Abstract: A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device has a crystalline silicon film as an active layer region. The crystalline silicon film has needle-like or columnar crystals oriented parallel to the substrate and having a crystal growth direction of (111) axis. A method for preparing the semiconductor device comprises steps of adding a catalytic element to an amorphous silicon film; and heating the amorphous silicon film containing the catalytic element at a low temperature to crystallize the silicon film.

Abstract: A semiconductor device in which a reduction in size and thinness are realized is provided. The semiconductor device of the present invention can realize a reduction in size by forming light emitting elements as a light source, and photodiodes as photoelectric conversion elements on the same substrate. Further, it becomes possible to control two signal lines by using one driver circuit with using an output switching circuit. As a result, it becomes possible to reduce the area occupied by the driver circuits of the semiconductor device, and the semiconductor device can be made smaller.

Abstract: An insulating film 103 for making an under insulating layer 104 is formed on a quartz or semiconductor substrate 100. Recesses 105a to 105d corresponding to recesses 101a to 101d of the substrate 100 are formed on the surface of the insulating film 103. The surface of this insulating film 103 is flattened to form the under insulating layer 104. By this flattening process, the distance L1, L2, . . . , Ln between the recesses 106a, 106b, 106d of the under insulating layer 104 is made 0.3 &mgr;m or more, and the depth of the respective recesses is made 10 nm or less. The root-mean-square surface roughness of the surface of the under insulating film 104 is made 0.3 nm or less. By this, in the recesses 106a, 106b, 106d, it can be avoided to block crystal growth of the semiconductor thin film, and crystal grain boundaries can be substantially disappeared.

Abstract: A photoelectric conversion device taking the form of a thin film and having a substrate exhibiting poor thermal resistance. The device prevents thermal deformation which would normally be caused by local application of excessive heat to the substrate. The device has output terminals permitting the output from the device to be taken out. The output terminals are formed on the surface of the substrate opposite to the photoelectric conversion device. The device further includes electrical connector portions for electrically connecting the electrodes of the device with the output terminals. The present invention also provides a method of treating a substrate having poor thermal resistance with a plasma with a high throughput. The substrate is continuously supplied into a reaction chamber and treated with a plasma. This supply operation is carried out in such a way that the total length of the substrate existing in a plasma processing region formed by electrodes is longer than the length of the electrodes.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a high quality light emitting device is provided, in which light emitting elements having long life are manufactured by using light emitting elements having a structure that deteriorates less easily than conventional structures. After forming a bank, an exposed anode surface is wiped using a PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)-based porous medium, performing leveling and removal of debris. An insulating film is formed covering the bank and the anode, unevenness on the anode surface is covered, and the balance between the amount of holes and electrons injected into an organic compound layer can be regulated.

Abstract: In an annealing process in which laser light is irradiated to a semiconductor thin film, a refractive index of the semiconductor thin film after laser light irradiation is measured and conditions for the next laser light irradiation are adjusted based on the measured refractive index value. For example, laser light irradiation conditions are adjusted so that semiconductor thin films always have the same refractive index. As a result, the annealing can be performed under the same conditions at every laser light irradiation even if the laser light irradiation conditions vary unavoidably.

Abstract: In the case where a material containing an alkaline metal or an alkaline-earth metal in a cathode, an anode, a buffer layer, or an organic compound layer is used, there is a fear of the diffusion of an impurity ion (representatively, alkaline metal ion or alkaline-earth metal ion) from the EL element to the TFT being generated and causing the variation of characteristics of the TFT. As the insulating films 117, 317 and 417 provided between TFT and EL element, a film containing a material for not only blocking the diffusion of an impurity ion but also aggressively absorbing an impurity ion, for example, a silicon nitride film containing a large amount of fluorine, a silicon oxynitride film containing a large amount of fluorine or an organic resin film containing a particle having an antimony (Sb) compound, a tin (Sn) compound, or an indium (In) compound is used.

Abstract: A highly precise coreless motor with improved precision of assembly in which weight is reduced by reducing the metal parts and reduction of assembly processes and time by means of a smaller number of parts brings down costs. There is a cylindrical external housing 1 with a through hole 1c in a central position in the closed end. A molded resin body 3 is molded into place through the through hole 1c of the external housing 1; one end is a bearing 3a that supports the rotating shaft, and it continues on the coaxial position of the rotating shaft to become a bearing housing 3b that is fitted into place. The molded resin body 3 is the base on which both the rotor and the stator are assembled.

Abstract: A semiconductor device which is excellent in reliability and electrical characteristics. The semiconductor device is formed on an insulating substrate. A channel region is formed between a source and a drain by the voltage applied to a gate electrode. The channel region, the source, and the drain are fabricated from a semiconductor having a large mobility. The other regions including the portion located under the channel region are fabricated from a semiconductor having a small mobility.

Abstract: To provide a receiver not requiring any large circuit. A carrier-wave-phase-error table 15-1A for BPSK modulation in which a range equal to or more than 0 of I-axis is defined is prepared for a carrier-wave regenerating circuit 10A of a demodulating circuit 1A for orthogonally detecting a received signal in which digital signals according to BPSK, QPSK, and 8PSK modulations are time-multiplexed and outputting I and Q symbol-stream data It and Qt for each symbol.

Abstract: A tuner unit generates a local oscillation signal which is multiplied by a received first IF signal to change the frequency of the received first IF signal, and converts the frequency-changed first IF signal into a baseband signal. A demodulation unit detects the signal level of demodulated data, and notifies the signal level to a control unit. The control unit compares the signal level notified by the demodulation unit with a reference value stored in a storage unit, and if the signal level is equal to or smaller than the reference value, makes the tuner unit change the frequency of a local oscillation signal to be used for frequency conversion of the first IF signal and perform a channel selection in a next frequency range. Time taken to start providing a service can therefore be shortened.

Abstract: Method of fabricating TFTs starts with forming a nickel film selectively on a bottom layer which is formed on a substrate. An amorphous silicon film is formed on the nickel film and heated to crystallize it. The crystallized film is irradiated with infrared light to anneal it. Thus, a crystalline silicon film having excellent crystallinity is obtained. TFTs are built, using this crystalline silicon film.

Abstract: A semiconductor display device with low power consumption, low electromagnetic noise, and low unwanted radiation is provided. In a peripheral driving circuit, a clock signal with a voltage level increased by a level shifter circuit is input to a shift register circuit. Then a timing signal from the shift register circuit is input to a level shifter circuit, and the voltage level is thus raised in two stages.

Abstract: A BS digital broadcast receiver having no 8PSK-demapper and a less number of delay circuits for Trellis encoding. A QPSK baseband signal based upon a reception signal point position of an absolute-phased baseband demodulation signal is Viterbi-decoded by a Viterbi-decoder 6. An output of the Viterbi-decoder is convolution-reencoded by a convolution encoder 7. Upper four bits of phase error data are searched from a phase error table 31 for carrier reproduction in accordance with a phase difference between 0 degree and a phase of a phase error detection reception signal point position. The upper four bits are delayed by delay circuits 81 to 84 by a total sum of a time taken to Viterbi-decode and a time taken to convolution-encode. The delayed outputs are demapped by a demapped value conversion circuit 9. A code TCD2 determined from the demapped output and convolution encode output is output as an MSB of a Trellis 8PSK decode output from an MSB code judging/error detecting circuit 10.

Abstract: An insulated gate semiconductor device comprising an insulator substrate having provided thereon a source and a drain region; a channel region being incorporated between said source and said drain regions, said channel region comprising a polycrystalline, a single crystal, or a semi-amorphous semiconductor material; and a region provided under said channel region, said region comprising an amorphous material containing the same material as that of the channel region as the principal component, or said region comprising a material having a band gap larger than said channel region. A process for fabricating the device is also disclosed.

Abstract: To provide a method of improving the characteristics and reliability of thin film transistors (TFT) which have been formed with a highest process temperature of not more than 700° C. Crystalline silicon films are thermally oxidized and TFT gate insulating films, for example, are formed with the oxide so obtained. At this time, the thermal oxidation is carried out at a temperature of 500-700° C. in such a way that no thermal damage is done to the substrate, for example, and a reactive gas which contains thermally excited or decomposed oxygen or nitrogen oxide (NOX, where 0.5≦×≦2.5) is used for the oxidizing gas. The oxidation reaction may be promoted by heating in an atmosphere of oxides of nitrogen at a high pressure of 2-10 atmospheres. Deterioration due to the implantation of hot electrons, for example, can be prevented and element reliability can be increased by using the thermal oxide films obtained in this way as gate insulating films.

Abstract: The illumination energy of an excimer laser is measured and adjusted to always effect illumination at constant energy. A laser beam output from an optics is reflected by a mirror, and applied to a sample. A beam profiler is disposed behind the mirror to measure the energy of an illumination laser beam. An energy attenuating device disposed between another mirror and the optics is operated based on the measurement value so that the energy of the laser beam applied to the sample is kept constant.

Abstract: In an information processing system provided with a camera and a microphone, for transmitting and receiving information of a user to and from another information processing system through a transmission lime, image data of the user obtained by a camera is stored in a memory in advance. When one user communicates another user, image data of the one user is obtained by the camera and is synthesized with the image data stored in the memory in advance by image-processing. The clothes, hair, background, make-up etc. of the one user are made different to reality and the image data are transmitted to the another user in the communication.

Abstract: A gray-scale power supply line supplied to a source signal line driving circuit is made only one system, and each of D/A conversion circuits drives source signal lines in which three source signal lines corresponding to RGB are made a unit and the number of which is a multiple of 3. The periods in which respective source line selecting circuits select source signal lines corresponding to respective colors of the RGB are made synchronous with each other, and the power supply voltage applied to the gray-scale power supply line is changed in one horizontal writing period, so that power supply voltages corresponding to R, G and B are respectively applied to the gray-scale power supply line in periods while the source signal lines of R, G and B are respectively selected.

Abstract: A carrier reproduction circuit which can perform stable carrier reproduction even when reception takes place with low C/N values is provided. The reception phase of the demodulated known-pattern reception signal is detected with a frame synchronizing timing circuit (4), and based on the detected reception phase, either the phase difference table of absolute phase having one convergence point or the phase difference table of the phase rotated from the absolute phase by 180°, which are included in a carrier reproduction phase difference detecting circuit (8), is selected, and from the selected phase difference table the output based on the phase difference between the phase obtained from the signal point position of the reception signal and the phase convergence point is obtained, and thus carrier reproduction is implemented by undergoing the reproduced carrier frequency control via an AFC circuit (10) so that the phase obtained from the signal point position coincides with the phase convergence point.