A power delivery system is disclosed for an isolated measurement system in which a power transmitter and power receiver are provided at powered and unpowered sides of an isolation barrier, respectively. The power transmitter and power receiver may be coupled by an isolator. The power transmitter may deliver power to the power receiver to power components on the unpowered side of the isolation barrier. The system may include a controller provided in the powered side to generate a clock signal defining timing of a predetermined operation of the measurement system and to generate a disabling signal to the power transmitter controller synchronously with the timing of the predetermined operation.

An isolated measurement system typically includes a measurement system to measure external signals and a control system to control the measurement system and receive measurement data therefrom. The two systems operate in two different voltage domains that are galvanically isolated from each other. The measurement system often includes multiple channels, each with its own measurement system and converter. Each channel transmits sampled data, in an asynchronous manner, to the control system through a respective data communication transformer.
A power generator provided in a voltage domain of the control system generates power for a voltage domain of the measurement system. The power generator includes a power transmitter in the control system's domain coupled to a rectifier in the measurement system's domain via a transformer that bridges an isolation barrier between the two domains. The power transmitter and rectifier are active continuously to ensure power supply to the measurement system is continuous. A power monitor may measure a voltage supply provided by the rectifier and may generate power feedback data therefrom, which is communicated to the control system's domain via a dedicated isolation transformer.
Modern applications of isolated measurement systems call for sampling and conversion operations to be performed with increasing precision. The inventors have determined that the operations of the power transmitter and/or rectifier can inject undesired electromagnetic interference into the operation of such systems. Accordingly, the inventors have identified a need for an isolated measurement system in which a powered control system may deliver power to an otherwise unpowered measurement system and yet reduce electromagnetic interference that the power delivery might inject into operations of the measurement system. The inventors also have identified a need for such a system in which communication of power feedback data makes efficient use of isolators.

Isolated measurement system with power transmitter disabling


A semiconductor device is provided having a semiconductor pellet that is arranged on a substantially central part of a film base in which a metal plate is overlaid with an insulating member, while inner leads are arranged on a peripheral part of the film base in a state in which they are electrically isolated from the metal plate of the film base. External terminals for a power source among external terminals of the semiconductor pellet and middle parts of the metal plate of the film base, as well as inner leads for the power source among the inner leads and peripheral parts of the metal plate are electrically connected by pieces of bonding wire, respectively.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of producing the same. More particularly, it relates to techniques which are effective when applied to a resin-encapsulated semiconductor device.
A resin-encapsulated semiconductor device having a high packaging density, there is the flat packaging type of QFP (Quad Flat Package) structure. The resin-encapsulated semiconductor device of the QFP structure is so constructed that a semiconductor pellet mounted on the front surface of a tab is sealed in a resin mold. The tab is arranged so as to be enclosed with the base ends of a plurality of inner leads radiately extended in four directions. The other end sides of the inner leads are made so as to be unitary with outer leads. The tab, the inner leads and the outer leads are all formed from an identical lead frame. The lead frame is fabricated by punching or etching. The base ends of the inner leads and the corresponding external terminals (bonding pads) of the semiconductor pellet are electrically connected by pieces of bonding wire, respectively.
Regarding the resin-encapsulated semiconductor device of the QFP structure, the number of the outer leads (the number of pins) tends to increase. A resin-encapsulated semiconductor device which is being developing, is provided with 200 or more outer leads though not publicly known. The resin-encapsulated semiconductor device of the QFP structure with so many pins has its outward size enlarged and its leads thinned on account of limitation on the pitches between the leads. In particular, the inner leads concentrate toward the mounted position of the semiconductor pellet and are therefore made still finer than the outer leads. In addition, since the semiconductor pellet is reduced in size on account of a heightened density of integration, the inner leads become longer inevitably. Thinning and lengthening the leads result in increasing inductance. Among the leads, leads for power sources undergo great currents when circuits at the input and output stages of the semiconductor pellet operate at the same time. Due to the inductance components mentioned above, large currents incur fluctuations in supply voltage for use in circuits included in the semiconductor pellet and cause power source noise. For this reason, malfunctions often occur in the circuits built in the semiconductor pellet, so that the electrical reliability of the resin-encapsulated semiconductor device degrades.
A technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,120 is effective for solving such a technical problem. The technique consists in furnishing a resin-encapsulated semiconductor device of QFP structure with a metal plate for a power source. The metal plate for the power source is arranged opposite the inner leads through an insulator. It is electrically connected with the external terminal of the semiconductor pellet near this external terminal by a bonding wire. Also, it is electrically connected with the end side of the power-source inner lead remote from the external terminal by welding. That is, the power-source metal plate is inserted electrically in parallel with the power-source inner lead and can lower the inductance of the latter. Accordingly, the resin-encapsulated semiconductor device of the QFP structure can reduce the power source noise owing to the metal plate for the power source.

Semiconductor device and method of producing the same


A print head includes an inlet port that receives a flow of a phase-change ink and an outlet port that delivers the flow to a jet. The print head includes a flow path along a flow direction from the inlet port to the outlet port. The flow path has top and bottom planar surfaces, and further includes two or more elongated grooves in at least one of the top and bottom planar surfaces. The two or more elongated grooves are at an angle to the flow direction and have a threshold capillary dimension such that bubbles in the phase-change ink are directed along the elongated grooves.

Ink jet printers can encounter problems with air bubbles that form in the ink. These air bubbles may cause printing defects and in some cases can damage ink jets. In some systems, a purge cycle is used to force air bubbles from the ink flow paths. The resultant purge mass of ink increases the cost per page. As such, it is desirable to minimize the amount of ink used to in removing air bubbles from printer ink.

Print head ink flow path with bubble removal grooves


A device for driving an LCD includes a timing control unit, a gate driving unit having a shift register and an output circuit, and a control signal transmission line for transmitting a data carry signal for enabling the shift register and a signal for controlling an data output by the output circuit using a single signal line. The data carry signal uses a rising edge trigger system, and the output control signal uses a level trigger system. In order to prevent an overlapping of the data carry signal and the output control signal, the output control signal is outputted after one clock from a time point where the data carry signal is latched using the shift register.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a device for driving a liquid crystal display having an improved control signal transmission system between a timing control IC and a driving IC.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art, in order to drive a liquid crystal display (LCD), a drive IC, a timing control ASIC, and an analog circuit should be provided in the corresponding LCD panel. The timing control ASIC serves to receive an RGB signal through a host interface, distribute data to a source driving IC, and a control gate driving IC.
Main control signals generated by the timing control ASIC for the purpose of controlling the source driving IC are a carry signal STH for informing the source driving IC of the start of data, a signal POL for reporting the polarity of an output voltage, a signal LOAD for reporting a latch and output of data, etc. Also, main control signals generated by the timing control ASIC for the purpose of controlling the gate driving IC for driving TFTs are a carry signal STV for informing the gate driving IC of the start of data, a clock signal CPV for driving the IC, and an output control signal OE.
In the control IC of a TFT LCD module, video data and control signals of a pixel driving IC are transmitted in the form of a bus on a printed circuit board (PCB). In this case, it requires a technique having a very high degree of difficulty, designing 36 to 48 image data lines and 10 control signal lines. Especially, due to the development of gates without PCB, wiring to the gate driving IC requires a high degree of difficulty since it should be prepared as a pattern on glass.
The data of the existing LCD driving IC includes basic image data and data for processing various signals, and it is necessary to reduce the data. Especially, as the resolution and data bits increase, the reduction of signals is necessary for an optimum design of the PCB.

Device for driving a liquid crystal display


An operating device includes a crane controller for controlling actuators of the loading crane and for generating sensor data based on the sensor signals, and an input device spatially separated from the crane controller for inputting control commands for the crane controller. The crane controller has a first telecommunications device for exchanging data signals with the input device, and the data signals output by the crane controller include sensor data. The input device has a second telecommunications device for exchanging data signals including control commands with the first telecommunications device. The input device has a transmitter device for outputting data signals. A signaling device is spatially separated from the input device, and has a receiver device for receiving data signals output by the transmitter device and a display device for displaying audio data and/or image data. The signaling device signals the audio data and/or image data to a user.

The invention concerns an operating device for a loading crane, and a loading crane having such an operating device.
An operating device of the general kind set forth has long been used in loading cranes.
What is problematical in that respect is that loading cranes have a highly dynamic field of use, which makes it difficult to plan operations thereof. Therefore safety-relevant decisions have to be made by the user of the crane during operation thereof on site. Frequently the working area can be difficult to oversee, and the result of this is that the user has to change his position. The user often has to turn his view away from the load to be craned in order to look at the operating device. Often the user is uncertain about the currently prevailing operating parameters of the crane. If the user is to have a clear picture about the currently prevailing operating parameters of the crane the question which also arises is how they can be processed and communicated to the user.

Loading crane controller with user worn remote control input and dispaly device


A gas sensor which includes: a plurality of gas detectors, each detects a target gas; an error detector which detects the occurrence of an error on each of gas sensors; an output selector which selects one output from among outputs entered from each gas sensor, the output selected by the output selector is the output from the gas detector in which no error exists; and an output unit which generate a normal output based on the output selected by the output selector and outputs the normal output to an external electrical device through a single output system, the output unit generates an abnormal output based on the output from the gas detector, in which the error exists, when the gas detector, in which an error exists, is detected, and outputs alternately the normal output and the abnormal output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas sensor which connects with an external electric device, i.e. ECU (Electronic Control Unit), through a single output system. Also, the present invention relates to an output processing method to be performed on the gas sensor.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Generally, in a fuel cell which adopts solid polymer electrolyte membrane, a fuel cell stack is configured by stacking a plurality of single cells; each single cell is obtained by sandwiching a solid polymer electrolyte membrane by a fuel electrode and an oxygen electrode.
In this fuel cell, hydrogen is supplied, as fuel, to the fuel electrode and air is supplied, as oxidant, to the oxygen electrode. Then, hydrogen ion caused by a catalytic reaction at the fuel electrode passes through the solid polymer electrolyte membrane and reaches to the oxygen electrode. Thus, electric power is generated through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen ion and oxygen.
In this kind of fuel cell adopting a solid polymer membrane, conventionally, a gas sensor is provided at an exhaust line of oxygen electrode-side, and a technique, which detects the leakage into the oxygen electrode side of hydrogen through the solid polymer membrane from the fuel electrode side using this sensor, has been discovered (see Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2004-61244).
In the gas sensor disclosed in this Japanese unexamined patent publication, the gas sensor connects with ECU using two output systems, and supplies the outputs to ECU using two output systems. Here, one of outputs is the output based on a hydrogen concentration and the other of output is the output based on the error of the gas detector.
Therefore, the gas sensor, which connects with an external electric device through a single system and which can supply, by using this single system, the output which is determined based on a target gas and the output which is determined based on the error of the gas detector installed in the gas sensor, has been required.

Gas sensor and output processing method thereof


There is provided a mechanism for attaching and detaching a portable cordless telephone in a motor vehicle, the mechanism comprising: a holder capable of holding the portable cordless telephone and pivotable from its inmost position in the mechanism to its maximum outwardly projected position; a spring device enabling the holder together with the portable cordless telephone to pivot towards their outwardly projected positions: a lock/unlock device provided for locking/unlocking the holder and the portable cordless telephone on the mechanism. When the holder and the portable cordless telephone are released from their locked conditions by an action of the lock/unlock device, the holder will be pressed by the above spring device, so that the holder together with the portable cordless telephone may pivot outwardly until the holder arrives at its maximum outwardly projected position.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for attaching and detaching an electronic instrument (such as a portable cordless telephone) in a motor vehicle, or a mechanism for attaching and detaching an operating section of an electronic instrument to the main body thereof in a motor vehicle.
It has been known that a motor vehicle may be provided with a portable cordless telephone. Such a portable cordless telephone usually includes a wireless handset having a plurality of push-buttons. A user may perform his desired wireless communication with a person far away from the motor vehicle simply by pushing push-buttons on the cordless handset.
FIG. 8 illustrates a condition in which a center console 102 is provided between a driver seat and a passenger seat in a vehicle room, a portable cordless telephone 105 is attached onto the center console 102. In detail, the center console 102 is provided with a telephone adaptor 103 having a connector 104, and a connector 106 of the portable cordless telephone 105 is inserted into the connector 104 in a direction shown by an arrow G, thereby completing a predetermined electric connection between the two connectors 104 and 106. In this way, the portable cordless telephone 105 may be easily attached and held on the telephone adaptor 103.
Recently, with the improvement and development of portable cordless telephone, it has been suggested that a display panel be provided on the surface of a handset of a portable cordless telephone, so that when the telephone is connected in its predetermined position, a telephone number to be used to make a phone call may be displayed on the display panel. Further, the display panel may also be constructed to become a touch-panel to in advance selectively input telephone number (to make a phone call) on the display panel.
When the above-described portable cordless telephone having a display panel is mounted in a motor vehicle, it is required that the display panel be positioned in a position so that both the driver and the passenger sitting beside the driver can easily see the display panel. At least, the display panel should be disposed not to hamper the driver's operation of the motor vehicle. Preferably, the display panel is positioned close to a dashboard in front of the driver's seat. For instance, an optional console for deeply mounting a stereo equipment may also be used to mount a display panel of a portable cordless telephone, in a manner such that the main body side having the display panel is positioned at the same level as other surface portions of the optional console, so that the display panel of the portable cordless telephone will be in the same plane as those of the other electronic instruments.
However, since an option console is usually constructed within a limited standard size according to DIN (Deutsche Industrie-Normen), and since an adaptor for a portable cordless telephone is also formed within such a limited standard size, there are some inconveniences in the use of such a portable cordless telephone, as is understood in FIG. 9. Referring to FIG. 9, in use of a portable cordless telephone 105 located in the option console constructed in accordance with DIN, the connector 106 of the telephone 105 shall be detached from the connector 104 of a telephone adaptor 107, so that the telephone 105 may be moved to the handside of a user. However, it is difficult for the user's hand to catch the telephone 105 buried in a depress portion of an option console 108. Moreover, even after the telephone 105 has been caught by a user's hand, it is necessary to draw the telephone 105 out of the adaptor 107 with a considerable force in a direction shown by an arrow H. This, however, will cause a trouble that other elements or instruments 109 and 110 within the vehicle room will be accidentally damaged.

Mechanism for attaching and detaching a portable cordless telephone in a motor vehicle


A power semiconductor module and a method of manufacture thereof includes a lead frame carrying lead having inner and outer lead portions. The outer lead portions, which are connected by soldering to semiconductor chips simultaneously, eliminate the need for using bonding wires. Since no bonding wire is used for connecting the leads and the semiconductor chips, a sufficient current capacity is obtained. The bonding between an insulating circuit board and the semiconductor chips and the bonding between the semiconductor chips and the leads can be made simultaneously in a single step of reflow-soldering. As a result, the mounting time can be shortened and the power semiconductor module can be manufactured more efficiently.

Power semiconductor modules are used in inverters, uninterruptive power supplies, machine tools, industrial robots, and such apparatuses in the form of packages, independent from these industrial apparatuses. Such a power semiconductor module houses therein one or more semiconductor chips insulated gate bipolar transistors (hereinafter referred to as "IGBTs") and such power semiconductor devices constituting the power converter circuit. The power semiconductor module is mounted on a predetermined control circuit board for controlling any of the apparatuses described above. See for instance JP 2002-50722 A.
The following describes such a power semiconductor module that houses a plurality of semiconductor chips. Typically, the power semiconductor module mounts the semiconductor chips on an insulating circuit board by soldering. The power semiconductor module has the leads connected to the control circuit board and the semiconductor chips by wire bonding using metal wires. Then, the power semiconductor module incorporating therein the semiconductor chips, mounted on the insulating circuit board and connected to the leads by wire bonding, is packaged by molding in a resin casing. A radiator plane arranged on the side opposite to the side of the resin casing, on which outer leads are mounted, is in contact with a cooling fin so that the heat generated in the power semiconductor devices can be dissipated to the outside.
Since the cross sectional area of the metal wires connecting the outer leads and the semiconductor chips in the power semiconductor module described above is relatively small, the module is limited in its current capacity. While a thick metal wire can improve the current capacity, it is difficult to bond the thick metal wire by ultrasonic bonding or by welding.
The manufacturing process for manufacturing the power semiconductor module includes soldering the semiconductor chip to the insulating circuit board and connecting the semiconductor chips and the outer lead portions by wire bonding. The metal wire bonding is conducted wire by wire. Since from 200 to 500 metal wires are typically used for manufacturing the power semiconductor module, it takes a long time to bond the metal wires.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a power semiconductor module that is manufactured more efficiently. The present invention addresses this need.

Power semiconductor module and method of manufacturing the same

Fuji Electric Device Technology Co., Ltd.


A method and system for determining a potential change in a physical location of a network element. The potential change being assessed to determine whether operating characteristics associated with the network element may reflect conditions and/or circumstances indicative of a possible change in the physical location of the network element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems associated with assessing a physical location of a network element and/or a user associated with the network element.
2. Background Art
The physical location of network elements can be important to network managers, emergency response entities, and other individuals concerned with the physical whereabouts of a user associated with the network element. For example, with the advent of VoIP and other so called "online" based communications, the ability to physically locate a user making a VoIP can be important, such as but not limited to emergency situations where the user may be attempting to make an emergency 911 (E911) call.
One known method of physically locating the user includes requiring the user to enter information regarding their physical location upon registering for VoIP services, such as by requiring the user to fill out a questionnaire and designate their intended location when making VoIP calls. This concept, however, fails to address the problem of the user physically changing the location of the VoIP device (network element) after such its registration, such as but not limited to when the user takes the VoIP device to another location when making a VoIP call.
There are any number of other examples where it may be desirable to determine the physical location of the network element itself, as opposed to the user associated therewith. For example, as more and more content is stored locally on STBs, DVRs, and other network elements, the network elements performing the storage may become rather valuable and susceptible to theft or value to inventory of content provider that relies on the network elements to source content. The ability to locate such high-valued network elements can be helpful in locating the items if stolen or simply performing inventory or other analysis.
Accordingly, there exits a need for methods and systems associated with assessing a physical location of a network element and/or a user associated with the network element.

Method and system of determining possible change in location of network element


One of the objects of the present invention is to suppress mixing of a first layer and a second layer while forming the second layer before drying the first layer when manufacturing the electrode for the secondary battery in which the first layer and the second layer are laminated on the current collector. A method for manufacturing an electrode used as a positive electrode and a negative electrode of a secondary battery according to the present invention comprises applying a first layer slurry to a surface of a current collector, applying a second layer slurry on the first layer slurry before the first layer slurry is dried, and drying the first layer slurry and the second layer slurry after applying the first layer slurry and the second layer slurry to obtain a laminated structure in which a first layer and a second layer are laminated in this order on the current collector. A viscosity of the first layer slurry is 12000 mPa·s or more, and/or a viscosity of the second layer slurry is 4000 mPa·s or more when the viscosities of the first layer slurry and the second layer slurry are measured at 25° C. with a shear rate of 1/sec.

Secondary batteries are widely used as power sources for portable electronic devices such as smart phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, digital cameras, and the like. In addition, secondary batteries have been expanding their application as power sources for electric vehicles and household power supplies. Among them, since lithium ion secondary batteries are high in energy density and light in weight, they are indispensable energy storage devices for current life.
A conventional battery including a secondary battery has a structure in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode, which are electrodes, are opposed to each other with a separator interposed therebetween. The positive electrode and the negative electrode each have a sheet-like current collector and active material layers formed on both sides of the current collector. The separator serves to prevent a short circuit between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and to effectively move ions between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. Conventionally, a polyolefin-based microporous separator made of polypropylene or polyethylene material is mainly used as the separator. However, the melting points of polypropylene and polyethylene materials are generally 110° C. to 160° C. Therefore, when a polyolefin-based separator is used for a battery with a high energy density, the separator melts at a high temperature of the battery, and a short circuit may occur between the electrodes in a large area, which cause smoke and ignition of the battery.
Therefore, in order to improve the safety of the secondary battery, the following techniques are known. Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent No. 3622383) describes a technique for manufacturing an electrode of a secondary battery having a structure in which a current collector, an electrode material layer, and a protective layer are laminated by simultaneously applying coating liquids for the electrode material layer and the protective layer on the current collector and drying the coating liquids.
Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-191550) discloses an electrode for a secondary battery having an active material layer formed on a current collector and a porous insulating layer formed on the active material layer. Patent Literature 3 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-211945) discloses an electrode for a secondary battery in which a mixture layer of an active material is formed on a surface of a current collector and a surface layer that improves lithium acceptability is formed on the surface of the mixture layer. The maximum height roughness of the interface between the mixture layer and the surface layer is 2 to 25 μm, and the thickness of the surface layer is 3 to 20 μm, which provides the electrode for the secondary battery in which the adhesion strength between the mixture layer and the surface layer is ensured and having an excellent safety and charging characteristics.
Patent Literature 4 (WO 2015/045533) also describes forming an electrode material layer on a surface of a current collector and forming an insulating layer on the surface of the electrode material layer as a method for manufacturing an electrode for a secondary battery. More specifically, after applying an electrode material slurry to the surface of the current collector, the surface of the electrode material slurry is solidified by applying a solidifying liquid for depositing a binder component contained in the slurry.
Then, an insulating material slurry is applied on the electrode material slurry in which the surface thereof was solidified. Finally, the electrode material slurry and the insulating material slurry are dried, thereby obtaining a configuration in which the electrode material layer and the insulating layer are laminated on the current collector. Alternatively, after applying the electrode material slurry onto the current collector, the insulating material slurry containing a first component for depositing a binder of the electrode material slurry is applied. Then, the electrode material slurry is solidified by supplying the electrode material slurry with a solidifying liquid containing a second component for depositing a binder of the electrode material slurry. Finally, the electrode material slurry and the insulating material slurry are dried, thereby obtaining a configuration in which the electrode material layer and the insulating layer are laminated on the current collector.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Secondary battery electrode manufacturing method and secondary battery manufacturing method


Based upon a force in a vertical direction exerted between an object and a hand and an angle made by the hand relative to a horizontal face, a transporting force estimation unit estimates a transporting force applied in the vertical direction by a person, and based upon the estimated force, a force controlling operation is carried out so as to set a force in the vertical direction of the robot arm of a robot system to a predetermined force.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot used for carrying out a work (cooperative work) between a person and the robot in cooperation with each other, a controlling device and a controlling method for such a robot, as well as to a controlling program for the robot-controlling device.
(2) Description of Related Art
In recent years, house-service robots, such as nursing robots and house-keeping support robots, have been vigorously developed. Moreover, in the industrial robots also, different from those conventional robots isolated from people, those which carry out a cooperative work with a person have increased in number. Since those robots carry out works near people, physical contact with a person is inevitably required. For this reason, from the viewpoint of safety, those robots need to be mechanically flexible, and to move in a flexible manner.
As one example of a robot device, a device has been proposed in which a person and a robot arm transport an object in cooperation with each other. Among such devices, a technique has been proposed in which the rotating movement of a hand that is located at an end of the robot arm is controlled so that the rotating force of the hand corresponding to the end of the robot arm is set to zero, while the translation movement in a vertical direction of the hand is controlled so that the object is maintained in its horizontal state (see Patent Document 1).
By using the technique of Patent Document 1, even in a case where the mass of an object is unknown or changed on the way, which causes problems conventionally, a cooperative transporting operation can be achieved.    Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 2000-343470

Robot, controlling device and controlling method for robot, and controlling program for robot-controlling device


An inkjet printer includes an inkjet head, a sealing member, a conveyance unit, a first moving unit, and a second moving unit. The first moving unit moves the sealing member along an outer circumference of the conveyance belt between a first position and a second position. The first position is located above the conveyance belt and faces the nozzle surface of the inkjet head. The second position is located under the conveyance belt. The second moving unit moves the conveyance belt between a conveyable position and a separate position. When the conveyance belt is located at the conveyable position and the sealing member is located at the first position, the conveyance belt presses the sealing member toward the nozzle surface so that the sealing member covers the nozzle surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and particularly relates to an inkjet printer in which it is unnecessary to move an inkjet head to cover the nozzle surface thereof with a sealing member, so that the printing accuracy can be improved, while the moving path of the sealing member is set under the inkjet head so that ink can be prevented from adhering to the inkjet head.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an inkjet printer, nozzles for ejecting ink are exposed to the air. Accordingly, there is a fear that ink in the nozzles is evaporated to clog the nozzles when ink ejection is not performed. Therefore, the nozzle surface of the inkjet head is generally capped (covered) with a cap member (sealing member) to prevent the ink from being evaporated when the ink ejection operation is suspended for a long time.
The cap member is disposed out of a printing area. The capping of the nozzle surface is carried out as follows. The inkjet head is moved horizontally from a printing position to a retraction position, that is, to the position where the cap member is disposed. However, when the inkjet head is formed as a line head, the cap member is made large in size because the head is made long. Thus, there is a problem that the retraction space is also expanded so that the inkjet printer as a whole is made large in size.
Therefore, various techniques for reducing the retraction space to thereby miniaturize an inkjet printer have been proposed. For example, JP-A-2000-343716 (e.g., paragraph 0033 and FIG. 4) discloses a technique for miniaturizing an inkjet printer. JP-A-2000-343716 includes a chain mechanism provided circumferentially to surround a head base, a plurality of maintenance members disposed around the whole circumference of the chain mechanism, and gap portions provided among head chips. The maintenance members are moved alternately via the positions (capping positions) opposed to the head chips and via the gap portions (retraction positions), respectively.


The present invention relates to a method for the flotation of silicates from ores in the presence of a collecting agent and an effective amount of a froth modifier/collecting booster comprising at least one of the compounds of general formula (I) or mixtures thereof: wherein X is C1-C3 alkyl; R′ is straight or branched hydrocarbyl group containing 8 to 22 carbon atoms; n is integer from 2-4; m can vary from 0 to 2 and R′ is X or —(CH2)n-N(X)2, with the proviso that when R′ is —(CH2)n-N(X)2, then m is 1.

Calcium carbonate, iron ores and phosphate ores frequently contains a considerable amount of silicate. The presence of silicates is unacceptable in the beneficiation of these ores. It is therefore essential that the silicate content of the enriched mineral be reduced to a considerable extent, for instance, to a level below 1% by weight.
Silicate-containing minerals are generally removed from flotation systems by using reverse flotation technique whereby the silicates are floated in a pH range from natural pH to 10.5-11 and the beneficiated ore is concentrated in the bottom fraction. To accomplish this task, a cationic collecting agent is added to the mineral pulp in a conditioning tank so as to attach to the silicate bearing minerals surface thereby turning them hydrophobic. The silicates are then removed from the flotation cell through use of air bubbles injected into the mineral pulp.
Froth generation has become a key point in industrial flotation plants due to the many problems that an excess of froth can cause from difficulties to pump the material that contains the froth to environmental questions with governmental agencies. One common way to deal with excessive froth generation in full scale flotation plants is through the application of defoamers onto the froth. Defoamers are chemicals that are applied separately after flotation whenever froth volume or froth stability is an issue. Typically this is done as soon as it is collected in the flotation trough or as it travels to the concentration plant.
Various collecting agents are known in the art as silica collectors. For example, WO94/26419 discloses the use of quaternary ammonium compounds and an alkylene oxide adduct of an amine composition as silica flotation collector from calcium carbonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,965 discloses where silica is floated from calcium carbonate in the presence of collectors such as methyl bis(2hydroxypropyl) cocoalkyl ammonium methosulphate, dimethyl didecyl ammonium chloride, dimethyl di(2-ethylhexyl) ammonium chloride, dimethyl (2-ethyl-hexyl) cocoalkyl ammonium chloride, dicocoalkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, and N-tallow alkyl 1,3-diamino propane diacetate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,857,331 discloses beneficiation of, for example, calcite and phosphate by the use of a flotation reagent comprising a condensation reaction product of from 2.5 to 18 molecular equivalents of a commercially curde product selected from the group consisting of crude tall oil and tall oil pitch reacted with one molecular equivalent of a commercial polyalkylenepolyamine at atemperature of from about 300 to 4250° F.
WO2011147855A2 discloses the use of a polymeric quaternary ester product as a collector in a froth flotation process and to methods for the production of the polymeric quaternary ester.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,682 discloses the use of a combination of ether monoamine and ether polyamine as collector to remove silicate-containing minerals from iron ore by froth flotation in a pH range from 8 to 11 in the presence of a depressing agent for the iron mineral. The amine derivatives should present an aliphatic hydrocarbon group containing 6 to 22 carbon atoms wherein the ratio of ether monoamine and ether polyamine ranges from about 1:4-4:1.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,206 discloses the usage of collectors containing a quaternary ammonium compound to remove silicates from iron ore calling the attention to the high selectivity promoted by such chemicals in the removal of silicate-containing minerals by froth flotation in a pH range of 7-11.
WO 2012/139986A2 discloses the application of alkyl ether amine or alkyl ether diamines in the enrichment of iron ore by the removal of the silicate bearing minerals. The reverse flotation of iron ore is performed by using a collector or collector composition comprising at least one of the compounds: ROXNH2, ROXNH3+Y−, ROXNHZNH2 and ROXNHZNH3+Y−, where X is an aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Z is an aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Y is an anion; and R is an aliphatic group presenting a specific formula.
It is an objective of this invention to provide a new and improved method for the flotation of silicates from ores through use of a novel froth modifier and collector booster without compromising flotation performance.


A fuel injection device is provided with a valve body, a nozzle needle, a movable plate, and a support spring. The valve body has a control chamber therein. The control chamber is defined by a defining wall which has a dividing wall portion. The dividing wall portion divides the control chamber into an accommodation chamber and a backpressure chamber. The accommodation chamber accommodates a movable plate and a support spring. A fuel pressure in the backpressure chamber is applied to the nozzle needle. The dividing wall portion has a restriction hole fluidly connecting the accommodation chamber and the backpressure chamber with each other, and a support surface supporting the support spring.

JP 2012-154314 A (US 2012/0175435 A1) shows a fuel injection device which has a body defining a pressure chamber and an injection port therein, a nozzle needle opening/closing the injection port according to a fuel pressure in the pressure chamber, and a floating plate accommodated in the pressure chamber. A plate spring is disposed between the floating plate and the nozzle needle. The plate spring biases the float plate toward an inlet port.
In these years, it is required for the fuel injection device to increase a fuel injection quantity which is injected during a specified time period. In order to increase the fuel injection quantity, it is necessary that a needle lift amount is kept large. However, when the needle lift amount is enlarged in the fuel injection device shown in JP 2012-154314 A, it is likely that an accuracy of fuel injection quantity may be deteriorated due to following two points.
First, a pressure pulsation is generated in the pressure chamber due to its volume enlargement. Specifically, the volume of the pressure chamber is needed to be enlarged in order to increase the needle lift amount. However, when the volume of the pressure chamber is enlarged, a pulsation period of the fuel pressure will become longer along with a fuel outflow from the pressure chamber. Consequently, it takes long time period to converge the pressure pulsation, so that a displacement of the nozzle needle becomes unstable in a valve opening direction.
Secondarily, a float spring is excessively compressed. Specifically, when a needle lift amount is enlarged, a floating spring is compressed largely between a nozzle needle and a floating plate. A biasing force of the floating spring applied to the floating plate becomes uneven, so that the floating plate will be tilted. Consequently, a behavior of the floating plate opening/closing an inlet port varies, so that a displacement of the nozzle needle becomes unstable in a valve closing direction.


In a double air-fuel ratio sensor system including two air-fuel ratio sensors disposed on the upstream and the downstream of the catalyst which is installed in the exhaust passage of the engine and has oxygen storage effect, an air-fuel ratio correction amount is calculated in accordance with the output of the upstream O.sub.2 sensor, and the actual air-fuel ratio is adjusted in accordance with the calculated air-fuel ratio correction amount. Further, the determination of the deterioration of the catalyst is carried out in accordance with the output of the second O.sub.2 sensor when the air-fuel ratio of the engine is adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for determining a rate of deterioration of three way reducing and oxidising catalysts in a system having double air-fuel ratio sensors upstream and downstream of the catalysts in an exhaust gas passage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known air-fuel ratio control system, an air-fuel ratio sensor is disposed in the exhaust passage near a combustion chamber, i.e., near the concentration portion of the exhaust manifold. In this system, however, accurate air-fuel ratio control is disturbed because of the dispersion of the output characteristics of the air-fuel ratio sensor.
To compensate for the above dispersion, and to compensate for the dispersion and the aged deterioration of parts used for fuel injection, a so-called double air-fuel sensor system that controls the air-fuel ratio based on an output of a second air-fuel ratio sensor disposed in the downstream side of the catalysts in addition to an output of the first air-fuel ratio sensor disposed in the upstream side of the catalysts is suggested (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Kokai) No. 61-286550).
In this system, the second air-fuel ratio sensor has a poorer response speed but smaller dispersion than the first air-fuel ratio sensor for the following reasons.
(1) The second air-fuel ratio sensor receives less thermal influence of the exhaust gas, because its temperature is low at the downstream side of the catalyst.
(2) The second air-fuel sensor is exposed to less poisoning, because various kinds of polutants are trapped in the catalyst.
(3) Exhaust gas attains uniformity and a state of equilibrium at the downstreams side of the catalyst.
The double air-fuel sensor system, therefore, can compensate for the dispersion of the first air-fuel ratio sensor by using the second air-fuel ratio sensor. That is, in the single air-fuel ratio sensor system, HC, CO and NO.sub.x emissions increase after the first air-fuel ratio sensor deteriorates, but in the double air-fuel ratio sensor system, HC, CO and NO.sub.x emissions do not increase even after the first air-fuel ratio sensor deteriorates as long as the second air-fuel ratio sensor maintains stability.
In the double air-fuel ratio sensor system, however, after the catalyst deteriorates, HC, CO and NO.sub.x emissions increase and the output of the second air-fuel ratio sensor fluctuates. That is, an amplitude of an output voltage of the second air-fuel ratio sensor increases and its period becomes shorter.
The detection of the deterioration of the catalyst, therefore, is important to obtain normal emission, and the methods to determine whether or not the catalyst has deteriorated for example based on the ratio of the inverting period of the output voltage of the second air-fuel ratio sensor to that of the first air-fuel ratio sensor is suggested (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Kokai) No. 61-286550).
With the above method, however, it is possible to distinguish a deterioration of the catalyst, for example the rejection ratio of HC becomes less than 80%, from the normal condition, that is, the rejection ratio of HC remains more than 80%. But it is not possible to distinguish an extremely abnormal deterioration that requires the replacement of the catalyst, for example the rejection ratio of HC becomes less than 50%, from a normal aged deterioration that remains enough rejection ratio, that is, 80%.
As a result, HC, CO and NO.sub.x emissions are increased if the replacement of the catalyst is delayed.

Method and apparatus for determining deterioration of three-way catalysts in double air-fuel ratio sensors system


An integrated circuit fabrication process is provided in which an elevated doped polysilicon structure may be formed and isolated from another polysilicon structure lying in the same elevated plane. The elevated structure may serve as a junction area of a transistor formed entirely within and upon the elevated polysilicon. The elevated structure frees up space within the lower level substrate for additional transistors and/or lateral interconnect, a benefit of which is to promote higher packing density within the integrated circuit. A first transistor is provided which is disposed upon and within a silicon-based substrate. A primary interlevel dielectric is deposited across the transistor and the substrate. Polysilicon may then be deposited across the primary interlevel dielectric and doped using ion implantation. A second transistor may be formed upon and within a portion of the polysilicon layer. The second transistor has a pair of implant regions spaced from each other by a gate conductor and a pair of oxide spacers arranged on opposed sidewall surfaces of the gate conductor. Part of the polysilicon layer is removed such that polysilicon only extends under the gate conductor and terminates a pre-defined distance from each of the pair of oxide spacers. A pair of junctions remain for the second transistor that are defined between an etched lateral edge and an oxide spacer. A second interlevel dielectric may be deposited across the second transistor and exposed areas of the primary interlevel dielectric to isolate the transistor from other active devices.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to integrated circuit fabrication and, more particularly, to forming a transistor upon and within a doped polysilicon region a spaced distance above another transistor, wherein a pair of junctions of the transistor have lateral surfaces formed by etching of the polysilicon region.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active devices are well known. They are classified as any device which is not passive. A transistor is but one example of an active device. Transistors are therefore regarded as a basic building block of an integrated circuit. Transistor fabrication typically involves forming source/drain impurity regions (hereinafter "junctions") within a single crystalline silicon substrate and gate conductors spaced from the substrate by a gate dielectric arranged between the junctions. Isolation structures are used to isolate the junctions of a transistor from other active areas employed by an integrated circuit. Isolation structures may comprise shallow trenches etched in the substrate that are filled with a dielectric using chemical vapor deposition. Alternately, isolation structures may comprise local oxidation of silicon ("LOCOS") structures which are thermally grown using, e.g, wet oxidation.
Ion implantation of dopants is primarily used to form junctions. Alternatively, although less often used, the junctions may be formed by diffusion doping. Ion implantation involves placing energetic, charged atoms or molecules directly into the substrate surface. The resulting junctions may be self-aligned between the isolation structures and oxide spacers arranged on opposing sidewall surfaces of the gate conductor and gate dielectric. The number of implanted dopant atoms entering the substrate is more easily controlled using ion implantation. Ion implantation results in junctions having a majority carrier opposite that of the surrounding bulk substrate or well area.
Because of the increased desire to build faster and more complex integrated circuits, it has become necessary to form relatively small, closely spaced multiple transistors within a single integrated circuit. In most core logic areas of an integrated circuit there are logic gates and interconnection between those gates. A substantial portion of the core logic areas involves routing interconnect between gates or enlarging junctions to accommodate mutual connection to those junctions. In either instance, the conventional solution to high density core layout is the occupation of lateral area. Unfortunately, since transistors are generally formed within the silicon-based substrate of an integrated circuit, the number of transistors per integrated circuit is limited by the available lateral area of the substrate. Moreover, transistors cannot employ the same portion of a substrate, and increasing the area occupied by the substrate is an impractical solution to this problem. Thus, packing density of an integrated circuit is somewhat sacrificed by the common practice of forming transistors exclusively within a substrate having a limited amount of area.
Conventional transistor isolation techniques have several drawbacks. The previously mentioned LOCOS structures typically arise by first forming a thermally grown or blanket deposited oxide (i.e., pad oxide) layer across the substrate. A thick layer of silicon nitride is deposited across the oxide layer using chemical vapor deposition. Select portions of the silicon nitride are then removed to expose areas of the silicon-based substrate above which the LOCOS structures are to be formed. The LOCOS structures are thermally grown by oxidizing silicon within the exposed areas. The field oxide grows where no masking nitride exists as well as at the edges of the nitride. Unfortunately, some field oxide also grows under the nitride edges, causing the nitride edges to be lifted upward. Thus, the field oxide may encroach into nearby active device regions. Since active device regions may only be 1.0 micron in width, they might be substantially replaced by an encroaching field oxide.
The encroaching field oxide may also lead to another problem during the subsequent step of forming a conductive contact through an interlevel dielectric to a junction adjacent a LOCOS structure. During contact formation, a portion of the interlevel dielectric must be etched away to form an opening therethrough. Overetching may occur, causing a portion of the encroaching field oxide to be removed. This may expose the substrate region under the junction. Thus, a short may result between the junction and the oppositely doped substrate when a conductive material is deposited into the opening. Another limitation of using LOCOS isolation structures is that the thickness of the thermally grown field oxide in submicron regions of exposed silicon is significantly thinner than that grown in wider spacings. Thin field oxides that result from this effect may have an adverse effect on interconnect capacitances to substrate and on the threshold voltage between junctions spaced apart by a LOCOS structure.
The aforementioned isolation structures formed using a shallow trench etch and fill technique also have several disadvantages. For example, void formation can occur if field oxide is deposited into trenches that are narrower than about 2.0 microns. Inversion of the silicon at the sidewalls of p-type active regions may also occur. Moreover, the deposited field oxide must be etched back so that it remains only within the trench and its top surface is level with the original substrate surface. Planarization of the field oxide may be achieved by applying layers of photoresist across the field oxide and substrate surfaces and then etching the field oxide and resist at the same rate. The planarization etch results in shallow isolation structure profiles which vary among different areas. Furthermore, the resist layer tends to not be perfectly planarized and the field oxide must be overetched to ensure that it is removed from all active areas. Thus, the field oxide is etched below the surface of an active area, exposing a portion of a active area sidewall, thereby leading to undesired edge-parasitic conduction and to a higher electric field in the gate dielectric at the sidewall. The resulting threshold voltage of the corner region where the sidewall meets the gate dielectric is undesirably lower than the interior portion of the active device.
It is therefore desirable that a semiconductor fabrication process be developed for the formation of more densely packed transistors. Such a process would lead to an increase in circuit speed as well as an increase in circuit complexity. Furthermore, it is desirable that a better technique be developed for active region isolation, e.g., isolation of transistors. An isolation technique is needed which would ensure that substantially no current flows between isolated active devices. Moreover, a technique is desired that does not require overetching of the isolation oxide to remove it completely from active regions. Further, it is desirable that the isolation oxide not encroach on active device regions and under junctions, thereby preventing shorting between junction and substrate.

Method for forming source drain junction areas self-aligned between a sidewall spacer and an etched lateral sidewall


Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for preserving input element ordering in data parallel operations. This ordering may be based on element ordinal position in the input or a programmer-specified key-selection routine that generates sortable keys for each input element. Complex data parallel operations are re-written to contain individual data parallel operations that introduce partitioning and merging. Each partition is then processed independently in parallel. The system ensures that downstream operations remember ordering information established by certain other operations, using techniques that vary depending upon which categories the consumer operations are in. Data is merged back into one output stream using a final merge process that is aware of the ordering established among data elements.

Software programs have been written to run sequentially since the beginning days of software development. Steadily over time computers have become much more powerful, with more processing power and memory to handle advanced operations. This trend has recently shifted away from ever-increasing single-processor clock rates and towards an increase in the number of processors available in a single computer, i.e. away from sequential execution and toward parallel execution. Software developers want to take advantage of improvements in computer processing power, enabling their software programs to run faster as new hardware is adopted. With parallel hardware, however, this requires a different approach: developers must arrange for one or more tasks of a particular software program to be executed in parallel (sometimes called "concurrently"), so that the same logical operation can utilize many processors at one time, and deliver better performance as more processors are added to the computers on which such software runs.
When parallelizing previously-written sequential algorithms, it is often desirable to keep as much of the previous sequential program behavior as is possible. However, typical parallel execution of existing sequential logic introduces new behavioral characteristics and presents problems that can introduce challenges into the migration from sequential to parallel algorithms. Moreover, it is also possible that such a problem could represent changes to non-negotiable sequential behavior, prohibiting migration altogether. One category of such problems is that of preserving data ordering, either by ordinal position or keys generated based on programmer specified key-selection logic.
As an illustration, imagine a programmer wrote this program text, which uses a language integrated query comprehension as a way of representing a data parallel computation:
int[ ] A = ... generate some interesting input ...;Array.Sort(A); // sort 'A' in placeint[ ] B = (from x in A select x*x).ToArray( );
The sequential algorithm preserves relative ordering among elements in 'A' for the output elements in 'B', simply by virtue of the sequential evaluation of the query whose results are assigned to 'B'. If the query comprehension is run in parallel using typical data parallel execution, the relative ordering among elements may become scrambled. As an example, imagine 'A' contains the elements {0, 1, 2, 3}; the programmer will likely expect that, after execution, 'B' contains {0, 1, 4, 9}. This problem can apply generally to all data parallel operations, not just query comprehensions.

Order preservation in data parallel operations


A disk cartridge is provided. The disk cartridge includes a case for containing a disk and a transparent window installed to seal the case. An external light accesses the disk through the transparent window of the disk cartridge. However, foreign matter such as dust is prevented from entering the disk cartridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge containing a disk, which is an information recording/reproducing medium, and more particularly, to a disk cartridge capable of inhibiting an inflow of dust from the outside.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional disk cartridge 10 which contains a disk D that will be used in a disk drive device 20. The disk cartridge 10 includes upper and lower cases 11 and 12 and a shutter 13. The upper and lower cases 11 and 12 form an inner space in which the disk D is contained. The shutter 13 selectively opens and closes an opening hole 12a formed at the lower case 12 so as to allow a pickup 21 of the disk drive device 20 to access the disk D. An opening lever 22 installed in the disk drive device 20 opens and closes the shutter 13. FIGS. 2A and 2B show that as the disk cartridge 10 enters the disk drive device 20, a peg on an end of the opening lever 22 contacts and pushes a protrusion 13a of the shutter 13 to open the shutter 13.
The disk D is contained in the disk cartridge 10 to be protected from foreign matter such as dust which can hinder the accurate processing of a signal during a recording or reproducing operation. However, the shutter 13 must be opened to allow the pickup 21 of the disk drive device 20 to access the disk D. Thus, dust flows into the disk cartridge 10 through the opening hole 12a. In other words, while the disk D is kept in the disk cartridge 10 to be protected from dust, dust flown into the disk cartridge 10 through the opening hole 12a cannot be prevented when the disk cartridge 10 is inserted into the disk drive device 20. Therefore, there is a need for a way to prevent dust from entering the disk cartridge 10 through the opening hole 12a during a recording and reproducing operation.


A steering column lock assembly and a method of operating the same, the steering column lock assembly including a steering column having a gear portion and a rotatable shaft; an actuator operably attached to the steering column, the actuator being free to translate with respect to the steering column; and a lever arm operably attached to the steering column; wherein translation of the actuator engages the lever arm with the gear portion to lock the steering column.

A vehicle may be steered by rotating a steering component, such as a steering wheel, positioned adjacent to a driver. The steering component may be operably attached at an upper end portion of a steering column so as to be rotatable about an axis. Rotation of the steering component is coupled to the turning of the vehicle's tires (the front tires and, optionally, the rear tires).
Numerous devices and methods exist for locking the vehicle steering column shaft from movement. Frequently, such devices and methods prevent the steering column shaft from being rotated to steer the vehicle. The vehicle can be a car, van, truck, motorcycle, bus, or all-terrain vehicle having a number of wheels, a boat with one or more rudders, a snowmobile with skis, a vehicle having one or more tracks, and the like. A steering column lock used in any such vehicle is typically employed to prevent vehicle theft or unauthorized use.
A common and well-known mechanism for locking a steering column includes a lock bolt that is spring-loaded into direct or indirect releasable engagement with the steering column shaft. Such engagement can be by removable insertion of the lock bolt into a groove, a notch, teeth, or an aperture in the steering column or in a gear, plate, or other element connected to the steering column. A mechanism is normally provided for retracting the lock bolt against the spring-loaded force to unlock the steering column for vehicle operation. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the mechanism can retract the lock bolt in response to user insertion and turning of a key or in response to one or more signals from a control system coupled to an actuator driving the mechanism.
Another approach includes a steering column lock that is not mechanically connected to an ignition lock cylinder for actuation. With the introduction in recent years of vehicle security systems in which a steering column lock is locked and unlocked automatically by an electronic controller connected to one or more steering column lock actuators, there is little need to locate a vehicle's ignition control (e.g., switch, button, and the like) adjacent to the steering column lock. The ignition control can be connected directly or indirectly to the steering column lock by wiring alone, and therefore can be located almost anywhere in the vehicle. Such designs may include an identification code embedded within the key that is cross-checked with an identification code in the controller. When the controller determines that the identification code is proper, the steering column is automatically unlocked thereby allowing steering.
Some concerns with the aforementioned steering column lock designs are lock complexity and lock manufacturability. Conventional mechanical steering column locks are typically assembled from a relatively large number of parts connected and fastened together in a time-consuming and expensive assembly process. The use of a large number of parts may increase the packaging size of the steering column and may increase the potential for lock assembly errors, operational problems, and malfunctions. The more modern automatic design locks, although typically smaller in packaging size, may be relatively expensive due to the need for the controller and other automatic parts. In addition, the remote positioning and other factors may reduce the reliability of such locks.
In light of the problems and limitations of existing designs, a need exists for a steering column lock that is relatively simple, is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble, has a relatively small packaging size, and reliably locks the steering column. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a steering column lock assembly and method of operating the same that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.

Steering column lock assembly and method of operating the same


A portable outdoor cooking and decorative appliance including a combustion compartment and a separate oven compartment. The appliance can burn a variety of solid, liquid, and/or gaseous fuels. Material combustion products are inhibited from contacting food items inside the oven compartment to avoid contamination and transfer of undesired tastes, smells, and materials. The appliance is constructed to more efficiently transfer heat to the oven compartment to improve cooking speed and capability and reduce fuel needed. The appliance can include transparent doors such that users can view the interior of the appliance during use, without opening the doors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of cooking and outdoor appliances and to a combined oven and fireplace.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of outdoor fireplaces are known and widely used to provide a pleasing aesthetic contribution in outdoor or open environments. For example, an outdoor fireplace can provide a campfire ambience in an outdoor residential setting. Outdoor fireplaces generally include some configuration of open container to hold the fuel material and contain ashes. Outdoor fireplaces also generally elevate the fire from the ground, in contrast to fires that can be built directly on the ground.
A variety of outdoor cooking appliances, commonly known as barbecues or hibachis, are widely used for outdoor cooking. Such cooking appliances can be adapted to use solid fuel, such as fuel wood and/or charcoal or fuel gases such as natural gas or propane to generate heat for the cooking. Such cooking appliances generally include an open container where the fuel combustion takes place. Such open containers can have a variety of shapes, including generally hemispherical, semicylindrical, rectangular, pyramidal, or other shapes. Outdoor cooking appliances are also generally provided with one or more grills supported and arranged generally above the combustion region to support food items for cooking above the combustion region.
An open configuration of outdoor cooking appliance suffers the limitation that a significant portion of the heat generated can be lost due to radiant and convective heat escaping through the open upper region of the cooking appliance. This results in a significant decrease in cooking efficiency, generally resulting in higher fuel consumption and extended cooking times and limitations in the type of cooking methods that can be used with the appliance. Accordingly, outdoor cooking appliances are frequently provided with a movable cover to allow access to the grill area for placement and removal of food items but also allowing the cooking appliance to be at least partially closed to assist in retaining heat within the cooking appliance to improve cooking efficiency. Such closable cooking appliances will generally include one or more vents to facilitate provision of fresh air to support combustion and/or allow combustion products to escape the interior of the cooking appliance.
However, such cooking appliances suffer the drawback that placing the cooking region over the combustion region contributes to exposure of the food items being cooked to combustion products such as smoke, soot, and possible remnants from previously cooked food items. While the heat of combustion is a combustion product that is desirably communicated to the food items, frequently smoke, soot, and remnants of previously cooked food items can contributed undesired tastes and aroma to subsequently cooked food items. Combustion of solid fuels can also result in ash and cinders accumulating on the surface of the food. In addition, certain foods can drip combustible materials such as fat and oils that can burn upon contact with the normal fuel and result in excessive heat and burning of the food.
Enclosing a cooking appliance detracts from the aesthetic qualities of the cooking appliance as the frequently desirable appearance of the combustion is obscured from view. Thus, it will be understood that there exists a need for an improved design of outdoor cooking appliance which inhibits exposure of cooked items to undesired combustion products and maintains the desired aesthetic qualities of open outdoor fireplaces.


A sequential lateral solidification device and a method of crystallizing silicon using the same controls a size and arrangement overlapping areas of laser beam patterns adjacently irradiated onto a substrate to within specific regions of a pixel area and a driving area outside the pixel area. The device includes a laser generating device irradiating a laser beam, a focusing lens focusing the laser beam, a mask having a pattern of transparent regions permitting the laser beam to be transmitted a laser beam pattern, a reduction lens reducing the laser beam pattern transmitted by the mask, a substrate having a pixel area and a driving area exposed to the irradiated laser beam pattern, a moveable stage having, on which the substrate is mounted, and a position sensor sensing an position of the irradiated laser beam pattern and controlling a size and arrangement overlapping areas between adjacently irradiated laser beam patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of crystallizing silicon. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sequential lateral solidification device and a method of crystallizing silicon using the same. More particularly still, the present invention relates to controlling an overlapping of irradiation areas while crystallizing amorphous silicon to prevent a linear-type image deficiency caused by a defect within a thin film transistor within a circuit area or a pixel area.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As information technologies continue to evolve, the demand for various types of displays increases. Accordingly, flat panel display (FPD) devices such as liquid crystal display devices (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), electroluminescent displays (ELDs), and vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), have been the subject of recent research. Owing to their light weight, compact construction, low power consumption, and superior ability to display high resolution images, colors, and moving images over a wide range of viewing angles, LCD devices are widely used as substitutes for cathode ray tubes (CRTs) of televisions, and as monitors for notebook and desktop computers.
Generally, an LCD device includes an LCD panel for displaying images and a driving unit for applying driving signals to the LCD panel. The LCD panel typically includes a first substrate bonded to a second substrate and liquid crystal layer material injected between the first and second substrates.
Accordingly, the first glass substrate (i.e., a TFT array substrate) supports a plurality of gate lines regularly spaced apart from each other and extending along a first direction; a plurality of data lines regularly spaced apart from each other and extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction so as to cross the plurality of gate lines; a plurality of pixel electrodes formed in a matrix of pixel areas defined by crossings of the plurality of gate and data lines; and a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) formed in the pixel areas and connected to the plurality of gate lines for switching signals transmitted by the data lines to the pixel electrodes.
The second glass substrate (i.e., a color filter substrate) supports a black matrix layer for preventing the transmission of light outside the pixel areas; an R/G/B color filter layer for selectively transmitting predetermined wavelengths of light; and a common electrode. Alternatively, the common electrode can be formed on the first substrate to form a horizontal electric field-type LCD.
The first and second substrates described above are uniformly separated from each other by spacers and are bonded to each other via a sealant material, in which a liquid crystal injection inlet is defined. The space between the bonded first and second substrates is often referred to as a cell gap. Liquid crystal material is injected between the bonded first and second substrates by creating a vacuum within the cell gap, dipping the liquid crystal injection inlet into a vessel containing liquid crystal material, and allowing the liquid crystal material to be injected into the cell gap. After the cell gap is filled with liquid crystal material, the liquid crystal injection inlet is sealed with an air-tight sealant.
Molecules of liquid crystal material are thin and long and can be aligned to have a specific orientation. Therefore, LCD devices operate at least in part, by manipulating anisotropic optical and polarization characteristics of liquid crystal material. Specifically, the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules can be controlled in the presence of applied electric fields. Accordingly, by controlling the application of electric fields, the orientation of liquid crystal molecules is selectively manipulated to selectively refract light along the orientation direction of the liquid crystal molecules, resulting in the generation of an image.
LCDs of the type described above are known as active matrix-type LCDs and are suitable for displaying high resolution images and moving images. TFTs of such LCD devices are often formed using polycrystalline silicon as their semiconductor layer because polycrystalline silicon is a material with a high electric field mobility and low photocurrent. Polycrystalline silicon TFTs can be fabricated using a low temperature fabrication process or a high temperature fabrication process, depending upon the temperature at which the polycrystalline silicon is formed.
The high temperature fabrication process is often carried out at temperatures of about 1000° C. Exposed to such temperatures, however, most glass substrates, on which the TFTs are formed, become deleteriously modified because they have poor heat-resistance. To overcome this problem, expensive quartz substrates having excellent heat-resistance must be used. Further, the high temperature fabrication process may form an inadequately crystallized polycrystalline silicon layer having a high surface roughness and fine crystal grains. TFTs formed of high temperature polycrystalline silicon generally have poor device characteristics as compared to TFTs including polycrystalline silicon formed according to the low temperature fabrication process. Moreover, the low temperature fabrication process generally causes less damage to the underlying substrate than the high temperature fabrication process.
In forming polycrystalline silicon according to the low temperature fabrication process, a layer of amorphous silicon is vapor-deposited onto a substrate at a low temperature and subsequently crystallized to form polycrystalline silicon using either a laser annealing process or a metal induced crystallization process. According to the laser annealing process, a pulsed laser beam is irradiated about every 10 to 100 nanoseconds onto an amorphous silicon layer deposited on a substrate to repeatedly melt and re-solidify the deposited amorphous silicon layer. A related art laser annealing method will now be discussed in greater detail.
FIG. 1 illustrates a relationship between grain sizes of polycrystalline silicon and laser energy intensity irradiated onto amorphous silicon.
Referring to FIG. 1, grain sizes of polycrystalline formed by melting and re-solidifying amorphous silicon vary depending upon the intensity of laser energy irradiated onto the amorphous silicon. Intensities of the irradiated laser energy can be grouped into a first, second, and third regions.
The first region represents a range of laser energy intensities which melt only the surface of the amorphous silicon layer. After being irradiated with laser energy having an intensity within the first region, the surface of the melted silicon layer solidifies to form small grains having a substantially uniform size.
The second region represents a range of laser energy intensities which melt almost an entirety of the amorphous silicon layer. After being irradiated with laser energy having an intensity within the second region, the melted amorphous silicon layer solidifies and polycrystalline silicon is formed in what is known as a heterogeneous nucleation process, whereby unmelted particles of the amorphous silicon layer act as nucleation sites for the growth of new silicon crystals. Therefore, polycrystalline silicon formed by exposing amorphous silicon to laser energy densities in the second region is characterized as having larger grains than polycrystalline silicon formed by exposing amorphous silicon to laser energy densities in the first region. As shown in FIG. 1, however, the second region is narrower than the first region. Further, the polycrystalline silicon grain sizes associated with the second region are not as uniform as polycrystalline silicon grain sizes associated with the first region.
The third region represents a range of laser energy intensities which completely melt the amorphous silicon layer. After being irradiated with laser energy having an intensity within the third region, the melted amorphous silicon layer solidifies and polycrystalline silicon is formed in what is known as a homogeneous nucleation process to produce small grains having uniform size.
While polycrystalline silicon having large, rough silicon grains of a uniform size can be formed by controlling the number of laser beam pulses of the aforementioned second intensity region irradiated onto the amorphous silicon layer and by controlling the amount of overlap between irradiated areas, the area of grain boundaries in the polycrystalline produced is also very large. The large area of grain boundaries thus impede efficient flow of electric current, thereby decreasing the reliability of the TFT. Additionally, collisions between electrons may occur within the plurality of crystal grains to deteriorate a subsequently formed insulating layer, thereby further degrading the TFT.
To resolve problems of the above-described laser annealing method, a sequential lateral solidification (SLS) method has been provided. The SLS method leverages the natural tendency of silicon grains to grow along a direction perpendicular to a phase boundary between of a liquid phase region and a solid phase region. Accordingly, the lateral growth of silicon grains may be controlled by adjusting an energy intensity, an irradiation range, and motion of a laser beam. (Robert S. Sposilli, M. A. Crowder, and James S. Im, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 452, 956˜057, 1997) By controlling growth of the silicon grains according to the SLS method, the area of the grain boundaries may be minimized, thereby minimizing the generation of leakage current.
In performing the related art SLS method, a substrate supporting an amorphous silicon layer is mounted onto a moveable stage. An irradiation device is then used to selectively irradiate a first narrow region of the amorphous silicon layer, thereby preventing an entirety of the amorphous silicon material from melting and crystallizing in a single irradiation. After irradiating the first narrow region, the substrate is moved and a second narrow region of the amorphous silicon layer is selectively irradiated. The process of selectively irradiating narrow regions of the amorphous silicon layer is repeated until the entire surface of the amorphous silicon layer has been irradiated. By controlling the laser energy intensity, irradiation range of the laser beam, and translation distance, the SLS method can be used to laterally grow silicon crystals to a predetermined length.
FIG. 2 illustrates a related art sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device.
Referring to FIG. 2, the related art sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device includes a laser beam generator 1 that generates laser beam pulses, a focusing lens 2 that focuses the laser beam pulses, a mask 3 that exposes portions of a substrate 10 to the laser beam pulses, and a reduction lens 4 arranged below the mask 3 that reduces the laser beam pulses transmitted through the mask 3 to a constant rate.
Generally, the laser beam generator 1 includes an XeCl or KrF laser source that produces light having a wavelength of about 308 or 248 nanometers (nm), respectively. The light produced by the laser beam generator is discharged as an untreated laser beam. The energy level of the untreated laser beam is controlled upon passing through an attenuator (not shown) and is subsequently transmitted through the focusing lens 2.
The substrate 10 supports an amorphous silicon layer and is fixed to an X-Y stage 5 below the mask 3.
The X-Y stage 5 can be shifted in incremental steps to gradually expose an entirety of the substrate 10 to the laser beam and crystallize an entirety of the amorphous silicon layer.
The mask 3 includes a transparent region 'A,' through which the laser beam may be transmitted, and an opaque region 'B,' preventing transmission of the laser beam. The width of the transparent region 'A' determines a lateral growth length of silicon crystal grains formed upon solidification of the melted portions of the amorphous silicon layer.
A related art method of crystallizing amorphous silicon using the related art SLS device of FIG. 2 will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 3, a buffer layer 21 is formed on the substrate 10 and an amorphous silicon layer 22 is formed on the buffer layer 21. A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is generally used to form the amorphous silicon layer 22 over the buffer layer 21 and, therefore, the amorphous silicon layer 22 usually includes a high hydrogen content. Once formed, the amorphous silicon layer 22 must be dehydrogenated in a heat treatment to prevent subsequently formed polycrystalline silicon material from becoming too rough, thereby resulting in poor electrical characteristics of the TFT. After the dehydrogenation heat treatment, the mask 3 shown in FIG. 2 is arranged over the substrate 10 and portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 exposed by the transparent regions 'A' are irradiated with laser beam pulses. The intensity of the laser beam pulses irradiated to the amorphous silicon layer 22 has a value within the third region shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the intensity of the irradiated laser beam pulse is sufficient to melt an entirety of the exposed portion of the amorphous silicon layer 22.
FIG. 4 illustrates crystallized areas of the amorphous silicon layer 22 shown in FIG. 3 after a first irradiation of the related art SLS method.
Referring to FIG. 4, portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 exposed to the irradiated laser beam pulses via transparent regions 'A' of mask 3 become melted. Therefore, upon the irradiation, the exposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 are placed in a liquid phase while portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 protected by opaque regions 'B' of mask 3 (i.e., the unexposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22) remain in a solid phase. After the laser beam irradiation, silicon crystal grains 33 grow laterally, perpendicularly from an interface 32 of the exposed and unexposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22, towards a mid-point 31 of the exposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer 22. Growth of each silicon crystal grain 33 stops when one silicon crystal grain 33 contacts another silicon crystal grain 33, growing from opposite interfaces 32. It should be noted that FIG. 4 merely illustrates results of a first irradiation of the SLS method. Accordingly, the number of crystallized regions within the amorphous silicon layer 22 in a single irradiation step equals the number of transparent regions 'A' of mask 3.
As is evident, the width of the laser beam and the size of the mask 3 are fixed and, therefore, the SLS method prevents the entire amorphous silicon layer 22 from being crystallized in a single irradiation step. Moreover, as the size of the substrate 10 increases, the number of times mask 3 must be moved increases to enable repeated laser beam irradiations and crystallization of the entire amorphous silicon layer. To completely crystallize the amorphous silicon layer 22, the stage 5 must be incrementally moved a plurality of times to expose previously unexposed regions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 to laser beam pulses transmitted through the transparent regions 'A' of mask 3 in subsequent irradiation steps. Thus, regions of the amorphous silicon layer 22 that are adjacent to previously exposed regions can eventually be crystallized. Generally, the growth length of each silicon crystal grain 33 is 1.5 to 2 micrometers (μm). As will be discussed in greater detail below, the process of incrementally moving the mask 3 to form contiguous crystallized regions forms a plurality of 'crystallization blocks' within the crystallized silicon material. Accordingly, the size of each 'crystallization block' within crystallized silicon material is proportional to horizontal and vertical dimensions of the mask 3 used to incrementally expose the amorphous silicon layer 22. Specifically, however, the size of each crystallization block is associated with a reduction rate of the reduction lens 2.
Use of the mask 3 described with reference to FIGS. 2-4, is disadvantageous because the width of each transparent region 'A' is less than the width of each opaque region 'B' therebetween. Accordingly, the stage 5 must move a plurality of times in order to form a single crystallization block. Therefore, the time required to move the mask 3 or stage 5 consumes an unacceptably large portion of total time required to crystallize the entire amorphous silicon layer 22 and reduces the yield of the SLS method. To overcome the above-described problem, a related art mask 40 having transparent and opaque regions of substantially equal widths has been proposed and will now be described in detail with respect to FIG. 5.
Referring to FIG. 5, mask 40 includes transparent regions 'A' and opaque regions 'B' alternately arranged along a vertical direction. Respective widths 'a' and 'b' of the transparent and opaque regions 'A' and 'B' are adjustable but are substantially equal. In performing the SLS method described above, portions of an amorphous silicon layer not exposed by mask 40 (i.e., unexposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer) during a first irradiation are exposed during a second irradiation. Accordingly, a crystallization block may be formed in only two irradiation procedures using a 1-pulse laser beam via mask 40. Using mask 40, the crystallization block may be formed in only two irradiation procedures by moving the stage 5 along a vertical direction in an amount equal to half the added length of the width 'a' of the transparent region 'A' and the width 'b' of the opaque region 'B' (i.e., (a+b)/2).
FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate arrangements of crystallized regions of the amorphous silicon layer after being exposed to first and second irradiations via mask 40.
Referring to FIG. 6A, upon performing a first irradiation, laser beam pulses are irradiated onto portions of an amorphous silicon layer exposed by transparent regions 'A' of mask 40. Accordingly, first irradiated regions Ia of the amorphous silicon layer are completely melted and, subsequently, crystallized. Upon crystallization, grain growth occurs laterally from the liquid phase/solid phase interface and proceeds perpendicularly from the liquid phase/solid phase interface toward a mid-point of each first irradiated region Ia.
Referring to FIG. 6B, after performing the first irradiation, the substrate is incrementally moved so that the transparent regions 'A' of mask 40 expose previously unexposed portions of the amorphous silicon layer and a second irradiation is performed. Accordingly, second irradiated regions 1b of the amorphous silicon layer are completely melted and, subsequently, crystallized. Upon crystallization, silicon grains resultant from the first irradiation act as nucleation sites for new grains to grow perpendicularly from the liquid phase/solid phase interface toward a mid-point of each second irradiated region 1b. Accordingly, the lateral growth length of the grains formed after the second irradiation is twice the lateral growth length of grains formed after the first irradiation.
FIG. 7 illustrates the application of a related art SLS method using the mask 40. FIG. 8 illustrates a plan view of a portions of the amorphous silicon layer crystallized upon performing the SLS method shown in FIG. 7.
Referring to FIG. 7, mask 40 is arranged over an predetermined area (i.e., upper-right corner) of substrate 60 having amorphous silicon deposited thereon. After a first irradiation process, portions of the substrate 60 exposed by the mask 40 are shifted along a −X-axis direction (Movement {circle around (1)}) by an amount equal to length 'L' of the transparent region 'A' and a second irradiation process is performed. The incremental shifting and irradiating steps are repeated along the −X-axis direction across the horizontal length of substrate 60. Subsequently, portions of the substrate 60 exposed by mask 40 are shifted along the −Y-axis direction (Movement {circle around (2)}) by an amount equal to half the added length of the widths 'a' and 'b' of the transparent and opaque regions 'A' and 'B' (i.e., (a+b)/2) and another irradiation process is performed to form a crystallization block. Next, portions of the substrate 60 exposed by mask 40 are shifted along the +X-axis direction (Movement {circle around (3)}) by an amount equal to length 'L' of the transparent region 'A' and another irradiation process is performed to form another crystallization block. The incremental shifting and irradiating steps are repeated along the +X-axis direction across the horizontal length of substrate 60 to crystallize portions of the amorphous silicon layer not previously exposed during Movement {circle around (1)}, thereby forming crystallization blocks (e.g., C2 and C1). Subsequently, portions of the substrate 60 exposed by mask 40 are shifted along the −Y-axis direction (Movement {circle around (4)}) by an amount equal to vertical length 'S' of the mask 40 and another irradiation process is performed. Accordingly, the Movements ({circle around (1)}, {circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, and {circle around (4)} are repeated as necessary to crystallize an entirety of the amorphous silicon layer.
Generally, the aforementioned SLS method is performed by fixing the mask 40 and moving only the substrate 60. Accordingly, portions of the substrate 60 exposed by mask 40 are incrementally shifted by moving the substrate 60 along a direction opposite the direction indicated by the arrows accompanying Movements {circle around (1)}, {circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, and {circle around (4)}. Specifically, while portions of the substrate 60 exposed during Movement {circle around (1)} are shifted in the −X-axis direction, the substrate 60 is actually moved along the +X-axis direction in an amount equal to length 'L' of the transparent region 'A'. Similarly, while portions of the substrate 60 exposed during Movement {circle around (2)} are shifted in the −Y-axis direction, the substrate 60 is actually moved along the +Y-axis direction in an amount equal to (a+b)/2. Further, while portions of the substrate 60 exposed during Movement {circle around (3)}, the substrate 60 is actually moved along the −X-axis in an amount equal to length 'L' of the transparent region 'A'. Lastly, while portions of the substrate 60 exposed during Movement {circle around (4)} are shifted in the −Y-axis direction, the substrate 60 is actually moved along the +Y-axis direction in an amount equal to length 'S' of mask 40. Additionally, after each Movement the region of the amorphous silicon layer exposed by the mask 40 is irradiated and crystallized (initially irradiated areas of the substrate 60, after the substrate 60 is moved along a specific direction are shown as hatched).
Referring to FIG. 8, upon performing the SLS method as described above with respect to FIG. 7, a plurality of regions of the amorphous silicon layer supported by substrate 60 are exposed to irradiated laser beam pulses at least twice. Such regions will hereinafter be referred to as 'overlapping areas'. Specifically, a first overlapping area 01 is formed when incrementally shifting the substrate 60 along the X-axis by the amount equal to 'L'. Similarly, a plurality of second overlapping areas 02 are formed when incrementally shifting the substrate 60 along the Y-axis by the amount equal to (a+b)/2. Accordingly, overlapping areas of crystallization are formed within each crystallization block and between adjacent crystallization blocks. First and second twice-irradiated areas 51 and 52, respectively, are formed within the first and second overlapping areas 01 and 02, respectively, and quadruply-irradiated area 53 arranged at crossings of the first and second overlapping areas 01 and 02.
Due to the numerous times the silicon material within the first and second overlapping areas 01 and 02 is irradiated, ruptures undesirably occur within the crystallized silicon grains in the twice- and quadrudply-irradiated areas 51-53. Moreover, when devices are formed using silicon material occupying the overlapping areas, the electron mobility of those devices becomes undesirably deficient.
FIG. 9 illustrates a plan view of an arrangement of crystallization blocks formed in accordance with the related art SLS method and a layout of devices formed from silicon crystallized in the related art SLS method.
Referring to FIG. 9, and as described above, the related art SLS method forms a layer of polycrystalline silicon including a plurality of crystallization blocks C1, C2, . . . , CM, CN, etc., wherein each crystallization block contains overlapping irradiated areas and wherein adjacent crystallization blocks overlap each other. Subsequently, the layer of polycrystalline silicon is patterned during the formation of a plurality of devices (i.e., semiconductor layer of pixels or TFTs within pixel areas 71, and components of the gate and source drivers 61 and 62, respectively). Undesirably, at least a portion of these devices are formed using polycrystalline silicon material within these overlapping areas.
As mentioned above, portions of the crystallized silicon in the overlapping areas have poorer electrical characteristics than portions of the crystallized silicon outside the overlapping areas. Accordingly, devices formed using portions of the crystallized silicon in the overlapping areas have poorer electrical characteristics as compared to devices formed using portions of the crystallized silicon outside the overlapping areas. Accordingly, a picture quality of the pixel areas 71, as well as a those formed in non-overlapping areas, and so, linear deterioration may occur in a line quality of source or gate lines within the source or gate drivers 62 or 61, may become deteriorated.
As described above, use of the related art method SLS method of crystallizing amorphous silicon is disadvantageous because devices are formed using polycrystalline silicon material that has been irradiated multiple times. Because the crystallizing characteristic in the overlapping areas is not uniform, electrical characteristics of the silicon material within the overlapping areas are deficient and cause a systemic deterioration in devices (e.g., TFTs, gate driver, source driver, etc.) formed from the multiply-irradiated silicon material.

Sequential lateral solidification device and method of crystallizing silicon using the same