Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing aqueous dispersion comprises a component (A) composed of abrasive grains, a component (B) composed of at least one of quinolinecarboxylic acid and pyridinecarboxylic acid, a component (C) composed of an organic acid other than quinolinecarboxylic acid and pyridinecarboxylic acid and a component (D) composed of an oxidizing agent, wherein a mass ratio (WB/WC) of the content (WB) of the component (B) to the content (WC) of the component (C) is not less than 0.01 and less than 2, and the concentration of an ammonia component composed of ammonia and ammonium ion is not more than 0.005 mol/litter. According to the chemical mechanical polishing aqueous dispersion, various layers to be processed can be polished with high efficiency, and a sufficiently planarized polished surface of high precision can be obtained.

Abstract: A decoding device that achieves an improvement in code performance by optimization of the quantization width, thus allowing for high-precision decoding of LDPC codes, is provided.

Abstract: The present invention is particularly applied to serial concatenated coding and serial concatenated trellis coded modulation. In second encoding 107, which is inner coding, a sequence that is not encoded or that is encoded so as to produce a finite impulse response and a sequence that is encoded so as to produce an infinite impulse response are output. In interleaving 106 before the second encoding 107, the sequences are permuted so as not to be mixed with each other.

Abstract: The aqueous dispersion comprising (A) abrasive grains, (B) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 2-bromo-2-nitro-1,3-propanediol, 2-bromo-2-nitro-1,3-butanediol, 2,2-dibromo-2-nitroethanol, and 2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide, and (C) an organic component other than the compounds of component (B is disclosed. The aqueous dispersion has no problem of rotting even if stored or used in a neutral pH region and produces an excellent polished surface with almost no dishing or scratches, when applied particularly to the STI process for manufacturing of semiconductor devices.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for recording or reproducing data in which high performance encoding and a high efficiency decoding are realized to lower the decoding error rate. A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus 50 includes, in a recording system, a modulation encoder 52 for modulation encoding input data in a predetermined fashion and an interleaver 53 for interleaving data supplied from the modulation encoder 52 to re-array the data sequence.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a window member for chemical mechanical polishing, which is excellent in antifouling property and transparency and is excellent in anti-scratching and, further, can easily perform detection of a polishing endpoint of the surface of a semiconductor wafer by passing a light for endpoint detection, in polishing of a semiconductor wafer using an optical endpoint detecting apparatus and also to a polishing pad. A window member for chemical mechanical polishing of the present invention is provided with a substrate part (comprised of polyurethane resin and the like), which is transparent partly at least, an antifouling resin layer formed on at least one side of the substrate part. This antifouling resin layer is preferably comprised of a fluorine-based polymer having a polysiloxane segment in a main chain.

Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing method of the present invention comprises conducting polishing by the use of a chemical mechanical polishing aqueous dispersion (A) containing abrasive grains and then conducting polishing by the use of a chemical mechanical polishing aqueous composition (B) containing at least one organic compound having a heterocyclic ring in addition to the chemical mechanical polishing aqueous dispersion (A). Also A chemical mechanical polishing agent kit of the present invention comprises the chemical mechanical polishing aqueous dispersion (A) and the chemical mechanical polishing aqueous composition (B). The polishing method and the polishing agent kit can prevent an increase of dishing and corrosion of wiring portion to enhance the yield.

Abstract: A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which the decoding error rate is to be lowered through realization of the high-performance encoding and the high efficiently decoding. To this end, a magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus 50 includes, in its recording system, an error correction coder 51 for error correction encoding input data, an interleaver 52 for interleaving data supplied from the error correction coder 51 for re-arraying the data sequence, a modulation encoder 53 for modulation encoding the data from the interleaver 52 in a predetermined fashion and an interleaver 54 for interleaving the data from the modulation encoder 53 for re-arraying the data sequence.

Abstract: A chemical/mechanical polishing method for polishing an object to be polished with an irregular surface, having a substrate with convexities and concavities, a stopper layer formed on the convexities of the substrate, and an embedded insulating layer formed to cover the concavities of the substrate and the stopper layer, wherein the method is characterized comprising a first polishing step of flattening the embedded insulating layer using a slurry (A) which can maintain the polishing speed at 500 Å/min or less and a second polishing step of further polishing the embedded insulating layer to cause the stopper layer on the convexities to be exposed using a slurry (B) which can maintain the polishing speed at 600 Å/min or more. The method is useful for flattening wafers during shallow trench isolation (STI) in manufacturing semiconductor devices.

Abstract: A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus which achieves high performance encoding and high efficiency decoding to lower the decoding error rate. A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus 50 includes, in its recording system, an error correction coder 51 for error correction coding input data and an interleaver 52 for scrambling the sequence of data supplied from the error correction coder 51.

Abstract: An aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing that is hard to putrefy, scarcely causes scratches, causes only small dishing and is suitable for used in a micro isolating step or a planarizing step of an inter layer dielectric in production of semiconductor devices, which dispersion comprises ceria particles, a preservative composed of a compound having a heterocyclic structure containing a nitrogen atom and a sulfur atom in the ring, such as an isothiazolone compound, and an organic component such as organic abrasive grains composed of resin particles, a dispersing agent composed of a water-soluble polymer having a specific molecular weight or the like, a surfactant and/or an organic acid or a salt thereof contained in an aqueous medium, wherein the ceria particles, preservative and organic component are contained in proportions of 0.1 to 20% by mass, 0.001 to 0.2% by mass and 0.

Abstract: The invention provides an aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing, by which scratches are reduced even for an article to be polished having a dielectrics low in mechanical strength, both copper film and barrier metal film can be polished with high efficiency, and a sufficiently planarized finished surface with high precision can be provided without overpolishing the dielectrics, and a production process of a semiconductor device.

Abstract: The invention provides an aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing that can limit scratches of a specific size to a specific number, even with interlayer insulating films with small elastic moduli (silsesquioxane, fluorine-containing SiO2, polyimide-based resins, and the like.). When using the aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing of an interlayer insulating film with an elastic modulus of no greater than 20 GPa as measured by the nanoindentation method, the number of scratches with a maximum length of 1 &mgr;m or greater is an average of no more than 5 per unit area of 0.01 mm2 of the polishing surface. An aqueous dispersion for CMP or an aqueous dispersion for interlayer insulating film CMP according to another aspect of the invention contains a scratch inhibitor agent and an abrasive. The scratch inhibitor may be biphenol, bipyridyl, 2-vinylpyridine, salicylaldoxime, o-phenylenediamine, catechol, 7-hydroxy-5-methyl-1,3,4-triazaindolizine, and the like.

Abstract: An encoding device in a data transmission/reception system includes a first convolutional encoder that encodes an outer code, an interleaver that permutes input data, a second convolutional encoder that encodes an inner code, and a muti-level modulation mapping circuit that performs signal-point mapping based on eight-phase shift keying. When the encoding device uses the second convolutional encoder having two or more memories, the first convolutional encoder uses, as the outer code, a code with a minimum output distance greater than the maximum input distance at which the minimum-distance inner code is generated.

Abstract: Provided are an aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing, which planarizes a surface to be polished and has high shelf stability, a chemical mechanical polishing process excellent in selectivity when surfaces of different materials are polished, and a production process of a semiconductor device.

Abstract: In a coding apparatus and a decoding apparatus, the performance of codes is improved by optimizing a degree sequence and a quantization step size. The coding apparatus includes a degree sequence calculator for calculating a degree sequence indicating the distribution of the number of 1s in the parity check matrix, a parity check matrix generator for producing a parity check matrix on the basis of the degree sequence calculated by the degree sequence calculator, and an encoder for coding the input data using the parity check matrix generated by the parity check matrix generator. The degree sequence calculator optimizes the degree sequence such that when, in the decoding apparatus for decoding coded data, a received value and a message are represented by a small number of bits, the error probability after decoding is minimized for a given variance of noise or the allowable variance of noise is maximized for a given error probability after decoding.

Abstract: A register train is provided in addition to a train of memory cells as many as a cut length which are arranged in correspondence to each state. Outputs of selectors at respective stages in the register train corresponding to state 00 are inputted to a register (1021) in the register train and selectors. Outputs of the registers at the front stages are inputted to those three selectors, respectively. The three selectors switch outputs to the post stages in accordance with a control by a control circuit when a reception word is terminated and in the other cases. Thus, when the reception word is terminated, information stored in the register train is transferred as it is. By such an operation, a path which reaches state 00 can be decoded when a reception word is terminated.

Abstract: A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus performing efficient decoding to lower a decoding error rate. A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus 50 includes a modulation SISO decoder 63 for modulation decoding data modulation-encoded in a predetermined fashion by a modulation coder 52. In the magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus 50, the modulation SISO decoder 63 is a soft input soft output (SISO) type modulation decoder fed with a soft input signal and issuing a soft output signal. The modulation SISO decoder 63 is fed with a trellis soft output signal D64 supplied from a trellis SISO decoder 62 to find a soft decision value for an error correction coding data D52 fed to the modulation coder 52 of the recording system to generate a modulated soft decision signal D65. The modulation SISO decoder 63 routes the so-generated modulated soft decision signal D65 to a downstream side error correction soft decoder 64.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a composition for washing a polishing pad which removes a water-insoluble compound which was separated from a surface to be polished during polishing, formed at least on the surface of a polishing pad, and comprised a metal ion ionized, and a method for washing a polishing pad using the same. The composition for washing a polishing pad of the present invention is obtained by, in the case a water-insoluble compound is a copper quinaldinic acid complex, blending ammonia as a component for rendering the water-insoluble compound water-soluble and glycine as a water-soluble complex forming component for forming a water-soluble complex with a copper ion, and stirring them. In addition, in a method for washing a polishing pad using the composition for washing a polishing pad, a polishing pad can be washed effectively, the productivity can be improved and, further, consumption of a polishing pad can be inhibited.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide an aqueous dispersion that can give the required properties for a wide range of uses including electronic materials, magnetic materials, optical materials and polishing materials, and to provide an aqueous dispersion for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP slurry) that gives an adequate polishing rate without creating scratches in polishing surfaces. Another object of the present invention is, to provide a method for manufacture of semiconductor devices using a CMP slurry that can control progressive erosion due to scratches and the like during polishing and that can achieve efficient flattening of working films, and to provide a method for formation of embedded wiring.