Abstract: An electrical test probe card is presented including a removable probe head assembly with alignment features, as well as a method for aligning the probe head assembly to the probe card. The probe head assembly is used to provide an electrical interface between an interface circuit and a semiconductor device under test. The probe head assembly includes a probe head body having a pair of opposed surfaces. A set of probe holes and a set of alignment holes extend between the opposed surfaces. Each probe hole is adapted to receive an electrically conductive probe, and each alignment hole is adapted to pass optical illumination used to align the probe head body with the interface circuit. The probe holes are arranged according to a first pattern defined by a set of electrical contacts on a surface of the device under test. A surface of the interface circuit includes a set of electrical contacts arranged according to the first pattern, and a set of alignment marks defining a second pattern.

Abstract: In an object oriented software environment, a system and method is disclosed that addresses both state recovery and relationship recovery in the event of a system halt. The system is suited to enterprise-class distributed systems with extensive object relationships. Each essential object is saved in persistent storage. Essential values within each object are updated in storage according to a method within each object. After a partial or total halt of the system, the state of the software is reconstructed in a two phase process. In the first phase, the essential objects are restored from persistent storage, along with essential values. In the second phase, a method uniquely implemented by each object will reconstruct non-essential objects and variables. The second phase is ideally tailored to allow the system to be reconstructed even when the underlying hardware or software has been altered.

Abstract: An optical design for delivering or receiving light from a fluid being measured is disclosed. The optical design is capable of immersion in the fluid being measured, and is capable of operating with fluids that have a different index of refraction. The optical design includes a solid prism of optical material to which a fiber optic attaches by a suitable adhesive. In an optical delivery system, light from the fiber enters the prism and reflects off an internal mirror to a second internal reflective surface. The second internal reflective surface focuses the light to a fixed point through an exit surface of the prism. The second internal reflective surface may in the shape of an ellipse, or may comprise a diffractive surface. The exit surface has a spherical concave shape that is centered on the fixed point where the light is focused, so that light passes through the exit surface at substantially ninety degrees.

Abstract: A ROM or other memory may include two or more partitions and a precharge circuit. Each of the partitions may be coupled to separate sets of output conductors, to which the precharge circuit may be coupled. The precharge circuit may precharge the conductors of the partition to be read, while not precharging the other conductors. In one embodiment, the precharge may be to a voltage representing a binary value. In one implementation, the non-precharged conductors may be held to a predetermined voltage different from the voltage to which the precharged conductors are precharged. The predetermined voltage may represent the opposite binary value to the binary value represented by the precharge voltage. The ROM may also include an output circuit which may, in certain embodiments, comprise a logic circuit which logically combines the signals on respective conductors from each partition to provide output signals from the ROM.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for indicating the operational status of equipment (“tools”) used in semiconductor fabrication is provided. In one embodiment, the operational status of a tool is indicated by a mechanical sign attached to the tool. The sign contains indications of multiple operational statuses of the tool. The current operational status is indicated by covering the other possible operational statuses. The sign is constructed of materials that are compatible with the semiconductor fabrication environment. In a second embodiment, the operational status of a tool is indicated by illuminating a light. Lights for indicating possible operational statuses of the tool are attached to the tool. The lights may by illuminated by depressing a switch. Alternatively, the illumination of the lights may be controlled by a computer that also controls the operation of the tool. The computer may also cause an indication of the tool's operational status to be indicated on a monitor attached to the tool.

Abstract: The process consists in depositing, by chemical vapour deposition using a mixture of silicon and germanium precursor gases, a single-crystal layer of silicon or germanium on a germanium or silicon substrate by decreasing or increasing the temperature in the range 800-450° C. and at the same time by increasing the Si/Ge or Ge/Si weight ratio from 0 to 100% in the precursor gas mixture, respectively.

Abstract: An infra-red dryer utilizes high velocity air jets which scrub and break up the moist air layer which clings to the surface of a freshly printed and/or coated sheet. The high velocity air jets are directed through multiple air flow apertures across an array of infra-red lamps onto the freshly printed and/or coated sheets. An extractor exhausts the moisture-laden air from an exposure zone while short wave infra-red radiation heats the ink and/or protective coating. The effective exposure to pressurized air is increased by the air jets which produce a balanced pressure air blanket along the sheet travel path. The moist air layer is displaced from the printed and/or coated sheet and is extracted from the press as the sheet moves through the exposure zone.

Abstract: A system and method for generating and playing back three-dimensional (3D) movies are disclosed. The system is capable of partially rendering frames without relying upon exact viewpoint information. The partially rendered frames may be rendered to the extent possible without performing viewpoint-dependent processes, and then compressed and stored to a carrier medium. To reduce the amount of data to be stored, the viewer's possible viewpoints may be restricted (e.g., by defining a viewpoint-limiting volume or region). The resulting partially-rendered geometry data may be compressed using geometry compression. During playback, the compressed frames are read as a stream, and decompressed. Any final viewpoint-dependent rendering operations may then be performed (e.g., some lighting calculations and atmospheric effects, some fogging, specular highlighting, and reflections). A sensor such as a head-tracker may provide real-time viewpoint information that may be used by the playback system.

Abstract: A thermally sensitive polymer-particle composite that absorbs electromagnetic radiation, and uses the absorbed energy to trigger the delivery of a chemical is disclosed. Metal nanoshells are nanoparticulate materials that are suitable for use in the present composites and can be made according to a process that includes optically tuning or tailoring their maximum optical absorption to any desired wavelength primarily by altering the ratio of the core diameter to the shell thickness. Preferred nanoshells are selected that strongly absorb light in the near-infrared and thus produce heat. These nanoshells are combined with a temperature-sensitive material to provide an implantable or injectable material for modulated drug delivery via external exposure to near-IR light. This invention provides a means to improve the quality of life for persons requiring multiple injections of a drug, such as diabetes mellitus patients.

Abstract: A radiotherapy device comprises a radioactive wire adapted to deliver an intended dosage of radiation to a lesion or other selected body tissues. The radioactive wire comprises an inner core about which is disposed an outer buffer layer of platinum or other suitable metal of high atomic number. The buffer layer preferably comprises a thin, continuous wire wrapped about the inner core. The radiotherapy device may be made into a variety of shapes, such as a straight wire, a helical coil, or other more complex shape, and it may be provided with an elastic memory. The device may be adapted for attachment to a delivery wire for controlled placement, as through a delivery catheter or microcatheter, at the treatment site. When accurate positioning of the device is not necessary, it can simply be injected through the delivery catheter or microcatheter, and in that event a delivery wire is not needed.

Abstract: A lightweight containment framework supporting shareable program modules. The containment framework is sufficiently compact and efficient to run on a wide variety of resource-constrained, small footprint devices, such as personal data assistants (PDAs), smart cellular phones, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, etc. The containment framework provides module management services such as module registration, lookup, instance tracking, etc. The basic functionality provided by the framework may be extended by adding system modules into the framework. The shareable program modules may implement services. Modules may be both service providers and clients of other service modules. The lightweight and efficient nature of the system enables application programs traditionally associated with desktop computer systems, such as web browsers, email clients, etc., to run on small footprint devices.

Abstract: A test structure for characterizing ion implantation procedures used in integrated circuit fabrication processes and a method for using the test structure are described. The test structure includes a first dielectric layer, a patterned polysilicon layer, and a second dielectric layer arranged in order upon a substrate. Ion implantation of the second dielectric layer may be performed according to a procedure used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The ion-implanted regions of the second dielectric layer may be preferentially removed relative to non-ion-implanted regions of the second dielectric layer. A metal silicide may then be selectively formed upon portions of the patterned polysilicon not covered by non-removed regions of the second dielectric layer. Electrical testing and/or optical inspection may be used to identify defects introduced into the test structure during ion implantation.

Abstract: A system and method for using a toggle command for setting and releasing a lock, i.e. a locktoggle. In an exemplary computer system, one or more processors are each coupled to a bus bridge through separate high speed connections, such as a pair of uni-directional address buses with respective source-synchronous clock lines and a bi-directional data bus with attendant source-synchronous clock lines. The locktoggle command is used to transmit both a lock request and an unlock request from a processor to a system coherency. point, e.g. the bus bridge. The system coherency point acknowledges when the lock has been established or released. While the lock is active, other processors are inhibited. from accessing at least the memory locations for which the lock was initiated. Locks are thus established at the system coherency point, which may advantageously allow for locking functionality in a non-shared bus system.

Abstract: A method, system, and storage medium for increasing the efficiency of integrated circuit (IC) manufacture by improvements in manufacturing equipment usage are provided. Process tools are assigned to one of three operating states: up, down, or conditional. In the up state, process tools are available for manufacturing. After certain manufacturing steps, the quality of the ICs being made upon wafers is evaluated. If potentially defective ICs are found, process tools that have processed the wafer may be placed in the conditional state. In this state, process tools are allowed to continue manufacturing, albeit only for a limited period. The conditional state gives personnel time to determine which process tool is responsible for the defective product. The responsible process tool is then placed in the down state while all others are placed back in the up state. Once the problem with the process tool in the down state is presumably repaired, it is placed in the conditional state.

Abstract: Carbon nitride powder prepared by solid-state reaction between cyanuric chloride or its fluoro analogue and lithium nitride. The determined, by elemental analysis, atomic N/C ratio (1.33) in the synthesized material is consistent with C3N4 stoichiometry. Combined material characterization data, obtained by FTIR, Raman, UV-Vis, (13C) MAS NMR, XPS, TGA/DTA and pyrolysis-EIMS methods, provide substantial evidence for graphite-like sp2-bonded structure composed of building blocks of s-triazine rings bridged by the three-fold coordinated nitrogen atoms in the bulk carbon nitride.

Abstract: A portable notebook computer having a thickness of only one inch is obtained by provision of a computer housing containing a keyboard assembly and a motherboard positioned directly below the keyboard assembly, the keyboard assembly and the motherboard thereby defining a region in the enclosure. The other components comprising the computer; i.e. a hard disk drive, a PCMCIA option slot, a trackball assembly, and a DC to DC convertor, are positioned in an adjacent and generally co-planar relationship with this region. A battery housing is mounted externally on the computer housing for supplying electrical power to the computer.

Abstract: A microprocessor capable of caching victimized branch prediction information is disclosed. Branch prediction information is generated as branch instructions are executed over time. This prediction information is stored in a branch target buffer. The storage locations within the branch target buffer correspond to cache line locations within the microprocessor's instructions cache. Instead of discarding branch prediction information corresponding to instructions that are replaced or discarded from the instruction cache, the branch prediction information is stored in a victim branch prediction cache. Address information may also be stored to identify which instructions the prediction information corresponds to. The microprocessor's instruction cache is configured to receive and store instruction bytes, and the branch target array is coupled to the instruction cache and configured to store branch target information corresponding to the stored instruction bytes.

Abstract: A new technique is provided using only one coating material (pure silicon) to deposit thin films in a high vacuum, and using an ion source with a working gas (or gases) to control the refractive index of the thin film. This new technique can deposit different kinds of optical thin films with different refractive indices or gradient-indices and make different kinds of multilayer interference filters without opening the vacuum chamber during the process. The way of evaporation or sputtering of the coating material or target uses “electron beam evaporation”, “DC or RF magnetron sputtering”, or “ion beam sputtering”, etc. The way of controlling the refractive index of the film involves mixing Ar with O2 and N2 or just the mixture of N2 or O2, and feeding the gases into the ion source, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The amount of gas and the way of feeding are controlled by computer software.

Abstract: A graphics system and method for performing blur effects, including motion blur and depth of field effects, are disclosed. In one embodiment the system comprises a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor is configured to receive a set of three-dimensional (3D) graphics data and render a plurality of samples based on the set of 3D graphics data. The processor is also configured to generate sample tags for the samples, wherein the sample tags are indicative of whether or not the samples are to be blurred. The super-sampled sample buffer is coupled to receive and store the samples from the graphics processor. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit is coupled to receive and filter the samples from the super-sampled sample buffer to generate output pixels, which in turn are displayable to form an image on a display device.

Abstract: A bi-directional signal coupler is incorporated into a transmission/reception communication system and is used for the transmission and reception of signals over a single transmission medium. The bi-directional signal coupler includes a primary nulling device for removing a signal to be transmitted through the bi-directional signal coupler from a signal to be received into the bi-directional signal coupler. The primary removing device provides an output signal representative of the signal to be received plus the signal to be transmitted wherein a level of the signal to be transmitted is removed to a first extent relative to a level of the signal to be received. At least one additional secondary device is provided for removing the signal to be transmitted from the signal to be received in a successive manner.