A method for preparing a composition of metal nanocrystals from at least one organometallic precursor in a solvent medium in the presence of a PEG ligand, including a carbon chain, at least one end of which is functionalized by a coordination grouping including at least one hetero atom, and having at least one [OCH2CH2]n grouping, n being an integer higher than 1, so as to be soluble both in the solvent medium and in water. The water-compatible and organic-compatible composition of metal nanocrystals thus obtained is also described.

Throughout the text, the following terminology is adopted:                nanoparticle: any particle of whatever shape having at least a width and thickness which are both less than 100 nm, typically of between 1 nm and 20 nm;        metal: including at least one metal atom, in particular which can be chosen from: gold, silver, platinum, rhodium, iron, cobalt, copper, nickel, zinc, tin, titanium, manganese, chromium, vanadium, indium, ruthenium, palladium, molybdenum, niobium, zirconium, tantalum, aluminum, gallium, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, iridium;        non-oxidized metal nanocrystals: nanoparticles made up of at least one pure metal compound in the non-oxidized crystalline state, each nanoparticle having the metal structure, that is to say being formed from atoms of metal(s) bonded to one another as in a bulk metal;        oxidized metal nanocrystals: nanoparticles made up of at least one pure metal compound in the crystalline state, but these nanoparticles having been subjected to an at least partial oxidation after their formation, from an initial state in the form of non-oxidized metal nanocrystals;        metal nanocrystals: non-oxidized metal nanocrystals or oxidized metal nanocrystals;        organometallic precursor: any molecule or coordination compound containing at least one organic grouping bonded to at least one metal atom by a carbon atom or a hetero atom, excluding oxygen (chosen in particular from N, P, As, Si, S, Se, Te), of this organic grouping;        carbon chain: any aliphatic chain, saturated or unsaturated, straight or branched, substituted or unsubstituted, which may include hetero atoms;        solvent medium: any composition in which water and dioxygen can be present only in traces and which is capable of forming a liquid solution when brought into contact with at least one compound such as an organometallic precursor; it can be in the initially liquid state or, on the other hand, can pass into the liquid state only after contact with the compound(s) to be solubilized; it can be simple, that is to say formed by a single compound, or on the other hand complex and comprise several compounds; in particular, it can comprise not only one or more compound(s) which act as the solvent agent, but also any other compound which is not consumed by the formation reaction of metal nanocrystals—in particular in a reduction reaction—is substantially neutral with respect to the dissolution of the organometallic precursor(s), and possibly plays a role in the formation reaction of metal nanocrystals—in particular in a reduction reaction;        colloidal solution: any clear liquid composition of solid nanoparticles dispersed in a liquid; a liquid colloidal solution has several but not all of the properties of a true liquid solution, the nanoparticles remaining in the solid state; colloidal suspension or dispersion is also sometimes referred to;        water-compatible composition of nanoparticles: any composition of nanoparticles which can be dispersed at least in an aqueous medium, in particular any composition which can form a colloidal solution (liquid dispersion) in an aqueous medium;        organic-compatible composition of nanoparticles: any composition of nanoparticles which can be dispersed in at least an organic—in particular non-aqueous—protic or aprotic medium, in particular any composition which can form a colloidal solution (liquid dispersion) with at least such an organic—in particular non-aqueous—protic or aprotic liquid medium;        coordination grouping: any chemical grouping which can form a covalent, dative, hydrogen or electrostatic bond with metal atoms, metal ions, oxygen and metal oxides.
FR 2678855 describes a method for the preparation of a dispersion of metal particles consisting of dissolving an organometallic precursor and a cellulose matrix in a common organic solvent and allowing a reducing agent to act on the solution in order to decompose the precursor into metal particles. This method is satisfactory and enables production of compositions of metal particles which are organic-compatible but which on the other hand are not water-compatible, that is to say cannot be dispersed in an aqueous solvent. It thus does not enable a water-compatible composition of metal nanocrystals to be obtained.
In this respect it is to be noted that the presence of an uncontrolled amount of water is strictly incompatible with a controlled reaction in the presence of organometallic(s). In fact, in the organometallic technical field, water is systematically considered to be detrimental, and indeed a hazard. More particularly, in the case of a reduction reaction starting from an organometallic precursor, it is considered that the presence of an uncontrolled amount of water in the medium would necessarily have the consequence at the very least of considerably disturbing and even preventing the functioning of the reaction. In fact, it is known that any uncontrolled presence of water unavoidably leads to the formation of metal hydroxides (destructive and exothermic decompositions of the Zerewitinoff type) and is destructive and detrimental in the context of the preparation and use of organometallic compounds. Needless to say, reactions in the presence of organometallics are most often carried out in the presence of a water trap in order to work in a dry atmosphere.
It would therefore be useful to enable such compositions of metal nanocrystals which are water-compatible, and more particularly both organic-compatible and water-compatible, that is to say which can be dispersed both, and as required, in aprotic—in particular organic non-aqueous—media and in protic media—in particular water and aqueous media—to be obtained. In particular it is important to obtain such water-compatible compositions to enable them to be used in numerous applications, in particular in physiological media, for therapeutic use or for medical imaging, and in all applications for which the aim is to avoid the use of organic solvents which are toxic and/or polluting volatile organic compounds (VOC), the use of which must be limited and even suppressed taking account of environmental awareness regulations.
In addition, the preparation of water-compatible non-oxidized metal nanocrystals in a first stage and dispersion thereof in an aqueous medium in a second stage could enable, in the case of certain oxidizable metals, nanocrystals of very small dimensions to be obtained in the at least partially oxidized state.
It has already been proposed to prepare colloidal solutions of metal particles in an aqueous medium by means of a reducing agent dissolved in the medium (ascorbate, citrate . . . ) at the reflux temperature in the presence or absence of a stabilizer. Such a method does not enable an organic-compatible composition to be obtained, is accompanied by the formation of contaminating secondary products, and does not enable nanometric particles having at least one dimension smaller than 5 nm to be obtained.
Various methods have also already been proposed to enable compositions of metal nanocrystals which are initially not water-compatible to be rendered water-compatible.
A first approach could consist of exchanging the hydrophobic ligands for ligands which are analogous but have hydrophilic groups, such as polymers derived from PEG (thiol-PEG, amino-PEG, carboxy-PEG). However, this approach would necessitate a relatively complex second stage, the yield of which is not very good. In addition, it would not result in nanocrystals doped exclusively with hydrophilic ligands, the exchange reaction never being total.
A second approach consists of incorporating into the composition obtained amphiphilic ligands which are capable of interacting with the hydrophobic ligands resulting from the preparation of the nanoparticles, without replacing these hydrophobic ligands, forming bilayer structures around the nanoparticles. The compositions obtained with this approach may have a certain toxicity (due to release of amphiphilic compounds) and a poorly controlled stability, which is a disadvantage in particular in biological and therapeutic applications.
In certain very specific cases, another approach can consist of choosing a ligand having at one of the ends of the aliphatic alkyl chain a grouping which subsequently enables chemical reactions for grafting of a hydrophilic grouping to be carried out.
But, there again, an additional stage is necessary, and this approach is only possible in very particular cases which are of little use in practice.
In addition, these various approaches also most often have the disadvantage that the compositions of nanoparticles which have been modified to be water-compatible subsequently are no longer organic-compatible under satisfactory conditions.
The object of the invention is thus to propose a method for preparing a composition of metal nanocrystals which, on the one hand, is both organic-compatible and water-compatible, which to date was considered to be absolutely impossible, and, on the other hand, in which the nanocrystals have at least one dimension—in particular an average dimension—smaller than 5 nm.
More particularly, the object of the invention is to propose a method which enables a composition of metal nanocrystals in the form of a colloidal solution, regardless of the solvent medium, organic or aqueous, and of which the properties remain unchanged in an aqueous medium, to be obtained.

Method for preparing an organic-compatible and water-compatible composition of metal nanocrystals, and resulting composition

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE (C.N.R.S.)


The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermoplastic resin composition for a reflective material which has excellent mechanical strength, excellent heat resistance, excellent high reflectance, and excellent moldability, and which makes it possible to obtain a reflective plate with little decline in reflectance caused by heating. A first embodiment of this thermoplastic resin composition for a reflective material includes: a polyester resin (A) that has a melting point or glass transition temperature of 250° C. or higher and includes an alicyclic hydrocarbon structure; a thermoplastic resin (B) that has a polyolefin backbone and a functional group; a white pigment (C); and an inorganic filler (D); the thermoplastic resin (B) either including 0.1 to 1.8 wt % of a functional group unit (B1) that further includes a heteroatom, or further including an aromatic hydrocarbon structure (B2), and the limiting viscosity [η] being 0.04 to 1.0 dl/g.

A reflective plate is used in various situations in order to utilize light efficiently. Recently, a light source has been changed to a semiconductor-based one, that is a semiconductor laser, a light-emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) or the like, because of downsizing an apparatus and a light source. Therefore, the reflective plate is surface-mounted on a printed-circuit board or the like, and required to have not only mechanical strength, but also good heat resistance and precision moldability. The reflective plate is also required to have stable high reflectance for a long time and in particular, to suppress decreasing the reflectance of a reflective material due to heating in the steps of assembling LED and reflow soldering.
Furthermore, a cost reduction of products using a reflective plate has been remarkably required, recently. And also it is required: to decrease the number of LED packages mounted on an end product such as TV, a monitor and so on to increase the luminance of an LED element; to downsize a product; to increase the number of the LED packages by injection molding; and the like. Therefore, a reflective material preferably has high molding processability and is particularly required to have high melt-flowability. In addition, a reflective material is being required to improve the strength and the toughness hand in hand with the downsizing of a product.
Glass fibers are generally used in wide applications as a reinforcing material of a reflective plate. However, the melt-flowability of a reflective material would be low for a large number of molded articles by one shot, and the molded articles would have a gate-cut surface with roughness, and particularly in a small-sized product, the gate-cut surface with roughness tends to significantly affect a product appearance.
Various improvements have been attempted in order to solve this problem. There are inorganic reinforcing materials, for example Wollastonite (PTL 1), potassium titanate (PTL 2), and a combination of potassium titanate and titanium oxide (PTL 3).
However, by blending a multiple kinds of the reinforcing materials, there is concern about decreasing the reflectance and the mechanical strength because of a poor dispersion of the reinforcing materials in a base polymer. Furthermore, a special screw configuration, temperature setting, and the like would be required for good dispersion of reinforcing materials in a base polymer in the melt mixing. There is a possibility of decreasing properties due to the decomposition thereof by increasing a load to base polymers, and a cost would increase.
On the other hand, a technique of suppressing decreasing the reflectance of a reflective plate by improving a base polymer is also shown (PTL 4). In many examples, a polyamide material is used for a reflective plate, however discoloration derived from a terminal amino group or an amide bond would occur, resulting in decreasing the reflectance. Therefore, a heat-resistant polyester is attempted to be used instead of a polyamide resin. However, there are no reports how the mechanical strength and the flowability would be changed by alternating a polyamide and a heat-resistant polyester, and the performance balance of a reflective material is unknown.
Further, PTL 4 discloses a method in which a composition containing a heat-resistant polyester and a polymer containing a glycidyl methacrylate group is used for increasing strength and toughness.

Thermoplastic resin composition for reflective material, reflective plate, and light-emitting diode element


A 3D vision system utilizes a CCD camera to first generate a two dimensional image of the object. A computer analyzes the two dimensional image to determine areas of interest, such as high contrast areas which indicate sharp discontinuities. A laser range scanner, controlled by the computer, then scans the object at a variable resolution, increasing its resolution in the areas of interest to generate a computer model.

The present invention relates generally to 3-D vision systems, and more particularly to a vision system utilizing a laser range scanner which intelligently scans an object based upon images received from a CCD camera.
Passive vision systems, such as CCD cameras, acquire images of the object by sensing the ambient light reflected from the object. These systems require well-defined features such as targets or edges. Further, the quality of the information gathered by the CCD camera is affected by the ambient lighting conditions.
Active vision systems typically utilize a range-scanning laser and therefore do not depend upon ambient light. The laser range scanner obtains object coordinates from external information such as scanning angles, time of flight, or shape of projected patterns. However, the accuracy of the laser range scanner drops when measurements are performed on objects with sharp discontinuities, such as edges and holes. This can be overcome somewhat by increasing the resolution of the laser range scanner; however, increasing the resolution of the laser range scanner over the entire object increases the size of the computer data file to unmanageable dimensions. Increasing the size of the data file also increases the amount of processing needed to generate a computer model. Further, because only a small minority of the area of the object contains the sharp discontinuities, most of the additional data gathered by increasing resolution does not provide useful information about the shape of the object.

Image-directed active range finding system


Fluid processing apparatus comprises a fluid-handling manifold comprising a manifold body having at least a first fluid duct and a second fluid duct. The first and second fluid ducts are in fluid communication with each other at a microfluidic junction of the fluid-handling manifold. The manifold body further comprises a transducer operative to generate ultrasonic acoustic traveling wave radiation into fluid in the microfluidic junction from an active surface toward a non-reflective boundary of the microfluidic junction. The microfluidic junction is operative to pass fluid received from the first and second duct, with micro-mixing effected by the traveling wave radiated into the junction during the fluid flow.

Ultrasonic waves are produced in two generic forms, transverse and longitudinal. Transverse waves travel across the active surface of the source media and are termed as surface acoustic waves. Longitudinal waves have a wave front that travels normal to the source media. Longitudinal waves fall into two categories, standing waves, and traveling waves. Where an electric periodic wave function signal is applied to a resonant piezoelectric transducer, for example, a reactive mechanical force is derived. If a reflective boundary, i.e., a boundary in the line of travel of the traveling wave that reflects back at least a majority of the wave energy, is placed as to conform to Snell's law, substantial or total internal reflection will be obtained and a steady state standing wave environment is established. In the absence of a reflective boundary, i.e., if the acoustic radiation is propagated to a boundary that passes or absorbs more than half of the incident wave energy, a traveling wave is established, optionally a steady state traveling wave depending on the function of the operating signal generated by the transducer's actuation circuitry.
Fluid-handling devices are known, having a portable, disposable or interchangeable fluid-handling manifold having one or more inlet ports and perhaps one or more outlet ports, providing fluid communication with a fluid duct in the manifold. Such fluid-handling devices may be self-contained or intended for use as a component of a larger system. Known devices of this type having capillary or microfluidic ducts have drawbacks, such as, for example, significant flow resistance and difficulty mixing in the laminar flow regime. Flow is laminar for microfluidics where the Reynolds numbers are less than about 2000, and the lack of turbulence makes mixing difficult. In microfluidic laminar flow, for example, two fluids of different composition can pass side-by-side with little or no intermixing except by diffusion. Rife et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,128 suggest miniature fluid pumps and mixers having capillary flow lines feeding fluid into large size fluid processing reservoirs. Acoustic radiation is generated to circulate fluid in the reservoirs.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved fluid-handling apparatus and methods for processing fluid, employing ultrasonic acoustic radiation including at least traveling wave ultrasonic acoustic radiation.


An interpolated flat-panel display comprises a display substrate, pixel controllers disposed in a controller array over the display substrate, and pixels disposed in a pixel array over the display substrate. Each pixel controller is connected to one or more control lines and is operable to output pixel information. Each pixel is operable to emit light in response to pixel information received from a pixel controller. The pixel array is larger than the controller array, each pixel is connected to at least one pixel controller, and at least some pixels are interpolated pixels connected to at least two pixel controllers and are operable to emit light in response to pixel information received from the at least two pixel controllers.

Flat-panel displays are widely used in conjunction with computing devices, in portable electronic devices, and for entertainment devices such as televisions. In recent years, flat-panel displays have increased in size and resolution, resulting in manufacturing challenges for such large flat-panel displays. High data rates are needed to communicate the large amounts of pixel data necessary to display large, high-resolution images. Such data rates can be difficult or expensive to achieve over large display substrates.
Displays are typically controlled with either a passive-matrix (PM) control scheme employing electronic control circuitry external to the pixel array or an active-matrix (AM) control scheme employing electronic control circuitry in the pixels on the display substrate and associated with each light-emitting element. Both OLED displays and LCDs using passive-matrix control and active-matrix control are available.
Active-matrix circuits are commonly constructed with thin-film transistors (TFTs) in a semiconductor layer formed over a display substrate and employing a separate TFT circuit to control each light-emitting pixel in the display. The semiconductor layer is typically amorphous silicon or poly-crystalline silicon and is distributed over the entire flat-panel display substrate. The semiconductor layer is photolithographically processed to form electronic control elements, such as transistors and capacitors. Additional layers, for example patterned insulating dielectric layers and conductive metal layers are provided, often by evaporation or sputtering, and photolithographically patterned to form electrical interconnections, or wires. An example of such an AM OLED display device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,066.
In some display implementations, small integrated circuits (ICs) with a separate IC substrate disposed on a display substrate control pixels in an AM display. The integrated circuits can be disposed on the display substrate using micro-transfer printing, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 9,930,277. Some displays comprise micro-light-emitting diodes controlled by micro-pixel controllers to emit light from a display substrate. Because the display components are so small, the display has a small fill factor (aperture ratio) so that other structures or components can be provided on the display, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,991,163.
There remains a need for active-matrix display systems that provide improved signal distribution of high bandwidth signals, reduced bandwidth requirements, and high-resolution images over relatively large display substrates.


An injection/stretch blow mold clamping mechanism comprises mold clamping shafts erected vertically movably on both sides of an injection molding operation section and extending through the lower base platen and upper base platen, hydraulic mold clamping means connected respectively to lower ends positioned within a bed of the clamping shafts, a mold clamping platen having core molds attached thereto and being fitted on the mold clamping shafts, the clamping platen being installed vertically movably between the upper base platen and a top platen, a pair of mold air cylinders connecting on both sides thereof the upper base platen and the clamping platen with each other and causing the clamping platen to move vertically with respect to the upper base platen, a mold clamping rod connected to the mold clamping platen through the top platen, and a pair of clamp members disposed on an upper surface of the top platen.

In this type of a molding machine, both injection unit and injection/stretch blow unit are installed on single bed. The injection/stretch blow unit is horizontally provided with a base platen on which installed are an injection mold clamping mechanism and a stretch blowing mechanism, the base platen being positioned above a lower base platen installed on a bed. As examples of such an upper base platen, there are known a movable one supported vertically movably by a hydraulic lift cylinder as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-122440 and a stationary one as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho53 (1978)-22096. In both types, however, the space between both base platens is utilized as a work space, a transfer platen is attached to the underside of the upper base platen horizontally so as to be rotatable intermittently, the positions at which neck molds for a preform provided on a lower surface of the transfer platen stop in order are set as an injection molding operation section, a stretch blow molding operation section, and a product take-out operation section, respectively, and an injection mold clamping mechanism, a stretch blowing mechanism, and a take-out mechanism, are installed therein. As the case may be, the number of such stop positions is increased to add a temperature adjustment operation section.
In the injection mold clamping mechanism, which is a vertical type, tie bars erected on both sides of the injection molding operation section are inserted through the upper base platen and an overlying mold clamping platen to support them, a mold clamping cylinder block is fixed to upper ends of the tie bars, and mold clamping rams are connected to the mold clamping platen. Both ends of the upper base platen and the mold clamping platen are connected together through hydraulic opening/closing cylinders to make the mold clamping platen movable vertically with respect to the upper base platen, thereby permitting opening and closing core molds attached to a lower surface of the mold clamping platen.
In such an injection mold clamping mechanism, since the mold clamping cylinder block is fixed to the upper ends of the tie bars, the height of the mechanism is larger than that of the ordinary vertical type mold clamping mechanism, and in a certain workshop the molding machine cannot be carried into the interior. Moreover, since all of mold opening, closing and clamping works are performed by hydraulic means, the amount of oil used in hydraulic circuits is very large. Besides, since hydraulic cylinders are located higher than the upper base platen, there is a fear of contamination caused by oil leakage and thus there is the problem that the adoption of the injection mold clamping mechanism is difficult for some application of the resulting molded product.
Further, since both injection blow molding unit and injection unit are installed on a common bed, a mold change or maintenance work for the injection mold clamping mechanism must be done at an unstable attitude and requires much time.
Additionally, since the injection mold in the injection molding operation section and the blow mold in the stretch blow molding operation section are positioned in the work space below the upper base platen, the upper base platen and the underlying transfer platen are intervened between them and the injection mold clamping mechanism, as well as the stretch blowing mechanism, installed on the upper base platen. Therefore, mold closing between injection and blow cores positioned above the upper base platen and the injection and blow molds positioned below the upper base platen are performed by insertion of the cores though insertion holes formed in both upper base platen and transfer platen. Thus, mold clamping is performed in a state where the upper base platen and the transfer platen are sandwiched. As a result, there acts a stronger mold clamping force than in the ordinary case where molds are clamped to each other directly. In view of this point there has been proposed such a construction as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-262052 wherein an elongated hole permitting insertion therein of a core joint plate is formed to make direct mold clamping possible.
Anyhow, since the upper base platen above the work space exists, it is impossible to combine and superimpose injection core molds or blow cores beforehand onto neck molds and a mold as one set and then insert this set together with a mold assembly into the work space sideways of the machine base. According to the conventional method for avoiding such an inconvenience, installation of the mold assembly and attachment of neck molds to the lower surface of the transfer platen in the working space are performed firstly, the injection core molds or blow cores attached to a joint plate is inserted into the mold through holes from above the upper base platen secondly, and after temporary mold closing, the joint plate is secured to a mold clamping platen or a movable platen in the stretch blowing mechanism. Since the mold is divided into upper part and lower part interposing the upper base platen as a boundary, the assembling work takes time. It takes much time also for positioning the mold and the cores. Thus, there has been a problem on working efficiency in mold replacement.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an injection/stretch blow molding machine which adopts connecting means using a clamp to make it possible to clamp an injection mold and injection cores below a lower base platen, thereby reducing the height of an injection mold clamping mechanism and hence solving the problem of increase in height caused by a mold clamping cylinder block, and, by the adoption of an air cylinder, can prevent contamination of molded products caused by oil leakage and also can improve the molding efficiency by using a minimum amount of oil required.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an injection/stretch blow molding machine wherein a bed is divided into a bed for an injection mold clamping mechanism and a bed for an injection unit, thereby ensuring a work space for a mold replacement work, etc., and an injection unit can be installed regardless of screw length.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new injection/stretch blow molding machine wherein recesses are formed in edge sides of an upper base platen and of a transfer platen so that injection core molds or blow cores attached to a mold clamping block or a joint plate can be inserted into a work space in a superimposed state on a mold together with neck molds, thereby making it possible to perform the work for assembling both upper part and lower part of the base platen and hence possible to shorten the mold assembling time and positioning time.


A method is provided to optimize the channel characteristics of thin film transistors (TFTs) on polysilicon films. The method is well suited to the production of TFTs for use as drivers on liquid crystal display devices. Regions of polycrystalline silicon can be formed with different predominant crystal orientations. These crystal orientations can be selected to match the desired TFT channel orientations for different areas of the device. The crystal orientations are selected by rotating a mask pattern to a different orientation for each desired crystal orientation. The mask is used in connection with lateral crystallization ELA processes to crystallize deposited amorphous silicon films.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor technology and more particularly to a method of forming polycrystalline silicon within an amorphous silicon film.
Polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) can be used in a variety of microelectronics applications, especially active matrix liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
Thin film transistors (TFTs) used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or flat panel displays of the active matrix display type are fabricated on silicon films deposited on a transparent substrate. The most widely used substrate is glass. Amorphous silicon is readily deposited on glass. Amorphous silicon limits the quality of TFTs that can be formed. If driver circuits and other components are to be formed on the display panel, as well as switches associated with each pixel, crystalline silicon is preferred.
Silicon is often referred to as either amorphous or crystalline, including single crystal silicon. The term crystalline silicon can refer to either single crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon, or in some cases materials with significant quantities of micro-crystal structures. For many application, single crystal material is most desirable. But, single crystal silicon is not readily producible. Amorphous silicon can be crystallized to form crystalline silicon by solid-phase crystallization. Solid-phase crystallization is carried out by high temperature annealing. But, glass substrates cannot withstand the temperatures necessary to melt and crystallize silicon. Quartz substrates can withstand high temperature annealing, but quartz substrates are too expensive for most LCD applications.
Because glass deforms when exposed to temperatures above 600xc2x0 C., low-temperature crystallization (preferably below 550xc2x0 C.) is used for solid-phase processing of silicon on glass. The low-temperature process requires long anneal times (at least several hours). Such processing is inefficient and yields polycrystalline silicon TFTs that have relatively low field effect mobility and poor transfer characteristics. Polycrystalline silicon produced by solid-phase crystallization of as-deposited amorphous silicon on glass suffers due to small crystal size and a high density of intragrain defects in the crystalline structure.
Excimer laser annealing (ELA) has been actively investigated as an alternative to low-temperature solid-phase crystallization of amorphous silicon on glass. In excimer laser annealing, a high-energy pulsed laser directs laser radiation at selected regions of the target film, exposing the silicon to very high temperatures for short durations. Typically, each laser pulse covers only a small area (several millimeters in diameter) and the substrate or laser is stepped through an exposure pattern of overlapping exposures, as is known in the art.
Lateral crystallization by excimer laser annealing (LC-ELA) is one method that has been used to form high quality polycrystalline films having large and uniform grains. LC-ELA also provides controlled grain boundary location.
According to one method of conducting LC-ELA, an initially amorphous silicon film is irradiated by a very narrow laser beamlet, typically 3-5 micrometers wide. Passing a laser beam through a mask that has slits forms the beamlet, which is projected onto the surface of the silicon film.
The beamlet crystallizes the amorphous silicon in its vicinity forming one or more crystals. The crystals grow within the area irradiated by the beamlet. The crystals grow primarily inward from edges of the irradiated area toward the center. The distance the crystal grows, which is also referred to as the lateral growth length, is a function of the amorphous silicon film thickness and the substrate temperature. Typical lateral growth lengths for 50 nm films is approximately 1.2 micrometers. After an initial beamlet has crystallized a portion of the amorphous silicon, a second beamlet is directed at the silicon film at a location less than half the lateral growth length from the previous beamlet. Moving either the laser, along with its associated optics, or by moving the silicon substrate, typically using a stepper, changes the location of the beamlet. Stepping a small amount at a time and irradiating the silicon film causes crystal grains to grow laterally from the crystal seeds of the poly-Si material formed in the previous step. This achieves lateral pulling of the crystals in a manner similar to zone-melting-crystallization (ZMR) methods or other similar processes.
As a result of this lateral growth, the crystals produced tend to attain high quality along the direction of the advancing beamlets, also referred to as the xe2x80x9cpulling direction.xe2x80x9d However, the elongated crystal grains produced are separated by grain boundaries that run approximately parallel to the long grain axes, which are generally perpendicular to the length of the narrow beamlet.
When this poly-Si material is used to fabricate electronic devices, the total resistance to carrier transport is affected by the combination of barriers that a carrier has to cross as it travels under the influence of a given potential. Due to the additional number of grain boundaries that are crossed when the carrier travels in a direction perpendicular to the long grain axes of the poly-Si material, the carrier will experience higher resistance as compared to the carrier traveling parallel to the long grain axes. Therefore, the performance of TFTs fabricated on poly-Si films formed using LC-ELA will depend upon the orientation of the TFT channel relative to the long grain axes, which corresponds to the main growth direction. Typically, TFT performance varies by a factor of between 2 and 4 as a function of orientation relative to the main growth direction.
This difference in performance is undesirable from the point of view that as LCD resolution increases, or as panel size decreases, size limitations make it more desirable to have column drivers and row drivers oriented at ninety degrees relative to each other, potentially resulting in one set of drivers having significantly different characteristics relative to the other.
Accordingly, a method of forming polycrystalline regions on a substrate is provided. A first mask orientation is selected. A laser beam is directed through the mask to irradiate the substrate over an initial region on the substrate. The region is annealed using a lateral crystallization process. A second mask orientation is selected. The laser beam is directed through the mask to irradiate the substrate over a second region on the substrate. The region is annealed using a lateral crystallization process. If the first and second mask orientations are different, the first region will have a different crystal orientation than the second region following annealing. The mask orientation is selected by rotating the mask or the substrate.
The method of the present invention is well suited for processing LCD devices. An LCD substrate, which can be composed of quartz, glass, plastic or other suitable transparent material, is used. An amorphous semiconductor material is deposited on the LCD substrate to form a thin layer of amorphous silicon. Preferably the semiconductor material will be silicon. A first region of the amorphous silicon is annealed using a first mask orientation in connection with a lateral crystallization ELA process to form a first polycrystalline region having elongated grain structures with a first crystal orientation. A second region of the amorphous silicon is annealed using a second mask orientation in connection with a lateral crystallization ELA process to form a second polycrystalline region having elongated grain structures with a second crystal orientation. The second crystal orientation is different from the first crystal orientation, and preferably the crystal orientations are substantially perpendicular with respect to each other.
For certain applications it is desirable to form thin film transistors (TFTs) using the polycrystalline material formed by laser annealing. In a preferred embodiment of the present method, TFTs having a first channel orientation are formed over the region with the first crystal orientation. The channel orientation is preferably substantially parallel to the crystal orientation, whereby the fewest number of crystal grain boundaries are crossed by the channel. TFTs having a second channel orientation formed over the region with the second crystal orientation.

Method of optimizing channel characteristics using laterally-crystallized ELA poly-Si films


Activated carboxylic acid modified polyethylene membranes useful in the C-terminal sequencing of a peptide are disclosed. The membranes comprise activated carboxylic acid modified polyethylene having a linker coupled to an amide linkage to the surface carboxyl radicals of the membrane. Activation is accomplished by reaction of the carboxylic acid modified polyethylene membrane with DCC, CDI, EDC, BOP, DICD or 2-fluoro-1-methyl pyridine.

A. Background
The development of methods for the sequential degradation of proteins and peptides from the carboxy-terminus has been the objective of several studies. See Ward, C. W., Practical Protein Chemistry--A Handbook (Darbre, A., ed.) (1986) and Rangarajan, M., Protein/Peptide Sectuence Analysis: Current (1988). Such a method would complement existing N-terminal degradations based on the Edman chemistry. Edman, P., Acta.Chem.Scand. 4:283-293 (1950). The most widely studied method and probably the most attractive because of its similarity to the Edman degradation has been the conversion of amino acids into thiohydantoins. This reaction, originally observed by Johnson and Nicolet, J.Am.Chem.Soc. 33:1973-1978 (1911), was first applied to the sequential degradation of proteins from the carboxy-terminus by Schlack and Kumpf, Z.Physiol.Chem. 154:125-170 (1926). These authors reacted ammonium thiocyanate, dissolved in acetic acid and acetic anhydride, with N-benzoylated peptides to form carboxyl-terminal 1-acyl-2-thiohydantoins. Exposure to strong base was used to liberate the amino acid thiohydantoin and generate a new carboxyl-terminal amino acid. The main disadvantages of this procedure have been the severity of the conditions required for complete derivatization of the C-terminal amino acid and for the subsequent cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin derivative into a new shortened peptide and an amino acid thiohydantoin derivative.
Since this work was published, numerous groups have tried to reduce the severity of the conditions required, particularly in the cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin, in order to apply this chemistry to the sequential degradation of proteins from the carboxyl terminal end. Lesser concentrations of sodium hydroxide than originally used by Schlack and Kumpf and of barium hydroxide were found to effectively cleave peptidylthiohydantoins. See Waley, S. G., et al., J.Chem.Soc. 1951:2394-2397 (1951); Kjaer, A., et al., Acta Chem.Scand. 6:448-450 (1952); Turner, R. A., et al., Biochim.Biophys.Acta. 13:553-559 (1954). Other groups used acidic conditions based on the original procedure used by Johnson and Nicolet for the de-acetylation of amino acid thiohydantoins. See Tibbs, J., Nature 168:910 (1951); Baptist, V. H., et al., J.Am.Chem.Soc. 75:1727-1729 (1953). These authors added concentrated hydrochloric acid to the coupling solution to cause cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin bond. Unlike hydroxide which was shown to cause breakdown of the thiohydantoin amino acids, hydrochloric acid was shown not to destroy the amino acid thiohydantoins. See Scoffone, E., et al., Ric.Sci. 26:865-871 (1956); Fox, S. W., et al., J.Am.Chem. Soc. 77:3119-3122 (1955); Stark, G. R., Biochem. 7:1796-1807 (1968). Cromwell, L. D., et al., Biochem. 8:4735-4740 (1969) showed that the concentrated hydrochloric acid could be used to cleave the thiohydantoin amino acid at room temperature. The major drawback with this procedure was that when applied to proteins, no more than two or three cycles could be performed.
Yamashita, S., Biochem.Biophys.Acta. 229:301-309 (1971) found that cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins could be done in a repetitive manner with a protonated cation exchange resin. Application of this procedure to 100 .mu.mol quantities of papain and ribonuclease was reported to give 14 and 10 cycles, respectively, although no details were given. See Yamashita, S., et al., Proc.Hoshi.Pharm. 13:136-138 (1971). Stark reported that certain organic bases, such as morpholine or piperidine, could be substituted for sodium hydroxide, and along the same lines, Kubo, H., et al., Chem.Pharm.Bull. 19:210-211 (1971) reported that aqueous triethylamine (0.5M) could be used to effectively cleave peptidylthiohydantoins. Stark appeared to have solved the cleavage problem by introducing acetohydroxamic acid in aqueous pyridine at pH 8.2 as a cleavage reagent. This reagent was shown to rapidly and specifically cleave peptidylthiohydantoins at room temperature and at mild pH.
Conditions for the formulation of the peptidylthiohydantoins were improved by Stark and Dwulet, F. E., et al., Int.J.Peptide and Protein Res. 13:122-129 (1979), who reported on the use of thiocyanic acid rather than thiocyanate salts, and more recently by the introduction of trimethylsilylisothiocyanate (TMS-ITC) as a coupling reagent. See Hawke, D. H., et al., Anal.Biochem. 166:298-307 (1987). The use of this reagent for C-terminal sequencing has been patented. See Hawke U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,165. This reagent significantly improved the yields of peptidylthiohydantoin formation and reduced the number of complicating side products. Cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins by 12N HCl (Hawke, 1987) and by acetohydroxamate (Miller, C. G., et al., Techniques in Protein Chemistry (Hugli, T. E., ed.) pp. 67-68, Academic Press (1989)) failed to yield more than a few cycles of degradation.
B. The Cleavage Problem
Although the cleavage reaction has been extensively studied since the thiocyanate chemistry for C-terminal degradation was first proposed by Schlack and Kumpf in 1926, a chemical method has not yet been proposed that is capable of an extended degradation. Cleavage in 1N sodium hydroxide as first proposed by Schlack and Kumpf (1926) is well known to hydrolyze proteins and peptides at other sites in addition to cleavage of the C-terminal peptidylthiohydantoin. The released thiohydantoin amino acid derivatives are also known to be unstable in hydroxide solutions. Scoffone, supra. Cleavage by hydroxide is known to convert the side chain amide groups of asparagine and glutamine residues to a carboxylic group making these residues indistinguishable from aspartate and glutamate, respectively.
When cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins by 12N HCl was applied to proteins and peptides no more than 2 or 3 cycles could be performed. See, Cromwell, supra and Hawke, supra. This was probably due to differences in the rate of hydrolysis of peptidylthiohydantoins containing different amino acid side chains as well as to hydrolysis of other internal amide bonds. Likewise, during the synthesis of the standard amino acid thiohydantoin derivatives corresponding to the naturally occurring amino acids, it was observed that the rate of deacetylation of the N-acetylthiohydantoin amino acids by 12 HCl depended on the nature of the amino acid side chain. Bailey, J. M., et al. Biochem. 29:3145-3156 (1990).
Attempts by Dwulet, supra, to reproduce the resin based cleavage method of Yamashita, supra, was reported to be unsuccessful. Cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins with aqueous methanesulfonic acid was also attempted by Dwulet and by Bailey, et al., both without success. Methanesulfonic acid was chosen since it is equivalent to the acidic group on the resin employed by Yamashita (1971) and Yamashita, et al. (1971).
Cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin derivatives with acetohydroxamate as originally reported by Stark, supra, was found to result in the formation of stable hydroxamate esters at the C-terminus of the shortened peptide (Bailey, et al., supra). Depending on the conditions employed, between 68% and 93% of the peptide was derivatized at the C-terminus and thus prevented from further sequencing. Although Stark, supra, predicted such hydroxamate esters to form as an intermediate during cleavage, it was assumed that they would break down under the conditions used for cleavage or continued sequencing. The peptidyl hydroxamate esters formed from cleavage with acetohydroxamate, like the hydroxamate esters studied by Stieglitz, J., et al., J.Am.Chem.Soc. 36:272-301 (1914) and Scott, A. W., et al., J.Am.Chem.Soc. 49:2545-2549 (1927), are stable under the acidic conditions used for thiohydantoin formation and can only be hydrolyzed to a free peptidyl carboxylic group, capable of continued sequencing, under strongly basic conditions. This probably explains the low repetitive yields of Stark, supra; Meuth, J. L., et al., Biochem. 21:3750-3757 (1982) and Miller, supra, when aqueous acetohydroxamate was employed as a cleavage reagent.
Cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins by aqueous triethylamine was originally reported by Kubo, H., et al., Chem.Pharm.Bull. 19:210-211 (1971), Dwulet, et al., supra, and Meuth, et al., supra. The latter group commented on the usefulness of triethylamine as a cleavage reagent for automated sequencing because of its volatility, but declined to pursue this method apparently in favor of cleavage by acetohydroxamate. Cleavage of peptidylthiohydantoins, in the solution phase, by a 2% aqueous solution of triethylamine was found to be rapid (half-times of 1 min. and 5 min. at 37.degree. C. and 22.degree. C., respectively) and quantitative, yielding only shortened peptide capable of continued sequencing and the amino acid thiohydantoin derivative. Bailey, et al., supra.
The automation of C-terminal sequencing requires prolonged (1 to 10 days) storage of reagents in glass bottles at room temperature within the instrument. The reagents used for sequencing must be stable to these conditions. Storage of triethylamine in water rapidly results in the breakdown of the triethylamine. These breakdown products include primary and secondary amines which can subsequently block the shortened peptide from further sequencing. Free radical compounds are also formed during the breakdown of triethylamine. These free radical compounds are often UV absorbing and cab interfere with the subsequent HPLC detection of the released thiodydantoin amino acid. Applicant's experience with using aqueous triethylamine (5% triethylamine in water) for automated C-terminal sequencing has consistently resulted in repetitive yields no higher than 60%, thereby permitting no more than three cycles of C-terminal degradation to be performed on peptides covalently coupled to PVDF or polyethylene membrane supports.
C. Peptide Sample Supports
In the preferred practice of the C-terminal sequencing chemistry of this invention, the peptide sample is covalently attached to a solid support. Applicant and others (Inglis et al., Met. Protein Sequence Analysis (Jornavall/Hoog/Gustavsson, Eds.) pp. 23-24, Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel (1991); Wittman-Liebold, et al., Met. Protein Sequence Analysis (Jornavall/Hoog/Gustavsson, Eds.) pp. 9-21, Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel (1991); Hawke and Boyd, Met. Protein Sequence Analysis (Jornavall/Hoog/Gustavsson, Eds.) pp. 35-45, Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel (1991)), have recognized that C-terminal chemistry is preferably applied to samples covalently attached, at the N-terminal, to a solid phase. Covalent immobilization of the sample on a solid support allows the use of reagents and solvents optimal for sequencing without causing sample washout, the capability to efficiently wash the sample to remove reaction by-products which might otherwise interfere with identification of the released thiohydantoin amino acids, and prevents mechanical losses associated with most solution phase methods. In general, automated solid phase chemistry is expected to be more efficient and less labor intensive compared to manual solution phase methods.
Since the introduction of the solid-phase approach to N-terminal protein sequencing by Laursen, R. A. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 88:5344-5346 (1966), several different types of functionalized supports have been described for the covalent immobilization of polypeptide samples. These include polystyrene resins, polyacrylamide resins, and glass beads substituted with aminoalkyl or aminophenyl groups (Laursen and Machleidt, Methods Biochem. Anal. 26:201-284 (1980); Machleidt, Modern Methods in Protein Chemistry (Tschesche, H., Ed.) pp. 262-302, de Gruyter, Berlin/N.Y. (1083)). Typically these amino functionalized supports are activated for protein coupling with bifunctional reagents such as phenylene disothiocyanate (DITC). The DITC group is capable of forming a stable thiourea linkage to the support and the peptide N-terminal amino group or epsilon amino group of side chain lysines. Recently glass beads derivatized with isothiocyanato, aminophenyl and aminethylaminopropyl groups (Song-Ping Liang and Laursen, Anal. Biochem. 188:366-373 (1990)), glass fibre sheets functionalized with aminphenyl groups (Aebersold et al., Anal. Biochem. 187:56-65 (1990)), and PVDF (polyvinylidene difluoride) membranes derivatized with aryl amines and DITC (Pappin et al., Current Research in Protein Chemistry (Villafranca, J. J., Ed.) pp. 191-202, Academic Press, Inc. (1990)) have been used for the covalent immobilization of polypeptides for N-terminal sequencing. The polypeptides are either immobilized by coupling between the epsilon amino groups of the lysine and the isothiocyanate groups on the solid support using the established DITC chemistry or by the coupling of the activated C-terminal carboxyl groups of the polypeptides and the amino groups on the matrix.
Many of the initial studies involving the application of the thiocyanate chemistry for C-terminal sequencing to the solid phase have involved the use of glass beads for the covalent immobilization of peptide samples (Williams and Kassall, FEBS Lett. 54:353-357 (1975); Rangarajan and Darbre, Biochem. J. 157:307-316 (1976); Meuth et al., Biochem. 21:3750-3757 (1982); Hawke et al., Anal. Biochem. 166:298-307 (1987); Inglis, et al. Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis (Wittmann-Liebold, B., Ed.) pp. 137-144, Springer-Verlag (1989). More recent work has involved the use of carboxylic acid modified PVDF (Bailey and Shavely, Techniques in Protein Chemistry: II (Villafranca, J. J., Ed.) pp. 115-129, Academic Press, Inc. (1991)), DITC-activated amino PVDF (Miller et al., Techniques in Protein Chemistry (Hugli, T. E., Ed.) pp. 67-78, Academic Press, Inc. (1989), Inglis et al., Met. Protein Sequence Analysis (Jornval/Hoog/Gustavsson, Eds.) pp. 23-24, Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel (1991)), and a disuccinimidoyl carbonate polyamide resin (Hawke and Boyd, Met. Protein Sequence Analysis (Jornvall/Hoog/Gustavsson, Eds.) pp. 35-45, Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel (1991).
The use of glass and PVDF supports for C-terminal sequencing is attended by disadvantages. Siloxane bonds are formed on derivatization of the glass supports. These bonds are base labile resulting in loss of the covalently coupled peptide sample. The carboxyl modified PVDF and the DITC-activated amino PVDF are both physically and chemically altered adversely due to dehydro-fluorination (Dias and McCarthy, Macromolecules 17:2529-2531 (1984)) caused by the basic cleavage reagents used during the course of C-terminal sequencing. These membranes may turn successively darker and more brittle on each C-terminal sequencing cycle.

Carboxylic acid modified polyethylene membrane activated by a linker coupled amide


A programming-language construct called a program history, and a method, system, apparatus, and data structure for translating computer source code that contains the program history construct. A program history captures data regarding the state of the program as it executes and makes this data available to functions called history operators, which operate on the data. The source code contains a history operand, an instance of the history operand, and the history operator. The presence of the history operand directs a translator to cause history data to be saved regarding the sequence of data that is associated with the operand instance as the program executes. The presence of the history operator directs the translator to cause a function to be performed that saves history data. In this way, the programmer is freed from writing tedious and error-prone bookkeeping code that declares variables and saves history data into those declared variables.

A computer operates under the control of programs consisting of coded instructions called "object code" that execute on the computer. But, object code is not readily understood by humans, so a human programmer typically writes programs in a high-level programming language, such as BASIC, JAVA, PERL, PASCAL, C, C++, or the like, which are easier to understand. High-level languages generally have a precise syntax that defines certain permitted structures for statements in the language and their meaning. A translator such as a compiler translates the high-level language statements, called "source code" into object code. Thus, the terms "source code" and "object code" describe the form of a program prior to and after translation, respectively. Accordingly, the term "source code" generally refers to a program in its high-level programming language form. "Object code," on the other hand, generally refers to the program in the form of the coded instructions generated by the translator that are executable on a computer.
Typically, this translator is itself a program, which might be a compiler or an interpreter. A compiler is a program that translates all the source code into target code, which can be object code or byte code, prior to execution on the computer. An interpreter is a program that executes the source code by translating source statements into an "intermediate form" or data structure that is subsequently executed. The intermediate form is neither source code nor object code, but rather a structure that the interpreter can execute indirectly. The interpreter's translation into this intermediate form may be done at any granularity, from one statement at a time as needed to execute, all the way to a whole program at a time.
Writing computer programs, even in high-level source code, is a time-consuming and laborious process for the computer programmer. For many programs and programmers, the time to write a program is the most critical consideration. But, prior programming languages have significantly under-emphasized programmer convenience in language design. For example, many programming languages require the programmer to write code that merely performs bookkeeping functions, such as counting the number of times that some action has been taken. This bookkeeping code is tedious to write and prone to errors. Further, this bookkeeping code distracts the programmer from the main tasks of the program and lowers the programmer's productivity.
Thus, there is a need for programming language features that make writing programs easier and more convenient, in order to boost programmer productivity.

Program history in a computer programming language


Systems and methods are disclosed for retrieving, from a database, over a network, historical routing data for multiple attributes and determining, for each attribute, based on its respective historical routing data, whether processing volume and processing error rates for each attribute exceed respective threshold. If both processing volume and error rate exceed their respective thresholds, the systems and methods describe herein calculate, for each qualifying attribute, a degree to which routing for each attribute can be improved. The systems and methods described herein output a ranking for each qualifying attribute based on their respective degrees to which routing can be improved for the respective attributes.

Related art systems define a routing scheme by ingesting parameters, such as geography, network type, transaction type, and the like to select a transaction processor. Problematically, these systems are static in nature, and do not factor in historical routing failures. Moreover, these related art systems attempt to optimize routing schemes in all instances, thus resulting in wasted processing power where there is not sufficiently enough of a gain to be made through optimization to justify the processing cost. Yet further, these related art systems consider macro parameters, without considering more granular attributes of transactions to be routed.

Tree structure-based smart inter-computing routing model


An outdoor unit for an air-conditioning apparatus has a fan guard covering an air outlet provided in a front panel. The air outlet is opened in a circular shape. The fan guard has a spiral wire formed in a spiral shape and having a hole in a center portion of the spiral wire, a center cap covering the hole, and an outer frame wire that is formed in an annular shape to surround an outer circumference of the spiral wire and in which one end portion and the other end portion at both ends of the annular shape are displaced from each other in a radial direction of the spiral wire and joined to each other at a position of an outer circumferential end portion of the spiral wire.

In an existing outdoor unit for an air-conditioning apparatus, a fan guard in which a spiral wire is used is provided at the front in a blowing direction of an air-sending device, and the interval between portions of the spiral wire is specified in such a manner that a finger is prevented from entering the air-sending device (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).

Outdoor unit for air-conditioning apparatus


Improved solid acid electrolyte materials, methods of synthesizing such materials, and electrochemical devices incorporating such materials are provided. The stable electrolyte material comprises a solid acid capable undergoing rotational disorder of oxyanion groups and capable of extended operation at elevated temperatures, that is, solid acids having hydrogen bonded anion groups; a superprotonic, trigonal, tetragonal, or cubic, disordered phase; and capable of being operating at temperatures of ˜100° C. and higher.

Electrochemical devices depend on the flow of protons, or the flow of both protons and electrons, through a proton conducting material, such as a membrane. Accordingly, materials which conduct protons, or both protons and electrons, have applications as electrolytes or electrodes in a number of electrochemical devices including fuel cells, electrochemical or supercapacitors, sensors, hydrogen separation membranes and membrane reactors.
One particularly important application for these materials is in fuel cells. Fuel cells are attractive alternatives to combustion engines for a wide variety of applications, because of their higher efficiency and the lower level of pollutants produced from their operation. There are three common types of fuel cells relevant to this patent: 1) a direct hydrogen/air fuel cell system, which stores hydrogen and then delivers it to the fuel cell as needed; 2) an indirect hydrogen/air fuel cell, in which hydrogen is generated on site from a hydrocarbon fuel, cleaned of carbon monoxide, and subsequently fed to the fuel cell; and 3) a direct methanol fuel cell ("DMFC"), which feeds a methanol/water solution directly to the fuel cell. An example of this later fuel cell was described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,638, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Regardless of the fuel cell design chosen, the operating efficiency of the device is limited by the efficiency of the electrolyte at transporting protons. Typically, perflourinated sulphonic acid polymers, polyhydrocarbon sulfonic polymers, and composites thereof are used as electrolyte membrane materials for fuel cell. However, these conventional materials utilize hydronium ions (H3O+) to facilitate proton conduction. Accordingly, these materials must be hydrated, and a loss of water immediately results in degradation of the conductivity of the electrolyte and therefore the efficiency of the fuel cell. Moreover, this degradation is irreversible, i.e., a simple reintroduction of water to the system does not restore the conductivity of the electrolyte.
As a result, fuel cells utilizing these materials require peripheral systems to ensure water recirculation and temperature control to keep the water from evaporating. Not only do these systems increase the complexity and cost of these fuel cells, but because the system cannot exceed a temperature of 100° C. the fuel cell catalysts and other systems cannot be operated a maximum efficiency. Higher temperatures would also reduce carbon monoxide poisoning of the fuel cell catalyst.
It has recently been shown that the solid acids such as CsHSO4 can be used as the electrolyte in fuel cells operated at temperatures of 140-160° C. Use of this material greatly simplifies fuel cell design relative to polymer electrolyte fuel cells because hydration of the electrolyte is not necessary and, because of the elevated temperature of operation, residual CO in the fuel stream can be better tolerated. The high conductivity of CsHSO4 and analogous materials results from a structural phase transition that occurs at 141° C. from an ordered structure, based on chains of SO4 groups linked by well-defined hydrogen bonds, to a disordered structure in which SO4 groups freely reorient and easily pass protons between one another. Thus, disorder in the crystal structure is a key prerequisite for high proton conductivity.
Ultimately, solid acid electrolytes may solve many of the problems facing state-of-the-art polymer based fuel cells. These problems include inability to operate at temperatures above 100° C. (which would increase the CO tolerance of the Pt catalyst), humidification requirements, and methanol permeation across the electrolyte. The technological objectives of this work are thus to simply fuel cell operation by use of alternative electrolytes. However, the lifetime of these sulfate and selenium based solid acids is insufficient for commercial applications. The poor lifetime of both CsHSO4 and CsHSeO4 under fuel cell operating conditions results from the reduction of sulfur and selenium by hydrogen in the presence of typical fuel cell catalysts, according to:2CsHSO4+4H2 - - - >Cs2SO4+H2S+4H2O.2CsHSeO4+4H2 - - - >Cs2SeO4+H2Se+4H2O.Accordingly, a need exists for solid acid compounds with high proton conductivity that are stable under fuel cell conditions, and processing methodologies that lead to high performance membrane-electrode-assemblies (MEAs) based on these solid acid compounds.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Solid acid electrolytes for electrochemical devices


A PWM architecture of a microcontroller is disclosed that includes a fault module for regulating and detecting faults in current sensing or illuminating devices (e.g., LED strings). The fault module is part of a hardware regulation loop of LED voltage and LED current that allows the CPU to be placed in idle mode (“IDLE”) while an LED string is regulated in illumination. The microcontroller includes a PWM generator having a double channels PWM timer with a specific fault mode and an amplified comparator with a voltage reference. The architecture allows tuning of various parameters, including LED peak current, LED voltage supply, LED voltage regulation step and LED dimming value. In IDLE mode, the hardware regulation loop can regulate LED peak current and LED voltage supply without any CPU resource (microcontroller in IDLE mode). The fault module part of the hardware regulation loop can also detect and inform the CPU of: 1) an open LED; 2) a weak battery; and 3) an LED voltage that is under a target value.

Illuminating devices, such as LEDs, are used in electronics for signaling in replacement of traditional incandescent illuminating devices. An example application is a microcontroller-based system which manages several LEDs or LED strings of car backlighting. The cost of a microcontroller is directly dependent on the amount of hardware resources needed to regulate the system, especially the analogue resources like analog to digital conversion (ADC) resources, which can consume significant silicon area.

Pulse width modulation fault mode for illuminating device drivers


Drying section of a machine for producing a material web. The drying section includes at least one web guidance device and at least one wire arranged to guide the material web through the at least one web guidance device. The at least one web guidance device is structured and arranged to direct pressurized gas at the material web so that, in a web travel direction, the material web is alternately lifted from the at least one wire and resting against the at least one wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a drying section of a machine for producing a material web, in particular a paper or cardboard web. The invention further relates to an airborne web dryer for such a drying section.
2. Discussion of Background Information
In the multi-cylinder drying sections that have been common up to now, the paper web is guided over steam-heated cylinders or over steam-heated cylinders and wire suction rolls for the purpose of drying. Especially at the beginning of drying, when the moist paper web does not yet have sufficient strength, problems often occur with respect to web guidance, which can particularly be attributed to the fact that the web, which is still moist and poorly ventilated, sticks to the smooth contact surfaces, which are absolutely necessary for a sufficient heat transfer. In order to be able to remove the web from the cylinders, a sufficient web tension is necessary, which can be produced before or directly after the initial smooth contact surfaces by pulling, i.e., corresponding differential speeds. However, this often leads to web tears and an overstretching of the web edges. Therefore, as a rule, care should be taken that the drying occurs more slowly, i.e., e.g., a lower steam pressure is present at the beginning, which also means that the necessary drying section becomes longer overall. The problems mentioned above occur more intensely at higher web speeds.
The present invention provides a drying section of the type mentioned at the outset which, at high speeds, simultaneously guarantees as optimal a drying rate as possible at the beginning of the drying and a secure web guidance. Moreover, an airborne web dryer is provided that is appropriate for such a drying section.
In particular, the instant invention includes at least one web guidance device through which the material web is guided along with a wire, and in which the material web can be impinged with pressurized gas in such a way that, in the web travel direction, it is alternately lifted up from the wire and rests against it.
Because of this construction, the material web, which is still relatively moist, must no longer be prematurely removed from a smooth surface. As a result of avoiding smooth contact surfaces at the beginning of drying, the danger of web tears and of an overstretching of the web edges is virtually eliminated. In particular, high drying rates are now possible as well, whereby the total length of the drying section is shortened correspondingly. Since the web must not be subjected to high removal stresses caused by pulling until it has higher dry contents, the stressing of the web after the pressing section is minimized. Finally, correspondingly higher machine speeds are possible.
In a preferred practical embodiment of the drying section according to the invention, at least one pressurized gas-driven web guidance device embodied or formed as an airborne web dryer is provided. Such an airborne web dryer, e.g., can be provided directly after the pressing section and before the first drying cylinder. As a result of the combination of the airborne web dryer with a drying wire, even a web with a lower strength (for example, a web with higher moisture, e.g., before cylinder drying) can be dried.
While the material web can be deflected by a corresponding gas pressure distribution in the respective web guidance device, e.g., in a waveform, and can, e.g., be stabilized in a sine wave, the wire in the respective pressurized gasdriven web guidance devices tends to have a progression at least essentially in a straight line.
The web guidance device appropriately includes several nozzles arranged one behind the other for the purpose of impinging the material web with pressurized gas. Preferably, such nozzles are provided on both sides of the material web. Here, in particular, several banks of nozzles can be provided which extend in the direction of the web width.
In a preferred practical embodiment of the drying section according to the invention, at least one pressurized gas-driven web guidance device is arranged before the first drying cylinder.
In particular, air can be used as the pressurized gas.
It is also advantageous for at least one impingement dryer provided with a drying hood to be provided, by which the material web can be impinged with a hot air and/or a hot steam. Here, the material web is preferably guided over at least one support roll, in particular a larger support roll, with an impingement dryer assigned to it.
Again, such an impingement dryer is preferably arranged before the first drying cylinder.
Before the material web is pulled off a smooth heated surface for the first time, it can be predried by at least one airborne web dryer and, optionally, at least one impingement dryer. The gas and/or air drying appropriately occurs until a sufficient dry content is reached at which the necessary web tension can be applied in a problem-free manner.
In a preferred practical embodiment, the material web already has a dry content of at least approximately 58% to approximately 65% upon leaving the first drying cylinder or being pulled from a smooth heated surface for the first time. Here, as already mentioned, a part of the gas and/or air drying can also occur by an impingement dryer or an impingement hood.
Advantageously, at least one pressurized gas-driven web guidance device is provided subsequent to the last pressing nip of the pressing section.
In certain cases, it is appropriate for the material web, subsequent to the last pressing nip of the pressing section, first to be guided by at least one pressurized gas-driven web guidance device and subsequently by a support roll, in particular a larger support roll, with an impingement dryer assigned to it before it is guided to the first drying cylinder.
The drying speed in the region of a respective web guidance device embodied as an airborne web dryer and/or a respective impingement dryer can advantageously be regulated using the pressurized gas temperature, speed, and/or moisture.
The air permeability of a wire assigned to a respective web guidance device driven by pressurized gas is advantageously selected to be as high as possible. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the air permeability of the respective wire is greater than approximately 300 cfm and preferably greater than approximately 500 cfm.
It is also advantageous for the material web to be guided in a closed draw from the last pressing nip of the press section to the first drying cylinder.
In certain cases, it is appropriate for the material web to be transferred directly from the pressing section to the wire assigned to a pressurized gas-driven web guidance device. However, the transfer of the material web from the pressing section to the wire assigned to a pressurized gas-driven web guidance device can also occur by means of at least one transfer belt or the like.
The material web can be removed from a felt (upper or lower felt) guided through the last pressing nip of the pressing section. However, removal directly from a pressing roll assigned to the last pressing nip of the pressing section is also conceivable.
In order to achieve the desired dry content, several airborne web dryers and/or several impingement dryers can also be provided.
A given pressurized gas-driven web guidance device can be arranged horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. In the latter case, the material web can be guided in the pressurized gas-driven web guidance device running diagonally, either generally diagonally upwards or generally diagonally downwards.
If several pressurized gas-driven web guidance devices are provided, at least a part of these web guidance devices can each have its own wire assigned to it.
In certain cases, it is also advantageous for at least one wire to be provided that is guided through several pressurized gas-driven web guidance devices.
In order to hold the material web on the wire, suction rolls, transfer foils and/or suction boxes can be provided before and/or after the pressurized gas-driven web guidance devices assigned thereto and/or between web guidance devices following one another.
For the purpose of transferring the web, the roll (suction roll or cylinder) following the last airborne web dryer can be partially wrapped by the wire assigned to the airborne web dryer or the web can be transferred from a suction roll to a subsequent drying wire.
In order to transfer the material web by a respective pressurized gas-driven driven web guidance device, it is practical for the web to be pressed against the wire and/or suctioned. This is possible, e.g., in that, in a respective pressurized gas-driven web guidance device, the web to be transferred is correspondingly impinged by pressurized gas only on its side facing away from the wire and/or is subjected to vacuum from the wire side.
In the latter case, vacuum boxes can be provided between the banks of nozzles provided on the side of the wire facing away from the material web.
The transfer by the gas and/or air dryers preferably occurs across the entire web width using the air dryers. However, the transfer can also occur partially or entirely with a transfer strip and corresponding transfer zones in suction and blow boxes. In the case of a transfer strip, care must be taken that the rest of the web can be moved by the felt or wire into the pulper or cellar before the corresponding gas and/or air dryer.
In certain cases, it can also be advantageous for at least one web guidance device to be provided, by which the material web can be impinged with pressurized air of a lower temperature in the range of preferably approximately 20 to 150xc2x0. Thus, in particular, the use of such a pressurized gas-driven web guidance device as a pure transfer element is also possible.
In order to allow a shrinkage in the crosswise machine direction that is as unrestricted as possible and thus to achieve small differences in crosswise shrinkage between the edges and the middle, at least one airborne web dryer without a wire can be provided between the last pressing nip of a pressing section and the first drying cylinder and/or within a predrying section. This possibility exists independently of whether or not another airborne web dryer is provided with a wire.
The airborne web dryer according to the invention includes a wire serving to support the web.
The suspended guidance device according to the invention, for example, embodied as an airborne web dryer, (optionally in connection with at least one impingement dryer) can be used, in particular at the beginning of drying between the press and the first drying cylinder, preferably in combination with a Tandem NipcoFlex press or DuoCentri press with a belt around the central roll or other press configurations in which the web is not pulled off of a smooth roll. Use within the (pre)drying section is also conceivable in order to allow as unrestricted a shrinkage in the machine cross direction as possible and thus to achieve small differences between the edges and the middle. Moreover, the web guidance device can also be operated with a low gas and/or air temperature, for example, in the region from approximately 20 to approximately 150xc2x0 C. Thus, the guidance device can also be used simply as a transfer element.
The present invention is directed to drying section of a machine for producing a material web. The drying section includes at least one web guidance device and at least one wire arranged to guide the material web through the at least one web guidance device. The at least one web guidance device is structured and arranged to direct pressurized gas at the material web so that, in a web travel direction, the material web is alternately lifted from the at least one wire and resting against the at least one wire.
In accordance with a feature of the instant invention, the material web includes one of a paper and cardboard web.
According to another feature of the invention, the at least one web guidance device is driven by pressurized gas and is formed as an airborne web dryer. The at least one wire is guided in a straight line through the pressurized gas-driven web guidance device.
The at least one web guidance device includes a plurality of nozzles arranged one behind the other in the web travel direction for directing the pressurized gas at the material web. The plurality of nozzles are positioned on both sides of the at least one wire. The plurality of nozzles include nozzle banks extending across a web width.
Moreover, the at least one web guidance device is arranged before a first drying cylinder. The at least one web guidance device includes a pressurized gas driven web guidance device.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the pressurized gas is air.
Still further, at least one impingement dryer with a drying hood is provided, and the at least one impingement dryer subjects the material web to at least one of hot air and hot steam impingement. At least one support or suction roll is associated with the at least one impingement dryer. The material web is guided over the at least one support or suction roll. The at least one support or suction roll is arranged so that, as the material web is guided over the at least one support or suction roll, the material web is subjected to the at least one of the hot air and hot steam impingement. The at least one impingement dryer is located before a first drying cylinder. Further, the at least one impingement dryer is located behind the at least one web guidance device in the web travel direction.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, at least one of when leaving a first drying cylinder and a first time pulled off a smooth heated surface, the material web has a dry content greater than at least about 58% to about 65%.
The at least one web guidance device is located subsequent to a last pressing nip of a pressing section in the web travel direction.
The drying section also includes an impingement dryer and at least one support or suction roll associated with the impingement dryer. Subsequent to a last pressing nip of a pressing section, the material web is guided through the at least one web guidance device and is guided over at the least one support or suction roll before being guided to a first drying cylinder.
Further, the drying section includes an impingement dryer through which the material web is guided. The at least one web guidance device is formed as an airborne dryer, and a drying speed in a region of at least one of the airborne web dryer and the impingement dryer is regulatable via at least one of a pressurized gas temperature, speed, and moisture.
An air permeability of the at least one wire is greater than approximately 300 cfm, and the air permeability can be greater than approximately 500 cfm.
According to another feature of the present invention, the material web departing from a last pressing nip of the pressing section is guided to a first drying cylinder in a closed draw.
In accordance with still another feature of the instant invention, the material web is transferred from a pressing section directly to the at least one wire.
According to a still further feature of the invention, the at least one web guidance device includes a plurality of web guidance devices and the at least one wire comprises a plurality of wires respectively associated with each of the plurality of web guidance devices.
Further still, the material web is transferred from a pressing section to the at least one wire via at least one transfer belt.
A felt is arranged through a last pressing nip of a pressing section, and the material web is transferred to the at least one wire from the felt.
Moreover, the material web is removed directly from a pressing roll of a last pressing nip of a pressing section.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the dryer section includes at least one impingement dryer, and the at least one web guidance device includes an airborne web dryer. At least one of the at least one web guidance device comprises a plurality of web guidance device and the at least one impingement dryer comprises a plurality of impingement dryers.
The at least one web guidance device is oriented to guide the material web in a substantially horizontal direction.
Further, the at least one web guidance device is oriented to guide of the material web in a substantially vertical direction.
Still further, the at least one web guidance device is oriented to guide the material web in a generally diagonally upward direction.
Moreover, the at least one web guidance device is oriented to guide the material web in a generally diagonally downward direction.
In accordance with a feature of the invention, the at least one web guidance device includes a plurality of web guidance devices, and at least some of the plurality of web guidance devices are associated with the at least one wire.
According to still another feature of the invention, the at least one web guidance device includes a plurality of web guidance devices, and the at least one wire is guided through the plurality of web guidance devices.
The at least one web guidance device includes a plurality of web guidance devices arranged to follow one another to guide the material web on the at least one wire, and the dryer section further includes at least one of suction rolls, transfer foils, and suction boxes which are located at least one or before, between, and after the plurality of web guidance devices.
Further, in the at least one web guidance device, at least one of the pressurized gas is directed at a surface of the material web facing away from the at least one wire and a vacuum is applied to a surface of the material facing the at least one wire.
The at least one web guidance device includes nozzle banks positioned on a side of the at least one wire opposite the material web to direct the pressurized gas toward the material web and vacuum boxes arranged between the nozzle banks.
Moreover, the pressurized gas directed at the material web has a temperature of in a range of approximately 20xc2x0 C. to approximately 150xc2x0 C.
The present invention is directed to a drying section of a machine for producing a material web that includes at least one airborne web dryer with at least one wire positioned at least one of (a) between a last pressing nip of a pressing section and a first drying cylinder and (b) inside a predrying section.
According to a feature of the invention, the material web includes one of a paper and cardboard web.
The present invention is directed to an airborne web dryer including a wire arranged to support the web.
Further, the airborne web dryer includes a plurality of nozzles arranged in a web travel direction so that the material web alternatingly is lifted off the at wire and resting on the wire.
Also, the material web includes one of a paper and cardboard web.
The present invention is directed to a process for transporting a material web through a drying section of a machine that includes at least one web guidance device and at least one wire. The process includes guiding the material web through the at least one web guidance device on the at least one wire, and directing pressurized gas at the material web, whereby, in a web travel direction, the material web is alternately lifted from the at least one wire and resting against the at least one wire.
The process further includes suctioning, between the areas at which pressurized gas is directed in the web travel direction, the material web toward the at least one wire.
Other exemplary embodiments and advantages of the present invention may be ascertained by reviewing the present disclosure and the accompanying drawing.


A photo film cassette contains photo film wound in a roll form, and includes a passage port which has first and second walls between which the photo film is passed. The light-trapping fabric includes a base fabric having first and second surfaces. Pile threads are disposed to protrude from the first surface of the base fabric, for preventing ambient light from entry into the photo film cassette between the first and second walls. In the course of manufacturing the photo film cassette, before attaching the light-trapping fabric, the pile threads are previously bent in a position thereof. The light-trapping fabric is pressed against the first or second wall with a pressing roller, for attaching the second surface to the passage port. An extent of bending the pile threads is enlarged by the pressing roller during the attachment to impart a V-shape to the pile threads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo film cassette, and a method of attaching light-trapping fabric to the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a photo film cassette of which light-trapping fabric allows passage of photo film with a relatively small torque for a spool, and at the same time has a high light-trapping capability, and a method of attaching such light-trapping fabric to the same cassette.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
A photo film cassette has a cassette shell for containing photo film. A magazine has a body for containing photographic paper or other photosensitive material. Either of the photo film cassette or the magazine has a passage port or slot, on the inside of which there is attached a light-trapping fabric or ribbon, which is referred to as plush in the field of photosensitive material JP-Y (Japanese Utility Model Publication No.) 37-21388 discloses a woven structure of the light-trapping fabric including a woven base fabric and pile threads woven to protrude from the base fabric JP-Y (Japanese Utility Model Publication No.) 61-34526 discloses a knitted structure of the light-trapping fabric including a knitted base fabric and pile threads knitted to protrude from the base fabric.
To produce the pile-knitted fabric, a double raschel knitting machine is used. The knitting machine knits two fabrics at one time in a state where two base fabrics are interconnected by the pile threads. The pile threads are then cut in the central position, so as to obtain two products of the pile-knitted fabric which has a continuous belt-shape, and in which the pile threads being short protrude from one surface of the base fabric. JP-A (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No.) 7-301888, which is a commonly assigned Japanese patent application, discloses a method in which a plurality of the cassette shell, are arranged on one line, the light-trapping fabric being long is attached to the plural cassette bodies consecutively, before the light-trapping fabric is cut piece from piece to obtain a plurality of separated cassette bodies.
The light-trapping fabric after the center cutting has pile threads all of which are bent and inclined in one direction, so that the light-trapping fabric has a reduced thickness. A pressing roller is used for applying pressure, which presses the light-trapping fabric against each of two walls inside the photo film passage port of the cassette shell. In the application of the pressure, the cassette shell and the pressing roller are moved relative to one another in a direction opposite to the inclination of the pile threads, for the purpose of erecting the pile threads. However erection of the pile threads remarkably raises resistance to an operation of drawing the photosensitive material. It is likely that gaps, such as pinholes, are formed between the pile threads, and light-trapping capability for the photo film passage port is degraded.

Photo film cassette, and method of attaching light-trapping fabric to


A delayed power-on function for an electronic device is disclosed. A charging unit charges a rechargeable battery with a pre-charge current when a voltage of the rechargeable battery is less than a voltage threshold value and with a current larger than the pre-charge current when the voltage of the rechargeable battery is greater than the voltage threshold value. A disabling unit can disable power-on when the voltage of the rechargeable battery is less than the voltage threshold value. A user may also be notified when power-on is disabled.

Many electronic devices use rechargeable batteries that are available for repeated charge and discharge cycles. When the rechargeable batteries are in an over-discharged condition, they may first be pre-charged with a low-current to ensure safety of the rechargeable battery and to reduce degradation of the battery. After the low-current pre-charge, the rechargeable battery is then charged with a quick charge having a larger current.
Pre-charge is generally performed when remaining battery life is short, and a voltage of the rechargeable battery is low. Under this condition, a capability of the rechargeable battery to supply current may be low. Therefore, if an electronic device such as a mobile phone is powered-on during the pre-charge, the electronic device may soon be shut off for lack of power after disconnection from a charger. Accordingly, it is preferable that no request for power-on be received by the electronic device during a low voltage charge such as a pre-charge.
Therefore, there is a need for enhanced usability during charging of a rechargeable battery of an electronic device.

Electronic device with battery recharge notification while in a disabled state