Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a carrier and a metallic structure including a metallic member, a pad and a via portion; wherein the metallic member is disposed inside the carrier, the pad is configured for receiving a solder bump and is disposed on a surface of the carrier, the via portion is configured for electrically connecting the metallic member and the pad, and the via portion is disposed proximal to an end of the pad. Further, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a carrier, removing a portion of the carrier for forming a via extending a surface of the carrier to an interior of the carrier, filling the via by a conductive material, and disposing the conductive material on the surface of the carrier, wherein the via is disposed proximal to an end portion of the conductive material.

Abstract: A method of forming a semiconductor structure of a control gate is provided, including depositing a first dielectric layer overlying a substrate, forming a surface modification layer from the first dielectric layer; and forming semiconductor dots on the surface modification layer. The surface modification layer has a bonding energy to the semiconductor dots less than the bonding energy between the first dielectric layer and the semiconductor dots. Therefore the semiconductor dots have higher density to form on the surface modification layer than that to directly form on the first dielectric layer. And a semiconductor device is also provided to tighten threshold voltage (Vt) and increase programming efficiency.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for preparing graphene from a biomass-derived carbonaceous mesophase, which includes: soaking a base substance into an ethanol solution of a biomass-derived carbonaceous mesophase; after a certain period of time, taking out and drying the base substance, a layer of biomass-derived carbonaceous mesophase film being attached to the surface of the base substance; subjecting the base substance to a heat treatment under the protection of a hydrogen atmosphere, then a stacked graphene film was formed on the surface of the base substance; and further subjecting the base substance to ultrasonic dispersion in an alcohol solvent to separate the graphene film and the base substance, then a graphene alcosol was formed. The preparation process of the present invention is easy to implement. The raw material biomass-derived carbonaceous mesophase has abundant sources and is low in cost. The preparation process has low energy consumption, and is applicable to mass production.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a gate stack overlying a substrate. The semiconductor device further includes a spacer on sidewalls of the gate stack, where a top surface of the spacer is above a top surface of the gate stack. Additionally, the semiconductor device includes a protection layer overlying the gate stack and filling at least a portion of a space surrounded by the spacer above the top surface of the gate stack. Furthermore, the semiconductor device includes a contact hole over the spacer, where the contact hole extends over the gate stack, and where a sidewall of the contact hole has a step-wise shape.

Abstract: A method for generating an operational rule associated with a building management system includes identifying, with a processing device, a first pattern associated with a series of operational observations corresponding to a property of the building management system, correlating a first contextual attribute with the first pattern, and deriving the operational rule at least in part based on the first pattern and the first contextual attribute.

Abstract: Disclosed is a wire clamp, comprising: a clamp body; a pair of arms coupled to the clamp body; and a piezoelectric actuator having a longitudinal axis extending between a first end and a second end, the actuator being coupled to the pair of arms at the first end and to the clamp body at the second end. The second end of the actuator is coupled to the clamp body by a preload mechanism for applying a preload force along the longitudinal axis, and the preload mechanism comprises at least one wedge having an inclined surface which is slidable over a mating inclined surface. Also disclosed is a method of applying a preload force to a piezoelectric actuator of a wire clamp, as well as a jig for applying a preload force to a piezoelectric actuator of a wire clamp.

Abstract: According to one exemplary embodiment, a system of building a primary environment may comprises an external storage module and a smart device. The external storage module stores multiple digital data. Data transmission for the multiple digital data is provided between the external storage module and the smart device. The multiple digital data at least includes external data of an operation system (OS)/Application OS (AppOS), and resident data of the OS/AppOS. After the smart device starts up, at least one first loader of the storage module is duplicated as a second loader of the smart device. The second loader loads the external data and the resident data respectively to integrate as an AppOS image file, and activates the image file to launch an AppOS environment.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes a semiconductor substrate; and a passive polysilicon device disposed over the semiconductor substrate. The passive polysilicon device further includes a polysilicon feature; and a plurality of electrodes embedded in the polysilicon feature.

Abstract: An electronic device includes an acoustic sensor, a storage module, a signal-processing unit and a processor unit. The acoustic sensor is configured to receive a sound and generate a sound signal according to the sound. The signal-processing unit is coupled to the acoustic sensor for receiving the sound signal, processing the sound signal according to setting data and accordingly generating an audio signal. The processor unit is coupled to the signal-processing unit, obtaining first position data of the electronic device, determining the setting data according to the first position data and storing the audio signal in the storage module.

Abstract: An image sensor is provided including a substrate, an array of photosensitive units, a grid and a plurality of color filters. In the image sensor, the grid has a first portion and a second portion disposed on the first portion. The second portion of the grid can cause reflection or refraction of incident lights targeted for one image sensor element back into the same image sensor element, so as to avoid crosstalk occurred. Further, a method for manufacturing the image sensor also provides herein.

Abstract: A semiconductor electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection apparatus comprises at least one elementary transistor with a first conductivity type, a well region with a second conductivity type, a guard ring with the second conductivity type and a semiconductor interval region. The elementary transistor is formed in the well region. The guard ring surrounds the at least one elementary transistor. The semiconductor interval region is disposed between the elementary transistor and the guard ring in order to surrounds the elementary transistor, wherein the semiconductor interval region is an undoped region, a doped region with the first conductivity type or a doped region with the second conductivity type that has a doping concentration substantially less than that of the well region.

Abstract: A linkage mechanism includes a first joint, a second joint, a first linkage and a second linkage. The two ends of the first linkage are respectively connected to the first joint and the second joint and the two ends of the second linkage are respectively connected to the first joint and the second joint, wherein when the linkage mechanism is subjected to an external force, the vibration phase of the first linkage is different from the vibration phase of the second linkage by ?. In addition, a robot working platform and a design method for robot working platform are disclosed as well.

Abstract: An apparatus and method based on image for detecting heart rate activity is provided. The method includes: obtaining a plurality of color images; based on a complexion target condition, defining a target region; performing color composition analysis on the target region to obtain red channel signal, green channel signal and blue channel signal, respectively; performing independent component analysis on separate red, green and blue channel signals to obtain separate first independent component signal, second independent component signal and third independent component signal; performing frequency domain transform, signal energy computation and signal optimization processes on separate first, second and third independent component signals to obtain a filter signal, comparing filter signal based on a pre-set condition to determine if target region belonging to a human, and performing a physiological information analysis.

Abstract: A Wi-Fi radio distribution network (RDN) station is provided for use in a wireless communications network comprising a plurality of wireless stations. The Wi-Fi RDN station comprises a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) receiving system configured to operate in accordance with a channel estimation MIMO receiving scheme; and a RDN connected to the MIMO receiving system. The RDN comprises at least one beamformer arranged to be fed by two or more antennas, wherein each of the beamformers includes a combiner configured to combine signals coming from a plurality of antennas associated with the respective beamformer into a single signal. The MIMO receiving system is configured to perform one or both of channel estimation using a single antenna or beamforming. Both channel estimation and beamforming may be based on one or more packets addressed to one or more wireless stations in the communications network other than the Wi-Fi RDN station.

Abstract: The present invention provides an information dissemination system based on the integration of the broadcast network and the Internet, including: a terminal storage module, a regional storage module, a statistics-and-analysis module, a recommendation-and-analysis module, a media content management module and a network scheduling module. By two-level storing and playing of media contents, along with the statistics and analysis for on-demand behaviors of users, the intervention of the operator, and the recommendation and analysis performed by the recommendation-and-analysis module, the media contents are classified. Further, according to the classification, a media content is transmitted to the terminal storage module via the Internet; or, is transmitted to the terminal storage module via the Internet and pushed to the terminal storage module via the broadcast network; or, is pushed to the terminal storage module or the regional storage module at a predetermined time via the broadcast network.

Abstract: A first embodiment is a lithography mask comprising a transparent substrate and a first molybdenum silicon nitride (MoxSiyNz) layer. The first MoxSiyNz layer is over the transparent substrate. A percentage of molybdenum (x) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 1 and 2. A percentage of silicon (y) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 50 and 55. A percentage of nitride (z) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 40 and 50. The first MoxSiyNz layer has an opening therethrough.

Abstract: The invention refers to a thermoplastic polyurethane produced from at least an organic diisocyanate and a compound which is reactive toward isocyanates, wherein the polyurethane comprises the ester of a tricarboxylic acid with at least one alcohol and wherein all acid groups of the tricarboxylic acid are esterified with an alcohol. The invention further refers to a process for producing the respective polyurethane, products comprising this thermoplastic polyurethane and the use of the ester of a tricarboxylic acid as plasticizer in thermoplastic polyurethanes.

Abstract: A three-dimensional mask model of the invention provides a more realistic approximation of the three-dimensional effects of a photolithography mask with sub-wavelength features than a thin-mask model. In one embodiment, the three-dimensional mask model includes a set of filtering kernels in the spatial domain that are configured to be convolved with thin-mask transmission functions to produce a near-field image. In another embodiment, the three-dimensional mask model includes a set of correction factors in the frequency domain that are configured to be multiplied by the Fourier transform of thin-mask transmission functions to produce a near-field image.

Abstract: A sealing process of LED modules includes a waterproof wire put through a wire-through hole of a heat sink to be connected with a positive-negative solder joints on a PCB board, which are subjected to glue sealing treatment. A waterproof sealing process is operated between the waterproof wire and wire-through hole. The PCB board is fixed on the heat sink. One sealing ring is placed into a groove. A ring of liquid silica gel is evenly applied along the other groove. The heat sink installed with the PCB board and the waterproof wire are inversely buckled on the lens set which is fixed with the solid silica gel ring and liquid silica gel.

Abstract: A substrate structure including an upper surface, a lower surface and a plurality of side surfaces is provided. The lower surface is opposite to the upper surface. The side surfaces connect to the upper surface and the lower surface. Each side surface has a perpendicular surface, a first corner surface and a second corner surface. The perpendicular surface is perpendicular to the upper surface and the lower surface. The first corner surface is located between the perpendicular surface and the upper surface. The second corner surface is located between the perpendicular surface and the lower surface. The roughness of the first corner surface and the second corner surface are smaller than or equal to that of the perpendicular surface.