Use of carrimycin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection resistance comprises the main steps: measuring the activity of carrimycin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance by adopting an absolute concentration method through taking clinical first-line antituberculotics, i.e., isoniazid and rifampicin as controls. The result indicates that carrimycin has obvious superior activity to clinically-separated Mycobacterium tuberculosis including drug-resistant bacteria compared with those of the clinical first-line control drugs, i.e., the isoniazid and the rifampicin, and use of carrimycin in manufacturing drugs for treating tubercle Bacillus infected diseases are expected to be developed.

Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease resulting from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. It mainly affects the lungs and is a disease with the most single-caused casualties among infectious diseases. Tuberculosis is common in people with low immunologic function and is a most-common opportunistic-infected disease related to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). It was reported by World Health Organization (WHO) that 8 to 10 millions of phthisic cases newly appear all over the world every year, and 3 to 4 millions of people died of tuberculosis, and developing countries have more patients. In addition, it is predicted that from 2000 to 2020, about one billion of people will be infected, and 35 millions of people will die of tuberculosis. At the same time, MTB drug resistance increases with years and will become a major threat to tuberculosis control in the whole world. Our country is one of 22 countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis in the whole world, the number of patients suffering from active tuberculosis is ranked second in the world, and epidemical characteristics comprise high infection rate, high case rate, high drug resistance and high death rate, and ¼ or more of 2 millions of MTB positive patients in the whole country are tubercle Bacillus drug resistant patients.
At present, the first-line drugs commonly used for clinical treatment of tuberculosis (with definite Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance activity) comprise 5 kinds, i.e., rifampicin, isoniazid, streptomycin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide. However, these drugs have many adverse reactions, are limited in bactericidal action. The course of treatment is relatively long, and they are usually used for more than 6 months. And patients have poor compliance. Second-line antituberculotics (with bacteriostasis action on Mycobacterium tuberculosis) comprise capreomycin, ethionamide, p-aminosalicylic acid, cycloserine, ciprofloxacin, amikacin, kanamycin, etc. However, these drugs have a greater adverse reaction, and the course of treatment is longer (18 to 24 months), the cost is expensive and the cure rate is lower. It is noteworthy that clinical researches show that all the first-line antituberculotics can cause injury to livers. For example: adverse reactions of isoniazid comprise peripheral neuritis, hepatotoxicity, central nervous system disorder and allergy. Adverse reactions of rifampicin comprise hepatotoxicity, digestive tract discomfort, neurological symptoms and allergy. An adverse reaction of ethambutol is mainly manifested by optic nerve toxicity. Adverse reactions of pyrazinamide comprise xanthochromia and blood uric acid content increase. Toxicity and bacterial drug resistance problems of streptomycin seriously limit the use of streptomycin, and the incidence rate of bacterial drug resistance can be reduced through jointly using the streptomycin with other drugs, although clinical uses are few, the streptomycin still serves as a first-line antituberculotic. [Zhu, shanmei, Strait Pharmaceutical Journal, 2010, 22 (2): 123-125] In addition, it was reported that researches on 518 clinically-separated Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in 2010 show that among the first-line drugs, the highest resistance rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to isoniazid is 53.67%, and the resistance to streptomycin is 45.95%; among the second-line drugs, the resistance to ofloxacin reaches 39.77%, the resistance to amikacin is 15.83%, and the resistance to capreomycin is 21.81%; among 321 strains resistant to one or more first-line drugs, the resistance to ofloxacin reaches up to 57.01%, and the resistance to amikacin and the resistance to capreomycin are 25.55% and 33.02%, respectively; among 217 multiple-drug-resistant strains, the resistance to ofloxacin reaches 72.35% [Liu, Yidian, et al., Compilation of Academic conference on clinical foundation profession of Anti-tuberculosis Association of China in 2010, Page 274-275]. This brings about a severe challenge to implementation of tuberculosis control work, particularly multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis control work in our country. Therefore, it is already urgent to find substitutes for resistance Mycobacterium tuberculosis, particularly multiple-drug-resistant strains as soon as possible.
New macrolide drugs, i.e., clarithromycin, azithromycin and roxithromycin are derivatives of 14-membered erythromycin, are different from the first-line and second-line antituberculotics in antibacterial action mechanism, are reversibly bound with 50S subunits of ribosome in thalli and interfere the synthesis of proteins. It is reported domestically that the MIC of clarithromycin to sensitive Mycobacterium tuberculosis is 0.25-2.0 micrograms/milliliter, and the MIC of clarithromycin to drug-resistant bacteria is 2.0-32 micrograms/milliliter; and the MIC of azithromycin against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is 128 micrograms/milliliter [Tang, Shenjie, latest progress of antituberculotic research, Anti-tuberculosis Journal of China, Page 1-3, supplement, Vol. 28, 2006]. It was reported abroad that the MIC of clarithromycin to M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294) is 6 micrograms/milliliter; the MIC of azithromycin is 95 micrograms/milliliter [Kanakeshwari Falzari et al: In vitro and in vivo activities of macrolide derivatives against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrob. Agents and Chemother. 2005, 49(4): 1447-1454]; and the MIC of roxithromycin is greater than or equal to 64 micrograms/milliliter. This kind of drugs are not included in drugs for clinical treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections, but there are reports of clinical treatment of tubercle Bacillus infected diseases through using the drugs independently or using the drugs jointly with antituberculotics. [Xu, Li, et al., Investigation of application of antituberculotic related antibacterial drugs for Shenzhen inpatients, Anti-tuberculosis Journal of China, 2010, 32 (3): 151-154].
Proven by researches, 16-membered and 14-membered cyclomacrolide antibiotics have similar antibacterial action mechanisms. This kinds of drugs have low activity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for example, the MIC of tylosin to M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294) is 58.6 micrograms/milliliter, and both the MIC of spiramycin and the MIC of medemycin are greater than 100 micrograms/milliliter [Kanakeshwari Falzari et al: In vitro and in vivo activities of macrolide derivatives against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrob. Agents and Chemother. 2005, 49(4): 1447-1454]. Therefore, there is no related report on clinical treatment of tuberculosis by using this kind of antibiotics at home and abroad so far.
A novel 16-membered macrolide antibiotic, i.e., carrimycin (Old name: shengjimycin and biotechspiramycin) developed by our laboratory is 4″-acylated spiramycin taking isovaleryl spiramycin as a major ingredient, and an action mechanism of the carrimycin is to inhibit protein synthesis by binding to ribosomes of the bacterial. Shown by in-vivo and in-vitro test results, carrimycin is effective to Gram-positive bacteria, particularly some drug-resistant bacteria (e.g. β-lactam resistant Staphylococcus aureus, erythromycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, etc.) and is free of obvious cross drug resistance with similar drugs. At the same time, carrimycin has very good antibacterial activity to Mycoplasma and Chlamydia, also has an antibacterial action on part of Gram-negative bacteria and also has a good antibacterial effect on Toxoplasma, Legionella, etc. [Wang, Yiguang, et al., "Biotechspiramycin and application thereof in infectious disease resistance", 23 Dec. 2003, China patent of disclosure: ZL 2003 1 0122420.9]. Carrimycin has good tissue penetrability, and the in-vivo antibacterial activity of carrimycin is obviously superior to in-vitro antibacterial activity. And carrimycin has a potential immunoregulation action. Proven by clinical researches of I, II and III stages, carrimycin is an antibiotic which is safe in use and remarkable in treatment effect. Out laboratory further develops potential effects of carrimycin, and the clinical indication and scope of use of carrimycin are enlarged.

SHENYANG FUYANG PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A coupling system for transferring granular contents from a container to a pump dispenser with minimum risk of direct contact with a user. The coupling system includes a connecting threaded assembly that is frictionally and snugly mounted inside the neck of the container. The upper wall of the connecting threaded assembly includes at least one off-centered opening. A cap assembly is rotatably and coaxially mounted over the connecting threaded assembly and the former also includes at least one off-centered opening that is selectively made to coincide with the off-centered opening of the connecting threaded assembly. A spring is used to bias these two assemblies to make the respective off-centered openings not to coincide. A coupling ring assembly is firmly mounted inside the neck of a pump dispenser. The cap assembly engages the coupling ring assembly with at least one of its protuberances that extend radially outwardly into the L-shape slots on the internal surface of the coupling ring assembly. A gasket member is used to achieve a hermetic sealing engagement between the dispenser and the container. Eyed tabs cooperatively and rigidly mounted on the container's frustroconical portion and the connecting threaded assembly permit the use of sealing wires. A user can dispense granulated material from the container to a dispenser by achieving a hermetically sealed engagement without coming in contact with the material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coupler assembly including a container to connect the latter to a pump-dispenser and transfer its granulated content, such as toxic substances or the like, with minimum risk of spillage or contact with the user. The user causes the granulated contents to be transferred without direct contact.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,294 to Tsao et al. (1995) for a non-spill bottled water replacement system with a shielded disposable cap. While contact with the user is avoided, it relies on a hydraulic shock wave that may be dangerous when the application is for toxic substances. Other U.S. Pat. Nos., 5,634,505 (1997), 3,885,608 (1975), and 3,731,717 (1973), describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. These patented inventions were designed for liquids and gases, not granulated materials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,505 to Wong (1997) for a refueling system is primarily directed to a mechanism for quick engagement with a mating receiver and the incorporation of these teachings in the present invention will not serve the purposes of handling granulated material. Applicant's own Costa Rica patent No. 2519 issued on Jun. 19, 1997 and entitled "Coupling System between Pump and Container for Loading and Unloading of Granulated Agro-chemical Products and Others" is relevant in the definition of the problem and one of the early solutions found by the Applicant. The present invention improves upon the original invention by providing, inter alia, the L-shaped slots and spring mechanisms that further facilitate the safe transfer of granulated material from a container to a dispenser. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.

Container and coupler assembly for transferring granulated material


A guitar or musical instrument harness is disclosed that includes a waist belt and a shoulder strap. A circular or oval loop is attached to the waist belt. The belt is worn by the user so that the loop is situated over the spine of the user. The shoulder strap is disposed through the loop and the distal ends extend upward along the back and over the shoulders of the user. The strap includes attachment holes or apertures at the distal ends thereof to receive guitar strap buttons mounted on a guitar. The strap also includes typical length adjustment features. An alternate embodiment includes an additional mounting ring clip through which the strap is inserted. The mounting ring clip is removably attachable to the loop portion of the waist belt.

The weight of some guitars and musical instruments is quite heavy and uncomfortable to hold over long periods of time while playing the instruments. Various suspension systems for supporting musical instruments on the front of the body are known in the art. A type of suspension strap commonly used with guitars is a single strap positioned the neck and shoulders that attaches in two locations to a musical instrument. The problem with such straps is they rest on very sensitive muscles close to the player's neck and shoulders. Within a short period of time, the musician can experience fatigue and discomfort from the strap. Some instrument support mechanisms are simply cumbersome and ineffective in providing a wide range of motion or movement of the instrument versus the musicians body position or posture. The present invention is directed to improving the distribution of weight to make playing a heavy musical instrument a more enjoyable experience and more comfortable to the musician while providing a mechanism for easy movement of the musical instrument into various playing positions.


A method for controlling a wind turbine with a rotor and at least one rotor blade, and a control unit are disclosed. The method is characterized in adjusting a pitch angle of the rotor blade and determining the limit of an input value based on the adjusted pitch angle, wherein the input value includes information about the turbine rotational speed.

The extreme load is in several cases the design driving factor in tower design. To improve the turbine power output it is necessary to increase the rotational speed of the turbine, both to reduce gear loads and improve aerodynamic efficiency. However, an increased rotational speed may result in higher extreme load.
Turbines today have a fixed maximum speed. At this speed the extreme loads are known and used to design the turbine. The turbine controller will constantly aim to hold this speed, especially at high wind speeds.
It turns out that the turbine controller has the biggest problem with extreme loads when the pitch angle is at optimum, which is the angle that optimizes the power extraction. This is due to the fact that the thrust force on the rotor is largest around this operation point.


An inflatable lumbar support system that includes a plurality of thermoplastic layers sealed together to form at least two laterally spaced bladders. A resiliently flexible face panel is disposed between the back of the user and the inflatable chambers. The panel is composed of form stable outer portions overlying the laterally spaced bladders and a medial portion therebetween of substantially greater yieldability than the outer portions of the panel. The inflatable lumbar support system is incorporated within a chair having a one-piece shell with a backrest that is cantilevered from the top of the backrest. The lumbar support system is carried by a mounting plate that includes a pair of mounting hooks that attach to and can slide vertically along the side edge of the cantilevered portion of the backrest. The lumbar support system can be slid vertically along the cantilevered backrest and can be inflated and deflated by a person setting in the chair.

A chair having a one-piece shell of the type to which this invention can be applied is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,247. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,257 is hereby included by reference as a part of this disclosure. The one-piece shell of this chair is molded from a high strength resilient plastic material, for example, fiberglass reinforced polyester resin. This chair provides postural support to a wide variety of people of different shapes and sizes through a variety of seated positions. The chair comprises a shell with a backrest and a seat pan integrally formed of structurally resilient material.
A U-shaped slot is formed in the seat pan. The bight portion of the U-shaped slot extends from the back of the seat pan along side portions thereof to define a cantilevered seat support that extends rearwardly from a forward portion of the seat pan. Seat webs extend rearwardly from the forward portion of the seat pan. The shell is mounted on a base in such a way that interference with the flexing of the cantilevered seat support is avoided. The cantilevered seat support reduces the shock of setting down, accommodates different shape users and adapts to the movements of the user in various postural relationships within the chair.
A U-shaped slot is also formed in the backrest of the one-piece shell near the side and lower portions thereof to form a cantilevered back support extending downward from an upper portion of the backrest. Back webs extend downwardly from the upper portion of the backrest adjacent the cantilevered back support. The backrest is of a shape and the shell is formed from material having sufficient rigidity and flexural strength such that the cantilevered back support and upper backrest support resiliently flex as a unit with respect to its integral connection to the seat pan. Thus, the backrest support automatically adjust to different size and shape persons and automatically accommodates different postural positions of the user in the chair.
In the preferred embodiment of the one-piece shell chair the U-shaped slots are joined at their bight portions to together form an H-shaped slot leaving flexure webs on each side of the shell between the seat support and the backrest support. The flexure webs joins with the seat webs and the back webs such that the backrest can resiliently flex with respect to the seat pan independently of the flexing of the cantilevered seat support and seat pan. Although the chair can be used in the shell form it may be covered with a foam cushion and/or fabric.
Although this chair can accommodate a variety of different shaped and sized people as a result of the flexibly suspended seat pan and backrest and can accommodate movements and shifts in the users positions some users become uncomfortable after setting in any chair especially after long periods of time. This is particularly true if the person setting in the chair is restricted in the postural positions that he or she can assume for reasons such as the work task that they are performing. The lumbar vertebrae, located in the small of the back and the surrounding muscles, tendons and ligaments are a common source of discomfort for a great many people after setting for prolonged periods. This source of discomfort can be precipitated by a person setting in a chair for long periods or setting in a chair in the same position for a long period of time.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a one-piece shell chair in which the user of the chair can while seated in the chair change the contour of the backrest in the lumbar region to gain relief and avoid discomfort.
An inflatable support that can be secured to the backrest portion of an automobile seat is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,209. The inflatable support includes a rigid back element that is secured to the seat and to which a non-rigid inflatable element is secured. The non-rigid inflatable element is divided into two chambers that are interconnected by a mutual inflation and deflation tube. The two chambers are separated by a space that will be located in the spinal area of the person setting in the seat. The inflatable portions of the inflatable element are located such that they will engage the lumbar region of the person setting in the seat. An inflation pump, powered by an electric motor, periodically feeds pressurized air to the mutual inflation tube and thus to the two chambers. A deflation aperture is provide that will permit air to escape at a slower rate than it is provided by the inflation device to thus produce a cyclical inflation and deflation of the inflatable chambers. This reference requires a power source to periodically inflate the chambers and thus cause the chambers to pulsate. While, providing electric power in an automobile seat is feasible it is not desirable in for example an office chair. Also the support of this reference is stationary and cannot be adjusted vertically to change the location to which pressure is applied. Furthermore, the surface of the inflatable chambers is flexible and will not apply a uniform pressure over the contact area.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 449,898, filed May 23, 1995 discloses a co-planar multi-laminar mattress cushion and lumbar support system composed of a plurality of discrete chambers sealed to a fluid flow control panel which provides fluid flow conduits for inflation of the chambers. The invention of this application includes the concept of systematically inflating and deflating the discrete chambers so as to provide a constantly changing contour to the mattress cushion and lumbar support.

Office chair and adjustable lumbar support therefor


A system, device and method for serializing and authorizing a single use imaging device are provided. In one embodiment, the invention provides a single use imaging device comprising a memory having a stored code that includes a unique serial identifier. In another embodiment, the invention provides a system for authorizing a single use imaging device comprising a single use imaging device with an image of a verification object that includes a serial identifier uniquely associated with the device, a control unit capable of electronically receiving the verification object image, a decoder capable of extracting a serial identifier from the verification object image, a database of authorized serial identifiers, and means for determining if the single use imaging device is authorized.

As an aid to the early detection of disease, it has become well established that there are major public health benefits from regular endoscopic examinations of internal structures such as the alimentary canals and airways, e.g., the esophagus, lungs, colon, uterus, and other organ systems. A conventional imaging endoscope used for such procedures comprises a flexible tube with a fiber optic light guide that directs illuminating light from an external light source to the distal tip where it exits the endoscope and illuminates the tissue to be examined. An objective lens and fiber optic imaging light guide communicating with a camera at the proximal end of the scope, or an imaging camera chip at the distal tip, produce an image that is displayed to the examiner.
Navigation of the endoscope through complex and tortuous paths is critical to success of the examination with minimum pain, side effects, risk or sedation to the patient. To this end, modern endoscopes include means for deflecting the distal tip of the scope to follow the pathway of the structure under examination, with minimum deflection or friction force upon the surrounding tissue. Control cables similar to puppet strings are carried within the endoscope body in order to connect a flexible portion of the distal end to a set of control knobs at the proximal endoscope handle. By manipulating the control knobs, the examiner is able to steer the endoscope during insertion and direct it to a region of interest.
Conventional endoscopes are expensive medical devices costing in the range of $25,000 for an endoscope, and much more for the associated operator console. Because of the expense, these endoscopes are built to withstand repeated disinfections and use upon many patients. Conventional endoscopes are generally built of sturdy materials, which decreases the flexibility of the scope and thus can decrease patient comfort. Furthermore, conventional endoscopes are complex and fragile instruments that frequently need expensive repair as a result of damage during use or during a disinfection procedure.
Single use disposable medical devices have become popular for instruments with small lumens and intricate, delicate working mechanisms that are difficult to sterilize or clean properly. Single use disposable devices packaged in sterile wrappers avoid the risk of pathogenic cross-contamination of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, and other pathogens. Hospitals generally welcome the convenience of single use disposable products because they no longer have to be concerned with product age, overuse, breakage, malfunction and sterilization. However, with the advent of single use devices comes the need for authorization of a particular device prior to use to determine if it is new or used, that associated console software is up-to-date (e.g., sensitivity and color calibration tables, steering algorithms, etc.), when and where it was manufactured, whether it is a current model, and information regarding recall notices. Therefore, in order to prevent improper use of single use devices, there is a need for a method of serializing a device so that prior to use, the user can be assured that the system is current, all elements are compatible, and the device can be authorized as new and unused, and ready for use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A vehicle seat apparatus including a cushion body provided on a frame member, a seat cushion, a gear member, a driving mechanism, an arm, and a link mechanism having a first bracket rotatably supported at the gear member, a second bracket rotatably supported at the first bracket, and a link bracket, a first end of which is rotatably supported at the second bracket, and a second end of which is connected to the arm. The arm is connected to the gear member through the link mechanism, and with an up-and-down operation of a front-end portion of the cushion body relative to the frame member by means of a swing of the arm, a length of the seating surface is variable in a longitudinal direction.

A known seat apparatus is disclosed in JP2004155341A. This seat apparatus includes a frame member, a cushion body provided on the frame member, and a seat cushion, a seating surface of which is formed by the cushion body. The seat apparatus further includes a gear member, a driving mechanism and an arm. The gear member is rotatably supported at the frame member. The driving mechanism is supported at the frame member and, in order to rotate the gear member, connected to the gear member. The arm is swingably supported at the frame member, connected to a front-end portion of the cushion body and, through a link mechanism, connected to the gear member. As a result of the rotation of the gear member by means of an operation of the driving mechanism, the seat apparatus swings the arm thorough the link mechanism and, by operating the front-end portion of the cushion body upwards and downwards relative to the frame member, the seat apparatus varies a length of the seating surface.
The link mechanism includes a drive link and a driven link. A first end of the drive link is rotatably supported at the gear member through an elongated hole extended in a width direction of the drive link. A first end of the driven link is fixed to the arm, and a second end of which is supported at a second end of the drive link and is rotatable around a shaft extending in a width direction of the driven link. With the configuration of the aforementioned seat apparatus, in order to vary the length of the seating surface of the seat cushion, the arm is swung by operating the drive link and driven link in a longitudinal direction of the seat by means of rotation of the gear member. On such occasions, because of rotation of the driven link relative to the drive link, the driven link is made to follow a swing of the arm, and, because of a movement of the drive link relative to the gear member along the elongated hole, a locus error between a rotation locus of the gear member and a movement locus of the drive link is absorbed.
However, with the configuration of the aforementioned seat apparatus, in a condition where the length of the seating surface of the seat cushion is varied, in other words, in a condition where, in order to swing the arm, by means of the rotation of the gear member, the driven link and the drive link are moved in a longitudinal direction of the seat, a relative position between a fixed point of the first end of the driven link relative to the arm and a bearing point of the first end of the drive link relative to the gear member slips in a width direction, and distortions in the drive link and the driven link may on occasions be generated. Although such distortions are absorbed, to some degree, by means of looseness in terms of structural measurements at the fixed point of the first end of the driven link relative to the arm, the distortions and the looseness tend to interrupt a smooth swing of the arm. Moreover, the more that the assembling accuracy of the driven link at the fixed point of the first end of the driven link relative to the arm is enhanced, the greater the degree to which the swing of the arm itself is interrupted.
A need thus exists for a seating apparatus, which secures a reliable and smooth swing of an arm.


The invention relates to a method for reading and refreshing data contents of a dynamic semiconductor memory having many volatile memory cells disposed in columns and rows in a matrix. The reading of the data contents from addressed memory cells is done with the aid of at least two data buses. The data contents are applied word by word to the data buses and a refreshing of the data contents of the memory cells is effected by a refresh pulse. According to the invention, it is provided that the data words applied to the data buses after the triggering of the refresh pulse are maintained for a predetermined period of time on all the data buses and only after that are the data words removed by of a shutoff pulse.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for reading and refreshing the data contents of a dynamic semiconductor memory having many volatile memory cells disposed in columns and rows in a matrix. The reading of data contents from addressed memory cells is done by at least two data buses, to which the data contents are applied word by word, and the refreshing of the data contents of the memory cells is effected by a refresh pulse.
In dynamic semiconductor memories, the storage of information is done by the application and removal of charges to and from a capacitor assigned to each memory cell. The capacitor is coupled to a selection transistor which is triggerable via a word line and by way of which the capacitor is charged and discharged. The information flows from and to the memory cell via a bit line that is also connected to the selection transistor. In reading, the addressed cell is switched to the bit line, which causes the charge ratios on the bit line to change. By activation of read amplifiers, the change in charge in the bit line is reinforced for outputting a logical 1 or logical 0. Over time, the capacitor is known to lose its charge because of current leakage, so that the information in the memory cell has to be refreshed at regular intervals. The signals and signal combinations for the functions of reading, writing and refreshing that are needed to trigger the dynamic semiconductor memory are standardized. One such standard, which is fundamental to the subject of the invention, with a very efficient method for reading and simultaneously refreshing data contents is known as the "enhanced data out" mode with a "hidden refresh" under the EDO specification. The enhanced data out mode enables rapid access to the data of a row, since the data, unlike most other data output modes, are not turned off upon deactivation of the column address signal. The currently present data thus remain active until the next data are applied to the output. As a result, the data are available for further processing, for instance by a processor. The hidden refresh was introduced to reduce hardware expense. Outside the semiconductor memory it is merely determined when a refresh is to be done. Which data word will be refreshed is determined inside the memory. To that end, an internal address counter is provided which is incremented by one upon each refresh instruction and outputs a counter address that is supplied as a row address to an internal logic circuit. For detecting a refresh instruction, a column address signal is activated before a row address signal, so that the function of a column address or row address can be allocated to an address present on the address bus. During the refreshment, the data word to be output is continuously applied actively to the data bus, and the processor can utilize the time for further processing the data word, while memory cells are being refreshed at the same time. In a dynamic semiconductor memory with two or more data buses, under the enhanced data out standard (EDO standard), one signal input for application of a column address signal is provided for every data bus. During an enhanced data out mode with hidden refresh, on the one hand only the column address signal to whose associated data bus a data word was last applied is active. The hidden refresh is initiated by a chronologically limited deactivation of the row address signal, in a passive state of at least one column address signal, which on the other hand causes deactivation of the data words on the data buses associated with the passive column address signals. Thus only the last data word applied to the data bus assigned to the active column address signal remains active and available to the processor, while the other data buses remain unused until the next data words to be read out are activated, and the turned off data words for a processor, for instance, are no longer available.

Method for reading and refreshing a dynamic semiconductor memory


Data to be rendered for a scrolling display is processed into an intermediate format. The intermediate format includes data that maps directly to the rendered, displayed format with little computation, yet is smaller in size than the rendered data. This intermediate format is cached, and is rendered on demand during scrolling. During idle times of the display, original data, likely to be accessed in response to scrolling the display, can be prefetched and transformed to the intermediate format.

In most computer systems, data displayed to a user often cannot fit completely within a display area. It is common to display a part of the data, and to provide some mechanism in a user interface to allow the display to be scrolled. In response to actions from the user indicating that the display should be scrolled, other parts of the data are displayed.
Frequently, a representation of data in a display differs from a representation of the data as it is stored in a file, database or memory. In other words, data in its original representation is rendered to create the display.
When creating a scrolling display of data, a tradeoff arises as to when the data is rendered into its displayed representation. In particular, rendering of data into a displayed representation involves both computation costs and storage costs. On the one hand, rendering could occur only when the data is to be displayed. However, the time involved in computing the rendered data could cause a delay in the display of the rendered data, and a poor user experience. In addition, caching of rendered data after it is displayed, to avoid re-computation, would consume substantial memory. On the other hand, rendering all data for a scrolling display would eliminate delays due to computation, but instead would consume a substantial amount of memory.

Caching intermediate data for scroll view rendering


A modular security, monitoring, and control device having a core module, an input/output module, a first peripheral, a first end cap, and a tamper monitor. The core and input/output modules in electrical communication with one another. The first peripheral is removably connected to the core module so that the core module and the first peripheral are in electrical communication. The first end cap is removably connected to the first peripheral. The tamper monitor detects tampering with the first peripheral.

The present disclosure relates to security, monitoring, and control devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to modular security, monitoring, and control devices and methods.
Numerous types of security, monitoring, and control devices are known. For example, many commercial buildings have access control systems to allow only authorized employees into the building, and even to limit employee access to certain parts of the building. The access control can be an electronic system such as a personal identification number (PIN) input device, a magnetic stripe reader, a proximity reader, and others. These same commercial buildings often have security cameras, smoke detectors, HVAC systems, and employee time card stations. Each of these various security, monitoring, and control devices collects information, and often times makes decisions based on this information.
While the information collected by one of these devices may be useful to other devices, many of the prior art devices can not communicate to one another. This leads to less than optimal decisions or the requirement for duplicative collection of the same data by multiple devices. For example, temperature control systems, burglar alarms, and access control devices are often installed in a common location, but do not exchange information with one another.
For this reason, integrated security, monitoring, and control devices are becoming popular. However, these systems typically require large financial investments to design and install the integrated system. Moreover, such systems often do not communicate with existing systems already in place.
In addition, many prior art devices do not function with more than one technology. As discussed above, many different types of access control systems have been developed. Unfortunately, in order to have an access control device that works with both a PIN input device and a magnetic stripe reader, two separate devices would need to be installed at each point of entrance/exit. Alternately, all of the entrance/exit would need to be outfitted with an expensive dual technology system.
Accordingly, there is a continuing desire for easily modified security, monitoring, and control devices that allow integration of the data among various system components.

Modular security, monitoring, and control devices and methods


A computer-implemented method that includes determining that a first version of an operating system (OS) is updated to a second version of the OS. The method further includes determining that an application does not support the second version of the OS. The method further includes associating the first version of the OS with the application as a base OS. The method further includes invoking the application on the base OS by generating an isolated instance running the base OS on a user device, where the user device simultaneously runs the second version of the OS.

The present disclosure relates to application management, and, more specifically, to application invocation on a specified operating system (OS) version.
An OS is a software package that supports a computational system's basic functions such as, but not limited to, scheduling tasks, executing applications, and controlling peripherals. OS updates can be applied to the OS of computational systems to upgrade functionality, improve security, increase efficiency, and/or achieve other purposes. However, OS version updates can introduce incompatibilities with applications not configured for an updated OS.

Application invocation on specified operating system version

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is a multicarrier communication apparatus by which information quantity of CQI reporting can be reduced. In the apparatus, each CQI is recorded in a CQI table section (122) by being classified into a plurality of CQI groups by following a certain rule. A CQI selecting section (123) estimates fluctuation range and variance of reception qualities of the entire resource block to be reported, based on an SINR value outputted from a quality level calculating section (121). Then, based on the estimated values, the CQI selecting section selects a suitable CQI group in a first step, selects a suitable CQI value from among the CQIs included in the selected CQI group in a second step, and outputs the ID of the selected CQI group and the selected CQI value to a CQI generating section (124) . Based on such information, the CQI generating section (124) generates a CQI frame to be transmitted to a base station.

To achieve a high system throughput in a communication system using an OFDM scheme, a method is under study whereby subcarriers are divided into a plurality of resource blocks (RB: which refers to a group composed of a plurality of subcarriers and serve as an allocation unit during scheduling) and users are allocated to the resource blocks according to a channel quality indicator (CQI) for each resource block using time-frequency scheduling.
In order to effectively obtain a multi-user diversity gain through time-frequency scheduling, one resource block is set smaller than a correlation bandwidth. On the other hand, when the bandwidth of a resource block becomes small, the number of resource blocks increases. Effective frequency scheduling requires a CQI to be reported on a per resource block basis, and therefore when the number of resource blocks increases, the amount of CQI report (amount of information) increases and the overhead in uplink also becomes large. Furthermore, when the number of communication terminals increases, the proportion of CQI's in an uplink signal also increases. Moreover, M-ary modulation further increases the number of selectable parameters, and therefore the amount of CQI report increases.
For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of reducing the amount of CQI information in uplink by limiting the number of resource blocks (number of RBs) to be reported.
One such method selects N resource blocks in descending order of received quality as resource blocks for which CQI's are to be reported and reports CQI values corresponding to resource block identifiers (RB-ID) which specify those resource blocks. Furthermore, another method puts together a plurality of resource blocks, sets an RB group for CQI report and reports from each communication terminal only CQI's of resource blocks included in the RB group. This limits the number of resource blocks targeted for CQI report, and can thereby reduce the amount of CQI report.
When a transmission rate is relatively low and the number of resource blocks to which data is allocated is small, this technique can effectively reduce the amount of CQI report in uplink for communication terminals to which resource blocks are allocated preferentially without substantially losing a multi-user diversity gain.    Non-Patent Document 1: "Physical Channels and Multiplexing in Evolved UTRA Downlink" (R1-050590), 3 GPP TSG-RAN WG1 contributory document, NTT DoCoMo, June 2005

Multicarrier communication system, multicarrier communication apparatus and CQI reporting method


The present invention is applicable to the technical field of marine equipment and provides a hybrid-driven mooring chain cleaning and structural inspection underwater robot and a working method thereof. The hybrid-driven mooring chain cleaning and structural inspection underwater robot includes at least one frame structure; a buoyancy system disposed on the frame structure and used for adjusting the buoyancy of the robot; a driving system disposed on the frame structure; underwater observation and communication systems disposed on the frame structure and used for underwater observation; a cleaning system disposed on the frame structure and used for cleaning a mooring chain; an active clasping/unclasping system disposed on the frame structure; and a structural inspection system disposed on the frame structure.

With demands on marine oil & gas exploitation and marine resource utilization, floating marine engineering equipment including a floating oil & gas production platform, an FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) device, a floating wind power platform, a floating fish net cage and the like is applied more and more widely. An anchor moored positioning system serving as an important part of the marine engineering equipment plays a role in keeping the offshore structures in a certain working area, and the safety of a mooring system concerns the safety of the offshore structures, facilities and people on them.
At present, FPSO devices in South China Sea, semi-submersible production and drilling platforms which are put into service and under construction and catenary buoy single-point moored crude oil transportation terminals have been positioned on the sea by adopting an anchor mooring system, and involved assets have reached more than 200 billion yuan. Once safety-related incidents are brought to the mooring system, huge economic loss will be caused, and meanwhile, serious marine environmental pollution may be brought. For example, the Thunder Horse platform of the BP company was struck by leg-like hurricane in 2005, which results in the failure of the mooring system and the collapse of the overall platform; and on May, 2006, seven mooring chains of the FPSO "Victory" were broken, and only three mooring chains keep mooring, which causes the Liuhua oilfield to halt production for one year. Therefore, the high-level detection and inspection technical capability for the mooring system and the safety guarantee for the marine engineering equipment are significant to marine oil & gas safety and marine environmental safety in China and should be paid more attention.
The anchor mooring system generally consists of a mooring rope and a pile foundation, and the mooring rope is generally in a mode of a rope formed by combining a mooring chain and a steel rope, a rope formed by combining a mooring chain, a steel rope and a fiber rope and the like according to different water depths. The floating marine engineering equipment is affected by environmental conditions such as wind, waves and water flows, a mooring chain is always in a motion state in water, and external environmental loads mainly act on the mooring chain and the pile foundation. In addition, the structure of the mooring chain may be damaged by the attached marine growths and seawater corrosion, the phenomenon such as anchor dragging may be caused by the continuous scouring of a bottom flow on the seabed. For all of these, higher requirements have been put forward to the technical means for detecting the mooring chain. In current engineering practice, four methods including visual check performed by recovering the mooring chain on a deck, nondestructive test (NIT) performed by bringing the mooring chain back to the shore, in-situ test performed underwater by a submariner and in-situ test performed by a working remotely operated vehicle (ROV) are generally adopted, but the visual check performed by recovering the mooring chain on the deck and the NTD performed by bringing the mooring chain back to the shore are inapplicable to a floating oil & gas production platform required to be permanently moored. In addition, there are huge safety problems and depth limitation of working capability for submariners to execute the job underwater. For a ROV, the cost of the equipment and operation cost of it is very expensive. In such circumstances, in order to overcome the above-mentioned technical bottleneck, the present patent provides a hybrid-driven mooring chain cleaning and structural inspection underwater robot and a working method thereof.

Hybrid-driven mooring chain cleaning and structural inspection underwater robot and working method thereof


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first level, forming a first barrier layer over the first level, forming a dielectric layer over the first barrier layer; decreasing the hydrophilic properties of a first portion of the dielectric layer, forming an opening through the dielectric layer, and filling the opening with metal to form a first metal feature. The hydrophilic properties of the first portion are lesser than a second portion of the dielectric layer. The hydrophilic properties of the first portion can be decreased by doping the first portion with hydrogen using ion implantation or plasma etching. An upper surface of the dielectric layer can also be roughened during the process of hydrogen doping. A semiconductor device produced by the method of manufacturing is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to low-k interlevel and intermetal dielectrics in semiconductor devices.
The escalating requirements for high density and performance associated with ultra large scale integration (ULSI) semiconductor device wiring are difficult to satisfy in terms of providing sub-micron-sized, low resistance-capacitance (RC) metallization patterns. This is particularly applicable when the sub-micron-features, such as vias, contact areas, lines, trenches, and other shaped openings or recesses have high aspect ratios (depth-to-width) due to miniaturization.
Conventional semiconductor devices typically comprise a semiconductor substrate, usually of doped monocrystalline silicon (Si), and a plurality of sequentially formed inter-metal dielectric layers and electrically conductive patterns. An integrated circuit is formed therefrom containing a plurality of patterns of conductive lines separated by interwiring spacings, and a plurality of interconnect lines, such as bus lines, bit lines, word lines and logic interconnect lines. Typically, the conductive patterns of vertically spaced metallization levels are electrically interconnected by vertically oriented conductive plugs filling via holes formed in the inter-metal dielectric layer separating the metallization levels, while other conductive plugs filling contact holes establish electrical contact with active device regions, such as a source/drain region of a transistor, formed in or on a semiconductor substrate. Conductive lines formed in trench-like openings typically extend substantially parallel to the semiconductor substrate. Semiconductor devices of such type according to current technology may comprise five or more levels of metallization to satisfy device geometry and microminiaturization requirements.
A commonly employed method for forming conductive plugs for electrically interconnecting vertically spaced metallization levels is known as xe2x80x9cdamascenexe2x80x9d -type processing. Generally, this process involves forming a via opening in the inter-metal dielectric layer or interlayer dielectric (ILD) between vertically spaced metallization levels which is subsequently filled with metal to form a via electrically connecting the vertically spaced apart metal features. The via opening is typically formed using conventional lithographic and etching techniques. After the via opening is formed, the via is filled with a conductive material, such as tungsten (W), using conventional techniques, and the excess conductive material on the surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer is then typically removed by chemical mechanical planarization (CMP).
A variant of the above-described process, termed xe2x80x9cdual damascenexe2x80x9d processing, involves the formation of an opening having a lower contact or via opening section which communicates with an upper trench section. The opening is then filled with a conductive material to simultaneously form a contact or via in contact with a conductive line. Excess conductive material on the surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer is then removed by CMP. An advantage of the dual damascene process is that contact or via and the upper line are formed simultaneously.
High performance microprocessor applications require rapid speed of semiconductor circuitry, and the integrated circuit speed varies inversely with the resistance and capacitance of the interconnection pattern. As integrated circuits become more complex and feature sizes and spacings become smaller, the integrated circuit speed becomes less dependent upon the transistor itself and more dependent upon the interconnection pattern. If the interconnection node is routed over a considerable distance, e.g., hundreds of microns or more, as in submicron technologies, the interconnection capacitance limits the circuit node capacitance loading and, hence, the circuit speed. As integration density increases and feature size decreases, in accordance with submicron design rules, the rejection rate due to integrated circuit speed delays significantly reduces manufacturing throughput and increases manufacturing costs.
One way to increase the circuit speed is to reduce the resistance of a conductive pattern. Conventional metallization patterns are typically formed by depositing a layer of conductive material, notably aluminum (Al) or an alloy thereof, and etching, or by damascene techniques. Al is conventionally employed because it is relatively inexpensive, exhibits low resistivity and is relatively easy to etch. However, as the size of openings for vias/contacts and trenches is scaled down to the sub-micron range, step coverage problems result from the use of Al. Poor step coverage causes high current density and enhanced electromigration. Moreover, low dielectric constant polyamide materials, when employed as inter-metal dielectric layers, create moisture/bias reliability problems when in contact with Al, and these problems have decreased the reliability of interconnections formed between various metallization levels.
One approach to improved interconnection paths in vias involves the use of completely filled plugs of a metal, such as W. Accordingly, many current semiconductor devices utilizing VLSI (very large scale integration) technology employ Al for the metallization level and W plugs for interconnections between the different metallization levels. The use of W, however, is attendant with several disadvantages. For example, most W processes are complex and expensive. Furthermore, W has a high resistivity, which decreases circuit speed. Moreover, Joule heating may enhance electromigration of adjacent Al wiring. Still a further problem is that W plugs are susceptible to void formation, and the interface with the metallization level usually results in high contact resistance.
Another attempted solution for the Al plug interconnect problem involves depositing Al using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD) at elevated temperatures. The use of CVD for depositing Al is expensive, and hot PVD Al deposition requires very high process temperatures incompatible with manufacturing integrated circuitry.
Copper (Cu) and Cu-based alloys are particularly attractive for use in VLSI and ULSI semiconductor devices, which require multi-level metallization levels. Cu and Cu-based alloy metallization systems have very low resistivities, which are significantly lower than W and even lower than those of previously preferred systems utilizing Al and its alloys. Additionally, Cu has a higher resistance to electromigration. Furthermore, Cu and its alloys enjoy a considerable cost advantage over a number of other conductive materials, notably silver (Ag) and gold (Au). Also, in contrast to Al and refractory-type metals (e.g., titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta) and W), Cu and its alloys can be readily deposited at low temperatures formed by well-known xe2x80x9cwetxe2x80x9d plating techniques, such as electroless and electroplating techniques, at deposition rates fully compatible with the requirements of manufacturing throughput.
Electroless plating of Cu generally involves the controlled auto-catalytic deposition of a continuous film of Cu or an alloy thereof on a catalytic surface by the interaction of at least a Cu-containing salt and a chemical reducing agent contained in a suitable solution, whereas electroplating comprises employing electrons supplied to an electrode (comprising the surface(s) to be plated) from an external source (i.e., a power supply) for reducing Cu ions in solution and depositing reduced Cu metal atoms on the plating surface(s). In either case, a nucleation/seed layer is required for catalysis and/or deposition on the types of substrates contemplated herein. Finally, while electroplating requires a continuous nucleation/seed layer, very thin and discontinuous islands of a catalytic metal may be employed with electroless plating.
Another technique to increase the circuit speed is to reduce the capacitance of the inter-metal dielectric layers. Dielectric materials such as silicon oxide (SiO2) have been commonly used to electrically separate and isolate or insulate conductive elements of the integrated circuit from one another. However, as the spacing between these conductive elements in the integrated circuit structure has become smaller, the capacitance between such conductive elements because of the dielectric being formed from silicon oxide is more of a concern. This capacitance negatively affects the overall performance of the integrated circuit because of increased power consumption, reduced speed of the circuitry, and cross-coupling between adjacent conductive elements.
In response to the problem of capacitance between adjacent conductive elements caused by use of silicon oxide dielectrics, other dielectric materials, commonly known as low-k dielectrics, have been used. Whereas silicon oxide has a dielectric constant of approximately 4.0, many low-k dielectrics have dielectric constants less than 3.5. Examples of low-k dielectric materials include organic or polymeric materials. Another example is porous, low density materials in which a significant fraction of the bulk volume contains air, which has a dielectric constant of approximately 1. The properties of these porous materials are proportional to their porosity. For example, at a porosity of about 80%, the dielectric constant of a porous silica film, i.e. porous SiO2, is approximately 1.5. Still another example of a low-k dielectric material is carbon doped silicon oxide wherein at least a portion of the oxygen atoms bonded to the silicon atoms are replaced by one or more organic groups such as, for example, an alkyl group such as a methyl (CH3xe2x80x94) group.
A problem associated with the use of many low-k dielectric materials is that resist material can diffluse into the low-k dielectric material, and the low-k material can be damaged by exposure to oxidizing or xe2x80x9cashingxe2x80x9d systems, which remove a resist mask used to form openings, such as vias, in the low-k dielectric material. These processes can damage the low-k dielectric material by causing the formation of hydroxyl (OH) terminated species at exposed surfaces of the low-k dielectric material. Hydroxyl ions are polar, and these polar groups tend to attract water, which is a bipolar molecule. Thus, the damaged surface of the low-k dielectric material becomes hygroscopic. Subsequent processing, such as annealing, can result in water vapor formation, and absorption of water by the low-k dielectric material can cause an undesirable increase in the dielectric constant of the low-k dielectric material. For this reason in particular, the upper surface of the low-k dielectric material is typically protected by a capping layer, such as silicon oxide, disposed over the upper surface.
A number of different variations of a damascene process using low-k dielectrics have been employed during semiconductor manufacturing. With reference to FIGS. 1A-1G, an example of a damascene process for forming vias between vertically spaced metallization levels, according to conventional techniques, will be described. This process can be repeated to form multiple metallization levels, i.e., two or more, stacked one on top of another.
In FIG. 1A, a first barrier layer 12 is deposited over a first metallization level 10. The first barrier layer 12 acts as a passivation layer that protects the first metallization level 10 from oxidation and contamination and prevents the material of the metallization level 10 from diffusing into a subsequently formed dielectric layer. The first barrier layer 12 also acts as an etch stop during subsequent etching of the dielectric layer. A typical material used as an etch stop is silicon nitride, and approximately 500 angstroms of silicon nitride is typically deposited over the metallization level 10 to form the first barrier layer 12. An illustrative process used for depositing silicon nitride is plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD).
In FIG. 1B, a first low-k dielectric layer 14 is deposited over the first barrier layer 12. The majority of low-k dielectric materials used for a dielectric layer are based on organic or inorganic polymers. The liquid dielectric material is typically spun onto the surface under ambient conditions to a desired depth. This is typically followed by a heat treatment to evaporate solvents present within the liquid dielectric material and to cure the film to form the first low-k dielectric layer 14.
After formation of the first low-k dielectric layer 14, a capping layer 13 is typically formed over the first low-k dielectric layer 14. The function of the capping layer 13 is to protect the first low-k dielectric layer 14 from the process that removes a subsequently formed resist layer. The capping layer 13 is also used as a mechanical polishing stop to prevent damage to the first low-k dielectric layer 14 during subsequent polishing away of conductive material that is deposited over the first low-k dielectric layer 14 and in a subsequently formed via. Examples of materials used as a capping layer 13 include a silicon oxide and silicon nitride.
In FIG. 1C, vias 16 are formed in the first low-k dielectric layer 14 using conventional lithographic and etch techniques. The lithographic process involves depositing a resist 17 over the capping layer 13 and exposing and developing the resist 17 to form the desired patterns of the vias 16. The first etch, which is highly selective to the material of the first low-k dielectric layer 14 and the capping layer 13, removes the capping layer 13 and the first low-k dielectric layer 14 until the etchant reaches the first barrier layer 12. The first etch is typically an anisotropic etch, such as a reactive ion plasma dry etch, that removes only the exposed portions of the first low-k dielectric layer 14 directly below the opening in the resist 17. By using an anisotropic etch, the via 16 can be formed with substantially perpendicular sidewalls.
In FIG. 1D, the resist 17 is removed from over the first dielectric layer 14. A typical method of removing the resist 17 is known as xe2x80x9cashingxe2x80x9d whereby the resist 17 is oxidized with an O2 plasma at elevated temperatures. After the resist 17 is removed, a second etch, which is highly selective to the material of the first barrier layer 12, removes the first barrier layer 12 until the etchant reaches the first metallization level 10. The second etch is also typically an anisotropic etch.
In FIG. 1E, an adhesion/barrier material, such as tantalum, titanium, tungsten, tantalum nitride, or titanium nitride, is deposited. The combination of the adhesion and barrier material is collectively referred to as a second barrier layer 20. The second barrier layer 20 acts to prevent diffusion into the first low-k dielectric layer 14 of the conductive material subsequently deposited into the via 16.
In FIG. 1F, a layer 22 of a conductive material, for example, a Cu or Cu-based alloy, is deposited into the via 16 and over the dielectric layer 14. A typical process initially involves depositing a xe2x80x9cseedxe2x80x9d layer on the second barrier layer 20 subsequently followed by conventional plating techniques, e.g., electroless or electroplating techniques, to fill the via 16. So as to ensure complete filling of the via 16, the Cu-containing conductive layer 22 is deposited as a blanket (or xe2x80x9coverburdenxe2x80x9d) layer 24 so as to overfill the via 16 and cover the upper surface 26 of the capping layer 13.
In FIG. 1G, the entire excess thickness of the metal overburden layer 24 over the upper surface 26 of the capping layer 13 is removed using a CMP process. A typical CMP process utilizes an alumina (Al2 O3)-based slurry and leaves a conductive plug in the via 16. The conductive plug has an exposed upper surface 30, which is substantially co-planar with the surface 26 of the capping layer 13.
Although a capping layer is typically used to protect the low-k dielectric from the ashing process and the CMP process, the formation of the capping layer itself can disadvantageously damage the low-k dielectric. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved method of forming low-k dielectric layers that provides protection to the low-k dielectric from subsequent processing, such as during the formation of the capping layer.
This and other needs are met by embodiments of the present invention which provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method includes forming a first level, forming a first barrier layer over the first level, forming a dielectric layer over the first barrier layer, doping a first portion of the dielectric layer, forming a capping layer over the dielectric layer, forming an opening through the dielectric layer, and filling the opening with metal to form a first metal feature. The first portion can formed by doping with hydrogen using ion implantation or plasma etching. Doping the first portion can also roughen a top surface of the first dielectric layer.
By providing a dielectric layer having a doped first portion, the first portion can protect the dielectric layer from the process that forms that capping layer. The process of forming the first portion can also roughen the top surface of the first dielectric layer, which promotes better adhesion of the first dielectric layer to the subsequently formed capping layer.
In an aspect of the invention, the dielectric layer has a dielectric constant less than about 3.5. Also, the metal and the first level can comprise copper (Cu) or a Cu alloy. Furthermore, the opening can be a via opening, a trench, or a dual damascene opening comprising a lower via opening in communication with an upper trench; and the first metal feature can comprise a via, a line, or a combination of a lower via in contact with an upper line, respectively. The thickness of the first portion can be at least 100 angstroms after the doping step. Also, if the dielectric layer is formed from a low-k material, the doping of the first portion densities the low-k material.
In an additional embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device comprises a first level, a first barrier layer, a dielectric layer having a first portion and a second portion, a capping layer, an opening in the dielectric layer, and metal within the opening. The first barrier layer is disposed over the first level, and the dielectric layer is disposed over the first barrier layer. The opening extends through the first dielectric layer and the first barrier layer to the first level. The first portion has a higher hydrogen content than the second portion of the dielectric layer. Furthermore, the first dielectric layer can include a roughened top surface.
Additional advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention. As will be realized, the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

Use of hydrogen doping for protection of low-k dielectric layers


The present invention addresses performance limitation of gyros (e.g., MEMS gyros) by significantly reducing common-mode noise and bias effects. In one embodiment, an array of gyros, which may comprise four or more gyros, is configured so that common-mode error effects can be separated from the sensed rotational motion of the gyros and therefore removed. Removing the common-mode effects increases attitude estimation and spacecraft pointing accuracy, particularly during periods when the gyros must solely provide the attitude reference.

Next-generation spacecraft will use star trackers and Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) gyros for attitude determination and control. MEMS gyros are solid-state devices that are used widely in consumer products and are now being adapted for space applications. They are manufactured in large quantities using processes from the semi-conductor industry, are very small, low power, light weight, and inherently low cost. Using MEMS gyros and star trackers can eliminate the need for a high performance Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that can be costly and heavy (e.g., $3 million and 45 lbs). The disadvantage of MEMS gyros is that they have much lower accuracy than traditional gyro technologies (e.g., 100 times or greater performance reduction). MEMS gyros may exhibit bias and noise from both uncorrelated and common-mode sources. Common-mode errors may be introduced by fluctuations in power supply voltages, electronics noise or interference between gyro channels. The common-mode errors reduce sensing accuracy thereby limiting the range of applications and the pointing accuracy that can be achieved using MEMS gyros.

System and method for improved accuracy gyro rate sensing


Disc shaped cleaning pads for use on cleaning apparatus, consisting of a supporting core to which a sponge is affixed. The sponge is a microporous material made from a hydroxylated polymer, the physical properties of which can be modified in the chemical growing process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cleaning brushes and method of use.
More particularly, the present invention pertains to cleaning brushes made of sponge material for use on a machine which cleans discs requiring very precise finishing.
2. Prior Art
Many industries today require the ability to efficiently clean highly finished surfaces, removing particles and other surface contaminants. Specific articles having highly finished surfaces include wafers of semiconductor material, and memory discs.
Semiconductor wafers must be cleaned prior to any processing steps used to produce semiconductor devices. Due to the fragile nature of semiconductor wafers, achieving a high degree of cleanliness, as well as high yield of clean wafers is difficult. Many cleaning devices produce a low yield of clean wafers, due to breakage, or an unacceptable level of surface contaminants.
Memory discs provide less of a problem, being more durable, and requiring, at this time, a lesser degree of cleanliness.
Currently, cleaning devices have been developed to overcome some of these problems. Devices for cleaning wafers generally consist of a cylindrical roller passing over a wafer. The cylindrical roller conventionally includes tufted nylon or other types of bristles extending from a central core. The bristle roller brushes are fixed horizontally and rotated as the wafer or memory disc is passed between the bristle surfaced brushes while the surfaces are copiously drowned in cleaning solution or deionized water.
Wafers cleaned in this manner are often unacceptable due to particles and other surface contaminants missed or passed over in the process. In addition, the softness of the bristles varies according to their composition resulting in a heterogeneous mixture of bristles, each harder or softer than their counterparts. This results in the breakage of the wafers and a loss of circuits, as well as damage to wafer surfaces. Other drawbacks, resulting in unsatisfactory cleaning, may be attributed to the hydrophobic nature of bristle tufted brushes. The fiber surfaces of these brushes are never wetted, and require large amounts of deionized water or cleaning solution to work in the cleaning process.
Memory discs, being more durable in nature and requiring a lesser degree of particle removal, are presently cleaned utilizing a series of mechanical metal wheels each having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, which receive pieces of hand placed rectangular cubes of porous sponge. Each cube is placed through one of the apertures and manually adjusted by eye to form a nub protruding equidistance from either side of the metal wheel. The manual fabrication technique of these cleaning wheels is long and cumbersome, resulting in increased cleaning costs. Furthermore, these cleaning wheels are inefficient when attempting to clean memory discs. Many times, the final manually constructed brush has overlapping or undersized sponge patterns distributed across its surface due to the difficulties in manually placing the sponge cubes within the apertures of the metal wheels so that the extend equidistance from either surface. The resulting manually fabricated wheels are then gang assembled on a keyway, separated by fixed spacers. Memory discs are then allowed to revolve and rotate between the paired wheels. In this manner both sides of the memory discs are washed simultaneously by the action of the cubic rectangular sponges upon their surfaces.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning pad for cleaning highly finished surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which is relatively inexpensive to produce.
And another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which may be adapted to a variety of cleaning requirements.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which applies a uniform cleaning force to the surface being cleaned.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which allows cleaning fluid to flow freely therethrough.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which is gentle on the surface being cleaned, substantially eliminating breakage of fragile articles such as semiconductor wafers.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which is capable of cleaning contours and edges of disc shaped objects due to its three-dimensional shape.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which is hydrophilic, retaining fluid, and releasing it selectively upon the surface to be cleaned.
And yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad which acts as a pumping and suction cleaning device.


A package for dispensing solid products, such as solid crystal deodorant, includes a first hollow main body portion having a uniform cross section throughout its length. Both ends of the package are open; and a slide member is located within the main body portion. The bottom end of the main body portion of the package has an inwardly turned flange to prevent the movement of the slide member outwardly from the main body portion through the bottom end. The solid crystal deodorant is mounted on the slide member, and is configured to freely move from the bottom end of the main body portion outwardly through the upper end. Drain holes are placed through the slide member to permit fluid, such as water, to pass downwardly from the sides of the crystal deodorant and out through the holes when the package is stored in an upright position. A chamber in the slide member is filled with a sponge-like material for receiving fluid which passes from the crystal deodorant through the holes in the slide member.

A number of personal care products, which are solid at room temperature, are packaged in tubular containers constructed to expose a small amount of the product at the open upper end of the container. Typically, these containers have a cap over the open end to enclose the product when it is stored or not in use. Products of this type typically are lipstick, stick deodorant, eye color, facial blushes and the like. The typical containers for these products usually have the product attached to or mounted on a lower platform, which is moved up and down in the main hollow container by means of a rotational screw-like apparatus. The product is moved upwardly beyond the upper edge of the main container when it is to be used. Some of these containers permit the product to be retracted back into the container when it is not in use. Most products of the type mentioned above, while they are solid at room temperature, are somewhat soft, of a wax-like consistency.
None of the products of the prior art, which are mentioned above and which are known to applicant, however, are intended to be wetted with water prior to their use. Most of them contain a substantial amount of moisture, inherently bound into the product; so that external application of water to permit use of the product is not required. In the field of personal deodorants, however, solid rock-like crystal deodorants are gaining increasing acceptance. These crystal deodorants are made in a variety of shapes. To use them, the user either immerses them briefly in water, or places them under running water from a tap. The crystal then is rubbed over the area of the body to which the deodorant is to be applied. After use, the still wet crystal typically is placed on a sponge or in a storage container, where it is allowed to dry out. When such crystal deodorants are wet, they tend to be somewhat slippery, and sometimes slip out of the hands of the user. Because they are brittle, if they fall onto a hard counter top surface or a hard floor, parts may chip off, or the crystal may shatter.
It is desirable to provide a push-up container for use with solid crystal deodorants, which overcomes the handling disadvantages of solid crystal deodorants and permits use of such deodorants in a uniquely designed push-up package.


The present system comprises a device which issues tickets, a central processing device and an entrance gate device which controls entry to the site. The central processing device establishes appropriate data representing the maximum carrying capacity of each attraction (i.e., the maximum number of reservations which can be given out). It does so by performing a fuzzy inference based on fuzzy rules using as fuzzy variables various uncertainty factors which influence cancellations and other events that transpire after a reservation is made, such as type of attraction, weather, time of day, day of the week and season.

Heretofore, one problem which has occurred in, for example, large amusement parks is that a line forms at the entrance to the site of each attraction (i.e., at the entrance to each pavilion) which corresponds to its popularity. As a result, some attractions have excessively long lines while others have excessively short lines, and valuable equipment is underutilized. For the customers, this means having to waste time waiting in line for one's turn. For the proprietor, it means not being able to run the equipment efficiently. Because the customers are stuck waiting in line, they cannot use that time to patronize the shops in the park (for example, restaurants or shops featuring local products). As a result, the gross sales in the park are not what they might be. To address this problem, various systems have been considered which would issue reserved admission tickets in such a way as to optimize admissions.
The following ticketing systems are known in the prior art. The first such system was disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 1-134565. It is a card system which reserves a turn for each patron in a pavilion of a large amusement park. This system comprises: a card on which there is stored identification data which serves to identify each patron; a means to read the data off the card; a means to store reservation data which assigns a rank to the aforesaid identification data in the order in which they are read, and stores these ranks; a control device which stores the aforesaid identification data which are read in order in the aforesaid storage device for that purpose and calculates a reserved time based on the rank of the said identification data which are read and a previously established standard time per unit of consumption; and a means to announce the said reserved time which has been calculated.
A second ticketing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 3-164992. For every pavilion and ride, the duration of the ride, its capacity, its location and other relevant data are stored in the data base of a host computer. This data is processed according to the customer's circumstances (number of people, allowed capacity, priority ranking), and a ticket is issued by a ticketing machine. The customer can thus visit each attraction in the optimal order with the minimum waiting time.
A third ticketing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 6-19940. A card which is valid as a reservation card for entry to an attraction is issued by an issuing device. The customer inserts the card into the reservation device when he wishes to enter the attraction. The total number of people who have entered that attraction is calculated and used to estimate the time when the customer may enter the attraction, which is then printed on the card. The customer has only to appear at the attraction at the printed time, and he will be allowed entry. This system eliminates long waits in a places like a large amusement park with attractions which can only accommodate a fixed number of people at a time, and in which people can easily be rerouted.
A fourth ticketing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 3-48385. The situation concerning the reservations for each attraction is stored in a computer. The customer is given a magnetic card, which he inserts in a reservation machine. At the same time, he enters the time he would like to enter the attraction. Based on the state of reservations, the computer determines whether there is still sufficient space available at the requested time. If there is, it writes the reserved time on the reservation card. When the card is read at the reserved time by a terminal installed at the gate of the attraction, the user is allowed entry. A fifth such system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 4-5784.
With the first three systems described above, a terminal simply issues the customer a reservation card on which a reserved entry time is printed. The customer has no opportunity to reserve a time period that he would prefer. At a large amusement park, this may mean that the customer is unable to reserve times that fit his schedule, or, if he wishes to visit a number of attractions, that the reserved times overlap each other. And because the time required to walk from one ride to another is not considered, it can also mean that the customer does not arrive in time to use his hard-won reservation.
With the fourth and fifth systems, the customer is able to enter the reserved time which he desires; however, the determination of whether an attraction is fully booked is based on data indicating its maximum carrying capacity. In reality, cancellations and other variables may cause the number of customers showing up at a given ride at a given time to be smaller than was projected. This makes it impossible to operate the equipment efficiently. Uncertainty factors such as cancellations which come into play after the reservations are given out vary slightly with the type of attraction, the weather, the time of day, the day of the week and the season. For this reason, when the operator establishes the data representing maximum carrying capacity for each attraction (i.e., the maximum number of reservations which can be issued) he must add a value which he determines by feel on the basis of experience.
If people are making reservations for a number of attractions in a large amusement park and each person indicates a time, as in the example above, those inexperienced with the park may make reservations which do not allow them enough time to go from one attraction to the next. Their reservations will end up being canceled. In reality, then, it is necessary to guarantee a course which can be traveled in the time allotted as well as a reserved time.
The systems described above are unable to respond adequately to reservations which are canceled before the prescribed time, as frequently happens. As a result, a customer may be unable to get a reservation even though a time slot is available.

Reservation media issuing system using fuzzy logic


Countermeasures against fault injection attacks of a cryptographic integrated circuit, and more specifically laser fault injection attacks are provided. The invention consists in generating sequences of bits belonging to a set of allowed sequences, and storing these sequences on a set of Flip-Flops. Then the sequences stored on the Flip-Flops are checked and, if they do not belong to the allowed sequence, this is the sign that a fault injection attack occurred and caused a bit flip in one of the flip-flops. An alarm signal is then generated.

Cryptographic algorithms are employed in an increasing number of devices carrying sensitive information, such as smart cards, cell phones, set-top boxes, etc.
Cryptographic algorithms are used to ensure confidentiality, security, authentication, integrity, and privacy of digital data during its storage and/or transmission over insecure networks. They can be used also to secure transactions and exchanges between devices, secure payments, secure authentication of a device in a network, etc . . . .
To protect sensitive information carried by a device from attacks, one or several encryption functions based on a cryptographic algorithm are usually implemented. An encryption function encrypts original data, or 'plaintext', using one or more encryption keys. The encryption process results in ciphered data, or 'ciphertext', which can be viewed in its original form only if it is decrypted with the suitable key(s).
Cryptographic algorithms, such as for example the DES (Data Encryption Standard) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithms are based on secret keys which are unique for each user/device and allow the user/device to encrypt/decrypt messages or data securely.
Cryptographic algorithms can be implemented via integrated circuits (IC) which are generally of a small size, to be embedded within a device. For example, a UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) card or a credit card comprises a cryptographic IC that is provided to secure transactions or communications using one or more cryptographic secret keys tied to a user or the like. The preservation of such secret keys from attacks is thus of paramount importance to enhance the security of a wide number of embedded devices.
To preserve secret keys, cryptographic keys are designed to be very difficult to break mathematically: an attacker seeking a secret key must execute a brute force analysis requiring that the attacker tries all possible secret keys. A cryptographic algorithm is accordingly designed to make such attacks require excessive time and resources to be effective.
However, other kinds of attacks, called "fault injection attacks", have emerged, to enable an attacker to obtain secret keys more rapidly. Fault Injection attacks consist in performing a hardware attack on an IC to obtain the secret key. A type of fault injection attack consists in inserting faults in the calculation of cryptographic ICs in order to generate a faulty result, and in analyzing the faulty result to obtain the secret key associated with an IC. Such analysis of the faulty result in order to infer information relative to the secret key is called DFA (Differential Fault Analysis). Protection against Fault Injection attacks is a major challenge for modern cryptographic devices, because such attacks drastically reduce the number of attempts necessary for an attacker to break a secret key embedded within a cryptographic IC. An overview of fault injection attacks and of existing countermeasures is provided in Barenghi, A., Breveglieri, L., Koren, I., & Naccache, D. (2012). Fault injection attacks on cryptographic devices: Theory, practice, and countermeasures. Proceedings of the IEEE, 100(11), 3056-3076.
Laser fault injection is a type of fault injection attack which is particularly powerful. Laser fault injection consists in sending laser beams at specific points of an IC in order to generate bit errors during cryptographic calculation, thereby injecting fault in the cryptographic calculation. Although expensive, laser fault injection attacks are known as very powerful attacks due to their efficiency in injecting faults at very precise locations of the ICs. Further, fault injection attacks can be reproduced very accurately.
For example, many cryptographic ICs consist in interconnected Flip-Flops (FFs) that perform encryption/decryption. Each FF stores a binary value. The FFs are synchronized using a clock. The binary value of each FF is updated at each clock signal (usually at the rising front of the clock signal) depending on a combination of binary values of other FFs that are connected to its input ports. The interconnection of FFs allows the executing encryption and decryption using a secret key, usually stored in an external memory that may be protected by a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) or a One Time Programmable (OTP) master key. The key is transmitted to the cryptographic circuit through a bus. The laser fault injection attacks are able to target a single FF, to inject a bit fault during calculation. The bit fault may consist in artificially setting the value of the FF on 0 or 1, or perform a bit flip.
Laser fault injection attacks are generally performed in two main steps. A first calibration step consists in performing fault injections in random or pseudo random locations of the IC, to identify the most sensitive FFs that are the FFs that shall be attacked to break the secret key. A second step consists in actually performing fault injections in the sensitive FFs, in analyzing the faulty results, and then decrypting the secret key. Laser fault injection attack is powerful in that it can be replicated easily on the ICs of the same model/manufacturer. This is because the topologies of the ICs that belong to the same model (for example, UICC cards of the same model) are identical, while only the secret key (SIM key in this example) that is used by the IC changes. Therefore, once the calibration step has been performed, and the sensitive FFs of a circuit have been identified, a fault injection attack can be reproduced in a quite simple way on the IC of the same model, to retrieve each of the secret key stored within each IC.
A laser fault injection attack may be performed either from the front (front-side attack), or from the back (back-side attack) of the IC. In each case, the wavelength of the laser beam shall have specific values. In case of a front-side attack, the wavelength of the laser beam must be at least 800 nm in order to have enough energy to inject a fault. In case of a backside attack, the wavelength of the laser beam must be substantially equal to 1064 nm, because it is the only wavelength that the silicon substrate of the IC is transparent to, and thus the only wavelength allowing a laser fault injection from the back of the IC.
A number of countermeasures are known to protect an IC from a laser fault injection attack.
For example, a shield can be placed on top of the IC in order to prevent laser beams from reaching it. However, such solution is costly and does not protect the IC from back-side attacks.
Another countermeasure consists in placing an analog light sensor in the IC to detect a laser beam and protect the circuit (for example by stopping the execution of encryption/decryption or submitting erroneous results), in case of a detected laser beam. This solution has the advantage of ensuring that no successful laser fault injection can be performed in areas of the ICs where the laser beam can be detected by the sensor. However, the analog sensor is usually not able to sense light on the complete surface of the IC. Accordingly, a laser fault injection occurring in areas of the ICs far away from the sensors may not be detected. In addition, such sensors are often large and thus occupy an important surface that may be otherwise used for calculation logics and/or allow a reduction of the size and consumption of the IC. The analog sensor may also be easily detected by an attacker.
In some existing approaches, it is known to replace the analog sensor by a digital light sensor. The digital sensor is smaller than the analog sensor, allowing to optimize the occupied size. However, it can still be detected by an experienced attacker. In addition, even though the laser detection is generally efficient, it is very difficult to quantify the protection offered by the digital sensor. It is thus, using analog or digital light sensor solutions, very difficult to define with a reasonable certainty the areas of the ICs that is actually protected (i.e. the areas of the IC where a laser beam will be detected by the digital sensor).
Therefore, prior art countermeasures for laser fault injection attacks, have the disadvantage of being incomplete, impossible to quantify, and/or costly.
There is accordingly a need for a cryptographic device that is able to detect laser fault injection attacks on a whole cryptographic IC with a defined certainty, at a reasonable cost.

Detection of laser fault injection attacks on cryptographic devices