer and the second SiC layer, is converted from green visible light to red visible light in the first SiC layer and converted from blue visible light to red visible light in the second SiC layer. As a result, white light which is close to sunlight with a high rendering property is released from the fluorescent SiC substrate.
However, the LED element is accompanied by high dislocation density in the GaN-based semiconductor layer due to a lattice mismatch and a difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the SiC substrate and the GaN-based semiconductor layer. As a result, a problem arises with difficulty in increasing the thickness and lowering the resistance in the GaN-based semiconductor layer.
There is proposed a method to form a GaN film on a substrate via a buffer layer by MOCVD, after which nanocolumns are formed by etching the GaN film using metal and a dielectric nanomask in order to reduce dislocation density in a semiconductor layer on the substrate (e.g. see Patent Literature 2). According to this method, after formation of the nanocolumns, a GaN-based semiconductor layer is grown on the buffer layer and the nanocolumns by using lateral growth.

Group III nitride semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same

Abstract: [Solution] In manufacturing a group III nitride semiconductor device 1, a mask layer 40 is formed on a substrate 20, followed by selectively growing nanocolumns 50 made of a group III nitride semiconductor through a pattern 44 of the mask layer 40 in order to grow a group III nitride semiconductor layer 10 on the mask layer 40.


A retainer ring for a container of low twist welding wire which container includes a cylindrical outer wall, a lower partition and an upper opening through which the welding wire is drawn from a hollow, cylindrical spool of welding wire formed from a multitude of convolutions of wire in layers provided in the container wherein the retainer ring comprises a generally flat outer portion with an outer periphery fitting into the outer wall of the container, minimally contacting the wire surface, and comprising a number of projecting lobe portions whereby the outer periphery of the ring contains alternate areas first being closer to and then being farther from the outer walls of the container when the retainer ring is resting upon the hollow spool of welding wire in the container and an inner bell mouthed portion extending upwardly and defining an innermost wire extraction opening with a diameter substantially smaller than the spool of wire in the container.

The present invention is particularly applicable for use in a container of welding wire having a natural "cast" which means that in the free state the wire tends to seek a generally straight line condition and the invention will be described with particular reference to a natural cast type of welding wire stored as a large spool containing convolutions formed into layers of the welding wire which is payed out from the inside diameter of the spool through the upper portion of the container storing the spool. However, the invention has broader applications and may be used with any type of low twist welding wire contained in a spool to be fed from the center of the spool through the top of the container with or without a tendency to retain a generally straight condition. When welding automatically or semi-automatically it is essential that large amounts of welding wire be continuously directed to the welding operation in a non-twisted, non-distorted non-canted condition so that the welding operation is performed uniformly over long periods of time without manual intervention and/or inspection. It is a tremendously difficult task to be assured that the wire is fed to the welding operation in a non-twisted or low twist condition so that the natural tendency of the wire to seek a preordained natural condition will not be detrimental to smooth and uniform welding. To accomplish this task, welding wire is produced to have a natural cast, or low twist condition, which means, if a portion of the wire were cut into a long length and laid onto a floor the natural shape would be a straight line of the welding wire. When such wire is wrapped into a spool and a large container containing several hundred pounds of wire for automatic or semi-automatic welding, the natural tendency of the wire to remain in a straight or non-twisted condition makes the wire somewhat live when it is wrapped into an unnatural series of convolutions distorting the wire from its natural state. Thus, manufacturers produce large containers of low twist welding wire which must be removed from the container without twisting, tangling and/or introducing unwanted canting into the wire itself. For that reason, there is a tremendous amount of effort being directed merely to the concept of paying out low twist welding wire to an automatic and/or semi-automatic welding operation. If the pay out mechanism is not consistent and flaw proof, massive welding operations, which can consume a large amount of welding wire and a substantial amount of time, will be defective and require expensive reprocessing. This is a problem which must be solved by manufacturers of welding wire as they sell the welding wire in large spools to be payed out for automatic and semi-automatic welding. This problem is compounded with the trend toward even larger packages with larger stock of welding wire to thereby reduce the time required for replacement of the supply container at the automatic or semiautomatic welding operation. Consequently, there is an increased demand for a pail like container which is easily adapted to a large capacity and is constructed in a manner that withdrawing of the welding wire from the container is accomplished smoothly without disturbing the natural flow of the welding wire or twisting the welding wire with adjacent convolutions. Actual twisting and tangling of the wire can cause interruption of wire flow and drastically interrupt the welding operation. Thus, a large volume, high capacity storage or supply container for welding wire spools must be so constructed that it assures against any catastrophic failure in the feeding of a wire to the welding operation and the container. Further the payout or withdrawing arrangement of the container must be assured that it does not introduce even minor distortions in the free straight flow of the welding wire to the welding operation. Consequently, there is a substantial demand for a container and withdraw arrangement for large spools of welding wire which not only prevent tangling and disruption of the supply of welding wire to the welding operation but also prevent even minor distortions in the wire which could affect the quality of the continuous welding operation.
The welding wire stored in the supply container is in the form of a spool having multiple layers of wire convolutions laid from bottom to top, with an inner diameter of the spool being substantially smaller than the diameter of the container. Due to the inherent rigidity of the welding wire itself, the convolutions forming the layers are continuously under the influence of a force which tends to widen the diameter of the convolutions. However, as the welding wire is withdrawn from the container, the loosened wire portion tends to spring back and disturb or become entangled with other looped layers or with itself causing variations in the resistance of the wire withdrawal force. In such cases it becomes difficult to withdrawn the wire or feed the wire smoothly. In some of the prior containers, the wire spool or wire package is provided with a preselected twist when spooling the wire into the package in order to prevent torsional deformation of the wire which is being withdrawn axially from the non-rotating container. Consequently, the packaged wire of the spool tends to spring up with a greater force. Consequently, retainer rings, or members are placed on the top of the wire spool to hold the wires in the upper layers in place as they are withdrawn, convolution at a time, from the center opening of the wire spool through the top opening of the supply container. In the past, substantial effort has been devoted to the prevention of a "lost" convolution in the spool itself. This feeding error is normally prevented by a center tube of cardboard placed in the spool cavity so that all convolutions must be withdrawn from around the center tube. In the prior art, the ring itself contacts the inner surface of the container to prevent convolutions from springing above and around the outside of the retainer ring. In the past, the retainer ring generally rests upon the top of the wire spool by gravity. The ring has extended resilient members or fingers for contacting the inner surface of the container drum to protect the outside convolutions of the welding wire. Some of the prior rings have had a series of flat spring steel fingers attached to the retainer ring. These fingers tightly ride against the drum to control the outside convolutions of wire. In some instances, a cardboard ring is cut to the desired shape with a slight interference with the drum wall. This ring is held on the top of the spool by a weight which travels down the drum as the wire level is reduced. All of these arrangements present difficulties. Wire can be tangled on the outside of the ring and substantial drag can be imparted to the wire as it is being payed out or withdrawn from the container. These devices have friction contact with the container wall and substantial friction induced drag is exerted against the wire as it is being withdrawn. This is especially apparent as the withdrawing process continues toward the lower layers of wire in the container.

Retainer ring for welding wire container disclosure


A data storage system having a positioning system for a micro-electromechanical system (“MEMS”) based data storage provided. The data storage system includes a MEMS-based scanner that interacts with a polymer medium to read, write and erase data. A first positioning system is coupled to the MEMS scanner to allow the storage of data over a defined area. A second positioning system is coupled to the first positioning system and the MEMS scanner to allow the use of a larger polymer medium. A plurality of storage modules is also provided to allow scalability of data storage.

The present invention relates to a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) based data storage system, and in particular to MEMS based data storage systems having coarse and fine positioning arrangements.
A MEMS based system can be utilized to generate nanometer-scale motion. Such systems can take advantage of this motion to build the capability of spanning micrometer-scale areas in an x-y plane. An important application of this type of system is in the area of atomic force microscopy ("AFM") storage applications.
In this application, a polymer medium is used for recording information with a MEMS scanner. Typically, the scanner includes an array of MEMS devices that are able to read, write and erase data on the polymer medium. Each of the MEMS devices includes a micrometer scale tip that can be used to scan the surface of the polymer medium. The tip is heated to a specified temperature and force is applied for writing information in the form of indents and the resistance of the electrical heater is measured to read back the data on the polymer medium. Due to their small size of the tip apex, typically 10 nm, the use of the MEMS scanning devices allows a high data storage density to be achieved.
In general, some form of positioning device is needed to ensure proper alignment of the tip with the medium and to allow a single tip to scan over a broader area. However, due to the level of precision needed and the amount of data output required, the amount of area a single MEMS device could write to is relatively limited. Therefore, to increase the capacity, or scale the amount of data stored with such MEMS based systems requires either the increase in size of the array, or the use of multiple arrays. While each of these techniques has allowed the amount of storage to be increased, it has also increased manufacturing costs as well.
While current data storage systems are suitable for their intended purposes, there exists a need for improvements of high capacity data storage system to allow scalability in the amount of data stored and retrieved with MEMS based devices.

Micro-electromechanical system based data storage system

International Business Machines Corporation


A backlight module including a light guide plate, a plurality of point light sources and a frame is provided. The light guide plate includes a body, a positioning structure and a plurality of first micro-structures. The body has at least one light incident surface, an upper surface connected with the light incident surface, and at least one side surface connected with the light incident surface and the upper surface. The positioning structure is located on the side surface, wherein the upper surface has a first eliminating region adjacent to and surrounding the positioning structure. The first micro-structures are arranged on the upper surface except the first eliminating region. The point light sources face the light incident surface. The light guide plate is positioned in the frame by matching the positioning structure with a positioning component of the frame. A display device including the backlight module aforementioned is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a light source module, and particularly relates to a back light module and a display device using the back light module.
2. Description of Related Art
As the electronic products are more and more commonly used in recent years, display devices (e.g. liquid crystal display (LCD)), which plays an important role in the electronic products, have become the focus of the designers. A display device includes a display panel and a back light module. Some display panels do not have the light-emitting function, so the back light module is provided at the bottom of this kind of display panels as the light source for the display function.
Meanwhile, the display devices nowadays tend to be designed with a slim border. To meet the requirement of having a slim border, not only the non-display region for configuring the wiring at the periphery in a display panel is required to be slim, the design of the back light module also needs to be adjusted. The light guide plate (LGP) and light source used by the back light module are configured together in an assembling frame. In addition, a supporting pin or supporting block is usually arranged between the light guide plate and the assembling frame, so as to provide support and position the light guide plate in the frame. Therefore, the shape of the periphery of the light guide plate needs to correspond to the supporting structure aforementioned. For example, a recess part arranged at the periphery of the light guide plate needs to match the supporting structure, so as to provide the function above. However, when the back light module using the light guide plate emits light, light-jetting effect commonly occurs around the periphery of the recess part of the light guide plate of the back light module. Namely, the light emitted by the back light module through the light guide plate is easily interfered by the recess part. Therefore, the light is not evenly emitted at the recess part. As a result, the back light module does not provide a preferable light-emitting effect, and the display device using the back light module tends to have the defect of mura, which influences the display effect of the display device.


A process and apparatus for removing water from a mechanical pulp, chemical pulp or paper sheet, carried between top and bottom wires running through a dewatering machine having a first dewatering zone. The apparatus includes at least one suction box positioned downstream of the first dewatering zone. The process includes generating an air current in at least one of the wires downstream of the first dewatering zone with the suction box. The air current removes water from the wire and directs it into an inner chamber of the suction box. The invention also refers to a device for implementing the process.

This invention relates generally to a process for removing water from a mechanical pulp, chemical pulp or paper sheet. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for removing such water in a first zone, where the mechanical pulp, chemical pulp or paper sheet runs, for example, between two wires in a dewatering machine and is dewatered advantageously in a wedge zone, i.e. a sector in which the two wires converge in a wedge shape. In addition, the invention refers to a device for implementing the process.
A device of this kind is known, for example, from WO 00/77298, where initial dewatering takes place in a gravity zone and further dewatering in a twin-wire zone. This is followed by dewatering in further zones. A device for dewatering purposes is shown here at the top wire where the water from the wire is directed as a so-called free jet into a dewatering box and drained off from there. Only the water collecting on the wire (surface of the wire) is carried off here. A large quantity of water, however, remains in the wire, which later causes re-wetting of the mechanical pulp, chemical pulp or paper sheet.

Process and device for removing water from a mechanical pulp, chemical pulp or paper sheet


Methods and apparatus for controlling the distance between contact pads or leads which are to be interfaced are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical package includes a body and a contact. The body includes electrical circuitry such as traces. The contact is arranged on the body, and includes a contact body and a contact feature. The contact feature is a protrusion which substantially extends from the contact body, and is arranged to come into contact with an external surface. In one embodiment, the external surface is an external contact, and the contact feature is arranged to substantially space the contact body away from the external contact.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the formation of devices which include circuit boards and components which are to be coupled to the circuit boards. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for improving the consistency of connections between contacts on a circuit board and contacts on a component that is interfaced with the circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many devices, e.g., non-volatile memory systems such as flash memory cards, include printed circuit boards on which various electronic components may be soldered. Such circuit boards generally allow interconnections to be made between the components, e.g., semiconductor packages and input/output connectors. Typically, such interconnections may be made through electrical contact pads which are present on both circuit boards and components. FIG. 1 is a representation of a circuit board and a semiconductor package which are arranged to make electrical contact through contract pads. A circuit board 140 includes a pattern or an array of contact pads 144 which are generally covered with, e.g., "printed" with, solder paste. Contact pads 144 are coupled to electronic circuitry or traces on circuit board 144. A semiconductor package 150 includes a pattern or an array of contact pads 154 which are often plated with gold or a similar material. Like contact pads 144, contact pads 154 are typically coupled to circuitry or traces associated with semiconductor package 150. Both contact pads 144 and contact pads 154 are arranged to enable signals to be read from or provided to circuit board 140 and semiconductor package 150, respectively.
When semiconductor package 150 is to be soldered to circuit board 140, contact pads 154 may be aligned with contact pads 144. The aligning of contact pads 154 with contact pads 144 is possible when the pattern and the spacing associated with contact pads 154 matches the pattern and the spacing of contact pads 144 of the circuit board 140. Once contact pads 154 and contact pads 144 are aligned, the solder paste on contact pads 144 may be heated, and electrical connections may be made between contact pads 154 and contact pads 144 when the solder paste effectively bonds contact pads 154 to corresponding contact pads 144. That is, contact pads 154 are aligned with contact pads 144 and soldered such that contact pad 154a is in electrical contact with contact pad 144a, and contact pad 154b is in electrical contact with contact pad 144b.
In general, as described above, contact pads 154 are substantially coated or printed with solder paste. FIG. 2a is a diagrammatic side-view representation of a circuit board or a substrate with contact pads. A circuit board 200 is formed to include pads 204 on at least a top surface of circuit board 200. For ease of illustration, features such as various layers and interconnects associated with circuit board 200 have not been shown. Each pad 204 on circuit board 200 typically includes a layer of solder paste 208, as previously mentioned.
When a component with a contact pad, e.g., component 210 with contact pad 214 as shown in FIG. 2b, is to be electrically coupled to circuit board 200, component 210 is positioned over circuit board 200 such that pad 214 is effectively lined up with an appropriate pad 204, e.g., pad 204a. Once pad 214 is properly aligned with pad 204a, pad 214 may be brought into contact with solder paste layer 208a, as shown in FIG. 2c. When solder paste layer 208a is heated, an electrical coupling may be achieved between pad 214 and pad 204a through solder paste layer 208a.
The thickness of solder paste layer 208 is relatively difficult to control once solder paste has been heated to effectively bond pads 204, 214. In particular, when there are multiple pads 204, 214 which are to be interfaced, controlling the thickness of solder paste layer 208, e.g., the thickness of the spacing between pad 214 and pad 204a, may be difficult. Typically, reliability issues associated with the performance of circuit board 200 may arise when the spacing between pads 204, 214 is not carefully controlled.
FIG. 2d is a diagrammatic side-view representation of circuit board 200 and component 210 when the spacing between contact pads 204, 214 is relatively large. When pad 214 is spaced too far from pad 204a, solder paste layer 208a′ may be relatively thick, but less dense. As a result, the "joint" formed by solder paste layer 208a′ may crack, thereby compromising the electrical connectivity between pad 214 and pad 204a. While the electrical connectivity between pad 214 and pad 204a may not be compromised by the relatively large thickness of solder paste layer 208a′, the integrity of connections between other pads (not shown) on component 210 and pads 204 may be compromised. For example, the spacing between some pads or pins of component 210 and pads 204 may be such that some pads are effectively "open." In other words, when the spacing between pads of component 210 and pads 204 is too great, then a solder paste layer 208 may not be able to successfully bridge the distance between pads of component 210 and pads 204. As such, there may either be no connection or an inconsistent connection between pads of component 210 and pads 204.
FIG. 2e is a diagrammatic side-view representation of circuit board 200 and component 210 when the spacing between contact pads 204a, 214 is such that solder paste layer 208a does not effectively join contact pads 204a, 214. When contact pad 214 is spaced too far apart from contact pad 204a, solder paste layer 208a″ may be ineffective for bridging the distance between contact pads 204a, 214. As such, there may be no electrical contact of pads 204a, 214 through solder paste layer 208a″. Specifically, when the distance between contact pads 204a, 214 is too great, then open contacts may occur, i.e., there may effectively be no electrical connectivity between pads 204a, 214.
While spacing pad 204a too far apart from pad 214 to the extent that solder paste layer 208a is thicker than desired or forms an incomplete joint may be undesirable, spacing pad 204a too close to pad 214 may also be undesirable. As shown in FIG. 2f, a solder paste layer 208a′″ may for a relatively thin connection between pad 204a and pad 214. When solder paste layer 208a′″ is too thin, the strength of the joint formed by solder paste layer 208a′″ may be relatively weak. In other words, when the thickness of solder paste layer 208a′″ relatively small, although electrical connectivity between pad 204a and pad 214 may be achieved, the strength of the connection may be compromised. By way of example, when the thickness of solder paste layer 208a′″ between pad 204a and pad 214 is approximately zero millimeters, there is substantially no strength in the joint created by solder paste layer 208a′″.
Maintaining consistency between connections formed between various pads, leads, or contacts of a circuit board and components of the circuit board is often difficult because controlling the thickness of the space between two pads which are to be electrically connected is not an easy task. Even when the space between two particular pads is acceptable, the space between two other pads may be unacceptable, as it is difficult to maintain a consistent spacing between each pad of a component and corresponding pads of a circuit board within an assembly. Any failure to create and to maintain a desired amount of space between pads and, hence, a consistent thickness of solder paste material intended to fill the space, often compromises the overall integrity of any device which includes the assembly
The reliability of connections formed between pads, leads, or contacts of a circuit board and components of the circuit board is important to ensure that a device which includes the circuit board may meet performance standards. When connections are not reliable, signals that are to be passed through the connections may not be successfully routed. As discussed above, unreliable connections or bridges between pads may include open connections and weak connections. The presence of even a single unreliable connection within a device may greatly affect the performance of the device.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for improving the integrity of connections between a circuit board and components of the circuit board. That is, what is desired is a method and a system which enables the thickness of a solder paste layer which bonds pads of a component with pads of a circuit board to effectively be controlled.

Method and apparatus for maintaining a separation between contacts


A thermosyphon-powered jet-impingement cooling device delivering superior thermal energy dissipation for compact heat sources such as electronic devices. Thermal energy from a heat source travels through the heat source/heat spreader plate interface to the heat spreader plate and heat spreader plate extended surface. Thermal energy is transferred by convection to a single or two-phase coolant media. The heated and/or boiling, less dense coolant begins to expand and rise. The rising coolant or vapor approaches a cold plate and velocity slows due to the greater cross-sectional flow area. The coolant heat energy is released by convection or condensation to the heat dissipation/fluid interface surface, and is then conducted through the cold plate, across the cold plate/heat dissipating device thermal interface, and then to the heat dissipating device. As the cooled media contracts and/or condenses to form droplets, the coolant or droplets begin to fall. As heated or boiling coolant continues to rise, the falling coolant or droplets are both pushed from the high pressure (heated) annulus and pulled from the low pressure (cooled) center through an impingement jet orifice. The coolant impinges against a concave heat/fluid interface surface. The impinging jet of coolant media of the present invention greatly reduces the thermal boundary layer at the point of impingement.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a device for cooling by natural convection, with or without phase change. Specifically to such devices incorporating unique surface contours that provide a thermosyphon effect with jet-impingement cooling of the heat source.
2. Description of Prior Art
In many fields, the control and dissipation of excess thermal energy is desired. The speed and reliability of modern electronic equipment depend on the cost-efficient dissipation and control of waste heat. As component performance increases and size decreases, the heat flux (power/area) spirals upward.
Air has been used as a coolant since the origin of electronic devices. Gravity-dependant, natural air convection produces a heat transfer coefficient of about 5 to 30 W/m.sup.2 .degree. C. Using only natural convection with air, a typical 1 Watt, 45 millimeters per side, horizontally-mounted device, has a temperature rise (.DELTA.T) of roughly 45.degree. C. Forced air convection (3 meters per second velocity) can reduce the device's .DELTA.T to roughly 15.degree. C. As electronic components have required better heat dissipation techniques, designers have increased the power of air cooling systems. High velocity air systems reach a point of diminishing returns. Higher power cooling systems also generate their own high waste heat loads and high noise levels from air moving devices. These high heat loads and high noise levels must then also be controlled. The cost constraints in this approach are nowhere more apparent than in the field of personal computers. These systems use high performance VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration), CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technologies. Some high heat flux electronic devices present a thermal obstacle that forced convection with air cannot overcome. Therefore, there is a great need to reduce an electrical device's temperature in the most efficient manner possible. CMOS devices especially, show great increases in performance and reliability when operated at reduced temperatures. Tobey teaches the use of reduced temperatures to gain increased reliability and speed in CMOS devices in U.S. Pat. 4,812,733 (1989).
Various methods enhance the heat transfer capabilities of forced air convection systems. Such methods are well known in the art and include enhanced surfaces, swirl flow, jet-impingement, vibration, injection or suction, and electrostatic or magnetic fields. These techniques are beneficial, but are limited by the physical properties of the ambient air, and can require significant mechanical apparatus.
Forced air convection heat transfer coefficients range from approximately 30 to 300 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C. An arrangement for air-impingement cooling of electronic modules is disclosed by Dunn et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,816 (1981). Dunn utilizes air, directed under pressure to the electronic modules. This device lacks a leak-proof air exhaust passage, therefore, the cross-flow degradation of the cooler inlet air with heated exhaust air causes a great loss of efficiency. Modules at the system air exhaust are exposed to exhaust air that has been heated by the previous modules. Hwang et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,644 (1980) teaches the use of a pair of air-moving devices to pull air through a plenum chamber. The air is then directed to impinge against the electronic modules. In Hwang's device, the air is directed to separate inlet and exhaust passages. In most instances, the use of this device requires a major level of redesign of the entire electronic cabinet, or the intention to use such a cooling scheme while designing the equipment. Hamadah et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,476, discloses an apparatus for controlled air-impingement cooling. This device utilizes controlled inlet and exhaust air channels contained in circuit board-sized modules. Hamadah's apparatus is thought to provide a lower level of redesign for an overheating electronic cabinet, but still suffers from the physical properties of air and the limitations of air-moving devices. U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,651, by Gabuzda (1987), describes a heat sink array for use with air-impingement systems. The novelty of this device is that the heat sink is segmented to minimize the effect of thermal contraction and expansion on the circuit packages. Thermal mismatch is a concern between the circuit board and the leaded side of a circuit package, as this mismatch stresses the solder joints. Gabuzda's device is only beneficial when the circuit package is so large, and the heat transfer so inefficient, that controlling the thermal mismatch on the non-leaded side of a component will have some effect on reliability.
Peltier junctions are often suitable for cooling discrete electronic devices below ambient temperature. The use of Peltier junctions in this manner is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,759 by Hunsperger, 4,685,081 by Richman (1987), and 4,812,733 by Tobey (1989). The obstacle to incorporating a Peltier junction into a design is the resultant condensate and the inefficiency of these device. By example to cool a 10-Watt device, an additional 25 Watts of heat may be developed by the Peltier junction itself, then requiring removal of 35 Watts of heat. Some computer designers have used a Peltier junction to cool the central processing unit (CPU). and then additional air-moving fans to cool the Peltier junction.
In 1935 experimenters reported using de-ionized water to cool components. Natural convection in water can produce heat transfer coefficients in the range from 300 to 2,000 W/M.sup.2 .degree.C. For the previously mentioned one Watt electronic device, the .DELTA.T is only 1.degree.C. when immersed in water. Special synthetic dielectric coolants have recently been developed for electronic cooling. Some of these are silicate ester, perfluorocarbon, and polyalphaolephin based compounds.
Many systems, such as the Cray-2 Supercomputer, have been designed to operate immersed in a perfluorocarbon fluid using natural convection. This technique is complicated by the properties of the fluid high volatility and low surface tension. These problems have been addressed in the industry by securing the perfluorocarbon fluid in flexible plastic bags. These bags are attached to the electronic circuit boards. This approach decreases the effectiveness of free convection by restricting the internal fluid motion, and also adds unwanted thermal impedance as the heat must pass through the thermally insulative plastic bag containing the fluid.
Forced liquid convection heat transfer coefficients are much higher than forced air (30 to 300 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C.), and range from approximately 300 to 6,000 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C. The prior art for liquid jet-impingement devices does not have the limitations of the properties of air, but still suffer from the drawbacks associated with liquid moving devices. In my own U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 674,820 of 1991, a flexible module is described that allows the controlled application of multiple jets of an impinging liquid coolant. This device is unique because novel features are used to seal the liquid from the electronic components while still delivering a degree of geometric flexibility, and the maximum amount of heat transfer. Bland et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,171 (1985), and Crowe, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,201 both describe very complex forced impingement cooling apparatus referred to by the acronym CHIC, for Compact High Intensity Cooler. Crowe's device offers a means to provide dedicated cooling for high heat flux devices located in the midst of other components requiring minimal cooling. Users of Crowe's invention must know the exact location of each of the high heat flux devices in order to use the CHIC in only that location, because a lower cooling level is provided to all other components. U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,086, by Mittal (1988), teaches the use of a forced liquid jet-impingement device that incorporates a bellow seal and a thick heat spreader. In all of the aforementioned jet-impingement devices, liquid and air, a pressurized media is used for forced-convection heat transfer. Forced convection requires an external power source to propel the coolant, in addition to the coolant moving device itself. These devices create waste heat and must be located to distribute the cooling media in an evenly distributed manner. This entails the use of plumbed lines and leak-proof modules. No device known, has used the ability of a natural convection thermosyphon to power the jet-impingement apparatus.
Although liquid cooling systems are much more efficient than air, they have been cost prohibitive in small systems such as personal computers, because of the necessary fluid-moving device, plumbed lines, and leak-proofing.
Cooling a heat source by means of phase change (boiling and condensing) is the most efficient method used in the industry. While single-phase forced liquid convection heat transfer coefficients range from 300 to 6,000 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C., boiling water heat transfer coefficients range from approximately 3,000 to 60,000 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C. and condensing steam systems operate in the range of 6,000 to 120,000 W/m.sup.2 .degree.C. Mitsuoka, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,550 (1976) describes a cooling device operating on the phase change principle that maintains separation between the liquid and gas phases of the coolant media. No attempt is made in Mitsuoka's device to increase the heat transfer coefficient by use of internal extended surfaces, jet-impingement techniques, or other geometric forms. In fact, in the described patent, Mitsuoka teaches away from impingement by using a variety of devices placed in the flowstream to prevent intermixing of the fluid and vapor phases of the coolant.
Within the prior art of natural convection, air-cooled heat sinks, it is not evident that a specific geometric form will channel the natural connection flowfield currents to gain greater heat dissipation through minimized thermal boundary layers, or that this geometric form (with adjustment for coolant properties) can be used in conjunction with natural convection liquid-immersed heat sinks. Although there are many examples of prior art single-phase thermosyphon devices, and prior art two-phase thermosyphon-powered cooling devices, it is clearly unobvious to those skilled in the art that there are advantages in heat transfer coefficient and (operating efficiency when the jet-impingement technique is combined with either or both of these two approaches, ie, single-phase thermosyphon powered jet-impingement, or two-phase thermosyphon-powered jet impingement. Further, in some thermosyphon-powered prior art (Mitsuoka), the return of the condensate to the boiling pool is shown as occurring in the geometric center of the heat source. The prior art does not recognize that specific novel geometric features that connect fluid transfer channels affect the heat transfer coefficient, and that significant departure from these unobvious geometric ratios will result in a device that may operate in a reverse mode, resulting in a severe degradation in performance. A review of the literature yields no discussion of these combinations, or the supposition that such combinations are advantageous or even possible.

Thermosyphon-powered jet-impingement cooling device


A respiratory therapy device has both a standard positive expiratory pressure (PEP) device and an oscillatory PEP device packaged together. A manually operable member is movable to select which of the standard and oscillatory PEP device is placed in communication with a patient's airway. A nebulizer connector may also be provided for connection of a nebulizer.

The present disclosure relates to respiratory therapy devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to hand-held respiratory therapy devices used for positive expiratory pressure (PEP) therapy.
Hand-held devices used for PEP therapy are known. One known example is the ACAPELLA® Vibratory PEP Therapy System device marketed by Smiths Industries ASD, Inc. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,699,054; 7,059,324; 6,776,159; and 6,581,598 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0078383. Examples of standard or non-oscillatory PEP therapy devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,848,443; 6,557,549; 6,083,141; 5,910,071; and 5,890,998. Patients desiring both oscillatory (or vibratory) PEP therapy and standard PEP therapy, therefore, need to have access to both types of devices. Some of the prior art PEP therapy devices include a port for coupling to a nebulizer container. However, during patient exhalation, the nebulized medication is lost to the atmosphere in some prior art devices.
What is needed, therefore, is a single device that has the capability of both standard and oscillatory PEP therapy and that, optionally, includes a nebulizer container connector that inhibits or minimizes the loss of nebulized medication to the atmosphere during patient exhalation. Such a device should be easy to use and packaged in a fairly compact manner so as to be hand-held.

Respiratory therapy device having standard and oscillatory PEP with nebulizer


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for theorem checking with the intention in so-called tautology checks of establishing whether or not all possible attributions of the truth values (0 and 1) to variables in a boolean formula render the formula true. The problem of known techniques is that checking of the truth content is effected against all variables in an original formula, which requires many calculations to be made and which is highly time-consuming.. According to the invention, an original formula is divided into part-expressions, so-called triplets, each corresponding to a sub-formula of the original formula, whereafter logic 0's and 1's are instantiated (allotted) to variables in the triplets for the purpose of checking the truth content. The check is thus made against triplets instead of against all variables in the original formula, therewith greatly reducing the number of calculations necessary and providing a considerable saving in time. Apparatus, called a theorem checker, for carrying out the method includes a sequence unit for controlling the calculation sequence, a generator G for generating sequences of ordered variables, a permanent unit P for storing triplets, a plurality of arithmetical units, evaluators (E) and an analyzer A operative to analyze the result obtain from all calculations.

When practicing present day techniques, it is necessary to check the truth values for each assignment (interpretation) of 1 and 0 to the variables included in a formula.
The so-called resolution method can also be used in the case of simple systems. This method involves re-writing the original formula to a logic equivalent formula consisting of a number of parts which are mutually compared in accordance with the so-called resolution rule. When making a comparison between, for instance, an expression which contains A and an expression which does not contain A, this rule requires the formation of a new expression, a resolvent, which contains neither A nor not A. The concept is to find an expression which contains solely A and an expression which contains solely not A, wherewith when a comparison is made between these two expressions, there is formed an empty resolvent, which is the one sought.

System for determining propositional logic theorems by applying values and rules to triplets that are generated from boolean formula