Abstract: For the production of sintered lanthanum manganite bodies, such as tubes for solid oxide fuel cell air electrodes, there is used extrudable lanthanum manganite paste having a pH of not less than 8, of a dried unfired extruded lanthanum manganite body formed of material having a pH, measured by grinding the material and diluting with water, of at least 7.3. Providing alkalinity in such a paste or body reduces crack formation and increases productivity.

Abstract: Zinc powder comprising particles having part or all of their surfaces coated either with copper and/or indium or with silver is used as a battery material or an active material for the negative electrode in a battery. The powder can be used as an anode active material in a secondary battery to achieve a higher discharge capacity and better cycle characteristics.

Abstract: A porous sintered lanthanum manganite body has an alkali metal content of at least 100 ppm and the alkali metal concentration in the lanthanum manganite crystal grains is higher adjacent the grain boundaries than away from the grain boundaries. The body is made by forming a shaped green body of material and firing the shaped green body, the sinterable material has a content of alkali metal of at least 100 ppm. The sintered body has improved strength, and is suitable for example as an air electrode of a solid oxide fuel cell.

Abstract: A novel primary or secondary battery whose active material for the negative electrode is composed of metallic gallium, gallium alloys or gallium oxide has first come into the world.Gallium has an electrochemical equivalent of 23.24, which is smaller than those of zinc (32.70) and cadmium (56.21). This indicates that when used as an active material for the negative electrode in batteries, gallium has larger capacity per unit mass than zinc and cadmium by respective factors of ca. 1.4 and 2.4. The potential of the reaction; Ga+6OH.sup.- =GaO.sub.3.sup.3- +3H.sub.2 O+3e.sup.- is obviously less noble than the voltage of hydrogen evolution and this means that a high-potential battery can be made. Due to the high hydrogen overvoltage of gallium, gallium ions in the solution can be precipitated as metallic gallium by electrodeposition. As a further advantage, no dendrite formation occurs during the electrodeposition unlike in the case of zinc.

Abstract: Two diffraction gratings having the same grate pitch are respectively attached to a semiconductor wafer and a mask to be used in lithography in production of a semiconductor, such that the diffraction gratings are parallel to each other. When first and second frequency lights respectively having different frequencies, are incident, through a light path adjusting system, upon the mask- and wafer-side diffraction gratings in the directions of the first order diffraction angles symmetric with respect to normal-line directions of the diffraction gratings, the frequency lights first orderly diffracted by the diffraction gratings, interfere with each other, thus forming mask- and wafer-side interference lights. An initial phase difference .DELTA..phi.0 between the interference lights, is detected. Then, the light path adjusting system is adjusted to shift the interference lights by the same angle .theta.1 in the same direction, and a later phase difference .DELTA..phi.

Abstract: An X-ray transmission film 2 of a SiN film is formed on the surface of a mask base 1. Formed on the surface of the X-ray transmission film 2 are an LSI pattern 3, and an alignment mark 4 composed of a convex portion 4a and a concave portion 4b. On the surface of the convex portion 4a is an alignment light reflection grating pattern 5 of a tungsten film. Formed on the surface of the concave portion 4b is a metal film 7 of a tungsten film.With this arrangement, a laser light beam 13 does not reach a semiconductor substrate 30 through the alignment mark 4. Thus, when detecting a first-order reflection diffracted light beam 14 from the alignment mark 4 by means of a photodetector, there is no inclusion of unwanted reflected light beams from the semiconductor substrate 30.