132 results about "Germane" patented technology

Methods of forming germanium-tin films using germane as a precursor are disclosed. Exemplary methods include growing films including germanium and tin in an epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactor, wherein a ratio of a tin precursor to germane is less than 0.1. Also disclosed are structures and devices including germanium-tin films formed using the methods described herein.

The present invention describes an MOS device having deposited silicon regions and its a method of fabrication. In one embodiment of the present invention a substrate having a thin oxide layer formed on a silicon surface is heated and exposed to an ambient comprising germane (GeH4) to remove the thin oxide from the silicon surface. A silicon or silicon alloy film can then be deposited onto the silicon surface of the substrate.

A method for forming a forming a silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) layer is disclosed. The method may include, providing a substrate within a reaction chamber, exposing the substrate to a pre-deposition precursor pulse, which comprises tin tetrachloride (SnCl4), exposing the substrate to a deposition precursor gas mixture comprising a hydrogenated silicon source, germane (GeH4), and tin tetrachloride (SnCl4), and depositing the silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) layer over a surface of the substrate. Semiconductor device structures including a silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) layer formed by the methods of the disclosure are also provided.

Methods of forming germanium-tin films using germane as a precursor are disclosed. Exemplary methods include growing films including germanium and tin in an epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactor, wherein a ratio of a tin precursor to germane is less than 0.1. Also disclosed are structures and devices including germanium-tin films formed using the methods described herein.

A method of providing localized information from a single global transformation source, comprises collecting a plurality of information on a plurality of subjects, and conveying this information to a single information server located at the single global transformation source. Segregating the collected information into a plurality of sub-topics so that related information from a plurality of sources will be present in a single sub-topic. Transforming the information of each sub-topic into a single common language including conversion of words, exp-ressions, technical and financial data. Identifying each sub-topic by a topic identifier so that a localized user on the globe can identify the sub-topic germane to the needs and interest of the localized user. Transmitting the information of a sub-topic from the single information server to a local user who requests the same.

A multi-dimensional graphic user interface displays selected types of information regarding items included in one or more databases or returned by a search in accordance with locations on a two-dimensional display area or projection of a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional area and provides for selective display of information about respective items in a database (e.g. metadata) as additional dimensions of the display which may be suppressed and / or selectively introduced to avoid user distraction or obscuring information or for comparison between screens which may indicate to a user the degree to which a particular item may or may not be germane to an issue or particular subject matter of interest. The graphic user interface thus provides an effective tool for evaluating search results and organizing detailed review thereof.

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for verifying an authorized user of a credit / identification card. The method includes the steps of scanning the card with an apparatus having a plurality of scanning devices for scanning a bar code, scanning the card for evidence of tampering, scanning at least one fingerprint on the card, and any other detectable information, and comparing the scanned information on the card to information of the owner stored on at least one accessible database in communication with the apparatus. Data transmissions between the apparatus and databases are protected by an encryption system. If the information on the card does not match the information germane to the owner of the card which is stored in the database, the card is withheld from the user. Otherwise, the user of the card is free to use it for a desired purpose.

Locating and / or marking equipment, such as a locate transmitter or locate receiver, a marking device, or a combined locate and marking device, may be communicatively coupled to and / or equipped with a mobile / portable device (e.g., a mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other portable computing device) that provides processing, electronic storage, electronic display, user interface, communication facilities and / or other functionality (e.g., GPS-enabled functionality) for the equipment. A mobile / portable device may be mechanically and / or electronically coupled to the equipment, and may be programmed so as to log and generate electronic records of various information germane to a locate and / or marking operation (e.g., locate information, marking information, and / or landmark information). Such records may be formatted in various manners, processed and / or analyzed on the mobile / portable device, and / or transmitted to another device (e.g., a remote computer / server) for storage, processing and / or analysis. The mobile / portable device also may provide redundant, shared and / or backup functionality for the equipment to enhance robustness.

An intelligent molding system (FIG. 2) is provided that makes use of data directly associated with a molding environment or particular mold (50, 52). Accessible data, typically stored locally in an in-mold memory device (76, 78) or input via an HMI (86), identifies parameters germane to mold set-up and machine operation. Upon receiving such data, a machine controller (80) operates to configure a molding machine (10) to an initial set-up defined by the data considered close to an optimal operating condition for the mold. Mold set-up data can include information relating to a fill profile for a molded article that is partitioned into different zones having different thicknesses and geometries. Weighting factors for the various zones compensate for differing cooling and flow characteristics. The memory (76, 78) can also be used to store historical data pertaining to mold operation, settings and alarms.

Methods are disclosed of making linear and cross-linked, HMW (high molecular weight) polysilanes and polygermanes, polyperhydrosilanes and polyperhydrogermanes, functional liquids containing the same, and methods of using the liquids in a range of desirable applications. The silane and germane polymers are generally composed of chains of Si and / or Ge substituted with R′ substituents, where each instance of R′ is, for example, independently hydrogen, halogen, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydrocarbyl, aromatic hydrocarbyl, heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbyl, SiR″3, GeR″3, PR″2, OR″, NR″2, or SR″; where each instance of R″ is independently hydrogen or hydrocarbyl. The cross-linked polymers can be synthesized by dehalogenative coupling or dehydrocoupling. The linear polymers can be synthesized by ring-opening polymerization. The polymers can be further modified by halogenation and / or reaction with the source of hydride to furnish perhydrosilane and perhydrogermane polymers, which are used in liquid ink formulations. The synthesis allows for tuning of the liquid properties (e.g., viscosity, volatility, and surface tension). The liquids can be used for deposition of films and bodies by spincoating, inkjetting, dropcasting, etc., with or without the use of UV irradiation. The deposited films can be converted into amorphous and polycrystalline silicon or germanium, and silicon or germanium oxide or nitride by curing at 400-600 DEG C. and (optionally) laser- or heat-induced crystallization (and / or dopant activation, when dopant is present).

This invention provides a context-aware search engine that communicates with users having a particular location at a particular time within a tessellated network of geographically spaced-apart communication nodes, typically wireless nodes / access points (APs). Based upon the user's location and time, the search engine delivers relevant site-specific information germane to that user's place and time. In an illustrative embodiment, the search engine correlates the address of the node within which the user is located when making a query to the engine via a wireless device such as a laptop computer, PDA or cellular telephone. The time of the query is also accounted for. The query causes the search engine to focus its database search (from a large array of information resources indexed by the search engine and accessible thereby) on those informational items / web sites that fit the appropriate place and time of the user. In particular wireless nodes are viewed as spatial aggregation units (such as polygons) of demarcation in an urban or other densely settled environment (e.g. a university campus, institution, etc.) to identify and characterize the physical environment of the information-seeker.

An apparatus and method including storage and dispensing vessels to safely store and dispense gaseous hydrides, where the storage and dispensing vessels contain a solid-phase physical sorbent medium having a physically sorptive affinity for gaseous hydrides, and wherein the gaseous hydride is decomposed in the apparatus to generate hydrogen gas. The gaseous hydrides include, but are not limited to, silane, germane, stibine and diborane. The gaseous hydrides decompose spontaneously and / or decomposition is enhanced using surface modified adsorbents. The hydrogen generated by the apparatus may be used in a fuel cell or other hydrogen gas consuming unit.

A system and method are provided for exposing Internet users to advertisements together with the distribution of media content in a manner which is germane to conventional syndicated broadcast agreements. The system includes a processor coupled to a memory device. The system further includes software means operable on the processor and memory device. The software means is operable on the processor for obtaining a user specific set of data prior to distributing a media package. The software means is operable for selecting a number of advertisements from a data bank containing a plurality of advertisements based on the user specific set of data. The software means is operable for combining the selected number of advertisements with a requested set of media content to form the media package. The software means is further operable for distributing the media package. In this manner a regional broadcasting station can preserve its investment in purchasing national syndicate broadcast rights by ensuring regional advertisers a penetration of their advertisements across a regional Internet audience. Methods for performing the same are similarly included.

An apparatus and method including storage and dispensing vessels to safely store and dispense gaseous hydrides, where the storage and dispensing vessels contain a solid-phase physical sorbent medium having a physically sorptive affinity for gaseous hydrides, and wherein the gaseous hydride is decomposed in the apparatus to generate hydrogen gas. The gaseous hydrides include, but are not limited to, silane, germane, stibine and diborane. The gaseous hydrides decompose spontaneously and / or decomposition is enhanced using surface modified adsorbents. The hydrogen generated by the apparatus may be used in a fuel cell or other hydrogen gas consuming unit.

Methods for forming carbon silicon alloy (CSA) and structures thereof are disclosed. The method provides improvement in substitutionality and deposition rate of carbon in epitaxially grown carbon silicon alloy layers (i.e., substituted carbon in Si lattice). In one embodiment of the disclosed method, a carbon silicon alloy layer is epitaxially grown on a substrate at an intermediate temperature with a silicon precursor, a carbon (C) precursor in the presence of an etchant and a trace amount of germanium material (e.g., germane (GeH4)). The intermediate temperature increases the percentage of substitutional carbon in epitaxially grown CSA layer and avoids any tendency for silicon carbide to form. The presence of the trace amount of germanium material, of approximately less than 1% to approximately 5%, in the resulting epitaxial layer, has an effect of stabilizing and enhancing deposition / growth rate without compromising the tensile stress of CSA layer formed thereby.

A method of providing employee assessment services includes negotiating with an employer to administer surveys to its employees, and obtaining performance metrics relating to performance of a business of the employer. A survey is designed to obtain feature metrics relating to features of business culture germane to the business of the employer, and the survey is administered to the employees via a web-based interface. Obtained survey data are analyzed to identify statistically significant, noteworthy, consistent, and non-contradictory linkages between the feature metrics and the performance metrics, and these linkages are communicated to the employer in a readily understandable fashion.

A method of providing employee assessment services includes negotiating with an employer to administer surveys to its employees, and obtaining performance metrics relating to performance of a business of the employer. A survey is designed to obtain feature metrics relating to features of business culture germane to the business of the employer, and the survey is administered to the employees via a web-based interface. Obtained survey data are analyzed to identify statistically significant, noteworthy, consistent, and non-contradictory linkages between the feature metrics and the performance metrics, and these linkages are communicated to the employer in a readily understandable fashion.

A new and useful method and system for correcting for ghost images in a telecentric optical system is provided. Ghost images generated from planar optical surfaces in the image space after the major elements of a telecentric optical system are shift invariant. In other words the ghost images produced by these optical elements do not change their shape with different field angles or points. The ghost image's invariance with field position will allow the ghost image to be subtracted or removed from the image of an object recorded on a digital detector such as CCD or CMOS detector when its optical system is telecentric in image space. This subtraction may be accomplished, for example, with a removal technique using a measured ghost function germane and invariant to that particular optical system. The combination of the ghost image and scatter functions is linearly shift invariant and therefore, both noise contributions could be removed from the resulting digital image using similar removal techniques.

Disclosed is a method of growing thin and smooth germanium (Ge) on a strained or relaxed silicon (Si) layer comprising the steps of: (a) treating surface of the strained or relaxed Si layer to gaseous precursors of both Si (e.g., silane) and Ge (e.g., germane) for a predetermined short time duration Δt, where 1≦Δt≦30 seconds; and (b) depositing a thin Ge film on top of said treated Si layer, wherein said treatment step of (a) reduces growth time and surface roughness of the thin Ge film (e.g., sub-5 nm or sub-20 nm thick) deposited on the Si layer. The treatment step (a) can be conducted at a steady predetermined temperature T, where 450≦T≦900° C. The predetermined short time duration Δt can be chosen such that less than 10 A of SiGe is deposited.

A contextually sensitive, user-centric database navigation and accessing software methodology controls navigation through and access to database domains of a medical (e.g., cardiovascular) image and information management system in accordance with the specific role of the user. Being user-centric, rather than patient-centric, the routine is operative to display to a user, upon logging on, a homepage that specifically pertains to the user's area of responsibility, with the information being displayed containing a contextual list of options that are germane to the user's workflow. This facilitates the ability of the user to rapidly navigate through and access one or more data domains specifically relevant to responsibilities and functions of the user, thereby improving the user's efficiency and reducing the time to complete a task.

A system and method by which medical care providers enter data representing a patient's condition(s), treatments provided and drugs prescribed and other information that may be germane to a patient's condition. The data is transmitted to both a managed-care organization as well as to interconnected centralized service center(s) that receive similar data from multiple participating providers. The service center(s) store, for each patient, all the data. When such data is received from the medical providers treating the patient the service center can create a profile of the patient and compare all of this data with a database or lookup table (LUT) that contains all of the recommended protocols, treatments, follow-up treatments, medications, etc. for a patient. When follow-up treatments, medications, etc. are recommended, the service center(s) can automatically send reminders, recommendations or suggestions to the patient's provider(s) to take recommended steps to ensure the wellness of the patient.

A system and method for determining the genetic data for one or a small set of cells, or from fragmentary DNA, where a limited quantity of genetic data is available, and also for predicting likely phenotypic outcomes using mathematical models and given genetic, phenotypic and / or clinical data of an individual, and also relevant aggregated medical data consisting of genotypic, phenotypic, and / or clinical data from germane patient subpopulations. Genetic data for the target individual is acquired and amplified using known methods, and poorly measured base pairs, missing alleles and missing regions are reconstructed using expected similarities between the target genome and the genome of genetically related subjects.

A process and system for the synthesis and / or purification of crude germane to provide a purified germane product are disclosed herein. In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for making a purified germane product containing less than 1 volume percent of one or more germanium-containing impurities comprising: providing a crude germane fluid; passing at least a portion of the crude germane fluid through a first adsorbent which selectively adsorbs water and carbon dioxide contained therein and withdrawing therefrom a partially purified germane fluid; passing at least a portion of the partially purified germane fluid through a second adsorbent which selectively adsorbs the one or more germanium-containing impurities contained therein and withdrawing therefrom a hydrogen-enriched purified germane fluid; and separating the purified germane product hydrogen from the hydrogen-enriched purified germane fluid.

The invention discloses a preparation method of germane, comprising dripping tetrahydrofuran solution of germanium tetrachloride into sodium hydroxide solution of sodium borohydride to react, and preparing the germane; wherein the molar ratio between the germanium tetrachloride and the sodium borohydride is 1:1-10. The reaction is carried out according to the equation: GeCl4+NaBH4+3NaOH=GeH4+B(OH)3+4NaCl. The method is simple in technique and lower in cost; and the prepared germane has high yield and less impurity content, and is easy to purify.

The invention relates to a helium ionized gas chromatographic analyzer for analyzing trace impurities in high-purity germane gas. The helium ionized gas chromatographic analyzer is characterized in that the helium ionized gas chromatographic analyzer comprises a chromatographic column oven, a temperature control system, a signal acquiring and processing system and a tail gas treatment system, wherein the signal acquiring and processing system comprises a helium ionized detector and a chromatographic column workstation, the temperature control system can achieve independent temperature control of all chromatographic columns and the detector and controls the temperature of the chromatographic columns to rise according to the time program, and the chromatographic column workstation comprises three switching valves (including one ten-way valve and two six-way valves), three chromatographic columns, four needle valves and three carrier gas paths, and the helium ionized detector is connected with the line of the chromatographic column workstation. The helium ionized gas chromatographic analyzer is used for analyzing trace impurities in high-purity germane gas, can achieve ppb-level impurity analysis through high sensitivity of the helium ionized detector and realizes total analysis of the germane impurities through once sampling.

A method for minimizing particle generation during deposition of a graded Si1-xGex layer on a semiconductor material includes providing a substrate in an atmosphere including a Si precursor and a Ge precursor, wherein the Ge precursor has a decomposition temperature greater than germane, and depositing the graded Si1-xGex layer having a final Ge content of greater than about 0.15 and a particle density of less than about 0.3 particles / cm2 on the substrate.

A process and system for the synthesis and / or purification of crude germane to provide a purified germane product are disclosed herein. In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for making a purified germane product containing less than 1 volume percent of one or more germanium-containing impurities comprising: providing a crude germane fluid; passing at least a portion of the crude germane fluid through a first adsorbent which selectively adsorbs water and carbon dioxide contained therein and withdrawing therefrom a partially purified germane fluid; passing at least a portion of the partially purified germane fluid through a second adsorbent which selectively adsorbs the one or more germanium-containing impurities contained therein and withdrawing therefrom a hydrogen-enriched purified germane fluid; and separating the purified germane product hydrogen from the hydrogen-enriched purified germane fluid.

An apparatus and method including storage and dispensing vessels to safely store and dispense gaseous hydrides, where the storage and dispensing vessels contain a solid-phase physical sorbent medium having a physically sorptive affinity for gaseous hydrides, and wherein the gaseous hydride is decomposed in the apparatus to generate hydrogen gas. The gaseous hydrides include, but are not limited to, silane, germane, stibine and diborane. The gaseous hydrides decompose spontaneously and / or decomposition is enhanced using surface modified adsorbents. The hydrogen generated by the apparatus may be used in a fuel cell or other hydrogen gas consuming unit.