24857results about How to "Improve productivity" patented technology

A system, method and computer program product for providing answers to questions based on any corpus of data. The method facilitates generating a number of candidate passages from the corpus that answer an input query, and finds the correct resulting answer by collecting supporting evidence from the multiple passages. By analyzing all retrieved passages and that passage's metadata in parallel, there is generated an output plurality of data structures including candidate answers based upon the analyzing. Then, by each of a plurality of parallel operating modules, supporting passage retrieval operations are performed upon the set of candidate answers, and for each candidate answer, the data corpus is traversed to find those passages having candidate answer in addition to query terms. All candidate answers are automatically scored causing the supporting passages by a plurality of scoring modules, each producing a module score. The modules scores are processed to determine one or more query answers; and, a query response is generated for delivery to a user based on the one or more query answers.

A gas-feeding apparatus configured to be connected to an evacuatable reaction chamber includes a gas-distribution head for introducing gases into the chamber through a head surface. The gas-feeding head includes a first section for discharging a gas through the head surface toward a susceptor and a second section for discharging a gas through the head surface toward the susceptor. The first and the second sections are isolated from each other in the gas-distribution head, at least one of which section is coupled to an exhaust system for purging therefrom a gas present in the corresponding section without passing through the head surface.

A method of fabricating an organic film is provided. A non-reactive carrier gas is used to transport an organic vapor. The organic vapor is ejected through a nozzle block onto a cooled substrate, to form a patterned organic film. A device for carrying out the method is also provided. The device includes a source of organic vapors, a source of carrier gas and a vacuum chamber. A heated nozzle block attached to the source of organic vapors and the source of carrier gas has at least one nozzle adapted to eject carrier gas and organic vapors onto a cooled substrate disposed within the vacuum chamber.

Integrated circuits, the key components in thousands of electronic and computer products, are generally built layer by layer on a silicon substrate. One common layer-formation technique, known as chemical-vapor deposition (CVD), produces uneven layers and covers vertical surfaces poorly. An emergent technique, atomic-layer deposition, overcomes these shortcomings, but has others, such as slow deposition rates and longer than desirable cycle times, particularly as applied to deposition of aluminum oxide. Accordingly, the inventors devised unique atomic-layer deposition systems, methods, and apparatus suitable for aluminum-oxide deposition. One exemplary system includes an outer chamber, a substrate holder, and a gas-distribution fixture that engages or cooperates with the substrate holder to form an inner chamber within the outer chamber. The inner chamber has a smaller volume than the outer chamber, which ultimately requires less time to fill and purge and thus promises to reduce cycle times for deposition of materials, such as aluminum oxide.

The present invention relates generally to a building automation system, and, more particularly, to an Internet-centric, open, extensible software and hardware framework supporting all aspects of control and monitoring of a smart building ecosphere. The present invention further relates to an “intelligent,” real-time control system capable of both autonomous process control and interaction with system users and system administrators, which is configured to accommodate functional extensions and a broad array of sensors and control devices. The system allows individuals to communicate, monitor and adjust their personal environmental preferences (temperature, light, humidity, white noise, etc.) much like they would in an automobile, via the Internet. The system is equipped with an occupancy sensor that recognizes the presence and identity of the individual. A built-in expert system can make decisions based on data from multiple sources so that the system can alter its activity to conserve energy while maintaining users' comfort.

Disclosed is a producing method of a semiconductor device, comprising: loading a substrate into a reaction furnace; forming a film on the substrate in the reaction furnace; unloading the substrate from the reaction furnace after the film has been formed; and forcibly cooling an interior of the reaction furnace in a state where the substrate does not exist in the reaction furnace after the substrate has been unloaded.

A method of growing a thin film on a substrate by pulsing vapor-phase precursors material into a reaction chamber according to the ALD method. The method comprises vaporizing at least one precursor from a source material container maintained at a vaporising temperature, repeatedly feeding pulses of the vaporized precursor via a feed line into the reaction chamber at a first pressure, and subsequently purging the reaction chamber with pulses of inactive gas fed via the feed line at a second pressure. The second pressure is maintained at the same as or a higher level than the first pressure for separating successive pulses of said vaporized precursor from each other.

A method for processing a substrate by plasma CVD includes: (i) forming a film on a substrate placed on a susceptor by applying RF power between the susceptor and a shower plate in the presence of a film-forming gas in a reactor; and (ii) upon completion of step (i), without unloading the substrate, applying amplitude-modulated RF power between the susceptor and the shower plate in the absence of a film-forming gas but in the presence of a non-film-forming gas to reduce a floating potential of the substrate.

A method for managing UV irradiation for treating substrates in the course of treating multiple substrates consecutively with UV light, includes: exposing a first UV sensor to the UV light at first intervals to measure illumination intensity of the UV light so as to adjust the illumination intensity to a desired level based on the measured illumination intensity; and exposing a second UV sensor to the UV light at second intervals to measure illumination intensity of the UV light so as to calibrate the first UV sensor by equalizing the illumination intensity measured by the first UV sensor substantially with the illumination intensity measured by the second UV sensor, wherein each second interval is longer than each first interval.

The ceiling surface (12b) of a chamber (12) is substantially entirely formed with a gas supply port (19). Further, the gas supply port (19) has shower head (20) fitted therein. The peripheral edge of the ceiling surface (12b) has connected thereto a second side wall (12d) forming an angle greater than 90 degrees with ceiling surface (12b). Further, the side surface of a susceptor (16) is formed such that it forms an angle greater than 90 degrees with a mounting surface for a wafer (W) and is substantially parallel with the second side wall (12d) of the chamber (12). Further, the susceptor (16) is disposed such that the distance (L2) between its side surface and the second side wall (12d) is greater than the distance (L1) between the shower head (20) and the wafer (W).

The present invention relates generally to a building automation system, and, more particularly, to an Internet-centric, open, extensible software and hardware framework supporting all aspects of control and monitoring of a smart building ecosphere. The present invention further relates to an “intelligent,” real-time control system capable of both autonomous process control and interaction with system users and system administrators, which is configured to accommodate functional extensions and a broad array of sensors and control devices. The system allows individuals to communicate, monitor and adjust their personal environmental preferences (temperature, light, humidity, white noise, etc.) much like they would in an automobile, via the Internet. The system is equipped with an occupancy sensor that recognizes the presence and identity of the individual. A built-in expert system can make decisions based on data from multiple sources so that the system can alter its activity to conserve energy while maintaining users' comfort.

An apparatus for improving productivity of human reviewers of transcribed documents generated by media conversion systems includes a server / client network of computers, memories and file systems. The server receives and stores voice files created by users of the system. The server is configured for coupling to a speech-to-text media conversion system to receive converted text files of the audio voice files. The server analyzes the converted text files and routes the converted files to the appropriate reviewers according to an adaptive algorithm. The converted files are displayed on the assigned reviewer's screen at the reviewer's workstation. To aid the reviewer in pinpointing potential errors, the workstation displays different segments of the converted files in different colors to reflect different confidence levels of transcription accuracy. Portions of the original voice message that correspond to the potential errors are played back for the reviewer. The reviewers' workstations also perform productivity enhancing functions such as spelling and grammar checking. After the reviewer has made all the necessary corrections, the reviewed files are transmitted back to the server to be stored and accessed by the users. A user database in the server is also updated to store recurrent user-specific errors corrected by the reviewer. A language analysis system is also disposed to adaptively correct user-specific errors in future reviews according to the information in the user database.

An etching apparatus 100 as the substrate processing apparatus is provided with a rotary arm 103 for carrying a substrate included in a lot, and process chambers 106 and 107 for carrying out etching to the substrate as product processing. The etching apparatus 100 is controlled by a host computer 200 in which a transportation recipe, a recipe for product processing and a recipe for dummy processing are registered. When a chamber neglecting time being each neglecting time of the process chambers 106 and 107 does not become time out, the host computer 200 discriminates that processing atmosphere in the process chambers used for etching to the lot is stable, omits the execution of the dummy processing, and executes etching to the substrate of the lot.

A method for forming a metal oxide or nitride film on a substrate by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), includes: introducing an amino-based metal precursor in a pulse to a reaction space where a substrate is placed, using a carrier gas; and continuously introducing a reactant gas to the reaction space; applying RF power in a pulse to the reaction space wherein the pulse of the precursor and the pulse of RF power do not overlap, wherein conducted is at least either step (a) comprising passing the carrier gas through a purifier for reducing impurities before mixing the carrier gas with the precursor, or step (b) introducing the reactant gas at a flow rate such that a partial pressure of the reactant gas relative to the total gas flow provided in the reaction space is 15% or less.

A plasma enhanced vapor deposition apparatus includes a process chamber including a first space and a second space, a substrate holder provided in the first space and supporting a substrate, a plasma generating device combined to the process chamber and inducing plasma in the second space, an ion species screening member separating the first and second spaces from each other and filtering ion species to prevent the ion species from diffusing from the second space to the first space, a first gas supplier supplying a first process gas including a precursor gas into the first space, wherein the precursor gas includes atoms constituting a material layer deposited over the substrate, a second gas supplier supplying a second process gas including a reactive gas into the second space, and a gas discharger coupled to the process chamber and inducing a gas flow from the second space to the first space.

Apparatus and method for atomic layer deposition on a surface of a substrate (6) in a treatment space. A gas supply device (15, 16) is present for providing various gas mixtures to the treatment space. The gas supply device (15, 16) is arranged to provide a gas mixture with a precursor material to the treatment space for allowing reactive surface sites to react with precursor material molecules to give a surface covered by a monolayer of precursor molecules attached via the reactive sites to the surface of the substrate. Subsequently, a gas mixture comprising a reactive agent capable to convert the attached precursor molecules to active precursor sites is provided. A plasma generator (10) is present for generating an atmospheric pressure plasma in the gas mixture comprising the reactive agent.

An apparatus for depositing thin film on a processing target includes: a reaction space; a susceptor movable up and down and rotatable around its center axis; and isolation walls that divide the reaction space into multiple compartments including source gas compartments and purge gas compartments, wherein when the susceptor is raised for film deposition, a small gap is created between the susceptor and the isolation walls, thereby establishing gaseous separation between the respective compartments, wherein each source gas compartment and each purge gas compartment are provided alternately in a susceptor-rotating direction of the susceptor.

A substrate processing apparatus which is capable of enhancing productivity in manufacturing product substrates. In process chambers 106 and 107 of an etching apparatus 100, etching is carried out on a substrate as an object to be processed, and dummy processing is carried out on at least one non-product substrate before execution of the etching. A host computer 200 determines whether or not the dummy processing is to be executed. The host computer 200 determines whether or not the interior of each of the process chambers 106 and 107 is in a stable state, and omits the execution of the dummy processing when it is determined that it is in the stable state.

An interactive voice actuated control system for a testing machine such as a tensile testing machine is described. Voice commands are passed through a user-command predictor and integrated with a graphical user interface control panel to allow hands-free operation. The user-command predictor learns operator command patterns on-line and predicts the most likely next action. It assists less experienced operators by recommending the next command, and it adds robustness to the voice command interpreter by verbally asking the operator to repeat unlikely commanded actions. The voice actuated control system applies to industrial machines whose normal operation is characterized by a nonrandom series of commands.

New methods and systems for manufacturing a three-dimensional form, comprising steps of providing a plurality of particulates; contacting the particulates with an activation agent; contacting particulates having the activation agent with a binder material that is activatable by the activation agent; at least partially hardening the binder for forming a layer of the three-dimensional form; and repeating these steps to form the remainder of the three-dimensional form. Following sequential application of all required layers and binder material to make the form, the unbound particles are appropriately removed (and optionally re-used), to result in the desired three-dimensional form. The invention also contemplates a novel method for preparing a form, where unbound particulates free of binder material are re-claimed.

A powered nose aircraft wheel system (130) for an aircraft (12) includes landing gear (104) that extends from the aircraft (12). A wheel axel (136) is coupled to the landing gear (104). A wheel (134) is coupled to the wheel axel (136). A wheel motor (106) is coupled to the wheel axel (136) and the wheel (134). A controller (120) is coupled to the wheel motor (106) and rotates the wheel (134). A method of taxiing an aircraft (12) includes permitting the wheel (134) of the aircraft (12) to freely spin during the landing of the aircraft (12). Power is transferred from an auxiliary power unit (73) of the aircraft (12) to the wheel motor (106). The wheel (134) is rotated via the wheel motor (106). The aircraft (12) is steered and the speed of the wheel (134) is controlled via one or more controllers selected from an onboard controller (18, 118, 120) and an offboard controller (45, 58, 59).

Provided is an oxide semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor layer and an insulating layer coming into contact with the oxide semiconductor layer in which the insulating layer includes: a first insulating layer coming into contact with an oxide semiconductor, having a thickness of 50 nm or more, and including an oxide containing Si and O; a second insulating layer coming into contact with the first insulating layer, having a thickness of 50 nm or more, and including a nitride containing Si and N; and a third insulating layer coming into contact with the second insulating layer, the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer having hydrogen contents of 4×1021 atoms / cm3 or less, and the third insulating layer having a hydrogen content of more than 4×1021 atoms / cm3.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming a seed over the insulating film by introducing hydrogen and a deposition gas into a first treatment chamber under a first condition and forming a microcrystalline semiconductor film over the seed by introducing hydrogen and the deposition gas into a second treatment chamber under a second condition: a second flow rate of the deposition gas is periodically changed between a first value and a second value; and a second pressure in the second treatment chamber is higher than or equal to 1.0×102 Torr and lower than or equal to 1.0×103 Torr.

The substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is aimed to stably and efficiently perform a deposition process on a substrate W. The substrate processing apparatus supports the substrate W in a position facing a heater portion and thus rotates a holding member holding the substrate W. Furthermore, the heating portion houses a SiC heater and a heat reflecting member in an internal portion of a quartz bell jar made of transparent quartz, and depressurizes an internal space of a processing vessel and an internal space of the quartz bell jar at the same time; thereby allowing the thickness of the quartz bell jar to be thinner, and thus improving thermal conductivity of heat from the SiC heater and preventing contamination by the SiC heater.

A process for producing a semiconductor substrate is provided which comprises steps of forming a porous layer on a first substrate, forming a nonporous monocrystalline semiconductor layer on the porous layer of the first substrate, bonding the nonporous monocrystalline layer onto a second substrate, separating the bonded substrates at the porous layer, removing the porous layer on the second substrate, and removing the porous layer constituting the first substrate.