Abstract: A semiconductor wafer on which elements have been formed is diced and a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer is ground by a dicing before grinding method to form discrete semiconductor chips. The discrete semiconductor chips are adhered to an adhesive film and then the surface of the adhesive film is removably affixed to a dicing tape. After this, any excess portions of the adhesive film disposed between the respective semiconductor chips are removed.

Abstract: A transmission system allowing a response test to be activated from cable side and easy detection of occurrence of a failure is disclosed. In a transmission system for transmitting data between a first communication point and a second communication point along a link, a test manager transmits a trigger signal to a media converter on the link, and determines a location of a failure depending on whether a response block of data is received from a corresponding media converter within a predetermined time period. When a media converter has received the trigger signal, a response packet corresponding to the trigger signal is transmitted back to a source that has transmitted the trigger signal. A packet buffer is preferably provided in a media converter so that when one link is disconnected, the other link can be used to transmit packets, allowing a link test.

Abstract: A media converter allowing the response test to be activated from cable side and easy detection of occurrence of a failure is disclosed. A pair of physical-layer interfaces to different types of transmission media are connected through a memory for temporarily storing data to be transferred between the physical-layer interfaces. The media converter determines whether a received block of data stored in the memory includes trigger data uniquely assigned to the media converter in a source address field of the received block of data. Only when the received block of data stored in the memory includes the trigger data, a response block of data corresponding to the received block of data is sent back to a source that has transmitted the received block of data.

Abstract: A semiconductor wafer on which elements have been formed is diced and a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer is ground by a dicing before grinding method to form discrete semiconductor chips. The discrete semiconductor chips are adhered to an adhesive film and then the surface of the adhesive film is removably affixed to a dicing tape. After this, any excess portions of the adhesive film disposed between the respective semiconductor chips are removed.

Abstract: A card-type semiconductor device including a thin (e.g., 30 to 70 &mgr;m) semiconductor chip which is thinner than an insulating resin film embedded in a device hole of a wiring film. The wiring film includes a copper wiring layer and inner leads arranged on one main face of the insulating resin film. Electrode pads are bonded to the inner leads by heating and pressing. A sealing resin layer is formed on the exterior of the bonded portion as required, and a polyester resin film is integrally laminated on the upper and lower faces of the wiring film. The card-type semiconductor device with the above construction has sufficient strength against bending, etc., and is suitable for integrated circuit (IC) card applications.

Abstract: A microorganism holding carrier for a fluidized bed is provided that includes an extruded foamed article having continuous cells and independent cells. The article is composed of a polyolefin resin as a main component. The continuous cells include open-cells which are opened to at least two portions of a surface of the article and a semi-open cell which are opened to only one portion of the surface of the article. A ratio of the total volume of the continuous cells to the total volume of the extruded foamed article (a volume ratio of the continuous cells) falls within a range of from 20% to 70%. Further, a ratio of the total volume of the open-cells to the total volume of the continuous cells (a volume ratio of open-cells) is 20% or more. The article may have an apparent density of 0.90 to 1.80 g/cm.sup.3 and an apparent volume from 2.0.times.10.sup.-3 to 5.0 cm.sup.3, and be in the shape of a column, or a tube having an outer diameter of 2 to 20 mm and a thickness of 5 to 30% of the outer diameter.