Abstract: The present invention is a method of producing a negative electrode material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including: preparing silicon-based negative electrode active material particles; and coating each of the prepared particles with a conductive carbon coating by using a rotary kiln while controlling the rotary kiln such that the following relationships (1) and (2) hold true: W/(376.8×R×T2)?1.0??(1); and (T×R2/0.353)?3.0??(2), where R is a rotation rate (rpm) of the furnace tube of the rotary kiln, W is a mass (kg/h) of the particles that are put in the furnace tube per hour, and T is an inner diameter (m) of the furnace tube. This method can not only efficiently produce a negative electrode material that is coated with a uniform carbon coating and crystallinity, but also mass-produce negative electrode materials having a high capacity and a high cycle performance.

Abstract: The invention provides a rotary tubular furnace including a rotatable furnace tube having an inlet end through which silicon compound particles (SiOx where 0.5?x<1.6) are put therein and an outlet end through which the particles coated with carbon are taken out therefrom; and a heating chamber having a heater to heat the furnace tube, wherein the furnace tube is composed of a heat portion inside the heating chamber and a non-heat portion outside the heating chamber, a length B of the heat portion and an overall length A of the furnace tube satisfy 0.4?B/A<1, and a distance C between the heat portion and the outlet end and the overall length A satisfy 0.04?C/A?0.35. This furnace can inhibit clogging of the furnace tube and mass-produce a negative electrode active material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having a high capacity with inhibited variations in the amount of carbon coating and crystallinity.

Abstract: A negative electrode active material for use in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery. The negative electrode active material is composed of a mixture of a silicon-contained material and a carbon material and capable of being doped with lithium and de-doped. Silicon contained in the silicon-contained material has a crystallite size of 10 nm or less. This crystallite size is calculated by a Scherrer method from a half width of a diffraction peak attributable to Si (220) in X-ray diffraction. This negative electrode active material can maintain a high usage rate of the silicon-contained material at the time of charging and discharging in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery that uses the mixture of the silicon-contained material and the carbon material as the negative electrode active material.

Abstract: A silicon-contained material capable of being doped with lithium and de-doped, wherein when a three-electrode cell produced by using a working electrode including the silicon-contained material as an active material, a reference electrode made of metallic lithium, a counter electrode made of metallic lithium, and an electrolyte having lithium ionic conductivity is charged and discharged to graph a relationship between a derivative of a charging or discharging capacity with respect to an electric potential of the working electrode on the basis of the reference electrode and the electric potential, a ratio B/A is 2 or less while current flows in a direction in which the lithium of the silicon-contained material is de-doped in the discharge, A being the derivative maximum value with respect to a potential range from 260 to 320 mV, and B is the derivative maximum value with respect to a potential range from 420 to 520 mV.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a negative electrode material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, which is composed of a silicon composite body that has a structure wherein microcrystals or fine particles of silicon are dispersed in a substance having a composition different from that of the microcrystals or fine particles, said silicon composite body having a crystallite size of the microcrystals or fine particles of 8.0 nm or less as calculated using Scherrer's equation on the basis of the half width of the diffraction peak belonging to Si(220) in an X-ray diffraction. The present invention is able to provide a negative electrode material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, which has excellent coulombic efficiency, and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery.

Abstract: An injection molding device includes an injection plunger for injecting a molding material into a mold and pressurizing the molding material. The injection molding device further includes an injection cylinder, an injection module performing injection and a pressure boost module assisting pressure boost. The injection cylinder includes an operation cylinder, a motor, and a screw and a nut converts rotation of the motor into linear movement via the ball screw. The pressure boost module includes a compressed hydraulic oil storage part, a motor, a screw rotated by the motor and a nut that converts the rotation of the motor into linear movement, a compression member that compresses the hydraulic oil stored in the compressed hydraulic oil storage part, and a valve that allows or stops flow of the hydraulic oil stored in the compressed hydraulic oil storage part into the injection cylinder.

Abstract: The present invention provides a negative electrode material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, comprising negative electrode active material particles containing a silicon compound expressed by SiOx at least partially coated with a carbon coating where 0.5?x?1.6. The negative electrode active material particles have a negative zeta potential and exhibiting fragments of CyHz compound in an outermost surface layer of the silicon compound when subjected to TOF-SIMS. This negative electrode material can increase the battery capacity and improve the cycle performance and battery initial efficiency. The invention also provides a negative electrode active material layer, a negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery using this material, and a method of producing this material.

Abstract: The present invention provides a negative electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, the negative electrode comprising a negative electrode active material layer containing: negative electrode active materials including carbon active material and silicon active material composed of SiOx at least partially coated with lithium carbonate where 0.5?x?1.6; and binders including carboxymethyl cellulose or metal salt thereof, polyacrylic acid or metal salt thereof, and styrene-butadiene rubber or polyvinylidene fluoride, and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including this negative electrode. The negative electrode can increase the battery capacity and improve the cycle performance and first charge and discharge efficiency.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a photomask blank wherein a second film is stacked on a first film, the first film containing chromium and which is not substantially etched by the dry etching using fluorine and which is etchable by the dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine, and the second film containing no chromium and which is etchable by dry etching using fluorine and dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine.

Abstract: In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, an element is added thereto and is capable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower. The use of such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film (e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etching stopper film) of a photo mask blank can achieve an improvement in chlorine-dry etching while retaining the same optical characteristics and the like as those of the conventional chromium-containing material film, thereby increasing the patterning precision.

Abstract: In conjunction with a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate, a pattern-forming film, and an etch mask film, a set of etching conditions for the pattern-forming film is evaluated by measuring a first etching clear time (C1) taken when the etch mask film is etched under the etching conditions to be applied to the pattern-forming film, measuring a second etching clear time (C2) taken when the pattern-forming film is etched under the etching conditions, and computing a ratio (C1/C2) of the first to second etching clear time.

Abstract: A binary photomask blank has on a transparent substrate a light-shielding film including substrate-side and surface-side compositionally graded layers, having a thickness of 35-60 nm, and composed of a silicon base material containing a transition metal and N and/or O. The substrate-side compositionally graded layer has a thickness of 10-58.5 nm , and a N+O content of 25-40 at % at its lower surface and 10-23 at % at its upper surface. The surface-side compositionally graded layer has a thickness of 1.5-8 nm, and a N+O content of 10-45 at % at its lower surface and 45-55 at % at its upper surface.

Abstract: In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, an element is added thereto and is capable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower. The use of such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film (e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etching stopper film) of a photo mask blank can achieve an improvement in chlorine-dry etching while retaining the same optical characteristics and the like as those of the conventional chromium-containing material film, thereby increasing the patterning precision.

Abstract: A method enabling a used superabsorbent polymer recovered from used absorbent, etc., to be readily and inexpensively recovered without using acids or alkalies. The used superabsorbent polymer is treated with an aqueous solution of a multivalent metal salt such as calcium chloride, etc., the superabsorbent polymer treated with the aqueous solution of a multivalent metal salt is treated with an aqueous solution of an alkaline metal salt such as sodium chloride, etc., the superabsorbent polymer treated with the aqueous solution of an alkaline metal salt is washed with water, and the superabsorbent polymer washed with water is then dried.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a dry etching method for a work layer formed over a substrate, including the steps of forming a hard mask layer over the work layer formed over the substrate, forming a resist pattern over the hard mask layer, transferring the resist pattern to the hard mask layer by first dry etching conducted using the resist pattern, and patterning the work layer by second dry etching conducted using a hard mask pattern obtained upon the transfer to the hard mask layer, wherein after the hard mask layer is patterned by the first dry etching, the patterning of the work layer by the second dry etching is conducted through changing the concentration of an auxiliary ingredient of a dry etching gas, without changing a main ingredient of the dry etching gas, in an etching apparatus in which the first dry etching has been conducted.

Abstract: A silicon target for sputtering film formation which enables formation of a high-quality silicon-containing thin film by inhibiting dust generation during sputtering film formation is provided. An n-type silicon target material 10 and a metallic backing plate 20 are attached to each other via a bonding layer 40. A conductive layer 30 made of a material having a smaller work function than that of the silicon target material 10 is provided on a surface of the silicon target material 10 on the bonding layer 40 side. That is, the silicon target material 10 is attached to the metallic backing plate 20 via the conductive layer 30 and the bonding layer 40. In a case of single-crystal silicon, a work function of n-type silicon is generally 4.05 eV. A work function of a material of the conductive layer 30 needs to be smaller than 4.05 eV.

Abstract: In a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate, an optical film of material containing a transition metal and silicon, and a hard mask film, the hard mask film is a multilayer film including a first layer of a chromium-based material containing 20-60 atom % of oxygen and a second layer of a chromium-based material containing at least 50 atom % of chromium and less than 20 atom % of oxygen. The hard mask film having a thickness of 2.0 nm to less than 10 nm is resistant to fluorine dry etching.

Abstract: Embodiments are directed to displaying organizational information for a user's downline in an interactive graphical user interface (GUI). In one scenario, a computer system accesses portions of data for a user, where the data corresponds to secondary users in the user's downline. The computer system further generates a first-level view for the interactive GUI. The interactive GUI includes an interior portion configured to display filtered production data for the secondary users according to the accessed data as filtered by various production data filters. The interactive GUI also includes an exterior portion that includes rays extending outward from the interior portion, where each ray represents a secondary user's downline. The length and width of each ray is determined by the number of secondary users, and sales volume generated in the user's downline. The computer system then displays the generated first-level view in the interactive GUI.

Abstract: A light pattern exposure method is by irradiating ArF excimer laser light to a resist film through a photomask. The photomask includes a transparent substrate and a pattern of optical film of a material comprising a transition metal, silicon, nitrogen and oxygen, with contents thereof falling in a specific range. The photomask may be irradiated with ArF excimer laser light in a cumulative dose of at least 10 kJ/cm2.

Abstract: A light pattern exposure method is by irradiating ArF excimer laser light to a resist film through a halftone phase shift mask. The mask includes a transparent substrate and a pattern of halftone phase shift film of a material comprising a transition metal, silicon, nitrogen and oxygen and having an atomic ratio (Met/Si) of 0.18-0.25, a nitrogen content of 25-50 atom %, and an oxygen content of 5-20 atom %. The mask may be irradiated with ArF excimer laser light in a cumulative dose of at least 10 kJ/cm2.