The modulator is formed by a smectic chiral ferroelectric C* liquid crystal cell (CL), crossed by the light signal which is transmitted by the said fibre. The cell (CL) is provided with transparent walls and transparent command electrodes (5 to 7). The liquid crystal (CL), used in half-wave mode, is of the SSFLC (surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal) type, having a wide tile angle .theta., which is as close as possible to 45.degree., in such a way that the said modulator is insensitive to polarisation. The modulator may be connected to two parallel fibres (A2, A3; B2, B3), pertaining to the intermediary part of a Mach-Zehnder coupler between the two 3 dB couplers, and when it is provided in order to modulate the light signal transmitted by either one of the two fibres.

A Mach-Zehnder directional coupler, such as that shown in FIG. 1 of this application, comprises two identical single mode guide elements, A and B, and comprises two couplers. The first coupler C1, on the left, has a length .LAMBDA./4, where .LAMBDA. is the coupling period, and produces the transfer effect towards the guide element B of half the optical power which has entered the guide A. In guide B, at the output of coupler C1, the light wave leads in phase of .pi./2. At the other end, the second coupler C2, has an identical length, and is capable of providing either the transfer to the guide B of the second half of the light if the phase at the input of the coupler C2 is still leading in phase .pi./2 at the input of the coupler C2, coupler C2 returns the light from guide B to guide A if the phase lags by .pi./2. The function of the switching unit from one channel to the other is ensured by means of an electro-optical phase modulator M.
By way of information, with regard to Mach-Zehnder couplers, reference may be made to the technical study "Fibre-optic systems" by P. Halley, published by Eyrolles in 1985, page 143.
In the technical study "Transmissions by fibre optics", by Y. Suematsu et al., published by Masson in 1984, pages 110 and 111, there is likewise a disclosure and description of an optical switching device consisting of two phase modulators, operating respectively on each branch of a Mach-Zehnder coupler.
An initial object of the present invention includes providing, as the electro-optical modulator in a Mach-Zehnder coupler, a liquid crystal ferroelectric electro-optical coupler which engenders bi-refractivity modulation by the rotation of the optical axis, and which allows for phase modulation, which is adapted to the function principles of a Mach-Zehnder coupler.
By way of further information, both the principle and the obtaining of an index modulation, or of a binary or analog phase in a ferroelectric liquid crystal, have been described in the technical article "Programmable phase-only optical device based on ferroelectric liquid crystal SLM" by S. E. Broomfield et al., which appeared in the British publication Electronics Letters Jan. 2, 1982, Vol. 28, pp. 26-23, and in the technical article "High speed analog refractive index modulator that uses a chiral smectic liquid crystal", by A. Sneh et al., which appeared in the American Journal Optics Letters of Feb. 15, 1994, Vol. 19. No. 4, pp. 305-307.
In relation to other electro-optical modulators, liquid crystal modulators are interesting solutions due to the fact that substantial electro-optical effects are obtained under a weak electrical field, and at low cost. With smectic liquid crystals, it is possible to achieve practical switching times of a few tens of microseconds. Among the smectic liquid crystals which allow for binary phase modulation and which can be controlled almost perfectly, C* smectics are the best suited for the application envisaged according to the invention, for allowing for modulation (0, .pi.). A second quality relates to the insensitivity to polarisation. More precisely, the electro-optical modulator must be insensitive simultaneously to the state and to the orientation of the polarisation, to the extent that it is no longer possible to control the state of input polarisation of the Mach-Zehnder coupler, or at least to control its orientation.
By way of still further information, different solutions have already been described and proposed to overcome this disadvantage, in this context. For example, reference is made to the document WO-A-94 25893 and to the technical article "Polarisation-insensitive operation of ferroelectric liquid crystal devices", by S. T. Warr et al., which appeared in the British journal Electronics Letters of Mar. 6, 1995, Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 714-716.
In addition to this interest has been shown in the use of a liquid crystal at a broad tile angle .theta., close on 45.degree., and operating in half-wave to provide binary phase converters, with a minimum of losses and insensitive to polarisation.
This type of component appears to be extremely well-suited for providing an electro-optical phase modulator which can be used in a directional Mach-Zehnder coupler.
According to the invention, it is proposed to make use of an SSFLC (surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal) cell in an electro-optical phase modulator, such as a liquid crystal, the particular feature of which is the provision of a wide tilt angle .theta. which should be as close as possible to 45.degree..
FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the known principles of operation of a traditional SSFLC cell. The cell CL has perpendicular layers at the walls P1 and P2, constituted by two large rectangular surfaces. The thickness of the cell CL is the distance between the two walls P1 and P2, and is selected to be equal to .LAMBDA./2; i.e. this is a half-wave cell. The cell CL and the transparent walls P1 and P2 are assumed to transmit a light bundle Z, the incident wave level of which is symbolically represented in front of the cell CL by its electromagnetic field vectors E and H. The transparent walls P1 and P2 are electrical conductors and can be submitted to a difference in electrical potential +E, indicated by an arrow tail or -E, indicated by an arrow head.
With a cell CL in which the tilt angle .theta. is close to 45.degree., for a difference in potential of +E, which corresponds to the state E1, representing in schematic form the orientation of the molecules, and for a difference in potential -E, which corresponds to the status E2, representing schematically the switched orientation of the molecules, it can be seen that, between the state E1 and the state E2 the orientation of the molecules has turned through .pi./2. On the right in FIG. 2, the state E1 is symbolically represented by an ellipse, the main axis of which carriers the vector n.sub.e (extraordinary index), and the lesser axis of which bears the vector n.sub.o (ordinary index).
By way of example given that .DELTA.n=0.12 for .LAMBDA.=546 mm, and that .DELTA.n=0.1 for .LAMBDA.1550 nm, a thickness of the cell can be derived in the order of 7 .mu.m in order to obtain a half-wave. The response time is 126 .mu.s for a voltage of 10 V/.mu.m at a temperature of 25.degree. C., and the spontaneous polarisation is 72 nC/cm2. It may be noted that, for a voltage of 20 V/.mu.m, the response time would be 60 .mu.s.
In the principle diagram in FIG. 2, it can be seen that the optical axis of the liquid crystal rotates through 90.degree. if .theta. is equal to 45.degree., by changing the sign of the electrical field applied, E. When the thickness of the liquid crystal is a half-wave, a phase variation is obtained which is equal to .pi. between the two individual axes, whatever the state of polarisation might be.
Assume a state of rectilinear polarisation of any orientation at all. A transition to a state of any elliptical polarisation will exert no change in the principle of phase modulation in the context of rectilinear polarisation when the anisotropic phase displacement .phi. is equal to .pi. and .theta. is equal to 45.degree..
FIG. 3 which represents a diagram showing the orientation of the two neutral axes of an SSFLC cell used in the embodiments of the invention. Assume of an incident rectilinear polarisation Pi, oriented in accordance with Pv. In determining the references for the horizontal rectilinear polarisation Ph and vertical polarisation Pv, the Kones matrix of an SSPLC liquid crystal is, in general: ##EQU1## where .theta. is the tile angle, s is a function of the position of the neutral axes in relation to the vertical polarisation Pv and .phi.=2.pi.e/.LAMBDA.(n.sub.s +n.sub.o) is the anisotropic phase-displacement where. The constant phase displacement .phi. is=.pi.e/.LAMBDA.(n.sub..phi. +n.sub.o) has been ignored.
In the situation in which .phi.=.pi. and if the input polarisation Pi is vertical, the output polarisation Ps is: EQU Ps=-i(cos 2s.theta.Pv+sin 2s.theta. Ps)
If .theta.=45.degree. is chosen, in the situation in which s=2.sup.n, corresponding to the state E1 of the liquid crystal: EQU Ps1=-i(cos 4.alpha..theta. Pv+sin 4.alpha..theta. Ps)
and in the situation in which s=2(-1), corresponding to the second state of the liquid crystal, designated E2; EQU Ps2=+i(cos 4.alpha..theta. Pv+sin 4.alpha..theta. Ps)
The relationships indicated above illustrate the method for obtaining two identical states of polarisation at the output, but phase-displaced between one another by .pi..
Such conditions are fulfilled, for example, by using the material CS-2005 from Chisso for the SSFLC cells, and by adjusting the thickness of the cell in order to obtain a half-wave at the operational wavelength of the coupler.

Liquid crystal ferroelectric electro-optical phase modulators which are insensitive to polarization


A method for flattening conditional statements, the method comprises: obtaining a program code, the program code comprising a conditional control flow program construct, which conditional control flow program construct when read by a target processor, causes the target processor to select a control flow path for execution between at least a first and a second control flow paths, wherein said selection is based on an evaluation of a condition of the conditional control flow program construct; replacing the conditional control flow program construct with a transaction-based control flow program construct, which when read by the target processor is operative to cause the target processor to commence a transaction, the transaction configured to execute the first control flow path; and wherein the transaction-based control flow program construct is operative to cause the target processor to execute the conditional control flow program construct in case the transaction is rolled back.

A conditional control flow program construct, also referred to as a conditional statement, is a program instruction that is operative to determine control flow based on an evaluated predicate. Based on the evaluated predicate, the conditional control flow program construct may select between two or more alternative control paths for execution. The conditional control flow program construct may be a part of a high-level programming language, assembly language, low-level processor instructions, or any other programming language. Non-limiting examples of conditional control flow program construct may be "if . . . then . . . else" statement, switch statement, conditional goto statement, or the like.
In some exemplary embodiments, the disclosed subject matter may be limited to conditional control flow program construct of a conditional branching form.
In code optimization, it may be desired to reduce a number of conditional control flow program construct to increase performance. In some cases, even more so when the optimization is aimed at increasing parallel execution of the code.

International Business Machines Corporation


A p-type contact (30) is disclosed for flip chip bonding and electrically contacting a p-type group III-nitride layer (28) of a group III-nitride flip chip light emitting diode die (10) with a bonding pad (60). A first palladium layer (42) is disposed on the p-type group III-nitride layer (28). The first palladium layer (42) is diffused through a native oxide of the p-type group III-nitride layer (28) to make electrical contact with the p-type group III-nitride layer (28). A reflective silver layer (44) is disposed on the first palladium layer (42). A second palladium layer (46) is disposed on the silver layer (44). A bonding stack (48) including at least two layers (50, 52, 54) is disposed on the second palladium layer (46). The bonding stack (48) is adapted for flip chip bonding the p-type layer (28) to the bonding pad (60).

The present invention relates to the electronics arts. It is especially relates to flip-chip bonded group III-nitride light emitting diodes for lighting applications, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, the invention also finds application in conjunction with other types of flip-chip bonded light emitting diodes, and in die-bonding of other optoelectronic devices such as vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs).
In the flip-chip mounting configuration, a light emitting diode with a light-transmissive substrate and front-side electrodes is bonded "face down" to bonding bumps of a mount, that is, with the epitaxial layers proximate to the mount and the light-transmissive substrate distal from the mount. The flip-chip arrangement has a number of advantages, including improved thermal heat sinking due to the proximity of the front-side active layers to the heat sinking substrate, and elimination of electrode shadowing losses. In one such device, a group III-nitride light emitting diode that includes active group III-nitride layers on a light-transmissive sapphire or silicon carbide substrate is flip-chip bonded.
The p-type electrode of a flip-chip light emitting diode performs several tasks, including providing ohmic contacts to the active layers, efficiently reflecting light to contribute to light extraction, and providing thermal pathways for removing heat from the active layers during device operation. Moreover, the electrodes should be thermally stable at typical bonding temperatures, and should not degrade with use over time.
For group III-nitride light emitting diodes, nickel/aluminum (Ni/Al) and nickel/silver (Ni/Ag) reflecting electrodes for are known for contacting the p-type side of the diode. However, both these electrodes have problems. Ni/Al electrodes exhibit poor temperature stability, with substantial degradation of reflectivity at temperatures above 250° C. Ni/Al electrodes can show a reduction in reflectivity of about one-third, down to below 50% reflectance, after a 350° C. anneal, with corresponding decreases in light output of the light emitting diodes. Hence, Ni/Al electrodes are not thermally stable at temperatures typically used in soldering or otherwise flip-chip bonding the light emitting diode.
Ni/Ag electrodes tend to show better temperature stability. However, the silver of the Ni/Ag electrodes can migrate laterally with use over time. Migrating silver that reaches a sidewall of the device mesa produces an electrical shunting path that degrades device performance and can even produce catastrophic device shorting. Devices with Ni/Ag electrodes can exhibit catastrophic failure, and such catastrophic failure is typically experienced inside of 2000 operating hours.

Flip-chip light emitting diode with a thermally stable multiple layer reflective p-type contact


The invention provides a method for opening a cover portion (202) of a wind turbine (1) comprising a nacelle (2) mounted on top of a tower (4), the nacelle supporting a rotor (3) and a generator (104) connected to the rotor, the nacelle (2) comprising a cover (201) presenting an access opening (203), the cover portion (202) being adapted to removably cover the access opening (203), the nacelle (2) also comprising a service crane (204), a cooler (205) being mounted to the nacelle (2) on an exterior of the nacelle (2), the method comprising attaching (S1) at least one hinge tool (6) to the cover portion (202) and to the cover (201), the hinge tool (6) presenting a swing joint (603), opening (S5) by means of the service crane (204) the cover portion (202) in a pivoting motion around the swing joint (603), and securing (S6) the opened cover portion (202) to the cooler (205).

A horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) usually comprises a nacelle mounted on top of a tower and supporting a rotor. The nacelle normally houses a generator connected to the rotor via a main shaft and in some cases via a gearbox. In so called direct drive wind turbines, no gearbox is provided between the generator and the rotor.
With increasing sizes of wind turbines, new needs arise for service solutions facilitating actions such as component replacement. As many components are housed in the nacelle, a wind turbine operator will be faced with the need to move components into and out of the nacelle in service procedures occurring during the wind turbine lifetime. Such movements will normally involve opening or removing a hatch to expose an opening in a cover of the nacelle, through which opening the components may be moved.
Where components are large, nacelle cover hatches and opening also need to be large. Handling such hatches by hand may be difficult and even unsafe. Providing motors or similar driving power devices to handle the hatches increases the complexity and cost of the wind turbine.
EP1677001 describes a system for removing a nacelle roof cover from a wind turbine, including the use of a tool arranged to move the cover. Such a tool will need to be relatively large and therefore challenges may be provided in the handling of the tool itself. In addition, the tool adds complexity and cost for the wind turbine operator.

Method for opening a cover portion of a wind turbine


A method for detecting at least one tool state of a tool of a machine tool for machining workpieces, which includes at least one tool holder, at least one positioning drive, which includes at least one tool which is arrangeable or arranged rotationally fixed in the tool holder and which includes at least one control unit. The method includes the following steps: detecting or providing tool and/or workpiece data in the storage means and/or the control unit; providing at least one reference drive frequency of the rotary drive and/or the positioning drive; detecting at least one ACTUAL driving frequency of the rotary drive and/or the positioning drive; assigning the ACTUAL drive frequency of a reference drive frequency of the rotary drive and/or the positioning drive by the control unit and evaluating and/or interpreting at least the reference drive frequency associated with the ACTUAL drive frequency by the control unit.

Methods for detecting machining operations in and with machine tools are known. In this case, for example, detected and/or measured ACTUAL values of components of the machine tool are detected and compared with TARGET values in order to determine a proper operation of the machine tool or a deviation from a proper operation of the machine tool. Such a method is known, for example, from EP 13 163 801.
In the known methods, it has proved to be disadvantageous that for detecting an ACTUAL state of a component of the machine tool, sensor means must be provided with which the respective component can be monitored. This proves to be complicated and cost-intensive in many cases, in particular if the space available in the machine tool makes the installation of sensor means more difficult.

Method for detecting at least one tool state of a tool of a machine tool for machining workpieces and machine tool


The present invention relates to modified therapeutic proteins, such as e.g. coagulation factors. In particular, the present invention relates to conjugated Factor VIII molecules such as e.g. FVII, FVIII, or FIX comprising a hydrophobic side group.

Haemophilia A is an inherited bleeding disorder caused by deficiency or dysfunction of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) activity. The clinical manifestation is not on primary haemostasis—formation of the blood clot occurs normally—but the clot is unstable due to a lack of secondary thrombin formation. The disease is treated by intravenous injection of coagulation factor FVIII which is either isolated from blood or produced recombinantly. Haemophilia A patients with inhibitors may be treated by on-demand administration of factor Vila (FVIIa). Haemophilia B is caused by deficiency or dysfunction of coagulation factor IX (FIX) activity and patients can be treated by on demand administration of factor IX (FIX).
Current treatment recommendations are moving from traditional on-demand treatment towards prophylaxis. The circulatory half life of endogenous FVIII bound to von Willebrandt Factor is 12-14 hours and prophylactic treatment is thus to be performed several times a week in order to obtain a virtually symptom-free life for the patients. Circulatory half life of endogenous factor VII is less than 2 hours. Circulatory half life of endogenous factor IX is 19-24 hours. I.V. administration is for many, especially children and young persons, associated with significant inconvenience and/or pain. There is thus a need in the art for prolonging the circulatory half life of recombinant coagulation factors. There is likewise a need in the art for prolonging the half life of a number of other therapeutic proteins and peptides in a site-directed manner preferably resulting in a relatively homogenous and well defined product.
Various methods have been employed in the development of coagulation factors, and of pharmaceutical proteins in general, with significantly prolonged circulatory half life. A number of these methods relate to conjugation with hydrophilic polymers such as e.g. PEG (poly ethylene glycol). Conjugation with hydrophobic side chains do on the one hand constitute an attractive approach due to the fact that such groups might be completely degraded in vivo. On the other hand, conjugation of proteins with one or more well-defined hydrophobic moieties has so far not constituted an attractive approach for half-life prolongation of relatively large proteins, including coagulation factors such as e.g. FVIII. In fact, conjugation of such hydrophobic moieties to proteins would not be considered a realistic approach due to: 1) large proteins such as FVIII are only stable in aqueous buffers devoid of organic solvents; 2) lipophilic moieties such as fatty acids are insoluble in such aqueous buffers; 3) it would be doubtful that attachment of relatively small lipophilic moieties would result in any significant protraction of much larger proteins such as e.g. FVIII; 4) lipophilic moieties, when attached to the normally hydrophilic surface of proteins, may pertube their stability due to aggregation or energetically favorable but destructive unfolding; and 5) interaction of the protein with its natural binding partners may be pertubed in similar way leading to reduced biological activity.


It is obtained a headrest and a vehicle seat provided therewith and a method of manufacturing a headrest, that can reduce load to a neck portion of a vehicle occupant at a time of a rear collision while ensuring NV performance. A first urethane and a second urethane are disposed at an inner side of a headrest skin of a vehicle seat, and structure a headrest pad. The first urethane is embedded in the second urethane, and is elastically deformable, and supports a mass body. An elastic coefficient of the second urethane is set to be higher than that of the first urethane.

A vehicle seat in which a dynamic damper is structured by integrally supporting a mass body within a pad is disclosed in following Patent Document 1. Further, a headrest in which a dynamic damper is structured by providing an elastic resin material that is injected into a molding bag and foam-molded and a weight that is fixedly placed with respect to the molding bag, is disclosed in following Patent Document 2. In these prior art, because vibrations are damped by the dynamic damper, the NV performance (noise and vibration performance) can be improved.

Headrest and vehicle seat provided therewith, and method of manufacturing headrest


The present invention relates to a circuit carrier and transformer assembly. The circuit carrier and transformer assembly includes a circuit carrier and a transformer. The transformer includes a bobbin with multiple bobbin bases. The circuit carrier includes multiple receiving holes corresponding to respective bobbin bases of the bobbin. The bobbin bases are received in respective bobbin bases when the transformer is mounted on the circuit carrier.

Generally, a circuit carrier (e.g. a printed circuit board) and a transformer are included in an electronic device such as a LCD television. The transformer is mounted on the circuit carrier to form a circuit carrier and transformer assembly. The transformer has become an essential electronic component for voltage regulation into required voltages for the electronic device.
FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded view illustrating a transformer and a circuit carrier according to prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the transformer 1 is mounted on the circuit carrier 11. As shown in FIG. 1, the transformer 10 principally comprises a magnetic core assembly 12, a bobbin 13, a primary winding coil 14 and a secondary winding coil 15. The primary winding coil 14 and the secondary winding coil 15 are wound around a first winding part 131 and a second winding part 132 of the bobbin 13, respectively. In addition, a first side plate 131a and a second side plate 131b are arranged on opposite sides of the first winding part 131 of the bobbin 13. A third side plate 132a and a fourth side plate 132b are arranged on opposite sides of the second winding part 132 of the bobbin 13. The second side plate 131b of the first winding part 131 is separated from the third side plate 132a of the second winding part 132 by a gap d. Due to the gap d, a desired creepage distance is maintained between the primary winding coil 14 and the secondary winding coil 15. Moreover, two bobbin bases 16 are externally and vertically extended from the first side plate 131a of the first winding part 131 and the fourth side plate 132b of the second winding part 132, respectively. A plurality of pins 17 are disposed on the bobbin bases 16 and inserted into corresponding perforations (not shown) of the circuit carrier 11, so that the transformer 10 is fixed on the circuit carrier 11.
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a circuit carrier and transformer assembly shown in FIG. 1. Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2. The circuit carrier and transformer assembly, however, still has some drawbacks. For example, after the pins 17 of the transformer 10 are inserted into corresponding perforations of the circuit carrier 11, the bobbin bases 16 of the transformer 10 are sustained against the surface of the circuit carrier 11. Since the bobbin bases 16 have inherent volume, the bobbin bases 16 occupy extra space above the circuit carrier 11. In other word, the circuit carrier and transformer assembly is detrimental to minimization and slimness of the electronic device. Moreover, since the gap d between the second side plate 131b of the first winding part 131 and the third side plate 132a of the second winding part 132 maintains the desired creepage distance between the primary winding coil 14 and the secondary winding coil 15, the second side plate 131b and the third side plate 132a are very close to the circuit carrier 11 after the transformer 10 is mounted on the circuit carrier 11. If the distance between the second side plate 131b (or the third side plate 132a) and the circuit carrier 11 is smaller than 1 mm, the creepage distance between the primary winding coil 14 and the secondary winding coil 15 is shortened and thus the electrical safety is reduced.
There is a need of providing a circuit carrier and transformer assembly to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.

Circuit carrier and transformer assembly


A magnetic cooling apparatus having an improved structure in which effective heat exchange may be performed by a heat transfer fluid is provided. The magnetic cooling apparatus includes a magnetic regenerator allowing a heat transfer fluid to pass therethrough and a magnetocaloric material, a magnet to apply a magnetic field to the magnetic regenerator, and a high temperature heat exchanger allowing heat to be dissipated by the heat transfer fluid containing heat received from the magnetic regenerator. The magnetic cooling apparatus includes a low temperature heat exchanger allowing heat to be absorbed by the heat transfer fluid, a pipe to connect the magnetic regenerator, high temperature heat exchanger and low temperature heat exchanger such that the heat transfer fluid circulates through the magnetic regenerator, high temperature heat exchanger and low temperature heat exchanger, and a fluid transport unit to circulate or reciprocate the heat transfer fluid.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a cooling apparatus using a magnetocaloric material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic cooling apparatus, which uses properties of a magnetocaloric material whose temperature rises when a magnetic field is applied thereto, and decreases when the applied magnetic field is removed, is a type of cooling apparatus that may replace some conventional cooling apparatuses that use an air compression cycle.
The magnetic cooling apparatus generally includes a magnetic regenerator provided with a magnetocaloric material, a magnet to apply a magnetic field to the magnetic regenerator, a heat exchange unit allowing a heat transfer fluid passing through the magnetic regenerator to absorb heat from, or dissipate heat to, the external air, and a pipe to connect the magnetic regenerator with the heat exchange unit.
For the heat transfer fluid to perform heat exchange through circulation along the pipe, alternately in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction, as the magnetic field of the magnet is, or is not, applied to the magnetic regenerator, the heat transfer fluid that has passed through the magnetic regenerator should reach the heat exchange unit in the first direction or second direction within one cycle. Therefore, the heat exchange unit may need to be disposed within a certain distance from the magnetic regenerator. However, the installation of the heat exchange unit may be limited by various parameters.


The present application relates to a method for operating a terminal device (17) in a cellular mobile communication network (10). The cellular mobile communication network (10) comprises a first base station (11) using a first radio resource, and a second base station (12, 13) using a second radio resource. The terminal device (17) comprises a first transceiver unit (25) for communicating via the first radio resource and a second transceiver unit (26) for communicating via the second radio resource. According to the method, a radio resource control information for the second radio resource is determined and received at the terminal device (17) via the first transceiver unit (25). As defined by the radio resource control information, user data communication (19) between the second base station (12) enter the terminal device (17) is established via the second transceiver unit (26). The first transceiver unit (25) is set in an idle mode.

The popularity of mobile data and voice communication continues to grow. The increasing popularity of data and voice communication requires increasing data transmission performance. For increasing data transmission performance, new transmission and communication technologies and new frequency ranges may be used. However, such new technologies may be available in certain areas only and it may take several years until a sufficient coverage with the new technologies is reached. In the meantime, communication devices may support two or even more technologies. The communication devices may comprise so-called terminal devices or user equipment devices like mobile telephones, mobile computers, tablet computers, wearable devices, mobile accessories, or robotic devices.
However, when a communication device supports two or more communication technologies at the same time, a power consumption may increase and an operating time of a mobile battery-powered device may be reduced.

Operating a terminal device in a cellular mobile communication network


A releasably attachable boat rail for assisting passengers aboard a boat is received in a fishing rod holder receiving bore integrated into a gunwale of the boat and comprises a unitary elongated tubular body having a linear segment length and a curved segment. The curved segment terminates at an opposing second end of the unitary elongated tubular body wherein the curved segment provides a curved gripping surface area. A locking portion is defined in a sidewall of the linear segment of the tubular body at the first end thereof and is formed to engage the locking feature in the receiving bore of the boat gunwale wherein the elongated curved tubular body is sized to be partially received within the fishing rod holder receiving bore.

Recreational boating is a broadly enjoyed activity throughout the world. In the United States alone, recent statistics show that more than 12 million recreational vessels are registered, with a vast majority of these being motorboats (46%), personal watercraft (20%), and cabin motorboats (14%) (See "Recreational Boating Statistics 2010," COMDTPUB 16745.24, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety). While these vessels have many styles and structures, a common feature of all watercraft is that passengers have difficulty in boarding, especially with small watercraft, due to the relative movement between a stationary surface, such as a dock or jetty, and a moving surface, such as a boarding platform or loading deck that is undulating relative to the wave motion of the water surface.
Additionally, many users utilize watercraft for diving purposes. Unfortunately, many boats are not manufactured with a boarding assist handrail integrated into the structure of the boat to assist passengers in boarding the boat as they ascend from a body of water. Thus, many owners who desire a boarding assist device are required to separately acquire a handrail in addition to mounting hardware and install the mounting hardware and handrail onto the boat using mounting equipment. Installation of a handrail in this manner is relatively costly, time-consuming, and may result in permanent alteration of the boating structure, all of which are undesirable.
It is a common practice for manufacturers of watercraft to provide a variety of deck fittings for accommodating various accessories, such as trolling motors, fishing rod holders, and the like that aid in greater utilization of the watercraft for use in a variety of boating related activities, such as fishing, and the like. In particular, it is common in the gunwale of vessels to include a number of bore holes or rod holders for the receipt fishing rods.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a boarding assist device for use with watercraft that can be easily secured into a pre-existing structure, such as a rod holder, eliminating the need for additional mounting hardware and equipment, while also being removable in order to allow the rod holder to store fishing rods as desired.


A mounting system for a component to be mounted to a vehicle frame is provided utilizing keyhole features in the component, and fasteners having sacrificial spacers in the vehicle frame. The sacrificial spacers upon the fasteners prevent them from being pushed into the vehicle frame when the component having keyhole features is placed over them. Once the keyhole features have been placed over the fasteners having sacrificial spacers, the fasteners having sacrificial spacers may be fully tightened, thereby fully contributing to the integrity of the resulting joint.

Medium and heavy duty vehicles, as well as some light duty pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, are commonly built using the basic and longstanding design of a vehicle frame supporting a separate body, running gear, and powertrain. Often, during the process of manufacturing the vehicle certain components, such as battery boxes, fuel tank assemblies, fluid reservoirs, and exhaust supports are attached to the vehicle frame subsequent to its assembly. These components may even be added following installation of the running gear and powertrain, such that it is important that the vehicle undergoing construction remain upright. Because of this, and because the components to be attached to the vehicle frame are usually quite heavy, various techniques have been devised to assist in their installation.
Examples of techniques or devises used to temporarily support components to be attached to a vehicle frame during the process of installation include powered lifts or hoists, or fixtures either attached to the vehicle frame or located along the vehicle assembly line. Alternately, smaller brackets, referred to as alignment brackets, are sometimes first attached to the vehicle frame, and followed by attaching the heavier components to the alignment brackets. These alignment brackets may be provided with features that allow the heavier components to remain in place prior to installation and tightening of any fasteners. It is even known to use one or more shoulder bolts in conjunction with keyhole features located in the component to be attached to the vehicle frame, such that the keyhole is placed over the shoulder bolt and the component is left hanging thereupon, until such time as any fasteners may be installed and tightened.
Each of the prior art techniques or devises have one or more drawbacks. Powered lifts or hoists are expensive and add operator time to the cost of manufacturing the vehicle. Fixtures similarly must be designed, built, handled, maintained, removed, and stored, each of which activities add to the cost of the vehicle being manufactured. Alignment brackets add considerably to the cost of manufacturing a vehicle having a vehicle frame, as they add the cost of usually at least two additional pieces, including the associated manufacturing, engineering, and logistics costs. Also, alignment brackets add to stack-up of manufacturing tolerances and increase the number of potentially fallible joints in the assembly.

Mounting system for modular frame components

International Truck Intellectual Property Company, LLC


A data processor is implemented as an integrated circuit. The data processor includes a processor die. The processor die is connected to an integrated voltage regulator die using die-to-die bonding. The integrated voltage regulator die provides a regulated voltage to the processor die, and the processor die operates in response to the regulated voltage.

Power consumption is a significant design concern in microprocessor-based system design. Designers are continually developing higher performance microprocessors that require correspondingly higher amounts of power to operate. For example, contemporary microprocessors can consume 400 watts (W) and above. At the same time, designers typically use efficient, low-voltage complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistor processes. The low voltage used with these CMOS processes increases current for a given level of power consumption, and creates large ohmic (IR) losses in the power supply conductors.
To overcome these IR losses, designers have added more integrated circuit power supply pins to reduce effective resistance and/or provide additional voltage regulators connected in parallel on a printed circuit board nearby and or adjacent to a package having the microprocessor. The additional device pins and/or components, however, increase system cost.
In the following description, the use of the same reference numerals in different drawings indicates similar or identical items. Unless otherwise noted, the word "coupled" and its associated verb forms include both direct connection and indirect electrical connection by means known in the art, and unless otherwise noted any description of direct connection implies alternate embodiments using suitable forms of indirect electrical connection as well.

Multiple-die integrated circuit with integrated voltage regulator


A material for an organic electroluminescent device including an imine derivative represented by the following formula (Ia) or (Ib),

An organic electroluminescence device (hereinafter the term "electroluminescent" is often abbreviated as "EL") is a self-emission device utilizing the principle that a fluorescent compound emits light by the recombination energy of holes injected from an anode and electrons injected from a cathode when an electric field is impressed.
Since C. W. Tang et al. of Eastman Kodak Co. reported a low-voltage driven organic EL device of stack type (Non-patent Document 1, or the like), studies on organic EL devices wherein organic materials are used as the constituent materials has actively been conducted.
The organic EL device reported by Tang et al. has a stack structure in which tris(8-hydroxyquinolinol)aluminum is used in an emitting layer and a triphenyldiamine derivative is used in a hole-transporting layer. The advantages of the stack structure are to increase injection efficiency of holes to the emitting layer, to increase generation efficiency of excitons generated by recombination by blocking electrons injected in the cathode, to confine the generated excitons in the emitting layer, and so on.
As the stack structure of the organic EL device, a two-layered type of a hole-transporting (injecting) layer and an electron-transporting emitting layer, and a three-layered type of a hole-transporting (injecting) layer, an emitting layer and an electron-transporting (injecting) layer are widely known. In such stack structure devices, their device structures and fabrication methods have been contrived to increase recombination efficiency of injected holes and electrons.
As a hole-transporting material used in an organic EL device, an aromatic diamine derivative described in Patent Document 1 and an aromatic condensed-ring diamine derivative described in Patent Document 2 have been known.
However, in order that an organic EL device using these aromatic diamine derivatives as a hole-transporting material has a sufficient luminance, it is necessary to increase an applied voltage. The increased voltage results in problems such as the shorter device lifetime and higher power consumption.
As a solution thereof, it is proposed that a hole-injecting layer of an organic EL device is doped with a electron-accepting compound such as a Lewis acid (Patent Documents 3 to 8, etc.). However, electron-accepting compounds used in Patent Documents 3 to 6 have the following disadvantages. They are unstable when handling during the production of an organic EL device, or they lack stability such as heat resistance, thereby shortening the lifetime of the resultant device.
Tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQF4), which is an electron-accepting compound exemplified in Patent Documents 5 and 7 to 9, is easily sublimated due to its small molecular weight, and being substituted with fluorine. Thus, they may scatter in an apparatus during the production of an organic EL device by vacuum deposition, resulting in contamination of the apparatus and device.
The invention was made in view of the problems mentioned above, and an object of the invention is to provide an electron-accepting material suitable for a constituent material of an EL device.    Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,432    Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,569    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2003-031365    Patent Document 4: JP-A-2001-297883    Patent Document 5: JP-A-2000-196140    Patent Document 6: JP-A-H11-251067    Patent Document 7: JP-A-H4-297076    Patent Document 8: JP-T-2004-514257    Patent Document 9: US 2005/0255334A1    Non-Patent Document 1: Applied Physics, Letters, 51, 913 (1987)

Material for organic electroluminescent device, organic electroluminescent device, and organic electroluminescent display

Abstract: wherein Y1 to Y4 are independently a carbon atom or a nitrogen atom; R1 to R4 are independently hydrogen, an alkyl group, an aryl group, a heterocycle, a halogen atom, a fluoroalkyl group or a cyano group; and R1 and R2, or R3 and R4 may be bonded together to form a ring.


A carbon dioxide production system 10A includes: a fuel cell stack 16; a separation unit 20 that separates anode off-gas into a non-fuel gas including at least carbon dioxide and water and a regenerative fuel gas; a second heat exchanger 32 that separates water from the non-fuel gas; a water tank 42; and a carbon dioxide recovery tank 48 that recovers the carbon dioxide after the water has been separated.

When a carbon compound fuel is used in a fuel cell system, carbon dioxide is generated. This carbon dioxide is also included in the anode off-gas discharged from the anode, and when the anode off-gas is used as a regenerative fuel for electricity generation, the carbon dioxide is removed from the anode off-gas.
For example, JP-A No. H6-203845 discloses a technology that condenses the anode off-gas to separate steam, introduces the anode off-gas from which the steam has been separated to a carbon dioxide separation device, and separates and recovers the carbon dioxide with a separation membrane.


Methods of forming polarized panes for variable transmission windows are disclosed. The polarized panes are formed from transparent substrates that are brushed with a brushing pattern that varies continuously in a select direction over each of one or more periods. A layer of polarizable material such as POLARCOAT material can be deposited on and responds to the brushed surface by forming a polarization pattern that substantially matches the brushing pattern and thus also includes one or more periods.

Variable transmission windows are used in a variety of structures, particularly those having a living space (e.g., houses, buildings, cars, boats, etc.) to control the amount of light and heat that enters the living space from the outside environment and to provide privacy.
One type of variable transmission window uses two parallel polarized panes, with one or both panes being linearly translatable relative to the other. The relative shift between the polarized panes defines the window transmission. It is usually preferred that the polarized panes each have a polarization pattern such that a relatively small translation of one pane produces a substantial change in the overall transmission of the variable transmission window.
Unfortunately, the quality and performance of the variable transmission of variable transmission windows is wanting. Further, their manufacturing cost tends to be relatively high.


A biological sterilization indicator (BI) system and method. The system can include a BI and a reading apparatus comprising a well. The BI can include a housing, which can include a first portion, and a second portion movable between a first “unactivated” position and a second “activated” position. The BI can further include a frangible container containing a liquid and dimensioned to be positioned in the housing. The reading apparatus can be configured to detect activation of the biological sterilization indicator, for example, by detecting that the second portion is in the second position, and/or by detecting that the liquid from the frangible container is present in a specific chamber of the biological sterilization indicator. The method can include positioning the BI in the well of the reading apparatus and detecting activation, for example, by detecting one or more of the above conditions.

In a variety of industries, such as the health care industry but also in other industrial applications, it can be necessary to monitor the effectiveness of processes used to sterilize equipment such as medical devices, instruments and other disposable and non-disposable articles. In these settings, sterilization is generally defined as the process of completely destroying all viable sources of biological activity, such as microorganisms, including structures such as viruses and spores. As a standard practice, hospitals include a sterility indicator with a batch of articles to assay the lethality of the sterilization process. Both biological and chemical sterility indicators have been used.
One standard type of biological sterility indicator includes a known quantity of test microorganisms, for example Geobacillus stearothermophilus (formerly Bacillus stearothermophilus) or Bacillus atrophaeus (formerly Bacillus subtilis) spores, which can be many times more resistant to particular sterilization processes than other contaminating organisms. After the indicator is exposed to the sterilization process, the sources of biological activity (e.g., spores) can be incubated in a nutrient medium to determine whether any of the sources survived the sterilization process, with source metabolism and/or growth indicating that the sterilization process was insufficient to destroy all of the sources of biological activity.
Available chemical sterility indicators can be read immediately at the end of the sterilization process. However, the results indicate only that a particular condition was present during the sterilization process, such as the presence of a particular chemical or a temperature, and potentially, that the condition was reached for a certain period of time. On the contrary, the response of sources of biological activity to all conditions actually present can be a more direct and reliable test for how effective a sterilization process is in achieving sterilization.

Biological sterilization indicator system and method


A method for enhancing the transfection efficiency of naked plasmid DNA in treating and/or preventing angiogenesis-dependent symptoms is provided by the present inventions. According to the present method, a suitable naked plasmid DNA is subjected for intramuscular injection under increased pressure inside the muscle or hyperbaric oxygen. Angiogenesis-dependent symptoms, including wounds, inflammatory diseases, critical limb ischemia, ischemia heart diseases, cerebral infarction, diabetic neuropathy, spinal canal stenosis, etc., may be treated by the present methods.

Recent progress in molecular biology has led to the development of gene therapy as a new treatment strategy for cardiovascular diseases. Targeted diseases range from single gene deficiency diseases to more complex diseases in adults, such as peripheral arterial diseases. For example, critical limb ischemia is estimated to develop in 500 to 1000 per million individuals in one year ("Second European Consensus Document on Chronic Critical Leg Ischemia.", Circulation 84(4 Suppl.) IV 1-26 (1991)). In patients with critical limb ischemia, amputation, despite its associated morbidity, mortality and functional implications, is often recommended as a solution against disabling symptoms (M. R. Tyrrell et al., Br. J. Surg. 80: 177-180 (1993); M. Eneroth et al., Int. Orthop. 16: 383-387 (1992)). There exists no optimal medical therapy for critical limb ischemia (Circulation 84(4 Suppl.): IV 1-26 (1991)).
Recently, the efficacy of therapeutic angiogenesis by gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been reported to be effective for human patients with critical limb ischemia (I. Baumgartner et al., Circulation 97: 1114-1123 (1998); J. M. Isner et al., J. Vasc. Surg. 28: 964-973 (1998); I. Baumgartner et al., Ann. Intern. Med. 132: 880-884 (2000)) and myocardial ischemia (D. W. Losordo et al., Circulation 98: 2800-2804 (1998); P. R. Vale et al., Circulation 102: 965-974 (2000); T. K. Rosengart et al., Circulation 100: 468-474 (1999); T. K. Rosengart et al., Ann. Surg. 230: 466-470 (1999)). In addition to VEGF, gene transfer of other angiogenic growth factors, including fibroblast growth factor (FGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), has also been reported to stimulate collateral formation (Y. Taniyama et al., Gene Ther. 8: 181-189 (2000); H. Tabata et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 35: 470-479 (1997); H. Ueno et al., Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 17: 2453-2460 (1997); K. A. Vincent et al., Circulation 102: 2255-2261 (2000); F. J. Giordano et al., Nat. Med. 2: 534-539 (1996); M. Aoki et al., Gene Ther. 7: 417-427 (2000); H. Ueda et al., Ann. Thorac. Surg. 67: 1726-1731 (1999); E. R. Schwarz et al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 35: 1323-1330 (2000)).
The feasibility of gene therapy using angiogenic growth factors to treat peripheral arterial disease seems to be superior to recombinant protein therapy. For example, through gene therapy, one can potentially maintain an optimally high and local concentration over time. Thus, in the case of therapeutic angiogenesis, to avoid side effects, it may be desirable to deliver a lower dose of protein through an actively expressed transgene in the artery over a period of several days or more, rather than administering a single or multiple bolus doses of recombinant protein. Interestingly, most successful clinical trials treating peripheral arterial diseases using angiogenic growth factors have involved intramuscular transfection of naked plasmid DNA (I. Baumgartner et al., Circulation 97: 1114-1123 (1998); J. M. Isner et al., J. Vasc. Surg. 28: 964-973 (1998); I. Baumgartner et al., Ann. Intern. Med. 132: 880-884 (2000); D. W. Losordo et al., Circulation 98: 2800-2804 (1998); P. R. Vale et al., Circulation 102: 965-974 (2000)). However, such in vivo gene transfer, by direct injection of "naked" plasmid DNA into skeletal muscle, has been known to be inefficient.
Therefore, more efficient methods for gene transfer are required in the art for therapeutic application. Thus, many investigators have been focusing on alternate methods, such as the adenoviral gene transfer method (H. Ueno et al. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 17: 2453-2460 (1997); F. J. Giordano et al., Nat. Med. 2: 534-539 (1996); D. F. Lazarous et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 44: 294-302 (1999); L. Y. Lee et al., Ann. Thorac. Surg. 69: 14-23 (2000); L. H. Gowdak et al., Circulation 102: 565-571 (2000); O. Varenne et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 10:1105-1115 (1999); E. Barr et al., Gene Ther. 1: 51-58 (1994)). Although adenoviral vectors are efficient (H. Ueno et al., Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 17: 2453-2460 (1997); F. J. Giordano et al., Nat. Med. 2: 534-539 (1996); D. F. Lazarous et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 44: 294-302 (1999); L. Y. Lee et al., Ann. Thorac. Surg. 69: 14-23 (2000); L. H. Gowdak et al., Circulation 102: 565-571 (2000); O. Varenne et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 10:1105-1115 (1999); E. Barr et al., Gene Ther. 1: 51-58 (1994)), they have some theoretical disadvantages, such as induction of strong immunogenicity in the host (V. J. Dzau et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 11421-11425 (1996)). In addition to efficiency, safety is also an important issue for gene transfer methods. The infusion of adenovirus has recently been reported to cause deleterious side effects (E. Marshall, Science 286: 2244-2245 (1999)). Thus, in the interests of safety, it would be more desirable to make non-virus-mediated plasmid DNA more efficient to achieve an ideal treatment for peripheral arterial diseases. Such innovation in plasmid DNA-based gene transfer should provide methods with high transfection efficiency without severe side effects.
To increase the transfection efficiency of naked plasmid DNA, the present inventors previously tested the use of ultrasound and echo contrast microbubbles (Optison® (FS069); Molecular Biosystems). As a result, the inventors discovered that high transfection efficiency could be achieved by ultrasound-mediated plasmid DNA transfection using echo contrast microbubbles (Y. Taniyama et al., Circulation 105: 1233-1239 (2002); Y. Taniyama et al., Gene Therapy 9: 372-380 (2002)). Using ultrasound exposure in the presence of microbubble echo contrast agents, approximately 300-fold increment in transgene expression following naked DNA transfection was reported in in vitro experiments (A. Lawrie et al., Gene Ther. 9: 372-380 (2002)) In addition, the inventors confirmed the usefulness of ultrasound-mediated plasmid DNA transfection with Optison® into rat skeletal muscle as well as rat carotid artery (Y. Taniyama et al., Circulation 105: 1233-1239 (2002); Y. Taniyama et al., Gene Therapy 9: 372-380 (2002)). Due to the appearance of transient holes in the cell membrane through the spreading of the bubbles, this method increased the transfection efficiency.

Methods for treating or preventing angiogenesis-dependent symptoms


A raised bodied vapor chamber structure is disclosed and includes a main body and a working fluid. The main body has a condensation section and an evaporation section and a chamber. The condensation section and the evaporation section are respectively disposed on two sides of the chamber. The evaporation section has a first face and a second face. A raised section is formed on the first face. The working fluid is filled in the chamber. The raised section is formed by means of mechanical processing as a support structure for enhancing the structural strength of the vapor chamber structure. The vapor chamber structure is manufactured at a much lower cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a raised bodied vapor chamber structure, which can greatly lower the manufacturing cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a trend to develop thinner and thinner electronic apparatuses nowadays. The ultra-thin electronic apparatus includes miniaturized components. The heat generated by the miniaturized components of the electronic apparatus has become a major obstacle to having better performance of the electronic apparatus and system. Even if the semiconductors forming the electronic component have been more and more miniaturized, the electronic apparatus is still required to have high performance.
The miniaturization of the semiconductors will lead to increase of thermal flux. The challenge to cooling the product due to increase of thermal flux exceeds the challenge simply caused by increase of total heat. This is because the increase of thermal flux will lead to overheating at different times with respect to different sizes and may cause malfunction or even burnout of the electronic apparatus.
In order to solve the problem of narrow heat dissipation space of the conventional technique, a vapor chamber (VC) is generally positioned on the chip as a heat sink. In order to increase the capillarity limit, capillary structures such as copper posts with sintered coatings, sintered posts and foamed posts are disposed in the vapor chamber as support structures and backflow passages. However, such structures are only applicable to the micro-vapor chamber with thinner upper and lower walls (under 1.5 mm). The above capillary structures are applied to the micro-vapor chamber as support structures. In this case, the micro-vapor chamber is supported only in the positions of the copper posts, sintered posts or foamed posts. The rest parts of the micro-vapor chamber are likely to collapse or sink. Under such circumstance, the planarity and strength of the entire micro-vapor chamber can be hardly maintained. As a result, it is impossible to thin the vapor chamber.
The working fluid of the vapor chamber is heated and evaporated in the evaporation section from a liquid phase into a vapor phase. After the vapor working fluid reaches the condensation section of the vapor chamber, the vapor working fluid is condensed from the vapor phase into the liquid phase. The liquid working fluid then flows back to the evaporation section for next circulation. The condensation section of the vapor chamber is generally a polished face or a face with sintered capillary structures. After the vapor working fluid is condensed in the condensation section into small water drops, under gravity or capillary attraction of the capillary structures, the liquid working fluid will flow back to the evaporation section. However, the conventional condensation section is a polished face so that the water drops will drop under gravity only after the water drops accumulate to a certain volume. Accordingly, the backflow efficiency is insufficient. Moreover, the backflow speed of the liquid working fluid is so slow that there is no working fluid in the evaporation section. As a result, a dry burn may take place to greatly lower the heat transfer efficiency. In order to enhance the backflow efficiency of the working fluid, it is necessary to add capillary structures to the vapor chamber. However, the capillary structures (such as sintered bodies or mesh bodies) will make it impossible to thin the vapor chamber.
A conventional thin heat exchange plate is formed with channels as capillary structures by means of etching or formed with support structures. However, the etching precision is poor and the processing time is quite long. As a result, the manufacturing cost for the thin heat exchange plate or vapor chamber can be hardly lowered.


The present subject matter relates to execution of an enterprise process through an electronic device. In one embodiment, an enterprise process execution method is disclosed, comprising: replicating data from a centralized database in a local database; creating a first set of data fields based on a first set of rules, wherein the first set of data fields is populated with a first set of data values retrieved from the local database based on a second set of rules; dynamically creating a second set of data fields populated with a second set of data values, wherein each data field of the second set of data fields is dynamically created based on a data value of a previous data field; validating the second set of data fields; and synchronizing the local database storing a report including information associated with execution of an enterprise process with the centralized database.

In distributed application configurations, the client-server architecture provides a convenient way to a user for accessing applications deployed on a server. These applications are adapted to manage and track enterprise processes in an enterprise. The user may access the application through a client machine such as a laptop, from a remote location via a network. The client-server architecture further facilitates the user to access different resources available on the server without deploying such resources on the user's laptop. In one aspect, the resources may comprise a subset of data stored on the server for processing the subset of data. In certain scenarios, the user may need to access the applications from the remote location where no network connectivity is available which eventually hinders the user to access the business applications and also the available resources. This may affect in controlling the overall execution of the enterprise processes.
One example of the enterprise processes facilitating such client-server architecture, may be auditing of the products being insured by an enterprise to various insurers. In such scenario, an audit application may be installed on a computing system carried by an auditor who is responsible for conducting audit of insurers by visiting the insurers' location.
In order to facilitate effective premium calculations, the auditor may utilize auditing application installed on the computing system. These auditing applications are traditional spreadsheet based applications comprising embedded resources such as macros and VB screens that facilitate filling and validation of the data entered by the auditor for conducting the auditing process. However, these applications are error-prone, complex and onerous. For example, the spreadsheet based applications may involve multiple tabs which the auditor has to fill in, which when filled by the user instantiate dynamic creation of new tabs which further adds to complexity of the application. Further, the spreadsheet based application uses low level MS-Excel data security due to which data corruption and data mismatch are frequent that further leads to generation of IT support tickets to fix the data mismatch. Such data mismatch may occur due to lack of clarity or oversight from the auditors' perspective towards altering or updating the MS-Excel formulas and logic.
The audit applications further requires the auditor to perform the audit in the offline mode that needs to sync the spreadsheet based application with the server. In order to synchronize, a set of batch jobs are run to extract content from the spreadsheet based application and then convert them into a format that is recognized by a database located on the server. However, such data synchronization is prone to delays and lags which subsequently slows down the overall audit process.

Method and device for executing an enterprise process


A boost circuit comprising a first level shifter and a switch circuit is provided. The first level shifter outputs either an output voltage of the boost circuit or a first bias voltage according to a boost control signal. The switch circuit determines whether to transmit a second bias voltage to an output terminal of the boost circuit according to the output of the first level shifter. The present invention further comprises a capacitance equivalent circuit and a second level shifter. The capacitance equivalent circuit comprises a first terminal and a second terminal, and the first terminal is electrically coupled to the output terminal of the boost circuit. Similarly, the second level shifter outputs a third bias voltage or the first bias voltage to the second terminal of the capacitance equivalent circuit. In addition, the first bias voltage is smaller than the second bias voltage and the third bias voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boost circuit, and more particularly, to a boost circuit whose output voltage is equal to the maximum rated voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
The boost circuit has been applied in the EEPROM (Electrically erasable programmable read only memory) for a couple of years. FIG. 1 schematically shows a conventional Dickson boost circuit. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional Dickson boost circuit comprises an input stage 10, a plurality of booster stages (12, 14, 16, 18, and 20), and an output stage 22. Wherein, the input stage 10 is mainly composed of an NMOS transistor 24. A drain and a gate of the NMOS transistor 24 are connected and jointly receive an input voltage Vin, and a source is electrically coupled to the first booster stage 12. Each booster stage comprises an NMOS transistor and a coupling capacitor, and the booster stage 12 is exemplified herein for describing the connection. A drain and a gate of the NMOS transistor 26 are jointly connected to a first terminal of the coupling capacitor 28, and a source is serially connected to a drain of a next boost stage 14. A second terminal of the coupling capacitor 28 receives a first clock signal Vphi1. In addition, two different clocks signal are provided as shown in the diagram. The first clock signal Vphi1 is provided to the coupling capacitor disposed in the odd number booster stages (e.g. the booster stages 12, 16, and 20), and the second clock signal Vphi2 is provided to the coupling capacitor disposed in the even number booster stages (e.g. the booster stages 14 and 18). As shown in FIG. 2, the first clock signal Vphi1 is not overlapped with the second clock signal Vphi2, and they are the complementary signals with a voltage of VDD. In addition, the output stage is composed of a greater output capacitor Cout.
During the operation, when the first clock signal Vphi1 rises to a high voltage, the drain voltage of the NMOS transistor in the odd number booster stages (e.g. the booster stages 12, 16, and 20) is pulled up due to the coupling effect generated by the coupling capacitor, and this high voltage is then transmitted to the even number booster stages. Then, when the second clock signal Vphi2 rises to a high voltage, the drain voltage of the NMOS transistor in the even number booster stages (e.g. the booster stages 14 and 18) is pulled up due to the coupling effect generated by the coupling capacitor. With such method, the voltage rises to a desired high voltage value.
However, since there is a potential difference between the gate and the source of each transistor, if it is desired to obtain a desired output voltage from the source of the transistor in each booster stage, a voltage higher than the output voltage of the source should be provided to the drain of each transistor. Using the booster stage 20 as an example, if it is desired to output a desired output voltage Vout from the source of the transistor 32, the input voltage Vina provided to the drain of the transistor 32 must be higher than the output voltage Vout, thus the voltage difference V1 between the gate and the source of the transistor 32 can be overcome. In addition, since the drain voltage of each transistor must be higher than the source voltage, the transistor is easily damaged by the drain voltage, which causes problems such as the current leakage or circuit latch-up.


An apparatus and method are disclosed for implementing a polarization-independent optical switch wherein switchable communication signals are retained in the optical mode while being switched between optical links in an optical communication network. The polarization-independent optical switch comprises polarization-dependent components which are advantageously arranged to switch arbitrary polarized light waves. The polarization-independent optical switch is achieved by splitting incoming arbitrary polarized light waves into two paths, a light wave with a TE radiation component and a light wave with a TM radiation component. The light wave with the TE radiation component is converted to a light wave with a TM radiation component. Both light waves having the TM radiation component are then switched in a polarization-dependent photonic switch device. The arbitrary light waves are recovered from the optical switch by converting one of the switched light waves having the TM radiation component to a light wave having the TE radiation component. The light wave with this TE radiation component is combined with the remaining switched light wave having the TM radiation component in a polarization combiner. As the polarization of the input light waves vary, more or less of the light wave energy will pass through the first path of the optical switch or the second path of the optical switch. The total amount of light wave energy through the optical switch, however, will remain relative constant.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to communication networks and more particularly, to a communication network that switches and transports information signals in the optical domain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Optical transmission systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern telecommunication networks. They offer the advantages of a low cost high bandwidth transmission medium requiring amplification at relatively long spacing and support a very large number of simultaneous communications over each of the optical links that constitute the transmission medium. Voice, data, and video are communicated as digital signals over optic fibers to minimize noise and distortion of these signals over long distance transmissions.
Sources of optical signals and destinations for optical signals are interconnected via the optical links to intermediate photonic switches which time multiplex communication signals provided on these optical links. Each of these optical links comprises a pair of unidirectional transmission optical fibers connecting the sources and destinations with the photonic switches.
In order for the time multiplexed communication signals to be switched between optical links, it is necessary that the optical signals on the optical fibers either be converted to electrical form, switched in the electrical domain and then reconverted to optical signals, or be directly switchable from one optical fiber pair to another. The former is undesirable because it requires electrical signals corresponding to the optical signals to be generated and switched. This conversion process is inefficient because the inherently limited switching speeds in the electrical domain cannot provide full compatibility with the increased transmission speed of optical transmission mediums.
Photonic switches permit the direct switching of optical fibers from one optical fiber pair to another, albeit with some penalty in performance. It is well known that optical fibers, such as the single-mode type, widely employed in optical transmission systems do not maintain a polarization condition as initially provided thereto over a very long distance. Rather, the light waves that arrive at a destination usually do so in an arbitrary polarization condition. This polarization condition is determined by the polarization of two radiation components, TE and TM, in the light waves.
The TE component is known as the transverse electrical component of which the diagrammatic representation is a vector perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the radiation. The TM component is known as the transverse magnetic component of which the diagrammatic representation is a vector which is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the radiation and orthogonal to the TE component. The coupling length in a single-mode fiber is different for each of the components TE and TM. Also the phase mismatch induced by the refractive index change in the fiber under the influence of an electric field depends to a very high degree on the initial polarization condition of the light waves which are propagated into the fiber. The TE and TM components of a light wave are described in SINGLE-MODE FIBER OPTICS: Principles and Applications, by Luc. B. Jeunhomme, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1983, pages 1 through 3.
In the operation of a photonic switch in an optical transmission system, all signals remain optical within the switch, and are not converted to electronic signals for the switching function. The switching function may be performed by either a polarization-independent photonic switch or a polarization-dependent photonic switch, with control of the switching function being provided by electrical control signals. The polarization-independent photonic switch will switch both radiation components TE and TM in a light wave polarized in an arbitrary polarization condition and route these components of the light wave to a proper output fiber. The polarization-dependent photonic switch, however, only switches the radiation component TM in a light wave polarized in an arbitrary condition.
Although the polarization-independent switch may switch both the TE and TM components of a light wave in an arbitrary polarized condition, it has the disadvantage of requiring a higher operating voltage than the polarization-dependent photonic switch. Moreover, the level of performance in each individual switch element in the polarization-independent photonic switch is inferior to that of the individual switch elements in the polarization-dependent photonic switch.
The limitation associated with the polarization-dependent photonic switch is that it only switches the TM component of a light wave polarized in an arbitrary condition. The TE component entering the switch will not be switched by the electrical control signals, and thus will not be routed to the proper output fiber. As a result, the polarization of the light wave entering the switch from the optical input fibers must be adjusted to the proper polarization by some type of polarization adjuster in order to use this polarization-dependent photonic switching device.
While switching of optical signals from one fiber to another may be achieved with the above described arrangements, it is nevertheless desirable to be able to switch optical signals from one optical fiber to another without first converting the optical signals into electrical signals, or without the disadvantages or limitations associated with polarization-independent and polarization-dependent photonic switches as they are currently employed in the art.

Apparatus and method for providing a polarization independent optical switch


Apparatus, method and system for supporting Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Read V2 Request and Response messages using the Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol (iWARP). iWARP logic in an RDMA Network Interface Controller (RNIC) is configured to generate a new RDMA Read V2 Request message and generate a new RDMA Read V2 Response message in response to a received RDMA Read V2 Request message, and send the messages to an RDMA remote peer using iWARP implemented over an Ethernet network. The iWARP logic is further configured to process RDMA Read V2 Response messages received from the RDMA remote peer, and to write data contained in the messages to appropriate locations using DMA transfers from buffers on the RNIC into system memory. In addition, the new semantics removes the need for extra operations to grant and revoke remote access rights.

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) is a direct memory access mechanism that enables a computer to access memory from another computer without involving the computers' operating systems. RDMA supports zero-copy networking by enabling a network adapter to transfer data directly to or from application memory, eliminating the need to copy data between application memory and the data buffers in the operating system. Such transfers require no work to be done by CPUs, caches, or context switches, and transfers continue in parallel with other system operations. When an application performs an RDMA Read or Write request, the application data is delivered directly to the network (via appropriate hardware), reducing latency and enabling fast message transfer.
Current RDMA-enabled network adapters such as Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol (iWARP) RDMA Network Interface Controllers (RNICs) or InfiniBand HCAs (Host Channel Adapters) allow applications to communicate with hardware directly from the application address space. This is enabled by supporting numerous hardware queues—Send Queues (SQ) and Receive Queues (RQ) that can be mapped and directly accessed from the application address space through use of Memory Mapped Input/Output (MMIO) in the RNIC or HCA. Every time an application posts a new transmit or receive work request (WR), this request is added to the respective SQ or RQ by the user space library supplied by the hardware provider.
On one level, the RDMA architecture is designed to provide an abstraction between RDMA interfaces and the underlying network technology (e.g., Ethernet and InfiniBand). For example, the Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol (RDMAP) is designed to operate over the Direct Data Placement Protocol (DDP), which in turn interfaces (with other lower layers) to the RNIC or HCA. Ideally, the RDMAP should expose a consistent interface to applications in a network-technology agnostic manner, thereby enabling the same application to implement RDMA on any network technology that supports RDMA. However, various network technology-specific extensions have been added to various RDMA specifications over the years, resulting in some level of fragmentation.
One example of such fragmentation concerns support for RDMA Read operations. iWARP was originally specified with different RDMA Read semantics than other RDMA capable technologies. This created an application-visible difference between iWARP and other RDMA technologies such as InfiniBand. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to add extended RDMA Read operations to iWARP.


A rocking cradle is provided which allows for a hanging cradle contained within a supporting frame to be aided in its cyclical transverse displacement by magnetic attraction and repelling forces. Central magnets are mounted on the hanging cradle and are attracted and repelled by a pair of magnets mounted on the supporting frame with one of the magnets being fixed to the supporting frame and the other magnet being rotatively displaceable with respect to the first magnet. Transverse displacement of the hanging cradle causes pivoting of one of the magnets on the supporting frame which then allows a repelling force from the stationary magnet to act against the magnets mounted on the hanging cradle to displace the hanging cradle away from the magnets on the supporting frame.

There are numerous prior art types of cradles being used. Some of these prior art cradles have a rocking wooden horse with other types being manually displaceable with ropes. Still other types of cradles are mounted within fixed standing frames while others are electrically actuated for rocking displacement. Such conventional cradles include disadvantages including:
1. A cradle having a manually actuated rocking horse must be continuously displaced;
2. Cradles hung between fixed posts are generally inconvenient and restrictive due to the fact that such are not portable;
3. Cradles hung on standing frames must be continuously manually activated with frequent manual intervention;
4. Cradles which are displaced manually must be frequently pushed which is somewhat inconvenient; and,
5. Electrically actuated cradles remove manual operation, however, such include the complexities of electrically operating systems and are dependent on a source of electricity.


A technique for using a remote array cache memory for data redundancy. A computer system includes a first storage system having cache memory and mass storage. Data to be written to the mass storage is written to the cache memory. Redundant data is stored elsewhere in case the cache experiences a fault before the data can be written to mass storage. Otherwise, data not yet written to the mass storage may be lost. The first storage system is in communication with a second storage system which is typically located remotely from the first storage system. When the first storage system receives a write request, the first storage system forwards the data to the second storage system for redundant storage. Where the data is forwarded to the second storage system, this is referred to herein as “remote mode.” The first storage system may include redundant cache memories and enters remote mode only in the event a fault affects one of the cache memories. The data can then be recovered from the second storage system if needed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data storage systems and, more particularly, to coping with faults affecting write caching of data in a data storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical data storage system includes a controller for controlling operation of the storage system, a cache memory and a mass storage medium, such as hard disk drives. The cache memory serves as a buffer for read and write operations. More particularly, when a host system sends a write request for storing data in the storage system, the data is first stored redundantly in the cache memory, the storage system sends a response to the host, and later the data can be written asynchronously to the mass-storage medium while new requests can continue to be received into the cache memory.
For coping with faults, data storage systems are usually equipped with two caches and two or more redundant controllers. Therefore, where a fault occurs that affects one of the controllers or cache memories, a remaining one can continue to function. Thus, when the host system sends data to be stored by the storage system, the data is stored in both cache memories. Then, if a fault occurs that affects one of the cache memories, the data can be obtained from the remaining cache memory.
Once a fault occurs that affects one of the cache memories, another fault could then occur that affects the remaining cache memory. This could result in the permanent loss of data in cache memory that has not yet been written to the mass storage. Therefore, upon the occurrence of a failure that affects one of the cache memories, a conventional data storage system enters "safe mode" in which the data for each write request is immediately written to the mass storage before the response is sent to the host. This minimizes the amount of data that would be lost in the event a fault affects the remaining cache memory. Unfortunately, operation in safe mode also reduces the rate at which the data storage system is able to process requests. This is because disk access times tend to take longer than writes to cache and the ability to reorder the requests for increasing the efficiency of disk accesses is lost. In some circumstances, the performance can be degraded to the point that the storage system is unable to keep up with demand and has, thus, lost its usefulness.
This problem is exacerbated in some storage systems in which each controller is paired with a cache memory and often located on the same printed circuit board. In this case, a fault affecting any of the controllers or boards is likely to affect at least one of the cache memories, necessitating entry into safe mode. For such systems, the likelihood of having to enter safe mode can be significant.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved technique for coping with faults affecting cache memory in a data storage system. It is to this end that the present invention is directed.

Data redundancy for writes using remote storage system cache memory


The invention comprises a cap-sensitive, cast, solid explosive composition usable as a booster or primer and as a seismic explosive composition. The cast, solid explosive composition contains dispersed microballoons which impart important and surprising advantages.

Most cap-sensitive, cast, solid explosive compositions usable as primers are made from molecular explosives such as PETN, TNT, RDX or combinations thereof such as pentolite and composition B. These molecular explosives products have relatively high densities (1.60 g/cc or greater) and are formed from liquid melts at high temperatures. The high temperature liquid melts are poured into containers and allowed to cast upon cooling to the desired solid form. The melting, pouring and casting steps involve inherent hazards due to the high temperatures involved and the presence of molecular explosives. Recently, a novel cast, solid explosive composition was invented that allows mixing, pouring and casting of non-explosive ingredients to occur at ambient temperatures. The ingredients simply are admixed at ambient temperature to form a slurry that can be poured into containers and allowed to cure with time into a cap-sensitive, cast, solid form. (See co-pending U.S. Ser. No. 08/201,341.) In fact, when the non-explosive ingredients first are mixed together at ambient temperature, the mixture typically is not cap-sensitive, but upon curing, also at ambient temperature (except for the temperature rise due to heat of hydration and solvation as described below), the mixture casts and increases in sensitivity to become cap-sensitive. The inherent safety advantages of these compositions are obvious. Not only are non-explosive ingredients admixed at ambient rather than elevated temperatures, but also the composition increases in sensitivity only after the mixing step and simply upon being allowed to cure. These recent compositions comprise sodium perchlorate oxidizer salt, a polyhydric alcohol of low volatility such as diethylene glycol, and a small amount of water. The present invention is an improvement to these novel compositions, which hereafter will be referred to as "cast compositions."
Even though the cast compositions remain cap-sensitive and detonable at high densities (1.78 g/cc or higher), as do molecular explosives, the cast compositions tend to require greater run-up distances to reach terminal detonation velocity than molecular explosive-based compositions, which have short run-up distances. (Run-up distance is defined as the distance along the length of a cylindrical explosive charge that is required for the charge to reach its steady state or terminal detonation velocity, as measured from the point of initiation.) Also, these cast compositions have comparably higher critical diameters (unconfined) than do molecular explosives. (Critical diameter is defined as the minimum diameter at which a detonation wave is sustained in an explosive.) Further, as the diameter of the charge decreases, the detonation velocity of the cast compositions may decrease to a level (below about 5,000 m/sec) that is unacceptable. A shorter run-up distance, a smaller critical diameter and a higher terminal detonation velocity are preferred for booster and seismic charges. These characteristics are particularly important for small size (less than one pound) small diameter boosters or primers or minihole seismic explosives.
Another problem with the cast compositions as compared to molecular explosives involves impact sensitivity. The cast compositions can be more sensitive to impact initiation, depending on the impact stimulus, than molecular explosive products, and this difference in impact sensitivity can be a safety concern.
In summary, a need exists for the cast compositions to have shorter run-up distances, smaller critical diameters, higher terminal velocities in smaller diameters, and reduced impact sensitivity. The present invention satisfies these needs.
It has been found in the present invention that by adding a relatively small amount of microballoons and dispersing them throughout the cast composition, not only is the run-up distance decreased to a relatively very short distance (.ltoreq.50 mm), but also the critical diameter is decreased to .ltoreq.0.5 inches. In addition, the impact sensitivity (to rifle bullet and air cannon initiation) is significantly reduced when a small amount of microballoons is added. This effect is surprising since normally the addition of microballoons or air voids to an explosive, even a molecular explosive, increases the detonation (and impact) sensitivity of the charge, particularly in charges having small critical diameters.
A possible explanation of this phenomenon in the present invention is that the microballoons act as "energy absorbers" in localized, decoupled regions within the explosive matrix, where the energy created by an impact is dissipated or interrupted before significant reaction of the ingredients takes place. The fact that the detonation run-up distance also is decreased seems to indicate that initiation sensitivity and impact sensitivity of these cast compositions occur by different mechanisms.
With respect to initiation sensitivity, once the detonation process has been initiated by a brisant, localized shock energy source (blasting cap), the microballoons facilitate propagation of the detonation wave such that it reaches its terminal velocity more quickly (shorter distance). The microballoons perform this function by serving as hot spots (adiabatically compressible gas pockets). For impact sensitivity, however, the microballoons prevent transition to detonation in the product by dissipating or interrupting the relatively low energy imparted by the impact source. In contrast, molecular explosives-based products tend to have excellent detonation properties (such as minimal run-up distance, small critical diameters and high velocities even in small charge diameters) at higher densities and do not need the presence of hot spots to help propagate the detonation wave.
Another property of the present cast composition is that the curing or casting time generally is reduced when plastic or glass microballoons are employed. This is advantageous since the overall manufacturing time can be reduced.
All of these described benefits combine to make the cast compositions useful for small booster (less than one pound) applications or minihole seismic explosives (one-third pound) applications, in which the products have short charge lengths and small diameters.

Cast explosive composition with microballoons


An apparatus (295) using specular reflection spectroscopy to measure a temperature of a substrate (135). By reflecting light (100) from a substrate, the temperature of the substrate can be determined using the band-edge characteristics of the substrate. This in situ apparatus can be used as a feedback control in combination with a variable temperature substrate holder to more accurately control the processing conditions of the substrate. By utilizing a multiplicity of measurement sites, the variation of the temperature across the substrate can also be measured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an in-situ method of measuring the temperature of a substrate with a temperature dependent band-gap using band-edge thermometry (BET), and, more specifically, using specular reflection spectroscopy (SRS).
2. Discussion of the Background
The accurate measurement of semiconductor substrate temperatures during processing is highly desirable for semiconductor substrate processing. In particular, most processes are temperature sensitive, and therefore, accurate temperature measurement is a pre-requisite to the control of optimal conditions for etch and/or deposition chemistry. Moreover, a spatial variation of temperature across a semiconductor substrate can lead to non-uniform processing when either etching or depositing material.
There are three geometric modes or configurations of band-edge thermometry (BET) as illustrated in FIGS. 1A–1D: (1) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS; see FIGS. 1A and 1B), (2) transmission spectroscopy (TS; see FIG. 1C), and (3) specular reflection spectroscopy (SRS; see FIG. 1D).
In the DRS mode, the light source and detector are on the same side of the substrate with the detector placed in a non-specular position (see Johnson et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,568,978 and 5,388,909 (hereinafter "the '978 and '909 patents" respectively)). A non-specular detector only sees the light that is transmitted through the wafer and that is diffusely back scattered into the solid angle of the detector. In the DRS method, the double-pass transmission of light through the substrate is measured as a function of wavelength or, equivalently, photon energy. As the wavelength increases, the photon energy decreases, and the onset of substrate transparency (or, equivalently, the band-gap energy) occurs as the photon energy becomes less than the band-gap energy.
In the TS mode, the onset of substrate transparency is determined by the transmission of light through the substrate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,200 (hereinafter "the '200 patent"). In this geometry, the light source and the detection system are on opposite sides of the wafer. One difficulty with this approach is that it requires optical access to the chamber at opposite sides of the substrate. However, in comparison to the SRS mode, the TS mode results in an increase in the light intensity received by the optical detector.
In the SRS mode, the light source and detector are also on the same side of the substrate. The detector is placed in a specular position where it detects light that is specularly reflected from both surfaces of the wafer (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,361 (hereinafter "the '361 patent)). The light that is reflected into the detector without traveling through the wafer contains no temperature information and consequently adds only a relatively constant background signal. The light component that is reflected from the opposite internal surface of the substrate travels back through the wafer and onto the detector. That reflected component, which passes twice though the wafer, contains the useful temperature information.
No matter what mode is used, a temperature signature must be extracted from the spectra. In general, three algorithms have commonly been used to extract substrate temperature from band-edge spectra: (1) the spectral position of the maximum of the first derivative or, equivalently, the inflection point, (2) a direct comparison of the spectrum to a predetermined spectral database, and (3) the position of the spectrum knee (i.e., the location of the maximum of the second derivative). The first method has been discussed in the '200 patent. That method determined the substrate temperature as a function of the position of the inflection point of the spectrum in a previous calibration run where the temperature of each spectrum is known. The advantages of that method are that it is simple, fast and independent of the absolute intensity of measurement. The disadvantage is that it is very sensitive to interference effects that may occur at either surface of the processed silicon (Si) wafer.
In the second approach, the '361 patent compares a given spectrum to a temperature-dependent database composed of spectra taken at known temperatures. One advantage is that it is reported to work well for Si wafers. A disadvantage is that it is sensitive to interference effects and requires an absolute reflectivity measurement. Accordingly, each wafer may require a separate normalization spectrum.
Lastly, the '978 and '909 patents disclose a DRS mode BET, using the position of the spectrum knee as a signature. Its advantage is that it is the closest distinct point to the onset of transparency of a substrate, and is therefore less sensitive to interference effects. A shortcoming of this approach is that it requires sophisticated fitting algorithms that may be too slow for some current applications.
In general, a BET system includes three main units, i.e., a light source, a dispersion device and a photo-detector. Currently, there are several commercially available systems; however, none of these systems is fully capable of satisfying the following criteria:
1) Non-contact thermometry from the bare backside of Si wafers during front side processing.
2) Use of optical methods and quartz rods to couple light in and out of the process chamber.
3) Two-dimensional snapshot of wafer temperature.
4) Simultaneous samples of several points (approximately 10) on large Si wafers with a response time of 100 msec or less.
5) Temperature range of 20 to 300° C.
6) Accuracy of temperature measurement to within 2 to 5° C.

Apparatus for measuring temperatures of a wafer using specular reflection spectroscopy