Abstract: A gas removal filter has an ion exchanger for adsorbing a gas and at least a pair of electric resistance measuring electrodes disposed on the ion exchanger. By measuring a change in the electric resistance between at least the pair of electric resistance measuring electrodes disposed on the ion exchanger, it is possible to estimate an ion exchange group consumption ratio of the ion exchanger. The ion exchange group consumption ratio of the ion exchanger can be detected in a short period of time, and a remaining adsorption capability of the ion exchanger can be known with ease.

Abstract: The present invention provides a battery pack electrically connected to an AC/DC conversion circuit board comprising an exothermic element, comprising an outer case including a wall portion having an outside that faces the AC/DC conversion circuit board, a combination battery of lithium ion secondary cells provided in the outer case and a battery control circuit board provided in the outer case, between the wall portion and the combination battery.

Abstract: A gas removal filter has an ion exchanger for adsorbing a gas and at least a pair of electric resistance measuring electrodes disposed on the ion exchanger. By measuring a change in the electric resistance between at least the pair of electric resistance measuring electrodes disposed on the ion exchanger, it is possible to estimate an ion exchange group consumption ratio of the ion exchanger. The ion exchange group consumption ratio of the ion exchanger can be detected in a short period of time, and a remaining adsorption capability of the ion exchanger can be known with ease.

Abstract: This invention provides a substrate transport container for use, for example, in the process of manufacturing integrated circuits of less than 0.13 &mgr;m line width, to enable to hold the level of contaminants in the interior of the container for at least particles, acidic gases, basic gases, organic substances and humidity at controlled low levels, and having the size and structure to be compatible with automated semiconductor manufacturing plants. The container is provided with a door for loading and unloading substrates on a surface of a container main body and is constructed so as to hold the substrates inside the container main body at a given distance of separation, wherein air conditioning apparatuses for reducing the levels of particulate and gaseous contaminants, are disposed roughly symmetrically on the container main body.

Abstract: A method of using a substrate transport pod is provided, which is suitable for manufacturing semiconductor devices with copper wiring and low dielectric insulating film having dielectric constants of less than 3. The method is based on loading the substrates into a pod from an atmosphere of a first process, and circulating a gaseous atmosphere through interior of the pod in such a way to selectively remove at least one contaminant including moisture, particulate substances or chemical substances, and to expose the substrates to a controlled atmosphere intermittently or continually while the substrates are held in the pod before unloaded from the pod and introduced into a second process. For a pod that is used to house the substrates for the purpose of retaining or transporting, the pod has a pod main body and a door that provides a hermetic sealing, and the pod is made primarily of a materiel that has moisture absorption factor of less than 0.

Abstract: A power supply apparatus supplies electric power to a substrate carrier container having a rechargeable cell. The power supply apparatus comprises a body for seating a substrate carrier container thereon, a seating detecting device provided on the body for detecting whether the substrate carrier container is seated on the body or not, and a power supply connector movably provided on the body. The power supply apparatus further comprises a control mechanism for bringing the power supply connector into contact with a charging terminal of the substrate carrier container to charge the rechargeable cell in the substrate carrier container according to a detected signal from the seating detecting device.

Abstract: In a magneto-optical recording medium having a substrate, a recording layer having at least a rare earth-transition metal alloy film formed on the substrate, and a dielectric layer formed on the recording layer, a depth of penetration in the recording layer for an element derived from the dielectric layer is set to 70 .ANG. or less from an interface between the recording layer and the dielectric layer in a depth-directional film structure analysis by an Auger electron spectroscopy. Accordingly, mixing of impurities into the recording layer can be suppressed to thereby lower the value of the required recording magnetic field.

Abstract: In a magneto-optical recording medium having a substrate, a recording layer having at least a rare earth-transition metal alloy film formed on the substrate, and a dielectric layer formed on the recording layer, a depth of penetration in the recording layer for an element derived from the dielectric layer is set to 70.ANG. or less from an interface between the recording layer and the dielectric layer in a depth-directional film structure analysis by an Auger electron spectroscopy. Accordingly, mixing of impurities into the recording layer can be suppressed to thereby lower the value of the required recording magnetic field.

Abstract: A magneto-optical recording medium having at least two kinds of films consisting of a rare earth metal-transition metal alloy thin film and a dielectric film formed on a substrate. The dielectric film is formed by sputtering a target in an atmosphere containing at least an oxygen gas or a compound gas containing oxygen as one constitutional element. Particularly, the use of a carbon dioxide gas CO.sub.2 or a carbon monoxide gas CO provides for an SiCON film rather than an Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film. The SiCON film has a refractive index and an absorptivity almost identical with those of the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film, and has a thermal conductivity smaller than that of the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film. As a result, it has been found that the SiCON film is advantageous from the viewpoints of a magnetic field sensitivity and a film thickness.

Abstract: An optical recording medium formed of a pre-grooved substrate provided with a recording layer formed on the groove, in which the groove has a shape to satisfy the condition I.sub.Gr /I.sub.0 .gtoreq.0.85, where I.sub.0 represents the reflected light quantity from the mirror surface and I.sub.Gr represents the reflected light quantity from the groove surface when the laser beam is concentrated to a spot size of approximately 1 .mu.m on the surface of the medium, and to enable three-spot tracking to be performed. According to this invention, the CN ratio as the measure of noise in an optical recording medium can be improved.