Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and system for a vestigial side band (VSB), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), NTSC, out-of-band (OOB) receiver that is integrated in a single chip. The single chip integrated digital television (DTV) receiver provides plug and play DTV receiver capability for handling both North American digital cable television and digital terrestrial broadcast television compatible systems. The integrated DTV receiver may receive all standard-definition and high-definition digital formats (SDTV/HDTV) and an on-chip NTSC demodulator handles NTSC video. An output of the NTSC demodulator may be directed to an external broadcast television system committee (BTSC) or Zweiton M decoder, or it may be sent to an on-chip audio BTSC compliant decoder. The single chip integrated DTV receiver may also comprise an integrated out-of-band QPSK receiver, which may be adapted to, for example, handle a CableCard compliant with the CableCard Specification.

Digital television, popularly referred to as DTV, is an enhanced television system capable of transmitting and receiving digitized signals, displaying digital images and playing digital audio. While some of these features may be present in current analog television systems such as national television standards committee (NTSC), sequential couleur avec memoire (SECAM) and phase alternate line (PAL), the combination of digitized transmission, reception, video and audio distinguishes digital television from current analog television systems.
Digital television employs various digital signal processing techniques and utilizes scarce bandwidth in a more spectrally efficient manner to transport and present audio and video signals in a way that is superior to current analog television systems. In this regard, digital television allows more channels containing more information to be broadcasted within an equivalent bandwidth utilized by current analog television systems. Accordingly, any excess bandwidth can be re-allocated for use by other types of communication systems. Broadcasters utilizing digital television systems are therefore, capable of providing over-the air television signals containing higher picture resolutions than current analog broadcast television systems. Broadcasters utilizing digital television systems may also have the capability to provide multicasting and datacasting services using the same bandwidth allocated for conventional analog television systems. For these reasons, Congress mandated that current broadcast television service must, in time, be completely converted to digital television.
While digital television (DTV) utilizes the same broadcast very high frequency (VHF) spectral band and ultra-high frequency spectral (UHF) band as conventional television broadcasting systems, digital television utilizes different modulation techniques than conventional analog television broadcasting systems. Conventional analog television broadcasting systems modulate video using amplitude modulation (AM) and the accompanying audio is modulated using frequency modulation (FM). DTV utilizes a plurality of modulation techniques for transmitting and receiving packetized digital signals. In the United States of America, an eight level vestigial sideband (VSB) modulation scheme is utilized. In some regions of Europe and Asia, for example, coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is the modulation scheme of choice. On the other hand, digital satellite systems (DSS) utilize quadrature phase shift keying, while cable television (CATV) system utilizes quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
In the United States, a plurality of broadcast formats promulgated by the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) has been adopted for DTV applications. Some of these formats comprise progressive-scan video comprising 480 scan lines referred to as 480p, interlaced 4:3 video having 480 scan lines referred to as 480i, interlaced video having 1080 scan lines referred to as 1080i and progressive-scan video having 720 scan lines referred to as 720p. Standard definition (SD) television (SDTV) utilizes the interlaced 480i and progressive 480p formats. The picture quality provided by SDTV is comparable in certain respects to conventional NTSC 525 lines systems. High definition (HD) television (HDTV) utilizes the interlaced 1080i and progressive 720p formats in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The resolution of the HDTV interlaced 1080i and progressive 720p formats may be converted to lower resolution such as the interlaced 480i and progressive 480p formats provided by SDTV.
In the US for example, DTV signals are modulated on an RF carrier using 8-level VSB or 8VSB, and transmitted in a six (6) MHz channel as compressed 4:2:0 MPEG-2 formatted packetized streams. These packetized streams contain both audio and video information. For this reason, a conventional analog system is unable to receive a transmitted DTV signal. In order to decode a received 8-level VSB signal, an ATSC-compliant DTV receiver or a set-top box is required.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional digital television (DTV) receiver. Referring to FIG. 1, the receiver 100 comprises an antenna 102, a tuner 104, a demodulator block 106, an equalizer 110, a phase tracking block 112, a trellis decoder 114, a de-interleaver 116, a Reed Solomon (RS) decoder 118 and a de-randomization block 120.
The antenna 102 is coupled to the tuner 104, which is adapted to receive 6 MHz VHF or UHF signals. The tuner 104 includes a band pass filter that passes signals in the range of about 50 MHz to about 810 MHz, thereby rejecting any unwanted signals. The demodulator block 106 is adapted to receive and process NTSC signals and may include circuitry that is utilized to mitigate the effects of co-channel interference. The equalizer 110 is adapted to compensate for linear distortions that may have occurred during transmissions. The phase tracking block 112 may be utilized to track and eliminate unwanted noise. The trellis decoder 114 reduces co-channel interference and impulse noise. The de-interleaver 116 and the Reed Solomon (RS) decoder 118 may cleanup the signal and remove any unwanted burst interference that may affect image quality. The trellis decoder 114, de-interleaver 116 and the Reed Solomon decoder 118 significantly reduces errors that may occur in the received signal. The de-randomization block 120 is configured to receive the error corrected signal from the Reed Solomon decoder 118 and de-randomizes the error corrected signal using the same pseudorandom sequence utilized to randomize the original signal during transmission.
The receiver of FIG. 1 is adapted to receive and demodulate only 8-level VSB modulated signals. In most instances, the tuner 104, filter block 106, equalizer 110, phase tracking block 112, trellis decoder 114, de-interleaver 116, Reed Solomon (RS) decoder 118 and de-randomization block 120 are integrated into a plurality of integrated circuits (ICs) which have to be coupled together by suitable circuitry and/or logic. Accordingly, any receiver implementation utilizing these integrated circuits would require a significant investment in scare and expensive printed circuit board (PCB) real estate and complex design layouts. Even in instances where most of the components of FIG. 1 are integrated in a few integrated circuits, the resulting receiver is limited to North American digital terrestrial broadcast television signals. Furthermore, with the promulgation of standards such as the CableCard specification, any out-of-band signal processing would require additional ICs and/or circuitry to handle out-of-band signal processing. This would further require the use of additional PCB real estate, further increasing cost and design complexity.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for an integrated VSB/QAM/NTSC/OOB plug-and-play DTV receiver


A navigation system for a motor vehicle is provided. The navigation system comprises: a display interface located in the vehicle and configured to display a position of the vehicle; and a processor in communication with a vehicle sensor and a server and configured to receive vehicle-related information. The processor is configured to display the related information on the display interface in real time following the vehicle position when the related information belongs to a first preset category. A display method of a navigation map is also provided. The navigation system and the display method provided in the present application can help users obtain auxiliary information needed to drive on the current route from the navigation interface more conveniently in the process of using the navigation map, and thus provide a better driving experience to users.

Positioning navigation systems have been developed rapidly in the design and manufacture of modern vehicles, and positioning navigation devices have been widely used in various types of vehicles to provide vehicle users with navigation services.
When existing navigation systems display a navigation route, they usually show a real-time road position and show real-time road conditions and route planning to the driver in other areas of a navigation map, or provide the driver with multiple road information in the same display mode at the same time to assist driving. However, in this case, the separate display of vehicle position and road information and the display of multiple road information will cause the driver to be distracted from driving to find the information he needs.
Therefore, there is still a need for improvement in current technology that can better provide drivers with driving assistance information.

Navigation system and a display method of a navigation map


A semiconductor component comprises a pn junction in which both the p-conducting and the n-conducting layers of the pn junction are doped silicon carbide layers and the edge of at least one of the conducting layers of the pn junction exhibits a stepwise or uniformly decreasing total charge or effective surface charge density from the initial value at the defined working junction to a zero or almost zero total charge at the outermost edge of the junction following a radial direction from the central part of the junction towards its outermost edge.

Semiconductor components based on silicon carbide as the base material are continuously developed to be used in connection with high temperatures, high power applications and under high radiation conditions. Under such circumstances, conventional semiconductors do not work satisfactorily. Evaluations indicate that SiC semiconductors of power MOSFET-type and diode rectifiers using SiC are able to operate over a greater voltage and temperature interval, e.g. up to 650-800.degree. C., and show better breaker properties such as lower losses and higher working frequencies and nevertheless have a volume 20 times smaller than corresponding silicon components. These possible improvements are based on the favorable material properties that silicon carbide possesses in relation to silicon, such as a higher breakdown field (up to 10 times higher than silicon), a higher thermal conductivity (more than 3 times higher than silicon) and a higher energy band gap (2.9 eV for 6H--SiC, one of the crystal structures of SiC).
As SiC semiconductor technology is relatively new and in many aspects non-optimized, there are many critical manufacturing problems that are to be solved before SiC semiconductor devices may be realized experimentally and manufactured in large quantities. This is especially true for components intended for use in high-power and high-voltage applications.
One of the difficulties to overcome when manufacturing high voltage diodes or other types of semiconductor components comprising a voltage absorbing pn junction is to produce a proper junction termination at the edge of the junction. The electric field across the pn junction is very high, when a reverse voltage is applied across the pn junction.
A high reverse bias generating a strong electric field at the edge of the pn junction implies a great risk of voltage breakdown or flash-over at the edge of the junction.
In the region of the component surface, where the pn junction reaches the surface, an increase of the electric field arises compared with the conditions existing within the bulk of the junction. This is due to the changeover from more homogeneous conditions inside the crystal of the component to the abrupt step out of the crystal lattice at the surface.
This effect makes it very important to reduce the field concentration, where the junction reaches the surface. Combined with efforts to passivate the surface of the component, measures are taken to flatten the electric field at the surface e.g. by acting on how the pn junction emerges at the surface. As an example, it is known from silicon power components to lap (grind or saw) the surface of the edge at a certain angle in relation to the pn junction to thereby flatten the field. Another known technique is to gradually decrease the doping of the conducting area around the junction, such that the doping is reduced towards the outermost edge of the junction (so called Junction Termination Extension, JTE) in order to elimininate field concentration at the edge of the junction. These methods, known from silicon technique, are difficult to apply to components based on silicon carbide due to its being a very hard material, doping through diffusion is extremely difficult, and so on.
The above-mentioned problems have not been solved for pn junctions in SiC. Many of the problems to be solved when developing semiconductor components from SiC are reminiscent of those prevalent at the beginning of the development of the corresponding silicon components. Yet, the techniques applicable to silicon cannot be utilized when solving the specific problems related to production of SiC semiconductor components. As an example, doping through diffusion is not feasible for SiC, as diffusion coefficients are negligable below 2270.degree. K. Also, ion implantation of doping elements, a common technique when manufacturing Si components, is difficult to master and not fully developed for SiC.
High voltage diodes from 6H--SiC with epitaxially formed pn junctions and Schottky junctions have been done experimentally (see e.g. M. Bhatnagar and B. J. Baliga, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 40, no. 3 pp 645-655, March 1993 or P. G. Neudeck, D. J. Larkin, J. A. Powell, L. G. Matus and C. S. Salupo, Appl. Phys. Lett. vol 64, No 11, Mar. 14, 1994, pp 1386-1388). Some of the problems related to SiC devices have thus been solved, but nothing is discussed about the problems connected to electric field concentration at the edges of the junction.
The electric field may be reduced at the edge of the pn junction by-applying a semi-isolating layer to the edge of the junction of a SiC component. Such a solution is described in document PCT/SE94/00482.
Any method or device used to accomplish a semiconductor component corresponding to the principle of Junction Termination Extension at a pn junction composed of Si is not known for use with a component, in which SiC constitutes the base material of the junction. This invention aims at providing a voltage absorbing edge at a pn junction with a structure similar to JTE of a Si component.
The term SiC is used in the following text to refer to any of the principal crystal polytypes of this material known as 6H, 4H, 2H, 3C and 15R.

SiC semiconductor device comprising a pn junction with a voltage absorbing edge


A device and method for multicasting data in a wireless network. The method includes receiving multicast data at a specific node of the wireless network, the multicast data including a multicast acknowledgement request; and determining by the specific node whether or not the specific node is requested to send an acknowledgement to the multicast acknowledgement request. Also, a device and method for multicasting data in a wireless network. The method includes transmitting multicast data, the multicast data including a multicast acknowledgement request, the multicast acknowledgement request including information configured to enable a specific node of the wireless network to determine whether or not the specific node is requested to send an acknowledgement to the multicast acknowledgement request.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to a multicast or broadcast method, and a device supporting the method in a wireless local access network (WLAN).
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, diverse wireless communication technologies have come under development in line with the advancement of information communication technology. The wireless local access network (WLAN) technologies allow mobile terminals such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, portable multimedia players (PMPs), and the like, to wirelessly access the high speed Internet at homes or offices or in a particular service providing area based on a radio frequency technology.
In a WLAN, message or frame transmissions may be divided into a unicast transmission, a multicast transmission, and a broadcast transmission depending on the number of target devices or destination devices. Whereas the unicast transmission is aimed for only a single target device of a transmission frame, the multicast and broadcast transmissions are used when a plurality of terminals are target devices of a transmission message. In multicast, a target address or a destination address of a transmission frame is specified as a multicast group address, and broadcast is a special multicast in which the multicast group address specifies every terminal within a certain coverage. Thus, although 'multicast' is simply referred to hereinafter, it should be construed to include 'broadcast' except for a case not allowed in its properties.
Multicast simultaneously transmits the same frame to a plurality of destination terminals, having an advantage of reducing traffic and effectively using channels. With such advantages, multicast may be effectively used for various applications, for example, providing video conference, corporate communication, distance learning, software distribution, or various information such as stock quotes, news items, and the like. Further, multicast may be used for an application allowing a plurality of users to play games or share streaming data in wireless home network.
Multicast is based on a group of reception terminals interested in a particular data stream, namely, based on the concept of a multicast group. If terminals are interested to receive multicast data, the terminals should first join a corresponding multicast group to receive the data. The multicast group is specified by a multicast medium access control (MAC) address in a MAC layer. In general, an upper layer of the MAC layer is accountable for generating, joining, seceding, and changing of the multicast group.
Meanwhile, in the multicast service, it is difficult to confirm whether or not a terminal joined the corresponding multicast group, namely, a destination terminal, has successfully received every data provided from a source terminal. In particular, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11 standard does not define an error recovery mechanism with respect to multicast traffic. Namely, the current IEEE 802.11 standards use an open-loop multicast transmission, without receiving any feedback information from the reception terminal regarding the multicast traffic. As a result, in the current WLAN, the reception terminal, namely, the target terminal, of the multicast traffic, it is not guaranteed to completely and reliably receive data transmitted in the multicast manner.
In addition, the current WLAN standard does not support retransmission, exponential backoff, and physical layer (PHY) rate adaptation with respect to a multicast frame. For example, in the case of the unicast transmission, whether or not a frame has been received is checked through an acknowledgement (ACK) frame. If no ACK frame is received, the source terminal transmits the same frame again. In this case, a contention window is exponentially increased to achieve fair throughput with other neighbor terminals, and the source terminal adjusts the physical layer rate based on a frame error rate. In contrast, however, the current multicast service does not support protocols comparable to those used in a unicast transmission, thus having a difficulty in providing quality of service (QoS) and achieving fairness of throughput among terminals.
Thus, in the conventional multicast service, the probability of losing a transmission frame due to interference, collision, time-varying channel characteristics, and the like, increases. In addition, the conventional multicast service does not use a data retransmission mechanism and does not support the exponential backoff and the physical layer rate adjustment. Thus, the reliability of the multicast traffic is inferior to the reliability of unicast traffic, and fairness of throughput among terminals is not readily achieved. In addition, in the conventional multicast transmission, generally, the physical layer rate is set to be low. Accordingly, transmission throughput of the multicast service is low.

Device and method for multicast in wireless local access network


A rotor blade for a gas turbine engine includes a blade root (3) and an aerofoil projecting therefrom, the aerofoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge (5), a generally concave pressure surface (2) and a generally convex suction surface (1). The aerofoil shape of the blade varies in section along the length thereof such that:                the chord-wise convex curvature of the rear suction surface decreases towards the tip (4) of the blade;        the convex curvature of the early to mid suction surface increases towards the tip;        the stagger of the aerofoil section increases towards the tip; and                    the trailing edge (5) is a straight line.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a turbine rotor blade for a gas turbine engine, to a turbine rotor incorporating such blades, and to a gas turbine engine comprising such a rotor.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The turbine of a gas turbine engine depends for its operation on the transfer of energy between the combustion gases and turbine. The losses which prevent the turbine being totally efficient are due in part to leakage flow of working fluid over the turbine blade rotor tips.
In turbines with unshrouded rotor blades, a portion of the working fluid flowing through the turbine tends to migrate from the pressure surface to the suction surface of the blade aerofoil through the gap between its tip and the stationary shroud or casing. This leakage occurs because of a pressure difference that exists between the pressure and suction sides of the aerofoil. The leakage flow also causes flow disturbances to be set up over a large portion of the span of the aerofoil, which also leads to losses in the efficiency of the turbine.
By controlling the leakage flow of air or gas across the tips of the blades it is possible to increase the efficiency of each rotor stage. One solution is to apply a shroud to the rotor tip. When the rotor blades are assembled together in the disc that carries them, these shrouds form a continuous ring that prevents the leakage flow from the aerofoil pressure to suction side at the tip. There is still an axial leakage through the gap between the casing and the rotating shroud, but the penalties in terms of aerodynamic losses are much reduced—often helped by the inclusion of a form of labyrinth seal on the shroud top.
However, the rotating shroud has a large weight penalty. As a result, the aerofoil blade speed may be constrained, to achieve acceptable blade stresses. This, though, will have the effect of increasing the aerodynamic loading that also results in reduced efficiency, negating some of the benefit of the shroud.
The use of a shroud ring is made more difficult if the turbine blades also operate at very high temperatures, desirable in helping to achieve high thermal efficiencies. These temperatures are limited by the turbine vane and blade materials. Cooling of these components is necessary to achieve acceptable component life, which is a function of the material temperature, stresses and material properties.
A large number of cooling systems are now applied to modern gas turbine blades. Such cooling systems are described for instance in Cohen H, Rogers G F C, Saravanamuttoo H I H, 1981, "Gas Turbine Theory", p. 232–235, Longman, and Rolls-Royce plc, 1986, "The Jet Engine", p. 86–88, Renault Printing Co Ltd. The more cooling that is provided, the lower the resulting material temperatures, and thus the higher the blade stresses allowable for a given component life. Cooling is achieved using relatively cool fluid bled from the upstream compressor system, bypassing the combustion chamber between the last compressor and first turbine. This air is introduced into the turbine blades where cooling is effected by a combination of internal convective cooling and external cooling. However, this cooling comes at a penalty. Its use penalises the overall efficiency of the machine, and as a result the turbine designer tries to minimise the quantity of cooling air used. All of these design constraints often leads to rotor blades of first staged turbines being shroudless—the extra weight and thus higher stresses caused by a shroud ring simply cannot be accommodated. However, ways of reducing the high aerodynamic penalty of the resulting tip leakage flow continue to be sought.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,038 discloses a blade aerofoil design intended to reduce tip leakage losses. In that document, the tip region of the suction side of the aerofoil has a bowed surface with an arcuate shape. The arcuate shape of the bowed surface has progressively increasing curvature toward the tip of the rotor blade, so that a radial component of a normal to the suction side bowed surface becomes progressively larger toward the tip. It is to be noted that the aerofoil has a bowed surface in the tip region extending chordally all the way from the leading edge to the trailing edge. In addition, all the leans of the tip described, whether tangential and/or axial, are applied to the whole of the tip region.
A particular area of the blade that requires attention in its design is the trailing edge. Preferably, this is kept thin to minimise aerodynamic losses, but as a result it is difficult to cool, and tensile stresses have to be minimised. Cooling is achieved by films of air ejected upstream of the trailing edge on to the aerofoil surfaces, and by drilling cooling holes into the trailing edge fed from larger radial passages within the main body of the aerofoil. The aerofoil disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,038 thus has some disadvantages: firstly, the curved trailing edge cannot easily have cooling holes machined into it. Ideally, this is done in one operation to minimise cost, but this requires all holes to lie in the same plane, i.e. the trailing edges of the aerofoil sections making up the blade have all to lie in one plane. A curved trailing edge (with a progressively increasing curvature) will require holes to be machined in multiple operations, incurring significant extra cost. Secondly, the leant tip will give rise to additional bending stresses in the blade. In the main body of the blades these can usually be accommodated by changes in the detailed design, such as increasing wall thickness locally. However, this cannot be done in the trailing edge region, there will simply be higher stresses in it. This will result either in a reduced life of the component, or require additional cooling, which will impair the performance of the engine.

Turbine rotor blade for gas turbine engine


A method is provided that includes defining a plurality of independent component markets for a good. In accordance with the method, each component market can be defined a respective price sensitivity distribution of a unit purchase of the good, as well as a market potential distribution of a number of units of the good. The demand and/or supply in the aggregate market can thus then be modeled based upon the price sensitivity distributions and market potential distributions of the component markets. The method can further include modeling cost and/or profitability of the good in an aggregate market. Profitability can be modeled based upon the demand model and the cost model for the aggregate market.

In classical economics, supply and demand have traditionally been examined by economists to explain how markets generate the price and quantity of a traded good. Generally, markets are seen to generate the price and quantity of a traded good by correlating the amount of a given good that manufacturers anticipate selling at a given price (i.e., supply) with the amount of that good that consumers are willing to purchase (i.e., demand). Supply refers to the varying amounts of a certain good that manufactures will supply at different prices. Because, in general, a higher price yields a greater supply, supply is often illustrated by an upward-sloping curve on a graph of price versus quantity during a specified time period. Demand, on the other hand, refers to the quantity of a good that is demanded by consumers at any given price. Because demand generally decreases as price increases, demand is often illustrated by a downward-sloping curve on a graph of price versus quantity for a specified time period.
To manufacturers, modeling demand and supply can be useful tools that can aid in modeling the profitability of a given good. Traditionally, manufacturers have not been capable of reliably quantifying a forecast of future demand, supply and thus profitability for projects when a significant amount of uncertainty exists. Whereas conventional techniques for modeling demand, supply and profitability provide adequate models, they have shortcomings in certain, but crucial, applications. For example, such techniques are typically unable to easily incorporate changes in uncertainty over time. Also, for example, such techniques are typically unable to easily account for contingent decisions that may occur during a given time period.

Systems, methods and computer program products for modeling demand, supply and associated profitability of a good in an aggregate market


A charged particle beam system such as a focused ion beam system includes a vacuum chamber; an optical microscope located so as to have a filed of view within a first region of the chamber; a laser aligned with the optical microscope so as to project a laser beam into the first region; a charged particle beam column located within the chamber and arranged so as to focus a charged particle beam into a second region of the chamber; and specimen support located in the chamber and moveable between a first position in the first region and a second position in the second region. The laser is used to mark a DUT with a registration mark which is visible in the images from the optical microscope and the charged particle beam. The position of the registration mark can be accurately determined in the optical image and the position of features which would otherwise be invisible in the charged particle beam image inferred.

Charged particle beam systems, e.g. scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), electron beam probers and focused ion beam (FIB) systems, are used in a variety of ways to aid in the diagnosis and repair of IC devices. For example, FIB systems are used to mill away material overlying a conductor so as to expose the conductor for modification such as severing or connection with other conductors, or repair. When a conductor of interest is hidden by overlying layers, it is necessary to provide some manner in which it can be located to allow accurate positioning for milling. There have been various previous proposals for dealing with this problem.
Traditionally, structures within IC devices (dies) have been accessible by charged particle beam devices from the front surface of the device. However, when the region of interest lies below a power plane, the structures cannot be seen by any method and even when the power plane is removed, there are no topological features which can be seen in a FIB or e-beam image. While it is possible to see through the substrate, silicon being transparent at infra red wavelengths, or when the power plane is removed, it is extremely difficult to engineer a system in which an optical system can have the same field of view as a FIB system. It is also difficult and expensive to produce a moveable stage to allow visual imaging to be used to locate a FIB site on a die at one location which is then moved to another for FIB processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,378 describes four different approaches for controlling a FIB milling operation in which structures of interest are hidden by overlying layers. The first approach is to compare scanning ion microscope image with CAD data to infer the position of a site of interest. The second approach is to position a reference die under an optical microscope and use the optical image of the reference die to located the corresponding position in the SIM image. The third approach is to move the die between an optical microscope and the SIM and compare the images from both to find the location of interest. The fourth approach is to move the die between optical, electron beam and scanning ion microscopes to provide images with different objects visible or different resolutions. These last three approaches requires the use of a high accuracy stage to move the die between the microscopes for registration of the images. Other proposals for using optical images in FIB processing generally fall into one or other of these approaches.
It has also been proposed to attempt to overcome the problem by using a FIB to place a mark on a die, moving the die to an optical microscope and locating the mark so as to determine its position in relation to the structures in the die, and then moving the die back to the FIB and using the mark and the optical information to navigate during a FIB milling operation. This approach has the problems that FIB marking takes a relatively long time, three steps are required and two movements of the die are needed to move between the optical and FIB locations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system which allows optical techniques to be combined with charged particle techniques for processing dies without the problems identified above.

Charged particle beam system with optical microscope


A spacer spraying system and spacer spraying method are provided which are capable of spraying spacers uniformly in a liquid crystal display panel forming region on a substrate. A stage includes a main stage section having a predetermined size and an auxiliary stage section supported in the main stage section so as to be slid in the main stage section or another auxiliary stage section having a structure in which the auxiliary stage section can be connected to the main stage section. By making the auxiliary stage section be slid in the main stage section or be connected to the main stage section according to a size of a substrate mounted on the stage, a size of the stage is made changeable so that a distance between an edge portion of the stage and a liquid crystal display panel forming region existing near the edge portion of the stage falls within a predetermined range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing device and manufacturing method for a liquid crystal display panel and a liquid crystal display panel and more particularly to a spacer spraying system to spray spacers on a substrate of a liquid crystal display panel and a method for spraying the spacers on the liquid crystal display panel substrate and to a liquid crystal display panel having the liquid crystal display panel substrate manufactured by using the above spacer spraying system and the above method.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-221637 filed on Jul. 29, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of First Related Art
A liquid crystal display panel is widely used as a display device for an AV (Audio-Visual) apparatus, an OA (Office Automation) apparatus, and a like due to its advantages of being thin, light weight, low in power consumption, and a like. The liquid crystal display panel of this type is made up of a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) substrate in which switching elements such as TFTs or a like are formed in a matrix form and a facing substrate in which a color filter, black matrix, or a like are formed. Insulating spacers made of polymer beads, silica beads, or a like, each having a specified size are arranged between both the substrates to form a gap having a specified size which is filled with a liquid crystal sealed hermitically therein. The liquid crystal display panel is so configured that an image is displayed by applying a voltage to an electrode formed on a pair of substrates facing each other or on one of the substrates to generate an electric field and by controlling an orientational direction of the liquid crystal according to the electric field to change transmitivity of light. In the liquid crystal display panel having such configurations as above, it is important that, in order to improve displaying quality, the gap between substrates facing each other is formed uniformly and, therefore, the spacers used to form the gap are sprayed uniformly on the substrates.
There are two methods of spraying the spacers on the substrates; one is a wet spraying method in which a spacer-containing solvent obtained by dispersing the spacers in the solvent for example flon (fluoro carbon), alcohol, or a like is jetted from a nozzle and the other is a dry spraying method in which the spacers are charged by an electrostatic charge process using an electrostatic gun or contact friction and the charged spacers are jetted from the nozzle. In the case of the wet spraying method, collection of flon, alcohol, or a like is required and the spacers are easily condensed in the solvent and, therefore, it is difficult to spray the spacers uniformly on the substrate and, as a result, the dry spraying method is widely used.
In the case of the dry spraying method, in ordinary cases, the spacers are positively charged and a repulsive force is exerted among the spacers and, therefore, partial condensation of the spacers does not occur, however, since a central portion of a stage is located immediately below the nozzle, an amount of the sprayed spacers tends to increase. On the other hand, since a distance between a peripheral edge portion of the stage and the nozzle increases at the central portion of a stage, the amount of the sprayed spacers tends to decrease at the peripheral edge portion of the stage, thus causing the sprayed spacers to be not uniform in a density distribution on an entire of the stage depending on a positional relation between the nozzle and the stage.
In order to improve such uniformity of a spacer spray density distribution caused by the positional relation between the nozzle and the stage, a method is disclosed in which a chamber of a spacer spraying system is charged so as to have a potential with the same polarity (positive polarity in ordinary cases) as that of the charged spacers, and the charged spacers being released in a direction of a charged wall of the chamber with the same polarity as the charged spacers are repelled from the charged wall of the chamber to a direction of the stage, thus enabling the spray density of the spacers to be distributed uniformly. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-148635, a spacer spraying system is disclosed in which a spraying chamber housing a substrate has a layer-stacked structure in which each layer is electrically insulated and a voltage having a potential with the same polarity as that of the spacers is applied from an outside to the most inner layer surface of the chamber to make the spacers travelling on surfaces of the chamber be repelled by the electrostatic force, thus enabling a amount of the sprayed spacers in a peripheral edge portion of the substrate to be reduced.
Though non-uniformity in a density distribution of the sprayed spacers caused by the positional relation between the above nozzle and the stage can be improved by using the spacer spraying system disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-148635, the amount of the spacers that gather around the peripheral edge portion of the stage by electrostatic repulsion from the chamber wall increase. To solve this problem, by adjusting a level of a voltage to be applied to a wall surface of the chamber and/or by improving a shape of a nozzle used to spray the spacers or a spray pattern of spacers or a like, amounts of the sprayed spacers in the peripheral edge portion of the stage placed near the chamber wall are calibrated, however, even if such adjustments are made, it is impossible to uniformly control the density distribution of the sprayed spacers on the substrate.
The reason for the above is that the density distribution of the sprayed spacers is varied not only by a positional relation between the nozzle and the stage and/or the positional relation between the chamber wall and the stage but also by the positional relation between the stage and the substrate placed on the stage. More particularly, though an electric field is approximately constant in a central portion of the stage, the electric field is concentrated in an edge portion of the stage due to an edge effect, which causes the amount of the sprayed spacers to increase in the peripheral edge portion of the substrate located near the edge portion of the stage.
In the case where the liquid crystal display panel is small in size or there is a sufficient space in a position where the substrate is cut (that is, in the case where an interval between the liquid crystal display panels is large when a plurality of the liquid crystal display panels is produced by one piece of the substrate), since a distance between the edge portion of the substrate and the region where the liquid crystal display panel is formed can be made large, even if the spraying amounts of the spacers increase due to the edge effect, the influence caused by the increased amounts of the spacers can be made small in the region where the liquid crystal display device is formed. However, when the liquid crystal display panel is large in size and when many liquid crystal display panels are densely arranged on the substrate to achieve reduction in costs, inevitably, no sufficient space exists in the position where the substrate is cut and, as a result, the influence caused by the edge effect occurs even in the liquid crystal display panel forming region being located in the vicinity of the stage end.
In order to reduce the influence caused by the edge effect, a method is available in which the substrate is located far from the stage end by making the chamber or the stage larger in size. However, if the chamber is larger in size, the amount of the spacers that can be used during a one-time spacer spraying process increases, causing unnecessary consumption of high-priced spacers and an increase in costs in the manufacturing of the liquid crystal display panel. Moreover, a size of the liquid crystal display panel varies depending on each of products required by users and, if a distance between the stage end and the liquid crystal display panel forming region being located in the vicinity of the stage end also varies depending on each of the products, the spacer spraying density changes in every product and, as a result, variations in performance of the product occur.
3. Description of Second Related Art
As explained in the first related art, when a liquid crystal display panel is manufactured, it is of importance that a gap between a pair of substrates facing each other is uniform and, to achieve this, uniform spraying of spacers on surfaces of the substrates is required. Therefore, in the spacer spraying system of a type that applies a voltage to a chamber, by adjusting a level of a voltage to be applied to an inner wall of the chamber and by improving a shape of a nozzle to jet spacers or a pattern of spraying spacers, uniformity of sprayed spacers in a density distribution is improved.
For example, in a conventional spacer spraying system having dimensions as shown in FIG. 13A, when a voltage to be applied to an inner wall of the chamber is set at 4.0 kV, 7.0 kV, and 10 kV and a spraying mode for each of the voltages is set at a mode 2 and mode 3 as shown in FIG. 13B, respectively, spraying density of spacers corresponding to each distance from a substrate end is as shown in FIG. 14. Though the spacer spray density distribution can be changed by varying the applying voltage or the spraying mode, if the voltage on a wall surface of the chamber is made large (see, for example, "X" mark or "*" mark in FIG. 14), spraying density at the substrate end becomes larger. If the voltage on the wall of the chamber is made smaller (see triangular marks in black), though spraying density at the substrate end can be made somewhat smaller, spraying density in a position on an inner side of the substrate end (for example, 200 mm to 300 mm from the substrate end) becomes very small and, as a result, uniform distribution of the sprayed spacers cannot be obtained at any voltage and the tendency cannot be changed by a change in the spraying mode. The reason for that is that, in the method in which a voltage to be applied to the chamber inner wall is adjusted and/or a shape of the nozzle or a pattern of spraying spacers is improved, variations in spraying density caused by a positional relation between the nozzle and stage or between the chamber wall surface and the stage are merely reduced, and it is impossible to reduce variations caused by a positional relation between the stage and substrate formed on the stage, that is, variations in the spacer spraying density caused by concentration of an electric field at the stage end cannot be reduced.
Moreover, a method is proposed in which, by changing a voltage to be applied to a stage on which a substrate is formed, variations in spraying density of spacers are reduced. For example, a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-275652 in which the stage is divided into a plurality of portions of the stage and each of the divided stages or each of some divided groups of the stages is set at a different potential. However, the purpose of the method disclosed in the above Patent Application is to improve distribution of spacers sprayed within an inner surface of the entire stage and, therefore, it is impossible to reduce variations in spacer spraying density caused by a positional relation between the stage and substrate formed on the stage, that is, variations in spacer spraying density caused by concentration of an electric field at an edge portion of the stage cannot be suppressed.

Spacer spraying system, spacer spraying method and liquid crystal display panel


Methods and apparatus for current sensing in mutually coupled inductors according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a control system adapted to control current through the inductors and multiple current sensors connected to the control system. Each current sensor may comprise a series combination comprising a capacitor and a resistor. The series combination may be connected in parallel with one of the inductors, and may be adapted to generate branch inductor current signals according to a sensed current in the connected inductor. In addition, a coupling capacitor may be coupled between at least two of the current sensors to compensate a time constant of the current sensor for mutual coupling inductance between the inductors.

Switching power supplies are popular for high power applications because of the high efficiency and small area/volume required. Buck converters in particular are well suited to providing the high current at low voltages needed by high performance digital integrated circuits such as microprocessors, graphics processors, and network processors. For examples a buck converter is often used to step down a DC voltage (typically referred to as the input voltage) to a lower DC voltage (typically referred to as the output voltage). Since the power stage is fully switched (i.e., the power MOSFET is fully off or on), there is very little loss in the power stage and the converter power efficiency is very high.
The inductance value in a buck converter is typically chosen to be sufficiently high such that the ripple current is at an acceptable level. The high inductance level, however, limits the ability of the regulator to quickly change its output current. This tradeoff between ripple current and output current slew rate transient performance becomes a limiting effect on the regulator transient and steady state performance.
The tradeoff can be mitigated by replacing the inductors in a multi-phase regulator with mutually coupled inductors. Coupled inductors effectively allow the ripple current in each inductor to be reduced by using the coupling current from the other phases to cancel out the current in each phase. The reduction in ripple current allows lower value inductors to be used, which improves the output current slew rate and the regulator's transient performance.
In addition, many power supplies operate in conjunction with current sensors to monitor the current in the power supply and the load. Referring to FIG. 1, one common lossless current sensing technique is known as inductor DCR (DC resistance) current sense. For simplification, FIG. 1 illustrates the widely used "output reference" equivalent form, where the output voltage is shown as ground, and the voltage applied across the inductor (Vin−Vout) is shown as V1. By adding the RC network in parallel with the inductor L with its parasitic DC resistance r and matching the time constants, the voltage across the capacitor C is proportional to the current through the inductor multiplied by the DCR. A voltage amplifier connected to the PWM controller generates the desired signal representing the current through the inductor. This method is popular because the DCR of inductors is well controlled and characterized for tolerance and temperature variation, resulting in accurate current sensing.


Multimedia content may be obtained and an object may be identified in a first frame of video content. The object may be tracked through a plurality of frames, and the object may be identified in a second frame of the video content only if the object is no longer substantially identifiable.

Multimedia content such as video content is used in multiple settings and presents many difficult challenges in the context of video processing, such as recognizing and identifying objects moving through the multimedia content. Multimedia content often includes large amount of information that make it challenging to process the video to determine, for example, when a particular individual is present in the video. Determining when a particular individual or other object is present in the video may require performing an identity recognition process and it may be computationally infeasible or inefficient to perform repeated identity recognition processes.

Selective identity recognition utilizing object tracking


The present disclosure relates to a motor control system and method based on current feedback signal. The motor control system includes a control apparatus, a linear motor, and a current feedback apparatus, where an output end of the control apparatus is connected to the linear motor for calculating a displacement error of a previous moment to obtain a control output value of a current moment, and converting the control output value into a voltage signal for transmission to the linear motor; the linear motor is configured to vibrate according to the voltage signal input by the control apparatus; and the current feedback apparatus is connected to the linear motor, and is configured to: convert a measured current value of the linear motor into an actual displacement value of the current moment, and feed back the actual displacement value to an input end of the control apparatus.

A linear vibration motor, also known as a linear resonant actuator ("LRA" for short), is also usually referred to as a linear motor. As linear motors become increasingly popular in the fields of smart phones, tablet computers and the like, how to effectively control vibration of linear motors becomes very important. The linear motor usually includes a proportion integration differentiation controller ("PID" controller for short), which consists of a proportion unit P, an integration unit I and a differentiation unit D, and is used in an industrial production process. Processing variables such as temperature, pressure, flow, and liquid level of a production apparatus are usually required to be maintained at a particular value or change according to a particular law, to meet the requirement of the production process. The deviation of the entire control system is adjusted according to the PID control principle, so that the actual values of the controlled variables are consistent with the predetermined values of the process requirement. Different control laws are applicable to different production processes, and corresponding control laws need to be suitably selected. Otherwise, the PID controller will not achieve the expected control effect.
However, the inventor of the present disclosure finds that, in the prior art, motor vibration is controlled specifically by using a preset motor excitation signal. Consequently, a motor state cannot be tracked in real time, and the motor cannot be accurately controlled, and an uncontrollable consequence is caused in a severe case.

Motor control system and method based on current feedback signal


Rotatable bomb device includes a housing with a hollow interior for receipt of a rotatable component to a vessel, and support for the component in the interior; and the component for such receipt and support in the housing. The device may be employed as a reactor or in test methods, for example, methods such as oxygen uptake tests analogous or equivalent to the ASTM-D-2272 and ASTM-D-4742 test methods.

Various types of bomb test devices are known. Among these may be mentioned the Thin Film Oxygen Uptake Test (TFOUT) device from Tannas Company of Midland, Mich., and the Rotating Bomb Oxidation Test (RBOT) device from Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio, Tex., which are employed in the well known ASTM D-4742 and ASTM D-2272 test methods, respectively.
The TFOUT device utilizes twin stainless steel, rotating bomb reactors in gathering precise measurements of oil oxidation characteristics. It uses a single 3.25 gallon bath of heated oil for the reactors, and takes about half an hour to set up.
The RBOT device utilizes two stainless steel, rotating bomb reactors in gathering turbine oil oxidation data. It uses large, separate, heated oil baths for each reactor, and also takes about half an hour to set up.
Another device, from Koehler Co., is known, a TFOUT/RBOT device. These devices have 2-4 arm units per hot oil bath, and require all bombs to be finished before moving on. Removal of one bomb unit for cleaning affects other bomb(s).
Operators must be careful to not get harmed from the hot bath oil or its vapors. Also, the vapors can undesirably condense on surrounding equipment.
It would be desirable to improve upon such art.


A high yield plasma etch process for an interlayer dielectric layer of a semiconductor device is provided, according to an embodiment of which a dielectric layer is etched with a nitrogen-containing plasma. In this way, the formation of polymers on a backside bevel of a substrate is avoided or substantially reduced. Remaining polymer at the backside bevel can be removed in situ by post-etch treatment. Further, a plasma etching device is provided comprising a chamber, a substrate receiving space for receiving a substrate, a plasma generator for generating a plasma in the chamber and a temperature conditioner for conditioning a temperature at an outer circumferential region of the substrate receiving space and thereby minimizing temperature gradients at a bevel of the wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the field of plasma etching, and, more particularly, to plasma etching of an interlayer dielectric during semiconductor device manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of complex integrated circuits requires the provision of a large number of transistor elements, which are used in logic circuits as efficient switches and which represent the dominant circuit element for designing circuits. Generally, a plurality of process technologies are currently practiced, wherein, for complex circuitry, such as micro-processors, storage chips and the like, CMOS technology is currently the most promising approach due to the superior characteristics in view of operating speed and/or power consumption and/or cost efficiency. In CMOS circuits, complementary transistors, i.e., P-channel transistors and N-channel transistors, are used for forming circuit elements, such as inverters and other logic gates to design highly complex circuit assemblies, such as CPUs, storage chips and the like. During the fabrication of complex integrated circuits using CMOS technology, millions of transistors, i.e., N-channel transistors and P-channel transistors, are formed on a substrate including a crystalline semiconductor layer. After completing the formation of the active components, e.g., transistors, capacitors or resistors, the wafer is usually sealed with a layer of a dielectric material, e.g., silicon dioxide (SiO2). Via holes are formed in the dielectric material which are filled with a suitable metal, e.g., tungsten and tantalum, thereby forming metal plugs which provide electrical connections to the contacts of the individual components. The process sequence up to this point is sometimes called "Front End of Line" (FEL) process sequence. Thereafter, the components are usually tested to ensure correct operation of the components.
The individual components, e.g., transistors, require electrical interconnections which provide the final functionality of the desired units, e.g., chips, which include the individual components. The process sequence for formation of the electrical interconnections between the components is sometimes called "Back End of Line" (BEOL) process sequence. Usually, the electrical interconnections are formed by a series of conductive layers which are separated by dielectric layers. The dielectric layers are often referred to as "InterLayer Dielectric" (ILD).
Common materials for interlayer dielectric layers comprise silicon-based oxide materials that serve as electrical insulators, e.g., undoped silicon oxide, fluorine-doped silicon oxide and other materials. Other interlayer dielectric materials include low-k dielectrics, i.e., insulating materials with a low dielectric constant, e.g., materials with a k-value less than 3. Low-k dielectrics include silicon-based materials as well as carbon-based materials, polymer materials and the like.
The increasing level of integration of integrated circuits has also resulted in an increase in the number of layers that make up the integrated circuit. Up to ten interconnection layers or more may be provided. However, as the number of layers in the integrated circuit continues to increase, advanced processes are being developed in order to reduce the number of process steps which are necessary for one functional layer. These advanced processes often demand extraordinary properties of the chemistry of the etching process. Etching stacked dielectric layers is one of the most difficult demands.
The individual interconnection layers are electrically connected by conductive plugs, as described above, which are formed in respective via holes in the dielectric layers. Different methods for providing the electrical interconnections are commonly used. One method is to fill not only the via holes but to provide a continuous metal layer of the respective metal over both the filled via holes and the dielectric. Thereafter, a lithographic step is used to define a photoresist layer over the planar metal layer and respectively etch the exposed metal. In this way, a network of electrical interconnects is obtained. Another method, called damascene process, uses chemical mechanical polishing instead of metal etching. This is particularly advantageous for copper interconnects, since the etch products obtained by copper etching are less volatile than respective etch products obtained by silicon or aluminum etching. In the damascene process, in addition to the via holes, recesses for the electrical interconnections are formed in the dielectric layer. The via holes as well as the recesses corresponding to the electrical interconnections are filled with the desired metal and afterwards the surface is planarized by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
In order to obtain a desired high packing density, a small diameter of the via holes is desirable. However, since the thickness of the dielectric layer must be reasonably thick to minimize the ILD capacitance, the via holes in modern integrated circuits are formed exhibiting an aspect ratio that may be as high as approximately 8:1 or more, and the opening may have a diameter of 0.1 μm or smaller. The aspect ratio of such openings is generally defined as the ratio of the depth of the opening to the width of the opening. Such high aspect ratios require a reliable etch process with high accuracy.
The via holes are usually formed by a highly anisotropic etch process, e.g., a plasma etch process. Generally, a plasma etch process comprises providing process gases which form, at a suitable process temperature, gaseous compounds with the material to be etched. Usually the process gases do not react spontaneously with the material to be etched. Rather, a plasma is provided in which the process gases dissociate into reactive free radicals which do react spontaneously to form volatile compounds. For a dielectric etch, in particular for a silicon dioxide (SiO2) etch, plasma etch processes on the basis of carbon-fluorine-process gases, referred to as fluorocarbon in the following, are well established. Plasma sources of various kinds are known, including capacitively coupled plasma etchers. Herein, at least two electrodes are provided in a chamber with the wafer to be etched therebetween. To one electrode, e.g., to a lower electrode, an alternating current power, typically a radio frequency (RF) power, is applied for generating and maintaining a plasma in the chamber. Further, a bias power is applied over the electrodes, leading to a directional bombardment of the wafer with the ions generated from the precursor gases. Another type of plasma etcher is a inductively coupled plasma etcher, wherein the plasma in the chamber is generated by generating an alternating electromagnetic field in the chamber by applying a respective current to a coil.
In order to obtain a well-defined etch result, etch stop layers are usually provided below the dielectric layer which is subjected to plasma etching. The etch stop layer has a composition relative to the dielectric layer such that an etch chemistry is available which effectively etches a vertical hole in the overlying dielectric layer but stops on the etch stop layer. In other words, the etch process selectively etches the dielectric layer over the etch stop layer. Advanced semiconductor devices comprise a dielectric layer of, e.g., undoped silicon oxide, non-stoichiometric materials SiOx, doped silica glasses such as fluorinated silica glass (FSG), e.g., F-TEOS, which exhibits much the same chemistry as silicon dioxide (SiO2), low-k dielectrics and the like. A suitable stop layer material for oxides like silicon dioxide (SiO2) is silicon nitride, e.g., Si3N4 or non-stoichiometric ratios SiNx with x between 1.0 and 1.5, may be suitable.
In the plasma etch process, besides the volatile compound formed of the material to be etched and the respective precursor, polymers may form from the process gases, e.g., CxFy fragments may form fluorocarbon polymers. The well-defined formation of polymers may be used to advantage to optimize the etch process. However, even undesired side reactions may lead to the formation of polymers in the etched via hole which may interfere with a conductive material subsequently filled in the via hole. After the etching of via holes is completed, the resist mask must be removed, which may constitute an additional source of residual polymer material left within the etched via. It is common practice in plasma etching via holes to include a post-etch treatment (PET) step to minimize the residual polymer material left within the via hole.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods and devices that may avoid, or at least reduce, the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.

High yield plasma etch process for interlayer dielectrics


A device for reducing the temperature of a bombe, which stores liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuel and may be connected to a fuel supply line for supplying the fuel to an injector, using latent heat of LPG vaporization, may include a fuel pump installed in the bombe and connected to an end of the fuel supply line for pressurizing the fuel, a cut-off valve installed in the fuel supply line for selectively cutting off fuel supply to the injector, a fuel collection line branched from the fuel supply line to the inside of the bombe for collecting the supplied fuel into the bombe when the cut-off valve may be closed, and                an injection nozzle connected to the fuel collection line and injecting the fuel collected through the fuel collection line into the inside of the bombe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for reducing the temperature of a bombe in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a device for reducing the temperature of a bombe using the fact that LPG absorbs latent heat during vaporization to ensure smooth LPG filling, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, an LPG vehicle is refueled at a filling station as shown in FIG. 1. An LPG storage 1 is located in the underground of the filling station, and the fuel is pumped by a filling pump 2 and transferred to each filling device. The filling device includes a filling gun 3 for supplying fuel to a fuel inlet of the vehicle, and a bombe 10 for storing fuel is mounted in the vehicle.
Here, the pressure at the filling state should be higher than that of the bombe 10 mounted in the vehicle such that the fuel injection and filling through the filling gun 3 is made possible. The pressure at the filling station may be determined as a sum of the pressure of the LPG storage 1 and the performance (about 8 bar) of the filling pump 2.
In the case of a vehicle using an existing liquid phase injection (LPI) system, the pressure at the filling station becomes lower than or equal to the pressure of the bombe 10 in the vehicle, and thus the LPG filling is not achieved. In particular, the temperature during a hot summer in Europe is 40° C., and the content of propane in LPG is 25 to 95%. Moreover, the temperature during a hot summer in Australia is 50° C., and the content of propane in LPG is 50 to 100%, for example. Thus, the pressure in the bombe 10 excessively increases under such conditions.
The increase in pressure of the bombe 10 of the vehicle causes an increase in temperature of the bombe 10, and this increase in temperature of the bombe 10 is caused by a fuel return system of an LPI engine as shown FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a fuel circulation system in a conventional LPI system.
In the LPI system, LPG is injected from a filling gun 3 provided with a nozzle into a bombe 10 through an LPG filter and an over-current protection (OCP) valve. The high-pressure liquid phase fuel in the bombe 10 is supplied to an engine through a fuel supply line, and extra fuel and fuel heated by the engine are reintroduced into the bombe 10 through a fuel return line. Here, the temperature in the bombe 10 is increased by the heated fuel to vaporize the liquid fuel, and thus the internal pressure of the bombe 10 also increases. As such, the increase in pressure of the bombe 10 may cause the problem of poor filling in the vehicle employing the LPI system.
In order to solve such a problem and ensure smooth LPG filling, it is necessary to substantially reduce the temperature of the bombe 10 by more than 25° C. or increase the pressure at the filling station by more than 6.1 bar. Conventional methods generally include a method of minimizing the flow of return fuel and a cooling method of reducing the temperature of the return fuel by heat exchange.
However, in the case of the method of minimizing the flow of return fuel by installing a solenoid valve in the fuel return line, the pressure at an injector excessively increases, and the startability and operability deteriorate. Moreover, in the case of a method using a system in which the return fuel is completely eliminated, it is impossible to collect fuel remaining in the injector after starting off, which causes injector leakage due to fuel vaporization, and the startability and operability also deteriorate.
Further, in the cooling method of reducing the temperature of the return fuel by heat exchange, in the case of a method of exchanging heat with air conditioner coolant, which is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1071236, it is necessary to forcibly drive an air conditioner at a predetermined fuel temperature, which reduces the fuel efficiency and competitiveness, increases the manufacturing cost, and reduces the efficiency of the air conditioner. Moreover, in the case of a method of exchanging heat with other fluids such as condensed water, air, etc., there is no significant effect of reducing the temperature.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Device and method for reducing temperature of bombe using latent heat of LPG vaporization


The sewing machine includes an image capturing portion, a processor, and a memory. The memory is configured to store computer-readable instructions. The computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the sewing machine to perform operations of: setting a specified range within the image capture enabled range based on a first image, acquiring a plurality of partial images, and creating a composite image by combining the acquired plurality of the partial images.

A sewing machine that is provided with an image capture portion is known. For example, in the known sewing machine, a plurality of images (partial images), in which an object of image capture is divided into a plurality of regions, are captured by the image capture portion. The image capture portion creates a plurality of sets of image data that describe the captured partial images. By combining the plurality of the captured partial images based on the created plurality of sets of the image data, the sewing machine creates a composite image that shows all of the regions of the object of image capture.

Sewing machine and computer-readable medium storing program


In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, when a copper diffusion preventing film portion on the connecting hole bottom portion is to be removed, a film thickness of other portion of the copper diffusion preventing film not to be removed is more thickly formed than that of the to-be-removed copper diffusion preventing film portion on the connecting hole bottom portion, thereby only the copper diffusion preventing film portion to be removed can be removed. The method can extend a durable length of time of a wire and can reduce a resistance of the metal wires in a connecting hole bottom portion by removing a copper diffusion preventing film on the bottom portion of the connecting hole.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device of a multi-layer wire structure. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of removing an undesired film formed between a metal wire in an upper-layered wiring structure and a metal wire in a lower-layered wiring structure at a bottom portion of a contact hole through which the metal wires of the upper-layered wiring and the lower-layered wiring are connected to each other.
In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device of a multi-layer wire structure, a metal wire in an upper-layered wiring structure and a metal wire in a lower-layered wiring structure are connected to each other at a bottom portion of a contact hole. However, during the manufacturing process, an undesired film is formed between the metal wire in the upper-layered wiring structure and the metal wiring layer in the lower-layered wiring structure. Such an undesired film is, when the metal wires are made of copper, a copper diffusion preventing film for preventing copper atoms from being diffused from the copper wires into an insulation film formed adjacent to the copper wires, or when the metal wires are made of aluminium, a film for increasing reflow of aluminium or reliability of aluminium wire for long-term use.
Prior art will be explained in detail by using FIGS. 24 to 27 of the accompanying drawings, in a case where the metal wires are made of copper, and the undesired film is a copper diffusion preventing film for preventing copper atoms from being diffused from the copper wires.
FIG. 24 shows a semiconductor device of a multi-layer wire structure. FIG. 25 shows a cross-sectional view of the semiconductor device shown in FIG. 24. Copper diffusion preventing films 1211 and 1212 are formed around a metal wire 1201 formed in a lower-layered wiring structure 1291. The diffusion preventing films 1211 and 1212 are made of for example, silicon nitride and prevent copper atoms from diffusing into interlayered insulating films 1221 and 1292. Without the copper diffusion preventing films, the copper atoms will be flowed into the interlayered insulating films from being diffused from the copper wires, thereby a characteristic of a transistor is deteriorated. Accordingly, when the copper is used as a wire material, the copper diffusion preventing film is essential.
Next, as shown in FIG. 26, a copper diffusion preventing film 1213 made of silicon nitride is formed over the semiconductor structure shown in FIG. 25. Thereafter, the wire material whose main component is the copper is embedded in connecting holes 1205, 1206 formed in an interlayered insulating film 1292 and wire grooves 1294 formed in an upper-layered wiring structure 1293, thereby a semiconductor device having a multi-layer wire structure is manufactured.
Furthermore, FIG. 27 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a portion near the connecting hole 1205 of the semiconductor structure in which a wire material 1200 whose main component is the copper is embedded in the connecting holes and the wire groove of the semiconductor device shown in FIG. 26. As shown in FIG. 27, the copper diffusion preventing film exists at a bottom portion 1299 of the connecting hole 1205. A copper diffusion rate is extremely slow in the copper diffusion preventing film. Accordingly, when a current I1 is flowed through the wires 1200 and 1201 in the connecting hole 1205 as shown in FIG. 27, the copper diffusion preventing film portion prevents a movement of the copper atoms occurred due to the flow of the current, to cause a void (such a phenomenon that the wire material is moved in the wire, thereby a space is formed in the wire) and a hillock (such a phenomenon that the wire material is overflowed out the wire). Since the void and the hillock may often cause disconnection of the wires, a durable length of time of the wire is reduced. Furthermore, when a resistivity of the copper diffusion preventing film is more than that of the metal wires 1200 and 1201 whose main component is the copper, an equivalent resistance of the wires in the connecting hole 1205 is increased.
As described above, when the metal wire whose main component is the copper is used for the semiconductor device having the multi-layer wire structure, the copper diffusion preventing film for preventing the copper atom contained in the metal wire from diffusing therearound must be formed around the metal wire. However, in case of the wire structure as described above, the copper diffusion preventing film causes the disconnection of the wires due to an electromigration and a resistance increase of the wires at the connecting hole portion.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device having multi-layer wiring structure with diffusion preventing film


A method for preparation of a shelf-stable precursor solution used to prepare a vaccine delivery system and useful for remote encapsulation of active ingredients is described. The vaccine delivery system utilizes solvent dilution microcarriers into which pathogen subunits are incorporated for delivering antigens to mucosal sites for stimulating imunoglobulin production.

The route of administration of a particular vaccine is dependent upon several factors. Factors to be considered include locus of initiation of infection, locus of disease progression, systemic or nonsystemic involvement, pathogenicity of the particular vaccine used, and type of immunity desired to be induced. Vaccines have been given orally, parenterally, and through inhalation. Oral and inhalation administration of vaccines is preferable when it is desirous to stimulate production of secretory immunoglobulin as a first line of defense against infection. Oral administration of vaccines may also be preferable in the instance of a particularly pathogenic organism, even though the organism has been attenuated prior to administration.
As the pathogenicity of the particular organism administered as a vaccine increases, so do concerns regarding incomplete attenuation. Alternatives have been developed which utilize protein subunits of antigenic molecules expressed on the surface of the organisms instead of the complete organism. However, although such materials are generally antigenic, they are not always immunogenic. Immunogenicity depends upon, among other factors, size. Several attempts have been made to address the antigen immunogen dichotomy in particularly pathogenic organisms. In that regard, various adjuvants were developed to augment the immunogenicity of a particular antigen and include such materials as keyhole limpet hemocyanin, aluminum hydroxide gels, sodium alginate, synthetic polynucleotides, muramyl dipeptide, Bordetella pertussis, Freund's Complete Adjuvant (emulsion of mineral oil, water, and mycobacterial extracts, and Freund's Incomplete Adjuvant (emulsion of water and oil only). Liposomes have also been used as adjuvants.
A liposome is a lipid-containing vesicle capable of entrapping various molecules of interest. Previously, most liposome vesicles functioned as adjuvants on the principle of entrapment of the antigen within a central core. However, liposomes have been developed which attempt to integrate the antigen within the lipid bi-layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,662 issued to Bolcsak et al. on Mar. 31, 1992 describes liposomes or liposome-like structures comprising sterols either alone or in combination with additional liposome-forming lipids. Liposome structures such as micelles, reverse micelles, hexagonal phases, multilamellar vesicles, or unilamellar vesicles are described. The liposomes may be prepared with or without the use of an organic solvent and may function as vaccines after entrapment or association of an immunogen.
While not specifically addressed to vaccine preparations, U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,388 issued to Gilbert et al. on Sep. 17, 1991 describes small particle aerosol liposomes and liposome-drug combinations for medical use and discloses that the drug or medication is interactive with the liposome membrane so that, on its rupture, the drug or medication is not lost from the liposome. Before aerosolization, the liposomes are heterogenous in size.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,549 issued to de Vries on Feb. 13, 1990, relates to a process for preparing immunogenic complexes. The patent describes an amphipathic antigenic protein or peptide contacted with a solution containing a detergent, a sterol, and a glycoside comprising hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions. Subsequently, the detergent is removed and the immunogenic complex is purified. Optionally, the solution further comprises a phospholipid, preferably phosphatidylethanolamine. The structure is described as consisting of cage-like or two-dimensional aggregates, depending upon whether phospholipid is or is not present, respectively.
The incorporation of pathogen subunits into liposome preparations for stimulation of immune response has been described previously. More specifically, the incorporation of a soluble antigen extract of Brucella abortus and the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Salmonella abortus equi, Escherichia coli, and Serratia marcescens. Fountain, et al., "Effect of Phosphatidylcholine Liposomes Containing Brucella abortus Soluble Antigen on the Response of Bovine Lymphocytes to Phytohemagglutinin," Current Microbiology, Vol. 6, pp. 61-64, 1981. These preparations involved incorporation of the antigens into a phosphatidylcholine liposome preparation described in Schuster et al., "Production of Antibodies Against Phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine, Sphingomyelin and Lipid A by Injection of Liposomes Containing Lipid A," American Journal of Immunity, Vol. 122, pp. 4003-4009, 1979, and involved the entrapment of the subunit within the liposome.
Conventional liposome preparations, i.e., those entrapping the molecule of interest, are not satisfactory for vaccine formation for several reasons. They are generally heterogeneous in size and difficult to sterilize for in vivo applications. Their stability or shelf life is often very limited. Further, the selection of passenger molecules for entrapment may be limited.
A new liposome was developed consisting of an amphipathic vehicle called a solvent dilution microcarrier (SDMC) which enables the integration of the particular molecule into the bi-layer of the lipid vesicle itself, or in association with the component of the bi-layer, rather than inside the space created by the spherical bi-layer upon formation of the vesicle. The preparation of SDMCs is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,965 issued to Michael W. Fountain on Jul. 28, 1992.
Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,965 describes a method for preparing SDMCs exhibiting substantial size homogeneity and capable of being sterilized by a variety of methods, including heating or UV radiation.
It has been found that, through a modification of the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,965, the preparation of immunogenic complexes between SDMCs and normally non-immunogenic or weakly immunogenic antigens can be effected. Additionally, it has been found that immunogenic complexes between SDMCs and the subunits of pathogens can be formed. Further, the use of SDMCs facilitates the administration of the immunogens so prepared by a variety of means, including oral ingestion and nasal inhalation.
It has further been found that a shelf-stable SDMC precursor solution can be prepared and stored at room temperature until it is desired to add the antigenic material to be utilized in the vaccine. The SDMC precursor solution can be used in a method for remote encapsulation of other active ingredients as well, which active ingredients are inherently heat-labile, solvent intolerant or unstable over time. Thus, the SDMC precursor can be kept as a stock item and used to freshly prepare encapsulated actives of interest.

Encapsulation of active ingredients into lipid vesicles


A filtration assembly includes a feed water line and a permeate line. A shut-off valve is coupled between the permeate line and the feed water line and operative to open the feed line when the faucet is opened based on a pressure differential between the feed line and the permeate line. An energy storage member is located within the permeate line and configured to compress and then expand after the faucet is closed causing the shut-off valve to fully close.

Water filtration systems are used to purify water. For example, a reverse osmosis (RO) system includes an RO membrane. When feed water enters the system, some water goes through the membrane as purified permeate and some is left as concentrate. A shut-off valve can be used to control water flow through the system. For example, the shut-off valve can be placed between the feed line and the permeate line. When the pressure drops in the permeate line, the shut-off valve opens the feed line and water flows though the system. When the pressure rises in the permeate line, the shut-off valve closes and water stops flowing. However, sometimes the shut-off valve does not close all the way and feed water may continue to run to drain.

Method and system for operating a shut-off valve of a filtration system


A transfer device has a plurality of first transfer rollers provided, one in each of a plurality of first transfer regions. The first transfer rollers are arranged downstream of respective image carriers in a traveling direction of an intermediate transfer belt, so as to be out of contact with the image carriers through the belt. In the first transfer region that is located most upstream in the traveling direction, there is a pressure member provided upstream of the image carrier in the traveling direction for pressing the intermediate transfer belt against the image carrier.

The present invention relates to a transfer device for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and in particular to a transfer device for firstly transferring a toner image as formed on an image carrier to an endless intermediate transfer belt and secondly transferring the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt to a record medium such as a sheet of paper (hereinafter referred to merely as a sheet).
A full-color image forming apparatus forms an image, using a toner of color corresponding to each of a plurality of color image data obtained by color separation from an original color image. More specifically, the image forming apparatus reads the original full-color image through different color filters for the three additive primary colors—red, green, and blue—and produces color image data for the three subtractive primary colors—cyan, magenta, and yellow—and black, respectively. Based on each of the color image data, a developed image is created with a toner of corresponding color. Resulting developed images for the respective colors are accumulated to form a full-color image.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-039651 discloses a tandem-type full-color image forming apparatus having a semiconductive endless belt and a plurality of (e.g. four) image forming sections. The endless belt is installed rotatably, and the image forming sections each provided for forming a developed image of corresponding color are aligned along an outer circumference of the endless belt. This arrangement allows a full-color image to be formed in at least one full rotation of the endless belt.
There is also known a tandem-type full-color image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer method. In the image forming apparatus, developed images for the respective colors formed on photoreceptor drums as image carriers in respective image forming sections are accumulated on an outer circumferential surface of an endless belt (an intermediate transfer belt) and then transferred to a sheet, to form a full-color image.
More specifically, toner images are formed on the image carriers (photoreceptor drums) in the respective image forming sections, based on image data for the respective colors obtained by color separation. The toner images are firstly transferred from the photoreceptor drums to the intermediate transfer belt to be accumulated, or first transfer processes are performed. Then, the accumulation of toner images is secondly transferred from the intermediate transfer belt to the sheet, or a second transfer process is performed.
Accordingly, the formation of a full-color image involves the first transfer processes performed in a plurality of, for example four, first transfer regions, and the second transfer process performed in a second transfer region other than the first transfer regions. While following a loop path, the intermediate transfer belt passes through the first transfer regions and the second transfer region, in the order.
Conventionally, each of the first transfer regions has a transfer nip area formed as follows. A first transfer roller, which is flexible, is pressed against a circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum, which is a rigid body, through the intermediate transfer belt. Part of a circumferential surface of the first transfer roller is thus deformed elastically along the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum, so that the intermediate transfer belt is brought into contact with the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum over a predetermined contact width to form a transfer nip area. The transfer nip area is provided for transferring a toner image in a stable manner from the outer circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum to the intermediate transfer belt.
However, the transfer nip area as formed above causes various problems. Since the surface of the first transfer roller is more flexible than that of the photoreceptor drum, potential fluctuations in traveling speed of the intermediate transfer belt in the transfer nip area lead to an imbalance in peripheral speed between the intermediate transfer belt and the photoreceptor drum, thereby causing difficulty in proper transfer of a toner image. The fluctuations in traveling speed are likely to be caused by changes, with time or due to environmental changes, in coefficient of friction between the intermediate transfer belt and the photoreceptor drum.
Also, width of the transfer nip area needs to be increased in order to ensure that a toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor drum to the intermediate transfer belt. The intermediate transfer belt is thus pressed closely against the photoreceptor drum, so that part of toner particles are clumped together. When a toner image is transferred to a sheet, the clumped toner particles remain on the intermediate transfer belt, thereby causing a void, or absence of toner within a specified outline of a character or the like, in the transferred image on the sheet. This results in deterioration in image quality.
Besides, with the intermediate transfer belt pressed closely against the photoreceptor drum, toner residues originating upstream on the intermediate transfer belt are likely to be attracted to a photoreceptor drum positioned downstream. This results in undesirable mixture of toner of different colors, causing a discrepancy in color between an original image and an image as formed based thereon.
In view of the foregoing, Applicants have offered a transfer device as shown in FIG. 1. In the transfer device, first transfer rollers 13A to 13D are arranged in first transfer regions TA to TD, respectively, so as to be positioned downstream of respective transfer nip areas in a traveling direction of an intermediate transfer belt 11 as indicated by an arrow A. The first transfer rollers 13A to 13D are out of contact with photoreceptor drums 101A to 101D, respectively, through the intermediate transfer belt 11. The transfer nip areas are provided over a predetermined contact width in the traveling direction of the intermediate transfer belt 11 and the photoreceptor drums 101A to 101D, respectively. This arrangement prevents the fluctuations in traveling speed of the intermediate transfer belt 11 in the transfer nip areas, the deterioration in image quality caused by the clamped toner particles, and the mixture of toner of different colors. This arrangement also prevents wasteful consumption of toner.
In the transfer device as shown in FIG. 1, however, the transfer nip area in the first transfer region located most upstream on the intermediate transfer belt 11 in the traveling direction (or the most upstream first transfer region) has a width (or contact width in the traveling direction of the intermediate transfer belt 11 and the photoreceptor drum) narrower than those of the other transfer nip areas in the other first transfer regions.
A bottommost portion of a circumferential surface of a driven roller, which is arranged upstream of the most upstream first transfer region and over which the intermediate transfer belt 11 is stretched, is at a higher level than a bottommost portion of a circumferential surface of each of the first transfer rollers. Upstream of the photoreceptor drum in the most upstream first transfer region, therefore, the intermediate transfer belt 11 follows a path different from the one that the belt 11 follows upstream of the photoreceptor drums in the other three first transfer regions.
More specifically, the intermediate transfer belt 11 is approximately level in the first three transfer regions while the traveling path is slanted in the most upstream first transfer region.
The condition prevents the four first transfer regions from producing uniform transfer results, thereby causing a problem of deterioration in color image reproducibility.
In view of the foregoing, a feature of the present invention is to offer a transfer device having a constant contact width of an intermediate transfer belt and each of photoreceptor drums in each of a plurality of first transfer regions, or a constant transfer nip width. The construction of the device allows uniform transfer results to be achieved in the first transfer regions, thereby enhancing image reproducibility.


The interior of a mushroom house is sterilized by applying ozone into the interior of the mushroom house around compost in receptacles in the mushroom house. The ozone is applied prior to the spawning step in the growing of the mushrooms.

The growing of mushrooms is done under controlled conditions for a lengthy period of time. Various standard techniques are known. Some of these techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,906, all of the details of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto. As pointed out, two common techniques for mushroom cultivation are in the use of mushroom beds or shelves and in a tray system. Other methods of growing mushrooms have been the bag system, the ridge bed system and deep trough system. These systems, particularly the bed and the tray systems include two distinct phases. Phase I is generally done outdoors and involves composting the material to be used for cultivating the mushrooms. The compost is then conveyed into a mushroom house and fills the receptacles, such as beds or trays. In general, the compost is then heated to pasteurize the compost and ensure that the compost is free from most mushroom pests and diseases. The pasteurized compost then undergoes a cool down procedure. The pasteurizing step could take up to 14 days and the cool down procedure could take about 3 days. The next operation is the spawning where the compost is inoculated with mushroom mycelia by distributing particulate material colonized with mushroom mycelia (spawn) through the compost. The spawning run might take about 14 to 16 days. Next the colonized compost is covered by a layer of nutrient poor material or casing. The casing layer holds the moisture so that the mycelium must grow through the casing layer. The next step might be considered a flash step which occurs about twenty days after the mycelium breaks through the casing layer. The flash step is the first picking of cultivated mushrooms. Finally, after the mushroom heads break through the casing layer there is a final harvesting of the mushrooms. Reference is also had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,073,388 and 5,503,647, all of the details of which are incorporated herein with regard to mushroom growing techniques.
In order to provide the best form of cultivated mushrooms under these controlled conditions it would be desirable if there were some assurance of having the mushroom house in a sterilized condition to prevent outside contamination interfering with the mushroom growth. It has been known in other fields to use ozone as a means of sterilization. The use of ozone in connection with the growing of mushrooms, however, has not heretofore been contemplated. One reason, perhaps is that ozone might be considered to create detrimental aesthetic and health affects if the ozone contacts the mushrooms.