A heat exchanger is disclosed. The heat exchanger may have a conduit configured to conduct a fluid and at least one body of metal foam surrounding the conduit. The at least one body of metal foam may have a radially inner portion, a radially outer portion, and a radially intermediate portion between the radially inner portion and the radially outer portion. The at least one body of metal foam may have a lower percentage of void space at the radially outer portion as compared to the radially intermediate portion.

Machines including, for example, passenger vehicles, generators, and earth moving vehicles utilize a variety of heat exchangers during operation. Heat exchangers may be used to modify or maintain the temperature of fluids circulated throughout machines. For example, an internal combustion engine is generally fluidly connected to several different liquid-to-air and/or air-to-air heat exchangers (e.g., oil cooler, radiator, air cooler) to cool liquids and gases circulated throughout the engine. The circulated fluids may include oil, coolant, exhaust gas, air, or other fluids used in various machine operations.
In general, heat exchangers are devices that transfer thermal energy between two fluids without direct contact between the two fluids. A primary fluid is typically directed through a fluid conduit of the heat exchanger, while a secondary cooling or heating fluid is brought into external contact with the fluid conduit. In this manner, thermal energy may be transferred between the primary and secondary fluids through the walls of the fluid conduit. The ability of the heat exchanger to transfer thermal energy between the primary and secondary fluids depends on, amongst other things, the surface area available for heat transfer and the thermal properties of the heat exchanger materials.
Governments, regulatory agencies, and customers are continually urging machine manufacturers to increase fuel economy, meet lower emission regulations, and provide greater power densities. These demands often lead to increased requirements for thermal energy transfer in the machine's heat exchangers (e.g., a higher power density for a combustion engine may increase the amount of thermal energy created during the operation of the engine, which must subsequently be removed by the radiator and/or oil cooler to ensure proper operation). As a result, machine manufacturers must develop new materials and/or methods for increasing the ability of heat exchangers to transfer heat.
Metal foams have been used in heat exchangers to increase the surface area available for heat transfer. One method of using a metal foam to improve the ability of a heat exchanger to transfer heat is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,288 (the '288 patent), issued to Toonen et al. on Nov. 7, 2006. In particular, the '288 patent discloses a heat exchanger that comprises a number of parallel flow passages that are arranged at a distance from one another and have an elliptical cross section, through which a first fluid, for example a liquid, is guided. A flow body comprises two metal foam parts, each with a gradient of the volume density parallel to the direction of flow of the second fluid (e.g., a gas). In the first metal foam part, the volume density (amount of metal) increases in the direction of flow of the second fluid, while in the second metal foam part the volume density decreases in the direction of flow. Consequently, most metal is present in the immediate vicinity of the flow passages, where the highest heat flux density also prevails. The outer surface of the flow body, in particular the inflow side (and discharge side), is relatively open. The heat exchanger of the '288 patent is preferably of modular structure, so that a plurality of modules can be combined to form a larger unit.
Although the heat exchanger of the '288 patent may use a metal foam to increase heat transfer, it may still be problematic. Specifically, if the heat exchanger is manufactured by forming the metal foam around the passages, the metal foam may at least partially shrink away from the passages during cooling, resulting in poor contact. This foam shrinkage may result in increased resistance to thermal energy transfer between the passage and the metal foam and, thus, reduced performance. Furthermore, due to the low volume density of metal at the outer surface of the metal foam, mechanically and thermally bonding the metal foam to other surfaces (e.g., metal plates, other modules, etc.) may be difficult.
The disclosed heat exchanger is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Heat exchanger with conduit surrounded by metal foam


Information of a specimen holder or information of a specimen mounted on the specimen holder is stored in a memory inside the specimen holder mounted to an electron microscope. The memory is accessed to transmit the information of the specimen holder to the electron microscope, thereby ensuring that the user can use the specimen holder without mistaking characteristics of the specimen holder and danger of erroneous recording of the specimen information can be reduced.

The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus such as electron microscope and focused ion beam apparatus and a specimen holder used in the charged particle beam apparatus.
In the case of a specimen holder for use in a conventional electron microscope, its size and function must be recognized by a user so that the user may operate the electron microscope in compliance with the holder. In addition, the user must memorize individually pieces of information of specimens mounted or carried on the specimen holder. JP-A-11-258130 (Patent Document 1) describes that a character or mark for identifying a specimen is inscribed on a specimen holder.
Further, JP-A-2001-291483 (Patent Document 2) describes that a memory means is provided in a cartridge mounted to a specimen holder and pieces of information concerning a portion to be worked and a portion to be observed are stored in the memory means.

Charged particle beam apparatus and specimen holder


A magnetic memory device comprises a magnetic memory cell that includes a pinned layer and a free layer separated from the pinned layer by an insulating layer. The magnetic memory device also comprises a thermal plate in contact with the free layer. The magnetic memory device can be configured so that a first current flows through the thermal plate heating the thermal plate. The magnetic behavior of the free layer can be altered due to the heating caused by the first current, making it easier to switch the orientation and magnetization of the free layer. A second current can then flow through a bit line near the free layer generating a magnetic field sufficient to switch the orientation of magnetization of the free layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments below relate generally to magnetic memory devices, and more particularly to thermally-assisted programming operations in magnetic memory devices.
2. Background of the Invention
Magnetic memory devices comprise one or more magnetic memory cells that include a magnetic media with a switchable orientation of magnetization. The ability to store data in magnetic media is dependent on the ability to control the orientation of magnetization of the magnetic media. The ability to change, or switch the orientation of magnetization of the magnetic media allows the storage of a data bit, i.e., a logic state of "0" or "1", within a magnetic memory cell. One orientation of magnetization for the magnetic memory cell can be equated with the logic "0", while the opposite orientation of magnetization can be equated with the logic "1".
The coercivity of a magnetic media is the level of demagnetizing force that must be applied to the magnetic media in order to reduce and/or reverse the orientation of magnetization of the magnetic media. Thus, a magnetic field sufficient to overcome the coercivity of the magnetic media included in a magnetic memory cell, must be applied in order to change the logic state of the magnetic memory cell from one state to the other. Generally, the smaller the magnetic media, the higher its coercivity and the higher magnetic field required to change logic states increases.
There are several known magnetic memory cells for use in magnetic memory devices, such as Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) arrays, including the Tunneling Magneto-Resistant Memory (TMR) cell with or without Synthetic Anti-Ferromagnetic structure (SAF), the Giant Magneto-Resistant Memory (GMR) cell with or without Synthetic Anti-Ferromagnetic structure (SAF), and the Colossal Magneto-Resistance Memory (CMR) cell. Each of these memory cells comprises a data layer, which can also be referred to as a storage layer or bit layer, a reference layer, and an intermediate layer between the data layer and the reference layer. The data layer, reference layer, and intermediate layer can each be fabricated from one or more layers and material.
The data layer is usually a layer of magnetic material that stores a bit of data as an orientation of magnetization that may be altered in response to the application of an external magnetic field or fields as described above. In other words, the orientation of magnetization of the data layer representing the logic state can be rotated, or switched, from a first orientation representing a logic state of, e.g., "0" to a second orientation representing a logic state of, e.g., "1", and vice versa.
The reference layer is usually a layer of magnetic material in which an orientation of magnetization is "pinned", or fixed in a predetermined direction. Often, several layers of magnetic material are required and function as one to affect the stable pinned reference layer. The predetermined direction is establish by microelectronic processing steps employed in the fabrication of the magnetic memory cell.
Magnetic memory devices, such as MRAMs, often employ Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) memory cells comprising one of the memory cells described above positioned at the transverse intersections of electrically conductive rows and columns. Such an arrangement is often referred to as a cross point memory array.
The logic state of each cell in such a cross point array depends on the relative orientations of magnetization in the data layer and the reference layer. When an electrical potential bias is applied across the data layer and reference layer by application of appropriate voltages to the associated electrically conductive rows and columns, electrons migrate between the data layer and the reference layer to the intermediate layer. The phenomenon that causes the migration of electrons to the intermediate layer is referred to as quantum mechanical tunneling or spin tunneling. The logic state can then be determined by sensing the flow of electrons and measuring the resistance of the memory cell.
For example, if the overall orientation of the magnetization in the data storage layer is parallel to the pinned orientation of magnetization in the reference layer, then the magnetic memory cell will be in a state of low resistance. If the overall orientation of the magnetization of the data storage layer is anti-parallel, or opposite to the pinned orientation of the magnetization in the reference layer, then the magnetic memory cell will be in a state of high resistance. The low resistance state and high resistance state can then be associated with a logic state so that the logic state of the memory cell can be determined by sensing the current through the memory cell and measuring the associated resistance of the memory cell.
The electrically conductive rows and columns comprising a cross point memory array are typically referred to as word and bit lines. Thus the logic state of a targeted memory cell in a cross point array can be determined by selecting the appropriate word and bit line.
Magnetic memory devices typically comprise additional bit lines that can be used to alter the orientation of magnetization of one or more of the magnetic memory cells comprising cross point array when the appropriate voltages are applied to the word and bit lines associated with the target memory cell. Current flowing in these additional bit lines generate a magnetic field around the bit line. The direction of this magnetic field, can influence the orientation of magnetization of the target memory cell. If the magnetic fields created by the current flowing in one of these bit lines is of sufficient strength, then it can overcome the coercivity of the target memory cell and rotate or switch the orientation of magnetization of the target memory cell.
Accordingly, in order to change the logic state of the magnetic memory cell, the additional bit lines must be sufficiently close to the magnetic memory cells, such that the magnetic field created by current flow in the additional bit lines can influence the orientation of magnetization of the memory cell. Additionally, sufficiently high currents must be used in order to create a magnetic field with sufficient strength to overcome the coercivity of the magnetic memory cell.
Altering the direction of the current flowing in the additional bit lines, will change the direction of the magnetic field it creates, which can cause the orientation of magnetization of the memory to be switched in the other direction.
Write, or program operations generally require greater electrical current and magnetic fields relative to read operations. The greater electrical currents also require more robust characteristics in the power supply and larger switching transistors. The greater electrical current and magnetic field also require an appropriate buffering space between neighboring cells. This is because it is undesirable to adversely affect the data layers of neighboring cells, when programming a logic state of a target cell. As a result, designer manufacturing issues are generally focused upon requirements proposed by the write operation.
Because the coercivity of magnetic memory devices is increasing due to the reduction in size of such devices, larger power sources and larger switching transistors are required in order to provide the current need to overcome the coercivity of the memory cells. The larger currents generated by these larger power sources and larger switching transistors has the potential to affect the state of neighboring memory cells. Accordingly, as magnetic memory devices shrink, a more and more significant amount of the overall space of the memory device is used to provide physical buffering between memory cells. Absent this buffering space, greater "cross talk" issues would arise.
All of these issues make achieving small, compact, highly dense magnetic memory devices difficult. In other words, the inclusion of additional bit lines for programming the memory cells, larger power sources, larger switching transistors, and increased isolation space, all transpire to reduce the density achievable in conventional magnetic memory devices. Increasing the density, e.g., at the expense of isolation space, increases the risks and problems associated with cross talk between memory cells.
Moreover, the larger power sources and switching transistors needed to provide the sufficient current to overcome the coercivity of the smaller memory cells, increase its power consumption for conventional magnetic memory devices. It will be understood that the increase power consumption is generally not desirable, especially for the increasing number of portable applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and apparatus for thermally assisted programming of a magnetic memory device


An electric power control unit alternately repeats a first electric power control period and a second electric power control period when a low electric power mode is set by a mode setting unit. When a sleep mode is set by the mode setting unit, a second electric power control is executed.

The present disclosure relates to an electronic equipment having the functions of electric power saving modes.
Some of the image forming apparatus as electronic equipments have the function of a low electric power mode, and the function of a sleep mode in which electric power consumption is smaller than in the low electric power mode, as electric power saving modes. In the sleep mode, a fixing roller is not heated. Accordingly, it is possible to remarkably reduce the electric power consumption.
In the sleep mode, however, the temperature of the fixing roller may be lowered to a temperature close to ambient temperature. Accordingly, it takes a time to recover the image forming apparatus from the sleep mode to the ready mode (i.e. an electric power mode in which printing can be readily performed in response to receiving a print instruction).
In view of the above, in the case where a print instruction is not received for a predetermined period when the image forming apparatus is in the ready mode, the image forming apparatus is switched from the ready mode to the low electric power mode, without directly switching the image forming apparatus from the ready mode to the sleep mode; and in the case where a recovery instruction indicating that the image forming apparatus is recovered to the ready mode is not received for a predetermined period when the image forming apparatus is in the low electric power mode, the image forming apparatus is switched from the low electric power mode to the sleep mode. When the image forming apparatus is in the low electric power mode, the temperature of the fixing roller is set to a temperature lower than the temperature of the fixing roller when the image forming apparatus is in the ready mode.
For instance, in the conventional art, there is proposed an image forming apparatus configured such that in the case where the image forming apparatus is switched from the ready mode to the low electric power mode, and in the case where the image forming apparatus is switched from the low electric power mode to the sleep mode, the temperature of the fixing roller is controlled to be gradually lowered in order to shorten a wait time until the image forming apparatus is recovered to the ready mode and to reduce the electric power consumption.


A testing architecture for testing a complex integrated circuit in which each functional unit may be tested independently of the others. Embodiments of the invention allow testing of functional units to take place at slower or faster clock speeds than other portions of the processor without incurring delay or other adverse timing effects.

As microprocessor architecture complexity and gate-count increases, so does the complexity and necessity of having adequate test coverage of each functional unit. Furthermore, increases in test coverage typically brings increased test time, power, and other effects that can increase the cost of testing.
Prior art testing architectures typically group functional units into testing groups, such as clusters and sub-cluster units, such that they are tested at once, thereby decreasing the amount of die real estate necessary to accommodate the testing circuitry. This technique, however, is often at the expense of comprehensive test coverage, as the functional units within the testing groups cannot be isolated and independently tested.
Prior art testing architectures also typically control the testing architecture logic with the same clock (or some derivative thereof) as the functional or system clock of the processor, thereby introducing delay and other timing problems into the testing of the processor, reducing the overall test time.
Finally, some prior art techniques typically separate various hierarchical testing groups in the testing architecture using logic that precludes one set of functional units from being tested with an automatic test pattern while another set of functional units are being operated under normal processor operating conditions. Such a testing architecture can be limiting in that it forces one to make trade-offs between test coverage, test time, and power concerns.


A card read/write apparatus for reading or writing information from or into an IC memory region of a card comprises a card carriage formed with an IC exposure opening through which the IC memory region of the card is exposed when the card is placed on the card carriage, and a contact device having contact pins that is protruded into or retracted from the IC exposure aperture while being maintained to be in parallel with the IC memory region of the card so as to contact with or move away from the IC memory region of the card which is exposed from the IC exposure aperture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card read/write apparatus for cards provided with at least an IC memory region, and more particularly, it relates to improvements in the contact holder in the card read/write apparatus for electrically connecting to the IC memory region of such cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a card read/write apparatus for cards having an optical data storage region and an IC memory region, or cards having a plurality of memory or storage regions such as a magnetic recording region, optical data storage region and IC memory region, there is provided a contact holder equipped with contact pins that get access to and effect electrical connection with the IC memory region of the card for reading information stored in the IC memory region and for writing information into the IC memory region.
Such a conventional contact holder is constituted of a box-type arm which is approximately L-shaped and that rotates about a shaft, as disclosed in Japanese patent laid-open publication numbers 5-67250 or 7-152884.
FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing major parts of a conventional card read/write apparatus equipped with a contact holder as described above.
The card read/write apparatus 1 is constituted of a pair of guide shafts 3 of different length arranged mutually in parallel on a main frame 2, a card carriage 4 that moves back and forth in the X direction along the guide shafts 3, card feed linear motors 5 that drive the card carriage 4 to move back and forth along guide shafts 3, an optical head, not shown, that is arranged above card carriage 4 and that is moved back and forth in the directions (arrow directions Y) perpendicular to the carrying directions of the card carriage 4, and a contact holder 8 that makes direct electrical contact with an IC memory region 6c of a card 6 placed on card carriage 4.
The card 6 as described above includes both an optical data storage region 6b and IC memory region 6c on one side-face 6a constituting its upper surface.
The conventional contact holder 8 described above is constituted of a box-type arm 10 of approximately L-shape, rotatably supported about a shaft 9, and is provided at its tip 10a with a plurality of contact pins (so-called IC contacts) 11 that make electrical contact with the IC memory region 6c. The rear end 10b of the arm 10 is normally biased so as to rotate in clockwise direction about shaft 9 by means of a spring 12, so that arm 10 is normally rotated by a prescribed angle in the clockwise direction by the biasing force of the spring 12 so as to separate IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11, thereby cutting off electrical connection between the IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11.
When, as shown in FIG. 15, card carriage 4 is moved along guide shafts 3 towards contact holder 8, its tip 4a abuts the rear end 10b of arm 10, thereby rotating the arm 10 in the anticlockwise direction about shaft 9 against the biasing force of spring 12, so that IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11 are brought into contact, making an electrical connection. Processing can thereby be performed to read information stored in IC memory region 6c, or to write information into IC memory region 6c.
Optical data storage region 6b is scanned by the optical head, not shown, referred to above, and processing is performed to read the information stored in the optical data storage region 6b or to write information into optical data storage region 6b.
However, with the conventional card read/write apparatus 1 described above, arm 10 of contact holder 8 that approaches and withdraws from IC memory region 6c, as shown in FIG. 15, is of a construction arranged outside the region across which the card carriage 4 runs. With this construction, the total length of the card read/write apparatus 1 is increased and reduction in the size of the card read/write apparatus 1 cannot be achieved.
Furthermore, with the conventional contact holder 8, contact pins 11 were arranged at the tip 10a of arm 10 which was rotatable about shaft 9, and, in order to effect electrical contact between contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c by rotating the arm 10, all the contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c had to be made to approach and contact each other while maintaining a mutually parallel state. Consequently, it was difficult to make all the contact pins 11 contact IC memory region 6c with uniform pressure. As a result, the contact pressure between contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c would at some pins be excessive and at other pins be insufficient, leading to poor contact. Thus, it could become impossible to perform reading of information from IC memory region 6c or writing information into IC memory region 6c.

IC card read/writer having vertically moving reading contact pins


An internal combustion engine for a personal watercraft, the engine including an oil pan in which a lateral width and vertical width thereof are narrow, in compliance with a shape of the boat bottom of the personal watercraft, resulting in an internal combustion engine which is short in overall height. The internal combustion engine includes the oil pan connected to the underside of the crankcase and extending longitudinally along the boat bottom of the hull, the oil pan including an elongate cavity with one longitudinally extending side of the cavity being opened. An oil strainer is installed within the opening in the cavity so as to be oriented substantially vertically therein, and includes a cover which protrudes to one side. Lubricating oil is drawn through the oil strainer by action of an oil pump.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an internal combustion engine mounted on a personal watercraft for operation in water. More particularly, the invention relates to an internal combustion engine having an improved oil pan structure.
2. Description of the Background Art
The personal watercraft, or small-sized planing boat, is constructed such that an internal combustion engine for driving a jet propulsion pump is mounted in a vessel body enclosed by a hull and a deck. A driver and up to two other crew members rides on the deck, so that an in-boat space, constituted by the hull and the deck, is narrow. The internal combustion engine is stored in a substantially closed and sealed state within the narrow space between the hull and the deck.
As a consequence, a compact internal combustion engine is required. In order to minimize the height of the internal combustion engine, a dry sump having no oil reservoir for accumulating a large amount of oil is employed. Such an internal combustion engine is disclosed, for example, in published Japanese patent document JP-A 2003-35201.
The oil pan in JP-A No. 2003-35201 is not used for accumulating a large amount of oil. However, a small amount of oil is accumulated in a certain receiving pan, and the accumulated oil is sucked by an oil pump and fed to an oil tank. An oil strainer is arranged within the oil pan in tension, and is oriented substantially horizontally therein. The accumulated oil is sucked through the oil strainer whereby some foreign substances are removed from the oil.
Since the oil strainer is arranged in tension within the oil pan in a substantially horizontal orientation, a certain degree of lateral width of the oil pan is required. It is not easy to align the oil strainer in compliance with an oil pan shape, which is increasing rightward or leftward at the central part of the boat bottom of the personal watercraft. In addition, it is necessary to configure a space having a certain degree of vertical distance above and below the horizontally oriented oil strainer, and providing the required narrow vertical distance for the oil pan is difficult.
The present invention has been invented in view of the considerations described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an internal combustion engine for a personal watercraft in which the lateral width of the oil pan is narrow and its vertical width is also kept short, in compliance with a shape of the boat bottom part of the personal watercraft. As a result, the overall height of the internal combustion engine is kept short.

Internal combustion engine having an improved oil pan structure for a personal watercraft, and personal watercraft including same


Disclosed is rubber composition which can preferably be used for the components requires high damping capacity such as rubber dampers for use in the structures, public works, vehicles, oversize powered machines, and heavy weight structures; and general purpose dumpers for use in sound products, a variety of meters, the components of the vehicles, and the like in the case of a little amount of use. The rubber composition is characterized by having a complex shear elastic modulus of 1-20 kg/cm.sup.2 and a Tan.delta. of 0.40-1.5 at 30.degree. C. under a frequency of 0.5 Hz.+-.50% comprising:. a) 100 parts by weight of polyisobutylene; PA1 b) x parts by weight of filler for use in rubber; PA1 c) y parts by weight of carbon black having an iodine adsorption of 20-120 mg/g; PA1 x.ltoreq.450, y.ltoreq.150, and PA1 x+y.gtoreq.100.. wherein the value x and y satisfy the relation that:

Recently, laminated vibrationproofing structures have been widely used as vibration isolators for constructive structures (e.g. buildings). The laminated vibrationproofing structures are introduced between the structures and the foundation to decrease transmission of earthquake vibration energy to the structures. A wide variety of shapes of these laminated vibrationproofing structures have been proposed. Rubber composition having a large damping capacity have been used as components of laminated vibration proofing structures.
In order to enhance the damping capacity, the rubber composition contains carbon black in a large amount. Processing characteristics and excellent elongation are also imparted by addition of a large amount of softening agent to the rubber composition. Although these conventional rubber compositions have a good damping capacity, a rubber composition having a constant damping capacity in a wide range of temperatures (e.g., -10.degree. to +30.degree. C.) and possessing excellent aging resistance is desired.


A remote source of partially ionized plasma gas having ions and excited neutral atom species therein is provided. A chamber having a metallic outer shell and an inner insulative tube, is operated as a microwave resonant cavity, preferably having a diameter of about one quarter of the operating wavelength. A waveguide couples microwave energy from a source to a slot cut into the metallic outer shell of the cavity. Microwave energy passes through the inner energy transparent tube and excites reactant gases supplied from an input tube. Plasma is conducted from the cavity by a plasma output tube coupled into a processing chamber and controlled pressure pumping system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a remote plasma source for exciting a process gas into a plasma state. More particularly, the present invention relates to a remote plasma source for delivering excited gas species into a processing chamber in which a substrate is to be processed.
2. Background of the Related Art
Plasma assisted chemical reactions have been widely used in the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. One example is plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), which is a process that is used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and thin film transistors (TFT) for active-matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs). hi accordance with capacitively coupled PECVD, a substrate is placed in a vacuum deposition chamber that is equipped with a pair of parallel plate electrodes. One of the electrodes, e.g., the lower electrode, generally referred to as a susceptor, holds the substrate. The other electrode, i.e., the upper electrode, functions as a gas inlet manifold or shower head to deliver gases into the chamber. During deposition, a reactant gas is supplied into the chamber through the upper electrode and a radio frequency (RF) voltage is applied between the electrodes to produce a plasma within the reactant gas. The plasma provides energy and enhances chemical reactions.
Although such systems are designed to preferentially deposit the material onto the surface of a substrate, they also deposit material onto other interior surfaces within the chamber. Consequently, after repeated use, the deposited layer of material that has built up in the chamber must be removed, typically using an in-situ dry cleaning process. According to the in-situ technique, precursor gases are supplied to the chamber. Then, by locally applying a glow discharge plasma to the precursor gases within the chamber, reactive species are generated. The reactive species clean the chamber surfaces by reacting with the deposits to form volatile compounds that can be removed in their gaseous state.
However, this in-situ cleaning technique has several disadvantages. First, it is inefficient to use a plasma within the chamber to generate the reactive species. Thus, it is necessary to use relatively high powers to achieve an acceptable cleaning rate. The high power levels, however, tend to produce damage to the hardware inside of the chamber, thereby significantly shortening its useful life. Since the replacement of the damaged hardware can be quite costly, this can significantly increase the per substrate cost of product that is processed using the deposition system. In the highly competitive semiconductor fabrication industry where substrate costs are critical, the increased operating costs resulting from periodic replacement of parts that are damaged during the cleaning process is undesirable.
Another problem with the conventional in-situ dry cleaning processes is that the high power levels that are required to achieve acceptable cleaning rates also tend to generate residues or byproducts that can damage other system components or which cannot be removed except by physically wiping off the internal surfaces of the chamber. For example, in a Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 deposition system which uses NF.sub.3 for cleaning, N.sub.x H.sub.y F.sub.z compounds tend to be generated. These ammonium compounds deposit in the vacuum pump where they can negatively affect the reliability of the pump used to create and maintain the vacuum environment in which the substrates are processed.
Deposition chambers or process kit components (e.g., a heater, shower head, clamp ring, etc.) made of ceramic or aluminum are often cleaned using an NF.sub.3 plasma, which contains excited F*.sub.(Gas) species. During this cleaning process, a certain amount of Al.sub.x F.sub.y is formed on the exposed surfaces of the chamber and the process kit components. The amount of Al.sub.x F.sub.y that is formed is greatly increased by the level of ion bombardment that results from the high plasma energy levels. Thus, a considerable amount of Al.sub.x F.sub.y can be formed in the system. Unfortunately, this material cannot be etched away by any known chemical process, so the chamber must be shut down and opened so that the deposits can be physically removed by wiping the interior surfaces of the chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,644 discloses a remote plasma generator having a cooling jacket. However, the cooling jacket is limited to the gas tubes on the gas input tube 266 and quartz outlet tube 256 of the resonant cavity 260. The gas passage 270 which runs through the resonant cavity 260 and the resonant cavity 260 itself are not cooled. Consequently, the temperature of the quartz tube within the resonant cavity is still not controlled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,610 discloses another remote plasma generator having a cooling system which utilizes a double wall quartz inlet tube 20 and a water cooled jacket 56 which couples the microwave applicator 54 to a matching device 52. However, the cooling jacket 56 does not extend around the portion of the gas tube 32 that is disposed within the microwave applicator 54. Therefore, the hottest region of the gas tube, which is the most likely region to crack and/or generate particles, extends into the microwave applicator where there is no cooling.
Therefore, there is a need for a remote plasma generator with a microwave resonant cavity and gas tube that can be cooled. It would be desirable if the cooling could be provided adjacent to the gas tube along the entire length of the resonant cavity. It would be further desirable if the generator provided tuning and matching adjustments to obtain efficient operation over a wide range of pressures and reactant gases.

Resonant chamber applicator for remote plasma source


A semiconductor memory device including: an array of memory cells for storing data; a voltage regulator for regulating a variable supply voltage; and a sense amplifier, powered by a regulated voltage from the voltage regulator, for sensing data stored in a specific cell of the array.

In general, a sense amplifier is required to decode a specific cell of a memory cell array. This sense amplifier senses ON ("0" data)/OFF ("1" data) of the selected cell selected by X-decoder (bit line) and Y-decoder (bit line). An output buffer is employed to transmit the output of the sense amplifier to the next terminal.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a general semiconductor memory device has: an X-decoder part 2 connected to a cell array part 1 and a word line of each cell, for applying the signal; a Y-decoder part 3 connected to the bit line of each cell, for determining if the data stored in the cell is output; a sense amplifier 4 connected to the bit line of each cell, for sensing the data of the selected cell; and an output buffer part 5 connected to the output terminal of the sense amplifier 4. Here, the output buffer 5 is for outputting the data of the cell sensed by the sense amplifier 4.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a sense amplifier of a conventional semiconductor memory device includes first and second PMOS transistors 21, 22 to which a power supply Vdd and drain are connected; a first NMOS transistor 23 having a drain connected to the source of the second PMOS transistor 22 and a source connected to the bit line; and a second NMOS transistor 24 having a drain connected to the source of the first PMOS transistor 21 and a gate connected to the bit line. Here, the gate of the first NMOS transistor 23 is branch-connected to the source of the first PMOS transistor 21. The gates of the first and second PMOS transistors 21 and 22 are commonly connected to the Vss terminal. The output buffer 5 for outputting the data of the cell sensed by the sense amplifier is formed at the output terminal of the sense amplifier.
The operation of the thus-structured semiconductor memory device is as follows.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, if an address signal for selecting a specific cell is input to the X-decoder part 2 and Y-decoder part 3, the cell corresponding to the address signal is selected. For example, if a random cell C1 of the memory cell array 1 is selected and its data value is "1", C1 is turned off and the potential of the node K1 (which is the input terminal of the sense amplifier 4) is at the high level.
If the node K1 is at the high level, then the second NMOS transistor 24 is turned on. As the second NMOS transistor 24 is turned on, the potential of the node L1 is at the low level. As the potential of the node L1 is at the low level, the first NMOS transistor 23 is turned off. As the second PMOS transistor 22 maintains the turned-on state, the potential of the node B is at the high level.
If the potential of the node K1 is at the low level, then the second NMOS transistor 24 is turned off. As the second NMOS transistor 24 is turned off, the potential of the node L1 is at the high level. Accordingly, the high level signal is applied to the gate of the first NMOS transistor 23 connected to L1 so that the first NMOS transistor 23 is turned on. Here, as the second PMOS transistor 22 is always turned on, the power voltage Vdd is transmitted to the first NMOS transistor 23 through the second PMOS transistor 22 and the potential of the node B is at the low level. Consequently, the data output passing through the output buffer 5 becomes "0".
As illustrated in FIG. 3, in case the supply voltage is 5V, the size of the second PMOS transistor 22 and the first NMOS transistor 23 are controlled to have the optimal characteristics for detecting the data signal. According to the variation of the supply voltage, their size ratio is continuously varied.
The conventional semiconductor memory device has a problem as follows. If the supply voltage is varied, then the characteristic of the sense amplifier which should maintain the optimal characteristic is also varied. Therefore, the conventional memory device cannot be used with a wide range of supply voltages. As a result, the conventional memory device is not satisfactory to the various kinds of user requests for different supply voltages, and can cause an erroneous operation in an apparatus which employs a battery, i.e., an apparatus having variations in supply voltage.


The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and process for forming medical devices from an injectable composition. The apparatus includes a supply assembly configured to maintain and selective dispense a first precursor and a second precursor, a mixing assembly configured to mix the first and second precursors, and at least one catalyzing element including a transition metal ion to aid in the polymerization of the first and second precursors. The process includes dispensing a volume of the first precursor and a volume of the second precursor into a mixing assembly and mixing the first and second precursors. The first and second precursors each possess a core and at least one functional group known to have click reactivity with each other. The mixed precursors are contacted with a transition metal catalyst to produce a flowable composition for use as a medical device.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to crosslinked polymers, and more particularly to the use of click chemistry to form the crosslinked polymers using a transition metal ion catalyst, methods and apparatus for preparing such polymers, and medical devices made from such polymers.
Background of Related Art
Click chemistry refers to a collection of organic reactions which are capable of forming a highly reliable molecular connections in solution or bulk state. Click chemistry reactions may be highly selective, high yield reactions which should not interfere with one another as well as other reactions.
It would be desirable to make an injectable medical device by mixing and dispensing first and second precursors functionalized for crosslinking by click chemistry using a transition metal ion catalyst for placement in situ.

Apparatus and method of reacting polymers passing through metal ion chelated resin matrix to produce injectable medical devices


A pourable low-foaming alkoxylated amine oxide surfactant concentrate and method for making the concentrate are disclosed. The amine oxide concentrate has novel properties in that it is both highly concentrated and pourable at ambient temperatures. The amine oxides of the amine oxide concentrate include from about 3.5-30 moles of alkoxylated units and may be based on ether and/or fatty tertiary amine precursors. The low foaming properties and pourability of the amine oxide surfactant concentrate make the invention ideal for low-foam applications and for use in surfactant formulations.

Surfactant systems which produce little or no foam and which are easy to handle and prepare are required for many different commercial and household applications. These applications include, without limitation, waste water treatment, manufacture of textiles, paper processing, machine dish washing, high pressure cleaning, carpet cleaning, laundering and hard surface cleaning. As can be appreciated, generation of unnecessary foam in such applications could interfere with any of these respective processes.
Each of these exemplary applications include conditions conducive to formation of undesirable foam. Foam generation would be expected because of the agitation and shear forces applied.
Surfactants which can be categorized as "low foaming" or "ultra-low foaming" are best suited for applications such as those described above. By low or ultra-low foaming, it is meant that very little or no foam is generated by the surfactant when agitated. Further, any foam which is generated is typically unstable and rapidly breaks down preventing accumulation of foam during the process. These types of low-foaming systems are to be contrasted with so-called "high foaming" systems in which copious amounts of foam are generated and the foam remains stable for a long period of time.
Amine oxides are known surface-active agents and would be useful in applications such as those listed above, but for the fact that they are known to be high-foaming or difficult to prepare and handle at appropriate concentrations. With respect to foaming, it is known that amine oxides are added to various compositions as foaming agents, foam enhancers or foam stabilizers. Because of these foam-generating characteristics, amine oxides are typically found in shampoos, bath preparations and hand dish detergents. Two broad classes of amine oxides typically used in these applications include dimethyl alkyl amine oxides and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) alkyl amine oxides. These amine oxides are thought of as medium to high foaming surfactants which contribute to the overall foamability and foam stability of the detergents and cleaning compositions.
Alkoxylated amine oxides are another group of amine oxides understood to be high foaming. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,449,431 (Swenson) repeatedly characterizes certain alkoxylated amine oxides as suds builders and not as low foaming surfactants. Such molecules would be unsatisfactory for the low-foaming applications described above.
It is known that additives, such as oil and silicone, can be added to surfactant systems or processes to reduce or eliminate foaming. However, these additives are less than satisfactory because they increase the cost of the surfactant system and can leave unwanted films or deposits on the surface to be cleaned. One object of this invention is to eliminate the need for such additives.
It should be noted that U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,315 (Tseng) claims that certain forms of dimethyl alkyl amine oxide surfactants actually produce low levels of foam. However, Tseng involves a narrow class of molecules in which the side chains (designated R.sub.1) are limited to a total of two moles of alkyl and/or hydroxyalkyl groups. These narrowly-defined structures are outside the scope of the present invention.
Another significant disadvantage with prior art amine oxides is that the compositions cannot be prepared in a highly concentrated "high actives" form which is pourable. The term "actives" refers to the amine oxide which is the active constituent of the concentrate. The prior art amine oxides exist as thick viscous gels above about 40% actives at ambient temperature, i.e., about 20.degree. C. In most industrial settings, raw materials which are liquid and pourable at room temperature are preferred over raw materials which are viscous and nonpourable at such temperatures. Obviously, pourable liquids are preferred because of the ease of handling associated with liquids. Special handling techniques are needed to handle solids and highly viscous liquids typical of prior art concentrated forms of amine oxides.
These disadvantages are apparent in commercially-available amine oxides. These products are available in a pourable form but typically include no more than 40 weight percent of amine oxide and 60 or more weight percent of water. The low level of amine oxides and high water content is required to prevent formation of gelatinous or viscous products. This is disadvantageous, however, because of the added shipping cost associated with shipping inert water with the amine oxide. Further, the opportunity to use the amine oxide in a concentrated formulation is limited.
Organic solvents, such as isopropanol or ethanol, have also been used to liquify amine oxides of the prior art. The ratio of amine oxide to solvent (as compared to the ratio of amine oxide to water noted above) is improved in that solutions of up to about 70% amine oxide and about 30% solvent can be made this way. However, use of solvents increases the cost of the product and can create safety concerns due to the flammability of the solvent. Use of such solvents may also raise environmental concerns due to the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Further, a 70% actives level composition is not as desirable as a concentrate including in excess of 90% actives.
An ideal surfactant for the applications described above should have low foaming properties. The surfactant should be capable of being highly concentrated, and preferably should be a pourable liquid at room temperature. The surfactant should also have good surface-active characteristics, be compatible with other detergent ingredients and should be biodegradable. An improved surfactant with all of these characteristics would represent an important advance in the art.

Low-foaming amine oxide surfactant concentrate and method of manufacture


This invention reports a drug for hyperphospheremia and its preparative method. The preparation includes active constituents, lanthanum polystyrene sulfonate, and excipients. The preparative method in the invention can be summarized as follows: Polystyrene sulfonic acid is obtained by treating polystyrene sulfosalt with hydrochloric acid, soaked or eluted with water soluble lanthanum-contained solution, and washed with water till its PH is neutral. Then, the lanthanum polystyrene sulfonate solution is washed till the superfluous La− unexchanged is washed out. Lanthanum polystyrene sulfonate is taken out and crushed to powder after being dried. The lanthanum polystyrene sulfonate, whose weight percentage of lanthanum is 14-22%, is used as active constituents to prepare gastrointestinal tract preparations together with general amount of excipients with routine preparative method. In the invention, lanthanum polystyrene sulfonate is adopted as active constituents, mixed with excipients, and the preparation is obtained. It makes phosphate in alimentary tract become insoluble conjugates after gastrointestinal tract administration. The insoluble conjugates would be discharged. Thus, the drug can achieve the purpose of treating hyperphospheremia.

Hyperphospheremia is one of the complications following renal failure, hypoparathyroid and some other diseases, with the result of serious disorders in calcium and phosphonium metabolism. At present, the treatment for hyperphospheremia includes dialysis and oral administration of aluminium compounds, calcium compounds and lanthanum carbonate aquated complex etc. They all have some disadvantages. Dialysis would cause serious damage to body and would not decrease phosphate concentration significantly. With great systematic adverse reactions, oral aluminium and calcium compounds could damage kidney, skin, internal organs, brain and bone. Thus, they are applied clinically with limited doses. Oral lanthanum carbonate aquated complex just dissolves in solutions to remove ingested phosphate, whose PH is similar to that of gastric juice. But, it does not dissolve in solutions, whose PH is similar to that of intestinal juice. Therefore, oral lanthanum carbonate aquated complex would not remove phosphate in intestinal juice significantly. In addition, American patent reported one kind of amine polymer, with capability of removing phosphate radical in vivo. It is able to decrease phosphate in gastrointestinal tract, however, its synthesis costs are high and the produce costs would increase accordingly. Thus, it would add heavily economic burden to patients. Technologists in this field have been seeking a drug, which could play its role in different PH of the whole gastrointestinal tract. They tried to decrease its costs, with the final aim to further relieve the economic burden of patients.

Drug for hyperphospheremia and its preparative method


The invention provides a filter for separating red blood cells from a whole blood sample to form plasma. The filter includes a solid phase support and an agglutinin for red blood cells. The agglutinin is insoluble in the whole blood sample and is immobilized on the solid phase support. The present invention also includes a device and method for determining the presence of at least one of a plurality of analytes in a sample of whole blood.

Many qualitative and quantitative diagnostic self-tests have developed in the clinical field utilizing blood as a sample. Although some of these techniques can be carried out on whole blood, it is necessary with many diagnostic assays to utilize serum or plasma separated from the blood sample to obtain an accurate analysis. Otherwise, the red blood cells or impurities in the blood sample could adversely affect a measurement of either reflected or transmitted light of a diagnostic test relying on either of these measurement techniques.
The most common conventional technique for separating plasma or serum from whole blood is by centrifugation. This technique, however, is time consuming and requires equipment that is not generally available outside of the clinical laboratory. For these reasons, centrifugation is entirely inappropriate for performing diagnostic self-tests by consumers or by professionals in point-of-care facilities.
A number of methods have been devised to avoid these problems. Usually a filtering device is used to separate red blood cells from plasma. Numerous materials have been used to form filters. Paper, fabric, glass or synthetic fibers, and membrane materials having a suitable pore size appear in the prior art.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,224 to Vogel discloses a device for separating plasma or serum from whole blood and analyzing the serum using a glass fiber layer having specific dimensions and absorption to separate out the plasma from the whole blood for subsequent reaction. Among the problems of using glass fibers alone or in an admixture with other fibers is the slow rate of penetration by whole blood and the tendency to clog easily with practical yields of plasma usually being less than 25%. Furthermore, only small amounts of plasma or serum are entirely devoid of red blood cells or hemoglobin contamination which could interfere with subsequent quantitative measurements.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,776 to Hillman et al. which disclose a method of separating plasma from blood using a capillary force to drive the blood through fibers to a reaction area. Once the reaction area is saturated, the capillary force ceases and the transportation of the blood through the fibers and onto the reaction area stops. Two specific filtering media are disclosed: glass fibers alone or other cellulosic materials fibers using a soluble red cell agglutinin added in free form to the filtration medium. The free form of agglutinin, however, can migrate from the fibers to contaminate the plasma with the red blood cells bound to the agglutinin. Also, a portion of the plasma is unusable because it remains in the filter to fill the void volume created in the bed of fibers. Another problem can be the concentration of the agglutinin. A minimum amount of agglutinin is required to achieve agglutination. Too much agglutinin slows the movement of the plasma.
These prior art methods have proven unsuitable for applications involving diagnostic devices with space and volume restraints. Diagnostic devices also require an efficient method of separating plasma from a minute blood sample, often just one drop, to produce a sufficient volume of plasma to be transported through the assay portion of the device. The time allowed to complete the separation of the blood sample is also important so that the reaction chemistry can be accurately completed and the results are provided in a timely manner for the convenience of the user.
Thus, a need exists in the field of diagnostics for a blood separation filter and method which is sufficiently timely, efficient, and reliable for use in a diagnostic device which permits point-of-care use by untrained individuals in locations such as the home, sites of medical emergencies, or locations other than a clinic.

Device for blood separation in a diagnostic device


An undercoat agent used for phase separating a layer containing a block copolymer having a block of a structural unit derived from an (α-substituted) acrylate ester on a substrate, and which contains a resin component including a structural unit represented by formula (ba0-1), and/or a structural unit represented by formula (ba0-2), and a structural unit (ba0-3) having a substrate interacting group,

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an undercoat agent and a method of producing a structure containing a phase-separated structure.
Background Art
In recent years, the continued miniaturization of large scale integrated circuits (LSI) has led to demands for techniques capable of processing ever finer structures. In response to the demands, testing has commenced into the formation of finer patterns using phase-separated structures that are formed by the self-assembly of a block copolymer containing mutually incompatible blocks bonded together. (For an example, refer to JP-A-2008-36491).
To utilize the aforementioned type of phase-separated structure of a block copolymer, a self-assembled nanostructure formed by microphase separation must be formed only within a specific region, and must be oriented in the desired direction. To achieve this positional control and orientation control, processes such as graphoepitaxy, which controls the phase-separated pattern using a guide pattern, and chemical epitaxy, which controls the phase-separated pattern based on differences in the chemical state of the substrate, have been proposed (for an example, refer to Proceedings of SPIE, V. 7637, 76370G-1(2010)).
In the chemical epitaxy process, a neutralization film containing a surface treatment agent which has affinity with any of the blocks that constitute the block copolymer is disposed on the substrate surface in a predetermined pattern. By the pattern (guide pattern) of the neutralization film disposed on the substrate surface, orientation of each phase of the phase-separated structure is controlled. Therefore, to form a predetermined phase-separated structure, it is important to dispose the neutralization film in accordance with a period of the block copolymer.
For these block copolymers, block copolymers having a block formed from a repeating unit of a styrene and a block formed from a repeating unit of methyl methacrylate (PS-b-PMMA) are being widely investigated, and it is claimed that PS-b-PMMA is a material that can be used in the formation of very fine patterns down to approximately 13 nm.
Additionally, investigations are currently also being conducted into pattern formation methods using Si-containing block copolymers, which have been identified as materials potentially capable of realizing the formation of patterns of even finer dimensions. Block copolymer layers formed using these Si-containing block copolymers have low surface energy.

Undercoat agent and method of producing structure containing phase-separated structure

Abstract: wherein R represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or a halogenated alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, R1 and R2 represent a halogen atom or an organic group of 1 to 20 carbon atoms which may contain an oxygen atom, a halogen atom, or a silicon atom, and n is 1 to 5.


A system and method for conducting an optical inspection of a biological, chemical, or biochemical sample supported by an optical transparent disc. The disc is mounted for rotation about its central axis whilst a light source and detector are mounted on an arm for rotation in an arc crossing the surface of the disc. The source is arranged above the disc and the detector below the disc with the optical axes of the two being aligned so that the entire usable surface of the disc can be scanned by the light source and detector. The disc is provided with a calibration marking which interrupts the passage of the light beam when the beam passes over it, thus allowing the scan to be aligned relative to the disc. The optical properties of the sample supported on the substrate can be automatically and rapidly inspected by analyzing the output of the light detector.

The present invention relates to apparatus and to a method for carrying out optical analysis of samples and is applicable in particular to the analysis of biological, chemical and biochemical samples.
Many chemical, biochemical and biological assays rely upon inducing a change in the optical properties of a biological sample being tested. For example, in order to test for the presence of an antibody in a blood sample, possibly indicating a viral infection, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) can be carried out which produces a visible coloured deposit if the antibody is present. An ELISA makes use of a surface which is coated with an antigen specific to the antibody to be tested for. Upon exposure of the surface to the blood sample, antibodies in the sample bind to the antigens. Subsequent staining of the surface with specific enzyme-conjugated antibodies and reaction of the enzyme with a substrate produces a precipitate which shows up the level of antigen binding and hence allows the presence of antibodies in the sample to be identified. This identification is usually carried out using a light microscope which allows an area of the substrate to be viewed by an operator.
In addition to colour staining using an ELISA, techniques such as fluorescence and gold labelling can be used to alter the optical properties of biological antigen material. Similar techniques are also used in general histology to visualise specific areas of tissue, e.g. particular cell types or cell structures, as well as in cell culture.
A significant disadvantage of existing optical analysis techniques is that they are open to human error because of their subjective nature. These techniques are also not suited to uses where a high throughput of samples is required, for example in blood screening applications or cervical smear tests, and are thus relatively expensive to use. The cost factor is exacerbated because, more often than not, different equipment is required for each particular technique.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for carrying out the optical analysis of samples which overcomes or at least mitigates certain of these disadvantages.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an optical analysis technique which allows high speed automatic analysis of biological, biochemical and chemical samples and which is versatile enough to allow it to be used for a variety of different studies.

Apparatus and method for carrying out analysis of samples

The University Court of the University of Glasgow


A network element includes a client port configured to receive a signal for transmission; a line port configured to transmit the signal to a far end via Optical Transport Network (OTN); circuitry configured to communicate one or more of a fault and a status associated with the signal to the far end via OTN overhead. The circuitry configured to communicate can be for the fault and utilizes one or more Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) layers in the OTN overhead. The circuitry configured to communicate can be for the status and utilizes one or more of Optical Data Unit (ODU) Performance Monitoring (PM) and one or more Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) layers.

OTN is defined in, for example, ITU-T Recommendation G.709 (June/2016) "Interfaces for the Optical Transport Network (OTN)," ITU-T Recommendation G.798 (December/2017) "Characteristics of optical transport network hierarchy equipment functional blocks," etc., the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. OTN networks and standards employ line and path level protection but may require additional non-standard capabilities for physical layer protection. Optical Data Unit (ODU) and TCM path status typically reflects the status between the origination and termination points of the ODU and TCM path, whereas physical layer protection requires the client status prior to the origination of the path to be communicated to the far end. OTN standards-compliant equipment will communicate client faults to the far end only via an Optical Path Unit (OPU) Client Signal Fail (CSF) indication in the OPU overhead and a replacement signal within the OPU payload.
Providing signal conditioning at the ODU path layer, as in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 9,088,380, issued Jul. 21, 2015, and entitled "Optical transport network generic non-client specific protection systems and methods," the contents of which are incorporated by reference, allows additional benefits by escalating these client faults to ODU path layer faults so that the far end protection scheme only needs ODU path visibility in order to protect against near end client faults, which is typical in Sub-Network Connection with Non-intrusive end-to-end monitoring (SNC/Ne) protection schemes using standard OTN equipment. The standards-based solution of communicating client faults via the OPU CSF indication and a replacement signal means that the far end protection scheme needs to terminate the ODU path and OPU layers for each path independently before performing the protection switch. OTN equipment will typically only have this capability after the protected connection function, which is too late for protection purposes.
OPU and payload-based solutions also do not provide any protection signaling capability, as there is no Automatic Protection Switching (APS) channel available at those layers. U.S. Pat. No. 9,088,380 solved this problem by using an ODU path status to communicate the client fault to far end nodes for protection. This enables any subsequent node to use the ODU path status for path protection. But it still means that there is only a single mechanism for communicating the local failures to the far end. Cascaded ODU Path protection schemes could be employed, but they would all be using the same ODU Path status which does not provide the flexibility of TCMs.
Also, OTN networks currently provide the ability to propagate the CSF status across a network within the OPU overhead via the OPU CSF (Client Signal Fail) status bit. Because the client signal is failed, it usually is accompanied by a replacement signal within the payload of the OPU. This CSF status only exists within the OPU overhead, not within TCM Overhead. OPU overhead is generally not visible unless the ODU Performance Monitoring (PM) layer is terminated. The OPU CSF functionality only applies for a failed client signal, not for a degraded client signal. Degraded signals are transported silently and transparently through an OTN network. A degraded signal may be detected at the point where the client is extracted from the OPU payload if the errors are present at that point in the network, but not if the errors are Forward Error Correction (FEC) corrected at the client ingress point in the network.
Client Admin Down states and Equipment Failed states are not explicitly communicated across an OTN network and have no direct ability to trigger a far end protection switch or raise an alarm for the specific Admin Down or Equipment Failed state. These states can overload an existing status or utilize a replacement signal/Alarm Indication Signal (AIS) insertion if action/alarms are desired at the far end. Other typical solutions involve traffic conditioning to the far end which does have the ability to provide protection and alarming capabilities at any point along the ODU path.
The primary purpose of having a CSF alarmable defect at the far end of the network is because it is a demarcation point to indicate that the fault was upon entry into the network and not introduced within the network itself. With the current known solutions, there is no means to provide a far-end notification such as a defect for degraded client signals, degraded physical signals which may be preludes to a failed signal, or explicitly for states such as Client Admin Down or Equipment Failed.
Conventional solutions employ a CSF status only within the OPU overhead. The OPU overhead is typically only visible at the point where the ODU PM layer has been terminated, and the client signal is being extracted. Thus, any such client defect which has a status within the OPU overhead is not available at the following network locations: at the input to an SNC/Ne protected connection; at OTN handoff points between network operators; and at any locations using TCMs for status, such as Sub-Network Connection with Non-intrusive sublayer monitoring (SNC/Ns) or Sub-Network Connection with Sub-layer monitoring (SNC/S) protected connections.
When the near end (which has the client fault) offers physical layer protection, such as Y-cable protection (Y-cable protection is a network-side protection scheme that protects an interface with a splitter and combiner), it may be desirable to trigger a protection switch at the far end in order to maintain error-free traffic. Conventional solutions do not provide a mechanism to trigger that far end protection switch for these client statuses, particularly in unidirectional protection applications which do not use APS byte signaling.
Using traffic conditioning to signal faults to the far end will squelch client traffic which may not be desirable in some fault scenarios. For example, the nature of an equipment failure may not affect the ability to carry this client service, but the network operator may still wish to switch traffic away from the path with the failed equipment if possible. Or the degraded physical signal may not impact traffic, perhaps because client FEC is correcting all errors, but because it may signify a degrading cable, a protection switch away from that client may be desirable.
If the client is an OTN client, it may be possible that there are bit errors at the Optical Transport Unit (OTU) layer which are not present at the ODU layer, but because the OTU layer is terminated, it is not possible to signal this degrade defect to the far-end.

Generic non-client specific protection via TCM status and enhanced OTN network propagation of client faults


A fuel system for an engine is disclosed. The fuel system may have a first fuel injector configured to inject a first stream of gaseous fuel radially into a combustion chamber of a cylinder of the engine through a first air intake port. The fuel system may also have a second fuel injector configured to inject a second stream of gaseous fuel radially into the combustion chamber through a second air intake port to collide with the first stream of gaseous fuel.

Due to the rising cost of liquid fuel (e.g. diesel fuel) and ever increasing restrictions on exhaust emissions, engine manufacturers have developed dual-fuel engines. An exemplary dual-fuel engine provides injections of a low-cost gaseous fuel (e.g. natural gas) through air intake ports of the engine's cylinders. The gaseous fuel is introduced with clean air that enters through the intake ports and is ignited by liquid fuel that is injected during each combustion cycle. Because a lower-cost fuel is used together with liquid fuel, cost efficiency may be improved. In addition, the combustion of the gaseous and liquid fuel mixture may result in a reduction of harmful emissions.
An exemplary dual fuel engine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,206 that issued to Welch et al. on Jul. 30, 1991. In particular, the '206 patent discloses a dual-fuel engine having an engine cylinder with a gaseous fuel injector for injecting natural gas into the combustion chamber to mix with separately-injected diesel fuel. The gaseous fuel injector includes a delivery conduit mounted at a location above cylinder intake ports. This location above the intake ports may allow for injection of the gaseous fuel later in the cycle, such as after the intake ports have been closed by the piston.
While the dual-fuel engine of the '206 patent may result in lower operating costs and/or exhaust emissions, it may be less than ideal. In particular, it may be possible for fuel that is injected while the intake ports are open to escape through another one of the ports. Further, injecting fuel after the intake ports are closed may result in inefficient mixing of the fuel and intake air. Also, in order to install the delivery conduit above the intake ports, modification of the cylinder may be necessary to include an aperture that accommodates the conduit. This extra fabrication step may reduce retrofit applicability.
The disclosed fuel system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Fuel system having multiple gaseous fuel injectors


A bulk-glass forming Ni—Cr—Nb—P—B alloy is provided. The alloy includes Ni(100−a−b−c−d)CraTabPcBd, where the atomic percent a is between 3 and 11, the atomic percent b is between 1.75 and 4, the atomic percent c is between 14 and 17.5, and the atomic percent d is between 2.5 and 5. The alloy is capable of forming a metallic glass having a lateral dimension of at least 3 mm.

Bulk-glass forming Ni—Cr—Nb—P—B alloys capable of forming metallic glass rods with diameters of 3 mm or greater have been disclosed in recent applications: (1) U.S. Patent Application No. 61/720,015, entitled "Bulk Nickel-Based Chromium and Phosphorous Bearing Metallic Glasses with High Toughness", filed on Oct. 30, 2012, and (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/067,521, filed on Oct. 30, 2013. Each of the foregoing applications is incorporated herein by reference. In these earlier applications, Ni-based alloys with a Cr content of between 5 and 9 atomic percent, a Nb content of between 3 and 4 atomic percent, a B content of about 3 atomic percent, and a P content of about 16.5 atomic percent, were capable of forming metallic glass rods with diameters as large as 11 mm or larger. In these earlier applications, it was also disclosed that Ta can partially substitute Nb without significantly affecting glass-forming ability.
Commercial sourcing of the elements in an alloy can significantly affect the overall price associated with the commercial production of an alloy. This effect could be significant even in cases where the total concentration of an element in the alloy is relatively small, like in the case of niobium in the aforementioned alloys. Suppliers of tantalum are different from niobium. For example, the large-scale suppliers of niobium are in Brazil and Canada, but the ore in Brazil and Canada yields a small percentage of tantalum. In other countries, such as China, Ethiopia, and Mozambique, mine ores yield a higher percentage of tantalum. Tantalum is also produced as a by-product of the tin mining in Thailand and Malaysia.
Conventional Ni-based Cr, Ta, and P bearing alloys have limited glass forming ability due to the fact that the compositions require rapid solidification (cooling rates typically on the order of hundreds of thousands of degrees per second) to form an amorphous phase, and therefore the maximum thickness of metallic glass objects that can be formed from such alloys is very limited. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,989 by Hashimoto et al is directed to Ni—Cr—Ta—P—B—Si corrosion-resistant metallic glasses. Hashimoto focused primarily on achieving high-corrosion resistance for metallic glass foils. Specifically, Hashimoto requires the alloys to have the sum of the atomic percent of Cr and the atomic percent of Ta to be at least 10% to achieve passivation and to promote corrosion resistance.
However, Hashimoto only discloses the formation of very thin metallic glass foils with thicknesses ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 mm by ultra-rapid solidification, but does not describe how one would obtain specific compositions requiring low cooling rates to form bulk metallic glasses with thicknesses on the order of millimeters. Hashimoto is also silent on the mechanical properties of the bulk metallic glasses, such as their toughness. The engineering applications of two-dimensional foil-shaped articles are very limited. Examples include coating and brazing. The engineering applications of 1 to 2 mm rods are also restricted, because practically they are capable of forming only very thin engineering components with sub-millimeter thickness.
Hashimoto et al discloses Ni—Cr—Ta—P—B alloys capable of forming metallic glass rods 1 to 2 mm in diameter in a journal article (Materials Science and Engineering A304-306 (2001) 696-700, by H. Habazaki, T. Sato, K. Kawashima, K. Asami, K. Hashimoto). Hashimoto discloses that the Ni—Cr—Ta—P—B alloys include 16 at % P, 4 at % B, 5-20 at % Cr, 0-20 at % Mo, and 0-20 at % Ta. As an example, Ni65Cr10Ta5P16B4 alloy formed an amorphous rod of 2 mm in diameter. However, no guidelines are presented in this article that would enable one skilled in the art to obtain a range of Ni—Cr—Ta—P—B alloy compositions capable of forming bulk metallic glass rods with diameters greater than 3 mm.
One requirement for broad engineering applications is a capacity to form bulk three-dimensional articles with dimensions on the order of several millimeters. For example, applications include fabricating an enclosure for electronic devices using metallic glasses, including mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, instrument windows, appliance screens, and the like. Specifically, slab-shaped articles of 1 mm in thickness, or equivalent (from a cooling rate consideration, since a given amount of heat can more effectively be removed from a rod than a slab) rod-shaped articles of 3 mm in diameter, are generally regarded as the lower limits in size for broad engineering applications.
Another requirement for broad engineering applications is the ability for the millimeter-thick articles to undergo macroscopic plastic bending under load without fracturing catastrophically. This requires that the bulk metallic glasses have relatively high fracture toughness.
Accordingly, there remains a need for developing Ni—Cr—Ta—P—B alloys capable of forming bulk metallic glasses, and specifically metallic glass rods with diameters of at least 3 mm.

Bulk nickel-phosphorus-boron glasses bearing chromium and tantalum


An optical module comprises: a sub-mount 1, having four photodiodes 12 and two guide grooves 10 disposed on an optical element mounting surface 16; a fiber fixing member 2, having four V-grooves 21, four concave mirrors 22, and two guide rails 20 disposed on an optical fiber fixing surface 26; and four optical fibers 3, fixed to the fiber fixing member 2. With this optical module, the sub-mount 1 and fiber fixing member 2 are aligned and fixed by the fitting together of the guide grooves 10 and guide rails 20. A passive alignment type optical module that enables mass production and cost reduction is thus realized.

With the improvement and expansion of backbone infrastructure in recent years, the focus of attention in the optical communication market is being directed to the furnishing of user line equipment and equipment for connecting user lines with the backbone. Specifically, enhancement of metro area networks, access systems, and school and company LANs and higher speeds and greater capacities in provider's servers and routers are being desired.
In particular, optical connections in a school or company LAN or among servers, routers, etc., within a provider are called VSR (Very Short Reach) or interconnections. Although being short in distance, signal transmissions of high speed and high volume are desired of such optical connections. Since low cost is also desired, expensive equipment, such as that required for optical connection at a transmission rate of 10 Gbps, is not suitable even if it enables high speed.
Due to such demands, optical modules for performing parallel transmission of optical signals at a maximum rate of approximately 2.5 Gbps are being noted. With such an optical module, a tape fiber, which is an optical fiber array, and an optical semiconductor element array are aligned and connected to transmit a plurality of optical signals in parallel. However, if the alignment is performed by fiber alignment, a low-cost optical module cannot be realized. Optical modules, with which alignment is carried out by passive alignment, have thus been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H7-77634, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H7-151940).
FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of a conventional passive alignment type optical module (see the document, "IEICE Technical Report LQE99–130, pp. 1–6"). The alignment of an optical fiber 92 and an optical semiconductor element 94 is carried out by the insertion and adhesion of guide pins 95, provided in a fiber ferrule 91, into guide pin insertion holes 96 provided in a substrate 93. Here, the optical fiber 92 is inserted in a fiber insertion portion that is aligned with respect to the guide pins 95 and optical semiconductor element 94 is aligned and fixed on the substrate 93 using an aligning mark, formed by the same mask process as the guide pin insertion holes 96, as a guide.


In a semiconductor device constituted of stacked semiconductor chips, in order to independently test each of the chips, a second chip is disposed to face a first chip, with a second interconnection terminal thereof connected to a first interconnection terminal of the first chip. First and second external terminals of the first and second chips are formed on surfaces of the first and second chips, the surface being on a same side of the first and second chips. Therefore, even after the first chip and the second chip are pasted together, it is possible to test the first chip and the second chip while operating them independently. Further, since test probes or the like can be brought into contact with the external terminals of the first chip and the second chip from the same side, it is possible to simultaneously test the first chip and the second chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device constituted of stacked semiconductor chips, adopting a Chip on Chip technology or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a volume of data handled in system products such as mobile phones have dramatically increased. In accordance with this increase, capacities of semiconductor memories mounted in the system products have also increased and there has arisen a demand for semiconductor memories with a high data transfer rate. Generally, as a semiconductor device mounted in a system product of this type, there has been provided a System on Chip (SoC) in which a logic (controller) and memories are integrated on one chip, and a System in Package (SiP) in which a logic chip and a memory chip are stacked and sealed in one package. A semiconductor process of the SoC is complicated and also costs high. On the other hand, the SiP is formed by packaging a plurality of semiconductor chips each of which is manufactured by using an existing semiconductor process, and thus does not require the development of a new semiconductor process and is relatively low in manufacturing cost. Therefore, system products using the SiP have recently been on an increasing trend.
Further, a Chip on Chip (CoC) technology which connects chips by micro-bumps or the like in order to reduce a parasitic LCR and to increase a data transfer rate has been increasingly adopted for the SiP, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-39160, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-39161, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-109419, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-332192, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-94037, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 61-42942.
In the CoC, when chips are connected to each other by micro-bumps or the like, element formed surfaces are made to face each other in most cases in order to reduce the parasitic LCR to the minimum. In this case, after the CoC is assembled, a surface of a semiconductor chip with a smaller chip size (small chip) is covered with a semiconductor chip with a larger chip size (large chip). This does not allow the direct connection of external terminals of the small chip to external terminals of a semiconductor device. Therefore, it is not possible to test the small chip alone if not through the large chip. Further, it is not possible to supply power to the small chip if not through the large chip.

Semiconductor device comprising chip on chip structure


Pair of foldable lounge seats are connected along their respective inboard sides to a table panel positioned between the two lounge seats. Convex depression in the top of each lounge seat panel accommodates collapsing of hinged seat back rest. Lounge seats and table panel are foldable into a compact rectangular shape. Carrying strap is provided for transporting the collapsed device. Opening through table panel accommodates umbrella pole, which is used to secure device to ground when in use. Umbrella retaining straps are provided on the outboard surface of the collapsed device for easy transporting of the device together with an umbrella.

It is a well known problem that when persons spend a recreational day at the beach, the site is typically some considerable distance away from the persons' transportation. In addition, it if frequently desirable to take to the beach various items such as beach chairs, umbrellas, tables and assorted sundries such as towels and sun tan lotion. Many prior designs of beach furniture are known which have addressed the problems associated with transporting these various apparatus from the car to the beach. Accordingly, most prior beach furniture designs generally comprise folding rigid frames which support light-weight webbing.
A problem with such prior devices is that, although they can be somewhat folded up they typically do not sufficiently collapse for convenient storage and transport. In addition, while prior individual beach chairs can be folded, typically only individual chairs fold up, thus making it cumbersome to carry more than one such chair, particularly if it is desired, at the same time, to carry an umbrella.


A containment vessel used to enclose an energy storage flywheel system during certification testing of the energy storage flywheel system includes a plurality of concentrically disposed vessels. One or more intermediate shields are freely disposed within an outer shield, and an inner shield is freely disposed within the intermediate shields. The inner shield includes a deflector rim disposed proximate one of its ends that is configured to absorb the energy of ejected material, in the highly unlikely event of a flywheel failure during testing.

Many satellites and other spacecraft, as well as some terrestrial stationary and vehicle applications, such as seagoing vessels, can include one or more energy storage flywheel systems to provide both a backup power source and to provide attitude control for the vehicle. In such vehicle applications, each energy storage flywheel system is controlled and regulated to balance the electrical demand in the vehicle electrical distribution system, and may also be controlled in response to programmed or remote attitude (or torque) commands received by a main controller in the vehicle.
In many instances an energy storage flywheel system includes one or more components that are rotationally mounted within a housing. These components, which may be referred to as the rotating group, include, for example, an energy storage flywheel, a motor/generator, and a shaft. The energy storage flywheel and motor/generator may be mounted on the shaft, which may in turn be rotationally mounted in the housing via one or more bearing assemblies. In many instances, the shaft is rotationally mounted using one or more primary bearing assemblies, and one or more secondary, or back-up, bearing assemblies. For example, in many satellite and spacecraft applications, the flywheel system may include one or more magnetic bearing assemblies that function as the primary bearing assemblies, and one or more mechanical bearing assemblies that function as the secondary bearing assemblies.
The rotating group in an energy storage flywheel system may rotate at several thousand revolutions per minute (rpm) during operation. For example, in some applications, the rotating group may reach rotational speeds of up to 100,000 rpm. As a result, the rotating group may experience relatively high centrifugal stresses during rotation. These relatively high centrifugal stresses may, in some highly unlikely instances, cause the rotating group to suffer a structural failure while rotating at high rotational speed. This in turn may result in high-speed fragments being thrown from the rotating group. These high-speed fragments could present a hazard to surrounding systems and components, as well as to persons that may be in the vicinity. In addition, if such an unlikely failure were to occur while testing a flywheel rotor that is constructed of a composite material, such as filament wound carbon fiber, individual fibers can be thrown from the flywheel. These fibers can have sufficient energy to ignite and generate plasma.
Thus, before placing an energy storage flywheel system into service, the system, or at least the rotating group, undergo certification testing at full speed to ensure the rotating group can withstand the centrifugal forces at full speed. When an energy storage flywheel system, or at least the rotating group, is being certification tested, the components under test may be placed in a containment vessel. The containment vessel is preferably designed to contain any high-speed fragments that could potentially result from an unlikely structural failure of the rotating group while rotating at full speed.
Although presently known containment vessels are generally safe and reliable, these known vessels do suffer certain drawbacks. For example, many vessels are susceptible to undesirable vibration during flywheel system testing, and/or are not designed to fully contain all the high-speed fragments and/or plasma that may be generated during a highly unlikely failure during testing.
Hence, there is a need for a containment vessel that improves on one or more of the above-noted drawbacks. Namely, a containment vessel that is configured to damp undesirable vibration during flywheel system testing, and/or to fully contain all the high-speed fragments and/or plasma that may be generated during a highly unlikely failure during testing. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.

Energy storage flywheel system containment vessel


The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring an analyte in a host. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for transcutaneous measurement of glucose in a host.

Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which the pancreas cannot create sufficient insulin (Type I or insulin dependent) and/or in which insulin is not effective (Type 2 or non-insulin dependent). In the diabetic state, the victim suffers from high blood sugar, which can cause an array of physiological derangements associated with the deterioration of small blood vessels, for example, kidney failure, skin ulcers, or bleeding into the vitreous of the eye. A hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar) can be induced by an inadvertent overdose of insulin, or after a normal dose of insulin or glucose-lowering agent accompanied by extraordinary exercise or insufficient food intake.
Conventionally, a person with diabetes carries a self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) monitor, which typically requires uncomfortable finger pricking methods. Due to the lack of comfort and convenience, a person with diabetes normally only measures his or her glucose levels two to four times per day. Unfortunately, such time intervals are so far spread apart that the person with diabetes likely finds out too late of a hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic condition, sometimes incurring dangerous side effects. It is not only unlikely that a person with diabetes will take a timely SMBG value, it is also likely that he or she will not know if his or her blood glucose value is going up (higher) or down (lower) based on conventional method. This inhibits the ability to make educated insulin therapy decisions.
A variety of sensors are known that use an electrochemical cell to provide output signals by which the presence or absence of an analyte, such as glucose, in a sample can be determined. For example, in an electrochemical cell, an analyte (or a species derived from it) that is electro-active generates a detectable signal at an electrode, and this signal can be used to detect or measure the presence and/or amount within a biological sample. In some conventional sensors, an enzyme is provided that reacts with the analyte to be measured, and the byproduct of the reaction is qualified or quantified at the electrode. An enzyme has the advantage that it can be very specific to an analyte and also, when the analyte itself is not sufficiently electro-active, can be used to interact with the analyte to generate another species which is electro-active and to which the sensor can produce a desired output. In one conventional amperometric glucose oxidase-based glucose sensor, immobilized glucose oxidase catalyses the oxidation of glucose to form hydrogen peroxide, which is then quantified by amperometric measurement (for example, change in electrical current) through a polarized electrode.


A low-wear sensor with little structural outlay to detect a combined linear and rotational movement, such as in a print roller (10). In one embodiment, a PLCD (Permanent Magnetic Linear contactless Displacement) sensor includes a magnet (5) which can be rotated about a longitudinally extended coil (2). A ring magnet is particularly suitable for this. The linear position of the ring magnet can be determined independently of its rotational movement (7) by means of the voltage induced in coils (3,4). Detection of the linear position is contactless and thus wear-free.

Drives are needed for certain applications, e.g. distributor rollers in printing machines, whereby a rotational movement can be superimposed with a short-stroke linear movement. A so-called combination drive, whereby an electric (torque) motor is combined structurally with a linear motor, enables such superimposed movement to be produced. Both sub-drives each require a feedback sensor, which must not be influenced by the other movement in each instance. This means that the linear position sensor cannot be influenced by the rotational movement of the drive and the rotation sensor must operate independently of any linear movement.
In the printing industry however with the combination drives mainly used for at present for distributor rollers the linear movement is generated from the rotational movement by way of a mechanical system, e.g. cam plates, connecting rods, etc. In this case, only a conventional rotation sensor is required, which is integrated into the motor. It detects the rotational movement and the linear movement is automatically derived from this.

Position sensor and corresponding method for detecting the position of a rotating element