Abstract: A spark plug (100) including a center electrode (130) and a ground electrode (140), which is formed by joining a ground electrode chip (143) to a ground electrode base material (141) via an intermediate member (142). A method for producing the spark plug (100) includes providing a projecting portion (142p) on the intermediate member (142), and projection-welding the intermediate member (142) to the ground electrode base material (141) by means of the projecting portion (142p), to thereby join the intermediate member 142 to the ground electrode base material (141). Further, the intermediate member (142) of the spark plug (100) includes a cylindrical columnar portion (142e) which is joined to the ground electrode chip (143), and a flange portion (142d) which is joined to the ground electrode base material (141) and which flange portion (142d) has a diameter greater than that of the cylindrical columnar portion (142e).

Abstract: There is provided a spark section (80) of needle-like shape protruding from an inner surface (33) of a ground electrode (30) to define a spark gap between the spark section and an electrode tip on a center electrode. The spark section (80) has a noble metal member (81) and an intermediate member (86) joined to each other. The materials of the noble metal member (81) and the intermediate member (86) are selected in such a manner that the thermal conductivity of the intermediate member (86) is lower than that of the noble metal member (81). This limits heat radiation through the heat radiation passage from the noble metal member (81) through the intermediate member (86) to the ground electrode (30) so as to maintain the noble metal member (81) at a higher temperature than conventional types and reduce a quenching effect of the noble metal member (81) on a flame core generated in the spark gap for improvement in ignition performance.

Abstract: An ignition part (80) of a ground electrode (30) includes a fused part (85) in which construction materials of a base portion (82) and a noble metal member (81) are fused and mixed by performing laser welding on the two. In the fused part (85), an average ratio P of components originated from the noble metal member (81) at points K1, L1, and M1 is equal to or greater than 80%, and an average ratio Q of components originated from the base portion at points K3, L3, and M3 is equal to or higher than 20%, and P+Q is equal to or higher than 160%. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain joining strength in the parts in the ignition part (80), thereby sufficiently preventing the generation of cracks, separation, and the like due to thermal stress.

Abstract: In a spark plug having a precious metal tip joined to the front end portion of a ground electrode, the stable junction state of the precious metal tip is guaranteed for a long time. A precious metal tip 32 on the side of a ground electrode 27 is not directly joined to the front end portion of the ground electrode 27 but indirectly joined with a mounting part 51 interposed therebetween. The mounting part 51 includes a base part 53 which has a disc shape and is provided with a flange part 52 on its outer periphery and a protruding part 54 which protrudes from the base part 53 and has a columnar shape. First, in the state where the precious metal tip 32 is in contact with the protruding part 54 of the mounting part 51, laser welding or the like is performed thereon to form a fused part 42 and obtain a complex, and the base part 53 of the mounting part 51 is joined to a flat surface of the ground electrode 27 by resistance welding.

Abstract: A spark plug comprising: a center electrode extending in a direction of an axis of said spark plug; a cylindrical insulator which has a shaft hole, and which holds said center electrode in said shaft hole in a state where a tip end of said center electrode is projected from a tip end face of said insulator; a metal shell which holds said insulator; and a ground electrode in which one end is joined to a tip end face of said metal shell, and which extends from said one end toward another end, wherein said ground electrode has an inner side face which faces said center electrode, and an outer side face which is a back face with respect to said inner side face, said outer side face is formed as an arcuately curved face when viewed from a side of said another end in an extending direction of said ground electrode, and a columnar noble metal tip is joined to said inner side face.

Abstract: There is provided a method for producing a spark plug in which welding strength between a noble metal tip and an electrode joined by laser welding can be restrained from becoming weak. A noble metal tip (90) to be joined to a center electrode (2) or ground electrode of a spark plug to form a spark discharge gap is resistance-welded to each electrode containing no noble metal and then laser-welded. In the noble metal tip (90) exposed under a severe environment involving spark discharge, a molten portion (80) formed in such a manner that a portion of the noble metal tip (90) and a portion of the electrode are melted by laser welding and a non-molten portion (95) on the noble metal tip (90) side are apt to be peeled from each other in a boundary surface (83) between the molten portion (80) and the non-molten portion (95).

Abstract: A liquid crystal display improved with the opening ratio and increased for the storage capacitance, in which a gate insulating film, a gate electrode, an interlayer insulating film, an image line and a source electrode are stacked in this order formed in the layer above an active device formed to a first substrate, the interlayer insulating film is formed with a coatable transparent insulating film having a specific dielectric constant of 4.0 or higher at least containing high dielectric fine particle or sol-gel, a first through hole is formed in the gate insulating film, a second through hole is formed to the interlayer insulating film in the inside of the first through hole, the source electrode is electrically connected with the active device by way of the second through hole, and the storage capacitance is constituted by the gate electrode, the image line, the source electrode, and the interlayer insulating film.

Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device with high image visibility at low power consumption and produced at low cost by using an interlayer dielectric film, which has low dielectric constant, high heat-resistant property, high optical transmissivity, high film thickness and high flattening property produced at low cost. An organic siloxane dielectric film is used as an interlayer dielectric film of the liquid crystal display device. A ratio of nitrogen content to silicon content (Ni content/Si content) in the interlayer dielectric film is controlled to 0.04 or more in the element ratio. The limiting film thickness to suppress and limit the cracking caused by the thickening of the interlayer dielectric film is set to 1.5 ?m or more.

Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device with high image visibility at low power consumption and produced at low cost by using an interlayer dielectric film, which has low dielectric constant, high heat-resistant property, high optical transmissivity, high film thickness and high flattening property produced at low cost. An organic siloxane dielectric film is used as an interlayer dielectric film of the liquid crystal display device. A ratio of nitrogen content to silicon content (Ni content/Si content) in the interlayer dielectric film is controlled to 0.04 or more in the element ratio. The limiting film thickness to suppress and limit the cracking caused by the thickening of the interlayer dielectric film is set to 1.5 ?m or more.

Abstract: There is provided a semiconductor device which can control a reaction caused between a gate electrode and a high-k gate dielectric film, and which has an element structure suitable for higher integration and speed-up. The semiconductor device has an insulated-gate field-effect transistor, wherein the insulated-gate field-effect transistor has: a gate insulating film including a high-k dielectric film; and a gate electrode with a laminated structure including a first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer which has a resistivity lower than that of the first conductive layer, and the first conductive layer is provided on and in contact with the high-k dielectric film, and includes titanium nitride with a density of 5 g/cm3 or more.

Abstract: A spark plug (100) including a center electrode (130) and a ground electrode (140), which is formed by joining a ground electrode chip (143) to a ground electrode base material (141) via an intermediate member (142). A method for producing the spark plug (100) includes providing a projecting portion (142p) on the intermediate member (142), and projection-welding the intermediate member (142) to the ground electrode base material (141) by means of the projecting portion (142p), to thereby join the intermediate member 142 to the ground electrode base material (141). Further, the intermediate member (142) of the spark plug (100) includes a cylindrical columnar portion (142e) which is joined to the ground electrode chip (143), and a flange portion (142d) which is joined to the ground electrode base material (141) and which flange portion (142d) has a diameter greater than that of the cylindrical columnar portion (142e).

Abstract: A high-dielectric-constant film including hafnium, wherein the above-mentioned high-dielectric-constant film includes deuterium at a ratio higher than the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen present in nature. In a field-effect transistor provided with the high-dielectric-constant film including hafnium, the interface state density at the interface between a silicon substrate and a gate dielectric film decreases and carrier mobility in the gate dielectric film increases. In the present invention, a high-dielectric-constant constant second dielectric film, which is a thin film including hafnium such as HfSiON or HfAlOx and including deuterium at a ratio higher than the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen present in nature, is used as the gate dielectric film of the field-effect transistor.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display improved with the opening ratio and increased for the storage capacitance, in which a gate insulating film, a gate electrode, an interlayer insulating film, an image line and a source electrode are stacked in this order formed in the layer above an active device formed to a first substrate, the interlayer insulating film is formed with a coatable transparent insulating film having a specific dielectric constant of 4.0 or higher at least containing high dielectric fine particle or sol-gel, a first through hole is formed in the gate insulating film, a second through hole is formed to the interlayer insulating film in the inside of the first through hole, the source electrode is electrically connected with the active device by way of the second through hole, and the storage capacitance is constituted by the gate electrode, the image line, the source electrode, and the interlayer insulating film.

Abstract: A ground-electrode spark portion 32 is formed from a noble metal which contains Pt as a main component, and is joined to a main metal portion of the ground electrode 4 via an alloy layer which has a thickness ranging from 0.5 ?m to 100 ?m and in which the noble metal that constitutes the ground-electrode spark portion 32 and the metal that constitutes the main metal portion of the ground electrode 4 are alloyed with each other. The ground-electrode spark portion 32 is configured such that a distal end surface 32t facing a spark discharge gap g is smaller in diameter than a bottom surface 32u joined to the ground electrode 4; and the distal end surface 32t is protrusively located beyond the side surface 4s of the ground electrode 4.

Abstract: An electrode substrate in which a lower electrode and an upper electrode are well positioned by way of an insulating film could not be formed by a printing method since positional displacement is caused. The cost was increased outstandingly when using photomasks for positioning. In the present invention, positional displacement does not occur even when using the printing method since the upper electrode and the lower electrode are positioned in self-alignment. Accordingly, a semiconductor device such as a flexible substrate using an organic semiconductor can be formed with low cost by using the printing method.

Abstract: A spark plug including: a center electrode as defined herein; a substantially cylindrical insulator as defined herein; a cylindrical metal shell as defined herein; and a ground electrode as defined herein, wherein a spark discharge gap is provided between the leading end portion of the center electrode and the leading end portion of the ground electrode, and the ground electrode has a bulging curved face on a side opposite to a side in which the center electrode is provided, and a maximum of width of the ground electrode within a range of ±1 mm from a center point of the spark discharge gap in the axial direction, as viewed in a direction where the center electrode and the ground electrode overlap, is 105% or less of a width of an ordinary portion having a substantially constant width.

Abstract: A spark plug 100 comprised of a metal shell 1, an insulator 2, a center electrode 3 and a ground electrode 4. A rear-end face of the ground electrode 4 is welded to a front-end face of the metal shell 1, and a bent portion 5 located at the intermediated position in the longitudinal direction is bent toward the center of the spark plug 100. The ground electrode 4 assumes a circular-shape with a diameter of 2 mm or less whereby an inflow of an air-fuel mixture is not disturbed even when the air-fuel mixture directly flows into a back face of the ground electrode 4. The ground electrode 4 is comprised of an outer layer 4A made of a nickel alloy and an inner layer 4B made of pure copper with an excellent thermal conductivity, in which a ratio of a cross-sectional area of the inner layer 4B to the entire cross-sectional area of the ground electrode 4 is 10% or more to 35% or less.

Abstract: A gate insulating film on a silicon substrate of includes a SiO2 film and a high-k film. The high-k film contains a transition metal, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. The concentration of silicon in the high-k film is higher than the concentrations of the transition metal and aluminum in the vicinity of the interface with the SiO2 film and the vicinity of the interface with the gate electrode. Furthermore, it is preferable that the concentration of silicon is the highest at least in one of the vicinity of the interface with the SiO2 film or the vicinity of the interface with the gate electrode, gradually decreases with distance from these interfaces, and becomes the lowest in a central part of the high-k film.

Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device with high image visibility at low power consumption and produced at low cost by using an interlayer dielectric film, which has low dielectric constant, high heat-resistant property, high optical transmissivity, high film thickness and high flattening property produced at low cost. An organic siloxane dielectric film is used as an interlayer dielectric film of the liquid crystal display device. A ratio of nitrogen content to silicon content (Ni content/Si content) in the interlayer dielectric film is controlled to 0.04 or more in the element ratio. The limiting film thickness to suppress and limit the cracking caused by the thickening of the interlayer dielectric film is set to 1.5 ?m or more.

Abstract: A spark plug comprising: a center electrode extending in a direction of an axis of said spark plug; a cylindrical insulator which has a shaft hole, and which holds said center electrode in said shaft hole in a state where a tip end of said center electrode is projected from a tip end face of said insulator; a metal shell which holds said insulator; and a ground electrode in which one end is joined to a tip end face of said metal shell, and which extends from said one end toward another end, wherein said ground electrode has an inner side face which faces said center electrode, and an outer side face which is a back face with respect to said inner side face, said outer side face is formed as an arcuately curved face when viewed from a side of said another end in an extending direction of said ground electrode, and a columnar noble metal tip is joined to said inner side face.