Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an antireflective polymer having antireflective coating properties useful for a lithography process, and a hardmask composition including the same. The antireflective polymer exhibits strong absorption in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range and excellent etch resistance.

Abstract: A composition includes a polymer including a repeating unit represented by formula (1); and a solvent. R1 is a hydrogen atom or a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; L1 is a (1+n)-valent linking group; Ar1 is a monovalent group including an aromatic ring having 6 to 20 ring members, the aromatic ring including at least one halogen atom; n is an integer of 1 to 3; and L1 includes at least one group (A) selected from the group consisting of groups represented by formula (2-1) to formula (2-8).

Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes a spatial light modulator, a calculation unit configured to calculate positions of first connection portions of a first semiconductor chip provided on a substrate and positions of second connection portions of a second semiconductor chip provided on the substrate, based on a first position measurement result, a second position measurement result, and design information of the first connection portions and the second connection portions, the first position measurement result being a measurement result of positions of measurement points on the first semiconductor chip, the second position measurement result being a measurement result of positions of measurement points on the second semiconductor chip, and an exposure processing unit configured to control the spatial light modulator based on a calculation result by the calculation unit so as to expose wiring patterns connecting the first connection portions and the second connection portions.

Abstract: A debris catcher includes a concave surface configured to face a target material of a rotating target extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation generation system. The rotating target EUV radiation generation system includes a vessel, a crucible, and the catcher. A method of generating EUV radiation includes rotating the crucible, irradiating the target material to generate a plasma emitting the EUV radiation, and directing debris formed with the plasma using the catcher. A method of inspecting a photomask includes directing the EUV radiation to the photomask, capturing one or more images of patterned radiation reflected from the photomask, and processing the one or more images. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes directing the EUV radiation to the photomask, exposing a photoresist layer to patterned radiation reflected from the photomask, developing the photoresist layer, and etching a substrate using the developed photoresist layer as a mask.

Abstract: A cleaning system for cleaning a component related to a lithographic process such as a pellicle, reticle, wafer or another lithographic component, the system including at least one radiation emitter configured to, in use, irradiate a region of the component so as to cause thermomechanical vibrations in the component and/or induce sputtering of contaminants present on the component.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photoreceptor that has a photosensitive layer constituting a surface, a charging device that charges the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, an electrostatic charge image forming device that forms an electrostatic charge image on the charged surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, a developing device that contains a developer and develops the electrostatic charge image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor by the developer as a toner image, a transfer device that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a surface of a recording medium, and a cleaning device that has a cleaning blade coming into contact with the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor and cleaning at least residual toner particles on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, in which the photosensitive layer in the electrophotographic photoreceptor contains a polyest

Abstract: A power control device includes a heater, a zero-cross detecting unit, a triac, a supplying unit, and a controlling unit. The supplying unit discharges an electric charge when a control signal is outputted in a half-wave of each of a first polarity and a second polarity and charges the electric charge when the control signal is not outputted in the half-wave of the first polarity. The controlling unit outputs: in a first half-wave, a first control signal on the basis of the zero-cross point and a second control signal in a first phase different in timing from the first control signal, and in a second half-wave, a third control signal on the basis of the zero-cross point and a fourth control signal in a second phase different in timing from the second control signal. The first phase and the second phase are different from each other.

Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a temporary stacker on which a plurality of sheets are stacked on a temporary basis, a sheet processing device to perform given processing on a sheet bundle including the plurality of sheets stacked on the temporary stacker, an ejection device including a pair of rotors to eject the sheet bundle, and a guide to move between a first position above a top face of lower one of the pair of rotors and a second position below the top face of the lower one of the pair of rotors.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a feeding member to feed a recording material placed on a feeding portion from the feeding portion toward a transfer portion and a sheet-like charge eliminating cloth to eliminate charge of the recording material on a downstream of a conveyance portion and on an upstream of the transfer portion in a conveyance direction of the recording material. The charge eliminating cloth is disposed so as to oppose a surface of the recording material being conveyed by both the conveyance portion and the transfer portion in a non-contact manner. A supporting member is provided with a supporting surface to support the charge eliminating cloth. An angle formed by a normal line of the supporting surface and a direction of gravity is 45 degrees or more and less than 90 degrees.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes s main body, a container, an outer cover which includes a fitting region and an inner cover. When the container is not fitted into the fitting region, the inner cover is held in a first position, and when the container is fitted into the fitting region, the inner cover is pressed by the container to be displaced to a second position. The main body includes a restriction unit, and when the outer cover is turned to a closed position in a state where the inner cover is held in the first position, the inner cover abuts against the restriction unit to restrict the outer cover from reaching the closed position.

Abstract: A cartridge includes a frame; a photosensitive drum supported by the frame so as to be rotatable about a rotational axis thereof; a cleaning member for removing residual toner on the photosensitive drum; a charging roller for electrically charging a surface of the photosensitive drum; a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum by supplying toner to the photosensitive drum; a residual toner conveying member for conveying the residual toner, removed by the cleaning member in a direction of the rotational axis; and a residual toner accommodating portion for accommodating the residual toner conveyed by the residual toner conveying member and detachably mounted to the frame. The residual toner accommodating portion includes a receiving opening, in a part thereof in the direction of the rotational axis, for receiving the residual toner conveyed by the residual toner conveying member.

Abstract: A master plate for industrial hologram replication can include a flat and planar composite pane having a thick glass pane as a carrier for minimizing the deflection of the master plate and a thin glass pane for protecting a master hologram layer from mechanical influences, and at least one master hologram layer extending between the glass panes which has the optical function of a hologram. The thick glass pane can have a thickness perpendicular to the planar extent of greater than two millimeters. The thin glass pane can have has a thickness perpendicular to the planar extent of between two millimeters and 0.1 millimeters. An unevenness of the composite pane is preferably less than 0.03% of a length of a direction of extent of the surface of the planar composite pane. Also provided is a method for producing a master plate.

Abstract: A safety protection system includes: a safety protection circuitry which outputs an operation request signal to plant equipment, for safety protection of a plant; a backup circuitry which backs up the safety protection circuitry; and a signal output circuit which unifies the output of the safety protection circuitry and an output of the backup circuitry, and outputs the operation request signal to the plant equipment so that the plant equipment operates to a safe side. Output signals that the backup circuitry outputs are provided in a duplexed manner. The signal output circuit outputs the operation request signal only when both of the duplexed output signals of the backup circuitry are ON, and circuit soundness can be tested in a state in which the operation request signal to the plant equipment is blocked by the output signals each being turned ON one by one.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods enabling an intelligent agent to optimize a black-box objective function over a sufficiently large search space. More particularly, the intelligent agent may be employed to provide guidance in the design, development, and/or formulation (or a reformulation) for novel (or pre-existing) products. The intelligent agent employs machine learning and statistical techniques to provide the guidance. A user and the intelligent agent may communicate through a “smart spreadsheet” enabled by the embodiments.

Abstract: A control device include: a storage unit for storing an observation preference distribution of each task target as a target of a task in which a control target operates, and obstacle degree information indicating a degree that the task target corresponds to an obstacle; an estimation unit for estimating that an object in an ambient environment of the control target is which task target based on observation data from a sensor for observing the ambient environment of the control target and the observation preference distribution; a calculation unit for calculating an obstacle spectrum indicating an obstacle degree of a result of estimation based on the obstacle degree information; a generation unit for generating an action of the control target based on the estimation result; and a planning unit for planning control data which controls the control target based on an obstacle spectrum calculated and an action generated.

Abstract: A fault tree generation and update method, the method comprising: calculating, by a processor, similarity between a plurality of past maintenance reports; classifying, by the processor, the plurality of past maintenance reports based on the similarity; selecting, by the processor, a subset of the plurality of past maintenance reports associated with a classification as input to an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model; providing, by the processor, a fault tree generation instruction to the AI model for generating a fault tree using the subset of the plurality of past maintenance reports; and receiving, by the processor, the fault tree as output from the AI model.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products for printing a 3D crystalline article are disclosed. A method comprises reading a specification of a material and a desired crystalline structure. A layer of the material is dispensed by a nozzle. A plurality of materials characteristic sensors determines at least one characteristic of the dispensed layer. A plurality of seed crystals are selected based on a compatibility with the at least one characteristic of the dispensed layer. The compatibility corresponds to an ability of the plurality of seed crystals to produce the desired crystalline structure. The plurality of seed crystals are deposited onto a surface of the layer of material by a robotic arm, thereby producing a portion of the 3D crystalline article.

Abstract: A method may include receiving, by an equipment-based interception layer, automation instructions from a computational framework for control of a field equipment system; receiving, by the equipment-based interception layer, human-initiated instructions from an electronic operator chair for performance of operations by the field equipment system; transmitting, by the equipment-based interception layer and responsive to receipt of one or more of the automation instructions and the human-initiated instructions, control instructions to control one or more subsystems of the field equipment system; receiving, by the equipment-based interception layer, feedback from one or more of the subsystems responsive to implementation of the control instructions; and transmitting the feedback to one or more of the computational framework and the electronic operator chair.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for improving the safety of an intersection. One or more sensor readings can be received. The one or more sensor readings can be compared to one or more thresholds. A signal can be provided to one or more lighting devices based on whether the one or more sensor readings satisfy the one or more thresholds.

Abstract: The present technology relates to artificial intelligence assisted device troubleshooting. In an implementation, an interface service of a human machine interface application trains a machine learning model on the content of an embeddings database. The interface service then receives an input comprising a context of an automation system design. The interface service generates a prompt that includes an instruction for the ML model to identify an anomaly type associated with the context of the automation system design and to generate a solution that addresses the anomaly type. The interface service transmits the prompt to the ML model and receives a response from the ML model that includes the anomaly type and the requested solution. After receiving a response, the interface service may modify the automation system design based on the content of the response and surface a graphical user interface that includes the modified design.