Abstract: A system for reservoir control. The system allows segregated production of fluids, e.g. water and oil, to control the fluid-fluid interface. Downhole sensors are utilized in providing data about the location of the interface. This permits the proactive monitoring and control of the interface prior to unwanted intermingling of fluids, e.g. oil and water, during production.

Abstract: A system for reservoir control. The system allows segregated production of fluids, e.g. water and oil, to control the fluid-fluid interface. Downhole sensors are utilized in providing data about the location of the interface. This permits the proactive monitoring and control of the interface prior to unwanted intermingling of fluids, e.g. oil and water, during production.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor memory device is disclosed. A spacer of a material having a high etching selection ratio with respect to an interdielectric layer is formed on a sidewall of a gate electrode. A refractory metal silicide layer is formed on an upper surface of the gate electrode and on an upper surface of a substrate on which source and drain regions are formed, thereby providing a contact hole self-aligned between the gate electrodes. Also, an ion implantation process is performed on the entire active region after the contact hole is filled with metal such as tungsten, and an impurity region is formed only on a lower portion of the gate electrode.

Abstract: An improved structure of a dielectric layer between two adjacent copper wiring lines is disclosed. The dielectric layer is composed of silicon oxide and the adjacent copper wiring lines are formed using a dual damascene process. The structure of the dielectric layer according to the present invention comprises at least one trench in the surface of the dielectric layer, an insulating layer in the trench and at least one void in the insulating layer. The void is used to reduce the effective dielectric constant as well as the parasitic capacitance of the dielectric layer.

Abstract: The borehole imaging apparatus of the present invention includes a tool having an array of voltage electrode buttons mounted on a non-conductive pad. A current source and a current return are preferably located on the non-conductive pads at opposite ends thereof. The locations of the current source and return are designed to force a current to flow in the formation parallel to the pad face and non-parallel to the formation boundary layers. According to a method of the invention, the voltage difference between a pair of buttons in the array is proportional to the resistivity of the formation bed adjacent to the buttons. The ratio of voltage differences between two nearby pairs of electrode buttons provides a quantitative measurement of the ratio of shallow resistivity. The resolution of the image produced by the new tool is determined only by the spacing of the buttons. The tool according to the invention produces much better images than the prior art tools when used in OBM wells.

Abstract: Methods for locating an oil-water interface in a petroleum reservoir include taking resistivity and pressure measurements over time and interpreting the measurements. The apparatus of the invention includes sensors preferably arranged as distributed arrays. According to a first method, resistivity and pressure measurements are acquired simultaneously during a fall-off test. Resistivity measurements are used to estimate the radius of the water flood front around the injector well based on known local characteristics. The flood front radius and fall-off pressure measurements are used to estimate the mobility ratio. According to a second method, resistivity and pressure measurements are acquired at a variety of times. Prior knowledge about reservoir parameters is quantified in a probability density function (pdf). Applying Bayes' Theorem, prior pdfs are combined with measurement results to obtain posterior pdfs which quantify the accuracy of additional information.

Abstract: A method for forming an aperture with a uniform void-free sidewall etch profile through a multi-layer insulator layer. There is formed upon a semiconductor substrate a multi-layer insulator layer which has a minimum of a first insulator layer and a second insulator layer. The second insulator layer is formed upon the first insulator layer. There is then etched through a first etch method a first aperture completely through the second insulator layer. The first etch method has: (1) a first perpendicular etch selectivity ratio for the second insulator layer with respect to the first insulator layer of at least about 4:1; and (2) a lateral:perpendicular etch selectivity ratio for the second insulator layer of from about 0.5:1 to about 1:1. The first aperture is then etched through a second etch method to form a second aperture completely through the second insulator layer and the first insulator layer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for removing noise by smoothing fine resistivity measurements made with a tool from inside a borehole penetrating an earth formation. Pixel values representative of the resistivity measurements are examined to determine the directions of features in the measurements and a smoothing of the pixel values is then made along the measured directions. The orientations of the features are obtained with a similarlity investigation of pixels in sub-array windows along parallel lines whose slope is varied. Optimal slope lines along which the pixel values in a window best resemble each other are determined as the direction of the features. Smoothing is done along the optimal slope lines. Substantially noise free pixel measurements are obtained to enable subsequent automatic signal processing such as the detection of edges between layers of different resistivity. The edges are recorded with an emphasis on a visual display for enhanced visual analysis.

Abstract: A filter removes certain noise-induced artifacts from a two-dimensional image of a bore-hole wall, this image being formed by signals from a two-dimensional array of staggered electrodes pulled along the bore-hole wall. The noise artifacts are due to a type of noise which varies as a function of depth of the array, but which is substantially the same at all electrodes at any given time. The artifacts appear in the image in the form of a "footprint" of the electrode array, as an unintended result of a depth-adjustment process in which the original frames of samples of the signals at the electrodes of the staggered array, all taken essentially at the same time, are later resampled to produce frames of samples each corresponding to the same depth in said bore-hole. The filter makes use of the fact that the configuration of the artifact in the image is known, and that the true signal values do not change much between azimuthally adjacent electrodes.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for obtaining fine detail of spontaneous potential (SP) along a bore-hole wall in the earth, in connection with exploration for petrochemical deposits. A laterally-extending array of SP-sensing electrodes is mounted on an insulating pad, each slightly below the pad surface, and the pad is moved along and against the bore-hole wall while the SP's at the electronics are sampled and sent to up-hole electrodes for processing. The processed electrode samples are used to form a two-dimensional visually-observable image of the segment of the bore-hole wall swept over by the electrodes on the pad.